the eares of God then a speechlesse repining of the soule Heat is more intended with keeping in but Aarons silence was no lesse inward He knew how little he should get by brawling with God If he breathed our discontentment he saw God could speake fire to him againe And therefore he quietly submits to the will of God and held his peace because the Lord had done it There is no greater proofe of grace then to smart patiently and humbly and contentedly to rest the heart in the iustice and wisedome of Gods proceeding and to bee so farre from chiding that we dispute not Nature is froward and though shee well knowes we meddle not with our match when we striue with our Maker yet she pricks vs forward to this idle quarrell and bids vs with Iobs wife Curse and dye If God either chide or smite as seruants are charged to their Masters wee may not answer againe when Gods hand is on our backe our hand must be our mouth else as mothers doe their children God shall whip vs so much the more for crying It is hard for a stander by in this case to distinguish betwixt hard-heartednesse and piety There Aaron sees his sonnes lye he may neither put his hand to them to bury them nor shead a teare for their death Neuer parent can haue iuster cause of mourning then to see his sonnes dead in their sinne if prepared and penitent yet who can but sorrow for their end but to part with children to the danger of a second death is worthy of more then teares Yet Aaron must learne so farre to deny nature that he must more magnifie the iustice of God then lament the iudgement Those whom God hath called to his immediate seruice must know that hee will not allow them the common passions and cares of others Nothing is more naturall then sorrow for the death of our owne if euer griefe be seasonable it becomes a funerall And if Nadab and Abihu had dyed in their beds this fauour had been allowed them the sorrow of their Father and Brethren for when God forbids solemne mourning to his Priests ouer the dead hee excepts the cases of this neernesse of blood Now all Israel may mourne for these two only the Father and Brethren may not God is iealous lest their sorrow should seeme to countenance the sinne which he had punished euen the fearfullest acts of God must be applauded by the heauiest hearts of the faithfull That which the Father and Brother may not doe the Cousins are commanded dead carkasses are not for the presence of God His iustice was shewne sufficiently in killing them They are now fit for the graue not the Sanctuary Neither are they caried out naked but in their coats It was an vnusuall sight for Israel to see a linnen Ephod vpon the Beere The iudgement was so much more remarkable because they had the badge of their calling vpon their backs Nothing is either more pleasing vnto God or more commodious to men then that when he hath executed iudgement it should bee seene and wondred at for therefore he strikes some that he may warne all Of AARON and MIRIAM THe Israelites are stayed seuen dayes in the station of Hazzeroth for the punishment of Miriam The sinnes of the gouernors are a iust stop to the people all of them smart in one all must stay the leasure of Miriams recouerie Whosoeuer seekes the Land of Promise shall finde many lets Amalek Og Schon and the Kings of Canaan meet with Israel these resisted but hindred not their passage their sinnes onely stay them from remouing Afflictions are not crosses to vs in the way to heauen in comparison to our sinnes What is this I see Is not this Aaron that was brother in nature and by office ioynt Commissioner with Moses Is not this Aaron that made his Brother an Intercessor for him to God in the case of his Idolatry Is not this Aaron that climbed vp the Hill of Sinai with Moses Is not this Aaron whom the mouth and hand of Moses consecrated an high Priest vnto God Is not this Miriam the elder Sister of Moses Is not this Miriam that led the Triumph of the Women and sung gloriously to the Lord It not this Miriam which layd her Brother Moses in the Reeds and fetcht her Mother to be his Nurse Both Prophets of God both the flesh and blood of Moses And doth this Aaron repine at the honor of him which gaue himselfe that honour and saued his life Doth this Miriam repine at the prosperity of him whose life she saued Who would not haue thought this should haue beene their glory to haue seene the glory of their owne Brother What could haue beene a greater comfort to Miriam then to thinke How happily doth he now sit at the Sterne of Israel whom I saued from perishing in a Boat of Bul-rushes It is to mee that Israel owes this Commander But now enuy hath so blinded their eyes that they can neither see this priuiledge of nature nor the honour of Gods choyce Miriam and Aaron are in mutiny against Moses Who is so holy that sinnes not What sinne is so vnnaturall that the best can auoyde without God But what weaknesse soeuer may plead for Miriam who can but grieue to see Aaron at the end of so many sinnes Of late I saw him caruing the molten Image and consecrating an Altar to a false god now I see him seconding an vnkind mutiny against his Brother Both sinnes find him accessary neither principall It was not in the power of the legall Priesthood to performe or promise innocency to her Ministers It was necessary wee should haue another high Priest which could not bee tainted That King of righteousnesse was of another order He being without sinne hath fully satisfied for the sinnes of men Whom can it now offend to see the blemishes of the Euangelicall Priesthood when Gods first high Priest is thus miscaried Who can looke for loue and prosperity at once when holy and meeke Moses finds enmity in his owne flesh and blood Rather then we shall want A mans enemies shall be those of his owne house Authority cannot fayle of opposition if it be neuer so mildly swayed that common make-bate will rather raise it out of our owne bosome To doe well and heare ill is Princely The Midianitish wife of Moses cost him deare Before she hazarded his life now the fauour of his people Vnequall matches are seldome prosperous Although now this scandall was onely taken Enuy was not wise enough to choose a ground of the quarrell Whether some secret and emulatory brawles passed between Zipporah and Miriam as many times these sparkes of priuate brawles grow into a perillous and common flame or whether now that Iethro and his family was ioyned with Israel there were surmises of transporting the Gouernment to strangers or whether this vnfit choice of Moses is now raised vp to disparage Gods gifts in him Euen in fight the exceptions were
a Traytor to his friend the host of God must shamefully turne their backes vpon the Ammonites all that Israelitish bloud must bee shed that murder must be seconded with dissimulation and all this to hide one adultery O God thou hadst neuer suffered so deare a Fauourite of thine to fall so fearefully if thou hadst not meant to make him an vniuersall example to Mankind of not presuming of not despairing How can wee presume of not sinning or despayre for sinning when wee finde so great a Saint thus fallen thus risen NATHAN and DAVID YEt Bathsheba mourned for the death of that Husband whom she had beene drawne to dishonour How could shee bestow teares enow vpon that Funerall whereof her sinne was the cause If shee had but a suspicion of the plot of his death the Fountaines of her eyes could not yeeld water enough to wash off her Husbands bloud Her sin was more worthy of sorrow than her losse If this griefe had beene right placed the hope of hiding her shame and the ambition to bee a Queene had not so soone mittigated it neyther had shee vpon any termes beene drawne into the Bed of her husbands murtherer Euery gleame of earthly comfort can dry vp the teares of worldly sorrow Bathsheba hath soone lost her griefe at the Court The remembrance of an Husband is buried in the ioyliltie and state of a Princesse Dauid securely enioyes his ill-purchased loue and is content to exchange the conscience of his sinne for the sense of his pleasure But the iust and holy God will not put it vp so hee that hates sinne so much the more as the offender is more deare to him will let Dauid feele the bruise of his fall If Gods best Children haue beene sometimes suffered to sleepe in a sinne at last he hath awakened them in a fright Dauid was a Prophet of God yet hee hath not only stept into these foule sinnes but soiournes with them If any profession or state of life could haue priuiledged from sinne the Angels had not sinned in Heauen nor man in Paradise Nathan the Prophet is sent to the Prophet Dauid for reproofe for conuiction Had it beene any other mans case none could haue beene more quick sighted than the Princely Prophet in his owne hee is so blinde that God is faine to lend him others eyes Euen the Phisician himself when hee is sick sends for the counsell of those whom his health did mutually aid with aduice Let no man thinke himselfe too good to learne Teachers themselues may bee taught that in their owne particular which in a generalitie they haue often taught others It is not only ignorance that is to be remoued but mis-affection Who can prescribe a iust period to the best mans repentance About tenne moneths are passed since Dauids sinne in all which time I finde no newes of any serious compunction It could not bee but some glances of remorse must needs haue passed thorough his Soule long ere this but a due and solemne contrition was not heard of till Nathans message and perhaps had beene further adiourned if that Monitor had beene longer deferred Alas what long and dead sleepes may the holyest Soule take in fearefull sinnes Were it not for thy mercie O God the best of vs should end our spirituall Lethargie in sleepe of death It might haue pleased God as easily to haue sent Nathan to checke Dauid in his first purpose of sinning So had his eyes beene restrayned Bathsheba honest Vriah aliue with honour now