his people yet he hath declared * Esay 55. 7. promised * Ezechiel 33. 11. yea sworn that if by true repentance sound humiliation and a through reformation of their hearts and lives they will mourn for and turn from their sins enter into a Covenant to walk holily closely uprightly before him keep it and by servent prayer beg for mercy and forgivenesse heartily * Prov. 28. 13. acknowledge their crimes that then he will pardon them be reconciled unto them and not destroy them d Don Anthony de Guavara Diall of Princes Fol. 200. Darius to mock Alexander the great sent to him to know where his treasures were for such great Armies Alexander answered Tell Darius he keeps his treasures in his coffers and that I have no other treasures but the hearts of my friends He that hath God for his friend shall be sure to be rich he shall want no good thing the Lord will give him both grace and glory he will make him both holy and happy And he that makes God his Treasure esteeming loving seeking his favour a sweet holy Communion with him and a stock a hoard of vertue and all heavenly graces above all earthly enjoyments shall be sure to find all precious substance here and to be crowned with eternal felicity hereafter e Rainold Oâ—as p 484. When Caesar had commanded Pompeys Statua's to be erected M. Cicero said thus to him Statuas Pompeii statuisti stabilisti tuas He that sincerely indeavours to honour God shall certainly by it but not for it because all yea more then we can either do or pay is both debt and duty to him * honour himselfe Non reputes magnum quod Deo servis sed maximum reputa quod ipse dignetur te in servum assumere sibi f 1 Sam. 2. 30. Julian commanded by an Edict all the Christians in his Army to sacrifice to his Gods g Spee Chroâ—â—â— p. 171. 173. or else they should lose their places and Honours whereupon Flavius Valentinianus chose rather to forsake the Camp then Christ his Conscience and his Religion but God did eminently abundantly reward him for afterwards he became Emperour of Rome Amongst the Ancestors of the Rhodians it was a Law that if a Father had many Children the most virtuous should inherit and if he had but one virtuous child that then he should be the sole heir of his goods and Estate Only they who art obedient pious gracious men and women shall be Heirs of glory and enjoy the inheâ—itance of the Saints in light It is therefore our wisdome duty interest and will be our comfort peace happinesse to get cleare evidences that this God is our God for unlesse we have a propriety in him and can truly beleevingly experimentally say with Thomas My Lord and my God although he be aboundlesse bottomlesse Ocean of mercy not so much as one drop thereof will ever flow out from him to refresh our souls It s no advantage or comfort to an Esau that the Lord loves a Jacob. Quid mihi profuerit Deus alienus Vae illi qui non habet Deum de proprio The Ark preserved none but only those who were in it from perishing Let us therefore do to God as i Senec. de Benef. lib. 1. Cap. p. 385. Aeschines did to Socrates his Master resigne and give up our souls and selves freely sincerely intirely to him saying with him Nihil dignum te inveni quod dare tibi pâ—ssim hoc modo pauperem me esse sentio Itaque dono tibi quod unum habeo Me ipsum Such is O Lord my poverty that I have nothing worthy of thy acceptance or answerable to my desires to present unto thee and therefore I doe cordially give thee my selfe and then the Lord will answer us as Socrates did him Accipio sed ea lege ut te tibi meliorem reddam quam recepi I do not only accept thee but I will also make and return thee to thy self better richer holier happier then I received thee For if we will be his people then the Lord will be our God and in and with him we shall enjoy all good things but without him nothing Because Quicquid praeter te est Domine non reficit non sufficit si ad Corpus sufficit non tamen perpetuo satiat quum adhuc amplius quaeratur qui autem te habet satiatus est finem suum habet non habet ultra quod quaeratur quia tu es supra omne visible audibile adorabile gustabile tangibile sensibile In a word what King Henry the 5th promised to his Souldiers when he said to them h Speed Chroâ— p. 796. Whosoever desires Riches Honor and Rewards here he shal find them Ni mirum haec medio posuit Deus omnia campo the Lord of hosts makes good to his people who are sure to find life in his favour to receive grace with every good thing here and eternal glory hereafter This is the portion pay and promotion of all that faithfully serve that truly love God The Prayer MOST High most holy most gracious and most glorious God since thou art both the Lord of Hosts and the King of Saints the Father of Mercy and the fountain or rather the inexhaustible never-failing every fully sweetly and freely satisfying Ocean of all true felicity heavenly Joyes heart-reviving supporting Graces and thirsty soules Let all those I beseech thee that know and professe thy name fear love trust obey thee and delight in thee Let them know thee savingly fear thee filially love thee cordially obey thee sincerely and delight in thee chiefly yea infinitely more then in Corn Wine Oyle pleasure profit honour and all sublunary enjoyments Let oh Lord nothing please quiet or content them till they have gotten comfortable evidences of thy special Love and untill they enjoy an humble holy sweet communion with thee Let them not account the choysest rarest most endearing things in the whole world worth either desiring seeking or possessing without thee since they all are if they do not flow from thy Love in Christ as well as come or streame from thy common thy general providence but shels without kernels Bones without marrow Combes without honey and Huskes without fruit to those that receive them that so being sensible and perswaded of their Creators All-sufficiency the Creatures emptinesse deceitfulnesse insufficiency their own nothingnesse unworthinesse wretchednesse loathsomnesse and spiritual misery by reason of their Originall pollution actual Rebellions and crying abominations committed against thee they may beg earnestly heartily constantly to thee who alone canst and wilt hear help heal them for spiritual Mercy for hearts to abhor sin humiliation for sin pardon of it strength against it and victory over all sinne for mindes to know thee holinesse to be like thee sincerity to please grace to glorifie thee and for thy Favour which is at once like a Cabinet of Pearl full of most precious unvaluable
gemms Joy Peace Honour Riches Comfort Light Life and Blisse O let us all-blessed God make thee our end our Center and Rest our Portion Our Treasure and our All and let us never be quiet till we know and experience thee to be a reconciled God and our merciful Father in and through thy dear Son Jesus Christ that so we may both enjoy thy Love O God which is better then life whilst we sojourne upon earth and live Crowned with the God of Love in glory when these Mud-wall'd Cottages of our fraile Bodies shall be crumbled and resolved into Dust by Death Grant this O God for Jesus Christ his sake Amen Sine Deo nec Gratia Gaudium Bonum nec Coelum II. Of Jesus Christ and A Christians Duty unto Christ HEE is truly really both God and man God that he might satisfie the Lords justice appease his wrath justifie and acquit guilty condemned man * Propter hominem homo Deus factus est man that he might die for sin purchase life for those who were spiritually dead and redeem them both from their woful slavery and from eternall misery He put off those Royall robes of Majesty and Glory and put on in his Incarnation the course rotten Garments or rather rags of flesh and frailty and so became like us in all things sin only excepted Behold here infinite astonishing miraculous debasement Compassion Condescension The Creator of the world became a mortall man the King of Kings a subject Man sins and his God willingly dies to expiate his Crimes The Actions and passion of this blessed Jesus are a continued series of miracles a golden chain let down from heaven to earth all whose links are love mercy goodnesse pity wonder a Dio Cassius Trajanum ferunt suorum vulneribus medicam manum adhibuisse cum fasciae dificerent nec fuaelquidem vesti pepercisse sed eam totam in ligamenta fomenta discidisse But this and ten thousand times more Compassion affection charity is not so much as a drop to the Ocean a beam of light to the Sun or a dust in the ballance to the whole earth compared with the love of Christ to undone man For never did the most tender hearted Soveraign do that for a wounded Souldier nor yet the most faithful lover for his dearest friend which Jesus Christ did for his deadlyest enemies What Prince did ever give his Throne Kingdome to his chiefest Rebells What Physitian did ever let the bloud out of his own heart to cure a most malitious unthankfull Patient What Judge did ever freely sacrifice his own life to save a condemned malefactor who did not only desire and resolve but indeavour to murther him upon the Bench What Generall or Commander did ever suffer willingly himself to be mortally wounded to cure