THE BIRTH OF A DAY BEING A Treatise Theologicall Morall and Historicall Representing as in a Scene the Vicissitudes of all Humane things with their severall Causes and sacred Uses Compos'd for the establishing mans Soul unchangeable in the Faith amidst the various Changes of the World By J. ROBINSON Mr of Arts and Preacher of Gods Word Isa 21. 11 12. He calls to me out of Seir Watchman what of the night The watchman said The morning cometh and also the night LONDON Printed by Roger Daniel and are to be sold by Thomas Johnson at the sign of the Golden Key in S. Pauls Churchyard 1655 To the RIGHT WORSHIPFULL Sr G. B. Knight SIR IN the wheeling motions of our late changes I have still observ'd you to be Homo quadratus one whose Basis hath been firmly grounded upon Religious principles and amidst the manifold Alterations of the World's Scene on which you have acted the suffering part most constant unto the Truth your Heaven-born Soul over-looking these sublunary mutations with an eye of Faith fixt upon Eternity Having therefore compos'd this Treatise The birth of a Day brought forth by the midwifery of some weeks studies I no sooner thought of seeking a Patron for it then of choosing Your self whose Experience I knew well could fully attest the Vicissitudes of all Humane things and whose Judgement did clearly discern their severall Causes as having already apply'd them home in their sacred Uses And the rather Sâ— do I make bold here to inscribe Your name that I may erect if but a small Monument of Thankfulnesse unto you for sundry Favours and let you see that I eye not Greatnesse so much as Goodnesse for the fittest Patron The former of these having much of Vicissitude in it being Aurâ fugacior more fleeting then the Air but the later of duration being Aere perennior more durable then Brass And a greater testimony of this Goodnesse cannot be given then your eminent and cheerfull suffering even the losse of All your Constancy excepted in the Orthodox Faith which hath taught you to look beyond the Instruments unto God the principall Agent in his so various and changeable dealings with you as to earthly things May these Lines then stand you in any stead though to be only as Aaron and Hur were to Moses some stay and support to Exod. 17. 12. your weak hands and feeble knees it is enough For God who is rich in mercy to those that call upon him hath a Sufficit for You and Yours and will at length make up all your losses if you faint not under them out of his own choicest treasure of happinesse which no son of violence shall be able to force from You since you have suffer'd as a Christian with undaunted Fortitude and Patience knowing in your self that you have in heaven a better and an enduring Substance And now Sir I commend your VVorthy self with your Vertuous Act. 20. 32. Lady and your hopefull as well as numerous branches unto God and the word of his Grace nothing doubting but that He who by the hand of his providence hath the turning about of this great Globe of the World will also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his good time turn all to his Churches good and as he is able every day to build you up more and more in your Holy Faith so likewise he will do it and give You an abiding inheritance among them that are sanctified Which is the prayer of him who esteems it an Honour to be Sir Your faithfully devoted servant John Robinson To the READER by R. J. WHat says Copernicus that th' earth runs round We grant it now for never were there found Such topsey-turvey turnings as here be Where all things speak out mutability Look further yet and then within thine eye It s severall causes do presented lye Only the moving cause our sin you 'l find Moves not at all so hardned is our mind This Achan troubles us Oh! here 's our Hell And could we turn from this all would be wel For 't is not alwayes dark see where in sight Comes day-break in for to relieve the night Live then a while by faith It 's Gods decree To deal forth earthly things unsteadily Mistakes Pag. 10. line 12. for from him read from him pag. 23. l. 11. after sheepfold insert But the dunghill pag. 90. l. last for this read thus The Analysis of it setting briefly before you 1 What this Vicissitude is 2 The Demonstration of Vicâ—â—situdes in humane things by 1 Eminent places of Scripture 2 Severall instances of â—hem in 1 Politick Estates and Governments whether drawn out in length as in Monarchies or drawn up short as in Cities and their democraticall governments 2 Families or descents 3 Particular Persons considered in respect of their Minds Bodies Estates 3 The Causes of Vicissitudes which are Fictitious or supposed only as Fortune Fare True and reall and here we consider 1 Their Efficient causes which are 1 Principall God 2 Lesse principal and this is 1 Impulsive Sin 