tune of that knowne song beginning Preserue vs Lord. THee and thy wondrous deeds O God Wiâ—h all my soule I sound abroad verse 2 My ioy my triumph is in thee Of thy dread name my song shall be verse 3 O highest God since put to flight And fal'ne and vanisht at thy sight verse 4 Are all my foes for thou hast past Iust sentence on my cause at last And sitting on thy throne aboue A rightfull Iudge thy selfe doest proue verse 5 The troupes profane thy checks haue stroid And made their name for euer void verse 6 Where 's now my foes your threatned wrack So well you did our Cities sacke And bring to dust while that ye say Their name shall die as well as they verse 7 Loe in eternall state God sits And his high Throne to iustice fits verse 8 Whose righteous hand the world shall weeld And to all folke iust doome shall yeeld verse 9 The poore from high finde his releefe The poore in needfull times of griefe verse 10 Who knowes the Lord to thee shall cleaue That neuer doest thy clients leaue verse 11 Oh! sing the God that doth abide On Sion mount and blazon wide verse 12 His worthy deeds For he pursues The guiltlesse bloud with vengeance due He mindes their cause nor can passe o're Sad clamors of the wronged poore verse 13 Oh! mercy Lord thou that dost saue My soule from gates of death and graue Oh! see the wrong my foes haue done verse 14 That I thy praise to all that gone Through daughter Sions beauteous gate With thankfull songs may loud relate And may reioyce in thy safe aide Behold the Gentiles whiles they made A deadly pit my soule to drowne Into their pit are sunken downe In that close snare they hid for mee Loe their owne feet intangled be verse 16 By this iust doome the Lord is knowne That th' ill are punisht with their owne verse 17 Downe shall the wicked backward fall To deepest hell and nations all verse 18 That God forget nor shall the poore Forgotten be for euermore The constant hope of soules opprest verse 19 Shall not aye die Rise from thy rest Oh Lord let not men base and rude Preuaile iudge thou the multitude verse 20 Of lawlesse Pagans strike pale feare Into those brests that stubborne were And let the Gentiles feele and finde They beene but men of mortall kinde PSALME 10. As the 51. Psalme O God Consider WHy stand'st thou Lord aloofe so long And hidst thee in due times of need verse 2 Whiles lewd men proudly offer wrong Vnto the poore In their owne deed And their deuice let them be caught verse 3 For loe the wicked braues and boasts In his vile and outragious thought And blesseth him that rauines most verse 4 On God he dares insult his pride Scornes to enquire of powers aboue But his stout thoughts haue still deni'd verse 5 There is a God His waies yet proue 〈◊〉 prosperous thy iudgements hye Doe farre surmount his dimmer fight verse 6 Therefore doth he all foes defie His heart saith I shall stand in spight Nor euer moue nor danger ' bide verse 7 His mouth is fill'd with curses foule And with close fraud His tongue doth hide verse 8 Mischiefe and ill he seekes the soule Of harmelesse men in secret waite And in the corners of the street Doth shead their bloud with scorne and hate His eies vpon the poore are set verse 9 As some fell Lyon in his den He closely lurkes the poore to spoyle He spoyles the poore and helplesse men When once he snares them in his toyle verse 10 He croucheth low in cunning wile And bowes his brest whereon whole throngs Of poore whom his faire showes beguile Fall to be subiect to his wrongs verse 11 God hath forgot in soule he saies He hides his face to neuer see verse 12 Lord God arise thine hand vp-raise Let not thy poore forgotten be verse 13 Shall these insulting wretches scorne Their God and say thou wilt not care verse 14 Thou see'st for all thou hast forborne Thou see'st what all their mischiefes are That to thine hand of vengeance iust Thou maist them take the poore distressed Rely on thee with constant trust The helpe of Orphans and oppressed verse 15 Oh! breake the wickeds arme of might And search out all their cursed traines And let them vanish out of sight verse 16 The Lord as King for euer raignes From forth his coasts the heathen sect verse 17 Are rooted quite thou Lord attendst To poore mens sutes thou deo'st direct Their hearts to them thine eare thou bendst verse 18 That thou maist rescue from despight The wofull fatherlesse and poore That so the vaine and earthen wight On vs may tyrannize no more FJNJS CHARACTERS OF VERTVES AND VICES JN TWO BOOKES By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY singular good Lords EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON of WALTHAM AND JAMES LORD HAY HIS RIGHT NOBLE AND WORTHY SONNE IN LAW I. H. HVMBLY DEDICATES HIS LABOVR DEVOTETH HIMSELFE Wisheth all Happinesse A PREMONITION OF THE TITLE AND VSE of Characters READER THe Diuines of the old Heathens were their Morall Philosophers These receiued the Acts of an inbred law in the Sinai of Nature and deliuered them with many expositions to the multitude These were the Ouerseers of manners Correctors of vices Directors of liues Doctors of vertue which yet taught their people the body of their naturall Diuinitie not after one manner while some spent themselues in deepe discourses of humane felicitie and the way to it in common others thought it best to apply the generall precepts of goodnesse or decency to particular conditions and persons A third sort in a meane course betwixt the two other and compounded of them both bestowed their time in drawing out the true lineaments of euerie vertue and vice so liuely that who saw the medals might know the face which Art they significantly tearmed Charactery Their papers were so many tables their writings so many speaking pictures or liuing images whereby the ruder multitude might euen by their sense learne to know vertue and discerne what to detest J am deceiued if any course could be more likely to preuaile for herein the grosse conceit is led on with pleasure and informed while it feeles nothing but delight And if pictures haue beene accounted the bookes of Jdiots behold here the benefit of an image without the offence It is no shame for vs to learne wit of Heathens neither is it materiall in whose Schoole we take out a good lesson yea it is more shame not to follow their good than not to lead them better As one therefore that in worthy examples hold imitation better than inuention J haue trod in their paths but with an higher and wider steppe and out of their Tablets haue drawne these larger portraitures of both sorts More
saith to them Depart from me They would not know God when they might now God will not know them when they would Now therefore beloued if thou wouldst not haue God scorne the offer of thy death-bed fit thy soule for him in thy health furnish it with grace iniure it to a sweet conuersation with the God of heauen then mayest thou boldly giue it vp and hee shall as gratiously receiue it yea fetch it by his Angels to his glory Hee gaue vp the ghost We must doe as he did not all with the same successe Giuing vp supposes a receiuing a returning This inmate that we haue in our bosome is sent to lodge here for a time may not dwell here alwayes The â—ight of this tenure is the Lords not ours As hee said of the hatcher It is but lent it must be restored It is ours to keepe his to dispose and require See and consider both our priuilege and charge It is not with vs as with bruit creatures wee haue a liuing ghost to informe vs which yet is not ours and alas what is ours if our soules be not but must be giuen vp to him that gaue it Why doe wee liue as those that tooke no keepe of so glorious a guest as those that should neuer part with it as those that thinke it giuen them to spend not to returne with a reckoning If thou hadst no soule if a mortall one if thine owne if neuer to bee required how couldst thou liue but sensually Oh remember but who thou art what thou hast and whither thou must and thou shalt liue like thy selfe while thou art and giue vp thy ghost confidently when thou shalt cease to be Neither is there here more certainty of our departure than comfort Carry this with thee to thy death-bed and see if it can refresh thee when all the world cannot giue thee one dram of comfort Our spirit is our dearest riches if wee should lose it here were iust cause of griefe Howle and lament if thou thinkest thy soule perisheth it is not forfeited but surrendered How safely doth our soule passe thorow the gates of death without any impeachment while it is in the hand of the Almighty Woe were vs if he did not keepe it while we haue it much more when wee restore it We giue it vp to the same hands that created infused redeemed renewed that doe protect preserue establish and will crowne it I know whom I haue beleeued and am perswaded that hee is able to keepe that which I haue committed to him against that day O secure and happy estate of the godly O blessed exchange of our condition while our soule dwels in our breast how is it subiect to infinite miseries distempered with passions charged with sinne vexed with tentations aboue none of these how should it be otherwise This is our pilgrimage that our home this our wildernesse that our land of promise this our bondage that our kingdome our impotency causeth this our sorrow When our soule is once giuen vp what euill shall reach vnto heauen and wrestle with the Almighty Our lothnesse to giue vp comes from our ignorance and infidelity No man goes vnwillingly to a certaine preferment I desire to bee dissolued saith Paul I haue serued thee I haue beleeued thee and now I come to thee saith Luther The voyce of Saints not of men If thine heart can say thus thou shalt not need to intreat with old Hilariâ—â— Egredere mea anima egredere quid times Goe thy wayes forth my soule goe forth what fearest thou but it shall flie vp alone cheerefully from thee and giue vp it selfe into the armes of God as a faithfull Creator and Redeemer This earth is not the element of thy soule it is not where it should be It shall be no lesse thine when it is more the owners Thinke now seriously of this point Gods Angell is abroad and strikes on all sides we know not which of our turnes shall be the next we are sure we carry deaths enow within vs. If we bee ready our day cannot come too soone Stirre vp thy soule to an heauenly cheerefulnesse like thy Sauiour Know but whither thou art going and thou canst not but with diuine Paul Vt contra Nullam animam recipio quae me â—olente separatur à corpâ—re HieroÌ„ say from our Sauiours mouth euen in this sense It is a more blessed thing to giue than to receiue God cannot abide an vnwilling guest giue vp that spirit to him which he hath giuen thee and he will both receiue what thou giuest and giue it thee againe with that glory and happinesse which can neuer be conceiued and shall neuer bee ended Euen so LORD IESVS come quickly Gloria in excelsis Deo THE IMPRESE OF GOD. IN TWO SERMONS PREACHED AT THE COVRT In the Yeeres 1611. 