others affectionatly ministred to him and suffered Martyrdome for the truth with him 'T is an huge argument of a gracious heart to submit to reproof many that have been active for Christ have yet fallen off upon such an account Abner that more than once and more than any ventured his life for the house of Saul yet deserted it being checkâ— by Ishbosheth concerning Rispah 172 Vitellius in his passage to Rome after the victory obtained by Caecinua and Valens against the Othonians would needs see the place where the battel was fought which if but newly stricken yet would have rendred an horrid Spectacle so many mangled bodyes and divided joynts and carkasses of men and horses which careless death had there promiscuously scattered giving a sad representation but it being the fourtieth day after the corrupted gore and putrefaction of so many unburied bodyes made the sight beyond imagination horrible which yet Vitellius with delight beheld rejoycing in the slaughter of so many Citizens without the least discountenance or shew of miseration To how great hardness of heart and height of inhumanity doth custome in sin bring the soul what would be trembled at by those that are but beginners in iniquity is accounted sport by those flesht in ungodliness Let the young men arise and play before us said Joab Rare sport where the play-mates run their swords in each others side and fell down dead together 173 A certain person of our Countrey having a suit with another a long time for a small plot of ground not worth 40 pounds left by Will 500 pounds per annum for the maintenance of the suit after his death Oh the imperfection of our Laws or corruption of our Lawyers that any suit can admit of so tedious and costly a decision but alas did he look for peace in Heaven that would have a Civil war thus survive him 174 Alcibiades having done huge exploits for which the Athenians call'd him from bannishment and made him their General sending him out with a Fleet of an 100 sail they were so high-flown in their expectations from him that they looked to hear soon after his departure of the subduing of no small Countryes by him beyond all possibility of accomplishing which he not effecting but yet as much as in reason could be expected they change their former conceit of his sufficiency into suspicion of his fidelity and without more evidence condemned him Lord we are high in our expectations of great things from thee and are ready to murmur as if too straitly dealt with by thee not because thou givest us not what we have cause to expect but because we expect that which there is no cause thou shouldst give us 175 Harvey affirms the heart though the fountain of life yet to be without feeling which he proves by a Gentleman he had seen who by an Imposthume had an hole in his side through which not only the Systole and Diastole of the heart might be discerned but the heart it self touched with the finger which yet the Gentleman affirmed that he felt not 'T is an argument that such a soul is of eminent and publique conducement usefull to derive good to others that is less sensible of private injuries when those peevish spirits that are intent upon their particular affronts are taken up with their own to the neglecting of what they might benefit the publick by 176 In the reign of Nero there were very many undone not by their enemies only but by their friends who too solicitously intending their safety that very means rendred them suspected and became their ruine If Satan cannot destroy us as an enemy he indeavours it as a friend if he cannot fasten his remptations upon us under the notion of sin and the ugly hue of a direct opposition against God he alters his method and transformeth himself into an Angel of Light if he cannot perswade to a neglect of Gods service then to a superstitious worship of him he is like an enemy when he fawns and frowns and is ever not to be suspected only but resisted alwayes for he is ever the father of lyes 177 King Edward the second being taken by the Queens forces was committed to some persons to convey him to a place of safety who going about to shave him that he might not be known took cold water out of a ditch to wash him with saying That should serve his turn now to whom he answered That he would have warm water whether they would or no even his own tears Though the cruelty of enemies and calamity of persecuting times may deny us the many conveniences and deprive us of the advantages of this life yet do what they can they cannot deprive us of Gods favour if we deprive not our selves of it by a simple complyance 178 'T is siad of the Lyon that being proveked he beats himself with his own tail to raise his anger and incense himself that his spirits being stirred he might lay out himself more forcibly Those that are of melancholy and froward spirits when disasters befall them either by their too much poring on their present sufferings or misboding worse make those burdens heavier and like wind in rainy weather set them close and tye knots upon their Whipcord and pin their Rods to make them yerk the more severely 179 Richard the first being reproved by a Fryar and told That he had three Daughters which if he did not dispose of would undoe him Pride Covetousnesse and Leachery he answered If the were the businesse he would bestow them presently Pride to the Knights Tempplars Covetousnesse to the Cistercian Monks and Leachery to the Fryars Whe good advice is given us we enervate the strength thereof or pervert the use by quarrelling with or recriminating the person that gives it whereas if good counsel come from a Balaams Asse or the Devil himself reprove sin if the Conscience plead guilty reformation is a due debt 180 Demosthenes coming to Corinth with design to enjoy the famous Courtizan Lais she askt him so great a sum that he returned saying He would not buy repentance at so dear a rate Sinfull pleasure is never to be purchased at easie tearms sin being so full of iniquity that it never demands an equall compensation no less then a precious immortall soul will serve the turn in lieu of those pleasures which perish in the using and are no sooner found then lost 181 Edward the first before the death of his father with other Confederates undertaking a voyage to the Holy Land by the way they invaded Tunis where having taken a very great spoyl the rest purposed with their booty to return home which design the Prince withstanding but in vain said That as he had vowed a journey for the recovery of the Holy land so thither he would go though none but Fowen his Horse-keeper accompanied him It is good to have the heart in such tune as to joyn in concord with others in a religious
