is not this City able to do I wish it may be able to examine and to extricate her self I cannot but love your City for her brest that she proved such a kind Nourse to them which had neither milk nor maintenance when upon the death of their Mother they were as exposed children All the gratitude which I can expresse is to piety this Nourse upon her sick-Couch and if I can preserve her alive upon her bed of anguishing till there may be some signes of her recovery I shall not cease to visit her and if she will admit me he as a ghostly Father to her that she may confesse her inward disease and apply that spirituall remedy which will certainly and can onely work her proper cure I thought once to have called in all the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation to joyn in this work for the Heralds office is in the City and why should not they which are comparable to fine gold cast in their talent for the advance of this pious design Yes they are too high if they do not humble themselves to the earth for her which all this while with a trusty hand hath kept their Pedegrees I would have invited the Reverendest of the Clergy to have assisted in this religious service for Sancta Maria de Arcubus is in the City why should not they deprecate judgements from her which hath retained for them a place where they have received their first Consecration Aaron doth carry upon his brest plate the names of the Tribes of Israel the Priests must not be absent from the Sacrifiâ—e these must weep between the Porch and Altar I would have drawn in all the Civill and common Lawyers to plead in Heaven for this City for they having been so often retained in her Counsell and learned all their honoured skill here the Inns of Court being nigh to the body of the City and Doctours Commons within the bowells of the City why should not they sollicit the highest Court for a release from her extremities I would have summoned-in all the Physitians to administer a soveraign potion to this City for their Colledge being within her walles and they having raised vast estates out of their City practise why should not they prepare an Elixir for her out of their suppled eyes rent-heartstrings extracted consciences to preserve her at an exigent yea I thought once to have sent down to all the Cities in the Kingdome to have repaired hither their selves or to have sent their faithfull substitute Proxey their conversion to officiate for the City in her greatest perill For seeing this is the Metropolis why should not all the Daughters do their duty to their Mother and wait upon her with their prayers and tears and humiliation and mortification yes they here vending all their commodities and buying here all their principall wares it is convenient that they should blesse her with their repentance which hath blessed them with revenue But because the most proper cure is that which is personall people being able to prepare their Antidote therefore ye knowing both the malady and the medicine what need I trouble others when ye are able if ye will to do the work your selves and to be your own Physitians And now that I have left you in your own hands setting Life and Death before you oh that I could speak to the City in generall that as all Nineveh so all your City would be unaninous to unite their repentance to keep off a judgement But I see such a complicated disease of bad opinions and such a cakexy of evill life amongst you some onely magnfying the virtues of the City others going on in an insensibility of any thing that it is either sin or danger that I despair to find the generality apprehensive either of disease or cure Acron could onely paint the Cypresse tree so there are some amongst you Erasm which can only draw the picture of their own self-grounds and selfe-ends why then should these mens pensils be desired to delineate this piece no I remember that Calcedon was called The Town of the blind because they would not suffer an experienced Workman to build their houses Pliny l. 5. c. ult And so such a blind City shall I leave you if I set on work half-sighted Architects which can neither see errours nor foresee hazards Therefore I set by all the humourous and vicious amongst you and apply my selfe onely to those which are truly religious which have the most conscience to discover sin and the most remorse to reconcile an offended God It is a singular work and there must be singular Agents engaged in it It is that great City and it must be that Great or good Party which must invert the state and avert the judgement of the City All ye then which are of mine own Religion and repentance be ye my Patrones out of affection the Cities out of relation deny not your own City nor me for your Cities sake this shall be my engagement and I hope not the Cities envy that I should desire you to do that for the City which the City will not do for it selfe I cannot expect you to be absolute Saints I my selfe am not innocent but I desire to be penitent and I besceech you let us both center together in this qualification Make this subject if ye can your Altar where ye may work an attonement or your Sanctuary where ye may find refuge howsoever make it your Crucifix or Sepulchre even to dye in mortifying exercises to procure the Cities release and rescue Ye have been often at the Pulpit and learned much perhaps for information but one Sermon practised is better then a thousand heard if ye have any Christianity