That the motto of the most afflicted soule may be The mercies of our God are great The rather for these reasons following In the act of punishing God punisheth a little and pardoneth a great deale not suiting his plagues according to our deserts for then wee should be consumed but as a louing and mercifull Creditor when the debtor owes an hundred bids him take his pen and write fiftie or at the most foure score nay indeede not taking so much as fiue in the hundred of his debtors cutting off onely the hemme of our garment or the skirt of our rayment when we owe vnto him our soules as forfeit by reason of our transgression Any sinne committed against our infinite God deserues an infinite punishment If God therefore shall abate eternitie and send vs punishment is not his mercy great If when we deserue many stripes he giues vs but stripes is not his mercy great for man in this kind would haue had the vtmost farthing In the end of punishing farre is it from God to ayme at the destruction of his people nay hee aymes at their instruction that they might learne to keepe his Statutes and Commandements And whereas an enemie would funditus delere nocentem that his name Esa 55.8 nor the name of Israel might be had no more in remembrance Gods wayes are not as mens wayes God indeede sometimes destroyes the body that he may saue the soule he punisheth his children with the world that they may not be condemned with the world Others take vengeance out of hatred God out of his loue Castigans non quod odio habeat sed quod amet The originall of this action being so farre different must of necessitie suppose a contrary end A great Armada preuailing kills vp all A Powder-treason vndiscouered blowes vp all Ab vno intenditur ruina ab altero doctrina God meanes good man meanes mischiefe In the manner of punishing Gods mercies are great Albeit the iustice of God be mooued and his patience prouoked and though with men Laesa patientia vertitur in furorem Patience prouoked turnes to furie and yet not furor breuis a short furie but an irreconcileable hatred Yet God though offended will not alwaies be chiding Psal 103.9 neither keepeth he his anger for euer yea although he whet his sword and bend his bow and make ready his arrowes yet a poore soule may haue a present appeale a Deo irato ad Deum placatum being so appeasable and facile vnto such as shall vpon the bended knees of their soules sue out grace and pardon by renouncing of their sinnes and relying vpon his great mercies Nay the Lord himselfe of himselfe in this present plague without any intreaty to the comfort of penitent sinners I speake it did commaund the destroying Angell to hold his hand as grieuing to see the misery of his people and that so soon that Dauid had not time to offer any sacrifice propitiatorie but at the ceasing of the plague a free-will offering gratulatory for the remouall of so heauy a iudgement In this very punishment the Lord is more then iustifiable in all his wayes and holy in all his works and had he now decreed that whatsoeuer was left of the famine the sword should destroy and whatsoeuer was left of the sword the pestilence should destroy and so haue sent althose three furies of hell at once to haue assailed Israel what cursed Atheist durst haue said or thought but the Lord is iuste but now hehold him also mercifull he opens but one Seale sends but one punishment Nor is that positiuely set downe or cald out by name to enter combat with Israel but left arbitrary to Dauid Chuse one It is much if beggers may be chusers more if sinners Traian intending the death of Seneca bade him make choyce of the manner of his death Traian was cruell in his decree though kind in such a proffer God not cruell but mercifull vnto all his workes makes Dauid heere pronounce the sentence of iudgement Chuse one Is not heere great mercy Now Seneca in his wisedome chose the easiest to bleed to death in a bath and Dauid now hauing considered the mercies of God great of themselues but yet greater if compared with the mercies of men chuseth to fall into the hands of God who is iust and mercifull in the act of punishment gracious and mercifull in the end of punishment patient and merciful in his manner of punishment and lastly exceeding mercifull in this very punishment As the great mercies of God may iustly prouoke our admiration so Dauids wise choyce may be iustified as Christ did that of Mary he chose the better part Luk. 10.42 to fall into Gods hands whose mercies are great Can we now but wonder at Dauids choyce when all things considered ipsa iustitia Dei sit misericordia Foolish and vnfortunate was the ingresse into this sinne but most prudent and happy the euasion out of it Obiect But how was it so happy seeing the Apostle to affright from Sinne determines and defines It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God Heb. 10.31 After that I haue serued necessity in the