answers of young Mrs. Philip Hobarte and the rest I could not but think thus with my self This day is that Prophesy fulfilled in mine eares I wil powre out of my spirit uppon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shal Prophesy and your young men shal see Visions and on my servants and on my hand-maids wil I pour out of my spirit and they shal Prophesy Madam Wil not your honor be offended if I show my folly and boast a little to the world You are my glory my Crown and my rejoycing the comfortable Harvest and precious Seal of my Ministry And this is discerned by others as wel as by my self Your paralel is not to be found or at the least scarcely was ever any Christian seen who did thrive and grow so fast in Grace as your Honor hath done especially of late years Now if either your Honor or any others that shal cast their eye on these my free expressions and think me indiscreet in writing thus to your Honor I Apologize for my self in the words of Christ when he prayed vocally and loud at Lazarus his grave Not for your sake Madam but because of the people which stand by I said it I propound a pattern to other Christians and other families and my sole aim is the glory of God and the provoking of many to a holy emulation The God of heaven and earth the God of my father bless your Honor and your noble and hopeful daughter I beg for you the upper and the nether springs The God of all Grace perfect all Grace in you be filled with the Spirit with inward peace and joy of the Holy Ghost Be the Lords darling Beleeve me Gracious Lady The tongue shal cleave to the roof of my mouth and my right hand shal forgets its skil before I shal cease to bear your Honors name at my heart and to present it unto the Lord as often as I appear at the throne of Grace Be sure Madam I am Your Honors most humbly Devoted servant for ever Thankful for your Superlative favour bounty and care And As under God your Honor raised me from the grave So if I can beleeve mine own heart I am your Honors faithful Pastor who if God should call him to it would willingly lay down his life to establish your Ladiship in the truth and grace of Jesus Christ and to further your eternal Salvation IOHN CARTER To The whole World O WORLD THou seest what Contradiction these poor weak Sermons have met withall how they have been and are accused of falshood envy malice peevishness that the Magistrates are slandered in them and very lies uttered in the face of City and Country I am necessitated to appeal to God and the World O World I hold forth unto thy view faithfully all that was spoken nothing omitted I call unto thee to be my true and impartial witness and let the God of Truth be Judg THE Nail hit on the head AND Driven into the City and Cathedral Wall of NORWICH By JOHN CARTER Pastor of Great St. PETERS in that City At the Greenyard June 17. 1644. Being a preparative to the Guyle-Solemnity the day following EZRA 9. 8. Grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place THE NAIL ESA. 22. 23. And I wil fasten him a nail in a sure place and he shal be for a glorious throne to his fathers house THe business of this Text is nothing else but the driving and fastning of a nail Wherein 1. The Master-worker who it is that fastens the nail I. 2. The nail that 's fasten'd what or who is that Him 3. Vbi Where is this nail fasten'd in loco fideli in a sure place 4. The end use and benefit of this nail so fastned He shal be for a glorious throne to his fathers house These are the parts and particulars of the Text. But I wil not tye my self strictly and punctually to these or at least I wil not fall upon them presently but according to my plain and usual way I shal concerning this Text dispatch these things 1. I wil speak something of the sense and meaning of the words 2. I wil give you the sum and substance of the whole verse in one general proposition of doctrine to which also I shal make some general applycation 3. And then in the third place I wil look over the particulars I wil search and examine them for such observations and instructions as may be for our profit and use besides the main and general doctrine Of these in their order And the Lord be with us Amen 1. The Exposition And I and who is that it is as Solomon calls him the Master of the Assemblies that fastens the nail in the 15. verse of this Chapter he is called the Lord of Hosts Wil fasten HIM Him this is the nail to be fastned a living nayl You have his name and also his Character shortly v. 20. Eliakim so was his name the servant of the Lord that 's his Character He was a Courtier a great man a holy man a good Patriot faithful to his King to his Country to Religion and Reformation all which appears plainly by the current of this place and also by other passages of sacred Scripture And I wil fasten him as a Nail a nail is a pin or peg For the matter some are made of brass some of iron some of wood A nail is fastned when it 's knocked beaten and driven into a wall beam post or pillar The use of such a nail orpeg or spirkit is to hang thingsout of hand and such things especially as we would have ready for our use as garments vessels pots instruments of musick and the like Such things as otherwise would ly scattered about the house and be subject to miscarry Metaphorically to fasten a man as a nail is to confirm and establish him in some place or office in the Church or Common-wealth and to make him useful and profitable for the Publique good Here the Kingdom of Juda is compared to a wall or post Eliakim to a nail and the Lord fastens him in the Kingdom that is puts him in place and office and confirms him in it Q. But what place what office was he settled in that must be known A. I answer There was another nail pul'd out and he was put in in the room The other nail viz. his predecessor was Shebna he was deprived and Eliakim substituted in his room therefore let 's enquire what place Shebna was in and then all wil be clear Some of the Hebrew Doctors and learned Hierom with them conceive that Shebna was the high-priest Lyra Sanchez Lapide Pintus Tirinus and most of the Popish-writers are of the same opinion Their arguments are principally †First the authority of the old-Vulgar-latine translation of the 15. verse which with them is authentick Vade ad Sobnam praepositum
