rod and their iniquities with strokes The Scriptures propose many examples our eares haue heard many reports our eyes behold daily many presidents which may confirme this Doctrine What dolefull complaints doe we reade that the Church maketh euery where in the Lamentations Behold oh Lord how I am troubled my bowels swell my heart is turned within me for I am full of heauinesse The sword spoileth abroad as death doth at home c. How lamentably doe the godly bemoane themselues and the estate of the Church in the Prophesie of Isay Be not angry O Lord aboue measure neither remember iniquitie for euer behold see we beseeth thee we are thy people Thy holy cities axe a wildernesse Zion is a wildernesse Ierusalem a desolation Our holy and our beautifull house where our Fathers praised thee is burnt vp with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste And how doth the Prophet Dauid expresse the burden of his afflictions wherewith he was afflicted in the Booke of the Psalmes Thine arrowes saith he sticke fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore There is no soundnesse in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sinne And againe thus The sorrowes of death compassed mee and the paines of hell gat hold vpon me I found trouble and sorrow and many such like patheticall complaints he makes The whole Booke of the Iudges may be a proofe for this truth wherein wee see how the people of Israel proceeding to doe euill in the sight of the Lord he sold them into the hand of his and their enemies We might further instance in Solomon Asa Iehoshaphat Iosiah Hezekiah and others all which make this good that God spareth not his owne people when they sinne against him Two Reasons may be giuen hereof First That the Lord might declare himselfe to be un aduersary to sinne in all men and that the wicked may see he is not partiall to any when his commandements are not regarded Secondly That he may reduce his seruants from running on headlong with the wicked to perdition For were wee altogether exempted from the rod how wanton and froward would we grow and into how many perils would wee cast our selues And so saith Saint Paul When we are iudged we are chastened of the Lord that we might not be condemned with the world But did not Christ giue himselfe for his Church and shed his bloud for their redemption was not their sins punished in him How comes it then to passe they are still subiect to Gods heauie visitations True it is that Christ did beare away all our punishments but he hath not freed vs from fatherly corrections Now when God afflicteth his in this world it is more for medicine than for punishment more for a correction than for a penaltie Losses crosses pouertie imprisonmeent sicknesse yea death it selfe are not to vs punishments nor curses properly but fatherly chastisements being inflicted as furtherances of sanctification not as meanes of satisfaction And thus you haue this obiection answered and my doctrine confirmed viz. God will not spare any no not his owne people when they sin against him Which being so this may terrifie wicked and vngodly ones who make a trade of sinne driuing after it as it was said of Iehu in another case as if they were made and yet imagine because God for a time holdeth his peace and keepes silence that hee is such a one as themselues a louer and approuer of their wicked waies But oh you fooles how long will you loue folly and when will you grow wise Doth God correct the flock of his owne pasture the children of his owne houshold and shall you goe scot-free Doth the Lord chastise them so heauily the burden of whose sins Christ hath borne in his bodie on the crosse and shall such as Christ neuer died for no nor yet prayed for escape shall not many prayers and teares sighes and groanes petitions of Gods Saints requests of the Spirit together with the daily intercession of Iesus Christ Gods only and welbeloued in whom he is well pleased keepe off such bitter things from them who but now and then breake out Woe and alas then what shall become of you who neuer pray sigh nor shed teare for sinne for whom Gods blessed Spirit makes no request and who haue no interest in the mediation and intercession of that iust and righteous Aduocate who sinne not of infirmitie and weaknesse but boldly and presumptuously with a high hand against the Lord Thinke of an answer to those interrogatories which the Spirit of God propoundeth to thee in holy Writ Loe I beginne to bring euill on the Citie which is called by my name and shal you goe vtterly vnpunished And againe Behold they whose iudgement was not to drinke of the cup haue assuredly drunken and art thou he that shalt escape And againe If these things be done to the greene tree to them who haue in them the sap of grace what shall be done to the drie to them who haue no moisture of goodnesse And againe If iudgement first beginne at vs who are the house of God