use our best Means and yet in our greatest Extremities Lift up our eyes to the hills from whence commeth our Help Do our best but trust in God When all other helps fail then is God our Helper The Lord saw the Afflictions of Israel that they were very bitter For there was not any shut up nor any left nor any helper for Judah then he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam 2 Kings 14.26 Look on us say those two Disciples Acts 3. yet were they but the Instruments only and they confess it v. 12. Look on him who is both able and willing to help all those that faithfully call upon him Then may we say with David with Paul and that with confidence Heb. 13.6 The Lord is my Helper I will not fear what Man can do unto me 'T is taken out of 118. Psal v. 6. And 't is remarkable at the 10. v. All Nations compassed me about Philistines Syrians Ammonites Moabites Edomites and yet 't is but Quid mihi faciat homo a Man nay one Man Psal 90. A thousand Years are with GOD but as one day and a thousand Armies as one man So for St. Paul He was oppressed by men fought with Beasts 1 Cor. 15. wrestled with Devils Eph. 6.12 yet still 't is but Quid mihi faciat homo All these are but one man in comparison of him that made Man And therefore I speak confidently saith St. Paul I will not fear what Man can do unto me And this is Judahs Case Let his Enemies be never so many never so mighty and so malicious yet if GOD be his Helper he need not fear what Man can do unto him Nay let them be worse than men if ought can be worse for Homo homini lupus Let them be the worst of Beasts unreasonable indomitable and perversly violent yet Lysimachus was not the first that slew a Lion David will tell you so and others after him Heb. 11.33 Men Beasts and All will come under if GOD be our helper against those Enemies Let them be Devils too if they be yet with Devils must the Christian man encounter Et hoc genus Daemoniorum Let them be the worst of Devils Matth. 17.21 yet nought but Incredulity can retard our Victory over those most malicious and incarnate Devils Si Deus nobiscum Rom. 8.31 If God be for us who can be against us O therefore Hear Lord the voyce of Judah be thou his help against his Enemies All the Blessings which Jacob the Father bequeathed to this Son Gen 49. All those Blessings light upon our Judah Let his hands be in the neck of his Enemies verse 8. Let him be a Lion whom none durst rouz up v. 9. Let the Scepter never depart from him till Shiloh come again v. 10. All peace and plenty be to him and his v. 11.12 And that I may conclude with Moses's Words with Moses's Prayer Hear Lord the voyce of Judah His Prayers and our Prayers Let our Cries find entrance to the Throne of Grace Bring him back unto his People And they that will not be his People O let them not be a People at all Cut them off from the face of the Earth Bring him back unto his People that People who with us have born the burthen and heat of the Day Who cut of holes and Prisons peep out for a Redeemer and a Deliverer Who pray for Judah and will fight for Judah To this People bring him back O be his Hands his own hands sufficient for him Let no Forraign power say Ego restitui This is thy Title to make and un-make Kings O therefore strengthen those Hands of his Make all the World see that this is Thy work and that Thou LORD hast done it And therefore Be thou his help against his Enemies TV DVC TV REDVC And as the Vulgar reads it TV INTRODVC Bring him home Bring him in Give him Livery and Seisin His Kingdom here and Thy Kingdom of glory hereafter Propter JESUM CHRISTUM Dominum Nostrum AMEN A SERMON Preached before His MAJESTY King CHARLES the II. In the ISLE of SCILLY ACTS III. 17. And now Brethren I wot that through Ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers LET it not seem strange that I bring Pascha and Advent so close together and speak of Sorrow so shortly after Joy But so ' t is Extrema gaudii luctus occupat And our Saviour was no sooner Agnitus quam Agnus A Lamb appointed for the slaughter And Herod sought the Babes life Yea the first moment of his Incarnation was also the first degree of his Exinanition The greatest Birth was followed with the greatest Murder The First was Opus Spiritus Sancti The Second had a Vos fecistis Men are the Actors In the first the Angels sing in the second Heaven and Earth and All did mourn The Temple rent The Sun obscured c. Of the first the Prophet saies Quis generationem ejus enarrabit of the second the Apostle Quis ad haec idoneus 'T were no wonder to hear of Murder but such a Murder and in Domo sua with Amon and by his Friends those friends whom he came to visit to serve to save And in so barbarous a manner with such a superlative Cruelty Be astonished ye Heavens And all you that pass by look and see if there were ever sorrow like this sorrow If ever Murther like this Murther Now If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him 1 Sam. 2.25 None to plead the Jews Cause Jer. 30.13 Their wound is incurable Yet here 's one found that dare plead their Cause and seeks to Cure by Compassion scio fratres by extenuation quod per ignorantiam by God's praeordination v. 18. 