nature deare in their acceptation eternall in their vse So are the ordinances of God in his Church holy comfortable irrefragable So is the perfection of his glorified saints incomparable vnconceiuable In Situation the outer parts were here more common the inner more holy and peculiarly reserued I finde one Court of the Temple open to the vncleane to the vncircumcised Within that another open only to the Israelites and of them to the cleane within that yet another proper only to the Priests and Leuites where was the Brazen Altar for sacrifice and the Brazen sea for washings The eies of the Laitie might follow their oblations in hither their feet might not Yet more in the couered roomes of the Temple there is whither the Priests only may enter not the Leuites there is whither the hie-priest only may enter not his brethren It is thus in euery renewed man the indiuiduall temple of God the outward parts are allowed common to God and the world the inwardest and secretest which is the heart is reserued only for the God that made it It is thus in the Church visible the false and foule-hearted hypocrite hath accesse to the holy ordinances of God and treads in his Courts only the true Christian hath intire and priuate conuersation with the holy one of Israel He only is admitted into the Holy of holies and enters within the glorious vaile of heauen If from the walls we looke vnto the furniture What is the Altar whereon our sacrifices of praier and praises are offered to the Almightie but a contrite heart What the golden Candlesticks but the illumined vnderstanding wherein the light of the knowledge of God and his diuine will shineth for euer What the Tables of Shew-bread but the sanctified memorie which keepeth the bread of life continually Yea if we shall presume so farre as to enter into the very closet of Gods oracle Euen there ô God doe we finde our vnworthy hearts so honoured by thee that they are made thy very Arke wherein thy Royall law and the pot of thine heauenly Manna is kept for euer and from whose propitiatorie shaded with the wings of thy glorious Angels thou giuest the gratious Testimonies of thy good spirit witnessing with ours that we are the children of thee the liuing God Behold if Salomon built a Temple vnto thee thou hast built a Temple vnto thy selfe in vs We are not only through thy grace liuing stones in thy Temple but liuing Temples in thy Sion Oh doe thou euer dwell in this thine house and in this thy house let vs euer serue thee Wherefore else hast thou a Temple but for thy presence with vs and for our worshipping of thee The time was when as thy people so thy selfe didst lodge in flitting Tents euer shifting euer mouing thence thou thoughtest best to soiourne both in Shilo and the roofe of Obed-Edom After that thou condescendedst to settle thine abode with men and wouldst dwell in an house of thine owne at thy Ierusalem So didst thou in the beginning lodge with our first Parents as in a Tent Soiourne with Israel vnder the law and now makest a constant residence vnder the Gospell in the hearts of thy chosen children from whence thou wilt remoue no more they shall remoue from the world from themselues thou shalt not remoue from them Wheresoeuer thou art ô God thou art worthie of adoration Since thou euer wilt dwell in vs be thou euer worshipped in vs Let the Altars of our cleane hearts send vp euer to thee the sweetly-perfumed smokes of our holy meditations and faithfull praiers and cheerefull thanks-giuings Let the pure lights of our faith and godly conuersation shine euer before thee and men and neuer be put out Let the bread of life stand euer readie vpon the pure and precious tables of our hearts Locke vp thy Law and thy Manna within vs and speake comfortably to vs from thy mercie-seat Suffer nothing to enter in hither that is vncleane Sanctifie vs vnto thy selfe and be thou sanctified in vs. Salomon and the Queene of Sheba GOD hath no vse of the darke lanternes of secret and reserued perfections We our selues doe not light vp candles to put them vnder bushels The great lights whether of heauen or earth are not intended to obscuritie but as to giue light vnto others so to be seene themselues Dan and Beersheba were too strait bounds for the fame of Salomon which now hath flowne ouer all lands and seas and raised the world to an admiration of his more then humane wisdome Euen so ô thou euerlasting King of peace thy Name is great among the Gentiles There is no speech nor language where the report of thee is not heard The sound of thee is gone forth through all the earth Thy name is an ointment powred out therefore the virgins loue thee No doubt many from all coasts came to learne and wonder none with so much note as this noble daughter of Cham Who her selfe deserues the next wonder to him whom she came to heare and admire That a woman a Princesse a rich and great Queene should trauell from the remotest south from Saba a region famous for the greatest delicacies of nature to learne wisdome is a matchlesse