I will smite the winter-house with the summer-house Heb. upon the summer-house I will lay them both upon one heape they shall one dash against the other To have change of houses or of roomes in one house fit for the severall seasons is not unlawful so we set them not up by wrong-dealing nor set our hearts upon them Haec sunt quae nos invitos faciunt mori for so we are apt to do as Charles 5. Emp. told the Duke of Venice who had shewed him his stately palace and this brings a curse and the houses of Jvory i. e. decked and enameled checkered and entrayled with Jvory Eboratas Lively as some sense it Ahab had made him an Jvory house Heb. an house of tooth i. e. of Elephants-tooth so did other kings likely after him The Porphyrogenity in Constantinople were borne in a room made of Porphyry a precious stone c. All must down together CHAP. IIII. Verse 1. HEare this word ye kine of Bashan Obesae benè pastae ye fat bawsons as we use to call them ye that are Baeotum in patria crassoque sub a ëre natae Ye that have hearts as fat as grease and delight not in Gods law Psal 119.70 Ye that cover your faces with fatnesse Job 15.27 till both your eyes stand out with it Psal 73.7.8 as fulnesse breeds forgetfullnesse Deut. 32.15 the fed hawk forsakes his master as untamed heyfers full-fed ye have been unruly and refractary meanes of much mischief to my poor afflicted as was Iezabel to Eliah Herodias to the Baptist Eudoxia the Empresse to Chrysostom Theodora to Bellisarius that brave and noble Captaine and others Poor Tegedine suffered many yeeres captivity in misery and irons by the Turk for one word in a sermon which distasted a proud and petulant woman without the least cause What cruel persecutions raised the Q. Mother of Scotland about the beginning of the Reformation there the Q. Mother of France Katherine de Medices for thirty yeares together Q. Mary here being wholy possessed by the Bishops as Alexandra was by the Pharisees of whom Iosephus testifieth that she had the name but they had all the power of the kingdome Oh these kine of Bashan these wanton and wicked women for so I understand the text after the Jew-Doctours Vatablus Lyra Lively c. when once they get the reines in their hands there is no hoe with them when once the devill gets passage per costam ad cor as Gregory speaketh by the rib to the heart what may he not effect when the hen is suffered to crow what hope is there of good David complaines of strong buls of Bashan Psal 22 12. but those he might better deale with then with these curst cowes of Bashan that thrust with side and shoulder and pusht the diseased with their hornes till they had scattered them abroad Ezek. 34.21 that are in the mountaines of Samaria Ladyes of the Court accustomed to high titles such as I that am non aulâ sed caulâ natus educatus no courtier but carter rather and used to call a spade a spade care not to complement which oppresse the poor which crush the needy As did much about the same time Iezabel in Israel and Athaliah in Judah and besides the above-mentioned Dame Alice Piercy K. Edward the thirds concubine an impudent woman who so farr wrought upon the kings impotencies and presumed on his favour that she imprisoned Sr. Peter Lamare Speaker in Parliament Daniel 257. and intermedled in courts of Justice and other offices where shee her selfe would sit to effect her desires which though in all who are so exalted are ever excessive yet in a woman most immoderate as having lesse of discretion and more of greedinesse I have spoken before of Diana Valentina King Henry the second of France his mistresse Hist of Councell of Trent 387. to whom he had given all the confiscations of goods made in the kingdome for cause of heresy whereby many poor Protestants were oppressed and needy crushed and quashed to peeces for a poor man in his house is like a snaile in his shell crush that and you kill his heart which say to their masters Or Lords that is to their husbands as Sarah called her husband Lord Gen. 18.12 She in obedience but these in craft and counterfaisance that they may the sooner subdue them and have what they will of them Bring and let us drink q. d. Fac nobis potestatem in hos aut illos saith Mercer that is Give us authority over such and such that we may pick their bones drink their tears enrich and feast our selves of their spoils make no more scruple to undo them by force or forgery then to eat a meals-meat when hungry or then the luxurious Italians who have twenty distinct species of liquor Il Mercuri◠Italico to please the Gusto do to take off a cup of the most delicious which they profanely call Lachrymae Christi Verse 2. The Lord God hath sworn by his holinesse He hath sworn for more assurance Heb. 6.16 17 18. it being hard to perswade secure sinners of the certainty and infallibility of the threatnings which yet will as surely befall them without repentance as the coat is on their back or the heart in their bodies And by his holinesse he hath sworn that is by himself as having none greater to swear by confer Gen. 22.16 Jer. 51.14 Esay 45.23 and 62.8 where God swears by his right hand and by the arm of his strength Exod. 17.16 He is brought in laying his hand upon his throne and swearing to root out Amalek And so some in this place think that by Gods Holinesse is meant heaven Mercer the habitation of his holinesse and of his glory But Drusius dislikes that Esay 63.15 because swearing by heaven is condemned by Christ Mat. 5. If God be holinesse it self let him be sanctified in righteousnesse Esay 5.16 and let men swear when called to it and not till then the Hebrew word here used is passive and signifieth to be sworn Neshbang rather then to swear in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse Jer. 4.2 Behold the dayes come certò citò surely and suddenly even those dismall dayes of blacknesse and darknesse of greatest calamities See chap. 5.18 20. And let this prediction be to you as the knuckles of a mans hand to write you your destiny or as a prophet to read it unto you That he will take you away i. e. Ye shall be taken away and hurried into another countrey like as Esay 8.4 He shall take away the spoyl of Samaria i. e. It shall be surely taken away so Luke 12.20 They do reqire thy soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is it shall be required of thee with hooks Heb. with thornes which were wont to be used in fishing till iron-hooks were more frequent See Job 40.21 Ezek. 29.4 and 19.4 They brought him with hooks that is with chains