the difference between esse and existere that yet are to seek in that great question what they shall do to be saved 95 Marcus Livius Governour of Tarentum for the Romanes when Hanniball tooke it kept the Castle till the City was recovered againe by Fabius who then envying the honour done to Fabius for that exploit said in open Senate that It was not Fabius but himselfe that was the cause Tarentum was taken againe Truth saith Fabius for if thou hadst not lost it I had not won it When man was at first created Liberum arbitrium was made Governour of that estate of innocency but Freewill quickly lost it onely some inconsiderable remnants of naturall light reserved now when glory is given to Christ for mans restoration Freewill steps up and boasts its selfe the cause of mans recovery but no otherwise certainly then that man had not needed to be restored if Freewill had not undone him first 96 Arostotle being sick his Physitians intending applications to him said That he desired to be cured not as a Farrier doth an Horse but as a man capable of an account of the way of the cure that apprehending the reason of those receipts he might the better comply with the distastfullness of those potions which should be received Well were it if in those cures which State Physicians have applyed in Religious causes they would not have dealt altogether by Club Law as if onely bruites had been their Patients but have done us the favour to let us see the reason of the cure that what we could not take as toothsome we might yet as wholsome 97 A certaine wealthy Matron having promised a young man to make him her Heire dyed leaving him inscribed in her Testament who providing a sumptuous funerall for her interment she in the very time of the solemnity being the seaventh day revived and lived divers yeares after to the tedious prorogation of his hopes whence arose that Proverb Mulieri ne credas ne mortuae quidem Lord how often have I been perswaded that this old man had been mortified but yet to the sadding of my heart I find it contrary to expectation revived Lord let not my hopes be disappointed though they be thus delayed and if this body of death do not die suddenly yet let it at last dye utterly 98 Vraba in Peru is of so rich a soile that the seed of Cucumbers and Melons sowne will beare ripe fruits in twenty eight dayes after How happy were it if such were the soile of my heart wherein the immorrall feed of the Word might produce its fruits with the like earlinesse fertility and plenty But alas how hinderly do all good purposes appeare how short of expectation of the time how long shall I be with you how long suffer you 99 Those Countries which are seated under the Line have then their Winter when the Suu is neerest them being then continually vexed with raines and stormes When the Sun of prosperity shines on men most 't is usually Winter in their hearts and the tempests of temptation rage most there then 100 The women in Brazill after their travell soone apply themselves to houshold affaires the husbands in their stead keeping their beds visited and comforted up with restorative broths So fareth it with those vagabond beggers who are well supplyed from doore to doore till they have full cheeks and toating Noses while the poore hous-keeper who is ashamed to beg lookes thin and faint the sweat of his browes being the bread of his family yet without our provision or pity 101 The Emperor Sigismunds Army in his expedition against the Turk were so elevated with confidence of their own number that they said if Heaven should fall they should be able to keep it off with their Halberts who yet were most of them miserably slaine by the Turkes and 't is observed that very few Armies have come off with victory that entred battell fledge upon the wings of selfe-confidence The Frech at Poictiers and Agincourt sold the prisoners before the day but found to their cost the Beare-skine was not to be divided before 't was taken Those that fight in that spirituall combate against sin Sathan and his instruments are then strongest against their enemies when they are weakest in themselves A faint hearted Saunders stands to his tackling in the fire when a confident Pendleton quits the field before any encounter In this warfare we are more then Conquerors but through him that hath loved us 102 William Gardiner who struck the Host out of the Cardinalls hand in Portugall when he had his right hand cut off took it up with his left and kissed it having his left cut off stooped down and kissed that also and being burnt afterwards by degrees rather roasted to death then burnt shew'd such magnanimity as was exceedingly admirable Thomas Benbridge suffering for the Gospell in Queene Maries daies when the fire seiz'd on him not being able to indure the smart thereof cryed I recant and so was taken out of the fire but afterward repenting his fact was the seaventh day after burned with much Christian constancy enduring the torment which through the ill making of the