1612. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. THE IMPRESE OF GOD. THE FJRST PART ZACHAR 14.20 In that day shall be written vpon the bridles or bels of the Horses Holinesse vnto the Lord and the pots of the Lords house shall be like the bowles before the Altar IF any man wonder whither this discourse can tend of horses and bels and pots and bowles for the Altar Let him consider that of Tertullian Ratio diuina in medulla est non in superficie These Horses if they be well menaged will proue like those fiery horses of Elias to carry vs vp to our heauen 2 King 2.11 These Bels like those golden bels of Aarons robe Exod. 39.25 These Pots like that Olla pulmenti of the Prophets after Elisha's meale 2 King 4. and these Bowles like that blessed and fruitfull nauell of the CHVRCH Cant. 7.2 S. Paul askes Doth God take care for oxen so may I here Doth God take care for horses Surely to prouide for them not to prophesie of them much lesse of their bels the vnnecessarie ornaments of a necessary creature But hee that forbids vs to learne of the horse that lesson of stubbornnesse by the PSALMIST and checks vs oft by the oxe and asse for their good nature would haue vs learne here vnder this parable of the horse and the bels of the horse and the writing on those bels the estate of our owne peace and sanctification God doth both speake and worke in Parables as that Father saith well Of this then I may truly say as Hierome said of the Booke of IOB Singula verba plena sunt sensibus Suffer your selues with Abrahams Ram to bee perplexed a while in these bryars that you may be prepared for a fit sacrifice to God In that day What day is that All dayes are his who is the Ancient of dayes and yet he sayes Abraham saw my day and reioyced Hee that made all dayes sayes yet againe This is the day which the Lord hath made There is one day of the weeke Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
it is euen too little for God what doe we thinke of taking an Inmate into this cottage It is a fauour and happinesse that the God of glorie will vouchsafe to dwell in it alone Euen so O God take thou vp these roomes for thy selfe and inlarge them for the entertainment of thy Spirit Haue thou vs wholly and let vs haue thee Let the world serue it selfe O let vs serue thee with all our hearts God hath set the heart on worke to feare the hands on worke to serue him now that nothing may bee wanting he sets the head on worke to consider and that not so much the iudgements of God yet those are of singular vse and may not be forgotten as his mercies What great things hee hath done for you not against you Hee that looked vpon his owne works and saw they were good and delighted in them delights that we should looke vpon them too and applaud his wisdome power and mercie that shines in them Euen the least of Gods works are worthie of the obseruation of the greatest Angell in heauen but the magnalia Dei the great things he hath done are more worthie of our wonder of our astonishment Great things indeed that hee did for Israel he meant to make that Nation a precedent of mercie that all the world might see what he could doe for a people Heauen and earth conspired to blesse them What should I speake of the wonders of Aegypt Surely I know not whether their preseruation in it or deliuerance out of it were more miraculous Did they want a guide Himselfe goes before them in fire Did they want a shelter His cloud is spred ouer them for a couering Did they want way The sea it selfe shall make it and bee at once a street and a wall to them Did they want bread Heauen it selfe shall powre downe food of Angels Did they want meat to their bread The wind shall bring them whole drifts of Quailes into their Tents Doe they want drinke to both The verie Rocke shall yeeld it them Doe they want suits of apparell Their verie clothes shall not wax old on their backs Doe they want aduice God himselfe shall giue his vocall Oracle betweene the Cherubins Doe they want a Law God shall come downe vpon Sinai and deliuer it in fire thundring smoke earth-quakes and write it with his owne finger in tables of stone Doe they want habitations God shall prouide them a land that flowes with milke and honie Are they persecuted God stands in fire betweene them and their harmes Are they stung to death The brazen Serpent shall cure them Are they resisted The walls of Iericho shall fall downe alone hailestones braine their enemies The Sunne shall stand still in heauen to see Ioshuahs reuenge and victorie Oh great and mightie things that God did for Israel And if any Nation vnder heauen could either parallel or second Israel in the fauours of God this poore little ILAND of ours is it The cloud of his protection hath couered vs. The bloud-red sea of persecution hath giuen way to vs and we are passed it dry-shod The true Manna from heauen is rained downe abundantly about our tents The water of life gusheth forth plenteously to vs The better law of the Gospell is giuen vs from heauen by the hands of his Sonne the walls of the spirituall Iericho are fallen downe before vs at the blast of the trumpets of God and cursed be he that goes about to build them vp againe Now therefore that we may come more close to the taske of this day Let me say to you as SAMVEL to his Israelites Consider with mee what great things the Lord hath done for vs and as one wisht that the enuious had eyes in euerie place so could I seriously wish that all which haue ill will at our Sion had their eares with me but one houre that if they belong not to God they might burst with Iudas which repine with Iudas at this seasonable cost of the precious oyntment of our praises If I should looke backe to the ancient mercies of God and shew you that this Kingdome though diuided from the world was one of the first that receiued the Gospell That it yeelded the first Christian Emperor that gaue peace and honour to the Church The first and greatest lights that shone forth in the darkest of Poperie to all the world and that it was the first kingdome that shooke Antichrist fully out of the saddle I might finde iust matter of praise and exultation but I will turne ouer no other Chronicles but your memorie This day alone hath matter enough of an eternall gratulation For this is the communis terminus wherein Gods fauours meet vpon our heads which therefore represents to vs both what we had and what we haue The one to our sense the other to our remembrance This day was both Queene ELIzABETHS Initium gloriae and King IAMES his Initium regni To her Natalitium salutis as the passion-dayes of the Martyrs were called of old and Natalis Imperij to him These two names shew vs happinesse enough to take vp our hearts for euer And first why should it not bee our perpetuall glorie and reioycing that wee were her subiects Oh blessed Queene the mother of this Nation the nurse of this Church the glorie of womanhood the enuie and example of forraine Nations the wonder of times how sweet and sacred shall thy memorie bee to all posterities How is thy name not Parables of the dust Iob 13.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Iewes speake not written in the earth as Ieremie speaks but in the liuing earth of all loyall hearts neuer to bee razed And though the foule mouthes of our Aduersaries sticke not to call her miseram foeminam as Pope Clement did nor to say of her as Euagrius sayes vncharitably of Iustinian the great Law-giuer ad supplicia iusto Dei iudicio apud inferos luenda profecta est Euagr. l. 5. c. 1. and those that durst bring her on the stage liuing bring her now dead as I haue heard by those that haue seene it into their processions like a tormented ghost attended with fiends and firebrands to the terrour of their ignorant beholders Yet as wee saw shee neuer prospered so well as when shee was most cursed by their Pius 5 so now wee hope she is rather so much more glorious in heauen by how much they are more malicious on earth These arrogant wretches that can at their pleasure fetch Salomon from heauen to hell and Traian and Falconella from hell to heauen Campian and Garnet from earth to heauen Queene Elizabeth from earth to hell shall finde one day that they haue mistaken the keyes and shall know what it is to iudge by being iudged In the meane time in spight of the gates of Rome Memoria iustae in benedictionibus To omit those vertues which were proper to her sex by which she deserued to bee the Queene of women
