called to be the Physitians and Chyrurgeons of your soules after we have lanced your wounds daily also put in new tents that at length they may be healed The Lord by Ezekiel reproveth such Prophets as rose not up in the gappes and stood not in the breaches where he useth a Metaphor drawne from the manner of Warriors who are wont to joyne their force together and to make a head against their enemies in such places as they had made a breach this fault of the negligent pastour is one of the greatest breaches whereunto if we runne not and stand not up in it what may our Generall and Captaine thinke of us When Coesar besieged Avaritium in France his souldiers raised a Bulwarke against it the Citizens set it on fire which when Caesars souldiers laboured to quench one stood in the gate to whom was brought such matter as might be cast into the Fort to continue the flame he that first was there placed was shot through with a Scorpions bone and so was slaine in whose place came the second who being so served there followed the third and the fourth neither was that place left without a man while there remained any hope to do good there hath been a fire kindled to consume this hold of sinne God forbid it should be quenched nay it cannot indeed for it is nourished by Gods spirit The Papists themselves at their councell of Trent after they had long debated the matter they were enforced by the clearnesse of the truth to conclude That the Pastor by the law of God is bound to be resident on his charge what the law of man permits it is for the heardnes of mens hearts whereunto that may be replyed that from the beginning it was not so wherefore although we be shot through with speeches as sharpe as arrowes yet let us shew ourselves no lesse valiant than did the Citizens of Avaricum chiefly seing they fought but for a corruptible City for the safguard of the body and that with uncertaine hope but we fight for an incorruptible crowne of glory for the eternall salvation of the soule and that under undoubted hope But we perswade our selves better things of you brethren whom we desire to remember that the wounds of a freind is better than the kisses of an enemy Of my selfe I know and I conceive the the like of others that I onely reprove this sinne for the salvation of your soules and of them that are committed to your charge and why the same is done so often we have example and warrant of the Prophet using so many iterations of the same thing and of the good Chyrurgeons who cease not to apply their medicines till such time as they have cured the wound Now to proceed the exhortation is laid down in the 8 verse Goe up to the mountaine and bring wood and build this house the reasons hereof are because the Lord had already corrected them ver 6 9. 10 11 Where as he threatneth them punishment if they do it not so on the other side he promiseth that he will take pleasure in them c. vers 8 and bestow his blessing on them if they do his commandement but for that you have heard sufficiently already in the exhortation I will come to the reasons Jt is first set downe for them to consider that because of the neglect of Gods commandment he had chastised them with dearth famine scarcity wherein the first point to be observed is that the Lord did send these punishments on them for it is said I blowed on it I called for a drought For as God hath by his power created all things so doth he continually by his providence governe dispose of them So that it is verified that our Saviour saith my Father worketh hetherto and I also worke For all things are his worke and come from his power though it be true that he worketh most by secundary causes even as it is here said that to cause a famine among this people he called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountaines c. for the heavens are appointed to water the earth to make it fruitfull that it may yeeld seed to the sower but neither can the raine make the earth fruitfull nor can the earth bring forth her fruit without his blessing and providing which the Prophet by occasion of the mention of Gods blessing to his Church doth lay open In that day I will heare saith the Lord I will hear even the heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the Corn and the wine and the oyle and they shall heare Israel By which is signified that all creatures shall labour with common consent for Israel for such as feare and serve God that as they wish to have necessaries from the earth so the earth shall look for rain from the heavens c But all this the Lord saith he will heare that we may learn to lift up our eyes from these second causes to him For men that regard not this would goe no further than to say this dearth came from want of rain c. as though it were not the Lord that ruleth these things which Seneca might teach us when he saith what thou callest nature is God for nature created the heavens earth and corne may say to us as John and Peter said to the people Why looke you on us as though by our power and strength we had done this A sparrow falleth not to the ground without his providence There is no evill in the City .i. no punishment of evill which the Lord hath not wrought The want and need in goods the weakenesse of the body the punishments here mentioned are said to come from him for sometimes he withdraweth the things themselves from them sometimes the power and faculty of them though they remaine For sometimes he worketh by these meanes and second causes sometimes without them yea also against them as he teacheth us when signifying how wonderfully he preserved them in the wildernes and fed them he yeeldeth this as the reason that he might teach them That men liveth not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord that is whatsoever he enforceth or commandeth to feed us Yea by the same power he caused their raiment to endure and not to wax old and kept their feet that they swelled not Daniel appointed to be fed with the Kings ordinary fearing lest thereby he should be defiled therwith besought his governour that he and his fellowes might feed on pulse instead thereof but the governour feared least so they should be in worse taking than the rest who fared on finer meats but through Gods blessing they looked better with their diet than the other with the Kings ordinary Pulse is but a homely meate and by the Physitians judgement but of a bad Juyce yet with Gods blessing it is better than a
