tune of that knowne song beginning Preserue vs Lord. THee and thy wondrous deeds O God Wiâ—h all my soule I sound abroad verse 2 My ioy my triumph is in thee Of thy dread name my song shall be verse 3 O highest God since put to flight And fal'ne and vanisht at thy sight verse 4 Are all my foes for thou hast past Iust sentence on my cause at last And sitting on thy throne aboue A rightfull Iudge thy selfe doest proue verse 5 The troupes profane thy checks haue stroid And made their name for euer void verse 6 Where 's now my foes your threatned wrack So well you did our Cities sacke And bring to dust while that ye say Their name shall die as well as they verse 7 Loe in eternall state God sits And his high Throne to iustice fits verse 8 Whose righteous hand the world shall weeld And to all folke iust doome shall yeeld verse 9 The poore from high finde his releefe The poore in needfull times of griefe verse 10 Who knowes the Lord to thee shall cleaue That neuer doest thy clients leaue verse 11 Oh! sing the God that doth abide On Sion mount and blazon wide verse 12 His worthy deeds For he pursues The guiltlesse bloud with vengeance due He mindes their cause nor can passe o're Sad clamors of the wronged poore verse 13 Oh! mercy Lord thou that dost saue My soule from gates of death and graue Oh! see the wrong my foes haue done verse 14 That I thy praise to all that gone Through daughter Sions beauteous gate With thankfull songs may loud relate And may reioyce in thy safe aide Behold the Gentiles whiles they made A deadly pit my soule to drowne Into their pit are sunken downe In that close snare they hid for mee Loe their owne feet intangled be verse 16 By this iust doome the Lord is knowne That th' ill are punisht with their owne verse 17 Downe shall the wicked backward fall To deepest hell and nations all verse 18 That God forget nor shall the poore Forgotten be for euermore The constant hope of soules opprest verse 19 Shall not aye die Rise from thy rest Oh Lord let not men base and rude Preuaile iudge thou the multitude verse 20 Of lawlesse Pagans strike pale feare Into those brests that stubborne were And let the Gentiles feele and finde They beene but men of mortall kinde PSALME 10. As the 51. Psalme O God Consider WHy stand'st thou Lord aloofe so long And hidst thee in due times of need verse 2 Whiles lewd men proudly offer wrong Vnto the poore In their owne deed And their deuice let them be caught verse 3 For loe the wicked braues and boasts In his vile and outragious thought And blesseth him that rauines most verse 4 On God he dares insult his pride Scornes to enquire of powers aboue But his stout thoughts haue still deni'd verse 5 There is a God His waies yet proue 〈◊〉 prosperous thy iudgements hye Doe farre surmount his dimmer fight verse 6 Therefore doth he all foes defie His heart saith I shall stand in spight Nor euer moue nor danger ' bide verse 7 His mouth is fill'd with curses foule And with close fraud His tongue doth hide verse 8 Mischiefe and ill he seekes the soule Of harmelesse men in secret waite And in the corners of the street Doth shead their bloud with scorne and hate His eies vpon the poore are set verse 9 As some fell Lyon in his den He closely lurkes the poore to spoyle He spoyles the poore and helplesse men When once he snares them in his toyle verse 10 He croucheth low in cunning wile And bowes his brest whereon whole throngs Of poore whom his faire showes beguile Fall to be subiect to his wrongs verse 11 God hath forgot in soule he saies He hides his face to neuer see verse 12 Lord God arise thine hand vp-raise Let not thy poore forgotten be verse 13 Shall these insulting wretches scorne Their God and say thou wilt not care verse 14 Thou see'st for all thou hast forborne Thou see'st what all their mischiefes are That to thine hand of vengeance iust Thou maist them take the poore distressed Rely on thee with constant trust The helpe of Orphans and oppressed verse 15 Oh! breake the wickeds arme of might And search out all their cursed traines And let them vanish out of sight verse 16 The Lord as King for euer raignes From forth his coasts the heathen sect verse 17 Are rooted quite thou Lord attendst To poore mens sutes thou deo'st direct Their hearts to them thine eare thou bendst verse 18 That thou maist rescue from despight The wofull fatherlesse and poore That so the vaine and earthen wight On vs may tyrannize no more FJNJS CHARACTERS OF VERTVES AND VICES JN TWO BOOKES By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY singular good Lords EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON of WALTHAM AND JAMES LORD HAY HIS RIGHT NOBLE AND WORTHY SONNE IN LAW I. H. HVMBLY DEDICATES HIS LABOVR DEVOTETH HIMSELFE Wisheth all Happinesse A PREMONITION OF THE TITLE AND VSE of Characters READER THe Diuines of the old Heathens were their Morall Philosophers These receiued the Acts of an inbred law in the Sinai of Nature