whiles our hearts are euill The Cruse and the Salt must bee their owne The act must bee his the power Gods He cast the Salt into the spring and said Thus saith the Lord I haue healed these waters there shall not be from thence any more death or barrennesse Farre was it from Elisha to challenge ought to himselfe Before when hee should diuide the waters of Iordan he did not say Where is the power of Elisha but Where is the Lord God of Elijah and now when hee should cure the waters of Iericho hee saies not Thus saies Elisha but thus saith the Lord I haue healed these waters How carefull is the man of God that no part of Gods glory should sticke to his owne fingers Iericho shall know to whom they owe the blessing that they may duely returne the thankes Elisha professes he can doe no more of himselfe then that Salt then that Cruse onely God shall worke by him by it and what euer that almighty hand vndertakes cannot faile yea is already done neither doth he say I will heale but I haue healed Euen so O God if thou cast into the fountaine of our hearts but one Cruse-full of the Salt of thy Spirit we are whole no thought can passe betweene the receit and the remedy As the generall visitor of the Schooles of the Prophets Elisha passeth from Iericho to that other Colledge at Bethel Bethel was a place of strange composition there was at once the golden Calfe of Ieroboam and the Schoole of God True religion and Idolatry found a free harbour within those wals I do not maruell that Gods Prophets would plant there there was the most need of their presence where they found the spring head of corruption Physitians are of most vse where diseases abound As he was going vp by the way there came forth little children out of the City and mocked him and said to him Goe vp thou bald-head Goe vp thou bald-head Euen the very boyes of Bethel haue learned to scoffe at a Prophet The spight of their Idolatrous parents is easily propagated Children are such as their institution Infancy is led altogether by imitation it hath neither words nor actions but infused by others If it haue good or ill language it is but borrowed and the shame or thanke is due to those that lent it What was it that these ill-taught children vpbraided to the Prophet but a sleight naturall defect not worthy the name of a blemish the want of a little haire at the best a comely excrement no part of the body Had there been deformity in that smoothnesse of the head which some great wits haue honoured with praises a faultlesse and remedilesse eye-sore had beene no fit matter for a taunt How small occasions will be taken to disgrace a Prophet If they could haue said ought worse Elisha had not heard of this God had crowned that head with honor which the Bethelitish children loaded with scorne Who would haue thought the rude termes of waggish boyes worthy of any thing but neglect Elisha lookes at them with seuere browes and like the heire of him that cald downe fire vpon the two Captaines and their fifties curses them in the name of the Lord Two shee-Beares out of the wood hasten to bee his executioners and teare two and forty of them in peeces O fearefull example of diuine Iustice This was not the reuenge of an angry Prophet it was the punishment of a righteous Iudge God and his Seer lookt through these children at the Parents at all Israel he would punish the parents mis-nurturing their children to the contemptuous vsage of a Prophet with the death of those children which they had mis-taught Hee would teach Israel what it was to mis-use a Prophet And if hee would not endure these contumelies vnreuenged in the mouthes of children what vengeance was enough for aged persecutors Doubtlesse some of the children escaped to tell the newes of their fellowes what lamentation doe wee thinke there was in the streets of Bethel how did the distressed mothers wring their hands for this woefull orbation And now when they came forth to fetch the remnants of their owne flesh what a sad spectacle it was to finde the fields strawed with those mangled carkasses It is an vnprofitable sorrow that followes a iudgement Had these parents beene as carefull to traine vp their children in good discipline and to correct their disorders as they are now passionate in bemoaning their losse this slaughter had neuer beene In vaine doe we looke for good of those children whose education we haue neglected In vaine do we grieue for those miscariages which our care might haue preuented Elisha knew the successe yet doth he not balke the City of Bethel Doe wee not wonder that the furious impatience of those parents whom the curse of Elisha robbed of their children did not breake forth to some malicious practice against the Prophet Would wee not thinke the Prophet might misdoubt some hard measure from those exasperated Citizens There lay his way hee followes God without feare of men as well knowing that either they durst not or they could not act violence They knew there were Beares in the wood and fires in heauen and if their malice would haue ventured aboue their courage they could haue no more power ouer Elisha in the streets then those hungry beasts had in the way Whither dare not a Prophet go when God cals him Hauing visited the schooles of the Prophets Elisha retires to mount Carmel after some holy solitarinesse returnes to the City of Samaria He can neuer be a profitable Seer that is either alwaies or neuer alone Carmel shall fit him for Samaria contemplation for action That mother City of Israel must needs afford him most worke Yet is the Throne of Ahaziah succeeded by a brother lesse ill then himselfe then the parents of both Ahabs impiety hath not a perfect heire of Iehoram That son of his hates his Baal though he keepes his calues Euen into the most wicked families it pleaseth God to cast his powerfull restraints that all are not equally vicious It is no newes to see lewd men make scruple of some sinnes The world were not to liue in if all sinnes were affected by all It is no thanke to Ahab and Iezebel that their sonne is no Baalite As no good is traduced from parents so not all euill there is an Almighty hand that stops the foule current of nature at his pleasure No Idolater can say that his child shall not be a conuert The affinitie betwixt the houses of Israel and Iuda holds good in succession Iehoram inherits the friendship the aid of Iehoshaphat whose counsell as is most likely had cured him of that Baalisme It was a good warre whereto he solicites the good King of Iudah The King of Moab who had beene an ancient Tributarie from the daies of Dauid falls now from his homage and refuses to pay his hundred thousand Lambes and hundred
tune of that knowne song beginning Preserue vs Lord. THee and thy wondrous deeds O God Wiâ—h all my soule I sound abroad verse 2 My ioy my triumph is in thee Of thy dread name my song shall be verse 3 O highest God since put to flight And fal'ne and vanisht at thy sight verse 4 Are all my foes for thou hast past Iust sentence on my cause at last And sitting on thy throne aboue A rightfull Iudge thy selfe doest proue verse 5 The troupes profane thy checks haue stroid And made their name for euer void verse 6 Where 's now my foes your threatned wrack So well you did our Cities sacke And bring to dust while that ye say Their name shall die as well as they verse 7 Loe in eternall state God sits And his high Throne to iustice fits verse 8 Whose righteous hand the world shall weeld And to all folke iust doome shall yeeld verse 9 The poore from high finde his releefe The poore in needfull times of griefe verse 10 Who knowes the Lord to thee shall cleaue That neuer doest thy clients leaue verse 11 Oh! sing the God that doth abide On Sion mount and blazon wide verse 12 His worthy deeds For he pursues The guiltlesse bloud with vengeance due He mindes their cause nor can passe o're Sad clamors of the wronged poore verse 13 Oh! mercy Lord thou that dost saue My soule from gates of death and graue Oh! see the wrong my foes haue done verse 14 That I thy praise to all that gone Through daughter Sions beauteous gate With thankfull songs may loud relate And may reioyce in thy safe aide Behold the Gentiles whiles they made A deadly pit my soule to drowne Into their pit are sunken downe In that close snare they hid for mee Loe their owne feet intangled be verse 16 By this iust doome the Lord is knowne That th' ill are punisht with their owne verse 17 Downe shall the wicked backward fall To deepest hell and nations all verse 18 That God forget nor shall the poore Forgotten be for euermore The constant hope of soules opprest verse 19 Shall not aye die Rise from thy rest Oh Lord let not men base and rude Preuaile iudge thou the multitude verse 20 Of lawlesse Pagans strike pale feare Into those brests that stubborne were And let the Gentiles feele and finde They beene but men of mortall kinde PSALME 10. As the 51. Psalme O God Consider WHy stand'st thou Lord aloofe so long And hidst thee in due times of need verse 2 Whiles lewd men proudly offer wrong Vnto the poore In their owne deed And their deuice let them be caught verse 3 For loe the wicked braues and boasts In his vile and outragious thought And blesseth him that rauines most verse 4 On God he dares insult his pride Scornes to enquire of powers aboue But his stout thoughts haue still deni'd verse 5 There is a God His waies yet proue 〈◊〉 prosperous thy iudgements hye Doe farre surmount his dimmer fight verse 6 Therefore doth he all foes defie His heart saith I shall stand in spight Nor euer moue nor danger ' bide verse 7 His mouth is fill'd with curses foule And with close fraud His tongue doth hide verse 8 Mischiefe and ill he seekes the soule Of harmelesse men in secret waite And in the corners of the street Doth shead their bloud with scorne and hate His eies vpon the poore are set verse 9 As some fell Lyon in his den He closely lurkes the poore to spoyle He spoyles the poore and helplesse men When once he snares them in his toyle verse 10 He croucheth low in cunning wile And bowes his brest whereon whole throngs Of poore whom his faire showes beguile Fall to be subiect to his wrongs verse 11 God hath forgot in soule he saies He hides his face to neuer see verse 12 Lord God arise thine hand vp-raise Let not thy poore forgotten be verse 13 Shall these insulting wretches scorne Their God and say thou wilt not care verse 14 Thou see'st for all thou hast forborne Thou see'st what all their mischiefes are That to thine hand of vengeance iust Thou maist them take the poore distressed Rely on thee with constant trust The helpe of Orphans and oppressed verse 15 Oh! breake the wickeds arme of might And search out all their cursed traines And let them vanish out of sight verse 16 The Lord as King for euer raignes From forth his coasts the heathen sect verse 17 Are rooted quite thou Lord attendst To poore mens sutes thou deo'st direct Their hearts to them thine eare thou bendst verse 18 That thou maist rescue from despight The wofull fatherlesse and poore That so the vaine and earthen wight On vs may tyrannize no more FJNJS CHARACTERS OF VERTVES AND VICES JN TWO BOOKES By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY singular good Lords EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON of WALTHAM AND JAMES LORD HAY HIS RIGHT NOBLE AND WORTHY SONNE IN LAW I. H. HVMBLY DEDICATES HIS LABOVR DEVOTETH HIMSELFE Wisheth all Happinesse A PREMONITION OF THE TITLE AND VSE of Characters READER THe Diuines of the old Heathens were their Morall Philosophers These receiued the Acts of an inbred law in the Sinai of Nature and deliuered them with many expositions to the multitude These were the Ouerseers of manners Correctors of vices Directors of liues Doctors of vertue which yet taught their people the body of their naturall Diuinitie not after one manner while some spent themselues in deepe discourses of humane felicitie and the way to it in common others thought it best to apply the generall precepts of goodnesse or decency to particular conditions and persons A third sort in a meane course betwixt the two other and compounded of them both bestowed their time in drawing out the true lineaments of euerie vertue and vice so liuely that who saw the medals might know the face which Art they significantly tearmed Charactery Their papers were so many tables their writings so many speaking pictures or liuing images whereby the ruder multitude might euen by their sense learne to know vertue and discerne what to detest J am deceiued if any course could be more likely to preuaile for herein the grosse conceit is led on with pleasure and informed while it feeles nothing but delight And if pictures haue beene accounted the bookes of Jdiots behold here the benefit of an image without the offence It is no shame for vs to learne wit of Heathens neither is it materiall in whose Schoole we take out a good lesson yea it is more shame not to follow their good than not to lead them better As one therefore that in worthy examples hold imitation better than inuention J haue trod in their paths but with an higher and wider steppe and out of their Tablets haue drawne these larger portraitures of both sorts More
sinnes is a thorne and nayle and speare to him while thou powrest downe thy drunken carowses thou giuest thy Sauiour a potion of gall while thou despisest his poore seruants thou spettest on his face while thou puttest on thy proud dresses and liftest vp thy vaine heart with high conceits thou settest a Crowne of thornes on his head while thou wringest and oppressest his poore children thou whippest him and drawest bloud of his hands and feet Thou hypocrite how darest thou offer to receiue the Sacrament of God with that hand which is thus imbrued with the bloud of him whom thou receiuest In euery Ordinary thy prophane tongue walkes in the disgrace of the religious and conscionable Thou makest no scruple of thine owne sinnes and scornest those that doe Not to be wicked is crime enough Heare him that saith Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me Saul strikes at Damascus Christ suffers in Heauen Thou strikest Christ Iesus smarteth and will reuenge These are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterings of Christs sufferings In himselfe it is finished in his members it is not till the world bee finished Wee must toile and groane and bleed that we may raigne if he had not done so It had not beene finished This is our warfare this is the region of our sorrow death Now are wee set vpon the sandy pauement of our Theatre and are marched with all sorts of euils euill men euill spirits euill accidents and which is worst our owne euill hearts temptations crosses persecutions sicknesses wants infamies death all these must in our courses bee encountred by the Law of our profession What should we doe but striue and suffer as our Generall hath done that we may raigne as he doth and once triumph in our Consummatum est God and his Angels sit vpon the scaffolds of heauen and behold vs our Crowne is ready our day of deliuerance shall come yea our redemption is neere when all teares shall be wip't from our eyes and we that haue sowne in teares shall reape in ioy In the meane time let vs possesse our soules not in patience only but in comfort let vs adore and magnifie our Sauiour in his sufferings and imitate him in our owne our sorrowes shall haue an end our ioyes shall not our paines shall soone be finished our glory shall be finished but neuer ended Thus his sufferings are finished now together with them mans saluation Who knowes not that man had made himselfe a deepe debter a bankrupt an outlaw to God Our sinnes are our debts and by sinnes death Now in this word and act our sinnes are discharged death endured and therefore we cleared the debt is paid the score is crossed the Creditor satisfied the debters acquitted and since there was no other quarrell saued we are all sicke and that mortally sinne is the disease of the soule Quot vitia tot febres saith Chrysostome so many sinnes so many feuers and those pestilent What wonder is it that we haue so much plague while wee haue so much sinne Our Sauiour is the Physician The whole need not the Physician but the sicke wherein He healeth all our infirmities hee healeth them after a miraculous manner not by giuing vs receits but by taking our receits for vs. A wonderfull Physician a wonderfull course of cure One while he would cure vs by abstinence our superfluitie by his fortie dayes emptinesse according to that old rule Hunger cures the diseases of gluttony Another while by exercise He went vp and downe from Citie to Citie and in the day was preaching in the Temple in the night praying in the mount Then by diet Take eat this is my body and Let this cup passe After that yet by sweat such a sweat as neuer was a bloudy one yet more by incision they pierced his hands feet side and yet againe by potion a bitter potion of vineger and gall And lastly which is both the strangest and strongest receit of all by dying Which died for vs that whether we wake or sleepe 1 Thâ—ff 5.10 we should liue together with him We need no more we can goe no further there can be no more physicke of this kinde there are cordials after these of his Resurrection and Ascension no more penall receits By this bloud wee haue redemption Ephes 1.7 Iustification Rom. 3.24 Reconciliation Colos 1.20 Sanctification 1 Pet. 1.2 Entrance into glory Heb. 10.19 Is it not now finished Woe were vs if he had left but one mite of satisfaction vpon our score to be discharged by our soules and woe be to them that derogate from Christ that they may charge themselues that botch vp these all-sufficiently meritorious sufferings of Christ as imperfect with the superfluities of flesh and bloud Maledictus homo qui spem ponit in homine We may not with patience see Christ wrong'd by his false friends As that heroicall Luther said in the like Maledictum silentium quod hic conninet Cursed be that silence that here forbeareth To be short here be two iniuries intolerable both giue Christ the lie vpon his Crosse It is finished No somewhat remaines the fault is discharged not the punishment Of punishments the eternall is quit not the temporall It is finished by Christ No there wants yet much the satisfaction of Saints applied by this Vicar adde mens sufferings vnto Christs then the treasure is full till then It is not finished Two qualities striue for the first place in these two opinions impiety and absurdity I know not whether to preferre For impiety here is God taxed of iniustice vnmercifulnesse insufficiency falshood Of iniustice that he forgiues a sinne and yet punishes for that which he hath forgiuen vnmercifulnesse that he forgiues not while he forgiues but doth it by halues insufficiency that his ransome must be supplied by men falshood in that hee saith It is finished when it is not For absurdity how grosse and monstrous are these positions that at once the same sinne should be remitted and retained that there should bee a punishment where there is no fault that what could strike off our eternall punishment did not wipe off the temporall that hee which paid our pounds stickes at our farthings that God will retaine what man may discharge that it is and it is not finished If there be any opinions whose mention confutes them these are they None can be more vaine none had more need of solidity for this prop beares vp alone the weight of all those millions of indulgences which Rom. creates and sels to the world That Strumpet would well-neere go naked if this were not These spirituall Treasures fetcht in the Temporall which yet our reuerend and learned Fulke iustly cals a most blasphemous and beggerly principle It brings in whole chests yea mines of gold like the Popes Indies and hath not so much as a ragge of proofe to couer it whether of Antiquitie of Reason of Scripture Not of Antiquity for these Iubily proclamations beganne but
