enquire how we came into such pâ—rplexed times how into the pit of popular confusion One saies that the late King another that the Parliament a third the Army is the cause of all our trouble that they have put us in But who is it that takes care how to get out who is it that smites upon his thigh with his hand and concludes that his sin hath caused all this sorrow that his iniquity hath raked up the ashes of these hot distempers Could but men do this then they might cheerfully look up unto him who hath got the advantage of upper ground who can and is willing to draw them out of the deeps of their distresse and deliver them The good of Adversity and the ill of Prosperity THe Naturalists observe well that the North-wind is more healthfull though the South be more pleasant the South with his warmth raiseth vapours which breed putrefaction and cause diseases the North with his cold drieth those vapours up purging the blood aâ—d quickning the spirits Thus adversity is unpleasant but it keepeth us watchfull against sin and carefull to do our duties whereas prosperity doth Hatteringly lull us asleep It never goes worse with men spiritually then when they find themselves corporally best at ease Hezekiah was better upon his sick-bed then when he was shewing of his treasures to the Ambassadours of the King of Babylon How wicked the Sodomites were we read Gen. 18. but Ezekiel chap. 16. tells us the cause was fulnesse of bread It was a wise policy then of Epaminondas to stand Sentinell himselfe when the Citizens were at their Bacchanalls And surely when we have the world at will it is good providence then to look most to our waies The great danger of malitious turbulent spirits IT is one of Hipocrates's Aphorisms That long festered ulcers are beyond the pâ—ssibility of cure especially in hydropick bodies where the humours are rank and veâ—emous Such is the condition of all turbulent and tumultuous spirits exulcerate with the corrosive of many supposed wrongs and impatient in delay of their revenge are so far transported from reason or accepting the supple oyle of reconciliation as that they enter into resolutions of desperate consequence and vent the pâ—yson of their malice by the pipes of their treasonable practises into every vein of their native Country to the great hazard of her health and publick safety Heaven the best Inheritance ALL the thoughts of worldly men are employed all care 's taken up all their time bestowed all their means spent in purchasing or some way procuring unto themselves as they call it a â—ortune an â—state of Land of Inherâ—â—ance or Lease for tearm of years or life all which are yet subject to a thousand ealamities Let us then rather look after Heaven and labour for the state of Grace which is past all hazard being assured unto us by the hand-writing oâ— God and the seal of his blessed Spirit an Estate not for tearm of years but for etermity an Estaâ—e that is subject neither to the corruption of Westminster-hall moaths nor tinearum urbanarum bankrupt debtors nor tinearum militarium plundering thieves and robbers but such as cannot be spoiled by hostile invasion nor wrung from us by power nor won by Law nor mortgaged by debt nor impaired by publick calamity nor changed by Kings and Parliaments nor violated by death it self A sinfull man is a senslesse man TAke a dead man and put fire to his flesh pinch him with pincers prick him with niedles he feels it not scourge him and he cries not showt in his ear he hears not threaten him or speak him fair he regards not he answers not This is the condition of one that is spiritually dead in sin let the judgmenâ—s of God and terrours of the Law be laid home to his conscience let the flames of hell-fire flash in his soul he regards it not he is Sermon-proof and judgment-proof he hears of judgments abroad and sees judgments on others nay let judgments come home to his own doors yet he thinks all is well like Solomon's fool he out-stands all reproof let the Minister hit him never so home They have stricken me saies he but I was not sick they have beaten me but they might as well have beaten the aire Such and so deplorable is the sad condition of every senslesse sinner Revenge above all other passions is of a growing nature ALL Plants and other Creatures have their grouth and increase to a period and then their diminution and decay except only the Crocodile who groweth bigger and bigger even to death So have all passions and perturbations in man's mind their intentions and remissions increase and decrease except onely malitious revenge for this the longer it lasteth the stronger it waxeth still even when the malign humours of avarice and ambition are setled or spent Hence is it that such â—iery spirits as these have alwaies prâ—ved apter for innovation than administration for desolation than reformation and dangerous to the State where they live Saving Grace and seeming Grace much resemble one another EXperience sheweth that Briflow and Cornish-stones and many other â—als Gems have such a lustre in them and so sparkle like true Jewells that a cunning Lapidary if he be not carefull may be cheated with them Such are the enlightning graces which shine in hypocrites they so neerly resemble the true sanctifying and saving graces of the Elect that the eye of spirituall wisdome it self may mistake them if it be not single and look narrowly into them Peter's true tâ—ars of repentance may be taken for Esau's tears of discontent and revenge the temporary faith of Simon Magus may seem as good as that of justiâ—ying faith in Zacheus a seared conscience hardly to be discovered such as the possessed man had from a secured conscience such as St. Paul's was a suddain exaltation of the spirit such as the Iewes was from true joy in the holy Ghost such as David's was Prosperity divides affliction unites the hearts of Christians WE read in Scripture of the Manna that God gave his People such was the nature of it that the heat of the Sun melted it You will say How could it then endure the heat of the Oven for they baked it in the Oven yet so it was of a strange kinde of nature that it could bear the heat of the Oven and not the heat of the Sun Even of such kind of temper are our hearts the heat of the Sun of prosperity dissolves us causes us to run one from another to divide one from another but the heat of the fiery furnace of affliction bakes us brings us and settles us together it makes us to be one it takes away our â—awnesseâ— it consumes many of our ill humours and so composes our spirits into one Newtrality in Religion enmity of Religion THe sons of
such occasions as this seldom fall out And certainly for women in Masks and Shewes to be apparel'd as men and men as women hath been alwaies a thing distastfull to them which are more sober minded as Tertullian condemneth it directly Nullum cultum à Deo maledictum invenio c. I find no apparell saith he cursed of God but a womans in a man according to that of Deut. 22. 5. especially in Showes and Plaies further adding out of another place Non amat fâ—lsum Author veritatis c. The God of verity loves not falsity every thing that is counterfeit before him is a kind of adultery Sorrow that is true is for the most part silent ST Bernard bewailing Gerhardus the Monk and his dearest brother saith At his death my heart failed me sed feci vim animo with much ado I dissembled my griefe lest affection should seem to overcome religion and whilst others wept abundantly Secutus ego siccis oculis invisum funus my self followed with dry eyes the happy Hearse by-standers with watry cheeks admiring whilst they did not pitty him but me that lost him Indeed whereas tears and words fail the blood leaveth the cheeks to comfort the heart and speech giveth place to amazement They are small miseries when he that hath them can presently tell the world of them Sorrow that is true is for the most part silent That observation of St. Peter is good Flevit sed tacuit he wept but was silent as if his eyes would in some sort tell what his tongue could in no sort utter The known Law of any Nation to be the rule of Obedience IT was the observation of a wise but unfortunate Peer of this Nation at the time of his Triall before an honourable Assembly That if a man should passe down the Thames in a boat and it be split upon an Anchor and a Buoy being not set as a token that there is an Anchor there that party that owes the Anchor should by the Maritime Law give satisfaction for the dammage done But if it were marked out then he must come upon his own perill And thus it is that the known Lawes of a Nation are made the rule of obedience to the People the plain Law and Letter of the Statute that tells where and what the crime is and by telling what it is and what it is not shewes how to avoid it For were it under water and not above skulking onely in the sense of some musty record and not divulged no human providence could avail or prevent destruction No true cause of Rejoycing in this world THere is a story of a certain King that was never seen to laugh or smile but in all places amongst all persons at all times he was very pensive and sad His Queen being much troubled at his melancholly requested a brother of his that he would ask him what was the cause of his continuall sadnesse He did so The King put him off till the next day for an answer and in the mean time caused a deep pit to be made commanding his servants to fill it half full with fiery coals and then causeth an old rotten board to be laid over it and over the board to hang a two edged sword by a small slender thread with the point downwards and close by the pit to set a table full of all manner of delicacies His brother comming next day for an answer was placed on the board and four men with drawn swords about him and withall the best musick that could be had to play before him Then the King called to him saying Rejoyce and be merry O my brother eat drink and laugh for here is pleasant being But he replyed and said O my Lord and King how can I be merry being in such danger on every side Then the King said Look how it is now with thee so it is alwaies with me for if I look about me I see the great and dreadfull Iudge to whom I must give an account of all my thoughts words and deeds good or evill If I look under me I see the endlesse torments of hell wherein I shall be cast if I die in my sins If I look behind me I see all the sins that ever I committed and the time which unprofitably I have spent If I look before me I see my death every day approaching nearer and nearer unto my body If I look on my right hand I see my conscience accusing me of all that I have done and left undone in this world And if I look on my left hand I see the creatures crying out for vengeance against me because they groaned under my iniquities Now then cease hence forward to wonder why I cannot rejoyce at the world or any thing in the world but continue sad and heavy Thus did but men consider their estates then would they find small cause to rejoyce at any thing which the world shall present as a thing delectable but rather employment enough for Argus his eyes yet all little enough to weep for the miserable estate wherein they stand by reason of sin and wickednesse Controversies especially in matters of Religion dangerous ON the Tomb-stone of the learned Sr. Henry Wotton late Provost of Eaton Colledge it is thus inscribed Hic jacet hujus sententiae Author Pruritus disputandi fit scabies Ecclesiae Here lies the Author of this sentence The itch of Disputation becomes the scab of the Church And very true How is Religion in a manner lost in the controversies of Religion For who is there that had not rather seem learned in the controversies of Religion then conscionable in the practice of Religion and that sets not more by a subtle head then a sanctified heart that had not rather disputare quam bene vivere dispute well than live well So that distraction in Religion becomes destruction of Religion Daily Examination of our selves the comfort of it SEneca tells of a Roman that kept his soul as clean as the best housewife keeps her house every night sweeping out the dust and washing all the vessells examining his own soul Quod malum hodie sanâsti qua parte melior es What infirmity hast thou healed what fault haste thou done and not repented in what degree art thou bettered Then would he lie down with O quà m gratus somnus quà m tranquillus With how welcome sleep and how quiet rest do I entertain the night And it were to be wished that all men would do the like to keep a day-book of all their actions and transactions in the world to commune with their own hearts and not to sum up all their words and works in the day passed with an Omnia bene as Church-wardens were wont to do when they gave up their presentments then would their nights rest be quiet and then might they lie down in safety for God himself would keep them Repentant tears
