tune of that knowne song beginning Preserue vs Lord. THee and thy wondrous deeds O God Wiâ—h all my soule I sound abroad verse 2 My ioy my triumph is in thee Of thy dread name my song shall be verse 3 O highest God since put to flight And fal'ne and vanisht at thy sight verse 4 Are all my foes for thou hast past Iust sentence on my cause at last And sitting on thy throne aboue A rightfull Iudge thy selfe doest proue verse 5 The troupes profane thy checks haue stroid And made their name for euer void verse 6 Where 's now my foes your threatned wrack So well you did our Cities sacke And bring to dust while that ye say Their name shall die as well as they verse 7 Loe in eternall state God sits And his high Throne to iustice fits verse 8 Whose righteous hand the world shall weeld And to all folke iust doome shall yeeld verse 9 The poore from high finde his releefe The poore in needfull times of griefe verse 10 Who knowes the Lord to thee shall cleaue That neuer doest thy clients leaue verse 11 Oh! sing the God that doth abide On Sion mount and blazon wide verse 12 His worthy deeds For he pursues The guiltlesse bloud with vengeance due He mindes their cause nor can passe o're Sad clamors of the wronged poore verse 13 Oh! mercy Lord thou that dost saue My soule from gates of death and graue Oh! see the wrong my foes haue done verse 14 That I thy praise to all that gone Through daughter Sions beauteous gate With thankfull songs may loud relate And may reioyce in thy safe aide Behold the Gentiles whiles they made A deadly pit my soule to drowne Into their pit are sunken downe In that close snare they hid for mee Loe their owne feet intangled be verse 16 By this iust doome the Lord is knowne That th' ill are punisht with their owne verse 17 Downe shall the wicked backward fall To deepest hell and nations all verse 18 That God forget nor shall the poore Forgotten be for euermore The constant hope of soules opprest verse 19 Shall not aye die Rise from thy rest Oh Lord let not men base and rude Preuaile iudge thou the multitude verse 20 Of lawlesse Pagans strike pale feare Into those brests that stubborne were And let the Gentiles feele and finde They beene but men of mortall kinde PSALME 10. As the 51. Psalme O God Consider WHy stand'st thou Lord aloofe so long And hidst thee in due times of need verse 2 Whiles lewd men proudly offer wrong Vnto the poore In their owne deed And their deuice let them be caught verse 3 For loe the wicked braues and boasts In his vile and outragious thought And blesseth him that rauines most verse 4 On God he dares insult his pride Scornes to enquire of powers aboue But his stout thoughts haue still deni'd verse 5 There is a God His waies yet proue 〈◊〉 prosperous thy iudgements hye Doe farre surmount his dimmer fight verse 6 Therefore doth he all foes defie His heart saith I shall stand in spight Nor euer moue nor danger ' bide verse 7 His mouth is fill'd with curses foule And with close fraud His tongue doth hide verse 8 Mischiefe and ill he seekes the soule Of harmelesse men in secret waite And in the corners of the street Doth shead their bloud with scorne and hate His eies vpon the poore are set verse 9 As some fell Lyon in his den He closely lurkes the poore to spoyle He spoyles the poore and helplesse men When once he snares them in his toyle verse 10 He croucheth low in cunning wile And bowes his brest whereon whole throngs Of poore whom his faire showes beguile Fall to be subiect to his wrongs verse 11 God hath forgot in soule he saies He hides his face to neuer see verse 12 Lord God arise thine hand vp-raise Let not thy poore forgotten be verse 13 Shall these insulting wretches scorne Their God and say thou wilt not care verse 14 Thou see'st for all thou hast forborne Thou see'st what all their mischiefes are That to thine hand of vengeance iust Thou maist them take the poore distressed Rely on thee with constant trust The helpe of Orphans and oppressed verse 15 Oh! breake the wickeds arme of might And search out all their cursed traines And let them vanish out of sight verse 16 The Lord as King for euer raignes From forth his coasts the heathen sect verse 17 Are rooted quite thou Lord attendst To poore mens sutes thou deo'st direct Their hearts to them thine eare thou bendst verse 18 That thou maist rescue from despight The wofull fatherlesse and poore That so the vaine and earthen wight On vs may tyrannize no more FJNJS CHARACTERS OF VERTVES AND VICES JN TWO BOOKES By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY singular good Lords EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON of WALTHAM AND JAMES LORD HAY HIS RIGHT NOBLE AND WORTHY SONNE IN LAW I. H. HVMBLY DEDICATES HIS LABOVR DEVOTETH HIMSELFE Wisheth all Happinesse A PREMONITION OF THE TITLE AND VSE of Characters READER THe Diuines of the old Heathens were their Morall Philosophers These receiued the Acts of an inbred law in the Sinai of Nature and deliuered them with many expositions to the multitude These were the Ouerseers of manners Correctors of vices Directors of liues Doctors of vertue which yet taught their people the body of their naturall Diuinitie not after one manner while some spent themselues in deepe discourses of humane felicitie and the way to it in common others thought it best to apply the generall precepts of goodnesse or decency to particular conditions and persons A third sort in a meane course betwixt the two other and compounded of them both bestowed their time in drawing out the true lineaments of euerie vertue and vice so liuely that who saw the medals might know the face which Art they significantly tearmed Charactery Their papers were so many tables their writings so many speaking pictures or liuing images whereby the ruder multitude might euen by their sense learne to know vertue and discerne what to detest J am deceiued if any course could be more likely to preuaile for herein the grosse conceit is led on with pleasure and informed while it feeles nothing but delight And if pictures haue beene accounted the bookes of Jdiots behold here the benefit of an image without the offence It is no shame for vs to learne wit of Heathens neither is it materiall in whose Schoole we take out a good lesson yea it is more shame not to follow their good than not to lead them better As one therefore that in worthy examples hold imitation better than inuention J haue trod in their paths but with an higher and wider steppe and out of their Tablets haue drawne these larger portraitures of both sorts More
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
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
is the Head canst thou drowne when thy Head is aboue was it not for thee that hee triumpht ouer death Is there any feare in a foyled aduersarie Oh my Redeemer I haue already ouercome in thee how can I miscarrie in my selfe O my soule thou hast marched valiantly Behold the Damosels of that heauenly Ierusalem come forth with Timbrels and Harps to meet thee and to applaud thy successe And now there remaines nothing for thee but a Crowne of righteousnesse which that righteous Iudge shall giue thee at that Day Oh Death where is thy sting Oh graue where is thy victorie The Thanksgiuing Returne now vnto thy rest O my soule for the Lord hath beene beneficiall vnto thee O Lord God the strength of my saluation thou hast couered my head in the day of battell O my God and King I will extoll thee and will blesse thy name for euer and euer I will blesse thee daily and praise thy Name for euer and euer Great is the Lord and most worthy to be praised and his greatnesse is incomprehensible I will meditate of the beautie of thy glorious Maiestie and thy wonderfull workes Hosanna thou that dwellest in the highest heauens Amen FINIS HOLY OBSERVATIONS LIB I. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON OF WALTHAM MY most bountifull Patron Grace and Peace RIGHT HONOVRABLE THis aduantage a Scholar hath aboue others that hee cannot be idle and that he can worke without instruments For the minde inured to contemplation will set it selfe on worke when other occasions faile and hath no more power not to studie than the eye which is open hath not to see some thing in which businesse it carries about his owne Librarie neither can complaine to want Bookes while it enioyeth it selfe J could not then neglect the commoditie of this plentifull leasure in my so easie attendance here but though besides my course and without the helpe of others writings must needs busie my selfe in such thoughts as J haue euer giuen account of to your Lordship such as J hope shall not be vnprofitable nor vnwelcome to their Patron to their Readers J send them forth from hence vnder your Honourable name to shew you that no absence no imployment can make mee forget my due respect to your Lordship to whom next vnder my gracious Master J haue deseruedly bequeathed my selfe and my endeuours Your goodnesse hath not wont to magnifie it selfe more in giuing than in receiuing such like holy presents the knowledge whereof hath intitled you to more labours of this nature if I haue numbred aright than any of your Peeres I misdoubt not either your acceptation or their vse That God who hath aboue all his other fauours giuen your Lordship euen in these carelesse times an heart truly religious giue you an happy increase of all his heauenly graces by my vnworthy seruice To his gracious care I daily commend your Lordship with my Honourable Lady wishing you both all that little ioy earth can affoord you and fulnesse of glory aboue Non-such Iuly 3. Your Lordships Most humbly deuoted for euer in all dutie and obseruance IOS HALL HOLY OBSERVATIONS 1 AS there is nothing sooner drie than a teare so there is nothing sooner out of season than worldly sorrow which if it bee fresh and still bleeding findes some to comfort and pittie it if stale and skinned ouer with time is rather entertained with smiles than commiseration But the sorrow of repentance comes neuer out of time All times are alike vnto that Eternitie whereto wee make our spirituall mones That which is past that which is future are both present with him It is neither weake nor vncomely for an old man to weepe for the sinnes of his youth Those teares can neuer be shed either too soone or too late 2 Some men liue to bee their owne executors for their good name which they fee not honestly buried before themselues die Some other of great place and ill desert part with their good name and breath at once There is scarce a vicious man whose name is not rotten before his carcasse Contrarily the good mans name is oft times heire to his life either borne after the death of the parent for that enuie would not suffer it to come forth before or perhaps so well growne vp in his life time that the hope thereof is the staffe of his age and ioy of his death A wicked mans name may be feared a while soone after it is either forgotten or cursed The good man either sleepeth with his body in peace or waketh as his soule in glory 3 Oft times those which shew much valour while there is equall possibilitie of life when they see a present necessitie of death are found most shamefully timorous Their courage was before grounded vpon hope that cut off leaues them at once desperate and cowardly whereas men of feebler spirits meet more cheerefully with death because though their courage be lesse yet their expectation was more 4 I haue seldome seene the sonne of an excellent and famous man excellent But that an ill bird hath an ill egge is not rare children possessing as the bodily diseases so the vices of their Parents Vertue is not propagated Vice is euen in them which haue it not reigning in themselues The graine is sowne pure but comes vp with chaffe and huske Hast thou a good sonne He is Gods not thine Is he euill Nothing but his sinne is thine Helpe by thy praiers and endeuours to take away that which thou hast giuen him and to obtaine from God that which thou hast and canst not giue Else thou maiest name him a possession but thou shalt finde him a losse 5 These things be comely and pleasant to see and worthy of honour from the beholder A young Saint an old Martyr a religious Souldier a conscionable Statesman a great man courteous a learned man humble a silent woman a childe vnderstanding the eie of his Parent a merry companion without vanitie a friend not changed with honour a sicke man cheerefull a soule departing with comfort and assurance 6 I haue oft obserued in merry meetings solemnly made that somewhat hath falne out crosse either in the time or immediatly vpon it to season as I thinke our immoderation in desiring or enioying our friends and againe euents suspected haue proued euer best God herein blessing our awfull submission with good successe In all these humane things indifferencie is safe Let thy doubts be euer equall to thy desires so thy disappointment shall not bee grieuous because thy expectation was not peremptorie 7 You shall rarely finde a man eminent in sundry faculties of minde or sundry manuarie trades If his memorie be excellent his fantasie is but dull if his fancie bee busie and quicke his iudgement is but shallow If his iudgement bee deepe his vtterance is
