all of vs haue some way or other to bring vs to these gates of death here spoken of I am not able to call all the seuerall Arrowes of this quiuer by their proper names but surely the least and most gentle of them is sufficient to rob vs of the best of natures Iewels our life We haue all experience in this kinde of as much as I can relate wee see that all the Cities and Townes of the earth so farre as the line of them is stretched are but humanarum cladium misâ—randa consepta and though there is but 〈…〉 yet there are Iâ—numeri exitus but one way of comming into the world yet there are a world of wayes of going out and if any question the cause of these our maladies let him at his leisure but reade ouer the 28. of Dâ—ut and there hee shall see that the sinne of his soule is the onely cause of the suffering of the body It was the word of the Sonne of Syrach Let him that sinneth against his Maker fall into the hands of the Phisition And experience tells vs daily that there are some Diseases which grow vpon men meerely by their sinne and wickednesse Our Sauiour bids vs take heed that our stomacks be not ouer-charged with surfeiting and drunkennesse Plures gulâ quà m gladiâ— a true though as olde Prouerbe the Graue hath beene as much beholding to Intemperance as any other thing whatsoeuer Whence come our Agues and Feuers and that other which was once out-landish but may now be called our natiue disease not fit to bee named which breedes corruption in the bones and consumes the marrow in the loynes but by excesse and voluptuousnesse For this cause saith St. Paul speaking before of the neglect and abuse of the Sacrament many are weake and sicke among you and many are fallen asleepe For vaine Swearing the whole Land mournes and the Heathen did obserue that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Israelites were discomfited for the offence of Achan But for this disease which thus long hath troubled vs and which if any is particularly meant in this place you shall obserue thaâ— that neuer came but for some great and grieuous precedent sinne in the 11. of Numbers and 16. there the people were so plagued the cause is set downe their murmuring and impatience one time against God a second time against Moses and Aaron So when Dauid lost 70000. of the same disease the Text saith for his sinne in numbring the people This is called the arrow of the Lord that flyes by day and when this once comes the Text hath it that Wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is gone out from the Lord as Moses said to Aaron as if all other diseases were but whipping with Roddes light and slight afflictions this whipping with Scorpions the worst the terriblest the most seuere of all other It is not the Infection of the Ayre nor distemperature of the body nor the heape of Inhabitants nor the Influence of the Stars which Phisitions could or would euer apply this disease vnto but as the Aegyptians said of the Plague of Lice Digitus deiest hic and that for some great some grieuous offence Wherefore let vs all strike our selues with amazement vpon the thigh and say what haue wee done let vs resolue a Christian alteration and reformation otherwise though this bee remoued yet a worse thing will befall vs which surely must be in the other life for heere naught worse can come for see how it is described Their soule abhorreth all meate and they draw neere to the gates of death All pleasure all delights proue hatefull to them nay their necessary foode which should preserue their being keepe life and soule together is loathsome and then no meruaile though they bee neere death for can a fire continue without â—ewell and nature bee sustained without its appointed food But they whom God hath deliuered out of it can better expresse the nature of this disease then my selfe onely thus much it is in the most mortall in all fearefull and vncomfortable when a friend is barred from a friends visite when hee shall haue none to close vp his dying eyes nor to say to him leaue thy fatherlesse children to mee when hee not onely suffers himselfe but it any be so aduentrously kinde to come to see him he may bee a peâ—â—iduct and an occasion of the like misery to him But wee haue not changed the colour of our haire not added one inch to our statures since our wet eyes and heauy hearts were witnesses of more then what my tongue is able to relate when naught was heard but crying and complaining in our streetes no fights but some carrying others to their graues and not many dayes after others doing the like necessary office for them Gods arme is not yet shortned nor his strength so much weakened but that if wee still sinne hee will surely smite againe The onely way to make a perfect cure is to humble our selues vnder the hand of heauen who hath wounded vs and who can heale vs the Soare is but skinned not perfectly healed without that plaister be applyed this did these in my Text. Then they cryed vnto the Lord in their troubles A whippe for the Horse and a Bridle for the Asse and the Rod is for the backe of a Foole. They haue sinned and smarted and now they feele it and cry for helpe The wilde Asse vsed to the Wildernesse snuffeth vp winde at her pleasure who can turne her backe they that seeke after her will not weary themselues but they will finde her in her moneth Ier. 2. God sees and obserues at all times the vntamednesse of the wicked wearying themselues like an Asse in the by-paths of vngodlinesse but hee takes them in their Moneth and happy are they that are so taken As St. Austin of necessity so say I of miserie Foelix qua in meliora cogit happy misery that driues vs to eternall happinesse Aduersity makes them seeke to that God whom their prosperitie made them forget In the time of their trouble they will say Arise and saue vs saith God Ier. 2. 