Lyon taught Samson thankfulnesse there was more honey in this thought then in the carkasse The mercies of God are ill bestowed vpon vs if we cannot step aside to view the monuments of his deliuerances Dangers may be at once past and forgotten As Samson had not found his hony-comb if he had not turned aside to see his Lion so we shal lose the comfort of Gods benefits if we doe not renue our perils by meditation Lest any thing should befall Samson wherein is not some wonder his Lion doth more amaze him dead then aliue For loe that carkasse is made an Hiue and the bitternesse of death is turned into the sweetnesse of honey The Bee a nice and dainty creature builds her cells in an vnsauory carkasse the carkasse that promised nothing but strength annoyance now offers comfort refreshing and in a sort payes Samson for the wrong offered Oh the wonderfull goodnesse of our God that can change our terrours into pleasure and can make the greatest euils beneficiall Is any man by his humiliation vnder the hand of God growne more faithfull conscionable there is hony out of the Lion Is any man by his temptation or fall become more circumspect there is also hony out of the Lion ther is no Samson to whom euery Lion doth not yeeld hony Euery Christian is the better for his euils yea Satan himselfe in his exercise of Gods children aduantageth them Samson doth not disdaine these sweets because he findes them vncleanly layd His diet was strict and forbade him any thing that sauoured of legall impurity yet hee eates the hony-combe out of the belly of a dead beast good may not be refused because the meanes are accidentally euill Hony is hony still though in a dead Lion Those are lesse wise and more scrupulous then Samson which abhorre the graces of God because they finde them in ill vessels One cares not for the Preachers true doctrine because his life is euill Another will not take a good receit from the hand of a Physician because he is giuen to vnlawfull studies A third will not receiue a deserued contribution from the hands of a Vsurer It is a weake neglect not to take the hony because we hate the Lion Gods children haue right to their fathers blessings wheresoeuer they finde them The match is now made Samson though a Nazarite hath both a wedding and a feast God neuer misliked moderate solemnities in the seuerest life and yet this Bridal feast was long the space of seuen days If Samson had matched with the best Israelite this celebration had been no greater neither had this perhaps been so long if the custome of the place had not required it Now I doe not heare him plead his Nazaritisme for a colour of singularity It is both lawfull and fit in things not prohibited to conforme our selues to the manners and rites of those with whom we liue That Samson might thinke it an honour to match with the Philistims hee whom before the Lion found alone is now accompanied with thirty attendants They called them companions but they meant them for spies The courtesities of the world are hollow and thanklesse neither doth it euer purpose so ill as when it shewes fayrest None are so neere to danger as those whom it entertaines with smiles whiles it frownes we know what to trust to but the fauours of it are worthy of nothing but feares and suspicion Open defiance is better then false loue Austerity had not made Samson vnciuill he knows how to entertaine Philistims with a formall familiarity And that his intellectuall parts might be approued answerable to his armes he will first try masteries of wit set their braines on worke with harmlesse thoughts His riddle shall appose them and a deep wager shall binde the solution Thirty shirts and thirty sutes of raiment neither their losse nor their gayne could be much besides the victory being diuided vnto thirty partners but Samsons must needs be both waies very large who must giue or receiue thirty alone The seuen daies of the feast are expiring and yet they which had bin all this while deuouring of Samsons meat cannot tel who that eater should be from whence meat should come In course of nature the strong feeder takes in meat and sends out filthines but that meat and sweetnes should come frō a dououring stomacke was beyond their apprehension And as fooles and dogs vse to beginne in iest and end in earnest so did these Philistims and therefore they force the Bride to intice her husband to betray himselfe Couetousnes Pride haue made them impatient of losse and now they threat to fire her and her fathers house for recompence of their entertainement rather then they will lose a small wager to an Israelite Somewhat of kinne to these sauage Philistims are those cholerick Gamesters which if the dice be not their friend fall out with God curse that which is not Fortune strike their fellowes and are ready to take vengeance vpon themselues Those men are vnfit for sport that lose their patience together with their wager I doe not wonder that a Philistim woman loued her selfe and her fathers family more then an Israelitish Bridegroome and if she bestowed teares vpon her husband for the ransome of them Samson himselfe taught her this difference I haue not told it my father or my mother and should I tell it thee If shee had not been as she was shee had neither done this to Samson nor heard this from him Matrimoniall respects are dearer then naturall It was the law of him that ordained marriage before euer Parents were that Parents should be forsaken for the husband or wife But now Israelitish Parents are worthy of more intirenesse then a wife of the Philistims And yet whom the Lion could not conquer the teares of a woman haue conquered Samson neuer bewraied infirmity but in vxoriousnesse What assurance can there be of him that hath a Philistim in his bosom Adam the perfectest man Samson the strongest man Salomon the wisest man were betrayed with the flattery of their helpers As there is no comfort comfortable to a faithfull yoke-fellow so woe be to him that is matched with a Philistim It could not but much discontent Samson to see that his aduersaries had plowed with his Heifer and that vpon his owne backe now therefore he payes his wager to their cost Ascalon the City of the Philistims is his wardrope he fetches thence thirty sutes lined with the liues of the owners He might with as much ease haue slain these thirty companions which were the authors of this euil but his promise forbade him whiles he was to clothe their bodies to vnclothe their soules and that Spirit of God which stird him vp to reuenge directed him in the choice of the subiects If we wonder to see thirty throats cut for their sutes we may easily know that this was but the occasion of that slaughter whereof the cause was their
I call it the way or the gate of life Sure I am that by it onely wâ— passe into that blessednesse whereof we haue so thought that we haue found it cannot be thought of enough The Description What then is this death but the taking downe of these sticks whereof this earthly Tent is composed The separation of two great and old friends till they meet againe The Gaole-deliuerie of a long prisoner Our iourney into that other world for which wee and this thorow-fare were made Our paiment of our first debt to Nature the sleepe of the body and the awaking of the soule The Diuision But lest thou shouldest seeme to flatter him whose name and face hath euer seemed terrible to others remember that there are more deaths than one If the first death bee not so fearefull as hee is made his horrour lying more in the conceit of the beholder than in his owne aspect surely the second is not made so fearefull as hee is No liuing eye can behold the terrours thereof it is as impossible to see them as to feele them and liue Nothing but a name is common to both The first hath men casualties diseases for his executioners the second Deuils The power of the first is in the graue the second in hell The worst of the first is senslesnesse the easiest of the second is a perpetuall sense of all the paine that can make a man exquisitely miserable The Causes Thou shalt haue no businesse O my soule with the second death Thy first Resurrection hath secured thee Thanke him that hath redeemed thee for thy safetie And how can I thanke thee enough O my Sauiour which hast so mercifully bought off my torment with thy owne and hast drunke off that bitter potion of thy Fathers wrath whereof the very taste had beene our death Yea such is thy mercie O thou Redeemer of men that thou hast not onely subdued the second death but reconciled the first so as thy children taste not at all of the second and finde the first so sweetned to them by thee that they complaine of bitternesse It was not thou O God that madest death our hands are they that were guiltie of this euill Thou sawest all thy worke that it was good we brought forth sinne and sinne brought forth death To the discharge of thy Iustice and Mercie we acknowledge this miserable conception and needs must that childe be vgly that hath such parents Certainly if Being and Good be as they are of an equall extent then the dissolution of our Being must needs in it selfe be euill How ful of darkenesse and horrour then is the priuation of this vitall light especially since thy wisdome intended it to the reuenge of sinne which is no lesse than the violation of an infinite Iustice it was thy iust pleasure to plague vs with this brood of our owne begetting Behold that death which was not till then in the world is now in euery thing one great Conqueror findes it in a Slate another findes it in a Flie one findes it in the kernel of a Grape another in the pricke of a thorne one in the taste of an herbe another in the smell of a flower one in a bit of meat another in a mouthfull of aire one in the very sight of a danger another in the conceit of what might haue beene Nothing in all our life is too little to hide death vnder it There need no cords nor kniues nor swords nor Peeces we haue made our selues as many waies to death as there are helps of liuing But if we were the authors of our death it was thou that didst alter it our disobedience made it and thy mercie made it not to be euill It had beene all one to thee to haue taken away the very Being of death from thine owne but thou thoughtest it best to take away the sting of it onely as good Physicians when they would apply their Leeches scowre them with Salt and Nettles and when their corrupt bloud is voided imploy them to the health of the patient It is more glory to thee that thou hast remoued enmitie from this Esau that now he meets vs with kisses in stead of frownes and if wee receiue a blow from this rough hand yet that very stripe is healing Oh how much more powerfull is thy death than our sinne O my Sauiour how hast thou perfumed and softened this bed of my graue by dying How can it grieue mee to tread in thy steps to glory Our sinne made death our last enemie The Effects thy goodnesse hath made it the first friend that we meet with in our passage to another world For as shee that receiues vs from the knees of our mother in our first entrance to the light washeth cleanseth dresseth vs and presents vs to the brest of our nurse or the armes of our mother challenges some interest in vs when we come to our growth so death which in our passage to that other life is the first that receiues and presents our naked soules to the hands of those Angels which carry it vp to her glorie cannot but thinke this office friendly and meritorious What if this guide leade my carcase through corruption and rottennesse when my soule in the very instant of her separation knowes it selfe happy What if my friends mourne about my bed and coffin when my soule sees the smiling face and louing embracements of him that was dead and is aliue What care I who shuts these earthen eyes when death opens the eye of my soule to see as I am seene What if my name be forgotten of men when I liue aboue with the God of Spirits If death would be still an enemie The Subiect it is the worst part of mee that he hath any thing to doe withall the best is aboue his reach and gaines more than the other can leese The worst peece of the horrour of death is the graue and set aside infidelitie what so great miserie is this That part which is corrupted feeles it not that which is free from corruption feeles an abundant recompence and foresees a ioyfull reparation What is here but a iust restitution We carry heauen and earth wrapt vp in our bosomes each part returnes homeward And if the exceeding glory of heauen cannot countetuaile the dolesomnesse of the graue what doe I beleeuing But if the beautie of that celestiall Sanctuarie doe more than equalize the horrour of the bottomlesse pit how can I shrinke at earth like my selfe when I know my glorie And if examples can moue thee any whit looke behinde thee O my soule and see which of the Worthies of that ancient latter world which of the Patriarchs Kings Prophets Apostles haue not trod in these red steps Where are those millions of generations which haue hitherto peopled the earth How many passing-bels hast thou heard for they knowne friends How many sicke beds hast thou visited How many eies hast thou seene closed
brethren Craftily yet and vnder pretence of a false title had they acknowledged the victory of Gideon with what forehead could they haue denied him bread Now I know not whether their faithlesnesse or enuy lie in their way Are the hands of Zeba and Zalmunna in thy hands There were none of these Princes of Succoth and Penuel but thought themselues better men then Gideon That he therefore alone should doe that which all the Princes of Israel durst not attempt they hated and scorned to heare It is neuer safe to measure euents by the power of the instrument nor in the causes of God whose calling makes the difference to measure others by our selues There is nothing more dangerous then in holy businesses to stand vpon comparisons and our owne reputation sith it is reason God should both chuse and blesse where he lists To haue questioned so sudden a victory had been pardonable but to deny it scornfully was vnworthy of Israelites Carnall men thinke that impossible to others which themselues cannot doe From hence are their censures hence their exclamations Gideon hath vowed a fearefull reuenge and now performes it the taunts of his brethren may not stay him from the pursuit of the Midianites Common enmities must first be opposed domesticall at more leysure The Princes of Succoth feared the tyranny of the Midianitish Kings but they more feared Gideons victory What a condition hath their enuy drawne them into that they are sorry to see Gods enemies captiue that Israels freedome must be their death that the Midianites and they must tremble at one and the same Reuenger To see themselues prisoners to Zeba and Zalmunna had not been so fearefull as to see Zeba and Zalmunna prisoners to Gideon Nothing is more terrible to euill mindes then to reade their owne condemnation in the happy successe of others hell it selfe would want one piece of his torment if the wicked did not know those whom they contemned glorious I know not whether more to commend Gideons wisedome and moderation in the proceedings then his resolution and iustice in the execution of this businesse I doe not see him run furiously into the City and kill the next His sword had not been so drunken with bloud that it should know no difference But he writes down the names of the Princes and singles them forth for reuenge When the Leaders of God come to a Iericho or Ai their slaughter was vnpartiall not a woman or child might liue to tell newes but now that Gideon comes to a Succoth a City of Israelites the rulers are called forth to death the people are frighted with the example not hurt with the iudgement To enwrappe the innocent in any vengeance is a murderous iniustice Indeed where all ioyne in the sin all are worthy to meet in the punishment It is like the Citizens of Succoth could haue been glad to succour Gideon if their rulers had not forbidden they must therefore escape whiles their Princes perish I cannot thinke of Gideons reuenge without horror That the Rulers of Succoth should haue their flesh torne from their backs with thornes and briers that they should bee at once beaten and scratcht to death What a spectacle it was to see their bare bones looking some-where thorow the bloudy ragges of their flesh and skinne and euery stroke worse then the last death multiplied by torment Iustice is sometimes so seuere that a tender beholder can scarce discerne it from cruelty I see the Midianites fare lesse ill the edge of the sword makes a speedy and easie passage for their liues whiles these rebellious Israelites dye lingringly vnder thornes and bryers enuying those in their death whom their life abhorred Howsoeuer men liue or dye without the pale of the Church a wicked Israelite shall be sure of plagues How many shall vnwish themselues Christians when Gods reuenges haue found them out The place where Iacob wrestled with God and preuailed now hath wrestled against God and takes a fall they see God auenging which would not beleeue him deliuering It was now time for Zeba and Zalmunna to follow those their troops to the graue whom they had led in the field Those which the day before were attended with an hundred thirty fiue thousand followers haue not so much as a Page now left to weep for their death and haue liued onely to see all their friends and some enemies dye for their sakes Who can regard earthly greatnesse that sees one night change two of the greatest Kings of the World into captiues It had been both pitty and sinne that the Heads of that Midianitish tyranny into which they had drawn so many thousands should haue escaped that death And yet if priuate reuenge had not made Gideon iust I doubt whether they had died The bloud of his brothers cals for theirs and awakes his sword to their execution He both knew and complained of the Midianitish oppression vnder which Israel groned yet the cruelty offered to all the thousands of his Fathers sonnes had not drawne the bloud of Zeba and Zalmunna if his owne mothers sonnes had not bled by their hands He that slew the Rulers of Succoth and Penuel spared the people now hath slain the people of Midian and would haue spared their Rulers but that God which will finde occasions to winde wicked men into iudgement will haue them slaine in a priuate quarrel which had more deserued it for the publike If we may not rather say that Gideon reuenged these as a Magistrate not as a brother For Gouernours to respect their owne ends in publike actions and to weare the sword of iustice in their owne sheath it is a wrongfull abuse of authority The slaughter of Gideons brethren was not the greatest sinne of the Midianitish Kings this alone shall kill them when the rest expected an vniust remission How many lewd men hath God payd with some one sinne for all the rest Some that haue gone away with vnnuturally filthinesse and capitall thefts haue clipped off their owne dayes with their coyne Others whose bloudy murders haue been punished in a mutinous word Others whose suspected felony hath payd the price of their vnknowne rape O God thy iudgements are iust euen when mens are vniust Gideons young soone is bidden to reuenge the death of his Vncles His sword had not yet learned the way to bloud especially of Kings though in yrons Deadly executions require strength both of heart and face How are those aged in euill that can draw their swords vpon the lawfuly Anointed of God These Tyrants plead not now for coutinuance of life but for the haste of their death Fall thou vpon vs. Death is euer accompanied with paine which it is no maruell if we wish short We doe not more affect protraction of an easefull life then speed in our dissolution for here euery pang that tends toward death renewes it To lye an houre vnder death is tedious but to be dying a whole day we thinke aboue the
in the Spring to the end that my age may bee profitable and laden with ripe fruit I will endeuour that my youth may be studious and flowred with the blossomes of learning and obseruation 55 Reuenge commonly hurts both the offerer and sufferer as we see in the foolish Bee though in all other things commendable yet herein the patterne of fond spightfulnesse which in her anger inuenometh the flesh and loseth her sting and so liues a Drone euer after I account it the onely valour To remit a wrong and will applaud it to my selfe as right Noble and Christian that I Might hurt and Will not 56 He that liues well cannot chuse but die well For if he die suddenly yet he dies not vnpreparedly if by leisure the conscience of his well-lead life makes his death more comfortable But it is seldome seene that he which liueth ill dieth well For the conscience of his former euills his present paine and the expectation and feare of greater so take vp his heart that he cannot seeke God And now it is iust with God not to be sought or not to be found because he sought to him in his life time and was repulsed Whereas therefore there are vsually two maine cares of good men to Liue well and Die well I will haue but this one to Liue well 57 With God there is no free man but his Seruant though in the Gallies no slaue but the sinner though in a Palace none noble but the vertuous if neuer so basely descended none rich but he that possesseth God euen in rags none wise but hee that is a foole to himselfe and the world none happy but he whom the world pities Let mee be free noble rich wise happy to God I passe not what I am to the world 58 When the mouth praieth man heareth when the heart God heareth Euery good praier knocketh at heauen for a blessing but an importunate praier pierceth it though as hard as brasse and makes way for it selfe into the eares of the Almightie And as it ascends lightly vp carried with the wings of faith so it comes euer laden downe againe vpon our heads In my praiers my thoughts shall not be guided by my words but my words shall follow my thoughts 59 If that seruant were condemned of euill that gaue God no more than his owne which he had receiued what shall become of them that rob God of his owne If God gaine a little glorie by me I shall gaine more by him I will labour so to husband the stocke that God hath left in my hands that I may returne my soule better than I receiued it and that he may take it better than I returne it 60 Heauen is compared to an hill and therefore is figured by Olympus among the Heathen by mount Sion in Gods Booke Hell contrariwise to a pit The ascent to the one is hard therefore and the descent to the other easie and headlong and so as if we once beginne to fall the recouerie is most difficult and not one of many staies till hee comes to the bottome I will bee content to pant and blow and sweat in climbing vp to heauen as contrarily I will bee warie of setting the first step downward towards the pit For as there is a Iacobs Ladder into heauen so there are blinde staires that goe winding downe into death whereof each makes way for other From the obiect is raised an ill suggestion suggestion drawes on delight delight consent consent endeuour endeuour practice practice custome custome excuse excuse defence defence obstinacie obstinacie boasting of sinne boasting a reprobate sense I will watch ouer my waies and doe thou Lord watch ouer me that I may auoid the first degrees of sinne And if those ouertake my frailtie yet keepe me that presumptuous sinnes preuaile not ouer me Beginnings are with more ease and safetie declined when we are free than proceedings when we haue begunne 61 It is fitter for youth to learne than teach and for age to teach than learne and yet fitter for an old man to learne than to be ignorant I know I shall neuer know so much that I cannot learne more and I hope I shall neuer liue so long as till I be too old to learne 62 I neuer loued those Salamanders that are neuer well but when they are in the fire of contention I will rather suffer a thousand wrongs than offer one I will suffer an hundred rather than returne one I will suffer many ere I will complaine of one and endeuour to right it by contending I haue euer found that to striue with my superiour is furious with my equall doubtfull with my inferiour sordid and base with any full of vnquietnesse 63 The praise of a good speech standeth in words and matter Matter which is as a faire and well-featur'd body Elegance of words which is as a neat and well-fashioned garment Good matter slubbered vp in rude and carelesse words is made lothsome to the hearer as a good body mis-shapen with vnhandsome clothes Elegancie without soundnes is no better than a nice vanitie Although therefore the most hearers are like Bees that goe all to the flowers neuer regarding the good herbs that are of as wholesome vse as the other of faire shew yet let my speech striue to bee profitable plausible as it happens better the coat be mis-sâ—apen than the body 64 I see that as blacke and white colours to the eies so is the Vice and Vertue of others to the iudgement of men Vice gathers the beames of the sight in one that the eie may see it and bee intent vpon it Vertue scatters them abroad and therefore hardly admits of a perfect apprehension Whence it comes to passe that as iudgement is according to sense wee doe so soone espie and so earnestly censure a man for one vice letting passe many laudable qualities vndiscerned or at least vnacknowledged Yea whereas euery man is once a foole and doth that perhaps in one fit of his folly which hee shall at leisure repent of as Noah in one houres drunkennesse vncouered those secrets which were hid six hundred yeeres before the world is hereupon ready to call in question all his former integritie and to exclude him from the hope of any future amendment Since God hath giuen mee two eies the one shall bee busied about the present fault that I see with a detesting commiseration the other about the commendable qualities of the offender not without an vnpartiall approbation of them So shall I doe God no wrong in robbing him of the glorie of his gifts mixed with infirmities nor yet in the meane time encourage Vice while I doe distinctly reserue for it a due proportion of hatred 65 God is aboue man the brute creatures vnder him hee set in the midst Lest he should be proud that he hath infinite creatures vnder him that One is infinite degrees aboue him I doe therefore owe awe vnto God mercie to the inferiour creatures knowing
be yours Vouchsafe therefore to take part with your worthy Husband of these my simple Meditations And if your long and gracious experience haue written you a larger volume of wholesome lawes and better informed you by precepts fetcht from your owne feeling than J can hope for by my bare speculation yet where these my not vnlikely rules shall accord with yours let your redoubled assent allow them and they confirme it J made them not for the eie but for the heart neither doe J commend them to your reading but your practice wherein also it shall not be enough that you are a meere and ordinary agent but that you be a patterne propounded vnto others imitation So shall your vertuous and holy progresse besides your owne peace and happpinesse be my Crowne and reioycing in the Day of our common appearance Halsted Decemb. 4. Your L. humbly deuoted IOS HALL MEDITATIONS AND VOWES 1 A Man vnder Gods affliction is like a bird in a net the more he striueth the more he is intangled Gods Decree cannot be eluded with impatience What I cannot auoid I will learne to beare 2 I finde that all worldly things require a long time in getting and affoord a short pleasure in enioying them I will not care much for what I haue nothing for what I haue not 3 I see naturall bodies forsake their owne place and condition for the preseruation of the whole but of all other creatures Man and of all other Men Christians haue the least interest in themselues I will liue as giuen to others lent only to my selfe 4 That which is said of the Elephant that being guiltie of his deformitie hee cannot abide to looke on his owne face in the water but seekes for troubled and muddie channels we see well moralized in men of euill conscience who know their soules are so filthie that they dare not so much as view them but shift off all checks of their former iniquitie with vaine excuses of good-fellowship Whence it is that euery small reprehension so galls them because it calls the eye of the soule home to it selfe and makes them see a glimpse of what they would not So haue I seene a foolish and timorous Patient which knowing his wound very deepe would not endure the Chirurgion to search it whereon what can ensue but a festering of the part and a danger of the whole body So I haue seene many prodigall wasters run so farre in bookes that they cannot abide to heare of reckoning It hath beene an old and true Prouerbe Oft and euen reckonings make long friends I will oft summe my estate with God that I may know what I haue to expect and answer for Neither shall my score run on so long with God that I shall not know my debts or feare an Audit or despaire of pardon 5 I account this body nothing but a close prison to my soule and the earth a larger prison to my body I may not breake prison till I be loosed by death but I will leaue it not vnwillingly when I am loosed 6 The common feares of the World are causelesse and ill placed No man feares to doe ill euery man to suffer ill wherein if we consider it well we shall finde that we feare our best friends For my part I haue learned more of God and of my selfe in one weekes extremitie than all my whole lifes prosperitie had taught me afore And in reason and common experience prosperitie vsually makes vs forget our death aduersitie on the other side makes vs neglect our life Now if we measure both of these by their effects forgetfulnesse of death makes vs secure neglect of this life makes vs carefull of a better So much therefore as neglect of life is better than forgetfulnesse of death and watchfulnesse better than securitie so much more beneficiall will I esteeme aduersitie than prosperitie 7 Euen griefe it selfe is pleasant to the remembrance when it is once past as ioy is whiles it is present I will not therefore in my conceit make any so great difference betwixt ioy and griefe sith griefe past is ioyfull and long expectation of ioy is grieuous 8 Euery sicknesse is a little death I will be content to die oft that I may die once well 9 Oft times those things which haue beene sweet in opinion haue proued bitter in experience I will therefore euer suspend my resolute iudgement vntill the triall and euent in the meane while I will feare the worst and hope the best 10 In all diuine and morall good things I would faine keepe that I haue and get that I want I doe not more loath all other couetousnesse than I affect this In all these things alone I professe neuer to haue enough If I may increase them therefore either by labouring or begging or vsurie I shall leaue no meanes vnattempted 11 Some children are of that nature that they are neuer well but while the rod is ouer them such am I to God Let him beat me so he amend me let him take all away from me so he giue me himselfe 12 There must not be one vniforme proceeding with all men in reprehension but that must varie according to the disposition of the reproued I haue seene some men as thornes which easily touched hurt not but if hard and vnwarily fetch bloud of the hand others as nettles which if they be nicely handled sting and pricke but if hard and roughly pressed are pulled vp without harme Before I take any man in hand I will know whether he be a thorne or a nettle 13 I will account no sinne little since there is not the least but workes out the death of the soule It is all one whether I be drowned in the ebber shore or in the midst of the deepe Sea 14 It is a base thing to get goods to keepe them I see that God which only is infinitely rich holdeth nothing in his owne hands but giues all to his creatures But if we will needs lay vp where should wee rather repose it than in Christs treasurie The poore mans hand is the treasury of Christ All my superfluity shall be there hoorded vp where I know it shall be safely kept and surely returned me 15 The Schoole of God and Nature require two contrary manners of proceeding In the Schoole of Nature we must conceiue and then beleeue in the Schoole of God wee must first beleeue and then we shall conceiue He that beleeues no more than hee conceiues can neuer be a Christian nor he a Philosopher that assents without reason In Natures Schoole we are taught to bolt out the truth by Logicall discourse God cannot endure a Logician In his Schoole he is the best Scholler that reasons least and assents most In diuine things what I may I wil conceiue the rest I will beleeue and admire Not a curious head but a credulous and plaine heart is accepted with God 16 No worldly pleasure hath any absolute delight in it but as a Bee
