yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things as sorrowing yet alwayes rejoycing I can take more content in my tears then they in their dayes of jollity Have they health peace liberty money I am more in comforts more singular in promises more abundant God deals with his and the world as Joseph dealt with his Brethren their sacks were all fill'd and their money put into their sacks But Benjamin shall have the silver cup which proved a pledge of love at the last All are bountifully feasted but Benjamin's messe is best God is good to all but his owne shal have something over and above riches and the God of riches honour liberty health and a good right to them with a gracious use of them which the world never had And not onely so but in that salvation wrought for mankinde by the death of Jesus Christ Gods owne people have something more then others according to that of the Apostle He is the Saviour of all men especially of them that believe He saves all that is from that inevitable ruine the sin of Adam had involved them in and making them salvable upon conditions of another covenant so that now salvation is not impossible as it was before Christ but may be offered to any man even the Jailor a boysterous bloody fellow upon condition of believing according to the tenor of that commission He that believeth shall be saved So that a speciall salvation is afforded to believers Christ was a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. but the Saviour onely of his body Eph. 5. 23. He redeemed all from present ruine but called and justified and glorified onely whom he knew before and had predestinated to be conformed to his Image He saves none thus but those for whom he prayed and he prayed not for the world 2. Such even in those outward enjoyments have something more singular then the world that little that a righteous man hath is better then the great revenues of the wicked their wealth is better their liberty better their honor better their peace better then other mens For they have these things mercy with them and a blessing upon them They have these things as by the same covenant so with the same love that they enjoy Jesus Christ and a little blessed is better then a world enjoyed It is said of Isaac that he sowed his ground and received an hundred sold and the Lord blessed him He waxed great and grew on till he became very great but the Lord was with him and blessed him Others have a bit and a whip a crust and knock rich and reprobate honorable and damned Abundance and go ye cursed at the last A little in mercy is abundance and abundance with blessing is Gods plenty And indeed he that can blesse a little can blast a great deal If Cain till the ground and sow his seed the earth is cursed to him it shall not bâ—ing sorth or yeeld to him her strength Hence the word in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both bounty and blessing and indeed that is truely bounty that is thus blessed Rom. 15. 29. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 2 Cor. 9. 5. 3. God ever gives to his owne satisfying mercies contenting goodnesse No man but a childe of God could ever truely say as Jacob did I have enough Joseph is alive My redeemer liveth There is much difference between the men of Gods hand that are the men of this world and the men of his heart and there is as great a difference betwixt the â—â—lâ—ing of the belly and the satisfying of the â—oul Thou fillest their bellies saith David speaking of the men that are his hand with 〈◊〉 â—id treasure but as for me I will behold thy 〈◊〉 in righteousnesse I shall be satisfied when I â—wake with thy likenesse These outward things to the world is but a belly-â—ull and how soon is the belly emptyed but they â—hat hunger and thirst after righteousnesse shall be satisfied God gives the world the worlds goods but not the Saints goodnesse He gives the world as sometimes he did to Israel their request but sends leannesse into the soul a fat purse and a fat heart a whole estate and a whole heart a fat body and a â—ean soul but he deals better with his own he fulfils the desires of them that fear him If he afflict them he sanctifies their afflictions or they are not satisfied If he give to them he gives them all things that concern life and godlinesse or they are not satisfied If he forgive them he forgives all their iniquities and remembers their sin no more or they are not satisfied Hence it is observable that the Saints of God in the Old Testament are ever mentioned in the Gospel with honor but their faults and failings never remembred Ye have heard of the patience of Job saith James so have we read something of his impatience but that is quite forgotten Ye have read of the Faith of Abraham of the Grief of Lot for the David the Wisdome of Solomon c. 〈◊〉 their sins are not remembred in the Gospel On the contrary those wicked ones whosâ— names are recorded in the Old Testament are never mentioned in the New Testament but with some blot as Cain who was of that wicked one Ismael the persecuter Esaâ— the profane Balaam the covetous Corah the Gainsayer c. But what saith the Lord of these In those dayes and at that time the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve 5. Take great heed that the want of some one thing do not rob you of the comfort of all the mercies that you enjoy besides For such is the perversnesse and waywardnesse of mans nature that though some have had more have more and look to enjoy more then they can either want or wish for yet they are more troubled with the sense of one want then they are comforted in or thankful for all they have This was not onely the fault of Aâ—ab whom not the royalties of the Kingdome nor the Cities he had built nor the Ivory house that he had made would content and comfort unlesse he might have Naboth's vineyard also which was denyed him Nor was this the fault of Haman alone who though he did what he listed and had what he pleased under the favour of his royall Master yet lost the comfort of all because 〈◊〉 would not bow What avails all saith he so long as I see Mordecai sitting in the Kings gate but it was the fault of good â—achel that was able to wrestle with God who though she had what a loving Husband could afford her yet would die of the â—ullens because she had no Son Yea even Abraham as some think failed in this who brake out
