name alone are we to giue thankes Giue thankes alwayes for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ This is our dutie beloued euen to giue thankes alwayes for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ Is it our dutie Let vs then embrace it Ascendant gratiae vt descendat gratia let our thankes ascend vp to God that his grace may descend downe vpon vs. For cessat decursus gratiarum vbi non fuerit recursus sayth Bernard Serm. 1. in capite ieiunij The course and descent of the graces of God ceaseth and the spring is dryed vp when there is not a recourse and tide of our thankefulnesse O! Why should so good an exercise be a burthen and griefe to any Christian soule Let the vnrighteous vanish away in their gracelesse vnthankefulnesse and become as the dung of the earth but let the righteous alwayes reioyce in the Lord m Psal 33.1 for it well becommeth the iust to be thankefull Early and late let vs prayse his holy name though not with the harpe nor with the Psalterie nor with an instrument of ten strings as the Psalmist aduiseth Psal 33.2 Yet let vs doe it with the best members and instruments we haue with our bodies and with our soules An eminent n B. King in Jon. lect 25. p 328. piller of our Church hath for this place a sweete meditation Let vs neuer turne our o Eze. 8.16 backes to the Temple of the Lord nor our faces from his mercy seate Let vs not take without giuing as vnprofitable ground drinketh and deuoureth seed without restoring Let vs neither eate nor drinke nay let vs neither hunger nor thirst without this condiment to it The Lord be praysed Let the frontlets betweene your eyes the bracelets vpon our armes the gards vpon our garments be thankes Whatsoeuer we receiue to vse or enioy let vs write that posie Epiphoneme of p Chap. 4.7 Zacharie vpon it Grace grace vnto it for all is grace To shut vp this point let our daily deuotion be the same that Dauids was Psal 103.1 2. let it be our daily song Blesse the Lord ô my soule and all that is within me blesse his holy name Blesse the Lord ô my soule forget not all his benefits Thus farre hath the vnthankefulnes of Israel noted in the particle Yet carryed me I now goe on with the explication of the first benefit here mentioned to haue bin bestowed by God vpon that vnthankefull people I destroyed the Amorite before them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Septuagint I haue taken away Exterminavi the Vulgar Calvin and Gualter I haue cast out Delevi Leo Iuda and Castalio I haue wiped away Excidi Oâ—colampadius I haue cut off Perdidi Vatablus Tremellius and Iunius I haue destroyed Drusius expounds it Delevi Perdidi profligavi Mercerus Disperdidi abolevi The word in the originall signifieth so to abolish and wipe away a people or a nation that there be not any memorie left of it I destroyed the Amorite The Amorites were descended from Canaan the fourth sonne of Ham. In Gen. 10.16 Canaan is sayd to haue begotten the Iebusite and the Amorite and the Gargasite He begat the Amorite I destroyed the Ammorite What The Ammorite alone Not so But the Ammorites and other nations of the land of Canaan whom when they had fulfilled the measure of their iniquitie God did cut of that he might giue their land for an habitation to the posteritie of Iacob the people of Israell according to his couenant made with Abraham Gen. 15.18 Vnto thy seed haue I giuen this land from the riuer of Egypt vnto the great riuer the riuer Euphrates The Kenites and the Kenizites and the Kadmonites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaims and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgasites and the Iebusites The Amorites you see were not alone According to this couenant with Abraham a promise is made to the Fathers in the desert Exod. 23.27 I will send my feare before thee and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come and I will make all thine enemies turne their backes vnto thee And I will send hornets before thee which shall driue out from before thee Whom The Hivite the Canaanite and the Hittite It s true But they are not all Looke backe to the 23. verse There shall you finde the Lord thus to speake Mine Angell shall goe before thee and bring thee vnto the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Iebusites and I will cut them off You see againe the Amorites were not alone I pervse the Catalogue of the Nations whom the Lord hath cast out before Israell It is Deut. 7.1 There I finde that he hath cast out the Hittites and the Girgasites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Heuites and the Iebusites seauen Nations greater and mightier then Israell was Seuen Nations Then the Amorites were not alone Were they seauen Nations that were driuen out before Israel How then is it that the Lord here in my text recounting vnto Israell this great benefit nameth onely the Amorite saying Yet destroyed I the Ammorite The Iesuite Pererius in his third Tome of Commentaries vpon Genesis writing vpon the 15. Chapter ver 16. these words The iniquitie of the Amorite is not yet full moues this very doubt but thus The reader may here wonder why mention is made onely of one Nation of the Amorite sith it is plaine by other places of holy Scripture that there were seauen Nations which the Lord draue out from before the Israelites His first answere is It may by a Synecdoche A part may be put for the whole one Nation of the Amorites for all the seauen A like Synecdoche there is Iosh 1.4 There thus sayth the Lord vnto Ioshuah From the wildernesse and this Lebanon euen vnto the great riuer the riuer Euphrates all the land of the Hittites and vnto the great Sea toward the going downe of the Sunne shall be your coast All the land of the Hittites shall be your coast The Hittites onely are named and yet within the bounds described all the seauen had their habitations It is therefore a Synecdoche A part is put for the whole One Nation of the Hittites for all the seauen It s so here One Nation of the Amorites for all the seauen This answere admitting a Synecdoche is approued by Piscator Tremellius and Iunius Yet Pererius thinkes to giue a better And therefore his second answere is that the Amorites are praecipuè singulariter chiefly and principally named aboue all the rest and for them all because for the largenesse of their Nation and for their height of stature and for their strength of bodie and for their excessiue crueltie and impietie they were aboue all famous and much spoken of Mercerus that great Professor of the Hebrew
Ioshua and the elders of Israel to testifie their griefe for the ouerthrow giuen them by the men of Ai rent their clothes fell to the earth vpon their faces and put dust vpon their heads They put dust vpon their heads So 1. Sam. 4.12 the Beniamite that brought the heauy newes of the Arke of the Lord taken by the Philistines and of the death of Hophni Phinehas the two sons of Eli in tokeÌ„ of his griefe came to Shiloh with his clothes rent and with earth vpon his head He came with earth vpon his head The like we read 2. Sam. 13.19 Tamar the sister of Absolon because she was hated of Amnon by whom shee had bin rauished to signifie her griefe she rent her garment and put ashes vpon her head Shee put ashes on her head Other like c Iob 2.12 Ezech. 27.30 Apoc. 18.19 places of holy writ I might produce yet further to shew that the aspersion or sprinkling of earth dust or ashes vpon the head was a ceremonie in vse with such as had in themselues iust cause of griefe heauinesse mourning or lamentation But this is by the places already alleaged sufficiently declared vnto you If to this ceremonie of besmering the head with earth dust or ashes our Prophet here alludeth then are the rulers of Israel and the rich among them here taxed for their hard-heartednesse towards the poore for their couetousnes and cruelty whereby they oppressed the poore to this sense They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poore They the rulers of Israel and the rich men there They pant after the dust of the earth they greedily desire to see the dust of the earth sprinckled on the head of the poore they make it their pleasure to giue the honest poore man iust cause of griefe and mourning They pant after the dust of the earth The dust sometime it betokeneth a low and base estate 1. Sam. 2.8 Hannah in her song of thankfulnes praising the Lord for his beneficence towards the humble despised saith He raiseth the poore out of the dust and lifteth vp the begger from the dunghill So in so many words saith the Psalmist Ps 113.7 He raiseth vp the poore out of the dust and lifteth vp the begger from the dunghill In both places the latter phrase is a repetition or exposition of the former The Lord raiseth vp the poore out of the dust that is the Lord lifteth vp the begger from the dunghill The meaning is The Lord through his Almighty power and of his goodnes exalteth the poore and abiect amongst men from their vile contemptible estate to some degree of honour Hitherto may we adde that of Dauid Psal 7.5 Let him lay mine honor in the dust Let him lay mine honor in the dust What 's that If saith Dauid I haue rewarded euill to him that was at peace with me let the enemie lay mine honor in the dust that is let mine honor be so put out that there may be no more remembrance of it in the posteritie to come let me euer be held for a base vile and contemptible wretch If to this signification of Dust our Prophet here alludeth then are the rulers of Israel and the rich among them here censured for their cruell and vnsatiable desire to grind the faces of the poore Thus They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poore That is though the poore doe already sit vpon the dust of the earth and are thereby in the eyes of the