thou mightest neuer taste of it hee would bee in sense for a time as forsaken of his Father that thou mightest be receiued for euer Now bid thy soule returne to her rest and enioyne it Dauids taske Praise the Lord O my soule and What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits I will take the cup of saluation and call vpon the Name of the Lord. And as rauisht from thy selfe with the sweet apprehension of this mercy call all the other creatures to the fellowship of this ioy with that diuine Esay Reioyce O yee heauens for the Lord hath done it shout ye lower parts of the earth burst forth into praises yee mountaines for the Lord hath redeemed Iacob and will bee glorified in Israel And euen now begin that heauenly Song which shall neuer end with those glorified Saints Praise and honour and glory and power be to Him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore Thus our speech of Christs last word is finished His last act accompanied his words our speech must follow it Let it not want your deuout and carefull attention He bowed and gaue vp the ghost The Crosse was a slow death and had more paine than speed whence a second violence must dispatch the crucified their bones must be broken that their hearts might breake Our Sauiour stayes not deaths leisure but willingly and couragiously meets him in the way and like a Champion that scornes to be ouercome yea knowes hee cannot be yeeldeth in the middest of his strength that he might by dying vanquish death Hee bowed and gaue vp Not bowing because he had giuen vp but because he would Hee cryed with a loud voyce saith Matthew Nature was strong he might haue liued but he gaue vp the ghost and would die to shew himselfe Lord of life and death Oh wondrous example hee that gaue life to his enemies gaue vp his owne he giues them to liue that persecute and hate him and himselfe will die the whiles for those that hate him Hee bowed and gaue vp not they they might crowne his head they could not bow it they might vex his spirit not take it away they could not doe that without leaue this they could not doe because they had no leaue Hee alone would bow his head and giue vp his ghost I haue power to lay downe my life Man gaue him not his life man could not bereaue it No man takes it from mee Alas who could The High Priests forces when they came against him armed he said but I am he they flee and fall backward How easie a breath disperst his enemies whom hee might as easily haue bidden the earth yea hell to swallow or fire from heauen to deuoure Who commanded the Deuils and they obeyed could not haue beene attached by men he must giue not onely leaue but power to apprehend himselfe else they had not liued to take him hee is laid hold of Peter fights Put vp saith Christ Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father and hee will giue me more than twelue Legions of Angels What an Army were here more then threescore and twelue thousand Angels and euery Angell able to subdue a world of men he could but would not be rescued he is led by his owne power not by his enemies and stands now before Pilate like the scorne of men crowned robbed scourged with an Ecce homo Yet thou couldst haue no power against me vnlesse it were giuen thee from aboue Behold he himselfe must giue Pilate power against himselfe Quod emittitur voluntarium est quod amâ—â—tur aecessarium Ambr. else he could not be condemned he will be condemned lifted vp nailed yet no death without himselfe Hee shall giue his soule an offering for sinne Esay 53.10 No action that sauours of constraint can be meritorious he would deserue therefore he would suffer and die Hee bowed his head and gaue vp the ghost O gracious and bountifull Sauiour hee might haue kept his soule within his teeth in spight of all the world the weaknesse of God is stronger than men and if he had but spoken the word the heauens and earth should haue vanisht away before him but hee would not Behold when hee saw that impotent man could not take away his soule he gaue it vp and would die that we might liue See here a Sauiour that can contemne his owne life for ours and cares not to be dissolued in himselfe that we might be vnited to his Father Skin for skin saith the Deuill and all that hee hath a man will giue for his life Loe here to proue Sathan a lyer skinne and life and all hath Christ Iesus giuen for vs. Wee are besotted with the earth and make base shifts to liue one with a maimed bodie another with a periured soule a third with a rotten name and how many had rather neglect their soule than their life and will rather renounce and curse God than die It is a shame to tell Many of vs Christians doat vpon life and tremble at death and shew our selues fooles in our excesse of loue cowards in our feare Peter denies Christ thrice and forsweares him Marcellinus twice casts graines of incense into the Idols fire Ecebolius turnes thrice Spira reuolts and despaires Oh let mee liue saith the fearefull soule Whither doest thou reserue thy selfe thou weake and timorous creature or what wouldest thou doe with thy selfe Thou hast not thus learned Christ he died voluntarily for thee thou wilt not be forced to die for him he gaue vp the ghost for thee thou wilt not let others take it from thee for him thou wilt not let him take it for himselfe When I looke backe to the first Christians and compare their zealous contempt of death with our backwardnesse I am at once amazed and ashamed I see there euen women the feebler sex running with their little ones in their armes for the preferment of Martyrdome and ambitiously striuing for the next blow I see holy and tender Virgins chusing rather a sore and shamefull death than honourable Espousals I heare the blessed Martyrs Quod si venire nolucrint ego vim faciam vt dâ—â—orer intreating their tyrants and tormentors for the honour of dying Ignatius amongst the rest fearing lest the beasts will not deuoure him and vowing the first violence to them that he might bee dispatched And what lesse courage was there in our memorable and glorious fore-fathers of the last of this age and doe we their cold and feeble off-spring looke pale at the face of a faire and naturall death abhorre the violent though for Christ Alas how haue we gathered rust with our long peace Our vnwillingnesse is from inconsideration from distrust Looke but vp to Christ Iesus vpon his Crosse and see him bowing his head and breathing out his soule and these feares shall vanish he died and wouldest thou liue hee gaue vp the ghost and wouldest thou keepe it whom wouldest thou follow if not thy
wood which now before-hand burnt inwardly with the heauenly fire of zeale and deuotion And now hauing kissed him his last not without mutuall teares he lifts vp his hand to fetch the stroke of death at once not so much as thinking perhaps God wil relent after the first wound Now the stay of Abraham the hope of the Church lyes on bleeding vnder the hand of a father what bowels can choose but yearne at this spectacle which of the sauagest Heathens that had bin now vpon the hill of Moriah and had seen through the bushes the sword of a Father hanging ouer the throat of such a sonne would not haue been more perplexed in his thoughts then that vnexpected sacrifice was in those briers yet he whom it neerest concerned is least touched Faith hath wrought the same in him which crueltie would in others Not to be moued He contemnes all feares and ouerlookes all impossibilities His heart tels him that the same hand which raised Isaac from the dead wombe of Sarah can raise him againe from the ashes of his sacrifice with this confidence was the hand of Abraham now falling vpon the throat of Isaac who had giuen himselfe for dead and reioyced in the change when suddenly the Angell of God interrupts him forbids him commends him The voice of God was neuer so welcome neuer so sweet neuer so seasonable as now It was the tryall that God intended not the fact Isaac is sacrificed and is yet aliue and now both of them are more happy in that they would haue done then they could haue been distressed if they had done it Gods charges are oft-times harsh in the beginnings and proceeding but in the conclusion alwayes comfortable true spirituall comforts are commonly late and sudden God defers on purpose that our tryals may be perfect our deliuerance welcome our recompence glorious Isaac had neuer been so precious to his father if he had not been recouered from death if he had not been as miraculously restored as giuen Abraham had neuer beene so blessed in his seed if he had not neglected Isaac for God The only way to finde comfort in any earthly thing is to surrender it in a faithfull carelesnesse into the hands of God Abraham came to sacrifice he may not go away with dry hands God cannot abide that good purposes should be frustrate Lest either he should not doe that for which hee came or should want meanes of speedy thanksgiuing for so gracious a disappointment Behold a Ram stands ready for the sacrifice and as it were proffers himselfe to this happy exchange Hee that made that Beast brings him thither fastens him there Euen in small things there is a great prouidence what mysteries there are in euery act of God! The onely Sonne of God vpon this very hill is laid vpon the Altar of the Crosse and so becomes a true sacrifice for the world that yet he is raised without impeachment and exempted from the power of death The Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the World is here really offred and accepted One Sauiour in two figures in the one dying restored in the other So Abraham whiles he exercises his faith confirmes it and reioyces more to foresee the true Isaac in that place offered to death for his sinnes then to see the carnall Isaac preserued from death for the reward of his Faith Whatsoeuer is dearest to vs vpon earth is our Isaac happy are we if we can sacrifice it to God those shall neuer rest with Abraham that cannot sacrifice with Abraham Of LOT and Sodom BEFORE Abraham and Lot grew rich they dwelt together now their wealth separates them Their societie was a greater good then their riches Many a one is a loser by his wealth who would account those things good which make vs worse It had been the duty of yong Lot to offer rather then to choose to yeeld rather then contend who vvould not here thinke Abraham the Nephew and Lot the Vncle It is no disparagement for greater persons to begin treaties of Peace Better doth it beseeme euery sonne of Abraham to winne vvith loue then to sway with power Abraham yeelds ouer this right of his choise Lot takes it And behold Lot is crossed in that vvhich he chose Abraham is blessed in that which vvas left him God neuer suffers any man to leese by an humble remission of his right in a desire of peace Wealth hath made Lot not only vndutifull but couetous he sees the goodly Plaines of Iordan the richnesse of the soyle the commoditie of the Riuers the situation of the Cities and now not once inquiring into the conditions of the Inhabitants hee is in loue with Sodom Outward appearances are deceitfull guides to our iudgement or affections they are worthy to be deceiued that value things as they seeme It is not long after that Lot payes deare for his rashnesse He fled for quietnesse with his Vncle and finds Warre with strangers Now is he caried prisoner with all his substance by great Enemies Abraham must rescue him of whom hee was forsaken That vvealth which was the cause of his former quarrels is made a prey to mercilesse Heathens That place which his eye couetously chose betrayes his life and goods How many Christians whiles they haue looked at gaine haue lost themselues Yet this ill successe hath neither driuen out Lot nor amended Sodom hee still loues his commoditie and the Sodomites their sinnes wicked men grow worse with afflictions as vvater growes more cold after an heat And as they leaue not sinning so God leaues not plaguing them but still followes them with succession of iudgements In how few yeares hath Sodom forgot she vvas spoiled and led captiue If that wicked Citie had been warned by the sword it had escaped the fire but now this visitation hath not made ten good men in those fiue Cities How fit was this heape for the fire which vvas all chaffe Onely Lot vexed his righteous soule with the sight of their vncleannesse Hee vexed his owne soule for who bade him stay there yet because he was vexed he is deliuered He escapeth their iudgement from whose sinnes he escaped Though he would be a ghest of Sodom yet because hee would not entertaine their sinnes he becomes an Host to the Angels Euen the good Angels are the executioners of Gods iudgement There cannot be a better or more noble act then to doe iustice vpon obstinate Malefactors Who can be ashamed of that which did not mis-beseeme the very Angels of God Where should the Angels lodge but with Lot the houses of holy men are full of these heauenly Spirits vvhen they know not they pitch their Tents in ours and visit vs when we see not and when we feele not protect vs It is the honour of Gods Saints to be attended by Angels The filthy Sodomites now flocke together stirred vp with the fury of enuy and lust and dare require to doe that in troops which to act single
beene as good husbands of their cattell as they were of their dough they might haue had enough to eate without need of murmuring for if their back-burden of dough lasted for a moneth their heards might haue serued them many yeares All grudging is odious but most when our hands are full To whine in the midst of abundance is a shamefull vnthankfulnesse When a man would haue looked that the anger of God should haue appeared in fire now behold his glory appeares in a Cloud Oh the exceeding long-suffering of God that heares their murmurings and as if he had beene bound to content them in stead of punishing pleases them as a kinde mother would deale with a crabid child who rather stils him with the brest then cals for the rod. One would haue thought that the fight of the cloud of God should haue dispel'd the cloud of their distrust and this glory of God should haue made them asham'd of themselues and afraid of him Yet I doe not heare them once say What a mighty and gracious God haue we distrusted Nothing will content an impotent minde but fruition When an heart is hardned with any passion it will endure much ere it will yeeld to relent Their eyes saw the cloud their eares heard the promise the performance is speedie and answerable Needs must they be conuinced when they saw God as glorious in his worke as in his presence when they saw his word iustified by his act God tels them afore-hand what hee will doe that their expectation might stay their hearts He doth that which he fore-told that they might learne to trust him ere he performe They desired meat and receiue Quailes they desired bread and haue Manna If they had had of the coursest flesh and of the basest Pulse hunger would haue made it dainty But now God will pamper their famine and giues them meat of Kings and Bread of Angels What a world of Quailes were but sufficient to serue six hundred thousand persons They were all strong all hungry neither could they bee satisfied with single Fowles What a Table hath God prepared in the Desart for abundance for delicacie Neuer Prince was so serued in his greatest pompe as these rebellious Israelites in the Wildernesse God loues to ouer-deserue of men and to exceed not onely their sinnes but their very desires in mercy How good shall wee finde him to those that please him since he is so gracious to offenders If the most gracelesse Israelites be fed with Quailes and Manna Oh what goodnesse is that hee hath laid vp for them that loue him As on the contrary If the Righteous scarce be saued where will the Sinners appeare Oh God thou canst thou wilt make this difference Howsoeuer with vs men the most crabbed and stubborne oftentimes fare the best the Righteous Iudge of the world frames his remuneration as he finds vs And if his mercy sometimes prouoke the worst to repentance by his temporall fauours yet he euer reserues so much greater reward for the Righteous as eternitie is beyond time and heauen aboue earth It was not of any naturall instinct but from the ouer-ruling power of their Creator that these Quailes came to the Desart Needs must they come whom GOD brings His hand is in all the motions of his meanest Creatures Not onely wee but they mooue in him As not many Quailes so not one Sparrow falls without him How much more are the actions of his best creature Man directed by his prouidence How ashamed might these Israelites haue been to see these creatures so obedient to their Creator as to come and offer themselues to their slaughter whiles they went so repiningly to his seruice and their owne preferment Who can distrust the prouision of the great House keeper of the world when hee sees how hee can furnish his tables at pleasure Is he growne now carelesse or we faith lesse rather Why doe wee not repose vpon his mercy Rather then we shall want when we trust him he will fetch Quailes from all the coasts of heauen to our boord Oh Lord thy hand is not shortned to giue let not ours bee shortned or shuâ—â— receiuing Eliahs seruitors the Rauens brought him his full seruice of bread and flesh at once each morning and euening But these Israelites haue their flesh at euen and their bread in the morning Good reason there should be a difference Eliahs table was vpon Gods direct appointment the Israelites vpon their mutiny Although God will relieue them with prouision yet he will punish their impatience with delay so shall they know themselues his people that they shall finde they were murmurers Not onely in the matter but in the order God answers their grudging First they complaine of the want of flesh-pots then of bread In the first place therefore they haue flesh bread after When they haue flesh yet they must stay a time ere they can haue a full meale vnlesse they would eate their meat breadlesse and their bread dry God will be waited on and will giue the consummation of his blessings at this leasure In the euening of our life we haue the first pledges of his fauour but in the morning of our resurrection must we looke for our perfect sacietie of the true Manna the bread of life Now the Israelites sped well with their Quailes they did eate and digest and prosper not long after they haue Quailes with a vengeance the meat was pleasant but the sauce was fearfull They let downe the Quailes at their mouth but they came out at their nostrils How much better had it been to haue died of hunger through the chastisement of God then of the plague of God with the flesh betwixt their teeth Behold they perish of the same disease then whereof they now recouer The same sinne repeated is death whose first act found remission Relapses are desperate where the sicknesse it selfe is not With vs men once goes away with a warning the second act is but whipping the third is death It is a mortall thing to abuse the lenity of God we should be presumptuously mad to hope that God will stand vs for a sinning-stock to prouoke him how we will It is more mercy then he owes vs if he forbeare vs once it is his iustice to plague vs the second time We may thanke our selues if we will not be warned Their meat was strange but nothing so much as their bread To finde Quailes in a Wildernesse was vnusuall but for bread to come downe from Heauen was yet more They had seene Quailes before though not in such number Manna was neuer seene till now From this day till their setling in Canaan God wrought a perpetuall miracle in this food A miracle in the place other bread rises vp from below this fell down from aboue neither did it euer raine bread till now Yet so did this heauenly showre fall that it is confined to the campe of Israel A miracle in the quantitie That euery morning
