and the like are But yet in generall amongst all estates from the highest vnto the lowest there is none so common and obuious as this of murmuring is Go we in any place and the sound thereof will by and by pierce our cares Not to speake of the higher powers for to speake of them is to touch the disease called Noli me tangere which many too rashly and without wisedome do venture often to touch God make them wiser and more staid in their proceedings We haue these murmurers amongst vs. First the Papists they murmure because they cannot haue their religion established or their liberty to vse their consciences as they would Secondly the Brownists or the Separatists as they call themselues they murmure because they cannot haue our Church reformed according to their plat-forme Thirdly the loyall subiects they murmure because the good and wholsome statutes of our land for iustice and piety lye dead without execution Lastly not to touch the gouernement of the Church in regard whereof there are too many murmurings on euerie side euery estate almost doth murmure one against another as the rich against the poore and the poore against the rich and the like and there is no man almost that is contented with his place and with those things which do happen vnto him here in this life but he doth murmure against God the disposer of all things and that because he is oftentimes crost and cannot haue his will fulfilled as he would In regard of all which we see what a leaprous disease hath ouer-spread it selfe vpon the whole nation and the people of our land the Lord herein be mercifull vnto vs and giue vs grace to repent and to amend this euill of ours that so we may ceasse from murmuring and fall to praying and prouoke him no more to wrath after this manner as we haue done But to come to the second vse Vers 2 here let vs learne to fall into a deadly detestation of this euill of murmuring wherewith we are so tainted and vtterly to cast it off as the destruction of our soules considering that it is so vile and so abhominable a sinne before the Lord our good and gracious God For shall not we hate that which he doth hate and cast that away which otherwise will cast vs away I beseech you brethren thinke vpon this matter and lay it close vnto your soules A grieuous sinne it is and a foule fault in any as you haue heard but in a people so blessed as we are with many happy experiences of care and loue of might and mercy in our all-sufficient God it is much more damnable and odious then in others Murmure not therefore nor repine howsoeuer matters do fall out with you Be you restrained of libertie be you touched with pouertie be you pinched with penury be you blotted with infamie be you crossed by your neighbours be you resisted by your aduersaries be you plagued by your children be you dealt with wretchedly by your seruants be you impouerished in your goods be you sicke or lame in your bodies be you in one word cast into the furnace of any of Gods afflictions yet fret not neither murmure nor grudge but commit your wayes to God and trust in him and he shall bring all things to passe for your good and comfort in the end Psal 37.5 But this is you may say a worke of all workes ô for Gods loue teach vs how to do it for we are willing to do it but we know not how to do it Marke then these rules which do follow For if you shall obserue them carefully and lay them vp deeply in the bottome of your hearts they shall be as good Triacle or Mithridate to do you good and a sound antidote to expell the rancknesse of this poyson of murmuring whensoeuer any crosse or affliction doth fall vpon you First you must know and marke that God hath a working in all things and that crosses and calamities do as well come from him as blessings and benefits according to the words of Amos saying Shall there be euill in the citie and the Lord hath not done it he meanes the euill of punishment and not the euill of sinne because God is not the author of this as Iames doth teach but he is of the other For this should quiet our minds and make vs dumbe according to Dauids words in Psal 39.9 when he saith I should haue bene dumbe and not haue opened my mouth because thou didst it speaking there to God Secondly you must know and marke that as God doth all things so God hath an absolute power ouer all his creatures to do with them what he will himselfe and not what shall seeme good vnto the creatures themselues as Paul doth teach vs in Rom. 9.20.21 saying O man who art thou which pleadest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus hath not the potter power ouer the clay to make of the same lumpe one vessell to honour and another vnto dishonour For this should quiet our mindes and make vs dumbe according to Elies wordes in 1. Sam. 3.18 when he saith It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Thirdly you must know and marke that as God doth all things and hath absolute power ouer all his creatures to do with them as he will so God doth wrong none or offer iniurie vnto any as man doth but all his workes are iust and righteous euen when he doth strike as well as when he doth blesse as Daniel doth acknowledge of him in Dan. 9.14 saying For the Lord our God is righteous in all his workes which he doth For this should quiet our minds and make vs dumbe according to Iobs example in Iob. 1.21 when he saith Naked came I into this world and naked shall I returne againe the Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken away O blessed be the name of God And in all this did not Iob sinne saith the text nor charge God foolishly as considering herein with himselfe that God dealt but iustly and vprightly with him in taking that from him which before he had bestowed vpon him Fourthly you must know and marke that as God doth all things hath absolute power to do what he will and all his works are iust and righteous so euery man is so sinfull that his transgressions and sinnes do deserue farre greater plagues and iudgements then any that God doth lay vpon men here in this world as Dauid doth instruct vs saying The Lord hath not dealt with vs after our sinnes nor rewarded vs according to our iniquities in Psal 103.10 For this should quiet our minds and make vs dumbe according to Iobs words in Iob 39.37 when he saith Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand vpon my mouth Doth a man require of vs but ten shillings when we do owe him an hundreth pounds or doth an officer giue vs but one
murmure against any of these is to murmure against God himselfe because all of them haue their calling from God and do supplie his roome and place nor against any worke or word of the Almightie whether you be in aduersity or in prosperity but be quiet waite vpon the Lord praying alwayes for the redresse of things that are amisse but neuer murmuring for any thing And so I passe from the acts of the people and come to the Prophets wondring at the same He doth demand and aske the question saying Why do the heathen rage and the people murmure in vaine And this he doth by way of admiration as wondring at them for this their so doing Sometimes we aske a question when we doubt of a matter or know it not So the Apostles asked of Christ why he did speake to the multitude in parables Matth. 13.10 Sometimes we aske a question when we know a thing our selues and would gladly teach it to another So one of the Elders whom Iohn saw standing about the throne of God asked of Iohn what they were and wherehence they came which stood before the throne and before the Lambe clothed with long white robes and palmes in their hands Reuel 7.13 Sometimes we aske the question for neither of these ends but to tempt or to entrap So the Herodians asked Christ whether it were lawfull to giue tribute to Caesar or no. Math. 22.17 Sometimes we aske a question when we would checke or reproue one for some thing which is either spoken or done amisse So God asked of Caine where his brother Abel was Gen. 4.9 Sometimes we aske a question when we would expresse a thing with the greater force and vehemency So Paul asked of the Romanes how they that were dead to sinne should yet liue therein Rom. 6.2 Sometimes we aske a question when we would stop his mouth that doth propose vnnecessary or vnpleasing matters vnto vs. So Christ asked the chiefe Priests and Elders of the people whether the baptisme of Iohn were from heauen or from men Math. 21.25 Sometimes lastly we aske a question when we maruell or wonder at a matter So Dauid asked what man was that God did so regard him and extoll him aboue the rest of his creatures Psal 8.4 Thus you see that questions are proposed vpon sundrie considerations and for diuerse ends But the end why the Prophet here doth propose this question is for wondrings sake for he saw such madnesse and foolishnesse in the heathen and people for their raging and murmuring against the Lord that he could not but maruell and wonder at the same If a man should attempt a thing that is either vnpossible to be done as to cary a Church vpon his backe or else which being done will be altogether hurtfull vnto him as to kicke his heeles against sharpe needles we should wonder and maruell at him much for it thinke that he were mad and out of his wits So was it with the Prophet in this case he saw first that they went about a thing impossble that which could neuer be brought to passe for who can remoue the Lord out of his throne or displace him out of his kingdome none no not all the inhabitants of the world Againe he saw in the second place that as this was impossible so it was a thing altogether vnprofitable for them and most hurtfull in euery respect For whether we respect Dauid or Christ they could not haue the like king againe in all the world For as it is recorded of Dauid that he was a man according to Gods owne heart and that he executed iudgement and iustice vnto all his people as it is in 2. Sam. 8.15 so it is chronicled of Christ that he was the very ingraued forme of his Fathers person and that the scepter of his kingdome was ascepter of righteousnesse he louing righteousnesse and hating iniquitie Heb. 1.2.8.9 And as though this were not a commendations great enough of him that he should reigne as a king and prophet execute iudgement and iustice in the earth marke what the Lord doth adde further to this in Ier 23.6 when he saith In his dayes Iudah shall be saued and Israel shall dwell safely and this is the name whereby they shall call him The Lord our righteousnesse that so thereby we might know that all those are in a most happie estate who are vnder him and his dominion In regard of both which things you may see that the Prophet might well wonder and maruell as here he doth at their rebelliō Whereout shortly obserue this doctrine Doct. That the acts of the world and the people thereof are such oftentimes that a wise and godly man such as the Prophet was may well wonder and maruell at them It is noted in Esay cap. 59. v. 16. that God himselfe did wonder at the dealing of the world that there was no man found in it that would offer himselfe to helpe the Church in these words And when he saw that there was no man he wondred that none would offer himselfe But what may the reason of this be Reason that we may draw quickly to an end In few words it is this because they haue no good groūd nor reason for that which they do but either haue or might haue many good reasons to the contrary The which thing we may see as in other things so in the conspiracy of our traytors whether against our former Queene of blessed memory or against our present King of holy reputation For I dare protest that none of them had euer any iust cause giuen vnto them whereby they might be moued to their treason or rebellion but they had many excellent reasons still to stay them from it as their peace their wealth their honor and the like which they did alwaies in great abundance enioy but chiefly the word of God which did charge them not to touch the Lords annointed no not though the had bin persecuted to the death as Dauid in a manner was by Saul daily experiences by the which they did see that all their plots frō time to time were euermore in vain did still turne to their own ruine destructiō Wherefore seeing the acts of the people are acts so farre voide of reason vnderstanding Vse that a good holy man may wonder at them do you neither approue of them your selues neither yet ioyne with them in any of their wayes that are of such a nature or qualitie but follow you that which is wel pleasing vnto the Lord remēbring alwayes what God said to the Prophet Esay in the like case when he tooke him by the hand taught him that he should not walke in the way of the people saying Say ye not a confederacy to al them to whom this people saith a confederacy neither feare you their feare nor be afraid of them but sanctifie the Lord of hosts let him be your feare and let him be your dread Esay 8.11.12.13
he purged the Temple and beganne to cast out them that sold and bought in the Temple and ouerthrew the tables of the mony changers and the seates of them that sold Doues and would not suffer that any man should carry a vessell through the Temple saying vnto them It is written Mine house is the house of prayer but yee haue made it a donne of theeues the high Priests and the Scribes and the chiefe of the people sought to destroy him Luke 19.47 When he had wrought another good worke and had raised from the dead Lazarus Maries and Marthaes brother who had now bene dead foure daies and began to stinke in the graue as his sister Martha said yet came foorth of the graue bound hand and foote with bands and his face was bound with a napkin then gathered the high Priests the Pharises a Councell consulted againe which way to bring him to his death Ioh. 11.47 c. Finally to passe ouer other particulars which happened in the whole course of his life when he had done them what good he could from time to time as appeareth by these his words Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent to thee how often would I haue gathered thy children together as the hen gathereth her chickens vnder her wings ye would not Math. 23.37 yet they notwithstanding the same tooke him apprehended him as their deadly enimie and as a malefactor that was not worthy to liue vpon the face of the earth amongst them any longer Iudas one of the twelue came vnto him and with him a great multitude with swords and staues from the high Priests and the Elders of the people and they tooke him and led him to Caiaphas the high Priest where the Scribes and Elders were assembled There he was examined by them accused and condemned to death likewise some of them there beganne to spit at him and to couer his face and to beate him with fists and to say vnto him Prophecy vnto vs ô Christ who is he that smote thee And the Sergeants smote him with their rods Math. 26.47 c. and Mar. 14.43 c. After this in the dawning of the day when the morning was come they led him away bound vnto Pilate and laid most grieuous things vnto his charge but when Pilate heard of Galile he asked whether the man were a Galilean and when he knew that he was of Herods iurisdiction he sent him to Herod but Herod with his men of warre despised him and mocked him and arrayed him as if he were a foole in white and sent him againe to Pilate Luke 23.11 Then Pilate ouercome by his aduersaries did at the last giue sentence against him caused him to be scourged and to be sent away to the place of execution Mar. 15.15 But before he came thither see what the souldiers did They led him into the hall which is the common hall and called together the whole band and clad him with purple and platted a crowne of thornes and put it about his head and beganne to salute him saying Haile King of the Iewes and they smote him on the head with a reed and spat vpon him and bowed their knees and did reuerence And when they had mocked him they tooke the purple off him and put his owne clothes on him and led him out to crucifie him Mar. 15.16 c. Being come to the place of execution which was without the citty they crucified him and hanged him vpon a tree betweene two theeues And as he hanged there in that shamefull and opprobious manner The people stood by him and beheld him and they together with the rulers mocked him saying he saued others let him saue himselfe if he be the Christ the chosen of God The souldiers also mocked him and came and offered him vinegar and said If thou be the king of the Iewes saue thy selfe Likewise they that went by railed on him wagging their heads saying Hey thou that destroyest the Temple buildest it in three daies saue thy selfe and come downe from the crosse Lastly one of the euill doers which were hanged with him railed one him saying If thou be the Christ saue thy selfe and vs. Luke 23.35 c. and Mark 15.29 c. In regard of all which things we see that our Sauiour might iustly make his cōplaint here say Why do the heathen rage and the people murmure in vaine The kings of the earth band themselues the Princes are assembled together against the Lord and his Annointed Come let vs breake their bands and cast their cords behind vs. Here before we goe any further a question may be asked to wit why Christ was thus reiected by all sorts of persons For a man may iudge that euery one should haue loued him and haue reioyced greatly for him he was so gentle so meeke so humble so patient so wise so learned so holy so mercifull so louing and in one word so willing and so able to do euery man good as none in the whole world besides him either was or could be We know that the virgin Mary did sing and reioyce when she knew that she should beare him Luk. 1.46 c. And that the Angels did sing and reioyce when he was borne Luk. 2.13 c. And that Simeon did sing and reioyce when he was brought into the Temple Luke 2.27 c. And that Abrahams sonne which he had by old Sarah that was a type and figure of Christ was called Isaac which name signifieth laughter to shew what ioy and laughter there should be about Christ Gen. 21.3 In consideration whereof the question may rightly be moued why the world should thus oppose themselues against Christ But the answere to it is this They hated him without a cause as our Sauiour himselfe doth testifie of them in Ioh. 15.25 Some of them did persecute him through ignorance not knowing what he was as we may see by his prayer to his Father for them in Luk. 23.34 when he saith Father forgiue them for they knowe not what they doe Also by the Apostles words in 1. Cor. 2.8 For had they knowne it saith he they would not haue crucified the Lord of glory Others of them did resist him of malice and of a cankered stomach they knowing well enough what he was as is apparant by the words of our Sauiour who doth accuse them for that cause of the sinne against the holy Ghost which can neuer be forgiuen in Mark 3.28 Some lastly did neglect him through feare and dread they knowing that if they did beleeue in him or confesse him they should be excommunicated out of their Synagogues according to the law of the Iewes as is apparant by Ioh. 9.22 where we find that the blind mans parents for that cause would not confesse that Christ had cured their son And as they did thus feare trouble at home yea some of the great ones as well as the small ones as we
may see by the example of Nicodemus who came to Christ by night Ioh. 3.2 and of Ioseph of Arimathea who went secretly for feare of the Iewes to Pilate to begge leaue to take downe the body of Christ from the crosse and to bury it Ioh. 19.38 so did they feare trouble from abroad as may be seene by their words in Ioh. 11.48 When they say If we let him thus alone all men will beleeue in him and the Romanes will come and take away both our place and all the nation Thus you see that some of them through ignorance some through malice and some through feare did reiect Christ but all of them through their owne corruptions and naughty natures and none of them for any iust cause that was found in Christ himselfe But yet as Daniels enemies did picke out matter against him in regard of his religion for the which they should haue commended him and not haue condemned him as they did so these enimies of Christ haue drawne occasions of dislike against him from sundry things for the which they should rather haue liked him In number they were 4. The first was his base estate who came of meane parents who liued in this world as a poore simple man As the Israelites said whē they reiected Rehoboā for their king What portion haue we in Dauid we haue none inheritance in the house of Ishai to your tents ô Israel now see to thine owne house Dauid 1. King 12.16 As if they should say Why Ishai was but an husbandman Dauid was but a shepheard we wil not be subiect to so base kindred nor suffer such a foole as Rehoboam of their bloud to reigne ouer vs. So these said Is not this the carpenter Maries sonne the brother of Iames and Ioses and of Iuda and Simon and are not his sisters here with vs and they were offended in him Mark 6.3 The second was his familiarity and fellowship with sinners and with those that were publicanes As they reiected Iohn the Baptist for his strangenesse and austerity of life because he came neither eating nor drinking and said of him He hath a diuell so they despised Christ for the contrary because he came eating and drinking and said of him Behold a glutton and a drinker of wine a friend vnto publicanes and sinners Math. 11.17 c. The third was his faithfulnesse in the discharge of his calling in speaking the truth and in reprouing of men for their sinnes As the Prophets and Apostles lost their liues for this so did he leese his life for the same the people still hating him for it vntil they had nailed him vnto the crosse Mat. 21. 26. and Iohn 18. 10. The fourth and last was his strong confidence in God and his sure trust in him As Dauid was flouted at by his aduersaries for his trusting in God chiefly then when God did seeme to forsake him and left him in some troubles they crying out vnto him saying Where is thy God Psalme 42.3 10. So these did floute and mocke Christ chiefly in his troubles for his resting vpon his Father and his good beleefe in him breaking out into these words saying He trusted in the Lord let him deliuer him let him saue him seeing he loueth him Psalme 22.8 From hence Doct. that all persons doe thus oppose themselues against Christ we collect this doctrine as an infallible rule that all those that do truly belong to God and are the sincere members of Christ shal haue troubles enimies here in this world according to the axiome of our Sauiour in Ioh. 15.20 when he saith The seruant is not greater then his maister if they haue persecuted me they will persecute you also The Scripture is full of testimonies for the confirmation of this doctrine but I wil presse onely two or three Paul writing vnto Timothie and making mention of his owne persecutions and afflictions which came vnto him at Antiochia at Iconium and at Lystri lest Timothy or others might thinke that they might be free from all he doth plainely auouch that all that will liue godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution in 2. Tim. 3.12 In like manner when he Bernabas came againe to these cities now repeated of Antioch Iconium and Lystri whom before they had taught the right way of saluation to confirme the disciples hearts and to exhort them to continue in the faith they told them that they must through many afflictions enter into the kingdome of God Act. 14.22 Finally Christ himselfe who is truth it selfe doth teach vs in Math. 10.22 that we shall be hated of all men for his names sake and that those that are of our owne houshold and kindred shall be our enimies vers 36.37 And that wee shall be here in this world as sheepe in the middes of wolues vers 16. But what is the reason of this Reason A man might iudge that the faithfull should be loued and be honored of all the world First because they are deare vnto God who hath not spared his owne Son to redeeme them Rom. 8.32 Secondly because they are peaceable and doe offer wrong vnto none In the mount of the Lord there is no hurt done Isay 11.9 They turne their speares and swords into mattockes and sithes Isay 2.4 Yea they goe like sheepe to the slaughter house Psalme 44.22 Thirdly because they are profitable vnto the world and do bring great commodity to them as Laban fared the better for Iacobs sake Gen. 30.27 Patiphar for Iosephs sake Gen. 39.5 All the Israelites for Moses sake Exod. 32.14 Zoar for Lots sake Gen. 19.21 and the Mariners for Paules sake Acts. 27.24 Fourthly because they are adorned with most rare and excellent gifts Ephes 1.3 Fiftly because they are attended vpon by the most glorious Angels of heauen Math. 18.10 Lastly because they are the children of the Almighty and the apparant heires of all the world Rom. 8.16.17 Heb. 1.14 In regard of all these things a man may well demand and aske Why the world should hate and persecute them But the answere is for these causes First because they are not of their number and fellowship being not men of this world as they be according to the words of our Sauiour in Ioh. 15.19 If you were of the world the world would loue you but because you are not of the world but I haue chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Secondly because they are not like them in their waies and conuersations doing as they doe but will be more holy and iust then they are according to the words of Peter in 1. Pet. 4.4 Wherein it seemeth to them strange that yee runne not with them vnto the same excesse of ryot therefore speake they euill of you which shall giue accounts to him that is ready to iudge quicke and dead Thirdly because they reproue them for their euill waies and doe iudge and condemne their opinions and doings which