world base vile and contemptible yet do the rulers of Israel and the rich among them still pant after the dust of the earth vpon their heads their delight is to behold them euer wallowing in the dust of the earth to see them yet more base more vile more contemptible Yea they can bee contented that the dust whereof Dauid speaketh Psal 22.15 The dust of death be vpon their heads that the d Psal 49.15 graue haue power ouer them that the e Psal 69.15 pit shut her mouth vpon them Hitherto dearely beloued you haue had variety of interpretations Which will you admit You cannot chuse amisse They are all agreable to the analogie of faith They all checke Israel the heads of Israel the Magistrates Rulers and Gouernors of Israel the rich of Israel for their cruelty their couetousnes and their oppression of the poore of Israel and they yeeld vnto vs this lesson God pleadeth the cause of the poore against the cruell the couetous and oppressors By the poore in this proposition I vnderstand all that be in any need necessitie or want widdowes also fatherlesse children that haue lost their head strangers likewise and exiles out of their country for religion and good causes All these if they behaue themselues meekly and seeke to liue peaceably with all men and put themselues wholy into the hands of God God receiueth into his protection and pleadeth their cause Concerning strangers the commandement is Exod. 2â— 21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppresse him It is repeated Levit. 19.33 If a stranger sâ—iourne with thee ye shall not vexe him he shall be as one borne amongst you and thou shalt loue him as thy selfe Such is the commandement Doe men regard it Doe they not rather with their churlish and vnkinde words and deeds torment the a king heart of the stranger If they doe so the Lord is ready to auenge the strangers cause and to execute vengeance vpon his oppressors For so much the Lord vndertaketh Exod. 22.23 If thou afflict the stranger in any wise and he cry at all vnto me I will surely heare his cry and my wrath shall wax hot and I will kill you with the sword You see God pleadeth the strangers cause Againe God pleadeth the cause of the widowes and fatherlâ—sse children The commandement concerning them is Exod. 22.22 Yee shall not afflict any widow or fatherlesse childe It is repeated Zach. 7.10 Oppresse not the widow nor the fatherlesse Such is the commandment Do men regard it Doe they not rather adde affliction to the afflicted fatherlâ—sse and widow Doe they not oppresse wrong vexe and grieue them If they doe so God is ready to right their cause and to lay vengeance vpon their oppressors For so much God vndertaketh Exod. 22.23 If you afflict the widow or fatherlesse childe in any wise and they cry at all vnto me I will surely heare their cry my wrath shall waxe hot and I will kill you with the sword and your wiues shall be widowes and your children fatherlesse This protection ouer the fatherlesse and widowes is also ascribed vnto the Lord Deut. 10 18. The Lord doth execute the iudgement of the fatherlesse and widow It is very comfortably deliuered Psal 68.5 God in his holy habitation is a father of the fatherlesse and a iudge of the widowes You see God pleadeth the cause of the widowes and the fatherlesse So also he pleadeth the cause of
Antipater Epigram that running in a race from the bâ—ginning to the end no man could see him so swift he was of foote But these I take to be either fabulous or hyperbolicall Yet say there were such say there are such I say neither was there for them neither is there for these any evasion or escaping from God No not any at all My Prophet in the next verse the 15. of this Chapter speaks it in plaine tearmes He that is swift of foote shall not deliuer himselfe Not deliuer himselfe and yet swift of foote It is euen so Why may he not attempt to flee Perchance he may yet shall his attempt be frustrate for thus saith the Lord Amos 9.1 He that fleeth shall not flee away and he that escapeth shall not be deliuered Yea saith he though they digge into Hell thence shall mine hand take them though they climbe vp to Heauen thence will I bring them downe And though they hide themselues in the top of Carmel I will search and take them out thence and though they be hid from my sight in the bottome of the Sea thence will I command the serpent and he shall bite them And though they goe into captiuitie before their enemies thence will I command the sword and it shall slay them In this Hyperbolicall exaggeration for such it is in the iudgements of S. Hierome Remigius Albertus Hugo and Dionysius he sheweth how impossible it is for man by seeking to flee to lurke or to hide himselfe to exempt himselfe from the power or wrath of GOD. This impossibilitie of hiding our selues from the power or wrath of God either in Heauen or Hell or Sea or darke place or any where else is elegantly and fully illustrated by the sweetest singer of Psalmes David Psal 139.7 Whither shall I goe from thy spirit or whither shall flie from thy presence If I ascend vp into Heauen thou art there if I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the vttermost parts of the Sea Euen there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say Surely the darknes shall couer me euen the night shall be light about me Yea the darknesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and the light are both alike to thee You see nor Heauen nor Hell nor Sea nor darknesse could hide Dauid from the presence of God Could they not hide Dauid and shall they be able to hide others They shall not God makes it good by that his vehement asseueration Ierem. 23.23 Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God a far off Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Doe not I fill Heauen and Earth saith the Lord You see againe At hand or further off in Heauen or Earth in places of most secrecie our Lord he is God he seeth all things he fills both Heauen and Earth Thus haue you the confirmation of my doctrine which was When God resolueth to punish man for sinne there is no refuge for him no evasion no escaping by flight though he be of a swift an expedite and an agile bodie Is there no refuge for vs no evasion no escaping by flight when God will punish No there is none How can there be any sith our persecutors shall be swifter then the Eagles of the Heauen to pursue vs vpon the mountaines and to lay waite for vs in the wildernesse according to the mone that the daughter of Sion maketh Lament 4 19. Flee we as we may to mountaines to the wildernesse to hide our selues our flight shall be in vaine for our persecutors shall be swifter then the Eagles of the Heauen they whom God will employ to be the executioners of his displeasure towards vs shall still haue meanes to ouertake vs and to finde vs out Will there be no refuge for vs no evasion no escaping by flight when God will visit for our sinnes What shall we then doe beloued What Vis audire consilium Wilt thou heare counsell saith S. Austine in his sixth Treatise vpon S. Iohns Epistle Si vis ab illo fugere ad ipsum fuge If thou wilt flee from him flee to him Ad ipsum fuge confitendo non ab ipso latendo Flee to him by confessing thy sins but hide not thy selfe from him Latere enim non potes sed confiteri potes For its impossible thou shouldst lye hid from him yet mayst thou confesse thy selfe vnto him Say vnto him r Psal 91.2 Refugium meum es tu Lord thou art my refuge and my fortresse my God in thee will I trust Refugium meum es tu Lord thou art my refuge To like purpose the same S. Austine vpon Psal 71. saith Non est quo fugiatur ab illo nisi ad illum there is no flying from God but by flying to Him Si vis evadere iratum fuge ad placatum if thou wilt flee from him as he is angry flee to him as pacified So vpon Psal 75. Non est quo fugias à Deo irato nisi ad Deum placatum there is no flying from God angry but to God pacified Prorsus non est quo fugias beleeue it there is no flying from God Vis fugere ab ipso fuge ad ipsum Wilt thou needs flee from him then flee to him Flee to him From whence and whither Can I flee from any place where God is not to some place where he is Or is he not euery where Fills he not Heauen and Earth How then can I flee to him Vnderstand not any locall flying de loco ad locum but a flying de vitâ ad vitam de actu ad actum de bonis ad meliora de vtilibus ad vtiliora de sanctis ad sanctiora as Origen speaketh Homil. 12. in Genesin and so mayst thou flee to God Flee from life to life from an euill life to a good life from act to act from an euill act to a good act from good to better from profitable courses to more profitable from sanctified thoughts to more sanctified and thou doest flee to God The performance of this thy flight must be non passibus pedum sed mentis profectibus not by the agilitie or swiftnes of thy feete but by the increase or bettering of will and vnderstanding Thus to flee to God is nothing else then to draw neere vnto him to haue accesse vnto him to come vnto him To draw neere vnto him we are exhorted Iam. 4.8 Draw nigh vnto God and he will draw nigh to you Draw nigh to God! but how Pedibus aut passibus corporis with your bodily feete or paces No sed cordis but with the feete and paces of our heart Per bona opera saith the Glosse by good workes per morum imitationem saith Aquinas by honestie of life and conuersation fide affectu pijs precibus
