Father from whom she could not fly to saue an Husband which durst not âot fly from her The bonds of matrimoniall loue are and should bee stronger then those of nature Those respects are mutuall which God appointed in the first institution of Wedlocke That Husband and Wife should leaue Father and Mother for each others sake Treason is euer odious but so much more in the Mariage-bed by how much the obligations are deeper As she loued her husband better then her Father so shee loued her selfe better then her husband she saued her husband by a wyle and now shee saues her selfe by a lye and loses halfe the thanke of her deliuerance by an officious slander Her act was good but she wants courage to maintaine it and therefore seekes to the weake shelter of vntruth Those that doe good offices not out of conscience but good nature or ciuility if they meet an effront of danger seldome come off cleanly but are ready to catch at all excuses though base though iniurious because their grounds are not strong enough to beare them out in suffering for that which they haue well done Whither doth Dauid fly but to the Sanctuary of Samuel He doth not though he knew himselfe gracious with the Souldiers raise forces or take some strong Fort and there stand vpon his owne defence and at defiance with his King but he gets him to the Colledge of the Prophets as a man that would seeke the peaceable protection of the King of Heauen against the vniust fury of a King on earth Onely the wing of God shall hide him from that violence God intended to make Dauid not a Warriour and a King onely but a Prophet too As the field fitted him for the first and the Court for the second so Naioth shall fit him for the third Doubtlesse such was Dauids delight in holy meditations he neuer spent his time so contentedly as when he was retired to that diuine Academie and so full freedome to enioy God and to satiate himselfe with heauenly exercises The only doubt is how Samuel can giue harbour to a man fled from the anger of his Prince wherein the very persons of both giue abundant satisfaction for both Samuel knew the councell of God and durst doe nothing without it and Dauid was by Samuel anointed from God This Vnction was a mutuall Bond Good reason had Dauid to sue to him which had powred the Oile on his head for the hiding of that head which he had anointed and good reason had Samuel to hide him whom God by his meanes had chosen from him whom God had by his sentence reiected besides that the cause deserued commiseration Here was not a Malefactor running away from Iustice but an innocent auoiding Murder not a Traitor countenanced against his Soueraigne but the Deliuerer of Israel harboured in a Sanctuary of Prophets till his peace might bee made Euen thither doth Saul send to apprehend Dauid All his rage did not incense him against Samuel as the Abettor of his Aduersarie Such an impression of reuerence had the person and calling of the Prophet left in the minde of Saul that hee cannot thinke of lifting vp his hand against him The same God which did at the first put an awe of man in the fiercest creatures hath stamped in the cruellest hearts a reuerent respect to his owne image in his Ministers so as euen they that hate them doe yet honour them Sauls messengers came to lay hold on Dauid God layes hold on them No sooner doe they see a company of Prophets busie in these diuine Exercises vnder the moderation of Samuel then they are turned from Executioners to Prophets It is good going vp to Naioth into the holy Assemblies who knows how we may be changed beside our intention Many a one hath come into Gods House to carpe or scoffe or sleepe or gaze that hath returned a Conuert The same heart that was thus disquieted with Dauids happy successe is now vexed with the holinesse of his other Seruants Irangdrs him that Gods Spirit could finde no other time to seize vpon his Agents then when he had sent them to kill And now out of an indignation at this disappointment himselfe will goe and be his owne Seruant His guilty soule finds it selfe out of the danger of being thus surprised And behold Saul is no sooner come within the smell of the smoke of Naioth then hee also prophesies The same Spirit that when hee went first from Samuel inabled him to prophesie returnes in the same effect now that he was going his last vnto Samuel This was such a grace as might well stand with reiection an extraordinarie gift of the spirit but nor sanctifying Many men haue had their mouthes opened to prophesie vnto others whose hearts haue beene deafe to God But this such as it was was farre from Sauls purpose who in stead of expostulating with Samuel fals downe before him and laying aside his weapons and his Robes of a Tyrant proues for the time a Disciple All hearts are in the hand of their maker how easie is it for him that gaue them their being to frame them to his owne bent Who can be afraid of malice that knowes what hookes God hath in the nosthrils of men and Deuils What charmes he hath for the most Serpentine hearts DAVID and AHIMELECH WHO can euer iudge of the Children by the Parents that knowes Ionathan was the son of Saul There was neuer a falser heart then Sauls there was neuer a truer friend then Ionathan Neither the hope of a Kingdome nor the frownes of a Father not the feare of death can remoue him from his vowed amity No Sonne could be more officious and dutifull to a good father yet he layes down nature at the foot of grace and for the preseruation of his innocent Riuall for the Kingdome crosses the bloody designes of his owne Parent Dauid needs no other Counsellor no other Aduocate no other Intelligencer then hee It is not in the power of Sauls vnnaturall reproches or of his Speare to make Ionathan any other then a friend and patron of innocence Euen after all these difficulties doth Ionathan shoot beyond Dauid that Saul may shoot short of him In vaine are those professions of loue which are not answered with action He is no true friend that besides talke is not ready both to doe and suffer Saul is no whit the better for his propecying he no sooner rises vp from before Samuel then he pursues Dauid Wicked men are rather the worse for those transitorie good motions they haue receiued If the Swine be neuer so cleane washed shee will wallow againe That we haue good thoughts it is no thanke to vs that wee answer them not it is both our sinne and iudgement Dauid hath learned not to trust these fits of deuotion but flyes from Samuel to Ionathan from Ionathan to Ahimelech when he was hunted from the Prophet he flyes to the Priest as one that knew iustice and compassion
God and to Dauid Araunah is loth to bargaine Since it was for God Dauid wisheth to pay deare I will not offer burnt-offering to the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing Heroicall spirits doe well become eminent persons He that knew it was better to giue then receiue would not receiue but giue There can be no deuotion in a niggardly heart As vnto dainty palates so to the godly soule that tasts sweetest that costs most Nothing is deare enough for the Creator of all things It is an heartlesse piety of those base-minded Christians that care onely to serue God good cheape Contemplations THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE Adonijah defeated Dauids end and Salomons beginning The execution of Ioab and Shimei Salomons choice with his Iudgement vpon the two Harlots The Temple Salomon with the Queene of Sheba Salomons defection BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER TO MY WORTHILY MVCH HONOVRED FRIEND SIR HENRY MILDMAY KNIGHT MASTER OF THE IEWELL-HOVSE ALL GRACE AND PEACE SIR Besides all priuate obligations your very name challengeth from mee all due seruices of loue and honour Jf I haue receiued mercy to beare any fruit next vnder heauen J may thanke the stocke wherein J was ymped which was set by no other then the happy hand of your Right Honorable Grandfather How haue J so long forborne the publike Testimonie of my iust gratulations and thankfull respects to so true an heire of his noble Vertues Pardon me that I pay this debt so late and accept of this parcell of my well-meant labours Wherein you shall see Salomon both in his rising and setting his rising hopefull and glorious his declination fearfull You shall see the proofes of his early graces of mercy in sparing Adonijah and Abiathar of iustice in punishing that riuall of his with Ioab and Shimei of wisedome in his award betwixt the two Harlots and the administration of his Court