27. Binde Manasses with Chaines and load him with Irons bow downe his nceke and his backe with bonds and hee will soone know himselfe Pull the King of Babilon also from his Throne lay his honour and insolency in the dust banish him the company of men turne him to eate grasse with the Oxe in the field and he will at last learne to praise the King of Heauen Let Moab settle her selfe vpon her Lees and not be emptyed from vessell to vessell and her sent will remaine in her Ier. 48. doth the wilde Asse bray when hee hath grasse or the Oxe low when hee hath Fodder Iob 6. giue but any of the sonnes of men peace plenty and prosperity all things at his hearts desire let but the Sunne of happinesse still shine vpon him how like Waxe will he
another 3. So for the third How are our bodyes that should be vessells of honour Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in giuen ouer to all vncleannesse men neighing with the horse after his female and thinking no waters so pleasant nor any bread so sweet as what in that sort is purloyned 4. Those Pronounes Meum and Tuum are rased out of our Grammers many violently stealing but more fraudulently cozening their Neighbours of their estates It is naught saith the buyer and comming to sell it hee as much commends it and in both equally deceiptfull 5. How greedily doe our eares sucke in false Reports of our brethren and how are our mouthes with childe till againe they be deliuered of them to the detraction of their repuâ—es The Diuels name comes from such practice Diabolus is Divulgator a spreader abroad of euill reports so that they that report them haue the Diuell in their tongues and they that receiue and beleeue them the Diuell in their eares both in their hearts Nay are there not found among vs Sons of Belial such as Iesabell procured to sweare against Naboth who for a small salary will sweare downe Innocence it selfe and condemne it The Temple-walkes in the Tearme-time are seldome vnfurnisht of such necessary mischiefes 6. And whence come all these what is the ground of all these Iniquities but our owne concupiscence the sinne against the last Commandement which as St. Iohn diuides it is either carnis or occulorum with Achan wee see a Babilonish garment and a wedge of gold and so wee desire to be fine or rich or to enjoy such a beautie or to be reuenged in such a kinde for such an iniury and loe all these actuall Iniquities follow These are in grosse our grosse Transgressions and Iniquities against which being to declaime I could wish I had Stentors voyce and more sand to runne out but there are other things which call for my labour and your attention But yet ere I leaue this verse with the practice of which sinnes we so much please our selues giue me leaue to doe as the Finers of gold and siluer who non solùm aurimassas verum bracteolas parvus tollunt not onely make vse of the Wedge it selfe but euen of the smallest rayes or foyles which their mettall casteth so heere giue mee leaue to note out the first word of the verse the censure which the Wisdome of God giues vpon men when they are in their greatest Ruffe in the toppe of their Pride as Nebuchadnezzar in his Galleries and say with Pharaoh who is the Lord that I should obey him or with Rabsaketh to Hesekiah he shall not be able to deliuer thee out of my hands I say though they like the Dromedary weary themselues in the race of their abominations and yet triumph thinking that Wisedome shall onely liue and die with them Yet see what a blacke coale they are marked with by the finger of the Spirit the honourablest stile they can haue is but Fooles that 's the best and most charitable construction can be giuen of all their actions and the fayrest tytle they can deserue One builds and thinkes to get him a name that way another lades himselfe with thicke Clay to vse the phrase of the Prophet and hopes that way to get him a name another ventures his life to get him a name after his death and there are Catilanary dispositions who by mischiefe thinke to procure a name as those Inventors of the Powder-treason but see here what name they get this is the denomination which they haue in their liues and shall without repentance be written on their Tombes Foole and vnwise to heart and without vnderstanding shall each of them be called and so recorded to Posterity As Abigal spake of her Husband Nabal is his name and folly is with him so it is with vs all by nature we are all bound vp in a bundle of folly together were wee as wise as Achitophell whose counsell was thought as the Oracles of God or as Solomon who could dispute of euery thing from the Cedar to the shrubbe or as Adam who had the wisedome to impose