they cannot endure to haue iudged and condemned by others according to that in Saint Iohn Chap. 3.20 For euery man that euill doth hateth the light neither commeth to light lest his deeds should be reproued But being once reproued they cannot but persecute them that doe reproue them as Herod did Iohn the Baptist whom he did behead because he told him that it was not lawfull for him to haue his brothers wife Mark 6.18 and as the Iewes did Stephen the Deacon whom they did stone to death because he told them their faultes Acts 7.58 Fourthly because they are in greater fauour with God then they are and doe receiue larger gifts of sanctification and holines from him then they do according to that in Gen. 4.4 5. And the Lord had respect vnto Abel to his offering but vnto Kain to his offering he had no regard wherfore Kain was exceeding wroth his countenance fel down as it is in 1. Ioh. 3.12 he slew his brother because his owne workes were euill and his brothers good So that as Iosephs brethren could not endure that old father Iacob should loue him more then themselues as the Princes of Babel could not disgest Daniels fauour with the king aboue themselues so cannot the world endure that the God of heauen should respect his Saints before themselues albeit they doe each day blaspheme his holy name and will be no day obedient vnto him Fiftly because they are for the most part of them poore and base persons as our Sauiour doth intimate in Math. 11.25 where he doth resemble them vnto babes And as the Apostle doth teach vs in 1. Cor. 1.26 c. shewing that God hath not chosen many wise men after the flesh nor many mighty nor many noble but the foolish the weake and the vile and such as are despised in this world that all the glory might be his owne For the world doth see that these cannot enrich them nor countenance them nor aduance them to places of honour and dignity but will rather be a burden and a shame vnto them and therefore they haue them in great contempt and disdaine and doth take them for the very off-scum of the earth 1. Cor. 4.13 Lastly because they haue some infirmities and a few of them now and then doe breake out into great and hainous offences as into adultery murther theft or the like as Noah Lot Dauid Salomon and others haue done For the world vpon this doth condemne them all saying that they are hypocrites and that there is no goodnesse in them As I may reioyce in speaking of the other causes of their hatred so I may mourne and sament while I make mention of this But to passe the causes and to come to the vses of the doctrine Vse here we may obserue First the great corruption that is in the world For did not the whole world lie in wickednesse as Iohn doth say 1. Ioh. 5.19 They would neuer thus contemne the Saints of God as they doe seeing they haue no iust cause for the same but many reasons to the contrary as was noted before Surely the world is not worthy of them as it is in Heb. 11.38 Yet like blind wretches and wicked cast-awaies they despise them who yet are their stay and safety for take away once the godly out of the world the world would quickly come to ruine and destruction The Sunne would giue no more light the earth no more corne the sea no more fish the heauens no more birds the beasts of the field no more meate and the creatures in generall throughout the world no more obedience vnto man For if they doe their seruice now vnwillingly while the godly are liuing whose seruantes by good right and interest they are and do sigh and groane in their kind to be loosed from this burden of their bondage as it is in Rom. 8.19 c. doubtlesse they will refuse altogether to do any seruice vnto the wicked when they are dead and gone The world therefore in resisting Gods children may fitly be compared to a moath that fretteth in peeces the same cloth wherein she is bred or to a certaine worme or canker that corrodeth and eateth through the heart of the tree that nourisheth her or vnto a man that standeth vpon a bough in the toppe of a tree where there is no more yet with an axe choppeth it off and therewithall falleth downe with it and breaketh his necke Secondly out of this we may learne not to be dismaid at our troubles and the multitude of our aduersaries although some strange thing were happened vnto vs acording to Peters words in 1. Pet. 4.12.13 who saith Dearely beloued thinke it not strange concerning the fiery triall which is among you to proue you as though some strange thing were come vnto you But roioyce in as much as yee are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall appeare yee may be glad and reioyce It is no new thing this is an old fashion of the world which it had from the beginning It was thus in Adams house in Noahs house and in Abrahams house the most ancient houses of all the world For in Adams house Cain hated slew his own brother Abel Gen. 4.8 In Noahs house C ham scorned derided his owne father that did beget him Gen. 9.22 in Abrahams house Ismael flouted and reproched his naturall brother in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed Gen. 21.9 Wherefore beloued brethren be not you grieued when any of you are troubled and molested in the world for the Lords sake Complaine not as some doe who say There was neuer any man so crossed as I am Thinke not that you beare a burden alone by your selues the deare Saints of God the Prophets and Apostles together with the holy Martyrs and others are your companions therein You drink of none other cup then they haue done or your sweet maister Christ Iesus before you hath done Comfort your selues with these things Finally let this serue to instruct you that as you must be patient and quiet when troubles doe come and not fret or murmure against either God or man for the same so you must looke for troubles and persecutions while you are here in this world not cry peace vnto your selues as the wicked doe you must thinke with your selues that you shall haue enimies in all places and such as will be your foes in euery corner For this is a rule of the Lords which neuer shall be broken that the seed of the serpent will alwaies be enimies vnto the seed of the woman according to these words I will also put enmitie betweene thee and the woman and betweene thy seed and her seed in Gen. 3.15 As Christ your Lord and maister had enimies of all sorts euen more in number then the haires of his head so must you make your reckoning if you will be like to Christ in holinesse and righteousnesse
people that are according to our prouerbe He is as bad as a Iew. Finally by the woeful plagues not to speake here any thing of the torments of hell which is the worst of all which God hath sent downe immediatly from heauen vpon some of them in particular as vpon Herod Pontius Pilate and others For Herod to passe ouer all the rest and to make him an instance for all was thus plagued First he had a most scorching burning feuer by which he was inflamed exceedingly as well in the inward parts as in the outward Secondly there was in him an insatiable desire of food which could not be abated or be remoned away by all the meate and drinke which he did ranonously deuoure in great abundance Thirdly he had the bloody flixe Fourthly he had the colicke Fiftly he had the goute in his seete Sixtly his priuy members did so swell and rot that wormes did breed in the same And lastly he was from the top of the head vnto the sole of the foote so corrupt rotten that there came such a stinke from him that no person could well endure it and so in this woefull manner he ended his life and gaue vp the ghost Hauing thus seene the truth of all matters and found euery thing agreeable to the words of the text let vs now descend vnto the doctrine Doct. which may be gathered out of the same In few words it is nothing else but this that though we haue many enimies and sore aduersaries as Dauid and Christ had yet they shall not preuaile against vs but we shall prenaile against them doe they what they can as Dauid and Christ did Israel in Aegypt was cruelly handled but yet the more the Aegyptians did vexe them the more they multiplied and grew as it is in Exod. 3.12 And when they had done all the spite that they could doe against them yet at the last they were deliuered out of their hands they themselues being oftentimes plagued by the Almighty for their sakes and in the end most fearefully drowned in the red sea as it is apparant in the 14. Chap. of the same booke Mention is made of a great battell that was fought betweene Christ and the diuell and their armies in the Reuelation Chap. 12.7 c. But if you marke the sequele thereof you shall finde that Christ and his side had the victory For as it is witnessed of the Dragon who is the diuell and his Angels who are his souldiers that they preuailed not neither was their place found any more in heauen in the 8. verse of that Chapter so it is recorded to the glory comfort of all those who take Christs part that they ouercame the diuell the accuser of Gods children by the bloud of the Lambe and the word of their testimony in the 11. vers thereof But to omit other testimonies examples whereof the holy Scripture is full and frequent in this case let the words of our Sauiour Christ suffice vs at this time He tels vs in Math. 16.18 that the gates of hell whereby is meant all the power and force thereof shall not ouercome his Church or be able to ouerthrow such as do depend vpon him by a true and iustifying faith And in the 7. Chapter of the same booke towards the latter end thereof he doth shew the stablenesse of those that doe belong to the Lord haue a care both to heare the word of God and also to do it by a notable comparison wherein he doth resemble them to an house that is built vpon a rocke which cannot be cast downe by any tempest of weather whatsoeuer but doth stand alwaies still and cannot fall A thing neuer to bee thought of enough it is so full of comfort and consolation vnto euery godly soule chiefly vnto him that is afflicted here in this world But what might the reason thereof be may a man say that thus the godly should alwaies preuaile and be neuer ouerthrowne by their enimies but ouercome them rather Experience doth teach vs that they are fewer in number then the wicked are that they are weaker for strength and power that they are more simple for wit and policy and that they are more carelesse for diligence and watchfulnes then their aduersaries be How comes it then to passe that they haue the vpper hand The Prophet Isay doth declare it vnto vs in the 8. Chapter of his Prophecy and the 10. verse thereof Reason It is in few words because the Lord is with for thē For first he is stronger then all beeing able to resist all power that is made against his to do whatsoeuer he will both in heauen earth Secondly he is wiser then all seeing how to preuent them in all their waies and how also to bring matters to passe for the good of his Thirdly he is diligenter then all to stand as it were vpon his watch and to take his aduantage when it is offered him For he that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleepe Psalme 121.4 Lastly he is happier then all to haue good successe in all his enterprises For he doth prosper still in all things which he doth take in hand and none can resist a thought of his yea the very word that goeth out of his mouth doth accomplish that which he will and prosper in the thing whereunto he doth send it Isay 55.11 In warre all these foure things are respected in a captaine that will still ouercome First that he be strong Secondly that he be wise Thirdly that he be diligent And lastly that he be fortunate For the victory goes not alwaies with the strong nor alwaies with the wise nor alwaies with the diligent nor alwaies with the fortunate but sometimes with the one of them and sometimes with the other But looke where all foure doe concurre together there is alwaies the victory And therefore seeing all of them are in God it is no maruell though those whose battels hee doth fight doe alwaies ouercome and get the victory Here I would gladly come to the vse of the doctrine Obiect but me thinks I heare a man obiecting against that which hath bene said saying that it is not true that Gods children do alwaies preuaile against their enimies but that their enimies oftentimes do preuaile against them For we see that they are murdered and put to death Mention is made thereof in the booke of the Reuelation and in other places of the holy Scripture besides And thousand examples euery where do demonstrate the same daily vnto vs. For we do behold stil with our owne eyes and heare with our owne eares that the godly haue the worst end of the staffe as it is in our adage and that the wicked do beare sway and dominion ouer them How then is it true which hath bene spoken that doe the vngodly what they can yet the righteous shall still preuaile against them as here Dauid and Christ did The answere hereunto may easily
be collected out of Paules words Ans in the 8. Chap. of his Epistle to the Romanes and the latter end thereof which were touched before where he doth declare that though we be killed all day long and bee counted as sheepe for the slaughter yet we be notwithstanding that euen then therein conquerours yea more then conquerours through him that loueth vs. Howsoeuer this may seeme a parodoxe to flesh and bloud and be as a riddle vnto some of Gods owne children themselues yet it is an aphorisme in true Diuinity and a cleare point to them whose eyes are opened to behold the mysteries of the Almighty and to see the deepe things of the Lord. For I pray tell me is not he a conquerour yea more then a conquerour that doth so subdue his enimie that he can no more rise vp against him A man may vanquish his enimie and beate him cleane out of the field yet afterward he may gather a power against him againe and put him to the worst But here Satan the world and all our enimies are so beaten downe and troden vnder foote by all such as suffer and die for the truth that they can neuer assault them any more or stirre as it were either tongue or hand againe to do them any hurt For they goe immediately vpon that their death and passion to heauen and vnto all that happinesse which is prouided there for them as Iohn doth shew in Reuel 14.13 saying Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord euen so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours and their workes do follow them It is good for vs to know this Vse as also to thinke oftentimes vpon it For first by it we may learne to take heed that we goe not about any thing which may be hurtfull or pernicious vnto Gods children For if we do we see here our labour shal be in vaine we shall not preuaile against them but they shall preuaile against vs. He is a very foole that will attempt a thing which he knowes for certainty he cannot bring to passe and which he is sure will bee his bane and destruction But wee know that we cannot preuaile against the faithfull and wee are sure that our plots against them will turne to our ouerthrow And therefore beware we that we lift not vp our selues against them at any time Againe from hence we learne euen so many of vs as do truely serue the Lord feare him from our hearts that there is no cause why we should feare man or what he can doe against vs because the victory shall alwaies goe on our side and not against vs. Oh we may reioyce and be glad as it is required of vs in Zeph. 3.14 c. and in 1. Pet. 3.14 which places you may reade at your leasure Feare not beloued but be of a good comfort though you haue enimies in euery corner yet be not discouraged you shall haue the conquest the Lord your God shall deliuer you out of all your troubles according to Dauids saying in Psal 34.19 when he saith Great are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord deliuereth him out of them all He is wise he doth know how to do it and he is omnipotent he is able for to do it and as for his willingnesse he is ready at all times to accomplish it as iust occasion shall require it Wherfore be I say of a good comfort and feare not but trust in the Lord and commit your waies vnto him he shall bring all things to passe according to your owne hearts desire in the end He that deliuered Noah from the floud Lot from Sodom Iacob from Esau Ioseph from Potiphar Moses from Pharaoh Israel from Aegypt Elijah from Ahab Elisha from the Syrians Daniel from the Lyons the three children from the fire Peter from Herod Mordecay from Haman and here Christ and Dauid from all sorts of enimies he euen he will deliuer you from all troubles If you say that your enimies are many and that the whole world is against you I will say againe to you with Elisha the Prophet and Hezekiah the king that there are more with vs then are against vs. 2. Kings 6.16 2. Chron. 32.7 For God and all the hoast of heauen is for vs. If you say againe that your enimies are wise and politicke and that they are able to ouer-reach you by their craft cunning considering you are but simple and innocent like doues I will answere you with the Apostle that the foolishnesse of our God who is on our side is wiser then their best wisedome 1. Cor. 1.25 and that he will destroy their wisedome and bring their vnderstanding to nought 1. Cor. 1.19 to doe vs good If you say in the third place that your enimies haue so hemmed you in and compassed you about that it is vnpossible for you to escape them I will answere you with the Angel Gabriel that with God shall nothing be vnpossible Luke 1.37 And with the three children Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that God both can and will deliuer you Dan. 3.17 When they say Behold our God whom we serue is able to deliuer vs from the hot fiery furnace and he will deliuer vs out of thine hand ô King If you say lastly that your enimies haue already taken you and do put you daily vnto death I will answere you with Paul in Rom. 8.37 which place was touched before and with Iohn in Reuel 12.11 That by this meanes you doe ouercome your enimies most of all For when you resist thus vnto bloud and die for the truth you giue your enimies such an ouerthrow that they neuer rise vp against you any more as for your selues you enter presently into heauen the onely place which you striue for Euen as he hath the victory most in this world who doth enter into the citty and take all the spoyle thereof and doth so confound his aduersaries that they can neuer stirre any more against him In consideration of all which things cleaue fast I beseech you vnto the Lord feare no danger or perill but reioyce in the Lord and be glad alwaies fighting for the crowne of righteousnesse which shall be giuen vnto euery one who doth with patience waite for the appearing of our Lord Iesus and loue the same Now to the third point As wisedome cals vpon men for repentance and amendment of life in Prou. 1.22.23 saying O yee foolish how long will yee loue foolishnesse and the scornefull take their pleasure in scorning and the fooles hate knowledge Turne you at my correction Lo I will powre out my minde vnto you and make you vnderstand my words So doth the Lord here in the three last verses of this Psalme call vpon men for the like repentance and amendment of life saying Be wise now therefore ye Kings be learned ye Iudges of the earth c. to the end of the Psalme Wherehence shortly we gather this doctrine Doct.
