that path there is no death and attending thereon Pr. 20.6 Pr. 12.2 all Blessings are vpon the head of the righteous Wouldst thou haue fauour A good man getteth fauour of the Lord. Ioy The righteous shall sing and reioyce and surely to a man that is good in his sight Pr. 29.6 Ec. 2.26 God giueth wisdome and knowledge and ioy so that the light of the righteous reioyceth but the candle of the wicked shall bee put out Preseruation and deliuerance Lo Pr. 13.9 Pr. 10.25 Pr. 10.29 Pr. 10.30 Pr. 11.4 Pr. 12.13 Pr. 11.8 Pr. 13.6 Pr. 15.6 Pr. 14.11 Pr. 10.27 Pr. 12.7 Ec. 8.12 Pr. 10.24 Pr. 29.18 the righteous is an euerlasting foundation for the way of the Lord is strength to the vpright man so as the righteous shall neuer be remoued and if he be in trouble Riches auaile not in the day of wrath but righteousnesse deliuereth from death so the righteous shall come out of aduersitie and escape out of trouble and the wicked shall come in his stead thus euery way Righteousnesse preserueth the vpright in heart Prosperity and wealth The house of the righteous shall haue much treasure and his tabernacle shall flourish Long life The feare of the Lord increaseth the daies and not onely himselfe but his house shall stand And though a sinner doe euill an hundred times and God prolong his daies yet know I that it shall be well to them that feare the Lord and doe reuerence before him And lastly whatsoeuer good God will grant the desire of the righteous and he that keepeth the Law is blessed §. 7. In the estate of wickednesse our good things are accursed Wealth Life Fame Deuotions Prayers Sacrifices Euill inflicted of Losse Paine Affliction Death Damnation Pr. 10.2 Pr. 10.3 COntrarily there is perfect misery in wickednesse Looke on all that might seeme good in this estate Wealth The treasures of the wicked profit nothing the Lord will not famish the soule of the righteous but he either casteth away the substance of the wicked Pr. 13.25 so that the belly of the wicked shall want or else employeth it to the good of his for the wicked shall be a ransome for the iust Pr. 21.18 Ec. 2.26 and to the sinner God giueth paine to gather and to heape to giue to him that is good before God The wicked man may bee rich Pr. 15.6 Pr. 10.27 Pr. 10.25 Pr. 12.7 Pr. 2.22 Ec. 8.13 but how The reuenues of the wicked is trouble Life The yeeres of the wicked shall be diminished As the whirl-wind passeth so is the wicked no more for God ouerthroweth the wicked and they are not Whatsoeuer therefore their hope be the wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be rotted out It shall not be well to the wicked neither shall he prolong his daies hee shall be like to a shadow because he feared not God Pr. 14.11 Pr. 10.7 yea the very house of the wicked shall be destroyed Fame Whereas the memoriall of the iust shall be blessed the name of the wicked shall rot yea looke vpon his best endeuours Pr. 15.29 Pr. 28.9 his Prayers The Lord is farre off from the wicked but heareth the prayer of the righteous farre off from accepting For Hee that turneth away his eare from hearing the Law Pr. 15.8 euen his prayer shall be abominable His sacrifice though well intended as all the rest of his waies is no better than abomination to the Lord how much more when he brings it with a wicked minde Pr. 15.9 Pr. 21.27 Pr. 12.26 Pr. 10.18 Pr. 13.9 Pr. 11.18 Pr. 26.10 Pr. 13.21 Pr. 5.22 Pr. 10.6 Pr. 29.6 Pr. 11.5 Pr. 13.6 Pr. 33.3 Pr. 11.31 Pr. 10.24 Pr. 5.23 And as no good so much euill whether of losse The way of the wicked will deceiue them their hope shall perish especially when they die their candle shall be put out their workes shall proue deceitfull Or of paine for the Excellent that formed all things rewardeth the foole and the transgressor and he hath appointed that Affliction should follow sinners Follow yea ouertake them His owne iniquity shall take the wicked himselfe and couer his mouth and hee shall be holden with the cords of his owne sinne euen in the transgression of the euill man is his snare so the wicked shall fall in his owne wickednesse for of it owne selfe iniquity ouerthroweth the sinner But besides that the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked though hand ioyne in hand he shall not be vnpunished behold the righteous shall be paid vpon earth how much more the wicked and the sinner That then which the wicked man feareth shall come vpon him both Death Hee shall die for default of instruction Pr. 11.19 Pr. 1◠32 Pr. 15.11 Pr. 12.2 Pr. 10.29 Pr. 19.29 and that by his owne hands for by following euill he seekes his owne death and after that damnation The wicked shall bee cast away for his malice Hell and destruction are before the Lord and a man of wicked imaginations will hee condemned so both in life in death after it nothing but Terrour shall be for the workers of iniquity where contrarily The feare of the Lord leadeth to life and hee that is filled therewith shall contiue and shall not be visited with euill SALOMONS ETHICKS THE SECOND BOOKE PRVDENCE §. 1. Of Vertue Wherein it consisteth Whereby it is ruled and directed VErtue consists in the meane vice in the extremes Pr. 4.26 Pr. 4.27 Let thy waies be ordered aright Turne not to the right hand nor to the left but remoue thy foot from euill The rule whereof it Gods Law Pr. 6.23 Pr. 30.5 Pr. 4.20 Pr. 4.21 Pr. 4.22 for the commandement is a Lanterne and instruction a light and euery word of God is pure My sonne hearken to my words incline thine eare to my sayings let them not depart from thine eyes but keepe them in the midst of thine heart For they are life vnto those that finde them and health vnto all their flesh Pr. 7.2 Pr. 7.3 Keepe my Commandements and thou shalt liue and mine instruction as the apple of thine eye Binde them vpon thy fingers and write them vpon the Table of thine heart All vertue is either Prudence Iustice Temperance Fortitude 1. Of Prudence which comprehends Wisdome Prouidence Discretion §. 2. Of wisdome the Description Effects It procures Knowledge Safety from sinne from iudgement Good direction for actions for words Wealth Honour Life THe prudent man is he whose eyes are in his head to see all things and to fore-see Ec. 2.14 Ec. 10.2 Pr. 8.12 Pr. 14.8 Pr. 9.12 Pr. 3.13 and whose heart is at his right hand to doe all dexterously and with iudgement Wisdome dwells with Prudence and findeth forth knowledge and counsels And to describe it The wisdome of the Prudent is to vnderstand his way his owne If thou be wise thou shalt be wise
though not so blessed yet so shalt thou be separated that my very dust shall be vnited to thee still and to my Sauiour in thee Wert thou vnwilling at the command of thy Creator to ioine thy selfe at the first with this body of mine why art thou then loth to part with that which thou hast found The Testimonies though intire yet troublesome Doest thou not heare Salomon say The day of death is better than the day of thy birth dost thou not beleeue him or art thou in loue with the worse and displeased with the better If any man could haue found a life worthy to be preferred vnto death so great a King must needs haue done it now in his very Throne he commends his Coffin Yea what wilt thou say to those Heathens that mourned at the birth and feasted at the death of their children They knew the miseries of liuing as well as thou the happinesse of dying they could not know and if they reioiced out of a conceit of ceasing to be miserable how shouldest thou cheere thy selfe in an expectation yea an assurance of being happy He that is the Lord of life and tried what it was to die hath proclaimed them blessed that die in the Lord. Those are blessed I know that liue in him but they rest not from their labours Toyle and sorrow is betweene them and a perfect enioying of that blessednesse which they now possesse onely in hope and inchoation when death hath added rest their happinesse is finished O death how sweet is that rest The taste of our Meditation wherewith thou refreshest the weary Pilgrims of this vale of mortalitie How pleasant is thy face to those eies that haue acquainted themselues with the sight of it which to strangers is grim and gastly How worthy art thou to be welcome vnto those that know whence thou art and whither thou tendest who that knowes thee can feare thee who that is not all nature would rather hide himselfe amongst the baggage of this vile life than follow thee to a Crowne what indifferent Iudge that should see life painted ouer with vaine semblances of pleasures attended with troupes of sorrowes on the one side and on the other with vncertaintie of continuance and certaintie of dissolution and then should turne his eyes vnto death and see her blacke but comely attended on the one hand with a momentanie paine with eternitie of glorie on the other would not say out of choice that which the Prophet said out of passion It is better for me to die than to liue But O my Soule what ailes thee to bee thus suddenly backward and fearefull The Complaint No heart hath more freely discoursed of death in speculation no tongue hath more extolled it in absence And now that it is come to thy beds-side and hath drawne thy curtaines and takes thee by the hand and offers thee seruice thou shrinkest inward and by the palenesse of thy face and wildnesse of thine eye bewraiest an amazement at the presence of such a ghest That face which was so familiar to thy thoughts is now vnwelcome to thine eies I am ashamed of this weake irresolution Whitherto haue tended all thy serious meditations what hath Christianitie done to thee if thy feares bee still heathenish Is this thine imitation of so many worthy Saints of God whom thou hast seene entertaine the violentest deaths with smiles and songs Is this the fruit of thy long and frequent instruction Didst thou thinke death would haue beene content with words didst thou hope it would suffice thee to talke while all other suffer Where is thy faith Yea where art thou thy selfe O my soule Is heauen worthy of no more thankes no more ioy Shall Heretikes shall Pagans giue death a better welcome than thou Hath thy Maker thy Redemer sent for thee and art thou loth to goe hath hee sent for thee to put thee in possession of that glorious Inheritance which thy wardship hath cheerefully expected and art thou loth to goe Hath God with this Sergeant of his sent his Angels to fetch thee and art thou loth to goe Rouze vp thy selfe for shame O my soule and if euer thou hast truly beleeued shake off this vnchristian diffidence and addresse thy selfe ioyfully for thy glory The Wish Yea O my Lord it is thou that must raise vp this faint and drooping heart of mine thou onely canst rid me of this weake and cowardly distrust Thou that sendest for my soule canst prepare it for thy selfe thou onely canst make thy messenger welcome to me O that I could but see thy face through death Oh that I could see death not as it was but as thou hast made it Oh that I could heartily pledge thee my Sauiour in this cup that so I might drinke new wine with thee in thy Fathers Kingdome The Confession But alas O my God nature is strong and weake in mee at once I cannot wish to welcome death as it is worthy when I looke for most courage I finde strongest temptations I see and confesse that when I am my selfe thou hast no such coward as I Let me alone and I shall shame that name of thine which I haue professed euery secure worldling shall laugh at my feeblenesse O God were thy Martyrs thus haled to their stakes might they not haue beene loosed from their rackes and chose to die in those torments Let it be no shame for thy seruant to take vp that complaint which thou mad'st of thy better Attendants The spirit is willing but the flesh is weake The Petition and enforcement O thou God of spirits that hast coupled these two together vnite them in a desire of their dissolution weaken this flesh to receiue and encourage this spirit either to desire or to contemne death and now as I grow neerer to my home let me increase in the sense of my ioyes I am thine saue me O Lord It was thou that didst put such courage into thine ancient and late witnesses that they either inuited or challenged death and held their persecutors their best friends for letting them loose from these gieues of flesh I know thine hand is not shortned neither any of them hath receiued more proofes of thy former mercies Oh let thy goodnesse inable me to reach them in the comfortable steddinesse of my passage Doe but draw this vaile a little that I may see my glory and I cannot but be inflamed with the desire of it It was not I that either made this body for the earth or this soule for my body or this heauen for my soule or this glorie of heauen or this entrance into glory All is thine owne worke Oh perfect what thou hast begun that thy praise and my happinesse may be consummate at once The assurance or Confidence Yea O my soule what need'st thou wish the God of mercies to be tender of his owne honour Art thou not a member of that body whereof thy Sauiour
is the Head canst thou drowne when thy Head is aboue was it not for thee that hee triumpht ouer death Is there any feare in a foyled aduersarie Oh my Redeemer I haue already ouercome in thee how can I miscarrie in my selfe O my soule thou hast marched valiantly Behold the Damosels of that heauenly Ierusalem come forth with Timbrels and Harps to meet thee and to applaud thy successe And now there remaines nothing for thee but a Crowne of righteousnesse which that righteous Iudge shall giue thee at that Day Oh Death where is thy sting Oh graue where is thy victorie The Thanksgiuing Returne now vnto thy rest O my soule for the Lord hath beene beneficiall vnto thee O Lord God the strength of my saluation thou hast couered my head in the day of battell O my God and King I will extoll thee and will blesse thy name for euer and euer I will blesse thee daily and praise thy Name for euer and euer Great is the Lord and most worthy to be praised and his greatnesse is incomprehensible I will meditate of the beautie of thy glorious Maiestie and thy wonderfull workes Hosanna thou that dwellest in the highest heauens Amen FINIS HOLY OBSERVATIONS LIB I. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON OF WALTHAM MY most bountifull Patron Grace and Peace RIGHT HONOVRABLE THis aduantage a Scholar hath aboue others that hee cannot be idle and that he can worke without instruments For the minde inured to contemplation will set it selfe on worke when other occasions faile and hath no more power not to studie than the eye which is open hath not to see some thing in which businesse it carries about his owne Librarie neither can complaine to want Bookes while it enioyeth it selfe J could not then neglect the commoditie of this plentifull leasure in my so easie attendance here but though besides my course and without the helpe of others writings must needs busie my selfe in such thoughts as J haue euer giuen account of to your Lordship such as J hope shall not be vnprofitable nor vnwelcome to their Patron to their Readers J send them forth from hence vnder your Honourable name to shew you that no absence no imployment can make mee forget my due respect to your Lordship to whom next vnder my gracious Master J haue deseruedly bequeathed my selfe and my endeuours Your goodnesse hath not wont to magnifie it selfe more in giuing than in receiuing such like holy presents the knowledge whereof hath intitled you to more labours of this nature if I haue numbred aright than any of your Peeres I misdoubt not either your acceptation or their vse That God who hath aboue all his other fauours giuen your Lordship euen in these carelesse times an heart truly religious giue you an happy increase of all his heauenly graces by my vnworthy seruice To his gracious care I daily commend your Lordship with my Honourable Lady wishing you both all that little ioy earth can affoord you and fulnesse of glory aboue Non-such Iuly 3. Your Lordships Most humbly deuoted for euer in all dutie and obseruance IOS HALL HOLY OBSERVATIONS 1 AS there is nothing sooner drie than a teare so there is nothing sooner out of season than worldly sorrow which if it bee fresh and still bleeding findes some to comfort and pittie it if stale and skinned ouer with time is rather entertained with smiles than commiseration But the sorrow of repentance comes neuer out of time All times are alike vnto that Eternitie whereto wee make our spirituall mones That which is past that which is future are both present with him It is neither weake nor vncomely for an old man to weepe for the sinnes of his youth Those teares can neuer be shed either too soone or too late 2 Some men liue to bee their owne executors for their good name which they fee not honestly buried before themselues die Some other of great place and ill desert part with their good name and breath at once There is scarce a vicious man whose name is not rotten before his carcasse Contrarily the good mans name is oft times heire to his life either borne after the death of the parent for that enuie would not suffer it to come forth before or perhaps so well growne vp in his life time that the hope thereof is the staffe of his age and ioy of his death A wicked mans name may be feared a while soone after it is either forgotten or cursed The good man either sleepeth with his body in peace or waketh as his soule in glory 3 Oft times those which shew much valour while there is equall possibilitie of life when they see a present necessitie of death are found most shamefully timorous Their courage was before grounded vpon hope that cut off leaues them at once desperate and cowardly whereas men of feebler spirits meet more cheerefully with death because though their courage be lesse yet their expectation was more 4 I haue seldome seene the sonne of an excellent and famous man excellent But that an ill bird hath an ill egge is not rare children possessing as the bodily diseases so the vices of their Parents Vertue is not propagated Vice is euen in them which haue it not reigning in themselues The graine is sowne pure but comes vp with chaffe and huske Hast thou a good sonne He is Gods not thine Is he euill Nothing but his sinne is thine Helpe by thy praiers and endeuours to take away that which thou hast giuen him and to obtaine from God that which thou hast and canst not giue Else thou maiest name him a possession but thou shalt finde him a losse 5 These things be comely and pleasant to see and worthy of honour from the beholder A young Saint an old Martyr a religious Souldier a conscionable Statesman a great man courteous a learned man humble a silent woman a childe vnderstanding the eie of his Parent a merry companion without vanitie a friend not changed with honour a sicke man cheerefull a soule departing with comfort and assurance 6 I haue oft obserued in merry meetings solemnly made that somewhat hath falne out crosse either in the time or immediatly vpon it to season as I thinke our immoderation in desiring or enioying our friends and againe euents suspected haue proued euer best God herein blessing our awfull submission with good successe In all these humane things indifferencie is safe Let thy doubts be euer equall to thy desires so thy disappointment shall not bee grieuous because thy expectation was not peremptorie 7 You shall rarely finde a man eminent in sundry faculties of minde or sundry manuarie trades If his memorie be excellent his fantasie is but dull if his fancie bee busie and quicke his iudgement is but shallow If his iudgement bee deepe his vtterance is
that may challenge and command our eares and hearts this is it for behold the sweetest word that euer Christ spake and the most meritorious act that euer he did are met together in this his last breath In the one yee shall see him triumphing yeelding in the other yet so as he ouercomes Imagine therefore that you saw Christ Iesus in this day of his passion who is euery day here crucified before your eyes aduanced vpon the Chariot of his Crosse and now after a weary conflict cheerefully ouer-looking the despight and shame of men the wrath of his Father the Law sinne death hell which all he gasping at his foot and then you shall conceiue with what spirit he saith Consummatum est It is finished What is finished Shortly All the prophesies that were of him All legall obseruations that prefigured him his owne sufferings our saluation The prophesies are accomplisht the ceremonies abolisht his sufferings ended our saluation wrought these foure heads shall limit this first part of my speech onely let them finde and leaue you attentiue Euen this very word is prophesied of All things that are written of mee haue an end saith Christ What end This it is finished This very end hath his end here What therefore is finished Not this prediction onely of his last draught as Augustine that were too particular Let our Sauiour himselfe say All things that are written of mee by the Prophets It is a sure and conuertible rule Nothing was done by Christ which was not foretold Nothing was euer foretold by the Prophets of Christ which was not done It would take vp a life to compare the Prophets and Euangelists ☜ ☞ Esay 7.14 Matth. 1.23 Michah 5.2 Matth. 2.6 Esay 11.1 Matth. 2.15 Ieremie 31.15 Matth. 2.18 Iudg. 13.5 Matth. 2. vlt. Esay 40.3 Matth. 3.2 Esay 9.1 Matth. 4.15 Leuit. 14.4 Matth. 8.4 Esay 53.4 Matth. 8.17 Esay 61.1 Matth. 11.4 Esay 42.1 Matth. 12.17 Ionah 1.17 Matth. 12.40 Esay 6.9 Matth. 13.14 Psalm 78.2 Matth. 13.35 Esay 35.5 6. Matth. 15.30 Esay 62.11 Matth. 21.5 Zach. 9.9 Matth. Ibidem Ieremie 7.11 Matth. 21.13 Psalm 8.2 Matth. 21.16 Esay 5.8 Matth. 21.33 Psal 118.22 Matth. 21.44 Psal 110.1 Matth. 22.44 Esay 3.14 Matth. 21.44 Psal 41.9 Matth. 26.31 Esay 53.10 Matth. 26.54 Zach. 13.7 Matth. 26.31 Lam. 4.20 Matth. 26.56 Esay 50.6 Matth. 26.67 Zach. 11.13 Matth. 27.9 Psalm 22.18 Matth. 27.35 Psalm 22.2 Matth. 27.46 Psalm 69.22 Matth. 27.48 the predictions and the history and largely to discourse how the one foretels and the other answers let it suffice to looke at them running Of all the Euangelists Saint Matthew hath beene most studious in making these references and correspondences with whom the burden or vndersong of euery euent is still vt impleretur That it might bee fulfilled Thus hath he noted if I haue reckoned them aright two and thirtie seuerall prophesies concerning Christ fulfilled in his birth life death To which S. Iohn adds many more Our speech must bee directed to his Passion Omitting the rest let vs insist in those He must be apprehended it was fore-prophesied The Anointed of the Lord was taken in their nets saith Ieremie but how he must be sold for what thirty siluer peeces and what must those doe buy a field all foretold And they tooke thirty siluer peeces the price of him that was valued and gaue them for the Potters field saith Zacharie miswritten Ieremie by one letter mistaken in the abbreuiation By whom That childe of perdition that the Scripture might bee fulfilled Which was hee It is foretold He that eateth bread with me saith the Psalmist And what shall his Disciples doe Runne away so saith the prophesie I will smite the shepherd and the sheepe shall bee scattered saith Zacharie What shall bee done to him Hee must be scourged and spet vpon behold not those filthy excrements could haue light vpon his sacred face without a prophesie I hid not my face from shame and spetting saith Esay What shall bee the issue In short he shall be led to death it is the prophesie The Messias shall bee slaine saith Daniel what death He must be lift vp Like as Moses lift vp the Serpent in the wildernesse so shall the Sonne of man bee lift vp Chrysostome saith well that some actions are parables so may I say some actions are prophesies such are all types of Christ and this with the formost Lift vp whither to the Crosse it is the prophesie hanging vpon a tree saith Moses how lift vp nailed to it so is the prophesie Foderunt manus They haue pierced my hands and my feet saith the Psalmist With what companie Two theeues With the wicked was hee numbred saith Esay Where Without the gates saith the prophesie What becomes of his garments They cannot so much as cast the dice for his coat but it is prophesied They diuided my garments and on my vestures cast lots saith the Psalmist Hee must die then on the Crosse but how voluntarily Not a bone of him shall be broken what hinders it loe there he hangs as it were neglected and at mercy yet all the raging Iewes no all the Deuils in hell cannot stir one bone in his blessed bodie It was prophesied in the Easter-Lamb and it must bee fulfilled in him that is the true Passeouer in spight of fiends and men how then hee must be thrust in the side behold not the very speare could touch his precious side being dead but it must be guided by a prophesie They shall see him whom they haue thrust thorow saith Zacharie what shall he say the while not his very words but are fore-spoken his complaint Eli Eli lammasabactani as the Chalde or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew Psalm 22.2 his resignation In manus tuas Into thy hands I commend my spirit Psal 31.5 his request Father forgiue them Hee prayed for the transgressors saith Esay And now when hee saw all these prophesies were fulfilled knowing that one remained he said I thirst Domine quid sitis saith one O Lord what thirstest thou for A strange hearing that a man yea that GOD and MAN dying should complaine of thirst Could hee endure the scorching flames of the wrath of his Father the curse of our sinnes those tortures of bodie those horrours of soule and doth he shrinke at his thirst No no he could haue borne his drought he could not beare the Scripture not fulfilled It was not necessitie of nature but the necessitie of his Fathers decree that drew forth this word I thirst They offered it before he refused it Whether it were an ordinarie potion for the condemned to hasten death as in the storie of M. Anthonie which is the most receiued construction or whether it were that Iewish potion whereof the Rabbines speake whose tradition was that the malefactor to be executed Sit mors mea in remissionâ—m omnium miquitatuÌ„ mearum Vt vsus rationis tollatur should after some good counsell from two
Redeemer If thou die not if not willingly thou goest contrary to him and shalt neuer meet him Si per singules diâ—s pro â—o moreremur qui nos dlexit non sic debitum exolueremus Chrys Though thou shouldest euery day die a death for him thou couldest neuer requite his one death and doest thou sticke at one Euery word hath his force both to him and thee he died which is Lord of life and commander of death thou art but a tenant of life a subiect of death and yet it was not a dying but a giuing vp not of a vanishing and airy breath but of a spirituall soule which after separation hath an entire life in it selfe Hee gaue vp the Ghost hee died that hath both ouercome and sanctified and sweetned death What fearest thou Hee hath pull'd out the sting and malignity of death If thou bee a Christian carry it in thy bosome it hurts thee not Darest thou not trust thy Redeemer If hee had not died Death had beene a Tyrant now hee is a slaue O Death where is thy sting O Graue where is thy victory Yet the Spirit of God saith not hee died but gaue vp the ghost The very Heathen Poet saith Hee durst not say that a good man dies It is worth the noting me thinkes that when Saint Luke would describe to vs the death of Annanias and Sapphirâ— hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee expired but when Saint Iohn would describe Christs death hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He gaue vp the ghost How How gaue he it vp and whither So as after a sort he retained it his soule parted from his body his Godhead was neuer distracted either from soule or body this vnion is not in nature but in person If the natures of Christ could be diuided each would haue his subsistence so there should be more persons God forbid one of the natures thereof may haue a separation in it selfe the soule from the body one nature cannot bee separate from other or either nature from the person If you cannot conceiue wonder the Sonne of God hath wedded vnto himselfe our humanity without all possibility of diuorce the body hangs on the Crosse the soule is yeelded the Godhead is 〈◊〉 vnited to them both acknowledges sustaines them both The soule in his agony foules not the presence of the Godhead the body vpon the Crosse â—â—â—les not the presence of the soule Yet as the Fathers of Chalcedon say truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indiuisibly inseparably is the Godhead with both of these still and euer one and the same person The Passion of Christ as Augustine was the sleepe of his Diuinity so I may say The death of Christ was the sleepe of his humanitie If hee sleepe hee shall doe well said that Disciple of Lazarus Death was too weake to dissolue the eternall bonds of this heauenly coniunction Let not vs Christians goe too much by sense wee may bee firmely knit to God and not feele it thou canst not hope to be so neere thy God as Christ was vnited personally thou canst not feare that God should seeme more absent from thee Quantumcunque te dâ—ieceris haâ—iâ—ior non eris Christo Hieron than he did from his own Son yet was he still one with both body and soule when they were diuided from themselues when he was absent to sense he was present to faith when absent in vision yet in vnion one and the same so will he be to thy soule when hee is at worst Hee is thine and thou are his if thy hold seeme loosened his is not When temptations will not let thee see him he sees thee and possesses thee onely beleeue thou against sense aboue hope and though he kill thee yet trust in him Whither gaue he it vp Himselfe expresses Father into thy hands And This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradise It is iustice to restore whence wee receiue Into thy hands Hee knew where it should be both safe and happy True he might bee bold thou sayest as the Sonne with the Father The seruants haue done so Dauid before him Stephen after him And lest we should not thinke it our common right Father saith hee I will that those thou hast giuen mee may bee with mee euen where I am he wils it therefore it must bee It is not presumption but faith to charge God with thy spirit neither can there euer be any beleeuing soule so meane that he should refuse it all the feare is in thy selfe how canst thou trust thy iewell with a stranger What sudden familiarity is this God hath beene with thee and gone by thee thou hast not saluted him and now in all the haste thou bequeathest thy soule to him On what acquaintance How desperate is this carelesnesse If thou haue but a little money whether thou keepe it thou layest it vp in thy Temple of trust or whether thou let it thou art sure of good assurance sound bonds If but a little land how carefully doest thou make firme conueiances to thy desired heires If goods thy Will hath taken secure order who shall enioy them Wee need not teach you Citizens to make sure worke for your estates If children thou disposest of them in trades with portions onely of thy soule which is thy selfe thou knowest not what shall become The world must haue it no more thy selfe wouldest keepe it but thou knowest thou canst not Sathan would haue it thou knowest not whether he shall thou wouldest haue God haue it and thou knowest not whether he will yea thy heart is now ready with Pharaoh to say Who is the Lord O the fearefull and miserable estate of that man that must part with his soule he knowes not whither which if thou wouldest auoid as this very warning shall iudge thee if thou doe not be acquainted with God in thy life that thou mayest make him the Guardian of thy soule in thy death Giuen vp it must needs be but to him that hath gouerned it if thou haue giuen it to Sathan in thy life how canst thou hope God will in thy death entertaine it Did you not hate me and expell mee out of my fathers house how then come yee to mee now in this time of your tribulation said Iephta to the men of Gilead No no either giue vp thy soule to God while he cals for it in his word in the prouocations of his loue in his afflictions in the holy motion of his spirit to thine or else when thou wouldest giue it he will none of it but as a Iudge to deliuer it to the Tormentor What should God doe with an vncleane drunken prophane proud couetous soule Without holinesse it is no seeing of God Depart from me ye wicked I know ye not Goe to the gods you haue serued See how God is euen with men they had in the time of the Gospell said to the holy name of Israel Depart from vs now in the time of iudgement he
brethren Craftily yet and vnder pretence of a false title had they acknowledged the victory of Gideon with what forehead could they haue denied him bread Now I know not whether their faithlesnesse or enuy lie in their way Are the hands of Zeba and Zalmunna in thy hands There were none of these Princes of Succoth and Penuel but thought themselues better men then Gideon That he therefore alone should doe that which all the Princes of Israel durst not attempt they hated and scorned to heare It is neuer safe to measure euents by the power of the instrument nor in the causes of God whose calling makes the difference to measure others by our selues There is nothing more dangerous then in holy businesses to stand vpon comparisons and our owne reputation sith it is reason God should both chuse and blesse where he lists To haue questioned so sudden a victory had been pardonable but to deny it scornfully was vnworthy of Israelites Carnall men thinke that impossible to others which themselues cannot doe From hence are their censures hence their exclamations Gideon hath vowed a fearefull reuenge and now performes it the taunts of his brethren may not stay him from the pursuit of the Midianites Common enmities must first be opposed domesticall at more leysure The Princes of Succoth feared the tyranny of the Midianitish Kings but they more feared Gideons victory What a condition hath their enuy drawne them into that they are sorry to see Gods enemies captiue that Israels freedome must be their death that the Midianites and they must tremble at one and the same Reuenger To see themselues prisoners to Zeba and Zalmunna had not been so fearefull as to see Zeba and Zalmunna prisoners to Gideon Nothing is more terrible to euill mindes then to reade their owne condemnation in the happy successe of others hell it selfe would want one piece of his torment if the wicked did not know those whom they contemned glorious I know not whether more to commend Gideons wisedome and moderation in the proceedings then his resolution and iustice in the execution of this businesse I doe not see him run furiously into the City and kill the next His sword had not been so drunken with bloud that it should know no difference But he writes down the names of the Princes and singles them forth for reuenge When the Leaders of God come to a Iericho or Ai their slaughter was vnpartiall not a woman or child might liue to tell newes but now that Gideon comes to a Succoth a City of Israelites the rulers are called forth to death the people are frighted with the example not hurt with the iudgement To enwrappe the innocent in any vengeance is a murderous iniustice Indeed where all ioyne in the sin all are worthy to meet in the punishment It is like the Citizens of Succoth could haue been glad to succour Gideon if their rulers had not forbidden they must therefore escape whiles their Princes perish I cannot thinke of Gideons reuenge without horror That the Rulers of Succoth should haue their flesh torne from their backs with thornes and briers that they should bee at once beaten and scratcht to death What a spectacle it was to see their bare bones looking some-where thorow the bloudy ragges of their flesh and skinne and euery stroke worse then the last death multiplied by torment Iustice is sometimes so seuere that a tender beholder can scarce discerne it from cruelty I see the Midianites fare lesse ill the edge of the sword makes a speedy and easie passage for their liues whiles these rebellious Israelites dye lingringly vnder thornes and bryers enuying those in their death whom their life abhorred Howsoeuer men liue or dye without the pale of the Church a wicked Israelite shall be sure of plagues How many shall vnwish themselues Christians when Gods reuenges haue found them out The place where Iacob wrestled with God and preuailed now hath wrestled against God and takes a fall they see God auenging which would not beleeue him deliuering It was now time for Zeba and Zalmunna to follow those their troops to the graue whom they had led in the field Those which the day before were attended with an hundred thirty fiue thousand followers haue not so much as a Page now left to weep for their death and haue liued onely to see all their friends and some enemies dye for their sakes Who can regard earthly greatnesse that sees one night change two of the greatest Kings of the World into captiues It had been both pitty and sinne that the Heads of that Midianitish tyranny into which they had drawn so many thousands should haue escaped that death And yet if priuate reuenge had not made Gideon iust I doubt whether they had died The bloud of his brothers cals for theirs and awakes his sword to their execution He both knew and complained of the Midianitish oppression vnder which Israel groned yet the cruelty offered to all the thousands of his Fathers sonnes had not drawne the bloud of Zeba and Zalmunna if his owne mothers sonnes had not bled by their hands He that slew the Rulers of Succoth and Penuel spared the people now hath slain the people of Midian and would haue spared their Rulers but that God which will finde occasions to winde wicked men into iudgement will haue them slaine in a priuate quarrel which had more deserued it for the publike If we may not rather say that Gideon reuenged these as a Magistrate not as a brother For Gouernours to respect their owne ends in publike actions and to weare the sword of iustice in their owne sheath it is a wrongfull abuse of authority The slaughter of Gideons brethren was not the greatest sinne of the Midianitish Kings this alone shall kill them when the rest expected an vniust remission How many lewd men hath God payd with some one sinne for all the rest Some that haue gone away with vnnuturally filthinesse and capitall thefts haue clipped off their owne dayes with their coyne Others whose bloudy murders haue been punished in a mutinous word Others whose suspected felony hath payd the price of their vnknowne rape O God thy iudgements are iust euen when mens are vniust Gideons young soone is bidden to reuenge the death of his Vncles His sword had not yet learned the way to bloud especially of Kings though in yrons Deadly executions require strength both of heart and face How are those aged in euill that can draw their swords vpon the lawfuly Anointed of God These Tyrants plead not now for coutinuance of life but for the haste of their death Fall thou vpon vs. Death is euer accompanied with paine which it is no maruell if we wish short We doe not more affect protraction of an easefull life then speed in our dissolution for here euery pang that tends toward death renewes it To lye an houre vnder death is tedious but to be dying a whole day we thinke aboue the
