through the valley of the shadow of death we shall feare no euill Thou ô Lord shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of our enemies and thy right hand shall saue vs. Conflict All this number is not for sight for rest but for motion for action Neither was there euer houre since the first blow giuen to our first parents wherein there was so much as a truce betwixt these aduersaries As therefore strong frontier-Townes when there is a peace concluded on both parts breake vp their garrison open their gates neglect their Bull-warkes but when they heare of the enemie mustering his forces in great and vnequall numbers then they double their guard keepe Sentinell repaire their Sconces so must we vpon the certaine knowledge of our numerous and deadly enemies in continuall aray against vs addresse our selues alwaies to a warie and strong resistance I doe not obserue the most to thinke of this gostly hostilitie Either they do not find there are tentations or those tentations hurtfull they see no worse then themselues and if they feele motions of euill arising in them they impute it to fancie or vnreasonable appetite to no power but natures and those motions they follow without sensible hurt neither see they what harme it is to sinne Is it any maruell that carnall eies cannot discerne spirituall obiects That the world who is the friend the vassall of Satan is in no warre with him Elishaes seruant when his eies were opened saw troupes of spirituall soldiers which before he discerned not If the eies of our soules be once enlightened by supernaturall knowledge and the cleere beames of faith we shall as plainly descrie the inuisible powers of wickednesse as now our bodily eies see heauen and earth They are though we see them not wee cannot be safe from them if we doe not acknowledge not oppose them The Deuils are now become great suitors to Christ That he would not command them into the deepe that he would permit their entrance into the swine What is this deepe but hell both for the vtter separation from the face of God and for the impossibilitie of passage to the region of rest and glory The very euill spirits then feare and expect a further degree of torment they know themselues reserued in those chaines of darknesse for the iudgement of the great day There is the same wages due to their sinnes and to ours neither are the wages paid till the worke be done they tempting men to sinne must needs sinne grieuously in tempting as with vs men those that mislead into sinne offend more then the actors not till the vpshot therefore of their wickednesse shall they receiue the full measure of their condemnation This day this deepe they tremble at what shall I say of those men that feare it not It is hard for men to beleeue their owne vnbeleefe If they were perswaded of this fierie dungeon this bottomlesse deepe wherein euery sinne shall receiue an horrible portion with the damned durst they stretch forth their hands to wickednesse No man will put his hand into a fierie crucible to fetch gold thence because he knowes it will burne him Did we as truly beleeue the euerlasting burning of that infernall fire we durst not offer to fetch pleasures or profits out of the midst of those flames This degree of torment they grant in Christs power to command they knew his power vnresistible had he therefore but said Backe to hell whence ye came they could no more haue staid vpon earth then they can now climbe into heauen O the wonderfull dispensation of the Almightie who though he could command all the euill spirits downe to their dungeons in an instant so as they should haue no more oportunitie of temptation yet thinkes fit to retaine them vpon earth It is not out of weaknesse or improuidence of that diuine hand that wicked spirits tyrannzie here vpon earth but out of the most wise and most holy ordination of God who knowes how to turne euill into good how to fetch good out of euill and by the worst instruments to bring about his most iust decrees Oh that we could adore that awfull and infinite power and cheerefully cast our selues vpon that prouidence which keepes the Keyes euen of hell it selfe and either lets out or returnes the Deuils to their places Their other suit hath some maruell in mouing it more in the grant That they might be suffred to enter into the heard of Swine It was their ambition of some mischiefe that brought forth this desire that since they might not vexe the bodie of the man they might yet afflict men in their goods The malice of these enuious spirits reacheth from vs to ours It is sore against their wills if we be not euery way miserable If the Swine were legally vncleane for the vse of the table yet they were naturally good Had not Satan knowne them vsefull for man he had neuer desired their ruine But as Fencers will seeme to fetch a blow at the legge when they intend it at the head so doth this deuill whiles he driues at the Swine he aimes at the soules of these Gadarens by this meanes he hoped well and his hope was not vaine to worke in these Gergesens a discontentment at Christ an vnwillingnesse to entertaine him a desire of his absence he meant to turne them into Swine by the losse of their Swine It was not the rafters or stones of the house of Iobs children that he bore the grudge to but to the owners nor to the liues