wine-presse alone Lastly and the least in reputation of iudgement are the Iews who euen at this day vnderstand it to bee meant of the warres of the Israelites with Gog and Magog Ezechiel 38. 39. But that I seeme not more opinatiue then orthodoxall I may safely say with the precedent words of my Text that these shall bee accomplished in the latter dayes which are alwayes taken for the dayes of Christ when with the effusion of his bloud hee will power out the abundance of his spirite vpon all flesh and withall shew his wonders from time to time to a senselesse world senselesse of it Sauiour so as from the first day of his comming in grace to the last day of his appearance in glory wonders shall appeare more or lesse to the comfort of the godly and confusion of the wicked And surely it is respectiue to see how sparing the Lord is of his judgements and how plentifull in his mercies his bloud and spirit are powred out in al abundance his signs prodigies are but sparingly shewed and pointed at as harbingers of his wrath to moue vs to repētance bloud shed spirit powred out O bottomlesse depth of mercy signes but shewed and prodigies but pointed at limitting both feare and fire that it fall not vpon vs before we repent there was never mercy either met it on earth or matched it in heaven and therefore I know not whether I shal more willingly admire his loue in spending his mercies vpon vs or his vndeserued fauors in prouoking our repentance David in the person of the faithfull and in a case nothing different mourneth over Sion with this wofull complaint Wee see not our signes and there is no Prophet left but Lord how long Where it is to be observed that they doe not complaine because they haue no Captaine to lead them in the field but that they haue no Prophet to instruct them in the faith accounting it a greater calamity to lacke the heauenly food then the earthly fight nay more and to come neerer the proper Subiect I haue in hand these Saints in Sion sorrow not for that they haue no Ensignes to follow on earth but because they haue no signes shewed them from heauen to assure them of the Lords presence to fight their battels and be propitious deeming it more disasterous to faile of signes about then of Ensignes below where prophesie is not there the people perish and where neither wonders from heaven wound vs to repentance nor tokens below provoke vs to prayer we are in danger and die in our security Are not all things as they were in the beginning so saide a secure world in the dayes of Peter musicke mirth and minstrelsie were in their feastes velvet silke and sables were on their backes their coffers were full of siluer gold and pearle their dishes were filled with dainties their garners with graine their stawles with fatlings and their Orchards with all manner of fruit their gardens and fields diaperde with all variety of fruites they felt neither sinne within nor sorrow without no wonders in heaven aboue or tokens in the earth beneath bloud and fire and the vapour of smoake were vnneath seene and therefore no marvell if they put farre away the evill day and suncke in their security When Israel was full then shee kicked against the Lord and her sin increased as the signes decreased til tokens from the Lord had taught her another discipline the vapour of smoake blasted her garland when it was at the greenest famine sword fiery Serpents brake her heart to better obedience and the Lord was mercifull vpon their repentance VVe thinke it goeth well with vs when our waters keepe the course of their wonted Channels without inundations when the North is clear and light without fiery inflammaons when neither Sunne nor Moon laboureth of an Eclipse we deeme the day blessed when the ayre is pure and the windes are still when the seas are calme and no thunder breaketh the cloudes yet better it were if thunder-clappes from aboue did breake our hearts and prodigies below plowed them vp for a softer mould against the day of haruest when the Lord shall come in the cloudes with his fanne in the one hand to winnow all fire in the other hand to purge all the corn for heaven and the chaffe for hell Moabs rest was Moabs ruine and surely I could never yet see but the world that flattereth vs is more dangerous then the world that persecuteth vs according to that periculosior mundus blandus quam molestus It was said of David by one who saide well factus est securus devictis hostibus praessura caruit tumor excrevit When he had no fight hee fell from his God and the proud tumor of his lust the lesse it was handled the more it rankled The doctrine is good for the generall and so I will descend to a more particular vse of signs it may be to shew that he can be mercifull without means the Lord will sometimes be silent shew no wonders but passe vs like the sweet running waters of Shiloh that goe softly by Sion but when it pleaseth him for our loude crying sins to come in judgement then wil hee swell like the turbulent waters of Iorden that run roughly thē wil his signs wonders bee harbingers of his wrath warning vs of his neare approch ready to destroy if we repent not But to worke a certainety out of such wonders as the Lord hath wrought either by himselfe in th◠old Testament or by his Christ in the new It is to be observed that ever vpon his comming to a worke of judgement or a worke of mercy there hath gone before him a commotion of Creatutes to present his presence for as I haue already saide If when Kings of the earth stirre the people are moued shall the God of heaven rise from his rest and the creatures sit still I say sit still before his presence in whose voice there is feare and in whose face there is fire for even our God is a consuming fire When the Law should bee divulged from the holy Mount the Lord came from Sinai and rose vppe from Seir vnto them and appeared clearely from Mount Paran and he came with ten thousand of Saints and at his right hand a fiery Law the ayre thundered the hils trembled burning blacknes and darkenes were his pauilion and so terrible was the sight which appeared that Moses said I feare and quake It was a great day fearefull and fiery because of a fiery Law what maruell then if vpon the approch of so great a majesty the earth shooke the heauens dropped at the presence of this God even the God of Israel What should I say more of Israels God sith at the brightnes of his presence the red sea was diuided Iorden was driven backe Quailes fell from heaven and the Rocke gushed out water springs the sunne stood still in Gibion
and the Moone in the vally of Aielan Surely surely at the presence of this great God the heauens and the earth shall shake but the Lord will be the hope of his people But leaue we them elder dayes come we to the later times mentioned in my Text Nay leaue we that God of Majesty and come we to the God of mercy euen to the dayes of Christ who when hee bowed the heauens and came downe into our flesh though hee fell vpon vs like a shower of rain vpon a fleece of wooll in sofnes and in silence yet the heavens were shaken at the brightnes of his presence whē at his birth Angels sung his lullaby and at his death all the creatures of God mourned his funerals To tel of the prodigies that fell out at his birth and of the wonders that were then seene I will bee the more sparing to speake because out of holy Writ little can be said thereof yet if approued hystories may speake Chronacles of elder times may bee admitted for Records of truth that blessed Babe euen in his birth by signes and wonders was approved to be the vndoubted son of God the Messias and Saviour of all the world It cannot be denied which holy Writ averreth Fulget in terris lux nova de coelo And another star appeared at his birth and Angels were heard to publish his prayses with glory in heauen peace on earth and good will among men yea and to attend the presence of that blessed Babe Kings came from farre to offer their gifts Kings of Arabia and Seha they offered of their purest gold and sweetest perfume that which the shepheards heard from heauen keeping their flockes vpon the downes of Bethlehē they preached to mē vpon this earth