not as your fathers Man is a creature apt to imitate to be led more by his eyes then by his eares and children think they may lawfully Be as their fathers St. Peters converts had received their vaine conversation from their fathers as it were ex traduce or by tradition 1 Pet. 1.18 And St. Steven tells his perverse hearers that they were as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as their fathers had been before them Act. 7.51 They used to boast much of their Ancestours Ioh. 8.33 and to bind much upon their example and authority Ier. 44. 17. Mat. 5.21 They thought they were not much to be blamed because they did but as their fathers had done before them The Prophet therefore dehorts or rather deterrs them from that folly serting forth both the crime and doome of their forefathers whom they so much admired and so stifly imitated and this he ost repeateth that they might once consider it and be wrought upon by thosé domestick examples have cryed Loudly and lustily Es 58.1 according to that Cry aloud spare not Lift up thy voice like a trumpet sic clames ut stentora vincas A minister should be a Simon Zelotes a son of thunder as Basil was said to thunder in his preaching lighten in his life as Hierome for his vehemency was called Fulmen Ecclesiasticum the Churches light-bolt as Harding before his shamefull Apostasy wished he could cry out against Popery as loud as the belles of Oseney and as Farellus that notable French Preacher whose voice when the envious Monks sought to drown by ringing the bells as he was preaching at Metis he lifted up his voyce adravim usque and would not suffer himselfe to be outroared The Saints-bell as they called it Pierius useth for an hieroglyphick of a preacher who must not speak the word onely but sound it out into all the earth Rom. 10.18 not preach it onely but cry it as the Apostles word signifieth 2 Tim. 4.2 clangite clamate Jer. 4.5 Boâte vociferate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boantis Vociferantis Mat. 3.3 Ministers have to doe with deafe men dead men living carcasses walking sepulchers of themselves Now therefore as our Saviour lifted up his voice when he said Lazarus come forth so must they stand over men and cry aloud awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead that Christ may give thee light Eph. 5.14 turne you now from your evil wayes c. This was the constant cry of the Prophets as here and Apostles as Acts 26.18 to open mens eyes naturally closed up that they cannot see the evill of their wayes Ier 2.35 Rev. 3.15 to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God and from your evill doings Heb. Designes gests or exercises enterprized advisedly and prosecuted studiously of natural disposition and inclination as Prov. 20.11 and 1 Sam. 25.3 This St. Iohn usually calleth committing of sinne 1 Epist 3.4 8 9. Iohn 8.34 this is to adde rebellion to sinne Iob 34.37 impudence to impotence browes of brasse to iron sinewes Isa 48.4 This is wickednesse with a witnesse which if men could but see in its native colours and cursed consequents they would soon be perswaded to turn from it As the eye cannot but be offended with a lothsome object so neither can the understanding Take rats-bane it looketh not evil bu◠when a man feeles it boyle burn torture him c. he hates it extremely So he should doe sinne he will doe else at length when it is too late For prevention take the counsell of a Martyr get thee Gods law as a glasse to look in So shal you see your faces foul-arrayed and so shamefull mangy pocky and scabbed Bradfords serm of Repent p. 20.26 27. that you cannot but be sory at the contemplation thereof and seek out for cure Especially if you look to the tag tied to Gods law the malediction which is such as cannot but make us to cast our currish tailes between our legs if we beleeve it But O faithlesse hard hearts O Iezabels guests rocked and laid asleep in her bed O wicked wretches c. but they did not hear Though the Prophets cryed and spake loud enough to bee heard and heeded An heavie eare is a singular judgement Isa 6.10 An hearing eare a precious mercy Prov. 20.12 God must bee intreated to boare our eare Psal 40.6 and to make the boare so big that the word may enter to say as Isa 42.18 Hear ye deaf and looke ye blind that ye may see Verse 5. Your fathers where are they Is not the grave their house have they not made their beds in the dark are not they gone down to the Congregation house of all living Iob 30.23 Every man should die the same day he is born as being born a child of death the wages of sinne is death and this wages should bee paid him down presently But Christ beggs their lives for a season 1 Tim. 4.10 he is the Saviour of all men not of eternal preservation but of temporal reservation But what a sad thing is it for men to dye in their sinnes as these in the Text and their Nephews did Iohn 8.21 24. How may such men on their death-beds say to their sins as Charles the fifth did of his honours victories riches Abite hinc abite longè Go Mornaeus go get you out of my sight or as Cornelius Agrippa the conjurer did to his familiar that used to accompany him in the shape of a dog Abi à me perdit a bestia Joh. Manl. loc com 136. P. Sut. de vit Caribusian quae me perdidisti Be gone thou wretched beast that hast wrought my ruine Petrus Sutorius speaks of one that preaching a funeral sermon on a religious man as he calles him and giving him large commendations heard at the same time a voice in the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mortuus sum judicat us sum damnat us sum I am dead judged and damned The Devill preached Sauls funeral 1 Sam. 28.19 though David made his Epitaph 2 Sam. 1. And do the Prophets live for ever Those false Prophets so Hierome senseth it that cryed peace peace to your fathers and made all fair weather before them when the fierce wrath of God was even ready to burst out upon them as an overflowing scourge But they doe better that understand it of Gods true Prophets who are dead indeed for wise men dye as well as fooles Psal 4◠10 Good men dye as well as bad Ezech. 21.4 yea good men oft before the bad Esay 57.1 but their words dyed not with them the truth of their prophesies not onely lived for ever for ever O Lord thy word is stablished in heaven Psal 119.89 but struck in the hearts and flesh of their perverse hearers like the envenomed arrowes of the Almighty throughout all eternity Haeret lateri lethalis arundo Wicked men may as the wounded Hart frisk and skip