of the children so much as the soule of their father There is no affliction wherein he doth not strike at the heart which whiles it holds free all other dammages are light but a wounded spirit whether with sinne or sorrow who can beare What euer becomes of goods or limmes happie are wee if like wise souldiers we gard the vitall parts whiles the soule is kept sound from impatience from distrust our enemy may afflict vs he cannot hurt vs. They sue for a sufference not daring other then to grant that without the permission of Christ they could not hurt a very swine If it be fearfull to thinke how great things euill spirits can doe with permission it is comfortable to thinke how nothing they can doe without permission We know they want not malice to destroy the whole frame of Gods worke but of all man of all men Christians but if without leaue they cannot set vpon an hogge what can they doe to the liuing Images of their Creator They cannot offer vs so much as a suggestion without the permission of our Sauiour And can he that would giue his owne most precious bloud for vs to saue vs from euill wilfully giue vs ouer to euill It is no newes that wicked spirits wish to doe mischiefe it is newes that they are allowed it If the owner of all things should stand vpon his absolute command who can challenge him for what he thinkes fit to
was still courteous to thy followers affable to sutors plausible to all Israel only to thee he is cruell Wherefore are those armes if the cause of the quarrell must be a motiue of mercy Yet thou saist Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake Euen in the holiest Parents nature may be guilty of an iniurious tendernesse of a bloudy indulgence Or whether shall we not rather thinke this was done in type of that vnmeasurable mercy of the true king and redeemer of Israel who prayed for his persecutors for his murderers and euen whiles they were at once scorning and killing him could say Father forgiue them for they know not what they do If we be sonnes we are vngratious we are rebellious yet still is our heauenly Father thus compassionately regardfull of vs Dauid was not sure of the successe there was great inequalitie in the number Absaloms forces were more then double to his It might haue come to the contrary issue that Dauid should haue beene forced to say Deale gently with the father of Absalom but in a supposition of that victorie which only the goodnesse of his cause bade him hope for he saith Deale gently with the young man Absalom as for vs we are neuer but vnder mercy our God needs no aduantages to sweepe vs from the earth any moment yet he continues that life and those powers to vs whereby we prouoke him and bids his Angels deale kindly with vs and beare vs in their armes whiles we lift vp our hands and bend our tongues against heauen O mercie past the comprehension of all finite spirits and only to be conceiued by him whose it is Neuer more resembled by any earthly affection then by this of his Deputie and Type Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake The battell is ioyned Dauids followers are but an handfull to Absaloms How easily may the fickle multitude be transported to the wrong side What they wanted in abettors is supplied in the cause Vnnaturall ambition drawes the sword of Absalom Dauids a necessarie and iust defence They that in simplicitie of heart followed Absalom cannot in malice of heart persecute the father of Absalom with what courage could any Israelite draw his sword against a Dauid or on the other side who can want courage to fight for a righteous Soueraigne and father against the conspiracie of a wicked sonne The God of hosts with whom it is all one to saue with many or with few takes part with iustice and lets Israel feele what it is to beare armes for a traiterous vsurper The sword deuoures twentie thousand of them and the wood deuoures more then the sword It must needs be a very vniuersall rebellion wherein so many perished What vertue or merits can assure the hearts of the vulgar when so gracious a Prince findes so many reuolters Let no man looke to prosper by rebellion the very thickets and stakes and pits and wild beasts of the wood shall conspire to the punishment of traitors Amongst the rest see how a fatall oke hath singled out the ring-leader of this hatefull insurrection and will at once serue for his hangman and gallowes by one of those spreading armes snatching him away to speedy execution Absalom was comely and he knew it well enough His haire was no small peece of his beautie nor matter of his pride It was his wont to cut it once a yeere not for that it was too long but too heauie his heart could haue borne it longer if his necke had not complained And now the iustice of God hath platted an halter of those lockes Those tresses had formerly hangd loosely disheueld on his shoulders now he hangs by them He had wont to weigh his haire and was proud to finde it so heauie now his haire poyseth the weight of his bodie and makes his burden his torment It is no maruell if his owne haire turnd traitor to him who durst rise vp against his father That part which is misused by man to sinne is commonly imployed by God to reuenge The reuenge that it worketh for God makes amends for the offence whereto it is drawne against God The very beast wheron Absalom