the account 2 From this utique dedissem I would have given if we observe what he had given which was sacrifice This expresseth the time in which David lived under the law wherin sacrifices were in season and if we read the law concerning them and the practice of the Church in those times Wee shall see how costly Religion was under the law That law was made and established by God in Moses his time and the precise manner of ordering that service punctually set down yet the law of sacrifices was as old as the World the presse injunction and expresse elucidation of the law was reserved to Moses his time The morall Law is an everlasting law and the ten Commandements were aâ— justly exacted from the beginning as at any time since yet the solemne publique proclaiming of the Law was on Mount Sinai when God gave it to Moses in two tables of his own writing For then God began to establish a full and entire body of a Church in Ecclesiasticall and Morall and Civill government that it might enter so into Canaan For the antiquity of Sacrifices wee read first of them in the story of Cain and Abel For so soon as we reade of their birth in the two first Verses of the fourth Chapter the third and fourth Verses report their Sacrifice which doth not conclude as some would have it that this was a wil-worship of their owne devising approved by God by him after made into a law This were to make man after his fall the authour of this law Rather we conceive that this was a service commanded by God to Adam and by him practised and taught in his Family and so derived to after-times For we reade of Noah when he came out of the Arke that he builded an altar to the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowle and offered burnt offerings on the altar and the Lord smelled a sweet savour and hee said in his heart I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake And long before Moses Abraham being commanded by God to offer his sonne built an altaâ— and God sparing his sonne he offered a Ramme for a burnt offering in stead of his sonne Saint Augustine concludes from hence that God commanded this kinde of service for by the light of nature Socrates who was by the Oracle pronounced the most wise oâ— all men then living did affirme Unumquemque Deum sic coli oportere quomodo se ipse colendum esse praeceperit Every God is so to be worshipped as he himself hath commanded For Every man is brâ—tish by his knowledge and the Apostle saith They that are in the flesh cannot please God For it is written I will destroy the wisdome of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Flesh and bloud cannot reveale to us the mystery of Gods worship Ye shall not do every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes concerning the worship of God but he directeth it and so it must be The use and intention of Sacrifices declareth this for they were 1 Either for pacification of God provoked against us for sin 2 Or for testification of our faith in the Mossiah promised of whom these Sacrifices were a figure 3 Or for expression of our thankfull duty to God for his favours All which declare the Commandement of God and not the wit or will of man to have devised and established this manner of service But that which doth conclude the point against all contradiction is Gods declaring of himself by his law after established to approve this service and to command it to posterity by so particular and precise injunction for this cleareth it to us that he was not the approver onely out the author of this service And indeed seeing that there was no use of the bodies of beasts or fowles before the flood for food no flesh being then eaten and the fruits of the earth susteining the life of man The use of them for sacrifice was convenient for those times and God was gracious in his accepting of them to that use though he needed them not It is no improbable opinion of them who think that after God had given his judgement upon our first parents and reveiled Christ to them that they offered to him a sacrifice of cleane beasts in token of their thankfulnesse and in purpose and with vow and promise of future obedience and that God clothed their nakednesse with the skins of their sacrifices In the whole time before the floud the Comandement was easie for sacrifices because there was little other use of the bodies of these creatures But when the law of Ceremonies was established in Moses his time the cattle of the people were a great part of their wealth and then it grew very costly to serve the Lord so There were sacrifices of course as the Juge sacrificium which spent two Lambes a day constantly one in the morning the other in the evening There were burnt offerings which were all consumed by fire upon the Altar adreverentiam majestatis in reverence of Gods majesty There were sin-offerings for propitiation There were peace-offerings for reconciliation and thanksgiving David in respect of his duty to God and offence committed against God should have offered all these sacrifices and hee protesteth a willingnesse to give them Else would I have given thee Especially now at last having obtained peace with God hee ought to have exprest his thankfull duty to God in a peace-offering which he was willing to have done Let me onely observe in this passage how costly the Religion of those times was under the Law The common charge of the Sanctuary the maintenance of the house of God with all things necessary for Gods service The maintenance of the persons employed in the speciall ministery in holy things The cost of sacrifices of all sorts the