'T was foretold by all the Prophets and must be fulfilled Then follows a Resipiscite ergo the way to make it an absolute Cure by bathing their Sins in that Blood they had spilt But I must keep me to the 17 verse and see what Ignorance can do for take away Ignorance and the Sin must needs be incurable A sin against the Holy Ghost And therefore we must see what hopes this Door of Ignorance will open to us I know Brethren that through Ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers Where you have First A Compellation or Title which St. Peter gives those Jews Brethren Secondly The Sin that he laies to their charge Fecistis ista ista praedicta Betraying Denying Killing the Lord of Life Thirdly A mitigation or extenuation of the Sin You did it of Ignorance Fourthly The extension of the Extenuation to the Rulers as well as to the Inferiour sort You and your Rulers did it through Ignorance There are two other little words in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which maybe referred either to what went before or to that which follows after First Et nunc after all this Those Sins of yours though they be
about Psal 4. Whereas the wicked are like the troubled Sea that cannot rest and there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Isa 57. the last verse Sure if we would look upon the ends of many of our Incendiaries and bloody Traitors slain shot hanged or otherwayes cut off we might see with what fears and terrours of Conscience they took their parting Their Souls were required of them as 't was said of his Luke 12. God knows much against their wills But for ours with what undaunted Courage did they tread the Scaffold and look grim Death in the face with St. Stephen obdormierunt they fell asleep And with Simeon They did depart in peace So then look upon both look upon the end of both And finis hujus hominis pax their Life good their Cause good and the End of them was peace Their Enemies might do their worst but Animae non habent quod faciant as Bernard said of the seduced Prophet slain by a Lion Their souls were safe and being justified by Faith they had peace with God Rom. 5. which brings us to another peace the best of all Fourthly Pax illa vera Hereditas Christianorum as St. Augustine said A peace which no man can take from us Peace in Heaven Luke 19. A peace which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 Now the Lord of peace himself gave you peace alwayes and by all means 2 Thess 3.16 Peace from Men and peace from Devils Peace from Sickness Peace from Sins The Peace of Conscience and the Peace of Heaven Such Honour have all his Saints God make you perfect and upright and you shall be sure of peace at the last Seek you first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then caetera adjicientur the rest will follow And no good thing will he withhold from them who live a godly life I have no more to say but what St. Paul said to Timothy 1 Tim. 6.12 O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust Keep your Religion keep your Loyalty Look upon those who are gone before Let your Travels tell you that Man is a Pilgrim and a Traveller upon Earth and we have no continuing City but we seek one to come O God grant us so to seek that we may find Let us keep innocency and take heed unto the thing that is right For that shall bring a man peace at the last A FUNERAL SERMON ON PSAL. XXXIX the last Verse PSAL. XXXIX the last Verse O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more HOW hard it is for the very Saints themselves to keep a measure in their fearful Tryals and Adversities Job David and the very best of men do shew 'T was said of Job a good while In all this did not Job sin At last Homo erat and the very pattern of Patience falls into Impatiency cursing the Day he was born and the night that could speake a child conceived And as for David A long time he held his peace At length Locutus sum lingua mea Complain