after time as Esay speaketh Chap. 42.23 It is to marke and vnderstand and remember and beleeue and follow that which you heare This duty of hearing as we should we shall the better performe if as Moses at the commandement of the Lord did put off his shoâ—es the shooes from off his feet because the place wherein be stood was h ly ground Exod. 3.5 so shall we as oft as we come to this or the like holy place the House of God to heare his Word read and preached vnto vs put off our shooes too not our shooes from off our feet but our much fouler shooes our lusts our thoughts our cares our fancies our businesses euen all that corruption and sinne wherewith in this life we are clogged which as the dust to the shooe and the sh oe to the foot cleaues fast to vs. If thus prepared we come to heare the Word of God wee shall be sure of a blessing When the woman said to Christ Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked Christ replyed Luk. 11.28 Yea rather blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it By this his reply he sheweth that his Disciples were more blessed for hearing him than his Mother for bearing him Yet hereby hee denieth not his Mother to haue beene blessed euen for bearing him but insinuates onely that she was more blessed in being his childe than in being his Mother Saint Austine De Sancta Virginitate cap. 3. well expresseth it Beatior percipiende fidem Christi quà m concipiendo carnem Christi The blessed Virgin the Mother of Christ was more blessed by receiuing the faith of Christ then by conceiuing the flesh of Christ Christ said vnto his Disciples Matth. 13.16 Blessed are your eares for you heare shewing that they were more blessed than all the world besides because they had this one blessing to heare the truth This is the blessing which you come hither for God in the abundance of his goodnesse brings it home vnto you And well may you call it a blessing For the word which we bring vnto you is verbum regni Mat. 13.19 The word of a Kingdome it brings a Kingdome with it It is verbum vitae Ioh. 6.68 the word of life it brings life with it It is not onely a word of authority to command and bind the conscience nor onely a word of wisdome to direct you nor onely a word of power to conuert you nor onely a word of grace to comfort and vphold you but the word of a neuer-fading Kingdome and of eternall life to make you perfectly and for euer blessed Thus farre hath my first Doctrine carried mee The Doctrine was deliuered in these words The word of the Lord is diligently to be hearkened vnto It was grounded vpon the first branch of my Text wherein is contained the first perswasory argument of attention drawne from the authority of the word to be hearkned vnto Heare this word that the Lord speaketh against you The next argument of perswasion to enforce attention in the hearer is drawne from the persons of them who are here inuited to giue eare They are Filty Israel the children the sonnes the posterity of Israel a people descended from the holy Patriarke Iacob chosen aboue all other nations to bee Gods peculiar people with whom God had made a couenant and had on his part most absolutely performed it preseruing them from their enemies and multiplying vpon them all his benefits So graciously did God deale with these sonnes of Israel not onely whilst they loued him kept their coniugall faith with him and serued him according to his word but euen then too when they had despised him and forsaken him had violated their faith with him and committed spirituall whoredome with false gods Yet when those their impieties disobediences and rebellions were growne to the height God was resolued to come against them in iudgement and to punish them This his resolution appeareth in the many menaces and threats which from time to time the Lord sent vnto them by his holy Prophets One of which is in my Text Heare this word that the Lord speaketh against you O children of Israel Against you to punish you O children of Israel euen you My obseruation here is God will not spare to smite his dearest children when they sinne against him One reason hereof may bee that the Lord may declare himselfe an aduersary to sinne in all men without partiality A second is that the Lord may reduce his children from running on headlong to perdition with the wicked And the vses may be two One to teach vs to magnifie the righteousnesse of God as generally in all his workes so particularly in the afflictions of his people The other to admonish vs that we looke not for any certaine earthly peace though we are by faith the children of Israel but that we prepare our selues for a continuall succession of crosses and calamities The third argument of perswasion to moue attention in these children of Israel is taken from the commemoration of their greatest deliuerance their deliuerance out of Aegypt Heare this w rd that the Lord speaketh against you O children of Israel against the whole family which I brought vp from the land of Aegypt My obseruation is The temporall benefits and manifold deliuerances which the Lord bestoweth vpon his people are euer to be had in remembrance and in thankefull acknowledgement This very doctrine for the substance of it I haue heretofore in your hearing propounded and proued in my fifteenth Lecture vpon the second chapter of this booke occasioned thereunto by the tenth verse wherein this great deliuerance out of Aegypt is mentioned I will not therefore at this time stand to inlarge it Onely let me now tell you that this deliuery of the Israelites out of Aegypt is not appropriate onely vnto them but that in some sort it appertaineth to the Church of God in all ages for as much as it was a type of a more surpassing deliuery from that fearefull Kingdome of sinne and darknesse It appertaineth euen vnto vs whom God of his infinite goodnesse and mercy through the precious bloud of his Sonne and our Sauiour Christ Iesus hath deliuered from this spirituall Aegypt the Kingdome of sinne and darknesse and will in his good time giue vs safe passage from hence to that heauenly Canaan the true Country and Inheritance of all Saints Whither most gracious God vouchsafe to bring vs all Amen THE Second Lecture AMOS 3.2 You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities THis second verse is the second part of Amos his second Sermon concerning the Kingdome of the ten Tribes the Kingdome of Israel It is the proposition and containeth the very substance of the whole Sermon which is to let the Israelites vnderstand that for as much as the Lord hath beene good vnto them aboue all the Nations of the
other sort of shepheards is of such as are hired to keepe sheep to see to their seeding safetie Such we properly call shepheards and such are the shepheards in my text It followeth Haue mourned The text is so the meaning is shall mourne This enallage or change of the time of the time past for the time to come hath its reason from a truth contained in a saying of the Schoolemen Apud Deum non est tempus God is beyond times limits Hee was when time was not and shall be when time shall be no more It s common with the Prophets to speake of a future thing as of a thing past or present A learned a Grammarian doth well expresse the reason Otho Gualt perius quia Prophetia ipsorum tam certa est ac si spectatores rerum futurarum in praesenti omnia fieri cernereâ—t The prophesies in the old time which came not by the will of man were of as great certainty as if the Prophets had beene present spectators of the things to come The sweet â—inger of Israel to shew Gods promise made for the encouragement of the man that loueth to liue a godly life saith Psal 1.3 Hee hath beene like a tree planted by the riuers of waters He hath beene that is the text the sense is he shall be like such a tree Iacob in the 48. of Gen. ver 22. thus blesseth Ioseph I haue giuen thee one portion aboue thy brethren I haue giuen thee that is the text the sense is I doe or will giue thee In Hosea 10.5 we read thus The people of the Calfe of Bethauen haue mourned ouer it The text is haue mourned the sense is shall mourne So here my text is The dwelling places of the shepheards haue mourned the sense is they shall mourne Shall mourne Mourne How can dwelling places mourne Euen as the earth can mourne The lamentations mournings of the earth are eternized with holy Prophets pennes With Esayes penne chap. 24.4 For the sinnes of the people the land lamenteth and fadeâ—h away and againe chap. 33.9 For the sinnes of the people the earth mourneth and fainteth With Ieremies pen fiâ—st chap. 4.28 For the sinnes of Iudah the earth shall mourn againe chap. 12.4 For the wickâ—dnesse of the inhabitants shall the land mourne a third time chap. 23.10 because of oathes the land mourneth W th Ioels penne chap. 1.10 for siâ—ne the land mourneth With Hoseas penne chap. 4 3. because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in Israel euâ—ry one breaking out by sweâ—ring by lying by killing by stealâ—ng by whoring blood touching blood therefore shall the land mourne Lamentation and mourning proper pâ—ssions of the reasonable creature are by a translation ascribed to the Earth to note either that she is ill fauoured and out of fashion for lacke of dressing or that men for her desolation doe lament and mourne as Dâ—usius lib. 1. quaest Hebr. qu. 27. obserueth out of S. Austine Suitable to the mournings of the Earth is the mourning in my text the dwelling places of the shepheards shall mourne It is a translation from liuing things to things without life from shepheards to their dwelling houses The dwelling places of the shepheards shall mourne that is the shepheards themselues shall mourne when they shall behold the spoile ouerthrow and desolation of their dwelling houses Our English reading then for the sense is good The dwelling places of the shepheards shall perish You see now the desolation of the dwelling places of the shepheards Will you haue the reason of it Looke backe then to the but-now cited places of Esay Ieremie Hosea Ioel for the reason why the earth is said to mourne The reason is the same for the earths