that path there is no death and attending thereon Pr. 20.6 Pr. 12.2 all Blessings are vpon the head of the righteous Wouldst thou haue fauour A good man getteth fauour of the Lord. Ioy The righteous shall sing and reioyce and surely to a man that is good in his sight Pr. 29.6 Ec. 2.26 God giueth wisdome and knowledge and ioy so that the light of the righteous reioyceth but the candle of the wicked shall bee put out Preseruation and deliuerance Lo Pr. 13.9 Pr. 10.25 Pr. 10.29 Pr. 10.30 Pr. 11.4 Pr. 12.13 Pr. 11.8 Pr. 13.6 Pr. 15.6 Pr. 14.11 Pr. 10.27 Pr. 12.7 Ec. 8.12 Pr. 10.24 Pr. 29.18 the righteous is an euerlasting foundation for the way of the Lord is strength to the vpright man so as the righteous shall neuer be remoued and if he be in trouble Riches auaile not in the day of wrath but righteousnesse deliuereth from death so the righteous shall come out of aduersitie and escape out of trouble and the wicked shall come in his stead thus euery way Righteousnesse preserueth the vpright in heart Prosperity and wealth The house of the righteous shall haue much treasure and his tabernacle shall flourish Long life The feare of the Lord increaseth the daies and not onely himselfe but his house shall stand And though a sinner doe euill an hundred times and God prolong his daies yet know I that it shall be well to them that feare the Lord and doe reuerence before him And lastly whatsoeuer good God will grant the desire of the righteous and he that keepeth the Law is blessed §. 7. In the estate of wickednesse our good things are accursed Wealth Life Fame Deuotions Prayers Sacrifices Euill inflicted of Losse Paine Affliction Death Damnation Pr. 10.2 Pr. 10.3 COntrarily there is perfect misery in wickednesse Looke on all that might seeme good in this estate Wealth The treasures of the wicked profit nothing the Lord will not famish the soule of the righteous but he either casteth away the substance of the wicked Pr. 13.25 so that the belly of the wicked shall want or else employeth it to the good of his for the wicked shall be a ransome for the iust Pr. 21.18 Ec. 2.26 and to the sinner God giueth paine to gather and to heape to giue to him that is good before God The wicked man may bee rich Pr. 15.6 Pr. 10.27 Pr. 10.25 Pr. 12.7 Pr. 2.22 Ec. 8.13 but how The reuenues of the wicked is trouble Life The yeeres of the wicked shall be diminished As the whirl-wind passeth so is the wicked no more for God ouerthroweth the wicked and they are not Whatsoeuer therefore their hope be the wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be rotted out It shall not be well to the wicked neither shall he prolong his daies hee shall be like to a shadow because he feared not God Pr. 14.11 Pr. 10.7 yea the very house of the wicked shall be destroyed Fame Whereas the memoriall of the iust shall be blessed the name of the wicked shall rot yea looke vpon his best endeuours Pr. 15.29 Pr. 28.9 his Prayers The Lord is farre off from the wicked but heareth the prayer of the righteous farre off from accepting For Hee that turneth away his eare from hearing the Law Pr. 15.8 euen his prayer shall be abominable His sacrifice though well intended as all the rest of his waies is no better than abomination to the Lord how much more when he brings it with a wicked minde Pr. 15.9 Pr. 21.27 Pr. 12.26 Pr. 10.18 Pr. 13.9 Pr. 11.18 Pr. 26.10 Pr. 13.21 Pr. 5.22 Pr. 10.6 Pr. 29.6 Pr. 11.5 Pr. 13.6 Pr. 33.3 Pr. 11.31 Pr. 10.24 Pr. 5.23 And as no good so much euill whether of losse The way of the wicked will deceiue them their hope shall perish especially when they die their candle shall be put out their workes shall proue deceitfull Or of paine for the Excellent that formed all things rewardeth the foole and the transgressor and he hath appointed that Affliction should follow sinners Follow yea ouertake them His owne iniquity shall take the wicked himselfe and couer his mouth and hee shall be holden with the cords of his owne sinne euen in the transgression of the euill man is his snare so the wicked shall fall in his owne wickednesse for of it owne selfe iniquity ouerthroweth the sinner But besides that the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked though hand ioyne in hand he shall not be vnpunished behold the righteous shall be paid vpon earth how much more the wicked and the sinner That then which the wicked man feareth shall come vpon him both Death Hee shall die for default of instruction Pr. 11.19 Pr. 1◠32 Pr. 15.11 Pr. 12.2 Pr. 10.29 Pr. 19.29 and that by his owne hands for by following euill he seekes his owne death and after that damnation The wicked shall bee cast away for his malice Hell and destruction are before the Lord and a man of wicked imaginations will hee condemned so both in life in death after it nothing but Terrour shall be for the workers of iniquity where contrarily The feare of the Lord leadeth to life and hee that is filled therewith shall contiue and shall not be visited with euill SALOMONS ETHICKS THE SECOND BOOKE PRVDENCE §. 1. Of Vertue Wherein it consisteth Whereby it is ruled and directed VErtue consists in the meane vice in the extremes Pr. 4.26 Pr. 4.27 Let thy waies be ordered aright Turne not to the right hand nor to the left but remoue thy foot from euill The rule whereof it Gods Law Pr. 6.23 Pr. 30.5 Pr. 4.20 Pr. 4.21 Pr. 4.22 for the commandement is a Lanterne and instruction a light and euery word of God is pure My sonne hearken to my words incline thine eare to my sayings let them not depart from thine eyes but keepe them in the midst of thine heart For they are life vnto those that finde them and health vnto all their flesh Pr. 7.2 Pr. 7.3 Keepe my Commandements and thou shalt liue and mine instruction as the apple of thine eye Binde them vpon thy fingers and write them vpon the Table of thine heart All vertue is either Prudence Iustice Temperance Fortitude 1. Of Prudence which comprehends Wisdome Prouidence Discretion §. 2. Of wisdome the Description Effects It procures Knowledge Safety from sinne from iudgement Good direction for actions for words Wealth Honour Life THe prudent man is he whose eyes are in his head to see all things and to fore-see Ec. 2.14 Ec. 10.2 Pr. 8.12 Pr. 14.8 Pr. 9.12 Pr. 3.13 and whose heart is at his right hand to doe all dexterously and with iudgement Wisdome dwells with Prudence and findeth forth knowledge and counsels And to describe it The wisdome of the Prudent is to vnderstand his way his owne If thou be wise thou shalt be wise
bodie vexation of conscience distemper of passions complaint of estate feares and sense of euill hopes and doubts of good ambitious rackirgs couetous toyles enuious vnderminings irkesome disappointments weary sacieties restlesse desires and many worlds of discontentments in this one What wonder is it that we would liue We laugh at their choice that are in loue with the deformed and what a face is this we dote vpon See if sinnes and cares and crosses haue not like a filthy Morphew ouer-spread it and made it loathsome to all iudicious eyes I maruell then that any wise men could be other but Stoicks and could haue any conceit of life but contemptuous not more for the misery of it while it lasteth then for the not lasting we may loue it wee cannot hold it What a shadow of a smoake what a dreame of a shadow is this wee affect Wise Salomon sayes there is a time to be borne and a time to dye you doe not heare him say a time to liue What is more flitting then time Yet life is not long enough to be worthy of the title of time Death borders vpon our birth and our cradle stands in our graue We lament the losse of our parents how soone shall our sonnes bewaile ours Loe I that write this and you that reade it how long are we here It were well if the world were as our tent yea as our Inne if not to lodge yet to bait in but now it is onely our thorow-fare one generation passeth another commeth none stayeth If this earth were a Paradise and this which we call our life were sweet as the ioyes aboue yet how should this ficklenesse of it coole our delight Grant it absolute who can esteeme a vanishing pleasure How much more now when the drammes of our honey are lost in pounds of gall when our contentments are as farre from sincerity as continuance Yet the true apprehension of life though ioyned with contempt is not enough to settle vs if either we be ignorant of death or ill perswaded for if life haue not worth enough to allure vs yet death hath horror enough to affright vs. Hee that would die cheerefully must know death his friend what is hee but the faithfull officer of our Maker who euer smiles or frownes with his Master neither can either shew or nourish enmitie where God fauours when he comes fiercely and puls a man by the throat and summons him to Hell who can but tremble The messenger is terrible but the message worse hence haue risen the miserable despaires and furious rauing of the ill conscience that findes no peace within lesse without But when he comes sweetly not as an executioner but as a guide to glory and profers his seruice and shewes our happinesse and opens the doore to our heauen how worthy is he of entertainment how worthy of gratulation But his salutation is painfull if courteous what then The Physician heales vs not without paine and yet wee reward him It is vnthankfulnesse to complaine vvhere the answer of profit is excessiue Death paineth how long how much with what proportion to the sequell of ioy O death if thy pangs be grieuous yet thy rest is sweet The constant expectation that hath possessed that rest hath already swallowed those pangs and makes the Christian at once wholly dead to his paine wholly aliue to his glory The soule hath not leysure to care for her suffering that beholds her crowne which if shee were conioyned to fetch thorow the flames of hell her faith would not sticke at the condition Thus in briefe he that liues Christianly shall dye boldly he that findes his life short and miserable shall dye willingly hee that knowes death and fore-sees glory shall die cheerefully and desirously To M. Samuel Burton Arch-deacon of Glocester EP. III. A discourse of the tryall and choice of the true Religion Sir This Discourse inioyned by you I send to your censure to your disposing but to the vse of others Vpon your charge I haue written it for the wauering If it seeme worthy communicate it else it is but a dash of your pen. I feare onely the breuitie a Volume were too little for this Subiect It is not more yours then the Author Farewell WE doe not more affect varietie in all other things then wee abhorre it in Religion Euen those which haue held the greatest falshoods hold that there is but one truth I neuer read of more then one Hereticke that held all Heresies true neither did his opinion seeme more incredible then the relation of it God can neither be multiplyed nor Christ diuided if his coat might bee parted his bodie was intire For that then all sides chalenge Truth and but one can possesse it let vs see who haue found it who enioy it There are not many Religions that striue for it tho many opinions Euery Heresie albe fundamentall makes not a Religion We say not The Religion of Arrians Nestorians Sabellians Macedonians but the sect or heresie No opinion challenges this name in our vsuall speech for I discusse not the proprietie but that which arising from many differences hath setled it selfe in the world vpon her owne principles not without an vniuersall diuision Such may soone be counted Tho it is true there are by so much too many as there are more then one Fiue religions then there are by this rule vpon earth which stand in competition for truth Iewish Turkish Greekish Popish Reformed whereof each pleads for it selfe with disgrace of the other The plaine Reader doubts how he may fit Iudge in so high a plea God hath put this person vpon him while he chargeth him to try the spirits to retaine the good reiect the euill If still he plead with Moses insufficiencie let him but attend God shall decide the case in his silence without difficultie The Iew hath little to say for himselfe but impudent denials of our Christ of their Prophecies whose very refusall of him more strongly proues him the true Messias neither could he be iustified to be that Sauiour if they reiected him not since the Prophets fore-saw and fore-told not their repelling of him onely but their reuiling If there were no more arguments God hath so mightily confuted them from heauen by the voice of his iudgement that al the vvorld hisseth at their conuiction Loe their very sinne is capitally written in their desolation and contempt One of their owne late Doctors seriously expostulates in a relenting Letter to another of his fellow Rabbins what might be the cause of so long and desperate a ruine of their Israel and comparing their former captiuities with their former sinnes argues and yet feares to conclude that this continuing punishment must needs be sent for some sinne so much greater then Idolatry Oppression Sabbath-breaking by how much this plague is more grieuous then all the other Which his feare tels him and he may beleeue it can be no other but the murder and refusall of their
