in vaine and spends his strength for nought no better fared it with him in his ministerie than it fareth with vs the Ministers of thy Gospell Scarce a tenth is gathered And yet we cannot wonder that it fareth so with vs For can we who are but rude in speech and of a slow tongue hope for that which so rare a Rhetorician found not little or no fruit could he see of all his trauels and yet he doth not faint but with an inuincible constancy goes on in performing his propheticall function Oh! how sorts the humour of many with this his practise such is the impatiencie of our hearts that except we see present reformation in those we haue to deale withall we are ready with Ieremiah to resolue to speake no more in the name of God It is noted as his blemish and the word of God giues him no rest vntill he had altered his resolution But what course wilt thou now take oh thou man of God with this obdurate people Their hearts are fully set in them to doe euill they will not obey nay which is worse they will not heare thee would they listen to thy Sermons there were some hope they might be wrought vpon but turning away the eare what hope is left Tell vs then oh noble Prophet what wilt thou doe let vs be so bold with thee as to aske the question and be so fauourable as to acquaint vs with thy purpose Now will I sing to my well-beloued a song of my beloued touching his vineyard c. q. d. I see indeed they lightly set by my ordinary Sermons and therefore I purpose to leaue my accustomed manner of prophesying and fall to singing being vnto them rather as a Poet than as a Prophet that so by their owne delights they may be allured Thus God seekes to draw vs to himselfe with those baits which are somewhat agreeable to our pallar he doth compose himselfe to our disposition and euen as face answereth face in a glasse so doth he apply himselfe to fit the humors of mortall men Doe the Sages loue starres and dreames a bright shining starre and a dreame shall instruct them in the truth of God and direct them vnto Christ Doth Saint Peter loue fishing he shall be wonne by a great draught of fishes Doth Augustin loue eloquence Ambrose by his eloquence shall catch him at a Sermon What is it that can win vs which way soeuer our desires stand that is not sinfull God doth in his word allure vs The best things in earth and heauen are made our bait Let vs yeeld our selues therefore to be caught for with these doth the Lord seeke vs not for any need that he hath of vs but for our owne saluation In which Song we haue a Parable proposed of a fruitlesse Vineyard which after great care and cost of the painfull Husbandman bestowed on it is left desolate and forsaken for its barrennesse The Argument of it seemeth not to differ from that of the fore-going Chapters here being nothing said that for substance was not before taught The difference that is is only in circumstance the stile and method only being altered and changed The Scope and drift of the Prophet is first to get audience and attention And therefore he chooseth to deliuer his message in the sweetnesse of verse rather than in prose that so the eare hauing that which delighted it might without tediousnesse listen to that which was taught which being listened vnto might the better and more kindlier worke vpon them And questionlesse by this course he got him hearers for many would flocke to heare him sing who would not step ouer the threshold to heare him in his wonted veine Secondly that they might the sooner learne and better retaine what he did teach them For Verse being composed of certaine Musicall proportions both in the number and measure of feet and syllables are sooner and with greater delight learned and once being learned are longer retained as by experience we finde that our common people haue many vnwritten songs which are older than their great Grand-fathers Father those they learnt being children and neuer forget againe vntill their death yea by this meanes the remembrance of some things haue beene kept from many ages past which both Historie and Tradition had else for euer left neglected and forgotten Thirdly that he might bring them to a sight of their ingratitude and draw from them an impartiall sentence against themselues For looke as it is with the eie which both seeth and correcteth all other things saue it selfe so is it with the sinner when his owne case is proposed to him not as his owne but in the person of another he will soone see the fault and passe a iust sentence on it but else it cannot be espied Whiles wise Nathan was querulously discoursing of the cruell rich man that had forcibly taken away the only Lambe of his poore neighbour how willingly doth Dauid listen to the storie and how sharply euen aboue law doth he censure the fact As the Lord liueth the man that hath done this thing shall surely die See how Iusticers we can be to our very owne crimes in others persons Had he knowne on whom the sentence would haue light it should not haue beene so heauie but now he is selfe-condemned The like was our Sauiours practise with the Scribes and Pharises in propounding that Parable of perfidious Husbandmen who beat the Seruants that were sent to receiue the fruits of the Vineyard and slew the heire and not without the like