and State of pietie in building and hallowing the Temple all dashed in his fall repaired in his repentance J haue no cause to misdoubt either the acceptation or vse of these mine high pitched thoughts which together with your selfe and your worthy and vertuous Lady J humbly commend to the care and blessing of the highest who am bound by your worth and merits to be euer Your syncerely and thankfully deuoted in all obseruance IOS HALL Contemplations THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE ADONIJAH Defeated DAVID had not so carefully husbanded his yeeres as to maintaine a vigorous age he was therfore what through warres what with sorrowes what with sicknesse decrepit betimes By that time hee was seuentie yeeres old his naturall heat was so wasted that his clothes could not warme him how many haue wee knowne of more strength at more age The holiest soule dwels not in an impregnable fort If the reuenging Angel spared Dauid yet age and death will not spare him Neither his new altar nor his costly sacrifice can be of force against decay of nature Nothing but death can preuent the weaknesses of age None can blame a people if when they haue a good King they are desirous to hold him Dauids seruants and subiects haue commended vnto his bed a faire yong Virgin not for the heat of lust but of life that by this meanes they might make an outward supply of fuell for that vitall fire which was well-neere extinguished with age As it is in the market or the stage so it is in our life One goes in another comes out when Dauid was withering Adonijah was in his blossome That sonne as he was next to Absalom both in the beautie of his body and the time of his birth so was he too like him in practice He also taking aduantage of his fathers infirmity will bee caruing himselfe of the Kingdome of Israel That he might no whit vary from his patterne he gets him also Chariots and Horsemen and fifty men to runne before him These two Absalom and Adonijah were the darlings of their father Their father had not displeased them from their childhood therefore they both displeased him in his age Those children had need to bee very gracious that are not marred with pampering It is more then God owes vs if we receiue comfort in those children whom wee haue ouer-loued The indulgence of parents at last paies them home in crosses It is true that Adonijah was Dauids eldest son now remaining and therefore might seeme to challenge the iustest title to the Crowne But the Kingdome of Israel in so late in erection had not yet knowne the right of succession God himselfe that had ordained the gouernment was as yet the immediate elector Hee fetcht Saul from among the stuffe and Dauid from the sheepfold and had now appointed Salomon from the ferule to the Scepter And if Adonijah which is vnlike had not knowne this yet it had been his part to haue taken his father with him in this claime of his succession and not so to preuent a brother that he should shoulder out a father and not so violently to preoccupate the throne that he should rather be a rebell then an heire As Absalom so Adonijah wants not furtherers in this vsurpation whether spirituall or temporall Ioab the Generall and Abiathar the Priest giue both counsell and aid to so vnseasonable a challenge These two had beene firme to Dauid in all his troubles in all insurrections yet now finding him fastned to the bed of age and death they shew themselues thus slipperie in the loose Outward happinesse and friendship are not knowne till our last act In the impotency of either our reuenge or recompence it will easily appeare who loued vs for our selues who for their owne ends Had not Adonijah knowne that Salomon was designed to the Kingdome both by God and Dauid he had neuer inuited all the rest of the Kings sonnes his brethren and left our Salomon who was otherwise the most vnlikely to haue beene his riuall in this honor all the rest were elder then hee and might therefore haue had more pretence for their competition Doubtlesse the Court of Israel could not but know that immediately vpon the birth of Salomon God sent him by Nathan the Prophet a name and message of loue neither was it for nothing that God called him Iedidiah and fore-promised him the honor of building an house to his Name and in returne of so glorious a seruice the establishment of the throne of his Kingdome ouer Israel for euer Notwithstanding all which Adonijah backed by the strength of a Ioab and the grauitie of an Abiathar will vnderworke Salomon and iustle into the not-yet-vacant seat of his father Dauid Vaine men whiles like proud and yet brittle clay they will be knoking their sides against the solid and eternall decree of God breake themselues in peeces I doe not finde that Adonijah sent any message of threats or vnkindnesse to Zadok the Priest or Nathan the prophet or Benaiah the sonne of Iehoiada and the other worthies onely he inuited
of our continuance knowing that as for Heauen so for our pursuit of grace it shall auaile vs little to haue begun well without perseuerance and withall that the soule of man is not alwaies in the like disposition but sometimes is longer in setling through some vnquietnesse or more obstinate distraction sometimes heauier and sometimes more actiue and nimble to dispatch * * Sauing our iust quarrell against him for the Councell of Constance Gerson whose authority I rather vse because our aduersaries disclaime him for theirs professeth hee hath beene sometimes foure houres together working his heart ere he could frame it to purpose A singular patterne of vnwearied constancy of an vnconquerable spirit whom his present vnfitnesse did not so much discourage as it whetted him to striue with himselfe till he could ouercome And surely other victories are hazzardous this certaine if we will persist to striue other fights are vpon hope this vpon assurance whiles our successe dependeth vpon the promise of God which cannot disappoint vs. Persist therefore and preuaile persist till thou hast preuailed so that which thou beganst with difficulty shall end in comfort CHAP. IX Of the Circumstance of Meditation FRom the qualities of the Person we descend towards the action it selfe where first we meet with those circumstances which are necessary for our predisposition to the worke Place Time Site of the body And therein First of the place Solitarinesse of Place is fittest for Meditation Retire thy selfe from others if thou wouldst talke profitably with thy selfe So IESVS meditates alone in the Mount Isaac in the fields Iohn Baptist in the Desart Dauid on his bed Chrysostome in the Bath each in seuerall places but all solitary There is no place free from God none to which he is more tied one findes his Closet most conuenient where his eyes being limited by the knowne walls call the minde after a sort from wandring abroad Another findeth his soule more free when it beholdeth his heauen aboue and about him It matters not so we be solitary and silent It was a witty and diuine speech of Bernard that the Spouse of the soule CHRIST IESVS is bashfull neither willingly commeth to his Bride in the presence of a multitude And hence is that sweet inuitation which wee finde of her Come my welbeloued let vs goe forth into the fields let vs lodge in the villages Let vs goe vp early to the Vines let vs see if the Vine flourish whether it hath disclosed the first Grape or whether the Pomegranates blossome there will I giue thee my loue Abandon therefore all worldly society that thou maiest change it for the company of GOD and his Angels the society I say of the world not outward onely but inward also There be many that sequester themselues from the visible company of men which yet carry a world within them who being alone in body are haunted with a throng of fancies as Ierome in his wildest Desart found himselfe too oft in his thoughts amongst the dances of the Roman Dames This company is worse than the other for it is more possible for some thoughtfull men to haue a solitary minde in the midst of a market than for a man thus disposed to be alone in a wildernesse Both companies are enemies to Meditations whither tendeth that ancient counsell of a great Master in this Art of three things requisite to this businesse Secrecy Silence Rest whereof the first excludeth company the second noise the third motion It cannot be spoken how subiect we are in this worke to distraction like Salomons old man whom the noise of euery bird wakeneth sensuall delights we are not drawne from with the three-fold