in you let the abridgement of it be found in repentance neither your soules nor your City can be blessed by you with a virtue more beneficiall If ye had the understanding of Joseph the knowledge of Daniel the wisdome of Solomon or the insight into all those secrets which were revealed unto St Paul in the third heavens ye these were but glimmering speculations without repentance To have the loyns girt up and the lamps burning is more then to divide the waters of Jordan to fetch water out of the Rock to command the Sun to stand still in the midst of heaven to remove mountaines or to raise the dead * The Lady Capell of Oxted lay speechless a long time by fervent prayer was restored to speech and dyed in a most ravishing manner Mr. Gale in S. Johns street distracted and despairing by prayer recovered his senses dyed calmly peaceablely Christianly A Gentleman in Bishops Court in Grayes-Inn-lane visited assaulted by the Devil by prayer within the space of three days was delivered from that Obsession Mr. Barmes in Fountain Alley in Holborn having for halfe a year almost starch sometime hot somtimes cold rained through his tiled house into his Kitchin and nothing seen in the
Greg. l. 4. c. 4. Claudius C. prohibuit peregrinae conditionis homines gentilia nomina assumere Romanorum Alex. ab Alex. l. 4. c. 10. Lex vetat peregrinum ne in murum af scendat Cic. l. 2. de Orat. Hotoman de verbis juris Plut. de Stoicorum pugnis Alexander ab Alexandro l. 4. c. 10. but of Munia grants or honorary concessions Peregrini the strangers couldlay no claim to them no such were to be contented only w th a passage through the City Claudius Caesar would not suffer them to use the names of Citizens Lully saith they could not go up the City walls Hotoman saith that they were not received into protection nor had the rights of mariage or making their Wils that true Citisens had Plutarch saith that Antipater durst not call Zeno and Cleanthes Citisens of Athens though they lived at Athens No though they had continued a long time in a City yet still they were peregrini quasi extra patriam Strangers because they were out of their Country and Boerius saith that in France they are styled Albini quasi Alibi nati allines as if they were born elswhere Alexander ab Alexandro doth report that the Thebanes Lacedemonians and Athenians did not admit any to the freedom of a Citisen unlesse they could derive an antient linage from the stock of some Citisen Suidas saith that there was an Office called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which had power to exterminate all Forreigners from the participation of those rights to cast them out of the City Sure I am that the lex Paphia in Rome was so strict Affirmans se passurum faciliùs allquid fisco detrahi quà m civitatis Romanae honorem vulgari Sucton and severe against the reception of persons unto the Titles of Citisens that Augustus Caesar when his Daughter Livia was a Petitioner for a Tributary Frenchman to be made free he out of respect to the Law would only exempt him from taxes but not make him a Citisen saying that he had rather his Exchequer should suffer then the dignity of the Citybe eclipsed This Freeman then that sees others onely walk upon the stones of the streets or gaze upon the magnificent shews or salute acquaintance or sleep in an hired lodging or pay penniworths for the costly Wares which the City doth afford but cannot lay claim to the least immunity when the Citisen himselfe doth rise up every morning with multiplicity of rights and hath priviledges meeting him in every corner and hath the City-liberties in all places attending upon him how can he but be eyed as one conspicuous yes he is the eminent Citizen even for his enfranchisement Seventhly A City is a place of honour because there are degrees of honour the Livery the golden Chain the Bench. St Paul that said he was a Citizen of no mean City Act. 21.29 doth infer that that City had high offices and places of authority in it for no mean City doth declare no mean Government and jurisdiction to belong to the City there were those that served the City Ezech. 48.18 as if the City commanded like a Master How was Jerusalem once great amongst the Nations and Princess amongst the Provinces Lamen 1.1 Hephzibah and Beulah how did they shine in principality and praefectures It is said That they shall be as a crown of Glory in the hand of the Lord yea as a royal Diadem Isai 62.3 And wherefore but that the Citizens there shall have a kind of Majestick power not onely goods but government not only meanes but magistracy not onely degrees of Estate but degrees of honour Citizens are ever upon the rising hand and coming to places of preferment elsewhere men may get ample fortunes and raise great Families but here is ornament and regiment dignity and domination promotion and presidency the City Vest and the City Sword to be expected Alexander ab Alexandrio saith that the City of Sparta had two Tribes for men to rise to honour by Alex. ab Alex. lib. 1. c. 17. which were called Aegida and Pitana the Athenians had three tribes which were called Godeontae Ergadae and Hoplitae as Plutarch saith Plut. in Solone Alex. ab Alex. l. 5. c. 18. Blondes l. 3. Romae triumphantis The City of Megara had sive tribes which were called Heraci Piraci Megarenses Traspodicei Cynosurei and as Blondus relateth the Romans had five and thirty tribes And is there any City that have not their severall