that there is a speciall iudgement of God when hurtfull creatures are increased If either the flies or the wormes or any small beasts arise aboue their vsual number thē know for a certain that these little beasts are infallible tokens of the Lords wrath Psal 105. 34. The Psalmist describing vnto vs the woonderfull workers of God which he wrought for his church saith He spake there came Grashoppers and Caterpillers innumerable so likewise the Prophets Ieremy and Ezechiell among the grand and inuincible plagues of God reckon this for one the growing or multiplying of noysome beastes For the Lord which is infinitely wise is able infinite waies to manifest that deuine power of his maiestie whereby once hee created all things of nothing and euery day sheweth vs our sins by changing his good creatures into hurtfull destroyers making the earth to pine vs the heauens to burne vs the aire to benum vs and the silly beasts to annoy vs. The reasons of this doctrine are these First because the Lord by these meanes doth not onely admonish vs all of our transgressions but especially punisheth vs for our singular rebellion Exod. 10. 4. 5. Among all these plagues which were wrought in Aegypt to punish hard harted Pharaoh and the blinde minded Egyptians the Lorde in great number sendeth grashoppers that prince and people might bee brought to destruction And surely if the Lorde haue so many meanes to reuenge the cause of his Saints that hee maketh bruite beastes the executioners of his wrath then let vs learne neuer to molest any in whome any graces of God appeere for then shall wee bring an heauie house of wrath vpon our heads Another reason of this doctrine is because that hee sometimes sendeth and multiplieth plentifullie his good wholesome creatures to the destruction of them that receiue them and if the good creatures of God be sent that he may more freely take vengeance by them vpon our iniquities much more when the noisome hurtfull beastes are increased doth he powre out his wrath and execute his anger We may reade Numb 11. 31 33. that the Lorde brought abundance of quailes vpon the tents of Israell but withall he sent leannes into their soule and his wrath came vpon them while the meate was in their mouthes that the lustes of their mindes cost them the bloud of their bodies and although they seemed to haue a great blessing yet it turned to a heauie curse In like maner they are not alwaies the happiest persons which haue all things at their wish nor yet is it alwaies a good thing to be aduanced to the highest roomes as Haman was to eate of the daintiest meate as the rich man did to be clothed with the softest raiment as the courtiers are to haue the poore bowing to our persons the worlde woondring at our wealth and the voices of all men to commende our workes For notwithstanding all these the soule may be poore naked comfortlesse and despised in the eies of the Lorde and what shall it profite vs to winne the whole worlde and loose our owne soules Let not pouertie dismaie vs for that was on Christ let not riches aduance vs for they were on Herod let not aduersitie trouble vs for good men professe it and let not prosperitie reioice vs for euill men enioy it Now let vs make some vses of this doctrine which may either strengthen our faith or amende our liues Therefore first of all the Lord shewing how manie iudgements he had powred vpon the Israelites Amos 4. 9. telleth them the vse of all which was that they should be cōuerted vnto his maiesty so that as Dauid saith He maketh his angels his ministers in like maner Amos might say He maketh the beastes of the earth to preach repentance vnto men For it is most requisite that when men become beastes in their liues drowning al reason within them then should beastes like themselues in reason though not in bodie come vnto them to reprooue their follie whose blowes should breake their harts that woulde not turne them at the preaching of men Now then the whole course of nature and naturall things do remember vs and helpe vs to worship the Lorde for if they bee subiect to vs and serue to our vses they tell vs that we must be subiect to God serue in his vineyard if they rebel against vs annoy vs with their presence they preach repentance to our liues conuersion to our soules whither then shall we go from the presence of the Lorde If we burie our sins in the earth as the wicked seruant did his talent yet we must bring them foorth againe to receiue our condemnation if we keepe them in secret yet the birdes of the aire shall reueale them if we neglect them and not regard them the lyons of the woode shall requite them if we dissemble them the Lord himselfe in flaming fire shall disclose them and if we continue in them the little woormes the seelie grashoppers and the simple creeping creatures shall reuenge them But wee in our daies haue not much tasted of this fourth plague which is the multiplying hurtfull beastes I meane our lande hath not been giuen to the locusts and our labours haue not beene spoiled by the caterpillers yet we are more troubled with more hurtfull beasts I say in the similitude of men such beasts as wander not in the fields but lodge in our houses being more vnreasonable then the palmer-wormes and more vnresistable then all the heards of canker-wormes The godly may cry out with Dauid the fat buls of Bashan did roare vpon me and with the Apostle that they fight with beastes in the likenes of men and yet Dauid neither feared the buls nor the Apostle fought with beastes indeed But such beasts as haue al reason against reason and no reason to any religion are swarming almost in euery corner of England we may as easily perswade the oxe to eat no grasse the birds to eate no corne the lyons to seeke no pray the lambe to refuse the pap of his dame as reclaime this kinde of beasts from their euill kind of sins Deafe adders they are they wil not heare wittie and politike foxes they will not be taken vipers without feeling the sorrowes of others wanton kine euer kicking against the poore stately lyons rauening whatsoeuer liketh them greedy beares byting al that com nigh them sleepy dogs profiting no body and what shall I say more They depriued themselues of all kind of humanitie therefore let these great beasts mooue vs seeing we haue no feare of little beasts These sleepe in our bosomes eate at our tables gather vp our profits and consume God his benefits Let these I say make vs innocent watchfull warie diligent obedient meeke gratious and zealous in religion that either our liues may conuert them or their beastlinesse amende vs. Another vse of this doctrine is this that as God can vse and also doth these his
the bodie and not to work good works against the world to come were thy feete created to dance a fine galliard or leape a long iumpe or runne a long race and not rather to walke to sermons to carrie thee to prisons to beare thee to the chambers of sicke persons thou art much deceiued if thou thinke not thus Therfore now study with thy self how many parts the Lord hath giuen thee aboue many other not only creatures but men also for som are blind lame deaf dumbe weake sicke lunatike foolish and many other waies crossed but thou shalt finde with thy selfe that thou hast all which they want therefore aboue them yea aboue thy selfe vse all thy parts in one seruice of God or other whereby his name may get glory and thy soule saluation Another thing we may learne from hence that now our affections bee set on heauenly things Col. 1 2. and the rather bicause Christ our Sauiour is there whom we dailie looke for to appeere for our deliuerance Indeede such is our bodily estate that wee can neuer watch ouer all our parts neither is it necessarie or requisite that we shoulde bestowe altogither so much time in praying and hearing and trauailing to godly assemblies as we do in the worldly busines and the naturall works of this life such as is eating sleeping and such like yea it is impossible for vs so to doe But our affections must be raised vp continually to heauen in all our actions of the worlde that whether we eate or drinke laugh or weepe watch or sleepe worke or rest we may still be the Lords therefore haue we neede to choose out some part of our time euery day to be emploied in this heauenly busines and not to be omitted for friend or foe sicknes or health idlenesse or businesse sleepe or worke wherein we may daily shewe and continue our soules in the Lordes presence Religion is the foode of the soule therefore we neede not be alway eating the scriptures are the testament of our father therefore we neede not alway be looking in them but vse them for our assurance By praier we talke with God as with a friend but if wee alway conferre with a friend and neuer cease we shall be tedious to our selues and odious to our friendes and yet wee must often eate and often reade and often pray that wee may encrease our knowledge remember our duties and continue in friendship and fauour with the Lorde of heauen Another thing which wee may obserue in these wordes is this that it is lawfull and not contrarie to the rule of truth to make a moderate lamentation of the dead as the apostle saith 1. Cor. 15. Phil. 2. 29. For I thinke it an vnnatural and Stoicall affection not to be at all inooued or not to shewe any outwarde sorrow for those whom we loued being aliue The reasons thereof may be these first bicause many times they be taken away for our hurt that be aliue Esay 57. 12. therefore in lamenting their losse we bewaile our owne liues Secondly the Lorde sheweth it to bee a great curse not to be lamented being dead Ierem. 22. 18 19. And therefore if it bee a blessing added to a good and religious life I thinke it necessarie that we be not vnnaturall to kindred vnkind to friends and vnfriendly to neighbours to haue our eies drie or at the least our harts merrie at their departure I might adde that death is a punishment of sinne euen in the most righteous and therefore it deserueth some lamentation vnlesse wee will reioice in our owne execution But this matter needeth not the blotting of much matter to vpholde it I would God there were not many thousandes more vnnaturall and vnlawfull abuses among vs then this is although this bee too much We must learne therefore although it be lawfull for vs to lament yet to remember the exhortation of the Apostle 1. Thess 4. 14. That we mourne not as men without hope that is that we abuse not a lawfull thing by making it vnlawfull as if wee our selues had our hope buried with the dead and therefore despaire altogither of any other such benefits from God Againe let vs also remember that which Christ saith to the women Luk. 23. 28. That wee weepe not so much for them that be going or gone out of the world as we do for our own sinfull liues And if we look well to this matter we shall finde wee haue a great manie friendes dead whom let vs lament that our pittifull teares may raise them vp to a righteous life The meate offering and the drinke offering is cut off from the house of the Lorde the priestes the Lords ministers mourne Nowe the Prophet goeth to shewe more reasons to induce these people to a generall mourning first bicause the worship of God is violated by reason of the famine and their brethren the Lordes ministers are in mourning yea the earth it selfe mourneth for both corne and oyle and wine haue failed And therefore first of all in the cohaerence of this reason with the former exhortation that they shoulde mourne bicause the meate offering and drinke offering are cut off from the house of God that is the ordinarie worship of God is abated and abolished the prophet doth thereby teach vs that hee cannot bee a true and vnfeigned godlie man nay he is not woorthie to liue in the Lordes flocke that sorroweth not the neglect of the Lordes seruice whether it bee by famines warres or sicknes or idlenes although the last deserueth rather to bee punished then to be lamented We may read this practise of or in the Israelites 1. Sam. 7. 2. When they wanted the arke of God without which they coulde not sacrifice they lamented it greeuously for it was absent from them twentie yeeres And this is the thing which will trie whether there be any sparke of grace within vs to behold those times when Religiō goeth backward declining as the sun doth toward the euening What hart of flint will not then shed abundance of teares when there is no foode for the soule nor instruction for the minde to see the churches emptied the pulpits defaced the faithfull scattered and all exercises and meetings for religion vtterly abolished Looke on it my deere brethren I beseech you we may sorrow as Nehemiah did bicause men do willingly suffer the Lordes building to decay euen in our time may we see the congregations thin with hearers and true deuotion colde with professours in many places preaching is put out and pratling entreth in the roome thereof O howe wearie are the people of preaching in all places they are hardly gathered to the churches being present they are as hardly kept in their places but when they are gone they vomite vp againe whatsoeuer they haue heard Wee may say of them with Augustine Comlines is couered shame is opened euill getteth many beholders but goodnes hath very hardly any
and you shall like of it better loue it deerer heare it oftener and leane to it more safer then euer you did Againe seeing we must heare the worde of God with feare and trembling let vs also make an ende of our saluation with feare and trembling Philip. 2. 12. that is feare not onely in the church or when thou art neere vnto danger but all thy life long vntill thou haue made an end of thy saluatiō For so long as thou fearest so long thou art in safetie but when the world shall say peace peace and there be no feare of iudgement then shall come their destruction for as when he in the gospell promised to himselfe greatest safetie in his riches that night did they fetch away his soule so when we say we haue done it is finished I haue sorrowed long ynough I haue endured the crosse of Christ thus many yeeres and therefore now I will take my pleasure then shall our danger bee neerest and our woe bee greatest therefore let vs neuer cease fearing till we be in heauen as the shipmen neuer cease watching till they bee in harbour Oh here is a Christians triall if other men vexe him let him beare it if he be free from other men let him chastise himselfe Feare the Lorde least he be thy iudge feare thy Sauiour least he prooue thy enimie feare thy sinnes least they ouermatch thee and tremble at the word of God least it condemne thee A day of darknesse and obscuritie a day of cloudes and of blacknes as the morning spread vpon the mountaines so is there a great people and a mightie there was none like it from the beginning neither shall be any more after it vnto the yeeres of many generations A day of darknesse Now the prophet proceedeth to describe the great wrath of God in the furie of these small beastes which he doth first by consideration of the qualitie of the day or time when they should come and secondly by the manner of their comming taken from many resemblances and similitudes For the time he describeth it after the vsuall manner of the scriptures which setteth foorth a sorrowfull day of indgement by darknesse cloudes and mistes secondly he sheweth the cause hereofto be the great and mighty people meaning the locusts and the residue for he calleth them a people as Salomon calleth the ants and the conies Prou. 30. 25. and he saith they shal obscure the light as the morning darknes bicause their company should bee so many as we may reade they did in Egypt Exo. 10. 15. And therefore he saith there was not the like from the beginning meaning for a long season nor yet should bee againe to many generations following So that he telleth them that this was a fearful time when all the heauens should be couered with clouds the earth be darkened with an innumerable swarme of noisom beasts Cōcerning the multiplying of these beasts we haue spoken in the former chapter First when hee sheweth them that the day of their trouble shoulde bee cloudie gloomie and full of darkenes wee may learne that these thinges doe put vs in minde of the great wrath of God Psalm 18. 11. For in truth thus the Lorde will haue it that we shoulde bee feared from the heauens aboue vs and from the earth beneath vs. It is reported for a great wonder that wee in Englande seldome haue any daies wherein we see not many cloudes whereas in other countries they see not any cloudes for manie monethes togither Let vs therefore make this aduantage of our countries scituation that on the day time when we beholde the cloudes wee thinke vpon the great iudgement of God whereby from the cloudes hee once rained downe a great floude that destroied the worlde and howe one day in a cloude Christ shall come to iudge both quicke and dead Againe by night let vs meditate on the light of heauen that wee may escape that vtter darknes where shal be nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth The reasons of this doctrine are these First bicause this want of light was the first punishment that God inflicted on the Iewes for the death of Christ Matth. 27. 45. the which thing made them much afraid for they had darknes instead of light to shew them that Christ which should haue beene their light was nowe made darkness vnto them from whom they could receiue no sight to walke to heauen And surely if this outwarde and carnall darknes bee so terrible especially in the daie time then what is the inward and spirituall darknes in the mindes of men whereby they are depriued of all light of God all partaking of the spirite and all the hope of the worlde to come Oh woulde God this their perplexitie coulde prouoke their harde and vnbeleeuing hearts to forsake their damnable securitie this their darknesse is so grosse that other men feele it yet they are so blinded that they cannot see it Let vs therefore my deere brethen know that God will leaue none without excuse but either the word or the world shall tell them their duties and let vs learne to praise the Lord for couering the heauens with cloudes Psalm 147. 8. that by this meanes not onelie watereth the earth and maketh it fruitefull but also admonisheth the mindes of his children of a continuall preparation to iudgement But in our times all these are nothing regarded for signes tokens remembrances of righteousnes yea some knowe not so much as the vse of the rainbowe in the cloudes neuerthelesse in the right vse of God his creatures consisteth one great part of religion so that this is the best kinde of Astrologie or Prophesie to bee made of the starres that they may direct vs to a holy life and prepare vs for a blessed ende Moreouer by this that the Prophet saith The like hath not beene seene nor shall not be in many generations Wee may obserue that God doth verie seldome change the course of nature and turne light into darknes for nature being a rare worke of God he seldome vseth his omnipotencie to alter and change the same since the foundations of the worlde were laide The reasons are these First in regard of the Lordes owne promise Genesis 8. 21. For after the floud he determineth neuer to drowne the world againe and therefore he gaue the rainebowe to be a pledge thereof and also that the continuall course of nature shoulde remaine for euer Now the Lorde is faithfull and will remember his promise or else we knowe that the worlde might manie times since haue beene destroied for there hath beene more sinne since the floude then euer was before Since the floude haue sprung idolatrie the poison of the worlde and many other abhominations not knowen of in the first age as wars and Sodometrie and such other like yet for his promise sake hee forbeareth destruction Another reason may be the same that Dauid vseth Psalm 119. 90. 91. That
6. 6. and therefore so ought we to be sacrifice winneth him therefore let mercie ouercome vs euen those mercies which we read in his word and note in our liues that wee may pull downe more and more vpon vs. Oh I feare seeing of long time we haue had so little regard of mercie and all of iudgement now the thing wee were afraide of is come vpon vs namely wrath for we feele it in our liues in our times making many mens harts to tremble and the bodies of some to die Yet for all this the time of mercie is not all spent therefore let mercie draw vs vnto God and the former and late receiued kindnes from him bee as bands of steele to keepe vs in obedience Seeing the mercies of God must mooue vs to repentance then I beseech you let not our eares be deafe at his sweete promises least the Lord complaine of vs as he did of his owne time Matth. 11. 19. that we are like to children neither dauncing with them that sing nor weeping with them that mourne Austeritie is too hard for vs and mercie is too soft if wee preach the law then men say we speake of malice of else giue iudgement vpon them if we shew them libertie that maketh them woorse and woorse so that our times are like a thiefe being in prison he complaineth of crueltie and being at libertie runneth to robbing againe The mercie of God is much called for and being obtayned is much abused they make it a charter to sinne and thinke if they haue one pardon all their villanie afterward is forgiuen The deepe wounds of Christ doth not asswage their heat of sin but encreaseth their desire O my deere brethren if gentlenes will not winne rigour most perswade You are the Lords schollers learne you must the rod is your tormentor or else you shal be expelled his schoole Make much of mercy while you may haue mercie for if the gate of mercy be shut and the date expired your teares shall be drops of blood and your wounds as windowes for your bones to looke thorough your flesh shall feede the fowles of the ayre and your soules shall feele the torments of hell Secondly seeing mercie must winne vs let vs be mercifull as our heauenly father is mercifull Luk. 6. 36. which is needfull to bee vrged in these hard times wherein are many poore and many complaints for if wee looke to haue mercie of God when we pray vnto him let the poore find mercie in vs when they cry vpon vs. Be mercifull as our heanenly father is mercifull His hand is euer giuing his spirit is euer comforting his mercie is euer pardoning and his liberalitie is euer feeding therefore giue thou to the poore comfort the sorrowfull forgiue thy offenders and let many hungrie soules feede on thy meate Mercie is better then sacrifice hotter then coales of fire softer then liquide oyle and sweeter then pleasant hony Offer this sacrifice kindle this fire touch this oyle and eate this honie thou shalt finde mercie in iudgement in thy death-bed in thy graue and in thy resurrection it shall couer thee as a garment comfort thee as a guide carrie thee as a mother and crowne thee as a king God delighteth in it Angels reioice at it men looke for it and bruite beastes loue it Therefore with mercie delight thy creator reioyce the Angels and satisfie man and beast And bee mercifull to men to beastes and to thy selfe to man for God requireth it to beastes for nature craueth it and to thy selfe for thy soule challengeth it the first is of charitie the second of equitie and the last of pietie therefore practise mercie that christian loue godly kindnes and glorious religion may euermore maintaine thee Of great kindnesse and long suffering This is another argument to perswade them to repentance By the which we may note that God doth not alway take vengeance of sinne so soone as it is committed but winketh at it and deferreth till we repent or growe incurable This thing the Apostle noteth Rom. 2. 4. that God by his bountifulnesse and long suffering leadeth vs to repentance Although for example sake he slew Er and Onan Vzzah and Ananias and Saphira and many other in the verie act of sinning yet he doth not alway take this course For fower hundred yeeres togither did hee beare with the abhominations of Canaan Gen. 15. 18. Let not men thinke bicause they are not killed so soone as they haue blasphemed or denied God or committed adulterie or prophaned the Sabbaoth or the like that therefore their deedes shall go vnpunished no verily for the longer before they reckon the greater shall be their account and the farther a man runneth backwarde the farther hee leapeth forwarde and so the longer that God forbeareth our sinnes the heauier shall bee his stroke for wee shall beare double blame the one for breaking his lawe the other for abusing his patience It were needfull for vs to consider in our soules this singular fauour of God that wee might vse it as the prophet heere doth to further our repentance for let vs be well assured if peace and long suffering doe not prepare vs for God it will annoint vs for destruction The first reason bicause God will bee exalted in sparing vs Esay 36. 18. The Lorde which is most excellent in all his workes is most excellent in forbearing the malice of men for who coulde endure to be denied plainely reuiled openly and blasphemed boldly saue onely the Lorde or who coulde abide to see his workes reproched his worde rebuked and his liberalitie scorned saue onely the Lorde who filleth all in all and beareth much with all or else all woulde bee confounded But this is sufficient that the prophet saith he is exalted in sparing vs that is it magnifieth his honour while hee regardeth not his vengeance nor his maiestie nor his wrath nor his power but his mercy that his chiefe glory might be through clemencie Another reason bicause his chiefe desire is that not one shoulde perish 1. Pet. 3. 9. So that if men woulde or coulde laie holde on repentance they shall finde sufficient time to amende after they haue sinned So deare is the loue of God towardes vs his creatures that for his part he omitteth not any dutie to recall vs We haue the word for the meanes his workes for our helpes his mercies for our comfort and his long suffering for the time of our conuersion so that all thinges are discharged on the Lordes part and nothing on ours In this saying of Peter we must not vnderstande that any were damned contrarie to the Lordes will but rather that hee is vnwilling thereunto for a man may doe that vnwillingly which is not contrarie to his will Let vs not abuse the long suffering of God and although he bee willing to spare yet let not vs be willing to sinne Luk. 12. 46. If the euill seruant shall say in
