To The Right Worshipfull Sir Iohn Cleypoole Knight sauing health WOrthy Sir I haue ventrously traffiqued with my poore talent in publike whiles I behold richer graces buried in silence iudging it better to husband a little to the common good then to hurd much wealth in a sullen niggardize I censure none if al were Writers who should be Readers if none idle Pamphlets would present themselues to the generall eye and bee entertained for defect of more sober matter If the graine bee good it doth better in the market then in the garner All I can say for my selfe is I desire to 〈…〉 whereof if I faile yet my endeou◠〈…〉 not my conscience without some ioifull content To your Patronage this flies to whom the Author is greatlie bounden and shall yet bee indebted further for your acceptance Your loue to generall learning singular encouragement to Students opposed to the common dishartnings which pouerty contempt ignorance assaults vs with your actual beneficence to many especially to Katherine Hall in Cambridge worthie of death-lesse memorie lastlie your reall kindnesse to my selfe haue prompted mee to seale this Booke with the signet of your name and send it to the world Which in humble submission I commend to your kind acceptation and your selfe with it to the blessing of our gracious God Your Worships in all duty deuoted Tho. Adams ENGLANDES SICKENES THE First Lecture Ierem. Chap. 8. Ver. 22. Is there no balme at Gilead is there no Physitian there why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recouered SIcke is the daughter of Sion and the complexion of England giues her not to be sound If shee feele her own pulse and examin the Symptomes of her ilnes her works of disobedience shee must confesse that her health is empaired or if shee feele it not shee is obstupeâ—ied The Coast I am bound for is Israel but like faithfull Merchants if I can traffique or transport thence any good commodity into our own country I will venter the welcom of it Israel England though they lie in a diuers climat may be said right Paralels not so vnfit in Cosmographicall as fit in Theologicall comparison And sauing Israels Apostacie and punishment for it wee neede not thinke it harsh to be sampled They could plead much of Gods mercy if wee can speake of more let vs thankefully embrace our transcendent happinesse Two maine passages are directed my discourse to saile through which shall limit my speech and your attentions for this time 1. The Patient 2. The Passion The Sicke and the disease The Person labouring of griefe is the daughter of Israel her Passion or griefe is sicknes Why is not the health of the daughter of my people recouered These two coastes will affoorde vs many subordinate obseruations worthy both our trauels The Patient whom we must visite is described 1. Quâ— sit 2. Cuiui sit God speaketh of her 1. Positiuely 2. Possessiuely Positiuely what shee is of her selfe The daughter of the people Possessiuely what shee is by relation in regard of her owner populi mei Gods people Daughter This title is vsuall according to Hebraisme Daughter of Israel for Israel Daughter of Sion for Slon Say yee to the daughter of Sion Behold thy saluation commeth c. Daughter of Iudah for Iudah The Lord hath troden the daughter of Iudah as a Wine-presse Daughter of Ierusalem for Ierusalem Lament 2. Of Babilon for Babylon Oh daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed c. So Christ cals himselfe the Sonne of man because he tooke on him mans nature Esay 2 1. Oh my threshing and the sonne of my floore for the floore it selfe or the corne of it And Augustine obserues on the 72. Psalme that by the children of the poore is meant the poore themselues This is an abstractiue Phrase and vox indulgentis implying propense fauour in the speaker and tendernes in the person spoken of filia populi It is a word of relation simply taken for daughter depends on the respect of Parent Here it is Phrasicall and therefore not to be forced Yet because cunctae apices euery letter and accent in holy West is diuinely significant let vs not neglectfully passe it ouer without some vsefull obseruation There is somewhat in it that Filia non Filius dicitur the name of Daughter not of Sonne is here giuen to Israel Iaraels offspring must be a Daughter that she may be married to the God of Israels Sonne Christ is the beloued the Church is his Spouse My beloued is mine and I am his hee feedeth among the Lillies Betroathed to him in this life I will betroth thee vnto me for euer yea I will betroth thee vnto me in righteousnesse c. Solemnly maried in the next at what time the Saints shall sing Let vs be glad and reioyce and giue honour to him for the marriage of the Lambe is come and his wife hath made her selfe ready and verse 9. Blessed are they that are called to the marriage Supper of the Lambe Thus God the Father that had a Sonne by eternall generation hath now a