and deliuered them with many expositions to the multitude These were the Ouerseers of manners Correctors of vices Directors of liues Doctors of vertue which yet taught their people the body of their naturall Diuinitie not after one manner while some spent themselues in deepe discourses of humane felicitie and the way to it in common others thought it best to apply the generall precepts of goodnesse or decency to particular conditions and persons A third sort in a meane course betwixt the two other and compounded of them both bestowed their time in drawing out the true lineaments of euerie vertue and vice so liuely that who saw the medals might know the face which Art they significantly tearmed Charactery Their papers were so many tables their writings so many speaking pictures or liuing images whereby the ruder multitude might euen by their sense learne to know vertue and discerne what to detest J am deceiued if any course could be more likely to preuaile for herein the grosse conceit is led on with pleasure and informed while it feeles nothing but delight And if pictures haue beene accounted the bookes of Jdiots behold here the benefit of an image without the offence It is no shame for vs to learne wit of Heathens neither is it materiall in whose Schoole we take out a good lesson yea it is more shame not to follow their good than not to lead them better As one therefore that in worthy examples hold imitation better than inuention J haue trod in their paths but with an higher and wider steppe and out of their Tablets haue drawne these larger portraitures of both sorts More
sinne is as ill as the Deuill can make it a most loathsome thing in the eyes of God and his Angels and Saints and we grant to our griefe that among so many millions of men there may be found some thousands of Lepers Good Lawes and censures meet with some others escape It is not so much our fault as our griefe But that this Leprosie infects all persons and things is shamefully ouer-reacht Plague and Leprosie haue their limits beyond which is no contagion If a man come not neere them Certè nullius crimen inaculat nescientem Aug. Epist 48. if he take the wind in an open aire they infect not such is sinne It can infect none but the guilty Those which act or assent to or beare with it or detest it not are in this pollution But those which can mourne for it and cannot redresse it are free from infection How many foule Lepers spiritually did our Sauiour see in the publike aire of the Iewish Church wherewith yet hee ioyned and his not fearing infection so much as gracing the remnants of their ruinous Church Were those seuen thousand Israelites 1 Reg. 19.18 whose knees bowed not to BAAL infected with the Idolatry of their Neighbours yet continued they still parts of the same Church 3. Hierarchie But this yet exceeds Not onely all persons but all things What Our Gospell Our Heauen Earth Sea Our Bookes Coyne Commodities Behold you see the same Heauen with vs you haue no Bibles but ours our aire in his circular motion comes to be yours the water that washeth our Iland perhaps washeth your hands Our vncleane Siluer I feare maintaines you Our commodities in part in rich your Land-Lords and yet all things amongst vs infected you are content to take some euill from your neighbours The third is our blasting Hierarchie which suffers no good thing that is no Brownist no singular fancy for what good things haue we but yours to grow or prosper amongst vs but withers all both bud and branch would to God the root also The last 4. Seruice-booke is a daily Sacrifice of a Seruice-booke an Incense how euer vnsauoury to you yet such as all Churches in Christendome hold sweet and offer vp as fit for the nostrils of the Almighty we are not alone thus tainted all Christian Churches that are or haue beene present the same Censers vnto God But ours smels strong of the Popes Portuise See whether this be any better than triuiall cauilling If â—ither an ill man or a Deuil shal speake that which is good may not a good man if it If a good Angell Patres nostri non selum ante Cyprianum vel Agâ—â—ppinum sed pâ—stea salubeâ—rimam consuetudinem tenueâ—unt vt quicquâ—d diu nil atque legitimum in aliquâ— haeresi vel si bismate inâ—egruÌ„ reperâ—ent â—pprobent potius quà m negarent August or man shall speake that which is euill is it euer the better for the Deliuerer If Satan himselfe shall say of Christ Thou art the Sonne of the liuing God shall I feare to repeat it Not the Author but the matter in these things is worthy of regard As Ierome speakes of the poysoned Workes of Origen and other dangerous Treatisors Good things may bee receiued from ill hands If the matter of any Prayer be Popish fault it for what it containes not for whence it came what say you against vs in this more than Master Smith your from Anabaptist saith of our baptizing of Infants Both of them equally condemned for Antichristian Still therefore we