it Right Honourable and beloued that God hath reserued vs to these better dayes of his Gospell wherein the helpes of saluation are more cleare obuious effectuall wherein as the glory of the latter House exceeded the former so the meanes of that incomprehensible glory of the house not made with hands eternall in the Heauens lie more open vnto vs What should we doe but both vti and frui gladly vse and sweetly enioy this vnspeakable blessing which God hath kept in store for vs and walke worthy of so incomparable a mercy The old Iewes liued in the dawning of the day wherein they had but a glimmering of that Sunne which would rise We liue after the high noone of that happy day If we walke not answerable to so great a light what can we looke for but vtter darknesse Ye shall now giue me leaue Right Honourable to carry these words in a meet analogie to the present occasion The Temples vnder the Law were both a figure and a patterne of the Churches vnder the Gospell Within this roofe vnder which we now stand here was both the former and the latter house and euen in these wals doth God make his Word good That the glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the former The first foundation of it was no doubt both pious and rich I shall not need to fetch the Pedegrees of it from Saint Iohn Baptist in Ierusalem Consecrated by Heraclius Patriarch of Ierusalem nor to discourse of either the deuotion or wealth of that religiously-military Order for whom these stones were first laid Imagine the Altar neuer so gay the Imagery neuer so curious the Vestments neuer so rich the Pillars Wals Windowes Pauement neuer so exquisite yet I dare boldly say this present glory of this House in this comely whitenesse and well-contriued coarctation is greater than the former What care I Nay What doth God care for the worke of a Lapidary or Painter or Mason One zealous Prayer one Orthodox Sermon is a more glorious furniture than all the precious rarities of Mechanique excellencies I doe most willingly as what good heart doth not honour the vertuous actions and godly intentions of our worthie forefathers which no doubt it hath pleased God in mercy to accept and crowne but withall it must be yeelded that they liued vnder the tyrannous iniurie and vsurpation of those Pharises who kept the keyes of knowledge at their owne girdles and would neither draw for them nor suffer them to draw for themselues Blessed be God for better conditions the Well of life lies open to vs neither are we only allowed but inuited to those heauenly liquors Inebriamini O Charissimi Drinke yea drinke abundantly O beloued Cant. 5.1 This happy libertie of the sauing Gospell of Iesus Christ daily and sincerely preached to vs Noble and beloued Christians is worthy to be more worth vnto vs than all the treasures ornaments priuileges of this transitory World and this since through the inestimable goodnesse of God ye doe and may finde in this latter House Well hath God verified this word in your eies and eares The glory of the latter House shall be greater than of the former Hitherto the comparatiue praise of the latter House the positiue followes in the promise of a gracious effect In this place will I giue peace wherein I know not whether the blessing doth more grace the place or the place the blessing both grace each other and both blesse Gods people In this place will I giue peace If ye looke at the blessing it selfe it is incomparable Peace that whereby the Hebrewes had wont to expresse all welfare in their salutations and wel-wishes the Apostolicall benediction dichotomizes all good things into Grace and Peace wherein at the narrowest by Grace all spirituall fauours were signified temporall by Peace The sweet Singer of Israel could not wish better to Gods Church than Peace be within her walls and behold this is it which God will giue I will giue peace Dabo pacem yea our eies should stoope too low if they should fix here The sweet Quiristers of Heauen when they sung that diuine Caroll to the honour of the first Christmas Glory to God in the highest heauens in earth peace c. next to Gloria in excelsis Deo said In terris pax Yet higher the great Sauiour of the World when he would leaue the most precious Legacie to his deare ones on earth that they were capable of he saies My peace I giue you And what he there giues he here promises Dabo pacem I will giue it But where Whence In this place Not any where not euery where but in his owne house in his latter house his Euangelicall House as if this blessing were confined to his holy walls he saith In this place will I giue peace This flower is not for euery soyle it growes not wilde but is only to be found in the Garden of Sion It is very pregnant which the Psalmist hath Psal 128.5 and 134.3 The Lord that made Heauen and Earth blesse thee out of Sion He doth not say The Lord that made the Earth blesse thee out of Heauen nor The Lord that made Heauen blesse thee out of heauen but blesse thee out of Sion As if he would teach vs that all blessings come as immediatly and primarily from heauen so mediatly secondarily from Sion where this Temple stood Some Philosophers haue held the Moone to be the receptacle of all the influences of the heauenly bodies and the conueyances of them to this inferiour World so as all the vertue of the vpper Orbes and Starres are deriued by her to this elementary Spheare Such doth both Dauid and Haggai repute the house of God whither as to Iosephs Store-house doth God conuey the blessings of peace that they may be thence transmitted to the sonnes of men How and why then doth God giue peace in this his House Because here as Bernard well Deus audit auditur God heares and is heard here audit orantes erudit audientes he heares his suppliants and teacheth his hearers As this place hath two vses it is both Oratorium and Auditorium so in respect of both doth it blesse vs with peace our mouth procures it in the one our eare in the other God workes in our hearts by both In the first God sayes as our Sauiour cites it Domus mea domus orationis My House shall be called the House of prayer And what blessing is it euen the best of Peace that our prayers cannot infeoffe vs in Salomon when he would consecrate the Church he had built solemnly sues to God that hee would inuest it with this priuilege of an vniuersally gracious audience and numbring the occasions of distressed Suppliants makes it euer the foot of his request Then hearken to the prayer that thy seruant shall make towards this place Heare thou in heauen thy dwelling place and when thou hearest haue mercy If euer therefore
we would haue peace outward inward priuate publike secular spirituall If we would haue peace in our estate peace in our Land peace in our Church peace in our soules pray for it And if euer wee will pray for it pray here in Gods house for in this place will I giue peace In vaine shall we looke for it elsewhere if we aske it not here It is true we are bidden euery where to lift vp pure hands to God but they cannot bee pure that are profane and they cannot bee but profane that contemne the holy ordinances of God He said well In templo vis orare in te ora for Know you not that your bodies are the Temples of the liuing God but let me as truly returne it In te vis orare in templo ora Wouldst thou pray with effect at home Pray at Church else thy deuotion is but the sacrifice of fooles for he hath said it who hath good reason to appoint the circumstances of his owne beneficence In this place will I giue peace Will yee then see the reason why there is so much emptie Caske in the Celler of God Therefore are men void of grace because they are voyd of deuotion They seeke not God where he may be found and therefore it is iust with God not to be found of them where they pretend to seeke him for In hoc loco In this place will I giue peace Gerson distinguishes well in his Sermon de Angelis that there is Duplex Coelum A double Heauen Gloriae Ecclesiae of Glory aboue of the Church below the Church is the Heauen on earth where God is seene heard spoken vnto where are his Saints whose Assemblies are here where are his Angels Let the woman haue power on her head because of the Angels 1 Cor. 11. As the Iewes then whilest the Church of God was Nationall were wont according to command to looke towards the Temple if they could not come to it in their deuotions So now that the Church is Catholike or vniuersall and euery of our Churches is equally Gods house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we shall gladly with Peter and Iohn goe vp to this Temple to pray How can we looke for a better incouragement than God giues vs here In this place will I giue peace In the latter as it is Auditorium so I create the fruit of the lips to be peace saith God Naturally we are all euen those that applaud themselues in the best opinion of their harmeles and faire disposition enemies to God Enemies both actiuely and passiuely Actiuely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-haters Rom. 1. Passiuely Filij irae The sons of displeasure We fell out in Adam through our owne wilfull apostasie and disobedience and we still stand out in the maintenance of our inward corruption There is no way to peace but by reconciliation there is no way to reconciliation but by the Gospel of Iesus Christ which is Euangelium pacis there is no proper element for the Gospell of God The Gospell of peace but the House of God Locus iste In this place will I giue peace It is not I know for euery heart to apprehend either the want of this peace or the misery of this want This is one of those happinesses which is most brag'd of where it is least had The sensual Securitan pleases himselfe in the conceit of his owne peace All is well at home hee quarrels not with himselfe for he denies himselfe nothing God quarrels not with him here are no checks of a chiding conscience no frownes of an angry Iudge nothing but Pulchritudo pacis as the Prophet speakes Alas my beloued call not this peace The beauty of peace I will giue true peace call it stupidity euen Hell it selfe is not a Kingdome diuided in it selfe There is no