to the Jews which had answer'd him rightly that the Messias was to be the Son of David is unanswerable and most satisfactorie If the expected Messias were not to be the Son of God and truly God the supreme Lord as well of the dead as of the living why did David in spirit call him Lord before he was the Son of David It is a point to be observed that the Iews in our Saviours time did not or could not deny that this Psalm was literally meant of their expected Messias albeit the later Iews seek to wrest it but most ridiculously some to Ezekiah some to Abraham But that the word Adonai is of no lesse value or importance then Iehovah but only imports Iehovah or God incarnate or the Messias his Exaltation to be Lord or King may be evinced against the Iew for that the same sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving which One Psalmist solemnly offers unto Iehovah Another Psalmist or perhaps the same doth alike solemnly offer up to Adonai or to the expected Messias in another Psalm As Psal 57. which is a Prophetical Song of David and containes the Exaltation of his God and Lord Exalt thy self O God above the heaven and let thy glory be upon all the earth ver 5 11. This Prophecie was then punctually fulfilled and Davids prayer or request signed by the mouth of God when our Saviour after his Resurrection said All power is given to me in heaven and in earth go therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holie Ghost Mat. 28. 18. Unto this Iehovah or God whose Exaltation he foresaw and heartily prayed for and unto whom he had directed his prayers ver 1. He offers the Sacrifice of praise ver 9. under the title of Adonai I will praise or confesse thee among the people O Lord I will sing unto thee among the Nations The verie self-same sacrifice David offers unto the same God under the title of Iehovah Psal 108. 1 2 3 4 5. O God mine heart is prepared so is my tongue I will sing and give praise Awake Viol and Harp I will awake early I will praise thee O Lord among the people I will sing unto thee among the Nations For thy mercie is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds Exalt thy self O God above the heavens and let thy glorie be upon all the earth which last words were twice repeated in the 57. Psam 2. These Fundamental Points of Faith are clear from this collation of Scripture First That Adonai or Lord was the known Title of the Messias whom the Jews expected in our Saviours time and this was the reason that the Pharisces had not a word to answer or rejoyn unto our Saviour when he avouched that the Messias was to be The Son of God because David in Spirit called him Adonai Lord Matth. 22. 45. The second That he that was Adonai or the Messias was likewise Jehovah truly God because David did not in spirit onely call him Lord but did in spirit worship him as his Lord and God with the best sacrifice that he could devise as appears from Psalm 57. 8. A great part of the Book of Psalms even all those passages if my observation fail me not without exception which mention the extraordinary manifestation of Gods glory or his exaltation as King run the same way and as it were pay Tribute unto the infinite Ocean of Gods mercy first manifested in our Saviours Exaltation to the right hand of God The more remarkable Passages are these Psal 97. ver 1. Jehovah reigneth let the earth rejoice let the multitude of the Isles be glad Whilest Jehovah was onely known in Jurie the multitude of the Isles or Nations had no special reason to be glad for Iudah was then his Sanctuary and Israel his dominion but after God had given our Saviour Christ the utmost parts of the earth for his possession that is after our Saviours Ascension into Heaven and the effusion of the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples enabling them to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom unto all Nations the multitude of the Isles the whole Earth had reason to rejoyce Then was that fulfilled which followeth in that Psal ver 6. The Heavens declare his righteousness and all the people saw his Glory That this Psalm is literally meant of Christs Exaltation to be Lord of Lords and of his Inauguration to his everlasting Kingdom The Apostle St. Paul Heb. 1. 6. puts out of question amongst all Christians when he bringeth in his first begotten Son into the world he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him so the Psalmist had said in this 97. Psal ver 7. Confounded be all they that serve graven Images worship Him all ye Gods or as the Septuagint upon which our Apostle often Paraphrased Worship him all ye Angels of God The matter or subject of this Psalm is almost the same with Psal 2. Both of them contain Prophesies concerning the Declaration of Christ to be the Son of God And from this harmonie between this 97. and the second Psalm and from the common Prenotion or Rule of interpreting Scriptures known to the Learned or unpartially observant in those days the Apostle adds that Preface unto his Testimonie when he bringeth in his onely begotten Son into the World He supposeth that the Learned among his Countrie-men should or might have known that both these Prophecies were to be punctually fulfilled upon the Exaltation of the Messias or of those times wherein God should be manifested in the Flesh 3. Yet some conjecture that our Apostle Heb. 1. 