labour and cost of journey to the solemne Feasts Every private persons necessary sacrifices and oblations upon particular occasions amount to a very great charge which yet was imposed by God and born by the people We live in times of much more outward ease of body much lesse charge of the purse Wee have houses of our God ready built to our hands the supportation of them is esteemed a burthen Our father 's set out competent maintenance for the Ministerie our brethren have weighed it and found it too heavy for us It is the vicissitude of times one age gathered stones together another scattered them The Church was complained of to devoure the Common-wealth The Common-wealth hath made it selfe amends Wee have no cause to complaine of the cost of our Religion But such as are faithfull in it are of Davids minde that if God desired their goods their labours their bloud their lives in sacrifice they would give all to him who is all in all You see the aime of my observation from Davids words If thou desiredst
The Broken Heart OR DAVIDS PENANCE Fully exprest in holy Meditations upon the 51 PSALME BY That late Reverend Pastor SAM PAGE Doctour in Divinity and Vicar of Deptford Strond in the Countie of Kent Published since his death BY NATHANAEL SNAPE of Grayes Inne Esquire LONDON Printed by Thomas Harper 1637. TO THE HONORABLE Sir ROBERT AYTON Principall Secretary to the Queenes most excellent Majestie and Master of Saint Katherines neere the Tower of LONDON Sir MY intentions had fastened the patronage of this Booke upon that pious and Right Honorable Gentleman Sir Iulius Caesar your predecessour in the Mastership of St Katherines whose dedication of himselfe to that great Master and maker of the world renders you the Successour of his place and my service Therefore and because all that know you rightly speak you to be a friend to Learning and Philagathus in abstracto a true Religion Lover I thought fit to present these devouâ— Meditations to your judicious acceptation These royall Penitentials deduced and exemplified unto us from the sacred person of a King conclude all persons and degrees from an exemption in the practise And the command of that excellent duty is more especially incumbent on us in these particular times of humiliation when that formidable pestilentiall sword hath so smitten us and hangs still so perpendicularly over our heads The profit of Repentance it removes our sinne in reatu poena it blunts that weapons point whose thirst is sooner quencht with â—ear then bloud and it preferreth the miserable delinquent from the shamefull Barre to the most glorious Bench. Let the Reverend Authors pen declare his worth and let the worke commend it selfe to the world Onely Sir be you pleased to give it countenance and protection which I am confident will improve it to a more generall and publique approbation and make it the more redundant in the Churches benefit Health honour and Heaven at last I wish you from the heart of Your humble Servant N. S. MEDITATIONS upon the 51. PSALME VERSE I. Have mercie upon me O God according to thy loving kindnesse according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions IN this Psalme David is 1. For himself ad fin v. 17. 2. Then for the Church 18. 19. In the first part 1. He is all crying God mercie and supplication v 1 2. 2. Confession of sinnes 3 4 5 6. 3. Supplication against 7. ad fin 17. 1. In the first consider 1. What ailes him where is his griefe his transgressions his iniquitie his sinne 2. What remedie loving kindnesse multitude of tender mercies 3. What effect of these to blot out to wash throughly and cleanse away all this uncleannesse 3. What he ailes He varieth the phrase and calleth his disease transgressions Arias Mont. rendreth it praevaricationes to our sence For the Law setteth us bounds thus farre we may go and no further every sinne is a transgression an over-reaching of our bounds Peshang signifieth the same to forsake the commandment and it answereth Gods challenge of him by Nathan Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord Vers 2. He calleth his griefe his iniquities these also are against the Law which S. Paâ—l calleth holy and just He calleth it sinne which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is privatio legis This shewethus the danger of all our sinnes They put us out of the way for our way is the way of Gods commandments all other are called false wayes It is Uia legis the way of the Law which guideth our thoughts words and actions It is Via veritatis the way of truth which guideth our understandings and judgements It is via pacis the way of peace which guideth our heart and the affections thereof Sinne putteth us out of all these wayes Into those false wayes which David doth utterly abhorre Yet he is fallen into them by a strong temptation It is our wisedome to know and consider the nature of sinne that every sinne is transgression of Gods Law So Joseph answered his wanton Mistresse How shall I do this great wickednesse and sinne against God And now David hath bethought him he saith to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord. We must not think that any of our sinnes do hurt God or take from him any thing to empaire him For when we live in his obedience we give him occasion to exercise his holinesse in our sanctification his goodnesse in our conservation his bounty in donation of all good to us But if we transgresse he exerciseth his wisedome in his detection of us his holinesse in abhorring of us his justice in punishing of us So that the going out of our way which he hath set us