did eate he should not perish but haue life euerlasting Ioh. 6.41.60.61 As thus you haue heard what they did so now heare what was the euent of their doing All was in vaine but in vaine saith the Prophet by which word he doth signifie that all their indeauour was to no purpose For a thing is said to be in vaine which cannot be brought to passe but shall lacke his effect In Hebrew the word is in the singular number called Rijk and it doth import a vacuitie or emptinesse and such a vanity of things as haue no substance in them no more then a dry pit hath water or an empty house hath stuffe But in Greeke the word is of the plurall number termed Kena and in signification is all one with the former sauing onely that this doth shew more fully as it were by the plurality of it that all the things which they did meditate vpon in their hearts murmuringly mutter forth with their tongues were frustrated and brought to nothing being in this respect like vnto sicke mens dreames which haue no truth or verity in them Here might many things be obserued As first that raging in a tumultuous manner and murmuring though in a secret sort are diseases and sores euermore to be found among the common people and the meaner of the world Secondly that by raging and murmuring resistance is made against the Lord and his Annointed Thirdly that all attempts which are made against the Almighty those whom he doth set vp whether by the one of these meanes or by the other shall be broken and come to nought Fourthly that the multitude and vulgar sort are alwaies enimies to the wise and gracious gouernement of our God And lastly that raging and murmuring themselues are two notorious euils which are alwaies to be abandoned by the holy and blessed Saints of the most High who doe purpose truely to serue the Lord and to go to heauen But as a man entring into a shop where is great variety of wares will buy onely that which is necessary for himselfe and his vses let the rest alone Or as a man sitting at a table where are sundry dishes will in wisedome feede onely on them which will agree with his body best and doe him most good and not meddle of the rest So let vs stand vpon those points alone which are most commodious for vs and may turne to our greatest good and let passe the rest And they are in number the two last which also are intended most if not onely by the Spirit of God in the text it selfe vnlesse it be the third respecting the vanitie of all such attempts as shall be made against the Lord whereof wee haue spoken already in the generall view of the whole Psalme and so are not now againe to speake thereof at this time First then in that the heathen do thus rage the people do thus murmure against Christ and his kingdome as we haue heard we gather this doctrine Doct. that the multitude and the whole body of the Commons will euermore be enimies vnto the Lord and his truth If we peruse the writings of the Prophets or runne ouer the Acts of the Apostles or cast our eies vpon the conuersation of the whole race of mankind we shall easily finde this to be most true and certaine Noah found it so when for all his preaching in sixscore yeares together he could not conuert any vnto the Lord but they would notwithstanding his preaching continue in their sinnes till the floud came and drowned them all 1 Pet. 3.20 Lot found it so when he vexed his righteous soule from day to day with the vnlawfull deedes and vncleane conuersation of the Sodomities 2. Pet. 2.7.8 chiefly then when they compassed his house about from all the quarters of the citty both yong and old with murthering hearts to kill those men or rather Angels that came to lodge with him Gen. 19.4 c. Aaron found it so when all the Israelites fell to idolatry and compelled him to make them a golden calfe to worship it or as they termed it Gods to goe before them Exod. 32.1 Isay found it so when he said of the whole people of Israel that they were a sinfull nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of the wicked corrupt children that they had forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy one of Israel against them yea they were gone backeward and that there was nothing found in them from the sole of the foote vnto the top of the head but wounds swelling sores full of corruption Isay 1.4 c. Ieremy found it so when he said of the same people that they were a wicked people and that they did refuse to heare the word of God but would walke after the stubbornnesse of their owne heart and walke after other gods to serue them and to worship them Ier. 13.10 Dauid found it so when he said of all mankind that they were all of them gone out of the way that they were all corrupt and that there was wone that did good no not one Psalme 14.3 Finally to omit almost infinite examples Paul and Silas found it so when they were at Philippy a chiefe citty in Macedonia where all were set against them both people and gouernours and did not onely beate them sore with rods but they cast them also into prison and commanded the gaoler to keepe them surely there from all escaping away Acts 16.22.23 Hitherto you haue heard what the people do Reason euen rebell still against the Lord and his blessed word Now heare what are the reasons of this their so doing and marke what moues them thereunto There are many reasons of it but these foure are the chiefe and principall The first is there foolishnesse or ignorance For they not knowing the Lord nor vnderstanding his waies aright but being in this respect worser then the Oxe that knoweth his owner and the Asse that knoweth his maisters crib as the Lord doth complaine of them in Isay 1.3 they cannot but doe as Paul did in the time of his ignorance euen oppose themselues against the Almighty or those of whom Christ doth say that they shall thinke they do God good seruice in putting his Saints to death Ioh. 16.2 For this cause the Lord doth make his moane for the foolishnesse and ignorance of his people as of the wel-spring of all their rebellions against him in Ier. 4.22 in these words For my people is foolish they haue not knowne me they are foolish children and haue none vnderstanding they are wise to doe euill but to do well they haue no knowledge The second is their impatiency or angry waywardnesse who cannot waite vpon the Lord with any patience or beare any crosse quietly For this doth cary them away to horrible rebellions as we may see by daily experience and by the example of the children of Israel in the wildernesse who being angry for their crosses and impatient of thirst of
auoided by euery good Christian and those that would be the faithfull children of the most high God of heauen But on the former of thē I will not now stand partly because all do confesse that to be a most hainous offence and partly because we are somewhat cleare and innocent from it but I will stand onely vpon the latter as vpon a thing more doubtfull and wherein we are intangled most The which to be a most grieuous sin in the sight of the Almighty howsoeuer man doth iudge lightly of it appeareth euidently by three things First by his often condemning of it in his word Secondly by his branding of them with a note of great infamie or reprobation who were subiect vnto it And thirdly by his seuere punishing of them who were guilty in it If we peruse the word we shall finde many places condemning the same but I will presse two or three alone Do all things saith Paul in Phil. 2.14 without murmuring and reasonings And againe writing to the Corinthians in 1. Cor. 10.10 he saith Neither murmure ye as some of them also murmured making mention there of the Israelites and were destroyed of the destroyer Likewise Peter well agreeing with him saith in 1. Pet. 4.9 Be ye harborous one to another without murmuring If we search the Scriptures we shall finde againe that murmurers therein are brought in as the leawdest and vilest people that be Iude in his Epistle speaking of vngodly persons who are a staine vnto true religion euen of such as were ordained of old vnto eternall condemnation as appeareth in the 4. Vers of that Epistle doth amongst other things set them out by this marke that they are murmures and complainers walking after their owne lusts as it is in the 16. verse thereof Whereby we see that God doth brand them with the note of reprobation as I said before In like manner as Kain is recorded to be a murtherer a runnagate a vagabond and a damned wretch who was a murmurer and one that did repine and grudge that God should respect his brother Abel aboue himselfe Gen. 4.5 c. So are all the Israelites who did so often murmure and grudge against the Lord and Moses his seruant in the wildernesse reputed for most vile and notorious sinners and that by God himselfe in these words Forty yeares haue I contended with this generation and said They are a people that erre in heart for they haue not knowne my waies Wherefore I sware in my wrath saying suerly they shall not enter into my rest Psal 95.10.11 Lastly if we carefully obserue the story of sacred Oracles we shall find that most heauy plagues iudgements haue bene excuted vpon offenders in this respect But to touch one or two it is not vnknowne that though Miriam were an excellent woman and one of great account amongst all the people of God yet the Lord did not spare her but did strike her with the Leprosie a cursed an odious disease for her murmuring against Moses Numb 12.10 Againe it is apparant that though God made choise of Israel to be his people before all the nations of the world and did carry them as it were in his bosome as a mother doth carry her child in her bosome yet he did destroy many thousands of them by the Amalekites the Canaanites that dwelt in the mountaine of their wandring for their murmuring and repining yea and more then that hee debarred them all from entring into Caanan that came out of Aegypt except two viz. Iosuah and Caleh as we may see at large in the 14. Chap. of Numbers But yet his hand staid not there For besides all that he cast most of them downe to hell and would not suffer them to come to heauen which is the plague of all plagues and the heauiest iudgement that can be as the Apostle doth obserue in the 3. and 4. Chapters of his Epistle to the Hebrewes As thus you heare that murmuring is a sinne Reason so peraduenture you would gladly vnderstand the cause why it is a sinne In few words it is a sinne for two causes The one is because it hath an errour in it whereby we iudge amisse of the Lord and his wayes whether workes or words For whensoeuer we murmure for any matter we iudge and thinke that that matter is out of order and that it might be better disposed of then it is As for example when the maister of the vineyard gaue vnto euery one a penny at night that laboured in his vineyard the enuious man grumbled at this because he thought here was no iustice and equity obserued in that all of them were made equall in their wages who were vnequal in their labours So when we murmure against God we do dislike with something in God and so we do controll him and preferre our selues who are foolish and wicked before him who is most wise and holy as though we our selues in the like case could do better then God hath done then which blasphemy what can almost be more hainous The other cause is because it hath some rebellion in it as a cursed effect arising from the wickednesse of that former cause whereof we haue already spoken For when the soule is thus corrupted with a wrong iudgement the heart that begins to boyle and rise against God in many angry and foolish passions and the tongue oftentimes is loosed with most vile and reprochfull words that I may not speake of the hands and the rest of the members all which are much out of order by this meanes and carried ouer to a sea of corruptions as we may see in those murmurers and many others who were mentioned before Wherefore when Moses went about to draw the people from their murmuring he wils them to rebell no more as though to murmure to rebell were all one Numb 14.9 And when God doth reproue them he doth demand How long they will prouoke him and how long it will be yer they doe beleeue him in the 11. verse of the same Chapter as though there were no difference betweene murmuring and prouoking of God or not beleeuing in him So that then if it be an abhomination before the Lord to condemne the innocent in our thoughts and to rebell against the gouernours of the land it is apparant and euident that murmuring must needes be a great sinne seeing it hath these two great euils in it the one of iudging amisse of the Lord the other of rebelling against his maiesty But to passe the causes let vs come to the vses They are in number two The first of them sheweth the great impiety of our land Vse 1 for seeing that murmuring is a great euill and we haue murmurers in euery place and amongst all estates we may see that our land is wicked and naught In it reigne many sinnes as swearing lying whoring theeuing quaffing gormandizing contempt of the word and the faithfull embassadours thereof with many other notoriousvices such as couetousnesse
And so I shut vp this point in a few words and make an end THE THIRD SERMON vpon the second Psalme PSAL. 2. VER 2. 3. The Kings of the earth band themselues and the Princes are assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ Let vs breake their bands and cast their cords from vs. HAuing spoken in the first verse of the Commons and the meaner people of the world he comes now in these two verses to speake of the Nobles and the great States of the world Though the former did rebell against Christ and his kingdome yet haply these as a man might thinke will not For these are wise and religious and see what is good for themselues But out alas they do it as well as the former they haue the like treacherous and rebellious hearts within them For they band themselues together with all their power and strength But yet there is some difference betwixt them For these go as it were warily to worke and are very circumspect in their wayes they take deliberation and time they haue their meetings and consultations they lay their heads together and take aduice what is best to be done But in the end they conclude vpon this That they will be subiect no longer to Christ and his kingdome nor suffer themselues to be bridled any more by his lawes which they accounted to be an intollerable burthen and such bands and cords as were not in any case to be endured but to be broken asunder and to be cast behind their backes like dung and filthinesse which they could not abide to looke on And whereas good subiects should prouoke one the other vnto all dutifull obedience and loyall subiection vnto their dread Soueraigne they as apert and open enimies do encourage one the other vnto plaine and manifest treason and rebellion saying Come let vs breake their bands and cast their cords behind vs. In summe then you haue nothing else to remember Summe here in these two verses but the rebellion or conspiracie which the great men of the world do make against Christ Iesus our Lord King Wherein note first what they do then secondly what they say Their deedes are set out in the second verse and that two wayes first by the thing it selfe which they-do then by the persons against whom they do the same Their words in the third verse containing an exhortation in them and the matter whereunto they do exhort Of these we will speake in order and say somewhat of each of them by Gods good grace Touching the first of them which doth concerne their deeds we will obserue this methode in handling the same that first we will see the meaning of the words then the truth of the storie and lastly the vse and benefit that we may make thereof The meaning of the words standeth thus By Kings are vnderstood such as were in highest place and authoritie amongst men and by Princes such as were next them for rule and gouernment ouer the people but by them both are vnderstood all persons whatsoeuer of chiefe place and state for this world by the figure called Synecdoche when some sorts or kinds are put for all Howsoeuer these are here sayd to band themselues and to be assembled together but in Acts chap. 4. vers 26. they are sayd to assemble and to come together the reading is somewhat diuerse but yet it is all one in sence For the meaning is nothing else but this that they ioyned hand and head together in power and counsell against the Lord and his Christ Where by the name of the Lord you must vnderstand the Almightie euen the first person in the Trinitie God the Father and by the name of his Christ first Dauid whom God did annoint king of Israel Then secondly Iesus the sonne of the Virgin Mary whom the same God did annoint king ouer his Church For against both of them was this conspiracie made The word in the Hebrew tongue called Meshihho coming of Mashahh to annoint and the word in the Greeke tongue called tou Christou autou coming of chriô to annoint do signifie his Annointed And seeing that both Dauid and Iesus were annointed by God the Father either of them may be noted out by this word and be called His Annointed or his Christ which is all one For annointed or Christ is all one in sence though not in sound of words in our English tongue Thus you see in few words the meaning of the place how that the great states or chiefe men of the world bid band themselues wholy against Dauid whom the Lord had chosen to be the King of Israel and against our Sauiour Iesus Christ whom he had chosen to be the gouernour of his Church and the only ruler thereof But yet before we come to see the veritie of this matter which is to be touched in the next place a question here may be moued and a man may aske how these men did ioyne hand and head together against the Lord himselfe For can any like the Giants make warre against the Almightie Yes Many haue done it and do daily still do it For all those are sayd to warre against the Lord himselfe who do oppose themselues against his will and pleasure and withstand such matters as do tend to his glorie and the good of his Saints but chiefly those that do resist the higher powers and rebell against such as the Almightie hath set ouer them to be their rulers and gouernors either in the Church or Common-wealth As we may se by the words of the Lord to Samuel when Israel would haue a king in 1. Sam. 8.7 where the Lord doth say vnto him Heare the voyce of the people in all that they shall say vnto thee for they haue not cast thee away but they haue cast me away that I should not reigne ouer them As we may see by the words of our Sauiour to his Apostles in Luke 10.16 when he saith vnto them He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that hath sent me As lastly we may see by Pauls words to the Romanes in Rom. 13.2 when he saith Whosoeuer therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receiue to themselues iudgement Wherefore in that they did resist Dauid and Christ whom the Lord had set vp it is apparant that they did resist the Lord himselfe Oh that all traytors and rebels did well consider of this point and lay it neare vnto their soules For our owne parts let vs looke vnto it alwayes remembring what the Lord doth say Touch not mine annointed and do my Prophets no harme But to passe this matter and to come to the truth of the story that we may see how true euery thing is which is here reported and not to stand vpon Dauid the figure whose storie you may reade at large in the first booke of Samuel where you
and many more they are much bound vnto the Almightie and in regard of them it is their part and duty to serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of their liues they being euermore seruent in the spirit and most zealous of all good workes For the more kind and bountifull that any is vnto vs the more louing and obedient should we be againe vnto him But through their corruptions it is farre otherwise with them For these things make them the worse and not the better and like a violent floud they carrie them to all kind of abhominations First because they make them proud and arrogant in their hearts for pride is the roote of all euill as it cast the Angels out of heauen Adam out of paradise Nabuchadnezzar out of his kingdome so it doth still deceiue men and make them rebell against the Almightie The wicked man saith Dauid is so proud that he seeketh not for God he thinketh alwayes there is no God Psal 10.4 And the Lord saith to Edom who was a bitter enimie to him and his people The pride of thine heart hath deceiued thee thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rockes whose habitation is high that saith in his heart Who shall bring me downe to the ground Obadiah verse 3. Secondly because they make them riotous and licentious in their liues For intemperancy of body and abundance of fleshly pleasures do cause them to forget the Lord and to spurne against him that made them But he saith God that should haue bene vpright when he waxed fat spurned with his heele thou art fat speaking to Israel thou art grosse thou art laden with fatnesse therefore he forsooke God that made him and regarded not the strong God of his saluation Deut. 32.15 Againe you know it is said of the voluptuous man in the parable that though others made their excuses for not coming vnto the feast whereunto they were bidden yet he made none but said peremptorily I haue maried a wife and therefore I cannot come Luk. 14.20 declaring there by that the pleasures of this life are most forcible meanes to withdraw vs from the Lord and from all such duries as do belong vnto him as also from our owne eternall happinesse which is in the heauens aboue Thirdly because they make them most stiffe and obstinate against the most holy and powerfull ministery of the word For the contempt of the word is the very leprosie of the soule and the killing plague of the body Wherewith saith Dauid shall a young man redresse his way In taking heed thereto according to thy word Psal 119.9 And the wise men as Ieremy saith are ashamed they are afraid and taken Loe they haue reiected the word of the Lord and what wisedome is in them Ier. 8.9 So that without the word there is no goodnesse in men Yet they say when faithfull messengers come to them as Moses came vnto Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should heare his voyce and let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exod. 5.2 What say they shall these command vs and shall we do according to their sayings No no but downe with them downe with them let them not liue but die or as it is in Ieremy chap. 18.18 Come and let vs imagine some deuice against them for the law shall not perish from the Priest nor counsell from the wise nor the word from the Prophet come and let vs smite them with the tongue and let vs not giue heed to any of their words Fourthly because they make them to prosper and to carry out all matters for this world according to their owne hearts desire For prosperitie and good successe in our wayes doth harden mans heart exceedingly against the Lord and all holy proceedings His wayes saith Dauid speaking of the wicked vnto God alway prosper thy iudgements are high ouer his sight therefore defieth he all his enimies Psal 10.5 And we find in Mal. 3.14.15 that many did refuse to serue the Lord and to keepe his commandements and chose rather to be lewd and wicked because as they said the proud were blessed and they which wrought wickednesse were set vp and such as tempted God were deliuered Fiftly because they make them to haue a false opinion of themselues as if they were in good case and were in the high fauour of God when it is nothing so For this false perswasion of theirs doth rocke them fast asleepe in their sinnes so bind the cords of their iniquity that they can hardly euer be brokē againe Surely as they say in their harts they shal neuer be moued nor be in danger as it is in Ps 10.6 or as it is in Ps 49.11 They thinke their houses and their habitations shall continue for euer euen from generation to generation and call their lands by their names So this doth cause them not to returne vnto the Lord but to go on stil in their sinnes against him as we may see in Ieremy chap. 5.12 in these words They haue denied the Lord and said It is not he neither shall the plague come vpon vs neither shall we see sword or famine and as it may also be collected out of Chapter 7. ver 4. where the Lord saith vnto Israel who thought themselues deare vnto the Almightie and free from all plagues in that respect Trust not in lying words saying The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord this is the temple of the Lord. Lastly because they make them to be attended vpon by many flatterers who will smooth them on in their sinnes and to be accompanied by such as will giue vnto them wicked counsell as the young men did vnto Rehoboam when he caused ten tribes to reuolt from him For flattery and euill counsell are the bane of all good manners and forcible spurres to driue men forward to all wickednesse For as Paul doth say Euill words corrupt good manners 1. Cor. 15.33 so the Lord doth testifie that flattering teachers and euill counsellors do strengthen the hands of the wicked that they cannot returne from their wickednesse in ser 23.14 Thus you haue sixe reasons in particular of their rebellion and conspiracie The first is the pride of their hearts who are puft vp with their estate and swolne like a blowne bladder with the vaine wind of their outward pompe The second is the intemperancie of their liues who liue in all kind of excesse for diet apparell and other worldly pleasures most sweete and delightfull vnto the flesh The third is the contempt of the word who meditate but seldome vpon the law of God and come but now and then to the place where it is soundly and vnpartially diuided The fourth is the prosperity of their wayes who flourish like the Bay tree and are not in trouble as other men or plagued as they be but do liue at ease are strong and lustie and haue more then heart can wish The fift is the false