Orders states and degrees whereby men are going up by steps to the top of preferment Yes a Citizen is a graduall creature that is ever footing it through all the motions of advancement and dignity In Rome except it were by origination or cooptation they first began at Manumission when the Master laying his hand upon the head of his servant and delivering him up to the Pretor he was registred for a freeman asterwards he was called ad pileum to the cap which was a token of his liberty then he was called to the white Garment the gold Ring and a new name and then he was called ad togam tunicam to the gown coat under it then to the curule Chair then to jus imaginis to have power to make Images and so having passed through severall effices of Aediles Quaestours Pre ors and Tribunes at last they became to be Senators and Consuls And is it not thus in every City yes from Freemen Liverymen Commoncouncilled at last they come to mount up to higher degrees of command and in fine to be chiefe Magistrates Now a Citizen that thus from creeping out of the nest doth after fly to the tops of Mountains and after that doth take an Eagles flight is he not to be highly esteemed yes this going from garment to garment from office to office from title to title till at last he doth become a Cities-Maximus doth shew a Citizen to be an illustrious person Eighthly A City is a place of honour in respect of large payments Tribute to whom tribute and custome to whom custome Rom. 13.7 Now in defraying tributes and customes who doth exceed the Citizen We find that Solomon which exceeded all the Kings of the earth in riches had much of his Royall revenue from the Merchants and the traffique of the spice Merchants 1 King 10.15 The adversaries of the Jews wrote to Artaxerxes that he should hinder the building of Jerusalem because the City would pay no toll tribute and custome Ezrah 4.12 They speak not of the Country but their chiefe spight is against the City as if the toll tribute and custome did come from the City principally and Artaxerxes seduced by that information returned a quick answer by all meanes to obstruct that design Give ye now commandment saith he to cause these men to cease and that this City be not builded for why should damage grow to the hurt of the King v. 22. as if his chiefe damage he thought would grow and accrew by the City
substracting her wonted payments Vectigalia quaecunque quaelibet civitates sibi ac suis curiis firma atque perpetua manere pracipimus ut in l. Vectigal 10. Aelian l. 8. Var. Hist Instituit vectigal braccariorum linteonum citrariorum 1. pellionum plaustrariorum argentariorum aurificum ali arum artium Alex. ab Alex. l. 4 c. 10. Et Herodian l. 3. Zenoph de rep Laced In all great impositions laid upon the people the Citizens are chiefly called forth ad census to taxes Honortus and Arcadius as if they knew where their Crown stock lay they wrote only unto Cities to see that there should be no diminution of the accustomed payments Aelian saith That Demetrius Polycrates got a thousand two hundred talents from Cities Severus Alexander who was one of the best Emperors drew his vast sums with which he built his baths and left such an incredible treasure to his Children from Handicraft-men which lived in Cities Zenophon doth report That if the Lacedemonians went to war the Cities chiefly maintained the Souldiers In the great Wars that Augustus the Emperour had before the Empire was settled all Nations being almost beggered through the charge of three and twenty Armies that he was enforced at one time as Dion saith to maintaine in the field when he was at his last cast and knew not where to get money it was the City of Rome which by giving him the five and twentieth part of their Estates and setting a great Tax upon the sides of every City-house Dion in Augusto and by large voluntary Contributions supplyed all his wants so that whatsoever the extremity be the City still must bring the remedy it is the Purse-bearer of the Nation or the trusty surety to engage for all exigents If this Cloud doth not drop a grievous drought may afflict the Country if these Milch-kine do not give down their milk there may be nothing to seeth for the hungry family if this Physitian doth not administer the sick patient may give up the ghost the City is the Domininical Letter by which we reckon how the year will go about or the golden number by which we must cast up the accounts for all accidents Alas the Citizen and the Merchant doth get more if he hath free trade in a short time by traffique and commerce than the Country-man doth in an age by tillage and the profit of his ground here are the vast gaines and here must be the grand and vast disbursments the greatest Princes upon earth are enforced to fly to the banks of their Cities as their last refuge whensoever treasure doth fail they must go dig in these God-mines A City was wont to be called the Kings-Chamber for the safety of his person and it may be called the Kings Coffer to fill his empty hand with ready coyn in specie whatsoever be demanded here is the Cashiere or Paymaster Oh then shall a Citizen be reckoned amongst the Sporades which are Stars so obscure that their asterisms cannot be taken no let him go for one of the Stars of the greatest magnitude in a Nation Even for payments sake the Citizen ought not to be looked on or spoken of but as a person of honour All that hath been said then being duly considered let