cords of iudgement but our spirituall pleasures are easily hindred Make choice therefore of that place which shall admit the fewest occasions of with-drawing thy soule from good thoughts wherein also euen change of places is somewhat preiudiciall and I know not how it falls out that we finde God neerer vs in the place where we haue beene accustomed familiarly to meet him not for that his presence is confined to one place aboue others but that our thoughts are through custome more easily gathered to the place where we haue ordinarily conuersed with him CHAP. X. Secondly of the time ONe Time cannot be prescribed to all for neither is God bound to houres neither doth the contrary disposition of men agree in one choice of opportunities the golden houres of the morning some finde fittest for Meditation when the body newly raised is well calmed with his late rest and the soule hath not as yet had from these outward things any motiues of alienation Others finde it best to learne wisdome of their reines in the night hoping with Iob that their bed will bring them comfort in their Meditation when both all other things are still and themselues wearied with these earthly cares doe out of a contempt of them grow into greater liking and loue of heauenly things I haue euer found Isaacs time fittest who went out in the euening to meditate No precept no practice of others can prescribe to vs in this circumstance It shall be enough that first we set our selues a time secondly that we set apart that time wherein we are aptest for this seruice And as no time is preiudiced with vnfitnesse but euery day is without difference seasonable for this worke so especially Gods Day No day is barren of grace to the searcher of it none alike fruitfull to this which being by God sanctified to himselfe and to be sanctified by vs to God is priuileged with blessings aboue others for the plentifull instruction of that Day stirreth thee vp to this action and fills thee with matter and the zeale of thy publike seruice warmeth thy heart to this other businesse of deuotion No MANNA fell to the Israelites on their Sabbath our spirituall MANNA falleth on ours most frequent if thou wouldst haue a full soule gather as it falls gather it by hearing reading meditation spirituall idlenesse is a fault this Day perhaps not lesse than bodily worke CHAP. XI NEither is there lesse variety in the Site and gesture of the body Of the Site and gesture of the body the due composednesse wherof is no little aduantage to this exercise euen in our speech to God we obserue not alwaies one and the same position sometimes wee fall groueling on our faces sometimes we bow our knees sometimes stand on our feet sometimes we lift vp our hands sometimes cast downe our eies God is a Spirit who therefore being a seuere obseruer of the disposition of the soule is not scrupulous for the body requiring not so much that the gesture thereof should be vniforme as reuerent No maruell therefore though in this all our teachers of Meditation haue commended seuerall positions of body according to their disposition and practice * * Gerson One sitting with the face turned vp to heauen-ward according to the
that they be few seasonable what it profits argues wisdome giues safetie in actions contrarie to it Loquacitie Ill speech Immoderate mirth Pr. 17.27 Pr. 10.19 Pr. 17.27 Pr. 18.4 Pr. 10.31 Pr. 10.21 Pr. 12.14 Pr. 13.2 Pr. 18.20 Pr. 12.23 Pr. 11.12 Pr. 10.19 Pr. 17.28 Pr. 21.23 Pr. 13.3 Ec. 5.2 Pr. 15.2 Pr. 15.14 Pr. 18.2 Pr. 12.23 Ec. 10.14 Pr. 10.19 Pr. 11 2â Pr. 15.32 Pr. 12.6 Pr. 14.3 Pr. 13.3 Pr. 27.20 Pr. 10.31 Pr. 15.4 Pr. 18.7 Pr. 11.16 Ec. 2.2 Ec. 7.5 Ec. 7.6 Ec. 11.9 THe modest for words is a man of a precious spirit that refraineth his lips and spareth his words The words of a modest man are like deepe waters and the well-spring of wisdome like a flowing Riuer but when hee doth speake it is to purpose for The mouth of the iust shall be fruitfull in wisdome and the lips of the righteous doe feed many yea himselfe A man shall be satiate with good things by the fruit of his mouth and with the fruit of a mans mouth his belly shall be satisfied but still he speaketh sparingly A wise man concealeth knowledge and a man of vnderstanding will keepe silence which as it argues him wise for euen a foole when hee holdeth his peace is counted wise and he that stoppeth his lips as prudent so it giues him much safetie Hee that keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soule from affliction yea he keepeth his life where contrarily The mouth of the foole is in the multitude of words it babbleth out foolishnesse as it is fed with it neither hath hee any delight in vnderstanding but that which his heart discouereth and while he bewraieth it The heart of fooles publisheth his foolishnesse And as he multiplieth words so in many words there cannot want iniquitie his mouth still babbleth euill things for either hee speaketh froward things or how to lie in wait for bloud or in the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride and what is the issue of it Hee that openeth his mouth destruction shall be to him And he that hath a naughtie tongue shall fall into euill for both it shall be cut out and the frowardnesse of it is the breaking of the heart Lastly a fooles mouth is his owne destruction and his lips are a snare for his soule For actions The modest shall haue honour And though we need not say Of laughter thou art madde and of ioy what is this thou doest yet Anger is better than laughter for by a sad looke the heart is made better The heart of the wise therefore is in the house of mourning but the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth Reioice then O young man in thy youth and let thine heart cheere thee in the daies of thy youth and walke in the waies of thine heart and in the sight of thine eies but know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgement §. 3. Humilitie Pride Ouerweening Wherein it is How absurd How dangerous Scornfulnesse Pr. 29.23 Pr. 30.2 NExt to the modest is the humble in spirit He saith Surely I am more foolish than a man and haue not the vnderstanding of a man in me for I haue not learned wisdome and haue not attained to the knowledge of holy things Pr. 30.3 Pr. 11.2 Pr. 13.31 Pr. 16.19 Pr. 15.33 Pr. 18.12 Pr. 28.13 Pr. 29.23 Pr. 22.24 But doth hee want it ere the more No With the lowly is wisdome and The eare that harkneth to the corrections of life shall lodge among the wise Better it is therefore to be of an humble minde with the lowly than to diuide the spoiles with the proud for before honour goeth humilitie and hee that confesseth and forsaketh his sinnes shall haue mercie yea the humble of spirit shall enioy glory and the reward of humilitie and the feare of God is riches and glory and life Contrary whereto There is a generation whose eies are haughtie Pr. 30.13 Pr. 30.12 and their eye-lids are lift vp There is a generation that are pure in their owne conceit and yet are not washed from their filthinesse Yea All the waies of a man are cleane in his owne eies Pr. 16.2 Pr. 21.2 Pr. 20.6 Pr. 25.27 Pr. 27.2 but the Lord pondereth the spirits and not so onely but Many men will boast of their goodnesse but It is not good to eat much honey so to search their owne glory is not glory Let another man praise thee and not thine owne mouth a stranger and not thine owne lips This ouer-weening is commonly incident to great men Pr. 28.11 The rich man is wise in his owne conceit but the poore that hath vnderstanding can trie him Hence it is that hee affects singularitie According to his desire hee that separates himselfe Ec. 18.1 Pr. 16.12 Pr. 14.3 will seeke and occupie himselfe in all wisdome but seest thou a man thus wise in his owne conceit there is more hope of a foole than of him yea he is a foole in this In the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride I thought I will be wise but it went farre from mee Ec. 7.25 it is farre off what may it be and that a wicked foole A haughtie looke Ec. 7.26 Pr. 21.4 Pr. 30.32 Pr. 6.17 Pr. 16.5 and a proud heart which is the light of the wicked is sinne If therefore thou hast beene foolish in lifting vp thy selfe and if thou hast thought wickedly lay thy hand vpon thy mouth for God hateth an haughtie eye yea he so hateth it that all that are proud in heart are an abomination to the Lord and though hand ioine in hand they shall not bee vnpunished and what punishment shall he haue Pr. 15.25 Pr. 18.22 The Lord will destroy the house of the proud man and his very pride is an argument of his ruine Before destruction the heart of a man is haughtie Pride goeth before destruction and an high minde before the fall Pr. 16.18 Before it yea with it when pride commeth then commeth shame Now the height of pride is scornefulnesse Hee that is proud and haughtie scornefull is his name Pr. 11.2 Pr. 21.24 who worketh in the pride of his wrath and this man despiseth his neighbour and therefore is destitute of vnderstanding when the wicked commeth then commeth contempt Pr. 11.12 Pr. 18.3 and with the vile man is reproch but of all him that reproues him Hee that reproueth a scorner purchaseth to himselfe shame and hee that rebuketh the wicked getteth himselfe a blot therefore Iudgements are prepared for the scorners Pr. 9.7 Pr. 19.29 Pr. 29.8 Pr. 21.11 and stripes for the backe of fooles so as others are hurt by his sinne for a scornefull man bringeth a whole Citie into a snare so they shall be likewise bettered by his iudgement when the scorner is punished the foolish is wise §. 4. Continencie of Lust of Anger with their Contraries OF the first kinde