blessing which is not also counterfeited Pacem veram dabo is the stile of the Prophets Ier. 14.13 This were a needlesse Epithet if there were not a false peace such is this of carnall hearts That Word of eternall Truth must stand There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Haue you seene a sore suddenly fild vp with vnsound flesh and fairely skinned ouer without all offence to the eie which ere long will breake out againe and bewray a secret and so much-more-hardly-cured corruption Such is a wicked mans peace Haue you seene a slaue sit quietly in the Gally not struggling with his chaine not repining at his Oare necessitas fortiter consuetudo facile Necessitie hath taught him to beare it strongly custome easily Haue you heard a dying man professe that he felt no paine Such is a wicked mans peace of which he shall once say though now all seeme smooth and plausible In pace amaritudo mea amarissima In peace I had great bitternesse Esay 38.17 Nether is the want of this peace lesse perceiued than the misery of this want Men see no difference in the face of Heauen whatsoeuer they doe their blasphemies and prayers finde the same intertainement therefore the carelesse man resolues I shall haue peace though I follow the wayes of mine owne heart Oh the miserable sottishnesse of wilfull sinners Sinne lyes like a sleeping Bandog at the doore of their heart they looke vpon him as if hee would neuer wake or as if though hee should yet hee were so clogged and chained and muzled that there can bee no danger of his hurt Let God but rowze him vp a little he shall bay them to despaire he shall flie vpon them and pull out their throats Then shall their troubled heart proiect terrible things and they shall feele what it is to liue in the anger of a God They shall see the Almighty putting himselfe into the fearefull formes of vengeance Who can stand before his indignation And who can abide in the fiercenesse of his anger His furie is powred out like fire and the rocks are throwne downe before him Nahum 1.6 And if his very loue haue drawne bloud of his deare ones Terrores Domini militant contra me saith holy Iob The terrors of the Lord are set in aray against me Iob 6.4 and he that bore the chastisements of our peace the Sonne of his loue could say My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Oh what shall bee the Iudgements of his wrath If this bee the rod of children Oh what shall be the Scorpions for his enemies They shall see that gulfe of fire ready to receiue them into euerlasting burnings They shall see the Deuils their incessant tormentors ready to seize vpon their guilty soules Then O then shall they know too late what an happinesse it is that God here promises Dabo pacem Would wee then auoyde the vnspeakeable horror of this wofull condition Would we finde the bed of our sicknesse and death comforted with the sweete testimony of an heauenly peace betwixt God and our soules See whence we must fetch it In this place will I giue peace If euer
sinne is as ill as the Deuill can make it a most loathsome thing in the eyes of God and his Angels and Saints and we grant to our griefe that among so many millions of men there may be found some thousands of Lepers Good Lawes and censures meet with some others escape It is not so much our fault as our griefe But that this Leprosie infects all persons and things is shamefully ouer-reacht Plague and Leprosie haue their limits beyond which is no contagion If a man come not neere them Certè nullius crimen inaculat nescientem Aug. Epist 48. if he take the wind in an open aire they infect not such is sinne It can infect none but the guilty Those which act or assent to or beare with it or detest it not are in this pollution But those which can mourne for it and cannot redresse it are free from infection How many foule Lepers spiritually did our Sauiour see in the publike aire of the Iewish Church wherewith yet hee ioyned and his not fearing infection so much as gracing the remnants of their ruinous Church Were those seuen thousand Israelites 1 Reg. 19.18 whose knees bowed not to BAAL infected with the Idolatry of their Neighbours yet continued they still parts of the same Church 3. Hierarchie But this yet exceeds Not onely all persons but all things What Our Gospell Our Heauen Earth Sea Our Bookes Coyne Commodities Behold you see the same Heauen with vs you haue no Bibles but ours our aire in his circular motion comes to be yours the water that washeth our Iland perhaps washeth your hands Our vncleane Siluer I feare maintaines you Our commodities in part in rich your Land-Lords and yet all things amongst vs infected you are content to take some euill from your neighbours The third is our blasting Hierarchie which suffers no good thing that is no Brownist no singular fancy for what good things haue we but yours to grow or prosper amongst vs but withers all both bud and branch would to God the root also The last 4. Seruice-booke is a daily Sacrifice of a Seruice-booke an Incense how euer vnsauoury to you yet such as all Churches in Christendome hold sweet and offer vp as fit for the nostrils of the Almighty we are not alone thus tainted all Christian Churches that are or haue beene present the same Censers vnto God But ours smels strong of the Popes Portuise See whether this be any better than triuiall cauilling If â—ither an ill man or a Deuil shal speake that which is good may not a good man if it If a good Angell Patres nostri non selum ante Cyprianum vel Agâ—â—ppinum sed pâ—stea salubeâ—rimam consuetudinem tenueâ—unt vt quicquâ—d diu nil atque legitimum in aliquâ— haeresi vel si bismate inâ—egruÌ„ reperâ—ent â—pprobent potius quà m negarent August or man shall speake that which is euill is it euer the better for the Deliuerer If Satan himselfe shall say of Christ Thou art the Sonne of the liuing God shall I feare to repeat it Not the Author but the matter in these things is worthy of regard As Ierome speakes of the poysoned Workes of Origen and other dangerous Treatisors Good things may bee receiued from ill hands If the matter of any Prayer be Popish fault it for what it containes not for whence it came what say you against vs in this more than Master Smith your from Anabaptist saith of our baptizing of Infants Both of them equally condemned for Antichristian Still therefore we bâ—ast of the fâ—ce and cleere aire of the Gospell if it bee annoyed with some practicall euills we may be foule the Gospell is it selfe and our profession holy neither can we complaine of all euills while we want you SEP That all Christendome should so magnifie your happinesse as you say is much and yet your selues and the best amongst you complaine so much both in word and writing of your miserable condition vnder the imperious and superstitious impositions of the Prelates yea and suffer so much also vnder them as at this day you doe for seeking the same Church Gouernment and Ministerie which is in vse in all other Churches saue your owne The truth is you are best liked where you are worst knowne Your next neighbours of Scotland know your Bishops Gouernment so well as they rather chuse to vndergoe all the miserie of bonds and banishment than to partake with you in your happinesse this way so highly doe they magnifie and applaud the same Which choice I doubt not other Churches also would make if the same necessitie were laid vpon them And for your graces we despise them not nor any good thing amongst you no more than you doe such graces and good things as are to be found in the Church of Rome from which you separate notwithstanding We haue by Gods mercy the pure and right vse of the good gifts and graces of God in Christs Ordinance which you want Neither the Lords people nor the holy Vessels could make Babylon Sion though both the one and the other were captiued for a time SECTION LVI THat which followeth is but words a short answer is too much The iudgment of our owne and our neighbours of our Church Socrat. l b. 1. c. 4. Constant Alex. Ario. Ac tamet si vos inter vos vicissim dere quapâ—am mâ—mini momenti dissentuis siquidem neque omnes de omnibus rebus idem sâ—ntimus nihilominus tamen fieri poterit vt eximia concordia sincere inter vos integreque seruetur vna inter omnes communio consocâ—atio custoâ—atur That all Christendome magnifies the worthinesse of our Church in so cleare euidences of their owne voices you cannot denie and now when you see such testimonies abroad lest you should say nothing you fetch cauills from home Those men which you say complaine so much of their miserable condition vnder the Prelates impositions haue notwithstanding with the fame pens and tongues not onely iustified our Church but extold it you haue found no sharper aduersaries in this very accusation for which you maliciously cite them How freely how fully haue they euinced the truth yea the happinesse of the Church of England against your false challenges and yet your forehead dare challenge them for Authors So hath their moderation opposed some appendances that they haue both acknowledged and defended the substance with equall vehemence to your opposition neither doe they suffer as you traduce them for seeking another Church gouernment looke into the Millenaries petition the common voice of that part I am deceiued if ought of their complaints sound that way much lesse of their sufferings deformitie in practise is obiected to them not indeauour of innouation That quarrell hath beene long silent your motion cannot reuiue it would God you could as much follow those men in moderate and charitable carriage as you haue out-run them in complaint It pleaseth you to deuise vs
