you will not beleeve The work to be done is vers 6. God threatneth to raise up the Chaldeans against the Jews he calleth them a bitter and an hastie nation those shal go all the land over and drive out or destroy the Jews and take possession of their land Chaldaea lay from Jerusalem North it was a mighty Kingdom and the cheif City thereof was Babylon Nebuchadnezzar was King thereof they are to be stirred up by God himself who as you heard out of Obadiah doth use to punish one Nation by another and sometimes his Church by the Heathen He gave Israel the promised land upon condition of their obedience to his Law and now finding them rebellious he giveth away their land to the heathen and as before he drove out the posterity of Canaan to plant Israel there now he will remove them and give their land to the Chaldeans God is very terrible in his threatnings for a great part of the Chapter is spent as you see in description of that Nation of the Chaldeans to fill them full of horrour 1. For the people of that land Vers 6. he calleth them Bitter and hasty Bitter in the execution of that wrath whereof God had made them his Ministers and hasty in the speed thereof for the wicked are limited and if God stayed them not they would soon swallow up the Church of God but when God enlargeth them and suffereth them for the sins of the Church to break in upon them they will come in like a flood that overfloweth and breakketh the banks and cover all with inundation 2. They are described to be terrible Vers 7. and dreadfull and therein he declareth that he will put the Jews out of heart that they shall have no courage to resist this invasion for God will smite them with fear of the adversarie power which fear in them shall open the enemie an easy way to victory 3. He proveth this for he saith Their judgment and their dignity shall come of themselves His meaning is that God will not restrain them but give the Jews into their hands and leave the Chaldeans to be both judges and executioners in their own cause and to follow the leading of their own will no Law of God shall awe them no law of nature or nations shall limit them their own will shall carry them to give judgment upon the Jews and to get them dignity and honour over them The reason why God will put them into so mercilesse hands is given by the Prophet Jeremy For the Jews have said to Jeremy As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee Jer. 44.16 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth Vers 17. For this wilfull stubbornnesse God doth now purpose to put them into the power of such as shall be as wilfull as they whose judgment by which they shall judge the Jews and whose dignity by which they shall exalt themselves shall follow their own will He proceedeth to shew what preparation they have for war and therein first of their horses Vers 8. in which kind of strength some put their trust as David saith Some put their trust in chariots and some in horses These horses of the Chaldeans he doth make terrible in 2. things 1. They are swifter then the Leopards he compareth them not with the Roebuck and the Hind so much mentioned in Scripture for speed nor with the Hare whose speed is to save themselves but with the Leopards persecuting with swiftnesse the beasts on which they prey as he addeth 2. They are feircer then the evening wolves those wolves whose hunger not only leadeth them out to seek prey but such is their cruelty that they will destroy whole flocks if they can The Chaldeans did breed horses for the warre whose speed and feircenesse is such that as Jeremy saith describing the turning of men to their own ill wayes it was like as an horse rusheth into the battaile Yet this were no great terrour but that it followeth their riders shall be such as shall put them to it 1. They shall spread themselves for they were to passe throughout the breadth of the countrey that there will be no escaping then by resistance 2. They shall come from farre to set up the army so that they shall be terrible in their number 3. they shall fly as the Eagle that hasteth to eat no man shall escape them by flight all shall be a prey He proceedeth to describe the easie victory that the Chaldeans shall have of the Jews Vers 9. They shall come all for violence Tota gens ad rapinam veniet not ad pugnam but ad praedam The whole Nations shall come to spoile not to fight but to prey Their faces shall sup up the East-wind the East-wind it seemeth was the most unwholesome breath of heaven upon that land within short time withered and destroyed the fruits of the earth and the hopes of the Spring The Lord saith that the faces of the Chaldeans the very sight of them shall bee as banefull and as unresistible as the East wind They shall gather the Captivity as the sand 1. They shall gather together the people of that land to carry them away into captivity with no more pain then one would take up his vessel ful of sand out of the heap or they shall carry multitudes of the Jews into captivity without number as the sand They shall scoffe at the Kings Vers 10. and the Princes shall be a scorne unto them Either he meaneth that he shall make nothing of the power of any Kings either in the land against which he cometh or amongst their confederates but shall laugh them to scorne that come to help the Jews as his vassals Or he shall easily subdue them and lead them in triumph whethersoever he goeth and proudly insult over them Some extend it so farre as that the Chaldean conqueror shall make Kings his jesters and parasites and make himself sport with them And whereas the strong holds and castles are wont to be a terrour to the invador the Chaldeans shall deride every strong hold For they shall heap dust and take it i.e. They shal raise up of the earth near unto their strong holds such fortifications as shall defend them and offend the enemy the very earth of the Jews shall they use against the Jews to overcome them Then shall his minde change and he shall passe over Vers 11. These words do declare that the Chaldeans full of victories and ful of pride after this great conquest shall change their minde and passe over to some other quest of glory bigge-swolne with their former prevailings And he sheweth how these enemies of the Jews shall runne themselves upon the just displeasure of God who stirred them up to this warre He shall offend imputing this his power unto his God From hence commeth the
