religiously assembled in this place are the elect of God chosen by him in Christ Iesus * Ephes 1.4 before the foundation of the world to bee holy and without blame before him in loue yet I feare me should we enter into our owne hearts and examine our selues how we haue walked in dutifulnesse towards him our best course will be to runne vnto him with a Peccanimus in our mouthes Lord we haue z Luk. 15.18 sinned against heauen and before thee and are not worthy to be called thy seruants By the first branch of our duty we are required to be obedient seruants but we haue beene a Ezech. 2.4 hard offace and stiffe hearted a rebellious of-spring like vnto our fathers By the second branch of our duty wee are required to be faithfull seruants but we haue made a couenant with b Rom. 6.19 vncleannesse and iniquity to serue them By the third branch of our duty we are required to bee profitable seruants but when wee should haue c Mat. 25.27 put our Lords mony to the exchangers for his greater vantage we haue d Vers 25. hid it in the earth Lord enter not into account with vs e Iob 9.3 wee cannot answer thee one of a thousand Now dearely beloued suffer a word of exhortation let the remembrance of your holy duties by you to be performed to the Lord your God be like f Ecclus 49.1 the composition of the perfume that is made by the art of the Apothecary sweet as hony in your mouths and as musicke at a banket of wine Bee it vnto you g Ezech. 16.11 12. as bracelets vpon your hands as chaines about your necks as frontlets vpon your faces as earings in your eares as beautifull crownes vpon your heads let it bee written in your hearts as h Ierem. 17.1 with a pen of iron or point of a Diamond neuer to bee razed out Shall I deliuer this your duty vnto you in blessed Pauls words In blessed Pauls words this is your duty to i 1 Thes 2.12 walke worthy of the Lord Coloss 1.10 To walke worthy your vocation Ephes 4.1 To walke as children of the light Ephes 5.8 To walke in newnesse of life Rom. 6.4 To walke in loue Ephes 5.2 To haue your conuersation as it becommeth the Gospell of Christ Phil. 1.27 To behaue your selues honestly towards them that are without 1 Thess 4.12 To walke honestly as in the day Rom. 13.13 If you take thought k Rom. 13.14 for your flesh to fulfill the lusts of it if your eyes are l 1 Ioh. 2.11 blindeâ— with m 2 Tim. 3.4 loue of pleasures if you haue n Ephes 5.11 fellowship with the vnfruitfull workes of darknesse you are out of the way and doe much faile in the performance of your holy duty And to keepe you the better in the right way let me plainly tell you out of 1 Cor. 6.9 and Ephes 5.5 That neither Idolaters nor the couetous nor extortioners nor theeues nor adulterers nor fornicators nor buggerers nor wantons nor drunkards nor raylers shall haue any inheritance in the kingdome of God Haue not some of vs beene such yet to such there is ministred a word of comfort 1 Cor. 6.11 First is our accusation Such were some of you then followeth our comfort but yee are washed but ye are saâ—ctified but ye are iustified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of God Is this true beloued Are we washed and sanctified and iustified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of God why then resolue we to follow S. Paules aduice Phil. 4.8 Whatsoeuer things are true and honest and iust and pure and doe pertaine to loue and are of good report if there be any vertue or praise resolue we to thinke on these things thinke we on these things to doe them and we shall well performe our holy duties to our Lord. Thus farre of my first note touching the speaker who speaketh Now followeth my other note How he speaketh He shall roare and vtter his voice The metaphor of roaring with reference vnto God is frequent and much vsed in holy Scripture You find it as here so Ierem. 25.30 ioyned with the voice of the Lord The Lord shall roare from aboue and thrust out his voice from his holy habitation And so againe Ioel. 3.16 where you haue the very words of my text The Lord shall roare out of Sion and vtter his voice from Ierusalem You shall find it without any mention of the Lords voice Hos 11.10 The Lord shall roare like a Lion when he shall roare then the children of the West shall feare You shall find it with application Amos 3.8 The Lyon hath roared who will not bee afraid The Lord God hath spoken who can but prophecie S. Hierome acknowledgeth this metaphor to be very fit out of Amos his mouth for as much as it is fit for euery man to vse in his speech such examples and similitudes as are most familiar to him in his owne art dayly course and trade of life It s fit for a sea faring man to compare his heauinesse to a tempest his losse to a shipwracke his enemies to contrary winds fit for â— souldier to tell of his sword his buckler his coat of male his launce his helmet his musket his wounds his victorie fit for a husbandman to be talking of his oxen his kine his sheepe his grounds Not vnfitly then doth Amos our Prophet sometimes a shepherd one that kept his sheepe in the waste wildernesse of Tekoa where many a time he had heard the Lions roare compare the terrible and dreadfull voice of the liuing God to the roaring of Lions The Lord shall roare By this hyperbolicall forme of speech the holy Spirit conuinceth vs of stupidity and dulnesse as vnable to entertaine any admonition from God except he speak vnto vs after an extraordinary manner For this reason euen for our dulnes sake is God herein my text compared to a Lion He shall roare The meaning of this phrase is opened by the next words He shall vtter his voice It will be no lost labour to consider how God an incorporeall and spirituall essence deuoid of such parts of nature by which we are enabled to speak may himselfe be said to speake and vtter a voice That he spake it is well known to them to whom the Scriptures are not vnknowne He spake with Adam Eue and the serpent with Noah with Abraham 8. times with Isaac with Iacob with Moses and the Prophets with Christ and the Apostles But how he spake that is disputed of by the ancient and learned Fathers S. o In cap. 7. Esai Basil is of opinion that the Prophets did not at all with their outward eares heare God speaking to them but that the word of the Lord is said to haue come vnto them because their mindes were illuminated and their vnderstâ—nding enlightned by the shining of the true
turned Good Lord open thou our eares that if it be thy holy will either to Roare vnto vs or to speake with a milder voice either to come against in iudgement or to visit vs in mercy wee may readily heare thee and yeeld obedience and as obedient children receiue the promise of eternall inheritance So when the time of our separation shall be that we must leaue this world a place of darknesse of trouble of vexation of anguish thou Lord wilt translate vs to a better place a place of light where darknesse shall be no more a place of rest where trouble shall be no more a place of delight where vexation shall be no more a place of endlesse and vnspeakable ioyes where anguish shall be no more There this corruptible shall put on incorruption and our mortality shall be swallowed vp of life Euen so be it THE Fourth Lecture AMOS 1.2 And hee said the Lord shall roare from Sion and vtter his voice from Ierusalem and the dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish and the top of Carmel shall wither IN my last exercise I entreated of the Speaker Now am I to entreat of the places from whence hee speaketh expressed in two names Sion and Ierusalem The Lord shall roare from Sion and vtter his voice from Ierusalem c. Sion I read in holy Scripture of two Sions The one is Deut. 4.48 a hill of the Amorites the same with Hermon Moses there calleth it a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sion by the figure b Iunius in Deut. 3.9 Syncope the right name of it is c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sirion and so recorded Deut. 3.9 The other d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sion is the Sion in my Text mount Sion in Iudah vpon the â—op whereof was another mountaine e Drusius obseru 14.21 Not. Iunius in Psal 48.3 Moria vpon which stood the Temple of the Lord. Before it was called the f 2 Sam. 5.7 Tower or Fort of Sion It was a fortresse a bulwarke a strong hold and place of defence for the Iebusites the inhabitants of the land against their enemies Against these Iebusites King Dauid came with a warlike power speedily surprised their fort built round about it dwelt in it and called it his g The City of Dauid owne City as appeareth 2 Sam. 5.9 This is the city of Dauid so much h 2 Sam 5.7 1 King 8.1 1 Chron. 11.5 2 Chron. 5.2 mentioned in the sacred bookes of Samuel the Kings and Chronicles To this his owne City mount Sion Dauid accompanied with the Elders and Captaines of Israel i 2 Sam. 6.15 brought the Arke of the Lord with shouting with cornets with trumpets with cymbals with viols with harps as is plaine by the story 1 Chron. cap. 15. and 16. Now began the holy exercises of religion duly to be obserued in this city of Dauid mount Sion was now the place of the Name of the Lord of boasts Hitherto belongeth that same excellent description and commendation of mount Sion Psal 48.1 2 3. Mount Sion lying northward from Ierusalem is faire in situation It is the city of the great King the city of God Gods holy mountaine the ioy of the whole earth In the palaces thereof God is well knowne for a sure refuge In this city of Dauid the holy mount Sion the Lord of hoasts whom the k 1 Kâ—ng 8.27 2 Chron. 6.18 Heauens and the Heauen of Heauens are not able to containe is said to l Psal 74.2 dwell Psal 9.11 not that hee is tied to any place but because there were the most manifest and often testimonies of his residence Thus is Sion taken literally It is also taken spiritually by a Synecdoche for the Church Spouse and Kingdome of Christ as Psal 2.6 where God is said to haue annointed his King ouer Sion the hill of his holinesse Sion there is not to be vnderstood the terrestriall Sion by Ierusalem but another Sion elect and spirituall not of this world holy Sion so called for the grace of sanctification powred out vpon it euen the holy Church of Christ whereto doe appertaine the holy Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles the vniuersall multitude of beleeuers throughout not only Israel but the whole world Sion in this signification is obuious in holy Scripture To which sense by the daughters of Sion in the m Psal 149. â— Psalmes of Dauid in n Cantic 3.11 Salomons song in the prophecies of o Esay 3 16 17. Psaâ— 4.4 Esay and p Ioel. 2.23 Ioel you may vnderstand the faithfull members of the Church of Christ There is yet one other signification of Sion It s put for Heauen as learned Drusius in his notes vpon my text obserueth The like obseruation is made by Theophylact and Oecumenius commenting vpon Heb. 12.22 Now the Sion in my text from whence the Lord is said to roare to speake terribly and dreadfully is either the Temple vpon mount Sion by Ierusalem or the Church of Christ wherof Sion is a type Sion the holy one of Israel whose walls are saluation and gates praise or the Heauen of Heauens the most proper place of Gods residence Ierusalem Of old this city was called Salem as Gen. 14.18 when Melchisedeck King thereof brought forth bread and wine to refresh Abram and his followers Afterward it was possessed by the Iebusites and named Iebus Iudg. 19.10 Peter Martyr in 2 Sam. 5.6 from both these names Iâ—bus and Salem supposeth that by the change of a few letters Ierusalem hath had her name and not from the mountaines called Solymi as some doe coniecture but erre for that the mountaines Solymi were in Pisidia not in Iudea Many were the names of this city Some of them Benedictus in his marginall note vpon Iosua chap. 10. nameth in a distich Solyma Luza Bethel Ierosolyma Iebus Helia Vrbs sacra Ierusalem dicitur atque Salem In this distich 9. names of this one city are couched together Solyma Ierosolyma Ierusalem Iebus Salem Bethel Helia Luza the holy City Drusius obseruat sacr lib. 14. cap. 21. noteth that Ierusalem did consist of two parts the one was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lower city the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the higher city This higher city was Sion or mount Sion whereof you haue already heard and was diuersly tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the city of Dauid the fort the fort of Sion the tower of Sion But I come not to preach names vnto you Will you heare of the honour of this city they that were aliue when Ierusalem flourished to haue q Psal 48.12 numbred her towers to haue considered her wals to haue marked her bulwarks and to haue told their posterity of it might haue made a report scarcely to haue bin beleeued This we know by Ps 48.4 5. When the Kings of the earth were gathered together and saw it they maruelled they were astonied and suddenly driuen backe Thus is Ierusalem taken
Psal 11. Psal 10.6 according to the vulgar Latin we read Qui diligit iniquitatem odit animam suam he that loueth iniquitie hateth his owne soule Did euer man hate his owne soule We may not imagine it Yet because he that loueth iniquitie liueth for the most part as if he little cared for his soules health it is there absolutely said Hee that loueth iniquitie hateth his owne soule In Genes 43.6 the vulgar Interpreter makes Israel thus to speake to Iudah and other his sonnes In meam hoc fecistis miseriam vt indicaretis ei alium vos habere fratrem you haue done it to my miserie that ye told the man that you had another brother It s true Iacobs ten sonnes when they were in Egypt to buy corne told Ioseph whom then they knew not to be Ioseph that their yongest brother was liuing But did they doe it with a mind to bring misery vpon their aged father Iacob Iacob himselfe could not thinke so and the storie cleares them from that imputation Yet because by that their deed miserie might haue fallen vpon their father Iacob Iacob saith vnto them after a vulgar custome of speech In meam hoc fecistis miseriam you haue done this to make me miserable In 2. King 4.16 the good woman of Shunem that was by Elisha promised a sonne notwithstanding her selfe was by nature barren and her husband also old said vnto Elisha Nay my Lord thou man of God doe not lie vnto thine handmaide Doe not lie What! Elisha a Prophet a man of God could he or would he lye No it beseemed him not Yet because he promised what was not in mans power to performe a sonne to a woman that was naturally barren and her husband also old some might thinke that he went about to deceiue the woman The woman therefore after the common kinde of speech saith vnto him Nay my Lord thou man of God doe not lye vnto thine handmaide Other like instances I might alledge for the further explanation of the Canon or rule which euen now I proposed But I need not The kind of speech is familiar in our English tongue If you see a sicke man intemperate or refusing to follow the aduise of his learned Physitian you wil straight way say this man seekes his owne death hee will kill himselfe When your meaning is not that he hath a purpose to seeke his owne death or to kill himselfe but that if he continue intemperate and will not follow his Physitians wholesome counsaile death will soone lay him in the pit Now let this rule be laid vnto my text and the scruple whereof I but now spake is gone A man and his father will goe in vnto the same maide to profane my holy name they are the words of my text and the Lord in the mouth of his Prophet Amos hath spoken them But he speaketh after our manner as we vse to speake His meaning is that with the Israelites it was an ordinarie matter for a man and his father to commit filthinesse with the same maide and that by their so doing though themselues had no such purpose in so doing the holy name of God was prophaned This prophanation of Gods holy name was not the finall cause it was not the end why such filthinesse was committed in Israell It was rather the event or consequent of it Filthinesse was acted in Israel and thereof followed the prophanation of the holy name of God A man and his father c. To prophane my holy name My holy name The Hebrew hath the name of my holinesse where the substantiue is put for the adiectiue the Abstract for the Concrete which in that holy tongue is very vsuall In the 3. of Exod. ver 5. The Lord sayth to Moses Put of thy shoes from of thy feete for the place whereon thou standest is ground of Holinesse It s ground of Holinesse that is its holy ground In the 12. of Exod. vers 16. Moses and Aaron are charged to say vnto the people of Israel In the seauenth day there shall be a conuocation of holinesse vnto you A conuocation of holinesse that is a holy conuocation In the 22. of Exod. ver 31. The Lord sayth vnto the same people of Israel Yee shall be men of Holinesse vnto me Men of Holinesse that is Holy men Were it needfull I could shew vnto you that the a Esai 63 11. Spirit of Gods holinesse the b Esai 52.10 arme of his holinesse the c Psal 3.5 mountaine of his holinesse the d Psal 11.4 temple of his holinesse the e Deut 26.15 habitation of his holinesse are put for his holy Spirit his holy arme his holy mountaine his holy temple his holy habitation I could yet shew vnto you that f Exod 24.4 garments of holinesse g Num. 3.51 vessels of holinesse h Lamen 4.1 stones of holinesse i 1. Sam. 21.4 bread of holinesse k Ierem. 11.15 flesh of holinesse and l Num. 35.25 oyle of holinesse are in the holy Bible put for holy garments holy vessels holy stones holy bread holy flesh holy oyle But I haue said enough to shew what I intended namely that vsually in the Holy tongue the Abstract is put for the Concrete as holinesse for holy as in this my text A man and his father will goe in to the same maide to profane the name of my holinesse that is to prophane my holy name Can Gods holy name be prophaned by men Why not sith it may be sanctified by men That the name of God may be sanctified by men it s out of doubt Caput votorum the very first petition which wee are taught to poure forth vnto God is that his name may be sanctified Hallowed be thy name The name of God is holy in it selfe it needs not to be hallowed by vs its impossible for vs to adde vnto it any purity or holinesse which it had not before Yet m Scala coeli Serm. 9. Caput votorum the first petition of our prayer is Hallowed bee thy name Our desire therein is that Gods name which is holy of it selfe may bee so accounted off by vs may bee holily vsed by vs and may by our holy vsage of it bee manifested to the world that it is holy Now then as the name of God is Hallowed when for our holy and vnstained liues men blesse the name of God and praise him so when for our impure and spotted liues men blaspheme the name of God and dishonour him the name of God is prophaned Well then doth our Prophet Amos heere charge the people of Israel with prophanation of Gods holy name for asmuch as their liues were very impure and much spotted It was with them no strange matter for a man and his father to commit filthinesse with the same Mayde Thus haue you the words of my text expounded A man and his father A sonne and his father will goe in vnto the same mayde do