mourning and the mourning of the shepheards dwelling houses euen sinne and iniquitie Whence you may learne this lesson Sinne and iniquitie are meanes to lay waste and make desolate our dwelling houses yea the fairest and goodliest buildings all manner of buildings This point I might at large demonstrate make plaine vnto you by the ruines of time by the ruines of the old world of Sodâ—me Gomorah and their sisters of Babel of the first and second Temples of the Easterne Churches of the Abbeyes and Monasteries of this land But for this present I will content my selfe only to deliuer vnto you and that briefly a few briefe notes for your further instruction and meditation Is it true Are siâ—ne and iniquitie meanes to lay waste make desolate all manner of buildings Why then beloued you must acknowledge and confesse that the crying sinnes of your forefathers haue beene the cause why Gods owne house and b The Chappell at Marston Meisey ruined Chappell among you is become waste and desolate This meditation concerneth some of you specially you among whom God sometimes had his Sion and Ierusalem his house of prayer and sacred Chappell O it is a fearefull iudgement of God vpon you that he hath remoued his kingdome and your candlesticke from among you But you will lay this blame vpon your forefathers I cannot excuse them Yet must I tell you that except yee amend your liues a worse thing may befall you And you beloued who haue your dwelling neere vnto this House of God the place of assembly for his Saints will you match your neighbours in sinne and iniquitie and not feare their punishments When first I beheld and considered the condition of this House wherein we are now assembled it seemed to me that desolation had begunne to set her foot here What else could your selues thinke of or hope for as oft as you beheld her decayed estate Such Churches as this if any be so bad as this within this Realme may giue some occasion to that same scandalous assertion of one of our English c Gul. Reginald Caluino turc lib. 2. cap. 15. in argumento Libri In Anglicano Turcico ministerio summa est conuenienâ—ia Templa vtrinque sunt similia sed Turcis ornatiora magnificentiora pag. 313. fugitiues beyond the seas that the Churches in Turkie are mâ—re sumptuous and stately then ours in England Of ours he saith that they are * Apud vestâ—os Euangelices Ecclesiae pleruÌ„que turpes sordidae immundae tacent At hominum nobilium mercatorum iuridicorum Baronum ComituÌ„que dâ—â—ibus nihâ—l ornatius nihil opâ—rosius in his poâ—â—endis hâ—minâ—s priuatiregias aliquando gazas consumuÌ„t Ibid. pag. 318. turpes sordidae immundae foule vncleane sluttish To perswade you to repaire her decayed places I would it were within the compasse of my Rhetoricke Yet let me propound one question vnto you Hag. 1.4 Is it time for your selues to dwell in your sciled houses and this house to lye waste Consider your own waies in your own hearts and giue your answer vnto God A second note for your further instruction and meditation followeth Is it true Are sinne and iniquitie meanes to lay waste make desolate all manner
acknowledgeth It is expresly deliuered 1 Chron. 9.1 of the Israelites that for their transgressions they were carried away captiue vnto Babel In Deut. 28.41 among the curses threatned to all such as are rebellious and disobedient to Gods holy Commandements Captiuitie is ranked and reckoned I let passe the multitude of Scripture-places seruing to this point my Text is plaine for it The Aramites for their three transgressions and for foure for their many sinnes for their sinne of cruelty for threshing Gilead with threshing instruments of Iron were to goe into Captiuity My doctrine standeth firme For the sinne of a Land God oftentimes sendeth away the inhabitants into captiuitie Into Captiuitie Into what kinde of captiuitie For there is a spirituall captiuitie and a corporall captiuitie a captiuitie of the minde and a captiuitie of the body Both are very grieuous but the first more The first which I call the spirituall captiuity and a captiuitie of the minde is a captiuity vnder the Deuill vnder the power of Hell vnder death vnder sin vnder the eternall malediction or curse of the Law propounded to euery one that doth not in all points and absolutely obey the Law This Captiuity is a heauie yoake to all mankinde considered without Christ Euery one male and female that hath no part in Christ euery vnbeleeuing and reprobate person is in this construction euen to this day a captiue And such also were we by the corruption of our nature vpon our first Father Adams default but now are we by the sacrifice of the immaculate Lambe the Lord Iesus ransomed and freed For to this purpose was he sent into the world as it is euident Esai 61.1 and Luk. 4.18 In both places hee professeth himselfe to bee sent into the world for this end euen to publish liberty and freedome to captiues and the imprisoned which his office he hath graciously performed By his Word of grace he hath so freed our consciences formerly oppressed with and captiue vnder sin that now there is no condemnation to vs to vs I say who are in Christ and doe walke after the spirit as Saint Paul speaketh Rom. 8.1 This is it which our Sauiour foretold the Iewes Iohn 8.36 If the Sonne shall make you free you shall be free indeed Be it repeated againe to our eternall comforts If the Sonne shall make vs free we shall be free indeed But he hath made vs free for therefore was he sent to publish libertie and freedome to captiues he hath paid our ransome his innocent and most precious bloud by it are we throughly washed and cleansed from our sinnes Now there is no condemnation to vs. Thus freed from our spirituall captiuity bondage and slauery vnder Hell death and sin let vs with boldnesse looking vp to the throne of Grace whereon sitteth the Author and Finisher of our faith say with the blessed Apostle 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law But thankes be to God who hath giuen vs victory through Iesus Christ our Lord. The Captiuity in my text is of the other kind a corporall captiuitie a captiuitie of the body which vsually is accompanied with two great miseries pointed at Psal 107.10 The first they dwell in darknesse and in the shadow of death the second they are bound in anguish and Iron First they dwell in darknesse and in the shadow of death that is they are put into deep dungeons void of light whereby they are as it were at deaths doore Secondly they are bound in anguish and iron that is day and night they are loaden with fetters gyues or shackles of iron so loaden that they finde no rest vnto their bones Thus must it be with them who by sinfull liuing prouoke the Lord to high displeasure Thus is my doctrine confirmed For the sin of a land God oftentimes sendeth away the inhabitants into captiuity Is it true beloued Doth God oftentimes for the sin of a land send away the inhabitants into captiuity Let vs make this Christian vse of it euen to powre out our selues in thankfulnesse before Almighty God for his wonderfull patience towards vs. The sins of such Nations as haue beene punished with captiuity were they more grieuous in Gods eyes than ours are It is not be imagined Our sins are as crimson-like and as scarlet-like as euer were theirs the sins of our land crying sins Atheisme Irreligion Oppression Extortion Couetousnesse Vsury Adultery Fornication Vncleannesse Drunkennesse and many like abominations of the old man in vs all our works of darknes they haue made head together and haue impudently and shamelesly pressed into the presence of Almighty God to vrge him to powre forth the vials of his wrath and indignation vpon vs. Yet our God good gracious mercifull long suffering and of great kindnes withholdeth and stayeth his reuengefull hand from laying vpon vs his great punishment of Captiuity and suffereth vs to possesse our habitations in peace and to eat the good things of the earth O let vs therefore confesse before the Lord his louing kindnesse and declare before the sonnes of men the good things that he hath done for vs. Here dearely beloued let vs not presume vpon God his patience to lead our liues as we list We cannot but see that God is highly offended with vs already though yet he be not pleased to execute his sorest iudgements vpon vs. Gods high displeasure against vs appeareth in those many visitations by which he hath come neere vnto vs within our memories I may not stand to amplifie the Spanish sword shaken ouer vs and the great famine brought vpon vs in our late Queenes daies Our now gracious Soueraigne hath not long sate at the sterne of this kingdome But few yeares are passed and yet those few haue afforded manifest tokens of Gods sore displeasure at vs. Haue not many thousands of our brethren haply not so grieuous sinners as we beene taken away by the destroying Angell and yet the plague is not ceased Vnlesse we repent and amend our liues we may likewise perish Haue not many of our brethren too many if it might haue seemed otherwise to Almighty God haue they not partly perished themselues partly lost their cattell and substance in n An. Dom. 1607 this yeeres waters such waters as our fore-fathers haue scarcely obserued the like If we will not wash our selues from our euill doings we see God is able to wash vs extraordinarily The vnseasonable weather giuen vs from Heauen to the rotting of our sheepe is but Gods warning to vs of a greater misery to befall vs vnlesse we will returne from our euill waies Wherefore beloued let vs with one heart and mind resolue for hereafter to cast away all workes of darknesse and to put on the armour of light take we no further thought for our flesh to fulfill the lusts of it Walke we from henceforth honestly as in the day