in his Law is the hinderance of our owne journey and the danger of our own souls and bodies It is our great blindnesse of judgement and hardnesse of heart that we should delight in sinne against the Law of God The Law of God is an undefiled law The Law is holy and the commandment holy just and good This was ordained of God to be a bridle to restraine sinne yet our corruption hath made it a spurre to provoke and put on sinne So the Apostle found it For sinne that it might appeare sinne working death in us by that which is good that sinne by the commandment might be exceeding sinfull For corrupt nature is impatient of restraint and no fruit seemes so faire to the eye or taste so sweet to the palate as the forbidden fruit doth Every man above all things in the world affecteth his own will and desireth libertie to do what seemeth good in his own eyes The Law doth restrain us of this and it is 1. Holy in directing us a way wherein we may wâ—lk in all pleasing to God 2. Iust in declaring the danger of going astray from it 3. Good in rewarding our obedience for godlinesse hath the promises of this life c. David hath professed great love to this Law great delight in it all his Psalmes over He hath confessed great benefits received from it yet here he confesseth transgression and iniquitie and sinne he hath not kept this Law and hath sinned against God Now we see in this example how heavy sinne is when the conscience groweth sensible of it Nothing so pleasant as our sinne for the time but Citò praeterit quod delectat It soone passes away which delighteth now David gronesunder the burthen of it he hath the whole weight of the law upon him for it and he hath found that he hath walked contrary to God We have great use of this recollection of ourselues 1. We have need of God every moment for his help and comfort and counsell So long as our sinnes are upon our conscience unrepented unpardoned we cannot pray to God for any favour 2. We cannot give thanks as our prayers are turned into sinne if we regard wickednesse in our hearts for God heareth not sinners 1.
head of sinne That we were all in Adam in the day of his creation needeth no proofe for out of him was the woman created and of them made one flesh by marriage was all mankinde propagated So that these first parents of our flesh did stand or fall to the benefit or losse of all their posteritie But man stood but a while in honour and by his fall he not onely corrupted his own person but his nature whereby there remained an infection of sinne to the pollution of the whole nature of mankinde This the Apostle hath affirmed disertly In Adam all dye that is all are subject to the law of mortality and all are under the curse of the law for the second death God concluded all under sinne that is both the infection of sinne and the punishment thereof David speaketh here of his originall sinne in the pollution thereof and confesseth that from that root of bitternesse this and all his other sinnes derived Therefore he confesseth the beginning of it not onely at his shaping and formation in the wombe when God gave his body a composition in the wombe and set every member and part of his body in the proper place but he goeth higher to his first conception In peccato fovit me in sin she nourisht me his first warmth which put the first natural heat to the radicall moisture of which we are created This appeares in the difference between the first man created and the first generated for â—f Adam it is said In the image of God made he him But de primo generato of the first begotten for in the account of the Genealogie he reckoneth not Cain who was gone from the presence of God nor Abel who was by Cain murthered But the Genealogie begins at Seth of whom we reade And Adam begat a sonne in his own likenesse after his image and called his name Seth. For Cain he needed not to say so for the corruption of his foule heart shewed him borne of corrupt seed But Seth was one of the holy Fathers of the Church yet begotten in the image of Adam now corrupt and not in the image of God as Adam was created How could it be otherwise for our first parents being defiled who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one The Fathers with full consent referre that speech of Iob to our originall sinne as Pineda upon that place recounteth and quoteth them I should not need to prove this point of originall sinne having so cleare evidence for it as my Text in hand But that the Pelagians long ago denyed any such sinne or naturall corruption affirming Verba Pelagii Ut sine virtutâ— ita sine vitio procreamur atque ante actionem propriae voluntatis id solum in homine est quod Deus condidit The words of Pelagius That as we are begotten without vertue so without vice and before the acting of our own wils that onely is in man which God made Saint Augustine long ago took this heresie to â—ask and learnedly confuted it But of late Ann. 1620. there was a Pamphlet stolne out in print and vented from pocket to pocket by some Anabaptists at home who yet refuse to be so called In this the heresie of Pelagius is revived and originall sinne denyed and peremptorily it is affirmed that no sinne is derived from our parents We take say they from Adam vanity corruption and death This vanity is onely a weaknesse and impotencie in nature to know and do the duties of the Law of God But they deny it to be sinne Their reason is Adam was made of the earth we were made of Adam Adam was made of the earth onely in respect of â—iâ— body for God first made the body and then infused the soul in it The body was free