make an attonement for him and it shall be forgiuen him Father forgiue them for they wot not what they do It was Christ his prayer vpon the tree and he preuayled And Demitte nobis debita nostra is our dayly prayer and who doubteth of indulgeÌ„ce Sathan winnowed Christ prayed and Peters faith failed not Nay that I may shut vp this assurance and close with your religious eares and hearts who heare me this day This man saith Paul because he indureth euer hath an eternall priesthood wherefore he is also able perfectly to saue them that come vnto God by him seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them Marke I pray you how grace aboundeth in our Christ a man of our mould and miserie ergo mercifull to saue A God of might and maiestie ergo able to saue yet not with shadowes and Iterations like Aaron which argued his imperfection but once sacrificed for all which made him an absolute Sauiour And all this without limitation either of time place time or person to all such as goe to God by him Thirdly as by the power of prayer the euill of sinning is taken away and forgiuen so likewise the euill of punishment is often pardoned and quite forgotten When Abimelech had taken from Abraham his wife and so endangered his state life and kingdome God by night warned him of the wickednes by a dreame and said Behold thou art but dead because of the womaÌ„ which thou hast taken for she is a mans wife now then deliuer the man his wife againe for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee that thou maist liue and if thou deliuer her not againe be sure that thou shalt die the death thou and all that thou hast You see the sinne you see the danger and withall you see the meanes of deliuerance from both Euen Abrahams prayer powerfull with God to stay the stroake of death from the king and barronnes from euery wombe of the house of Abimalech When Sodome for her sinning was to feele the Iudgement of God punishing Lot prayed that he might shift to Zoar O let me escape thither is it not a little one and my soule shall liue to whom God answered Behold I haue receiued thy request also concerning this thing that I will not ouerthrow this citie for which thou hast spoken hast thee saue thee therefore for I can doe nothing till thou come thither Where marke I pray you how prayer openeth the fountaine of grace and beateth backe the ocean of Gods iudgements it mouldeth him to be mercifull euen to Sodome till Lot be safe in Zoar for so he saith I can doe nothing till thou come thither thy prayer hath manacled my hands I cannot strike till thou be gone hast thee saue thee escape thy life feare and fire are a falling see thou saint not either in thy powerfull prayer or speedie passage Corath Datham and Abiram with a rout of Rebels moe stand vp against Moses Aaron saying Ye haâ—e killed the people of the Lord God sawe the sinne and hastned on the iudgment when he said vnto Moses get you vp from among this congregation for I will consume them quickely Then as the text saith they fell vpon their faces And Moses said vnto Aaron Take the censor put in fire of the Altar cast on Incense and goe quickely to the congregation and make an attonement for them for there is wrath gon out from the Lord the plague is begun Then Aaron tooke as Moses commanded him and ran into the midst of the congregation and behold the plague was begun but when he stood betweene the dead and them that were aliue the plague was staid O blessed Incense blessed praier blessed station O blessed deuotion so readily running to repaire the ruines of a dying decaying people where fourteene thousand and seuen hundred died besides them that died in the conspiracie of Chora yet as you may there see by the sufferage of prayer the rest were saued and the plague was stayed Elephas as it is in Iob vrged much the power of prayer to deliuer from punishment when he said to Iob call now if any will answere thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne As and if he should say to aggrauate his griefe the more O Iob of all thy miseries this is not the least that neither thy God will answere thee nor the Saints will pray for thee whither wilt thou turne thee vpon thy tossed bed if there be no passage for prayer in the day of thine affliction whither wilt thou turne thee vpon thy tossed bed Let Paul conclude for all to make good the power of prayer in this particular of putting off the punishment of sinne with deliuerance from danger when he pressed the people to pray for him 1. That he might be deliuered from the disobedient in Iudea 2. That his seruice in the church might be accepted of the Saints 3. That hee might alwaies come to them with ioy 4. And that he together with them might be refreshed with the shewer of all heauenly comforts A needfull prayer my deare brethren from you to God for vs who are your Pastors that we may feed you without perill that our seruice may be accepted that our presence may be with ioy And that drops of grace distilling from aboue may daily refresh our more then dying and decaying plants And here I might seasonably presse with Pauls perill Peters deliuerance out of prison by the prayers of the Saints Who when he was in durance and imprisoned by Herod the king earnest prayer was made of the church vnto God for him and preuailed for euen there as you may read the praiers of the Church ouerturned the counsell of tyrants obtained the presence of Angels brake