that may challenge and command our eares and hearts this is it for behold the sweetest word that euer Christ spake and the most meritorious act that euer he did are met together in this his last breath In the one yee shall see him triumphing yeelding in the other yet so as he ouercomes Imagine therefore that you saw Christ Iesus in this day of his passion who is euery day here crucified before your eyes aduanced vpon the Chariot of his Crosse and now after a weary conflict cheerefully ouer-looking the despight and shame of men the wrath of his Father the Law sinne death hell which all he gasping at his foot and then you shall conceiue with what spirit he saith Consummatum est It is finished What is finished Shortly All the prophesies that were of him All legall obseruations that prefigured him his owne sufferings our saluation The prophesies are accomplisht the ceremonies abolisht his sufferings ended our saluation wrought these foure heads shall limit this first part of my speech onely let them finde and leaue you attentiue Euen this very word is prophesied of All things that are written of mee haue an end saith Christ What end This it is finished This very end hath his end here What therefore is finished Not this prediction onely of his last draught as Augustine that were too particular Let our Sauiour himselfe say All things that are written of mee by the Prophets It is a sure and conuertible rule Nothing was done by Christ which was not foretold Nothing was euer foretold by the Prophets of Christ which was not done It would take vp a life to compare the Prophets and Euangelists ☜ ☞ Esay 7.14 Matth. 1.23 Michah 5.2 Matth. 2.6 Esay 11.1 Matth. 2.15 Ieremie 31.15 Matth. 2.18 Iudg. 13.5 Matth. 2. vlt. Esay 40.3 Matth. 3.2 Esay 9.1 Matth. 4.15 Leuit. 14.4 Matth. 8.4 Esay 53.4 Matth. 8.17 Esay 61.1 Matth. 11.4 Esay 42.1 Matth. 12.17 Ionah 1.17 Matth. 12.40 Esay 6.9 Matth. 13.14 Psalm 78.2 Matth. 13.35 Esay 35.5 6. Matth. 15.30 Esay 62.11 Matth. 21.5 Zach. 9.9 Matth. Ibidem Ieremie 7.11 Matth. 21.13 Psalm 8.2 Matth. 21.16 Esay 5.8 Matth. 21.33 Psal 118.22 Matth. 21.44 Psal 110.1 Matth. 22.44 Esay 3.14 Matth. 21.44 Psal 41.9 Matth. 26.31 Esay 53.10 Matth. 26.54 Zach. 13.7 Matth. 26.31 Lam. 4.20 Matth. 26.56 Esay 50.6 Matth. 26.67 Zach. 11.13 Matth. 27.9 Psalm 22.18 Matth. 27.35 Psalm 22.2 Matth. 27.46 Psalm 69.22 Matth. 27.48 the predictions and the history and largely to discourse how the one foretels and the other answers let it suffice to looke at them running Of all the Euangelists Saint Matthew hath beene most studious in making these references and correspondences with whom the burden or vndersong of euery euent is still vt impleretur That it might bee fulfilled Thus hath he noted if I haue reckoned them aright two and thirtie seuerall prophesies concerning Christ fulfilled in his birth life death To which S. Iohn adds many more Our speech must bee directed to his Passion Omitting the rest let vs insist in those He must be apprehended it was fore-prophesied The Anointed of the Lord was taken in their nets saith Ieremie but how he must be sold for what thirty siluer peeces and what must those doe buy a field all foretold And they tooke thirty siluer peeces the price of him that was valued and gaue them for the Potters field saith Zacharie miswritten Ieremie by one letter mistaken in the abbreuiation By whom That childe of perdition that the Scripture might bee fulfilled Which was hee It is foretold He that eateth bread with me saith the Psalmist And what shall his Disciples doe Runne away so saith the prophesie I will smite the shepherd and the sheepe shall bee scattered saith Zacharie What shall bee done to him Hee must be scourged and spet vpon behold not those filthy excrements could haue light vpon his sacred face without a prophesie I hid not my face from shame and spetting saith Esay What shall bee the issue In short he shall be led to death it is the prophesie The Messias shall bee slaine saith Daniel what death He must be lift vp Like as Moses lift vp the Serpent in the wildernesse so shall the Sonne of man bee lift vp Chrysostome saith well that some actions are parables so may I say some actions are prophesies such are all types of Christ and this with the formost Lift vp whither to the Crosse it is the prophesie hanging vpon a tree saith Moses how lift vp nailed to it so is the prophesie Foderunt manus They haue pierced my hands and my feet saith the Psalmist With what companie Two theeues With the wicked was hee numbred saith Esay Where Without the gates saith the prophesie What becomes of his garments They cannot so much as cast the dice for his coat but it is prophesied They diuided my garments and on my vestures cast lots saith the Psalmist Hee must die then on the Crosse but how voluntarily Not a bone of him shall be broken what hinders it loe there he hangs as it were neglected and at mercy yet all the raging Iewes no all the Deuils in hell cannot stir one bone in his blessed bodie It was prophesied in the Easter-Lamb and it must bee fulfilled in him that is the true Passeouer in spight of fiends and men how then hee must be thrust in the side behold not the very speare could touch his precious side being dead but it must be guided by a prophesie They shall see him whom they haue thrust thorow saith Zacharie what shall he say the while not his very words but are fore-spoken his complaint Eli Eli lammasabactani as the Chalde or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew Psalm 22.2 his resignation In manus tuas Into thy hands I commend my spirit Psal 31.5 his request Father forgiue them Hee prayed for the transgressors saith Esay And now when hee saw all these prophesies were fulfilled knowing that one remained he said I thirst Domine quid sitis saith one O Lord what thirstest thou for A strange hearing that a man yea that GOD and MAN dying should complaine of thirst Could hee endure the scorching flames of the wrath of his Father the curse of our sinnes those tortures of bodie those horrours of soule and doth he shrinke at his thirst No no he could haue borne his drought he could not beare the Scripture not fulfilled It was not necessitie of nature but the necessitie of his Fathers decree that drew forth this word I thirst They offered it before he refused it Whether it were an ordinarie potion for the condemned to hasten death as in the storie of M. Anthonie which is the most receiued construction or whether it were that Iewish potion whereof the Rabbines speake whose tradition was that the malefactor to be executed Sit mors mea in remissionâ—m omnium miquitatuÌ„ mearum Vt vsus rationis tollatur should after some good counsell from two
himselfe of himselfe a worme and no man the shame of men and contempt of the people Who is the King of glory Psal 24.10 the Lord of Hoasts he is the King of glory Set these two together the King of glory the shame of men the more honour the more abasement Looke backe to his Cradle there you finde him rejected of the Bethlemites borne and laid alas how homely how vnworthily sought for by Herod exiled to Aegypt obscurely brought vp in the Cottage of a poore Foster-Father transported and tempted by Sathan derided of his kindred blasphemously traduced by the Iewes pinched with hunger restlesse harbourlesse sorrowfull persecuted by the Elders and Pharises sold by his owne seruant apprehended arraigned scourged condemned and yet it is not finished Let vs with that Disciple follow him a farre off and passing ouer all his contemptuous vsage in the way see him brought to his Crosse Still the further we looke the more wonder euery thing adds to this ignominie of suffering and triumph of ouer-comming Where was it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act 26.27 not in a corner as Paul saith to Festus but in Ierusalem the eye the heart of the world Obscuritie abateth shame publique notice heightens it Before all Israel and before this Sunne saith God to Dauid when he would thorowly shame him In Ierusalem which he had honoured with his presence taught with his preachings astonisht with his miracles bewayled with his teares O Ierusalem Ierusalem how oft would I and thou wouldest not O yet if in this thy day Crueltie and vnkindnesse after good desert afflict so much more as our merit hath beene greater Whereabouts without the gates in Caluarie among the stinking bones of execrable Malefactors Before the glory of the place bred shame now the vilenesse of it When but in the Passeouer a time of greatest frequence and concourse of all Iewes and Proselytes An holy time when they should receiue the figure they reiect the substance when they should kill and eat the Sacramentall Lambe in faith in thankfulnesse they kill the Lambe of God our true Passeouer in crueltie and contempt With whom The qualitie of our companie either increases or lessens shame In the midst of theeues saith one as the Prince of theeues In â—â—edio latronuÌ„ tanquam latronuÌ„ immanissimus Luthâ—r there was no guile in his mouth much lesse in his hands yet behold he that thought it no robberie to be equall with God is made equall to robbers and murderers yea superiour in euill What suffered he As all lifes are not alike pleasant so all deaths are not equally fearefull There is not more difference betwixt some life and death than betwixt one death and another See the Apostles gradation He was made obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse The Crosse a lingring tormenting ignominious death The Iewes had foure kindes of death for malefactors the towell the sword fire stones each of these aboue other in extremitie Strangling with the towell they accounted easiest the sword worse than the towell the fire worse than the sword stoning worse than the fire but this Romane death was worst of all Cursed is euery one that hangeth on a Tree Yet as Ierome well hee is not therefore accursed because he hangeth but therefore he hangeth because he is accursed He was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Curse for vs. The curse was more than the shame yet the shame is vnspeakable and yet not more than the paine Yet all that die the same death are not equally miserable the very theeues fared better in their death than hee I heare of no irrision no inscription no taunts no insultation on them they had nothing but paine to encounter he paine and scorne An ingenuous and noble Nature can worse brooke this than the other any thing rather than disdainfulnesse and derision especially from a base enemie I remember that learned Father begins Israels affliction with Ismaels persecuting laughter The Iewes the Souldiers yea the very Theeues flouted him and triumpht ouer his misery his bloud cannot satisfie them without his reproach Which of his senses now was not a window to let-in sorrow his eyes saw the teares of his Mother and friends the vnthankfull demeanure of Mankinde the cruell despight of his enemies his eares heard the reuilings and blasphemies of the multitude and whether the place were noysome to his sent his touch felt the nayles his taste the gall Looke vp O all yee beholders looke vpon this pretious bodie and see what part yee can finde free That head which is adored and trembled at by the Angelicall spirits is all raked and harrowed with thornes Caput Angelicis spiritibus tremebundum spinis corenatur c. that face of whom it is said Thou art fairer than the children of men is all besmeared with the filthy spettle of the Iewes and furrowed with his teares those eyes clearer than the Sunne are darkned with the shadow of death those eares that heare the heauenly consorts of Angels now are filled with the cursed speakings and scoffs of wretched men those lips that spake as neuer man spake that command the spirits both of light and darknesse are scornfully wet with vinegar and gall those feet that trample on all the powers of hell his enemies are made his footstoole are now nayled to the footstoole of the Crosse those hands that freely sway the scepter of the heauens now carry the reede of reproach and are nayled to the tree of reproach that whole bodie which was conceiued by the Holy-Ghost was all scourged wounded mangled this is the out-side of his sufferings Was his heart free Oh no the inner part or soule of this paine which was vnseene is as far beyond these outward and sensible as the soule is beyond the bodie Gods wrath beyond the malice of men these were but loue-tricks to what his soule endured O all yee that passe by the way behold and see if there bee any sorrow like to my sorrow Alas Lord what can we see of thy sorrowes wee cannot conceiue so much as the hainousnes and desert of one of those sinnes which thou barest wee can no more see thy paine than wee could vndergoe it onely this wee see that what the infinite sinnes of almost infinite men committed against an infinite Maiestie deserued in infinite continuance all this thou in the short time of thy Passion hast sustained Wee may behold and see but all the glorious spirits in Heauen cannot looke into the depth of this suffering Doe but looke yet a little into the passions of this his Passion for by the manner of his sufferings we shall best see what he suffered Wise and resolute men doe not complaine of a little holy Martyrs haue beene racked and would not be loosed what shall we say if the author of their strength God and Man bewray passions what would haue ouerwhelmed men would not haue made him shrinke and what made him