the hurts or save the lives of those Souldiers who conspired to betray him Yet Jesus Christ did all this and infinitely more for he left heaven descended out of the Chariot and came down from the Throne of his Glory to sit upon his foot-stool the earth He willingly indured a close imprisonment in that dark Dungeon the womb of his both Mother and Creature for a time and afterwards he removed himself into that greater Gaole the world into which he was no sooner entred by his birth but disregard dishonor contempt dangers attended on him saluted him and was the best entertainment the chief Rent and Homage which his Tenants Subjects Creatures afforded presented paid unto him their Lord King Creator Immediately yea constantly after this cold uncivil unkind ingrateful usage till his death bloudy enemies hunted this Royal Lion of the Tribe of Juda to destroy him cruell Eagles pursued this harmlesse galless Dove to prey upon him Malitious cunning Foxes attempted to catch this innocent meek Lamb of God whom they should have worshipped to worrey him some openly persecuted others secretly combined against him some impudently affronted others subtilly by questions varnished with Religion and gilded with pretence of conscience laboured to insnare him some scorned and derided others blasphemed him This golden Ball was continually bandied and tossed up and down in the Tennis Court of this world by wicked men with the Rackets of Implacable malice inraged ignorance blind ambition and barbarous persecution till he was stricken into the hazzard of his Grave by the hand of death And yet all this was kindnesse Comdie to those injuries to that Tragedie which he received and soone after acted for they consulted apprehended accused buffeted derided reviled undervalued insulted slandered crowned with thornes at once to mock and wound him arraigned condemned and then crucifi'd him And yet all this too was love ease pleasure mercy to that ineffable yea unconceivable misery which their own and the sins of the whole world burthened and afflicted him withall in that bloudy violent terrible conflict of his upon the cross with sin Satan and the wrath of God the dreadfulnesse weight horror and fiercenesse whereof was such that it amazed affrighted nature and almost unhinged the whole Creation * Matth. 27. For the sun of heaven whilest the son of God was suffering upon earth hid his resplendent face under a pitchy cloud at once blushing grieving and fearing to behold so sad a spectacle The heavens put themselves into mourning wore a sable garment and gave a black livery to the world when that prodigious fact was committed that so they might both weare an habite sutable to the crime and apparell heaven aâ—d earth in a dresse fit to attend their maker withal to his grave expressing their sorrows in showers of tears The very Rocks to upbraid his more then flinty hearted Enemies to teach them and us compassion when others especially those who are innocent do suffer and compunction when we by sinning do crucifie our Saviour did relent yea break and because man was dumbâ— or rather silent and would not they clave themselves into mouths and tongues to proclaim and preach his Majesty mercy Divinity torments funerall The senselesse earth seemed to apprehend grew aguish and falling into a cold fit she did quake and tremble as if shee had both understood and been terrified with those wofull dismall dreadful calamities plagues and judgments with her equally stupid cruell and rebellious Children were then with both hands deliberately diligently certainly pulling downe upon their own wicked heads and by that fearfull bloudy prevailing Imprecation * Matth. 6 25. his bloud be upon us and our Children importuning an omnipotent just and highly offended God to intail upon their unborne posterity The vail of the Temple rent from the top to the bottome in twain and by that Sympathizing mysterious Act did declare assure and publish both to them and all the world 1. That the vail of ignorance and superstition which had so long covered and blinded the minds of men should be immediately taken way and torne in pieces by the promulgation of the glorious precious comfortable Gospell
be merciful to sin is to be cruel to our selves since he that loves and spares it doth not only lash and wound but * O Israel thou hast distroyed thy self Hâ—sea 13. 9. murder himself Because as holiness is both a work an incomparable felicity and a reward So sin is both a Crime a punishment and an Executioner to all unconverted offenders Pharoah's sins as well as the Sea drowned him * Numb 16. 32. And Corah's swallowing down sin without repentance was the cause that the earth swallowed up him without example for never did so many of her ungracious children as he his wicked companions were who was therefore most justly by God made wofully miserable in that dreadful destruction because they was all wilfully guilty of that damnable Rebellion fall down into her gaping inlarged new made mouth slide or rather tumble head-long into her empty greedy stomack entrails or lye down alive in her cold and mercilesse bosome before O the misery and madnesse of a gracelesse Sinner How can he expect or hope to escape the dreadful vengeance of God that by his unkindnesse unthankfulnesse and undutifulnesse to his heavenly Father hath most justly provoked the God of mercy to become his everlasting enemy What the people of Rome said when they lamented the death of Octavius Augustus he will most certainly when 't is too late have cause in another sense to say Vtinam aut non l Aurel. Vict. nasceretur aut non mor eretur would he had never been born or never dyed The Prayer O LORD thou art a God infinite in all Divine perfections Thou hast all things and art all things eternally from within and unto thy most glorious self Thou dost therefore want neither the praises nor the Services of either the most gracious Christians or the most glorious Cherubims The holinesse praiers and duties of Saints or Angels can add nothing to thy most transcendently divine Excellencies Nor can the vices vilenesse crimes and Sinnes of men lessen stain or eclipse thy Glory Yet such O Lord is thy miraculous condescensiâ—n thy wonderful thy undeserved Compassion to the Bankrupted posterity of Adam that thou art pleased not only to acquaint but also to assure all those who walk humbly conscientiously holily before thee and sincerely endeavour to praise thy great and glorious name that though they be but dust ashes and worms yet they do honour and glorifie thy ever blessed Majesty And although sin be so contrary to thy holy nature opposite to thy righteous Laws and Will and loathsome in thy pure eye that even the least sin is a great yea an infinite offence injury and contempt done unto thee and doth at once vex load and grieve thee Yet such O Lord is thy never enough to be admired acknowledged or magnified mercy and patience to rebellious self-polluting poysoning self-ruining Man that thou dâ—st not only forbear to punish plague and damne him but thou art also pleased though he daily offend thee and persist in his provocations of thee and reject thy gracious tenders of peace pardon and salvation to seek unto him to intreat yea by thy Ministers to importune and beseech him that he would be reconciled to thee love accept imbrace thee and thy offered mercy that so tbou mayest forgive own delight in him deliver and save him both from Wrath and Death O Lord let the riches of thy unparallel'd goodnesse long-sufferance and forbearance lâ—â—d us unto speedy unfeigned hearty Repentance Let the serious consideration of the cursed defiling deforming damnable nature of sin the guilt whereof could not be expiated nor the filth thereof purged away with any Sacrifice but the bloud and death of the only Sonne of God Jesus Christ both God and Man make us not only fear but tremble to commit the least evill O let it pierce and break our hearts with Grief and Remorse to consider how we have pierced our Saviours very heart and broken his most just and holy Commandements by our wilfully transgressing against him Let O Lord our spirits melt mourn and bleed within us for our shedding and trampling under our profane feet without pity or sorrow that precious bloud of our dearest Saviour which alone can cleanse and cure our defiled wounded Souls Whensoever we are tempted to commit any sinne let us O Lord not only meditate and remember what it cost Christ to make our peace with a displeased God to pay our debts and to ransome our inthralled Souls but let us also set before our eyes and look upon Jesus Christ who never committed any sin sweating suffering grâ—aning wounded bleeding and lying for our Sins that so we may in his unexampled and unexpressible miseries with the eyes of detestation and lamentation behold the danger and desert of our own Iniquities Let not sin most holy God be sweet dear or delightfull to us which was Gall and Vinegar bitter painful and deadly to Jesus Christ O let the knowledge of thy power and purity awe and deterre us from evill but chiefly let our frequent serious admiring and thankfull reflexions upon the