the wisdome of the Almightie knew how to winne more glorie by the permission of so foule an euill than by the preuention yea he knew how by the permission of one sinne to preuent millions how many thousand had sinned in a vaine presumption on their owne strength if Dauid had not thus offended how many thousand had despiared in the conscience of their owne weaknesses if these horrible sinnes had not receiued forgiuenesse It is happy for all times that we haue so holy a Sinner so sinfull a penitent It matters not how bitter the Pill is but how well wrapped so cunningly hath Nathan conueyed this dose that it begins to worke ere it be tasted there is no one thing wherein is more vse of wisdome than the due contriuing of a reprehension which in a discreet deliuerie helps the disâ—â—se in an vnwise destroyes Nature Had not Nathan beene vsed to the possession of Dauids care this complaint had beene suspected It well beseemes a King to take information by a Prophet Whiles wise Nathan was querulously discoursing of the cruell rich man that had forceably taken away the only Lambe of his poore Neighbour how willingly doth Dauid listen to the Storie and how sharply euen aboue Law doth he censure the fact As the Lord liueth the man that hath done this thing shall surely dye Full little did he thinke that he had pronounced sentence against himselfe It had not beene so heauie if he had not knowne on whom it should haue light Wee haue open eares and quick tongues to the vices of others How seuere Iusticers wee can bee to our very owne crimes in others persons How flattering Parasites to anothers crime in our selues The life of doctrine is in application Nathan might haue bin long enough in his narration in his inuectiue ere Dauid would haue bin touched with his owne guiltinesse but now that the Prophet brings the Word home to his bosome hee cannot but be affected Wee may take pleasure to heare men speake in the Cloudes we neuer take profit till wee finde a proprietie in the exhortation or reproofe There was not more cunning in the Parable than courage in the application Thou art the man If Dauid be a King he may not looke not to heare of his faults Gods messages may be no other than vnpartiall It is a trecherous flattery in diuine errands to regard greatnesse If Prophets must bee mannerly in the forme yet in the matter of reproofe resolute The words are not their owne They are but the Heralds of the King of Heauen Thus saith the Lord God of Israel How thunder-stricken doe we thinke Dauid did now stand How did the change of his colour bewray the confusion in his Soule whiles his conscience said the same within which the Prophet sounded in his eare And now least ought should be wanting to his humiliation all Gods former fauours shall be laid before his eyes by way of exprobration He is worthy to be vpbrayded with mercies that hath abused mercies vnto wantonnesse whiles we doe well God giues and sayes nothing when we doe ill hee layes his benefits in our dish and casts them in our teeth that our shame may be so much the more by how much our obligations haue bin greater The blessings of God in our vnworthy carriage proue but the aggrauations of sinne and additions to iudgement I see all Gods Children falling into sinne some of them lying in sinne none of them maintayning their sinne Dauid
17. and be more neere to heare than to giue the sacrifice of fooles for Pr. 13.13 He that despiseth the Word shall be destroyed but he that feareth the Commandement shall be rewarded §. 7. In a Counsellor of State or Magistrate is required Wisdome Discussing of causes Prouidence and working according to knowledge Pietie Iustice and freed from Partialitie Bribes Oppression WIthout Counsell all our thoughts euen of policie and state come to naught Pr. 15.22 but in the multitude of Counsellors is stedfastnesse and no lesse in their goodnesse 1. Pr. 24 5. Ec 7.2 Pr. 14 33. Pr. 17.24 Pr. in their wisdome which alone giues strength to the owner aboue ten mighty Princes that are in the City a vertue which though it resteth in the heart of him that hath vnderstanding yet is knowne in the mids of fooles For wisdome is in the face of him that hath vnderstanding and in his lips for howsoeuer he that hath knowledge spareth his words yet the tongue of the wise vseth knowledge aright Pr. 15.2 Pr. 24.7 Pr. 26.1 and the foole cannot open his mouth in the gate and therefore is vnfit for authority As snow in summer and raine in haruest so is honour vnseemly for a foole And though it be giuen him how ill it agrees As the closing of a precious stone in an heape of stones Pr. 26.8 so is hee that giues glory to a foole From hence Pr. the good Iusticer both carefully heareth a cause knowing that Hee which answereth a matter before he heare it it is folly and shame to him and that related on both parts Pr. 18.17 Pr. 20.5 for He that is first in his owne cause is iust then commeth his neighbour and maketh inquirie of him and deeply fifteth it else he loseth the truth for The counsell of the heart of a man is like deepe waters but a man that hath vnderstanding will draw it out Pr. 22.3 Ec. 9.15 Pr. 13.16 Ec. 9 17. Pr. 21.22 From hence is his prouidence for the common good not only in seeing the plague and hid ng himselfe but in deliuering the city as he foreseeth so he worketh by knowledge and not in peace only as The words of the wise are more heard in quietnesse than the cry of him that ruleth among fooles but in warre A wise man goeth vp into the City of the mighty and casteth downe the strength of the confidence thereof For wisdome is better than strength Ec. 9.16 Ec. 9.18 Ec. 9.13 Ec. 9.14 Ec. 9.15 yea than weapons of warre I haue seene this wisdome vnder the Sunne and it is great vnto me A little City and men in it and a great King came against it and compassed it about and builded forts against it and there was found in it a poore and wise man and hee deliuered the City by his wisdome Neither can there be true wisdome in any Counsellor Pr. 14.16 Pr. 21.30 Pr. 11.3 Pr. without piety The wise man feareth and departs from euill being well assured that there is no wisdome nor vnderstanding nor counsell against the Lord and that Man cannot bee established by wickednesse and indeed how oft doth God so dispose of estates that the euill shall bow before the good and the wicked at the gates of the righteous neither is this more iust with God than acceptable with men for when the righteous reioyce Pr. 18.12 Pr. 29.2 Pr. 28.12 Pr. 28.28 Pr. 29.2 Pr. 25.26 Pr. Pr. 28.11 Pr. 24.23 there is great glory and when they are in authority the people reioyce contrarily when the wicked comes on and rises vp and beares rule the man is tryed the good hide themselues and all the people sigh and the righteous man falling downe before the wicked is like a troubled Well and a corrupt Spring Neither is Iustice lesse essentiall than either for to doe iustice and iudgement is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice To know faces therefore in a Iudge is not good for that man will transgresse for a peece of bread much lesse to accept the person of the wicked Pr. 18.5 to cause the righteous to fall in iudgement He that saith to the wicked Thou art righteous him shall the people curse and the multitude shall abhorre him Yea yet higher Pr. 24.24 Pr. 17.15 Pr. 17.23 Pr. 18.16 Hee that iustifieth the wicked and condemneth the iust both are an abomination to the Lord. Wherefore howsoeuer The wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosome to wrest the waies of iudgement and commonly A mans gift inlargeth him and leadeth him with approbation before greatmen yet he knoweth that the reward destroyeth the heart Ec. 7.9 Pr. 12.7 Pr. 15.27 Pr. 21.15 Pr. 19.15 Pr. 21.11 Pr. 21.2 Ec. 14.5 Pr. 12.17 Pr. 18.17 Pr. 19.5 Pr. 19.9 Pr. Pr. 14.31 Pr. 22.22 Pr. 24.26 that the acceptance of it is but the robbery of the wicked which shall destroy them because they haue refused to execute iudgement he hateth gifts then that he may liue and it is a ioy to him to doe iudgement He doth vnpartially smite the scorner yea seuerely punish him that the wickedly foolish may beware and become wise And where as Euery way of a man is right in his owne eies and a false record will speake lies and vse deceit he so maketh inquirie that a false witnesse shall not bee vnpunished and he that speaketh lies shall perish Lastly his hand is free from oppression of his inferiours which as it makes a wise man madde so the actor of it miserable for He that oppresseth the poore reproueth him that made him and if the afflicted be opprest in iudgement the Lord will defend their cause and spoile the soule that spoileth them and vpon all occasions he so determineth that they shall kisse the lips of him that answereth vpright words SALOMONS COVRTIER §. 8. Must bee Discreet Religious Humble Charitable Diligent Faithfull IN the light of the Kings countenance is life Pr. 16.15 Pr. 19.12 and his fauour is as the cloud of the latter raine or as the dew vpon the grasse which that the Courtier may purchase hee must be 1. Discreet The pleasure of a King is in a wise seruant Pr. 14.35 Pr. 22.11 Pr. 11.27 Pr. 12.26 Pr. 22.4 Pr. 15.33 Pr. 25.6 Pr. 25.7 Pr. 25.15 but his wrath shall be towards him that is lewd 2. Religious both in heart Hee that loueth purenesse of heart for the grace of the lips the King shall be his friend and in his actions He that seeketh good things getteth fauour in both which the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour and besides these humble The reward whereof is glory for before glory goeth humility He dare not therefore boast himselfe before the King and thrust himselfe ouer-forward in the presence of the Prince whom his eies doe see whom he see moued he pacifieth by staying of anger and by a soft answer breaketh a man of bone not aggrauating