2 Instrumentall as 1 The motion and influence of the heavenly bodies 2 The will of man 2 Their Ends or Final Causes 1 In respect of God who advances his own glory by them in the manifestation of the attributes of 1 his Power 2 his Truth 3 his Wisdome and Goodness 2 In respect of us and these are 1 to confirm our faith 2 to reform our lives 4 The Uses of them and they are 1 To wean our hearts from the love of the World which is so unsetled 2 To take us off from priding it above ourbrethren when we are in a prosperous estate as if either 1 Our present greatnesse would never faile us or 2 The goodnesse of our cause or Persons were to be certainly measured by the uncertain rule of successe and prosperity in worldly things 3 To keep us from despair in an afflicted condition by exercising our faith and patience PROV 27. ver 1. and last branch of it For thou know'st not what a Day may bring forth The whole Verse runs thus Boast not of to Morrow for thou know'st not what a Day may bring forth THis verse is one of Solomons Proverbs spoken of 1 Reg. 4. 32. where we read that Solomon spake three thousand Proverbs and his Songs were a thousand and five Now a Proverb is a speech of an Absolute and Independent nature For which cause I shall not look back upon it as any ways Relative but as standing by it self upon its own account And in this Proverb two generall things are considerable 1. A Prohibition Boast not of to morrow 2. A Reason of it For thou knowest not c. And in the Reason there are three Particulars observable 1. The Birth And this is implied in the relative Quid which hath alwayes an Aliquid it relates unto viz. some good or evil to be deliver'd of 2. The Parent that brings it forth And this is A Day or every particular
Veritas temporis filia Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic. lib. 12. cap. 12. day For as Truth is the daughter of Time so also is Falshood It is Time that brings forth Births that are diversly shapen both good and evill strait and crooked beautifull and deformed perfectly membred and monstrous Our Gazetts and Diurnals can satisfie us thus far 3. The Persons that do ignorantly gaze after the Birth And they are every man Tu homo And if it be ask'd then Who doth know it it is answered Only tu Domine For secret things belong to the Lord sayes Moses And future 〈◊〉 28. 28. things are those secrets that God hath kept lock'd up from us in his own Bosome He only knowing them a parte ante we but a parte post For as Bildad says so may we Hesterni sumus Job 8. 9. That we are but Yesterdayes off-spring and know nothing no not so much as the issue of one Day what it will produce Thou Know'st not what a Day may bring forth And here I shall begin with the last of the three viz. The persons that do ignorantly gaze after the Birth And they are Every man Tu homo And the rather because it is first in the Text and comprehensive of the rest The substance whereof I shall hold out unto you in two Propositions 1. That no man can tell the Future Event of things no not for a day and this comes to passe from the great vicissitude and unconstancy of all worldly things Or else if I may but take in this Reason into the Proposition then I shall run it thus That there is such a Vicissitude and Inconstancy in all Sublunary things as that a man can have no assurance of them no not for a day We know not what a Day may bring forth For in the great House of the World there be three Roomes whereof the upper and lower have no change nor shadow of change the one being full of eternall Glory the other of Torment only this middle-most is fill'd with nothing but Instability 2. That it is God alone knows all future things For this word Thou is here put signanter with an Emphasis upon it Thou know'st not As if he had said Though the Knowledge of all Contingencies be hid from Man yet are they known to God as if they were present For which cause God hath his Name from the present I am that I am there being with him neither Exod. 3. 14. time past nor time to come but all being present First â—hen for the former of the two Now for the orderly handling of this that I may give some stays and rests to your memories I shall lay before you these five things 1. What this Vicissitude is 2. That there is such a Vicissitude 3. The Efficient Causes of it 4. The Ends or Final Causes of it 5. The Uses of it The first thing then is Quid sit Where know that by Vicissitude here I do not I understand such a mutation as is the utter annihilation of the Creatures Essence and Being because God having made all things doth not utterly destroy any thing that he hath made according to that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 7. 