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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91893	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.	Robinson, John, Preacher at East-Thorpe.	1654 (1654)	Wing R1698; Thomason E1493_4; ESTC R203378	52,211	117

from hindering Gods work in it as that one way or other you shall find it in the sequel to contribute its help and assistance to it 3. God advances also his Glory this way in the manifestation of his Wisdome and Goodnesse in that he makes a sweet harmony of so many different cords and changes and frames a most admirable Order out of a seeming Disorder and Confusion Many and diverse are the qualities of Herbs yet if a skilfull Simpler hath the mixing of them he knows how to make of them a well-relish'd and wholsome Sallade So many were the interchangeable passages that happen'd to Joseph and had we the same it may be we should think them very confused ones but yet let the Wisdome and Goodnesse of God but lay them together and we shall presently find as Joseph did the close of them all in a sweet diapason For though all things as to us are floating up and down to and again by chance as it were and accident 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 G. Nazian in Invect in Julianum sayes Gregory Nazianzen yet if we look to the order and appointment of Gods Providence which doth alwayes most wisely contrive all events for the good of his Children they are fixt and stable howbeit they may seem to go contrary at the present And of Gods dealing in this kind we have Job an eminent example who is to day the greatest man for Wealth and Honour in all the East and a tablet of this his Greatnesse you may see in his nine and twentieth chapter which I desire you to read over at your leisure wherein you shall find a whole series of worldly Prosperity to wait upon him yet to morrow he is poor even to a by-word and proverb As poor as Job insomuch as he spends all the next chapter in Chap. 30. bemoaning his suddain change beginning it with a But which though a small monosyllable yet as the Helme of a Ship turns about the vessel any way so doth this But turn about Job and all his former Honour and Prosperity into the extremest contempt and adversity But now sayes he they that are younger then I have me in derision whose Job 30. verse 1. fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my Flock and ending it with this dolefull accent verse last versa est cithara mea in luctum organum in vocem flentium My harp is turned into mourning and my organ into the voice of those that weep Yet all is well we say that ends well and so it was with Job which makes Saint James say by way of support unto Gods people in their afflictions Ye have heard of James 5. 11. the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord i. e. what good end God gave him in it for the next day God brings a great deal of Light out of this Darknesse by a wise and gracious disposing of all that evill to him for the best in giving him twice Job last verse 12. as much as he had at the first and blessing his later end more then his beginning So that although for a time all those sad Changes that befell Job seem'd even to crosse the ordinary course of Gods care and Providence to him yet in the conclusion you see how his Wisedome and Goodnesse cut them all out and made them serve to his greater Honour and Abundance And so much for the Ends or Finall Causes in respect of God They follow now in respect of ourselves And these are two first to confirm our Faith secondly to reform our lives and to work out by them good to his servants First to confirm our Faith And so God brings many times great Changes into the world to try if amidst those shakings of outward things among us we will be shaken in our Faith or not That as the Apostle speakes of heresies 1 Cor. 11. 19. Oportet esse Hoereses There must be Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest so say I Oportet esse mutationes There must be Changes and these not so much in respect of the things themselves which are in their own natures liable to alteration and dissolution as in respect of Gods end in it that they which are approved and sincere in the faith may be manifested to be so by their constancy and perseverance in it That as there is a necessity of Fire to try Gold whether it be true or else counterfeit so also is there a necessity of Changes for by these it will appear whether we will measure our Religion by outward things and in the losse or enjoyment of them be lost in our Protestant Faith yea or no. There is nothing Beloved more discovers the Hypocrite then his Ingenium versatile as Livy said of Cato then his turning humour in Religion for which I do not say he shall be plagued in Plutarch seigns Thespesius returning from Hell and telling among other things he saw there inflicted on evill men that hypocrites were there punished by turning up and down continually Plut. Do his qui sero puniuntur pag. 203. Hell by being wheel'd about there continually without any relaxation though that may seem a punishment somewhat suitable to his Weathercock-disposition here upon earth no Hoc nimis Ethnicum This is too heathenish but rather with the Prophet David That he shall turn into Hell with all those that forget God Psal 9. 17. which is that portion of Hypocrites mention'd by our Saviour Mat. 24. last For if an Apple be rotten at the coare it will not hold long upon the Tree but upon the least Wind will fall from it And so it is with the rotten-hearted Hypocrite if a little crosse wind do but blow upon him oh how soon doth he fall off from the tree of Life and become a wind-fall in his Religion for the Devil that old Serpent to prey upon Every Cock-boat you know will bear up well enough in a calm sea but that is a stout Vessell that can live in the most troubled water And Vid. Cyprian de lapsis Fox Martyr p. 1362. too too many there were in the Primitive times that like Dr Pendleton in Queen Maries dayes boasted much of their Constancy in the Orthodox Faith during Constantines dayes so long as God hedg'd about his Vineyard with Peace and Prosperity but so soon as that Hedge was broken down and erroneous yea hereticall Doctrines were let in Psalm 80. 12. and 13 verses like so many Beasts of prey to devoure then how quickly did these prove Turncoats and Apostates from the Faith But as for the true Christian he is like a Rock mediis immo●us● in undis That although the waves are alwaies swelling against Vi●gil him yet is he the same man still in his Reformed Religion and wavers not or else like that House built upon the Rock against Mat 25. 7. which the Flouds came and

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 S● 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 Vic●●situdes in humane things by 1 Eminent places of Scripture 2 Severall instances of ●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