nothing rather then what we ought O minds brutishly sensuall Doe they thinke that God made them for disport who euen in his Paradise would not allow pleasure without vvorke And if for businesse either of body or minde Those of the body are commonly seruile like it selfe The minde therefore the mind onely that honorable and diuine part is fittest to be imployed of those vvhich vvould reach to the highest perfection of men and vvould be more then the most And what vvorke is there of the minde but the trade of a scholar study Let me therefore fasten this probleme on our Schoole-gates and challenge all commers in the defence of it that No Scholar cannot be truely noble And if I make it not good let me neuer be admitted further then to the subiect of our question Thus we do vvell to congratulate to our selues our own happinesse if others will come to vs it shall be our comfort but more theirs if not it is enough that we can ioy in our selues and in him in whom we are that we are To Mr J. P. EP. IV. A discourse of the increase of Popery of the Oath of Allegeance and the iust sufferings of those which haue refused it YOu say your religion dayly winneth Bragge not of your gaine you neither need nor can if you consider how it gets and whom How but by cunning sleights false suggestions impudent vntruths Who cannot thus preuaile against a quiet and innocent aduersarie Whom but silly women or men notoriously debauched A spoyle fit for such a conquest for such Victors We are the fewer not the worse if all our licentious hypocrites vvere yours wee should not complaine and you might be the prouder not the better Glory you in this triumph free from our enuy who know we haue lost none but by whom you saue nothing either loose or simple It were pity that you should not forgoe some in a better exchange The sea neuer incroacheth vpon our shore but it loseth else-where some we haue happily fetcht into the fold of our Church out of your wasts some others though few and scarce a number vvee haue sent into their heauen Among these your late second Garnet liu'd to proclaime himselfe a Martyr and by dying perswaded Poore man how happy were he if he might be his owne Iudge That which gaue him confidence vvould giue him glory you beleeue and wel-nere adore him That fatall cord of his was too little for reliques though diuided into Mathematicke quantities Whither cannot conceit lead vs vvhether for his resolution or your credulitie His death vvas fearlesse I commend his stomack not his minde How many malefactors haue wee knowne that haue laughed vpon their executioner and iested away their last vvinde You might know It is not long since our Norfolke Arrian leapt at his stake How oft haue you learned in martyrdome to regard not the death but the cause Else there should be no difference in guilt and innocence error and truth What then Died hee for Religion This had bin but your owne measure we endured your flames which these gibbets could not acquit But dare impudency it selfe affirme it Not for meere shame against the euidence of so many tongues eares records Your prosperitie your numbers argue enough that a man may be a Papist in Britaine and liue If treason be your religion vvho will vvonder that it is capitall Defie that Deuill vvhich hath mockt you with this madde opinion that treacherie is holinesse deuotion crueltie and disobedience I foresee your euasion Alas it is easie for a spightfull construction to fetch religion within this compasse and to say the swelling of the Foxes forehead is a horne Nay then let vs fetch some honest Heathen to be Iudge betwixt vs Meere nature in him shall speake vnpartially of both To hold and perswade that a Christian King may yea must at the Popes will be dethroaned and murdered is it the voice of treason or religion And if traiterous vvhether flatly or by mis-inferring Besides his practices for this he died witnesse your own Catholikes O God if this be religion what can be villany Who euer dyed a Malefactor if this be martyrdom If this position be meritorious of heauen hell is feared in vaine O holy Scillae Marij Catilines Cades Lopezes Gowries Vawxes and who euer haue conspired against lawfull Maiestie all Martyrs of Rome all Saints of Beckets heauen How vvell do those palmes of celestiall triumph become hands red with the sacred blood of Gods anointed I am ashamed to thinke that humanitie should nourish such monsters whether of men or opinions But you defie this sauage factiousnesse this deuotion of deuils and honestly vvish both God and Caesar his owne I praise your moderation but if you be true let me yet search you Can a man be a perfect Papist vvithout this opinion against it If he may then your Garnet and Drurie died not for religion if he may not then Poperie is treason Chuse now vvhether you will leaue your Martyrs or your Religion What you hold of merit free-wil transubstantiation inuocation of Saints false adoration supremacy of Rome no man presses no man inquires your present inquisition your former examples would teach vs mercy will not let vs learne The only question is Whether our King may liue and rule whether you may refraine from his blood and not sinne Would you haue a man denie this and not die Would you haue a man thus dying honored Dare you approue that religion which defends the fact canonizes the person I heare your answer from that your great Champion which not many dayes since with one blow hath driuen out three not slight vvedges That not Ciuill obedience is stood vpon The iudgement of a Catholike English-man banished c. concerning the Apology of the Oath of Allegeance intituled Triplici nâ—do c. but Positiue doctrine That you are readie to sweare for the Kings safetie not against the Popes authoritie King IAMES must liue and raigne but Paulus Quintus must rule and be obeyed and better were it for you to die then your sworne allegeance should preiudice the Sea Apostolike An elusion fit for children What is to dally if not this As if he said The King shall liue vnlesse the Pope will not That hee shall not be discrowned deposed massacred by your hands vnlesse your holy Father should command But I aske as vvho should not What if he do command What if your Paulus Quintus should breathe out like his predecessors not threatnings but strong bellowings of Excommunications of deposition of Gods anointed What if hee shall command after that French fashion the throats of all Heretikes to bleed in a night Pardon you in this Now it is growne a point of doctrinall Diuinitie to determine how farre the power of Peters successor may extend You may neither sweare nor say your hands shall not bee steep't in the blood of your true Soueraigne and to die rather then sweare it is martyrdome But
confidence in appealing to the Fathers applauding his worthy offers and indeauors of discouering the falsifications and deprauations of antiquity SIR I know no man so like as you to make posterity his debter I doe heartily congratulate vnto you so worthy labours so noble a proiect Our aduersaries knowing of themselues that which Tertullian saith of all heresies that if appeale bee made to the sacred bench of Prophets and Apostles they cannot stand remoue the suit of religion craftily into the Court of the Fathers A reuerend triall as any vnder heauen where it cannot be spoken how confidently they triumph ere the conflict Giue vs the Fathers for our Iudges say Campian and Posseuine the day is ours And whence is this courage Is antiquity our enemy their aduocate Certainly it cannot bee truth that is new We would renounce our Religion if it could be ouer-lookt for time Let goe equity the older take both There bee two things then that giue them heart in this prouocation One the bastardy of false Fathers the other the corruption of the true What a flourish doe they make with vsurped names Whom would it not amaze to see the frequent citations of the Apostles owne Canons Constitutions Liturgies Masses of Clemens Dennys the Areopagite Linus Hippolitus Martiall of Burdeaux Egesippus Donations of Constantine the great and Lewis the godly Of 50 Canons of Nice of Dorotheus Damasus his Pontificall Epistles decretall of Clemens Euaristus Telesphorus and an hundred other Bishops holy and ancient of Euodius Anastasius Simeon Metaphrastes and moe yet then a number moe most whereof haue crept out of the Vatican or Cloisters and all cary in them manifest brands of falshood and supposition that I may say nothing of those infinite writings which either ignorance or wilfulnesse hath fathered vpon euery of the Fathers not without shamelesse importunity and grosse impossibilities all which as shee said of Peter their speech bewrayeth or as Austen said of Cyprians stile their face This fraud is more easily auoided For as in notorious burglaries oft-times there is either an hat or a gloue or a weapon left behind which descrieth the authors so the God of truth hath besotted these impostors to let fall some palpable error though but of false calculation whereby if not their names yet their ages might appeare to their conuiction Most danger is in the secret corruption of the true and acknowledged issue of those gracious parents whom through close and crafty handling they haue induced to belye those that begot them and to betray their Fathers either with silence or false euidence Plainly how are the honoured Volumes of faithfull antiquity blurred interlined altered depraued by subtle trechery and made to speake what they meant not Fie on this not so much iniustice as impiety to race the awefull monuments of the dead and partially to blot and change the originall Will of the deceased insert our owne Legacies This is done by our guilty aduersaries to the iniury not more of these Authors then of the present and succeeding times Hence those Fathers are some-where not ours What wonder while they are not themselues Your industry hath offered and that motion is liuely and heroicall to challenge all their learned and elegant pages from iniury of corruption to restore them to themselues and to vs that which all the