Kite a breakfast yet of that extent as to the desires thereof totus non sufficit Orbis the whole World is not able to satisfy it If an Earthly-minded Man should gaiâ— unto himself the whole World and being placed in the middle of it so that if possible he might at once view his purchase he would Alexander-like ask whether there were any more Worlds any more land any more Wealth that he might grasp that into his hands also Pride in Apparel condemned OUr Chronicles record it of William Rufus one of the three Norman Kings who in his time was held for one sumptuous in his Apparrel that when his Chamberlain had brought him a pair of new breeches to put on and he demanding what they cost it was answered Eight shillings The King being offended bade him begone like a beggar and bring him a pair of a Mark price Now it is much to be feared that Histories for the time to come shall have little or no cause at all to commend our sober moderation in this kind but rather complain of the most intolerable and damned excesse that ever reigned amongst Christians such being the Vanity thereof that Sâ—xes can hardly be distinguished and when one sees Men and Women in their bravery they may safely conclude many of them to be in the midst of their Wealth the basest of them wearing more in gold and silver-lace or a sett of points then would in times past have bought one of our ancient Kings a Suit of Apparrel Carelesse Worldly hearers of Gods Word to be reproved IT is said by the Naturalists how true let them look to it that a Vessel being made of the Iâ—ie-Tree iâ— Water and Wine be poured into it together the Wine will leak out and leave the Water behind it Such are all carelesse worldly Hearers of Gods Word they hold a true resemblance with this Wood for receiving into them the Wine of Gospel-dispensations which should inebriate them with the love of God and goodnesse and also taking in the Water of â—orldly apprehensions they leave out all the Wine forget all the good so that notâ—ing remains behind but the pudled water of Vanity Pride Ambition Luxury and such other pests of the Soul which without the mercy of God upon true Repentance will endanger it to all Eternity Pride and Ambition the Folly thereof IT is reported of a certain Philosopher who dying demised a great sum of Moâ—â—y to him that should be found most foolish and left another Philosopherâ—is â—is Executor It fell out so that travelling many Countreys to find out a Man exceeding all others in Folly that he came to Rome where a Consul abusing his place was adjudged to death and another immediately chosen who joyfully tâ—ok it upon him to this Man the Philosopher delivered the sum of Money telling him that he was the most foolish Man in the World who seeing the miserable end of his Predecessor yet was nothing daunted therewith but joyfully took upon him the succession of his Office O how Foolish then are the most Men of this World that live and see the miserable wrack that Pride and Ambition have made every where In Heaven in Paradise and through the whole World and every part thereof especially that of the Court of great ones where but few prosper and those that prosper perish yet dare adventure with joy and contentment to hoyse out their sayls and run themselves upon such dangerous rocks ruine and destruction Men by Nature looking more after their bodies then their Souls SOcrates one day meeting Zenophon the sonne of Coryllus in a certain angiport or Haven-street and seeing him a youth of great hopes stayed him with his staffe and asked him this question Where was the place where severall Merchandizes and Commodities were to be sold To whom Zenophon readily replyed In such a place he might be furnished with all sorts Then Socrates demanded of him another question Where was the place where Men were to be made good To this his answer was That he could not tell Then saith Socrates to him Follow me that thou mayst learn it And so from that time he began to be Socrates's Scholler Now as it was with Zenophon at that time so it is now with most part of Christians they know readily and are very well verst in all the waies of Worldly Trade and Commerce as having special care to be ignorant of nothing that belongs to profit or pleasure but if the demand be made concerning the Pearl of price the rich Merchandize of the Soul the graces of Gods holy Spirit and where and how one may purchase them they answer with Zenophon they cannot tell And why because they never made it their work to enquire after things of that Nature Magistrates Ministers c. their rule to walk by THe Sea-men have a Proverb or rather a Riddle Mare ab imbecillibus victum fortior a vincit that the Sea is overcome of things weak but the strongest are overcome of the Sea which is thus to be understood That those â—abulous dirty and fenny places about the Sea are by aggregation and access of mire sand and other things falling into them continually enlarged and so the Sea about such places is contracted restrained and as it were overcome but the rocky strong and hard places are by the Sea strongly assaulted and by little and little so battered and eaten out that it gets much ground there and overcomes that stony-hearted opposition A good Rule for Magistrates Ministers and Men in power to walk by to be gentle and loving and of a yielding disposition to the humble virtuous and Religious persons and suffer such to be overcome by them but to the stubborn stiff-necked and proud rebellious spirits to extend the waves and billows of their Iustice and power to break down their oppositions and bring under their aspiring thoughts but with this Proviso that their Sins may be hated not their Persons and that to be done too not with a desire of Revenge but of healing and curing their Infirmities Graces of the Spirit to be made the Souls furniture ALexander having conquered Darius there was a box brought unto him from the Kings Cabin curiously wrought with gold and pearl And asking of them who were not ignorant of the Persians profusednesse and vanity What use there was of so pretious a Vessel It was answered That the King used therein to keep his Oyntments which as soon as he understood he gave order forthwith that it should be the keeper of a more pretious Iewell meaning the Iliads of Homer and be no more called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the box of Oyntments but the box of Homer Now how much rather should every Christian make his most pretious Soul which hath for a long time been no better then a cage full of unclean birds the keeper of
Mistresse of fools makes us better known to our selves But though he leave us for a time yet doth he not forsake us for ever no more than a Nurse doth the weakling child she maketh use of one fall to keep the child from many and God doth make use of our sinning to make us see how prone we are to sin and so prevent us for the future An ungracious Son not worthy to be his Father's Heir DId the goldsmith but know before hand that his refining of silver would turn to drosse he would rather break his bellows and chrysolls in a thousand pieces than once offer to set himself about such an unprofitable piece of service And if many a Father did but know that his Son would prove a spend-thrift Devill he would sooner fire all he had than leave one penny behind him Young Schollars to mind their Books IT is reported of Dr. Andrew Willet the volumnious Atlas of Learning that at the age of fourteen years or thereabouts his father sent him to the University of Cambridge where he applyed himself so seriously to his studies that in short time he had not onely gained a good measure of knowledge in the learned Tongues but likewise in the Arts and all necessary literature so that it might well be said of him as Pliny said of Trajan Docendi tempore discendi nihil habuit He had nothing of those things to learn when he was to teach them to others What a shame is it then for those that dishonour that Athenian life with Dorick manners that like to the father of Francis Iunius to whom his Grand-father writing when he was at the University was wont thus to superscribe his Letters Dionyâ—â—o dilecto filio misso ad studendum To my beloved son Dionysius sent to study when as it seems he did nothing lesse than that which he was sent about So many young Schollars spend that time which should be at their books aut malè aut nihil aut aliud agendo either doing wickedly or that which they should not do or else nothing at all so that their Tutors are enforced to dismisse them with a Pol ego operam oleum perdidi I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength in vain The life of Faith the happy life WHen Elisha demanded of the Shunamite what he should do for her or whether there were any thing to be spoken for her to the King or the Captain of the Hoast she answered I dwell among my people she lived in peace and quietnesse she had no cause to make any complaint against any of her neighbours she was not driven to make any suit to the King or the Captain she troubled not others and others troubled not her And this she accounted an happy life and so it was But what then is the happy estate and condition of the faithfull surely a thousand times greater they are at peace with Heaven and earth with men and Angells with themselves and all others with life and death there is nothing that is able to dismay them nothing able to hurt them Shortnesse of time will not admit of long discourse THey that have a long journey to make and but a short time allowed them must make but short baites by the way and cannot stand to take every acquaintance by the hand that they meet And they that are to paint or print or any waies delineate a pitched field within the compasse of a sheet or two of paper can make but few souldiers whole or compleat but are fain to set down for the most part their heads onely or their Helmets So he that hath many things to speak unto within a small compasse of time must contract himself and be contented to touch onely the heads of the greatest part of them and as for long discourses he must wave them Curiosity in the hearing of God's Word condemned MAny men take no pleasure in flowers or care any further for them than to look upon them smell to them and have them in their hands but the Bees draw from them both hony and