contemne it Embrace it when it is within my measure when aboue contemne it So embrace it that I may more humble my selfe vnder it and so contemne it that I may not giue heart to him that offers it nor disgrace him for whom I am contemned 84 Christ raised three dead men to life One newly departed another on the Bere a third smelling in the graue to shew vs that no degree of death is so desperate that it is past helpe My sinnes are many and great yet if they were more they are farre below the mercy of him that hath remitted them and the value of his ransome that hath payed for them A man hurts himselfe most by presumption but we cannot doe God a greater wrong than to despaire of forgiuenesse It is a double iniury to God first that we offend his iustice by sinning then that we wrong his mercy with despairing c. 85 For a man to be weary of the world through miseries that he meets with and for that cause to couet death is neither difficult nor commendable but rather argues a base weaknesse of minde So it may be a cowardly part to contemne the vtmost of all terrible things in a feare of lingering misery but for a man either liuing happily here on earth or resoluing to liue miserably yet to desire his remouall to Heauen doth well become a true Christian courage and argues a noble mixture of patience and faith Of patience for that he can and dare abide to liue sorrowfully of faith for that he is assured of his better Being other-where and therefore prefers the absent ioyes he looks for to those he feeles in present No sorrow shall make me wish my selfe dead that I may not be at all No contentment shall hinder me from wishing my selfe with Christ that I may be happier 86 It was not for nothing that the wise Creator of all things hath placed gold and siluer and all precious minerals vnder our feet to be trod vpon and hath hid them low in the bowels of the earth that they cannot without great labour be either found or gotten whereas he hath placed the noblest part of his creation aboue our heads and that so open to our view that we cannot chuse but euery moment behold them Wherein what did hee else intend but to draw away our mindes from these worthlesse and yet hidden treasures to which he fore-saw wee would be too much addicted and to call them to the contemplation of those better things which beside their beautie are more obuious to vs that in them wee may see and admire the glory of their Maker and withall seeke our owne How doe those men wrong themselues and misconstrue God who as if he had hidden these things because he would haue them sought and laid the other open for neglect bend themselues wholly to the seeking of these earthly commodities and doe no more minde Heauen than if there were none If we could imagine a beast to haue reason how could he be more absurd in his choice How easie is it to obserue that still the higher we goe the more puritie and perfection we finde So earth is the very drosse and dregs of all the elements water somewhat more pure than it yet also more feculent than the aire aboue it the lower aire lesse pure than his vppermost regions and yet these as farre inferior to the lowest heauens which againe are more exceeded by the glorious Empyriall seat of God which is the heauen of the iust Yet these brutish men take vp their rest and place their felicitie in the lowest and worst of all Gods workmanship not regarding that which with it owne glory can make them happy Heauen is the proper place of my soule I will send it vp thither continually in my thoughts whiles it soiournes with me before it goe to dwell there for euer 87 A man need not to care for more knowledge than to know himselfe he needs no more pleasure than to content himselfe no more victory than to ouercome himselfe no more riches than to enioy himselfe What fooles are they that seeke to know all other things are strangers in themselues that seeke altogether to satisfie other mens humors with their owne displeasure that seeke to vanquish Kingdomes and Countries when they are not Masters of themselues that haue no hold of their owne hearts yet seeke to be possessed of all outward commodities Goe home to thy selfe first vaine heart and when thou hast made sure worke there in knowing contenting ouercomming enioying thy selfe spend all the superfluitie of thy time and labour vpon others 88 It was an excellent rule that fell from the Epicure whose name is odious to vs for the father of loosnesse That if a man would be rich honorable aged he should not striue so much to adde to his wealth reputation yeeres as to detract from his desires For certainly in these things which stand most vpon conceit he hath the most that desireth least A poore man that hath little and desires no more is in truth richer than the greatest Monarch that thinketh hee hath not what hee should or what hee might or that grieues there is no more to haue It is not necessitie but ambition that sets mens hearts on the racke If I haue meat drinke apparell I will learne therewith to be content If I had the world full of wealth beside I could enioy no more than I vse the rest could please me no otherwise but by looking on And why can I not thus solace my selfe while it is others 89 An inconstant and wauering minde as it makes a man vnfit for societie for that there can bee no assurance of his words or purposes neither can wee build on them without deceit so besides that it makes a man ridiculous it hinders him from euer attaining any perfection in himselfe for a rolling stone gathers no mosse and the minde while it would bee euery thing proues nothing Oft changes cannot bee without losse Yea it keepes him from enioying that which he hath attained For it keepes him euer in worke building pulling downe selling changing buying commanding forbidding So whiles he can be no other mans friend hee is the least his owne It is the safest course for a mans profit credit and ease to deliberate long to resolue surely hardly to alter not to enter vpon that whose end hee fore-sees not answerable and when hee is once entered not to furcease till he haue attained the end he fore-saw So may he to good purpose beginne a new worke when he hath well finished the old 90 The way to Heauen is like that which Ionathan and his Armour-bearer passed betwixt two rocks one Bozez the other Seneh that is foule and thornie whereto wee must make shift to climbe on our hands and knees but when wee are come vp there is victorie and triumph Gods children haue three sutes of apparell whereof two are worne daily on earth the third laid vp
men and better betwixt good qualities and infirmities Why hath God giuen me education not in a Desart alone but in the company of good and vertuous men but that by the sight of their good carriage I should better my owne Why should we haue interest in the vices of men and not in their vertues And although precepts be surer yet a good mans action is according to precept yea is a precept it selfe The Psalmist compared the Law of God to a Lanterne good example beares it It is safe following him that carries the light If he walke without the light he shall walke without me 66 As there is one common end to all good men saluation and one author of it Christ so there is but one way to it doing well and suffering euill Doing well me thinks is like the Zodiacke in the heauen the hie way of the Sunne thorow which it daily passeth Suffering euill is like the Eclipticke line that goes thorow the middest of it The rule of doing well the Law of God is vniforme and eternall and the copies of suffering euill in all times agree with the originall No man can either do well or suffer ill without an example Are we sawne in peeces so was Esay Are we beheaded so Iohn Baptist Crucified so Peter Throwne to wilde beasts so Daniel Into the furnace so the three children Stoned so Steuen Banished so the beloued Disciple Burnt so millions of Martyrs Defamed and slandered what good man euer was not It were easie to be endlesse both in torments and sufferers whereof each hath begun to other all to vs. I may not hope to speed better than the best Christians I cannot feare to fare worse It is no matter which way I goe so I come to heauen 67 There is nothing beside life of this nature that it is diminished by addition Euery moment we liue longer than other and each moment that we liue longer is so much taken out of our life It increaseth and diminisheth onely by minutes and therefore is not perceiued the shorter steps it taketh the more slily it passeth Time shall not so steale vpon me that I shall not discerne it and catch it by the fore-lockes nor so steale from me that it shall carry with it no witnesse of his passage in my proficiency 68 The prodigall man while he spendeth is magnified when he is spent is pitied and that is all his recompence for his lauisht Patrimonie The couetous man is grudged while he liues and his death is reioyced at for when he ends his riches begin to bee goods He that wisely keepes the meane betweene both liueth well and heares well neither repined at by the needy nor pittied by greater men I would so manage these worldly commodities as accounting them mine to dispose others to partake of 69 A good name if any earthly thing is worth seeking worth striuing for yet to affect a bare name when we deserue either ill or nothing is but a proud hypocrisie and to be puffed vp with the wrongfull estimation of others mistaking our worth is an idle and ridiculous pride Thou art well spoken of vpon no desert what then Thou hast deceiued thy neighbours they one another and all of them haue deceiued thee for thou madest them thinke of thee otherwise than thou art and they haue made thee thinke of thy selfe as thou art accounted the deceit came from thee the shame will end in thee I will account no wrong greater than for a man to esteeme and report me aboue that I am not reioicing in that I am well thought of but in that I am such as I am esteemed 70 It was a speech worthy the commendation and frequent remembrance of so diuine a Bishop as Augustine which is reported of an aged Father in his time who when his friends comforted him on his sicke bed and told him they hoped hee should recouer answered If I shall not die at all well but if euer why not now Surely it is folly what we must doe to doe vnwillingly I will neuer thinke my soule in a good case so long as I am loth to thinke of dying and will make this my comfort Not I shall yet liue longer but I shall yet doe more good 71 Excesses are neuer alone Commonly those that haue excellent parts haue some extremely vicious qualities great wits haue great errours and great estates haue great cares whereas mediocritie of gifts or of estate hath vsually but easie inconueniences else the excellent would not know themselues and the meane would bee too much deiected Now those whom we admire for their faculties we pittie for their infirmities and those which finde themselues but of the ordinarie pitch ioy that as their vertues so their vices are not eminent So the highest haue a blemished glory and the meane are contentedly secure I will magnifie the highest but affect the meane 72 The body is the case or sheath of the minde yet as naturally it hideth it so it doth also many times discouer it For although the forehead eyes and frame of the countenance doe sometime belie the disposition of the heart yet most commonly they giue true generall verdicts An angry mans browes are bent together and his eies sparkle with rage which when he is well pleased looke smooth and cheerefully Enuie hath one looke desire another sorrow yet another contentment a fourth different from all the rest To shew no passion is too Stoicall to shew all is impotent to shew other than we feele hypocriticall The face and gesture doe but write and make commentaries vpon the heart I will first endeuour so to frame and order that as not to entertaine any passion but what I need not care to haue laid open to the world and therefore will first see that the Text be good then that the glosse bee true and lastly that it be sparing To what end hath God so walled-in the heart if I should let euery mans eies into it by my countenance 73 There is no publike action which the world is not ready to scan there is no action so priuate which the euill spirits are not witnesses of I will endeuour so to liue as knowing that I am euer in the eies of mine enemies 74 When we our selues and all other vices are old then couetousnesse alone is young and at his best age This vice loues to dwell in an old ruinous cotage yet that age can haue no such honest colour for niggardlinesse and insatiable desire A young man might plead the vncertaintie of his estate and doubt of his future need but an old man sees his set period before him Since this humour is so necessarily annexed to this age I will turne it the right way and nourish it in my selfe The older I grow the more couetous I will be but of the riches not of the world I am leauing but of the world I am entring into It is good coueting what I may haue and cannot leaue behinde mee 75
but stay not at it The franticke man cannot auoid the imputation of madnesse though he be sober for many Moones if he rage in one So then the calme minde must be setled in an habituall rest not then firme when there is nothing to shake it but then least shaken when it is most assayled SECT III. Insufficiency of humane precepts WHence easily appeares how vainely it hath beene sought either in such a constant estate of outward things as should giue no distaste to the minde whiles all earthly things varie with the weather and haue no stay but in vncertainty or in the naturall temper of the soule so ordered by humane wisdome as that it should not be affected with any casuall euents to either part since that cannot euer by naturall power be held like to it selfe but one while is cheerefull stirring and ready to vndertake another while drowsie dull comfortlesse prone to rest weary of it selfe loathing his owne purposes his owne resolutions In both which since the wisest Philosophers haue grounded all the rules of their Tranquillity it is plaine that they saw it afarre off as they did heauen it selfe with a desire and admiration but knew not the way to it whereupon alas how slight and impotent are the remedies they prescribe for vnquietnesse Senecaes rules of Tranquillity abridged For what is it that for the inconstancie and lazinesse of the minde still displeasing it selfe in what it doth and for that distemper thereof which ariseth from the fearefull vnthriuing and restlesse desires of it wee should euer bee imploying our selues in some publike affaires chusing our businesse according to our inclination and prosecuting what wee haue chosen wherewith being at last cloyed wee should retire our selues and weare the rest of our time in priuate studies that wee should make due comparatiue trials of our owne abilitie nature of our businesses disposition of our chosen friends that in respect of Patrimonie wee should bee but carelesly affected so drawing it in as it may be least for shew most for vse remouing all pompe bridling our hopes cutting off superfluities for crosses to consider that custome will abate and mitigate them that the best things are but chaines and burdens to those that haue them to those that vse them that the worst things haue some mixture of comfort to those that grone vnder them Or leauing these lower rudiments that are giuen to weake and simple nouices to examine those golden rules of Morality which are commended to the most wise and able practitioners what it is to account himselfe as a Tenant at will To fore-imagine the worst in all casuall matters To auoid all idle and impertinent businesses all pragmaticall medling with affaires of State not to fix our selues vpon any one estate as to bee impatient of a change to call backe the minde from outward things and draw it home into it selfe to laugh at and esteeme lightly of others mis-demeanours Not to depend vpon others opinions but to stand on our owne bottomes to carry our selues in an honest and simple truth free from a curious hypocrisie and affectation of seeming other than we are and yet as free from a base kinde of carelesnesse to intermeddle retirednesse wich societie so as one may giue sweetnesse to the other and both to vs So slackning the minde that we may not loosen it and so bending as we may nor breake it to make most of our selues chearing vp our spirits with varietie of recreations with satiety of meales and all other bodily indulgence sauing that drunkennesse mee thinkes can neither beseeme a wise Philosopher to prescribe nor a vertuous man to practise All these in their kindes please well Allowed yet by Seneâ—a in his last chapter of Tranquillitie Senecaes rules reiected as insufficient profit much and are as soueraigne for both these as they are vnable to effect that for which they are propounded Nature teacheth thee all these should be done shee cannot teach thee to doe them and yet doe all these and no more let mee neuer haue rest if thou haue it For neither are here the greatest enemies of our peace so much as descried afarre off nor those that are noted are hereby so preuented that vpon most diligent practice we can promise our selues any security wherewith who so instructed dare confidently giue challenge to all sinister euents is like to some skilfull Fencer who stands vpon his vsuall wards and plaies well but if there come a strange fetch of an vnwonted blow is put besides the rules of his Art and with much shame ouer-taken And for those that are knowne beleeue mee the minde of man is too weake to beare out it selfe hereby against all onsets There are light crosses that will take an easie repulse others yet stronger that shake the house side but breake not in vpon vs others vehement which by force make way to the heart where they finde none breaking open the doore of the soule that denies entrance Others violent that lift the minde off the hindges or rend the bars of it in peeces others furious that teare vp the very foundations from the bottome leauing no monument behinde them but ruine Antonius Pius The wisest and most resolute Moralist that euer was lookt pale when he should taste of his Hemlocke and by his timorousnesse made sport to those that enuied his speculations An Epistle to the Asians concerning the persecuted Christians The best of the Heathen Emperors that was honoured with the title of piety iustly magnified that courage of Christians which made them insult ouer their tormentors and by their fearelesnesse of earth-quakes and deaths argued the truth of their Religion It must be it can be none but a diuine power that can vphold the minde against the rage of maine afflictions and yet the greatest crosses are not the greatest enemies to inward peace Let vs therefore looke vp aboue our selues and from the rules of an higher Art supply the defects of naturall wisdome giuing such infallible directions for tranquillity that whosoeuer shall follow cannot but liue sweetly and with continuall delight applauding himselfe at home when all the world besides him shall be miserable Disposition of the worke To which purpose it shall be requisite first to remoue all causes of vnquietnesse and then to set downe the grounds of our happy rest SECT IV. I Finde on the hand two vniuersall enemies of Tranquillity Enemies of inward peace diuided into their rankes Conscience of euill done Sense or feare of euill sufferred The former in one word we call sinnes the latter Crosses The first of these must be quite taken away the second duely tempered ere the heart can be at rest For first how can that man be at peace that is at variance with God and himselfe How should peace be Gods gift if it could be without him if it could be against him It is the profession of sinne although faire-spoken at the first closing to be
good we refuse It is second folly in vs if we thanke him not The foolish babe cries for his fathers bright knife or gilded pilles The wiser father knowes that they can but hurt him and therefore with-holds them after all his teares The childe thinkes he is vsed but vnkindly Euery wise man and himselfe at more yeeres can say it was vsed but childish folly in desiring it in complaining that he missed it The losse of wealth friends health is sometimes gaine to vs. Thy body thy estate is worse thy soule is better why complainest thou SECT XIV The 4. and last part from their issue NAy it shall not be enough mee thinkes if onely wee be but contented and thankfull if not also chearefull in afflictions if that as we feele their paine so wee looke to their end although indeed this is not more requisite than rarely found as being proper onely to the good heart Euery bird can sing in a cleare heauen in a temperate spring that one as most familiar so is most commended that sings merrie notes in the middest of a showre or the dead of Winter Euery Epicure can enlarge his heart to mirth in the middest of his cups and dalliance onely the three children can sing in the furnace Paul and Silas in the stockes Martyrs at the stake It is from heauen that this ioy comes so contrary to all earthly occasions bred in the faithfull heart through a serious and feeling respect to the issue of what he feeles the quiet and vntroubled fruit of his righteousnesse glorie the crowne after his fight after his minute of paine eternity of ioy He neuer lookt ouer the threshold of heauen that cannot more reioyce that he shall be glorious than mourne in present that he is miserable SECT XV. Of the importunitie and terror of Death YEa this consideration is so powerfull that it alone is able to make a part against the feare or sense of the last and greatest of all terribles Death it selfe which in the conscience of his owne dreadfulnesse iustly laughs at all the vaine humane precepts of Tranquillitie appalling the most resolute and vexing the most cheerefull mindes Neither prophane Lucretius with all his Epicurean rules of confidence nor drunken Anacreon with all his wanton Odes can shift off the importunate and violent horrour of this Aduersarie Seest thou the Chaldean Tyrant beset with the sacred bowles of Ierusalem the late spoiles of Gods Temple and in contempt of their owner carowsing healths to his Queenes Concubines Peeres singing amids his cups triumphant carols of praise to his molten and carued gods Wouldest thou euer suspect that this high courage could be abated or that this sumptuous and presumptuous banquet after so royall and iocond continuance should haue any other conclusion but pleasure Stay but one houre longer and thou shalt see that face that now shines with a ruddie glosse according to the colour of his liquor looke pale and gastly stained with the colours of feare and death and that proud hand which now lifts vp her massie Goblets in defiance of God tremble like a leafe in a storme and those strong knees which neuer stooped to the burden of their laden body now not able to beare vp themselues but loosened with a sudden palsie of feare one knocking against the other and all this for that Death writes him a letter of summons to appeare that night before him and accordingly ere the next Sunne sent two Eunuches for his honorable conueiance into another world Where now are those delicate morsels those deep draughts those merry ditties wherewith the palate and eare so pleased themselues What is now become of all those cheerefull looks loose laughters stately port reuels triumphs of the feasting Court Why doth none of his gallant Nobles reuiue the fainted courage of their Lord with a new cup or with some stirring iest shake him out of this vnseasonable melancholy O death how imperious art thou to carnall mindes aggrauating their miserie not onely by expectation of future paine but by the remembrance of the wonted causes of their ioy and not suffering them to see ought but what may torment them Euen that monster of Cesars that had beene so well acquainted with bloud and neuer had sound better sport than in cutting of throats when now it came to his owne turne how effeminate how desperately cowardous did he shew himselfe to the wonder of all Readers that he which was euer so valiant in killing should be so womanishly heartlesse in dying SECT XVI THere are that feare not so much to be dead as to die The grounds of the feare of death the very act of dissolution frighting them with a tormenting expectation of a short but intolerable painfulnesse Which let if the wisdome of God had not interposed to timorous nature there would haue beene many more Lucreces Cleopatraes Achitophels and good lawes should haue found little opportunitie of execution through the wilfull funerals of malefactors For the soule that comes into the body without any at least sensible pleasure departs not from it without an extremitie of paine which varying according to the manner and meanes of separation yet in all violent deaths especially retaineth a violence not to be auoided hard to be endured And if diseases which are destin'd towards death as their end bee so painfull what must the end and perfection of diseases be Since as diseases are the maladies of the body so death is the malady of diseases There are that feare not so much to die as to be dead If the pang be bitter yet it is but short the comfortlesse state of the dead strikes some that could well resolue for the act of their passage Not the worst of the Heathen Emperours made that moanfull dittie on his death-bed wherein he bewraieth to all memory much feeling pittie of his soule for her doubtfull and impotent condition after her parture How doth Platoes worldling bewaile the misery of the graue besides all respect of paine Woe is mee that I shall lie alone rotting in the silent earth amongst the crawling Wormes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not seeing ought aboue not seene Very not-being is sufficiently abhorred of nature if death had no more to make it fearefull But those that haue liued vnder light enough to shew them the gates of hell after thâ—ir passage thorow the gates of death and haue learned that death is not onely horrible for our not-being here but for being infinitly eternally miserable in a future world nor so much for the dissolution of life as the beginning of torment those cannot without the certaine hope of their immunitie but carnally feare to die and hellishly feare to be dead For if it be such paine to die what is it to be euer dying And if the straining or luxation of one ioynt can so afflict vs what shall the racking of the whole body and the torturing of the soule whose animation alone makes the body
to feele and complaine of smart And if men haue deuised such exquisite torments what can spirits more subtile more malicious And if our momentanie sufferings seeme long how long shall that be that is eternall And if the sorrowes indifferently incident to Gods deare ones vpon earth be so extreme as sometimes to driue them within sight of despairing what shall those be that are reserued onely for those that hate him and that he hateth None but those who haue heard the desperate complaints of some guiltie Spyra of whose soules haue beene a little scorched with these flames can enough conceiue of the horror of this estate it being the policy of our common enemy to conceale it so long that we may see and feele it at once lest we should feare it before it be too late to be auoided SECT XVII Remedy of the last and greatest breach of peace arising from death NOw when this great Aduersary like a proud Giant comes stalking out in his fearefull shape and insults ouer our fraile mortalitie daring the world to match him with an equall Champion whiles a whole host of worldlings shew him their backs for feare the true Christian armed onely with confidence and resolution of his future happinesse dares boldly encounter him and can wound him in the forehead the wonted seat of terror and trampling vpon him can cut off his head with his owne sword and victoriously returning can sing in triumph O death where is thy sting An happy victory Wee die and are not foiled yea we are conquerours in dying we could not ouercome death if we died not That dissolution is well bestowed that parts the soule from the body that it may vnite both to God All our life here as that heauenly Doctor well tearmes it is but a vitall death Augustine How aduantâ—gious is that death that determines this false and dying life and begins a true one aboue all the titles of happinesse The Epicure or Sadduce dare not die for feare of not being The guiltie and loose worldling dares not die for feare of being miserable The distrustfull and doubting semi-Christian dares not die because he knowes not whether hee shall be or be miserable or not be at all The resolued Christian dares and would die because he knowes he shall be happy and looking merrily towards heauen the place of his rest can vnfainedly say I desire to be dissolued I see thee my home I see thee a sweet and glorious home after a weary pilgrimage I see thee and now after many lingring hopes I aspire to thee How oft haue I looked vp at thee with admiration and rauishment of soule and by the goodly beames that I haue seene ghessed at the glory that is aboue them How oft haue I scorned these dead and vnpleasant pleasures of earth in comparison of thine I come now my ioyes I come to possesse you I come through paine and death yea if hell it selfe were in the way betwixt you and mee I would passe through hell it selfe to enioy you Tull. Tuscul Callimach Epigram And in truth if that Heathen Cleombrotus a follower of the ancient Academie but vpon onely reading of his Master Platoes discourses of the immortalitie of the soule could cast downe himselfe head-long from an high rocke and wilfully breake his necke that he might be possessed of that immortalitie which he beleeued to follow vpon death how contented should they be to die that knew they shall be more than immortall glorious Hee went not in an hate of the flesh August de Haeres as the Patrician Heretickes of old but in a blinde loue to his soule out of bare opinion We vpon an holy loue grounded vpon assured knowledge He vpon an opinion of future life we on knowledge of future glory He went vnsent for we called for by our Maker Why should his courage exceed ours since our ground our estate so farre exceeds his Euen this age within the reach of our memorie bred that peremptory Italian which in imitation of old Romane courage left in that degenerated Nation there should be no step left of the qualities of their Ancestors entring vpon his torment for killing a Tyrant cheered himselfe with this confidence My death is sharpe Mors acerba Fama perpetua my fame shall be euerlasting The voice of a Romane not of a Christian My fame shall be eternall an idle comfort My fame shall liue not my soule liue to see it What shall it auaile thee to be talkt of while thou art not Then fame onely is precious when a man liues to enioy it The fame that suruiues the soule is bootlesse Yet euen this hope cheered him against the violence of his death What should it doe vs that not our fame but our life our glory after death cannot die He that hath Stephens eies to looke into heauen cannot but haue the tongue of the Saints Come Lord How long That man seeing the glory of the end cannot but contemne the hardnesse the way But who wants those eies if he say and sweares that he feares not death beleeue him not if he protest this Tranquillitie and yet feare death beleeue him not beleeue him not if he say he is not miserable SECT XVIII THese are enemies on the left hand There want not some on the right The second ranke of the enemies of peace which with lesse profession of hostilitie hurt no lesse Not so easily perceiued because they distemper the minde not without some kinde of pleasure Surfet kils more than famine These are the ouer-desiring and ouer-ioying of these earthly things All immoderations are enemies as to health so to peace He that desires Hippocr Aphoris wants as much as he that hath nothing The drunken man is as thirstie as the sweating traueller Hence are the studies cares feares iealousies hopes griefes enuies wishes platformes of atchieuing alterations of purposes and a thousand like whereof each one is enough to make the life troublesome One is sicke of his neighbours field whose mis-shapen angles disfigure his and hinder his Lordship of entirenesse what he hath is not regarded for the want of what hee cannot haue Another feeds on crusts to purchase what he must leaue perhaps to a foole or which is not much better to a prodigall heire Another in the extremitie of couetous folly chuses to die an vnpitied death hanging himselfe for the fall of the market while the Commons laugh at that losse and in their speeches Epitaph vpon him as on that Pope He liued as a Wolfe and died as a Dogge One cares not what attendance hee dances at all houres on whose staires he sits what vices he soothes what deformities he imitates what seruile offices he doth in an hope to rise Another stomackes the couered head and stiffe knee of his inferiour angry that other men thinke him not so good as he thinkes himselfe Another eats his owne heart with enuy at the richer furniture and better
oppression comes home and seeing his bagges safe applauds himselfe against all censurers The Glutton when he loseth friends or good name yet ioyeth in his well furnisht table and the laughter of his Wine more pleasing himselfe in one dish than he can bee grieued with all the worlds mis-carriage The needy Scholler whose wealth lies all in his braine cheeres himselfe against iniquitie of times with the conceit of his knowledge These starting holes the minde cannot want when it is hard driuen Now when as like to some chased Sisera it shrowds it selfe vnder the harbour of these Iaels although they giue it house-roome and milke for a time yet at last either they entertaine it with a naile in the Temples or being guiltie to their owne impotency send it out of themselues for safetie and peace For if the Crosse light in that which it made his refuge as if the couetous man be crossed in his riches what earthly thing can stay him from a desperate phrensie Or if the Crosse fall in a degree aboue the height of his stay as if the rich man be sicke or dying wherein all wealth is either contemned or remembred with anguish how doe all his comforts like vermine from an house on fire runne away from him and leaue him ouer to his ruine whiles the Soule that hath placed his refuge aboue is sure that the ground of his comfort cannot be matched with an earthly sorrow cannot be made variable by the change of any euent but is infinitely aboue all casualties and without all vncertainties What state is there wherein this heauenly stay shall not affoord mee not onely Peace but Ioy Am I in prison or in the hell of prisons in some darke low and desolate dungeon Pompon Alger Fox Martyr Lo there Algerius that sweet Martyr findes more light than aboue and pitties the darknesse of our libertie We haue but a Sunne to enlighten our world which euery cloud dimmeth and hideth from our eies but the Father of lights in respect of whom all the bright starres of heauen are but as the snuffe of a dimme candle shines into his pit and the presence of his glorious Angels make that an heauen to him which the world purposed as an hell of discomfort What walls can keepe out that infinite Spirit that fills all things What darknesse can be where the God of this Sunne dwelleth What sorrow where he comforteth Am I wandring in banishment Can I goe whither God is not what Sea can diuide betwixt him and mee then would I feare exile if I could bee driuen away as well from God as my countrie Now he is as much in all earths His title is alike to all places and mine in him His sunne shines to me his sea or earth beares me vp his presence cheereth mee whither-soeuer I goe He cannot be said to flit that neuer changeth his Host He alone is a thousand companions he alone is a world of friends That man neuer knew what it was to be familiar with God that complaines of the want of home of friends of companions while God is with him Am I contemned of the world It is enough for me that I am honoured of God of both I cannot The world would loue me more if I were lesse friends with God It cannot hate mee so much as God hates it What care I to be hated of them whom God hateth He is vnworthy of Gods fauour that cannot thinke it happinesse enough without the worlds How easie is it for such a man whiles the world disgraces him at once to scorne and pittie it that it cannot thinke nothing more contemptible than it selfe I am impouerished with losses That was neuer throughly good that may be lost My riches will not leese mee yea tho I forgoe all to my skin yet haue I not lost any part of my wealth For if hee bee rich that hath something how rich is he that hath the Maker and owner of all things I am weake and diseased in body He cannot miscarry that hath his Maker for his Physician Yet my soule the better part is sound for that cannot bee weake whose strength God is How many are sicke in that and complaine not I can be content to be let bloud in the arme or foot for the curing of the head or heart The health of the principall part is more ioy to me than it is trouble to bee distempered in the inferiour Let me know that God fauours me then I haue libertie in prison home in banishment honour in contempt in losses wealth health in infirmitie life in death and in all these happinesse And surely if our perfect fruition of God bee our complete heauen it must needs be that our inchoate conuersing with him is our heauen imperfectly and the entrance into the other which me thinkes differs from this not in the kinde of it but in the degree For the continuation of which happy societie sith strangenesse loseth acquaintance and breedeth neglect on our part must bee a daily renuing of heauenly familiaritie by seeking him vp euen with the contempt of all inferiour distraction by talking with him in our secret inuocations by hearing his conference with vs and by mutuall entertainment of each other in the sweet discourses of our daily meditations He is a sullen and vnsociable friend that wants words God shall take no pleasure in vs if wee be silent The heart that is full of loue cannot but haue a busie tongue All our talke with God is either Suites or Thankes In them the Christian heart powres out it selfe to his Maker and would not change this priuilege for a world All his annoyances all his wants all his dislikes are powred into the bosome of his inuisible friend who likes vs still so much more as we aske more as we complaine more Oh the easie and happy recourse that the poore soule hath to the high throne of Heauen we stay not for the holding out of a golden scepter to wame our admission before which our presence should be presumption and death No houre is vnseasonable no person too base no words too homely no fact too hard no importunitie too great We speake familiarly we are heard answered comforted Another while God interchangeably speaks vnto vs by the secret voice of his spirit or by the audible sound of his word we heare adore answer him by both which the minde so communicates it selfe to God and hath God so plentifully communicated vnto it that hereby it growes to such an habit of heauenlinesse as that now it wants nothing but dissolution of full glory SECT XXIII The subordinate rules of Tranquillitie 1. For actions OVt of this maine ground once setled in the heart like as so many riuers from one common sea flow those subordinate resolutions which we require as necessary to our peace whether in respect of our actions or our estate For our actions there must be a secret vow passed in the soule both of constant refraining