The same thing is twise said 1. They haue despised the law of the Lord. 2. They haue not kept his commandements Is the same thing twise said Let it be true that by the lawes of the Lord and the commandements of the Lord one and the same thing be vnderstood is it likewise all one to despise and not to keepe or doth not our Prophet say lesse against the people of Iudah where he saith They haue not kept the commandements of the Lord then when he saith They haue despised the law of the Lord He may seeme to say lesse But if we consider the force of the Hebrew phrase we shall finde it to be otherwise It is a rule y Drusâ—us Hebraei per negationem contrarij vehementiùs affirmant the Hebrewes by denying the contrary doe the more vehemently affirme It may thus appeare Solomon in his Prouerbs chap. 17.21 saith Non gaudet stulti pater the father of a foole reioyceth not This may seeme to be but coldly and slenderly spoken not sufficiently to expresse that griefe which fathers do conceiue at the disobedience of their sonnes which the Wiseman there calleth foolishnes But the phrase is very forcible Non gaudet stulti pater the father of a foole reioyceth not Nemo quisquam vnquaÌ„ ita dolet quin idem aliquaÌ„do gaudeat saith o Drus obseruat lib. 1. c. 22. a learned writer There is scarse any man euer so grieued but that at some one time or other he reioyceth but if a man at all times and euery moment of time be grieued of him we may truly say Non gaudet he reioyceth not Non gaudet stulti pater It is very fitly englished in our new translation The father of a foole hath no ioy Here you you who liue vnder the rule of your parents be ye sonnes or daughters liuing vnder father or mother if you behaue your selues disobediently towards your Parents in Salomons account you are fooles and your Parents can haue no ioy in you And tell me of whom should your Parents haue ioy if not of you their children S. Paules exhortation is not lightly to be esteemed by you Heare therefore what he saith vnto you Ephes 6.1 Children obey your parents in the Lord. and vers 2. Honor thy father and mother To the first he perswadeth you by a reason drawne from the schole of nature It is right so to do To the second he allureth you by an argument drawne from your owne good v. 3. So shall it be well with you and you shall liue long vpon the earth and euer remember this same Non gaudet of Salomon Non gaudet stulti pater The father of a foole of a disobedient childe hath no ioy A like phrase the same Salomon hath Prou. 10.2 Non prosunt thesauri improbitatis The treasures of wickednes profit not This may seeme to be spoken but jeiunely and sleightly not sufficiently to expresse the hurt mischiefe that shall befall a man for his goods vnlawfully and dishonestly gotten But the phrase is very forcible Non prosunt thesauri improbitatis the treasures of wickednes profit not Quod in omni tempori nocet sayth p Drusius vbi suprà one de eo verissimè enuntiatur non prodest Name any thing that at all times is hurtfull and of it we may truely say Non prodest it doth not profit Salomon hath named it Thesauri improbitatis the treasures of wickednesse Non prosunt thesauri improbitatis It is very fitly englished in our new translation The treasures of wickednesse profit nothing It is worth the marking they profit nothing Heare you you who heape vnto your selues Thesauros improbitatis these same treasures of wickednesse by your auarice extortion oppression vsury false-dealing with your neighbours or otherwise vnlawfully You may know that these your treasures of wickednesse can profit nothing They may be vnto you obstacles and impediments to keepe you for euer without the gates of Heauen What meaneth else our blessed Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ in that his constant asseueration to his Disciples Mat. 19.23 Verily verily I say vnto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdome of Heauen And againe where he sayth ver 24. It is easier for a Camell to goe through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of God And who is this rich man Qui diuitijs cor apponit he that setteth his heart vpon his riches and trusteth in them and not onely he but he also that getteth his goods vniustly he that getteth thesauros improbitatis those same treasures of iniquitie whereof for the present I say no more then what our Sauiour sayth to his Disciples Mat. 16.26 What is a man profited if hee shall gaine the whole world and loose his owne soule Onely I wish from my heart that in your hearts were written this same Non prosunt Non prosunt thesauri improbitatis the treasures of wickednesse doe profit nothing Will you now looke backe to my text for the explication whereof I haue expounded to you a Non gaudet and a Non prosunt The first Non gaudet concerneth the Father of a disobedient childe and importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gaudij the privation of ioy the Father of a disobedient sonne hath no ioy at all The other Non prosunt is spoken of goods ill gotten and importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vtilitatis the privation of profit Non prosunt goods ill gotten profit nothing at all My text hath answerable to those two a Non obseruârunt Non obseruârunt mandata eius They haue not kept the commandements of the Lord. This may seeme to be but coldly and sleightly spoken not sufficient to expresse the disobedience of the people of Iudah towards the commaundements of the Lord. For there is no man liuing vpon earth that can keepe his commandements And if the people of Iudah in this sinned but as other men ordinarily sinned what great matter is it that our Prophet here obiecteth to them But the phrase here is very forcible Non obseruârunt mandata eius They haue not kept his commaundements Here is implied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observantiae a privation of obseruance They haue not kept the commandments of the Lord in any one point Couenant-breakers and apostates as they were they refused to be vnder the Lords commandements and audaciously framed to themselues a new kind of worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a will worship a worship of their owne inuention cultum plenum sacrilegijs a worship full of sacriledge We see now what it is that our Prophet in this branch of my text reprooueth in the people of Iudah It is a Non obseruârunt a non obseruance an vniuersall neglect of the commandements of the Lord. They tooke license to themselues to innouate to frame vnto themselues a new kind of diuine worship such as the Lord neuer approoued yea such as was contrarie to the expresse will of
the words of God vnto his people Israel Heare O my people and I will speake O Israel I am God euen thy God I know all the fowles of the Mountaines I know them I so know them that I can count them and call them when I list they are in my power I enioy them as mine owne they are mine owne possession And so they expound my Text You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth I haue knowne you onely Vos tantummodò mihi in viros cultores assumpsi aut possedi saith Illyricus You only haue I taken to be the men for my worship you alone haue I possessed For I haue knowne you the Chaldee Paraphrast hath I haue chosen you I haue chosen you Not amisse if by this choice you vnderstand not that speciall election i Ephes 1.4 and choise of God by which he hath ordained to life eternall those whom of his free good will and pleasure he hath decreed to endow with a celestiall inheritance For it s not to bee denied but that among the people of Israel there were many that had no part in this eternall election and choice of God Many of them had no part in it and therefore this election and choice is not here to be vnderstood But there is another election and choice of God an election and choice more generall an election a choice whereby God preferreth some one Nation aboue others graciously to manifest himselfe and to reueale his sauing word vnto them And thus may God be said only to haue elected and chosen the people of Israel You only haue I chosen of all the families of the earth That the people of Israel were alone thus elected and chosen of God Moses confesseth Deut. 4.7 8. What nation saith he is there so great who hath God so nigh vnto them as the Lord our God is in all things that wee call vpon him for And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and iudgements so righteous as all this Law is which is set before vs this day It is as if he had thus said Let vs bee compared with the rest of the Nations of the world and we shall finde that God is good and gracious vnto vs aboue them all As soone as we pray vnto our God and resort vnto him we feele him neere vs by and by It is not so with other Nations Againe we haue his Lawes and Statutes and righteous Ordinances other Nations haue not so This doth the same Moses more plainly deliuer in sundry places of the same booke of Deuteronomy Chap. 7.6 Chap. 10.15 Chap. 14.2 Chap. 26.18 In all which places his purpose is to fasten it in the memories of the people of Israel that they were an holy people vnto the Lord their God that the Lord their God had chosen them to be a peculiar people vnto himselfe aboue all people that were vpon the face of the earth In the three first places is expresly said that the Lord did chuse Israel to be a peculiar people vnto himselfe aboue all the Nations that are vpon the earth in the fourth that the Lord auouched them to be his peculiar people He chose them he auouched them to be his peculiar people and all for his promise sake The promise is Exod. 19.5 Ye shall be a peculiar or chiefe treasure vnto me aboue all people though all the earth be mine A peculiar or a chiefe treasure The Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Segullah which signifieth ones owne proper good which he loueth and keepeth in store for himselfe and for speciall vse You shall bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Segullah a peculiar a chiefe treasure vnto me aboue all people The meaning of this promise is that although the whole earth be the Lords by the right of creation yet this people the people of Israel should aboue all other haue a speciall interest in him Or the meaning is that the Lord would commit vnto this people his people Israel as a chiefe and principall treasure his Lawes and Statutes which he would not doe to any other people in the world besides So much is acknowledged Psal 147.19 20. He sheweth his word vnto Iacob his statutes and ordinances vnto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation Certainly hereby the Lord sheweth how deare and how precious the people of Israel were in his eyes and what prerogatiues they were to haue aboue other people A chiefe prerogatiue of theirs is that the Oracles of God were committed vnto them Saint Paul affirmes it Rom. 3.1 2. What aduantage then hath the Iew or what profit is there of circumcision Much euery way chiefly because that vnto them were committed the Oracles of God Many other and very excellent prerogatiues had they They are heaped vp together Rom. 9.4 They were Israelites to them pertained the adoption and the glory and the couenants and the giuing of the Law and the seruice of God and the promises Theirs were the Fathers and of them as concerning the flesh Christ came who is ouer all God blessed for euer So many preeminences are so many euidences and demonstrations that of all the nations of the Earth the Israelites were knowne of God were chosen by him and were his possession They were knowne of him by the knowledge of his approbation they were chosen by him and were separated from among all the people of the earth to be his inheritance So Salomon confesseth 1 King 8.53 and the Lord himselfe here in my Text auoucheth You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth You will now confesse with me that these words are as in the beginning I said they were a Commemoration of Gods benefits vpon Israel Euery prerogatiue of theirs was a benefit a blessing of God vpon them It was Gods blessing vpon them that to them were committed the Oracles of God It was Gods blessing vpon them that they were Israelites that to them pertained the adoption and the glory and the Couenants and the giuing of the Law and the seruice of God and the promises It was Gods blessing vpon them that theirs were the Fathers and that of them concerning the flesh Christ came These great benefits these blessings of God vpon the Israelites Albertus Magnus in his Enarration vpon the words of my Text reduceth to the number of fiue Thus You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the Earth per beneplacitum Onely you of all the families of the Earth haue I knowne by my good pleasure Quia me vobis reuelaui lege◠vobis posui promissiones adhibui pramiis remuneraui prophetiis illuminaui I haue reuealed my selfe vnto you I haue giuen you the Law I haue made to you the promises I haue recompenced you with rewards I haue illuminated you with Prophesies Then addes he that of the Psalme Non taliter fecit omni nationi Hee hath not dealt so with euery Nation With euery Nation Nay hee hath not so
hath giuen you the rich treasure of his true seruice and holy Word To you onely hath he beene so gracious not for any dignity or worth of yours but for his owne loues sake and for his promise sake One vse of this obseruation may be to shew that heretofore Grace was not so vniuersall as Papists now would haue it to be The knowledge of the meanes of saluation was denied to the Nations A second vse may be to admonish vs that we hold it for a singular blessing that the Lord hath reserued vs for these last daies wherein the word of God of old time limited to the coasts of Iudaea and Palaestina is now published vnto vs of the Gentiles Ephes 2.13 Now in Christ Iesus wee who were sometimes farre off are made nigh by the bloud of Christ Now therefore we are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow-heires with the Saints Psal 107.8 and of the houshold of God O that we would therefore praise the Lord for this his goodnesse and declare this wonder that he hath done for vs. It is time that from the Commemoration wee descend to the Commination The Commination is in these words Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Therefore Why Because the Lord hath knowne Israel aboue all the families of the earth will he therefore punish them for all their iniquities Is not the sequell absurd You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities Were it not better thus You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth therefore I will spare you I will pardon you I will not punish you for all your iniquities For remouing of this scruple wee must haue recourse to that Couenant which the Lord made with Israel in Horeb. Deut. 5.2 The forme of the Couenant is extant Exod. 19.5 If you will obey my voice indeed and keepe my Couenant then yee shall bee a peculiar treasure vnto me aboue all people This Couenant is more at large described in Deut. 7. and 28. The summe of it is If thou wilt hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God to obserue and to doe all his Commandements which hee commandeth thee then blessed shalt thou be but if thou wilt not accursed shalt thou be The Couenant you see is vpon a condition If the condition be broken on Israels part God is no longer on his part tied to any performance This sequell then may be good I haue chosen you by Couenant aboue all the nations of the earth that ye should keepe my Law but you haue failed in the condition you haue not kept my Law Therefore I will punish you and will punish you for all your iniquities Therefore because you hauing beene graciously receiued by me into fauour doe runne headlong into all iniquity I will punish you therefore I will punish you In the Hebrew it is Visitabo super vos or contra vos I will visit vpon you or against you The Vulgar Latine hath Visitabo super vos I will visit vpon you all your iniquities I will visit To visit is sometimes in the holy Scripture taken in the euill part for to visit in anger or dispeasure whence by a Synecdoche of the Genus for the Species it betokeneth to punish So is God said to visit when with some sudden and vnlooked for scourge or calamity hee taketh vengeance vpon men for those sinnes which for a long time he seemed to take no notice of In that part of Dauids Prayer Psal 59.5 O Lord God of hosts the God of Israel awake thou to visit the heathen to visit is to visit in anger it is to corroct it is to punish In the 89. Psal vers 32. to such as depart from the Law of the Lord and from that rule of righteousnesse which it prescribeth them to walke in the Lord threatneth that hee will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes And there to visit must needs be to visit in anger for as much as it brings a rod and stripes with it It is to correct it is to punish In the thirteetnh of Esay vers 11. the Lord saith I will visit the world for their euill and the wicked for their iniquity And there also to visit is to visit in anger it is to correct it is to punish Now as to visit signifieth in the now alleaged places so doth it in my Text I will visit you I will visit you in mine anger it is to correct it is to punish Now as to visit signifieth in the now alleaged places so doth it in my Text I will visit you I will visit you in mine anger I will correct you I will punish you But for what It followeth For all your iniquities For all either vniuersall or indefinitely For all vniuersally so the glosse takes it so Albertus the Bishop of Ratisbone so Rupertus the Abbot of Tuitium I will punish you for all Vt sit nihil impunitum that nothing be vnpunished I will punish you for all Instante judicio remot â misericordiâ summâ cum seueritate with instant iudgement without mercy with greatest seuerity I will punish you for all For it is a iust thing euen with men that he that makes a Law should punish according to the Law Or All may here be taken indefinitely for some of all It is Drusius his obseruation Omnes dixit pro omne genus vel plerasque All he hath said for all sorts or for the most part I will punish you for all your iniquities that is for the sorts of your iniquities or for the most part of them For the Lord of his clemency and mercy remitteth vnto his some of their iniquities Or these two expositions for this place I preferre the former So shall this second branch of my Text beare with it this vnderstanding Therefore I will visit vpon you all your iniquities Therefore because you hauing beene respected by me and receiued into my fauour aboue all the Nations of the earth haue notwithstanding forsaken my Lawes and corrupted my seruice I will visit vpon you all your iniquities I will punish you for all for all vniuersally for all your iniquities not one of them shall escape vnpunished I will punish you for all your iniquities I there is the Agent Will punish there is the Action You there is the Patient For all your iniquities there is the Cause I wil punish you for all your iniquities From the Agent and his Action ariseth this obseruation Whatsoeuer punishment befalleth any one in this life it is from the Lord. The Lord He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is efficiens primarum he is the primary and principall actor in all punishments He is a sure reuenger of all impiety as he is the maintainer of his holy Law This office of punishing the Lord assumeth to himselfe Esay 45.7 I am the Lord and there is none else