effect Vnderstand wee therefore that the threatnings and denuntiations of Gods iudgements are either absolute or conditionall If absolute then are they irreuocable and must take effect but if conditionall then vpon humiliation and repentance they will bee changed they will bee altered Absolute was the denunciation that concerned the eating of the forbidden fruit Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die This threatning was absolute and peremptory not to be reuoked If Adam had prayed all his life long that he might not die but returne to his former condition yet the sentence of God had not beene reuersed Peremptory and absolute was that threatning of the Lord against Moses and Aaron Numb 20.12 Because yee beleeue me not to sanctifie me in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I haue giuen them Moses and Aaron both are threatned that they shall neuer enter into the land of Canaan Moses vnderstanding the threat conditionally besought the Lord that hee might goe ouer Iordan into that good land But the Lord was wroth with him and would not heare him but said vnto him Deut. 3.26 Let it suffice thee speake no more vnto me of this matter Speake no more the sentence was peremptory and might not be reuersed As absolute and peremptory was that threatning by Nathan from the Lord vnto Dauid 2. Sam. 12.14 Because by thine adultery thou hast giuen great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the childe also that is borne vnto thee shall surely dye The childe shall surely die Dauids hope was that this threat was but conditionall and therefore with fasting weeping and prayer he besought God for the child and said Who can tell whether God will be gracious vnto mee that the child may liue Yet as the Prophet had denounced the child died So peremptory was the sentence and not to be reuersed So then its euident that some of Gods iudgements denounced against the sonnes of men are absolute and peremptory not to be reuersed Oâ—hers are conditionall to be vnderstood with this exception except they repent and amend The condition is sometimes expressed sometimes it is not The condition is expressed Ierem. 18.7 8. At what instant I shall speake concerning a nation and concerning a Kingdome to plucke vp and to pull downe and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I haue pronounced turne from their euill I will repent of the euill that I thought to doe vnto them It is likewise expressed Ezech. 33.14 15. When I say vnto the wicked Thou shalt surely die if he turne from his sinne and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely liue he shall not die Each of these Comminations is with an expresse condition The first was Such a Nation such a Kingdome I will plucke vp I will pull downe I will destroy The Nation the Kingdome performes the condition repenteth and turnes from euill and God reuerseth his sentence I will not plucke vp I will not pull downe I will not destroy it The second was The wicked man shall surely die The wicked man performes the condition repenteth and turnes from euill and God reuerseth his sentence He shall surely liue he shall not diâ— Sometimes the condition is not expressed but onely to be vnderstood So is it Ierem. 26.18 There we reade of Micah the Morushite that he in the daies of Hezekiah King of Iudah prophesied and spake to all the people of Iudah saying Thus saith the Lord of hosts Zion shall be plowed like a field and Ierusalem shall become heapes and the mountaine of the house the high places of a forest Fearefull is the Commination it threatens ruine to their Temple desolation to their City the vtter ouerthrow of their whole Kingdome How did the King and his people hereupon behaue themselues Did they fall into desperation No they did not Did they conclude an impossibility of obtaining pardon Nor did they so How then They conceiuing aright of the commination as fearefull as it was that it was vnto them a Sermon of repentance they feared the Lord they besought the Lord and the Lord repented him of the euill which hee had pronounced against them So was the Commination conditionall though the condition was not expressed The like we meet with Esay 38.1 There is a comminatory message from the Lord vnto the but-now-named Hezekiah Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not liue The good King conceiues aright of the message that it was no otherwise vnto him than as a Sermon of repentance and therefore he turnes his face vnto the wall prayes and weepes sorely and the Lord repented him of the message he had sent and sends him a new message vers 5. Goe and say to Hezekiah Thus saith the Lord the God of Dauid thy father I haue heard thy prayer I haue seene thy teares behold I will adde vnto thy daies fifteene yeeres And so was the commination conditionall though the condition was not expressed And such is that in the Prophesie of Ionah Chap. 3.4 Yet forty daies and Nineueh shall be ouerthrowne The King of Nineueh though an heathen and an idolatrous King yet conceiues aright of this threat that it was to him and his people no otherwise than a Sermon of repentance The King therefore touched with repentance vnseateth himselfe vnthroneth himselfe commeth as low as the meanest strips himselfe of his kingly robes puts on sack-cloth sits in ashes causeth it to be proclaimed and published through Niniueh that there be a generall fast kept by man and beast that man and beast be couered with sack-cloth and cry mightily vnto God and turne euery one from his euill way and from the violence that is in their hands for saith the King Who can tell if God will turne and repent and turne away from his fierce anger that we perish not Who can tell And God saw their workes that they turned from their euill way and God repented of the euill that he had said that he would doe vnto them and he did it not So also was this commination conditionall though the condition was not expressed But why are these and many other threatnings of the Lord against sinners conditionall Why are they with condition of amendment Why is the condition either expressed or suppressed and only inclusiuely vnderstood It s thus First because Repentance if it follow after Gods comminatory sentence pronounced against sinners it procureth forgiuenesse of sin and taketh away the cause of punishment The cause of punishment is sinne remoue the cause and the effect must cease Let sinne be washed away with the teares of vnfained repentance and punishment shall neuer hurt vs. This is it which but euen now you heard out of Ezech. chap. 33.14.15 They were the words of the Lord When I say vnto the wicked Thou shalt surely die if he turne from his sinne and doe that which is lawfull and right
our heads to the trickling of Å¿ Psal 56.8 teares downe our cheekes Why then are wee troubled with the vaine conceits of lucke fortune or chance Why will any man say this fell vnto me by good lucke or by ill lucke by good fortune or by misfortune by good chance or by mischance We may and should know that in the course of Gods prouidence all things are determined and regular This is a sure ground we may build vpon it The fish that came to deuoure Ionas may seeme to haue arriued in that place by chance yet the scripture saith the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Ionas Ion. 1.17 The storme it selfe which droue the pilots to his streight may likewise seeme contingent to the glimse of carnall eyes yet the Prophet saith I know that for my sake this great tempest is vpon you Ion. 1.12 The fish which Peter tooke might seeme to haue come to the angle by chance yet he brought in his mouth the tribute which Peter paid for his Lord and for himselfe Mat. 17.27 By the diuersity of the opinions among the brethren touching the manner of dispatching Ioseph out of the way wee may gather that the selling of him into Egypt was but accidentall and only agreed vpon by reason of the fit ariuall of the merchants while they were disputing and debating what they were best to doe yet saith Ioseph vnto his brethren you sent me not hither but God Gen. 45.8 What may seeme more contingent in our eies than by the glancing of an arrow from the common marke to strike a traueller that passeth by the way yet God himselfe is said to haue deliuered the man into the hand of the shooter Exod. 21.13 Some may thinke it hard fortune that Achab was so strangely made away because a certaine man hauing bent his bow and let slip his arrow at hap hazard without aime at any certaine marke t 1 King 22 34. strooke the King but here we finde no lucke nor chance at all otherwise than in respect of vs for that the shootâ—â— did no more than was denounced to the King by Micheas froâ— Gods owne mouth before the battell was begun 1 King 22.17 What in the world can be more casuall than lottery lyet Salomon teacheth that when the lots are cast into the lap the prouidence of God disposeth them Prou. 16.33 See now and acknowledge with mee the large extent of Gods good prouidence Though his dwelling be on high yet abaseth he himselfe to behold vs below From his good prouidence it is that this day we are here met together I to preach the word of God you to heare it and some of vs to bee made partakers of the blessed body and bloud of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Let vs powre out our soules in thankfulnesse before God for his blessing You are now inuited to the marriage supper of the lambe euery one that will approach vnto it let him put on his wedding garment A garment nothing like the old ragges of the Gibeonites which deceiued Ioshua Ios 9.5 A garment nothing like the suit of apparrell which Micah gaue once a yeare to his Leuite Iud. 17.10 A garment nothing like the soft clothing worne in kings courts Mat. 11.8 But a garment something like the garment of the high priest which had all the names of the tribes of Israel written vpon his brest Exod. 28.21 For this your garment is nothing else but Christ put on in whose brest and booke of merits are written and registred all the names of the faithfull but a garment something like Elias Mantle which diuided the waters 2 King 2.8 For this your garment is nothing â—lse but Christ put on who diuideth your sinnes and punishments that so you may escape from your enemies sin and death but a garment something like the garments of the Israelites in the wildernesse which did not weare 40. yeares together they wandered in the desart and yet saith Moses neither their clothes nor their shooes waxed old Deut. 29.5 For this your garment is nothing else but Christ put on whose righteousnesse lasteth for euer and his mercies cannot be worne out Hauing put on this your wedding garment doubt not of your welcome to this great feast-maker If any that heareth me this day hath not yet put on his wedding garment but is desirous to learne how to doe it let him following S Paâ—â— his counsell Rom. 13.12 cast away the workes of darknesse and put on the armour of light let him walke honestly as in the day not in gluttony and drunkennesse neither in chambering and wantonnesse nor in strife and enuying let him take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it so shall he put on the Lord Iesus u Psal 24.7 Lift vp your heads you gates and be you lift vp ye euerlasting doores that a guest so richly apparelled may come in and sup with the King of glory And the King of glory vouchsafe so to clothe vs all that those gates and euerlasting doores may lie open to vs all So at our departure from this vally of mourning we shall haue free and easie passage into the citie of God where our corruptible shall put on incorruption and our mortality shall be swallowed vp of life Euen so be it blessed Father for thy welbeloued son Iesus Christ his sake to whom with thee in the vnity of the holy spirit bee all praise and power might and Maiesty dignity and dominion for euermore Amen THE Second Lecture AMOS 1.2 And he said the Lord shall roare from Sion and vtter his voice from Ierusalem and the dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish and the top of Carmel shall wither IN my former Sermon vpon the first verse of this chapter beloued in the Lord I commended to your religious considerations fiue circumstances 1 Touching the Prophets name It was Amos not Amos Esaies father but another Amos. 2 Concerning his former condition of life He was among the heardmen that is he was a heardman or shepherd 3 Of the place of his vsuall abode At Tekoa a little village in the confines of the Kingdome of Iuda beyond which there was not so much as a little cottage onely there was a great wildernesse called 2 Chron 20.20 the wildernesse of Tekoa a fit place for a shepherds walke 4 About the matter or argument of this prophecie implied in these words The words which he saw vpon Israel Then you heard that Amos was by the holy spirit deputed and directed with his message peculiarly and properly to the 10. reuolted tribes the kingdome of Israel 5 Of the time of the prophecie which I told you was set downe in that verse generally and specially 1 Generally In the dayes of Vzziah king of Iuda and in the daies of Ieroboam the sonne of Ioash king of Israel 2 Specially Two yeares before the earthquakâ— After my exposition giuen vpon those fiue parts of that text I recald to
your remembrances that Amos of a heardman or shepherd became a blessed Prophet to carry a terrible word and fearfull message from the liuing God to the king nobles priests and people of Israel Thereupon I commended to you this doctrine God chooseth vile and despised persons to condemne the great and mighty That doctrine proued I recommended to you the vses of it The first was to lift vp your mindes to the contemplation of Gods good prouidence Poore shepherds and fishermen God exalteth and aduanceth into the highest places of dignity in church and common wealth This might perswade you that neither Empire nor kingdome nor place in them of dignitie priority or preeminence ecclesiasticall or politique is gotten by the industry wisdome wit or strength of man but that all are administred ruled and gouerned by the deputation and ordinance of the highest power God almighty The second was to stop blasphemous mouths such as are euermore open against the God of Heauen to affirme that all things below the moone are ruled by their blind goddesse fortune and by chance Here my desire was that your hearts might be ioined with mine in the consideration of Gods most sweet and neuer sleeping care ouer vs in this lower world that we would not suppose our God to be a God to halfes and in part only a God aboue and not beneath the Moone a God in the greater and not in the lesser employments To this holy meditation I exhorted you taught by the holy scriptures that our God examineth the least moments tittles in the world that you can imagine to a handfull of meale to a cruse of oile in a poore widowes house to the falling of the Sparrowes to the ground to the feeding of the birds of the aire to the caluing of Hindes to the clothing of the grasse of the field to the numbring of the haires of our heads to the trickling of teares downe our cheekes Thus farre as Gods holie spirit assisted me I led you the last time Now let it please you with patience and reuerence to giue eare to the word of God as it followeth vers 2. And he said The Lord shall roare from Sion and vtter his voice from Ierusalem and the dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish and the top of Carmel shall wither In this verse I commend vnto you two generall parts 1 A preface to a prophecie And he said 2 The prophecie it selfe The Lord shall roare from Sion c. In the prophecie I must further commend vnto you 3. things 1 The Lord speaking Hee shall râ—are and vtter forth his voice 2 The place from whence hee speaketh from Sion and Ierusalem 3 The sequels of his speech They are two 1 Desolation to the dwelling places of the shepherds The dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish 2 Sterility and barrennesse to their fruitfull grounds The top of Carmel shall wither The first generall part the preface to the prophecie I must first speake vnto And he said He that is Amos Amos the heardman or shepherd whose dwelling was at Tekoa He said what said he Euen the words which he saw vpon Israel that is he spake the words of God committed to him by that kinde of propheticall instinct and motion which is commonly tearmed vision the words of God which were disclosed or reuealed to him in a vision Amos spake but his words were Gods words Here dearely beloued we may learne whence the holy Scriptures haue their soueraigne authority Their authority is from aboue euen from the Lord whose name is Iehouah whose a Matth. 5.34 throne is the heauen of heauens and the b Habak 3.15 sea his floare to walke in the c Esai 66.1 earth his footstoole to tread vpon who hath a chaire in the conscience and sits in the d Psal 7.9 heart of man and possesseth his secret reines and diuides betwixt the flesh and the skinne and shaketh his inmost powers as the e Psal 29.8 thunder shaketh the wildernesse of Cades This powerfull and great Iehouah God almighty spake in old time to our fathers by the mouth of Moses Exod. 4.12 and in the mouthes of all his Prophets Heb. 1.1 Know this saith S. Peter in his second epistle 1 ch ver 20. That no Prophecie in the Scripture is of any priuate motion Marke his reason ver 21. for the Prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moued by the holy Ghost Hence sprang these vsuall and familiar speeches in the bookes of the Prophets The word of the Lord came vnto mee The Lord God hath spoken Thus saith the Lord and the like This Lord who thus spake in old time by his Prophets did in fulnesse of time when he sent his Son to consummate and perfect the worke of mans redemption speake by his blessed Euangelists and Apostles This appeareth by the faithfull promise made them Mat. 10.19 Take no thought how or what yee shall speake for it shall be giuen you what yee shall say It is not yee that speake but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you It must stand for truth in despight of al the powers of darknesse which is recorded 2 Tim. 3 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole Scripture and euery parcell thereof is giuen by inspiration of God and hath inward witnesse from that Spirit which is the author of all truth Hence ariseth this true position Scriptura est authentica regula tum fidei tum vitae nostrae The word of God which by an excellencie we call the Scripture is an infallible rule both of our faith and also of our life And another posiâ—ion followeth herevpon The authority of holy Scripture is greater than the authority of the Church Our obseruation here may be Since such is the worth of holy Scripture by reason of the author of it as that it is the perfect rule for our faith and life and is of greater authority than the Church it must be our part to take heed vnto it to heare it and to reade it with reuerence obsequie and docility This worth dignity and excellency of holy Scripture which is Gods holy word now commended vnto you yeeldeth a very harsh and vnpleasant sound to euery Popishly affected eare and may serue to condemne the Romish Church of impiety and sinne for her neglect and contempt of so inestimable a treasure How little they esteeme of Gods wriâ—ten word the word of life and sole food of our soules the graue and learned f B. Iewel defence of the Apologie par 4. chap 19. 20. §. 1. Brentius in his preface vpon Iacobus Andreas against Hosius makes it plaine vnto vs while he tels of the crying out against the holy Scriptures as if they were blinde and doubtfull and a dumbe schoolemaster and a killing writ and a dead letter yea and if it may like those reuerend fathers no better than Aesops fables Now lest