though not so blessed yet so shalt thou be separated that my very dust shall be vnited to thee still and to my Sauiour in thee Wert thou vnwilling at the command of thy Creator to ioine thy selfe at the first with this body of mine why art thou then loth to part with that which thou hast found The Testimonies though intire yet troublesome Doest thou not heare Salomon say The day of death is better than the day of thy birth dost thou not beleeue him or art thou in loue with the worse and displeased with the better If any man could haue found a life worthy to be preferred vnto death so great a King must needs haue done it now in his very Throne he commends his Coffin Yea what wilt thou say to those Heathens that mourned at the birth and feasted at the death of their children They knew the miseries of liuing as well as thou the happinesse of dying they could not know and if they reioiced out of a conceit of ceasing to be miserable how shouldest thou cheere thy selfe in an expectation yea an assurance of being happy He that is the Lord of life and tried what it was to die hath proclaimed them blessed that die in the Lord. Those are blessed I know that liue in him but they rest not from their labours Toyle and sorrow is betweene them and a perfect enioying of that blessednesse which they now possesse onely in hope and inchoation when death hath added rest their happinesse is finished O death how sweet is that rest The taste of our Meditation wherewith thou refreshest the weary Pilgrims of this vale of mortalitie How pleasant is thy face to those eies that haue acquainted themselues with the sight of it which to strangers is grim and gastly How worthy art thou to be welcome vnto those that know whence thou art and whither thou tendest who that knowes thee can feare thee who that is not all nature would rather hide himselfe amongst the baggage of this vile life than follow thee to a Crowne what indifferent Iudge that should see life painted ouer with vaine semblances of pleasures attended with troupes of sorrowes on the one side and on the other with vncertaintie of continuance and certaintie of dissolution and then should turne his eyes vnto death and see her blacke but comely attended on the one hand with a momentanie paine with eternitie of glorie on the other would not say out of choice that which the Prophet said out of passion It is better for me to die than to liue But O my Soule what ailes thee to bee thus suddenly backward and fearefull The Complaint No heart hath more freely discoursed of death in speculation no tongue hath more extolled it in absence And now that it is come to thy beds-side and hath drawne thy curtaines and takes thee by the hand and offers thee seruice thou shrinkest inward and by the palenesse of thy face and wildnesse of thine eye bewraiest an amazement at the presence of such a ghest That face which was so familiar to thy thoughts is now vnwelcome to thine eies I am ashamed of this weake irresolution Whitherto haue tended all thy serious meditations what hath Christianitie done to thee if thy feares bee still heathenish Is this thine imitation of so many worthy Saints of God whom thou hast seene entertaine the violentest deaths with smiles and songs Is this the fruit of thy long and frequent instruction Didst thou thinke death would haue beene content with words didst thou hope it would suffice thee to talke while all other suffer Where is thy faith Yea where art thou thy selfe O my soule Is heauen worthy of no more thankes no more ioy Shall Heretikes shall Pagans giue death a better welcome than thou Hath thy Maker thy Redemer sent for thee and art thou loth to goe hath hee sent for thee to put thee in possession of that glorious Inheritance which thy wardship hath cheerefully expected and art thou loth to goe Hath God with this Sergeant of his sent his Angels to fetch thee and art thou loth to goe Rouze vp thy selfe for shame O my soule and if euer thou hast truly beleeued shake off this vnchristian diffidence and addresse thy selfe ioyfully for thy glory The Wish Yea O my Lord it is thou that must raise vp this faint and drooping heart of mine thou onely canst rid me of this weake and cowardly distrust Thou that sendest for my soule canst prepare it for thy selfe thou onely canst make thy messenger welcome to me O that I could but see thy face through death Oh that I could see death not as it was but as thou hast made it Oh that I could heartily pledge thee my Sauiour in this cup that so I might drinke new wine with thee in thy Fathers Kingdome The Confession But alas O my God nature is strong and weake in mee at once I cannot wish to welcome death as it is worthy when I looke for most courage I finde strongest temptations I see and confesse that when I am my selfe thou hast no such coward as I Let me alone and I shall shame that name of thine which I haue professed euery secure worldling shall laugh at my feeblenesse O God were thy Martyrs thus haled to their stakes might they not haue beene loosed from their rackes and chose to die in those torments Let it be no shame for thy seruant to take vp that complaint which thou mad'st of thy better Attendants The spirit is willing but the flesh is weake The Petition and enforcement O thou God of spirits that hast coupled these two together vnite them in a desire of their dissolution weaken this flesh to receiue and encourage this spirit either to desire or to contemne death and now as I grow neerer to my home let me increase in the sense of my ioyes I am thine saue me O Lord It was thou that didst put such courage into thine ancient and late witnesses that they either inuited or challenged death and held their persecutors their best friends for letting them loose from these gieues of flesh I know thine hand is not shortned neither any of them hath receiued more proofes of thy former mercies Oh let thy goodnesse inable me to reach them in the comfortable steddinesse of my passage Doe but draw this vaile a little that I may see my glory and I cannot but be inflamed with the desire of it It was not I that either made this body for the earth or this soule for my body or this heauen for my soule or this glorie of heauen or this entrance into glory All is thine owne worke Oh perfect what thou hast begun that thy praise and my happinesse may be consummate at once The assurance or Confidence Yea O my soule what need'st thou wish the God of mercies to be tender of his owne honour Art thou not a member of that body whereof thy Sauiour
those which fare better because they know it not Each man iudges of others conditions by his owne The worst sort would bee too much discontented if they saw how farre more pleasant the life of others is And if the better sort such we call those which are greater could looke downe to the infinite miseries of inferiours it would make them either miserable in compassion or proud in conceit It is good sometimes for the delicate rich man to looke into the poore mans Cupbord and seeing God in mercie giues him not to know their sorrow by experience to know it yet in speculation This shall teach him more thanks to God more mercie to men more contentment in himselfe 18 Such as a mans praier is for another it shall be in time of his extremitie for himselfe for though he loue himselfe more than others yet his apprehension of God is alike for both Such as his praier is in a former extremitie it shall be also in death this way we may haue experience euen of a thing future If God haue beene farre off from thee in a fit of thine ordinarie sicknesse feare lest he will not be neerer thee in thy last what differs that from this but in time Correct thy dulnesse vpon former proofes or else at last thy deuotion shall want life before thy body 19 Those that come to their meat as to a medicine as Augustine reports of himselfe liue in an austere and Christian temper and shall bee sure not to ioy too much in the creature nor to abuse themselues Those that come to their medicine as to meat shall be sure to liue miserably and die soone To come to meat if without a gluâ—â—onous appetite and palate is allowed to Christians To come to meat as to a sacrifice vnto the belly is a most base and brutish idolatrie 20 The worst that euer were euen Cain and Iudas haue had some Fautors that haue honoured them for Saints and the Serpent that beguiled our first Parents hath in that name had diuine honour and thanks Neuer any man trod so perillous and deepe steps but some haue followed and admired him Each master of Heresie hath found some clients euen hee that taught all mens opinions were true Againe no man hath beene so exquisite but some haue detracted from him euen in those qualities which haue seemed most worthy of wonder to others A man shall bee sure to be backed by some either in good or euil and by some shouldâ—â— in both It is good for a man not to stand vpon his Abâ—â—â—â—â—is but his quarrell and not to depend vpon others but himselfe 21 We see thousands of creatures die for our vse and neuer doe so much as pittie them why doe we thinke much to die once for God They are not ours so much as we are his nor our pleasure so much to vs as his glory to him their liues are lost to vs ours but changed to him 22 Much ornament is no good signe painting of the face argues an ill complexion of body a worse minde Truth hath a face both honest and comely and lookes best in her owne colours but aboue all Diuine Truth is most faire and most scorneth to borrow beautie of mans wit or tongue shee loueth to come forth in her natiue grace like a princely Matrone and counts it the greatest indignitie to bee dallied with as a wanton Strumpet she lookes to command reuerence not pleasure she would bee kneeled to not laughed at To pranke her vp in vaine dresses and fashions or to sport with her in a light and youthfull manner is most abhorring from her nature they know her not that giue her such entertainment and shall first know her angry when they doe know her Againe she would be plaine but not base not sluttish she would be clad not garishly yet not in ragges she likes as little to be set out by a base soile as to seeme credited with gay colours It is no small wisdome to know her iust guise but more to follow it and so to keepe the meane that while we please her we discontent not the beholders 23 In worldly carriage so much is a man made of as he takes vpon himselfe but such is Gods blessing vpon true humilitie that it still procureth reuerence I neuer saw Christian lesse honoured for a wise neglect of himselfe If our deiection proceed from the conscience of our want it is possible we should be as little esteemed of others as of our selues but if we haue true graces and prize them not at the highest others shall value both them in vs and vs for them and with vsury giue vs that honour we with-held modestly from our selues 24 He that takes his full libertie in what he may shall repent him how much more in what he should not I neuer read of Christian that repented him of too little worldly delight The surest course I haue still found in all earthly pleasures to rise with an appetite and to be satisfied with a little 25 There is a time when Kings goe not forth to warfare our spirituall warre admits no intermission it knowes no night no winter abides no peace no truce This calls vs not into garrison where we may haue ease and respit but into pitched fields continually we see our enemies in the face alwaies and are alwaies seene and assaulted euer resisting euer defending receiuing and returning blowes If either wee be negligent or weary we die what other hope is there while one fights and the other stands still We can neuer haue safetie and peace but in victory There must our resistance be couragious and constant where both yeelding is death and all treaties of peace mortall 26 Neutralitie in things good or euill is both odious and preiudiciall but in matters of an indifferent nature is safe and commendable Herein taking of parts maketh sides and breaketh vnitie In an vniust cause of separation he that fauoreth both parts may perhaps haue least loue of either side but hath most charitie in himselfe 27 Nothing is more absurd than that Epicurean resolution Let vs eat and drinke to morrow we shall die As if we were made onely for the paunch and liued that we might liue yet there was neuer any naturall man found sauour in that meat which he knew should be his last whereas they should say Let vs fast and pray to morrow we shall die for to what purpose is the bodie strengthned that it may perish Whose greater strength makes our death more violent No man bestowes a costly roofe on a ruinous tenement that mans end is easie and happy whom death findes with a weake bodie and a strong soule 28 Sometime euen things in themselues naturally good are to bee refused for those which being euill may be an occasion to a greater good Life is in it selfe good and death euill else Dauid Elias and many excellent Martyrs would not haue fled to hold life and auoid death nor Ezechiah haue praied
is without witnesse Openly many sinister respects may draw from vs a forme of religious duties secretly nothing but the power of a good conscience It is to be feared God hath more true and deuout seruice in Closets than in Churches 54 Words and diseases grow vpon vs with yeeres In age we talke much because wee haue seene much and soone after shall cease talking for euer Wee are most diseased because nature is weakest and death which is neere must haue harbingers such is the old age of the World No maruell if this last time be full of writing and weake discourse full of sects and heresies which are the sicknesses of this great and decaied body 55 The best ground vntilled soonest runs out into ranke weeds Such are Gods Children Ouer-growne with securitie ere they are aware vnlesse they bee well exercised both with Gods plow of affliction and their owne industry in meditation A man of knowledge that is either negligent or vncorrected cannot but grow wilde and godlesse 56 With vs vilest things are most common But with God the best things are most frequently giuen Grace which is the noblest of all Gods fauours is vnpartially bestowed vpon all willing receiuers whereas Nobilitie of bloud and height of place blessings of an inferiour nature are reserued for few Herein the Christian followes his Father his praiers which are his richest portion he communicates to all his substance according to his abilitie to few 57 God therefore giues because he hath giuen making his former fauours arguments for more Man therefore shuts his hand because hee hath opened it There is no such way to procure more from God as to vrge him with what hee hath done All Gods blessings are profitable and excellent not so much in themselues as that they are inducements to greater 58 Gods immediate actions are best at first The frame of this creation how exquisite was it vnder his hand afterward blemished by our sinne mans indeuours are weake in their beginnings and perfecter by degrees No science no deuice hath euer beene perfect in his cradle or at once hath seene his birth and maturitie of the same nature are those actions which God worketh mediatly by vs according to our measure of receit The cause of both is on the one side the infinitenesse of his wisdome and power which cannot be corrected by any second assaies On the other our weaknesse helping it selfe by former grounds and trials Hee is an happy man that detracts nothing from Gods works and addes most to his owne 59 The old saying is more common than true that those which are in hell know no other heauen for this makes the damned perfectly miserable that out of their owne torment they see the felicitie of the Saints together with their impossibility of attaining it Sight without hope of fruition is a torment alone Those that here might see God and will not or doe see him obscurely and loue him not shall once see him with anguish of soule and not enioy him 60 Sometimes euill speeches come from good men in their vnaduisednesse and sometimes euen the good speeches of men may proceed from an ill spirit No confession could be better than Satan gaue of Christ It is not enough to consider what is spoken or by whom but whence and for what The spirit is oftentimes tried by the speech but other-times the speech must be examined by the spirit and the spirit by the rule of an higher word 61 Greatnesse puts high thoughts and bigge words into a man whereas the deiected minde takes carelesly what offers it selfe Euery worldling is base-minded and therefore his thoughts creepe still low vpon the earth The Christian both is and knowes himselfe truly great and thereupon mindeth and speaketh of spirituall immortall glorious heauenly things So much as the soule stoopeth vnto earthly thoughts so much is it vnregenerate 62 Long acquaintance as it maketh those things which are euill to seeme lesse euill so it makes good things which at first were vnpleasant delightfull There is no euill of paine not no morall good action which is not harsh at the first Continuance of euill which might seeme to weary vs is the remedy and abatement of wearinesse and the practice of good as it profiteth so it pleaseth He that is a stranger to good and euill findes both of them troublesome God therefore doth well for vs while he exerciseth vs with long afflictions and we doe well to our selues while we continually busie our selues in good exercises 63 Sometimes it is well taken by men that we humble our selues lower than there is cause Thy seruant IACOB saith that good Patriarch to his brother to his inferiour And no lesse well doth God take these submisse extenuations of our selues I am a worme and no man Surely I am more foolish than a man and haue not the vnderstanding of a man in me But I neuer finde that any man bragged to God although in a matter of truth and within the compasse of his desert and was accepted A man may be too lowly in his dealing with men euen vnto contempt with God he cannot but the lower he falleth the higher is his exaltation 64 The soule is fed as the body starued with hunger as the body requires proportionable diet and necessary varietie as the body All ages and statures of the soule beare not the same nourishment There is milke for spirituall Infants strong meat for the growne Christian The spoone is fit for one the knife for the other The best Christian is not so growne that he need to scorne the spoone but the weake Christian may finde a strong feed dangerous How many haue beene cast away with spirituall surfets because being but new-borne they haue swallowed downe bigge morsels of the highest mysteries of godlinesse which they neuer could digest but together with them haue cast vp their proper nourishment A man must first know the power of his stomacke ere he know how with safetie and profit to frequent Gods Ordinary 65 It is very hard for the best man in a sudden extremity of death to satisfie himselfe in apprehending his stay and reposing his heart vpon it for the soule is so oppressed with sudden terrour that it cannot well command it selfe till it haue digested an euill It were miserable for the best Christian if all his former praiers and meditations did not serue to aide him in his last straits and meet together in the center of his extremitie yeelding though not sensible releefe yet secret benefit to the soule whereas the worldly man in this case hauing not laid vp for this houre hath no comfort from God or from others or from himselfe 66 All externall good or euill is measured by sense neither can we account that either good or ill which doth neither actually auaile nor hurt vs spiritually this rule holds not All our best good is insensible For all our future which is the greatest good we hold onely in hope and
vnited to him hee loueth diuided betwixt another and himselfe and his owne heart is so parted that whiles he hath some his friend hath all His choice is led by vertue or by the best of vertues Religion not by gaine not by pleasure yet not without respect of equal condition of disposition not vnlike which once made admits of no change except hee whom he loueth be changed quite from himselfe nor that suddenly but after long expectation Extremity doth but fasten him whiles he like a well-wrought vault lies the stronger by how much more weight he beares When necessity calls him to it he can be a seruant to his equall with the same will wherwith he can command his inferior and though he rise to honor forgets not his familiarity nor suffers inequality of estate to work strangenesse of countenance on the other side he lifts vp his friend to aduancement with a willing hand without enuy without dissimulation When his mate is dead he accounts himselfe but halfe aliue then his loue not dissolued by death deriues it selfe to those orphans which neuer knew the price of their father they become the heires of his affection and the burthen of his cares He embraces a free community of all things saue those which either honesty reserues proper or nature and hates to enioy that which would doe his friend more good his charity serues to cloke noted infirmities not by vntruth not by flattery but by discreet secrecy neither is he more fauourable in concealement than round in his priuate reprehensions and when anothers simple fidelity shewes it selfe in his reproofe hee loues his monitor so much the more by how much more hee smarteth His bosome is his friends closet where hee may safely lay vp his complaints his doubts his cares and looke how he leaues so he findes them saue for some addition of seasonable counsell for redresse If some vnhappy suggestion shall either disioint his affection or breake it it soone knits againe and growes the stronger by that stresse He is so sensible of anothers iniuries that when his friend is stricken he cries out and equally smarteth vntouched as one affected not with sympathy but with a reall feeling of paine and in what mischiefe may be preuented he interposeth his aid and offers to redeeme his friend with himselfe no houre can be vnseasonable no businesse difficult nor paine grieuous in condition of his ease and what either he doth or suffereth he neither cares nor desires to haue knowne lest he should seeme to looke for thanks If hee can therefore steale the performance of a good office vnseene the conscience of his faithfulnesse herein is so much sweeter as it is more secret In fauours done his memory is fraile in benefits receiued eternall he scorneth either to regard recompence or not to offer it He is the comfort of miseries the guide of difficulties the ioy of life the treasure of earth and no other than a good Angell cloathed in flesh Of the Truly-Noble HE stands not vpon what he borrowed of his Ancestors but thinkes hee must worke out his owne honour and if hee cannot reach the vertue of them that gaue him outward glory by inheritance hee is more abashed of his impotencie than transported with a great name Greatnesse doth not make him scornfull and imperious but rather like the fixed starres the higher he is the lesse he desires to seeme Neither cares he so much for pompe and frothy ostentation as for the solid truth of Noblenesse Courtesie and sweet affability can be no more seuered from him than life from his soule not out of a base and seruile popularity and desire of ambitious insinuation but of a natiue gentlenesse of disposition and true value of himselfe His hand is open bounteous yet not so as that he should rather respect his glory than his estate wherein his wisdome can distinguish betwixt parasites and friends betwixt changing of fauours and expending them He scorneth to make his height a priuilege of loosenesse but accounts his titles vaine if he be inferiour to others in goodnesse and thinks he should be more strict the more eminent he is because he is more obserued and now his offences are become exemplar There is no vertue that he holds vnfit for ornament for vse nor any vice which he condemnes not as sordid and a fit companion of basenes and whereof he doth not more hate the blemish than affect the pleasure He so studies as one that knowes ignorance can neither purchase honor nor wield it and that knowledge must both guide and grace him His exercises are from his childhood ingenious manly decent and such as tend still to wit valor actiuity and if as seldome he descend to disports of chance his games shall neuer make him either pale with feare or hot with desire of gaine Hee doth not so vse his followers as if he thought they were made for nothing but his seruitude whose felicity were only to be commanded and please wearing them to the backe and then either finding or framing excuses to discard them empty but vpon all opportunities lets them feele the sweetnesse of their owne seruiceablenesse and his bounty Silence in officious seruice is the best Oratory to plead for his respect all diligence is but lent to him none lost His wealth stands in receiuing his honour in giuing he cares not either how many hold of his goodnesse or to how few he is beholden and if he haue cast away fauours he hates either to vpbraid them to his enemie or to challenge restitution None can bee more pitifull to the distressed or more prone to succour and then most where is least meanes to sollicite least possibility of requitall He is equally addressed to warre and peace and knows not more how to command others than how to be his Countries seruant in both He is more carefull to giue true honour to his Maker than to receiue ciuill honour from men Hee knowes that this seruice is free and noble and euer loaded with sincere glory and how vaine it is to hunt after applause from the world till he be sure of him that moldeth all hearts and powreth contempt on Princes and shortly so demeans himselfe as one that accounts the body of Nobility to consist in Bloud the soule in the eminence of Vertue Of the good Magistrate HE is the faithfull Deputy of his Maker whose obedience is the rule whereby he ruleth his brest is the Ocean whereinto all the cares of priuate men empty themselues which as he receiues without complaint and ouerflowing so hee sends them forth againe by a wise conueyance in the streames of iustice his dores his eares are euer open to suters and not who comes first speeds well but whose cause is best His nights his meales are short and interrupted all which he beares well because he knowes himselfe made for a publike seruant of Peace and Iustice Hee sits quietly at the sterne and commands one to the
himselfe a ghest in his owne house an Ape of others and in a word any thing rather than himselfe Of the Flatterer FLatterie is nothing but false friendship fawning hypocrisie dishonest ciuilitie base merchandize of words a plausible discord of the heart and lips The Flatterer is bleare-eyed to ill and cannot see vices and his tongue walkes euer in one tracke of vniust praises and can no more tell how to discommend than to speake true His speeches are full of wondring interiections and all his titles are superlatiue and both of them seldome euer but in presence His base minde is well matched with a mercenarie tongue which is a willing slaue to another mans eare neither regardeth he how true but how pleasing His Art is nothing but delightfull coozenage whose rules are smoothing and garded with periurie whose scope is to make men fooles in teaching them to ouer-value themselues and to tickle his friends to death This man is a Porter of all good tales and mends them in the carriage One of Fames best friends and his owne that helps to furnish her with those rumours that may aduantage himselfe Conscience hath no greater aduersarie for when she is about to play her iust part of accusation he stops her mouth with good termes and wel-neere strangleth her with shifts Like that subtill fish he turnes himselfe into the colour of euery stone for a bootie In himselfe be is nothing but what pleaseth his Great-one whose vertues hee cannot more extoll than imitate his imperfections that he may thinke his worst gracefull Let him say it is hot he wipes his forehead and vnbraceth himselfe if cold he shiuers and calls for a warmer garment When hee walkes with his friend hee sweares to him that no man else is looked at no man talked of and that whomsoeuer he vouchsafes to looke on and nod to is graced enough That he knowes not his owne worth lest hee should be too happy and when hee tells what others say in his praise he interrupts himselfe modestly and dares not speake the rest so his concealement is more insinuating than his speech He hangs vpon the lips which he admireth as if they could let fall nothing but Oracles and findes occasion to cite some approued sentence vnder the name hee honoureth and when ought is nobly spoken both his hands are little enough to blesse him Sometimes euen in absence he extolleth his Patron where he may presume of safe conueyance to his eares and in presence so whispereth his commendation to a common friend that it may not be vnheard where hee meant it Hee hath salues for euery sore to hide them not to heale them complexion for euery face sinne hath not any more artificiall Broker or more impudent Bawd There is no vice that hath not from him his colour his allurement and his best seruice is either to further guiltinesse or smother it If hee grant euill things inexpedient or crimes errours hee hath yeelded much either thy estate giues priuilege of libertie or thy youth or if neither What if it be ill yet it is pleasant Honesty to him is nice singularitie repentance superstitious melancholy grauitie dulnesse and all vertue an innocent conceit of the base-minded In short he is the Moth of liberall mens coats the Eare-wig of the mightie the bane of Courts a friend and a slaue to the trencher and good for nothing but to bee a factor for the Deuill Of the Slothfull HE is a religious man and weares the time in his Cloister and as the cloke of his doing nothing pleads contemplation yet is he no whit the leaner for his thoughts no whit learneder Hee takes no lesse care how to spend time than others how to gaine by the expense and when businesse importunes him is more troubled to fore-thinke what he must doe than another to effect it Summer is out of his fauour for nothing but long daies that make no haste to their euen He loues still to haue the Sunne witnesse of his rising and lies long more for lothnesse to dresse him than will to sleepe and after some streaking and yawning cals for dinner vnwashed which hauing digested with a sleepe in his chaire hee walkes forth to the bench in the Market-place and lookes for Companions whomsoeuer he meets he staies with idle questions and lingring discourse how the daies are lengthned how kindly the weather is how false the clocke how forward the Spring and ends euer with What shall we doe It pleases him no lesse to hinder others than not to worke himselfe When all the people are gone from Church hee is left sleeping in his seat alone He enters bonds and forfeits them by forgetting the day and askes his neighbour when his owne field was fallowed whether the next peece of ground belong not to himselfe His care is either none or too late when Winter is come after some sharpe visitations he lookes on his pile of wood and askes how much was cropped the last Spring Necessitie driues him to euery action and what he cannot auoid he will yet deferre Euery change troubles him although to the better and his dulnesse counterfeits a kinde of contentment When he is warned on a Iury he had rather pay the mulct than appeare All but that which Nature will not permit he doth by a Deputy and counts it troublesome to doe nothing but to doe any thing yet more He is witty in nothing but framing excuses to sit still which if the occasion yeeld not he coineth with ease There is no worke that is not either dangerous or thanklesse and whereof he fore-sees not the inconuenience and gainlesnesse before hee enters which if it be verified in euent his next idlenesse hath found a reason to patronize it He had rather freeze than fetch wood and chuses rather to steale than worke to begge than take paines to steale and in many things to want than begge He is so loth to leaue his neighbours fire that hee is faine to walke home in the darke and if he be not lookt to weares out the night in the chimney corner or if not that lies downe in his clothes to saue two labours Hee eates and praies himselfe asleepe and dreames of no other torment but worke This man is a standing Poole and cannot chuse but gather corruption he is descried amongst a thousand neighbours by a dry and nastie hand that still sauours of the sheet a beard vncut vnkembed an eie and eare yellow with their excretions a coat shaken on ragged vnbrusht by linnen and face striuing whether shall excell in vncleannesse For body he hath a swolne legge a dusky and swinish eie a blowne cheeke a drawling tongue an heauy foot and is nothing but a colder earth molded with standing water To conclude is a man in nothing but in speech and shape Of the Couetous HE is a seruant to himselfe yea to his seruant and doth base homage to that which should be the worst drudge A liuelesse peece of