fire was very great God glorifies himselfe not onely in the courage but in the infirmity of his servants Gardiners resolution gave not more evidence to the truth then Benbridg's weaknesse questionably whether so much for Benbridg's soft nature shew'd that it abhorred torment and would faine have escaped the violence of fire but the evidence of truth was so much upon his spirit that seeing the deare things of the flesh and the concernments of the soule could not be joyned the flesh was necessitated though unwillingly to the terriblenesse of torment rather then the soule should deny the clearnesse of that light which shined into it 103 Galba lived in the Reigne of five Emperours in credit and fortunate under all of them but when Emperour himselfe quickly ruined and slaine happier under others Government then his own There is nothing to which the heart of man even in infancy shews more disgust then subjection to anothers Government That naturall jurisdiction that one man hath over another to advise and reprove is not without much reluctancy submitted to by any even then when the conscience witnesseth the debt of obedience to God the heart secretly wisheth the cancelling of that Bond and that there were no such superiority in God Yet what creature needeth so much Government as man other creatures conforme to those rules nature hath enjoyned Man is above all other exorbitant and never more happy then when most confin'd 104 The Chariot Horses of Claudius Caesar which he sent to the Circensan Games at the first starting threw their driver yet performed their course and won the Prize Those that are of meane parts and much exercise are able to do more when engaged then they of greater abilities and leste use 105 The Earle of Wiltshire sent Embassador with some others by
speaking to us in the Scriptures which is better 151 The Embassadors of the French King charging the Earle of Charalois in bitter termes with a confederacy with the Duke of Britaine the Earle many times intreating his Fathr Philip that he would give him leave to speak for himselfe the old Duke in the end said I have already answered for thee as me-thinketh a Father should answer for his Son but if thou hast a mind to speak thy selfe bethink thy selfe to day and speak to morrow and spare not The words which we are to speake to captious greatnesse need much premeditation that they may admit of no exception But Lord there is not a word in our mouthes which is not written in thy Book for which we must nor give an account to thy justice But Oh that therefore I were so wary as to set a watch before the door of my mouth that I offend not with my tongue 152 Two brothers travelling upon the road fell in discourse of a woman known to them both which one of them praised as very handsome the other thought her faire but not so faire which difference in Judgment though nothing pertinent to either yet grew to that passe as that they fell together by the ears and had slaine one the other if not accidentally parted How many different opinions are there among us Brethren of the same Religion as to fundamentalls so far from being necessary to Salvation that it is questionable whether they be any thing pertinent which yet we are so hot about that nothing but bloud will part us when the things for which we have quarelled would pose a good invention to tell you what tendency they have to the edifying of the Body of Christ 153 The Leigeors having broken the peace made with the Duke of Burgundy for performance of which they had given 300 Hostages it was debated in the Dukes Counsell what should be done with the Hostages The Lord of Contay advised to kill them all a person of great wisdome and moderation and never before observed to speak so cruelly How uncharitable is it to censure any man for one Act committed when a sudden passion or acrimonious humor may bias the mind quite beyond its accustomed tenor 154 Of those Hostages which they of Leige had given to the Duke of Burgundy for the performance of their Covenants with him upon their breach of which he sent home unharmed the greatest number proved unthankfull and tooke Arms against the Duke but five or six of them were so mindfull of the benefit they had received that by their meanes he entered Leige an enterprize so eminent that a servant of the Duke said he durst hardly have craved of Gods hands so great successe Excellent is it to do good and to communicate for though the subjects of our benefaction may many as in a Lottery prove blankes yet we may many times meet such a prize as may make ample amends 155 The City of Venice begetteth wonder in the beholders in this chiefly to see so many stately and magnificent structures lifting up their towring heads as if like the Poets Venus they had been begotten of the Seas foame and in that place ejected or else seated there by as great a miracle as that Faith should worke which should say to that mountaine be thou removed and set in the midst of the Sea The excellent and glorious vertues of the servants of God deserve our view and imitation but this makes them works of wonder that they have their seat in such hearts as are not unlikely onely but having in some respe4ct an impossibility to such productions 156 Ericthonius being lame in his feet first invented the Chariot to hide that imperfection and Pericles being long headed was therefore alwayes represented with an Helmet and our Queen Anne covered the Wen in her neck with a Ruff which she first brought in fashion How do we wish that the deformities of our bodies never were or might ever be hid a crooked leg or gibbous shoulder how it troubles us which yet if concealed can never be rectified but happy we if we were as sensible of the deformities of our souls for the remedying of which crookednesses the holy Spirit hath given us such strait rules to comply