sat as wearie to beare so vnnaturall a burden resignes ouer his lode to the tree of Iustice There hangs Absalom betweene heauen and earth as one that was hated and abandoned both of earth and heauen As if God meant to prescribe this punishment for traitors Absalom Achitophel and Iudas die all one death So let them perish that dare lift vp their hand against Gods anointed The honest souldier sees Absalom hanging in the Oke and dares not touch him his hands were held with the charge of Dauid Beware that none touch the young man Absalom Ioab vpon that intelligence sees him and smites him with no lesse then three darts What the souldier forbore in obedience the Captaine doth in zeale not fearing to preferre his Soueraignes safetie to his command and more tendering the life of a King and peace of his Countrie then the weake affection of a father I dare not sit Iudge betwixt this zeale and that obedience betwixt the captaine and the Souldier the one was a good subiect the other a good Patriot the one loued the King the other loued Dauid and out of loue disobeyed the one meant as well as the other sped As if God meant to fulfill the charge of his Anointed without any blame of his subiects it pleased him to execute that immediate reuenge vpon the rebell which would haue dispatcht him without hand or dart only the Mule and the Oke conspired to this execution but that death would haue required more leasure then it was safe for Israel to giue and still life would giue hope of rescue to cut off all feares Ioab lends the Oke three darts to helpe forward so needfull a worke of iustice All Israel did not afford so firme a friend to Absalom as Ioab had beene who but Ioab had suborned the wittie widow of Tekoah to sue for the recalling of Absalom from his three yeeres exile Who but he went to fetch him from Geshur to Ierusalem Who but he fetcht him from his house at Ierusalem whereto he had beene two yeeres confined to the face to the lips of Dauid Yet now he that was his solicitour for the Kings fauour is his executioner against the Kings charge With honest hearts all respects either of bloud or friendship cease in the case of treason well hath Ioab forgotten himselfe to be friend to him who had forgotten himselfe to be a sonne Euen ciuilly the King is our common father our countrie our common mother nature hath no priuate relations which should not gladly giue place to these He is neither father nor sonne nor brother nor friend that conspires against the common parent Well doth he who spake parables for his masters sonne now speake darts to his Kings enemie and pierces that heart which was false to so good a father
nature deare in their acceptation eternall in their vse So are the ordinances of God in his Church holy comfortable irrefragable So is the perfection of his glorified saints incomparable vnconceiuable In Situation the outer parts were here more common the inner more holy and peculiarly reserued I finde one Court of the Temple open to the vncleane to the vncircumcised Within that another open only to the Israelites and of them to the cleane within that yet another proper only to the Priests and Leuites where was the Brazen Altar for sacrifice and the Brazen sea for washings The eies of the Laitie might follow their oblations in hither their feet might not Yet more in the couered roomes of the Temple there is whither the Priests only may enter not the Leuites there is whither the hie-priest only may enter not his brethren It is thus in euery renewed man the indiuiduall temple of God the outward parts are allowed common to God and the world the inwardest and secretest which is the heart is reserued only for the God that made it It is thus in the Church visible the false and foule-hearted hypocrite hath accesse to the holy ordinances of God and treads in his Courts only the true Christian hath intire and priuate conuersation with the holy one of Israel He only is admitted into the Holy of holies and enters within the glorious vaile of heauen If from the walls we looke vnto the furniture What is the Altar whereon our sacrifices of praier and praises are offered to the Almightie but a contrite heart What the golden Candlesticks but the illumined vnderstanding wherein the light of the knowledge of God and his diuine will shineth for euer What the Tables of Shew-bread but the sanctified memorie which keepeth the bread of life continually Yea if we shall presume so farre as to enter into the very closet of Gods oracle Euen there ô God doe we finde our vnworthy hearts so honoured by thee that they are made thy very Arke wherein thy Royall law and the pot of thine heauenly Manna is kept for euer and from whose propitiatorie shaded with the wings of thy glorious Angels thou giuest the gratious Testimonies of thy good spirit witnessing with ours that we are the children of thee the liuing God Behold if Salomon built a Temple vnto thee thou hast built a Temple vnto thy selfe in vs We are not only through thy grace liuing stones in thy Temple but liuing Temples in thy Sion Oh doe thou euer dwell in this thine house and in this thy house let vs euer serue thee Wherefore else hast thou a Temple but for thy presence with vs and for our worshipping of thee The time was when as thy people so thy selfe didst lodge in flitting Tents euer shifting euer