from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile My Couenant will I not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth Behold the fauour of God doth not depend vpon Salomons obedience If Salomon shall suffer his faithfulnesse to faile towards his God God will not requite him with the failing of his faithfulnesse to Salomon If Salomon breake his Couenant with God God will not breake his Couenant with the father of Salomon with the sonne of Dauid He shall smart hee shall not perish Oh gracious word of the God of all mercies able to giue strength to the languishing comfort to the despairing to the dying life Whatsoeuer wee are thou wilt be still thy selfe O holy One of Israel true to thy Couenant constant to thy Decree The sinnes of thy chosen can neither frustrate thy counsell nor out-strip thy mercies Now I see Salomon of a wanton louer a graue Preacher of mortification I see him quenching those inordinate flames with the teares of his repentance Me thinks I heare him sighing deepely betwixt euery word of that his solemne penance which he would need enioyne himselfe before all the world I haue applyed my heart to know the wickednesse of folly euen the foolishnesse of madnesse and I finde more bitter then death the woman whose heart is as nets and snares and her hands as bands Who so pleaseth God shall be deliuered from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Salomon was taken as a sinner deliuered as a penitent His soule escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare was broken and he deliuered It is good for vs that he was both taken and deliuered Taken that wee might not presume and that we might not despaire deliuered He sinned that we might not sinne hee recouered that we may not sinke vnder our sinne But oh the iustice of God inseparable from his mercy Salomons sinne shall not escape the rod of men Rather then so wise an offender shall want enemies God shall raise vp three aduersaries vnto Salomon Hadad the Edomite Rezon the King of Aram Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat whereof two were foraine one domesticall Nothing but loue and peace sounded in the name of Salomon nothing else was found in his raigne whiles he held in good termes with his God But when once hee fell foule with his Maker all things began to be troubled There are whips laid vp against the time of Salomons fore-seene offence which are now brought forth for his correction On purpose was Hadad the sonne of the King of Edom hid in a corner of Egypt from the sword of Dauid and Ioab that he might be reserued for a scourge to the exorbitant sonne of Dauid God would haue vs make account that our peace ends with our innocence The same sinne that sets debate betwixt God and vs armes the creatures against vs It were pitie wee should be at any quiet whiles wee are falne out with the God of peace Contemplations VPON THE PRINCIPALL HISTORIES OF THE NEVV TESTAMENT THE THIRD BOOKE Containing The Widowes sonne raised The Rulers sonne healed The dumbe Deuill eiected MATTHEW called Christ among the Gergesens or Legion and the Gaderene Herd By IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER TO MY RIGHT VVORTHY AND WORSHIPFVLL FRIEND MASTER IOHN GIFFORD of Lancrasse in Deuon Esquire All Grace and Peace SIR J hold it as I ought one of the rich mercies of GOD that he hath giuen me fauour in some eies which haue not seene me but none that J know hath so much demerited me vnknowne as your worthy Familie Ere therefore you see my face see my hand willingly professing my thankefull Obligations Wherewith may it please you to accept of this parcell of thoughts not vnlike those fellowes of theirs whom you haue entertained aboue their desert These shall present vnto you our bountifull SAVIOVR magnifying his mercies to men in a sweet varietie healing the diseased raising the dead casting out the Deuill calling in the Publican and shall raise your heart to adore that infinite goodnesse Euery helpe to our deuotion deserues to bee precious So much more as the decrepit age of the World declines to an heartlesse coldnesse of Pietie That GOD to whose honour these poore labours are meant blesse them in your hands and from them to all Readers To his protection J heartily commend you and the right vertuous Gentlewoman your worthy wife with all the pledges of your happy affection as whom you haue deserued to be Your truly thankfull and officious friend IOS HALL The Widowes Sonne raised THE fauours of our beneficent Sauiour were at the least contiguous No sooner hath he raised the Centurions seruant from his bed then he raises the Widowes Sea from his Beere The fruitfull clouds are not ordained to fall all in one field Nain must partake of the bounty of Christ as well as Cana or Capernaum And if this Sunne were fixed in one Orbe yet it diffuseth heat and light to all the world It is not for any place to ingrosse the messengers of the Gospell whose errand is vniuersall This immortall seed may not fall all in one furrow The little City of Nain stood vnder the hill of Hermon neere vnto Tabor but now it is watered with better dewes from aboue the doctrine miracles of a Sauiour Not for state but for the more euidence of the worke is our Sauior attended with a large traine so entring into the gate of that walled City as if he meant to besiege their faith by his power and to take it His prouidence hath so contriued his iourney that he meets with the sad pompe of a funerall A wofull widow attended with her weeping neighbours is following her onely sonne to the graue There was nothing in this spectacle that did not command compassion A yong man in the flowre in the strength of his age swallowed vp by death Our decrepit age both expects death and sollicites it but vigorous youth lookes strangely vpon that grim sergeant of God Those mellow apples that fall alone from the tree we gather vp with contentment wee chide to haue the vnripe vnseasonably beaten downe with cudgells But more a yong man the onely sonne the onely childe of his mother No condition can make it other then grieuous for a well natur'd mother to part with her own bowels yet surely store is some mitigation of losse Amongst many children one may be more easily missed for still wee hope the suruiuing may supply the comforts of the dead but when all our hopes and ioyes must either liue or die in one the losse of that one admits of no consolation When God would describe the most passionate expression of sorrow that can fall into the miserable hee can but say Oh daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy selfe in the ashes make lamentation and bitter mourning as for thine onely sonne Such was the losse such was the sorrow of this disconsolate