wax and the skilfull Apothecary maketh many medicines of them against divers and sundry diseases Thus many hear Sermons onely for their pleasure for the elegancy of the style delicacy of the words smoothnesse of the language and gracefulnesse of the delivery but this is but to make a nosegay to smell to for a while and cast it anon after into a corner to hear the word gladly but in time of temptation to fall away Ambition proves its own ruine THe poisonfull Aconite so much desired of the Panther is purposely hung up by the Hunters in vessells above their reach whereof they are so greedy as they never leave leaping and straining thereat till they burst and kill themselves and so are taken Thus do men that aim at honour and greatnesse too high for their reach and too great oftentimes for their merit for an ambitious hear overgrown with this rank Aconite neither admits of the beams of Grace to mollifie its hardnesse nor the bounds of Nature to restrain the swelling but is unnaturally carried to ruine those of his own gang that are living and to blemish the honourable fame of those that are departed Surely ambitious Tyrants may bear themselves up for a time but in the end they shall find that though divine Iustice hath leaden feet she hath iron hands though slow in comming yet she strikes home To be content in the present condition THey that are not contented with their present condition are fitly compared to little children that are gotten upon a hill and they look a good way off and see another hill and they think if they were on the top of that then they were able to touch the Clouds with their fingers but when they are on the top of that hill alasse then they are as far from the clouds as before So it is with many that think if they were in such a condition then they should have contentment and it may be so that they get into that condition yet they are as far from contentment as before not considering that in the very lowest of conditions they may for the present be serviceable to the counsell of God that hath thus put them into it A godly Christian is a constant Christian AFfections to God must be constant The aire you know is light and yet we call it not a lightsome body because it is lighted by the presence of another and when that body is removed it is dark for the aire is dark in the night when the Sun is absent as it is light when the Sun is present Those onely we call lightsome bodies whose light is originated and rooted in themselves So they are not godly persons that may have some injections of godly thoughts and godly affections cast into them and be in them for a spurt and a
Commonwealth doth prosper but no sooner doth the Subject break these bonds but a civill putrefaction enters which maketh way to the ruine of a State whoreth every mans particular interest is hazarded with the whole the remedy where of is the work of judgement but it must be attended with Justice also not the Kings affections but his Lawes must moderate his Iudgement and the medicine must be fitted to the Disease otherwise if the scales of Iustice do not firft weigh the merits of the cause the Judgement will as much disquiet the State as discontent the party judged All have not the same measure of Christ. CHrist hath the fulnesse of Grace we but every one his proportion according to our capacities even as from the Sun every man receives a beam of the same kind though not the same beam or from a tree every Man gathereth an apple though not the same apple or out of a River every Man drinketh a draught of the same water but not the same draught of water Even so all do partake of the same Christ but not in the same measure And no Man whole Christ by whole I mean totum Christi though every man doth receive him whole that is totum Christum Every man hath Christ alike intensivè though extensivè all have him not alike and yet extensivè too every Man hath his full measure as it was in Manna He that gathered more had not too much and he that gathered less had enough Ministers to teach as well the practice as the knowledge of Religion A Discreet School-master doth not only teach his Schollers Grammer rules whereby for example true Latine may be made but he teacheth them also to make true Latine according to those Rules neither doth he think his paines bestowed to any purpose till his Schollers can do that Even so a discreet Minister must teach his people not onely how to know but how to do their duty to turn their Science into Conscience so to learn Christ as to become Christians Christians in S. Paulâ— sense For certainly he is a very trewant in Christ's School whose life doth not expresse his learning that is not a doer as well as a hearer of the Word Iustice described TRavailers write Nath Chytreus by name that in Padua Iustic◠〈…〉 in a publique place between a pair of scales and a sword aâ—cording to the old manner with these two Verses proceeding from her mouth Reddo cuique suum sanctis legibus omne Concilio mortale genus ne crimine vivat The Verses are but clowter-like unworthy such an University as Padua is renowned to be but the sense is good and for the shortnesse of them they may be the better remembred I give saith Iustice to every man his own I prâ—cure and win all men to be subject unto godly Lawes left otherwise they should prove criminall that is grievous transgressors Were it otherwise Servants would be on horse-back and Masters even Princes on foot Like People like Priest Like Buyer like Seller Like Borrower like Lender as Esay again saith Nay then no buyer no seller or borrower or lender but all upon snatching and catching and rifling and plundering and rapine and wrong and blood touching blood The Minister's labour though in succesful yet rewarded by God THe Minister's labour whether it hit or miss is accepted of the Lord l For as he who perswadeth to evill be it Heresie or Treason is punished accordingly although he do not prevail because he intended it because he did labour it So he that doth his best to win Men to Heaven though he effecteth not what he desired though he hath laboured in vain and spent his slrength in vain yet he shall be accepied and his reward shall be with his God The happy meeting of Body and Soul in the Resurrection WHen we pluck down a house with intent to new build it or repair the ruines of it we warne the Inhaditants out of it least they should be soyled with the dust and rubbish or offended with the noise and so for a time provide some other place for them but when we have new trimmed and dressed up the House then we bring them back to a better habitation Thus God when he overturneth this rotten roome of our flesh calleth out the Soul for a little time and lodgeth it with himselfe in some corner of his Kingdom but repairesh the bracks of our bodies against the Resurrection and then having made them decent yea glorious and incorruptible he doth put our Soules back again into their acquainted Mansions The Popes policy to advance his Holiness ONe Psapho dwelling in the parts of Lybia desirous to be canonized a God took a sort of prating birds and secretly taught them to sing this one note Psapho is a great God and having their lesson perfectly let them fly into the woods and hills adjoyning where continuing their song other birds by imitation learned the same till all the hedge-rowes rang with nothing but Psapho's diety The Country people hearing the Birds but ignorant of this fraud thought Psapho to be a God indeed and began to worship him The same is the Popes practice desirous to effect his ambition and shew himselfe to be a God he maintaines a sort of discontented English fugitives in his Seminaries as it were in so many cages where dyeting them for the nonce he easily teaches them what tune he pleaseth and having so done takes off their bâ—lls and sends them home again where filling every hedge and outhouse with their tunes no marvail if other birds of the samefeather and as wise as themselves by conversing with them do the like The power of Faith reviving the deadly sin-sick soul. VVHen the Israelites were in burying a Man for fear of the Souldiers of the Moabites they cast him for haste into the sepulchre of Elisha Now the dead Man assoon as he was down and had touched the body of the Prophet he recovered and stood upon his feet So let a Man that is dead in sin be cast into the grave of Christ that is let him by faith but touch Christ dead and buried it will so come to passe that he shall be raised from death and bondage of sin to become a new man To sin against the mercies of God is to double our Sins HE that sins against the mercies of God fights against God with his own weapons which must needs provoke God Suppose a Man should come into a Smiths shop and take up the Smiths own Hammer and knock him on the head this were to commit a double sin not onely to kill the Smith but to kill him with his own Hammer Such a double sin are they guilty of who the more wit they have the more they plot against God and the more wealth and health and honour they have the more they despise God and his Commandements with
like the light in Goshen when all Egypt was dark besides or like Gideons fleece onely watered with the dew of Heaven whilst the rest of the earth was dry and destitute of his favour Great cause of thankfulnesse indeed Perjury attended by Gods Iudgments ULadislaus King of Hongary one that professed Christ covenanteth with Amurath Emperour of the Turks Articles are drawn up betwixt them a Peace is concluded for ten years Uladislaus swears to the agreement signes it as his act and deed and delivers it to the Emperour But the Pope Eugenius not well liking the businesse dispenseth with the Kings oath Whereupon provision is made for war the Turk is met with a great Army the Battle is joyned the service grew hot on both sides and the Turk is worsted at the first which Amurath their Emperour perceiving drawes the Articles out of his bosom spreads them in the face of Heaven with these words O Iesu Christ these men call themselves Christians and they have sworn in thy Name not to have war upon us for ten years If thou be Christ as they say and we dream shew thy self upon this People in the breach of their Covenant Whereupon the Battle turned and there were eleven thousand Christians slain upon the place in that day Thus it is that perjury hath ever been attended with Gods judgments who will not part with his honour though it be in the midst of a company of Infidells Can a perjured man prosper Was it ever neard that any false forsworn perjured wretch did prosper and if he did all that he got by it was put into a bag with holes witnesse Zedechiah Where was it that the flying Role of curses light where where but in the house of him that swearesh falsly Perjury may be carried off smoothly here in this world and walk up and down with an impudent face but yet for all that judgment dogs it at the very heeles so that one may casily read the fathers fault many times in the sons punishment even to the ruine of posterity Swelling big words of wicked men not to be regarded AFter the defeat of that great Armado in 88. the Duke of Ossuna presented himself to the King of Spain with a distaff at his side and a spindle at his back in stead of a sword and dagger the King hereby understanding that Dux foemina facti a Woman had foil'd them hastily stept to the Altar and taking a silver candlestick up in his hand swore a monstrous oath That he would waste all Spain yea his whole Indies to that candlestick but he would be revenged on England But praised be God those high words were but the effects of his malice without Englands ruine