Songs These Books following are to be sold by PHILEMON STEPHENS at the Gilded Lion in Pauls Church yard 1 Concilâ—â— Decreta Leges Constitutiones de Re Ecclesiaâ—â—â— oâ—bis Britanici ab initio Christianae ibidem religionis câ—m annotationibus non minus pijs quam doctis opus Antiquitatis studiosis apprime gratum utile à Hen. Spelmani Equitis Fol. 2 Glossarium crudiristimum in quo prisci Ritus quam plurimi â—nnarantur à Hen. Spelman Fol. 3 De non temerandis Ecclesâ—â—â— Or of the Right and respect due unto Churches not to be violated written by S. Hen. Spelman 4 4 Tythes too hot to be touched cortain learned Treatises proving Tythes to be due by the lawes of Nature Scripture and Reason therefore neither Jewish Popish nor inconvenient written by Sir Hen. Spelman 40 5 Psalterium Davidis Latino-Saxonicum à J. Spelmanno Hen. F. è patris Bibliotheca in lucem editum ubi ad finem uniuscuâ—usque Psalmi preces opâ—inae in animum psalmi reperiuntur 40 6 The Best Religion or certain learned Treatises and Sermons wherein is largely explained the sum and principal heads of the Gospel by Dr. Gr. Williams 7 A Commentary or exposition on the Proverbs of K Solomon where the litterall sence is chiefly considered the Originall Hebrew Texts our English Translations and Classicall Authours are examined and considered by Michael Jermin Dr. in Divinity Fol. 8 A practicall exposition on 4 select Psalmes viz. 27.84.85 87. by that godly and learned Divine Tho Piersen B.D. 40 9 An examination and confutation of the chief points of Antinomianisme with an answer to a pamphlet entituled The coÌ„passionare Samaritan handling the power of the Magistrate in compulsion of conscience written by Tho Bedford B D. 40 10 The Civil Magistrates power in matters of Religion stated and debated according to Scripture grounds with an answer to all objections against the same by Tho. Cobbet of Lyn in New England 4 11 Clavis Apocalyptica innaâ—â— insitis vesionum characteribus eâ—uâ—a 〈◊〉 demonstrate 〈…〉 comment in apoalypsin quâ—â—â—us acceâ—â—it in hac tertia editione conjectura de Gogo Magogo by Jes Medi. 40 13 A discourse touching the true notion of the Lords Supper also the union of Christ and the Church in a shadow by R. Cudworth D. D. 4 14 A Commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremie by Joh. Vdall 40 15 The New-birth or a Treatise of Regeneration in Sermons by W Wheatly 4 late of Banbury 16 The Christian conflict shewing the difficulties and duties of a Christian souldier in his warfare with the armour and graces necessary thereto as also a discussion of the case of Usury and depopulation with the errors of the Antinomianits by Tho. Bentham 4â— 17 Also the society of Saints A Treatise of Christian good-fellows and good-fellowship by the same Author in 4â— 18 A relation of the procedings of the Assembly at Perth in Scotland touching Divine worship c. in the yeer 1618. 19 An exposition of the ten Commandements by Mr. J. Dod. 40 20 The Doctrine of the Sabbath vindicated by R. Bifield against the Tenent of Mr. Ed Brerewood 40 21 Camans calamity being a Poeticall relation of the destroying of Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian 40 22 Articleâ— of Religion agreed on at a Convocation holden at Dublin in Ireland in the yeer 1615. in 40 23 Touching supremacy in causes Ecclessiasticall shewing how the powers Civilâ—nd Ecclesiasticall may act without incroachment on each other written in the yeer 1647. tending to Peace and setlingâ— by John Geree 40 24 The works of Dr. John Owen Dean of Christ-Church and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford 40 25 Severall Sermons of sundry eminent Divines on dayes of Publike Humiliation and other speciall occasions viz. Dr. Burges Mr Scudder Mr Gower Mr. Burroughs Mr. Johnson Mr. â—ickering Mr. Vdall Mr. Tesdale Dr. Hill Mr. Green Dr. Owen Hardwick c. 40 26 The works of Mr. Robert Abbot now Pastor of the Church at St. Augustines gate in Waâ—ling street London viz. A Carechisticall Treatise wherein the chiefe Principles of Religion are 1 Propounded 2 Expounded 3 Applied with three Sermons on Psal 19.12 Mark 3.45.46 Psal 31.5 The building of a Christian Family on Psal 127.1 Directing to the duties of the severall persons of a Family 80 A triall of Church forsakers justifying against the Brownists that the Church of England is 1 a True Church 2 hath a True Ministery 3 hath a True Worship 80 The yong mans warning-piece a suneral Sermon Pro. 4 10. 120 Four other Sermons on Judg. 11.27 Mat. 7.12 1 Tim. 1.19 120 27 A Reâ—oâ—sâ—rance of the holy life and happy dâ—ath of John Bruen of Bruen Staplâ—sord in Cheshire Esquire exhibiting variety of memorable and exemplary passages usefull for all forâ— of people as a path to piety and charity 8â— Written by Mr. W Hinde of Banbury 28 The life and death of the learned and godly Divine Mr. Samâ— Crook of Wrington in Somersetshire 80 29 A Treatise opening the Promises and Threatnings in Scripture by F. Bridges 80 The stare of the Now Roman Church discussed in vindication of Dr. Hall Bishop of Exeter against the cavils of Hen. Burton by H. Chomley 80 30 A Treatise directing the weak Christian how he may rightly celebrate the Sacrament of the Lords Supper with Meditations thereon by Joh. Downam B.D. 80 31 The summe and substance of Christian Religion by S. Brown late of Shrewsbury 80 32 The Temple sacred Poems and private ejaculations by G. Herbert 120 33 The Synagogue sacred Poems in imitation of Mr. G. Herbert 120 34 The substance of 3. Sermons on Ephes 1.22 23. shewing the Church to be the proper subject of the new Covenant with other considerable practical propositions in reference to the debates on foot amongst us by W. Sambrook 120 35 Soveraign comforts for a troubled conscience wherein Satans subtilties are discovered to the consolation of the distressed by R. Yarrow 120 36 the light of faith and way of holinesse shewing what to beleeve and for what to strive and suffer for in this contending age and how to live in all estates and conditions according to this faith by Rich. Byfield 120 37 Directions for the private reading of the Scriptures wherein the scope of the whole Scripture is methodically set down and rules to read with profit given with pithy directions to reconcile places of Scripture that seem to differ by N. Byfield and Jo. Geree 120 38 The summe of the Principles of Christian Religion by N. Byfield 120 39 Tho. Categeri or Tetragrammato nomine Jehovah dissertatatio qua vocis Jehovah apud nostros recepâ—â— usus defenditor à quorundam cavillationibus iniquis partier atque inanibus vindicatur 120 40 Sabbato Dominica 4 propositions tending to reconcile the seeming disterences between the letter of the Law and Christian liberty in the doctrine of the Sabbath or Lords day by Chr. Harvey 120. 41 An explanation of the principles of
knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath Psal 90.11 as who should say Let a man fear thy displeasure never so much he is sure to feel thee much more if once he fall into thy fingers Now a fearfull man can fancy vast and terrible fears as ramping lions ravenous leopards fire sword racks scalding lead burning pitch running bell-mettle all this in extremity and that to all eternity and yet all these are but as a painted fire in comparison of the unconceiveable and unsupportable wrath of God Verse 9. O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Heb. He or It hath marred thee O Israel that is either thy sin of self-exaltation and forgetfulnesse of me as verse 6. Or ty King in whom thou trustedst as verse 10. Or thy Calf whom thou worshippedst hath been the cause of thy confusion Or thy fained comforts Consolatie fictlitia as Aben-Ezra will have it thy soothing up thy self in sinfull practises Or One â—ath destroyd thee Or Somewhat hath undone thee but not without thee Whatever it is that hath done it it is not I what hard thoughts soever thou mayest have of me because I appear thus dreadfull to thee as in the former verse Fury is not in me but thou mayest thank thy self and fault thy sinne as the mother of thy misery as the cause of thy calamity thou