great Leviathan Our friends to help us are like Jobs miserable comforters our footing on this sea of glasse very slipperie but when all our other trust is but as a spiders web this is our comfort in our afflictions that although our father and mother and all the world forsake us yet the Lord will then gather us up and will not leave us comfortless Wherefore in all humble acknowledgement of all thankfulness due unto thee vve offer up unto thee our selves our souls and bodies a quick and living sacrifice that the God in whom we live move have our being may be glorified in and by our being This is our day therfore it is our duty whilst it is called to day to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him whilst he is near This is our day wherein we are to work and so let it be our sole wisdome to work out our salvation lest the night come and overtake us when no man can work This is our day and how ill doth it become us to trewant and loiter it away like those that stood idle in the market place or to riot it and revelling it eating and drinking and cursing Abimelech lest we be in hell to morrow yelling and howling and roring with Dives Devils and damned ones Let the Sun which cometh as a Bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoiceth to run his race Ever teach us to be active in spiritual duties and heavenlie exercises Let the Sun which encreaseth from glorie to glorie teach us to encrease in vertue goodnesse and godlinesse adding to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience brotherlie kindnesse and so one grace to another that we may be complete Christians like unto our head and Lord and Master Let the morning instruct us to remember our Creator in the daies of our youth Let the Noon tutour us to be strong in the faith Let the Evening admonish us to think of the end of our life and shutting in of our daies Let all teach us so to number our daies that we may applie our hearts unto wisdome Let a waterie daie ever mind us of the sorrows afflictions and troubles attend us in this life Let a pleasant day mind us of the pleasures to come when these are faded and forgotten Let a short daie mind us of the shortnesse of this life which is but as a span long and swifter than a Weavers Shuttle Let a long daie mind us of Eternitie of life either in blisse or bane and so read us a continual Lecture to labour for that meat which endures unto everlasting life and not after that bread which perisheth with us the which that we may do the Lord grant unto us for the Lord Jesus Christs sake our blessed Saviour and redeemer Amen A Prayer for the Evening I Will lay me down and also sleep in peace for thou Lord makest me dwell in safety saith David Now good God grant that as we lie down in thy love so we may rise by thy power and glorifie thee for thy mercy O most gracious God and in thy son Jesus Christ our loving Father we miserable sinners dust and ashes worms and not men do prostrate our selves before the footstool of thy Throne of grace beseeching thee that seeing thou hast made the night for man to rest so well as the day for him to labour so that thou wouldest be pleased to blesse us this night and keep us from fire sword sicknesse death and those manifold evils may befall us and overtake us by reason of our manifold sins and wickednesses Thou art about their beds and givest thy Angels charge over them that seek unto thee for succour thou knowest their down-lying and uprising and art near unto those that call upon thee in truth and syncerity of heart wherefore graciously good God spread thou the wings of thy loving kendnesse and favour over us this night and let not this house be as a tomb and Sepulchre erected over our heads let not our beds be as our graves our blankets as the mold of the earth and our sheefs as our winding-sheets but let them all serve to minister comfort and refreshment to our wearied bodies and senses that the day following we may be the better enabled to set forth thy praise and thy glorie Let not our sleep be insatiable according to the desires of the flesh but onely so as that it may revive our dull and heavy drooping spirits and make them active in thy service and in the works of our calling Teach us by our unclothing and uncovering of our selves and casting away our garments from us continually to think of casting away every weight and casting off that old man which is corrupt through his deceivable works Teach us by our nakednesse when our garments are from us continually to think of harmlesnesse and innocency of life endevouring our selves daily to live void of offence towards God and towards man Teach us by going out of our warm clothes into our cold beds continually to think on a change of life how that we shall one day leave this sinfull world and passe into another there