feedeth nothing but ill humours to overthrow the contemperament of the complexions That is If it feed the sanguine only and so maintain all kind of wantonnesse pride and vanity If it feed only choler and so support tyranny and violence Or if it support only Melancholy it feedeth sullen and busie projecting wit Or if it feed fleame it sustaineth idlenesse if it do not nourish the temperament of these humours in the body it feedeth diseases and destroyeth the body Thus was the Common-wealth of the Jewes at this time diseased and only the choler was fed which brought forth greivance spoyling violence strife So riches became the faculties of evil doing and power was the mother and nurse of violence Our lesson therefore is Vse if we love the state of the Common-wealth in which we live and would have the body thrive of which we are members we must observe the lawes of Christian charity and common-justice Justitia tua suum cuique tribuit charitas tua tuum we must do all men right and know our own from another mans and we must distribute to the necessities of our brethren that there be no complaining in our streets the elder must labour by good councell and good examples to support the younger the younger by their strength and labour to give subvention and help to the elder each to know their own and to think nothing theirs which is not lawfully gotten Let us remember the severe prohibition of the Law which not only bindeth our hearts and affections saying Thou shalt not steal nec actu nec affectu neither in act nor in desire but it restraineth our very first thoughts and motions of the minde Thou shalt not covet any that is thy neighbours Let us remember how much violence and spoyling and greivance and strife displeaseth God and let our brother dwell in peace by us let us not so much as look upon our brethren with an evil eye to envy their thriving or with a covetous desire to enrich our selves with their spoiles We see the danger of this Common-wealth of the Jewes because of their oppression and we see the remedy-here used to complain thereof to God therefore if we with Solomon Turne and consider all the oppressions that are wrought under the Sun Eccles 4.1 and behold the tears of the oppressed and none comforteth them and the strength is of the hand that oppresseth them and none comforteth them I know no remedy that we have but our prayer to God for he only is the refuge of the afflicted If the Minister complain that he cannot be entertained to execute the Priests office without Simoniacall contracts or being in the execution of the same cannot keep the tythes and profits of his place from spoile and depredation If the Souldier complain that in time of peace he is despised If the Merchant be hindred in his commerce the husbandman over-racked in his rent the labourer either not found work or not payed their wages If the common man be exhausted by impositions and exactions and the rich man milked by borrowings Whilest the most idle and uprofitable mothes of the common-wealth and the rust of peace doth devour all and build their nests on high full of the spoiles of their brethren These things tells us that they that are dead in the Lord are happie as Solomon saith they hear not the voice of the oppressour and they shall not see the evil which this crying sin shall bring upon the living For you shall see that God heareth the complaints of his holy ones and visiteth the land that transgresseth in these things The corruption of Religion even the contempt thereof is complained of The Law of God slacked weakened despised Doctr. It is a diseased and a desperate state where Religion is contemned and where the Law of God is not cared for 1. The cause is Reason because we hold nothing temporall in this life by any other right then upon condition of our obedience to the Law and Will of God If thou consent and obey Isa 1.19 thou shalt eat the good things of the land But if yee refuse and rebell Vers 20. ye shall be devoured with the sword Moses repeating the Law of the ten Commandments to the people Deut. 5.2 calleth it the Covenant which the Lord made with them in Horeb and the conditions of the Covenant were these Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you Vers 32. you shall not turne aside to the right hand nor to the left You shall walk in all the wayes which the Lord your God hath commanded you Vers 33. that ye may live and that it may be well with you and that ye may prolong your dayes in the land which ye shall possesse The very introduction into the Law I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage sheweth why God delivereth us from the hands of our enemies that we may serve him and that we may thrive and prosper in his service Therefore where the Law is slacked and Religion set at nought the despisers thereof have no lawfull interest in any thing that they possesse but are intruders and usurpers and such as encroach upon Gods rights without any plea of right they are robbers of the just to whom the earth is given and with whom only the Covenant of God is made The Psalmist sayeth Blessed are the undefiled in the way Psal 119.1 who walk in the way of the Lord. The idle speculations of secular wise men and the corrupt affections of carnall men have sought felicity in other wayes but have not found it The way of Religion and keeping the Law of God never failed any man for though the faithfull man be not justified by his obedience and keeping of the Law yet the faith of the man is so justified as St. James saith shew me thy faith by thy works The way of temporal fulnesse â—ath misâ—led many and corrupted the very Jews of Gods people for why did they oppresse and spoyle and greive and contend with their brethren but to mend their own heap and riches are not but for use By riches they might have their hearts desire in any thing here below they might buy it out Every one observeth the way of his time if he see that there bee no way of rising or thriving in the world but by such a mediation the whole addresse is that way and that means is wholly studied If a man see that there is nothing to be had without mony for mony any thing then mony is his whole study quaerenda pecunia primum And sure if men did see that nothing but vertue and Religion and the fear of God did preferre men and sufficient worth for the place that they seek men would study vertue and honesty and all those parts which might make them worthy of what they seek But it is no matter
but in the fields and amidst their military preparations when their tents were pitcht as it were in readinesse to give battail which is a Rhethoricall amplification of the greatnesse of their terrour My observation from this place in this The power of God shewed in the terror of the wicked doth prove that there is a God Doctr. and therefore no people on earth can be altogether ignorant of the God-head Why should the tents of Cushan be in affliction Why should the curtains of Midian tremble but that the fear of the Lord is upon them God daunteth and dismayeth them It was one of Gods promises to his people Ye are to pass through the coasts of your brethren the children of Esau which dwell in Sen and they shall be afraid of you Deu. 2.4 This deliverance of Israel from Egypt was a most memorable act of Gods power and made his name great in all the earth it followeth He i.e. Esau knoweth thy walkings through the great wilderness these forty years Vâ—r. 7. the Lord thy God hath been with thee thou hast lacked nothing Rahab that entertained the Spies whom Joshua sent to view the Land of Canaan saved them from the dangerous pursuite of the messengers of the King of Jericho and she said to them I know the Lord hath given you the Land and that your terror is fallen upon us Josh 2.9 and that all the Inhabitants of the Land melt because of it For we heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea for you when he came out of Egypt and what you did to the two Kings of the Amorites on the other side Jordan Sihon and Og whom ye destroyed utterly And assoon as we heard these things our hearts did melt neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you