names according to the seuerall natures of euery creature yet is all the wisdome in the world folly with God who sits in Heauen and sees the actions of men and laughs them to scorne and will at last openly discouer their nakednesse to themselues that they themselues shall bee enforced to acknowledge their folly and bee ashamed of it Though the sword of Gods vengeance long rests in the scabberd of â—his patience as it did to these men here in my Text yet at last it will bee drawne forth The Heathen shall know themselues to bee but men and these men to bee but Fooles the day of their pleasure is now past and the night of their Tribulation comes they were well and in health and merry but see now they are afflicted nay Tarditatem supplitij gravitate compensat for see the manner of it Their soule abhorreth all meate and they drawe neere to the gates of death and so the second part comes in the Disease The cause of our disasters you haue heard our Transgressions and our Iniquities hinc nostri fundi calamitas hence is the source of all our sorrowes the originall of all our afflictions Had our first Parents continued in that Innocency wherein they were created the name of affliction had beene a stranger vnto them they had neuer suffered had neuer dyed but they starting aside like a brokâ—n bow and falling from that Integrity haue not onely brought a death and that a double one vpon themselues and their issue Moriâ—ndâ— moriemini but also encumbred that short life which was alotted them with a world of sorrow and vexation Hence come that infinite number of diseases which begirt and enuiron this body of ours so that not one part from the sole of the foot to the top of the head may challenge any freedome and immunity some whereof ambitiously aspire to the seate of Maiesty the head and there despightfully triumph ouer vs while others more humble no lesse cruell content themselues with the Iniury they offer vs in our more inferiour members Others there are who as if they had receiued that commission of his to his Souldiers fight neither against small nor great saue the King onely so these bend all their forces against the onely fountaine of our life our heart where yet more kindely cruell they strike vs with present death while others to shew the virulency of their disposition are many yeeres in killing vs during all which time our whole life is but labour and sorrow and the graue is more desired then all the treasures of the world One hee complaines of his head as the Shuâ—aâ—itâ—s Son another of his belly as the Prophet another is â—icke in his legges as Asa another of a soare as Hezekiah
of all comfort and God â—f all mercy to strike much more to kill Hee wills not the death of a sinner but rather their conuersion and saluation And because prosperity doth rather breed corruption then amendment as Gesâ—urun waxing â—at will kicke and wee see that standing waters will soone grow noysome Aduersity must then succeed as when Absolom could not draw Ioab vnto him by faire intreats he fired his Barley â—ieldes to make him come so that here is the course God blesseth they sin God strikes they pray and then He presently heares and helpes them Thus then my Text falls in sunder First as all Phisitians comming to their Patients examine the cause of the disease so here wee haue the ground and the originall of all our sorrowes our Transgressions and Iniquities 17. Foole because of their Transgressions and because of their Iniquities are afflicted Then secondly we haue the nature of the disease the new Translâ—tion saith in generall they are afflicted The old hath it they are plagued which by the symptomes of it may be thought to bâ—e the same disease vnder which wee haue thus long groaned 18. Their soule abhorreth all meate and they drawe neere to the gates of death Vomiting I am sure is one of the certainest signes of the plague Then thirdly the seeking to the Phisiâ—ian 19. Then they cry vnto the Lord in their trouble Fâ—uâ—â—hly the cure intended in the same verse applyed in the next Hee saued them out of their distresses 20. Hee sent his Word and healed them and deliuered them from their destructions And lastly the conclusion of all the onely Fee and gratification which our Phisition expects for the cure 21. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull workes to the children of men These are the parts The cause The disease The seeking to the Phisition the Cure and the discharge or satisfaction As the Prodigall when hee returned to his Fathers house freely confessed hee had sinned against Heauen and against him and was no more worthy to be called his sonne and so reduced all his delinquencyes to these two heads God and Man So are all our sinnes wee can bee guilty of included in these two our Transgressions and our Iniquities our Transgressions as all interpreters doe agree smiting against the first Table and our Iniquities violating the second our sinnes of knowledge our sinnes of ignorance our sinnes of weaknesse our sinnes of wilfulnesse our secret our open sinnes of our thoughts of our mouthes of our hands are all here comprised whatsoeuer the diuell can suggest or to which our hearts can consent or our hands act are all here vnderstood Should I take vpon