to receive according to our several works Teach us by our sleep continuallie to think on death and by our waking from sleep again continually to think of resurrection of life how that we shall one day wake and rise out of the dust of the earth and behold our God not with other but with these same eyes O let everie thing be our instruction to shew us the right way to heaven and everlasting blisse Father blesse us bodily yea and blesse us spiritually give unto our bodies a happie rest in Christ Jesus whensoever as we know not how soon thou maiest call them out of this sinful world and say unto our souls that he was the redemption thereof and paid the ransom of them with his dearest blood that under the shadow of his wings we may flie to thy heavenly Sanctuary Father bless us inwardlie and blesse us outwardly blesse us inwardly with all these graces which are fit and needfull for our several places conditions and callings and blesse us outwardlie with all those things we want and stand in need of as health strength ease wealth blesse us likewise in everie thing belongs unto us that they yielding forth their strength and encrease unto us we may yield forth unto thee our God the strength of our obedience praise and thanksgiving O father thou art great and therefore to be feared thou art good and therefore to be praised according therefore to thy greatnesse and according to thy goodnesse be thy praise and we entreat thee to continue this thy loving kindnesse to us unto our lives end and to life eternal And that we may obtain this mercy we beseech thee to give us grace to walk worthie of thy mercies that we may find and feel the fruits of thy favour budding in our souls O give us grace that
Childhood wept Gen. 21. 17. Esau in juventute in his youth wept Gen. 27. 38. Jacob in Senectute wept 37. 35. that we are little or no time free from mourning All this shews that as the Sea is alwaies boyling and moving so sorrow upon sorrow follows as close at the heels as one wave pursueth another and as Jobs sad Messengers traced the other So that in this respect we may say with David Psal 8. 4. Quid est homo what a miserable creature is man 2ly There are fellow-feeling tears which is a sympathizing in our Brethrens calamities As Christ our head suffers when the Members of his body suffer and as it is in the natural body If one Member suffer all suffer with it 1 Cor. 12. 26. As in a throng of people one treads upon anothers foot the which causeth him to cry out Cur me calâ—as why dost thou tread upon me The foot was hurt and not the tongue and yet the tongue complaineth by reason of that amiable sympathie and friend ship that is between the Members Now as it is in the mystical body and natural body even so should it be in the spiritual body weeping for Josephs afflictions so well as our own St. Paul Vas electionis the chosen Vessel did not only by precept but by pattern teach us our duty in this 2 Cor. 11. 29. Is any weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burn not Brethren be ye followers of him and look on them which walk so as ye have them for an ensample Phil. 3. 17. Christ Jesus did the like for he appropriated all the mischief done to the Church as done to himself Acts 9. 4. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me So that if ye will not be followers of Paul nor of the Saints Yet be followers of God as dear Children 3ly There are repenting tears which are poured forth for our sins and for our own and other mens punishments and chastisements by reason of them for man suffers for his sins Lam. 3. 39. If sin breaks our head tears lend us a plaister to heal where sin hath wounded and the more tears the sooner the cure is wrought Mary Magdalen Peccatrix a sinner was so prodigal of them that she washed Christs feet with her tears her sins were many and her tears did correspond to her sins and therefore her Lord did forgive her all her sins Luke 7. 47. What a sweet voice was it sounded in the Palsie mans ears Mat. 9. 2. Be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee And that I might hear the like I speak from my soul let Ziba take all and let me tell you the readiest course we can take to obtain remission and forgivenesse is to swim to God in a flood of tears as the Ark was carried to mount Ararat upon the waters where it rested peaceably Gen. 8. 4. This was the means which Peter used to make his atonement with his master after his lying and denying and forswearing of him Mat. 26. 75. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He wept bitterly and this course the Israelites took when the Text tells us that they poured out water before the Lord that is they wept abundantly for their sins they were as free of their tears as of water their heads were full of water and their eyes as a fountain of tears they humbled themselves very low that God might receive them into favour again And this was Davids practise Psal 6. 