example We know Merchants that venture to either Indies for wealth Others we know daily to crosse the seas for wanton curiositie Some few Philosophers we haue knowne to haue gone farre for learning and amongst Princes it is no vnusuall thing to send their Embassadors to farre-distant kingdomes for transaction of businesses either of State or commerce but that a royall Lady should in person vndertake and ouercome so tedious a iourney only to obserue and inquire into the mysteries of nature art religion is a thing past both parallel and imitation Why doe we thinke any labour great or any way long to heare a greater then Salomon How iustly shall the Queene of the South rise vp in iudgement and condemne vs who may heare wisdome crying in our streets and neglect her Certainly so wealthy a Queene and so great a louer of wisdome could not want great schollers at home them she had first apposed with her enigmaticall demands and now finding her selfe vnsatisfied she betakes her selfe to this Oracle of God It is a good thing to doubt better to be resolued The minde that neuer doubts shall learne nothing the minde that alwaies doubts shall neuer profit by learning Our doubts only serue to stir vs vp to seeke truth Our resolutions settle vs in the truth we haue found There were no pleasure in resolutions if we had not beene formerly troubled with doubts There were nothing but discomfort and disquietnesse in doubts if it were not for the hope of resolution It is not safe to suffer doubts to dwell too long vpon the heart there may be good vse of them as passengers dangerous as inmates Happie are we if we can finde a Salomon to remoue them Fame as it is alwaies a blab so oft-times a
was still courteous to thy followers affable to sutors plausible to all Israel only to thee he is cruell Wherefore are those armes if the cause of the quarrell must be a motiue of mercy Yet thou saist Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake Euen in the holiest Parents nature may be guilty of an iniurious tendernesse of a bloudy indulgence Or whether shall we not rather thinke this was done in type of that vnmeasurable mercy of the true king and redeemer of Israel who prayed for his persecutors for his murderers and euen whiles they were at once scorning and killing him could say Father forgiue them for they know not what they do If we be sonnes we are vngratious we are rebellious yet still is our heauenly Father thus compassionately regardfull of vs Dauid was not sure of the successe there was great inequalitie in the number Absaloms forces were more then double to his It might haue come to the contrary issue that Dauid should haue beene forced to say Deale gently with the father of Absalom but in a supposition of that victorie which only the goodnesse of his cause bade him hope for he saith Deale gently with the young man Absalom as for vs we are neuer but vnder mercy our God needs no aduantages to sweepe vs from the earth any moment yet he continues that life and those powers to vs whereby we prouoke him and bids his Angels deale kindly with vs and beare vs in their armes whiles we lift vp our hands and bend our tongues against heauen O mercie past the comprehension of all finite spirits and only to be conceiued by him whose it is Neuer more resembled by any earthly affection then by this of his Deputie and Type Deale gently with the young man Absalom for my sake The battell is ioyned Dauids followers are but an handfull to Absaloms How easily may the fickle multitude be transported to the wrong side What they wanted in abettors is supplied in the cause Vnnaturall ambition drawes the sword of Absalom Dauids a necessarie and iust defence They that in simplicitie of heart followed Absalom cannot in malice of heart persecute the father of Absalom with what courage could any Israelite draw his sword against a Dauid or on the other side who can want courage to fight for a righteous Soueraigne and father against the conspiracie of a wicked sonne The God of hosts with whom it is all one to saue with many or with few takes part with iustice and lets Israel feele what it is to beare armes for a traiterous vsurper The sword deuoures twentie thousand of them and the wood deuoures more then the sword It must needs be a very vniuersall rebellion wherein so many perished What vertue or merits can assure the hearts of the vulgar when so gracious a Prince findes so many reuolters Let no man looke to prosper by rebellion the very thickets and stakes and pits and wild beasts of the wood shall conspire to the punishment of traitors Amongst the rest see how a fatall oke hath singled out the ring-leader of this hatefull insurrection and will at once serue for his hangman and gallowes by one of those spreading armes snatching him away to speedy execution Absalom was comely and he knew it well enough His haire was no small peece of his beautie nor matter of his pride It was his wont to cut it once a yeere not for that it was too long but too heauie his heart could haue