31. The fashion of the world passes away figura mundi non natura as Aretius Aretius in locum glosses it But such a one as doth 〈…〉 alter it in its present estate and condition 〈…〉 particular estate and condition of a thing 〈…〉 ing the proper object of Vicissitude Neither 〈…〉 again every mutation of a things particular estate and condition that is the proper object of Vicissitude but only such a mutation as is reciprocall i. e. such a change as hath like the Sea its Fluâ—us and Refluxus its Ebbings and Flowings from one estate to another And this too we do not understand in a Morall but in a Naturall way For there may be a Morall change from good to evil and back again from evil to good which â—et we cannot call by the name of Vicissitude But the Vicissitude here spoken of is only in Naturall and Worldly things which have such a circular motion here and are so unconstant in it as that there can be no Insurance made of them in this great Exchange of the World because we know not concerning them what a day may bring forth And so much for the first thing The second is the Demonstration of this 〈◊〉 Truth That there is such a Vicissitude And this I shall do First by expresse places of Scripture Secondly by some Instances of it First by some expresse places of Scripture And herethe Preacher hath a good saying Ecclesiastes 7. 14. In the day of Prosperity be joyfull but in the day of Adversiâ—â— consider And the thing we are to consider of is That God hath set the one over against the other His meaning is That God hath ordered things here with a great deal of change and variety As that he hath set Prosperity over against Adversity and again Adversity over against Prosperity even as Light and Darknesse to succeed each 〈◊〉 by a constant intercourse To the end says he That man should find nothing after him i. e. that so by this interchangeable dealing of God no man should be able to find out infallibly what his after estate shall be in this world whether happy or else miserable Again consult that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 7. 31. where the world Videtar bic allusisse ad Scenas in quibus aâ—laea momento complical a novam reddunt faciem Calvin in locum Nemo est Qui Deum credat sibi tam faventem Crastinum ut possit sibi polli eri Sen. Thyest trag 3â— and all things in it are compared to a Scene in a Comedy which being changed on the suddain some new matter is presently presented to the eyes of the Spectatours And S. James again to the same purpose cap. 4. vers 13. 14. Go to c. The speech is Ironicall as deriding those who think all things here below to be of a standing nature when as the wheel of all sublunary things is so turning that a man cannot tell what turn shall be on the morrow That as the Scripture sayes of * Ita. 22. 18. Shebna That God should turn and tosse Huic affine est illud Plautinum Enim vero dii nos quasi pilas homines habeÌ„t Plaut in Capt. Scen. 1. him like a Ball so are all outward things turn'd and toss'd up and down by the Racket of Gods Power and Providence even as a man rackets a ball to fro from one place to another Secondly I shall demonstrate this by severall instances And O si possemus in talem ascendero socculam ut totius Orbis ostenderem ruinas Hieron l. 2. ad Heliod here methinks I could wish with S. Jerom that I were now in the top of such a Watch-tower that I might discover unto you the ruines and alterations of all things in the
turn about most of those Alterations that are in the world It is true that health and sicknesse peace and warre plenty and scarcity riches and poverty proceed from God as the principall Efficient cause but yet for all this we deny not but that God makes use both of our selves and others as to the means of bringing them about The life of Joseph was checquer'd with variety of accidents for he is now a Slave to the Ismaelites and by and by a Prince in Aegypt Now these although they proceeded from God as the Authour yet was the will of his Brethren as the will of Reuben and Judah the instruments of Gen. c. 37. preserving his life and the wills of his other Brethren the meanes of selling him into Aegypt Now because it is the Nature of Instruments Instrumentum nisi à principali Agente motum non operatur Aquin. 3. part Summae quaest 62. Art 4. to be subservient to the Principall Agent and to be determin'd by it therefore give me leave here by the way to fasten this exhortation upon you That in all Changes whatsoever you will look beyond the Instruments of them unto God the Principall Agent For so did Job in his losses beyond the plundring Chaldeans and Sabeans unto Dominus abstulit The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away looking Job 1. 