the blabs of their owne counsell Many a fearfull designe had prospered if wickednesse could haue beene silent Warning is a lawfull gard to a wise aduersary Now doth Nehemiah arme his people and for the time changes their trowels into swords speares and bowes raising vp their courage with a vehement exhortation to remember the Lord which is great and terrible and to fight for their brethren their sonnes their daughters their wiues and their houses Nothing can so harten vs to the encountring of any euill as the remembrance of that infinite power and wisdome which can either auert or mittigate or sanctifie it wee could not faint if wee did not forget God Necessity vrges a man to fight for himself loue inables his hand to fight for those which challēge a part in him where loue meets with necessity there can want no indeuor of victory Necessity can make euen cowards valiant loue makes the valiant vnresistable Nehemiah doth not therefore perswade these Iewes to fight for themselues but for theirs The inlargement of the interest and danger cannot but quicken the dullest spirits Discouered counsels are alreadie preuented These serpents dye by being first seene When the enemies heard that it was knowne vnto vs they let fall their plot Could wee descry the enterprises of Satan that tempter would returne ashamed It is a safe point of wisedome to carrie a iealous eye ouer those whom we haue once found hollow and hostile From that time forth Nehemiah diuided the taske betwixt the trowell and the sword so disposing of euery Israelite that whiles one hand was a Mason the other was a souldier one is for worke the other for defence Oh liuely image of the Church militant wherein euery one labours weaponed wherein there is neither an idle souldier nor a secure workman euery one so builds as that he is ready to ward temptations euerie one so wields the sword of the spirit for defence that withall hee builds vp himselfe in his most holy faith here is neither a fruitlesse valour nor an vnsafe diligence But what can our weapons auaile vs if there be not meanes to warne vs of an enemie Without a Trumpet we are armed in vain The worke is great and large and we are separated vpon the wall one farre from another Yea so farre as the vtmost bounds of the earth are wee separated one from another vpon the wals of the spirituall Ierusalem onely the sacred Trumpets of God call vs who are distant in place to a combination in profession And who are those Trumpets but the publike messengers of God of whom God hath said If the Watchmen see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned if the sword come and take any person from among them hee is taken away in his iniquitie but his blood will I require at the watchmans hand Wo bee to vs if we sound not if the sound we giue be vncertaine wo be to our people if when we premonish them of enemies of iudgements they sit still vnmoued not buckling themselues to a resistance to a preuention It is a mutuall ayd to which these Trumpets inuite vs wee might fight apart without the signals of warre In what place yee heare the sound of the Trumpet resort ye thither vnto vs. There can bee no safety to the Church but wher euery man thinkes his life and welfare consists in his fellowes Conioyned forces may prosper single oppositions are desperare All hearts and hands must meet in the common quarrell NEHEMIAH redressing the extortion of the Iewes WIth what difficultie doe these miserable Iewes settle in their Ierusalem The feare of foraine enemies doth not more afflict them then the extortion of their owne Dearth is added vnto warre Miseries doe not stay for a mannerly succession to each other but in a rude importunity throng in at once Babel may be built with ease but whosoeuer goes about to raise the walls of Gods Citie shall haue his hands full The incursion of publike enemies may be preuented with vigilancy and power but there is no defence against the secret gripes of oppression There is no remedy the Iewes are so taken vp with their trowel and sword for the time that they cannot attend their trades so as whiles the wall did rise their estates must needs impayre Euen in the cheapest season they must needs be poore that earned nothing but the publike safetie how much more in a common scarcity their houses lands vineyards are therefore morgaged yea their very skins are sold for corn to their brethren Necessity forces them to sell that which it was cruelty to buy What will we not what must we not part with for life The couetous rulers did not consider the occasions of this want but the aduantage Sometimes a bargaine may bee as vnmercifull as a robbery Charity must be the rule in all contracts the violation whereof whether in the matter or the price cannot but be sinfull There could not bee a iuster ground of expostulation then this of the oppressed Iewes Our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren our children as their children and loe we bring into bondage our sonnes and our daughters whiles