learned of our times haue but desired to see done you proffer to effect your assay in Cyprian and Augustine is happy and iustly applauded All our Libraries whom your diligent hand hath ransackt offer their ayd in such abundance of manuscripts as all Europe would enuy to see met in one Iland After all this for that the most spightfull imputation to our Truth is nouelty you offer to deduce her pedegree from those primitiue times through the successions of all ages and to bring into the light of the world many as yet obscure but no lesse certaine and authenticall Patrons in a continued line of defence You haue giuen proofe enough that these are no glorious vaunts but the zealous challenges of an able Champion What wanteth then Let mee say for you Not an heart not an head not an hand but which I almost scorne to name in such a cause a purse If this continue your hinderance it will not be more our losse then shame Heare me a little yee great and wealthy Hath God loaded you with so much substance and will you not lend him a little of his owne Shall your riot bee fed with excesse while Gods cause shall starue for want Shall our aduersaries so insultingly out-bid vs and in the zeale of our profusion laugh at our heartlesse and cold niggardlinesse Shall heauenly truth lie in the dust for want of a little stamped earth to raise her How can you so much any way honor God yea your selues deserue of posterity pleasure the Church and make you so good friends of your Mammon Let not the next Age say that she had so vnkind predecessors Fetch forth of your superfluous store and cast in your rich gifts into this treasurie of the Temple The Lord and his Church haue need For you it angers me to see how that flattering Posseuinus smoothly intices you from vs with golden offers vpon the aduantage of our neglect as if he measuring your mind by his owne thought an Omnia dabo would bring you with himselfe on your knees to worship the deuill the beast the image of both as if we were not as able to incourage to reward desert Hath Vertue no Patrons on this side the Alpes Are those hils onely the thresholds of honour I plead not because I cannot feare you But who sees not how munificently our Church scattereth her bountifull fauours vpon lesse merit If your day be not yet come expect it God and the Church owe you a benefit if their payment be long it is sure Onely goe you on with courage in those your high endeauors and in the meane time thinke it great recompence to haue deserued To Mr E.A. EP. IX A Discourse of fleeing or stay in the time of pestilence whether lawfull for Minister or people HOw many hath a seduced conscience led vntimely to the graue I speake of this sad occasion of Pestilence The Angell of God followes you and you doubt whether you should flye If a Lyon out of the forest should pursue you you would make no question yet could he not doe it vnsent What is the difference Both instruments of diuine reuenge both threaten death one by spilling the blood the other by infecting it Who knowes whether he hath not appointed your Zoar out of the lists of this destruction You say it is Gods visitation What euill is not If warre haue wasted the confines of your Country you saue your throats by flight Why are you more fauourable to Gods immediate sword of pestilence Very leprosie by Gods law requires a separation yet no mortall sicknesse When you see a noted Leper proclaime his vncleannesse in the street
Rulers in Christ's time were notoriously couetous proud oppressing cruell superstitious our Sauiour feared not polluting in ioyning with them and was so farre from separating himselfe that hee called and sent others to them But a little Leauen leauens the whole lumpe it is true by the infection of it sinne where it is vnpunished spreadeth it sowreth all those whose hands are in it not others If we dislike it detest desist reproue and mourne for it we cannot bee tainted the Corinthian loue-feasts had grosse and sinfull disorder yet you heare not Paul say Abstaine from the Sacrament till these be reformed Rather he enioynes the act and controules the abuse God hath bidden you heare and receiue shew me where he hath said except others be sinfull Their vncleannesse can no more defile you then your holinesse can excuse them But while I communicate you say I consent God forbid It is sinne not to cast out the deseruing but not yours vvho made you a Ruler and a Iudge The vncleane must bee separated not by the people Would you haue no distinction betwixt priuate and publike persons What strange confusion is this And what other then the old note of Corah and his company Yee take too much vpon you seeing all the Congregation is holy euery one of them and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift ye vp your selues aboue the Congregation of the Lord What is if this be not to make a Monster of Christs body hee is the head his Church the body consisting of diuers limbes All haue their seuerall faculties and imployments not euery one all vvho would imagine any man so absurd as to say that this bodie should be all tongue or all hands euery man a Teacher euery man a Ruler As Christ had said to euery man Goe teach and whose sinnes yee remit How senselesse are these two extreames Of the Papists that one man hath the Keyes Of the Brownists that euery man hath them But these priuiledges and charges are giuen to the Church True to be executed by her Gouernors the facultie of speech is giuen to the vvhole man but the vse of it to the proper instrument Man speaketh but by his tongue if a voice should be heard from his hand eare foot it were vnnaturall Now if the tongue speake not when it ought shall we bee so foolish as to blame the hand But you say if the tongue speake not or speake ill the whole man smarteth the man sinneth I grant it but you shall set the naturall body on too hard a rack if you straine it in all things to the likenesse of the spirituall or ciuill The members of that being quickned by the same soule haue charge of each other and therefore either stand or fall together It is not so in these If then notwithstanding vnpunished sinnes we may ioyne with the true Church Whether is ours such You doubt and your solicitors deny surely if we haue many enormities yet none worse then rash and cruell iudgement let them make this a colour to depart from themselues there is no lesse woe to them that call good euill To iudge one man is bold and dangerous Iudge then vvhat it is to condemn a vvhole Church God knowes as much vvithout cause as without shame Vaine men may libell against the Spouse of Christ her husband neuer diuorced her No his loue is still aboue their hatred his blessings aboue their censures Do but aske them were we euer the true Church of God If they deny it Who then were so Had God neuer Church vpon earth since the Apostles time till Barrow and Greenwood arose And euen then scarce a number nay when or where vvas euer any man in the vvorld except in the schooles perhaps of Donatus or Nouatus that taught their doctrine and now still hath he none but in a blind lane at Amsterdam Can you thinke this probable If they affirme it when ceased we Are not the points controuerted still the same The same gouernment the same doctrine Their minds are changed not our estate Who hath admonished euinced excommunicated vs and when All these must be done Will it not be a shame to say that Francis Iohnson as he tooke power to excommunicate his Brother and Father so had power to excommunicate his Mother the Church How base and idle are these conceits Are wee then Heretikes condemned in our selues Wherein ouerthrow wee the foundation What other God Sauiour Scriptures Iustification Sacraments Heauen do they teach besides vs Can all the Masters of Separation yea can all the Churches in Christendome set forth a more exquisite and worthy confession of faith then is contained in the Articles of the Church of England Who can hold these and bee hereticall Or from which of these are we reuolted But to make this good they haue taught you to say that euery truth in Scripture is fundamentall so fruitfull is errour of absurdities Whereof still one breeds another more deformed then it selfe That Trophimus vvas left at Miletum sicke that Pauls Cloake was left at Troas that Gaius Pauls hoast saluted the Romanes that Nabal was drunke or that Thamar baked Cakes and a thousand of this nature are fundamentall how large is the Separatists Creed that hath all these Articles If they say all Scripture is of the same Author of the same authoritie so say we but not of the same vse is it as necessarie for a Christian to know that Peter hosted with one Simon a Tanner in Ioppa as that Iesus Christ the Sonne of God vvas borne of the Virgin Mary What a monster is this of an opinion that all truths are equall that this spirituall house should be all foundation no walls no roofe Can no man be saued but he that knowes euery thing in Scripture Then both they and vvee are excluded heauen would not haue so many as their Parlor at Amsterdam Can any man be saued that knowes nothing in Scripture It is farre from them to be so ouercharitable to affirme it you see then that both all truths must not of necessitie bee knowne and some must and these we iustly call fundamentall which who so holdeth all his hay and stubble through the mercy of God condemne him not stil he hath right to the Church on earth and hope in heauen but whether euery truth bee fundamentall or necessarie discipline you say is so indeed necessarie to the well-being of a Church no more it may be true without it not perfect Christ compares his Spouse to an Army with banners as order is to an Armie so is discipline to the Church if the troopes be not well marshalled in their seuerall rankes and moue not forward according to the discipline of warre it is an Armie still confusion may hinder their successe it cannot bereaue them of their name it is as beautifull proportion to the bodie an hedge to a vineyard a wall to a City an hem to a garment feeling to an house It may be a body vineyard