perswasion which they haue of themselues who thinke that they shall continue still in their flourishing estate and neuer see any woe or misery The sixt and last is the flattering and wicked counsell which they receiue from others who gladly accept of that which is spoken in their praise or agrees well with the vile inclination of their hearts But the generall reason of all is the corruption of their soules and the deprauitie of their crooked nature who turne that into poyson vnto themselues like the spider which they should conuert into hony with the Bee But to leaue the reasons Vse and to come to the vses here we may learne many things but chiefly foure The first is that we must not depend vpon great men or the higher powers of the world for their countenance as we learned in the first verse not to depend vpon the multitude for their number For here we see that they are against the Lord and his Annointed And therefore if we hang vpon them do as they do iniquity will be our ouerthrow and hell fire will be our portion at the last when we shall dearly repent for it but all too late Some there are of them I grant who are most godly and vpright persons walking sincerely in the paths of the Almightie but they are exceeding few here one and there another but for the greatest part of them they are naught and wicked as we may see by the Apostles words in 1. Cor. 1.26 when he saith For brethren you see your calling how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mightie not many noble are called And therefore I beseech you brethren looke well to this point conforme not your selues to the religion of great States nor walk after the maners of the wealthy men of the world but be you followers alone of Iesus Christ become holy as God your Father is holy in all maner of cōuersation so you shal not be fighters against the Almightie as these Giants are but be faithfull and obedient vnto him to your owne good euerlasting happinesse The second is this that if we will ioyne with the Lord take part with him we must looke for great enimies to arise vp against vs as well as small ones Ye shall be brought saith our Sauiour Christ vnto his Disciples in Matth. 10.18 to the gouernours and kings for mysake in witnesse to them and to the Gentles So must we looke to be brought before such and when such matters do fall out we must not be discouraged as though some new thing had happened vnto vs but be well contented therewith knowing that it hath bene so from the beginning and shall be so still to the end of the world As Ahab was set against Eliah Saul against Dauid Haman against Mordecay the Princes of Babel against Daniel Herod against Iohn the Baptist the high Priests and Elders of the people against the Apostles and Pharaoh with his Princes of Aegypt against Israel so must Gods children thinke that some great States and mightie men of this world will set themselues against them at all times and that they shall neuer be free from their oppositions but shall still be molested by them to the ende Oh thinke vpon this well and make a good vse of it for your selues For praemoniti praemuniti fore-warned fore-armed according to Christs words in Ioh. 16.1 These things haue I sayd vnto you that ye should not be offended The third is that euery one of vs who are more wealthy then others and haue greater places of dignitie then they haue should looke most warily to our selues that our wealth and places do nor steale away our hearts from God according to Pauls words in 1. Cor. 10.12 Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall For you see we stand in a slipperie place and if others do fall round about vs as we see and heare they do pray we heartily to the Lord that he would keepe vs and let vs watch and be sober alwayes walking faithfully in our callings and humbling our selues to the very dust before the Lord our maker Remember we stil what Paul doth write vnto Timothy in 1. Tim. 6.17.18.19 and let vs follow the same Charge them saith he that are rich in this world that they be not high minded and that they trust not in vncertaine riches but in the liuing God which giueth vs abundantly all things to enioy that they do good and be rich in good workes and ready to distribute and communicate laying vp in store for themselues a good foundation against the time to come that they may obtaine eternall life If men trauell in those places where others before them haue suffered shipwracke or do fight with those enimies who haue alwaies conquered others they are very fearefull and circumspect lest they should miscarry So should it be with vs in this case Because we see others led away captiues to sinne by their outward pompe and state and do behold but a few rich men truly fearing the Lord we should vpon the due consideration thereof walke wisely and circumspectly redeeming the time and working out our saluation with feare and trembling The fourth and last is that we should both pray and reioyce in the behalfe of our gouernours and the highest powers of our land For seeing all generally do fall and become enimies to the Lord that are in those places of eminency farre aboue others and yet they do stand and are faithfull embracers of the truth we haue great cause to blesse the name of our God for it and to pray vnto him for a continuance of the same that so they may neuer shrinke backe but grow better and better vntill they come to the perfection of all goodnesse in the heauens aboue and there enioy all those beatitudes which are prouided for them in that celestiall place Doubtlesse there is no nation in the world so much beholding vnto God in this respect as we of England are As once we did say We haue an excellent Queene so we may now say We haue an excellent King His estate is most dangerous yet blessed be our God he doth stand and maintaine the truth of the Gospel as he ought to do He is like a goodly blazing torch set vpon the top of a mountaine which there doth giue light and not go out do all the winds of the heauen against it what they can Strange would the spectacle be if such a matter were visible to our eye I doubt not but all of vs would stand wondering if we should see a candle burning on the top of our houses in a windy and tempestuous night and yet neuer go out before it be burnt to the very end of it So may we wonder at his standing and at the Lords mercy in vpholding him he is so assaulted on euery side and set vpon by the contrary blasts of sundrie oppositions I pray you let vs alwayes pray vnto the Lord
4.1 And thus the Beroeans did for when Paul Silas came preached amongst them they receiued the word with all readinesse and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so or no as they taught them Acts 17.11 So also did the Ephesians For when some came vnto them and sayd that they were Apostles who indeed were not they examined them and found them liers Reuel 2.2 And so lastly must we our selues do for we must not build our faith vpon men who may deceiue vs but vpon the word of God which cannot deceiue vs. Any thing that is agreeable to the same we must receiue and whatsoeuer is contrary vnto it we must reiect and cast away saying with the Apostles We ought rather to obey God then man Acts 5.29 In the third and last place from this that Councels and Assemblies are as well against the Lord as for the Lord we may learne that we must not be too rash either in iudgement or in speech against the gouernors of our land for that they do condemne conuenticles and all other vnlawfull assemblies It is a thing to be wished that all meetings were for God and the aduancement of his glorie and it would be a thing very profitable if Christians did come together chiefly the Ministers of the word for holy conference in good matters that they might helpe one the other by their mutuall saith and other blessed gifts wherewith they do abound in great abundance But yet seeing many inconueruences oftentimes do come by Assemblies and that there are meetings as well against the Lord as for the Lord by traytors by Papists by Anabaptists by theeues by other malefactors who are enimtes both to God and the good estate of our land let vs not be discontented ouer-much though our meetings be somewhat restrained by law neither let vs repine in our hearts against our gouernours for the same but let vs know that they had some good reason for that which they haue done and that we our selues who are faithfull to God and loyall to our King may take libertie enough in the feare of God to prouoke to loue and to good workes and to be mutuall helpes one vnto the other in all duties of true Christianity if we will our selues Their words do now follow to be handled wherein consider first how they do stirre vp and prouoke one the other to their naughtinesse then the thing it selfe which they would do and gladly bring to passe as being the very issue of their whole counsell and consultation and the maine point wherein their rebellion and treason stood In the handling of these I will be succinct and short but chiefly in the first For that I will but onely touch and away It is expressed in this word Come come say they let vs breake their bands and cast their cords behind vs. In which we see the guise and propertie of the world the wicked haue a Come as well as the godly but farre differing from theirs For the godly haue their Come as a word of encouragement to religion and the exercises thereof as when they say O come and let vs sing vnto the Lord let vs heartily reioyce in the strength of his saluation or as it is in Esay 2.3 Come and let vs go vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his wayes and we will walke in his pathes For the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem But the wickeds Come is to conspiracie and treason as here we may see in which they are more diligent then the children of light are in their good for their bodies meete their heads meete their hearts meete and both outward and inward they are earnest in euill the encourage one the other therein as much as may be and they haue their come alwayes for all their plots Such a come we reade of against blessed Ieremie Come said the wicked and let vs. imagine a deuice against Ieremy let vs smite him with the tongue and not giue credit to any of his words Ier. 18.18 Such another haue ruffians and theeues and swaggering fellowes in the booke of the Prouerbs Come and cast in thy lot with ours for we will haue all but one purse c. Prou. 1.11 c. Such another hath the harlot to the young man Come let vs take our fill of loue vntill the morning let vs take our pleasure in dalliance for mine husband is not at home he is gone aiourney farre off c. Prou. 7.18 c. But to such cursed comes let vs neuer hearken according to the good counsell which Wisedome doth giue vs in the Prouerbes and namely in the first chapter 15 verse thereof saying My sonne walke not thou in the way with them refraine thy foote from their path and let vs euer remember what the Psalme saith Blessed is the man that doth not walke in the counsell of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seate of the scornefull but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night Psal 1.1.2 And so I passe from this point of their wicked and diuellish exhortation and come to the thing it selfe whereunto it is bent onely intreating you by the way that you would learne by their example to be more zealous and earnest in your holy religion then now you are For shall they exhort one the other and whet on each man his brother to wicked abhominations and to dreadfull rebellion and treason and shall not we much more prouoke one the other to loue and to all good works that we may be faithfull seruants vnto God and loyall subiects vnto our King Yes yes beloued it is our duty so to do otherwise these persons may rise vp in iudgement hereafter against vs. Wherefore let vs stirre vp one the other to goodnesse and to all holy duties whatsoeuer saying Come let vs honour all men loue brotherly fellowship feare God honour the King and doe in all points as it doth become vs c. The substance and matter of their exhortation if you marke the text is to cast off all obedience to the iust and holy lawes of the Lord and his Annointed For their words are these Let vs breake their bands and cast their cords behind vs. A diuellish conclusion and a wicked resolution you see it is What! could they in all their consultations find no better matter then this to agree vpon was this the only issue of all their labours Alas alas wee see what man is he is a very beast by his owne knowledge as it is in Ieremy 10.14 and as Paul doth shew he is an enimy vnto God his maker Rom. 5.10 But let vs examine this point a little As all good rulers haue their lawes and statutes for the better gouernment of their people so God hath his lawes and his statutes which he
doth giue vnto his people for them to obserue and keepe that so they might not liue according to their owne phansies and pleasures but according to his will and pleasure they euermore auoiding those things which he hath condemned and performing those things which he hath commanded But behold here these men scorne those lawes and statutes and refuse altogether to be obedient vnto them They would cast them off for euer and breake them all to peeces if they could And because they would make all things odious in respect of the Lord his Annointed whether Dauid or Christ and very plausible and colourable in regard of themselues they forge a very grosse and palpable comparison for they do compare themselues as it were to certaine beasts and vnreasonable creatures and these lawes and statutes of the Lord published by Dauid and Christ vnto certaine bands and cords insinuating thereby that they are no better vsed then the very beasts of the field or other vnreasonable creatures that must be tied fast with bands and cords for feare of hurting people or wandring abroad whither they should not For as these beasts are bridled and restrained by their bonds and cords so were they by these lawes and statutes so that they could not do what they would do In regard whereof they go now about to be loosed from this bondage and subiection which was in their opinion altogether intollerable and not to be borne or suffered any longer Wherefore their meaning in these words when they say Let vs breake their bands and cast their cords behind vs is nothing else but this Let vs obserue and keepe their lawes and statutes no more nor be any longer subiect and obedient vnto them or their authoritie Out of this we may collect two doctrines Doct. the one is that mans nature is against the law of God and vnwilling to be subiect or obedient thereunto according to the example of these men The other is that when men do resist the law of God oppose themselues against the same then do they rebell against God himselfe and become traytors vnto him as these were for this is noted as the maine point wherein their treason stood in that they did thus reiect the lawes and statutes of the Almightie and withstand the same to the vttermost that they could On these two let vs stand a little The first is Doct. that mans nature is against the law of God and vnwilling to be subiect or obedient thereunto The whole story of the Bible doth shew this but one place at this time shall be alleaged for all as containing many ages vnder it and that is in Ieremy 7.23 c. when the Lord saith by his seruant there But this thing commanded I them saying Obey my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people and walke yee in all the wayes which I cōmanded you that it may be well vnto you But they would not obey nor incline their eare but went after the counsels and the stubburnnesse of their wicked heart and went backward and not forward Since the day that your fathers came vp out of the land of Aegypt vnto this day I haue euen sent vnto you all my seruants and Prophets rising vp early euery day and sending them yet would they not heare me nor incline their eare but hardned the necke and did worse then their fathers As thus Israel dealt so deale all men at all times we find it so still by daily experience as well as by andient records So that a good man may cry out and say as it is in the same prophesie of Ieremy Chap. 6. verse 10. Vnto whom shall I speake and admonish that they may heare behold their eares are vncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the word of the Lord is vnto them as a reproch they haue no delight in it But what is the reason of this as God said to Israel What iniquitie haue your fathers found in me that they are gone farre from me and haue walked after vanitie and are become vaine Ieremie 2.5 so may we say to these men What iniquity haue they found in the lawes and statutes of the Lord that they do so spurne at them or what euill is lurking in them that they do so reiect them What are they not iust and vpright Yes as we may see by Deut. 4.8 where Moses saith And what nation is so great that hath ordinances and lawes so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day What! are they not good and profitable Yes as we may see by sundry places of diuine Writ namely by the testimony of Dauid in Psal 19.11 when he saith that in keeping of them there is great reward What! are they not lastly easie and pleasant Yes as we may see by Christs owne words in Math. 11.30 when he saith For my yoke is easie and my burden light and by the saying of Dauid who reports them to be sweeter vnto him then the hony or the hony combe Psal 19.10 How chance then are they reiected and for what cause are they so cast off The causes thereof are these First because they are contrary to their natures and to all the affections of their soules which are wholly bent against them in so much as Wisedome her selfe is an enmitie vnto them as Paul doth teach vs in Rom. 8.7 saying Because the wisedome of the flesh is enmitie against God for it is not subiect to the law of God neither indeed can be For they cannot loue or like that by any meanes which doth crosse their natures and controll the affections of their hearts that is euen death to them Secondly because they condemne their sinnes which are sweet and profitable vnto them and threaten eternall iudgements against them for them For they cannot endure to heare of their faults and of Gods curses belonging vnto them for the same Thirdly because they are not accustomed to them For we like not of things which we neuer vsed and they are tedious and burthen some vnto vs as a new straite doublet is to a child which neuer wore any before according to Dauids saying when he had Sauls harnesse on his backe I cannot go with these for I am not accustomed 1. Sam. 17.39 Lastly because they are vnable for to obserue to keepe them as wanting Christ to helpe them and the spirit of the Lord to assist them For we grieue and murmure against all those which require vnpossible things at our hands and we abhorre the burden which we cannot carry or safely vndergo The reasons of this doctrine thus touched Vse the vses of it are these First hereby we may see what a downfall man did receiue by Adams fall He is not a little maimed or hurt in some parts of his soule or body alone but he is wholly corrupted and made a deadly enimie vnto his maker Some there are that do extoll man too highly they say that he is
the Iewes themselues who were sundry times plagued by God from heauen and by men from the earth and in the end came to the woefullest calamitie as euer pen did put to paper for killing the Prophets from time to time and for murdering Christ and such as did appertaine vnto him So that whereas they cryed out and said His bloud be vpon vs and our children as it is in Math. 27.25 his bloud indeed fell vpon them for they were so punished for it that they were murdered most of them at the destruction of Ierusalem their bloud running about the streets like a riuer of water and they are now to this day in great contempt amongst all nations as many thousands of them also do lye boyling in hell and there shall remaine in their torments for it for euermore O misery of all miseries Great was their calamitie when their citty was besieged at what time they were driuen to eate the leather of their shooes the leather of their girdles the leather of their bucklers and targets the dung of their stables and in the end their very children Woefull was their case when they began to issue out compelled with famine when they were still taken and crucified vpon crosses and gibbets set vp before the wals that they which were within might see them and giue ouer but yet they would not fiue hundred a day were thus hanged vp till there were neither trees to be gotten nor any more space left to set them in Fearefull was their estate when certaine of them getting meate for compassion sake in the campe of the enimes were yet so persecuted with the anger of God that when they hoped their liues were in some safety suddēly in the night by the bloody souldiers imagining that sure they had Gold and Iewels within them which they had swallowed to conuey them for their vse were miserably flaine and slit vp their bowels taked in for that which haply was not there to the number of two thousand in one night Pittifull was their condition when there was a desire to know the number of dead carkasses carried out of the citty for want of buriall to be throwne into the ditches as dung vpon the earth but the number was numberlesse and no way to know it certainely but out of one gate the keeper had noted to be carried out an hundred and fifty thousand dead bodies Who can speake or heare of these matters almost with dry eyes But yet this is not the worst for the damnation of their soules and bodies in hell doth go far beyond it where is weeping and gnashing of teeth for euermore Alas alas our hearts may breake out into drops of bloud to thinke vpon that their misery For first their paine there is intollerable farre worse then the burning of any fire with vs let it be a thousand times hotter then it is Secondly it is eternall and euerlasting neuer to haue any end like that fire which doth alwaies burne and can neuer be quenched And thirdly it is continuall without any intermission or ease comming betwixt it they lying in torments euery day and euery night and not hauing so much as one minute of an houre in a million of yeares to rest in Thus doth God speake to them in his wrath and vexe them in his sore displeasure The reason hereof is this Reason because he is offended with them for their sinne which they doe commit herein against him and hath the same in great hatred and detestation For as Dauid doth tell vs in the 5. and 11. Psalmes that the foolish shall not stand in the Lords sight nor him that speaketh lies but shall be destroyed and that vpon the wicked he shall raine snares fire and brimstone and stormy tempest this is the portion of their cup so he doth teach vs withall what is the cause thereof in the same places namely this because he is not a God that loueth wickednesse nor iniquitie neither shall euill dwell with him but he is one that loueth righteousnesse and hateth iniquity and such as worke the same The places aboue quoted doe touch this matter and shew the particular sinne for which these iudgements come But yet a man may aske say Why is God so much moued for the wrongs that are offered to his children Wherefore doth the sinne committed against them so stirre him to wrath and indignation against the offenders therein Cannot he be quiet whilst he himselfe is not touched and so lightly passe ouer the matter No no he cannot in any sort For if you touch them once you touch him He that toucheth you saith Zechariah to Gods children in Zech. 2.8 toucheth the apple of his eye I trow if a man take in your eyes you will set him further if you can and teach him what it is to medle with that tender member that is so deare vnto you So doth the Lord deale with these because his children are deare and precious vnto him he cannot see them wronged but must needes take their parts and be reuenged vpon their aduersaries for such abuses as they do offer vnto them Because thou wast precious in my sight saith the Lord to Israel and thou wast honorable and I loued theee therefore will I giue man for thee and people for thy sake as it is in Esay 43.4 And as though this were not enough the Prophet Nahum doth tell vs That he is iealous ouer his people that he reserueth wrath for his enimies that he will take vengeance on his aduersaries and make an vtter destruction of them comming like a fire vnto them as vnto thornes folden one in another and as vnto drunkards in their drunkennesse so that they shall be deuoured as stubble fully dried Nahum 1.2.9.10 This is the cause and reason wherefore the Lord doth so take on in regard whereof Christ said vnto Paul when he did molest and trouble such as did beleeue in him Saul Saul Why dost thou persecute me as it is in Acts 9.4 taking that to be done to himselfe which was done to them Wherefore out of this place we may learne Vse first to abstaine from all such things as are iniurious vnto Gods Saints and hurtfull vnto such as do belong to him What do you imagine saith Nahum the Prophet against the Lord he will make an vtter destruction affliction shall not rise vp the second time Chap. 1.9 Because the Lord will destroy those that imagine euill against his people therefore the Prophet doth thinke it to be meere foolishnesse and madnesse to attempt any thing against them and good wisedome to be quiet and to let them alone One reason we had before for this which is our not preuailing against thē but this is more strong forcible then that For all men by nature do desire most their ease and safety but here is a thing which will bring woe and destruction vnto vs it will take away our ease and safety cleane plunge vs into a sea of