findes not any present cause of comfort one is hanted with his sinne another distracted with his passion amongst all which he is a miracle of all men that liues not some-way discontented So we liue not while we doe liue onely for that we want either wisdome or will to husband our liues to our owne best aduantage O the inequality of our cares Let riches or honour be in question we sue to them we seeke for them with importunity with seruile ambition our paines neede no sollicitor yea there is no way wrong that leads to this end wee abhorre the patience to stay till they inquire for vs. And if euer as it rarely happens our desert and worthinesse winnes vs the fauour of this proffer we meet it with both hands not daring with our modest denyals to whet the instancie and double the intreaties of so welcome suiters Yet loe here the onely true and precious riches the highest aduancement of the soule peace and happinesse seekes for vs sues to vs for acceptation our answers are coy and ouerly such as we giue to those clyents that looke to gaine by our fauours If our want were through the scarcitie of good we might yet hope for pity to ease vs but now that it is through negligence and that wee perish with our hands in our bosome we are rather worthy of stripes for the wrong wee doe our selues than of pity for what we suffer That wee may and will not in opportunitie of hurting others is noble and Christian but in our owne benefit sluggish and sauouring of the worst kinde of vnthriftinesse Saiest thou then this peace is good to haue but hard to get It were a shamefull neglect that hath no pretence Is difficulty sufficient excuse to hinder thee from the pursuit of riches of preferment of learning of bodily pleasures Art thou content to sit shrugging in a base cottage ragged famished because house clothes and food will neither be had without money nor money without labour nor labour without trouble and painfulnesse Who is so mercifull as not to say that a whip is the best almes for so lazie and wilfull need Peace should not be good if it were not hard Goe and by this excuse shut thy selfe out of heauen at thy death and liue miserably till thy death because the good of both worlds is hard to compasse There is nothing but misery on earth and hell below that thou canst come too without labour And if wee can bee content to cast away such immoderate and vnseasonable paines vpon these earthly trifles as to weare our bodies with violence and to encroach vpon the night for time to get them what madnesse shall it seeme in vs not to afford a lesse labour to that which is infinitely better and which onely giues worth and goodnesse to the other Wherefore if we haue not vowed enmity with our selues if we be not in loue with misery and vexation if wee bee not obstinately carelesse of our owne good let vs shake off this vnthriftie dangerous and desperate negligence and quicken these dull hearts to a liuely and effectuall search of what onely can yeeld them sweet and abiding contentment which once attained how shall we insult ouer euils and bid them doe their worst How shall we vnder this calme and quiet day laugh at the rough weather and vnsteady motions of the world How shall heauen and earth smile vpon vs and wee on them commanding the one aspiring to the other How pleasant shall our life bee while neither ioyes nor sorrowes can distemper it with excesse yea while the matter of ioy that is within vs turnes all the most sad occurrences into pleasure How deare and welcome shall our death bee that shall but lead vs from one heauen to another from peace to glory Goe now yee vaine and idle worldlings and please your selues in the large extent of your rich Mannors or in the homage of those whom basenesse of minde hath made slaues to your greatnesse or in the price and fashions of your full ward-robe or in the wanton varieties of your delicate Gardens or in your coffers full of red and white earth or if there be any other earthly thing more alluring more precious enioy it possesse it and let it possesse you Let mee haue onely my Peace and let me neuer want it till I enuie you FINIS THE ART OF DIVINE MEDITATION EXEMPLIFIED WITH TWO LARGE Patternes of Meditation The one of eternall Life as the end The other of Death as the way Reuised and augmented 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 WORSHIPFVLL SIR RICHARD LEA Knight all increase of true honour with God and men SIR euer since J began to bestow my selfe vpon the common good studying wherein my labours might be most seruiceable J still found they could be no way so well improued as in that part which concerneth deuotion and the practice of true pietie For on the one side I perceiued the number of Polemicall bookes rather to breed than end strifes and those which are doctrinall by reason of their multitude rather to oppresse than satisfie the Reader wherein if we write the same things wee are iudged tedious if different singular On the other part respecting the Reader J saw the braines of men neuer more stuffed their tongues neuer more stirring their hearts neuer more emptie nor their hands more idle Wherefore after those sudden Meditations which passed me without rule J was easily induced by their successe as a small thing moues the willing to send forth this Rule of Meditation and after my Heauen vpon Earth to discourse although by way of example of Heauen aboue Jn this Art of mine J confesse to haue receiued more light from one obscure namelesse Monke which wrote some 112. yeeres agoe than from the directions of all other Writers J would his humilitie had not made him niggardly of his name that we might haue knowne whom to haue thanked It had beene easie to haue framed it with more curiosity but God and my soule know that J made profit the scope of my labour and not applause and therefore to chuse J wished rather to bee rude than vnprofitable Jf now the simplicitie of any Reader shall beâ—eaue him of the benefit of my precepts I know hee may make his vse of my examples Why I haue honoured it with your name J need not giue account to the world which alreadie knoweth your worth and deserts and shall see by this that J acknowledge them Goe you on happily according to the heauenly aduice of your Iunius in your worthy and glorious profession still bearing your selfe as one that knoweth vertue the truest Nobilitie and Religion the best vertue The God whom you serue shall honour you with men and crowne you in heauen To his grace J humbly commend you requesting you only to accept the worke and continue