reconciling these two places I must obey the time Thus then briefely Resp 1 Two things must here be considered First of what maner of sinne and sinners the Apostle speaketh Willet vbi supra namely of those that tread vnder foote the Sonne of God that count the bloud of the Couenant wherewith he was sanctified an vnholy thing and haue despited the spirit of grace as appeareth verse 29. But Dauids case and theirs are not alike his was a Sinne but of a child of God it was a Sinne but of infirmity Theirs are Sinnes but Sinnes of reprobates theirs are Sinnes but of that nature that the first is intolerable the second is like vnto it abhominable and the third as Christ the truth it selfe hath pronounced impardonable either in this world or in the world to come That is sauing Bellarmines patience they shall not haue any sense or feeling of pardon in this world Explic. locus Mat. 12.32 or benefite of remission of sinnes in the world to come or as our Church in shorter termes neuer Here then is the case It is one case to appeare before a temporal Iudge as a malefactor in wrong or violence to my neighbour which may be answered and auoyded by some legall meanes or if not the punishment may extend to losse of goods or good name and not touch life It is another case when a man shall appeare as guilty of that roaring sin of Treason against his Soueraigne a monstrous sinne worthy ten thousand deaths if a malefactor had so many liues what a wofull and fearefull case is this So it is one thing to sinne and another thing to sinne with so high an hand and herein it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God The Apostle speakes not of
clad in a roabe of immoderate raine and showers drowning the worlds plenty and the earths prouision Sometimes bearing on her shoulders heauens of brasse and treading vnder her feete the earth of iron Sometimes attended with Caterpillers innumerable to eat vp the fruits of the earth Pale and leane she is more then the picture of death Mors in illa as well as mors in olla and which is more genus miserabile lethi When God who giues to man the breath of life shall denie bread to maintaine life when Winter shall be turned into Summer and Summer into Winter Psal 127.2 when a man shall rise earlie and eate the bread of carefulnesse and at night be to care for his bread when men shall Sow much and bring in little Hag. 1.6 when the haruest shall be little and the labourers many when one shall plant another water and God shall denie increase is not this a great Strait And yet all these are but initia dolorum Ah my Lord now thinkes Dauid shall these eyes behold my poore Israel running and whining like dogs Psal 59 and cannot be satisfied Shall I see cleannesse of teeth and leannesse of body in all my Land Can I endure to see an Asses head sold for 80. pieces of siluer and a cab of doues doung for 20 pieces Shall I see a birth-right bidden for a messe of pottage and will not be taken Shall I behold my poore people like Pharaohs leane kine Shall I heare them crie Oh giue vs bread or we perish for hunger Shall I see mothers re-womb and re-entomb the fruit of their body for want of food Three yeeres Famine haue we felt already and a second siege will turn flesh and bloud into skinne and bone my people must become meat for wormes as hauing none for themselues This punishment is greater then can be borne This is too great a Strait The second Seale being opened forth comes Warre riding vpon a red Horse and he vnbridled A time when all things are carried by force of Armes and not of Reason A time wherein Pyrrhus regards not the aged head of Priam nor yet the sacred Altar whereto he flies A time wherein old Iacobs head is sent with sorrow to the graue and that not sine caede vulnere A time wherin Rachel may weepe for her children and will not be comforted because they are not A time Paradoxall vnto nature wherein Parents burie their Children A time when men must either fight and so runne vpon a sodaine death or flie and so lead a tedious life A time of out-cries of Fathers for their Children their liuely images when Widowes weepe for their second selues their husbands when Orphanes lament the losse of Parents their onely stayes when old men are comfortlesse widdowes helplesse children haplesse men women and children all hopelesse Dauid himselfe had been a Man of warre from his youth and had been eye-witnesse of the lamentable euents of Warre 1. Sam. 17. That he feared it not witnesse two hundred foreskinnes of the Philistines witnesse the fall of Goliah witnesse the sons of Ammon whom he put vnder axes sawes and harrowes Wheresoeuer he marched death and destruction mustered in his face Saul hath slaine a thousand but Dauid his ten thousand this was Vox populi and very true Well then thinkes Dauid I will fight three months with the proudest enemie that dare set foot vpō the land of Israel thus hauing thought