for the Lord your God he is God above in Heaven and in Earth beneath And this is the right way to make God known to the wicked and ungodly of the earth From thence came that prayer of David Put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves to be but men Psa 9.20 The fear of God vvill smite them vvith such terrour that they shall not have hear to stirre against him So it is said that God is known by executing his judgments Reason Rom. 2.5 For as the Apostle saith the very naturall man hath the work of the law written in his heart The lavv vvritten in the heart of every man is a generall principle both of truth in the understanding vvhich affirmeth a divine nature and of avve in the affections to make him feared And this lavv is not idle but it vvorketh for there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vvork of the lavv And this is the true cause vvhy there is no peace at all to the vvicked man because he hath the lavv of nature vvorking vvithin him vvhich is against him and he hath not the lavv of grace to lay the storms vvhich the law of nature raiseth From hence it commeth that the wicked flyeth when no man pursueth as Solomon saith and he feareth where no fear is and Tully could say that all the poeticall fictions of the furies which disquieted men so much were but the pinchings and convulsions of mens guilty consciences who when they had done evill knew that they had broken the law written in their hearts and then feared the power which they saw above them armed with vengeance against evill doers St. Paul teacheth us the use of this point Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power Vse Rom. 31.3 do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same Where doing that which is good hath a double reward for it quiteth fear and it crowneth us with praise Me thinks that this consideration of the reward should stirre us up to say What shall we do that we may work the works of God John 6.28 29. Then will Christ tell us This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Faith in Christ taketh away this terrour of the Lord as the Aoostle saith we knowing the terrour of the Lord do perswade men and what is the thing to which the Apostles doe perswade but to reconciliation with God through Christ so that when we preach faith to you wee preach peace even as the Apostle saith peace to them that are neer peace to them are far off and the God of peace sendeth his Son the peace of his Church with the Gospell of peace Wee are taught here that the welfare of the Church is the grief and vexation of her enemies 2 Doct. Cushan and Midian are afflicted and in a cold fit when they hear what God doth for Israel So did the Aegyptians repine at the prosperity of Israel in Aegypt they said Behold the children of Israel are more and mightier then we Exod. 1.10 Come let us deal wisely with them lest they multiply c. You see vvhat the vvorld thinks of their plots against the Church of God they think they do vvisely vvhen they vex the Church this is that wisedome which the Apostle doth call carnall sensuall and divelish And these be the wifemen of which it is said ubi sapiens where is the wiseman and God hath made the wisedome of the world foolishnesse The reason of this opposition is given by our Saviour the world hateth you because you are not of the world Reas 1 and I have chosen you out of the world and for this they weep at the joy of the Church they joy at their weeping the Prophets complaint Truth faileth and he that departeth from evill maketh himself a prey Isa 59.15 So David But mine enemies they are lively they are strong Psal 38.19 and they that hate wrong fully are multiplyed They also that render evill for good are mine adversaries Verse 20. because I follow the thing that good is They began betimes for Cain slue his brother 1 Joh. 3.12 Ratio rationis and wherefore slue he him because his own works were evil his brothers righteous I can easily bring you to the head of these bitter waters so soon as Adam had fallen from grace when God kept his first assise upon earth and convented and arraigned the transgressours the man the woman and the serpent he revealed his eternall counsell of election and reprobation and put a difference between the seed and seed the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent Which is not onely to be understood of the unreconciliable enmity that is between Christ and the Devill For Christ was the seed of the woman quia solus ita semen mulieris non etiam vâ—ri semen sit But hee meant therein that enmity vvhich should be betvvixt the elect vvho are the seed of the vvoman by naturall generation and the holy seed by spirituall regeneration so called Semen sanctum and the seed of the
A Commentarie OR EXPOSITION Upon the Prophecie of Habakkuk Together with many usefull and very seasonable OBSERVATIONS Delivered in sundry Sermons preacht in the Church of St. James Garlick-hith LONDON many yeeres since By EDWARD MARBURY the then Rector of the said Church Psal 101. v. 1. I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee O Lord will I sing Isa 8. v. 17. I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him Isa 26. v. 9. When thy judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousnesse Verse 20. Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast London Printed by T. R. and E. M. for Octavian Pullen and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Rose in Pauls Church-yard 1650. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD Dr. Henry King L. BISHOP OF CHICHESTER TO THE MUCH HONOURED Sr. Rich Hubbard OF LANGLEY IN THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX KNIGHT JOHN DVTTON OF SHERBOURNE IN THE COUNTY OF GLOSTER Esq JOHN MILLINGTON of LANGLEY aforesaid Esq TOGETHER With their worthy Consorts three gracious Sisters and Branches of that Noble Family of Dr. KING late L. BISHOP of LONDON And to the Religious and Vertuous Gentlewoman M rs MARY KING the late Wife of Dr. JOHN KING EDWARD MARBVRY their poor Kinsman and Servant doth by many relations and engagements being thereunto obliged Together with his best wishes humbly Present Devote and Dedicate this his COMMENTARY Presuming upon their favourable acceptance and protection thereof An Alphabetical TABLE of the principal heads contained in this precedent Commentary The Contents thereof in the first and second Chapters A. ADam's sin did not violate God's glory so much as the womans page 298 Adrian the sixth his allegory 35. applied page 36 A good conscience declares a mans faith to himself 225. and a godly conversation to others page 226 All evill actions are justly judged by the intentions of their agents but good actions are not so page 75 All injuries we do to our brethren are done with God's privity 76. and so are all treasons and conspiracies page 120 All Churches wherein Christians meet to call upon God are Temples of Gods presence page 341 All excesse in drinking is drunkennesse page 306 Alexander excused by his flatterers for killing of Clitus page 324 Ambition is an inordinate desire of honour page 271 Ambition came in with sin and cannot be without sin page 273 Ambition puts us out of the way of life page 275 Ambition is painful page 286 Ancientnesse of writing page 151 As personal