Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	egypt_n	moses_n	pharaoh_n	2,863	5	10.3611	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93242	Judgement and mercy: or, The plague of frogges [brace] inflicted, removed. Delivered in nine sermons, by the late reverend and learned divine Mr. Iosias Shute, Arch-deacon of Colchester, and preacher at St. Mary Woolnoth, in London: with his usuall prayers before and after sermon. Whereunto is added a sermon preached at his funerall, by Mr. Ephraim Vdall. Imprimatur. Ja. Cranford. Octob. 29. 1644.	Shute, Josias, 1588-1643.; Udall, Ephraim, d. 1647. Sermon preached at the funerall of Mr. Shute.	1645 (1645)	Wing S3715; Thomason E299_1; Thomason E299_2; ESTC R200245	134,491	230

with their inchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said Intreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me c. WEE come now to the event of this judgement The event is threefold First here is the like done by the Magicians verse 7. Secondly the removall of this judgement to the end of verse 14. Thirdly the further obduration of Pharaohs heart verse 15. that determines this judgement In the first of these the practice of the Magicians we may observe here The work men the Magicians And their instrument as I may so call it their incantations and inchantments And then the effect of their worke and operation They did so they brought frogs But concerning these Magicians and their inchantments I spake somewhat formerly therefore I shall say the lesse now I shewed then how the Devill hath made use of Magicians and inchanters in all times of the world and that for his owne mischievous respects For first hereby he hath perverted many noble and worthy Sciences such as Naturall Philosophy Astronomy Astrology Arithmaticke and Musique and turned the edge of them against God that founded and ordered them for his glory Secondly the Devill hath wronged hereby that that is the Queene of Sciences Theology while he hath diverted mens mindes from necesary truths and lead them captive to foule errours Thirdly the Devill by meanes of magicke and inchantments hath fomented heresies in the world Therefore it is no vaine observation that the great heretiques of the primitive times they were most of them Magicians upon search it will prove so Simon of Samaria called Niger he was held to bee the great power of God he made the people believe he could flye in the aire and that no army of men could apprehend him and hee could make trees grow on the sudden After him came one Menander that Iustin Martyr speakes of he profest great matters When he came to Antioch he gave out that he and his disciples should never dye he had power to preserve himselfe from mortality Ireneus speakes of a foule hereticke that was a Magician that would shew tricks that would turne the wine in the Eucharist when it was white he would make it red and fill a greater vessell with a lesser divers of those pranks he played So the History saith concerning Basilidas and Martion he was a Magician Eusebius speakes the like of Montanus in whose heresie Tertullian though else a good man was tardie The people when they saw such great works as these they thought the doctrine must needs be of God Fourthly the Devill hath gained much by this practise in the world for he not only got admiration but adoration When such kinde of workes as these have been admired in a wondrous and unlimited manner adoration hath followed to the person The Devill would give all the world to Christ to fall down and worship him Mat. 4. And he prevailed so farre with people as to sacrifice their children to Devils Psal 106.37 And it is well knowne by stories of the Indian parts that most of those people sacrifice to the Devill and worship him Lastly the Devill by magicke and sorcery and witchcraft hath not only begotten but nourished and perfected many foule sinnes in the world in practise As lust hath beene perfected through magicke spells inchantments have beene used for the abusing of poore people Revenge hath been perfected through magick I thinke you will say by your owne experience that most of the witches that ever have beene discovered have beene so by malice So sometime it hath served as a bawd to covetousnesse to bring wealth All that I will say because I will not draw my Saw the same way againe is to advise you in all things to keepe moderation for it is easie for a man to goe too farre Even in naturall Philosophie some people have so pored on the creature that they have turned Atheists And in Astrologie men have so oversotted themselves that judiciously and conclusively they have turned the courses of men calculated their nativity and they will tell what death a man shall dye as if they were of Gods privie Councell Nay Beloved in Divinity it is possible for a man to transgresse his bounds if he be not wise to sobriety Therefore it is good advice let there be humility and sobriety A man may easily in the great deepe of Divinity passe beyond his depth his feet being carried away by the streame It is easie for the flye that flutters about the candle to burne her wings Saith Nazianzen in his sixteenth Oration It were better for a man to bee sluggish a little then too curious to seeke into those retired secrets that God hath kept secret So much for that I will say no more of the persons and of their inchantments but only one thing It seemes that Pharaoh soon sent for these people when the judgement was on him These were the men that he trusted in and he thinks to have ease by them he will see what can be done A man would have thought he should goe to God and make his peace with him to take off