bâ—ast of the fâ—ce and cleere aire of the Gospell if it bee annoyed with some practicall euills we may be foule the Gospell is it selfe and our profession holy neither can we complaine of all euills while we want you SEP That all Christendome should so magnifie your happinesse as you say is much and yet your selues and the best amongst you complaine so much both in word and writing of your miserable condition vnder the imperious and superstitious impositions of the Prelates yea and suffer so much also vnder them as at this day you doe for seeking the same Church Gouernment and Ministerie which is in vse in all other Churches saue your owne The truth is you are best liked where you are worst knowne Your next neighbours of Scotland know your Bishops Gouernment so well as they rather chuse to vndergoe all the miserie of bonds and banishment than to partake with you in your happinesse this way so highly doe they magnifie and applaud the same Which choice I doubt not other Churches also would make if the same necessitie were laid vpon them And for your graces we despise them not nor any good thing amongst you no more than you doe such graces and good things as are to be found in the Church of Rome from which you separate notwithstanding We haue by Gods mercy the pure and right vse of the good gifts and graces of God in Christs Ordinance which you want Neither the Lords people nor the holy Vessels could make Babylon Sion though both the one and the other were captiued for a time SECTION LVI THat which followeth is but words a short answer is too much The iudgment of our owne and our neighbours of our Church Socrat. l b. 1. c. 4. Constant Alex. Ario. Ac tamet si vos inter vos vicissim dere quapâ—am mâ—mini momenti dissentuis siquidem neque omnes de omnibus rebus idem sâ—ntimus nihilominus tamen fieri poterit vt eximia concordia sincere inter vos integreque seruetur vna inter omnes communio consocâ—atio custoâ—atur That all Christendome magnifies the worthinesse of our Church in so cleare euidences of their owne voices you cannot denie and now when you see such testimonies abroad lest you should say nothing you fetch cauills from home Those men which you say complaine so much of their miserable condition vnder the Prelates impositions haue notwithstanding with the fame pens and tongues not onely iustified our Church but extold it you haue found no sharper aduersaries in this very accusation for which you maliciously cite them How freely how fully haue they euinced the truth yea the happinesse of the Church of England against your false challenges and yet your forehead dare challenge them for Authors So hath their moderation opposed some appendances that they haue both acknowledged and defended the substance with equall vehemence to your opposition neither doe they suffer as you traduce them for seeking another Church gouernment looke into the Millenaries petition the common voice of that part I am deceiued if ought of their complaints sound that way much lesse of their sufferings deformitie in practise is obiected to them not indeauour of innouation That quarrell hath beene long silent your motion cannot reuiue it would God you could as much follow those men in moderate and charitable carriage as you haue out-run them in complaint It pleaseth you to deuise vs
the thought of the best dishes that I should count the lingring houres and thinke Ezechias long day returned wearying my selfe with changing sides and wishing any thing but what I am How could I take this distemper Now I haue if not what I would yet what I need as not abounding with idle superfluities so not straitned with penurie of necessary things What if pouerty should rush vpon me as an armed man spoiling mee of all my little that I had and send me to the fountaine for my best cellar to the ground for my bed for my bread to anothers cupbord for my clothes to the Brokers shop or my friends wardrobe How could I brooke this want I am now at home walking in my owne grounds looking on my young plants the hope of posterity considering the nature aduantages or feares of my soile enioying the patrimony of my Fathers What if for my Religion or the malicious sentence of some great one I should be exiled from my Countrey wandering amongst those whose habit language fashion my ignorance shall make me wonder at where the solitude of places and strangenesse of persons shall make my life vncomfortable How could I abide the smell of forraine smoke how should I take the contempt and hard vsage that waits vpon strangers Thy prosperity is idle and ill spent if it be not medled with such fore-casting and wisely suspicious thoughts if it be wholly bestowed in enioying no whit in preuenting Like vnto a foolish Citie which notwithstanding a dangerous situation spends all her wealth in rich furnitures of chambers and state-houses while they bestow not one shouell-full of earth on outward Bulwarks to their defence this