be so as plainly as euidently as if they heard the Lord speaking from heauen vnto thē by word of mouth His destroying confoūding of them shal cry like a shril voice in their eares that it was he himselfe no created wight euen he himselfe that is the God of Gods the Lord of hoasts that did set vp Dauid to be King of Israel Christ his Son to be King of his Church whom they had so rebelliously resisted laboured to haue displaced out of their thrones Here is a great Emphasis it is as much as if he had said What shal I set vp a King will you ô ye rebels go about to put him downe How dare you do this What shall I place one ouer my people make him to be their Lord and chiefe gouernor will you ye traytors refuse to yeeld obedience vnto him ioine hand and head together to ouerthrow him and to remoue him out of his kingdome O impietie neuer heard of O wickednesse most intollerable Know you know you that for this cause I cannot beare with you but I must needes speake to you in my wrath and vexe you in my sore displeasure as now I do By Zion here his holy mountaine the kingdome of Israel is vnderstood if we referre it vnto Dauid but if we referre it vnto Christ the Church is meant thereby Zion was the citie of Dauid and the place where his Court was vsually held and kept as it is in 2. Sam. 7.7 But here it is put figuratiuely for the whole kingdome of Israel whereof that was a chiefe and principall part And it is tearmed withall the holy mountaine of God because it stood on high vpon a mountaine or hill where the Lord did manifest his holinesse vnto his people as by the presence of his arke which was there so also by the exercises of pure religion which were held in the Tabernacle and Temple that were built in that place and feared vpon that mountaine or hill Thus literally this place is to be referred vnto Dauid and it is true of him that God did set him vp as King ouer this kingdome of Israel as we may see in 1. Sam. 16.12 13. But sacramentally and after a spirituall maner these thing are to be referred vnto Christ and his Church For Zion also was a type thereof as we may see in Esay 2.3 and in Heb. 12.22 And Christ we know was chosen of his Father to bee the head and King thereof as anone by Gods grace shall more fully appeare And as the earthly Zion was tearmed the mountaine of Gods holinesse so may this heauenly Zion well beare that appellation or name For I. it is most like vnto a mountaine then 2. the Lord doth manifest his holinesse more there then in any other place It is most like a mountaine in 3. respects First for the exaltation and supereminencie of it for as a mountaine is an high place aboue other places so the Church of God is exalted aboue other congregations and that for Gods delight in it and most excellent blessings vpon it which are either present or to come Secondly for the manifestation and aptnesse of it for as a mountaine is in open sight view of all men so the Church of God stands in the eie-sight of all persōs euery mans eye is bent to mark diligently what they do as his eare is open to listen to that which they speake Thirdly for the strength and stablenesse of it for as a mountaine is a strong thing and vnmoueable so the Church of God is so strong and inuincible that all the powers of the world and of hell below cannot ouerthrow it but it shall remaine firme and stable notwithstanding the same for euermore I beseech you by the way make vse of all these things By the first looke vpon your honour and great aduancements wherunto you are exalted aboue all others As Salomon saith in the Prouerbs 31 29 Many daughters haue done vertuously but thou surmountest them all so you may say Many congregations in the world are exalted on high but we the true Church are lifted vp aboue them all By the second be moued to haue an holy care of your liues that you may walk circūspectly at all times in the waies of godlines that your light may so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heauen And by the third and last be secretly comforted and grow to a full resolution that nothing shall be able to separate you from the loue of your God but that you shall remaine firme and stable in his fauour for euermore Now for the other poynt as the Church is like to a mountaine so it is holy as the mountaine Zion was First for the Lords being in it who is holinesse it selfe for though he be in all the world yet hee is more especially in his Church then in any other place besides according to that in Psal 68.16 and 48.1.2 Secondly for the holy exercises of religion and the goodly works of Gods worship which are found therein for there is prayer singing of Psalmes reading and preaching of the word receiuing of the Sacraments and the like all which are workes of holinesse and purity Lastly for the sanctification of men and women which are therein for they are not prophane and licentious as in other places but they are sanctified made holy by the bloud of Christ the working of the Spirit Our of these things also gather some short notes as we go along Let the first of thē make you reioice be glad that you haue so good a God that though he be full of maiesty glory yet he is content to come home to your houses and to dwell in the chambers of your soules and there to quiet himselfe in your loue and to reioyce ouer you with ioy as Zephany doth speake in Zeph. 3.17 As Elizabeth said when the virgin Mary came to her Whence commeth this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me Luke 1.43 so may we say at the Lords comming to vs What a fauour and dignitie is this that the Lord of heauen and earth should thus come to vs Let the second of them stirre you vp to frequēt holy exercises and to throng to the house of praier and to such places where the Lord is rightly worshipped As the nations say in Mich. 4.2 Come and let vs go vp to the moūtain of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob so let vs say Come let vs go to the Church congregatiō of God to praier to the preaching of the word to other holy exercises of pure holy religion Let the third and last of them admonish you of that purity holinesse which ought to be in you that so you may neuer giue rest vnto your eies vntil you see your selues washed frō your sins by the bloud
for many chapters together So did Dauid when Michall his wife did mocke him for dauncing in a linnen Ephod before the Arke of the Lord. It was saith he in 2. Sam. 6.21 before the Lord which chose me rather then thy father for she was Sauls daughter and all his house and commanded me to be ruler ouer the people of the Lord euen ouer Israel and therefore will I play before the Lord. So did Amos when Amasiah the Priest of Bethell went about to perswade him to flie away out of the land of Israel vnto the land of Iudah and there to eate his bread and to prophesie but not to prophesie any more at Bethell where was the kings chappell and the kings court Then answered Amos and sayd to Amasia I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophets sonne but I was a heardman and a gatherer of wild figges and the Lord tooke me as I followed the flocke and the Lord said vnto me God prophesie vnto my people Israel c. Wherein you see he doth stand stoutly vpon his calling and doth presse it well to stop such a caytifes mouth as that Amaziah was This is in the 7. chapter of Amos his Prophesie and the 12. verse thereof with some others following So in a word did all the Prophets from time to time as is apparant in their prophesies This was a common phrase or stile with them The burden of the Lord or Thus saith the Lord of hoasts or The word of the Lord came to me As Ieremy saith The words of the Lord that came to Ieremy the Prophet in Ieremy 47.1 As Hosea saith The word of the Lord that came vnto Hosea the sonne of Beeri Hos 1.1 As Ioel saith The word of the Lord that came to Ioel the sonne of Pethuel Io. 1.1 As Ionah saith The word of the Lord came also to Ionah the sonne of Amittai Ionah 1.1 And as Micha saith to omit the rest The word of the Lord that came to Micha the Morashite But in the new Testament Paul is very frequent in this matter he doth presse his calling oftentimes and standeth very stoutly vpon the same to the defiance of all his enimies to the cōfort of all such as did cleaue fast vnto Iesus Christ such doctrine as he did deliuer vnto them in his name But amongst all other places I commend vnto you at this time onely three the first is in the 26 Chap. of the Acts of the Apostles where he did answere for himselfe before Agrippa the King The second is in his second Epistle to the Corinthians and eleauenth Chapter wherein he doth make a comparison betwixt himselfe and other Apostles and doth preferre himselfe before them all The third is in his Epistle to the Galathians and the beginning thereof where he proues that his doctrine which he had taught the Galathians was not humane but diuine he being taught the same by the reuelation of Iesus Christ who called him immediately from heauen to be an Apostle and so had his office not from man but from God as also his Gospell or the doctrine which he taught them Thus you see good men from time to time haue stood vpon their places and callings And the reasons also wherefore men should do it are these Reasons First that none through ignorance might contemne them or set light by their callings but haue them in good veneration according to their worth and excellency A man may passe by a king without any reuerence done vnto him if he know him not the country peasant we know doth trample many an wholesome herbe vnder his feet which the skilfull Apothecary doth gather vp and make good reckoning of because he knowes not the vertues and medicinable vses thereof as the Apothecary doth And so may men be despised and their callings be passed ouer without due reuerence and obedience yeelded vnto them by others vnlesse they know what they be and wherehence they haue their authority therefore it is good that the same should be made knowne vnto them Secondly that all persons may be left without excuse and haue their mouths stopped if they shall rebell and disobey for then they cannot pleade ignorance and say We knew not that they came from God or had lawfull authority committed vnto their charge to doe those things which they tooke vpon them for to do As God doth make himselfe knowne by the visible creatures of the world to leaue all mankind without all excuse which will not feare and worship him so the same God will haue men to goe in his name vnto others and to make knowne their authority and callings that if they will not obey they may be left tongue-tide as we say and without any answere for themselues as we may see in Ezechiel Chapter 2. verses 4.5.6 Say vnto them Thus saith the Lord God but surely they will not heare neither indeed will they ceasse for they are a rebellious house yet shall they know that there hath bene a Prophet among them Thirdly that they might approue and iustifie themselues in their waies and stoppe the malignant tongues of their aduersasaries who are ready wrongfully to accuse them as if they vsurped their places and did things without lawfull authority from aboue For as Zidikijah smote the Prophet Michaiah on the cheeke and said When went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speake vnto thee as it is in 1. Kings 22.24 so from time to time doe many arise vp to impeach the credit of those whom God hath raised vp and to make the world beleeue that the Lord did neuer bestow those places of dignity vpon thē which they do challenge vnto themselues For as Paul and the rest of the Apostles together with the Prophets and others found this oftentimes too true as we say in regard of themselues so Iude doth shew in his Epistle and eighth verse thereof that there are many wicked dreamers that doe despise gouernment and speake euill of them that are in authoritie Lastly that they might put courage into their owne hearts and with due care and conscience goe about the workes of their callings not fearing what man can do against them but looking alwaies vpon God who placed them in their roomes and who will neuer faile them vnlesse they be wanting vnto themselues therein For as the Spirit of God came down vpon Cornelius his friends whiles Peter was speaking vnto them as it is in Acts 10.44 so whiles they doe meditate vpon their places and are pressing the same vnto others in a zeale towards God and in a care to do them good a certaine heauenly courage and boldnesse from aboue comes down into their soules whereby they are made more stout and valiant then euer they were before and doe become in this respect like vnto the fire when it is blowne with the bellowes that doth burne more and more So that here are foure reasons to mooue men to respect their callings and to stand
fast in the defense thereof whereof two of them do concerne others and the other two themselues By this we are taught Vse first to examine our selues what giftes and callings we haue of God that so we may be able to stand vpon them when any iust occasion is offered vnto vs thereunto for all men haue not their callings from God The Lord speaking of the Ministers of the word doth complaine in the 23. chapter of the Prophecy of Ieremy that many did runne whom he did neuer send and making mention of Kings in some other place he doth say that they did reigne but not by him And surely daily experience doth teach vs that many of them do vsurpe that authority to themselues as Athalia the Queene did of whom you may reade in 2. Chron. 22. and 23. chapters thereof whom the Lord did neuer establish in their throne by his kind louing approbation But here it may be demanded how a man may know whether his office or calling be from God or no that so he may stand stoutly vpon the same and labour with all care conscience to discharge it in the feare of the Lord The answere is that ye may know it by foure things The first is by his minde with the which he did enter into it The second is by his ability whereby he is enabled to discharge it The third is by the liking of the people by whom he is approued for it And the fourth and last is by his successe whereby he doth prosper and do good in it For if he shall finde these foure things in himselfe first that he entred into his calling not with a corrupt minde as for honour praise gaine or the like but with a single heart desire to glorifie God and to doe good to his people Secondly that he hath graces and giftes sufficient for to discharge those duties which are required at his hands Thirdly that he be approued of the Church or common wealth wherein he doth liue they outwardly bestowing this calling vpon him And lastly be assisted from time to time by the gracious hand of the Almighty to haue good successe in his calling and to prosper therein doubtlesse then he hath his calling office from God himselfe and not from man alone Secondly by this we are taught to iudge charitably of all such as do speake largely now and then of their owne gifts and those places wherein the Lord hath set them For here we may see a man may doe it with a good soule and discharge but an honest godly dutie in so doing it True it is as Salomon doth say in Prou. 27.2 Let another man praise thee and not thine owne mouth a stranger and not thine owne lippes For is not seemely for a man to praise himselfe but yet a man may stand vpon his calling and publish abroad such gifts as the Lord hath bestowed vpon him For this is not to praise himselfe but rather to praise the Lord and to bring honour vnto his name Yea the case may so stand as we may see by Pauls words in the 11. Chap. of his 2 Epistle to the Corinthians as in other places also that a man may praise himselfe with his owne mouth and set out his giftes and graces to the vttermost and yet be no transgressor of Salomons precept therein For Salamon there doth meane such a praising of our selues wherein we aime chiefly at our owne glory but there is another praising of our selues wherein we haue not so much an eye to our selues as vnto the Lord and his honour and the good of all such as do belong vnto him Now if any shall praise himselfe after this sort we are to thinke reuerently of him and not to censure him as a proud and vaine glorious person for it no more then we do humble and blessed Paul who did the like Lastly by this we are taught what we our selues should do in these wicked and vnbridled daies of ours wherein many vngodly persons do take vpon them to condemne vs much and to lay slanderous things to our charge whereof we are cleare and innocent The Brownists or Separatists as they call themselues to make instance in one point alone do accuse vs as if we were no true Church of God here in England and as if our Ministers were no Ministers of God but rather the Ministers of Antichrist the arch and chiefe enimy of God But we must not let them goe on thus still with their vile and slandering speeches against vs but display vnto them their abhominations who do so vnchristianly beyond all the bounds of holy charity condemne vs proue that we are the Lords owne inheritance and the people whom he hath chosen vnto himselfe to haue his holy name called vpon amongst vs and that our Ministers are his true and faithfull seruants and such whom he hath sent forth and doth take his delight pleasure in Easily might these matters be confirmed if we were to enter into any congresse with them about the same but now at this time we haue other matters in hand yet I will presse one argument and so leaue them It standeth thus Wheresoeuer the word of God is so preached and the Sacraments so celebrated that by their meanes a true and sound conuersion is wrought in the hearts of men towards the Lord Almighty that they do beleeue in him aright and walke with carefull soules in the paths of his commandements to bring honour vnto his name to attaine blessednesse for themselues there there I say is the true Church of God and there also are his faithfull and trusty Ministers But here in England with vs the word of God is so preached and the Sacraments so celebrated that by their meanes a true and sound conuersion is wrought in the hearts of men towards the Lord Almighty that they do beleeue in him aright and walke with carefull soules in the paths of his commandements to bring honour vnto his name and to attaine blessednesse for themselues Therefore here in England is the true Church of God and here also are his faithfull and his trusty Ministers When they shall answer this argument I will frame some more for them to worke vpon but I thinke that will neuer be for they cannot answere it is so strong inuincible and a knot so hard twisted that they cannot by any meanes vnloose it Thus farre the publishing of Gods decree hath stretched it selfe Now let vs come to the parts whereof it doth consist and they are in number two the one doth respect the person of Christ the other his office or kingly power His person in the seuenth verse and his office or kingly power in the eighth and ninth For his person remember two things the first is whose Son he is the second how it is proued that he is his Sonne He is the Sonne of God this is set downe in these words That is the Lord hath said vnto me Thou
to time that sinne should not go vncontrolled but be iustly punished according to the nature of it either more or lesse as it did deserue In consideration whereof you perceiue malefactors must not be spared but be duly punished for their faults and offences And the reasons hereof are foure First Reasons that the malefactors themselues who do offend may be brought to the sight of their sinnes and to the leauing of them if it be possble for as Salomon doth say in Prou. 20.30 The blewnesse of the woundserueth to purge the euill and the stripes within the bowels of the belly or else if they will not amend that they may be taken away by death to sinne to more against their owne soules or to pollute the land any longer wherein they dwell And this was the cause wherefore God would haue idolaters to be stoned to death as we may gather from his words in Deut. 17.7 when he saith So thou shalt take the wicked away from among you Secondly that others may learne by their examples to take heed of the like offences lest they be made partakers of the same punishments with them For punishments executed vpon some are oftentimes great terrors vnto others and do bridle them from their licentious wayes as daily experience and all Chronicles of the world do shew But at this time remember one example alone and that is of the third Captaine with his fiftie men spoken of in the first Chapter of the second booke of the Kings for he so profited by the iudgements that came vpon the two former Captaines with their fiftie men apeece when fire came downe from heauen and consumed them all that he submitted himselfe to the Prophet Elijah and fell to intreate him for the safetie of his life as it is in the 14. verse of the same Chapter And this was the cause wherefore God would haue the Iudge to do vnto euery man as euery man thought to do vnto his brother as we may see by his words in Deut. 19.20 when he saith And the rest shall heare this and feare and shall henceforth commit no more any such wickednesse among you Thirdly that the good and innocent may not be corrupted by their company and bad example For as euill words do corrupt good manners so much more do euill deeds and bad conuersation The life and example of one incestuous man was sufficient to corrupt all Corinth And this was the cause wherefore Paul would haue the Corinthians to excommunicate that incestuous person out of their holy fellowship as we may well collect out of his words in 1. Corinth 5.9 when he saith Purge out therefore the old leauen that ye may be a new lumpe as ye are vnleauened For Christ our passeouer is sacrificed for vs. Lastly that the Lords anger who is offended with their sinnes and transgressions may be appeased and not breake out against all for the same For as the sinne of man doth pollute the whole land as the story of the Cananites do shew Leui. 18.24 c. and set all things out of order as we may see by the sinne of Ahab that troubled Israel 1. Kings 18.18 and by the sinne of false apostles that troubled the Galathians Gal. 5.10 as also by the sinne of the prodigall sonne which put him besides himselfe for he repenting of his sinne is sayd to haue come to himselfe Luke 15.17 So it doth driue the Lord away from him and from others for his sake vntill he be duly punished for his sinne as he ought to be as we may see most excellently in the seuenth chapter of Iosuah For there we find that God did leaue Israel for a time for Achans sinne but after he was put to death for the same he did helpe them againe and gaue them a notable victory ouer their enimies And this is the cause wherefore the Lord would haue Moses to put the adulterers to death as we may perceiue by his words in Numb 25.4 when he sayd vnto him Take all the heads of the people and hang them vp before the Lord against the Sunne that the indignation of the Lords wrath may be turned from Israel Out of these things thus layd downe Vse we may obserue many profitable things for our instruction For first thereby we may see that seeing malefactors must be punished that we must not storme nor chafe if the Magistrate and superiour powers inflict vpon vs punishment after that we haue sinned against the lawes of the Lord our God and haue transgressed the good and lawfull statutes of the land Then then I say we must take all things patiently and acknowledge that we haue but our due and that our gouernours therein do but discharge an holy duty which the Almightie doth require at their hands Let children and seruants amongst others marke this well that so when they are corrected and chastised by their parents and maisters for their faults they may possesse their soules with patience and learne thereby to amend and not to fall to murmurings and discontentments as many vngracious children and seruants are wont to do What praise saith Peter to seruants in 1. Pet. 2.20 is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye take it patiently but and if when ye do well ye suffer wrong and take it patiently this is acceptable to God Whereby he shewes vs that this is a necessary duty belonging to all that haue offended quietly and with patient soules to beare such punishments as are layd vpon them for their offences Secondly by it we may see what Magistrates and men of authority ought to do who beare the sword not in vaine as Paul doth speake in Rom. 13.4 but to take vengeance on him that doth euill They must not see offences committed in the land but they must draw out their swords for the punishment thereof A wise king saith Salomon in Prou 20.26 scattereth the wicked and causeth the wheele to turne ouer them His meaning is that good Princes and godly Magistrates cannot away in any hand with wicked persons but they must needs roote them out For vnder the word wheele he alludeth to the manner of threshing vsed among the Iewes in those times The saying is old and true Non minor est virtus quà m quaerere parta tueri It is as great a vertue to keepe what is gotten as first to get it And euen so it is as good a duty in a Magistrate to see lawes executed and kept as at the first to make them And since they will not be kept of all without punishments therefore punishments are most necessary Ill then and wickedly deale they that haue authority in their hands to cut downe sinne and yet will let it grow and flourish still and neuer punish the offenders thereof The grieuousnesse of which sinne you may see notably in the examples of Ely the Prophet and Saul the King For the Lord had brought most terrible iudgmēts vpon thē both and vpon their posterity