the edge of the judgement that way But will you have it Carnall mindes in distresse when the judgements of God are upon them their first course is to seek carnall meanes and comforts That is the first thing God is sought in the last place When Cain received his judgement from God to be a runnagate over the face of the earth to finde consistence in no corner he will see if he can disappoint the judgement by building of Cities as if he could lenifie his inward torment by his outward imployment So we see it was with Saul when he was troubled with an evill spirit those that were about him suggested that it was fit for him to seeke a man that was excellent in musique that he by his skill that way might helpe to condole his disturbed thoughts There was no looking up to God to make his peace with him that sent that judgement on him So in 1 Sam. 28. when he was in distresse he runs to the witch at Endor and she must tell him the successe of the battell Thus it was with Ahaziah he sends to Baalzebub the god of Ekron to consult if he should recover of his sicknesse Thus it was with those people in Ieremiah when they were told that the Caldeans should invade them they cast themselves upon the hope of Ethiopia and Egypt and made account that they should sustaine them in their adversity and raise the siege of the other Army So we see in the New Testament when Iudas was stricken with horrour of soule he comes back to the high Priests thinking to finde some comfort there Like to Belteshazer when he saw the hand-writing upon the wall he sends for his Astrologians and other people that he put confidence in and thinkes that they could helpe him out of the brakes

doe so Psal 143.9 I flye to thee O God to hide me Flye to God not from God make him thy protection under his wings thou shalt be safe live in the feare and obedience of his holy Name and then the field and the house and the chamber and the desart shall be all one thou shalt not feare though thou walke in the shadow of death But if thou live in a contemptuous course against God it will bee just with God that thou shouldest feare where no feare is And if the Lord suspend the execution of judgement for a time at last all thy feares shall be put together when thou shalt be summoned to judgement and then it will be in vaine to say O let the hills and mountaines fall upon me Saith the Father It is impossible to hide and intollerable to appeare For every man must be brought forth to give an account for what he hath done in the flesh whether it be good or evill THE THIRD SERMON Vpon EXOD. CHAP. 8. VERS 3. And they shall come up into thine house and into thy bed-chamber and upon thy bed and into the house of thy servants and upon thy people and into thine ovens and into thy kneading-troughs WEE go on now in the further amplification of the judgement It is said here They shall come into thy bed-chamber and upon thy bed They shall not only come out of the river and come into a strange soile but they shall come to annoy thee not only into thy house the lower parts of it but into thy bed-chamber and they shall not content themselves with the floore but they shall climbe up to thy bed that even then when thou shouldest rest thou shalt bee annoyed with these base creatures How ever some translate the word here bed for such beds as they used to eat their meat upon yet this word signifies such beds as men rest on and being joyned here with bed chamber bed and bed chamber I make no question but it was such a bed as Pharaoh used take his rest on in the night And this aggravates the judgement extreamly If he might have beene quiet in the night which is the time that nature hath allotted to rest and the time where in a man hopes by rest and sleep to forget the cares and sorrowes of the day and to be refreshed and comforted yet God tells him that these creatures shall come in this place where he meanes to repose himselfe and shall disturbe him where he would take rest Doe you but judge what a kinde of judgement this was if the chamber you lye in should be full of toads and frogs that you were scarce able to step besides them that they should continually leap upon your bodies and upon your beds as if they would enter into your bodies for so the Jewes thinke that the frogs entred into the mouthes of many of them as they slept but I stand not upon that I note and observe that God threatneth this disturbance in the night to Pharaoh when he should rest It may be observed not only that Ged is able to punish in the night as well as in the day But that God makes his judgements so much the more terrible by bringing them in the night For this circumstance of time addes wondrously to the weight of this judgement When God would bring that fearfull judgement upon Egypt the last and greatest that decimus fluctus the tenth wave that was the mightiest of all other The slaughter of the first bourne God did it in the night in the dead of the night The text saith Exod. 12.31 Pharaoh and all his servants arost and there was acry through the land of Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one slaine O fearfull a man to bee awaked out of his dead sleep with such a crie and such a generall crie and such a crie for which there was such a cause a generall lamentation of the land of Egypt and Pharaoh himselfe was not free this made the wound deep In 2 King 7. the Assyrians were slaine in the night for by breake of the day they were all gone they heard noyses in the night You know if a man be awaked out of his sleepe with a noyse of fire and heare a generall crie in the street it amazeth him and sends his bloud backe to his heart to nourish that it