there is no difference in nature why should there bee such an iniurious disproportion in condition Euen the same flesh may beare a iust inequality Some may be rulers whiles others are subiect Some wealthy others poore but why those wealthy rulers should tyrannize ouer those poore inferiours and turne brotherhood into bondage no reason can be giuen but lawlesse ambition If there were one flesh of Peeres another of Peasants there should be some colour for the proud impositions of the great as because the flesh of beasts is in a lower ranke then ours we kill we deuoure it at pleasure but now since the large body of mankinde consists of the same flesh why should the hand strike the foot And if one flesh may challenge meet respects from vs how much more one spirit The spirit is more noble then the flesh is base the flesh is dead without the spirit the spirit without the flesh actiue and immortall Our soule though shapelesse and immateriall is more apparently one then the flesh And if the vnity of our humane spirit call vs to a mutuall care and tendernesse in our cariage each to other how much more of the diuine by that we are men by this we are Christians As the soule animates vs to a naturall life so doth Gods Spirit animate the soule to an heauenly which is so one that it cannot bee deuided How should that one spirit cause vs so farre to forget all naturall and ciuill differences as not to contemne not to oppresse any whom it informeth They are not Christians not men that can inioy the miseries of their brethren whether in the flesh or spirit Good Nehemiah cannot choose but bee much moued at the barbarous extortion of the people and now like an vnpartiall gouernour hee
Bidkar his Captaine that the bleeding carkasse of Iehoram should be cast vpon that very platt of Naboth Oh Naboths blood well paid for Ahabs blood is licked by dogs in the very place where those dogs lickt Naboths Iehorams blood shall manure that ground which was wrung from Naboth and Iezebel shall adde to this compost Oh garden of hearbes dearly bought royally dunged What a resemblance there is betwixt the death of the father and the sonne Ahab and Iehoram Both are slaine in their charet Both with an arrow Both repay their blood to Naboth and how perfit is this retaliation Not only Naboth miscaried in that cruell iniustice but his sonnes also else the inheritance of the vineyard had descended to his heires notwithstanding his pretended offence and now not onely Ahab forfaits his blood to this field but his sonne Iehoram also Face doth not more answer to face then punishment to sinne It was time for Ahaziah King of Iuda to flee Nay it had beene time long before to haue fled from the sins yea from the house of Ahab That brand is fearfull which God sets vpon him Hee did euill in the sight of the Lord as did the house of Ahab for he was the sonne in law of the house of Ahab Affinity is too often guilty of corruption The son of good Iehosaphat is lost in Ahabs daughter Now hee payes for his kinde alliance accompanying the son of Ahab in his death whom hee consorted with in his Idolatry Yong Ahaziah was scarce warme in his throne when the mis-matched blood of Athaliah is required from him Nothing is more dangerous then to be imped in a wicked family this relation too often drawes in a share both of sin and punishment Who would not haue lookt that Iezebel hearing of this bloody end of her son and pursuit of her allye and the fearfull proceedings of this prosperous conspiracy should haue put her selfe into sack-cloth and ashes and now finding no meanes either of defence or escape should haue cast her selfe into such a posture of humiliation as might haue moued the compassion of Iehu Her proud heart could not suddenly learne to stoope rather she recollects her high spirits and in stead of humbling her soule by repentance and addressing her selfe for an imminent death she pranks vp her old carkasse and paints her wrinkled face and as one that vainly hopes to daunt the courage of an vsurper by the sudden beames of Maiesty she lookes out and thinks to fright him with the challenge of a traitor whose either mercy or iustice could not be auoided Extremitie findes vs such as our peace leaues vs Our last thoughts are spent vpon that wee care most for those that haue regarded their face more then their soule in their latter end are more taken vp with desire of seeming faire then being happy It is no maruell if an heart obdured with the custome of sinne shut vp gracelesly Counterfait beauty agrees well with inward vncleannesse Iebues resolution was too strongly setled to bee remoued with a painted face or an opprobrious tongue He lookes vp to the window and sayes Who is on my side who There want not those euery where which will be ready to obserue preuailing greatnesse Two or three Eunuchs looke out He bids them Throw her downe They instantly lay hold on their lately adored Mistris and notwithstanding all her shrieks and prayers cast her downe headlong into the street