6. hath reference rather to Deut. 32. ver 43. in the Greek Translation then unto the 97 Psalm in the Hebrew The words indeed in the Greek or Septuagint are the very same though in the Hebrew not the same by any Equivalencie of the literal sense At nec sic quidem malè There is a varietie of sense yet no discord but rather a full and perfect Consort between the Literal and Grammatical sense of the Hebrew and the mystical and real sense which the Greek or Septuagint in both places expresseth First The 97 Psalm as many others are is a Poetical descant upon Moses his divine Prophetical Song Deut. 32. And the 70 Interpreters whether out of some Prenotion or out of the admirable Concord between that song of Moses and the 97 Psalm or out of a divine Instinct wherewith as St. Augustine is of opinion they were impelled sometimes to intersert a more express meaning of the Holie Ghost then an ordinary Commentator could out of the Hebrew have observed whether this way or that way moved they have given the same Paraphrase upon Deut. 32. ver 43. which our Apostle hath made upon Psal 97. ver 7. which is no other then the Septuagint had made before but literally more consonant to the Hebrew then their Paraphrase upon Deut. 32. is But
exposition of Scriptures doth It requires a greater skill then the skill of Alchymie to extract the true sense and meaning of the holy Ghost from the plausible glosses or expositions which are dayly made upon them But how sincerely soever the word may be delivered by the Pastor it may be corrupted by the hearer Milk as Physicians tell us is turned into purer blood with greater facilitie than any other nutriment so the body which receives it be free from humors but if the stomack or other vitall parts be stuft with Phlegm opprest with Choler or other corruption there is no nutriment which is more easily corrupted or more apt to feed bad humors than milk how pure soever it be Thus though the sincere milk of the word be not only the best but the onely nutriment of soules by which wee must grow up in faith yet if the heart which receives it from the preachers mouth sincere be pestered with corrupt affections it doth not nourish if it do not purge or purifie the corrupt humours but mingle with them they malignifie one another The speciall humours which on the hearers part corrupt the sincere milk of the word and of which every one that will be a diligent hearer must endeavour to purge his soule by repentance are set downe by S. Peter in the same Chapter vers 1. Wherefore laying aside all malice all guile and all hypocrisie and envies and evill-speakings as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word Wee must first then desire the word as Physick to purge our soules That part of the word I mean which teacheth Repentance and denyall of all ungodliness before wee can hope to grow by the milk of it that is by the comfort of Gods promises Unlesse our hearts be in good measure purified by obedience to the Generall precepts or morall duties how sincere soever the milk of the word preached be our desire of it cannot be sincere wee shall desire it or delight in it to maintain Faction or secret pride not to grow up thereby in sinceritie of mind and humblenesse of spirit which are the most proper effects of the milk of the word sincerely delivered and sincerely received SECT II. Of Christs Lordship or Dominion Phil. 2. 11. That every Tongue should Confesse that Jesus Christ is LORD to the Glorie of God the Father Acts 2. 36. Let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye Crucified both Lord and Christ Rev. 5. 13. Every Creature in heaven and earth and sea did say Blessing Honour Glorie and Power to Him that sitteth on the Throne and to The Lamb for ever ever The Degrees or Steps by which we must ascend before we enter this Beautiful Gate of the Lords House are Three First What it is to be a LORD Second Upon what Grounds or in what respects Christ is by peculiar Title called THE LORD Third How our Confession or acknowledgment of Christ to be The Lord doth redound to the Glorie of God the Father CHAP. VI. What it is to be a Lord. Though there be many called Lords yet is there but One Absolute Lord. 1. THe Title of Lord whether we take it in the Greek in the Latin or in our English is sometimes a Title only of Respect or courtesie So strangers usually salute men of place or note by the name of Dominus or sometimes of Domination it self And we usually instile the Eldest Sons of Earles by the title of Lords And all the Sons of Dukes even from their Cradles are so instiled Not to vouchsafe them this Title when we mention them were ill manners or discourtesie Howbeit even they which are bound to love them best the very parents of their bodies do not permit them to enjoy the Realities answering to these honourable Titles before their full age and for the most part till they themselves have surrendred them by death The Realitie answering to this title of Lord is Dominion Every one that hath Dominion is a Lord in respect of that over which he hath Dominion and whosoever really is a Lord is so instiled from some Dominion which he exerciseth Dominus in Latin sometimes goes for no more then our English word Owner and this is the lowest or meanest signification of the word Lord. The full Extent or highest value of the word Dominus or Lord must be gathered from the several degrees or scale of Dominion as either from the Extent of the matter or subject over which Dominion is exercised or from the Soveraigntie of Title Dominion as Lawyers