from sinne the soul a spirituall substance infused by God was also free from sinne so Adam was created without sinne But we were no otherwise made of Adam then Adam was made of the earth and we were no more in Adam when he sinned then Adam was in the earth before his creation First according to the body Adam had no commandment given him till he had understanding to embrace it and will to receive or refuse it Adam sinned not till he departed from the commandment They conclude hence that we receiving nothing but our flesh from Adam cannot sinne till we have understanding to know what is commanded us ergo no originall sinne To all which we answer That the flesh which Adam took from the earth was pure for so was the earth But the flesh that we take from Adam is tainted with sinne And true it is that no actuall sinne can be committed without the Law But we may be guilty of originall impuritie without prevarication of the Law Adam had onely the matter of his body from the earth we derive more from Adam For whereas as God breathed into the body of Adam all at once the breath of lives We live three lives The life of plants in our vegetative The life of bruits in our sensitive The life of Angels in our rationall soul Philosophers and Phisitians and the learned Scholars of nature do resolve that we traduce two of these lives from our parents the third is immediately both created and infused by God The proper seat of originall sinne is in the sensitive part of man and that corrupteth our reason and as it groweth faster then our rationall doth so it over-groweth it and keepeth it down untill our new birth doth cut it and keep it short and the good Spirit of God give us strength to resist it and to subdue it This God himself hath in both Testaments fully detected in two holy Sacraments first Circumcision This was to be administred so soone as an infant was capable of it even after the first criticall day and that part of the body was chosen for this Sacrament which might best shew our generation unclean it was a Sacrament of purgation the impuritie of our naturall generation In the new â—estament the Sacrament of Baptisme was instituted to the same purpose And where our Anabaptists do charge us that by our doctrine of originall sinne we bring upon infants a danger of eternall death and thereby we revive that wicked Proverbe The fathers have eaten fowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge We regest this calumny upon them in just imputation For when they confesse that we traduce from our parents vanity corruption and death these are the punishments of sinne and if we have no sinne of our own it is our parents sinne and so our teeth are on edge for their sowre grapes The doctrine of originall sinne was ever taught in the Church and when Saint Augustine did meet with the Pelagian heresie denying it he opposed it strongly and because the adversary urged the faith and doctrine of certaine Hereticks denying originall sinne S. Augustine produceth the constant contrary asseverations of the
that the purse hath saved the life yet that is but the price of intercession But the Kings pardon onely saveth life It is so in the state of our soules sinne is a capitall fault and the wages of it death and no way of escape from this just judgement but by Gods gratious and free pardon We cannot purchase a mediation at any rate to availe us without true and unfained repentance and then we have but one Mediatour to the Father and he must purchase our pardon with his bloud he must be wounded for our transgressions and we must be healed by his stripes and hee must dye for us that we may live in and by him Let Papists seeke heaven by their righteousnesse at their owne perill For my selfe I am so farre from trusting to any merits of our owne workes that I dare resolve that if the salvation of all mankinde had beene put to the plunge that Sodome was at with the other Cities to finde tenne righteous from Adam to the last man that shall stand upon the earth all mankinde must have perished for want of tenne such I dare adventure further in resolution that if the bringing one good worke before God done in all the generations of men performed without any tast or taint of sinne might save all mankinde I except none but Iesus Christ I doe beleeve that he that searched Jerusalem with candle and lanterne even his seven eyes which tunne to and fro through the whole earth cannot finde out one such good and perfect worke the caske distasteth the liquour who is he that doth good and sinneth not who doth good and sinneth not in the very good he hath done To make a worke perfectly holy is one thing to make it meritorious is another If no good work we doe can come from us holy it is not possible it should aske wages Our corruption of nature sprinckles every word worke and thought of ours with some graines more or lesse of our old Adam for as we consist of flesh and spirit ever conflicting there is of both in all we are or have it cannot bee otherwise for the imaginations of the thoughts of our heart are onely evill continually and from that neast these birds doe flye Adultery Fornication Strife c. But if wee could doe any worke holy and pure â—â—oâ—n blame yet there goeth more to it then holinesse to make it meritorious 1 It is required that we be able to doe it of our selves for no thankes to us for any good we doe if he land us the faculties and abilities of doing it 2 It is required that hee which deserveth should doe something for the benefit of him of whom he deserveth but our well-doing extendeth not to God 3 It is required that hee which meriteth doe his good worke out of his owne free will ex mero motu non ex debito meerely by his owne mooving not as of due debt For what we doe of duty we pay we doe not give 4 It is required that the reward bee proportionable to the worke for else whatsoever is more is gift not wages They that wrought all day deserved their penny they that came late had more gift then wages eternall life is too much reward for any service wee doe This putteth workes of supererogation quite out of countenance to name them is to shame them Micah 6. 