no man lift up the Robe of a Citizen with disdain nor belch out contempt and ignominy in the face of a Citizen no the churle is base the Epicure is base the Oppressor is base the Boaster is base the Sycophant is base but the Citizen is honourable there were Citizens before there were Heraulds Heaven it selfe is compared to a City or the City of the new Jerusalem yea there needeth no more to set out the honor of a City then that God would spare Nineveh because a City Should not I spare Nineveh a City 3. This shews That as a City is chiefe so it should be chiefe in commendable demeanour A City should be a place of example the great Idea from which all round about it should be effigiated the Prototype by which all adjacent places should be stamped for that being principall why should it not formalize all those members that depend upon it for actuating When thou art the head why dost thou beneath thy selfe to be the feet Caput cum sis cur pes existas Naz. Doth not a Cities vertue diffuse vertue yes when it was askt why Peloponesus was so good it was presently answered that Aegina the head-City nourished up none but good children Aegina bonos filios nutrit Erasm When Syracusa the prime City of Sicily came to resort to Plato which instructed Dionysius there followed such throngs out of the Country Tyrannidis sedem pulvis occuparet Plut. de dignos adulator Swabo l. 11. that the dust of their feet filled the Kings Court When Echatane in Media came to addict it selfe to worthy things it presently instructed Armenia and at last it came to be the Persian School for from that place they learned their archery the worshipping of their Gods their grave attires their doing honour to Princes and the adorning of them with the Tiara and Cydaris Royall Ornaments When the lex Fannia Vt universa Italia non sola urhs lege sumptuaria teneretur Macrob. l. 3. Saturn c. 17. a law to restrain excess in diet came by the Consuls to be constituted in Rome presently the lex Didia and Licinia other lawes of the same nature came to be enjoyned in the Country that all Italy as well as the City might conforme to this law of Moderation See how much good one City-example will do for vertue and may not one City-example do as much evill for vice Yes the City doth sell her examples as well as her commodities and her sinnes as well as her wares yea the quick trade doth runne in Crimes she doth send down these by whole-sale into the Country this plague in the City doth infect the whole Nation a whole Land may curse a City for bad presidents If the City be full of perversnesse Ezech. 9.9 the disobedience will spread to all parts If the City be bloody Nahum 3.1 it is enough to sell Chopping knives to their Customers elsewhere What pure worship will be left in the Land if according to the number of the Cities be the number of the Gods Jer. 11.13 If the chiefe Cities of the ten tribes set up the golden Calves the whole Region will seem to be nothing but a bleating Crib to the honour of those new Deities people far and nigh will swear by the sinne of Samaria and will say thy God oh Dan liveth Erasm in Adag Cael. Rhodigin Pol. Virgil. l. 3. c. 6. de inv rerum Sabellic l. 3. and the manner of Beershebah liveth Amos 8.14 The lust of Corinth made all Greece a Brothel-house the intemperance of Plintine turned all Egypt into a Tippling-booth Stâ—oâ— first finding out fine silk it hath corrupted all Nations with garish attires Guarde Jesdi
found this to his cost for he was enforced to besiege it three years and he had never taken it Haec totius terrae imperium olim magna pompa maximisque viribus nulli postea regioni aequandum tenuit Ar. Mont. Scimus illam non modo similem fuisse magnis urbibus quales hodiè multae in Europa sunt sed superaste omnia quaecunque praecipuum nomen obtineret Calvin in 4. Jonae Cui par magnitudine neque fuisset antea neque esset futara Ribera in 3. Jonae but for the rising of the River Arias Montanus saith that the height of the walls was an hundred foot in height and the breadth of them so large that three Carts could go abreast upon them the Towers were a 1500 and two hundred foot high and that it was such a stately City that it commanded the Empire of the Earth to which none was yet equall either for Pomp or Force Calvin saith It was not like to our Cities in Europe but it did exceed them all which of them soever have had the greatest fame and renown So that now ye see what is spoken here by the Spirit of God concerning Nineveh is no hyperbole as when we say that a thing is whiter then snow sweeter then holly clearer then the Noon-day No man may have his nimieties of expression his diffluences redundances superjections and transiliences of speech but the Scripture doth not blandish over-phrase extra-fame any thing truth it self cannot falsify Nineveh here hath from God but her just commendation for it was singular and supreme a great City and That great City Should not I spare Nineveh that great City From hence observe that Eminency hath an eminent respect with God Almighty he is loth to pluck down that City which he hath suffered to rise up to the heighth of greatnesse Jerusalem was become a prime City the joy of the whole Earth the perfection of beauty how doth our Saviour weep when he looketh upon Jerusalem weep why weep what is he offended at such a delectable object do the Towers or the Bulwarks the Fort of Sion or the Temple grieve his eyes no he doth weep because he