about three hundred yeeres agoe Not of Reason Negotiatores teâ—ae sunt ipsi Sacerdotes qui vendunt orationes missas prodenarijs facientes domum orationis Apotâ—ecam negotiationis In Reue. l. 10. p. 5. how should one meere man pay for another dispense with another to another by another Not of Scripture which hath flatly said The bloud of Iesus Christ his Sonne purgeth vs from all sinne and yet I remember that acute Sadeel hath taught me that this practise is according to Scripture what Scripture Hee cast the money-changers out of the Temple and said Yee haue made my house a denne of theeues Which also Ioachim their propheticall Abbot well applies to this purpose Some modest Doctors of Lonan would faine haue minced this Antichristian blasphemy who began to teach that the passions of the Saints are not so by Indulgences applied that they become true satisfactions but that they only serue to moue God by the sight of them to apply vnto vs Christs satisfaction But these meale-mouth'd Diuines were soone charm'd Bellar. lib. 1. de Indulgent foure seuerall Popes as their Cardinall confesseth fell vpon the necke of them their opinion Leo the tenth Pius the fift Gregory the thirteenth and Clemens the sixt and with their furious Buls bellow out threats against them and tosse them in the aire for Heretickes and teach them vpon paine of a curse to speake home with Bellarmine Passionibus sanctorum expiari delicta and straight Applicari nobis sanctorum passiones ad redimend as poenas quas propeccatis Deo debemus That by the sufferings of Saints our sinnes are expiated and that by them applied wee are redeemed from those punishments which we yet owe to God Blasphemy worthy the tearing of garments How is it finished by Christ if men must supply Oh blessed Sauiour was euery drop of thy bloud enough to redeeme a world and doe we yet need the helpe of men How art thou a perfect Sauiour if our brethren also must be our Redeemers Oh yee blessed Saints how would you abhorre this sacrilegious glorie and with those holy Apostles yea that glorious Angell say Vide ne feceris and with those wise Virgins Lest there will not bee enough for vs and you goe to them that sell and buy for your selues For vs we enuie not their multitude let them haue as many Sauiours as Saints and as many Saints as men wee know with Ambrose Christi passio adiutore non eguit Christs passion needs no helper and therefore with that worthy Martyr dare say None but Christ none but Christ Let our soules die if he cannot saue them let them not feare their death or torment if he haue finished Heare this thou languishing and afflicted soule There is not one of thy sins but it is paid for not one of thy debts in the scroll of God but it is crossed not one farthing of all thine infinite ransome is vnpaid Alas thy sinnes thou sayest are euer before thee and Gods indignation goes still ouer thee and thou goest mourning all the day long and with that patterne of distresse criest out in the bitternes of thy soule I haue sinned what shall I doe to thee O thou preseruer of men What shouldst thou doe Turne and beleeue Now thou art stung in thy conscience with this fiery Serpent looke vp with the eyes of faith to this brazen Serpent Christ Iesus and be healed Behold his head is humbly bowed down in a gracious respect to thee his arms are stretched out louingly to embrace thee yea his precious side is open to receiue thee and his tongue interprets all these to thee for thine endlesse comfort It is finished There is no more accusation iudgment death hel for thee all these are no more to thee than if they were not Who shall condemne It is Christ which is dead I know how ready euery man is to reach forth his hand to this dole of grace and how angry to be beaten from this dore of mercy We are all easily perswaded to hope well because wee loue our selues well Which of all vs in this great congregation takes exceptions to himselfe and thinkes I know there is no want in my Sauiour there is want in me He hath finished but I beleeue not I repent not Euery presumptuous and hard heart so catches at Christ as if he had finisht for all as if he had broken downe the gates of hell and loosed the bands of death and had made forgiuenes as common as life Prosperitas stultorum perdit eos saith wise Salomon Ease slaieth the foolish and the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them yea the confidence of prosperity Thou saiest God is mercifull thy Sauiour bounteous his passion absolute all these and yet thou maiest be condemned Mercifull not vniust bountifull not lauish absolutely sufficient for all not effectuall to all Whatsoeuer God is what art thou Here is the doubt Thou saiest well Christ is the good Shepheard Wherein He giues his life but for whom for his sheepe What is this to thee While thou art secure prophane impenitent thou art a Wolfe or a Goat My sheepe heare my voyce what is his voice but his precepts Where is thine obedience to his commandements If thou wilt not heare his Law neuer harken to his Gospell Here is no more mercy for thee than if there were no Sauiour He hath finished for those in whom he hath begunne if thou haue no beginnings of grace as yet hope not for euer finishing of saluation Come to me all ye that are heauy laden saith Christ thou shalt get nothing if thou come when he calls thee not Thou art not called and canst not be refreshed vnlesse thou be laden not with sinne this alone keepes thee away from God but with conscience of sinne A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Is thy heart wounded with thy sinne doth griefe and hatred striue within thee whether shall be more Are the desires of thy soule with God Doest thou long for holinesse complaine of thy imperfections struggle against thy corruptions Thou art the man feare not It is finished That Law which thou wouldest haue kept and couldest not thy Sauiour could and did keepe for thee that saluation which thou couldest neuer worke-out alone alas poore impotent creatures what can we doe towards heauen without him which cannot moue on earth but in him hee alone for thee hath finished Looke vp therefore boldly to the throne of God and vpon the truth of thy repentance and faith know that there is no quarrell against thee in heauen nothing but peace and ioy All is finished He would be spitted on that he might wash thee he would be couered with scornefull robes that thy sinnes might be couered he would bee whipped that thy soule might not be scourged eternally he would thirst that thy soule might be satisfied he would beare all his Fathers wrath that thou mightest beare none he would yeeld to death that
thou mightest neuer taste of it hee would bee in sense for a time as forsaken of his Father that thou mightest be receiued for euer Now bid thy soule returne to her rest and enioyne it Dauids taske Praise the Lord O my soule and What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits I will take the cup of saluation and call vpon the Name of the Lord. And as rauisht from thy selfe with the sweet apprehension of this mercy call all the other creatures to the fellowship of this ioy with that diuine Esay Reioyce O yee heauens for the Lord hath done it shout ye lower parts of the earth burst forth into praises yee mountaines for the Lord hath redeemed Iacob and will bee glorified in Israel And euen now begin that heauenly Song which shall neuer end with those glorified Saints Praise and honour and glory and power be to Him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore Thus our speech of Christs last word is finished His last act accompanied his words our speech must follow it Let it not want your deuout and carefull attention He bowed and gaue vp the ghost The Crosse was a slow death and had more paine than speed whence a second violence must dispatch the crucified their bones must be broken that their hearts might breake Our Sauiour stayes not deaths leisure but willingly and couragiously meets him in the way and like a Champion that scornes to be ouercome yea knowes hee cannot be yeeldeth in the middest of his strength that he might by dying vanquish death Hee bowed and gaue vp Not bowing because he had giuen vp but because he would Hee cryed with a loud voyce saith Matthew Nature was strong he might haue liued but he gaue vp the ghost and would die to shew himselfe Lord of life and death Oh wondrous example hee that gaue life to his enemies gaue vp his owne he giues them to liue that persecute and hate him and himselfe will die the whiles for those that hate him Hee bowed and gaue vp not they they might crowne his head they could not bow it they might vex his spirit not take it away they could not doe that without leaue this they could not doe because they had no leaue Hee alone would bow his head and giue vp his ghost I haue power to lay downe my life Man gaue him not his life man could not bereaue it No man takes it from mee Alas who could The High Priests forces when they came against him armed he said but I am he they flee and fall backward How easie a breath disperst his enemies whom hee might as easily haue bidden the earth yea hell to swallow or fire from heauen to deuoure Who commanded the Deuils and they obeyed could not haue beene attached by men he must giue not onely leaue but power to apprehend himselfe else they had not liued to take him hee is laid hold of Peter fights Put vp saith Christ Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father and hee will giue me more than twelue Legions of Angels What an Army were here more then threescore and twelue thousand Angels and euery Angell able to subdue a world of men he could but would not be rescued he is led by his owne power not by his enemies and stands now before Pilate like the scorne of men crowned robbed scourged with an Ecce homo Yet thou couldst haue no power against me vnlesse it were giuen thee from aboue Behold he himselfe must giue Pilate power against himselfe Quod emittitur voluntarium est quod amâ—â—tur aecessarium Ambr. else he could not be condemned he will be condemned lifted vp nailed yet no death without himselfe Hee shall giue his soule an offering for sinne Esay 53.10 No action that sauours of constraint can be meritorious he would deserue therefore he would suffer and die Hee bowed his head and gaue vp the ghost O gracious and bountifull Sauiour hee might haue kept his soule within his teeth in spight of all the world the weaknesse of God is stronger than men and if he had but spoken the word the heauens and earth should haue vanisht away before him but hee would not Behold when hee saw that impotent man could not take away his soule he gaue it vp and would die that we might liue See here a Sauiour that can contemne his owne life for ours and cares not to be dissolued in himselfe that we might be vnited to his Father Skin for skin saith the Deuill and all that hee hath a man will giue for his life Loe here to proue Sathan a lyer skinne and life and all hath Christ Iesus giuen for vs. Wee are besotted with the earth and make base shifts to liue one with a maimed bodie another with a periured soule a third with a rotten name and how many had rather neglect their soule than their life and will rather renounce and curse God than die It is a shame to tell Many of vs Christians doat vpon life and tremble at death and shew our selues fooles in our excesse of loue cowards in our feare Peter denies Christ thrice and forsweares him Marcellinus twice casts graines of incense into the Idols fire Ecebolius turnes thrice Spira reuolts and despaires Oh let mee liue saith the fearefull soule Whither doest thou reserue thy selfe thou weake and timorous creature or what wouldest thou doe with thy selfe Thou hast not thus learned Christ he died voluntarily for thee thou wilt not be forced to die for him he gaue vp the ghost for thee thou wilt not let others take it from thee for him thou wilt not let him take it for himselfe When I looke backe to the first Christians and compare their zealous contempt of death with our backwardnesse I am at once amazed and ashamed I see there euen women the feebler sex running with their little ones in their armes for the preferment of Martyrdome and ambitiously striuing for the next blow I see holy and tender Virgins chusing rather a sore and shamefull death than honourable Espousals I heare the blessed Martyrs Quod si venire nolucrint ego vim faciam vt dâ—â—orer intreating their tyrants and tormentors for the honour of dying Ignatius amongst the rest fearing lest the beasts will not deuoure him and vowing the first violence to them that he might bee dispatched And what lesse courage was there in our memorable and glorious fore-fathers of the last of this age and doe we their cold and feeble off-spring looke pale at the face of a faire and naturall death abhorre the violent though for Christ Alas how haue we gathered rust with our long peace Our vnwillingnesse is from inconsideration from distrust Looke but vp to Christ Iesus vpon his Crosse and see him bowing his head and breathing out his soule and these feares shall vanish he died and wouldest thou liue hee gaue vp the ghost and wouldest thou keepe it whom wouldest thou follow if not thy