all they may and must be dispossessed of their scepters and regalities 2. t Jbid. §. Quod si Quod si Christiani olim non deposâ—erun Neronem Dâ—ocletianum Iulianum Apostatam Valentem Arianum similes id fuit quia dâ—erant vires temporales Christianis If the Christians in times past deposed not Nero Diocletian Iulian the Apostata Valens the Arian and other like tyrants id fuit quia deerant vires temporales Christianis it was because they wanted power and force and were not strong enough for that attempt 3. u Ibid. §. At non At non tenentur Christiani immâ— nec dâ—bent cum euidenti periculo religionis tolerare Regem infideleÌ„ Christians are not bound to tolerate a king that is an infidell or a King not a Papist Not bound to tolerate him Nay saith Bellarmine they must not tolerate such a one cum euidenti periculo religionis if the toleration of him be an euident danger to their religion 4 x Ibid. §. At non De iure humano est quod hunc aut illum habeamus regem It is by the law of man that we haue this or that man to be our King This last position is formerly auowed by the same author in the same booke but in the second Chapter with opposition and disgrace to the soueraigntie of the Lord of hosts y §. Quod ad primum D minium non descendit ex iure diuino sed ex iure genâ—ium K ngdomes and dominion are not by the law of God but by the law of nations It is an impious blasphemous and atheologicall assertion From these positions of the great Iesuite by a necessary inference doe follow these two conclusions 1 That the Papists would most willingly depriue our most gracious Soueraigne of his royall throne and regality if they were of force and power so to doe 2 That all subiects of this land may stand in manifest rebellion against their King because he is no Papist Both which are summarily acknowledged by his royall Maiesty in his excellent speech the 5. of Nouember z Ann. Dâ—m 1605. last The a C. 2. a. Romish Catholiques by the grounds of their religion doe maintaine that it is lawfull or rather meritorious to murther Princes or people for quarrell of religion By the grounds of popish religion it is lawfull yea meritorious for Papists to murther Kings which are not Papists You see his Maiesties royall acknowledgement of impiety in the grounds of Romish religion You will not doubt of it if you rightly esteeme that same late thrise damnable diabolicall and matchlesse plot conceiued in the wombe of that religion with a full resolution to consume at once our pious King and this flourishing kingdome You perceiue now in what contempt and disgrace the popish faction holdeth the holy Scriptures the written word of God The written word of God expresly requireth obedience vnto Princes as placed in their thrones by Gods sole authority But the Popish religion maintaineth rebellion against Princes as placed in their thrones by mans sole authority Which will you follow the holy word of God or the doctrine of the Romish Church Beloued remeÌ„ber what I told you in the beginning of this exercise though Amos spake yet his words were Gods words remember that God is the author of holy Scripture and then for his sake for the authors sake for Gods sake you will bee perswaded to take heed vnto it to heare it and reade it with reuerence obsequie and docility We the branches of the same vine that bare our predecessors to whom by deuolution the sacred Statutes of the eternall God the holy Scriptures are come must esteeme of them all for b D. King B. of Lond. vpon Ion. lect 1. p. 2. Gods most royall and celestiall Testament the oracles of his 〈◊〉 â—â—nly 〈…〉 â—led counsailes milke from his sacred 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 â—pledge of his fauour to his Church the light of our 〈◊〉 c Ierem. 15 1â— â—oy of our hearts d Lament 4.20 breath of our nostrils 〈…〉 of our hope groâ—nd of out loue 〈…〉 future blessednesse Behold the value and price of the words which Amos saw vpon Israel which God willing with all my diligence and best paines I will expound to you hereafter as occasion shall be ministred Now leâ— vs pâ—wre out our soules in thankâ—ulnâ—sse before the Lord for that he hath beene pleased this day to gather vs together to be hearers of his holy word and partakers of the blessed Sacrament of the body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ thereby to confirme our holy faith in vs. We thanke thee therefore good Father and beseech thee more and more to feed vs with the neuer perishing food of thy holy word that by it being made cleane and sanctified wee may in due time haue free passage from this vally of teares to the city of ioy Ierusalem wich is aboue where this corruptible shall put on incorruption and our mortality shall bee swallowed vp of life So be it THE Third Lecture AMOS 1.2 And he said the Lord shall roare from Sion â—nd vtter his voice from Ierusalem and the dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish and the top of Carmel shall wither VPon the preface to this prophecie these words and he said my last lecture was bestowed wherein because whatsoeuer Amos the heardman spake was the word of God I endeuoured to shew forth the worth dignity and excellency of the word of God commonly called by the name of holy Scripture A point that yeeldeth a very harsh and vnpleasant sound to euery popishly affected eare as then at large I made plaine out of popish mouths and practise Order now requireth that I goe on to the next generall part of this text to the prophecie it selfe The first point therein to be recommended at this time vnto you is the Lord speaking The Lord shall roare and vtter his voice wherein I desire you to obserue with me who it is that speaketh how he speaketh Who speaketh It is the Lord. How speaketh he He roareth and vttereth forth his voice First of him that speaketh He is in the Hebrew text called Iehouah which is the a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 King B. of London vpon Jonas Lect. 11. pag. 152. honourablest name belonging to the great God of Heauen Much might be spoken of it would I apply my selfe to the curiosity of Cabalists and Rabbins as that it is a name b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zanch. de nat Dei lib. 1 c. 13. not to be pronounced or taken within polluted lips that it is a c Cael. Rhodiginus Lâ—ct antiq lib 2. cap. 9. Quem nos Deum nun cupamus Aegyptii Thâ—â—t Persae dicunt Syre Magorum disciplina Orsi vnde profluxit Oromasis Tam apud Hebraeorum gentem ellebre est quatuor vocalium Dei sacrâ—Ì„ nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod inde Tetragrammaton dicunt alia voce
literally It is also taken spiritually for the Church either militant here on earth or Triumphant in heauen For the Church Militant Psal 128.5 Thou shalt see the wealth of Ierusalem all thy life long And for the Church Triumphant Gal. 4.26 Ierusalem which is aboue is free The Catholique Church Militant and Triumphant is called Ierusalem because Ierusalem was a type thereof Ierusalem was a type of the Catholike Church in sundry respects 1. God did choose Ierusalem aboue all other places of the earth to r Psal 132.13 Psal 135.21 dwell in So the Catholike Church the company of the predestinate God hath chosen to be a peculiar people vnto himselfe 2. Ierusalem is a Citie Å¿ Psal 122.3 compact in it selfe by reason of the bond of loue and order among the Citizens So the faithfull the members of the Catholike Church are linked together by the bond of one Spirit 3 Ierusalem was the place of Gods sanctuary the place of his presence and worship where the promise of the seed of the woman was preserued till the comming of the Messias Now the Catholike Church is in the roome thereof In the Catholike Church we must seeke the presence of God and the word of life 4 In Ierusalem was the t Psal 122.5 the throne of Dauid So in the Catholike Church is the throne and scepter of Christ figured by the Kingdome of Dauid 5 The commendation of Ierusalem was the subiection and obedience of her citizens The Catholike Church hath her citizens too Eph. 2.19 and they doe yeeld voluntary obedience and subiection to Christ their King 6 In Ierusalem the names of the citizens were inrolled in a register So the names of all the members of the Catholike Church are inrolled in the booke of life Reuel 20.15 You see now what Ierusalem is literally and what spiritually Literally it is that much honoured City in Iudeâ— the u Psal 46.4 City of God euen the sanctuary of the tabernacle of the most High Spiritually it is the holy Church of Christ either his Church Militant on earth or his Church Triumphant in Heauen Now the Ierusalem in my text from whence the Lord is said to vtter his voice is either Ierusalem in the literall or Ierusalem in the spirituall vnderstanding it is either Ierusalem the mother City of Iudea or Ierusalem the Church of Christ Militant vpon earth or Ierusalem aboue the most proper place of Gods residence So that Ierusalem here is the same with Sion an Exposition of Sion The Lord shall roare from Sion that is in other words The Lord shall vtter his voice from Ierusalem Marke I beseech you beloued in the Lord The Lord shall roare not from Dan and Bethel where Ieroboams calues were worshipped but from Sion the mountaine of his holinesse and he shall vtter his voice not from Samaria drunken with Idolatry but from Ierusalem the x Zach. 8.3 city of truth wherein the purity of Gods worship did gloriously shine We may take from hence this lesson Sion and Ierusalem are to be frequented that thence hearing God speake vnto vs we may learne what his holy will is To speake more plainly This is the lesson which I commend vnto you The place where God is serued and the exercises of his religion are practised must be carefully frequented That I may the more easily perswade you to come vnto and to frequent this place this house of God his holy Church and Temple I bring you a guide This guide is a King and leads you the way the blessed King Dauid I beseech you marke his affection Psal 84.1 O Lord of hosts how amiable are thy tabernacles My soule longeth yea and fainteth for thy courts Marke his loue Psal 26.8 O Lord I haue loued the habitation of thine house and the place where thine honour dwelleth Marke the earnestnesse of his zeale Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart brayeth for the riuers of water so panteth my soule after thee O God My soule thirsteth for God euen for the liuing God when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God Let this holy King King Dauid be the patterne of your imitation Beloued you must haue an earnest loue and desire to serue God in the assembly of his Saints you must much esteeme of the publike exercise of religion It is Gods effectuall instrument and mean to nourish beget you to the hope of a better life In what case then are you when you absent your selues from this and the like holy assemblies when either you come hither carelesly or else doe gracelesly contemne this place Here is Sion here is Ierusalem here God speaketh to you in the language of Canaan and here may you speake to him againe with your owne mouthes It is euery mans duty the duty of euery one that loues God to come vnto Gods house his house of prayer In this respect thus saith the Lord Esay 56.7 Mine house shall bee called the house of prayer for all people For all people there is no difference betweene the y Galat. 3.28 Iew and the Grecian betweene the bond and the free betweene the male and the female for our Lord who is Lord ouer all z Rom. 10.12 is rich vnto all that call vpon him Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people To imprint this sentence in your hearts it is repeated vnto you Mat. 23.13 Where Iesus Christ to the mony-changers and doue-sellers whom hee found in the Temple vseth this speech It is written mine house shall be called an house of prayer but ye haue made it a den of theeues Iunius his note vpon the place is good Qui domo Dei non vtitur ad orationis domum is eò deuonit vt speluncam latronum efficiat eam Whosoeuer vseth not the house of God for a house of prayer he commeth thither to make it a den of theeues Let vs take heed beloeed in the Lord whensoeuer we come vnto the Church the house of God that we be not partakers of this sharpe censure Ecclesiastes chap. 4.17 giueth a profitable caueat Take heed to thy feet when thou â—nterest into the house of God intimaâ—ing thus much that of duty we are to enter into the house of God Though the Temple in Ierusalem and all the worship in ceremonies that was annexed to it are taken away yet is Salomons caueat good for vs still Take heed to thy feet when thou enterest into the house of God For we also haue Gods house where he is chiefly to be sought and worshipped euen in euery place appointed by publike authority for publike assemblies Wherefore I pray you hath God giuen his Church a 1 Cor. 12.27 some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors some Teachers Is it not as we are taught Ephes 4.12 for the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the ministerie and for the edifying of the Body of Christ See you not here a forcible argument and
euident proofe for this your publike meeting There is Matth. 18.20 a speciall promise of a blessing to light vpon you as oft as you shall come to this place and thereof the author of all truth assureth you Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them O weigh and consider this If you loue and would haue the societie fellowship and company of your sweet Sauiour Iesus Christ you must frequent this place hither must you come Know this you cannot be right worshippers of God in priuate if you refuse or neglect to frequent this publike assembly the Sion the Ierusalem from whence God is pleased to speake vnto you Much then very much to blame you whosoeuer doe for none or for small occasions absent your selues from this plâ—ce this house of God at appointed times where and when your publike prayers should be as it were a publike renouncing of all sects and society with idolatry and prophanesse an acknowledgement and confession of the true God and a publike sanctification of Gods holy Name to the glory of God The time was and I dare auouch it Act. 21.5 when all the congregation of Tyre with their wiues and children bringing S. Paul out of the towne to the sea shore kneeled downe with him and prayed Shall we in these dayes finde this zeale among Christians I much doubt it and am perswaded men will be ashamed in imitation of those Tyrians to kneele downe in an open place to pray vnto God publikely I will not rub this sore I know somewhat and you know more than I how backward many of you haue been from doing God due seruice in this place Shall I say you haue dishonoured him some by irreuerence some by much absence some by wilfull refusall to bee made partakers of the blessed Communion of the body and bloud of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ I thinke should any one of you inuite your neighbour to sup with you but once and he refuse it you would take some displeasure at him and shall God Almighty the mighty creator of Heauen of Earth and of all you that heare me this day inuite you many times to come and sup at the table of his blessed Son and you refuse it Beleeue it he cannot take it well It is no indifferent or arbitrary thing to come or not to come to the Lords table Come you must of duty though of duty you are first to examine your selues Whosoeuer therefore wilfully refuseth to come he sinneth very grieuously as a learned b Butanus Iâ—c 48. Diuine well noteth 1 Because he contemneth not any humane but a diuine edict the expresse commandement of the Lord of life Doe this in remembrance of me 2 Because he little esteemeth the remembrance of Christ his death by which we are redeemed 3 Because he neglecteth the communion of the body and bloud of Christ 4 Because he sheweth himselfe to be none of the number of Christs disciples I beseech you dearely beloued lay vp these things in your hearts let this day be the beginning of your reformation resolue from henceforth to performe your due obedience to God in this place to powre forth your prayers before him to heare his holy word and to frequent the Lords table where by faith in his death and passion you may receiue many a gracious blessing forgiuenesse of your sins your reconciliation with God the death of iniquity in you and the assured pledge of eternall life I haue now by occasion of Sion and Ierusalem the place from whence God will speake vnto you exhorted euery one of you in particular to come to the Church I pray you note this to be but a part of your duty It is not enough for you to come your selues to the Church you must sollicite and exhort others to come likewise Fathers must bring their children Masters must bring their Seruants For old and young should come My warrant for what I say I take out of Ioel 2.15 16. Call a solemne assembly gather the people sanctifie the congregation gather the elders assemble the children and those that sucke the breasts Marke I beseech you Children and such as sucke the breasts must be assembled You must haue the spirit of resolution to say with Ioshua chap. 24.15 I and my house will serue the Lord. Your duty is yet further extended beyond your children and seruants to your neighbours and also strangers if they come in your way This we may learn out of the prophecies of Esay Micah and Zachary First Esay 2.3 The faithfull shall say Come and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his wayes and wee will walke in his paths for the law shall goe forth of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem Againe Micah 4.2 You shall finde the very same exhortation made by the faithfull and in the same words Come and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of thâ— Lâ—rd to the house of the God of Iacob c. The Prophet Zachaâ—y chap. 8.21 for summe and substance speaketh the same thing They that dwell in one towne shall goe vnto another saying vp let vs goe and pray before the Lord and seeke thâ— Lord of hosts I will goe also Thus farre of the place from whence the Lord speaketh expressed by two names Sion and Ierusalem THE Fifth Lecture AMOS 1.2 And he said the Lord shall roare from Sion and vtter his voice from Ierusalem and the dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish and the top of Carmel shall wither OF the speaker and place from whence he speaketh I haue heretofore spoken Now proceed wee to the sequels of the speech which shall for this time be the ground of my discourse The dwelling places of the shepherds shall perish So doe the words sound for their substance Yet after the letter in the originall and Hebrew copy we are to read otherwise the fruitfull or pleasant places of the shepherds haue mourned Let vs briefly take a view of the words as they lie in order The dwelling places So is the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 englished not vnfitly For though properly it signifieth fruitfull and pleasant fields and pastures yet because shepherds did vse in the wildernesse neare vnto such fields and pastures to erect themselues little cottages and cabins that they might be at hand to defend their harmlesse sheep from sauage and rauenous beasts it may here well be englished the dwelling places The dwelling places of the shepherds In my first lecture vpon this prophecy I told you there were two sorts of shepherds In the first ranke I placed sheepmasters in the second their seruants Among the first sort of shepherds was Mesa King of Moab who 2 King 3.4 is called a shepherd and there registred to haue rendred to the King of Israel an hundred thousand lambes and an hundred thousand rammes with the wooll The