makes his haire stand an end So it was with them to heare a noyse of chariots So when God would aggravate his judgement against Sennacherib though all his people went well to their rest yet before morning there was so many slaine They were all dead corpses in the morning David in Psal 91.5 speaks of the terrours of the night I will not tell you what they are they are different and various as one reckons up a great many of them Terrours of the night there be and fearfull affrightings and therefore the greater because they are in the night It hath beene the opinion of no meane men of the Church that Christ shall come at the last judgement in the night Lactantius saith so more then once that hee shall come in the darke night and he cites a verse of the Sibills to that purpose Amids the darke night Ierome inclines to this opinion And Casidor upon the 118. Psa saith That it was commonly received among the Christans that it should be so They build upon the time because the first-borne in Egypt were slaine in the night And it may be because our Blessed Saviour was apprehended in the night to be brought to judgement therefore his last judgement shall seize upon men in the night and they build it upon the Parable in the Gospell Christ shall come as a thiefe in the night And two being in a bed one shall be taken and the other left And so of the Bridegroomes comming There shall be a crie at midnight Mat. 25. But this is no firme ground and therefore I dare not stand upon it Certainly Christ hath made that uncertaine whether it shall be at evening or at midnight or at Cock crowing or at the dawning of the day as himself saith Againe it is against the principles of Nature for it is not midnight to all the world at one time for when it is midnight to us the Sunne to other people is in the verticle point at noone day Therfore except the judgement shall be at severall times this will not hold And if we goe by probability as Scotus saith why should we not thinke it shall be at that time when Christ rose that is in the morning or when he ascended or when hee expired and gave out his last breath on the crosse But it may well be that Christ would shew us the uncertainty of his comming And I may adde withall to come to the point I observed to shew the terror of his comming to judgement in the night it is more terrible I appeale to any of you that have had an accute

command them to ascend So the Septuagint is Fetch thou them forth We must acknowledge the power of God to be infinite Yet observe The workes that are his owne he attributes to men Aaron is said to bring them The bringing of Israel out of Egypt it was the worke of God with a mighty Arme none but God could doe it He assumes it oft-times I am the Lord that brought thee out of the land of Egypt So those holy people acknowledged Nehemiah and Daniel O God that broughtest us out of Egypt Yet this act is attributed to Moses and Aaron So God saith to Gedeon Iud. 6. Goe and deliver Israel yet it was God that must doe it So it is said of Samson and Shamger and Othoneele and Samuel that they delivered Israel And God saith to Moses Sanctifie to me the people against the third day yet God must sanctifie them So we see in the New Testament that conversion is attributed to Ministers and remission of sinnes Whose sinnes ye remit are remitted Nay and the saving of men 1 Tim. 4.11 This is the honour of Gods Saints God not only useth them but attributes to them what is done To arm them against discouragements though many things obstaculous to them lye in the way and confront them and be impediments to them yet let them be comforted in this the issue and effect that is wrought God will please to honour them with it he will part with some of his owne to give them he will put a splendour on Moses and make him glorious in the eyes of all the people God is content to give Iehu honour The sword of the Lord and of Gedeon Though indeed we must take heed if we be sensible of the honour that God puts upon men when he imployes them that we doe nothing to diminish the glory of God The Devill is so subtle and the corruption of mans heart is so great that he desires praise to himselfe So that oft-times the chiefe Lord suffers by the unfaithfulnesse of his Steward Let us take heed if God honour us for doing good things by him assume not so much to our selves whereby Gods glory may be diminished Let me apply it to those of the Church God hath honoured them exceedingly that he hath made them fellow workers with himselfe to dispense the great mysteries of the Kingdome And it is the observation of Chrysostome when the Prodigall returned the father doth not bid him goe to the wardrobe and take the best robe but he said to the servants Goe and fetch it He would have the servants imployed for the benefit of the sonne that the meanes might be brought in credit That shewes how much the world is beholding to the Ministers of the Word We are co-workers with God which as it may comfort us for the present so it shall adde to our crowne afterward But let us take heed that we give the glory to God and not take to our selves any thing that may diminish Gods honour Let us be of the spirit of Paul I laboured more then all yet not I but the grace of God in me Saith Austen Nos mandamus c. we do not give the increase we doe but helpe and this that we can helpe is not of our selves but the grace of God Paul may plant and Apollo may water but it is God that must give the increase Not unto us not unto us but to thy Name be the praise given So should be the speech of every one We are Stars but we are Stars in the right hand of our Blessed Lord and he is the Sun of