in our iourney we long not for home Doest thou see men so in loue with their natiue soile that euen when it is all deformed with the desolations of warre and turned into rude heapes or while it is euen now flaming with the fire of ciuill broiles they couet yet still to liue in it preferring it to all other places of more peace and pleasure and shalt thou seeing nothing but peace and blessednesse at home nothing but trouble abroad content thy selfe with a faint wish of thy dissolution If heauen were thy Iayle thou couldest but thinke of it vncomfortably Oh what affection can be worthy of such an home CHAP. XXVII 10. Consid of fit testimonies of Scripture concerning our Theme LAstly if wee can recall any pregnant Testimonies of Scripture concerning our Theme those shall fitly conclude this part of our Meditation Of Scripture for that in these matters of God none but diuine authority can command assent and settle the conscience Witnesses of holy men may serue for colours but the ground must be onely from God There it is saith the Spirit of God which cannot deceiue thee that all teares shall bee wiped from our eies there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither shall there bee any more paine yea there shall not onely bee an end of sorrowes but an abundant recompence for the sorrowes of our life as he that was rapt vp into the third Heauen and there saw what cannot be spoken speaketh yet thus of what he saw I count that the afflictions of this present time are not worthy of the glory which shall bee shewed to vs It was shewed vnto him what should hereafter be shewed vnto vs and he saw that if all the world full of miseries were laid in one ballance and the least glory of heauen in another those would be incomparably light yea as that diuine Father that one daies felicity aboue were worth a thousand yeeres torment below what then can be matched with the eternity of such ioyes Oh how great therefore is this thy goodnesse O Lord which thou hast laid vp for them that feare thee and done to them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men CHAP. XXVIII Of our second part of Meditation which is in the affections THe most difficult and knotty part of Meditation thus finished there remaineth that which is both more liuely and more easie vnto a good heart to be wrought altogether by the affections which if our discourses reach not vnto they proue vaine and to no purpose That which followeth therefore is the very soule of Meditation whereto all that is past serueth but as an instrument A man is a man by his vnderstanding part but he is a Christian by his will and affections Seeing therefore that all our former labour of the braine is onely to affect the heart after that the minde hath thus trauersed the point proposed through all the heads of reason it shall endeuour to finde in the first place some feeling touch Wherein is required a Taste and rellish of what we haue thought vpon and sweet rellish in that which it hath thus chewed which fruit through the blessing of God will voluntarily follow vpon a serious Meditation Dauid saith Oh taste and see how sweet the Lord is In Meditation we doe both see and taste but we see before we taste sight is of the vnderstanding taste of the affection neither can we see but we must taste we cannot know aright but we must needs be affected Let the heart therefore first conceiue and feele in it selfe the sweetnesse or bitternesse of the matter meditated which is neuer done without some passion nor expressed without some hearty exclamation Oh blessed estate of the Saints O glory not to be expressed euen by those which are glorified O incomprehensible saluation What sauour hath this earth to thee Who can regard the world that beleeueth thee Who can thinke of thee and not be rauished with wonder and desire Who can hope for thee and not reioyce Who can know thee and not be swallowed vp with admiration at the mercy of him that bestoweth thee O blessednesse worthy of Christs bloud to purchase thee Worthy of the continuall songs of Saints and Angels to celebrate thee How should I magnifie thee How should I long for thee How should I hate all this world for thee CHAP. XXIX AFter this Taste shall follow a Complaint Secondly a Complaint be wailing our wants and vntowardnesse wherein the heart bewaileth to it selfe his owne pouertie dulnesse and imperfection chiding and abasing it selfe in respect of his wants and indisposition wherein Humiliation truly goeth before glory For the more we are cast downe in our conceit the higher shall God lift vs vp at the end of this exercise in spirituall reioycing But alas where is my loue Where is my longing Where art thou O my soule What heauinesse hath ouertaken thee How hath the world bewitched and possessed thee that thou art become so carelesse of thine home so senselesse of spirituall delights so fond vpon thâ—se vanities Doest thou doubt whether there be an heauen or whether thou haue a God and a Sauiour there O farre be from thee this Atheisme farre be from thee the least thought of this desperate impiety Woe were thee if thou beleeuedst not But O thou of little Faith doest thou beleeue there is happinesse and happinesse for thee and desirest it not and delightest not in it Alas how weake and vnbeleeuing is thy beleefe How cold and faint are thy desires Tell me what such goodly entertainment hast thou met withall here on earth that was worthy to with-draw thee from these heauenly ioyes What pleasure in it euer gaue thee contentment or what cause of dislike findest thou aboue Oh no my soule it is onely thy miserable drowsinesse onely thy securitie The world the world hath besotted thee hath vndone thee with carelesnesse Alas if thy delight be so cold what difference is there in thee from an ignorant Heathen that doubts of another life yea from an Epicure that denies it Art thou a Christian or art thou none If thou bee what thou professest away with this dull and senselesse worldlinesse away with this earthly vncheerefulnesse shake off at last this prophane and godlesse securitie that hath thus long weighed thee downe from mounting vp to thy ioyes Looke vp to thy God and to thy Crowne and say with confidence O Lord I haue waited for thy saluation CHAP. XXX AFter this Complaint must succeed an hearty and passionate Wish of the soule Thirdly an hearty Wish of the soule for what it complaineth to want which ariseth cleerely from the two former degrees For that which a man hath found sweet and comfortable and complaines that he still wanteth hee cannot but wish to enioy O Lord that I could wait and long for thy saluation Oh that I could minde the things aboue that as I am a stranger indeed so I
