over his Chamber door now after a little time some discontented people hired a rude lewd fellow to stab the King and going about his work with a heart full of mischief and reading this superscription his countenance changed and falls trembling and shaking as if he had an ague fit the which being perceived and he examined confessed the whole matter and what diverted him from it Even so if men would but seriously consider that with what measure they mete shall be measured to them again or that nothing surer than their sins would find them out or that the end of sin and wages of sin is death Rom 6. 23. How would this Meditation stop the current of their vile affections and divert them from sinning It was an excellent Speech of one Cave quid agis te videt Deus Beware what thou doest for God seeth thee and all things are naked and open to his eyes with whom thou hast to do saith Paul Heb. 4. 13. and Homer speaking of a Frog and a Mouse who having a sharp contestation and bitter Skirmish the party grieved tells the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God had a revenging eye to right him even so if men would but remember whatsoever they are about or doing God looked upon them and had a revenging eye to requite it in the same measure and nature it would stifle all treason against heaven and earth Vse 3. This may teach us that seeing with what measure we mete shall be measured to us again to walk circumspectly and warily not as fools but as wise Eph. 5. 115. the Law of God and nature should be our rule to square our lives and all our actions by and that is Quod tibi non vis alteri non feceris to do as we would be done unto Matth. 7. 12. and saith Paul Gal. 6. 16. To as many as walk according to this rule peace shall be upon them and mercy as upon the true Israel of God Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Gal. 6. 7. He that soweth righteousness shall receive a good and sure reward Prov. 11. 18. But he that soweth iniquiry shall reap affliction and the rod of his anger shall fail chap. 22. 8. God hath a twofold measure 1. Either a measure of glory and that is for those that abound in the works of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. 2ly A measure of wrath and sorrow and that is for those that plough iniquity and sow wickedness Job 4. 8. and with this measure did God mete Athaliah Doct. 3. Is Qualis vita finis ita As we live so commonly we die as we speak in another kind Mali principii malns exitus an ill beginning hath an ill end even so an ungodly life is accompanied usually with a sad death Look upon Haman behold Judas cast an eye upon Julian the grand Apostate who died cursing and banning crying out in defiance of Christ Vicisti Galilaeo O thou Galilean thou hast conquered and overcome me Turn over the Chronicle of Athaliah and thou shalt find that as she sâ—ank living in the nostrils of the people for her idolatry pride usurping of anothers Crown blood-thirstinesse so in her death she was abhorred by all and had not power to cry out with Peter Lord save me or with the Publican God be mercifull to me a sinner The Husbandman can tell us that which way the tree leaneth that way it will fall if it be not prevented by art and I have often observed in visiting the sick that as the Proverb is quod in corde sobrii id in lingua ebrii what lies close hid in the heart of a sober man is revealed by his tongue when he is drunk even so as men lean and are affected living so their hearts and tongues run of it dying and what hopes can there be that they who had not God in all their thoughts Psal 10. 4. when they were in health should go to God when they are dead Vse As the tree standeth so it falleth and saith Solomon Eccl. 11. 3. As the tree doth fall so in the place that the tree falleth there it shall lie So that this doth much concern us to denie ungodlinesse and worldly lust and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and appearing of that glory of that mighty God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2. 12 13. labouring to fall to the South of his mercy and not to the North of his Justice Death is not so fearfull and terrible in it self as is the sting of it which is sin 1 Cor. 15. 56. And therefore let it be our care to be every day weakning and puling out this serpents sting that we may with old Simeon depart in peace Luke 2. 29. And blessed shall be the dead that die in the Lord for their works follow them Rev. 14. 13. Thus ye have heard 1. what Athaliab was 2ly What her Treason and 3ly what her end was She rent her clothes and cryed Treason Treason and was slain by the way which the horses go to the Kings house FINIS A Prayer for the Morning O Thou mighty Almighty Creator and Preserver of men We thy poor Creatures protected this night from Fire Sword Sicknesse Death and those manifold evils that might have befallen us and overtaken us by reason of the multitude of our sins for man suffers for his sins cannot but ascribe all praise with the Samaritan Leper due unto thy holy name for this unspeakable mercy of thine towards us miserable sinners unworthy to tast of the least drop much lesse that Ocean of thy love daily streaming and flowing home to our doors to the great comfort of our souls For what is man that thou art mindfull of him or the Son of man that thou shouldest regard him there is nothing in man but deserves open shame and confusision of face continually Wherefore we deny our selves and all our own unrighteousness as filthy clouts and menstruous rags and flee unto thee in thy Christ that in him by him and through him both now and ever we may be acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer And as thy mercies have been great towards us this night past so we beseech thee to continue the same mercy unto us this day and so to the end of our dayes Defend us from our Ghostly and bodily enemies Shield us with thy grace that we fall not this day into any manner of evil of sin that we may never grieve thy good Spirit any more by sin and so prevent another day the evil of punishment for sin Direct us in thy mercie in our going out and coming in that whatsoever we shall take in hand it may prosper like Joseph O prosper thou our handie work upon us Instruct us in the heavenly wisdome that above all things we may be wise unto the salvation of our poor souls And teach us with the night past to cast away
harvest Death thrusts in his sickle and the fairest corn falls to the ground Wise men die and also the ignorant and foolish perish together Psal 49. 10. I said ye are gods but ye shall die like men and fall like others 82. ver 7. All flesh is grasse and all the glory of man like the flower of the field the grasse withereth the flower fadeth away because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Surely all flesh is grasse omnis Caro all flesh the flesh of Princes and great men so well as of the Peasant and begger Paul saith Heb. 9. 27. Decretum est omnibus mori There is an appointed time for all men to die All the seed of Adam have had their day Noah Abraham Isaac Iacob Solemon Sampson with our Abner Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel Ob. If God bounds mans life to an appointed time to a day then Ioab seems to fulfill the good pleasure of God in giving a full period to Abners life he was but as the Atropos to cut the threed of his mortality asunder and so how could this be said to be sin in him Ans Cain might plead the same Argument in murthering of his brother Abel but how displeasing it was to the most high let his punishment let his yellings and roarings witnesse to the world 2ly Although mans appointed time be known to God yet it is unknown to man so he is called Palmoni which signifies a secret number because he knoweth the number of our dayes which is secret and hidden to us for as Christ spake of the end of the world Mat. 24. 