righteousnesse So we have it by derivation from him we shine in a borrowed light Secondly for people since God hath advanced Ministers know the necessity of their calling though God made you without them he will not save you without them Know that you must reverence them for their workes sake Shew your respect by doing that which is commanded for therein lyes the especiall respect to a Minister when that is practised that he teacheth In the last place since God reckons things done by his servants as theirs when he doth it Let all people that doe any thing for God take heed of stroaking their owne heads It is the errour of Rome in doctrine and in practise they make mens good works meritorious and make themselves saviours When we have done all we can we are unprofitable and God workes all good things in us and all our works for us That as Austen saith It is certaine O God he that reckons up his owne merits what doth he reckon but thy gifts We may have comfort and contentment in our consciences and may glory in those things that God hath given us in the temptations of Satan but let us not ascribe that to our selves that belongs to God for God begins the worke and perfects it to his owne praise So much for that Now we come to the execution Aaron did so and upon the doing of it there came an innumerable company of frogs that covered Egypt here observe The wonderfull power of God how speedily and easily and at what a distance he can worke Aaron no sooner stretcheth forth his rod but this was done he doth it speedily And hee doth but stretch out the rod and all these creatures come abundantly And he doth but put forth the rod toward the river Saith Tostatus he was now in the Court of Pharaoh yet all this was done therefore he workes at a great distance Thus is the power of God remarkable in working quickly and easily and at a great distance I will not stand long on these things because in many passages we meet with it God at the first made the world and with a word He spake the word and all was made Therefore those Epicures and Atheists that aske what ladder and engine he had to raise this goodly frame they may be answered by that in the Psalme He made them by his word For as he speakes in his workes The heavens declare the glory of God so he works in his speeches Nay the very will of God not only his word but his will I will be thou cleane not only speake the word and my servant shall be whole but I will How soone and how easily and at what a distance did the Lord destroy the Army of Pharaoh in the red Sea Exod. 14. So I might tell you of Sodome Saith Tully the heathen God can doe all things without labour and defatigation Saith the old Poet All things are easie to God he knowes how to worke when he sits still Therefore for the Use of it in a word Let us stand in awe of God if the Lord can so easily and quickly and speedily and at such a distance worke it is in vaine to contend and strive against his power God doth not need to fetch an Army of men to overthrow poore sinners he can doe it by frogs by the least creatures by his word he can drowne the

whole world Well may we incline his mercy by our repentance but certainly we can never doe our selves good by resisting Secondly never measure the worke of God by any distance It was a fault in Naaman the Assyrian when he was to be cured of his leprosie Elisha said Goe wash in Iordan saith he I thought he would have come out and have laid his hand upon the sore as if it could not be wrought without touching So it was some infirmity in the Ruler Goe downe before my sonne dye As if Christ could doe nothing without he were present So Ioh. 11. saith Martha Lord if thou hadst beene here my brother had not dyed As if God could not have prevented it at a great distance The Lord is able to shew mercy from heaven and to execute wrath as farre Why doe we speake of distance when the Lord is every where and fills all places No man is able to get out of the circumference where God is not The Lord is present in all places and doth what he will in heaven and earth where and how he will there is no flying from his presence if a man goe to heaven or to hell or to the utmost parts of the sea there shall the hand of God finde him out We come to another thing And the frogs came up and covered all the land of Egypt Mark how God inlargeth the judgement not one part of the land but all the land was covered with these vermin God sometimes smites a whole family as we see in the family of Abimelech Gen. 12. And God threatneth to smite whole families head and foot Deut. 28. God smites sometimes whole Cities as we see Samaria had a famine a fearfull one and Ierusalem was vexed by famine that as Iosephus saith The children were taught a new way into their mothers wombe againe they were faine to eat them for hunger I God smites divers Cities together as the sisters of Sodome Nay God sometimes proceeds to smite a whole Country The sinne of Saul was punished in the dayes of Ahab for three years the heavens were shut up till the bridle of heaven Eliah unloosed them So God visited the whole world I will not speake of that great plague that Evagrius saith in his time there was a plague that continued in the world fifty yeares together though it possessed not all the world at one time yet successively it went over all We have examples in Scripture God overthrew the whole world by water and will he not when he shall bring a deluge of fire at the last The reason why God makes his judgements so generall is the generality of sinne Looke in all the instances I mentioned Pharaoh and Abimelech So in the City of Samaria that was punished it was full of sinne the