Daughter also by adoption Hence the Church is called the Kings daughter Ps. 45. The kings daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought gold â— because shee is wedded to the Kings sonne God is a Father in many respects 1 In Creation Deut. 32. Is not he thy father that hath bought thee Hath hee not made thee and established thee Hee gaue vs all essentiam formam subsistence and forme 2 In Education Esa 1. I haue nourished and brought vp children and they haue rebelled against me We are brought vp in this House of this world and fed from the table of his blessings 3 In compassion Psal. 103 Like as a Father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him Yeeld that a mother which is rare and vnnaturall can forget the Sonne of her wombe yet God cannot forget the children of his Election 3 In Correction Heb. 12 Whom the Lord loueth hee chasteneth and scourgeth euery sonne whom he receiueth Qui excipitur à numero flagellatorum excipitur à numero siliorum He that scapes affliction may suspect his adoption Wee are not exempted from misery that wee may not be excepted from mercy The rod walkes ouer vs left wee should grow wanton with his blessings 5 In Adoption and that most principally Rom. 8. Wee haue receiued the spirite of Adoption whereby wee cry Abba Father God sent his sonne made of a woman that wee redeemed by him might receiue the adoption of sonnes All these may be reduced to three God is a Father singularly generally specially 1. singularly the Father of Christ by nature 2 generally the Father of all men and al things by creation 3. specially the Father of the Elect by adoption The first priuiledge belongs onely to Christ. The second to many who haue
Father here the Father is content to bee called after the name of his children The God of Abraham the God of Isaacke c. So Darius proclaimes in his decree The God of Daniel Esa. 44 One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himselfe by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand vnto the Lord and surname himselfe by the name of Israel Thus sayth the King of Israel c. And Esa. 45. For Iacob my seruants sake and Israel mine Elect I haue euen called thee by thy name I haue surnamed thee though thou hast not known me Here might be inferred the inutterable compassion of God to Israel It is my people that is thus sicke But I haue not scanted this obseruation before That which I would now direct my speech and your attention to is the strangenesse of this complaint agrota t Israel Others to haue been sicke not so rare It had beene no wonder in Aegypt Ammon Edom Babilon Israel hath the best meanes for health therfore the more inexcusable her sicknes They should haue beene so maner'd as they were manur'd and brought forth grapes according to their dressing Sidon shall iudge Chorazin Niniuch Ierusalem In Sidon where was no Prophet was lesse wickednesse in Niniueh where lesse prophesying greater repentance This conuiction was demonstrated in many particulars The prayse of the Centurion is the shame of Israel The mercy of the Samaritan the Priests and Leuits condemnation The very dogges licking Lazarus fores confute the stony bowels of Diues The returning of the strange Leper with a song of thanksgiuing in his mouth was an exprobration to all the nine when Christ had the tythe of a person he least expected God reproacheth this daughter of Sion Ezek. 16 that Samaria and Sodoâ—â—e were of her Sisterhood yea as if their abominations were a very little thing thou wast corrupted more then they in all thy wayes Nay thou hast iustified thy sisters in that their abominations came short of thine by the one half The people of thy holines as the Prophet Esay cals them are become by the same Prophets testimony a sinfull nation a people laden with iniquity They that were not called by thy name are not so rebellious Eâ— sunt deteriores quo meliores Deus reddere conatus est It is grieuous that Gods goodnes should make men worse and the more kinde God hath beene to them the more vnkind they should be to themselues the more vnthankefull to him Christ for the Iewes turned their water into wine the Iewes for Christ turned their wine into vineger offered it him to drinke They that were the richest of Gods own making became the most bankroute sin religion They changed CathedraÌ„ magistery wherin God placed their Doctors in sodem pestilentiae into the scorners chayre contemning his benefits they had a Vineyard at an easie rate yet payed no fruites of obedience It is hard to say whether God was more gracious to them or they more greeuous to him This boldly neuer was more piery required with lesse piety God sowed mercy and reaped a crop of iniquity God can brooke this in none but as hee forsooke his Temple in Sion when it became a denne of theeues so he will take out his ornaments where with he graced the temple of the soule when we set vp the Dagon