6. I cause my bed every night to swim I water my Couch with my tears And then follows vers 8. Away from me ye workers of Iniquitie for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping It was a sweet saying of one Never any came to Gods door weeping that ever went away sorrowing The Ninevites were a sinful people and there was wrath proclamed against them and the execution thereof denounced within 40. daies yet upon their repenting tears and crying mightily unto God and turning from their evil waies God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not Jon. 3. 8 10. And to this effect speaks Hierome Oratio deum lenit sed lacryma angit haec ungit sed illa pungit Prayer is of great force and power with God for what cannot a fervent praying man do Jam. 5. 16. but when tears accompany and are joyned with prayer then what can be denyed to such a melting soul The Canaanitish woman Mat. 15. 22. and the Father of him that was possessed with a dumb Devil Mark 9. 24. did both by crying and tears and crying tears obtain their long wished for desires and drew pity and compassion and a compassionate pity from Christ In which respect Austin said Vincunt invisibilem ligant omnipotentem they conquer him that is unconquerable and bind the almighty power of God to yield to our requests as we see in Jacob Gen. 32. 28. And so sweetly was it uttered by a sweet Divine Repenting eyes are Cellars of Angels and penitent tears their choicest wine which the Savour of life perfumes the tast of grace sweetneth and the purest colours of returning innocencie highly beautifieth And I would God as David speaks that our hearts were such a Limbeck evermore distilling so pure a Quintessence drawn out from the weeds of our offences by the fire of Contrition that Heaven might mourn at the absence of so precious a water and earth lament the loss of such fruitfull showers We have all sinned and our sins are many and great and a great many and so we ought with Christ Heb. 5. 7. to powr out strong cries and tears unto him that is able to save us from death Every one of us when we come to die would gladly go to Heaven but if we so intend in good earnest lacrymae paenitentiae repenting tears must be our guide thither as the star was to the wise men to bring them to Christ Mat. 2. 9. 4ly There are grumbling murmuring and muttering tears the which are shed in discontent that God should lay this or that evil upon them or rob them of their Izaak Joseph Absolom joy or delight of their heart or pleasure of their eyes and of these the Sonnes and daughters of men are more free than the rest but saith the Prophet Isay 45. 9. Wo to him that striveth with his Maker shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it what makest thou or shall man say to God what dost thou O peace peace O murmuring soul be whist be silent and murmur not as some of them murmured lest thou be destroyed of the destroyer 1 Cor. 10. 10. peace O murmuring soul be dumb because it is the Lord hath done it Psal 39. 9. David had tears of all sorts 1. He had grief tears for the losse of his darling Absolom 2ly He had fellow-feeling tears in his misery as knowing that so bad a life he lived could have no good end or death and therefore he wisheth that he
go to heaven that had all his time served the Devil on earth and therefore of the two he thought his own case best and that he was most fit to die and so if God had so pleased chose to die I would God I had died for thee From whence we learn Obs That death which to the ungodly is the King of terrors Job 18. 14. to the righteous is a welcom guest at all times Absalom may be afraid to die because the wages of his wickedness are alwayes ready to be paid him which is eternal death of body and soul for ever Rom. 6. 23. When good David shall willingly resign up his soul into the hands of his Creator for he knows his end will be peace Psal 37. 37. Oecolampadius being ready to depart as old Simeons Phrase is comforted his friends that stood howling about him with these words Non mori timeo quia bonum habeo Dominum I am not afraid to die because I have served a good God He that fears God shall never need to fear death for Christ hath pulled out the sting thereof that he may tryumphantly singwith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin but thanks be unto God which hath given me victory through our Lord Jesus Christ The Reasons why death is welcome to the godly at all times are Reas 1. Because it is an end of their sorrows and the beginning and entrance into the joy of their Lord Matth. 25. 