hast destroyed thy self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thine own heart may say to thee as the heart of Apollodorus seemed in a dream to say to him when he was tortured by the Scythians It is I that have drawn thee to all this It is the observation of a great Politian England is a mighty Animal which can never die except it kill it self Answerable whereunto was the speech of the Lord Rich to the Justices in the reigne of Edward 6. Never forraigne power could yet hurt or in any part prevail in this Realm but by disobedience and misorder among our selves that is the way wherewith God will plague us Interest of Princes p. 55. if he minde to punish us c. We use to say No man is hurt but by himself Ye have not injured me at all saith S. Paul to the Galathians you cannot do it unlesse I will Act Mon. fol. 1186. Gal. 4.12 The devil can do nothing at us if we give not way to him And though there were no devil yet our corrupt Nature would act Satans part against it self it would have a supply of wickednesse as a serpent hath of poyson from it self it hath a spring of its own to feed it Nemo igitur sibi palpet de suo quisque sibi Satan est saith an Ancient And it was no ill wish of him that begged of God Domine libera me a malo homine meipso◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to deliver him from that naughty man Himself for he knew that as in that first Chaos Gen. 1.2 were the seeds of all creatures so in mans heart of all sinnes and miseries that follow thereupon God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions Eccles 7.29 many shifts and sharking tricks Sinne and shifting came into the world together Gen. 3.12 The woman whom thou gavest me c. God must bear the blame of Adams sin so must his Decree of Reprobation still be alledged as the cause of mans perdition But this covering is too short for no man is destroyed because he is reprobated but because he is a sinner neither are any damned because they cannot do better but because they will do no better If there were no will there would be no hell and this indeed will be the very hell of hell Cesset voluntas propria non erit infernus that they have been self-destroyers The worme of conscience say Divines that never-dying worme is nothing else but a continuall remorse and furious reflection of the soul upon it's own willfull folly and now wofull misery but in me is thy help Heb. In me in thy help that is saith Drusius I am in thy help and thy help is in me whatsoever help thou hast I am in it We can easily undo our selves as a childe can easily break a glasse that all the men in the countrey cannot piece up again But God both can and will help his though never so shattered and repair that image of his lost in Adam that One that destroyed Israel Lord saith Augustine Ego admisi unde tu damnare potes me sed tu non amisisti unde salvare potes me that is I have done enough to undo my self for ever but with thee there is enough for my safety here and salvation hereafter God as he both can and will help his that cry Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man so he will then chiefely do it when they seem to themselves and others Psal 60.11 to be in an undone condition Thou hast destroyed thy self in me is thy help His holy hand is reserved for a dead lift Verse 10. I will be thy king Thine eternall king so Pagnine As I have been thy Prophet verse 4.5 so I will be thy king I will also be thy Priest and thy Redeemer verse 14 that so thou mayest hear my voice submit to my scepter and apply my death for thy deliverance from deaths dominion Or I will be thy king and not be born down by thy boysterousnesse who callest for another king and repinest against my righteous regiment Thou wouldst cast off mine authority but I will maintain it The Lord is king be the people never so unquiet Psal 99.1 he will raigne over rebels in spite of their hearts and those that will not be his subjects his willing people shall be his slaves his footstool The Geneva Bible reads it thus Psal 110.1 3. I am Where is the King that should help thee in all thy cities R. Aben-Ezra Calvin Oecolampadius and others go the same way onely they render it Ero I will be one and the same according to that name of mine I am that I am Exod. 3.14 and before Abraham was I am Ioh. 8.58 though you be off and on with me though you change often yet I am Jehovah I change not I will be What will he be The same that I said I would be thy Saviour thine Helper Or I will be a stander-by to see what will become of thee and how thy king in whom thou trustest will help thee this last is R. Solomon Jarchi's interpretation Pareus will have it run thus I will be what a lion a leopard a bear c. and nothing shall alter my resolution Where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities Thou sayest but they are but vain words I have counsell and strength for warre I have a King and Princes and strong cities But alasse where are they Let them encrease their Army and come forth as he
for necessity and delight and this is so much inculcated and iterated that you may not slight it as a common occurrence but be deeply affected with it as a sore affliction Verba toties repetita viva sunt vera sunt sana sunt plana sunt Let no man think that this is a superfluous tautologie Aug. or an idle repetition of the same thing For in sacred scripture there is not a tittle in vain there is not an apex whereon there hangs not a mountain of fense as the Rabbines use to say By one and the same thing repeated memory is helped affection is excited and matters of moment are better minded Phil. 3.1 Besides Repetitio confirmatio est saith Ambrose De bone Mart. c. 12. The repeating of a matter implyeth 1 The infallible truth of it 2 The inexpressible excellency of it 3 The profitable use of it 4 The absolute necessity of it Aut faciendum aut patiendum Verse 13. Gird your selves and lament ye Priests Be you Prest and first in the practise of humiliation Be you an example of the believers in word in conversation c. 1 Tim. 4.12 a patern of piety Si vis ne flere c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Horat. Judg. 9.18 If others shall lament you must begin to them and say as Abimelech did to his souldiers What ye have seen me do make hast and do likewise and as St. Paul doth to his Philippians Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do Philip. 