points First Their moving Secondly Their drawing Their moving I will move all nations which was done partly by himselfe when Iohn 12. many of the Gentiles desired to see him and partly more fully by his servants the Apostles by whose preaching all nations were moved as appeares Act. 2. 13. And the Ecclesiasticall Hystories report the latter he notes when he saith and the desire of all nations shall come which was performed when the desired persons i. e. the Elect came unto the Temple unto Christ and to the Church verifying that which began in the first fâ—uits of the Gentiles Acts. 13. where it is said that when Paul preached Christ unto them as many as were ordained unto life believed which exposition I take to be agreeable unto this place especially because the verbe in the Heb. is of the plurall number venient desiderium which according to the phrase both in the Hebrew and other languages we translate venient desiderati meaning thereby that the Church of God which is called Ieremi 12. the portion of desire as Daniel is called a man of desires Eph. 1. the faithfull are called the Adopted in Christ according to the good pleasure of his will Our Saviour Christ Matth. 8. when he had found in the Centurion more faith than in Israel speaking of his coming said that many shall come from the East and west c. and yet of this he speaketh Iohn 6. where he saith none can come to me except the Father draw him And Iohn 12. 23. shewing the meanes how the Father will draw all the Elect as Austin and Gregorie well expound it against this is apposed simply the exposition of Ierom who reads it in the singular veniet desideratus which to countenance Ribera a man learned and industrious if he were not sometimes blinded or bleared with a Papish humor saith that the originall was since Jeromes time corrupted which is a great marvell that he should say when as the Greeke Interâ—â—eters the 70. long before Jerome tooke it in the plurall translating it by desideria the Elect as Jerome himselfe doth as also that is strange the miracles wrought in the establishing of the Gospel on which Jerome and Ambrose ground he should take the sence to be Alegoricall rather of shaking the heavens when as so nothing can be meant but the Angels but greater then any circumstance is that of the Apostles Heb. 12. 28. that they shall come to Christ for if he had spoken of his owne person as they would have it likely he would not have spoken in the Third person having before spoken in the first I will shake I will move and so after in that as followes and I will fill this house with glory when his glory after his death should be published which was done when in the Acts by the preaching of the Apostles his glory was spread farre and neere and so he became glorious who in his passion had bin infamous and therefore the Apostle 2 Cor. 3. often repeates that the ministery of the gospell was glorious because it did publish the glory of him now this being done first at Jerusalem Luke 24. and the Apostles abiding in the Temple Acts. the 1. and when they weare arrested Act. 45. Therefore he saith heare that he will fill it with glory This then is the comfort whereby the Lord seekes in this place to stirre them repeating eft soones that the Lord of Hostes would do it that considering not the earth but the heaven also should be moved so they should in greater alacritie go forward in their duty out of which that we may note something concerning our duty 1. the first words yet once so give occasion to note what the Apostle saith Heb. 12. 17. that the things which are shaken as being made with hands are removed that the things which are not now shaken may remaine for ever yet that notes a change but once that sheweth that we must expect but one change lasting for ever Now what the things shaken and made with hands are appeares in the type of the law the parts of the Tabernacle noteing the heaven and earth which should be shaken and the ceremonies taken away when Christ should enter not into the santuary made with hands but into heaven above as Heb 9. 24. But those things which are purchased by Christ must continue not shaken therefore the gospel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an everlasting gospel not to be altered any more but to endure for ever I need not here to take occasion to refute those hereticks who thinke that as Christ added to the law so also there remaines to be added to the gospel as Montanus did take upon him the person of the Holy Ghost But I rather note another error in some Churches not farre from us if not also in some of our owne viz. that Popish error which have brought in types and ceremonies which were by Christ abolished that the thing signified which cannot be shaken might remaine for ever as might be shewed at large in respect of both time and place and persons out of their Missals Decretalls Pontificialls but I will onely note that which this present time brings to passe out of their yeare of Jubile we read Leviticus 25. that God commanded that the fiftieth yeare should be kept holy unto the Lord as a yeare of deliverance from service release of debt and restoring of Land to the owners thereby shadowing the time of liberty which Christ was to bring from sin Now Pope Boniface 7 chap. in the extravagants hath set downe that the 50. yeare is a yeare of pardon and freedome from all sins whatsoever to them that will come devoutly to visit certaine Churches in Rome and to abide there if they bee strangers forth space of 13. daies if Italia 30. because saith he the 50. yeare is the yeare of remission and Christ came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it And yet the prophet Isay 61. 