of this world in it and withdraw his riches as from a diuorced Spouse running after other louers Whiles Adam serued God God serued him he prouides for him a 〈◊〉 a companion and sustentation We read of nothing that God did sixe dayes together and his works were not small nor few but work for Adam as if hee had beene hired to labour for him Is it not strange that such a childe should rebell to such a father Let none thinke his fault was small in eating an apple or that his punishment waighed heauier then his trespasse His sinne was so much the greater because against a God and so good vnto him The more gloriously the Sunne and Summer haue apparrelled a tree the more wee admire the blazing when God hath planted a soule in his owne holy ground watered it with those sacred purifying dewes of his graces shone on it with the radiant beames of his soule reuiuing mercies spent much opera olei both of care and cost vpon it and hath his expectation required abused with a meere flourish of seaues with eyther anequam ornequic quam fructus none or euill fruites there goes out a curse Neuer fruit grow on thee more When God hath put his grace into our vnworthy vessels how abusiue is it to empty our selues of that precious liquor and swell our spirites with the poyson of hell How iust is it with him to take away what hee gaue Luke 8. and to put a consumption into our vitall parts Hence without wonder our iudgement rusts like a neuer drawne sword our knowledge looseth the rellish like the Iewes putrified Manna Our faith dissolues as a cloud our zeale trembles as if held with a palsie our loue freezeth the harder as water that once was warme Our repentance turns to yce our hope to snow which the heat of affliction melts to water not to be gathered vp the image of death is vpon all our religion Was this strange in Israel and is it nothing in England Looke vpon the inhabitants of the earth somwhat remote from vs to whose face the Sunne of the Gospell hath not yet sent his rayes people blinded with ignorance blended with lusts What were our desires or deserts former mater or latter merite congruity before conuersion or condignity after more then they might shew that God should put vs into the Horizon of his Grace whiles they sit in darkenesse and shade of death Want they nature or the strength of flesh are they not temperd of the same morter are not their heads vpward toward heauen haue they not reasonable soules able for comprehension apt for impression if God would set his Seale on them as well as we Are they not as likely for flesh and bloude prouident to forecast ingenuous to inuent actiue to execute if not more then we Why haue wee that starre of the gospell to light vs to Christ Iesus standing ouer our Country whiles they neither see it nor seeke it It is clearely meerly Gods mercy Now why are our liues worse our knowledge is better Why deuoure wee their venome refusing our owne healthfull foode whiles they would feed on our crums and haue it not Woe vnto vs if we scant God of our fruites that hath not scanted vs of his blessings Bring presents to the King of glory yee childrn of his holinesse and worship before him Indanger not your selues to the greater misery by abusing his great mercy Hee hath loued vs much and long in our election when we could not loue him in our redemption
made themselues by Apostacie the children of Beliall The third is blessed and neuer to bee forfeited This is a happy aduancement that the daughter of Sion is made the daughter of God whom his equall and eternal sonne hath vouchsafed to marry It was no smal preferment in Dauids oÌ„pinion by wedding Saules daughter to bee made sonne in Law to a King how farre higher doth the Churches honour transcend that by marrying the sonne of God is made daughter in Law to the King of Kinges Specially when this bond is indissoluble by the hand of death vncancellable by the sentence of man vndiuorceable by any defect or default in the Spouse for hee that chose her to himselfe will preserue her from all cause why hee may not take pleasure in her beauty And as Christ now in heauen dwels with his Church on earth by grace so shee though partly now on earth dwels with him in heauen all her members being Burgesses of that celestiall Corporation Since animus est vbâ—amat non vbâ—animat Our conuersation is in heauen whence also wee looke for the Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ. Thus Augustine Et ille adhuc deorsum est noâ— iam sâ—â—sum His mercies are still descending to vs our affections ascending to him The desires of the faithfull Spouse are with her Beloued Such is the insolubility of that misticall vnion which no eloquence of man can expresse no violence of diuels shal suppresse Therefore ascendamus interim corde vt sequamur corpore let vs send vp our affections before that our persons may follow after As Christ hath sent thee downe his spirit