sins have personal chastisements so epidemical sins have popular punishments page 64 B. BAbylon taken by storme on a day of feasting page 249 Better apta then alta sapere page 157 Beholding without regarding is but a kinde of gazing page 53 Behold a word to move attention page 184 Benefits of the righteousnesse of Faith page 198 Blood-guiltinesse consists not in blood-shedding only page 278 Boldnesse in sinning page 24 C. CAlvin's judgment of Habakkuk page 117 Cautions to order and regulate our judgment and life concerning righteousnesse page 200 Charity is the bond of peace only to the children of peace page 129 Christ took the burthen of our sins upon him page 5 Christ took upon him our infirmities but not our sinful ones page 48 Christian charity coÌ„mon justice great props of a Common-wealth page 37 Committers of sin are of two sorts page 283 Complaint is a part of prayer 31. the reasons thereof page 32 Confession threefold page 193 Contempt of the Law brings in licentiousnesse custome of sinning page 28 Contempt is a provocation which moveth God to severe judgments page 72 Contempt is most grievous to mans generous nature Corruption of justice a dangerous signe of a drooping Common-wealth 45. Reasons for it page 43 Covetousnesse is an inordinate desire of the wealth of this world page 275 Covetousnesse is Ambitions hand-maid page 275 Covetousnesse a fruitful sin Vsury Rapine Fraud Bribes and Cimony are its daughters page 276 Crie of blood page 12 Crie of a Prophet is a loud cry page 13 Cruelty manifold page 278 Cruelty is a companion of Ambition and Covetousnesse page 278 D. DEsire is the whetstone of prayer page 178 Despisers punished with scorne and contempt page 78 Devill author of Idolatry temptor to it and promoter of it page 93 Distrust in God the mother sin of all evill wayes page 267 Diâ—ers wayes to spend the time well page 180 Doctrine of faith most necessary to salvation page 205 Drunkards the pictures of proud men page 242 Drunkennesse a horrible sin confessed by all men to be a sin page 305 Drunken men mentioned in Scripture page 305 Drunken men cannot pray as they ought page 310 Drunkennesse a disease of former ages but now grown epidemical page 313 Duties to be performed in the Church page 345 E. EAstern winds most unwholsome in Judea page 58 Every mans mind is himself 77 Eternity of God page 103 Every sin is a trespasse against God page 103 Expostulations and contestations with God in our prayers are lawfull 46. Objection against it and solution of the objection 47. Reasons for confirmation thereof page 51 F. FAith defined page 206 Faith's greatnesse and its effects page 20â— Faith how it may be gotten 208. How proved 225. How preserved 228. How used page 229 Faith usefull in the naturall life 230 In the spiritual life 234. And in the eternall life ibid. Faith useful both in prosperity and adversity page 233 Faith not rightly grounded is presumption page 109 Fear mingled with faith is no sin page 48 49 Few seeke the true use of riches page 261 G. GIving of almes doth not purifie ill gotten goods page 292 God's wrath and judgments are a burthen to him and so is his word threatning judgment page 8 God's wrath and judgments are a burthen to the Prophet that utters them in respest of his fidelity to him that sends him 9. And in respect of his zeale ibid. And in respect of his compassion page 10 God's wrath and judgments are a burthen to the people to whom they are sent both to the penitent 10. and to the impenitent page 11 God's servants fight against sin by prayer page 14 God s Ministers may by their prayers awake God's judgments against unrepenting sinners page 15 God sometimes suspends the successe of his servants prayers page 20 God doth himself take notice of the peoples sins and acquainteth his Prophets and Ministers therewith page 21 God doth hear the complaints of such as have just cause to complaine of violence to execute his judgments upon them that offend 59. Reasons thereof page 60 61 62 God's justice doth not spare his own people if they do provoke him page 63 God's promises made to Israel were all limited with condition of their
to finish their sins This serveth 1 To settle faith in God and to seeke our repose only in him in all crosse opposals because he is the sunne and shield and there is no rest but in him he only over-ruleth all and evacuateth the counsels and frustrateth the works of wicked men He only shall bring it to passe 2. This serveth to reprove the means that are in use amongst us to reforme sinne as we pretend but they are unlawful and ungodly 1. By publick blazing and detecting of offenders to put them to open shame in the world for the losse of a good name doth more often harden a sinner and cause impenitency then reclaim him for what hath he to boast that hath lost the good opinion of men love covereth a multitude of sinnes and therefore that is an evil tongue that is the trumpet of anothers shame It is charity to make the best of every thing 2. The same offence is committed in private whispers and secret detractions and the fault is aggravated by concealing our selves as unwilling to justifie our accusations 3. By cursing and bitter calling upon God for his vengeance on them that offend if the offence touch us or our friends for God knoweth without us who to manage his judgments and cursing it returneth and smarteth at home For the Apostle saith it twice Blesse Curse not 4. By publike playes and interludes to represent the vices of the time which though it were the practice of the heathen which knew not God but afarre off yet in Christian-states it is no way tolerable nor justifyable to act the parts of evil doers since the Apostle saith it is a shame to name them much more to act and personate them 5. By private conceived libels after divulged by secret passage from pocket to pocket from one bosome to another for which the devisers thereof have no warrant and to which they have no calling 6. By Satyres and Poeticall declamations for who hath sent these into the world to convince the world is it not to put the spirit of God out of office who is sent to convince the world of sinne And who but the Lords Prophets have warrant to lift up their voyces like Trumpets to tell the house of Jacob their sinnes Every Emperique man may not professe and practice Physick There is a Colledge of soule-Physicians who have a calling to this purpose and are sent to heale the soars of the People 1. By their diligent preaching of the World of God to them 2. By drawing against them and exercising upon them the sword of Ecclesiastical discipline 3. By continual prayer unto God to give end to their sinnes whereby they do trespasse God and good men 3. This serveth to discourage men from doing evil for fear of offending the Prophets and Ministers of the Lord whose righteous souls cannot but be vexed to see their good seed cast away upon barren stony or thorny ground For howsoever basely and unworthily we be deemed if the incorrigible iniquity of men do put us to it to move Almighty God by our earnest prayers against them they shall find that as Iob can do his friends good by his intercession because he is a Prophet so the Lords Ministers may awake judgement against such as go on still in their wickednesse and will not be reformed 