6. Where withall shall I come before the Lord burnt offerings Calves of a yeare old Will the Lord bee pleased with thousands of rammes or with tenne thousand rivers of oyle shall I give my first borne for my transgressions the fruit of my body for the sinne of my soule Hee hath shewed thee c. To doe justly to love mercy to walke humbly before thy God The way of repentance and crying God mercy is the way of humility we cannot pay our debt we cannot buy out our fault we have nothing to give our plea is miserere have mercy we can finde no way out of our sinnes but by Gods gratious and free pardon This is not so easie a favour obtained as many thinke for suppose the pardon were obtained and sealed for God have mercy yet there is no moment of our life in which we doe not forfeit it and therefore we must renew it continually When you pray say Pater noster dimitte nobis Our Father forgive us and semper orate pray alwayes Be sure to renew your pardon by repentance and prayer continually especially at such times when we come to the house of God to the Table of God now wash us throughly O Lord now O Lord have mercy upon us now purge us with hysope now hide thy face from our sinnes and blot on t all our iniquities Now make us heare joy and gladnesse which thou impartest to us in the Sacrament of thy sons passion Our Church service is holily accommodated to this for we beginne at the words wherein God maketh us heare of joy and we humble our selves to God in a contrite deploration of our sins O Lord heare us from heaven and when thou hearest shew mercy VERSE 10. Create in me a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me 4. HE prayeth for newnesse of life Here also he doubleth his petition and changeth the phrase 1 For his heart the seat of his affections 2 For the holy Ghost to sanctifie him throughout in his body soule and minde In the first observe 1 His suit is for the heart 2 He desireth that cleane 3 He wisheth it so by creation In the second 1 His suit is for the spirit 2 He would have that right 3 He would have it by renovation 1 For the heart there breed adulteries murthers and all other sinnes as Christ hath taught us and that was the neast of all his sinnes The message of God by Nathan descended into the secrets of his heart there he hid the word he saith before Thou requirest truth in the inward parts he found his heart no fit habitation for truth as it was It is our chiefest care to looke to the heart because Christ asketh that of us for himselfe My sonne give me thy heart The Church of the Iewes in tender care for the Church of the Gentiles complaineth We have a little sister and she hath no breasts what shall we doe for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for that is how shall wee doe for her when Christ shall be speake her for a Spouse for himselfe That should be our care every one for his heart wee have a foule and uncleane heart what shall we doe for it or how shall we answer when Christ saith My sonne give me thy heart Our care therefore must be for it to prepare it so that we may neither be ashamed nor afraid when Christ calleth for it to present him with it Here Salomon adviseth well Keep thy heart above all keeping for out of it are the issues of life This heart of ours hath many
Achivi great ones desart makes the poore smart The Apostle biddeth us pray for Kings and for all that are in autority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty Wee shall all go more safely in our wayes if God guide the hearts and wayes of our Rulers aright But if God give us Kings in his fury our portion will be sorrow for their sins will set Ierusalem and Sion a mourning Who then shall pittie thee ô Ierusalem or who shal be sorry for thee I speak not of our Kings God hath blest us graciously I know where I am and addresse this point to the common use of the Church as it may concern all Countries For as we are all members of the Church and of the houshold of faith so our iniquities which are offensive to God and hurtfull to our selves may be also scandalous and hurtfull to the Church A wicked man in a Congregation the Apostle calleth leaven Know yee not that a little leaven sowreth the whole lumpe Sins like the disease of Leprosie infect per contactum by the touch The point is when any of us come to make our peace with God for our sins as we have care of our selves and our owne reconciliation to God so let us remember to commend to God the care of his Church which by our sins is wronged For can the toe stumble at a stone without the hazard of a fall to the whole body seeing wee are members one of another Therefore the care of Gods Angels descendeth solow as the foot Ne offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum lest thou dash thy foot against a stone He that desireth by true Repentance to set al to rights let him look every way where his sin hath done hurt and labour to repair it Great is the example of Gods proceeding against his own people Israel in judgement for the sin of Achan The Lord saith Israel