furnished table bottles and flagons delicious dishes and a deale of Kitchin-stuff But what service do they as Magistrates Truly nothing at all that I can discern either for Church or Common-wealth These are only a kind of embossed nayls such as are driven into garments collars coaches trappings of horses chaires and other things only for state and ornament they have great and glorious bossed and gilded heads but a little ridiculous stalk hardly enough to hold their own or to keep them from falling out of their places they are so close driven that nothing can hang on them There are other of the high Nayls hang very full of things But of what Are they vessels of the Sanctuary Oh no such matter they bear up a deal of the Devils houshold-stuff Upon one there hangs a company of drunken ale-houses swearers prophane persons Sabbath-breakers cheaters and sharks these are upheld and born up bythem when honest men are thrown down to the ground Upon another hangs a knot of Anabaptists Antinomians Brownists Independents and others of the same bran disturbers of Sions peace these are countenanced and born up on high whilest the Orthodox party are sleighted cast off and suffered to fall flat on the ground Upon another depends a cluster of persons Popishly affected Malignants lignants Incendiaries such as these are born up and born out too upon all occasions Oh there 's too too many such rotten rusty misimployed nails 2. The middle nails they are the Ministers of the word the Clergy as they call them wel what hangs upon the most of them What but a plurality of livings A black gown or Canonical coat A service-book or book of homilys There did hang a while agone abundance of Copes Surplisses Alters Crucifixes Images and such trash til they were taken down by a strong hand But for powerful and frequent preaching prayer and the weighty works of the Ministry as strengthening the weak healing the sick binding up the broken bringing again that which was driven away and seeking that which was lost there 's nothing of all these to be seen amongst them Are these indeed for the glory of their fathers house 3. The lowest sort of nails they are the ordinary people Gentry and Commons Oh! What abundance of empty nails do we see round about Nothing at all hangs upon them only they take up a place in the wall There is a generation of Gentlemen and others and wel parted men too able to undergo good service and yet live without any calling any office any imployment at all as if they were born to no other end but only to spend and scatter what their progenitors had scraped together and left them but they wil not put under their shoulder to bear any burden of profitable employment in Church or Commonwealth See see what commonly hangs upon them bundles of hair Sampsons locks bushy periwigs dogs dice drabs cards and tables bottels of generous wine and flagons of strong drink red eyes swollen bellys and black souls nothing else at all Gentlemen are these things for the glory of your fathers house There are a company of idle Vagrants and sturdy Rogues that wander up and down the streets and lanes and high-ways ragged nails that stick out almost every where whethersoever we go and are ready to catch our garments and tear us almost in pieces and there 's nothing hangs on them but the sweat of other mens brows purses and garments and such things as they have torn from honest passengers Others there are of all sorts that indeed are cruelly loaden there hangs upon them huge bundles of oaths rapine Blasphemies Adulteries Treasons railings filthy speeches and all kind of sins but they wil bear no burden of service in the Church or Common-wealth Whereto shal I liken this accursed generation They are like unto Ezekiels vine-tree of which he speaks thus Son of man What cometh of the Vinetree above all other trees And of the Vine-branch which is amongst the trees of the Forrest Shal wood be taken thereof to do any work Or wil men make a pin thereof to hang a vessel thereon No No the Vine-stalk if once cut up wil not make a peg to hang a bottel on it wil not be profitable for any thing But what 's the end Behold it 's cast into the fire for fewel the fire devoureth both the ends of it and the midst of it is burnt is it meet for any work So shal it be with this unprofitable generation Therefore thus saith the Lord God As the Vine-tree among the trees of the forrest which I have given to the fire for fewel so wil I give them and I wil set my face against them they shal go out from one fire and another fire shal devour them Surely such nails as these shal not be suffered to stand long in the wall if a man see a nail stick up in his house of no use wil he not presently knock it out There were abundance of such nails as these in Juda and God knocked them out and threw them into Babylon Christ himself passeth sentence upon all such Cast that unprofitable servant into utter darkness there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 25. 30. Hear and tremble all you useless nails You unprofitable burdens of the earth Be you men or women that take up places in the world and do no service in the world in the name of the Lord I pass upon you Shebnas doome ver 25. In that day saith the Lord of hosts shal the nail that is fastned in the sure place be removed and be cut down and fall and the burden that was upon it shal be cut off for the Lord hath spoken it Of Exhortation and that is manifold and various to divers sorts of persons and to several dutys I am to direct my word of exhortation to 1. Magistrates 2. People The 1. Exhortation to the Magistrates You are all nails some higher some lower Remember that you are not for ornament only but chiefly and principally for use In the name of God let every one in his place do the office of a nail Truly all things in the Church and Common-wealth lye disorderly at this time or hang very dangerously and ready to fall and miscarry I beseech you let it be your care to uphold things let every nail bear something yea though you weaken your selves for the common good Take your charge in some particulars and that very shortly I speak to wise men a word wil suffice 1. Keep the peace Magistrates know your office you are all Commissioners for the peace and this is that which we are enjoyned to pray for you in authority That under you we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty The nail holds things together when they are hanged upon it which lay scattered and sundred one from another before Yes upon one good pin they keep close How are the people