his heart my master deferreth his comming and shall begin to strike his fellowes and to eate and drinke with the drunken the Lorde of that seruant shall come in a day that he knoweth not and giue him his portion with vnbeleeuers O my beloued we are those seruants that haue secured our selues from wrath and thinke still it will not come yet Looke on our manners are they not drunken looke on our faith is it not idle looke on our care is it not vnprofitable looke on our liues and see if wee bite not oneanother from the throne to the footestoole none can escape vs. Doe we not abuse the patience of God which shoulde make vs resolute in repentance and it maketh vs dissolute in religion Wee say with the wicked priestes To morrowe shall bee as to daie and much more and with the heathen Psalm 10. Truely the Lorde regardeth not neither is there knowledge in the most high O miserable soules thus plagued that turne all thinges against themselues O let nothing delight vs but the presence of the Lord of hostes who is come downe into our lande and waiteth for our repentance Let vs giue him our sinnes we haue committed and our liues we haue to spende and our soules wee haue to saue that he may spare our bloud and take our lamentation Againe let vs seeke the Lorde while he may bee founde and call vpon him while hee is neere at hande Esay 55. 6. seeing hee dwelleth among vs and this is the time of long suffering nowe let vs runne after him day and night as Obadiah did after Eliah and neuer cease seeking till we haue founde him In seeking for the Lord we ought to haue a single eie a simple heart a cleane hande and a swift foote that wee may easilie see him earnestly desire him speedilie runne after him and reuerentlie laie holde on him Alas alas wee liue in an age wherein men will not trauaile to finde either God or grace except it fall into their mouthes if the Lorde lacke but one of his sheepe hee neuer ceaseth till he haue founde him againe but wee coulde abide to want him if wee might enioy our pleasures all the daies of our life Seeke for him in his temple goe to him in thy soule and pray to him in heauen for hee calleth vnto thee saying Open vnto me for the night hath watered my locks c. Seeke him as the Lorde doth his sheepe as the merchant did his pearle as the woman did her grote as the sicke man doth his phisition and as the disciples did Christ Hee is in thy house there seeke him hee is in thy field there seeke him he is in thy closet there seeke him and he is in thy hart there keepe him His time is but short his departure will be sudden his patience will be wearie and he will bee gone onely he tarrieth a little therefore if euer nowe run out to follow him And repenteth him of the euill This is the last argument whereby the prophet perswadeth them to repent because God will repent the euill that he threatened not that God indeede repenteth by correcting of himselfe for that cannot be seeing all his workes are yea and Amen 2. Cor. 1. 20. he is also vnchangeable and with him is no shadow of turning Iam. 1. 17. although the world change and the heauens waxe olde as a garment yet the Lord abideth the same for euer Psal 102. 18. but this is a phrase according to our capacitie for when wee change our mindes we repent in a sort so when the Lord seemeth to alter his purpose he sheweth as if hee repented Why then some will say if the Lord alter his purpose then hee changeth and why did he here tell the people that all this miserie should come vpon them and yet if they will it shall not Vnto which I answere that the first purpose of God shall euer stand for hee foreseeth and decreeth the ende but many times to trie our faith and to shewe his loue he propoundeth prophetically that is with condition of repentance the same which hee will neuer doe Howe then will you say shall we knowe his pleasure verily if two things bee propounded the one certaine the other vncertaine as here was repentance and iudgement let vs take the first and abide the last that is let vs embrace that which is certaine and let the vncertaine goe free Neither let vs be lesse carefull to please God because his iudgements bee conditionall but rather more careful to performe the condition least we feele the obligation God will repent him of the euill that is he will stay the euill that shall come vpon you From hence let vs obserue that the Lord is vnwilling to take vengeance of our sinnes Ezech. 33. 11. As I liue saith the Lord I will not the death of a sinner he willeth it not but he saith not I decree it not and if he decree it I dare not say hee doth it against his will and if hee both will and decree it I cannot say he dealeth vniustly for we may see in the scriptures that none can tell the reasons of his will or the cause of his decree or excuse the fall of man by the ordinance of God this I onely touch by the way for other haue more effectually laboured therein to whom I referre you And in this wee may see a notable testimonie of the loue of God that he will rather silence his iustice then his mercie and although we be at the very brinke of destruction if we repent he will repent If the Lord did take any pleasure in our harmes why then did hee crucifie his sonne sending abroad the ministers with his scriptures warning vs before hand of our end These doe shew vs that he is as vnwilling to punish our faultes as a father is to punish his sonne All this graunted let vs not dreame of an immunitie that we are vtterly exempted and be at libertie to doe whatsoeuer pleaseth vs for although hee bee a tender father yet hee is a wise father and knoweth that correction is as needefull as instruction It is no matter to vs if we be condemned either with the will or without the will of God for it commeth all to one ende our plagues and paines are neuer the lesse The reason hereof because God hath a naturall loue to all his creatures Psal 38. 6. the works of his hands are deere vnto him and for the worke of creation he loueth and spareth them By this we may see as Ezech. 33. 12. if ye turne all your transgressions shall neuer remooue his fauour from you What can bee more generall then that all shall be forgotten or more comfortable then that not one sinne shall bee remembred and if they bee not remembred saith Austen they are not imputed and if they bee not imputed they are pardoned Bee not afraide to come to the Lorde for thou seest hee will lay nothing to thy
which are negligent in this action and the estate of their gouernment the estate of their families and estate of their children Surely most dangerous aboue others for as when they performe this they are noted through a whole countrey and thereby they growe famous so the neglect hereof is spred farre and thereby they growe infamous For this cause hath the holy Ghost left vs in his word sundry examples where light and gracelesse fathers haue brought their lewde and godlesse children with themselues to destruction Looke on Elie 1. Sam. 3. 12. and Saul and Haman Esth 8. 13. who was the destruction of the fathers but themselues and who was the destruction of the children but the fathers If Helie had harkened to God and corrected his sonnes the Arke had not been taken the Philistines had not preuailed his sonnes had not been killed and he had saued his owne necke from breaking Oh consider this I beseech you my reuerende and gray headed fathers your age shall not discharge you this man wanted but two yeeres of an hundred yeere olde he was priest and iudge of Israell yet when he forgat himselfe he forgot the Lord also then had hee no pitie of his yeeres no mercie on his children and no compassion of his owne life Samuel tolde Saul that there was no sacrifice like to the hearing of the worde of God then if you will offer the best sacrifice heare the word of God The Lord you see which made the eares requireth but the eares againe why should you bring your children into the curse out of the couenant why should you driue the Lord to reiect you as he did Saul because you heare not his word Are you the fathers of our bodies be also I beseech you the fathers of our faith the authors of our profession and the ensamples of our obedience As Esau cried to Isaack blesse me my father so we crie vnto you to blesse our countrey to blesse your owne posteritie and to blesse the liues of them whose soules you haue in your handes Let the elders among vs know for a certaintie that if they heare vs not though wee bee yoong that speake vnto them yet wee will vse them as the woman did the wicked iudge ouercome them by importunitie And let euery man knowe his dutie euen to pray that their fathers and masters and magistrates and gouernours may bee as willing to grace the Gospell with their presence as they are to defende it by their policie surely we can hardly imbrace that which we see the chiefe commanders to neglect But yet I beseech you for your owne soules and for our liues for the children borne and vnborne and for the generall comfort of our whole countrey fulfill that heauenly voice Matt. 17. 4. Heare the heauenly sonne of God The third Sermon Harken ye all inhabitants of the land whether such a thing hath beene in your daies or yet in the daies of your fathers ALl the inhabitants By these words we obserue this doctrine that there must not any liue in the church of God but such as doe and will at the least outwardly humble themselues to the ministerie of the word the church of God is the company of selected saints chosen before all worlds to the worship of God and if they be chosen from the contemners as good wheate is from the chaffe then must they not endure the hazarding of their soules by harbouring the children of disobedience Wee may reade in Nehem. 8. 2. that when he brought foorth the lawe of God Ezra read it before the congregation both of men and women and all that could vnderstand it And in the next verse he addeth that he read it in the streetes and all the people harkened to the booke of the law As in the common wealth there is a lawe which euery one vndergoeth vnlesse they be wearie of life so in the church of God this is a lawe Let him that hath eares to heare heare except he will bee banished from the land of the righteous and cut off from the body of Christ Surely as the Apostle saide Woe is me if I preach not the Gospell So must all the ministers of the Lorde euery day sound alowde to their people woe be vnto you if you heare not the Gospell The reasons of this doctrine may thus be gathered out of the word of truth First that which Moses hath recorded Gen. 17. 14. where the Lorde wil not haue any to be of Abrahams familie but they which would bee circumcised and if any would not receiue this wounde as our Sauiour calleth it in the flesh the Lorde commanded him to be cut off from his people Nowe wee knowe that the church is the familie of Abraham who was made the father of all the faithfull that they being made partakers of his beleefe shoulde also be partakers of his obedience There is not a prince or a noble man or a learned man or a rich man or a preacher or any base person among the common people but hee may challenge this priuilege if he beleeue in the Lord of glorie that he is the sonne of promise as Isaac was and therefore the sonne of Abraham as Isaac was All are not the children of promise that heare and are borne vnder the preaching of the Gospell but there are Ismaelites also which haue outwardly the badge of a true sonne though they bee but bastarde Christians yet olde Abraham ready for the graue must be circumcised before he die and yoong Ismaell if he will euer be blessed of God must be circumcised although he were heire apparant to the land of Canaan for as yet Abraham had no other sonne and the shepherdes the neatherdes the seruingmen and euery kitchin-boy receiue the signe or else be banished from their masters tents Euen so must the hoare headed father the greene headed yoong man the wanton youth the simple plow-man the gallant ruffian and the poore turne-spit be present and obedient to the voice of the minister Many I graunt of the better sort thinke their dutie discharged if in their owne persons they learne to knowe the Lord and for their families they let them doe as they list but you must remember that this was the commendation that Abraham receiued of God That hee woulde teach his children after him Genes 18. 17. and therefore if you will bee Abrahams sonnes teach that to your families which you haue learned your selues Oh how lamentable is it to see consider of a great number that set as good faces on the Gospell as the best when on the Lords own day some send their seruants many miles iourney suffer silly persons to waite in their kitchins I mean cōtinually as if there were none that had any soules but those that are called the rulers of families We may say of them as Bernard saide of the church cōmitted to careles clergie men O miserandam sponsam talibus creditā paranimphis O miserable soules lead by
did these yoong children yet know I beseech you that that master that forbiddeth is in more bondage then he which is forbidden and hee were better be an humble seruant then such a proud and presumptuous master and if he receiue not the kingdome of God as his seruant he shall neuer enter therein If he labour not for the meate which neuer perisheth if he runne not for the price which neuer endeth if he studie not for the knowledge which alway lasteth and if he obtaine not that faith which commeth by hearing of the word preached but also keepeth other from entring whether they be his seruants or his sonnes or his daughters or his wife or his friends or himselfe the sentence is long agoe denounced that he is the least in the kingdome of God It is an heynous offence to draw away a man though it be but a seruant from obeying the warrant of a magistrate and much more if he wish him to withdraw his allegeance in like case is your estate which by your owne securitie driue other men to forsake God leading the blinde vpon the stumbling blockes making them beleeue that the fire cannot burne and though they pearce their bodies with swords yet they shall not hurt them Secondly another vse hereof shal be that saying of the Lord himselfe Psal 95. 7. 8. To day if you heare his voice harden not your hearts The neglect of the word proceedeth of the hardnes of our hearts and therefore the Lord biddeth vs not to harden our hearts if we will heare his word What a world of hard hearts are now a daies if they be all hard hearts which will not be present at the ministerie of the Gospell The sea is but a soft and slender substance yet it bringeth foorth many hard stones euen so the weake nature of man engendreth many hard hearts This is most strange to see the tenderest place to be the hardest euen the heart which will die if it be but pricked with a needle but as the heart doth helpe all places of a diseased body and it selfe it cannot helpe so when this festering sore of old corrupted consciences and ignorant dispositions inuadeth the mindes of men a thousand to one but they giue him mortall woundes for then cannot the minde helpe it selfe Therefore aboue all euils beware of hard hearts the ground being hard will not let the purest seede grow in it and the heart being hard will not suffer the immortall seede of the Lords word to grow therein it choaketh all pitie and condemneth all pietie Come therfore to heare the worde of God but bring melting hearts thereunto otherwise you shall still remaine the enimies of the truth for hee that gathereth not with it scattereth abroad The priests and scribes and Pharises were present at the most of our Sauiours sermons yet they reaped no benefit thereby bicause their hearts were not touched in the presence of God no more shall many thousands be comforted by the preachers voices bicause their hearts are in their barnes when they should be in the Churches and their eies are shut when they should behold the ministers Many imagine that they preach best which can mooue the people to teares and their hearts to be pricked whose eies fall a weeping yet this is not alway an infallible token of a good pastour or an humble soule the hard marble stones do sometimes sweate out teares abundantly and yet they are neuer the softer euen so may many weepe and howle for their sins be pricked with the word of God bursting out in lamentation and yet remaine reprobates still But let vs breake vp the fallow ground of our hearts let vs keepe them in continuall moisture that whensoeuer the word shall be cast into them it may grow effectually It is a fearfull thing to receiue the graces of God in vaine which they do that without all reuerence and carefulnes come vnaduisedly without former preparation to the hearing of the worde of God that which is rashly heard is quickly forgotten and that which is vnreuerently receiued is presently despised but of this matter we haue already spoken Fourthly when he biddeth them to aske their fathers he thereby willeth vs to call to our mindes those things which haue beene done long agoe the noble and wonderfull works of God are not so slenderly to be regarded that we thinke on no more then wee see and consider nothing but that which we feele But what the Lord doth it standeth for euer and therefore is to be recorded in all generations read the 104. 5. 6. Psalmes throughout where the holy Ghost gathereth togither the sum or rehearsall of the Lords benefits and chargeth oftentimes that we shoulde teach them to our children and that we thinke vpon them to doe them for euermore The reasons of this doctrine may bee these First because as the Apostle saith Rom. 15. 4. Whatsoeuer is written in foretime is written for our learning that wee through patience may haue hope God of his eternall goodnesse and wisedome hath so prouided that the principall and excellent workes of his iustice are by himselfe recorded for times succeeding and so plainly engrauen that as he speaketh by the prophet Abacuck He which runneth may reade them and these saith the Apostle are written for our instruction It is a worlde to see how men forget the workes and worde of God they make no account of Adams curse because it was in the beginning and small reckoning of the flood because it was in the olde world and they little esteeme Ierusalems destruction because it was say they before our time and thus they wash away all feare of iudgements and loue of God So that if we warne them of wantonnesse by the example of the olde world we are not so lasciuious say they if wee exhort them to holinesse by the example of Abraham Moses Dauid Zacharias and the Apostles then they tell vs their examples pertaine not vnto them for then there was more faith stirring in the worlde then now there is and lay what wee can vnto them yet they haue one way or other to escape And all because they thinke that the Lords works are like to musitians labour which causeth men to daunce so long as they heare it and no longer or an almanacke that lasteth but a yeere so they thinke that the ancient workes and former actions of the Almighty haue no farther vse but for the present time wherein they were performed But if they thinke so they will in the ende gaine nothing by the bargaine It was an olde worke of God to make the beastes subiect to man and should they not be so now it was an ancient worke of God to make the rainebowe in the cloude that the worlde might neuer bee destroyed as it was haue wee no benefite by this woonder Christ our Sauiour died long before we were borne and doth it not pertaine vnto vs then haue we made a wrong match if all
these be not true but they are all certaine and euermore to bee remembred Therefore our wantonnesse our wickednesse our idlenesse our infidelitie our beastlinesse and our securitie if they be not amended by the examples of the scriptures they shall be condemned by the ensamples of the scriptures You ancient fathers which haue liued long seene much and heard the woonders in old time meditate them in your mindes and deliuer them to your posteritie euen as you woulde haue vs to continue your names because you are our fathers so doe you remember the works of God for he is the father to vs all Secondly another reason of this doctrine is this because the rehearsall of these workes of God done before our time either vnwritten or especially recorded in the word doe terrifie our proud harts when we heare them declared vnto vs. The church of Corinth being happy by the Apostles preaching grew insolent in diuisions loose in opinions and intolerable in manners the Apostle to remedie this 1. Cor. 10. 5 6 7 8. vers bringeth in the tragedie of the Israelites destruction shewing them how for the like offences thousands and ten thousands perished in displeasure to terrifie and humble them by these woonderfull works of God that they might knowe howsoeuer they were not yet executed yet they were as guiltie of condemnation as those that were destroyed Dauid saith of himselfe Psal 119. 120. that the hearing of the Lordes iudgement wrought feare in his soule and trembling in his body And therefore wee may many times reade and heare the storie of wars wherein as in a glasse we may behold the miseries of our liues to see princes massacred noble men murdered the common people butchered like bullocks in a slaughter house Let vs often rehearse the storie of famines and robberies wherein we may see the vncertaintie of our wealth to see our houses burned our barnes emptied our estates impouerished our liues famished our children left breathlesse and our wiues left comfortles Let vs often meditate on the diseases of our bodies to mitigate our pleasures to see how some haue died sodainely other haue liued so long in sickenes that their friends forsooke them their phisitions gaue them ouer and the stinking sauours of their owne bodies haue taken away their liues Let Traitors thinke on Achitophell rebels on Absolon proud persons on Haman corrupt iudges on Samuell sonnes idle ministers on Eli wicked magistrates on Shebna fornicators on Zimry couetous persons on Achan disobedient persons on Ionah prophaners of the sabaoth on the sticke gatherer swearers on the Aegyptian Israelite and despisers of the Gospell ministery sacraments and all true religion on Simon Magus and the Lord graunt that their punishment may be our amendment The vses which arise from this doctrine are these first seeing that we must often call to remembrance the old wonders in times before passed declared to the world then let vs as often meditate on our owne particular liues which we haue spent lead in our former daies as the scripture exhorteth Heb. 10. 32. Call to your remembrance the daies that are passed Let vs looke throughout all the yeeres of our life and make as diligent a search as the woman in the Gospell did for her money and begin at our birth and first being in the world in infancie behold our weakenes and God his kindnes in youth looke on our wantonnes the Lords bountifulnes in ripe age viewe our wickednes and the Lords long suffering and in olde age marke our vnthankfulnes and the Lords pardon Call to remembrance the daies that are passed in infancie we could not serue God in youth we cared not for God in ripe yeeres we did not feare him in our old age we did not know him in our infancie we were more helplesse then all creatures in youth we were more gracelesse then beastes in our middle age more foolish then godly and in olde age more desperate then reformed in infancie wee euer cryed in youth wee euer feared in our middle age we liued in care and our olde age spent in sorrow in our infancie our wants which we could not expresse made vs miserable in our youth the rod scourged vs in our ripe age the world disquieted vs and in our old age the graue which we coulde not auoide tormented vs woulde not these considerations offer long discourses to tame our wildenesse to reforme our prophanenes and to ouercome our vnrulinesse might I not hereby take occasion like a deuine philosopher to paint out the miserie of mankinde to cause all mens eies to bewaile infants in their cradles boies in their schooles yoong men in their pleasures and old men to their graues might not I heere stirre vp your affections to shewe you the vnhappie condition of a bare naturall life babes to be brained children to be cursed yoong men to fall by the sworde women to be rauished and olde men to be without all honour and pittie murdered surely in these we are of al men most miserable But now seeing I haue searched the register and records of nature let me also shewe you how you shall looke on the court-rolles of grace and begin with that saying of the Apostle Ephes 2. 11. Wherefore remember that you were in times past Gentiles in the flesh and called vncircumcision that you were without Christ aliants from Israell strangers from the promise without hope and without God in this worlde Heere you may search for your seuerall estates and admit you haue all naturall benefites attendant when you are yoong pleasure when you are youthfull riches when you are strong quietnes and wisedome when you are olde what are these to a condemned soule Take a theefe appointed to the gallowes and before he go to execution let the king cal him sonne let him be apparelled with silke let him haue a chaine on his necke bracelets on his armes bring him into your treasurie of abundance of golde and siluer bid him take his fill carrie him to most delicate fare and bid him eate cheerefully and strike vp most pleasant musicke bid him be merrie but tell him anone he must be hanged how ioyfull would his hart be at all this pleasure when he knoweth presently after his chaine shall be changed into a halter his garments to a winding sheete his carcase to wormes meate his throne into a gallowes his seruants into executioners and his money taken all from him before he can spend a penie euen so are the best of vs all by nature condemned and we finde no comfort in our parentage or pleasure in our wealth or profite in our clothing or benefit in our meat or ioy in our bodies so long as we know that after a little while al these shal be forgotten and we in destruction Now remember what you are without grace that is by nature wrath is our father heathens are our brethren or rather diuels vncircumcision is our garment that is a peece of rawe cloth