2. sheweth plainely that that was a type the substance whereof was established by Christ who was anointed as he saith to preach deliverance to the captives and the acceptable yeare of the Lord as he expounds it of himselfe Luke 4. 18. the accepted yeare of Gods favour wherein as at the Jubilee all were set at liberty and restored to their former estate So when Christ came they should bee delivered from bondage and restored to the liberty of the sonnes of God which to bee done by Christ to continue as the Apostle witnesseth Corin. where hee saith Now is that acceptable time now is that day of salvation Which to restraine to one yeare in 50. if I should compare them to beggerly rudiments I should too much honour them being rather a profane error which I need not further to make infamous then by opening their covetousnesse shewed therein which Polidore Virg. our owne Histioriographer Chapter 26. sets downe writing that the last great Jubilee before this in the yeare
this case that it may not be lawfull for patrons to preferre such beggarly creatures as often they doe the very filth and rascality of the people Jeroboam Priests Concerning the last point which is the setting up of the roofe upon the building let us remember the commandement of Christ If our Brother trespasse against us to tell him his fault between thee and him and if he heare thee not doe it before two or three if he vouchsafe not to hear them to tell it unto the Church whō if he refuse to heare to count him as a heathen let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works and use all meanes to recall sinners from their ungodlinesse to which purpose let us joyne one to another in this worke as Paul to the Gal. joyneth himselfe with all the brethren and to the Thessalonians with Timotheus and Silvanus as Barnabas joyned himselfe to Silas c. so let us joyne together our strength and use one anothers helpe to the forwarding of Sincerity In which respect I thought it necessary to speake of this matter at this time and in this place for though it may seeme that it were fitter to be delivered in other places yet it is not amisse also here for there are many here that may come to those places and therefore it is necessary they should know the truth of this doctrine there are some here that may stand before the Prince as Nehemiah did before Artaxerxes But where it may be said that the Vniversities are not sufficient to send forth so many as may furnish the land it is true indeed where it lieth on them that are in authority to set forward another thing ordered by the 32 Commissioners before mentioned who mentiō three Seminaries which should serve for this purpose whereof the one is the Vniversity another Bishops houses wherein they appoint that men should be trained up in learning that they may be fit for such charges to which end they required that the Bishops keep no idle persons in their houses but that besides their necessary servants all about them should be brought up in learning For this say they is another meanes whereby the Church may be furnished with able ministers concluding sic instituta fuit Augustini domus c. the third they appointed in Cathedrall Churches where they ordain to retaine a Scholar and an instructer to train up youth in knowledg whereunto maketh that which Bucer hath in his treatise de reformatione Canonici collegij where he sheweth that the first end of the ordaining of such Cathedr Chur. was this that therein men might be brought up in good learning now if there were a learned Ministry setled in each place of this land that the people might be Catechised and instructed the rest would soone follow wherefore such whom it hath pleased God to enable in the building of his Church I beseech or rather charge as Paul did Timothy to be carefull of that which they are put intrust withall and withall their diligence to set forward the building of the Lords House by procuring the establishing of a learned Ministerie and whereby the foundation may be laid saith walls built and the roofe laid upon even as God hath appointed The Prophet saith not here without cause that the Lord of hoasts charged him to speake even hee who is able to revenge the contempt of the commandement and to reward the keeping of it which God grant that we may also earnestly consider and thereby be moved more effectually to the doing of our duty and his commandement The Third Sermon Jun. 7. Ver. 5. NOw therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your own wayes in your hearts 6. Yea have sowen much and ye bring little in yee eat but yee have not enough yee drinke but are not filled you put on Clothes but ye be not warme he that getteth wages getteth wages and putteth it into a broken bagge 7 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts 8 Go up to the mountaines and bring down wood and build this house and I will take delight in it and I will be glorified saith the Lord. 9 Yee looked for much but loe you got little and when you brought it home I did blow upon it and why saith the Lord of Hosts because of my new house that lyes wast and every man runneth to his own house 10 Therefore the heaven over you staid