he would forbeare to go thither and Agabus a Prophet at Caesarea with Pauls girdle binding himself shewed by ocular demonstration how he should be bound hand and foot at Ierusalem and the brethren there present thereupon likewise were earnest upon him with teares beseeching him that he would not go thither What mean ye saith he thus by weeping to break my heart I am ready not to be bound onely but to die at Ierusalâ—m for the name of the Lord Iesus And when he had been bound at Ierusalem and being sent from thence to Rome he was a prisoner now there writing to the Philippians Mine earnest expectation and hope saith he is that I shall no way be abashed but that with all freedome as well of speech as of spirit as at all times formerly so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body be it by life or by death and what is the reason why he sets so light by his life that it is all one to him whether he live or die so long as Christ may be magnified by either he resolveth you in the next words himself if they be rightly understood not as our former translation following Beza and some others had it For Christ is to me both in life and in death advantage that is whether I live or die I shall be a gainer I shall gain Christ or gain by Christ in either that is true indeed but that respects himself rather then Christ not Christs glory but his own good tho these two are inseparable nor as our later edition and some others interpreters of good note because they mislike the connexion returning to the old Latine For to me to live in Christ and to die is gaâ—n or in handsomer English Christ is my life and death is my gain which yet as little agreeth with the Apostles drift as the former but as a reverend Divine of ours if I mistooke him not for it is long since I read him which I conceive to be the genuine sense of the place Fâ—â— gain to mâ— or my gain both in life and death is Christ. that is all the gain that I seek and aime at either in my pains taking while I live or in my sufferings if I die is Christ is to magnifie him to bring glory to him to do service to him and for him to his That which elsewhere he saith of all true Christians with himself None of us lives to himself nor dies any of us to himself for whether we live we live to the Lord or whether we die we die to the Lord. that is to Christ. our aime both in life and death is to serve him not to receive ought from him that is true that we shall so do yet not here intended but to do him service To which purpose also he further telleth the Philippians that concerning his stay here he was in some doubt what to choose or what might be deemed most beâ—â—ofefull and that he was in a great straight what to pitch upon for when he considered himself and his own good he had a strong inclination to a desire of departure that he might be with Christ whom he was absent from tho imployed in his service while he abode here in the body which was indeed by far much the better for himself but when he looked upon the Philippians and other of Gods people to whom his abode in the flesh might be more usefull he was well content to stay longer here tho with delay of his own greatest good his personall enjoyment of Christs glorious presence Yea he addeth afterward in his ensuing discourse that if his death might conduce any way to their spirituall improvement and it might be thought more advantagious to them for him to die for them then to live with them he was right ready not willingly alone but even cheerfully to condescend thereunto Yea if I be offered up saith he or poured out upon the sacrifice and service of your faith if my blood as a drink-â—ffering which was wont to be poured out upon the body of the beast sacrificed to consummate the sacrifice by being shed in Christs cause may help further to strengthen your faith I shall therein joy and rejoyce with you I shall for your sakes be exceeding glad of it You see what the gain was that he aimed at as well in life as in death not his own but Christs and the gaining of others unto Christ. It is not therefore without great cause and good ground that God thus gives way to the sufferings of his servants so much conducing to his own glory and their honour and good nor are they as his souldiers and champions unwilling so to be imployed in his service to be spent in his cause Howbeit this hindreth not but that God disliketh and abhorreth the rage and cruelty that such wretches his enemies as well as his people do for him and his sake thus exercise on them no more then his purpose concerning the death of our Saviour for the salvation of his elect did any way extenuate much lesse excuse or make lesse odious in Gods eye the wickednesse of those that had any way either by malicious contrivance as the Priests or treacherous imployment as Iudas or importunate clamour as the people or judiciary sentence as Pilate or despightfull usage and acts of violence as the Souldiers and other Officers an hand in the procuring and execuâ—ing of it And nothing therefore can thence be concluded to hinder but that God neither doth nor can without much indignation and detestation endure to behold whatsoever wrong or violence is offered unto his people either in this kind or in any other Now for the use and application of the point thus made good First the consideration hereof may serve as by the hand to lead us where to find the cause of Gods so oft chastising his children I have been smitten saith Asaph every day day after day and â—hastised every morning as if no day had past over his head without some stroke from Gods hand and God had usually made it his first mornings work to be dealing out somewhat in this kind to him his constant wont were to make him break his fast with the rod. and lest we should think that this was his lot alone he telleth us in the words ensuing that this his dealing was not unusuall with the whole race of his children And indeed There is no sonne saith the Apostle whom God doth not chastise love he him never so well he scourgeth every one whom he takes into family to be a sonne or a servant For is God so affectionate unto those that are his that he cannot endure to see any the least harm done to them how commeth it to passe then that he deals so harshly oft with them himself surely this leads us to seeke the cause hereof somewhere else not in him but in our selves If we shall see and observe one whom we know to be a very chary and
the like case then Aram had to seek to Ahab with hope that altho we have carried our selves wickedly and wretchedly ungratiously and unworthily toward our good God far otherwise then was meet either for us to do or for him to endure yet he will upon our sincere repentance and serious humiliation be pacified towaâ—d us and reconciled again unto us We have heard say they that the Kings of Israel are mercifull Kings but we know that the God of Israel is a mercifull God they built upon the bare hearsays concerning the Kings of Israel of such as might easily be mistaken in them upon reports which being many times raised from or taken up rather upon meer shewes and semblances of what in truth is not do consequently fail and fall short when it cometh to the triall and so frustrate the expectation of those that rely on them Whereas we have a surer ground whereon to build our hopes even the word of that God who is truth it self and therefore cannot lie concerning himself whom none knowes so well as himself yea none knowes indeed perfectly but himself none in any part but from himself and who therefore cannot be mistaken in himself as men even in themselves and in others much more oft-times are He hath published and proclaimed himself to be a God mercifull and gratious of long sufferance and abounding in goodnesse or kindnesse and truth He hath assured us and with an oath confirmed it that he delighteth not in the death and destruction of sinners his own people especially but would rather have them repent and return then to die in and so perish by their sinnes he hath professed and protested it that tho a man will not receive a wife again that hath gone from him and joyned her self to another nor did his own law allow any man so to