bath sinned and they have transgressed my covenant which I commanded them Therefore they fled before their enemies And when this matter came to scrutinie the fault was found to be in Achan onely Hee had stolne a Babylonish garment two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold c. All Israel fared the worse for his one sin his one sin is charged upon the whole Kingdome Lyran. quia factum unius de communitate in malis toti communitati attribuitur because the deed of one that communicateth in evill is ascribed to all them that communicate with him We do not beare one anothers iniquity the soule that sinneth shall die but such is the conjunction of the body of the Church that wee cannot commit grosse and eminent sins without the hurt and infection one of another Therefore to accomplish our Repentance and heale all wee have here a good example to close our penitentiall prayers as David here doth This remayne of the Psalme hath two parts 1 Davids petition verse 18. 2 The successe of his prevailing in his suite verse 19. The petition hath two parts 1 Do good in thy good pleasure to Sion 2 Build thou the walls of Ierusalem 2 The successe is double 1 God shall be pleased 2 His servants shall do their duty to him 1 Of Davids petition 1 Of his first petition Do good in thy good pleasure to Jerusalem wherin we must consider 1 The petitioner David 2 For whom he petitioneth for Sion for Jerusalem 3 The petition it self Do good 4 The limitation of the petition in thy good pleasure 1 Of the petitioner David whom wee againe consider foure wayes 1 As he was a private man a member of the Church 2 As he was an holy Prophet of the Lord 3 As hee was the head of the Church the King of Israel 4 As he was a penitent Convert now again received into the favour of God 1 As a private man It is the dutie of every private man to pray for the welfare of the Church of God The Church is called a Communion of Saints and we are knit together vinculo amoris with the bond of love there is unus amor one love but as it hath a double reflection 1 Vpon God whose honour wee preferre above all things 2 Vpon our neighbours whom wee ought to love as ourselves So wee have two great arguments to induce our devotion to this holy duty of prayer for the Church 1 In respect of God The three petitions in the first Table of the Lords prayer do maintain this For 1 Herein we sollicite our God for the honouring of his own name the sanctifying of it here amongst men for his name is great in Israel In his Church every thing speaketh of his glory The Church is the Congregation of them that call upon the name of the Lord. It is the prayer of Iesus Christ Father glorifie thy name Wee have great reason for it because our helpe is in the name of the Lord. It was the old petition of the Church To beseech God for his Names sake 2 We pray for the comming of Gods Kingdome His Kingdome of power is over all the World But his Kingdome of grace is the holinesse of his Church onely and his Kingdom of glory is the Crown of the Church onely Here God reigneth The Lord is King and hath put on glorious apparell he hath clothed himself with majestie and honour His Kingdome is within us his wisdome our guide his word our law his mercy our hope his judgements our feare his truth our faith his will our obedience 3 Wee pray that the will of God may be done on earth sicut in coelo as in heaven So if the Church thrive and prosper here will be an heaven upon earth and wee shall be like the Angels of God who obey him by fulfilling his will For the Church is the Congregation of such as labour to walke with God in all pleasing 2 In respect of our neighbours We consider our selves as members one of another so the welfare of the members dependeth on the welfare of the body Every ones good ought to be as precious to us as much desired of us as our own God is rich in mercy and we need not feare that what is bestowed on our brethren will abate any thing of his bounty to us which in things temporall doth often disquiet us And herein the weakest members of the Church may be helpfull to the whole body of it for prayer and wel-wishing which proceed from zeale and love may come from the poorest the sickest member of the Church no prison can shut it up 2 Consider him as a Prophet of the Lord. The prayers of all men have good accesse to the throne of grace but Prophets of the Lord beside the common obligation as members of the body of the Church have a speciall duty ex officio by their office and are as it were Masters of Requests to put up the prayers of the Church to God Samuel God forbid
mention of a Church in Abel we have Cain to murder him Before Isaak wee have Ishmael to scorn and persecute him Iacob wrastleth with Esau before he is borne in the wombe and Esau ever hated Jacob in their posterity When Israel was established a visible Church in Iacobs Family a famine sent them into Egypt where after a few yeares their City of refuge proved their house of bondage God delivered them and sent them home to their own Land they had many enemies in the way and when they came home their sword cuttl em out â—ooâ—e for habitation and under their Iudges and Kingâ— their Chronicles are full of names When the Christian Church began in the revelation of Christ â—he â—nnocent infants were the first sacrifice offered by the sword of â—erâ—d Christ himselfe pursued to death to the Crosse His Disciples Apostles and Confessours suffered in the ten bloudy Persecutions Then began rents in the Church and Heresie grew as cumbersome and busie and cruell as in fidelity The Arian Persecution brake