leading vs from earth to heauen And I heard a voyce from heauen c. This day is a day of note for three famous periods First it is the day of the dissipation of this Royall Family Then the last day of our publike and ioynt mourning Lastly the day of the alteration and renewing of our state and course of life with the New-yeere All these meet in this Text with their cordials and diuine remedies Our dissipation and dissolution in these words Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men Our mourning God shall wipe away all teares c. Our change of estate Behold I will make all things new I must craue leaue to glide thorow all of these with much speed and for the better conueniency of our discourse through the first last My speech therefore shall as it were climbe vp these six staires of doctrine 1. That here our eyes are full of teares how else should they be wip't away how all vnlesse many 2. That these teares are from sorrow and this sorrow from death and toyle out of the connexion of all these 3. That God will once free vs both from teares which are the effect of sorrow and from toile and death which are the causes of it 4. That this our freedome must bee vpon a change for that the first things are passed 5. That this change shall be in our Renouation Behold I make all things new 6. That this renouation and happy change shall be in our perpetuall fruition of the inseparable presence of God whose Tabernacle shall be with men Psal 84. Iudg. 2.5 As those grounds that lie low are commonly moorish this base part of the world wherein we liue is the vale of teares That true Bochim as the Israelites called their mourning-place We begin our life with teares and therefore our Lawyers define life by weeping if a childe were heard cry It is a lawfull proofe of his liuing else if hee be dead we say he is still-borne and at our parting God findes teares in our eies which he shall wipe off So we finde it alwayes not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a time of weeping but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of solemne mourning as Salomon puts them together Eccl. 3.4 Except we be in that case that Dauid and his people were in 1 Sam. 30. Lam. 2.11 and Ieremie sayes the same in his Lamentations of the Iewes that they wept till they could weepe no more Here are teares at our deuotion The Altar couered with teares Mal. 2. Teares in the bed Dauid watered his couch with teares Psal 6. Teares to wash with as Maries Teares to eat Psal 42.3 Teares to drinke Psal 80. yea drunkennesse with teares Esay 16.9 This is our destiny as we are men but more as we are Christians To sow in Teares and God loues these wet seed-times they are seasonable for vs here below Those men therefore are mistaken that thinke to goe to heauen with dry eyes and hope to leape immediately out of the pleasures of earth into the Paradise of God insulting ouer the drouping estate of Gods distressed ones As Ierome and Bede say of Peter that he could not weepe while he was in the High Priests wals so these men cannot weepe where they haue offended But let them know that they must haue a time of teares and if they doe not begin with teares they shall end with them Woe be to them that laugh for they shall weepe and if they will not weepe and shake their heads here they shall weepe and waile and gnash their teeth hereafter Here must be teares and that good store All teares as riuers are called the teares of the sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iob 38. so must our teares be the riuers of our eyes Psal 119.136 and our eyes fountaines Ier. 9.1 Here must be teares of penitence teares of compassion and will bee teares of sorrow Well are those two met therefore teares and sorrow for tho some shed teares for spight others for ioy as Cyprians Martyrs Gaudium pectoris lachrymis exprimentes yet commonly teares are the iuyce of a minde pressed with griefe Greg. Nis Orat. And as well doe teares and crying and sorrow accompany death either in the supposition or the deniall For as worldly sorrow euen in this sense causeth death by drying the bones and consuming the body so death euer lightly is a iust cause of sorrow sorrow to nature in our selues sorrow to ours And as death is the terriblest thing so it is the saddest thing that befals a man Nature could say in the Poet Quis matrem in funere nati Flere vetat yea God himselfe allowed his holy Priests to pollute themselues in mourning for their neerest dead friends Exod. 21. excepting the High Priest which was forbidden it in figure And the Apostle while he forbids the Thessalonians to mourne as without hope doth in a sort command their teares but barre their immoderation It was not without a speciall reference to a iudgement Ezech. 24. that God sayes to Ezechiel Sonne of man behold I will take from thee the pleasure of thy life with a plague yet shalt thou neither mourne nor weepe neither shall my teares runne downe So fit did the Iewes hold teares for Funerals that they hired mourners which with incomposed gestures ranne vp and downe the streets Eccl. 12. who did also cut and lance themselues that they might mourne in earnest Ier. 16. That good natur'd Patriarch Isaac mourned three yeeres for his mother as the Chineses doe at this day for their friends Iacob mourned two and twenty yeeres for Ioseph and there want not some which haue thought Adam and Eue mourned an 100. yeeres for Abel but who knowes not the wailings of Abel-â—itzraim for Ioseph of the valley of Megiddon for Iosiah And if euer any corps deserued to swim it teares if euer any losse could command lamentation then this of ours yea of this whole ILAND yea of the whole Church of God yea of the whole world iustly cals for it and truly hath it O HENRY our sweet Prince our sweet Prince HENRY the second glory of our Nation ornament of mankinde hope of posterity and life of our life how doe all hearts bleed and all eies worthily gush out for thy losse A losse that we had neither grace to feare nor haue capacity to conceiue Shall I praise him to you who are therefore now miserable because you did know him so well I forbeare it though to my paine If I did not spare you I could not so swiftly passe ouer the name and the vertues of that glorious Saint our deare Master or the aggrauation of that losse whereof you are too sensible my true commiseration shall command me silence yet I could not but touch our sore with this light hand tho yet raw and bleeding Death especially such a death must haue sorrow and teares All Nations all succession of times shall beare a part with vs in this lamentation