a childe what should I note more not rub or scratch in publike God commands them to weare Totaphoth phylacteries Vex Egyptiaca Versus quidam ex lege Mosis in pergameno scripti sez 14. priores 13. Exo. 4 5 6 7 8 9. 6. Deut. Pagn Quo ferrum vim assandi habet Praec Mos cum expos Ibid. they doe which our Sauiour reproues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlarge them and these must bee written with right lines in a whole parchment of the hide of a cleane beast God commands to celebrate and rost the Passeouer they will haue it done in an excesse of care not with an iron but a woodden spit and curiously chuse the wood of Pomegranate God commanded to auoid Idolatry they taught their Disciples if an Image were in the way to fetch about some other if they must needes goe that way to runne and if a thorne should light in their foot neere the place not to kneele but sit downe to pull it out lest they should seeme to giue it reuerence I weary you with these Iewish niceties Consider then how deuout how liberall how continent how true dealing how zealous how scrupulous how austere these men were and see if it bee not a wonder that our Sauiour thus brandeth them Except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises yee shall not enter into the kingdome of Heauen That is If your doctrine bee not more righteous you shall not be entred of the Church if your holinesse bee not more perfect you shall not enter into heauen behold Gods kingdome below and aboue is shut vpon them The poore Iewes were so besotted with the admiration of these two that they would haue thought if but two men must goe to heauen the one should be a Scribe the other a Pharisee What strange newes was this from him that kept the keies of Dauid that neither of them should come there It was not the person of these men not their learning not wit not eloquence not honour they admired so much but their righteousnesse and loe nothing but their righteousnesse is censured Herein they seemed to exceed all men herein all that would bee saued must exceed them Doe but thinke how the amazed multitude stared vpon our Sauiour when they heard this Paradox Exceed the Pharises in righteousnesse It were much for an Angell from heauen What shall the poore sonnes of the earth doe if these worthies bee turned away with a repulse yea perhaps your selues all that heare mee this day receiue this not without astonishment and feare whiles your consciences secretly comparing your holinesse with theirs finde it to come as much short of theirs as theirs of perfection And would to God you could feare more and bee more amazed with this comparison for to set you forward must wee exceed them or else not bee saued If we let them exceed vs what hope what possibilitie is there of our saluation Ere wee therefore shew how farre we must goe before them looke backe with me I beseech you a little and see how farre we are behinde them They taught diligently and kept Moses his chaire warme How many are there of vs Matth. 23.3 whom the great Master of the Vineyard may finde loitering in this publike market-place and shake vs by the shoulder with a Quid statis otiosi Why stand you here idle They compast sea and land Satans walke to make a proselyte we sit still and freeze in our zeale and lose proselytes with our dull and wilfull neglect They spent one quarter of the day in praier how many are there of vs that would not thinke this an vnreasonable seruice of God We are so farre from this extreme deuotion of the old Euchita Correcti à Concilio Toletan Bellar. that wee are rather worthy of a censure with those Spanish Priests for our negligence How many of you Citizens can get leaue of Mammon to bestow one houre of the day in a set course vpon God How many of you Lawyers are first clients to God ere you admit others clients to you How many of you haue your thoughts fixed in Heauen ere they be in Westminster Alas what dulnesse is this what iniustice All thy houres are his and thou wilt not lend him one of his owne for thine owne good They read they recited the Law some twice a day neuer went without some parts of it about them but to what effect There is not one of our people saith Iosephus but answers to any question of the Law as readily as his owne name Quilibet nostrū de lege interrogatus facilius quam nemen suū respondet Ios cone◠App. lib. 2. How shall their diligence vpbraid yea condemne vs Alas how doe our Bibles gather dust for want of vse while our Chronicle or our Statute-booke yea perhaps our idle and scurrilous play-bookes are worne with turning Oh how happy were our fore-fathers whose memory is blessed for euer if they could with much cost and more danger get but one of Pauls Epistles in their bosomes how did they hugge it in their armes hide it in their chest yea in their hearts How did they eat walke sleepe with that sweet companion and in spight of persecution neuer thought themselues well but when they conuersed with it in secret Loe now these shops are all open we buy them not these books are open we read them not and we will be ignorant because we will The Sunne shines and wee shut our windowes It is enough for the miserable Popish Laitie to bee thus darke that liue in the perpetuall night of Inquisition Shal this be the only difference betwixt them and vs that they would read the holy leaues and may not we may and will not There is no ignorance to the wilfull I stand not vpon a formall and verball knowledge that was neuer more frequent more flourishing But if the maine grounds of Christianitie were throughly setled in the hearts of the multitude wee should not haue so much cause of shame and sorrow nor our aduersaries of triumph and insultation Shew lesse therefore for Gods sake and learne more and ballace your wauering heart with the sound truth of Godlinesse that you may flie steadily thorow all the tempests of errors Make Gods Law of your learned counsell with Dauid and be happy Matth. 8.12 Else if you will needs loue darknesse you shall haue enough of it you haue here inward darknesse there outward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is your owne darknesse Choshet Aphelab Tenebrae caliginis that his of whom the Psalmist He sent darknesse and it was darke Darke indeed A thicke and terrible darknesse ioyned with weeping and gnashing I vrge not their awfull reuerence in their deuotion our sleepy or wilde carelesnesse their austere and rough discipline of the bodie our wanton pampering of the flesh though who can abide to thinke of a chaste Pharisee a filthy Christian a temperate Pharise a drunken
of God as man who fell on his face to his Father And this is due to God as a Father as a master as a benefactor as a God infinite in all that he is Let me be bold to speake to you with the Psalmist Come yee children Psal 34.11 harken to mee and I will teach you the feare of the Lord. What is it therefore to feare God but to acknowledge the glorious tho inuisible presence of God in all our wayes with Moses his eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. Sic semper Deum praesentem intelligit ac si ipsum qui praesens est in sua essentia viderit Bern. form hon vitae 2 Sam. 15.26 Senec. Epist Psal 36.1 to bee awfully affected at his presence with Iacob quà m tremendus to make an humble resignation of our selues to the holy will of God with Eli It is the Lord and to attend reuerently vpon his disposing with DAVID Here I am let him die to me as seemeth good in his eyes This is the leare of the Lord. There is nothing more talkt of nothing lesse felt I appeale from the tongues of men to their hands the wise Heathen taught mee to doe so Verba rebus proba The voice of wickednesse is actuall saith the Psalmist wickednesse saith there is no feare of God before his eyes Behold wheresoeuer is wickednesse there can be no feare of God these two cannot lodge vnde◠one roofe for the feare of God driues out euill saith Ecclesiasticus Ecclus 1.26 As therefore Abraham argues well from the cause to the effect Because the feare of God is not in this place therefore they will kill me So Dauid argues backe from the effect to the cause They imagine wickednesse on their bed c. therefore the feare of God is not before them I would to God his argument were not too demonstratiue Brethren our liues shame vs. If we feared the Lord durst we dally with his name durst we teare it in peeces Surely we contemn his person whose name we contemn The Iewes haue a conceit that the sinne of that Israelite which was stoned for blasphemy was onely this that hee named that ineffable name of foure letters Iehouah Shall their feare keepe them from once mentioning the dreadfull name of God and shall not our feare keepe vs from abusing it Durst we so boldly sinne God in the face if we feared him Durst wee mocke God with a formall flourish of that which our heart tells vs we are not if wee feared him Durst we be Christians at Church Mammonists at home if we feared him Pardon me if in a day of gratulation I hardly temper my tongue from reproofe for as the Iewes had euer some malefactor brought forth to them in their great feast so it shall bee the happiest peece of our triumph and solemnitie if we can bring forth that wicked profanenesse wherewith we haue dishonoured God and blemisht his Gospell to be scourged and dismissed with all holy indignity From this feare let vs passe as briefly through that which wee must dwell in all our liues the seruice of God This is the subiect of all Sermons mine shall but touch at it You shall see how I hasten to that discourse which this day and your expectation calls me to Diuine Philosophy teaches vs to referre not onely our speculations but our affections to action As therefore our seruice must be grounded vpon feare so our feare must be reduced to seruice What strength can these masculine dispositions of the soule