and stagger like a drunken man Thus saith the Lord This powerfull Iehouah whose throne is the heauen of heauens and the sea his floare to walk in the earth his footstoole to tread vpon who hath a chaire in the conscience and sitteth in the heart of man possesseth his secretest reines and diuideth betwixt the flesh the skin and shakest his inmost powers Psal 29.8 as the thunder shaketh the wildernesse of Cades Thus saith the Lord. Hath the Lord said and shall he not doe it hath he spoken and shall he not accomplish it Balaam confesseth as much vnto Balak Num. 23.19 God is not as man that he should lie nor as the sonne of man that he should repent Indeed saith Samuel 1 Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not as man that he should repent All his words yea all the titles of his words are yea and Amen Verily saith our Sauiour Matth. 5.18 Heauen and earth shall perish before one iote or any one tittle of Gods law shall escape vnfulfilled Thus saith the Lord Then out of doubt it must come to passe Hereby you may be perswaded of the authority of this Prophecie and not of this only but of all other the Prophecies of holy Scripture that neither this nor any other Prophecies of old is destitute of diuine authority This point touching the authority of holy Scripture I deliuered vnto you in my second lecture and therefore haue now the lesse need to spend time therein Yet a word or two thereof God almighty spake in old i me to our fathers by the mouth of Moses Exod. 4.12 and not by the mouth of Moses only but by the mouths of all his Prophets Heb. 1.1 and 2 Peter 1.20 Know this that no prophecy in the Scripture is of any priuate motion He giueth the reason hereof ver 21. for the prophecy in old time came not by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moued by the holy Ghost Hence sprang those vsuall and familiar speeches in the bookes of the Prophets The word of the Lord came vnto me the Lord God hath spoken and this in my text Thus saith the Lord. This Lord who thus spake in old time by his Prophets did in fulnesse of time when hee sent to consummate and perfect the worke of mans redemption speake by his blessed Euangelists and Apostles This appeareth by the faithfull promise made vnto them Matth. 10.19 Take no thought how or what yee shall speake for it shall be giuen you what ye shall say It is not yee that speake but the Spirit of your father that speaketh in you It must stand euer true what is recorded 2 Tim. 3.16 the whole Scripture and euery parcell thereof is giuen by inspiration of God and hath inward witnesse from that Spirit which is the author of all truth Here may you note the harmonie consent and agreement of all the Prophets Euangelists and Apostles from the first vnto the last not one of them spake one word of a naturall man in all their ministeries the words which they spake were the words of him that sent them they spake not of themselues God spake in them Whensoeuer were the time whatsoeuer were the meanes whosoeuer were the man wheresoeuer were the place whatsoeuer were the people the words were the Lords Thus saith the Lord How then dare we potters claâ— lift vp our hands against him that fashioned vs How dare we absent our selues from his house of prayer where God in and by his holy word speaketh vnto vs How dare we when we are come to this place behaue our selues carelesly negligently irreuerently But I will not at this time presse you any further with this point hauing heretofore in my fourth lecture occasioned by the Lords roaring out of Sion and vttering his vowe from Ierusalem exhorted you in many words to the due performance of your dutifull seruice of God in this place For this present I will onely giue you a taste of the sweetnesse of the word of the Lord conueyed vnto vs by the ministeries of his sanctified Prophets Euangelists Apostles It is the Lords most royall and celestiall testament the oracles of his heauenly sanctuary the only key vnto vs of his reuealed counsels milke from his sacred breasts the earnest and pledge of his fauour to his Church the light of our feet ioy of our hearts breath of our nostrils pillar of our faith anchor of our hope ground of our loue euidences and deeds of our future blessednesse Thus farre the preface proeme or entrance making for the authority of this prophecie Thus saith the Lord. Now followeth the prophecie against the Syrians wherein I commended to your Christian considerations foure things 1 The generall accusation of the Syrians vers 3. For three transgressions of Damascus and for foure 2 The Lords protestation against them verse the 3. I will not turne to it 3 The particular sinne by which the Syrians had so offended God verse the 3. They haue threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron 4 The punishments attending them for this sin set downe generally and specially Generally verse 4. I wil send a fire into the house of Hazael and it shall deuoure the palaces of Ben-hadad Specially vers the 5. I wil breake also the barres of Damascus and cut off the inhabitant of Bikeath-aven and him that holdeth the scepter out of Beth-eden the people of Aram shall goe into captiuity vnto Kir Order requireth that I begin with the first part the accusation of the Syrians verse 3. For three transgressions of Damascus and for foure This Damascus was a very ancient citie built as a Arias Montan In â—â—t lib. 36. Stephan Adrichom Hâ—erâ—n Hâ—â— qu â—â—t in Gen. some coniecture by Eliezâ—r the steward of Abrahams house who was surnamed Damascus Gen. 15.2 The first mention of this city is Gen. 14.15 b Aâ—ud H c. ibid Io eph aâ—â—â—q Iuâ—â—â— Lib 1 caâ— 7 â—â—llâ—t in Gâ—n cap. 15. Others holding the name of this city to haue beene more ancient than Abraham doe attribute the building of this city to Huz one of the sonnes of Aram Gen. 10.23 Whereupon Damaâ—cus was called also Aram as c In Esay 17. S. Hierome witnesseth Whatsoeuer were the antiquity of this city it is plaine by Esa 7.8 that it was the Metropolitane and chiefest city of Syria I need not tell you what Lewes Vertomannus a gentleman of Rome saw in this city about some hundred yeares since as the place where Caine slew Abel the place where the bodie of the Prophet Zacharie lay the tower wherein S. Paul was committed to prison and the like that would be beside my purpose For the present know yee that Damascus was the Metropolitane and chiefest city of Syria whence by a figure the figure Synecdoche it is here in my text put for the whole country of Syria By this figure Synecdoche in the name
for them they be punished The vse is to admonish you that are Parents not onely to liue your selues vertuously and religiously while you haue your abode here but also carefully to see to the training vp of your children in vertue and true religion least pertaking with your in your sins they proue inheritours of your punishments also 2 In that the Lord sendeth a fire into the house and palaces of Hazael and Benhadad two Kings we learne this lesson It is neither wealth nor policie nor power nor preferment that can stead vs if Gods vnappeaseable anger break out against vs for our sinnes The reason hereof we read Ierem. 4.4 It 's this Because of the wickednesse of our inuentions Gods wrath comes forth like fire and burneth that none can quench it The vse is to teach vs that wee despise not Gods iudgments nor abuse his mercies but that we tremble at the one and bee drawne to well doing by the other 3 In that the Lord sendeth a fire into the palaces of Benhadad to deuoure them we learne thus much God depriueth vs of a great blessing when hee taketh from vs our dwelling houses The great commoditie or contentment that commeth to euery one of vs by our dwelling houses doth experimentally make good vnto vs this truth The vse is to teach vs first to be humbled before Almighty God whensoeuer our dwelling houses are taken from vs. Secondly since we peaceably enioy our dwelling houses to vse them for the furtherance of Gods glory Thirdly to praise God day by day for the comfortable vse we haue of our dwelling houses It would tire you to heare these doctrines and their vses seuerally amplified and enlarged In the sequele of this chapter I shall haue occasion to repeat them to you THE Ninth Lecture AMOS 1.5 I will breake also the barre of Damascus and cut off the inhabitant of Bikeath-Auen and him that holdeth the scepter out of Beth-Eden and the people of Aram shall goe into captiuity vnto Kir WE are now come to the second branch of the fourth part of this prophecie in the 5. verse wherein are set downe more specially the punishments to bee inflicted vpon the Syrians for their sinnes And this is done in foure seuerall clauses In each wee may obserue three circumstances 1 The punisher the Lord either immediatly by himselfe or mediatly by his instruments 2 The punished the Syrians not of any one city only but of the whole country which wee gather from these names Damascus Bikeath-Auen Beth-eden and Aram. 3 The punishment the spoile of the country and ruine of the whole state The barre of Damascus must be broken the inhabitant of Bikeath-Auen and the King keeping his court at Beth-Eden must be cut off and the people of Aram must go into captiuitie Of the words as they lie in order I will also breake the barre of Damascus I the Lord a Iob. 9.5 6 c. remoue mountaines and they feele not when I ouerthrow them I remoue the earth out of her place and make her pillers to shake I command the sun and it riseth not I close vp the stars as vnder a signet I my selfe alone spread out the heauens and walke vpon the height of the sea I make Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the climates of the South I the Lord who doe great things and vnsearchable maruailous things without number b Amos 5.8 9.6 Iehouah is my name I the Lord Iehouah who haue resolued to send a fire into the house of Hazael and palaces of Benhadad I will also breake the barre of Damascus You know what a barre is in its proper signification an instrument wherewith we make fast the gates of our cities and doors of our houses against the violence of our enemies If the barre be broken the entrance into the city or house will be the easier Kedar is discouered to be weake for want of barres Ier. 49.31 And so are they against whom Gog and Magog were to fight Ezech. 38.11 they had neither bars nor gates Ierusalem had both and God made them strong Psal 147.13 Therefore praise the Lord O Ierusalem praise thy God O Sion for he hath made the barres of thy gates strong so strong that no enemy is able to breake them or to make any irruption into them A barre is also vsed to a figuratiue sense Metaphorically and Synecdochically and betokeneth munition fortifications the forts and strong holds of a country the strength of any thing To which sense the sea hath barres We read of them Iob 38.10 God hath apppointed the sea her barres and doores saying hitherto shalt thou come here will I stay thy proud waues And the earth hath barres We read of them Ion. 2.6 And what are the barres of the earth but the c D. King B. of London in Ion. lect 27. strongest muniments and sences it hath her promontories and rockes which God hath placed in her frontiers to withstand the force of the waters Aâ—â— Moab hath barres Esai 15.5 There the barres of Moab aâ—â— put for the forts in the borders of Moab And Egypt hath barres Ezâ—ch 30.18 Where Egypts barres afâ—er the exposition of Illyricus in his d Verbo vectis key of Scriptures are munitiones robur the fortifications and strength of Egypt So here the barres of Damascus are e Mercer Damasci robur munitiones portae claustra munitissima the strength of Damascus the muniâ—ions of Damascus the gates of Damascus the most fenced fortresses of Damascus Yet f Gualter Vniuersum regni robur the whole strengâ—h of the kingdome of Syria is to be vnderstood in these barres of Damascus Of Damascus no base nor contemptible city Lewes Vertâ—manâ—iâ— a gentlâ—man of Rome in his trauell to those easterne parts of the world a hundred yeares agoe saw this city and admiting the maruellous beauty therof hath Nauigat cap. 5. left a record of it to posterity It is saith he in manner incredible and passeth all beleefe to thinke how faire the city of Damascus is and how fertile is the soile This Damascus is a city of great antiquity g See my six h lecture vpon this chapteâ— built as some coniectue by Eliezer the steward of Abrahams house who was surnamed Damascus Gen. 15.2 So that this city was built more than 3444. yeares agoe for h In the â—â—are of the wâ—rld 21â—4 I unâ—â— in Ch onolog And thâ— Serm n was â—reached A. â— 16â—6 â—ebâ— 8. so long agoe Abraham died The first mention of this city is Gen. 14.15 Others holding the name of this city to haue beene more ancient than Abraham doe attribute the building of this city to Huz one of the sons of Aram Gen. 10.23 whereupon Damascus was called also Aram as S. Hierome vpon Esai 17. witnesseth Whatsoeuer were the antiquity of this city it is plaine by Esai 7.8 that it was the Metropolitaine and chiefest city of Syria The Prophet Ieremie giues it a high commendation
the Aegyptians The Aegyptians they were but the weapons of Gods wrath wherewith he afflicted his people they were Gods weapons were they therefore to escape vnpunished No. Witnesse those ten great plagues which at length God wrought vpon them and their fearefull ouerthrow in the red sea at large set downe in the booke of Exodus from the seuenth Chapter to the end of the fourteenth This was it which God said vnto Abraham Gen. 15.13 14. Know for a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs foure hundred yeares and shall serue them and they shall intreat them euill notwithstanding the Nation whom they shall serue will I iudge Ahab the most wicked of the Kings of Israel who sold himselfe to worke wickednesse in the sight of the Lord and his accursed wife Iezebel were Gods instruments to afflict Naboth with the losse of his life and Vineyard Ahab and Iezebel were Gods instruments Were they therefore to escape vnpunished No. Witnesse both their ends the end of Ahab recorded 1 King 22 38. In the place where dogges licked the bloud of Naboth did dogges licke the bloud of Ahab also and the end of Iezabel registred the 2 Kings 9.35 Shee was eaten vp with dogges all sauing her skull her feet and the palmes of her hands It was a part of Daniel his afflictions to be cast into the den of Lions His accusers vnto Darius were the instruments of his affliction These his accusers were the Lords instruments for this businesse Were they therefore to escape vnpunished No. Their fearefull end is set downe Dan. 6.24 By the Commandement of King Darius they with their wiues and children were cast into the den of Lions the Lions had the mastery of them and brake all their bones in peeces ere euer they came to the ground of the den The time will not suffer me to recall to your remembrances all the iudgements of God of this qualitie written downe in the Register of Gods workes his holy Word how and what he rendred to g Ester 7.10 Haman to h 2 Kings 19.35 37. Sennacherib to i Ierem. 36.29 Ioachim to the k Ierem. 49.2 Ammonites to the l Ierem. 49.9 51.20 Chaldeans to the m Ezech. 35.2 Idumeans and other wicked worldlings for their hard measure offered to his children though they were therein his owne instruments The afore-mentioned instances of the Aegyptians of Ahab and his wife Iezebel and of Daniel his accusers may serue for the declaration of my propounded doctrine Though the Lord doe vse his enemies as instruments to correct his owne seruants and children yet will he in his due time ouerthrow those his enemies with a large measure of his iudgements The reason hereof is because Gods iustice cannot let them escape vnpunished Saint Paul expresseth it 2 Thess 1.6 It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you Let this be our comfort whensoeuer the wicked shall rage against vs. For hereby are we assured when the Lord shall shew himselfe from heauen with his mightie Angells in flaming fire that then to the wicked whose behauiour towards the godly is proud and despiteous he will render vengeance and punish them with euerlasting perdition Saint Peter to make vs stedfast in this comfort disputeth this point Ep. 1. chap. 4.17 The point he proueth by an argument drawne à minori inferring from a truth to carnall mens vnderstanding lesse probable a truth of greater probabilitie Iudgement saith he beginneth at the house of God If it first begin at vs what shall be the end of them which obey not the Gospell of God And if the righteous scarsly be saued where shall the vngodly and the sinner appeare Our Sauiours words Luk. 23.31 doe containe a like argument If they doe these things to a greene tree what shall he done to the dry To like purpose in Ierem. 