made to bee seene he ouerlookes all Israel in height of stature for presage of the eminence of his estate from the shoulders vpward was he higher then any of the people Israel sees their lots are falne vpon a noted man one whose person shewed he was borne to be a King and now all the people shout for ioy they haue their longing and applaud their owne happinesse and their Kings honour How easie is it for vs to mistake our owne estates to reioyce in that which we shall find the iust cause of our humiliation The end of a thing is better then the beginning the safest way is to reserue our ioy till wee haue good proofe of the worthinesse and fitnesse of the obiect What are wee the better for hauing a blessing if we know not how to vse it The office and obseruance of a King was vncowth to Israel Samuel therefore informes the people of their mutuall duties and writes them in a booke and layes it vp before the Lord otherwise nouelty might haue beene a warrant for their ignorance and ignorance for neglect There are reciprocall respects of Princes and people which if they be not obserued gouernment languisheth into confusion these Samuel faithfully teacheth them Though he may not be their iudge yet he will be their Prophet he will instruct if he may not rule yea he will instruct him that shall rule There is no King absolute but he that is the King of all gods Earthly Monarchs must walke by a rule which if they transgresse they shall be accountable to him that is higher then the highest who hath deputed them Not out of care of ciuility so much as conscience must euery Samuel labour to keepe eauen termes betwixt Kings and Subiects prescribing iust moderation to the one to the other obedience and loyalty which who euer endeauors to trouble is none of the friends of God or his Church The most and best applaud their new King some wicked ones despised him and said How shall he saue vs It was not the might of his Parents the goodlinesse of his person the priuiledge of his lot the fame of his prophesying the Panegyricke of Samuel that could shield him from contempt or winne him the hearts of all There was neuer yet any man to whom some tooke not exceptions It is not possible either to please or displease all men while some men are in loue with vice as deeply as others with vertue and some as ill dislike vertue if not for it selfe yet for contradiction They well saw Saul chose not himselfe they saw him worthy to haue beene chosen if the Election should haue beene carried by voices and those voyces by their eyes they saw him vnwilling to hold or yeeld when hee was chosen yet they will enuy him What fault could they find in him whom God had chosen His parentage was equall his person aboue them his inward parts more aboue them then the outward Malecontents will rather deuise then want causes of flying out and rather then faile the vniuersall approbation of others is ground enough of their dislike It is a vaine ambition of those that would be loued of all The Spirit of God when he enioynes vs peace with all he addes if it be possible and fauour is more then peace A mans comfort must be in himselfe the conscience of deseruing well The neighbouring Ammonites could not but haue heard of Gods fearfull vengeance vpon the Philistims and yet they will be taking vp the quarrell against Israel Nahash comes vp against Iabesh Gilead Nothing but grace can teach vs to make vse of others iudgements wicked men are not moued with ought that fals beside them they trust nothing but their owne smart What fearfull iudgements doth God execute euery day resolute sinners take no notice of them and are growne so peremptorie as if God had neuer shewed dislike of their wayes The Gileadites were not more base then Nahash the Ammonite was cruell The Gileadites would buy their peace with seruility Nahash would sell them a seruile peace for their right eyes Iephtha the Gileadite did yet sticke in the stomacke of Ammon and now they thinke their reuenge cannot be too bloody It is a wonder that hee which would offer so mercilesse a condition to Israel would yeeld to the motion of any delay Hee meant nothing but shame and death to the Israelites yet hee condescends to a seuen dayes respit Perhaps his confidence made him thus carelesse Howsoeuer it was the restraint of God that gaue this breath to Israel and this opportunity to Sauls courage and victory The enemies of Gods Church cannot bee so malicious as they would cannot approue themselues so malicious as they are God so holds them in sometimes that a stander-by would thinke them fauourable The newes of Gileads distresse had soone filled and afflicted Israel the people thinke of no remedie but their pittie and teares Euils are easily grieued for not easily redressed Onely Saul is more stirred with indignation then sorrow That GOD which put into him a spirit of prophesie now puts into him a spirit of fortitude Hee was before appointed to the Throne not setled in the Throne he followed the beasts in the field when he should haue commanded men Now as one that would be a King no lesse by merit then election he takes vpon him and performes the rescue of Gilead he assembles Israel he leads them he raiseth the siege breakes the troops cuts the throats of the Ammonites When God hath any exploit to performe he raiseth vp the heart of some chosen Instrument with heroicall motions for the atchieuement When all hearts are cold and dead it is a a signe of intended destruction This day hath made Saul a compleat King and now the thankfull Israelites begin to enquire after those discontented Mutiners which had refused allegeance vnto so worthy a Commander Bring those men that we may slay them This sedition had deserued death though Saul had beene foiled at Gilead but now his happy victorie whets the people much more to a desire of this iust execution Saul to whom the iniurie was done hinders the reuenge There shall no man dye this day for to day the Lord hath saued Israel that his fortitude might not goe beyond his mercy How noble were these beginnings of Saul His Prophesie shewed him miraculously wise his Battell and Victory no lesse valiant his pardon of his Rebels as mercifull There was not more power shewed in ouercomming the Ammonites then in ouercomming himselfe and the impotent malice of these mutinous Israelites Now Israel sees they haue a King that can both shed blood and spare it that can shed the Ammonites blood and spare theirs His mercy winnes those hearts whom his valour could not As in God so in his Deputies Mercy and Iustice should be inseparable wheresoeuer these two goe asunder gouernment followes them into distraction and ends in ruine If it had beene a wrong offered to Samuel the
of his seruice The euening praises the day and the chiefe grace of the theater is in the last Scene Be faithfull to the death and I will giue thee a Crowne of life That Elijah should be translated and what day he should be translated God would haue no secret The sonnes of the Prophets at Bethel at Iericho both know it and aske Elisha if he knew it not Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy Master from thy head this day and hee answered Yea I know it hold yee your peace How familiarly do these Prophets inter-know one another How kindly do they communicate their visions Seldome euer was any knowledge giuen to keep but to impart The grace of this rich Iewell is lost in concealement The remouall of an Elijah is so important a businesse that it is not fit to be done without noise Many shall haue their share in his losse he must be missed on the sudden it was meet therefore that the world should know his rapture should be diuine and glorious I doe not finde where the day of any naturall death is notified to so many by how much more wonder there was in this Assumption by so much more shall it bee fore-reuealed It is enough for ordinarie occurrents to bee knowne in their euent supernaturall things haue need of premonition that mens hearts may bee both prepared for their receit and confirmed in their certainty Thrice was Elisha intreated thrice hath hee denied to stay behinde his now-departing Master on whom both his eyes and his thoughts are so fixed that hee cannot giue allowance so much as to the interpellation of a question of his fellow-Prophets Together therefore are this wonderfull paire comne to the last stage of their separation the bankes of Iordan Those that were not admitted to bee attendants of the iourney yet will not bee debarred from being spectators of so maruellous an issue Fifty men of the sonnes of the Prophets went and stood to view afarre off I maruell there were no more How could any sonne of the Prophets stay within the Colledge walls that day when hee knew what was meant to Elijah Perhaps though they knew that to bee the Prophets last day yet they might thinke his disparition should bee sudden and insensible besides they found how much hee affected secrecie in this intended departure yet the fifty Prophets of Iericho will make proofe of their eyes and with much intention assay who shall haue the last sight of Elijah Miracles are not purposed to silence and obscuritie God will not worke wonders without witnesses since hee doth them on purpose to winne glory to his name his end were frustrate without their notice Euen so O Sauiour when thou hadst raised thy selfe from the dead thou wouldest bee seene of more then fiue hundred brethren at once and when thou wouldest raise vp thy glorified bodie from earth into Heauen thou didst not ascend from some close valley but from the Mount of Oliues not in the night not alone but in the cleare day in the view of many eyes which were so fixed vpon that point of thine heauen that they could scarce bee remoued by the checke of Angels Iordan must be crossed by Elijah in his way to heauen There must be a meet parallel betwixt the two great Prophets that shal meet Christ vpon Tabor Moses and Elias Both receiued visions on Horeb to both God appeared there in fire and other formes of terrour both were sent to Kings one to Pharaoh the other to Ahab Both prepared miraculous Tables the one of Quailes and Manna in the Desert the other of Meale and Oyle in Sarepta Both opened heauen the one for that nourishing dew the other for those refreshing showres Both reuenged Idolatries with the sword the one vpon the worshippers of the golden Calfe the other vpon the foure hundred Baalites Both quenched the drought of Israel the one out of the Rocke the other out of the Cloud Both diuided the waters the one of the Red Sea the other of Iordan Both of them are forewarned of their departure Both must be fetcht away beyond Iordan The body of Elijah is translated the body of Moses is hid What Moses doth by his Rod Elijah doth by his Mantle with that hee smites the Waters and they as fearing the diuine power which wrought with the Prophet runne away from him and stand on heapes leauing their dry channell for the passage of those awfull feet It is not long since he mulcted them with a generall exsiccation now he onely bids them stand aside and giue way to his last walke that he might with dry feet mount vp into the celestiall chariot The waters doe not now first obey him they know that Mantle of old which hath oft giuen lawes to their falling rising standing they are past ouer and now when Elijah finds himselfe treading on his last earth hee profers a munificent boone to his faithfull seruant Aske what I shall doe for thee before I am taken from thee I doe not heare him say Aske of me when I am gone In my glorified condition I shall bee more able to bestead thee but aske before I goe Wee haue a communion with the Saints departed not a commerce when they are inabled to doe more for vs they are lesse apt to be sollicited by vs It is safe suing where we are sure that we are heard Had not Elijah receiued a peculiar instinct for this profer he had not been thus liberall It were presumption to be bountifull on anothers cost without leaue of the owner The mercy of our good God allowes his fauourites not onely to receiue but to giue not onely to receiue for themselues but to conuey blessings to others What can that man want that is befriended of the faithfull Elisha needs not goe farre to seeke for a suit It was in his heart in his mouth Let a double portion of thy spirit be vpon me Euery Prophet must be a sonne to Elijah but Elisha would be his heire and craues the happy right of his primogeniture the double share to his brethren It was not wealth nor safety nor ease nor honour that Elisha cares for the world lies open before him hee may take his choice the rest he contemneth nothing will serue him but a large measure of his masters spirit No carnall thought was guilty of this sacred ambition Affectation of eminence was too base a conceit to fall into that man of God He saw that the times needed strong conuictions he saw that hee could not otherwise weild the succession to such a Master therefore he sues for a double portion of spirit the spirit of prophesie to foreknow the spirit of power to worke We cannot bee too couetous too ambitious of spirituall gifts such especially as may inable vs to win most aduantage to God in our vocations Our wishes are the true touch-stone of our estate such as we wish to be we are worldly hearts affect earthly things spirituall
in the Spring to the end that my age may bee profitable and laden with ripe fruit I will endeuour that my youth may be studious and flowred with the blossomes of learning and obseruation 55 Reuenge commonly hurts both the offerer and sufferer as we see in the foolish Bee though in all other things commendable yet herein the patterne of fond spightfulnesse which in her anger inuenometh the flesh and loseth her sting and so liues a Drone euer after I account it the onely valour To remit a wrong and will applaud it to my selfe as right Noble and Christian that I Might hurt and Will not 56 He that liues well cannot chuse but die well For if he die suddenly yet he dies not vnpreparedly if by leisure the conscience of his well-lead life makes his death more comfortable But it is seldome seene that he which liueth ill dieth well For the conscience of his former euills his present paine and the expectation and feare of greater so take vp his heart that he cannot seeke God And now it is iust with God not to be sought or not to be found because he sought to him in his life time and was repulsed Whereas therefore there are vsually two maine cares of good men to Liue well and Die well I will haue but this one to Liue well 57 With God there is no free man but his Seruant though in the Gallies no slaue but the sinner though in a Palace none noble but the vertuous if neuer so basely descended none rich but he that possesseth God euen in rags none wise but hee that is a foole to himselfe and the world none happy but he whom the world pities Let mee be free noble rich wise happy to God I passe not what I am to the world 58 When the mouth praieth man heareth when the heart God heareth Euery good praier knocketh at heauen for a blessing but an importunate praier pierceth it though as hard as brasse and makes way for it selfe into the eares of the Almightie And as it ascends lightly vp carried with the wings of faith so it comes euer laden downe againe vpon our heads In my praiers my thoughts shall not be guided by my words but my words shall follow my thoughts 59 If that seruant were condemned of euill that gaue God no more than his owne which he had receiued what shall become of them that rob God of his owne If God gaine a little glorie by me I shall gaine more by him I will labour so to husband the stocke that God hath left in my hands that I may returne my soule better than I receiued it and that he may take it better than I returne it 60 Heauen is compared to an hill and therefore is figured by Olympus among the Heathen by mount Sion in Gods Booke Hell contrariwise to a pit The ascent to the one is hard therefore and the descent to the other easie and headlong and so as if we once beginne to fall the recouerie is most difficult and not one of many staies till hee comes to the bottome I will bee content to pant and blow and sweat in climbing vp to heauen as contrarily I will bee warie of setting the first step downward towards the pit For as there is a Iacobs Ladder into heauen so there are blinde staires that goe winding downe into death whereof each makes way for other From the obiect is raised an ill suggestion suggestion drawes on delight delight consent consent endeuour endeuour practice practice custome custome excuse excuse defence defence obstinacie obstinacie boasting of sinne boasting a reprobate sense I will watch ouer my waies and doe thou Lord watch ouer me that I may auoid the first degrees of sinne And if those ouertake my frailtie yet keepe me that presumptuous sinnes preuaile not ouer me Beginnings are with more ease and safetie declined when we are free than proceedings when we haue begunne 61 It is fitter for youth to learne than teach and for age to teach than learne and yet fitter for an old man to learne than to be ignorant I know I shall neuer know so much that I cannot learne more and I hope I shall neuer liue so long as till I be too old to learne 62 I neuer loued those Salamanders that are neuer well but when they are in the fire of contention I will rather suffer a thousand wrongs than offer one I will suffer an hundred rather than returne one I will suffer many ere I will complaine of one and endeuour to right it by contending I haue euer found that to striue with my superiour is furious with my equall doubtfull with my inferiour sordid and base with any full of vnquietnesse 63 The praise of a good speech standeth in words and matter Matter which is as a faire and well-featur'd body Elegance of words which is as a neat and well-fashioned garment Good matter slubbered vp in rude and carelesse words is made lothsome to the hearer as a good body mis-shapen with vnhandsome clothes Elegancie without soundnes is no better than a nice vanitie Although therefore the most hearers are like Bees that goe all to the flowers neuer regarding the good herbs that are of as wholesome vse as the other of faire shew yet let my speech striue to bee profitable plausible as it happens better the coat be mis-sâ—apen than the body 64 I see that as blacke and white colours to the eies so is the Vice and Vertue of others to the iudgement of men Vice gathers the beames of the sight in one that the eie may see it and bee intent vpon it Vertue scatters them abroad and therefore hardly admits of a perfect apprehension Whence it comes to passe that as iudgement is according to sense wee doe so soone espie and so earnestly censure a man for one vice letting passe many laudable qualities vndiscerned or at least vnacknowledged Yea whereas euery man is once a foole and doth that perhaps in one fit of his folly which hee shall at leisure repent of as Noah in one houres drunkennesse vncouered those secrets which were hid six hundred yeeres before the world is hereupon ready to call in question all his former integritie and to exclude him from the hope of any future amendment Since God hath giuen mee two eies the one shall bee busied about the present fault that I see with a detesting commiseration the other about the commendable qualities of the offender not without an vnpartiall approbation of them So shall I doe God no wrong in robbing him of the glorie of his gifts mixed with infirmities nor yet in the meane time encourage Vice while I doe distinctly reserue for it a due proportion of hatred 65 God is aboue man the brute creatures vnder him hee set in the midst Lest he should be proud that he hath infinite creatures vnder him that One is infinite degrees aboue him I doe therefore owe awe vnto God mercie to the inferiour creatures knowing
hauing honey in the mouth hath a sting in the taile Why am I so foolish to rest my heart vpon any of them and not rather labour to aspire to that one absolute Good in whom is nothing sauouring of griefe nothing wanting to perfect happinesse 17 A sharpe reproofe I account better than a smooth deceit Therefore when my friend checkes me I will respect it with thankfulnesse when others flatter me I will suspect it and rest in mine owne censure of my selfe who should be more priuie and lesse partiall to my owne deseruings 18 Extremity distinguisheth friends Worldly pleasures like Physicians giue vs ouer when once we lie a dying and yet the death-bed had most need of comforts Christ Iesus standeth by his in the pangs of death and after death at the barre of iudgement not leauing them either in their bed or graue I will vse them therefore to my best aduantage not trust them But for thee O my Lord which in mercy and truth canst not faile me whom I haue found euer faithfull and present in all extremities Kill me yet will I trust in thee 19 We haue heard of so many thousand generations passed and we haue seene so many hundreds die within our knowledge that I wonder any man can make account to liue one day I will die daily It is not done before the time which may be done at all times 20 Desire oft times makes vs vnthankfull For who so hopes for that he hath not vsually forgets that which he hath I will not suffer my heart to roue after high or impossible hopes lest I should in the meane time contemne present benefits 21 In hoping well in being ill and fearing worse the life of man is wholly consumed When I am ill I will liue in hope of better when well in feare of worse neither will I at any time hope without feare lest I should deceiue my selfe with too much confidence wherein euill shall be so much more vnwelcome and intolerable because I looked for good nor againe feare without hope lest I should be ouer-much deiected nor doe either of them without true contentation 22 What is man to the whole earth What is earth to the heauen What is heauen to his Maker I will admire nothing in it selfe but all things in God and God in all things 23 There be three vsuall causes of ingratitude vpon a benefit receiued Enuie Pride Couetousnesse Enuie looking more at others benefits than our owne Pride looking more at our selues than the benefit Couetousnesse looking more at what wee would haue than what we haue In good turnes I will neither respect the giuer nor my selfe nor the gift nor others but onely the intent and good will from whence it proceeded So shall I requite others great pleasures with equall good will and accept of small fauours with great thankfulnesse 24 Whereas the custome of the world is to hate things present to desire future and magnifie what is past I will contrarily esteeme that which is present best For both whar is past was once present and what is future will be present future things next because they are present in hope what is past least of all because it cannot be present yet somewhat because it was 25 We pitie the folly of the Larke which while it plaieth with the fether and stoopeth to the glasse is caught in the Fowlers net and yet cannot see our selues alike made fooles by Satan who deluding vs by the vaine feathers and glasses of the world suddenly enwrappeth vs in his snares We see not the nets indeed it is too much that we shall feele them and that they are not so easily escaped after as before auoided O Lord keepe thou mine eies from beholding vanity And though mine eies see it let not my heart stoope to it but loath it afarre off And if I stoope at any time and be taken set thou my soule at libertie that I may say My soule is escaped euen as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken and I am deliuered 26 In suffering euill to looke to secondary causes without respect to the highest maketh impatience For so we bite at the stone and neglect him that threw it If we take a blow at our equall we returne it with vsurie if of a Prince we repine not What matter is it if God kill me whether he doe it by an Ague or by the hand of a Tyrant Againe in expectation of good to looke to the first cause without care of the second argues idlenesse and causeth want As we cannot helpe our selues without God so God will not ordinarily helpe vs without our selues In both I will looke vp to God without repining at the meanes in one or trusting them in the other 27 If my money were another mans I could but keepe it onely the expending shewes it my owne It is greater glory comfort and gaine to lay it out well than to keepe it safely God hath made me not his Treasurer but his Steward 28 Augustines friend Nebridius not vniustly hated a short answer to a weighty and difficult question because the disquisition of great truths requires time and the determining is perillous I will as much hate a tedious and farre-fetched answer to a short and easie question For as that other wrongs the truth so this the hearer 29 Performance is a binder I will request no more fauour of any man than I must needs I will rather chuse to make an honest shift than ouer-much enthrall my selfe by being beholding 30 The World is a Stage euery man an actor and plaies his part here either in a Comedie or Tragedie The good man is a Comedian which how-euer he begins ends merrily but the wicked man acts a Tragedie and therefore euer ends in horrour Thou seest a wicked man vaunt himselfe on this stage stay till the last Act and looke to his end as Dauid did and see whether that be peace Thou wouldest make strange Tragedies if thou wouldest haue but one Act. Who sees an Oxe grazing in a fat and ranke pasture and thinkes not that he is neere to the slaughter whereas the leane beast that toyles vnder the yoke is farre enough from the Shambles The best wicked man cannot be so enuied in his first shewes as he is pitiable in the conclusion 31 Of all obiects of Beneficence I will chuse either an old man or a childe because these are most out of hope to requite The one forgets a good turne the other liues not to repay it 32 That which Pythagoras said of Philosophers is more true of Christians for Christianity is nothing but a diuine and better Philosophy Three sorts of men come to the Market buyers sellers lookers on The two first are both busie and carefully distracted about their Market onely the third liue happily vsing the world as if they vsed it not 33 There be three things which of all other I will neuer striue for the wall the
different actions as persons yet all haue one common intention of good to themselues true in some but in the most imaginary The glorified Spirits haue but one vniforme worke wherein they all ioyne The praise of their Creator This is one difference betwixt the Saints aboue and below They aboue are free both from businesse and distraction these below are free though not absolutely from distraction not at all from businesse Paul could thinke of the cloke that he left at Troas and of the shaping of his skins for his Tents yet thorow these he look't still at heauen This world is made for businesse my actions must vary according to occasions my end shall be but one and the same now on earth that it must be one day in heauen 3 To see how the Martyrs of God died and the life of their persecutors would make a man out of loue with life and out of all feare of death They were flesh and bloud as well as we life was as sweet to them as to vs their bodies were as sensible of paine as ours wee goe to the same heauen with them How comes it then that they were so couragious in abiding such torments in their death as the very mention strikes horror into any Reader and we are so cowardly in encountering a faire and naturall death if this valour had beene of themselues I would neuer haue looked after them in hope of imitation Now I know it was he for whom they suffered and that suffered in them which sustained them They were of themselues as weake as I and God can bee as strong in me as hee was in them O Lord thou art not more vnable to giue me this grace but I am more vnworthie to receiue it and yet thou regardest not worthinesse but mercie Giue mee their strength and what end thou wilt 4 Our first age is all in hope When wee are in the wombe who knowes whether wee shall haue our right shape and proportion of body being neither monstrous nor deformed When wee are borne who knowes whether with the due features of a man wee shall haue the faculties of reason and vnderstanding When yet our progresse in yeeres discouereth wit or follie who knowes whether with the power of reason wee shall haue the grace of faith to bee Christians and when wee begin to professe well whether it bee a temporarie and seeming or a true and sauing faith Our middle age is halfe in hope for the future and halfe in proofe for that is past Our old age is out of hope and altogether in proofe In our last times therefore we know both what wee haue beene and what to expect It is good for youth to looke forward and still to propound the best things vnto it selfe for an old man to looke backward and to repent him of that wherein he hath failed and to recollect himselfe for the present but in my middle age I will looke both backward and forward comparing my hopes with my proofe redeeming the time ere it be all spent that my recouerie may preuent my repentance It is both a folly and miserie to say This I might haue done 5 It is the wonderfull mercie of God both to forgiue vs our debts to him in our sinnes and to make himselfe a debtor to vs in his promises So that now both waies the soule may be sure since hee neither calleth for those debts which hee hath once forgiuen nor withdraweth those fauours and that heauen which hee hath promised but as hee is a mercifull creditor to forgiue so is hee a true debtor to pay whatsoeuer hee hath vndertaken whence it is come to passe that the penitent sinner owes nothing to God but loue and obedience and God owes still much and all to him for he owes as much as he hath promised and what he owes by vertue of his blessed promise we may challenge O infinite mercie Hee that lent vs all that wee haue and in whose debt-bookes wee runne hourely forward till the summe be endlesse yet owes vs more and bids vs looke for payment I cannot deserue the least fauour hee can giue yet will I as confidently challenge the greatest as if I deserued it Promise indebteth no lesse than loane or desert 6 It is no small commendation to manage a little well He is a good Waggoner that can turne in a narrow roome To liue well in abundance is the praise of the estate not of the person I will studie more how to giue a good account of my little than how to make it more 7 Many Christians doe greatly wrong themselues with a dull and heauie kinde of fullennesse who not suffering themselues to delight in any worldly thing are thereupon oft-times so heartlesse that they delight in nothing These men like to carelesse guests when they are inuited to an excellent banquet lose their dainties for want of a stomacke and lose their stomacke for want of exercise A good conscience keepes alwaies good cheereâ— hee cannot chuse but fare well that hath it vnlesse hee lose his appetite with neglect and slothfulnesse It is a shame for vs Christians not to finde as much ioy in God as worldlings doe in their forced meriments and lewd wretches in the practice of their sinnes 8 A wise Christian hath no enemies Many hate and wrong him but hee loues all men and all pleasure him Those that professe loue to him pleasure him with the comfort of their societie and the mutuall reflection of friendship those that professe hatred make him more warie of his waies shew him faults in himselfe which his friends would either not haue espied or not censured send him the more willingly to seeke fauour aboue and as the worst doe bestead him though against their wills so hee againe doth voluntarily good to them To doe euill for euill as Ioab to Abner is a sinfull weaknesse To doe good for good as Ahasuerus to Mordecai is but naturall iustice To doe euill for good as Iudas to Christ is vnthankfulnesse and villanie Onely to doe good for euill agrees with Christian profession And what greater worke of friendship than to doe good If men will not be my friends in loue I will perforce make them my friends in a good vse of their hatred I will be their friend that are mine and would not be 9 All temporall things are troublesome For if wee haue good things it is a trouble to forgoe them and when wee see they must bee parted from either wee wish they had not beene so good or that wee neuer had enioyed them Yea it is more trouble to lose them than it was before ioy to possesse them If contrarily wee haue euill things their very presence is troublesome and still we wish that they were good or that we were disburdened of them So good things are troublesome in euent euill things in their vse They in the future these in present they because they shall come to an end these because they doe
to feele and complaine of smart And if men haue deuised such exquisite torments what can spirits more subtile more malicious And if our momentanie sufferings seeme long how long shall that be that is eternall And if the sorrowes indifferently incident to Gods deare ones vpon earth be so extreme as sometimes to driue them within sight of despairing what shall those be that are reserued onely for those that hate him and that he hateth None but those who haue heard the desperate complaints of some guiltie Spyra of whose soules haue beene a little scorched with these flames can enough conceiue of the horror of this estate it being the policy of our common enemy to conceale it so long that we may see and feele it at once lest we should feare it before it be too late to be auoided SECT XVII Remedy of the last and greatest breach of peace arising from death NOw when this great Aduersary like a proud Giant comes stalking out in his fearefull shape and insults ouer our fraile mortalitie daring the world to match him with an equall Champion whiles a whole host of worldlings shew him their backs for feare the true Christian armed onely with confidence and resolution of his future happinesse dares boldly encounter him and can wound him in the forehead the wonted seat of terror and trampling vpon him can cut off his head with his owne sword and victoriously returning can sing in triumph O death where is thy sting An happy victory Wee die and are not foiled yea we are conquerours in dying we could not ouercome death if we died not That dissolution is well bestowed that parts the soule from the body that it may vnite both to God All our life here as that heauenly Doctor well tearmes it is but a vitall death Augustine How aduantâ—gious is that death that determines this false and dying life and begins a true one aboue all the titles of happinesse The Epicure or Sadduce dare not die for feare of not being The guiltie and loose worldling dares not die for feare of being miserable The distrustfull and doubting semi-Christian dares not die because he knowes not whether hee shall be or be miserable or not be at all The resolued Christian dares and would die because he knowes he shall be happy and looking merrily towards heauen the place of his rest can vnfainedly say I desire to be dissolued I see thee my home I see thee a sweet and glorious home after a weary pilgrimage I see thee and now after many lingring hopes I aspire to thee How oft haue I looked vp at thee with admiration and rauishment of soule and by the goodly beames that I haue seene ghessed at the glory that is aboue them How oft haue I scorned these dead and vnpleasant pleasures of earth in comparison of thine I come now my ioyes I come to possesse you I come through paine and death yea if hell it selfe were in the way betwixt you and mee I would passe through hell it selfe to enioy you Tull. Tuscul Callimach Epigram And in truth if that Heathen Cleombrotus a follower of the ancient Academie but vpon onely reading of his Master Platoes discourses of the immortalitie of the soule could cast downe himselfe head-long from an high rocke and wilfully breake his necke that he might be possessed of that immortalitie which he beleeued to follow vpon death how contented should they be to die that knew they shall be more than immortall glorious Hee went not in an hate of the flesh August de Haeres as the Patrician Heretickes of old but in a blinde loue to his soule out of bare opinion We vpon an holy loue grounded vpon assured knowledge He vpon an opinion of future life we on knowledge of future glory He went vnsent for we called for by our Maker Why should his courage exceed ours since our ground our estate so farre exceeds his Euen this age within the reach of our memorie bred that peremptory Italian which in imitation of old Romane courage left in that degenerated Nation there should be no step left of the qualities of their Ancestors entring vpon his torment for killing a Tyrant cheered himselfe with this confidence My death is sharpe Mors acerba Fama perpetua my fame shall be euerlasting The voice of a Romane not of a Christian My fame shall be eternall an idle comfort My fame shall liue not my soule liue to see it What shall it auaile thee to be talkt of while thou art not Then fame onely is precious when a man liues to enioy it The fame that suruiues the soule is bootlesse Yet euen this hope cheered him against the violence of his death What should it doe vs that not our fame but our life our glory after death cannot die He that hath Stephens eies to looke into heauen cannot but haue the tongue of the Saints Come Lord How long That man seeing the glory of the end cannot but contemne the hardnesse the way But who wants those eies if he say and sweares that he feares not death beleeue him not if he protest this Tranquillitie and yet feare death beleeue him not beleeue him not if he say he is not miserable SECT XVIII THese are enemies on the left hand There want not some on the right The second ranke of the enemies of peace which with lesse profession of hostilitie hurt no lesse Not so easily perceiued because they distemper the minde not without some kinde of pleasure Surfet kils more than famine These are the ouer-desiring and ouer-ioying of these earthly things All immoderations are enemies as to health so to peace He that desires Hippocr Aphoris wants as much as he that hath nothing The drunken man is as thirstie as the sweating traueller Hence are the studies cares feares iealousies hopes griefes enuies wishes platformes of atchieuing alterations of purposes and a thousand like whereof each one is enough to make the life troublesome One is sicke of his neighbours field whose mis-shapen angles disfigure his and hinder his Lordship of entirenesse what he hath is not regarded for the want of what hee cannot haue Another feeds on crusts to purchase what he must leaue perhaps to a foole or which is not much better to a prodigall heire Another in the extremitie of couetous folly chuses to die an vnpitied death hanging himselfe for the fall of the market while the Commons laugh at that losse and in their speeches Epitaph vpon him as on that Pope He liued as a Wolfe and died as a Dogge One cares not what attendance hee dances at all houres on whose staires he sits what vices he soothes what deformities he imitates what seruile offices he doth in an hope to rise Another stomackes the couered head and stiffe knee of his inferiour angry that other men thinke him not so good as he thinkes himselfe Another eats his owne heart with enuy at the richer furniture and better
also in the Sacraments Yea besides promise hand seale hath he not giuen thee a sure earnest of thy saluation in some weake but true graces Yet more hath he not giuen thee besides Earnest possession while he that is the Truth and Life saith He that beleeueth hath euerlasting life and hath passed from death to life Canst thou not then be content to cast thy selfe vpon this blessed issue If God be mercifull I am glorious I haue thee already Oh my life God is faithfull and I doe beleeue who shall separate me from the loue of Christ from my glory with Christ Who shall pull me out of my heauen Goe to then and returne to thy rest O my soule make vse of that heauen wherein thou art and be happy Thus we haue found that our Meditation like the wind gathereth strength in proceeding and as naturall bodies the neerer they come to their places moue with more celeritie so doth the soule in this course of Meditation to the vnspeakable benefit of it selfe CHAP. XXXV THe Conclusion remaineth The Conclusion of our Meditation in what order it must be wherein we must aduise like as Physicians doe in their sweats and exercise that we cease not ouer-suddenly but leaue off by little and little The minde may not be suffered to fall head-long from this height but must also descend by degrees The first whereof after our Confidence shall bee an heartie Gratulation First with Thanksgiuing and thanksgiuing For as man naturally cannot be miserable but he must complaine and craue remedie so the good heart cannot finde it selfe happy and not be thankfull and this thankfulnesse which it feeleth and expresseth maketh it yet more good and affecteth it more What shall I then doe to thee for this mercy O thou Sauiour of men What should I render to my Lord for all his benefits Alas what can I giue thee which is not thine owne before Oh that I could giue thee but all thine Thou giuest me to drinke of this cup of saluation I will therefore take the cup of saluation and call vpon the name of the Lord Praise thou the Lord O my soule and all that is within mee praise his holy name And since here thou beginnest thine heauen begin here also that ioyfull song of thanksgiuing which there thou shalt sing more sweetly and neuer end CHAP. XXXVI Secondly with Recommendation of our soules and waies to God AFter this Thanksgiuing shall follow a faithfull recommendation of our selues to God wherein the soule doth cheerefully giue vp it selfe and repose it selfe wholly vpon her Maker and Redeemer committing her selfe to him in all her waies submitting her selfe to him in all his waies desiring in all things to glorifie him and to walke worthy of her high and glorious calling Both which latter shall be done as I haue euer found with much life and comfort if for the full conclusion we shall lift vp our heart and voice to God in singing some Versule of Dauids diuine Psalmes answerable to our disposition and matter whereby the heart closes vp it selfe with much sweetnesse and contentment This course of Meditation thus heartily obserued let him that practiseth it tell mee whether hee finde not that his soule which at the beginning of this exercise did but creepe and grouell vpon earth doe not now in the conclusion soare aloft in heauen and being before aloose off doe not now finde it selfe neere to God yea with him and in him CHAP. XXXVII An Epilogue THus haue I endeuoured Right Worshipfull Sir according to my slender facultie to prescribe a method of Meditation not vpon so strict tearmes of necessitie that whosoeuer goeth not my way erreth Diuers paths leade oft times to the same end and euery man aboundeth in his owne sense If experience and custome hath made another forme familiar to any man I forbid it not as that learned Father said of his Translation Let him vse his owne not contemne mine If any man be to chuse and begin let him practise mine till he meet with a better Master If another course may be better Reprouing the neglect of Meditation I am sure this is good Neither is it to be suffered that like as fantasticall men while they doubt what fashioned sute they should weare put on nothing so that we Christians should neglect the matter of this worthy businesse while wee nicely stand vpon the forme thereof Wherein giue mee leaue to complaine with iust sorrow and shame that if there be any Christian dutie whose omission is notoriously shamefull and preiudiciall to the soules of Professors it is this of Meditation This is the very end God hath giuen vs our soules for we misse-spend them if we vse them not thus How lamentable is it that we so imploy them as if our facultie of discourse serued for nothing but our earthly prouision as if our reasonable and Christian minds were appointed for the slaues and drudges of this body onely to bee the Caters and Cookes of our Appetite The world filleth vs yea cloieth vs we finde our selues worke enough to thinke What haue I yet How may I get more What must I lay out What shall I leaue for posteritie How may I preuent the wrong of mine Aduersary How may I returne it What answers shall I make to such allegations What entertainment shall I giue to such friends What courses shall I take in such suits In what pastime shall I spend this day In what the next What aduantage shall I reape by this practice what losse What was said answered replied done followed Goodly thoughts and fit for spirituall minds Say there were no other world how could we spend our cares otherwise Vnto this onely neglect let mee ascribe the commonnesse of that Laodicean temper of men or if that be worse of the dead coldnesse which hath stricken the hearts of many hauing left them nothing but the bodies of men and visors of Christians to this onely They haue not meditated It is not more impossible to liue without an heart than to bee deuout without Meditation Exhorting to the vse of Meditation Would God therefore my words could be in this as the Wise-man saith the words of the wise are like vnto Goades in the sides of euery Reader to quicken him vp out of this dull and lazie securitie to a cheerefull practice of this Diuine Meditation Let him curse mee vpon his death-bed if looking backe from thence to the bestowing of his former times hee acknowledge not these houres placed the most happily in his whole life if he then wish not hee had worne on t more daies in so profitable and heauenly a worke A MEDITATION OF DEATH ACCORDING to the former Rules The Entrance ANd now my soule that thou hast thought of the end what can fit thee better than to thinke of the way And though the forepart of the way to Heauen bee a good life the latter and more immediate is death shall