bounty mercy and long-suffering of our gracious God and the free the infinite Love of Jesus Christ prevail with us and make us both watchful and carefull to detest decline loath leave confesse forsake and crucifie all our lusts and transgressions and to love honour please praise and glorifie our God And let us not imbrace entertain or welcome sinne into our hearts and crucifie our blessed Saviour any more lest our bloudy cruelty both to him and our own souls deprive us for ever of Christ Comfort Grace and Glory Amen Peccatum lethale est Venenum Quod delectat necat V. Of the World and the brightest Jewell in its Crowne Soveraignty 'T is a fools Idol a wise mans Inne 't is a storehouse of vanities a shop full of gaudy but empty pots a fair house haunted with evil Spirits it 's a maze a desert a disguised mockery an Ocean of troubles a pitfal to the rich a burden to the poor a traducer of the good a deceiver of all that love and trust it 'T is a Garden enamelled with beautiful flowers under which lurk deadly Serpents a green soft pleasant walk covered and bespread with nets and snares a Speed Chron p. 118. a path like that of a Heliogabalus strawed with the powder and dust of Gold and silver but leading to a Gibbet A sweet spring set round with lime-twigs a stately wealthy Citie infected with the plague 'T is the body's Paradise but a Purgatory to the soul 'T is a painted treacherous Harlot which allures invites but destroys her Lovers a tender Nurse to vice dandling it upon her knees of Pleasure and Profit but a step-mother which hates and strangles vertue 'T is a dâ—ie pit a broken Cistern in a drought an empty cloud a Feast in a dream and without Christ as one said of her dead husband a cold armful And as for Soveraignty though
Gall then Honey in it To arise to honour it is enough that the body sweat water but to maintain it it is necessary that the heart weep bloud said Sophia the Emperesse to Tiberius Thou wilt not deny said one to Alexander the great that all which thou hast in thy Conquest gotten is little and that the quietnesse which thou hast lost it much the Realms which thou hast subdued are many but the cares sighs thoughts which thou hast heaped upon thy heart are infinite for the Gods do seldome suffer them to injoy that quietly in peace which they have unjustly gotten in warre s Bacon Essai 19. p. 105. Kings like to heavenly bodies have much veneration but no rest for the choycest and best refined treasures or favours which the world hath to bestow upon her eldest sons are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Giftless gifts nor doth she only deceive her Favourites but destroy them also even by advancing of them the price which they usually pay for their worldly felicity being not only temporal calamities but too often eternal miseries For dignity is not only often but most commonly the moth of vertue honour the Canker of honestie power the poyson of piety and greatnesse is too frequently the death of goodnesse t Mr. Baâ—ter Saints everlasting rest p. 78. The difficulty is so great of conjoyning graciousnesse with greatnesse that is next to an impossibility and their conjunction so rare that they are next to inconsistent To have a heart taken up with Christ and heaven when we have health and abundance in the world is neither easie nor ordinary u Oâ—uphriâ—s Pius quintus dixisse fertur Cum essem religiosus sperabam bene de salute animae Cardinalis factus extimui Pontifex Creatus pene despero Quid igitur insanius quam pro momentanea felicitate aeternis te mancipare suppliciis 'T is a madnesse even to miracle to lose eternal blisse and glory to gain temporal withering honour and mundane felicity The Prayer O LORD thou art that God who didst both create this beautifull World out of nothing and dost know that there is nothing in this bewitching beguiâ—ing insnaring intangling World that can either afford the Soul of man any reaâ—â— Comforts or make it truly happy For if thou but frown chide hide thy face or manifest the least displeasure against us all the lower springs of Creature-comforts will immediately fail dry up disappoint deceive us and like the early dew or morning Clouds consume fly away and vanish before the heat and wind of thy fiery wrath and fierce fearful irresistible Indignation Let therefore Christians O Lord I beseech thee that know the greatness the terriblenesse of thy Power admire thine omnipotency adore thy wisdome praise thy goodnesse tremble at thy wrath strive for Heaven and contenm the World Let them O Lord prefer Goodnesse before Greatness Holinâ—sse before Honour Piety above Pleasure and Righteousnesse bâ—yond Riches Let them not ship-wrack their Consciences or destroy their Souls for Dominion Let not their Ambition to be great men make them forget neglect or cease to be Christians and good men Let them study and endeavour more earnestly to command their own rebellious hearts to govern aright their unruly passions to get their misplaced Affections unnailed and their head-strong traiterous Lusts subdued then to obtain Authority or Dignity amongst Men. And let ibem account it a greater happinesse mercy advancement glory to be Loyall faithfull dutifull Subjects and Servants to Jesus Christ then to be Soveraigns over Kingdomes Let not their eyes be blinded with the Splendour of power nor dazled with the Lustre of Honour nor their hearts and affections lime-twigg'd by an inordinate sinfull Love of Wealth or Greatnesse that so their rise may not prove their ruine their exaltation their destruction their power their poyson and that so their temporall Eminency and momentany Felicity may not usher them unto ingulph and suck them into or both sadly suddenly unexpectedly and unpreparedly end in ever enduring misery Amen Mundus delectat decipit destruit VI. Of Loyalty and Rebellion THAT Kings whose Originall in England is beyond the Memory of History whether good or bad do derive and receive their Authority immediately from God That Subjects do justly and indispensably owe both submission and subjection unto them And that God hath placed them so far beyond the power and so high above the reach of their Subjects cruel unjust ingrateful when against them armed hands that they are accountable to himself only for their Actions are Truths so bright so evident that we may run and read them confirmed by the sacred Scriptures asserted by the pens of learned men and sealed with the bloud of pious Christians in all Ages * prov 8. 15. By me saith God Kings reign †Dan. 2 21. He removeth Kings and seteth Kings up * Dan. 1. 37. The God of Heaven saith Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar a wicked King hath given thee a Kingdome power and strength and glory 2. Touch not mine anointed saies David a man after Gods own heart †1 Sam. 24. 5. whose Counsel and Command to others was his own * practise as well as Duty Nor are we only inhibited to oppose or resist him for there is no rising vp against him sayes wise * Prov. 30. 31. Agur But which is yet more we are prohibited by †Eccles 8. 4. Who may say to a King what dost thou words to question him much more then certainly it is unlawful and sinful for his Subjects to depose or with Swords to murder him Holy Augustine tell us that Kings have their Kingdomes from God not from men Solus verus Deus dat regna terrena bonis malis Famous Bracton saith positively Rex non habet superiorem nisi Deum The King hath no superiour but God The Oath of Supremacy which we take both as lawful and necessary hath these expresse words in it The Kings Highnesse is the only Supream Governour of this Realm and all other his Highnesses Dominions and Countreys as well in all spirituall or Ecclesiastical things or Causes as Temporal c. And Lastly our a Magn. Cha. 29. Law saith That none shall be arrested imprisoned disseized of their Estates deprived of his Liberty banished or otherwise destroyed but by the verdict of his equalls and the Law of the Land This Magna Charta was granted enacted confirmed by the Kings of England from whom this and all other Laws receive their life and being For he is Anima Legis his Fiat animates and quickens them without it Bils are but breathless Embryo's where or whence then have we any Law or just power to restrain imprison arraign condemn banish or to destroy our Sacred Soveraign who hath no peers no equals within his Dominions Thirdly this truth That Christians ought not to resist or Râ—bell against their Kings though Pagans Papists or Tyrants hath been subscribed by millions of