counsell of so wise and mercifull a God hath drawne vs into his want and shall not he as easily find the way out It is the Lord let him doe what he will There can be no more forceable motiue to patience then the acknowledgment of a diuine hand that strikes vs. It is fearefull to be in the hand of an aduersarie but who would not be confident of a Father Yet in our fraile humanity choler may transport a man from remembrance of nature but when wee feele our selues vnder the discipline of a wise God that can temper our afflictions to our strength to our benefit who would not rather murmur at himselfe that hee should swerue towards impatience Yet these sturdy Israelites wilfully murmur and will not haue their thirst quenched with faith but with water Giue vs water Nooked to heare when they would haue entreated Moses to pray for them but in stead of entreating they contend and in stead of prayers I find commands Giue vs water If they had gone to God without Moses I should haue praised their faith but now they goe to Moses without God I hate their stubborne faithlesnesse To seeke to the second meanes vvith neglect of the first is the fruit of a false faith The answer of Moses is like himselfe milde and sweet Why contend ye with mee Why tempt ye the Lord In the first expostulation condemning them of iniustice since not he but the Lord had afflicted them In the second of presumption that since it was God that tempted them by want they should tempt him by murmuring In the one hee would haue them see their wrong in the other their danger As the act came not from him but from God so he puts it off to God from himselfe Why tempt yee the Lord The opposition which is made to the instruments of God redounds euer to his person He holds himselfe smitten through the sides of his Ministers So hath God incorporated these respects that our subtilty cannot diuide them But what temptation is this Is the Lord among vs or no Infidelitie is crafty and yet foolish Craftie in her insinuations foolish in her conceits They imply If we were sure the Lord were with vs we would not distrust They conceiue doubts of his pr sence after such confirmations What could God doe more to make them know hiâ— present vnlesse euery moment should haue renued miracles The plagues of Aegypt and the diuision of the Sea were so famous that the very Innes of Iericho rang of them Their waters were lately sweetned the Quailes were yet in their teeth their Manna was yet in their eye yea they saw God in the Pillar of the Cloud and yet they say Is the Lord amongst vs No argument is enough to an incredulous heart not sense not experience How much better was that faith of Thomas that would beleeue his eyes and hands though his care he would not Oh the deepe infidelitie of these Israelites that saw and beleeued not And how will they know if God be amongst them As if hee could not bee with them and they be a thirst either God must humour carnall minds or be distrusted If they prosper though it be with wickednesse God is with them If they be thwarted in their owne designes straight Is God with vs It was the way to put God from them to distrust and murmure If he had not been with them they had not liued If he had been in them they had not mutined They can thinke him absent in their want and cannot see him absent in their sinne and yet wickednesse not affliction argues him gone Yea then is he most present when he most chastises Who would not haue looked that this answer of Moses should haue appeased their fury As what can still him that will not be quiet to thinke he hath God for his Aduersarie But as if they would wilfully warre against Heauen they proceed yet with no lesse craft then violence bending their exception to one part of the answer and smoothly omitting what they could not except against They will not heare of tempting God they maintaine their strife with Moses both with words and stones How malicious how headdy is impatience The act was Gods they cast it vpon Moses Wherefore hast thou brought vs The act of God was mercifull they make it cruell To kill vs and our children As if God and Moses meant nothing but their ruine who intended nothing but their life and libertie Foolish men What needed this iourney to death Were they not as obnoxious to God in Aegypt Could not God by Moses as easily haue killed them in Aegypt or in the Sea as their enemies Impatience is full of misconstruction If it be possible to find out any glosse to corrupt the Text of Gods actions they shall be sure not to scape vntainted It was no expostulating with an vnreasonable multitude Moses runs straight to him that was able at once to quench their thirst and their fury What shall I do to this people It is the best way to trust God with his owne causes when men will bee intermedling with his affaires they vndoe themselues in vaine We shall finde difficulties in all great enterprises if wee be sure we haue begun them from God wee may securely cast all euents vpon his prouidence which knowes how to dispose and how to end them Moses perceiued rage not in the tongues only but in the hands of the Israelites Yet a while longer and they will stone me Euen the Leader of Gods people feared death and sinned not in fearing Life is worthy to be deare to all especially to him whom publike charge hath made necessary Meere feare is not sinfull It is impotence and distrust that accompany it which make it euill How well is that feare bestowed that sends vs the more importunately to God Some man would haue thought of flight Moses flyes to his Prayers and that not for reuenge but for helpe Who but Moses would not haue said This twice they haue mutined and beene pardoned and now againe thou seest O Lord how madly they rebell and how bloodily they intend against me preserue me I beseech thee and plague them I heare none of this but imitating the long suffering of his God he seekes to God for them which sought to kill him for the quarrell of God Neither is God sooner sought then found All Israel might see Moses goe towards the Rocke None but the Elders might see him strike it Their vnbeleefe made them vnworthy of this priuiledge It is no small fauor of God to make vs witnesses of his great Workes That he crucifies his Sonne before vs that he fetches the water of Life out of the true Rocke in our sight is an high prerogatiue If his rigour would haue taken it our infidelity had equally excluded vs whom now his mercy hath receiued Moses must take his Rod God could haue done it by his will without a word or by his word without the
Egypt thorow the Sea and wildernesse within the sight of their promised Land and now himselfe must take possession of that Land whereof Canaan was but a type When we haue done that we came for it is time for vs to be gone This earth is made only for action not for fruition the seruices of Gods children should be ill rewarded if they must stay here alwaies Let no man thinke much that those are fetcht away which are faithful to God They should not change if it were not to their preferment It is our folly that wee would haue good men liue for euer and account it an haâ—d measure that they were Hee that lends them to the world owes them a better turne then this earth can pay them It were iniurious to wish that goodnesse should hinder any man from glory So is the death of Gods Saints precious that it is certaine Moses must goe vp to mount Nebo and die The time the place and euery circumstance of his dissolution is determined That one dyes in the field another in his bed another in the water one in a forraine Nation another in his owne is fore-decreed in heauen And though we heare it not vocally yet God hath called euery man by his name and saith Die thou there One man seemes to dye casually another by an inexpected violence both fall by a destiny and all is set downe to vs by an eternall decree He that brought vs into the world will cary vs out according to his owne purposes Moses must ascend vp to the hill to dye He receiued his charge for Israel vpon the hill of Sinai And now hee deliuers vp his charge on the hill of Nebo His brother Aaron dyed on one hill hee on another As Christ was transfigured on an hill so was this excellent type of his neither doubt I but that these hills were types to them of that heauen whither they were aspiring It is the goodnesse of our God that hee will nor haue his children dye any where but where they may see the Land of Promise before them neither can they depart without much comfort to haue seene it Contrarily a wicked man that lookes downe and sees hell before him how can hee choose but find more horrour in the end of death then in the way How familiarly doth Moses heare of his end It is no more betwixt God and Moses but goe vp and dye If he had inuited him to a meale it could not haue beene in a more sociable compellation No otherwise then he said to his other Prophet Vp and eate It is neither harsh nor newes to Gods children to heare or thinke of their departure To them death hath lost his horror through acquaintance Those faces which at first sight seemed ill-fauoured by oft viewing grow out of dislike They haue so oft thought and resolued of the necessity and of the issue of their dissolution that they cannot hold it either strange or vnwelcome He that hath had such entire conuersation with God cannot feare to goe to him Those that know him not or know that he will not know them no maruell if they tremble This is no small fauour that God warnes Moses of his end he that had so oft made Moses of his counsel what he meant to do with Israel would not now do ought with himselfe without his knowledge Expectation of any maine euent is a great aduantage to a wise heart If the fiery chariot had fetcht away Elias vnlookt for wee should haue doubted of the fauour of his transportation It is a token of iudgement to come as a theefe in the night God forewarnes one by sicknesse another by age another by his secret instincts to prepare for their end If our hearts bee not now in readinesse we are worthy to be surprized But what is this I heare Displeasure mixed with loue and that to so faithfull a seruant as Moses He must but see the Land of Promise he shall not tread vpon it because he once long agoe sinned in distrusting Death though it were to him an entrance into glory yet shall be also a chastisement of his infidelity How many noble proofes had Moses giuen of his courage and strength of faith How many gracious seruices had he done to his Master Yet for one act of distrust he must bee gathered to his Fathers All our obediences cannot beare out one sinne against God How vainly shall we hope to make amends to God for our former trespasses by our better behauiour when Moses hath this one sinne laid in his dish after so many and worthy testimonies of his fidelitie When we haue forgotten our sinnes yet God remembers them and although not in anger yet he cals for our arrerages Alas what shall become of them with whom God hath ten thousand greater quarrels that amongst many millions of sinnes haue scattered some few acts of formall seruices If Moses must die the first death for one fault how shall they escape the second for sinning alwayes Euen where God loues he will not winke at sinne and if he doe not punish yet he will chastise How much lesse can it stand with that eternall Iustice to let wilfull sinners escape iudgement It might haue beene iust with God to haue reserued the cause to himselfe and in a generalitie to haue told Moses that his sinne must shorten his iourney but it is more of mercy then iustice that his children shall know why they smart That God may at once both iustifie himselfe and humble them for their particular offences Those to whom he meanes vengeance haue not the sight of their sinnes till they be past repentance Complaine not that God vpbraides thee with thy old sinnes whosoeuer thou art but know it is an argument of loue whereas concealement is a fearefull signe of a secret dislike from God But what was that noted sinne which deserues this late exprobation and shall cary so sharpe a chastisement Israel murmured for water God bids Moses take the rod in his hand and speak to the rock to giue water Moses in stead of speaking and striking the rocke with his voice strikes it with the rod Here was his sinne An ouer-reaching of his commission a fearefulnesse and distrust of the effect The rod he knew was approued for miracles he knew not how powerfull his voyce might be therefore hee did not speake but strike and he strooke twice for failing And now after these many yeares hee is striken for it of God It is a dangerous thing in diuine matters to goe beyond our warrant Those sinnes which seeme triuiall to men are haynous in the account of God Any thing that fauours of infidelity displeases him more then some other crimes of morality Yet the mouing of the Rod was but a diuerse thing from the mouing of the tongue it was not contrary He did not forbid the one but he commanded the other This was but acrosse the streame not against it where shall they appeare whose whole
honor cannot be innocent Well might Ioshua haue proceeded to the execution of him whom God and his owne mouth accused but as one that thought no euidence could be too strong in a case that was capitall he sends to see whether there was as much truth in the confession as there was falshood in the stealth Magistrates and Iudges must pace slowly and sure in the punishment of offenders Presumptions are not ground enough for the sentence of death no not in some cases the confessions of the guilty It is no warrant for the Law to wrong a man that he hath before wronged himselfe There is lesse ill in sparing an offender then in punishing the innocent Who would not haue expected since the confession of Achan was ingenuous and his pillage still found entire that his life should haue beene pardoned But here was Confesse and die he had beene too long sicke of this disease to be recouered Had his confession beene speedy and free it had saued him How dangerous it is to suffer sin to lye fretting into the soule which if it were washt off betimes with our repentance could not kill vs. In mortall offences the course of humane iustice is not stayd by our penitence It is well for our soules that we haue repented but the lawes of men take not notice of our sorrow I know not whether the death or the teares of a malefactor be a better sight The censures of the Church are wip't off with weeping not the penalties of lawes Neither is Achan alone called forth to death but all his family all his substance The actor alone doth not smart with sacriledge all that concernes him is enwrapped in the iudgement Those that defile their hands with holy goods are enemies to their owne flesh and blood Gods first reuenges are so much the more fearefull because they must be exemplary Of the Gibeonites THe newes of Israels victory had flowne ouer all the Mountaines Valleys of Canaan and yet those Heathenish Kings and people are mustered together against them They might haue seene themselues in Iericho and Ai and haue well perceiued it was not an arme of flesh that they must resist yet they gather their forces and say Tush we shall speed better It is madnesse in a man not to be warned but to run vpon the point of those iudgments wherewith he sees others miscary and not to beleeue till he cannot recouer Our assent is purchased too late when we haue ouerstayed preuention and trust to that experience which wee cannot liue to redeeme Onely the Hiuites are wiser then their fellowes and will rather yeeld liue Their intelligence was not diuerse from the rest all had equally heard of the miraculous conduct and successe of Israel but their resolution was diuerse As Rahab saued her Family in the midst of Iericho so these foure cities preserued themselues in the midst of Canaan and both of them by beleeuing what God would doe The efficacy of Gods maruellous workes is not in the acts themselues but in our apprehension some are ouer come with those motiues which others haue contemned for weake Had these Gibeonites ioyned with the forces of all their neighbours they had perished in their common slaughter If they had not gone away by themselues death had met them It may haue more pleasure it cannot haue so much safety to follow the multitude If examples may lead vs the greatest part shuts out God vpon earth and is excluded from God else where Some few poore â—iuites yeeld to the Church of God and escape the condemnation of the world It is very like their neighbors flouted at this base submission of the Gibeonites and out of their termes of honour scorned to beg life of an enemy whiles they were out of the compasse of mercy but when the bodies of these proud Iebusites and Perizzites lay strewed vpon the earth and the Gibeonites suruiued whether was more worthy of scorne and insultation If the Gibeonites had stayed till Israel had besieged their Cities their yeeldance had been fruitlesse now they make an early peace and are preserued There is no wisdome in staying till a iudgement come home to vs the only way to auoid it is to meet it halfe way There is the same remedy of warre and of danger To prouoke an enemy in his owne borders is the best stay of inuasion and to sollicit God betimes in a manifest danger is the best antidote for death I commend their wisdome in seeking peace I doe not commend their falshood in the manner of seeking it who can looke for any better of Pagans But as the faith of Rahab is so rewarded that her lye is not punished so the fraud of these Gibeonites is not an equal match of their beliefe since the name of the Lord God of Israel brought them to this suit of peace Nothing is found fitter to deceiue Gods people then a counterfeit copy of age Here are old sacks old bottles old shooes old garments old bread The Israelites that had worne one suit forty yeares seemed new clad in comparison of them It is no new policie that Satan would beguile vs with a vaine colour of antiquity clothing falshood in rags Errors are neuer the elder for their patching Corruption can doe the same that time would doe we may make age as well as suffer it These Gibeonites did teare their bottles and shooes and clothes and made them naught that they might seeme old so doe the false patrons of new errors If we be caught with this Gibeonitish stratagem it is a signe we haue not consulted with God The sentence of death was gone out against all the inhabitants of Canaan These Hiuites acknowledge the truth and iudgements of God and yet seeke to escape by a league with Israel The generall denunciations of the vengeance of God enwrap all sinners Yet may we not despaire of mercy If the secret counsell of the Almightie had not designed these men to life Ioshua could not haue beene deceiued with their league In the generality there is no hope Let vs come in old rags of our vilenesse to the true Ioshua and make our truce with him we may liue yea we shall liue Some of the Israelites suspect the fraud and notwithstanding all their old garments and prouisions can say It may be thou dwellest amongst vs. If Ioshua had continued this doubt the Gibeonites had torne their bottles in vaine In cases and persons vnknowne it is safe not to be too credulous Charity it selfe will allow suspition where wee haue seene no cause to trust If these Hiuites had not put on new faces with their old clothes they had surely changed countenance when they heard this argument of the Israelites It may bee thou dwellest amongst vs how then can I make a league with thee They had perhaps hoped their submission would not haue been refused wheresoeuer they had dwelt but lest their neighbourhood might be a preiudice they come disguised