beneficence Vpon thy people largely spread PSALME 4. As the ten Commandements Attend my people THou witnesse of my truth sincere My God vnto my poore request Vouchsafe to lend thy gracious eare Thou hast my soule from thrall releast verse 2 Fauour me still and dâ—igne to heare Mine humble sute O wretched wights verse 3 How long will yee mine honour deare Turne into shame through your despights Still will ye loue what thing is vaine verse 4 And seeke false hopes know then at last That God hath chose and will maintaine His fauorite whom yee disgrac't God will regard my instant mone verse 5 Oh! tremble then and cease offending And on your silent bed alone Talke with your hearts your waies amending verse 6 Offer the truest sacrifice Of broken hearts on God besetting verse 7 Your onely trust The most deuise The waies of worldly treasure getting But thou O Lord lift vp to me The light of that sweet looke of thine verse 8 So shall my soule more gladsome be Than theirs with all their corne and wine verse 9 So I in peace shall lay me downe And on my bed take quiet sleepe Whiles thou O Lord shalt me alone From dangers all securely keepe PSALME 5. In the tune of 124. Psalme Now Israel may say c. BOw downe thine eare Lord to these words of mine And well regard the secret plaints I make verse 2 My King my God to thee I doe betake My sad estate oh doe thine eare incline To these loud cries that to thee powred bin verse 3 At early morne thou shalt my voice attend For at day breake I will my selfe addresse Thee to implore and wait for due redresse verse 4 Thou dost not Lord delight in wickednesse Nor to bad men wilt thy protection lend verse 5 The boasters proud cannot before thee stay Thou hat'st all those that are to sinne deuoted verse 6 The lying lips and who with bloud are spotted Thou doest abhorre and wilt for euer slay verse 7 But I vnto thine house shall take the way And through thy grace abundant shall adore With humble feare within thy holy place verse 8 Oh! lead me Lord within thy righteous trace Euen for their sakes that malice me so sore Make smooth thy paths my dimmer eies before verse 9 Within their mouth no truth is euer found Pure mischiefe is their heart a gaving toome verse 10 Is their wide throat and yet their tongues still sound verse 11 With smoothing words O Lord giue them their doome And let them fall in those their plots profound In their excesse of mischiefe them destroy verse 12 That Rebels are so those that to thee flie Shall all reioyce and sing eternally verse 13 And whom thou dost protect and who loue thee And thy deare name in thee shall euer ioy Since thou with blisse the righteous dost reward And with thy grace as with a shield him guard PSALME 6. As the 50. Psalme The mighty God c. LEt me not Lord be in thy wrath reproued Oh! scourge me not when thy fierce wrath is moued verse 2 Pity me Lord that doe with languor pine Heale me whose bones with paine dissolued bin verse 3 Whose weary soule is vexed aboue measure Oh Lord how long shall I bide thy displeasure verse 4 Turne thee O Lord rescue my soule distrest verse 5 And saue me of thy grace 'Mongst those that rest In silent death can none remember thee And in the graue how shouldst thou praised be verse 6 Weary with sighes All night I caus'd my bed To swim with teares my couch I watered verse 7 Deepe sorrow hath consum'd my dimmed eyne Sunke in with griefe at these lewd foes of mine verse 8 But now hence hence vaine plotters of mine ill The Lord hath heard my lamentations shrill verse 9 God heard my suit and still attends the same verse 10 Blush now my foes and flie with sudden shame PSALME 7. As the 112. Psalme The man is blest that God c. ON thee O Lord my God relies My onely trust from bloudy spight Of all my raging enemies Oh! let thy mercy me acquite verse 2 Lest they like greedy Lyons rend My soule while none shall it defend verse 3 O Lord if I this thing haue wrought If in my hands be found such ill verse 4 If I with mischiefe euer sought To pay good turnes or did not still Doe good vnto my causelesse foe That thirsted for my ouerthrow verse 5 Then let my foe in eager chace Ore-take my soule and proudly tread My life below and with disgrace In dust lay downe mine honour dead verse 6 Rise vp in rage O Lord eft-soone Aduance thine arme against my foâ—ne And wake for me till thou fulfill verse 7 My promis'd right so shall glad throngs Of people flocke vnto thine hill For their sakes then reuenge my wrong's verse 8 And râ—use thy selfe Thy iudgements be O're all the world Lord iudge thou me As truth and honest innocence Thou find'st in me Lord iudge thou me verse 9 Settle the iust with sure defence Let me the wicked's malice see verse 10 Brought to an end For thy iust eye Doth heart and inward reynes descry verse 11 My safety stands in God who shields The sound in heart whose doome each day verse 12 To iust men and contemners yeelds verse 13 Their due Except he change his way His sword is whet to bloud intended His murdering Bow is ready bended verse 14 Weapons of death he hath addrest And arrowes keene to pierce my foe verse 15 Who late bred mischiefe in his brest But when he doth on trauell goe verse 16 Brings forth a lie deepe pits doth delue And fals into his pits himselue verse 17 Backe to his owne head shall rebound His plotted mischiefe and his wrongs verse 18 His crowne shall craze But I shall sound Iehouah's praise with thankfull songs And will his glorious name expresse And tell of all his righteousnesse PSALME 8. As the 113. Psalme Yee children which c. HOw noble is thy mighty Name O Lord o're all the worlds wide frame Whose glory is aduanc't on high Aboue the rowling heauens racke verse 2 How for the gracelesse scorners sake To still th' auenging enemy Hast thou by tender infants tongue The praise of thy great Name made strong While they hang sucking on the brest verse 3 But when I see the heauens bright The moone and glittering starres of night By thine almighty hand addrest verse 4 Oh! what is man poore silly man That thou so mind'st him and dost daine To looke at his vnworthy seed verse 5 Thou hast him set not much beneath Thine Angels bright and with a wreath Of glory hast adorn'd his head verse 6 Thou hast him made high soueraigne verse 7 Of all thy works and stretcht his raigne Vnto the heards and beasts vntame verse 8 To Fowles and to the scaly traine That glideth through the watry Maine verse 9 How noble each-where is thy Name PSALME 9. To the
and oppresse the afflicted in iudgement that take away the garment in the cold season and therefore are like vineger powred vpon nitre or like him that singeth songs to an heauy heart That trouble their owne flesh Pr. 11.17 and therefore are cruell An ordinary sinne I turned and considered all the oppressions that are wrought vnder the Sunne Ec. 4.1 and behold the teares of the oppressed and none comforteth them and the strength is of the hand of those that oppresse them Ec. 5.7 and none comforteth them None Yes surely aboue If in a country thou seest the oppression of the poore and the defrauding of iudgement and iustice be not astonied at the matter for he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there bee higher than they Pr. 22.23 Pr. 22.16 Pr. 21.13 Pr. 29.10 Pr. 24.15 Pr. 28.17 Pr. 1.11 Pr. 1.12 Pr. 1.15 which will defend the cause of the poore to cause the oppressor to come to pouerty in which estate he shall cry and not be heard 3. The bloudy man is he which not only doth hate him that is vpright but layeth wait against the house of the righteous and spoileth his resting place yea that doth violence against the bloud of a person Such as will say Come with vs we will lay wait for bloud and lie priuily for the innocent without a cause We will swallow them vp aliue like a graue euen whole as those that goe downe into the pit But my sonne walke not thou in the way with them Pr. 1.16 Pr. 1.17 Pr. 1.18 Pr. 12.10 Pr. 26.2 Pr. 24.16 Pr. 26.27 Pr. 28.17 refraine thy foot from their path for their feet runne to euill and make haste to bloud-shed Certainly as without cause the net is spred before the eies of all that hath wings so they lay wait for bloud and lie priuily for their liues Thus the mercies of the wicked are cruell But shall they preuaile in this The causelesse curse shall not come The iust man may fall seuen times in a day but he riseth vp againe whiles the wicked shall fall into mischiefe yea into the same they had deuised He that diggeth a pit shall fall therein and he that rouleth a stone it shall fall vpon him and crush him to death for Hee that doth violence against the bloud of a person shall flee vnto the graue and they shall not stay him §. 14. The second kinde of Iustice to others is Liberality Described Limited Rewarded with his owne with more LIberality or beneficence is to cast thy bread vpon the waters Ec. 11.1 Ec. 11.2 Pr. 22.9 Pr. 3.27 Pr. 3.28 to giue a portion to seuen and also to eight in a word to giue of his bread to the poore and not to with-hold his goods from the owners thereof i. the needy though there be power in his hand to doe it and not to say to his neighbour Goe and come againe to morrow I will giue thee if he now haue it Ec. 5.18 Not that God would not haue vs enioy the comforts hee giues vs our selues for to euery man to whom God hath giuen riches and treasures and giueth him power to eat thereof and to take his part and to enioy his labours this is the gift of God but if the clouds be full they will powre out raine vpon the earth Ec. 11.3 and yet they shall be neuer the emptier The liberall person shall haue plenty Pr. 11.25 Pr. 28.17 Ec. 11.1 and he that watereth shall also haue raine yea not only he that giueth to the poore shall not lacke but shall finde it after many daies whereas hee that hideth his eies shall haue many curses but There is that scattereth and is more increased Pr. 11.24 Pr. 22.9 thus He that hath a good eye is blessed of God §. 15. The extremes whereof are Couetousnesse The description of it The curse Prodigalitie THe couetous is he that is greedy of gaine that hauing an euill eie Pr. 1.19 Pr. 23.6 Pr. 21.26 Pr. 23.4 Pr. 11.24 Pr. 28.8 Ec. 4.8 Pr. 30.15 Pr. 27.20 and coueting still greedily trauelleth too much to be rich and therefore both spareth more than is right and increaseth his goods by vsury and interest There is one alone and there is not a second which hath neither sonne nor brother yet is there none end of his trauell neither can his eyes be satisfied with riches neither doth hee thinke For whom doe I trauell and defraud my soule of pleasures This man is vnsatiable like to The horseleeches two daughters which cry still Giue Giue especially in his desires The Graue and destruction can neuer be full so the eies of a man can neuer bee satisfied All the labour of man is for his mouth and yet the soule is not filled Ec. 6.7 yea this is the curse that God hath set vpon him Hee that loueth siluer shall not be satisfied with siluer Ec. 5.9 Pr. 18.11 and he that loueth riches shall be without the fruit thereof and whereas the rich mans riches are his strong City he that trusteth in riches shall fall Pr. 11.28 Pr. 11.24 Pr. 23.5 Pr. 28.8 Pr. 16.8 Pr. 30.8 Pr. 30.9 and by his sparing commeth surely to pouertie All this while hee sets his eies on that which is nothing and doth but gather for him that will be mercifull to the poore wherefore Better is a little with right than great reuenues without equity Giue mee not pouerty nor riches feed mee with food conuenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or lest I be poore and steale and take the Name of God in vaine §. 16. Prodigality in Too much expence whereof The qualitie The end Carelesnesse of his estate THe prodigall is the man that boasteth of false liberality that loueth pastime and wine Pr. 12.9 Pr. 21.17 Pr. 28.7 Pr. 28.19 Pr. 6.12 Pr. 6.14 Pr. 6.15 Pr. 13.11 Pr. 21.17 Pr. 28.19 Pr. 28.7 Pr. 22.26 Pr. 22.27 See more of this rule in the last page of Politicke following and oile that feedeth gluttons and followeth the idle The vnthriftie man and the wicked man walketh with a froward mouth Lewd things are in his heart he imagineth euill at all times Therefore also shall his destruction come speedily and hee shall be destroyed suddenly without recouery and in the meane time The riches of vanity shall diminish so that he shall be a man of want yea filled with pouerty and a shame to his father Of this kind also is he that is otherwise carelesse of his estate Be not thou of them that touch the hand nor among them that are surety for debts If thou hast nothing to pay why causest thou that he should take thy bed from vnder thee §. 17. Diligence what it is how profitable in Health Wealth and abundance Honour Pr. 16.26 Ec. 9.10 IVstice to a mans selfe is diligence for he that trauelleth trauelleth for himselfe The diligent is
is he that drinkes the waters of his owne Cisterne Pr. 5.15 Pr. 6.25 that desires not the beautie of a stranger in his heart neither lets her take him with her eye-lids contrarily the incontinent is hee that delights in a strange woman Pr. 5.20 Pr. 2.17 Pr. 23.28 Pr. 23.27 Ec. 7.28 See more of this vice Oecoâ— sect 2. and 3. Pr. 16.32 Pr. 14.29 Pr. 19.11 Pr. 14.29 Pr. 29.8 Pr. 16.23 Pr. 20.3 Ec. 7.11 Ec. 7.11 Pr. 14.17 Pr. 14.29 Pr. 27.4 Pr. 29.22 Pr. 22.24 Pr. 22.25 and embraces the bosome of a stranger or she that forsakes the guide of her youth and forgetteth the couenant of God she lieth in wait for a prey and she increaseth the transgressors amongst men For a whore is as a deepe ditch and a strange woman as a narrow pit Yea I finde more bitter than death the woman whose heart is as nets and snares and whose hands as bands he that is good before God shall be deliuered from her but the sinner shall be taken by her Of the second is he that is slow to anger slow to wrath whose discretion deferreth his anger and whose glory is to passe by an offence which moderation as it argues him to be of great wisdome for wise men turne away wrath so it makes him better than the mightie man and procures him iust honour for It is the honour of a man to cease from strife contrary to which is he that is of an hastie spirit to be angry which as it proues him foolâ—sh for anger resteth in the bosome of fooles and he that is hastie to anger not onely committeth folly but exalteth it so it makes him dangerous Anger is cruell and wrath is raging and a furious man aboundeth in transgressions wherefore make no friendship with an angry man lest thou learne his waies and receiue destruction to thy soule §. 5. Fortitude In generall The specials of it Confidence Patience in Gods afflictions in mens iniuries Pr. 18.14 Pr. 28.1 Pr. 24.10 Pr. 29.25 Pr. 18 14. Pr. 28.1 Pr. 3.5 Pr. 3.6 Pr. 16.3 Pr. 14.32 Pr. 13.12 Pr. 28.25 Pr. 16.3 Pr. 3.6 Pr. 30.5 Pr. 21.31 Pr. 18.12 Pr. 16.20 Pr. 28.26 Pr. 27.1 FOrtitude is that whereby The spirit of a man sustaines his infirmities which makes the righteous bold as a Lion contrarily the weake of strength is hee that is faint in the day of aduersitie whose feare bringeth a snare vpon him and that desperate A wounded spirit who can beare which is often caused through guiltinesse The wicked fleeth when none pursueth him Confidence is to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and not to leane to thine owne wisdome but in all thy waies to acknowledge him and to commit thy workes to the Lord and to haue hope in thy death and though in other things The hope that is deferred is the fainting of the heart yet in this he that trusteth in the Lord shall be fat for from hence not onely his thoughts and waies are directed but he receiueth safetie and protection He is a shield to those that trust in him The horse is prepared for the day of battell but saluation is of the Lord. Yea The name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth to it and is exalted So that He that trusteth in the Lord he is blessed whereas He that trusteth in his owne heart is a foole and it is a vaine thing to boast thy selfe of to morow for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth Pr. 3.11 Ec. 7.16 Patience is not to refuse the chastening of the Lord neither to bee grieued with his correction The patient man in the day of wealth is of good comfort and in the day of affliction considereth God also hath made this contrarie to that that man should finde nothing after him whereof to complaine knowing that the Lord correcteth whom hee loueth Pr. 3.12 Pr. 10.28 Pr. 19.3 Ec. 6.10 Pr. 29.1 and that the patient abiding of the righteous shall bee gladnesse Contrarily The heart of the foole fretteth against the Lord he is carelesse and rageth but to what purpose Man cannot striue with him that is stronger than he yea rather the man that hardeneth his necke when he is rebuked shall suddenly bee destroied and cannot be cured Pr. 20.22 in respect of mens iniuries Hee saith not I will recompence euill but waits vpon the Lord and hee shall saue him In which regard the patient in spirit that suffers Ec. 7.10 is better than the proud of spirit that requites SALOMONS POLITICKS OR COMMON-WEALTH THE FIRST BOOKE His KING COVNCELLOVR COVRTIER SVBIECT By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. SALOMONS POLITICKS OR Common-Wealth And first HIS KING §. 1. Degrees must be and are subordinate highest not many but one and those from God IN all well ordered gouernments there are degrees And higher than the highest and yet an higher than they and these Ec. 5.7 of Gods appointment not onely in the inferiour ranks The rich and poore meet and the Lord is the Maker of them all but in the supreme Pr. 2.22 By me Kings raigne saith Wisdome and Princes decree Iustice Pr. 8.15 Pr. 8.16 Pr. 30.27 and not they onely but the Nobles and all the Iudges of the earth so it is a iust wonder that the Grashoppers haue no King yet they goe forth by bands And as no King is a iudgement so many for Because of the transgression of the Land there are many Princes many Pr. 28.2 not onely in frequent succession but in society of regiment §. 2. In a King are described Quality of his person Naturall Morall Actions A King must be high as in place so in bloud Blessed art thou O Land Ec. 10.17 when thy King is the sonne of Nobles not of any seruile condition Pr. 19.10 Ec. 10.17 for nothing can be more vncomly than for a seruant to haue rule ouer Princes and it is a monster in State to see seruants ride on horses and Princes of bloud to walke as seruants on the ground neither more monstrous than intollerable There are three things for which the earth is moued Pr. 30.21 Pr. 30.22 yea foure which it cannot sustaine whereof one is A seruant when he raigneth §. 3. Morall qualities Negatiue what one he Not lasciuious Not riotous Not hollow and dissembling Not childish Not imprudent Not oppressing may not be Affirmatiue ANd as his bloud is heroicall so his disposition not lascinious What Pr. 31.25 Ec. 2.10 O my sonne of my desires giue not thy strength to women nor thy waies But why should he withhold from his eyes whatsoeuer they can desire Ec. 2.8 Can. 6.7 Pr. 31.3 Ec. 7.28 and withdraw his heart from any ioy why may he not haue all the delights of the sonnes of men as women taken captiue as Queenes and Concubines and
thou art euen taken with the words of thine owne mouth Doe this now my sonne Pr. 27.13 Pr. 6.4 Pr. 6.5 seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbour not hauing taken a pledge for thy suretiship goe and humble thy selfe and sollicit thy friends Giue no sleepe to thine eies nor slumber to thine eie-lids Deliuer thy selfe as a Doe from the hand of the Hunter and as a bird from the hand of the Fowler and take it for a sure rule Pr. 11.15 He that hateth suretiship is sure SALOMONS OECONOMICKS OR GOVERNMENT OF THE FAMILIE 1. HVSBAND WIFE 2. PARENT CHILDE 3. MASTER SERVANT By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. SALOMONS OECONOMICKS OR FAMILY §. 1. The head of the Family in whom is required Wisdome Stayednesse Thrift THE man is the head and guide of the family In whom wisdome is good with an inheritance Ec. 7.13 Pr. 24.3 for Through wisedome an house is builded and established which directs him to doe all things in due orders first to prepare his worke without Pr. 24.27 and then after to build his house and therewith stayednesse For Pr. as a bird that wandreth from her nest so is a man that wandreth from his owne place and which is the chiefe slay of his estate thriftinesse for Hee that troubleth his owne house by excesse shall inherit the wind Pr. 11.19 and the foole shall bee seruant to the wise in heart for which purpose he shall finde that The house of the righteous shall haue much treasure while the reuenues of the wicked is but trouble Pr. 15.6 or if not much yet Better is a little with the feare of the Lord than great treasure Pr. 15.16 and trouble therewith Howsoeuer therefore let him be content with his estate Let the Lambes bee sufficient for his cloathing and let the Goats be the price of his field Pr. 27.16 Pr. 27.27 Let the milke of his Goats be sufficient for his food for the food of his family and the sustenance of his maides and if he haue much reuenue let him looke for much expence For Ec. 5.10 When goods increase they are increased that eat them and what good commeth to the owners thereof but the beholding thereof with their eyes THE HVSBAND §. 2. Who must beare himselfe Wisely Chastly Quietly and cheerefully HE that findeth a wife findeth a good thing and receiueth fauour of the Lord Pr. 18.22 Who must therefore behaue himselfe 1. wisely as the guide of her youth Pr. 2.17 Pr. 12.4 Pr. 5.15 as the Head to which she is a Crowne 2. Chastly Drinke the water of thine owne Cisterne and the riuers out of the middest of thine owne Well The matrimoniall loue must be pure and cleere not muddy and troubled Let thy fountaines flow forth Pr. 5.16 and the riuers of waters in the streets the sweet and comfortable fruits of blessed mariage in plentifull issue But let them be thine alone and not the strangers with thee Pr. 5.17 This loue abides no partners for this were to giue thine honour vnto others Pr. 5.9 Pr. 5.10 and thy strength to the cruell so should the stranger be filled with thy strength and as the substance will be with the affections thy labours should bee in the house of a stranger Pr. 5.11 and thou shalt mourne which is the best successe hereof at thine end when thou hast consumed besides thy goods thy flesh and thy body Pr. 5.12 Pr. 5.14 and say How haue I hated instruction and mine heart despâ—sed correction I was almost plunged into all euill of sinne and torments and that which is most shamefull in the middest of the assembly in the face of the world Let therefore that thine owne Fountaine be blessed Pr. 5.18 Pr. 5.19 and reioyce with the wife of thy youth Let her be as the louing Hinde and pleasant Roe let her brests satisfie thee at all times and erre thou in her loue continually For why shouldest thou delight my sonne in a strange woman Pr. 5.20 Pr. 5.21 or whether in affection or act embrace the bosome of a stranger For the waies of man are before the eies of the Lord and he pondereth all his paths and if thy godlesnesse regard not that Pr. 6.25 Pr. 6.26 Pr. 6.26 Pr. 6.27 Pr. 6.28 Pr. 6.29 yet for thine owne sake Desire not her beauty in thy heart neither let her take thee with her eye-lids for because of the whorish woman a man is brought to a morsell of broad yea to the very huskes and more then that a Woman will hunt for the precious life of a man Thou sayest thou canst escape this actuall defilement Can a man take fire in his bosome and his clothes not be burnt Or can a man goe vpon coles and his feet not be burnt So hee that goeth in to his neighbours wife shall not be innocent whosoeuer toucheth her This sinne is farre more odious than theft For men doe not despise a Theefe when he stealeth to satisfie his soule Pr. 6.30 Pr. 6.31 Pr. 6.32 Pr. 6.33 because hee is hungry But if he be found he shall restore seuen-fold or he shall giue all the substance of his house and it is accepted But he that commits adultery with a woman is mad hee that would destroy his owne soule let him doe it For he shall finde a wound and dishonour and his reproach shall neuer be put away Neither is the danger lesse than the shame Pr. 6.34 For iealousie is the rage of a man therefore the wronged husband will not spare in the day of vengeance Pr. 6.35 Pr. 9.17 Hee cannot beare the sight of any ransome neither will hee consent to remit it though thou multiply thy gifts And though stolne waters be sweet and hid bread be pleasant to our corrupt taste yet the adulterer knowes not that the dead are there Pr. 9.18 Pr. 2.18 19. Pr. 5.3 Pr. 5.4 Pr. 5.5 Pr. 23 27. Pr. 22.14 Pr. 15.17 Pr. 17.1 Pr. 19.11 and that her ghests are in the deepes of hell that her house tendeth to death And howsoeuer her lips drop as an hony-combe and her mouth is more soft than oile yet the end of her is bitter as wormewood and sharpe as a two-edged sword her feet goe downe to death and her steps take hold of hell yea the mouth of the strange woman is a deepe pit and he with whom the Lord is angry shall fall into it 3. Quietly and louingly for Better is a dinner of greene herbes where loue is than a stalled Oxe and hatred therewith Yea Better is a dry morsell if peace be with it than an house full of sacrifices with strife And if hee finde sometime cause of blame The discretion of a man deferreth his anger and his glory is to passe by an offence and onely Hee that couereth a
to your God the World and seek to please him with your base and seruile deuotions it shall be long enough ere such religion shall make you happy You shall at last forsake those altars emptie and sorrowfull How easie is it for vs Christians thus to insult ouer the worldling that thinkes himselfe worthy of enuie How easie to turne off the world with a scornfull repulse and when it makes vs the Deuils profer All these will I giue thee to returne Peters answer Thy siluer and thy gold perish with thee How easie to account none so miserable as those that are rich with iniurie and grow great by being conscious of secret euils Wealth and honor when it comes vpon the best tearmes is but vaine but when vpon ill conditions burdensome When they are at the best they are scarce friends but when at the worst tormentors Alas how ill agrees a gay coat and a festred heart What auailes an high title with an hell in the soule I admire the faith of Moses but presupposing his faith I wonder not at his choice He preferred the afflictions of Israel to the pleasures of Aegypt and chose rather to eate the Lamb with sowre hearbs than all their flesh-pots for how much better is it to be miserable than guilty and what comparison is there betwixt sorrow and sinne If it were possible let me rather be in hell without sinne than on earth wickedly glorious But how much are we bound to God that allowes vs earthly fauours without this opposition That God hath made you at once honourable and iust and your life pleasant and holy and hath giuen you an high estate with a good heart are fauours that looke for thanks These must be acknowledged not rested in They are yet higher thoughts that must perfect your contentment What God hath giuen you is nothing to that he meanes to giue He hath bin liberall but he will be munificent This is not so much as the taste of a full cup. Fasten your eyes vpon your future glory and see how meanly you shall esteeme these earthly graces Here you command but a little pittance of mould great indeed to vs little to the whole there whole heauen shall be yours Here you command but as a subiect there you shall reigne as a King Here you are obserued but sometimes with your iust distaste there you shall raigne with peace and ioy Here you are noble among men there glorious amongst Angels Here you want not honour but you want not crosses there is nothing but felicity Here you haue some short ioyes there is nothing but eternity You are a stranger here there at home Here Satan tempts you and men vexe you there Saints and Angels shall applaud you and God shall fill you with himselfe In a word you are onely blessed here for that you shall be These are thoughts worthy of greatnesse which if we suffer eyther imployments or pleasures to thrust out of our doores we doe wilfully make our selues comfortlesse Let these still season your mirth and sweeten your sorrowes and euer interpose themselues betwixt you and the world These onely can make your life happy and your death welcome To my Lord HAY H. and P. EP. III. Of true Honour MY Lord it is safe to complaine of Nature where Grace is and to magnifie Grace where it is at once had and affected It is a fault of Nature and not the least that as she hath dimme eyes so they are miss-placed She lookes still eyther forward or downeward forward to the obiect she desires or downeward to the meanes neuer turnes her eyes eyther backward to see what shee was or vpward to the cause of her good whence it is iust with God to with-hold what he would giue or to curse that which hee bestowes and to besot carnall minds with outward things in their value in their desire in their vse whereas true wisedome hath cleare eyes and right set and therefore sees an inuisible hand in all sensible euents effecting all things directing all things to their due end sees on whom to depend whom to thanke Earth is too low and too base to giue bounds vnto a spirituall sight No man then can truely know what belongs to wealth or honour but the gracious eyther how to compasse them or how to prize them or how to vse them I care not how many thousand wayes there are to seeming-honour besides this of vertue they all if more still lead to shame or what plots are deuised to improue it if they were as deepe as hell yet their end is losse As there is no counsell against God so there is no honour without him Heâ— inclines the hearts of Princes to fauour the hearts of inferiours to applause Without him the hand cannot moue to successe nor the tongue to praise And what is honour without these In vaine doth the world frowne vpon the man whom hee meanes to honour or smile where hee would disgrace Let mee then tell your Lordship who are fauourites in the Court of heauen euen whiles they wander on earth yea let the great King himselfe tell you Those that honour mee I will honour That men haue the grace to giue honour to God is an high fauour but because men giue honour to God as their dutie that therefore God should giue honour to men is to giue because hee hath giuen It is a fauour of God that man is honoured of man like himselfe but that God alloweth of our endeuours as honour to himselfe is a greater fauour than that wherewith hee requites it This is the goodnesse of our God The man that serues him honours him and whosoeuer honours him with his seruice is crowned with honour I challenge all times places persons Who euer honoured God and was neglected Who hath wilfully dishonoured him and prospered Turne ouer all Records and see how successe euer blessed the iust after many dangers after many stormes of resistance and left their conclusion glorious how all godlesse plots in their loose haue at once deceiued shamed punished their Author I goe no further Your owne brest knowes that your happy experience can herein iustifie God The world hath noted you for a follower of vertue and hath seene how fast Honour followed you Whiles you sought fauour with the God of heauen he hath giuen you fauour with his Deputy on earth Gods former actions are patternes of his future He teacheth you what he will doe by what hee hath done Vnlesse your hand be weary of offering seruice he cannot eyther pull in his hand from rewarding or hold it out empty Honour him still and God pawnes his honour on not failing you You cannot distruct him whom your proofe hath found faithfull And whiles you settle your heart in this right course of true glory laugh in secret scorne at the idle endeuours of those men whose policies would out-reach God and seize vpon honour without his leaue God laughes at them in heauen it is a safe and
tarry in the suburbs Grant that these were as ill as an enemy can make them or can pretend them You are deceiued if you thinke the walles of Babylon stand vpon Ceremonies Substantiall errors are both her foundation and frame These rituall obseruations are not so much as Tile and Reede rather like to some Fane vpon the roofe for ornament more then vse Not parts of the building but not necessarie appeadances If you take them otherwise you wrong the Church if thus and yet depart you wrong it and your selfe As if you would haue perswaded righteous Lot not to stay is Zoar because it was so neere Sodome I feare if you had seene the money-changers in the Temple how euer you would haue prayed or taught there Christ did it not forsaking the place but scourging the offenders And this is the valour of Christian teachers To oppose abuses not to runne away from them Where shall you not thus finde Babylon Would you haue runne from Geneua because of her wafers Or from Corinth for her disordered loue-feasts Either runne out of the world or your flight is in vaine If experience of change teach you not that you shall finde your Babylon euery where returne not Compare the place you haue left with that you haue chosen let not feare of seeming to repent ouer-soone make you partiall Loe there a common harbour of all opinions of all heresies if not a mixture Here you drew in the free and cleare aire of the Gospel without that odious composition of Iudaisme Arrianisme Anabaptisme There you liue in the stench of these and more You are vnworthy of pitie if you will approue your misery Say if you can that the Church of England if shee were not yours is not an heauen to Amsterdam How is it then that our gnats are harder to swallow then their camels and that whiles all Christendome magnifies our happinesse and applauds it your handfull alone so detests our enormities that you despise our graces See whether in this you make not God a loser The thanke of all his fauours is lost because you want more and in the meane time who gaines by this sequestration but Rome and Hell How doe they insult in this aduantage that our mothers owne children condemne her for vncleane that we are dayly weakened by our diuisions that the rude multitude hath so palpable a motiue to distrust vs Sure you intended it not but if you had been their hired Agent you could not haue done our enemies greater seruice The God of heauen open your eyes that you may see the vniustice of that zeale which hath transported you and turne your heart to an endeuour of all Christian satisfaction Otherwise your soules shall finde too late that it had beene a thousand times better to swallow a Ceremonie then to rend a Church yea that euen wheredomes and murders shall abide an easier answer then separation I haue done if onely I haue aduised you of that fearfull threatning of the Wise-man The eye that mocketh his father and despiseth the gouernment of his mother the Rauens of the valley shall picke it out and the yong Eagles eate it To Sir ANDREW ASTELEY EP. II. A discourse of our due preparation for death and the meanes to sweeten it to vs. SInce I saw you I saw my father die How boldly and merrily did hee passe thorow the gates of death as if they had no terrour but much pleasure Oh that I could as easily imitate as not forget him We know wee must tread the same way how happy if with the same minde Our life as it giues way to death so must make way for it It will be though we will not it will not bee happy without our will without our preparation It is the best and longest lesson to learne how to die and of surest vse which alone if we take not out it were better not to haue liued Oh vaine studies of men how to walke thorough Rome streets al day in the shade how to square cirles how to salue vp the celestiall motions how to correct mis-written copies to fetch vp old words from forgetfulnesse and a thousand other like points of idle skill whiles the maine care of life and death is neglected There is an Art of this infallible eternall both in truth and vse for though the meanes bee diuers yet the last act is still the same and the disposition of the soule need not be other it is all one whether a feuer bring it or a sword wherein yet after long profession of other sciences I am still why should I shame to confesse a learner and shall be I hope whilest I am yet it shall not repent vs as diligēt schollers repeat their parts vnto each other to be more perfect so mutually to recall some of our rules of well-dying The first whereof is a conscionable life The next a right apprehension of life and death I tread in the beaten path doe you follow me To liue holily is the way to die safely happily If death be terrible yet innocence is bold and will neither feare it selfe nor let vs feare where contrariwise wickednesse is cowardly and cannot abide either any glimpse of light or shew of danger Hope doth not more draw our eyes forward then conscience turnes them backward and forces vs to looke behinde vs affrighting vs euen without past euils Besides the paine of death euery sinne is a new Fury to torment the soule and to make it loth to part How can it chuse when it sees on the one side what euill it hath done on the other vvhat euill it must suffer it vvas a cleare heart what else could doe it that gaue so bold a forehead to that holy Bishop who durst on his death-bed professe I haue so liued as I neither feare to die nor shame to liue What care we when be found if well-doing What care we how suddenly vvhen our preparation is perpetuall What care we how violently vvhen so many inward friends such are our good actions giue vs secret comfort There is no good Steward but is glad of his Audit his straight accounts desire nothing more then a discharge onely the doubtfull and vntrustie feares of his reckoning Neither onely doth the vvant of integritie make vs timorous but of wisedome in that our ignorance cannot equally value either the life which vve leaue or the death vve expect Wee haue long conuersed vvith this life and yet are vnacquainted how should wee then know that death we neuer saw or that life vvhich followes that death These cottages haue been ruinous and wee haue not thought of their fall our way hath beene deepe and we haue not looked for our rest Shew mee euer any man that knew vvhat life vvas and vvas loth to leaue it I vvill shew you a prisoner that would dwell in his Goale a slaue that likes to be chained to his Galley What is there here but darknesse of ignorance discomfort of euents impotency of