to come out of the filth of his sins or to be washed from his wickednesse Rather then be regenerated without which there is no heaven to be had Ioh. 3.5 or freedom from deadly dangers upon earth he will venture to stay a while at least as the Text here hath it in the mouth of the matrix though it cost him a choaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such Ephraims we have not a few that proceed no further then to conviction debarring themselves of the benefit of a thorow conversion These go as far as Kadesh-barnea they are nigh to Gods kingdom they are almost perswaded to be true Christians they are come as far as the place of the breaking forth of children but there they stick and are stifled they are never brought forth from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive remission of sinnes and inheritance among the saints and sonnes of God Acts 26.18 Oh make much of the least beginnings of grace saith a Reverend man even those called repressing since they prepare the heart for conversion There is a faith in the true convert of no better perfection then that in the Temporary though he stay not there as the other being an unwise sot doth c. And although we bring forth good things saith Another as Sarah's dead womb brought forth a child it was not a child of natures but of the meer promise yet it cannot be denied that a naturall man though he be Theologically dead yet he is Ethically alive being to be wrought upon by arguments and that grace doth for the most part prepare naturals before it bring in supernaturals and if we hide our talent we are not allowed to expect the spirit of Regeneration As if we die in the wildernesse of preparatory antecedaneous works we never get to Canaan Verse 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave c. Some read it thus Calvin Tigurin Isid Clar. Danaeus Drusius I would have ransomed them c. I would have redeemed them c. had they been wise or oughts as we say had not their incurable hardnesse and obstinacy hindered had they put forth into my hands as unto a midwife c. But alas it is no such matter therefore that that will die let it die repentance shall be hid from mine eyes I am unchangeably resolved to ruine them Or repentance should have been hid from mine eyes my goodnesse toward them should never have altered c. But let us rather look upon the words as a most sweet and comfortable promise of a mighty redemption and glorious resurrection to the Remnant according to the election of grace whom God would not have to want comfort I will ransom them Here therefore he telleth his Heirs of the promises that he will bring them back out of captivity wherein they â—ay for dead as it were and that this their deliverance should be an evident argument and sure pledge of their resurrection to life eternall To which purpose the Apostle doth aptly and properly alledge it 1 Cor. 15. and thereupon rings in Deaths ears out of this Text and Esay 25.8 the shrillest and sharpest Note the boldest and bravest challenge that ever was heard from the mouth of a mortall Death where is thy sting Hell where 's thy victory c Oh thanks be to God who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and thereby hath made us more then conquerours that is Triumphers 2 Cor. 2.14 But to return to the Text. Be it saith the Prophet that the Common-wealth of Israel both mother and child must perish for want of wisdom as was threatned in the foregoing verse yet let not the penitent among them despair for I the Lord Christ will ransom them by laying down a valuable price so the word signifieth from the power Ephdem Heb. hand of the grave or of hell that though hell had laid hands on them yea closed her mouth upon them as once the Whale had upon Jonas yet I would open the doors of that Leviathan and fetch them thence with a strong hand I will redeem them from death by becoming their near kinsman according to the flesh whereby I shall have the next right of redemption But how shall all this be done After a wonderfull manner O death I will be thy plagues Not one but many plagues even so many as shall certainly do thee to death The Vulgar rendreth it Ero mors tua O mors morsus tuus O inferne The Apostle for plagues hath sting for the plague hath a deadly sting and so hath sinne much more the guilt thereof is by Solomon said to bite like a serpent and sting like a cockatrice Prov. 23.32 Now Christ by dying put sinne to death Rom. 1.25 Ephes 1.7 Heb. 2.14 We read of a certain Cappadocean Sphinx Phil. pag. 750. whom when a Viper had bitten and suckt his blood the Viper her self died by the venemous blood that she had suckt But Christ being life essential prevailed over death and swallowed it up in victory as Moses his serpent swallowed up the sorcerers serpents or as Fire swalloweth up the fuell that is cast upon it yea by death he destroyed him that had the power of death the devil whose practise it was to kill men with death Rev. 2.23 this is the second death O grave or O hell I will be thy destruction thy deadly stinging disease joyned with the pestilence Psal 91.6 Death to a beleever is neither totall nor perpetuall Rom. 8.10 11. Christ hath made it to him of a curse a blessing of an enemy a friend of a punishment an emolument of the gate of hell the portall of heaven a postern to let out temporall but a street-door to let in eternall life And to assure all this Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes i. e. there shall be no such thing as repentance in me for all things that are at all are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 The meaning is I will never change my minde for this matter my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Psal 89.34 Confer Psal 110.4 Rom. 11.29 Some render it but not so well Consolation is hid from mine eyes and so make them to be the words of the Church q. d. I see not this promise with mine eyes but I receive it and accept of it by my faith Verse 15. Though he be fruitfull among his brethren In allusion to his name Ephraim which signifieth fruitfull and flourishing Gen. 41.52 Confer Gen. 48.16 19 20 c. 49.22 See the like allusions Am. 5.5 Mic. 1.10 An East-winde shall come which is violent and hurtfull to the fruits of the earth the winde of the Lord a mighty strong winde meaning that most mercilesse and impetuous enemy the Assyrian sent by the Lord to avenge the quarrell of his
