Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	heart_n	lord_n	see_v	3,172	5	3.4596	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01935	Certaine sermons preached upon severall occasions viz. The vvay to prosper. The vvay to be content. The vvay to vvell-doing. A summer sermon. A vvinter sermon. Vnknowne kindnesse. The poore mans hope. By Iohn Gore Rector of Wenden-lofts in Essex.	Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to prosper.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to be content.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Way to well-doing.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Summer sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Winter sermon.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Unknowne kindnesse.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Poore mans hope.; Gore, John, Rector of Wendenlofts, Essex. Oracle of God.	1636 (1636)	STC 12071; ESTC S120526	199,234	334

onely promising him to be his exceeding great reward now if God should have failed Abraham when hee was in a strange place he had beene utterly undone but Abraham gave credence to his Word and wholy cast himselfe upon the Promise and the Providence of his God and this was counted to him for righteousnesse Hence I gather hee that beares a true faith to God dares repose and cast and roule himselfe upon the mercy of his God and the merits of his Saviour for the pardon of his sinnes the preservation of his life and the salvation of his soule he that dares trust his God in a case of exigence and extremity when if God should faile him hee were undone by it I dare say that man is a righteous man in Gods account 3 The next shall be Let of whose righteousnesse you read ● Pet. 2. 8. That righteous man dwelling among the Sodomites vexed his righteous soule from day to day with seeing and hearing their unlawfull deeds Now wherein did his righteousnesse consist the text saith in vexing and grieving at the unrighteousnesse of others Try thy selfe by this Art thou vexed and grieved at the heart to see the unlawfull deeds and the ungodly courses of the world Dost thou mourne in secret as Samuel did for Saul so dost thou mourne for those who in mens understanding are in the high way to hell and destruction is it an Hazael to thine eyes and a griefe to thy heart to see that men should have no more grace nor care to serve and feare the Lord but to dishonour and provoke him every day and dost thou wish in sincerity before God Oh that it lay in thee to further the cause of God and to hinder the increase and growth of Satans Kindome in the world art thou thus minded thus affected as Lot was in Sodome then take it as an undoubted testimony to thy soule that God who counted it to him will count it so to thee for righteousnesse Whereas he that can make himselfe merry with that which makes God and his Angels sorry is farre from Lots disposition and consequently farre from being righteous in Gods account 4 Come next to Job who saith of himselfe Iob 29. 14 15 16. I put on righteousnesse and i● cloathed me meaning that his soule was clad with righteousnesse within as his body was clad with cloathes without but how did that appeare I was eyes to the blind feet to the lams and a father to the poore These be the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the infallible markes and badges of a righteous man 1 He must be eyes to the blinde Ignorant em 〈◊〉 saith Lyra by giving counsell direction and advice the 〈…〉 can to them that are ignorant and simple here signified by the blind which are not able to guide themselves without Seer 2. Hee must be feete to the lame Impotent●m adjuvando by giving countenance helpe and assistance the best he can to them that are impotent and of meane ability here signified by the lame for he that wants his limbs cannot stir without some helper and supporter He must be a father to the poore Indigentem subl●vando by giving reliefe and protection the best he can to them that are destitute of friends and meanes like poore Orphans or Fatherlesse children that are not able to provide for themselves nor to live without the charity and the mercy of good minded people These are the objects of the care and compassion of the righteous and these are the touchstones and trials of undissembled righteousnesse He that lends his eyes to the blinde to direct them his feete to the lame to support them and his bread to the poore to sustaine them that 's a Iob-like-disposition and a righteous man without doubt in the sight of God 5 Looke next to Phineas of whose righteousnesse you may read Psal 106. 31. Phineas stood up and prayed and the plague ceased and this saith the text was counted to him for Righteousnesse Now what was it that made Phineas a righteous man It was his praying or his pacifying of God for so the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth and in the vulgar Latine it is St●●●t placavit he stood up and pacified or appeased God and this was counted to him for righteousnesse Hence I gather He that labours to pacifie God by prayer when he is provoked and displeased by sinne he that takes a speedy course to reconcile himselfe and others and to make attonement with God by a sound and serious humiliation when hee sees that wrath is gone our from the Lord that mans name is surely recorded in heaven amongst the number of the righteous in the Booke of God Whereas he that goes on daily to provoke God and never goes to pacifie God is farre from Phineas disposition and