is maruellous in our eyes You haue now parallel'd vs Out of both our feares God hath fetched securitie Oh that out of our securitie wee could as easily fetch feare not so much of euill as of the Author of good and yet trust him in our feare and in both magnifie him Yea you haue by this act gained some conuerts against the hope of the agents neither can I without many ioyfull congratulations thinke of the estate of your Church which euery day honours with the accesse of new clients whose teares and sad confessions make the Angels to reioyce in heauen and the Saints on earth We should giue you example if our peace were as plentifull of goodnesse as of pleasure But how seldome hath the Church gained by ease or lost by restraint Blesse you God for our prosperitie and we shall praise him for your progresse To M. THOMAS SVTTON EP. VII Exciting him and in him all others to early and cheerfull beneficence shewing the necessitie and benefit of good workes SIR I trouble you not with reasons of my writing or with excuses if I doe ill no plea can warrant me if well I cannot be discouraged with any censures I craue not your pardon but your acceptation It is no presumption to giue good counsell and presents of loue feare not to be ill taken of strangers My pen and your substance are both giuen vs for one end to doe good These are our talents how happy are we if we can improue them well suffer me to doe you good with the one that with the other you may doe good to many and most to your selfe You cannot but know that your ful hand and worthy purposes haue possessed the world with much expectation what speake I of the world whose honest and reasonable claimes yet cannot bee contemned with honour nor disappointed with dishonour The God of heauen which hath lent you this abundance and giuen you these gracious thoughts of charity of piety lookes long for the issue of both and will easily complaine either of too little or too late Your wealth and your will are both good but the first is onely made good by the second For if your hand were full and your heart empty we who now applaud you should iustly pity you you might haue riches not goods not blessings your burthen should be greater then your estate and you should be richer in sorrowes then in meals For if we looke to no other world what gaine is it to be the keeper of the best earth That which is the common cofer of all the rich mynes we do but tread vpon and account it vile because it doth but hold and hide those treasures Whereas the skilfull metallist that findeth and refineth those precious veines for publike vse is rewarded is honoured The very basest Element yeelds gold the sauage Indian gets it the seruile prentise workes it the very Midianitish Camell may weare it the miserable worldling admires it the couetous Iew swallowes it the vnthrifty Ruffian spends it what are all these the better for it Onely good vse giues praise to earthly possessions Herein therefore you owe more to God that he hath giuen you an heart to doe good a will to be as rich in good workes as great in riches To be a friend to this Mammon is to be an enemy to God but to make friends with it is royall and Christian His enemies may be wealthy none but his friends can either be good or do good Da accipe saith the Wise-man The Christian which must imitate the high patterne of his Creator knowes his best riches to be bounty God that hath all giues all reserues nothing And for himselfe he well considers that God hath not made him an owner but a seruant and of seruants a seruant not of his goods but of the Giuer not a Treasurer but a Steward whose praise is more To lay out well then to haue receiued much The greatest gaine therefore that he affects is an eauen reckoning a cleare discharge which since it is obtained by disposing not by keeping he counts reseruation losse iust expence his trade and ioy he knowes that Wel done faithfull seruant is a thousand times more sweet a note then Soule take thine ease for that is the voice of the matter recompencing this of the carnall heart presuming and what followes to the one but his masters ioy what to the other but the losse of his soule Blessed be that God which hath giuen you an heart to fore-thinke this and in this dry and dead Age a will to honour him with his owne and to credit his Gospell with your beneficence Lo we are vpbraided with barrennesse your name hath beene publikely opposed to these challenges as in whom it shall be seene that the truth hath friends that can giue I neither distrust nor perswade you whose resolutions are happily fixed on purposes of good onely giue me leaue to hasten your pase a little and to excite your Christian forwardnesse to begin speedily what you haue long and constantly vowed You would not but doe good why not now I speake boldly The more speed the more comfort Neither the times are in our disposing nor our selues if God had set vs a day and made our wealth inseparable there were no danger in delaying now our vncertainty either must quicken vs or may deceiue vs. How many haue meant well and done nothing and lost their crowne with lingring whose destinies haue preuented their desires and haue made their good motions the wards of their executors not without miserable successe to whom that they would haue done good is not so great a praise as it is dishonour that they might haue done it their wracks are our warnings we are equally mortall equally fickle Why haue you this respite of liuing but to preuent the imperious necessity of death it is a wofull and remedilesse complaint that the end of our dayes hath ouer-run the beginning of our good works Early beneficence hath no danger many ioyes for the conscience of good done the prayers and blessings of the releeued the gratulations of the Saints are as so many perpetuall comforters which can make our life pleasant and our death happy our euill dayes good and our good better All these are lost with delay few and cold are the prayers for him that may giue and in lieu our good purposes fore-slowed are become our tormentors vpon our death-bed Little difference is betwixt good deferred and euill done Good was meant who hindred it will our conscience say there was time enough meanes enough need enough what hindred Did feare of enuy distrust of want Alas what bugs are these to fright men from heauen As if the enuy of keeping were lesse then of bestowing As if God were not as good a debtor as a giuer he that giues to the poore lends to God saith wise Salomon If he freely giue vs what we may lend grace to giue wil he not much more
did his Rocke and bring downe riuers of teares to wash away your bloodshed Doe not so much feare your iudgement as abhorre your sinne yea your selfe for it And vvith strong cries lift vp your guilty hands to that God whom you offended and say Deliuer me from blood-guiltinesse O Lord. Let me tel you As vvithout repentance there is no hope so with it there is no condemnation True penitence is strong and can grapple with the greatest sinne yea with all the powers of hell What if your hands be red vvith blood Behold the blood of your Sauiour shall wash away yours If you can bathe your selfe in that your Scarlet soule shall bee as white as Snow This course alone shall make your Crosse the way to the Paradise of God This plaister can heale all the fores of the soule if neuer so desperate Onely take heed that your heart be deepe enough pierced ere you lay it on else vnder a seeming skin of dissimulation your soule shall fester to death Yet ioy vs with your true sorrow vvhom you haue grieued with your offence and at once comfort your friends and saue your soule To Mr. IOHN MOLE of a long time now prisoner vnder the Inquisition at Rome EPIST. IX Exciting him to his wonted constancy and encouraging him to Martyrdome WHat passage can these lines hope to find into that your strait and curious thraldome Yet who would not aduenture the losse of this paines for him which is ready to lose himselfe for Christ what doe we not owe to you which haue thus giuen your selfe for the common faith Blessed bee the name of that God who hath singled you out for his Champion and made you inuincible how famous are your bonds how glorious your constancy Oh that out of your close obscurity you could but see the honour of your suffering the affections of Gods Saints and in some an holy enuie at your distressed happinesse Those wals cannot hide you No man is attended with so many eyes from earth and heauen The Church your Mother beholds you not with more compassion then ioy Neither can it be sayd how shee at once pities your misery and reioyces in your patience The blessed Angels looke vpon you with gratulation and applause The aduersaries with an angry sorrow to see themselues ouercome by their captiue their obstinate cruelty ouer-matched with humble resolution and faithfull perseuerance Your Sauiour sees you from aboue not as a meere spectator but as a patient with you in you for you yea as an agent in your indurance and victory giuing new courage with the one hand and holding out a Crowne with the other Whom would not these sights incourage who now can pity your solitarines The hearts of all good men are with you Neither can that place be but full of Angels which is the continuall obiect of so many prayers yea the God of heauen was neuer so neere you as now you are remoued from men Let me speake a bold but true word It is as possible for him to be absent from his heauen as from the prisons of his Saints The glorified spirits aboue sing to him the persecuted soules below suffer for him and cry to him he is magnified in both present with both the faith of the one is as pleasing to him as the triumph of the other Nothing obligeth vs men so much as smarting for vs words of defence are worthy of thankes but paine is esteemed aboue recompence How do we kisse the wounds which are taken for our sakes professe that we would hate our selues if we did not loue those that dare bleed for vs How much more shall the God of mercies bee sensible of your sorrowes and crowne your patience To whom you may truly sing that ditty of the Prophet Surely for thy sake am I flaine continually and am counted as a sheepe for the slaughter What need I to stir vp your constancy which hath already amazed and wearied your persecutors No suspition shall driue me hereto but rather the thirst of your praise He that exhorts to persist in well-doing while he perswades commendeth Whither should I rather send you then to the fight of your owne Christian fortitude which neither prayers nor threats haue beene able to shake Here stands on the one hand liberty promotion pleasure life and which easily exceeds all these the deare respect of wife and children whom your only resolution shall make widow and orphanes these with smiles and vowes and teares seeme to importune you On the other hand bondage solitude horror death and the most lingring of all miseries tuine of posterity these with frownes and menaces labour to affright you Betwixt both you haue stood vnmoued fixing your eyes either right forward vpon the cause of your suffering or vpwards vpon the crowne of your reward It is an happy thing when our own actions may be either examples or arguments of good These blessed proceedings call you on to your perfection The reward of good beginnings prosecuted is doubled neglected is lost How vaine are those temptations which would make you a loser of all this praise this recompence Goe on therefore happily keepe your eyes where they are and your heart cannot be but where it is and where it ought Looke still for what you suffer and for whom For the truth for Christ what can be so precious as truth Not life it selfe All earthly things are not so vile to life as life to truth Life is momentarie Truth eternall Life is ours the Truth Gods Oh happy purchase to giue our life for the truth What can we suffer too much for Christ He hath giuen our life to vs hee hath giuen his owne life for vs. What great thing is it if he require what he hath giuen vs if ours for his Yea rather if he call for vvhat he hath lent vs yet not to bereaue but to change it giuing vs gold for clay glory for our corruption Behold that Sauiour of yours weeping and bleeding and dying for you alas our soules are too strait for his sorrowes wee can be made but paine for him He vvas made sinne for vs vvee sustaine for him but the impotent anger of men he strugled vvith the infinite vvrath of his Father for vs. Oh vvho can endure enough for him that hath passed thorow death and hell for his soule Thinke this and you shall resolue vvith Dauid I will bee yet more vile for the Lord. The worst of the despight of men is but Death and that if they inflict not a disease vvill or if not that Age. Here is no imposition of that vvhich vvould not be but an hastning of that which vvill be an hastning to your gaine For behold their violence shall turne your necessitie into vertue and profit Nature hath made you mortall none but an enemie can make you a Martyr you must die though they vvill not you cannot die for Christ but by them How could they else deuise to make you happie
thou mightest neuer taste of it hee would bee in sense for a time as forsaken of his Father that thou mightest be receiued for euer Now bid thy soule returne to her rest and enioyne it Dauids taske Praise the Lord O my soule and What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits I will take the cup of saluation and call vpon the Name of the Lord. And as rauisht from thy selfe with the sweet apprehension of this mercy call all the other creatures to the fellowship of this ioy with that diuine Esay Reioyce O yee heauens for the Lord hath done it shout ye lower parts of the earth burst forth into praises yee mountaines for the Lord hath redeemed Iacob and will bee glorified in Israel And euen now begin that heauenly Song which shall neuer end with those glorified Saints Praise and honour and glory and power be to Him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore Thus our speech of Christs last word is finished His last act accompanied his words our speech must follow it Let it not want your deuout and carefull attention He bowed and gaue vp the ghost The Crosse was a slow death and had more paine than speed whence a second violence must dispatch the crucified their bones must be broken that their hearts might breake Our Sauiour stayes not deaths leisure but willingly and couragiously meets him in the way and like a Champion that scornes to be ouercome yea knowes hee cannot be yeeldeth in the middest of his strength that he might by dying vanquish death Hee bowed and gaue vp Not bowing because he had giuen vp but because he would Hee cryed with a loud voyce saith Matthew Nature was strong he might haue liued but he gaue vp the ghost and would die to shew himselfe Lord of life and death Oh wondrous example hee that gaue life to his enemies gaue vp his owne he giues them to liue that persecute and hate him and himselfe will die the whiles for those that hate him Hee bowed and gaue vp not they they might crowne his head they could not bow it they might vex his spirit not take it away they could not doe that without leaue this they could not doe because they had no leaue Hee alone would bow his head and giue vp his ghost I haue power to lay downe my life Man gaue him not his life man could not bereaue it No man takes it from mee Alas who could The High Priests forces when they came against him armed he said but I am he they flee and fall backward How easie a breath disperst his enemies whom hee might as easily haue bidden the earth yea hell to swallow or fire from heauen to deuoure Who commanded the Deuils and they obeyed could not haue beene attached by men he must giue not onely leaue but power to apprehend himselfe else they had not liued to take him hee is laid hold of Peter fights Put vp saith Christ Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father and hee will giue me more than twelue Legions of Angels What an Army were here more then threescore and twelue thousand Angels and euery Angell able to subdue a world of men he could but would not be rescued he is led by his owne power not by his enemies and stands now before Pilate like the scorne of men crowned robbed scourged with an Ecce homo Yet thou couldst haue no power against me vnlesse it were giuen thee from aboue Behold he himselfe must giue Pilate power against himselfe Quod emittitur voluntarium est quod amâ—â—tur aecessarium Ambr. else he could not be condemned he will be condemned lifted vp nailed yet no death without himselfe Hee shall giue his soule an offering for sinne Esay 53.10 No action that sauours of constraint can be meritorious he would deserue therefore he would suffer and die Hee bowed his head and gaue vp the ghost O gracious and bountifull Sauiour hee might haue kept his soule within his teeth in spight of all the world the weaknesse of God is stronger than men and if he had but spoken the word the heauens and earth should haue vanisht away before him but hee would not Behold when hee saw that impotent man could not take away his soule he gaue it vp and would die that we might liue See here a Sauiour that can contemne his owne life for ours and cares not to be dissolued in himselfe that we might be vnited to his Father Skin for skin saith the Deuill and all that hee hath a man will giue for his life Loe here to proue Sathan a lyer skinne and life and all hath Christ Iesus giuen for vs. Wee are besotted with the earth and make base shifts to liue one with a maimed bodie another with a periured soule a third with a rotten name and how many had rather neglect their soule than their life and will rather renounce and curse God than die It is a shame to tell Many of vs Christians doat vpon life and tremble at death and shew our selues fooles in our excesse of loue cowards in our feare Peter denies Christ thrice and forsweares him Marcellinus twice casts graines of incense into the Idols fire Ecebolius turnes thrice Spira reuolts and despaires Oh let mee liue saith the fearefull soule Whither doest thou reserue thy selfe thou weake and timorous creature or what wouldest thou doe with thy selfe Thou hast not thus learned Christ he died voluntarily for thee thou wilt not be forced to die for him he gaue vp the ghost for thee thou wilt not let others take it from thee for him thou wilt not let him take it for himselfe When I looke backe to the first Christians and compare their zealous contempt of death with our backwardnesse I am at once amazed and ashamed I see there euen women the feebler sex running with their little ones in their armes for the preferment of Martyrdome and ambitiously striuing for the next blow I see holy and tender Virgins chusing rather a sore and shamefull death than honourable Espousals I heare the blessed Martyrs Quod si venire nolucrint ego vim faciam vt dâ—â—orer intreating their tyrants and tormentors for the honour of dying Ignatius amongst the rest fearing lest the beasts will not deuoure him and vowing the first violence to them that he might bee dispatched And what lesse courage was there in our memorable and glorious fore-fathers of the last of this age and doe we their cold and feeble off-spring looke pale at the face of a faire and naturall death abhorre the violent though for Christ Alas how haue we gathered rust with our long peace Our vnwillingnesse is from inconsideration from distrust Looke but vp to Christ Iesus vpon his Crosse and see him bowing his head and breathing out his soule and these feares shall vanish he died and wouldest thou liue hee gaue vp the ghost and wouldest thou keepe it whom wouldest thou follow if not thy
this day wherein religion is not onely warmed but locked in her seat so fast that the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile against it There haue beene Princes and that in this land which as the heathen Politician compared his Tyrant haue beene like to ill Physitians that haue purged away the good humors and left the bad behind them with whom any thing hath bin lawful but to be religious Some of your gray haires can be my witnesses Behold the euils we haue escaped shew vs our blessings Here hath bin no dragging out of houses no hiding of Bibles no creeping into woods no Bonnering or Butchering of Gods Saints no rotting in dungeons no casting of infants out of the mothers belly into the mothers flames nothing but Gods truth abundantly preached cheerefully professed incouraged rewarded What nation vnder heauen yeelds so many learned Diuines What times euer yeelded so many preaching Bishops When was this City the City of our ioy euer so happy this way as in these late successions Whither can we ascribe this health of the Church and life of the Gospell but next to God to His example His countenance His endeuours Wherein I may not omit how right he hath trod in the steps of that blessed Constantine in al his religious proceedings Let vs in one word parallel them Euseb de vita Const l. 4. c. 36. Constantine caused fifty Volumes of the Scriptures to bee faire written out in parchment for the vse of the Church Lib. 3.61.62 King Iames hath caused the Bookes of Scriptures to bee accurately translated and published by thousands Constantine made a zealous edict against Nouatians Valentinians Marcionites King Iames Lib. 3.63 besides his powerfull proclamations and soueraigne lawes hath effectually written against Popery and Vorstianisme Constantine tooke away the liberty of the meetings of Heretickes King Iames hath by wholesome lawes inhibited the assemblies of Papists and schismatickes Constantine sate in the middest of Bishops Lib. 1. c. 37. In media istorum frequentia ac congressu adesse vna considere non dedâ—gnatus Basil dor as if hee had beene one of them King Iames besides his solemne conferences vouchsafes not seldome to spend his meales in discourse with his Bishops and other worthy Diuines Constantine charged his sonnes vt planè sine fuco Christiani essent that they should be Christians in earnest King Iames hath done the like in learned and diuine precepts which shall liue till time bee no more Yea in their very coynes is a resemblance Constantine had his picture stampt vpon his mettals praying Lib. 4.15 King Iames hath his picture with prayer about it O Lord protect the kingdomes which thou hast vnited Lastly Constantine built Churches one in Ierusalem another in Nicomedia Lib. 3.43 King Iames hath founded one Colledge which shall helpe to build and confirme the whole Church of God vpon earth Yee wealthy Citizens that loue Ierusalem cast in your store after this royall example into the Sanctuary of God and whiles you make the Church of God happy make your selues so Brethren if wee haue any relish of Christ any sense of heauen let vs blesse God for the life of our soule the Gospell and for the spirit of this life his Anointed But where had beene our peace or this freedome of the Gospell without our deliuerance and where had our deliuerance beene without him As it was reported of the Oake of Mamre that all religions rendred their yeerely worship there Socr. l. 2. c. 3. The Iewes because of Abraham their Patriarch the Gentile because of the Angels that appeared there to Abraham The Christians because of Christ that was there seene of Abraham with the Angels So was there to King Iames in his first beginnings a confluence of all sects with papers in their hands and as it was best for them with a Rogamus Domine non pugnamus like the subiects of Theodosius Ribera in prophet min. ex Ioseph Antiq. lib. 9 vlt. â— mritam Iudaeos cognatos appellari soliti quamdiu illis bene erat At vbi contra c. 1 King 12. Flectâ—re si nequco c. But our cozens of Samaria when they saw that Salomons yoke would not bee lightned soone flew off in a rage What portion haue wee in Dauid And now those which had so oft looke vp to Heauen in vaine resolue to dig downe to Heli for aid Satan himselfe met them and offered for sauing of their labour to bring Hell vp to them What a world of sulphur had hee prouided against that day What a brewing of death was tunned vp in those vessels The murderous Pioners laught at the close felicity of their proiect and now before-hand seemed in conceit to haue heard the cracke of this hellish thunder and to see the mangled carcasses of the Heretickes flying vp so suddenly that their soules must needs goe vpward towards their perdition their streets strewed with legges and armes and the stones braining as many in their fall as they blew vp in their rise Remember the Children of Edom O Lord in the day of Ierusalem which said Psal 117.7 Downe with it downe with it euen to the ground O daughter of Babel worthy to bee destroyed blessed shall hee bee that serueth thee as thou wouldest haue serued vs. But hee that sits in Heauen laught as fast at them to see their presumption that would bee sending vp bodies to heauen before the resurrection and preferring companions to Elias in a fiery Chariot and said vt quid fremuerunt Consider now how great things the Lord hath done for vs The snare is broken and wee are deliuered But how As that learned Bishop well applied Salomon to this purpose Diuinatio in labijs Regis Pro. 16.10 B. Barlow p. 350 If there had not beene a diuination in the lips of the King wee had beene all in iawes of death Vnder his shadow wee are preserued aliue as Ieremie speaketh It is true God could haue done it by other meanes but hee would doe it by this that wee might owe the being of our liues to him of whom wee held our well-being before Oh praised be the God of heauen for our deliuerance Praised bee God for his anointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suet. by whom wee are deliuered Yea how should wee call to our fellow creatures the Angels Saints heauens elements meteors mountaines beasts trees to helpe vs praise the Lord for this mercy Addit neque me liberosque meos cariores habebo quam Caium eius sorores Clodoneus Otho Fris l. 4. c. 32. Clodoucus Otho Fris l. 4. c. 31. And as the oath of the Romane souldiers ranne how deare and precious should the life of Caesar bee to vs aboue all earthly things how should wee hate the base vnthankfulnesse of those men which can say of him as one said of his Saint Martin Martinus bonus in auxilio charus in negotio who whiles they
not without the interuention of a Sauiour To which claime is laid in two kindes either as imputatiue or as inherent The inherent wrought in vs the imputed wrought for vs. How easie were it to leade you through a thicket of distinctions into a large field of controuersie concerning the nature meanes manner of our Iustification No head in all Diuinity yeelds either more or more important Problems In so much as Cardinall De Monte Vice-President for the time of the Councell of Trent in an Oration made by him in the eleuenth session professes that when they meant to dispatch their Decree concerning Iustification in fifteene daies it cost them seuen moneths to finish without one daies intermission and when all is done they haue left the world which was before as Pighius ingenuously intricated by the thorny questions of Schoolemen rather more vnsatisfied and perplexed than they found it It is the maine care of our liues and deaths what shall giue vs peace and acceptation before the dreadfull Tribunall of God What but righteousnesse What righteousnesse or whose Ours or Christs Ours in the inherent graces wrought in vs in the holy works wrought by vs or Christs in his most perfect obedience and meritorious satisfaction wrought for vs applied to vs The Tridentine faction is for the former wee are for the latter God is as direct on our side as his Word can make him Euery where blazoning the defects of our owne righteousnesse the imperfections of our best Graces the deadly nature of our least sinnes the radicall sinfulnesse of our habituall concupiscence the pollution of our best works Euery where extolling the perfect obedience of our Redeemer the gracious application of that obedience the sweet comfort of that application the assurance and vnfailablenesse of that comfort and lastly our happy rest in that assurance I instance not open the Booke see where your eies can looke beside these Satis apertè saith their Cassander The Scripture is cleare ours So is all antiquity if they beleeue that learned Arbiter So are their more ingenuous Doctors of the last age So would they all be if they had grace to know God themselues grace sinne heauen hell God perfectly iust themselues miserably weake Grace sensibly imperfect sinne vnmeasurably sinfull Lastly if they knew that heauen is for none but the pure that hell is for the presumptuous O Sauiour no man is iust through thee but he that is sanctified by thee What is our inherent justice but sanctity That we aspire towards wee attaine not to Woe were vs if we were not more iust in thee than sanctified in our selues wee are sanctified in part according to the weaknesse of our receit we are iustified thorowly according to the perfection of thine acceptation were we fully sanctified here we should be more than men were we not thorowly iustified we should be no more than sinners before thee whiles wee stand before thee as sinners we can haue no peace Let others trust in the Charets and Horses of their owne strength wee will remember the Name of the Lord our God The worke of thy Iustice shall bee our peace Peace is a sweet word Euery body would be glad of it especially Peace at the last as the Psalmist speakes How haue the politickly religious held out twigs for the drowning soule to catch at Due satisfactions vndue supererogations patronages of Saints bargaines of Indulgences woolward pilgrimages and at last after whips and haire-clothes leaue the dying soule to a feare of Hell doubt of Heauen assurance of Purgatory flames How truly may it now say to these Doctors as Iob to his friends Miserable comforters are yee all Hearken O yee deare Christians to a better voice that sounds from heauen Mat. 11.28 Come to mee all yee that labour and are heauy laden and I will giue you rest Is there any of you whose vnquiet brest boiles continually with the conscience of any foule sin whose heart is daily tyr'd vpon by the vultur of his secret guiltinesse whose bosome is gnawed before-hand with that hellish Worme which can no more giue ouer than die It bootes not to aske thee if thou wouldest haue peace Peace Rather than life Oh wherewithall shall I come before the Lord and bow my selfe before the most high God Micah 6. Shal I come before him with burnt offerings Wil the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rammes or with tenne thousand Riuers of Oyle Shall I giue my first borne for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sinne of my soule Heare O thou distracted heart what talkest thou of giuing to the owner The world is his thou art not thine owne Yea were these things thine and not his yet know it is not giuing but taking that must procure thy peace An infinite Iustice is offended an infinite Iustice hath satisfied an infinite mercy hath applied it Take thou hold by the hand of faith on that infinite mercy and justice of thy Sauiour The worke of his Iustice shall be thy peace Fly about whither thou wilt O thou weary Doue thorow all the wide Regions of the heauen waters thou shalt no where finde rest for the soles of thy feet but in this Arke of Christs perfect righteousnesse In vaine shalt thou seeke it in schooles of morality in learned Libraries in spacious fields and forrests in pleasant gardens in sullen retirednesse in witty conuersation in wanton Theaters in drunken cellers in tables of gluttony in beds of iust chests of Mammon whiffes and draughts of intoxication songs of ribaldry sports of recreation No no the more thou seekest it in most of these the further it flies from thee the further thou art from finding it and if these things may giue some poore truce to thy thoughts it shall soone end in a more direfull warre There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Stray whither thou wilt O thou wounded heart thorow the Lawnds and Woods alas the shaft sticks still in thee or if that bee shaken out the head None but the soueraigne Dittany of thy Sauiours righteousnes can driue it out and till it be out thou canst haue no peace In plaine termes wouldst thou haue peace None but Christ can giue it thee He will giue it to none but the penitent none but the faithfull Oh spend thy selfe into the sighes and teares of true repentance and then raise thy humbled soule to a liuely confidence in thine all-sufficient Redeemer Set thy Lord Iesus betwixt God and thy sins God cannot see thy debt but through thine acquitance By his stripes we are healed by his wounds we are stanched by his death we are quickned by his righteousnesse we are discharged The worke of his righteousnesse is our peace Oh safe and blessed condition of beleeuers Let sinne Satan world death hel doe their worst Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that iustifieth who shall condemne It is Christ that died yea rather that
it is not wealth alone that is accessary to this pride there are some that with the Cynicke or that worse dogge the patcht Cistertian are proud of rags there are others that are rich of nothing but cloathes somewhat like to Naziavâ—cus country of Ozizala that abounded in flowers but was barren of come their cloaths are more worth then all the rest as wee vse to say of the Elder that the flower of it is more worth then all the tree besides but if there be any other causes of our hye-mindednesse wealth is one which doth ordinarily lift vp our heads aboue ourselues aboue others and if there be here any of these empty bladders that are puft vp with the wind of conceit giue me leaue to prick them a little and first let mee tell them they may haue much and be neuer the better The chimny ouer lookes all the rest of the house is it not for all that the very basest piece of the building The very heathen man could obserue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Arist That God giues many a man wealth for their greater mischiefe As the Israelites were rich in Quailes but their fawce was such that famine had beene better little cause had they to be proud that they were fed with meate of Princes with the bread of Angels whiles that which they put into their mouthes God fetcht out of their nostrels Haman was proud that he alone was called to the honour of Esters feast this aduancement raised him fifty cubits higher to a stately gibbet If your wealth be to any of you an occasion of fallingâ— if your gold be turned into fetters it had beene better for you to haue liued beggers Let me tell them next of the folly of this pride They are proud of that which is none of theirs That which law and case-diuinity speakes of life that man is not dominus vitae suae sed custos is as true of wealth Senec. Nature can tell him in the Philosopher that hee is not Dominus but Colonus not the Lord but the Farmer It is a iust obseruation of Philo that God onely by a propriety is stiled the possessor of heauen and earth by Melchisedech in his speech to Abraham Gen. 24. we are onely the tenants and that at the will of the Lord At the most if we will as Diuines we haue jus adrem not dominium in rem right to these earthly things not Lordship ouer them but right of fauour from their proprietary and Lord in heauen and that liable to an account Doe we not laugh at the groome that is proud of his masters horse or some vaine whiffler that is proud of a borrowed chaine So ridiculous are we to be puft vp with that whereof we must needs say with the poore man of the hatchet Alas master it is but borrowed and whereof our account shall be so much more great and difficult as our receit is more Hath God therefore laded you with these earthly riches be ye like vnto the full eare of corne hang downe your heads in true humility towards that earth from which you came And it your stalke be so stiffe that it beares vp aboue the rest of your ridge looke vp to heaueh not in the thoughts of pride but in the humble vowes of thankfulnesse and be not hie-minded but feare Hitherto of the hye-mindednesse that followes wealth Now where our pride is And that they trust not there will be our confidence As the wealthy therefore may not be proud of their riches so they may not trust in them What is this trust but the setting of our hearts vpon them the placing of our ioy and contentment in them in a word the making of them our best friend our patron our idoll our god This the true and ielous God cannot abide and yet nothing is more ordinary The rich mans wealth is his strong City saith Salomonâ— where should a man thinke himselfe safe but in his sort He sees Mammon can doe so much and heares him talke of doing so much more it is no maruell if hee yeeld to trust him Mammon is so proud a boaster that his clients which beleeue in him cannot chuse but be â—onfident of him For what doth he not brag to doe Siluer answers to all saith Salomon That we grant although we would be loath it could answer to truth to iustice to iudgement But yet more he vaunts to procure all to pacifie all to conquer all He saies he can procure all secular offices titles dignities yea I would I might not â—ay in some sacrilegious and periured wretches the sacred promotions of the Church and ye know that old song of the Pope and his Romane trafficke Claues Altariâ— Christum Yea foolish Magus makes full account Keyes Altars Christ the Holy Ghost himselfe may be had for money He sayes he can pacifie all A gift in the bosome appeases wrath yea he sayes looke to it ye that sit in the seats of iudicature hee can sometimes bribe off sinnes and peruert iudgement He sayes hee can ouercome all according to the old Greeke verse Fight with siluer launces and you cannot faile of victory yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he would make vs beleeue he thought this a bait to catch the Sonne of God himselfe withall All these will I giue thee briefly hee sayes according to the French Prouerbe Siluer does all And let me tell you indeed what Mammon can doe Hee can barre the gates of hell to the vnconscionable soule and helpe his followers to damnation This he can do but for other things howsoeuer with vs men the foolish Siluer-smiths may shout out Great is Mammon of the worldlings yet if we weigh his power aright we shall conclude of Mammon as Paracelsus doth of the Diuell that he is a base and beggerly spirit For what I beseech you can he doe Can he make a man honest can he make him wise can he make him healthfull Can he giue a man to liue more merily to feed more heartily to sleepe more quietly Can we buy off the gout cares death much lesse the paines of another vvorld nay doth he not bring all these Goe to then thou rich man God is offended with thee and meanes to plague thee with disease death Now try what thy bags can doe Begin first vvith God and see whether thou canst bribe him with thy gifts Micah 6. and buy off his displeasure Wherewith shalt thou come before the Lord and bow thy selfe before the high God Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousand riuers of oyle The siluer is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts Haggai 2. If that speed not goe to the fergeant of God death see if thou canst fee him not to arrest thee He lookes thee sternely in the face and tels thee vvith Ehud he hath a message to thee from God