to the Mountaines of Incense Vntill the day of my gracious appearance shall shine forth and vntill all these shadowes of ignorance infidelitie afflictions bee vtterly and suddenly dispersed O my Spouse I will retire my selfe in regard of my bodily presence into my delightfull and glorious rest of heauen 7. Thou art all faire my Loue and there is no spot in thee Thou art exceeding beautifull O my Church in all the parts of thee for all thy sinnes are done away and thine iniquitie is couered and loe I present thee to my Father without spot or wrinkle or any such deformitie 8. Come with me from Lebanon my Spouse euen with me from Lebanon and looke from the top of Amanah from the top of Shenir and Hermon from the dens of the Lions and from the mountaines of the Leopards And now O thou which I professe to haue maried to my selfe in truth and righteousnesse thou shalt be gathered to me from all parts of the world not onely from the confines of Iudea where I planted and found thee but from the remotest and most sauage places of the Nations out of the companie of Infidels of cruell and bloudy persecutors who like Lions and Leopards haue tyrannized ouer thee and mercilesly torne thee in peeces 9. My sister my Spouse thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eies and with a chaine of thy necke Thou hast vtterly rauisht me from my selfe O my sister and Spouse for so thou art both ioâned to me in that spirituall vnion and coheire with me of the same inheritance and glory thou hast quite rauisht my heart with thy loue euen one cast of one of thine eies of faith and one of the ornaments of thy sanctification wherewith thou art decked by my Spirit haue thus stricken mee with loue how much more when I shall haue a full sight of thee and all thy graces shall I be affected towards thee 10. My sister my Spouse how faire is thy loue how much better is thy loue than wine and the sauour of thine ointments than all spices O how excellent how precious how delectable are those loues of thine O my sister my Spouse how farre surpassing all earthly delicates and the sauour of those diuine vertues wherewith thou art endued more pleasing to my sent than all the perfumes in the world 11. Thy lips my Spouse drop as Hony combes Hony and milke are vnder thy tongue and the sauour of thy garments is as the sauour of Lebanon The gracious speeches that proceed from thee are as so many drops of the Hony-combe that fall from thy lips and whether thou exhort or confesse or pray or comfort thy words are both sweet and nourishing and the sauour of thy good works and outward conuersation is to me as the smell of the wood of Lebanon to the sense of man 12. My sister my Spouse is as a Garden inclosed as a Spring shut vp and a Fountaine sealed vp My sister my Spouse is as a Garden or Orchard full of all varietie of the heauenly Trees and flowers of grace not lying carelesly open either to the loue of strangers or to the rage of enemies which like the wilde Bore out of the wood might root vp and destroy her choice plants but safely hedged and walled about by my protection and reserued for my delight alone she is a Spring Well of wholsome waters from whom flow forth the pure streames of my Word but both inclosed and sealed vp partly that shee may the better by this closenesse preserue her owne naturall taste and vigour from the corruptions of the world and partly that shee may not be defiled and mudded by the prophane feet of the wicked 13. Thy plants are as an Orchard of Pomegranats with sweet fruits as Cypers Spikenard euen Spikenard and Saffron Calamus and Cinamon withall the trees of Incense Myrrh and Aloes with all the chiefe spices Thou art an Orchard yea a Paradise whose plants which are thy faithfull children that grow vp in thee are as Pomegranate Trees the Apples whereof are esteemed for the largenesse colour and taste aboue all other or if I would feed my other senses the plentifull fruits of thy holy obedience which thou yeeldest vnto mee are for their smell as some composition of Cypresse Spikenard Saffron sweet Cane Cinamon Incense Myrrh Aloes and whatsoeuer else may be deuised vnto the most perfect sent 14. O fountaine of the gardens O well of liuing waters and the springs of Lebanon Thou art so a Spring in my Garden that the streames which are deriued from thee water all the gardens of my particular congregations all the world ouer thou art that Fountaine from whose pure head issue all those liuing waters which who so drinketh shall neuer thirst againe euen such cleare currents as flow from the hill of Libanus which like vnto another Iordan water all the Israel of God The Church 15. Arise O North and come O South and blow on my garden that the spices thereof may flow out let my Well-beloued come to his garden and eat his pleasant fruit IF I bee a garden as thou saiest O my Sauiour then arise O all yee soueraigne winds of the Spirit of God and breathe vpon this garden of my soule that the sweet odours of these my plants may both bee increased and may also bee dispersed afarre and carried into the nostrils of my Well-beloued and so let him come into his owne garden which his owne hand hath digged planted watred and accept of the fruit of that seruice and praise which hee shall inable mee to bring forth to his Name CHAP. V. CHRIST 1. I am come into my garden my sister my Spouse I gathered my Myrrh with my spice I ate my Hony with my Hony-combe I dranke my wine with my milke eat O my friends drinke and make you merry O Wel-beloued BEhold according to thy desire I am come into my garden O my sister my Spouse I haue receiued those fruits of thine obedience which thou offeredst vnto mee with much ioy and pleasure I haue accepted not onely of thy good works but thy endeuours and purposes of holinesse both which are as pleasant to me as the Hony and the Hony-combe I haue allowed of the cheerefulnesse of thy seruice and the wholesomenesse of thy doctrine And yee O my friends whether blessed Angels or faithfull men partake with me in this ioy arising from the faithfulnes of my Church cheere vp and fill your selues O my beloued with the same Spirituall dainties wherewith I am refreshed The Church 2. I sleepe but my heart waketh it is the voyce of my Well-beloued that knocketh saying Open vnto me my sister my Loue my Doue my vndefiled for mine head is full of dew and my locks with the drops of the night VVHen the world had cast me into a secure sleepe or slumber rather for my heart was not vtterly bereaued of a true faith in my Sauiour euen in this darknesse of my minde it