it selfe from dew and the earth her fruit 11 And I called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountaines and upon the corne and upon the wine and upon the oyle upon all that the land should bring forth both upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labour of the hands AS the good Samaratane of whom our Saviour speaketh taking compassion on the man that had fallen amongst theeves bound up his wounds and powred into them not onely sharpe vinegar to scoure but also mild oyle to supplie even so the prophet meaning to heale the wounds of his people who had suffered the temple of the Lord to lie waste hath first sharply reproved them in the former verses laying open their faults and here mildlyexhorting them to that which they had omitted that by all meanes they might be brought to do this which God commandeth thē and first hee sheweth his warrant and letter of credance for his message that the thing he commandeth them might be esteemed not by the worthinesse of the man by whom but rather of God from whom it was sent wherefore hee willeth them to consider with themselves that is deeply and throughly to waigh and marke their owne wayes that is their workes and behaviour for if they did so they should perceive the greatnesse of their sins and transgressions at least if they would indeavour the punishments which God had laid upon them and consider the scarcitie in their goods and want of naturall heate and strength in their bodies In that they sowed much and brought in little they eat but were not satisfied cloathed themselves but were not warmed c. which punishment God had laid upon them to the end they might perceeve their sinne and acknowledge it which he wisheth them to amend by building the house of the Lord whereunto hee would stirr them up the rather by setting downe the promise of grace and favour by blessing of their labours and gratiously receiving their service But because the promise of good doth lesse move than the feare of evill especially the stubborne and froward sinner therefore the Prophet telleth them againe of that rodd which God held over them namely of the want and scarcity which they suffered and least they might imagine that albeit they suffered these things yet happilie they might come from some other causes and not from God hee bringeth in the Lord protesting so much I did blow upon it or if they would suppose that albeit it were the hand of God yet that it might come for some other
Prinoes fare contrariwise without this when the people looked for much it came to little and when it was brought home the Lord blowed upon it and it dispersed and vanished as it had been nothing they dranke but were not filled they did eat but were not satisfied put on clothes but were not warmed because these creatures wanted that secret blessing by which God giveth force to the clothes to warme bread to nourish drink to quench the thirst as when he pleaseth he sometimes taketh away the things themselves in both to teach us to cast up our eyes from the earth to heaven from the the creature to the creator which let us do and when such things befalls us Remember the speech of Job who when his goods were spoyled c. Considered not the Sabeans but looked directly upon the first cause which ruled and governed the second and therefore said The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken which that we may so much the more let us also consider the next point that followeth which is the benefit that ariseth to the Church by these punishments for as the Physitian ministreth a bitter potion to his patient and draweth away his meate to the end to heale and cure his malady and as the father chastiseth his childe who he would have reclaimed so the Lord corrected this people that they might leave their sinnes which is taught them when the Prophet saith that this was done because each man ranne to his own house and suffered the Lords house to lye waste and so also would it fare with us when we neglect God we would even perish out of the way if God called us not back by his correction which Elihu also noteth to be one meanes whereby God doth recall men from sinne he also striketh him with sorrow on his bed and the multitude of his bones with a soare griefe c. If there be with him a messenger and Interpreter one of a thousand who can shew man his equity c. And the Prophet at large in the Psalme openeth the same by sundry examples of such as wander up and downe and them that are in prison or tossed on the sea and that inhabit barren grounds c. Noting this of them all that when they cry to him out of their distresse he heareth them and helpeth as he did Ionah out of the Whales belly this should we consider to be the cause of warres and other chastisements and not refer them as some are wont to the Eclipse of the Sunne or Moone or conjunction of some planetts or to the sextile or quadrate aspect of them No plagues warres sicknesse famine they are not effects of these causes the eclipse is in us not in the Sunne or Moon that causeth these things It is for that the moon whereby in the Apocalips are signified all changeable things is not trode under our feet as it should be but is lifted above us and doth eclipse the light of Gods grace that it cannot shine upon us mens unchaste and unnatural conjunctions their greedy and covetous aspects their cruelty and extortion these are the planets whose conjunction and aspects cause warres plagues and famine which I do not speake as though the heavenly bodyes did not worke at all I know and confesse they have their Physicall effects though the division of heavens into the houses and parts which the astrologians set downe be most phantasticall and blockish but to teach us to cast our eyes from the second causes to the first and that we would have our eyes fixed on our own sins for which God layeth his chastisement upon us whereof the Jewes had experience who were then punished by tyrants and oppressors when they fell from God and renounced his religion which the Prophet sheweth when he saith that warre taught them that which they could not before learne in peace When Elies sons through their wickednesse caused the service of God to be despised the Lord sent warre amongst them and the Arke was taken c. when the Jewes would be by no meanes reclaimed the Lord telleth them by the Prophet that he would do unto them as he had done unto Shilo for the wickednesse of his people to the same effect also the same Prophet Chap. 26. 