do yet notwithstanding our reâ—olt from him and disloyall dealings with him he will dispense with his own law he will upon our taking notice of and acknowledgement of our sins revoke his wrath because he is mercifull and upon our hearty retuâ—n to him return unto us and receive us into grace and favour again And as upon this ground Moses assureth his people that tho God for their sinnes should at any time dispossesse them of their land wherein he had seated them and disperse them into forain parts yet if out of those places whereunto they were dispersed they should seek sincerely to him and return to obey him God would not so leave them nor destroy them but would turn their captivity or reduce their captives and have compassion upon them and gather them out of those nations whither they were scattered and bring them home to their own land again for the Lord thy God saith he is a mercifull God So the people of God themselves when they were so dispossest of their land and removed into forain parts do upon the very same grounds conceive and nourish hopes that howsoever they had trespassed and rebelled and God had not spared them but had overspred them with his wrath and the dismall effects of it had pursued them and slain them and that as might seem without pity the enemy into whose hands he had given them shewing no pity or compassion at all on them yea tho he seemed to have wrapped himself in a thick cloud that their prayers might not pierce or find passage to have accesse to him and appear in his presence yet that he would not utterly cast them off nor retain his wrath for ever but that he would return and repent and have compassion again upon them according to the multitude of his mercies considering that he did not punish with his heart it was against his own disposition to deal with them as he did and would not so have done had not they by their sins provoked and enforced him thereunto It was inducement sufficient to the King of Nineveh notwithstanding that peremptory sentence past upon him and his people yet to conceive some good hope that upon their seeking to God the doom might be reversed Who can tell but that God may return and repent or repent him again and turn from his fierce wrath that we perish not But there was more in it then so that made Ionâ—â— so jealous of the issue of his prophecie I knew saith he that thou art a gratious and mercifull God slow to anger and of great goodnesse and one that repentest thee of the evils that thou denouncest against persons and people upon the repentance of those against whom they are denounced he had certain knowledge of that by God whereof they had onely some uncertain surmises and the same grounds that Jonas had to build on are not wanting to us they are left upon record for our comfort and encouragement Onely let us remember to take the same course that the people of God before-mentioned propound and that the Ninevites before them practised let us search out our sinnes first and turn from them and then let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God and cry mightily to him for mercy for when God saw that they turned from their evill wayes then it is said that God repented of the evill that he had said he would do and did it not This is it that God listeneth after this is that that he waits for that he would hear of from us and see with us that he may shew mercy on us which he even travelleth of and is in pain with untill he be delivered of it in such a season and in such a manner as may make most for our good But till this be let us assure our selves that we may cry long enough and loud enough but in vain and to no purpose like the Patient that calls upon the Physitian for the cure of his disease but will not admit the means that should remove the cause of it or cries to the Surgion for ease of his pain but will not suffer the splinter or sâ—ing to be drawn out of his flesh which sticking there procures the pain A third use may be for caution Is the Lord so affectionate a God to his people so tender of them that he cannot endure to see ought done to them that may vex and grieve them this should be a very forcible motive unto them that they be exceeding careful to shun and eschew the doing of ought that may vex and grieve him that they be tender of wronging him in ought who is so tender of seeing wrong done unto them Gods goodnesse and patience saith the Apostle should lead men to repentaÌ„ce the consideration of it should cause men to be grieved for this that by their sinfull courses they have grieved him who hath been so gratious and good to them Nor should the consideration of this tender affection in God towards us prevail lesse with us for a preventing care of such cariage that it be not committed then for the working of us to repentance after
most affect us and sway with us it would win the hearts hoth of God and of good men as wel at home as abroad very much unto us to our cause and we should have the better grounds to conceive the stronger hopes that God would be pleased to continue his watchfull eye still over us for our further and future preservation Whereas on the other side if we shall regard Gods honour no further then as it stands with our own interest nor respect piety but as it may be subservient to policy if we shall give way to or connive at Antinomian teachers and other the like Sectaries that with their pernicious opinions poison the souls of Gods people by blindfolding God rom all sight of sin in them and so encouraging them to make no conscience of any sinne in regard of Gods sight by discharging them of their duty to God and his Law removing one of the strongest curbs to restrain them from sinne and disswading them from all sorrow for sin after they have sinned pleading for toleration of all sorts of religions and opinions tho never so blasphemous and abominable so long as they disturb not the publique peace nor hinder civill obedience if we shall I say give way to or wink at such as these and the like out of feare of losing a strong party and so being by the malignant party overpowerd it may be just with God to withdraw his protection from us to deliver us up deservedly to be destroyed by the one while we vainly feare to be deserted by the other The Lord in mercy grant us grace so to depend upon him that no such false feares may force us out of his way or make us forgetfull of our duty to him lest thereby we become like the timorous deer which while out of fear they seek to shun a few feathers or papers set on purpose to affright them forsaking their covert where they might have been safe runne full upon the Bows that stand ready bent to shoot them or into the toil ready pight to receive them and to surprise them to their fall Remember we what the Latine proverb saith He that is afraid of the frost shall be overwhelmed with the snow And take Gregories interpretation thereof with it He that feareth mans displeasure which as lying here below might without perill be overpast shall be surprised with Gods wrath which comming down from above can by no means be avoyded And let the feare of God and our due respect to him so prevail with us as to incite and enable us to conâ—emn and trample upon all such base and groundlesse fears the rather considering how even with those cowardly creatures yet urgent necessity of procuring their own safety upon the hunters eager pursuit of them with his hounds at their heeles doth so prevail as to make them rush on or 〈◊〉 over those vain feather or paper-works which they were so shy and fearfull of before as also their tender affection to their young ones running along by their sides emboldneth them to turn upon make head against and trample on those beagles I have seen a Doe do it in defence of her Fawn whose least opening tho a loose off at other times they durst not endure To conclude let it be our principal care to have our practise in this kind correspondent to our prayers That as we are taught by our Saviour to pray in the first place that Gods name may be sanctified so in our practise we preferre the seeking and procuring thereof before all other things even our own outward safety it self God beholding us to have such a regardfull eye to him and to his glory wil no doubt have no lesse regardfull an eye unto us and to our good and may the rather be enduced to afford that safety unto us which we are willingly and readily content rather to hazzard then to fail in our duty to him FINIS Imprimatur Thomas Gataker Escaâ—es 〈…〉 â—pplied IN the Preface read p. 6. l. 4 them the p. 14. l. 17. those times p. 15. l. 12. it were not In the margent p. 5. lit p â— qem câ—vat p. 21. l. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IN the Treatise pag. 7. line 32. Greek Expositers p. 10. l. 16. in those two p. 23. l. 18. wickednesse p. 27. l. 13. highest of them p 32. l. 14. any sonne of iniquity any wrong doer p. 43. l. 2. in his cause p. 47. l. 7. sick and iâ— prison and ye visi l. 32. if in any wise p. 64. l 3. other p. 65. l. 19. peoples p. â—1 l. 28. on them p. 83. l 16. Ammon p. 88. l. 8. but in thâ—s In the margent p. 11. lit y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 22. l. i. dele cum p. 23. l. r. similiâ— p. 3â— l. t Petr. Celens x Cassiodor p. 52. l. h aut ciausum ibid Vatabl. p 64. l. g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. oram p. 66. l. â— qia qicunqe p 70. l. c Bern nom serm in 〈◊〉 Dom. p. 79. l. z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 80 l. b Ammian p. 1â— l b Facti cr l. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p 86. l. a Simoc. p. 89. l. e scuta i. prot p. 91. l. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 49-ad lit h adde P.m. non ultiomum aut judiciorum qod miserendi cauâ—am originem sumat ex proprio judicandi vel ulâ—ciscendi magis ex nostro Bern. in Nat. Dom. serm 5. a Non est dicendum in concionibus ad populum imagines ullas adorari debere cultu latriae sed è contrario non debere sic adorari qia hoc dicere non caret magno periculo Offendit aures catholicorum praebet occasionem haereticis liberius blasphemandi Bellar. de cult sanct l. 2. c. 22. qin qo idolatriae crimen amolirentur imagines ullas omniuò â—i se coli negarunt apud nonnullos quidam sacrificuli in collationae Caleti mecum habitâ duo fraterculi b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost. in Babyl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian Pseudolog c Veritas non qaerit angulos non amat Bern. in serm d Nihil veritas erubescit nisi solummodo abscondi Tertul. ad Valent. c. 3. unum gestit ne ignorata damnetur Idem apolog c. 1. f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil. orat 14. Simeon orat 1. e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aeschyl arm jud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. Phaeniss Theodoret. therap l. 1. Julian orat 7. Stob. c. 11. g Abscondit se quantum potest totamqe prudentiam in latebrarum ambagibus torqet aliè habitat in caeca detruditur per anfractuâ— seriem suam evolvit tortuosè procedit nec semel totus luci fuga bestia Tertul. ad Val c 3. h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oppiâ—n Pisc. l. 3. Vbi sensere se apprehendi effuso atramento infuscatâ aqâ absconduntur Plin. l. 9. c. 29. i Vt aspersae falsitatis nebulis seductus
did again that howsoever when David committed adultery with Bathsheba and to smother his sinne and enjoy her took away the life of her husband Vriah God beheld it took notice of it was displeased with him and chastised him very sorely for it yet in these dayes if the like wickednesse should by any beleeving persons be perpetrated to wit that a stranger should solicite a mans wife to uncleannesse and she admit him to her husbands bed in his absence being either about publike service or private employments abroad and they should afterward both further complot together to take away the life of her husband that they might the more freely enjoy either other God would not so much as once so see it as to take any notice at all of such villany or be at all angry either with the one or the other supposing them to be such as David was for so doing or ever so farre forth call them to a reckoning as to chastise either of them in the least degree for the same which doctrine whether it be not such as removeth a main curb of restraint to keep men and women in secret especially from sinne and whether it be a lesson fit to be instilled into the minds and heads of young women in the times especially of their husbands more then ordinary occasions of absence and whether they deale wisely and discreetly or are not injurious to themselves that in such case give entertainment to the teachers of such doctrine such of them especially if any such be or shall be as either are not or have not been wholly free from some scandall themselves I leave it to any sober-minded Christian to judge This then it is that these men directly avouch and with an high hand contend for pressing it upon us yea upon all persons as ye have heard to be beleeved and received under a peremptory penalty of no lesse then everlasting damnation And this because we contradict and oppose averring on the other hand for that is all that in this particular we maintain against them that God doth see and take notice of the sinnes slips and excesses of his Saints as well in these dayes as in times past and doth oft chastise them and that sharply also sometime for the same we are therefore by them branded with most opprobrious imputations and loaded with the vilest aspersions that may be which if you can endure with patience to heare as we must bear be pleased to consider with me a while how the Honey-combs author hath behonyed us and from him learn what the usuall dialect concerning us is among his disciples In this manner then is he pleased to bedaub us with his honey such as it is These men saith he tho they be Protestants in name and professe themselves utter enemies to Papists yet shake hands with them in the main points of salvation and by reasonâ— of their being in a dead faith understanding not the doctrine of justification but conceiving it after a carnall and humane witted fashion talking of what they hold as men in a sheep and running round as blind horses in a mill and with Nicodemus accounting the deep things of God absurd they nullifie free justification and make it as good as nothing for they have as much faith as an Oxe or an Asse beleeving nothing but what they see and feele following meerly their present sense as a beast and stumbling at this block of their sight sense and feeling they break the neck of their faith and so endanger to break the neck of their soules for by breaking the neck of their faith they make it a dead faith good for nothing neither to glorifie God nor to save their souls thus they make God no God but make reason sense and feeling their God for pratling idlely and talking by the light of nature of Gods power and presence and all-seeing and all-searching nature after a Gentilish and heathenish manner to the frustrating of his word and promises and seeming to stand for and defend the same by cavils and allegations Heathenish and Gentilish and Papisticall yea beastly ungodly and blasphemous breathing out nothing but unbelief which as a blind bayard goeth about to make God blind that he cannot see his own work wrought upon his children and like a bold Betteresse maketh God to her selfe impotent blind and a lier they reject faith dishonour God rob him of his power spoil him of his truth find him no more our God then the Gentiles and Heathen did and seeming to glorifie him rob him of the glory of his God-head making him impotent in his power false in his word and promises blind that he cannot see his own and his Sonnes proper work in and upon us and so by unbelief abolish to themselves the whole God-head Again lisping in speech and limping in practise yea halting down-right in the doctrine of free justification and sliding back to the legall teaching of the Old Testament in promising rewards to the followers of righteousnesse and threatning punishment to transgressors they sow up again the veil that was rent from the top to the botome and shut up the holy of holies and by mingling the Law and the Gospel together as if one should mingle black and white they marre both and not onely blemish and darken the doctrine of grace