farre from being righteous in Gods account 6 It is said of Zachary and Elizabeth Luke 1 6. They were both righteous before God How did that appeare the text saith They walked in all the Commandements of God though no doubt they had many a rub many a slip many a fall yet still they kept on their way and walked in all the Commandements of God But how did they walke the text saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unblameably or unoffensively sine querel● non sine peccato as a Father saith not without sinne but without blame not that God could find no fault with them but that men could not charge them with any open crime and herein consisted their righteousnesse before God Hence I note they that make a conscience to frame their lives according to Gods Commandements to keepe themselves unspotted of the world and to be innocent from the great offence as David speaketh Psal 19. so that though they cannot be free from sin will endeavour to live unoffensively and to be free from blame these are surely righteous in Gods acceptance though they fall short of that righteousnesse which Gods Commandements doe require 7 Lastly to come home to my text if ye would know what kind of qualited man David meant by a righteous man Hee expounds himselfe in the very next words to my Text and saith He is ever mercifull and lendeth There be lenders enough in the world such as they be but they be unmercifull lenders that lend upon usury whose lending is as unmercifull and for the most part as unrighteous as a Robbery The mercies of the wicked are cruell saith the Scripture Viscera impiorum as it is in the Originall the very bowels of the wicked which are the tenderest parts about them and if their bowels be so cruell Oh how cruell are their Bills and Bonds if there be cruelty in their mercies Oh what cruelty is there in their malice and if their best dealings be so bad Oh how bad how vile are their worst This unmercifull kind of lending is farre from making or shewing a man to be righteous in Gods account But then there is another sort of Lenders which are

hell there David might have found him but there hee sought him not And this is the miserable end of a wicked mans prosperity The consideration whereof may be a stay unto us against that great temptation that troubled David and Ieremy and still troubles them that are weake in faith to see the prosperity of wicked men to see it goe well with them that be evill and ill with them that doe well Dost thou see an ungodly man laden with wealth honour and ease dost thou see an hypocrite and an evill liver blest as Esau was with the dew of heaven and the fatnesse of the earth dost thou see a gracelesse ruffin one that feasts without feare drinkes without measure sweares without feeling and lives without God and yet his body vigorous his coffers plenteous and his estate prosperous in a word dost thou see them prosper that seeke not the Lord but lie wallowing in that which God abhors and stand chargeable in their soules with that which separates and divides betwixt man and his God why be not discomforted at it be not disquieted with it do not fret thy selfe because of the ungodly neither be thou envious at evill doers but consider the end of those men that is the Apostles expression Iames 5. 11. You know the patience of Iob and what end the Lord made with him though he curst him at first yet he doubled his blessing upon him at last so stay till you see what end God will make with these men surely O God saith David Psal 73. 18. Thou hast set these men in slippery places thou castest them downe into destruction a man that stands in lubrico in a slippery place as on ice or glasse shall have much a-doe to keepe himselfe upright though no body touch him but if one should come upon him unawares and give him a sudden justle or a sudden rush he hath no power in the world to uphold himselfe but must fall and that dangerously and this is the case of wicked wealthy men they thinke they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unmoveable and fastned on a rocke that never shall be moved but they are deceived God that knowes their standing tels us hee hath set themon slippery places and it will not be long ere God send some death some judgement some evill angell or other to give them such a sudden justle such a sudden rush that without great mercy on Gods part and great repentance on their owne part they must fall inevitably into the pit of hell And this is the first point I desire to have handled namely that the right way for a man to prosper indeed is to serve and seeke the Lord whosoever prospers without seeking of God his prosperitie in this world shall be his ruine and perdition in the world to come Secondly the manner how one that desires to prosper must seeke the Lord and that is to be done two dayes 1. Humiliter 2. Veraciter Humbly and unfainedly sorrowfully sincerely First Humiliter as the blessed Virgin Mary told our Saviour Luke 2. 48. Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing They that would find the Lord must seeke him sorrowing with sad and heavie hearts bewailing and bemoaning their owne miserable estate through sinne before God as it is said of the Israelites 1 Sam. 7. ● When the Arke of God was departed from them they lamented after the Lord the best and truest lamentation in the world is to lament after the Lord and a man hath never so just a cause to lament as when the Lord for sinne is departed from him We read in the story of Micha Iudg. 18. 