2. Doctr. Our Prayers must be importunate The Prophet cried yea he cried out to the Lord. This importunity is exprest two ways 1. In the ardency and zeale of his Prayer it was not oratio a Prayer but vociferatio a crying 2. In the continuance of time How long Thus must we pray with fervour of spirit our tongue is the piece of Ordnance our Prayer is the shot the zeale of our heart is the powder that dischargeth it and according to the strength of the charge such is the flight of the shot Niniveh cryeth mightily to God Christ our Saviour cryed earnestly to his father Jou 3.8 yea with strong crying and tears Salomon spred his armes abroad the Publicane beat his breast Christ fell on the ground David said My sighing is not hid from thee Psal 38.9 The Israelites weeping is thus described They drew water and poured it out before the Lord. The Holy Ghost doth not furnish us so much with words and phrases in Prayer as with sighs and grones which cannot be exprost Paul prayed three times against Sathans Angel Abraham moved God six times for Sodome Nehemiah had so spent himselfe in watching and prayer for his People that the King observed his countenance changed Beloved it is not Prayers by number tale as in the Romish Church nor Prayers by rote or by the ear perfunctoriously vented in the Church and for custome said over at home It is not much babling and multiplicitie of Petitions or vain repetitions that will send up our Prayers to heaven Though you stretch out your hands I will hide mine eyes from you Isay 1. and though you make many Prayers I will not heare you The Pharisees wanted powder to their shot for they prayed in their Synagogues and in the corners of the streets but as God saith Quis requisivit ista Who required these things The soule that actuateth and animateth Prayer is fervor spiritus the holy zeal of him that prayeth 2. Duration of time is another testimony of zealous importunity when our prayer is not a passion but a deliberate and constant earnestnesse holding out as the Apostle saith Pray continually not as the Euchites to do nothing else but to entertain all occasions to conferre with God and to prostrate our suites before him Christ spent a whole night together often in prayer Dan. 10. David day and night Daniel 21 dayes together during the time that he ate no pleasant bread and was in heavinesse Jonah three dayes and three nights in the belly of the Whale made it his Oratory and Chappel from whence he prayed to the Lord. If our soare runne so long we can pray whilest we smart or if our necessities do presse us to importunity we can hold out long for our selves But in my Text the cause is Gods zeal and Gods glory cannot contain it self in the cause of God 3. Doctr. the Lords people do break his Law and will not be reformed the Prophet of the Lord cannot stand and look on as in the next verse he doth and see the glory of God thus suffer but he must awake in the cause of God to bring him to correction So David Rise Lord and let thine enemies be scattered let them that hate thee flie before thee And thus for Gods glory sake we may with reservation of those that do belong to the election of grace pray to God earnestly for the confusion of all Sions enemies and of all that would faine see Jerusalem the true Church of God in the dust Shall our servencie and heat be only for our selves if it be the grant of our requests doth quench
his bosome He guideth the hearts of all men like rivers of waters which way he pleaseth It is a doctrine which I lately taught out of Obadiah Though the Church of God do live under the Crosse for a time it shall not be always so for as here it is declared Their mind shall change that afflict her 1. Because Gods quarrel is not against the Persons of men but against their sins therefore he punisheth non ad vindictam but ad emendationem vitae and it is no pleasure to God to punish his children therefore he will not always punish because afflictions are of excellent force to bring forth in his children 1. Contrition 2. Supplication 2. He will not always punish least the extream passions of his servants should breed in them a doubt of his love and so weaken their faith 3 Least the righteous should put forth his hand unto sinne 4. Least the enemies of his Church should grow too insolent Further we are taught 2 Doct. that those whom God useth as his rods are limited when they have executed his will they shall then change their minds the mind of the Chaldaean was cruelty and oppression and covetousnesse and ambition this victory shall change their mind into pride and insolencie so that as the wise man saith The prosperity of fools shall destroy them It is a true laying for the most part that as the good so the blood riseth men of low degree when they rise to high places men of poor estate when they grow to plenty even nations when they overflow their own banks and over-run others do change their minds they have not the same hearts and affections that they had It is a singular wisedome to use the fulnesse of prosperity well The Paradise of God did not content our first Parents the forbidden fruit seemed to Evah the fairest fruit of the garden that changed her mind from the obedience of the law of God to be both a Praevaricatour and a tempter The sonnes of God living in prosperity in the favour of God set their eyes on the daughters of men and because they looked fair like Eves apple they changed their mind from living under the religious awe of God to take them wives by whom the service of God was corrupted for they that marry with tempters and take them into their bosomes either presume too much on their own strength and they tempt God therein or else they change their minds and religions with them Can a man carry fire in his bosome and not be burnt or walke upon burning coals and not be scorched The Author of the book of Wisedome saith well of the righteous That he is speedily taken away least wickednesse should alter his understanding Wisd 4.11 or deceit beguile his soule There is a great measure of grace needful to him that would use prosperity well he must not be wicked for where the good spirit of God is wanting there is nothing but unstayednesse and inconstancy but David prayeth Establish thou me with thy free spirit Davids victories and peace and prosperity did change his mind he grew wanton and to hide that cruel and to live in that sinne of uncleannesse irreligious till God sent Nathan to him Ezekiah having rest changed his mind and proud of his treasures shewed them to his own disadvantage and provoked Gods anger against him Experience shows us how the world and the wealth and honours thereof do corrupt men of good minds before and changeth their understandings that Demas will forsake Paul whom he hath long served and some disciples will no longer walk with Christ The cause hereof is because outward things unsanctified to the owner and user thereof Reason 1 have no power to establish the heart for the heart is established by grace and not with meats nor with any outward things Because there is no peace with the wicked man Reason 2 he must be as violent and as unconstant as the sea casting up also foame and filth Because iniquity knoweth no measure Reason 3 but runneth into all extremes Virtutisque viam deserit arduae