define it is A Facultie or power fully to dispose of any corporal or bodily substance so far as they are not restrained by law And by how much a mans power to dispose of what he hath is lesse restrained by law by so much his Dominion over it is the greater and he in respect of it is if not so much a greater Lord yet so much more properly a Lord. But fitting it is in regard of publick good or of posteritie that most mens power to dispose of that which otherwise by full right is their own should be in certain Cases restrained Many are Lords of great Lands and may dispose of their annual profits as they please but yet cannot sell or alienate their perpetual inheritance Others have a more full power to dispose of the houses wherein they dwell a power not only to let or set them for yeers but to sell or give away the perpetual inheritance who yet are by Law restrained utterly to demolish or set them on fire especially if they be inclosed by neighbour Lodgings The Cases are many wherein Dominuim sub altiore dominio est There is a sub ordination of Lordships or Dominions some are Mean Lords some are Chief Lords Even meaner Lords or owners are not to be denyed the titles of Lords albeit they cannot alienate the soil whereof they are owners without licence of the Chief Lord much more are chief or higher Lords to be so reputed because their Dominion or power to dispose of their own Lands is lesse subordinate howbeit in some cases limited by the Rule of Law And this restraint in how few cases soever it be hinders their greatnesse from growing into absolute Dominion Lords they are but not absolute Lords This is a Title peculiar to Kings or Monarches who are so called only in respect of their own subjects or of their own Lands No meere mortal man since Adam was Lord of the whole earth or bare soveraigntie over all men or bodily substances And the greatest of men have been subject or inferiour to Angels 2. To leave other divisions of Dominion to Lawyers All Dominion is either Jurisdictionis or Proprietatis A power of Jurisdiction or a right to the Propertie The former branch of Dominion is exercised only over men or resonable creatures which only are capable of Jurisdiction passive or of Government The later branch which we call
contained under one part of quantitie part of it under another For Omne quantum habet partem extra partem and in that regard is divisible The whole substance divisible cannot subsist but in the whole quantitie or measure The higher and lower parts of a tree or pillar have no unitie betwixt themselves but as both are united to the middle parts If it be divided in the middle the union and unity is lost after the division made it is not one but two one division makes its two two divisions makes it three But in bodies sensible or vegetable considered as parts of the nature or essence of such Bodies the case is quite otherwise A man is the same man the self same bodily substance or vegetable this year which he was three years ago and his bodily substance this year is not therefore one and the same with the bodily substance which he had three years ago because it is one with the bodily substance which he had the last year but intirely one and the same in all We cannot say that part of his bodily nature was existent in the first year part in the second year and part in the third year for his whole bodily nature was intirely in the first year and in every part or hour of the first year The same bodily nature was intirely in every hour of the second year and so in every hour of the third year For though mans body be divisible in quantitie though his duration be likewise divisible yet his bodily nature is indivisible and intirely the same in every moment of its own duration And for this Reason Although death may make a division or interruption in its duration or existence yet it makes no pluralitie or division in its nature in what part of time soever his nature gets new existence it is intirely and indivisibly the same it was 10. The former Instance drawn from the Divisibilitie of a bodie subject to quantitie or dimension would hold much better Thus. As one part of such a body being separated from the rest suppose a branch or slip of a tree being united to another tree by inoculation or ingrafting remains the self same substance it was though it now exist not in the same tree but in another So the bodily substance of man though cut off by death from the company of the living and severed from all co-existence with the things which now are may be the self same substance which it sometimes was although it get no co-existence with the things which now are but with the substances which shall be many hundred years hence it may be at that time the same which formerly it was as truly and properly as if it had continued its co-existence or actual being with the things which now are or actually shall be till it be again As a slip or branch taken from a tree in France and ingrafted in a tree in England is as truly and properly the same branch it was as if it had continued still united to the same tree wherein it did first grow In this later Case there is only A separation of place a pluralitie only of Unitions or Co-existences of the same branch with divers trees no pluralitie of branches Suppose God had cut off Adams dayes on earth at the instant wherein he did eat the forbidden fruit and deferred his replantation in the Land of the living again until these