the prison vnlosed the chaines put Sathan to flight and preserued the Church yea and Peter too when by the prayer of men and conduct of an Angell he passed away without peril and was deliuered out of the hand of Herod and from all waiting for of the people of the Iewes Fourthly and lastly as prayer is the arrowe of our deliuerancâ— â—oth from the euill of sinning and the euill of punishing so is it piercing in procuring all good things for vs from the hands of God For by it the barren wombe is made batsome as in Sarah Annah the Shunamit and in Elizabeth of all which it fel out as it did with Zacharie when the Angell said feare not Zacharie for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall beare thee a sonne c. By it the enemie is conquered as in Moses against Amalecke of whom it is said plus fecit oratio mosis orando quam Iosue pugnando Moses prayer was more piercing then Iosuas pike In Samuel against the Philistimes In Iehosophat against Moab and Ammon In Iudeth against Holefernes And in Dauid against that Gyon of Gath wheÌ„ he said what
to the Altar softer then the heart of Ieroboam The heard harted Iewes then and we now stand by the crosse of Christ as Ieroboam did by the Altar at Bethel we are sadned in our sinnes and senseles of the sorrowes of our Sauiour the earth stones graues are more passionate then we they tremble breake and open at the death of Christ our flintie harts are shut from all compassion and we are a people of no bowels and because we relent not euen now the teares of the clowdes are in their eyes and they drop downe shewres of raigne in greater abundance then vsuall hath beene seene as more passionate then we either for the sins of our soules or death of our Sauiour When I am lifted vp an high saith Christ then will I drawe all men after me and not men onely but earth Stones and graues shall open vnto me woe is my heart we are heauier then earth harder then Rockes more silēt then the graues we speake not we pray not we praise not we stirre not at the death of our Redeemer he is lifted vp higher then euer he was euen from the crosse of shame to the crowne of glorie and we are pulled downe to all shame and Ignonimy with the weight of our sinnes heauier then a tallent of leade If any man say shewe vs his sufferings and we will greeue with him and for him I answere Dominus in monte verbum in alto Christ is vpon the mountaine of his holines his word is exalted here and elsewhere in the land for what doe we preach other then Christ Iesus and him crucified And doth it drawe all men after it The vaile of this Temple these stones in the pillars this holie ground and dead graues shall stand vp in iudgement one day against this people that they haue beene more prest to heare passionate to feele of the preaching piercing and sufferings of Iesus Christ then the men of this generation for we haue piped vnto you out of the Gospell and ye haue not danced we haue mourned vnto you out of the Law and ye haue not lamented But when wisdome is iustified of her children then shall ye finde it no wisedome but extreme madnes and folly to haue haunted the Tauernes followed your pleasures prophaned the Sabaoths sold Christ at a lower rate then euer Iudas did not for thirtie pence but for a penny shot a goodly price whereat he is valued and euen then alas when Christ is in preaching and agonizing ouer the cuppe of bitter affliction Nay the Queene of the South shall stand vp in that great day so shall the men of Niniuie and the one shall condemne vs in that they repented more speedily and the other that she came more readily to heare the wisdome of Salomon then euer yet we did to heare the wisdome of Christ The vse is good of all I haue said to strike a Selah with our soules in caution of our former future sinning procuring prodigies signes and wonders at Christ his death and our redemption for if one sin of Achan endangered all the campe and if one sinne of Dauid plagued all Israel what maruell then if when all the sinnes of all the world lay so heauily vpon our Christ and pressed him downe to death there was a commotion of all the creatures of God to see and behold so dolorous a spectacle as when the sonne of God gaue his sacred soule a sacrifice for our sinnes who had no shelter but in the graue for that opened to giue him passage when the vaile of the Temple rent and denied him sanctuarie And now spare we a while to passe from these prodigies at Christ his birth and death to the wonders were wrought sithence euen downe to our disasterous daies whereby we may gather the neare approach of Christ his second comming to iudgment The thought wherof so frighted Iob in his frailtie that he wished the graue might be his couer till the griefe thereof was past I might tell of that great day and it was the Lords day when hee mightily declared himselfe to be the sonne of God by the resurrection from the dead and what maruell then if vpon the approach of so glorious a presence Sheal was shaken graues were opened and dead bodies did rise with him and appeared vnto many in the holy citie to the great wonder of all the world And I might tell of that great day and it was the Lords day when at that high feast of penticost the holy Ghost appeared in a visible signe and was powred downe from God and fell vpon his Apostles in so great abundance what maruell I say if vpon the approach of so powerfull a spirit and presence sounds from heauen