quasi materia Either as something of or something belonging to Repentance either as parts of Penitency or * Ibid. Concil Fâ—orent acts of the Penitent necessary either ut praecepta or media †Concil Trident in â—atechist ad parochos in sacrament poenitent as things of nature or conducing to the perfection of Repentance Many of them have said no more and for ought I see we may as much for when no stone is lest unmoved and sick man-like we have tossed us from side to side we are still in the same place We admit them all in some cases As for Confession to the Priest our Church approves and presseth it * Book of Common Prayer indeed as †B Vsher in answer to the Jesuit challenge p 92. Medicinal not Sacramental and though the Keys be grown rustie yet are they rich But we have not now to do with any secret sin Canus parte quinta de relict poenitent but with a known Capital offence And though with the Greek Church we content our selves oft-times with confession to God alone yet here together with them we do admit approve urge a publick Exhomolegesis open Confession and Church discipline S. Thom. ex Anselmo Satisfactio est compensatio Offensae prae teritae ad aequalitatem justitiae As for Satisfaction our intent is not to make level with the Almighty for our sins We know the disproportion between Mans weakness and Gods justice * Dr. Fulke ad 2 Cor. 2. S. 6. in Rhem. Test and against Stapleton Fortress 10. difference But publick offences may not be smothered privately and he that hath given scandal and offended the Church must to the Church give Satisfaction Said I that he must nay he will he will willingly He will cry ignosce pater for his Sin and ignosce frater for his Example All his grief is that he did sin and not that he doth suffer and freely and ingeniously he will confess That whatsoever is laid upon him whatsoever his pennance be either for the humbling of himself or for a terrour unto others 't is all too little Lib. 1 c 9. Irenaeus will tell you of a Woman seduced by Mark the Heretick which did spend her whole time in bewailing her offence and of others which did Ibid. in manifesto exhomoligesâ—n facere publickly acknowledge and lament their sins and wickedness Lib. 5 c 26. Eusebius will tell you of an Heretical Bishop Natalis who clad himself in sackcloth and ashes falls down to the feet of the Bishop and with a world of sighs and tears craves pardon Socrates will tell you how Ecebolius for renouncing his Faith Lib. 3. c. 11. lay along in the Church-porch and cryed to such as came in Tread me Tread me under your feet for I am the unsavoury Salt Lib 1. de poenitent c. 16. And Ambrose will tell you of many who did even plow-up their face with tears wither their cheeks with weeping prostrate themselves to the feet of the passengers and with their continual abstinence and much fasting they made their living bodies the very Image of Death I might add unto all these old Origen In Suida inter sua opera post libros 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Library of Learning and Ocean of woe But we will pass from voluntary submission to Canonical satisfaction And here give me leave to say somewhat of the Laws Ecclesiastical and punishment inflicted by the Church that which many ignorantly condemn and many most maliciously hew at Lib de poenitent Tertullian will tell you that such like Offenders as these must pastum potum pura nosse Bread and Water must be their diet as the Prophet David said My tears have been my meat day and night That they must pray and sigh and weep pray to God humble themselves to the Priest St. Augustine will tell you De mirabil Sacrae script that they must never think their pennance enough they must alwaies sorrow alwaies cry peccavi life and lamentation must end together St. Ambrose De poeniten lib. 2. cap. 1. The more a man throws himself down by sorrow and submission the more abject he is in his own sight the more accepted shall he be in the sight of God But this is general The Church did appoint certain forms of pennance according to the quality of the offences and for denying the Faith Grandem redeundi difficultatem sanxit antiquitas Apud Carranz cap. â—7 ejusdem Contil 't is a Canon in the Agathon Council about a thousand years agon Our Fore-fathers say they did command and enjoyn a bitter pennance to all such as had denied the Faith Indeed some as 't was said of Novatus would admit no reconciliation some would receive onely once all such as fell after Baptism The usual practice was to enjoyn a three years pennance at the least to such as did in time of Persecution and against their will deny some had their punishment prolonged even unto eight or nine years or more Carranz in Conc. Ancryan Can. 6. Ibid. Can. 1. and some were put off ad magnum diem even till the hour of Death or day of Judgment And if he were a Priest tkat fell he lost his Orders nor might he ever recover his former state but by enduring the brunt of a second Persecution Lib. Eccles Hist. 7 cap. 2. tom 1. ep 10. Pysh Alloy in Miscellan names four sorts ex Conc Nicen. Moses Maximus c. inter opera Cyprian tomo 1. epist. 