times wherein we live here had been a separation of him from those times wherein he lived many hundred of years here had been a pluralitie of times wherein he lived a pluralitie of his Co-existences with divers times and with divers men no pluralitie of humane natures in Adam His nature might have been one and the same as truly and as indivisibly one and the same in these times distant one from the other by the space of five thousand years as if he had lived from his first creation till the sounding of the last trump unto Judgment And thus much of the Exceptions or Cavils made by Atheists or Infidels against This Article of the Resurrection In which we Christians believe That every man shall arise with his own body the same bodily substance which he had or was whilest he lived here on earth 11. And now for Application or Conclusion let us here suppose that the Atheist as he makes himself worse then a beast whilst he lives on earth could hope to make himself equal to beasts in his death or to be transformed into a swine Imagine he should endeavour to drown his immortal soul in a Tavern or to bury his bodily natural Essence in the Stews suppose his body might by Venus fire or other loathsom fruits of filthy lusts be dissolved into ashes and the ashes of it be dispersed through all the winds Imagine his bones might in some filthy puddle be resolved into slime and become the food or nutriment of crawling toads or of other more venemous creatures The pursuit of these his fearful desperate hopes could nothing avail him they would be at best but as pledges of greater shame and misery to befal him The powerful hand of his Almighty Iudge will raise him up at the last day with the same body which he had exposed to all this shame and misery with the self same body for nature and substance but not the same for qualitie or durabilitie For it shall after death be ten thousand times more capable of pain then in this life it was of pleasure All his bodily pleasures came to an end before he came to an end of his bodily life These alwayes die before he dies that hath wedded himself unto them But his pain shall never die his paines though deadly shall never come to an end These are the endless fruits of that mans short dayes on earth which wholly mispends his time in foolish bodily pleasures or noysom lusts But for the souls of the Righteous whatsoever become of their bodies after death They are still in the hands of God they are wholly at his disposal whether those Bodies wherein they dwelt do fall by the enemies sword or come unto their graves in peace whether they become a prey unto the beasts of the field to the fowls of the Air or to the fishes of the Sea And let us whilst we live establish our souls with this Doctrine of our Apostle And also lay that saying of Tertullian recited before chapter 13. § 9. unto our hearts Consider a teipsum O homo fidem rei invenies Recogita quid fueris antequam esses utique nihil Consider thy self O man and thou shalt find the undoubted truth of what we teach recal to mind if thou canst what thou wast before thou wast and thou shalt find that thou wert nothing Qui non eras factus es cum iterum non eris fies There was a time when thou wast not and yet there was a time wherein thou wast made and albeit the times be now coming
were much better then their present in mercie favour and loving kindnesse 5. But whilst they thus contend for the merit of works done by Grace do they not derogate from the merits of Christ who is the only fountain of all Grace We say They do But They Reply They do not but rather magnifie the merits of Christ more then we do who deny the merits of Saints For Christ as they alledge did not only merit Grace for us but this also that we by Grace might truly Merit Now grace itself and the merit of grace is a more Magnificent Effect of Christs Merits then grace alone Here is a Double Effect of Christs Merits by their Doctrine whereas we admit but a single One. Thus they reply But if the One of those two effects which they imagine or conceive doth derogate more in true construction from the merits of Christ then the supposal or admission of it can add unto them We attribute more unto his merits by the admission of One single Effect only to wit meer grace then they do by acknowledgment of Two to wit grace it self and the merit of grace in us But the more we are to merit by grace for our selves the less measure of merit we leave unto Christ For as that which he merited for us is not ours but his so that which we merit for ourselves is not His but Ours The merit of grace supposeth a Fulnesse or Fountain of grace and Fountain of grace there is no other but Christ himself nor is there any Fulness of grace but in him only For of his fulnesse as the Evangelist saith Iohn 1. 