vnfulled which openeth it selfe to euery winde and storme Christ the Sauiour is our enimie and we persecute him and crucifie him the Saints of God we regarde not the promises of God we know not our hope is vanitie and our God is iniquitie Call to your remembrance the houres the daies the weekes the monethes and the yeeres of your life thinke euermore on that mercie and that power that in the ruffe of all this iniquitie forbeareth forewarneth and forgiueth you Thinke thus with your selues I was a helhounde I was a heathen the tyger is better then my parentage and the serpent then my education I was naked without grace and not able to buy it the Lord that solde it was my enimie and I durst not aske vpon credite Howe many enormities haue I runne into against my God which the Lord foreseeing hath forgiuen the curse of my nature he hath remooued the euill of my conuersation he hath remitted the emptines of my soule he hath replenished and the sentence of my condemnation hath he recalled Thus hath the Lorde dealt with my life when I was sinfull he was mercifull when I blasphemed he blessed when I made warre against him hee made peace with me hee tooke my blowes on both cheekes he gaue me his coate and his cloake and to conclude when I walked through the valley of the shadowe of death his rodde and his staffe was my comfort therefore now will I giue my life for his my body for his garment my bloud for his blowes my soule for his sake and my whole person wealth honour dignitie labour and leasure for his saluation Secondlie another vse we may make of recording time past and the seueral works of God with his particular iudgments is the same which the prophet Dauid maketh Psalm 8. which is this after the rehearsall of the glorious workes of God he compareth man with them and saith Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou visitest him Euen so when we see and heare of the great workes of God vpon others lay them to your selues by particular application to your soules and reckon them vp in order for your furtherance Little Canaan tolde his father of his grandfathers drunkennes and nakednes and he was accursed and all his posteritie But I haue in my youth done many thousand greater sins yet the Lord doth stil blesse me was the Lord too rigorous against him or too partiall with me that he all his life long wore such a badge as also disgraceth all his progenie but he laieth not to my charge the follies of my youth Moses and Aaron bicause they once distrusted the hande of God they were neuer suffered to enter into Canaan but I not once onely but many hundred times haue distrusted his promise denied his worde and forsaken his truth why do I liue so long in the lande of promise when more righteous then my selfe coulde not set their foote therein Ananias and Saphira kept backe but a part of their owne to serue them in aduersitie and denying the same were sodainly slaine by the Lord but I haue kept backe not mine but the Lordes from the Lorde and haue lied not once to the holy Ghost but many times and yet I liue my credite not impeached my profession is not blamed my life is not shortened and my daies are not ended Oh beholde the seueritie of God towards these that fell but the mercy of God towardes me that standeth And thus may we say of nations and whole people why was Egypt destroyed and Israell saued why were the Canaanites cast out and the Israelites planted in why was Edom made tributarie to Iacob Babylon to Persia Persia to Graecia Ireland to England Surely surely we might haue beene the slaues and they the Lordes we the bondmen and they the freemen Euil wars might haue beene in our daies as it was in our fathers and that which was greatest poperie or heresie or hethenisme might haue beene professed in these our times as it was long agoe Thinke therefore my beloued how many bonds of obedience the Lorde hath bounde vs in and consider what had beene our hap if we had beene those children that were ripped out of their mothers bellies if we had beene those yoong men that perished in battell if we had beene those women that eate their babes to saue their liues and finally how much more are we bound vnto God that we were not Infidels Pagans Papists haeretikes Atheistes or any other kinde of cursed men Let vs also say with the prophet Psal 147. vlt. With euery nation hath he not dealt thus Let therefore euermore the worde of God bee in our mouthes the praises of God be in our hearts the Gospell in our liues and by howe much more we haue tasted of the Lords goodnes aboue other so much more let him taste of our thankefulnes aboue other The fourth Sermon And tell you your children of it and let your children shewe to their children and their children to another generation NOw the prophet hauing bidde them to enquire of their forefathers also willeth them to tell this wonder to them that shall come after namely to their children with this commandement also that they in time to come being made parents shoulde likewise declare this vnto their posteritie Where first of all the prophet giueth vs this doctrine that it is the dutie of fathers that if anie notable and woorthie worke of God happen in their daies to shew the same vnto their children for the wordes are tell your children c. Euen this doth the Lorde warne the Israelites Exod. 13. 14. to shew the wonders in Egypt vnto their posteritie and peculiarly at the eating of the passeouer For in truth this care and conscience of godlie parents is the verie conduit pipe or kings highway whereby all religion all feare of God and the vniforme profession of the truth is preserued By this meanes came Moses to be a fit and able writer of the Scriptures although hee handle matters done two thousand yeeres before he sawe the worlde he had no recordes nor writings to helpe him but that truth which descended as it were by propagation from father to sonne vnto his daies which began to be corrupt the holy Ghost approoued and Moses recorded Therefore the learned haue obserued that in seauen generations it came to Moses Adam say they taught the Historie of the creation and fall of man with other thinges to Methusaleth Methusaleth told them to Sem Sem shewed them to Iacob Iacob to Kohath Kohath to Amram and Amram to Moses And in this sort was this noble story of Genesis with visions places and persons deliuered from hande to hande from father to sonne and from one generation to another that the wordes and workes of God might be euerlastingly remembred This sheweth how by the carefulnes of parents the pure knowledge of God was maintained and the true worship of
God continued Then euery father of a familie was a magistrate to punish a prophet to instruct a prince to gouerne his owne houshould Then was there no writing but much religion few bookes but many faithfull harts all studied in vnitie to preserue vnfained veritie But in Moses time the church grewe to a nation and therefore although as Ierome saith it were Maior numero yet it was Minor virtute the number of professors grew to be greater yet the zeale and power of godlinesse grewe to be lesser And therefore nowe was it to be put in writing or else all had beene cleane forgotten for the harts of men began to be deceitfull and the words of God coulde not safely lodge in the brests of all and therefore coulde not easilie and effectually bee conueied from one to another The Lorde first of all wrote his lawe then grewe the church to another gouernment more generall then before wherein the priestes did publikely care for the seruice of God and soules of the people and euery father and master priuately for himselfe and his familie and euermore this is to bee remembred that the children praied to the God of their Fathers meaning the same God whome their Fathers taught them to serue And this beloued putteth vs in minde what manner of men fathers and masters ought to bee euen such as are able to commend the true worshippe of God vnto others for sithence the worship of God became publique and generall the priuate neglect of this dutie in the gouernours of families hath wrought the poyson of all mankind and the vndoing of all religion For now the common sort thinke that they must not pray but in a church that they are not bound to teach others but the whole charge dependeth on the minister that the preachers and not the people must learne the word and finally it maketh no matter for their faith and manners if their pastours and teachers haue the knowledge of the Gospell Oh lamentable men Oh lamentable maners which onely is to be imputed vnto this neglect of parents duety By this onely gentilisme and heathenisme grow for if Noahs sonnes had taught that to their children which they learned of their father the world had not beene wearied with many diuelish Idolatries if Dauids children had serued that God which Dauid taught them their throne had continued as long as heauen and earth endured neither had so many women beene husbandlesse so many children beene motherles so many old men beene helples and so many of all sorts and degrees beene vtterly destitute of all worldly ease and heauenly blisse the decay of their faith wrought the destruction of their blood If Christians had taught that religion to their children which they receiued without all corruption from Christ and his Apostles so many countries had not been conquered so many cities had not beene laide euen with the earth so many famous churches had not beene buried in obliuion popery had not so much preuailed Mahomet had not so long prospered wicked ceremonies had not raigned in the place of holy truth and where now is the synagogue of Sathan there had beene the Temple of our Sauiour And I feare me beloued least this parents faulte bring foorth once againe the childrens folly and then oh then will the diuels banner aduance it selfe against Christs standard and so that when the Lord shall come he shall finde no faith on the earth Looke to this you fathers of our bodies and let not the blood of our soules cry vengeance against the parents of our liues teach vs what you haue learned charge vs on your blessing and God his blessing as we will answere before the Iudge of men and angels to saue the soules of our children by the precepts of your doctrine The reasons of this doctrine may be these first bicause as Dauid witnesseth that the workes of God are great and ought to be sought out of all that loue them So that this is an argument of vnfeined affection and true loue to the workes of God when with diligence we obserue them and with conscience we declare them and also it is an assurance of sincere pietie and reuerence towards God when as the same prophet speaketh all the day long we meditate on his iudgements and speake his praises This loue of men to the workes of God is then prooued and approoued when they teach them to those whose liues are in their hands and also it is the playnest token of true loue to your children when you keepe no part of the counsell of God from them which you know your selues For the Lords doings are of that maiestie and authoritie that by them tender hearts are nourished wauering harts confirmed and stubburne mindes are perswaded Your kindest friends will be more kinde vnto you when you shew them the kindnes of the Lord and your deadly foes will be more afraide of you when they shall see and heare the workes of God in your mouth and the word of God in your hands Therefore my beloued in the Lord Iesus seeing we haue no more plainer way to know the Lord then by his workes then haue we also no surer token that we loue the Lord then when we loue his doings Let vs seeke them in the cradles of our childhoode and the beds of our old age making as much of the Lords iudgements as we doe of our children whom we desire to leaue behind vs to the ende of the world euen so let vs leaue the Lords works in remembrance for euermore Secondly another reason of this doctrine is declared by Salomon Eccles 3. 14. That what God doth it standeth for euer that men might feare before him The workes of God are affected not as the ground is ploughed which serueth one for one season but as the earth was established which standeth for euer The Lord in euery age accomplisheth many wonderful things and different the one from the other that men might feare him for his iudgements and honor him for his power And therefore being not willing at all times to make triall and shewe of his omnipotencie hee willeth vs to remember the things that are done vnlesse we would haue him once againe open the fountaines of waters that the whole world might be destroyed or once againe raine fire and brimstone from heauen to confound vs as he did the Sodomites or once againe bring a vniuersall darknes ouer our land as he did ouer the land of Iudea or else once againe suffer our fathers to be burned our goods to be rauened our wiues to be shamed and our selues to be murthered for his sake as some haue bin before vs. Therefore by how much more easie it is for our hearts to consider those things then for our eies to behold them so much more carefull let vs be to instruct others by word of mouth least we our selues our posterity feele in ful measure that heauy hand of his wrath then Oh then
lamentable is our case when we shall not feare God as a father but dread him as a Iudge wee cannot pray vnto him as a Sauiour but behaue our selues like bondslaues in his presence When it shall be said you haue had no pleasure in his workes therefore I will haue no delight in your soules The vses which arisefrom this doctrine are these first the same which Moses once did after he had brought Israell out of Aegypt and afterward the whole company of Martirs are said to make Apoc. 15. 3 Great are thy works say they O Lord almighty iust right are thy waies O king of Saints That is with the consideration of God his mighty power ioine also the confession of his euer blessed iustice You O fathers of our times teach vs this doctrine by your seueral obseruatiōs during al the life of your pilgrimage that you may say the Lord is iust in all his waies holy in al his works Euen this fruit reape take of this florishng tree that you also may be able to tell vs in this we foūd the Lord to be merciful in that work we receiued a due triall of his iustice And freely my beloued in this point of doctrine I might profitably spēd many words to shew teach you with what maner recital of his doings the Lord is pleased it is no more auaileable for vs to confesse that hughe armies of souldiers were discomfited by the Lord except we also know and acknowledge the ende wherefore the Lord did the same then in old time it was for Pharaoh to sigh vnder the burden of God his workes being therewith oppressed and not considering the due ende of the same his hand doth not warne vs nor his power amend vs when either we see or heare it without holy consideration of the end of the iudgement And this selfe same vse must we make when we heare or read of the woonders of auncient time that we can say behold the punishment of sinne the reward of godlines the power of the almightie and the iustice of the euerliuing God In the scriptures the holy Ghost in euery historie sheweth this vse although not in plaine words yet in easie manner to be obserued That Caine was cursed being the heire apparant of all the world and notwithstanding his large birthright he should be a vagabond on the earth was not this a great woonder But why came this to passe First because he was loose in the seruice of God and afterward murdered his innocent brother marke you then the fals of many princes such as be recorded in scripture and out of scripture and you shall see for their vnsufferable wickednes and intollerable tyranny they were destroyed That Sampson killed himselfe and so many thousand Philistines was not this a wonderfull work of God But why was this effected I graunt that by this he was a figúre of Christ which by his owne death ouercame his enimies but the Philistines might learne hereby that the Lord wil be reuenged for the wrongs done to his saints In like manner read and runne ouer the volumes of T. Liuius the writings of Tacitus the bookes of Arrianus the histories of Italy Fraunce Germany England and al Chronicles wherein any worthie or memorable thing may be noted yea the very fables of Poets and you shall therein obserue the variable punishment of sin for the seuerall transgressions of princes and people And if we may come neerer to our owne times consider how much blood hath beene spilt in Fraunce and the lowe-Countries we cannot onely say it was the Lords doings it is maruellous in our eies but we may say this came to passe for the crueltie of the one if not for the drunkennes of the other But why should I trauell ouer the seas for strange things when our owne countrey yeeldeth more worthie workes of God then all christendome besides What is more woonderfull that so great a people so noble personages so large dominions and so many forraine nations should be gouerned preserued defended by one woman Prince Let me now aske you O Elders was there euer the like in your daies or in the daies of your fathers before you Was there euer such peace in this land since it was a land till we flocked to the preaching of the Gospell at the call of one glorious and godly Prince aske your fathers of this and tell vs if euer there were the like Was there euer so hughe a nauie so easily dispersed as the Spanish fleete was comming with purpose to inuade vs and yet neuer could set foote on our land till they were brought prisoners and yet with smaller forces they haue made France to bleed and Flanders to ake Was there euer so many wicked attempts confounded so many treasons reuealed so many wicked persons executed and so many good men preserued as hath beene in her maiesties happie raigne Aske your fathers if euer they knew the like and we will tell our children and they shall tell their children and their children shall shew another generation that our times were happie our liues were blessed our professions were godly and our countrey was glorious witnessed and prooued by thus many workes of God Our Prince raigneth our people obeyeth our forces are increased our enimies are confounded our afflictions are ended our peace is continued our religion is magnified our land is fruitfull our lawes are equall our quarrell is lawfull and therefore hearken al ages what the Lord hath done for England Secondly another vse we must obserue in the narration of the Lords iudgements is this which Dauid maketh Psal 119. 46. I will declare thy iudgements before kings and will not bee ashamed That is the deedes and wordes of the almightie must worke so powerfully in the preachers thereof that no rebukes no scornes no mockes nor any shame be taken for the vtterance of them We liue in a contrarie time to Dauids affection for many are so modest in any good actions that all godly companions and holy exercises doe shame their estates and abase their callings but in euill enterprises they are as immodest as brute beastes thinking it no scorne nor disparagement to them to brag of their blasphemies to tell of their whooredoms to sport themselues with their drunkennesse and to play with the diuell himselfe And this is too too common in our times wherein gentlemen and rich men are ashamed to haue so much as a bible in their houses or at any time to shew a good and friendly face to a preacher of the worde or to minister any occasion to talke of religion least say they we be accounted fooles yea they make fooles of them in the world that follow not euery fashion of apparell vse not euery inuention of idlenesse and conforme not themselues to the maners of the most although they be most wicked This rauening and greedy appetite to sinne must also kindle the fire of our zeale that the wicked be not
miserable aduersitie Another reason of this doctrine is that which Dauid giueth Psal 17. 14. They haue no portion but in this life they can haue no comfort of the graces of the Lords children so that when they are perplexed and weaned from these things they are more vexed then other men This is the iust iudgement of God that where men haue most of al set their hart there aboue others they should receiue their hurt Now my deere brethren take vp a taste of this foode which I haue prepared for your soules and lust not after the wilde Doe when the tame kid may serue your turne Vse I beseech you these plaine and easie doctrines to shew vs the miserie of our times wherein we liue and of their liues among whome we liue We are altogether set on eating and drinking as if our soules delighted in wine or should be saued by meate wee regarde not the want which the poore endure wee thinke not on the hand which is ready to strike vs and we feare not the calamitie which doth alreadie compasse vs. Make not your belly your God and take not your portion in this life onely knowe you that a good Christian cannot come to heauen but by often fasting and continuall watchfulnesse and see you not how little this was practised till the dearth came and put vs in minde hereof now then let vs redeeme the time that we haue euill spent and spare that meate for the poore which we may saue for our selues We haue long liued by bread but now let vs liue by the word of God let vs I beseech you cast off our carnall desires and take no rest in our owne houses with Vrijah till the Lords people be in quietnesse let this preuaile with vs that looke how much comfort we take in abusing these so much discomfort shall we finde by forsaking them The vses which offer themselues out of this doctrine are these first that the confidence which the wicked raise vp to themselues in the things of this life shall bee their vtter ouerthrowe Isai 20 5 6. that whereas Egypt and Ethiopia were the comfort of Israell contrarie to the expresse commandement of God the Lorde threateneth to captiuate these nations and to destroy the people in their owne expectation that both the comfort and comforters should be at once confounded Euen so doth he in like manner in these daies where men leane more on the weake staffe of meate and drinke then on the strong rocke of God his word he breaketh the staffe in peeces and maketh the flitters to pearse through our owne harts This is the rewarde of belly-gods that their ioyes are remooued their hope is decayed their consolation confoundeth them and the want of those things wherein they most delighted shal procure them most easelesse paine because they most corrupted them The rich glutton which exceeded in delicious fare and in all abundance of wines and pleasant drinks was tormented without all pitie for want of water The prodigall sonne who lauished out riotously his fathers legacy like our English spend-thriftes at tables at drinking at whooring at gaming in brauerie of apparell horses houndes and delicates was constrained for his office to be a swineheard for his meate to want that which his beastes were fed with for his brauerie to bee basely and beggarly araied and his whole felicitie was turned into most lamentable yet due deserued miserie Harken therefore vnto me my brethren and heare me when I tell you the issues of your pleasures If you be aged thinke what were your sorrowe that if those riches which in youth you laboured for with your hands to comfort you withall when you should be olde should be suddenly taken from you then may you say my yoonger yeeres I consumed in vanitie and elder daies must perish in pouertie If you be yoong men consider with your owne harts that if the libertie you tooke should be abridged the pastimes you plaied should cause you so many stripes and your youthfull daies shoulde bee turned into languishing infirmities would not this amaze you to feele it and discomfort you to consider it Yes yes my beloued when your riches are the coles your desires are the fire your pleasures are the bellowes and your owne liues are the irons to be burned in this miserable miserie I delighted shall one say in hunting and nowe the beasts deuoure me I delighted in dauncing but now my woonted mirth is turned into hellish yelling I delighted in drinking but my cuppes are emptie and the naturall heate of my stomacke deuoureth my body like a fire I delighted in stealing but now doth the world rob me of my life the diuel of my soule I delighted in whooring but alas my diseases are become loathsome to God and man I delighted in slandering and hurting other but my lyes are recompensed with my owne life I was a swearer but the Lords wounds which I blasphemed haue witnessed my death I was a coniurer the diuell hath me I desired large fields but now haue I lost mine owne And thus shall all sinners come to their endes as Esau which louing hunting by his loue lost his blessing Another vse arising from the same doctrine shall be this that seeing we which be most abusers of the Lords benefits shall by their want be most of all punished let vs before this time of aduersitie come humble our soules and amende our sinnes as the prophet calleth vpon Babylon many yeeres before shee was destroyed Isa 47. 1. 23. Come downe and sit in the dust O virgin daughter Babell sit on the ground for there is no throne O daughter of the Chaldeans for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate So my beloued come you downe now while you heare me calling vnto you and while this wrath is but comming vpon you you haue euery one aduanced a throne for your sinnes to sit on but pull it downe or else it shall defile your soules Yet there is time turne you from your euils you drunkards to sobernes you wantons to modestie you swearers to pitie you idle ones to diligence you rich men to humility you gentlemen to religion you women to righteousnes you yoong men to learning you old men to praying and you poore men to patience turne turne I say before this aduersitie that either your chaunge may change the Lords meaning or vse may ease the rigour of your punishment Come downe I beseech you take vp your crosse and follow Iesus Christ let temperance rule you let religion perswade you let your Sauiour win you let his ministers warne you let the earth speake vnto you and be yee all conuerted or else continue in your delights and cease not to offend God which hateth your liues or the church which wisheth your wealth or the poor which pray for your peace or the earth which threatneth want or the diuell that gapeth for your soules Howle allye drinkers of wine Now the prophet telleth