filled their eares like the rushing of a mightie wind fiery clouen tungs filled their eyes and mouths to speake magnalia dei to all nations vnder heauen I say what meruell if feare with an astonishmēt filled their eyes eares and hearts when the Lord was about a worke of so great wonder I leaue these holy wonders to the leaues of holy writ wherein you are daily exercised and by your holy patience I will follow the streame of some such signes as sithence haue fallē out shewing a presence in God prepared to punish without passion in man to preuent the danger by speedie repentance Memorable is the destruction of Ierusalem by Tytus and Vespatian 40. yeares after Christ his painefull passion who prophecied of their ruine because they repented not nor did or would know the day of their visitation she would acknowledge no presence of the Lord in mercy and therefore must feele the presence of her God in iudgement yet not without prodigies signes and wonders as harbingers of his wrath whereof Iosephus writeth much and more then I can now stand to relate being preuented with time but reade his booke de bello Iudaico and there ye shall find how first a blasing Starre was seene in the ayre like vnto a sword hanging ouer the Citie for more then a whole yeare together threatning nothing lesse then fire and desolation for their bloodie sinnes the blood of the Prophets and of that Iust one crying vengeance to God in heauen against that bloodie Citie 2. Againe at the feast of vnleavened bread in a great assemblie of people and at nine of the clocke in the night a bright light was seene in the Temple shining and so continued for the space of halfe an houre In token that because they had quenched the holie lamps and put out the light of the world therefore the glorie of that house should be of no continuance 3. Thirdly at the same feast and in the day time when the High Priest was offering an Heyfer for the Sacrifice she brought foorth a Lambe in the midst of the Temple In signe that though they thought they had killed that Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world and that Moses should still haue
starre yet kindleth a combustion in the hearts of the two Kings of Marocco and Fez nor is the flame extinct in Spaine but yet burneth in the breast of Sebastians blood against that of Castile And surely it may bee a warning to all Christian Kings and Princes of the world to stir vp their zeale and melt their coldnes to fight for the christâ—â—â— an faith against the Infidels whiâ—… rather then they should liue vncoâ—…trolled the heavens will threateâ—… their destruction by sheathing theâ—â—… swords in the blood one of anotheâ—… Chronicles made it an honourabl◠〈◊〉 fight which christian Kings had and vndertooke against the Sarazens foâ—… the holy land But the holy Sepuâ—chre is now buried in oblivion anâ— the Turke hath tied it to his taxe and territories whom while Christian Kinges should resist with all their powers fight for the christiaÌ„ faith they fall in faction one against another and so spend and blend their bloods together Surely Domestica mala maiora sunt lacrhymis these home bredde evils among christian kings are greater than can be expressed with teares therfore I leaue it in the silence of my soule and to the praier of al Gods Saints that their souraignes may ioyne in a holy warre against the Heathen And so I passe â—…o the rest That Mirabilis annus will never 〈◊〉 forgotten when the seas rockes 〈◊〉 shelues fought for England and â—…ade vs so glorious by deliverance 〈◊〉 the wonder of all Christenâ—ome Nay more I may not bee silent â—…ow this our Goshen and land of â—â—…ht was sodainely turned into an â—â—…yptian darkenesse when vpon 〈◊〉 darke Saturday neere hie noone at what time vsually the Sun giueth out his fairest shine a sodaine darknesse was over all the land and so fearefull as men were at their wits ends panted in soule left off al secular care betook them to their best prayers not knowing what would be the Issue till the Lord againe and ere wee thought vpon his mercy remoued the judgement In token of our intollerable neglect of the light of his Gospell whereof that gloomy day was a sure Sacrament taxing our dim sight with his sharpe censure that because for a long season the light had shined in darkenes and the darkenes comprehended it not he could if hee would remoue the candlesticke candle and all and put out the eye of faith as hee had dearned the light of heauen Nay more and aboue al I haue said to make the prodigie yet of greater wonder it was observed by many how during the darkenes of the day all thinges were husht and so still as leaues stirred not beasts fed not birds sung not but stood agast as if they had beene filled with astonishment And you know how not long after this darke day the light of Israel was put out fot a time Queene Elizabeth died a dearne day to England had it not beene presently repayred with as cleare a light from Scotland in whose Sunne-shine now wee walke and sing still with solace the Songs of Sion in our owne land It may be so sodaine a darkenes presenlty relieued with so great a light was a Symball or Sacramenr of our Soueraignes dead and liuing two peereles Princes both relieued with their desired lights Hee of Englands honour Shee of heavens glory yea and we their Subjects delivered from that dark and dangerous night of Queene Elizabeths death by the speedy arising luster of that morning