26. And last of all If any were restored either of the Laiety or otherwise it must be done by laying on of Hands and Confirmation of the Bishop And this Eusebius calls the ancient Custome and Cyprian that to do otherwise were to ruinate and not restore Now during the time of these long appointed Pennance some were Audientes and might only stay the Sermon other were Orantes and might be present at Prayers but must depart when the Eucharist was to be administred To admit them to the Communion was to give that which is holy to Dogs some some and to press to the Altar was Domini corpus invadere De Lapsis Exam. Concil Trident. parte ult de Indulgentiis So Cyprian yet all this while there were Relaxations Moderations Mitigations or as the new word after Chemnitius hath it Indulgences from that rigour and severity and there was a peculiar reserved power in the R. R. Bishop †Concil Ancyran Cau. 2. 5. F Th Gavius de contrit he might either lengthen or shorten the time as he saw cause For as one saith out of Hierom. Apud Deum non tantum valet mensura tempoporis quà m doloris God regardeth not the length of the Pennance but the Contrition of the party not how long but how heartily we humble our selves This was the Discipline of the Primitive Church this was the remedy they did provide against
the same Prayer to make for our Gracious Soveraign after so many pressures places and strange People O Lord bring him bring him back bring him home But where be those People of his he must be brought unto Amon was an Idolater and one that forsook the Lord His Servants conspired against him and slew him in his own House The people of the Land slew all them that had conspired against the King and made Josiah 's Son King in his stead in the 2 of Kings 21. We had no Amon no Idolater but A Defender of the Faith and for that very cause Martyred by his own Subjects and in his own House as the other was But where are Populus suus those People of the Land to kill the Conspirators and Crown Josiah Where be those his People we would have him brought unto Shall the Presbyterians be the men 'T were strange they should They that brought the first Fewel to that prodigious Fire They that swore against him fought against him betrayed sold their Innocent Master They that disavowed that Cement by which the Church of Christ hath been firmly knit together ever since there was a Church Apostolick upon the Earth I mean Episcopacy The Independents can be none of them they have cut themselves off from all Communion with the Holy Catholick Curch by their professed Factions Fractions and Independencies They cut off that Sacred Head and Quantum in Ipsis all future hopes that Root and Branches should ever bud forth and sprout again Both these have sold themselves to work wickedness And though their heads look several ways like Samsons Foxes yet each carries fire in his tail to burn the Church and Common-Wealth Manasses against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasses yet both against Jadah Both Anti-Monarchical and the Kingdoms Bane Both can agree together to devest the Sion of Judah from his innate and just Authority To give these men the Right hand of Fellowship to joyn with either of these were to partake of their Sins and render our selves guilty of that Sacred Bloud their hands have spilt To joyn with them were to Justifie all their Infernal and unparalell'd Actions O my Soul come not thou into their secrets O God Divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel Where are those People then our Judah must be brought unto What to Complyers and Compounders whose Moneys have fomented those Wars and their Examples have encouraged the Rout of Rebels in their wickedness I fear I fear these are some of Gomers Children in the first of Hosea Sure in that glorious Martyrs phrase if not imbrued yet are they besprinkled with Royal Bloud Let no man tell me He gave but a Little or he gave unwillingly A little Leaven leaveneth the whole Lump And there can be no pretext for Sin Marcus Arethusius an holy Bishop had caused an Idol-Temple to be overthrown in Constantines days afterwards when Julian came to be Emperour He commanded the said Temple should be built again at the cost of the Country and because the Bishop would Contribute nothing thereunto the People launced his Body with Pen-knives and anointing him all over with Hony they set him naked in the Sun to be stung with Wasps At length they offer him Life and liberty if he would give never so little if but one half-peny to the Work nor would he give that Half-peny to save his Life Cicero tells us of one