Lawful Soveraign but also to think * Eccles 10. 10 or †wish any evill to him d Cap. 25. â— 3. And the Law of England hath made it high Treason for any one or all his Subjects but to imagine his Death Much more certainly then are we forbidden to do any evill to our King to tâ—ke up Arms against him and to seize apprehend imprison Arraign Condemn Murder him Our Law saith the King can do no wrong it must needs be then against all right reason justice equity Conscience that he should suffer any wrong by or from his Subjects who cannot attempt his destruction without being guilty of Treason nor act it unlesse they repent without Damnation God sayes †2 Pet. 2. 13. 17. we must submit to him how then can we justifie our selves in rising up against him Let us therefore not only esteem Gods command our Duty but let us make it our delight care and resolution inviolably to observe it Let us remember and consider that Loyalty is pleasing to God an honour to Religion a Bulwark against forraign invasions an Antidote against the stinging killing power of the Law but that Rebellion * 1 Sam. 15. 23. is as the sinne of Witch-craft which is death without mercy by the Lawes both of †Levit. 20. 17. God and Man 'T is a crimson sluce pull'd up to let in Confusion together with all other imaginable yea unexpressible miseries upon a people 'T is a bloudy Flux that often destroyes but alwaies extreamly weakens that Body politick that unwise unhappy Kingdome which is diseased and afflicted with it 'T is that furious Wild-fire which quickly turns the strongest the best built and the most flourishing Nation into Ashes T is a Cart-rope of Iniquity that draws down Gods heaviest Judgments upon a People T is a dagger that stabs Religion to the very heart and le ts out the Life-bloud thereof T is a sword that cuts the Sinews and ligaments of Love Unity Honesty Justice Mercy and Piety asunder 'T is the Devils grand Engine wherewith he batters down the Throne and Temple of Christ in a State the means he uses to erect his own Kingdome upon their Ruins 'T is the broad way to Poverty Infamy Death and Damnation The Triumphs of Traitors are nothing but glorious Chariots wherein Satan drives them securely furiously suddainly to destruction Their most eminent Conquests are only barbarous successful Murders publick Robberies and short-lived prosperons Impieties For Rebells like blind Samson do alwaies pull down Ruine either upon their own or upon their Posterities heads or both Their Victories do but multiply at once their Iniquities and Calamities God abhors them good men detest them Vengeance pursues them their scarlet Crimes cry aloud for Plagues to be inflicted on them and their deserved Execution is often as strange sodain and unexpected as their wicked horrid cursed practises are loathsome in the eye of God and odious to all gratious honest men And that you may see what signal marks of Infamy Misery Indignation and Detestation the King of Kings God Almighty hath visibly set upon Traitors I shal present you with a few instances of his severe yet most righteous dealings with them and the uufortunate Children of some of them Was not Absalom justly and strangely punished That head which contrived the sin cut off the sinner for his Hair became his Halter he hanged by it upon an unexpected Gallow-tree and so perished †2 Kings 12. 20. The Servants of Joash conspired against him and slew him * 2 Kings 14. 5. But Amaziah so soon as he was confirmed in the Kingdome slew those wicked Servants that murdered his Father Julius Caesars Butchers came all of them to untimely Deaths and some of them were cut off by their own hand with those very Weapons wherewith they killed him But since I need not travaile out of England to fetch examples of this kind I shall offer a few of our own to your view and serious perusall King Henry the 6th was deprived of his Kingdome and together with his young Son Edward imprisoned and put to death by King Edward the 4th King Edward the 4th died not without suspicion of poyson After his death his two Sons were imprisoned and murdered in the Tower by their bloudy Uncle the cruell Duke of Glocester who being a Tyrannical Usurper was encountred and justly slain in Bosworth Fields by Henry the 7th King Henry the 〈◊〉 an Usurper had only one Son and one Daughter his Son William was drowned in his passage from Normandy his Daughter Maud was disinherited by Stephen of her Birthright and Eâ—stace the only Son of King Stephen died mad in his Fathers life-time But that English Judas Machiavil Ravillack Cromwell though he deserve to lead the Van of all Heathenish Atheisticall Peâ—jur'd Jesuitical Traitors shall bring up the Rear of these Odious Execrable Exampler He murdered his Gracious Soveraign Exiled his pious Son enslaved his Fellow-Subjects shed abundance of innocent Bloud Tyrannized over Three Kingdoms Nursed Heresies protected and promoted Traytors justified Rebellion designed laboured and endeavoured to extirpate Monarchy together with all the Royall Progeny of our late blessed King of ever glorious Memory This is that Cromwel of whom as of most Tyrants that may be truly affirmed which Florus saith of Beasts sc Maxime mortiferi esse solent morsus morientium bestiarum for usually the Older the Crueller the nearer their end and destruction the bloudier and more barbarous they are His name stinks worse then his rotten carcasse his memory is loathsome to all honest hearts and his Children who had built their nests amongst the Stars are tumbled down by the angry Arme of a just God and do now lie level with the surface of the earth not so much as a branch sprout or stump of that hollow rotten tree remaining either in power or honour So true is that of Curtius Nulla quaesita scelere potentia est diuturna Thus we see that Rebellion kindles such a Fire as will not be quenched till either the Traytors themselves or their miserable posterity be consumed The joy of Hypocrites is but for a moment and the triumphing of the wicked is short saith Zophar Since I began to write God hath effected two more famous Monuments of his hatred against Rebellion in England I shall therefore though I intended to add no more briefly mention them The one is his mercifull blasting the hopes of those persons commonly called the fly-blown stinking Rump The other is his seasonable breaking the horns of those Phanaticks in the North. This is the Lords doing and it is marvailous in our eyes And thus we see again that though God may for a time forbear to punish Rebellion yet he will not forget it Though the just Laws of men may sleep or rather seem to slumber a while yet they will both surely and quickly awaken And though they may be gagged or bound by the cruell
hands of Violence and Treason yet they will most certainly be rescued set at Liberty and preserved to the disappointment terror unpitied destruction and the joyfull execution of the enemies of God and the King For whose happy Restauration without swimming through a Sea of Christian bloud to his Throne and his preservation from barbarous bloudy men when he is safely arrived and restored let us all frequently heartily cry unto the Lord. The Prayer ANd be thou pleased most gracious God I humbly beseech theeto protect his Royall person from open violence and secret Conspiracies Let no weapon formed against him prosper and let every arm stretched out against him wither Make him O Lord good and great holy and happy Establish his Throne in peace upon the sure foundations of Truth and Righteousnesse Crown him with the chiefest and choycest of all thy blessings Be O Lord a shield and a Sun unto him fasten him as a Nail in a sure place and make him a gracious ancient glorious Father in Israel Shour down the Mercies and Comforts of the upper and nether springs upon the Heads and Hearts of him and the rest of that Royall Family Cause dear God Wars to cease Religion to flourish and Love to abound in this Kingdome Let not our sins provoke thee to turn our Goshen into an Aceldama any more Make O Lord our Soveraign happy in his People make his People happy in Him their rightful King and make us all happy in the enjoyment of thy love protection and favour for Jesus Christ his sake Amen Per obedientiam pax prosperitas libertas per Rebellionem Inf elieitas poena paupertas infamia desolatio damnatio VII Of Riches Riches are a golden hook wherewith Satan catches and destroys the greedy Sons of Mammon They are without Grace the rust canker poyson that eat consume and kill the very sinews heart and vitals of honestie contentment piety They are nothing without Christ but silver letters glorious burdens guilded miseries glittering troubles shining vexations painted Cares afflicting friends miserable Comforters Aegyptian reeds broken Cisterns birds on wing a squalid Gloworm They are the Mother of Pride fewell of contention pandars to vice Divitiae sunt alimenta vitiorum voluptatum organa Clavis aurea scelerum They make men the prey of Enemies spunges of Tyranny and the Butâ— of envy And therefore when the a Aemy Probus in vita Thrasibuli p. 28. Mitylenians had given to Pittcus one of the seven wisemen many thousand acres of Land he refused their gift saying Nolite rogo vos mihi dare quod multi invideant plures etiam concupiscant Do not I pray you said he bestow that on me which many will envy and more will covet Riches they breed a Dropfie in the mind which makes it thirst insatiably They make that Heart which immoderately loves them like the ground wherein the Mines are found so barren that no good thing grows in it They are that fair inticing apple for which men lose Paradise * Prov. 11. 