goodnesse extends it selfe to all his creatures not onely to such as haue continued in that goodnesse wherein they were created but also to such as haue fallen away from their primigeniall goodnesse euen to euill Angels and to wicked men Of this goodnesse I vnderstand that Psal 33.5 The earth is full of the goodnesse of the Lord. His speciall goodnesse I call that by which he doth good to the holy Angels confirmed in grace and to his elect children among the sonnes of men Such is that whereof wee reade Psal 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel euen to such as are of a cleane heart He is good that is hee is gracious fauourable and full of compassion to Israel to his elect and holy people his holy Church yet militant vpon the earth deliuering her from euill and bestowing good vpon her Now if hony of its owne nature and essence sweet hath no bitternesse in it if the Sunne of its owne nature and essence light hath no darknesse in it then out of doubt it cannot be that our God the Lord Iehouah who is euer good good in se and good extra se good of his owne nature and essence and good towards all his creatures should haue any euill in him No Lord Wee confesse before thee with thy holy seruant Dauid Psal 5.4 Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickednesse neither shall euill dwell with thee Thus you see Quis who this Agent is He is our God the Lord Iâ—houah He who is his owne being and giueth a reall being to all things else He who is absolutely good good of his owne essence and good to all his creatures He in whom there is no staine of euill This is He the Agent Now followeth his Action which seemeth to be a doing of euill and is my second circumstance For my Text is Shall there be euill in a City and the Lord hath not done it Mat. 7.18 It is an obseruation in Nature that a good tree cannot bring forth euill fruit And there is an axiome in Philosophy Omne agens agit sibi simile Euery Agent produceth the like vnto it selfe God the Agent here being absolutely good good in se good extra se good in himselfe good to all his creatures cannot but produce a like action euen very good How then is it that here he is said to doe euill For the vntying of this knot I will produce a few distinctions from them I will gather some conclusions and the doubt will bee cleered My first distinction is Things may bee termed euill two manner of waies some are euill indeed and of their owne nature in this ranke we must place our sins some are euill not indeed and in their owne nature but in regard of our sense apprehension and estimation and in this ranke we must place whatsoeuer affliction God layeth vpon vs in this life for our sinnes This distinction is Saint Basils in his Homily wherein he proueth that God is not the Author of euils The next distinction is out of Saint Augustine chap. 26. against Adimantus the Manichee There are two sorts of euils there is malum quod facit homo and there is malum quod patitur There is an euill which the wicked man doth and there is an euill which he suffereth That is sinne this the punishment of sinne In that the wicked are Agents in this they are Patients that is done by them this is done vpon them They offend Gods Iustice and God in his Iustice offends them This is otherwise deliuered by the same Father De fide ad Petrum cap. 21. Geminum esse constat naturae rationalis malum vnum quo voluntariè ipsa deficit à summo Bono creatore suo Alterum quo iuuita punietur ignis aeterni supplicio illud passura iustè quia hoc admisit iniustè It is saith he manifest that there is a two-fold euill of the reasonable nature that is of man One whereby man voluntarily forsaketh the chiefest good God his Creator the other whereby he shall against his will be punished in the flames of euerlasting fire So shall he iustly suffer that vniustly offended In his first Disputation against Fortunatus the Manichee he speaketh yet more plainly Sith saith he there are two kinds of euill Peccatum poena peccati Sinne and the punishment of sinne the one namely sinne pertaines not vnto God the other the punishment of sinne belongs vnto him Tertullian lib. 2. contra Marcionem cap. 14. more than a hundred yeeres before Saint Augustines time deliuers this distinction with much perspicuity There is malum delicti and malum supplicij or there is malum culpae and malum poenae There is an euill of sinne and an euill of punishment and of each part he nominateth the Author Malorum quidem peccati culpae Diabolum malorum verò supplicij poenae Deum creatorem Of the euils of sinne or default the Deuill is the Author but of the euills of paine and punishment hee acknowledgeth the hand of God the Creator This second distinction of euills Rupertus well expresseth in other termes There is malum quod est iniquitas and there is malum quod est Afflictio propter iniquitatem There is an euill of Iniquity and an euill of Affliction So he agreeth with the ancient Fathers My third distinction is of the euills of punishment Of these there are two sorts Some are onely the punishments of sinne either eternall in Hell or temporall in this world and some are so the punishments of sinne that they are also sinnes and causes of sinnes My fourth distinction is De malo culpae it concernes the euill of sinne The euill of sinne may bee considered three manner of waies First as it is a sinne repugnant to the Law of God and so onely is it malum culpae the euill of sinne Secondly as it is a punishment of some precedent sinne for God vseth to punish sinne with sinne So did he punish it in the Gentiles when hee gaue them ouer to a reprobate minde Rom. 1.28 to vncleannesse to the lusts of their owne hearts to doe such things as were not conuenient because when they knew God they glorified him not as God Rom. 1.12 Thirdly as it is a cause of some subsequent sinne such as was excoecatio in Iudaeis whereof we reade Esay 6.10 Excoeca cor populi huius Make thou the heart of this people blind or make it fat make their eares heauy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and heare with their eares and vnderstand with their hearts and conuert and be healed This same excoecation or blindnesse in the Iewes was the punishment of a prâ—cedent sinne namely of their infidelity towards Christ and it was a sinne because euery ignorance of God is a sinne and it was the cause of other sinnes so Saint Augustine teacheth lib. 5. cap. 3. contra Iulianum And this distinction is found in Saint Greg. Moral lib. 25.
Prophets signifieth consilium certum certámque sententiam as Arias Montanus vpon this text obserueth To say signifieth a certaine a determined sentence or iudgement it implieth not so much any verball speech as the strength and efficacie of reason and cogitation Saith the Lord that is the Lord hath in his secret and infallible counsell decreed and determined to effect what is by the Prophet here denounced Thus saith Adonai Iehouih the Lord God With these two names of God Adonai Iehouih wee haue met twice alreadie in this Chapter verse 7. and 8. Sith they are here againe they are againe by vs to be saluted but briefly Adonai the Lord. The name is found in holy Scripture 134. times It is the obseruation of the Massorets R. Mosche ben Maimon Rambam maketh this name to be equiualent to the name Iehouah so doth the Talmud Yet is there a difference betweene them Lib. Kâ—ddâ—sch in cap. Esre Iochasin c. Adonai is the name of God of his sustentation and dominion but Iehouih is his name of existing or being By Adonai wee know that God alone is absolutely Lord Ruler and Gouernour of all things yea and our Lord. By Iehouih that of himselfe and by himselfe He euer was is and shall be Reuel 1.4.16.5 Act. 17.28 Rom. 11.36 that of him all creatures haue their being and that he giueth a reall being to all his promises and threats Adonai Iehouih the Lord God he that is iudex iustissimus the most iust Iudge and suffereth not a sinne to passe without due punishment He is here presented vnto you for the Author of the punishment here denounced The obseruation is Of all the euill that befalleth man in this life God is the Author And here by euill I vnderstand as in my former obseruation the euill of punishment or the euill of affliction priuate or publike internall or externall God is the Author of all It is proued aboue in this Chap. vers 6. Shall there be euill in a citie and the Lord hath not done it No there shall be none no euill of paine punishment or affliction but the Lord doth it This is it the Lord assumeth to himselfe Esai 45.7 I the Lord I forme the light and create darknesse I make peace and create euill I the Lord doe all these things It is thus in the Paraphrase I am the Lord and there is none else I send into the world light and darknesse prosperity and aduersitie I giue peace and with it tranquillity and abundance and I giue that which is contrary to peace euill warre and misery and perturbation and pouertie I the Lord doe all these things It is no more than what he takes vnto himselfe Ier. 18.11 For there also thus saith the Lord Behold I frame euill against you and deuise a deuice against you where by euill vnderstand with Tertullian lib. 2. aduersus Marcionem cap. 24. Mala non peccatoria sed vltoria Euill not of sinne but of reuengement In which sense wee are to take euill in all those places of holy writ wherein God either bringeth or threatneth to bring euill vpon any By euill in all such places as in this my Thesis we are to vnderstand the euill of reuengement the euill of punishment or the euill of affliction Of euery such euill God is the Author God is the Author of punishment I say of punishment non quòd poena sit ens quoddam not as if the euill of punishment had a being as other things haue which God made For God is improperly said to be the efficient of punishment sith punishment of its owne nature Aquin. 