24. that when the Souldiers had taken away Micha's gods he ranne crying and weeping after them as a man distracted and deprived of all his comfort the Souldiers hearing him turned backe and asked him what he ailed saith Micha Yee have taken away my gods and doe yee aske me what I aile can yee blame a man that hath lost his gods to be out of quiet If Micha could find in his heart to lament for the losse of a false god a god of his owne making as good gods as that lying at the backe of the fire warming a man or roasting of meate as Esay speakes shall a Christian finde in his heart to lose the true God the God of all comfort and consolation and that by sinne which is the worst losse of all and that not by any others taking away as in Michas case but by his owne act and wilfull default and not be grieved nay not moved a-whit breake none of his sleepe none of his wonted sports for it as if he reckoned God as good lost as found God forbid Certainely hee that can lament for the losse of his goods and cannot lament for the losse of his God is worthy to lose both his goods and his God for ever God was angry with the carnall Iewes Hos 7. 14. because they howled upon him for corne and wine but did not cry unto him with their hearts they howled because God had scanted them in his mercie but they never howled because they had scanted God in their duty they howled for want of meanes not for want of grace which is the greatest want of all observe therefore what a despicable contemptible terme God gives their prayers hee cals them ululatus howlings like the howlings of a Dogge or a Wolfe which is a most harsh unpleasing note in the eare of a man such are the prayers of obstinate sinners in their extremitie to God They howled unto me upon their beds but they did not cry unto me with their hearts t is not the howling of the mouth that God regards but t is the cry of the heart that pierceth heaven and entreth into the eares of Almighty God you may see it in Moses Exodus 14. 10. When the Israelites were straighted at the red Sea having the Sea before them their enemies behind them Rocks and Hils of each side of them the text saith The people cried and made a dolefull howling and lamentation to the Lord Moses held his peace and see the issue Populus clamabat non audiebatur tacebat Moses audiebatur The people cried and God heard not them Moses held his peace and hee was heard Vers 15. Why dost thou cry unto me saith God when he uttered never a word nor made any noise that we can read of onely his heart cried and that was it that God listned unto and therefore if anie man find himselfe to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of such a hard and dry and brawny temper that he cannot cry with his eyes let him cry with his heart and it is enough As it is said of our Saviour Heb. 4. 6. That in the dayes of his flesh he offered prayers and supplications 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with strong cries and teares unto God hee did not onely cry but he cried strongly he did even straine himselfe in this prayers with the greatest

have begun entreate you to beare it contentedly whether you deserve it or deserve it not If thou doest deserve it and that by thy scandalous life thou hast throwne this dirt in thy owne face then be content and be sorry for what thou hast done and God shall repay and make up thy good name againe wee have his owne promise for it by his owne Prophet Zeph. 3. 11. In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against me the meaning is that in the day of thy repentance God will take from thee not thy sin onely but thy shame too David by his great sinnes had in a manner quite broken his good name insomuch that his enemies began to insult and make songs upon him to disgrace him utterly yet because he was a penitent man God upon his repentance repayred his good name and he dyed saith the text full of riches and Honour first of Chronicles Chap. ult not of riches onely but of honour too all his dishonour was done away and he left a reverend and renowned name behind him when hee had gotten credit with God hee got credit with men too In a word if thou desirest that others should speake well of thee see thou have a care to doe well unto thy selfe Psal 59. 18. Si benefeceris tibi If thou dost well unto thy selfe men will speake good of thee So that it lies in a mans selfe it is in his own hand to make himselfe a good name or a bad one So long as a man doth well to himself i spends his time well serves his God well leades his life well and husbands his estate well so long he shall be sure to be well thought of and well spoken of but if he doe ill to himselfe take an ill course leade an ill life and follow ill company c. if he be then ill-spoken of he must thanke himselfe and he may say to himselfe as the heart of Apollodorus the tyrant seemed to say to him who dreamed one night that he was steade by the Scythians and that his heart cried unto him out of the Caldron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is I that have brought thee to all this Therefore if thou deservest to be ill-spoken of amend thou thy selfe and God will amend thy name But if thou be ill spoken of and deservest it not though the crosse be great the comfort is the greater for doe but rest contented and God will finde a time to bring thy innocency to light Looke how God doth with secret sinnes to bring them to light that are done in darkenesse so will he doe by secret innocency Iosephs uprightnesse was in secret none saw it or knew it but onely God and