23. It is the Exodus of their miseries and Genesis of their comforts It is as a Bridge over which they must passe into life as the Israelites must go thorow the red Sea before they can get into Canaan a Land flowing with milk and hony and all good things wherefore they rejoice to see that day as old Simeon did when he embraced Christ in his arms Luke 2. â—8 Reas 2. Because they are a people ready prepared for the Lord Luk. 1. 17. they are not fool-hardy like others who put far away from them the evil dayes that they may boldly approach unto the seat of iniquity Amos 6. 3. but they are still thinking of death and looking for death and providing for death that whensoever it comes early or late at the Cock crowing at midnight or the dawning of the day they may enter into the rest remaines for the people of God Heb. 4. 9. Reas 3 Because they have Jachin and Boaz faith and a good conscience to support them from sinking under the pains of death And this made the thief on the Crosse to die joyfully believing Christs words that he should that day be with him in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. this made St. Steven to laugh in death beholding the heavens opened and Christ standing at the right hand of the Father ready to receive his spirit Acts 7. 55 56. and this made David so willing to die for Absalom because he believed that his sinnes were covered Psal 32. 1. Obj. Did David well to wish for death or to die for his sonne Answ 1. Mortem optare malum formidare pejus It is not good to wish for death but worse to fear it It is an argument of great weakness to dispute with God much more to quarrel with God and most of all to seem to be wiser than God We pray and David prayed Thy will O Father be done and yet here he seems to prefer his own will before Gods Would God I had died for thee Absalom So that as the Apostle speaks James 3. 10. This thing ought not to be 2ly David did savour much more in this wish of flesh and blood than of spirit for that altogether submits with patience to suffer and bear what the good pleasure of the Lord is to bring to passe when the other grumbles and murmurs and repines at every thing contraries their humours This was Davids case and was his failing as the best want not theirs Vse Speaks the true happy state of a godly man He will not be afraid of evil tidings for his heart is fixed and he believeth in the Lord Psal 112. 7. when the wicked trepidant ad arundinis umbram tremble at the shaking of a leaf and flee when none pursueth then the righteous are as bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. The very thought of death strikes the ungodly as dead when they that fear the Lord like the Swan sing the sweetest song in death and the song of the Saints Rev. 22. 20. Come Lord Jesus come quickly The wicked when they are visited with sickness which is deaths Paratour to summon them into the Court for to give up their great accompt like the unjust Steward Luk. 16. 2. they roar and howl and crie like the hog which thinks he is never taken but to have his throat cut when the upright and just look up and lift up their heads with joy and comfort for their redemption draweth near Luke 21. 28. When the wicked call to the mountaines to fall upon them and to the hills to cover them and hide them from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6. 16. The righteous shout for joy like those that divide the spoyl and rejoyce according to joy in harvest Isa 9. 3. for they shall be gathered like wheat into the Lords Garner when the chaff shall be burned with unquenchable fire Mat. 3. 12. And as Balaam said Numb 23. 10. O that my latter end might be like his And so thus much of the first person spoken of in the text David with his passion and compassion 2ly The next person is Absalom And in him let us consider 1. His Name 2ly His Person 3ly His Life 4ly His Death Of these in order 1. His Name and that was Abishalom which signifies his fathers peace He was so sweet a Babe that his father promised himself great matters and hope in him but he proved the greatest crosse that ever he did bear So that we cannot say Vt nomen sic natura as Abigail did of Nabal As his name was so was he For he was a moth a canker a thorn in his fathers eye and the greatest disturber of his quiet and rest and ease and peace that ever he was acquainted with that he is constrained to flee and shift for his life lest he be devoured by his Sonnes sword 2 Sam. 13. 14. 2ly His person And so he was the fairest of ten thousand for from the sole of the foot to the top of his head there was no blemish in him 2 Sam. 14. 25. He had a fair body but a foul soul and heart like the Swan which hath a white feather but a black skin Or like Mausolus his tombe or the painted Sepulchres in the Gospel glorious and beautiful without but full of rottenness and stinking bones within Or like a white glove over a scabby hand Or like the Pharisees