what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospell of God And if the righteous scarcely be saued where shall the vngodly and sinner appeare What answerest thou to these why speakest thou not And now O my God behold how I am troubled my bowels swell my heart is turned within me for I heare an answer true but terrible The Lord indeed will trie the righteous in his furnace but the wicked and such as loue iniquitie doth his soule hate vpon the wicked shall he raine snares fire and brimstone and stormie tempest this is the portion of their cup. He will indeed iudge the iust man for his transgressions in his life but hee will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy pate of him that walketh on on his trespasses Yea in flaming fire shall God come taking vengeance on them that know him not and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ and they shall be punished with euerlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Then shall the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe Captaines and the mightie men and euery bond-man and euery free-man whose names are not written in the Lambes Booke hide themselues in dens and in the rockes of the mountaines And say to the mountaines and rockes Fall on vs and hide vs from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lambe But as it was with the old world when God rained from heauen the greatest showre that euer the earth did or shall sustaine their shifts were bootlesse so will it now be They then thought to ouer-climbe the iudgement and haste
A STRANGE VINEYARD IN PALAESTINA IN AN EXPOSITION OF ISAIAHS PARABOLICAL Song of the Beloued discouered To which Gods Vineyard in this our Land is Paralleld By NEHEMIAH ROGERS Master in Arts and Pastor of the Congregation at Messing in Essex IEREM 2. 21. Yet I had planted thee a noble Vine wholly a right seed How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of A STRANGE Vine vnto me LONDON Printed by Iohn Hauiland for EDWARD BREWSTER and are to be sold at his Shop at the Signe of the Starre at the West-end of Pauls 1623. TO The Right Honourable and truly Noble Lord ROBERT Earle of Warwick Lord RICH Baron of Leeze c. Encrease of Honour here and euerlasting Glory hereafter Right Honorable Lord MAy it please you to take in good worth this my bold attempt in that vpon so little knowledge and far lesse deserts I haue aduentured so far as to grace these my weake labours with your Noble name Besides some personall and particular respects which I here let passe I haue had some generall inducements hereunto and this aboue the rest Your Honours loue vnto the Truth and great regard of the Ministerie thereof which your more than ordinarie paines taking to heare holy Instructions together with the great respect your Honour giues to such as bring glad tidings of peace whose feet and much more their face are esteemed by you as beautifull are sufficient arguments to euince By which and other fruits of pietie you still merit renowne to your Noble Name and are zealously honoured of al that know you and loue goodnesse into which number I hopefully presuming haue thrust my selfe as being loth to bee hindmost in that acknowledgement which is so nobly deserued and ioyfully rendered of all desiring as far as in me lieth to make knowne vnto the world that grace which lies lodged in your noble brest which being vnited to your greatnesse maketh so happie a composition as that they who had no more than Natures light esteemed it only for true Nobilitie For whereas greatnesse makes some men scornefull and imperious yet what Plinius reports of Vespasian may be truly said of you It hath changed nothing in you but this that your power to doe good should bee answerable to your will Yea it may be iustly thought that your Honour would teach men to take the measure of your greatnesse by your goodnesse of so euen a length and equall pace are they And indeed so it must be for should Honour out-runne Honestie it would hardly bee ouertaken But I must remember to whom I speake euen to such a one as careth not for long salutations in the Markets I haue done when I haue once againe craued pardon for my boldnesse and humbly requested at your Honours hands whose goodnesse hath not wont to magnifie it selfe more in giuing than in receiuing such like holy presents acceptation and countenance to what is here offered by a thankfull heart As for the Matter herein handled I will not feare to say it deserues it And for the Manner I must say it needs it whatsoeuer it bee bee it not as it should be yet my will wisheth it to be well but as it is I humbly betake it to you Hounours fauourable protection and so your Hounour to the protection of the Highest Your Hounours humbly and officiously deuoted in all dutie NEHEMIAH ROGERS TO The right vertuous and truly zealous Ladie FRANCIS Countesse of Warwicke and wife to the Right Honorable Lord ROBERT Earle of Warwick