temporall iudgement but eternall Now in eternall iudgement it is a most fearefull thing indeed in regard of the vnlimited power of God Luk. 12.5 Mat. 10.28 who is able after he hath killed to destroy both body and soule in hell fire yea I say againe him feare but as for temporall iudgments it is farre better to put our selues vpon God then vpon our countrey For there is mercy with the Lord. Homo is called homini lupus but God is homini Deus But because contraria iuxta se posita clarius elucescunt see we in a word what the mercies of men are I remember their dealings dashing of Infants braines against the stones I remember and that with amazement ripping vp of women with child Ioseph I remember the lamentable siege of Ierusalem when the glory of the Land the holy Citie the glory of that Citie the Temple the glory of the Temple Sanctum Sanctorum was vtterly ruined and wasted by the hands of mercilesse Romans Franc. Petit. hist Netherlands I remember that French Captaine Bordett chose rather to be shott by a Muskettier of his owne Company then to fall into the hands of the bloudy Duke of Alua. But now hoping that all this Christian Assemblie came hither to learne I beseech you learne these two things of one whose face perhaps few of you haue seen before and it may be neuer shall see hereafter especially in so publike a place as this holy Mount where on I stand First if the worst of our condition shall betide this sinfull Nation of ours namely to suffer for our sinne let vs say to God as Zeba and Zalmanna did to Gideon Iudg. 8.21 Fall thou vpon vs for as is the man so is his strength So Lord if wee must suffer fall thou vpon vs for as is the Lord so is his mercy England is encompassed with the Sea which for the most part is beneficiall though sometimes hurtfull encompassed with Gods mercies which are alwayes helpfull neuer hurtfull encompassed with enemies alwayes hurtfull neuer helpfull If the Sea break in the worst is death and no more if our enemies breake in if they preuaile what proud insulting what cruell tormenting what shall be wanting to make vs miserable Lord wee haue sinned with our Fathers and haue deserued the vialls of thy fierce wrath But O Lord doe thou correct vs for thou wilt not doe it in thine anger nor chasten vs in thine indignation but neuer giue vs ouer into the hands of men Seeing our originall is sinfull as well as all the Sonnes of Adam and that wee haue deserued Gods heauy iudgements as well as others Oh now seeing God hath withheld his reuenging hand so long let vs learne that counsell of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.24 to break off our sinnes by righteousnesse and our iniquity by mercy and let there be an healing of our error Let vs in the name of God turne before it be too late lest wee repent when it is too late Lord open our eyes that wee may see the day of our visitation and preuent that fearefull doome of hauing these good things hidden from our eyes O fortunatos nimium bona si sua nossent Britannos we distast the enioying of that whose losse our Christian neighbours bewaile The Christians in Polonia cry out for ayde The Protestants in Bohemia groane vnder a heauie and intolerable burden The Protestants of France send many sighes to heauen for peace or bare security Happy Britaines wee sit vnder our owne Vines and our owne Fig-trees God of his mercy continue it Let vs not cut off our welfare by our wickednesse Wee haue not Famine but Plenty not Warre but Peace not Pestilence but Health and Soundnesse Now in a word as the Romans dealt with Victory clipping of her wings that she might neuer flie from them againe so let vs doe with our happinesse Happinesse it selfe Seeing it may God knowes how soone be hidden from vs stay her flight by thankfulnesse and obedience If there be amongst vs that thinke happinesse absent I wish them to prepare her way and make her paths straight that shee may come in and dwell with vs. Or if she be amongst vs as the God onely wise and immortall knoweth that
water troubles euery part of the water euen to the very banke But I speake not this as if any man hauing committed one sinne should in a desperate moode aduenture the committing of more because when he hath done all he can but be found guilty and so punished God forbid that any man should heare like Malchus with his left eare only But this is my drift if it were possible to deterre and affright the hearer from countenancing or giuing the least entertainment to the least sinne whatsoeuer or the least motion of that sinne As it was spoken in another case Ex pessimo genere ne catulus quidem educandus So I say in regard of the purity of God who can abide no sin and his iustice which may punish euery sin let vs not giue way to any sin And if God thus take account of one sinne let vs take heed of all sinne as being accomptable for in Gods sight One sinne a small sinne in mans iudgement may procure and prouoke God to send a heauy iudgement Secondly we may here obserue the impartiall hand of God may not Dauid be spared for a sinne true it is veniam laeso numine nullus habet Conijah if he offend though he were the Signet on Gods right hand Ier. 22.24 God will cut him off Neuer was any sinne committed but must be punished either in the sinner or in the Sauiour and though it be quoad aeternam poenam pardoned and punished in the Saniour yet it stands with the iustice of God temporally to punish a little sinne in a great Saint yea one onely sinne though in his owne children Dauid is noted but for one sinne before and for that one his one child borne in adulterie died Which kind of proceeding in almighty God though it may seeme harsh and bitter as the waters of Marah yet hence it doth receiue its