ever noted for obstinate and overweening so to this day they are light aeriall and Satanicall apt to work themselves into the fools paradise of a sublime dotage But they shall know it to be so as I have said by wâ—â—â—ll experience that Mistresse of fools Israel shall know it sc to his sorrow he shall pay for his learning buy his wit Oculos incipit aperire moriendo Plin open his eyes as the mole doth when death is upon him roar and look upward Esay 8.21 as the hog doth when the knife is at his throat O Lord saith the same Prophet Chap. 26.11 when thy hand is lifted up and thy hand is a mighty hand Jam. 4.10 it falls heavy they will not see they wink wilfully or seek strawes to put out their eyes withall as Bernard hath it but they shall see will they nill they Festucam quarunt unde oculos sibi eruant and be ashamed of their former oscitancy or rather obstinacy when that hand of God which was lifted up in threatning shall fall down in punishing and the fire of thine enemies shall devâ—ur them How much more at that last and great visitation that terrible day of Retribution when they shall answer for all with flames about their ears Tunc sentient magno suo malo then shall they feel to their eternall wo the truth of all the threatnings which till then they heard and read as a man doth an Almanack-prognostications of winde or foul-weather which he thinks may come to passe and it may be not And give nothing so much credit to them as the Prior of S. Bartholomewes in London did to an idle and addle-headed Astrologer Holinshead in 1524. when he went and built him an house at Harrow on the hill to secure himself from a supposed flood that that Astrologer foretold The Prophet is a fool c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a naughty man the Hebrew word here is evil and signifieth a rash and unadvised fellow that is headstrong and headlong such were their false prophets that promised peace when warre was at their gates and made all fair weather before them when the tempest of Gods wrath was even bursting out upon them such a tempest as should neveâ— be blown over These should now appear to be fools or rather Impostours that had brought the credulous people into a fools paradise the spiritual man is mad Heb. the man of the spirit or ventosus the windy man that uttereth vain and empty conceits humani cerebelli Minervas the brats of his own brain light aery Nothings the disease of this age full of flashes and figments idle speculations of men of corrupt mindes and destitute of the truth These pretend altogether to the spirit and would be thought the onely spirituall men as the Swenkfeldians whom for their ill savour Luther called Stenckfeldians who bewitched many with those glorious words which were ever in their mouthes of Illumination Revelation the inward and spiritual man c. and entituled themselves the Confessours of the glory of Christ So the Entusiasts and Anabaptists what boast make they of the spirit professing that they will deliver nothing but what they have immediately revealed to them from heaven Muncer their ringleader wrote a base book against Luther which he dedicateth to king Jesus wherein Lutherum flagellat quod Enthusiasmorum spiritu careat nil nist carnalin sapiat he falls foul upon Luther as wanting the spirit of revelation Scultet Annal. pag. 239. and one that savoureth nothing but carnall things All his followers look upon Luther as more pestiferous then the Pope and for Calvin they say and I have heard it that it had been happy for the Church if he had never been born It was their practise of old as Leo Judae observed in his epistle before Bullingers book against the Catabaptists and is still to discourage and disparage Christs faithfull Ministers all they can as carnall and not relishing the things of the spirit the right off-spring they are of those ancient Hereticks called Messalanii the same with the Euchites and Enthusiasts who in the year of Christ 371. professed to be wholly made up of the spirit gave themselves much to sleep and called their dreams and wild phantasies prophesies and revelations for the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred Heb. the great Satanical hatred that thou hast born against God and thy neighbour but especially Gods faithfull prophets whom thou heartily hatedst for their plain dealing as Ahab did Michaiah because he never spake good to him It is very probable that Michaiah was that disguised Prophet who brought Ahab the fearfull message of displeasure and death for dismissing Benhadad for the which he was ever since fast in prison deep in disgrace Lo this is the worlds wages Truth breeds hatred great hatred as the text hath it devillish hatred and this is through the multitude of mens iniquities the overflow of sinnes which wretched men hold so dear to themselves that they cannot but rage against those that declaime against them and proclaim hell-fire against their hatefull practises they cannot stand still to have their eyes pickt out how should they say Now for such what wonder is it if God in justice give them up to the efficacie of errour that they may beleeve a lie sith they would not receive the love of the truth Augustin in loc 2 Thess 2.11 ut infatuati seducantur seductijudicentur that being infatuated they may be seduced and being seduced perish what wonder also if he deliver them up as to strong delusions so to vile affections and abominable actions that they may receive in themselves that recompense of their errour that is meet Kom 1.27 What marvell if men that will not endure sound doctrine be left to seducers if those that have itching ears meet with clawing Preachers 2 Tim. 4.3 4. if such as turn away their ears from the truth be turned to fables and fopperies It is for the multitude of mens iniquities and especially for their great hatred to the truth that the Church is so pestered with Impostours 2 Pet. 2.1 2. who bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them Do not our modern seducers so amongst us when among other portentous opinions held by them they stick not to affirm that Christ is a carnall or fleshly thing That those that are grown Christians may go to God immediately without a Christ that Christ did not rise again c. Others contemn him by the notion of the man dying at Jerusalem O horrible Dr. Homes his character of the present times 200. Time was when the Popes were so notoriously naught as to speak thus basely of Christ to deny or at least doubt of the immortality of the soul the resurrection of the body c. and then a poor Popeling cried out that the sinnes of that Synagogue were so great as that it deserved not to be ruled by any other
knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath Psal 90.11 as who should say Let a man fear thy displeasure never so much he is sure to feel thee much more if once he fall into thy fingers Now a fearfull man can fancy vast and terrible fears as ramping lions ravenous leopards fire sword racks scalding lead burning pitch running bell-mettle all this in extremity and that to all eternity and yet all these are but as a painted fire in comparison of the unconceiveable and unsupportable wrath of God Verse 9. O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Heb. He or It hath marred thee O Israel that is either thy sin of self-exaltation and forgetfulnesse of me as verse 6. Or ty King in whom thou trustedst as verse 10. Or thy Calf whom thou worshippedst hath been the cause of thy confusion Or thy fained comforts Consolatie fictlitia as Aben-Ezra will have it thy soothing up thy self in sinfull practises Or One â—ath destroyd thee Or Somewhat hath undone thee but not without thee Whatever it is that hath done it it is not I what hard thoughts soever thou mayest have of me because I appear thus dreadfull to thee as in the former verse Fury is not in me but thou mayest thank thy self and fault thy sinne as the mother of thy misery as the cause of thy calamity thou hast destroyed thy self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thine own heart may say to thee as the heart of Apollodorus seemed in a dream to say to him when he was tortured by the Scythians It is I that have drawn thee to all this It is the observation of a great Politian England is a mighty Animal which can never die except it kill it self Answerable whereunto was the speech of the Lord Rich to the Justices in the reigne of Edward 6. Never forraigne power could yet hurt or in any part prevail in this Realm but by disobedience and misorder among our selves that is the way wherewith God will plague us Interest of Princes p. 55. if he minde to punish us c. We use to say No man is hurt but by himself Ye have not injured me at all saith S. Paul to the Galathians you cannot do it unlesse I will Act Mon. fol. 1186. Gal. 4.12 The devil can do nothing at us if we give not way to him And though there were no devil yet our corrupt Nature would act Satans part against it self it would have a supply of wickednesse as a serpent hath of poyson from it self it hath a spring of its own to feed it Nemo igitur sibi palpet de suo quisque sibi Satan est saith an Ancient And it was no ill wish of him that begged of God Domine libera me a malo homine meipso◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to deliver him from that naughty man Himself for he knew that as in that first Chaos Gen. 1.2 were the seeds of all creatures so in mans heart of all sinnes and miseries that follow thereupon God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions Eccles 7.29 many shifts and sharking tricks Sinne and shifting came into the world together Gen. 3.12 The woman whom thou gavest me c. God must bear the blame of Adams sin so must his Decree of Reprobation still be alledged as the cause of mans perdition But this covering is too short for no man is destroyed because he is reprobated but because he is a sinner neither are any damned because they cannot do better but because they will do no better If there were no will there would be no hell and this indeed will be the very hell of hell Cesset voluntas propria non erit infernus that they have been self-destroyers The worme of conscience say Divines that never-dying worme is nothing else but a continuall remorse and furious reflection of the soul upon it's own willfull folly and now wofull misery but in me is thy help Heb. In me in thy help that is saith Drusius I am in thy help and thy help is in me whatsoever help thou hast I am in it We can easily undo our selves as a childe can easily break a glasse that all the men in the countrey cannot piece up again But God both can and will help his though never so shattered and repair that image of his lost in Adam that One that destroyed Israel Lord saith Augustine Ego admisi unde tu damnare potes me sed tu non amisisti unde salvare potes me that is I have done enough to undo my self for ever but with thee there is enough for my safety here and salvation hereafter God as he both can and will help his that cry Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man so he will then chiefely do it when they seem to themselves and others Psal 60.11 to be in an undone condition Thou hast destroyed thy self in me is thy help His holy hand is reserved for a dead lift Verse 10. I will be thy king Thine eternall king so Pagnine As I have been thy Prophet verse 4.5 so I will be thy king I will also be thy Priest and thy Redeemer verse 14 that so thou mayest hear my voice submit to my scepter and apply my death for thy deliverance from deaths dominion Or I will be thy king and not be born down by thy boysterousnesse who callest for another king and repinest against my righteous regiment Thou wouldst cast off mine authority but I will maintain it The Lord is king be the people never so unquiet Psal 99.1 he will raigne over rebels in spite of their hearts and those that will not be his subjects his willing people shall be his slaves his footstool The Geneva Bible reads it thus Psal 110.1 3. I am Where is the King that should help thee in all thy cities R. Aben-Ezra Calvin Oecolampadius and others go the same way onely they render it Ero I will be one and the same according to that name of mine I am that I am Exod. 3.14 and before Abraham was I am Ioh. 8.58 though you be off and on with me though you change often yet I am Jehovah I change not I will be What will he be The same that I said I would be thy Saviour thine Helper Or I will be a stander-by to see what will become of thee and how thy king in whom thou trustest will help thee this last is R. Solomon Jarchi's interpretation Pareus will have it run thus I will be what a lion a leopard a bear c. and nothing shall alter my resolution Where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities Thou sayest but they are but vain words I have counsell and strength for warre I have a King and Princes and strong cities But alasse where are they Let them encrease their Army and come forth as he