is but to make our enemies the happier and our selues the more readily miserable If thou wilt not therefore be oppressed with euils Expect and Exercise Exercise thy selfe with conceit of euils Expect the euils themselues yea exercise thy selfe in expectation so while the minde pleaseth it selfe in thinking Yet I am not thus it prepareth it selfe against it may be so And if some that haue beene good at the Foyles haue proued cowardly at the sharp yet on the contrary who euer durst point a single combat in the field that hath not beene somewhat trained in the Fence-schoole SECT XII NEither doth it a little blunt the edge of euils The next remedy of crosses when they are come From their Author to consider that they come from a diuine hand whose almighty power is guided by a most wise prouidence and tempered with a Fatherly loue Euen the sauage creatures will be smitten of their keeper and repine not if of a stranger they teare him in peeces He strikes me that made me that moderates the world why struggle I with him why with my selfe Am I a foole or a Rebell A foole if I be ignorant whence my crosses come a Rebell if I know it and be impatient My sufferings are from a God from my God he hath destin'd me euery dramme of sorrow that I feele thus much thou shalt abide and here shall thy miseries be stinted All worldly helps cannot abate them all powers of hell cannot adde one scruple to their weight that he hath allotted me I must therefore either blaspheme God in my heart detracting from his infinite iustice wisdome power mercy which all shall stand inuiolable when millions of such wormes as I am are gone to dust or else confesse that I ought to be patient And if I professe I should be that I will not I befoole my selfe and bewray miserable impotencie But as impatience is full of excuse it was thine owne rash improuidence or the spight of thine enemie that impouerisht that defamed thee it was the malignitie of some vnwholesome dish or some grosse corrupted aire that hath distempered thee Ah foolish curre why doest thou bite at the stone which could neuer haue hurt thee but from the hand that threw it If I wound thee what matters it whether with mine owne sword or thine or anothers God strikes some immediatly from heauen with his owne arme or with the arme of Angels others hee buffets with their owne hands some by the reuenging sword of an enemie others with the fist of his dumbe creatures God strikes in all his hand moues theirs If thou see it not blame thy carnall eies Why dost thou fault the instrument while thou knowest the agent Euen the dying theefe pardons the executioner exclaimes on his vniust Iudge or his malicious accusers Either then blame the first mouer or discharge the meanes which as they could not haue touched thee but as from him so from him they haue afflicted thee iustly wrongfully perhaps as in themselues SECT XIII BVt neither seemeth it enough to be patient in crosses The third antidote of crosses if wee bee not thankfull also Good things challenge more than bare contentment Crosses vniustly termed euils as they are sent of him that is all goonesse so they are sent for good and his end cannot bee frustrate What greater good can be to the diseased man than fit and proper Physicke to recure him Crosses are the only medicines of sicke mindes Thy sound body carries within it a sicke soule thou feelest it not perhaps so much more art thou sicke and so much more dangerously Perhaps thou labourest of some plethorie of pride or of some dropsie of couetousnesse or the staggers of inconstancy or some feauer of luxurie or consumption of enuie or perhaps of the lethargie of idlenesse or of the phrensie of anger It is a rare soule that hath not some notable disease onely crosses are thy remedies What if they be vnpleasant They are physicke it is enough if they be wholesome Not pleasant taste but the secret vertue commends medicines If they cure thee they shall please thee euen in displeasing or else thou louest thy palate aboue thy soule What madnesse is this When thou complainest of a bodily disease thou sendest to the Physician that he may send thee not sauourie but wholesome potions thou receiuest them in spight of thine abhorring stomach and withall both thankest and rewardest the Physician Thy soule is sicke thy heauenly Physician sees it and pitties thee ere thou thy selfe and vnsent to sends thee not a plausible but a soueraigne remedie thou loathest the sauour and rather wilt hazard thy life than offend thy palate and in stead of thankes repinest at reuilest the Physician How comes it that we loue our selues so little if at least we count our soules the best or any part as that we had rather vndergoe death than paine chusing rather wilfull sicknesse than an harsh remedie Surely we men are meere fooles in the estimation of our owne good like children our choice is lead altogether by shew no whit by substance Wee cry after euery well-seeming toy and put from vs solid proffers of good things The wise Arbitrator of all things sees our folly and corrects it with-holding our idle desires and forcing vpon vs the sound