And had not a seasonable Peace not many years after been concluded he might for all his far streich'd greatnesse have been reduced to a Kingship of Oranges and Lemons And thus the swelling big words of wicked men are not to be regarded It were no living for any good man if the hands of foul mouth'd men were as bloody as their hearts Men and devills are under the restraint of the Almighty neither are their words more high or their designes more lavish than their atchievments be vain and their executions short like the reports of Ordinance they blaze and crack and smoak and stink and vanish away Men of self-ends condemned IT was a sweet and savoury saying of Oecolampadius Nolui aliquid loqui vel scribere c. I should be loath to speak or write any thing that Christ should dsiallow he is that Master to whom every man must stand or fall one good look from him is beyond all vulgar acclamation according to that of the Apostle Not he that commendeth himself nor he whom the world commends is approved but he whom the Lord commendeth Reprovable then are the Gnosticks of old who gloried in themselves and our modern Iesuits who vaunt that the Church is the soul of the world the Clergy of the Church and they of the Clergy And many amongst our selves that have as our English Seneca said Eve's sweet tooth in their heads would be more then they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or â— the man or some body such as are never well but when they are setting their good parts a sunning to gain the applause and admiration of the world such as turn the Perspective-glasse see themselves bigger others lesser then they are sacrificing to themselves as those Babylonians and setting up and serving themselves of Christ and his service as Iudas and his successors that rob him of his rents and run away with his glory Good Christians alwaies thankful unto God IT was an ancient custome amongst us though now much sleighted upon every New-years day mutually to give and receive Gifts as lucky pledges of an hopefull year to come according to that of the Poet Mos vetus est Iani dare mutua dona Calendis Annus ut auspicio prosperiore fluaâ— yet good and faithfull Christians are not contented to give thanks unto God onely on the first day of the year the first moneth of the year the first week of the Moneth the first day of the week or the first hour of that day but alwaies at all times upon all occasions they do but Think and Thank God lades them â—ayly with benefits and they press him dayly with thanks Be it Prosperity they look upon it as a pledge of his favour be it Adversity they entertain it as a tryall of Patience still thankfull Parents to be carefull what they say in presence of Children ELiah was taken up to Heaven in a fiery Charior and having left Elisha behind him in his room there was no want of mockers and jeerers in Israel that were ready to laugh at any goodnesse such as made themselves sport with the Prophets of God saying that Elisha should be taken up into Heaven too and this they did in the hearing of their Children No sooner was Elisha come to Bethel but a company of Children meet him saying Goup thou bald pate go up thou bald pate do as thy Master did thou must be in his room forsooth then thou mayst mount as he did The Propher hearing this turned back and looked on them it had been better for them if he had looked another way and cursed them whereupon there came forth two she-bears out of the woods and tore forty two of them asunder 2 King 2. 24. Here was a company of ill-bred Children Their Fathers had in their hearing abused the Prophet and they like ready Schollers were not long in taking our such a lesson though they paid very dear for their learning Let Parents therefore be carefull what they say or do in presence of their Children it cannot be imagined what large ears such slender pitchers have how apprehensive how imitable they are especially in that which is bad To
kind of moving 〈◊〉 body that he bended too much forward and stood not upright that he was nothing ripe and ready in his delivery that he could be no Scholar because he was so plain spoken that almost any man might make as good a Sermon that it differed little from ordinary talk that he enforc'd nor followed his exhortations with vehemency and earnestnesse of spirit and that his words had no life in them to stir up the attention or move the affections of the hearers that none of them would give a penny for his maintenance and that they would have another kind of Preacher than he or they would have none Here now was the same Sermon preached but here not the same People that heard it the first Sermon Cryed up the second cryed down yet still the same Sermon the Preacher much commended at the first delivery and as much discommended at the second yet still the same Preacher Hence is it that the generality of the people are not to be looked on as fit and competent judges of the Preacher and his Doctrin for they are usually led by passion not by discretion so that oft-times they commend they know not what and discommend they know not whom How it is that at the second comming of Christ to Judgment the frame of the World shall not be consumed but repairednew AS when that gold or silver is cast into the furnace and so tryed in the fire the substance remaineth but the drosse is that which onely perisheth So in the last day the fire of the Iudgment shall consume and abolish the corruptible and drossy quality of the Creature but the substance being subtilized and refined shall abide and continue What though that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fashion of the world passe and be skowred away by the fire of that generall conflagration yet the matter and substance shall remain The heavens indeed shall passe away with a noise or rushing or shrink together like a skroul of parchment the Elements like lead shall melt with heat and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up Yet the World shall not be consumed to nothing but onely trans-changed into a new form and converted to a Sabbaticall and better use God out of the very ashes of it will produce a new world even a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein shall dwell righteousnesse 1 Pet. 3. 13. To be warned by the miseries of others AS some School masters have used that disciplin to correct the children of great persons whose personall correction they finde reason to forbear by correcting other children in their names and in their sight and have by this means so wrought upon good natures that they have amended what was amisse at present and taken more care for the future Thus the Iewes were by God corrected in the punishment of the Egyptians for the ten plagues of Aegypt were as Moses ten Commandements to Israel And so it is that other mens harms ought to be our arms Every judgment that falls upon a another should be as Catechism to us by way of instruction When Iudgements are abroad in the world shall not the People learn Righteousnesse Shall the Lion roar and the beasts of the Forrests not tremble Shall Gods hand lie heavy upon others and we stand by as idle spectators nothing at all minding what is done Shall our very next Neighbours house be on fire and we look on as Men unconcerned in the danger It cannot it must not be there is without all doubt the same combustible stuffe the same if not greater sins lodged in our hearts and the same punishments hovering over our heads it is therefore high time to look about us Repentance not to be put off till old Age. WInter-Voyages are very dangerous and uncertain by reason of the North-wind which is then let loose upon the Earth And sure he were not wise that might take his journey in the Summer yet by delaying his opportunity would expose himselfe to the durty deepnesse of the way and inclemency of the weather in winter Now so it is that old Age is mans Winter witnesse that Snow which covers his head more cold lasting then the Russian frosts which the raging Dog-star can scarcely thaw And Youth is his Summer wherein the better temper of the ayr the clearnesse of his sky wherein are fewer clouds lesse storms to hinder his prospect to Heaven promise a successfull voyage Can it be thought then that God who preceded all time will take it well at our hands to be put back unto the last minute of time How can he that requires the first fruiâ—s of our Lands be content with the latter harvest of our lives How can he that expects a sacrifice of sweet smell but distaste our unsavory zeal when for a fragrant flower we present him with a dry stalk and withered branch the lees of our old age for the vintage of our youth yet by the way this is not to prejudicate a gray-headed Repentance though the younger must needs be preferred That may be true but this more safe A Man may hope well of the one but believe better of the other In all Deliverances spiritual and temporall to give God the Glory THeodosius being told of the wonderfull over-throw of the Usurper Iohn his Adversary he and all his followers resorted to the Temple where they passed over the day with praise and thanksgiving acknowledging that God by his arm had cast down that Tyrant And Fl. Heraclius being delivered from Cosâ—oe the King of the Persians and Kingdom freed from Tyranny did in the heighth of his Triumph at Bizantium openly praise God for his delivery And the more to shew his thankfulesse did cause to be stamped on his coyn with his own Image these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Glory be to God in Heaven because he hath broken the Iron doors and hath delivered the holy Kingdom of Heraclius And thus must all of us do if we be freed from persecution from a sword-power from a Government Tyrannicall let us confesse with David that Salvation is of the Lord If we be brought from the jawes of death and the gates of the grave or recovered from some mortall disease let us say with Hezekiah The Lord was ready to save me Or if like so many brands suatch'd out of the fire we be brought from the deep of destruction the very gulf of Hell let us acknowledge with Ionah That Mercy and Salvation is of the Lord In all deliverances spirituall and temporall let God still have the glory Self-conceitednesse in matters of Religion condemned IT was in the Leviticall Law so ordered by God that he which had a blemish of white in his eye was debarred from the Priest-hood and compared to the Owl of whom the Naturalists yield the reason that she cannot see in