and all these are holy wonders of holy Record shewing fignes from heaven vpon the approch of that blessed birth whose breath as some write blew open the doores of that great Pantheon at Rome I mean the Temple of all the Gentile gods who vpon the birth of Christ fell down brake their necks as Dagon did before the Arke I might tell how Divels were daunted at his comming especially when the time of his appearance drew neere and I will here onely mention two Oracles of Apollo concerning this matter one to a Priest and the other to a Prince A Priest of Apollo demanding him of true Religion of God answere was made out of the hollow vault O vnhappy Priest why doest thou aske me of God that is the father of all things and of this most renowmed Kings deare and onely sonne and of the spirit that containeth all Alas that spirit will enforce me shortly to leaue this habitation and place of Oracle The other Oracle was to Augustus Caesar euen about the very time of Christs birth who desirous to know who should raigne after him would needs goe to Delphos and withall learne what should become of things when he was dead to which Apollo for a great space would make no answere till Caesar had importuned him from sacrifice to sacrifice till he came to the great Hecatomb whē as it were enforced Apollo vttered these strange words vnto him An Hebrew Child that ruleth ouer the blessed Gods commandeth me to leaue this habitation and out of hand to get mee to Hell but yet do you depart in silence from our Alters Whereuppon the Emperour standing agast and musing with him selfe what this answere might bee returned to Rome and built there an Alter in the Capitol with this inscription Ara Primogeniti Dei by both which you may see how Diuels were enforced to leaue their habitations on earth vpon Christ his dwelling in our flesh his Incarnation was their execution and they were enforced to howle vtter out their own miserie When it pleased him to swaddle vs in his mercy and so with this merciful myracle of our Sauiours birth went the miraculous mercies of our deliverance from sinne death and diuels his blessed birth being attended vpon as haue said to the wonder of al the world with these signs from aboue and tokens below harbengers of his most glorious and royal presence From the wonders of his birth it followeth wee came to the wonders shewed at the death of Christ when vpon the effusion of his bloud there was a cōmotion of all creatures high and low in heauen and on earth all grieued and groned to see and behold so dolourous a spectacle The Sunne was darkened and the Moone became bloudy stars fell from heauen and the earth quaked rockes burst asunder and Sheal was shaken nay more it was a day of darkenesse covering all the land as with a curtaine when heaven was shut from it shine and the graue was shaken when that Kingdom of death and darkenes was conquered by Christ whereby his death killed death and by his life gained vs life with immortality nay more was it not a wonder to see how the vayle of the Temple rent when mens hearts would not relent In a word the foundations of the earth were out of course and what had that righteous one done Surely surely though the prodigies be past with the passion tract of time hath vayled it from our flesh that wee see it not yet can it never from a passionate faith that it feele it not for to this end hath God giuē vs the spirit of prayer and compassion as saith another Prophet that we should weepe because of him whom wee haue pierced but woe is me to tell who is sorrie for the afflictions of Ioseph the yron of sorrow entered into the soule of our Sauiour we are senselesse of his sufferings if man will not be moued thou earth ye rockes graues Sunne Moone and Starres pleade the cause of the Innocēt and say what hath the righteous done Innocēt hands whom haue ye spoyled and yet are ye perced Innocent heart against whom hast thou Imagined euill yet art thou gored Innocent mouth of whom hast thou spoken euill and yet art thou spunged gracious face coūtenance vpon whom hast thou lowred and yet art thou spit vpon head full of deawe and lockes with the drops of the night so wooing vs in grace now wedding vs in glory how wer thy temples crowned with sharpe thornes to the effusiō of thy blood and yet are we senselesse of thy suffering we haue sinned and he hath smarted the Iust for the vniust and if we will be silent still and say nothing to cleare the innocent Sunne Moone and Starres earth Rockes and Graues will pleade the Lords quarrell and say what hath the righteous done When the man of God came out of Iudah vnto Bethell and Ieroboam stood by the Altar to offer Incense in reprehension of the kings Idolatrie he cryed against the Altar by the commandement of the Lord and said Altar Altar thus saith the Lord Vbi alloquitur aram molliorem carde Ieroboam where and when he spake
liued when Christ was dead yet should they see with their eyes that the truth should rise out of that type and when the Heyfer was slaine yet the Lambe should liue yea and that very Temple stones and all should turne to Greet Ne populus redirit ad Iudaizmum Lest the people might goe backe to Iudaizme 4. Fourthly nay yet more the great Brason doore as the Author saith being at the East end of the Temple which twentie men could hardly either open or shut at the sixt hower of the night flew open of it owne accord shewing a new way and passage of Christ to a better place and being euen vnto a Tabernacle not made with hands but pitched in the high heauens opening of it selfe without helpe of any 5. Together with these as Iosephus writeth in the 21. of May a gastly spirit of an vnspeakable height and bignes was seene in the citie a pregnaÌ„t prodigie of their imineÌ„t desolation when Zim Ohim Skritchowles Fairies Satyres did haunt their houses and fairest habitations 6. Chariotes in the ayre armed meÌ„ fighting by troups amoÌ„g the clouds appeared throughout al the Land of Iudea marched towards the Citie with fearce Encounters all presages of their future fall by the furie of warre which was at their doores and yet they repented not 7. Nay more in a solemn feast when the Priests were assembled by night as their manner was to sacrifice they heard this voice Migremus hinc migremus hinc let vs get hence let vs get hence the wonder they heard sell from heaven enioyning them silence and a cessation from all legall ceremonies and sacrifices now ended both Priest place and offering vpon the sole sacrifice of Christ whom they had cruelly murthered and therfore had need to be gone before the fire of his fierce wrath was kindled against that place people and kingdome Lastly and of all other prodigies to provoke their repentance vpon the Lords presence neere approch now ready to strike it was not the least which fell out in one Iesus the sonne of Ananias of the vulgar sort who foureteene yeeres before the siedge when al was in quiet peace and plentie this sonne of Ananias comming to the feast of Tabernacles when the manner was that the Princes of the people should doe their devotions to God in the Temple sodenly he cried out to the wonder of them all A voyce from the East a voyce from the West a voyce from the foure windes a voyce vpon Ierusalem a voyce vpon the Temple a voyce vpon the Bride and vpon the Bridegroome a voyce vpon all the people Thus night day he ran through euery street crying without thought of food or regard of any insomuch as when he was beaten by the mighty impatient of the prodigie I say beaten to the bare bones he neither shedde a teare or shewed himselfe suppliant but at euery stroke stil cried out Wo woe to the inhabitants of Ierusalem and thus continuing during all the time of the siege and especially at their solemne feasts At last when the siege was at the hotest running round about the walles of the City without feare hee vttered the same voyce and said Woe to Ierusalem was to the people and woe to my selfe At which last woe Sagitta ictus occumbebat wounded with an arrow hee fell downe dead The vse is good and for vs in the height of this our security all these wonders and signes euery man interpreted as the story saith