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 far●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. ●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

hand are every way as temporary and transient as Prosperity was on the other and being so must needs be as a broken reed or a reed of Aegypt wherewith we cannot exactly measure Gods Temple nor the spirituall estate of his Children It was a hard stumbling-block to the Prophet David for a time when he sayes that his feet were almost gone and his footsteps Psal 7● ver 2. had well-nigh slipt upon his sight of the wickeds prosperity untill he went into the Sanctuary of Gods Word where he learnt to settle his wavering and distrustfull thoughts for there he saw that notwithstanding his outward afflictions that God held him up under that sore temptation with his right hand and would ver 23. in opposition to transitory goods which are the proper blessings of the wicked because they have no others but these to trust unto guide him with that which should infinitely exceed them to wit his Counsell ere and his Glory hereafter And it was the great question so much agitated betwixt Job and his Friends Whether those dolefull changes that befell him were the cognizance of his insincerity to God and of Gods disfavour to him upon it yea or no. His Friends taking advantage upon his present weaknesse and distemper maintain it strongly against him in the affirmative that they were untill at length God himself steps in to the rescue of the weaker side and makes the conclusion as all logicall Conclusio sequitur debiliorem partem Keck log pag. 424. conclusions do to follow the weaker part determining it for Job against his Opponents in the negative and telling them that they spake not of Job nor of his proceeding towards him that which was right Job last vers 7. Seneca a Stoick Philospher hath a set In libro de provid cap. 4. discourse to this purpose Cur bonts varis mala eveniant why the evils of this life most commonly fall out to good men and he concludes it thus That temporall evils are no sign of Gods hatred to them Numquid tu invisos esse Lacedemoniis suos liberos credis quorum experiuntur indolem publice verberibus admotis Non est hoc soevitia certamen est For dost thou think sayes he that the Lacedemonians hated their Children when as they experimented their disposition to virtue by stripes in publick No. So do we think Gods children in disfavour with him because he layes here sore blows upon their bodies and estates by evil men as his rods So Tamerlain the Scythian was call'd Fla● gellum Dei and scourges in it No for we see and feel many times sayes an experimentall patient of our own well the deep lines and strokes of Gods hand Sir I. M. upon us when as we cannot by our skill in Palmestry decipher his meaning in it no more then the Malteses could by the viper upon Saint Pauls hand judge of his condition to God-ward Acts 28. 4. For God sometimes that we may not thus judge inverts humane order and runs out his dealings towards us in the ordinary chanel of his universall providence justice and equity by which he waters here all alike Indeed they may seem I grant to go counter to our apprehended rules of common right yet are they alwaies agreeing both with Gods secret and revealed will though like the sunne in its sphear not perceptible to us because too mysterious and dazzling however many pretend to interpret them by a blaze of fire lighted at the naturall pride of their own private spirits and that dimme twilight of knowledge which is in them whenas they are altogether in the dark to the true light of Gods word and works herein And here take in the opinion also of Epictetus another Stoick Pia Epicteti sententia Non esse omnes Deo exosos qui aerumnarum varietate luctantur sed esse arcanas causas ad quas paucorū potest pervenire curiositas Aul. G●ll. noct Att. lib. 2. cap. 18. and Heathen man which speaks most Christianly to this point namely That all are not hated of God who do wrastle here with variety of Miseries but that there are with God good causes of it though so secret that few can reach them And therefore albeit we cannot see how these actings of God may stand with his tender love to his children and so may conceive an ill opinion of them yet when we shall think seriously that Gods thoughts and wayes are not as ours it will teach Isa 55. 〈◊〉 us to give them a more favourable interpretation For how dare humane rashnesse sayes Quomodo humana temeritas audet reprehendere quod comprehendere non potest De Consid l. 2. Saint Bernard reprehend that which it cannot comprehend in giving demonstrative reason why worldly prosperity should Noverca virtutis prosperitas P. Chrysol lib. 1. de curial nugis be virtues stepdame and not her naturall mother But to close up this discourse you see here by what hath been said that it is a great errour howbeit now grown more then popular to judge of persons and causes by the events whenas all outward things sayes Solomon fall alike to all neither can any judge of love or hatred by Ecclesiast c. 9. ver 1. what is before him See also Mat. 5. 45. He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good c. Prosperity and Adversity being but separable accidents to them and no essentiall properties of them because they are grounded upon worldly things that have so loose and mouldring a foundation as that a man cannot tell concerning them what a day may bring forth Again 2. As worldly prosperity swels us up with a high opinion of our own Goodnesse above others so likewise of our own Greatnesse And this makes us slight those that are under us and deal hardly with them as to temporall things which we would not do if we once consider'd the mutability of it And therefore if at any time God shall give up unto us those we conceit our enemies to be dealt with if we will by all harshnesse and extremity yet are not we then to trample upon them in the pride of our hearts nor to adde more load to that which God hath already laid upon them but rather to take off from it what As the virtue of adversity is fortitude so is temperance and moderation of prosperity S●r Francis Bacon Essay 5. we can and to use them with all gentlenesse and compassion with all mildnesse and moderation as considering our selves that we are not here to live alwayes as Gods upon earth the same yesterday to day and for ever but what is the bitter cup of their portion to day may be ours to morrow It speaks out but a course and ignoble spirit to crow and insult Faciles motus mens generosa capit Ovid. Trict. lib. 3. eleg 5. over those that are down The very Heathen thought it so who had only