not for Cateline but for thy Country And indeed too too often it falls out that Parents may be said to get Children for the Devill rather then God for the ruine rather then the raising of their Countrey they must therefore look to it that they be well educated religiously trained up that they may appear to be Gods Children as well as theirs How the Devil is said to know our thoughts AN Angler having baited his hook the Fish having espyed the bayt after two or three vagaries about it nibbles at it and after a while swallows down the bayt hook and all The Fisher sees none of all this but by the sinking of the cork he knowes that the Fish is taken Thus the Devil though a most cunning Angler knowes not the thoughts of Men such as are meer pure thoughts that 's Gods peculiar it is he that seâ—rcheth the heart and tryeth the reins but if we write or spâ—ak if the cork do but stirre if our Countenance do but change he is of such perspicuity and so well experienced withall that he will soon know what out thoughts are and suit his temptations accordingly Faithful and seeming Servants of God diffeferenced by way of Reward GReat Men have usually two kinds of Servants some that they hire by the day or the moneth or the year and they shall have so much or so much wages paid unto them every night or it may be every week Other Servants there are that are not paid off presently but that which they seâ—ve for is the expectation of some great Office or some reversion of Laâ—ds that should fall unto them after a certain time expired and thereupon they go on in doing faithfull service though there come nothing of it at present This is the difference of Faithful and seeming servants of God in reference to the matter of Reward They who live the best lives such as Morall civill honest Men who cannot yet be called truly gracious though in some measure they may be said to do God some service it is but such as poor labouring Men do that are paid for their dayes labour and so they have their daily pay of meat and drink and cloaths such comforts as the Creature can afford But God hath other manner of Servants better qualified such as are Godly and true Christians indeed who though they have not so much present pay as the other yet there are Reversions and some glorious things that they expect hereafter Hence is it that they go oâ— not envying them that have their daily pay in outward things but wait patiently for better Wicked persons may be in a godly Family ST Augustine writing to the Clergy and Townesmen of Hippo saith Although the discipline and government of my house be strict and vigilant yet as I am a Man and live amongst Men I dare not arrogate to my self that my house should be better then the Ark of Noah the house of Abraham Isaac Jacob and of Christ Thus may it be also with many a good Man yea there have been no worse Men in the World then they that have had the best means of Grace in Christian Families As in Adam's there was a murthering Cain In Abraham's a persecuting Ishmael In Noah's a scoffing Cham In Isaac's a prophane Esau In David's an undutiful Absolon In Mephibosheth's a Faithlesse Ziba In Elisha's a lying Gehezi And in the Colledg of Christ a treacherous Iudas And no wonder For Religion is not hereditary yea Religion is the Work of God and he hath other enâ—s in means of Reformation then conversion as may be â—â—en in Pharaâ—h and in Eli's sons The Soul of Man pretious in the sight of God A Skilfull Ieweller having taken a great deal of pains to make up some exquisite piece of Art cannot choose but be much troubled when he sees his Workmanship fallen into the hands of children and fools that have no understanding such as cannot value what work is and therefore sleight it Such a rare piece is the Soul of Man framed by God after his own divine Image so pretious and transcendent in the estimate that the Spirit of God is as it were at a stand to find any thing to equal it What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul Now to speak after the manner of Men How is the holy Spirit of God grieved when that which he hath made a Temple for himself to dwell in shall by sin be made a den of dragons a cage of unclean birds a harbour for impure thoughts to see that sleighted which himself holdeth so near and dearly beloved unto him Christians having an eye upon the Heavenly Rewards not to be daunted at any outward troubles JUlius Caesar that great Roman Emperor when he was at any time sad upon the thoughts of some disaster that besell him in the way of his dominion was wâ—nt to say Cogitate esse Caesarem Think that thou art Caesar and that was it that put him into a more joyous temper And memorable is that place of holy Writ When Ionadab said to Amnon Why art thou lean from day to day being the King's Son Intimating that he could have no just cause to pine and fret away himself being the King's son and heir apparent to the Crown whose present condition and future hopes might make him easily dispence with such matters as would be grievous to others besides he was of that power and authority that he might easily remove any obstacle that lay in his way Thus it may very well be said of every true-hearted Christian that having an eye upon the Reward they should not be daunted at any outward thing whatsoever but to think upon their Crown and glory not to have their hearts troubled and to walk dumpishly and heavily in the wayes of God For they are the King of Heaven's Sons Heirs of God Co-heirs with Christ the Children of the Bride-Chamber and therefore to rejoyce and go on with an holy and heavenly chearfulnesse and courage in all the wayes of God The mystery of the blessed Trinity shadowed out in familiar resemblances IN a fiered Coal there is the substance of the Coal the light of the Coal the heat of the Coal and yet but one fiered Coal So soon as the Coal is fiered there are these three substance light and heat So in the divine Essence though in a more transcendent way is there the Father Son and Holy Ghost Again it may be shadowed out in a Man's self Assoon as ever he is born into this World he is a Creature to God a Child to his Parents a Subject to his Prince and yet he it but one So so soon as ever that God is that is from all Eternity he is Father Sonne and Holy Ghost yet but one God How to be truly Rich and truly Honourable THere is mention made of a Painter that having drawn the picture of a
derived to the Rod and thence to the hand of him that holds it whereupon the Party is so benummed and stupified on a suddain that he loseth the use of his limbs Even so when inchanting lusts insinuate themselves into or indeed but barely touch upon voluptuous minds they grow with the Companions of Ulysses not onely bruitish but withall so senselesse that they have not the power to think a good thought or to do any good action The grand impostory of pretended Revelations MAhomet that grand Hellish Impostor often pretended Visions from Heaven And the Story assures us that he cunningly made use of the disease of his body to perswade his Disciples of the soundnesse of his doctrine For being afflicted with the Falling-sicknesse when at any time a fit was upon him he made the People believe that he was in an exâ—asie or ravishment of the Spirit at the appearance of the Angel Gabriel who revealed many mysteries unto him And having by long use and familiarity taught a Pidgeon to feed at his ear he by art prevailed with the People to feed at his poysonous mouth as if his words had been the inspirations of the Holy Ghost who as she affirmed came then to him in the form of a Dove and taught him those secrets Thus it is that when vain Men such as the Apostle calls filthy dreamers would put a new-nothing upon the World as an infallible Truth and have it swallowed down without chewing received without disputing then usually they pretend that it is quid Divinum a Doctrine or Message come down immediately from God and so shaping their own dark conceptions by the light of Divine Revelation do with the more estimation put off either such points of doctrine or such rules of Policy as themselves have onely invented To be favourable in the Censure of our brother IN Freesland there was a false Prophet one George David who called himself Gods Nephew and said That Heaven was empty and that he was to choose some to fill it and none forsooth must come there but whom he liked And we have some amongst us such mad Prophets that will elect and damn whom they please But as themselves say The Pope hath no power to make Saints so we may very well say They have no Authority to make Devils Every Man is to be reputed honest till he be disproved Charity thinks no evil 1 Cor. 13. 5. The Worlds Deceitfulnesse and Treachery IT is said of the City of Athens that it was a goodly place for a Philosopher to passe through for there he should see and hear many things that might better his understanding it being as it were the Nurse and Mother of all Learning but it was not good for him to stay there because he could hardly live in safety So may it well be said of this World that if a Man do but onely passe through it he may behold many admirable works of God to better his knowledg but if he take up his abode here then he is in jeopardy of his life For the World salutes Passengers after a friendly manner and bids them welcome but with that Proviso to his Servants which Iudas gave to his Complices Whomsoever I shall kisse that is he hold him fast treacherously kissing and killing them entertaining them with a Smile but sending them home not by Chearing but by weeping-crosse It gives them for a while the liberty of the house to call for what they list they may have all the deadly sins at their service but they shall have a cutting reckoning in the end Conscience keeps the barre and will make them pay with a Witnesse For in the very height of their Contentments they shall be arrested upon an action of Riot and if Gods great mercy prevent not be cost into Hell without bayl or mainprize for ever Commonnesse of the Death of others taking away the sense of Death IT is said of Birds that build and roost in Steeples being used to the continual ringing of Bells the sound disquiets them not at all or as those that dwell near the fall of the River Nilus the noise of the Water deafens them so that they mind it not Thus it is that the commonnesse of the death of others is made but as it were a formall thing Many have been so often at the grave that now the grave is worn out of their hearts they have gone so often to the house of Mourning that they are grown familiar with Death they look upon it as a matter of custome for Men to die and be buried And when the solemnity is over the thoughts of Death are over also as soon as the grave is out of their sight preparation for the grave is out of their mind then they go to their Worldly businesse to trading and dealing yea to coveting and sinning as if the last Man that ever should be were buried Silence in the cause of Gods honour condemned HErodotus writes of a dumb Son that Croesus had who when his Father was endangered in a battel on a suddain his tongue was loosed and he cryed out Parce Rex est O spare him hee 's the King So when Gods glory is in question what a numbnesse what a dumbnesse is it not to say O spare him hee 's the Lord Luther will be accounted proud passionate Enemy to the Pope or any thing rather then to be found guilty of sinfull silence when the cause of God suffereth To hear Blasphemers wound and tear the sweet and sacred Name of Christ in pieces would make a dumb Man speak though there be a time yet an evill time when a Prudent Man is to hold his peace Amos 4. The deepest Dissembler at one time or other discovering himself XEnophon writes of the Persians that they taught their Children to lye to their Enemies and to speak truth to their Friends but they soon forgot their distinction and so discovered themselves As it is in the Fable A Woolf being crept into a Sheeps-skin went so long to School till he came to the spelling of his Pater-noster And being asked What spells P and a he answered Pa Then what spells t e r. he answered ter Put them together said the Master The Wolf cryed Agnus Ore protulit quod in corde fuit saith the Morall intimating that the deepest dissembler will at one time or other discover himself No Man can personate another long neither can any so transform himself but now and then you shall see his heart at his tongues end The Devill may transform himself into an Angel of light and Men may seem to be zealous in a good Matter when their hearts are ranging after their lusts yet mark them well and at one time or other you shall find that true which the Damsel said unto Peter Thou art a Galilean thy speech bewrayeth thee c. Mark 14. 70.