a few should be the aduantage of many soules Tho why doe I speake of losse I speake that as your feare not my owne and your affection causeth that feare rather then the occasion The God of the Haruest shall send you a Labourer more able as carefull That is my prayer and hope and shall be my ioy I dare not leaue but in this expectation this assurance What-euer become of me it shall be my greatest comfort to heare you commend your change and to see your happy progresse in those waies I haue both shewed you and beaten So shall we meet in the end and neuer part Written to Mr. J. B. and Dedicated to my Father Mr. J. Hall EP. X. Against the feare of Death YOu complaine that you feare death He is no man that doth not Besides the paine Nature shrinks at the thought of parting If you would learn the remedy know the cause for that she is ignorant and faithlesse Shee would not be cowardly if she were not foolish Our feare is from doubt and our doubt is from vnbeleefe and whence is our vnbeleefe but chiefly frō ignorance She knowes not what good is elsewhere she beleeues not her part in it Get once true knowledge true faith your feare shal vanish alone Assurance of heauenly things makes vs willing to part with earthly He cannot contemn this life that knowes not the other If you would despise earth therfore think of heauen If you would haue death easie thinke of that glorious life that followes it Certainly if we can endure paine for health much more should we abide a few pangs for glory Thinke how fondly we feare a vanquisht enemy Loe Christ hath triumpht ouer Death he bleedeth and gaspeth vnder vs and yet we tremble It is enough to vs that Christ dyed neyther would he haue dyed but that we might dye with safety and pleasure Thinke that death is necessarily annexed to nature We are for a time on condition that we shall not be wee receiue life but vpon the termes of re-deliuery Necessity makes some things easie as it vsually makes easie things difficult It is a fond iniustice to imbrace the couenant and shrinke at the condition Thinke there is but one common rode to all flesh There are no by-paths of any fairer or nearer way no not for Princes Euen company abateth miseries and the commonnesse of an euill makes it lesse fearefull What worlds of men are gone before vs yea how many thousands out of one field How many Crownes and Scepters lye piled vp at the gates of Death which their owners haue left there as spoiles to the conqueror Haue we been at so many graues so oft seene our selues dye in our friends and doe we shrinke when our course commeth Imagine you alone were exempted from the common law of mankind or were condemned to Methusalahs age assure your selfe death is not now so fearefull as your life would then be wearisome Thinke not so much what Death is as from whom he comes and for what We receiue euen homely messengers from great persons not without respect to their masters And what matters it who he be so he bring vs good newes What newes can be better than this That God sends for you to take possession of a Kingdome Let them feare Death which know him but as a pursuiuant sent from hell whom their conscience accuseth of a life wilfully filthy and bindes-ouer secretly to condemnation We know whither we are going and whom we haue beleeued Let vs passe on cheerfully through these blacke gates vnto our glory Lastly know that our improuidence onely addes terror vnto death Thinke of death and you shall not feare it Doe you not see that euen Beares and Tygres seem not terrible to those that liue with them How haue we seene their keepers sport with them when the beholders durst scarce trust their chaine Be acquainted with Death though he looke grimme vpon you at first you shall finde him yea you shall make him a good companion Familiarity cannot stand with feare These are receits enow Too much store doth rather ouer-whelme than satisfie Take but these and I dare promise you security EPISTLES THE SECOND DECAD BY IOS HALL LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. THE SECOND DECAD To Sir ROBERT DARCY EP. I. The estate of a true but weake Christian IF you aske how I fare Sometimes no man better and if the fault were not mine owne Alwayes Not that I can command health and bid the world smile when I list How possible is it for a man to be happy without these yea in spight of them These things can neyther augment nor impaire those comforts that come from aboue What vse what sight is there of the starres when the Sunne shines Then onely can I finde my selfe happy when ouer-looking these earthly things I can fetch my ioy from heauen I tell him that knowes it the contentments that earth can afford her best Fauourites are weake imperfect changeable momentany and such as euer end in complaint Wee sorrow that wee had them and while wee haue them we dare not trust them Those from aboue are full and constant What an heauen doe I feele in my selfe when after many trauerses of meditation I find in my hart a feeling possession of my God! When I can walke and conuerse with the God of heauen not without an opennesse of heart and familiarity When my soule hath caught fast and sensible hold of my Sauiour and either pulls him downe to it selfe or rather lifts vp it selfe to him and can and dare secretly auouch I know whom I haue beleeued When I can looke vpon all this inferior creation with the eies of a stranger am transported to my home in my thoughts solacing my selfe in the view meditation of my future glory and that present of the Saints When I see wherefore I was made and my conscience tells me I haue done that for which I came done it not so as I can boast but so as it is accepted while my weaknesses are pardoned and my acts measured by my desires and my desires by their sincerity Lastly when I can finde my selfe vpon holy resolution made firme and square fit to entertaine all euents the good with moderate regard the euill with courage and patience both with thankes strongly setled to good purposes constant and cheerfull in deuotion and in a word ready for God yea full of God Sometimes I can be thus and pity the poore and miserable prosperity of the godlesse and laugh at their moneths of vanity and sorrow at my owne But then againe for why should I shame to confesse it the world thrusts it selfe betwixt me and heauen and by his darke and indigested parts eclipseth that light which shined to my soule Now a senslesse dulnesse ouertakes me and besots me my lust to deuotion is little my ioy none at all Gods face is hid and I am troubled Then I begin
god his deuotion can bee but his pleasure whereas the mortified soule hath learned to scorne these friuolous and sinfull ioyes and affects either solid delights or none and had rather be dull for want of mirth then transported with wanton pleasures When the world like an important Minstrell thrusts it selfe into his chamber and offers him musicke vnsought if he vouchsafe it the hearing it is the highest fauour he dare or can yeeld He rewards it not he commends it not Yea hee secretly lothes those harsh and iarring notes and reiects them For he finds a better consort within betwixt God and himselfe when he hath a little tuned his heart with meditation To speake fully the World is like an ill foole in a Play the Christian is a iudicious spectator which thinkes those iests too grosse to be laught at and therefore entertaines that with scorne which others with applause Yet in truth we finne if wee reioyce not there is not more error in false mirth then in vniust heauinesse If worldlings offend that they laugh when they should mourne we shall offend no lesse if we droop in cause of cheerefulnesse Shall we enuy or scorne to see one ioy in red and white drosse another in a vaine title one in a dainty dish another in a iest one in a book another in a friend one in a Kite another in a Dogge whiles wee enioy the God of Heauen and are sorrowfull What dull metall is this we are made of We haue the fountaine of ioy and yet complaine of heauinesse Is there any ioy without God Certainly if ioy be good and all goodnesse bee from him whence should ioy arise but from him And if hee be the author of ioy how are we Christians and reioyce not What do we freeze in the fire and starue at a feast Haue we a good conscience and yet pine and hang down the head When God hath made vs happy doe we make our selues miserable When I aske my heart Dauids question I know not whether I bee more angry or ashamed at the answer Why art thou sad my soule My body my purse my fame my friends or perhaps none of these onely I am sad because I am And what if all these what if more when I come to my better wits Haue I a father an aduocate a comforter a mansion in heauen If both earth and hell conspired to afflict me my sorrow cannot counteruaile the causes of my ioy Now I can challenge all aduersaries and either defie all miseries or bid all crosses yea death it selfe welcome Yet God doth not abridge vs of these earthly solaces which dare weigh with our discontentments and sometimes depresse the balance His greater light doth not extinguish the lesse If God had not thought them blessings hee had not bestowed them and how are they blessings if they delight vs not Bookes friends wine oyle health reputation competencie may giue occasions but not bounds to our reioycings We may not make them Gods riualls but his spokes-men In themselues they are nothing but in God worth our ioy These may be vsed yet so as they may bee absent without distraction Let these goe so God alone be present with vs it is enough He were not God if he were not All-sufficient We haue him I speake boldly Wee haue him in feeling in faith in pledges and earnest yea in possession Why doe we not enioy him why doe we not shake-off that senselesse drowsinesse which makes our liues vnpleasant and leaue-ouer all heauinesse to those that want God to those that either know him not or know him displeased ToM. W.R. Dedic to M. Thomas Burlz EP. IX Consolations of immoderate griefe for the death of friends WHile the streame of sorrow runs full I know how vaine it is to oppose counsell Passions must haue leasure to digest Wisdome doth not more moderate them then time At first it was best to mourne with you and to mitigate your sorrow by bearing part wherein would God my burden could be your ease Euery thing else is lesse when it is diuided And then is best after teares to giue counsell yet in these thoughts I am not a little straited Before you haue digested griefe aduice comes too early too late when you haue digested it Before it was vnseasonable after would be superfluous Before it could not benefit you after it may hurt you by rubbing-vp a skinned sore a-fresh It is as hard to choose the season for counsell as to giue it and that season is after the first digestion of sorrow before the last If my Letters then meet with the best opportunitie they shall please me and profit you If not yet I deserue pardon that I wished so You had but two Iewels which you held precious a Wife and a Sonne One was your selfe diuided the other your selfe multiplyed You haue lost both and well-neere at once The losse of one caused the other and both of them your iust griefe Such losses when they come single afflict vs but when double astonish vs and tho they giue aduantage of respite would almost ouerwhelme the best patient Lo now is the tryall of your manhood yea of your Christianitie You are now in the lists set vpon by two of Gods fierce afflictions show now what patience you haue what fortitude Wherefore haue you gathered and laid vp all this time but for this brunt Now bring forth all your holy store to light and to vse and approue to vs in this difficultie that you haue all this vvhile beene a Christian in earnest I know these euents haue not surprised you on a sudden you haue suspected they might come you haue put-cases if they should come Things that are hazardous may be doubted but certaine things are and must be expected Prouidence abates griefe and discountenances a crosse Or if your affection were so strong that you durst not fore-thinke your losse take it equally but as it falls A wise man and a Christian knowes death so fatall to Nature so ordinarie in euent so gainefull in the issue that I vvonder he can for this either feare or grieue Doth God onely lend vs one another and doe we grudge when he calls for his owne So I haue seene ill debters that borrow vvith prayers keepe vvith thankes repay vvith enmitie We mistake our tenure vve take that for gift vvhich God intends for loane Wee are tenants at will and thinke our selues owners Your vvife and child are dead Well they haue done that for vvhich they came If they could not haue dyed it had been worthy of vvonder not at all that they are dead If this condition vvere proper onely to our families and friends or yet to our climate alone how vnhappie should we seeme to our neighbours to our selues Now it is common let vs mourne that vve are men Lo all Princes and Monarchs daunce vvith vs in the same ring yea what speake I of earth The God of Nature the Sauiour of men hath trod the same
too many neglect publike peace first in prayers that we may preuaile then in teares that we preuaile not Thus haue I beene bold to chat with you of our greatest and common cares Your old loue and late hospitall entertainment in that your Iland called for this remembrance the rather to keepe your English tongue in breath vvhich was wont not to be the least of your desires Would God you could make vs happie with newes not of truce but sincere amitie and vnion not of Prouinces but spirits The God of spirits effect it both here and there to the glory of his Name and Church To W. J. condemned for murder EP. VIII Effectually preparing him and vnder his name whatsoeuer Malefactor for his death IT is a bad cause that robbeth vs of all the comfort of friends yea that turnes their remembrance into sorrow None can do so but those that proceed from our selues for outward euils vvhich come from the infliction of others make vs cleaue faster to our helpers and cause vs to seeke and find ease in the very commiseration of those that loue vs whereas those griefes which arise from the iust displeasure of conscience will not abide so much as the memorie of others affection or if it doe makes it so much the greater corrasiue as our case is more vncapable of their comfort Such is yours You haue made the mention of our names tedious to your selfe and yours to vs. This is the beginning of your paine that you had friends If you may now smart soundly from vs for your good it must be the only ioy you must expect and the finall dutie we owe to you It is both vaine and comfortlesse to heare what might haue beene neither would I send you backe to what is past but purposely to increase your sorrow vvho haue caused all our comfort to stand in your teares If therefore our former counsels had preuailed neither had your hands shed innocent blood nor iustice yours Now to your great sinne you haue done the one and the other must bee done to your paine and we your well-willers with sorrow and shame liue to be witnesses of both Your sinne is gone before the reuenge of iustice will follow seeing you are guilty let God be iust Other sinnes speake this cryeth and will neuer be silent till it be answered with it selfe For your life the case is hopelesse feede not your selfe with vaine presumptions but settle your selfe to expiate anothers blood with your own Would God your desert had been such that we might with any comfort haue desired you might liue But now alas your fact is so hainous that your life can neither bee craued without iniustice nor be protracted without inward torment And if our priuate affection should make vs deafe to the shouts of blood and partialitie should teach vs to forget all care of publique right yet resolue there is no place for hope Since then you could not liue guiltlesse there remaines nothing but that you labour to die penitent and since your bodie cannot bee saued aliue to endeuour that your soule may bee saued in death Wherein how happie shall it be for you if you shall yet giue care to my last aduice too late indeed for your recompence to the world not too late for your selfe You haue deserued death and expect it Take heed lest you so fasten your eyes vpon the first death of the bodie that you should not looke beyond it to the second which alone is vvorthy of trembling vvorthy of teares For this though terrible to Nature yet is common to vs with you You must die what doe we else And what differs our end from yours but in haste and violence And vvho knowes vvhether in that It may be a sicknesse as sharpe as sudden shal fetch vs hence it may be the same death or a vvorse for a better cause Or if not so there is much more misery in lingring Hee dies easily that dies soone but the other is the vtmost vengeance that God hath reserued for his enemies This is a matter of long feare and short paine A few pangs lets the soule out of prison but the torment of that other is euerlasting after ten thousand yeares scorching in that flame the paine is neuer the neerer to his ending No time giues it hope of abating yea time hath nothing to doe vvith this eternitie You that shall feele the paine of one minutes dying thinke what paine it is to be dying for euer and euer This although it be attended with a sharpe paine yet is such as some strong spirits haue endured without shew of yeeldance I haue heard of an Irish Traitor that when he lay pining vpon the vvheele with his bones broke asked his friend if he changed his countenance at all caring lesse for the paine then the shew of feare Few men haue died of greater paines then others haue sustained and liue But that other ouerwhelmes both bodie and soule and leaues no roome for any comfort in the possibilitie of mitigation Here men are executioners or diseases there fiends Those Deuils that were ready to tempt the gracelesse vnto sinne are as ready to follow the damned vvith tortures Whatsoeuer become of your carkase saue your soule from the flames and so manage this short time you haue to liue that you may die but once This is not your first sinne yea God hath now punished your former sinnes vvith this a fearfull punishment in it selfe if it deserued no more your conscience which now begins to tell truth cannot but assure you that there is no sinne more worthy of hell then murder yea more proper to it Turne ouer those holy leaues which you haue too much neglected and now smart for neglecting you shall finde murderers among those that are shut out from the presence of God you shall find the Prince of that darknesse in the highest stile of his mischiefe termed a man-slayer Alas how fearfull a case is this that you haue herein resembled him for vvhom Topheth was prepared of old and imitating him in his action haue endangered your selfe to partake of his torment Oh that you could but see what you haue done what you haue deserued that your heart could bleed enough within you for the blood your hands haue shed That as you haue followed Satan our common enemy in sinning so you could defie him in repenting That your teares could disappoint his hopes of your damnation What a happie vnhappinesse shall this be to your sad friends that your better part yet liueth That from an ignominious place your soule is receiued to glory Nothing can effect this but your repentance and that can doe it Feare not to looke into that horror which should attend your sinne and bee now as seuere to your selfe as you haue been cruell to another Thinke not to extenuate your offence vvith the vaine titles of manhood vvhat praise is this that you vvere a valiant murderer Strike your owne brest as Moses
since the giuer of both lifes hath said He that shall lose his life for my sake shall saue it Loe this alone is lost vvith keeping and gained by losse Say you vvere freed vpon the safest conditions and returning as how welcome should that newes bee more to yours then to your selfe perhaps Death may meete you in the vvay perhaps ouertake you at home neither place nor time can promise immunitie from the common destinie of men Those that may abridge your houres cannot lengthen them and while they last cannot secure them from vexation yea themselues shall follow you into their dust and cannot auoid vvhat they can inflict death shall equally tyrannize by them and ouer them so their fauours are but fruitlesse their malice gainfull For it shall change your Prison into Heauen your Fetters into a Crowne your Iaylors to Angels your miserie into glory Looke vp to your future estate and reioyce in the present Behold the Tree of Life the hidden Manna the Scepter of Power the Morning Starre the white garment the new name the Crowne and Throne of Heauen are addressed for you Ouercome and enioy them oh glorious condition of Martyrs whom conformity in death hath made like their Sauiour in blessednesse whose honour is to attend him for euer whom they haue ioyed to imitate What are these which are araied in long white robes and whence came they These are sayes that heauenly Elder they which came out of great tribulation and washed their long Robes and haue made their long Robes white in the blood of the Lambe Therefore they are in the presence of the Throne of God and serue him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne wil dwell among them and gouerne them and lead them vnto the liuely Fountaines of waters and God shall wipe all teares from their eyes All the elect haue Seales in their fore-heads but Martyrs haue Palmes in their hands All the elect haue white Robes Martyrs both white and long white for their glory long for the largenesse of their glory Once red with their owne blood now white with the blood of the Lambe there is nothing in our blood but weake obedience nothing but merit in the Lambs blood Behold his merit makes our obedience glorious You doe but sprinkle his feet with your blood loe hee washes your long white Robes with his Euery drop of your blood is answered with a streame of his and euery drop of his is worth Riuers of ours Precious in the fight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Precious in preuention precious in acceptation precious in remuneration Oh giue willingly that which you cannot keepe that you may receiue what you cannot leese The way is steepe but now you breathe towards the top Let not the want of some few steps lose you an eternall rest Put to the strength of your owne Faith The prayers of Gods Saints shall further your pace and that gracious hand that sustaines heauen and earth shall vphold and sweetly draw you vp to your glory Goe on to credit the Gospell with your perseuerance and shew the false-hearted clients of that Roman-Court that the Truth yeelds reall and hearty professors such as dare no lesse smart then speake for her Without the wals of your restraint where can you looke beside incouragements of suffering Behold in this how much you are happier then your many predecessors Those haue found friends or wiues or children the most dangerous of all tempters Suggestions of weaknesse when they come masked with loue are more powerfull to hurt But you all your many friends in the valour of their Christian loue wish rather a blessed Martyr then a liuing and prosperous reuolter yea your deare wife worthy of this honour to be the wife of a Martyr prefers your faith to her affection and in a courage beyond her sex contemnes the worst misery of your losse professing shee would redeeme your life with hers but that she would not redeeme it with your yeeldance and while she lookes vpon those many pawnes of your chaste loue your hopefull children wishes rather to see them fatherlesse then their father vnfaithfull The greatest part of your sufferings are hers She beares them with a cheerfull resolution She diuides with you in your sorrowes in your patience she shall not bee diuided in your glory For vs we shall accompany you with our prayers and follow you with our thankfull commemorations vowing to write your name in red letters in the Kalendars of our hearts and to register it in the monuments of perpetuall Records as an example to all postery The memoriall of the iust shall be blessed To all READERS EP. X. Containing Rules of good aduice for our Christian and ciuill cariage I Grant breuity where it is neither obscure nor defectiue is very pleasing euen to the daintiest iudgements No maruell therefore if most men desire much good counsell in a narrow roome as some affect to haue great personages drawne in little tablets or as we see worlds of Countries described in the compasse of small maps Neither do I vnwillingly yeeld to follow them for both the powers of good aduice are the stronger when they are thus vnited and breuity makes counsell more portable for memorie and readier for vse Take these therefore for more which as I would faine practise so am I willing to commend Let vs begin with him who is the first and last Informe your selfe aright concerning God without whom in vaine doe we know all things Be acquainted with that Sauiour of yours which paid so much for you on earth and now sues for you in heauen without whom we haue nothing to doe with God nor he with vs. Adore him in your thoughts trust him with your selfe Renew your sight of him euery day and his of you Ouer-looke these earthly things and when you doe at any time cast your eyes vpon heauen think there dwels my Sauiour there I shall be Call your selfe to often recknings cast vp your debts payments graces wants expences employments yeeld not to thinke your set deuotions troublesome Take not easie denials from your selfe yea giue peremptory denials to your selfe Hee can neuer bee good that flatters himselfe hold nature to her allowance and let your will stand at courtesie happy is that man which hath obtained to be the master of his owne hearts Thinke all Gods outward fauours and prouisions the best for you your owne abilitie and actions the meanest Suffer not your mind to be either a Drudge or a Wanton exercise it euer but ouer-lay it not In all your businesses looke through the world at God whatsoeuer is your leuell let him be your scope Euery day take a view of your last and thinke either it is this or may be Offer not your selfe either to honour or labour let them both seeke you Care you onely to be worthy and you cannot hide you from God So frame your selfe to the time and company that you
And if wee could but as heartily haue prayed for him before as we haue heartily wept for him since perhaps we had not had this cause of mourning From sorrow let vs descend to paines which is no small cause of crying and teares as I feare some of vs must the word howsoeuer it is here translated is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 labour I must confesse labour and paine are neere one another whence we say that he which labours takes paines and contrarily that a woman is in labour or trauell when shee is in the paine of child-birth teares cannot be wip't away whiles toile remaines That the Israelites may leaue crying they must bee deliuered from the brick-kilnes of Aegypt Indeed God had in our creation allotted vs labour without paine but when once sinne came into the soule paine seized vpon the bones and the minde was possessed with a wearinesse and irksome loathing of what it must do and euer since sorrow and labour haue beene inseparable attendants vpon the life of man Insomuch as God when he would describe to vs the happy estate of the dead does it in those termes They shall rest from their labours Looke into the field there you shall see toiling at the plough and sithe Looke into the waters there you see tugging at the oares and cabels Looke into the City there you see plodding in the streets sweating in the shops Looke into the studies there you see fixing of eyes tossing of bookes scratching the head palenesse infirmity Looke into the Court there you see tedious attendance emulatory officiousnesse All things are full of labour and labour is full of sorrow If we doe nothing idlenesse is wearisome if any thing worke is wearisome in one or both of these the best of life is consumed Who now can bee in loue with a life that hath nothing in it but crying and teares in the entrance death in the conclusion labour and paine in the continuance and sorrow in all these What Gally-slaue but we would be in loue with our chaine what prisoner would delight in his dungeon How hath our infidelity besotted vs if we doe not long after that happy estate of our immortality wherein all our teares shall be wip't away and we at once freed from labour sorrow and death Now as it is vaine to hope for this till then so then not to hope for it is paganish and brutish He that hath tasked vs with these penances hath vndertaken to release vs. God shall wipe away all teares While we stay here he keepes all our teares in a bottle Psal 56. so precious is the water that is distilled from penitent eies and because he will be sure not to faile he notes how many drops there be in his register It was a pretious ointment wherewith the woman in the Pharises house it is thought Mary Magdalene anointed the feet of Christ Luke 7.37 but her teares wherewith shee washt them were more worth than her spilâ—nard But that which is here precious is there vnseasonable then hee shall wipe away those which here hee would saue As death so passions are the companions of infirmity whereupon some that haue beene too nice haue called those which were incident into Christ Propassions not considering that he which was capable of death might be as well of passions These troublesome affections of griefe feare and such like doe not fall into glorified soules It is true that they haue loue desire ioy in their greatest perfection yea they could not haue perfection without them but like as God loues and hates and reioyces truly but in a manner of his owne abstracted from all infirmity and passion so doe his glorified Saints in imitation of him There therefore as we cannot die so wee cannot grieue we cannot be afflicted Here one saies My belly my belly with the Prophet another mine head mine head with the Shunamites sonne another my sonne my sonne as Dauid another my father my father with Elisha One cries out of his sinnes with Dauid another of his hunger with Esau another of an ill wife with Iob another of trecherous friends 2 Kings 4. with the Psalmist One of a sore in body with Ezechias another of a troubled soule with our Sauiour in the garden euery one hath some complaint or other to make his cheekes wet and his heart heauy Stay but a while and there shall be none of these There shall be no crying no complaining in the streets of the new Ierusalem No axe no hammer shall be heard within this heauenly Temple Why are we not content to weepe here a while on condition that we may weepe no more Why are we not ambitious of this blessed ease Certainly we doe not smart enough with our euils that we are not desirous of rest These teares are not yet dry yet they are ready to be ouertaken by others for our particular afflictions Miseries as the Psalmist compares them are like waues which breake one vpon another and tosse vs with a perpetuall vexation and we vaine men shall we not wish to be in our hauen Are we sicke and grieue to thinke of remedie Are we still dying and are wee loth to thinke of life Oh this miserable vnbeleefe that tho we see a glorious heauen aboue vs yet we are vnwilling to go to it we see a wearisome world about vs and yet are loth to thinke of leauing it This gracious master of ours whose dissolution is ours while he was here amongst vs his princely crowne could not keepe his head from paine his golden rod could not driue away his feuers now is hee freed from all his aches agues stitches convulsions cold sweats now he triumphs in glory amongst the Angels and Saints now he walkes in white robes and attends on the glorious bridegroome of the Church and doe we thinke he would be content now for all the kingdomes of the world to be as he was We that professe it was our ioy and honour to follow him whither soeuer he had gone In his disports in his warres in his trauels why are we not now ambitious of following him to his better crowne yea of raigning together with him for heauen admits of this equality in that glory wherein he raignes with his Sauiour ours Why doe we not now heartily with him that was rauished into the third heauan say Cupio dissolui esse cum Christo not barely to be dissolued a malecontent may doe so but therefore to be dissolued that we may be with Christ possessed of his euerlasting glory where we shall not onely not weepe but reioyce and sing Halleluiahs for euer not onely not die but enioy a blessed and heauenly life Euen so Lord Iesus come quickly Now if any man shall aske the Disciples question Master when shall these things be the celestiall voyce tels him it must bee vpon a change For the first things are passed It shall be in part so soone as euer our first things our life
it is euen too little for God what doe we thinke of taking an Inmate into this cottage It is a fauour and happinesse that the God of glorie will vouchsafe to dwell in it alone Euen so O God take thou vp these roomes for thy selfe and inlarge them for the entertainment of thy Spirit Haue thou vs wholly and let vs haue thee Let the world serue it selfe O let vs serue thee with all our hearts God hath set the heart on worke to feare the hands on worke to serue him now that nothing may bee wanting he sets the head on worke to consider and that not so much the iudgements of God yet those are of singular vse and may not be forgotten as his mercies What great things hee hath done for you not against you Hee that looked vpon his owne works and saw they were good and delighted in them delights that we should looke vpon them too and applaud his wisdome power and mercie that shines in them Euen the least of Gods works are worthie of the obseruation of the greatest Angell in heauen but the magnalia Dei the great things he hath done are more worthie of our wonder of our astonishment Great things indeed that hee did for Israel he meant to make that Nation a precedent of mercie that all the world might see what he could doe for a people Heauen and earth conspired to blesse them What should I speake of the wonders of Aegypt Surely I know not whether their preseruation in it or deliuerance out of it were more miraculous Did they want a guide Himselfe goes before them in fire Did they want a shelter His cloud is spred ouer them for a couering Did they want way The sea it selfe shall make it and bee at once a street and a wall to them Did they want bread Heauen it selfe shall powre downe food of Angels Did they want meat to their bread The wind shall bring them whole drifts of Quailes into their Tents Doe they want drinke to both The verie Rocke shall yeeld it them Doe they want suits of apparell Their verie clothes shall not wax old on their backs Doe they want aduice God himselfe shall giue his vocall Oracle betweene the Cherubins Doe they want a Law God shall come downe vpon Sinai and deliuer it in fire thundring smoke earth-quakes and write it with his owne finger in tables of stone Doe they want habitations God shall prouide them a land that flowes with milke and honie Are they persecuted God stands in fire betweene them and their harmes Are they stung to death The brazen Serpent shall cure them Are they resisted The walls of Iericho shall fall downe alone hailestones braine their enemies The Sunne shall stand still in heauen to see Ioshuahs reuenge and victorie Oh great and mightie things that God did for Israel And if any Nation vnder heauen could either parallel or second Israel in the fauours of God this poore little ILAND of ours is it The cloud of his protection hath couered vs. The bloud-red sea of persecution hath giuen way to vs and we are passed it dry-shod The true Manna from heauen is rained downe abundantly about our tents The water of life gusheth forth plenteously to vs The better law of the Gospell is giuen vs from heauen by the hands of his Sonne the walls of the spirituall Iericho are fallen downe before vs at the blast of the trumpets of God and cursed be he that goes about to build them vp againe Now therefore that we may come more close to the taske of this day Let me say to you as SAMVEL to his Israelites Consider with mee what great things the Lord hath done for vs and as one wisht that the enuious had eyes in euerie place so could I seriously wish that all which haue ill will at our Sion had their eares with me but one houre that if they belong not to God they might burst with Iudas which repine with Iudas at this seasonable cost of the precious oyntment of our praises If I should looke backe to the ancient mercies of God and shew you that this Kingdome though diuided from the world was one of the first that receiued the Gospell That it yeelded the first Christian Emperor that gaue peace and honour to the Church The first and greatest lights that shone forth in the darkest of Poperie to all the world and that it was the first kingdome that shooke Antichrist fully out of the saddle I might finde iust matter of praise and exultation but I will turne ouer no other Chronicles but your memorie This day alone hath matter enough of an eternall gratulation For this is the communis terminus wherein Gods fauours meet vpon our heads which therefore represents to vs both what we had and what we haue The one to our sense the other to our remembrance This day was both Queene ELIzABETHS Initium gloriae and King IAMES his Initium regni To her Natalitium salutis as the passion-dayes of the Martyrs were called of old and Natalis Imperij to him These two names shew vs happinesse enough to take vp our hearts for euer And first why should it not bee our perpetuall glorie and reioycing that wee were her subiects Oh blessed Queene the mother of this Nation the nurse of this Church the glorie of womanhood the enuie and example of forraine Nations the wonder of times how sweet and sacred shall thy memorie bee to all posterities How is thy name not Parables of the dust Iob 13.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Iewes speake not written in the earth as Ieremie speaks but in the liuing earth of all loyall hearts neuer to bee razed And though the foule mouthes of our Aduersaries sticke not to call her miseram foeminam as Pope Clement did nor to say of her as Euagrius sayes vncharitably of Iustinian the great Law-giuer ad supplicia iusto Dei iudicio apud inferos luenda profecta est Euagr. l. 5. c. 1. and those that durst bring her on the stage liuing bring her now dead as I haue heard by those that haue seene it into their processions like a tormented ghost attended with fiends and firebrands to the terrour of their ignorant beholders Yet as wee saw shee neuer prospered so well as when shee was most cursed by their Pius 5 so now wee hope she is rather so much more glorious in heauen by how much they are more malicious on earth These arrogant wretches that can at their pleasure fetch Salomon from heauen to hell and Traian and Falconella from hell to heauen Campian and Garnet from earth to heauen Queene Elizabeth from earth to hell shall finde one day that they haue mistaken the keyes and shall know what it is to iudge by being iudged In the meane time in spight of the gates of Rome Memoria iustae in benedictionibus To omit those vertues which were proper to her sex by which she deserued to bee the Queene of women