4. false friends in distresse a shadow which vanisheth when the clouds of sicknesse trouble of mind * If every feather in that fetherbed whereon I lye were a piece of Gold it would now doe me no good if I had not made my peace with god said that sincerely gracious eminently religious and most heavenly Servant of Jesus Christ Ms. Sarah Sharp of Filby in Leicestershire upon her death-bed who put off her rotten Rags of flesh and frailty to be clothed with the white precious and shining Robes of Immortality Felicity glory March the 14. 1658. or death hang over our heads being no more able in such a condition to quiet content or satisfie the mind with reall Comforts then vertue is to fill a pot or the sight of Gold an hungry stomack As that rich-poor man found who being very sick and full of grief called for a bag of Gold and laid it at his heart in hope thereby to find help and ease but presently after he called to them that stood by to take it away saying O it will not do it will not doe Riches they glue and nail the heart of a Worldling to the earth so that what Valerius saith of Ptolomaeus King of Cyprus he was in title King of that Island but in his heart a miserable drudge of money may in truth be affirmed of most very wealthy men They are called Impedimenta the b Bacon Essaâ— 33 p. 205. Baggage of vertue that hinders men in their march towards Heaven They are compared to long garments which hinder men from running the Race of Piety Gold and Silver are too heavy metals for him to carry that seeks Heaven They are the roots of care and the seeds of Trouble Divitias invenisti requiem perdidisti King Eutrapeus used to heap most riches on them whom he most hated saying that together with their Riches he should crush and oppresse them with aâ— heavy burden of cares And Bishop Latimer said in a Sermon Believe me auditors if I had an enemie to whom I might lawfully wish any evill I would desire chiefly that he might be very rich because I am certain that when once he enjoys abundance of wealth he will alwaies want rest and quiet Riches they dead our affections to heavenly things and make us prefer gain before Godlinesse Silver before Sanctitie Plentie before Pietie and cosfers full of Gold before a gracious Christ If I were not Alexander the great I would be Diogenes the Philosopher said Alexander If I were not great I would be good sayes a rich man 'T is almost impossible saies one 't is a miracle of grace sayes another for a rich man to be righteous And yet if Riches be sanctified Prov. 10. 12. they are great * blessings and singular advantages to honour God and to do good withall to others if not curses being like poison if corrected physick if not death and like muck if not spread abroad good for nothing Wealth consists not in having but in desiring Vis fieri dives nil cupias Wouldest thou have enough desire nothing A contented mind is Lord of both the Indies c Plut. Apophthegm The Samnites after M. Curius had overcome them in battaile sent unto him for a present a good Sum of Gold the Embassadors came found him sitting by the fire side tending the Pot wherein he boiled certain Râ—pe Roots and tendring the present to him he gave them this answer d Plurimum habet qui desiderat minimum habet autem quantum vult qui vult minimum Putean Orat. 1. That he who could content himself with such a supper had no need at all of gold Would ye be rich be vertuous and righteous Be vertuous because they only saith an Heathen Qui virtute sunt praediti divites sunt soli enim possident res et fructuosas sempiternas solique quod proprium est divitiarum contenti sunt rebus suis c. Be
righteous because fidelibus totus mundus divitiarum est saith a Christian the Saints have all the world for their possession And if you would increase your riches the surest way is * Prov. 11 24. 1 Tim. 6. 19. Charitably to scatter them e Reinold Orat p. 397. Divitiae quo aliis jurandis profunduntur magis eo magis nobis ipsis amplificantur servando minuuntur minuendo crescunt acquiruntur largiendo congeruntur dissipando cetinentur impertiends Si parcas perdis amittis si recondas si distribuas custodis non erunt diu tuae si sint solius tuae nunquam erunt magis tuae quam si cunctis communes facias Qui ditissimus esse volet profusissimus sit oportet qui parcissimus esse studet egentissimus sit necesse est sayes the Orator elegantly Riches the more bountifully we distribute them the more abundantly we encrease them They are lessened by keeping and multiplied by lessening of them they are gotten by giving them away heaped together by dispersing and retained by bestowing of them If we spare them we consume them if we hide them we lose them but if we releive others with them we save them They will not stay long with us if we keep them only to our selves they will never be more truly ours then when we freely communicate them to others If then we would be wealthy we must be liberall since the way to be beggerly is to be niggardly and to be poor to be parsimonious The safest place to keep our Riches in is Christs treasury the poor When Alexander the Great had given away his Treasure and they asked him where it was he pointed to the poor and said in Scriniis in my Chests And the only way to take our wealth with us to Heaven or to find it there is to send it before on poor mens backs thither Money is a good Maid but a bad Mistress If we over love Riches they will destroy us If we trust in them they will deceive us They will serve a wordly wicked man when he puts off from the shoar of life by sicknesse and launches into the Ocean of eternity by death as Pharaohs Chariot wheeles did him and the Aegyptians in the midst of the red Sea they will fall off and fail him in his greatest extremity And as the f Mr. Weever Funer Acts Monuments Courtiers Counsellers Friends and Servants did that renowned King of England Edward the 3d. upon his death-bed they will forsake him and neither stay nor so much as appear to administer any either temporall or spirituall Comfort unto him g Rainold Oratus p. 290. What Hannibal said of Antiochus his Souldiers Auro fulgebant satis ad Pompam armis ad pugnam nihil valebant 't is most true of them They may yea can indeed make us shine and glitter with bravery but they cannot fit arm inable or spirit us to fight against our spirituall Enemies with Courage nor the wrath of God with victory And therefore Beatus ille qui non post illa abiit quae possessa onerant amata inquinant amissa cruciant A man may be very poor with abundance of Wealth yea when he hath the highest Tide of plenty and a man may be really h Mens bona possidet Regnum Nerva Imperator rich in the midst of wants yea in the lowest Ebbe of Poverty for pauper esse non potest qui apud Deum dives est 't is not goods but goodnesse not earthly wealth but Heavenly Wisdome not a great Estate in the World but a saving interest in Christ not gold * Prov. 8. 21. but grace that makes us truly rich Isse ad deum copiosus * Judges 4. 18 19-21 ille opulentus advenit cui adstabunt continentia misericordia potentia fides charitas God is not alwaies pleased with those he prospers in the World for he gives wicked men riches as †Jael gave Sisera milk and lodging * Judges 3. 17-21 As Ehud gave Eglon a to their destructions * 1 Sam. 18 21. And †as Saul gave Michal to David to be a snare unto them Riches are but the blessings of Gods left hand the comforts of the lower springs and therefore Goats profane men and women that shall be eternally damned may drink freely fill themselves at those wells and have abundance of them The Indians who never heard of Christ were owners of the Gold and Silver Mines when Christians had but quarries of stone But God deals with his Children as * Genes 24. 6. Abraham did to Isaac he gives them all that he hath grace mercy peace here and glory hereafter And as * 2 Cron. 21. 3. Jehoshaphat did with his Sons he gives the eldest those that are regenerate that are adopted and have the Spirit whereby they can truly comfortably cry Abba Father a Kingdome but unto all the rest to all those that are unconverted unholy he gives only gifts of silver and Gold and of precious things for the wicked have nothing but outward Mercies for their Portion The Prayer O LORD thou alone dost both blesse the substance and curse the blessings of Men. Thy dispensations holy God are various perplexing wonderfull For thou makest some persons that are poor oppressed distressed imprisoned banished and very indigent rich in Faith and dost assure them that they are heirs of an heavenly great glorious ever-enduring Inheritance whilst others that are great full opulent free from troubles and prosperous in the World are both exceeding miserable and very Beggers And yet thou art most just equall righteous in all thy doings wayes and dealings with men Thy mercy O Lord is plenty with Poverty Thy blessing is pure reall refined Riches having no mixture of sorrow care or fear in it Thou O God fillest the empty thou satisfiest the hungry and thirsty with good things when the wickedly wealthy are empty both of Grace comfort peace and contentment though they be brimful yea though they runne over with Abundance Let not Christians therefore O Lord fix their eyes or set their hearts upon earth or earthly things only as if there was no Heaven for them to look upon or no Celestiall riches for them to desire and seek But let them account all sublunary enjoyments but fair and fading Flowers which thine Anger can and will both blast and wither in a moment Let them not prefer a muck-hill before a Mine by esteeming gain more then Godlinesse Let them not strangle their souls with a silver Snare nor suffer themselves to be catched in a Net of Gold by either an inordinate Love of or an over-eager and sinful guest and pursuit after Riches while they live lest when they dye their Iniquity and Calamities teach them their folly upbraid them with their phrensy and sting them for ever with unexpressible misery Grant this O thou who art rich in Mercy for his sake in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdome reall