esse nisi cum Diabolo qui non est cum Christo There is no medium place He must needs be in Hell with the Devill that is not in Heaven with Christ. Men by Nature desirous of things unlawfull and prohibited IT was the saying of an Ingenious witty Divine that our Grandmother Eve got such a cold in Paradise that all her Posterity have ever since had a cough of the Lungs nothing will down with them but forbidden fruit Would you have a Bookâ—ell â—ell well the Stationer will soon find a way for that let it be but prohibited and call'd in by Authority The onely way to make a Woman be a blab of her tongue is to bid her keep Counsâ—l Venison is nothing so sweet they say as when it is stollen and then it comes to be dear many times with a Witnesse Thus it is that nothing more enflames the Natural affections of Men then the prohibition of things they desire they long to be medling with the forbidden morsels of sin they love to eat that on Earth which they may chance to disgest in Hell It is quite against the Nature of Man to be confin'd to be limited he will have his own Will though it be contrary to the Will of God though he get Hell for his Will he will have his will And so much the stronger the interdiction is of any thing so much the more such is the exorbitancy of his Nature he is enflamed with desire till he have accomplished it Christs Wounds the onely hiding place of a Christian. THere is an Apologue how the Dove made moan to her fellow Birds of the Tyranny of the Hawk One counsels her to keep below but the Hawk can stoop for his prey Another adviseth to soar aloft but the Hawk can mount as high as she Another to shrowd her self in the Woods there she shall be sure but alas that is the Hawk's Mannour the place where he keeps his Court. Another bids her keep the Town there she was sure from the Hawk but so she became a prey to Man and had her eyes put out to make the Hawk sport At last one bids her rest her self in the holes of the Rock there she should be safe Violence it self could not surprise her This Dove is the Soul of every Man she would gladly be secured from Sathan Come to me saith Riches here thou shalt be sure No Wealth is the Devil's stirrop whereby he gets up and rides the Covetous Man Come to me saith Pleasure here thou shalt be safe as if she were not as very a Whore as Dalilah to betray thee to the Philistines Honour sayes Come to me here thou art sure as if the Devill durst not come near the Court gates or greatnesse were a Supersedeas to sin or a protection against the arrest of Judgments No there is no assurance in any of these yet there is a Rock of safety clefts in that Rock the wounds of Iesus Christ there and there onely the Soul shall be in safety No Safety to be expected in the midst of publique danger IT is the observation of Platina that when one Facimus Canis was hired by the Gibellines to suppresse the contrary faction of the Guelphs in the City of Papiâ— and the convenant was That he should have the goods of the Guelphs for his pay He obtaining the Victory falls a rifling the Gibellines also without any distinction at all and being accused therefore as not standing to his promise made this answer That themselves indeed were Gibellines and should be safe but their goods were Guelphs and must go to wrack as well as those of their Adversaries Just like that of Garnet the Provinciall who being questioned by Catesby Whether with a safe Conscience they might proceed in their power-project seeing that in blowing up of the King and Protestants divers also of their own party must necessarily go the same way replyes very profoundly that No doubt it might well be done seeing it would redound to the good of the Catholique cause What not spare their own side to do ours a mischief No it will not be there 's no safety there can be no immunity from damage in the times of publique danger The truth of this assertion hath been experimenâ—ally felt in these late differences amongst us If our Persons were on the right side our Goods were on the wrong all proved Fish that came to the net whether Friend or Foe the goods were sure to suffer How it is that the Law is said to be the strength of Sin AS when a Physitian that is skilfull in his Profession doth all that belongs to the best of his Judgment the druggs that he gives and the ingredients that â—e infuseth are able to work their effect if they fall into a suitable body But if the Patient be froward and will not be ruled or his body be distempered he is never the better for it Now the fault is not in the Physiâ—ian nor in the Physick they be both very good but in the Party that was not prepared for it or that would not receive it and convert it to that use for which it was prepared Thus it is that God gave the Law for a good Law an holy and just Law as a true direction for the reformation of life and manners but the Party that received it did not take it thus so that occasionally not from the Nature of the Law but by the ill acceptance of the Party it comes to be the strength of Sin The Law of it self is said to be a light unto our feet and a lanthorn to our paths and the light of it self were we but able to follow it but because of our own Natural indisposition it comes so to passe that the Law which should pull down Sin gives strength unto it and being made to kill sin gives life unto 〈◊〉 Gods Promises are for the most part conditional A Proclamation is read wherein a Christian King grants honour and Wealth to certain of his Subjects with assurance of donation upon their just demand One amongst the Multitude leaps at the news springs away and stayes not to hear it out there is a Condition following provided first That they put on Arms and expell the Turk which infests some part of his dominions This Man comes one of the foremost to demand the promised honours he is asked for a testimony of his Valour and service in the Warrs Alas He never tarried to hear that condition and therefore lost the Retribution Thus it is that God promiseth eternâ—l life to Mâ—n but withall chargeth them to believe in Christ and to do him faithful service against the World the Flesh and the Devill but so it is that many are quite lost for not staying to hear the Proclamation of the Gospel out they run away with opinion of sufficient belief and never think of obedience Whereas the Promises of
offers violence to him by Prayer never leaving to wrestle with him till he received comfort from him at length rising up cheerfully from his devotion comes out of his Closet triumphantly to his Fellow-labourers saying Vicimus vicimus We have overcome we have overcome At which time it is observed that there came out a Proclamation from Charls the Fifth that none should be further molested for the profession of the Gospel Thus there 's not any Age but affordeth Examples of Gods gracious assistance in the conscionable use of Prayer when great things are to be effected when crying Sins have awakened his Justice and broken the viall of his anger upon the heads of a People or Nation so that drops of bloud hang hovering in the ayr like clouds of Vengeance ready to break down upon them When the dark and misty Fogs of Wickednesse have been gathered from sundry places threatening some great tempest of thunder and lightning a black and fatall day near at hand then hath the wind of his Peoples devotions together with the swift gale of sighs and tears by Gods special assistance so cleared the ayr that they have not fallen upon them Patiently to wait on Gods good Will and pleasure PRodigious was the patience of Eliah's servant in obedience to his Masters command 1 King 8. 18. He went several times to the Sea it were too tedious to tell what was not troublesome for him to do to be seven several times sent down steep Carmel with danger and up it again with difficulty and all to bring news of nothing till his last journey which made recompence for all the rest with the tydings of a clowd arising Thus we must not be disheartened as though comfort would not come at all because it comes not all at once but patiently attend Gods pleasure The Mercies of God are not styled the swift but the sure Mercies of David And the same Prophet saith The glory of the Lord shall be thy Rereward this we know comes up last to secure and make good all the rest For where Grace leads the Front Glory at last will be in the Rear and the thirsty Soul long parched with drowth for want of comfort though late yet at last shall be plentifully refreshed with the dew of consolation Magistrates to stand up in the cause of God against all opposition WHen Theodosius the Great set forth a Law among the Egyptians against their sacrificing to the River Nilus it so fell out that the River that year did not rise to the usual height in overflowing the Land The poor Heathen knowing no better ascribed it to their not sacrificing and blamed the Imperial act the Governor fearing an insurrection timely informs the Emperor but withall hinting that it had been well if he could but have connived at that time but the Emperor answered resolutely like himself That it was better to remain faithfull to the Lord then to prefer the overflowing of Nilus and the expectation thereof to Piety and Religion yea he would rather that it should never flow again Here was a Law seasonably declared and an Heroical resolution thereupon not upon any pretence whatsoever to repeal that Law which was conformable to Gods Word With the like courage ought all Magistrates to maintain and stand up for warrantable Laws to bear up for Gods honour in defence of that which is good in Gods sight and by no means be induced to sin against God either under hope of gain or fear of approaching danger to let those good antient and fundamental Laws to sink whereby Religion and the Common-wealth have been upheld Men to pray for others as well as themselves WHen David had prayed O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed In the next verse as if conscious to himself that his Prayers were too restrictive narrow and niggardly he enlargeth the bounds thereof and builds them on a broader bottom yet let none that wait on thee be ashamed Thus it is that Charity in the midst of our Religious devotions must have Rechoboth Room enough to expatiate in Our Petitions must not be pent or confind to our own private good but extended to the benefit of all Gods servants in what condition soever Not to converse with Hereticks Seducers c. MArcion the Heretick meeting with Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna desired of him that he might know him The good Man made answer As for thee I know thee to be the first born of the Devil the like we may read of S. John who coming to a Bath found Cerinthus there but presently went out again