over his Chamber door now after a little time some discontented people hired a rude lewd fellow to stab the King and going about his work with a heart full of mischief and reading this superscription his countenance changed and falls trembling and shaking as if he had an ague fit the which being perceived and he examined confessed the whole matter and what diverted him from it Even so if men would but seriously consider that with what measure they mete shall be measured to them again or that nothing surer than their sins would find them out or that the end of sin and wages of sin is death Rom 6. 23. How would this Meditation stop the current of their vile affections and divert them from sinning It was an excellent Speech of one Cave quid agis te videt Deus Beware what thou doest for God seeth thee and all things are naked and open to his eyes with whom thou hast to do saith Paul Heb. 4. 13. and Homer speaking of a Frog and a Mouse who having a sharp contestation and bitter Skirmish the party grieved tells the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God had a revenging eye to right him even so if men would but remember whatsoever they are about or doing God looked upon them and had a revenging eye to requite it in the same measure and nature it would stifle all treason against heaven and earth Vse 3. This may teach us that seeing with what measure we mete shall be measured to us again to walk circumspectly and warily not as fools but as wise Eph. 5. 115. the Law of God and nature should be our rule to square our lives and all our actions by and that is Quod tibi non vis alteri non feceris to do as we would be done unto Matth. 7. 12. and saith Paul Gal. 6. 16. To as many as walk according to this rule peace shall be upon them and mercy as upon the true Israel of God Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Gal. 6. 7. He that soweth righteousness shall receive a good and sure reward Prov. 11. 18. But he that soweth iniquiry shall reap affliction and the rod of his anger shall fail chap. 22. 8. God hath a twofold measure 1. Either a measure of glory and that is for those that abound in the works of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. 2ly A measure of wrath and sorrow and that is for those that plough iniquity and sow wickedness Job 4. 8. and with this measure did God mete Athaliah Doct. 3. Is Qualis vita finis ita As we live so commonly we die as we speak in another kind Mali principii malns exitus an ill beginning hath an ill end even so an ungodly life is accompanied usually with a sad death Look upon Haman behold Judas cast an eye upon Julian the grand Apostate who died cursing and banning crying out in defiance of Christ Vicisti Galilaeo O thou Galilean thou hast conquered and overcome me Turn over the Chronicle of Athaliah and thou shalt find that as she sâ—ank living in the nostrils of the people for her idolatry pride usurping of anothers Crown blood-thirstinesse so in her death she was abhorred by all and had not power to cry out with Peter Lord save me or with the Publican God be mercifull to me a sinner The Husbandman can tell us that which way the tree leaneth that way it will fall if it be not prevented by art and I have often observed in visiting the sick that as the Proverb is quod in corde sobrii id in lingua ebrii what lies close hid in the heart of a sober man is revealed by his tongue when he is drunk even so as men lean and are affected living so their hearts and tongues run of it dying and what hopes can there be that they who had not God in all their thoughts Psal 10. 4. when they were in health should go to God when they are dead Vse As the tree standeth so it falleth and saith Solomon Eccl. 11. 3. As the tree doth fall so in the place that the tree falleth there it shall lie So that this doth much concern us to denie ungodlinesse and worldly lust and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and appearing of that glory of that mighty God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2. 12 13. labouring to fall to the South of his mercy and not to the North of his Justice Death is not so fearfull and terrible in it self as is the sting of it which is sin 1 Cor. 15. 56. And therefore let it be our care to be every day weakning and puling out this serpents sting that we may with old Simeon depart in peace Luke 2. 29. And blessed shall be the dead that die in the Lord for their works follow them Rev. 14. 