down the walls of Jerusalem And then in the Waine of the Empire The Turke arose in the East to the great terrour of Christs little flocke This Church of ours which hath like the fleece of Gedeon been watered when all the floore about it was dry standeth now like a Lily amongst thornes We have great cause to pray for good and strong wals for our Ierusalem wals of Gods own building left the arrows of our enemies stick fast in our flesh and their swords drinke our bloud Yet it is well for us that wee know who can build the walls of the Church strongly and fortifie it against the gates of Hell For the gods of the Heathen are but Idols there is no helpe in them their eyes see not their eares heare not their hands help not Let us but recover our God by repentance redeeme his favour with a sacrifice of broken and contâ—ire spirits and he will build up our walls and repaire our â—uines and fortifie our desolate places Our Fathers in the darknesse of Popery had this strong beliefe that the Church and State was more strengthened by zealous and devout prayers then by all other provisions for offence and that was the motive that advanced so many Religious Houses and setled upon them so faire and plenteous revenues that they might have many at continuall leasure to be alwayes praying for them It was great pity that their holy zeale had not some equal proportion of knowledge for in their way they were devout and before the pestilent Incendiaries of the Church came up who turned Religion into Policie and Zeale into Fury I doubt not but God had many faithfull and true soules in the Church of Rome full of his love jealâ—us of his honour whose holy devotion kept up the walls of Ierusalem and prospered all the works of their hands 2 Observe the petitions of David Doe good to Sion Build up the walls of Ierusalem he doth pray for defence of his Church against enemies hee doth not pray that God would turn all their Sythes into Swords and strengthen them to an offensive warre Though David were a Sword-man and had laâ—ely recovered Sion by his sword by the Jebusite he prayeth not for warre and strength to pluck down the walls of other Cities But that God would build up the wals of his own God is called the God of peace and though hee be daily provoked by the bold sins of men to draw his sword hee is loth to strike he would have us like himself to be very jealous how we undertake an offensive warre let Religion and Policie joyn in advise before a Sword be drawne against any neighbour state that wee may have God to Friend that we may say The Lord of hâ—asts is with us For then there are more with us then against us still these two Iudges of the quarrell have determined the justice of warre let us hold our hands For iâ— Princes engage their Subjects in unlawfull warres all the bloud spilt on their sides is put upon their account but this petition of David is ever safe VERSE 19. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousnesse with burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering then shall they offer Bullocks upon thine Altar HEre is the successe of David suit obtained For if God will be pleased to declare himselfe the Patron and Protector of his Church to do it good and to sence it against the enemy Then followeth a double event 1 In David and the people For they will apply themselves to the worship of God 2 In God he will accept of their service 1 For David and the people They do not set God a price of their service as if he must bay it of them by doing them good and building their walls But hee sheweth what good use the faithfull servants of God will make of his favours they will use them as motives to his free service They shall enjoy peace and prosperity and good leasure Nature teacheth this retribution the shepheard Ille meos errare boves ut cernis My wandring oxen as you see c. And how may this be considered Namque erit ille mihi semper Deus illius aram c. He is my God his Altar I le frequent In time of peace and prosperity and in the cleare light of heavenly knowledge God declareth himselfe most clearly and deserveth the worship of his servants most apparantly and Deus nobis haec otia fecit these times of rest our God vouchsafes There is the season for it But we have God complaining often of the contrary For the prosperity of Fooles destroyeth them and wee are never more wanton and carelesse of Gods service then when he feedeth us fattest and doth us most good But Ieshurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxed fat thou art growne thick thou art covered with fatnes then he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the rocke of his salvation Too much compost doth make the ground ranke and full of weeds This did God foresee and gave them great warning oâ—it In the former Chapter When I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their Fathers which floweth with milke and hony and they shall have eaten and filled themselves and waxen fat then will they turne unto other Gods and serve them and provoke me and break my Covenant And they did so and it cost them deare a deportation for 70 yeeres into Babylon After the returne the Levites in their confession acknowledge so much to justifie Gods severe proceeding against them and to cast all the blame upon themselves And they took strong Cities and a fat Land and possessed housesfull of all goods wels Olives Vineyards fruit-trees So they did eat and were filled and became fat But they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Laew behind their backs This commeth generally of fulnesse it is the sin