successe For being asked what the Lord of the Vineyard would doe to such they answer He will cruelly destroy them and let out the Vineyard to others Then Christ infers Therefore I say vnto you the Kingdome of God shall be taken from you and giuen to a Nation that will bring forth the fruits thereof And this is the reason why our Prophet doth not only sing but sings a Parabolicall song propounding the truth in such an obscure manner vnder a continued similitude or allegorie like some expert Physitian who so cunningly wraps vp his pils and conueyes his dose that it begins to worke ere it be tasted And surely there is no one thing wherein is more vse of wisdome than in the due contriuing of a reprehension which in a discreet deliuery helps the disease in an vnwise destroies nature In which Song consider we First the Prooem or Preface to it verse 1. Secondly the Poem it selfe or body of it verse 1 -8 The Prooem in these words Now will I sing to my well-beloued a song of my beloued touching his Vineyard wherein these particulars are obseruable First the Inditer or Author Instrumentall intimated in this particle I. Secondly the kinde of Treatise indited A Song Thirdly the manner of the Prophets publishing and deliuering it Will sing Fourthly the Dedication of it To his well-beloued Fifthly
truth the one is in regard of the godly and such as feare the Lord that they may not be taken at vnawares but may be awakened out of their securitie and timely preuent those iudgements threatned as those did who vpon the hearing of that plague of haile which Moses foretold would fall on Egypt sent their seruants to fetch their cattell into their houses The other is that the wicked may be left without excuse in the day of wrath If I had not come and spoken vnto them they had had no sinne but now they haue no cloake for their sinne saith our blessed Sauiour These may be some reasons why God giues a Caueat before his Capias and doth warne before he wound And is this Gods vsuall dealing why then are wee smitten plagued punished Were we not forewarned of iudgement Oh our wilfulnesse and folly Oh whom oh man canst thou lay the fault whom wilt thou charge with thy smart Canst thou iustly say Gods silence was any cause thereof Hath not he shot off many a warning peece and sounded many an alarum before he set himselfe in battell-array against thee In the secret of thy soule thou knowest he hath done thus Often and often he hath by his seruants the Ministers warned thee of danger at the doore and by thy owne conscience many a time reproued thee and premonished thee of future vengeance He hath not played the part of a subtill enemie and stollen vpon thee at vnawares but as Tamberlane that warlike Scythian displayed first a white Flagge in token of mercie and then a red menacing and threatning bloud before that blacke Flagge the messenger and ensigne of death was hung abroad Accuse not the Lord then of any hard dealing but the hardnesse of thy owne heart which will take no warning Hee need not to giue thee any warning of his iudgements thou gauest him no warning of thy sinnes no respit yet that God might approue his mercies to thee he giues thee warning and respit of repenting How loth art thou oh blessed God to strike that threats before He that delights in reuenge surprises his aduersarie whereas he that giues warning desires to be preuented Were we not wilfull what need wee euer feele smart Oh that this might teach vs wisdome to see the euill and flie from it which that we may the better doe let vs diligently obserue the vsual waies whereby the Lord premonisheth and they are sundrie As first By the miniserie of his seruants the Prophets whereby he foretelleth when wrath is readie to fall vpon vs for our sinnes By them he foretold the Israelites of the King of the Caldeans comming vp against them whom they laughed to scorne and contemned and by them Ierusalem was fore-warned as was before noted Their threatnings therefore and menaces should not bee lightly despised but feared not passed ouer but preuented not derided but applied to our consciences For though they die yet Gods word shall liue and his iudgements they denounced seize vpon vs except we die to sinne By signes and wonders of which sort was that Earthquake which happened in Vzziahs daies in the whole Countrey And those strange apparitions seene in the heauens a little before the destruction of Ierusalem as that Blazing starre like a sword which hung ouer the Citie a whole yeeres space Horses and Chariots with armed troopes of men seene in the aire the Eclipse of the Moone for twelue nights together with many other wonders whereof Iosephus hath at large written as that voice heard in the Temple the night before the Feast of Pentecost Let vs depart from hence And the constant crying of one about the walles for a long space Woe woe woe to Ierusalem and the like And thus doth God forewarne vs of the end of the world as our blessed Sauiour sheweth 3 By lesser and lighter iudgements by gentle and fatherly corrections that by them we may be brought to turne vnto him and so escape further vengeance Thus were the Israelites often warned from the Lord sometimes he smote them with Blastings and Mildewes and at other times by giuing their Gardens