13. Thus ye have heard 1. what Athaliab was 2ly What her Treason and 3ly what her end was She rent her clothes and cryed Treason Treason and was slain by the way which the horses go to the Kings house FINIS A Prayer for the Morning O Thou mighty Almighty Creator and Preserver of men We thy poor Creatures protected this night from Fire Sword Sicknesse Death and those manifold evils that might have befallen us and overtaken us by reason of the multitude of our sins for man suffers for his sins cannot but ascribe all praise with the Samaritan Leper due unto thy holy name for this unspeakable mercy of thine towards us miserable sinners unworthy to tast of the least drop much lesse that Ocean of thy love daily streaming and flowing home to our doors to the great comfort of our souls For what is man that thou art mindfull of him or the Son of man that thou shouldest regard him there is nothing in man but deserves open shame and confusision of face continually Wherefore we deny our selves and all our own unrighteousness as filthy clouts and menstruous rags and flee unto thee in thy Christ that in him by him and through him both now and ever we may be acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer And as thy mercies have been great towards us this night past so we beseech thee to continue the same mercy unto us this day and so to the end of our dayes Defend us from our Ghostly and bodily enemies Shield us with thy grace that we fall not this day into any manner of evil of sin that we may never grieve thy good Spirit any more by sin and so prevent another day the evil of punishment for sin Direct us in thy mercie in our going out and coming in that whatsoever we shall take in hand it may prosper like Joseph O prosper thou our handie work upon us Instruct us in the heavenly wisdome that above all things we may be wise unto the salvation of our poor souls And teach us with the night past to cast away
our father our nursing father It is observed that the love of Parents descends and flows with a greater stream to their children than childrens love ascends upwards to their Parents and this God shews Isaiah 49. 15. Can a father forget his child or a woman not have compassion on the son of her womb but he saith not Can a child forget his father as if that were too frequent too common and lay at every mans door but spero meliora de vobis I hope better things of you and that ye have learned better things and your duty better than to set light by your father Deut. 67. 16. We take much notice of those whose consciences are so seared and hearts hardened that have not a tear at their fathers grave and God and angels will take notice of us for stupidity and blockishnesse if we will not weep for our Abner our Prince and great man that is fallen 3ly If prayers and Supplications ought to be made for all men but especially for Kings and all that are in authority 1 Tim. 2. 1. then consequently it must follow that their deaths ought to be lamented more than other mens and if so then Vse 2. Is for reproof 1. If those that rejoice and glory in their shame Phil. 3. 19. whose end without great Repentance will be their damnation One boasteth that he subscribed to the lions death another that he tried the lion another that he sentenced the lions damme another that he slew the lion another that he shared of the lions skin but if there be a wo unto them that speak good of evil and evil of good which put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for sowre Isa 5. 20. then as Jacob said of Simeon and Levi Brethren in iniquity Gen. 49. 6. Let not my soul enter into their secret and my glory be not joyned with their Assembly for an horrible curse and wo like the sin of Cain lieth at their door 2ly Of those that had the least hand in or approved of Abners fall Certes many men with Pilate will seem to wash their hands clean from his blood because they were no principal actors in it but qui non vetat peccare quum potest iubet saith Seneca He that is not with me saith Christ is against me or he that hinders not a foul fact but approves of it is as guilty as the principal in it Abner is fallen by whom and whose means the scruple is resolved verse 30. of this Chapter so Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner Abishai being privy to the murther and not preventing it is counted by the Spirit of God as deep in blood as the bloody executioner of the Treason Joab himself David killed not Vriah but the men of Rabbab yet because he plotted and conspired against his life and was well pleased with his death Nathan tells him point-blank and in plain terms 2 Sam. 12 9. Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house Ahab was not accessary unto Naboth's stoning but his wife Jezabel who made use of his Seal unto the Elders and Nobles that were in his City that they might deprive him of life and Vineyard yet he approving of what was done and rejoycing in his spoil and prey that he had taken Elijah the Tishbite meets him and upbraids him of cruelty covetousnesse and blood 1 Kings 21. 