me to number the Transgressions of our Iudah and reckon vp the particular Iniquities of our Israel I might as easily call all the â—â—arres by their names and giue a true and exact accompt of the sand vpon the Sea-shore not onely the ends of the world as Saint Paul saith but the ends of all goodnesse are met vpon this last and worst age of ours The sinnes which in former ages were but in their Infancy are now in ours growne to their full height and strength those which whilome were but in the Egge are now come to be fiery flying Serpents All these wee haue and more of our owne more horrid Euery new day almost brings in a new way of offending Were Salomon now aliue he would recant in that he said He saw no new thing vnder the Sun Et dictum factum quod non prius wee offend both in word and workes in such kindes such fashions as former ages were neuer guilty of the knowledge of and Non habet vlterius quod nostris moribus addat Posteritas Posterity will neuer be able to paralell our exorbitancies As in the time of the Plague wee wondred not so much at those that dyed as at those that escaped so in this generall Infection they deserue no admiration that offend but they that are found innocent vt Pueri Iunonis auâ—m are wondred at as a Bird of diuerse colours Should euery Leaper in this kinde be enforced as those other Leapers in the old Law were to go out of our Cities and rend their clothes and cry I am vncleane men would swarme in our fieldes like those Grashoppers in Aegypt our Townes and houses should onely be places for Zim and Iim Owles and Ostriches to inhabite in our streetes should bee left so desolate that grasse might there grow and a man should bee more pretious then the purest gold of Ophir Not a man amongst vs but may cry as Dauid did Peccaui nay Stulâ—è seci wee haue sinned and done very foolishly Stocke and branch Cedar and shrubbe Prince and Priest and People all of vs are digged out of one and the same pit of Adams disobedience and hewen out of that rocke of Infidelity The father of vs all was an Ammorite and our mother an Hittite in sinne haue they begotten vs and in Iniquity haue they produced vs. and we our selues sucke not the ayre faster nor Behemoth drinkes downe Iordane with more greedinesse then we hale on sinne with cart-ropes and pull it vnto vs euen by violence The whole head of man-kinde is sicke and the whole heart faint of this malady There is none that doth good no not one saith Dauid there is none that doth not cuill say I and very euill no not one Salomon at the Dedication of the Temple concluded vs all vnder sinne Omnes aliquid Nemo nullum All of vs offend in some things and some of vs offend in all things The most righteous in all the cluster of man-kinde falls in his happiest day seuen timâ—s Hee hath Breuia leuiaque peccata quamâ—is pauca quamuis parua non tamen nulla so that omnes odit qui malos odit His sword must needs be against euery man that fights against wicked men For our skin cleaues not faster to our flesh nor our flesh to our bones then Transgressions and Iniquities to the hearts and hands of vs all But to reduce my Inâ—ectiue into some method as Caesar comprised his Victories in three words Veni vidi vici So will I reduce all our extrauagancies to three other Corda ora opa our hearts our tongues our hands are the three weapons with which we fight against our God our neighbour and our selues with our hearts wee contemne with our tongues we defie with our hands we worke against the God of Heauen Or if you please because my Text hath but two words Transgressions and Iniquities I will confine my selfe also to two particulars our Transgressions against the first and our Iniquities against the second Table The former Table briefely containes in it foure seuerall Precepts the first whereof commands internall pietie that in our hearts we haue one and but one God alone The second externall worship of
against all infection all amulets and preseruatiues compared to this are meere toyes of Mountebankes This neuer failes Many heere in this place haue experimentally tasted of the efficacy of this Medicine All of vs haue beene Testes occulati eye-witnesses of it some haue smarted and all I hope haue beene admonished The like cause breeds againe the like disease Relapses are most dangerous Wee haue sinned with Dauid wee with Dauid haue smarted with him wee haue sorrowed and with him wee haue beene deliuered Abyssus abyssum inuocat saith he the depth of our misery I hope caused the depth of our sorrow and I hope it was according to the occasion hearty and vnfeigned if like Ahabs it were but feigned and temporary and like the carelesse Boy wee forget the rodde with the smart and so returne to the vomite Woe woe to that man the latter end of that man will bee worse then the beginning None are now deliuered but either to their greater happinesse or greater miserie They who are now spared are either spared to redeeme the time that formerly they haue carelesly lost or till their sinnes are more ripe for a seuerer Iudgement The Israelites were kept out of the Land of Canaan so long till the sins of those Inhabitants were fulfilled Our Sauiour told the Iewes that they were not greater sinners vpon whom the Tower of Siloa