Their mirth is madnesse their musick vanity so their sorrow is sullennesse and discontent Conquered they are base and lick the dust from the enemies foot Conquering they are proud and tyrannize over them whom they have subdued Thus the mind of the wicked changeth in them The profit that we may make of this point is great Vse 1. It discourageth us from greedy seeking of temporal prosperity because it hath this danger in it to change our minds and to shift us from vice to vice wherefore it is a good petition in our holy Letany Prov. 30.9 In all time of our wealth good Lord deliver us and that of Agur Give me not riches least I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord 2. It comforteth the oppressed that their oppressors are not always of the same mind but they may have hope of fairer weather in the greatest stormes that do arise because the minds of their enemies shall change as David saith He made them that led them away captive to pity them for God hath a power in this change which is mutatio dextrae excelsi 2. They shall passe over them Either to some further quest of glory or they shall exceed their Commission and go beyond the bounds appointed them either in punishing whom God would have to be spared or in time continuing the punishment beyond the time designed God only knoweth how far he would have his judgment to passe the Chaldaeans do transgresse and passe over this measure whereby they grow intolerable and their malice punishable Or pertransibunt may be referred to their own short domination for the Chaldaeans were a few years after conquered by the Medes and Persians as the learned Jesuite Ribera observeth And we find that Nebuchadnezzar the King of the Chaldaeans felt the smart of this prophecie in his own Person For he changed his mind and passed over when he became as a brute beast and was driven from men Dan. 4.33 and did eat grasse as oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like Eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws Thus he that passed the bounds of Justice in the oppression of the Jews and the bounds of modesty in the pride of his victories is changed in his understanding and passeth the bounds of common humanity All this proves that Gods employing the wicked to punish others doth not move them nor derive the favours of God upon them they cannot keep within any compasse 1. If pertransibit passe over do signifie a further quest of glory we are taught hence that the ungodly are insatiable in their desires nothing will content them every victory encourageth to a new warre as we find in all examples of the greatest monarchies of the world till their own weight ruine them 2. As this passing over doth signifie their going beyond their
my People have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters Jer. 2.13 and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water Again this Take heed least there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Heb. 3.12 The heart that distrusteth in God departeth from him therefore he saith it is a People that do erre in their hearts because they have not known my ways The corruption then is in the heart for if that did love truly it would trust God wholly for where we love faithfully we trust boldly But the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not 2 Cor. 4.4 That answereth his question Who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth Infidelity is the root of all evils in us for we cannot fear any threatning where we do not believe any danger We cannot hope for any benefit where we do not believe any promise for infidelity doth take away all wise do me from us This makes us to withdraw our selves from the Lord and it is a note of the wicked man neither is God in all his wayes Thus saith the Lord Jer. 17.5 Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert Vers 6. and shall not see when good cometh but shall inhabit the parched places in the wildernesse in a salt land and not inhabited Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord Vers 7. and whose hope the Lord is For he shall be a tree planted by the waters Vers 8. and that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but her leafe shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought neither shall cease from yeilding fruit I need not say more of this Argument Here is reason enough given why you should commit your way to the Lord why you should cast your care upon him why you should not leave him to trust to your selves David saith He made us and not we our selves he saw us imperfect in the wombe he fashioned us Thy hands have made me and fashioned me he took me from the Wombe He addeth Vpon thee have I depended ever since I hung upon the breasts of my mother When we are hungry he giveth bread that strengthneth mans heart When we had not wit and understanding to shift for our selves who fed and cloathed and preserved us then surely his hand is not shortned but his arme is stretched out still Suppose that without him we could get bread Man liveth not by bread only Suppose that without him we could sowe much seed It is only he that giveth increase Let us observe the examples of Gods judgments upon such as forsake God and trust their money or their friends or corrupt means to preserve them One day telleth another The Chaldaeans trust not in God their own net is their god their own yarn is their idol they kisse their own hands But fear yee the Lord all his Saints and trust in him for he never faileth them that trust in him I have blamed some for buying and selling on the Sabbah They have answered that they are poor and are forced to it to help to feed them Is not this infidelity they dare not trust God for their meat they dare trust to their own ways against the precise Commandment of God Unlawful recreations on the Sabbath are so defended poor labouring men that work all the six days must have some time to refresh themselves But I would fain know by what indulgence they may dispense with the law of the Sabbath God hath bidden thee to remember to keep the whole day holy if thy recreations be holy thou keepest the law if unholy thou breakest it When some are detected of fraud and theft their plea is their necessity Here is a root of infidelity for doth God lay a necessity upon any man to break his law He hath laid on thee a necessity of labour if that will not do he hath given the rich charge of thee The truth is that this root of infidelity doth yet remain in the hearts of most of us and is the cause of all the sins that are committed For the light of the Gospel doth shine much more clear now then ever it did in this land and the knowledge of the truth is more spred then ever before here Yet never was there greater corruption of manners nor more cunning shifts devised for the advancing of mens particulars The crying sins of the Jews Injuries done between man and man Corruption and contempt of Religion Corruption of Justice To all these our land doth plead guilty Where 's the fault Have you not heard have you not been taught the ways of the Lord have you not been admonish't of your duty have you not been chidden and threatned for these things hath not the seal of Gods judgments written within and without with lamentations mourning and wo been