longest intermission they haue now the sorest bondage None of their Tyrants were so potent as Iabin with his nine hundred Chariots of yron The longer the reckoning is deferred the greater is the summe God prouides on purpose mighty Aduersaries for his Church that their humiliation may be the greater in sustayning and his glory may be greater in deliuerance I do not finde any Prophet in Israel during their sinne but so soone as I heare newes of their repentance mention is made of a Prophetesse and Iudge of Israel There is no better signe of Gods reconciliation then the sending of his holy messengers to any people He is not vtterly faln out with those whom he blesses with prophecy Whom yet doe I see raised to this honour Not any of the Princes of Israel not Barac the Captaine not Lapidoth the husband but a woman for the honour of her sex a wife for the honour of wedlocke Debora the wife of Lapidoth He that had choyce of all the millions of Israel culs out two weake women to deliuer his people Deborah shall iudge Iael shall execute All the Palaces of Israel must yeeld to the Palme-tree of Deborah The weaknesse of the instruments redounds to the greater honour of the Workman Who shall aske God any reason of his elections but his own pleasure Deborah was to sentence not to strike to command not to execute This act is masculine fit for some Captaine of Israel She was the Head of Israel it was meet some other should be the hand it is an imperfect and titular gouernment where there is a coÌ„manding power without correction without execution The message of Deborah findes out Barac the sonne of Abinoam in his obscure secrecy and cals him from a corner of Nepthali to the honour of this exploit He is sent for not to get the victory but to take it not to ouercome but to kill to pursue not to beat Sisera Who could not haue done this worke whereto not much courage no skill belonged Yet euen for this will God haue an instrument of his owne choice It is most fit that God should serue himselfe where he list of his owne neither is it to be inquired whom we thinke meet for any employment but whom God hath called Deborah had been no Prophetesse if she durst haue sent in her owne name Her message is from him that sent her selfe Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded Baracs answere is faithfull though conditionate and doth not so much intend a refusall to goe without her as a necessary bond of her presence with him Who can blame him that he would haue a Prophetesse in his company If the man had not been as holy as valiant he would not haue wished such society How many think it a perpetuall bondage to haue a Prophet of God at their elbow God had neuer sent for him so farre if he could haue bin content to goe vp without Deborah He knew that there was both a blessing and incouragement in that presence It is not putting any trust in the successe of those men that neglect the messengers of God To prescribe that to others which we draw backe from doing our selues is an argument of hollownesse and falsity Barac shall see that Deborah doth not offer him that cup whereof she dare not begin without regard of her sex she marches with him to Mount Tabor and reioyces to be seene of the tenne thousand of Israel With what scorne did Sisera looke at the gleanings of Israel How vnequall did this match seene of ten thousand Israelites against his three hundred thousand foot ten thousand horse nine hundred charets of yron And now in a brauery he cals for his troupes and meanes to kill this handfull of Israel with the very sight of his picked chariots and only feared it would be no victory to cut the throats of so few The faith of 〈◊〉 and Barac was not appalled with this world of Aduersaries which from mount Tâ—oâ— they saw hiding all the Valley below them they knew whom they had beleeued and how little an arme of flesh could doe against the God of Hosts Barac went downe against Sisera but it was God that destroyed him The Israelites did not this day wield their owne swords lest they should arrogate any thing God told them before-hand it should be his owne act I heare not of one stroke that any Canaanite gaue in his fight as if they were called hither onely to suffer And nâ—w proud Sisera after many curses of the heauinesse of that yron carriage is glad to quit his Chariot and betake himselfe to his heeles Who euer yet knew any earthly thing trusted in without disappointment It is wonder if God make vs not at last as weary of whatsoeuer hath stolne our hearts from him as euer we were fond Yet Sisera hopes to haue sped better then his followers in so seasonable an harbour of Iael If Heber and Iael had not been great persons there had been no note taken of their Tents There had been no league betwixt King Iabin and them now their greatnesse makes them knowne their league makes them trusted The distresse of Sisera might haue made him importunate but Iael begins the courtesie and exceeds the desire of her guest He askes water to drinke she giues him milke he wishes but shelter she makes him a bed he desires the protection of her Tent she couers him with a mantle And now Sisera pleases himselfe with this happy change and thinkes how much better it is to be here then in that whirling of chariots in that horror of flight amongst those shriekes those wounds those carcasses Whiles he is in these thoughts his wearinesse and easie reposall hath brought him asleepe Who would haue looked that in this tumult and danger euen betwixt the very iawes of death Sisera should find time to sleepe How many wordly hearts doe so in the mids of their spirituall perils Now whiles he was dreaming doubtlesse of the clashing of armours ratling of chariots neighing of horses the clamor of the coÌ„quered the furious pursuit of Israel Iael seeing his temples lye so faire as if they inuited the naile and hammer entred into the thought of this noble execution certainly not without some checks of doubt and pleas of feare What if I strike him And yet who am I that I should dare to thinke of such an act Is not this Sisera the famousest Captaine of the world whose name hath wont be fearefull to whole Nations What if my hand should swarue in the stroke What if he should awake whiles I am lifting vp this instrument of death What if I should be surprized by some of his followers while the fact is greene and yet bleeding Can the murder of so great a Leader be hid or vnreuenged Or if I might hope so yet can my heart allow to be secretly trecherous Is there not peace betwixt my house and him Did not I inuite him to my Tent Doth he
were Why doe not we learne zeale of Idolaters And if they be so forward in acknowledgement of their deliuerances to a false deity how cheerefully should we ascribe ours to the true O God whatsoeuer be the meanes thou art the Author of all our successe Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and tell the wonders that he doth for the sonnes of men No Musician would serue for this feast but Samson hee must now be their sport which was once their terror that he might want no sorrow scorn is added to his misery Euery wit and hand playes vpon him Who is not ready to cast his bone and his iest at such a captiue So as doubtlesse he wisht himselfe no lesse deafe then blind and that his soule might haue gone out with his eyes Oppression is able to make a wise man mad and the greater the courage is the more painefull the insultation Now Samson is punished shall the Philistims escape If the iudgement of God begin at his owne what shall become of his enemies This aduantage shall Samson make of their tyranny that now death is no punishment to him his soule shall flie forth in this bitternesse without pain and that his dying reuenge shall be no lesse sweet to him then the liberty of his former life He could not but feele God mockt through him and therefore whiles they are scoffing hee prayes his seriousnesse hopes to pay them for all those iests If he could haue been thus earnest with God in his prosperity the Philistims had wanted this laughing stocke No deuotion is so feruent as that which arises frō extremity O Lord God I pray thee think vpon me O God I beseech thee strengthen me at this time only Though Samsons haire were shorter yet he knew Gods hand was not as one therefore that had yet eyes enough to see him that was inuisible and whose faith was recouered before his strength he sues to that God which was a party in this indignity for power to reuenge his wrongs more then his own It is zeale that moues him not malice his renued faith tels him that he was destined to plague the Philistims and reason tels him that his blindnesse puts him out of the hope of such another opportunity Knowing therfore that this play of the Philistims must end in his death he recollects all the forces of his soule and body that his death may be a punishment in stead of a disport and that his soule may bee more victorious in the parting then in the animation and so addresses himselfe both to dye and kill as one whose soule shall not feele his owne dissolution whiles it shall carry so many thousand Philistims with it to the pit All the acts of Samson are for wonder not for imitation So didst thou O blessed Sauiour our better Samson conquer in dying and triumphing vpon the chariot of the Crosse didst leade captiuity captiue The law sinne death hell had neuer been vanquisht but by thy death All our life liberty and glory springs out of thy most precious bloud MICHAES Idolatry THe mother of Micha hath lost her siluer and now she fals to cursing she did afterwards but change the forme of her god her siluer was her god ere it did put on the fashion of an image else she had not so much cursed to lose it if it had not too much possessed her in the keeping A carnall heart cannot forgoe that wherein it delights without impatience cannot be impatient without curses whereas the man that hath learned to inioy God and vse the world smiles at a shipwrack and pitties a theefe and cannot curse but pray Micha had so little grace as to steale from his mother and that out of wantonnesse not out of necessity for if she had not been rich so much could not haue been stolne from her and now he hath so much grace as to restore it her curses haue fetcht againe her treasures He cannot so much loue the money as he feares her imprecations Wealth seemes too deare bought with a curse Though his fingers were false yet his heart was tender Many that make not conscience of committing sinne yet make conscience of facing it It is well for them that they are but nouices in euill Those whom custome hath fleshed in sinne can either deny and forsweare or excuse and defend it their seared hearts cannot feele the gnawing of any remorse and their forehead hath learned to be as an impudent as their heart is senslesse I see no argument of any holinesse in the mother of Micha her curses were sinne to he◠selfe yet Micha dares not but feare them I know not whether the causlesse curse be more worthy of pitty or derision it hurts the author not his aduersary but the deserued curses that fall euen from vnholy mouthes are worthy to be feared How much more should a man hold himselfe blasted with th◠iust inprecations of the godly What metall are those made of that can applaud themselues in the bitter curses which their oppressions haue wrung from the poore and reioyce in these signes of their prosperity Neither yet was Micha more stricken with his mothers curses then with the conscience of sacriledge so soone as he findes there was a purpose of deuotion in this treasure he dares not conceale it to the preiudice as he thought of God more then of his mother What shall we say to the palate of those men which as they finde no good rellish but in stolne waters so best in those which are stolne from the fountaine of God How soone hath the old woman changed her note Euen now she passed an indefinite curse vpon her sonne for stealing and now she blesses him absolutely for restoring Blessed be my sonne of the Lord. She hath forgotten the theft when she sees the restitution How much more shall the God of mercies be more pleased with our confession then prouoked with our sinne I doubt not but this siluer and this superstition came out of Egypt together with the mother of Micha This history is not so late in time as in place for the Tribe of Dan was not yet setled in that first diuision of the promised land so as this old woman had seen both the Idolatry of Egypt and the golden Calfe in the wildernes and no doubt contributed some of her earerings to that Deity after all the plagues which she saw inflicted vpon her brethren for that Idoll of Horeb and Baal-Peor shee still reserues a secret loue to superstition now shewes it Where mis-religion hath once possessed it selfe of the heart it is very hardly cleansed out but like the plague it will hang in the very clothes and after long lurking breake forth in an expected infection and old wood is the aptest to take this fire After all the ayring in the desart Michoes mother will smell of Egypt It had bin better the siluer had bin stolne then thus bestowed for now they haue so
incouraged it insults and tyrannizes It was more iust that Israel should rise against Beniamin then that Beniamin should rise for Gibeah by how much it is better to punish offenders then to shelter the offenders from punishing And yet the wickednesse of Beniamin sped better for the time then the honesty of Israel Twise was the better part foyled by the lesse and worse The good cause was sent backe with shame the euill returned with victory and triumph O God! their hand was for thee in the fight thy hand was with them in their fall They had not fought for thee but by thee neither could they haue miscarried in the fight if thou hadst not fought against them Thou art iust and holy in both The cause was thine the sinne in managing of it was their owne They fought in an holy quarrell but with confidence in themselues for as presuming of victory they aske of God not what should be their successe but who should be their Captaine Number and innocence made them too secure I was iust therefore with God to let them feele that euen good zeale cannot beare out presumption and that victorie lies not in the cause but in the God that ownes it Who cannot imagine how much the Beniaminites insulted in their double field and day And now beganne to thinke God was on their side Those swords which had been taught the way into forty thousand bodies of their brethren cannot feare a new encounter Wicked men cannot see their prosperity a piece of their curse neither can examine their actions but the euents Soone after thy shall finde what it was to adde bloud vnto filthinesse and that the victorie of an euill cause is the way to ruine and confusion I should haue feared lest this double discomfiture should haue made Israel either distrustfull or weary of a good cause but still I finde them no lesse couragious with more humility Now they fast and weepe and sacrifice These weapons had beene victorious in their first assault Beniamin had neuer been in danger of pride for ouercomming if this humiliation of Israel had preuented the fight It is seldome seene but that which we doe with feare prospereth whereas confidence in vndertaking layes euen good endeuours in the dust Wickednesse could neuer bragge of any long prosperity nor complaine of the lacke of paiment Still God is euen with it at the last Now he payes the Beniaminites both that death which they had lent to the Israelites and that wherein they stood indebted to their brotherhood of Gibeah And now that both are met in death there is as much difference betwixt those Israelites and these Beniaminites as betwixt Martyrs and Malefactors To die in a sinne is a fearefull reuenge of giuing patronage to sinne The sword consumes their bodies another fire their Cities whatsoeuer became of their soules Now might Rachel haue iustly wept for her children because they were not for behold the men women and children of her wicked Tribe are cut off only some few scattered remainders ran away from this vengeance and lurked in caues and rockes both for feare and shame There was no difference but life betwixt their brethren and them the earth couered them both yet vnto them doth the reuenge of Israel stretch it selfe and vowes to destroy if not their persons yet their succession as holding them vnworthy to receiue any comfort by that sex to which they had been so cruell both in act and maintenance If the Israelites had not held marriage and issue a very great blessing they had not thus reuenged themselues of Beniamin now they accounted the with-holding of their wiues a punishment second to death The hope of life in our posterity is the next contentment to an enioying of life in our selues They haue sworne and now vpon cold bloud repent them If the oath were not iust why would they take it and if it were iust why did they recant it If the act were iustifiable what needed these teares Euen a iust oath may be rashly taken not only iniustice but temerite of swearing ends in lamentation In our very ciuill actions it is a weakenesse to doe that which we would after reuerse but in our affaires with God to checke our selues too late and to steepe our oathes in teares is a dangerous folly Hee doth not command vs to take voluntary oathes he commands vs to keepe them If we binde our selues to inconuenience we may iustly complaine of our owne setters Oathes doe not onely require iustice but iudgement wise deliberation no lesse then equity Not conscience of their fact but commiseration of their brethren led them to this publike repentance O God why is this come to passe that this day one Tribe of Israel shall want Euen the iustest reuenge of men is capable of pitty Insultation in the rigour of Iustice argues cruelty Charitable mindes are grieued to see that done which they would not wish vndone the smart of the offender doth not please them which yet are throughly displeased with the sinne and haue giuen their hands to punish it God himselfe takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner yet loues the punishment of sinne As a god parent whips his childe yet weepes himselfe There is a measure in victory and reuenge if neuer so iust which to exceed leeses mercy in the suit of Iustice If there were no fault in their seuerity it needed no excuse and if there were a fault it will admit of no excuse yet as if they meant to shift off the sin they expostulate with God O Lord God of Israel why is this come to passe this day God gaue them no command of this rigour yea he twice crost them in the execution and now in that which they intreated of God with teares they challenge him It is a dangerous iniustice to lay the burden of our sins vpon him which tempteth no man nor can bee tempted with euill whiles we would so remoue our sinne we double it A man that knew not the power of an oath would wonder at this contrarietie in the affections of Israel They are sorry for the slaughter of Beniamin and yet they slay those that did not helpe them in the slaughter Their oath cals them to more bloud The excesse of their reuenge vpon Beniamin may not excuse the men of Gillead If euer oath might looke for a dispensation this might plead it Now they dare not but kill the men of Iabesh Gilead lest they should haue left vpon themselues a greater sin of sparing then punishing Iabesh Gilead came not vp to aid Israel therefore all the inhabitants must die To exempt our selues whether out of singularity or stubbornnesse from the common actions of the Church when we are lawfully called to them is an offence worthy of iudgement In the maine quarrels of the Church neutrals are punished This execution shall make amends for the former of the spoile of Iabesh Gilead shall the Beniaminites be stored with wiues that no