Vineyards Fig-trees and Oliue-trees to the Palmer-worme to deuoure and when these warnings would not serue then he sent amongst them the Pestilence after the manner of Egypt and slew their young men with the sword and tooke away their horses c. And when nothing would serue he ouerthrew them as he ouerthrew Sodome and Gomorrah And so our Sauiour hauing foretold many euils that should come vpon Ierusalem for their contempt of the Gospell and refusing of grace offered addeth All these are but the beginnings of sorrowes the end is not yet There were more in number and greater in weight to follow after these Thus lesser iudgements are as it were the prints of Gods foot whereby we may trace him if he be come out against vs. 4 By the death of the godly and such as feare his name are future iudgements forewarned especially if they be such as are great and eminent whether in Church or Common-wealth If these be taken away it is a fearefull signe that some grieuous iudgement will ouertake the remnant of the people This is that wherof our Prophet Esay speaketh Behold the Lord the Lord of hosts doth take away from Ierusalem the mightie man and the man of warre the Iudge and the Prophet and the prudent and the ancient The Captains of fiftie and the honourable man and the Counsellor c. And elsewhere thus The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to his heart and mercifull men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the euill to come Thus was that good King Iosiah dealt withall not long after whose death followed the Captiuitie of Babel In that graue wherein he was interred the libertie glory and peace of Iewrie lay also buried And so Luther after whose death presently followed that miserable calamitie vpon Germany which hee had often foretold would come vpon them for their contempt of the Word and which he desired he might neuer liue to see as Caluin obserues in his Comment vpon that place of Isay last quoted These are some wayes whereby the Lord fore-warneth vs that euill is at hand and therefore it behoueth vs when by any of these he premonisheth vs of danger nigh we prepare to meet him and preuent it And surely if euer there was cause then now there is why we should humble our selues before him in sackcloth and ashes for who can be ignorant of the many warnings we haue had in each particular kinde The Turtles of this Land haue groaned out the sad tunes of woe and misery God hath so guided the hearts and tongues of his Ministers as that they all euen as one man doe constantly crie out with that Iesus the sonne of Anani a little before the destruction of
delay with the weight of vengeance His mill grindes slow but yet sure and small And this while he beares he is but a fetching of the blow and the higher he lifts the heauier it lights Now hee is preparing his deadly arrowes this time he takes to fit them to the string and because hee meanes not to misse the marke he stands long at leuell and drawes far euen to the head that his arrowes may pierce deepe euen to the soule Take Ierusalem for an ensample and set that famous Citie before thine eyes Did euer any people taste more of Gods patience or drinke deeper of the cup of his mercifull forbearance than Ierusalem famous Ierusalem did How long did he spare them how many wayes did he forewarne them And when nothing would serue how was his patience turned into furie Not one stone left vpon another and the inhabitants and their posteritie made slaues and vagabonds for this 1600 yeeres Say not then with Agag Surely the bitternesse of death is past because thou art a while forborne No no the longer before the reckoning the greater the account will be And euermore remember that there is no wrath so furiously outragious as that which ariseth from patience long obstinately abused See therefore in the next place thou beest admonished to beware how thou abusest this patience and long-suffering of the Lord And see thou follow the Apostles direction Let it leade thee to repentance Happy thou if thou doe thus vse it And indeed except thou dost so thou neuer makest the true and proper vse thereof There is mercy with thee that thou maiest bee feared saith that Kingly Prophet Gods children doe feare God and his goodnesse and feare to offend God in regard of his goodnesse Ioseph reasons thus My Master hath dealt thus kindly with mee c. how then can I commit this great wickednesse So must all Gods children reason Againe this may be for Imitation As God is and hath beene towards vs patient and long-suffering so let vs bee towards others That hastie spirit of calling for fire from heauen for euery disobedience was sharply reproued by our blessed Sauiour Let vs learne to haue an eie to the rich patience of our God who is daily by vs prouoked and after his example tolerate the froward infirmities of our ignorant brethren with meeknesse instructing them rather than with rashnesse of zeale reiecting them and in case of wrong say not I will recompence euill It was a good speech and comming out of a Heathens mouth deserues the more regard I will willingly neither suffer wrong nor doe it but if I must chuse one I will rather chuse to suffer than to doe But why speake I of the Heathen vnlesse to shame vs when we haue God