the score and take vp the sweet and rich commodities of sinfull pleasure and when I haue done I can put my selfe vnder the protection of a Sauiour and escape the arrest Oh the world of soules that perish by this fraud fondly beguiling themselues whiles they would beguile the Tempter Yet higher Lastly as Satan went about to deceiue the Sonne of God so this foolish consort and client of his goes about to deceiue God himselfe The first paire of hearts that euer was were thus credulous to thinke they should now meet with a meanes of knowledge and Deifying which God either knew not of or grudged them and therefore they would bee stealing it out of the side of the apple without God yea against him Tush none eye shall see vs Is there knowledge in the most high saith the sottish Atheist Lord haue not wee heard thee preach in our streets haue not we cast out Deuils in thy Name sayes the smoothing hypocrite as if hee could fetch God ouer for an admission into heauen Thou hast not lied to man but to God saith S. Peter to Ananias And pettish Ionas after hee had beene cooled in the belly of the Whale and the Sea yet will be bearing God downe in an argument to the iustifying of his idle choler I doe well to be angry to the death But as the greatest Politicians are oft ouertaken with the grossest follies God owes proud wits a shame the heart of man could not possibly deuise how so much to befoole it selfe Psal 94.10 11. as by this wicked presumption Oh yee fooles when will ye vnderstand He that formed the eye shall he not see Hee that teacheth man knowledge shall not hee vnderstand The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanitie A rod for the backe of fooles yea a rod of iron for such presumptuous fooles to crush them in peeces like a Potters vessell Ye haue seene the fashion and the subiect of this deceit the sequell or effect followes euery way lamentable For hence it comes to passe that many a one hath had his heart in keeping fortie fiftie threescore yeeres and more and yet is not acquainted with it and all because this craft hath kept it at the Priscillianists locke Tu omnes te nemo It affects to be a searcher of all men no man is allowed to come aboard of it And if a man whether out of curiositie or conscience bee desirous to inquire into it as it is a shame for a man to be a stranger at home Know ye not your owne heart saith the Apostle it casts it selfe Proteus-like into so many formes that it is very hard to apprehend it One while the man hath no heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Salomon Psal 12. Then hee hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an heart and an heart saith Dauid and one of his hearts contradicts another and then how knowes he whether to beleeue And what certainty what safety can it bee for a man to liue vnacquainted with himselfe Of this vnacquaintance secondly arises a dangerous mesprison of a mans selfe in the nature and quantity of his sinne in the quality of his repentance in his peace and intirenesse with God in his right to heauen and in a word in his whole spirituall estate Of this mes-prison thirdly arises a fearefull disappointment of all his hopes and a plunging into vnauoidable torments Wherein it is miserable to see how cunningly the traiterous hearts of many men beare them in hand all their liues long soothing them in all their courses promising them successe in all their waies securing them from feare of euills assuring them of the fauour of God and possession of heauen as some fond Bigot would bragge of his Bull or Medall or Agnus Dei or as those Priests that Gerson * * Qui publicè volunt dogmatizare seu praedicare populo quod si quis audit missam in illo dâ—e non erit caecus nec morietur morte subitanea nec carebit sufficienti sustentatione c. taxes who made the people beleeue that the Masse was good for the eye-sight for the mawe for bodily health and preseruation till they come to their death-beds But then when they come to call forth the comforts they must trust to they finde them like to some vnfaithfull Captaine that hath all the while in Garrison filled his purse with dead paies and made vp the number of his companies with borrowed men and in time of ease shewed faire but when hee is called forth by a sudden alarum bewraies his shame and weaknesse and failes his Generall when hee hath most need of him right thus doe the perfidious hearts of many after all the glorious bragges of their security on the bed of their last reckoning finde nothing but a cold despaire and a wofull horror of conscience and therefore too iustly may their hearts say to them as the heart of Appollodorus the Tyrant seemed to say vnto him who dreamed one night that hee was fleaed by the Scythians and boyled in a Caldron and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is I that haue drawne thee to all this Certainly neuer man was or shall bee frying in hell but cries out of his owne heart and accuses that deceitfull peece as guilty of all his torment For let Satan be neuer so malicious and all the world neuer so parasiticall yet if his owne heart had beene true to him none of these could haue hurt him Let the rest of our enemies doe their worst onely from the euill of our owne hearts good Lord deliuer vs. It were now time for our thoughts to dwell a little vpon the meditation and deploration of our owne danger and misery who are euery way so inuironed with subtlety If we looke at Satan his old title is that old Serpent who must needs therefore now by so long time and experience bee both more old and more Serpent If we looke at sin it is as crafty as he Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sinne If at our owne hearts wee heare that which wee may feele that the heart is deceitfull aboue all things Oh wretched men that we are how are wee beset with Impostors on all hands If it were more seasonable for vs to bewaile our estate than to seeke the redresse of it But since it is not so much worth our labour to know how deepe the pit is into which wee are fallen as how to come out of it heare rather I beseech you for a conclusion how wee may auoid the danger of the deceit of our false heart euen iust so as wee would preuent the nimble feats of some cheating Iugler Search him watch him Trust him not Looke well into his hands pockets boxes sleeues yea vnder his very tongue it selfe There is no fraud so secret but may be descried were our hearts as crafty as the deuill himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
they may be found out Wee are not ignorant saith Saint Paul of Satans deuices much more then may we know our owne Were the hearts of men as Salomon speakes of Kings like vnto deepe waters they haue a bottome and may bee fathomed Were they as darke as hell it selfe and neuer so full of windings and blinde waies and obscure turnings doe but take the lanthorne of Gods law in your hand and you shall easily finde all the false and foule corners of them As Dauid saith of the Sun nothing is hid from the light thereof Proue your selues saith the Apostle It is hard if falshood be so constant to it selfe that by many questions it bee not tripped Where this duty is slackned it is no wonder if the heart bee ouer-run with spirituall fraud Often priuy searches scarre away vagrant and disorderly persons where no inquiry is made is a fit harbour for them If yee would not haue your hearts therefore become the lawlesse Ordinaries of vncleane spirits search them oft Leaue not a straw vnshaken to finde out these Labanish Teraphim that are stollen and hid within vs And when we haue searched our best if we feare there are yet some vnknowne euills lurking within vs as the man after Gods owne heart prayes against secret sinnes let vs call him in that cannot be deceiued and say to God with the Psalmist Search thou me ô Lord and trie mee Oh let vs yeeld our selues ouer to bee ransackt by that all-seeing eye and effectuall hand of the Almighty All our daubing and cogging and packing and shuffling lies open before him and he onely can make the heart ashamed of it selfe And when our hearts are once stript naked and carefully searcht let our eyes be euer fixedly bent vpon their conueyances and inclinations If we search and watch not we may be safe for the present long we cannot for our eye is no sooner off than the heart is busie in some practise of falshood It is well if it forbeare whiles we looke on for The thoughts of mans heart are only euill continually and many a heart is like some bold and cunning theefe that lookes a man in the face and cuts his purse But surely if there be any guardian of the soule it is the eye The wise mans eye saith Solomon is in his head doubtlesse on purpose to looke into his heart My sonne aboue all keepings keepe thy heart saith he If we doe not dogge our hearts then in all our wayes but suffer our selues to lose the sight of them they run wilde and we shall not recouer them till after many slippery tricks on their parts and much repentance on ours Alas how little is this regarded in the world wherein the most take no keepe of their soules but suffer themselues to run after the wayes of their owne hearts without obseruation without controlement What should I say of these men but that they would faine be deceiued and perish For after this loose licentiousnesse without the great mercy of God they neuer set eye more vpon their hearts till they see them either fearfully intoyled in the present iudgements of God or fast chained in the pit of hell in the torments of finall condemnation Thirdly If our searches and watches should faile vs we are sure our distrust cannot It is not possible our heart should deceiue vs if we trust it not Wee carry a remedie within vs of others fraud and why not of our owne The Italians not vnwisely pray God in their knowne prouerbe to deliuer them from whom they trust for wee are obnoxious to those we relie vpon but nothing can leese that which it had not Distrust therefore can neuer be disappointed If our hearts then shall promise vs ought as it hath learned to profer largely of him that said All these will I giue thee although with vowes and oathes aske for his assurances if he cannot fetch them from the euidences of God trust him not If he shall report ought to vs aske for his witnesses if hee cannot produce them from the records of God trust him not If he shall aduise vs ought aske for his warrant if he cannot fetch it from the Oracles of God trust him not And in all things so beare our selues to our heart as those that thinke they liue amongst theeues and cozeners euer iealously and suspiciously taking nothing of their word scarce daring to trust our owne senses making sure worke in all matters of their transactions I know I speake to wise men whose counsell is wont to be asked and followed in matter of the assurances of estates whose wisdome is frequently imployed in the triall euiction dooming of malefactors Alas what shall it auaile you that you can aduise for the preuention of others fraud if in the meane time you suffer your selues to be cozened at home What comfort can you finde in publike seruice to the state against offenders if you should carry a fraudulent and wicked heart in your owne bosomes There is one aboue whom we may trust whose word is more firme than heauen When heauen shall passe that shall stand It is no trusting ought besides any further than he giues his word for it Mans Epithet is Homo mendax and his best part the hearts deceitfull Alas what shall we thinke or say of the condition of those men which neuer follow any other aduice than what they take of their owne heart Such are the most that make not Gods Law of their counsell As Esay said of Israel Esa 57.17 Abijt vagus in via cordis sui Surely they are not more sure they haue an heart than that they shall be deceiued with it and betraied vnto death Of them may I say as Salomon doth of the wanton foole that followes an harlot Thus with her great craft she caused him to yeeld Pro. 7.21 and with her flattering lips she intised him And he followed her straight wayes as an Oxe that goes to the slaughter or as a foole to the stocks for correction Oh then deare Christians as euer yee desire to auoid that direfull slaughter-house of hell those wailings and gnashings and gnawings and euerlasting burnings looke carefully to your owne hearts and what euer suggestions they shall make vnto you trust them not till you haue tried them by that vnfaileable rule of righteousnesse the royall law of your Maker which can no more deceiue you than your hearts can free you from deceit Lastly that wee may auoid not onely the euents but the very enterprises of this deceit let vs countermine the subtill workings of the heart Our Sauiour hath bidden vs be wise as Serpents What should be wise but the heart And can the heart be wiser than it selfe Can the wisdome of the heart remedie the craft of the heart Certainly it may There are two men in euery regenerate brest the old and the new And of these as they are euer plotting against each other wee must take the better side and labour
man could not set forth his foot but into the iawes of death when piles of carcasses were caried to their pits as dung to the fields when it was cruelty in the sicke to admit visitation and loue was little better then murderous And by how much more sad and horrible the face of those euill times looked so much greater proclaime you the mercy of God in this happy freedome which you now enioy that you now throng together into Gods House without feare and breathe in one anothers face without danger The second is the wonderfull plenty of all prouisions both spirituall and bodily You are the Sea all the Riuers of the land runne into you Of the land Yea of the whole world Sea and land conspire to inrich you The third is the priuiledge of carefull gouernment Your Charters as they are large and strong wherein the fauour of Princes hath made exceptions from the generall rules of their municipall lawes so your forme of administration is excellent and the execution of Iustice exemplary and such as might become the mother Citie of the whole earth For all these you haue reason to aske Quid retribuam with Dauid What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits and to excite one another vnto thankfulnesse with that sweet Singer of Israel O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse And as beneficence is a binder these fauours of God call for your confidence What should you doe but euer trust that God whom you haue found so gracious Let him bee your God be ye his people for euer and let him make this free and open challenge to you all If there be any power in heauen or in earth that can doe more for you then hee hath done let him haue your hearts and your selues That they doe good and be rich in good workes And thus from that dutie we owe to God in our confidence and his beneficence to vs we descend to that beneficence which we owe to men expressed in the variety of foure Epithets Doing good being rich in good workes ready to distribute willing to communicate all to one sense all is but beneficence The Scriptures of God lest any Atheist should quarrell at this waste haue not one word superfluous Here is a redoubling of the same words without fault of Tautologie a redoubling of the same sense in diuers words without idlenesse There is feruor in these repetitions not loosenesse as it was wont for this cause to be obserued both in Councels and acclamations to Princes how oft the same word was reiterated that by the frequence they might iudge of the vehemence of affection It were easie to instance in many of this kind as especially Exodus 25.35 Psalme 89.30 Iohn 1.20 and so many more as that their mention could not be voide of that superfluity which we disclaime This heape of words therefore shewes the vehement intention of his desire of good workes and the important necessity of their performance and the manner of this expression inforces no lesse Charge the rich that the doe good and be rich in doing good Harken then yee rich men of the world it is not left arbitrary to you that you may doe good if you will but it is laid vpon you as your charge and duty You must doe good works and woe be to you if you doe not This is not a counsell but a precept Although I might say of God as we vse to say of Princes his will is his command The same necessity that there is of Trusting in God the same is in Doing good to men Let me sling this stone into the brazen foreheads of our aduersaries which in their shamelesse challenges of our Religion dare tell the world we are all for faith nothing for works and that we hold workes to saluation as a Parenthesis to a clause that it may be perfit without them Heauen and earth shall witnesse the iniustice of this calumniation and your consciences shall bee our compurgators this day which shall testifie to you both now and on your death-beds that we haue taught you there is no lesse necessitie of good works then if you should be saued by them and that though you cannot be saued by them as the meritorious causes of your glory yet that you cannot be saued without them as the necessarie effects of that grace which brings glory It is an hard sentence of some Casuists concerning their fellowes that but a few rich mens Confessors shall bee saued I imagine for that they dawbe vp their consciences with vntempered morter and sooth them vp in their sins Let this be the care of them whom it concerneth For vs wee desire to bee faithfull to God and you and tell you roundly what you must trust to Doe good therefore yee rich if euer yee looke to receiue good if euer yee looke to bee rich in heauen bee rich in good works vpon earth It is a shame to heare of a rich man that dyes and makes his will of thousands and bequeaths nothing to pious and charitable vses God and the poore are no part of his heyre We doe not houer ouer your expiring soules on your death-beds as Rauens ouer a carkasse wee doe not begge for a Couent nor fright you with Purgatory nor chaffer with you for that inuisible treasure of the Church whereof there is but one Key-keeper at Rome but wee tell you that the making of friends with this Mammon of vnrighteousnesse is the way to eternall habitations They say of Cyrus that he was wont to say he laid vp treasures for himself whiles he made his friends rich but we say to you that you lay vp treasures for your selues in heauen whiles you make the poore your friends vpon earth We tell you there must be a Date ere there can be a Dabitur that he which giues to the poore lends vpon vse to the Lord which payes large increase for all he borrows and how shal he giue you the Interest of glory where he hath not receiued the Principall of beneficence How can that man euer looke to be Gods heyre in the Kingdome of heauen that giues all away to his earthly heyres and lends nothing to the God of heauen As that witty Grecian said of extreame tall men that they were Cypresse-trees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. faire and tall but fruitlesse so may I say of a strait-handed rich man And these Cypresses are not for the Garden of Paradise none shall euer be planted there but the fruitfull And if the first Paradise had any trees in it onely for pleasure I am sure the second which is in the midst of the new Ierusalem shall haue no tree that beares not twelue fruits Reu. 22.2 yea whose very leaues are not beneficiall Doe good therefore O ye rich and shew your wealth to bee not in hauing but in doing good And if God haue put this holy resolution into any of your hearts take this
death yet both then and before his mariage he would take it in great scorne as well he might to bee suspected for dishonest True and might defie Men and Deuils in that Challenge What of this It followes then If Master Hall could for so long together liue a chaste life why no more Why not alwayes Demonstratiuely concluded As if a man should say C. E. doth speake some wise words how can hee at any time write thus foolishly A Christian hath sometime grace to auoyd a Temptation why not alwayes Why doth he not keepe himselfe euer from sinning A good Swimmer may hold his breath vnder the water for some portion of a Minute why not for an houre why not for more A deuour Papist may fast after his Breake-fast till his Dinner in the afternoone therefore why not a Weeke why not a Moneth why not so long as Eue the Maid of Meurs The Spirit of God if at least he may bee allowed for the Author of Continencie breatheth where and when he listeth and that God which makes Mariages in Heauen either auerts the heart from these thoughts or inclines it at his pleasure Shortly The great Doctor of the Gentiles had neuer learned this Diuinity of Doway whose charge is e e 1. Cor. 7.5 Defraud not one another except with consent for a season that yee may giue your selues to Fasting and Prayer And againe Come together that Satan tempt you not through your incontinency He onely wanted my Monitor to jogge him on the Elbow as here What needs all this fleshlinesse if they can safely containe whiles they giue themselues to extraordinarie deuotion Why not more Why not alwayes It is pitie Refut p 65. that no man would aduise the Apostle how great a gap this Doctrine of his opens to all lasciuiousnesse Let me but haue leaue to put Saint Pauls Name in stead of mine into this challenge of my Refuter and thus he argues If S. Paul say that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for awhile they are able to liue chaste but not for any long while I aske againe How long that while shall endure Refut p. 65. and what warrant they haue therein for not falling seeing it may so fall out that in the while appointed they may bee more tempted then they shall bee againe in all their liues after How sawcy would this Sophistrie be how shamelesse The words are his onely the Name is changed what the elect Vessell would answer in such a case for himselfe let C. E. suppose returned by mee SECT XIII THe Refuter hath borrowed some Weapons of his Master Bellarmine and knowes not how to weare them It would moue any mans disdaine to see how absurdly those poore Arguments are blundred together We must distinguish them as we may First Saint Paul condemnes the yong Widowes mentioned Refut p. 63. therefore hee ouerthrowes this impossibilitie of containing I answer Saint Paul aduises the yong Widowes to marry and admits none into the Church-booke vnder threescore yeares therefore he establishes in some this impossibilitie Secondly Saint Paul aduises Timothy to liue chaste Reader Refut p. 63. 46. tell him the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which their owne vulgar 1. Tit. 8. turnes Sober and in 2. Tit. 5. Prudent But to grant him his owne Phrase Can my Detector descry no difference betwixt Chaste and Single Did he and his Fellowes neuer heare of a coniugall Chastitie So they haue still wont to speake as if Chastitie were onely opposite to Mariage as if no single life could be vnchaste His Espencaeus might haue taught him that Verse in Virgil Casta pudicitiam seruat domus and hee might haue heard of that Roman law of Vestals Castae ex castis purae ex puris sunto yea his Erasmus might haue taught him yet further f f Eras Apol. pro declam Matr. Secundus gradus Virginitatis est Matrimonii casta dilectio Opus Imperf in Matth. Refut p. 64. Ab his duabus Columnis crede mihi difficile duellor Ibid. ex Bernardo C. E. Refut p. 64. E diuerso nihil prohibet in coniugio Virginitati locum esse that euen in Mariage there may be Virginitie Thirdly the Fathers exhort to Virginity especially S. Ambrose and Saint Austin Let him tell this to them that know it not to them that dislike true chastity in Virgins not to them that condemne vnchastnesse in a pretended Virginity To what Vertue do not the Fathers exhort yet neuer supposing them to be within our lure Lastly where is the shame of my Refuter that cites Austin as the Man on whom he depends for his vniuersall possibility of Continency when his own Maldonate professes that S. Austin is the onely enemy to this Doctrine Fourthly Where there is impossibility or necessity there is no sinne no counsell as no man sinnes in not making new Starres in not doing Miracles A stale shift that oft sounded in the eares of Austin and Prosper from their Pelagians The naturall man in this deprauednesse of estate cannot but offend God therefore he sinnes not in sinning Counsell giuen shewes what we should do not what we can g g Aug. l de Nat. Grat c. 43. Iubendo admonet c. saith Austin In commanding he admonisheth vs both to doe what wee can and to aske that which wee cannot doe In Continencie then our indeuour is required for the attaining of that which God will giue vs God neuer imployed vs in making of Starres Though my Refuter is euery day set on greater Worke then making of him that made Starres Lastly it is true there is no sinne in marying there may bee sinne after a vow in not vsing all lawfull meanes of Chastitie The Fathers therefore supposing a h h Post multam deliberationem considerationem c. Basil Refut p. 65. pre-required assurance of the gift and calling of God in those whom mature deliberation and long proofe had couered with the vayle of Virginitie doe iustly both call for their continuance and censure their lapses Fiftly vpon this ground the Father cannot blame his Childe for incontinence To containe implyes impossibilitie Aske him wherefore serues Mariage Yea but to prouide an Husband or a Wife is not a worke of an houres warning in the meane time what shall they doe Sure the man thinkes of those hot Regions of his Religion where they are so sharpe set that they must haue Stewes allowed of one Sexe at least Else what strange violence is this that he conceiues As our Iunius answered his Bellarmine in the like Hic homo sibi videtur agere de equis admissarijs ruentibus in venerem de hippomanc non de hominibus ratione praeditis he speakes as if hee had to doe with Stallions not with Men not with Christians amongst whom is to bee supposed a decent order and due regard of seasonablenesse and expediency A doughty Argument Marg. of the Refut p. 65. wherewith Master Hall is sore
soule in death the same day The same day was Q. Elizabeths Initium Regni her Coronation Ianuary 15 following That leasure enough might be taken in these great affaires the See of Canterbury continued void aboue a yeare At last in the second yeare of Q. Elizabeth 1559 December 17 was Matthew Parker legally consecrated Archb. of Canterbury by foure Bishops William Barlow formerly Bishop of Bathe then elect of Chichester Iohn Scory before of Chichester now elect of Hereford Miles Couerdale Bishop of Exeter Iohn Hodgeskins Suffragan of Bedford Mathew Parker thus irrefragably setled in the Archiepiscopall See with three other Bishops in the same Moneth of December solemnely consecrated Edmund Grindall and Edwin Sands The publike Records are euident and particular relating the Time Sunday morning after Prayers The place Lambeth-Chappell The manner Imposition of hands The consecrators Mathew Cant. William Chichester Iohn Hereford Iohn Bedford The Preacher at the Consecration Alexander Nowell afterwards the worthy Deane of Pauls The Text Take heed to your selves and to all the flocke c. The Communion lastly administred by the Archbishop For Bishop Iewel he was consecrated the Moneth following in the same forme by Mathew Cant. Edmund London Richard Ely Iohn Bedford Lastly for Bishop Horne he was consecrated a whole yeare after this by Mathew Cant. Thomas S. Dauids Edmund London Thomas Couentry and Lichfield The circumstances Time Place Form Preacher Text seuerally recorded The particulars whereof I referre to the faithfull and cleare relation of Master Francis Mason whose learned and full discourse of this subiect might haue satisfied all eyes and stopped all mouthes What incredible impudency is this then for those which pretend not Christianitie onely but the Consecration of God wilfully to raise such shamefull slanders from the pit of Hell to the disgrace of Truth to the disparagement of our holy calling Let me therefore challenge my Detector in this so important a point wherein his zeale hath so farre out-run his wit and with him all the Brats of that proud Harlot that no Church vnder Heauen can shew a more cleere eeuen vncontrolable vntroubled line of the iust succession of her Sacred Orders then this of ours if his Rome for her tyrannous Primacie could bring forth but such Cards the world vvould bee too straight for her He shall maugre be forced to confesse that either there were neuer true Orders in the Church of England which he dares not say or else that they are still Ours The Bishops in the time of King Henry the eight were vndoubted If they left Rome in some corrected opinions their Character was yet by confession a a Quis ignorat Cathol c. similiter Ordinatos verè esse Ordinatos quando Ordinator verè Episcopus fuerat adhuc erat saltem quantum ad characterem Bellar. de Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 10. indeleble They laid their hands according to Ecclesiasticall constitution vpon the Bishops in King Edwards dayes And they both vpon the Bishops in the beginning of Queene Elizabeths They againe vpon the succeeding Inheritors of their holy Sees and they lastly vpon vs so as neuer man could shew a more certaine and exquisite Pedigree from his great Grand-father then wee can from the acknowledged Bishops of King Henries time and thence vpwards to hundreds of Generations I confesse indeed our Archbishops and Bishops haue wanted some Aaronicall accustrements Gloues Rings Sandals Miters and Pall and such other trash and our inferiours Orders haue wanted Gâ—eazing and Shauing and some other pelting Ceremonies But let C. E. proue these essentiall which we want or those Acts and Formes not essentiall vvhich we haue Et Phyllida solus habeto In the meane time the Church of England is blessed with a true Clergy and glorious and such a one as his Italian generation may impotently enuy and snarle at shall neuer presume to compete vvith in worthinesse and honour And as Doctor Taylor that couragious Martyr said at his parting Blessed bee God for holy Matrimonie SECT XVIII MY Cauiller purposely mistakes my rule of Basil the Great Refut p. 90. 91. and my Text of the Great Apostle whiles from both I resolue thus I passe not what I heare Men or Angels say while I heare God say Let him be the Husband of one Wife he wil needs so construe it as if I tooke this of S. Pauls for a command not for an allowance As if I meant to imply from hence that euery Bishop is bound to haue a Wife Who is so blind as the wilfull Their Leo b b Leo ep 87. abaâ— 85. Tam sacra semper est habita ista Praeceptio calls these words a Preception I did not If hee knew any thing he could not be ignorant that this sense is against the streame of our Church and no lesse then a Grecian errour Who knowes not the extreames of Greece and Rome and the Track of Truth betwixt them both The Greeke Church saith Hee cannot be in holy Orders that is not maried The Romish Church saith He cannot bee in holy Orders that is maried The Church Reformed sayes Hee may bee in holy Orders that is maried and conuertibly Some good friends vvould needs fetch vs into this idle Grecisme and to the societie of the old Frisons c c Espenc lib. 1. de Contin c. 1. and if Saint Ierome take it aright of Vigilantius Espencaeus and Bellarmine and our Rhemists free vs. There is no lesse difference betwixt them and vs then betwixt May and Must Libertie and Necessitie If then Let him be the Husband of one Wife argue that a Bishop may bee a maried man I haue vvhat I would and passe not for the contrarie from Men and Angels We willingly grant vvith Luther that this charge is negatiue Refut p. 91 92. Non velut sanciens dicit saith Chrysostome But this negatiue charge implyes an affirmatiue allowance we seeke for no more As for the authorities which my Detector hath borrowed of his Vncles of Rhemes they might haue beene well spared He tels vs Saint Ierom sayes Qui vâ—am habuerit non habeat He who hath had one Wife not hee that hath one I tell him Saint Paul saith d d Tit. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any man be the Husband of one Wife not If hee haue beene Let e e Chrysost in 1. Tit. homil 2. Saint Chrysostome therein answer Hierome and Epiphanius and all other pretended opposites Obstruere prorsus intendit haereticorum era qui nuptias damnaâ—t c. He purpos'd in this to stop the mouthes of Heretikes that condemned mariage shewing that that estate is faultlesse yea so precious that with it a man might bee aduanced to the holy Episcopall Chaire Thus he whom their learned f f Esp vbi supra Bishop Espencaeus seconds and by the true force of the Text cleareth this sense against all contradiction Nec enim Paulini de Episcopis c. For