4.9 and the God of peace shall be with you for the meat-offering and the drink-offering c. your maintenance is substracted and that which should more affect you the sacred service of God is intermitted and so the glory is departed the dayly sacrifice is neglected which the Jewes counted and called The abomination of desolation Phineas his wife was not without natural affection 1 Sam. 4.21 but her spiritual affections prevailed Therefore in the declaration of her sorrow that of her father in law and husband is but once named but twice it came in The glory is departed The glory is departed All comforts are but Ichabods to a good heart without the ordinances without the sincere milk of the word Gods new-born babes cannot be quitted Tom. 4. Oper. Lat. p. 424. I could not live in Paradise without the Word said Luther as with the Word I could easily live in hell it self Verse 14. Sanctify ye a fast Having humbled your selves preach repentance to others That 's the best sermon that 's digged out of a mans own brest Sanctify your selves first and then prepare your brothren saith losiah to the Priests of his time 2 Cron. 35.6 A religious fast for that the Prophet intends here by Sanctify rightly observed and referred to religious ends is both a testimony of true repentance and a furtherance thereunto for it cames the rebell flesh 1 Cor. 9. ult which else will wantonize and overtop the Spirit Deut. 32.15 And it giveth wings to our prayers which before groveld on the ground as it were Fasting inflameth prayer and prayer sanctifieth fasting sanctify therefore a fast call a solemn assembly Heb. a day of restraint separating your selves as Zech. 8.19 from all fleshly delights amercing and punishing your selues in that sort by an holy revenge as Psal 35.13 and afflicting your soules with voluntary sorrowes for your sins and miseries gather the Elders both those qui canis annis sunt tales who are full of dayes and so of sins and also those that are in place of authority whose offences have sored higher on the wings of Example and Scandal and all the inhabitants of the land For as all are sin-guilty so your unanimity and charity will further the service All should get together in this case and bring their buckets to quench a common fire the more publike and general the humiliation is the more pleasing and prevalent Judg. 20.26 2 Chron. 30.3 13. Ion. 3.5 7 8. into the house of the Lord your God which house was a type of Christ in whom God heareth His and had made many promises to prayers there put up in faith 1 King 8.37 38 39. 2 Chron. 6.28 29. of the Lord your God Yours still by vertue of the covenant be sure to keep faith in heart when we are at the greatest undâ—r And cry unto the Lord with the heart at least as Moses did at the red sea Moses egit vocis silentio ut magis audivetur when yet none heard him but the ear of heaven only and as Hannah did when she uttered no audible voyce and yet poured forth her soul to the Lord with such a strange and unwonted writing of her lips that Eli thought she had been drunk Verse 15 Alas for the day c. 1 Sam. 1.15 Gr. Alas Alas Alas the Vulgar Latine A A A which à Lupide makes much adoe about to little purpose for the day of the Lord that is The day of the greatest evils and miseries then ever hitherto they had suffered if repentance prevent not That they had suffered much already appeareth chap. 2.25 but those were but the bâ—ginnings of their sorrowes if they yet went on in their sins for as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come An Elegant Agnomination there is in the Original together with an allusion to that tremend title of God Shaddai The Jewes probably boasted much and bare themselves over-bold upon their interest in God almighty The Prophet therefore tel's them that Gods greatest power should be little to their profit whiles impenitent for that it should be put forth and exercised for their utter destruction Aben-Ezra interpreteth Shaddai a Conqueror Others a Destroyer which a Conqueror must needs be And hereto this text and that Esa 13.6 do allude when they say Shod shall come from Shaddai Destruction from the Almighty Here also we may learn when we are under affliction to ascend to the first cause thereof Am. 3.6 as David did in that three years famine 2 Sam. 21.1 See â—am 3.38 Verse 16 Is not the meat cut off before your eyes Heb. before your eyes and so it appeareth to be the Prophets speech and not a form prescribed by him to the people by adding the word saying to the end of the fourteenth verse Cry to the Lord saying Alas for the day c. And it is as if the Prophet should say Doe ye not yet see what case you are in Are ye so stupid and so stout or sturdy as not to stoop though starved almost should not Vexation give understanding Are not the fiercest creatures tamed with hard hunger Will not men in such case buy or beg food of their deadly enemies O brawny breasts O horny heart-strings yea joy and gladnesse from the house of our God All Gods services were to be performed with joy but now for want of corn and wine which cheareth God and man Iudg. 9.13 the dayly
we are dayly and hourly delivered It is good to keep a catalogue of Gods providences and to transmit them to posteritie such as was that of the Gun-powder-plot and before that of the Reformation begun by Henry the eight and carried on by his son to the ridding of the land of those popish Locusts Which Reformation how imperfect soever to be done by so weak and simple meanes yea by casual and cross meanes against the force of so puissant and politick and adversary is that miracle which we are in these times to look for An out-lander speaketh thus of it Ecclesiae Anglicanae reformationem desperasset aetas praeterita admiratur praesens obstupescet futura This was the Lords own work Sculiet det 2. d Ep. dediâ— and it is marvelous in our eyes Oh that the same Lord would be both Author and Fmisher and as he hath in good part cut off the names of the idols out of the land so that they shall be no more remembred so he would cause the Prophets and the unclean spirit to passe out of the land that he would send all false doctrine and heresy packing to hell from whence they came Fiat Fiat and will drive him into a land barren and desolate Or dry and forlorn where he shall perish for want of food The body of this Army shall be driven into the wildernesse the vantagard into the lake of Sodom toward the East and the rereward into the Mediterranean Sea toward the West for the Western Ocean was hardly known to the Hebrewes as neither was it to the Romanes till the dayes of Julius Cesar and his stink shall come up and his ill savour c. sc by reason of their dead carcasses covering the earth and infecting the ayre The old Hebrewes understood this text concerning the destruction of the devill in the dayes of the Messias Oh that God would once destroy that first-born of the devill that King of Locusts Abaddon the Pope and dung his vineyard with the dead carcasses of his incurable complices that their stink might ascend and their ill savour come up into all mens nostrills Matthew Paris an ingenuous Papift speaking of the court of Rome long since said Hujus faetor usque an nubes fumum teterrimum exhalabat Her filthinesse hath sent up a most noysome stench to the very clouds of heaven as Sodoms did And Theodorcus Vrias another of her good sons in Germany complained Anno 1414. that the Church of Rome was become ex aurea argenteuÌ„ ex argentea ferream ex ferrea terream superesse ut in stercus abiret of gold silver of silver iron of iron earth and that she would next become of earth dung c. She is so already and stinks alive worse then any carrion rotting in its slime Oh that God would once put into the hearts of the kings of the earth to loath her and burn her for an old stinking baud as is prophecyed they shall Rev. 17.16 because he hath done great things Heb. he hath magnified to do he hath made great spoil and havock he hath revelled in the ruines of Gods poor people and so hath hastened his own destruction and their deliverance The Saints are many times more beholden to their enemies outrages then to their own deserts or duties for deliverance Some Interpreters as Castalio Leveley c. understand the Text of God