Philoxenes A Courtier A Poet that chose rather to be condemned in Lapidicinas to live a Slave a Quarry-man rather than he would speak against his Conscience in favour of Dionysius And Papinian the greatest Lawyer of his time chose rather to die than to defend Caracalla for murthering of his Brother Geta. O poor Compounders I pity their Case God give them Grace to Relent Repent and make their Composition with God too But truly they are at present in a sad Condition Laodiceans nor hot nor cold Vestertilio's or Bats nor Mice nor Birds Men and no Men You know Panarchs Riddle Tytides in the Trojan War or as Suffetius in Hostilius's days Populus and no Populus I am sure not Populus suus never cut out to be Martyrs for Religion nor truly Loyal to their Soveraign And yet hath our Judah his People a truly Faithful and Religious people such as much scorn to bow the Knee to those Rebellious Monsters Such as abhor all Covenants and Negative Oaths Such as with Arethusius will lose their Liberty Livelyhood Lives and All rather than Compound contribute or give one Penny to that cursed Crew who have destroyed their Country Religion Monarchy And that King Quo non surrexit melior After-Chronicles will speak Him the best of Kings worthy of better Subjects a longer Life and a more timely Death O Lord bring our Judah back to that People that faithful Conscientious and oppressed People Methinks I hear a voyce like that of the Vision Acts 16.9 Trajice in Macedoniam Come over Come over into your own Country and to your own People and help us These are they of whom may be said what St. Pauls Nephew said of others Acts 23. They are ready and look but for an Opportunity And I hope we shall find that true of them which Tertullian spake of the Christians in his days Singuli magis Noti quam omnes They are a Numerous People Good and Many And as Joab said 2 Sam. 24. The Lord God add unto the people how many soever they be an hundred-fold and that the Eyes of my Lord the King may see it And to this People His People Reduc eum bring him back speedily and in safety too The Third part followeth Let his hands be sufficient for him What is meant by Hands in Scripture you well know Psal 78. They remembred not his Hand nor the day when he delivered them from the Enemy Psal 80. Let thy Hand be upon the man of thy right Hand Psal 144. Send thine Hands from above rid me and deliver me out of the great waters from the Hand of strange Children The Hand being the Instrument of Power and Execution Hence say we that Milites sunt Manus Imperatoris The Souldiers are the Generals Hands And Manus Militum are a Band of Men. So then Let his hands be sufficient for him Let him have Force sufficient of his own to defend his Right and beat down his Enemies To implore Forraign Forces hath ever been usual and yet more usual than safe But Necessitas cogit ad tristia Alphonso King of Naples had recourse for Aid to the Great Turk The Council of Mantua resolved to flee thither in Favour of their Marquess kept Prisoner by the Venetians And some such thing is said of our King John Periculosa Remedia and one main cause of the Ottoman Greatness Many with Adoniah have craved a Boon but to their own Destruction and called in those they were never able to drive out again Thus did the Roman State in former times restore divers
Kings to their Dignities but still they pared away somewhat of their Kingdoms Modicis Regni terminis Vterentur or if they honoured them to be their Socii that sweet word enslaved them to assist in all offensive and defensive Wars Lodowick's Force lost his own Dukedom by calling in the French into Italy Quae Regio in Terris Where 's that Country that cannot afford us Examples in this kind I shall add but one and that of no great Antiquity An. Dom. 1534. Two Brothers contended for the Kingdom of Algiers One of them craves Aid of one Horuc at that time a famous Pirate on the Seas Horuc comes accordingly with two thousand Men. They joyn Battle The Enemy Competitor was slain Then falls Horuc upon the other Brother which called him in and having likewise cut him off and the Country being quite wearied and spent with their Intestine Wars He and his Brother after him invade enjoy that Kingdom So dangerous is it to call in those Forraign Succours which men cannot Master and drive out again And therefore 't is a good Prayer Let Judahs own hands be sufficient for him But may we not lawfully crave Forraign Aid in such tempestuous times Sure Yes 'T is sometimes necessary commendable and successful too What were to be wished and What is to be done are two things Here that saying Father'd upon Luther is true Vxor si nolit Veniat Ancilla And the King is the Common-wealths Husband If your hands will not cannot Veniant Conductitiae We must drive the Nail where 't will go The Bulgarians restore Justinian Our Black-Prince another in Spain