loue and their enuy And now they haue stript him naked and haling him by both armes as it were cast him aliue into his graue So in pretence of forbearance they resolue to torment him with a lingring death the sauagest robbers could not haue beene more mercilesse for now besides what in them lyes they kill their Father in their brother Nature if it once degenerate growes more monstrous and extreme then a disposition borne to cruelty All this while Ioseph wanted neither words nor teares but like a passionate suppliant bowing his bare knees to them whom he dreamed should bow to him intreats and perswades by the deare name of their brotherhood by their profession of one common God for their Fathers sake for their owne soules sake not to sinne against his blood But enuie hath shut out mercy and makes them not onely forget themselues to be brethren but men What stranger can thinke of poore innocent Ioseph crying naked in that desolate and dry pit only sauing that he moystned it with teares and not be moued Yet his hard-hearted brethren fit them downe carelessely with the noyse of his lamentation in their eares to eate bread not once thinking by their owne hunger what it was for Ioseph to be affamisht to death Whatsoeuer they thought God neuer meant that Ioseph should perish in that pit and therefore hee sends very Ismaelites to ransome him from his Brethren the feed of him that persecuted his brother Isaac shall now redeeme Ioseph from his brethrens persecution When they came to fetch him out of the pit hee now hoped for a speedie dispatch That since they seemed not to haue so much mercy as to prolong his life they vvould not continue so much crueltie as to prolong his death And now when hee hath comforted himselfe with hope of the fauour of dying behold death exchanged for bondage how much is seruitude to an ingenuous nature worse then death For this is common to all that to none but the miserable Iudah meant this well but God better Reuben saued him from the sword Iudah from affamishing God will euer raise vp some secret fauourers to his owne amongst those that are most malicious How well was this fauour bestowed If Ioseph had dyed for hunger in the pit both Iacob and Iudah and all his brethren had dyed for hunger in Canaan Little did the Ismaelitish Merchants know what a treasure they bought caried and sold more precious then all their Balmes and Myrrhs Little did they thinke that they had in their hands the Lord of Aegypt the Iewell of the World Why should wee contemne any mans meannesse when wee know not his destiny One sinne is commonly vsed for the vaile of another Iosephs coat is sent home dipped in blood that whiles they should hide their owne cruelty they might afflict their Father no lesse then their brother They haue deuised this reall lye to punish their old Father for his loue with so grieuous a monument of his sorrow Hee that is mourned for in Canaan as dead prospers in Aegypt vnder Potiphar and of a Slaue is made a Ruler Thus God meant to prepare him for a greater charge hee must first rule Petiphars House then Pharaohs Kingdome his owne seruice is his least good for his very presence procures a common blessing A whole Family shall fare the better for one Ioseph Vertue is not lookt vpon alike with all eyes his fellowes praise him his Master trusts him his Mistresse affects him too much All the spight of his brethren was not so great a crosse to him as the inordinate affection of his Mistresse Temptations on the right hand are now more perilous and hard to resist by how much they are more plausible and glorious But the heart that is bent vpon God knowes how to walke steddily and indifferently betwixt the pleasures of sinne and feares of euill He saw this pleasure would aduance him He knew what it was to be a Minion of one of the greatest Ladies in Aegypt yet resolues to contemne it A good heart will rather lye in the dust then rise by wickednesse How shall I doe this and sinne against God! He knew that all the honours of Aegypt could not buy off the guilt of one sinne and therefore abhorres not onely her bed but her company He that will be safe from the acts of euill must wisely auoid the occasions As sinne ends euer in shame when it is committed so it makes vs past shame that we may commit it The impudent strumpet dare not onely sollicit but importune but in a sort force the modesty of her good seruant She layes hold on his garment her hand seconds her tongue Good Ioseph found it now time to flee when such an enemie pursued him how much had he rather leaue his cloake then his vertue and to suffer his Mistresse to spoyle him of his liuery rather then he should blemish her honour or his Masters in her or God in either of them This second time is Ioseph stript of his garment before in the violence of enuy now of lust before of necessitie now of choice Before to deceiue his Father now his Master for behold the pledge of his fidelity which he left in those wicked hands is made an euidence against him of that which hee refused to doe therefore did hee leaue his cloake because he would not doe that of which he is accused and condemned because he left it what safety is there against great Aduersaries when euen arguments of innocence are vsed to conuince of euill Lust yeelded vnto is a pleasant madnesse but is a desperate madnesse when it is opposed No hatred burnes so furiously as that which arises from the quenched coales of loue Malice is witty to deuise accusations of others out of their vertue and our owne guiltinesse Ioseph either pleads not or is not heard Doubtlesse hee denied the fact but hee dare not accuse the offender There is not onely the praise of patience but oft-times of wisdome euen in vniust sufferings Hee knew that God would finde a time to cleare his innocence and to regard his chaste faithfulnesse No prison would serue him but Pharaohs Ioseph had lyen obscure and not beene knowne to Pharaoh if hee had not been cast into Pharaohs dungeon the afflictions of Gods children turne euer to their aduantages No sooner is Ioseph a prisoner then a Gardian of the prisoners Trust and honour accompany him wheresoeuer he is In his fathers house in Potiphars in the Iayle in the Court still he hath both fauour and rule So long as God is with him he cannot but shine in spight of men The walls of that dungeon cannot hide his vertues the irons cannot hold them Pharaohs Officers are sent to witnesse his graces which he may not come forth to shew the Cup-bearer admires him in the Iayle but forgets him in the Court How easily doth our owne prosperitie make vs forget either the deseruings or miseries of others But as God
which he knowes will as much discontent Pharaoh as Pharaohs cruelty could discontent the Israelites Let vs goe How contrary are Gods precepts to naturall minds and indeed as they loue to crosse him in their practice so hee loues to crosse them in their commands before and his punishments afterwards It is a dangerous signe of an ill heart to feele Gods yoke heauy Moses talkes of sacrifice Pharaoh talkes of worke Any thing seemes due worke to a carnall minde sauing Gods seruice nothing superfluous but religious duties Christ tels vs there is but one thing necessary Nature tels vs there is nothing but that needlesse Moses speakes of deuotion Pharaoh of idlenesse It hath bin an old vse as to cast faire colours vpon our owne vicious actions so to cast euill aspersions vpon the good actions of others The same Deuill that spoke in Pharaoh speakes still in our scoffers and cals Religion Hypocrisie conscionable care singularity Euery vice hath a title and euery vertue a disgrace Yet while possible taskes were imposed there was some comfort Their diligence might saue their backes from stripes The conceit of a benefit to the commander and hope of impunity to the labourer might giue a good pretence to great difficulties but to require tasks not faisible is tyrannicall and doth onely picke a quarrell to punish They could neither make straw nor find it yet they must haue it Doe what may be is tolerable but doe what cannot be is cruell Those which are aboue others in place must measure their commands not by their owne wils but by the strength of their inferiours To require more of a beast then he can doe is inhumane The taske is not done the task-masters are beaten the punishment lyes where the charge is they must exact it of the people Pharaoh of them It is the misery of those which are trusted with authority that their inferiours faults are beaten vpon their backes This was not the fault to require it of the taske-masters but to require it by the taske-masters of the people Publike persons doe either good or ill with a thousand hands and with no fewer shall receiue it Of the birth and breeding of MOSES IT is a wonder that Amram the father of Moses would think of the mariage bed in so troublesome a time when he knew he should beget children either to slauery or slaughter yet euen now in the heat of this bondage he maries Iochebed the drowning of his sons was not so great an euill as his owne burning the thraldome of his daughters not so great an euill as the subiection vnto sinfull desires Hee therefore vses Gods remedie for his sinne and referres the sequell of his danger to God How necessary is this imitation for those which haue not the power of containing perhaps we would haue thought it better to liue childlesse but Amram and Iochebed durst not incurre the danger of a sinne to auoid the danger of a mischiefe No doubt when Iochebed the mother of Moses saw a man-child borne of her and him beauâ—ifull and comely she fell into extreame passion to thinke that the executioners hand should succeed the Midwiues All the time of her conception she could not but feare a sonne now she sees him and thinkes of his birth and death at once her second throes are more grieuous then her first The paines of trauell in others are somewhat mitigated with hope and counternailed with ioy that a man-child is borne in her they are doubled with feare the remedie of others is her complaint still she lookes when some fierce Aegyptian would come in and snatch her new-borne infant out of her bosome whose comelinesse had now also added to her affection Many times God writes presages of maiesty and honor euen in the faces of children Little did she think that she held in her lap the Deliuerer of Israel It is good to hazard in greatest apparances of danger If Iochebed had sayd If I beare a son they will kill him where had beene the great Rescuer of Israel Happy is that resolution which can follow God hood-winkt and let him dispose of the euent When shee can no longer hide him in her wombe shee hides him in her house afraid lest euery of his cryings should guide the executioners to his cradle And now shee sees her treasure can be no longer hid she ships him in a barke of bulrushes and commits him to the mercy of the waues and which was more mercilesse to the danger of an Aegyptian passenger yet doth she not leaue him without a guardian No tyranny can forbid her to loue him whom she is forbidden to keep Her daughters eyes must supply the place of her armes And if the weake affection of a mother were thus effectually carefull what shall we thinke of him whose loue whose compassion is as himselfe infinite His eye his hand cannot but be with vs euen when wee forsake our selues Moses had neuer a stronger protection about him no not when all his Israelites were pitched about his Tent in the wildernesse then now when hee lay sprawling alone vpon the waues no water no Aegyptian can hurt him Neither friend nor mother dare own him and now God challenges his custodie When we seem most neglected and forlorne in our selues then is God most present most vigilant His prouidence brings Pharaohs daughter thither to wash her self Those times lookt for no great state A Princesse comes to bathe her selfe in the open streame she meant onely to wash her selfe God fetches her thither to deliuer the Deliuerer of his people His designes go beyond ours We know not when we set our foot ouer our threshold what he hath to doe with vs. This euent seemed casuall to this Princesse but predetermined and prouided by God before she was how wisely and sweetly God brings to passe his owne purposes in our ignorance and regardlesnesse She saw the Arke opens it finds the child weeping his beauty and his teares had God prouided for the strong perswasions of mercy This young and liuely Oratorie preuailed Her heart is strucke with compassion and yet her tongue could say It is an Hebrew child See here the mercifull daughter of a cruell father It is an vncharitable and iniurious ground to iudge of the childs disposition by the parents How well doth pitty beseeme great personages and most in extremities It had beene death to another to rescue the child of an Hebrew in her it was safe and noble It is an happy thing when great ones improue their places to so much more charity as their liberty is more Moses his sister finding the Princesse compassionate offers to procure a nurse and fetches the mother and who can bee so fit a nurse as a mother She now with glad hands receiues her child both with authority and reward She would haue giuen all her substance for the life of her son now she hath a reward to nurse him The exchange of the name of a mother for the name
What relation hath wood to water or that which hath no sauour to the redresse of bitternesse Yet here is no more possibilitie of failing then proportion to the successe All things are subiect to the command of their Maker He that made all of nothing can make euery thing of any There is so much power in euery creature as he will please to giue It is the praise of Omnipotencie to worke by improbabilities Elisha with Salt Moses with wood shall sweeten the bitter waters Let no man despise the meanes when he knowes the Author God taught his people by actions as well as words This entrance shewed them their whole iourney wherein they should taste of much bitternesse but at last through the mercy God sweetned with comfort Or did it not represent themselues rather in the iourney in the fountaines of whose hearts were the bitter waters of manifold corruptions yet their vnsauourie soules are sweetned by the graces of his Spirit O blessed Sauiour the wood of thy Crosse that is the application of thy sufferings is enough to sweeten a whole Sea of bitternesse I care not how vnpleasant a potion I finde in this Wildernesse if the power and benefit of thy precious death may season it to my soule Of the Quayles and Manna THe thirst of Israel is well quenched for besides the change of the waters of Marah their station is changed to Elim where were twelue Fountaines for their twelue Tribes and now they complaine as fast of hunger Contentation is a rare blessing because it arises either from a fruition of all comforts or a not desiring of some which we haue not Now wee are neuer so bare as not to haue some benefits neuer so full as not to want something yea as not to be full of wants God hath much ado with vs either we lacke health or quietnesse or children or vvealth or company or ourselues in all these It is a vvonder these men found not fault with the want of sweet to their Quailes or with their old cloathes or their solitarie way Nature is moderate in her desires but conceit is vnsatiable Yet who can deny hunger to be a sore vexation Before they were forbidden sowre bread but now what leauen is to sowre as want When meanes hold out it is easie to be content Whiles their dough and other eates lasted vvhiles they vvere gathering of the Dates of Elim vve heare no newes of them Who cannot pray for his dayly bread when he hath it in his cup-bord But when our owne prouision failes vs then not to distrust the prouision of God is a noble tryall of faith They should haue said He that stopt the mouth of the Sea that it could not deuoure vs can as easily stop the mouth of our stomacks It was no easier matter to kill the first-borne of Aegypt by his immediate hand then to preserue vs He that commanded the Sea to stand still and guard vs can as easily command the earth to nourish vs He that made the Rod a Serpent can as well make these stones bread He that brought armies of Frogs and Caterpillers to Aegypt can as well bring vvhole drifts of birds and beasts to the desart He that sweetened the waters vvith Wood can aswell refresh our bodies vvith the fruits of the earth Why doe we not wait on him whom vve haue found so powerfull Now they set the mercy and loue of God vpon a wrong laste vvhiles they measure it onely by their present sense Nature is iocâ—â—d and cheerefull vvhiles it prospereth let God vvithdraw his hand no sight no trust Those can praise him vvith Timbrels for a present fauour that cannot depend vpon him in the vvant of meanes for a future We all are neuer vveary of receiuing soone weary of attending The other mutiny vvas of some few male-contents perhaps those strangers which fought their owne protection vnder the vving of Israel this of the whole troope Not that none were free Caleb Ioshua Moses Aaron Miriam were not yet tainted vsually God measures the state of any Church or Country by the most the greater part caries both the name and censure Sinnes are so much greater as they are more vniuersall so farre is euill from being extenuated by the multitude of the guilty that nothing can more aggrauate it With men commonnesse may plead for fauour vvith God at pleads for iudgement Many hands draw the Cable with more violence then few The leprosie of the whole body is more loathsome then that of a part But vvhat doe these mutiners say Oh that wee had dyed by the hand of the Lord And whose hand vvas this O ye fond Israelites if yee must perish by famine God caried you forth God restrained his creatures from you and vvhile you are ready to dye this ye say On that we had dyed by the hand of the Lord It is the folly of men that in immediate iudgements they can see Gods hand not in those whose second causes are sensible whereas God holds himselfe equally interessed in all challenging that there is no euill in the City but from him It is but one hand and many instruments that God strikes vs with The water may not lose the name though it come by chanels and pipes from the spring It is our faithlesnesse that in visible meanes we see not him that is inuisible And when would they haue vvisht to die When wee sate by the flesh-pots of Aegypt Alas what good vvould their flesh pots haue done them in their death If they might sustaine their life yet what could they auaile them in dying For if they were vnpleasant what comfort was it to see them If pleasant what comfort to part from them Our greatest pleasures are but paines in their losse Euery minde affects that which is like it selfe Carnall minds are for the flesh-pots of Aegypt though bought with seruitude spirituall are for the presence of God though redeemed with famine and would rather die in Gods presence then liue without him in the sight of delicate of full dishes They loued their liues well enough I heard how they shrieked when they were in danger of the Aegyptians yet now they say Oh that we had dyed Not Oh that wee might liue by the flesh-pots but Oh that wee had dyed Although life be naturally sweet yet a little discontentment makes vs weary It is a base cowardlinesse so soone as euer we are called from the garison to the field to thinke of running away Then is our fortitude worthy of praise when we can endure to be miserable But what can no flesh-pots serue but those of Aegypt I am deceiued if that Land affoorded them any flesh-pots saue their owne Their Landlords of Aegypt held it abomination to eate of their dishes or to kill that which they did eate In those times then they did eate of their owne and why not now They had droues of cattell in the Wildernesse vvhy did they not take of them Surely if they would haue
Ioshua that succeeded Moses no lesse in the care of Gods glory then in his gouernment is much deiected with this euent Hee rends his clothes fals on his face casts dust vpon his head and as if he had learned of his Master how to expostulate with God sayes What wilt thou doe to thy mighty Name That Ioshua might see God tooke no pleasure to let the Israelites lye dead vpon the earth before their enemies himselfe is taxed for but lying all day vpon his face before the Arke All his expostulations are answered in one word Get thee vp Israel hath sinned I do not heare God say Lye still and mourne for the sin of Israel It is to no purpose to pray against punishment while the sinne continues And though God loues to be sued to yet he holds our requests vnseasonable till there bee care had of satisfaction When we haue risen and redressed sin then may we fall downe for pardon Victory is in the free hand of God to dispose where hee will and no man can maruell that the dice of Warre run euer with hazard on both sides so as God needed not to haue giuen any other reason of this discomfiture of Israel but his owne pleasure yet Ioshua must now know that Israel which before preuailed for their faith is beaten for their sin When we are crossed in iust and holy quarrels we may well thinke there is some secret euill vnrepented of which God would punish in vs which though we see not yet he so hates that he will rather bee wanting to his owne cause then not reuenge it When we goe about any enterprise of God it is good to see that our hearts be cleere from any pollution of sin and when wee are thwarted in our hopes it is our best course to ransack our selues and to search for some sin hid from vs in our bosome but open to the view of God The Oracle of God which told him a great offence was committed yet reueales not the person It had been as easie for him to haue named the man as the crime Neither doth Ioshua request it but refers that discouery to such a meanes as whereby the offender finding himselfe singled out by the lot might bee most conuinced Achan thought he might haue lyen as close in all that throng of Israel as the wedge of Gold lay in his Tent. The same hope of secresie which moued him to sinne moued him to confidence in his sinne but now when hee saw the lot fall vpon his Tribe hee began to start a little when vpon his family he began to change countenance when vpon his houshold to tremble and feare when vpon his person to be vtterly confounded in himselfe Foolish men thinke to runne away with their priuie sinnes and say Tush no eye shall see me but when they thinke themselues safest God puls them out with shame The man that hath escaped iustice and now is lying downe in death would thinke My shame shall neuer be disclosed but before Men and Angels shall he be brought on the scaffold and find confusion as sure as late What needed any other euidence when God had accused Achan Yet Ioshua will haue the sinne out of his mouth in whose heart it was hatched My sonne I beseech thee giue glory to God Whom God had conuinced as a malefactor Ioshua beseeches as a son Some hot spirit would haue said Thou wretched traitor how hast thou pilfred from thy God and shed the blood of so many Israelites and caused the Host of Israel to shew their backes with dishonour to the Heathen now shall we fetch this sin out of thee with tortures and plague thee with a condigne death But like the Disciple of him whose seruant he was he meekely intreats that which he might haue extorted by violence My son I beseech thee Sweetnesse of compellation is a great helpe towards the good entertainment of an admonition roughnesse and rigor many times hardens those hearts which meekenesse would haue melted to repentance whether we sue or conuince or reproue little good is gotten by bitternesse Detestation of the sin may well stand with fauour to the person and these two not distinguished cause great wrong either in our charity or iustice for either we vncharitably hate the creature of God or vniustly affect the euill of men Subiects are as they are called sonnes to the Magistrate All Israel was not onely of the family but as of the loynes of Ioshua such must be the corrections such the prouisions of Gouernorus as for their children as againe the obedience and loue of subiects must be filiall God had glorified himselfe sufficiently in finding out the wickednesse of Achan neither need he honour from men much lesse from sinners They can dishonour him by their iniquities but what recompence can they giue him for their wrongs yet Ioshua sayes My sonne giue glory to God Israel should now see that the tongue of Achan did iustifie God in his lot The confession of our sins doth no lesse honour God then his glory is blemished by their commission Who would not be glad to redeeme the honour of his Redemer with his owne shame The lot of God and the mild words of Ioshua wonne Achan to accuse himselfe ingenuously impartially a storme perhaps would not haue done that which a Sun-shine had done If Achan had come in vncalled and before any question made out of an honest remorse had brought in this sacrilegious booty and cast himselfe and it at the foot of Ioshua doubtlesse Israel had prospered and his sinne had caried away pardon now he hath gotten thus much thanke that he is not a desperate sinner God will once wring from the conscience of wicked men their owne inditements They haue not more carefully hid their sinne then they shall one day freely proclaime their owne shame Achans confession though it were late yet was it free and full For he doth not onely acknowledge the act but the ground of his sinne I saw and coueted and tooke The eye betrayed the heart and that the hand and now all conspire in the offence If wee list not to flatter our selues this hath beene the order of our crimes Euill is vniforme and beginning at the senses takes the inmost fort of the soule and then armes our own outward forces against vs This shall once be the lasciuious mans song I saw and coueted and tooke This the theeues this the Idolaters this the gluttons drunkards All these receiue their death by the eye But oh foolish Achan with what eyes didst thou looke vpon that spoile which thy fellowes saw and contemned Why couldest thou not before as well as now see shame hid vnder that gay Babylonish garment and an heape of stones couered with those shekels of siluer The ouer-prizing and ouer-desiring of these earthly things caries vs into all mischiefe and hides from vs the sight of Gods iudgements whosoeuer desires the glory of metals or of gay clothes or
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
Leuite He that had helped to offer so many sacrifices to God for the multitude of euery Israelites sinnes saw how proportionable it was that man should not hold one sinne vnpardonable He had serued at the Altar to no purpose if he whose trade was to sue for mercy had not at all learned to practise it And if the reflexion of mercy wrought this in a seruant what shall we expect from him whose essence is mercy O God we doe euery day breake the holy couenant of our loue We prostitute our selues to euery filthy tentation and then runne and hide our selues in our fathers house the world If thou didst not seeke vs vp we should neuer returne if thy gracious proffer did not preuent vs we should be vncapeable of forgiuenesse It were abundant goodnesse in thee to receiue vs when we should intreat thee but lo thou intreatest vs that we would receiue thee How should we now adore and imitate thy mercy sith there is more reason we should sue to each other then that thou shouldest sue to vs because we may as well offend as be offended I doe not see the womans father make any meanes for reconciliation but when remission came home to his dores no man could entertaine it more thankfully The nature of many men is froward to accept and negligent to sue for they can spend secret wishes vpon that which shall cost them no indeuour Great is the power of loue which can in a sort vndoe euils past if not for the act yet for the remembrance Where true affection was once conceiued it is easily pieced againe after the strongest interruption Heere needs no tedious recapitulation of wrongs no importunity of sute The vnkindnesses are forgotten their loue is renued and now the Leuite is not a stranger but a sonne By how much more willingly he came by so much more vnwillingly hee is dismissed The foure moneths absence of his daughter is answered with foure dayes feasting Neither was there so much ioy in the former wedding feast as in this because thē he deliuered his daughter intire now desperate then he found a sonne but now that sonne hath found his lost daughter and he found both The recouery of any good is far more pleasant then the continuance Little doe we know what euill is towards vs Now did this old man and this restored couple promise themselues all ioy and contentment after this vnkinde storme and said in themselues Now we begin to liue And now this feast which was meant for their new nuptialls proues her funerall Euen when we let our selues loosest to our pleasures the hand of God though inuisibly is writing bitter things against vs. Sith wee are not worthy to know it is wisedome to suspect the worst while it is least seene Sometimes it falls out that nothing is more iniurious then courtesie If this old man had thrust his sonne and daughter early out of dores they had auoyded this mischief now his louing importunity detaines them to their hurt and his owne repentance Such contentment doth sincere affection finde in the presence of those we loue that death it selfe hath no other name but departing The greatest comfort of our life is the fruition of friendship the dissolution whereof is the greatest paine of death As all earthly pleasures so this of loue is distasted with a necessity of leauing How worthy is that onely loue to take vp our hearts which is not open to any danger of interruption which shall out-liue the date euen of faith and hope and is as eternall as that God and those blessed spirits whom wee loue If we hang neuer so importunately vpon one anothers sleeues and shead flouds of teares to stop their way yet we must bee gone hence no occasion no force shall then remoue vs from our fathers house The Leuite is stayed beyond his time by importunity the motions whereof are boundlesse and infinite one day drawes on another neither is there any reason of this dayes stay which may not serue still for to morrow His resolution at last breakes thorow all those kinde hinderances rather will he venture a benighting then an vnnecessary delay It is a good hearing that the Leuite makes hast home An honest mans heart is where his calling is such a one when he is abroad is like a fish in the aire whereinto if it leape for recreation or necessity yet it soone returnes to his own element This charge by how much more sacred it is so much more attendance it expecteth Euen a day breakes square with the conscionable The Sunne is ready to lodge before them His seruant aduises him to shorten his iourney holding it more fit to trust an early Inne of the Iebusites then to the mercy of the night And if that counsell had been followed perhaps they which found Iebusites in Israel might haue found Israelites in Iebus No wise man can hold good counsell disparaged by the meannesse of the Author If we be glad to receiue any treasure from our seruant why not precious admonitions It was the zeale of this Leuite that shut him out of Iebus We will not lodge in the City of strangers The Iebusites were strangers in religion not strangers enough in their habitation The Leuite will not receiue common courtesie from those which were aliens from God though home-borne in the heart of Israel It is lawfull enough in tearmes of ciuility to deale with Infidels the earth is the Lords and we may enioy it in the right of the owner while we protest against the wrong of the vsurper yet the lesse communion with Gods enemies the more safety If there were another aire to breathe in from theirs another earth to tread vpon they should haue their own Those that affect a familiar intirenesse with Iebusites in conuersion in leagues of amity in matrimoniall contracts bewray eyther too much boldnesse or too little conscience He hath no bloud of an Israelite that delights to lodge in Iebus It was the fault of Israel that an heathenish Towne stood yet in the nauell of the Tribes and that Iebus was no sooner turned to Ierusalem Their lenity and neglect were guilty of this neighbourhood that now no man can passe from Bethleem Iuda to Mount Ephraim but by the City of Iebusites Seasonable iustice might preuent a thousand euils whic◠afterwards know no remedy but patience The way was not long betwixt Iebus and Gibeah for the Sun was stooping when the Leuite was ouer against the first and is but now declined when he comes to the other How his heart was lightned when he was entred into an Israelitish City and can thinke of nothing but hospitality rest security There is no perfume so sweet to a Traueller as his own smoake Both expactation and feare doe commonly disappoint vs for seldome euer doe we enioy the good we looke for or smart with a feared euill The poore Leuite could haue found but such entertainment with the Iebusites Whither are the