was to shed the first tears but Jerusalem ere long was to weep her self blind to weep her self dead it was an antient City and she was now crumbling away to her first dust it was a great City and she was now demolishing to her first stone yea Not one stone shall be left upon another the very thought of her misery makes our Saviour cry out Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem thou hast killed the Prophets and stoned them which were sent unto thee that blood wil fetch out all the blood in thy veines those stones will dash out thine own brains thou wouldst not be gathered therefore thou shalt be scattered thou wouldst not come under my wings therefore thou shalt fall under other Nation 's claws thou hadst an house but thy house shall be left desolate unto thee Thus ye see that though Jerusalem had been the Cutthroat and Executioner of his Prophets yet becaushe she had been a place of eminency it cannot but grieve him to see how shee hath brought this blood of Martyrdome upon her self to gush to death with the blood of revenge and how her stones of persecution will be the stoneheap that will crush the head of a whole City with direfull curses Christ cannot think of this accident without grones nor look upon this sad fate without tears Ephraim had been another famous City how is God pained to the heart to behold Ephraim in danger When Ephraim spake there was trembling sure I am when God doth speak against Ephraim there is trembling Ephraim is joined to Idols let her alone alone how long see how soon God doth renew his presence and pitty to Ephraim Thou hast gone saith God to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb and these could not heal thee But what shall Ephraim be without remedy these cannot heal thee shall none heal thee yes alas sick Ephraim if thou wilt thou shalt not yet fester to death in these wounds I saith God offer to be thy Physitian Oh Ephraim what shall I do unto thee Hos 6.4 He will teach Ephraim his own shame him in his exorbitances represent to him what a mixed piece and a clammy patch he is become a meer Time-server and Newter Ephraim is mixed amongst the people a cake not turned Hos 7.8 yea he will call him simple to his face Ephraim is a silly Dove without heart v. 11 yea and he will plead kindnesse to him ask Ephraim if this be the fruit of his affection instruction protection Oh Ephraim did I never do thee any courtesies was I never usefull and beneficiall to thee yes I taught Ephraim to go taking him by the armes I drew him with the cords of a man with the hands of love and I was as one that took off the yoak from his jaws and laid meat unto him Hos 11.3.4 Thus God will hint defection accuse of folly and intimate favour he will counsell and chide admonish and rebuke rather than he will repell and reject he will never leave till Ephraim leave old strayings and come to new tracks till Ephraim shall say What have I to do any more with Idols I have heard and observed him I am like a green firr tree from me is thy fruit found Hos 14.8 yea when God is constrained to be rough against Ephraim how is it as if a Father should dishinherit or tear out the bowells of his own heir Is Ephraim my dear Son is he my pleasant child since I spake against him I earnestly remembred him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him Jer. 31.20 With such a heavinesse if ever God doth deliver up Ephraim to judgment shake down his walls bring the yoak of captivity into his streets Oh Ephraim how shall we part how shall I separate my heart from thee thou hast done much unto me yet Oh Ephraim what shall I do unto thee There is a saying in the sixth of Micah 9. That the Lords voyce cryeth unto the City What City What cry A City saith God that I have fetched the stones of it out of a far Country for I have brought you saith God out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of servants yea I appointed Master-workmen to go along with the materialls and advance the buidling I sent before thee Moses Aaron and Miriam v. 4. and I yet further preserved the quarry-pieces whereof the City should be framed by might and miracle that they might not be seased upon scattered and dashed in pieces by the way for Oh my people remember what Balack the sonne of Moab consulted and what Baalam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal Thus farre I have gone for this City nay I never left it till in despight of all opposition and maugre all practisings against it I raised it up to
it was enforced to raise up a shamefull Army of slaves but these fears are not yet come upon you for the Lord your God hath blessed you and ye are as the stars of Heaven for multitude Deut. 1.10 yea we might almost say to you that ye are a great people which cannot be numbred or counted 1 Kings 3.8 ye know the bounds of your City but which of you all do know the vastnesse of your Inhabitants oh your Vine doth hang full of clusters your ricks stand thick with corn ye have a rich Banquet served up with variety of services your quarry is large your book in solio hath so many pages in it that there want figures to number them how much liquor is there in this spacious Winepresse how many sockets with bright lights shining in them are there in this mighty Branch Oh ye are a great City and a great People If blossoming and budding and filling a place with fruit be a blessing how high ought the tone of your Magnificat to be the sound of your hymn