36. so may I speak in this kind Of that day and hour knoweth no man And so it must needs follow that Ioab's wickednesse was Monstrum horrendum most hainous and detestable Vse 1. All men have their falling day Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be learned ye Iudges of the earth serve the Lord in fear Feriunt ceisos fulmina montes the higher ye are the more ticklish ye stand and the more ready ye are to fall ye stand upon slippery places and are suddenly cast down consumed and perished Psal 73. 18 19. Quem dies videt veniens superbum hunc dies fugiens videt jacentem Whom the morning behold swelling and strutting like the proud Peacock the Evening beheld wallowing in his own blood and gore Know ye not that a Prince is fallen this day The day of great men is no longer than the poor mans day and therefore it will be their greatest honour and wisdome to work out their salvation whilst it is day Phil. 2. 12. Heb. 3. 13. For the night cometh when no man can work John 9. 4. Vse 2. Here is instruction for inferiours to pray with Moses Psal 90. 12. Lord teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome and there is no wisdom like to that of looking well to the better part with Mary and gaining of heaven It is written of Alexander the great that a little pit held him after his death whom the whole world could scarcely contain living and so he was still crowding for more elbow room according to that of the Poet. Vnus Pellaeo juveni vix sufficit orbis And of Franciscus Borgia seeing a little Tomb and Coffin to contain all the Princely glory power and magnificence of that great Empresse Augusta that he departed from her Funeral saying Mortem Augustae sibi vitam attulisse that her death should give him life Even so let the consideration of the mortality of our bodies quicken us and put life into us to labour for the immortality of our souls in blisse Let the meditation of sic transit gloria mundi all earthly glory vanisheth immediately like flax that is set on fire as the Master of the Ceremonies was wont to speak to the Pope the first day of his inauguration mind us to seek after the things above Col. 3. 1. which fade not nor fail not Luke 22. 33. It was the saying of Augustine nescis qua hora veniet vigila ut quod nescis quando veniet paratum te inveniat quum venerit ad hoc forte nescis quando veniet ut semper paratus sis the which I may interpret by our Saviours own words Matth. 25. 13. Ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man will come watch therefore that when he cometh he may find you well-doing And for this cause of that day and hour knoweth no man that every man should watch and be found a people ready prepared for the Lord Luke 1. 17. and so enter into the Kingdome prepared for them from the beginning of the wotld Matth. 25. 34. When Pharaoh Abimelech Sisera Herod Abner least dreamed of their fall then their day was at an end Let then Abolibah learn to be wise by the punishment laid upon her sister Abolah for what is spoke of Abner here will be verified of all in the same sence although not words Know ye not that a Prince and a great man is this day fallen in Israel Obs 4. In Israel Gods Church is not free from spots In Paradise there was a deadly stinging Serpent in Christs bosome a Judaâ— In the fairest garden Later anguis sub herba will be some venemous creature Israel was a nursery of Religion and Prophets It was the Lords peculiar treasure Exod. 19. 5. and Vine and yet lo this treasure hath a canker this Vine a deadly Viper couching under her branches to sting Abner unto death Know ye not that a Prince and a great man is fallen this day How By Treason Where In Israel whom By Joab I might enlarge my self farther but I will conclude all in a few words The Allusion 1. Abner died when he least thought of death even so our Prince and great man is pulled down to his grave in the flower and strength of his years when he least thought of the turning of the Sun â—â— Cesar being asked what death he would choose answered no lingring but a sudden death and this our Prince enjoyes being alive and dead in a moment the breath of man can scarce pronounce so fast Est but the Eccho answereth as fast Non est he is fallen 2ly Abner died a violent death even so our Prince by unmercifull hands on every side is bereaved of his life Gebal Ammon and Amalech Edom and Ishmael Moab and the Agarims Jesuites and Zamzummims Deut. 2. â—0 that is a people who called themselves Rephaims preservers or Physicians to heal and reform vices but played the Devils to open a gap to let in all heresie and abomination and wickedness and profanesse and covetousness which is idolatry These all of them have taken crafty counsel against him Psal 83. 3. and worried him and dethroned him and like Cannihals have devoured him 3ly Abner was evil spoken of by Joab and his innocency tainted and spotted by him and
father can come near the love of our heavenly Father for how doth his heart mourn how do his mercies over-look our iniquities how are his bowels troubled how are his repentingsrouled together how doth he in the midst of wrath remember mercy how doth he aâ—ter all his menacings and threatnings recall our frailties and his own blessed glorious and ever renowned attribute the mercifull God And so spare us heu quam bonus est deus quam vilis homo O How good is God to Israel and how unworthy and unthankfull and disobedient is Israel to this good God and that we may the better blush and be ashamed of our selves and sinfull courses let us look upon some branches of his Love As 1. When we were deadly sick and nothing could recover us but the blood of his beloved and onely begotten Son then he spared not his own Son but gave him for us all to death that we might live Rom. 8. 32. 2ly The eminency of his Love shines the more clear if we consider the persons upon whom he cast and bestowed his Love and that was upon grievous sinners as the Apostle shews Rom. 5. 6. for Christ when we were yet of no strength died for the ungodly 3ly The unworthiness of the persons is aggravated by their loathsome condition being à capite ad calcem from the crown of the head to the soal of the foot full of nothing but wounds and sores and swellings full of putrified corruption Isa 1. 6. Job in that condition was loathed by his own wife and friends and for the King of Kings to be enamoured on such wretched Lazarusses Quantus amor how great was his Love The blind and the halt and the lame the soul of David hated and who but God would but have done the like and therefore the stronger tie and bond to bind us to love him Who hath so loved us as it is 1 Joh. 4. 11. 4ly If our condition had been loathsome by divine Providence it had not been much to be wondered at that he should love deformed creatures of his own making but when it came by our making and marring by sin what he had made beautifull this speaks his goodnesse indeed 5ly Or for a good man one may die Rom. 5. 7. but for an open and professed enemy who but David would die Yet when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. We conspired and crucified and killed the Lord of Life Acts 3. 15. and the Lord of Life layes down his life to give us life and is not this unheard-of love 6ly His love is most apparent by the rich purchase and price he paid for us For we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb undefiled and without spot 1 Pet. 1. 18. All the blood of Bulls and Goats in the world could not help us but it must be the blood of the Lamb of God must purifie our consciences from dead works Heb. 9. 14. and when this Lamb must be slain to save us sinners who can deny his love to be very great The uses hereof are these Vse 1. The bountifulness and loving-kindeness of our heavenly Father towards us should lead us all unto repentance Rom. 2. 4. What could he have done for his vineyard that he hath not done unto it Isa 5. 