and render it Quia magnisicè aget for the Lord shall do great things as it is also in the following verse there being here the same anomaly or change of person as is Esay 22.19 And I will drive thee from thy station from thy state shall he pull thee down Verse 21. â— tellus culta Fear not O land O red earth or O tilled land that hast layen bedridden as it were under the heavy curse of God ever since the fall of Adam and wast never beautifull or cheerfull since that time Gen. 3.17 Thou that hast lately been under that great and very terrible day of the Lord Ioel 2.11 who hath made bloody wails upon thy back and laid thee as a desolate wildernesse verse 3. to thy great grief and terrour Cheer up now and fear not Thine inhabitants are Poenitents and Repentance hath turned their crosses into comforts as scarlet pulls out the teeth of a serpent as wine draweth a nourishing vertue from the flesh of vipers as the Philosophers-stone they say turns all into gold See 1 Pet. 1.7 God will turn all thy sadnesse into gladnesse neither shalt thou any more lye to those that manure thee as the Scripture phrase is Habak 3.17 that is disappoint and frustrate their expectation but thine enemies shall be found liaers unto thee Deut. 33.29 for the Lord will do great things Spem mentita seges Virg. Victum seges aegra negabat Horat. Magnificentiùs aget Deus far greater things God will do for thee then the Locust hath done against thee so that thou shalt gain by thy losses and say Periissem nisi periissem I had been undone if I had not been undone Wherefore be glad and rejoyce with inward and outward joy And because Fear is a passion opposite to Joy for fear hath torment 1 Joh. 4.18 and that was a rare mixture in those good women that returned from our Saviours sepulchre with fear and great joy Mat. 28.8 See Psal 2.11 therefore Fear not O land quit thine heart of that cowardly passion and be as merry as mirth can make thee for the Lord hath done great things for thee whereof thou hast good cause to be glad Faith in Gods Power quelleth and killeth distrustfull fears filling the heart with unspeakable joyes 1 Pct. 1.8 and full of glory Verse 22. Be not afraid ye beasts of the field q. d. Ye shall have no cause to fear for the future though hitherto ye have suffered hardship Chap. 1.18 Beasts and birds do in diem vivere as Quintilian saith of them and take no further thought then for present sustenance But by a prosopopoeia as before the land so here the beasts that till it are forbidden to fear want for God the great House-keeper of the world will provide them their meat in due season Psal 104.27.28 and severall meats according to their severall appetites He will hear the heaven the heaven shall hear the earth the earth shall hear all kinde of fruits both naturall as herbs of the field and grasse of the wildernesse and such as are sowen and planted as wine oyl figs so that neither man nor beast shall want any thing ad esum vel ad usum but have plenty without penury c. It shall be said of Judea as Solinus saith of Spain In Hispania nihil infructuosâ—m nibil sterile that there is no unfruitfulnesse in any part of it or as it is said of Campania in Italy that it is the most fruitfull Plat of earth that is in the Universe the fig-tree and the vine that before had been barked and wasted chap. 1.7
by one Ralph Lurdain and burnt at Chelmsford where afterwards the same Lurdain was hang'd for stealing an horse blood and fire c. Signes terrifying and testifying the wrath and displeasure of God for the sinns of men and such a face of the whole Fabrick of the Vniverse as that all the parts thereof may seem to have conspired for the destruction of mankind Before the wart betwixt Pompey and Caesar the sea seemed to be bloody Superique minaces Prodiglis terras implerant ethera Lucan lib. 1. monstra enumerans quae bellum civila praecesserunt pontum Ignota obscurae viderunt sydera noctes Ardentemque polum flammis coeloque volantes Obliquas per inane faces Fulgura fallaci micuerunt crebra sereno Et varias ignis denso dedit aere formas Before Caesars death not only drops of blood fell from heaven but also pits and pooles flowed with blood puteique cruore Mutati In the year of grace 874. Claudian lib. 1. in Eutrop. Funcc chron at Brixia in the enterance of Italy rained blood for three dayes and three nights together In the yeare 1505. there appeared in Germany upon peoples garments and womens rocks as they were spinning diverse prints and tokens of the nailes of the spunge of the spear of the Lords coate and of bloody crosses c. Maximilian the Emperour had and shewed the same to Francis Mirandula who wrot thereupon his book called Staurostichon wherein are these verses Nonignota cano Act. Mon. fol. 769. Caesar monstravit ipsi Videmus innumeros prompsit Germania testes It is not many yeares since a showre of blood fell about Glocester if our intelligence deceived us not Such prodigies are usually sad presages nec inania terriculamenta haec esse In lsc. res ipsa testatur saith Gualther here and event proveth that these are no vaine fray-bugs By fire here understand those terrible flaming apparitions in the ayre lightenings comets c. portending lamentable calamities Such there were to be seen as I have heard from eye-witnesses on that very night wherein the Powder-plot was detected and defeated in a very terrible manner And such were those Meteors in the likenesse of fiery serpents that fell here Anno 788. before the Invasion of the Danes whereunto we may adde the new-starre that appeared in Cassiopeja in November 1572. Camd. Elisah and continued sixteen moneths soon after which Charles the 9 of France Author of the Parisian Massacre died of exceeding bleeding at severall parts of his body inter horribilium blasphemiarum diras saith the Historian cursing and swearing And lastly that prodigious Comet Anno. 1618. forerunner of the German warres and our late troubles whatever is yet behind to be suffered by us Certainly if the sorcerors of Egypt were amongst us they would wonder at mens stupendious stupidity and tell them that these extraordinary occurrents in heaven and earth were the very finger of God for their warning and pillars of smoke Heb. palmes of smoke so Cant. 3.6 by similitude because tall and straight as palme-trees which also lift up themselves under their burthen and will not be held down Smoaky vapours mounting upright are fitly compared thereunto Elationes fumi so Tremellius Verse 31. The Sun shall be turned into darknesse and the Moon into blood by strange and stupendious Eclipses such as was that of the Moon for 12. nights together a little before the last destruction of Jerusalem and that of the Sun this present 29 day of March 1652. wherein I writ these things but could scarce see to write or forbeare to behold for though busy enough to bring this work to an end if God please yet I cannot say as the Duke of Alva did to the king of France who asked him whether he had observed the late great Eclipse No said he I have so much to do upon earth that I have no leisure to look toward heaven Of this dayes Eclipse I may well say as Lucan doth of another Ipse caput medio Titan cum ferret Olympo Condidit ardentes atra caligine currus Involvitque Lucan lib. 1. orbem tenebris gentesque coegit Desperare diem I heartily pray it do