of speech after the manner of a story but now commeth an exhortation to hand wherein all the former rebels standing in most woefull case and dreadfull perill of their liues are graciously called vpon to returne and to submit themselues vnto the Lord and his Annoynted against whom they made their former rebellion and insurrection Great was the sin which they had committed yet the Lord whose mercy hath neither bottome nor measure not willing the death of any sinner much lesse of so many thousands together but rather that by repentance pardon may be procured in this place fauourably vseth the meanes that their hearts may smite them with true feeling of their faults and so they turne be spared He cals vpon them all for true repentance and amendment of life shewing vnto them both wherein it doth stand and also when it must be yeelded vnto him It standeth in two things the one is an heauenly wisedome and an holy knowledge of the Lords waies The other is a loyall subiection and a faithfull obedience vnto his commandements Both these he doth require of them First that they be wise and learned in his word or statutes then secondly that they be subiect and obedient vnto him and his Sonne in performing such duties as do belong vnto them And as for the time when these things are to be done it is straight and out of hand they must not deferre them no not so much as one day but presently they must goe about them whithout any delay or procrastination whatsoeuer This is the summe of this verse with the two next following But to leaue them at this time and to stand onely vpon this marke the paraphrase thereof it runneth after this manner Now therefore saith the Prophet while there is time before the iudgement before spoken of do ouertake you and consume you to nothing labour you to get true wisdome and vnderding plant you the word of the Lord in your soules and be well seene and learned in his statutes that you may know your selues and vnderstand aright what the Lord your God doth require at your hands for all matters which do respect his worship and your owne peace And here I speake not alone to the small ones and the baser sort of the people but I speake to you all and chiefly to you that are the great ones and the states of the land euen to you that are Princes and haue the chiefe stroke in matters of gouernment and to you that are Iudges and haue authority to sit vpon life and death and to censure all matters and persons that are brought before you to you I say do I chiefly speake and therefore looke to your selues deferre not your repentance any longer but presently while you haue time be wise and learned So that the summe of this verse is nothing else Summe but an exhortation vnto the first part of repentance which standeth in the true knowledge of the Lord and his wayes wherein remember two points Part. First the persons to whom the exhortatiō is directed then secondly the matter to the which they are exhorted containing first the time when the duty is to be done which he doth require of them then the thing it selfe wherein it doth stand or consist The persons to whom the exhortation is directed are the kings and iudges of the land The Spirit of the Lord doth single them out by name from all the rest not meaning thereby that they alone were to do the things that here and after he doth require of them but his meaning is by them to vnderstand all of what degree soeuer they were by the figure Synecdoche when some are put for all For he would haue all to repent and to submit themselues vnto the Lord who before did rebell against him But yet he nameth them onely who were thus the Kings and Iudges of the land for sundry causes As first because they were deepest in rebellion and had trespassed most therein as being the ringleaders of all the rest Secondly because they bad more things to stay thē backe then others had and a greater meanes to pull them from the performance of the exacted duties And lastly because they being conuerted would easily draw all others after them and cause them to do as they had done For the multitude commonly doth depend vpon the higher powers and looke what they do the same doth content them well according to that in 2. Sam. 3.36 And all the people knew it speaking of Dauids mourning and fasting for Abner and it pleased them as whatsoeuer the king did pleaseth all the people For these causes and the like the holy Ghost might well direct his speech by name vnto the Kings and Iudges and not speake in generall vnto all though he did meane all and his purpose were to haue euery one to do the things here exacted of them and not that the Kings and Iudges should doe them alone Here by the way we may obserue a notable good instruction which is this namely that Magistrates and men in chiefe authority should first of all turne vnto the Lord and be as the captaines of all the rest in performing loyall and faithfull obedience vnto him in all dutifull manner as it doth become them For first and foremost they are more bound as we say vnto God then others are as hauing larger benefites and greater giftes bestowed vpon them then any besides them haue for the more bountifull that any is to vs the more dutifull should we be to him a gaine Secondly because they for the most part go beyond all others in sins and trespasses for number and greatnesse for the more and greater our sinnes and trespasses be the more speed and hast should we make to leaue them and to turne vnto the Lord from them lest they bring destruction vpon vs before we are aware Finally because all others do hang vpon them as the dore doth on the hinges and turne as they doe turne for whom also they must answere at the dreadfull day of iudgement when all secrets of mens hearts shall be disclosed and euery one shall receiue according to his waies For the more that we may bring to God and the heauier charge we haue to answere the more forward should we be to do those holy duties which do belong to vs that we might saue many and not be damned our selues Oh that gouernours would lay this neare vnto their hearts and make a good vse thereof vnto themselues Blessed yea twise blessed then should both they and we be Abraham Iosuah Samuel Dauid Asa Iehosaphat Hezechia Iosiah and others that were men of great place and authority haue done this long before our daies The Lord grant for his mercies sake that our rulers and chiefe men for gouernment may do it alwaies do it in our daies in the daies of our posterity after vs. But if they should faile herein which God forbid yet let vs who haue some authority ouer others looke
to our selues in this case and performe that duty which the Lord doth require of vs. We must not alone bring our children and seruants to the knowledge of their sins and cause them to walke in the waies of the Lord but we our selues must go before them in these duties and by our examples leade them on to a carefull performance thereof First we our selues must turne to the Lord and become most dutifull and loyall vnto him and walke continually in his cōmandements Then when this is done we must be most earnest with thē see that they do the like that so all of vs may ioyne together in turning vnto him from whom we went astray and redeeme as it were the time that is past by an eager persuing after all those things as do belong to vs according to our roomes callings I pray thinke on these matters and I beseech God to giue a blessing vnto them that they may do you good But to to come to the chiefe point which is here to be stood vpon marke diligently vpon what consideration the Kings and Iudges and so all others in them are called vpon to repentance and amendment of life It is vpon the consideration of the great perill and danger wherein they stood For the exhortation which is here made is deduced out of the former words and the manner how it is drawne standeth thus All those that are in a most dangerous estate and are likely to be ouerthrowne with a shameful and perpetuall destruction they had neede to be wise and learned and turne to the Lord as it doth become them But such is your case o Kings and Iudges your are in a most dangerous estate and you are likely euery one of you to be ouerthrowne with a shamefull and perpetuall destruction Therefore it stands you vpon to be wise and learned and to turne to the Lord as it doth become you From hence we gather this doctrine Doct. that where there is any perill or danger hanging ouer mens heads for their sinnes and trespasses there they must repent and amend their liues and turne to the Lord whom they haue offended So did vncircumcised Nineueh For when the Prophet Ionah had cryed in their citty and said Yet fourty daies and Nineueh shall be ouerthrowne they fasted and prayed and did put on sackecloth from the greatest of them euen to the least of them and did turne from their euill waies and from the wickednesse that was in their hands as we may see at large in the third chapter of the Prophecy of Ionah So did wicked Ahab for when the Prophet Elijah had told him of his sinne and of Gods iudgements that did belong vnto him for the same and had shewed him how the Lord would bring euill vpon him and his posterity and make his house like the house of Iereboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the sonne of Ahijah for the prouocation wherewith he had prouoked and made Israel to sinne euen then when he heard those words He rent his cloathes and put sackecloth vpon him and fasted and lay in sackecloth and went softly as it is in 1. Kings 21.27 So did stifnecked Israel For when troubles did come vpon them and miseries were likely to weare them out and to consume them to nothing they cryed from time to time vnto the Lord and bewailed their sinnes and transgressions before him as may be seene at large in the bookes of Moses the Iudges the Kings and the hundreth and seuen Psalme So lastly did the prodigall sonne for when he saw all was spent and he was like to die for hunger as hauing nothing to eate no not so much as the huskes which the swinne did feed vpon he came to himselfe and resolued to returne home vnto his father and to confesse his fault vnto him and to craue fauour at his hands as it is in Luke 15.16 c. that so he might be made as one of his hired seruants if not to be accepted of him as a deare sonne and child againe Thus you see how perils and dangers should moue vs to repentance and amendment of life The reason is this Reason because by repentance and amendment of life all perils and dangers are preuented and wholly remoued away from vs as all the former recited examples do notably declare vnto vs. But to adde a testimony or two thereunto consider what the Lord himselfe doth say in Ieremy chapter 18. verse 8. touching this matter in these word But if this nation saith he against whom I haue pronounced turne from their wickednesse I will repent of the plague that I thought to bring vpon them And do you neuer forget what he also said to Iosiah the king in 2. Chron. 34.27.28 Because saith he thine heart did melt and thou didst humble thy selfe before God when thou heardest his word against this place and against the inhabitants thereof and humbledst thy selfe before me and tarest thy clothes and weptest before me I haue also heard it saith the Lord. Behold I will gather thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be put in thy graue in peace and thine eyes shall not se all the euill which I will bring vpon this place and vpon the inhabitants of the same Most acceptable therfore you see vnto the Lord is an humble casting downe of our selues before him and shall bring vnto our soules mercy and comfort when proud rebellion and stiffe standing out with Pharaoh and others shall procure plague vpon plague till we be destroyed out of the world Seeing then that repentance doth stay the iudgements of God from falling downe vpon vs and remoue them cleane away from vs that they may do vs no hurt there is cause sufficient why we should repent and amend when his iudgements do hang ouer our heads and are likely euery houre to fall downe vpon vs to our destruction and vtter vndoing By this then we are taught first Vse that they deale very foolishly and fondly who being in perill and danger do yet still perseuere on in their sinnes and transgressions Alas it is like as if a man should remaine in an house when the house is all one a fire ouer his head and likely euery minute of an houre to consume him either by burning or falling Or else it is like as if a man should be in the midst of a riuer where he is ready continually to be drowned and doth see no way to escape yet will not stretch out his hand to lay hold of that which may saue his life and minister vnto him a present succour and aide Secondly hereby we may learne what we our selues ought to do in all manner of distresses and calamities whatsoeuer Is the hand of the Lord already vpon vs or do we feare some iudgements to come Humble we our selues then before the Lord be we sory for our sinnes leaue we all our wicked wayes and turne we soundly vnto the Almightie and all shall be well
is in our prouerbe now let them bestirre them and with all hast let them runne vnto the Lord for mercie and grace before his wrath breake out and consume them Lastly by this we may learne what counsell and aduice to giue to others when they are in some danger and know not well what course to take to rid themselues there-from If any of them shall come vnto vs as the Iewes did to the Apostles saying Men and brethren what shall we do Acts 2.37 we may easily answer them euen as it is here Be wise and learned c. that is repent you of your sinnes and submit your selues vnto the Lord your God in all dutifull obedience as it doth become you This this is the onely course that you must take Doubtlesse no other course in the world can do you any sound and perfect good but if you shall once performe this all shall be well with you quickly as it was with Nebuchadnezzar who vpon his submission vnto the Lord was restored againe to his kingdome or as it was with Manasses who vpon his prayer vnto the Lord and hearty sorrow for his sinne was deliuered out of his prison at Babylon and reëstablished againe in the throne of his kingdome at Ierusalem or lastly as it was with the Israelites who vpon their crie vnto the Lord and the confession of their sinne were from time to time deliuered from their enimies and blessed with peace and abundance of good things Hitherto for the persons to whom the exhortation is directed now let vs come to the matter whereof it doth consist And that in a word is repentance and amendment of life as I touched before Wherein is conteined first the time when it must be had then secondly the points wherein it doth stand The time is present set downe in this word Now. Because they were in a present danger and were likely euery houre to be destroyed therefore the Prophet would haue them to repent presently and out of hand euen before those iudgements of the Lord did fall vpon them which were mentioned before in the 5. and 9. verses of this Psalme Wherehence we are taught this doctrine that men must out of hand repent and turne to the Lord and not deferre their conuersion from time to time but presently goe about the same Seeke the Lord saith the Prophet Esay in Chap. 55.6.7 while he may be found call ye vpon him while he is neare Let the wicked forsake his wayes and the vurighteous his owne imaginations and returne vnto the Lord and he will haue mercy vpon him and to our God for he is very ready to forgiue While we haue time saith Paule in Gal. 6.10 let vs do good vnto all men but specially vnto them that are of the houshold of faith And to day saith the holy Ghost in Heb. 3.7 if ye shall heare his voyce harden not your hearts as in the prouocation according to the day of the temptation in the wildernesse but exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sinne Thus you see shortly the verity of the doctrine and the confirmation thereof Now the reasons of it are many but chiefly these foure First Reasons because it is vncertaine whether we shall liue any longer or no. For the yong do die as well as the aged and men are oftentimes taken away on the sudden Thou foole saith God to the rich man in Luke 12.20 this night will they fetch away thy soule from thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided And when men shall say saith Paul in 1. Thes 5.3 peace and safety then shall come vpon them sudden destruction as the trauaile of a woman with child and they shall not escape Many examples we haue hereof in the Scriptures The world thought themselues sure when they were eating and drinking but then came the floud Luke 17.27 The morning was faire when Lot went out of Sodom and yet before night were the Sodomites destroyed Gen. 19.23 Nebuchadnezzar thought himselfe neuer more sure then when he had builded great Babell but yet while the word was in his mouth God humbled him downe vpon his knees Dan. 4.12 And well was Herod when he began his Oration to the people but before the end thereof his departure from them the Angell of the Lord smote him so that he was eaten of wormes and gaue vp the ghost Acts 12.23 So that if we do deferre our repentance but one day yea but one houre death may preuent vs before that we can repent and so we shall be damned Secondly because the longer that a man doth post off his repentance and amendment of life the harder it will be for him to repent and amend at the last Can the blacke Moore saith Ieremy in Chap. 13.23 change his skinne or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do euill As though it were a thing vnpossible for a sinner who hath continued long in his sinne to leaue his sinne and to forsake it and so to become a good man at the last And surely with man it is vnpossible though it be otherwise with God vnto whom all things are possible For if we cannot ouercome a Lyon when it is yong and but a whelpe how shall we be able to ouercome him when he is old and growne to his full power and strength And if we be not able to bow a tree of sixe yeares growth it is in vaine for vs to go about to bow it when it is twentie yeares old or more So euen so it is also with sinne the longer that we shall nourish it in our bosomes the harder it will be for vs to ouer-maister it in the end yea it will be vnpossible for vs to do it For that will grow still stronger and stronger and we our selues shall be weaker and weaker And therefore it is good to go about the cure of it betimes as we do about the cure of such wounds as are made in our bodies knowing that the lōger that they be deferred the harder is their recouery at the last Thirdly because God is to be serued before all things whether the world the flesh or the diuell as Elijah the Prophet would be serued before the widow that fed him 1. Kin. 17.13 Seeke first the kingdome of God saith our Sauiour in Math. 6.33 and his righteousnesse and all these things shall be ministred vnto you So soone as man was created a law was giuen him to shew that he should liue vnder obedience from the day that he was borne in So soone as he is borne he is baptized in the name of God to shew that when we cannot runne to God we should creepe as it were to him So soone as he beginneth to pray he saith Hallowed be thy name thy kingdome come c. before he aske his daily bread to shew that we should seeke the sanctification of
shall repent For repentance is not at your commandement neither doth it lie in your power to take it when you will but it is the onely gift of God and in his hands alone to bestow it vpon whom he will as you may see plainly by Pauls words in the latter end of the 2. chapter of his 2. Epistle to Timothy And the longer that you do continue in your sinnes as you haue heard already the harder it will be for you to leaue them in the end For custome of sinning taketh away the sence of sinning and long abode in darkenesse maketh starke blind Lastly if repentance were in your power as it is not in the power of any mortall man whatsoeuer and so you were certaine to turne at the last if you would yet you ought to repent presently because your selues and all that you haue or can do do belong to the Lord your God who must be preferred before all things as was shewed before vnto you For God must haue a morning sacrifice as well as an euening And it is very absurd and wicked for a man to offer the first of his vintage to the delights of sinne and to serue God with the lees and dregs of his age or to yeeld the flower and strength of his life vnto the foule affections of wretched nature and to reserue for God the very refuse and weaknesse of his time wherefore turne turne I beseech you euen now presently and make no longer delay I speake to you young men and maides because you must remember your Creator in the daies of your youth before old age doth come as Salomon doth teach you in Eccles 12.1 and because you are now aptest and fittest to do seruice vnto the Almighty as hauing all the powers of the body and soule in the chiefest vigor and strength for the exercises of pure and holy region You must not spend your time in vanity or in the carnall pleasures of your flesh after the manner of wicked yong men and maids but in holinesse and righteousnesse according to the vow and promise which you haue made with your God in baptisme after the manner of godly yong men and maides who are regenerated and adopted to life eternall And to restraine your selues the better in you must alwaies remember with your selues that you shall be brought at the day of indgement to answere for euery thing which you shall do amisse in this time of your youth be it great or smal whether words or deeds as you may see in the end of the eleuenth chapter of Eccles I speake to you old men and women because you haue lien too long in your sinnes and are ready to droppe into the graue For it is too much already that you haue spent your former time after the lusts of men and not after the will of God in much wickednesse and abhominations As Paul saith in Ephe. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and stand vp from the dead and Christ shall giue thee light so I say to you Awake all you that sleepe in your sinnes and stand vp all you that are dead in your trespasses and so the Lord shall giue you life and not death It was too late you know for the foolish virgins to knocke when the gate was shut against them and for the rich glutton to howle and cry to Abraham when he was tormented in hell So before it be too late for you remember your selues and while you haue light walke in the light and betake your selues soundly vnto the Lord as it doth become you In a word I speake to you all without exception because I loue you all and would gladly haue you godly here vessels of glory hereafter happy for this world and happy for the world to come make no couenant with your sinnes but renounce them all from this day forward for euermore And albeit they shall as it were cry out and say Why do you come to dismisse vs before the time As the diuels said to Christ when he did cast them out Why dost thou torment vs before the time yet hearken not vnto them but giue them a deafe eare For the time 1 e already come if not past already For we should haue repented long ago in sackecloth and ashes if we had done as we ought to haue done but yet now now let vs turne and deferre no day or houre longer but while the word is sounding in our eares let vs be conuerted vnto the Lord. He is the fondest fellow that euer was heard of who falling into a deepe riuer and hauing present helpe offered him whilst he is yet swimming on the toppe of the water maketh refusall of it and answereth that he will not be helped till another time or before the next day when as he is in danger to sinke presently and to be drowned euery minute of an houre Beware we that we deale not after the same manner for if we shall deferre our repentance and conuersion to God our case is no better then his For euery minute of an houre we stand liable through our sins to be throwne into hell What shall we then stay and not turne As God said to Israel Turne you turne you from your euill waies for why will you die ô house of Israel so say I to you Turne you turne you from your cuill waies for why will you die ô people of England Some I grant will out of hand repent in words but not in deeds they haue Iacobs smooth voyce but Esaus rough hands Their mouthes as one saith are greater then their hands which is monstrous in nature for they word it much but they worke it little As the figge tree spoken of in the Gospell had faire leaues but no figges so they haue goodly words but no holy workes They are deciptfull Gibeonites and painted tombes like the hypocriticall Scribes and Pharisies But we must do otherwise wee must be sound in heart as Nathaniel was who was a true Israelite and be plentifull in good deeds as Iob was who was a true child of God we must repent both inwardly and outwardly in word and in worke and so I hope you will doe as also make hast for to do it Obiect But here some man may say what a stirre is here about repentance here is more hast required then needs for a soft fire makes sweet malt we may repent at our ley sure For first nullum tempus est poenitentiae inidoneum there is no time vnfit for repentance Secondly Deus est Deus misericordiae God is a God of mercy he will forgiue vs whensoeuer we shall repent and turne to him Ans This this hath alwayes bene the fashion of the world Looke how indulgent mothers are wont to deale with their children going to schoole that haue ouer-slept themselues and do feare the correction of their maisters euen so do carnall men and women deale with themselues when they haue continued too long in their sinnes and do heare the
shall preserue thee Wisdome is the beginning get wisdome therfore and aboue all thy possessiōs get vnderstanding He is very frequent with the like exhortations in many places also of the same booke Reade them I pray at your leasure and marke them well Paul in like manner writing vnto the Ephesians doth stir them vp to the same duty saying Wherefor be yee not vnwise but vnderstand what the will of the Lord is Eph. 5.17 Dauid also inioined the same duty vpon his son Salomon towards the end of his dayes saying vnto him as followeth My sonne know thou the God of thy fathers and serue him with an vpright heart and willing minde as it is in 1. Cron. 28.9 Finally the Lord himselfe doth oftentimes make his moane and complaint for the want of this wisdome and knowledge in his people which is here required of vs all teaching vs thereby how necessary it is for euery one and how well pleasing to himselfe But at this time two places alone to shew the same shall content vs. The one is in Esay 1.3 when he saith The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his maisters cribbe but Israel hath not knowne my people haue not vnderstood The other is in Ieremy 4.22 where you haue these words For my people is foolish they haue not knowne me they are foolish children and haue no vnderstanding they are wise to do euill but to doe well they haue no knowledge By all which places we may clearely see what doth belong to vs euen a sauing knowledge of Gods will and an holy vnderstanding of his waies Wee must not be like to the horse or mule that haue no vnderstanding as Dauid saith in Psa 32.9 but we must be changed by the renewing of our minds that we may know what is the good perfect and acceptable will of God as Paul doth teach vs in Rom. 12.2 And the reasons hereof are many Reasons First because euery man by his owne knowledge is a very beast before the Lord as Ieremy doth witnesse of vs in Ieremy 10.14 and as Dauid doth confesse of himselfe in Psalme 73.22 saying So foolish was I and ignorant I was a beast before thee Secondly because we shall neuer obey the Lord aright vntill we know him and vnderstand his will nor yeeld any faithfull seruice vnto him as it doth become vs. For the ground-worke of all religion the foundation of all true pietie is the knowledge of the Lord and his wayes As on the contrary side the cause and fountaine of all disobedience against God is the ignorance of his will and the vnlearnednesse of the same as we haue heard in this Psalme already and as we may see by Hosea his complaint in the beginning of the fourth chapter of his Prophesie where hee doth make his moane that men did lie and steale and commit adultery and that bloud did touch bloud and assigneth this reason of it euen because there was no knowledge of God in the land And surely where men know not God what can bee looked for else but all impietie against God and all vnrighteous dealing against men Lastly because all such as are ignorant of the Lords will doe not onely erre while they are here committing grieuous sinnes against him but shall be damned also hereafter for euer My people saith the Lord in Hosea 4.6 are destroyed for lacke of knowledge And Paul doth shew in 2. Thess 1.8 that when Christ shal come to iudgement and shew himselfe from heauen with his mightie Angels in flaming fire he shall render vengeance vnto them that doe not know God which shall bee punished with euerlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power So that if we ponder of all these reasons well we shal easily grant that there is cause sufficient why euery man should labour and striue to plant some heauenly knowledge within his soule and to become wise and learned in the statutes of the Almightie In regard whereof we see first in what great fault the world is in For there is ignorance in euery place Alas alas most men know not aright either that God who hath made them or themselues who are made by him And as for the grounds of true religion and the rules of the Lords worship they are as a sealed and clasped booke vnto them We dwell in a nation and country wherin the word of God hath bene freely read preached many yeares together yet it is pittifull to heare vnderstand what ignorance is still amongst men and how vnwise vnlearned they be in the statutes of the Lord. God amend vs. But here some may say that there was neuer more knowledge in this land then now is at this present To this I answer first that our knowledge is nothing to our long and continued teaching For in regard thereof we ought to be teachers our selues who yet are taught of others and haue need also to be instructed in the very first principles of the word of God and are become many of vs at the least such as haue neede of milke and not of strong meate as the Author to the Hebrews doth speake in the latter end of his fifth chapter Secondly that our knowledge for the most part is not a sauing or sanctifying knowledge but talkatiue and discoursing It hangs vpon our tongue and swimmes about in the circumference of our braine but it sinkes not downe into the bottome of the heart as it ought to do to bring forth a reformed life For we haue many talkers but few true walkers and sundry there are who can discourse at large in matters of religion but few there are who feele the power and force thereof being deaded by the meanes thereof vnto their sinnes and quickened vp vnto all fruitfull workes of righteousnesse whereby God may be honoured and man edified Secondly by this we may see that that doctrine which is most currant at Rome those places where Popery doth beare sway to wit that Ignorance is the mother of Deuotion is most false and erroneous and to be abandoned by vs that are true and holy Christians As Christ doth say to the Sadduces Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God in Mat. 22.29 making there ignorance the cause of error which is cleane cōtrary to their doctrine so he saith to the Iewes Search the Scriptures for in them yee thinke to haue eternall life and they are they which testifie of me in Iohn 5.39 imposing there this dutie vpō all that do intend to be saued at the last to be conuersant in the Scriptures which is dissonant altogether to their practize and teaching If I would stand vpon such a common place as this is I could alledge both places and reasons enough to ouerthrow them in this respect who are herein most like vnto those cursed and hypocriticall Scribes and Pharisies who did shut vp the kingdome of heauen before men neither going in thēselues nor suffering