Pro sua libidine euen as best pleased himselfe some they neglected some they corrected some they contemned donec patriae exidin suaque pernieie eorum iniquitas confutata est till their error with their wickednesse was corrected with the destruction both of their country and of themselues they killed their Prophets they beleeved not Christ whom when they had slaine and silenced then was it time for prodigies to speake and say O bloudy City I dare giue remission vpon thy repentance but I dare giue no rest vpon thy rebellions Before the destruction of Troy as Virgil reporteth Fatis aperit Cassandra futuris era Dei Iussunec vnquam credita Tencris Cassandra foretold it ruine but could neuer be beleeved she spake from the holy Oracle but was not heard It s a fearefull thing when the Prophets are despised it s more fearefull when their Prophesies are set at nought but its fearefull aboue all feares when fire is a falling downe froÌ„ heauen that is when we with our Prophets and prophesying prodigies speake and wonders worke and yet wee repent not so it was with Israel I pray God it bee not so with England To speake of the signes wonders and prodigies that shall be seene vpon the worlds ending I dare not I cannot that feare and fire oppresseth my spirits in the thoughts thereof Et horret animus meminisse my very mind and soule melteth at the heat thereof And therefore hauing in some weake measure mentioned that dreadfull day heretofore in two other Sermons I leaue it vnder a vayle as Apelles did the imperfect portraiture of Agamemnon father of Iphigenia and come a little neerer home euen downe to our dayes Haue we no signes in heauen or prodigies in earth to moue our repentance Haue not the heavens of late yeeres strucke an alarum to provoke our prayers by vncoth signes never seene before It is some 40. yeeres agoe since that starre in the North appeared in Cassiâ—peia whereat the Astronomers stood agast Surely it was some star of Bethlehem conducting vs to that Babe of Bethlehem Non in cunis sed in Cathedra not lying swathled in the cratch but advanced into his chaire of high estate by a second birth of holy doctrine theÌ„ divulged through out all the world when the Gospell should beget faith in more abundance from the East to the West by North and by South I durst not thus presage of the effect of this star were I not well warranted by the judgements of two worthy Divines lights of this age Du Plessis and Beza who by that wonder in heauen are bold to say that the Lord hath prognosticated a second birth of Christ vpon the earth by the preaching of the Gospell vnto all nations vnder heaven neuer to bee backed by that wicked man whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shal abolsh with the brightnesse of his comming whereof these wonders in heauen are warnings on earth for all Gods children to bee prepared with our oyle and our Lampes light to meet him in the cloudes and so to bee caught vp to raign with him for â—ver And so to the next Not many yeeres after and right â—pposite to that in the North there appeared an other wonder in heauen a blazing starre both great and fearefull threatning some dangerous event to the Southerne parts of the world which the Affiricans in some measure felt when the Kings of Barbary and Portugall were slaine The cinders of that
c. wee haue seene his Star in the East and are come to worship him him not it lest any man might bake cakes to the Queene of heauen adore the creature for the Creator Yet follow it till it come to the place where the babe is then leaue it and offer of thy Gold Myrrhe Frankencence that is when these signes in heauen prodigies on earth haue brought thee to the sense of thy sinne and sight of thy Sauiour offer vp the sweet perfume of thy praier praise an euening and morning sacrifice vnto thy Christ Lastly are there rumors of warres abroad in the world or warres at home woes and wonders euen at thy doores Hannibal ad portas Is the enemie at thy gates Are the Barbarians abroad and is the Turke in armes Vibrans hastam in Christianos breathing after Christian blood desine peccare ciuitas non peribit cease to sinne and the citie shall not be sacked Quid fugis patriam si vis saluus esse tua potius peccata subter fuge si tu peccare deseris victus est inimicus Why leauest thou thy country nay rather if thou wouldest be safe flee from thy sinnes if thou leaue off sinning the enemie is conquered And how is he conquered Non Gladio Golias sed lapide prosternitur Goliah was not slaine with a sword but with a stone out of a sling that is to say by powerfull praier For so saith Dauid thou commest to me with a sword and with a speare and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts whom thou hast rayled vpon And thus you see how the Drum of deuotion in the hand of Gods creatures though senseles of themselues yet sensible of our sinnes hath stroken an allarum to praier Now let vs smell to that sweet perfume and presse both the power and priuiledge thereof to saue out of these words It shall be that whosoeuer shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saued But because I haue wearied you ouermuch in this I will spare both my selfe and you till a further opportunitie And so let vs pray O eternall God and most mercifull father c. The end of the first Sermon THE SECOND Sermon THE PERFVME OF PRAYER THE ARROWE OF OVR deliuerance in the daies of danger when signes from heauen and Prodigies on earth are on vs to moue our repentance Acts. 2. 21. And it shall be that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued SIgnes in heauen and prodigies on earth as I haue told you are nothing else but drums of deuotion prouoking our prayer in the sweet perfume whereof whiles we walke the Lord will either deliuer vs from deserued iudgements or giue vs patience to abide the fyrie triall And therfore pardon me yet further to ceaze vpon your religious eares and hearts on Gods behalfe and in tender of your saued soules Pardon me to presse you to powerfull praier thereby to make the Lord propitious ayding assisting when workes of wonder both aboue and belowe doe threaten our destruction The wicked in that day shal wring their hands rent their garments teare their haire and cry vpon the mountaines to fall vpon them but the godly shall haue boldnes in that day they shall lift vp their heads and knowe that the day of their redemption draweth neere yea as it is in my text they shall call vpon the name of the Lord and be saued I say all such as feare God shall feare no fire but call vpon the name of the Lord and be saued Yet so as the holy Ghost euer giues the gust power and spirit of prayer without which it is no perfume but a stinch in the nosthrills of the Lord of Host And therefore as you may here see the blessed Apostle clearing the imputation of Drunkennes both in himselfe and the rest his associats euen in the height of that high feast of Penticost doth in ebriat the soules of Gods Saints with a pregnant prophesie of the abundance of the spirit which should glad the hearts of the godly in the latter daies So then I may safely say that as the fire is knowne by it heate the Sunne by it light and the tree by it fruit so may you by prayer know whether the spirit of God be in you or no As also whether ye shall be saued when prodigies are abroad wonders in heauen aboue and tokens on earth beneath blood and fire and the vapour of smoake Much prayer and much passion is euer from a powerfull spirit and it argueth a Royall presence of the holy Ghost for euen as in water face answereth face so in plea of saluation spirit answereth spirit Gods spirit answereth our spirit that we are his children yea and the insence of our prayer answereth the perfume of his spirit in which sweet ayre we are carried and breath vnto saluation VVhy then it may seeme where there is much prayer there is much spirit where there is little praier there is little spirit and where there is no prayer there is no spirit and if who soeuer shall call vppon the name of the Lord hath much spirit and shall bee saved it will follow that whosoeuer shall not call vpon the name of the Lord hath no