with 157 Ravillak that murthered Henry the fourth of France ☞ though in his execution he suffered most exquisite torments yet was observed never so much as once to name the name of God or any other way make shew of repentance Who would put off repentance to a dying bed in confidence to have it then at our call when sicknesse with the very presentations of death its selfe leaves that heart unmollified which custome in sin hath hardened 158 Alibiades went to one of his friends houses that had a great feast and bad one of his servants take away halfe the Plate that stood on the Cupboard wherewith the guests incensed said It was a bold and injurious part nay saith the Master very favourable hath he dealt with us that he hath left us any when he might have taken all Lord when thou cuttest off our suprfluities we are ready to repine that thou dealest hardly with us but what cause have we rather to acknowledge thy clemency and goodnesse that mayest take all and yet leavest us any thing that can claime nought 159 Fabius Maximus rode on horseback to his Son being Consull then disparching affairs of State in the Market place which the Son seeing senr an officer to command his Father to alight and come on foote if he had any thing to say to the Consull While all wonder at the unhandsomnesse of this Command the Father alights and hasting to his Son imbracing him applauds his magnanimity that he had preferred the honour and interest of the Common-wealth before that of a Father Lord thine is the Soveraigne interest of the world and happy we if the sense of that lye so much upon our hearts as that whatsoever is deare and precious to us else be made to vail Bonnet to thy concernments 160 A Lacedemonian having lost his Son and being reproved as indulging his sorrow in that he wept for him answered I am not so much to be reprehended Natura enim me flebilem fecit Lord if we much lament the losse of our deare relations let it not be the effect of our impatience but the issue of our affection 161 Dionisius being expelled Sicilia and banished to Corinth was asked What good the doctrine of Plate had done him who replyed To beare this adversity patiently Lord if the times any when should prove so disasterous as to prevent the more favourable effects of thy truth as instead of that love and veneration it should beget to render the professors of it the subjects of persecution yet let us never be disappointed of this fruit that we know how in patience to possesse our souls 162 Alexander being at Troy one offers to shew him Paris his Harpe I marry said
with the Foot how shall I be able to stand in the day of battell when in the cause of thy truth there must be a resisting to bloud if I am nothing active in resisting of sin now am I like to abide in the Watch-tower whole nights that like the Disciples cannot watch one houre to prevent temptation Oh let me be therefore much in spirituall exercises now and in cutting off the right hands and plucking out of the right eyes of corrupt desires that I may be ready to deny the conveniences and preciousnesses of life when the emergences of thy interest shall call me to it 74 In the Province of Dariene in South America the mens heads are so hard that they will break a sword smitten on them Alas how many are there of such darkned understandings and seared consciences that those piercing discourses which have deeply penetrated others make on them no impressions but are returned back with scornes and scoffs or dasht in pieces without effect 75 Cardinall Campeius being sent by the Pope Legate into England about the divorce of Henry the eighth from the Lady Katherine Landing at Dover not in such equipage as was by Cardinall Woolsey thought meete for his dignity he sent him divers Mules and Muleters richly habited to furnish his train more pompously these passing with the said Cardinall through the City of London where all the Citizens arranged to expresse their devotion and his wel-come being disturbed by some accident fell a kicking and flinging so as down fell their Coffers broken upon the stones which were thought to containe precious treasures and rich apparell but instead thereof out flew old Bootes and Shooes broken Bridles and Girts to the solemne derision of the red Hats Lord to what purpose will it be to make a shew and but a shew of a long train of graces when my emptinesse shall be manifested at that generall assembly of men and Angells and my hypocrisie will make me but the more abundantly ashamed 77 There is a ground in some part of Italy into which what is driven is so fast detained as not to be pulled out Lord make my heart of such soile that the impressions of thy Word which alas have so often been like untimely fruit shaken off with every wind may be fixed past possibility of removall 78 The Ocean continually floweth into the Mediterranean Sea by the Straits of Gibraltar and the Euxine alwayes floweth into the same Sea by the Proponticke yet is there no appearance that the Mediterranean is more filled though no passage whereby it sends forth its waters is discovered nor seemeth the Euxine Sea any thing lessened though there appeare no supply of waters to it but by some small Rivers Many there be of large revenues but bare purses who yet are strait handed to acts of charity while others free to good works and of much meaner incomes are yet well stored with that which to those good ends they daily spend vaine expences by a private consumption wasteth the one while Gods blessing by a secret retribution returnes with interest what was laid out upon his account 79 Neere Assos there are stones which in few dayes not onely consume the flesh of dead bodies but the very bones too and there is an earth in Palestine of the same operation Lord let the mortification of this body of death in me be of the like speedy execution that