4. he hath planted it with the best plants he hath watered it and dungde it and pruned it and hath bestowed much labour and cost about it and love upon it as the Dresser did upon the barren fig-tree Luk. 13. 7 8. He feeds us he clothes us and in a word blesseth us with the blessings of his right hand and of his left Prov. 3. 16. And now O man what doth the Lord thy God require of thee Surely nothing but to do justly and to love mercy and to humble thy self and to turn from thy evil wayes and to walk with thy God Mic. 6. 8. So that as the servants of Naaman spake unto him 2 Kingâ— 5. 13. If the Prophet had commanded thee some great matter would'st thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith to thee wash and be clean I speak unto you if God had required of you your lands treasures wives husbands yea your Absaloms ye must have parted with them but he soares not so high but contents himself with little and that little is to be grieved with our selves for grieving him to return unto the Lord that he may return unto us Zach. 1. 3. and to repent us of all our wickedness He that will grudge God this deserves not to be owned for his childe It was the saying of the man of God to the good Shunamite 2 King 4. 13. Behold thou hast had all this care for us what shall we do now for thee and of David Psal 116. 12. Quid retribuam domino What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits even so let it be our meditation what we shall do for God that hath done such great things for us For where much is given much is looked for saith Christ Luk. 12. 48. Let us then with the Samaritan leper chap. 17. 15. return and praise God and that not only in tongue or word but in our deeds and lives and conversations Mark the Apostles argument 1 Cor. 6. 20. yeare bought with a price there is our Heavenly Fathers love Now the sequel tells us what lieth on our part to perform Glorifie God therefore in your bodies and in your spirits A son honoreth his father and a servant his master If he be then our Father let us honour him If our master let us fear him Mal. 1. 6. Vse 2. Here is comfort and Balm of Gilead to heal all that are wounded with their sinnes for if David could forget and forgive as we use to say all the unkindeness and wrongs done to him by his unnatural son Absalom and wish to die for him who had as willingly die as see him live then out of all question God hath more yerning melting and tender bowels towards them that lie grovling on the earth for their failings Can David soal a pardon to his son that stands up in defiance of him abuseth his wives and concubines rebels and takes armes to pull him out of his Throne by head and ears and wil not our heavenly Father receive us to mercy when we shall submit lament and bewail our errours and transgressions weep and howl and beg and crave forgiveness shall David look a squint and a to side upon the faults of his childe and only eye him as the fruit of his loins and will not God cast all our sinnes into the bottom of the Sea Mic. 7. 19. and not look upon us in our selves but in his Christ in whom he is well pleased Mat. 3. 17. and with us in him Wherefore let us comfort one another in these words 1 Thes
tears for David weeps and Israel weeps and weeps again as it is vers 34. that as a man falleth before wicked men so Abner shall fall And the King said unto his Servants Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man this day fallen in Israel No man as yet no not the Son of God himself as man be he never so potent and mighty was privileged from death or from tasting of Deaths cup Psal 89. 48. for the decree is past the doom is irrecoverable decretum est omnibus mori there is an appointed time for all men to dye Heb. 9. 27. But to fall immaturely like Fruit before it be ripe but to be cropped like the Rose in the bud but to be nipped in the Spring like the flower of the field but to be chased up and down like a Fox fleeing to the Mountains but to be wearied and worried to death Acteon-like by his own Hounds and greedy Currs thirsting to fill themselves full with the flesh and blood of their loving Master but to be cheated and gull'd of his life and that after many Protestations Vows and lifting up of hands to the Almighty but to be betrayed with a Kisse as Judas served his Lord but to be stubbed up root and branch in time of peace and that under colour of a fair treaty and parley as Joab did Abner vers 26 27. Hinc illae lachryme Niobe herself will weep at this This cannot but cause the most stony heart to melt this cannot but cause all Israel to hang down their heads like Bull-rushes and to wring their hands and to water their couches with tears Psal 6. 6. and this cannot but move Israel to curse with David the Author and Authors of Israels woe vers 29. that Abner a Prince a great man should fall and thus fall and in Israel too where was the Law and the Prophets where the word was taught and preached and where a reformation a goodly reformation a general reformation is pretended But although horret meminisse David is ashamed is startled and trembles at so horrid so cruel so unnatural a Fact that he would not have it published in Gath nor proclamed in Askalon lest the Heathen the uncircumcised the Philistines the Papists the Jesuites tryumph and rejoyce in Israels wonderfull inspeakable invaluable losse wherein the light of Israel is quenched as it is 2 Sam. 22. 17. Yet he declareth and broacheth this sad news and heavy tidings to his Servants that they might take notice what a rich Jewel was fallen from the Crown saying Know ye not that a Prince and a great man is this day fallen in Israel There is no innocent blood spilt and shed upon the ground but hath a tongue to cry unto Heaven for vengeance So saith God to Cain Gen. 4. 10. The voice of tby brothers blood crieth to me from the Earth and therefore that the Land might be found guiltlesse of so foul crime for Clamitat in Coelum vox sanguinis Sodomorum Vox oppressorum merces retenta laborum and so acquitted of the imminent and eminent judgements following it from the great Tribunal above the Law requires the Coroner to sit and make enquiry after the death of the meanest Peasant for saith the Statute in that case provided the King hath lost a Subject and must have an account thereof How much more then when an Abner a Prince a great man falles ought whole Israel by the same bond of love to stand uâ— as one man and require satisfaction for his death that as it is ver 28. The Kingdom may be guiltlesse before the Lord for ever concerning the blood of Abner David fore-sees a black storm comming and therfore labours to make his peace with God and Men laying open unto them the manner nature of Abners fall in these words ver 33. Died Abner as a fool dieth and prayeth unto the Lord to reward the evil doer according to his wickednesse ver 39. and digito monstrat hominem points out with his finger to the eyes of all the mourners in Israel Joabs evil and wickednesse like Cains brand-mark on his forehead to be the shedding of bloud innocent bloud Princes bloud for saith the King to his servants Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man this day fallen in Israel Scelus aliquis tutum nullus securum tulit saith Seneca a man may commit theft rape murther c. so secretly that neither the Sun oculus mundi the worlds great eye nor mans eye seeth it not But all things are naked and open unto his eyes with whom we have to do Heb. 4. 