these drunkards when they were awaked what they should do not go to their feastes againe or to the vomits againe or to the tauerns or to the ale-houses or to their mirth but he biddeth them go to the house of mourning Weepe saith the prophet and howle that is as if he had said lay away your pleasures and banish all euill companions drinke vp your teares as wine and eate your sorrowes as bread for a sudden calamitie is come vpon you the meate that is in your hand shall not come into your belly and your mouths shall be weaned from sucking and swilling in of strong drinke From hence when the prophet biddeth them to weepe I might note vnto you the nature or rather an inseparable companion of true repentance which is a mournfull heart and a weeping countenance which doth not onely sorrow for the fault but as it were wash away the sinnes of the soule for the teares which we weepe in this life do shew our vncleannes which if they were able they would cleanse away Teares are said to be the blood of the soule because they proceede of a wounded and sorrowfull spirit and therefore let not desperate ruffians and carnall persons thinke that the sighes and groanes and wishes of their hard hearts can goe for payment in the Lords presence or that the bare misliking and leauing of their old sinnes is true repentance for as the wound cannot be healed but the partie shall be payned so the life cannot be amended except teares or true sorrow be expressed But I will come nearer to my purpose for I cannot stande on euery worde and therefore I will onely note that which is fittest and of greatest necessitie The seuenth Sermon IN the next place he biddeth them to howle which is an action properly belonging to wolues and is metaphorically applied vnto these drunkards for they are both deuourers the one of lambes the other of corne both are beastes the one in nature the other in likenes and seeing they haue reioised like beasts now also he biddeth them to lament like beasts And therefore seeing I seldome find this word Howle but it is applied vnto beasts or wicked men I therefore note hereby that the vngodly comming into aduersitie are like to the brutish and vnreasonable creatures They sorrow without hope they weepe without comfort they howle without praier and they haue their wits and their ease taken away at once if they be merry it is for their wealth if they be heauy it is for their want So that then we may say iustly of them as Paule said of some Ephesians they are beasts in the likenes of men the prophet Dauid telleth vs Psal 49. 20. That man being in honour continueth not but becommeth like beastes that perish The wicked being in honour are inconstantly seated that serueth for their glorie but they are like the beasts that perish that sheweth their miserie in prosperitie they are vncertaine in their aduersitie they are vnhappie when they are lifted vp they will be more then men but when they are thrust downe they are founde equall to beasts The prophet Isay cap. 16. ver 7. prophesying the destruction of Moab because of their pride arrogancie indignation and lyes telleth them as this Ioell doth that Moab shall howle vnto Moab and euery one shall howle for the foundation of Kirhareseth shall yee morne and yet they shall be striken Will a man spare a woulfe although he cry bitterly No no for he knoweth he will rauen againe so God will not spare the wicked although they howle mournfully for he knoweth they will sinne againe Looke vpon this you desperate wicked persons and wretched bondslaues of Sathan heere may you see what you will do when the Lords hand is vpon you will you then turne vnto him when hee is turned from you or will you then remember him when your owne memorie is remooued thinke you then to haue power to praie or any hearts to hope in Christ when your reason and heart is taken from you thinke vpon it I beseech you before hande for else you vndoe your owne soules insomuch as when the water floudes of trouble come vpon you as the iust vengeance for your liues then you be filled with easelesse yelling beastly howling vnmercifull suffering intollerable complaining and no manner of relieuing then shall you finde that they which refuse knowledge instruction and correction in mercy shall feele the same in iudgement and you shall wish that you had endured any torment to be released of your present desperation The reasons heere of are plaine first because they cannot vnderstande iudgement Prou. 28. 5. If they bee crossed in their affaires and cast downe in their liues they know not that then they are arraigned before the iudgement seate of God which maketh them as farre without all naturall reason as they were before without all spirituall religion Dauid saide of them that the Lordes iudgements are farre aboue the sight of the wicked and therefore saith hee doe they defie all their enimies alas seelie soules they thinke that other mens harmes doe not warne them and that the Lord will neuer call them to account for their follies They imagine if they please themselues they displease not God and thinke if the hardest fall vpon them that euer can come yet their estate is better then other mens But my beloued saue your soules I beseech you out of Sathans clawes he draweth you on with deceitfull perswasions telling you that in aduersitie you shall be like other men in the meane season your eies are blinded that you cannot see howe heauie the iudgements of God lie vpon you purposing to take you at aduantage in extremitie that in sicknes he will make you raging in famine he will bring you to blasphemie in warres he will make your desperation that which is worst of al in death hee will bring you to endlesse condemnation Therefore thinke I beseech you with your selues and reioice not like beastes and then shal you mourne like beastes learne the course and causes of the Lordes iudgements that you may neuer feele the want of a peaceable and bolde conscience Another reason is this bicause this is onely the prerogatiue of the Lordes children in aduersitie to keepe their soules by patience Luk. 21. 19. Rom. 5. 3. and therefore the Lord will not giue his childrens meate vnto dogges nor yet cast such a pearle before such swine Where there is a dissimilitude of ioy there is also a dissimilitude of sorrow but betwixt the good and bad there is no likenes of their mirth and therefore there shall be no likenes of their woe they are proud when we are poore they are many when we are fewe they are merrie when we are sorrie they are glorious when we seeme comfortlesse and therefore when we are relecued they are distressed God is our comfort but it is their comfort if there were no God the diuell is our enimie but their
father hell is our bondslaue but their hangman We reioice as if we reioiced not but they reioice as if they were borne for nothing else we sorrowe as if we wept not but they haue their eies weeping in life their harts weeping in death and their soules weeping in hell Thinke nowe my beloued that this is our time of lamentation and this is our lamentation of time to see men weeping that should reioice men reioicing that should lament Woe be vnto them for they haue their consolation Therefore if once the worlde turne with the wicked then shall happines be like ise their pleasure like a sommer dewe their friends shall forsake them their feare shall possesse them and their miserie shall ouercome them Seeing therefore this is the case of the wicked that know not nor feare not God hence ariseth this most assured and fearefull and yet comfortable vse to be knowne that such as is the life of the wicked such shal be their end Amo 4. 1 2 3. The prophet in the saide place calling vpon the heads and rich men of Israell by the name of the kine of Bashan that fedde in the mountaine of Samaria telleth them that the Lorde hath sworne that seeing they behaued themselues like beastes he woulde also vse them like beastes for the thornes should stifle them and their posteritie shoulde be taken with fish-hookes and they shoulde go out of the gaps and breaches forwarde like kine and they shal be cast headlong out of the pallaces And these kinde of beastes are the oppressors of the poore the deuourers of meate and drinke the neglecters and despisers of the Lords worship and such as prophane the Lordes sacrifices with their owne inuentions vers 1. 4. 5. Consider nowe if euer there were mo beastes in Israell then are in England O lamentable world wilt thou euer proceed to prouoke the Lordes wrath to oppresse thy owne flesh to spill the life of thy owne brother and to shed the bloud of thy owne soule dost thou not yet knowe that if thou delight in cursing thou shalt receiue cursing and bicause thou louest not blessing it shall be farre from thee Yea I will adde this also thinkest thou not that thy cruell life shall haue a cruell death and thy mercilesse hart shall receiue a mercilesse plague doth not the scripture say That the same measure shal be heaped on thee that thou didst powre vpon other Hast thou lead all thy life in swearing and dost thou thinke thou shalt die with blessing hast thou walked wantonly passed the time pleasantly pampered vp thy owne bodie delicately consumed thy strength lecherously wasted thy wealth prodigally despised the ministerie wickedly frequented euill companie ioyfully vsed all maner of gaming greedily and wilt thou hope for all this to die the death of the righteous and to make a blessed latter ende Then is it not true which is most true that such as men sowe such shall they reape and if their life be the season their death is the haruest Oh that I coulde perswade you to liue well as you perswade your selues to die well then shoulde your times bee happie your liues be godly and all our endes bee blessed Therefore on the other side wee that are in league with the Lorde of glorie howe happie is our case seeing as wee liue so shall wee die our wearied bodies shall rest in his kingdome our sorrowfull soules shall bee refreshed in his kingdome our wounds shall be healed in heauen our teares shall be wiped from our eies our liues shall be disburdened of slaunders and to conclude seeing we being aliue are buried with Christ by our profession wee shall also at our death be raised vp with Christ to his euerlasting possession Secondly another vse which doth arise from this point is this that seeing the wicked are so beastly in their sorrowes and so desperate in their afflictions that sometimes wickednesse is rewarded in this life though not alwaies for their comfortlesse estate is the iust punishment of their wretchlesse behauiour We haue manifold examples hereof in the sacred worde of God who was more cruell then Adoni-bezek who cut off the thumbes and toes of seuentie kings and afterward by the Lords commandement he was so serued himselfe Iudg. 1. 6 7. Who was more proud then Nabuchadnezzar yet in this life was his vnderstanding taken from him and he driuen to eate his meate with brute beastes Tzedechias which burned the booke of God was taken by his enimies had his children slaine before his face and afterward had his owne eies put out and died at Babylon Herod that wicked wretch was eaten of wormes Ananias and Saphira were slaine by the Lord himselfe with a great many of like terrible iudgements of God of which you may read both in the scriptures and in the writings of other There are a viperous broode among vs which are not ashamed openly to professe that they care not so much for the pains in another life if they may escape the plagues of this life that is present and notwithstanding they feare the punishment of their sinnes shoulde bee executed on them in this life to their open shame and in the life to come to their vtter destruction yet they will neuer bee amended by Gospel or iudgemen t let such persons thinke what shall be their danger if they continue in this wicked opinion and wretched life For assuredly as Dauid once saide so will we euer say that the same which the wicked feareth shall come vpon them why shouldest thou bee more ashamed to be punished before a few of thy friends in this life then to bee laide open to the full vnto all the world at the latter day Learne therefore to purge thy hands and hart from sinnes wherein thou dwellest and when they shall bee burned thou shalt bee saued thinke that thou art not better then those which are already named and therefore thou maist be hanged with Absolon be stoned with Achan be cursed with Canaan be brained with Abimelech bee eaten with dogs as Iezabel was bee slaine with the sword as Adoniah was and finally fall from the top of honour to the bottome of ignominie as Haman did Because of the newe wine This is the cause why hee biddeth the drunkards and drinkers to awake because they should loose that which they best loued your newe wine that is so sweete to your mouthes wherein you dwell day and night shall bee taken from you And in this the prophet noteth vnto vs the whole corruption of carnall and wicked men that if they be ioyfull or if they be sorrowfull it is onely for the things of this life present when their barnes and storehouses are filled their fieldes clad with cattell their names exalted with worldly honour then they strike vp the ioyfullest musicke to their harts that they can inuent but when their wealth decreaseth or sicknesse taketh them or the famine vexeth them or the rumors of bloodie and
as he doth the Pismires and conies Prou. 30. 25. 26. Then he sheweth for the terrour of the people howe they are armed to destroy euen as lyons with their greedie iawes and sharpe teeth which teare in sunder whomsoeuer they meete neither shall they onely execute this malice vpon men but they shall take vengeance on the vines and figge trees stripping off the barke breaking downe the branches and deuour the fruit and the body togither From hence we may first of all note seeing he maketh these beastes infinite in number mightie in power and a nation for pollicie and vnitie that it is in vaine to resist the iudgements of God seeme they neuer so small What coulde bee more base then to threaten the Iewes which had so many cities so many castles so many corne fieldes so many store-houses and so many inhabitants to be destroied by a few grashoppers and caterpillers which a man may treade on the ground or phisicke or naturall meanes may driue away yet wee see in this place the spirite of God so dealeth and armeth them with sufficient power to dismay and deuoure all things Shall we nowe saie that anie iudgement of God is small and of no reckoning when hee can make the vnarmed wormes to wearie the harnished souldiours No verily for he hath set his iudgements some in the heauens some in the earth some in the aire and some in the waters that euery where we might be driuen from rebellion and drawne from disobedience We may see in the heauens sometimes darknesse who can remedie it we may feele in the earth barrennesse who can redresse it we may smel in the aire loathsomnes who can purge it and a little billowe of the waters can ouerwhelme vs who then can saue vs For this cause Salomon Prou. 27. 12. called him a foole that running against iudgement destroyed himselfe Oh saith he in sicknesse why should I repent I hope the physician can remedie this and so delaieth till it be too late If he be poore then saith he I will take of other mens goodes and they shall maintaine me and considereth not that the gallowes are at hand Nay that which is woorse they see the iudgements of God against idle teachers vnfruitfull hearers vncleane liuers and intolerable blasphemers and yet they cannot hide themselues from it Oh my deere brethren we haue many iudgements in our lande and how doe men resist them the husbandman by plowing the gentlemen by fining the rich men by gayning and almost euery one by vngodly flattering therefore I beseech you let vs no longer be hardened for we doe striue against the streame and bid warre against the almightie if there be any meanes to escape them it is by yeelding or else assuredly we shall neuer bee eased Let vs then set our harts at rest and neuer wage battell against the Euerlasting for he as we may reade Iob. 34. 20. and 29. 37. can easily without all might destroy the strongest catch the wisest ouerturne the swiftest and confound the noblest why doe we then take a contrarie course as Balaam did which the Lorde hath not hitherto blessed It is not in our labour to releeue vs or in the earth to redresse vs it is not in our repentance or submission but principally in the mercie of God to deliuer vs. Then I beseech and entreate by your morning and euening praier that our harts may be plowed and then shall our barnes and garners be filled Againe why should we delay to worke our owne reconciliation who is able to abide the angrie countenance of the Lord for the Psalmist saith If his wrath bee kindled but a little then blessed are they that trust in him Oh how infinite is his mercie towards vs which haue so long felt his iudgements and yet hath not his wrath beene kindled I may feare and all that haue any soules may feare that all this time the coles of our transgressions are in gathering together and shortly will the Lords wrath set them on fire and then who shall not bee burned This is euident that wee resist the iudgements of God because we seeke not a truce with him And therefore looke shortly to be serued as the Iewes were to haue our flies turned into lions our wormes into beastes our friendes into foes and these small euils which already we haue shall be growen vnsufferable The vses which arise from hence is first the same that Elihu Iobs friend maketh Iob. 37. 24. when he had reckoned vp the wonderfull iudgements and works of God he thus concludeth Let men therefore feare before him for he regardeth none that are wise in their owne conceites Wherein he teacheth vs that although the Lord worketh strangely in the world and yet forbeareth to destroy vs it is because that thereby we should learne to feare him for in the feare of God is all religion and assurance of saluation Dauid saith it is the beginning of wisedome Peter telleth vs it is the continuance of our adoption and Paul saith it is the ende of our profession when he biddeth vs to finish vp our saluation with feare and trembling Then my beloued let vs feare God for so the word of God exhorteth and the Lord commandeth and the worlde and course of nature teacheth Feare him not as a iudge for then thou shalt bee condemned feare him not as a seruant for then thou shalt be punished but feare him as a father and then thou shalt be deliuered But some waxe desperate through feeling of the Lords iudgements and others are hardened because they haue seene others taken and themselues escaped and in our times although we haue so many causes to feare him oh fearefull times wherein is so little feare we may feare this one thing least as it falleth out with a sicke man a little before his ende he hath a lightening of his paines so that he feeleth himselfe voide of pangs and then presently dieth so now hauing so little feare after so long feare we be suddenly destroied But some will say if wee knew that the Lorde had sent it and not appointed any meanes to redresse then we would rest contented and in the meane time we cannot choose but labour to be eased by some way or other I graunt if the Lord should sounde from heauen vnto you or send an angell to reprooue your rebellion then it is like you would giue ouer but why are you not contented to knowe this by his word that it is the punishing of your sinnes and till you doe away your sinnes he will not doe away his iudgements Well saide Elihu Iob. 33. 13 14. Why dost thou striue against God for he doth not giue account of all his matters for God speaketh once or twice and man seeth it not then he openeth the eares of men by their corrections which he had sealed that hee might turne them from their euill hide their pride and keepe their soule from the pit So long therefore as
haue stumbled and lost the law of righteousnesse because they sought it not by faith so when the Gospell shall be offered as to the Iewes being not rightly receiued it is againe withdrawen that they may say it was once among vs. I feare me my beloued that we haue resisted the lawe of righteousnesse this way as much or woorse then the Iewes for we haue intreaties of peace euery one speaketh and writeth what he pleaseth whereby some are stumbled many are hindred and others are discouraged and what remaineth but that all should be vtterly turned out of the way Now let vs come to some vse of this doctrine will the Lord so punish vs to take away his worde his worship and his Gospell from among vs Verily some will say that is our desire we shall followe our pleasures more freely delight in our sinnes more sweetely and saue much money which we impart to religion Stay a little I pray you how if a famine come and remooue it as here it was or how if the sword come and driue it from you as it hath in other places thinke you then to be so well eased of the Gospell when you shall goe from a sweete church to a stinking prison and in steede of a preachers reproofe you shall endure an executioners rod. Nay but take this with you whensoeuer the Lordes worship is intermitted your liues shall not last and if they doe you shall wish rather to die Ierem. 6. 21. I will saith the Lord lay stumbling blockes before you the father and the sonne shall fall the neighbour and the friend shall perish Here is the calamitie which commeth by the remoouing of the Lordes worship it costeth much blood it bringeth much woe it curseth many soules it shaketh the world darkeneth the sunne it troubleth the waters it maketh God mercilesse it maketh men helplesse it maketh the church comfortlesse the present times smart for it the next age weepeth for it but the last daies shall answere for it the liuing shall be troubled the dead shall be defiled and they which are vnborne shall repent it and to conclude if euer wee liue to see the Lordes worde and worship taken from vs we shall haue a hell of the worlde a wildernesse of the church crueltie in steede of curtesie beastlinesse in steed of humanitie and all impietie in steede of christianitie From the house of God That is from the publike place appointed for the worship of God What then might some say if we cannot in the church then we will in our houses and we can serue God as hartily in our parlors as we can in the temples yet for all this if it could be so the prophet complaineth that it is so I meane that the Lords house is vnfrequented From hence note this that it is a greeuous iudgement of God when the place dedicated to his seruice is not vsed thereto but lieth either waste or else otherwise applied If men come not to the churches as the Lorde appointed being in prosperitie it calleth for vengeance but in aduersitie it betokeneth a iudgement Psal 74. 8. Reuel 2. 5. The Lord threateneth the church of Ephesus to take away the candlesticke from them whereby he sheweth the last and greatest plague that can come vpon a citie which is the laying waste their congregations The which thing I would to God I coulde driue into their harts which make as much account of the churches as they doe of the tauernes and are as diligent to come vnto them as the theeues to the prisons Alas my brethren what harme haue you receiued by following the Lords courtes and assemblies of the saintes that your presence forsaketh them your soules forsweareth them and your liues are more strangers therein then Dauid was at Achis or the Pope now in England is it a iudgement to come and not to finde them and not a plague neither to come nor to finde them Thinke you not being gentlemen and wealthie men whose deuotion will not abide a showre of raine that if you missed but a childe of your owne in your house that you could endure it and not bee sorrowfull how then shall the Lorde endure your obstinate and rebellious absence seeing hee loueth it more deerely then a woman doth her sonne and therefore tendereth our presence most fatherly Beware least it be saide of you they went out from vs because they were not of vs and they that gather not with vs scatter abroad The reasons of this doctrine may be these because then the name of the Lord is forgotten Deut. 32. 18. It cannot be but out of sight out of minde as the common prouerbe goeth and therefore when the churches are not frequented and there is no publike remembrance of the Lords works the Lordes name must needes be forgotten We haue I graunt some profit by our priuate assemblies our families but if once the publike places be neglected then farewell all religion Praiest thou in thy family do so in the church instruct thou thy family bring them also to the preachers hast thou a little church in thy houshold ioyne them also to the great church in the congregation that there they may learne the woonderfull workes of God for when preachers are banished churches are emptied congregations rased hearing despised the places dedicated to the Lords worship violate keepe what order thou canst in thy family yet will religion christianity be soone forgotten Another reason of this doctrine may be this because when these publique meetings places be barred vp then there appeareth no church of God Deut. 12. 5. 1. King 8. 29. What a calamitie is it to see the sunne darkened the earth couered with water and the moone with clouds So is it when the face of the church cannot be seene in the congregation whereby men may learne how odious is their sinne which keepe away themselues and their seruants from publique praying and preaching What do they else but obscure and put out the very church of God they disgrace their owne mother and forsake their fellow members by putting out themselues from our meetings How shall we accompt them of the church which com not to the church or rather how shal we say that they are God his children when they darken the spouse of Christ and giue occasion to the common enimy of saluation to reioice against the godly and aduance his banners aboue our castles The vses which we must make of this doctrine are these First seeing it is a most grieuous plague of God to haue the churches voide of his seruice then let vs runne and flocke with all diligence vnto the cōgregation of the saints the meetings of the godly Isa 2. 2 3. This is the most assured token of the church of God when the people come togither to heare the word and this is a comfortable argument to a mans owne soule that in this life he was ioyned to the church militant and therefore they