he doth and that bitterly Who ever thinks him to speak Rhetorically or what some dare say Hyperbolically Had they his Tryals they would better be perswaded of his passions Many were his Afflictions and deep were his draughts out of the Cup of Gods wrath But Patience and Penitency never loose their reward Many are the troubles of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of all The way to this Deliverance is by Prayer Invoca me and pray he did And this his Prayer is composed into a Psalm and commended to Jeduthun a chief Musitian a Church Musitian to be sung to their Instruments of Musick in their Divine Service So that Church-Musick is old enough and useful too As Athanasius and Marcellinus that men by Musick might be put in mind to be musical in themselves and learn to compose their Affections Not to think well and do ill Not like Pilate Speak well of Christ but give Sentence against him This were Discord indeed And for this cause amongst others in the ancient and best of times He was thought scarce fit for any Christian Company that could not in some sort bear them company in the Quire And the Psalms were Quotidianae Lectionis Repetitionis Decantationis They were ever a chief part in all their Liturgies Unhappy those dayes that would it otherwise Well if we may not keep our Quires God grant our Churches stand And if we cannot say Cantemus Domino with our Prophet yet let us say Oremus Come let us pray together and magnifie his holy Name c. O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Psal 39. ult verse The words are Davids Of whom I may say what Chrysologus doth of John the Baptist That he was Fibula Legis Evangelii here 's Mercy and Truth Law and Gospel Fear and Hope all knit together First he sees his Sin Secondly then he trembles under Gods Judgments Thirdly not yet as one without hope He sins he suffers he sues for mercy The words contain First A Request Secondly A Reason Each double if you will First Spare me Secondly So spare me that I may recover strength There 's the Request Secondly For I must shortly hence I shall no more be seen There 's the Reason The Request or Prayer is of that kinde which we properly call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Supplication to be delivered out of his Troubles The Reason is drawn from the frailty of man He must away and away for ever no returning back again I shall take the words in their order which seem to make four Stops or Pauses The first of which is Desiste à me O spare me Words which bid us look back upon his Sin and his Punishment at the tenth and eleventh Verses The sin great whatsoever 't was for great was the punishment I am even consumed by the means of thine heavy hand thy heavy stroke But so 't will be When thou with Rebukes do'st chasten man for sin thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth c. And this my case But spare me O spare me a little Where we have two things chiefly observable First the confession of his sin Secondly his imploring pardon I begin with the first his Confession How willingly do we plead Not guilty denying transferring extenuating our offences The Heathen would plead Fate for their Defence The Heathen do I say Yea many Christians do as much Gallinae filius albae The Founder of Reformation as some honour him John Wickliff said as much and John Hus his Disciple after him The Priscillianists thought the Stars had a compulsive power Not to incline only but to force men to do wickedly Making the twelve parts in the Zodiack to over-rule the twelve parts in Mans Body So they number them Our later Masters have gone beyond all those making God the cause of sin as sin And
if they had missed the cutting of their Fore-skin And so likewise in the New Testament many are said to receive the Holy Ghost before they received Baptisme Wherefore as St. Peter said of some of them Act. 10. Can any man forbid Water I may say Could any man forbid Heaven if they had died without Water If any say Vid. Dom. Soto in 4. Sent. dist 5. q. unic art 2. The Votum or desire might suffice them because they were Adulti and come to years of discretion Let them know here could be no Votum because no knowledge And ignoti nulla Cupido In Comment in 2 Pet. 3. habet Sixt. Senens bib lib 6. Annot 340. Ambrosius Catharinus is more favourable to Infants He thinks they shall live in that New Earth which shall be at the end of the World in all pomp and jollity and shall there praise God for ever Thus do our Adversaries pass their Judgment on holy Innocents and that Rule of their