starre our Soveraigne Lord the King whose day wee pray may euer dawne It may bee some sharpe sight may censure me in the applying of this darke day to the death of Queen Elizabeth yet dare I say and I hope with good warranty that when godly Kings and Princes die Quid ni mundus ipss defleret eum principem esse rapiendum per quem duramundi istius reÌ„perari solerent So saide Ambrose of the death of Theodosius Why may not this worlde deplore such a Prince to bee taken away by the violence of death as by whome the dangers and difficulties thereof haue beene moderated Nay hee proceedes further and nearer the point I ayme at Hoc nobis motus terrarum graves hoc iuges pluviae minabantur vltra solitum caligo tenebrosior denunciabat quod clementissimus Imperator Theodosius recessus esset è terris This the great Earthquakes wee haue felt with the continuall raine wee haue had and a more palpable darkenesse than vsuallie we haue seene haue denounced and threatned that Theodosius a most milde and mercifull Emperour should depart this world You are religiously wise to discerne of what is said when Christ suffered the Soueraigne of all Soveraignes there was a commotion of all the creatures All were moved to see and behold so dolorous a spectacle Earth quaked rockes riued the Sunne was darkned and the Moone became bloodie Starres fell from Heauen there was blood fire and the vapour of smoake before that greate and notable day of the Lord came And what was Iesus of Nazareth other then a King then conquering our enemies for a better world And what was Theodosius Queene Elizabeth with all of their rancks and Religion lesse than Princes in his stead to tule in this world And why may not the creatures of God condole alike vpon their dissolutions Next it will bee remembred whiles Chronicles can speake how the earth was bound by a prodigious frost to Londons wonder when Thames was paved for cart and carriage for horse and man able in one day to support a waight of wonder and vpon the other dissolved into weake Water It pierced deepe into the bowels of the earth and to this day the flowers hearbes plants and trees nay more man and beast fish and fowle haue not recovered their decayed strength but yet feele the effects thereof all to warne vs of our chillerie zeale to God more colde then the Isickles hanging at our doores and strange it is that so many Sunne-shines as haue beene since and showers of Gods mercies still powred vpon vs should not melt our frozen hearts to more speedy repentance and provoke vs to prayer with more deuotion I passe by many strange Eclipses both of Sunne and Moone more frequent and vniuersall than haue been of old darkesome sun bloody Moone prognostications of our dearne light and dead life in the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ wherein with those glorious lights the Sunne of righteousnesse seemes to bee vayled as with the cloud and curtaine of our sinnes Alas and woe is mee therefore wee are fallen from our first loue wee worke not wee shine not as wee did in the dayes of persecution when fire and fagot fined vs for our God And the late inundations with vnseasonable weather in their extremities as of cold so of heate windes and tempests are nothing lesse then prodigies of an irefull God to tell vs of the deluge of our sinnes that of the old world swelling but 15. cubits aboue the highest hils this reaching from the
the fiery furnance Lazarus from the graue and Christ from his crosse yea and all his Elect from death and doome when they shall meete him in the cloudes and be caught vp to raigne with him for euermore with palmes in their hands in signe of victorie and crownes vpon their heads in signe of glory Lastly and not the least to our comfort read and you shall find how oftentimes and for the most part the Lord doth answere vs according to that we should aske and not according to that we doe aske as he did Iacob who sought a leader to Haram and God shewed him a ladder to heauen And Saul who sought his fathers asses found a kingdome the Maries sought Christ dead but they found him risen And that Saint at Sychar sought but puddle water at Iacobs well but she found went away with the water of life Surely the rule is true vberior gracia quam precatio Gods grace is more abounding then either we can desire or deserue the theefe vpon the crosse craued but a memento when Christ should come into his kingdome and he had a promise euen that day of a perpetuitie in paradise To iustifie that I haue said Vberior gracia quam precatio and therefore pray with good hope to be heard be your prayers neuer so many powerfull or piercing yet shall ye find his grace wil be euermore abouÌ„ding brimfull and flowing ouer I may not be long and therefore passe to the last part of the text which is the reward crowne and diadem of our prayer bossed with many blessings from the Lord more precious then the Carbuncle Topas or Chrisolite And seldome haue you heard or read of a powerfull prayer from an holy heart without remuneration froÌ„ the Lord for as you here see inuocation is crowned with saluation It shall be that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued who euer prayed and found not the Lord propitious who euer made intreatie vnto his God and had not a blessing returned into his bosome It is said of Augustus Caesar that neuer suter departed from him disconteÌ„ted that Titus Suetonius thought the day lost wherein