21. upon them as we use to do upon an Index tantum in ordine ad Librum only in order to the Book it self et in transitu ad Deum in his passage unto God who sets them awork as to their naturall powers and faculties though to the evill of them no otherwise then by ordering and over-ruling it to the good of his Children And hence it is that the wicked are call'd Gods Sword as in the 17 Psalm verse 13. Deliver my soul saies David from the wicked which is thy Sword And so must we in all those Losses that befall us here have in our eye not so much the Sword as the Hand that holds it which will be one means and a good one too to bring us to Davids calm temper in the 39. Psal 19. who saies in the like condition That he was dumb and did not open his mouth nor let fall an impatient word in it because it was Gods doing And therefore when Abishaâ— would have taken a way Shimeâ—'s life for cursing of David No sayes he Let him alone Jussâ— enim Dominus for the Lord hath bidden him curse who then 2 Sam. 16. 11. shall say Wherefore hast thou done so q. d. Who then dare expostulate with God or call him to account about it as if he were unrighteous in it since evill men are but Swords in Gods hand who when he hath once done his work by them will either put them up again into his Scabbard and lay them by or else so blunt the edge of their power that it shall not cut or else break them a pieces and throw them quite away And so much for the Efficient Causes of Vicissitudes Next I shall speak to the Ends or Finall Causes of them 4 And these are either Ex parte Dei or Nostri In respect of God or our selves First In respect of God and so the Principall End why God rings such Changes upon all earthly things and will have them disposed of after so various a manner is to make them by it the more tunable to his own Glory which by this meanes is exceedingly magnify'd and advanc'd but especially in the Attributes of his Power Truth Wisdome and Goodnesse 1. In his Power and Omnipotency that so he may let the world know that the Finger of his Power is in all transactions and that he can do whatsoever he will both in heaven and earth and yet changes not For why else did God work so many miraculous Changes in Aegypt by the hand of Moses Why turn'd he Moses Rod into a Serpent and the Aegyptian Waters into Bloud Why their Dust into Lice and Flies and their Light into Darknesse for the space of three dayes together Why else created he a new generation of Frogs and Locusts among them Why unheard of diseases upon themselves and upon their cattell Why destroyed he their Herbs and Fruit-trees with Hail and their First-born with untimely death In a word Why caus'd he the Red-sea to go out of its naturall course and chanell whereby it became a wall to the Israelites and a grave to the Aegyptians Did not God all this to make known the glory of his power in the preservation of the one and destruction of the other Yes For this Exod. 9. 16. cause sayes God to Moses I have raised thee up to shew in thee my power and that my name may be declared in all the earth 2. He advances also his Glory this way by manifesting his Truth and Faithfulness in that those things which are accidentall in regard of us and seem as impossible yet are they exactly brought to passe in their due times and seasons As in the bringing of the Israelites out of Aegypt wherein God was full as good as his word and kept touch with them to a day in their Deliverance as you may see Exod. 12. 41. where we read That it came to passe in the end of four hundred and thirty years even the self-same day it came to passe that all the hosts of the Lord went out of the land of Aegypt All Pharaoh's oppositions and tergiversations could not prorogue their Bondage so much as one day beyond the time prefix'd of God but serv'd only to fill up that Interim or void space of time betwixt Gods Promise made to Abraham Gen. 15. 13. and his performance of it And if you ask by what intervalls of time the truth of this promise came about so punctually Vide nuperrimas Annotationes in Gen. 15. 13. Divines will tell you That from Abraham's receiving of the promise unto the birth of Isaac were five and twenty years sixty from thence to Jacobs birth and to his death which fell out presently upon their entrance into Aegypt a hundred and thirty yeares After which unto the death of Levi who was Ultimus Patriarcharum the last of the Patriarchs that survived and in which space the Israelites were kindly entreated for Joseph's sake were ninety four years and a hundred and one and twenty more of cruell Bondage untill Moses came to deliver them from it in the reign of Pharaoh Cencres All which particulars being gathered up together do make up the complete summe of four hundred and thirty yeares and may serve to justify God in all his sayings and to clear his truth in the least circumstance and punctilio of time when it shall come to be judged For when once Gods appointed time is come to introduce a change either for better or worse among any people then shall every breath of wind how crosse soever it seems to blow at the present yet be so farre