those lusts which are more confirmed and seeme more durable may through the power of thy grace have a quick consumption 80 Julius Caesar having taken at Pharsalia and Thapsus the Cabinets of Pompey and Scypio his utter enemies wherein were many Letters from their partakers whereby the men and their designes against Caesar would have been discovered by a rarer example then our dayes have yeilded without once reading the inclosed Epistles caused them all to be immediately burned Lord that book wherein all even my most secret iniquities are written will by the accuser at that day be brought before thee but let thy mercy blot out that hand-writing with the bloud of thy Son that no charge may be framed there either to confound or shame me 80 'T is said of Agesilaus King of Sparto that He ruled his Countrey by obeying it gaining so far upon the Sphori and Senate by complying with what they desired that he might do what himselfe would Lord what freedom is it to be thy servant for I may then do what I will if I will do but what thou commandest in doing thy will I cannot do amisse but in serving thee serve my selfe 81 King Pirrhus being asked Whither Python or Cephesias were the best Fluteplayers answered that in his Judgement Polyperchan was the best Captaine intimating that it was not worth the enquiry who were best skil'd in those Arts which were so little pertinent Lord let me be offertedly ignorant of those things that are wicked and vaine well may the children of this world be wiser in those things of their generation then the children of Light The posterity of Cain are storied to be the first inventers of Arts they might be witty in that upon which they were wholly intent the pious seed had their aimes above they might well overlook what others saw whose eyes were fixt below but when God comes to reckon up the wits of the world those onely will be accounted witty that are so for heaven 82 Summers Henry the Eights Jester kept a Catologue of the indiscretions of the Court which the King desiring to see found his own name there for intrusting an Italian with some thousands of Crowns to buy Barbary Horses but saith the King How if he do returne and bring the Horses I gave him money for 't is then saith Summers onely the blotting out of your name and putting his in How often are we guilty of such improvidences wherein our successe is to be ascribed not to our wisdomes but others folly such successes are like wellfavoured children of an uncomely venter when though we dandle the babe yet we are ashamed of the mother whereas what is done uprightly and done prudently may like nature produce a monstrous birth but hath ever its excuse made for it though it may be blamed it can never be shamed 83 Polienclus a very fat man in an hot day perswading the Athenians in an Oration to make War with King Philip Phocian told the people they should do well to undertake it upon such a mans motion who was likely to do much with his Armor on his back that was in such a sweat with delivering an Oration We are ready to think we shall appeare much for God if we are concerned to resist unto bloud but how unlikely when we come so poorly off in our contention against any poor lust 84 Agesilaus being lame of one of his feete was wont to prevent the mocks of others by merrily jesting himselfe at his own infirmity Lord we are Mephibosheths lame in both our feet when we
he I should like it well if thou couldest shew me that of Achillis When the Papists shew their store of relicks to their credulous votaries me-thinks 't is a sad story they should conceale the Key of Heaven so as they neither enter in themselves nor suffer those that would 163 When the Duke De Birois was beheaded he demeaned himselfe more like a Lion in a toile then a Lambe on the block and was by the executioner rather trapan'd to death then fairly submitting to that present necessity So that while we admire the courage of his life we abhor his unchristianlike death Whereas our Earle of Essex though rather beyond him in high magnanimity yet manifested abundance of Christian meeknesse on the Scaffold Certainly 't is an unsound maxime of our Duellists that a man cannot be valiant and religious or that Josephs answer to his mistriss How shall I do this and sin against God would not do well in a challenge But surely Lord we are then most couragious when we are least bold to sin and most obedient to thy word and Providence 164 Alcibiades being accused by the Athenians and hiding himself when found was asked if he mistrusted the justice of his Countrey no saith he not in another matter but my life being concerned I will not trust my owne mother least she should mistake and put in a black bean instead of a white In the concernments of this life we are desirous to be most secured and will not leave important affairs upon any uncertainty but the Salvation of our souls which it might be thought we would not trust our dearest relations with we suffer to rely onely on the Colliers faith and are willing should depend upon the most improbable perswasions that can be imagined 165 Agrippina being accused by Syllana for imagining treason against her Son Nero made this her defence That Syllana being barren might think it as casie to be rid of Sons as adulterers but had she known the power of maternall affection there would have been no probability to accuse of that for which nature it selfe had provided a defence Lord if others who never tasted how good the Lord is sin against thee though the crime be manifest yet it is lesse unnaturall but if thy Sons be accused if that relation prove not their innocency 't will agravate their guilt 166 Charles Duke of Burgundy being discomfited at the battell of Naucy passing over a River was overthrowne by his Horse and in that estate was assaulted by a Gentleman of whom he craved quarter but