1. qu. 48. Art 1. C. is nothing else than priuatio boni the priuation or absence of that we call good or the with-holding of Gods blessings from vs. The Father of the Schooles thus deliuers it Idem 1. qu. 49. Art 2. C. Cum summum bonum perfectissimum sit mali causa esse non potest nisi per accidens God being the chiefest good and most perfect cannot be the author of euill but by accident The author of euill by accident How is that Why thus When God withdraweth from the earth his heauenly benedictions forbidding the clouds to giue their raine or the Sunne his influence and taking from vs our health our peace or any other temporall blessing hee is the author of euill And this may serue for the proofe and explanation of my second Doctrine which was Of all the euill that befalleth man in this life God is the Author The reason hereof is because nothing is done in the world but God is the principall doer of it and therefore no euill can befall vs but God is the author of it Is it thus Hence then in the first place are they to be reproued who thinke that the Lord doth onely suffer many things to be done He is not only a sufferer but an orderer guider and gouernour of all things and actions Secondly from hence may be confuted the vaine opinion of Fortune whereunto many Philosophers and carnall ignorant people vse to ascribe those things whereof they see not an apparant cause What more casuall in this world than Lottery Yet therein nothing falleth out by fortune but all is wholly and altogether directed by the infinite and eternall prouidence of Almighty God Salomon expresly affirmeth it Prou. 16.33 The lot is cast into the Lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Thirdly from hence wee learne that all our afflictions are from God and are therefore by vs to be borne with patience God verily loueth those that are his and yet notwithstanding he suffereth them to be afflicted because it is expedient for them so to be yet in their afflictions he yeeldeth them comfort Saint Paul blesseth God for it 2 Cor. 1.3 Blessed be God euen the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth vs in all our tribulation Who comforteth vs in all our tribulation he saith not who suffereth vs not to be afflicted but who comforteth vs while we are afflicted It is the obseruation of S. Chrysostome and Theophylact. God though he suffer vs to be afflicted yet he comforteth vs wheÌ„ we are afflicted Our afflictions they are Emendatoriae potiùs quà m interfectoriae as Saint Augustine speaketh lib. 3. de lib. Arbit cap. 25. They tend rather to amend vs than to destroy vs. And sweetly Saint Cyprian Ep. 8. Deus quem corripit diligit quando corripit ad hoc corripit vt emendet ad hoc emendat vt seruet Whom God correcteth him he loueth when he correcteth him hee doth it to amend him and he amendeth him that he may saue him And thus much be spoken of my second generall the Author of this punishment The Lord God My third followeth the punishment here denounced which is a conquest by warre and is described by the Siege by the victory and by the spoile Of the Siege first for
earth and they haue returned vnto him nothing but vnthankfulnesse the Lord will surely punish them for all their iniquities The parts are two 1 A Commemoration 2 A Commination The Commemoration is of benefits the Commination is of punishments The Commemoration is for words short yet for matter very copious It hath reference to the many singular and exceeding great benefits which the Lord hath bestowed vpon his people Israel You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth The Commination is sharpe but very iust It may serue thus farre to instruct the Israelites that if the Lord should at any time with his strong hand a Iob 30.21 oppose himselfe against them and make their b Vers 15. welfare to passe away as a cloud and lay terrors vpon them yet they should not calumniate and c Iob 1.22 charge God with folly but should lay the whole blame thereof vpon themselues and their owne deseruings Therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities Of both in their order First of the Commemoration You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth You onely Onely you How can this be so Did not the knowledge of God extend it selfe to other Nations as well as to the Israelites It may not be denied It extends it selfe not to men only but to whatsoeuer else is in the world You may consider it two manner of waies either in it selfe or as it hath reference to things knowne If it be considered in it selfe it is most certaine and is euer the same as necessary and immutable as is the very diuine Essence from which it differeth not indeed but onely consideration For that axiome of the Schooles is true Quicquid est in Deo est ipsa Dei Essentia Whatsoeuer is in God is Gods owne Essence And therefore the knowledge of God is his diuine Essence and God is his owne knowledge Whence it followeth that wheresoeuer God is and his holy Essence there is his knowledge Now God is euery where his Essence is euery where his knowledge therefore must be euery where It s impossible that any thing should be concealed from it Againe the knowledge of God may be considered as it hath reference to things knowne and so also nothing can bee hid from it For it knoweth it selfe and euery thing else Things vniuersall and singular things past present and to come things which neither are nor haue beene nor euer shall bee things necessary and contingent naturall and voluntary good and euill atchieued and thought vpon finite and infinite all are knowne vnto him So saith the Apostle Heb. 4.13 There is no creature that is not manifest in the sight of God No creature Nay vnto his eyes all things are naked and open All things How then is it that here he saith to the Israelites You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth For the cleering of this doubt we are to note that knowledge attributed vnto God in holy Scripture doth not euer betoken a bare and naked knowledge but sometimes his loue his fauour his care his prouidence his choice his approbation his allowance his acceptance or the like As Psal 1.6 The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous Hee knoweth that is he loueth he approueth he accepteth he is well pleased with and graciously directeth the way of the righteous And so are we to expound that of the 37. Psal Vers 18. The Lord knoweth the daies of the vpright He knoweth that is He doth not onely foresee but also he alloweth he careth and prouideth for the life of the vpright So I vnderstand that branch of Dauid prayer which he made in the caue Psal 142.3 When my spirit was ouer-whelmed within me then thou knewest my path Thou knewest that is thou didst approue and allow of the order of my life and innocent conuersation In the booke of Exodus Chap. 33.17 the Lord said vnto Moses Thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by name I know thee by name that is I haue respect vnto thee I approue thee I care and prouide for thee In the first Chapter of the Prophesie of Nahum vers 7. it is said of the Lord that he knoweth them that trust in him And there to know is to loue to defend to approue to regard Them that trust in him he knoweth he suffers them not to perish In the second Epistle to Timothy Chap. 2.19 we reade of a foundation a foundation of God a sure foundation the seale whereof is Nouit Dominus qâ—â— sunt ejus The Lord knoweth those that are his The Lord knoweth vnderstand not onely a knowledge in generall but a speciall knowledge such a knowledge as is ioyned cum applicatione cordis ac voluntatis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a learned Diuine well speaketh such a knowledge as is associated with the applying of the heart and will and good pleasure of the Lord. The Lord knoweth who are his He so knowes them as that they d Ioan. 10.28 shall neuer perish neither shall any man plucke them out of his hand Other like places I could produce yet further to shew this idiotisme of the holy tongue that verba notitiae words of knowledge doe not euer betoken a bare and naked knowledge but sometime such a e Mat. 7.23 Luk. 13.27 Mat. 25.12 Rom. 7 15. knowledge as is ioyned with some f Vorflius aâ—ica Duplicat cap. 4. pag 225. decree of him that knoweth with some action of his will with his approbation But I shall not neede to doe it From the Texts of Scripture before alleaged ariseth a distinction of the Schoolemen their distinction of the knowledge of God The knowledge of God say they is two-fold the one is the knowledge of his g Aquin. â—â— 2â— qu. 188. 5. 1. apprehension the other the knowledge of his h Ripa in 1. Th. qu. 14. Art 13. Dub. 4. cap. 4. fol. 83. col 3. Wendalin Suppl in 4. Sentent Dist 50. qu. 1. approbation That they call his absolute and speculatiue knowledge this his speciall and practicall and this not that is the knowledge to bee vnderstood in the places euen now by me expounded And this not that is the knowledge intended in my Text. Thus is the doubt resolued The doubt was How it is here said that the Lord onely knew the Israelites aboue all the Nations of the Earth The answer is Hee knew them not onely as he knew other Nations by his absolute and speculatiue knowledge but also by his speciall and practicall not onely by the knowledge of his apprehension but also by the knowledge of his approbation Some there are that by knowledge here doe vnderstand a possession To know say they is to possesse to haue in our power to inioy as our owne For proofe whereof they bring that Psal 50.11 I know all the fowles of the mountaines and the wild beasts of the field are mine The words are