against such and took the same liberty to rebuke them that they did to commit them these were hated cane pejus angue worse then any toad Thus Ahab hated Micaiah the Sodomites Lot the Jewes Jeremy their successors Christ the Baptist Steven Paul c. Melch. Adam thus those of Geneva hated Farellus their faithfull minister tryed him for his life banished him out of their territories Thus afterwards some of them hated Calvin calling him Cain yea calling their dogs Calvin in derision and detestation of him And thus Bishop Ridly lamenting the state of England even of thy greatest Magistrates saith He some the Kings highnesse excepted evermore unkindly and ungently against those that went about most busily and wholesomely to cure their sore backs spurned privily and would not spare to speak evill of them even to the Prince himself and yet would they toward the same preachers outwardly beare a jolly countenance and faire face As for Latimer Lever Bradford Knox their tongues were so sharp they ripped in so deep in their galled backs to have purged them no doubt of their filthy matter Act Man fol. 1616. that was festered in their hearts of insatiable covetousnesse of filthy carnallity and voluptuousnesse of intollerable ambition and pride of ungodly lothsomenesse to heare poore mens cases and to heare Gods word And these men of all others these Magistrates then could never abide c. Thus He and much more to the same purpose They were then sick of a Noli me tangere and so alasse they are still How few Vespasians to be found of whom Quintilian testifieth that he was patientissimus veri One that would patiently heare the naked truth of things not toothlesse truths onely but such as touched to the quick How few Davids that loved Nathan the better ever after for dealing so plainly and faithfull with him and made him of his cabbinet-councell How few Q. Elisabeths who called oft for her Deering by whom she was barely told of her faults though the Bishops those Court-parasites would never suffer him to preach more before her The Q. of Navarre would not harken to such ministers as disliked that fatall French match that gave opportunity afterwards to the Parisian Massacre in regard of the diversity of religions Epitom hist Gallic but inclined rather to those that smoothed her up and told her that it would lay the foundation of a lasting and most happy peace And generally of those French Reformed churches it was observed that for some yeares before that bloody massacre they affected a frothy flashy kind of Preaching and cared not for that that came home to the conscience See my common place of Admonition and they abhorr him that speaketh uprightly Auget orationem saith Drusius The Prophet groweth in his expression of their wickednesse for to abhorr is more then to hate See Prov. 6.16 Serpens si serpentem comederit fit draco Hatred as they say of the Crocodile groweth as long as it liveth Sin is of an encroaching nature If a Serpent devoure a Serpent saith the Proverbe he becommeth a Dragon Hatred of the truth as runner the elder it is the stronger the Pharisees for instance who did not onely inwardly swell and boil with hellish hatred of Christ his works and doctrine but also outwardly belched out against him the basest blasphemies and in their pertinacious working constantly persecuted him even to the most reproachfull death of the crosse This is merces mundi the worlds wages to Gods faithfull witnesses They make a man an offender for a word yea for speaking uprightly and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate and turn aside the just for a thing of nought Esay 29.21 An expectas ut Quintilianus ametur said He Dost thou think that plain-dealing Quintilian should be loved It is not likely To preach saith Luther the truth which is according to godlinesse is nothing else but to derive the rage of the whole world upon a mans self Verse 11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor Panting after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor Chap. 2.7 See there and Psal 109.16 Some render Ye fire the poor others ye plunder them so the Chaldee and Hierom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seventy have it Ye smite them with fists But better Ye foot it upon them and make them sell their commodities under-foot as we phrase it to pay your heavy taxes and satisfie your greedy covetousnesse and ye take from him burdens of wheat Heb. the finest wheat and best winnowed these ye force him to make money of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for your use glad to feed upon the offall-wheat himself Ye have built houses of hâ—wen stone squared and polished Domos rasiles politas Sept thinking to flourish and frollick but the screech-owls of wo crying aloud from the stones out of those walls shall marre your mirth Hab. 2.11 but ye shall not dwell in them For either ye shall be prevented by death and sent to dwell with devils or be carried away captive and a stranger possesse your new-buildings Deut. 28.30 Ye have planted pleasant vineyards As He in the History that having a cup of new-wine in his hand expressed out of the grapes of his new-planted vineyard was set upon and slaine by a wild-boar before he could drink it and gave occasion to that proverb Erasm Adag Multa cadunt inter caelicem supremaque labra Many things fall betwixt the cup and the lip betwixt the chin and the chalice Hereunto agreeth that story in Mr. Burroughs upon Hosea Burr on Hos 1. pag. 379. I had saith he certain information from a reverend Minister that in his own town there was a wretched worldling who had a great crop of corn A good honest neighbour of his walking by his field saith Neighbour you have a very fine crop of corn if God blesse it yea saith he I will have a good crop speaking contemptuously and before he could come to get it into the barn it was so blasted that the corn of the whole crop was not worth sixe pence God hath many wayes to defeat the wicked mans expectation and the hope of unjust men perisheth Prov. 11.7 Etiam spes valentissima perit so some render that text he shall die or miscarry in the very height of his hopes and expectations Verse 12. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sinnes I know them and can easily set them in an order before your eyes Psal 50.21 bring them out as they did the vessells of the Sanctuary by number and by weight Ezra 8.34 make you answer for all with flames about your ears lay open your many transgressions and mighty sinnes Fortia peccata The Hebrew hath it your bony or big-boned sinnes huge hainous and monstrous capable of all manner of aggravations All these I know saith God they are all in Print in heaven