greatest sinnes of all Israel were in that Metropolis The sinne of Israel is Samaria The Prophet makes a sad complaint against Ierusalem being the worst So that City of Sodome you may easily see how ill they were that solicited God for vengeance that there were not ten righteous men found there if there had they had secured all It was an epidemicall complaint a generall disease So we may say of the dayes of Saul when there was such a generall famine it was for a foule sinne Nay all the whole land was tainted So in the dayes of Ahab they were full of Idolatry and wickednesse Eliah complained that there was such a generall defection that he saw none besides himselfe to serve God though God told him of seven thousand that bowed not their knees to Baal yet what were these to all Israel And in the dayes of the Prophets and in the old world the bloud and stain of sinne was so bad that God knew not else how to wash out that staine So at the last day Iniquity shall abound therefore God will bring fire to consume them For the Use of this Solomon saith He went by the field of the sluggard and received instruction Let us see how Gods judgements have spread The destroying Angell hath been in all places he hath not stricken all places at once but he goeth further and extends himselfe Surely there is a generality of sinne I would God I had nothing to accuse mine owne Nation of as Paul saith But why should I hold my peace when the sinnes of the land proclaime themselves as the sinnes of Sodome Who shall censure me or any Minister for laying downe the cause of the plague Looke on some sinnes how generall is the sinne of pride A common sinne that fills the land from Dan to Beersheba in every corner even to her that grindes at the mill Nothing will keepe people from vanity this way How common is the sinne of excesse The sinne of the Court of the City of the Country and among the base Gadarens this Devill is entred into a herd of swine It is come into the Country and every roome smells of it Nay how doth this sinne reigne in this City that the Lords day is divided betweene the Tavernes and the Church Nay will you not say that the Devill goes with the better part So for swearing for oaths the land mournes A common generall sinne that unnecessary vaine sinne The oaths of men are like Ioabs sword ever drawne out men can scarcely speake but they must sweare A man can come into no company or place but his righteous soule will be vexed with this blasphemy against God Nay I would to God we could say that perjurie were not growne to a great height men have no care of oaths though it were held sacred among the heathen What shall I say of uncharitablenesse It is a crying grosse common sinne and a great number that seem to professe Religion that are most forward and zealous this way The truth is they are brinish salt lights that spit and burne and scald they care not what dead flyes they cast into this oyntment It is far from the power of Religion and the holy fire of charity I could instance in a great number but what should I trouble you By these you may gather that God hath a just controversie with this Nation of ours and the sin being so generall these frogs creeping in every corner and croaking in every nooke when God sends his judgements in every coast we must not but say He his righteous The last thing which I will conclude with is this This judgement as it was the second so it seemes to be much greater then the former for in the former judgement there was but the turning of the nature of a thing the turning the water into bloud but here there is a creating of an innumerable company of frogs Againe there some might escape there is no other likelihood but the Noble-men and the King himselfe and many of ability might have wine and other juices and waters to satisfie their thirst but here there was not a man in the Kingdome but had frogs leaping upon him and

haile But these are to terrifie only not to perswade as we may know by the experience of them for they are against sense and reason Now all those that suffer them may well be said to sustaine them and not to doe them they are meerly passive whatsoever is done is rather done upon them then by them that must be their comfort though they be exagitated in this kinde and troubled God gives the Devill leave to play his prises in his owne ground it is for their greater comfort and for the Devills confusion For I have ever observed those people that have felt them in the greatest measure have had tender consciences and have beene more sanctified in their lives and conversations ever after So then beloved we must not thinke strange if God suffer sometimes this wicked one to play his prises hee doth it for the further confusion of him as for Iob as Austen saith Iob was proved and the Devill confounded The second question will be this Why Pharaoh was so earnest to have frogs brought had he not enough of that judgement yet by that that Aaron and Moses had done All the land crawled and they came up upon the body of Pharaoh and into his bed-chamber and molested him to the full what would he have more frogs Know It is the property of way ward froward mindes not to be so sensible of the smart of the judgement as they are willing to illude it If a wicked man could hee would not see God in a judgement and take knowledge of him Surely this was the humour of them in the dayes of Noah when it rained abundantly in that manner they were rather ready to impute it to naturall causes then to see God in it or else they would have waded to the Arke even to the middle and have intreated entertainment there rather then have stood out So you shall finde it