but take away Christ and all his benefits secretly undermine and utterly overthrow the Gospel and all the benefits of it deny the nature and essence of faith deny baptisme deny Christ deny his satisfaction and by perverting the Gospel of Christ become of preachers of the Gospel Ministers and Apostles of the Devill and by making a miscilan and mixture of the Law and the Gospel they preach neither good Law nor good Gospel but a miscilan and marring of both and thereby make miscilan Christians that is meer hypocrites for they expell the filiall and bring in a servile fear and make Gods children serve him with eyeâ—service which in them is abominable and so nourish hypocrisie but greatly hinder true sanctification true repentance and holy walking by legall threats and rewards which cause but a constrained hireling sanctity which is hypocriticall legall holinesse or else cause people to run tho more cautiously yet the faster into sinne Furthermore they bring forth a rod to whip if shee tread her foot a little awry the bride in her mariage attire the Queen in her royal robes and pulling the wedding garments off over the brides head and putting on her a mourning garment of blows stripping the Queen and bride making her stand naked to be whipt with rods of crosses afflictions at her marriage feast they frustrate and make void the wedding garment of Christs righteousnesse which hereby is made one in regard of the being of sinne it self and Gods sight of sinne in his with the hypocrisie and security of the wicked and Gods covering is made all one with mans covering nay rather with the deceitfull covering which
nor doe Aarons words imply any more but that they were a people bent unto evill as the word there is or sat upon mischeife as our English hath it nor need the sonne of Sirachâ— words be taken so strictly but that the Kings of Israel thereby meaning not those of the ten Tribes so most commonly styled by a denomination from the greater part but of Iâ—dah to whom Benjamin still stuck fast as appeareth by the Kings he mentioneth sometime also so tearmed by a denomination from the better part were all greivous offendors in some one kind or other those three onely excepted for to say that the rest of them were all idolaters were not agreeable to truth since that neither Iehoshaphat was an idolater tho he wanted not his wants and weaknesses nor Asa tho he had his failings and faultings and that therefore which is said of him that tho the high places in his dayes were not utterly abandoned yet his heart was upright with God all his life long is by good Interpreters understood of his constancy in retaining and maintaining Gods true service and worship not withstanding his other over-sights and excesses to the last Thirdly In this passage of Balaam there is neither of the words specified in these two other places neither evil nor sin and albeit therefore those other places were so to be understood as this Author would have yet would they hardly come home to give any great strength to the like exposition of the word here used Fourthly it is yet true indeed that the word Aven here used is sometime given to an Idol He that burneth incense saith Esay as if he blessed Aven an Idol And the word is joyned with Teraphim which signifieth Images elsewhere but it seemes to be attributed unto them not so much in regard of the evill and sinfulnesse as in regard of the vanity and nothingnesse of them which the word also sometime importeth and some here render it In which regard likewise is the word shakar given to Idols which signifieth falshood or a lye Is there not a lye in my right hand As they are opposite to the Deity non qà bonum sed qà verum not as God is good but as he is true The Lord is the true God saith Ieremy but the image whether graven or molten is a lye and they turned the truth of God that is the true God into a lye As for the same cause are Idols also tearmed Elilim as a thing of nought and are by the Apostle said to be nothing in the world And hence it is which sheweth how this tearm is applyed unto Idols that that place which had beene formerly called Bethel that is the house of God in regard of Gods appearing there to Iacob and Iacobs solemn worshipping of God afterwards there when in processe of time it became infamous for idol-worship by the Calfeâ—â—at â—â—at Ieroboam had there erected it was in stead of Bethel stiled Bethaven that is the house of falshood and vanity as both the Chaldeeâ—Paraphrast and the Jewish Doctors interpret it and God by Amos threatning the ruine of it saith Bethel shall be brought to Aven that is as the Chaldee well it shall be brought to nothing it shall have no being Thus then we have shewed and seene how farre forth this sense either may or may not receive footing from the former word here used Others assay to infer and inforce it upon the latter word the word Amal used in the other clause This word indeed the Old Latine rendreth an image and our Old English idolatry And those that here would have it understood of idols go upon two divers grounds For whereas the word Amal hath a twofold signification it is sometime taken for labour or work I beheld saith Solomon all the labour wherein I had laboured and All a mans labour is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not filled or Tho all a mans labour fall out to his owne mind as himselfe would have it yet his soule or his desire is not satisfied Sometime for paine and griefe or trouble I have been made to possesse nights of paine saith Iob and Woe be to those saith Esay that enact griefe that is decrees of griefe grievous decrees Some would have this tearm here given unto Idols in the former notion because they are nothing but Workmanship the work of mens hands others in the latter because they bring nothing but pain and grief in the end to their worshippers and followers whereof they have another name commonly given them in holy Writ And of that other name indeed it cannot be denied for it is almost as frequently found in the one sense as in the other But for the word here used no place is nor I suppose can be produced where it may be fitly so understood Howbeit tho it were granted that this latter were sometime used for an idol as that the former is hath been shewed yet could not that be the sense of the words in this place since that it cannot be said that this people kept free from 〈◊〉 and idolatry while they abode in the wildernesse For besides that the story of the golden calf evidently evinceth the contrary and Aarons words taken with the above-mentioned Autors glosse on them would further enforce it God both by Moses and Amos expresly upbraides them therewith the one taxing them for sacrificing to devils the other to idols which yet comes all to one for what was offered to idols was in them offered to devils not unto God Whereby it appeares not onely that they were faulty therein but that God also so saw it as to take notice of it That which the sequell of the present history more fully confirmeth where we shall find four and twenty thousand of them at once taken away for this very sinne of idolatry partly by an immediate stroke of Gods hand and partly by execution of justice done at Gods command upon them And thus much for the exposition of those that restrain to idolatry the sin or iniquity presumed here to be mentioned Others so distinguish of the sinnes which they suppose here meant in regard of the nature and qâ—lity of them as if it were meant not that no sinne at all were to be seen in them but no such hainous and grievous sinnes as did reign among other people they being an holy people as whom God had sanctified and set apart to himself and branches in reputation at least holy as springing up from an holy root And true it is indeed that such they were by externall vocation and by profession as also by inward disposition of heart and in holy life and conversation they ought to have been But that they came farre short of what they should have been yea were utterly crosse for a great if not the greater part of them and tooke courses cleane contrary unto what they professed and were called to the freqent exprobrations and manifold complaints of Moses and God by