25.29 saith the Lord of Hoasts Loe I begin to plague the city where my name is called vpon and shall you goe free Yee shall not goe free Hitherto I referre also one other text Esai 10.12 where it is said that God when he hath done and dispatched all his worke vpon Mount Sion will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the King of Assyria the meaning of the place is that God when he hath sufficiently chastised and corrected those of his owne house his beloued children will turne his sword against the scorners of his Maiestie When God hath serued his owne turne by the wicked then comes their turne also howsoeuer for a while they flourish in hope to escape Gods hand and to abide vnpunished yet will God in due time well enough finde them out to pay them double The vses of this doctrine I can but point at One is to admonish vs that we spite not any of the wicked who now doe liue in rest because their turne to be punished must come and faile not The further it is put off from them the heauier in the end it will fall vpon them A second vse is to teach vs patience in afflictions for as much as God will shortly cause the cup to passe from vs to our aduersaries But say he will not Yet neuerthelesse are we to possesse our soules in patience reioycing and giuing thankes to God who hath made vs worthy not only to beleeue in him but also to suffer for his sake For we haue learned Act. 14.22 That through many afflictions we must enter into the kingdome of God c. The Prophets and Apostles and Martyrs which were not only reuiled and scourged but also beheaded cut in peeces drowned in water consumed in fire by other tyrannicall deuices cruelly put to death they all by this way receiued the manifest token of their happy and blessed estate and entred into the kingdome of God And we vndoubtedly know 2 Cor. 5.1 Tâ—at if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed we haue a building of God an house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens Thus farre of my second circumstance the circumstance of the punished the Aramites professed enemies vnto God yet by him employed in the correction of his owne children the Israelites are here themselues punished My doctrine was Though the Lord doe vse his enemies as instruments to correct his owne seruants and children yet will be in due time ouerthrow those his enemies with a large measure of his iudgements The third circumstance is the punishment a going into captiuity amplified by the place This captiuitie bondage and slauery was to be in an vnknowne strange and a farre countrey Kir in Media The people of Aram shall goe into captiuitie vnto Kir The doctrine is For the sinne of a Land God oftentimes sendeth away the inhabitants into captiuitie Captiuitie to be an effect or punishment of sinne King Salomon in his prayer made to the Lord at his consecration or dedication of the Temple 1 King 8.46
My propounded doctrine stands good It is a thing very distastfull and vnpleasing vnto God for brethren to be at variance among themselues Now let vs see what vses doe offer themselues to our considerations out of this Doctrine First it may serue for a iust reproofe of these our last and worst daies wherein by experience wee finde true that same m Dr. King B. of London vpon Ionas Lect. 15. paradox in common reason hardly to be proued namely that not friends only or kinsmen but brethren also when they fall to enmity their hatred is greater than that betwixt mortall foes It is come to passe according to Christ his prophecie Matth. 10.36 A mans enemies shall be they of his owne house A mans enemies indeed and his enemies to purpose to worke him most harme shall be they of his owne house May not many now adaies complaine yea cry out with Dauid Psal 55.12 If mine enemy had done me this dishonour I could haue borne it If mine aduersary had exalted himselfe against me I would haue hid my selfe from him but it was thou O man my companion my guide my familiar we tooke sweet counsell together we walked in the house of God as friends Yet hast thou done me this dishonour yea thou hast exalted thy selfe against me Of all the Vials of the wrath of God powred down vpon sinners it is one of the sorest when a man is fed with his own flesh and made drunke with his owne bloud as with sweet wine So the Prophet Esay speaketh Chap. 49.26 The meaning is as a chiefe n B. King Ibid. pillar of our Church expoundeth it when a man taketh pleasure in nothing more than in the ouerthrow and extirpation of his owne seed when he thirsteth not for any bloud but that which is drawne from the sides of his brethren and kinsmen Neuer was there more eager and bitter contention betweene Turke and Christian than now adaies there is betweene Christian and Christian a brother and a brother All we who haue giuen our names to Iesus Christ and vowed him seruice in our baptisme we are all brethren we are fratres vterini brethren from the womb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee haue one father and one mother one father in heauen and one mother the holy Catholike Church militant vpon the earth But it fareth with vs as it did with Simeon and Leui Gen 49.5 We are brethren in euill the instruments of cruelty are in our habitations They in their wrath slew a man and what doe we If our wrath be kindled against our brother we will not sticke Edom-like to pursue him with the sword we will make our sword to be fed with his flesh and drunke with his bloud Thinke not dearely beloued you of the other sex thinke not your selues exempt from this reproofe because in it I haue not made any mention of sisters for vnder the name of brethren I meant you also My speech was vnto Christians and in Christianisme diuersity of sex maketh no difference So saith the Apostle Gal. 3.28 Male and female all are one in Christ To you therefore this reprofe of brethren at variance doth also appertaine If you lay violent hands vpon any your husbands your children or other or if with your tongue which the holy Spirit Psal 57.4 calleth a sharpe sword you are giuen to vex them of your owne house or shall back-bite or slander any know that Edom-like you doe pursue your brother with the sword And take I beseech you my propounded doctrine as belonging vnto you also It is a thing very distastfull and vnpleasing vnto God for brethren to be at variance among themselues A second vse is to worke in vs brotherly kindnesse that vertue whereby euery good Christian embraceth the Church of God and the members thereof with the bowels of loue This brotherly kindnesse S. Peter 2 Epist 1.7 commendeth vnto vs as whereto we ought to giue all diligence Dauid Psal 133.1 stileth it with the sweet name of Vnity Behold how good and comely a thing it is for brethren to liue in vnity And therefore commendeth it by two similitudes in the one shewing the sweetnesse and pleasantnesse of it in the other the fruit and profit which commeth by it First it is like that precious ointment which was powred on the head of the high Priest and ran downe vpon his heard and so to the borders of his garments Behold the sweetnesse and pleasantnesse of vnity That sweet perfume and ointment that holy o le powred out vpon the high Priest and his garment was not only pleasant and delightfull to himselfe but did also yeeld a sweet smelling sauour to all that were about him So is it with vnity It is not onely pleasant to them who doe religiously esteeme and keepe it but to others also which are about them Secondly it is like the dew of Hermon which fell vpon the mountaines of Sion where the Lord appointed the blessing and life foreuermore Behold the fruit and profit which commeth by Vnity The dew and wet that fell downe from heauen vpon H rmon and Sion made those hils and the plaine countries neere them fertill so doth Vnity bring with it great fruit and profit If makes them among whom it is sincerely obserued it makes them through Gods blessing fruitfull and plentifull in good workes towards God and in him and for him towards men and one of them towards another This vnity concord brotherly loue mutuall consent and agreement if it bee vnfeigned hath the promises both of this life and of that to come of peace and quietnesse in this life and of eternall ioyes in the life to come One of the notes by which we may be assured of God his speciall loue and fauour is the loue of our brethren Now that we deceiue not our selues in this loue S. Iohn Epist 1. giues vs three rules to direct vs. 1 Christian brotherly loue must not be for any worldly respects or considerations but principally for and in God We must loue our brethren principally because they are the sons of God and members of Christ This rule he intimateth Chap. 5.1 Euery one that loueth him which begat loueth him also which is begotten of him that is whosoeuer loueth God the Father he loueth also the sons of God his naturall son Christ Iesus and his sons by grace and adoption all Christians 2 Christian brotherly loue must not be outward in shew only but inward in the heart This rule he giueth vs Chap. 3.18 Let vs not loue in word nor in tongue onely but in deed and in truth 3 Christian brotherly loue must be not onely in time of prosperity but when most need is This rule hee giueth vers the 17. Whosoeuer hath this worlds good and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth vp his compassion from him how dwelleth the loue of God in him Let these rules beloued be your direction Loue ye euery one that is called a Christian
it were in a sleepe without molestation he burieth the vnruly affections of his will and spendeth the remainder of his abode here in the exercises of sweete humilitie Thus shall the man be blessed that is obedient to the Commandements of the Lord his God It is said of the just Psal 112.6 In memoria aeterna erit iustus The iust shall be in euerlasting memorie It may bee likewise said of the obedient In memoria aeterna erit obediens The obedient shall be in euerlasting memorie The Rechabites shall neuer want a testimonie of their obediēce vnlesse the booke of Ieremy the Prophet be againe cut with a pen-knife and burnt as in the dayes of q Ierem. 36.23 Zedechias Ionadab their Father commaunded them to drinke no Wine and for that commaundements sake they would drinke none they nor their wiues nor their sonnes nor their daughters Iere. 35.8 A worthy patterne of obedience God himselfe commends it and obiects it for a reproofe of the disobedience of his owne people the inhabitants of Iudah For vers 13. Thus sayth the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Goe and tell the men of Iudah and inhabitants of Ierusalem The words of Ionadab the sonne of Rechab that he commanded his sonnes not to drinke wine are performed for vnto this day they drinke none but obey their fathers commaundement Notwithstanding I haue spoken vnto you rising early and speaking but yee hearkened not vnto me This complaint of the Lord is redoubled vers 16. The sonnes of Ionadab the sonne of Rechab haue performed the commaundement of their Father which he commaunded but this people hath not hearkened vnto me May not the Lord now as iustly twit vs and hit vs in the teeth with this example of the Rechabites He may without doubt The Rechabites kept the commandement of their Father Ionadab a mortall man now dead but we keepe not the commaundements of our Father our heauenly Father Iehovah the immortall and the euerliuing God Beloued let vs remember it Disobedience hath neuer yet escaped the hands of Almightie God It cast r Gen. 3.22 Adam and Eue out of Paradise ſ Gen. 19.26 Lots wife out of her life and nature too t Num. 16.32 Dathan and Abiram into the mouth of the earth u 1. Sam. 15.23 Saul out of his kingdome x Ion. 1.15 Ionas out of the ship the children of Israel out of their natiue soyle yea and from the naturall roote which bare them whereof there is no other reason giuen but their disobedience Iere. 35.17 I haue spoken vnto them but they haue not heard I haue called vnto them but they haue not answered Is not the case iust ours God hath spoken vnto vs but we haue not heard him he hath called vs but we haue not answered him He hath called vs per beneficia by his benefits but we haue not answered him per y Hugo Card. in Ierem. 35. gratitudinem by our thankefulnesse he hath called vs per flagella by his chastisements and scourges but wee haue not answered him per patientiam correctionem by our patience and amendment he hath called vs per exempla by examples but we haue not answered him per imitationem by our imitation he hath called vs per praedicatores by his Preachers but we haue not answered him per obedientiam by our obedience to his word preached He hath spoken to vs but we haue not heard him he hath called vs but we haue not answered him Men and brethren what shall we doe When a multitude of Iewes pricked in the heart at the preaching of Peter thus bespake Peter and his fellow Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe Peters answere for himselfe and the rest was Repent Act. 2.38 This same Repent is the best lesson that we can learne We haue not kept the commandements of the Lord our God we daily transgresse them and hereby are Heauen gates fast shut against vs. The onely way for vs to haue them againe opened is to Repent Repentance is the most soueraigne medicine that we can apply to the bitter wounds made in our soules through the sting of sinne Oh! Let vs not deferre and put off this necessarie cure One hath said very well z Diez Loco de poenitentia Qui veniam per poenitentiam repromisit diem crastinam ad poenitentiam non promisit He that hath promised pardon to vs if wee Repent hath not promised vs that to morrow wee shall repent Wherefore let vs laying aside all excuses delayes and prolonging of the time let vs euen this day while it is called to day with touched hearts and consciences resolue vpon Repentance Let vs euen now haue setled purposes and willing minds to forsake all sinne and to turne to the Lord our God this will be a good beginning of true conuersion and Repentance Let vs follow it with perseuerance Let not any idle sports let not any houses of misrule or disorder keepe vs from the Church and this place of sound instruction Here shall wee all be taught of God and by the mightie opperation of his holy Spirit shall be enabled to loue his holy Lawes and in some measure to keepe his commaundements that passing the remainder of our dayes in this land of our soiournings in all possible obedience to his holy Lawes and Commaundements we may at length be translated into that better Countrey that Heauenly one that cittie of God wherein our eldest brother and sole Sauiour Iesus Christ hath prouided places for vs that where he is there may we be also THE VI. LECTVRE AMOS 2.4 And their lyes caused them to erre after the which their fathers haue walked IN my last Sermon I began the exposition of the third part of this prophecie against Iudah and passed ouer the two first branches You then heard the people of Iudah reproued for contempt and rebellion Contempt of the law of the Lord and rebellion against his commandements They haue despised the law of the Lord they haue not kept his commandements What! Iudah Iudah a Lament 2.1 the daughter of Sion she that was great among the Nations and b Lam. 1.1 a Princesse among the Prouinces Iudah That was the Lords c Esai 19.25 inheritance the Lords d Exod. 19.5 peculiar the Lords e Psal 114.2 Sanctuarie the f Esai 61.9 blessed seed of the Lord the g Esai 5.7 plant of the Lords pleasure Iudah to whom the h Rom. 3.2 oracles of God were committed is Iudah become rebellious Hath Iudah despised the law of the Lord Hath not Iudah kept his commandements What may be the reason of it The reason followeth in my Text Their lyes caused them to erre after the which their fathers haue walked In steed of lyes the vulgar Latin hath Idola Idols So hath S. Hierome Deceperunt eos Idola eorum their Idols haue deceiued them What Idols Euen such as their fathers followed while they