is that of the Dunghill we cannot be yet these are they says the Psalmist whom he sets among Princes even with the Princes of his people An example of the other we have in Antiochus Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque secundis Ovid. lib. 2. de Art Amandi 2 Mac. 9. 9. who was so fill'd with Pride through the ranknesse of his Prosperity that he thought he might command the Sea so proud was he sayes the Text beyond the condition of man and further that he could weigh the Mountains in a ballance and reach up to the starres of heaven Yet by and by is his combe cut all his Glory worm-eaten and none able to endure him for the filthinesse of his smell Adde to this the example of Balthazar Dan. 5. 5. who was now carousing in the consecrated Vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his Grandfather had plundred the Temple of and House of God at Jerusalem as you may see 2 Kings chap. last But in the same hour saies the Text came out the hand-writing of the wall against him and then was the Kings countenance chang'd his thoughts troubled the joints of his loynes loosed and his Kingdome given away to the Medes and Persians Thus are we for outward things like so many Counters which stand one while for a pound and another for a penny That as we see commonly in High-wayes where one man hath set his foot another presently follows him and treads it out again so is it usually That if one man beat out an Honour or Nunc ager umbreni sub nomine nuper Ofelli Dictus sed nulli proprius â—orat sâ—rm lib. 2. Satyr 2. Estate to himself another comes after and treads out that impression and whose it shall be next there is no man knows Nay Lucan Ipsa vices natura a subit Even the whole course of nature runs about in a circular motion Our Bodies Minds and outward felicities whatsoever we are or whatsoever we have are all subject to change in such wise that we can have no assurance of them no not for a day We know not what a Day may bring forth And so much for the demonstration of this truth viz. That there is such a Vicissitude The next thing is the Efficient Causes of it For we never know 3 any thing throughly Scire est per causam scire Arist phys 2. cap. 3. says the Philosopher untill we know the Causes of it Now in speaking to this I shall proceed fâ—irst negatively secondly affirmatively First Negatively in shewing what have been thought to be the causes of all Changes and Alterations yet are not so indeed And here the Epicures and vulgar Heathen have Sâ—rs omnia versat Virgil. Bucolic Eglog 9. thought Fortune to be the cause of them And they define it thus to be An Event of things without Reason But how unreasonable Si eventum nulla causarum coâ—nexione productuÌ„ casum esse definias nihil omnino casuÌ„ esse confirmo Boët de consol philos l. 5. pros 1. it is to say that an Event of things without a Cause should be the Cause of all Events judge ye For it was only the ignorance of the true Causes that made the name of Fortune there being nothing fortuitous in it self but only to us and our ignorance since the power and providence of God hath the ordering and disposing of all things here below And this did the wiser sort among them confesse as the Satyrist tells us Nullum â—umen abest si sit prudentia sed te Nos facimus Fortuna Deam Juvenal â— Satyr 10. Others again as the Stoicks make Fate or Regitur fatis mortale genus nec sibi quisquam spondere potest firmâ—â— ac stabile Sen. trag Octav. Non illa Deo vertisse licet quae nexa fuis currunt causis Sen. in OEdip Fatum Stoicum definit Senec. Necessitatem rerum omnium Deum ipsum actiones omnes huic fato subjicientem vid. Lips lib. 1. de Const cap. 17. 18. Destiny the cause of all Alterations which they say is An Event that necessarily falls out from a certain inevitable order and connection of naturall Causes working without the will of God as the supreme Orderer and Disposer of them he being subjected to them and not they to him whereby they take away the very nature of the Godhead which is to be a most powerfull and free Agent that works what and by what means it pleases all secondary causes depending upon that and that upon none But enough of these For I must remember my self that I am now speaking to Christians who acknowledge the Divine Providence in all things and therefore shall speak no more of these Negative and supposed Causes but shall now give you the true Efficient Causes of them by way of Affirmation And here know that Logicians tell us of two Efficient Causes Principall and lesse Principall And this is twofold Impulsive and Instrumentall First then the Principall Cause of all Changes and Alterations is God for so said the Heathen man Horat. Câ—rm 1. 