he did not good to some A milder more mercifull Sauiour is here then all the Caesars clapt in one euen our good God called Deus a dando God in creating but good in giuing for who hath gone from him discontented who hath trusted in him and beene deceiued Come vnto me all ye that trauell and be heauie loaden I will ease you it is his gracious call Be of good comfort my little flocke it is your fathers will to giue you a kingdome it is his glorious crowne Aske ye shall haue seeke ye shall finde knocke and it shall be opened vnto you it is his irreuocable promise at which the gates of heauen fly open and against which the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile only wrastle with God for a blessing till you haue wearied both God and your selues The aduertisement is good from the prophet Ye that are mindfull of the Lord keepe not silence and giue him no rest till he haue repaired your ruines and set vp Ierusalem the ioy of the world But what may be the different blessings we receiue from God by our prayer and wherunto the Lord hath tyed himselfe by promise for the performance not for our merit but for his mercies sake Surely they are many and they are Remarkable if you please to rancke them thus First by the sufferage of prayer all the creatures of God are sanctified to our vse so saith the blessed Apostle Euery creature of God is good and nothing â—ought to be refused if it be receiued with thankesgiuing for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer Stamped with the word of God vpon the one side and with the perfume of prayer vpon the other then is it a Shikel for the sanctuarie Our meate our drinke our corne our cattell our clothes and lodging our wiues children and families our labours in our vocations our King and kingdome our Church and Common-wealth nay our liues and deaths must be sanctified with our prayer otherwise though the creatures be good in themselues yet are we profane in the vsage And therefore our Sauiour when he had performed all to his death and passion yet shutteth it vp with this powerfull prayer Father now the hower is come glorifie thy Sonne As and if he should haue said I haue prayed I haue preached I haue wached I haue fasted I haue cured malladies and saued soules I haue giuen life and forgiuen sinnes I haue done my fathers busines on earth now let me be glorified in heauen I pray for that which is past that it may be sanctified and I pray for that which is to come that it may be glorified Father now the hower is come glorifie thy Sonne c. Ierom in his booke de laudibus Bethlem doth much commend the Christian carriage of that place and people in the vsage of Gods gifts and creatures euen from the Prince in his Pallace to the Plowman in the field Of whom he saith Arator ad Stiuam semper aliquid cantat dauidieum The Plowman with his stilt in his hand doth still folace his soule with some psalme of Dauid And surely God speed the plowe were no bad prayer when the labourer taketh the stilt in his hand but I feare it is done of fewe And if all our manuall trades were sanctified first and last euery day with prayer and prayses for a blessing they could not but prosper much better There is much pouertie in y e world and it is no maruell for that men worke not yea but many worke and yet are neuer the richer that 's possible too for that men pray not they spend their thrift in drinking when they should bestow their time in praying the creature is not sanctified with the word of God and prayer In the name of the father and of the sonne and of the holy Ghost is neither fond begninng nor foolish ending of all thy labours blessed worke so begun blessed worke so done so it be said of conscience and not of course without hypocrisie in the heart or superstition in the thought surely such perfume is like the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed its sweet as balme and therefore breake it its fragrant as Myrrhe and therfore vse it euer dropping from the binges of thy heart lippes and hands A second blessing that commeth by prayer is the forgiuenes of sins for by the sufferage of prayer sinnes are pardoned couered concealed As may appeare by Moses his intreatie with God for the people either to forgiue the trespasse Israel had committed or else to rase him out of the booke of life he had his prayer and the people were both spared and pardoned Blood and prayer shall reconcile God and the people for as the text saith the priest shall
hollow vault at Endor spake to teach vs that if we will not know there is a God we shall be taught that there is a diuell Zim and Ohim wil haunt our habitations and the witch at Endor will endaunger our dwellings A third wall of separation stopping the passage of our prayer to God is the sinne of vnmercifulnes towards the poore for as the wiseman saith He that stoppeth his eare at the crying of the poore he also shall cry and not be heard vnmercifulnes towards the poore was one of the sins of Sodome and little doe I doubt but it stopt the passage of Abrahams prayer euen frō fiftie to tenne mercifull men not found in Sodome for whose sake the Lord might spare the rest The vse is good I pray God the teares of the poore hinder not the prayers of the rich many are oppressed yet are not pittied we can goe to no pulpit but they presse our harts to prouoke our speech all I can say is this take heed for as ye know he y t would not giue a crum of comfort was