is in a charitable abdication hearken to the Duties which God layes vpon you The remoueall of euill must make roome for good First therefore our Apostle would haue our hearts cleared of euill dispositions then setled in good The euill dispositions that do commonly attend wealth are Pride and Misconfidence Against these our Apostle bendeth his charge That they be not hye-minded That they trust not in vncertaine riches For the first It is strange to see how this earthly drosse which is of it selfe heauy That they be not hye minded and therefore naturally sinkes downward should raise vp the heart of man and yet it commonly caries a man vp euen to a double pitch of pride one aboue others the other aboue himselfe Aboue others in contempt aboue himselfe in ouer-weening The poore and proud is the Wisemans monster but the proud and rich are no newes It is against all reason that metals should make difference of reasonable men of Christians for as that wise Law-giuer said A freeman can be valued at no price Yet Salomon noted in his time The rich rules the poore not the wise and Siracides in his The rich speakes proudly and what fellow is this and Saint Iames in his The man with the gold ring lookes to fit highest And not to cast backe our eyes doe ye not see it thus in our times If a man be but worth a foot-cloth how big hee lookes on the inferiour passengers and if he haue purchased a little more land or title then his neighbours you shall see it in his garbe If he command it is imperiously with sirrah and fellow If he salute it is ouerly with a surly and silent nod if hee speake it is oracles if hee walke it is with a grace if hee controll it is in the killing accent if he entertaine it is with insolence and whatsoeuer he doth he is not as he was not as the Pharise sayes like other men He lookes vpon vulgar men as if they were made to serue him and should thinke themselues happy to be commanded and if he bee crossed a little hee swels like the sea in a storme Let it be by his equall he cares more for an affront then for death or hell Let it be by his inferiour although in a iust cause that man shall be sure to be crusht to death for his presumption And alaâ— when all is done after these hye tearmes all this is but a man and God knowes a foolish one too whom a little earthly trash can affect so deeply Neither doth this pride raise a man more aboue others then aboue himselfe And what wonder is it if hee will not know his poore neighbours which hath forgotten himselfe As Saul was changed to another man presently vpon his anointing so are men vpon their aduancement and according to our ordinary Prouerb Their good and their blood rises together Now it may not be taken as it hath beene Other cariage other fashions are fit for them Their attire fare retinue houses furniture displease them new must be had together with coaches and lacquies and all the equipage of greatnesse These things that no man mistake me I mislike not they are fit for those that are fit for them Charity is not strait-laced but yeelds much latitude to the lawfull vse of indifferent things although it is one of Salomons vanities that seruants should ride on horse-backe and hee tels vs it becomes not a swine to bee ring'd with gold but it is the heart that makes all these euill when that is puft vp with these windy vanities hath learned to borrow that part of the deuils speech All these things are mine and can say with him that was turned into a beast Is not this great Babel that I haue built or with that other patterne of pride I sit as a Queene I am and there is none beside me Now all these turne into sinne The bush that hangs out shewes what wee may looke for within Whither doth the conceit of a little inheritance transport the Gallants of our time O God what a world of vanity hast thou reseru'd vs to I am asham'd to thinke that the Gospell of Christ should be disgraced with such disguised clients Are they Christians or Antickes in some Carnevale or childrens puppets that are thus dressed Pardon I beseech you men brethren and fathers this my iust and holy impatience that could neuer expresse it selfe in a more solemne assembly although I perceiue those whom it most concernes are not so deuout as to be present Who can without indignation look vpon the prodigies which this mis-imagination produces in that other sex to the shame of their husbands the scorne of Religion the damnation of their owne soules Imagine one of our fore-fathers were aliue againe and should see one of these his gâ—y daughters walke in Cheape-side before him what doe you thinke he would thinke it were Here is nothing to be seene but a verdingale a yellow ruffe and a periwig with perhaps some feather wauing in the top three things for which he could not tell how to find a name Sure he could not but stand amazed to thinke what new creature the times had yeelded since he was a maÌ„ if then he should run before her to see if by the fore-side he might ghesse what it were when his eyes should meet with a poudred frizle a painted hide shadowed with a fan not more painted brests displayd and a loose locke erring wantonly ouer her shoulders betwixt a painted cloth and skinne how would he yet more blesse himselfe to thinke what mixture in nature could bee guilty of such a monster Is this thinkes he the flesh and blood is this the hayre is this the shape of a woman or hath nature repented of her worke since my dayes and begunne a new frame It is no maruell if their forefathers could not know them God himselfe that made them will neuer acknowledge that face he neuer made the hayre that hee neuer made theirs the body that is asham'd of the Maker the soule that thus disguises the body Let me therefore say to these dames as Benet said to Totilaes seruant Depone filia quod portas quia non est tuum Lay downe that ye weare it is none of your owne Let me perswade them for that can worke most that they doe all this in their owne wrong All the world knowes that no man will rough-cast a marble wall but mud or vnpolisht ragge That beauty is like truth neuer so glorious as when it goes plainest that false art in stead of mending nature marres it But if none of our perswasions can preuaile Heare this ye garish Popingayes of our time if you will not be ashamed to cloath your selues in this shamelesse fashion God shall cloath you with shame and confusion heare this yee plaister-faced Iezabels if you will not leaue your dawbing and your high washes GOD will one day wash them off with fire and brimstone I grant