spirit and shall not be saved And I cannot but wonder that sith the vision is for an appointed time and now is the time euen in the latter daies which are the dayes of Christ wherein God hath promised to power out his spirit vpon all flesh euen the spirit of grace and compassion so as euery one should weepe apart because of him whom they haue pierced And yet our praier should be so scanted and our spirits so dull as wee seeme to bee dead in our deuotion Surely wee dire the Deity with our sinnes wee quench the spirit wee grieue it wee despite it and therefore wee pray not because the spirit breathes not Some few droppes of this heauenly fountaine distilled vpon the Patriarkes and Prophets of old but the cundits of grace were neuer so fully opened as in these latter dayes of Christ when with the effusion of his blood hee vented out the abundance of his spirit and powred it vpon all flesh and is it not strange thē that men should so liue as if they stood in doubt whether there bee an holy Ghost or no and in these last dayes of mans redemption they should breath more weakly and pray more faintly then in the first dayes of the worlds creation when Abel was slaine by Caine it is of speciall observation that vntill the dayes of Enoch men were silent in their deuotion and cared not for their God for then as it is in the Text men beganne to call vpon the name of the Lord Caines sinne had so corrupted Seths seed sanctity that till Enoch repaired the ruines by his holy profession there was little prayer little spirit litle pietie in that world
heard so must I pray in humilitie if I will haue answere for he hath regarded the lowe degree of his handmaid it was her virginall voyce and in the humblenes of her heart she was exalted with her God O it s an excellent vertue when honor is humbled and humilitie is honored with the title of blessednes as it was with Mary Iudeths humilitie pulled downe the Assirian pride when powring out her prayer to God for the deliuerance of her people she said Thy power standeth not in the multitude nor thy might in strong men but thou O Lord art the helpe of the humble and little ones Aron and Hur must hold vp Moses hands lest he might seeme to be exalted in his owne streÌ„gth And when Hester the Queen was to deale with her God by prayer she put off her princely robes but when she went to the Kings Pallace she put them on to teach vs that we may not deale with God as with men for hee will be better pleased with our pouertie then with our pride with our sackecloth and ashes then with our silke and sables I and the child will goe alone so said Abraham of his beloued Isaacke I and my miserie will goe alone so saith the humbled soule vnto his mercifull Sauiour No plea with God like the pore mans plea and to goe informa pauperis is the best plea in heauen though it be the worst on earth Thirdly as the Lord must be called vpon in faith and humilitie so must he be applied with good zeale and affection no perfume of prayer but from a passionate heart a broken and contrite heart God will neuer despise his eye and his answere is towards all such according to that of the prophet To him will I looke euen to him that is poore and of a lowly troubled spirit and trembleth at my words Moses said nothing and yet he cryed vnto the Lord it was a passionate prayer not from Laodecean lippes but from a fyrie spirit as with Anna when she powred out her soule before the Lord in the day of her barrennes Dauids affection in his prayer was much kindled with the oole of zeale when he cryed vnto the Lord it was more inflamed when he watered his couch with his teares for the sinnes of his soule but most of all battered when he rored within for aflictions without Iacob wept prayed fouâ—d God at Bethel So did good Ezekias when he turned him to the wall and wept saying Attenuati sunt occuli mei suspicientes in coelum mine eyes are wearie with watching vpon my God and I had fainted in my miserie had he not turned to me in mercy said I haue heard thy prayers and seene thy teares What should I say more Mardoche in the midst of the citie cryed to God with a great crie and a bitter and he was heard in that he desired so was Christ vpon the tree when greeued in soule he washed away our staines in blood teares It was Augustines sorrow when thinking vpon his vaine passions he said flebam Didonem morientem ob amorem Aeneae I wept for Dido dying for the loue of Aeneas but alas and woe is me therfore I seldome wept for my Sauiour dying for my sinne nor yet for my selfe liuing in my sinne Surely teares and prayers are church weapons and I may conclude as Ambrose did with Monacha Augustines Mother when she wept after his conuersion vade a me ita viuas fieri non potest vt filius istarum lachrimarum pereat Goe from me thou mournfull mother and doe as thou doest it can neuer be that a son of all these teares should euer perish So dare I say of the Saints of God sorrowing weeping either for their owne sinnes or others it can not be that children of al these teares should euer perish I passe to the fourth which is from our feruencie in prayer to our frequent and often praying thereby to importune y e Lord to be propitious euer wrastling as Iacob did and neuer leauing him without a blessing Nor as it is in the Prophet giuing him no rest till he repaire our ruines for the kingdome of heauen suffereth violence and the violent catch it yea and the Lord is ours by much intreatie as we are his by many allurements O that our prayer were with more assiduitie much and continual as euer needing therefore alwaies begging Eliah when he prayed for raine sent his seruant seauen times to see if y e Lord would answere his sighs with a shewer from the top of Carmell he crowched vnto the earth and put his face betweene his knees I say seueÌ„ times he prayed with passion and the Lord was propitius he fainted not but continued crying til the clouds dropped downe fatnes he prayed with passion while the king was at his repast Ahab in his chamber eating but Eliah vpon Carmel praying Iob must fast pray all the while his children did feast and play his prayers his teares and his sacrifice still went out as the daies of their banqueting went about for so saith the text thus did Iob euery day Darius sealed y e decree and Daniel dread it not but continued his prayer and was instant with God three times a day vpoÌ„ his knees with his face towards Ierusalem and his windowe open that way both to stir vp himselfe with the remembrance of Gods promise to al such as should pray towards that house As also that all might see he dread no danger of the Lions denne but had rather die ten thonsand deathes then yeeld to their Idolatrie And surely Dauid was much in prayer when hee said Euening and morning and at noone day will I pray make a noise and he will heaere me So Paul when hee said in prayer often it was his dayly exercise and what hee practised himselfe he preached to others when hee said pray continually Fifthly as our prayers must bee often in respect of times so must they not bee limitted in regard of places whether in the great congregation and in publike or abroad in the field lesse publike or in private at home when thou art shut in thy closet and art still there is a christian liberty and freedome in all so thy deuction bee done without schisme and separation for thou art not onely tyed vnto the Temple but thy chamber field and garden the mouÌ„taines dales and wildernesse dennes caues and hollowes of the earth are sacred for thy devotions When Iacob prayed against Esau his brother in that his dangerous peregrination to Bethel hee diuided himselfe from his family that hee might the nearer bee ioyned to God in his praier hee sent his two wiues and his eleuen children ouer the â—iuer Iabbocke with all hee had and when himselfe was left alone there wrastled with him a man to the dawning of the day he alone a Saint and in secret wept and prayed and found God at