put thee in minde of the maker Because thou art forgetfull let thine inheritance remember thee of heauen let thy purchase remember thee of regeneration let thy fruites remember thee of thy life let thy haruest remember thee of thy death let thy store remember thy soule and let all remember thy poore brother The reasons of this doctrine are these first because the most prophane and wicked idolaters Iere. 4. 17 18 19. thinke that the onely cause of multiplying the fruites of the earth is for the worship of God and therefore who but Atheists can denie the same vnto him for he onely it is that maketh them to growe and blesseth all our stores and therefore most vnthankfull wretches are wee if for all we should render him none againe And this is much to be feared that the little regard which is had hereof in our land is the onely cause why our former yeeres haue brought forth no greater plentie for if we generally regarde the multitude we shall finde that those which haue the greatest fieldes the largest barnes the widest patrimonies and most store of riches haue and do make most bolde with the Lord and come least into his presence Another reason of this doctrine may be this because these benefites are the promised blessings to them that loue him Deut. 28. 1 2 3. which ought euermore to put vs in minde of our loue to God that we might loue him more and more and so receiue of him more and more abundantly let vs I beseech you consider our estate and not fall away from our first loue for seeing we haue had in former times greater plentie then now we haue let vs knowe for certaintie that our store is lesse because our loue is lesse When the Gospell came first among vs how ioyfully did we followe it and how diligently heare it in so much as the preachers being but few we would haue giuen them our owne eies if it had beene possible to doe them good but now we are as wearie of them as the Israelites were of Moses when they would haue stoned him and therefore then were we filled with loue and with plentie but now we are emptied of godly care and plagued with mortall want The vses which arise from the consideration of this point are these first that we desire of the Lorde to haue pitie and care for our lande which is wasted and to cast his eies to our poore and penurious time offamine and dearth Deut. 11. 12. For alas our miserie groweth so great and incurable euery day more more that we haue great cause to feare least his long suffering turne into wrath and our pinching famine into death Who hath beene cast downe throughly not for a day but for a yeere in this occasion surely few or none and therefore is the Lorde as a stranger among vs and as one that tarrieth but for a night O my deere brethren let vs at the length yet learne the true and right way to remedie our euill and to encrease againe the fruites of the earth how haue our pastures beene drowned our medowes ouerflowed our corne blasted and our tilled lande made barren insomuch as we may see or might not long since haue seene how the hils and mountaines wept foorth whole streames of water for their barrennesse Let vs followe their example and be ruled by their line to doe the like for it as it hath done for vs. It is not we see in the planter or in the waterer but in the Lorde that giueth encrease of him let vs entreate this blessing that his hande may bee staied in time before all bee left destitute and the face of our countrey like the lande of Sodom let vs labour in praier as we haue done in tillage let vs bestowe as much cost in supplication to pacifie our glorious God as we haue done in husbandrie to amende our barren lande if he say but the worde all shall bee remedied Oh let vs powre foorth wordes and liues and harts and soules that this may bee remooued Another vse heereof seeing these creatures as great crops of corne large fieldes and other things must onely serue vs that wee may serue God then how fearefull a thing is it to abuse any of these whereby both the worship and workmanship of God are defaced therfore the holy Ghost admonisheth Rom. 14. 20. that we destroy not the work of God for meates sake Some surfet in their abundance to their death other disfigure the good shape of their bodies through pride and vanitie such as are yoong gallants and gentlewomen and the more they haue receiued the more they haue abused some in their ease and idlenes are growne like tunnes in compasse being vnfit for labour vnprofitable to any goodnes and vnwoorthy of any blessinges The labouring mans estate is much to be commended though it be poore yet it is happie he is an image of Adam created to worke he is an image of God created in righteousnes and the image of Christ created for calamitie his health is maintained by labour his bodie is refreshed with rest his minde is renewed with religion and his life is studious of the Lordes worship his hungry morsels make him more thankefull to God then the great delicates of the rich his bare bread and water or small drinke giue him more healthie nourishment then the fowles and dainties of the other his life is wearied with labour his minde is prepared for God and his soule is readie for rest Let vs all liue in this trauaile that we may die in this manner let vs keepe vnder our bodies and lustes as we refraine a yoong colte and let moe bridles of abstinencie and sinceritie curbe shorter all our pleasure and vanitie Another doctrine which we may gather out of this verse may be this that seeing the creatures of God do call vpon vs to worship him and therefore they be helpers vnto vs therein wee gather that our worship of God in this life cannot possiblie bee absolute and perfect that wee shoulde bee alway like affected and obserue time place order and zeale in our religion for heere wee see that the worship of God was violated bicause the fruites of the earth ceased our knowledge is obscured by naturall ignorance our time is omitted through sorrow sickenes care and worldly busines our harts are hindered through feare loue ioy pleasure vanitie and temptation and a thousand other waies shall wee finde that all we can doe in the Lordes seruice is but in part as Paul prooueth 1. Cor. 13. 9 10. How wicked are the bragges of them that boast of their vprightnes whereby they serue the Lorde thinking that there is nothing but of themselues they bee able to performe it But wee must know that the greatest doctor the learnedest preacher and the painfullest hearer cannot comprehende or teach or learne whatsoeuer is requisite to our saluation no not the whole church of God togither so
not the angels 2. Pet. 2. 4. and therefore he will not spare the lesser creatures for the angels are the most glorious creatures of the world who sinning against God in the beginning were cast downe from heauen into eternall torments Oh this should much terrifie vs which are lower then the angels viler then the creatures and more woorthie of death then all the works of God are of corruption that al the world for our sinne and sake should be euery day in danger of destruction And seeing the angels being in heauen found no place of mercie but present banishment and euerlasting fire how should we come into heauen with our sinnes or thinke to escape on the earth seeing the Lorde is as powerfull and wrathfull beneath among men as he is aboue among angels The vses which arise from this doctrine are these first as we might hereby gather an excellent argument to enforce the irefull wrath of God so may we also learne by this how miserable is the estate of worldy men which trust in the things of this life which shall be all destroied Deut. 28. 52 63. What do men that satisfie their lustes that gather their wealth that enlarge their dominions and other worldly things as building of faire houses leauing monuments of their names to posteritie but heape vp a great deale of dry wood for the wrath of God to consume them Take them from their desire you take them from their god pul them from their profits and you pull them from heauen but the wealth which they haue gained shoulde serue their turnes and their posterities in this life and afterward bee consumed This were but a tolerable estate and to be endured but alas the rust of that which they hoorded the crie of that they misgayned the riot of that which they haue wickedly consumed shall torment their liues in another worlde Why doest thou worship thy goods in louing them more then God bicause thou thinkest on thē more then on him and why dost thou trauaile for this worlde and the thinges thereof with so insatiable and greedy desire for if thou gaine them thou gainest more burthens to thy life and more woe to thy soule if thou haue them thou canst not long keepe them for death will part them and thee in sunder or vengeance will take them out of thy handes Oh tell me I beseech you which care for your parts and portions in this life what benefite haue you by louing them nothing but feare to loose them what profite commeth by enioying them nothing but labour to keep thē what hurt is there by wanting them nothing but a poore life and a peaceable death the loue of these is the losse of heauen and the lacke of these is the loue of God Another vse which euerie one euen the wicked must make heereof is the same which the Lorde exhorteth the Edomites vnto Esay 21. 14. Seeing their vines and fruits and corne and all other things shall come to an ende and be taken awaie with the wrath of God therefore let euery one that hath them giue them to the thirstie for drinke to the hungrie for meate to the naked for cloth and to the poore for maintenance Oh consider what is our dutie while as yet there is a little corne and comfort to our lande and deale with it as one woulde deale with his owne body for anone it shall be taken by violence therefore nowe bestowe for deuotion if wee tarrie but a little vengeance will take them and vs therefore let charitie dispende them what what are they but earth if we deliuer not them to earth shall they come againe Now they haue force to succour our liues and if we spende them not well anone they will haue powre to subuert and condemne our soules Howe is ioy withered from the sonnes of men Nowe hee complaineth what this want hath wrought when he saith that ioy is withered away as mowen grasse doth from his greenenesse so this from the sonnes of men that is the people of the lande For we cannot bee ignorant that of all times of the yeere there was most sweete singing and pleasant sporting at the time of haruest as we reade Esay 9. 5. bicause that then were the fruits reaped and comfort receiued of men but when these were destroyed their vines had no grapes their trees had no apples and their fieldes had no corne then I say was their mirth laide aside into most solitarie and sorrowfull mourning By these words note that the want of worldly comfort and the feeling of worldly and carnall sorrowe is a great and fearefull iudgement of God Deut. 28. 63. If men see no ioy in their children or comfort in their possessions or profite by their labour but in all these they are made more heauie and solitarie and the Lorde taketh from them a cheerefull countenance nay if the fruites of the earth bee destroied as heere they were so that there be none euen then I say although there be none occasion of ioy but all of sorrowe to be tormented with griefe bicause we haue not to supplie our liues is fearefull in the sight of God We cannot I grant but sorrow when we haue none occasion ofioy but yet we ought to make our griefe a godly sorrowe and the feare of famine to be the feare of condemnation for this shoulde we weepe that howsoeuer these thinges goe with vs in this life the other may be certaine in the life to come The reasons of this doctrine are these First bicause it causeth death 2. Cor. 7. 7. 10. Worldly sorrow causeth death for as the fire wasteth the woode and the sunne consumeth the frost so doth carnall care eate vp the life of man Somtimes these sorrowfull worldlings are raging with enuie sometimes ouercome with malice and many times at their wits ende through couetousnesse so that the beautifull waxe pale therwith the lustie and strong man is weakned they which were pleasant are heauie and they which seemed godly are made wicked This worldly sorrowe made Achitophell that wise man to hang himselfe and Saule that strong man to kill himselfe and Zimrie that wicked king to burne himselfe for the Lorde suffered many to fall into it that they might despaire of his mercie and be excluded from his kingdome Oh therefore whosoeuer will shewe any care of his owne soule or any account of Christes woundes let him meddle little in worldly businesse keepe in the boundes of thy vocation and range not into much dealing and many trades and occupations for thou dost but thrust thy soule into danger and a thousande to one but thou wilt repent in teares bloud thy ouerreaching policie Another reason of this doctrine is bicause it is a deere and not the least blessing of God to reioyce in thy possessions be they small or great Eccle. 5. 8. and therefore it is not the least curse of God to be troubled and tormoiled therewith What beast
and they sacrificed and none else but they altered and it came to one tribe and they also were abrogated and so it came to men approoued in the church who are deemed the speciall portion of the Lord in this world And surely if the seruants of Salomon were blessed that hearde his wisedome and waited in his court they are much more blessed which waite in the Lords house and heare and see the secrets of the kingdome of heauen It is therefore a most fearefull thing to aduance any vnto this to bee the Lords seruant who is not woorthy to sit in the chaire of Moses and there is no reason why they shoulde minister in the church which are not woorthie to be the porters of the doore Surely the prophanenes of many in these places is so great and so damnable that besides the iniuries done to Christ many run headlong into hell thorough the euill example of their pastours The Lords seruants followe their maister in holinesse and not the world in lewdnesse they looke to the soules but these waite for the fleeces they preach vpon conscience these doe it for fashion they preach onely the truth but these bring the fire of poetrie philosophie and such like to the altar of God to conclude they bee the helpers vnto faith but these quench their owne giftes and keepe other from pure knowledge The reasons are these because the whole life of the minister must be onely exercised in spirituall heauenly matters Act. 6. 2. 4. The apostles would consent to nothing which was not consonant to their ministerie or that might any waies hinder the same And for this cause the Lord hath so prouided that they should be exempted from all worldly businesse and receiue their maintenance from other not onely for themselues but for their children and families The which thing considered would aduertise a number of vs that wee which warre should not entangle our selues with the things of this life we should neuer giue ouer our seruice for that is nothing else but to forsake God wee must neuer cause our sinnes to make vs be thrust out of the ministerie for that will exclude vs from heauen wee must neuer bee idle and vnprofitable seruants in our ministerie for that will worke our curse and wee must neuer be wearie of our places for that will weaken and lessen our giftes But alas once there might come no rasor on the ministers heads but now adaies heads and beards and all are powled if wee shoulde not nowe looke to our owne maintenance wee might soone want sustenaunce and our children are easily suffered to begge though their parents haue well deserued of the Church of God Another reason is because none may offer them any violence but the Lorde accounteth it his owne Exod. 16. 8. and hee saith by the prophet Dauid Touch not mine annointed and doe my prophets no harme How desperate is the case of all men who are daily by wordes and deedes reuiling the ministers of the gospell and thinke themselues happy if they can giue a priest a deadly blowe by their enuenomed toong Truely I will say our owne sinnes were the cause of all this yet if the kisse of Iudas was so mortally punished these mens not kisses but wounds not with lips but with toongs and hands shall neuer escape vnrewarded for as by their toongs they haue killed vs so the Lord with his toong shall condemne them From hence let vs of the ministerie learne our dutie which is seeing we are the Lordes owne seruants let vs labour to present euerie man perfect in Iesus Christ Col. 1. 28. there is no seruant but he desireth not onely to do much worke but that hee may present it faire and beautifull to his masters viewe this is our labour to bring many soules and saints to the Lorde of glory Abraham sending his seruant to fetch a wife for Isaac his sonne he brought him godlie and beautifull Rebecah wee are the Lordes seruants and wee are sent to fetch a wife for Iesus Christ the sonne of God oh let vs be as faithfull vnto God the father and to Iesus Christ as that seruant was to Abraham and Isaac let vs doe our message with diligence let vs execute our charge with praier let vs giue them the golden bracelets of God his truth and let vs with all speede and haste returne againe to him that sent vs. When Iacobs sonnes went into Egypt Iudah promised him to bring Beniamin againe if he woulde let him go or else he shoulde slaie his owne two sonnes and so if wee bring not againe to the Lorde his beloued children he will slaie our bodies and soules for euer and euer for at our hands will he require them Come on therefore my deere and holy annointed brethren we haue the leading of God his children wee haue the keeping of Christs Queene we haue the tillage of the Lords corne we haue the vse of the Lords treasure we haue the price of our Sauiours bloud if we loose his childrē he wil slay ours if we defile his wife he wil curse vs if we neglect his husbādry he will spoile ours if we waste his treasure he wil sel vs to perpetuall bondage and if we spill our Sauiours bloud he shall condemne our bloud body and soule Oh therfore let vs be instāt in preaching holy in liuing earnest in praier zealous in exhortatiō careful in admonition instructing the children correcting the youth and comforting the aged that as Iacob returned with many more soules out of Syria into Canaan then hee brought so may wee come with many soules out of this world into the world to come Another vse shall be for the people that considering wee be the Lordes owne seruants and therefore open and shut the priuie chamber doore which leadeth vnto him and to vs is committed the building of the church then as the Apostle exhorteth you Ephes 4. 11 14. that ye giue heed to them whom the Lorde sendeth you for spirituall guides direct not your praiers to Angels and saints in heauen for they haue not the keeping of the Lordes workes but the ministers which be aliue are the priuie counsellers to the Lordes maiestie whom if you will not beleeue neither can you beleeue though an angell come from heauen vnto you And therefore as all the people were wonte to waite for the comming out of the priest that hee might blesse them so do you all euermore waite for the blessing and mercy and grace and counsell and loue of God to come from them to you As the Lorde turneth the bloude of a woman into milke for the nourishment of hir childe so doth hee turne our wordes and gifts and knowledge and learning and studie and life to be the nourishment of you his church Come to vs for comfort and instruction and edification and saluation you are the Lordes housholde we are his stewards come to vs for your meate of soule and wages
to serue him through tribulations when mens harts die in them for feare of the Lordes hand as Nabals did when he feared Dauids comming or when men growe desperate seeking vnlawfull meanes to be rid of their miseries as the Iewes did Esay 30. 16. and therefore the Lorde threatneth them that they shall flie as they determined and they shall ride on horses as they appointed but their enimies shoulde ride faster to ouertake and ouerthrowe them I haue obserued the constitution of many men and I founde them like the sea-faring marriners whose life is a continuall death and yet they are more open contemners and more obstinate enimies to all manner of goodnes then are other men and so those whose estate is poorest whose liues are most slauish hauing the prisons for their dwellings and continuallie destitute of meate and all kinde of necessaries none more wicked then these or more carelesse of any good thing But to let those passe there are many that haue escaped dangerous sicknes pyning famine the fearefull hande of warre and cruell death which seemed before their eies vnauoidable and yet remaine desperately wicked still and runne to their owne vomit and wallow in their loathsome myre of sinne these are they which are at a league with death and couenant with hell they hope to escape as well as other and while they be in the world why should they not liue merrily although they goe to hell for it afterwarde Seeing they are so carelesse of their owne welfare who shoulde take care for them and seeing the fearefull hande of God will not winne them the labour of vs his ministers shall neuer perswade them Out of this vers I might obserue vnto you that the pastours are not to proclaime fastings without singular warrant either from God himselfe or else from them that ought to direct them heerein Againe I might obserue that the people must come at the voice or call of their spirituall fathers and pastours also that publique fasting ought to be done in the publike congregation for that time being But wee will proceede to the next wordes where the prophet telleth them what they shoulde doe nowe when they were assembled togither in the fast that is they must cry on the Lorde meaning they shoulde humble themselues by praier And from hence obserue that fasting is nothing woorth without praier Esay 58. 3. Luke 18. 11. The common people doe imagine that when they cease from eating and punish their bodies with a daies abstinence that they doe vnto God high seruice Indeed it is lawfull for the preseruation of their health so to doe but for a diuine seruice or worke of religion they must not account it But this custome sprang vp from the perswasion of poperie which doe not onely account this kinde of abstinence a meritorious worke but also if men eate not flesh although they abouÌ„d in al other delicates with great store of daintie wines and strong drinke yet doe they obserue a druine fast to the Lorde although they neuer make anie conscience of praier and doe not so much as blesse their meate and drinke they receiue Therefore let all good Christians bee carefull to auoide in their fasts ignorance and superstition and let them either ioine praier with their fasting or else neuer reckon it for a worke of religion The reasons of this doctrine are these First bicause God doth not except vs for meate 1. Cor. 8. 8. that is with the Lorde if wee eate or eate not wee haue neither the more or lesse and therefore bare abstinence is not any part of religion But if the ordinarie taking of our meates and drink must be sanctified by praier which is a meere ciuill thing then much more the not receiuing either of meate and drinke for a religious cause must be consecrated by praier One saide well that those which place any part of God his seruice in their meate they doe verie neere make their bellie their God Yet though meate and drinke doth not make vs either the better or the woorse to God warde yet we must remember that heerby is not giuen vs any liberty to liue in gluttonie or drunkennes no more then to sterue and pine vp our soules voluntarilie but hee meaneth in the moderate vse or neglect heerâ—â—f Another reason is bicause God neuer commanded any such fast nor allowed it as wee may see in all the course of the Scriptures where euermore there was ioyned with fasting publike and most earnest praier and lamentation why then shoulde wee vse that in the Lordes seruice which hee neuer spake of and why should we frame that of our selues which he reprobateth truely euery plant which he hath not planted shall be pulled vp by the rootes and therefore in vaine should we worship him following the traditions of men liue in the obedience of the Gospell for that shall bring vs to life and whatsoeuer we do more we either performe for curiositie to finde fault with that which is done or else for vanitie to search into that which is forbidden From hence let vs learne to lead most christian liues which is to serue the Lord with fastings and praiers after the example of the ancient godly beloued saints of God as Anna Luk. 2. 37. and the Apostle Paul 2. Cor. 11. 27 both men and women haue liued in this kind of abstinence and religious seruice of God But alas we haue among vs thousands which would thinke they receiued great iniurie if they be not accounted as good christians as Paul and Anna which neuer in all their life did so much as fast and pray one whole day togither in their priuate houses I cannot tell what nimblenes and ioyfulnes they finde in themselues to the seruice of God but I am sure that there haue beene and now are others of another iudgement which without this exercise of praier and fasting grow many times heauie and so dull in the practise of their profession that they thinke that the spirit of God is departed from them And when they haue renewed this exercise they finde themselues againe more ripe and sharpe and readie in any kinde of goodnes Alas what practise of repentance is there in them that are strangers in this action it is a simple sorrow for sinne that taketh not away one daies stomacke from meate and causeth not the soule to hunger more after reconciliation then after a worldly recreation Therefore fast often and pray much so shalt thou be like the godly neuer be wearie of this practise except thou be wearie of christianitie and as thy sinnes encrease so let thy mortification bee enlarged that thou maist make more castles in thy soule to defende thee then the diuell doth engines to annoy thee Another vse is that wee absent not our selues from those solemne and appointed kinde of fasts 1. Sam. 7. 6. all Israell came to obserue this before the Lord in Mizpeh and so continued till Samuel sent them home