and carryed to the Court to be honoured advanced so highly by the King as not only to become his Favourite but his Son and Heir also But it 's the greatest wonder of all and the highest phrensy for men to wound and poyson themselves because they may be cured to break their bones because they may chance to get them well set again to run into the fire because it 's possible their Father will pull them out and not suffer them to be burned and to love act live and persevere both in theft murder and rebellion in hope of being not only pardoned but promoted when they come to be executed And certainly it 's no lesse then the greatest folly yea madnesse and cruelty to our own Souls that we are capable either to invent act or expresse to presume and expect to obtain mercy favor and pardon from God at our death when we have knowingly wilfully and impenitently continued both robbers of God and traytors to God by sinning against him all our life For it 's most just and equall that the Lord should abhorre reject and burn the bone when the Devill hath had all the marrow The Prayer O LORD under the Law those sacrifices that were acceptable to thy Majesty were offered up with Fire but under the Gospell those Oblations those duties and services are most pleasing to thee which are presented and tendered with Water with penitentiall tears flowing from the bitter-sweet springs of a saving sight of sin and godly Sorrow for sin Grant O Lord that we may both love thee and grieve that by our Iniquities we have offended thee Let us serve thee with gladnesse of heart and yet be in bitternesse of Soul for our dishonouring of thee O give us Holy God to worship serve and pray unto thee not only with the fire of Love and zeal burning upon the altars of our inflamed hearts but also with the waters of contrition and remorse streaming out of broken Spirits Let us not seek thee and sin wilfully against thee Let us not professe repentance and practise rebellion Let us not O Lord forsake Egypt and long to enjoy it again But grant that we may never any more attempt or presume to repeat or act our former old or any new crimes And since most Holy God every known sin even the very least is a great a grievous a deep and a desperate wound to the Soul so soon as it is acted that festers in it by continuance gangrenes by delight and kills the Soul by impenitency O let all transgressing Christians speedily search their Souls and sores with the Probe of serious consideration let them behold them with the eyes of grief and humiliation let them bath and wash them with Tears of sorrow and contrition inable them by a justifying Faith to receive and apply unto them that Soveraign all-healing plaister made of that most precious Balm the bloud of Jesus Christ let them bind up their wounded spirits with the hands of compunction and self-abhorrency and grant that they may keep on their plaister both by a through reformation and a constant conscientious care willingly deliberately knowingly to sinne no more that so they may recover be healed and live Grant this great mercy O thou God of mercy unto us for the merits of Jesus Christ Amen Poenitere est vere sapere valere vivere XIII Of Prayer 'T Is that safe carefull nimble spirituall messenger and post that carries and brings letters of intelligence and love-tokens to and from Christ 'T is the language of Canaan A Christians Shiboleth 'T is the souls both Orator and Sollicitor in that great Court of Requests Heaven 'T is a Jacob wrastling with God and prevailing A Jonah though buried alive in a swimming Sepulchre though shipt in a living Vessel and carried down under Deck to the confines of Hell crying for and obtaining a safe landing on the shoar of Life 'T is a Moses begging and receiving cure of the souls Physitian of Almighty God for Miriam a leprous sinful person 'T is a Christians Forces wherewith he besieges Heaven and takes it by storm by violence 'T is the souls industrious faithfull factor in Heaven from whence it brings the precious everlasting riches and Jewell of grace forgivenesse comfort to the heart T is the key that opens and shuts Heaven Oratio justi clavis est coeli ascendit precatio et descendit Dei miseratio licet alta sit terra altum coelum audit tamen Deus hominis linguam si mundam habet conscientiam Prayer like a Hackw Apolog p. 295. histor of Flanders .. Dousa's Doves when Leyden was besieged it brings certain intelligence of relief supplies assistance coming from the Lord of Hosts to strengthen succour and deliver the soul when it 's beleaguered indangered or assaulted by sin Satan or the world What was said of Luther is true of prayer It may have almost what it will of Christ There is a kind of omnipotency in it whereby it holds hinders and with an humble holy reverence be it spoken binds the arm of Almighty God that he cannot strike Let me alone saith the Lord to Moses and get thee out of Sodome said the * Genes 19. 22. Angell to Lot for thy supplication is her preservation thy prayers and presence are her protection thy company is her security thy residence her reprieve I cannot do any thing I cannot rain down Hell out of Heaven in a fiery showre to consume her till thou beest out of her and got to Zoar. As Faith is the Emperesse of Graces so prayer is the Queene of duties The Elements of effectuall Prayer are First Faith Vt oremus credamus ut ipsa non deficiat fides qua oramus * James 5 16. Hebr. 11. 5. Oremus Fides fundit orationem fusa oratio fi dei impetrat firmitatem Faith and prayer are like the fire and fewel fire makes the fewell burn and flame and fewell feeds the fire and keeps it burning and flaming Faithlesse prayers are fruitlesse prayers or rather such supplications are provocations for God is so far from smelling a sweet savour in the sacrifices of unbelievers that he loaths them they stink in his nostrils and therefore he will cast their duties like dung into their faces 2. * James 5. 16. Fervency Qui frigide rogat negare docet prevalency is the child of importunity An * Luke 18 4 5. Atheisticall unjust judge that neither fears God nor cares for man will grant the earnest suit of a poor Widow though a stranger to him How much more then will the great judg of Heaven and earth who is not only a just but also a most gracious compassionate God and Father both hear and grant the ardent humble and hearty petitions of his own Children He that did never say to the house of Iacob seek ye my face in vain He that commands us to aske and seek and hath promised that we shall receive and find
thinks I hear as it were some sweet instrument of Musick sounding in my ears Job 34. 29. Thus when God gives quietnesse who then can make troubles when he comforts speaks peace and gives Joy to his people who or what can make them sad unhappy or disconsolate It 's true Gods jewells may yea often do lye in a black Cabinet in a mournful condition for a time yet like diamonds in a dark night they do then sparkle and give a resplendent lustre for their graces like Sun-beams dart and shine through the thickest clouds of grief and misery Like Ballâ— they rise the higher by being stricken down with the hand of Correction And although they be loaden or pressed with a laden a very ponderous burden of inward or outward troubles yet they make good that impresse which the noble family of the Columni gave when they were banished by Pope Alexander the 6th A bending branch with this inscription Flecti potest frangi non potest They are Oaks proud stubborn obdurate sinners not Osiers meek humble penitent Saints that are torn blasted and consumed by Thunder and lightning by judgments vengeance and fiery wrath from Heaven The worst evills that befall them cannot hurt them n Marsil Ficin Epistolar lib. 4. Mala non patitur nisi malus And which is more they do them good for God takes the venome out of them and so makes them not only safe but healthfull also and necessary for them Christians therefore should yea must be Not only patient submissive and contented under chastisements saying with him ut fiat voluntas Domini quotidie oramus cum facta est voluntas Domini feramus But Joyfull also as the blessed Apostles and those that were spoyled for the name of Christ were when for a good cause a good conscience a good God and a gracious Saviour they were both scourged and plundered saying with another Placent mihi dolores per quos nihil in mundo placet They should be thankfull and say with Iob when all the beautifull and pleasant plumes of riches honour prosperity health and and his dearest creature-comforts were pluckt away from him by the just yet mercyfull hand of God but violent and unjust hands of cruell enemies who stript and left him naked and distressed * Job 1. 28. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Christians should labour to be soundly humbled for the * Lamen 3. 2â— 30. provoking procuring cause of all their sorrows and sufferings their transgressions They should seriously consider that there are two Oceans to drown those Egyptians their sins in Gods wonderfull mercy and the infinite merits of Jesus Christ and so by a lively faith keep their souls both from despairing and mourning They should by servent prayer seek to get the afflicting hand of God sanctified unto them that so his Rod as well as his Staffe may comfort them They must not only clear and justifie God in his severest dispensations towards them bat also acknowledge his mercy in that he doth but whip them with a rod whereas they have deserved to be scourged with Scorpions and because he doth lay but the little finger of his displeasure upon them whereas he might justly have smitten them with the hand of his wrath Christians must resolve to swallow that poyson no more to run into that fire no more that is to commit those crimes and iniquities no more which did so much indanger the lives of their Souls and whereby they did so much both dishonour and displease the Lord. They must be sure when they come safe to land * Psalm 76. 11 10. to perform those vows and promises which they made to God when they were tossed and distressed in the Sea of adversity Lastly Gods people must adore and admire the wisedome and goodnesse of that God who both can and doth make the Lyon of affliction to afford and give the honey of spirituall consolation and the sweet meat of saving grace to the souls of his people it being a most sadly experimented truth that if man should enjoy a Paradise all his dayes in this World he would then seek no further but sit down contented and say of it as Peter once did of Mount Tabor It 's good for me to be here Because that if our lives be not made bitter and sowr by tribulations neither Holynesse Christ nor Heaven will be either dear or desirable to our souls And though the Lord do afflict his Children yet the sharpest the longest calamities and sorrows which they can possibly endure on this side their graves are but a drop a moment of pain distresse trouble misery and griefe to that Ocean of Joy and eternity of Blisse which they shall surely enjoy after their death 2 Corinth 4. 17. * Our light afflictions which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory â— â—ips Epist 63. saith blessed Paul O felices inter omnes miserias hoc uno Christiani quod via nobis per haec ad aliam vitam in qua nec gaudiorum nec modum ullum esse scimus nec finem Adversity sanctyfied is a sharp but a sure way to felicity and glory Like honey it both purgeth and heales a Christian And as affliction hath a sting wherewith it pains and wounds so like that Serpent the Scorpion such is the compassionate goodnesse of the Lord it hath also in its own Bowels an antidote wherewith it doth both ease preserve and cure a Child of God and so becomes his Balsam not his Bane The Prayer O LORD thou art both Wisdome Love and Goodnesse it self 'T is pity therefore as well as anger compassion as well as indignation that moves thee to strike chasten frown upon and afflict thy people Thou knowest that even the best and most dutifull of all thy children are apt to become wilde wanton forgetfull stubborn unthankfull sickly and diseased if thou lay up thy rod and feed them fat with Mercies And thou seest that prosperity makes them to gather dust and to grow both mouldy and rusty but that Adversity makes and keeps them faire bright and clean O let the consideration therefore of thine infinite Wisdome make us quietly willingly contentedly silently to submit unto all thine angry dispensations to bear thine indignation and to kisse thy correcting Hand And let O Lord the serious meditation of thy wonderfull Love and Goodnesse make us both joyful and thankfull for those sharp but safe yea necessary Corrosivâ—s the soundest hearts having some proud flesh in them and for those painfull but purgative healing comfortable potions and pledges of thy fatherly care and tender compassions towards us Let us all when we are afflicted consider and remember that it 's for sinne we suffer and that our transgressions are the source of our punishments that so when we are chastised for our faults we may not murmur but mourn repine but repent nor be peevish but patient submissive
all transgressions pardoned and exiled persons were recalled Whoever cometh to this holy Sacrament clothed with the new and rich apparell of Christs righteousnesse and can with the hand of a justifying faith touch Jesus Christ shall be sure to find and receive comfort favor acceptance a discharge from the debt of sin liberty and inlargement from the slavery of his own Lusts and from the captivity of Satan communion with Christ here and admission into the Kingdome of Heaven out of which man was justly excluded exiled for sin and Rebellion hereafter For when by death a true Christian doth put off the Rags of his mortality God will invest him with the Robes of Glory to all Eternity The Prayer EVer blessed God such are thy tender mercies unspeakeable Love and matchlesse Bounty to thy Children upon earth that as thou hast prepared and provided for them both Mansions and a feast a Supper of Glory with the Lamb in the Kingdome of Heaven so hast thou also provided a spirituall Banquet and furnished thy Table with most exquisite curious precious and delicious dainties to refresh nourish comfort strengthen and unite them in their journey and whilest they are upon their way thither this Blessed Sacrament O Lord let not I beseech thee this Soul-feeding heart-chearing Grace-strengthening and increasing communion and Supper be neglected undervalued contemned or denyed through the corruptions contentions differences carelesnesse or ungrounded scrupulousnesse of Men. â—ut let Ministers O Lord carefully obey thy command and conscientiously discharge their own Duty in rightly and frequently administring of it to their people that thy bitter thy bloudy Death O Blessed Saviour may be constantly and thankfully remembred thy wonderful unparalleled undeserved love pity goodnesse acknowledged and thy great Name praised and glorified And let Christians O Lord come to this Holy Sacrament so qualified and prepared that their Graces may be strengthened their Souls as with marrow and fatnesse satisfied their interest in Christ cleared and confirmed their joyes and comforts multiplied their Affections inseparably united and their mutuall love to one another mightily increased Grant this O Lord for his sake who is both the maker of the Feast and the Feast himself Jesus Christ Amen Coena Domini cibus est Animae alimentum Gratiae Nutrix pietatis solaminis canalis pignus amoris condonationis sigillum et corroborationis Sacramentum XIX Of Preaching THE sacred word of God purely rightly and powerfully preached is that Bethesday wherein Mephibosheths souls lamed in their feet their affections by the fall which they had out of the arms of Adam and Eve are cured and thereby inabled to run the ways of Gods commandements 'T is the * Cantic 4. 16. and 7. 5. Garden the Gallery where Christ meeteth speaks to and walks with his people 'T is the mount of blessings conduit of faith Golden Scepter of mercy and the spirituall seed of Grace and Life 'T is the Chariot in which Christ rideth triumphantly into the Soul 'T is the hammer that breaks open the iron door of the heart the key that unlocks it T is the fire that consumeth all Satans strong holds in the spirit 'T is spirituall eye-salve that gives a blind Bartimeus his sight And 't is the voice that awakens the most drouzy deaf secure sinner a Rainold Orat. 1. p. 41. What the Orator saith de Oratione is true de praedicatione Morbis inquit animi medicinam facere debet praedicatio facit comprimendo quae tument roborando quae languent quae inflammant leniendo coercendo quae diffluunt expurgando quae redundant 'T is an Ark alwaies bringing blessings with it Nathan which wil rouse convince and humble Davids relapsing Saints T is a Peter pricking the hearts of great and grosse sinners to their conversion sanctification Salvation 'T is a messenger sent from God and bringing with it those three wonderfull glorious instimable Jewels and blessings to the soul sense of sin assurance of pardon and a through reformation both of the Heart and life It s the means which God hath promised commanded owned blessed and sanctyfied by the inward powerfull and effectual operation of his holy Spirit speaking home to the conscience stirring those healing waters of the sanctuary and accompanying the outward administration of the word most ordinarily