hollow vault at Endor spake to teach vs that if we will not know there is a God we shall be taught that there is a diuell Zim and Ohim wil haunt our habitations and the witch at Endor will endaunger our dwellings A third wall of separation stopping the passage of our prayer to God is the sinne of vnmercifulnes towards the poore for as the wiseman saith He that stoppeth his eare at the crying of the poore he also shall cry and not be heard vnmercifulnes towards the poore was one of the sins of Sodome and little doe I doubt but it stopt the passage of Abrahams prayer euen frō fiftie to tenne mercifull men not found in Sodome for whose sake the Lord might spare the rest The vse is good I pray God the teares of the poore hinder not the prayers of the rich many are oppressed yet are not pittied we can goe to no pulpit but they presse our harts to prouoke our speech all I can say is this take heed for as ye know he y t would not giue a crum of comfort was denied a drop of mercy and not to pittie the poore on earth it cannot but hinder your prayer in heauē Fourthly if you long after audience and answere frō God of that ye pray for you must beware of malice and picke out that poyson you must forgiue that you may be forgiuen yea and which is yet more you must pray for your worst enemie that you may preuaile with your best friend That friend hath well aduised thee as a friend saying When ye shall stand and pray forgiue if ye haue any thing against any man that your father also which is in heauen may forgiue you your trespasses Ye aske saith a brother of the Lord and yet ye receiue not because ye aske amisse that ye might lay the same out on your pleasures It s a foolish pleasure on earth that beates backe a prayer from heauen It s a foolish passage with man that stops a passage with God And so for conclusion of this poynt be warned that as you heighten your prayers vpward so you lessen your sinnes downward And with Siracides returne vnto the Lord and forsake thy sinnes make thy prayer before his face and diminish the offence Lastly as wickednes in our selues and proper sinnes doe hinder our prayers So when sinne is in those we pray for it often stoppeth our passage vnto the Lord and maketh him inexorable As in Ieremiah the Prophet when the Lord said I will cast you out of my sight as I haue cast out all your brethren euen the whole seede of Ephraim Therefore thou shalt not pray for this people neither lift vp cry or prayer for them neither intreate me for I will not heare thee Seest thou not what they doe in the cities of Iudah and in the streetes of Ierusalem As and if he should say exemplarie sinnes shall haue exemplarie iudgements for I will power my wrath vpon this place vpon man and vpon beast and vpon the trees of the field and vpon the fruit of the ground it shall burne ô Ieremiah and thy prayer shall not quench it Nay and as it is in an other Prophet If these three men Noah Daniel and Iob were among them they should not but deliuer their owne soules by their righteousnes saith the Lord God All I haue said is but this if our prayers be not heard it is quia petimus 1. indigné 2. indigna 3 pro indignis either the thing is vnlawfull we pray for or we are vnworthie who pray or they for whom we doe pray The mother of Zebedes childrē had not her boone at the hands of Christ for that her demand was not lawfull Esau had not that he prayed for because he was vnworthie And if you poure out ten thousand praiers either for the diuels or damned ye shall not be heard for their sinnes are gone before them to their iust condemnation And here spare me a while and I hope it shall not be vnprofitable to the further sanctifying both of your will and skill in prayer if I lay downe certaine Rules whereby you may know how diuersly y e Lord doth answere the requests of his Saints yet all to their endlesse comfort if they can but be patient of his answeres And first obserue and you shall find it to be true that God heareth some ad voluntatem non ad vtilitatem he answereth their pleasure but not their profit what they would haue but not what they should haue As when the people lusted after flesh in the wildernes and loathed Manna God gaue them their fill yet while the flesh was betweene their teeth before it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people the Lord smote the people with an exceeding great plague in so much as the place of their buriall is called vnto this day kibroth hattauah graues of lust Againe it was their desire to haue a king like other nations whervnto y e Lord yeelded yet told them it had beene better for them if they had not forsaken him but kept him still their guidon The vse is good against all such as pray for nothing but for the pleasures and profites of this world beautie wealth and plodding wit which oftentimes God putteth into their hands like a sword into the hands of a lunatike man wherwithall he endangereth himselfe and so the Lord answereth all such ad voluntatem non ad vtilitatem The second rule is religious too much to the solace of Gods Saints who often heareth and answereth ad vtilitatem non advolūtatem answereth I say our profit and not our pleasure As he did Paul who praying thrice that Sathans buffettings which were the prickes of the flesh might be taken from him Christ answered no Paul not so my grace is sufficient for thee and my power is made perfect through thy weakenes And this made the Saints of God to reioyce in nothing more then in the crosse of Christ where by the world was crucified vnto them and they vnto the world they reioyced in their infirmities anguish and persecutions though buffettings of Sathan and prickes of the flesh yet purging fire fyning them for their God whiles they were resolued that all the afflictions in this world were neuer worthy of that glorie which should be reueiled and all such the Lord doth answere ad vtilitatem non ad voluntatem whiles they seeme to shrinke vnder the burden of their afflictions The third rule is not irregular with God who for the most part doth answere all his Elect children ad voluntatem ad vtilitatem making them glorious by deliuerance in the daies of their afflictions answering their pleasure with their profit and what they should with what they would as he did the Niniuites when he deliuered them from their destructiō The woman of Sirophenishia from her diuell the children from
THE DRVMME OF DEVOTION Striking out an Allarum to Prayer by signes in heauen and Prodigies on earth Together with the Perfume of Prayer In two Sermons Preached by William Leigh Bachilor in Diuinitie and Pastor of Standish in Lancashire Luke 21. 28. And when these things begin to come to passe then looke vp and lift vp your heads for your Redemption draweth neere LONDON Printed by Tho Creede for Arthur Iohnson dwelling in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the white Horse 1613. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE SIR Thomas Parry Knight one of his Maiesties most Honourable priuie counsell and Chanceller of his Highnes Dutchie of Lancaster together with the Right vertuous Religious Lady his wife grace be multiplied in this world and glory in a better Right honourable IF as the Psalmist saith The Lord hath so doone his maruellous workes that they ought to be had in rememberance and are much sought out of all such as feare him pardon me in your honourable patience while I presse with passion such prodigies as haue fallen out of old in former times and now of late in these moderne daies of danger wherein we liue All harbingers of Gods Irefull wrath and indignation for mans transgression And yet I know not how which is a wonder of wonders signes from heauen are not respected sinnes on earth are not repented for We can discerne the face of the skie like the Iewes in the Gospell taxed by our Sauiour and thereby we dare prognosticate of the effects of faire or foule weather to come but we cannot discerne either by signes from heauen or prodigies on earth how the Lord is rison out of his place and threatneth our destruction if we repent not The meditations hereof I am bold to put vnder the shelter of your honours protection and pray they may passe your iuditious eye in sort as they are tendered that is from the dutie and seruice I owe in many rspects being otherwise vnable to answere the same but in such passages of prayer