above an hundred yeers since forsaken it and embraced instead of it partly Mahumetanisme and partly Idolatry and that by the most miserable occasion that might be viz. famine of the word of God for lack of Ministers For as Alvarez hath recorded at his being at the king of Habassia's court Hist Ethiop cap. 37. there were Ambassadours out of Nubia to intreat him for a supply of ministers to instruct their nation and to repair Christianity gone to ruine amongst them but they were rejected Verse 12. And they shall wander from sea to sea Trouble themselves to no purpose take pains as Esau did for venison but lost his labour run to all coasts and quarters to seek the word of the Lord. and shall not find it And why they despised it when it was in their power they rejected the counsel of God against themselves with those Lawyers Luk. 7.30 He would have gathered them but they would not be gathered he would have purged them but they would not be purged Ezek. 24.13 14. they are therefore miserable by their own election as Saul was who slighted Samuel whiles he was alive and would have been full glad of his counsel when he was dead He that would not once worship God in Samuel worships at length Samuel in Satan and no marvel Satan was now become his refuge and preacheth his funeral his Vrim now was darknesse his Prophet a ghost O woful condition But what should a parent do when the child loaths and spils his victuals snatch it from him and lay it out of his reach Samaria felt this worser famine when carried captive especially so did Jerusalem after Malachi whose prophecy the Jews fitly call Chathimath Chazon the sealing up of vision Bath Chol or the Eccho from heaven they had now and then after this time Mat. 2.17 Joh. 12.28 they had also the writings of Moses and the Prophets interpreted after a sort by the Scribes and Pharisees whom whiles they sat close in Moses chair and kept it warm men were bound to to hear Mat. 23.2 3. which because Dives did not he suffered hunger and thirst in hell for ever Luk. 16.24 And had he been granted the liberty of hearing again upon earth but one more sermon how farre would not he gladly have gone for it and how as for life would he have listned to it But this could not possibly be for out of hell there is no redemption Psal 49.8 9. and when the night of death once comes men can work no more Night is a time not of doing work but of receiving wages up therefore and be doing whiles it is yet day Joh. 12.35 36. seek ye the Lord while he may be found Esay 55.6 seek him seasonably seek him seriously Then shall ye seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart Jer. 29.13 That was a dismall doom that our Saviour passed upon those stiffe-necked Jewes and uncircumcised in heart and ears as Saint Steven rightly stiles them Act. 7.51 that were as good at resisting the Holy-Ghost as ever their fathers had been before them Ye shall seek me and yet shall die in your sinnes whither I go ye cannot come Joh. 8.21 Ye shall wander up and down for meat making a noise like an hungry dog and grudge that ye be not satisfied Psal 59.14 15. Do not the miserable Jewes do so all the world over to this day expecting their Messias quem tantis ululatibus exposcunt throwing open their windows to behold him and praying for the rebuilding of their Temple thus Templum tuum brevi valde citò Buxtorf Synag Ind. cap. 13. valde citò in diebus nostris citissimè nunc aedisica templum tuum brevi c. Merciful God great God bountiful God beautiful God sweet God mighty God thou God of the Jewes now build thy Temple do it shortly suddenly quickly very quickly very quickly very quickly even in our dayes now this day before the next c. Ah poor creatures they would not when time was know in that their day the things which belonged to their peace therefore to this day they are hid from their eyes and wrath is come upon them to the utmost Luk. 19.42 Alterius perditio tua sit cautio Let their harmes be our warning not to stand out the day of grace not to surfeit of the word lest we suffer a famine of it not to retain the snuffes of our sinnes lest they dim our candlestick a removal whereof except we repent may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven as once to Ephesus telling them so Rev. 2.5 And indeed it hath been the opinion and is still the fear of some not unconsiderable Divines that Antichrist before his abolition shall once again overflow the whole face of the West and suppresse the whole protestant Churches Now if ever this come to passe as justly we may fear it will what may we thank but our detestable lukewarmnesse and loathing of the heavenly Manna our not receiving the love of the truth that we might be saved for which cause if God shall send us strong delusions 2 Thess 2.10 1◠even the efficacy of errour that we should believe a lie that being infatuated we should be seduced and being seduced be damned as Austin glosseth that text whom can we blame for it Verse 13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst When God depriveth a people of his Ordinances and so withdraweth his gracious presence from them what wonder though temporal judgements come rushing in as by a sluce Persecute and take him said Davids enemies for God hath forsaken him and there is none to deliver him Psal 71.11 The Philistins are upon me saith Saul for God hath forsaken me Behold I am cast out from thy presence said Cain that is from my fathers house where thine ordinances are administred and therefore every one that findeth me shall slay me Gen. 4.14 In that day of the want of the word in the day of spiritual famine and thirst behold aliud ex alio malum another thirst shall seise upon the choycest and fairest as flies settle upon the sweetest perfumes when they are cold and corrupt them Shall the fair virgins whom all men favour for their comelinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beauty is of it self lovely and attractive it needeth no letters of commendations but God is no respecter of persons and beauty abused is like a fair house with an ill inhabitant said Diogenes like a jewel of gold in a swines snout said Solomon Prov. 11.22 Some are Helena's without but Hecuba's within painted sepulchres Egyptian temples like Aurelia Orestilla of whom Salust saith that she had nothing in her praise-worthy but her beauty Fair she was and foolish not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beautiful and wise as it is reported of Aspasia Cyrus his concubine Athenaeus Now these fair maids together with the