himselfe as for his mistresse shee accused him belied and slandered him and was beleeved poore Joseph either pleaded not for himselfe or his plea was not heard nor credited yet God found a time to cleare it and bring it to light so let the world raise what slanders they will looke how hee did with Ioseph so will hee deale with thee for he is a God that changeth not In the meane time doe not take too much to heart the reproches of thy enemies but pray as Austin did plue mihi mitigationes in cor ut patienter tales feram Oh my God showre downe thy gentle appeasings into my heart that I may patiently beare with such men as these Pray I say to God that hee would pacifie thy owne heart and mollifie thy enemies hearts and that 's the way to be Content 4 Mephibosheths case to be crost by perfidious friends and servants I confesse it is a hard case when such as are Viri pacis and Viri panis as the Prophet speakes that eate of a mans bread and professe friendship and love and service to a man when they shall go about to undermine him and worke him out of favour and out of his fortunes too yet the world is full of such Zibaes that care not how they collogue nor whom they slander for their owne private advantage If they see a man to be a cripple as it were that he cannot go to speake for himselfe nor come in place to answer for himselfe and to tell his owne tale he shall be sure to have his tale told for him by some that he little dreamt of that will do him a displeasure and he shall never know who hurt him Thus did Ziba deale with Mephibosheth 2 Sam. 19. 30. yet see how patiently how contentedly that good man put it up when David spake of dividing the land with Ziba Let him take all saith Mephibosheth seeing my Lord the King is come home in peace Here is the voyce of one that is a true servant to his God and a true subject to his King such a man is really content that the devils pioners I meane undermining flatterers should take all they can get and get all they can take either by Hophnies Fleshhooke 1 Sam. 2. or by those Nets and Dragges that the Prophet speakes of Hab. 1. 15. let them hooke hale and drag together the Devill and all as some I thinke will doe A contented man had rather with Mephibosheth loose all part with all and be stript of all he hath so he may but have leave to enjoy the favour of his God the safety of his Soveraigne and the peace of his owne conscience to himselfe Well if it be thy hard hap to be thus abused and undermined by a trecherous Ziba that beares thee faire in hand and secretly endeavours to worke thee out of all yet learne of Mephibosheth to be content though thou goest by the worse and desire of God as David did to stand thy friend in such a case sponde pro servo t●o in bonum Answer for thy servant in the thing that is good Psal 119. 122. as if he had said Lord thou hearest and seest how unjustly I am calumniated and evill spoken of in many places where I am not nor may not come to answer for my selfe therefore Lord doe thou answer for me or stirre up some good body to pleade my cause and speake in my behalfe Subarrha servumtuum so some translate it be surety for thy servant if they will not beleeve mee nor give credit to my words when I speake in my owne defence be thou O Lord a surety for me passe thy word for my truth and sincerity for thou knowest my cause is good Be surety for thy servant in the thing that is good Thus doe see thy cause be good thy conscience cleare thy heart unguilty of the great offence and then commend thy case to God let God alone to answer for thee And that is the way to be Content 5 The Cripples case Ioh. 5. to be crost in ones preferment as he was that lay 38. yeares at the poole of Bethesda waiting for a good houre and still one or other stept in before him and intercepted him of his

sinfull soules and bodies These thoughts came in upon the by and therefore I will not stand to enlarge them but hasten to the next general part of my text as it followeth in the next place Spargit pruinam sicut cinerē he scattereth or sprinkleth the hoary frost like ashes 2. This I termed the Diligence of God He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor ●leepeth but when we are a sleepe God is awake when we are at rest God is at worke when wee are taking our ease within then is our God taking paines abroad to sprinkle the hoary Frost in the evening for our health and welfare in the morning The consideration hereof should move us not onely to praise God for his Day-mercies as David did Seven times a day will I praise thee saith he Psal 119. because hee knew that so and more than so often he was beholding to God every day that came over his head but also wee have just cause to remember God for his Night-mercies for his preservation and protection for his custody and care that hee hath of us in the night as well as in the day time Have I not remembred thee on my bed saith David elsewhere and thought upon thee when I was waking Psal 63. 