say Come vp we will goe vp for God hath deliuered them into our hands If they say Tarry till we come to you we will stand still Ionathan was too wise to trust vnto a casuall presage There might be some farre fetcht coniectures of the euent from the word We will come to you was a threat of resolution Come you to vs was a challenge of feare or perhaps Come vp to vs was a word of insultation from them that trusted to the inaccessiblenesse of the place and multitudes of men Insultation is from pride pride argued a fâ—ll but faith hath nothing to doe with probabilities as that which acknowledgeth no Argument but demonstration If there hid not beene an instinct from GOD of this assured warrant of successe Ionathan had presumed in stead of beleeuing and had tempted that GOD whom hee professed to glorifie by his trust There can be no faith where there is no promise and where there is a promise there can be no presumption Words are voluntary The tongues of the Philistims were as free to say Tarry as Come That God in whom our very tongues moue ouerruled them so as now they shall speake that word which shall cut their owne throats They knew no more harme in Come then Tarry both were alike safe for the sound for the sense but he that put a signification of their slaughter in the one not in the other did put that word into their mouth whereby they might inuite their owne destruction The disposition of our words are from the prouidence of the Almighty God and our hearts haue not alwayes the same meaning in our speeches In those words which we speake at random or out of affectation God hath a further drift of his owne glory and perhaps our iudgement If wicked men say Our tongues are our owne they could not say so but from him whom they defie in saying so and who makes their tongue their executioner No sooner doth Ionathan heare this inuitation then hee answers it Hee whose hands had learned neuer to faile his heart puts himselfe vpon his hands and knees to climbe vp into this danger the exploit was not more difficult then the way the paine of the passage was equall to the perill of the enterprize that his faith might equally triumph ouer both he doth not say how shall I get vp much lesse which way shall I get downe againe but as if the ground were leuell and the action dangerlesse hee puts himselfe into the view of the Philistims Faith is neuer so glorious as when it hath most opposition and will not see it Reason lookes euer to the meanes Faith to the end and in stead of consulting how to effect resolues what shall be effected The way to heauen is more steepe more painfull O God! how perillous a passage hast thou appointed for thy labouring Pilgrims If difficulties will discourage vs we shall but climbe to fall When we are lifting vp our foot to the last step there are the Philistims of death of temptations to grapple with giue vs but faith and turne vs loose to the spight either of Earth or Hell Ionathan is now on the top of the hill and now as if he had an army at his heeles he flyes vpon the hoste of the Philistims his hands that might haue beene weary with climbing are immediately commanded to fight and deale as many deaths as blowes to the amazed enemie He needs not walke farre for this execution Himselfe and his Armour-bearer in one halfe acres space haue slaine twenty Philistims It is not long since Ionathan smote their Garison in the hill of Geba perhaps from that time his name and presence carried terror in it but sure if the Philistims had not seene and felt more then a man in the face and hands of Ionathan they had not so easily groueled in death The blowes and shrikes cannot but affect the next who with a ghastly noise ranne away from death and afright their fellowes no lesse then themselues are afrighted The clamour and feare runnes on like fire in a traine to the very formost rankes Euery man would flye and thinkes there is so much more cause of flight for that his eares apprehend all his eyes nothing Each man thinkes his fellow stands in his way and therefore in stead of turning vpon him which was the cause of their flight they bend their swords vpon those whom they imagine to be the hinderers of their flight and now a miraculous astonishment hath made the Philistims Ionathans Champions and Executioners He followes and kils those which helped to kill others and the more he killed the more they feared and fled and the more they killed each other in the flight and that feare it selfe might preuent Ionathan in killing them the earth it selfe trembles vnder them Thus doth God at once strike them with his owne hand with Ionathans with theirs and makes them runne away from life whiles they would flye from an enemie Where the Almighty purposes destruction to any people hee needs not call in forraigne powers he needs not any hands or weapons but their own He can make vast bodies die no other death then their owne waight We cannot be sure to be friends among our selues whiles God is our enemy The Philistims flye fast but the newes of their flight ouer-runnes them euen vnto Sauls Pomegranate Tree The Watchmen discerne afarre off a flight and execution search is made Ionathan is found missing Saul will consult with the Arke Hypocrites while they haue leisure will perhaps be holy For some fits of deuotion they cannot bee bettered But when the tumult encreased Sauls piety decreases It is now no season to talke with a Priest withdraw thine hand Ahaiah the Ephod must giue place to Armes It is more time to fight then to pray what needs he Gods guidance when he sees his way before him He that before would needs sacrifice ere hee fought will now in the other extreame fight in a wilfull indeuotion Worldly minds regard holy duties no further then may stand with their owne carnall purposes Very easie occasions shall interrupt them in their religious intentions like vnto children which if a Bird doe but flye in their way cast their eye from their booke But if Saul serue not God in one kind he will serue him in another if he honour him not by attending on the Arke hee will honour him by a vow His negligence in the one is recompenced with his zeale in the other All Israel is adiured not to eate any food vntill the euening Hypocrisie is euer masked with a blind and thanklesse zeale To wait vpon the Arke and to consult with Gods Priest in all cases of importance was a direct commandement of God To eate no food in the pursuit of their enemies was not commanded Saul leaues that which he was bidden and does that which he was not required To eate no food all day was more difficult then to attend an houre vpon