slanders report vile things of thee and hereupon thou art vexed and discontented And what 's the reason of all this impatience Thou lookest only at second causes and dost not consider that the voice of the Lord over-rules and sets all the wheels on work It was said in my hearing O Wheel There is not the least motion of the least wheel without his special providence Shemei curseth because God bids him curse Be therefore patient in all changes in all conditions under all afflictions murmure not repine not object not against the dispensations of Gods wise providence but ever resolve with David to be dumbe not to open thy mouth because the Lord it is that doth it Psal 39. 9. Again secondly this may be applyed for the comfort of Jerusalem for the consolation of the Church and people of God and that many ways 1. In the times of confusion as it is with us this day The Chariot-wheels of our Kingdom move strangely and dreadfully how are they hurried up and down backward and forward hither and thither and we are all in a maze we know not what to think of things nor what to do nor whether to turn us all is like to be overthrown and broken and turned topsy-turvy Truly we can see nothing by the wheeling of things but ruin of all of Religion and Laws and utter desolation of the whole Land But here 's our comfort it 's not a young rash Phaeton that sits in the coach-box who wants both skil and power to guide his fathers fiery steeds No No it 's the Ancient of days that sits in the seat of glory he commands the living creatures to draw the wheels which way he pleaseth and that by his only word and after all the wheelings and crooked turnings of his providence he knows the way to bring about a happy peace and settlement in this Church and Kingdom which the Lord of his mercy grant O thou son of God that sittest between the Cherubins drive on drive on by thy wisdom and power to thine own glory and the comfort of thy poor dejected people 2. Again doth the voice of the Lord command all wheels This then may comfort the Church and people of God against all potent enemys Indeed the enemys of Jerusalem are commonly many and mighty such as were the Babylonians and Assyrians these were the great high and terrible wheels which God was now bringing over Jerusalem to break it in pieces they were now coming upon the City the ratling of the wheels was heard and they could not but come for it was cryed unto them from the Lord O Wheel come and execute the fury of my wrath upon Jerusalem Now the same powerful voice can give the wheels a check and call them back again this is the Churches comfort Saul pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon he and his numerous Army turned upon him as a dreadful wheel and wheeled about the mountain to have crushed him in pieces but when he was in his swiftest motion it was cryed unto him from the Lord O Wheel O Saul come back There came a messenger unto Saul saying haste thee and come for the Philistins have invaded the Land So Saul returned from pursuing after David here the wheel was drawn off Let the wheels run on never so furiously if God do but cry to them they must come back if he cry to the wind peace it ceaseth and if he say to the raging sea be stil there 's presently a great calm Marc. 4. 39. It is not hard for him to curb and call in his creatures Saul was a bloody persecutor a restless wheel running over the faithful servants of God Act. 9. but v. 4. he had a check it was cryed unto him from the son of God Saul Saul why persecutest thou me You have seen Princes Prelates Potentates moving fiercely against the Church but the Lord in our hearing and sight hath given them a check and cryed unto them O Wheel go no further and they have stood stil or gone back The wheels come not towards us by blind chance but upon Gods call they move not a hairs breadth further then God bids them and when hepleaseth he calls them back by the word of his mouth this is the Churches comfort 3. And yet here 's a further comfort to Jerusalem Doth the voice of the Lord command all wheels Then let not the Church and people of God be troubled when they are at a low ebb when their dangers are great their enemies many and mighty and all succour fails and there 's none to help them when they are without all strength let them not dispair God sits upon the throne and commands the wheels he can call in help from unexpected places In the 2. book of the Kings chap. the 6. God calls for a great wheel even Benhadad King of Syria with his mighty host to break Samaria and Samaria was brought into great straits a potent enemy without and a grievous famine within and no help appeared all seemed desperate but Chap. 7. upon the prophets intercession as I conceive the Lord called in wheels to their help on earth all help failed therefore the Lord relieves them from above for he made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise in the aire of Chariot wheels and a noise of horses even the noise of a great host and these imaginary wheels in the heaven which the voice of God called in to the rescue of Samaria discomfited the Syrians put them all to flight they ran away as fast as they could and now there is plenty peace and joy in the City Thus the mighty Jehovah that sits above upon the throne can bring order into the Church out of confusion he can make the most formidable enemies of the Church to go back yea to fall backwards he can call in help to his Church when they are at their wits end and all by the word of his mouth Here is Jerusalems comfort I have done with the general Doctrine Now in the 3. place I return to the parts of my text to handle them I purpose to search and examine every particular and I doubt not but we shal find something as we go that may be useful You may remember the parts were three 1. The word cryed 2. To whom the word was cryed 3. The witness in whose presence the word was cryed Of these strictly and in their order The Lord be with us 1. The word cryed O Wheel in the singular number mark that The prophet speaks in the plural as of many As for the wheels says he but the man upon the throne crys out in the singular as if there were but one wheel in all What 's the reason of this It is because the wheels though they be many and their motions different yea contrary yet all move to one and the same end they all joyn as one in bringing about Gods work In mans eye there are many an