mouing thence thou thoughtest best to soiourne both in Shilo and the roofe of Obed-Edom After that thou condescendedst to settle thine abode with men and wouldst dwell in an house of thine owne at thy Ierusalem So didst thou in the beginning lodge with our first Parents as in a Tent Soiourne with Israel vnder the law and now makest a constant residence vnder the Gospell in the hearts of thy chosen children from whence thou wilt remoue no more they shall remoue from the world from themselues thou shalt not remoue from them Wheresoeuer thou art ô God thou art worthie of adoration Since thou euer wilt dwell in vs be thou euer worshipped in vs Let the Altars of our cleane hearts send vp euer to thee the sweetly-perfumed smokes of our holy meditations and faithfull praiers and cheerefull thanks-giuings Let the pure lights of our faith and godly conuersation shine euer before thee and men and neuer be put out Let the bread of life stand euer readie vpon the pure and precious tables of our hearts Locke vp thy Law and thy Manna within vs and speake comfortably to vs from thy mercie-seat Suffer nothing to enter in hither that is vncleane Sanctifie vs vnto thy selfe and be thou sanctified in vs. Salomon and the Queene of Sheba GOD hath no vse of the darke lanternes of secret and reserued perfections We our selues doe not light vp candles to put them vnder bushels The great lights whether of heauen or earth are not intended to obscuritie but as to giue light vnto others so to be seene themselues Dan and Beersheba were too strait bounds for the fame of Salomon which now hath flowne ouer all lands and seas and raised the world to an admiration of his more then humane wisdome Euen so ô thou euerlasting King of peace thy Name is great among the Gentiles There is no speech nor language where the report of thee is not heard The sound of thee is gone forth through all the earth Thy name is an ointment powred out therefore the virgins loue thee No doubt many from all coasts came to learne and wonder none with so much note as this noble daughter of Cham Who her selfe deserues the next wonder to him whom she came to heare and admire That a woman a Princesse a rich and great Queene should trauell from the remotest south from Saba a region famous for the greatest delicacies of nature to learne wisdome is a matchlesse example We know Merchants that venture to either Indies for wealth Others we know daily to crosse the seas for wanton curiositie Some few Philosophers we haue knowne to haue gone farre for learning and amongst Princes it is no vnusuall thing to send their Embassadors to farre-distant kingdomes for transaction of businesses either of State or commerce but that a royall Lady should in person vndertake and ouercome so tedious a iourney only to obserue and inquire into the mysteries of nature art religion is a thing past both parallel and imitation Why doe we thinke any labour great or any way long to heare a greater then Salomon How iustly shall the Queene of the South rise vp in iudgement and condemne vs who may heare wisdome crying in our streets and neglect her Certainly so wealthy a Queene and so great a louer of wisdome could not want great schollers at home them she had first apposed with her enigmaticall demands and now finding her selfe vnsatisfied she betakes her selfe to this Oracle of God It is a good thing to doubt better to be resolued The minde that neuer doubts shall learne nothing the minde that alwaies doubts shall neuer profit by learning Our doubts only serue to stir vs vp to seeke truth Our resolutions settle vs in the truth we haue found There were no pleasure in resolutions if we had not beene formerly troubled with doubts There were nothing but discomfort and disquietnesse in doubts if it were not for the hope of resolution It is not safe to suffer doubts to dwell too long vpon the heart there may be good vse of them as passengers dangerous as inmates Happie are we if we can finde a Salomon to remoue them Fame as it is alwaies a blab so oft-times a
sweet varietie healing the diseased raising the dead casting out the Deuill calling in the Publican and shall raise your heart to adore that infinite goodnesse Euery helpe to our deuotion deserues to be precious So much more as the decrepit age of the world declines to an heartlesse coldnesse of pietie That GOD to whose honour these poore labours are meant blesse them in your hands and from them to all Readers To his protection I heartily commend you and the right vertuous Gentlewoman your worthy wife with all the pledges of your happie affection as whom you haue deserued to be Your truly thankfull and officious friend IOS HALL The Widowes Sonne raised THE fauours of our beneficent Sauiour were at the least contiguous No sooner hath he raised the Centurions seruant from his bed then he raises the Widowes sonne from his Beere The fruitfull clouds are not ordained to fall all in one field Nain must partake of the bountie of Christ as well as Cana or Capernaum And if this Sunne were fixed in one Orbe yet it diffuseth heat and light to all the world It is not for any place to ingrosse the messengers of the Gospell whose errand is vniuersall This immortall seed may not fall all in one furrow The little citie of Nain stood vnder the hill of Hermon neere vnto Tabor but now it