needefull and blessed businesse oh wretched men thus possessed by those that rather ought to be possessed by them Another reason is because this delight in this worke is the very ende and fruite of the gospell 1. Iohn 1. 4. My brethren saith Iohn I write vnto you that your ioy may be full that is that you may reioice in all things as in meate for there is the Lords hand in apparell for there is his prouidence in health for there is his goodnesse in sicknesse for there is his mercie in your houses for they are his tabernacles and in his church for there is his seruice A pagan a heathen an infidell a Iew a papist or any other enimie of Christ can come to our assemblies and with a minde readie to vomite vp whatsoeuer they heare attende to their greefe what is there done as many among vs doe and yet be neuer the better therefore bee you better then these and let your righteousnesses exceede theirs or else you shall neuer reioice in his euerlasting kingdome The vses which come of this doctrine are these first that whatsoeuer we doe in the Lords house let vs do it cheerefully of an vpright and peaceable minde that we say of our selues as Dauid and Christ of them Psal 69. 9. The zeale of thy house hath eaten mee vp so of zeale let vs doe euery thing that wee doe for as reason must measure all matters in humane and worldly affaires so must zeale season all things in spirituall and diuine matters Zeale is like the loue of Iacob to Rahel it thinketh no frost too cold nor any raine too dangerous nor any snowe too great nor any heate so vehement nor any sunne so parching but he endureth it for the loue of a woman What shall Iacob loue a faire face better then a Christian loues a glorious Sauiour oh no no but let our loue be deerer then the loue of a woman and let vs all say and that all with Marie the mother of Christ My soule reioiceth in God my Sauiour But oh where and of whome shall I complaine that haue not beene eaten vp with zeale no nor bitten therewith or that which is lesse it hath not licked their soules nor kissed their liues that is they haue neither beene iealous nor zealous for the Lorde of hostes sake for themselues they care not what God is for other they care not what their soules bee and for all they care not what hell shall be they are not earnestly righteous nor obstinately wicked but openly indifferent and that is no body in religion they mourne not when other sorrow they reioice not when other laugh they stirre not when other are mooued and they feele not when other are afflicted How zealous I beseech you are they when they haue beene colde in the heate of the day and neuer sweate one drop in the worke of Christ or wept one teare in the cause of Christ Another vse is this that seeing we must be carefull to worship God with ioy let vs then pray for the peace of the church whereby there may be no mourning within our pallaces Psal 122. 6. I graunt our sacrifices to God are as acceptable when our reioicing is banished in any common aduersitie when wee humble our selues by praier and fasting as when in times of greater prosperitie and securitie we are lifted vp with thankesgiuing yet this is better for the church and equall to the Lord. Therefore let vs most carefully commend Ierusalems peace and euerie member thereof to the Lords tuition pray for it with an earnest desire I say to obtaine and an vnwearied labour till thou hast atchieued To abate but Dauids thirst three of his men aduentured their liues being but onely to satisfie the kings minde who was Dauid but a member of the church and therefore if they would doe so much for one let vs doe more for all the church together that her thirst may be satified and her ease be procured Oh therefore how happie is our age wherein we liue for the church hath peace abundantly and our basest things are become very honourable the blood which other haue shed for the same doe we enioy and they by filthie prisons haue purchased for vs most pleasant houses O England be not wearie of thy well doing least the Lord be wearie of thee be not vnthankfull for thy peace least the bond there of be strooke in sunder be not proud of thy benefites least thou be stripped of thy ornaments be not secure in thy glorie least thou be stirred vp to greater labour but pray the father with the sonne the mother with the daughter the lorde with the seruant the mistresse with the maide the maister with the familie the rich with the poore and men with women and little children peace be within our wals and prosperitie within our dwellings The seede is rotten vnder the clods the garners are destroied the barnes are broken downe for the corne is withered It seemeth that these men being somewhat touched with want one â—eere yet they comforted vp themselues with their husbandrie and tillage thinking the next yeere woulde make amends for all like as we haue seene in our lande these times of dearth for men haue yeere by yeere sowed and plowed loosing both seede and crop notwithstanding all their labour as these husbandmen here doe thinking that whether God will or not they will make things cheaper and plentie againe but all is in vaine For if they sowe it rotteth in the ground if they keepe the houses fall vpon it if they eate they spende their store and if they spende then will shortly their liues be ended By these wordes we may obserue that it is in vaine by any naturall meanes to seeke to doe away the Lords hande Hag. 1. 6. The people of Israel being in some perplexitie they sowed and eared and planted and laboured to bee releeued but alas the prophet telleth them that he wasted their seede he bloweth on their store and the labourer putteth his wages into a broken bagge What had hee no pittie on the poore labouring man that worketh for a groate or sixe pence a day but hee must consume that also yea verily for the Lorde must bee serued as well by the poore countrie man as the rich citizen and therefore curseth as well the gettings of the one as the gaines of the other But what shall I say vnto you shall I bid you not till the earth or not sowe your corne no verily but plow vp your harts and cast in the seede of regeneration and then plow vp your land and cast in your seede of sustentation How shal the corne grow in your fields when vertue will not growe in your soules Therefore labour not in vaine it is not in all our plowing or planting or sowing or reaping or working to helpe our selues but in the Lords blessings who will then blesse the earth when we haue washed away the curse of our
are dark at his chiding and they shine at his bidding so let vs liue to praise him while he giueth life and die to honour him when he sendeth death And the Lord shall vtter his voice before his hoste for his hoste is very great for he is strong that doth his word for the day of the Lord is great and verie terrible and who can abide it Hauing spoken of the darkning of the lights the shaking of the earth now it followeth that we proceed to the vttering of the Lords voice which signifieth thunder Psal 29. 3. and most plainely Psalm 18. 14. The Lorde thundred out of heauen and the highest gaue his voice By the consideration of which phrase wee are giuen to vnderstande the infinite and vnspeakable power of God which hath so wonderfull and powerful a voice the which when the Israelites heard Exod. 19. 20. they were not able to abide and so desired that Moses shoulde speake vnto them euen so are we vnable to endure the same if the Lorde shoulde so speake vnto vs as we shoulde haue had no benefite by Christ except hee had taken vpon him the nature of man so wee coulde not endure the powerfull worde of God if it were not offered by the toong of man As the waies of God are not like the waies of men so the voice of God is not like the voice of men that is stronge but this is weak that is high but this is lowe that is fearefull this is simple that is terrible this is easie The people that coulde not abide Salomons gouernment had a worse then was Salomons for they lost their kinges and their God euen so when wee can no longer abide the voice of man then let vs looke for the fearefull thunderclaps of heauen wherefore heare the wordes of God in the mouthes of men or else you shall feare and tremble and melt at it in the stroke of the ayre Againe the prophet Dauid Psalm 29. 11. maketh another vse of thunder telling vs that for the power thereof euery one in his temple doe speake his praise It is a wicked and damnable opinion of the multitude that the diuel can raise thunder whereas we are to account it onely in the Lordes power Iob 38. 25. although the diuell can doe much yet is hee but weake and his power restrained therefore wee need no more feare his power in the time of thunder then in the cleerest sun shine day but rather let vs praise the Lorde for his power who is so woonderfull in all his works Againe if thunder be the voice of God why do the papists in the time of thunder ring their bels to staie it as if it were an vnholie thing surely it well be commeth them for seeing they will not heare God in the Scriptures they wil not heare him in the cloudes if wee oppose Scripture to them they say wee speake as heretikes if the Lorde sende thunder then they say there is a diuell abroade Oh blasphemous mouthes and hearts that are so simple and yet so great great in blasphemous heresie and simple in true diuinitie Againe when the prophet saith that he will vtter his voice before his hoste for his hoste is very great hee meaneth the noisome beastes that hee shoulde sende like an hoste of men as hath beene alreadie shewed Whereby we are taught that euery creature since sinne entred into the worlde is become an enimie one to another like to the enimies in warre Psal 105. 34. The great birdes are enimies to the small the great fishes to the little the great beastes to the inferiour and so are the great men to the little ones the oxe cannot abide the lyon the sheepe cannot endure the woolfe the foxe will not tarrie with the goate the horse will not dwell with the Beare the Hart will not attende the hounde and many moe liue in hatred one with another but most of them al are enimies to man The reasons are these First as man destroyed his owne nature so God destroieth or rather altereth the nature of all other things Secondly God will surely be knowne that hee giueth power to the spoile Amos 5. 9. What can an enimie doe in warre or a theefe by the high way side or a beast that deuoureth man surely nothing but by the working hand of God for the diuels themselues are vnder his correction One lion destroied a prophet 1. Kinges 13. yet we know that Daniel was cast among a denne of lions and had no hurt at all surely it was the Lorde that opened the mouth of the one and muzled the iawes of the other Let vs therefore knowe that whensoeuer either man or beast shall annoy vs that it commeth of God Iob. 1. 4. When Shemei cursed Dauid Dauid woulde not haue him punished bicause saide hee The Lorde hath bid him curse and so if wee be bitten by any beastes or stung by any serpent or haunted by any foules or oppressed by any enimies let vs then thinke with our selues this hath the Lord done to vs and praie for the remission of sins This doctrine wil take away al reuenge against man for any iniurie when we shal bee perswaded that God by them doth fatherlie correct vs. Againe let vs thinke with our selues how many waies the Lorde hath to correct vs for our sinnes the angels are about vs when God biddeth them they strike the beastes are among vs when hee commandeth they discomfort vs the flies and wormes ouercome vs wee are enimies one to another and one wound and kill another as Cain did Abel yea we cannot trust our owne hands for feare they destroy vs as we see in Saul Achitophel and Iudas and when all this is done there are ready all the diuels in hell to torment vs. Now who would loue his life nay who would loue his sinnes that bring with them vpon him such an euerlasting and intolerable hatred Againe when he saith that he is strong that doth his word he meaneth him that doth his commandement whereby we are taught that euery creature hath power giuen him to doe that which God assigneth him 1. King 17. 4. The rauens at the commandement of God fed Elijah morning and euening with bread and meate and so euery one when he biddeth them goe they goe when hee biddeth them come they come The reason is first because they waite vpon God Psal 145. 15. secondly they worship their creator Reu. 5. 14. and so we may learne that God neuer aduaunceth any but he giueth them giftes to performe their callings When he saith that the day of God is great and who can abide it he thereby teacheth vs that the wrath of God is intolerable Deut. 9. 18. 19. The reasons are because there is no way to flie frō his presence Amos 5. 18 19. Secondly there can be no mediator in wrath Ier. 15. 1 2. By which we are taught how inestimable is the benefit of redemptiō by Iesus
glad newes of life euerlasting By iudgements we are blinded but by the Gospell we are enlightened by iudgements wee are endangered by the Gospell we are defended and to conclude they threaten our liues but the worde threatneth our soules Make much of the word in thy health for beleeue me sicknes cannot so prepare thee for the Lorde as the worde can bee conuerted by it for thou seest all other meanes faile for miracles doe make vs woonder and this maketh vs repent therefore either make this thy ioy or God shall make them thy sorrowe What then will some say this is a strange doctrine do not sorrowes and earthquakes and other fearefull thinges turne vs to the Lorde then we will not make any account of these thinges To whom I answere that if they doe so they doe that which will vndoo them shall the scholler neuercare for the rod bicause it cannot teach him but correct him and shall wee set light by the Lordes iudgementes bicause they cannot conuert vs no no they must keepe vs in obedience although they cannot beget vs to obedience they must reforme vs although they cannot turne vs. Dauid said Psal 119. when I see thy iudgements I am astonied and afraide and so must all the elect children of God vse the iudgements of God to continue them in the feare of God and to keepe their natures from being ouerproude Yea let vs tremble and quake as the earth doth let vs weepe and mourne as the aire doth when wee see the wrath of God the sunne cannot then shewe her face she is so dazeled with his brightnesse how shall men farre inferiour to her in glorie bee carelesse of his anger And although I haue said that we are but yet leading vnto execution let vs yet feare most greeuously least the wrath of God be encreased on vs for wee knowe not how soone we shall be consumed with what calamities we shall bee troubled and with what maner of death we shall be crucified Therfore let vs feare the works of God that we neede not feele them let vs be warned by them that we be not confounded by them and aboue all things let vs cast away that prophanenes that calleth for heauen and earth to take vengeance on vs. Secondly we may obserue in this verse when hee saith thus saith the Lord that if the Lorde worke not repentance in vs we shall neuer haue it while the world standeth we may weepe out our eies rip vp our breastes rend asunder our harts and satisfie for our iniuries but if the Lord worke not repentance in vs then all is lost For this cause 2. Tim. 2. 25. Paul instructeth him with meekenes to instruct those which were cōtrarie minded waiting if at any time God would giue them repentance vnto life Indeede I graunt that men may haue a kinde of repentance as Iudas had Matt. 27. 6. when hee sawe Christ condemned hee repented and went and hung vp himselfe but to haue repentance vnto life Act. 11. 18. as the church speaketh it is a speciall and woorthy worke of God And in these daies may this point be very profitably vrged wherein men are so carelesse in liuing and so wretched in sinning as if repentance were pinned on their sleeues or lay in their pockets to pull out and in at their pleasure but let them beware be warned that if they wil be saued they must seeke it at the hands of God Is repentance so easie that you can haue it at your wish indeede you may haue it but you cannot doe it Imagine in thy presence a man or woman possessed with a diuel trie thy cunning cast him forth I know your answer you wil say you cannot because you can worke no miracles so agame say I that you cannot haue repentance of your selues for it is a casting of the diuel out of your souls the which none can do but by the finger of God Repentance is not to wring out a teare or to breath out a sigh or to lift vp an ey vnto heauē or to say I am sorrie for my sins but it must fil all a mans life with weeping sighing praying cōfessing amending the which commeth frō God only The first reason of this doctrine is because with repentance goeth remissiō of sins Act. 5. 31. therefore we may as wel say that they can pardō their own sins as they say they can repent whē they list And this must needs mightily discourage vs frō sinning seeing we may cōmit that in one minute which we can neuer claw off so long as we liue Again how sweet is this consideration that remission of sins is ioined with repentance We knowe what great vile sinnes we haue committed but we knowe not will some say how or when they were pardoned Vnto whom I answere that they haue beene so long pardoned as they haue repented and they haue as many witnesses and seales of their remission as they haue weeping teares sighing sobs and wounded affections for them in the presence of God Another reason is as it is the worke of God to harden mens harts Iohn 12. 40. so it must needes be the worke of God to soften the hart But some will say how can the Lord punish men for not repenting when he denieth them repentance and how can he damne them for harde hearts when hee hath hardened them I answere an harde heart and an ill life doe not simply condemne a man but delight in them and negligence to bee deliuered from them good men are tormented with hardnesse of hart but they lament it euill men are perplexed with it they reioice in it God is saide to make hard harts but not euill harts and so to make hard harts that men may know and acknowledge that soft harts come from his workehouse so then God hardeneth but men delight in it and they are condemned not for sin but for delight in sinne Wouldest thou then knowe whether thy hart hath beene new wrought in the Lordes moulde then looke and see how thou louest sinne but thou findest thy hart harde then looke againe howe thou art pleased with this hardnes if thou like it thy hart is damnable but if thou loath it thy state is tollerable The first vse wee are to make of this doctrine is this seeing the Lorde hath the working of repentance in vs then let vs praie euerie day to his maiestie for the same Lament 5. 21. So doe the faithfull when they say Turne vs vnto thee O Lorde and wee shall be turned returne vs as of old This is the dutie of all those that haue any care of their soules health Art thou heauie in thy heart and feelest a dulnes in thy soule vnto goodnes but a nimblenes vnto euill when thou knowest thou dost those things which displease the Lord and trouble thy conscience then enter into thy soule and humble thy selfe by praier lift vp thy voice to heauen
vs and ioyneth vs to God The Lord in this worke is the builder the ministers are the carpenters the worde is the axe the griefe of heart is the stroke and regeneration maketh vs the frame otherwise we are stones refused of the builder Another reason because in our vnrepentant estate wee cannot please God Rom. 8. 8. seeing we cannot please him we run from him we forsake and denie him This would make ones hart to melt to consider that all actions not grounded on a new life doe swarue from God Some obiect if God did not like them they could not doe them So may a thiefe an adulterer or rauisher of women defend his iniquitie but it will not goe for payment for God suffereth you to follow your pleasures against his pleasure that your pleasures may taste of euerlasting paynes Therefore labour for repentance that you may be brought into the Lords sheepefold and be incorporated into his congregation and saued by his deerely beloued sonne then shall your waies be altered and your pleasures ouerturned and you shal pray with Christ Not our will but thy will O heauenly father bee done Being in an vnrepentant estate wee runne away from God yet let vs looke backe on God as Isay exhorteth Isa 45. 22. and then we shall be saued If thou be running from God through a lewd life giuing ouer thy selfe vnto libertie yet looke backe vpon him often the children of Israel if they were stoong by serpēts by looking on the brazen serpent recouered presently And although the sting of thy sinne is greater then the sting of adders yet the Lord is mightier and wholesomer then the brazen serpent therefore looke vnto him if thou wilt be healed Old Simeon so soone as he had seene Christ presently desired to die for ioy and Zacheus hauing but a minde to see him was made that day a notable christian Looke often on the Lord for by beholding him thou maist grow in loue with him wish continually to be with him as the Iewes which being captiues in Babell yet made their praiers toward Ierusalem Esau at the sight of Iacob fell to weeping loued him the better euer after so if thou wilt cast thy eies to heauen behold his glorie then looke vpon the world and see his gouernment then behold the earth and consider his benefits learne his Gospell and note his truth and life thy eyes to Christ to marke his mercie thou wilt surely turne the saile of thy wicked life and come with the Sabaean Queene to worship in his church Consider his workes for they defend thee thinke vpon his iudgements for they threaten thee marke well his kindnes for it maintaineth thee and beleeue his worde for it shall conuert thee cast but one of thy eies vpon the Lord and thou shalt winne him looke often vpon him least minde and eies be both blinded and neuer see him more Another vse wee must lament the plague of our sinnes raigning among vs Isa 59. 9. 10. when the Prophet had shewed them their danger he bringeth them in mourning on this wise Therefore is iudgement farre from vs neither doth iustice come neere vs we waite for light but loe it is darkenes we grope for the wall like the blinde grope as one without eies we stumble at the noone day as in the twilight we are in solitary places as dead men we roare allike beares mourn like doues c. Thus must men that are not yet regenerate re count their miseries after they heare them condemned by the word saying vnto themselues Howe blinde are our eies that we cannot see the glorious light of the Gospell wee are quite forsaken of the Lorde who keepeth vs from beleeuing of his truth wee haue no power to performe the least part of that Gospell to walke in any tollerable obedience sanctification goeth against the haire and though we like it yet wee cannot doe it wee see that hee that refraineth from euill maketh himselfe a praie therefore let the Lord come and reforme our liues and adorne our mindes with righteousnes that wee may bee deliuered from this slauerie of sinne let him turne the heartes of children to their fathers and turne our course vnto himselfe Moreouer think what deadnes is in your soule what sinfulnesse is in your life and what wrath of God hangeth ouer your heads for assuredly except you confesse in this sort you shall be confounded before you be conuerted Let your harts be awaked betimes that wrath ouertake you not and let whatsoeuer may further you to God although it be shame or iudgement or nakednes or pouertie or death bee most speedily receiued The xxij Sermon YOur God After all this preaching of repentance nowe hee beginneth to comfort their distressed mindes which coulde not but be grieued grieuouslie and therefore he putteth them in minde that the Lord is their Lorde and God Howe may this bee if he be theirs then they are his and will he suffer them to bee made a pray vnto brute beasts and to make the heauens to thunder their destruction what comfort haue they by his seruice or what pleasure hath he in their cries verie much for sometimes a tender nurse and louing mother wil make hir childe weepe bitterly that it may loue hir the better so the Lorde to trie his owne casteth them into a bed of sorrowes From hence wee must gather that in our greatest calamitie and aduersitie God is our mercifull God Artthou tormented with sorrowe that it is bitter to thee to liue and better for thee to die or art thou vexed with sore sicknes and intollerable imprisonment hast thou no meat for thy selfe and thy tender babes and seest thou a whole nation in an vprore yet for all this acknowledge with Dauid Psalm 22. 1. that God is thy God although thou seeme forsaken Oh sweete mercy of a father and glorious condition of a sonne whom no pouertie no miserie no iniquitie can part in sunder though he chasten vs yet he loueth vs though wee be helpelesse yet hee remembreth vs though we be in death yet he saueth vs. God is euermore the father of his church and of euery member therein he scorneth not their parentage he refuseth not their pouerty he regardeth their sufferings and desweth their saluation Let vs then say with Iob that although hee slaie vs yet we will trust in him death shall not driue vs in sunder but conioyne vs togither The reasons are First bicause in prosperitie he will bee knowne to maintaine vs and in aduersitie to comfort vs Esay 51. 12. If men would or coulde vndergoe all the former euils without comfort then might they haue some colour torefuse and distrust God but they are not able neuer is any man at one time distressed in bodie and distracted in minde or oppressed outwardly and not comforted inwardly If thy minde be heauie thinke on the comforts of this life if thy bodie bee vexed then confider