dem holocaustum non vis saith Dauid what then The sacrifice of God is a contrite spirit a broken heart Our humiliation is sacrificium poenitentiae our new obedience is sacrificium iustitiae our thankfull commemorations are sacrificium laudis These are the oblations which as they shall bee frequent vnder the Gospell so most fragrant vnto God and this is that last and perhaps most proper sense wherein the flesh-pots of the sacrifices erunt sicut aromata shall bee as perfumes in the bowles of incense A liuely sacrifice is well matcht with holy and acceptable When Noah sacrificed to God after the Deluge it is said God smelt a sauour of rest alluding to his name but now the sacrifices wee offer are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sauour of sweetnesse so that the same sauour that Christs oblation had Ephes 5.2 the same haue our offerings Philip. 4.18 Gods children out of the conscience of their owne weaknesses are easily discouraged in the valuation of their owne obedience As therefore they can say of their persons with Mephibosheth What is thy seruant so of their seruices as Philip said of the fiue loaues two fishes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alas what are these But they and their offerings cannot be so base to themselues as they are pretious to God There is no sense that giues so liuely a refreshing to the spirits as that of smelling no smell can yeeld so true and feeling delight to the sense as the offerings of our penitence obedience praise send vp into the nostrils of the Almightie Hence as the Church can say of Christ He is as a bundle of myrrh lying betweene her breasts so he againe of her in that heauenly Epithalamion Thy plants are as an Orchard of Pomegranates with sweet fruits as cypres spicknard saffron calamus and cinamon with all the trees of incense myrrh and aloes with all the chiefe spices Cant. 4.13 Let this therefore comfort vs against our imperfections If we be pots of the Lords house those faint streames that we send vp shall be as sweet as the best incense of the bowles of the Altar and God saies to vs as to Cornelius Thy praiers and thine almes are come vp Act. 10. And how are they come vp Like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh and incense and with all the chiefe spices Cant. 3.6 I say if we bee pots of the Lords house for if we be Aegyptian flesh-pots that reeke of the strong-smelling onions and garlike of our owne corruptions If we be Ezechiels bloudy pots whose scumme or as the vulgar whose rust is in them Ezec. 24. If we boile with lust if with reuenge if with ambition I can say no other of vs than the sonnes of the Prophets said of theirs Mors in olla Death is in the pot a double death of body and soule It is a true speech of Origen Peccatum est putidi odoris No carion is so noisome Alas what sauours are sent vp to God from those that would seeme not onely pots of the Temple but bowles of the Altar How vnsauourie is the pride prophanenesse riotousnesse oppression beastlinesse of our times It were happy if the Court were free and as it receiues more sweet influences of fauour than all other places so that it returned backe more fragrant obedience that as it is said of Maries spicknard wherewith she anointed Christ that the whole house was filled with the sauour of the ointment Ioh. 12.3 so the whole world might be full of the pleasant perfumes of vertuous example that might arise from hence But alas the painted faces and mannishnesse and monstrous disguisednesse of the one sex the factious hollownesse prodigall garishnesse wanton pampering excesse in our respect to our selues defects in our respects to God in the other argue too well that too many of vs sauour more like the golden sockets of the holy lights than the bowles of the Altar God cannot abide these ill sents The fiue Cities of the Plaines sent vp such poisonous vapours to God that he sent them downe brimstone againe with their fire That which hell is described by is sent downe from Heauen because that such hellish exhalations ascend from them to heauen How should the sinnes of Sodome not expect the iudgements of Sodome Well might the Iewes feare because they would not be seruiceable caldrons vnto God that therefore they should be the flesh and their Citie the caldron Ezec. 11.3 Well may we feare it who haue had so sensible proofes as of the fauours so of the iudgements of God and happy shall it be for vs if we can so feare that our feare may preuent euils Let these pots of ours therefore send vp sweet fumes of contrition righteousnesse thanksgiuing into the nostrils of God and the smoke of his displeasure wherewith coales of eternall fire are kindled against his enemies shall not come forth of his nostrils against vs He shall smell a sauour of rest from vs we a sauour of peace and life from him which God for his mercy sake and for his Sonne Christs sake vouchsafe to grant vs. To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost one glorious God be giuen all praise honour and glory now and for euer AMEN FJNJS A FARE WELL SERMON PREACHT TO THE FAMILIE OF PRINCE HENRY VPON THE DAY OF THEIR DISSOLVTION AT S. IAMES By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. A FAREWELL SERMON REVEL 21.3 And I heard a great voyce from heauen saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe shall bee their God with them And God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine for the first things are passed And he that sate vpon the throne said Behold I make all things new IT is no wonder if this place as it is for the present the Well-head of sorrow to all Christendome haue sent forth abundance of waters of teares And perhaps you may expect that as the trumpets of our late heauy funerall solemnity sounded basest and dolefullest at the last so my speech being the last publike breath of this sad dissoluing Family should bee most passionately sorrowfull And surely I could easily obtaine of my selfe out of the bitternesse of my soule to spend my selfe in lamentations and to breake vp this assembly in the violent expressions of that griefe wherewith our hearts are already broken but I well consider that we shall carry sorrow enough home with vs in my silence and that it is both more hard and more necessarie for vs to be led forth to the waters of comfort And because our occasions of griefe are such as no earthly tongue can releeue vs nor no earthly obiect A voyce from heauen shall doe it and a voyce
Cain the death of one Abel The same Deuill that set enmitie betwixt Man and God sets enmity betwixt Man and Man and yet God said I will put enmitie betweene thy seed and her seed Our hatred of the Serpent and his seed is from God Their hatred of the holy Seed is from the Serpent Behold here at once in one person the Seed of the Woman and of the Serpent Cains naturall parts are of the Woman his vitious qualities of the Serpent The Woman gaue him to be a brother the Serpent to be a man-slayer all vncharitablenesse all quarrels are of one Author we cannot entertaine Wrath and not giue place to the Deuill Certainely so deadly an act must needs be deeply grounded What then was the occasion of this capitall malice Abels sacrifice is accepted what was this to Cain Cains is reiected what could Abel remedie this Oh enuie the corrosiue of all ill minds and the roote of all desperate actions the same cause that moued Satan to tempt the first Man to destroy himselfe and his posteritie the same moues the second Man to destroy the third It should haue beene Cains ioy to see his brother accepted It should haue beene his sorrow to see that himselfe had deserued a reiection his Brothers example should haue excited and directed him Could Abel haue stayed Gods fire from descending Or should he if he could reiect Gods acceptation and displease his Maker to content a Brother Was Cain euer the farther from a blessing because his Brother obtained mercy How proud and foolish is malice which growes thus mad for no other cause but because God or Abel is not lesse good It hath beene an old and happy danger to be holy Indifferent actions must be carefull to auoid offence But I care not what Deuill or what Cain be angry that I doe good or receiue good There was neuer any nature without enuie Euery man is borne a Cain hating that goodnesse in another which he neglected in himselfe There was neuer enuy that was not bloody for if it eate not an others heart it will eat our owne but vnlesse it be restrained it will surely feed it selfe with the blood of others oft-times in act alwaies in affection And that God which in good accepts the will for the deed condemnes the will for the deed in euill If there be an euill heart there will bee an euill eye and if both these there will be an euill hand How early did Martyrdome come into the world the first man that dyed dyed for Religion who dare measure Gods loue by outward euents when hee sees wicked Cain standing ouer bleeding Abel whose sacrifice was first accepted and now himselfe is sacrificed Death was denounced to Man as a curse yet behold it first lights vpon a Saint how soone was it altered by the mercy of that iust hand which inflicted it If Death had beene euill and Life good Cain had beene slaine and Abel had suruiued now that it begins with him that God loues O Death where is thy sting Abel sayes nothing his blood cryes Euery drop of innocent blood hath a tongue and is not onely vocall but importunate what a noyse then did the blood of my Sauiour make in Heauen who was himselfe the Shepheard and the Sacrifice the Man that was offered and the God to whom it was offered The Spirit that heard both sayes It spake better things thâ—n the blood of Abel Abels blood called for reuenge his for mercy Abels pleaded his owne innocency his the satisfaction for all the beleeuing world Abels procured Cains punishment his freed all repentant soules from punishment better things indeed then the blood of Abel Better and therefore that which Abels blood said was good It is good that God should be auenged of sinners Execution of iustice vpon offenders is no lesse good then rewards of goodnesse No sooner doth Abels blood speake vnto God then God speakes to Cain There is no wicked man to whom God speakes not if not to his eare yet to his heart what speech was this Not an accusation but an inquirie yet such an inquirie as would inferre an accusation God loues to haue a sinner accuse himselfe and therefore hath he set his Deputie in the brest of man neither doth God loue this more then nature abhorres it Cain answers stubbornly The very name of Abel wounds him no lesse then his hand had wounded Abel Consciences that are without remorse are not without horror wickednesse makes men desperate the Murderer is angry with God as of late for accepting his brothers oblation so now for listning to his blood And now he dares answer God with a question Am I my brothers Keeper where be should haue said Am not I my brothers murderer Behold hee scorneth to keepe whom he feared not to kill Good duties are base and troublesome to wicked minds whiles euen violences of euill are pleasant Yet this miscreant which neither had grace to auoyd his sinne nor to confesse it now that he is conuinced of sinne and cursed for it how he howleth how he exclaimeth He that cares not for the act of his sinne shall care for the smart of his punishment The damned are weary of their torments but in vaine How great a madnesse is it to complaine too late He that would not keepe his brother is cast out from the protection of God he that feared not to kill his brother feares now that whosoeuer meets him will â—ill him The troubled conscience proiecteth fearefull things and sinne makes euen cruell men cowardly God saâ— it was too much fauour for him to die he therefore wills that which Cain wills Cain would liue It is yeelded him but for a curse how often doth God heare sinners in anger He shall liue banished from God carying his hell in his bosome and the brand of Gods vengeance in his forehead God reiects him the Earth repines at him men abhorre him himselfe now wishes that death which he feared and no man dare pleasure him with a murder how bitter is the end of sin yea without end still Cain finds that he killed himselfe more then his brother We should neuer sinne if our fore-sight were but as good as our sense The issue of sinne would appeare a thousand times more horrible then the act is pleasant Of the Deluge THE World was growne so foule with sinne that God saw it was time to wash it with a Floud And so close did wickednes cleaue to the Authors of it that when they were washt to nothing yet it would not off yea so deep did it stick in the very graine of the earth that God saw it meet to let it soke long vnder the waters So vnder the Law the very vessels that had touched vncleane water must either be rinced or broken Mankind began but with one and yet he that saw the first man liued to see the Earth peopled with a world of men yet men grew not so fast as wickednesse One man could
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