13. but that Erynnis conscientiae the Worm of conscience will be alwaies checking and gnawing and griping of him for them with pangs as bitter as Hell Let Richard the third deny this if he could speak but once again was not his hand still upon his Dagger being afraid that every one met and found him would slay him did not the bloud of the harmlesse infants he caused to be slain that they might be a foot-stool to mount him into their throne so trouble him so disquiet him that either sleep departed from his eyes as it did from Ahasuerus Esth. 1. or he was so frighted in his sleep with dreadfull apparitions of ugly Devils haling and tearing of him into pieces that his life was burthensome unto him Let Joab speak what one comfortable day or night he enjoyed after the slaughter of a good Prince I had almost said the best of Princes In the day time trepidat ad arundinis umbram he is afraid of his own shadow in the night the cracking of a few Chest-nuts in the fire terrifie him So that herein is the Prophecie fulfilled Isa 57. 21. non est pax impiis there is no peace unto the wicked saith my God or otherwise perhaps Joab may vaunt it for some few years or daies over his prey in great Gallantry outward Pomp magnificence and statelinesse but so sure as the Lord lives his end shall not be peace neither shall he go to the grave in a full age as a rick of Corn commeth in due season into the barn Job 5. 26. and to this effect speaks David Psal 37. 35 36. I have seen the wicked strong and spreading himself like a green Bay-tree Yet be passed away and to be was gone and I sought him but could not find him and no wonder for evil shall hunt the cruel man to destruction Psal 140. 11. and such is the justice of the Almighty that commonly that as he made a pit and digged it so he should fall into the pit that he made Psal 7. 15. and Neque enim Lex justior ulla est Quam necis artifices arte perire sua then evil watch evil catch As Tomyris said unto Cyrus who had formerly slain hir son cutting off his head and casting it into a Tub of bloud sanguinem sitisti sanguinem habes bloud thou thirstedst drink thy fill and
as I have done saith Adonibezek Judg. 1. 7. so God hath rewarded me Even so us our Abnor our great man in the Text falls by the hâ—nd of Joab so Joab must look to have his fall too although it be many years after by Benaiah 1 Kings 2. 31 32 33 34. and the curse of Jehoiakim King of Judah shall follow him to his grave Jer. 22. 18. There shall be none to lament him saying Ah my Brother or ah Lord or ah his glory And let all true hearted Israelites speak as Cushi did to David of Absolom 2 Sam. 18. 32. So let all the Enemies of the Lord their King perish and be as Joab is The Text is a vindication of Davids innocencie in and a lively description of Abners death wherein let us consider these five particulars 1. His qualities and so he was no mean man sprung from the dunghil or Ale-tap no broken Citizen or bankerout Gentleman no Mechanick or Artificer none of the base condition of Davids followers when he fled from Saul 1 Sam. 22. 2. but he was Ishbosheths staff the supporter of Sauls house and the glory of that Diadem and so the Pen-man sets him out two waies 1. As a Prince 2. As a great man 1. As a Prince unto which the Latine word hath a near relation Princeps the which signifies a chief head or ruler secretly inssinuating that as of a head he ought to be defended and made much of because life consists so well in the head as in the heart then as a Ruler he ought to be obeyed and feared according to Saint Paul's rule Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers but Joab had learned instead of Obsta principiis Obsta Principibus withstand the beginnings of sin stifling the first conception of murther in his heart to promote it and give life unto it by the fall of a Prince and so hath received to himself condemnation ver 2. 2ly The Hebrews use many words signifying a Prince but I shall make use but of one and that is Naghidh carrying this sence Dux Princeps a Captain and chief Commander ordering disposing and giving rules to Souldiers to go out and come in to draw and to sheath their swords and such a Prince was Abner and a valiant Prince but whom Ajax cannot conquer Vlysses will undermine by treason For know ye not that a Prince and a great man is fallen And so I passe to the second Branch 2. As a great man As when Ephraim spake there was trembling Hos 13. 1. As when the Lion roars who will not be afraid Amos 3. 8. even so when this great man speaks not onely the inferiour beasts of the Forest but even the Lion himself coucheth as is clear in the 11 verse before the Text and if a bare hand upon the wall did so starcle Belshazzar in his cups when men are most Pot-valiant and in the Guard of his Princes and making metry with his wives and concubines that his countenance changed the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Dan. 5. 6. How will Joab look How will Joab stand How will he shift when the great God shall make inquisition for this great mans blood Psal 9. 12. Davids heart smote him for cutting off but the Lap of Saul's garment 1 Sam. 24. 5 6. How then deeply may they be touched that had a hand in cutting off the head of the Lords anointed for the greater the person the greater is the sin in them that conspire his death Kings and Princes and great man in authority are termed gods by Gods own mouth Psal 82. 6 and to act Treason against such is to be treacherous to God himself for which cause God spared not the Angels that had finned but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darknesse to be kept unto damnation 2 Pet. 2. 4. What Christ spake in another kind holds true in this Matth. 25. 40. In as much as ye have done it unto them ye have done it unto me Another particular is the manner of this great Princes death so he is not threatned a fall as God told Adam that if he should eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in that day he should die the death Gen. 2. 17. for then he would have looked about him either to prevent his fall or to make a good preparation for his soul against his fall as the wise Steward did for his body Duke 26. 4. but in the present tense occidit is fallen noting the suddennesse of his death and his unprovidenesse for his grave Joab not onely labouring to kill his body but so far as he could his soul too like as the Italian I read of endevoured to serve his enemy overcome in duel wherein we may observe 1. Prov. 12. 10. The mercies of the wicked are truel 2ly The uncertainty of our death we have one way into the world but many out Ferro peste fame vinclis algore calore Mille modis miseros mors rapit una viros as sometimes by fire famine plague water sword like Abner and Joab And this consideration should move us to look for that in every place which every where looks for us Pharaoh tasted of deaths Cup in the deep Sea Herod upon his throne Eglon sunning himself in his Summer Parlour Amnon when his heart was merry with wine Ahab in the battel Zenecharib in the house of his God And who amongst us can coast of to morrow for we know not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. 1. Let it be our wisedom then 1. So to live as if we were alwaies dying and giving up our accounts to the great judge of Heaven and Earth of our several stewardships 2ly With Joseph in the time of famine with Solomons Pismire in the harvest time and with the wise Virgins in the acceptable time to provide oyl for our Lamps that we may be found a people ready prepared for our God when he shall knock at our door and call us 3ly To pray alwaies as the Church hath taught us From sudden death Good Lord deliver us 3ly The next particular is the time of Abners fall and that is said to be hoc die this day Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man this day fallen in Israel This was a day of darknesse and of blacknesse a day of clouds and obscuritie Joel 2. 2. a day of heavinesse and mourning a stormy and watery day and in a word such a sad day to David and all Israel as if as one man they had combined to revive their Abner with their tears as Christ did Lazarus John 11. or if they could not do that for him yet they would witnesse to the world their love to him and how wonderfully they lamented his losse To love a rich man and a great man living is no news the living dog being better than the dead Lion Eccles 9.