escaped from the sword were carried away to Babylon where they liued in seruitude and bondage to the Kings of Babylon for h threescore 2. Câ—ro 36.21 and ten yeares This was that famous deportation commonly stiled the Captiuitie of Babylon from which vnto CHRIST are numbred Matth. 1. fourteene generations When the yeares of this captiuitie were expired and the Monarchie of Persia was setled vpon King Cyrus King Cyrus stirred vp by the Lord made a proclamation whereby he permitted the Iewes to returne into their country and to i â—â—ra 1.3 reedifie the Temple of the Lord at Ierusalem The Iewes now returned from their captiuitie wherein they liued threescore and ten yeares without a King without a Prince without a sacrifice without an Image without an Ephod without Teraphim as it is witnessed Hos 3.4 could not but with much ioy and great alacritie vnder the gouernment of their new Prince k Ezra 3.2 Zerubbabel sonne of Shealtiel and their new High-Priest Iesbuah sonne of Iozadak betake themselues to the building againe of the Lords house in Ierusalem The building was begun it proceeded but was soone hindred by the decree of l Ezra 4.23 24. 1. â—sar 2.30 Artaxerxes King of Persia So the worke of the house of God at Ierusalem m Ezra 4.24 1. Esar 2.30 ceased for some ten yeares till the second yeare of the raigne of Darius sonne of Histaâ—pes King of Persia by whose gracious n Ezra 6.8 decree for the aduancement of the building the building was againe set on foote and so diligently attended that in the o vers 15. sixth yeare of the raigne of the same King King Darius it was finished as it is deliuered Ezra 6.15 Thus was the house of God the Temple of the Lord in Ierusalem after p Iohan. 2.20 46. yeares consummate and dedicated Now once againe was the Lord of hostes iealous of Ierusalem and for Sion q Zach. 1.14 8.2 with a great iealousie now againe were r Zach. 8.4 5. old men and old women to dwell in Ierusalem and boyes and girles to play in the streets thereof now againe was Ierusalem to be called Å¿ Zach. 8.3 a Citie of truth the mountaine of the Lord of Hostes the holy mountaine and the Iewes which in former times were t Zach. 8.13 a curse among the heathen now became a blessing now againe were they u Zach 8.8 the people of the Lord and the Lord was their God in truth and in righteousnesse Thus were the people of Iudah through God his speciall goodnes blessed with ioy and enlargment for so much we finde registred Zach. 8. What did the people of Iudah for so many streames of Gods bounty deriued vpon them render vnto the Lord their God Did they as meete was x Ps 116.13 14. take vp the cup of saluation did they call vpon the name of the Lord did they pay their vowes vnto the Lord Did they as they were commanded Zach. 8.16 did they speake the truth euery man to his neighbour did they execute the iudgment of truth and peace within their gates did they imagine no euill in their hearts one against another did they loue no false oathes What saith the Prophet Malachie to this He confesseth chap. 2.10 11. that the people of Iudah dealt treacherously euery one against his brother that they violated the couenant of their fathers that they committed abomination in Ierusalem that they prophaned the holinesse of the Lord that they married the daughters of a strange God and chap. 3.5 that they were sorcerers adulterers false swearers oppressors and vers 7. that euen from the dayes of their fathers they departed from the ordinances of the Lord and kept them not Is not enough said against them Then adde yet further they corrupted the Law they contemned the Gospell they beheaded Iohn Baptist they crucified Christ they persecuted the Apostles Impiety of such an height and eleuation could not but presage a fearefull downefall This their downefall is in a figure foretold by the Prophet Zacharie chap. 11.1 2. Open thy dores O Lebanon that the fire may deuoure thy Cedars Howle Firre tree for the Cedar is fallen howle yee Okes of Bashan for the forrest of the vintage is come downe What Zacharie doth in a figure that doth Christ foretell in words proper and significant Luk. 19.42 where beholding the Citie of Ierusalem and weeping ouer it he saith The dayes shall come vpon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compasse thee round and keepe thee in on euery side and shall lay thee euen with the ground and thy children with thee and they shall not leaue in thee one stone vpon another This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this vtter desolation of the Citie Ierusalem foretold by Zacharie and by Christ by the one in a figure by the other in plaine termes was brought vpon that stately Citie by Titus sonne of Vespasian after the incarnation of Christ threescore and eleuen yeares as Genebrard threescore and twelue as Funccius threescore and thirteen as y Pedro Mexia in vitis Imperat. in Vespasiano pag. 126. others in the second yeare of the Emperor Vespasian It was besieged for the space of fiue moneths in which time there passed many assaults many skirmishes much slaughter with wonderfull obstinacie and resolution The famine meane while afflicting the Citie was such as no historie can parallell When their ordinarie sustenance was spent the flesh of z Pedro Mexia ibid. horses asses dogs cats rats snakes adders seemed good vnto their tasts When this foode failed they were driuen to eat euen those things which vnreasonable creatures will not eat a Famâ— impellebantur vt vel equâ—rum lora suos baltheos calceos coria câ—mederent PoÌ„tan Bibliothec. Conc. Tom. 4. ad Domin 10. Trinit Of their lether lether bridles lether girdles lether shoes and the like they made for themselues meate b Fame impellebantur vt comederent stercora beum quodcunque stereus reperiebatur illiuâ— partum pâ—ndus quatâ—or nummis veâ—debatur PoÌ„t ibid. Oxe dunge was a precious dish vnto them Purgamenta olerum the shreddings of pot-hearbs cast out trodden vnder foote and withered were taken vp againe for nourishment c Egesippus de exciâ—io Hieroslym lib. 5. c. 21. Miserabilis cibus esca lachrymabilis Here was miserable meat lamentable foode yet would the childe d Rapiebant parentibus filij parentes filijs de ipsis fanâ—â—bus câ—bâ—s proferebatur Egesip ibid. snatch it from his parent and the parent from his childe euen from out his iawes Plerisque etiam vomitus esca fuit saith Egesippus some to prolong their liues would eat vp that which others had vomited Among many other accidents in this famine at Ierusalem one is so memorable that I cannot well passe it ouer e De bello Iudaico lib. 7. cap. 18. Iosephus an eye-witnes of this
a flaming fire that will burne the whole house it s like a wild Horse that will cast his rider into hell it s like a wild gourd that will poyson the whole pott it s like a plague that will destroy the whole cittie it s like a p Ecclus. 21.3 two edged sword the wounds thereof cannot be healed Flie therefore from sinne as from the face of a Serpent And euer remember what befell Iudah and Ierusalem for their sinnes They despised the Law of the Lord they kept not his commaundements their lies caused them to erre after which their fathers walked therefore hath the Lord sent a fire vpon Iudah which hath deuoured the palaces of Ierusalem Thus farre of my first doctrine A second followeth I take it from the condition of Ierusalem She had faire appellations She was called the Virgin and the daughter of Iudah Lament 1.15 The daughter of Sion ver 6. the cittie that was great among the nations and a Princes among the Prouinces ver 1. The holy Cittie Mat. 4.5 The Cittie of the great King Mat. 5.35 The Lord he chose it he desired it for his habitation he said of it This is my rest for euer here will I dwell for I haue a delight therein Psal 132.14 And yet notwithstanding Ierusalem is rased from the foundation shee is vtterly destroyed It is befallen her according to this commination in my text I will send a fire vpon Iudah which shall deuoure the palaces of Ierusalem My doctrine is God will seuerely punish sinne euen in his dearest children This S. Peter avoweth 1. Epistle 4.17 saying Iudgement must begin at the house of God Hiâ— meaning is that the punishment and chastisement of sinnes beginneth with the Saints and seruants of God in whom as it were in a house or Temple God dwelleth If they who are most familiar with vs do sinne against vs we fret and grow discontented The most familiar with God are his faithfull ones who fill the house of God which is his Church If these sinne against God can God take it well He cannot He will punish euen his faithfull ones So sayth St Austine Epist 122. Ad victorianum Propter peccata sua etiam sancti flagellantur the verie Saints of God are scourged for their sinnes You see my doctrine confirmed God will seuerely punish sinne euen in his dearest children The reason is giuen by S. Austine in his Booke of fiftie Homilies Homil. 21. because Iustitia est vt puniat peccatum it is a part of Gods iustice to punish sinne a part of his Actiue iustice So doe the Schooles call the Iustice of God by which he iudgeth and punisheth offenders Of this Iustice of God it is said in our English Liturgie It belongeth to God iustly to punish sinnes Yea so doth it belong to God that God is not iust vnlesse he punish sinne The vse of this doctrine is vrged to vs by S. Pet. 1. Epist Chap. 4. vers 17.18 If God will seuerely punish his owne children for their sinnes If iudgement must begin at the house of God what shall become of strange children children of Belial What shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospell of God And if the righteous scarcely be saued where shall the vngodly and sinner appeare To this purpose is that of our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ Luk. 23.31 If they doe these things to a greene tree what shall be done to the dry It is as if he had said more plainly thus If God my Father suffer me who am innocent and without sinne who am like a greene and a fruitfull tree so grieuously to be afflicted and to be hewen downe as if I were a dry tree how much more will he suffer you who are sinfull and rightly compared to dry and barren trees to be afflicted and to be hewen downe The like argument doth the Lord bring against Edom. Ierem. 49.12 Behold they whose iudgement was not to drinke of the cup haue assuredly drunken and shalt thou altogether goe vnpunished Thou shalt goe vnpunished but thou shalt surely drinke of it What shall I more say Let vs diligently weigh what hath alreadie beene sayd Lay we it to our soules and consciences We haue seene that the infinite Iustice of God repayeth vengeance for sinne euen vpon the heads of his dearest children The inhabitants of Iudah Gods inheritance great Ierusalem the cittie of God the glorious temple there the house of God for sinnes pollution haue beene brought to destruction Christ himselfe the onely begotten sonne of God the well-beloued sonne of God he in whom alone God is well pleased because he q 2. Cor. 5.21 serued with our sinnes and was r Esai 53.5 made sinne for vs he was wounded for our transgressions he was broken for our iniquities his backe was loaden with stripes his head with thornes his bodie with crossing his soule with cursing Thus sweete Sauiour hast thou suffered for our rebellions for our transgressions for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was vpon thee and with thy stripes we are healed It fell out happily for vs beloued that Christ who knew no sinne should be made sinne for vs that we who bore about with vs a Å¿ Rom. 6.6 bodie of sin might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Being thus by Christ reconciled to God and washed and clensed from our sinnes through his precious bloud take we heed that it happen not to vs t 2. Pet. 2.22 according to the true Prouerbe The dog is turned to his owne vomit againe and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Let vs not henceforth be u Rom. 6.6 seruants vnto sinne let vs not yeeld our members as x Ver. 13. instruments of vnrighteousnesse vnto sinne Why should we y Heb. 6.6 crucifie to our selues the sonne of God afresh and put him to an open shame Let vs rather yeeld our selues our soules and our bodies seruants vnto God for so shall our z Rom. 6.22 fruit be in holinesse and our end euerlasting life So be it THE VIII LECTVRE AMOS 2.6 7 8. Thus sayth the Lord For three transgressions of Israel and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof because they sould the righteous for siluer and the poore for a paire of shooes That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poore and turne aside the way of the meeke and a man and his father will goe in vnto the same maid to prophane my holy Name And they lay themselues downe vpon clothes layd to pledge by euery altar and they drinke the wine of the condemned in the house of their God FOr Israels sake Amos the peculiar Prophet of Israel hath hitherto made knowne vnto Israel what God his pleasure was concerning their neighbour-Nations The iudgements of God against the Syrians the Philistines the Tyrians the Edomites the Ammonites and the Moabites were first manifested then followed his iudgments
your sonnes as Ioel speaketh of Chap. 2.28 I will powre out of my Spirit vpon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophecie Or of your sonnes de hominibus vestri generis saith Peter à Figuero of men like your selues of your brethren so they are called Deut. 18.15 The Lord thy God will raise vp vnto thee a Prophet from the middest of thee of thy brethren like vnto me Of your sonnes or of thy brethren The signification is one sayth Drusius Of your sonnes not strangers or forrainers but such as were home bred and of your owne lineage sayth Brentius Of your sonnes that is say some Hebrewes R. Dauid and R. Solomo ex parvulis of your little ones such as were Samuel and Ieremie I raised vp of your sonnes For Prophets Such as should not onely preach my will vnto you and instruct you in the way of righteousnes but also admonish you and fore-tell you what was to come to passe in future times Prophets I read in the old Testament of two sorts of Prophets Some were taught in Schooles vnder the discipline of other Prophets who were heretofore called Filij Prophetarum sonnes of the Prophets They are so called 2. King 4.1 6.1 Others had their calling immediately from God and were by him extraordinarily inspired with gifts from aboue and so were sent forth to the exercise of their holy function Of both these Amos chap. 7.14 maketh mention There he saith vnto Amaziah I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophets sonne but I was an heardman and a gatherer of Sycomore fruit This he speaketh of himselfe as he was before his calling I was no Prophet immediately called of God nor was I the sonne of a Prophet I was not trained vp or taught in any of the Schooles of the Prophets but I was an heardman and a gatherer of Sycomore fruit He had no other calling till the Lord was pleased to aduance him to the dignitie and office of a Prophet and then was his calling extraordinarie Amos tels how it was vers 15. The Lord tooke me as I followed the flocke and the Lord said vnto me Goe prophecie vnto my people Israel The Prophets mentioned in my text may be of both sorts such as had their institution in the Schooles of the Prophets and such as were called of God immediately and extraordinarily God was the raiser vp of both Yet especially by Prophets here I vnderstand such as had their calling of God immediate and extraordinarie And these were fitted to their holy function sundrie wayes as by dreames by visions by inspiration of the holy Spirit by expresse word vttered by some Angell representing God and by God himselfe speaking to them face to face That they were fitted to their Propheticall function by dreames and visions We know by Num. 12.6 where the Lord thus speaketh vnto Aaron and to Miriam Heare now my words If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my selfe knowne vnto him in a vision and will speake vnto him in a dreame We know it likewise by Elihues words vnto Iob chap. 33.14 God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiueth it not In a dreame in a vision of the night when deepe sleepe falleth vpon men in slumbrings vpon the bed Then he openeth the eares of men and sealeth their instruction It may also be gathered out of the euen-now cited place of Ioel chap. 2.28 I will powre of my Spirit vpon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophecie your old men shall dreame dreames your yong men shall see visions Dreames and visions you see were meanes by which Almightie God fitted his Prophets to the exercise of their holy function They were likewise fitted thereunto by the inspiration of the holy Ghost S. Peter sayth it Epist 2. chap. 1. vers 21. Holy men of God in old time spake as they were mooued by the holy Ghost So were they by the expresse word of some Angell representing God as Gen. 19.13 There shall you find two Angels instructing Lot concerning the ouerthrow of Sodome And sometime they were enabled to their holy calling by God himselfe speaking to them face to face So was Moses The Lord spake vnto Moses face to face as a man speaketh vnto his friend Exod. 33.11 Now whether Prophets of old time were enabled to the exercise of their sacred function by God himselfe speaking vnto them face to face or by the apparition of Angels representing God or by the inspiration of the holy Spirit or by visions or by dreames it was out of doubt a great blessing vnto Israel to haue Prophets sent vnto them and therefore saith the Lord vnto them I raised vp of your sonnes for Prophets It followeth And of your yong men for Nazarites Of your yong men It is emphatically spoken For though yong men for the most part are addicted vnto pleasures yet did God raise vp of them some that should withdraw themselues from the pleasures of this world either for a time or for euer and these were called Nazirites Naziraei They were called Nazaraei quasi Separatitij saith Mercer as Separatists or men separated from wine and vulgar delights that they might the more freely apply their wits and studies to the law of God and his worship Nazarites Nazarai They are so called by the author of the Vulgar Latin and so almost by all the Ancient and by many moderne interpreters by Benedictus Castalio and Caluin by Iunius and Tremellius in their Bible printed by Wechell at Francford A. C. 1579. But the same Iunius and Tremellius in their later editions of the Bible do call them Neziraeos Nezirites so doth Vatablus Drusius calls them Naziraeos Nezirites so doth Pagnine in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nezirites or Nazirites Well may they be so called for distinctions sake euen to distinguish them from Nazarites Christ is called a Nazarite Matth. 2.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is by many translated Nazaraeus a Nazarite He dwelt in a Citie called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophets He shall be called a Nazarite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Nazarite Our now English well translates it a Nazarene for Iesus Marc. 1.24 is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Nazarene Nazaraeus and Nazarenus ech name is deriued from Nazareth the Citie wherein Iesus had his habitation Wherefore they who interpret that Matth. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall be called a Nazarite do think that S. Matthew had respect to the Nazarites of the old Testament as to the types of Christ may well be deceiued Some I grant are of opinion that S. Matthew doth allude to those voluntarie and vowed Nazarites of whom we read Num. 6. and some that S. Matthew hath reference to Samson who was a Nazarite by Gods singular ordination But in these opinions I finde no soliditie for they haue no ground either in the name of Nazarite or in the matter Not in the name The