beene as good husbands of their cattell as they were of their dough they might haue had enough to eate without need of murmuring for if their back-burden of dough lasted for a moneth their heards might haue serued them many yeares All grudging is odious but most when our hands are full To whine in the midst of abundance is a shamefull vnthankfulnesse When a man would haue looked that the anger of God should haue appeared in fire now behold his glory appeares in a Cloud Oh the exceeding long-suffering of God that heares their murmurings and as if he had beene bound to content them in stead of punishing pleases them as a kinde mother would deale with a crabid child who rather stils him with the brest then cals for the rod. One would haue thought that the fight of the cloud of God should haue dispel'd the cloud of their distrust and this glory of God should haue made them asham'd of themselues and afraid of him Yet I doe not heare them once say What a mighty and gracious God haue we distrusted Nothing will content an impotent minde but fruition When an heart is hardned with any passion it will endure much ere it will yeeld to relent Their eyes saw the cloud their eares heard the promise the performance is speedie and answerable Needs must they be conuinced when they saw God as glorious in his worke as in his presence when they saw his word iustified by his act God tels them afore-hand what hee will doe that their expectation might stay their hearts He doth that which he fore-told that they might learne to trust him ere he performe They desired meat and receiue Quailes they desired bread and haue Manna If they had had of the coursest flesh and of the basest Pulse hunger would haue made it dainty But now God will pamper their famine and giues them meat of Kings and Bread of Angels What a world of Quailes were but sufficient to serue six hundred thousand persons They were all strong all hungry neither could they bee satisfied with single Fowles What a Table hath God prepared in the Desart for abundance for delicacie Neuer Prince was so serued in his greatest pompe as these rebellious Israelites in the Wildernesse God loues to ouer-deserue of men and to exceed not onely their sinnes but their very desires in mercy How good shall wee finde him to those that please him since he is so gracious to offenders If the most gracelesse Israelites be fed with Quailes and Manna Oh what goodnesse is that hee hath laid vp for them that loue him As on the contrary If the Righteous scarce be saued where will the Sinners appeare Oh God thou canst thou wilt make this difference Howsoeuer with vs men the most crabbed and stubborne oftentimes fare the best the Righteous Iudge of the world frames his remuneration as he finds vs And if his mercy sometimes prouoke the worst to repentance by his temporall fauours yet he euer reserues so much greater reward for the Righteous as eternitie is beyond time and heauen aboue earth It was not of any naturall instinct but from the ouer-ruling power of their Creator that these Quailes came to the Desart Needs must they come whom GOD brings His hand is in all the motions of his meanest Creatures Not onely wee but they mooue in him As not many Quailes so not one Sparrow falls without him How much more are the actions of his best creature Man directed by his prouidence How ashamed might these Israelites haue been to see these creatures so obedient to their Creator as to come and offer themselues to their slaughter whiles they went so repiningly to his seruice and their owne preferment Who can distrust the prouision of the great House keeper of the world when hee sees how hee can furnish his tables at pleasure Is he growne now carelesse or we faith lesse rather Why doe wee not repose vpon his mercy Rather then we shall want when we trust him he will fetch Quailes from all the coasts of heauen to our boord Oh Lord thy hand is not shortned to giue let not ours bee shortned or shuâ—â— receiuing Eliahs seruitors the Rauens brought him his full seruice of bread and flesh at once each morning and euening But these Israelites haue their flesh at euen and their bread in the morning Good reason there should be a difference Eliahs table was vpon Gods direct appointment the Israelites vpon their mutiny Although God will relieue them with prouision yet he will punish their impatience with delay so shall they know themselues his people that they shall finde they were murmurers Not onely in the matter but in the order God answers their grudging First they complaine of the want of flesh-pots then of bread In the first place therefore they haue flesh bread after When they haue flesh yet they must stay a time ere they can haue a full meale vnlesse they would eate their meat breadlesse and their bread dry God will be waited on and will giue the consummation of his blessings at this leasure In the euening of our life we haue the first pledges of his fauour but in the morning of our resurrection must we looke for our perfect sacietie of the true Manna the bread of life Now the Israelites sped well with their Quailes they did eate and digest and prosper not long after they haue Quailes with a vengeance the meat was pleasant but the sauce was fearfull They let downe the Quailes at their mouth but they came out at their nostrils How much better had it been to haue died of hunger through the chastisement of God then of the plague of God with the flesh betwixt their teeth Behold they perish of the same disease then whereof they now recouer The same sinne repeated is death whose first act found remission Relapses are desperate where the sicknesse it selfe is not With vs men once goes away with a warning the second act is but whipping the third is death It is a mortall thing to abuse the lenity of God we should be presumptuously mad to hope that God will stand vs for a sinning-stock to prouoke him how we will It is more mercy then he owes vs if he forbeare vs once it is his iustice to plague vs the second time We may thanke our selues if we will not be warned Their meat was strange but nothing so much as their bread To finde Quailes in a Wildernesse was vnusuall but for bread to come downe from Heauen was yet more They had seene Quailes before though not in such number Manna was neuer seene till now From this day till their setling in Canaan God wrought a perpetuall miracle in this food A miracle in the place other bread rises vp from below this fell down from aboue neither did it euer raine bread till now Yet so did this heauenly showre fall that it is confined to the campe of Israel A miracle in the quantitie That euery morning
first encounter the Philistim receiues the first foile and shall first let in death into his eare ere it enter into his forehead Thou com'st to me with a sword and a speare and a sheild but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the host of Israel whom thou hast railed vpon This day shall the Lord close thee in my hand and I shall smite thee and take thine head from thee Here is another stile not of a boaster but of a Prophet Now shall Goliah know whence to expect his bane euen from the hands of a reuenging God that shall smite him by Dauid and now shall learne too late what it is to meddle with an enemy that goes vnder the inuisible protection of the Almighty No sooner hath Dauid spoken then his foot and hand second his tongue Hee runnes to fight with the Philistim It is a cold courage that stands onely vpon defence As a man that saw no cause of feare and was full of the ambition of victory hee flyes vpon that monster and with a stone out of his bag smites him in the forehead There was no part of Goliah that was capable of that danger but the face and that piece of the face the rest was defenced with a brazen wall which a weake sling would haue tryed to batter in vaine What could Goliah feare to see an aduersary come to him without edge or point And behold that one part hath God found out for the entrance of death He that could haue caused the stone to passe through the shield and brest-plate of Goliah rather directs the stone to that part whose nakednesse gaue aduantage Where there is power or possibility of nature God vses not to worke miracles but chuses the way that lies most open to his purposes The vaste fore-head was a faire marke but how easily might the sling haue missed it if there had not beene another hand in this cast besides Dauids Hee that guided Dauid into this field and raised his courage to this combat guides the stone to his end and lodges it in that seat of impudence There now lyes the great Defier of Israel groueling and grinning in death and is not suffered to deale one blow for his life and bites the vnwelcome earth for indignation that he dies by the hand of a Shepheard Earth and Hell share him betwixt them such is the end of insolence and presumption O God what is flesh and blood to thee which canst make a little peeble-stone stronger then a Gyant and when thou wilt by the weakest meanes canst strew thine enemies in the dust Where now are the two shields of Goliah that they did not beare off this stroke of death or wherefore serues that Weauers beame but to strike the earth in falling or that sword but to behead his Master What needed Dauid load himselfe with an vnnecessary weapon one sword can serue both Goliah and him If Goliah had a man to beare his shield Dauid had Goliah to beare his sword wherewith that proud blasphemous head is seuered from his shoulders Nothing more honours God then the turning of wicked mens forces against themselues There is none of his enemies but caries with them their owne destruction Thus didst thou O Sonne of Dauid foyle Satan with his owne weapon that whereby he meant destruction to thee and vs vanquished him through thy mighty power and raised thee to that glorious triumph and super-exaltation wherein thou art wherein we shall bee with thee IONATHANS Loue and SAVLS Enuy. BEsides the discomsiture of the Philistims Dauids victory had a double issue Ionathans Loue and Sauls Enuy which God so mixed that the one was a remedy of the other A good sonne makes amends for a way-ward father How precious was that stone that killed such an enemy as Goliah and purchased such a friend as Ionathan All Sauls Courtiers lookt vpon Dauid none so affected him none did match him but Ionathan That true correspondence that was both in their faith and valour hath knit their hearts If Dauid did set vpon a Beare a Lyon a Gyant Ionathan had set vpon a whole Host and preuailed The same Spirit animated both the same Faith incited both the same Hand prospered both All Israel was not worth this paire of friends so zealously confident so happily victorious Similitude of dispositions and estates tyes the fastest knots of affection A wise soule hath piercing eyes and hath quickly discerned the likenesse of it selfe in another as we doe no sooner looke into the Glasse or Water but face answers to face and where it sees a perfect resemblance of it selfe cannot choose but loue it with the same affection that it reflects vpon it selfe No man saw Dauid that day which had so much cause to dis-affect him none in all Israel should be a loser by Dauids successe but Ionathan Saul was sure enough setled for his time onely his Successor should forgoe all that which Dauid should gaine so as none but Dauid stands in Ionathans light and yet all this cannot abate one ior or dram of his loue Where God vniteth hearts carnall respects are too weake to disseuer them since that which breakes off affection must needs be stronger then that which conioyneth it Ionathan doth not desire to smother his loue by concealment but professes it in his cariage actions He puts off the Robe that was vpon him and all his garments euen to his Sword and Bow and Girdle giues them vnto his new friend It was perhaps not without a mystery that Sauls cloths fitted not Dauid but Ionathans fitted him and these he is as glad to weare as he was to be disburthened of the other that there might be a perfect resemblance their bodies are suted as well as their hearts Now the beholders can say there goes Ionathans other selfe If there bee another body vnder those clothes there is the same soule Now Dauid hath cast off his russet coate and his scrip and is a Shepheard no more he is suddenly become both a Courtier and a Captaine and a Companion to the Prince yet himselfe is not changed with his habit with his condition yea rather as if his wisedome had reserued it selfe for his exaltation he so manageth a sudden Greatnesse as that he winneth all hearts Honour shewes the man and if there be any blemishes of imperfection they will bee seene in the man that is inexpectedly lifted aboue his fellowes He is out of the danger of folly whom a speedy aduancement leaueth wise Ionathan loued Dauid the Souldiers honoured him the Court fauoured him the people applauded him onely Saul stomackt him and therefore hated him because he was so happy in all besides himselfe It had beene a shame for all Israel if they had not magnified their Champion Sauls owne heart could not but tell him that they did owe the glory of that day and the safety of himselfe and Israel vnto the sling of Dauid who in