yea without dimention of matter was truly admirable Doubtlesse he went oft about it and viewed it on all sides and now when his eie and mind could vntâ—â— with no likely causes so far off resolues I will goe see it His curiosity led him neeres and what could hee see but a bush and a flame which he saw at first vnsatisfied It is good to come to the place of Gods presence howsoeuer God may perhaps speak to thy heart though thou come but for nouelty Euen those which haue come vpon curiosity haue beene oft taken Absence is without hope If Moses had not come he had not beene called out of the bush To see a fire not consuming the bush was much but to heare a speaking fire this was more and to heare his owne name out of the mouth of the fire it was most of all God makes way for his greatest messages by astonishment and admiration as on the contrary carelesnesse caries vs to a meere vnproficiency vnder the best meanes of God If our hearts were more awfull Gods messages would be more effectuall to vs. In that appearance God meant to call Moses to come yet when he is come inhibits him Come not hither We must come to God we must not come too nere him When we meditate of the great mysteries of his word we come to him we come too neere him when we search into his counsels The Sun and the fire say of themselues Come not too neare how much more the light which none can attaine vnto We haue all our limits set vs The Gentiles might come into some outter courts not into the inmost The Iewes might come into the inner Court not into the Temple the Priests and Leuites into the Temple not into the Holy of Holies Moses to the Hill not to the Bush The waues of the Sea had not more need of bounds then mans presumption Moses must not come close to the bush at all and where he may stand he may not stand with his shooes on There is no vnholinesse in clothes God prepared them for man at first and that of skins lest any exception should be taken at the hides of dead beasts The rite was significant What are the shooes but worldly and carnall affections If these be not cast off when we come to the holy place we make our selues vnholy how much lesse should we dare to come with resolutions of sinne This is not onely to come with shooes on but with shooes bemired with wicked filthinesse the touch whereof pro-the pauement of God and makes our presence odious Moses was the Sonne of Amram Amram of Kohath Kohath of Leui Leui of Iacob Iacob of Isaac Isaac of Abraham God puts together both ends of his pedigree I am the God of thy father and of Abraham Isaac Iacob If he had said onely I am thy God it had beene Moses his duty to attend awfully but now that he sayes I am the God of thy Father and of Abraham c. He challenges reuerence by prescription Any thing that was our Ancesters pleases vs their Houses their Vessels their Cotâ— armour How much more their God How carefull should Parents be to make holy choices Euery president of theirs are so many monuments and motiues to their posterity What an happinesse it is to be borne of good Parents hence God claimes an interest in vs and wee in him for their sake As many a man smarteth for his fathers sinne so the goodnesse of others is crowned in a thousand generations Neither doth God say I was the God of Abraham Isaac Iacob but I am The Patriarkes still liue after so many thousand yeares of dissolution No length of time can separate the soules of the iust from their Maker As for their body there is still a reall relation betwixt the dust of it and the soule and if the being of this part be more defectiue the being of the other is more liuely and doth more then recompence the wants of that earthly halfe God could not describe himselfe by a more sweet name then if his I am the God of thy father and of Abraham c. yet Moses hides his face for feare If he had said I am the glorious God that made heauen and earth that dwell in light inaccessible whom the Angels cannot behold or I am God the auenger iust and terrible a consuming fire to mine enemies here had beene iust cause of terror But why was Moses so frighted with a familiar compellation God is no lesse awfull to his owne in his very mercies Great is thy mercy that thou mayst be feared for to them no lesse maiesty shines in the fauours of God then in his iudgements and iustice The wicked heart neuer feares God but thundring or shaking the earth or raining fire from heauen but the good can dread him in his very sunne-shine his louing deliuerances blessings affect them with awfulnesse Moses was the true son of Iacob who when he saw nothing but visions of loue mercy could say How dreadfull is this places I see Moses now at the bush hiding his face at so milde a representation hereafter we shall see him in this very Mount