eares and hand and heart to theirs when they are humbled fall thou downe when they are praying praie with them when they are hearing heare with them when they are singing sing with them and when they are mourning lamenth with them If they ioine in petition to God oh account it happinesse for thee to subscribe thy name for they are blessed that are ioyned to the fellowship of the saints Another vse if wee must seate our selues in most conuenient place to heare then let vs also frequent the places of praier and religion When the church was compelled to a riuers side in steede of a cathedrall church Act. 16. 15. Lydia the purple woman resorted thither and once she had her hart opened and conuerted to the Lord In like manner let vs resort to the churches for at one time or other we may boldly assure our selues that we shall receiue the pledge of life eternall But in our daies men are so affected to this doctrine that the diuell laugheth at it and good men lament it for either they come not at all as the ghestes which were bid to a wedding or else they come without conscience as he did without a wedding garment or else they are present without attention as Eutyches that fell on sleepe at Paules preaching or else they depart out of our assemblies as Iudas did from Christ when hee went to betray him Standing times of praier in the church some say are of Poperie and in the house they are of other condemned for puritanisme so that godly praiers being the sword of the spirite are now growen rustie and dull that few mens sins or liues or harts are parted therewith But my deere brethren come to the times of praier and binde your selues not onely publikely but also priuately with seuere vowes and pay them to the Lord for so shall the fire of the spirite be kindled in you the holy Ghost shall raigne in you the saints shall be comforted by you and you shall trie that all things are possible to a Christian Spare thy people Now we are come to the praier which the prophet teacheth the priestes to make for the people which is thus much in effect Wee haue no refuge but to flie to thee O Lord we are guiltie of the punishment but yet thou maist stay thy hand and spare our liues Giue vs not ouer wee pray thee that our enemies reioice not ouer vs and blaspheme thy blessed name we are the fields of thine owne inheritance reuenge our cause from the handes of strangers oh spare vs that we may serue thee First out of the beginning of this praier we may note that petitioners and those which are suiters to the throne of grace must alway pleade guiltie in the presence of God Luc. 18. 12 13. The example of the Publican prooueth this that the Lord loueth vs better when we tell him of our follies then when we shew him our vertues The Lord which will seldome helpe till there be no helpe but in his mercie biddeth vs alway to condemne our selues so that when wee thinke most basely of our natures and speake most vilely yet truly of our liues and confesse most bitterly against our selues then are we most nigh to the end of our praiers For this cause let vs meditate before praier that we may sufficiently waigh our miseries and more lamentably bewaile our wants and more ardently pray for his mercie that we may more comfortably enioy his fauour The reasons hereof because there is not one man liuing that can bee iustified before God Psal 143. 1 2. but euery man is an vnprofitable seruant for which cause we must alway accuse our sins and call for pardon at the Lords hand This reason being knowen of the baser and wickeder sort they imagine that they haue gained a sufficient charter to continue in their euill why say they the most righteous are guiltie in the Lords sight and what are we more Doe what wee can yet we shall sinne and we can but craue pardon of him for many as well as for few but this is a wicked and an accursed reason For although the best fall into many enormities yet ought not you to sinne good men fall into sinne but you dwell in sinne they are sorrie for them but you delight in them Dauid sinned was therefore Absolom or Achitophel vnpunished because Peter denied his maister might therefore Iudas betray him or because one man falleth into debt by sicknesse may you therefore fall into debt through riot if a sound body doe now and then fall into sicknesse then hee which hath a crazie body had neede to looke to himselfe so if men of sound soules doe fall into euils you which haue sicke soules must bee much more carefull of your health Another reason our Sauiour giueth Luc. 18. 14. for the Lord resisteth the proude and giueth grace to the humble and meeke therefore ought wee to increase in the numbring of our sinnes that the Lord may aduance vs to the beholding of his mercie Let vs be assured if we pray without sorrow we doe but mocke the Lord but if we sorrow with earnest praier we prepare many ioyes for our soules First let vs learne that our praiers must bee ardent and continuall in the eares of the Lord as the Israelites were Iudg. 10. 3. to 13. for as we haue a continuall occasion of sinning so we must take continuall occasion of praying Who is he that hath beene but a little while in the practise of christianitie and hath not learned this lesson My sinnes are euer in my sight too heauie a burden for me to beare therefore as he which is vexed with a continuall want laboureth in a continuall worke and hee which hath a continuall sicknesse turneth on euery side to finde ease so must we which are euermore oppressed with sinne be euermore praying for helpe As the greatest burdens make the porters sweate the greatest drops so will our sinnes if we feele them make vs sweate drops of blood to be released of them therefore pray till thou be heard and take for thy example the poore widow which woulde neuer giue ouer till the iudge had righted her cause neither doe thou cease to pray til thy soule doe cease to sinne Many pray through want but not with want and for grace but not with grace they are cold and not continuall in their suites Who is so hard harted seeing a poore man with as many sores as his body can beare running after him a mile or twaine and begging but a penny that coulde denie him in like manner if wee shewe all our sores and sinnes and miseries vnto the Lord continually that when our voice is wearie our harts may speake and when our harts are sleepie our wounds may crie for mercie so that we may neither eate nor sleepe till we know our sinnes be pardoned Let vs neuer be afraide to come to the Lord notwithstanding we finde
and yet wee which haue more reason are not mollified by the gifts of God or warned by our workes to him or pierced by his commandements but of this inough else where Because he hath exalted This is the reason why the Lord wil bring so sharpe a punishment vpon them because they haue beene so bold as to afflict his people But some may say vnto me did not the Lord sende these creatures to destroy and if he sent them why doth he punish them and if he sent them not how could they come in such swarmes to whom I answere that the Lord sent them and yet they exalted themselues to do it Whereby we may gather that men shall not alway escape vnpunished although they performe that which God commanded for God willed that Christ should be crucified but yet Iudas was neuerthelesse eternally plagued Act. 1. 18. if one man murther another God will haue it so or else it could not be yet shal the murtherer suffer death iustly God will haue good men in his church to be persecuted imprisoned and martyred by the enimies yet woe be to those men and hands that so handle and mangle their godly members The first reason because in these actions men serue not God but their owne will Act. 13. 27. God decreeth it for one cause but they doe it for another as God would haue Christ deliuered for the sinnes of the world but Iudas betrayed him for thirtie peeces of siluer God would haue Christ dye for redemption but the Iewes would put him to death for malice and thus one and the same thing done for diuers causes doth not excuse their malice as we may note in the storie of Ioseph and his brethren Againe as they do it for their owne pleasure so they attribute it to their owne power Isa 10. 13. so wee shall finde many boasting of their wickednes how they haue played the tall fellowes in wounding and killing and whooring and stealing and endicting and condemning and accusing other men when themselues are as guiltie of hell as the other were of death Oh fearefull spectacle of humane infirmitie that we may do that which God willeth to be done and yet we cannot will as God would haue it done No maruell if our life be so separated from God when our will cannot agree with our hand Seeing we may be transgressors in doing that which God commandeth especially when we haue to doe with the godly let vs follow the counsell of Pilates wife which was this that we haue nothing to doe against iust men for God will surely plague vs in the ende Matth. 27. 19. Speake not against them for it shall be rewarded fight not against them for thou shalt be conquered spoile them not for thou shalt be spoyled and accuse them not for thou shalt be condemned They are the eie of God pricke them not they are the Lordes annointed touch them not they are Christs members hurt them not for surely as Saul by striuing against Dauid did spoyle himselfe and as Pharaoh by tyrannizing ouer the Israelites did vndoe himselfe and all his countrey so shalt thou bring both nations and people thy selfe and all thy posteritie into euerlasting woe if thou oppresse the professors of religion Remember if thou chastise them thou art but the rod of God which when corrections be finished is throwne into the fire and euen as now Pilate wisheth though it be too late that he had obeyed his wifes counsell so shalt thou wish if not too late that thou haddest neuer medled against religion Againe let vs learne to frame our wils to God his will and then shall our handes without trespasse worke that which God commaundeth and therefore doe nothing of malice for that is of the diuel do nothing of enuie for that is of sedition do nothing rashly for that is folly but do all things with loue for there is God If thou canst do anything and not breake the bond of loue to God or to thy neighbour thou sinnest not yea although it seeme neuer so sinfull in the sight of man for loue is the fulfilling of the law so then so long as thou workest in loue so long thou doest not offend God and so long as thou doest not offend God so long thou doest not transgresse the law Feare not ô land but be glad and reioice for the Lord will do mightie things In this and in the verses following the Prophet giueth them verie manie exhortations grounded on the neuer failing promise of God First generally in this verse and then more specially in the verses following In this verse hee biddeth them not to feare some will thinke that this exhortation is needles for if they did not feare they could not beleeue his former threatnings To whome I answere that he meaneth they should not distrust the promises of God notwithstanding all the before named iudgements and therefore presently in this verse he telleth them that the Lord will doe for them mighty things By this then we gather that in all good men the promises of God must bee more powerfull then the feare of euill more plainly thus Art thou feared with sicknesse with pouertie with losse of children and such like dangers then remember the promise of God which saith that all shall worke to thy best and that I will not faile thee nor thy seede and such like and so let these promises more comfort thee then thy terrors doe dismay thee So our Sauiour comforted his disciples and in them all of vs Luc. 12. 32. Feare not little flocke it is your fathers will to giue you a kingdome and Dauid saide well to this purpose Though I walke in the valley of death I will not feare for thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me so let vs say with him though we liue in feare of warre and famine and pestilence and diuell and death and hell yet wee will not feare because God hath said they shall not hurt vs. Iosuah was neuer afraid to fight because God had said that he woulde fight for him so let not vs be afraide to fight with sinne to liue in danger to languish in prison and to pine away in famine seeing wee haue the Lords owne promise that none of these shall destroy vs but amend vs. The first reason because his euerlasting loue is the cause of his promise and therefore it will performe his mercie Ier. 31. 3 and if it be euerlasting then is the force thereof now as well as when it was first made and seeing it neuer was nor euer shal be repealed therfore it shall as well strengthen thy soule as the soule of Noah or Abraham or Moses or Dauid or Ieremie or any other Againe euil things are alway cōditionally threatned meaning if men repent not as we may see in Dauid Ahab Niniueh and many other and therefore repentant men neede not feare any danger for they are alway blessed hauing the angels to
Againe let rich men especially looke to themselues Iam. 5. 1. for they for the most part esteeme more of gaine then of grace and of a great gentleman though he be an infidell then of a poore and true member of Christ Let them remember how fewe good rich men are named in the Scriptures and let them alway set before their eies that most dreadful saying of our Sauior It is easier for agable to goe thorough the eie of a needle then for a rich man to enter into heauen Let them bee liberall to good vses courteous to euery christian sparing in all expenses humble in all authoritie not gorgeous but clothed with Christ not couetous but open handed not ambitious but content with their place and not infidels but as farre exceede other in faith as they doe in wealth He shall giue you the first raine In those countries they had ordinarily two raines in the yeere especially desired wherof the first was most acceptable when they first sowed their seede and the latter raine was in the spring of the yeere which is here called the first moneth answering in some part to our March and Aprill because the world was made as it were in the spring of the yere But in this that the Prophet promiseth them the first and the latter raine we must obserue that it is the Lord that ruleth the cloudes giuing al seasonable and vnseasonable weather 1. King 18. 1. The reasons are bicause he will onely be knowen to blesse the workes of our hands Deut. 28. 1. Againe it is onely hee which decketh the heauens with clouds Psal 147. 8. Let vs therefore learne to feare the Lord by the consideration of raine Ierem. 5. 24. for hee reserueth for vs the appointed weeks for haruest Me thinkes that euerie creature of God do so admonish vs of our duetie that not so much as the little drops of raine but they teach vs to feare him Oh that our soules could so thirst for the mercie of God as the earth thirsteth for the water drops or the grace of God might so fall from heauen on our hearts as the raine doth issue from the cloudes on the ploughed land Againe let vs seeke for the testimonie of the Lords fauour towards vs in them Act. 14. 17. the Apostle sheweth the raine of the clouds the spring of the earth and the encrease of temporal things to be a sufficient meanes for the old world to haue searched for and found out God but yet they did not search into it and so is it now a good meanes for many ignorant soules to leade them to God at the first if they consider the world continueth the grasse groweth the corne increaseth the raine falleth down from heauē that by these as it were by the crosse-row of letters they might com to greater knowledge in religion When he saith that their barnes shall be full of wheat and their presses shall abound with oyle and wine he noteth thereby that their decaied houses shall be builded againe and their full ioy restored And also that if God do once begin to do good to his people hee neuer thinketh any thing too much that is bestowed on them if they be repentant The xxix Sermon Vers 25. And I will render vnto you the yeeres that the grashopper hath eaten the caterpiller and canker-woorme and palmer-woorme my great hoste which I sent among you NOw he toucheth the restitution of their goods lost in famine telling them that all their former yeeres deuoured by the beasts shall bee restored againe By which we may note a woonderful example of the Lords kindnes that he wil giue to the repentant whatsoeuer they haue lost in trouble It were enough for him yea more then he oweth vs if he did onely ease our miserie yet is he not contented therewith but giueth vs as much as we desire and beyond our desires as much as we lost so he dealt with Iob. cap. 42. 10. giuing him a thousand for fiue hundred sixe for three fourteene for seuen The first reason because he would haue none to be like him in mercie and liberalitie Mich. 7. 18. Secondly that the wicked may note a difference betwixt the iust and the vniust Mal. 3. 18. therefore let not any thing in the worlde hinder thy conuersion Ierem. 7. 14. for thy sinnes shall bee chaunged into much holines thy pouertie into great wealth thy sorrow into double ioy and thy short life into twise so many daies If thou hadst little ease now it shall be more or little peace it shall be increased or little grace it shall bee augmented or little ioy it shall be multiplied and thus will God take away curse and change it into blessing and turne our punishment into pardon Againe let vs hereby be instructed that there shall neuer be any hinderance to the ioy of the Lords saints Isa 40. 2 3. the crooked shal be made straight the high shall be made low the low shall be made high the weake shall be made strong the sicke shall be made whole the lame shall be made wel limmed the sorrowfull heart shall bee reioysed and the contrite soule shall be glorified the great power of sathan shall not hinder the tyrannie of sinne shall not preuaile nor the space twixt heauen and earth shall keepe vs from ascending to ioies Oh come on my brethren with hope and comfort and bestow your labour in the word more cheerefully that our single sorrowes may receiue double ioyes So you shall eate and bee satisfied and praise the name of the Lorde your God that hath dealt maruellouslie with you and my people shall neuer bee ashamed Hauing signified vnto them their plentie nowe hee granteth vnto them the free and lawfull vse of euerie creature telling them they shoulde eate and drinke them and praise the name of God for them When hee saith They shall eate and bee satisfied we may note a great blessing of God vpon meate temperately receiued for it satisfieth vs meaning it nourisheth and maintaineth life Hag. 1. 6. but when it is riotously and gluttonously deuoured then men fall into sicknesse in steade of health into raging in stead of quietnesse and this is the very cause why our affraies and quarrels are begunne at tauernes and alehouses and at great idoll and glutton feastes bicause men receiue them not in moderation but in excesse The first reason bicause meate so taken giueth strength to the body 1. Sam. 1427. Ionathan tasted but a drop of hony and his wearied body was strengthened and his eies almost blinde recouered their sight Another reason because meate thus taken cheereth the hart of man Ruth 3. 7. Let vs therfore learn what a singular benefit it is to eat be satisfied with the labours of our owne hande Eccle. 5. 16. 17. for if the Lord should breath thereon then were our trauaile in the dust meate hath no life in it and yet it
tell them to our parents our wiues our children our seruants our friendes and our neighbours that they may bee signed by the same seale and saued by the same grace Thirdly God will haue none other to bee knowen in Israel but himselfe alone Whereby wee are taught not to stand in doubt whom where whē we ought to beleeue feare loue or worship but onely and perfectly to relie on the Lord. 1. King 18. 21. It is not good to halt betwixt two opinions but either we must bee constant professors or obstinate blasphemers I would they woulde consider this that say they know not whether to be papists or protestants for both liue alike and therefore both shall be saued alike But they must knowe that Cham escaped the flood as well as Sem but yet he escaped not damnation so easily and so wicked professors in this life doe many times as well as good but death and iudgement shall trie the cause The reasons first because the halting part is often turned out of the way Heb. 12 13. and indeede it is fearefull that alway euill doth surpasse goodnesse as weedes ouergrowe corne and sicknesse ouer commeth health Therefore let vs beware least when we doubt what is best we take the worst as Ieroboam did Moreouer while we doubt in religion wee are carried away by the craftie deceit of men Ephes 4. 14. For heretikes and euill men doe alway labour first to drawe vs into wauering and then to bring vs into condemnation Let vs then abide in that which we haue heard 1. Ioh. 2. 24. for that which is first is truth and that which is last is falshood Let vs not haue tickling and itching eares such as many in our daies haue which like not our doctrine our preachers our praiers our gouernment our sacraments our people and our prince and what will they doe shortly but fall in dislike with our God and all manner of religion Let vs also learne to bee constant 2. Tim. 3. 14. that we be not mooued from it but as Ioab would not come out of the temple but would die holding the altar by the hornes so let vs die holding fast by our altar Iesus Christ And that seeing we must die let vs die in his armes for his sake to his glorie and our owne saluation The xxx Sermon Vers. 28. And afterward I will powre out my spirite vpon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophesie your olde men shall dreame dreames and your yoong men shall see visions 29 And also vpon your seruants and your maidens in those daies will I powre our my spirite THese two verses containe the second part of the spirituall benefits to be powred on them namely the spirite and the graces thereof for when hee saith that he will powre foorth his spirite he meaneth not to diuide the holy Ghost into parcels but by a vsuall figure of the scripture hee putteth the spirite for the graces because wheresoeuer any one grace is there is the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 12. 6 11. By this we may see that the olde fathers and the prophets had some knowledge of the Trinitie of persons in the Godhead for not onely here but in many other places is mention made of the Spirit and we knowe the name of sonne is and was very familiar in the scriptures Hee saith he will powre out his Spirite by a vsuall metaphor taken from water because the holy Ghost is resembled to water Heb. 10. 22. meaning also that hee woulde giue it abundantly in more plentifull manner then heeretofore so that all this pertaineth properly to the kingdome of Christ as Peter sheweth Act. 2. 17. and not to their returne from Babylon By the cohaerence of this verse with the former where is promised knowledge as is heere the holy Ghost wee may note that after God hath giuen vs knowledge hee also will giue vs the holy Ghost Act. 15. 8. so that there is not any one that can assure himselfe that he knoweth God by the word preached but he may also be assured that he is made the temple and dwelling house of the holy Ghost Ioh. 1. 12. this is the onely rewarde in this world of the obedience to the Gospell that we haue the spirit dwelling in vs and opening vnto vs the things of God If the affaires of Potiphar were blessed because he had Ioseph in his house much more blessed are the workes of a christian because he hath the holy Ghost in his hart Oh learne I beseech you to know the Lord by the scriptures for then shall you haue the Lord dwelling in you for then shall not sinne hurt you nor the diuell annoy you you shall not feare any danger nor any death for the spirit shal still comfort you and carrie your spirits into heauen The reasons First because we should euermore haue him in our soules Ioh. 14. 16. the Lord knoweth that wee haue a great deale of sorrow to suffer in the world and therefore he hath prouided for vs a comforter that may helpe vs to beare it and they which care not for their profession care not for the spirit and they which care not for the spirit care not for the Lord. By which we may see how fearefull a thing it is to forsake the profession of the Gospel for then the Lord forsaketh vs seeing vs giue ouer his spirit also the Spirit of the Lord is fire and if it purge vs not it will burne vs. Another reason bicause it may perswade vs that we are in the truth Ioh. 15. 26. for if our profession were but barely gathered out of the scriptures by men then might it be altered as the ministers thereof haue beene altered but the spirit abideth for euer and doth assure our hearts that this Gospell this faith this hope this obedience and this kingdome is the same that Christ taught the saints beleeued good men receiued the disciples liued and all the faithfull haue obtained So that if thou stand in faith and dost peaceably enioy the profession of religion and knowest by the infallible word of God thou art in the way of saluation then reioyce boldly because the holy Ghost is in thy heart as Simeon did when he had Christ in his armes But yet many haue peace in their harts thorough the diuel which are in errour in Poperie in Mahometisme and Idolatrie being perswaded they are in the truth but this perswasion is but counterfaite like as the miracles of the Magitians in Egypt were but counterfaite to the miracles of Moses and therefore not euerie one that is perswaded he is in the truth is to bee thought to haue the holy Ghost but onely they that are perswaded by the scriptures and relye vpon nothing in the world besides Let vs then trie whether as yet we haue had the holy Ghost giuen vnto vs or not for the Lord teacheth Iohn 16. 8. when the holy Ghost is come he will reprooue the