others that would enter to come in But let these things thus spoken suffice and cause vs not onely to see their fault and that woefull miserie wherein they liue but also to behold the sweet and great blessing of knowledge which God hath vouchsafed vnto vs through the happy gouernment of his Annoynted ouer vs who doth permit vs to enioy the Gospell freely for the good of our soules and doth take a care also for the right publishing of the same that so his subiects might not bee ignorant therein but haue the sauing knowledge thereof established within them to their eternall happinesse and euerlasting life Lastly out of this we may obserue what is our owne duty to do and that is this We must cast away our ignorance and become learned in the Lords will we must set his statutes before our eyes and make them the men of our counsell we must call after knowledge and cry for vnderstanding We must seeke after wisedome as after siluer and search for her as for treasures Let the word of Christ saith Paul to the Colossians chap. 3.16 dwell in you plenteously in all wisedome teaching and admonishing your selues in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall songs singing with a grace in your hearts vnto the Lord. Here you see hee would not haue them to content themselues with a little knowledge but they must labour to be furnished with a great abundance thereof that they might know how to carry themselues in all matters as well for them of mirth and ioy as for others that were more graue and weightie And good reason too for the word of Christ must bee the stone Ezell to vs that we may know where to stay and remaine as Dauid did 1. Sam. 20.19 It must be our tinne-stone spoken of in Zecharie 4.10 that we may know the measure of the walles of new Ierusalem our glorious and renowned Cittie the foundation whereof is of pearle and the streets of pure gold In a word it must be our starre that we may know which way to go directly vnto all our duties that are here below and vnto all those sweete beatitudes that are aboue Doubtlesse without the true knowledge thereof we are all of vs like to Sampson without his eyes or vnto an hawke that is hooded we shall wander from the Lord we know not whither and commit most grieuous abhominations but we shall neuer serue him aright or doe any faithfull homage vnto him For onely those that know his name do trust in him but others do renounce him as the Scriptures do teach vs. Knowledge we finde by experience doth helpe men exceeding much in the waies of eternall life For it doth direct them aright both what to iudge and what to do in all matters of saith and maners and it is a good bridle vnto their lusts It is most like vnto a clocke whereby thou maiest know how thy life is spent as also vnto a man which striueth to beate the dust out of our cloathing Wherefore I beseech you and that in the bowels of the Lord Iesus Christ haue a care of knowledge and labour by all meanes possible to plant a sauing wisedome within your hearts Remember the reasons that were alledged before to moue your selues to this thinke oftentimes vpon them and if neither your owne beastlinesse by nature who haue grosse and thicke scales of blindnesse vpon the eies of your soules as Paul had vpon the eyes of his body at the time of his conuersion can stirre you nor yet the commodities that comes by the knowledge of the Lords will which are sweete and great can awaken you yet yet I say let the feare of your owne damnation rouze you vp hereunto For it is a most wofull thing to lye burning in hell and yet as it hath bene obserued all ignorant persons do so Suppose here were a fire prepared to burne you and to morrow you must be cast into the same and there lye burning peece after peece till all be consumed would not you doe any thing which any man should command you to do to auoyde this punishment O yes any thing I doubt not And yet will you do nothing to auoyde hell fire which is tenthousand times worse then this where you shall lye burning body and soule for euermore Shall not this moue you vp to get knowledge and vnderstanding If you were blinde in body you would giue great summes of money to haue your perfect sight againe And yet will you doe nothing for the sight of the soule which is blinde and can see nothing at all Will you take no paines to haue that couering that couereth all people and that veile that is spred ouer all nations to be remoued away from you that you may be troubled no more with it Darkenesse was one of the greatest plagues which God brought vpon Aegypt But as for the darknesse of the soule that is worse then that by many degrees For as this doth hinder the iudgement which as an eye should guide our actions from discerning things fit to be done and fit to bee vndone and as it doth let our hearts and minds from going and walking about our workes of godlinesse so that we cannot passe through the sweete fields of true comforts and heauenly meditations to life eternall so it doth make vs fall oftentimes into most horrible sins while we are here and it doth cast vs downe at the last into the bottomlesse pit of hell wherehence we can neuer come out againe so soone as we doe depart from hence And will you then rest in it and not seeke rather to come out of it What could Pharaoh that wicked King vse meanes to come out of that bodily darknesse wherein he was by sending vnto Moses and Aaron for that end and purpose by offering vnto them a certaine kinde of libertie to depart out of his country And will you sit still and not vse meanes to come out of the spirituall darknesse wherein you are which is farre worse then that of his was Remember your selues I pray and do as you ought to do But here some man may say Obiect that it is better for vs to remaine still in our ignorance then to get knowledge vnto our selues because ignorance doth excuse men before God and the more knowledge that any man hath the greater shall his iudgement be at the last if he serue not God according to his knowledge as hee ought to do For the seruant saith our Sauiour in Luke 12.47 that knoweth his maisters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes yea with more then he that knew it not and did it not Here is a goodly shift for men to cosen their owne soules by Ans But know thou ô sinfull man first that ignorance doth not excuse men before God but rather accuse them as all other sinnes do and lay matter of condemnation against them to their eternall woe and death for it is a grieuous transgression in his sight
and vnlesse it be pardoned by the sacrifice of his Sonne which was figured out by those sacrifices which were offered vnder the Law for the sinnes of ignorance it will damne them in hell for euermore and keepe them there in flames of fire that cannot be quenched as thou heardst in effect before Indeed in some cases ignorance doth excuse men in part from the greatnesse of the fault but not in whole from all the fault Secondly that though he shall be beaten with more stripes that knoweth the Lords will and doth it not yet the other which is ignorant of it shall be beaten with stripes and he also shall be cast into hell as well as the former howbeit his iudgement there shall not be altogether so seuere as his And wilt thou willingly be beaten with any stripes and go to that fearefull and euer-tormenting place Lastly that some ignorance doth increase a mans fault and make his iudgement to be the more cruell at the last to wit that ignorance which is wilfull and affected as when a man hath meanes to know the Lords will and yet doth refuse it of wilfulnesse or stubburnnesse euen because he will be ignorant still and not haue knowledge to controll him in his sinnes or to stand vp as a Iudge against him in the end of the world when the bookes of mens consciences shall be opened and euery one iudged according to the things which are written therein for this doth make him to be the more abhominable before the Lord and doth procure vnto him the heauier plagues to be executed vpon him I will shew this vnto thee by a familiar example taken euen from thy selfe Thou hast two seruants the one of them doth reuerently hearken vnto thee to vnderstand thy will and pleasure and he is content to learne it to the vttermost but yet he will do nothing accordingly the other doth so far scorne thee and thy worke that as he will do nothing for thee nor according to thy mind so he will not come into thy presence to heare what thou wilt say vnto him or standing before thee will giue no heede to thy words Which of these two I pray thee is the worse and the viler in thine eyes and which of them wilt thou beate most Is not the latter Yes I must needs confesse that wilt thou say for he doth commit a double fault he will neither heare nor do but the other doth commit but a single fault though he will do nothing yet he is content to heare So euen so must thou iudge of most ignorant persons who do liue now in our dayes For they cōmit a double sin in that they will neither learne the will of God nor do it wheras others cōmit but a single sin in that they only neglect it not do it And therefore I say they are most abhominable before the Lord and shall at the last be beaten of him with more stripes then others shall be Wherfore let this be no impedimēt to thee but rather a spur in thy side to prick thee forward to get knowledge and vnderstanding But what course shall I take maist thou say to attaine vnto it Thou must performe these things First thou must pray earnestly vnto the Lord to intreate him to disclose his minde vnto thee and so to circumcise thine eares and heart that thou maist vnderstand his will and see the wonders of his law For wisedome comes by prayer as Iames doth shew in chapter 1.5 saying If any of you lacke wisedome let him aske of God which giueth to all men liberally and reprocheth no man and it shall be giuen him Secondly thou must regard the Ministery of the word most reuerently and frequent alwaies the holy exercises thereof watching daily as Salomon doth speake in Prouerbes 8.33 at the gates of Wisedome and giuing attendance at the postes of her doores For this is an excellent meanes to beget and to increase knowledge within vs as Paul doth well obserue in many places of his Epistles and namely in the fourth chapter of his Epistle to the Ephesians as we our selues do find to be most true by our daily experience both in our selues and others Thirdly thou must meditate carefully with thy selfe both day and night in the law and word of thy God For as the infant doth grow from strength to strength to be able to go by it selfe by sucking and plucking his mothers breasts so doth the child of God grow from knowledge to knowledge by hanging continually vpon the two breasts of the Lords booke the old and new Testament Fourthly thou must conferre and talke considerately with men of GOd and with such as cary knowledge in their lippes and are able to discouer vnto thee the secrets of the Almighty For they shall make thee to vnderstand that which thou couldst neuer attaine vnto by thy selfe and cause thee to see those points after some cleare and euident manner which were before vnto thee as dark as a riddle it selfe as thou maist see by the example of Philip and the Eunuch spoken of in the eight chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Fiftly thou must teach others circumspectly that which thou thy selfe dost know already and rehearse the waies of the Lord euermore vnto them For by teaching another a man doth teach himselfe and ripen his owne knowledge and iudgement exceeding much as many by their owne practise haue found it to be most true to the great ioy and comfort of their soules Finally thou must abstaine most prouidently from all such things as will hinder thy knowledge and bring a spirituall darknesse vpon thee For as he that would haue a perfect sight to behold all things clearely must beware of euery thing which will blemish his eye so all those that would haue a good vnderstanding in the coūsels of the most High must take heed of all such matters as are a stop and impediment therevnto Now these are in number chiefly three The first is a lodging of the affections of the heart and the cogitations of the minde vpon this world for as outward darknesse groweth sometimes by two much gazing vpon bright and glistering things as in experience we finde by white snow white paper and the like so doth inward darkenesse grow also by fixing the minde too much vpon the glistering glory of this world the pompes and pleasures that shine in it Proofe hereof is that rich glutton that wealthy Barne-builder in the Gospell and that turne-coate Demas of whom Paul speaketh who all were blind you plainly see with gazing too much vpon this tempting world The second is a cōtinuing in euil a doing of things which are wicked naught For as outward darknesse groweth by long being in darkenesse as in a prison or elsewhere for by experience it is found so often so by long custome of walking liuing in the outward works of darkenes groweth a strong thicke inward darkenes in the heart of man or woman
sought to be worshipped of him he said vnto him Auoide Sathan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue The Scripture is full of this matter but one place more as containing all the rest vnder it shall suffice vs at this time And that is in Reuel 14.7 For there you shall find that this is the very summe and principall matter whereof the whole Scripture doth intreate and which all the Preachers in the world from time to time do deliuer vnto their people when the Angell flying in the midst of heauen and hauing an euerlasting Gospell to preach vnto them that dwell on the earth doth cry out and say Feare God and giue glory to him for the houre of his iudgement is come and worship him that made heauen and earth and the sea and the fountaines of waters So that this is a point as cleare and manifest as the Sunne at noone dayes when it shineth most brightly ouer all the word And the reasons hereof are many Reasones but at this time I will onely touch two The one is in regard of his making and creating of all things For seeing we are his workmanship and haue our whole liues and being from him he hauing created vs and made vs of nothing it is good reason that we apply our selues and all that we haue to his worship and seruice alone according to the iudgement of the Church triumphing in heauen whereof mention is made in the Reuelations Chapter 4. verses 10.11 For the 24. Elders noting out the Saints in heauen are there reported to fall downe before him that sate on the throne and to worship him that liueth for euermore and to cast their Crownes before his throne vpon this ground and consideration that he had made them and all things else saying Thou ort worthy O Lord to receiue glory and honour and power For thou hast created all things and for thy wils sake they are and haue bene created The other is in regard of his preseruing and keeping of all things For considering that we haue our whole maintenance and stay from him and he doth daily keepe vs vpon his owne cost and charges as we speake it is our part and duty to honour him and to do whatsoeuer we can for him in fulfilling any of his Commandements according to Iosuah his exhortation vnto the children of Israel in the 23. 24. chapters of Iosuah For in these places you may see that he doth perswade them to feare the Lord and to serue him in vprightnesse and in truth and to put away all false gods from amongst them onely vpon this reason and foundation that God was good and beneficiall vnto them destroying all their enimies before them and placing them in a fruitfull country where they had goodly cities which they did neuer build excellent vineyards and Oliue trees which they did neuer plant and other notable commodities which they did daily enioy without any labour and toile of theirs And surely when these things were thus lay de downe before their eyes they also vpon the due consideration thereof resolued with themselues to serue the Lord and to worship him and to do as Iosuah had exhorted them for to do as is apparant about the midst of the 24. chapter before quoted And you know that equitie and conscience doth require that if a man hire a seruant and giue him meate and drinke and wages that he should do his businesse and be obedient vnto him and his commandements And so should it be betwixt God and vs seeing we are his seruants and haue all that we haue from him euen euery morsell of meate that we do eate and euery peece of cloth that we do put about vs as all other things besides we should be tractaable to his voyce and be alwayes ready prest to do his commandements Wherefore as this may controll them Vse who are stubburne and obstinate and do withdraw the shoulder from yeelding obedience vnto the Almightie whereof there are too many in our sinfull dayes So it may teach vs what we our selues ought to do and be as a spurre in our sides to pricke vs forward to all such matters as may bring honor and glory vnto him that is aboue all Beware you beware you of sinfull wayes and be you sure to do nothing but what you know will be well pleasing vnto your God Though others lie and sweare and steale and kill and commit adulterie and do other things that are most vile and abhominable yet be you holy righteous in your wayes auoiding these sinnes and all others whatsoeuer and performing such duties only as the Lord will be serued and worshipped by For you must alwayes remember with your selues that it is not enough to know the will of your God and to vnderstand what he doth require at your hands but you must withall serue him and worship him aright do according to his commandements The hearers of the law saith Paul in Rom. 2.13 are not righteous before God but the doers of the law shall be iustified And our Sauiour doth teach vs in Luk. 12.47 that the seruant who knoweth his maisters will and prepareth not himselfe neither doth according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes Yea you your selues do know that as the ignorant who know not the Lord must be cast into hell and there lie boyling in torments for euermore so must the disobedient also and all such who obey not vnto the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ according to Pauls words in 2. Thes 1.8 And therfore you see the Prophet here doth not onely call for wisedome and learning but also for worship seruice Content not then your selues with your knowledge and vnderstanding but go on forward and become faithfull seruants vnto the Lord in doing his will And looke what you do require of your seruants that are vnder you do you your selues performe vnto your God that is aboue you and whose seruants you are heare his voyce and obey it For what shall he make you and place you here in this world and that in a fruitfull soile in the dayes of much peace and plentie and yet will you not serue him What Shall he nourish you daily giue you light to see aire to breathe in food to eate liquor to drinke garments to weare houses to dwell in and lade you with other infinite blessings both for this life and the life to come and yet will you not honour him and walke according to his commandements Doubtlesse if your seruants should refuse to do your businesse and worke you would turne them out of doores and not feed them vpon your owne cost and charges and in the end pay them their wages and will God then take it well at your hands if you shall refuse to do his businesse and worke will he alwayes then nourish you and giue you a good recompence at the last No no but he will turne you
before their eies Alas their case is miserable For they serue not the true and liuing God what shew of religion soeuer they do make or what brags soeuer they do giue forth concerning the same For seeing the feare of God is the very beginning of wisedome and the soundation or groundsill of Gods worship as hath bene proued vnto you already it is vnpossible that either they should haue any true wisedome in them or else religiously should serue the Lord when they want this feare the only cause and fountaine thereof Secondly this may serue to stirre vs vp to get the feare of the Lord vnto our selues and to labor by all meanes possible to bring our hearts thereunto that so we may truly say of our selues that the Lord is our feare and our dread But against this it may be obiected Obiect first that perfect loue doth cast out feare according to Iohns words in 1. Iohn 4.18 Secondly that we are deliuered from our enimies that we should serue the Lord without feare as it is in Luk. 1.74 To this I answer Ans that perfect loue doth cast out hellish feare and that slauish or seruile one whereof we spake before that makes man to tremble before God for feare of punishment and to flie from him as from a terrible Iudge but on the contrary side it causeth that holy and childish feare mentioned also before that makes man more carefull to come vnto him and to worship him as he ought to do From the former of these we are deliuered but not from the latter We haue not receiued the spirit of bondage saith Paul in Rom. 8.15 to feare againe but the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abbah Father So that true loue is so farre off from casting out this holy feare of adoption or reuerence whereby we are drawne to hate sinne in loue towards God and not for punishments sake that it doth bring it in and establish it within vs. Yet this is to be noted by the way that seruile feare is a good meanes at the first to bring vs vnto God For it prepareth a place for the holy Ghost to bring him into our soules as the bristle bringeth in the thrid but when he is once entred into vs and hath taken vp the possession of our soules within vs then this feare is gone as the bristle is when the thrid is entred into the hole Besides this you must marke that as the children of God are not by and by perfect so a peece of this feare may still remaine in them wherupon some make a feare which is in the midst of these two feares the filiall and seruile calling it timor initialis an entring feare reaching out her right hand vnto the one and her left hand vnto the other being found euen in men renued by the Spirit of loue whose sanctification is but begun and therefore as they feare separation from God by offence which belongeth vnto filiall feare and proceedeth from loue so they feare punishments and euils which God hath prepared for the offendors which belongeth to seruile feare and proceedeth from the same But to proceed on the feare that is here required of vs and which is to last for euer is that feare of reuerence whereby we beholding on the one side our owne paruitie and smalnesse and the excellency of our God and his incomprehensible Maiestie on the other side dare not lift vp our selues against him but do stand in awe of him with all reuerence being loath to offend him in any thing and most carefull to please him in all things It is such a feare as is in louing children towards their parents in dutifull wiues towards their husbands and in faithful subiects towards their Princes The fountaine whereof is loue and a due consideration of his excellency euery way aboue vs. To this feare must we stirre vp our soules euery day And so farre as we would either worship God aright or haue his blessings powred downe vpon vs whether for this life or the life to come we must striue and contend with our soules and hearts to bring them hereunto that so we may alwayes reuerence and dread the great name of the Lord of hosts Doubtlesse we shall nener serue the Lord aright or become happie and blessed vntill this be brought to passe Well we may performe some duties in outward appearance but we shal neuer looke to all with a good heart and conscience within and howsoeuer we prosper and flourish for a while yet woe and destruction will ouertake vs at the last But let his feare be once planted within vs then shall we inwardly and from the heart haue a respect vnto all his commandements and be most carefull to please him in all things And then againe shall we prosper and flourish for euer not only in this world but much more in the world to come If any then shall come vnto vs to entice vs vnto any wickednesle whatsoeuer as Potiphars wife came vnto Ioseph enticed him vnto vncleannes we shall not consent vnto him therein no more then he did vnto her who was kept therefrom by the feare of his God And if any crosse then shall begin to assault vs and to lie heauie vpon vs the Lord will be ready to remoue it from vs to supply on the other side all our defects wants whatsoeuer For he is alwaies present with them that feare him there is no good thing but they shall haue the same stom him as you haue heard already Wherefore looke you to this your duty and feare ye the Lord your God Remember that he is your Father your Master your Sauiour your Benefactor your King and one that is full of power and maiestie and of such pure eies that he cannot endure any corruption whatsoeuer For shall the child feare his father the seruant his maister the subiect his king the poore his benefactor the redeemed his sauiour the weaker his stronger the baser his more honorable and the loose persons such as are stayd and graue for religion And yet will not you feare the Lord your God who is all these vnto you Yes yes we would do it may you say but what course shall we take to attaine thereunto You must do these things First you must deny your selues quite and renounce vtterly all the carnall wisedome that is in you As Salomon saith in Prou. 3.7 Be not wise in thine owne eies but feare God and depart from euill As though a man could neuer feare God so long as he is well conceited of his owne wisdome And indeed no more cā he For the wisdome of the flesh is enmitie to God and will not be subiect in any sort vnto his law Rom. 8.7 Secondly you must pray heartily vnto the Lord for his heauenly grace to helpe you in this respect For it is he alone that must bestow this feare vpon you for otherwise you can neuer haue it who of your selues can do nothing no