saying that it was impossible such a place should stand where such an Heretick remained Thus the Saints of old according to that of the second of S. John vers 10. received not such into their houses or bad them God speed And so should we not favour such as are deceivers and false Teachers nor out of love to the Errour or an affectation of novelty countenance or converse with them but in testimony of our Zeal for God and constancy in the Truth reject them avoid them that they be not encouraged in their Sin nor we partakers thereof as abettors of their evill deeds Prayer for others in the same condition with our selves prevalent with God BEggars when they crave an Alms constantly use one main Motive that the person of whom they beg may be preserved from that misery whereof they themselves have had wofull experience If they be blind they cry Master God blesse your eye-sight If lame God blesse your limbs If undone by casual burning God blesse you and yours from Fire Tu quoque fac simile let every good Christian do the like and reason good For Christ though his Person be now glorified in Heaven yet he is still subject by sympathy of his Saints on earth to hunger nakednesse imprisonment banishment and a wounded Conscience and so may stand in need of feeding cloathing visiting comforting and curing So that when we pray to Christ for any favour it is a good plea to urge edge and enforce our requests withall Lord grant us such or such a grace and never maist thou Lord in thy mystical members be perplexed vexed or tormented with such or such an extremity further then may make out for thy glory and their everlasting good Ministers to be as they are called Spiritual Men. IT is said of the Angels that they are Spirits Spiritual Creatures their Communion spiritual their food spiritual their delights spiritual their affections and minds spiritual Thus it is that the Minister though he be a body as well as his People yet he should be a spiritual Man in an especial manner he should have animam separatam a Soul separated and sequestred from bodily things taken up with spiritual affairs holding forth the fruits of the spirit his Sermons should not onely be Moral but spiritual his carriage spiritual his discourse spiritual
Vice and all kind of vanity a Temple fit for the Holy Ghost to duell in a Vessell and preserver of the Graces of Gods holy Spirit Discretion the guide of all Religious actions THere is a story how divers ancient Fathers came to S. Anthony enquiring of him What Virtue did by a direct line lead to perfection that so a Man might shun the snares of Sathan He bade every one of them speak his opinion One said Watching and Sobriety Another said Fasting and Discipline A third said Humble prayer A fourth said Poverty and Obedience And another Piety and works of Mercy but when every one had spoke his mind his answer was That all these were exâ—ellent Graces indeed but Discretion was the chief of them all And so without all doubt it is being the very Auriga Virtutum the guide of all Virtuous and Religious actions the Moderator and Orderer of all the Affections For whatsoever is done with it is Virtue and what without it is Vice An ounce of Discretion is said to be worth a pound of Learning as Zeal without Knowledg is blind so Knowledg without Discretion is lame like a sword in a Mad-man's hand able to do much apt to do nothing Tolte hanc et virtus vitium erit He that will fast must fast with Discretion he must so mortifie that he do not kill his Flesh He that gives Alms to the poor must do it with Discretion Omâ—i petenti non omnia petenti to every one that doth ask but not everything that he doth ask so likewise pray with discretion observing place and time place lest he be reputed an Hypocrite time lest he be accounted an Heretick And thus it is that Discretion is to be made the guide of all Religious performances Humility exalted THe Naturalists do observe that the Egyptian Fig-tree being put into the Water presently sinks to the bottom but being well soaked with moysture contrary to the nature of all other wood bwoyes it self up to the top of the Water So we may say of humble-minded Men they keep the lowest place and degree in every thing but when in such places they are sooked with the waters of grace and devotion with the waters of tears and compunction of heart with the waters of pitty and compassion of other Mens miseries then do they after death especially swim up to that incomparable weight of glory which God hath assured to the poor in spirit Ioâ— 22. No Worldly thing must hinder the Service of God IT was a good saying out of a Wicked Man's mouth When Balaac put hard upon Balaam to curse the People of God No sayes he I cannot do it If Balaac would give me his house full of silver and gold I cannot do it I cannot go beyond the Commandement of God to do either good or bad of my own mind but what the Lord saith that will I speak And thus it is that when a Man is put upon any sinfull design such as shall not be agreeable to the Word of God nor suit with the dictates of his own Conscience let him desist with that resolution of Ioseph How can I do this great Wickednesse and so sin against God Avoid Sathan away with Riches Honours Preferments c. if they once appear to dis-engage me from the service of my God If not onely a house full of gold and silver but all the Kingdoms of the World were to be at my dispose I would forgoe them all forsake them all that I might stick close unto the service of so good a Master as God is Every Man is to make himself sure of Heaven and Heavenly things IT is related of a Man that being upon the point of drowning in a great River he looked up and saw the Rainbow in the Clouds and considering that God had set it there as a sign of his Covenant never more to drown the World by water makes this sad conclusion to himself But what if he save the whole World from a deluge of Waters and suffer me to be drown'd here in this River I shall be never the better for that when I am once gone all the world is gone with me Thus it is in the matter of Heaven and Heavenly things as in the point of Calling and Election whereas it is said That many are called but few chosen so that if a Man cannot make out unto himself that he is none of the Many so called and one of the few that shall be certainly saved he must needs be but in a sad condition What is the bloud of Christ though in it self sufficient to save ten thousand Worlds if it be not efficient in the application thereof unto his Soul He shall be never the better for it What if the Gospel come to him in Word onely and not in power not in the Holy Ghost and full assurance it would do him little good What are Promises if he be not Heir of them VVhat are Mercies if he be no sharer in them VVhat is Heaven if he have no Evidence for it And what is Christ though all in all in himself yet nothing nay the further occasion of damnation to him if he he not in him The deaths of Faithful Magistrates Ministers c. to be lamented IT is reported in the Life of S. Ambrose That when he heard of the death of any holy Minister of Christ he would weep bitterly The like may be read of Philo the learned Iew That when he came to any Town or Village and heard of the death of any good Man there dwelling he would mourn exceedingly because of the great losse that that place and the whole Church of Christ had received thereby How much more cause have we then of this Nation to lament our sad Condition who have in few years lost so many Reverend learned and Godly Ministers Magistrates and others Needs must we languish when the breath of our nostrils is expired needs must the Church be in a tottering estate when her props and supporters are taken away and such a one is every good Magistrate in his place every painful Preacher in his Parochial charge every child of God in the Precinct where he dwells And if the taking away of any of these be not matter of sorrow I know not what is Antinomian madnesse IT is said of Lycurgus that being cast into a phrensy by Dionysius in that distemper thinking to have cut down a Vine with the same hatchet slew his own Son So the Antinomist being possest with a spiritual phrensy which he calls Zeal when he lifts up his hatchet to cut off some errours which like luxuriant branches have sprung up about the Law cuts down at unawares the very Law it self both root and branch making the observation of it arbitrary in respect of Salvation or as a Parenthesis in a sentence where the sense may be perfect without it For under colour
Weak ones his little ones sins of weaknesse and infirmity which if once admitted will soon unbolt the dores of the heart let in all the rest of their Company and so make a surprisall of the Soul and endanger it to all Eternity Not to admit of delayes in Religious performances EXcellent is that comparison of St. Ambrose If saith he I should offer thee gold thou wouldst not say I will come to morrow and fetch it but thou wilt be sure to take it out of hand yet Redemptio animae promittitur nemo festinat the Redemption of our pretious Souls more worth then thousands of gold and silver is daily offered and no man hastneth to lay hold thereon How true may this speech of the Father be returned upon the cunctators such as procrastinate in the matters of Religion For Earthly things no Man will take time till to morrow but is very hot in the pursuit never resting till he have one way or other compassed them yet for spirituall things such as accompany salvation most Mens states are Weak and like Men ready to break are taking order for two three four six Monthes time and so as far from making satisfaction as ever Humility appeaseth the wrath of God incensed IT is recorded of an English King Edward the first that being exceeding angry with a servant of his in the sport of Hauking he threatned him sharply The Gentleman answered that it was well there was a River betwixt them Hereat the King more incensed spur'd his horse into the depth of the River not without extream danger of his life the water being deep and the banks too steep and high for his ascending yet at last recovering land with his sword drawn he pursues the servant who rode as fast from him but finding himself too ill-horsed to out-ride the angry King he reyned lighted on his knees and exposed his neck to the blow of the Kings sword The King no sooner saw this but he puts up his sword and would not touch him A dangerous water could not hold him from Violence yet satis est prostrâsse his servant's submission pacified him Thus whilst Man flies stubbornly from God he that rides upon the wings of the wind posts after him with the sword of Vengeance drawn but when poor dust and Ashes humbles it self and stands to mercy the wrath of