not presage a dreafull eclipse of the Sun of Christs glorious gospell amongst us that this bright Sun should go down at noon over our heades and our earth be darkened in the clear day Amos 8.9 And let every good soul pray that that dismall day may never arise unto us wherein it shall be said that this glory is departed from our English Israel nobiscum Christe maneto Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam and the moon into blood that is into rednesse as it was likewise on the 15. day of this instant March in the morning Two such Eclipses so neer together having seldome been seen I fear we may have cause ere the yeer come about to sing sadly with the Poet Signa dabant luctus superi haud incerta futuri Ovid. Metam lib. 15. Saepe faces visae solis quoque tristis imago Caerulus vultum ferrugine Lucifer atrâ Sparsus erat sparsi lunares sanguine currus Before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come i.e. the great day of generall judgement called here the great day because the great God will on that day do great things and determine of great matters and the terrible day because it is a day of anger and of wrath Rom. 2.5 Rev. 6.17 yea the day of the declaration of the just judgement of God according to the Gospel Rom. 2.5 16. It is elsewhere called That day by an appellative proper Mar. 13.32 Luk. 21.34 Mat. 7.22 That day of note wherein God will break filence execute judgement upon all and convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jude 15. Enoch foretold this great day before Noah did the deluge this day is longer before it comes but shall be more terrible when it is come Whether it shall come in the yeer of our Lord 1657. Alsted Chronol p 494. as some have gathered out of the numerall letters of these two words Mundi Conflagratio and because the yeer of the World 1657. was the yeer of the Flood let time determine I have nothing to say to it Verse 32. And it shall come to passe that whosoeveer c. Lest any good soul hearing the former heavy menaces should say with the disciples Mark 10.26 Who then can be saved Or with these Despondents in Jeremy chap. 2.25 There is no hope the Prophet concludeth with this comfortable Coroliary Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord yea that but nameth the name of Christ in faithfull prayer desiring and endeavouring to depart from iniquity 2 Tim 2.19 the same shall be delivered He shall have safety here and salvation hereafter Rom 10.13 Watch ye therefore
and a month it appeareth that Preachers were rare and that sermons they had but seldome Neither was it otherwise here in England at the first reiormation for to many churches for want of Preachers Readers were sent Whence one of the Martyrs wished that every able Minister might have ten Congregations committed to his charge 〈◊〉 Cant. 180. till further provision could be made the word of the Lord came unto Zachariah The Lord is said to come to Balaam Abimelech Laban c. But he never concredited his word to these prosane persons as he did to the holy Prophets of whom it is said as here The word of the Lord came unto them in the fourth day of the ninth month which answereth to our November why the precise time of the prophesies is set down See the Note on Hag. 1.1 Verse 2. When they had sent They who Not the Prâ—nces of Persia that were now proselyted as the vainglorious Jewes and after them Heymo and Hugo would have it for the honour of their nation Nor the Samarinans as some in Theodoret held as seeming to Judaize in part to joyne Jewish ceremonies with heathenish rites But either the Iewes yet â—emayning in Babylon as Calvin conceiveth blaming them 〈◊〉 their sloth 〈…〉 commenthing them for 〈…〉 they 〈…〉 vice Of else the whole body or 〈…〉 lastâ—â—â—ome particulâ— man not named 〈…〉 I 〈◊〉 in the fifth moneth 〈…〉 Enallage the singular 〈…〉 name of the whole 〈…〉 unto the house of God Not to 〈…〉 from Bethel as the 〈…〉 likely But to the house of God 〈…〉 to the 〈…〉 nigh finished and that 〈…〉 queâ—tion here 〈◊〉 Sherezer and Regemmeleeh and their men that is their 〈…〉 were men of rank and fashion as it was fit they should be in 〈…〉 polyment And here the Sepâ—uagim by their correct translating of the 〈…〉 have caused a strange coyle among those that strive to defend them 〈…〉 they translated against their will and theresore what can we expect from them but slippery doing It is most sure that the translation of theirs which we now have is full of errours and that they pervert diverse clear propâ—esit 〈…〉 Jesus Christ and have occasioned many mistakes being themselves mnay times grossly mistaken as here unlesse they did it wilfully Some 〈…〉 men think that the Septuagint that we have now is not theirs It was burnt 〈…〉 as some hold in the library of Alexandria or as others by 〈…〉 when he burnt Serapion to pray before the Lord Heb. to intreat the face of the Lord 〈…〉 prayers and sacrifices in the most solemne sort The Hebrew properly 〈…〉 Lord with prayers to set upon him â—ith utmost 〈…〉 untill he yeeld to urge him as they did the Prophet 2 〈…〉 17. 〈◊〉 he be ashamed to deny till we put â—m to the bsush or leave a blot in his 〈◊〉 as she Luke 18.5 unlesse we mâ—â—â—revaile This must be done especially when we are to converse with Proâ—nets about soule-businesses cases of conscience c. Verse 3. And to speak unto the Pâ—â—â— whose office is to 〈…〉 knowledgeâ— and present it too to teach Jacob God judgement and to 〈…〉 before him Deut. 33.10 to selfoyle Mae 〈…〉 9. to bring 〈…〉 8.22 to speake as the Oracles of God 1. Pet. 〈…〉 sand can skill of Iob 33.23 and to the Prophets who were extrâ—ordinarily raised up some ames by Gods â—â— assist the Priests in teaching the people and to shame them for their back wardnesse to such businesses See the Note on ver 1. should I weep that is fast which was ever with 〈…〉 17. and affliction of the soule which indeed is 〈…〉 Levit. 16.31 and 23.37 the which it is but as a brainelesse heâ—â—â— or a life 〈…〉 humble day saith One without an humble 〈…〉 but an high provocation like Zimri 〈◊〉 when 〈◊〉 Congregation were weeping before the door of the Tabernaclâ— in the fifth moneth wherein the Temple was consumed to 〈…〉 In a sad remembrance whereof the Jewes 〈…〉 day of 〈…〉 for a solemne fast every yeer till now separating my self Heb. Nazarâ—â—â—â— my self that is abridging my self of meates drinks and delights Hence a fasting day is called a day of restraint Iâ—el 2.15 Tsom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence it hath its name both in Hebrew and Greek Hence â—â—â— it is spoken of as a foule fault Esay 58.3 Beheld in the day of your fast 〈…〉 The Popish fast is a meer mock fastâ—â— for they separate themsel◠〈…〉 kind of meates only it is not a to tall abstinence And here in 〈…〉 of Turk Hist 777. the very Turks who upon their fasting-dayes will â—â—â— so much 〈…〉 or wash their moâ—ths with water all the day long before 〈…〉 in the sky and then they-make all the cheer and joy they can 〈…〉 as the At ick Daines in their Thesmophoria a feast of Ceres prepare 〈…〉 fasting but after that laid the reines in the neck and ran riot as I have done these so many yeers Seventy at least But they seem to reckon up upon so many as was scarce to be told and that therefore God was deep in their debt Is it not time now to give over sith the Temple wa almost