and bids thee with the Prophet Set thine house in order for thou must dye Yet if he heare thee not goe to the vnder-bayliffe of Death disease see if he can be wrought to forbeare thee hee answers thee with Laban This thing is proceeded of the Lord I cannot therefore say to thee euill or good In summe Disease vvill summon thee vnto death death will arrest thee to the Iudgement seat of God God vvill passe his doome vpon thee and in all these Riches auaile not in the day of wrath And vvho vvould be so mad as to trust a friend that hee knowes will be sure neuer to faile him but vvhen he hath most need Take heed therefore as ye loue your soules how ye bestow your Trust vpon riches Ye may vse them and serue your selues of them yea yee may enioy them in a Christian moderation God vvill allow it you That praise vvhich the Iesuites Colledge at Granado giues of their SancheZ Collegium Granatense Praef ad lectorem contin vitam R.P. Tho. Sanchez praefix Operi Morali in praecepta Decal that though he liued where they had a very sweet garden yet he was neuer seen to touch a flower and that he would rather dye then eate Salt or Pepper or ought that might giue rellish to his meat like as that of some other Monks that they would not see the Sunne not shift their cloathes nor cleanse their teeth caries in it more superstition and austeritie and slouenry then vvit or grace Wherefore hath God made his creatures but for vse This niggardlinesse is iniurious to the bounty of their Maker we may vse them we may not trust to them we may serue our selues of them wee may not serue them we may enioy them we may not ouer-ioy in them so must wee be affected to our goods C. Sol. Apollin Sidon Epist de Theoder as Theoderic the good King of Aquitaine vvas with his play In bonis iactibus tacet in malis ridet in neutris irascitur in vtrisque Philosophatur In good casts hee was silent in ill merry in neither angry a Philosopher in both But if we will be making our wealth a riuall vnto God now the iealousie of God shall burne like fire this is the way to bring a curse vpon our riches and vs if we leane vpon this reede it shall breake and runne into our hand and he that trusteth in riches shall fall Prou. 11.28 Now as the disdainfull riuall will bee sure to cast reproaches vpon his base competitor In vncertaine riches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so doth God that we may see how vnworthy riches are of our trust hee tels vs they are vncertaine yea vncertaintie it selfe Were our vvealth tyed to our life it were vncertaine enough what is that but a flower a vapour a tale a dreame a shadow a dreame of a shadow a thought as nothing What are great men but like Hailestones that leape vp on the Tiles and straight fall down againe and lye still and melt away But now as wee are certaine that our riches determine vvith our vncertaine life for goods and life are both in a bottome both are cast away at once so wee cannot bee certaine they vvill hold so long 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil in Psal 61. Our life flyes hastily away but many times our riches haue longer wings and out-fly it It vvas a vvitty obseruation of Basil that vvealth roles along by a man like as an heady streame glides by the bankes Time will molder away the very banke it washeth but the current stayes not for that but speeds forward from one elbow of earth vnto another so doth our wealth euen while wee stay it is gone In our penall lawes there are more wayes to forfeit our goods then our liues On our high wayes how many fauourable theeues take the purse and saue life And generally our life is the tree our vvealth is the leaues or fruit the tree stands still when the leaues are falne the fruit beaten downe Yea many a one is like the Pine-tree which they say if his barke be pull'd off lasts long else it rots so doth many a man liue the longer for his losses if therefore life and wealth striue whether is more vncertaine wealth vvill sure carie it away Iob was yesterday the richest man in the East to day he is so needie that hee is gone into a prouerbe As poore as Iob Belisarius the great and famous Commander to whom Rome owed her life twice at least came to Date obolum Belisario one halfe-peny to Belisarius What doe I instance This is a point wherein many of you Citizens that are my Auditors this day might rather reade a lecture vnto me You could tell me how many you haue knowne reputed in your phrase good men which all on the sudden haue shut vp the shop windows and broken for thousands You could reckon vp to me a Catalogue of them vvhom either casualtie of fire or inundation of waters or robberie of theeues or negligence of seruants or suretiship for friends or ouersight of reckonings or trusting of customers or vnfaithfulnesse of Factors or inexpected falls of markets or Pyracie by Sea or vnskilfulnesse of a Pylot or violence of tempests haue brought to an hasty pouertie and could tell me that it is in the power of one gale of winde to make many of you either rich Merchants or beggers Oh miserable vncertaintie of this earthly pelse that stands vpon so many hazards yea that fals vnder them who would trust it who can dote vpon it what madnesse is it in those men which as Menot sayes like vnto hunters that kill an horse of price in the pursuit of an Hare worth nothing endâ—nger yea cast away their soules vpon this worthlesse and sickle trash Glasses are pleasing vessels yet because of their brittlenesse who esteemes them precious All Salomons state was not comparable to one Tulip his royall Crowne was not like the Crowne Imperiall of our Gardens and yet because these are but flowers whose destinie is fading and burning we regard them thereafter No wise man bestowes much cost in painting mud-wals What meane we my beloued to spend our liues and hearts vpon these perishing treasures It was a wise meditation of Nazianzen to his Asterius that good is to no purpose if it continue not yea there is no pleasant thing in the world saith he that hath so much ioy in the welcome as it hath sorrow in the farewell Looke therefore vpon these heapes O ye wise-hearted Citizens with carelesse eyes as those things whose parting is certaine whose stay is vncertaine and say with that worthy Father By all my wealth and glory and greatnesse this alone haue I gained that I had something to which I might preferre my Sauiour And know that as Abraham whiles he was in his owne countrey it is Cyrils note had neuer God appearing to him saue onely to bid him goe forth but after when hee
faithfull vnlesse I be vnnaturall Or if I must needs bee the Monster of all Parents vvill not Ismael yet be accepted O God where is thy mercy where is thy iustice Hast thou giuen me but one onely sonne and must I now slay him Why did I vvait so long for him Why didst thou giue him me Why didst thou promise mee a blessing in him What vvill the Heathen say when they shall heare of this infamous massacre How can thy Name and my Profession escape a perpetuall blasphemie With what face shall I looke vpon my wife Sarah whose sonne I haue murdered How shall she entertaine the Executioner of Isaac Or who will beleeue that I did this from thee How shall not all the World spet at this holy cruelty and say There goes the man that cut the throat of his owne sonne Yet if he were an vngracious or rebellious child his deserts might giue some colour to this violence but to lay hands on so deare so dutifull so hopefull a sonne is vncapable of all pretences But grant that thou which art the God of Nature mayst either alter or neglect it what shall I say to the truth of thy promises Can thy iustice admit contradictions Can thy decrees be changeable Canst thou promise and disappoint Can these two stand together Isaac shall liue to be the father of Nations and Isaac shall now dye by the hand of his Father when Isaac is once gone where is my seed where is my blessing O God if thy commands and purposes be capable of alteration alter this bloody sentence and let thy first word stand These would haue been the thoughts of a weake heart But God knew that he spake to an Abraham and Abraham knew that he had to doe with a God Faith had taught him not to argue but obey In an holy wilfulnesse he either forgets Nature or despises her he is sure that what God commands is good that what hee promises is infallible and therefore is carelesse of the meanes and trusts to the end In matters of God whosoeuer consults with flesh and blood shall neuer offer vp his Isaac to God there needs no counsellor when wee know God is the Commander here is neither grudging nor deliberating nor delaying His faith would not suffer him so much as to be sorie for that hee must doe Sarah her selfe may not know of Gods charge and her husbands purpose lest her affection should haue ouercome her faith lest her weaknesse now growne importunate should haue said Disobey God and dye That which he must doe he will doe he that hath learned not to regard the life of his sonne had learned not to regard the sorrow of his wife It is too much tendernesse to respect the censures and constructions of others when wee haue a direct word from God The good Patriarch rises early and addresses himselfe to his sad iourney And now must he trauell three whole dayes to this execution and still must Isaac be in his eye whom all this while he seemes to see bleeding vpon the pile of Wood which he caries there is nothing so miserable as to dwell vnder the expectation of a great euill That misery which must be is mitigated with speed and aggrauated with delay All this while if Abraham had repented him hee had leisure to returne There is no small tryall euen in the very time of tryall now vvhen they are come within sight of the chosen Mountaine the seruants are dismissed what a deuotion is this that vvill abide no witnesses he will not suffer two of his owne Vassals to see him doe that which soone after all the world must know he hath done yet is not Abraham afraid of that pietie which the beholders could not see without horror vvithout resistance which no eare could heare of without abomination What stranger could haue endured to see the Father carie the knife and fire instruments of that death which hee had rather suffer then inflict The sonne securely carying that burden which must carie him But if Abrahams heart could haue knowne how to relent that question of his deare innocent and religious sonne had melted it into compassion My Father Behold the fire and the wood but where is the Sacrifice I know not whether that word My Father did not strike Abraham as deepe as the knife of Abraham could strike his sonne yet doth he not so much as thinke O miserable man that may not at once be a Sonne to such a God and Father to such a Sonne Still he persists and conceales and where hee meant not prophesies My sonne God shall prouide a Lambe for the burnt-offering The heauy tidings was loth to come forth It was a death to Abraham to say what he must doe He knowes his owne faith to act this hee knowes not Isaacs to indure it But now when Isaac hath helped to build the Altar whereon he must be consumed he heares not without astonishment the strange command of God the finall will of his Father My sonne thou art the Lambe which God hath prouided for this burnt offering If my bloud would haue excused thee how many thousand times had I rather to giue thee my owne life then take thine Alas I am full of dayes and now of long liued not but in thee Thou mightest haue preserued the life of thy Father and haue comforted his death but the God of vs both hath chosen thee He that gaue thee vnto me miraculously bids me by an vnvsuall meanes returne thee vnto him I need not tell thee that I sacrifice all my worldly ioyes yea and my selfe in thee but God must be obeyed neither art thou too deare for him that cals thee Come on my Sonne restore the life that God hath giuen thee by me offer thy selfe willingly to these flames send vp thy soule cheerefully vnto thy glory and know that God loues thee aboue others since he requires thee alone to be consecrated in sacrifice to himselfe Who cannot imagine with what perplexed mixtures of passions with what changes of countenance what doubts what feares what amazement good Isaac receiued this sudden message from the mouth of his Father how he questioned how hee pleaded But when hee had somewhat digested his thoughts and considered that the Author was God the actor Abraham the action a sacrifice hee now approues himselfe the sonne of Abraham now he encourages the trembling hands of his Father with whom he striues in this praise of forwardnesse and obedience now hee offers his hands and feet to the cords his throat to the knife his body to the Altar and growing ambitious of the sword fire intreats his Father to doe that which he would haue done though he had disswaded him O holy emulation of faith O blessed agreement of the Sacrificer and Oblation Abraham is as ready to take as Isaac to giue hee binds those deare hands which are more straightly bound with the cords of duty and resolution he layes his sacrifice vpon the
Iericho will be won with looking at Or doe they onely come to count how many paces it is about our City If this be their manner of siege we shall haue no great cause to feare the sword of Israel Wicked men thinke God in iest when he is preparing for their iudgement The Almighty hath vvayes and counsels of his owne vtterly vnlike to ours vvhich because our reason cannot reach we are ready to condemne of foolishnesse and impossibilitie With vs there is no way to victory but fighting and the strongest caries the spoyle God can giue victory to the feet as well as to the hands and when he will makes weaknesse no disaduantage What should we doe but follow God through by-wayes and know that he will in spight of nature lead vs to our end All the men of warre must compasse the Citie yet it was not the presence of the great warriours of Israel that threw down the wals of Iericho Those foundations were not so slightly laid as that they could not endure either a looke or a march or a battery It was the Arke of God whose presence demolished the wals of that wicked City The same power that draue backe the waters of Iordan before and afterwards laid Dagon on the floore cast down all those forts The Priests beare on their shoulders that mighty engine of God before which those wals if they had beene of molten brasse could not stand Those spirituall wickednesses yea those gates of hell which to nature are vtterly inuincible by the power of the Word of God which he hath committed to the cariage of his weake seruants are ouerthrowne and triumphed ouer Thy Arke O God hath beene long amongst vs how is it that the wals of our corruptions stand still vnruined It hath gone before vs his Priests haue caried it wee haue not followed it our hearts haue not attended vpon it and therefore how mighty soeuer it is in it selfe yet to vs it hath not been so powerfull as it would Seuen dayes together they walkt this round They made this therefore their Sabbath-dayes iourney and who knowes whether the last and longest walke which brought victory to Israel were not on this day Not long before an Israelite is stoned to death for but gathering a few sticks that day Now all the host of Israel must walke about the wals of a large and populous City and yet doe not violate the day Gods precept is the rule of the iustice and holinesse of all our actions Or was it for that reuenge vpon Gods enemies is an holy worke and such as God vouchsafes to priuiledge with his owne day Or because when we haue vndertaken the exploits of God he will abide no intermission till we haue fulfilled them Hee allowes vs to breathe not to breake off till we haue finished It had been as easie for God to haue giuen this successe to their first dayes walke yea to their first pace or their first sight of Iericho yet he will not giue it vntill the end of their seuen dayes toyle It is the pleasure of God to hold vs both in worke and in expectation And though hee require our continuall indeuours for the subduing of our corruptions during the sixe dayes of our life yet we shall neuer find it perfectly effected till the very euening of our last day In the meane time it must content vs that we are in our walke and that these wals cannot stand when wee come to the measure and number of our perfection A good heart grones vnder the sense of his infirmities faine would be rid of them and striues and prayes but when hee hath all done vntill the end of the seuenth day it cannot be If a stone or two moulder off from these wals in the meane time that is all but the foundations will not be remoued till then When we heare of so great a designe as the miraculous winning of a mighty City who would not looke for some glorious meanes to worke it when we heare that the Arke of God must besiege Iericho who would not looke for some royall equipage But behold â—here seuen Priests must go before it with seuen Trumpets of Rams horns The Israelites had trumpets of siluer which God had appointed for the vse of assembling and dissoluing the Congregation for warre and for peace Now I doe not heare them called for but in stead thereof Trumpets of Rams hornes base for the matter and not loud for sound the shortnesse and equall measure of those instruments could not afford either shrilnesse of noise or variety How meane and homely are those meanes which God commonly vses in the most glorious workes No doubt the Citizens of Iericho answered this dull alarum of theirs from their wals with other instruments of lowder report and more martiall ostentation and the vulgar Israelites thought We haue as cleare and as costly trumpets as theirs yet no man dares offer to sound the better when the worse are commanded If we finde the ordinances of God poore and weake let it content vs that they are of his owne choosing and such as whereby he will so much more honour himselfe as they in themselues are more inglorious Not the outside but the efficacie is it that God cares for No Ramme of iron could haue been so forceable for battery as these Rams horns For when they sounded long and were seconded with the shout of the Israelites all the walls of Iericho fell downe at once They made the Heauen ring with their shout but the ruine of those wals drowned their voice and gaue a pleasant kinde of horrour to the Israelites The earth shooke vnder them with the fall but the hearts of the Inhabitants shooke yet more many of them doubtlesse were slaine with those walles wherein they had trusted A man might see death in the faces of all the rest that remained who now being halfe dead with astonishment expected the other halfe from the sword of their enemies They had now neither meanes nor will to resist for if onely one breach had beene made as it vses in other sieges for the entrance of the enemy perhaps new supplyes of defendants might haue made it vp with their carkasses but now that at once Iericho is turned to a plaine field euery Israelite without resistance might runne to the next booty and the throats of their enemies seemed to inuite their swords to a dispatch If but one Israelite had knockt at the gates of Iericho it might haue been thought their hand had helped to the victory Now that God may haue all the glory without the show of any riuall yea of any meanes they doe but walke and shout and the walls giue way He cannot abide to part with any honour from himselfe As hee doth all things so he would be acknowledged They shout all at once It is the presence of Gods Arke and our conioyned prayers that are effectuall to the beating downe of wickednesse They may not shout till they be
been so scrupulously carefull that be should eate no vnclean thing and shall we now consent to an heathenish match Now therefore they grauely indeuour to coole this intemperate heat of his passion with good counsell as those which well knew the inconueniences of an vnequall yoke corruption in religion alienation of affections distraction of thoughts conniuence at Idolatry death of zeale dangerous vnderminings and lastly an vnholy seed Who can blame them if they were vnwilling to call a Philistim daughter I wish Manoah could speake so loud that al our Israelites might heare him Is there neuer a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all Gods people that thou goest to take a wife of the vncircumcised Philistims If religion be any other then a cypher how dare we not regard it in our most important choyce Is she a faire Philistim Why is not this deformity of the soule more powerfull to disswade vs then the beauty of the face or of metall to allure vs To dote vpon a faire skinne when we see a Philistim vnder it is sensuall and brutish Affection is not more blinde then deafe In vaine doe the parents seeke to alter a young man not more strong in body then in will Though he cannot defend his desires yet he pursues them Get me her for she pleases me And although it must needs be a weake motion that can plead no reason but appetite yet the good Parents sith they cannot bow the affection of their sonne with perswasion dare not breake it with violence As it becomes not children to be forward in their choyce so parents may not be too peremptory in their deniall It is not safe for children to ouer-run parents in settling their affections nor for parents where the impediments are not very materiall to come short of their children when the affections are once setled The one is disobedience the other may be tyranny I know not whether I may excuse either Samson in making this sute or his parents in yeelding to it by a diuine despensation in both For on the one side whiles the Spirit of God notes that as yet his parents knew not this was of the Lord it may seeme that he knew it and it is likely he would know not impart it This alone was enough to winne yea to command his parents It is not mine eye onely but the counsell of God that leads me to his coyce The way to quarrell with the Philistims is to match with them If I follow mine affection mine affection followes God in this proiect Surely hee that commanded his Prophet afterwards to marry an harlot may haue appointed his Nazarite to marry with a Philistim On the other side whether it were of God permitting or allowing I finde not It might so be of God as all the euill in the City and then the interposition of Gods decree shall be no excuse of Samsons infirmity I would rather thinke that God meant onely to make a Treacle of a Viper and rather appointed to fetch good out of Samsons euill then to approue that for good in Samson which in it selfe was euill When Samson went on wooing hee might haue made the sluggards excuse There is a Lion in the way but he that could not be staid by perswasion will not by feare A Lion young wilde fierce hungry comes roaring vpon him when he had no weapon but his hand no fence but his strength the same prouidence that carried him to Timnah brought the Lion to him It hath been euer the fashion of God to exercise his Champions with some initiatory incounters Both Samson and Dauid must first fight with Lions then with Philistims he whose type they bore meets with that roaring Lion of the wildernesse in the very threshold of his publike charge The same hand that prepared a Lion for Samson hath proportionably matches for euery Christian God neuer giues strength but he imployes it Pouerty meets one like an armed man Infamy like some furious Mastiue comes flying in the face of another the wilde Bore out of the forrest or the bloudy Tyger of persecution sets vpoÌ„ one the brawling curs of hereticall prauity or contentious neighbourhood are ready to bait another and by all these meaner and brutish aduersaries will God fit vs for greater conflicts It is a pledge of our future victory ouer the spirituall Philistims if we can say my soule hath been among Lions Come forth now thou weake Christian and behold this preparatory battell of Samson Dost thou thinke God deales hardly with thee in matching thee so hard and calling thee forth to so many fraies What doost thou but repine at thine owne glory How shouldst thou be victorious without resistance If the Parents of Samson had now stood behind the hedge and seen his incounter they would haue taken no further care of matching their sonne with a Philistim For who that should see a strong Lion ramping vpon an vnarmed man would hope for his life and victory The beast came bristling vp his feareful mane wafting his raised stem his eyes sparkling with fury his mouth roaring out knels of his last passage brething death from his nostrils now reioyced at so faire a prey Surely if the Lion had had no other aduersary then him whom he saw he had not lost his hope but now he could not see that his maker was his enemy The Spirit of the Lord came vpoÌ„ Samson what is a beast in the hand of the creator He that strooke the Lions with the aw of Adam Noah Daniel subdued this rebllious beast to Samson what maruell is it if Samson now tore him as if it had been a young Kid If his bones had been brasse and his skinne plâ—â—es of yron all had bin one The right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to passe If that roaring Lyon that goes about continually seeking whom he may deuoure finde vs alone among the vineyards of the Philistims where is our hope Not in our heeles he is swifter then we not in our weapons we are naturally vnarmed not in our hands which are weake and languishing but in the Spirit of that God by whom we can doe all things if God fight in vs who can resist him There is a stronger Lion in vs then that against vs. Samson was not more valiant then modest he made no words of this great exploit the greatest performers euer make the least noyse He that works wonders alone could say See thou tell no man whereas those whose hands are most impotent are busiest of their tongues Great talkers shew that they desire onely to be thought eminent whereas the deepest waters are least heard But whiles hee concealed this euent from others hee pondred it in himselfe and when hee returned to Timnaâ—h went out of the way to see his dead Aduersary and could not but recall to himselfe â—is danger and deliuerance Heere the beast met me thus he fought thus I slew him The very dead
iudge Elyes house and that with beggery with death with desolation that the wickednes of his house shal not be purged with sacrifice or offrings for euer And yet this which euery Israelites eare should tingle to heare of when it should be done old Ely heares with an vnmoued patience and humble submission It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good Oh admirable faith and more then humane constancy and resolution worthy of the aged president of Shiloh worthy of an heart sacrificed to that God whose iustice had refused to expiate his sinne by sacrifice If Ely haue been an ill father to his sonnes yet he is a good son to God and is ready to kisse the very rod he shal smart withall It is the Lord whom I haue euer found holy and iust and gracious and he cannot but be himself Let him do what seemeth him good for whatsoeuer seemeth good to him cannot but be good howsoeuer it seemes to mee Euery man can open his hand to God while he blesses but to expose our selues willingly to the afflicting hand of our Maker and to kneele to him whiles he scourges vs is peculiar onely to the faithfull If euer a good heart could haue freed a man from temporall punishments Ely must neds haue escaped Gods anger was appeased by his humble repentāce but his iustice must be satisfied Elies sinne and his sonnes was in the eye and mouth of all Israel his therefore should haue been much wronged by their impunity Who would not haue made these spirituall guides an example of lawlesnesse and haue said What care I how I liue if Elyes sonnes goe away vnpunished As not the teares of Ely so not the words of Samuel may fall to the ground We may not measure the displeasure of God by his stripes many times after the remission of the sin the very chastisements of the Almighty are deadly No repentance can assure vs that we shall not smart with outward afflictions That can preuent the eternall displeasure of God but still it may bee necessary and good we should be corrected Our care and suit must be that the euils which shall not be auerted may be sanctified If the prediction of these euils were fearefull what shall the execution be The presumption of the il-taught Israelites shal giue occasion to this iudgement for being smitten before the Philistims they send for the Arke into the field Who gaue them authority to command the Ark of God at their pleasure Here was no consulting with the Ark which they would fetch no inquiry of Samuel whether they should fetch it but an heady resolution of presumptuous Elders to force God into the field and to challenge successe If God were not with the Arke why did they send for it and reioyce in the comming of it If God were with it why was not his allowance asked that it should come How can the people be good where the Priests are wicked When the Arke of the Couenant of the Lord of Hosts that dwels between the Cherubins was brought into the Host though with meane and wicked attendance Israel doth as it were fill the heauen and shake the earth with shouts as if the Arke and victory were no lesse vnseparable then they had their sinnes Euen the lewdest men will be looking for fauour from that God whom thy cared not to displease contrary to the conscience of their deseruings Presumptiō doth the same in wicked mē which faith doth in the holiest Those that regarded not the God of the Arke thinke themselues safe happy in the Ark of God Vaine men are transported with a confidence in the out-sides of religion not regarding the substance and soule of it which only can giue them true peace But rather then God will humour superstition in Israelites hee will suffer his owne Arke to fall into the hands of Philistims Rather will he seeme to slacken his hand of protection then he will be thought to haue his hands bound by a formall misconfidence The slaughter of the Israelites was no plague to this It was a greater plague rather to them that should suruiue and behold it The two sonnes of Ely which had helped to corrupt their brethren die by the hands of the vncircumcised are now too late separated from the Arke of God by Philistims which should haue been before separated by their Father They had liued formerly to bring Gods Altar into contempt now liue to carry his Arke into captiuity and at last as those that had made vp the measure of their wickednesse are slaine in their sinne Ill newes doth euer either runne or flie The man of Beniamin which ran from the Host hath soone filled the City with outcries and Elies eares with the crie of the City The good old man after ninety and eight yeers sits in the gate as one that neuer thought himselfe too aged to doe God seruice heares the news of Israels discomfiture and his sonnes death though with sorrow yet with patience but when the messenger tels him of the Arke of God taken he can liue no longer that word strikes him down backward from his throne and kils him in the fall no sword of a Philistim could haue slaine him more painefully neither know I whether his necke or his heart were first broken Oh fearefull iudgement that euer any Israelites eare could tingle withall The Arke lost what good man would wish to liue without God Who can chuse but think he hath liued too long that hath ouer-liued the Testimonies of Gods presence with his Church Yea the very daughter in law of Ely a woman the wife of a lewd husband when she was at once traueling vpon that tidings in that trauel dying to make vp the ful sum of Gods iudgement vpon that wicked house as one insensible of the death of her father of her husband of her self in cōparison of this los cals her then vnseasonable son Ichabod with her last breath says The Glory is departed from Israel the Arke is taken what cares she for a posterity which should want the Ark what cares she for a son come into the world of Israel when God was gone frō it and how willingly doth she depart from them from whom God was departed Not outward magnificence not state not wealth not fauour of the mighty but the presence of God in his Ordinances are the glory of Israel the subducing whereof is a greater iudgement then destruction Oh Israel worse now then no people a thousand times more miserable then Philistims Those Pagans went away triumphing with the Arke of God and victory and leaue the remnants of the chosen people to lament that they once had a God Oh cruell and wicked indulgence that is now found guilty of the death not only of the Priests and people but of Religion Vniust mercy can neuer end in lesse then bloud and it were well if only the body should haue cause to complaine of that kinde
thankfulnesse vpon his returne There is no mention of their lamenting after the Lord while he was gone but when he was returned and setled in Kiriath-iearim The mercies of God draw more teares from his children then his iudgements doe from his enemies There is no better signe of good nature or grace then to be wonne to repentance with kindnesse Not to thinke of God except we be beaten vnto it is seruile Because God was come againe to Israel therefore Israel is returned to God If God had not come first they had neuer come If hee that came to them had not made them come to him they had beene euer parted They were cloyed with God while he was perpetually resident with them now that his absence had made him dainty they cleaue to him feruently and penitently in his returne This was it that God meant in his departure a better welcome at his comming backe I heard no newes of Samuel all this while the Arke was gone Now when the Arke is returned and placed in Kiriath-iearim I heare him treat with the people It is not like he was silent in this sad desertion of God but now he takes full aduantage of the professed contrition of Israel to deale with them effectually for their perfect conuersion vnto God It is great wisedome in spirituall matters to take occasion by the fore-locke and to strike while the iron is hot We may beat long enough at the doore but till God haue opened it is no going in and when he hath opened it is no delaying to enter The triall of sincerity is the abandoning of our wonted sinnes This Samuel vrgeth If ye be come againe vnto the Lord with all your heart put away the strange gods from among you and Ashtaroth In vaine had it beene to professe repentance whilst they continued in idolatry God will neuer acknowledge any conuert that stayes in a knowne sinne Graces and Vertues are so linckt together that hee which hath one hath all The partiall conuersion of men vnto God is but hatefull hypocrisie How happily effectuall is a word spoken in season Samuels exhortation wrought vpon the hearts of Israel and fetcht water out of their eyes suits and confessions and vowes out of their lips and their false gods out of their hands yet it was not meerly remorse but feare also that moued Israel to this humble submission The Philistims stood ouer them still and threatned them with new assaults the memory of their late slaughter and spoile was yet fresh in their minds sorrow for the euils past and feare of the future fetcht them downe vpon their knees It is not more necessary for men to be cheared with hopes then to bee awed with dangers where God intends the humiliation of his seruants there shal not want meanes of their deiection It was happy for Israel that they had an enemy Is it possible that the Philistims after those deadly plagues which they sustained from the God of Israel should think of inuading Israel those that were so mated with the presence of the Arke that they neuer thought themselues safe till it was out of fight doe they now dare to thrust themselues vpon the new reuenge of the Arke It slue them whiles they thought to honor it and doe they thinke to escape whilst they resist it It slue them in their owne Coasts and do they come to it to seeke death yet behold no sooner do the Philistims heare that the Israelites are gathered to Mizpeh but the Princes of the Philistims gather themselues against them No warnings will serue obdurate hearts wicked men are euen ambitious of destruction Iudgements need not to goe finde them out they runne to meet their bane The Philistims come vp and the Israelites feare they that had not the wit to feare whilst they were not friends with God haue not now the grace of fearlessenesse when they were reconciled to God Boldnesse and Feare are commonly misplaced in the best hearts when we should tremble we are confident and when wee should be assured we tremble Why should Israel haue feared since they had made their peace with the God of Hosts Nothing should affright those which are vpright with God The peace which Israel had made with God was true but tender They durst not trust their owne innocency so much as the prayers of Samuel Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for vs. In temporall things nothing hinders but we may fare better for other mens faith then for our owne It is no small happinesse to be interessed in them which are Fauourites in the Court of Heauen one faithfull man in these occasions is more worth then millions of the wauering and vncertaine A good heart is easily wonne to deuotion Samuel cries and sacrificeth to God he had done so though they had intreated his silence yea his forbearance Whiles he is offering the Philistims fight with Israel and God fights with the Philistims The Lord thundred with a great thunder that day vpon the Philistims and scattered them Samuel fought more vpon his knees then all Israel besides The voyce of God answered the voyce of Samuel and speakes confusion and death to the Philistims How were the proud Philistims dead with feare ere they dyed to heare the fearfull thunder claps of an angry God against them to see that Heauen it selfe fought against them He that slue them secretly in the reuenges of his Arke now kils them with open horror in the fields If presumption did not make wicked men mad they would neuer lift their hand against the Almightie what are they in his hands when he is disposed to vengeance The meeting of SAVL and SAMVEL SAMVEL began his acquaintance with God early and continued it long He began it in his long Coats and continued to his gray hayres He iudged Israel all the dayes of his life God doth not vse to put off his old Seruants their age indeareth them to him the more If wee be not vnfaithfull to him hee cannot be vnconstant to vs. At last his decayed age met with ill partners his Sonnes for Deputies and Saul for a King The wickednesse of his Sonnes gaue the occasion of a change Perhaps Israel had neuer thought of a King if Samuels Sonnes had not beene vnlike their Father Who can promise himselfe holy children when the loynes of a Samuel and the education in the Temple yeelded monsters It is not likely that good Samuel was faulty in that indulgence for which his owne mouth had denounced Gods iudgement against Hely yet this holy man succeds Hely in his crosse as well as his place though not in his sinne and is afflicted with a wicked succession God will let vs find that Grace is by gift not by inheritance I feare Samuel was too partiall to nature in the surrogation of his Sonnes I doe not heare of Gods allowance to this act If this had beene Gods choice as well as his it had beene like to haue receiued more