so near to a man or go so near to his heart as bene facere male audire to do well and to be rewarded ill by a Servant or any other ingratefull wretches The Oxe knoweth his owner Isay 1. 3. and for a man not to know his master and maker is worse than brutish and deserves nigro carbone notari to be branded for a vile man indeed A houshold enemie is noted by Christ for a sharp plague Mat. 10. 36. and yet such is our Abners condition to fall by such Joab had Zimri peace that slew his Master 2 Kin. 9. 31. then look for no peace living or dying Obs Occidit is fallen from whence may be observed that death is no deâ—th to them that die in the Lord. It is but as a sleep from which they shall be awakened at the sound of the last Trumpet And in this sence saith Christ to his disciples John 11. 11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go to wake him up It is but as a falling to the earth from whence we through Gods might recover our selves and rise again It is but as Requietorium a Bed of rest as Isay shews 57. 2 They shall rest in their Beds every one that walketh before him and men go not to bed to lie there for ever but some short time It was said by a Jester unto a great man If I fall I can rise again but if thou fallest thou wilt never rise more but this holds true of the faithfull in general Dan. 12. 2. they shall rise to everlasting life thus David tells not his servants A Prince or a great man is dead but is fallen being assured that he should rise again like Antheus with greater strength and courage and honour and glory than ever he enjoyed before like Damascens wise yet deposed King as we read of in M. Bunnyes resolutions Vse Here is comfort for Abners friends that although his body is sown in corrupion yet it shall be raised in incorruption If it be sown in dishonour yet it shall be raised in glory 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. that although he was conquered by Treason yet he is Conquerour over all his enemies and greatest Traytors death sin and Satan that although he be fallen yet he is mounted up aloft upon the wings of Cherubims and glorious angels like Lazarus into the bosome of his father that although he be losse to them yet their losse is his gain for instead of war he finds peace instead of sorrow joy unspeakable instead of vexation of spirit The things which eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither have entred into the heart of man 1 Cor. 2. 9. instead of a corruptible Crown an incorruptible Chap. 9. 25. Instead of a Crown of thorns a Crown of ease instead of an earthly Kingdome a Kingdome which endureth for ever even the Kingdom of God and of Christ instead of earthly treasures heavenly instead of buffetings reproaches spittings in the face kisses with sweet embracings Instead of Apage Euge be gone We will not have this man reign longer over us welcome and well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Matth. 25. 23. instead of the society of beasts such as Paul fought withall at Ephesus the fellowship of glorified Saints and Angels Iacob in his dream saw a Ladder the foot thereof stood upon earth but the top reached up to heaven Gen. 28 12. and by this Ladder our Abner our Prince like an Angel of God is ascended up thither Question not this O man whosoever thou art for he was living a living pattern of vertue and godlinesse to all 1 For sobriety for who could detect him of drunkennesse 2ly of chastity for who could blemish him of uncleanesse Posse nolle nobile What Castle by promotion or bribes or command cannot a great man scale and not to subdue it to his power and lust is Prince-like indeed 3ly Of Piety Religion being diligent in Prayer sincere in his devotions and admirably attentive in hearing of Sermons and that sometimes in my eye 4ly Of knowledge and learning witness his Book entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which few Bishops with all their learning and reading could outrun and witness his Disputation with the Scotch Minister who shall be nameless and whom he so foiled by arguments that whereas before he was his bitter enemy in Pulpit and out of it he set forth unto the world his own recantation and his Princes vindication to undeceive his people 5ly Of bounty and liberality to his followers I and to some ingratefull and undeserving followers 6ly Of patience for after the example of Christ 1 Pet. 2. 23. Being reviled he reviled not a-again when he suffered he threatned not but committed it to him that judgeth righteously 7ly Of magnanimity being as daring as a lion as some of his own Captains can speak and would have proved it in red letters if he might have been suffered wrote with a pen of iron 8ly Of compassion lamenting the losse of his enemies as if their blood had been drawn from his own heart Iulian honoured those Souldiers that died in his war and service but he those that died in the war against him 9ly Of affection to his wife so that as Solomon speaks of the good woman I may truly aver of him Prov. 31. 29. Many husbands have done vertuously but thou surmountest them all 1. For fidelity to her bed a rare thing to be found in great men 2. For affability and kindness to her â—â—ving her as his own soul 3 For indulgencie over his and her children Now laying all these together as so many steps or stairs or stakes of the Ladder doubtlesse his works follow him Rev. 14. 13 and he is passed and gone to your father and his father to his God and your God Wherefore comfort ye one another with these words 1 Thes 4 18. And as Christ said to the daughters of Ierusalem Luke 23. 28 Weep not for him but for your selves left as a prey to the wolf hurrying and worrying Christs flock Vse 2. Abner is fallen As the Widow of Zarephath spake to Elijah 1 Kings 17. 18. O thou man of God art thou come to call my sins to remembrance and to slay my son Even so Abners fall should put Israel in mind of their sins which have pulled him down from his Throne and of a sudden Repentance lest they follow him to the grave If old Eli was punished for the iniquity of his sons 1 Sam. 3. 12 13 14. then by the same rule a Father of his Countrey may suffer for the wickedness of his children and people Obs 3. Hoc die This day from whence I observe that all men have their falling day The Sun that now shines will set the Moon that now is at Full will wain the see that now flows will ebbe After a Spring will follow an Autumn after a Summer comes a hard Winter and after the green blade comes a
go to heaven that had all his time served the Devil on earth and therefore of the two he thought his own case best and that he was most fit to die and so if God had so pleased chose to die I would God I had died for thee From whence we learn Obs That death which to the ungodly is the King of terrors Job 18. 14. to the righteous is a welcom guest at all times Absalom may be afraid to die because the wages of his wickedness are alwayes ready to be paid him which is eternal death of body and soul for ever Rom. 6. 23. When good David shall willingly resign up his soul into the hands of his Creator for he knows his end will be peace Psal 37. 37. Oecolampadius being ready to depart as old Simeons Phrase is comforted his friends that stood howling about him with these words Non mori timeo quia bonum habeo Dominum I am not afraid to die because I have served a good God He that fears God shall never need to fear death for Christ hath pulled out the sting thereof that he may tryumphantly singwith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin but thanks be unto God which hath given me victory through our Lord Jesus Christ The Reasons why death is welcome to the godly at all times are Reas 1. Because it is an end of their sorrows and the beginning and entrance into the joy of their Lord Matth. 25. 23. It is the Exodus of their miseries and Genesis of their comforts It is as a Bridge over which they must passe into life as the Israelites must go thorow the red Sea before they can get into Canaan a Land flowing with milk and hony and all good things wherefore they rejoice to see that day as old Simeon did when he embraced Christ in his arms Luke 2. â—8 Reas 2. Because they are a people ready prepared for the Lord Luk. 1. 17. they are not fool-hardy like others who put far away from them the evil dayes that they may boldly approach unto the seat of iniquity Amos 6. 3. but they are still thinking of death and looking for death and providing for death that whensoever it comes early or late at the Cock crowing at midnight or the dawning of the day they may enter into the rest remaines for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. Reas 3 Because they have Jachin and Boaz faith and a good conscience to support them from sinking under the pains of death And this made the thief on the Crosse to die joyfully believing Christs words that he should that day be with him in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. this made St. Steven to laugh in death beholding the heavens opened and Christ standing at the right hand of the Father ready to receive his spirit Acts 7. 55 56. and this made David so willing to die for Absalom because he believed that his sinnes were covered Psal 32. 