I forme the light and create darknesse I make peace and create euill I the Lord doe all these things I create euill In this place by Euill we are not to vnderstand malum culpae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not robbery not couetousnesse nor any like wickednesse but malum poene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Chrysostome speaketh Homily 23. vpon Matthew the stripes or wounds that we receiue from aboue Gasper Sanchius doth here reckon vp whatsoeuer disturbeth our tranquillity or quiet whatsoeuer externall or domesticall vexation we haue whatsoeuer taketh from vs the faculty and opportunity of those things that are necessary for our life as warre and exile and depredation and seruitude and want and the like Of all these it may be truly affirmed that the Lord createth them the Lord doth them all Of such euils is that also to be vnderstood which our Prophet Amos hath in the sixt verse of this Chapter Shall there be euill in a City and the Lord hath not done it The interrogation is vsed the more to vrge the point Shall there be euill in a City and the Lord hath not done it There shall be none No euill of punishment no calamity no misery no crosse no affliction shall bee in any City or in any other place of the world but the Lord is the actor of it he doth it Hereof was holy Iob well aduised The checke hee giues his Wife shewes it She seeing him all smitten ouer with sore biles from the sole of his foot vnto the crowne of his head falls a tempting him Doest thou yet retaine thine integrity Curse God and die Iobs reply vnto her is Chap. 2.10 Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh What Shall wee receiue good at the hand of God and shall we not receiue Euill Shall we not receiue Euill By Euill hee meaneth the Euill not of sinne but of punishment as calamities miseries crosses afflictions and the like which he calleth euill not because they are so indeed but because many thinke them so to bee For things may be tearmed Euill in a two-fold vnderstanding Some are indeed Euill such are our sinnes and of them God is not the cause Some are not indeed Euill but onely in regard of vs in regard of our sense of our feeling of our apprehension of our estimation Such are the punishments the calamities the miseries the afflictions whereto we are in this life subiect and of these God is the cause This is it which Iob acknowledgeth in the reproofe of his wiues folly Shall we receiue good at the hand of God and shall wee not receiue Euill and it fitly serueth for the establishment of my doctrine Whatsoeuer punishment befalleth any one in this life it s from the Lord. The reason hereof is because the Lord is the principall doer of all things He is the primary agent the chiefest actor in all things and therefore in all the punishments which doe befall vs in this life The vses of this obseruation are two One is to reproue some Philosophers of old and some ignorant people now adaies for a vaine opinion of theirs whereby they attribute to accident chance and fortune all those their afflictions from the least to the greatest whereof they fee not any apparant cause The other is to admonish vs that when any affliction is vpon vs we take it patiently as comming from the Lord and repine not at the instruments by whom we are afflicted They without him could doe nothing against vs. Whatsoeuer they doe they doe it by his permission The hand of his particular prouidence is with them to appoint the beginning and end and measure and continuance of all our afflictions Wherefore in all our afflictions let our practise be as holy Dauids was Psal 39.9 euen to hold our peace and say nothing because the Lord hath done it From the Agent and his Action I passe to the Patient You. I will punish You. You mine owne possession You my peculiar treasure You my chosen people aboue all the Nations of the earth I will punish you My obseruation from hence is The Lord doth punish his seruants in this life aboue others This truth I further proue out of Saint Peter Epist 1. Chap. 4. Vers 17. He there saith The time is come that iudgement must beginne at the house of God At the house of God it must beginne His seruants therefore must haue the first taste of it and the time is come for them to haue it Is the time now come Was it not before Yes it was euer Nadab and Abihu two of Aarons sonnes they offer strange fire before the Lord and a fire comes out from the Lord and deuoures This is it that the Lord spake saying In propinquis meis sanctificabor Leuit. 10.3 I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me If they that come nigh vnto me transgresse my lawes I will not spare them they euen they shall feele the heauinesse of my hand So saith the Lord Ierem. 25.29 Loe I beginne to bring euill on the City in which my name is called vpon And there you see It is not the seruice of God not the calling vpon his holy Name that can exempt a place from punishment if it be polluted with iniquity Beginne at my Sanctuary It is the Lords direction for the punishment of Ierusalem Ezech. 9.6 Goe thorow the City and smite Let not your eye spare neither haue yee pity Slay vtterly old and young yea maids and little children and women But come not neere any man vpon whom is the marke the rest slay vtterly old and young Spare not Pity not and beginne at my Sanctuary Now lay we all this together Beginne with them that are nigh vnto me beginne at my City at my house at my Sanctuary spare none pity none smite all You see my obseruation made good The Lord doth punish his seruants in this life aboue others I say in this life One reason hereof may bee because the Lord out of his loue to his seruants will not suffer them to goe on in sinne A second may be eternall punishments are prepared for the wicked hereafter and therefore here in this life are they the lesse punished And the vses may be two One to lessen vs that in the multitude and the greatnesse of our afflictions we acknowledge Gods great mercy and endeuour to beare them all with patience and contentment Whensoeuer Gods hand shall be vpon vs in iudgement for our sinnes let that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.32 be our comfort When we are iudged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world A second vse may be to shew vnto vs how fearefull their case is who passe all their time here in this world without any touch of affliction Affliction it is the badge of euery sonne of God Whosoeuer hath no part herein he is a bastard he is no sonne So saith the Apostle Heb. 12.8 I haue done with
haud dubiè Out of doubt the young Lion or Lions whelpe vseth not as he lieth in his den to giue forth his voice to cry or roare except hee haue gotten somewhat Hee vseth not so to doe Some Expositors there are that will haue these two branches of the Lion and the Lions whelpe to be all one and the latter to be but a repetition of the former mutatis verbis in other words So R. Dauid and Lyranus But Saint Cyril is of opinion they are not all one but are different So is Saint Hierome So R. Abraham So Albertus Rupertus Carthusian and others and with these accordeth our present exposition The exposition thus giuen descend we to the application that we may vnderstand what this Lion is and what the Lions whelpe Will a Lion roare in the forest when he hath no prey The Lion is God the forest the world the prey of the Lion the people of the world the roaring of the Lion Gods threatnings by his Prophets You may thus apply it As a Lion will not roare in the forest vnlesse he haue a prey So neither will God by his Prophets threaten any euill vnlesse he bee thereunto vrged by the sinnes of the people Such commonly is the application of this second similitude With Rupertus likewise this Lion is God but the Lions prey is omnis electus euery one of the Elect who wheresoeuer he be because he is predestinate vnto life ab ipso Deo requiritur is sought for of God himselfe that at his voice whether it be vttered by an Angell or by a Prophet or by the Scriptures he may tremble may be humbled may repent him of his sinnes and be saued The application which he maketh is after this manner Nunquid rugiet Leo in saltu nisi habuerit praedam Will a Lion roare in the forest vnlesse he hath a prey Idem est ac si dicet It is as if he said Is it worthy of God there to speake or thither to send a Prophet where he knoweth there is none worthy of eternall life Is it seemely is it any way fit that God should there vtter his voice or send his Messengers thither where hee knoweth there is not any one ordained vnto saluation By all congruity of reason the answer must be negatiue No it s altogether vnseemly it s not any way fit The Lion in the forest roares not vnlesse he haue his prey This exposition of Rupertus is by Ribera mentioned with some approbation but Petrus à Figueiro saith it is nimis violenta too violent too far fetched And well may it be so Arias Montanus by this Lion and Lions whelpe vnderstandeth Sennacherib and Nabuchodonozor two Assyrian Kings two mighty enemies to the state of the Kingdome of Iudah According to him thus must the application be As a prey that is betweene the Lions teeth or within his pawes cannot escape away so shall not the people of Iudah escape from out the hands of Sennacherib or Nabuchodonozor But this application of his is not so fit for this place because whatsoeuer is here spoken it is spoken not to the people of Iudah but to the people of the ten Tribes If great Albert must be followed this Lion must be vel Deus comminans vel meliùs inimi us inuadens vel homo vel Diabolus This Lion must be either God threatning or rather some enemy inuading be he man or Deuill The Deuill must be this Lion in the construction of diuers as Carthusian hath obserued for as much as the Deuill like a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may deuoure Semperque sitit animarum damnationem rugit vt eas deglutiat and euer thirsteth of the damnation of the soules of men and roareth that he may swallow them vp I may not deny but that the Deuill for his extreme fiercenesse and cruelty ioyned with force and hurt to annoy mankind is by Saint Peter likened to a Lion to a roaring Lion yet I cannot thinke that he is the Lion in my Text no though this in my Text be a roaring Lion But may not some man an enemy a tyrant an oppressor one or more be meant by this Lion this roaring Lion in my Text It s not to be doubted but that such are diuers times in the holy Scriptures compared to Lions The wicked man who is euermore an enemy to the godly is likened to a Lion Psal 10.9 He lieth in wait secretly as a Lion in his den he lieth in wait to catch the poore Dauids enemies are as Lions He so speakes of them Psal 22.13 They gaped vpon mee with their mouthes as a rauening and a roaring Lion Tyrants and oppressors of the Church are as Lions Such a one was Nero Saint Paul calls him a Lion 2 Tim. 4.17 I was saith hee deliuered out of the mouth of the Lion The Lion not the Deuill as Ambrose saith nor Festus the President of Iudaea as Primasius affirmeth but Nero proud and cruell Nero persecuting Nero as it s expounded by Chrysostome Theodoret Theophylact Oecumenius Aquinas and Eusebius Hist Eccles lib. 2. cap. 22. Be it then granted that Men enemies to the godly Tyrants and oppressors are in holy Scripture sometimes compared to Lions yet can it not thence be inferred that therefore by this roaring Lion in my Text Men are to be vnderstood It remaineth then that God either solely or principally be here intended Sic communiter omnes intelligunt saith Christophorus à Castre So doe all Expositors commonly vnderstand this Text that God should be this Lion And not only the old Lion but the young one too God is compared to both as wel to the young Lion as to the old To both he is compared Hos 5.14 There thus saith the Lord I will be vnto Ephraim as a Lion and as a young Lion to the house of Iudah I euen I will teare and goe away I will take away and none shall rescue him So likewise Esay 31.4 Thus hath the Lord spoken Like as the Lion and the young Lion roaring on his prey when a multitude of Shepherds is called forth against him hee will not be afraid of their voice nor abase himselfe for the noise of them so shall the Lord of hosts come downe to fight for mount Sion and for the hill thereof In both places you see God is compared not onely to the old Lion but to the young one too to the Lions whelpe So is he here in this Text of mine Now the meaning is As a Lion will not roare in the forest except hee hath a prey nor the young Lion cry out of his denne except he hath gotten somewhat No more will Almighty God roare from Sion or vtter his voice from Ierusalem except there be a prey ready for him He will not by his Prophets and Ministers giue forth his threatnings except there be iust cause for him to be auenged vpon a people for their sinnes My obseruation is If by our sinnes we prouoke
to euery one that is truly penitent The third followeth It concerneth you You Beloued you and euery one that hath this grace and fauour with God to be a hearer of his holy Word It s your duty whensoeuer you heare the threatnings of Gods iudgements against sinners to stirre vp your selues to repentance and to the amendment of your liues So shall you preuent his wrath and stay his iudgements O! take heed beloued that you rush not on as the horse in the day of battell to your owne destruction If the Lord God from out of Sion shall roare as a Lion roareth in the forest when he hath taken a prey if he shall vtter his voice from Hierusalem as a young Lion couching in his denne cryeth out when he hath gotten somewhat will it not then be too late for vs to returne vnto him Neuer is it too late to returne to God so it be done truly seriously and from the ground of the heart But this be we well assured of that if there be no change in vs it will be in vaine for vs to looke for a change from God It s certaine God will neuer change his threatnings except we change our liues and conuersations Wherefore dearely beloued suffer we a word of exhortation for conclusion of all I will deliuer it in the Lords owne words his words to Israel in Ieremy chap. 4.1 4. If thou wilt returne saith the Lord returne vnto me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight then shalt thou not remoue Circumcise your selues to the Lord and take away the fore-skinnes of your hearts lest my fury come forth like fire and burne that none can quench it because of the euill of your doings Wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou maist be saued how long shall thy vaine thought lodge within thee O come see and taste how good and gracious the Lord is vnto vs how seriously he exhorteth vs how sweetly he inuiteth vs to turne vnto him how louingly he calls vs to repent and amend our liues that we may be saued Beloued nothing is wanting but what is wanting on our parts and that is the reall performance of true and vnfained repentance through a liuely faith in Christ Iesus Concerning which let me giue you a rule a rule that is grounded and infallible Without repentance there is no saluation without sorrow for sinne there is no repentance without earnest prayer there is no sorrow no godly sorrow and without a due feeling of the Lords wrath there is no prayer that can pierce the skie or moue the Lord. O therefore let vs pray for repentance let vs sue for repentance let vs worke for repentance let vs bestow all wee haue vpon repentance All we haue It s nothing to thee O Lord. We feele O Lord such a benummednesse in our hearts such a dulnesse in our soules that albeit we see our sinnes and know them to be exceeding great yet cannot we so bemone them so lament them so grieue at them so detest them as we should Smite O gracious God smite we beseech thee our flinty hearts make them euen to melt within vs at the sight of our owne transgressions that so being cleansed from the filthinesse of sin we may grow vp vnto full holinesse in thy feare through Iesus Christ our Lord and Sauiour THE Fifth Lecture AMOS 3.5 Can a bird fall in a snare vpon the earth where no ginne is for him Shall one take vp a snare from the earth and haue taken nothing at all THat the comminations the menacies and threats which the Almighty by the ministery of his holy Word giueth forth against the sonnes of men for their impious and euill courses in their peregrination here vpon the earth are not in vaine like scar-crowes and bugges for the terrifying of little children and the ruder sort of people but are certaine euidences of Gods resolution for the punishment of sinne I haue heretofore out of the former verse made plaine vnto you by a two-fold similitude taken from the custome of Lions the old Lion and the young This fifth verse yeeldeth vs two other to the like effect and these are taken from the manner of fowlers or birders whose practise is to lay snares and set ginnes and spread nets to catch birds with The first is in the first branch the second in the second In the first there is an adumbration of the prouidence of God by which he ruleth all things In the second there is an illustration of the certainty the stability the efficacie of his iudgements which hee fore-sheweth and fore-telleth by his Prophets Of both in their order The first is Can a bird fall in a snare vpon the earth where no ginne is for him Can he fall The Vulgar Latine is Nurquid cadet shal he fall So reade the Septuagint so the Chaldee Paraphrast Nunquid cadit doth he fall So Winckleman and so our Country-man Tauerner in his English translation Au casura esset could shee fall So Iunius Can a bird could a bird shall a bird doth a bird fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hal pach haaretz in laqueum terrae word for word into a snare of the earth so is it in the old Latine This laqueus terrae is with Iunius laqueus humilis a snare lying low by the ground with Mercer and Vatablus it is laqueus in terrâ dispositus a snare placed on the ground Albertus Magnus expounds it to be laqueus in terrâ absconditus a snare hidden on the ground Into such a snare can a bird fall where no ginne is for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vmokesch ein lah. This same mokesch is by some taken for a ginne With Iunius and Drusius it is tendicula with Mercer it is offendiculum with Vatablus it is laqueus These as our late Translators take mokesch for a ginne Others take it for him that layeth the ginne for the fowler So doe the Septuagint so doth the Author of the Vulgar Latine so doth Saint Hierome take it With the Septuagint this mokesch is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a birder one that catcheth birds with birdlime with the author of the Vulgar Latine and Saint Hierome it is Auceps a Fowler So is it with Tauerner in his translation Doth a bird fall in a snare vpon the earth where no fowler is Be it a ginne or he that layeth the ginne the birder the fowler it much skilleth not for both readings haue their warrant as well this where no ginne is for him as that where no fowler is Now to the interrogation Can a bird fall in a snare vpon the earth where no ginne is for him or where no fowler is The answer must be negatiue No hee cannot And so is the answer made by Nicolaus de Lyra and the Author of the Interlineary Glosse So is it by Petrus Lusitanus so by Mercerus so by others Can a bird fall No it cannot be that a bird should fall in a snare vpon