yeeld vs if with the Israelites brood they be smothered in the birth Indeed the worst kinde of feare is that we call seruile but the best feare is the feare of seruants For there is no seruant of God but feares filially And againe God hath no sonne but hee serues Euen the naturall sonne of God was so in the forme of a seruant that he serued indeed and so did he serue that he indured all sorrow and fulfilled all righteousnesse So euery Christian is a son and heire to the King of heauen and his word must be I serue We all know what seruice meanes For we all are or were I imagine either seruants of masters or seruants of the publique or masters of seruants or all these We cannot therefore be ignorant either what we require of ours or what our superiours require of vs. If seruice consisted only in wearing of liueries in taking of wages in making of curtesies and kissing of hands there were nothing more easie or more common All of vs weare the cognizance of our Christianitie in our Baptisme all liue vpon Gods trencher in our maintenance all giue him the complements of a fashionable profession But be not deceiued the life of seruice is worke the worke of a Christian is obedience to the Law of God The Centurion when he would describe his good seruant in the Gospell needed say no more but this I bid him doe this and he doth it Seruice then briefly is nothing but a readinesse to doe as we are bidden and therefore both Salomon and he that was greater than Salomon describes it by keeping the commandements and the chosen vessell giues an euerlasting rule Rom. 6.1 His seruants yee are to whom yee obey Now I might distinguish this seruice into habituall and actuall Habituall for as the seruant while he eats or sleepes is in seruice still so are wee to God Actuall whether vniuersall in the whole carriage of our liues which Zacharie tells vs is in holinesse Luke 1.75 and righteousnesse holinesse to God righteousnesse to men or particular either in the duties which are proper to God Inuocation and Attendance on his ordinance which by an excellence is tearmed his seruice or in those which are proper to vs as wee are peeces of a Familie Church Common-wealth the stations whereof God hath so disposed that we may serue him in seruing one another And thus you see I might make way for an endlesse discourse but it shall content me passing ouer this world of matter to glance onely at the generality of this infinite theme As euery obedience serues God so euery sinne makes God serue vs. One said wittily that the angry man made himselfe the iudge and God the executioner There is no sinne that doth not the like The glutton makes God his cator and himselfe the guest and his belly his God especially in the new-found feasts of this Age wherein profusenesse and profanenesse striue for the tables end The lasciuious man makes himselfe the louer Lud. Viues de verit Relig. l. 4. and as Viues saies of Mahumet God the Pandar The couetous man makes himselfe the Vsurer and God the broker The ambitious makes God his stale Esay 43.24 and Honor his God Of euery sinner doth God say iustly Seruire me fecisti Thou hast made me to serue with thy sins There cannot be a greater honor for vs than to serue such a master as commands heauen earth
vs. What liuing man had euer so noble proofes of the mercy of the iustice of God Mercy vpon himselfe iustice vpon others What man had so gratious approbation from his Maker Behold he of whom in an vncleane world God said Thee onely haue I found righteous proues now vncleane when the world was purged The Preacher of righteousnes vnto the former age the King Priest Prophet of the world renued is the first that renues the sins of that world which he had reproued and which he saw condemned for sin Gods best children haue no fence for sins of infirmity Which of the Saints haue not once done that whereof they are ashamed God that lets vs fall knows how to make as good vse of the sins of his holy ones as of their obedience If we had not such patternes who could choose but despaire at the sight of his sinnes Yet we find Noah drunken but once One act can no more make a good heart vnrighteous then a trade of sin can stand with regeneration but when I looke to the effect of this sin I cannot but blush and wonder Loe this sin is worse then sinne Other sins moue shame but hide it this displayes it to the world Adam had no sooner sinned but he saw and abhord his owne nakednesse seeking to hide it euen with bushes Noah had no sooner sinned but he discouers his nakednesse and hath not so much rule of himselfe as to be ashamed One houres drunkennes bewrayes that which more then six hundred years sobriety had modestly concealed he that giues himself to wine is not his owne what shall we thinke of this vice which robs a man of himselfe and layes a beast in his roome Noahs nakednes is seen in wine it is no vnusuall quality in this excesse to disclose secrets drunkennesse doth both make imperfections and shew those we haue to others eyes so would God haue it that we might be double asham'd both those of weaknesses which we discouer and of that weaknesse which moued vs to discouer Noah is vncouered but in the midst of his owne Tent It had beene sinfull though no man had seen it vnknown sins haue their guilt shame are iustly attended with known punishments Vngratious Cham saw it laughed his fathers shame should haue bin his the deformity of those parts from which he had his being should haue begotten in him a secret horror and deiection how many gracelesse men make sport at the causes of their humiliation Twise had Noah giuen him life yet neither the name of a Father Preseruer nor Age nor vertue could shield him from the contempt of his own I see that euen Gods Arke may nourish Monsters some filthy toads may lye vnder the stones of the Temple God preserues some men in iudgment Better had it been for Cham to haue perished in the vvaters then to liue vnto his fathers curse Not content to be a witnes of this filthy sight he goes on to be a Proclaimer of it Sin doth ill in the eye but worse in the tongue As all sinne is a worke of darknesse so it should be buried in darknesse The report of sin is oft times as ill as the commission for it can neuer be blazoned without vncharitablenesse seldome without infection Oh the vnnaturall and more then Chammish impietie of those sons which reioyce to publish the nakednesse of their spirituall Parents euen to their Enemies Yet it was well for Noah that Cham could tell it to none but his owne and those gracious and dutifull Sons Our shame is the lesse if none know our faults but our friends Behold how loue couereth sins these good Sonnes are so farre from going forward to see their Fathers shame that they goe backward to hide it The cloke is laid on both their shoulders they both goe backe with equall pases and dare not so much as looke backe lest they should vnwillingly see the cause of their shame and will rather aduenture to stumble at their Fathers body then to see his nakednesse How did it grieue them to thinke that they which had so oft come to their holy Father with reuerence must now in reuerence turne their backs vpon him and that they must now cloth him in pity which had so often clothed them in loue And which addes more to their duty they couered him and said nothing This modest sorrow is their praise and our example The sinnes of those we loue and honour we must heare of with indignation fearfully and vnwillingly beleeue acknowledge with griefe and shame hide with honest excuses and burie in silence How equall a regard is this both of piety and disobedience because C ham sinned against his Father therefore he shall be plagued in his children Iapheth is dutiful to his Father and finds it in his posterity Because C ham was an ill Son to his Father therefore his sonnes shall bee Seruants to his Brethren because Iapheth set his shoulder to Sems to beare the cloake of shame therefore shall Iapheth dwell in the Tents of Sem partaking with him in blessings as in dutie When we do but what we ought yet God is thankfull to vs and rewards that which we should sinne if wee did not who could euer yet shew mee a man rebelliously vndutifull to his Parents that hath prospered in himselfe and his seed Of BABEL HOw soone are men and sinnes multiplyed within one hundred yeares the World is as full of both as if there had been no Deluge Though men could not but see the fearfull monuments of the ruine of their Ancestors yet how quickly had they forgotten a flood Good Noah liued to see the World both populous and wicked againe and doubtlesse oft-times repented to haue been preseruer of some whom hee saw to traduce the vices of the former World to the renued It could not but grieue him to see the destroyed Gyants reuiue out of his owne loynes and to see them of his flesh and blood tyrannize ouer themselues In his sight Nimrod casting off the awe of his holy Grandfather grew imperious and cruell and made his owne kinsmen seruants How easie a thing it is for a great spirit to bee the head of a faction when euen brethren will stoope to seruitude And now when men are combined together euill and presumptuous motions find encouragement in multitudes and each man takes a pride in seeming forwardest we are the cheerfuller in good when wee haue the assistance of company much more in sinning by how much we are more prone to euill then good It was a proud word Come let vs build vs a Citie and a Tower whose top may reach to Heauen They were newly come downe from the Hils vnto the Playnes and now thinke of raising vp of an Hill of building in the Plaine when their Tents were pitched vpon the Mountaines of Armenia they were as neere to Heauen as their Towre could make them but their ambition must needs aspire to an height of their owne