Moses and other his Prophets twitting them with and taxing them for their continuall stubbornnesse rebelliousnesse stiffneckednesse perversnesse crookednesse tempting God provoking him spurning against him shaking off his yoake vexing and grieving his holy Spirit that their Vines were Vines of Sodom and their slips slips of Gomorrah their Grapes that is their fruits and works gall and bitternesse and the Wine that came of them the issue and effect of them as the poison of Adders and the cruell venome of Aspes these I say and the like opprobrious tearms by the Spirit of God justly and deservedly given them doe too evidently evince Besides that this their externall condition and profession was so farre from lesning and extenuating the guilt of their sinnes or concealing them from Gods sight that it served rather to aggravate them as being found in those among whom the contrary vertues and duties ought to have reigned and who having been better taught and professing better things might justly therefore be deemed worse then other tho they were no worse yea or not so bad because they ought to have been and might have been much better For which cause also God threatens the rather to punish them for their sinnes before and above other people whom he had not known and owned as he had done them that is whom he had not afforded the like favour unto nor taken into speciall covenant with him Nor doth this sense therefore satisfie and that as little that they were not a people given to injurious and vexatious courses because such kind of sins the words here used impâ—y and indeed they so doe as shall hereafter appeare for that they were not free from such sinnes also as these yea rather that such abuses also abounded among them some of the passages above-recited do as clearly prove as the like expressions 〈◊〉 used by the Prophet Esay concerning those of his times That which one of the Iewish teachers hath were more probable if the Text would admit it who knitting this passage with the foregoing proposition maketh this to be the meaning of Balaams words here that God would not repent him of protecting them and going along with them so long as he saw them not break out into some outragious evil Which if he should see them do he would not be with them as formerly he had been And referreth us for the proof hereof to that passage in Ieremy where God telleth the Prophet that as upon a peoples repentance he would repent him of the evill that he had threatned to inflict on them when they sinned so on the other side upon a peoples revolt or relapse he would repent himself of the good that he had promised to do them while they continued in a godly course Withall adding that this very speech of Balaam gave Balak an hint to attempt what afterwards he did to draw the children of Israel to fornication and idolatry And it is true indeed that albeit the people were never without sinne for who ever is nor without much sinne the most of them for the greater part even every where is generally the worse yet God did not usually proceed in any severe course of exemplary execution upon them but upon some very hainous and notorious excesse But the Rabbines analysis of the Text here as oft elsewhere seems not so naturall nor will the sense he gives be made up out of the words without some unnecessary supplies Hitherto then we have considered the expositions of those who distinguish of the object or the thing seen Others distinguish of the act of the sight or manner of seeing God say some sâ—eth not that is doth not so see any sinne in them as to destroy them for it or to give way to any that should endevour so to do That which was Balaks intent in hiring Balaam to curse them and was Gods purpose concerning those people whom he cast out before them And indeed true it is that God tho they provoked him full oft thereunto and gave him just occasion so to do yet did not deal with them according to their due desert nor destroy them utterly as he justly might have done and sometime threatned to do but in much mercy forbare them upon Moses his intercession and their own tho many times not sincere but self-seeking onely humiliation But this seems not to be the thing by Balaam or Gods Spirit speaking by Balaams tongue here intended For besides that God did see and take notice of their excesses to take vengeance on them for the same by destroying whole multitudes of them it neither sorteth well with the words as they are above rendred that imply no sight or taking notice at all of any sinne in that people nor with the scope of Balaam which seems to be the setting out of the goodly glorious potent and impregnable condition of that people as having God himself residing as their Soveraigne in the middest of them and as with great state and pompe as Commander in chief conducting them and marching along with them so protecting them against all the might and malice of their adversaries enabling them to prevail against them and rendring them succesfull and victorious in all their undertakings Now what commendation were it of a people or how sutable hereunto to say that tho they be never so bad or debauched yet God doth not so see or take notice of their loose and loud courses as to destroy them utterly for the same The like exception lieth against that other exposition of some others that God is said not to see or behold their sinnes because he doth not impute them unto them but doth hide them remit them and wash them away in and for Christ. Understanding them of the better sort of the people the godly and faithfull among them the true Israel the Israel of God onely And true it is indeed that in ordinary speech we use to say that a man will not know or see that which he refuseth to take notice or will not be acknown of Nor is it lesse true that when God upon mans repentance hath remitted sinne he doth no more regard it so as to alienate his fatherly affection from the party now repentant or to cast him off and condemne him for the same then as if he had never seen it or taken notice of it or been incensed against him or displeased with him for it In which sense also he is said where he forgives sinne to forget it that is no more to regard in the respects before-mentioned what hath been done amisse by his people upon their repentance then as if he had forgotten it yea then as if it never had been either done by them or known to him To which purpose is that speech of one of the ancients writing on those words of the Psalmist Blessed is the man whose iniquity is remitted or removed and whose sinne is covered to which may be adjoyned that parallel place Thou hadst remitted the iniquity of
servants for their sinnes and makes use of wicked men as of scourges to chastise his children with for their excesses In which his dealing he hath an eye not to them alone whom he doth so chastise nor to those alone whose good also in such his chastisements he intendeth while he maketh those whom he so chastiseth examples of more cautious and circumspect cariage to others but he hath an eye also to himself and to his own credit For howsoever it is true indeed as hath been said that wicked men take occasion to question his power and his providence over his when they see them so to suffer yet it would redound much more to his dishonour another way if he should suffer those that are esteemed his people his servants his children to go unpunished or unchastised when they sinne for should he so doe he would be deemed to be a patron of impiety of impurity of iniquity a maintainer of his in the practise of such things And surely as Gods name is oft dishonoured by the suffrings of his servants so much more also by their sinnes Because saith Nathan to David thou hast set light by Gods word in taking the wife of Uriah and slaying him by the sword of the children of Ammon therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house and I will raise up one out of thine own bowels that shall abuse thy wives in the sight of all Israel and again because thou hast hereby given the enemies of God occasion to blaspheme the child that was born in adultery shall surely die Neither could David with all