first encounter the Philistim receiues the first foile and shall first let in death into his eare ere it enter into his forehead Thou com'st to me with a sword and a speare and a sheild but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the host of Israel whom thou hast railed vpon This day shall the Lord close thee in my hand and I shall smite thee and take thine head from thee Here is another stile not of a boaster but of a Prophet Now shall Goliah know whence to expect his bane euen from the hands of a reuenging God that shall smite him by Dauid and now shall learne too late what it is to meddle with an enemy that goes vnder the inuisible protection of the Almighty No sooner hath Dauid spoken then his foot and hand second his tongue Hee runnes to fight with the Philistim It is a cold courage that stands onely vpon defence As a man that saw no cause of feare and was full of the ambition of victory hee flyes vpon that monster and with a stone out of his bag smites him in the forehead There was no part of Goliah that was capable of that danger but the face and that piece of the face the rest was defenced with a brazen wall which a weake sling would haue tryed to batter in vaine What could Goliah feare to see an aduersary come to him without edge or point And behold that one part hath God found out for the entrance of death He that could haue caused the stone to passe through the shield and brest-plate of Goliah rather directs the stone to that part whose nakednesse gaue aduantage Where there is power or possibility of nature God vses not to worke miracles but chuses the way that lies most open to his purposes The vaste fore-head was a faire marke but how easily might the sling haue missed it if there had not beene another hand in this cast besides Dauids Hee that guided Dauid into this field and raised his courage to this combat guides the stone to his end and lodges it in that seat of impudence There now lyes the great Defier of Israel groueling and grinning in death and is not suffered to deale one blow for his life and bites the vnwelcome earth for indignation that he dies by the hand of a Shepheard Earth and Hell share him betwixt them such is the end of insolence and presumption O God what is flesh and blood to thee which canst make a little peeble-stone stronger then a Gyant and when thou wilt by the weakest meanes canst strew thine enemies in the dust Where now are the two shields of Goliah that they did not beare off this stroke of death or wherefore serues that Weauers beame but to strike the earth in falling or that sword but to behead his Master What needed Dauid load himselfe with an vnnecessary weapon one sword can serue both Goliah and him If Goliah had a man to beare his shield Dauid had Goliah to beare his sword wherewith that proud blasphemous head is seuered from his shoulders Nothing more honours God then the turning of wicked mens forces against themselues There is none of his enemies but caries with them their owne destruction Thus didst thou O Sonne of Dauid foyle Satan with his owne weapon that whereby he meant destruction to thee and vs vanquished him through thy mighty power and raised thee to that glorious triumph and super-exaltation wherein thou art wherein we shall bee with thee IONATHANS Loue and SAVLS Enuy. BEsides the discomsiture of the Philistims Dauids victory had a double issue Ionathans Loue and Sauls Enuy which God so mixed that the one was a remedy of the other A good sonne makes amends for a way-ward father How precious was that stone that killed such an enemy as Goliah and purchased such a friend as Ionathan All Sauls Courtiers lookt vpon Dauid none so affected him none did match him but Ionathan That true correspondence that was both in their faith and valour hath knit their hearts If Dauid did set vpon a Beare a Lyon a Gyant Ionathan had set vpon a whole Host and preuailed The same Spirit animated both the same Faith incited both the same Hand prospered both All Israel was not worth this paire of friends so zealously confident so happily victorious Similitude of dispositions and estates tyes the fastest knots of affection A wise soule hath piercing eyes and hath quickly discerned the likenesse of it selfe in another as we doe no sooner looke into the Glasse or Water but face answers to face and where it sees a perfect resemblance of it selfe cannot choose but loue it with the same affection that it reflects vpon it selfe No man saw Dauid that day which had so much cause to dis-affect him none in all Israel should be a loser by Dauids successe but Ionathan Saul was sure enough setled for his time onely his Successor should forgoe all that which Dauid should gaine so as none but Dauid stands in Ionathans light and yet all this cannot abate one ior or dram of his loue Where God vniteth hearts carnall respects are too weake to disseuer them since that which breakes off affection must needs be stronger then that which conioyneth it Ionathan doth not desire to smother his loue by concealment but professes it in his cariage actions He puts off the Robe that was vpon him and all his garments euen to his Sword and Bow and Girdle giues them vnto his new friend It was perhaps not without a mystery that Sauls cloths fitted not Dauid but Ionathans fitted him and these he is as glad to weare as he was to be disburthened of the other that there might be a perfect resemblance their bodies are suted as well as their hearts Now the beholders can say there goes Ionathans other selfe If there bee another body vnder those clothes there is the same soule Now Dauid hath cast off his russet coate and his scrip and is a Shepheard no more he is suddenly become both a Courtier and a Captaine and a Companion to the Prince yet himselfe is not changed with his habit with his condition yea rather as if his wisedome had reserued it selfe for his exaltation he so manageth a sudden Greatnesse as that he winneth all hearts Honour shewes the man and if there be any blemishes of imperfection they will bee seene in the man that is inexpectedly lifted aboue his fellowes He is out of the danger of folly whom a speedy aduancement leaueth wise Ionathan loued Dauid the Souldiers honoured him the Court fauoured him the people applauded him onely Saul stomackt him and therefore hated him because he was so happy in all besides himselfe It had beene a shame for all Israel if they had not magnified their Champion Sauls owne heart could not but tell him that they did owe the glory of that day and the safety of himselfe and Israel vnto the sling of Dauid who in
one man slue all those thousands at a blow It was enough for the puissant King of Israel to follow the chase and to kill them whom Dauid had put to flight yet he that could lend his clothes and his armour to this exploit cannot abide to part with the honour of it to him that hath earned it so dearly The holy Songs of Dauid had not more quieted his spirits before then now the thankfull Song of the Israelitish women vexed him One little Dittie of Saul hath slaine his thousand and Dauid his ten thousand sung vnto the Timbrels of Israel fetcht againe that euill spirit which Dauids Musicke had expelled Saul needed not the torment of a worse spirit then Enuie Oh the vnreasonablenesse of this wicked passion The women gaue Saul more and Dauid lesse then he deserued For Saul alone could not kill a thousand and Dauid in that one act of killing Goliah slue in effect all the Philistims that were slaine that day and yet because they giue more to Dauid then to himselfe he that should haue endited begun that Song of thankfulnesse repines and growes now as mad with enuy as he was before with griefe Truth and Iustice are no protection against Malice Enuie is blind to all obiects saue other mens happinesse If the eyes of men could bee contained within their owne bounds and not roue forth into comparisons there could be no place for this vicious affection but when they haue once taken this lawlesse scope to themselues they lose the knowledge of home and care onely to be employed abroad in their owne torment Neuer was Sauls brest so fit a lodging for the euill spirit as now that it is drest vp with enuy It is as impossible that Hell should bee free from Deuils as a malicious heart Now doth the franticke King of Israel renew his old fits and walkes and talkes distractedly He was mad with Dauid and who but Dauid must be called to allay his madnesse Such as Dauids wisedome was he could not but know the termes wherein he stood with Saul yet in lieu of the harsh and discordous notes of his masters enuy he returnes pleasing Musicke vnto him He can neuer bee good Courtier nor good man that hath not learned to repay if not iniuries with thankes yet euill with good Whiles there was a Harpe in Dauids hand there was a Speare in Sauls wherewith he threatens death as the recompence of that sweet melodie He said I will smite Dauid through to the wall It is well for the innocent that wicked men cannot keep their owne counsell God fetcheth their thoughts out of their mouthes or their countenance for a seasonable preuention which else might proceed to secret execution It was time for Dauid to withdraw himselfe his obedience did not tye him to bee the marke of a furious master hee might ease Saul with his musicke with his blood hee might not Twice therefore doth he auoid the Presence not the Court not the Seruice of Saul One would haue thought rather that Dauid should haue beene affraid of Saul because the Deuill was so strong with him then that Saul should be affraid of Dauid because the Lord was with him yet we find all the feare in Saul of Dauid none in Dauid of Saul Hatred and feare are ordinary companions Dauid had wisedome and faith to dispell his feares Saul had nothing but infidelity and deiected selfe-condemned distempred thoughts which must needs nourish them yet Saul could not feare any hurt from Dauid whom he found so loyall and seruiceable Hee feares onely too much good vnto Dauid and the enuious feare is much more then the distrustfull now Dauids presence begins to be more displeasing then his Musicke was sweet Despight it selfe had rather preferre him to a remote dignity then endure him a neerer attendant This promotion encreaseth Dauids honour and loue and this loue and honour aggrauates Sauls hatred and feare Sauls madnesse hath not bereaued him of his craft For perceiuing how great Dauid was growne in the reputation of Israel he dares not offer any personall or direct violence to him but hires him into the iawes of a supposed death by no lesse price then his eldest Daughter Behold mine eldest daughter Merab her will I giue thee to wife onely be a valiant Sonne to me and fight the Lords Battels Could euer man speak more graciously more holily What could bee more graciously offered by a King then his eldest Daughter What care could be more holy then of the Lords battels yet neuer did Saul intend so much mischiefe to Dauid or so much vnfaithfulnesse to God as when he spake thus There is neuer so much danger of the false-hearted as when they make the fairest weather Sauls Speare bad Dauid be gone but his plausible words inuite him to danger This honour was due to Dauid before vpon the compact of his victory yet he that twice inquired into the reward of that enterprize before he vndertooke it neuer demanded it after that atchieuement neither had Saul the iustice to offer it as a recompence of so noble an exploit but as a snare to an enuied victory Charitie suspects not Dauid construes that as an effect and argument of his Masters loue which was no other but a child of Enuy but a plot of mischiefe and though he knew his owne desert and the Iustice of his claime to Merab yet hee in a sincere humilitie disparageth himselfe and his Parentage with a who am I As it was not the purpose of this modestie in Dauid to reiect but to sollicit the proffered fauour of Saul so was it not in the power of this bashfull humiliation to turne backe the edge of so keene an enuy It helpes not that Dauid makes himselfe meane whiles others magnifie his worth Whatsoeuer the colour was Saul meant nothing to Dauid but danger and death and since all those Battels will not effect that which he desired himselfe will not effect that which hee promised If hee cannot kill Dauid he will disgrace him Dauids honour was Sauls disease It was not likely therefore that Saul would adde vnto that honour whereof he was so sicke already Merab is giuen vnto another neither doe I heare Dauid complaine of so manifest an iniustice He knew that the God whose battels he fought had prouided a due reward of his patience If Merab faile God hath a Michal in store for him she is in loue with Dauid his comelinesse and valour haue so wonne her heart that she now emulates the affection of her Brother Ionathan If she be the yonger Sister yet she is more affectionate Saul is glad of the newes his Daughter could neuer liue to doe him better seruice then to be a new snare to his Aduersarie Shee shall bee therefore sacrificed to his enuie and her honest and sincere loue shall bee made a bait for her worthy and innocent Husband I will giue him her that shee may be a snare vnto him that the hand of the
issue can distinguish betwixt a Dauid and a Doeg when they are both in the Tabernacle Honest Ahimelech could little suspect that he now offered a Sacrifice for his Executioner yea for the Murtherer of all his Family Oh the wise and deepe iudgements of the Almighty God owed a reuenge to the House of Eli and now by the delation of Doeg he takes occasion to pay it It was iust in God which in Doeg was most vniust Sauls cruelty and the trecherie of Doeg doe not lose one dram of their guilt by the Counsell of God neither doth the holy Counsell of God gather any blemish by their wickednesse If it had pleased God to inflict death vpon them sooner without any pretence of occasion his Iustice had beene cleere from all imputations now if Saul and Doeg be in stead of a pestilence or feuer who can cauill The iudgements of God are not open but are alwaies iust He knowes how by one mans sinne to punish the sinne of another and by both their sinnes and punishments to glorifie himselfe If his word sleepe it shall not dye but after long intermissions breakes forth in those effects which wee had forgotten to looke for and ceased to feare O Lord thou art sure when thou threatnest and iust when thou iudgest Keepe thou vs from the sentence of death else in vaine shall we labour to keepe our selues from the execution Contemplations THE FOVRTEENTH BOOKE Containing SAVL in DAVIDS Caue NABAL and ABIGAIL DAVID and ACHISH SAVL and the Witch of Endor ZIKLAG spoyled and reuenged The death of SAVL ABNER and IOAB By IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND MY SINGVLAR GOOD LORD PHILIP EARLE OF MONGOMERY ONE OF THE GENTLEMEN OF HIS MAIESTIES Bed-chamber and Knight of the most Honourable Order of the GARTER RIGHT HONOVRABLE AFter some vnpleasing intermissions Ireturne to that taske of Contemplation wherin onely my soule findeth rest Jf in other imployments I haue indeuoured to serue God and his Church yet in none I must confesse with equall contentment Me thinkes Controuersie is not right in my way to Heauen how euer the importunitie of an Aduersary may force me to fetch it in If Truth oppressed by an erroneous Teacher cry like a rauisht Virgin for my aid J betray it if J releeue it not when J haue done J returne gladly to these paths of Peace The fauour which my late Polemicall labour hath found beyond merit from the Learned cannot diuert my loue to those wrangling Studies How earnestly doth my heart rather wish an vniuersall cessation of these Armes that all the Professors of the deare Name of Christ might bee taken vp with nothing but holy and peaceable thoughts of Deuotion the sweetnesse whereof hath so farre affected mee that if I might doe it without danger of mis-construction I could beg euen of an Enemie this leaue to bee happy I haue already giuen account to the World of some expences of my houres this way and heere I bring more which if some Reader may censure as poore none can censure as vnprofitable J am bold to write them vnder your Honorable Name whereto I am deeply obliged that I may leaue behinde me this meane but faithfull Testimony of mine humble thankfulnesse to your Lordship and your most honoured and vertuous Ladie The noble respects J haue had from you both deserue my Prayers and best seruices which shall neuer be wanting to you and yours From your Honours sincerely deuoted in all true duty IOS HALL Contemplations SAVL IN DAVIDS CAVE IT was the strange lot of Dauid that those whom he pursued preserued him from those whom he had preserued The Philistims whom Dauid had newly smitten in Keilah call off Saul from smiting Dauid in the wildernesse when there was but an hillocke betwixt him and death Wicked purposes are easily checked not easily broken off Sauls Sword is scarce dry from the bloud of the Philistims when it thirsts anew for the bloud of Dauid and now in a renewed chase hunts him dry-foot thorow euery wildernesse The very Desart is too faire a refuge for innocence The hils and rockes are searched in an angry iealousie the very wilde Goats of the mountaines were not allowed to be companions for him which had no fault but his vertue Oh the seemingly-vnequall distribution of these earthly things Cruelty and oppression reignes in a Palace whiles goodnesse lurkes among the Rockes and Caues and thinkes it happinesse enough to steale a life Like a dead man Dauid is faine to be hid vnder the earth and seekes the comfort of protection in darknesse and now the wise prouidence of God leades Saul to his enemy without bloud He which before brought them within an hils dâ—stance without interuiew brings them now both within one roofe so as that whiles Saul seekes Dauid and finds him not he is found of Dauid vnsought If Saul had known his own opportunities how Dauid and his men had interred themselues he had saued a treble labour of chase of execution and buriall for had he but stopt the mouth of that Caue his enemies had laid themselues downe in their owne Graues The Wisdome of God thinkes fit to hide from euill men and spirits those meanes and seasons which might be if they had beene taken most preiudiciall to his owne we had beene oft foiled if Satan could but haue knowne our hearts sometimes we lie open to euils and happy it is for vs that he only knowes it which pitâ—ies in stead of tempting vs. It is not long since Saul said of Dauid lodged then in Keilah God hath deliuered him into mine hands for he is shut in seeing he is come into a city that hath gates and bars but now contrarily God deliuers Saul ere he was aware into the hands of Dauid and without the helpe of gates and barres hath inclosed him within the Valley of death How iust is it with God that those who seeke mischiefe to others finde it to themselues and euen whiles they are spreading nets are insnared Their deliberate plotting of euill is surprized with a sudden iudgement How amazedly must Dauid needs looke when hee saw Saul enter into the Caue where himselfe was what is this thinkes he which God hath done Is this presence purposed or casuall is Saul here to pursue or to tempt me Where suddenly the action bewrayes the intent and tels Dauid that Saul sought secrecy and not him The superfluity of his maliciousnesse brought him into the Wildernesse the necessity of nature led him into the Caue Euen those actions wherein wee place shame are not exempted from a prouidence The fingers of Dauids followers itched to sease on their Masters enemy and that they might not seeme led so much by faction as by faith they vrge Dauid with a promise from God The day is come whereof the Lord said vnto thee Behold I will deliuer thine enemy into thine hand and thou shalt do to him as it shall seeme
and lumpish Carnall hearts are euer in extremitie If they bee once downe their deiection is desperate because they haue no inward comfort to mitigate their sorrow What difference there was betwixt the disposition of Dauid and Nabal How oft had Dauid beene in the valley of the shaddow of death and feared no euill Nabal is but once put in minde of a death that might haue beene and is stricken dead It is iust with God that they who liue without grace should die without comfort neither can we expect better while we goe on in our sinnes The speech of Abigail smote Nabal into a qualme that tongue had doubtlesse oft aduised him well and preuailed not now occasions his death whose reformation it could not effect shee meant nothing but his amendment God meant to make that louing instrument the meanes of his reuenge shee speakes and God strikes and within tenne dayes that swound ends in death And now Nabal payes deare for his vncharitable reproach for his riotous excesse That God which would not suffer Dauid to right himselfe by his owne Sword takes the quarrell of his Seruant into his owne hand Dauid hath now his ends without sinne reioycing in the iust executions of God who would neither suffer him to sinne in reuenging nor suffer his Aduersaries to sinne vnreuenged Our louing God is more angry with the wrongs done to his seruants than themselues can be and knowes how to punish that iustly which we could not vndertake without wronging God more than men haue wronged vs. He that saith Vengeance is mine I will repay repayes oft-times when we haue forgiuen when we haue forgotten and cals to reckoning after our discharges It is dangerous offending any Fauourite of him whose displeasure and reuenge is euerlasting How farre God lookes beyond our purposes Abigail came onely to pleade for an ill Husband and now God makes this iourney a preparation for a better So that in one act she preserued an ill Husband and wonne a good one for the future Dauid well remembers her comely person her wise speeches her gracefull carriage and now when modesty found it seasonable hee sends to sue her which had beene his Suppliant she intreated for her Husband Dauid treates with her for his Wife her request was to escape his Sword hee wisheth her to his bed It was a faire suite to change a Dauid for a Nabal to become Dauids Queene in stead of Nabals Dâ—udge shee that learned humility vnder so hard a Tutor abaseth her selfe no lesse when Dauid offers to aduance her Let thine Hand-mayde bee a Seruant to wash the feete of the Seruants of my LORD None are so fit to bee gre t as those that can stoope lowest How could Dauid bee more happy in a Wife hee findes at once Pietie Wisedome Humilitie Faithfulnesse Wealth Beautie How could Abigail bee more happie in an Husband than in the Prophet the Champion the Annointed of God Those Mariages were well made wherein Vertues are matched and Happinesse is mutuall DAVID and ACHISH GOod motions that fall into wicked hearts are like some sparkes that fall from the flint and steele into wet tinder light some for the time but soone out After Sauls teares and protestations yet he is now againe in the wildernesse with three thousand men to hunt after innocent Dauid How inuincible is the charity and loialty of an honest heart The same hand that spared Saul in the caue spares him sleeping in the field The same hand that cut away the lap of his Masters garment carried away his Speare that Speare which might as well haue carried away the life of the owner is onely borne away for a proofe of the fidelity of the bearer Still Saul is strong but Dauid victorious and triumphs ouer the malice of his persecutor Yet still the victor flieth from him whom hee hath ouercome A man that sees how farre Saul was transported with his rancorous enuy cannot but say that he was neuer more mad than when he was sober For euen after he had said Blessed art thou my sonne Dauid thou shalt doe great things and also preuaile yet still he pursues him whom he grants assured to preuaile what is this but to resolue to lose his labour in sinning and in spight of himselfe to offend How shamefull is our inequality of disposition to good We know we cannot misse of the reward of wel doing and yet doe it not whiles wicked men cast away their indeuours vpon those euill proiects whereof they are sure to faile sinne blindes the eyes and hardens the heart and thrusts men into wilfull mischiefes how euer dangerous how euer impossible and neuer leaues them till it haue brought them to vtter confusion The ouer-long continuance of a tentation may easily weary the best patience and may attaine that by protraction which it could neuer doe by violence Dauid himselfe at last beginnes to bend vnder this triall and resolues so to flie from Saul as he runnes from the Church of God and whiles he will auoid the malice of his Master ioynes himselfe with Gods enemies The greatest Saints vpon earth are not alwayes vpon the same pitch of spirituall strength He that sometimes said I will not be afraid of ten thousands now sayes I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul Hee had woont to consult with God now he sayes thus in his owne heart How many euident experiments had Dauid of Gods deliuerances how certaine and cleere predictions of his future Kingdome how infallible earnest was the holy Oyle wherewith he was annointed of the Crowne of Israel And yet Dauid said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul The best faith is but like the twy-light mixed with some degrees of darkenesse and infidelity We doe vtterly misreckon the greatest earthly holinesse if we exempt it from infirmities It is not long since Dauid told Saul that those wicked enemies of his which cast him out from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord did as good as bid him Goe serue other gods yet now is hee gone from the inheritance of God into the Land of the Philistims That Saul might seeke him no more he hides himselfe out of the lists of the Church where a good man would not looke for him Once before had Dauid fled to this Achish when hee was glad to scrabble on the doores and let his spittle fall vpon his beard in a semblance of madnesse that he might escape yet now in a semblance of friendship is hee returned to saue that life which hee was in danger to haue lost in Israel Goliah the Champion of the Philistims whom Dauid slew was of Gath yet Dauid dwels with Achish King of the Philistims in Gath euen amongst them whose fore-skins hee had presented to Saul by two hundreds at once doth Dauid choose to reside for safety Howsoeuer it was a weaknesse in Dauid thus by his league of amity to strengthen the enemies of God yet doth not
from these intricate euils yet that the eye of diuine Prouidence had discryed it long before and that though no humane power could make way for his safetie yet that the ouer-ruling hand of his God could doe it with ease His experience had assured him of the fidelity of his Guardian in Heauen and therefore he comforted himselfe in the Lord his God In vaine is comfort expected from God if we consult not with him Abiethâ—r the Priest is called for Dauid was not in the Court of Achish without the Priest by his side nor the Priest without the Ephod Had these beene left behind in Ziklag they had beene miscaried with the rest and Dauid had now beene hopelesse How well it succeeds to the Great when they take God with them in his Ministers in his Ordinances As contrarily when these are laid by as superfluous there can bee nothing but vncertainety of successe or certainety of mischeife The presence of the Priest and Ephod would haue little auailed him without their vse by them hee askes counsell of the Lord in these straits The mouth and eares of God which were shut vnto Saul are open vnto Dauid no sooner can hee aske than hee receiues answere and the answere that hee receiues is full of courage and comfort Follow for thou shalt surely ouertake them and recouer all That God of truth neuer disappointed any mans trust Dauid now finds that the eye which waited vpon God was not sent away weeping Dauid therefore and his men are now vpon their march after the Amalekites It is no lingring when God bids vs goe They which had promised rest to their weary limbes after their returne from Achish in their harbour of Ziâ—lag are glad to forget their hopes and to put their stiffe ioynts vnto a new taske of motion It is no maruell if two hundred of them were so ouer-tired with their former toile that they were not able to passe ouer the Riuer Besor Dauid was a true Type of Christ We follow him in these holy Warres against the spirituall Amalekites All of vs are not of an equall strength Some are carryed by the vigour of their faith through all difficulties Others after long pressure are ready to languish in the way Our Leader is not more strong than pittifull neither doth hee scornfully casheere those whose desires are heartie whiles their abilities are vnanswerable How much more should our charitie pardon the Infirmities of our brethren and allow them to fit by the stuffe who cannot endure the march The same Prouidence which appointed Dauid to follow the Amalekites had also ordered an Egyptian to bee cast behind them This cast Seruant whome his cruell Master had left to faintnesse and famine shall bee vsed as the meanes of the recouery of the Israelites losse and of the reuenge of the Amalekites Had not his Master neglected him all these Rouers of Amalek had gone away with their life and booty It is not safe to dispise the meanest vassall vpon earth There is a mercy and care due to the most despicable peece of all humanity wherein wee cannot bee wanting without the offence without the punishment of God Charitie distinguisheth an Israelite from an Amalekite Dauids followers are strangers to this Egyptian an Amalekite was his Master His Master leaues him to dye in the field of sicknesse and hunger these strangers releeued him and ere they know whether they might by him receiue any light in their pursuit they refresh his dying spirits with Bread and Water with Figges and Raisins Neither can the hast of their way bee any hinderance to their compassion Hee hath no Israelitish bloud in him that is vtterly mercilesse Perhaps yet Dauids followers might also in the hope of some intelligence shew kindnesse to this forlorne Egyptian Worldly wisdome teacheth vs to sowe small courtesies where wee may reape large Haruests of recompence No sooner are his spirits recalled than hee requites his food with information I cannot blame the Egyptian that hee was so easily induced to discry these vnkinde Amalekites to mercifull Israelites those that gaue him ouer vnto death to the restorers of his life much lesse that ere hee would descry them he requires an oath of security from so bad a Master Well doth he match death with such a seruitude Wonderfull is the prouidence of God euen ouer those which are not in the neerest bonds his owne Three dayes and three nights had this poore Egyptian Slaue lyen sicke and hunger-starued in the fields and lookes for nothing but death when God sends him succour from the hands of those Israelites whom hee had helped to spoyle though not so much for his sake as for Israels is this heathenish Straglet 〈◊〉 It pleases God to extend his common fauours to all his creatures but in miraculous preseruations hee hath still wont to haue respect to his owne By this meanes therefore are the Israelites brought to the sight of their late spoylers whom they find scattered abroad vpon all the earth eating and drinking and dancing in triumph for the great prey they had taken It was three dayes at least since this gainfull forraging of Amalek and now seeing no feare of any pursuer and promising themselues safetie in so great and vpâ—â—aded a distance they make themselues merry with so rich and easie a victory and now suddenly when they began to thinke of enioying the beautie and wealth they had gotten the sword of Dauid was vpon their throates Destruction is neuer neerer than when securitie hath chased away feare With how sad faces and hearts had the Wiues of Dauid and the other Captiues of Israel looked vpon the triumphall Reuels of Amalek and what a change doe wee thinke appeared in them when they saw their happie and valiant Rescuers flying in vpon their insolent Victors and making the death of the Amalekites the ransome of their captiuitie They mourned euen now at the dances of Amalek now in the shriekes and death of Amalek they shout and reioyce The mercy of our God forgets not to enterchange our sorrowes with ioy and the ioy of the wicked with sorrow The Amalekites haue paid a deare lone for the goods of Israel which they now restore with their owne liues and now their spoyle hath made Dauid richer than hee expected that booty which they had swept from al other parts accrewed to him Those Israelites that could not goe on to fight for their share are comne to meet their brethren with gratulation How partiall are wee wont to bee vnto our owne causes Euen very Israelites will bee ready to fall out for matter of profit where selfe-loue hath bred a quarrell euery man is subiect to flatter his owne case It seemed plausible and but iust to the actors in this rescue that those which had taken no part in the paine and hazard of the iourney should receiue no part of the commoditie It was fauour enough for them to recouer their wiues and children though they shared not in
abasement Heroicall and that the onely way to true glory is not to be ashamed of our lowest humiliation vnto God Well might he promise himselfe honour from those whose contempt she had threatned The hearts of men are not their owne he that made them ouer-rules them and inclines them to an honourable conceit of those that honour their Maker So as holy men haue oft times inward reuerence euen where they haue outward indignities Dauid came to blesse his house Mical brings a curse vpon her selfe Her scornes shall make her childlesse to the day of her death Barrennesse was held in those times none of the least iudgements God doth so reuenge Dauids quarrell vpon Mical that her sudden disgrace shall be recompenced with perpetuall She shall not be held worthy to beare a sonne to him whom she vniustly contemned How iust is it with God to prouide whips for the backe of scorners It is no maruell if those that mocke at goodnesse be plagued with continuall fruitlesnesse MEPHIBOSHETH and ZIBA SO soone as euer Dauid can but breathe himselfe from the publike cares hee casts backe his thoughts to the deare remembrance of his Ionathan Sauls seruant is likely to giue him the best intelligence of Sauls sonnes The question is therefore moued to Ziba Remaineth there yet none of the house of Saul and lest suspition might conceale the remainders of an emulous liue in feare of reuenge intended he addes On whom I may shew the mercy of God for Ionathans sake O friendship worthy of the Monuments of Eternity fit only to requite him whose loue was more than the loue of women Hee doth not say Is there any of the house of Ionathan but of Saul that for his friends sake hee may shew fauour to the Posterity of his Persecutor Ionathans loue could not bee greater than Sauls malice which also suruiued long in his issue from whom Dauid found a busie and stubborne riualitie for the Crowne of Israel yet as one that gladly buried all the hostilitie of Sauls house in Ionathans graue hee askes Is there any man left of Sauls house that I may shew him mercie for Ionathans sake It is true loue that ouerliuing the person of a friend will bee inherited of his seed but to loue the posteritie of an enemie in a friend it is the miracle of friendship The formall amitie of the World is confined to a face or to the possibility of recompence languishing in the disabilitie and dying in the decease of the party affected That loue was euer false that is not euer constant and then most operatiue when it cannot be either knowne or requited To cut off all vnquiet competition for the Kingdome of Israel the prouidence of God had so ordered that there is none left of the house of Saul besides the sonnes of his Concubines saue only young and lame Mephihosheth so young that hee was but fiue yeeres of age when Dauid entred vpon the Gouernment of Israel so lame that if his age had fitted his impotence had made him vnfit for the Throne Mephibosheth was not borne a Cripple it was an heedlesse Nurse that made him so She hearing of the death of Saul and Ionathan made such haste to flee that her young Master was lamed with the fall Yw is there needed no such speed to runne away from Dauid whose loue pursues the hidden sonne of his brother Ionathan How often doth our ignorant mistaking cause vs to runne from our bestfriends and to catch knockes and maimes of them that professe our protection MEPHIBOSHETH could not come otherwise than fearefully into the presence of Dauid whom hee knew so long so spitefully opposed by the house of Saul hee could not bee ignorant that the fashion of the World is to build their owne security vpon the bloud of the opposite faction neither to thinke themselues safe whiles any branch remaines springing out of that root of their emulation Seasonably doth Dauid therefore first expell all those vniust doubts ere hee administer his further cordials Feare not for I will surely shew thee kindnesse for Ionathan thy fathers sake and will restore thee all the fields of Saul thy father and thou shalt eate bread at my table continually Dauid can see neither Sauls bloud nor lame legs in Mephibosheth whiles he sees in him the features of his friend Ionathan how much lesse shall the God of mercies regard our infirmities or the corrupt bloud of our sinfull Progenitors whiles he beholds vs in the face of his Sonne in whom he is well pleased Fauours are wont so much more to affect vs as they are lesse expected by vs Mephibosheth as ouer-ioyed with so comfortable a word and confounded in himselfe at the remembrance of the contrary-deseruings of his Family bowes himselfe to the earth and sayes What is thy seruant that thou shouldst looke vpon such a dead Dog as I am I find no defect of wit though of limmes in Mepihbesheth hee knew himselfe the Grand-childe of the King of Israel the sonne of Ionathan the lawfull heire of both yet in regard of his owne impotencie and the trespasse and reiection of his house hee thus abaseth himselfe vnto Dauid Humiliation is a right vse of Gods affliction What if hee were borne great If the sinne of his Grandfather hath lost his estate and the hand of his Nurse hath deformed and disabled his person hee now forgets what hee was and cals himselfe worse than hee is A Dogge Yet a liuing Dogge is better than a dead Lion there is dignity and comfort in life Mephibosheth is therefore a dead Dogge vnto Dauid It is not for vs to nourish the same spirits in our aduerse estate that wee found in our highest prosperitie What vse haue wee made of Gods hand if wee bee not the lower with ourfall God intends wee should carry our crosse not make a fire of it to warme vs It is no bearing vp our sayles in a tempest Good Dauid cannot dis-esteeme Mephibosheth euer the more for disparaging himselfe hee loues and honours this humilitie in the Sonne of Ionathan There is no more certaine way to glory and aduancement than a lowly deiection of our selues Hee that made himselfe a Dogge and therefore fit onely to lye vnder the table yea a dead Dogge and therefore fit onely for the ditch is raised vp to the table of a King his seat shall bee honourable yea royall his fare delicious his attendance noble How much more will our gracious God lift vp our heads vnto true honour before men and Angels if wee can bee sincerely humbled in his sight If wee miscall our selues in the meanenesse of our conceits to him hee giues vs a new name and sets vs at the Table of his glorie It is contrary with GOD and men if they reckon of vs as wee set our selues hee values vs according to our abasements Like a Prince truely munificent and faithfull Dauid promises and performes at once Ziba Sauls seruant hath the charge giuen him of
cannot haue the heart or the face to stand out against the message of God but now as a man confounded and condemned in himselfe he cryes out in the bitternesse of a wounded Soule I haue sinned against the Lord. It was a short word but passionate and such as came from the bottome of a contrite heart The greatest griefes are not most verball Saul confessed his sinne more largely lesse effectually God cares not for phrases but for affections The first piece of our amends to God for sinning is the acknowledgement of sinne He can doe little that in a iust offence cannot accuse himselfe If wee cannot bee so good as we would it is reason wee should doe God so much right as to say how euill we are And why was not this done sooner It is strange to see how easily sin gets into the heart how hardly it gets out of the mouth Is it because sinne like vnto Satan where it hath got possession is desirous to hold it and knowes that it is fully eiected by a free confession or because in a guiltinesse of deformitie it hides it selfe in the brest where it is once entertayned and hates the light or because the tongue is so fee'd with selfe-loue that it is loath to be drawne vnto any verdict against the heart or hands or is it out of an idle misprision of shame which whiles it should be placed in offending is misplaced in disclosing of our offence Howeuer sure I am that God hath need euen of rackes to draw out confessions and scarce in death it selfe are we wrought to a discouery of our errors There is no one thing wherein our folly shewes it selfe more than in these hurtfull concealements Contrary to the proceedings of humane Iustice it is with God Confesse and liue no sooner can Dauid say I haue sinned than Nathan inferres The Lord also hath put away thy sinne He that hides his sins shall not prosper but hee that confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercie Who would not accuse himselfe to bee aquittted of God O God who would not tell his wickednesse to thee that knowest it better than his owne heart that his heart may be eased of that wicednesse which being not told killeth Since we haue sinned why should wee bee niggardly of that action wherein we may at once giue glory to thee and reliefe to our soules Dauid had sworne in a zeale of Iustice that the rich Oppressor for but taking his poore Neighbours Lambe should dye the death God by Nathan is more fauourable to Dauid than to take him at his word Thou shalt not dye O the maruellous power of repentance Besides adultery Dauid had shed the bloud of innocent Vriah The strict Law was Eye for Eye Tooth for Tooth Hee that smiteth with the Sword shall perish with the Sword Yet as if a penitent confession had dispensed with the rigour of Iustice now God sayes Thou shalt not dye Dauid was the voyce of the Law awarding death vnto sinne Nathan was the voyce of the Gospell awarding life vnto the repentance for sinne Whatsoeuer the sore be neuer any soule applyed this remedie and dyed neuer any soule escaped death that applyed it not Dauid himselfe shall not dye for this fact but his mis-begotten childe shall dye for him Hee that said The Lord hath put away thy sinne yet said also The Sword shall not depart from thine house The same mouth with one breath pronounces the sentence both of absolution and death Absolution to the Person Death to the Issue Pardon may well stand with temporall afflictions Where God hath forgiuen though hee doth not punish yet he may chastize and that vnto bloud neither doth hee alwayes forbeare correction where hee remits reuenge So long as hee smites vs not as an angry Iudge wee may indure to smart from him as a louing Father Yet euen this Rod did Dauid deprecate with teares How faine would hee shake off so easie a lode The Childe is striken the Father fasts and prayes and weepes and lyes all night vpon the Earth and abhorres the noyse of comfort That Childe which was the fruit and monument of his odious adultery whom hee could neuer haue looked vpon without recognition of his sinne in whose face hee could not but haue still read the records of his owne shame is thus mourned for thus sued for It is easie to obserue that good man ouer-passionately affected to his Children Who would not haue thought that Dauid might haue held himselfe well appayd that his soule escaped an eternall death his bodie a violent though God should punish his sinne in that Childe in whome hee sinned Yet euen against this crosse he bends his Prayers as if nothing had beene forgiuen him There is no Childe that would be scourged if hee might escape for crying No affliction is for for the time other than grieuous neither is therefore yeelded vnto without some kinde of reluctation Farre yet was it from the heart of Dauid to make any opposition to the will of God hee sued he struggled not There is no impatience in entreaties Hee well knew that the threats of temporall euils ranne commonly with a secret condition and therefore might perhaps bee auoyded by humble importunitie if any meanes vnder Heauen can auert iudgments it is our Prayers God could not chuse but like well the boldnesse of Dauids saith who after the apprehension of so heauie a displeasure is so far from doubting of the forgiuenesse of his sinne that hee dares become a Sutor vnto God for his sicke child Sinne doth not make vs more strange than Faith confident But it is not in the power of the strongest Faith to preserue vs from all afflictions After all Dauids prayers and teares the Childe must dye The carefull seruants dare but whisper this sad newes They who had found their Master so auerse from the motion of comfort in the sicknesse of the Childe feared him vncapable of comfort in his death Suspition is quick-witted Euery occasion makes vs misdoubt that euent which wee feare This secrecie proclaymes that which they were so loath to vtter Dauid perceiues his Childe dead and now hee rises vp from the Earth whereon hee lay and washes himselfe and changeth his apparell and goes first into Gods House to worship and into his owne to eate now hee refuses no comfort who before would take none The issue of things doth more fully shew the will of God than the prediction God neuer did any thing but what hee would hee hath sometimes foretold that for tryall which his secret will intended not hee would foretell it hee would not effect it because hee would therefore fore-tell it that hee might not effect it His predictions of outward euils are not alwayes absolute his actions are Dauid well sees by the euent what the Decree of God was concerning his Childe which now hee could not striue against without a vaine impatience Till wee know the determinations of the Almightie it is free