denied a drop of mercy and not to pittie the poore on earth it cannot but hinder your prayer in heauē Fourthly if you long after audience and answere frō God of that ye pray for you must beware of malice and picke out that poyson you must forgiue that you may be forgiuen yea and which is yet more you must pray for your worst enemie that you may preuaile with your best friend That friend hath well aduised thee as a friend saying When ye shall stand and pray forgiue if ye haue any thing against any man that your father also which is in heauen may forgiue you your trespasses Ye aske saith a brother of the Lord and yet ye receiue not because ye aske amisse that ye might lay the same out on your pleasures It s a foolish pleasure on earth that beates backe a prayer from heauen It s a foolish passage with man that stops a passage with God And so for conclusion of this poynt be warned that as you heighten your prayers vpward so you lessen your sinnes downward And with Siracides returne vnto the Lord and forsake thy sinnes make thy prayer before his face and diminish the offence Lastly as wickednes in our selues and proper sinnes doe hinder our prayers So when sinne is in those we pray for it often stoppeth our passage vnto the Lord and maketh him inexorable As in Ieremiah the Prophet when the Lord said I will cast you out of my sight as I haue cast out all your brethren euen the whole seede of Ephraim Therefore thou shalt not pray for this people neither lift vp cry or prayer for them neither intreate me for I will not heare thee Seest thou not what they doe in the cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Ierusalem As and if he should say exemplarie sinnes shall haue exemplarie iudgements for I will power my wrath vpon this place vpon man and vpon beast and vpon the trees of the field and vpon the fruit of the ground it shall burne ô Ieremiah and thy prayer shall not quench it Nay and as it is in an other Prophet If these three men Noah Daniel and Iob were among them they should not but deliuer their owne soules by their righteousnes saith the Lord God All I haue said is but this if our prayers be not heard it is quia petimus 1. indigné 2. indigna 3 pro indignis either the thing is vnlawfull we pray for or we are vnworthie who pray or they for whom we doe pray The mother of Zebedes childrē had not her boone at the hands of Christ for that her demand was not lawfull Esau had not that he prayed for because he was vnworthie And if you poure out ten thousand praiers either for the diuels or damned ye shall not be heard for their sinnes are gone before them to their iust condemnation And here spare me a while and I hope it shall not be vnprofitable to the further sanctifying both of your will and skill in prayer if I lay downe certaine Rules whereby you may know how diuersly y e Lord doth answere the requests of his Saints yet all to their endlesse comfort if they can but be patient of his answeres And first obserue and you shall find it to be true that God heareth some ad voluntatem non ad vtilitatem he answereth their pleasure but not their profit what they would haue but not what they should haue As when the people lusted after flesh in the wildernes and loathed Manna God gaue them their fill yet while the flesh was betweene their teeth before it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people the Lord smote the people with an exceeding great plague in so much as the place of their buriall is called vnto this day kibroth hattauah graues of lust Againe it was their desire to haue a king like other nations whervnto y e Lord yeelded yet told them it had beene better for them if they had not forsaken him but kept him still their guidon The vse is good against all such as pray for nothing but for the pleasures and profites of this world beautie wealth and plodding wit which oftentimes God putteth into their hands like a sword into the hands of a lunatike man wherwithall he endangereth himselfe and so the Lord answereth all such ad voluntatem non ad vtilitatem The second rule is religious too much to the solace of Gods Saints who often heareth and answereth ad vtilitatem non advolūtatem answereth I say our profit and not our pleasure As he did Paul who praying thrice that Sathans buffettings which were the prickes of the flesh might be taken from him Christ answered no Paul not so my grace is sufficient for thee and my power is made perfect through thy weakenes And this made the Saints of God to reioyce in nothing more then in the crosse of Christ where by the world was crucified vnto them and they vnto the world they reioyced in their infirmities anguish and persecutions though buffettings of Sathan and prickes of the flesh yet purging fire fyning them for their God whiles they were resolued that all the afflictions in this world were neuer worthy of that glorie which should be reueiled and all such the Lord doth answere ad vtilitatem non ad voluntatem whiles they seeme to shrinke vnder the burden of their afflictions The third rule is not irregular with God who for the most part doth answere all his Elect children ad voluntatem ad vtilitatem making them glorious by deliuerance in the daies of their afflictions answering their pleasure with their profit and what they should with what they would as he did the Niniuites when he deliuered them from their destructiō The woman of Sirophenishia from her diuell the children from