his fasting and prayer and more then ordinary humiliation get that heavy doome revoked Howbeit tho for such and other the like causes God gave the wicked sometime power over his yet the cruelty that in such cases they exercise on his people is not in regard thereof any whit the lesse odious and offensive in Gods sight as himself also expressely avoweth O Assur saith he or Wo to Assur the rod of my wrath the rod wherewith in my wrath I have chastised my people tho the staf of mine indignation be in their hand albeit I make use of him at present as an instrument for mine own ends and purposes in the execution of my wrath yet wo be to him for all that I shall send him indeed agaâ—nst a prophane Nation a people whom I am displâ—ased with furnished with a commission to take the spoil and the prey and to treaâ— them down like mire in the street but he meaneth not so he minds nothing lesse but it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off Nations not a few his entendement is onely to advance himself and to enlarge his dominions by the ruines of other people he little dreameth of doing God any service herein and when God therefore hath by him wrought his own work upon Sion he will then punish him also for his proud and stout heart and his high looks when he hath done chastising his children by him he will throw the rod wherewith he chastised them into the fire And of Babel I was wroth with my people and gave them into thine hands and thou shewedst them no mercy but even upon the aged not regarding their age didst thou lay an heavy yoke Thus Israel became as a scattered sheep the Lions chased him first Assur wasted him and after that the King of Babel brake his very bones But what followeth Therefore thâ—â— saith the Lord â—f hoasts the God of Israel even he that delivered them into the hands of either Behold as I punished the King of Assur so will I punish the King of Babel and Wo then to him that spoiled when himself was not spoiled for when he shall cease to spoil others others shall spoil him and as Babel hath served her self on other nations and Gods people among the rest so maâ—y nations shall serve themselves on Babel when as God hath used them for executioners of his wrath and indignation upon others so will he use others as instruments of his just judgement upon them even for those things that by his just judgement tho to them unknown they have done nor could God with approbation see that done by them for which he will in due time execute just judgement upon them Secondly God leaveth his sometime to the malice and cruelty of the enemy for the triall and exercise of his grace in them For sundry graces of Gods children as their faith their patience their courage their confidence are as the stars that lie hid in the day but shine forth in the night appear not to speak of in times of prosperity but have their cheif luster in times of adversity and trouble doe most appear when they are most opposed The light of fire is least seen by day and the pillar therefore that conducted the Israelites in their march appeared as a cloud by day as fire by night and the fire burneth dimmest when the sunne shineth most upon it Nor is the Physitians skill known in time of health nor the Mariners skill seen in a calm nor the Souldiers valour and worth in times of peace when he is out of action nor any mans patience unlesse he be crossed nor his courage untill he meet with some strong opposition untill he be put to some straight Ye have heard of Jobs patience saith the Apostle but we had never heard of it had Job alwayes continued in the same constant tenour of a quiet and comfortable estate had he never been laid so low so afflicted as he was by the malice of Satan and the unkind cariage of his friends But on the other side the darker the room is the clearer the candle burneth and the brighter the fire the more dangerous and desperate the disease is the more is the Physitians art manifested in the cure of it the more violent and impetuous the storm is the more is the Mariners skill shewed in carrying his ship through it with safety the hotter the fight or service is the more will the valour of the souldier appear in his standing constantly and undauntedly to it whatsoever the issue be the heavier the crosse and the greater the danger the more is the patience and courage of that man seen that shall quietly bear and undergo the one and that shall cheerfully and confidently carry himself in the other the greater Jobs suffrings and distresses were the more evidently and eminently did the excellency of his heroik spirit shine and shew it self forth in them Again as the spirits of men are not seen so much as in such cases so nor are they tried so thoroughly as by occasions of this kind There is no triall of a souldier whether he be couragious or a coward but in the field and in fight the veriest dastard can at court and in company word it and brave it as well as the stoutest and valiantest champion that is but bring them to action and that will soon
tender parent one that cannot abide to see the least wrong done in word or deed either by servant or stranger unto any of his children yet to be oft chiding with them chastising of them himself so that neighbours take notice how the rod walketh in his house and his children some or other of them come daily under the lash we will easily conclude that there is sure somewhat amisse in them that he would have reformed their carriage is some way or other such as it should not be the cause therefore of his so dealing with them contrary to his own disposition otherwise is not from ought in himself being of himself averse thereunto but from somewhat in them that induceth or even constraineth him so to do In like manner when we shall see and observe how God who is so chary of the good and welfare of his children and so tender over them that he cannot endure to see them sustain the least injury at the hand of any other yet to be so frequently correcting theÌ„ himself and dealing with them so severely as oft-times he doth we may well thence conclude that there is not somewhat onely but very much amisse with them many things out of order that he would have reformed and amended in them that it is from them and their corruption not from himself or his own disposition that he deals in such wise with them It is that which the Prophet thence inferres in that dispute of his wherein he debates and discusseth the ground causes of those afflictions that his people then in captivity sustained The Lord saith he doth not from his heart afflict or grieve the sonnes of men and yet he doth it that is acknowledged For Who is he that can or dare say that ought comes to passe and the Lord hath not commanded it It is he that creates evill as well as good as well darknesse as light as well war as peace and there is no evill in City Country or family no evill whatsoever that befalleth persons or people which he hath not done he hath ever a hand tho a pure and a just one in it and as well evill as good comes out of his mouth either comes by his appointment But if he do what is done and yet that which is done goeth against the heart with him surely there must be somewhat without him that incites him to do what he doth yea that is true saith our Prophet the cause of the evils we sustain is in our selves not in him Why doth the living man complaine what is the first and principall procuring cause of his grief man suffereth for his sinne it is his own sinne that is the procuring cause of his sufferings it is mans sinne that kindleth wrath in God Thou art incensed because we have sinned it is sinne that wrings and wrests it as by force and violence from God Zedekiah did evill in the sight of the Lord his God and would not humble himself before Jeremiah the Prophet at the commandement of the Lord but stiffened his neck and hardened his heart that he might not returne to the Lord God of Israel all the chief of the Priests also the people transgressed exceedingly according to all the abominations of the Gentiles and polluted the Lords house which in Ierusalem he had halowed Yet the God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising early and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his place of abode among them and was loath to destroy either But they mocked his messengers and slâ—ighted their message and misused his Prophets untill his wrath was incensed that there was now no remedy he bare with them so long that he could no longer forbeare till he were even wearied and tired out with repenting and revoking of his former doomes of destruction Hence so frequent in the holy story the book of Iudges especially The children of Israel sinned against God and God thereupon sold them into the hand of this or that oppressing enemy And because it may be said that the sinnes there mentioned are mostly the sins of idolatry and the sins of the worse tho the greater part of that people To omit what might be replied hereunto that tho such sinnes are most commonly named as the chief yet other sinnes no doubt were rise also among them and for other sinnes also as well as these are Gods judgements threatned by Gods Prophets as also that both sorts as well good as bad had their share and suffered either with other in the common calamities of the times It is apparent by the confession of Gods own choise people that they also had their failings not a few and that the hand of God for those defaults of theirs was oft heavy also upon them Thine arrowes saith David stick fast in me and thine hand presseth me sore there is no soundnâ—sse in my flesh by reason of thy wrath nor rest in my bones because of my sinne and while I kept silence concealing my sinne my very bones wasted so that I roâ—red for paâ—n and grief all the day long For night and day incessantly thy hand was so heavy â—pon me that the moisture of my body was all clean dried up it was turned into a sommers drought And because it may again be objected that thus it was before Christs coming in the flesh in the time of the Old Testament but it is not so with the faithful now since the death of Christ under the New Not to insist on that which yet well we might that God is no changeling and that his affection to his children hath been ever the same The Apostle even in the New Testament telleth us that for their sinne in irreverent and unworthy repair to Gods board and unseemly carriage of themselves there some of them at Corinth were from God smitten with weaknesse some with sicknâ—sse and by sicknesse some of them unto death Nor will it serve to say that these were of the infidels at Corinth for they had accesse to the Lords Table or that it might be spoken of some profane and unsound ones among them such as many in that Church might be for to omit that he saith noâ— the unworthy receiver but he that unworthily receives he that tho in regard of his personall estate is not unfit to be a guest at Gods board yet comes not so fitted and prepared as he ought or demeanes not himself as is meet when he is there is not so cautious as he should and might be in the manner of his addresse or of his approaches thereunto To let this passe which yet is of some moment it is added presently after by the Apostle putting himself also in among the rest that if we would judge or sift our selves to wit so as to repent of and redresse what upon search we find amisse in our selves God would not judge us by inflicting such sad and heavie things upon us and that when God doth
they you may be sure wanting in their attendance about him while he lived that were so ready at hand to perform that honourable office about him at his death He hath given his Angels saith the Psalmist charge of thee to keep thee in all thy waies that is whither soever thou goest and wheresoever thou art and they shall bear thee in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone they are as servants set to attend little children to be ever neer at hand about them being they are subject soon to take harm if they be not constantly attended and to carry them in their arms or lift them up from the ground where they may be in danger of stumbling or tripping by a stone or the like that lies in their way And is God so carefull of them to secure them against such casualties as may befall them from the senselesse creatures and is he not as carefull think we to shelter and protect them against such evils as may befall them from the hands of malicious men yes undoubtedly The same Angels of his are said to encamp about those that fear him whence Jacob also gave the name to the place where he met with a Troop of them assigned by God to gard him in his return from Laban against the forces and fury of his brother Esau to safegard them and procure deliverance for them Yea as to deliver them as they did Elisha from the Syrian Troops by Benhadad sent to attach him so to destroy all those that assail them or attempt ought against them as they did the Assyrian host sent by Senacherib to besiege Jerusalem and surprise Ezekiah and all those their adversaries therefore may read their doom in those words delivered by the Prophet from God for the comfort and encouragement of his people Fear not thou wâ—rm Iacob thou that to these men seemest so contemptible a creature and ye men of Israel for I will help thee I wil be with thee I wil stand by thee I wil uphold thee all they that are enraged against thee shal be ashamed and confounded all that strive with thee shal perish they that contend with thee shall have no being all that wage war against thee shall come to nought they shal be as nothing and as a thing of nought Behold I wil make thee as a new threshing cart with wheels full of sharp spokes or teeth that thou maiest thresh the mountains even the mightiest of thine adversaries untill thou beat them to dust and fan them like chaffe untill they be carried away with the wind and dispersed with the whirl-wind but thou shalt rejoyce in the Lord and glory in the holy One of Israel To which we may adde those pithy and pregnant expressions out of Zachary tending to the same purpose Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling of such strong and strange liquor as maketh those that drink of it to shake and quake every limme and joynt of them to all those that are in siege against her I wil make her as a weighty stone such as men are wont to try their strength with by assaying to lift it that shall bruise and break to pieces all that attempt to take it up tho all the people in the world should joyn together in the attempt I wil make her rulers as an hearth of fire among sâ—ar wood and as a torch lighted among sheaves and they shall devour all the people that are in hostility against her on the right hand and on the left This is and will be the lot of all those that oppugâ— Gods Church the portion of all those that oppresse Gods people they do but with Haman contrive their own mischief work their own ruine and downfall while they plot and practise as they intend and imagine against them The wicked saith the Psalmist plotteth against the righteous and gnasheth upon him with his teeth but the Lord the whiles overlooking him laugheth at him because he seeth that his day the day of his own destruction is comming The wicked have drawn out the Sword and bent their Bow to destroy and slay either by open might or by privy sleight the upright poor but their Sword shal pierce their own heart and their Bow shal be broken their plots and contrivances shal all be frustrate and their designs and attempts end in their own destruction Yea we may further hence learn how to suck honey out of the rock and fetch oyl out of the flint how to draw matter of comfort for Gods people and let that be a fift use even from that that doth usually most daunt and dismay them and may in the eyes of flesh and blood seem to give just cause so to do to wit when they shall see the enemy having gotten head to proceed most outragiously in the exercise of all manner of crueâ—ty upon Gods people murthering and butchering them as beasts without mercy For if God be so tender hearted and tender-eyed in regard of his people that he cannot endure to see them ill-used then sure the more furious and outragious their enemies are in the prosecution of their bloody and barbarous designes against them the more they provoke God to hasten