salute those Cherubims to welcome that God whose absence had beene their death But as it is hard not to ouer-ioy in a sudden prosperity and to vse happinesse is no lesse difficult then to forbeare it These glad Israelites cannot see but they must gaze they cannot gaze on the glorious out-side but they must be whether out of rude iollity or curiositie or suspition of the purloining some of those sacred implements prying into the secrets of Gods Arke Nature is too subiect to extremities and is euer either too dull in want or wanton in fruition It is no easie matter to keepe a meane whether in good or euill Bethshemesh was a City of Priests they should haue knowne better how to demeane themselues towards the Arke this priuiledge doubled their offence There was no malice in this curious inquisition the same eyes that lookt into the Arke lookt also vp to heauen in their Offerings and the same hands that touched it offered sacrifice to the God that brought it Who could expect any thing now but acceptation who would suspect any danger It is not a following act of deuotion that can make amends for a former sinne There was a death owing them immediately vpon their offence God will take his owne time for the execution In the meane while they may sacrifice but they cannot satisfie they cannot escape The Kine are sacrificed the Cart burnes them that drew it Here was an offering of prayse when they had more need of a trespasse-offering many an heart is lifted vp in a conceit of ioy when it hath iust cause of humiliation God lets them alone with their Sacrifice but when that is done he comes ouer them with a backe reckoning for their sinne Fifty thousand and seuenty Israelites are strucke dead for this vnreuerence to the Arke A wofull welcome for the Arke of God into the borders of Israel It killed them for looking into it who thought it their life to see it It dealt blowes and death on both hands to Philistims to Israelites to both of them for prophaning it The one with their Idoll the other with their eyes It is a fearfull thing to vse the holy Ordinances of God with an vnreuerent boldnesse Feare and trembling becomes vs in our accesse to the Maiesty of the Almighty Neither was there more state then secresie in Gods Arke some things the wisedome of God desires to conceale The vnreuerence of the Israelites was no more faulty then their curiosity secret things to God things reuealed to vs and to our children The remoue of the Arke I Heare of the Bethshemites lamentation I heare not of their repentance they complaine of their smart they complaine not of their sinne and for ought I can perceiue speake as if God were curious rather then they faulty Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God and to whom shall he goe from vs As if none could please that God which misliked them It is the fashion of naturall men to iustifie themselues in their owne courses if they cannot charge any earthly thing with the blame of their suffering they will cast it vpon Heauen That a man pleads himselfe guiltie of his owne wrong is no common worke of Gods Spirit Bethshemesh bordered too neere vpon the Philistims If these men thought the very presence of the Arke hurtfull why do they send to their neighbours of Kiriath-iearim that they might make themselues miserable Where there is a misconceit of God it is no maruell if there be a defect of Charity How cunningly doe they send their message to their neighbours They doe not say the Arke of God is come to vs of it owne accord lest the men of Kiriath-iearim should reply It is come to you let it stay with you They say onely the Philistims haue brought it they tell of the presence of the Arke they doe not tell of the successe lest the example of their iudgement should haue discouraged the forwardnesse of their reliefe And after all the offer was plausible Come ye downe and take it vp to you as if the honour had been too great for themselues as if their modestie had beene such that they would not forestall and engrosse happinesse from the rest of Israel It is no boot to teach Nature how to tell her owne tale smart and danger will make a man wittie He is rarely constant that will not dissemble for ease It is good to be suspitious of the euasions of those which would put off miserie Those of Bethshemesh were not more craftie then these of Kiriath-iearim which was the ground of their boldnesse faithfull So many thousand Bethshemites could not be dead and no part of the rumour flie to them They heard how thicke not onely the Philistims but the bordering Israelites fell downe dead before the Arke yet they durst aduenture to come and fetch it euen from amongst the carcasses of their brethren They had beene formerly acquainted with the Arke they knew it was holy it could not be changeable and therefore they well conceiued this slaughter to arise from the vnholinesse of men not from the rigour of God and thereupon can seeke comfort in that which others found deadly Gods children cannot by any meanes bee discouraged from their honour and loue to his Ordinances If they see thousands strucke downe to Hell by the Scepter of Gods Kingdome yet they will kisse it vpon their knees and if their Sauiour be a rocke of offence and the occasion of the fall of millions in Israel they can feed temperately of that whereof others haue surfeted to death c. Bethshemesh was a Citie of Priests and Leuits Kiriath-iearim a Citie of Iuda where wee heare but of one Leuit Abinabab yet this Citie was more zealous for God more reuerent and conscionable in the entertainment of the Arke then the other Wee heard of the taking downe of the Arke by the Bethshemites when it came miraculously to them we doe not heare of any man sanctified for the attendance of it as was done in this second lodging of the Arke Grace is not tied either to number or meanes It is in spirituall matters as in the estate Small helpes with good thrift enrich vs when great patrimonies lose themselues in the neglect Shiloh was wont to be the place which was honoured with the presence of the Arke Euer since the wickednesse of Elies Sonnes that was forlorne and desolate and now Kiriath-iearim succeeds into this priuiledge It did not stand with the royall liberty of God no not vnder the Law to tie himselfe vnto places and persons Vnworthinesse was euer a sufficient cause of exchange It was not yet his time to stirre from the Iewes yet he remoued from one Prouince to another Lesse reason haue we to thinke that so God will reside amongst vs that none of our prouocations can driue him from vs c. Israel which had found the misery of Gods absence is now resolued into teares of contrition and
resistance If wee were not in a way to doe good we should finde no rubs Satan hath no cause to molest his owne and that whiles they goe about his owne seruice He desires nothing more than to make vs smooth paths to sinne but when we would turne our feet to holinesse he blocks vp the way with tentations Who can wonder enough at the sawcinesse of that bold spirit that dares to set vpon the Sonne of the euerliuing God who can wonder enough at thy meeknesse and patience O Sauiour that wouldst be tempted He wanted not malice and presumption to assault thee thou wantedst not humility to endure those assaults I should stand amazed at this voluntary dispensation of thine but that I see the susception of our humane nature laies thee open to this condition It is necessarily incident to manhood to be liable to tentations Thou wouldest not haue put on flesh if thou hadst meant vtterly to put off this consequence of our infirmity If the state of innocence could haue beene any defence against euill motions the first Adam had not beene tempted much lesse the second It is not the presenting of tentations that can hurt vs but their entertainment Ill counsell is the fault of the Giuer not of the Refuser We cannot forbid lewd eyes to looke in at our windowes we may shut our doores against their entrance It is no lesse our praise to haue resisted than Satans blame to suggest euill Yea O blessed Sauiour how glorious was it for thee how happy for vs that thou were tempted Had not Satan tempted thee how shouldest thou haue ouercome Without blowes there can be no victory no triumph How had thy power beene manifested if no aduersary had tried thee The first Adam was tempted and vanquished the second Adam to repay and repaire that foile doth vanquish in being tempted Now haue we not a Sauiour and High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but such an one as was in all things tempted in like sort yet without sinne how boldly therefore may we goe vnto the Throne of grace that we may receiue mercy and finde grace of helpe in time of need Yea this Duell was for vs Now we see by this conflict of our Almighty Champion what manner of Aduersary we haue how he fights how he is resisted how ouercomne Now our very temptation affords vs comfort in that we see the dearer we are vnto God the more obnoxious we are to this triall neither can we be discouraged by the hainousnesse of those euils whereto wee are moued since wee see the Sonne of God solicited to infidelity couetousnesse idolatry How glorious therefore was it for thee O Sauiour how happy for vs that thou were tempted Where then wast thou tempted O blessed Iesu or whither wentest thou to meet with our great aduersary I doe not see thee led into the market-place or any other part of the city or thy home-sted of Nazareth but into the vast wildernesse the habitation of beasts a place that carrieth in it both horror and opportunity why wouldst thou thus retire thy selfe from men but as confident Champions are wont to giue aduantage of ground or weapon to their Antagonist that the glory of their victory may be the greater So wouldest thou O Sauiour in this conflict with our common enemy yeeld him his owne termes for circumstances that thine honour and his foile may be the more Solitarinesse is no small helpe to the speed of a tentation Woe to him that is alone for if he fall there is not a second to lift him vp Those that out of an affectation of holinesse seeke for solitude in rocks and caues of the deserts doe no other than run into the mouth of the danger of tentation whiles they thinke to auoid it It was enough for thee to whose diuine power the gates of hell were weaknesse thus to challenge the Prince of darknesse Our care must be alwaies to eschew all occasions of spirituall danger and what we may to get vs out of the reach of tentations But O the depth of the Wisdome of God! How camest thou O Sauiour to be thus tempted That Spirit whereby thou wast conceiued as man and which was one with thee and the Father as God led thee into the wildernesse to bee tempted of Satan Whiles thou taughtest vs to pray to thy Father Leade vs not temptation thou meantest to instruct vs that if the same Spirit led vs not into this perilous way we goe not into it Wee haue still the same conduct Let the path bee what it will how can wee miscarry in the hand of a Father Now may wee say to Satan as thou didst vnto Pilate Thou couldst haue no power ouer me except it were giuen thee from aboue The Spirit led thee it did not driue thee here was a sweet inuitation no compulsion of violence So absolutely conformable was thy will to thy Deity as if both thy natures had but one volition In this first draught of thy bitter potion thy soule said in a reall subiection Not may will but thy will be done We imitate thee O Sauiour though we cannot reach to thee All thine are led by thy Spirit Oh teach vs to forget that we haue wils of our owne The Spirit led thee thine inuincibie strength did not animate thee into this combat vncalled What do we weaklings so far presume vpon our abilities or successe as that we dare thrust our selues vpon temptations vnbidden vnwarranted Who can pitty the shipwracke of those Marriners which will needes put forth and hoise sailes in a tempest Forty dayes did our Sauiour spend in the wildernesse fasting and solitary all which time was worne out in temptation how euer the last brunt because it was most violent is onely expressed Now could not the aduersary complaine of disaduantage whiles he had the full scope both of time and place to doe his worst And why did it please thee O Sauiour to fast forty dayes and forty nights vnlesse as Moses fasted forty dayes at the deliuery of the Law and Elias at the restitution of the Law So thou thoughtest fit at the accomplishment of the Law and the promulgation of the Gospel to fulfil the time of both these Types of thine Wherein thou intendest our wonder not our imitation Not our imitation of the time though of the act Here were no faulty desires of the flesh in thee to be tamed no possibility of a freer more easie assent of the soule to God that could bee affected of thee who wast perfectly vnited vnto God but as for vs thou wouldst suffer death so for vs thou wouldst suffer hunger that we might learne by fasting to prepare our selues for tentations In fasting so long thou intendest the manifestation of thy power in fasting no longer the truth of thy man-hood Moses Elias through the miraculous sustentation of God fasted so long without any question made of the truth of their bodies So long
God moued and Satan moued Neither is it any excuse to Satan or Dauid that God moued neither is it any blemish to God that Satan moued The rulers sinne is a punishment to a wicked people though they had many sinnes of their owne whereon God might haue grounded a iudgement yet as before he had punisht them with dearth for Sauls sinne so now hee will not punish them with plague but for Dauids sinne If God were not angry with a people hee would not giue vp their gouernors to such euils as whereby he is prouoked to vengeance and if their gouernours be thus giuen vp the people cannot be safe The body drownes not whiles the head is aboue the water when that once sinkes death is neere Iustly therefore are we charged to make prayers and supplications as for all so especially for those that are in eminent authoritie when we pray for our selues we pray not alwayes for them but we cannot pray for them and not pray for our selues the publique weale is not comprised in the priuate but the priuate in the publique What then was Dauids sinne He will needs haue Israel and Iudah numbred Surely there is no malignity in numbers Neither is it vnfit for a Prince to know his owne strength this is not the first time that Israel hath gone vnder a reckoning The act offends not but the mis-affection The same thing had bin commendably done out of a Princely prouidence which now through the curiositie pride mis-confidence of the doer proues hainously vicious Those actions which are in themselues indifferent receiue either their life or their bane from the intentions of the agent Moses numbreth the people with thankes Dauid with displeasure Those sinnes which carie the smoothest foreheads and haue the most honest appearances may more prouoke the wrath of God then those which beare the most abomination in their faces How many thousand wickednesses passed through the hands of Israel which wee men would rather haue branded out for a iudgement then this of Dauids The righteous Iudge of the world censures sinnes not by their ill lookes but by their foule hearts Who can but wonder to see Ioab the Saint and Dauid the trespasser No Prophet could speake better then that man of blood The Lord thy God increase the people an hundredfold more then they be and that the eyes of my Lord the King may see it but why doth my Lord the King desire this thing There is no man so lewd as not to be somtimes in good moods as not to dislike some euill contrarily no man on earth can be so holy as not sometimes to ouerlash It were pitie that either Ioab or Dauid should be tryed by euery act How commonly haue we seene those men ready to giue good aduice to others for the auoiding of some sins who in more grosse outrages haue not had grace to counsell their owne hearts The same man that had deserued death from Dauid for his treacherous cruelty disswade Dauid from an act that caried but a suspition of euill It is not so much to be regarded who it is that admonisheth vs as what hee brings Good counsell is neuer the worse for the foule cariage There are some dishes that wee may eate euen from sluttish hands The purpose of sinne in a faithfull man is odious much more the resolution Notwithstanding Ioabs discreet admonition Dauid will hold on his course and will know the number of the people onely that he may know it Ioab and the Captaines addresse themselues to the worke In things which are not in themselues euill it is not for subiects to dispute but to obey That which authoritie may sinne in commanding is done of the inferiour not with safety onely but with praise Nine moneths and twenty dayes is this generall muster in hand at last the number is brought in Israel is found eight hundred thousand strong Iudah fiue hundred thousand the ordinary companies which serued by course for the royall guard foure and twenty thousand each moneth needed not be reckoned the addition of them with their seuerall Captaines raises the summe of Israel to the rate of eleuen hundred thousand A power able to puffe vp a carnall heart but how can an heart that is more then flesh trust to an arme of flesh Oh holy Dauid whither hath a glorious vanity transported thee Thou which once didst sing so sweetly Put not your trust in Princes nor in the sonne of man for that is no helpe in him His breath departeth and hee returneth to his earth then his thought perish Blessed is he that hath the God of Iacob for his helpe whose hope is in the Lord his God How canst thou now stoope to so vnsafe and vnworthy a confidence As some stomackfull horse that will not be stopt in his career with the sharpest â—it but runnes on heaâ—ily till he come to some wall or ditch and their stands still and trembles so did Dauid All the disswasions of Ioab could not restraine him from his intended course almost ten moneths doth hee runne on impetuously in a way of his owne rough and dangerous at last his heart smites him the conscience of his offence and the feare of iudgement haue fetcht him vpon his knees O Lord I haue sinned exceedingly in that I haue done therefore now Lord I beseech thee take away the trespasse of thy seruant for I haue done very foolishly It is possible for a sinne not to bait onely but to soiourne in the holiest soule but though it soiourne there as a stranger it shall not dwell there as an owner The renued heart after some rouings of errour will once ere ouer-long returne home to it selfe and fall out with that ill guide wherewith it was misled and with it selfe for being misled and now it is resolued into teares and breathes forth nothing but sighs and confessions and deprecations Here needed no Nathan by a parabolicall circumlocution to fetch in Dauid to a sight and acknowledgement of his sinne the heart of the penitent supplyed the Prophet no others tongue could smite him so deepe as his owne thoughts But though his reines chastised him in the night yet his Seer scourges him in the morning Thus saith the Lord I offer thee three things choose thee which of them I shall doe vnto thee But what shall we say to this When vpon the Prophets reproofe for an adultery clokeâ— with murder Dauid did but say I haue sinned it was presently returned God hath put away thy sinne neither did any smart follow but the death of a mis-begotten infant and now when he voluntarily reproued himselfe for but a needlesse muster and sought for pardon vnbidden with great humiliation God sends him three terrible scourges Famine Sword or Pestilence that he may choose with which of them he had rather to bleed he shall haue the fauour of an election not of a remission God is more angred with a spirituall and immediate affront offered to his Majestie in