the Gentleman being deaf slew him incontinently Yet afterwards when he knew whom he had slain he died within few dayes of meer melancholy When God intendeth to bring judgements on us he not onely findes executioners to effect his purposes but sends such as are as deaf to our intreaties as we have been to his counsels 167 Subonis Flavius being one of the conspirators against Nero and askt by him why he regarded the military Sacrament so little as to conspire his death answered him That he was faithfull to him while he deserv'd to be loved but he could not but hate him since he was his Mothers Brothers and Wives murtherer a Waggoner Stage-Player and Incendiary of the City then which speech saith the Historian nothing happened to Nero more vexatious for though he were prompt to do wickedly yet impatient to bear the wickedness he did It is not the least part of our conviction and vanity that we are not ashamed to be what we are ashamed to be thought when to be evill is a reall defection to be thought so but imaginary and rather to them that think so then to us being an evill conception existing in their mindes not otherwise applicable to us then as we are guilty 168 The Courtiers of Galba though under a severe Prince were yet as injurious to the Common-wealth as those of Nero because Galba being old and their time not likely to last long they made use of it while it endured like the Dragon which laid about him because he knew he had but a short time How much doth the consideration of the shortness of time conduce to the expedition of humane affaires what odds between our hast in a Winters and in a Summers day Yet alas how little doth the brevity of our lives enforce our indeavours to be spiritually rich we loyter away our precious opportunities in doing nothing or that which is worse then nothing 169 'T is said of Charls the Ninth King of France that accustoming himself to rip open the bellies and pluck out the bowels of those Beasts he took in hunting grew very cruel being not onely the Authour of that unparalled Parisian Massacre but also many times furious to those neere about him and beloved by him often to their very great danger 'T is safe not to have to do with the very introductions to iniquity a wise man would not come neer that precipice the very beholding of which will make a man giddy 't is common prudence to avoid that place where we judge the Air infectious Our hearts are so fruitfull of cursed lusts that they generate not by coition onely but by imagination Happy he therefore that is taught to fly the very appearance of evill and to hate not the leprous body onely but the very Garment spotted with the flesh 170 When William the Conquerour had taken sure footing in England having seiz'd the greatest part of it and intending an expedition into Kent to take that in also the Kentlshmen under the conduct of their Bishop well appointed met him not far from Smauscombe having every one a green bough in his hand and behinde them a vast tract of Woodland The men with boughs thus appearing like a Wood and the Wood behinde being thought by the Conqueror to be men with boughs he was unwilling to hazard his present Conquests by engaging with so considerable a force as he judg'd them to be and therefore chose rather to condiscend to those Conditions which they presented to him the ground of that saying Kent was never conquered and the cause that that County hath those immunities the other have not When times turn and persecutions threaten the godly they poor hearts think that there is a vast Army of opposition against them and that their deliverance is far off like those Jewes who said the time of this captivity is long therefore are ready to capitulate with the enemy and comply with those things which are neither safe nor honourable when alas the Lyon is not so fierce as he is painted nor opposition so strange but the breath of the Lord can blast it nor persecution so tedious but yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry 171 Margaret Meering being excommunicated by Rought out of that Congregation of Protestants whereof he was Pastor wherein she seemed to have hard dealing yet when Rought was imprisoned for the truth she above all
Successor Thus we daily see a greater disgust because of some petty differences in circumstantials where yet there is agreement in the vital part of fundamental truth and holy living then because of those notorious profanesses which unchristian a man and make him as an Heathen man and a Publican 191 A Crocodile out of the River Niger drew in with ihs tail nine slaves chained together and devoured them but the Chain not being digestible proved his destruction being found in him dead Lord at how great sins dare this heart of mine venture and at how long a train as the Ox drinketh down water in huge quantity and with great delight but there is a Chain of guilt with it surely deadly that can neither be vomited nor vented this makes me cry My bowels my bowels I am pained at my very heart but the comfort is there is Balm in Gilead and a Physitian there 192 At the siege of Rochel a certain Souldier from the walls observing the Duke of Anjou afterwards Henry the 3d. to stand viewing the Fortifications fired at him which one of the Esquires of his body perceiving in the very moment stept before him and saved the life of his Lord by the losse of his own Lord the arrows of thy vengeance are levelled at the Caul of my heart and it is justice that they should smite me under the fifth rib but let that Jesus who saves his people from their sins call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a middle person step between Let the chastisement of my peace be upon him and by his stripes let me be healed 193 Marcellus at the taking of Syracusa being greatly desirous to save the life of Archimedes gave strait