fell then those that escaped but vnlesse they repented they should all likewise perish De mortuis nil nisi bonum saith the Canon Our Predecessors sinnes haue not beene more great against God but Gods mercy hath been more towards vs Many greene and fruitfull Trees haue beene cut vp when leauy and barren Trees are let alone Wee haue seene Death like an vnskilfull Archer shooting at Rouers hath hit our superiours aboue vs our inferiours beneath vs our friends on our right hand our foes on our left The Cedars haue beene pluckt vp and the shrubbes haue continued Nay to make the remembrance this fatall yeare for euer weare a sable liuery hee of whom wee may say as the Israelites did of Dauid hee is worth 10000. of vs our blessed Peace-maker vnder whose branches we haue 22. yeares sate shadowed from the scorching heate of Warre which hath parcht and withered most of our neighbourâ— Nations Yet now though not of this yet of another as violent a disease hath beene taken away and but that reliquisset nobis semen he hath left vs of his seed the flourishing estate of our Kingdome might haue dyed with him Wee haue also beene bereft within the space of two yeares of many of the principall Peeres and Pillers of the State two Dukes one Marquesse fiue or sixe Earles some Barons and most of them Priuie Counsellours all which were as if our armes had been cut from our bodyes or our eyes pluckt out of our heads And then so many thousands of inferior subiects as the memorie of man cannot equalise it And loe all we that are aliue this day are escaped as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler But let mee tell you we may be deliuered in sixe troubles and the seauenth may dispatch vs we may escape the pit and be taken in the snare as Ier. 48. 44. Wee may flee from a Lyon and a Beare shall ouertake vs or leane our hand vpon a Wall and a Serpent shall bite vs Amos 5. 19. Him that escapeth the Sword of Hasael shall Iehu slay and him that escapes the Sword of Iehu shall Elisha slay 1. Reg. 19. Though our Master hath thus long deferred his comming to vs yet at last the time of our Audit will come we must all Reddere rationem we must stand at the barre and answer to what shall be obiected To whom much is giuen of him much shall bee required The longer life afforded we must either performe more dutie or expect more paine our Lord will take an accompt of our Talents bee they more or lesse and in what kinde soeuer Wherefore seeing our sinnes are the cause of Gods anger and our sufferings and hauing had but the lappes of our garments in comparison cut off as Dauid did to Saul to shew what he might haue done As wee haue sorrowed outwardly so let vs shew the fruits of it It is not the wearing oâ— customary blackes the absteining from one meale in the weeke or the bowing of the head like a bulrush that God respects it is the absteyning from our Transgressions and Iniquities that he regards Oportet aliquid esse intus as he said of a dead body to make it stand So there must be a true sorrow attended with visible workes which argue sound repentance It is true we did fast and pray and mourne and cry while the rod was vpon vs and did not God regard vs he beyond expectation spake to the Destroying Angell to desist Now therefore as the effect of Iudgement was compunction and sorrow and wee did expresse that heartily and really in the liberall and freely relieuing the necessity of our brethren for which double honour shall euer attend this honourable City which may be a patterne and example to all the Kingdome of liberall and Charitable contribution So now after mercy receiued let us expresse the thankfulnesse of our hearts in vocall thanks-giuing and actuall obedience to his behests And so I come to the last part of all The Fee which the Preseruer of men as Iob called him our God respects from vs. Oh that men c. Wherein wee haue qui quem quid quarè the partyes Who Men the dutie what Praise the obiect whom The Lord the reason why for his goodnesse and wonderfull workes endeared vnto vs by the mention of the partyes to whom this goodnesse these wonderfull workes were extended The Children of Men. I shall racke your patience but a very little while to runne ouer these and I shall conclude 1. The first Who Men. They who erewhile when they thought themselues wise were called Fooles are now being humbled at the sight of their sinne and sense of their sorrow called Men. They haue lost nothing by losing all they had they haue gained now their true denomination The nature of Man in his fiâ—st Creation before that lumpe was soured with the leuin of sinne was full of glory and grace and as God said to Dauid I made thee King ouer Israel and if that had beene too little for thee I would haue done more So Man was made King and put in Lord-like dominion ouer all the earth not of some cantons or corners but ouer it all Nay the ayre and the Sea also were put vnder his dominion with all the creatures in them all all things were created for vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristo wee are in a manner the end of all things And if this be too little God hath yet done more for vs for our sakes were the Heauens created and for our sakes were the Heauens bowed and propter hominem