5 6 c. threatneth the like curse to all the Cities of Judah c whereby we may gather that the Lord calleth his servents by warre dearth c at such time as they are as you would say provender pricked But leaving them let us apply these things to our selves Remember the exhortation which the Prophet useth to the building of the Lords house and you have heard the proportion betwixt their temple and our Church The time admonisheth us even as it did them to consider our wayes for we are visited with scarcity even as were they but behold when as by reason hereof we should be humbled under the mighty hand of God to call our wayes to remembrance and to mend our naughty manners we are wanton and give our selves to sporting and pastime The which is by the sound of the trumpet signified not the sound of atrumpet to proclaim a fast as the Lord commandeth by the prophet but to proclaime idle and ungodly playes as though wee were resolved to verefie that which the Prophet saith I called saith the Lord to weeping and mourning and behold eating and drinking c. which is also so much the worse that these playes have been condemned by statute of our university yea worst of all for that at this time there is an order appointed by authority for extraordinary prayers to be used whereas we not onely take no such order but rather the quite contrary by this disorder which is such that the cry thereof is carried from one side of the towne to the other and though that cannot be said of it as of the cry of them that sate them downe to eate and drinke and rose up to play It is not the sound of them that have the worse c. yet not farre unlike may it be said Jt is not the cry of warriours but of wantons And here the Prophet setteth it downe that they sowed much c. and layeth downe the cause for that the Lords house did lye waste let us also consider as the Prophet commandeth our own ways I will not discend to particular persons but let every man consider it on his bed whether there be not some who having many Ecclesiasticall livings and much coming in yearely into their hands thereby yet may count it so as though it had been put into a bottomlesse purse and whether many that live on pulse be not in as good liking as they that feed on such variety I leave it to your owne consideration In ancient time the Pastours had good livings allotted them but they waxed carelesse negligent and slothfull in discharging their duties insomuch that certaine hundred of yeares the fault
appeared therein But those holy actions when they were omitted and the contrary practised howsoever they were holy in respect of the things they prefigured yet doubtlesse they were profane nd unholy insomuch that Christ said even of the temple that it was made a den of theeves and the faithfull City was become a Harlot and the pollutions thereof were such and the profanations so many that Christ threatned and it came to passe that not a stone therein should be left upon a stone in the 87 Psalme the Mountaines whereon Jerusalem was founded were called holy but were they accounted so any longer than were the holy exercises by God appointed therein practised In the 8. 9. of Ezekiel their abominations are described and the punishments of the same in the 10 and 11 how the Lord for the same left and forsooke them yea how he departed from the temple first and then quite from the City whereby is taught us that there is no place never so holy which God detesteth not when his commandements therein are broken and his Majesty profained The Jesuites themselves will confesse that Churches although sanctifyed by the Pope yet that the holinesse of them ceaseth if murther be committed in them whereby they might see that such things might be committed in places otherwise holy that the places may become so prophane that God will not only not delight in them but detest and abhorre them as it was manifest by Jerusalem for else what meant our Saviour by that threat against it O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that stonest the Prophets See what Greg. Naz. saiâ—h in a Sermon touching them that run about to such places a Pilgrimages were made to such places say the Jesuites not long after Christs time but yet they were reproved by that Fathers judgement because Jerusalem is called the holy City and is it not also called spiritually Sodom and Gomorah because of the wickednesse therein committed and what shall we say of Rome sith that it is likewise called spiritually Babylon in the Revelation But such is the blindnesse of that man of sin that albeit it be the place where the Saints of Christ in the Revelation are said to be slain as Christ in Jerusalem yet commend they it as the place wherein above others God will delight most as the Jewes fancie of Jerusalem hereupon Boniface the 8 ordained that whosoever would come up to Rome Anno 1300 at which time he lived should have most full remission of all sinnes Extranag com lib. 5. de peniten et remission cap. 1. et cap. 2. in Bulla Clem. 6. The very circumstances of which places deriving their Jubile from Moses law and building it on the merits of Peter and Paul and binding all the solemnity thereof to their Church of Rome do sufficiently shew the superstition of it This same Boniface ordained at the first that every 100 yeares they should injoy the same pardons which after by another was abridged to 50 and then to 25 for their yeare of Jubilee Now we know the yeare of Jubilee as Joseph de antiquitat liber 3. chap. 14. was ceremonious that every fifty yeares liberty should be proclamed to the bond freedome to their servants lands restored Now this was a figure of Christ as Isai he sent to proclaime spirituall liberty to the captives the opening of the prison the acceptable year of the Lord which in the 49 Chapter and the 8 and 9 verses he had called the acceptable time and day of salvation and the Apostle 2. Cor. 6. 