Aquinas is forgotten Deus non alligavit gratiam suam Sacramentis Gods hands are not bound nor hath he tyed his Mercies or confined them to the Sacraments The Conclusion of this point is That Baptisme is the ordinary appointed Means for our Salvation And therefore neglect it not Yet hath God his special favour and his extraordinary Grace saving oft times saving without Means where the Means cannot be had Vid. Mortons Apol. not 6. c. 41. p. 121. jos Angl. par 1. q. 1. de Bapt. art ult con 3. And many learned Papists as Cajetan Gerson Gabriel are of our Opinion vid. Dom. Soto in 4. Sent. dist 5. q. 1. art 2. ubi de Aliis Part 5. The Benefits obtained by Baptism and how they are conveyed unto us Vide Chemnit exam Concil Trident part 2. p. 20. Many Schoolmen attributing too much to the outward Signs tell us That Grace is given in them and by them not only Instrumentally but either Effectivè or Dispositivè by an inherent vertue in the Elements You heard of some in elder times Vid Danaeum in Aug. de haeres in fin who did wholy slight this Sacrament The Socinians have done as much in our daies And some have done but little better whilst they make the Sacraments distinctive only nought but bare Signs or Notes of our Profession whereby from Jews Turks Pagans we may be discerned But we acknowledge Power in these holy Mysteries and that they are not meerly significative but exhibitive also Offering and conferring Grace Sed ex Institutione promissione c. Not of themselves but by the mercies of God in Christ they carry and conveigh the blessings of our Redemption and seal unto us those Promises which God hath made and Christ hath purchased with his precious blood Thus Augustine Tract 80. in Joh. How and whence comes this power to the Water that touching the Body it doth cleanse the Soul The Word the Word sa th he is cause of all not because spoken but because believed And thus Cyril of the Pool Bethesda Joh. 5. Tom. 1. in Evang Joh. l. 6. c. 14. That it did cure Diseases not by its own Nature for then it should have alwaies done it but only at the coming of the Angel 'T is so saith he in Baptisme where not the Water but the Water sanctified by the Holy Spirit doth wash away sins In Nazianz tom 1. Orat 6. de Sp. Sanct. ipse Nazianz in funere Caesarii fratris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To these I add Elias Cretens in Nazianz. He tells us How the Water doth renew us unto Regeneration but the Grace and Blessing cometh from above And thus have you the fruit the benefit of Baptisme 'T is Opus Spiritus Sancti 'T is a work of the Holy Spirit Enough were said and say no more but it doth offer and confer Grace wash away sins and cleanse and sanctifie Ephes 5.26 'T is Janua Ecclesia Janua Coeli The Door through which we pass into the Church Militant and from thence into the Church Triumphant 'T is our New Birth our Second Birth There is a double Birth From the first Adam as Sinners from the second Adam as Saints By the first we are liable to Death by the second we have a right to Glory In the first we come crying with that of the Apostle Quis me liberabit Wretched Men that we are who shall deliver us In the second we come with Gratias in our mouths Thanks be to the Lord who hath so graciously bestowed upon us that worthy Name that good Name by which we are called James 2.7 Christians Christians All saving Graces all our Comfort all our Hopes are comprised within that Name Our next care must be to walk worthy that Name We must be New Creatures 2 Cor. 5. for as the Apostle said of Circumcision Gal. 6. we may say of Baptisme Baptisme or no Baptisme all is one unless we become New Creatures 'T was one of Jovinians Errours August de Haeres cap. 82. That the vertue of Baptisme could not be lost Homines non posse peccare Men could not sin Ergo Men could not perish And we in our Catechisme say That we are made Members of Christ and Children of God But rotten Members must be cut off and disobedient Children must be disinherited If you will hold of the head you must hold with the Head Do what he commands you Do as you have seen him do John 13. Are ye Christians Live like Christians Remember what John Baptist told the People when they came to his Baptisme Luke 3. The People all of them must be Charitable The Tax-gatherers and Excize-Men must be no Exactors The Souldiers must be content with their Wages and do violence to no man And all this under the Law And doth our Christianity require less No sure New Men New Manners And he that said Discite à me Math. 11.29 sends us elsewhere