and at length return them up again to his heavenly Father without losse of any one He is also called the Man by an excellency that matchlesse man the chief of ten thousand as his mother is called hagnalma that famous Virgin whom all generations are bound to call blessed He is Man-God both in one and is therefore also called Gods-fellow or Mate as being Consubstantiall to the Father according to the Godhead and very neer akinne to him according to the Man-hood by reason of the hypostaticall union of both natures into one person the Man Christ Jesus Smite the shepheard that that blessed Fountcin of his Bloud mentioned verse 1. may be opened and the flock of God washed and healed and satiated as the people were when the Rock was smitten and so set abroach and as when God clave a hollow place in the jaw-bone of the Asse so that there came water thereout Sampson drank and was revived And as when the Alabaster-box of ointment was broke all the house was filled with a sweet savour Judg. 15.19 And the sheep shall be scattered scattered and scattered shifting for themselves and leaving Christ to the mercy of his enemies who seized upon him as so many Carrion Kites upon a silly Dove Thomas who once said come let us go dye with him disappeares and is lost Peter followes aloof off but better he had heen farther off John if at least it were he flies away stark naked for hast Iudas comes nearer to him but to betray him with a kisse But is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Christ had indented with the enemie aforehand for their securitie Joh. 18.8 so that they needed not have retreated so disorderly and scattered as they did But the fear of man bringeth a snare Prov. 29.25 Howbeit mans badnesse cannot break off the course of Christs goodnesse For though they thus unworthily forsake him and leave him at the worst as they say yet I will turn my hand saith he upon the little ones i.e. I will recollect my dispersed flock how little soever either for number or respect in the world and bring back my banished So soon doth it repent the good Lord concerning his servants Mich. 7.18 Psal 136 23. He remembreth not iniquity for ever saith the Prophet because mercy pleaseth him and again He remembreth us in our low estates for his mercy endureth for ever He looked back upon Peter when his mouth was now big swoln with oathes and execrations and set him a weeping bitterly He called for Thomas after his resurrection and confirmed his weak faith by a wonderfull condescention He sealed up his love to them all again restoring them to their ministeriall imployment and not so much as once upbraiding them with their base dereliction but only with their unbelief Lyra and others sence the Text thus I will turn my hand upon the little ones that is I will so smite the Shepheard Christ that not only the sheep shall be scattered but the little lambs also even the least and lowest Christians shall have their share of sufferings shall feel the weight of my hand shall pledge the Lord Christ in that cup of afflictions that I have put into his hand shall be conformed to the Image of Gods Son as his co-sufferers that he may be the first born among many brethren Rom. 8.29 And this was fulfilled in the persecutions that followed soon after our Saviours death Ecclesia haeres crucis saith Luther and Persecutio ect Evangelij genius saith Calvin Persecution is the black Angel that dogges the Church the red horse that â—ollows the white at the heels All the comfort is that Gods holy hand hath a speciall stroke in all those afflictions that are laid upon his faithfull people I will turn mine hand c. Verse 8. Two parts therein shall be cut off and die q.d. they shall they shall how strange or incredible soever this sad tidings seem to you it shall be even so take my word for it Behold the severity of God Rom. 11.22 In the Greek it is the Resection or Cutting off as a Chirurgion cutteth off proud and dead flesh The Just Lord is in the middest thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will not do iniquity c. Zeph. 3.5 Fiat justitia ruat coelum may seem to be his Motto In point of justice he stands not upon multitudes Psal 9.17 It is all one to him whether against a Nation or against a man only Job 34.29 National sins bring national plagues heinous sinnes heavy punishments In the universal deluge God swept away all as if he had blotted out that part of his title The Lord the Lord gracious merciful c. and had taken up that of Attilas Orbis flagellum The worlds scourge Sodoms sinnes were multiplyed above measure therefore God took them away as he saw good Ezek. 16.49 50 and hath thrown them out as St. Jude speaketh for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jude 7. Herodotus a Heathen Historian saith the very same of the destruction of Troy viz. that the ruines and rubbish thereof are set forth for an example of that noted Rule that God greatly punisheth great offences and that hainous sinnes bring hideous plagues Here we have two parts of three cut off in the land of Judea as it fell out at the last destruction thereof by the Romans at which time more then a million of men perished see Matth. 24.21 with the Note And what think we shall become of Babylon the great Her sinnes reach up to heaven whereunto they are even glewed and fastened as the word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 18.5 therefore she shall be brought down to hell with Capernaum for flagitium flagellum sicuâ— acus filum therefore shall her plagues come in one day to confute their fond conceit of an eternal Empire death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly overthrown with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her full able to effect it Rev. 18.18 seem it to Babels brats never so improbable or impossible It was never besieged since it became Papal but it was taken whereas before it was held invincible Sinne that lyeth at the bottom will easily undermine and overturn the walis though never so strong built as the voice from heaven told Phocas the Murtherer The bloud of that innocent Lamb of God lyes heavy upon the whole Nation of the Jews to this day Their last devastation and present dismal dispersion is such as that one of their own Rabines concludes from thence that their Mesliah must needs be come and they must needs suffer so much for killing him but the third shall be left therein A holy remnant kept for a reserve Good husbands cast not all their corn into the oven but keep some for seed Esa 6.13 But yet in it shall be a tenth saith another Prophet Es 17.6 there shall