1. Odâ— 34. Valet ima summis Mutare insignem attenuat Deus Obscura promens But why borrow I weapons from the Philistins forge when as there is enough for this that may be drawn out of Gods Armory of the Scriptures as Psal 75. the 6. and 7. verses Promotion saies the Prophet comes neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South but God is the Judge he puts down one and sets up another So also Job 34. vers 29. When he gives Quietnesse who can make Trouble and when he hides his face who can behold him whether it be done saies Elihu against a nation or against a particular man only Again Amos 5. 8. He makes the Seven Starres and Orion and turnes the shadow of Death into the morning The Lord is his Name The Oratour expresses this well by comparing Gods omnipotency Uâ— hominum membra nulla contentione mente ipsa ac voluntate moventur Sic divino nâ—mine moventur ac mutantur omnia Tully lib. 5. de natura Deorum to the power of the soul over the members of the body which upon the least intimation of the mind do turn and move about with all facility Now God saies he is the sole mind of the Universe and hath all parts and parcells thereof at his bâ—ck and pleasure to be turn'd into any shape or form at his disposall Nay it is no dishonour for God to cast the eye of his providence upon the alteration even of the meanest things for who is like sayes the Psalmist to the Lord our God who hath his Psal 113. ver 5 6. dwelling on high and yet humbles himself to behold the things in Heaven and Earth Not only to behold the things in Heaven which is a great condescension to him whom the Heaven 1 Reg. 8. vers 27. and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain but also the things
in Earth Now how unworthy these are of his taking notice of you may see by those diminutive expressions of them compared with Gods greatnesse Isa 40. 15. where the Prophet saies Behold the Nations are but as the drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small dust of the Ballance Behold he takes up the Isles as a very little thing And if this be not low enough for them he sayes further verse 17. That all Nations before him are as nothing and are counted to him as lesse then nothing Now look what a wide difference there is betwixt the Sea and a Bucket of water yea the Drop of a Bucket or betwixt a heap of dust and the small dust of the ballance betwixt very great and very little betwixt all things and nothing at all yea lesse then nothing if lesse could be so vast is the disproportion betwixt God and all Nations which are the greatest among all earthly things And yet for all this is God pleas'd so farâ—e to extenuate his own Greatnesse and to take off from it as to look after them and run them about in their severall stages from one point unto another And if you would have this truth to be made out further unto you our Saviour doth it Matt. 10. 29. by two severall instances The one is of two Sparrows which are little birds and of small value but the Greek yet runs it more diminutively Diminutivum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two little sparrows and so they must needs be for they were sold both even for a Farthing and this is price little enough Yet the Arabick makes it lesse and hath for it Phals which is the least piece of money that can be and accordingly expresses the two Mites spoken of Mark 12. 42. which make both but one Farthing by Phalsain in the duall number as a late and learned Expositor Dr. Hammond in locum notes The other is of the Haires upon our Heads being a kind of Excrement Our haires are things slighted even to a proverb Ne pili facio Erasm Adag sub loco commun contemptus vilitatis belonging to our bodies no integrall or necessitous part of them as the Heart Hands and Feet are and yet he tells us that God numbers these and takes such a particular account of them that not one of them falls to the ground without his disposall In the vision of the Wheels we read of a Ezek. 1. 16. wheel within a wheel Now the wheel within is the wheel of Gods Providence that turns about the wheels of all outward things be they never so low and mean For as God doth not labour in doing the greatest things so neither doth he disdain either to do or undo the least but as he made the small and great saies the book of Wisdome so also doth he care for Wisd 6. 7. both alike The Potter having power over his Clay either to make of it a vessel of honour or Rom. 9. 