dulcoration in that it proceeds from a blessed trinity of attributes in almighty God his iustice his holinesse his wisedome Iustice punishing one sinne his holinesse brooking no sinne his wisedome preuenting many sinnes all concurring in one act of punishing His Holinesse that holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth requires holy thoughts holy words holy actions and therefore any thing that is vnholy must needs grieue his holy spirit and that not only in Cain Saul Iudas Iulian c. vessels of wrath and sonnes of perdition but also in the vessels of honor the heyres of grace nay further taking indeed the matter more hainously at their hands As we reade of Caesar who of so many wounds giuen him at his death complained of none but of Brutus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thou my son So for Ierusalem to play the harlot the holy City become a cage of vncleant birds he will neuer endure As one good motion and inclination in the young Man made Christ begin to loue him Mat. 19. and the sparkes of goodnesse shining were wel-pleasing vnto him though the young man were not right So on the contrary one euill admitted and perpetrated by a child of God makes God in his holinesse dislike and distaste though not absolutely and finally the person yet the sinne by whomsoeuer committed nor can there bee any peace betwixt a righteous God and a wretched sinner His wisedome who seeing sinne the daughter of impunity and the fruitfull mother of such a damned brood doth principiis obstare killing this Cockatrice in the egge and preuenting this dangerous and farre-creeping fire before it run too farre and rage too sore dealing as a wise father with his child who breakes him of his vntoward disposition before it grow to a setled habit men are of that disposition which God complaines of Psal 50.15 These things hast thou done and I held my peace and thou thoughtst I was euen such a one as thy selfe and therefore it followes I will reprooue thee and set before thy face in order the things that thou hast done If hee should not aurem vellere and make his iudgements the remora's of sinne either the God of Iacob would be thought not to regard it or the reuenging arme to be shortened or else that God laying aside his holinesse did in part begin to approue those of which his soule hath said heretofore I hate them The least of which three gaps being layd open the Gadarens Swine ranne not so fast and headlong into the Sea as men would poast and precipitate themselues to the bottomlesse gulfe of Hell His Iustice who though he loue his Saints with an Eternall loue yet is not bound to the tolleration of the least nor the conniuencie at any sinne but on Gods part that he may declare his iustice and on their parts that they are Sonnes and not bastards Heb. 12.8 doth afflict correct and chastise them and though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a finall and destroying punishment be properly the portion of the wicked yet his iudgements 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for instruction and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for warning and example are no more often then iustly let loose vpon his owne Children and albeit God hath promised to spare them yet hee will but spare as a man doth his Sonne not to free from a fatherly correction but from scourges and whips which are onely for the backs of fooles and wounds which are for the hairie scalpes of such as goe on in their wickednesse Psal 68.21 So then his holinesse his iustice and his wisdome being the mouing causes of this action we must in such a case with Iob lay our hand vpon our mouth and with old Eli rest contented It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good Now if iudgement beginne at the house of God 1. Pet. 4.17.18 Psal 130.3 and if the righteous shall not be spared what shall become of them what shall be their end that obey not the Gospell of God Psal 116.15 If thou Lord be extreame to marke what is done amisse yea by thy Saints so deare and pretious in thine eyes yea the very apples of thine eyes Oh what a fearefull expectation is it of iudgement and fierce indignation Heb. 10.27 which shall destroy the aduersaries of God If Dauid fell into this great strait for one Sinne what shall be done to Edom Moab and Tyrus Amos 1.9.12 2.2 for three transgressions and for foure but fire a destroying fire which shall consume Teman of the Edomites Kerioth of the Moabites and the walls of Tyrus If Dauid be auenged seuen-fold surely the vngodly that drinke in sinne like water and draw iniquitie with cordes of vanity shall be auenged seuenty times seuen fold If this be done to a green tree what shall be done to a drie tree Consider and I beseech you againe consider and remember this you that forget God you whose liues are nothing but a continuall rebellion and grieuing of the spirit of God To you I speake quorum etiam laudabilis vita damnabilis est si