opened and read to you Hath not God rained examples thick of his justice and judgment against high and low for these things why then is not this amended There is a root of infidelity we do not we dare not trust God and from hence comes 1. In some Atheisme they live without God in the world 2. In others Epicurisme they live all to delight 3. In others temporizing and following and serving men 4. In others heresie embracing their own opinions 5. In others Apostacy from religion and faith 6. In others hypocrisie seeming what they are not 7. In most carnal security not caring for threatnings 8. In many wilful ignorance not caring for the knowledge of God But thou man and woman of God fly these things know the Lord the more thou knowest him the more thou lovest him the more thou servest him the more thou trustest him and the more he blesseth thee 2. Ambition that he may set his nest on high Ambition is a limbe of pride and it is well set forth in my text it is a building of a nest on high it is but a nest that the ambitious man doth set up but he would have it high to overlook all yet that doth not make it safe for there be clouds that can carry fire from below to consume it and there is lightning from above to inflame it and there is tempests and strong winds to shake it And the axe is laid to the root of the tree in which the nest is built and with the fall of that tree the nest comes to the ground The highest tree for a subject to build his nest in is the favour of the Prince yet David saith Trust not in Princes for there is no help in them their breath departeth they return to the earth and their thoughts perish It may be that he that fitteth next in the
We must do God this right to honour him in his own works Reas 2 because if we be silent and do not our duty herein yet David saith Ps 145.10 All thy works shall praise thee O Lord. 3 We see the enemies of God do not spare to do all they can to rob God of his glory Reas 3 and as one saith Vigilat bostis tu dormis the enemy waketh and dost thou sleep Some gave out amongst the Egyptians that this passage over the sea on dry land was onely an advantage taken by Moses of a great ebbe occasioned by an extraordinary wind which comming of the land at the head of the bay made all the head of the bay dry land for many miles together but the text is against that for it sheweth how the waters were a wall unto them on both hands Again the waters were divided by an East vvind but that vvind blows not from that shore but rather it should have been a Northerly vvind others imputed this to Moses as done by magicall arts vvhich if it had been so no doubt but there vvere vvith Pharcah of his Magitians that could in the learning of the Egyptians have vvrought vvith Moses hand to hand And surely that is the reason that there is so often mention of this vvonder in Scripture to stirre up all faithfull people to vindicate the honour of God against the depravers thereof This admonisheth us both to the hearing and reading the story of the Bible Vse 2 that we may understand what the Lord hath done in former ages Gen. 18.19 God himself made Abraham so much of his counsail for that because he knew that Abraham would teach his children And for that the Sacrament of the Passeover was instituted Ex. 12.26 for that it might teach their children after them For this were the twelve stones set up in Gilgall Josh 4.21 to teach the story of the passage over Jordan and in the New Testament the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was instituted in remembrance of Christ till his coming so many as would learn matter enough to fill their mouthes with the praise of God let them open the two Testaments and read therein let them hear and study that holy story there is enough in it to make a man wise to salvation For this is your wisedom and understanding to know the Lord and to serve him and to honour him for For him that honoureth me I will honour saith our God 2 This reproveth those that swallow the gratious favours Vse 2 of God without any relish or tast of them neither consider the former mercies of God nor his present blessings that live like bruit beasts saying this day is like yesterday and to morrow will be like this day and more abundant and such sensuall and carnal sons of nature there are that reap benefits where they never sowed prayers and gather mercies where they never scattered supplications 3 This chideth the Euchites of our time Vse 3 that are all for prayer and they never give God rest from petitious but like the nine Leapers when they are healed they never return any thanks I have ever commended to you the use of prayer it is a speciall part of Gods worship and God loves both frequent and importunate petitions but if we part praise from it and do not joyn thanksgiving with supplication we have the profit but God hath not the honour of his own favours All our care must not be who will shew us any good we must also offer to him the sacrifices of righteousness as well as call upon the name of the Lord for quid recipiam we must have quod retribuam Seeing God must have the glory of his own great works Vse 4 we must take the pains to search after them not onely content our selves with such as offer themselves to our consideration but we must take delight to look them out so David The works of the Lord are great Psa 111.2 sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His work is honorable and glorious and his righteousness endureth for ever He hath made his wonderfull works to be remembred Which shews that our praising of the name of God is no meritorious act of free-will but an officious service due to him and it is a great injustice in you to deny it to him for David saith He is worthy to be praised This serveth for caution Vse 5 It is a glory to God vvhen vve thankfully remember vvith praise the vvonderfull vvorks that he hath done but it is no honour to him at all vvhen vve report of him more then he hath done and put miracles upon him that he never did The Church of Rome hath long had a busie hand in these false ascriptions the golden legend of vvorm-eaten authority amongst them and their Speculum exemplorum set forth by John Major a Jesuite in Anno 1607 and Cantipatranus a Domican Friers full Volume of miracles set forth Anno 1605. tell fine tails ridiculous even to children yet the implicite faith of Papists doth svvallovv all for canonicall vvherein God is dishonored vvith humane inventions and truth it self vvith lies their legends of their Ladies of Loretto and Hales are of the same coynage and it is the policy of that Strumpet of Rome to keep this mint alvvays at vvork to amaze the ignorant vvith strange vvonders But I say unto them in the vvords of Iob Job 13.7 Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him Gregory their own Pope upon these words saith Veritas fulciri non quaerit auxilio falsitatis he saith that it is the trick of hereticks It is I am sure the practise of Papists but thou man of God fly these things truth is not honored but vvith truth 2 We must search out and confesse the true cause of all the good that God doth to us Doct. 2 It is Aristotles Doctrine in his Elenches that Elene 1.4 id quod non est causa ut causam ponere to make that a cause which is not is a capatious and sophistical manner of reasoning So the Serpent over-reach't Eve in Paradise for when God had given our Parents there a precise Law Thou shalt not eat of the tree in the midst of the Garden The true cause why God put that restraint upon them vvas to try their obedience to him in a small and easie precept forbidding them a thing in it self good to shew his reservation of his own power to awe them So saith Moâ— 35.10 Saint Gregory But Satan tempting the woman to break this Law and to cast off this light burthen and easie yoak of God suggested another cause Gen. 3.5 God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eys shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil as if God had dealt too sparingly with man in the communication of his own similitude to him and had set him that bar
