dangers and frequent victories over all their enemies But when they went out of their way by murmuring disobedience and Idolatry then were they stung * Num. 21.6 with fiery serpents and sould into the hands of their Enemies or smitten with the Plague none of Gods Angels comming in to helpe them till they returnd into the way againe by Repentance The Royall Prophet oft harpes on this stringe in the Booke of Psalmes which Saint Hilary truly calles The Key of Scripture If we peruse the Psalmes 44.18.80.106 we shall see the Iewes prospering and flourishing under Gods Protection while they walkt in their way and dejected and abandoned when they started aside like a broken Bow While Samsons haire was uncut which was his Vow of a Nazarite his strength was unresistable but when he went out of his way to Timnah Iud. 14.1 and Delilah had cut his Lockes though he went out against the Philistins as at other times God having left him they prevailed against him When Saul sinned the Spirit of God departed from him 1 Sam. 16.14 Iosiah the best King that ever raigned in Ierusalem never went out of his way for ought We read but once when he would needs fight with Pharoah-Necho King of Egypt who had no quarrell to him and then as if God had watched him to take him in his first fault he miscarried and was slaine 2 Chro. 35. Let us then take heede how wee goe with Ionas to Tharsis when we are commanded to goe to Nineveh least we draw a bitter storme on our selves and those that are in our company The wayes we are to walke in if we expect the protection of God and Assistance of His holy Angels are traced out unto us in the Decalogue where we are taught what to doe and what not to doe The Old and New Testament are Commentaries on these tenne Commandements and therefore we must study read and meditate Gods word if we desire to know His Will and to doe it David askes the question Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way and instantly resolves it Even by ruling himselfe by thy word This word is a Lanterne to our way and a Light to our Paths Psalm 119 in which Psalme almost in every Line there is mention made of the word Law Statutes and Commandements of God wherein the Prophet desires to be instructed and professes to be singularly delighted Since then our way is chalked out in Gods word let us pray with the Prophet Order my steps in thy word so shall no wickednesse have dominion over me Psal 143. Teach me O Lord the way of thy Statutes make me to goe in the Paths of thy Precepts Psalm 119. If we can thus pray with a pure heart God will answer us as Psalm 32.9 I will informe and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt goe and I will guide thee with mine Eye If by prayer and Repentance we can purchase this Grace from God to be guided and directed in our wayes and if we looke to our steps and be carefull not to goe out of the way when he hath set us in we may rest assured of His gracious providence and angelicall protection in our severall vocations But O Lord What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the son of man that thou visitest him Psal 8.4 Thou madest him lower than the Angels and yet thou commandest thy blessed Angels to attend him to have charge over him and to beare him * As Nurles beare young children in their arms So the Originall imports in their hands What moveth thee O Lord to be so gracious and so good to this poore creature of thine 14. Because he hath set his love upon me therefore shall I deliver him I shall set him up because he hath known my Name 15. He shall call upon mee and I will heare him Yea I am with him in trouble I will deliver him and being him to honour 16. With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation The causall Particle here Because iterated Vers 14. is not to be understood as if it implied any Merit in us or as if God were obliged in regard of our knowledg of him to protect us from the Pestilence or to make Lions and Dragons subject to us as he did to David Daniel and others of his children but hath reference simply and purely to his mercy and goodnesse who hath a speciall care of his Elect whom he covers under his wings in all times of danger and to his promise which he hath made to reward freely and not for any desert those that entirely love him and faithfully invocate him If we desire the honour to be called his Sonnes are we not bound to love and honour him whom we call Father Can we doe lesse than love God the Father for creating us after his owne Image God the Sonne for redeeming us when we were lost God the Holy Ghost for alwayes comforting and assisting us And when we have done our best * Deus magis delectatur affectu quam effectu Amb. are we not unprofitable servants Herein is love saith Saint Iohn not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Sonne to be a propitiation for our sinnes 1 Ioh. 4.10 And indeed how could we possibly love him if he had not given us the grace to know him and consequently to love him Ignoti nulla cupido Now although we can claime no merit by our loving of God because it is our bounden Duty yet are we well encouraged thereto by the Reward which accompanies it in vertue of Gods Promise and of his pure Mercy and