to School amongst those Little Children Learn of them Math. 18 3. Except ye be converted and become as Little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of God And so Peter in the first Epistle second Chapter and second Verse As New born Babes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desire the sincere Milk of the Word I so do you Sermons Sermons All for Sermons And that 's well done but that 's not all Look what follows and what went before First lay aside all malice guile hypocrisie envy and the like the very sins the reigning sins of those times Be Children in Malice 1 Cor. 14. And as the same Apostle elsewhere 1 Thess 4.6 Let no man oppress and circumvent his Brother No Oppressing that 's for the Gentlemen No Circumventing that 's for the Chapmen Here be Children here be Innocent This is the way Ambulate in ea the ready way to Heaven I spake but now of a double-birth Lo here 's a Third The last day will be our best day
Psalm 34.9.22.23.35.8 Fear the Lord all his Saints fear him all ye seed of Israel And in another place Let all the Earth fear the Lord Let all the World fear him But I must look a while from the Physician to his Physick from GOD to his Attribute which is MERCY God be Merciful 2. This is not so light a thing as many may suppose to cry for Mercy Many palliate their sins hide them lessen them deny them justifie them and therefore Healthy as they are they need no Physician Adam had not learnt this lesson when he tranferred the fault on Eve nor Eve when she laid it on the Serpent nor Saul in that expedition against Amaleck 1 Sam. 15. nor the Jews when they put their trust in Neighbour Nations Jer. 2.35 nor Jews nor Christians How many spoil God of his Tythes and Offerings and yet stricken with a most palpable Egyptian darknesâ— they can see nothing Yea they cry out with those in Malachy Wherein have we spoiled thee How many encrease their Meâ—ns to maintain in their Pride wrack their Tenants 〈◊〉 their Rents grind their poor Neigâ—â—â—â—â— and yet flatter themselves with Peace Peace How many persecute God 〈◊〉 â—d Servants causlessly and yet O stâ—â—â—â—â—â—um think they do God good service How many justifie their miserable vvretched sordid Covetousness vvith the Propriety of their Goods As their Goods are their own they came lawfully by them and they may lawfully keep them To whom Bernard makes this short and sharp answer Enimverò non pascetis in cruce corvos Indeed saith he so you may escape the Gallows Dives could say as much as you but this is no priviledg nor plea against Hell No no these all must learn another Lesson of our Publican to cry God be merciful and that speedily too while they may be heard or else they will howl with Dives in Hell fire Father Abraham be merciful when 't will be too late The Pharisee here in this Chapter is one of this Crew and yet why should I do the Pharisee wrong His whole life may be a School of Vertue to these Villains But the Pharisee in his gesture insolent in his thoughts proud in all malitious because he was not sicut caeteri absent nor sicut hic present all all in comparison of himself are set at nought because he had not learnt this Lesson of Humility and began not his Devotions with miserere He made Shipwrack saith Chrysostom in the Harbour and lost the rich reward of a laborious voyage This was not to do what he came for as St. Augustine said he went up to pray this was not to pray but to praise himself Such is thy case whosoever thou be that hearest me and imitatest him Be thy Honours never so great nay be thy Vertues never so great Be thy Honour anciente then the Normans and let thy good Deeds tell the hours of the day yet if thou â—o magnum quid de te sentire Chrys st if thou presume on ought else but the Arm of Mercy to bear thee up down down thou tumblest with Icarus from the very Gate of Heaven to the nether most Hell Look and learn In comes the Publican and he comes to pray and pray he did and he stands afar off and hangs down his head and he beats his breast that Shop of sin wherein 't was first hammered and got its being He is swollen as big with sorrow as the Pharisee is with pride at last out comes this Miserere God be merciful Breve verbum as St. Augustine said of Peccavi Breve verbum sed portas aperit Paradisi His words were few but sorcible not many but effectual projicit ampullas Here 's no ago gratias but miserere If thou O Lord shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it but there is Mercy with thee and therefore O Lord be merciful Herein says he lyes my hope