2. expoundeth it of the time whensoever the gospell is preached behold now is the acceptable day and the Pope as though Christ were not yet come or had not put an end to these things applyed this to his yeare of Jubile And Bristow in his motives doth exhort all Catholicks to prepare themselves against this most acceptable yeare of grace Jeroboams charge to his calves But all this must be to Rome whereby you may note the originall of all this superstition which indeed is the coveteousnesse of the Pope For it is not Jerusalem that he careth for nor the Temple of Peter and Paul These are onely faire pretences the holy place the holy land the temples of the Apostle the yeare of Jubile the year 1575. But the thing to which all serveth was the commodity which thereby cometh to the Popes coffer For that law out of Deuteronomy must be kept inviolable that none appeare here empty which mystery bewrayeth the knavery for in the yeare 1000 because the offerings came not to such abundance as was looked and hoped for the Pope sent abroade to such as had not been there his plenary pardons offring to them that would buy for mony the same grace and favour which they should have been partakers of had they come that yeare 1517 which he might well and truly promise whereby it pleased God to awaken Christians by the ministery of Master Luther to see the sinke of that iniquity which appeared manifestly in this abuse in tiâ—ulo de clericis peregrinantibus So in effect for the place he hath brought it from Jerusalem to Rome for the yeare of Jubile by mincing it in parts for his greater advantages So the end of their pilgrimage is the Popes commodity Saint Peters Church is the Popes Court there offring to him purchaseth their pardons but to whom doth this indulgence good to all that pay nay they will not say so but vere penitentibus they who truly repent shall have forgivenesse of all their sinnes most true indeed Therefore if Christians know that they would little trust to themselves for his pardon or the year of Jubile for I can assure them out of the word of God that whensoever they repent though they never see Rome or Jerusalem yet shall they be forgiven and their sinnes done away though the Pope receive not a penny of them yea even this day and in this house and in this place freely and without mony I assure all such as unfaignedly repent and turne to God assurance of the forgivenesse and remission of all their sins though the Popes pardon never come amongst us nor we once thinke on this yeare of Jubile Sermon 6. February 8. 1589. Haggai 1. ver 9 Yee looked for much and it came to little and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it and why saith the Lord of Hosts because of mine house that lay waste and yee ranne every man to his owne house Verse 10 Therefore against you the heavens stayed it selfe from dew and the earth stayed from fruit Ver. 11 And I have called for drought upon the land and upon the mountaines and upon the Corne and upon the wine and upon the oyle and upon that which the earth bringeth forth both upon men and upon cattel and upon all the labours of their hands THe Prophet Haggai having exhorted the Jewes to go forward with the Temple and sanctuary and having moved them thereunto by laying before them
the gracious promises of God that he would be favourable and take delight therein doth further stirre them up with these words by calling to their remembrance that great want and scarcety wherewith God did not chastise them who therefore did not prosper the labours of their hands nor give successe to their endeavours for that every one ran to the building of his own house and the trimmingup thereof they laboured not to advance the house of the Lord for as the Lord had threatned in his law that if they would not hearken to his voice to do his will they should be cursed in the towne and in the field and in the fruit of their body and the fruit of the earth that the heavens over them should be brasse and the earth under them iron So did they feele by experience that those threats were performed to them from heaven and earth in themselves and in theirs and in the field and in the towne because that they were commanded by the Lord to build this house they tooke all opportunity to do it and to perswade them hereunto to leave their slackenesse and bestirre themselves hereabout he sheweth how God had withdrawen his blessings from those creatures that should have done them good and had stretched out his hand against them Haggai therefore doth advertise them shewing that they were chastised in the towne and in the field forasmuch as they tooke great paines and got little and that which they got and brought home he did as with a whirlwinde disperse and scatter and why because they left the house of the Lord waste and every man ran to his own house therefore against you the heavens c. Wherin to affect them with a more lively