vpright like to the straight and loftie Cedars of Lebanon 16. His mouth is as sweet things and he is wholly delectable this is my Wel-beloued and this is my Louer O daughters of Ierusalem His mouth out of which proceedeth innumerable blessings and comfortable promises is to my soule euen sweetnesse it selfe yea what speake I of any one part as you haue heard in these particulars hee is all sweets there is nothing but comfort in him and there is no comfort but in him and this if he would know is my Well-beloued of so incomparable glory and worthinesse that ye may easily discerne him from all others Forraine Congregations 17. O the fairest among women whither is thy Well-beloued gone whither is thy Well-beloued turned aside that we might seeke him with thee SInce thy Well-beloued is so glorious and amiable O thou which art for thy beautie worthy to bee the Spouse of such an husband tell vs for thou onely knowest it and to seeke Christ without the Church wee know is vaine tell vs where this Sauiour of thine is to be sought that we rauished also with the report of his beautie may ioine with thee in the same holy studie of seeking after him CHAP. VI. 1. My Well-beloued is gone downe into his Garden to the beds of spices to feed in the Gardens and to gather Lillies MY Well-beloued Sauiour if you would know this also is to be sought and found in the particular assemblies of his people which are his Garden of pleasure wherein are varieties of all the beds of renued soules which both he hath planted and dressed by his continuall care and wherein he walketh for his delight feeding and solacing himselfe with those fruits of righteousnesse and new obedience which they are able to bring forth vnto him 2. I am my Well-beloueds and my Well-beloued is mine who feedeth among the Lillies And now loe whatsoeuer hath happened crosse to mee in my sensible fruition of him in spight of all tentations my beloued Sauiour is mine through faith and I am his through his loue and both of vs are by an inseparable vnion knit together whose coniunction and loue is most sweet and happy for all that are his he feedeth continually with heauenly repast CHRIST 3. Thou art beautifull my Loue as Tirzah comely as Ierusalem terrible as an armie with Banners NOtwithstanding this thy late blemish of neglecting mee O my Church yet still in mine eies through my grace vpon this thy repentance thou art beautifull like vnto that neat and elegant Citie Tirzah and that orderly building of Ierusalem the glory of the world and with this thy louelinesse thou art awfull vnto thine aduersaries through the power of thy censures and the maiestie of him that dwelleth in thee 4. Turne away thine eies from me for they ouercome me thine haire is like a flocke of Goats which looke downe from Gilead Yea such beautie is in thee that I am ouercome with the vohemencie of my affection to thee turne away thine eies a while from beholding me for the strength of that faith whereby they are fixed vpon mee rauisheth mee from my selfe with ioy I doe therefore againe renew thy former praise that thy gracious profession and all thy appendances and ornaments of expedient ceremonies are so comely to behold as it is to see a flocke of well-fed Goats grasing vpon the fruitfull hills of Gilead 5. Thy teeth are like a flocke of sheepe which goe vp from the washing which eueryone bring out twins and none is barren among them Thy Teachers that chew and prepare the heauenly food for thy soule are of sweet accordance one with another hauing all one heart and one tongue and both themselues are sanctified and purged from their vncleannesse and are fruitfull in their holy labours vnto others so that their doctrine is neuer in vaine but is still answered with plentifull increase of soules to the Church 6. Thy Temples are within thy locks as a peece of a Pomegranate That part of thy countenance which thou wilt haue seene though dimly and sparingly is full of holy modestie and bashfulnesse so blushing that it seemeth like the colour of a broken peece of Pomegranate 7. There are threescore Queenes and fourescore Concubines and of the Damsels without number Let there be neuer so great a number of people and nations of Churches and assemblies which challenge my Name and Loue and perhaps by their outward prosperitie may seeme to plead much interest in me and much worth in themselues 8. But my Loue is alone and my Vndefiled she is the onely daughter of her mother and shee is deare to her that bare her the Daughters haue seene her and counted her blessed euen the Queenes and the Concubines and they haue praised her Yet thou onely art alone my true and chaste Spouse pure and vndefiled in the truth of thy doctrine and the imputation of my holinesse thou art she whom that Ierusalem which is aboue the mother of vs all acknowledgeth for her onely true and deare daughter And this is not my commendation alone but all those forraine assemblies which might seeme to bee Riuals with thee of this praise doe applaud and blesse thee in this thine estate and say Blessed is this people whose God is the Lord. 9. Who is shee that looketh forth as the morning faire as the Moone pure as the Sunne terrible as an armie with banners And admiring thy goodlinesse shall say Who is this that lookes out so freshly as the morning new risen which from these weake beginnings is growne to such high perfection that now shee is as bright and glorious as the Sunne in his full strength and the Moone in a cleare skie and withall is so dreadfull through the maiestie of her countenance and power of her censures as some terrible armie with ensignes displayed is to a weake aduersarie 10. I went downe to the dressed Orchard to see the fruits of the valley to see if the Vine budded and if the Pomegranates flourished Thou complainedst of my absence O my Church there was no cause I meane not to forsake thee I did but onely walke downe into the well-dressed Orchard of thine assemblies to recreate and ioy my selfe with the view of their forwardnesse to see the happy progresse of the humble in spirit and the gracious beginnings of those tender soules which are newly conuerted vnto mee 11. I knew nothing my soule set me as the chariots of my noble people So earnestly did I long to reuisâ thee and to restore comfort vnto thee that I hasted I knew not which way and with insensible speed I am come backe as it were vpon the swiftest chariots or the wings of the wind 12. Returne returne O Shulamite returne returne that I may behold thee what shall you see in the Shulamite but as the companie of an armie Now therefore returne O my Spouse the true daughter of Ierusalem returne to mee returne to thy selfe and to thy former feeling of my
of their Teachers be taught to say Let my death be to the remission of all my sinnes and then that he should haue giuen him a boule of mixt wine with a graine of Frankincense to bereaue him both of reason and paine I durst be confident in this latter the rather for that S. Marke calls this draught ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Myrrh-wine mingled as is like with other ingredients And Montanus agrees with me in the end Ad stuporem mentis alienationem A fashion which Galatine obserues out of the Sannedrim to bee grounded vpon Prou. 31.6 Giue strong drinke to him that is ready to perish I leaue it modestly in the middest let the learneder iudge Whatsoeuer it were he would not die till he had complained of thirst and in his thirst tasted it Neither would he haue thirsted for or tasted any but this bitter draught that the Scripture might be fulfilled They gaue mee vineger to drinke And loe now Consummatum est All is finished If there be any Iew amongst you that like one of Iohns vnseasonable Disciples shall aske Art thou he or shall we looke for another hee hath his answer Yee men of Israel why stand you gazing and gaping for another Messias In this alone all the Prophesies are finished and of him alone all was prophesied that was finished Pauls old rule holds still To the Iewes a stumbling blocke and that more ancient curse of Dauid Let their table bee made a snare And Steuens two brands sticke still in the flesh of these wretched men One in their necke stiffe-necked the other in their heart vncircumcised ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the one Obstinacie the other Vnbeleefe stiffe necks indeed that will not stoope and relent with the yoke of sixteene hundred yeeres iudgement and seruilitie vncircumcised hearts the filme of whose vnbeleefe would not be cut off with so infinite conuictions Oh mad and miserable Nation let them shew vs one prophesie that is not fulfilled let them shew vs one other in whom all the prophesies can be fulfilled and we will mix pittie with our hate If they cannot and yet resist their doome is past Those mine enemies that would not haue me to reigne ouer them bring them hither and slay them before me So let thine enemies perish O Lord. But what goe I so far Euen amongst vs to our shame this riotous age hath bred a monstrous generation I pray God I be not now in some of your bosomes Aug ad Hit Dâm volunt Iudaei esse Christiani nec Iudae sunt nec Christiani that heare me this day compounded much like to the Turkish religion of one part Christian another Iew a third worldling a fourth Atheist a Christians face a Iewes heart a worldlings life and therefore Atheous in the whole that acknowledge