7. So if thou hast forgotten God at thy board remember him on thy bed if thou hast not thought upon him in the day thinke upon him the more in the night and when at any time God holdeth thy eyes waking as he did Davids often then consider and call to minde Gods mercies and thine owne sinnes be thankefull for the one be humbled for the other and then lie downe in the peace of Iesus Christ And in the morning when thou walkest a broad and seest the hoary frost lie upon the ground like ashes then thinke with thy selfe this is the worke of Gods owne hands God hath surely beene in this place and I was not aware of it Now marke the manner of Gods working Spargit pr●inam he sprinkleth the hoary frost that is hee doth it in such a secret insensible invisible manner that no man living can perceive it till God have done his worke and finished it and even so it pleaseth God to worke and bring to passe the regeneration of a sinfull soule my Father worketh saith our Saviour and I worke and yet both worke after such a secret way that untill a man be converted the worke of Gods grace cannot be imagined nor perceived as it was with our Saviour at his resurrection when he was risen he appeared and shewed himselfe but the manner of his rising or how or which way he arose and got out of the Sepulchre no man living saw or could conceive as Salomon saith that the way of a ship in the sea is not to be knowne or found a man may stand upon the shore and see the ship and the sea and the ship going on the sea but the way of a ship in the sea is unknowne and undiscernable even so the wayes of God in translating men out of the state of sin and death into the state of grace and life are sine vestigijs unsearchable and past finding out Many a one is troubled that he knowes not the very instant of his conversion and regeneration to God and therfore makes question of his Christian calling but you know there is great difference betwixt a man that is suddenly converted as Paul was like a brande snatcht out of the fire as Saint Iude speakes in the very heate of their sinnes and such as have the grace of God wrought in them by degrees as Timothy had sensim sine sensu now a little and then a little by the secret supplies of the Spirit of grace now it is an easie matter for the one to set downe the time and manner of their regeneration not so for the other But the effect of all is this if a man can finde in himselfe the markes of the Lord Iesus a● the Apostle speakeeth I meane the infallible signes and symptomes of grace as a desire to feare God a ●are to please him and a kindly repentance when he hath done amisse let him never make question of his owne conversion but take it as an undoubted evidence to his soule that God hath received him into the state of mercy wherein he will reserve him for ever unto Iesus Christ No man makes question how the frost is gendred when he sees it lie upon the earth because hee knowes it is the handy worke of God And so is this Againe ●parg●● pruinam Looke how God doth with the hoary frost how he scatters it upon the grasse that no one spot of ground hath it all but every pile of grasse hath some sprinkling of it so he doth with all his heavenly gifts and graces no man ever was so happy to have the fulnesse of grace save only our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ All we have but our sprinklings a sprinkling of faith a sprinkling of zeale a sprinkling of repentance and other graces some more some lesse as God is pleased to distribute it Hence the grace of God is compared unto two things in Scripture which are both things of sprinkling namely Salt and Seed Our Saviour compares it unto salt Marke 9 ult Have salt in your selves and be at peace one with another Now you know They that season meate doe not lay their salt all on a heape but scatter it and sprinkle it all over that every part may be made savoury by it So doth God distribute to every man a measure of grace that his soule may be seasoned and all his services be made savoury to the Lord that he may smell in them as he did in Noahs sacrifice Od●rem quietis a Savour of rest Saint Iohn compares the grace of God unto Seed 1 Ioh. 3. ● Hee that is borne of God cannot sinne meaning sinne unto death Why quia sem●n dei because the seede of God abideth in him Now you know no sower layes his seede all on a heape but scatters and sprinkles it all over his land that every furrow may have some part of the feed and yeeld him againe some fruite of increase Thus doth God sow the seede of eternall life in the mindes and hearts of all faithfull people there is no one that hath all grace and there is no one but hath some some sprinkling of every grace For this cause I suppose the bloud of Christ is called the blo●d of sprinkling Heb. 12. 24. in allusion to the Passeover where the bloud of the Pascall L●m●e was sprinkled on the posts of the doore to save the house from the deadly stroke of the revenging A●gel So is the bloud of Iesus Christ sprinkled as it were by the ●inger of God upon the soules and consciences of all peni●●nt sinners to save their soules from death and to take out the blots and staines of all our sinnes Looke how Aqua fortis takes out the blots of Inke out of a

unrighteous men from having to doe with him and make choise of one that is right-wise and honest to smite and to reprove him for such a one will doe it sine contumeliâ without disgrace 4 Sine adulatione without flattery without abetting or justifying a man in his evill courses For there is as one hath well observed a twofold Iustification 1 A Iustification of a sinner from his sinnes 2 A Iustification of a sinner in his sinnes the first is an act of Gods mercy the second is an act of mans flattery the former is an happy an blessed thing when God is pleased in mercy to justifie and acquit to discharge and free a guilty soule from the bond and punishment of all his sinnes by the merits and by the bloud and by the Spirit of Iesus Christ The latter is a wofull and accursed thing when a man shall speake good of evill and labour to justifie another mans actions