so approues them that hee is rauished with wonder Hee that reioyced in the view of his Creation to see that of nothing hee had made all things good reioyces no lesse in the reformation of his Creature to see that hee hath made good of euill Behold thou art faire my Loue behold thou art faire and there is no spot in thee My Sister my spouse thou hast wounded my heart thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes Our Wealth Beautie Wit Learning Honour may make vs accepted of men but it is our Faith only that shall make God in loue with vs And why are wee of any other saue Gods Dyet to bee more affected with the least measure of Grace in any man than with all the outward glories of the World There are great men whom we iustly pitty we can admire none but the gracious Neither was that plant more worthy of wonder in it selfe than that it grew in such a soyle with so little helpe of Raine and Sunne The weaknesse of meanes addes to the prayse and acceptation of our proficiencie To doe good vpon a little is the commendation of thrift it is small thanke to bee full handed in a large estate As contrarily the strength of meanes doubles the reuenge of our neglect It is not more the shame of Israel than the glory of the Centurion that our Sauiour sayes I haue not found so great faith in Israel Had Israel yeelded any equall faith it could not haue bin vnespyed of those All-seeing eyes yet were their helpes so much greater than their faith was lesse and God neuer giues more than hee requires Where wee haue laid our Tillage and Compost and Seed who would not looke for a Crop but if the vncultured fallow yeeld more how iustly is that vnanswerable ground neere to a curse Our Sauiour did not mutter this censorious testimony to himselfe nor whisper it to his Disciples but he turned him about to the people and spake it in their eares that he might at once worke their shame and emulation In all other things except spirituall our selfe-loue makes vs impatient of equals much lesse can wee endure to be out-stripped by those who are our professed inferiours It is well if any thing can kindle in vs holy ambitions Dull and base are the spirits of that man that can abide to see another ouer-take him in the way and out-run him to Heauen He that both wrought this faith and wondred at it doth now reward it Goe thy wayes and 〈◊〉 thou hast beleeued so bee it vnto thee Neuer was any faith vnseene of Christ neuer was any seene without allowance neuer was any allowed without remuneration The measure of our receits in the matter of fauour is the proportion of our beliefe The infinite Mercy of God which is euer like it selfe followes but one rule in his gifts to vs the faith that hee giues vs Giue vs O God to beleeue and be it to vs as thou wilt it shall be to vs aboue that we will The Centurion sues for his Seruant and Christ sayes So bee it vnto thee The Seruants health is the benefit of the Master and the Master Faith is the health of the Seruant And if the Prayers of an earthly Master preuayled so much with the Sonne of God for the recouery of a Seruant how shall the intercession of the Sonne of God preuayle with his Father in Heauen for vs that are his impotent Children and Seruants vpon Earth What can wee want O Sauiour whiles thou suest for vs Hee that hath giuen thee for vs can deny thee nothing for vs can deny vs nothing for thee In thee we are happy and shall be glorious To thee O thou mightie Redeemer of Israel with thine eternall Father together with thy blessed Spirit one God infinite and incomprehensible be giuen all prayse Honour and Glory for euer and euer Amen FINIS Contemplations THE SIXTH Volume By I.H. D.D. LONDON Printed for Nathaniel Butter 1625. Contemplations THE SIXTEENTH BOOKE Containing Shimei cursing Achitophel The death of Absalom Shebaes Rebellion The Gibeonites reuenged The numbring of the People By IOS HALL D. of Diuinity and Deane of WORCESTER TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND TRVLY NOBLE LORD FRANCIS Lord RVSSEL Baron of Thornbaugh all increase of Honour and Happinesse Right Honourable YOu shall not need to impute it to any other reason besides your vertues that I haue presumed to shroud this peece of my Labours vnder your Noble Patronage The world hath taken iust notice how much the Gospell is graced by your reall profession whom neither honour hath made ouerlie nor wealth lauish nor charge miserable nor greatnesse licentious Goe on happily in these safe and gainfull steps of goodnesse and still honour the God that hath honoured you Jn the meane time accept from my vnworthy hands these poore Meditations more hie for their subiect then meane for their author Wherein Shimeies curses shall teach you how vnable either greatnesse or innocence is to beare off the blowes of ill tongues and how baseness euer molds it selfe according to the aduantage of times Achitophels depth compared with his end shall shew how witlesse and insensate craft is when it striues against honesty and how iustly are they forsaken of their reason that haue abandoned God The blood of Absalom and Sheba proclaime the ineuitable reuenge of rebellion which neither in woods nor wals can find safety The late famine of Jsrael for the forgotten violence offered to the Gibeonites shewes what note God takes of our oathes and what sure vengeance of their violation Dauids muster seconded with the plague of Israel teache◠how highly God may bee offended with sinnes of the least appearance how seuere to his owne how mercifull in that seuerity If these my thoughts shall be approued beneficiall to any soule I am rich I shall vow my prayers to their successe and to the happinesse of your honourable Family both in the root and branches Whereto J am in all Humble duty deuoted IOS HALL Contemplations SHIMEI cursing WIth an heauy heart and a couered head and a weeping eye and bare feet is Dauid gone away from Hierusalem neuer did hee with more ioy come vp to his City then now hee left it with sorrow how could he doe otherwise whom the insurrection of his owne Sonne droue out from his house from his throne from the Arke of God and now when the depth of this griefe deserued nothing but compassion the foule mouth of Shimei entertaines Dauid with curses There is no small cruelty in the picking out of a time for mischiefe That word would scarce gall at one season which at another killeth The same shaft flying with the wind pierces deepe which against it can hardly find strength to sticke vpright The valour and iustice of children condemnes it for iniuriously cowardly to strike their aduersary when he is once downe It is the murder of the tongue to insult vpon those whom God hath humbled and to
lust If now Dauid should haue returned to his owne bed hee had seconded the incest How much more worthy of separation are they who haue stained the mariage-bed with their wilfull sinne Amasa was one of the witnesses and abettors of Absaloms filthinesse yet is he out of policie receiued to fauour and imployment whiles the concubine suffer Great men yeeld many times to those things out of reasons of state which if they were priuate persons could not bee easily put ouer It is no small wisdome to engage a new reconciled friend that he may be confirmed by his owne act Therefore is Amasa commanded to leauie the forces of Iudah Ioab after many great merits and atchieuements lies rusting in neglect he that was so intire with Dauid as to bee of his counsell for Vriahs blood and so firme to Dauid as to lead all his battels against the house of Saul the Ammonites the Aramites Absalom is now cashiered must yeeld his place to a stranger late an enemy Who knows not that this sonne of Zeruiah had shed the blood of war in peace But if the blood of Absalom had not bin louder then the blood of Abner I feare this change had not been Now Ioab smarteth for a loyall disobedience How slippery are the stations of earthly honors and subiect to continuall â—â—ueability Happy are they who are in fauour with him in whom there is no shadow of change Where men are commonly most ambitious to please with their first imployments Amasa slackens his pace The least delay in matters of rebellion is perilous may be inrecouerable The sons of Zeruiah are not sullen Abishai is sent Ioab goes vnsent to the pursuit of Sheba Amasa was in their way whom no quarrell but their enâ—y had made of a brother an enemy Had the heart of Amasa beene priuy to any cause of grudge he had suspected the Kisse of Ioab now his innocent eyes looke to the lips not to the hand of his secret enemy The lips were smooth Art thou in health my brother the hand was bloody which smote him vnder the fift ribbe That vnhappy hand knew well this way vnto death which with one wound hath let out the Soules of two great Captaines Abaer and Amasa both they were smitten by Ioab both vnder the fift ribbe both vnder a pretence of friendship There is no enmity so dangerous as that which comes masked with loue Open hostility cals vs to our guard but there is no fence against a trusted trecherie We need not bee bidden to auoyde an enemy but who would run away from a friend Thus spiritually deales the world with our soules it kisses vs and stabs vs at once If it did not embrace vs with one hand it could not murther vs with the other Onely God deliuer vs from the danger of 〈◊〉 trust and we shall be safe Ioab is gone and leaues Amasa wallowing in blood That spectacle cannot but stay all passengers The death of great persons drawes euer many eyes Each man sayes Is not this my Lord Amasa Wherefore doe we goe to fight whiles our Generall lyes in the dust What a sad presage is this of our owne miscariage The wit of Ioabs followers hath therefore soone both remoued Amasa out of the way and couered him not regarding so much the losse as the eye-sore of Israel Thus wicked Politicks care not so much for the commission of villany as for the notice Smothered euils are as not done If oppressions if murders if treasons may be hid from view the obdured heart of the offender complaines not of remorse Bloody Ioab with what face with what heart canst thou pursue a Traitor to thy King whiles thy selfe art so foule a Traitor to thy friend to thy cozen-german and in so vnseasonable a slaughter to thy Soueraigne whose cause thou professest to reuenge If Amasa were now in an act of loyalty iustly on Gods part payd for the arerages of his late rebellion yet that it should bee done by thy hand then and thus it was flagitiously cruell Yet behold Ioab runs away securely with the fact haâ—â—â—ing to plague that in another whereof himselfe was no lesse guilty So vast are the gorges of some consciences that they can swallow the greatest crimes and find no straine in the passage It is possible for a man to be faithfull to some one person and perfidious to all others I do not find Ioab other then firme and loyall to Dauid in the midst of all his priuate falshoods whose iust quarrell he pursues against Sheba through all the Tribes of Israel None of all the strong Forts of reuolted Israel can hide the Rebell from the zeale of his reuenge The Citty of Abel lends harbor to that conspirator whom all Israel would and cannot protect Ioab casts vp a Mount against it and hauing inuironed it with a siege begins to worke vpon the wall and now after long chase is in hand to dig out that Vermin which hath earthed himselfe in this borough of Bethmaachah Had not the City been strong and populous Sheba had not cast himselfe for succor within those wals yet of all the inhabitants I see not any one man moue for the preseruation of their whole body Onely a woman vndertakes to treat with Ioab for their safety Those men whose spirits were great enough to maintaine a Traitor against a mighty King scorne not to giue way to the wisdome of a matron There is no reason that sexe should disparage where the vertue and merit is no lesse then masculine Surely the soule acknowledgeth no sex neither is varied according to the outward frame How oft haue we knowne female hearts in the brests of Men and contrarily manly powers in the weaker vessels It is iniurious to measure the act by the person and not rather to esteeme the person for the act She with no lesse prudence then courage challengeth Ioab for the violence of his assault and layes to him that law which he could not bee an Israelite and disauow the Law of the God of peace whose charge it was that when they should come neere to a City to fight against it they should offer it peace and if this tender must be made to forainers how much more to brethren So as they must inquire of Abel ere they batter'd it War is the extreme act of vindicatiue iustice neither doth God euer approue it for any other then a desperate remedy and if it haue any other end then peace it turnes into publike murder It is therefore an inhumane cruelty to shed blood where we haue not profered faire conditions of peace the refusall whereof is iustly punished with the sword of reuenge Ioab was a man of blood yet when the wise woman of Abel charged him with going about to destroy a mother in Israel and swallowing vp the inheritance of the Lord with what vehemency doth hee deprecate that challenge God forbid God forbid it me that I should deuoure or destroy it Although that city with
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
mother neither words nor teares can suffice to discouer it Yet more had she beene ayded by the counsell and supportation of a louing yoke-fellow this burden might haue seemed lesse intolerable A good husband may make amends for the losse of a sonne had the root beene left to her intire she might better haue spared the branch now both are cut vp all the stay of her life is gone and shee seemes abandoned to a perfect misery And now when shee gaue herselfe vp for a forlorne mourner past all capacity of redresse the God of comfort meets her pities her relieues her Here was no solicitor but his owne compassion In other occasions he was sought and sued to The Centurion comes to him for a seruant the Ruler for a sonne Iairus for a daughter the neighbours for the Paralyticke here hee seekes vp the patient and offers the cure vnrequested Whiles wee haue to doe with the Father of mercies our afflictions are the most powerfull suitors No teares no prayers can moue him so much as his owne commiseration Oh God none of our secret sorrowes can be either hid from thine eyes or kept from thine heart and when wee are past all our hopes all possibilities of helpe then art thou neerest to vs for deliuerance Here was a conspiration of all parts to mercy The heart had compassion the mouth said Weepe not the feet went to the Beere the hand touched the coffin the power of the Deity raised the dead What the heart felt was secret to it selfe the tongue therefore expresses it in words of comfort Weepe not Alas what are words to so strong and iust passions To bid her not to weepe that had lost her onely sonne was to perswade her to be miserable and not feele it to feele and not regard it to regard and yet to smother it Concealement doth not remedy but aggrauate sorrow That with the counsell of not weeping therefore she might see cause of not weeping his hand seconds his tongue He arrests the Coffin and frees the Prisoner Yongman I say vnto thee arise The Lord of life and death speakes with command No finite power could haue said so without presumption or with successe That is the voice that shall one day call vp our vanished bodies from those elements into which they are resolued and raise them out of their dust Neither sea nor death nor hell can offer to detaine their dead when he charges them to be deliuered Incredulous nature what doest thou shrinke at the possibility of a resurrection when the God of nature vndertakes it It is no more hard for that almighty Word which gaue being vnto all things to say Let them be repaired then Let them be made I doe not see our Sauiour stretching himselfe vpon the dead corps as Elias and Elisha vpon the sonnes of the Sunamite and Sareptan nor kneeling downe and praying by the Beere as Peter did to Dorcas but I heare him so speaking to the dead as if he were aliue and so speaking to the dead that by the word hee makes him aliue I say vnto thee arise Death hath no power to bid that man lye still whom the Sonne of God bids Arise Immediately he that was dead sate vp So at the sound of the last trumpet by the power of the same voice we shall arise out of the dust and stand vp glorious this mortall shall put on immortalitie this corruptible incorruption This body shall not be buried but sowne and at our day shall therefore spring vp with a plentifull increase of glory How comfortlesse how desperate should be our lying downe if it were not for this assurance of rising And now behold lest our weake faith should stagger at the assent to so great a difficulty he hath already by what hee hath done giuen vs tasts of what he will doe The power that can raise one man can raise a thousand a million a world no power can raise one but that which is infinite and that which is infinite admits of no limitation Vnder the old Testament God raised one by Elias another by Elisha liuing a third by Elisha dead By the hand of the Mediator of the New Testament hee raised here the sonne of the Widow the daughter of Iairus Lazarus and in attendance of his owne resurrection he made a gaole-deliuery of holy prisoners at Ierusalem Hee raises the daughter of Iairus from her bed this widowes sonne from his Coffin Lazarus from his graue the dead Saints of Ierusalem from their rottennesse that it might appeare no degree of death can hinder the efficacie of his ouer-ruling command Hee that keepes the keyes of death cannot onely make way for himselfe through the common Hall and outer-roomes but through the inwardest and most reserued closets of darknesse Me thinkes I see this yong man who was thus miraculously awaked from his deadly sleepe wiping and rubbing those eies that had beene shut vp in death and descending from the Beere wrapping his winding sheet about his loines cast himselfe down in a passionate thankfulnesse at the feet of his Almightie restorer adoring that diuine power which had commanded his soule back again to her forsaken lodging though I heare not what he said yet I dare say they were words of praise wonder which his returned soule first vttered It was the mother whom our Sauior pitied in this act not the sonne who now forced from his quiet rest must twice passe through the gates of death As for her sake therefore he was raised so to her hands was he deliuered that she might acknowledge that soule giuen to her not to the possessor Who cannot feele the amazement and extasie of ioy that was in this reuiued mother when her son now salutes her from out of another world And both receiues and giues gratulations of of his new life How suddenly were all the teares of that mournfull traine dried vp with a ioyfull astonishment How soone is that funerall banquet turned into a new Birth-day feast What striuing was here to salute the late carkasse of their returned neighbour What awfull and admiring lookes were cast vpon that Lord of life who seeming homely was approued omnipotent How gladly did euery tongue celebrate both the worke and the author A great Prophet is raised vp amongst vs and God hath visited his people A Prophet was the highest name they could finde for him whom they saw like themselues in shape aboue themselues in power They were not yet acquainted with God manifested in the flesh This miracle might well haue assured them of more then a Prophet but he that raised the dead man from the Beere would not suddenly raise these dead hearts from the graue of Infidelitie they shall see reason enough to know that the Prophet who was raised vp to them was the God that now visited them and at last should doe as much for them as hee had done for the yong man raise them from death to life from dust to glory The
Rulers Sonne cured THe bounty of God so exceedeth mans that there is a contrarietie in the exercise of it We shut our hands because we haue opened them God therefore opens his because he hath opened them Gods mercies are as comfortable in their issue as in themselues Seldome euer doe blessings goe alone where our Sauiour supplyed the Bridegroomes wine there he heales the Rulers sonne Hee had not in all these coasts of Galilee done any miracle but here To him that hath shall be giuen We doe not finde Christ oft attended with Nobilitie here hee is It was some great Peere or some noted Courtier that was now a suitor to him for his dying sonne Earthly greatnesse is no defence against afflictions Wee men forbeare the mighty Disease and death know no faces of Lords or Monarks Could these be bribed they would be too rich why should we grudge not to be priuiledged when wee see there is no spare of the greatest This noble Ruler listens after Christs returne into Galile The most eminent amongst men will be glad to hearken after Christ in their necessitie Happy was it for him that his sonne was sicke he had not else been acquainted with his Sauiour his soule had continued sicke of ignorance and vnbeliefe Why else doth our good God send vs pain losses opposition but that he may be sought to Are we afflicted whither should we goe but to Cana to seeke Christ whither but to the Cana of heauen where our water of sorrow is turned to the wine of gladnesse to that omnipotent Physitian who healeth all our infirmities that we may once say It is good for mee that I was afflicted It was about a dayes iourney from Capernaum to Cana Thence hither did this Courtier come for the cure of his sonnes Feuer What paines euen the greatest can be content to take for bodily health No way is long no labour tedious to the desirous Our soules are sicke of a spirituall feuer labouring vnder the cold fit of infidelitie and the hot fit of selfe-loue and we sit still at home and see them languish vnto death This Ruler was neither faithlesse nor faithfull Had he been quite faithlesse he had not taken such paines to come to Christ Had he been faithfull hee had not made this suit to Christ when he was come Come downe and heale my sonne ere he die Come downe as if Christ could not haue cured him absent Ere he die as if that power could not haue raised him being dead how much difference was here betwixt the Centurion and the Ruler That came for his seruant this for his sonne This sonne was not more aboue that seruant then the faith which sued for that seruant surpassed that which sued for the sonne The one can say Master come not vnder my roofe for I am not worthy onely speake the word and my seruant shall be whole The other can say Master either come vnder my roofe or my sonne cannot be whole Heale my sonne had been a good suit for Christ is the onely Physitian for all diseases but Come downe and heale him was to teach God how to worke It is good reason that he should challenge the right of prescribing to vs who are euery way his owne it is presumption in vs to stint him vnto our formes An expert workman cannot abide to bee taught by a nouice how much lesse shall the all-wise God endure to bee directed by his creature This is more then if the patient should take vpon him to giue a Recipe to the Physitian That God would giue vs grace is a beseeming suit but to say Giue it me by prosperitie is a sawcy motion As there is faithfulnesse in desiring the end so modesty and patience in referring the meanes to the author In spirituall things God hath acquainted vs with the meanes whereby he will worke euen his owne Sacred ordinances Vpon these because they haue his owne promise we may call absolutely for a blessing In all others there is no reason that beggers should be choosers He who doth whatsoeuer he will must doe it how he will It is for vs to receiue not to appoint He who came to complaine of his sons sicknes heares of his own Except ye see signes and wonders ye will not beleeue This noble man was as is like of Capernaum There had Christ often preached there was one of his chiefe residencies Either this man had heard our Sauiour oft or might haue done yet because Christs miracles came to him onely by heare-say for as yet we finde none at all wrought where hee preached most therefore the man beleeues not enough but so speakes to Christ as to some ordinarie Physitian Come downe and heale It was the common disease of the Iewes incredulitie which no receit could heale but wonders A wicked and adulterous generation seekes signes Had they not been wilfully gracelesse there was already proofe enough of the Messias the miraculous conception and life of the fore-runner Zacharies dumbnesse the attestation of Angels the apparition of the Starre the iourney of the Sages the vision of the Shepheards the testimonies of Anna and Simeon the prophesies fulfilled the voice from heauen at his baptisme the diuine words that hee spake and yet they must haue all made vp with miracles which though he be not vnwilling to giue at his owne times yet he thinkes much to be tied vnto at theirs Not to beleeue without signes was a signe of stubborne hearts It was a foule fault and a dangerous one Ye will not beleeue What is it that shall condemne the world but vnbeliefe What can condemne vs without it No sin can condemne the repentant Repentance is a fruit of faith where true faith is then there can be no condemnation as there can be nothing but condemnation without it How much more foule in a noble Capernaite that had heard the Sermons of so diuine a Teacher The greater light we haue the more shame it is for vs to stumble Oh what shall become of vs that reele and fall into the clearest Sunâ—shine that euer looked forth vpon any Church Be mercifull to our sinnes O God and say any thing of vs rather then Ye will not beleeue Our Sauiour tels him of his vnbeliefe hee feeles not himselfe sicke of that disease All his mind is on his dying for As easily do we complaine of bodily griefes as we are hardly affected with spirituall Oh the meeknesse and mercy of this Lambe of God When wee would haue lookt that hee should haue punished this suitor for not beleeuing hee condescends to him that hee may beleeue Goe thy way thy sonne liueth If wee should measure our hopes by our owne worthinesse there were no expectation of blessings but if we shall measure them by his bountie and compassion there can bee no doubt of preuailing As some tender mother that giues the brest to her vnquiet childe in stead of the rod so deales hee with our peruersnesses How God differences
for none but God to hold discourse with Satan Our surest way is to haue as little to doe with that euill one as wee may and if hee shall offer to maintaine conference with vs by his secret tentations to turne our speech vnto our God with the Archangell The Lord rebuke thee Satan It was the presupposition of him that knew it that not only men but spirits haue names This then he askes not out of an ignorance or curiositie nothing could bee hid from him who calleth the starres and all the hosts of heauen by their names but out of a iust respect to the glory of the miracle hee was working whereto the notice of the name would not a little auaile For if without inquirie or confession our Sauiour had erected this euill spirit it had passed for the single dispossession of one onely Deuill whereas now it appeares there was a combination and hellish champertie in these powers of darknesse which were all forced to vaile vnto that almighty command Before the Deuill had spoken singularly of himselfe What haue I to doe with thee and I beseech thee torment me not Our Sauiour yet knowing that there was a multitude of Deuils lurking in that brest who dissembled their presence wrests it out of the Spirit by this interrogation What is thy name Now can those wicked ones no longer hide themselues He that asked the question forced the answer My name is Legion The author of discord hath borrowed a name of warre from that military order of discipline by which the Iewes were subdued doth the Deuill fetch his denomination They were many yet they say My name not Our name though many they speake as one they act as one in this possession There is a maruellous accordance euen betwixt euill spirits that Kingdome is not diuided for then it could not stand I wonder not that wicked men doe so conspire in euill that there is such vnanimitie in the broachers and abettors of errours when I see those Deuils which are many in substance are one in name action habitation Who can bragge too much of vnitie when it is incident into wicked spirits All the praise of concord is in the subiect if that be holy the consent is Angelicall if sinfull deuillish What a fearfull aduantage haue our spirituall enemies against vs If armed troopes come against single straglers what hope is there of life of victory How much doth it concerne vs to band our hearts together in a communion of Saints Our enemies come vpon vs like a torrent Oh let not vs runne asunder like drops in the dust All our vnited forces will bee little enough to make head against this league of destruction Legion imports Order number conflict Order in that there is a distinction of regiment a subordination of Officers Though in hell there be confusion of faces yet not confusion of degrees Number Those that haue reckoned a Legion at the lowest haue counted it six thousand others haue more then doubled it though here it is not strict but figuratiue yet the letter of it implyes multitude How fearfull is the consideration of the number of Apostate Angels And if a Legion can attend one man how many must we needs thinke are they who all the world ouer are at hand to the punishment of the wicked the exercise of the good the tentation of both It cannot be hoped there can be any place or time wherein we may be secure from the onsets of these enemies Be sure ye lewd men ye shall want no furtherance to euill no torment for euill Be sure yee godly yee shall not want combatants to try your strength and skill Awaken your courages to resist and stirâ—e vp your hearts make sure the meanes of your safety There are more with vs then against vs The God of heauen is with vs if we be with him and our Angels behold the face of God If euery deuill were a Legion we are safe Though wee walke through the valley of the shadow of death we shall feare no euill Thou O Lord shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of our enemies and thy right hand shall saue vs. Conflict All this number is not for sight for rest but for motion for action Neither was there euer houre since the first blow giuen to our first Parents wherein there was so much as a truce betwixt these aduersaries As therefore strong frontier Townes when there is a peace concluded on both parts breake vp their garison open their gates neglect their Bulwarkes but when they heare of the enemy mustering his forces in great and vnequall numbers then they double their guard keepe Sentinell repaire their Sconces so must we vpon the certaine knowledge of our numerous and deadly enemies in continuall aray against vs addresse our selues alwayes to a wary and strong resistance I doe not obserue the most to thinke of this ghostly hostilitie Either they doe not finde there are tentations or those tentations hurtfull they see no worse then themselues and if they feele motions of euill arising in them they impute it to fancy or vnreasonable appetite to no power but natures and those motions they follow without sensible hurt neither see they what harme it is to finne Is it any maruell that carnall eyes cannot discerne spirituall obiects That the world who is the friend the vassall of Satan is in no warre with him Elisha's seruant when his eyes were opened saw troops of spirituall souldiers which before hee discerned not If the eyes of our soules bee once enlightened by supernaturall knowledge and the cleare beames of faith wee shall as plainely descry the inuisible powers of wickednesse as now our bodily eyes see heauen and earth They are though wee see them not we cannot be safe from them if wee doe not acknowledge not oppose them The Deuils are now become great suitors to Christ That hee would not command them into the deepe that hee would permit their entrance into the swine What is this deepe but hell both for the vtter separation from the face of God and for the impossibilitie of passage to the region of rest and glory The very euill spirits then feare and expect a further degree of torment they know themselues reserued in those chaines of darknesse for the iudgement of the great day There is the same wages due to their sinnes and to ours neither are the wages paid till the worke bee done they tempting men to sinne must needs sinne grieuously in tempting as with vs men those that mislead into sinne offend more then the actors not till the vpshot therefore of their wickednesse shall they receiue the full measure of their condemnation This day this deepe they tremble at what shall I say of those men that feare it not It is hard for men to beleeue their owne vnbeliefe If they were perswaded of this fiery dungeon this bottomlesse deepe wherein euery sinne shall receiue an horrible portion with the damned durst they stretch
to send me a gracious release of that strict charge Why should I thinke that Gods reuelations are not as free to others as to me and if this Prophet haue receiued a countermand from an Angell of God how shall I not disobey God if I doe not follow him Vpon this ground he returnes with this deceitfull host when the meat was now in his mouth receiues the true message of death from the same lips that brought him the false message of his inuitation Thus saith the Lord for as much as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord hast not kept the commandement of the Lord thy God but camest back and hast eaten bread and drunke water in the place forbidden thee thy carkasse shal not come to the Sepulcher of thy fathers Oh wofull Prophet when hee lookes on his host he sees his executioner whiles he is feeding of his body he heares of his carkasse at the table he heares of his denied Sepulcher and all this for eating and drinking where he was forbidden by God though bidden as from God The violation of the least charge of a God is mortall No pretences can warrant the transgression of a diuine command A word from God is pleaded on both sides The one was receiued immediately from God the other related mediately by man One the Prophet was sure of the other was questionable A sure word of God may not bee left for an vncertaine An expresse charge of the Almighty admitteth not of any checke His will is but one as himselfe is and therefore it is out of the danger of contradiction Me thinks I see the man of God change countenance at this sharpe sauce of his pleasing morsels his face before-hand is died with the palenesse of death me thinkes I heare him vrging many vnkind expostulations with his iniurious host who yet dismisses him better prouided for the ease of his iourny then he found him Perhaps this officiousnesse was our of desire to make some amends for his late seducement It is a poore recompence when he hath betrayed his life and wronged the soule to cast some courtesies vpon the body This old Bethelite that had taken paines to come and fetch the man of God into sin will not now goe backe with him to accompany his departure Doubtlesse hee was afraid to be in wrapped in the iudgement which hee saw hanged ouer that obnoxious head Thus the mischieuous guides of wickednesse leaue a man when they haue led him to his bane as familiar Deuils forsake their Witches when they haue brought them once into fetters The man of God returnes alone carefull no doubt and pensiue for his offence when a Lion out of the wood meets him assaults him kils him Oh the iust and seuere iudgements of the Almighty who hath brought this fierce beast out of his wild ranges into the high way to be the executioner of his offending seruant Doubtlesse this Prophet was a man of great holinesse of singular fidelity else he durst not haue been Gods Herald to carie a message of defiance to Ieroboam King of Israel in the midst of all his royall magnificence yet now for varying from but a circumstance of Gods command though vpon the suggestion of a diuine warrant is giuen for a prey to the Lion Our interest in God is so farre from excusing our sinne that it aggrauates it Of all others the sinne of a Prophet shall not passe vnreuenged The very wilde beasts are led by a prouidence Their wise and powerfull Creator knowes how to serue himselfe of them The Lions guard one Prophet kill another according to the commission receiued from their Maker What sinner can hope to escape vnpunished when euery creature of God is ready to be an auenger of euill The beasts of the field were made to serue vs we to serue our Creator When we forsake our homage to bim that made vs it is no maruell if the beasts forget their duty to vs and deale with vs not as Masters but as rebels When an holy man abuyes so dearely such a sleight frailty of a credulous mistaking what shall become of our hainous and presumptuous sinnes I cannot thinke but this Prophet died in the fauour of God though by the teeth of the Lion His life was forfeited for example his foule was safe Yea his very carkasse was left though torne yet faire after those deadly graspes as if God had said I will onely take thy breath from thee as the penalty of thy disobedience a Lion shall doe that which an apoplexie or feuer might doe I owe thee no further reuenge then may be satisfied with thy blood Violent euents doe not alwaies argue the anger of God Euen death it selfe is to his seruants a fatherly castigation But oh the vnsearchable wayes of the Almighty The man of God sinnes and dies speedily the lying Prophet that seduced him suruiues Yea wicked Ieroboam enioyes his Idolatry and treads vpon the graue of his reprouer There is neither fauour in the delay of stripes nor displeasure in the haste Rather whom God loues he chastises as sharply so speedily whiles the rest prosper to condemnation Euen the rod of a louing father may draw blood How much happier is it for vs that wee die now to liue for euer then that we liue a while to die euer Had this Lion set vpon the Prophet for hunger why did hee not deuoure as well as kill him Why did he not rather kill the beast then the man since we know the nature of the Lion such that he is not wont to assaile man saue in the extreme want of other prey Certainly the same power that imployed those fangs restrained them that the world might see it was not appetite that prouoked the beast to this violence but the ouer-ruling command of God Euen so O Lord thy powerfull hand is ouer that roaring Lion that goes about continually seeking whom hee may deuoure thine hand with-holds him that though he may shed the blood of thine elect yet he cannot hurt their soules and whiles he doth those things which thou permittest and orderest to thy iust ends yet he cannot doe lesser things which he desireth and thou permittest not The fierce beast stands by the carkasse as to auow his owne act and to tell who sent him so to preserue that body which he hath slaine Oh wonderfull worke of God the Executioner is turned Guardian and as the Officer of the highest commands all other creatures to stand aloofe from his chaâ—ge and commands the fearfull Asse that brought this burthen thither not to stirre thence but stand ready prest to recarie it to the Sepulcher and now when he hath sufficiently witnessed to all passengers that this act was not done vpon his own hunger but vpon the quarrell of his Maker he deliuers vp his charge to that old Prophet who was no lesse guilty of this blood then himselfe This old Seducer hath so much truth as both to giue a