a God and know him not that professe a Christ but doubt of him yea beleeue him not The foole hath said in his heart There is no Christ What shall I say of these men They are worse than deuils that yeelding spirit could say Iesus I know and these miscreants are still in the old tune of that tempting deuill Situ es filius Dei If thou bee the Christ Oh God that after so cleare a Gospell so many miraculous confirmations so many thousand martyrdomes so many glorious victories of truth so many open confessions of Angels men deuils friends enemies such conspirations of heauen and earth such vniuersall contestations of all Ages and people there should be left any sparke of this damnable infidelitie in the false hearts of men Behold then yee despisers and wonder and vanish away Whom haue all the Prophets foretold or what haue the prophesies of so many hundreds yea thousands of yeeres foresaid that is not with this word finished who could foretell these things but the Spirit of God who could accomplish them but the Sonne of God Hee spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets saith Zacharie he hath spoken and he hath done one true God in both none other spirit could foresay these things should be done none other power could doe these things thus fore-shewed this word therefore can fit none but the mouth of God our Sauiour It is finished Wee know whom wee haue beleeued Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Let him that loues not the Lord Iesus be accursed to the death Thus the prophesies are finished Of the legall obseruations with more breuitie Christ is the end of the Law What Law Ceremoniall Morall Of the Morall it was kept perfectly by himselfe satisfied fully for vs Of the Ceremoniall it was referred to him obserued of him fulfilled in him abolisht by him There were nothing more easie than to shew you how all those Iewish Ceremonies lookt at Christ how Circumcision ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Passeouer the Tabernacle both outer and inner the Temple the Lauer both the Altars the Tables of Shew-bread the Candlesticks the Vaile the Holy of Holies the Arke the Propitiatorie the pot of Manna Aarons Rod the High Priest his Order Line his Habits his Inaugurations his Washings his Anointings his Sprinklings Offerings the sacrifices ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and what-euer Iewish Rite had their vertue from Christ relation to him and their end in him This was then their last gaspe for now straight they died with Christ now the vaile of the Temple rent As Austen well notes out of Matthewes order Ex quo apparet tunc scissiam esse cum Cirillus emisit spiritam It tore then when Christs last breath passed That conceit of Theophilact is wittie that as the Iewes were wont to rend their garments when they heard blasphemie so the Temple not enduring these execrable blasphemies against the Sonne of God tore his vaile in peeces But this is not all the vaile rent is the obligation of the rituall Law canceled the way into the heauenly Sanctuarie opened the shadow giuing roome to the substance in a word it doth that which Christ saith Consummatum est Euen now then the law of Ceremonies died It had a long and solemne buriall Ceremoniae ficut defancta corpora necessariorum efficijs deducenda erant ad sepulturaÌ non simulatè sed religiose nec descrenda continuò Augustin Ego è contrario loquaâ reclamante mundo libârâ voce pronunciem ceremonas Iudaeorum perniciâsaâ essâ mortiferas quicunque eas obsâruauârât siue ex Iudaeis siuâ ex Gentibus in barathrum diaboli deuolutum Hier. Quisque is nunc ea celebrare voluerit tanquam sopitos cineres erucus non erit pius c. as Augustine saith well perhaps figured in Moses who died not lingeringly but was thirty dayes mourned for what meanes the Church of Rome to digge them vp now rotten in their graues and that not as they had beeene buried but sowen with a plenteous increase yea with the inuerted vsurie of too many of you Citizens ten for one It is a graue and deepe
censure of that resolute Hierome Ego è contrario loquar c. I say saith he and in spight of all the world dare maintaine that now the Iewish ceremonies are pernitious and deadly and whosoeuer shall obserue them whether hee be Iew or Gentile in barathrum Diaboli deuolutum Shall frie in Hell for it Still Altars still Priest sacrifices still still washings still vnctions sprinkling shauing purifying still all and more than all Let them heare but Augustines censure Quisquis nunc c. Whosoeuer shall now vse them as it were raking them vp out of their dust hee shall not bee Pius deductor corporis sed impius sepulturae violator an impious and sacrilegious wretch that ransacks the quiet tombes of the dead I say not that all Ceremonies are dead but the Law of Ceremonies and of Iewish It is a sound distinction of them that profound Peter Martyr hath in his Epistle to that worthy Martyr Father Bishop Hooper Some are typicall fore-signifying Christ to come some of order and decencie those are abrogated not these the Iewes had a fashion of prophesying in the Churches so the Christians from them as Ambrose the Iewes had an eminent pulpit of wood so wee they gaue names at their Circumcision so wee at Baptisme they sung Psalmes melodiously in Churches so doe we they paid and receiued tithes so doe wee they wrapt their dead in linnen with odors so wee the Iewes had sureties at their admission into the Church so wee these instances might be infinite the Spouse of Christ cannot bee without her laces and chaines and borders Christ came not to dissolue order But thou O Lord how long how long shall thy poore Church finde her ornaments her sorrowes and see the deare sonnes of her wombe bleeding about these apples of strife let mee so name them not for their value euen small things when they are commanded looke for no small respect but for their euent the enemie is at the gates of our Syracuse how long will wee suffer our selues taken vp with angles and circles in the dust yee Men Brethren and Fathers helpe for Gods sake put to your hands to the quenching of this common flame the one side by humilitie and obedience the other by compassion both by prayers and teares who am I that I should reuiue to you the sweet spirit of that diuine Augustine who when hee heard and saw the bitter contentions betwixt two graue and famous Diuines Ierome and Ruffine Heu mihi saith he qui vos alicubi fiâal inuenire non possum Alas that I should neuer finde you two together how I would fall at your feet how I would embrace them and weepe vpon them and beseech you either of you for other and each for himselfe both of you for the Church of God but especially for the weake for whom Christ died who not without their owne great danger see you two fighting in this Theatre of the world Yet let me doe what he said he would doe begge for peace as for life by your filiall pietie to the Church of God whose ruines follow vpon our diuisions by your loue of Gods truth by the graces of that one blessed Spirit whereby we are all informed and quickned by the precious bloud of that Sonne of God which this day and this houre was shed for our redemption bee inclined to peace and loue and though our braines be different yet let our hearts be one It was as I heard the dying speech of our late reuerend worthy and gratious Diocesan Modo me moriente viuat ac floreat Ecclesia Oh yet if when I am dead the Church may liue and flourish What a spirit was here what a speech how worthy neuer to die how worthy of a soule so neere to his heauen how worthy of so happy a succession Yee whom God hath made inheritors of this blessed care who doe no lesse long for the prosperitie of Sion liue you to effect what hee did but liue to wish all peace with our selues and warre with none but Rome and Hell And if there bee any wayward Separatist whose soule professeth to hate peace I feare to tell him Pauls message yet I must Si tu pacem sugis ego te ab Ecclesia fugere mando Would to God those were cut off that trouble you How cut off As good Theodosius said to Demophilus a contentious Prelate Si tu pacem fugis c. If thou flie peace I will make thee flie the Church Alas they doe flie it that which should be therir punishment they make their contentment how are they worthy of pittie As Optatus of his Donatists they are Brethren might be companions and will not Oh wilfull men whither doe they runne from one Christ to another Is Christ diuided we haue him thankes be to our good God and we heare him daily and whither shall