vvas gone forth had frequent visions of his Maker So whiles in our affections we remaine here below in our Cofers wee cannot haue the comfortable assurances of the presence of God but if wee can abandon the loue and trust of these earthly things in the conscience of our obedience now God shall appeare to vs and speake peace to our soules and neuer shall we finde cause to repent vs of the change Let mee therefore conclude this point with that diuine charge of our Sauiour Lay not vp for your selues treasures on earth where moth and rust doc corrupt and theeues breake thorow and steale but lay vp for your selues treasure in heauen Thus much of the Negatiue part of our charge Wherein wee haue dwelt so long that we may scarce soiourne in the other But trust in God Trust not but Trust The heart of man is so conscious of his owne weaknesse that it will not goe vvithout a prop and better a weake stay then none at all Like as in matter of policy the very state of Tyrannie is preferred to the want of a King The same breath therfore that withdraws one refuge from vs substitutes a better and in stead of Riches which is the false god of the world commends to vs the true and liuing God of heauen and earth Euen as some good Carpenter raises vp the studs and in stead of a rotten groundsell layes a sound The same trust then must we giue to God which wee may not giue to riches The obiect onely is changed the act is not changed Him must wee esteeme aboue all things to him must we looke vp in all on him must we depend for all both protection and prouision from his goodnesse and mercy must we acknowledge all and in him must we delight with contempt of all and this is to Trust in God It was a sweet dirty of the Psalmist which we must all learne to sing Bonum est confidere in Domino It is good to trust in the Lord Good in respect of him and good for vs. For him It is one of the best pieces of glory to be trusted to as with vs Ioseph holds Potiphar cannot doe him a greater honour then in trusting him with all And his glory is so precious that he cannot part with that to any creature all other things hee imparts willingly and reserues nothing to himselfe but this Being life knowledge happinesse are such blessings as are eminently originally essentially in God and yet Being he giues to al things Life to many Knowledge to some kindes of creatures Happinesse to some of these kinds as for Riches he so giues them to his creature that hee keepes them not at all to himselfe but as for his Glory whereof our trust is a part hee will not endure it communicated to Angell or man not to the best ghost in heauen much lesse to the drosse of the earth Whence is that curse not without an indignation Cursed bee the man that trusts in man that maketh flesh his arme yea or spirit either besides the God of Spirits Whom haue I in heauen but thee Herein therefore doe wee iustice to God when we giue him his owne that is his glory our confidence But the greatest good is our own God shewes much more mercy to vs in allowing and inabling vs to trust him then we can doe iustice in trusting him For alas hee could in his iust iudgement glorifie himselfe in our not trusting him in taking vengeance of vs for not glorifying him Our goodnesse reaches not to him but his goodnesse reaches downe to vs in that our hearts are raised vp to confidence in him For what safety what vnspeakable comfort is there in trusting to God When our Sauiour in the last words of his Diuine Farewell Sermon to his Disciples would perswade them to confidence Iob 16. vlt. he sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so doth the Angell to Paul in prison a a word that signifies boldnesse implying that our confidence in God causeth boldnes and courage and what is there in all he world that can worke the heart to so comfortable and vnconquerable resolution as our reposall vpon God The Lord is my trust whom then can I feare In the Lord put I mâ— trust how say ye then to my soule Flee hence as a bird to the hils Yea how oft doth Dauid inferre vpon this trust a non confundar I shal not be ashamed And this case is generall That they that but their trust in the Lord are as mount Sion that cannot be moued Faith can remoue mountaines but the mountaines that are raised on faith are vnremoueable Here is a stay for you O ye wealthy great worthy of your trust If ye were Monarchs on earth or Angels in heauen ye could be no way safe but in this trust How easie is it for him to inrich or impouerish you to hoyse you vnto the seats of honor or to spurne you down What mynes what Princes can raise you â—â— to wealth against him without him Hee can bid the winds and Seas fauour your vessels he can bid them sinke in a calm The rich and the poore meet together God is the maker of both Pro. 22. Ye may trade and toyle and carke and spare and put vp and cast about and at last sit you downe with a sigh of late repentance and say Except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it It is in vaine to rise early and lye down late and eat the bread of sorrow Vnto how many of you may I say with the Prophet Haggai Ye haue sowne much and bring in little ye eat and haue not enough ye drink but ye are not filled ye cloâ—th you but ye â—e not warme and hee that earneth much puts his gaines into a broken 〈◊〉 And whence is all this Ye looked for much and loe it came to little when yee brought it home I did blow vpon it saith the Lord of Hosts Behold how easie a thing it is for the God of heaâ— onto blast all your substance yea not onely to diminish but to curse it 〈…〉 and to make you weary of it and of your selues Oh cast your selâ—e◠〈…〉 those Almighty hands Seeke him in whom onely you shall fiâ—d 〈…〉 happinesse Honour him with your substance that hath honored you with it Truâ—â— in riches but trust in God It is motiue enough to your trust that he is a God all arguments are in folded in that one yet this Text giues you certaine explicit inforcements of this confidence Euery one of these reasons implying a secret kind of disdainfull comparison betwixt the true God and the false perswade you to trust in God Riches are but for this world the true God is Lord of the other and beginnes his glory where the glory of the world ends therefore trust in him Riches are vncertaine the true God is Amen the first and the last euer like himselfe therefore trust in
higher restraint importunately vnto these desires wherein hee saies not much other then their owne Saint AQAINAS Omnibus animalibus c. In all perfect liuing creatures there is a naturall inclination to carnall coniunction But when Luther speakes of men blessed from aboue with this gift C. E. might haue heard him in another strain pleading both the possibility and worthinesse of this condition As in his Commentary vpon the h h Luth. in Psal 128. verse 3. Vnus idemque spir c. Psalme 128. verse 3. to giue one for all thus he saith For one and the same spirit hath distributed his gifts to some after one manner and to some after another c. Let them therefore to whom it is giuen to receiue this abide in their single life and let them glory in the Lord On the other side let them that are not so strong but know and feele their infirmity that they cannot liue both chaste and out of Matrimony Let these I say consider more their owne infirmity then the discommodities and troubles that belong vnto matrimonie Thus he grauely and holily SECT IX NOw to follow my Aduersary in particulars Whereas all the world sees that the vnlawfulnesse of their vow depends vpon the inability of performance he like a true Artist begins first with the vnlawfulnesse It is well Refut p. 29. that all these sheets of Paper which he hath spent in this point may serue for some necessary vse this which he hath put them to is foolishly superfluous If the vow of Chastity be vnlawfull he saith it must be either in respect of the vow Refut p. 30. or the matter vowed Not the first because vowes in generall are lawfull which he will proue out of Scriptures and Fathers Idle head Who euer denied it but the exploded Lampetians His owne Cardinall could haue taught him Bell. l. 2. de Monachis c. 15. Ad negotia huius vitae expeditiu◠peragenda aut ad vitanda peccata aut ad alios bonos sines Refut p. 32 33 34. vsque ad 42. Refut p. 43. vsque ad 48. pag. 34. vsque ad finem Parag. 1. Refut p. 45. that Luther and Caluin approue the vowing of things commanded first and then of things not commanded too to the auoyding of Sinne or other good purposes Not the second which he will proue by many arguments some of them from the Fathers extolling virginity and comparing it with the state of Angels and preferring it before mariage And who euer thought otherwise except Iouinian and perhaps not he And at last after some seuere examples of penance inioyned to fornicating vow-breakers by Chrysostome and Basil to incontinencie and rape by the ciuill Lawes as if these concerned vs so much as themselues hee descends to this challenge Let Mr. Hall if he be able produce vs some proofe although but one classical authority of any one ancient writer where he hath euer perswaded such as haue solemnly vowed chastity to vse Mariage as a meanes to ouercome temptations and he shall haue some excuse for calling it a filthy vow and his heroicall Luther for terming it a diabolicall thing So he I take him at his word onely let him not fly forth vpon the shift of solemnity which their Scholler lately hatched That were to seeke gray hayres in infancy First I bring forth that famous place of Saint Cyprian in his Epistle written both in his owne name and his fellow-Bishops to Pomponius concerning some vowed Virgins which were found in bed with men whereof one was a Deacon of which Virgins he with his Brethren passe this sentence k k Epist l. 1. Epist 11. Pudicè castè sine vlla fabula perseuerent Melius est vt nubant quà m in ignem delicijs fuis cadunt Quod si se ex fide Christo dicauerunt c. If they saith he haue faithfully dedicated themselues vnto Christ let them without all deceit perseuere in the course of Chastitie