charg through his army That every person should endeavour his safety but a Souldier breaking in upon him at his study not knowing him slew him How much better is it to be one of those marked out by him with the writers Ink-horn by his side how much greater security in being one of those who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the midst of the City how much more certain safety had Jeremiah Baruch and Ebedmelech when Jerusalem was stormed by Nebuchadnezzar being those to whom God had promised their lives for a prey 194 Fabius Maximus dying suddenly the day before the end of his Consulship Rebius sued to be Consull for the few hours of that year which remained Lord how short hast thou made our lives if compared with the Crow or Stag and how much shorter are they made by many crosse accidents and how much shorter doe we make them by our many intemperances and how much shorter yet are they made by thy just judgement when for our presumption and carelesness in thy worship we are sick and weak and some fall asleep and yet how fond are we of this little remnant that we often hazard an immortal soul for it But Oh do thou direct my aims to that which admits of no termination as to extent of time or enjoyment 195 Some Roman Souldiers flying from Amida when taken by the Persians wandred in the deserts almost choaked with thirst till they came to a deep well whence yet they had nothing to draw the water with till necessity found out this invention They pull'd off their shirts and cut them out into long slips which they tyed together making a bunch at the end by which through a manifold repetition squeezing the hunch they drew up water enough to quench their thirst When we come to the word to draw water out of the wells of salvation we are unfurnished of Pitchers for that purpose our ears are dull of hearing our hearts fat and hard to understand here a little and there a little a frequent repetition must be often applicatious for of much we carry away but a very little our judgements but a little informed our affections but a little rectified or elevated Alas alas they that think rare attendances wil serve the turn or that they shall be told but what they know manifest that they are not sensible of their own dullnesse nor consider that the Apostle Peter thought it meet to put those often in remembrance who knew those things and were established in the present truth 199 A certain person that had sold a street of houses and laid out the money in costly apparrel came to Court and being in a prease there cryed to them To make way for one that had an hundred Tenements on his back Lord thou hast said That thou art pressed under our sins as a Cart is pressed under sheaves and the burden of our iniquity brings down from thee a burden of punishment yet is the weight of sin fo far from being grievous that instead of lamenting the pressure we boast of the number but if we are not weary and heavy laden with the sense of our transgressions now they will at that day press us down into the lowest hell 200 Neer the Lake Agnano there is a Cave into which for the experience of Travellers the neighbouring Inhabitants are wont to put their Dogs which are no sooner in but they are as dead immediately with eyes set and tongues hanging out but taken thence presently and thrown into the Lake they recover for which cause those Dogs no sooner see a stranger coming but if not timely prevented away they get them packing to the adjoyning mountains not to be got again to make a new experiment Lord thou saidst In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death and we never descend into acts of iniquity but we are afresh dead in trespasses and sins and that irrecoverably if not washed by faith and repentance in the fountain opened for sin and for uncleannesse but if we have so escaped when temptation again presents it self shall we not get us packing by no means to be brought to another tryall 200 Cleopatra the wife of Cyricoenus having taken Sanctuary at Antioch after her husbands overthrow her Sister Gryphina the wife of Gryphus most importunately solicited her death and though Gryphus much perswaded her desivery yet she her self commanded the Souldiers in to dispatch her but a few dayes after the same Gryphina falling into the hands of Cyricoenus was by him made a sacrifice to his Wives Ghost They are not our times alone that by their mutability have taught men that great lesson of moderation all ages have witnessed That the Lord is at hand a just Judge to execute vengeance on those who have not by their miseration to others shewed their sense that they also are in the body even those whom God sent out to be his Executioners he hath afterward plagued because they did their work without pitty OCCASIONALL Observations 1 IN that emendation as 't is thought to be of the English Tongue by the addition of forreign words of divers Languages though possibly we may speak more finely yet not which is the end of speech more significantly but alwayes more laborioufly few