not so much as think one good thought as Paul doth confesse of himselfe in 2. Cor. 3.5 Lastly you must often and seriously thinke on all the reasons before going as also deeply meditate with your selues vpon Gods fearefull iudgements which he hath executed vpon sinners from time to time For this will breed in your hearts a sense awe of his Maiestie as we may see by many stories in the Bible and namely by that which is written in the Acts of the Apostles chap. 5. verse 11. where you find that feare came on all the Church and on as many as heard what iudgement fell vpon Ananias and Sapphira his wife when both of them fell downe at Peters feete and yeelded vp the ghost before him Wherefore performe these things with care and conscience and no doubt but you shall haue the true feare of the Lord at the last within you Hitherto of the first point now followeth the second which is ioy Andreioyce saith the Prophet In the entrance of the Psalme it is euident that they were grieued against the Lord and that they did as it were loathe and abhorre him but now on the contrary side they are willed to reioyce in him and to be glad in his behalfe and there is good reason for it too not onely because he hath set such a good and bountifull king ouer them as his Sonne is but also because he himselfe is so sweete a God and his seruice so pleasant and beneficial as it is Then as men do desire to haue their seruants to reioyce in them and in their seruice and to doe whatsoeuer they doe with chearefull hearts so the Lord would haue them his seruants to reioyce in him in his seruice and not to go about his busines with murmuring and repining soules but with cheerfulnesse and alacritie of spirit Learne we then from hence this doctrine Doct. that we must reioyce and be glad in the Lord our God and in all that seruice which we do performe vnto him To this we are exhorted in many places of the word Be glad ye righteous saith Dauid in Psal 32.11 and reioyce in the Lord and be ioyfull all ye that are vpright in heart Likewise Paul writing vnto the Philippians in the 4. Chap. and 4. verse thereof he doth stirre them vp vnto the same duty saying Reioyce in the Lord alway againe I say reioyce But those places which are in Esay 54.1 and in Zophonie 3.14 c. are excellent for this purpose if they be well considered of and therefore I pray reade them at your leisure and marke them well But to leaue the doctrine Reasons which is cleare and cuident of it selfe and to come to the reasons of it to consider with our selues why we should do it they are in number these two First because he doth excell and passe all the creatures in the whole world for all good things whatsoeuer For we are wont to reioyce in such things as are singular and do go beyond others for goodnesse As for example if a man hath a faire beautifull woman to his wife passing other women for beautie or pulchritude Or if he hath a goodly child of admirable parts to his sonne excelling other children for learning and other rich endowments Or lastly if he hath a stately commodious house for his dwelling ouer-matching all other houses in the country about him for pompe and necessary vses how much doth he reioyce in these daily experience doth teach vs that they are the only ioy and delight of his soule And euen so should it be with vs in regard of our God for he doth passe and excell all others whatsoeuer as in wisedome in mercy in iustice in power in loue in goodnesse in glory and the rest And therefore we should reioyce in him and make him our sole delight and pleasure The other reason is this because he doth and also is most able to do vs most good and to blesse vs both here in this world and also in the world to come For it is an vsuall thing with vs euermore to reioyce in those things which are good and profitable vnto vs and the more commodious and beneficiall any thing is vnto vs the more commonly do we reioyce and delight therein I need not demonstrate this vnto you by any examples For you know it too well your selues Doubtlesse if any of vs haue but a friend who is alwayes kind and louing vnto vs as being ready still with his horse to lend it vs with his plough to labour for vs with his money to lay it out vpon vs and with his body to go and come at our desire for our profite and emolument we cannot but greatly reioyce in him and be exceeding glad that euer we met with such a good and faithfull friend But behold dearely beloued the Lord our God doth passe him by many and infinite degrees for all that we haue we haue from him he doth neuer faile vs but he doth helpe vs euery day and night and he is able to do vs good for euermore to blesse vs here and all that we haue and to crowne vs with glory hereafter in the heauens aboue where shall be ioy and no sorrow health and no sicknesse holinesse and no wickednesse glory and no shame riches and no pouerty life and no death and in one word happinesse and no misery And therefore there is great cause why we should reioyce and be glad in him Vse This then plainly reproueth such as take their delight and pleasure in worldly matters and in the vanities of this life but not in the Lord nor his wayes Some you shall find reioycing in their wisdome some in their riches some in their strength some in their parentage some in their honors some in their sports some in one thing and some in another but few in the Lord and his seruice But this is condemned you may see in Ieremy 9.23.24 where the Lord doth forbid the wise man to glory in his wisedome and the strong man to glory in his strength and the rich man to glory in his riches and doth command all to glory in him and his knowledge And therefore Paul doth say Let him that reioyceth reioyce in the Lord. 1. Cor. 1.31 2. Cor. 10.17 Secondly as this doth controlle them who take no pleasure in the Lord but do go about his seruice with vnwilling and heauie hearts like vnto the Beare that is drawne to the stake so it doth teach vs that that is but a slaunder which is cast out against vs when men say that Religion breeds melancholy and cuts off all mirth and ioy For here you see we are called vpon to reioyce and this ioy also that is in vs is exceeding large and great For Peter doth shew that it is vnspeakable and glorious in 1. Pet. 1.8 when he saith that we do beleeue in Christ though we see him not and do reioyce in him with ioy vnspeakable and glorious And Esay
also doth shew in chap. 9.3 that it is like the ioy in haruest and as men reioyce when they diuide a spoyle True it is that religion doth cut off all wicked and prophane mirth and ioy but as for that which is holy and good consisting in the Lord and vpright waies it doth bring that in and daily increase it in our soules For as Paule doth teach vs in Rom. 14.17 The kingdome of God standeth not in meate and drinke but in righteousnesse and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost As here is righteousnesse in the Church or Kingdome of God so here is peace and ioy which the holy Ghost doth worke in the hearts of men You may see in Psal 68.3 Psal 106.5 that reioycing doth belong to the people of God But the righteous saith the Prophet in the former of these two places shall be glad and reioyce before God yea they shall leape for ioy And againe he saith in the latter of them Remember me ô Lord with the fauour of thy people visit me with thy saluation that I may see the felicity of thy chosen and reioyce in the ioy of thy people and glory with thine inheritance The musicke that was vsed vnder the Law in the Temple may well declare this thing for that was typicall and figured out the true ioy and mirth which should be in the Christian Church where is the assurance of the remission of sinnes and life eternall Surely to speake all in one word Gods children haue more ioy of heart then the wicked haue as Dauid doth declare in Psal 4.6 and this their ioy also is of longer continuance for it shall neuer be taken from them as our Sauiors words do import in Ioh. 16.22 Finally out of this we may learne to stzine against our sorrow and pensiuenesse that so we may reioyce still in the Lord and his wayes For seeing we are called vpon for this duty we must performe it We must reioyce and be glad in the Lord as the Church doth speake of her selfe in the Canticles Chap. 1. ver 3. Howsoeuer we may mourne sometimes for our sinnes and be pensiue for our transgressions yet we must not suffer our sorrow to ouercome vs but we must ouercome it and breake out into ioy and mirth before the Lord. And this our ioy and mirth must not be in feasting in playing and in wickednesse according to the course of this world but it must be in spirituall matters and in the holy exercises of religion which do belong vnto the Lord. We must go about the businesse of our God and his holy seruice as chearfully and as willingly as if we went vnto a feast and take as great delight and pleasure therein as we do in any banquet whatsoeuer according vnto the example of Dauid and others spoken of in Psalm 42.4 who are said there to go into the house of God with the voyce of singing and praise as a multitude that keepeth a feast And that this may the better be performed of vs we must first labour to be fully reconciled vnto God to be assured that he is become our God and Sauiour For otherwise we shall neuer reioyce in him aright but rather detest and abhorre him Secondly we must know and remember that the seruice which he doth require of vs is a reasonable sernice and that there is a great reward layd vp for them which shall do the same For otherwise it will be grieuous and irksome vnto vs but this will make it easie and pleasant and as sweet to vs as the hony or hony combe as Dauid doth speake of it in regard of himselfe in Ps 19.10 Wherefore looke I pray vnto both these things that so the Lord and his seruice may be vnto you the very ioy and reioycing of your hearts And in any case be neuer quiet or at rest vntill you haue brought your hearts to this euen to reioyce in the Lord your God as it is here in our text required of you For this ioy being once had will be maruellous commodious and beneficiall vnto you For first it will bring comfort vnto you in the midst of all your troubles and take away the sharpnesse thereof from your soules Secondly it will helpe the good estate of your bodies and make them the more strong and healthfull For a ioyfull heart saith Salomon in Prou. 17.22 causeth good health but asorrowfull minde drieth the bones Thirdly it will fit you for the seruice and worship of the Almighty and cause you to be very prompt expert in doing the same For the heart is fittest for holy duties when it doth reioyce as Elisha was to prophesie when the musitian plaied 2. King 3.15 Finally it will confirme you in your holy religion and so establish you in the same that you shall neuer shrinke away from it while you liue For we are neuer weary of that wherein we do reioyce but the more we do the same the more greedy still are we for to do it and it is a kinde of death vnto vs for to leaue it And yet wil you not for all this reioyce in the Lord Remember your selues and labour for to do it and giue no rest I say vnto your soules vntill you can bring it to passe And so I come vnto the last poynt which is Trembling As we must reioyce in the Lord nothing doubting of his loue and good will towards vs so we must tremble before him carrying our selues with all reuerence and lowlinesse towards him as it doth be come vs. And therefore the Prophet doth adde in trembling Reioyce saith he intrembling It is manifest in the former part of the Psalme that they were high-minded and stout against the Lord in that they did take vp weapons and armes against him but now the Prophet would haue them to tremble and quake before him and to do all seruice vnto him with humblenesse and lowlinesse of minde Where there is ioy and gladnesse of heart there oftentimes do men forget themselues and become too bold and malapert Now lest they should do the like they are commanded here not onely to reioyce in the Lord but also to tremble before him that so there might be found in them no lightnesse or wanton behauiour but all reuerence and graue carriage whatsoeuer with an humble soule not lifting vp themselues in any of their workes but euen trembling before him that is the Iudge of the world Whence we collect this doctrine Doct. that euery person must quake and tremble before the Almightie Paul shewes in Philipp 2.12 that we must worke out our saluation with feare and trembling There are two great euils which do hinder mans saluation The one is carnall securitie the other is the pride of the minde Carnall securitie makes a man too negligent in the doing of good workes and doth cause him oftentimes to fall into many offences and sinnes And pride doth make him too arrogant in his good workes when he hath done them
and causeth him often to attribute that vnto himselfe which doth belong onely vnto the Lord and his grace Herein the diuell hath a great stroake and skill First he laboureth to keepe vs from good workes by making vs secure and carelesse Then secondly if he cannot preuaile therein he endeuoureth to make vs proud of our good workes by lifting vp our soules with an high conceipt therein Against both these doth the Apostle here go about to arme the Philippians First setting feare against carnall securitie then trembling against the pride of minde And as there the Apostle dealeth so doth the Prophet here in our text He would not haue vs onely to feare the Lord but also to tremble before him The like in effect we haue in Hebrewes 12.38 Where the Apostle sheweth that seeing we doe receiue a kingdome which cannot be shaken it is our part to haue grace whereby we may so serue God that we may please him with reuerence and feare So that nothing must bee done in the seruice of God lightly or arrogantly but all with great reuerence and humblenesse of minde whereby we tremble before him and feare his iudgements The reasons hereof are two The one is Reasons because the Lord doth delight in such and regard them much as we may see by his words in Esay 66.2 when he saith And to him will I looke euen to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my words For we must alwaies do that which will be well pleasing vnto God cause him to take a delight and pleasure in vs considering that his loue is better then life it selfe Psal 63.3 The other is because the Lord doth resist the proud and such as be arrogant and cannot in any case endure them as may be seene by our Sauiours words when he made mention of the bragging Pharisie poore Publican in Luk. 18.9 c. For after he had shewed what both of them had done and how the latter of them was more iustified in the sight of God then the former he gaue this reason of it saying For euery man that exalteth himselfe shal be brought low he that hūbleth himselfe shall be exalted For we must euermore auoyde that which will cast vs out of the fauour of God and bring his iudgements vpon vs. This then may serue to pull them downe who are proud and hautie Vse Behold saith Habakuk in chap. 2.4 he that lifteth vp himselfe his minde is not vpright in him There is no goodnesse in such They can neuer serue the Lord aright but they will alwaies marre euery good thing which they take in hand Looke vpon thē euen in holy assemblies if they tremble not before the Lord nor quake at his iudgements you shall finde them enermore vnreuerent therein They will neither be attentiue neither yet will they bow and becke as they ought to do either they will talke or sleepe or gaze about or reade of some other matter in a booke then of that which is in hand or thinke on things at home or abrode or go out before all is ended or laugh and grin when they should rather mourne and weepe or do the like yea when they should kneele lowly vpon their knees they either fit or stand or bow their bodies but a little Such vnreuerence and stoutnesse is found amongst them from time to time But here for our selues we must learne to be humble and lowly as Christ our Sauiour was And as we looke to be respected by God and not to be plagued by him we must labour to draw our hearts vnto a trembling and a quaking before him that so we may carry our selues reuerently in his worship at all times and when we haue done all that we can doe not trust in any thing but think our selues to be vnprofitable seruants and to come too short of our duties by many degrees But what shall we do will you say to attaine to this We must performe these things First we must pray to God that hee would humble vs and bestow vpon vs meeke and lowly hearts For by nature all of vs are proud and arrogant like to Euah our first mother who would not be subiect to God but be as God herselfe and of our selues we cannot be humble and lowly when we would be but God must humble vs and make vs lowly who said in Zophonio 3.12 Then will I leaue in the mids of thee an humble and poore people and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Secondly we must consider often with our selues how base and vile we our selues are and how glorious and full of Maiestie the Lord is For by this consideration it may come to passe that we shall cast our selues downe before him in most humble submissiue maner as Abraham did when he acknowledged that he was not worthy to speake vnto the Lord because he was but dust and ashes Gen. 18.27 And as Esay did when he cried out and said Woe is me for I am vndone because I am a man of polluted lips and I dwell in the mids of a people of polluted lips For mine eyes haue seene the King and Lord of hosts Esay 6.5 Thirdly we must alwayes remember that all the seruice which we can do vnto the Lord is due vnto him that our best righteousnes is as a polluted garment that if the Lord should enter into iudgement with vs to reward vs according to our wayes we could not answer him one for a thousand or be able to stand before him or appeare iust in his sight Lastly we must set before our eyes all the iudgements of the Lord which he hath executed vpon men for their transgressions and which he hath in great store for all such as shall stand stoutly out against him and breake his commandements For they may quaile vs and breake the stony rocke of our soules to peeces and make vs cry out with Habakuk saying When I heard my belly trembled my lips shooke at the voyce rottennesse entred into my bones and I trembled in myselfe that I might rest in the day of trouble For when he commeth vp vnto the people he shall destroy them Hab. 3.16 Remember these things and performe them Thus farre for the duty belonging vnto God the Father now followeth the duty which belongeth vnto God the Sonne Wherin consider first what must be done vnto him then the Reasons to moue vnto the same The duty to be performed is this they must Kisse the Sonne The vse of a leisse in the holy Scripture is twosold one of subiection as in 1. Sam. 10.1 where it is sayd that Samuel did kisse Saul when he annointed him to be king of Israel for this was in token of his subiection vnto him And in this sence also is it taken in 1. Kings 19.18 where the Lord told the Prophet Elijah that he had left 7000 in Israel whose knees had not bowed vnto Baal and whose mouth had not kissed him
miseries vexing our soules whiles we are here and tormenting both body and soule when we are gone from hence And therefore I beseech you brethren in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ who hath loued vs and giuen his life for our sakes let there be none amongst vs which do wish euill vnto Zion but let vs loue all those which do feare the Lord if no other thing can moue vs to it yet let Gods iudgements which otherwise will fall vpon vs bring vs vnto it O remember it is no sporting matter to make a iest and sport of Gods child neither is it a small matter to offer wrongs and iniuries vnto him but thus to do is an hainous offence a very dāgerous matter to al those that do it If Meroz must be cursed all the inhabitants thereof because they came not foorth to helpe Gods people against their enimies as indeed they must be cursed according to the words of the Angell in Iudges Chap. 5. vers 23 And if they must depart frō Christ be cast into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuell and his Angels who do not feed the hungry cloath the naked visit the sicke do good to those that are his Disciples and do beleeue in him as they must indeed depart from him and goe to that fearefull place as we may see by Mathew Chapter 25. verse 41 c. How much more shall they be cursed that do resist the people of God and how much more shall they depart from Christ and be cast into euerlasting fire prepared for the deuill and his Angels who do rob the faithfull Disciples of Christ and offer violence and wrong vnto them Oh thinke on this ye that forget God lest he come and teare you in peeces before you be aware and there be none to helpe you But to proceede on here in the second place we may learne to be quiet and patient when we are molested and troubled by the wicked wee need not then to fret and chafe as many are wont to do but to be mild as Christ was and to commit all vnto God as he did according to Peters words in his first Epistle the 2 chapter and 23. verse thereof with some others following where he doth labour to draw men to the imitation of our Sauiour in his suffering that as he when hee was reuiled reuiled not againe and when hee suffered hee threatned not but committed all to him that iudgeth righteously so should they do bearing euery thing patiently and referring it vnto him that iudgeth iustly without any acceptation of persons For seeing that God will reuenge our quarrels and plague our enemies to the vttermost we our selues may be silent and dumbe and neither mooue hand or tongue against them Wherefore let vs do as Paul doth aduise vs for to do in Rom. 12.19 Dearely beloued saith he auenge not your selues but giue place vnto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. If any do abuse vs deride vs or offer any wrong iniurie vnto vs let vs not storme and fret therat but let vs possesse our soules with patience remembring with our selues alwaies that we haue a sweet and gratious God in heauen who doth behold what is done vnto vs and who will also in due time be auenged vpon our aduersaries for it when they shall mourne and lamēt we on the cōtrary side shall laugh reioyce That is a most comfortable saying which is in the 7 Chapter of the Prophecie of Micha in the eigth ninth and tenth verses when he saith Reioyce not against me ô mine enimy though I fall I shall arise c. I pray read the place at your leasure and peruse it well And so I come vnto the last vse which we are to make of this place and that is a dutie which is to be performed of vs. For it doth become vs vpon this to reioyce and to breake out into praises to extoll the Lord who doth so fight our battels and discomfite the enimie before vs in such a fearefull manner that he is wholly ouerthrowne and can haue no rest but lies in continuall griefe and vexation of minde O Iudah saith the Prophet Nahum Chapter 1.15 keepe thy solemne feastes performe thy vowes for the wicked shall no more passe through thee he is vtterly cut off And Zephany saith Reioyce ô daughter Zion be ye ioyfull ô Israel be glad reioyce with all thy heart ô daughter Ierusalem The Lord hath taken away thy iudgements he hath cast out thine enimie the King of Israel euen the Lord is in the midst of thee thou shalt see no more euill Both which places you see do declare that we must reioyce and triumph in our songs of praise vnto the Lord when he doth ouercome our enimies and beate them downe before vs And hereof we haue many worthy examples in the holy Scriptures I will touch onely a few of them Moses and those which came out of Aegypt with him did the same when the Lord had destroyed their enimies the Aegyptians had drowned thē all in the red sea as we may see at large in Exod. 15.1 c. Deborah and those which were with her on her side did the same whē the Lord had ouerthrowne their aduersaries the Canaanites had destroyed Sisera their chiefe captaine and all his chariots and all his hoast with the edge of the sword as it is in Iudges 5.1 c. The good and holy women who liued in the daies of Saul and Dauid did the same when the Lord had confounded the Philistines their foes and had brought an horrible slaughter vpon them and vpon their chiefe champion that great blasphemous Goliah that defied the hoast of Israel and railed vpon the God thereof as it is euident in 1. Sam. 18.6.7 Finally Hester Mordecay with their people such of the Iewes as liued in their times did the same when the Lord had strengthened them against their opposites and had brought an vtter ruine vnto their chiefe aduersarie Haman the cursed Amalekite as appeareth in Ester 9.17 c. So euen so beloued let vs deale from time to time whensoeuer the Lord doth giue vs a victory ouer our aduersaries and bring iust and deserued plagues vpon them let vs blesse his holy name for the same and reioyce greatly before him in that behalfe And so farre of Gods workes Now let vs come to his words I haue set my King vpon Zion mine holy mountaine These are not the words of the Prophet but of God himselfe sitting in iudgement and taking reuenge vpon his aduersaries that rebel against him his anoynted Not that God shall whē he doth strike them vtter these words in plaine termes and sound of voyce vnto thē as we do vtter words when we beate such as haue offended vs but the meaning is that they shal by their plagues sore iudgements executed vpon them feele and perceiue this to