and so couragiously and constantly expect the reward of their Virginity Si autem perseuerare nolunt vel non possunt c. But if either they will not or cannot perseuere it is better that they marry then by their wantonnesse fall into the fire Let them giue no scandall to their Brethren and Sisters What could Luther or Caluin write more directly So that Erasmus notes in the Margine Etiam virginibus sacris permittit nubere Here Cyprian permits euen holy Virgins to marry l l Lib. 2. de Monach c. 34. Bellarmines shift hereof is ridiculous That Cyprian by occasion of some virgins which after their vow behaued themselues dishonestly aduised others that if they had not a firme purpose of perseuering they should not vow but marry whom we remit to the checke of his owne Pamelius yea of his conscience Indeed what is this but to mocke both the Author and the Reader For doth Cyprian at all varie the persons of whom hee speakes Doth he not speake plainly of Virgins deuoted to Christ And what perseuering could there be but in that which they had vndertaken And what had they vndertaken but a dedication of themselues to Christ What is this Reader but willingly to try his Oares against the streame of truth To the same purpose is that noted sentence of Hierome m m Hieronimus impendio semper virginitati fauens obid nuptijs iniquior Erasmus though otherwise none of the best friends to mariage who speaking of Virgins ascribed by their vow into the celestiall Family addes Quibus apertè dicendum c. Whom we must openly charge that either they would marry if they cannot containe or that they would containe if they will not mary See the Scholia of Erasmus vpon the place We know the elusion of this place also That Hierome speaks of virgins in purpose not in vow But whose name I beseech you was defamed by their lewdnesse or what was the heauenly and Angelicall Family whose glory was blemished herewith Was it of any other then professed Virgins Or could the act of a purposed Virgin onely shame Virgins professed To the same purpose is the aduice of n n Basil l. de virg Basil and o o Epiphan Heres 61. Melius est vnum peccatum habere quā plura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. Epiphan I would haue the yonger Widowes to marry Refut p. 51. He maried his daughter being a Virgin dedicated to Christ Epiphanius Adde to these an elder then they all Tertullian and with him all those Fathers which interpret Saint Pauls volo iuniores nubere of vowed widowes All which must needs hold that our Apostle allowes mariage for the lawfull remedy of vnable Votaries Let not this malicious Masse-Priest then turne vs ouer to his Tyberianus or Iouinian for the first founders of our opinion and practice which wee receiued from no other then that diuine Arch-hereticke that sate at the feet of Gamaliel from no other then the
should dwell in those brests which are consecrated vnto God The Arke and the Tabernacle were then separated The Arke was at Kiriathiealim the Tabernacle at Nob God was present with both Whither should Dauid flye for succour but to the House of that God which had anointed him Ahimelech was wont to see Dauid attended with the troupes of Israel or with the Gallants of the Court it seemes strange therefore to him to see so great a Peere and Champion of Israel come alone These are the alterations to which earthly Greatnesse is subiect Not many dayes are past since no man was honoured at Court but Ionathan and Dauid now they are both for the time in disgrace Now dare not the Kings Sonne in law Brother to the Prince both in Loue and Mariage shew his head at the Court nor any of those that bowed to him dare stirre a foot with him Princes are as the Sunne and great Subiects are like to Dials if the Sun shine not on the Diall no man will looke at it Euen hee that ouercame the Beare the Lyon the Gyant is ouercome with feare He that had cut off two hundred fore-skins of the Philistims had not circumcised his owne heart of the weake passions that follow Distrust Now that hee is hard driuen he practises to helpe himselfe with an vnwarrantable shift Who can looke to passe this Pilgrimage without infirmities when Dauid dissembleth to Ahimelech A weake mans rules may be better then the best mans actions God lets vs see some blemishes in his holiest Seruants that wee may neither bee too highly conceited of flesh and blood nor too much deiected when wee haue beene miscaried into sinne Hitherto hath Dauid gone vpright now hee begins to halt with the Priest of God and vnder pretence of Sauls imployment drawes that fauour from Ahimelech which shall afterwards cost him his head What could Ahimelech haue thought too deare for Gods Anointed for Gods Champion It is not like but that if Dauid had sincerely opened himselfe to the Priest as hee hath done to the Prophet Ahimelech would haue seconded Samuel in some secret and safe succour of so vniust a distresse whereas he is now by a false color led to that kindnesse which shall be preiudiciall to his life Extremities of euill are commonly inconsiderate either for that wee haue not leisure to our thoughts or perhaps so as we may be perplexed not thoughts to our leisure What would Dauid haue giuen afterwards to haue redeemed this ouer fight Vnder this pretence he craues a double fauour of Ahimelech The one of bread for his sustenance the other of a Sword for his defence There was no bread vnder the hands of the Priest but that which was consecrated to God and whereof none might taste but the deuoted Seruants of the Altar Euen that which was with solemne dedication set vpon the holy Table before the face of God a Sacramentall Bread presented to God with Incense figuring that true Bread that came downe from Heauen Yet euen this Bread might in case of necessitie become common and be giuen by Ahimelech and receiued by Dauid and his followers Our Sauiour himselfe iustifies the act of both Ceremonies must giue place to substance God will haue Mercy and not Sacrifice Charitie is the summe and the end of the Law That must be aymed at in all our actions wherein it may fall out that the way to keepe the Law may bee to breake it the intention may be kept and the Letter violated and it may bee a dangerous transgression of the Law to obserue the words and neglect the scope of God That which would haue dispensed with Dauid for the substance of the act would haue much more dispensed with him for the circumstance The touch of their lawfull Wiues had contracted a legall impurity not a morall That could haue beene no sufficient reason why in an vrgent necessitie they might not haue partaked of the holy Bread Ahimelech was no perfect Casuist these men might not famish if they were ceremonially impure But this question bewrayed the care of Ahimelech in distributing the holy Bread There might be in these men a double incapacity the one as they were Seculars the other as vncleane he saw the one must be he feared lest the other should be as one that wished as little indisposition as possibly might bee in those which should be fed from Gods Table It is strange that Dauid should come to the Priest of God for a Sword Who in all Israel was so vnlikely to furnish him with weapons as a man of Peace whose armour was onely spirituall Doubtlesse Dauid knew well where Goliahs Sword lay as the noble relique of Gods victorious deliuerance dedicated to the same God which won it at this did that suit ayme None could be so fit for Dauid none could be so fit for it as Dauid Who could haue so much right to that Sword as he against whom it was drawne and by whom it was taken There was more in that Sword then Mettall and forme Dauid could neuer cast his eye vpon it but hee saw an vndoubted monument of the mercifull protection of the Almighty there was therefore more strength in that Sword then sharpenesse neither was Dauids arme so much strengthened by it as his faith nothing can ouercome him whiles he caries with him that assured signe of victorie It is good to take all occasions of renuing the remembrance of Gods mercies to vs and our obligations to him Doeg the Master of Sauls Herdmen for he that went to seeke his Fathers Asses before he was King hath herdes and droues now that he is a King was now in the Court of the Tabernacle vpon some occasion of deuotion Though an Israelite in profession he was an Edomite no lesse in heart then in blood yet hee hath some vow vpon him and not onely comes vp to Gods House but abides before the Lord Hypocrites haue equall accesse to the publike places and meanes of Gods Seruice Euen hee that knowes the heart yet shuts his doores vpon none how much lesse should wee dare to exclude any which can onely iudge of the heart by the face Doeg may set his foot as far within the Tabernacle as Dauid hee sees the passages betwixt him and Ahimelech and layes them vp for an aduantage Whiles he should haue edified himselfe by those holy seruices he carpes at the Priest of God and after a lewd mis-interpretation of his actions of an attendant proues an accuser To incurre fauour with an vniust Master he informes against innocent Ahimelech and makes that his act which was drawne from him by a cunning circumuention When we see our Auditors before vs little doe we know with what hearts they are there nor what vse they will make of their pretended deuotion If many come in simplicity of heart to serue their God some others may perhaps come to obserue their Teachers and to picke quarrels where none are Onely God and the