such in the Scriptures Few men went to the grave in peace that by their monstrous impietiâ— made war against heaven and his Church As what became of Pharaoh the bloody and Achitophel the crafty of Balaam the covetous and Corah the rebell of Haman the proud and Herod the fox As their live were wicked so their ends were fearful Iâ— like manner what became of Absalom the disobedient and Ela the drunkard 〈◊〉 Zimri and Cosbi the unclean of Ananiâ— and Saphira those lyars Were not all these taken away with a stroke in their sin Whaâ— became of those Romane Nimrods as Maxentius the Tyrant and Julian the Apostate with others who hunted the Saints of God to death in those ten persecutions mentioned in Ecclesiasticall Histories How few oâ— their hoary heads went to the grave in peace To come neerer to our owne times What became of wily Winchester and bloody Bonner with many others that ruled the roste in those Dog-dayes of Q Mary's reign Few of those bloody and deceitfull men lived out half their dayes But when the scumme was at the highest it fell into the fire for though God did bear them up for some time in their essence yet he would not bear them out at all in their malice God hath leaden feet but iron hands though he comes slowly yet he strikes surely It is good to mark the ends of men Mark the perfect man saith the Psalmist and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Balaam did so as wicked as he was which made him wish that he might dye the death of the righteous and that his latter end might be like his In like manner mark the end of the transgressors for they shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be cut off that is they shall not dye the common death of all men but shall be cut off in the midst of their dayes If their lives be tragical their deaths are seldome comicall Zoroastes the inventer of Magick as some Historians affirm of him laught at his birth but dyed a wofull and a lamentable death being banished from his Countrey Alphonsus Dyazius a Spaniard a rigid Papist procured a notorious cut-throat to murâ—her his Brother John Dyazius a sincere Protestant because he could by no means turn him from the truth but the righteous Lord would not suffer such an unnaturall villany to go unpunished for not long after he was haunted by the terrors of his owne conscience that being at Trent when the Councel sate there for he was one of the Popes Lawyers he hanged himself about the neck of his owne Mule How have some godly Divines taken good pains in writing the stories of Godâ— judgements upon notorious malefactors aâ— Drunkards Swearers Sabbath-breakers and such like Would others be perswaded in their generation to take speciall notice and keep some account of such memorable accidents the benefit would be singular The righteous shall see and fear saith the Psalmist What shal they see That God destroyed the mighty man that boasts himself in mischief that God takes him away and plucks him out of his dwelling place and roots him out of the land of the living A Serviâ—g-man being at a Tavern in Essex and threatning to swear the Constable out of the Town if he came there in a drunken fit running after one to make him pledge him a pinte of sack at a draught fell down the stairs and dyed instantly Novemb. 1. 1626. A Fisher-man that I knew bringing Mackerell to a Port-town in Suffolk where the people because they were new and the first that came that yeer to Town pressing eagerly to buy them and some against his will being entred into his boat he took up a stone and sware by the name of God he would make them stand further off instantly sunk down and soon after dyed How many in my time have I noted Would others do the like how would men consider such things and understand the righteous judgements of the Lord 5. Finally consider seriously and observe very strictly what the Nationall Epidemicall sin of the time and present generation may be Where iniquity abounds it is hard to determine but questionlesse every age hath a peculiar distemper In times of commotion when the bands of love are broken into severall parties and factions as they have been lately amongst us it is more easily discerned A noble Gentleman of singular abilities and one much employed in affairs of State in his time whom I knew well advised his friends at such a time to buy up all the Pamphlets that were printed if of any considerable worth for when people fall out they commonly speak out and if they be once drunk with passion and their distempers boyl to any height the most secret venome will swim on the top By which means you may easily seel the pulse of the present time and discover what is the Nationall and most predominant sinne and it will be worth our praise to know it Which that we may the better doe let us look back a little to the generations behinde us 1. Some times have been more notorious for drunkennesse Scaliger in his Book de Lingua Latina observes this of the Germans in his time that their vivere was bibere not only in their pronunciation as he noted but in their practice as other well observed who lived that they might drink Seneca foretold so much of some times that men should be so drowned with this sin of drunkennesse that plurimum meri sumpsisse virtus esset it should be esteemed a virtue to strive with the Brewers horse who should carry more liquor and with some it hath been of that esteem that not as drunk as a Begger but as drunk as a Prince hath been a kind of proverbial commendation of some When Aeschines commended Philip King of Macedon for a Joviall man who would drink freely Demosthenes being by told him that this was a good quality in a Spunge but not in a Prince Drunkennesse is a sin that layes men open to all iniquity more then any sin Ebrietas in se culpas complectitur omnes What sin is not a Drunkard subject to Their eyes shall behold strange women saith Solomon and their hearts shall utter perverse things And a sin it is that God hath more frequently and suddenly plagued with death in the very act then any other sin Edgar a King of England observing in his time that excessive drinking abounded in the Land through the example of the Danes that dwelt in divers parts of the Kingdome to prevent that evill ordained that their cups they drank in should have certain pins or nails put in them beyond which if any drank at one draught he should pay so much money 2. Some generation hath been more infamous for that sin of Swearing and that by the name of God even at every word here in England Insomuch that a family in this Land and that no mean one