Ego perdidi quod erat filii ille quod patris est non amisit so Chrysologus of the prodigal I am unworthy to look up but God looks down I dare not go but God calls me I am a sinner but he tells me redire vult impium non perire If I will turn he will forgive His Mercys is that Ocean vvhich vvill quite quench the fire of my sins be they never so many or never so great And he hath promised to send into the World that immaculate Lamb who by his blood shall take away the sins of the World Scultet and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter futurum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filiiâ—ui forgive me even for his sake whom I expect and long for God be merciful Again Miserere not Retribue Here 's no Merita or propter me but guilty guilty If thou O Lord shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it No no as Daniel said in the 9 Chapter O Lord unto us appertaineth open shame but unto thee compassion and forgiveness If the best of our works should be weighed in Baltashers ballance they will be found too light and therefore nothing can do us good nothing can stand in the gap nothing can salve our inveterate Canker but only Mercy nay we cannot beg for that neither but it must be Gratia illius Ambros qui sedet in thâ—ono gratiae it must be Gods only Mercy and Grace that gives us Grace to cry for Mercy wherefore with the Apostle in the 4. of Hebr. 16. Let us go boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help in time of need why should we fear Tul. 2. de nat deor Jupiter a majoribus nostris dicitur optimus maximus saith a Heathen quidem ante optimus quam maximus God is good and great but good before great and merciful before powerful his Mercy is above all his works he hath put his Bow in the Clouds but 't is a Bow without an Arrow and his Mercy shews it self even amidst and above his Justice Let us therefore draw near and open our grief let us humble our selves and acknowledge our wretchedness Tam pater nâ—mo tam pius nemo Tertul as a father pitieth his own children so is the Lord merciful Psa 103.13 And if a Mother can forget her child yet God will not Iâ—ai 49.15 When father and mother and all forsake us the Lord taketh us up Psal 27.12 Wherefore let us go and let us go boldly with our Publican unto the Throne of Grace And let every faithful Soul apply those gratious promises to himself and say Lord be merciful unto me which is the third thing to be handled 3. The Publican vvas an Officer among the Romans a Collector or Receptor of those taxes which were laid on other Nations subiect to the Roman Empire They were Homines honestissimi ornatissimi as the Orator saith in his Oration pro Lege Manilia Men of worship
doth consist of as many parts as the God head doth of Persons or because Anima is tota in toto every where in the Body as God is in the World or for his holiness or for his immortality or in every one of these respects this Image and simiâ—itude be understood Do you not Do â—ou not deform this Image Thou wert made to God's likeness where is thy Integrity Of the dust of the Earth where 's thy Humility If to God's likeness why dost thou sin If of the Earth why dost thou boast De pulvere of the dust of the Earth quasi quis dicat tenuissimum vilissimum saith Chrysostome 'T is not said of the Earth alone but of the dust of the Earth as if it had been said of the shortest meanest basest of the Earth And yet are we proud of that we have lost and boast of that is taken from us Our Soveraignty is lessened Our righteousness is gone and only one thing remains as fully ours The Sin of Lucifer We would be thought to be what we are not We ride upon the Clouds of Honour and Vain-glory and that heathenish foolish thought oâ— Betterness hath made such deep impression in the heart oâ— Man that forsooth our Bloud is better then the Multitudes our beginnings more honourable our flesh more precious and as the Pharisee said we are not as these Publicans And yet were we all cast in one Mould and had all one Father and have the same hope and serve the same God And whereas God made many Fowls and many Fishes yet made he but one Adam and one Eve the Parents of all that Man in time to come might not make a difference where the Almighty had made none I speak not this O Worthy Brethren broaching Anabaptism and condemning Magistrates whom I honour or favouring Community which I abhor I know the Laws of God and Man require a difference Yet 't is an Accident and Policy must have that of force which Nature well could be without But let not O