was with those Philistines when Dagon was fallen and broken in pieces that they saw apparently he was not able to helpe himselfe he was fallen in the presence of the same Arke the victory over which they ascribed to their god yet they impute it to mischance and to want of attendance they would not see God in it And in the same Chapter when they were smote with Emerods for keeping the Arke they continued seven months before they would see God in it till there was an outcrie among the people none will acknowledge that God was the cause of that fearfull judgement So we see the Assyrians had a great defeat by the people of Israel 1 King 12. yet rather then they would acknowledge God to bee the cause of it they thinke it was the advantage of the place if they fought with them in the valley they should overcome them for they thought God was only the God of the mountaines So it was with the very Pharisees rather then they would acknowledge Gods worke in our Blessed Saviours great Workes of casting out of Devills because they can doe somewhat that way they blaspheme and say He cast out Devills by the Devill So oft in the world if a man have sicknesse and disease he thinks of the meat he hath eaten and imputes it to the house and to the aire but never looks to God So in distresse of conscience when a man comes to trouble and horrour of soule he is loath to thinke other a great while then that it is melancholy and thus he nourisheth himselfe in that vaine and idle conceit Againe you may observe how A wayward froward minde by his owne courses hasteneth his owne woe Pharaoh would have conclusions tried by the Magicians and behold they bring more frogs then there were before So a perverse minde will ever doe mischiefe enough to it selfe Sarah will be trying conclusions because the Lord did not grant her a childe in her owne time but she prayed for it for she was wonderfully troubled by the pettulancie and insolencie of her maid and by the flearing and jearing of Ishmael Nay and all her posterity fared the worse for the Hagarens were great enemies to Israel So it was with those Israelites they were passionate they must have a King nothing will serve them but the satisfying of their owne desire they were confident of their owne purpose though they were forewarned of the difficulty and inconvenience yet they must have it though they repented at large So Davids heart was set upon numbering of the people Ioab modestly and faithfully disswades him it will not be he reaped to himselfe a great measure of repentance so I might shew in other particulars Let a violent minde alone to it selfe and it will be torment enough to it selfe Saith Austen an inordinate minde is alway a sufficient tormenter Let us ever take heed of perversenesse and frowardnesse these are ill guides we follow that that will lead us to fearfull precipices A man that is distempered is ever apt to goe out at the wrong doore Pharaoh had more need to have desired the Magicians to remove the judgement then to bring more frogs But he desired to have his humour satisfied this way though it tend to his further woe So much for that question A third question is What kinde of frogs these were Some say that they were true frogs and that the Devill brought them from other places secretly and invisibly and so laid them there before Pharaoh Beloved there is no impossibility in this for it is well knowne the Devill is of great power he can transport the body of a man from place to place then he can bring creatures quickly from one place to another Many strange things are told Albertus Magnus tells us of the rayning of many great creatures that might be by the Devill The story tells us of Gigas that was invisible to people It might not be so much by vertue of the ring as by the Devill So he made Images to move and to speak Arius Maximus tells us of the Image of Ionia that when it was asked whether it would goe to Rome or no answered I. That Image of Fortune that when they spake to it shee answered You consecrate merightly Certainly the Devills power is great and he is able to doe more then wee are able to expresse Therefore by the way I would not have people sleight his power too much There are a great many people in the world that make a tush of the Devills power We have heard in former times of Fairies and Hobgoblins and walking Spirits and they have learned so to contemne those that the Devill is no way terrible to them But let them know what the Scripture saith concerning him He is the Prince of the aire and is able there to make stormes and fearfull noise he is able to make the sea swell and roare he is able to demolish the greatest building to pull downe trees and plants that are fetled he is able to afflict the bodies of men in a fearfull manner you know how he

counterfeits the workes of God how should we labour for fincerity And this will difference us from all the hypocrites in the world The Painter can paint the colour of flame and the bowing forme but not the heat So an hypocrite may goe as a Saint in outward performances he may fast and pray and communicate and give almes and what can he not doe but when it comes to sincerity of soule there is a broad difference they are wide the whole heavens Therefore let us labour to have our hearts upright and then God will passe by many infirmities where hee sees sincerity Far be it from us of being ambitious of so much holinesse as may make the world only believe that we are religious It is the fault of many that resort to the congregations to get an opinion Let us not desire to please men but to love God and to please him our care being alway to please God and not to