and religious exercises as fall within the compasse of my profession And surely such passages are best suted to your selfe whom religion hath made honourable and worthy those great and waightie imployments you haue vndergone abroad in forraigne parts and at home within the kingdome vnder two religious Princes Besides spare me to seeke protection at your honours hands in regard of the place you beare with vs vnder God and the king our worthy Chancellor the sterne of which gouernment you haue moderated for many yeares with such iustice mixed with mercy as I dare appeale to your clemencie and milde censure in any thing I haue here tendered And for the latter Sermon which is the Perfume of prayer the Arrow of our deliuerance in the daies of danger I trust it shall not be offensiue if I make it proper to the Elect Lady your religious wife and consort whose practise of much pietie with prayers and teares Church-weapons haue beene are and will be a blessing to your house and an ornament to the Church of God whilst Anna-like she frequents the Temple house of God treading vpon that holy ground with no lesse due then true deuotion And now the Lord Iesus as he hath matched you together in grace and giuen you much honour with length of daies espouse you to himselfe in the kingdome of glorie that you may come to the feast and mariage of the Lambe crowned with glorie and clad with immortalitie ensignes of a better world whither Christ is gone before and hath traced you the way to follow after which because you haue faithfully done he will come and fetch you to himselfe in a time accepted that where he is there may ye also be Against which day and blessed houre the Lord God of heauen prepare you with your oyle and your lamps light that ye may meete him in the cloudes and so be caught vp to raigne with him for euermore Amen Amen Your honours most humble and at command William Leigh THE DRVM OF DEVOTION Striking out an Allarum to Prayer by signes in heauen and prodigies on earth ACTS II. 19 And I will shew wonders in heauen aboue tokens in the earth beneath bloud and fire and the vapours of smoake 20 The Sun shal be turned into darkenes and the Moone into bloud before that great notable day of the Lord come 21 And it shal be that whosoeuer shal cal on the name of the Lord shal be saued VPon the reading of this Scripture prophesied of by Ioel applyed by Peter and to be accōplished in the latter daies me thoght I heard the Lord speaking from heauen as hee did by another Prophet and say Write this vision and make it plaine vpon Tables that hee may runne that readeth it for the vision is for an appointed time and at the last it shall speake and not lie though it tarry waite for it shall surely come and not stay Now what it is that shall come and not stay is the subject of my speech and the division of my Text. There shall come signes and wonders in the latter dayes to provoke our repentance there shall come faith and confidence to all the godly to assure them of deliverance and to this end are wonders wrought as in heauen aboue so in the earth beneath bloud and fire and the vapour of smoake that the dampe of our sinnes might be put out by the breath of our Saviour whose presence wee may be assured then presseth neere vs when these his wonders are vpon vs. If Kings of the earth stirre the commons are moved shal the King of heauen rise either to bee iudged or iudge the world and shal the creatures sit still surely no for though we his reasonable religious creatures bee silent in our sinnes and say nothing yet shall the senselesse creatures grieue and grone after a deliverance I say deliverance from the bondage of corruption wherin they are and from the dampe of sinne wherewithall they are pestered Of these in order as God will And first of prodigies provoking our repentance next of the sweet perfume of prayer assuring vs of deliverance when feare and fire shall fine vs for our good for it shall bee that whosoever shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saved What may be the meaning of the spirit in this place touching the time and manner of these signes when and how they should appeare to the worlds wonder divers haue diuersly divined 1. Some say the accomplishment should bee at the second comming of Christ to judgement and bee harbingers of that dreadfull day 2. Others for it shall bee at the siedge and sacking of Ierusalem by Titus and Vespatianus of which opinion the Greeke Paraphrase is which citeth Iosephus writing thereof 3. Some say the accomplishment should bee at the death of Christ and in the day of his passion when all the world should bee passionate for him but not with him for hee must tread the
starre yet kindleth a combustion in the hearts of the two Kings of Marocco and Fez nor is the flame extinct in Spaine but yet burneth in the breast of Sebastians blood against that of Castile And surely it may bee a warning to all Christian Kings and Princes of the world to stir vp their zeale and melt their coldnes to fight for the christâ—â—â— an faith against the Infidels whiâ—… rather then they should liue vncoâ—…trolled the heavens will threateâ—… their destruction by sheathing theâ—â—… swords in the blood one of anotheâ—… Chronicles made it an honourabl◠〈◊〉 fight which christian Kings had and vndertooke against the Sarazens foâ—… the holy land But the holy Sepuâ—chre is now buried in oblivion anâ— the Turke hath tied it to his taxe and territories whom while Christian Kinges should resist with all their powers fight for the christiaÌ„ faith they fall in faction one against another and so spend and blend their bloods together Surely Domestica mala maiora sunt lacrhymis these home bredde evils among christian kings are greater than can be expressed with teares therfore I leaue it in the silence of my soule and to the praier of al Gods Saints that their souraignes may ioyne in a holy warre against the Heathen And so I passe â—…o the rest That Mirabilis annus will never 〈◊〉 forgotten when the seas rockes 〈◊〉 shelues fought for England and â—…ade vs so glorious by deliverance 〈◊〉 the wonder of all Christenâ—ome Nay more I may not bee silent â—…ow this our Goshen and land of â—â—…ht was sodainely turned into an â—â—…yptian darkenesse when vpon 〈◊〉 darke Saturday neere hie noone at what time vsually the Sun giueth out his fairest shine a sodaine darknesse was over all the land and so fearefull as men were at their wits ends panted in soule left off al secular care betook them to their best prayers not knowing what would be the Issue till the Lord againe and ere wee thought vpon his mercy remoued the judgement In token of our intollerable neglect of the light of his Gospell whereof that gloomy day was a sure Sacrament taxing our dim sight with his sharpe censure that because for a long season the light had shined in darkenes and the darkenes comprehended it not he could if hee would remoue the candlesticke candle and all and put out the eye of faith as hee had dearned the light of heauen Nay more and aboue al I haue said to make the prodigie yet of greater wonder it was observed by many how during the darkenes of the day all thinges were husht and so still as leaues stirred not beasts fed not birds sung not but stood agast as if they had beene filled with astonishment And you know how not long after this darke day the light of Israel was put out fot a time Queene Elizabeth died a dearne day to England had it not beene presently repayred with as cleare a light from Scotland in whose Sunne-shine now wee walke and sing still with solace the Songs of Sion in our owne land It may be so sodaine a darkenes presenlty relieued with so great a light was a Symball or Sacramenr of our Soueraignes dead and liuing two peereles Princes both relieued with their desired lights Hee of Englands honour Shee of heavens glory yea and we their Subjects delivered from that dark and dangerous night of Queene Elizabeths death by the speedy arising luster of that morning starre our Soveraigne Lord the King whose day wee pray may euer dawne It may bee some sharpe sight may censure me in the applying of this darke day to the death of