the earth where by the fowlers art no ginne is set for him O quà m vilium similitudines rerum quam pretiosum praedicant sacramentum O saith Rupertus how vile are the things from which similitudes may be taken and how precious the mysteries that may thereby be published This our Prophet de pastoralibus assumptus once a shepherd now called to be a dispenser of the secrets of God is content to dispense them by drawing similitudes from such things as he was wont to obserue in his shepherds walke Such is that in the first Chapter vers 2. The Lord will roare from Zion and that in the same verse the habitations of the shepherds shall mourne and that in the verse before my text will a Lion roare in the forrest when he hath no prey and this in my text Can a bird fall in a snare vpon the ground where no ginne is for him All you see are pastorall Sufficiunt coelesti magisterio res non solùm piscatorum verùm etiam pastorum vt per eorum similitudines docti sint doceant conuenienter gloriam rerum caelestium Things that fall within the knowledge not only of fishers but also of shepherds are auaileable to diuine instruction that by the similitudes of both fishers and shepherds the glory of things celestiall may be manifested Such is this pastorall similitude this similitude of birds not falling into a snare vpon the earth vnlesse by the fowlers art some ginne be set for him It serueth for the adumbration of Gods wonderfull prouidence thus As snares wherewith birds are catched fall not on the ground at all aduentures and by chance but are laid by the skill industry and fore-sight of the fowler so the calamities and miseries of this life wherewith men are vsually taken and snared come not by chance but are sent among vs by the certaine counsell of God by his iust iudgement by his diuine prouidence I know that this similitude is by others otherwise applied Saint Hierome will haue it to belong to the punishment of such as liuâ— in discord and variance to this sence They who through charitie are as birds and doe fly aloft in the libertie of the holy Spirit through discord doe lose their wings fall downe vpon him earth and are a prey vnto the fowler Did they still soare aloft with the wings of loue they should not need to feare the fowlers snares For as Salâ—mon saith Prou. 1.17 Surely in vaine the net is spread in the eyes of euery thing that hath a wing Keepe then thy selfe aboue in the aire as if thou hadest the wings of a doue and thou art from danger but if through variance through strife through hatred and other like impieties thou be ouer-burdened and pressed downe downe thou fallest to the ground and art by thine owne default ensnared Iusta enim est ruina peccatorum for iust is the fall of sinners Two Hebrew Rabbins Abraham and Dauid apply this similitude to the execution of the decree of God and his sentence thus If men whose dwellings are vpon the earth can by their cunning and industry cause the birds of the aire to descend vpon the earth and so fall into their snares from whence there is no euasion for them how much more shall I I the Lord who haue my habitation in the Heauen of Heauens bring men themselues within the snare of my decree and sentence that there shall be no escaping for them Some so apply this similitude that by this bird they vnderstand a sinner and by the snare his sinne Their explication is As a bird shall not fall into a snare vpon the earth vnlesse some ginne be laid for him so shall not sinners fall into punishment vnlesse they themselues make snares of their owne sinnes to catch themselues withall So may they quickly doe and so saith Salomon Pro. 5.22 The wickednesse of the vngodly shall catch himselfe and with the snares of his owne sinnes shall he be trapped What then Vis non capi laqueo wouldest thou not be taken with the snare rumpe ac frange laqueum the aduice is good teare and breake the snare But how Tolle peccatum fregisti laqueum take away the sinne and thou hast broken the snare Rupertus so vnderstands this similitude that he will haue the grace of God herein to be commended With him this fowler shall be God his snare the word of God the bird to be catched the soule of man His conceit runnes thus As that a bird falls into a snare vpon the earth it is to be attributed to the care and diligence of the fowler that laid the snare so that the soule of man commeth to be ensnared in the word of saluation which it neither can resist nor is willing so to doe it is wholly to be attributed to the grace of God For God alone so spreadeth the snare of his good word that this little bird this wandring and restlesse bird the soule of man is caught and brought into the hands of the Lord her God and so escapeth the iawes of the Deuill This his exposition well meeteth with the Arminians with those new Prophets who at this day pretending a more moderate diuinity then ours is as if they came out of Coelestius his Schoole haue with their sophismes and subtilties much disquieted the State of the Belgicke Churches chiefly for the point of diuine Predestination and the appendices thereof Their fourth Thesis is touching the operation of the grace of of God in Christ a Collat. Hug. Brand. pag. 216. whether it be resistable or not The grace of God say they is resistable Rupertus here saith it cannot be resisted He is in the right and with him we ioyne and thus we explaine our meaning Man is to be considered in a two-fold respect in respect of himselfe and in respect of God If he be considered in respect of himselfe as he is vnregenerate and according to his inbred prauitie so is grace by him too too resistable for as much as man of himselfe in his pure naturals gouerned only by nature reason and sense without grace without the Spirit of God cannot only resist but also cannot but resist the grace of God So saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 2.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the naturall man receiueth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse vnto him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned To the like purpose the same Apostle Rom. 8.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wisdome of the flesh is enmitie against God for it is not subiect to the Law of God neither indeed can be It is true the Grace of God is resistable it is too easily resisted ex parte hominis by man in respect of himselfe But ex parte Dei it is otherwise In respect of God and his good pleasure it may well be said to be irresistible I speake of that grace of God which is his mouing and effectuall grace against
vrge this dutie First from the honour of him that speaketh Secondly from the danger of him that heareth negligently Thirdly from the profit of him that heareth with diligence First the preaching of the word of God is to be harkened vnto with all reuerence for the honours sake of him that speaketh For the honours sake of him that speaketh Why Who is he Is he not some Prophet some Apostle some Priest or Minister one whom wee know to be of meane descent some a Amos 1.1 Heard-man some b Matth. 4.18 Fisher-man some c 1 Thess 2.9 Act. 18 3. Tent-maker some d Matth. 13.55 Carpenters sonne Is not his mother called Mary and his brethren Iames and Ioses and Simon and Iudas And his sisters are they not all with vs How then is it that you vrge vs to giue eare with reuerence to the preaching of the Word for the honours sake of him that speaketh Our blessed Sauiour Christ Iesus vntieth this knot for me He to comfort his Apostles against the time of persecution thus saith vnto them Matth. 10.19 20. Take no thought how or what yee shall speake for it shall be giuen you in the same houre what yee shall speake For it is not yee that speake but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you In the thirteenth of Marke Verse 11. thus It is not yee that speake but the holy Ghost In the twelfth of Luke verse 12. thus The holy Ghost shall teach you in the same houre what yee ought to say Now see It is the Spirit of your Father the Spirit of God the holy Ghost that speaketh in his Ministers Why then yee are with reuerence to giue eare to them when they preach vnto you for the honours sake of him that speaketh Qui vos audit me audit saith Christ vnto his Disciples Luke 10.16 Hee that heareth you heareth mee and hee that despiseth you despiseth me He that heareth you heareth mee It is an admirable and gracious dispensation from God to speake vnto man not in his owne person and by the voice of his thunders and lightnings Exod. 20.18 or with the exceeding loud sound of a trumpet but by Prophets by Apostles by Disciples by Ministers by men of our owne nature flesh of our flesh and bones of our bones by men of our owne shape and language Iames 5.17 by men subiect to the same passions whereto wee are subiect God is hee that speaketh from aboue that blesseth and curseth that bindeth and looseth that exhorteth and disswadeth by the mouth of man For this respect and relations sake betweene God and his Ministers whom it hath pleased of his mercy in some sort to dignifie with the representation of his owne person here vpon the earth the world hath euer held them in very reuerent estimation Remember the Galatians Though Saint Paul preached the Gospell vnto them through infirmitie of the flesh Galat. 4.13 without the honour without the ostentation without the pompe of this world rather as one that studied to bring his person into contempt than otherwise yet were they so farre off from despising or reiecting him that they rather receiued him as an Angell of God yea as Christ Iesus And he bare them record that if it had beene possible they would haue plucked out their owne eyes and haue giuen them to him If it had beene possible that is if Nature and the Law of God had not forbidden it or if it had beene possible that is if they might haue done it sine suo dispendio as Haymo and Remigius doe interpret it if they might haue done it without their owne vtter vndoing or if it had beene possible that is if it might haue beene ad Ecclesiae vtilitatem so speake Aquinas and Gorran if it might haue beene for the good of the Church they would haue plucked out their owne eyes and haue giuen them to Paul Would they haue plucked out their owne eyes Nihil habet quisquam charius oculis suis There is nothing more deare vnto a man than are his eyes And yet if it had beene possible would the Galatians haue plucked out their owne eyes and haue giuen them to Paul When the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron Moses said vnto them Exod. 16.8 The Lord heareth your murmurings which yee murmure against him and what are wee Your murmurings are not against vs but against the Lord. What are we but Serui Ministri the Seruants and Ministers of the Lord Your murmurings are not against vs but against the Lord. This is that which the Lord saith concerning his Prophet Deut. 18.19 Whosoeuer will not harken to the words which hee shall speake in my name Ego vltor existam I will require it of him I will bee his auenger Whereupon Didacus Stella Hominem non debes aspicere sed Deum Enarrat in cap. 10. Lucae qui in eo loquitur Looke not vpon man set not thy thoughts vpon him but vpon God that speaketh in him For the words which hee speaketh hee speaketh in the name of God But say the Preacher bee a naughtie a wicked man what shall I then doe Deum qui per ipsum loquitur debes respicere Thou must haue regard to God that speaketh by him God diuinâ admirabili suâ virtute God of his diuine and maruellous power is able to bring to passe excellent and diuine workes by euill instruments God fed Elias by the ministery of Rauens Rauens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the euening 1 King 17.6 Did Rauens bring him food Cur ita Why so Lord Couldest thou not command Doues and other cleane birds to feed thy Prophet but thou must prouide for him by Rauens Note here the mystery God vseth many times to giue vnto his people the spirituall food of their soules sound and wholesome doctrine by euill and wicked men as he gaue good bread and flesh to Elias by Rauens tu vero comede onely eat thou and receiue thou from the hand of God what he sendeth and be not curious to know whether hee that brings thee thy soules meat be a Rauen or a doue a wicked or a good man so the food hee bringeth thee be sound and come from God By this time you see you are to giue eare with reuerence to the preaching of the word of God for the honours sake of him that speaketh You are now in the second place to be vrged to the performance of this dutie from the danger of him that heareth negligently The danger is great Saint Augustine discouers it by comparing the word of God for the estimation that is to be held of it to the Body of Christ in the Eucharist His words are in the six and twentieth of his fifty Homilies Non minus reus erit qui verbum Dei negligenter audierit quà m qui Corpus Christi in terram cadere suâ negligentiâ permiserit Whosoeuer shall heare the word
any place be of sufficient secrecie to conceale the vices of Kings Now if Kings secrets done in Court if their secret vices be made knowne much more shall it be knowne that is proclaimed in Court And therefore is the Proclamation here enioyned to be made in the Palaces of Palaestina and Aegypt in their Princes Courts that the same thereof flying abroad into all the coasts of those dominions the rest of the people might vnderstand thereof and beare witnesse to the iudgements of God which he executeth vpon his people for their sinnes that they are very iust By this iniunction for the Proclamation now expounded you see that Heathens the Philistines and Aegyptians aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and vtter enemies to that State are inuited to be spectators of the euils which God in iudgement was to bring vpon that his people the Israelitish Nation And this was to make the euils which the Israelites were to suffer the more grieuous vnto them Hence ariseth this obseruation The calamities or miseries which the Lord in iustice layeth vpon vs for our euill deeds will be the more grieuous vnto vs if our enemies be made priuie vnto them This is it the Lord saith to Ierusalem Ezech. 5.8 Behold I euen I will execute iudgement in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations thine enemies In the sight of thine enemies will I doe it It could not be but an exceeding great griefe to the Virgin daughter of Zion that the Lord had caused her enemie to reioyce ouer her and had set vp the horne of her aduersaries Lament 2.17 The reproach and ignominie that commeth from an enemie in time of misery is to some farre more grieuous than death it selfe who rather choose to die though it be by their owne hands or the hands of a friend than they will endure dishonour from an enemie Examples of such a resolution there are many in prophane Histories as in Plutarch of a Tom. 3. vit in Catone Catâ— Minor b In Antonio Antonius and Cleopatra in c Annal. lib. 16. Tacitus of Thraseas These of the Heathen killed themselues through impatiencie as not being able to endure the reproach and shame which they feared the one from Caesar two of them from Augustus the fourth from Nero. Nor is the Sacred story void of examples of this kinde Abimelech sonne of d Ierubesheth 2 Sam. 11.21 Ierubbaal he whom the Sichemites e Iudg. 9.6 made their King when at an assault of his giuen to the tower of Theber he had his scull broken by a peece of a Milstone which a certaine woman had cast vpon his head he called hastily vnto a young man his armour-bearer and said vnto him Draw my sword and slay me that men say not of me A woman slew him And his young-man thrust him thorow and he died Iudg. 9.54 Such was the end of that ambitious and cruell tyrant He is slaine of a woman and when he sees he is to die hee is desirous to blot out that infamie he will not haue it said of him that a woman slew him That a woman of the enemies side slew him he will not by any meanes haue it said of him Kill him rather than it should be said A woman slew him Such was the impatience of Saul Saul he that was the first King of the Israelites when the Philistines had gotten the day against him 1 Sam. 31.2 1 Chron. 10.2 had slaine three of his sonnes Ionathan Abinadab and Malchishua and himselfe was wounded by their archers he thus spake vnto his Armour-bearer Draw thy sword and thrust me thorow therewith lest these vncircumcised come and thrust me thorow and mocke me Which vile act his Armour-bearer refusing Saul became his owne executioner took his owne sword and slew himselfe 1 Sam. 31.4 He takes his own sword and slayes himselfe And why so Lest saith he these vncircumcised Philistines come and thrust me thorow and mocke me See he will die that he may not die he will be thrust thorow that he may not be thrust thorow he will kill himselfe that the Philistines may not kill him Hee will not endure to come within the power of his enemies I commend not Saul for his valour in killing himselfe nor Abimelech for his in causing his Armour-bearer to thrust him thorow It was not valour in them but cowardise or impatiencie For if they could with patience haue borne and endured their troubles they would not haue hastened their owne death Selfe-killing is a sinne so grieuous that scarce there is any more hainous before the Lord. Many reasons may be alleaged to shew the vnlawfulnesse of this fact and I hold it not amisse to bring a few especially in the iniquitie of these times wherein wretchednesse hath so fearefully preuailed in some persons and almost daily doth preuaile that they dare plunge themselues into this pit of terrible destruction My first reason shall be because it is forbidden in that Commandement Thou shalt not kill Exod. 20.13 In that Commandement is forbidden the killing of any man without lawfull authority But no man hath authority ouer himselfe because no man is superiour to himselfe and therefore no man may kill himselfe Out of S. Augustine lib. 1. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 20. I thus frame the reason Thou shalt not kill that is the Law The Law is not Exod. 20.13 thou shalt not kill thy neighbour limiting it as it were to some but indefinitly Thou shalt not kill extending it largely to all and therefore a man may not kill himselfe My second reason I take from that other Law Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe It is giuen in the Old Leuit. 19.18 Matth. 5.43 22.39 Rom. 13.9 Galat. 5.14 Iames 2.8 and is oft repeated in the New Testament Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe Where the loue of our selues is made measure for the loue of our neighbours Thou oughtest to loue thy neighbour but as thou louest thy selfe The example of thy charity is drawne from thy selfe at home Thy soule thy preseruation the good wished to thy selfe should be the true direction of thy deeds vnto thy neighbour But it is vnlawfull for thee to lay bloudy or murthering hands vpon thy neighbour and therefore thou mayest not make away thy selfe It is more vnnaturall for thee to shed thine owne bloud than thy neighbours Thy neighbours thou mayest not shed much lesse mayest thou shed thine owne Thirdly for a man to kill himselfe it is an iniury to the Common-wealth wherein he liueth for thereby he maimeth the Common-wealth and cutteth off one of her members The King thereby shall want a man when he hath vse of him This is an iniury to the State therfore a man may not kill himself Fourthly our life is giuen vs of God God hath placed vs in this world as in a watch or standing from whence we may not stirre a foot till God call vs