he speakes Nay but Gad replies Dauid thou must not fight but flie three months Now then he is in a wonderfull Strait now his troubled soule cannot but presage much euill He vsed to pursue Psal 18.42 and now must he be pursued He did 〈◊〉 his enemies as small as the dust before the wind and now he must flie as dust before the wind If it were for a day hee might the better beare it though the Sunne should stand still to lengthen that day Ios 10. but three months will make the streetes of Ierusalem streame with bloud the people made a heape of dead bodies and the Citie a heape of stones God despited the people destroyed the Temple defiled Oh then I cannot endure this wondrous Strait Pone tertium O man of God let mee heare the third euill that though I haue done wickedly I may chuse wisely The third Seale being opened Pestilence issues forth vpon a blacke Horse killing with sicknesse and death This seemes to be the fairest choice as proceeding from the immediate hand of God and being but for three dayes and so shortest of continuance But yet it is a grieuous punishment Storehouses may serue against a Famine Dauids Citie wals or if not those his liuing walls his Souldiers his Worthies may meet his enemies in the gate but Pestilence flieth by night and killeth at noone day One cries Oh my brother come not nigh me for I am infected Another barr'd in by command shut vp by sicknesse and worse pend in by sorow cries out at a window O my Father O my brother either now breathing their last or by this time dead Some going if any so dare to the sad funerall of their friends before they returne to their owne home finde their long home O bellum Dei contrà homines The house may shield men and cattell from the hayle flight may saue from the Sword soiourning in another country may preserue from Famine but in this contagion at home our houses stifles vs abroad the ayre infects vs. Behold now beloued Dauids Strait If I should say no more oft his subiect this Citie knowes what kind of misery it is Etenim pars magna fuit How was it almost made desolate and her marchandize whilome like that of Tyrus almost decayed When hee that had walkt by night was in more feare to haue met the dead then the liuing A wofull time when there shall be more neede to weede the pauement then to mend it more cries of the Vespillo Who is here dead then of the Trades-man What doe ye lacke O time of desolation dulnesse and discontent Now I beseech you againe haue a regard of Dauids Strait and consider if euer sorrow were like vnto his sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his wrath Lam. 1.12 Neuer could the irons enter so neare to the soule of Ioseph as this sorrow to the heart of Dauid See we now these three things propounded as Salomon said of the pleasures of the world Vanitie of vanities and all is vanitie so may Dauid say of the fruit of sinne death of deaths and all is death Saint Paul was in a wonderfull Strait betwixt two life and death Dauid is betwixt three and each is death Famin a pinching death Warre a cruell death Pestilence a noysome death Surely a most wonderfull Strait Now in the next place that which is vltimus aerumnae cumulus 2. Ineuitable and makes Dauid absolutely miserable that now he is like the Israelites
that saw themselues in an euill case but they knew not how to helpe it While he is thus ruminating of this hard bargaine Gad tarries for an answer and now impatient of further delay demands a speedy resolution Verse 13. that hee may returne an answer to him that sent him Thus then at the length out of the abundant sorrow of his heart his trembling lips and tongue vtter these or the like words of passion Oh man of God pray for me vnto the Lord that if it be possible this pride of my heart may be forgiuen me Oh carry God my sighes and teares perhaps that sweet incense may appease him Present vnto my louing God my straitned soule and see if that will satisfie him tell him my soule cries out of the grate of misery for grace and mercy My sinne hath so ingaged my soule vnto God that my heart is broken and such a sacrifice my God will not despise But here the Seer interrupts him Dauid now leaue off passion and arme thy selfe with patience The decree of God is set down and God will neuer grant decree vpon decree the sentence is past and may not be reuersed thy sinne was great Note so must be thy punishment As no counsell though of thy friend could diuert thee from the one so no prayer though neuer so carnest shall auert from thee the other Herein was Gad a faithfull messenger but a miserable comforter The diuell ought Israel a spight and now he hath payed it them When Nathan told Dauid of his adultery and murder hee presently absolues him vpon his repentance The Lord hath put away thy sinne Why may not Gad say as much Hath God forgotten to be gracious Oh but if we well remember the child borne of that adulterous bed dyed for