betwixt heauen and earth in Thunder Lightning Smoke Earth-quakes speaking mouth to mouth with God bare faced and fearlesse God was then more terrible but Moses was lesse strange This was his first meeting with God further acquaintance makes him familiar and familiarity makes him bold Frequence of conuersation giues vs freedome of accesse to God and makes vs powre out our hearts to him as fully and as fearlesly as to our friends In the meane time now at first he made not so much haste to see but he made as much to hide his eies Twice did Moses hide his face once for the glory which God put vpon him which made him so shine that he could not bee beheld of others once for Gods owne glory which hee could not behold No maruell Some of the creatures are too glorious for mortall eies how much more when God appeares to vs in the easiest manner must his glory needs ouercome vs Behold the difference betwixt our present and future estate Then the more Maiesty of appearance the more delight when our sin is quite gone all our feare at Gods presence shall be turned into ioy God appeared to Adam before his sin with comfort but in the same forme which after his sin was terrible And if Moses cannot abide to looke vpon Gods glory when he descends to vs in mercy how shall wicked ones abide to see his fearfull presence when he sets vpon vengeance In this fire he flamed and consumed not but in his reuenge our God is a consuming fire First Moses hides himselfe in feare now in modesty Who am I None in all Aegypt or Midian was comparably fit for this embassage Which of the Israelites had bin brought vp a Courtier a Scholler an Israelite by blood by education an Aegyptian learned wise valiant
lies not in the place yet choyce must be made of those places which may be most helpe to our deuotion Perhaps that he might be in the eye of Israel The presence and sight of the Leader giues heart to the people neither doth any thing more moue the multitude then example A publike person cannot hide himselfe in the Valley but yet it becomes him best to shew himselfe vpon the Hill The hand of Moses must be raised but not emptie neither is it his owne Rod that he holds but Gods In the first meeting of God with Moses the Rod was Moseses it is like for the vse of his trade now the proprietie is altered God hath so wrought by it that now he challenges it and Moses dare not call it his owne Those things which it pleases God to vse for his owne seruice are now changed in their condition The bread of the Sacrament was once the Bakers now it is Gods the water was once euery mans now it is the Lauer of Regeneration It is both vniust and vnsafe to hold those things common wherein God hath a peculiaritie At other times vpon occasion of the plagues and of the Quailes and of the Rocke he was commanded to take the Rod in his hand now he doth it vnbidden He doth it not now for miraculous operation but for incouragement For when the Israelites should cast vp their eyes to the Hill and see Moses and his Rod the man and the meanes that had wrought so powerfully for them they could not but take heart to themselues and thinke There is the man that deliuered vs from the Aegyptian Why not now from the Amalekite There is the Rod which turned waters to blood and brought varieties of plagues on Aegypt Why not now on Amalek Nothing can more hearten our faith then the view of the monuments of Gods fauour if euer we haue found any word or act of God cordiall to vs it is good to fetch it forth oft to the eye The renewing of our sense and remembrance makes euery gift of God perpetually beneficiall If Moses had receiued a command that Rod which fetcht water from the Rocke could as well haue fetcht the blood of the Amalekites out of their bodies God will not worke miracles alwayes neither must we expect them vnbidden Not as a Standard-bearer so much as a suppliant doth Moses lift vp his hand The gesture of the body should both expresse and further the piety of the soule This flesh of ours is not a good seruant vnlesse it helpe vs in the best offices The God of Spirits doth most respect the soule of our deuotion yet it is both vnmannerly and irreligious to be misgestured in our Prayers The carelesse and vncomely cariage of the body helpes both to signifie and make a prophane soule The hand and the Rod of Moses neuer moued in vaine Though the Rod did not strike Amalek as it had done the Rocke yet it smote Heauen and fetcht downe victorie And that the Israelites might see the hand of Moses had a greater stroke in the fight then all theirs The successe must rise and fall with it Amalek rose and Israel fell with his hand falling Amalek fell and Israel rises with his hand raised Oh the wondrous power of the prayers of faith All heauenly fauours are deriued to vs from this channell of grace To these are wee beholden for our peace preseruations and all the rich mercies of God which we enioy We could not want if we could aske