feeling of their misery laid upon them because they suffered the Lords house to lie waste the Prophet doth more particularly specefie the meanes used by God to worke these wants The things they wanted were the blessings of this life the hurt themselves and theirs felt whereby he noteth their sin and the correspondency of their chastisements which they felt which appeareth by the word wherein their fault was noted compared with their punishment as it is laid downe more evidently in the originall for the word which is rendred Waste verse 8 doth first signifie dry and by consequence waste because places which are dry and want moisture are likewise waste and desolate Now verse 11 it is said he had called for a drought the word cometh from the same stemme in the Hebrew that the other doth and in the sense of wastenesse doth expresse more plainly the agreement of the punishment with the manner of their sinne as though he should say because you have suffered my house and sanctuary to lye waste therefore have I also by calling for a drought brought also a waste upon you you have beene most carefull to provide for your selves and yours whatsoever was needfull and might by you any wayes be purchased But behold I have wasted and consumed that I have called for a drought So the Lord hereby doth declare the performance of that which he threatned that he would deale overthwartly with them that overthwarted him and that to the froward he would become froward howbeit let not any that have offended flatter themselves as these men because they feel not such chastisement as these did because they are not plunged nay because they live at such ease and contentation of heart that as the prophet speaketh their eyes start out of their heads although they be nothing carefull to build Gods house nay be carefull to build their owne nay runne to it and that to build them with bloud for albeit they felt not the experience of this punishment in temporall blessings yet let them remember the words of the Prophet When I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I the end of these men surely thou settest them in the slipery places and castest them into utter desolation 1 slipery places 2 utter desolation as it is taught in the history of Job The rejoycing of the wicked is but short though his excellency mount upon the heavens and his head reach to the clouds yet shall he perish for ever like the dunge and they that have seene him shall say where is he But the children of God are dealt withal as children although he chasten them as what son is there that he chasteneth not yet will he not withdraw his mercy from them neither here nor hereafter so that everlasting mercy it surely acertained For what is said of Solomon if he sinne I will chasten him with the rod of men but my mercy shall not depart from him the same is performed to other the children of David even to all the faithfull and eiect And the example of the Corinthians may teach us the end of Gods chastisements on his servants the Apostle sheweth for their unreverent receaving of the Sacrament some were sicke and some fallen asleepe that is taken away and thereupon shewing that this appertaineth to all he saith when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord because we should not be condemned of the world Howbeit if any of the servants of the Lord who have neglected their dutie have not felt his hand let them not be high-minded but feare and be humbled as who knoweth not what the late evening-tide may bring forth remember that which is written to put them in remembrance the judgment of God is just against the ungodly that do such things and what thinkest thou O manâ— that judgest them that do such things dost the same that thou shalt escape the just judgement of God or â—espisest thou the riches of his bountifulnesse and paâ—ience and longsufferance for it is most plaine that they shall not enter into the holy tabernacle hereafter who persist not to build Christs tabernacle here as the 15 and 24 Psalmes plainely shew wherefore as we tender our owne salvation not only the favour of God and the benefitts of this life let us every one be carefull for the building of the Church and Temple of God according as God hath committed a charge to every one for the edefying of the same remembring that Commandement of our Saviour First seek the Kingdom of God and then all these things shall be given you after if first we will seeke the Kingdome then these at leasure to be regarded afterwards and not to follow the example of them whom the Lord here reproveth which runne to the building of their own house and were so slow in the Lords worke we see David so to have beene carefull thereabouts that his purpose was not to take benefit of one nights sleepe in his owne house which he had built untill he had finished the house of God which although he could not accomplish because of the warres wherewith he was troubled against the enemies of the Lord yet Solomon his sonne followed the same course and built first