God though ever so much incensed is soon appeased A faint-hearted Christian described A Certain Colliar passing through Smithfield and seeing some on the one side hanging he demands the cause answer was made For denying the Kings supremacy on the other side some burning he asking the cause was answered For denying the reall presence in the Sacrament Some quoth he hanged for Papistry and some burnt for Protestancy Hoyte on a Gods name â—hil be nere nother Such an one is every timerous faint-hearted Christian another Gallio a new Nichodemus that would fain steal to Heaven if no body might see him one that owes God some good will but dares not shew it his Religion is primarily his Prince's subordinately his Landlord's Whilst Christ stands on the battlements of Heaven and beckens him thither by his Word his heart answers Lord I would fain be there but that there is a Lyon or a Bear some trouble in the way All his care is for a ne noceat let him but sleep in a whole skin then omnia bene whether right or wrong all 's one to him The Devills hard dealing with the ensnared Sinner IT is not unknown how the Spanish Index deals with Velcurio who commenting on Livy saith That the fifth age was decrepit under the Popes and the Emperours The Index favourably takes out the Popes and leaves the Emperours wholly obnoxious to the imputation Thus the Devill winds out himself at the last from the wicked refusing to carry the burthen any longer but leaves it wholly to their supportation he that flattered them before with the paucity of their sins now takes them in the lurch and over-reckons them he that kept them so long in the beautiful Gallery of Hope now takes them aside and shews them the dark Dungeon of despair and ingrossing all their iniquities in great text-letters hangs them on the curtain of their beds feet to the wracking amazement of their distracted and distempered Souls The great Folly of costly Apparel LOok upon a Man that dwels but in a borrowed house expecting every hour when he shall have warning to avoid he doth not trouble himself to bestow any cost either in repairing or trimming up thereof because he hath no time in it no Lease for tearm of years to come Such is the condition of every living Man his body is but as it were an House lent unto the Soul from whence it looketh daily and hourly to depart Why should he then be so carefull to cloath this body with rich and brave Apparell when God knows how soon it must be laid down in the Earth there to rot and perish and in the mean time neglect to adorn and beautify his pretious Soul with Heavenly graces which is immortal How the wounded Sinner is to be cured THere is a story nothing worth but for the Morall of a great King that married his daughter to a poor Gentleman that loved her But his grant had a condiâ—ion annexed unto it that whensoever the Gentlemans side looked black or he lost his Wedding Ring he should not onely lose his Wife but his life also One day pursuing his sports he fell into a quarrel where at once he received a bruise on his left breast and lost his Ring in the scuffle The Tumult over he perceived the danger whereinto his own heedlesnesse had brought him and in bitternesse of Soul shed many tears In his sorrow he spied a book which opening he found therein his Ring again and the first words he read was a Medicine for a bruised side it directed him to those hearbs whereof a plaister applyed would not fail to heal him He did so was cured was secured Thus applied The great King of Heaven marries to Man poor Man hiâ— own daughter Mercy or eâ—eâ—lasting kindness but threatens him that his side musâ— not look black his heart must not be polluted with spiritual Idolatry nor must he lose his wedding Ring love to God and his Saints least he forfeit both Gods mercy and his own salvation Man in pursuit of Worldly affairs quarrels with his Neighbours and scuffles with Contention So his heart gets a bruise looks black with hatred And Charity his wedding Ring is lost in these willfull turbulencies and Vexations What should we do but mourn Lo God in his goodnesse directs him to a book the holy Gospell then the spirit helps him to his Ring again his former love and to heal his bruise prescribes him these speciall herbs of Grace Repentance Thankfulness and Meekness which being well applied will keep his Ring of
time yet he will return at last he may in his great Wisdome for a time hide his face yet at last he will in mercy lift up the light of his Countenance to the great joy of that poor Soul that seems to be deserted and make bare the arm of his power for comfort Men to be active in regaining their lost Souls IT is said of Xerxes the greatest of the Persian Princes that when the Graecians had taken from him Sardis a famous City in Asia the lesse in S. Iohn's time one of the seaven Churches charged That every day at dinner some one or other speaking with a loud voice should remember him that the Graecians had taken the City of Sardis from him But what shall poor Sinners do that have lost more then a City even their pretious Souls which are of more worth then all the World besides Let them then give their Redeemer no rest by incessant Prayers till he deliver them and repair their ruines let them still be calling upon him to remember his losse and theirs for theirs are his till they have regained by him that which was at first taken from them by the Enemy â—ven the Image of their God after which they were created Hypocrites discovering their own shame IT is said of the Peacock whose pleasant wings as holy Ioh calls them chap. 39. 16. are more for ostentation then for use For whiles he spreads out his gaudy plumes he displayes the uglinesse of his hinder parts Such are many Hypocritical dissembling wretches aâ— this day who yet differ from the Peacock in this that whereas he is said to have Argus his eyes in his tail they it should seem have them in their heads else how could they espy so many faults in others none in themselves yet whilst they spread out their gay plumes whilst they simper it devoutly and rail Jesuitically against Church and State whilst they hear Sermons pray give Alms make a sowre Lenten face all to be seen of Men What do they else but discover their own shame shew the uglinesse of their hinder parts bewray the fearfulnesse of their latter end Sin the chief cause of a Nation or Cities ruine PHysitians make the Threescore and third year of a Mans life a dangerous Climacterical year to the body Natural And Statists make the Five hundreth year of a City or Kingdome as dangerous to the body Politick beyond which say they Cities and Kingdomes cannot stand But which is matter of Wonder Who hath ever felt a Cities languishing pulse Who hath discerned the fatal diseases of a Kingdome found out their Critical daies Do they wax weak and heavy and old and shriveld and pine away with years as the body of Man No they may flourish still and grow green they may continue as the daies of Heaven and be as the Sun before the Almighty if his wrath be not provoked by their wickednesse So that it is not any divine aspect of the Heavens any malignant Conjunction of Stars and Planets but the Peoples loose manners ungratious lives and enormous Sins which are both the chief cause and symptome of a Kingdome or Cities sicknesse and they indeed soon bring them to a fearful end and utter desolation Wherein the poysonfull Nature of Sinne consisteth IT is credibly reported That in some parts of Italy there are Spiders of so poysoâ—ous a Nature as will kill him that treads upon them and break a glasse if they do but creep over it This shews clearly that the force of this Poyson is not in measure by the quantity but in the Nature by the quality thereof And even so the force of Sin consists not in the greatnesse of the subjâ—ct or object of it but in the poysonful Nature of it For that it is the breach of the Law violation of the Iustice and a provocation of the wrath of God and is a present poyson and damnation to Mens Souls therefore as the least poyson as poyson being deadly to the body is detested so the least sin as sin being mortal to the Soul is to be abhorred Our own Natural corruption the cause of Sin AS corruption and infection could not by the heat of the ayr ambient enter into our bodies if our bodies did not consist of such a Nature as hath in its self the causes of corruption No more could Sin which is a generall rot and corruption of the Soul enter into us through the allurements or provocation of outward things if our Souls had not first of themselves received that inward hurt by which their desire is made subject to Sin as the Womans desire was made subject to her Husband and as the Philosophers say the Matter to the Form The causes of Sin are to be ascribed to our own Concupiscence the root is from our own hearts It is confessed that Sathan may instill his poyson and kindle a Fire of evil desires in us yet it is our own Flesh that is the first Mover and our own Will which sets the Faculties of the Soul in combustion Death of the Soul more to be lamented then the death of the body ST Augustine confesseth That in his youth as many Wantons do he read that amorous discourse of Aeneas and Dido with great affection and when he came to the death of Dido he wept for pure compassion But O me miserum saith the good Father I â—ewailed miserable Man that I was the fabulous death of Dido forsaken of Aeneas and did not bewail the true death of my Soul forsaken of her Jesus Thus it is that many unhallowed tears are sacrificed to the Idols of our eyes which yet are as dry as Pumices in regard of our Souls We bewayl a body forsaken of the Soul and do not grieve for the Soul abandoned by God Hence we are to learn from every Corps that is buried what the daughters of Israel were to learn from Christ crucified Weep not for me but weep for your selves Luke 23. 28. not so much for the losse of your bodies as for the death of your immortal Souls Not to wait Gods good pleasure in times of Affliction very dangerous A Man that is unskilful in swimming having ventured past his depth and so in danger of drowning hastily and inconsiderately catcheth at what comes next to hand to save himself withall but it so happeneth that he oft layeth hold on sedgy weeds that do but intangle him and draw him deeper under water and there keep him down from ever getting up again till he be by that whereby he thought to save himself drown'd indeed Thus it is that whilest many through weaknesse of Faith and want of Patience are loath to wait Gods good pleasure and being desirous to be rid in all haste of the present Affliction they put their hand oft to such courses as procure fearful effects and use such sorry shifts for the relieving of themselves