mother neither words nor teares can suffice to discouer it Yet more had she beene ayded by the counsell and supportation of a louing yoke-fellow this burden might haue seemed lesse intolerable A good husband may make amends for the losse of a sonne had the root beene left to her intire she might better haue spared the branch now both are cut vp all the stay of her life is gone and shee seemes abandoned to a perfect misery And now when shee gaue herselfe vp for a forlorne mourner past all capacity of redresse the God of comfort meets her pities her relieues her Here was no solicitor but his owne compassion In other occasions he was sought and sued to The Centurion comes to him for a seruant the Ruler for a sonne Iairus for a daughter the neighbours for the Paralyticke here hee seekes vp the patient and offers the cure vnrequested Whiles wee haue to doe with the Father of mercies our afflictions are the most powerfull suitors No teares no prayers can moue him so much as his owne commiseration Oh God none of our secret sorrowes can be either hid from thine eyes or kept from thine heart and when wee are past all our hopes all possibilities of helpe then art thou neerest to vs for deliuerance Here was a conspiration of all parts to mercy The heart had compassion the mouth said Weepe not the feet went to the Beere the hand touched the coffin the power of the Deity raised the dead What the heart felt was secret to it selfe the tongue therefore expresses it in words of comfort Weepe not Alas what are words to so strong and iust passions To bid her not to weepe that had lost her onely sonne was to perswade her to be miserable and not feele it to feele and not regard it to regard and yet to smother it Concealement doth not remedy but aggrauate sorrow That with the counsell of not weeping therefore she might see cause of not weeping his hand seconds his tongue He arrests the Coffin and frees the Prisoner Yongman I say vnto thee arise The Lord of life and death speakes with command No finite power could haue said so without presumption or with successe That is the voice that shall one day call vp our vanished bodies from those elements into which they are resolued and raise them out of their dust Neither sea nor death nor hell can offer to detaine their dead when he charges them to be deliuered Incredulous nature what doest thou shrinke at the possibility of a resurrection when the God of nature vndertakes it It is no more hard for that almighty Word which gaue being vnto all things to say Let them be repaired then Let them be made I doe not see our Sauiour stretching himselfe vpon the dead corps as Elias and Elisha vpon the sonnes of the Sunamite and Sareptan nor kneeling downe and praying by the Beere as Peter did to Dorcas but I heare him so speaking to the dead as if he were aliue and so speaking to the dead that by the word hee makes him aliue I say vnto thee arise Death hath no power to bid that man lye still whom the Sonne of God bids Arise Immediately he that was dead sate vp So at the sound of the last trumpet by the power of the same voice we shall arise out of the dust and stand vp glorious this mortall shall put on immortalitie this corruptible incorruption This body shall not be buried but sowne and at our day shall therefore spring vp with a plentifull increase of glory How comfortlesse how desperate should be our lying downe if it were not for this assurance of rising And now behold lest our weake faith should stagger at the assent to so great a difficulty he hath already by what hee hath done giuen vs tasts of what he will doe The power that can raise one man can raise a thousand a million a world no power can raise one but that which is infinite and that which is infinite admits of no limitation Vnder the old Testament God raised one by Elias another by Elisha liuing a third by Elisha dead By the hand of the Mediator of the New Testament hee raised here the sonne of the Widow the daughter of Iairus Lazarus and in attendance of his owne resurrection he made a gaole-deliuery of holy prisoners at Ierusalem Hee raises the daughter of Iairus from her bed this widowes sonne from his Coffin Lazarus from his graue the dead Saints of Ierusalem from their rottennesse that it might appeare no degree of death can hinder the efficacie of his ouer-ruling command Hee that keepes the keyes of death cannot onely make way for himselfe through the common Hall and outer-roomes but through the inwardest and most reserued closets of darknesse Me thinkes I see this yong man who was thus miraculously awaked from his deadly sleepe wiping and rubbing those eies that had beene shut vp in death and descending from the Beere wrapping his winding sheet about his loines cast himselfe down in a passionate thankfulnesse at the feet of his Almightie restorer adoring that diuine power which had commanded his soule back again to her forsaken lodging though I heare not what he said yet I dare say they were words of praise wonder which his returned soule first vttered It was the mother whom our Sauior pitied in this act not the sonne who now forced from his quiet rest must twice passe through the gates of death As for her sake therefore he was raised so to her hands was he deliuered that she might acknowledge that soule giuen to her not to the possessor Who cannot feele the amazement and extasie of ioy that was in this reuiued mother when her son now salutes her from out of another world And both receiues and giues gratulations of of his new life How suddenly were all the teares of that mournfull traine dried vp with a ioyfull astonishment How soone is that funerall banquet turned into a new Birth-day feast What striuing was here to salute the late carkasse of their returned neighbour What awfull and admiring lookes were cast vpon that Lord of life who seeming homely was approued omnipotent How gladly did euery tongue celebrate both the worke and the author A great Prophet is raised vp amongst vs and God hath visited his people A Prophet was the highest name they could finde for him whom they saw like themselues in shape aboue themselues in power They were not yet acquainted with God manifested in the flesh This miracle might well haue assured them of more then a Prophet but he that raised the dead man from the Beere would not suddenly raise these dead hearts from the graue of Infidelitie they shall see reason enough to know that the Prophet who was raised vp to them was the God that now visited them and at last should doe as much for them as hee had done for the yong man raise them from death to life from dust to glory The
helpe of the Physitian this desperate because it needs not Euery soule is sicke those most that feele it not Those that feele it complaine those that complaine haue cure those that feele it not shall finde themselues dying ere they can wish to recouer Oh blessed Physitian by whose stripes we are healed by whose death we liue happy are they that are vnder thy hands sicke as of sinne so of sorrow for sinne it is as vnpossible they should dye as it is vnpossible for thee to want either skill or power or mercy Sinne hath made vs sicke vnto death make thou vs but as sicke of our sinnes we are as safe as thou are gracious Christ among the Gergesens or Legion and the Gaderene Herd I Doe not any where finde so furious a Demoniacke as amongst the Gergesens Satan is most tyrannous where he is obeyed most Christ no sooner sailed ouer the lake then hee was met with two possessed Gadarenes The extreme rage of the one hath drowned the mention of the other Yet in the midst of all that cruelty of the euill spirit there was sometimes a remission if not an intermission of vexation If oft-times Satan caught him then sometimes in the same violence hee caught him not It was no thanke to that malignant one who as he was indefatigable in his executions so vnmeasurable in his malice but to the mercifull ouer-ruling of God who in a gracious respect to the weaknesse of his poore creatures limits the spightfull attempts of that immortall enemie and takes off this Mastiue whiles wee may take breath He who in his iustice giues way to some onsets of Satan in his mercy restraines them so regarding our deseruings that withall he regards our strength If way should be giuen to that malicious spirit we could not subsist no violent thing can endure if Satan might haue his wil we should no moment be free He can be no more weary of doing euil to vs then God is of doing good Are we therefore preserued from the malignitie of these powers of darknesse Blessed be our strong helper that hath not giuen vs ouer to be a prey vnto their teeth Or if some scope haue been giuen to that enuious one to afflict vs hath it been with fauourable limitations it is thine onely mercy O God that hath chained and muzled vp this band-dog so as that hee may scratch vs with his pawes but cannot pierce vs with his fangs Farre farre is this from our deserts who had too well merited a iust abdication from thy fauour and protection and an interminable seisure by Satan both in soule and body Neither doe I here see more matter of thankes to our God for our immunity from the externall iniuries of Satan then occasion of serious inquirie into his power ouer vs for the spirituall I see some that thinke themselues safe from this ghostly tyranny because they sometimes finde themselues in good moods free from the suggestions of grosse sinnes much more from the commission Vaine men that feed themselues with so false and friuolous comforts will they not see Satan through the iust permission of God the same to the soule in mentall possessions that he is to the body in corporall The worst demoniack hath his lightsome respites not euer tortured not euer furious betwixt whiles hee might looke soberly talke sensibly moue regularly It is a wofull comfort that wee sinne not alwayes There is no Master so barbarous as to require of his Slaue a perpetuall vnintermitted toyle yet though hee sometimes eate sleepe rest hee is a vassall still If that wicked one haue drawne vs to a customarie perpetration of euill and haue wrought vs to a frequent iteration of the same sinne this is gage enough for our seruitude matter enough for his tyrannie and insultation He that would be our tormenter alwaies cares onely to be sometimes our Tempter The possessed is bound as with the invisible fetters of Satan so with the materiall chaines of the inhabitants What can bodily force preuaile against a spirit Yet they indeuour this restraint of the man whether out of charitie or iustice Charitie that he might not hurt himselfe Iustice that he might not hurt others None doe so much befriend the Demoniacke as those that binde him Neither may the spiritually possessed be otherwise handled for though this act of the enemie be plausible and to appearance pleasant yet there is more danger in this deare and smiling tyranny Two sorts of chaines are fit for outragious sinners Good lawes vnpartiall executions That they may not hurt that they may not be hurt to eternall death These iron chaines are no sooner fast then broken There was more thâ—n an humane power in this disruption It is not hard to conceiue the vtmost of nature in this kinde of actions Sampson doth not breake the cords and ropes like a threed of towe but God by Sampson The man doth not breake these chaines but the spirit How strong is the arme of these euill angels how farre transcending the ordinarie course of nature They are not called Powers for nothing what flesh and blood could but tremble at the palpable inequalitie of this match if herein the mercifull protection of our God did not the rather magnifie it selfe that so much strength met with so much malice hath not preuailed against vs In spight of both wee are in safe hands Hee that so easily brake the iron fetters can neuer breake the adamantine chaine of our faith In vaine doe the chafing billowes of hell beat vpon that Rocke whereon wee are built And though these brittle chaines of earthly metall bee easily broken by him yet the sure tempered chaine of Gods eternall Decree hee can neuer breake that almightie Arbiter of Heauen and Earth and Hell hath chained him vp in the bottomlesse pit and hath so restrained his malice that but for our good wee cannot be tempted wee cannot be foyled but for a glorious victory Alas it is no otherwise with the spiritually possessed The chaines of restraint are commonly broken by the fury of wickednesse What are the respects of ciuilitie feare of God feare of men wholesome lawes carefull executions to the desperately licentious but as cobwebs to an harnet Let these wilde Demoniacks know that God hath prouided chaines for them that will hold euen euerlasting chaines vnder darknesse these are such as must hold the Deuils themselues their masters vnto the iudgement of the great Day how much more those impotent vassals Oh that men would suffer themselues to be bound to their good behauiour by the sweet and easie recognizances of their duty to their God and the care of their owne soules that so they might rather be bound vp in the bundle of life It was not for rest that these chaines were torne off but for more motion This prisoner runnes away from his friends hee cannot runne away from his Iaylor Hee is now caried into the Wildernesse Not by meere externall force but by
only Thrice doth hee stretch himselfe vpon the dead body as if he could wish to infuse of his owne life into the childe and so often cals to his God for the restitution of that soule What can Elijah aske to be denyed The Lord heard the voice of his Prophet the soule of the child came into him againe and he reuiued What miracle is impossible to faithfull prayers There cannot bee more difference betwixt Elijahs deuotion and ours then betwixt supernaturall and ordinary acts If he therefore obtained miraculous fauours by his prayers do we doubt of those which are within the sphere of nature and vse What could we want if wee did not slacke to ply heauen with our prayers Certainly Elijah had not beene premonished of this sudden sicknesse and death of the child He who knew the remote affaires of the world might not know what God would doe within his owne roofe The greatest Prophet must content himselfe with so much of Gods counsell as he will please to reueale and he will sometimes reueale the greater secrets and conceale the lesse to make good both his owne liberty and mans humiliation So much more vnexpected as the stroke was so much more welcome is the cure How ioyfully doth the man of God take the reuiued child into his armes and present him to his mother How doth his heart leape within him at this proofe of Gods fauour to him mercy to the widow power to the childe What life and ioy did now show it selfe in the face of that amazed mother when she saw againe the eyes of her sonne fixed vpon hers when shee felt his flesh warme his motions vitall Now she can say to Elijah By this I know that thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth Did she not til now know this Had she not said before What haue I to doe with thee O thou man of God Were not her cruse and her barrel sufficient proofes of his diuine commission Doubtlesse what her meale and oyle had assured her of the death of her sonne made her to doubt and now the reuiuing did re-ascertaine Euen the strongest faith sometimes sluggereth and needeth new acts of heauenly supportation the end of miracles is confirmation of truth It seemes had this widowes sonne continued dead her beleefe had beene buried in his graue notwithstanding her meale and her oile her soule had languished The mercy of God is faine to prouide new helpes for our infirmities and graciously condescends to our owne termes that hee may worke out our faith and saluation ELIJAH with the Baalites THree yeares and an halfe did Israel lie gasping vnder a patrhing drought and miserable famine No creature was so odious to them as Elijah to whom they ascribed all their misery Me thinkes I heare how they railed on and cursed the Prophet How much enuy must the seruants of God vndergoe for their masters Nothing but the tongue was Elijahs the hand was Gods the Prophet did but say what God would doe I doe not see them fall out with their sins that had deserued the iudgement but with the messenger that denounced it Baal had no fewer seruants then if there had beene both raine and plenty Elijah safely spends this storme vnder the lee of Sarepta Some three yeares hath he lien close in that obscure corner and liued vpon the barrell and cruse which he had multiplied At last God cals him forth Goe shew thy selfe to Ahab and I will send raine vpon the earth no raine must fall till Elijah were seen of Ahab Hee caried away the clouds with him he must bring them againe The King the people of Israel shall bee witnesses that God will make good the word the oath of his Prophet Should the raine haue falne in Elijahs absence who could haue knowne it was by his procurement God holds the credit of his messengers precious and neglects nothing that may grace them in the eyes of the world Not the necessity of seuen thousand religious Israelites could cracke the word of one Elijah There is nothing wherin God is more tender then in approuing the veracity of himselfe in his ministers Lewd Ahab hath an holy Steward As his name was so was hee a seruant of God whiles his Master was a slaue to Baal Hee that reserued seuen thousand in the Kingdome of Israel hath reserued an Obadiah in the Court of Israel and by him hath reserued them Neither is it likely there had been so many free hearts in the countrey if Religion had not beene secretly backed in the Court It is a great happinesse when God giues fauour and honour to the Vertuous Elijah did not lie more close in Sarepta then Obadiah did in the Court Hee could not haue done so much seruice to the Church if he had not beene as secret as good Policy and religion doe as well together as they doe ill asunder The Doue without the Serpent is easily caught the serpent without the Doue stings deadly Religion without policy is too simple to be safe Policy without religion is too subtile to be good Their match makes themselues secure and many happy Oh degenerated estate of Israel any thing was now lawfull there sauing piety It is well if Gods Prophets can find an hole to hide their heads in They must needes bee hard driuen when fifty of them are faine to croud together into one caue There they had both shade and repast Good Obadiah hazards his owne life to preserue theirs and spends himselfe in that extream dearth vpon their necessary diet Bread and water was more now then other whiles wine and delicates Whether shall we wonder more at the mercy of God in reseruing an hundred Prophets or in thus sustaining them being reserued When did God euer leaue his Israel vnfurnished of some Prophets When did he leaue his Prophets vnprouided of some Obadiah How worthy art thou O Lord to be trusted with thine owne charge whiles there are men vpon earth or birds in the aire or Angels in heauen thy messengers cannot want prouision Goodnesse caries away trust where it cannot haue imitation Ahab diuides with Obadiah the suruey of the whole land They two set their owne eyes on work for the search of water of pasture to preserue the horses and mules aliue Oh the poore and vaine cares of Ahab He casts to kill the Prophet to saue the cattle he neuer seekes to saue his owne soule to destroy Idolatry he takes thought for grasse none for mercy Carnall hearts are euer either groueling on the earth or delving into it no more regarding God or their soules then if they either were not or were worthlesse Elijah heares of the progresse and offers himselfe to the view of them both Here was wisdome in this courage First hee presents himselfe to Obadiah ere he will bee seene of Ahab that Ahab might vpon the report of so discreet an informer digest the expectation of his meeting Then he takes