imployed it that it hath stolne away their hearts from God and yet while it is molten into an image they thinke it dedicated to the Lord. If Religion might be iudged according to the intention there should scarce be any Idolatry in the world This woman loued her siluer enough and if she had not thought this costly piety worth thanks she knew which way to haue imployed her stocke to aduantage Euen euill actions haue oft-times good meanings and those good meanings are answered with euill recompences Many a one bestowes their cost their labour their blood and receiues torment in stead of thanks Behold a superstitious sonne of a superstitious mother She makes a god and hee harbours it yea as the streame is commonly broader then the head he exceeds his mother in euill He hath an house of gods an Ephod Teraphin and that he might bee complete in his deuotion he makes his sonne his Priest and feoffes that sinne vpon his sonne which he receiued from his mother Those sinnes which nature conuayes not to vs we haue by imitation Euery action and gesture of the Parents is an example to the childe and the mother as she is more tender ouer her sonne so by the power of a reciprocall loue she can worke most vpon his inclination Whence it is that in the history of the Israelitish Kings the mothers name is commonly noted and as ciuilly so also morally The birth followes the belly Those sonnes may blesse their second birth that are deliuered from the sinnes of their education Who cannot but thinke how far Micha ouer-lookt all his fellow Israelites and thought them profane and godlesse in comparison of himselfe How did he secretly clap himselfe on the brest as the man whose happynesse it was to ingrosse Religion from all the Tribes of Israel and little can imagine that the further he runs the more out of the way Can an Israelite be thus paganish O Micha how hath superstition bewitched thee that thou canst not see rebellion in euery of these actions yea in euery circumstance rebellion What more gods then one An house of gods beside Gods house An Image of siluer to the inuincible God An Ephod and no Priest A Priest besides the family of Leui A Priest of thine owne begetting of thine owne consecration What monsters doth mans imagination produce when it is forsaken of God It is well seen there is no King in Israel If God had been their King his lawes had ruled them Moses or Ioshua had beene their King their sword had awed them If any other the courses of Israel could not haue beene so headlesse We are beholden to gouernment for order for peace for religion Where there is no King eueryone will be a King yea a God to himselfe Wee are worthy of nothing but confusion if wee blesse not God for authority It is no maruell if Leuites wandred for maintenance while there was no King in Israel The tithes offerings were their due if these had bin paid none of the holy Tribe needed to shift his station Euen where Royall power seconds the claime of the Leuite the iniustice of men shortnes his right What should become of the Leuites if there were no King And what of the Church if no Leuits No King therefore no Church How could the impotent childe liue without a Nurse Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers and Queenes thy nurses saith God Nothing more argues the disorder of any Church or the decay of Religion then the forced stragling of the Leuites There is hope of growth when Micha rides to seeke a Leuite but when the Leuite comes to seeke a seruice of Micha it is a signe of gasping deuotion Micha was no obscure man all Mount Ephraim could not but take notice of his domesticall gods This Leuite could not but heare of his disposition of his mis-deuotion yet want of maintenance no lesse then conscience drawes him on to the danger of Idolatrous patronage Holinesse is not tyed to any profession Happy were it for the Church if the Clergy could be a priuiledge from lewdnes When need meets with vnconscionablenes all conditions are easily swallowed of vnlawfull entrances of wicked executions Ten shekels and a sute of apparell and his diet are good wages for a needy Leuite He that could bestow 11000. shekels vpon his puppets can afford but ten to his Priest so hath he at once a rich Idoll and a beggerly Priest Whosoeuer affects to serue God good cheape shewes that he makes God but a stale to Mammon Yet was Micha a kinde Patron though not liberall He cals the young Leuite his father and vses him as his sonne and what he wants in meanes supplies in affection It were happy if Christians could imitate the loue of Idolaters towards thē which serue at the Altar Micha made a shift with the Priesthood of his owne sonne yet that his heart checkes him in it appeares both by the change and his contentment in the change Now I know that the Lord will be good to me seeing I haue a Leuite to my Priest Therefore whiles his Priest was no Leuite hee sees there was cause why God should not bee good to him If the Leuite had not comne to offer his seruice Michaes sonne had been a lawfull Priest Many times thy conscience runnes away smoothly with an vnwarrantable action and rests it self vpon those grounds which afterward it sees cause to condemne It is a sure way therefore to informe our selues throughly ere we settle our choice that we be not driuen to reuerse our acts with late shame and vnprofitable repentance Now did Micha begin to see some little glimpse of his owne errour He saw his Priesthood faulty he saw not the faults of his Ephod of his Images of his gods and yet as if he thought all had been well when he had amended one he sayes Now I know the Lord will be good to me The carnall heart pleases it selfe with an outward formality and so delights to flatter it selfe as that it thinkes if one circumstance be right nothing can be amisse Israel was at this time extremely corrupted yet the spies of the Danites had taken notice euen of this young Leuite and are glad to make vse of his Priesthood If they had but gone vp to Shilo they might haue cōsulted with the Arke of God but worldly minds are not curious in their holy seruices If they haue a god an Ephod a Priest it suffices them They had rather enioy a false worship with ease then to take paines for the true Those that are curious in their diet in their purchases in their attire in their contracts yet in Gods businesses are very indifferent The author of lies sometime speakes truth for an aduantage and from his mouth this flattering Leuite speaks what he knew would please not what he knew would fall out The euent answers his prediction and now the spies magnifie him to their fellowes Michaes Idoll is a god and the Leuite
incouraged it insults and tyrannizes It was more iust that Israel should rise against Beniamin then that Beniamin should rise for Gibeah by how much it is better to punish offenders then to shelter the offenders from punishing And yet the wickednesse of Beniamin sped better for the time then the honesty of Israel Twise was the better part foyled by the lesse and worse The good cause was sent backe with shame the euill returned with victory and triumph O God! their hand was for thee in the fight thy hand was with them in their fall They had not fought for thee but by thee neither could they haue miscarried in the fight if thou hadst not fought against them Thou art iust and holy in both The cause was thine the sinne in managing of it was their owne They fought in an holy quarrell but with confidence in themselues for as presuming of victory they aske of God not what should be their successe but who should be their Captaine Number and innocence made them too secure I was iust therefore with God to let them feele that euen good zeale cannot beare out presumption and that victorie lies not in the cause but in the God that ownes it Who cannot imagine how much the Beniaminites insulted in their double field and day And now beganne to thinke God was on their side Those swords which had been taught the way into forty thousand bodies of their brethren cannot feare a new encounter Wicked men cannot see their prosperity a piece of their curse neither can examine their actions but the euents Soone after thy shall finde what it was to adde bloud vnto filthinesse and that the victorie of an euill cause is the way to ruine and confusion I should haue feared lest this double discomfiture should haue made Israel either distrustfull or weary of a good cause but still I finde them no lesse couragious with more humility Now they fast and weepe and sacrifice These weapons had beene victorious in their first assault Beniamin had neuer been in danger of pride for ouercomming if this humiliation of Israel had preuented the fight It is seldome seene but that which we doe with feare prospereth whereas confidence in vndertaking layes euen good endeuours in the dust Wickednesse could neuer bragge of any long prosperity nor complaine of the lacke of paiment Still God is euen with it at the last Now he payes the Beniaminites both that death which they had lent to the Israelites and that wherein they stood indebted to their brotherhood of Gibeah And now that both are met in death there is as much difference betwixt those Israelites and these Beniaminites as betwixt Martyrs and Malefactors To die in a sinne is a fearefull reuenge of giuing patronage to sinne The sword consumes their bodies another fire their Cities whatsoeuer became of their soules Now might Rachel haue iustly wept for her children because they were not for behold the men women and children of her wicked Tribe are cut off only some few scattered remainders ran away from this vengeance and lurked in caues and rockes both for feare and shame There was no difference but life betwixt their brethren and them the earth couered them both yet vnto them doth the reuenge of Israel stretch it selfe and vowes to destroy if not their persons yet their succession as holding them vnworthy to receiue any comfort by that sex to which they had been so cruell both in act and maintenance If the Israelites had not held marriage and issue a very great blessing they had not thus reuenged themselues