Goodnesse In the second Commandement he promises to shew mercy to Thousands in them that love him and keepe his Commandements And Psal 31. O love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserves them that are faithfull c. As therefore it is our duty to expresse our gratitude for graces or benefits received by loving God who conferres them so is it an Act of Gods meere goodnesse to love us for loving him and to make us see and feele the effects of his love by his preservation and protection David Psal 130.4 saith There is mercy with thee therfore thou shalt be feared which may seeme to have some repugnancy with the love formerly spoken of in that ordinarily men hate those whom they feare Oderint dum metuant This is true among Barbarians and those that are opprest by Tyrants But we must distinguish betwixt a servile and filiall feare The former is proper to the reprobate the latter to the elect There is no childe of God that will not feare to offend and displease his heavenly Father that hath beene so indulgent and gracious unto him as he must needs acknowledge and confesse if he have any sense of God or godlinesse or any understanding of his stupendious creation redemption and preservation Yea the more graces or benefits he hath received of him the
more will hee feare to displease him Thanks must bee Orall and reall also All that GOD requires is a cordiall Recognition of His Grace and Mercy My sonne give mee thy heart Prov. 23.26 our whole Duty is summarily comprehended in these words Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and love him with all thy strength and with all thy might and thy neighbour as thy selfe By this may wee know whether we love God if we love our neighbour For how can he love God whom hee hath not seene if he love not his brother whom he hath seene saith Saint Iohn 1 Ioh. 4.20 who as he had the Honour to bee stiled The disciple whom Iesus loved so doth he seeme to have appropriated to himselfe the preaching and teaching this doctrin of loving God and our neighbour above all the other Apostles as may be seene by his Divine Epistles I will set him up saith the Psalme because hee hath knowne my Name that is because he hath call'd upon me and worshipped me as may be collected out of the 76 Psalme 1.2 In Iury is God knowne his Name is great in Israel at Salem is his Tabernacle which was the appointed place of his Worship If then we desire to bee delivered and to be set up out of Gun-shot as here is promised we must not only love him and our Neighbour for his sake but worship Him also in such sort as hee hath prescribed in His most sacred Word These Religious duties are necessarily required of all those which expect the Comforts which this Psalm exhibites For all the Assistance and Protection promised from the first words throughout the Psalme have a connexion with this present clause Because he hath set his love upon me because he hath known my Name and a conditionall reference thereto So that whosoever loves not God * That is to the utmost of his power Evangelically not legally perfectly 2 Cor. 7.1 nor worships him truly * See Zech 7.12 13. deceaves himselfe if he think hee dwels under the defence of the most High or that he hath any part in the promises of Deliverance here specified because they are proper only to the godly who being assisted with his holy Spirit shall call upon him so effectually and knocke at Heaven gates so powerfully that he shall heare them and deliver them yea and satisfie them with long life which is more than Salomon desired when God gave him Carta vianca and shew them his salvation which is as much as any man can wish I confesse Sicknesse Poverty and all other temporall Mortifications render men contemptible and despicable to the Wicked N. B. and make them undervalued * See Iames 2.2 to 8. by ordinary Christians who passe their judgments of Men accordingly as they waigh after the Worlds opinion in the balance of Honour Reputation and Wealth But the Child of GOD is promised here not only a Preservative against all dangers so farre and so long as God shall judge expedient for him but also a Restorative when hee hath beene afflicted and humbled For if his enemies have markt him out as their custome is in the time of his Humiliation for one whom GOD lookt not after nor car'd for hee hath a promise here to bee advanced to Honour and which is the height of all temporall Blessings to be satisfied with long life so that hee shall over-live his enemies and be honord by those that despised him when the hand of God was upon him Let Ahaziah then send to Baalzebub the God of Ekron in the time of his sicknesse to enquire whether he shall live or dye Is it not because there is no GOD in Israel saith the LORD 2 King 1. Let gowtie Asa trust in his Physitians 2 Chronicles 16. Let the superstitious Papaline in his sicknesse dishonour the Blessed Virgin by vowing himselfe to her Quum nulla amplius in Medicis spes erat salutis non magna as he blasphemously said in Deo Let them vainly trust to the Oyle of the Lampe * Dignus morte perit qui mortua vivus adorat An experiment of Papists vaine confidence in Reliques against the Plague of Saint Carlo Borromeo the dispensation whereof I have