fry weep and gnash live and die a dying life a living death not for a time or times or half a time t Rev. 12.14 oh happy they if ever they might hope an end but ever and ever and beyond all time throughout all eternity Oh considerchis all ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you u Psal 50.22 Save your selves from this tormenting Tophet and be forwarned to flee from the wrath to come See what miserable slaves ye are to Satan being altogether as much in his power and clutches x Act. 26 18 as he that goes gyved is in the gaolers or he that goes up the ladder pininond and hoodwinkt in the hangmans and for how little good advantage ye lay forth your selves and toyl out your lives in wearisome * Ier. 9.5 Psal 55.10 wickednesse Do but summon the sobriety of your senses afore your own judgments and see what uncessant pains ye are at and all to go to hell whiles you do wickedly with both hands earnestly y Mic. 7.3 working hard at the works of the flesh but putting your gets into a bottomlesse bag z Hag. 1.6 Nay that 's not all for he that soweth the winde shall reap the whirelwinde a Prov. 22 8 Hos 10 12 saith Solomon that is he that soweth the wind of sin and vanity shall reap the whirlwinde of vengeance and misery And he that soweth to his flesh shall of the fiesh reap that corruption that is contradistinguisht to life everlasting b Gal. 6.8 for the wages of sin is death c Rom. 6. ult Sursum cursum nostrum dirigamus minantem imminentem exterminantem mortem attendamus ne simul cum corporis fractura animae jacturam faciamus temporal spiritual and eternal And is it nothing to lose an immortal soul to purchase an everliving death hear then set thy self in good earnest to see and sigh under Satans servitude be sensible of his yoke as galling thy neck and let it make thee cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this unsufferable servitude Behold I am more miserable then Samson at the mill for he had hope in his death d Prov. 14.32 but what hope have I When God shall take away my soul e Job 27.8 I am more miserable then Zedekiah in cold irons for though he los his eyes yet he escaped with his life but I alasse am am dead while alive f 1 Tim. 5.6 a very living ghost a walking sepulchre of my self I am more miserable then Ieremy in the dungenon for he found friends and means of enlargement but to which of the Saints shall I turn my self g Job 5.1 or where shall I finde help or rescue in heaven or earth I am more wretched then Israel in Egypt for if they performed their tasks they escaped the lash but I after all my best services done o the devill am laden with stripes and shall be scourged with scorpions * â—â—â—nsideret his quilibet quam jod 1 sir servitus servhe priacipi immò tyranno diabolo qui subditos sibi infandis divexat modis Bucer Thus make moan to thy self first and tenmake out to Christ next for manumission and enlargement for if the son set you free you shall be free indeed h Ioh. 8.36 Cry to the Lord Christ in the words of the ancient Church O Lord other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but we will remember thee only and thy name i Isa 26.13 Thy name is as an oynt munt powred out theresore the Virgins love thee k Cant 1.3 O pour upon my dry soul of that precious oyntment and stablish me with thy free spirit l Psal 51 12 for where thy spirit is there is liberty m 2 Cor. 3.17 from both the commanding and the condemning poer of sin and Satan O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove to these wicked ones x in thy righteousnesse rid me and set me free For a day in thy courts is better then a thousand other-where I had rather be a dore-keeper in the house of my God o Ps 84.10 11 then to be Satans chlef-favourite or one of the privy chamber For the Lord God is a Sun and a shield the Lord will give grace and glory large wages grace and glory what things be these one would think that were reward enough for such sorry service as we can do him a best ey but then her 's more then enough for no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Oh bountifull God! who would not chuse and covet to be thy servant who would not gladly stand waiting at the posts of thy gates p Prov. 8 34 if haply at any hour of th day he might hear thy happy call and be hired into thy heavenly Vineyard who would not â—un through thick and thin * Quidam ad omnia viae vitae hujus exercitia non solum ambulant sed currunt imò potius volant Bern. Serm. 3. de Asc Dom. to compasse such a gainfull service And yet 't is a world to see a wonder to behold how strangely men hang off here how hard they are to be wonn to the setting in hand with the works of the Lord miserably slighting God offers and letting slip their golden opportunities of getting into his employment They talke sometimes of the wages but shrink at the work as the Israelites talked of the reward of Goliath's conquest yet fled from it when they had done q 1 Sam. 17.24 25 The land is good said those faint-hearted spies but the cityes are walled up to heaven and the inhabitants unconquerable They wish well other-whiles to heaven as he that kneeled to our Saviour with good master r Mat. 19.16 Turpe est impios diabolo tam strenuèservire nos Christo pro sanguinis â—retio nihil rependere Cyprian lib. de oper et eleemos in his mouth they could be glad with Balaam to dye the death of the righteous but to live their precise and austere life that goes to the heart of them they cannot frame to it O blinder then Beetles the merchant refuseth no adventure for the hope of gain the hunter shrinketh at no weather for love of game the souldier declineth no danger for desire of glory or spoile the bear breaks in upon the hives contemning the stings And shall we fain to our selves an ease in not understanding or an idlenesse in not seeking after that service that will be a means unto us not only of avoyding intollerable and endlesse torments which is the devills meed and wages but also of attaining immeasurable and immortall glory pleasure and gain which is Gods reward and guerdon For glory honour and peace to every man that works good to the lew first and also to the Gentile Å¿ Rom. 2 10 And contented godlinesse