how much they were victors then finding the dead corps of Saul and his sonnes they begin their triumphs The head of King Saul is cut off in lieu of Goliahs and now all their Idoll temples ring of their successe Foolish Philistims if they had not beene more beholden to Sauls sins than their gods they had neuer carried away the honour of those Trophees In stead of magnifying the iustice of the true God who punished Saul with deserued death they magnifie the power of the false Superstition is extremely iniurious to God It is no better than Theft to ascribe vnto the second causes that honor which is due vnto the first but to giue Gods glory to those things which neither act nor are it is the highest degree of spirituall robbery Saul was none of the best Kings yet so impatient are his subiects of the indignity offred to his dead corps that they will rather leaue their owne bones amongst the Philistims than the carcasse of Saul Such a close relation there is betwixt a Prince and Subiect that the dishonour of either is inseparable from both How willing should wee bee to hazard our bodies or substance for the vindication either of the person or name of a good King whiles hee liues to the benefit of our protection It is an vniust ingratitude in those men which can endure the disgrace of them vnder whose shelter they liue but how vnnaturall is the villany of those Miscreants that can bee content to bee actors in the capitall wrongs offered to soueraigne authoritie It were a wonder if after the death of a Prince there should want some Picke-thanke to insinuate himselfe into his Successor An Amalekite young man rides post to Ziklag to finde out Dauid whom euen common rumour â—ad notified for the annointed Heire to the Kingdome of Israel to bee the first Messenger of that newes which he thought could be no other than acceptable the death of Saul and that the tidings might be so much more meritorious hee addes to the report what hee thinkes might carrie the greatest retribution In hope of reward or honour the man is content to bely himselfe to Dauid It was not the Speare but the Sword of Saul that was the instrument of his death neither could this stranger finde Saul but dying since the Armour bearer of Saul saw him dead ere hee offered that violence to himselfe The hand of this Amalekite therefore was not guilty his tongue was Had not this Messenger measured Dauids foote by his owne Last hee had forborne this peece of the newes and not hoped to aduantage himselfe by this falshood Now he thinkes The tidings of a Kingdome cannot but please None but Saul and Ionathan stood in Dauids way Hee cannot chuse but like to heare of their remouall Especially since Saul did so tyrannously persecute his innocence If I shall onely report the fact done by another I shall goe away but with the recompence of a â—â—ckie Post whereas if I take vpon mee the action I am the man to whome Dauid is beholden for the Kingdome hee cannot but honour and require mee as the Authour of his deliuerance and happinesse Worldly mindes thinke no man can be of any other than their owne dyet and because they finde the respects of selfe-loue and priuate profit so strongly preuailing with themselues they cannot conceiue how these should be capable of a repulse from others How much was this Amalekite mocked of his hopes whiles he imagined that Dauid would now triumph and feast in the assured expectation of the Kingdome and Possession of the Crowne of Israel he findes him renting his clothes and wringing his handes and weeping and mourning as if all his comfort had bin dead with Saul and Ionathan and yet perhaps hee thought This sorrow of Dauid is but fashionable such as greate heires make shew of in the fatall day they haue longed for These teares will soone be dry the sight of a Crowne will soone breed a succession of other passions But this errour is soone corrected For when Dauid had entertayned this Bearer with a sadfast all the day hee cals him forth in the euening to execution How wast thou not afraid saith he to put forth thy hand to destroy the Annoynted of the Lord Doubtlesse the Amalekite made many faire pleas for himselfe out of the grounds of his owne report Alas Saul was before falne vpon his owne Speare It was but mercie to kill him that was halfe dead that hee might die the shorter Besides his entreaty and importunate prayers mooued mee to hasten him through those painefull gates of death had I striken him as an enemy I had deserued the blow I had giuen now I lent him the hand of a friend why am I punished for obeying the voyce of a King and for perfiting what himselfe begun and could not finish And if neither his owne wound nor mine had dispatched him the Philistims were at his heeles ready to doe this same act with insultation which I did in fauour and if my hand had not preuented them where had beene the Crowne of Israel which I now haue here presented to thee I could haue deliuered that to King Achish and haue beene rewarded with honour let me not dye for an act well meant to thee how euer construed by thee But no pretence can make his owne tale not deadly Thy bloud be vpon thine owne head for thine owne mouth hath testified aganst thee saying I haue slaine the Lords Annoynted It is a iust supposition that euery man is so great a Fauourer of himselfe that hee will not mis-report his owne actions nor say the worst of himselfe In matter of confession men may without iniury be taken at their words If hee did it his fact was capitall If hee did it not his lye It is pitty any other recompence should befall those false Flatterers that can be content to father a sinne to get thankes Euery drop of royall bloud is sacred For a man to say that hee hath shed it is mortall Of how farre different spirits from this of Dauid are those men which suborne the death of Princes and celebrate and canonize the Mutherers Into their secret let not my soule come my glory be thou not ioyned to their Assembly ABNER and IOAB HOw mercifull and seasonable are the prouisions of God Zildag was now nothing but ruines and ashes Dauid might returne to the soile where it stood to the roofes and wals he could not No sooner is he disappointed of that harbour than God prouides him Cities of Hebron Saul shall die to giue him elbow-roome Now doth Dauid finde the comfort that his extremity sought in the Lord his God Now are his clouds for a time passed ouer and the Sunne breakes gloriously forth Dauid shall reigne after his sufferings So shall we if we endure to the end finde a Crowne of Righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue vs at that day But though Dauid well knew
that his head was long before anointed and had heard Saul himselfe confidently auouching his Succession yet he will not stirre from the heapes of Ziklag till he haue consulted with the Lord It did not content him that he had Gods warrant for the Kingdome but he must haue his instructions for the taking possession of it How safe and happy is the man that is resolued to do nothing without God Neither will generalities of direction be sufficient euen particular circumstances must looke for a word still is God a Pillar of fire and cloude to the eye of euery Israelite neither may there be any motion or stay but from him That action cannot but succeed which proceeds vpon so sure a warrant God sends him to Hebron a City of Iudah Neither will Dauid goe vp thither alone but he takes with him all his men with their whole housholds they shall take such part as himselfe As they had shared with him in his misery so they shall now in his prosperity Neither doth he take aduantage of their late mutinie which was yet fresh and greene to cashire those vnthankfull and vngracious followers but pardoning their secret rebellions he makes them partakers of his good successe Thus doth our heauenly Leader whom Dauid prefigured take vs to reigne with him who hath suffered with him passing by our manifold infirmities as if they had not beene he remoueth vs from the Land of our banishment and the ashes of our forlorne Ziklag to the Hebron of our Peace and glory The expectation of this day must as it did with Dauids Souldiers digest all our sorrowes Neuer any calling of God was so conspicuous as not to finde some Opposites What Israelite did not know Dauid appointed by God to the succession of the Kingdome Euen the Amalekite could carry the Crowne to him as the true Owner yet there want not an Abner to resist him and the Title of an Ishbosheth to colour his resistance If any of Sauls house could haue made challenge to the Crowne it should haue beene Mephibosheth the sonne of Ionathan Who it seemes had too much of his Fathers bloud to be a Competitor with Dauid the question is not who may claime the most right but who may best serue the faction Neither was Ishbosheth any other than Abners Stale Saul could not haue a fitter Courtier whether in the imitation of his Masters enuy or the ambition of ruling vnder a borrowed name he strongly opposed Dauid there are those who striue against their owne hearts to make a side with whom conscience is oppressed by affection An ill quarrell once vndertaken shall be maintained although with bloud Now not so much the bloud of Saul as the ingagement of Abner makes the Warre The sonnes of Zerniah stand fast to Dauid It is much how a man placeth his first interest If Abner had beene in Ioabs roome when Sauls displeasure droue Dauid from the Court or Ioab in Abners these actions these euents had beene changed with the persons It was the only happinesse of Ioab that he fell on the better side Both the Commanders vnder Dauid and Ishbosheth were equally cruell both are so iniured to bloud that they make but a sport of killing Custome makes sinne so â—â—miliar that the horror of it is to some turned into pleasure Come let the young mâ—n play before vs. ABNER is the Challenger and speeds thereafter for though in the matches of Duell both sides miscarryed yet in the following conflict Abner and his men are beaten By the successe of those single Combates no man knowes the better of the cause Both sides perish to shew how little God liked either the offer or the acceptation of such a tryall but when both did their best God punisheth the wrong part with discomfiture Oh the misery of ciuill dissention Israel and Iudah were brethren Our carried the name of the Father the other of the Sonne Iudah was but a branch of Israel Israel was the roote of Iudah yet Iudah and Israel must fight and kill each other onely vpon the quarrell of an ill Leaders ambition The speed of Asahel was not greater than his courage It was a mind fit for one of Dauids Worthies to strike at the head to match himselfe with the best He was both swift and strong but the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong If hee had gon neuer so slowly he might haue ouer-taken death now hee runnes to fetch it So little lust had Abner to shed the bloud of a sonne of Zerniah that hee twice aduises him to retreate from pursuing his owne perill Asahels cause was so much better as Abners successe Many a one miscarries in the rash prosecution of a good quarrell when the Abettors of the worst part goe away with victory Heate of zeale sometimes in the vndiscreet pursuit of a iust Aduersary prooues mortall to the agent preiudiciall to the seruice ABNER whiles hee kils yet hee flyes and runnes away from his owne death whiles he inflicts it vpon another Dauids followers had the better of the field and day The Sunne as vnwilling to see any more Israelitish bloud shed by brethren hath withdrawne himselfe and now both parts hauing got the auantage of an hill vnder them haue safe conuenience of parley Abner beginnes and perswades Ioab to surcease the fight Shall the sword deuoure for euer Knowest thou not that it will bee bitternesse in the end How long shall it bee ere thou bid the people returne from following their Brethren It was his fault that the sword deuoured at all and why was not the beginning of a ciuill Warre bitternesse Why did hee call forth the people to skirmish and inuite them to death Had Abner beene on the winning hand this motion had beene thanke-worthy It is a noble disposition in a Victor to call for a cessation of Armes whereas necessitie wrings this suite from the ouer-mastered There cannot be a greater prayse to a valiant and wise Commander than a propension to all iust termes of peace For warre as it is sometimes necessary so it is alwayes euill and if fighting haue any other end proposed besides peace it proues murder Abner shall finde himselfe no lesse ouercome by Ioab in clemencie than power Hee sayes not I will not so easily leaue the aduantage of my victory since the Dice of warre runne on my side I will follow the chace of my good successe Thou shouldest haue considered of this before thy prouocation It is now too late to moue vnto forbearance But as a man that meant to approue himselfe equally free from cowardise in the beginning of the conflict and from crueltie in the end hee professeth his forwardnesse to entertaine any pretence of sheathing vp the swords of Israel and sweares to Abner that if it had not beene for his proud irritation the people had in the morning before ceased from that bloudy pursuit of their brethren As it becomes publike persons to bee louers of peace
lust If now Dauid should haue returned to his owne bed hee had seconded the incest How much more worthy of separation are they who haue stained the mariage-bed with their wilfull sinne Amasa was one of the witnesses and abettors of Absaloms filthinesse yet is he out of policie receiued to fauour and imployment whiles the concubine suffer Great men yeeld many times to those things out of reasons of state which if they were priuate persons could not bee easily put ouer It is no small wisdome to engage a new reconciled friend that he may be confirmed by his owne act Therefore is Amasa commanded to leauie the forces of Iudah Ioab after many great merits and atchieuements lies rusting in neglect he that was so intire with Dauid as to bee of his counsell for Vriahs blood and so firme to Dauid as to lead all his battels against the house of Saul the Ammonites the Aramites Absalom is now cashiered must yeeld his place to a stranger late an enemy Who knows not that this sonne of Zeruiah had shed the blood of war in peace But if the blood of Absalom had not bin louder then the blood of Abner I feare this change had not been Now Ioab smarteth for a loyall disobedience How slippery are the stations of earthly honors and subiect to continuall â—â—ueability Happy are they who are in fauour with him in whom there is no shadow of change Where men are commonly most ambitious to please with their first imployments Amasa slackens his pace The least delay in matters of rebellion is perilous may be inrecouerable The sons of Zeruiah are not sullen Abishai is sent Ioab goes vnsent to the pursuit of Sheba Amasa was in their way whom no quarrell but their enâ—y had made of a brother an enemy Had the heart of Amasa beene priuy to any cause of grudge he had suspected the Kisse of Ioab now his innocent eyes looke to the lips not to the hand of his secret enemy The lips were smooth Art thou in health my brother the hand was bloody which smote him vnder the fift ribbe That vnhappy hand knew well this way vnto death which with one wound hath let out the Soules of two great Captaines Abaer and Amasa both they were smitten by Ioab both vnder the fift ribbe both vnder a pretence of friendship There is no enmity so dangerous as that which comes masked with loue Open hostility cals vs to our guard but there is no fence against a trusted trecherie We need not bee bidden to auoyde an enemy but who would run away from a friend Thus spiritually deales the world with our soules it kisses vs and stabs vs at once If it did not embrace vs with one hand it could not murther vs with the other Onely God deliuer vs from the danger of 〈◊〉 trust and we shall be safe Ioab is gone and leaues Amasa wallowing in blood That spectacle cannot but stay all passengers The death of great persons drawes euer many eyes Each man sayes Is not this my Lord Amasa Wherefore doe we goe to fight whiles our Generall lyes in the dust What a sad presage is this of our owne miscariage The wit of Ioabs followers hath therefore soone both remoued Amasa out of the way and couered him not regarding so much the losse as the eye-sore of Israel Thus wicked Politicks care not so much for the commission of villany as for the notice Smothered euils are as not done If oppressions if murders if treasons may be hid from view the obdured heart of the offender complaines not of remorse Bloody Ioab with what face with what heart canst thou pursue a Traitor to thy King whiles thy selfe art so foule a Traitor to thy friend to thy cozen-german and in so vnseasonable a slaughter to thy Soueraigne whose cause thou professest to reuenge If Amasa were now in an act of loyalty iustly on Gods part payd for the arerages of his late rebellion yet that it should bee done by thy hand then and thus it was flagitiously cruell Yet behold Ioab runs away securely with the fact haâ—â—â—ing to plague that in another whereof himselfe was no lesse guilty So vast are the gorges of some consciences that they can swallow the greatest crimes and find no straine in the passage It is possible for a man to be faithfull to some one person and perfidious to all others I do not find Ioab other then firme and loyall to Dauid in the midst of all his priuate falshoods whose iust quarrell he pursues against Sheba through all the Tribes of Israel None of all the strong Forts of reuolted Israel can hide the Rebell from the zeale of his reuenge The Citty of Abel lends harbor to that conspirator whom all Israel would and cannot protect Ioab casts vp a Mount against it and hauing inuironed it with a siege begins to worke vpon the wall and now after long chase is in hand to dig out that Vermin which hath earthed himselfe in this borough of Bethmaachah Had not the City been strong and populous Sheba had not cast himselfe for succor within those wals yet of all the inhabitants I see not any one man moue for the preseruation of their whole body Onely a woman vndertakes to treat with Ioab for their safety Those men whose spirits were great enough to maintaine a Traitor against a mighty King scorne not to giue way to the wisdome of a matron There is no reason that sexe should disparage where the vertue and merit is no lesse then masculine Surely the soule acknowledgeth no sex neither is varied according to the outward frame How oft haue we knowne female hearts in the brests of Men and contrarily manly powers in the weaker vessels It is iniurious to measure the act by the person and not rather to esteeme the person for the act She with no lesse prudence then courage challengeth Ioab for the violence of his assault and layes to him that law which he could not bee an Israelite and disauow the Law of the God of peace whose charge it was that when they should come neere to a City to fight against it they should offer it peace and if this tender must be made to forainers how much more to brethren So as they must inquire of Abel ere they batter'd it War is the extreme act of vindicatiue iustice neither doth God euer approue it for any other then a desperate remedy and if it haue any other end then peace it turnes into publike murder It is therefore an inhumane cruelty to shed blood where we haue not profered faire conditions of peace the refusall whereof is iustly punished with the sword of reuenge Ioab was a man of blood yet when the wise woman of Abel charged him with going about to destroy a mother in Israel and swallowing vp the inheritance of the Lord with what vehemency doth hee deprecate that challenge God forbid God forbid it me that I should deuoure or destroy it Although that city with
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
our pride and false confidence in earthly things then with a fleshly criâ—â— though hainously seconded It was an hard and wofull choise of three yeares famine added to three fore-past or of three moneths flight from the sword of an enemie or three dayes pestilence The Almighty that had fore-determined his iudgement referres it to Dauids will as fully as if it were vtterly vndetermined God hath resolued yet Dauid may choose That infinite wisdome hath foreseene the very will of his creature which whiles it freely inclines it selfe to what it had rather vnwittingly wils that which was fore appointed in heauen We doe well beleeue thee O Dauid that thou wert in a wonderfull strait this very liberty is no other then fetters Thou needst not haue famine thou needst not haue the sword thou needst not haue pestilence one of them thou must haue There is misery in all there is misery in any thou and thy people can die but once and once they must dye either by famine warre or pestilence Oh God how vainely doe we hope to passe ouer our sinnes with impunitie when all the fauour that Dauid and Israel can receiue is to choose their bane Yet behold neither sinnes nor threats nor feares can bereaue a true penitent of his faith Let vs fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great There can bee no euill of punishment wherein God haue not an hand there could be no famine no sword without him but some euils are more immediate from a diuine stroke such was that plague into which Dauid is vnwillingly willing to fall He had his choyce of dayes moneths yeares in the same number and though the shortnesse of time prefixed to the threatned pestilence might seeme to offer some aduantage for the leading of his election yet God meant and Dauid knew it herein to proportion the difference of time to the violence of the plague neither should any fewer perish by so few dayes pestilence then by so many yeares famine The wealthiest might auoid the dearth the swiftest might runne away from the sword no man could promise himselfe safety from that pestilence In likelihood Gods Angell would rather strike the most guilty Howeuer therefore Dauid might well looke to be inwrapped in the common destruction yet he rather chooseth to fall into that mercy which hee had abused and to suffer from that iustice which he had prouoked Let vs now fall into the hands of the Lord. Humble confessions and deuout penance cannot alwayes auert temporall iudgements Gods Angell is abroad and within that short compasse of time sweepes away seuenty thousand Israelites Dauid was proud of the number of his subiects now they are abated that he may see cause of humiliation in the matter of his glory In what we haue offended we commonly smart These thousands of Israel were not so innocent that they should onely perish for Dauids sinne Their sinnes were the motiues both of this sinne and punishment besides the respect of Dauids offence they die for themselues It was no ordinarie pestilence that was thus suddenly and vniuersally mortall Common eyes saw the botch and the markes saw not the Angell Dauids clearer sight hath espyed him after that killing peragration through the Tribes of Israel shaking his sword ouer Ierusalem and houering ouer Mount Sion and now hee who doubtlesse had spent those three dismall dayes in the saddest contrition humbly casts himselfe downe at the feet of the auenger and layes himselfe ready for the fatall stroke of iustice It was more terrour that God intended in the visible shape of his Angell and deepeâ— humiliation and what he meant he wrought Neuer soule could be more deiected more anguished with the sense of a iudgement in the bitternesse whereof hee cryes out Behold I haue sinned yea I haue done wickedly But these Sheepe what haue they done Let thine hand I pray thee be against me and against my fathers house The better any man is the more sensible he is of his owne wretchednesse Many of those Sheepe were Wolues to Dauid What had they done They had done that which was the occasion of Dauids sinne and the cause of their owne punishment But that gracious penitent knew his owne sinne he knew not theirs and therefore can say I haue sinned What haue they done It is safe accusing where wee may be boldest and are best acquainted our selues Oh the admirable charitie of Dauid that would haue ingrossed the plague to himselfe and his house from the rest of Israel and sues to interpose himselfe betwixt his people and the vengeance He that had put himselfe vpon the pawes of the Beare and Lyon for the rescue of his Sheepe will now cast himselfe vpon the sword of the Angell for the preseruation of Israel There was hope in those conflicts in this yeeldance there could be nothing but death Thus didst thou O sonne of Dauid the true and great Shepheard of thy Church offer thy selfe to death for them who had their hands in thy blood who both procured thy death and deserued their owne Here he offered himselfe that had sinned for those whom he professed to haue not done euill thou that didst no sinne vouchsauest to offer thy selfe for vs that were all sinne Hee offered and escaped thou offeredst and diedst and by thy death we liue and are freed from euerlasting destruction But O Father of all mercies how little pleasure doest thou take in the blood of sinners it was thine owne pitie that inhibited the Destroyer Ere Dauid could see the Angell thou hadst restrained him It is sufficient hold now thy hand If thy compassion did not both with-hold and abridge thy iudgements what place were there for vs out of hell How easie and iust had it beene for God to haue made the shutting vp of that third euening red with blood his goodnes repents of the slaughter and cals for that Sacrifice wherewith he will be appeased An Altar must be built in the threshing floore of Araunah the Iebusite Lo in that very Hill where the Angell held the sword of Abraham from killing his Sonne doth God now hold the Sword of the Angel from killing his people Vpon this very ground shall the Temple after stand heere shall be the holy Altar which shall send vp the acceptable oblations of Gods people in succeeding generations O God what was the threshing-floore of a Iebusite to thee aboue all other soyles What vertue what merit was in this earth As in places so in persons it is not to bee heeded what they are but what thou wilt That is worthiest which thou pleasest to accept Rich and bountifull Araunah is ready to meet Dauid in so holy a motion and munificently offers his Sion for the place his Oxen for the Sacrifice his Carts Ploughs and other Vtensils of his Husbandry for the wood Two franke hearts are well met Dauid would buy Araunah would giue The Iebusite would not sell Dauid will not take Since it was for
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
Rulers Sonne cured THe bounty of God so exceedeth mans that there is a contrarietie in the exercise of it We shut our hands because we haue opened them God therefore opens his because he hath opened them Gods mercies are as comfortable in their issue as in themselues Seldome euer doe blessings goe alone where our Sauiour supplyed the Bridegroomes wine there he heales the Rulers sonne Hee had not in all these coasts of Galilee done any miracle but here To him that hath shall be giuen We doe not finde Christ oft attended with Nobilitie here hee is It was some great Peere or some noted Courtier that was now a suitor to him for his dying sonne Earthly greatnesse is no defence against afflictions Wee men forbeare the mighty Disease and death know no faces of Lords or Monarks Could these be bribed they would be too rich why should we grudge not to be priuiledged when wee see there is no spare of the greatest This noble Ruler listens after Christs returne into Galile The most eminent amongst men will be glad to hearken after Christ in their necessitie Happy was it for him that his sonne was sicke he had not else been acquainted with his Sauiour his soule had continued sicke of ignorance and vnbeliefe Why else doth our good God send vs pain losses opposition but that he may be sought to Are we afflicted whither should we goe but to Cana to seeke Christ whither but to the Cana of heauen where our water of sorrow is turned to the wine of gladnesse to that omnipotent Physitian who healeth all our infirmities that we may once say It is good for mee that I was afflicted It was about a dayes iourney from Capernaum to Cana Thence hither did this Courtier come for the cure of his sonnes Feuer What paines euen the greatest can be content to take for bodily health No way is long no labour tedious to the desirous Our soules are sicke of a spirituall feuer labouring vnder the cold fit of infidelitie and the hot fit of selfe-loue and we sit still at home and see them languish vnto death This Ruler was neither faithlesse nor faithfull Had he been quite faithlesse he had not taken such paines to come to Christ Had he been faithfull hee had not made this suit to Christ when he was come Come downe and heale my sonne ere he die Come downe as if Christ could not haue cured him absent Ere he die as if that power could not haue raised him being dead how much difference was here betwixt the Centurion and the Ruler That came for his seruant this for his sonne This sonne was not more aboue that seruant then the faith which sued for that seruant surpassed that which sued for the sonne The one can say Master come not vnder my roofe for I am not worthy onely speake the word and my seruant shall be whole The other can say Master either come vnder my roofe or my sonne cannot be whole Heale my sonne had been a good suit for Christ is the onely Physitian for all diseases but Come downe and heale him was to teach God how to worke It is good reason that he should challenge the right of prescribing to vs who are euery way his owne it is presumption in vs to stint him vnto our formes An expert workman cannot abide to bee taught by a nouice how much lesse shall the all-wise God endure to bee directed by his creature This is more then if the patient should take vpon him to giue a Recipe to the Physitian That God would giue vs grace is a beseeming suit but to say Giue it me by prosperitie is a sawcy motion As there is faithfulnesse in desiring the end so modesty and patience in referring the meanes to the author In spirituall things God hath acquainted vs with the meanes whereby he will worke euen his owne Sacred ordinances Vpon these because they haue his owne promise we may call absolutely for a blessing In all others there is no reason that beggers should be choosers He who doth whatsoeuer he will must doe it how he will It is for vs to receiue not to appoint He who came to complaine of his sons sicknes heares of his own Except ye see signes and wonders ye will not beleeue This noble man was as is like of Capernaum There had Christ often preached there was one of his chiefe residencies Either this man had heard our Sauiour oft or might haue done yet because Christs miracles came to him onely by heare-say for as yet we finde none at all wrought where hee preached most therefore the man beleeues not enough but so speakes to Christ as to some ordinarie Physitian Come downe and heale It was the common disease of the Iewes incredulitie which no receit could heale but wonders A wicked and adulterous generation seekes signes Had they not been wilfully gracelesse there was already proofe enough of the Messias the miraculous conception and life of the fore-runner Zacharies dumbnesse the attestation of Angels the apparition of the Starre the iourney of the Sages the vision of the Shepheards the testimonies of Anna and Simeon the prophesies fulfilled the voice from heauen at his baptisme the diuine words that hee spake and yet they must haue all made vp with miracles which though he be not vnwilling to giue at his owne times yet he thinkes much to be tied vnto at theirs Not to beleeue without signes was a signe of stubborne hearts It was a foule fault and a dangerous one Ye will not beleeue What is it that shall condemne the world but vnbeliefe What can condemne vs without it No sin can condemne the repentant Repentance is a fruit of faith where true faith is then there can be no condemnation as there can be nothing but condemnation without it How much more foule in a noble Capernaite that had heard the Sermons of so diuine a Teacher The greater light we haue the more shame it is for vs to stumble Oh what shall become of vs that reele and fall into the clearest Sunâ—shine that euer looked forth vpon any Church Be mercifull to our sinnes O God and say any thing of vs rather then Ye will not beleeue Our Sauiour tels him of his vnbeliefe hee feeles not himselfe sicke of that disease All his mind is on his dying for As easily do we complaine of bodily griefes as we are hardly affected with spirituall Oh the meeknesse and mercy of this Lambe of God When wee would haue lookt that hee should haue punished this suitor for not beleeuing hee condescends to him that hee may beleeue Goe thy way thy sonne liueth If wee should measure our hopes by our owne worthinesse there were no expectation of blessings but if we shall measure them by his bountie and compassion there can bee no doubt of preuailing As some tender mother that giues the brest to her vnquiet childe in stead of the rod so deales hee with our peruersnesses How God differences
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
nothing more dangerous for any state then to call in forraigne powers for the suppression of an home-bred enemie the remedy hath oft in this case proued worse then the disease Asa King of Iudah implores the ayde of Benhadad the Syrian against Baasha King of Israel That stranger hath good colour to set his foot in some out-skirt-townes of Israel and now these serue him but for the handsell of more Such sweetnesse doth that Edomite find in the soile of Israel that his ambition will not take vp with lesse then all He that entred as a Friend will proceed as a Conqueror and now aimes at no lesse then Samaria it selfe the heart the head of the ten Tribes There was no cause to hope for better successe of so perfidious a League with an Infidell Who can looke for other then warre when he sees Ahab and Iezebel in the Throne Israel in the groues and temples of Baalim The ambition of Benhadad was not so much guilty of this warre as the Idolatry of that wicked nation How can they expect peace from earth who doe wilfully fight against heauen Rather will the God of Hosts arme the brute the senselesse creatures against Israel then he will suffer their defiance vnreuenged Ahab and Benhadad are well matched an Idolatrous Israelite with a paganish Idumaean well may God plague each with other who meanes vengeance to them both Ahab finds himselfe hard pressed with the siege and therefore is glad to enter into treaties of peace Benhadad knowes his owne strength and offers insolent conditions Thy siluer and thy gold is mine thy wiues also and thy children euen the goodliest are mine It is a fearefull thing to be in the mercy of an enemy In case of hostility might will carue for it selfe Ahab now after the diusion of Iudah was but halfe a King Benhadad had two and thirthy Kings to attend him What equality was in this opposition Wisely doth Ahab therefore as a reed in a tempest stoop to this violent charge of so potent an enemy My Lord O King according to thy saying I am thine and all that I haue It is not for the ouer-powred to capitulate Weaknesse may not argue but yeeld Tyranny is but drawne on by submission and where it finds feare and deiection insulteth Benhadad not content with the soueraigntie of Ahabs goods cals for the possession Ahab had offred the Dominion with reseruation of his subordinate interest he will be a tributary so he may be an owner Benhadad imperiously besides the command cals for the propriety and suffers not the King of Israel to enioy those things at all which he would inioy but vnder the fauour of that predominancie Ouer-strained subiection turnes desperate if conditions bee imposed worse then death there needes no long disputation of the remedy The Elders of Israel whose share was proportionably in this danger hearten Ahab to a deniall which yet comes out so fearefully as that it appeares rather extorted by the peremptory indignation of the people then proceeding out of any generosity of his Spirit Neither doth he say I will not but I may not The proud Syrian who would haue taken it in foule scorne to bee denied though he had sent for all the heads of Israel snuffes vp the wind like a wilde Asse in the Wildernesse and brags and threats and sweares The gods doe so to me and more also if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfulls for all the people that follow me Not the men not the goods onely of Samaria shall bee caried away captiue but the very earth whereon it stands and this with how much ease No Souldier shall need to bee charged with more then an handfull to make a valley where the mother City of Israel once stood Oh vaine boaster In whom I know not whether pride or folly be more eminent Victorie is to bee atchieued not to bee sworne future euents are no matter of an oath Thy gods if they had beene might haue beene called as witnesses of thy intentions not of that successe whereof thou wouldst be the Author without them Thy gods can doe nothing to thee nothing for thee nothing for themselues all thine Aramites shall not cary away one corne of sand out of Israel except it bee vpon the soles of their feet in their shamefull flight It is well if they can cary backe those skins that they brought thither Let not him that girdeth on his harnesse boast himselfe as hee that putteth it off There is no cause to feare that man that trusts in himselfe Man may cast the dice of war but the disposition of them is of the Lord. Ahab was lewd but Benhadad was insolent If therefore Ahab shall be scourged with the rod of Benhadads feare Benhadad shall bee smitten with the sword of Ahabs reuenge Of all things God will not endure a presumptuous and selfe-confident vaunter after Elijahs flight and complaint yet a Prophet is addressed to Ahab Thus saith the Lord Hast thou seene all this great multitude behold I will deliuer it into thine hand this day and thou shalt know that I am the Lord Who can wonder enough at this vnweariable mercy of God After the fire and ruine fetcht miraculously from Heauen Ahab had promised much performed nothing yet againe will God blesse and solicit him with victory One of those Prophets whom hee persecuted to death shall comfort his deiection with the newes of deliuerance and triumph Had this great worke beene wrought without premonition either chance or Baal or the golden calues had caried away the thankes Before hand therefore shall Ahab know both the Author and the meanes of his victory God for the Author the two hundred thirty two yong men of the Princes for the meanes What are these for the Vant-gard and seuen thousand Israelite for the maine battell against the troupes of three thirty Kings and as many centuries of Syrians as Israel had single souldiers An equality of number had taken away the wonder of the euent but now the God of hoasts will be confessed in this issue not the valor of men How indifferent it is with thee O Lord to saue by many or by few to destroy many or few A world is no more to thee then a man how easie is it for thee to enable vs to be more then Conquerors ouer Principalities and Powers to subdue spirituall wickednesses to flesh and blood Through thee we can doe great things yea we can doe all things through thee that strengthnest vs Let not vs want faith we are sure there can bee no want in thy power or mercy There was nothing in Benhadads pauilions but drink and surfet and iollity as if wine should make way for blood Security is the certain vsher of destruction we neuer haue to much cause to feare as when we feare nothing This handful of Israel dares look out vpon the Prophets assurance to the vast host of Benhadad It is enough for that proud Pagan to sit