19. Hast thon killed and also taken possession therefore in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs even lick thy blood also And in this sence Saul bewailed his sad condition and acknowledged his unworthinesse and unfitnesse to be a Minister of the Gospel to the Gentiles because he persecuted the Church of God and had a hand in Stevens death not as one that murthered him as a cut-throat but allowed and applauded them that acted that villany as his own words best speak it Acts 22. 20. Lord when the blood of thy Martyr Steven was shed I also stood by and consented to his death and kept the clothes of them that slew him Now the Marginal Note saith this is properly spoken for Steven was murthered of a sort of rude rakehels not by order of Justice but by open force and he liking of what was done and lulling and spurring them forward unto it accounts himself a chief instrument in the conspiracy of robbing God of a Saint the Church of a pillar and the world of a bright shining light which would have enlightened them that fit in darkness to the true light Iohn 1. 9. and so to the light of heaven As the intruders into other mens Rectories plead for themselves that they thrust them not out when they are contented to inherit their possessions and eat up the bread that should feed the right owners and their children approving of the Sequestration even so there be that plead not guilty of Abners fall when in their hearts they cryed Câ—ucifige let him die and stroked the contrivers of his ruine but how one or the other can answer their juggle before God who judgeth righteously taketh the affection and will for the deed I am ignorant unlesse it be with speechlesness like to him that came to the wedding feast without a wedding garment Matth. 22. 1â— and so partake of his portion and bitter potion 3ly Those that reviled Abner living and detract from him much more being fallen their greatest religion is ill byassed which is to speak evil of their Prince He that is most foul mouthed like Shimei is held fitest to be a States-man and have a hand in reformation When Paul had called Ananias whited wall and the standers by check'd him for reviling Gods high Priest he acknowledged his errour saying I knew not that he was the High Priest for it is written thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people Acts 23. 5. from whence may be inferred that to calumniate him is sin 4ly This highly reproves those Servants of this Prince this great man that helped to pull him down Gravior inimicus qui latet sub pectore a bosome enemie is of all the worst When Caesar was stabbed in the Senate house and seeing Brutus acting his part amongst the Conspirators it cut him to the heart using these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what and thou too my son Brutus then fall Caesar even so for a Prince to bring up birds to pick out his own eyes and breed vipers to sting him to death it cannot but much adde to the bitternesse of his fall and this made David to complain so sadly Psal 41. 9. That his friend his familiar friend whom he trusted which did eat of his bread lifted up his heel against him that is like a wild horse to kick at him and trample him under his seet Of all injuries there are none stick
the residue we hear no such news so unhappy a thing it is to be the child of a bad father for saith David Psal 18. 26. With the froward he shall learn frowardnesse and with the ungodly ungodlinesse and so I passe to the next particular 3ly What Athaliahs Treason was with that she complained of Athaliahs Treason was Monstrum horrendum ingens so heinous so detestable so abominable that heaven could not but mourn over it the earth tremble at it and the mountains and hard rocks be moved for it God could not but loathe abhor the author of it Man could not but be startled at her inhumane barbaism and the Devils themselves not own it for when she saw that her son was dead she arose and destroyed all the Kings seed verse 1. that is all those that were of the house of Judah but one called Joash whom Jehosheba stole away and nursed up privately verse 2. Alas What harm had these harmlesse Lambs done What misbehaviour did she see in their unspotted lives that death must presently remove them out of her sight It was Hecuba's speech Thesei oultus amo illos priores quos tulit quondam juvenis that she was in love with the youthfull fresh face of Theseus which seemed lovely as the morning and whose cheeks were comely Cant. 1. 18 and why should not these Athaliah give a check mate to the violent torrent of thy swelling envenomed rage against them Athaliah look upon the Royal blood streams in their veins Athaliah look upon their innocency Athaliah look upon their sweet and amiable countenances and if Nihil horum â—ra vulâ—usque movebunt none of these can move thee to pity them to spare them to have compassion on them then let the tender bowelness of a mother melt thee for how will Rachel moutn for her children when they are not Matth. 