What heed is to be taken of the deepe professed seruices of hollow harted followers All this while they haue with humble smiles and officious deuotions fawned vpon their great Queene now vpon the call of a prosperous enemy they forget their respects her royalty and cast her downe as willing executioners into the iawes of a fearfull death It is hard for greatnesse to know them whom it may trust Perhaps the fairest semblance is from the falsest heart It was a iust plague of God vpon wicked Iezebel that shee was inwardly hated of her owne He whose seruants she persecuted raised vp enemies to her from her owne elbow Thus must pride fall Insolent idolatrous cruell Iezebel besprinkles the walls and pauement with her blood and now those braines that deuised mischiefe against the seruants of God are strawed vpon the stones and she that insulted vpon the Prophets is trampled vpon by the horses heeles The wicked is kept for the day of destruction and shall be brought forth to the day of wrath Death puts an end commonly to the hyest displeasure He that was seuere in the execution of the liuing is mercifull in the sepulture of the dead Goe see now this cursed woman and bury her for she is a Kings daughter She that vpbrayded Iehu with the name of Zimri shall be interred by Iehu as Omries daughter in law as a Sydonian Princesse Somewhat must bee yeelded to humanity somewhat to State The dogs haue preuented Iehu in this purpose and haue giuen her a liuing toomb more ignoble then the worst of the earth Onely the scull hands and feet of that vanished carkasse yet remaine The scull which was the roofe of all her wicked deuices the hands and feet which were the executioners these shall remaine as the monuments of those shamefull exequies that future times seeing these fragments of a body might say The dogges were worthy of the rest Thus Iezebel is turned to dung and dogs-meat Elijah is verified Naboth is reuenged Izreel is purged Iehu is zealous and in all God is iust IEHV killing the sonnes of AHAB and the Priests of BAAL THere were two prime Cities of the Ten Tribes which were the set Courts of the Kingdome of Israel Samaria and Iezreel The chiefe palace of the King was Iezreel the mother City of the Kingdome was Samaria Iehu is possessed of the one without any sword drawne against him Iezreel willingly changes the master yeelding it selfe to the victor of two Kings to the auenger of Iezebel the next care is Samaria Either policy or force shall fetch in that head of the Tribes The plentifull issue of Princes is no small assurance to the people Ahab had sonnes enough to furnish the Thrones of all the neighbour nations to maintaine the hopes of succession to all times How secure did he think the perpetuation of his posterity when he saw seuenty sons from his owne loynes Neither was this Royall issue trusted either to weake walls or to one roofe but to the strong bulwarkes of Samaria and therein to the seuerall guards of the chiefe Peeres It was the wise care of their parents not to haue them obnoxious to the danger of a common mis-cariage or of those emulations which wait vpon the cloyednesse of an vndiuided conuersation but to order their separation so as one may rescue other from the perill of assault as one may respect other out of a familiar strangenesse Had Ahab and Iezebel beene as wise for their soules as they were for their seed both had prospered Iehu is
abused riuals of their Maker in the very house of the Lord that holy place doth hee not feare to defile with the grauen Image of the groue that he had made Neuer Amorite did so wickedly as Manasseh and which was yet worse it sufficed not to be thus wicked himselfe but hee seduced Gods people to these abominations and that his example might moue the more he spares not his owne sonne from the fire of the Idol sacrifices Neither were his witcheries lesse enormious then his Idolatry he obserued times hee vsed inchantments he dealt with familiar spirits with wizards Neither were either of these worse then his cruelty Hee shed innocent blood till hee had filled Ierusalem from one end to another O Manasseh how no lesse cruell wert thou to thine owne soule thē to thy Iudah What an hideous list of monstrous impiety is here Any one of which were enough to draw iudgment vpon a world but what hell is sufficient for all together What browes are not now lifted vp to an attentiue expectation of some present and feareful vengeance from God vpon such flagitious wickednesse Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I am bringing such euill vpon Ierusalem Iudah that whosoeuer heareth of it both his eares shall tingle The person of Manasseh is not capable of reuenge enough as his sin dilated it selfe by an infectious diffusion to his people so shall the punishment Wee are sensible of the least touch of our owne miseries how rarely are wee affected with other mens calamities yet this euill shall be such as that the rumor of it shall beat no eare that shall not glow with an astonishing