and lumpish Carnall hearts are euer in extremitie If they bee once downe their deiection is desperate because they haue no inward comfort to mitigate their sorrow What difference there was betwixt the disposition of Dauid and Nabal How oft had Dauid beene in the valley of the shaddow of death and feared no euill Nabal is but once put in minde of a death that might haue beene and is stricken dead It is iust with God that they who liue without grace should die without comfort neither can we expect better while we goe on in our sinnes The speech of Abigail smote Nabal into a qualme that tongue had doubtlesse oft aduised him well and preuailed not now occasions his death whose reformation it could not effect shee meant nothing but his amendment God meant to make that louing instrument the meanes of his reuenge shee speakes and God strikes and within tenne dayes that swound ends in death And now Nabal payes deare for his vncharitable reproach for his riotous excesse That God which would not suffer Dauid to right himselfe by his owne Sword takes the quarrell of his Seruant into his owne hand Dauid hath now his ends without sinne reioycing in the iust executions of God who would neither suffer him to sinne in reuenging nor suffer his Aduersaries to sinne vnreuenged Our louing God is more angry with the wrongs done to his seruants than themselues can be and knowes how to punish that iustly which we could not vndertake without wronging God more than men haue wronged vs. He that saith Vengeance is mine I will repay repayes oft-times when we haue forgiuen when we haue forgotten and cals to reckoning after our discharges It is dangerous offending any Fauourite of him whose displeasure and reuenge is euerlasting How farre God lookes beyond our purposes Abigail came onely to pleade for an ill Husband and now God makes this iourney a preparation for a better So that in one act she preserued an ill Husband and wonne a good one for the future Dauid well remembers her comely person her wise speeches her gracefull carriage and now when modesty found it seasonable hee sends to sue her which had beene his Suppliant she intreated for her Husband Dauid treates with her for his Wife her request was to escape his Sword hee wisheth her to his bed It was a faire suite to change a Dauid for a Nabal to become Dauids Queene in stead of Nabals Dâ—udge shee that learned humility vnder so hard a Tutor abaseth her selfe no lesse when Dauid offers to aduance her Let thine Hand-mayde bee a Seruant to wash the feete of the Seruants of my LORD None are so fit to bee gre t as those that can stoope lowest How could Dauid bee more happy in a Wife hee findes at once Pietie Wisedome Humilitie Faithfulnesse Wealth Beautie How could Abigail bee more happie in an Husband than in the Prophet the Champion the Annointed of God Those Mariages were well made wherein Vertues are matched and Happinesse is mutuall DAVID and ACHISH GOod motions that fall into wicked hearts are like some sparkes that fall from the flint and steele into wet tinder light some for the time but soone out After Sauls teares and protestations yet he is now againe in the wildernesse with three thousand men to hunt after innocent Dauid How inuincible is the charity and loialty of an honest heart The same hand that spared Saul in the caue spares him sleeping in the field The same hand that cut away the lap of his Masters garment carried away his Speare that Speare which might as well haue carried away the life of the owner is onely borne away for a proofe of the fidelity of the bearer Still Saul is strong but Dauid victorious and triumphs ouer the malice of his persecutor Yet still the victor flieth from him whom hee hath ouercome A man that sees how farre Saul was transported with his rancorous enuy cannot but say that he was neuer more mad than when he was sober For euen after he had said Blessed art thou my sonne Dauid thou shalt doe great things and also preuaile yet still he pursues him whom he grants assured to preuaile what is this but to resolue to lose his labour in sinning and in spight of himselfe to offend How shamefull is our inequality of disposition to good We know we cannot misse of the reward of wel doing and yet doe it not whiles wicked men cast away their indeuours vpon those euill proiects whereof they are sure to faile sinne blindes the eyes and hardens the heart and thrusts men into wilfull mischiefes how euer dangerous how euer impossible and neuer leaues them till it haue brought them to vtter confusion The ouer-long continuance of a tentation may easily weary the best patience and may attaine that by protraction which it could neuer doe by violence Dauid himselfe at last beginnes to bend vnder this triall and resolues so to flie from Saul as he runnes from the Church of God and whiles he will auoid the malice of his Master ioynes himselfe with Gods enemies The greatest Saints vpon earth are not alwayes vpon the same pitch of spirituall strength He that sometimes said I will not be afraid of ten thousands now sayes I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul Hee had woont to consult with God now he sayes thus in his owne heart How many euident experiments had Dauid of Gods deliuerances how certaine and cleere predictions of his future Kingdome how infallible earnest was the holy Oyle wherewith he was annointed of the Crowne of Israel And yet Dauid said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul The best faith is but like the twy-light mixed with some degrees of darkenesse and infidelity We doe vtterly misreckon the greatest earthly holinesse if we exempt it from infirmities It is not long since Dauid told Saul that those wicked enemies of his which cast him out from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord did as good as bid him Goe serue other gods yet now is hee gone from the inheritance of God into the Land of the Philistims That Saul might seeke him no more he hides himselfe out of the lists of the Church where a good man would not looke for him Once before had Dauid fled to this Achish when hee was glad to scrabble on the doores and let his spittle fall vpon his beard in a semblance of madnesse that he might escape yet now in a semblance of friendship is hee returned to saue that life which hee was in danger to haue lost in Israel Goliah the Champion of the Philistims whom Dauid slew was of Gath yet Dauid dwels with Achish King of the Philistims in Gath euen amongst them whose fore-skins hee had presented to Saul by two hundreds at once doth Dauid choose to reside for safety Howsoeuer it was a weaknesse in Dauid thus by his league of amity to strengthen the enemies of God yet doth not
Samuel himselfe whiles hee was aliue could not haue spoken more grauely more seuerely more diuinely than this euill ghost For the Lord will rent thy Kingdome out of thy hand and giue it to thy neighbour Dauid because thou obeyedst not the voyce of the Lord not executedst his fierce wrath vpon the Amalekites therefore hath the Lord done this vnto thee this day When the Deuill himselfe puts on grauity and religion who can maruell at the hypocrisie of men Well may lewd men bee good Preachers when Satan himselfe can play the Prophet Where are those Ignorants that thinke charitably of charmes and spells because they finde nothing in them but good words What Prophet could speake better words than this Deuill in Samuels Mantle Neither is there at any time so much danger of that euill spirit as when hee speakes best I could wonder to heare Satan preach thus prophetically if I did not know that as hee was once a good Angell so hee can still act what hee was Whiles Saul was in consultation of sparing Agag wee shall neuer finde that Satan would lay any blocke in his way Yea then hee was a prompt Orator to induce him into that sinne now that it is past and gone hee can lade Saul with fearefull denunciations of iudgement Till wee haue sinned Satan is a parasite when wee haue sinned hee is a Tyrant What cares hee to flatter any more when hee hath what hee would Now his onely worke is to terrifie and confound that hee may enioy what he hath wonne How much better is it seruing that Master who when wee are most deiected with the conscience of euill heartens vs with inward comfort and speakes peace to the soule in the midst of tumult Ziklag spoyled and reuenged HAd not the King of the Philistims sent Dauid away early his Wiues and his people and substance which hee left at Ziklag had beene vtterly lost Now Achish did not more pleasure Dauid in his entertainment than in his dismission Saul was not Dauids enemy more in the persecution of his person than in the forbearance of Gods enemies Behold thus late doth Dauid feele the smart of Sauls sinne in sparing the Amalekites who if Gods sentence had beene duly executed had not now suruiued to annoy this parcell of Israel As in spirituall respects our sinnes are alwayes hurtfull to our selues so in temporall oft-times preiudiciall to posteritie A wicked man deserues ill of those hee neuer liued to see I cannot maruell at the Amalekites assault made vpon the Israelites of Ziklag I cannot but maruell at their clemencie how iust it was that while Dauid would giue aid to the enemies of the Church against Israel the enemies of the Church should rise against Dauid in his peculiar charge of Israel But whilst Dauid rouing against the Amalekites not many dayes before left neither man nor woman aliue how strange is it that the Amalekites inuading and surprizing Ziklag in reuenge kill neither man nor woman Shall wee say that mercy is fled from the brests of Israelites and rests in Heathens Or shall wee rather ascribe this to the gracious restraint of God who hauing designed Amalek to the slaughter of Israel and not Israel to the slaughter of Amalek moued the hand of Israel and held the hands of Amalek This was that alone that made the Heathens take vp with an vn-bloudy reuenge burning only the wâ—â—es and leading away the persons Israel crossed the reuealed will of God insparing Amalek Amalek fulfils the secret will of God in sparing Israel It was still the lot of Amalek to take Israel at all aduantages vpon their first comming out of Egypt when they