clad in a roabe of immoderate raine and showers drowning the worlds plenty and the earths prouision Sometimes bearing on her shoulders heauens of brasse and treading vnder her feete the earth of iron Sometimes attended with Caterpillers innumerable to eat vp the fruits of the earth Pale and leane she is more then the picture of death Mors in illa as well as mors in olla and which is more genus miserabile lethi When God who giues to man the breath of life shall denie bread to maintaine life when Winter shall be turned into Summer and Summer into Winter Psal 127.2 when a man shall rise earlie and eate the bread of carefulnesse and at night be to care for his bread when men shall Sow much and bring in little Hag. 1.6 when the haruest shall be little and the labourers many when one shall plant another water and God shall denie increase is not this a great Strait And yet all these are but initia dolorum Ah my Lord now thinkes Dauid shall these eyes behold my poore Israel running and whining like dogs Psal 59 and cannot be satisfied Shall I see cleannesse of teeth and leannesse of body in all my Land Can I endure to see an Asses head sold for 80. pieces of siluer and a cab of doues doung for 20 pieces Shall I see a birth-right bidden for a messe of pottage and will not be taken Shall I behold my poore people like Pharaohs leane kine Shall I heare them crie Oh giue vs bread or we perish for hunger Shall I see mothers re-womb and re-entomb the fruit of their body for want of food Three yeeres Famine haue we felt already and a second siege will turn flesh and bloud into skinne and bone my people must become meat for wormes as hauing none for themselues This punishment is greater then can be borne This is too great a Strait The second Seale being opened forth comes Warre riding vpon a red Horse and he vnbridled A time when all things are carried by force of Armes and not of Reason A time wherein Pyrrhus regards not the aged head of Priam nor yet the sacred Altar whereto he flies A time wherein old Iacobs head is sent with sorrow to the graue and that not sine caede vulnere A time wherin Rachel may weepe for her children and will not be comforted because they are not A time Paradoxall vnto nature wherein Parents burie their Children A time when men must either fight and so runne vpon a sodaine death or flie and so lead a tedious life A time of out-cries of Fathers for their Children their liuely images when Widowes weepe for their second selues their husbands when Orphanes lament the losse of Parents their onely stayes when old men are comfortlesse widdowes helplesse children haplesse men women and children all hopelesse Dauid himselfe had been a Man of warre from his youth and had been eye-witnesse of the lamentable euents of Warre 1. Sam. 17. That he feared it not witnesse two hundred foreskinnes of the Philistines witnesse the fall of Goliah witnesse the sons of Ammon whom he put vnder axes sawes and harrowes Wheresoeuer he marched death and destruction mustered in his face Saul hath slaine a thousand but Dauid his ten thousand this was Vox populi and very true Well then thinkes Dauid I will fight three months with the proudest enemie that dare set foot vpō the land of Israel thus hauing thought he speakes Nay but Gad replies Dauid thou must not fight but flie three months Now then he is in a wonderfull Strait now his troubled soule cannot but presage much euill He vsed to pursue Psal 18.42 and now must he be pursued He did 〈◊〉 his enemies as small as the dust before the wind and now he must flie as dust before the wind If it were for a day hee might the better beare it though the Sunne should stand still to lengthen that day Ios 10. but three months will make the streetes of Ierusalem streame with bloud the people made a heape of dead bodies and the Citie a heape of stones God despited the people destroyed the Temple defiled Oh then I cannot endure this wondrous Strait Pone tertium O man of God let mee heare the third euill that though I haue done wickedly I may chuse wisely The third Seale being opened Pestilence issues forth vpon a blacke Horse killing with sicknesse and death This seemes to be the fairest choice as proceeding from the immediate hand of God and being but for three dayes and so shortest of continuance But yet it is a grieuous punishment Storehouses may serue against a Famine Dauids Citie wals or if not those his liuing walls his Souldiers his Worthies may meet his enemies in the gate but Pestilence flieth by night and killeth at noone day One cries Oh my brother come not nigh me for I am infected Another barr'd in by command shut vp by sicknesse and worse pend in by sorow cries out at a window O my Father O my brother either now breathing their last or by this time dead Some going if any so dare to the sad funerall of their friends before they returne to their owne home finde their long home O bellum Dei contrà homines The house may shield men and cattell from the hayle flight may saue from the Sword soiourning in another country may preserue from Famine but in this contagion at home our houses stifles vs abroad the ayre infects vs. Behold now beloued Dauids Strait If I should say no more oft his subiect this Citie knowes what kind of misery it is Etenim pars magna fuit How was it almost made desolate and her marchandize whilome like that of Tyrus almost decayed When hee that had walkt by night was in more feare to haue met the dead then the liuing A wofull time when there shall be more neede to weede the pauement then to mend it more cries of the Vespillo Who is here dead then of the Trades-man What doe ye lacke O time of desolation dulnesse and discontent Now I beseech you againe haue a regard of Dauids Strait and consider if euer sorrow were like vnto his sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his wrath Lam. 1.12 Neuer could the irons enter so neare to the soule of Ioseph as this sorrow to the heart of Dauid See we now these three things propounded as Salomon said of the pleasures of the world Vanitie of vanities and all is vanitie so may Dauid say of the fruit of sinne death of deaths and all is death Saint Paul was in a wonderfull Strait betwixt two life and death Dauid is betwixt three and each is death Famin a pinching death Warre a cruell death Pestilence a noysome death Surely a most wonderfull Strait Now in the next place that which is vltimus aerumnae cumulus 2. Ineuitable and makes Dauid absolutely miserable that now he is like the Israelites