16. we all have received grace for grace that is grace upon Grace Every degree or greater measure of Grace which we receive doth flow alike immediatly from the fulness of this inexhaustible Fountain of Grace without any secondary Fountain or Feeders Grace doth not grow in us as Rivers do which although they have one main spring or fountain yet they grow not to any greatness without the help of secondary Fountains or concurrence of many springs or feeders Grace doth so immediatly come from Christ as the Rivers do from the sea Increase of Grace doth come as immediatly from Christ as the increase of Rivers from rain or as the increase of light in the waxing Moon comes from the Sun 6. The state of this Question concerning The merits of works comes to the same issue with that other Great question concering Justification As whether it be by faith alone or by faith and works The Romish Church grants that we are justified by faith in Christs blood or merits Tanquam per Causam efficientem as by a true efficient Cause seeing all the Grace which we first receive is bestowed upon us for Christs sake But they hold withall that it is the Grace which for Christs sake is bestowed upon us by which we are formally justified that is As water poured into a vessel doth immediatly expell the air which was in it before so the infusion of Grace for the merits of Christ doth expell sin whether Original or actuall out of our souls And this in their Language is The remission of sins for the attaining whereof There needs no imputation of Christs righteousness after Grace be once infused The formall Cause of every thing requires some efficient or Agent for the production or resultance of it but being once produced or existent it excludes the interposition or intervention of any other Cause whatsoever for the production or existence of its formall Effect To produce heat in the water it is impossible without the Agency or Efficiency of fire but the water being made scalding hot by the heat of fire will heat or scald the flesh of of man or other living creature although it be removed from the fire although it work only in its own strength or of the heat inherent in it Thus say the Romanists that grace cannot be produced in us but by the vertue and efficiency of Christs merits but being by them once produced it doth justifie us immediatly by the strength and vertue of it inherent in us and by the same strength and vertue working in us it doth produce its formall effect to wit the increase of grace and lastly eternal life But if this Doctrine of theirs so far as it concerns Justification or the Remission of sins were true then this inconvenience as I have elsewhere shewed would necessarily follow That no man already after this manner justified could say or repeat that Petition in our Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us without a mockerie of God or Christ For if our sins be formally remitted by the infusion of grace and if by the infusion of the same grace we be formally justified the only true meaning of this Petition is in true Resolution This Lord makes us such or remit our sins after such a manner that we shall not stand in need of thy remission or forgivenss of them or that we shall not stand in need of the mediation of thine only Son For if they be remitted immediatly by grace so long as this grace endures all mediation is superfluous is impossible This Inconvenience is farther improved by the same Doctrine so far as it concerns the merits of works done in charitie And prophanes those Two other Petitions in the same our Lords Prayer Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven no lesse then their Doctrine of Justification doth that Petition Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us For if works done by grace or charitie could truly merit eternal life the effect of all the three Petitions should be but this Lord let thy Kingdom of Grace so come unto us Lord let thy will be so done by us here on earth that as we have been long debters unto thee for giving thine only Son to die for our sins and for the purchasing of the First Grace unto us so let us by this grace be inabled to make both Thee and Him debters to us by the merit of this grace and debters in no meaner a sum then the retribution or payment of Eternal Life For if that life can be merited by our works then God doth owe it unto us for our works And if it be due unto us by merit or by debt then it is not as our Apostle hath it in this 23. verse the gift of God or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Original hath it the Grace of God The Apostle might as well have said that Eternal Life was as truly the wages of our righteousness as death is the wages of our sin And so the best Scholars in the Romish Church do grant he might have said What then is the Reason why he did not say so Of this they give us This Reason Inasmuch say they as the First grace by which we merit the Kingdom of heaven is
Master good Service in so just a quarrel would first begin to try his Valour in the Reformation of his own life in expelling all dissolute and inveterate lusts all immoderate and unruly desires out of his own heart So shall the words of his mouth and the Meditations of his heart be alwaies acceptable in the sight of the Lord his only strength and his Redeemer In whose strength and valor alone we must assault and vanquish our malicious Adversaries And unless Reformation do certainly judgement will begin at the Houses of God at those living Temples of his which have the platformes of true Religion in them but are not edified in good works Let not the Eunuch say I am a dry tree Nor let the meanest amongst us either in Learning Wit or outward Estate think that he can do nothing in this case For if we have but true faith we all know That it is not the resolute Soldiers arm nor these verest Magistrates sword nor the cunningest Politicians head nor the Potent Custom of Law that sets or keeps Kings Crownes upon their Heads but the lifting up of pure hearts and holding up clean hands to him that giveth wisdome to the Wise and strength