were weary weake and vnarmed then did Amalek assault them And now when one part of Israel was in the field against the Philistians another was gone with the Philistims against Israel the Amalekites set vpon the Coasts of both and goes away laded with the spoile No other is to bee exspected of our spirituall Aduersaries who are euer readiest to assayle when wee are the vnreadiest to defend It was a wofull spectacle for Dauid and his Souldiers vpon their returne to find mines and ashes in stood of houses and in steed of their Families solitude Their Citie was vanished into smoke their housholds into captiuitie neither could they know whom to accuse or where to enquire for redresse whiles they made account that their home should recompence their tedious iourney with comfort the miserable desolation of their home doubles the discomfort of their iourney what remained there but teares and lamentations They lifted vp their voyces and wept till they could weepe no more Heere was plentie of nothing but misery and sorrow The heart of euery Israelite was brim full of griefe Dauids ranne ouer for besides that his crosse was the same with theirs all theirs was his alone each man looke on his fellow as a partner of affliction but euery one lookt vpon Dauid as the cause of all their affliction and as common displeasure is neuer but fruitfull of reuenge they all agree to stone him as the Author of their vndoing whom they followed all this while as the hopefull meanes of their aduacements Now Dauids losse is his least griefe neither as if euery thing had conspired to torment him can hee looke besides the aggrauation of his sorrow and danger Saul and his Souldiers had hunted him out of Israel the Philistim Courtiers had hunted him from the fauour of Achish the Amalekites spoyled him in Ziklag yet all these are easie aduersaries in comparison of his owne his owne followers are so far from pittying his participation of the losse that they are ready to kill him because they are miserable with him Oh the many and grieuous perplexities of the man after Gods owne heart If all his traine had ioyned their best helpes for the mitigation of his griefe their Cordials had beene too weake but now the vexation that arises from their fury and malice drowneth the sence of their losse and were enough to distract the most resolute heart why should it bee strange to vs that wee meete with hard tryalls when wee see the deare Annoynted of God thus plunged into euils What should the distressed sonne of Ishai now doe Whither should hee thinke to turne him to goe backe to Israel hee durst not to goe to Achish hee might not to abide amonst those waste heapes hee could not or if there might haue beene harbor in those burnt wals yet there could bee no safety to remayne with those mutinous spirits But Dauid comforted himselfe in the Lord his God oh happie and sure refuge of a faithfull soule The earth yeelded him nothing but matter of disconsolation and heauinesse hee lifts his eyes aboue the hils whence commeth his saluation It is no maruell that God remembreth Dauid in all his troubles since Dauid in all his troubles did thus remember his God hee knew that though no mortall eye of reason or sence could discerne any euasion
the meanes were more weake and despicable The miracle hath his due worke First doth Naaman acknowledge the God that wrought it then the Prophet by whom hee wrought it Behold now I know there is no God in all the earth but in Israel Oh happy Syrian that was at once cured of his leprosie and his mes-prison of God Naaman was too wise to thinke that either the water had cured him or the man hee saw a diuine power working in both such as he vainely sought from his Heathen Deities with the heart therefore hee beleeues with the mouth he confesses Whiles he is thus thankfull to the author of his cure hee is not vnmindfull of the instrument Now therefore I pray thee take a blessing of thy seruant Naaman came richly furnished with ten talents of siluer sixe thousand pieces of gold ten changes of raiment All these and many more would the Syrian Peere haue gladly giuen to bee deliuered from so noisome a disease No maruell if he importunately offer some part of them to the Prophet now that hee is deliuered some testimony of thankfulnesse did well where all earthly recompence was too short The hands of this man were no lesse full of thankes then his mouth Dry and barren professions of our obligations where is power to requite are vnfit for noble and ingenuous spirits Naaman is not more franke in offering his gratuitie then Elisha vehement in refusing it As the Lord liueth before whom I stand I will receiue none Not that he thought the Syrian gold impure Not that hee thought it vnlawfull to take vp a gift where he hath laid downe a benefit But the Prophet will remit of Naamans purse that hee may win of his soule The man of God would haue his new conuert see cause to bee more enamoured of true piety which teacheth her Clients to contemne those worldly riches and glories which base worldlings adore and would haue him thinke that these miraculous powers are so farre transcending the valuation of all earthly pelfe that those glittering treasures are worthy of nothing but contempt in respect thereof Hence is it that he who refused not the Shunamites table and stoole and candlesticke will not take Naamans present There is much vse of godly discretion in directing vs when to open when to shut our hands Hee that will not bee allowed to giue desires yet to take Shall there not I pray thee bee giuen to thy seruant two mules load of earth for thy seruant will henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice to other Gods but vnto the Lord. Israelitish mold lay open to his cariage without leaue of Elisha but Naaman regards not to take it vnlesse it may bee giuen him and giuen him by the Prophets hand Well did this Syrian finde that the man of God had giuen a supernaturall vertue to the water of Israel and therefore supposed he might giue the like to his earth Neither would any earth serue him but Elishaes else the mold of Israel had been more properly craued of the King then the Prophet of Israel Doubtlesse it was deuotion that moued this suit The Syrian saw God had a proprietie in Israel and imagines that hee will be best pleased with his owne On the sudden was Naaman halfe a Proselyte still here was a weake knowledge with strong intentions Hee will sacrifice to the Lord but where in Syria not in Hierusalem Not the mold but the Altar is that God respects which hee hath allowed no where but in his chosen Sion This honest Syrian will be remouing God home to his Country he should haue resolued to remoue his home to God And though he vowes to offer no sacrifice to any other God yet he craues leaue to offer an outward courtesie to Rimmon though not for the Idols sake yet for his masters In this thing the Lord pardon thy seruant that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there and hee leaneth on my hand and I bow my selfe in the house of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy seruant in this thing Naaman goes away resolute to professe himselfe an Israelite for Religion all the Syrian Court shall know that hee sacrifices vpon Israelitish earth to the God of Israel they shall heare him protest to haue neither heart nor knee for Rimmon If hee must goe into the house of that Idoll is shall bee as a seruant not as a suppliant his duty to his Master shall cary him not his deuotion to his Masters God If his master goe to worship there not he neither doth he say When I bow my selfe to the Image of Rimmon but in the house hee shall bow to be leaned vpon not to adore yet had not Naaman thought this a fault hee had not craued a pardon his heart told him that a perfect conuert should not haue abid the roofe the sight the ayre of Rimmon that his obseruance of an earthly master should not draw him to the semblance of an act of outward obseruance to the riuall of his master in Heauen that a sincere detestation of Idolatry could not stand with so vnseasonable a courtesie Farre therefore is Naaman from being a patterne saue of weaknesse since he is yet more then halfe a Syrian since he willingly accuses himselfe and in stead of defending deprecates his offence It is not for vs to expect a full stature in the cradle of conuersion As nature so grace rises by many degrees to perfection Leprosie was in Naaman cured at once not corruption The Prophet as glad to see him but thus forward dismisses him with a ciuill valediction Had an Israelite made this suit hee had been answered with a checke thus much from a Syrian was worthy of a kinde farewell They are parted Gehezi cannot thus take his leaue his heart is maled vp in the rich chests of Naaman and now hee goes to fetch it The Prophet and his man had not looked with the same eyes vpon the Syrian treasure the one with the eye of contempt the other with the eye of admiration and couetous desire The disposition of the master may not bee measured by the minde by the act of his seruant Holy Elisha may be attended by a false Gehezi No examples no counsels will preuaile with some hearts who would not haue thought that the follower of Elisha could bee no other then a Saint yet after the view of all those miracles this man is a mirrour of worldlinesse Hee thinkes his master either too simple or too kinde to refuse so iust a present from a Syrian himselfe will bee more wise more frugall Desire hastens his pace he doth not goe but runne after his bootie Naaman sees him and as true noblenesse is euer courteous alights from his Charet to meet him The great Lord of Syria comes forth of his Coach to salute a Prophets seruant not fearing that hee can humble himselfe ouermuch to one of Elisha's family He greets Gehezi with the same word wherewith hee was lately dimitted