The Assyrian as he was Virga Furoris the Rod of Gods Anger and carryed his People into Captivity Isai 10. So was Cyrus Christus Domini who restored them to their homes again Isai 45. And sure ours is Communis omnium Regum Causa as Darius said of his own All Kings are nearly Interessed in this Business The striking off of the Head of One hath wounded All. And therefore while they do revenge the wrong done us they do in that secure their own Estate and punishing Rebellion abroad they do suppress the growth of that Evil weed at home O! but where are our Hands and Hearts the while Our Hands have been Tenaces rapaces languidae remissae Manus Our Hands have been Tenaces Miserable Wretches We lost All while we were loath to part with Any We who cryed We were All for the King were loath to part with a small part for the Kings Service And how many have paid thousands for their Compositions who would not lend some Hundreds to advance the Common and that Rigbteous Cause Our Hands have been Rapaces too Though it be true in those days what Elisha said of his This is no time to take Bribes Yet our Hands were full of Bribes selling Offices Towns Castles Every thing Captain-Collectors and Plunderers were the bravest Fellows Last of all Our Hands have been Languidae remissae Manus we have shewed our selves Cowardly and faint-hearted Creatures No strength no Courage but oft-times stricken with a Panick-fear We were afraid where no fear was as the Psalmist said In pedibus spes non in lacertis fuit Our feet oft-times served us better than our hands We have forgotten our selves our Gracious God our Injured Soveraign the Goodness of the Cause All is forgotten We do despair and despair binds Gods hands We do forget how many Victories have been atchieved beyond hope and belief Even Restauration hath sometime made way where it could find none We have forgotten That with GOD 't is all one to save with Many or Few And that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. God hath chosen the weak things in the world to confound the mighty I pass by Vasques Numes and Hernando Cortes The Venetians will tell you of one Marke a Shooe-maker the Preserver of their State The Romans cry up their Coeles that kept a Bridge against Porsenna and his whole Army One Man one day one hour hath made incredible Alterations Our Times will tell of all Portugal lost in one Month and regained in less Lodowick's Force lost his Cities Castles Country in eight Days One Night put an end to the Danish slavery in our Land The Bruit of Henry the Eighth his coming into Lincoln-shire drave twenty Thousand Rebels out of the Field A Word mistaken hath rent the Victory out of the Conquerours hands You know what was said of Sisera Judges 5. The Stars fought against Sisera And King Philip said as much of his Armado in 88. But Seven years before that an Army of Mice destroyed a whole Country Mice were too hard for the Philistins Lice for the Aegyptians And Frogs forced the Abderites a People of Thrace to leave their Country In a word No Creature but if God say the word will plead our Cause and fight our Quarrel against the Mighty And therefore the Fourth part makes all Cock-sure And be thou his help against his Enemy Mark Our Hands and then Gods help Not Lord help and no more That 's a good word but it must not be misplaced First Do we our parts and then Succurre Domine Thus David undertakes the Quarrel against Goliah Armatus non tam ferro quam fide as St. Augustine said Takes his Sling but trusts in God Qui confidit in Homine Confidit in Vmbra transeunte saith the same Father That Rule is General Without me ye can do nothing Our Saviours words John 18. Except the Lord keep the City Psal 127. Except the Lord go out with our Armies Psal 60. which if He do how easily shall Gideon prevail against the Midianites and with an handful of Men overcome a numerous Army He breaks the Counsel of Achitophel He frees Samaria from the Syrians He makes Senacheribs huge Army an heap of Corpses And that knew well the first King of the Tribe of Judah Psal 44.6 In nomine tuo conculcabimus Not my Bow not my Sword But in thy Name shall we tread down those that rise up against us 'T was the saying of a Mad-man in Sophocles Aiax Let Cowards cry to the Heavens for help we could overcome without a Deity And you have read of Timotheus that noble Athenian Captain who in all his Enterprizes did still return Conquerour till puffed up with many Victories he looked on himself as more than a Man and cried out Hoc ego feci non fortuna but he never won Battle afterwards God will no longer help than he is magnified for his help And therefore God be Judahs help against his Enemies Nor is this the least of Gods Titles to be an Helper An helper in Need. An helper in Adversity An helper of the Poor and Fatherless Adjutor meus faith the King of Judah of the God of Judah When formidable Monsters sought after his soul The Lord is my Helper GOD worketh all in all and yet is God said to be our Helper only That we should as I said