not distracted with an accident so sudden so sorrowfull she layes her dead childe vpon the Prophets bed shee lockes the doore shee hides her griefe lest that consternation might hinder her designe she hastens to her husband and as not daring to bee other then officious in so distresse-full an occasion acquaints him with her iourney though not with the cause requires of him both attendance and conueyance shee posts to mount Carmel shee cannot so soone finde out the man of God as hee hath found her He sees her afarre off and like a thankfull guest sends his seruant hastily to meet her to inquire of the health of her selfe her husband her childe Her errand was not to Gehezi it was to Elisha no messenger shall interrupt her no eare shall receiue her complaint but the Prophets Downe shee fals passionately at his feet and forgetting the fashion of her bashfull strangenesse layes hold of them whether in an humble veneration of his person or in a feruent desire of satisfaction Gehezi who well knew how vncouth how vnfit this gesture of salutation was for his master offers to remoue her and admonisheth her of her distance The mercifull Prophet easily apprehends that no ordinary occasion could so transport a graue and well-gouerned matrone as therefore pittying her vnknowne passion hee bids Let her alone for her soule is vexed within her and the Lord hath hid it from mee and hath not told mee If extremitie of griefe haue made her vnmannerly wise and holy Elisha knowes how to pardon it Hee dares not adde sorrow to the afflicted hee can better beare an vnseemelinesse in her greeting then cruelty in her molestation Great was the familiaritie that the Prophet had with his God and as friends are wont mutually to impart their counsels to each other so had the Lord done to him Elisha was not idle on mount Carmel What was it that he saw not from thence Not heauen onely but the world was before him yet the Shunamites losse is concealed from him neither doth he shame to confesse it Oft-times those that know greater matters may yet bee ignorant of the lesse It is no disparagement to any finite creature not to know something By her mouth will God tell the Prophet what by vision hee had not Then she said Did I desire a sonne of my Lord Did I not say doe not deceiue me Deepe sorrow is sparing of words The expostulation could not be more short more quicke more pithy Had I begged a son perhaps my importunity might haue been yeelded to in anger Too much desire is iustly punished with losse It is no maruell if what we wring from God prosper not This fauour to mee was of thine owne motion Thy suit O Elisha made me a mother Couldst thou intend to torment me with a blessing How much more easie had the want of a sonne been then the mis-cariage Barrennesse then orbation Was there no other end of my hauing a son then that I might lose him O man of God let mee not complaine of a cruel kindnesse thy prayers gaue me a son let thy prayers restore him let not my dutifull respects to thee bee repaid with an aggrauation of misery giue not thine hand-maid cause to wish that I were but so vnhapy as thou foundest me Oh wofull fruitfulnesse if I must now say that I had a sonne I know not whether the mother or the Prophet were more afflicted the Prophet for the mothers sake or the mother for her owne Not a word of reply doe wee heare from the mouth of Elisha his breath is onely spent in the remedy Hee sends his seruant with all speed to lay his staffe vpon the face of the childe charging him to auoyd all the delayes of the way Had not the Prophet supposed that staffe of his able to beat away death why did hee send it and if vpon that supposition hee sent it how was it that it failed of effect was this act done out of humane conceit not out of instinct from God Or did the want of the mothers faith hinder the successe of that cure She not regarding the staffe or the man holds fast to Elisha No hopes of his message can loose her fingers As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee She imagined that the seruant the staffe might bee seuered from Elisha she knew that where euer the Prophet was there was power It is good relying vpon those helpes that cannot faile vs. Merit and importunity haue drawne Elisha from Carmel to Shunem Hee findes his lodging taken vp by that pale carkeise hee shuts his doore and fals to his prayers this staffe of his what euer became of the other was long enough hee knew to reach vp to Heauen to knocke at those gates yea to wrench them open Hee applies his body to those cold and senselesse limbs By the feruour of his soule hee reduces that soule by the heat of his body he educeth warmth out of that corps The childe neeseth seuen times as if his spirit had beene but hid for the time not departed it fals to worke a fresh the eyes looke vp the lippes and hands moue The mother is called in to receiue a new life in her twice-giuen sonne she comes in full of ioy full of wonder and bowes her selfe to the ground and fals downe before those feet which shee had so boldly layd hold of in Carmel Oh strong faith of the Shunamite that could not be discouraged with the seizure and continuance of death raising vp her heart still to an expectation of that life which to the eyes of nature had beene impossible irreuocable Oh infinite goodnesse of the Almightie that would not suffer such faith to be frustrate that would rather reuerse the lawes of nature in returning a guest from heauen and raising a corps from death then the confidence of a beleeuing heart should be disappointed How true an heire is Elisha of his master not in his graces onely but in his actions Both of them diuided the waters of Iordan the one as his last act the other as his first Elijahs curse was the death of the Captaines and their troupes Elishaes curse was the death of the children Elijah rebuked Ahab to his face Elisha Iehoram Elijah supplied the drought of Israel by raine from heauen Elisha supplied the drought of the three Kings by waters gushing out of the earth Elijah increased the oyle of the Sareptan Elisha increased the oyle of the Prophets widow Elijah raised from death the Sareptans son Elisha the Shunamites Both of them had one mantle one spirit both of them climbed vp one Carmel one heauen ELISHA with NAAMAN OF the full showers of grace which fell vpon Israel and Iudah yet some drops did light vpon their neighbours If Israel bee the worse for her neerenesse to Syria Syria is the better for the vicinity of Israel Amongst the worst of Gods enemies some are singled out for mercy Naaman was a great
instance in Moses 866 The wicked in their afflictions like the beasts that grow mad with baiting 874 Euery maine affliction is the godly mans Red-Sea 883 A way to discerne the afflictions of God and Satan 884 The enduring afflictions commendable 887 Afflictions send men to prayer 930 The purpose of affliction is to make vs importunate 971 When God hath beaten his child he will burne the rod. 971 The aduantage which afflictions haue 994 our afflictions more noted of the sender then of the sufferer 995 It is the infirmitie of our nature oft-times to bee afflicted with the causes of our ioy 997 An example of Gods making our afflictions beneficial 1000 Extremitie of distresse will send the prophanest to God 1109 1110 Agag of him and Saul 1073 Ag◠a pretty diuision of our ages and hopes in them 46 and burthens also 48 Agnus Dei The vertue of that which was sent by Pope Vrbanus the fift vnto the Greeke Emperour 621 Ahab of him Benhadad 1351 Of him and Naboth 1356 His spleene against Naboth whether of anger or griefe 1357 Iezebels cōforting him 1357 The power of conscience in him 1359 His sorrow censured 1359 Of his death 1360 c. The number of his Prophets ibid. All Satans subtiltie in desiring not all but halfe the heart p. 2 Our seruice to God must bee totall 477. 478 Whether all may reade the Scriptures 617 Trust him in nothing that hath not a conscience in euery thing 1006 Partiall conuersion of man is but hatefull hypocrisie 1051 The worst men will make head against some though not all sinnes 1109 Allegeance of the oath and iust suffering of those that refuse it 342 c. Almes it ought to be like Oyle 708 Alone Sinne is not acted alone 1138 Altar the altar of the Reubenites 967 No gaine so sweet as of a robbed altar 1054 The Altar cleaued to in danger by Ioab but otherwise not regarded 1261 1262 But t is no fit place for a bloody Homicide 1262 Alteration the itching desire of alteration manifested 1053 Amalek his foyle 893 His sin called to reckoning 1074 Ambition an ambitious man is the greatest enemy to himselfe 5 It hath torment enough in euery estate 16 Pretty steps of ambition 95 Its Character 197 Hard to say whether there be more Pride or Ignorance in ambition 985 Ambition euer in trauel 1150 Ammon of him and Thamar 1144 His lust prettily laid out 1146 Anabaptists their Kings or Captaines pride 443 Their dissention at Amsterdam prettily set out 445 Angels of the offices and acts of good and euill Angels 66 67 The vse that we should make of them as our friends and foes ibid. The danger of wicked men which haue Gods Angels to oppose them 934 Good Angels haue their stints in their executions ibid. How forward the good Angels are to incite to pietie 997 Hearty sacrifices are an Angels feast ibid. T is presumption to discourse of their Orders Titles c. 997 Of the Angell and Zacharie 1159 They reioyce to bee with vs whilst wee are with God 1161 What it is to pray to Angels in the Virgins salutation 1163 Anger the small difference betweene anger and madnesse 140 Anna and Peninna 1028 Of Eli and Hanna 1030 Amsterdam vid. Title Brownists and Separatists their separation iniury to the Church with the censure and aduice 315 Antiquitie of popish deprauing antiquitie 349 Apparell the children of God haue three suits of apparell 37 The glory of apparell is sought in noueltie c. with a sharpe reproofe of out-running modestie in it 1135 Appearance nothing more vncertaine then it 489 Of appearance of things and Men. 490 Appearance may bee reduced into three heads ibid. Where appearance is the rule see how the ordinances of God become to bee scorned 492 The Saints mis-deemed the Gallants estate mis-iudged 493 And false religion seeme true 494 Appearance is either a true falsehood or an vncertaine truth 1078 Application the life of doctrine 1142 Apocrypha whether it be to be receiued as Scripture 614 Austeritie there is euer an holy austeritie must follow the calling of God 995 Arke How to bee reuerenced 949 The strength of Gods Arke 952 The Arke and Dagon 1043 The prophane Philistims toyle in carying the Arke shames many our attendance at it ibid. The Arkes reuenge and returne 1046 The Israelites ioy of the returne of the Arke 1049 The remoue of the Arke 1050 Of Vzzah and the Arke 1127 Arts all arts are handmaids to Diuinitie 143 Asa of him 1326 Foure principall monuments of Asa his vertues 1327 Astonishment By it God makes way for his greatest messages 870 Authority An impression of Maiesty in lawfull authoritie 904 The errour of the mightie is armed with authority 917 Authority the marke of enuy 920 Awe The awefulnesse that God hath put into Soueraignty 1116 Awefulnesse is a good interpreter of Gods secret acts 1129 B BAdam Of him 931 And of his Asse 934 His madnesse in cursing the people 936 A pretty vse of Baalams death ibid. Bablers a good note of them 12 Baptisme A discourse of the necessity of it and of the estate of those which necessarily want it 367 Of Christs baptisme 1189 It giues vertue to ours ibid. Bathsheba Of her and Dauid and Vriah 1137 Shee mournes for her husbands death 1141 Beasts God will call vs to account for our cruelty to dumbe beasts 935 Beauty If it bee not well disciplin'd it proues not a friend but a foe 1145 Beelzebub Who he was 1289 Beginnings Wee must stop the beginnings of sin 937 Strange beginnings are not vsually cast away 994 Those affaires are like to proceed well that haue their beginnings of God 1025 Little can wee iudge by the beginnings of an action what will be the end 1053 As it is seene in Saul 1056 Beleefe First beleeue then conceiue 25 vide Faithfulnesse Beniamin His desolation 1019 Beneficence Our cheerfulnesse thereto excited 373 Benefits Wee lose the comfort of them if wee renue not our perils by meditation 1000 Birth Not to be too much discouraged by the basenesse of our birth 991 The very birth and conception of extraordinary persons is extraordinary 994 Bishops Whether ours be Antichristian 578 Blood It is a restlesse suter 1262 Boaz and Ruth 1025 Body How to bee caried in the worship of God 13 The gesture of the body shold expresse and helpe the deuotion of the soule 894 Dead bodies are not lost but layd vp 942 Boldnesse It s vsuall issue without ability 5 It is dangerous to bee too bold with the ordinances of God 949 Fearfull to vse the holy Ordinances of God with an vnreuerend boldnesse 1049 Boldnesse and feare are commonly misplaced in the best hearts 1052 A good conscience wil make a man bold 1060 Bookes Of neglecting good bookes 411 A bewailing the want of order iudgement in reading Popish bookes 412 God hath two bookes one of his word another of his works 1124 Brownists vide Separatists their scandalous aspersions
she had prepared to her sicke Brother her selfe is made a prey to his outragious Lust The modest Virgine intreates and perswades in vaine shee layes before him the sinne the shame the danger of the fact and since none of these can preuaile faine would winne time by the suggesting of vnpossible hopes Nothing but violence can stay a resolued sinner What hee cannot by intreaty hee will haue by force If the Deuill were not more strong in men than nature they would neuer seeke pleasure in violence Amnon hath no sooner fulfilled his beastly desires than he hates Tamar more than he loued her Inordinate lust neuer ends but in discontentment Losse of spirits and remorse of soule make the remembrance of that Act tedious whose expectation promised delight If we could see the backe of sinfull pleasures ere we behold their face our hearts could not but be fore-stalled with a iust detestation Brutish Amnon it was thy selfe whom thou shouldst haue hated for this villany not thine innocent sister Both of you lay together onely one committed incest What was she but a patient in that impotent fury of lust How vniustly doe carnall men mis-place their affections No man can say whether that loue or this hatred were more vnreasonable Fraud drew Tamar into the house of Amnon force intertained her within and droue her out Faine would she haue hid her shame where it was wrought and may not bee allowed it That roofe vnder which she came with honour and in obedience and loue may not be lent her for the time as a shelter of her ignominie Neuer any sauage could be more barbarous Shechem had rauished Dinah his offence did not make her odious his affection so continued that he is willing rather to draw bloud of himselfe and his people than forgoe her whom hee had abused Amnon in one houre is in the excesse of loue and hate and is sicke of her for whom he was ficke She that lately kept the keyes of his heart is now lockt out of his doores Vnruly passions runne euer into extremities and are then best apaied when they are furthest off from reason and moderation What could Amnon thinke would be the euent of so soule a fact which as hee had not the grace to preuent so hee hath not the care to conceale If hee lookt not so high as Heauen what could he imagine would follow hereupon but the displeasure of a Father the danger of Law the indignation of a Brother the shame and out-cryes of the World All which he might haue hoped to auoid by secresie and plausible courses of satisfaction It is the iust iudgement of God vpon presumptuous offenders that they lose their wit together with their honesty and are either so blinded that they cannot fore-see the issue of their actions or so besotted that they doe not regard it Poore Tamar can but bewaile that which she could not keepe her Virginity not lost but torne from her by a cruell violence She rends her Princely Robe and kâ—ies ashes on her head and laments the shame of anothers sinne and liues more desolate than a widdow in the house of her brother Absalom In the meane time what a corosiue must this newes needs be to the heart of good Dauid whose fatherly command had out of loue cast his Daughter into the iawes of this Lion What an insolent affront must he needs construe this to bee offred by a Sonne to a Father that the Father should bee made the Pandar of his owne Daughter to his Sonne Hee that lay vpon the ground weeping for but the sicknesse of an Infant How vexed doe we thinke hee was with the villanie of his Heire with the rauishment of his Daughter both of them worse than many deaths What reuenge can he thinke of for so haynous a crime lesse than death and what lesse than death is it to him to thinke of a reuenge Rape was by the Law of God capitall how much more when it is seconded with Incest Anger was not punishment enough for so high an offence Yet this is all that I heare of from so indulgent a Father sauing that he makes vp the rest with sorrow punishing his Sonnes out-rage in himselfe The better-natur'd and more gracious a man is the more subiect he is to the danger of an ouer-remissenesse and the excesse of fauour and mercie The milde iniustice is no lesse perillous to the Common-wealth than the cruell If Dauid perhaps out of the conscience of his owne late offence will not punish this fact his sonne Absalom shall not out of any care of Iustice but in a desire of reuenge Two whole yeares hath this slye Courtier smothered his indignation and fayned kindnesse else his inuitation of Amnon in speciall had beene suspected Euen gallant Absalom was a great Sheep-master The brauery and magnificence of a Courtier must bee built vpon the grounds of frugalitie Dauid himselfe is bidden to this bloudie Sheep-shearing It was no otherwise meant but that the Fathers eyes should be the witnesses of the Tragicall execution of one Sonne by another Onely Dauids loue kept him from that horrible spectacle Hee is carefull not to be chargeable to that Sonne who cares not to ouer charge his Fathers stomacke with a Feast of Bloud AMNON hath so quite forgot his sinne that he dares goe to feast in that House where Tamar was mourning and suspects not the kindnesse of him whom he had deserued of a Brother to make an enemy Nothing is more vnsafe to be trusted than the faire lookes of a festred heart Where true Charitie or iust satisfaction haue not wrought a sound reconciliation malice doth but lurke for the opportunitie of an aduantage It was not for nothing that Absalom deferred his reuenge which is now so much the more exquisite as it is longer protracted What could bee more fearefull than when Amnons heart was merrie with Wine to be suddenly stricken with death As if this execution had beene no lesse intended to the Soule than to the bodie How wickedly soeuer this was done by Absalom yet how iust was it with God that he who in two yeares impunity would finde no leisure of repentance should now receiue a punishment without possibilitie of Repentance O God thou art righteous to reckon for those sinnes which humane partialitie or negligence hath omitted and whiles thou punishest sinne with sinne to punish sinne with death If either Dauid had called Amnon to account for this villanie or Amnon had called himselfe the reuenge had not beene so desperate Happie is the man that by an vnfayned Repentance acquits his soule from his knowne euills and improues the dayes of his peace to the preuention of future vengeance which if it bee not done the hand of God shall as surely ouertake vs in iudgement as the hand of Satan hath ouertaken vs in miscarriage vnto sinne ABSALOMS Returne and Conspiracie ONE Act of iniustice drawes on another The iniustice of Dauid in not punishing the rape of