for none but God to hold discourse with Satan Our surest way is to haue as little to doe with that euill one as wee may and if hee shall offer to maintaine conference with vs by his secret tentations to turne our speech vnto our God with the Archangell The Lord rebuke thee Satan It was the presupposition of him that knew it that not only men but spirits haue names This then he askes not out of an ignorance or curiositie nothing could bee hid from him who calleth the starres and all the hosts of heauen by their names but out of a iust respect to the glory of the miracle hee was working whereto the notice of the name would not a little auaile For if without inquirie or confession our Sauiour had erected this euill spirit it had passed for the single dispossession of one onely Deuill whereas now it appeares there was a combination and hellish champertie in these powers of darknesse which were all forced to vaile vnto that almighty command Before the Deuill had spoken singularly of himselfe What haue I to doe with thee and I beseech thee torment me not Our Sauiour yet knowing that there was a multitude of Deuils lurking in that brest who dissembled their presence wrests it out of the Spirit by this interrogation What is thy name Now can those wicked ones no longer hide themselues He that asked the question forced the answer My name is Legion The author of discord hath borrowed a name of warre from that military order of discipline by which the Iewes were subdued doth the Deuill fetch his denomination They were many yet they say My name not Our name though many they speake as one they act as one in this possession There is a maruellous accordance euen betwixt euill spirits that Kingdome is not diuided for then it could not stand I wonder not that wicked men doe so conspire in euill that there is such vnanimitie in the broachers and abettors of errours when I see those Deuils which are many in substance are one in name action habitation Who can bragge too much of vnitie when it is incident into wicked spirits All the praise of concord is in the subiect if that be holy the consent is Angelicall if sinfull deuillish What a fearfull aduantage haue our spirituall enemies against vs If armed troopes come against single straglers what hope is there of life of victory How much doth it concerne vs to band our hearts together in a communion of Saints Our enemies come vpon vs like a torrent Oh let not vs runne asunder like drops in the dust All our vnited forces will bee little enough to make head against this league of destruction Legion imports Order number conflict Order in that there is a distinction of regiment a subordination of Officers Though in hell there be confusion of faces yet not confusion of degrees Number Those that haue reckoned a Legion at the lowest haue counted it six thousand others haue more then doubled it though here it is not strict but figuratiue yet the letter of it implyes multitude How fearfull is the consideration of the number of Apostate Angels And if a Legion can attend one man how many must we needs thinke are they who all the world ouer are at hand to the punishment of the wicked the exercise of the good the tentation of both It cannot be hoped there can be any place or time wherein we may be secure from the onsets of these enemies Be sure ye lewd men ye shall want no furtherance to euill no torment for euill Be sure yee godly yee shall not want combatants to try your strength and skill Awaken your courages to resist and stirâ—e vp your hearts make sure the meanes of your safety There are more with vs then against vs The God of heauen is with vs if we be with him and our Angels behold the face of God If euery deuill were a Legion we are safe Though wee walke through the valley of the shadow of death we shall feare no euill Thou O Lord shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of our enemies and thy right hand shall saue vs. Conflict All this number is not for sight for rest but for motion for action Neither was there euer houre since the first blow giuen to our first Parents wherein there was so much as a truce betwixt these aduersaries As therefore strong frontier Townes when there is a peace concluded on both parts breake vp their garison open their gates neglect their Bulwarkes but when they heare of the enemy mustering his forces in great and vnequall numbers then they double their guard keepe Sentinell repaire their Sconces so must we vpon the certaine knowledge of our numerous and deadly enemies in continuall aray against vs addresse our selues alwayes to a wary and strong resistance I doe not obserue the most to thinke of this ghostly hostilitie Either they doe not finde there are tentations or those tentations hurtfull they see no worse then themselues and if they feele motions of euill arising in them they impute it to fancy or vnreasonable appetite to no power but natures and those motions they follow without sensible hurt neither see they what harme it is to finne Is it any maruell that carnall eyes cannot discerne spirituall obiects That the world who is the friend the vassall of Satan is in no warre with him Elisha's seruant when his eyes were opened saw troops of spirituall souldiers which before hee discerned not If the eyes of our soules bee once enlightened by supernaturall knowledge and the cleare beames of faith wee shall as plainely descry the inuisible powers of wickednesse as now our bodily eyes see heauen and earth They are though wee see them not we cannot be safe from them if wee doe not acknowledge not oppose them The Deuils are now become great suitors to Christ That hee would not command them into the deepe that hee would permit their entrance into the swine What is this deepe but hell both for the vtter separation from the face of God and for the impossibilitie of passage to the region of rest and glory The very euill spirits then feare and expect a further degree of torment they know themselues reserued in those chaines of darknesse for the iudgement of the great day There is the same wages due to their sinnes and to ours neither are the wages paid till the worke bee done they tempting men to sinne must needs sinne grieuously in tempting as with vs men those that mislead into sinne offend more then the actors not till the vpshot therefore of their wickednesse shall they receiue the full measure of their condemnation This day this deepe they tremble at what shall I say of those men that feare it not It is hard for men to beleeue their owne vnbeliefe If they were perswaded of this fiery dungeon this bottomlesse deepe wherein euery sinne shall receiue an horrible portion with the damned durst they stretch
with thee is mercy and plentious redemption thine hand is open before our mouthes before our hearts If we did not see thee smile vpon suiters we durst not presse to thy footstoole Behold now we know that the King of heauen the God of Israel is a mercifull God Let vs put sackcloth vpon our loynes and strew ashes vpon our heads and goe meet the Lord God of Israel that he may saue our soules How well doth this habit become insolent and blasphemous Benhadad and his followers a rope and sackcloth A rope for a Crowne sackcloth for a robe Neither is there lesse change in the tongue Thy seruant Benhadad saith I pray thee let me liue Euen now the King of Israel said to Benhadad My Lord O King I am thine Tell my Lord the King all that thou didst send for to thy seruant I will doe Now Benhadad sends to the King of Israel Thy seruant Benhadad saith I pray thee let me liue Hee that was erewhile a Lord and King is now a seruant and he that was a seruant to the king of Syria is now his Lord he that would blow away all Israel in dust is now glad to beg for his own life at the doore of a despised enemy no courage is so haughty which the God of hosts cannot easily bring vnder what are mē or deuils in those almighty hāds The greater the deiection was the stronger was the motiue of commiseration That haltar pleaded for life and that plea for but a life stirred the bowels for fauour How readily did Ahab see in Benhadads sudden misery the image of the instability of all humane things and relents at the view of so deepe and passionate a submission Had not Benhadad said Thy seruant Ahab had neuer said My brother seldome euer was there losse in humility How much lesse can we feare disparagement in the annihilating of our selues before that infinite Maiestie The drowning man snatches at euery twig It is no maruell if the messengers of Benhadad catch hastilie at that last of grace and hold it fast Thy brother Benhadad Fauours are wont to draw on each other Kindnesses breed on themselues neither need wee any other perswasion to beneficence then from our owne acts Ahab cals for the King of Syria sets him in his owne Charet treats with him of an easie yet firme league giues him both his life and his Kingdome Neither is the Crowne of Syria sooner lost then recouered Onely hee that came a free Prince returnes tributarie Onely his traine is clipt too short for his wings an hundred twentie seuen thousand Syrians are abated of his Guard homeward Blasphemy hath escaped too well Ahab hath at once peace with Benhadad warre with God God proclaimes it by his Herald one of the sonnes of the Prophets not yet in his owne forme but disguised both in fashion and complaint It was a strange suit of a Prophet Smite me I pray thee Many a Prophet was smitten and would not neuer any but this wished to bee smitten The rest of his fellowes were glad to say Saue mee this onely sayes Smite me His honest neighbour out of loue and reuerence forbeares to strike There are too many thinkes hee that smite the Prophets though I refraine What wrong hast thou done that I should repay with blowes Hadst thou sued for a fauour I could not haue denyed thee now thou suest for thine hurt the deniall is a fauour Thus he thought but Charitie cannot excuse disobedience Had the man of God called for blowes vpon his owne head the refusall had beene iust and thanke-worthy but now that he sayes In the Word of the Lord Smite me this kindnesse is deadly Because thou hast not obeyed the voyce of the Lord behold assoone as thou art departed from me a Lyon shall slay thee It is not for vs to examine the charges of the Almighty Be they neuer so harsh or improbable if they bee once knowne for his there is no way but obedience or death Not to smite a Prophet when God commands is no lesse sinne then to smite a Prophet when God forbids It is the diuine precept or prohibition that either makes or aggrauates an euill And if the Israelite bee thus reuenged that smote not a Prophet what shall become of Ahab that smote not Benhadad Euery man is not thus indulgent an easie request will gaine blowes to a Prophet from the next hand yea and a wound in smiting I know not whether it were an harder taske for the Prophet to require a wound then for a well-meaning Israelite to giue it Both must bee done The Prophet hath what hee would what hee must will a sight of his owne blood and now disguised herewith and with ashes vpon his face hee way-layes the King of Israel and sadly complaines of himselfe in a reall parable for dismissing a Syrian prisoner deliuered to his hands vpon no lesse charge then his life and soone receiues sentence of death from his owne mouth Well was that wound bestowed that strucke Ahabs soule through the flesh of the Prophet The disguise is remoued The King sees not a souldier but a Seer and now finds that he hath vnawares passed sentence vpon himselfe There needs no other doome then from the lips of the offender Thus saith the Lord Because thou hast let goe out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to vtter destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life and thy people for his people Had not Ahab knowne the will of God concerning Benhadad that had beene mercy to an enemy which was now cruelty to himselfe to Israel His eares had heard of the blasphemies of that wicked tongue His eyes had seene God goe before him in the example of that reuenge No Prince can strike so deepe into his state as in not striking In priuate fauour there may bee publike vnmercifulnesse AHAB and NABOTH NAboth had a faire Vineyard It had beene better for him to haue had none His vineyard yeelded him the bitter Grapes of death Many a one hath beene sold to death by his lands and goods wealth hath beene a snare as to the soule so to the life Why doe wee call those goods which are many times the bane of the owner Naboths vineyard lay neere to the Court of Iezebel It had beene better for him it had beene planted in the wildernesse Doubtlesse this vicinity made it more commodious to the possessor but more enuious and vnsafe It was now the perpetuall obiect of an euill eye and stirred those desires which could neither be well denyed nor satisfied Eminency is still ioyned with perill obscuritie with peace There can bee no worse annoyance to an inheritance then the greatnesse of an euill neighbourhood Naboths vines stood too neere the smoake of Iezebels chimneys too much within the prospect of Ahabs window Now lately had the King of Israel beene twice victorious ouer the Syrians no sooner is he returned home then hee is ouercome with euill desires The foyle