and efficaciously to instruct the ignorant confirm the weak to warm the cold mollifie the hard melt the frozen comfort them that mourn to awaken those that are drowsie resolve those who doubt incourage and quiet such as fear guide them that erre bind up the broken hearted and to quicken those that are dead in trespasses and sins T is a Cornâ—copia of all those excellent spirituall mercies and comforts 'T is the granary of celestial food and Manna the silver trumpet of peace and the white flag of mercy to a people It 's a Nilus that softens refresheth and fructifieth barren hard and languishing hearts T is a Mary with Christ in the womb of it an Angell instructing a Philip a light in the thickest saddest darknesse and a comfortable seasonable rain in a drought 'T is both meat to the hungry water to the thirsty physick to the diseased milk to the weak a Lamp to them that wander and wine to the sorrowfull In Asia it was a custome that the Child which was not nursed by his mother should not have the goods of his Mother Those who are not nursed by that Mother the true Church of Christ with the breasts of Gods word and ordinances faithfully and duly administred are never like to have God for their Father nor to be heires of the Churches estate I mean the love promises protection grace and blessing of the Lord nor to enjoy the glorious inheritance of her Children eternall felicity hereafter The Prayer O LORD thou art so farre from desiring or delighting in the eternall Damnation of the vilest greatest grossest sinners that thou hast commanded the Gospell of Salvation to be preached to every creature both to Jews and Gentiles Yet since even this word of Life is both a dead and a killing Letter without the quickening sanctifying influence and efficacy of thy holy Spirit Grant blessed God that the Holy Ghost may both teach and speak effectually convincingly convertingly savingly to the ears and hearts of unregenerated Sinners that so the dead may both hear and feel the voice and power of the Son of God and live And be thou pleased most merciful God so to own blesse and prosper thine own Labourers in thy vine-yard that the Consciences of those who are enemies to thine own ordinances and Ministers may be convinced their spirits grieved and humbled their mouths stopped their sin and errours discovered to them hated by them and forsaken of them And that the understandings of those who hear and enjoy them may be savingly enlightened their hearts graciously changed their Lives throughly reformed and their souls everlastingly saved Let him who is the Word Jesus Christ be ushered
rejects both the offers and the offerers of peace 81. He is an intollerable Traitor in and to a Common-wealth that hates and persecutes the Children of God For as it is Treason by the Laws of men not only to murder a Prince but also to stab or malitiously to deface his picture So it is spirituall Rebellion too not only to fight against God himself but also wilfully to wound and to destroy those that bear his Image his holy Servants 82. He that would have his shamefull sins for ever hidden must not be ashamed but resolved to lay them open and fully to discover them For concealing reveales but confessing covers them And he that desires never to be accused arraigned or condemned for his guilt must freely acknowledge himself to be guilty and most worthy to be eternally condemned An open bosome an unbared breast is a sure shield and Armour of proof against the deadly Arrowes of the Lords most dreadful wrath 83. He that will lose his Soul to preserve his Life shall save neither But he that is willing to perish to save his Soul shall save his Soul from perishing 84. He that is undone for Christ is truly rich and happy But he that is rich and prosperous without Christ is really undone poor and miserable 85. He that doth not in the time of this Life make Gods glory and the enjoyment of Heaven his chiefest ends shall neither enjoy the God of Glory nor the joyes of Heaven at his end 86. He that would never want must be poor in Spirit And he that would alwaies rejoice must mourn daily for he that did never grieve shall ever lament 87. He that is rotten at core that hath an unsound aâ— unsincere heart will like an Apple be speck'd without For a Leprous Soul will have some spot or other upon the Face of the Life And an Hypocritical Spirit will have foul hands which at one time or other will work Wickednesse â—lain its seeming purity and discover its artificial its borrowed paint and its real deformity 88. He that desires never to leave God nor to be left and finally forsaken of God must not only resolve but seriously endeavour both to depart from evil and to do good For sincerity is the root of couragious constancy but Hypocrisie is the true Mother of timerous Apostasie And it 's most certain that he who will not leave his Rimmon or Mammon his sweet sinne and his secret Lust to please Christ will never lose or lay down his Relations Lands Liberty or Life to enjoy and glorifie Christ 89. He that opens the door of his heart to let in sin or Satan shuts it and turns the key against his Saviour and Soveraign whose power made it whose Love prevailed with him to let his own heart be pierced on the Crosse to unlock it If then a Sinner will not suffer the hand of mercy to unbolt it the arme of wrath will most certainly break it to pieces If the fire of infinite unexpressible Love cannot melt it the flames of endlesse intolerable Anger will burn it If the precious bloud of Christ do not soften this Adamant it will sink it to the bottome of Hell For those whom goodnesse doth not win vengeance will destroy 90. The Life of a Saint is a publique Mercy his Death a common Calamity The end of his dayes is the Autumn of all his misery and the Spring of his endlesse Glory and felicity So that what Suetonius saith of Titus Vespasiaâ— may more yea most truly be said of him when he is cut down with the Sythe of death viz. That he was taken away to the greater losse of Mankinde then of himself Optima Eloquentia est bona vita He is most eloquent whose Life is most Holy and Innocent FINIS Soli Dea Gloria The Table 1 Of God pag 1. 2 Of Jesus Christ and a Christians Duty unto Christ 7. 3 Of the Holy Ghost 19. 4 Of Sin and sinners 23. 5 Of the World and the brightest Jewel in it's Crown Soveraignty 24. 6 Of Loyalty and Rebellion 42. 7 Of Riches 46. 8 Of covetousnesse and covetous persons 51. 9 Of Pleasure 61. 10 Of Health 65. 11 Of saving faith and sincere Love 67. 12 Of Repentance 74. 13 Of Prayer 80. 14 Of sincerity and hypocrisie together with some Characters of both sincere and Hypocriticall Christians 84. 15 Of Affliction 92. 16 Of Patience 102. 17 Of Baptisme 105. 18 Of the Sacrament of the Lords supper 109. 19 Of preaching 113. 20 Of Godly learned and of ungodly unlearned Ministers 116. 21 Of self-calling self-making preachers or rather Anabaptistical praters and seducers 124. 22 Of a good and a bad Conscience 132. 23 Of Life 137. 24 Of Death 144. FINIS A little dark PICTURE of the Great Glorious Unparallel'd Loyalty Piety and Policy of the Renowned Restorer of Monarchy Liberty Tranquillity and Prosperity to ENGLAND SCOTLAND and IRELAND The Lord Generall MONK THe World hath bred brave Hero's whose bright Name Darkens the Sun and fils the Trump of Fame Whose fragrant memory is still i'â—h Bloom And n'er shall wither till the day of Doom Whose acts at once astonish fire indear All noble souls that them do know or hear Those are the root and sourse whence that Renown Did grow and flow which justly doth them Crown With honour love and praise whereby they all Survive with glory their own Funeral Such vertuous great Worthies there have been But they dy'd childlesse sure for we have seen Nothing but dwarfs in this base Iron age Except in Treason Avarice and Rage Wherein such horrid Monsters have been known As n'er before in all the world were shown Until our true Saint GEORGE did rise and kill That hideous viprous brood who plotted still In their inchanted Castle to enslave Torment and keep us till we found our grave A dismall darknesse hath this sinful Land Ore spread e're since by a curâ—â— cruel hands That glorious * King Charles the first Light was quencht whose happy rayes While we enjoy'd him turn'd our nights to dayes That orifice at which we all have bled Almost to death our martyr'd Soveraigns head MONK now hath stopped by his pious Art And healed with his faithful Loyal Heart Twelve years we 've had nor day peace Law nor Spring He gives us all by bringing home our King The City gates he broke and threw aside T'unhinge Rebellion that great CHARLES might ride With Love and Safety there from whence did spring His hurt his help losse gain joy suffering Our bane is now our balm Such is his skill We 're now preserv'd by that which did us kill The bloudy Sword by his just loyal vote Hath made rank poyson our best antidote Some say there is a Phoenix but we see A Fable is become a truth in thee Thou art the healer honour Atlas love Of three expiring Kingdomes As above A Crown of blisse attends thee so below Prayers praises thanks which really we owe Thy