21. dishonour and being made either to preserve it in that form and being he hath bestowed upon it or else to deform and destroy it since it is equitable that every one should do with his own as he pleases Nay as he saies of the gnat that Nusquam potentior natura quam in minimis Pliny nat Hist So may we say that God doth no wayes advance his Power and Wisdome more then in ordering of the least accidents to be disposed of to his Glory and the good of his Children And so much for the Principall Efficient cause The lesse Principall follows which as I said is either Impulsive or Instrumentall Now the Impulsive cause of all Changes and Alterations is the sinne of man This usher'd them in at the first and so it doth still For before Adam sinned he injoyed a Paradise of constant and uninterrupted happinesse but so soon as he sins against God then follows a great change presently For the Earth all fruitfull before Gen. 3. â—6 17. now becomes barren himself subject to labour his wife to travail and sorrow and both to cares and troubles to weaknesse and dissolution And so it is also with Nations and Kingdomes If they be chang'd at any time sinne is the cause of it and the greater their sinne is the greater usually is their change Great sinnings are the floud-gates to let in great Alterations upon them For it is not a bare sinning in a Nation from which there is none that could ever plead exemption but a sinning in some high measure that is an in-let to Changes in the highest kind Which made David say Psal 107. 34. That a fruitfull land is turn'd into barrennesse for the wickednesse of those that dwell therein which the vulgar Latine reads Propter malitiam i. e. for the malicious wickednesse of those that dwell therein which notes a sin of a high nature viz. such a one as is persisted in both against Knowledge Conscience And therefore it is a good observation Musculus in locum Hujusmodi mutationes terrarum non ob id tantum fiunt propterea quod homines peccant id quod fit toto terrarum orbe sed quod malitiose which Musculus hath upon the words These strange Alterations sayes he of Nations and Kingdomes are not for the sinning of them from which no Nation can be free but for their malicious sinning And this you may see further in Jerusalem Ezek. 21. where we read of a very great Judgement that should befall her from the Babylonian viz. Utter Destruction expressed by the threefold Overturn wherewith God threatens her vers 27. And vers 24. he laies down the Impulsive cause that mov'd him to it and this is an impudent and shamelesse sinning against God for they did not commit their sinne in a corner as those that were asham'd of it but brazen-faced Wretches as they were they declar'd their sinne as Sodom and discover'd it openly in the face of the sun and this they did too not only in one or two particular acts but generally says the Text in all their doings Now there is some hope of a modest and bashfull but none at all of a shamelesse and obdurate Sinner Thus the Father when his Sonne hath done amisse yet is he well perswaded Erubuit salva res est Terent in Heautont of his amendment if he but see him once blush upon his reproving of him But when like Judah he hath once a whores forehead and refuses to be ashamed then doth Jer. 3. 3. he give him over as a lost child and not to be recover'd So that from hence we see that in what place soever we find such a Turn such an Eversion as this where all is turn'd upside down there hath been without question some great A versio a Creatore ad Creaturam some great sinning against God as the Schoolmen call it Which was the reason that when the English were now upon
sinne that is within them For why was Moab at ease from his youth why settled he upon his lees and held still his corrupt taste but because he was never disquieted nor emptied from vessel to vessel Jer. 48. 11. Thus a sedentary life we find very subject to Diseases and a long standing Prosperity to a Nation is like a standing Pool whose water doth soon puddle and putrify And this is the reason of that speech of David Psal 55. 19. Because they have no Changes therefore they fear not God making by it the uncheckt prosperity of worldly men a great occasion of their continuance in sinne and so an Index of Gods Wrath upon them rather then of his speciall Favour to them And therefore now we have seen the Angel of God moving the waters of this Church and State by intestine Warre new Opinions in Religion by Sects divisions and the like it will be good for us to meditate how God hereby intends to purge us from that sinfull filth that adheres to us as our disrespect to Gods Ministers and contempt of his Word our Cruelty and Oppression our Pride and Security our Worldly-mindednesse and Hypocrisie Indeed men who are the instruments of them may have other ends in such Alterations as to wreak their own spleen upon their adversaries to unhorse others and get themselves into the saddle either of Profit or Preferment That as Demetrius the Silver-smith said We get our gaines by this means Acts 19. 25. so say they We get our Honours and Estates by these means for if the waters had not been troubled we had catch'd nothing or else to satisfy their own corrupt wills and pleasures as the Authour to the Hebrews sayes of earthly parents That they chasten their children after their own pleasure but Hebrews 12. 