the rest had ingaged it selfe in Shebaes sedition yet how â—ealously doth Ioab remoue from himselfe the suspition of an intended vastation How fearfull shall their answer be who vpon the quarrell of their owne ambition haue not spared to waste whole Tribes of the Israel of God It was not the fashion of Dauids Captaines to assault any City ere they summond it here they did There bee some things that in the very â—act carie their owne conuiction So did Abel in the entertaining and abetting a knowne conspirator Ioab challenges them for the offence and requires no other satisfaction then the head of Sheba This Matron had not deserued the name of Wise and faithfull in Israel if she had not both apprehended the iustice of the condition and commended it to her Citizens whom she hath easily perswaded to spare their owne heads in not sparing a Traitors It had been pitie those wals should haue stood if they had beene to hye to throw a Traitors head ouer Spiritually the case is ours Euery mans brest is as a City inclosed Euery sinne is a Traitor that lurkes within those wals God cals to vs for Shebaes head neither hath he any quarrell to our person but for our sinne If wee loue the head of our Traitor aboue the life of our soule wee shall iustly perish in the vengeance we cannot be more willing to part with our sinne then our mercifull God is to withdraw his iudgements Now is Ioab returned with successe and hopes by Shebaes head to pay the price of Amasaes blood Dauid hates the murder entertaines the man defers the reuenge Ioab had made himselfe so great so necessary that Dauid may neither misse nor punish him Policy led the King to conniue at that which his heart abhorred I dare not commend that wisedome which holds the hands of Princes from doing iustice Great men haue euer held it a point of worldly state not alwayes to pay vvhere they haue been conscious to a debt of either fauour or punishment but to make Time their seruant for both Salomon shall once defray the arerages of his father In the meane time Ioab commands and prospers and Dauid is faine to smile on that face whereon he hath in his secret destination written the characters of Death The Gibeonites reuenged THE raigne of Dauid was most troublesome towards the shutting vp wherein both warre and famine conspire to afflict him Almost forty yeares had he sate in the throne of Israel with competency if not abundance of all things now at last are his people visited with a long death we are not at first sensible of common euils Three yeares drought and scarcitie are gone ouer ere Dauid consults with God concerning the occasion of the iudgement now he found it high time to seeke the face of the Lord The continuance of an affliction sends vs to God and cals vpon vs to aske for a reckoning Whereas like men strucken in their sleepe a sudden blow cannot make vs to finde our selues but rather astonisheth then teacheth vs. Dauid was himselfe a Prophet of God yet had not the Lord all this while acquainted him with the grounds of his proceedings against Israel this secret was hid from him till hee consulted with the Vrim Ordinarie meanes shall reueale that to him which no vision had descryed And if God will haue Prophets to haue recourse vnto the Priests for the notice of his will how much more must the people Euen those that are the inwardest with God must haue vse of the Ephod Iustly is it presupposed by Dauid that there was neuer iudgement from God where hath not been a prouocation from men therefore when he sees the plague he inquires for the sinne Neuer man smarted causelessely from the hand of diuine iustice Oh that when we suffer we could aske what wee haue done and could guide our repentance to the root of our euils That God whose counsels are secret euen where his actions are open will not bee close to his Prophet to his Priest without inquirie we shall know nothing vpon inquirie nothing shall be concealed from vs that is fit for vs to know Who can choose but wonder at once both at Dauids slacknesse in consulting with God and Gods speed in answering so slow a demand He that so well knew the way to Gods Oracle suffers Israel to be three yeares pinched with famine ere hee askes why they suffer Euen the best hearts may be ouertaken with dulnesse in holy dâ—ties But oh the maruellous mercy of God that takes not the aduantage of our weaknesses Dauids question is not more slow then his answer is speedy It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he slew the Gibeonites Israel was full of sinnes besides those of Sauls house Sauls house was full of sinnes besides those of blood Much blood was shed by them besides that of the Gibeonites yet the iustice of God singles out this one sinne of violence offered to the Gibeonites contrary to the league made by Ioshua some foure hundred yeares before for the occasion of this late vengeance Where the causes of offence are infinite it is iust with God to pitch vpon some it is mercifull not to punish for all Welneer forty yeares are past betwixt the commission of the sinne and the reckoning for it It is a vaine hope that is raised from the delay of iudgement No time can be any preiudice to the ancient of dayes When wee haue forgotten our sins when the world hath forgotten vs he sues vs afresh for our arerages The slaughter of the Gibeonites was the sinne not of the present but rather the former generation and now posteritie payes for their forefathers Euen we men hold it not vniust to sue the heires and executors of our debters Eternall paiments God vses onely to require of the person temporarie oft-times of succession As Saul was higher by the head and shoulders then the rest of Israel both in stature and dignitie so were his sinnes more conspicuous then those of the vulgar The eminence of the person makes the offence more remarkable to the eyes both of God and men Neither Saul nor Israel were faultlesse in other kinds yet God fixes the eye of his reuenge vpon the massacre of the Gibeonites Euery sinne hath a tongue but that of blood ouer-cryes and drownes the rest Hee who is mercy it selfe abhorres crueltie in his creature aboue all other inordinatenesse That holy soule which was heauy pressed with the weight of an hainous adulterie yet cryes out Deliuer me from blood O God the God of my saluation and my tongue shall sing ioyfully of thy righteousnesse If God would take account of blood hee might haue entred the action vpon the blood of Vriah spilt by Dauid or if hee would rather insist in Sauls house vpon the blood of Abimelech the Priest and fourescore and fiue persons that did weare a linnen Ephod but it pleased the wisdome and iustice of the Almighty rather to