in a mercy â—an never be truely thankfull Check your â—elves therefore often for this neglect as this â—acob did who when in his journey to Labanâ—e â—e had in a vision a sight of a Ladder whose â—oot stood on the earth and whose top did â—each to heaven and the Angels of God were â—scending descending upon it and the Lord â—ood above it All which was a lively discoâ—ery of Gods provident care of him said God was in this place and I knew it not So â—â—y you God was in this friend that relieved â—e in this ordinance that refreshed me â—n this creature that comforted me and I observed him not There are none of the wayes of God wherein he useth either thâ— ministery of Angels or the wisdome of meâ— or the strength of any creature but God is 〈◊〉 the top of the Ladder and orders all though we observe him not We may by an eye of reason see a man is his works though his person be not presentâ— As when we see a piece of ground well ploughed the fences well made the cattle well ordered we say Here is a good Huâ—band though we do not see the Farmer When we see a house built very well and every room well contrived we say Here iâ— a good Work-man though we do not see the Carpenter And may we not as well by an eye of faith behold the wisdome goodnesse and power of God in his works though he be invisible Say you therefore Here is so much of the prudence of a Pâ—â—nce so much of the policy of a State so much of the valour and faithfulnesse of a Governour but how much do you observe of God who rules the hearts and wayes of all men Here is so much of the cost of a Father so much of the affection of a Mother so much of the faithfulnesse of a Friend but how much of the mercy and wisdome of God A great Cardinall that I have read of writing down in his Diary what such a Lord did for him how far such a Prince favoured him what incouragement he had from such a King and how such a Pope preferr'd him but not a word of God one â—eading of it said This man remembred â—is friends but forgat God Like another Haman who when he told his friends and â—eresh his Wife of the glory of his riches â—nd the multitude of his children and all the things wherein the King had proâ—oted him who had advanced him above â—ll the Princes and Servants at the Court â—nd what honor Queen Esther did him who â—nvited him onely with the King to the banâ—uet never made any mention of God Do â—ou rather as David who when he had â—old King Saul how he had slain the Lion and the Bear said moreover The Lord that â—elivered me c. He comes over with it aâ—ain rather then not mention the Name of the Lord and let Saul know he observed Gods great power in that victory All the letters in the Alphabet without a â—owel will not make one word nor all the â—ars in the firmament without the Sun will make a day nor all the world the profits of it or pleasures in it can make a man happy without God The Jews some say when they read the Book of Esther let the book fall on the ground and they give this reason for that â—eremony though they esteem it a Canonitall piece of Scripture yet they somewhat undervalue it because the word of God is not found in all the Story Though a man have as much health strength and beauty as Nature can afford him and to that aâ— much wealth honor and friends as thâ— world can bring him and to all these aâ— much learning as Tutors can put into him yet if he be a man without God he falls in the thoughts and estimation of such as are spirituall and can discern him though they may acknowledge him a very discerning man 2. Labour by faith to see and observe all these good things in God For as omnia malâ— may be seen in summo malo All evils in the world may be seen in sin the chief evill as blindnesse nakednesse poverty death hell for he that is ignorant is blind indeed he that is without God is naked indeed he that hath no grace is very poor he that is dead in sins and trespasses is truely dead he that is under the power of sin and given up wholly to his hearts lusts is in an heâ—l above ground So omnia bona are in summâ— bono all good things are in God the chiefest good All creatures may be seen in the Creator as all the stars may be seen in the sun So the Apostle thought who called God the God of all comfort Honor is not the God of comfort nor liberty nor health or wealth nor hath honor the comfort of liberty nor liberty the comfort of health nor health the comfort of children or wealth c. But the comfort of all these may be found in God Hence he is called our Son He will be a Sun and a shield to those that walk uprightly The light and comâ—ort of all these things may be found in God 〈◊〉 the light of all the stars may be seen in â—he Sun As a Sun he gives all the light so 〈◊〉 a shield he gives all the protection to all â—en and means of our good The shield in â—ncient times to which the holy Ghost â—eems as some think to allude was made â—o big as it covered the whole man and all â—is armour as appears by that speech of Ajax to or of Vlysses when he contended â—im about the armour of Achilles Opposui molem clypei texique jacentem â—n his flight he came to me and I covered â—im with my shield and so saved his life So I say as a Sun and shield all comfort is from him Hence he that can call the Lord his God may call God any thing that at any time he stands in need of As David sometimes did whilest compassed about with many enemies The Lord is my rock and my fortresse my deliverer my high tower my buckler and why so He is my God and in that all If he be my God saith a believer he is my Father and no father like him for affection if my God 〈◊〉 my Friend and no friend like him for faithfulnesse my Physician and none like him for skill nay my Bed-maker and none can make my bed so easie as he So that if we lose the comfort of any creature as the comfort of a wife by death of health by sicknesse of liberty by a prison of wealth by poverty they may all be found in a God who is health in sicknesse liberty in prison yea all things in the want of all He that is the Alpha and Omega hath said it He that overcometh shall inherit all things But how shall that be I will be saith the Lord his God and he shall be my