commiseration What thē ô God what shall that plague be which thou threatnest with so much preface of horror I will stretch ouer Ierusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab and I will wipe Ierusalem as a man wipeth a dish wiping it and turning it vpside downe And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance and I will deliuer them into the hand of their enemies and they shall become a prey and a spoile vnto all their enemies It is enough ô God it is enough What eare can but tingle what eye can but weepe what haire can but start vp what heart can bee but confounded at the mention of so dreadfull a reuenge Can there bee a worse iudgement then desolation captiuity desertion spoyle and torture of preuailing enemies but howeuer other Cities and nations haue vndergone these disasters without wonder that all this should befall to thy Ierusalem the place which thou hast chosen to thy selfe out of the whole earth the lot of thine inheritance the seat of thine abode whereof thou hast said Here shall bee my rest for euer it is able to amaze all eyes all eares No City could fare worse then Samaria whose inhabitants after a wofull siege were driuen like cattle into a wretched seruitude Ierusalem shall fare no better from Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon Ierusalem the glory of the earth the dearling of heauen See ô ye vaine men that boast of the priuiledges of Chaires and Churches see and tremble There is no place vnder heauen to which the presence of God is so wedded as that the sins thereof shall not procure a disdainfull finall diuorce The height of former fauors shall be but an aggrauation of vengeance This totall vastation of Ierusalem shall take time onwards God begins with the person of wicked Manasseh against whom he stirres vp the Captaines of the hoast of the late friend and old enemy of Iudah Those thornes amongst which hee had shrouded his guilty head cannot shelter him from their violence they take him and binde him with fetters of yron and cary him to Babylon There hee lyes loaded with chaines in an vncomfortable dungeon exercised with variety of tortures fed with such coorse pittances of bread and sips of water as might maintaine an vn willing life to the punishmēt of the owner What eye can now pity the deepest miseries of Manasseh What but bondage can befit him that hath so lawlesly abused his liberty What but an vtter abdication can befit him that hath cast off his God and doted vpon Deuils What but a dying life and a tormenting death can bee fit for a man of blood Who now wold not haue giuē this man for lost and haue lookt when hell should claime her owne But oh the height oh the depth of diuine mercy After all these prodigies of sin Manasseh is a conuert When he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers How true is that word of the Prophet Vexation giues vnderstanding The viper when he is lashed casts vp his poyson The traitor when hee is racked tells that truth which he had else neuer vttered If the crosse beare vs not to heauen nothing can What vse were there of the graine but for the edge of the sickle wherewith it is cut downe the stroke of the flayle wherewith it is beaten the weight and attrition of the mill wherewith it is crushed the fire of the ouen wherewith it is baken Say now Manasseh with that grandfather of thine who was till now too good for thee It is good for mee that I was afflicted Euen thine yron was more precious to thee then thy gold thy Gaole was a more happy lodging to thee then thy palace Babylon was a better Schoole to thee thē Ierusalem what fooles are wee to frowne vpon our afflictions These how crabbed soeuer are our best friends They are not indeed for our pleasure they are for our profit their issue makes them worthy of a welcome What doe wee care how bitter that potion bee which brings health How farre a man may goe and yet turne Could there bee fouler sinnes then these Lo here was Idolatrie in the height violation of Gods house sorceries of all kinds bloodie crueltie to his owne flesh to the Saints of God and all these against the streame of a religious institution of the zealous counsels of Gods Prophets of the checks of his owne heart Who can complaine that the way of heauen is blocked vp against him when hee sees such a sinner enter Say the worst against thy selfe ô thou clamorous foule Here is one that murdered men defied God worshipt Diuels and yet finds the way to repentance if thou bee worse then he deny if thou canst that to thy selfe which God hath not denied to thee capacitie of grace In the meane time know that it is not thy sinne but thine impenitence that barres heauen against thee Presume not yet ô man whosoeuer thou art of the libertie of thy conuersion as if thou couldest run on lawlesly in a course of sinning till thou come to the brim or hell and then couldst suddenly stop and returne at leasure the mercy of God did neuer set period to a wilfull sinner neither yet did his owne corrupt desires so as