both his peoples relief and their ruin So that they work for Gods people and against themselves when theâ— work for themselves as they think and against them For the more extremity and cruelty men use against them the more they vâ—x and grieve the gracious eyes of Gods majesty and the more his eyes are vexed and grieved by them the more is he provoked to execute judgement on those that so vex and grieve the same Yea it may well be said that the enemies ragâ— and cruelty is no lesse prevalent with God to dispeed their destruction and his people deliverance then the prayers and â—upplications of his people themselves are Arise O Lord saith the Psalmist maintain thine own cause forget not the cry of thine enemies the tumultuous ragâ— of them that rise up against thee goeth up daily more and more He saith not forget not the cry of thy people but forget not the cry of thiâ—e enemies the enemies cruelty hath a cry and that a loud one as loud if not louder then the cry of those that are oppressed by them Aâ—els bloed tho himself silent cried aloud to God for vengeance yea so loud a cry sometime hath the enemies cruelty that it out-cries and drowns the cry of the sins of Gods people it moveth God sometime to mercy when their sins plead for the contrary Do we behold then or heare that the enemy grows more cruell and outragious every day then other and that they strive in cruelty and outrage to outgo one another let it not daunt and dismay us but put us in hope rather that their fury and rage is drawing neer to a conclusion that they are not farre from the utmost end of their tedder As the devill rageâ—â— most fiercely when he knoweth his
us then for our good tho we had denied sleep to our eyes and slumber to our ey-lids yet in vain had we watched being altogether ignorant of any danger we were in nor being aware where the evil lay lurking against which we should have watched Had many thousands or ten thousands yea never so many millions of men been up in arms for the safegard of our Soveraign his Royall consort his Princely issue our Peeres our Prelates the main body of our Nobility the prime flowers of our Gentry and Communalty all could not have secured them from being blown up at one blast and dispersed into the ayr to find what sepulture if any at all they could where their disjected limmes or their battered bodies should light And what further mischief would have followed throughout the whole Land had that hellish designe taken effect it is not easie to imagine Onely this we may upon good grounds conceive that â—hose that should have survived to see the ensuing miseries would have deemed them thrice happy that had perished in that hideous execution at first and have wished that they had born them company therein And what can we say letted that it tooke not effect when it was so neere upon the point of execution but that Gods tender eye over us could not endure to see that hellish cruelty acted upon his people which those monsters of men would have beheld with delight Nor can we justly ascribe the discovery of so many severall plots and conspiracies as have been since the beginning of our present troubles set on foot by the adverse party but having been brought to light before they could be hatched and seeing the light before their intended time have by that means miscarried unto any other cause save the watchfull eye of our good God over us and his tender care of his people among us and of those that are entrusted by them in the publique affairs of Church and State for their good And let this in the last place mind us of our duty to God for such his mercy to us Is it so then that God is so chary of the welfare and good of his people that he cannot endure the sight of ought that tendeth to their evil or annoyance Then undoubtedly it is the duty of Gods people to be in like manner affected towards him it standeth them upon to be as chary of his glory as he is of their good and no more to endure ought that may impaire his glory then hee ought that may impeach their good it is but right and equall that it should so be yea it is more then equall that what God freely doth for us we should endevour at least in way of requitall to do deservedly for him And such indeed hath been the disposition and practise in a very eminent manner of some prime ones among Gods people Moses one of the meekest and mildest men upon earth by the testimony of truth it self yet in Gods cause how zealous how fervent how fierce how furious as might seem to some of another temper of another spirit so transported was he with passion when he saw God dishonoured by divine worship done to an idol he throws out of his hand the tables of the Law Gods own workmanship not considering what might and indeed did thereby befall them he stamps the idol to powder casts the powder into the water compels them to drink that which erst while they had adored causeth some three thousand of the people to be slain when as for the saving of the residue he made offer to have his name raced out of Gods booke David likewise tho in his own concernments exceeding patient even to wonderment I was saith he as a deaf man that heareth not as a dumb man that cannot open his mouth I was as one that could not heare or that were not able to returne a reproachfull answer And so it was indeed with him as the story shews when Shimei railed on him cursed him with a grievous curse threw stones at him and his train and carried himself most contumeliously and despightfully toward him he went on his way as quietly as if he had not either heard ought that he spake or seen ought that he did But wheÌ„ ought came in his way that tended to Gods dishonour then the zeal of thine house saith he hath even wasted me the indignation that he conceived at the consideration of such things done as seemed to tend to the disparagement of Gods honour in the abuse of his house did cast him into a consumption did even waste him to skin and bone and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me such reproachfull speeches as prophane persons did cast out against God he tooke to himself he reckoned himself reproached in them and in him and by reproving them for their reproachings of God brought reproofe and reproach upon himself And again My zeal saith he doth even consume me or eate me up because mine enemies forget thy words as if he had said It is not so much the wrong that mine enemies do me in their cruel pursuing of me and plotting against me that troubleth and vexeth me as their forgetting of God and failing in their duty to him and the dishonour that in pursuit of their malicious practises against me they do to him nor could he therefore without much grief and whole rivers of tears behold how regardlesse wicked men were of God and his Law their sinnes and excesses were not an ey-sore onely but even a heart-sore to him as the like in the Sodomites among whom he lived was before-time to Lot And well were it with us could we be in the like manner affected could we worke our spirits to such a temper not so much to regard in the present troubles what our selves as what the cause of God suffers nor so much in our endevours courses and counsels to eye and aym at our own private emoluments the reparation of our own losses or improvement of our own estates as the publique interest of Gods Church the reparation of the dishonour that hath been and is still daily done to his Name his Word his Service his Worship his Sabbaths his Sacraments and the advancement of his glory in the purity of his Ordinances and the power of piety wrought into the hearts and exprest in the lives of those that professe themselves to be his people but to be well content to dispense with the one for the promoting of the other thinking nothing too dear not our lives themselves much lesse our outward estates to be expended and laid out tho but for laying a foundation of that that future ages may enjoy This tender care and respect had we unto Gods cause in way of thankfulnesse to him for that tender care that he hath from time to time had of us and did we make it appeare in our courses and carriages that men might thereby see that it were this indeed that did