Dauids sinne and hath God forgotten to be iust Thus is Dauid still in a great strait Had hee beene now numbring of his dayes he had applyed his heart to wisedome but now in numbring the people his heart gaue way to folly Now not only is he brought to the Logicians dilemma but indeed to Trilemma as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vsed in war cast it any way and still one poynt lies vpward obuious to the face and hurtfull to the foote Now I conceiue your iudicious apprehensions ready to forestall me and already to conceiue a Doctrine which I shall propound as a true borne Childe lawfully begotten from Dauids case and my premised discourse Doct. That it is a farre easier matter to yeeld to sinne then to answere for it Sampson was bound with seuen greene cordes and hee brake them from his armes like a third Dauid is now tyed with one twist of a threefold cord and cannot get loose I haue heard and read of some Noctambulones that haue left their beds in their sleepe and haue clombe vp such daungerous places that waking they could scarse tell how to get downe againe So fares it with the wilfull sonnes of men who being lulled asleepe in sinne questionlesse dreame of great security but when their slumber is past when the word or their conscience shall awake them then their voyce is the voyce of Dauid Angustior It may be sayde of Sinne as the Poets sayd of Venus Laeta venire Venus tristis abire solet For sinne still presents to men vtile iucundum or honestum which being by and by apprehended Sathan suggests man consents and both their fingers itch till the fear be wrought which being once effected the pleasure of sinne lasting but for a season is withdrawne and gone Sathan deales as Ammon did by Thamar thrusts him out bolts the doore and takes no notice of the poore sinner Then is poore man left to himselfe and hath no company but a wounded conscience and then hee finds himselfe in a strange perplexity in a wonderfull strait And what I now beloued say concerning one sinner I say of all When neither the voyce of reason can reuoke them the bridle of Religion restraine them nor the checke of conscience moue them they that in the heat of sinne will bee like Dauid vsing the vtmost of their liberty shall in the height of punishment find themselues like Dauid in a great strait But that I may not seeme to want proofe within the confines of my Text fixe we but our eies on Dauid T is a braue thing to number the people it was indeed so is a Waspe a pretty thing to see too but it beares a sting in the taile So is Sinne Mulier formosa supernè outwardly and vpwardly faire but desinit in piscem whatsoeuer the premises or the promises of sinne may be the Sinner may in the end say to it as dying Agrippa did to his dogge Abi hinc in malam rem qui perdidisti animam meam See here what Dauids numbring or practice in Arithmetique came too Addition of sinne Substraction of liberty Multiplication of sorrow Diuision like the diuision of Reuben euen great thoughts of heart It is the manner of Worldlings to deale in sin as Prodigals doe in expences spend and call and neuer mind the reckoning no nor their generall estate till pouertie come vpon them like an armed man And thus the sinner multiplies his transgressions neuer minding the fearefull euent and dire Catastrophe of his wickednesse when as indeed he should like the wise builder sit downe and casts vp his reckoning But Satan like a cunning Sophister sets the best side forward separates the end from the meanes as if Sinne and sorrow were of no acquaintance and did not vse to kisse each other S. Iohn did eate the booke which the Angell gaue him in his mouth it was as sweet as honey but in his belly as bitter as gall But he that swallowes the bait which Satan giues him shal find the pleasures of sinne to last but for a season and in the end bitternesse bitternesse Eue saw the apple that it was faire to the eye but after could haue wished that she had neuer seene it The Foxe mentioned by Horace got easily into the Garner of corne but hauing eaten his fill could not so soone get out The hunters horne debts liuely embleme is easily entred but hard in the egresse A man falling downe with the tyde may easily shoot the bridge but to returne against the streame hic labor hoc opus est Facilis descensus Auerni Iunenal Diues may slip into hell and misery without either spoiling his purple garments or pinching his well-fed belly But then there is magnum Chaos not a wall but a world of seperation betwixt him and happinesse The vnthrifty Tradesman that makes the Tauerne his shop the Play-house his Exchange gaming his traffique and whores his customers when need and debt en-Counter him and his former follies like Spiders poison him that he breaks then and not till then is hee made sensible of his owne misery then his letters certifie his friends and his tongue cries out to his Creditors I am in