As when David calls himself A Dog a Flea Abigail will be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of David vers 25.41 Ziba may take all seeing the King was come again in peace 9 When I read the condition of the oath which the Spyes made to Rahab Joshua 2.19 that they would be quit of their oath if at the taking of Jericho that Scarlet thread were not tyed in the window I thought the tying of it there would be let alone till Jericho were besieged especially to avoid suspition that the Spyes were conveyed that way but the first thing I read of after the Spyes departure is The binding of the Scarlet thrend in the window She thought that Cord whereon her life hanged could not be hanged out too soon might have been too late Oh the irrationality of a late repentance Must the body be besieged with sickness before that work be done upon which eternal life dependeth How often is it that that is never done because we think to do it late and what we intend to do anon we therefore do never And surely that work is fittest to be done to day concerning which it is so unsafe to boast of to morrow 10 When the brethren of Joseph met with trouble in Egypt they said one to another Gen 42.21 We are verily guilty concerning our brother There were many years had passed since they had sold him and we hear not any thing of it till now and yet we find no prompter but their own consciences There is this advantage by affliction that it gives the soul a stand and makes it look about it begets that observation which before it had not those threshing instruments discover that chaffe before not seen and when we are emptied from vessell to vessell we see those Lees not till then apprehended Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance and slay my son saith that woman Not to call her sin into Gods remembrance that it might be punished with the death of her son as by the death of her son to call her sin into her remembrance what it was appears not probably the unlawfull generation of that son forgotten long since put in the wallet behind but exposed to view upon this occasion 11 When I read Jacobs dream and his words upon it Gen 28.17 I wondered at the coherence between them the dream representing nothing but mercy words of grace promises of benefaction in the most abundant manner and yet when he awakes he cryes How dreadfull is this place who would not have expected other inference from such words as those But Gods countenance though clear with smiles yet strikes awe in the beholder the evidences of Gods love are so far from begetting presumption that they leave the soul in an holy trembling and fear to offend When God gives into the soul the Charter of its spiritual priviledges and richly lades it with the fraight of divine promises then is it most sensible of its distance and ballasted with the apprehension of its own unworthiness When God makes Abraham of his counsel and tells him what he would do then cryes Abraham That he is but dust and ashes 12 When Lot parted from Abraham and had his choice given him whither he would go he chuseth the plain of Jordan having respect to the fruitfulness of the place and its being watered every where but without consideration of the wickednesse of the inhabitants which yet the Spirit of God intimates should have been thought of for 't is immediately added Gen 13.13 But the men of Sodom were sinners before the Lord exceedingly But how ill this carnall project succeeded besides the grieving his righteous soul from day to day with the unrighteous conversation of the wicked being carried captive by the Kings and after dispoiled of all his substance in the ruine of Sodom It being just with God that when we prize the wealth of this world before that of a better and the health of the body before that of the soul so to dispose of it that we fail of our design and that proves to our losse in that very way wherein we intended it for our gain 13 A Promise being made to Abraham of a son we read Gen. 17.17 He fell upon his face and laughed saying Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old and shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear The like promise being made to Sarah we read Gen 18.12 she laughed too saying After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure my Lord being old also Surely there appears no such difference either in the words or laughter as there was in Gods sense of it for Sarah is reproved Abraham applauded What odds doth the heart make in humane actions God discerning a vast difference in the very same works those services which are performed by heartless Formalists having a rank favour in Gods nostrils the same services acted by a truly religious Votary being a most acceptable Spectacle in the eyes of divine glory 14 I observe a strange ambition in Sarah and Rachel that rather then they would be wholly childless they would have them by their maids and that which 't is like they would have stormed at upon another account yet they themselves upon the score of satisfying their fancies are the Authors of and if their husbands get children to be born upon their knees it shall qualifie the apprehensions of their own Sterility Lord I am sensible of my barrenness that I have been to thee very fruitless the immortall seed of thy Word how often hath it been cast upon my heart without any productions but let my desire to fructifie be such that I may endeavour others may bear upon my knees that that seed through my means may be diffused to others also 15 We are told Heb 9.4 That in the Ark there was the pot of Manna Aarons rod that budded and the Tables of the Covenant Yet 1 Kings 8.9 't is said There was nothing in the Ark but the Tables of the Covenant When I observed the diversity of those Texts I thought and I suppose truly that the Relative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had for its Correlative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that the pot of Manna and Aarons rod are noted as the Contents of the Holyest of Holyes not of the Ark to which agree that Scripture Exod 16.33 where there is mention made of laying them before the Testimony not in the Ark that being reserved as a peculiar Bibliotheca for the Tables of the Law there being by divine appointment a more solemn and peculiar custody allotted to them then to any thing else in the world beside not only to keep them for observation as to preserve them from violence neither abstraction nor addition being allowed there but exact and punctual compliance the most prudential consultations of humane reason alwayes meeting with unhappy successe Sauls providence in preserving the best of the