of Beniamin now they accounted the with-holding of their wiues a punishment second to death The hope of life in our posterity is the next contentment to an enioying of life in our selues They haue sworne and now vpon cold bloud repent them If the oath were not iust why would they take it and if it were iust why did they recant it If the act were iustifiable what needed these teares Euen a iust oath may be rashly taken not only iniustice but temerite of swearing ends in lamentation In our very ciuill actions it is a weakenesse to doe that which we would after reuerse but in our affaires with God to checke our selues too late and to steepe our oathes in teares is a dangerous folly Hee doth not command vs to take voluntary oathes he commands vs to keepe them If we binde our selues to inconuenience we may iustly complaine of our owne setters Oathes doe not onely require iustice but iudgement wise deliberation no lesse then equity Not conscience of their fact but commiseration of their brethren led them to this publike repentance O God why is this come to passe that this day one Tribe of Israel shall want Euen the iustest reuenge of men is capable of pitty Insultation in the rigour of Iustice argues cruelty Charitable mindes are grieued to see that done which they would not wish vndone the smart of the offender doth not please them which yet are throughly displeased with the sinne and haue giuen their hands to punish it God himselfe takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner yet loues the punishment of sinne As a god parent whips his childe yet weepes himselfe There is a measure in victory and reuenge if neuer so iust which to exceed leeses mercy in the suit of Iustice If there were no fault in their seuerity it needed no excuse and if there were a fault it will admit of no excuse yet as if they meant to shift off the sin they expostulate with God O Lord God of Israel why is this come to passe this day God gaue them no command of this rigour yea he twice crost them in the execution and now in that which they intreated of God with teares they challenge him It is a dangerous iniustice to lay the burden of our sins vpon him which tempteth no man nor can bee tempted with euill whiles we would so remoue our sinne we double it A man that knew not the power of an oath would wonder at this contrarietie in the affections of Israel They are sorry for the slaughter of Beniamin and yet they slay those that did not helpe them in the slaughter Their oath cals them to more bloud The excesse of their reuenge vpon Beniamin may not excuse the men of Gillead If euer oath might looke for a dispensation this might plead it Now they dare not but kill the men of Iabesh Gilead lest they should haue left vpon themselues a greater sin of sparing then punishing Iabesh Gilead came not vp to aid Israel therefore all the inhabitants must die To exempt our selues whether out of singularity or stubbornnesse from the common actions of the Church when we are lawfully called to them is an offence worthy of iudgement In the maine quarrels of the Church neutrals are punished This execution shall make amends for the former of the spoile of Iabesh Gilead shall the Beniaminites be stored with wiues that no
crueltie FJNIS Contemplations VPON THE PRINCIPALL PASSAGES OF THE Holy Storie The fourth Volume By I. H. D. D. LONDON Printed for THO PAVIER MILES FLESHER and Iohn Haviland 1625. Contemplations THE TWELFTH BOOKE Containing The Arke and Dagon The Arkes reuenge and returne The remoue of the Arke The meeting of SAVL and SAMVEL The Jnauguration of SAVL SAMVELS contestation SAVLS sacrifice IONATHANS victorie and SAVLS oath BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY SINGVLAR GOOD LORD the Lord Hay Baron of Saley One of his Maiesties most honourable Priuy Councell RIGHT HONORABLE VPon how iust reason these my Contemplations goe forth so late after their Fellowes it were needlesse to giue account to your Lordship in whose traine I had the honour since my last to passe both the Sea and the Twede All my priuate studies haue gladly vailed to the publike seruices of my Soueraigne Master No sooner could I recouer the happinesse of my quiet thoughts then J renued this my diuine taske Wherein J cannot but professe to place so much contentment as that J wish not any other measure of my life then it What is this other then the exaltation of ISAACS delight to walke forth into the pleasant fields of the Scriptures and to meditate of nothing vnder heauen Yea what other then IACOBS sweet vision of Angels climbing vp and downe that sacred Ladder which God hath set betweene heauen and earth Yea to rise yet higher what other then an imitation of holy Moyses in his conuersing with God himselfe on the Horeb of both Testaments And if J may call your Lo. forth a little from your great affaires of Court and State to blesse your eyes with this prospect how happy shall you confesse this change of obiects and how vnwillingly shall you obtaine leaue of your thoughts to returne vnto these sublunary imployments Our last Discourse left Gods Arke amongst the Philistims now we returne to see what it doth there and to fetch it thence Wherein your Lo. shall find the reuenges of God neuer so deadly as when he giues most way vnto men The vaine confidence of wickednesse ending in a late repentance The fearfull plagues of a presumptuous sawcinesse with God not preuented with the honesty of good intentions The mercy of God accepting the seruices of an humble faithfulnesse in a meaner dresse From thence you shall see the dangerous issue of an affected innouation although to the better The errors of credulitie and blind affection in the holiest Gouernours guilty of the peoples discontentment The stubborne headdinesse of a multitude that once finds the reynes slacke in their necks not capable of any pause but their owne fall The vntrusty promises of a faire outside and a plausible entrance shutting vp in a wofull disappointment What doe J forestall a Discourse so full of choice your Lo. shall finde euery line vsefull and shall willingly confesse that the Story of God can make a man not lesse wise then good Mine humble thankfulnesse knowes not how to expresse it selfe otherwise then in these kind of presents and in my heartie prayers for the encrease of your honour and happinesse which shall neuer be wanting from Your Lo. sincerely and thankfully deuoted IOS HALL Contemplations THE TWELFTH BOOKE The Arke and Dagon IF men did not mistake God they could not arise to such height of impiety The acts of his iust iudgement are imputed to impotence that God would send his Arke captiue to the Philistims is so construed by them as if hee could not keepe it the wife of Phinehas cryed out that glory was departed from Israel The Philistims dare say in triumph that glory is departed from the God of Israel The Arke was not Israels but Gods this victory reaches higher then to men Dagon had neuer so great a day so many sacrifices as now that he seemes to take the God of Israel prisoner Where should the captiue be bestowed but in the custody of the victor It is not loue but insultation that lodges the Arke close beside Dagon What a spectacle was this to see vncircumcised Philistims laying their prophane hands vpon the Testimony of Gods presence to see the glorious Mercy-seat vnder the roofe of an idoll to see the two Cherubims spreading their wings vnder a false god Oh the deepe and holy wisedome of the Almighty which ouer-reaches all the finite conceits of his creatures who whiles he seemes most to neglect himselfe fetches about most glory to his owne name He winkes and fits still on purpose to see what men would doe and is content to suffer indignity from his creature for a time that he may be euerlastingly magnified in his iustice and power That honour pleaseth God and men best which is raised out of contempt The Arke of God was not vsed to such Porters The Philistims carie it vnto Ashdod that the victory of Dagon may bee more glorious What paines Superstition puts men vnto for the triumph of a false cause And if prophane Philistims can thinke it no toyle to carrie the Arke where they should not what a shame is it for vs if wee doe not gladly attend it where we should How iustly may Gods truth scorne the imparitie of our zeale If the Israelites did put confidence in the Arke can wee maruell that the Philistims did put confidence in that power which as they thought had conquered the Arke The lesse is euer subiect vnto the greater What could they now thinke but that heauen and earth were theirs Who shall stand out against them when the God of Israel hath yeelded Security and presumption attend euer at the threshold of ruine God will let them sleepe in this confidence in the morning they shall fine how vainly they haue dreamed Now they begin to find they haue but gloried in their owne plague and ouerthrowne nothing but their owne peace Dagon hath an house when God hath but a Tabernacle It is no measuring of Religion by outward glory Into this house the proud Philistims come the next morning to congratulate vnto their god so great a captiue such diuine spoiles and in their early deuotions to fall downe before him vnder whom the God of Israel was fallen and loe where they find their god fallen downe on the ground vpon his face before him whom they thought both his prisoner and theirs Their god is forced to doe that which they should haue done voluntarily although God casts downe that dumbe riuall of his for scorne not for adoration Oh ye foolish Philistims could ye thinke that the same house will hold God and Dagon could ye thinke a senselesse stone a fit companion and guardian for the liuing God Had ye laid your Dagon vpon his face prostrate before the Arke yet would not God haue endured the indignity of such a lodging but now that ye presume to set vp your carued stone equall to his Cherubins goe reade your folly in the floore of your Temple and know