of ioy and thankfulnesse Hee knew well this meteor was not at the biggest it was newly borne of the wombe of the waters and in some minutes of age must grow to a large stature stay but a while and Heauen is couered with it From how small beginnings haue great matters arisen It is no otherwise in all the gracious proceedings of God with the soule scarce sensible are those first workes of his spirit in the heart which grow vp at last to the wonder of men and applause of Angels Well did Elijah know that God who is perfection it selfe would not defile his hand with an inchoate and scanted fauour as one therefore that fore-saw the face of heauen ouer-spread with this cloudy spot hee sends to Ahab to hasten his Charet that the raine stop him not It is long since Ahab feared this let neuer was the newes of a danger more welcome Doubtlesse the King of Israel whiles hee was at his diet lookt long for Elijahs promised showers where is the raine whose sound the Prophet heard how is it that his eares were so much quicker then our eyes Wee saw his fire to our terrour how gladly would we see his Waters When now the seruant of Elijah brings him newes from heauen that the clouds were setting forward and if hee hastened not would be before him The winde arises the clouds gather the sky thickens Ahab betakes him to his Charet Elijah girds vp his loynes and runnes before him Surely the Prophet could not want the offer of more ease in his passage but he will be for the time Ahabs lacquey that the King and all Israel may see his humility no lesse than his power and may confesse that the glory of those miracles hath not made him insolent Hee knew that his very sight was monitorie neither could Ahabs minde be beside the miraculous workes of God whiles his eye was vpon Elijah neither could the Kings heart be otherwise then well-affected towards the Prophet whiles he saw that himselfe and all Israel had receiued a new Life by his procurement But what newes was here for Iezebel Certainly Ahab minced nothing of the report of all those astonishing accidents If but to salue vp his owne honour in the death of those Baalites hee made the best of Elijahs merits hee told of his challenge conflict victorie of the fire that fell downe from Heauen of the conuiction of Israel of the vnauoidable execution of the Prophets of the prediction and fall of those happy showers and lastly of Elijahs officious attendance Who would not haue expected that Iezebel should haue said It is no striuing no dallying with the Almightie No reasonable creature can doubt after so prodigious a decision God hath wonne vs from Heauen hee must possesse vs Iustly are our seducers perished None but the God that can command fire and water shall bee ours There is no Prophet but his But shee contrarily in stead of relenting rageth and sends a message of death to Elijah So let the gods doe to mee and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time Neither scourges nor fauours can worke any thing with the obstinately wicked All euill hearts are not equally dis-affected to good Ahab and Iezebel were both bad enough yet Ahab yeelds to that worke of God which Iezebel stubbornly opposeth Ahab melts with that water with that fire wherewith Iezebel is hardened Ahab was bashfully Iezebel audaciously impious The weaker sexe is euer commonly stronger in passion and more vehemently caried with the sway of their desires whether to good or euill She sweares and stamps at that whereat shee should haue trembled She sweares by those gods of hers which were not able to saue their Prophets that she will kill the Prophet of God who had scorned her gods and slaine her Prophets It is well that Iezebel could not keepe counsell Her threat preâ—eâ—ted him whom shee had meant to kill The wisedome and power of God could â—â—ue found euasions for his Prophet in her greatest secresie but now he needs no other meanes of rescue but her owne lips She is no lesse vaine then the gods shee sweares by In spight of her fury and her oath and her gods Elijah shall liue At once shall she finde her selfe frustrate and forsworne She is now ready to bite her tongue to eat her heart for anger at the disappointment of her cruell Vow It were no liuing for godly men if the hands of Tyrants were allowed to be as bloody as their hearts Men and Deuils are vnder the restraint of the Almighty neither are their designes more lauish then their executions short Holy Elijah flees for his life wee heare not of the command of God but we would willingly presuppose it So diuine a Prophet should doe nothing without God His heeles were no new refuge As no where safe within the ten Tribes hee flees to Beersheba in the Territories of Iudah as not there safe from the machinations of Iezebel hee flees alone one dayes iourney into the wildernesse there hee sits him downe vnder a Iuniper tree and as weary of life no lesse then of his way wishes to rise no more It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better then my Fathers O strange and vncouth mutation What is this wee heare Elijah fainting and giuing vp that heroicall spirit deiected and prostrate Hee that durst say to Ahabs face It is thou and thy fathers house that troubleth Israel hee that could raise the dead open and shut the Heauens fetch downe both fire and water with his prayers hee that durst chide and contest with all Israel that durst kill the foure hundred and fifty Baalites with the sword doth hee shrinke at the frownes and threats of a woman doth hee wish to be rid of his life because hee feared to lose it Who can expect an vndaunted constancie from flesh and blood when Elijah failes The strongest and holiest Saint vpon earth is subiect to some qualmes of feare and infirmitie To bee alwayes and vnchangeably good is proper onely to the glorious Spirits in heauen Thus the wise and holy God will haue his power perfited in our weaknesse It is in vaine for vs whiles wee carie this flesh about vs to hope for so exact health as not to be cast downe sometimes with fits of spirituall distemper It is no new thing for holy men to wish for death Who can either maruell at or blame the desire of aduantage For the weary traueller to long for rest the prisoner for libertie the banished for home it is so naturall that the contrary disposition were monstrous The benefit of the change is a iust motiue to our appetition but to call for death out of a satietie of life out of an impatience of suffering is a weaknesse vnbeseeming a Saint It is not enough O Elijah God hath more worke yet for thee thy God hath more honoured thee