Amnon procures the iniustice of Absalom in punishing Amnon with Murder That which the Father should haue iustly reuenged and did not the Sonne reuenges vniustly The Rape of a Sister was no lesse worthy of death than the Murder of a Brother Yea this latter sinne was therefore the lesse because that Brother was worthy of death though by another hand whereas that Sister was guiltie of nothing but modest beautie yet he that knew this Rape passed ouer whole two yeares with impunitie dares not trust the mercie of a Father in the pardon of his Murder but for three yeares hides his head in the Court of his Grand-father the King of Geshur Doubtlesse that Heathenish Prince gaue him a kind welcome for so meritorious a reuenge of the dishonour done to his owne Loynes No man can tell how Absalom should haue sped from the hands of his otherwise ouer-indulgent Father if he had beene apprehended in the heat of the fact Euen the largest loue may be ouer-strayned and may giue a fall in the breaking These fearefull effects of lenity might perhaps haue whetted the seueritie of Dauid to shut vp these outrages in bloud Now this displeasure was weakned with age Time and thoughts haue digested this hard morsell Dauids heart told him that his hands had a share in this offence that Absalom did but giue that stroke which himselfe had wrongfully forborne that the vnrecouerable losse of one Sonne would be but wofully relieued with the losse of another Hee therefore that in the newes of the deceased Infant could change his clothes and wash himselfe and cheere vp his spirits with the resolution of I shall goe to him hee shall not returne to me comforts himselfe concerning Amnon and begins to long for Absalom THOSE three yeares banishment seemed not so much a punishment to the Son as to the Father Now Dauid beginnes to forgiue himselfe yet out of his wisedome so inclines to fauour that he conceales it and yet so conceales it that it may be descryed by a cunning eye If he had cast out no glances of affection there had beene no hopes for his Absalom if he had made profession of loue after so foule an Act there had beene no safetie for others now he lets fall so much secret grace as may both hold vp Absalom in the life of his hopes and not hearten the presumption of others GOOD Eyes see light thorow the smallest chinke The wit of Ioab hath sooone discerned Dauids reserued affection and knowes how to serue him in that which hee would and would not accomplish and now deuises how to bring into the light that birth of Desire whereof hee knew Dauid was both bigge and ashamed A woman of Tekoah that Sex hath beene euer held more apt for wiles is suborned to personate a mourner and to say that by way of Parable which in plaine termes would haue sounded too harshly and now whiles shee lamentably layes forth the losse and danger of her Sonnes she shewes Dauid his owne and whiles shee mooues compassion to her pretended Issue she winnes Dauid to a pittie of himselfe and a fauourable sentence for Absalom We loue our selues better than others but we see others better than our selues who so would perfectly know his owne case let him view it in anothers person PARABLES sped well with Dauid One drew him to repent of his owne sinne another to remit Absaloms punishment And now as glad to heare this Plea and willing to bee perswaded vnto that which if hee durst hee would haue sought for he gratifies Ioab with the grant of that suite which Ioab more gratified him in suing for Goe bring againe the young man ABSALOM How glad is Ioab that hee hath light vpon one Act for which the Sun both setting and rising should shine vpon him and now he speeds to Geshur to fetch backe Absalom to Ierusalem hee may bring the long-banished Prince to the Citie but to the Court he may not bring him Let him turne to his owne house and let him not see my face THE good King hath so smarted with mercie that now hee is resolued vpon austeritie and will relent but by degrees It is enough for Absalom that hee liues and may now breathe his natiue ayre Dauids face is no obiect for the eyes of a Murtherer What a Deareling this Sonne was to his Father appeares in that after an vnnaturall and barbarous rebellion passionate Dauid wishes to haue changed liues with him yet now whiles his bowels yearned his brow frowned The face may not bee seene where the heart is set THE best of Gods Saints may bee blinded with affection but when they shall once see their errors they are carefull to correct them Wherefore serues the power of Grace but to subdue the insolencies of nature It is the wisedome of Parents as to hide their hearts from their best children so to hide their countenances from the vngracious Fleshly respects may not abate their rigour to the ill deseruing For the Childe to see all his Fathers loue it is enough to make him wanton and of wanton wicked For a wicked Child to see any of his Fathers loue it emboldens him in euill and drawes on others ABSALOMS house is made his Prison Iustly is hee confined to the place which he had stayned with bloud Two yeares doth hee liue in Ierusalem without the happinesse of his Fathers sight It was enough for Dauid and him to see the smoke of each others Chimnies In the meane time how impatient is Absalom of this absence Hee sends for Ioab the Soliciter of his returne So hard an hand doth wise and holy Dauid carry ouer his reduced Sonne that his friendly Intercessor Ioab dares not visit him HE that afterwards kindled that seditious fire ouer all Israel sets fire now on the field of Ioab whom loue cannot draw to him feare and anger shall Continued displeasure hath made Absalom desperate Fiue yeares are passed since hee saw the face of his Father and now is hee no lesse weary of his life than of this delay Wherefore am I come downe from Geshur It had beene better for mee to haue beene there still Now therefore let mee see the Kings face and if there bee any iniquitie in mee let him kill mee Either banishment or death seemed as tolerable to him as the debarring of his Fathers sight WHAT a torment shall it be to the wicked to be shut out for euer from the presence of a God without all possible hopes of recouery This was but a Father of the flesh by whom if Absalom liued at first yet in him he liued not yea not without him onely but against him that Sonne found he could liue God is the Father of Spirits in whom wee so liue that without him can bee no life no being to bee euer excluded from him in whom wee liue and are what can it bee but an eternall dying an eternall perishing If in thy presence O God be the fulnesse of ioy in
Prophets yeeldance as for his owne life This was the way to offer violence to the Prophet of God to the God of that Prophet euen humble supplications Wee must deprecate that euill which wee would auoid if we would force blessings we must intreat them There is nothing to be gotten from God by strong hand any thing by suit The life of the Captaine is preserued Elijah is by the Angell commanded to goe downe with him speedily fearelesly The Prophet casts not with himselfe What safety can there be in this iourney I shall put my selfe into the hands of rude Souldiers and by them into the hands of an inraged King if he did not eagerly thirst after my blood hee had neuer sought it with so much losse But so soone as hee had a charge from the Angell hee walkes downe resolutely and as it were dares the dangers of so great an hostilitie Hee knew that the same God who had fought for him vpon the hill would not leaue him in the Valley hee knew that the Angell which bade him goe was guard enough against a world of enemies Faith knowes not how to feare and can as easily contemne the suggestion of perils as infidelitie can raise them The Prophet lookes boldly vpon the Court which doubtlesse was not a little disaffected to him and comes confidently into the bed-chamber of Ahaziah and sticks not to speake ouer the same words to his head which hee had sent him not long since by his first messengers Not one syllable will the Prophet abate of his errand It is not for an Herald of Heauen to be out of countenance or to mince ought of the most killing messages of his God Whether the inexpected confidence both of the man and of the speech amazed the sicke King of Israel or whether the feare of some present iudgement wherewith hee might suspect Elijah to come armed vpon any act of violence that should bee offered ouer-awed him or whether now at the last vpon the sight and hearing of this man of God the Kings heart began to relent and checke it selfe for that sinne for which hee was iustly reproued I know not but sure I am the Prophet goes away vntouched neither the furious purposes of Ahaziah nor the exasperations of a Iezebel can hurt that Prophet whom God hath intended to a fiery Chariot The hearts of Kings are not their owne Subiects are not so much in their hands as they are in their Makers How easily can God tame the fiercenesse of any creature and in the midst of their most heady careere stop them on the sudden and fetcht them vpon the knees of their humble submission It is good trusting God with the euents of his owne commands who can at pleasure either auert euils or improue them to good According to the word of the Prophet Ahaziah dies not two whole yeares doth hee sit in the Throne of Israel which hee now must yeeld in the want of children to his brother Wickednesse shortens his reigne he had too much of Ahab and Iezebel to expect the blessing either of length or prosperitie of gouernment As alwaies in the other so oft-times in this world doth God testifie his anger to wicked men Some liue long that they may aggrauate their iudgement others die soon that they may hasten it The Rapture of ELIJAH LOng and happily hath Elijah fought the wars of his God and now after his noble and glorious victories God will send him a Chariot of Triumph Not suddenly would God snatch away his Prophet without warning without expectation but acquaints him before-hand with the determination of his glory How full of heauenly ioy was the soule of Elijah whiles he foreknew and lookt for this instant happinesse With what contempt did he cast his eyes vpon that earth which he was now presently to leaue with what rauishment of an inward pleasure did hee looke vpon that heauen which he was to enioy For a meet fare-well to the earth Elijah will goe visit the schooles of the Prophets before his departure These were in his way Of any part of the earth they were nearest vnto Heauen In an holy progresse therefore hee walkes his last round from Gilgal neere Iordan to Bethel from Bethel to Iericho from Iericho to Iordan againe In all these sacred Colledges of Diuines he meant to leaue the legacie of his loue counsell confirmation blessing How happy a thing it is whiles we are vpon earth to improue our time gifts to the best behoofe of Gods Church And after the assurance of our owne blessednesse to helpe others to the same heauen But O God who can but wonder at the course of thy wise and powerfull administrations Euen in the midst of the degeneration and Idolatries of Israel hast thou reserued to thy selfe whole societies of holy Prophets and out of those sinfull and reuolted Tribes hast raised the two great miracles of Prophets Elijah and Elisha in an immediate succession Iudah it selfe vnder a religious Iehoshaphat yeelded not so eminent and cleerely illuminated spirits The mercy of our prouident God will neither be confined nor excluded neither confined to the places of publike profession nor excluded from the depraued Congregations of his owne people where hee hath loued he cannot easily be estranged Rather where sinne abounds his grace aboundeth much more and raiseth so much stronger helps as he sees the dangers greater Happy was Elisha in the attendance of so gracious a Master and the more happy that he knows it Faine would Elijah shake him off at Gilgal if not there at Bethel if not yet there at Iericho A priuate message on which Elijah must goe alone is pretended from the Lord Whether shall we say the Prophet did this for the tryall of the constant affection of his carefull and diligent seruant or that it was concealed from Elijah that his departure was reuealed to Elisha Perhaps hee that knew of his owne reception into heauen did not know what witnesses would bee allowed to that miraculous act and now his humble modesty affected a silent and vn-noted passage Euen Elisha knew something that was hid from his Master now vpon the threshold of heauen No meere creature was euer made of the whole counsell of the Highest Some things haue been disclosed to babes and nouices that haue been closed vp to the most wise and iudicious In naturall speculations the greater wit and deeper iudgement stil caries it but in the reuelations of God the fauour of his choice swayes all not the power of our apprehension The master may both command and intreat his seruants stay in vaine Elisha must bee pardoned this holy and zealous disobedience As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee His master may be withdrawne from him he will not be withdrawne from his Master He knew that the blessing was at the parting and if he had diligently attended all his life and now slacked in the last act he had lost the reward
of his seruice The euening praises the day and the chiefe grace of the theater is in the last Scene Be faithfull to the death and I will giue thee a Crowne of life That Elijah should be translated and what day he should be translated God would haue no secret The sonnes of the Prophets at Bethel at Iericho both know it and aske Elisha if he knew it not Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy Master from thy head this day and hee answered Yea I know it hold yee your peace How familiarly do these Prophets inter-know one another How kindly do they communicate their visions Seldome euer was any knowledge giuen to keep but to impart The grace of this rich Iewell is lost in concealement The remouall of an Elijah is so important a businesse that it is not fit to be done without noise Many shall haue their share in his losse he must be missed on the sudden it was meet therefore that the world should know his rapture should be diuine and glorious I doe not finde where the day of any naturall death is notified to so many by how much more wonder there was in this Assumption by so much more shall it bee fore-reuealed It is enough for ordinarie occurrents to bee knowne in their euent supernaturall things haue need of premonition that mens hearts may bee both prepared for their receit and confirmed in their certainty Thrice was Elisha intreated thrice hath hee denied to stay behinde his now-departing Master on whom both his eyes and his thoughts are so fixed that hee cannot giue allowance so much as to the interpellation of a question of his fellow-Prophets Together therefore are this wonderfull paire comne to the last stage of their separation the bankes of Iordan Those that were not admitted to bee attendants of the iourney yet will not bee debarred from being spectators of so maruellous an issue Fifty men of the sonnes of the Prophets went and stood to view afarre off I maruell there were no more How could any sonne of the Prophets stay within the Colledge walls that day when hee knew what was meant to Elijah Perhaps though they knew that to bee the Prophets last day yet they might thinke his disparition should bee sudden and insensible besides they found how much hee affected secrecie in this intended departure yet the fifty Prophets of Iericho will make proofe of their eyes and with much intention assay who shall haue the last sight of Elijah Miracles are not purposed to silence and obscuritie God will not worke wonders without witnesses since hee doth them on purpose to winne glory to his name his end were frustrate without their notice Euen so O Sauiour when thou hadst raised thy selfe from the dead thou wouldest bee seene of more then fiue hundred brethren at once and when thou wouldest raise vp thy glorified bodie from earth into Heauen thou didst not ascend from some close valley but from the Mount of Oliues not in the night not alone but in the cleare day in the view of many eyes which were so fixed vpon that point of thine heauen that they could scarce bee remoued by the checke of Angels Iordan must be crossed by Elijah in his way to heauen There must be a meet parallel betwixt the two great Prophets that shal meet Christ vpon Tabor Moses and Elias Both receiued visions on Horeb to both God appeared there in fire and other formes of terrour both were sent to Kings one to Pharaoh the other to Ahab Both prepared miraculous Tables the one of Quailes and Manna in the Desert the other of Meale and Oyle in Sarepta Both opened heauen the one for that nourishing dew the other for those refreshing showres Both reuenged Idolatries with the sword the one vpon the worshippers of the golden Calfe the other vpon the foure hundred Baalites Both quenched the drought of Israel the one out of the Rocke the other out of the Cloud Both diuided the waters the one of the Red Sea the other of Iordan Both of them are forewarned of their departure Both must be fetcht away beyond Iordan The body of Elijah is translated the body of Moses is hid What Moses doth by his Rod Elijah doth by his Mantle with that hee smites the Waters and they as fearing the diuine power which wrought with the Prophet runne away from him and stand on heapes leauing their dry channell for the passage of those awfull feet It is not long since he mulcted them with a generall exsiccation now he onely bids them stand aside and giue way to his last walke that he might with dry feet mount vp into the celestiall chariot The waters doe not now first obey him they know that Mantle of old which hath oft giuen lawes to their falling rising standing they are past ouer and now when Elijah finds himselfe treading on his last earth hee profers a munificent boone to his faithfull seruant Aske what I shall doe for thee before I am taken from thee I doe not heare him say Aske of me when I am gone In my glorified condition I shall bee more able to bestead thee but aske before I goe Wee haue a communion with the Saints departed not a commerce when they are inabled to doe more for vs they are lesse apt to be sollicited by vs It is safe suing where we are sure that we are heard Had not Elijah receiued a peculiar instinct for this profer he had not been thus liberall It were presumption to be bountifull on anothers cost without leaue of the owner The mercy of our good God allowes his fauourites not onely to receiue but to giue not onely to receiue for themselues but to conuey blessings to others What can that man want that is befriended of the faithfull Elisha needs not goe farre to seeke for a suit It was in his heart in his mouth Let a double portion of thy spirit be vpon me Euery Prophet must be a sonne to Elijah but Elisha would be his heire and craues the happy right of his primogeniture the double share to his brethren It was not wealth nor safety nor ease nor honour that Elisha cares for the world lies open before him hee may take his choice the rest he contemneth nothing will serue him but a large measure of his masters spirit No carnall thought was guilty of this sacred ambition Affectation of eminence was too base a conceit to fall into that man of God He saw that the times needed strong conuictions he saw that hee could not otherwise weild the succession to such a Master therefore he sues for a double portion of spirit the spirit of prophesie to foreknow the spirit of power to worke We cannot bee too couetous too ambitious of spirituall gifts such especially as may inable vs to win most aduantage to God in our vocations Our wishes are the true touch-stone of our estate such as we wish to be we are worldly hearts affect earthly things spirituall