about Psal 4. Whereas the wicked are like the troubled Sea that cannot rest and there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Isa 57. the last verse Sure if we would look upon the ends of many of our Incendiaries and bloody Traitors slain shot hanged or otherwayes cut off we might see with what fears and terrours of Conscience they took their parting Their Souls were required of them as 't was said of his Luke 12. God knows much against their wills But for ours with what undaunted Courage did they tread the Scaffold and look grim Death in the face with St. Stephen obdormierunt they fell asleep And with Simeon They did depart in peace So then look upon both look upon the end of both And finis hujus hominis pax their Life good their Cause good and the End of them was peace Their Enemies might do their worst but Animae non habent quod faciant as Bernard said of the seduced Prophet slain by a Lion Their souls were safe and being justified by Faith they had peace with God Rom. 5. which brings us to another peace the best of all Fourthly Pax illa vera Hereditas Christianorum as St. Augustine said A peace which no man can take from us Peace in Heaven Luke 19. A peace which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 Now the Lord of peace himself gave you peace alwayes and by all means 2 Thess 3.16 Peace from Men and peace from Devils Peace from Sickness Peace from Sins The Peace of Conscience and the Peace of Heaven Such Honour have all his Saints God make you perfect and upright and you shall be sure of peace at the last Seek you first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then caetera adjicientur the rest will follow And no good thing will he withhold from them who live a godly life I have no more to say but what St. Paul said to Timothy 1 Tim. 6.12 O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust Keep your Religion keep your Loyalty Look upon those who are gone before Let your Travels tell you that Man is a Pilgrim and a Traveller upon Earth and we have no continuing City but we seek one to come O God grant us so to seek that we may find Let us keep innocency and take heed unto the thing that is right For that shall bring a man peace at the last A FUNERAL SERMON ON PSAL. XXXIX the last Verse PSAL. XXXIX the last Verse O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more HOW hard it is for the very Saints themselves to keep a measure in their fearful Tryals and Adversities Job David and the very best of men do shew 'T was said of Job a good while In all this did not Job sin At last Homo erat and the very pattern of Patience falls into Impatiency cursing the Day he was born and the night that could speake a child conceived And as for David A long time he held his peace At length Locutus sum lingua mea Complain he doth and that bitterly Who ever thinks him to speak Rhetorically or what some dare say Hyperbolically Had they his Tryals they would better be perswaded of his passions Many were his Afflictions and deep were his draughts out of the Cup of Gods wrath But Patience and Penitency never loose their reward Many are the troubles of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of all The way to this Deliverance is by Prayer Invoca me and pray he did And this his Prayer is composed into a Psalm and commended to Jeduthun a chief Musitian a Church Musitian to be sung to their Instruments of Musick in their Divine Service So that Church-Musick is old enough and useful too As Athanasius and Marcellinus that men by Musick might be put in mind to be musical in themselves and learn to compose their Affections Not to think well and do ill Not like Pilate Speak well of Christ but give Sentence against him This were Discord indeed And for this cause amongst others in the ancient and best of times He was thought scarce fit for any Christian Company that could not in some sort bear them company in the Quire And the Psalms were Quotidianae Lectionis Repetitionis Decantationis They were ever a chief part in all their Liturgies Unhappy those dayes that would it otherwise Well if we may not keep our Quires God grant our Churches stand And if we cannot say Cantemus Domino with our Prophet yet let us say Oremus Come let us pray together and magnifie his holy Name c. O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Psal 39. ult verse The words are Davids Of whom I may say what Chrysologus doth of John the Baptist That he was Fibula Legis Evangelii here 's Mercy and Truth Law and Gospel Fear and Hope all knit together First he sees his Sin Secondly then he trembles under Gods Judgments Thirdly not yet as one without hope He sins he suffers he sues for mercy The words contain First