borne it longer if his necke had not complained And now the iustice of God hath platted an halter of those lockes Those tresses had formerly hangd loosely disheueld on his shoulders now he hangs by them He had wont to weigh his haire and was proud to finde it so heauie now his haire poyseth the weight of his bodie and makes his burden his torment It is no maruell if his owne haire turnd traitor to him who durst rise vp against his father That part which is misused by man to sinne is commonly imployed by God to reuenge The reuenge that it worketh for God makes amends for the offence whereto it is drawne against God The very beast wheron Absalom sat as wearie to beare so vnnaturall a burden resignes ouer his lode to the tree of Iustice There hangs Absalom betweene heauen and earth as one that was hated and abandoned both of earth and heauen As if God meant to prescribe this punishment for traitors Absalom Achitophel and Iudas die all one death So let them perish that dare lift vp their hand against Gods anointed The honest souldier sees Absalom hanging in the Oke and dares not touch him his hands were held with the charge of Dauid Beware that none touch the young man Absalom Ioab vpon that intelligence sees him and smites him with no lesse then three darts What the souldier forbore in obedience the Captaine doth in zeale not fearing to preferre his Soueraignes safetie to his command and more tendering the life of a King and peace of his Countrie then the weake affection of a father I dare not sit Iudge betwixt this zeale and that obedience betwixt the captaine and the Souldier the one was a good subiect the other a good Patriot the one loued the King the other loued Dauid and out of loue disobeyed the one meant as well as the other sped As if God meant to fulfill the charge of his Anointed without any blame of his subiects it pleased him to execute that immediate reuenge vpon the rebell which would haue dispatcht him without hand or dart only the Mule and the Oke conspired to this execution but that death would haue required more leasure then it was safe for Israel to giue and still life would giue hope of rescue to cut off all feares Ioab lends the Oke three darts to helpe forward so needfull a worke of iustice All Israel did not afford so firme a friend to Absalom as Ioab had beene who but Ioab had suborned the wittie widow of Tekoah to sue for the recalling of Absalom from his three yeeres exile Who but he went to fetch him from Geshur to Ierusalem Who but he fetcht him from his house at Ierusalem whereto he had beene two yeeres confined to the face to the lips of Dauid Yet now he that was his solicitour for the Kings fauour is his executioner against the Kings charge With honest hearts all respects either of bloud or friendship cease in the case of treason well hath Ioab forgotten himselfe to be friend to him who had forgotten himselfe to be a sonne Euen ciuilly the King is our common father our countrie our common mother nature hath no priuate relations which should not gladly giue place to these He is neither father nor sonne nor brother nor friend that conspires against the common parent Well doth he who spake parables for his masters sonne now speake darts to his Kings enemie and pierces that heart which was false to so good a father
of being commanded downe into the deepe for a further degree of actuall torment which he thus deprecates There are tortures appointed to the very spirituall natures of euill Angels Men that are led by sense haue easily granted the body subiect to torment who yet haue not so readily conceiued this incident to a spirituall substance The holy Ghost hath not thought it fit to acquaint vs with the particular manner of these inuisible acts rather willing that we should herein feare then inquire but as all matters of faith though they cannot be proued by reason for that they are in an hier sphere yet afford an answer able to stop the mouth of all reason that dares barke against them since truth cannot be opposite to it selfe so this of the sufferings of spirits There is therefore both an intentionall torment incident to spirits and a reall For as in blessednesse the good spirits finde themselues ioyned vnto the chiefe good and hereupon feele a perfect loue of God and vnspeakable ioy in him and rest in themselues so contrarily the euill spirits perceiue themselues eternally excluded from the presence of God and see themselues setled in a wofull darknesse and from the sense of this separation arises an horror not to be expressed not to be conceiued How many men haue we knowne to torment themselues with their owne thoughts There needs no other gibbet then that which their troubled spirit hath erected in their owne heart and if some paines begin at the body and from thence afflict the soule in a copartnership of griefe yet others arise immediately from the soule and draw the body into a participation of miserie Why may we not therefore conceiue meere and separate spirits capable of such an inward