reedified This was the great case 〈◊〉 ded by these Questionists Hereunto an answer is made by the Prophet 〈◊〉 two following chapters and this answer is partly Reprehensory Chap. 7. partly Consolatory Chap. 8. The Sun of righteousnesse loves not to set in a cloud Verse 4. Then came the word of the Lord of Hosts This is oft prefaced for amhority's Take and to procure andience and reverence The Lord God hath Spoken who can but be affected See that ye despise not him that speaketh from heaven The Angel Mat. 28.7 useth no other argument to assureâ— the women of the truth of what he had told them but this Lo I have told you Verse 5. Speak unto all the people of the land Not to the Embassadours onely as the cause is common so let the answer be publike for they were all too well conceited of their external services bodily exercises and made much adoe about a trifle a practise of their own devising neglecting the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith Mat. 23.23 and to the priests Who themselves were to seek belike And having been the authours and observers of these customs were backward to abolish them as those that rested in them without true repentance faith and new obedience when ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh moneth sc For the slaughter of Gedaliah and the sad consequence thereof 2 Kings 25.22 and Jer. 41.1 even those seventy yeers wherein ye have lost full sevenscore fasts and were not a button the better for them because they fasted rather to get off their chaines then their sins they rested in their fasts in the work done neither regarding how nor why they should fast Now God weighes mens actions by their aymes And with him though a good
not preach though gifted men Rom. 10.15 with Esay 52.8 All that are in office to preach are Apostles Evangelists Prophets Pastours or Teachers Eph. 4.11 Elders onely my preach Tit. 1.5 And the contrary would prevent the Apostle willeth that in the Church all things be done decent'y and in order 1 Cor. 14.4 which could not be if all were teachers for then there would be no distinction of Ministers and people But Are all teachers saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 12.29 And he answers himself No but onely those whom God did set verse 13. like as he set apart the tribe of Levi to execute the Priests office which whiles Corah Dathan and Abiram sought to impugne and level they went quick into the pit Num. 16.30 Meddle not therfore without a calling that in the day of Gods displeasure you may appeal unto him with Jeremy and say As for me I have not hastened or thrust in my self for a Pastour after thee neither have I desired the woful day thou knowest that which came out of my lipps was right before thee Jer. 17.16 And being able safely to say this thou mayest binde upon it that God who is in covenant with all his Levi's his faithful Ministers will be their shield and their exceeding great reward how ever the world deal with them Verse 5. My covenant was with him of life and peace Now Gods covenant saith an expositour here is of four sorts 1. General made with all creatures Gen 9.2 2. With the Church in general Gen. 17. 3. With the Church of the Elect Jer. 31.33 4. With some particulars of some special graces as here with Levi of life and peace So then to ministers above others hath the Lord bound himself by special covenant to be their mighty Protectour and rewarder to give them life and peace that is long life and prosperous See Num. 25.12 13. Life of it self though pestered with many miseries is a sweet mercy and highly to be prized Better is a living dog then a dead lion Eccles 9.4 And why is the living man sorrowful a man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3.39 As who should say let a man suffer never so much yet if he be suffered to live he hath cause to be contented It is the Lords mercy he is not consismed When Baruc sought great things for himself Jeremy tels him he may be glad in those dear years of life Jer. 45.5 Gen. 45.26 when the arrows of death came so thick whisking by him that he had his life for a prey Jacob took more comfort of his son Josephs life then of his honour Joseph is yet alive c. Quis vitam non vult saith Austin who is it that desires not life When David moveth the question what man is he that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good Austin brings in every man answering I do and I do Long life and happy dayes is every mans desire If God give these blessings to those that are gracelesse it is by vertue of a providence onely and not of a promise and that 's nothing so comfortable life in Gods displeasure is worse then death said that Martyr if wicked men live long it is that they may make up the measure of their sins and by heaping up sin increase their torment If godly men die soon God taketh them away from the evil to come as when there is a fire in an house or town men secure their Jewels And though they fall in wars yet they die in peace 2 Chron. 34.28 Hieren as good Josiah did who also in brevi vitae spacio tempora virâ—utum multareplevit lived quickly lived apace lived long in a little time For life consists in action Esay 38.15 16. The Hebrews call running water living water Now Gods faithful Ministers if they work hard and so wear out themselves to do good to others as a lamp wasteth it self to give light or as that herb mentioned by Plâ—y that cures the patient but rots the hand that administreth it if like clouds they sweat themselves to death to bring souls to God yet shall they be sure to finde it a blessed way of dying they shall mori vitaliter die to live for ever God will not send any of his to bed till they have done their work The two witnesses could not be slain till their testimony was finished No malice of man can antedate their ends a minute The dayes of mourning for my father will come said Esae and then Hekâ—ll my brother Jacob Gen. 27.41 Here Esâ—uâ— that rough reprobate threateneth his father also as Luther conceiveth For it is as if he should have said I will be avenged by being the death of my brother though it be to the breaking of my fathers heart But what 's the proverb Threatened falk live long for even Isaac who died soonest lived above forty yeers beyond this My times are in thy hands saith David and that 's a safe hand And blessed be God that Christ liveth and reigneth alioqui tot us desperassem or else I had been in ill case said Miconius in a letter of his to Calvin Ren. 1. Ministers are stars in Christs right hand and it will be hard pulling them thence They must carry their lives in their hands and be ready to lay them down when it may be for the glory of their Master but they shall be sure not to dye whether by a natural or by a violent death till the best time not till that time when if they were but rightly informed they would desire to die But whether their death be a burnt-offering of Martyrdome or a peace-offering whether they die in their beds as Elisha or be carried to heaven in a fiery chariot as Elijah let it be a free-will-offering and then it shall be a sweet sacrifice to him who hath covenanted with them for life and peace They shall by death as by a door of hope Esay 56.2 Eccles 5.12 enter into peace they shall rest in their beds yea in Abrahams bosome and as the sleep of the labouring man is sweet unto him whether he eat little or much so heaven shall be so much the more heaven to such as have here had their purgatory Mark the upright man Psal 37.37 saith holy David and behold the just for how troublesome soever his beginning and middle is the end of that man is peace and I gave them to him Here 's the performance of Gods covenant to Levi and his posterity God doth not pay his promises with fair words onely as Sertorius is said to do Neither is he like Amigonus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignominiously so called because forward in promising slack in performing But as he hath hitherto kept promise with nights and dayes Jer. 33.20 25. that one should succeed the other so much more doth he keep promise with his people for as his love moved him to promise so his truth bindeth him to perform