A Request Secondly A Reason Each double if you will First Spare me Secondly So spare me that I may recover strength There 's the Request Secondly For I must shortly hence I shall no more be seen There 's the Reason The Request or Prayer is of that kinde which we properly call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Supplication to be delivered out of his Troubles The Reason is drawn from the frailty of man He must away and away for ever no returning back again I shall take the words in their order which seem to make four Stops or Pauses The first of which is Desiste à me O spare me Words which bid us look back upon his Sin and his Punishment at the tenth and eleventh Verses The sin great whatsoever 't was for great was the punishment I am even consumed by the means of thine heavy hand thy heavy stroke But so 't will be When thou with Rebukes do'st chasten man for sin thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth c. And this my case But spare me O spare me a little Where we have two things chiefly observable First the confession of his sin Secondly his imploring pardon I begin with the first his Confession How willingly do we plead Not guilty denying transferring extenuating our offences The Heathen would plead Fate for their Defence The Heathen do I say Yea many Christians do as much Gallinae filius albae The Founder of Reformation as some honour him John Wickliff said as much and John Hus his Disciple after him The Priscillianists thought the Stars had a compulsive power Not to incline only but to force men to do wickedly Making the twelve parts in the Zodiack to over-rule the twelve parts in Mans Body So they number them Our later Masters have gone beyond all those making God the cause of sin as sin And
rowling up the eye nor in tumbling of the Bible though all these may have their Uses a Pharisee an Hypocrite a Time server an Any-thing may do all these and more too Thus have we gone along cum Filio Prophetarum A well-bred man a married man a good man that did fear the Lord I and yet a poor man a miserable poor man He lived poor and he died poor His Inventory was quickly made One pot of Oyl and little more vers 2. But this is not the worst Ecce Creditor He had bound his Sons for default of payment to be the Usurers Bondmen O hard Condition He forfeits his Bond They their Liberty Well I see then Piety and Poverty may dwell under one Roof ay or woe the while Not to speak of Philosophers who found no greater sweet then in their Poverty Wo to those Primitive times when men sold all and felt a great deal of felicity in disburdening themselves of those Cares which brought so many thousands unto ruin Wo to the Martyrs and Confessors Antiquos-Hodiernos who preferred a Good Conscience before all the Riches and Pleasures of the World who left all to follow Christ Vade Vende was our Saviours Lesson Luke 12. And to the Ruler Chap. 18. Sell all His own Possessions were none at all He had not where to lay his head And St. Peter could say Silver and Gold have I none The Conclusion must be Mans Life consisteth not in the Abundance of those things that he possesseth Luke 12. Nay but what often-times falls out Pecunia tua tecum pereat as the Apostle told Symon Magus Many men perish with their money Vere miserabiles Bis miserabiles Twice miserable for their too much Care and their too little Conscience St. Bernard will tell you that wicked men ace not Rich Chrysostom That they are not men And how the Devil is Divitum Canis The Devil like a Dog doth wait upon them ad Pop. Ant. Hom. 53. One saith Ber. de mod vivendi ad Sororem Serm. 8. Nullus administrat res terrenas sine peccato He makes them all unjust Stewards St. Hierom hath a saying Dives aut Iniquus aut Iniqui Filius The rich man must either be an unjust man or the son of one Our Saviour goes beyond them all It is harder for a Camel to pass through the eye of a Needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God And in his mildest terms he leaves them to a Quam difficile Mark 10. 'T is a very difficult thing to be rich and righteous too And yet here lyes the Totum Hominis most mens chiefest care is How they may leave golden Children and vast Revenues and call their Land after their own Names Psal 49. But those very Names in time are lost Houses and Lands find new Names new Lords and oft-times are possessed by our mortal Enemies But the sins the sins by which those Lands were gotten they stick close for many Generations like Leprosie to the wall So that in the second place Riches are no Argument of Mans felicity or Gods favour no Concluding Argument I know Abraham Lot Isaac Jacob Job Ezechias and a world beside were Good and Great Rich and Righteous too And little Zacheus is a Child of Abraham Luke 19. But the having of Wealth makes not up the Conclusion For all things come to all alike saith Solomon