to the Strong to him which hath the Soldiers arme the Magistrates sword the Politicians Wisdom all Power all Fulness at his disposal Wherefore Beloved in our Lord If either love to God or love to Prince if either love to that Religion which we professe or love unto those pleasant places which we inhabit or the good things belonging to them which we possesse If love to any or all of these can move our hearts as whose heart is there but is moved to some of these Oh let them move them in time unto repentance that we may enjoy these blessings the longer Let us draw neer unto our God and he will draw near to us Let us cleanse our minds and lift up pure hands and hearts unto the Lord for only such can lay fast hold upon his mercie lest our continuance in our own dayly transgressions added to the heavy weight of our predecessors sinnes pull downe Gods sudden judgements upon this Land Prince and People 13. And as for such O Lord as set their faces against heaven and against thee to work wickedness in thy sight and hold on still to fill up the full measure of their forefathers sins and cause the over-flowing vengeance of thy wrath Lord let them all perish suddenly from the earth and let their posterity vanish hence like smoke ere for their provocations wherewith they provoke thee daily the breath of our nostrils thine annointed Servant be taken in those nets which the uncircumcised daily spread for him And let us Beloved whom he loves so dearly seek to fill this Land with the good example of our lives and incense of our hearty prayers That under his shadow and the shadow of his Royal Off-spring we of this place with this Land and People may be preserved alive from all strange or domestick tyrannie Amen CHAP. XLV MATTH 23. verse 37. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent to thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not 1. THe Summe of my last Meditations upon the former verses was That notwithstanding our Saviours Prediction or threatning of all those plagues shortly to befal Jerusalem there was even at this time A Possibilitie left for this people to have continued a flourishing Nation A Possibilitie left for their Repentance That their Repentance and Prosperity was the End whereat the Lord himself did aim in sending Prophets and Wise-men and lastly his only Son unto them The Former of the two Parts The Possibilitie of their Prosperitie and Repentance was proved from the perpetual Tenor of Gods Covenant with this people first made with Moses afterward renewed with David and Solomon and ratified by Jeremie and Ezekiel The Tenor of the Covenant as you then heard was a Covenant not of Death only but of Life and Death of Life if they continued faithful in his Covenant of Death if they continued in disobedience The later Part of the same Assertion viz. That this Peoples Repentance and Prosperitie was the end intended by God was proved from that Declaration of his desire of their everlasting Prosperitie Deut. 5. 29. Oh that there were such a heart in this people to fear me and keep my Commandments alwaies that it might go well with them and their posteritie for ever And the like place Psalm 81. v. 13. Isai 48. 18. These places manifest Gods love and desire of this peoples safety But the Abundance the Strength with the unrelenting Constancie and tenderness of his love is in no place more fully manifested then in these words of my Text. The abundant fervencie we may note in the very first words in that his mouth which never spake idle nor superfluous word doth here ingeminate the Appellation O Jerusalem Jerusalem This he spake out of the abundance of his love But Love is oft-times fervent or abundant for the present or whiles the Object of our love remains amiable yet not so constant and perpetual if the qualitie of what we loved be changed But herein appears the strength and constancie of Gods love that it was thus fervently set upon Ierusalem not only in her pure and virgin dayes or whiles she continued as chaste and loyal as when she was affianced unto the Lord by David but upon Ierusalem often drunk with the cup of Fornications upon Her long stained and polluted with the blood of his dearest Saints which she had even mingled with her Sacrifices Upon Jerusalem and her children when after he had cleansed her infected habitations with fire and carried her inhabitants beyond Babylon into the North-land as into a more fresh and pure aire Yet after their return thence and replantation in their own Land returned with the dog to his vomit and with the washed Sow to wallowing in the mire God would have gathered even as the Hen doth her chickens under her wings c. 2. In which words besides the tendernesse of Gods Love toward these Castawayes is set out unto us the safety of his Protection so they would have been gathered For as there is no creature more kind and tender then the Hen unto her young ones none that doth more carefully shroud and shelter them from the storm none that doth more closely hide them from the eye of the Destroyer so would God have hidden Jerusalem under the shadow of his wings from all those stormes which afterward overwhelmed her and from the Roman Eagle to whom this whole generation present became a prey If so Jerusalem with her children after so many hundred years experience of his fatherly love and tender care had not remained more foolish than the new hatched brood of reasonless creatures If so they had not been