seene with my eyes and my Soule hath grieved to see ignorant people abused by more ignorant Eriers In Iurea the trusting to that Imposture cost the lives of the most part of that Citie and Milan whence it was brought hath suffered beyond beliefe there having died in that state neere three hundred thousand soules Not without cause said the Prophet O bee thou my helpe in trouble for vaine is the helpe of man Psalme 60.11 and Psalme 77.1 In time of danger I will cry unto God yea to God will I cry and he shall hearken unto me I deny not but Physicall Antidotes and Praecautions may be used as secundary means but they must be used with Prayer to God to blesse them and our immediate Trust must be wholly in him and his protection For except the Lord build the house vaine is their labour that build it c. Psal 127.1.2 and therefore * Psal 130.7 O Israel trust in the Lord for with the Lord is Mercy and with him is plenteous Redemption Object Against the whole Tenour of this Psalme and the maine scope thereof there is an Objection not to be past over in silence For whereas David here promiseth great matters to the godly assuring them of the protection of God and his Angels and further that with their eyes they shall see the Reward of the ungodly Experience daily shewes the contrary and hath so done since the beginning of the world Innocent Abel lost his life for serving God truely and for Gods acceptance of his service and our Saviour Epitomizing the Scriptures in this point threatens the Iewes that upon them shall come all the righteous bloud shed on the earth from righteous Abel to Zacharias c. Matth. 23.35 The Church of GOD here on earth is therefore called Militant because it never hath peace but perpetuall Warre affliction tribulation persecution the enemies thereof being mightie viz. Principalities and Powers c. Eph. 6.12 Our Saviour expresly commands all his Followers to take up his Crosse Wicked most dandled in the Worlds lap and in the Book of Psalmes we finde David often complaining of the Adversities of the godly and prosperity of the wicked In the 73. Psal he was shrewdly startled at the contemplation of this point My feete were almost gone my steps well nigh slipt And why I was grieved at the wicked I saw the ungodly in such prosperitie for they are in no perill of death in no misfortune nor plagues as others are but lusty and strong c. Contrarily of the godly hee saith Thou feedest them with bread of Teares c. Psalm 80.5 and which is more For thy sake are we killed all the day long This difficulty is soone resolv'd
his friend in such or such cases and just so hee ought to doe to him And on the contrary he ought to consider what he would do to his friend upon such and such occasions and just so he ought to expect from him They are dissemblers that say they love any man better than themselves and because they want the Truth of friendship they guild over the meanest of their affections with such Protestations and make them appeare more glorious then true friendship it selfe He hath attaind the height of friendship who loves another equally to himselfe and friendship is so indivisible a thing that hee that loves not so * The sordid demeanour of a false friend is thus describ'd by Siracides If he have need of thee hee will deceive thee and smile upon thee and put thee in hope hee will speake thee faire and say What wantest thou And he will shame thee by his meates and at last he will laugh thee to scorne c. Eccl. 13.6 7. Compare Prov. 23.6.7 8. and Eccl. 18.18 and there will result the true Character of a cheating Laban and churlish Nabal D. L. is not worthy of the Name of a True Friend Since then a man ought to love his friend in the same degree that hee loves himselfe then is required betweene friends such an Equality of Worth and Merit that one Friend must in all congruity of Reason equally deserve to bee loved as the other not in that opinion which other men have of them for that is without them and doth not concerne them but in the opinion which they have one of another For the reason why a man loves his friend as well as himselfe is because he assuredly beleeves that his Friends Abilities are both as great and as much his owne as those which he hath himselfe and that he can imagine no Danger or Inconvenience that hee would undergoe to purchase his owne contentment that his friend would not with the same willingnesse put himselfe upon for the same end Neither is an Equality of Birth and Nobilitie to be required For as I said before no men are borne friends neither is Friendship between Men as they are either Kings Lords or Beggers but as they are Men. Neither is a just equality of Age necessary though it bee very convenient that their yeares doe not much differ because the bodies of old and young men do so much differ that 't is almost impossible their affections should runne so requall a course as is fit for the Sympathy of Desires which is ever betweene friends Their estates must necessarily bee equall that is their wants For since no mans state is so plentifull but hee desires still to adde somewhat to it in one kind or other which in his opinion he yet wants Mens estates are in realitie more or lesse one then another