And no man knows Love or Hatred by all that is before them Eccl. 9. Wherefore as the Apostle said of Meat 1 Cor. 8.8 Meat commends us not to God And Wealth commends us not to God All is in the Use The like by Poverty which as it often-times befalls Gods Children so is it and that not seldom A portion for the wicked Prov. 30.8 Agur deprecates both Poverty and Riches as two Extreams Give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with food convenient for me lest if he were rich he might grow proud if he were poor he might fall to thieving c. One compares Poverty to the River Rhenus Et quos nascentes explorat gurgite Rhenus Claudian It tries what Mettal men are made of And sure 't is a very hard thing for a man in want not to envy or grudge or cheat or steal And few men have learnt that Lesson of St. Paul I have learnt saith he in what state I am therewith to be content Phil. 4.11 You have here a poor Prophet and a godly Prophet And first this Poverty of his might proceed from the hard-heartedness of the Jews and their Impiety who withheld their Tythes For of this doth God complain Mal. 3.8 Secondly Perchance he was not called to any publick Office in the Church but had bestowed his Means and Patrimony in his Breeding and yet Preferment came but halting on It hath been a Disease of those later times Many men spend many years in the Vniversity and are driven after all to set up their Rest there or marry some broken Chamber-maid or serve for Micah's wages Judg. 17. And leave the rest to their worshipful Patroness to buy Lace and Painting Thirdly This Story fell out in a time of War and a bloody War too as you may read in the former Chapt. And the no wonder to hear of those Miseries that do follow War One of our Henry's said that Bellona had three Hand-maids Fire Famine and Sword But our woful Experience hath found out many more Tortures Butcheries Ravishments and a thing they call Living by Discretion or Free-quarter with Plunder to boot So that if any one wonder that the Prophet had but one pot of Oyl he may rather wonder that any one was left him And he might well be poor Once I am sure 't was not his prodigality or any other debauched Course of his that made him poor For he did fear the Lord And Tu nôsti saith the Widow to Elisha the man of God did know so much And without this Poverty may be as damnable as the most cursed Riches in the world And therefore Gregory the Great said true That some men are his Miserabiles Hic ob Inopiam rerum illic ob nequitiam Meritorum None so poor as he that wants Means and Grace too He is sure to suffer here and hereafter also Now come we to the Height of all her Misery Ecce Creditor She hath lost her Husband A good Husband She is left poor very poor All her Comfort is in her two small Children And lo the Creditor is come to take them away and make them his Bond-slaves Of all losses the loss of Liberty is one of the greatest There was no hope of one Jew sold unto another till the Year of Jubile came And then if he had a Wife and Children in the time of his Slavery they must be none of his For this very Cause many chose rather to continue Slaves for ever The Affection they bare to their Wife and Children made them forget their Father and their Fathers house and they became
Bored Servants for the time to come Exod. 21. Nor was there any hope of Freedom afterward No marvel then if the poor Woman cryed Clamavit mulier There is a saying Curae Leves loquuntur ingentes stupent Light Sorrows speak when greater silent are And it might seem then somewhat to lessen her Sorrow that she could and did Cry 'T is true In some sudden and unexpected Misery Vox faucibus haeret the unexpectedness and greatness of Sorrow doth stop the Floud-gates and there are found those who could neither weep nor speak for a while But violent Motions are not lasting and the thickest Cloud will be broken and the Rain will fall Tears and Words will find vent Tell me ye Mothers tell me what you would do if you should see the merciless Officer or Souldier seizing on your Child for his prey if but one Child But Vtrumque Filium Both All and All without hope of Redemption Not one left to comfort the poor Mother in her Calamity Me thinks I see Rebecka's swoln heart ready to break Gen. 27. when she counsels Jacob to fly from the fury of his Brother Esau who had sworn his Death O why should I be deprived of both of you in one day And that witty Complaint of the Woman of Tekoa did pierce Davids heart Thy Hand-maid had two Sons they strove they fought and one is slain The Kinred call for Justice and lo they 'l quench my Coal which is left O King without thy help and pardon I shall be deprived of them both Here 's a widow a poor widow deprived of her best Comfort and now like to be robbed of her Children also Well might she have borrowed Jerusalem's mournful Complaint out of Jeremy O ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Let Fathers speak who exeunt hominem leave off to be men if they leave off natural affection Let Mothers speak if Schools distinguish right their Love is more fervent though the Fathers love be more constant Let all those speak who are so much troubled at every common Cross Loss or Affliction What would they say if Mephibosheth must loose all If they must go hand in hand with Job If with this poor widow Goods and Children and All must be lost and for ought they know without the hope of any Jubile or Restitution Here we may see the affection of Parents towards their Children How many years doth Jacob lament the supposed death of his beloved Joseph How bitterly doth David bewail the untimely death of his ungracious Absolon Anna calls young Toby sorrowing for his Departure the Staff of her old Age the Staff in her hand that she went by Stories will tell you of some Fathers that have given their own eyes to save their Sons of those who have resigned their Crowns their Loves their Lives and all to do their Children good I will add but one Example more though of many in that one in the third Punick War when the choicest young Noble-men were sent away Hostages into Sicily The Mothers accompany them to the Ship with all expressions of sorrow Thence they get up the top of the Rocks and at their going out of sight the Mothers many of them cast themselves head-long into the Sea A sad farewel Yet were their Sons sent away for Hostages and not taken away for Slaves And thus doth Love descend in a full carrier from the Parents to the Children But I fear the Motion is very slow in rising upward from the Children to the Parents Sure this Motion is against the Hill we pause too often The Poet said true Filius ante diem And many say in their hearts what Esau did Gen. 27.41 The dayes of mourning for my Father are at hand He cannot live long And then a sad Suit and a merry heart But beware of that Lex talionis As sure as a day they are paid again in their own Coyn Besides the sting of a guilty Conscience is sure to follow them as long as they live O that Children would but think upon the many Cares and Fears and Cost that Parents are put to for their Children and with what neglect contempt and disobedience 't is oft-times repayed But take heed remember that of the Apostle Eph. 6.1.2 Filii obedite c. Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandement with promise The Promise is long life which all desire And our undutifulness to our Parents cuts of the thread of life and sends men headlong to the grave c. Now come we to those Horse-Leeches whose Teeth are spears as Solomon sayes And they devour the poor of the earth Prov. 30.14 Ecce Creditor The Father is dead The Mother almost distracted The Children in despair The whose little House nought but Tears and Terrour And in comes this Moth-of-men this Canker that hath eaten up many good Houses and their Masters to boot In comes the Vsurer one qui laetatur de lachrymis proximorum when all weep he laughs He hopes to gain wherever the loss fall and he riseth most while by the ruins of the poor Of all Vertues Mercy is the best It conforms us to our Maker and hath the promise of a reward both in this life and in the life to come Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall be sure of mercy The object of Mercy is Misery To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed Job 6.14 So David Psal 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy And Solomon He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and look what he giveth God will pay him again Prov. 19.17 Now of all People in misery God regardeth none so much as the Widow and the Fatherless And therefore one special Branch in Moses's Law was a Proviso for them Exod. 22.22 Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child And when ye make a Feast call the fatherless and the widow Deut. 16. Nay thrice in that Chapter you are bid to rejoyce in your Feasts but call the fatherless and the widow No good feasting without them So likewise at Harvest-time at Olive gathering and Grape gathering still Remember the widow and fatherless Deut. 24. And one of the Charges which Asaph gave the Judges was to help the poor and fatherless Psal 82.3 4. When Eliphaz thought to load Job with Reproaches he tells him he had sent away the widows empty and he had not relieved the fatherless Chap. 9 And in Psal 94. one of their crying sins was They slay the widow and the stranger and put the fatherless to death Well then see here one that regardeth nor God nor Man nor Widow nor Fatherless All 's fish that comes to his Net Hee 'l have away the Children And let the Mother break her heart All 's one to him The Debt could not be great But the Forfeit was too great The Debtor was a good man and therefore would not borrow what in