we goe from thee thou hast the words of eternall life Thus the Ceremonies are finished now heare the end of his sufferings with like patience and deuotion his death is here included it was so neere that he spake of it as done and when it was done all was done How easie is it to lose our selues in this discourse how hard not to be ouerwhelmed with matter of wonder and to finde either beginning or end his sufferings found an end our thoughts cannot Lo with this word he is happily waded out of those deeps of sorrowes whereof our conceits can finde no bottome yet let vs with Peter gird our coat and cast our selues a little into this sea All his life was but a perpetuall Passion In that he became man he suffered more than wee can doe either while we are men or when we cease to be men he humbled ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yea he emptied himselfe We when we cease to be here are cloathed vpon 2 Cor. 5. Wee both winne by our being and gaine by our losse he lost by taking our more or lesse to himselfe that is manhood For though euer as God I and my Father are one yet as man My Father is greater than I. That man should be turned into a beast into a worme into dust into nothing is not so great a disparagement as that God should become man and yet it is not finished it is but begun But what man If as the absolute Monarch of the world hee had commanded the vassalage of all Emperors and Princes and had trod on nothing but Crownes and Scepters and the necks of Kings and bidden all the Potentates of the earth to attend his traine this had carried some port with it sutable to the heroicall Maiestie of Gods Sonne No such matter here is neither Forme nor Beautie vnlesse perhaps ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the forme of a seruant you haue made me to serue with your sinnes Behold hee is a man to God a seruant to man and be it spoken with holy reuerence a drudge to his seruants Hee is despised and reiected of men yea as
Redeemer If thou die not if not willingly thou goest contrary to him and shalt neuer meet him Si per singules diâs pro âo moreremur qui nos dlexit non sic debitum exolueremus Chrys Though thou shouldest euery day die a death for him thou couldest neuer requite his one death and doest thou sticke at one Euery word hath his force both to him and thee he died which is Lord of life and commander of death thou art but a tenant of life a subiect of death and yet it was not a dying but a giuing vp not of a vanishing and airy breath but of a spirituall soule which after separation hath an entire life in it selfe Hee gaue vp the Ghost hee died that hath both ouercome and sanctified and sweetned death What fearest thou Hee hath pull'd out the sting and malignity of death If thou bee a Christian carry it in thy bosome it hurts thee not Darest thou not trust thy Redeemer If hee had not died Death had beene a Tyrant now hee is a slaue O Death where is thy sting O Graue where is thy victory Yet the Spirit of God saith not hee died but gaue vp the ghost The very Heathen Poet saith Hee durst not say that a good man dies It is worth the noting me thinkes that when Saint Luke would describe to vs the death of Annanias and Sapphirâ hee saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hee expired but when Saint Iohn would describe Christs death hee saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He gaue vp the ghost How How gaue he it vp and whither So as after a sort he retained it his soule parted from his body his Godhead was neuer distracted either from soule or body this vnion is not in nature but in person If the natures of Christ could be diuided each would haue his subsistence so there should be more persons God forbid one of the natures thereof may haue a separation in it selfe the soule from the body one nature cannot bee separate from other or either nature from the person If you cannot conceiue wonder the Sonne of God hath wedded vnto himselfe our humanity without all possibility of diuorce the body hangs on the Crosse the soule is yeelded the Godhead is ãâã vnited to them both acknowledges sustaines them both The soule in his agony foules not the presence of the Godhead the body vpon the Crosse âââles not the presence of the soule Yet as the Fathers of Chalcedon say truly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã indiuisibly inseparably is the Godhead with both of these still and euer one and the same person The Passion of Christ as Augustine was the sleepe of his Diuinity so I may say The death of Christ was the sleepe of his humanitie If hee sleepe hee shall doe well said that Disciple of Lazarus Death was too weake to dissolue the eternall bonds of this heauenly coniunction Let not vs Christians goe too much by sense wee may bee firmely knit to God and not feele it thou canst not hope to be so neere thy God as Christ was vnited personally thou canst not feare that God should seeme more absent from thee Quantumcunque te dâieceris haâiâior non eris Christo Hieron than he did from his own Son yet was he still one with both body and soule when they were diuided from themselues when he was absent to sense he was present to faith when absent in vision yet in vnion one and the same so will he be to thy soule when hee is at worst Hee is thine and thou are his if thy hold seeme loosened his is not When temptations will not let thee see him he sees thee and possesses thee onely beleeue thou against sense aboue hope and though he kill thee yet trust in him Whither gaue he it vp Himselfe expresses Father into thy hands And This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradise It is iustice to restore whence wee receiue Into thy hands Hee knew where it should be both safe and happy True he might bee bold thou sayest as the Sonne with the Father The seruants haue done so Dauid before him Stephen after him And lest we should not thinke it our common right Father saith hee I will that those thou hast giuen mee may bee with mee euen where I am he wils it therefore it must bee It is not presumption but faith to charge God with thy spirit neither can there euer be any beleeuing soule so meane that he should refuse it all the feare is in thy selfe how canst thou trust thy iewell with a stranger What sudden familiarity is this God hath beene with thee and gone by thee thou hast not saluted him and now in all the haste thou bequeathest thy soule to him On what acquaintance How desperate is this carelesnesse If thou haue but a little money whether thou keepe it thou layest it vp in thy Temple of trust or whether thou let it thou art sure of good assurance sound bonds If but a little land how carefully doest thou make firme conueiances to thy desired heires If goods thy Will hath taken secure order who shall enioy them Wee need not teach you Citizens to make sure worke for your estates If children thou disposest of them in trades with portions onely of thy soule which is thy selfe thou knowest not what shall become The world must haue it no more thy selfe wouldest keepe it but thou knowest thou canst not Sathan would haue it thou knowest not whether he shall thou wouldest haue God haue it and thou knowest not whether he will yea thy heart is now ready with Pharaoh to say Who is the Lord O the fearefull and miserable estate of that man that must part with his soule he knowes not whither which if thou wouldest auoid as this very warning shall iudge thee if thou doe not be acquainted with God in thy life that thou mayest make him the Guardian of thy soule in thy death Giuen vp it must needs be but to him that hath gouerned it if thou haue giuen it to Sathan in thy life how canst thou hope God will in thy death entertaine it Did you not hate me and expell mee out of my fathers house how then come yee to mee now in this time of your tribulation said Iephta to the men of Gilead No no either giue vp thy soule to God while he cals for it in his word in the prouocations of his loue in his afflictions in the holy motion of his spirit to thine or else when thou wouldest giue it he will none of it but as a Iudge to deliuer it to the Tormentor What should God doe with an vncleane drunken prophane proud couetous soule Without holinesse it is no seeing of God Depart from me ye wicked I know ye not Goe to the gods you haue serued See how God is euen with men they had in the time of the Gospell said to the holy name of Israel Depart from vs now in the time of iudgement he