let not those Ornaments of Nature nor those endowments of Fortune or to speak as a Christian those gifts and blessings of the Almighty of Wealth of Beauty or ought else Let them not make us unthankful to God or to forget our selves or to despise our Brethren The worst came from the Earth and the best had no better beginning The second Part. Now follows Man in his Majesty Methinks I hear one say What we were is past and 't is a madness to perplex us for the things to come The Sea yields us Pearls the Earth yields Gold and what though our beginnings were from thence yet now we are Lords of all and he is unworthy any thing yea the Name of a Man that will not know himself Was not Valde bonum at our Creation and did not Gods own mouth proclaim a DOMINAMINI at our Inauguration When other things were made 't was only said of them that they were good but Man being once made they were pronounced very good And Man is he and Man alone to whom 't was said bear Rule 'T is true indeed But over Fish and Fowl and Beasts of the Earth Mistake not me nor your selves These are the words of man forgetting himself to be a Man who with the Fig-leaves of Honour and Authority seeks to cover his nakedness and his infirmities and yet fode Parietem as the Prophet said dig through the thin Walls of his Carkass and you shall find him eat as a Man and purge as a Man and sleep as a Man and in a word to be nothing else then that which every Man is Earth or Dust of the Earth These are the words of Man who will not see his weak condition but all this while doth cherish and support his greatest Enemy The Flesh The Flesh as Bernard saith born in sin and nuzled in sin bad of it self made worse by Custome These are the words of Man who will not look into the many Woes and Cares and Miseries that do attend the greatest Man and mightiest Monarchs of the Earth and how Post Equitem sedet atra cura The strongest Armour the richest Curtains cannot keep out Care or Death As for Beauty though it be amiable yet God-wot 't is not durable and Honour is a Wind as Plutarch saith Venerabilis sed instabilis of some delight but of no certainty and Riches are sometime a torment most time an occasion to sin alwaies a burthen and got with pain kept with care and lost with sorrow And is not there many a Noah persecuted by Idolaters and many a Joseph made a slave by his Brethren and many a Job tormented by Friends as well as Sickness Should God deal with us as he did with Abraham whose ten Temptations are as famous as were those ten Plagues of Egypt remarkable and prodigious Or who can once remember without astonishment those bitter Miseries that befel King David The Sword saith Nathan shall never depart from thine House and God will raise up evil against thee out of thine own House and wiâ—l takâ— thy Wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy Neighbour c. Absolon was this man this Neighbour wretâ—hed Absolon whose miserable end you know and â—â—â—â—spiring to the Kingdom Thamar is defloured Annon slain Shimei curseth Adoniâ—â—h rebelleth O who can but recount the Mâ—series befel this man That his Son should be Murderers Rebels and incestuous and which is worst finish their lives without Repentance That his Daughter should be a Whore His Subjects Revolt and He himself be forced to flie from place to place to save his life Suppose that â—â—â—e of these Calamities fall to thy â—ot Let thy Riches match the bounds of the Sea and thy Honour acknowledge no bounds but flie over Let the strength of Sampson and beauty of Absolon and all things else thy heart can wish concur in thee as in one Person yet one knock breaks this goodly gi ded Earthen-pot in pieces In the mean time wouldest thou but consider Quid per os quid per aures exit c. vilius sterquilinium non vidisti Filth from thy Nose stench from thy Mouth and from those other Parts some other Excrements will force thee to confess with David That every man living is altogether vanity Yea Omnis homo stans as Pagnine doth translate that place Every man standing take him take him in prosperity and at his best yet such a man every man is vanity His strength decaies his sight grows dim his bloud corrupts his body wears his daies consume as doth a Garment And yet all this is Man in his Majesty and yet Man in his Majesty is all this He is Earth the dust of the Earth weaker than the worst and weakest of the Earth which Bernard proves by a Glass c. Now if Man in his Majesty be no better what is he in his Mortality if this be his case while he is a Man and as he thinks himself a