Queen Elizabeth yet dare I say and I hope with good warranty that when godly Kings and Princes die Quid ni mundus ipss defleret eum principem esse rapiendum per quem duramundi istius reÌ„perari solerent So saide Ambrose of the death of Theodosius Why may not this worlde deplore such a Prince to bee taken away by the violence of death as by whome the dangers and difficulties thereof haue beene moderated Nay hee proceedes further and nearer the point I ayme at Hoc nobis motus terrarum graves hoc iuges pluviae minabantur vltra solitum caligo tenebrosior denunciabat quod clementissimus Imperator Theodosius recessus esset è terris This the great Earthquakes wee haue felt with the continuall raine wee haue had and a more palpable darkenesse than vsuallie we haue seene haue denounced and threatned that Theodosius a most milde and mercifull Emperour should depart this world You are religiously wise to discerne of what is said when Christ suffered the Soueraigne of all Soveraignes there was a commotion of all the creatures All were moved to see and behold so dolorous a spectacle Earth quaked rockes riued the Sunne was darkned and the Moone became bloodie Starres fell from Heauen there was blood fire and the vapour of smoake before that greate and notable day of the Lord came And what was Iesus of Nazareth other then a King then conquering our enemies for a better world And what was Theodosius Queene Elizabeth with all of their rancks and Religion lesse than Princes in his stead to tule in this world And why may not the creatures of God condole alike vpon their dissolutions Next it will bee remembred whiles Chronicles can speake how the earth was bound by a prodigious frost to Londons wonder when Thames was paved for cart and carriage for horse and man able in one day to support a waight of wonder and vpon the other dissolved into weake Water It pierced deepe into the bowels of the earth and to this day the flowers hearbes plants and trees nay more man and beast fish and fowle haue not recovered their decayed strength but yet feele the effects thereof all to warne vs of our chillerie zeale to God more colde then the Isickles hanging at our doores and strange it is that so many Sunne-shines as haue beene since and showers of Gods mercies still powred vpon vs should not melt our frozen hearts to more speedy repentance and provoke vs to prayer with more deuotion I passe by many strange Eclipses both of Sunne and Moone more frequent and vniuersall than haue been of old darkesome sun bloody Moone prognostications of our dearne light and dead life in the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ wherein with those glorious lights the Sunne of righteousnesse seemes to bee vayled as with the cloud and curtaine of our sinnes Alas and woe is mee therefore wee are fallen from our first loue wee worke not wee shine not as wee did in the dayes of persecution when fire and fagot fined vs for our God And the late inundations with vnseasonable weather in their extremities as of cold so of heate windes and tempests are nothing lesse then prodigies of an irefull God to tell vs of the deluge of our sinnes that of the old world swelling but 15. cubits aboue the highest hils this reaching from the
in his death the Lord would tempt vs with a prodigious birth for so vnualuable a losse nor is it strange a sinfull people should be so threatned because it is vsuall with God to punish our pleasures by contrarie passions as he did the daughters of Sion when in steed of sweet sauour hee threatned a stinke and in steed â—f a girdle a rent in steed of brothered haire baldnes in steed of a stomacher a girding of sacke and sunburning for beautie why not England in steed of a Royal religious issue whereof we are vnworthie with a monsterous birth and mishapen broode of that whore of Babel whose Romish faith and faction the Lord he knoweth doth daily breed euen in the bowels of the kingdom wherin there are but to many doublefaced double harted and double handed fawning stil vpon vs and yet threatning our destruction both with eie heart and hand could they but gaine the opportunitie I speake not this to dismay any but to charge vs of vnthankefulnes for yet we are blessed with the hopefull issue of moe Princes and with many drops of much royall blood and by the grace of God this strong gable of so many cords wil neuer be broken if our sinnes burst it not yet with this caution that we repaire the ruines of this our late losse with speedie repentance and pray withall that God would establish the remaine of our religious hope for his sonnes sake and Syons safetie O but he hath left a desolate court I answere as Ambrose did of Theodotius Non sunt destituti quos pietatis sua reliquit haeredes they are not forsaken or left desolate whom he hath left heires and successors of his princely vertues Religion puissance pietie and clemencie the brightnes whereof will shine to Gods glory and Englands honour so long as Chronicles can speake and bookes be opened I might here obserue as many moe haue done what presages fell out vpon the fall of this faire flower and peerelesse Prince how the two glorious creatures of God both Sunne and Monne were troubled the Sunne scarce seene of twentie daies before his death the Moone opposed with a mightie Rainbowe in the dead and and darkenes of the night bended ouer that house of mourning where he died I might tell how the ayre earth and clouds seemed to be sensible of his fall and to condole his death whiles strange windes storms and tempests with continually shewers raignes and floods Many darke daies Clouds and foggie mists were vpon vs to warne vs of our woe as formerly hath beene obserued of Theodotius and Queene Elizabeth before their deaths Nor can I passe without passion what fell out in the sommer before Prince Henry died at Chattam Where and when a swarme of Bees knit vpon the maine mast of that Royall ship he had made for Englands defence tellng vs that ere long Angels foode from heauen more sweet then Hony or the hony Combe should fill the soule of this Saint to glory and Immortalie yea and swarmes of Gods holy Angels should come downe to fetch him from the maine mast of this earthly kingdome aboue the heauen of heauens there to raigne with God and his Christ for euer A blessed Bee dedeliuered from the sting of sinne and death to the endlesse glorie of life and immortalitie neuer to sin or die any more Nay more then all I haue yet said to make good that there is not an euill in the Citie which the Lord will not reuale to some of his Prophets that Prophet who preached in the morning of his sicknes pointed from aboue at the period of his life when he vttered that text and truth Man that is borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue and is full of miserie It was powerfull in the preacher and passionate in the Prince to bring him to the thoughts of his mortalitie And so my deare brethren to conclude and make vse of all these fearefull signes and prodigies let all these together strike out an allarum to praier and repentance yea and to godly sorrow neuer to be repented of by the sweet perfume and priuiledge whereof soules are saued and bodies deliuered from threatned dangers And not bodies onely that is to say particular persons but states and kingdomes are preserued from all malice of the creatures be they neuer so implacable Are there monstrous and vntimely birthes pray to be regenerate and borne a new not of mortall seede but immortall by the word of God that liueth and endureth for euer Are there fearefull thunderclaps making thy wild heart to shake like the wildernes of Cades stand in awe and sinne not common with thine owne heart in thy chamber and be still say withall it is thou Lord onely that makest me dwell in safetie Are the Sonne and Moone eclipsed deficient in their light darke and bloodie The foole chaungeth like the Moone So saith Siracides and thou art changeable ô Christian when by the motion of Gods spirit thou begins to be religious and by and by falles to be sacriligious Sacriligium creatori committitur dum imbecillitas ascribitur creaturae And therefore it s not the Moone