hee gaue was not worse then that hee tooke There is more true glory in the conquest of our lusts then in all bloody Trophees In vaine shall Ahab boast of subduing a forraigne enemy whiles he is subdued by a domesticke enemy within his own brest Opportunity and Conuenience is guilty of many a theft Had not this ground lien so faire Ahab had not beene tempted His eye lets in this euill guest into the soule which now dares come forth at the mouth Giue mee thy vineyard that I may haue it for a garden of herbes because it is neere to my house and I will giue thee a better vineyard for it or if it seeme good to thee I will giue thee the worth of it in money Yet had Ahab so much ciuility and iustice that he would not wring Naboths patrimony out of his hand by force but requires it vpon a faire composition whether of price or of exchange His gouernment was vicious not tyrannicall Proprietie of goods was inuiolably maintained by him No lesse was Naboth allowed to claime a right in his vineyard then Ahab in his palace This wee owe to lawfull Soueraignty to call ought our owne and well worthy is this priuiledge to be repaid with all humble and loyall respects The motion of Ahab had it beene to any other then an Israelite had beene as iust equall reasonable as the repulse had beene rude churlish inhumane It is fit that Princes should receiue due satisfaction in the iust demands not onely of their necessities but conuenience and pleasure well may they challenge this retribution to the benefit of our common peace and protection If there bee any sweetnesse in our vineyards any strength in our fields we may thanke their scepters Iustly may they expect from vs the commoditie the delight of their habitation and if we gladly yeeld not to their full elbow-roome both of site and prouision we can be no other then ingratefull Yet dares not Naboth giue any other answer to so plausible a motion then The Lard forbid it me that I should giue thee the inheritance of my Fathers The honest Israelite saw violence in this ingenuity There are no stronger commands then the requests of the great It is well that Ahab will not wrest away this patrimony it is not well that he desired it The land was not so much stood vpon as the law One earth might be as good as another and money equiualent to either The Lord had forbidden to alien their inheritance Naboth did not feare losse but sinne What Naboth might not lawfully doe Ahab might not lawfully require It pleased God to bee very punctuall and cautelous both in the distinction and preseruation of the intirenesse of these Iewish inheritances Nothing but extreme necessitie might warrant a sale of land and that but for a time if not sooner yet at the Iubile it must reuert to the first owner It was not without a comfortable signification that whosoeuer had once his part in the land of Promise could neuer lose it Certainly Ahab could not but know this diuine restriction yet doubts not to say Giue me thy vineyard The vnconscionable will know no other law but their profit their pleasure A lawlesse greatnesse hates all limitations and abides not to heare men should need any other warrant but will Naboth dares not be thus tractable How gladly would he be quit of his inheritance if God would acquit him from the sinne Not out of wilfulnesse but obedience doth this faithfull Israelite hold off from this demand of his Soueraign not daring to please an earthly King with offending the heauenly When Princes command lawfull things God commands by them when vnlawfull they command against God passiue obedience we must giue actiue we may not wee follow then as subordinate not as opposite to the highest Who cannot but see and pity the straits of honest Naboth Ahab requires what God forbids he must fall out either with his God or his King Conscience caries him against policy and he resolues not to sinne that he might be gracious For a world he may not giue his vineyard Those who are themselues godlesse thinke the holy care of others but idly scrupulous The King of Israel could not chuse but see that onely Gods prohibition lay in the way of his designes not the stomacke of a froward subiect yet he goes away into his house heauy and displeased and casts himselfe downe vpon bed and turnes away his face and refuses his meat Hee hath taken a surfet of Naboths grapes which marres his appetite and threats his life How ill can great hearts endure to bee crossed though vpon the most reasonable and iust grounds Ahabs place call'd him to the Guardianship of Gods Law and now his heart is ready to breake that this parcell of that Law may not bee broken No maruell if hee made not dainty to transgresse a locall statute of God who did so shamefully violate the eternall Law of both Tables I know not whether the spleen or the gall of Ahab be more affected Whether more of anger or griefe I cannot say but sick he is keepes his bed and balks his meat as if he should die of no other death thē the salads that he would haue had O the impotēt passion and insatiable desires of Couetousnesse Ahab is Lord King of all the territories of Israel Naboth is the owner of one poore Vineyard Ahab cannot inioy Israel if Naboth inioy his Vineyard Besides Samaria Ahab was the great Lord Paramount of Damascus and all Syria the victor of him that was attended with two and thirty Kings Naboth was a plaine townsman of Iezreel the good husband of a little Vineyard Whether is the weathier I doe not heare Naboth wish for any thing of Ahabs I heare Ahab wishing not without indignation of a repulse for somwhat from Naboth Riches pouerty is more in the heart then in the hand He is wealthy that is contented he is poore that wanteth more Oh rich Naboth that carest not for all the large possessions of Ahab so thou maist bee the Lord of thine owne Vineyard Oh miserable Ahab that carest not for thine owne possessions whiles thou mayest not be the Lord of Naboths Vineyard He that caused the disease sends him a Physitian Satan knew of old how to make vse of such helpers Iezebel comes to Ahabs bed-side and casts cold water in his face and puts into him spirits of her owne extracting Dost thou now gouerne the Kingdome of Israel Arise eat bread and let thine heart be merry I will giue thee the Vineyard of Naboth Ahab wanted neither wit nor wickednesse Yet is he in both a very nouice to this Zidonian dame There needs no other Deuill then Iezebel whether to proiect euill or to worke it She chides the pusillanimity of her deiected husband and perswades him his rule cannot bee free vnlesse it be licentious that there should bee no bounds for soueraignetie but will Already hath shee
preponderate light falshood in a thousand Euen King Ahab as bad as hee was kept tale of his Prophets and could giue account of one that was missing There is yet one man Michaiah the sonne of Iudah by whom we may inquire of the Lord but I hate him for hee doth not prophecy good concerning me but euill It is very probable that Michaiah was that disguised Prophet who brought to Ahab the fearefull message of displeasure and death for dismissing Benhadad for which he was euer since fast in prison deepe in disgrace Oh corrupt heart of selfe condemned Ahab If Micaiah spake true to thee how was it euill If others said false how was it good and if Micaiah spake from the Lord why dost thou hate him This hath wont to bee the ancient lot of Truth censure and hatred Censure of the message hatred of the bearer To carnall eares the message is euill if vnpleasing and if plausible good If it be sweet it cannot be poison if bitter it cannot be wholsome The distemper of the receiuer is guilty of this mis-conceit In it selfe euery truth as it is good so amiable euery falshood loathsome as euill A sicke palate cries out of the taste of those liquors which are well allowed of the heathfull It is a signe of a good state of the soule when euery verdure can receiue his proper iudgement Wise and good Iehosaphat disswades Ahab from so hard an opinion and sees cause so much more to vrge the consultation of Michaiah by how much hee findes him more vnpleasing The King of Israel to satisfie the importunitie of so great and deare an allie sends an Officer for Michaiah He knew well belike where to finde him within those foure walls where vniust cruelty had disposed of that innocent Seer Out of the obscuritie of the prison is the poore Prophet fetcht in the light of so glorious a Confession of two Kings who thought this Conuocation of Prophets not vnworthy of their greatest representation of State ad Maiestie There he finds Zedekiah the leader of that false crue not speaking only but acting his prediction Signes were no lesse vsed by the Prophets then words this arch-flatterer hath made him bornes of iron the horne is forceable the iron irresistible by an irresistible force shall Ahab push the Syrians as if there were more certaintie in this mans hands then in his tongue If this son of Chenaanah had not had a forehead of brasse for impudency and a heart of Lead for flexiblenesse to humors and times he had neuer deuised these horns of iron wherewith his King was goared vnto blood Howsoeuer it is enough for him that he is beleeued that he is seconded All the great Inquest of these Prophets gaue vp their verdict by this foreman not one of foure hundred dissented Vnanimitie of opinion in the greatest Ecclesiasticall assemblies is not euer an argument of truth There may be as common and as firme agreement in error The messenger that came from Michaiah like a carnall friend sets him in a way of fauour tels him what the rest said how they pleased how vnsafe it would bee for him to varie how beneficiall to assent Those that adore earthly greatnesse thinke euery man should dote vpon their Idols and hold no termes too high their ambitious purchases Faithfull Micaiah scornes the motion he knows the price of the word and contemnes it As the Lord liueth what the Lord saith vnto me that will I speake Neither feares nor fauours can tempt the holily resolute They can trample vpon dangers or honors with a carelesse foot and whether they be smiled or frowned on by the great dare not either alter or conceale their errand The question is moued to Micaiah He at first so yeelds that he contradicts yeelds in words contradicts in pronunciation The syllables are for them the sound against them Ironies deny strongest in affirming and now being pressed home he tels them that God had shewed him those sheepe of Israel should ere long by this meanes want their Shepheard The very resemblance to a good Prince had beene affectiue The sheepe is an helplesse creature not able either to guard or guide it selfe all the safety all the direction of it is from the keeper without vvhom euery curre chases and werries it euery tracke seduceth it Such shall Israel soone bee if Ahab bee ruled by his Prophets The King of Israel doth not beleeue but quarrell not at himselfe who had deserued euill but at the Prophet who foresignified it and is more carefull that the King of Iuda should marke how true he had fore-told concerning the Prophet then how the Prophet had fore-told concerning him Bold Micaiah as no whit discouraged with the vniust checks of greatnesse doubles his prediction and by a second vision particularizeth the meanes of this dangerous errour Whiles the two Kings sate maiestically in their Thrones hee tels them of a more glorious Throne then theirs whereon he saw the King of Gods sitting Whiles they were compassed with some hundreds of Prophets thousands of Subiects and Souldiers he tels them of all the host of heauen attending that other Throne Whiles they were deliberating of a war he tels them of a God of heauen iustly decreeing the iudgement of a deadly deception to Ahab This decree of the highest is not more plainly reuealed then expressed parabolically The wise and holy God is represented after the manner of men consulting of that ruine which hee intended to the wicked King of Israel That increated and infinite wisdome needs not the aduice of any finite and created powers to direct him needs not the assent and aid of any spirit for his execution much lesse of an euill one yet here an euill spirit is brought in by way of vision mixt with parable profeting the seruice of his lie accepted imployed successefull These figures are not void of truth The action and euent is reduced to a decree the decree is shadowed out by the resemblance of humane proceedings All euill motions and counsells are originally from that malignant Spirit That euill spirit could haue no power ouer men but by the permission by the decree of the Almighty That Almighty as he is no Author of sin so he ordinates all euill to good It is good that is iust it is iust that one sinne should be punished by another Satan is herein no other then the executioner of that God who is as far from infusing euill as from not reuenging it Now Ahab sees the ground of that applauded consent of his rabble of Prophets one euil spirit hath no lesse deceiued them then they their master he is one therefore he agrees with himselfe he is euill therefore both he they agree in deceit Oh the noble and vndanted spirit of Micaiah neither the Thrones of the Kings nor the number of the Prophets could abate one word of his true though displeasing message The King of Israel shall heare that he is mis-led by lyers they
whiles our hearts are euill The Cruse and the Salt must bee their owne The act must bee his the power Gods He cast the Salt into the spring and said Thus saith the Lord I haue healed these waters there shall not be from thence any more death or barrennesse Farre was it from Elisha to challenge ought to himselfe Before when hee should diuide the waters of Iordan he did not say Where is the power of Elisha but Where is the Lord God of Elijah and now when hee should cure the waters of Iericho hee saies not Thus saies Elisha but thus saith the Lord I haue healed these waters How carefull is the man of God that no part of Gods glory should sticke to his owne fingers Iericho shall know to whom they owe the blessing that they may duely returne the thankes Elisha professes he can doe no more of himselfe then that Salt then that Cruse onely God shall worke by him by it and what euer that almighty hand vndertakes cannot faile yea is already done neither doth he say I will heale but I haue healed Euen so O God if thou cast into the fountaine of our hearts but one Cruse-full of the Salt of thy Spirit we are whole no thought can passe betweene the receit and the remedy As the generall visitor of the Schooles of the Prophets Elisha passeth from Iericho to that other Colledge at Bethel Bethel was a place of strange composition there was at once the golden Calfe of Ieroboam and the Schoole of God True religion and Idolatry found a free harbour within those wals I do not maruell that Gods Prophets would plant there there was the most need of their presence where they found the spring head of corruption Physitians are of most vse where diseases abound As he was going vp by the way there came forth little children out of the City and mocked him and said to him Goe vp thou bald-head Goe vp thou bald-head Euen the very boyes of Bethel haue learned to scoffe at a Prophet The spight of their Idolatrous parents is easily propagated Children are such as their institution Infancy is led altogether by imitation it hath neither words nor actions but infused by others If it haue good or ill language it is but borrowed and the shame or thanke is due to those that lent it What was it that these ill-taught children vpbraided to the Prophet but a sleight naturall defect not worthy the name of a blemish the want of a little haire at the best a comely excrement no part of the body Had there been deformity in that smoothnesse of the head which some great wits haue honoured with praises a faultlesse and remedilesse eye-sore had beene no fit matter for a taunt How small occasions will be taken to disgrace a Prophet If they could haue said ought worse Elisha had not heard of this God had crowned that head with honor which the Bethelitish children loaded with scorne Who would haue thought the rude termes of waggish boyes worthy of any thing but neglect Elisha lookes at them with seuere browes and like the heire of him that cald downe fire vpon the two Captaines and their fifties curses them in the name of the Lord Two shee-Beares out of the wood hasten to bee his executioners and teare two and forty of them in peeces O fearefull example of diuine Iustice This was not the reuenge of an angry Prophet it was the punishment of a righteous Iudge God and his Seer lookt through these children at the Parents at all Israel he would punish the parents mis-nurturing their children to the contemptuous vsage of a Prophet with the death of those children which they had mis-taught Hee would teach Israel what it was to mis-use a Prophet And if hee would not endure these contumelies vnreuenged in the mouthes of children what vengeance was enough for aged persecutors Doubtlesse some of the children escaped to tell the newes of their fellowes what lamentation doe wee thinke there was in the streets of Bethel how did the distressed mothers wring their hands for this woefull orbation And now when they came forth to fetch the remnants of their owne flesh what a sad spectacle it was to finde the fields strawed with those mangled carkasses It is an vnprofitable sorrow that followes a iudgement Had these parents beene as carefull to traine vp their children in good discipline and to correct their disorders as they are now passionate in bemoaning their losse this slaughter had neuer beene In vaine doe we looke for good of those children whose education we haue neglected In vaine do we grieue for those miscariages which our care might haue preuented Elisha knew the successe yet doth he not balke the City of Bethel Doe wee not wonder that the furious impatience of those parents whom the curse of Elisha robbed of their children did not breake forth to some malicious practice against the Prophet Would wee not thinke the Prophet might misdoubt some hard measure from those exasperated Citizens There lay his way hee followes God without feare of men as well knowing that either they durst not or they could not act violence They knew there were Beares in the wood and fires in heauen and if their malice would haue ventured aboue their courage they could haue no more power ouer Elisha in the streets then those hungry beasts had in the way Whither dare not a Prophet go when God cals him Hauing visited the schooles of the Prophets Elisha retires to mount Carmel after some holy solitarinesse returnes to the City of Samaria He can neuer be a profitable Seer that is either alwaies or neuer alone Carmel shall fit him for Samaria contemplation for action That mother City of Israel must needs afford him most worke Yet is the Throne of Ahaziah succeeded by a brother lesse ill then himselfe then the parents of both Ahabs impiety hath not a perfect heire of Iehoram That son of his hates his Baal though he keepes his calues Euen into the most wicked families it pleaseth God to cast his powerfull restraints that all are not equally vicious It is no newes to see lewd men make scruple of some sinnes The world were not to liue in if all sinnes were affected by all It is no thanke to Ahab and Iezebel that their sonne is no Baalite As no good is traduced from parents so not all euill there is an Almighty hand that stops the foule current of nature at his pleasure No Idolater can say that his child shall not be a conuert The affinitie betwixt the houses of Israel and Iuda holds good in succession Iehoram inherits the friendship the aid of Iehoshaphat whose counsell as is most likely had cured him of that Baalisme It was a good warre whereto he solicites the good King of Iudah The King of Moab who had beene an ancient Tributarie from the daies of Dauid falls now from his homage and refuses to pay his hundred thousand Lambes and hundred
in the lawfull reformation of a Church 558 Contemplation a discourse of the study of it 341 Contemplation of the creation of the World 809 Of Man 812 Of Paradise 815 Of Cain and Abel 817 Of the Deluge 819 Of Noah 827 Of Babel 829 c. Content an inducement to contentment in want 3 A reason to be so 4 Earth yeelds no contentment 12 How to prouoke a mans selfe to contentation 28 What brings contentment in earthly things 58 Pretty enducements to bee content with our present estates 95 96. None liue so ill but that they content themselues in somewhat 136 Contentation a rare blessing 886 It oft fals out that those times which promise most content proue most dolefull in the issue 993 Contention a right behauiour in contention 10 Contention what it doth 219 Continencie what with its contraries 225 Conuersation of hauing it in the world 603 Conuert of his welcome home 965 Corah his conspiracy 919 Corruption the best thing corrupted is worst 147 Cost the Israelites cost to a calfe shall iudge vs in our want of it for true Religion 901 Councellor and counsell for soule and state 231 What is required in a Councellor ibid. It is sign of a desperate cause when once we seek to make Satan our counsellor 931 Counsell good and ill whereto compared 1145 Countenance dishonesty growes bold when it is countenanced by greatnesse 1138 Courtier sixe qualities of a Courtier 233 Two mischiefes of the Court Flatterie and Trecherie 280 The description of a good faithfull Courtier 331 Couetousnesse hath a great resemblance with Drunkennesse 8 A base thing to get goods onely to keepe them 24 25. The couetous like a spider 55 The couetous character 193 The couetous described 221 The couetous restlesse 933 934 Creation of our contemplation therein 809 The head of our creation is Heauen 811 The wonderfulnesse of it seene in man 813 Creatures how they al fight for God 531 872 c. 929 How obseruant they are to him that made them 949 950 The power of nourishment is not in the creature but in the Maker 996 God would rather haue his creatures perish any way then to serue for the vse of the wicked 1003 There is a speciall prouideÌ„ce in their motion 1049 Creed the confession of the same creed is not sufficient with Rome for peace 637 Credulitie it is the daughter of Folly 1102 Crosses of them 80 of such as arise from conceit and of true and reall crosses 80 81 Remedies of crosses before they come 81 And when they are come 83 against sorrow for worldly crosses 309 Crucifie excellent things of our crucifying Christ a new 431 432 Crueltie it is commonly ioyned with error 564 God will call vs to account for our cruelty against dumbe beasts 935 sudden cruelty stands not with religion 969 Yet sometimes a vertue 996 It is no thanks to themselues that wicked men cannot bee cruell 1003 The mercies of God in turning the cruelty of the wicked to the aduantage of the godly 1004 Insultation in the rigour of Iustice argueth cruelty 1020 Curious A censure of the curious in diet and apparell that are negligent or indifferent in Gods businesse 1110 Curse a causelesse curse whom it hurts 1009 Of Shemei his curse 1231 Custome It shall bee no plea for sinne or errour 38 Custome in sinne will so flesh vs as to deny or forsweare any thing 1009 D DAnger there should wee bend our greatest care where we finde our greatest danger 1193 Dancing allowed described and censured 677 In a case disallowed 1021 Dauid his choice or Election 1076 Called to the Court. 1079 Of him and Goliah 1080 Dauids reproach by his brother 1081 His preparation to the Combate 1084 An excellent vse of it ibid. His deliuerance out at a window 1089 Of Samuels harbouring him 1090 Of Dauid and Abimetech 1091 A notable demonstration of his royaltie 1101 A description of Dauids and his peoples perplexitie 1113 Dauid a type of Christ in his warres ibid. His too much credulitie 1133 Dauid a spectacle of infirmitie 1137 What in warre and what in peace 1137 An expostulation with Dauid about his sinne 1138 Of Dauid and Nathan 1141 His confession 1142 Obseruations of Dauids childs death 1143 Dauid is not more sure of forgiuenesse then of smart 1144 The relation of his particular pay ibid. His cariage in Shemeies curse 1232 His patience drawes on his impudencie 1233 Of his numbring the people 1246 His admirable charity 1249 His honour in welcoming the Prophets 1257 Dauids end 1258 Day That al daies are Gods but some more specially 441 442 Holy dayes how obserued in the Church of England 589 Death It hath three messengers p. 4 The wicked therein hath three terrible spectacles 7 Its desire how lawfull â—5 Mans vnwillingnesse to die 53 To bee vnwilling is signe of being in a bad case 61 Of the importunitie and terrour of death 84 The grounds of the feare of death 85 The remedy of the last and greatest breach of peace arising from death 86 A meditation of death 126 Of that Epicurean resolution Let vs eate and drinke for c. 1 Cor. 15.32 139 140 What resolutenesse doth to death 148 An Epistle against the feare of death 291 Of immoderate mourning for the dead 307 A discourse of due preparation for death and the meanes to sweeten it 317 An effectuall preparation of a murtherer to his death 379 Sweet comforts in the meditation of Christs death 434 A pretty item in mourning for the dead 913 Euery circumstance of our dissolutioÌ„ is determined 939 The difference of a godly and wicked mans death ibid. How God forewarnes vs of death 940 Dead bodies are not lost but laid vp 942 T is iust with God that hee that liues without grace should dye without comfort 1105 Death is not partiall 1116 Deceit Its kinds and iudgements 218 219 The hearts deceit in its faculties and affections largely described 504 c. A pretty description of deceiuing others 506 and of the deuils deceit ibid. Described by its effects 507 Oh the deceit of sinne 1140 Decree It is in vaine to striue against Gods decree when we know it 1057 Delay An argument not to delay our repentance till the last day 63 Delay dangerous 948 Desire A man besotted with euill desires is made fit for any villany 937 Where God sees feruent desire he stayes not for words 977 Despaire Then it no greater wrong to God p. 35 Excellent examples against it 946 To what mad shifts men are driuen to in despaire 1210 Detraction or detractor our behauiour with or against such p. 2 A sweet resolution against detraction 3 Deuill He â—ill we haue sinned is a Parasite but when wee haue sinned he is a Tyrant 1112 Hee is no lesse vigilant then malicious 1103 The dumbe deuill eiected 1285 Sinne giues him possession 1286 There is the deuill most tyrannous where hee is most obeyed 1293 There is no time wherein the deuill is not
about three hundred yeeres agoe Not of Reason Negotiatores teâ—ae sunt ipsi Sacerdotes qui vendunt orationes missas prodenarijs facientes domum orationis Apotâ—ecam negotiationis In Reue. l. 10. p. 5. how should one meere man pay for another dispense with another to another by another Not of Scripture which hath flatly said The bloud of Iesus Christ his Sonne purgeth vs from all sinne and yet I remember that acute Sadeel hath taught me that this practise is according to Scripture what Scripture Hee cast the money-changers out of the Temple and said Yee haue made my house a denne of theeues Which also Ioachim their propheticall Abbot well applies to this purpose Some modest Doctors of Lonan would faine haue minced this Antichristian blasphemy who began to teach that the passions of the Saints are not so by Indulgences applied that they become true satisfactions but that they only serue to moue God by the sight of them to apply vnto vs Christs satisfaction But these meale-mouth'd Diuines were soone charm'd Bellar. lib. 1. de Indulgent foure seuerall Popes as their Cardinall confesseth fell vpon the necke of them their opinion Leo the tenth Pius the fift Gregory the thirteenth and Clemens the sixt and with their furious Buls bellow out threats against them and tosse them in the aire for Heretickes and teach them vpon paine of a curse to speake home with Bellarmine Passionibus sanctorum expiari delicta and straight Applicari nobis sanctorum passiones ad redimend as poenas quas propeccatis Deo debemus That by the sufferings of Saints our sinnes are expiated and that by them applied wee are redeemed from those punishments which we yet owe to God Blasphemy worthy the tearing of garments How is it finished by Christ if men must supply Oh blessed Sauiour was euery drop of thy bloud enough to redeeme a world and doe we yet need the helpe of men How art thou a perfect Sauiour if our brethren also must be our Redeemers Oh yee blessed Saints how would you abhorre this sacrilegious glorie and with those holy Apostles yea that glorious Angell say Vide ne feceris and with those wise Virgins Lest there will not bee enough for vs and you goe to them that sell and buy for your selues For vs we enuie not their multitude let them haue as many Sauiours as Saints and as many Saints as men wee know with Ambrose Christi passio adiutore non eguit Christs passion needs no helper and therefore with that worthy Martyr dare say None but Christ none but Christ Let our soules die if he cannot saue them let them not feare their death or torment if he haue finished Heare this thou languishing and afflicted soule There is not one of thy sins but it is paid for not one of thy debts in the scroll of God but it is crossed not one farthing of all thine infinite ransome is vnpaid Alas thy sinnes thou sayest are euer before thee and Gods indignation goes still ouer thee and thou goest mourning all the day long and with that patterne of distresse criest out in the bitternes of thy soule I haue sinned what shall I doe to thee O thou preseruer of men What shouldst thou doe Turne and beleeue Now thou art stung in thy conscience with this fiery Serpent looke vp with the eyes of faith to this brazen Serpent Christ Iesus and be healed Behold his head is humbly bowed down in a gracious respect to thee his arms are stretched out louingly to embrace thee yea his precious side is open to receiue thee and his tongue interprets all these to thee for thine endlesse comfort It is finished There is no more accusation iudgment death hel for thee all these are no more to thee than if they were not Who shall condemne It is Christ which is dead I know how ready euery man is to reach forth his hand to this dole of grace and how angry to be beaten from this dore of mercy We are all easily perswaded to hope well because wee loue our selues well Which of all vs in this great congregation takes exceptions to himselfe and thinkes I know there is no want in my Sauiour there is want in me He hath finished but I beleeue not I repent not Euery presumptuous and hard heart so catches at Christ as if he had finisht for all as if he had broken downe the gates of hell and loosed the bands of death and had made forgiuenes as common as life Prosperitas stultorum perdit eos saith wise Salomon Ease slaieth the foolish and the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them yea the confidence of prosperity Thou saiest God is mercifull thy Sauiour bounteous his passion absolute all these and yet thou maiest be condemned Mercifull not vniust bountifull not lauish absolutely sufficient for all not effectuall to all Whatsoeuer God is what art thou Here is the doubt Thou saiest well Christ is the good Shepheard Wherein He giues his life but for whom for his sheepe What is this to thee While thou art secure prophane impenitent thou art a Wolfe or a Goat My sheepe heare my voyce what is his voice but his precepts Where is thine obedience to his commandements If thou wilt not heare his Law neuer harken to his Gospell Here is no more mercy for thee than if there were no Sauiour He hath finished for those in whom he hath begunne if thou haue no beginnings of grace as yet hope not for euer finishing of saluation Come to me all ye that are heauy laden saith Christ thou shalt get nothing if thou come when he calls thee not Thou art not called and canst not be refreshed vnlesse thou be laden not with sinne this alone keepes thee away from God but with conscience of sinne A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Is thy heart wounded with thy sinne doth griefe and hatred striue within thee whether shall be more Are the desires of thy soule with God Doest thou long for holinesse complaine of thy imperfections struggle against thy corruptions Thou art the man feare not It is finished That Law which thou wouldest haue kept and couldest not thy Sauiour could and did keepe for thee that saluation which thou couldest neuer worke-out alone alas poore impotent creatures what can we doe towards heauen without him which cannot moue on earth but in him hee alone for thee hath finished Looke vp therefore boldly to the throne of God and vpon the truth of thy repentance and faith know that there is no quarrell against thee in heauen nothing but peace and ioy All is finished He would be spitted on that he might wash thee he would be couered with scornefull robes that thy sinnes might be couered he would bee whipped that thy soule might not be scourged eternally he would thirst that thy soule might be satisfied he would beare all his Fathers wrath that thou mightest beare none he would yeeld to death that
strength of humane patience Oh what shall we then conceiue of that death which knowes no end As this life is no lesse fraile then the dody which it animates so that death is no lesse eternall then the soule which must endure it For vs to be dying so long as wee now haue leaue to liue is intollerable and yet one onely minute of that other tormenting death is worse then an age of this Oh the desperate infidelity of carlesse men that shrinke at the thought of a momentarry death and feare not eternall This is but a killing of the body that is a destruction of body and soule Who is so worthy to weare Crowne of Israel as hee that wonne the Crowne from Midian Their vsurpers were gone now they are headlesse It is a doubt whether they were better to haue had no Kings or Tyrants They sue to Gideon to accept of the Kingdome and are repulsed There is no greater ensample of modesty then Gideon When the Angell spake to him he abased himselfe below all Israel when the Ephraimites contended with him he prefers their gleanings to his vintage and casts his honour at their feete and now when Israel proffers him that Kingdome which he had merited he refuses it Hee that in ouercomming would allow them to cry The sword of the Lord and of Gideon in gouerning will haue none but The sword of the Lord. That which others plot and sue and sweare and bribe for Dignity and superiority he seriously reiects whether it were for that he knew God had not yet called them to a Monarchy or rather for that he saw the crowne among thornes What doe we ambitiously affect the commahd of these mole-hils of earth when wise men haue refused the proffers of kingdomes Why doe we not rather labour for that Kingdome which is free from all cares from all vncertainty Yet he that refuses their Crowne cals for their earings although not to enrich himselfe but religion So long had God been a stranger to Israel that now superstion goes currant for deuout worship It were pitty that good intentions should make any man wicked here they did so Neuer man meant beter then Gideon in his rich Ephod yet this very act set all Israel on whoring God had chosen a place and a seruice of his own When the wit of man will be ouer-pleasing God with better deuices then his own it turnes to madnesse and ends in mischiefe ABIMELECHS vsurpation GIdeon refused the Kingdome of Israel when it was offered his seuenty sons offered not to obtain that Scepter which their fathers victory had deserued to make hereditary onely Abimelec the concubines sonne sues and ambitiously plots for it What could Abimelec see in himselfe that hee should ouer-looke all his brethren If he lookt to his father they were his equals if to his mother they were his betters Those that are most vnworthy of honour are hottest in the chase of it whiles the conscience of better deserts bids men sit still and stay to bee either importuned or neglected There can bee no greater signe of vnfitnesse then vehement sute It is hard to say whether there bee more pride or ignorance in Ambition I haue noted this difference betwixt spirituall and earthly honour and the Clients of both wee cannot be worthy of the one without earnest prosecution nor with earnest prosecution worthy of the other The violent abtaine heauen onely the meeke are worthy to inherit the earth That which an aspiring heart hath proiected it will find both argument and meanes to effect If either bribes or fauour will carry it the proud man will not sit out The Shechemites are fit brokers for Abimelec That City which once betrayed it selfe to vtter depopulation in yeelding to the sute of Hamor now betraies it selfe and al Israel in yeelding to the request of Abimelec By them hath this Vsurper made himselfe a fair way to the Throne It was an easie question Whether wil ye admit of the sons of Gideon for your Rulers or of strangers If of the sons of Gideon whether of all or one If of one whether of your owne flesh and bloud or of others vnknowne To cast off the sonnes Gideon for strangers were vnthankfull To admit of seuenty Kings in one small Country were vnreasonable To admit of any other rather then their own kinsman were vnnaturall Gideons sonnes therefore must rule amongst all Israel One of his sonnes amongst those seuenty and who should be that one but Abimelec Naturall respects are the most dangerous corrupters of all elections What hope can there be of worthy Superiors in any free people where neerenesse of bloud carries it from fitnesse of disposition Whiles they say Hee is our brother they are enemies to themselues and Israel Faire words haue won his brethren they the Shechemites the Shechemites furnish him with money mony with men His men begin with murder and now Abimelec raignes alone Flattery bribes and bloud are the vsuall staires of the Ambitious The money of Baal is a fit hier for murderers that which Idolatry hath gathered is fitly spent vpon Treason One diuell is ready to helpe another in mischiefe seldome euer is ill gotten riches better imployed It is no wonder if he that hath Baal his Idol now make an Idoll of Honour There was neuer any man that worshipped but one Idol Woe be to them that lie in the way of the Aspiring Though they be brothers they shall bleed yea the neerer they are the more sure is their ruine Who would not now thinke that Abimelec should finde an hell in his breast after so barbarous and vnnaturall a massacre and yet behold he is a senslesse as the stone vpon which the bloud of his seuerity brethren was spilt Where Ambition hath possest it selfe throughly of the soule it turnes the heart into steele and makes it vncapeable of a conscience All sinnes will easily downe with the man that is resolued to rise Onely Iotham fell not at that fatall stone with his brethren It is an hard battell where none escapes He escapes not to raigne not to reuenge but to be a Prophet and a witnesse of the vengeance of God vpon the vsurper vpon the Abettors He liues to tel Abimelec that he was but a bramble a weed rather then a tree A right bramble indeed that grew but out of the base hedge-row of a Concubin that could not lift vp his head from the earth vnlesse he were supported by some bush or pale of Shechem that had laid hold of the fleece of Israel and had drawne bloud of all his brethren and lastly that had no substance in him but the sap vaine-glory and the pricks of cruelty It was better then a Kingdome to him out of his obscure Beere to see the fire out of his bramble to consume those tres The view of Gods reuenge is so much more pleasing to a good heart then his owne glory by how much it is more iust and full There was neuer