as a pawne and pledge of this assurance so doe thou send him vp thy heart for a token of thy acceptance yea of thy hopefull expectation and desire to bee with him Minus anima promisit se Christo quae non praemisit se Christo that soule hath nothing lesse then vowed it selfe to Christ that houers and hankers about the world and is loath to come at him This is ineffable inestimable happines Hence the daughter of Israel vnderstand me not topically but typically not Israel in the flesh but the Israel of God children of that Ierusalem which is aboue or at least from aboue doth apportion all the riches of her Husband If it be vox amici Tuus sum totus the voyce of a friend I am wholy thine it is more liuingly more louingly vox mariti the speech of a husband The Bride among the heathen on the first day of her marriage challenged of the Bridegroome vbi tu Caius ego Câ—â—â— where you are Master I must be mistresse Mariage is a strong bond by Gods ordinance and knowes no other methode but composition God that increation made two of one by marriage made one of two Hence the Daughter of Israell is made one with the sonne of God by an vnion which the heart may feele but no art describe Those gracious and glorious riches which the master of all the world is proprietarie of are in some sort communicate toys His righteousnes holinesse obedience satisfaction expiation inheritance is made ours as our sinne sorrow suffrings death and damnation were made his not by transfusion but by imputation His sorrow paine passion for vs was so heauy so grieuous so pearcing such a Sic that all the world could not match it with a Sicâ—t Our ioy by him is so gracious shall be so glorious that pro qualitate pro aequalitate nihil in comparationem admâ—titur for quality for quantity it refuseth all comparison Oh blessed mutation blessed mutuation â— what wee had ill and what had wee but ill wee changed it away for his good what he hath good and what other nature can come from goodnesse it selfe we happily enioy vel in esse vel in posse either in possession or assurance Our Sauiour died our death that we might liue his life He suffered our hell to bring vs to his heauen It is somewhat not vnworthy the noting that Filia dicitur non filiae Israel is called by the name of daughter not of daughters Sion hath but one daughter The whole people is vnica quia vnita As she is one shee must be at one not â—arring not repugnant to her selfe Confusion belongs to Babel Let peace dwell in the Pallaces of Ierusalem They are refractary spirits vnworthy to dwell in the Daughter of Sions house that are euer in preparation for separation from her The Church consists of a Communion of Saints an vnited Flocke vnder one sheepheard not a company of stragling sheepe getting schisme forgetting their chrisme the vnity of the spirit that makes men bee of one mind in one house But as the spirits in man cease to quicken any member sundred from the body and the scattered bones in Ezechiels vision receiued no life till they were incorporate into a body So the spirit of God which is anima corporis the soule of his mysticall body forbeares the derivation of grace and comfort to those that cut off themselues from it Shee is one vna vnica that is mother of vs all Though there bee threescore Queenes and fourescore Concubines and virgines without number yet my doue my vndefiled is but one shee is the onely one of her mother the choice one of her that bare her There is one body many members 1. Cor. 12. The eye must not quarrell with the hand nor the head with the foot If we be one against another let vs beware least God be against all We haue one Lord whose Liuery is Loue Iohn 15. By this shall all men know that you are my Disciples if yee haue loue one to another whose doctrine is peace Ephes. 2. He preached peace to you that were farre off and to them that were nigh Let vs then serue him professing one truth with one heart It is wretched when sects vie number with Cities and there are so many creedes as heads Qui conaÌ„tur vel corrumpere fidem vel disrumpere charitatem who striue either to corrupt faith or dissolue charitie none performing his function without faction It is testified of those pure and primitiue times that the multitude of them that beleeued were of one heart and of one soule One mind in many bodies Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in vnitie sayth the Psalmist when inter multa corpora non multa corda as August-sweetly when among diuers men there are not diuers minds Sic viuentes in vnum vt vnum bominem faciant so louing and liuing together in one that they all make but as it were one man There is no knot of loue so sure as that which Religion ties It is able to draw together East and West sea and land and make one of two of ten of thousands of all This is that which gathereth the saints together not to a locall but misticall vnion whereby they are