fatherly providence and most righteous proceedings damnably depraved and maligned by the wicked of those times and stayed up their hearts against all discouragements with that wholesome meditaion u Mal. 3.16 Thirdly see to the end of your good thoughts both that of intention and the other of duration For your drift and intention first Do ye in taking up some holy thoughts ayme at God and the advancement of those main ends the setting forth of his glory in your own and other mens salvation ordo ye not rather therefore think of holy things 1. That ye may set off with God and make him some manner of amends for your other infinite worldly ploddings and wicked imaginations or 2. Is it not to collogue with the Lord and curry favour to get off the sooner and easier when you are smarting and it may be bleeding under his hand Thus the false Israelites served him in the wildernesse when he slew them then they sought him apace Vexatio dat intellectum they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their redeemer These were good thoughts had they been as well intended But alas their project and device was onely to ease themselves of God and to get from under his hand for they flattered him with their mouthes and lied unto him with their lips Their heart was not right with him that is their aymes and respects were sinister neither were they stedfast in his covenant x Psal 78.34 35.36 37. and so they failed in the end of continuance also 3. Is it not to still and stifle the noise of your conscience and to give it some sorry satisfaction when it shall tell us from the Pulpit or when we are all alone that God is to be thought upon and his name to be had in remembrance of all that love him that such onely as do so can be comfortably assured of their gracious estate c. For if we do this or any other holy duty not out of any delight we taken in it but merely to stop consciences mouth and to ease our selves of that unrest and disquietment that we feel within till the thing be done our good thoughts are defective in the end of intention and can yeeld us little comfort Next for the end of duration and continuance Are those good thoughts you bind upon fixt and setled Principium fervet medium tepet exitus alget constant and parmanent Or are they not rather flitting and fugitive transient and temporary assoon gone as come almost like a flash of lightning in the aire like a dive-dapper upon the water like a post that passeth swiftly by the door or to speak with the scripture like the morning dew that melt-away y Hos 6.4 such were Sauls resolves z 1 Sam. 26.21 and Balaams wishes a Num. 23.10 Ephraims goodnesse b Hos 6.4 and the stony-grounds fruit The seed started up straight and straitway also withered That is saith our Saviour â— man heare 's the word and anon with â—oy he receives it c Luc. 8.6 Math. 13.20 where by one affection of joy ye are to understand any other even that of grief if the nature of the discourse call for it let comfortable matter be handled in his hearing he is wonderfully taken and ravished therewith for he doubts not with Haman but himself is the man whom the king wil honour d Esther 6.6 As if terrible or mornful his thoughts are sutable being affrighted affected enlarged distressed disposed as the matter requireth O this is a passing fine temper of soul and thus it should be with us all when we come to heare * Vide August lib. 4 de doct Christ cap. 12. But how long wil this hold think you with the Temporary so long only as he is in the church or not many hours after This motion towards heaven is too violent to be lasting with him The good ground therefore is said to be such as brings forth fruit with patience e Luc. 8.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oponitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de qua Heb 10.38 The word signifies with continuance or tarriance untill the fit time of fruit bearing in opposition doubtlesseto that straight way * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the stony ground whose fruit was no sooner ripe then rotten much like the Psalmists grasse upon the house top which withereth afore it groweth up f Psal 129.6 Like Charles 8. of whose expedition to Naples Guicciardine saith that he came into the field like thunder and lightning bt went out like a snuffe more then a man at first and lesse then a woman at last Lo such are the good thoughts of ungodly men they take them wings are gone they dye before they see the light an untimly birth is better then they Secondly having thus lookt upon thy good thoughts in the causes see next what effect they work in thee Doth the thought of Gods presence and purity make thee tremble and sin not g Psal 4.4 of his mercy and patience lead thee to repentance h Rom. 2.4 of his power and All-sufficiencie worke thee to an even-walking and integrity i Gen. 17.1 Do thy thoughts of heaven weane thee from earth of the vanity of life fit thee for death of the uncertainty of things temporall edge thy desires after things eternall Davids holy meditations were driven all to this issue His thoughts of God and his Name made him turne his feet to Gods testimonies k Psal 119.59 The lively remembrance of Gods benefits made him take the cup of salvation l Psal 116.12 c. Apprehensions of mercy in God wrought resolutions of obedience in him m Psal 23. ult The consideration of his own present indisposition to do God service made him chide himself out of that distemper with why art thou so sad my soule n Psal 43. ult c. I thought saith he I would confesse my transgressions unto the Lord and I did confesse them o Psal 32.5 I will meditate on thy precepts and what upshot will you drive it to I will have respect saith he to thy wayes p Psal 119.15 16 Thus David and very Godly person And thus if you can approve your thougts truly good by the causes and have improved them thus good to such holy effects and purposes you may safely thence conclude your good estate and comfortable condition SECT VII Vse 3. Exhortation Settle the soundnesse of your Sanctification by the goodnesse of your thoughts motives thereunto THirdly this point serves for Exhortation and so it calls upon us all to make our sanctification sure to our selves by this infallible signe Vse 3 to approve out selver men truely fearing God by this character of a Christian this thinking upon Gods Name Motives A subject if you look for motives for the excellency of it first wo thy of your best thoughts and such as will perfect