excruciation Besides which I heare the Iudge of men and Angels say Goe ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Deuill and his Angels I heare the Prophet say Tophet is prepared of old If with feare and without curiositie we may looke vpon those flames Why may we not attribute a spirituall nature to that more then naturall fire In the end of the world the elements shall be dissolued by fire and if the pure quintessentiall matter of the skie and the element of fire it selfe shall be dissolued by fire then that last fire shall be of another nature then that which it consumeth what hinders then but that the omnipotent God hath from eternitie created a fire of another nature proportionable euen to spirituall essences Or why may we not distinguish of fire as it is it selfe a bodily creature and as it is an instrument of Gods iustice so working not by any materiall vertue or power of it owne but by a certaine height of supernaturall efficacie to which it is exalted by the omnipotence of that supreme and righteous Iudge Or lastly why may we not conceiue that though spirits haue nothing materiall in their nature which that fire should worke vpon yet by the iudgement of the almightie Arbiter of the world iustly willing their torment they may be made most sensible of paine and by the obedible submission of their created nature wrought vpon immediately by their appointed tortures Besides the very horror which ariseth from the place whereto they are euerlastingly confined For if the incorporeall spirits of liuing men may be held in a loathed or painfull body and conceiue sorrow to be so imprisoned Why may we not as easily yeeld that the euill spirits of Angels or men may be held in those direfull flames and much more abhorre therein to continue for euer Tremble rather ô my soule at the thought of this wofull condition of the euill Angels who for one only act of Apostasie from God are thus perpetually tormented whereas we sinfull wretches multiplie many and presumptuous offences against the Maiestie of our God And withall admire and magnifie that infinite mercie to the miserable generation of man which after this holy seueritie of iustice to the reuolted Angels so graciously forbeares our hainous iniquities and both suffers vs to be free for the time from these hellish torments and giues vs oportunitie of a perfect freedome from them for euer Praise the Lord ô my soule and all that is within mee praise his holy name who forgiueth all thy sinnes and healeth all thine infirmities Who redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercie and compassions There is no time wherein the euill spirits are not tormented there is a time wherein they expect to be tormented yet more Art thou come to torment vs before our time They knew that the last Assises are the prefixed terme of their full execution which they also vnderstood to be not yet come For though they knew not when the day of Iudgement should be a point concealed from the glorious Angels of heauen yet they knew when it should not be and therefore can say Before the time Euen the very euill spirits confesse and fearfully attend a set day of vniuersall Sessions They beleeue lesse then Deuils that either doubt of or denie that day of finall retribution Oh the wonderfull mercie of our God that both to wicked men and spirits respites the vtmost of their torment He might vpon the first instant of the fall of Angels haue inflicted on them the hiest extremitie of his vengeance He might vpon the first sinnes of our youth yea of our nature haue swept vs away and giuen vs our portion in that fierie lake he staies a time for both Though with this difference of mercie to vs men that here not only is a delay but may be an vtter preuention of punishment which to the euill spirits is altogether impossible They doe suffer they must suffer and though they haue now deserued to suffer all they must yet they must once suffer more then they doe Yet so doth this euill spirit expostulate that hesues I beseech thee torment me not The world is well changed since Satans first onset vpon Christ Then he could say If thou be the Sonne of God now Iesus the Sonne of the most hie God then All these will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me now I beseech thee torment mee not The same power when he lists can change the note of the Tempter to vs How happie are we that haue such a Redeemer as can command the Deuils to their chaines Oh consider this ye lawlesse sinners that haue said Let vs breake his bonds and cast his cords from vs How euer the Almightie suffers you for a iudgement to haue free scope to euill and ye can now impotently resist the reuealed will of your Creator yet the time shall come when ye shall see the very masters whom ye haue serued the powers of darknesse vnable to auoide the reuenges of God How much lesse shall man striue with his Maker man whose breath is in his nosthrills whose house is clay whose foundation is in the dust Nature teaches euery creature to wish a