1. Obj. Did David well to wish for death or to die for his sonne Answ 1. Mortem optare malum formidare pejus It is not good to wish for death but worse to fear it It is an argument of great weakness to dispute with God much more to quarrel with God and most of all to seem to be wiser than God We pray and David prayed Thy will O Father be done and yet here he seems to prefer his own will before Gods Would God I had died for thee Absalom So that as the Apostle speaks James 3. 10. This thing ought not to be 2ly David did savour much more in this wish of flesh and blood than of spirit for that altogether submits with patience to suffer and bear what the good pleasure of the Lord is to bring to passe when the other grumbles and murmurs and repines at every thing contraries their humours This was Davids case and was his failing as the best want not theirs Vse Speaks the true happy state of a godly man He will not be afraid of evil tidings for his heart is fixed and he believeth in the Lord Psal 112. 7. when the wicked trepidant ad arundinis umbram tremble at the shaking of a leaf and flee when none pursueth then the righteous are as bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. The very thought of death strikes the ungodly as dead when they that fear the Lord like the Swan sing the sweetest song in death and the song of the Saints Rev. 22. 20. Come Lord Jesus come quickly The wicked when they are visited with sickness which is deaths Paratour to summon them into the Court for to give up their great accompt like the unjust Steward Luk. 16. 2. they roar and howl and crie like the hog which thinks he is never taken but to have his throat cut when the upright and just look up and lift up their heads with joy and comfort for their redemption draweth near Luke 21. 28. When the wicked call to the mountaines to fall upon them and to the hills to cover them and hide them from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6. 16. The righteous shout for joy like those that divide the spoyl and rejoyce according to joy in harvest Isa 9. 3. for they shall be gathered like wheat into the Lords Garner when the chaff shall be burned with unquenchable fire Mat. 3. 12. And as Balaam said Numb 23. 10. O that my latter end might be like his And so thus much of the first person spoken of in the text David with his passion and compassion 2ly The next person is Absalom And in him let us consider 1. His Name 2ly His Person 3ly His Life 4ly His Death Of these in order 1. His Name and that was Abishalom which signifies his fathers peace He was so sweet a Babe that his father promised himself great matters and hope in him but he proved the greatest crosse that ever he did bear So that we cannot say Vt nomen sic natura as Abigail did of Nabal As his name was so was he For he was a moth a canker a thorn in his fathers eye and the greatest disturber of his quiet and rest and ease and peace that ever he was acquainted with that he is constrained to flee and shift for his life lest he be devoured by his Sonnes sword 2 Sam. 13. 14. 2ly His person And so he was the fairest of ten thousand for from the sole of the foot to the top of his head there was no blemish in him 2 Sam. 14. 25. He had a fair body but a foul soul and heart like the Swan which hath a white feather but a black skin Or like Mausolus his tombe or the painted Sepulchres in the Gospel glorious and beautiful without but full of rottenness and stinking bones within Or like a white glove over a scabby hand Or like the Pharisees
in sheeps clothing but inwardly were greedy wolves His garment was made of Linsey-woolsey which was forbidden in the old Law Deut. 22. 11. by woollen is signified simplicity by linnen subtilty and under this weed he had almost couzened his father of his life and Kingdome as Jacob did Esau of the blessing From whence we learn Obs All is not gold that glisters as all are not Israel which are of Israel Rom. 9. 10. All is not current coin that hath the Parliament stamp nor all good men that look demurely and speak fairly and religiously able to deceive if it were possible the very elect as Christ speaks Mark 13. 22. and therefore our Saviours counsell is John 7. 24. Not to judge according to the outward appearance What a Saint was Absalom in shew yet what a devil in practice and this age is full of these Absaloms 3ly His Life and thus his fair face was daubed and soiled with many a black spot His whole life was tainted with innumerable blemishes one drawing on another As to instance in some 1. He was a murtherer and this aggravates it self by these circumstances 1. A murtherer of his brother Amnon 2 Sam. 13. 29. who the nearer he was the dearer he ought to have been For no man hateth his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it Eph. 5. 29. We say that it is an ill bird defiles his own nest but we may conclude that is the worst bird in the nest that picketh out his brothers eyes and sucks his blood 2ly In that he masked his foul intention with the veil of love and kindeness Absalom had a sheep-shearing vers 24. and a great feast towards and he could not would not eat his meat alone and therefore he invites all his brethren to the banquet but as the children spake to their mother 2 Kings 4. 40 there was Mors in olla death in the pot and Amnon must pay the reckoning with his life 3ly That he murthered him when his heart was merry with wine not only labouring to kill his body but his soul too and how doth this cursed act hang like a leprosie upon the skirts of his garments to make him odious to all ages 2ly He was ambitious 1. Of popular applause 2 Sam. 15. 4. O that I were made judge in the land that every man that hath any controversie might come to me that I might do him justice O brave Mountebank that sets forth golden wares and promiseth mountaines but hides the poison as the Fisherman doth his deadly hook under a fair bait which he intended to give them when he had accomplished his design 2ly He not only gives the people bona verba good words to delude them but courteous deeds vers 5. And when any came near him and did him obeisance he puts forth his hand and took him and kissed him And by this means he stole the hearts of the men of Israel vers 6. and so makes way 2ly By his ambition to reach the Crown v. 10. he acts the Devils part to beguile to seduce and to drive on his self-ends for he transporteth himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11. 14. and this must needs help to make up the measure of his wickednesse and so bring upon himself a corresponding punishment His sin is the greater because by his example he hath taught others to look up to heaven to smite upon their breasts to pray long prayers to preach to use Scripture-Sentences when they are acting the most devilish mischief or aspiring to the Throne 3ly He was a grand hypocrite and Simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas counterfeit godlinesse is double wickednesse The beast tells his Father a fair Tale v. 8. Thy servant vowed a vow when I remained exile in Geshur in Aram saying If the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Hierusalem I will serve the Lord. Oh brave what a religious wretch and Caitiffe What to make godlinesse a Cloak for his Villanie What to make Piety serve for a shooing horn to draw on his interest to the Kingdome What to make the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be evil spoken of through him and his juggling Surely It were better a miâ—stone were banged about his neck and he were cast into the bottome of the sea Matth. 18. 6. but from hence we learn Obs In nomine Domini incipit omne malum Religion is made a stalking horse to palliate all evil If Ahab cannot get Naboths vineyard by fair play he will have it by foul he will proclaim a Fast 1 Kings 21. 9. and two sons of Belial shall be hired to bear false witnesse against him and he shall be stoned and then he will be merry and take possession v 16. If Absalom can no other way supplant his Father he insooth hath a Vow to pay unto the Lord in Hebron and there he will take advantage of the place to mutinie and rebell and raise Forces to drive his Father out of house and home 2 Sam. 15. 16. And this ever was is and will be the practice of ambitious spirits to strain their consciences and to make use of Religion to stirrop them into the Saddle but my prayer for them shall be that their end may be like Absaloms and as Cushi said in the context So let all the enemies of the Lord my King perish 4ly He was a traytor 1. To his brother in taking away his life but here he seemed to be a pettie traitor because he fell alone 2ly To the people of Israel for he decoyed Israel into a net get they out as well as they could Fall back fall edge So it is said 2 Sam. 15. 11. And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem and followed him in their simplicity knowing nothing like many of our Zelots who were at first blindly led but when they had wel smarted for their folly cried peccavimus with the Prodigal they were misinformed and gulled and cheated of their expectation by the Grandees who sought themselves and not the Lord Jesus Christ and as the Apostle speaks in one kind so it may be said on the contrary They sought yours not you 2 Cor. 12. 14. Ours not us 3ly He was a traitor in Folio to his own Father seeking vi armis to depose him I and to quench his thirst with his blood But hold Absalom for he is thy father Hold Absalom he is thy fond and most indulgent Father Hold Absalem he is thy old Father full of gray hairs the which are blossomes of the grave Hold Absalom and give a check-mate to thy ambition for a while and then ride on and do thy will Look upon thy brethren and sisters his Wives and Concubines thy companions with him Look upon the Virgins in Jerusalem the Priests of God the hazard of War the sad effects of the sword as Rapine Famine Blood Desolation c. and if thou hast not sold thy self to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord like Ahab or