still and command amongst his cups To defile their fingers with the blood of so few seemed no mastery that act would bee inglorious on the part of the Victors More easily might they bring in three heads of dead enemies then one aliue Imperiously enough therefore doth this boaster out of his chaire of state and ease command Whether they be come out for peace take them aliue or whether they be come out for warre take them aliue There needs no more but Take them this field is won with a word Oh the vaine and ignorant presumptions of wretched men that will be reckoning without against their Maker Euery Israelite kils his man the Syrians flee and cannot runne away from death Benhadad and his Kings are more beholden to their horses then to their gods or themselues for life and safety else they had been either taken or slaine by those whom they commanded to be taken How easie is it for him that made the heart to fill it with terror and consternation euen where no feare is Those whom God hath destin'd to slaughter he will smite neither needs he any other enemy or executioner then what he findes in their owne bosome We are not the masters of our owne courage or feares both are put into vs by that ouer-ruling power that created vs Stay now O stay thou great King of Syria and take with thee those forgotten handfuls of the dust of Israel Thy gods will doe so to thee and more also if thy followers returne without their vowed burden Learne now of the despised King of Israel from henceforth not to sound the triumph before the battell not to boast thy selfe in the girding on of thine harnesse as in the putting off I heare not of either the publike thanksgiuing or amendment of Ahab Neither danger nor victory can change him from himselfe Benhadad and he though enemies agree in vnrepentance the one is no more moued with mercy then the other with iudgement Neither is God any changeling in his proceedings towards both his iudgement shall still follow the Syrian his mercy Israel Mercy both in fore-warning and redeliuering Ahab Iudgement in ouerthrowing Benhadad The Prophet of God comes againe and both foretels the intended re-encounter of the Syrian and aduises the care and preparation of Israel Goe strengthen thy selfe and marke and see what thou doest for at the returne of the yeare the King of Syria will come vp against thee God purposeth the deliuerance of Israel yet may not they neglect their fortifications The mercifull intentions of God towards them may not make them carelesse The industry and courage of the Israelites fall within the decree of their victory Security is the bane of good successe It is no contemning of a foyled enemie the shame of a former disgrace and miscariage whets his valor and sharpens it to reuenge No power is so dreadfull as that which is recollected from an ouerthrow The hostility against the Israel of God may sleepe but will hardly die If the Aramites sit still it is but till they be fully ready for an assault Time will shew that their cessation was onely for their aduantage neither is it otherwise with our spirituall aduersaries sometimes their onsets are intermitted they tempt not alwaies they alwaies hate vs their forbearance is not out of fauour but attendance of opportunitie happy are wee if out of a suspicion of their silence we can as busily prepare for their resistance as they doe for our impugnation As it is a shame to bee beaten so yet the shame is lesse by how much the victor is greater to mitigate the griefe and indignation of Benhadads foile his parasites ascribe it to gods not to men an humane power could no more haue vanquish't him then a diuine power could by him be resisted Their gods are gods of the hils Ignorant Syrians that name gods and confine them varying their deities according to situations They saw that Samaria whence they were repelled stood vpon the hill of Shemer They saw the Temple of Ierusalem stood vpon mount Sion they knew it vsuall with the Israelites to sacrifice in their high places and perhaps they had heard of Elijahs altar vpon mount Carmel and now they sottishly measure the effects of the power by the place of the worship as if he that was omnipotent on the hill were impotent in the Valley What doltish conceits doth blinde Paganisme frame to it selfe of a God-head As they haue many gods so finite euery region euery hill euery dale euery streame hath their seuerall gods and each so knowes his owne bounds that he dares not offer to incroach vpon the other or if he doe abuyes it with losse Who would thinke that so grosse blockishnesse should finde harbour in a reasonable soule A man doth not alter with his station He that wrestled strongly vpon the hill loseth not his force in the plaine all places finde him alike actiue alike valorous yet these barbarous Aramites shame not to imagine that of God which they would blush to affirme of their owne champions Superstition infatuates the heart out of measure neither is there any fancy so absurd or monstrous which credulous infidelity is not ready to entertaine with applause In how high scorne doth God take it to bee thus basely vnder-valued by rude heathen This very mis-opinion concerning the God of Israel shall cost the Syrians a shamefull and perfect destruction They may call a Counsell of War and lay their heads together and change their Kings into Captaines and their hills into valleyes but they shall finde more graues in the plaines then in the mountaines This very mes-prison of God shall make Ahab though he were more lewd victorious An hundred thousand Syrians shall fall in one day by those few hands of Israel And a dead wall in Aphek to whose shelter they fled shall reuenge God vpon the rest that remained The stones in the wall shall rather turne executioners then a blasphemous Aramite shall escape vnreuenged So much doth the iealous God hate to be robd of his glory euen by ignorant Pagans whose tongue might seeme no slander That proud head of Benhadad that spoke such big words of the dust of Israel and swore by his gods that hee would kill and conquer is now glad to hide it selfe in a blinde hole of Aphek and now in stead of questioning the power of the God of Israel is glad to heare of the mercy of the Kings of Israel Behold now wee haue heard that the Kings of the house of Israel are mercifull Kings Let vs I pray thee put sack-cloth on our loines and ropes on our heads and goe out to the King of Israel peraduenture he will saue thy life There can bee no more powerfull attractiue of humble submission then the intimation and conceit of mercy Wee doe at once feare and hate the inexorable This is it O Lord that allures vs to thy throne of grace the knowledge of the grace of that throne
hee gaue was not worse then that hee tooke There is more true glory in the conquest of our lusts then in all bloody Trophees In vaine shall Ahab boast of subduing a forraigne enemy whiles he is subdued by a domesticke enemy within his own brest Opportunity and Conuenience is guilty of many a theft Had not this ground lien so faire Ahab had not beene tempted His eye lets in this euill guest into the soule which now dares come forth at the mouth Giue mee thy vineyard that I may haue it for a garden of herbes because it is neere to my house and I will giue thee a better vineyard for it or if it seeme good to thee I will giue thee the worth of it in money Yet had Ahab so much ciuility and iustice that he would not wring Naboths patrimony out of his hand by force but requires it vpon a faire composition whether of price or of exchange His gouernment was vicious not tyrannicall Proprietie of goods was inuiolably maintained by him No lesse was Naboth allowed to claime a right in his vineyard then Ahab in his palace This wee owe to lawfull Soueraignty to call ought our owne and well worthy is this priuiledge to be repaid with all humble and loyall respects The motion of Ahab had it beene to any other then an Israelite had beene as iust equall reasonable as the repulse had beene rude churlish inhumane It is fit that Princes should receiue due satisfaction in the iust demands not onely of their necessities but conuenience and pleasure well may they challenge this retribution to the benefit of our common peace and protection If there bee any sweetnesse in our vineyards any strength in our fields we may thanke their scepters Iustly may they expect from vs the commoditie the delight of their habitation and if we gladly yeeld not to their full elbow-roome both of site and prouision we can be no other then ingratefull Yet dares not Naboth giue any other answer to so plausible a motion then The Lard forbid it me that I should giue thee the inheritance of my Fathers The honest Israelite saw violence in this ingenuity There are no stronger commands then the requests of the great It is well that Ahab will not wrest away this patrimony it is not well that he desired it The land was not so much stood vpon as the law One earth might be as good as another and money equiualent to either The Lord had forbidden to alien their inheritance Naboth did not feare losse but sinne What Naboth might not lawfully doe Ahab might not lawfully require It pleased God to bee very punctuall and cautelous both in the distinction and preseruation of the intirenesse of these Iewish inheritances Nothing but extreme necessitie might warrant a sale of land and that but for a time if not sooner yet at the Iubile it must reuert to the first owner It was not without a comfortable signification that whosoeuer had once his part in the land of Promise could neuer lose it Certainly Ahab could not but know this diuine restriction yet doubts not to say Giue me thy vineyard The vnconscionable will know no other law but their profit their pleasure A lawlesse greatnesse hates all limitations and abides not to heare men should need any other warrant but will Naboth dares not be thus tractable How gladly would he be quit of his inheritance if God would acquit him from the sinne Not out of wilfulnesse but obedience doth this faithfull Israelite hold off from this demand of his Soueraign not daring to please an earthly King with offending the heauenly When Princes command lawfull things God commands by them when vnlawfull they command against God passiue obedience we must giue actiue we may not wee follow then as subordinate not as opposite to the highest Who cannot but see and pity the straits of honest Naboth Ahab requires what God forbids he must fall out either with his God or his King Conscience caries him against policy and he resolues not to sinne that he might be gracious For a world he may not giue his vineyard Those who are themselues godlesse thinke the holy care of others but idly scrupulous The King of Israel could not chuse but see that onely Gods prohibition lay in the way of his designes not the stomacke of a froward subiect yet he goes away into his house heauy and displeased and casts himselfe downe vpon bed and turnes away his face and refuses his meat Hee hath taken a surfet of Naboths grapes which marres his appetite and threats his life How ill can great hearts endure to bee crossed though vpon the most reasonable and iust grounds Ahabs place call'd him to the Guardianship of Gods Law and now his heart is ready to breake that this parcell of that Law may not bee broken No maruell if hee made not dainty to transgresse a locall statute of God who did so shamefully violate the eternall Law of both Tables I know not whether the spleen or the gall of Ahab be more affected Whether more of anger or griefe I cannot say but sick he is keepes his bed and balks his meat as if he should die of no other death thē the salads that he would haue had O the impotēt passion and insatiable desires of Couetousnesse Ahab is Lord King of all the territories of Israel Naboth is the owner of one poore Vineyard Ahab cannot inioy Israel if Naboth inioy his Vineyard Besides Samaria Ahab was the great Lord Paramount of Damascus and all Syria the victor of him that was attended with two and thirty Kings Naboth was a plaine townsman of Iezreel the good husband of a little Vineyard Whether is the weathier I doe not heare Naboth wish for any thing of Ahabs I heare Ahab wishing not without indignation of a repulse for somwhat from Naboth Riches pouerty is more in the heart then in the hand He is wealthy that is contented he is poore that wanteth more Oh rich Naboth that carest not for all the large possessions of Ahab so thou maist bee the Lord of thine owne Vineyard Oh miserable Ahab that carest not for thine owne possessions whiles thou mayest not be the Lord of Naboths Vineyard He that caused the disease sends him a Physitian Satan knew of old how to make vse of such helpers Iezebel comes to Ahabs bed-side and casts cold water in his face and puts into him spirits of her owne extracting Dost thou now gouerne the Kingdome of Israel Arise eat bread and let thine heart be merry I will giue thee the Vineyard of Naboth Ahab wanted neither wit nor wickednesse Yet is he in both a very nouice to this Zidonian dame There needs no other Deuill then Iezebel whether to proiect euill or to worke it She chides the pusillanimity of her deiected husband and perswades him his rule cannot bee free vnlesse it be licentious that there should bee no bounds for soueraignetie but will Already hath shee
contriued to haue by fraud and force what was denied to intreaty Nothing needs but the name but the seale of Ahab let her alone with the rest How present are the wits of the weaker sex for the deuising of wickednesse She frames a letter in Ahabs name to the Senatours of Iezreell wherein she requires them to proclaime a fast to suborne two false witnesses against Naboth to charge him with blasphemy against God the King to stone him to death A ready payment for a rich Vineyard Whose indignation riseth not to heare Iezebel name a fast The great contemners of the most important Lawes of God yet can be content to make vse of some diuine both statutes and customes for their owne aduantage She knew the Israelites had so much remainder of grace as to hold blasphemy worthy of death She knew their manner was to expiate those crying sinnes with publike humiliation She knew that two witnesses at least must cast the offender all these she vrges to her own purpose There is no mischiefe so deuillish as that which is cloked with piety Simulation of holinesse doubleth a villany This murder had not been halfe so foule if it had not bin thus masked with a religious obseruation Besides deuotion what a faire pretence of legality is here Blasphemy against God and his anointed may not passe vnreuenged The offender is conuented before the sad and seuere bench of Magistracy the iustice of Israel allowes not to condemne an absent an vnheard malefactor Witnesses come forth and agree in the intentation of the crime the Iudges rend their garments and strike their brests as grieued not more for the sin then the punishment their very countenance must say Naboth should not die if his offence did not force our iustice and now he is no good subiect no true Israelite that hath not a stone for Naboth Iezebel knew well to whom she wrote Had not those letters falne vpon the times of a wofull degeneration of Israel they had receiued no lesse strong denials from the Elders then Ahab had from Naboth God forbid that the Senate of Iezreel should forge a periurie belie truth condemne innocency broke corruption Command iust things wee are ready to die in the zeale of our obedience wee dare not imbrue our hands in the blood of an innocent But she knew whom she had engaged whom she had marred by making conscious It were strange if they who can countenance euill with greatnesse should want factors for the vniustest designes Miserable is that people whose Rulers in stead of punishing plot and incourage wickednesse when a distillation of euill fals from the head vpon the lungs of any State there must needs follow a deadly consumption Yet perhaps there wanted not some colour of pretence for this proceeding They could not but heare that some words had passed betwixt the King and Naboth Haply it was suggested that Naboth had secretly ouer-lashed into saucy and contemptuous termes to his Soueraigne such as neither might be well borne nor yet by reason of their priuacy legally conuinced the bench of Iezreel should but supply a forme to the iust matter and desert of condemnation What was it for them to giue their hand to this obscure midwifery of Iustice It is enough that their King is an accuser and witnesse of that wrong which onely their sentence can formally reuenge All this cannot wash their hands from the guilt of blood If iustice be blinde in respect of partiality she may not be blinde in respect of the grounds of execution Had Naboth beene a blasphemer or a traitor yet these men were no better then murtherers What difference is there betwixt the stroke of Magistracie and of man-slaughter but due conuiction Wickednesse neuer spake out of a Throne and complained of the defect of instruments Naboth was it seemes strictly conscionable his fellow Citizens loose lawlesse they are glad to haue gotten such an opportunity of his dispatch No clause of Ahabs letter is not obserued A fast is warned the city is assembled Naboth is conuented accused confronted sentenced stoned His vineyard is escheated to the Crowne Ahab takes speedy and quiet possession How still doth God sit in heauen and looke vpon the complots of treachery and villanies as if they did not concerne him The successe so answers their desires as if both heauen and earth were their friends It is the plague which seemes the felicity of sinners to speed well in their lewd enterprises No reckoning is brought in the midst of the meale the end payes for all Whiles Ahab is reioycing in his new garden-plot and promising himselfe contentment in this commodious enlargement in comes Elijah sent from God with an errand of vengeance Me thinkes I see how the Kings countenance changed with what agast eyes and pale cheekes he lookt vpon that vnwelcome Prophet Little pleasure tooke he in his prospect whiles it was clogged with such a guest yet his tongue begins first Hast thou found me O mine enemy Great is the power of conscience vpon the last meeting for ought we know Ahab and Elijah parted friends The Prophet had lacquaied his coach and tooke a peaceable leaue at this Townes end now Ahabs heart told him neither needed any other messenger that God and his Prophet were falne out with him His continuing Idolatry now seconded with blood bids him look for nothing but frownes from heauen A guilty heart can neuer be at peace Had not Ahab knowne how ill he had deserued of God hee had neuer saluted his Prophet by the name of an enemy Hee had neuer beene troubled to bee found by Elijah if his owne brest had not found him out for an enemy to God Much good may thy vineyard doe thee O thou King of Israel many faire flowers and sauory herbes may thy new Garden yeeld thee please thy selfe with thy Iezebel in the triumph ouer the carkasse of a scrupulous subiect let mee rather die with Naboth then reioyce with thee His turne is ouer thine is to come The stones that ouerwhelmed innocent Naboth were nothing to those that smite thee Hast thou killed also taken possession thus saith the Lord In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood euen thine What meanest thou O Elijah to charge this murther vpon Ahab Hee kept his Chamber Iezebel wrote the Elders condemned the people stoned yet thou sayest Hast thou killed Well did Ahab know that Iezebel could not giue this vineyard with dry hands yet was he content to winke at what she would doe He but sits still whiles Iezebel workes Onely his Signet is suffered to walke for the sealing of this vnknowne purchase Those that are trusted with authoritie may offend no lesse in conniuency or neglect then other in act in participation Not onely command consent countenance but very permission feoffes publike persons in those sinnes which they might and will not preuent God loues to punish by retaliation Naboth and
Ahab shall both bleed Naboth by the stones of the Iezreelites Ahab by the shafts of the Aramites The dogs shall taste of the blood of both What Ahab hath done in crueltie he shall suffer in iustice The cause and the end make the difference happy on Naboths side on Ahabs wofull Naboth bleeds as a Martyr Ahab as a murtherer What euer is Ahabs condition Naboth changes a vineyard on earth for a Kingdome in heauen Neuer any wicked man gained by the persecution of an innocent Neuer any innocent man was a loser by suffering from the wicked Neither was this iudgement personall but hereditarie I will take away thy posterity and will make thine house like the house of Ieroboam Him that dieth of Ahab in the City the Dogs shall eat and him that dieth in the field shall the Fowles of the aire eat Ahab shall not need to take thought for the traducing of this ill gotten inheritance God hath taken order for his heires whom his sin hath made no lesse the heires of his curse then of his body Their fathers cruelty to Naboth hath made them together with their mother Iezebel dogs-meat The reuenge of God doth at last make amends for the delay Whether now is Naboths vineyard paid for The man that had sold himselfe to worke wickednesse yet rues the bargaine I doe not heare Ahab as bad as hee was reuile or threaten the Prophet but hee rends his clothes and wears and lies in sack-cloth and fasts and walks softly Who that had seen Ahab would not haue deemed him a true penitent All this was the visor of sorrow not the face or if the face not the heart or if the sorrow of the heart yet not the repentance A sorrow for the iudgment not a repentance for the sinne The very deuils howle to be tormented Griefe is not euer a signe of grace Ahab rends his clothes he did not rend his heart he puts on sack-cloth not amendment he lies in sack-cloth but he lies in his Idolatry he walks softly he walkes not sincerely worldly sorrow causeth death Happy is that griefe for which the soule is the holier Yet what is this I see This very shadow of penitence caries away mercy It is no small mercy to defer an euill Euen Ahabs humiliation shall prorogue the iudgement such as the penitence was such shall be the reward a temporary reward of a temporary penitence As Ahab might be thus sorrowfull and neuer the better so he may be thus fauoured and neuer the happier Oh God how graciously art thou ready to reward a sound and holy repentance who art thus indulgent to a carnall and seruile deiection AHAB and MICAIAH OR The Death of AHAB WHo would haue look't to haue hard any more of the wars of the Syrians with Israel after so great a slaughter after so firme a league a league not of peace onely but of Brotherhood The haltars the sack-cloth of Benhadads followers were worn out as of vse so of memory and now they are changed for Iron and steele It is but three yeares that this peace lasts and now that warre begins which shall make an end of Ahab The King of Israel rues his vniust mercie according to the word of the Prophet that gift of a life was but an exchange Because Ahab gaue Benhadad his life Benhadad shall take Ahabs He must forfeit in himselfe what he hath giuen to another There can bee no better fruit of too much kindnesse to Infidels It was one Article of the league betwixt Ahab and his brother Benhadad that there should bee a speedy restitution of all the Israelitish Cities The rest are yeelded onely Ramoth Gilead is held backe vnthankfully iniuriously He that beg'd but his life receiues his Kingdome and now rests not content with his owne bounds Iustly doth Ahab challenge his owne iustly doth he moue a war to recouer his owne from a perfidious tributary the lawfulnesse of actions may not bee iudged by the euents but by the grounds the wise and holy arbiter of the world knowes why many times the better cause hath the worse successe Many a iust businesse is crossed for a punishment to the agent Yet Israel and Iuda were now peeced in friendship Iehosaphat the good King of Iuda had made affinity with Ahab the Idolatrous King of Israel and besides a personall visitation ioynes his forces with his new Kinsman against an old confederate Iuda had called in Syria against Israel and now Israel cals in Iuda against Syria Thus rather should it be It is fit that the more pure Church should ioyne with the more corrupt against a common Paganish enemy Iehosaphat hath match't with Ahab not with a diuorce of his deuotion Hee will fight not without God Inquire I pray thee at the Word of the Lord to day Had hee done thus sooner I feare Athaliah had neuer call'd him father This motion was newes in Israel It was vvont to be said Inquire of Baal The good King of Iudah will bring Religion into fashion in the Court of Israel Ahab had inquired of his counsellor What needed he be so deuout as to inquire of his Prophets Onely Iehosaphats presence made him thus godly It is an happy thing to conuerse with the vertuous their counsell and example cannot but leaue some tincture behind them of a good profession if not of piety Those that are truly religious dare not but take God with them in all their affaires with him they can be as valiant as timorous without him Ahab had Clergy enough such as it was Foure hundred Prophets of the groues were reserued from appearing to Elijahs challenge these are now consulted by Ahab they liue to betray the life of him who saued theirs These care not so much to inquire what God would say as what Ahab would haue them say they saw vvhich way the Kings heart was bent that way they bent their tongues Goe vp for the Lord shall deliuer it into the hands of the King False Prophets care onely to please a plausible falshood passes with them aboue an harsh truth Had they seene Ahab fearfull they had said Peace Peace now they see him resolute war and victory It is a fearfull presage of ruine when the Prophets conspire in assentation Their number consent confidence hath easily won credit with Ahab Wee doe all vvillingly beleeue what we wish Iehosaphat is not so soone satisfied These Prophets were it is like obtruded to him a stranger for the true Prophets of the true God The iudicious King sees cause to suspect them and now perceiuing at what altars they serued hates to rest in their testimony Is there not here a Prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him One single Prophet speaking from the Oracles of God is more worth then foure hundred Baalites Truth may not euer be measured by the poll It is not number but weight that must cary it in a Councell of Prophets A solid Verity in one mouth is worthy to
in the lawfull reformation of a Church 558 Contemplation a discourse of the study of it 341 Contemplation of the creation of the World 809 Of Man 812 Of Paradise 815 Of Cain and Abel 817 Of the Deluge 819 Of Noah 827 Of Babel 829 c. Content an inducement to contentment in want 3 A reason to be so 4 Earth yeelds no contentment 12 How to prouoke a mans selfe to contentation 28 What brings contentment in earthly things 58 Pretty enducements to bee content with our present estates 95 96. None liue so ill but that they content themselues in somewhat 136 Contentation a rare blessing 886 It oft fals out that those times which promise most content proue most dolefull in the issue 993 Contention a right behauiour in contention 10 Contention what it doth 219 Continencie what with its contraries 225 Conuersation of hauing it in the world 603 Conuert of his welcome home 965 Corah his conspiracy 919 Corruption the best thing corrupted is worst 147 Cost the Israelites cost to a calfe shall iudge vs in our want of it for true Religion 901 Councellor and counsell for soule and state 231 What is required in a Councellor ibid. It is sign of a desperate cause when once we seek to make Satan our counsellor 931 Counsell good and ill whereto compared 1145 Countenance dishonesty growes bold when it is countenanced by greatnesse 1138 Courtier sixe qualities of a Courtier 233 Two mischiefes of the Court Flatterie and Trecherie 280 The description of a good faithfull Courtier 331 Couetousnesse hath a great resemblance with Drunkennesse 8 A base thing to get goods onely to keepe them 24 25. The couetous like a spider 55 The couetous character 193 The couetous described 221 The couetous restlesse 933 934 Creation of our contemplation therein 809 The head of our creation is Heauen 811 The wonderfulnesse of it seene in man 813 Creatures how they al fight for God 531 872 c. 929 How obseruant they are to him that made them 949 950 The power of nourishment is not in the creature but in the Maker 996 God would rather haue his creatures perish any way then to serue for the vse of the wicked 1003 There is a speciall prouideÌ„ce in their motion 1049 Creed the confession of the same creed is not sufficient with Rome for peace 637 Credulitie it is the daughter of Folly 1102 Crosses of them 80 of such as arise from conceit and of true and reall crosses 80 81 Remedies of crosses before they come 81 And when they are come 83 against sorrow for worldly crosses 309 Crucifie excellent things of our crucifying Christ a new 431 432 Crueltie it is commonly ioyned with error 564 God will call vs to account for our cruelty against dumbe beasts 935 sudden cruelty stands not with religion 969 Yet sometimes a vertue 996 It is no thanks to themselues that wicked men cannot bee cruell 1003 The mercies of God in turning the cruelty of the wicked to the aduantage of the godly 1004 Insultation in the rigour of Iustice argueth cruelty 1020 Curious A censure of the curious in diet and apparell that are negligent or indifferent in Gods businesse 1110 Curse a causelesse curse whom it hurts 1009 Of Shemei his curse 1231 Custome It shall bee no plea for sinne or errour 38 Custome in sinne will so flesh vs as to deny or forsweare any thing 1009 D DAnger there should wee bend our greatest care where we finde our greatest danger 1193 Dancing allowed described and censured 677 In a case disallowed 1021 Dauid his choice or Election 1076 Called to the Court. 1079 Of him and Goliah 1080 Dauids reproach by his brother 1081 His preparation to the Combate 1084 An excellent vse of it ibid. His deliuerance out at a window 1089 Of Samuels harbouring him 1090 Of Dauid and Abimetech 1091 A notable demonstration of his royaltie 1101 A description of Dauids and his peoples perplexitie 1113 Dauid a type of Christ in his warres ibid. His too much credulitie 1133 Dauid a spectacle of infirmitie 1137 What in warre and what in peace 1137 An expostulation with Dauid about his sinne 1138 Of Dauid and Nathan 1141 His confession 1142 Obseruations of Dauids childs death 1143 Dauid is not more sure of forgiuenesse then of smart 1144 The relation of his particular pay ibid. His cariage in Shemeies curse 1232 His patience drawes on his impudencie 1233 Of his numbring the people 1246 His admirable charity 1249 His honour in welcoming the Prophets 1257 Dauids end 1258 Day That al daies are Gods but some more specially 441 442 Holy dayes how obserued in the Church of England 589 Death It hath three messengers p. 4 The wicked therein hath three terrible spectacles 7 Its desire how lawfull â—5 Mans vnwillingnesse to die 53 To bee vnwilling is signe of being in a bad case 61 Of the importunitie and terrour of death 84 The grounds of the feare of death 85 The remedy of the last and greatest breach of peace arising from death 86 A meditation of death 126 Of that Epicurean resolution Let vs eate and drinke for c. 1 Cor. 15.32 139 140 What resolutenesse doth to death 148 An Epistle against the feare of death 291 Of immoderate mourning for the dead 307 A discourse of due preparation for death and the meanes to sweeten it 317 An effectuall preparation of a murtherer to his death 379 Sweet comforts in the meditation of Christs death 434 A pretty item in mourning for the dead 913 Euery circumstance of our dissolutioÌ„ is determined 939 The difference of a godly and wicked mans death ibid. How God forewarnes vs of death 940 Dead bodies are not lost but laid vp 942 T is iust with God that hee that liues without grace should dye without comfort 1105 Death is not partiall 1116 Deceit Its kinds and iudgements 218 219 The hearts deceit in its faculties and affections largely described 504 c. A pretty description of deceiuing others 506 and of the deuils deceit ibid. Described by its effects 507 Oh the deceit of sinne 1140 Decree It is in vaine to striue against Gods decree when we know it 1057 Delay An argument not to delay our repentance till the last day 63 Delay dangerous 948 Desire A man besotted with euill desires is made fit for any villany 937 Where God sees feruent desire he stayes not for words 977 Despaire Then it no greater wrong to God p. 35 Excellent examples against it 946 To what mad shifts men are driuen to in despaire 1210 Detraction or detractor our behauiour with or against such p. 2 A sweet resolution against detraction 3 Deuill He â—ill we haue sinned is a Parasite but when wee haue sinned he is a Tyrant 1112 Hee is no lesse vigilant then malicious 1103 The dumbe deuill eiected 1285 Sinne giues him possession 1286 There is the deuill most tyrannous where hee is most obeyed 1293 There is no time wherein the deuill is not