though never so vile and foule it is such a Iustification as without Gods infinite mercy will bring a man to everlasting condemnation and yet such servile spirits there be that for their owne advantage will sooth a man up if hee be rich or great in all his wayes and wickednesse Let him sinne what he will they will not checke him project what he will they will not thwart him say what he will they are ready to second him and let him be what he will they applaud and admire him Oh what amiable friends are these these love a man as the Ravens love his eyes or as Dalilah loved Sampson when she hugged and lulled him in her lap and then cut off his locke which was the onely ligament that tied and fastned him to his God so she did what lay in her even to cut him off from God These are they whom the Prophet termes Caementarios diaboli the devils dawbers Ezech. 13. 10. the comparison stands thus when a man dwels in an old ruinous house the Mason comes and plasters and dawbes it over making the Indweller beleeve that all is well that it is a sound and a solid wall and he may dwell safely in it when the house is indeed ready to fal drop down and smother him Such are they that will not sticke to perswade a man that his case is good to God-ward that he hath no cause to be discontented or ill-conceited of himselfe when there is an ulcisci in promptu as the Apostle speaketh when vengeance is in a readinesse to fall downe and seize upon him Another calls them the devils Vphosters in relation to that Ezech. 13 18. if they see a man leane towards a sinne they will sow a pillow under his arme-hole i sooth him up in his inclination that he sleepe securely in it with as little trouble and unrest as possibly may be These be wofull friends God deliver every good man from having such burs hang on his sleeve from having his head broken with these precious balmes as our Translation reads my text For my part saith David give me a true friend that will smite me as for a flatterer that will smooth me I hate and abhor him give me such a friend as is like those sawces which a man commends with teares in his eyes whose reprehension is like some wholsome potion though it make a man sick for the present it wil purge him do him good for the time to come it be these rough hands as one said of Iacobs that bring us savory meate and carry away the blessing when they have done As David blessed Abigail when she met him and staied him from his evill purpose 1 Sam. 25. 32. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that hath sent thee to meete mee this day and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from shedding of bloud A flatterer may please a man at the first but a plaine-dealing friend hath his blessing at the last and such a one did David desire to be smitten by because he knew that he would doe it sine adulatione without flatery Lastly if a righteous man smite though he doe it as I have shewed 1 Sine felle without gall 2 Sine publicatione without notice 3 Sine contumeliae without disgrace 4 Sine adulatione without flattery yet which is the maine of all 5 Non sine Deo not without God If David could say of his enemy that cursed him Let him alone for God hath bidden to curse much more safely maist thou say of thy friend that reproves thee let him alone for God hath bidden him to smite And as the Apostle saith of Ministers that God doth entreat you by us so perswade your selves that God doth reprove you by them Doe not therefore resist do not reject good counsell least thou be found to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an opposer a fighter against God For beleeve it if thou dost not hearken to God when hee reproves thee by thy friend thou shalt one day heare him to thy cost when God will reprove thee by himselfe Give eare and tremble at that same tuba terroris as Saint Austin calls it that trumpet of terrour or that terrible trumpet Psal 50. 21. These things hast thou done and I held my peace whereupon thou thoughtest wickedly that I was such a one as thy selfe that is one that seeth evill done and by silence gives consent and takes pleasure in them that doe it But I will reprove thee saith God and set thine sinnes in order before thine eyes Tremble I say at the voice of this Trumpet Thou that wilt neither reprove thy selfe when thou hast done evill nor suffer others by reproofe to doe thee good assure thy selfe there is one above that will reprove thee when hee comes to judge thee who will so marshall and ranke and set thy sinnes in order before thee that thou shalt not be able to answer him to one of a thousand Therefore as Saint Austin desired of God in another case Domine hic ure hic seca ut in posterum sanes Lord cut me and scorch me here that thou maist heale me and cure me hereafter so let thy prayer to God be to the same effect Lord smite me and reprove me here that I may have nothing to answer for nothing to be questioned for when I goe from hence So much briefly for the second generall part of my Text why David did make choise of a Righteous man to smite him The next is 3 Acceptatio fraternae correptionis the well-taking of brotherly reprehension the text saith It shall be a kindnesse But what will the world say if smiting be a kindnesse a man shall be sure to have enough of it if he will take that so kindly he shall not want for kindnesse as this world goes Such kindnesse as this Ananias could afford Saint Paul Acts 23. 2. Smite him on the mouth saith he when he was speaking how he had lived in all good conscience before God