art not given over to a reprobate sense Rom. 1. 28. then these things cannot but melt thee relent thee and dam up thy way from prosecuting thy devilish purposes any farther I but thinks Absalom that is not the way to the Kingdom and Sceptre and to reign and therefore be it never so foul I will thorow it and as Caesar said Vel inveniam vel faciam I will hack and hew it out with my sword and so having gathered together all the men of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and made him self strong for the battel he prepares to divide the spoil Oh unparalleld traytor for 1. He sought the death of the Lords anointed and that it is aggravated in these Circumstances 1. His anointed child And right dear and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Psal 116. 15. 2ly His Prophet who was as the apple of Gods eye very tender to him Zech. 2. 8. and concerning whom he hath given so strict a chatge Psal 105. 15 Touch not mine anointed nor do my Prophets no harm 3ly That he was anointed his King a King of Gods own pointing out 1 Sam. 16. 12. a King after Gods own heart 1 Sam. 13. 14 A typical King of Christ a King-father and a father to his people so well as to his own children a nursing father Isa 49. 23. And for Absalom to rob God and men of such a King who would not should not fight it out to the death like Zebulun and Nephtali Judg. 5. 18. to save him but Absalom and some of his Faction who love to fish in troubled waters but hence we learn Obs That one sin if not in time stifled makes way for a bigger as a little wedge doth for a greater Read backward and ye shall find that his sin grew like a snow-ball to a very great pitch and height and so I may compare it to Elijahs cloud 1 Kin. 18. 44. the which at first seemed no bigger than a mans hand but by and by it overspread the heaven or like to Ezekiels waters chap. 47. 3 4 5. which came to the ancles then up to the knees then to the loins and afterward waxed so deep that they could not be passed oveâ— or like to that fountain which became a river Ezek. 10. 6. and as our Proverb is Give the Devil an inch and he will take an ell We read Matth. 12. 43 44 45. of an unclean spirit in a man Which goeth forth and taketh seven other spirits worse than himself and they enter in and dwell there Even so if we give way to one unclean spirit one sin yea and as Lot sayd of Zoar a little sin we make way for all sin that we may say as Jacob did of Gad A Troop cometh As the Sea making the least breach be it thorow a mole-hole presently grows bigger and bigger upon it and pours in an inundation to the destruction of man and beast and as the Story goeth of Hatchet which begging a withered bough of an Ash to make it a helve instantly falls to work and cuts down the tall Cedar and strong Oke and green Elm and Ash which stood before secure and as Pompey marching with his Souldiers to take a great and rich City and finding the gates shut and the opposition strong he craves leave of the Citizens to give entertainment to some few of his wounded and sickly men and he would passe away without their least disturbance the which having obtained they in the night opened the gates to the General and the stronger men to the sacking and utter undoing of a famous City Even so if the Devil can but beg a helve for a hatchet or make a breach in mans heart to get in his little finger he will strain hard to make room for his head and if he can get in his head he will draw in his whole body or if he can procure the favour from us to give entertainment to some weakling and puling sins then he cries out with Moah now Moah to the spoil now Devil to thy prey and therefore Vse Is for our instruction to kill the Crocodile in the egge lest it grow to be a serpent and so kill us to quench the fire whilst it is but a spark lest it get head and so consume us Obsta Principiis withstand the beginnings of sin lest they grow to be so mountainous that they crush thee down to hell Venienti occurre morbo faith the Physician Prevent the disease by taking Physick in time lest it run on and destroy thee before thy time If Absolom had observed this rule he had never fallen so shamefully so suddenly like a child new born so wonderfully like Jerusalem Lam. 1. 9. 2ly Absaloms Treason is aggravated in that he sought the death of his father his father that begat him and his father that so well loved him He was troubled with a new disease at that time for he was sick of his father and nothing could cure him but his removal out of his eye that he might sit at Helm an steer the ship from whence we learn Obs That when Kings Princes Governors and Magistrates shall suffer sin to go unpunished in others God will make them so spared instruments to punish them David permitting Absalom to run on in sin out of one sin into another not executing the Law or justice upon him God makes him as the Canaanite to the Israelite Num. 33. 55. A prick in his eye and a thorn in his side We have a Proverb Save a Thief from the Gallows and he will hang thee at last if he can Amnons Murther deserved severe punishment by the Law of God but David out of foolish pity omitting it and winking at it God sets him home to him at last and raiseth up the son of his bowels and love too to hunt after his life Absalom may grieve God and yet that doth not much grieve David wherefore God takes his own quarrel in hand and causeth him to be the greatest grief that ever he encountred withall and so hear him roaring and howling forth this sad lamentation and Dittie for him O Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son And so I passe to the last point 4ly Which is Absaloms death The two Generals Absalom and Joab joyned Battel to dispute the Controversie about the Crown and at last Absalom being worsted flieth and flying the Mule came under a great thick Oke And his head caught hold on the Oke and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth and Joab took three darts and thrust them thorow Absalom and so he died verse 9. 14. Died between heaven and earth as unworthy by reason of his debauchednesse to go to the one or to have a burial place in the other the which is a most terrible and fearfull example of Gods vengeance 1. Against Rebels to their King 2ly Against those that are disobedient to
great Leviathan Our friends to help us are like Jobs miserable comforters our footing on this sea of glasse very slipperie but when all our other trust is but as a spiders web this is our comfort in our afflictions that although our father and mother and all the world forsake us yet the Lord will then gather us up and will not leave us comfortless Wherefore in all humble acknowledgement of all thankfulness due unto thee vve offer up unto thee our selves our souls and bodies a quick and living sacrifice that the God in whom we live move have our being may be glorified in and by our being This is our day therfore it is our duty whilst it is called to day to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him whilst he is near This is our day wherein we are to work and so let it be our sole wisdome to work out our salvation lest the night come and overtake us when no man can work This is our day and how ill doth it become us to trewant and loiter it away like those that stood idle in the market place or to riot it and revelling it eating and drinking and cursing Abimelech lest we be in hell to morrow yelling and howling and roring with Dives Devils and damned ones Let the Sun which cometh as a Bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoiceth to run his race Ever teach us to be active in spiritual duties and heavenlie exercises Let the Sun which encreaseth from glorie to glorie teach us to encrease in vertue goodnesse and godlinesse adding to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience brotherlie kindnesse and so one grace to another that we may be complete Christians like unto our head and Lord and Master Let the morning instruct us to remember our Creator in the daies of our youth Let the Noon tutour us to be strong in the faith Let the Evening admonish us to think of the end of our life and shutting in of our daies Let all teach us so to number our daies that we may applie our hearts unto wisdome Let a waterie daie ever