great purposes which they should do well to remember that separate themselves from us because there is not that perfection in us which they dreame there should be In the Church of Sardis there were but a few names left among them was the minister then to leave them because it was even then decaying and declining no he was to stirre them up againe to awake and strengthen the things that remaine which is not spoken to the Ministers alone but to all the rest that remaine as appeareth ver 1. 4. the like charge Paul gave to Archippus Col 4. 14 namely that he should take heed to the ministery that he should fulfill it which certainely ought to stirre up all such as have charges that they imploy themselves about their calling teaching them privately publickly as it is Acts 20. not thinking it enough to read unto their charge once a moneth for so they shall never fulfill their ministery well may they indeed quite starve their flocke which Columella waiting of sheepherds well sheweth and when he saith a few sheepe well fed will bring more profit to the owner then a grat many ill fed for besides that they bring small profit they also perish and in fect others for leannesse breeds scabbs and scabbs death and therefore are Ministers to labour and feed the Lords flocke according to their gifts that the Lord may receive the advantage according to the quantitie of the tallent And therefore let me beseech them to give themselves to reading and exhortation if their maintenance be not sufficient that they should leave their Colledge let them remember how the Lord fed the Israelites with Manna and how the widdowes oyle was increased and how Elias was fed with Ravens and not to go to miracles how the Shunamites provided for the Prophet how Paul laboured with his owne hands nay remember that golden Mediocritie which Paul speaketh of in Tim. If we have food and raiment we ought therewith to be content and for such as have charges and yet preach not but pretend they be not eloquent c. Let them remember what the Lord said to Moses pretending the like will they doe better then they can you know what Julius Florus said to Julius secundus a little boy should make a declamation which he had done saving he wanted a fit Proem which he laboured three dayes for and could not hitt of any to his liking and thereby grew very heavy Julius Florus his Vncle would needs know the cause he tolâ— him whereupon he smiling said numquid tu melius vis dicere quam potes so may we say to them will they doe better then they can God regardeth that they can doe not that which they cannot when as Socrates had bid many to dinner his wife told him that there was but a little meat why saith he if they be honest men it is enough if not too much so may they thinke if their hearers be godly be it a little that they bring it shall suffice be they wicked it will be too much and therefore feare not to be bold the Lord will be with you in the preparation and in the delivery and see others which are hearers such as take not that profit by the word as they hold whose flesh is alwayes rebelling against the spirit let them endeavour and the Lord will adde a blessing endeavour they must to reforme themselves and to informe others For the more they heare the more they understand the more will be looked for at their hands let them not use those idle excuses of a Lion in the street let neither the frost in the winter nor the heate in the summer hinder you from going forward Be faithfull unto the death and you shall have the Crown of life which the Lord grant for his Sonnes sake Jesus Christ Amen Sermon the Eeleventh Haggai 2. 7 8. Yet once againe that is but a little and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and I will move all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this House with glory saith the Lord of Hostes OF the three most gratious promises whereby the Lord encouraged Zerubbabel and the residue of the Jewes to go forward in the building of the Temple the second in these words ensuing doth declare that our Saviour Christ by his presence and powerfull preaching to the salvation of them that should believe would replenish this house with glory A blessing which how excellent it is we are by St. Paul Eph. 1. 18. and Col. 1. 17. sufficiently taught and this is both compared to and amplified by the benifit which the people had in their deliverance out of Egypt mentioned in the former verse when he saith here yet once that is small for so it is in the originiall which is diversly supplied by the learned interpreters somethinking here a short time to be meant put it thus after or yet a little while as if it had bin spoken to comfort the godly in the shortnesse of the time as Isay 10. Hab. 2. Heb. 10. others deeming the thing bâ—fore spoken of to be meant which sence I take to be more agreeable to the place read it by aparenthesis yet once I that is a small thing viz. to bring them out of Egypt I le doe a greater matter which kind of phrase we have also Isay 49. 6. But howsoever it be taken the rest of the words wherein these leanes doe extoll the benifit of the Gospell by Christ brought to all nations comparing it with the law delivered to the Jewes as the Apostle inferres it Heb. 12. 26 27. Where having stirred them up to receive the Gospell he adds that as a reason that if they escaped not which refused him that spake on earth much lesse should they that refuse him speaking from heaven whose voyce then shooke the earth and hath now also declared saving yet once more will I shake not the earth onely but also the heaven to which in this place is added the seas and lands as parts of the earth for greater amplification whereby is imployed that as when the Lord gave the law on Mount Sinai he made the earth to shake Exod. 19. so now would he shake not onely the earth but the heaven also to authorize the Gospell which corporally was done as both Matth. and Luke record when as reconciling the Gentiles by his passion the earth quaked and when the glad tidings of this reconciliation was sent to the Apostles there came a voyce from heaven as a mighty winde and the earth eftsoones shaked although taken figuratively spirituall things may be thought to be intimated as some expound it that the earth and the heaven may rejoyce for that whereby a new heaven and a new earth was to be made as did the Angels in heaven as well as the men on earth then verse 8. There followes the efficacy of the Gospell toward them to whom it is sent wherein are noted two