c. Right Noble Lady MY attempt may seeme a wonder but where IVDGEMENT searcheth out the cause and Prudence guideth Wisdome to weigh the circumstance the conceit of wondermēt ceaseth What hath induced mee to ioyne you with your Honourable Lord needs no long relation God hath cemented and combined you together with the neerest strongest bands and therefore I in my due honoring of both presume to conioyne you both in this one Dedication What is conceiued and reported of your Honours worth thorow all our Countrey I must passe ouer in silence for well I know your excellent modestie will not suffer such though deserued a relation Your Honour rather affecting to doe things deseruing Fame than Fame it selfe And like the fixed starres the higher God hath set you the lesse you desire to seeme I confesse I am as yet but a Stranger in these parts yet must he be more strange that meeteth not with the report of your Honours vertues whose diligent paines in gaining knowledge of holy things and conscionable practise of what you know whose humble sober wise courteous and modest cariage rare vertues to be found in Ladies of so high a place and ranke are so many tongues and mouthes and pens without mine to publish your due praises And though through the corruption of these times this age is growne so base as that one cannot thinke any to be the better or the worse for the report that flies of them vnlesse they be eye-witnesses either of their good or ill yet where the sound is all so honourable I dare be confident of an holy inclination gratious disposition which hath giuen me such encouragement as that I haue little need to misdoubt either your Honours acceptation of this Treatise or to aduise your vse for I perswade my selfe that you wil not only view the title and Epistle as the fashion of most Patrons is but the whole book also in some of those houres which your Honour redeemes I dare say for soule employments from those idle and excessiue customes wherein too many Ladies please themselues and none else But I know that your Honor will be better pleased if I turne praises into praiers therefore I will endeuour to supply that want this way beseeching the God of Maiestie and mercy to sanctifie your heart yet more and more who with the New-yeere giue you new supplies of the graces of his Spirit and gratiously to encrease in you the ground of all true Honor Goodnesse Let me not offend in offering so meane a worke to so worthy a Personage the weaker it is the more need hath it of a worthy Patron therefore I humbly betake it to your Honours fauourable protection And so your Honour to the protection of the Highest Your Honours humbly and officiously deuoted in all dutie NEHEMIAH ROGERS TO THE READER HE that feasts high Estates must seeke out for forraine Cookeries and fantasticall dishes to please their pallats but hee that in true charitie inuites home his plaine honest neighbours doth well enough if he prouide such homely fare as shall be competent and befitting men of meaner qualitie It is the plaine Country-man I feast commonly called the Good-man And therefore for thee Reader to expect any curious Diuision rare Inuention or Rhetoricall composition in this Treatise would be as vaine and idle as to hope to meet with puft paste at a Plow-mans table As for those who driue their flockes vpon the
are not only to lay the foundation but also to erect vp the building Now Doctrine is but the laying of a ground and Application is the rearing vp of the walles and as the building vp of a Christian in grace and goodnesse The Vses concerne first vs Ministers secondly you our Hearers We that are Ministers must labour herein and not content our selues with idle or intricate discourses further than to lay them as grounds for exhortation A lesson without vse saith one is as a deuised thing idly without end And it is lesse cunning to giue a precept than to shew aptly the vse thereof Wee are Stewards now saith the Apostle It is required in stewards that a man be found faithfull Faithfull first in prouiding wholesome food for the whole family and secondly in a wise distribution of the prouision giuing to euery one in the house their portion Thus must we first see our prouision be good and seasonable deliuering not for Doctrine mens precepts nor the fancies and inuentions of our owne braines which fill full of winde and not sound nourishment And secondly giue euery one their part out of the wholesome word of life Comfort to whom comfort belongs and Iudgement to whom iudgement belongs making difference not seruing all alike nor sending that to the Masters board which was prouided for the men for there is no faithfulnesse in this but setting before euery one what is fittest for him giuing the bread of consolation to the childe and the whip and staffe of reprehension to the dog This is the course whereby holy doctrine is fastened as with nailes by the Masters of Assemblies And the