that laboureth for her light but it s thou that labourest in thy sinnes it s thou that chaungest like the Moone O if I might say we fooles chaunge like the Moone for shee shortly returnes to her fulnes we fooles linger our conuersation Illa velociter colligit quod amiserat lumen tu nec tarde fidem recipis quam negasti The Moone doth speedily gaine againe her light that she hath lost we fooles doe hardly in any time recouer the faith we haue denied What should I say more Luna defectum luminis patitur tu salutis The Moone suffereth but the losse of her light thou of thy saluation Grauior ergo tua quam lunae mutatio More dangerous therefore by much is the eclipse of thy soule than is the eclipse either of Sunne or Moone But it may be some man will say doth neither Sunne nor Moone labour in the eclipse doubtles they doe and that continually For we cannot denie but they labour with other creatures as the Apostle saith and grone with vs also trauelling in paine together vnto this present desiring the day of their deliuerance out of the vanitie of corruption wherein they are Leaue off therefore to looke vpon the defects of those glorious lights vnles thou looke vpon the staines and blemishes of thy wicked life For how is it possible for the drunkard in his wine the wanton in his lust or the couetous man in his wealth to looke vpon the Moone and see the things that are in heauen when he knoweth not rightly how to vse or discerne of things that are on earth Are there new Stars vncoth and vnknowne Doe they blaze in the heauens and moue thee to wonder what may be the effect Say with the Sages and then art thou wise vidimus stellam eius in oriente
the fiery furnance Lazarus from the graue and Christ from his crosse yea and all his Elect from death and doome when they shall meete him in the cloudes and be caught vp to raigne with him for euermore with palmes in their hands in signe of victorie and crownes vpon their heads in signe of glory Lastly and not the least to our comfort read and you shall find how oftentimes and for the most part the Lord doth answere vs according to that we should aske and not according to that we doe aske as he did Iacob who sought a leader to Haram and God shewed him a ladder to heauen And Saul who sought his fathers asses found a kingdome the Maries sought Christ dead but they found him risen And that Saint at Sychar sought but puddle water at Iacobs well but she found went away with the water of life Surely the rule is true vberior gracia quam precatio Gods grace is more abounding then either we can desire or deserue the theefe vpon the crosse craued but a memento when Christ should come into his kingdome and he had a promise euen that day of a perpetuitie in paradise To iustifie that I haue said Vberior gracia quam precatio and therefore pray with good hope to be heard be your prayers neuer so many powerfull or piercing yet shall ye find his grace wil be euermore abouÌ„ding brimfull and flowing ouer I may not be long and therefore passe to the last part of the text which is the reward crowne and diadem of our prayer bossed with many blessings from the Lord more precious then the Carbuncle Topas or Chrisolite And seldome haue you heard or read of a powerfull prayer from an holy heart without remuneration froÌ„ the Lord for as you here see inuocation is crowned with saluation It shall be that whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued who euer prayed and found not the Lord propitious who euer made intreatie vnto his God and had not a blessing returned into his bosome It is said of Augustus Caesar that neuer suter departed from him disconteÌ„ted that Titus Suetonius thought the day lost wherein he did not good to some A milder more mercifull Sauiour is here then all the Caesars clapt in one euen our good God called Deus a dando God in creating but good in giuing for who hath gone from him discontented who hath trusted in him and beene deceiued Come vnto me all ye that trauell and be heauie loaden I will ease you it is his gracious call Be of good comfort my little flocke it is your fathers will to giue you a kingdome it is his glorious crowne Aske ye shall haue seeke ye shall finde knocke and it shall be opened vnto you it is his irreuocable promise at which the gates of heauen fly open and against which the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile only wrastle with God for a blessing till you haue wearied both God and your selues The aduertisement is good from the prophet Ye that are mindfull of the Lord keepe not silence and giue him no rest till he haue repaired your ruines and set vp Ierusalem the ioy of the world But what may be the different blessings we receiue from God by our prayer and wherunto the Lord hath tyed himselfe by promise for the performance not for our merit but for his mercies sake Surely they are many and they are Remarkable if you please to rancke them thus First by the sufferage of prayer all the creatures of God are sanctified to our vse so saith the blessed Apostle Euery creature of God is good and nothing â—ought to be refused if it be receiued with thankesgiuing for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer Stamped with the word of God vpon the one side and with the perfume of prayer vpon the other then is it a Shikel for the sanctuarie Our meate our drinke our corne our cattell our clothes and lodging our wiues children and families our labours in our vocations our King and kingdome our Church and Common-wealth nay our liues and deaths must be sanctified with our prayer otherwise though the creatures be good in themselues yet are we profane in the vsage And therefore our Sauiour when he had performed all to his death and passion yet shutteth it vp with this powerfull prayer Father now the hower is come glorifie thy Sonne As and if he should haue said I haue prayed I haue preached I haue wached I haue fasted I haue cured malladies and saued soules I haue giuen life and forgiuen sinnes I haue done my fathers busines on earth now let me be glorified in heauen I pray for that which is past that it may be sanctified and I pray for that which is to come that it may be glorified Father now the hower is come glorifie thy Sonne c. Ierom in his booke de laudibus Bethlem doth much commend the Christian carriage of that place and people in the vsage of Gods gifts and creatures euen from the Prince in his Pallace to the Plowman in the field Of whom he saith Arator ad Stiuam semper aliquid cantat dauidieum The Plowman with his stilt in his hand doth still folace his soule with some psalme of Dauid And surely God speed the plowe were no bad prayer when the labourer taketh the stilt in his hand but I feare it is done of fewe And if all our manuall trades were sanctified first and last euery day with prayer and prayses for a blessing they could not but prosper much better There is much pouertie in y e world and it is no maruell for that men worke not yea but many worke and yet are neuer the richer that 's possible too for that men pray not they spend their thrift in drinking when they should bestow their time in praying the creature is not sanctified with the word of God and prayer In the name of the father and of the sonne and of the holy Ghost is neither fond begninng nor foolish ending of all thy labours blessed worke so begun blessed worke so done so it be said of conscience and not of course without hypocrisie in the heart or superstition in the thought surely such perfume is like the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed its sweet as balme and therefore breake it its fragrant as Myrrhe and therfore vse it euer dropping from the binges of thy heart lippes and hands A second blessing that commeth by prayer is the forgiuenes of sins for by the sufferage of prayer sinnes are pardoned couered concealed As may appeare by Moses his intreatie with God for the people either to forgiue the trespasse Israel had committed or else to rase him out of the booke of life he had his prayer and the people were both spared and pardoned Blood and prayer shall reconcile God and the people for as the text saith the priest shall