to keep him from attaining the perfection thereof So Eve deceived her self for when God gave her Issachar her fift son Ge 30.18 she said God hath given me my hire because I have given my maiden to my husband Wherein she deceived her self for by adding one wife more to the number of Jacobs Wives she did violate the state of matrimony vvhich in the institution vvas in these words I will make him a help meet for him not helps and so Adam understood it Gen. 2.24 for he said A man shall forsake Father and Mother and cleave to his wife not wives and they shall be one flesh Which lest the friends of Poligamie might understand of many wives Christ citing this place addeth by vvay of interpretation And they twaine shall be one flesh Mat. 10.8 So Saint Paul understood it Mat. 19.5 1 Cor. 6.16 two shall be one flesh So the Prophet Malachy understood it for charging his people with this sin of breach of Wedlock he speaketh as to one man Thou hast dealt treacherously against the Wife of thy youth Mal. 2.14 yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy Covenant And did not he make one yet had he the excellency of spirit and wherefore one that he might seek a godly seed So that this giving of her maid to her husband was no good service done to God that she should expect wages it was rather a trespass of vvedlock hovvsoever it pleased God to dispense vvith it in the fathers of former ages but our rule is quomodo fuit in principio hovv vvas it at the beginning for vve knovv that he vvho had abundance of spirit could have created many Wives for Adam if he had thought it fit and then for the encrease of the seed of man and the speedy peopling of the vvorld there vvas more need of Poligamy then vvas ever since I urge the fallacy here Non causa pro causa So Micah vvhen he had made him gods and gotten a Priest into his house flattered himself Now I know that the Lord will do me good Judg. 17.13 seeing I have a Levite to my Priest This vvas Idolatry one of the greatest provocations of God to anger that could be yet he vvould flatter himself that this vvould turn a cause of his vvel-doing These three examples do sufficiently open our sense to perceive the cunning of this fallacious suggestion in ourselves The Doctrine of merit vvhich the Church of Rome teacheth is a naturall Doctrine as God said to Cain If thou do well shalt thou not be accepted it is true that God accepteth even vveak services from us but as vve say it is more of his courtesie then our deserving if vve call it vvages that he giveth us in revvard vve over-ween our ovvn vvorks And this is a special sin vvhervvith God doth punish the sins of the ungodly in the Church of Rome the seat of Antichrist as the Apostle plainly describeth it God shall send them strong delusions 2 Thes 2.11 that they should believe a lye They believe that to be the cause of their salvation that is not The reason of this Doctrine Reason Why vve must fasten upon the true cause of Gods favour to us is Because faith not rightly grounded is not faith but presumption True faith can find no rest but in the assurance of Gods goodnesse to us God doth many favours to the vvicked here in this life vvhich he doth not for any love that he beareth to them but for the use that he maketh of them to vvhip and scourge others by them as for example God to Ezekiel Son of man Eze 29.18 Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel caused his Army to serve a great service against Tyrus every head was made bald and every shoulder was peeled yet had he no wages nor his Army for Tyrus for the service that he had served against it Therefore thus saith the Lord God Behold I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and he shall take her multitude and take her spoile and take her prey and it shall be the wages for his Army Because they wrought for me 1â— saith the Lord God Here is the King of Babylon doubly rewarded with successe and victory against Tyrus with the possession and spoile of Egypt not for any favour that God did bear to the King of Babylon but to punish the iniquity of Tyrus and of Egypt Let not Nebuchaduezzar boast of the favor of the Lord that he set him a work and paid him his wages the sins of these ungodly people not the goodness of God to the King of Babylon did all this We see daily that the vvicked do compasse about the righteous the poor Church of God bleedeth in many places of Christendome the enemy proscribeth imprisoneth beheadeth hangeth cutteth out the tongues smiteth off the hands of Gods faithfull Servants and deviseth nevv tortures to make death more terrible and more painfull This svvelleth the enemies of God vvith pride and they impute all this successe against the Church of God to the love of God tovvard them and the justice of their cause is mainteined by the Jesuits abetments and acclamations But thus did Babylon prevail against Gods ovvn Israel for a time the distressed part of the Church vvhich groaneth under these burthens doth not hang the head for this They knovv that their sins have deserved these rods they have had the light and have not vvalked vvorthy of that light therefore is this evill come upon them yet let them take courage and say Why beastest thou thy self in mischief thou mighty man Psal 52. â— the goodnesse of God endureth continually there is our Selah the rest of our musique this is the joy of the Churches harvest And great is the profit of this point Vse 1 1 When vve have found the true cause of Gods favours to be in himself and not in us we may assure our selves that his mercy endureth for ever for his gifts and calling are without repentance 2 A greater comfort then this is that godlinesse hath not onely the promise of this life but of the life to come also 3 We may rise in comfort a degree higher to assure our selves that this favour of God will give us our fruit unto holinesse for these go together Gods love to us and our comfort and hope in him for this fruit Rom. 6.22 as the Apostle joyneth them Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father 2 Thes 2.16.17 which hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good help through grace Comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work This blessing of the Apostle doth shew that when the love of God is setled there followeth grace and expressure of his favour that bringeth forth inward consolation of the spirit present good hope for the time to come an establishing of the heart in holinesse This I name as the