mind us of the sorrows afflictions and troubles attend us in this life Let a pleasant day mind us of the pleasures to come when these are faded and forgotten Let a short daie mind us of the shortnesse of this life which is but as a span long and swifter than a Weavers Shuttle Let a long daie mind us of Eternitie of life either in blisse or bane and so read us a continual Lecture to labour for that meat which endures unto everlasting life and not after that bread which perisheth with us the which that we may do the Lord grant unto us for the Lord Jesus Christs sake our blessed Saviour and redeemer Amen A Prayer for the Evening I Will lay me down and also sleep in peace for thou Lord makest me dwell in safety saith David Now good God grant that as we lie down in thy love so we may rise by thy power and glorifie thee for thy mercy O most gracious God and in thy son Jesus Christ our loving Father we miserable sinners dust and ashes worms and not men do prostrate our selves before the footstool of thy Throne of grace beseeching thee that seeing thou hast made the night for man to rest so well as the day for him to labour so that thou wouldest be pleased to blesse us this night and keep us from fire sword sicknesse death and those manifold evils may befall us and overtake us by reason of our manifold sins and wickednesses Thou art about their beds and givest thy Angels charge over them that seek unto thee for succour thou knowest their down-lying and uprising and art near unto those that call upon thee in truth and syncerity of heart wherefore graciously good God spread thou the wings of thy loving kendnesse and favour over us this night and let not this house be as a tomb and Sepulchre erected over our heads let not our beds be as our graves our blankets as the mold of the earth and our sheefs as our winding-sheets but let them all serve to minister comfort and refreshment to our wearied bodies and senses that the day following we may be the better enabled to set forth thy praise and thy glorie Let not our sleep be insatiable according to the desires of the flesh but onely so as that it may revive our dull and heavy drooping spirits and make them active in thy service and in the works of our calling Teach us by our unclothing and uncovering of our selves and casting away our garments from us continually to think of casting away every weight and casting off that old man which is corrupt through his deceivable works Teach us by our nakednesse when our garments are from us continually to think of harmlesnesse and innocency of life endevouring our selves daily to live void of offence towards God and towards man Teach us by going out of our warm clothes into our cold beds continually to think on a change of life how that we shall one day leave this sinfull world and passe into another there to receive according to our several works Teach us by our sleep continuallie to think on death and by our waking from sleep again continually to think of resurrection of life how that we shall one day wake and rise out of the dust of the earth and behold our God not with other but with these same eyes O let everie thing be our instruction to shew us the right way to heaven and everlasting blisse Father blesse us bodily yea and blesse us spiritually give unto our bodies a happie rest in Christ Jesus whensoever as we know not how soon thou maiest call them out of this sinful world and say unto our souls that he was the redemption thereof and paid the ransom of them with his dearest blood that under the shadow of his wings we may flie to thy heavenly Sanctuary Father bless us inwardlie and blesse us outwardly blesse us inwardly with all these graces which are fit and needfull for our several places conditions and callings and blesse us outwardlie with all those things we want and stand in need of as health strength ease wealth blesse us likewise in everie thing belongs unto us that they yielding forth their strength and encrease unto us we may yield forth unto thee our God the strength of our obedience praise and thanksgiving O father thou art great and therefore to be feared thou art good and therefore to be praised according therefore to thy greatnesse and according to thy goodnesse be thy praise and we entreat thee to continue this thy loving kindnesse to us unto our lives end and to life eternal And that we may obtain this mercy we beseech thee to give us grace to walk worthie of thy mercies that we may find and feel the fruits of thy favour budding in our souls O give us grace that
we may look unto our feet that we walk no more in the waies of disobedience whereby we should offend and grieve the good Spirit of so Good a God and so loving a father for our own Consciences tell us That what couldest thou have done more for thy vineyard and the plants of thy vineyard and such vile sinfull wretches that thou hast not done unto us and yet what could any stubborn and stiffe-necked generation have done more to provoke thee to anger wrath and sore displeasure than we have done But Lord call not thou our sins to thy remembrance lay not thou our sins to our charge for if thou shouldest be but strict to mark wherein we have done amisse who should be able to stand in thy sight Wherefore for thy mercie sake spare us for the multitude of thy tender mercies sake have compassion on us for the Lord Jesus Christs sake forgive us all that is past how many how great how grievous how crying soever our sins have been and strengthen us with strength from above that we may spend the residue of our lives in thy service whollie resigning up our selves unto thee fearing of thee keeping of thy Commandement labouring indevouring to live as much hereafter to thy honour as ever we have heretofore done to thy dishonor And for as much as thou hast commanded us to be mindfull of the afflictions of Joseph we beg of thee to be good to all thy poor afflicted ones work in them a true insight into all their sins and a true Repentance for their sins and a strong faith to believe that their sins are pardonable in the blood of that immaculate Lamb Lord if it be thy will let them live to praise thee and for the comfort of those that belong unto them but if thou in thy secret counsel hast decreed them for death grant that although their bodies return to the earth yet their spirits may return to their Maker And preserve thou our lives and healths unto us not that they may be a means to follow our former wantonnesse with the greater greedinesse but that we may be the better abilicated to set forth the glorie of our most Glorious God Blesse those of our nearest relation blesse them and us and all of us with inward and outward with spiritual and corporal health and wealth that we may glorifie thee our God with both all the daies of our lives Blesse thy poor Zion deliver thy Israel out of all his troubles Make not us who were once thy Beulahs thy Hephzibahs thy joy thy delight now to become Loammies Loruhamaes a despised and forsaken people Make not us who were once Naomies a pleasant seed now to become Marahs a seed drunken with bitter waters of a full cup wrung out unto us Make not us who were once as Abigails the fathers joy now to become Benonies the sons of our mothers sorrows O let not this be published in Gath nor proclaimed in Askalon lest the uncircumcised take up this Proverb against us Go ye unto Shiloh go ye unto England and see how their Sun is set their pride abased and their pomp vanished because they would not hear and obey nor regard the voice of the Lord Jehovah O for thy Christs sake be pacified with thy servants that call upon thy name as Herod was with the men of Tyre and Zidon for Blastus his sake and mediation and as thou art wonderfull in thy name so be thou wonderfull in thy works and command at length deliverances for thy Jacob. Blesse our Supreme head Let every mountain and hill that is exalted against it be made low let the crooked be made straight let the rough be made plain oh let the zeal of the Lord God of Hosts in his good time perform all this Call home all those that have erred like lost sheep and are deceived open their eyes to see the truth direct their hearts to walk in that truth that walking in the old way which is the good way they may at last come to him who is the way the truth and the life Sanctifie this nights rest unto us Grant that our sleep it may be sweet for the refreshing of our wearied senses that the day following we may be the better strengthened to set forth the honour of our God Give thy angels charge over us this night for they alone are well kept whom thou keepest wherefore into thy hands both now and ever with blessed Steven do we commend all our spirits These O father and all other things thou in thy infinite and all-seeing goodnesse shalt better see to be requisite either for our selves or for any other we humbly beseech thee to grant them unto us not for our own sakes for we acknowledge our selves unworthy to gather up the crumb that fall from thy table wherefore we beg them for thy Christs sake in whose name we conclude our prayer in that perfect form which he hath taught us saying Our father c. FINIS