world of sinne of righteousnes and of iudgement of sinne because they abound in it of righteousnes because they want it and of iudgement because they feare it Now search thy soule whether thou haue beene reprooued for these things or not for it wil speake to thee when thou art alone and it wil follow thee whither soeuer thou goest and it will not suffer thee to rest in any sinnes but at the first it will admonish thee gently afterward it will call vpon thee with diligence earely and late if thou amend not It will make thy meate vnsauorie and turne thy sleepe into many feares and then if thou repent not either it will vtterly forsake thee or else lay loade on thee of most fearfull iudgements and terrible wrath of God which will either turne thee into lamentation and great distresse of minde or else into desperation and vtter losse of soule Oh feare my deere brethren for the conscience of these things for it will worke most terribly in you if you haue it you liue in subiection if you offend it you liue in danger and if you lose it you die in trouble Therefore thou art happie when thou art reprooued for sinne thou art more happie when thou art inwardly scourged for thy faults but thou art most happie when thou art repentant in teares and ashes sackcloth and an infinite number of sorrowes so that hereby we see why God exempteth vs from the feare of hell because he keepeth vs vnder continuall correction of sinne Another vse let vs aske for the holy Ghost when wee feele the want thereof Luke 11. 13. for God will send him to those that want him Barren women aske for children sicke men for health olde men for life weake men for strength blinde men for sight and therefore let Christians aske for the holy Ghost For God will be as easily entreated for him as for the other and he will giue vs more ioy then children more comfort then health more good then life more benefite then strength more profit then sight and therefore let vs pray for him more earnestly then for any other of these If you aske how you shall pray for the holy Ghost I answere by the holy Ghost But you will say if you haue him already you neede not pray for him to which I answere you must pray as sicke men doe for life when they haue life so when you haue a little feeling of the holy Ghost pray that it may bee more and that euery little sparkle may be a flame and all our weaknesse turned into strength The persons vpon whom this spirite is to bee powred are sonnes and daughters olde and yoong men and women free and bond for of all these doth the church consist Whereby wee may obserue that there is not any sexe or any man but he is capable of the holy Ghost and so of saluation Isa 44. 3. The reasons are first because they haue receiued the hope of eternall life Tit. 3. 7. secondly the promises are general and there is not any excluded Therefore let vs learne not to greeue the holy Ghost Ephe. 4. 30. nor to quench any motions of the spirit within vs for the beginning of religion is like the blading of the corne if it then bee bitten it neuer groweth more Againe let vs fight against the lustes of the flesh Gal. 5. 17. for the spirite lusteth against the flesh There must bee a pitched field in euery mans soule the soule is one fighter and sinnes are the other the soule is aided by the spirite and our sinnes are aided by the flesh the weapons of the soule are spirituall the word the promises faith hope loue patience and constancie the weapons of sinne are ignorance lustes pleasures ease profite gaine pride selfeloue and prosperitie The meanes wherby they strike are temptations if the soule conquere the sinnes bleede abundance of teares if sinne conquere the soule is quiet and bound in a soft bed of delight that she may liue in perpetuall imprisonment fed with all lothing of goodnesse and starued with vaine shewes of foode stuffed with sweete poisons of many wofull sinnes and so in the end breaketh in peeces and falleth to eternall miserie This is a Christians combate one must needes die the enemies cannot liue in league the battell must needes be fought out and therefore come prepared the lesse thou eatest the better thou shalt endure the more thou watchest in praier the more shall be thy aduantage This battell is like the battell betwixt Dauid and Absolon for our owne sinnes which wee haue begotten doe conspire against vs and as Dauid wept for Absolon when he had gotten the field so wee shall weepe for our sinnes when we haue conquered them and wish that either they had not beene or else that wee had not beene therefore let vs haue the spirite on our sides that we may haue peace in our soules Now follow the effects of the spirite and the first is that they shall prophesie the next that they shoulde dreame dreames and see visions for these were accounted the most honourable works of the spirite before the comming of Christ because herein did the Lorde answere the demaunds of men as we may see in Ioseph Matt. 1. 21. and in Zacharie Luc. 1. And vnder these olde types doth the prophet signifie the abundant graces in the church when euery one shoulde prophesie that is shoulde bee able to speake the worde for the comfort and edification of his brother and euery one should see the counsels of God day and night by dreames and visions and not bee afraide First we may obserue here that none can prophesie but by the spirite of God 1. Cor. 14. 29. It is not possible that any shoulde open the worde of God and speake to the comfort of them that heare him but by inspiration of the holy Ghost therefore those which speake in the congregation and are not able to edifie them that heare them doe nothing lesse then speake by the holy Ghost opening their barren wits to the woonder of the worlde The reasons first because prophesie is an opening of the counsell of God which none can doe but those which haue the spirit of God 1. Cor. 2. 11. Againe it is the spirit of God that openeth our harts and maketh vs able to answere the aduersarie of our profession much more doth it helpe vs when we are to comfort the people of God in the congregation Luke 21. 15. Let vs therefore in our preaching or prophesying learne to prophesie according to the proportion of faith Rom. 12. 6. for as it is a damnable thing before God vnder an oath to couer falshood so is it alike damnable thing vnder pretence of the spirit to teach heresie and impietie Againe let vs learne to trie the spirits 1. Iohn 5. 1. whether they be of God or not for many false spirits are come into the world bringing in againe popery heresie
continuall sight and remembrance then shal they not be forgotten or couered when the number shall be rehearsed And surely me thinkes that the conscience of this matter should mightily terrifie our natures from sin seeing that all our offences are continually in the Lords memorie Some thinke that because the time is long since they committed adulterie or sacriledge or theft or drunkennes or idolatrie now God hath forgotten it and it shall neuer more be laide to their charge But they must knowe that a thousande yeeres are with the Lorde as one day seeing that is past as a watch in the night and therfore the Lord doth as well remember their old committed sinnes as a watchman remembreth who came by him in the night their childish vanitie their youthful wantonnes their sinfull sporting their filthie resting their babish trifling and their merrie pastimes are fresh before the Lord 1. Sam. 15. 1 2 3. The Lord telleth Samuel that he remembreth what Amalek did to Israell Exod. 17. how he was the first that bid them to battle after they came out of Egypt and therefore commandeth Saul to destroy them man woman and childe This was many hundred yeeres after the acte committed and the iniurie offered yet God thinketh vpon it although they had beene alreadie well punished for it And so doth he remember how thou hast oppressed the poore long ago how many acres thou hast encroched how many pounds thou hast gathered by vsurie how many mens cattle thou hast bought by extortion and finally how often in thy yonger dayes thou were negligent to sanctifie the sabbaoth If thy sinnes might fall from thy life as thy teeth in age doe fall from thy mouth thou were happie or if thy life could be chaunged into holines as thy old yeeres turne thy blacke haire into whitenes blessed were thou but alas thy strength faileth thy beautie fadeth thy life weareth thy hand weakeneth thy blood dryeth thy head chaungeth and thy whole bodie stoopeth to the earth yet thy wickednes remaineth vntouched and vnblasted as the Iuie which is thickest and greenest when it hath killed and withered the great oake The vse which commeth of this doctrine is the same that the most wise preacher that euer was taught vs Eccles 12. 13. That seeing God woulde bring euery secret worke into iudgement therefore feare him and keepe his commaundements Howe many waies wee are taught to feare the Lorde appeereth in the former sermons and therefore it were needlesse to vrge this exhortation any farther in this place But if we consider that if it be such a shame to endure the speeches of friendes and enemies in this life for the faultes we haue committed how much more ought wee to blush before the Lord with all the angels of heauen and all the men that euer were are or shall be in the world when at the latter day our faultes shall bee opened when euery one shall hisse at our filthinesse and laugh at our wickednesse Oh confesse thy selfe to a fewe in this world rather then deferre to bee reuealed before all in the ende of the world Thinke not that thy owne estate will be any thing more tolerable because all other men shall haue their faultes also ripped vp and repeated for the more the worse a Iudge will bee more easily entreated for one then for twentie and therefore God will be lesse partiall because so many shall be found guiltie feare not shame but death abstaine not from sinne for the worldes sake but for the Lords sake and let not other mens voices more appalle thee then the sentence of God It hath beene heretofore and shall be hereafter more manifestly shewed that God doth no more spare a multitude then a man or many then one and therefore neuer flatter thy selfe in the matter but onely vse the time and these admonitions that God may forget thy sinnes and then they shall bee forgiuen thee and if they bee forgiuen they shall not bee opened but silenced at the latter day For although we shall then heare of the murder that Cain did of the mocking that Ismael did of the filthinesse that Er and Onan did of the rebellion of Absolon and the treason of Iudas yet wee shall not heare of Noahs drunkennesse or Lots incest or Iosephs oath or Moses vnfaithfulnesse or Dauids adulterie or Peters deniall or of any of the faultes of the elect for their sinnes shall remaine in the graue when their bodies are raised vp to the ioy of another life The xxxiiij Sermon FOr my people In these words we may obserue that God will iudge the world for the iniuries done to his church and for nothing more Psal 9. 17. for hee will then open the counsels thou hast conceiued against the godly how many stripes thou hast giuen them how many times thou hast reuiled them how many waies thou hast oppressed them how often thou hast imprisoned them and how many thou hast murdered of them He will aske thy poore neighbour howe thou didst releeue him howe often thou didst lend him how much vsurie thou tookest of him how many times thou didst harbour him and with what affection of hart thou didst embrace him I graunt that he will open thy other sinnes and condemne thee for them but yet the speciall cause why he sitteth in iudgement at the latter day with all the world before him is that he may make inquisition for the blood of his saints and iustifie his children whom the world condemned The reasons are First because he is the life of the faithfull Col. 3. 4. Secondly because this doth shew his righteousnes 2. Thess 1. 6 7. when he doth acquite the faultlesse and condemne the guiltie The vses which wee may make thereof are these First that wee neuer grieue any of the saints of God Psal 105. 15. when Iehu was to kill all the prophets of Baal he bad them search diligently for the seruants of God and be sure that there were not one among them to be hurt This care ought men to haue of the least and basest in the church that they prouoke them not to complaine vpon them to the Lord for surely if the poorest member of Christ that liueth among vs doe iustly complaine of the greatest Lord and potentate of the world vnto the God of heauen it were better for that Lord that a milstone were tyed about his necke and he were cast into the sea Againe seeing it is so dangerous to offer any violence to any of the Lords children let vs abide in the Lord Iesus Ioh. 2. 28. and then will he reuenge our cause for hee cannot forget his owne stripes and for his sake are we buffeted disdained and mocked and reuiled persecuted martyred and therefore by him shall we be defended reuenged vpō them If we be of the Lords body we cannot hurt the Lords members therfore they which persecute the church speak euil of the poore are none of the
goods whereas you should haue laide your goodes at the Apostles feete what will ye doe when the mouth of God shall pronounce your destruction for medling with his tithes and his offerings and his sacrifices and his liuings as the hand of God did Belshazzars depriuation on the wall surely not your knees will bend but your harts wil quake not your countenance will change but your conscience wil tremble not your loines wil be loosed but your liues not your wealth shall be only destroied but your soules bodies for euer euer Secondly we may obserue out of this vers when he saith that they haue caried into their temples his goodlie pleasant things that God accounteth preciouslie of the meanes of his worship howe basely soeuer the world and all worldlings doe iudge thereof Leuit. 1. 2. for he calleth them his goodly and pleasant things The which thing I woulde haue most diligently obserued that wee may so thinke of the thinges of God as the spirite of God doth deliuer them vnto vs that we finde them goodlie as full of grace and pleasant as filled with delight that we may all saie Oh Lorde howe sweete are thy lawes vnto our hearts yea sweeter then honie to our mouthes For carnall minded men see no more grace in a church then in a tauerne nor no more delight in a christian then in a ruffian nor esteeme any whit better of a preacher then a craftesman or finde any more sweetenesse in a sermon then a plaie or take any more delight in the Gospell then in a little pedlars french Oh howe basely are you minded that cannot thinke better of the Lords matters One of you thinke that there is great goodnesse in an eare of wheate another findeth great delight in a fielde flower another sporteth himselfe with the smell of a rose but none of you can feele any pleasure in that corne that bringeth bread of life or that flower that sheweth the worke of life or that rose that offereth the smell of heauen Laie away thy base thoughts of spirituall matters and knowe that the church is the Lordes house who is greater then a king that the preachers are the Lordes stewardes who are better then lordes that the Gospell is thy soules food sweeter than any iuncate that a christian is the Lordes friend better than any rich man that a sermon is thy Sauiours praise higher then any prince and that the fellowship of saints is more woorth then the valour of knights Thinke I saie howe goodly and pleasant are the wordes full of grace the companie full of goodnesse the praiers full of sweetenesse the Psalmes full of melodie and the soules full of sorrowe which are gathered togither before the Lorde in his church The reasons of this doctrine are these First because hee euermore regardeth what himselfe hath appointed Cant. 5. 1. His church is his garden and therefore he hath planted euery flower growing therin wherewithall hee cannot chuse but bee highly delighted as he was at the beginning when hee sawe that all his workes were good Another reason is bicause he punisheth them seuerely that contemne any part of his ordinance Heb. 2. 2. 1. Cor. 11. 30. and therefore he accounteth preciously of his worde which hee defendeth by his power and of his poore saints whom hee maintaineth by his angels and of his mercie which hee manifested in his sonne and of the neglect of his Gospell which hee punisheth by condemnation Let vs therefore honour whom God honoureth Act. 10. 15. and that which God accounteth precious let vs not cast awaie as vile Because Assuerus honoured Haman all the people of his kingdome did him reuerence and therefore because the Lorde thinketh well of the worde and of the Sacraments and of praier and of preaching and of hearing the Gospell let him bee a dead dogge that speaketh against the same But alas alas as Vasthi would not come although the king hir husband sent for hir so will not our Vasthies men women olde and yoong followe religion and come to the Gospell although God our father and Christ our husband send for them neuer so earnestly but she was rewarded for hir disobedience and was diuorced from the king and so I feare will bee the ende of verie many in our daies to be put out of the Lordes fauour and diuorced from the blessings of Christ And again let vs learne to put on our eies of faith that wee may commend that which God commendeth for except wee can beholde the workes of God and the Gospell of God with spirituall eies it shall neuer bee goodly and pleasant before vs and cast away the blockish dulnesse that oppresseth your braines like a drouzie nap in a shining daie which will not suffer you to beholde the light with any comfort But lift vp your eies as the children of light that you may see the beautie of Christes church the riches of the Lords spirit the treasures of the Lordes saintes the ornaments of a faithfull soule and the glorie of another life The children also of Iudah and the children of Ierusalem haue ye sold vnto the Grecians that yee might send them farre from their border This verse contayneth the last cause of the Lordes iudgement vpon his enimies for that they had sold his seed and seruants vnto the heathen nations with this policie because when they were carried far from their own countrey they should liue like slaues without hope euer to returne home againe These Grecians to whom they solde the people of God were Gentiles or heathens the posteritie of Iauan the sonne of Iaphet who was the eldest sonne of Noah And in this that the Lorde now calleth them to a reckoning because they had solde away his people although they were their captiues vnto infidels we may obserue that it is not lawfull to commit the children of the beleeuers into the handes of vnbeleeuers And for this cause it is reported Gen. 12. 5. that when Abraham was commaunded by God to goe out of Haran where all were fallen to idolatrie into the promised lande of Canaan he tooke with him Sarai his wife and Lot his brothers sonne for he would not leaue him in the hands of Terah Abrahams father and Lot his grandfather because with the residue he then was fallen to idolatrie And this example is a sufficient proofe of the matter to teach vs that we should so loue the soules of the righteous seede that we leaue them not resident among the infidels or Atheists or Papistes or other prophane wretches but to our owne cost and labour redeeme them from the diuels tyranny But in this we may lament First that euen in our times we may see many of yeeres of discretion to runne away into papistical and heathenish warres or else to sauegarde themselues vnder the liueries of them that are open enimies to the Gospell and many to binde and put their owne children the fruit of their bodie
death-bed and although a man haue made no conscience all the time of his health yet on his death-bed will he lie most deuout so let deuotion and religion raigne in them that follow the warres that euery mans death may be a sermon of repentance vnto them and let the trumpet admonish them of iudgement and their continuall danger awake them for the Lordes comming Oh that men of this life woulde so liue that they might fight in lesse danger ouercome with smaller losse liue with greater holinesse and die with greater honour die I saie to honour their countrey with their liues and their Sauiour with their soules Breake your plow shares into swordes and your sithes into speares let the weake say I am strong Hauing handled the pressing of the souldiers now it followeth that we goe to the preparation of weapons in this verse where he biddeth them to take their tooles wherewith they husbande the earth and turne them into the instruments of warre whereby we may obserue that the warre which the faithfull haue against their enimies is as needfull or more needfull then tillage of the earth Gen. 14. 14 15. Abraham to recouer againe Lot tooke all his houshold both shepherds and other and followed the kings which lead him away captiue and by a mayne battle ouerthrew them all And surely many times there is none but they may doe more good in the warre then at the plow and at the slaughter of men then at the mowing of corne If Abraham had not stirred presently all had beene lost and then woe had been Lot which should haue liued a prisoner and forgot the God of Abraham therefore better was it to leaue the sheepe to the danger of the woolfe and the earth to bee vntilled and ouergrowen with weeds then to let any soules of God be captiuate by man or bee taken away from the flocke and visible church of God The reasons First because it is waged for the Lord and for the church 2. Sam. 10. 12. now then it being sometime a part of the Lords seruice what worldly worke is there that must not yeelde vnto it Yea though it be as naturall as the tillage of the earth Againe then doth the Lord take vengeance of the sinnes of wicked men whereupon they were accursed by the prophet Ieremie that did the worke of the Lord negligently meaning those which did not execute the fulnesse of his wrath vpon the wicked that he had giuen into their hands Therefore learne the necessitie of warre and when thou art called then refraine not to come Ios 1. 14. to helpe thy brethren for they are accursed that follow not willingly the warre of God Iudg. 5. 23. Deborah cursed Meroz because it did not helpe Barac against Sisera and so are those faint harted and white-liuered souldiers who are afraide to loose their life in the Lords quarrell Some that are great presse forwarde those that are vnder them other beeing lawfully called buie out their calling with money and so auoide the warre substituting some one or other in their place who peraduenture runneth away before the battle Yea if it be so necessarie let them learne that God is sometime as well serued by killing in the fielde as at an other time by praying in the church and it is better for them to leaue wife and children to goe and fight against the Lords enemies then to liue at home and follow their dayly labour Let vs also learne to entreate the Lord to go forth with our armies against our enimies Psal 44. 9. for there is no policie like his presence no captaine like his direction no power like his grace no sworde like his anger no foe like his displeasure no shot like his breath and no danger like his absence Oh therefore if Barac would not goe except Deborah went with him then goe not to the warre except the Lord goe with thee The Israelites neuer lost battle wherein Iosuah was and therefore neuer shall wee loose the field if the Lord be on our side Let his call command thee his cause prouoke thee his presence arme thee and then shall neuer foe hurt thee Let him be thy captaine to go before thy company to follow after thy prouision to feed thy campe let his lawes gouerne thy souldiers his presence shal preserue thee from danger Oh pray when thou goest that he may guide thee when thou trainest that he may see thee whē thou fightest that he may saue thee Secondly when he thus calleth vnto thē to turne their plowshares into swords and their siethes into speares we may note that it is a thing requisite that euery one doe prouide him weapons for the defence of his countrie and therefore doth the spirite of God 1. Sam. 13. 23. account it a detestable policie of the Philistines who tooke away all the smiths out of Israell because they woulde keepe the Israelites without weapon for therein they were neuer able to trie their cause and to auenge themselues of their tyrannie The reason first because no man by the law of God is forbidden to defend himselfe although in his owne defence he kill his aduersarie yet coulde he not be blamed because the Lord had deliuered him into his hand And in truth I thinke it a rare policie of the diuell in the mouthes of Anabaptists denying Christians to weare weapons because thereby the Turks and Pagans might come vpon vs vnarmed men and so take away our liues and our profession together therefore I hold it as needefull for a man to weare weapon to defende himselfe from wounds as for a man to take physicke to preserue himselfe from sicknesse Let vs not spend more time herein then needeth but let vs learne that we prouide the weapons of the spirit Ephes 6. 11. Bee not armed against men and vnarmed against the diuell be as cunning to defend thy soule from hell as thou wouldest bee to defende thy life from death Seest thou not that a whole nation are ouercome without weapon and so shalt thou be ouercome without the sword of the spirite the shield of faith the helmet of saluation and the darts of faithfull praiers to wounde the infernall foes They are stronger therefore thou must learne more cunning they are wiser therfore thou must get more strength they are swifter therefore thou must strike more sure they are more dangerous therefore thou must bee more zealous Againe when he biddeth the weake to say that they are strong he thereby teacheth vs that we must not admit any excuse to keepe vs from the battell neither sicknesse nor lamenesse nor pouertie nor riches nor youth nor gentrie nor weakenesse must excuse men from fighting of the Lords battels but rather the zeale to doe him seruice must exceede and excell the want which oppresseth vs. Therefore learne from hence how thou oughtest to liue in all thy waies that God looketh for at thy hand no excuse can be