deceive the world and cousen them We may draw a mist before their eyes easily to cousen them they judge by our words and workes and cannot goe further but God judgeth the heart If he see us as the apples of Sodome as a faire glove on a foule hand and like the Sepulchres that Christ speakes of that within are full of rottennesse we shall have the greater judgement There be too many of these braggers as Basil calls them those that make a shew of what they are not The time will come when God will wash off this seeming with rivers of brimstone An hypocrite certainly if there be any place lower in hell he shall have it So I have done with the third question One observation more before I leave the verse that shal be profitable These Magicians resembled the rod brought serpents and after turned the water into bloud and now the third time they satisfie Pharaoh so farre that he thinkes that they were true frogs that they brought so he seemed to stand out against the judgement of God for the time See how farre God suffers wicked practises to prosper and succeed the first second and third time There are many examples of this in Scripture Iosephs brethren you know what they did to their brother and how cleane they carried it away after they had dipped his coat in bloud and brought it to their old father the poore credulous old man he thought indeed a wilde beast had devoured him and so they stand as upright in his opinion as before This slept twenty years they went cleare David himselfe had a minde to Bathsheba he sends for her she comes and becomes pregnant by him he desires to enjoy her without a rivall her husband stands in the way he sends a letter and causeth him to be slaine every thing prospers according to his desire So Ahab and Iezebel shee gets letters written and sends to the Judges they entertaine them and subborne false witnesses Naboth is convinced condemned and stoned Ahab comes and takes possession there is not a rubbe in all these smooth paths So the accusers of Daniel they get the King to make an edict to trap the good man every thing succeeds they have not a rub till he comes and was cast into the den We see in experience the lustfull man here he layes a bait and sees a base fellow to be officious to him his minde is satisfied as Amnons was upon his sister So with the covetous man he that sets it downe with a full resolution that he will be rich he takes these and these unjust courses they prosper and succeed his ships come home his merchandize come in hee attaines that hee would have So the ambitious man he is officious with this courtier and flatters and soothes with that he ascends up by degrees all the rounds of honour till hee come to be the only man So the avengefull man hee attaines his purpose as we see Absolom he makes no question all is done and he himselfe shall not be detected by any body they were willing to punish Amnon and so he continues without repentance Some man may aske the reason how it comes to passe that these wicked businesses should succeed and prosper and goe on with incouragement First God will shew mercy to the vessells of wrath Rom. 9. that wicked men may be inexcusable when hee shall rise to judgement God shall say I was long before I pulled my hand out of my bosome Secondly the Lord doth it in just judgement because wicked men contemne his grace and favour for the further obduration of them As in Rom 1. when they turned the glory of God into the similitude of a beast that eateth hay God turned them up to their owne lusts to be transported with their owne affections and they received thereby the recompence of their sinne Thirdly God doth this for the triall of his children To goe no further then this instance Was it not a wondrous probate of Moses and Aarou to see these men prosper what the first second and third time to be successefull Moses comes with this perswasion to the land of Egypt that he should doe those signes in the fight of Pharaoh that should not only convince them but incline them to a dismission of the people and now to be matched with a company of Inchanters All their glory and authority lay upon these workes and now for these to doe these the first second and third time how did this set backe the worke of God For if Pharaoh were fomented in his obstinacie how could they expect deliverance this was a great probate of them and God intended it for that purpose For the Use of this remember alway that successe is a poore ground to justifie an action upon The heathen-man could say in his time Felix c. If one have successe in wickednesse it is accounted a virtue Dionysius after he had robbed Esculapius Temple and had a faire wind he thought that the Gods loved sacriledge And it may be Ieroboam loved Idolatrie the better because he heard of the Prophets punishment that was seduced that spake against the Altar And those in Ier. 44. thought well of offering cakes to the Queene of heaven because they had all abundance Like the argument that one makes for the restitution of the Idolatrie of Rome because it is a flourishing Commonwealth Among Bellarmines arguments one of his notes of the Church is Externall felicity The successe of things is but a poore ground to goe upon yet many men reason so in these times As the worldly man will say that the Minister saith oft that God will plague such and such sinnes as I know my selfe guilty of yet I finde no checke of conscience no man is able to controll mee I prosper in my bames as well as another man and my come is as thicke and my line holds my businesse prospers I thinke that God is not so offended with me as some ministers talke of Many a man nourisheth his heart as in a