is watered with better dewes from aboue the doctrine and miracles of a Sauiour Not for state but for the more euidence of the worke is our Sauiour attended with a large traine So entring into the gate of that walled Citie as if he meant to besiege their faith by his power and to take it His prouidence hath so contriued his iourney that he meets with the sad pompe of a funerall A wofull widow attended with her weeping neighbours is following her only sonne to the graue There was nothing in this spectacle that did not command compassion A young man in the flowre in the strength of his age swallowed vp by death Our decrepit age both expects death and solicites it but vigorous youth lookes strangely vpon that grim sergeant of God Those mellow apples that fall alone from the tree we gather vp with contentment we chide to haue the vnripe vnseasonably beaten downe with cudgells But more a young man the only sonne the only childe of his mother No condition can make it other then grieuous for a well-natu'rd mother to part with her owne bowells yet surely store is some mitigation of losse Amongst many children one may be more easily missed for still we hope the suruiuing may supplie the comforts of the dead but when all our hopes and ioyes must either liue or die in one the losse of that one admits of no consolation When God would describe the most passionate expression of sorrow that can fall into the miserable he can but say Oh daughter of my people gird thee with sack-cloth and wallow thy selfe in the ashes make lamentation and bitter mourning as for thine onely sonne Such was the losse such was the sorrow of this disconsolate mother neither words nor teares can suffice to discouer it Yet more had she beene aided by the counsell and supportation of a louing yoke-fellow this burden might haue seemed lesse intolerable A good husband may make amends for the losse of a sonne had the root beene left to her intire she might better haue spared the branch now both are cut vp all the stay of her life is gone and she seemes abandoned to a perfect miserie And now when she gaue her selfe vp for a forlorne mourner past all capacitie of redresse the God of comfort meets her pitties her relieues her Here was no solicitor but his owne compassion In other occasions he was sought and sued to The Centurion comes to him for a seruant the Ruler for a sonne Iairus for a daughter the neighbours for the Paralyticke here he seekes vp the patient and offers the cure vnrequested Whiles we haue to doe with the Father of mercies our afflictions are the most powerfull suitors No teares no praiers can moue him so much as his owne commiseration Oh God none of our secret sorrowes can be either hid from thine eies or kept from thine heart and when we are past all our hopes all possibilities of helpe then art thou neerest to vs for deliuerance Here was a conspiration of all parts to mercie The heart had compassion the mouth said Weepe not the feet went to the Beere the hand touched the coffin the power of the Deitie raised the dead What the heart felt was secret to it selfe the tongue therefore expresses it in words of comfort Weepe not Alas what are words to so strong and iust passions To bid her not to weepe that had lost her only sonne was to perswade her to be miserable and not feele it to feele and not regard it to regard and yet to smother it Concealement doth not remedie but aggrauate sorrow That with the counsell of not weeping therefore she might see cause of not weeping his hand seconds his tongue He arrests the coffin and frees the Prisoner Young man I say vnto thee arise The Lord of life and death speakes with command No finite power could haue said so without presumption or with successe That is the voice that shall one day call vp our vanished bodies from those elements into which they are resolued and raise them out of their dust Neither sea nor death nor hell can offer to detaine their dead when he charges them to be deliuered Incredulous nature what dost thou shrinke at the possibilitie of a resurrection when the God of nature vndertakes it It is no more hard for that almightie Word which gaue being vnto all things to say Let them be repaired then Let them be made I doe not see our Sauiour stretching himselfe vpon the dead corps as Elias and Elisha vpon the sonnes of the Sunamite and Sareptan nor kneeling downe and praying by the Beere as Peter did to Dorcas but I heare him so speaking to the dead as if he were aliue and so speaking to the dead that by the word he makes him aliue I say vnto thee arise Death hath no power to bid that man lie still whom the Sonne of God bids Arise Immediatly he that was dead sate vp So at the sound of the last trumpet by the power of the same voice we shall arise out of the dust and stand vp glorious this mortall shall put on immortalitie this corruptible incorruption This bodie shall not be buried but sowne and at our day shall therefore spring vp with a plentifull increase of glorie How comfortlesse how desperate should be our lying downe if it were not for this assurance of rising And now behold lest our weake faith should stagger at the assent to so great a difficultie he hath alreadie by what he hath done giuen vs tastes of what he will doe The power that can raise one man can raise a thousand a million a world no