Euery mans hand would not haue done this but the hand of a Moses A faithlesse man may as well hold his hand and tongue still hee may babble but prayes not hee prayes ineffectually and receiues not Onely the prayer of the Righteous auayleth much and onely the beleeuer is Righteous There can be no merit no recompence answerable to a good mans prayer for Heauen and the eare of God is open to him but the formall deuotions of an ignorant and faithlesse man are not worth that crust of bread which hee askes Yea it is presumption in himselfe how should it be beneficiall to others it prophanes the name of God in stead of adoring it But how iustly is the feruencie of the prayer added to the righteousnesse of the person When Moses hand slackned Amalek preuailed No Moses can haue his hand euer vp It is a title proper to God that his hands are stretched out still whether to mercy or vengeance Our infirmitie will not suffer any long intention either of bodie or minde Long prayers can hardly maintaine their vigour as in tall bodies the spirits are diffused The strongest hand will languish with long entending And when our deuotion tyres it is seene in the successe then straight our Amalek preuailes Spirituall wickednesses are mastered by vehement prayer and by heartlesnesse in prayer ouercome vs. Moses had two helpes A stone to sit on and an hand to raise his And his sitting and holpen hand is no whit lesse effectuall Euen in our prayers will God allow vs to respect our owne infirmities In cases of our necessity hee regards not the posture of body but the affections of the soule Doubtlesse Aaron and Hur did not onely raise their hands but their minds with his The more cords the easier draught Aaron was brother to Moses There cannot be a more brotherly office then to helpe one another in our prayers and to excite our mutuall deuotions No Christian may thinke it enough to pray alone Hee is no true Israelite that will not be ready to lift vp the weary hands of Gods Saints All Israel saw this or if they were so intent vpon the slaughter and spoyle that they obserued it not they might heare it after from Aaron and Hur yet this contents not God It must be written Many other miracles had God done before not one directly commanded to bee recorded The other were onely for the wonder this for the imitation of Gods people In things that must liue by report euerie tongue addes or detracts something The word once written is both inalterable and permanent As God is carefull to maintaine the glory of his miraculous victory so is Moses desirous to second him God by a booke and Moses by an Altar and a name God commands to enroule it in parchment Moses registers it in the stones of his Altar which he raises not onely for future memory but for present vse That hand which was weary of lifting vp straight offers a sacrifice of praise to God How well it becomes the iust to be thankfull Euen very nature teacheth vs men to abhorre ingratitude in small fauors How much lesse can that Fountaine of goodnesse abide to be laded at with vnthankfull hands O God we cannot but confesse our deliuerances where are our Altars where are our Sacrifices where is our Iehouanissi I doe not more wonder at thy power in preseruing vs then at thy mercy which is not weary of casting away fauours vpon the ingratefull
is Nothing makes a man so good a patriot as Religion Oh the sweet disposition of Moses fit for him that should bee familiar with God! He saw they could be content to be merry and happy without him he would not be happy without them They had professed to haue forgotten him he slacks not to sue for them He that will euer hope for good himselfe must returne good for euill vnto others Yet was it not Israel so much that Moses respected as God in Israel Hee was thrifty and iealous for his Maker and would not haue him lose the glory of his mighty deliuerances nor would abide a pretence for any Egyptian dogge to barke against the powerfull worke of God Wherefore shall the Egyptians say If Israel could haue perished without dishonor to God perhaps his hatred to their Idolatry would haue ouercome his naturall loue and he had let God alone Now so tender is he ouer the name of God that he would rather haue Israel scape with a sin then Gods glory should be blemished in the opinions of men by a iust iudgement He saw that the eyes and tongues of all the world were intent vpon Israel a people so miraculously fetcht from Egypt whom the Sea gaue way to whom heauen fed whom the Rocke watred whom the fire and cloud guarded which heard the audible voice of God Hee knew withall how readie the world would bee to misconstrue and how the Heathens would bee ready to cast imputations of leuity or impotence vpon God and therefore sayes What will the Egyptians say Happy is that man which can make Gods glory the scope of all his actions and desires neither cares for his owne wel-fare nor feares the miseries of others but with