10. God who is the supreme Agent he doth it for our profit and not his own there being no ends of gold and silver no mere will or revenge in his end but only our profit and to take away the drosse from the silver that Prov. 25. 4. so he may bring forth to use Solomon's expression a Vas electum a chosen Vessel Prov. 25. 4. Acts 9. 15. as S. Paul was and fit for the Finer Thus the Scripture tells us of Joseph how he was pass'd over from his brethren to the Ismaelites and from them to Potiphar and his brethren had one end in it but God another for they did it for evil against him as he tells them himself Gen. last ver 20. and to get twenty Pieces by the sale of him but as for God he meant it to him for good and to save much people alive And so also was Christ the Antitype of Joseph thrust as we say from post to pillar viz. from Judas to Caiaphas from him to Pilate from Pilate to Herod from Herod back again to Pilate and then into the hands of the clamorous and unreasonable multitude to be crucified and Judas had one end in Christ's death but God another The end of Judas in it was to silver his bagge with thirty Pieces but Gods end was to satisfy his own Justice Mat 26. 9. and to save mankind by it So that let mens sinfull ends in these Changes and Alterations be what they will yet is Gods end in it the gaining of glory to himself by his taking away that sinne and corruption which he sees contracted in us by a long standing security And if these changes of his be not as a gentle fire to purify us they shall be as a consuming fire to destroy us And so much for the Efficient and Finall causes of Vicissitudes The Uses follow And they are three First To take us off from our greedy desire of worldly things Secondly To unpride us in a prosperous condition Thirdly To comfort and support us in an afflicted one And to this purpose there is a good saying of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus the best of all the Heathen Emperours which is this Meditate sayes he with thy self how swiftly all things that subsist are carried a way for both In his Meditat. translated by Merric Casaubon lib. 5. cap. 19. the substances themselves are in a continuall flux and all actions in a perpetuall change yea the causes of them also subject to a thousand alterations neither is there any thing that can be said to be settled or at a stand And from hence he draws this inference Art thou not then unwise who for these things art either distracted with cares puff'd up too much with pride or dejected with troubles And it may put many of us Christians to the blush who seldome make so good use 1. use of it as this Heathen did though we have a farre clearer light then he had to guide us to it First then the consideration of this point viz. The great Vicissitude Breviâ— est caduca hujus seculi gloria igitur despice transitoria ut habeas aeterna Bern. lib. de mod vivend Serm. 8. and Inconconstancy of all earthly things may serve to wean our hearts from the pleasing teat of this World and to raise them up to that place where only fixed good is found Here we are all too apt with the rich fool to set down our rests when God knows we have little or no cause so to do Nescis enim ah nescis serus quid vesper ferat Horat. Since we do not know what the midwifeâ—y of this evening nay lesse of this hour or moment may help to bring forth It may be a change of our Estates into Beggery by Fire Thieves and the like or else of our Liberty into Thraldome or of our Health into Sicknesse all these successively wheeling about untill at last our great change come from Life to Death and swallow up the rest as the sea doth the waters that fall into it Alas here we are subject to a thousand casualties but in Heaven there there we shall meet with no such alterations for that is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Kingdome that is not floating up and down as earthly Kingdomes are in the sea of this world with every tempest Kingdome that cannot be shaken as earthly Heb. 12. 28. Kingdomes are either by warre factions all-eating time or the like No but there is Peace without War Quiet without Trouble Freedome without Thraldome Day without Night Health without Sicknesse and Life without Death whereas here it is farre otherwise for God takes away one it may be with Hunc necat febribus illum opprimit doloribus hunc flammis illum gladio c. Augustin in 2 Soliloq a Fever another with the Sword as S. Augustine reckons them up Nay he cuts off the spirits of Princes sayes the Psalmist Psal 76. ver 12. which Junius and Tremelius translate by Vindemiat i. e. he slips them off as a Vintager doth a Bunch of Grapes from a Tree it is so quickly done Even the highest enterprizes