want of this is the cause why many mens paines are so liuelesse fruitlesse for as a rich man discoursing of bread to a hungrie begger or a Physitian describing his Patients disease and leauing him to himselfe so is a Preacher not applying Or as a whole loafe set before children would doe them no good for they might starue well enough vnlesse it be diuided So is a generall Doctrine amongst our auditores In it selfe indeed it is nourishable but being not applied it seldome is so to them I end this Vse with a Meditation of a Worthy of our times Those that are all in Exhertation no whit in Doctrine are like to them that snuffe the candle but powre not in oyle Those that are all in Doctrine and nothing in Exhortation drowne the wike in oile but light it not making it fit for vse if it had fire put to it but as it is rather capable of good than profitable in present Doctrine without Exhortation makes men all braine no heart Exhortation without Doctrine makes the heart full but leaues the braine emptie Both together makes a man One makes him wise the other good One serues that we may know our dutie the other that we may performe it In both which wee must labour and who can say in whether most Men cannot practise vnlesse they know and in vaine they know if they practise not Let none thinke I take vpon mee to taske or censure any I only as my dutie is and occasion giuen mee by this our Prophets practise labour to shew what we ought to doe And now for Hearers let them learne to suffer with meeknesse the word to be brought home and applied close vnto their consciences and quietly to receiue that which is their appointment In these misiudging daies saith one it is a hard matter to ouerreach the Deuill if we let sinne alone his kingdome flourisheth if wee strike at him and hit not the bough he sits on we moue him not if we hit him by taking the very sinne on the head then we are iudged partial personall and wreakers of our owne spleene Hence growes the quarrell betwixt vs and you for were it not for speciall application we should please you well enough but because we tell you the truth we are become your enemies Beloued if it were profitable for you it were peaceable for vs to shoot at Rouers and speake at randome but both our dutie and your necessitie cals for particular application Art thou a blasphemer a Sabbath-breaker an vngodly vsurer or such like Why then thou hast thy portion appointed thee and that is brimstone and fire it is somewhat hot indeed but this is the portion of thy cup as the Psalmist speaketh this is appointed for thee to drinke Art thou angry with thy Minister for telling thee this If thou beest thou hast little reason for it For where is the fault in thee or him I pray thee heartily repent and amend thy life and such things shall not be spoken to thee become a childe and thou shalt haue a childs part the bread of consolation But while thou continuest thus profane and dissolute looke for no other than the whip of reprehension and content thy selfe therewith if thou wilt become no better Yea let euery one helpe the Minister in this his labour and learne to apply what is taught to their owne consciences accusing or excusing We vsually heare the word as we doe newes out of forraigne Countries as not pertaining to our selues and come to heare Sermons as women come to costly banquets to pocket vp and carry away for others that are at home more than for themselues or as they doe at Feasts laying liberally on their neighbours trenchers letting their owne lie empty Thus when we heare any sinne threatned or disgraced we can post it off to others Oh such a one is met withall and that is for him But heare not so idly the Lord speakes to thee and intends that exhortation or reprehension to thy soule take it then as spoken to thy selfe Is it comfort Repent and beleeue and it is meant to thee Is it Iudgement If thou repentest not it is to thee as surely as if he had named thee And this is the way to heare sauingly So much in generall The Vineyard of the Lord of Hoasts is the house of Israel God himselfe as we see here is the owner of this Vineyard who is called A Lord and A Lord of Hoasts From the first of these we learne God is an absolute Lord ouer all creatures He it is that hath all absolute dominion power authoritie and soueraigntie ouer all This Nebucadnezzar after he was himselfe acknowledged Whose dominion is an euerlasting dominion and his kingdome is from generation to generation Dauid in his prayer makes an ample confession of it Thine O Lord is the greatnesse and the power and the glory and the victorie and the maiestie for all that is in the heauen and in the earth is thine thine is the kingdome O Lord and thou art exalted as head aboue all Both riches and honour come of thee and thou reiguest ouer all and in thy hand is power and might and in thy hand it is to make great and to giue strength vnto all And in that forme of prayer