2. 18. Thou were once a mother thy self and let thy own tongue speak What pangs and throbs like a second labour thou enduredst in thy heart when thou lost thy son and therefore let the remembrance thereof move thee to have a fellow-feeling of other womens miseries or if that be too weak to refell repel and null thy ambitious high towring thoughts then call to mind the consanguinity and affinity they had with the son of thy love to quench thy burning thirst after their blood or if that be too weak an Argument to convince thee then let the remembrance of thy own shame and the grumbling and muttering of a discontented people fright thee from doing such a cursed act Athaliah remember that for blood and such grand wickednesse the Land mourns Jer. 12. 4. Athaliah remember that a house cannot be established by iniquity Prov. 14. 11. Athaliah remember what a terrible wo is denounced against those that build a Town with blood and erect a City by iniquity Hab. 2. 12. Athaliah remember the Saints cry day and night unto the Lord to judge and avenge their blood Rev. 6. 10. and then if thou be not more savage than the Bear robbed of her whelps and given over to a Reprobate sence to work evil and all manner of evil in the sight of the Lord like thy Progenitors thou wilt stifle this design in the birth I but thinks Athaliah How shall I wear the Crown and sway the Reaml then An. Imprison them and that is cruelty enough toward the heirs apparent of a whole Kingdom I but thinks Athaliah they may break prison and pull the Crown off again from my head An. Then banish them proclaim them Traytors if they disturb thy peace and cause the Pamphleters to libel them disgrace them and bring them into an odium with their Subjectâ— I but thinks Athaliah they will be alwayes undermining my new upstart honour and foundation and hatching one evil or other against me and therefore my surest course will be to take offth eir heads and here she sets up her staff fall back fall edge this she resolves to do be it pleasing or displeasing to God or man She intends to make sure work where she goeth so well as she can and so cuts off all that might lay claim to her usurped interest And now she conjectures the Crown is nailed fast to her head She thinks that her house is builded upon a rock that will not deceive her She supposed like Babylon Isa 47. 7. That she shall be a Queen for ever and so she ruffles it and vaunts it like Nebuchadnezzar over his Babel Dan. 4 27. and glorifies her self six years together not fearing or feeling any storm to disquiet her She sings a Lullaby to her soul with the rich man Luke 12. 19. Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry she cries peace peace when there was no peace Jer. 6. 14. for when she least dreamed of it then her wickednesse lay at her door like a fierce Mastiff to rend her into peeces and rob her and spoil her of all her glory and the Lord bringeth a Vine as it were out of Egypt and raiseth up an Infant out of the dust to dethrone her by name Joash by birth of the line of Judah as he had promised David That he should not want a man to sit upon his Throne after him Jer. 33. 17. And all this he bringeth to passe by weak means as when men are lowest then he is strongest and loves to be Jehovah-Jereh seen in the Mount even by Jehoiada chief Priest who anoints him proclaims him King and the people with acclamations of joy shout lift up their voices like trumpets and cry out Vive le Roy Let the King live for ever verse 12. God save the King God save the King Wherefore 1. Let no man be sory as they that are without hope 1 Thes 4. 13 for he is the Almighty God as he told Abraham Gen. 17. 1. to do wonders for us as well as for Judah 2ly Let us comfort one another in the meditation of his power mans necessity is Gods opportunity to help and if his help be deferred for twice six years Wait for it shall surely come and not stay Hab. 2. 3. Thus her stiff mountain is shaken that she may speak with David Psal 30 6 7. In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved I having made my mountain so strong but thou didst bide thy face O Lord and I was troubled Thus the scale is tuâ—ned and Athaliah so nettled at the noise and clamours ecchoed into her ears that she must hasten to see what news was stirring abroad verse 13. but her eye no sooner gave the relation thereof but her countenance changeth her flesh trembles like an Aspen leaf and her joints are loosed and her hands shake â—s with the Palsie troubled her heart now condemns her the dead serpent or viper now flies in her face like Pauls and her tongue ventâ— forth her grief bellowing forth Treason Treason How now Athaliah is it Treason for Joash to resume his Birthright How now Athaliah