in the poole of Samaria the dogges come to claime their due they licke vp the blood of the great King of Israel The tongues of those brute creatures shall make good the tongue of Gods Prophet Michaiah is iustified Naboth is reuenged the Baalites confounded Ahab iudged Righteous art thou O God in all thy waies and holy in all thy workes AHAzIAH sicke and ELIJAH reuenged AHaziah succeeds his father Ahab both in his throne and in his sinne Who could looke for better issue of those loines of those examples God followes him with a double iudgement of the reuolt of Moab and of his owne sicknesse All the reigne of Ahab had Moab beene a quiet Tributarie and furnished Israel with rich flockes and fleeces now their subiection dies with that warlike King and will not be inherited This rebellion tooke aduantage as from the weaker spirits so from the sickly body of Ahaziah whose disease was not naturall but casuall walking in his palace of Samaria some grate in the floore of his Chamber breakes vnder him and giues way to that fall whereby hee is bruised and languisheth The same hand that guided Ahabs shaft cracks Ahaziahs lattesse How infinite varietie of plagues hath the iust GOD for obstinate sinners whether in the field or in the chamber he knowes to finde them out How fearlesly did Ahaziah walke on his wonted pauement The Lord hath laid a trap for him whereinto whiles he thinkes least he fals irrecouerably No place is safe for the man that is at variance with God The body of Ahaziah was not more sicke then his soule was gracelesse None but chance was his enemy none but the God of Ekron must bee his friend He lookes not vp to the Omnipotent hand of diuine iustice for the disease or of mercy for the remedy An Idoll is his refuge whether for cure or intelligence Wee heare not till now of Baal-zebub this new God of flies is perhaps of his making who now is a suter to his owne erection All these heathen Deities were but a Deuill with change of appellations the influence of that euill spirit deluded those miserable clients else there was no fly so impotent as that out-side of the god of Ekron Who would thinke that any Israelite could so farre dote vpon a stocke or a Fiend Time gathered much credit to this Idol in so much as the Iewes afterwards stiled Beel-zebub the Prince of all the regions of darknesse Ahaziah is the first that brings his Oracle in request and payes him the tribute of his deuotion Hee sends messengers and sayes Goe inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recouer of this disease The message was either idle or wicked idle if he sent it to a stock if to a deuill both idle and wicked What can the most intelligent spirits know of future things but what they see either in their causes or in the light of participation What a madnesse was it in Ahaziah to seeke to the posterne whiles the fore-gate stood open Could those euill spirits truely foretell euents no way pre-existent yet they might not without sinne bee consulted the euill of their nature debarres all the benefit of their information If not as intelligencers much lesse may they be sought to as gods who cannot blush to heare and see that euen the very Euangelicall Israel should yeeld Pilgrims to the shrines of darknesse How many after this cleere light of the Gospell in their losses in their sicknesses send to these infernall Oracles and damne themselues wilfully in a vaine curiositie The message of the iealous God intercepts them with a iust disdaine as here by Elijah Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that yee goe to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron What can be a greater disparagement to the True God then to be neglected then to stand aside and see vs make loue to an hellish riuall were there no God in Israel in heauen what could wee doe other what worse This affront of what euer Ahaziah cannot escape without a reuenge Therefore thus saith the Lord Thou shalt not come downe from that bed on which thou art gone vp but shalt surely die It is an high indignitie to the True God not to be sought to in our necessities but so to bee cashiered from our deuotions as to haue a false god thrust in his roome is such a scorne as it is well if it can escape with one death Let now the famous god of Ekron take off that brand of feared mortalitie which the liuing God hath set vpon Ahaziah Let Baal-zebub make good some better newes to his distressed suppliant Rather the King of Israel is himselfe without his repentance hasting to Beel-zebub This errand is soone done The messengers are returned ere they goe Not a little were they amazed to heare their secret message from anothers mouth neither could chuse but thinke Hee that can tell what Ahaziah said what hee thought can foretell how hee shall speed Wee haue met with a greater God then wee went to seeke what need wee inquire for another answer With this conceit with this report they returne to their sicke Lord and astonish him with so short so sad a relation No maruell if the King inquired curiously of the habit and fashion of the man that could know this that durst say this They describe him a man whether of an hairy skin or of rough course carelesse attire thus drest thus girded Ahaziah readily apprehends it to be Elijah the old friend of his father Ahab of his mother Iezebel More then once had he seene him an vnwelcome guest in the Court of Israel The times had beene such that the Prophet could not at once speake true and please Nothing but reproofes and menaces sounded from the mouth of Elijah Michaiah and hee were still as welcome to the eyes of that guilty Prince as the Syrian arrow was into his flesh Too well therefore had Ahaziah noted that querulous Seer and now is not a little troubled to see himselfe in succession haunted with that bold and ill-boding spirit Behold the true sonne of Iezebel the anguish of his disease the expectation of death cannot take off the edge of his persecution of Elijah It is against his will that his death-bed is not bloody Had Ahaziah meant any other then a cruell violence to Elijah he had sent a peaceable messenger to call him to the Court hee had not sent a Captaine with a band of Souldiers to fetch him the instruments which hee vseth cary reuenge in their face If he had not thought Elijah more then a man what needed a band of fifty to apprehend one and if he did thinke him such why would hee send to apprehend him by fifty Surely Ahaziah knew of old how miraculous a Prophet Elijah was what power that man had ouer all their base Deities what command of the Elements of the heauens and yet hee sends to attache him It is a strange thing
to see how wilfully godlesse men striue against the streame of their owne hearts hating that which they know good fighting against that which they know diuine What a grosse disagreement is in the message of this Israelitish Captaine Thou man of God the King hath said Come downe If hee were a man of God how hath hee offended and if he haue iustly offended the anointed of God how is hee a man of God And if he be a man of God and haue not offended why should he come down to punishment Here is a kinde confession with a false heart with bloody hands The world is full of these windy courtesies reall cruelties Deadly malice lurkes vnder faire complements and whiles it flatters killeth The Prophet hides not himselfe from the pursuit of Ahaziah rather hee sits where hee may bee most conspicuous on the top of an Hill this band knowes well where to finde him and climbes vp in the fight of Elijah for his arrest The steepnesse of the ascent when they drew neere to the highest reach yeelded a conuenience both of respiration and parle thence doth the Captaine imperiously call downe the Prophet Who would not tremble at the dreadfull answer of Elijah If I be a man of God then let fire come downe from heauen and consume thee and thy fifty What shall wee say That a Prophet is reuengefull that Souldiers suffer whiles a Prophet strikes that a Princes command is answered with imprecation words with fire that an vnarmed Seer should kill one and fiftie at a blow There are few tracks of Elijah that are ordinarie and fit for common feet His actions are more for wonder then for precedent Not in his own defence would the Prophet haue beene the death of so many if God had not by a peculiar instinct made him an instrument of this iust vengeance The diuine iustice finds it meet to doe this for the terrour of Israel that hee might teach them what it was to contemne to persecute a Prophet that they might learne to feare him whom they had forsaken and confesse that heauen was sensible of their insolencies and impieties If not as visibly yet as certainly doth God punish the violations of his ordinances the affronts offered to his messengers still and euer Not euer with the same speed sometimes the punishment ouertakes the act sometimes dogs it afarre off and seizeth vpon the offender when his crime is forgotten Here no sooner is the word out of Elijahs mouth then the fire is out of Heauen Oh the wonderfull power of a Prophet There sits Elijah in his coorse Mantle on the top of the Hill and commands the heauens and they obey him Let fire fall downe from heauen Hee needs no more but say what hee would haue done The fire fals down as before vpon the sacrifice in Carmel so now vpon the Souldiers of Ahaziah What is man in the hands of his Maker One flash of lightning hath confumed these one and fifty And if all the hosts of Israel yea of the world had beene in their roomes there had needed no other force What madnesse is it for him whose breath is in his nosthrils to contend with the Almightie The time was when two zealous Disciples would faine haue imitated this fierie reuenge of Elijah and were repelled with a checke The very place puts them in minde of the iudgement Not farre from Samaria was this done by Elijah and wisht to bee done by the Disciples So churlish a reiection of a Sauiour seemed no lesse hainous then the endeuour of apprehending a Prophet Lord wilt thou that wee command fire to come downe from heauen and consume them as Elias did The world yeelded but one Elias That which was zeale in him might be fury in another the least variation of circumstance may make an example dangerous presently therefore doe they heare Ye know not of what spirit yee are It is the calling that varies the spirit Elijah was Gods Minister for the execution of so seuere a iudgement they were but the Seruants of their owne impotent anger there was fire in their brests which God neuer kindled farre was it from the Sauiour of men to second their earthly fire with his heauenly Hee came indeed to send fire vpon earth but to warme not to burne and if to burne not the persons of men but their corruptions How much more safe is it for vs to follow the meeke Prophet of the New Testament then that feruent Prophet of the Old Let the matter of our prayers be the sweet dewes of mercy not the fires of vengeance Would not any man haue thought Ahaziah sufficiently warned by so terrible a iudgement Could he chuse but say It is no medling with a man that can speake lightening and death What hee hath said concerning mee is too well approued by what hee hath done to my Messengers Gods hand is with him mine shall not bee against him Yet now behold the rage of Ahaziah is so much the more kindled by this fire from heauen and a more resolute Captain with a second band is send to fetch Elijah to death This man is in haste and commands not onely his descent but his speed Come downe quickly The charge implyes a threat Elijah must looke for force if hee yeeld not There needs no other weapon for defence for offence then the same tongue the same breath God hath fire enough for all the troopes of Ahaziah Immediately doth a sudden flame breake out of heauen and consume this forward Leader and his bold followers It is a iust presage and desert of ruine not to be warned Worthily are they made examples that wil not take them What Marble or Flint is harder then a wicked heart As if Ahaziah would despightfully spit in the face of heauen and wrestle a fall with the Almighty hee will needs yet againe set a third Captaine vpon so desperate an imploiment How hot a seruice must this Commander needs thinke himselfe put vpon Who can but pity his straits There is death before him death behinde him If he goe not the Kings wrath is the messenger of death if he goe the Prophets tongue is the executioner of death Many an hard taske will follow the seruice of a Prince wedded to his passion diuorced from God Vnwillingly doubtlesse and fearfully doth this Captaine climbe vp the Hill to scale that impregnable Fort but now when hee comes neere to the assault the battery that hee layes to it is his prayers his surest fight is vpon his knees Hee went vp and came and fell vpon his knees before Elijah and besought him and said vnto him O man of God I pray thee let my life and the life of these fifty thy seruants bee precious in thy sight he confesses the iudgement that befell his Predecessors the monuments of their destruction were in his eye and the terrour of it in his heart of an enemy therefore he is become a suppliant and sues not so much for the