according as their Wants are fewer and lesse Essentiall It is fit therefore that the Estate of Friends should bee in common * Of this Community see an illustrious precedent in the Golden Age of the Primitive Church Acts 2.41 to the end in every thing that respects the Conveniencies of Life But in matters of superfluitie there 's no such Necessitie for suppose there were two friends of which one had five hundred per ann and the other a very little yet being a discreet man and out of those Employments which require with the Necessitie as many Abilities to perform them did so manage his little that hee made it supply him all the Conveniences of life there were no Necessitie that hee that had the Great estate should share it with the other But if the one Friend should chance by any misfortune to fall into miserable want it is fit that the other should releeve him to the uttermost penny of his estate For Friends are * Members should have the same care one for another 1 Cor. 12.25 At dum sibi quisque plus satis addictus est alios praeterit ac negligit Hoc vitium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superat amor proximi Vnde autem id nisi a Deo qui particulam suae bonitatis hominum cordibus instillat I. C. Members of equall Dignity of one and the same Body of Friendship And as no man that had one of his hands dangerously wounded and the other whole and had in his Power so much Money as would either cure the hurt hand or buy a fine Ring for a Finger of that hand that were sound would bee so indiscreet as to preferre the vaine affectation of having a Gold-Ring for his sound Finger before the Essentiall benefit of recovering the decayed health of a hand and yet no man would impose a necessitie upon a man that had both his hands sound to divide a Ring that one hand wore with the other Iust so is it with Friends who in points of Necessity ought to joyne both their Forces to the relieving of him that wants but in Matters of Superfluitie let every man enjoy that he hath To conclude True Friendship is the Crowne of all Morall Vertues for Morall Vertue instructs a man to govern all Actions in such a regular Manner as may best serve to preserve society and mutuall Conversation amongst men And as the most excellent and perfectest end of Societie is Friendship so doubtlesse that is the Excellence and perfection of Vertue which directs a man to the Attainement of this most happy state and preserves him in it As it is the Consummation of Vertue so I desire it may bee of my life which I will endeavour to governe by it And I shall esteeme my selfe as happy as the World can make mee if having laid the Foundation of my life in Honesty and continued this Fabricke through the various Opinions of Men and Chances of this World with a perpetuall desire of taking hold of every Opportunitie of doing vertuous and worthy acts I shall conclude my life enjoying and being enjoyed of a constant * A perfect friend is no shaking Reed like Varroes Metamelos inconstantiae filius but like God who is not variable in his Love I am 1.17 Perfect friend in the Noble entercourses of mutuall amity Appendix of LOVE and FRIENDS According to Aristotles Judgement delivered in his second Booke of Rhetorik chap. 4. TO Love is to wish well to another for that others not ones own sake A FRIEND is hee that Loves and is beloved Friends are they that mutually love each other A Friend therefore hee is That rejoyces at anothers good That grieves at his hurt That wishes the same with us to a third whether good or hurt And that is Enemy or Friend to the same person We love them That have beene beneficiall to Us or Ours especially if amply readily or seasonably That are our Friends friends That are our Enemies enemies That are Bountifull That are Valorous That are Iust And those wee would have love Vs. And good Companions And such as can abide Iests And such as breake Iests And such as commend us especially for somwhat that wee doubt of in our selves And such as are neat And such as upbraid us not with our Vices or their own benefits And such as quickly forget injuries And such as lest observe our errours And such as are not of ill language And those that are ignorant of our Vices And such as crosse us not when wee are busie or angry And such as are officious towards Vs. And such as professe the same Trade or course of life where they impeach not each other And such as labour for the same thing when both may be satisfied And such as are not asham'd to tell us freely their faults so it bee not in contempt of Vs and the Faults such as the whole World rather than their owne Consciences condemnes And such as are indeed asham'd to tel us their very faults And such as we would have honour us and not any way to envie but to imitate us And such as We would doe good to except with greater danger or hurt to our selves And such as continue their firme Affection to the Dead And such as speak their minde And such as are not terrible And such as wee may relie on The severall sorts of Friendship are Society Familiarity Consanguinity Affinity c. The things that procure love are the bestowing of benefits Freely Voluntarily Privately FINIS Imprimatur Tho. Wykes R. P. Episc Lond. Capell DOMEST