ought to be little inferiour to the noise of the Hallelujah in Heaven It is a blessing when God doth fill the face of the world with Cities Esay 14.21 but it is a greater blessing when God doth fill the face of a City with the amiablenesse of Inhabitants and is not this your happinesse yes oh that ye could see it that ye could sing to the honour of it that ye had learned some speciall Antheme or some Psalme of degrees for it that ye would make it not your boast but your exultation not your pride but your praise not your glory but your glorifying Sure I am few Cities upon earth have a greater incentive of celebrating for as Cyprus was called Macaria the Happy Island for fruitfulnesse of ground so may ye the Happy City for fruitfulnesse of people Knowls in his Turkish Hist Your sons grow up as the young Plants and your daughters as the polished corners of the Sanctuary hither the Tribes go up even the Tribes in their Order ye are sown with the seed of man yea your seed is as the dust of the Earth ye have enough to answer all Nations in traffick ye have enough to answer your enemies in the gates ye have planted whole Countries beyond the Seas and ye have a Noursery yet left to make wast plains and wild wildernesses Orch-yards and Gardens Ye have the double blessing amongst you the blessing of the backet and store Deut. 28.5 and the blessing of the breast and womb Gen. 49.25 What a large Ordinary is this City how many Tables are there here every day spread to satisfie hunger what a spacious Bedehamber is this City how many Couches are there every night here prepared to refresh weary souls What a spring of people is there here the breath of life never stirred quicker in such a quantity of ground Nature here doth shew her organizing art this is one of her gendring Receptacles The Myrmidons were so many that they were said to be begotten of Pismires and this City doth so abowâ—â—d with people that it may be called one of the Ant-heaps of the earth the Curetes are reported to be begotten by a stroke upon a Mountain and living persons do here so abound that they seem rather to be strook out then brought forth their encrease is so plentifull and speedy that a man would think that they came up like spring-flowers to garnish the City or that they were rained down from Heaven by the vertue of the sweet Influences of the Pleiades Oh look about and see that if these Persons be your treasures how fast your mint do go and what incredible heaps ye have in banks ye are the skinned and fleshed City the true Corporation indeed for here are enow to make up not only a body Politique but a Republique of bodies if all your bodies should appear at once ye would scarse have streetroom enough for them they would adorn your City more than your hangings of Arras at the most publique shew Every place is so thronged with them that people can scarceget passage every dwelling so stored that there is scarce an empty house to be found your births do so exceed that ye can scarce build fast enough to house them the branches have almost as much timber as the stock of the tree the land without the inclosure is almost as fruitfull as the ground within the hedge your Suburbs do almost vye multitudes with the City These slifts which have been taken from you are grown up to a wonderfull height The daughters which have come out of your womb do equall the Mother in pedigree and progeny But are the people treasures are ye affected with these treasures have ye done honour to the Lord of the Mine that your City is sprinkled scattered heaped and wedged with these treasure that yee are filled with these pretious and pleasant riches as Solomon saith that these glistering pieces are in every corner that your wealth cannot be told that there is no end of your riches did ye ever open your Coffers look upon your riches blesse your selves and blesse your God in this abundance oh if a multitude in the Hebrew doth come of a verb that signifies to make a noise Strepuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. in Hecuba Populus civitatis robur Dionys Halic l. 3. and to congregate in Greek doth intimate as much as the sand if a multitude be a weighty thing and the people be the vigour and strength of the City if there be no greater happinesse than to see a people led like a flock Psalm 77.20 and to have the noise of a multitude in the mountains as of a great people Esa 13.4 and to have people to flow to the mountain of the Lord. Micah 4.1 and to have them encrease as they have increased and to be sown amongst the people Zach. 10.8 9. yea if the glory of a City be to be full of people Lam. 1.1 and the honour of a King be in the multitude of his people Prov. 14.28 then how are ye bound to magnifie God for this lowd sound in the City for the quick sand which run up and down by heaps in the City for the City weight and the City strength the huge bone and the backbone as it were of the City to see people flock and flow increase and fill and grow up to the number of multitudes Did ye ever look upon the goodly house that God hath given you and see how richly he hath furnished it for you Did ye ever mark your golden Cup and consider how God hath fillled it brim full with people people shining amongst you like the Sun beams or lying as thick as the dew upon the grasse Did all the bells in the City ever ring the trumpets blow and the wind-instruments play I mean your thankfull lips make melody to the Lord for