himselfe to imitate How patient is he towards reprobates and vessels of his wrath If thou puttest vp an iniury patiently once or twice thou hast thy selfe highly in admiration and in thy owne conceit deseruest to bee chronicled for a rare patterne of patience But God doth beare with thee and other many thousand times in a day write after that copy and forgiue not seuen times but seuenty times seuen times if thou beest so often wronged And be thou transformed into the same image of God from glory to glory Lastly hence may perplexed and disquietted consciences who tremble vnder Gods hand fearing the power of his wrath by reason of their sinnes haue a vse of Comfort for the lifting of them vp It is Gods nature to be patient be not therefore out of hope Hee is long ere he be prouoked and when he is prouoked easie to be appeased An earthly father will not take euery aduantage against his childe hee will tell him and forewarne him before hee doth correct and punish him And why should we thinke God harder than our selues How long beares he with such as neuer grieue mourne nor complaine of sinne will he then be hasty to marke what is done amisse by such as grone vnder the burden of their corruptions He spareth such as neuer so much as say What haue I done and is it possible that he should not spare such as with the Prodigall crie out Father I haue sinned Certainly if the wicked fare so wel the godly shall fare much better and be thou perswaded so And thus much for the Premonition the Execution followes I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall bee eaten vp and breake downe the wall thereof and it shall be trodden downe c. Here according to our propounded method consider we first the Party punishing and who it is that doth inflict this iudgement on them and that is the Lord himselfe I will take away c. Thence obserue Gods holy hand hath a speciall stroake in those afflictions and visitations which are laid vpon his Church and befall his people whosoeuer be the instrument What truth more strongly confirmed in holy Writ than this Doe wee not there reade thus Affliction commeth not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground I forme the light and create darknesse I make peace and create euill I the Lord doe all these things The Lord shall rise vp as in mount Perazim he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon that hee may doe his worke his strange worke and bring to passe his act his strange act The Lord killeth and maketh aliue hee bringeth downe to the graue and bringeth vp The Lord maketh poore and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth vp I euen I am hee and there is no god with me I kill and I make aliue I wound and I heale neither is there any that can deliuer out of my hand And What euill is there in the City vnderstand it of the euill of punishment that I haue not done Hereupon doth the Church mutually exhort one another to returne vnto the Lord because he hath torne and hee will heale hee hath smitten and hee will binde vp And by S. Peter wee are instructed to Humble our selues vnder the mighty hand of God that hee may exalt vs in due time And hereupon Ioseph though of his enuious brethren sold into Aegypt saith God hath sent mee hither And Dauid being cursed by Shemei said God had bid him curse And Iob robbed by the Sabaeans saith God hath taken away And how can it otherwise be seeing that a sparrow falleth not to the ground nor a haire from off our heads without the prouidence of the Almighty as our Sauiour hath taught vs If then Gods prouidence reacheth to matters of such small weight it must needs reach to matters of greater moment If any now obiect That wicked and bad men yea the Deuill himselfe doth persecute Gods Church and sorely afflict his people and that the most euils which befall Gods children come
a Garden enclosed 73 It stands in need of daily looking to ibid. She is exposed to many dangers 74 She is deare vnto the Lord. 75 93 She is but one 76 99 The more the Church is afflicted the more she flourisheth 78 She is outwardly blacke but inwardly glorious ibid. It is her priuiledge that God is her keeper 89 Why the Deuill seekes to persecute her 93 She may be corrupted with Idolatry 95 Church in England not to be forsaken for some wants 97 Which the Papists make to bee the Catholike Church 99 Her enemies are but weake 245 The miseries of the Church should moue vs to pitty her 265 Christ only deserues our loue 61 Members of the Church receiue the sap of grace from him 76 All that are in the Church are not truly incorporated into Christ 77 Comparisons may lawfully be vsed 82 Company of the godly to be frequented 55 Mans Conscience shall iustifie Gods proceedings 182 The Conscience shal one day be awakned 183 The Cheeks of it not to be neglected 183 198 Contention and discord the beginnings of warre 264 Conuersation of Christians should bee such as that our aduersaries may iustifie it 185 The Creature is become mans Schoolemaster 86 A double vse to be made of them 88 They are a defence for the godly 111 They are Gods hoasts 286 All of them are against the wicked 287 The godly Conquer when they seeme conquered 253 God remembreth mercy in his Corrections 257 D DEath of the godly a forerunner of Iudgement 