respect to God in both If God had not giuen Moses this care of his glory he could not haue had it and now his goodnesse takes it so kindly as if himselfe had receiued a fauour from his creature and for a reward of the grace hee had wrought promises not to doe that which hee threatned But what needs God to care for the speech of the Egyptians men Infidels And if they had beene good yet their censure should haue bin vniust Shall God care for the tongues of men the holy God for the tongues of Infidels The very Israelites now they were from vnder the hands of Egypt cared not for their words and shall the God of Heauen regard that which is not worth the regard of men Their tongues could not walke against God but from himselfe and if it could haue been the worse for him would hee haue permitted it But O God how dainty art thou of thine honour that thou canst not endure the worst of men should haue any colour to taint it What doe wee men stand vpon our iustice and innocence with neglect of all vniust censures when that infinite God whom no censures can reach will not abide that the very Egyptians should falsely taxe his power and mercy Wise men must care not onely to deserue well but to heare well and to wipe off not onely crimes but censures There was neuer so precious a Monument as the Tables written with Gods owne hand If we see but the stone which Iacobs head rested on or on which the foot of Christ did once tread wee looke vpon it with more then ordinarie respect With what eye should wee haue beheld this stone which was hewed and written with the finger of God! Any manu-script scroll written by the hand of a famous man is laid vp amongst our iewels What place then should wee haue giuen to the hand-writing of the Almighty That which hee hath dictated to his seruants the Prophets challenges iust honour from vs how doth that deserue veneration which his owne hand wrote immediately Prophecies and Euangelicall discourses he hath written by others neuer did hee write any thing himselfe but these Tables of the Law neither did he euer speake any thing audibly to whole mankinde but it The hand the stone the Law were all his By how much more precious this Record was by so much was the fault greater of defacing it What King holds it lesse then rebellion to teare his writing and blemish his Seale At the first he ingraued his Image in the table of mans heart Adam blurred the Image but through Gods mercy saued the Tablet Now hee writes his will in the Tables of stone Moses breaks the Tables and defaced the writing if they had been giuen him for himselfe the Author the matter had deserued that as they were written in stone for permanency So they should be kept for euer and as they were euerlasting in vse so they should bee in preseruation Had they been written in clay they could but haue been broken But now they were giuen for all Israel for all mankinde He was but the messenger not the owner Howsoeuer therefore Israel had deserued by breaking this Couenant with God to haue this Monument of Gods Couenant with them broken by the same hand that wrote it yet how durst Moses thus carelesly cast away the Treasure of all the world and by his hands vndoe that which was with such cost and care done by his Creator How durst hee faile the trust of that God whose pledge he receiued with awe and reuerence He that expostulated with God to haue Israel liue and prosper why would he deface the rule of their life in the keeping whereof they should prosper I see that forty dayes talke with God cannot bereaue a man of passionate infirmitie He that was the meekest vpon earth in a sudden indignation abandons that which in cold blood hee would haue held faster then his life He forgets the Law written when hee saw it broken His zeale for God hath transported him from himselfe and his duty to the charge of God Hee more hates the Golden Calfe wherein hee saw ingrauen the Idolatry of Israel then hee honoured the Tables of stone wherein God had ingrauen his Commandements and more longed to deface the Idol then he cared to preserue the Tables Yet that God which so sharply reuenged the breach of one Law vpon the Israelites checks not Moses for breaking both the Tables of the Law The Law of God is spirituall the internall breach of one Law is so hainous that in comparison of it God scarce counts the breaking of the outward Tables a breach of the Law The goodnesse of God winks at the errours of honest zeale and so loues the strength of good affections that it passeth ouer their infirmities How highly God doth esteeme a well gouerned zeale vvhen his mercy crownes it with all the faults The Tables had not offended the Calfe had and Israel in it Moses takes reuenge on both He burnes and stamps the Calfe to powder and giues it Israel to drinke that they might haue it in their guts in stead of their eyes How he hasteth to destroy the Idol wherein they sinned that as an Idoll is nothing so it might