213 Necessity of Gods Decree no excuse for wickednesse 196 Discipline not wanting in our Church 97 It is not of the essence of the Church 133 Dignity of the godly very great 121 The Deuill hath not power ouer any creature but by Gods permission 246 How he is the God of this world 282 Authors of Diuision in the Church sinne fearefully 102 We must receiue nothing for Doctrine but what is grounded on Scripture 165 Dowry great giuen by Christ to his Spouse 62 Diuersity of gifts giuen by God for the good of the Church 16 E EArthly things afford heauenly instructions 83 Wee may make resemblances betwixt things Earthly and heauenly 82 What Errors make a Church to bee no Church 98 Enuy a sinne vnnaturall 101 The way how to become Excellent 125 The wicked Excuselesse 194 Excommunication a grieuous censure 115 Not to passe for small trifles 116 F FAith is the root of other graces 147 Personality of Faith needfull 149 Families to be purged of prophane persons 119 Famine how grieuous at the destruction of Ierusalem 259 Our owne Faults propounded in anothers person soone espied 6 Nothing to be attributed vnto Fortune 227 Fruit bring forth to God 94 By bearing Fruit we glorifie God 104 142 Such as are Fruitfull shall grow more fruitfull 106 Gods cost on vs should moue to Fruitfulnesse 136 Euery creature is in it kind Fruitfull 138 Fruitfulnesse of a Christian the ground-worke of prosperity 139 If we be Fruitfull there is no Law against vs. 140 It is high time we should bring forth Fruit. 141 We must first be transplanted and set into Christ before we can beare Fruit. 143 Such as are in Christ bring forth Fruit incontinent 144 The properties of good Fruit. 149 G GArison strong about the godly 112 The Godly are runne to in the day of trouble 80 God is the Protector of his people 111 He is the husbandman of his Church 89 God is not the Author of sinne 194 The Godly to bee esteemed aboue others 124 The exceed all others in growth in grace 77 God hath little Glory in the world 34 Gods Glory should be our aime in all our actions 32 The Godly preferre it before their owne saluation 35 By Glorifying God we bring glory to our selues 36 Iudgements fearefull on such as rob God of his Glory 36 We ought to Grow in grace 105 H HOw God Hardens 194 The godly Hated and why 93 Hearers must be carefull what they receiue for Gospell 65 They may not rashly censure their Teachers for some disabilities 271 They must pray for them 272 Hearers must suffer the word of application as well as of doctrine 280 They may not finde fault with their teachers for their plainnesse 83 Heauens are diligent learned and Catholike Pastors 34 Humane testimonies may lawfully be alledged in Sermons 14 God Husbands his people 89 Husbandry a commendable vocation ibid. Submit our selues to Gods Husbandry 91 How to know whether God hath Husbanded the heart 90 Hypocrisie in the end shal be discouered 133 Humility and tendernesse of heart to bee laboured for 145 I I Dolaters not to be familiar withall 118 Ignorance no good plea. 86 Impropriations held by an improper title where some obiections answered 304 Ingrossers are oppressors 311 Irreligious persons enemies to King and State 118 Isaiah a noble Prophet and eloquent together with his death 2 He fainted not in his function 3 He was of Christs kindred 9 Iudgements of God diuers waies foretold 212 The way to preuent Gods Iudgements is to Iudge our selues 184 Iustice in our dealings the touchstone of true Religion 298 K KIndred of the godly noble 120 Kingdome weakned by sinne 242 Knowledge of God a meanes to loue God 53 Sinnes against Knowledge fearefull 199 L LAndlords many are oppressors 310 Law-suits are durable 309 No Law against the godly 140 Leaues of profession not enough 146 Loue God before all 53 Christ only deserues our Loue. 61 How our Loue to God may be discouered 42 The way to bring our hearts to Loue the Lord. 53 We may not answer God in any thing except in Loue. 54 Lewd Life of a Professor dishonours God 37 Sinfull Lusts ouershadow the soule 146 God is the absolute Lord ouer all 282 M MAgistrates as the head should gouerne wisely 100 Priuate persons may not meddle with the office of Magistrates 101 Magistrates should back the Ministers of the Word with the vse of the temporall sword 116 Meeknesse to be shewed in our dealing with sinners 175 Sinnes against the Meanes fearefull 197 The more Meanes the more obedience doth God expect 270 To contemne the Meanes grieues the Lord. 200 No Meanes can reclaime the wicked 201 Meanes contemned causeth the Lord to depriue vs of them 267 Meanes to bring our hearts to loue God 53 Meanes to make vs fruitfull 143 It is fearefull to make our selues Merry with others sinnes 202 Ministers are builders stewards 279 Wherein they must shew themselues faithfull ibid. They must bee painfull in their function 109 They must wooe for Christ 58 They must deliuer nothing but by warrant from God 64 They must attend their callings 67 They should be well prouided for 68 They are the subordinate Husbandmen of the Church 89 Idle Ministers like Harlots 108 Ministers must seeke to God for ability to discharge their function 273 They may not be discouraged so as to surcease their paines 11 Their life is a spirituall piscation 11 They are not