them on earth to whom perhaps the fiends light firebrands below As Caesarius the Monke brings in Petrus Cantor and Roger the Norman disputing the case of Becket so wee haue many titular Saints few reall many which are written in red Letters in the Calendar of the world Holy to the Lord whom God neuer canonizes in heauen and shall once entertaine with a Nescio I know you not These men yet haue Holinesse written vpon them and are like as Lucian compares his Grecians to a faire gilt bossed booke looke within there is the Tragedie of Thyestes or perhaps Arrius his Thalia the name of a Muse the matter heresie or Conradus Vorstius his late monster that hath De Dev in the front and Atheisme and Blasphemie in the text As S. Paul saies to his Corinths Would God yee could suffer me a little Yee cannot want praisers yee may want reprouers and yet you haue not so much need of Panegyricks as of reprehensions These by how much more rare they are by so much more necessarie Nec-censura deest quae increpet nec medicina quae saâet saith Cyprian A false praise grieues and a true praise shames saith Anastasius As Kings are by God himselfe called Gods for there are Dij nuncupatiuè and not essentialiter as Gregorie distinguishes because of their resemblance of God so their Courts should be like to heauen and their attendants like Saints and Angels Decet domum tuam sanctitudo agrees to both Thus you should be But alas I see some care to be gallant others care to be great few care to be holy Yea I know not what Deuill hath possessed the hearts of many great ones of our time in both sexes with this conceit that they cannot be gallant enough vnlesse they be godlesse Holinesse is for Diuines or men of meane spirits for graue subdued mortified retired mindes not for them that stand vpon the tearmes of honour height of place and spirit noble humours hence are our oaths duels profanesses Alas that wee should be so besotted as to thinke that our shame which is our onely glory It is reason that makes vs men but it is holinesse that makes vs Christians And woe to vs that wee are men if wee be not Christians Thinke as basely of it as yee will you shall one day finde that one dram of holinesse is worth a whole world of greatnesse yea that there is no greatnesse but in holinesse For Gods sake therefore doe not send holinesse to Colledges or Hospitals for her lodging but entertaine her willingly into the Court as a most happy guest Thinke it a shame and danger to goe in fine clothes while you haue foule hearts and know that in vaine shall you bee honour'd of men if you bee not holy to the Lord. Your goodly outsides may admit you into the Courts on earth but you shall neuer looke within the gates of the Court of heauen without holinesse Without holinesse no man shall see God O God without holinesse we shall neuer see thee and without thee we shall neuer see holinesse write thou vpon these flinty hearts of ours Holinesse to thy selfe Make vs holy to thee that wee may bee glorious with thee and all thy Saints and Angels All this onely for thy Christs sake and to whom c. THE IMPRESE OF GOD. THE SECOND PART By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. THE IMPRESE OF GOD. THE SECOND PART ZACH. vlt. 20. IT is well-neere a yeere agoe since in this Gracious Presence we entred vpon this mysticall yet pertinent Text. You then heard what This day is what these Bells or Bridles what this inscription what these Pots and Bowles And out of That day you heard the proficiencie of the Church out of Holinesse written on the Bells the sanctification of the Church You shall now heare out of these bells or bridles of warlike horses thus inscribed the change of the holy warre and peace of the Church out of these pots aduanced to the likenesse of the bowles of the Altar the degrees of the Churches perfection and acceptation All which craue your gratious and honourable attention That conceit which yet is graced with the name of some Fathers that takes this in the literall sense of Constantines bridle wee passe as more worthy of smiles than confutation Questionlesse the sense is spirituall and it is a sure rule that as the historicall sense is fetcht from signification of words so the spirituall from the signification of those things which are signified by the words For this inscription then it shall not be vpon the bells for their owne sakes but for the horses not as bells but as bells of the horses And on the horses not for their owne sakes but as they serue for their Riders The horse a military creature there is no other mention of him in Scripture no other vse of him of old when the eyes of Elishaes seruant were open he saw the hill full of horses 2. King 6. Euen the celestiall warfare is not expressed without them Hence you shall euer finde them matcht with Chariots in the Scripture And the Poet Nunc tempus equos nunc poscere currus hee rusheth into the battell saith Ieremy and he is made for it for he hath both strength and nimblenesse He is strong there is fortitudo equi Psalm 47. and God himselfe acknowledges it Hast thou giuen the horse his strength Iob 39. He is swift saith Ieremy 4.13 yea as Eagles or Leopards saith Abacuc We must take these horses then either as continuing themselues or as altered If the first The very warres vnder the Gospell shall be holy and God shall much glorifie himselfe by them He saith not There shall be no horses or those horses shall haue no bells or those bells no inscription but those horses and their vse which is warre and their ornaments which are bells shall haue a title of Holinesse While Cornelius Agryppa writes of the vanity of Sciences wee may well wonder at the vanity of his opinion that all warre was forbidden vnder the Gopell But let Agrippa bee vaine in this as a meere Humanist and the Anabaptists grosly false as being franticke heretiques it is maruell how Erasmus so great a Scholler and Ferus so great a Text-man could miscarry in this Manichean conceit Alphonsus a Castro would faine haue our Oecolompadius to keepe them company but Bellarmine himselfe can hardly beleeue him No maruell when he sees Zuinglius die in the field tho as a Pastor not as a Souldier and when our swords haue so well taught them besides our tongues that the hereticks are as good friends to warre as enemies to them It is Gods euerlasting title Dominus exercituum To speake nothing of the old Testament What can Cornelius Agrippa say to Cornelius the Centurion I feare no man would giue that title to him that opposed warre which Gods spirit
them that loue our soules and hate them that loue our sinnes They are these rough hands that must bring vs sauory dishes and carry away a blessing truth is for them now thankes shall be for them hereafter but in the meane time they may not be iudged by the appearance Lastly if we shall iudge friendship by complement salubrity by sweetnesse seruice by the eye fidelity by oathes valour by brags a Saint by his face a deuill by his feet we shall be sure to be deceiued Iudge not therefore according to appearance But that yee mistake not though we may not iudge onely by the appearance yet appearance may not bee neglected in our iudgement Some things according to the Philosopher ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã seeme and are are as they seeme Semblances are not alwaies seuered from truth Our senses are safe guides to our vnderstandings Wee iustly laugh at that Scepticke in Laertius who because his seruant robbed his Cup-bord doubted whether hee left his victuals there What doe wee with eyes if wee may not beleeue their intelligence That world is past wherein the glosse Clericus amplectens foeminam praesumitur benedicendi causà fecisse The wanton imbracements of another mans wife must passe with a Clarke for a ghostly benediction Men are now more wise lesse charitable Words and probable shewes are appearances actions are not and yet euen our words also shall iudge vs If they bee filthy if blasphemous if but idle wee shall account for them wee shall bee iudged by them Ex ore tuo A foule tongue shewes euer a rotten heart By their fruits yee shall know them is our Sauiours rule I may safely say No body desires to borrow colours of euill if you doe ill thinke not that we will make dainty to thinke you so When the God of loue can say by the Disciple of loue Qui facit peccatum ex diabolo est Hee that committeth sinne is of the deuill Euen the righteous Iudge of the world iudgeth secundum opera according to our works we cannot erre whiles wee tread in his steps If wee doe euill sinne lies at the doore but it is on the street side Euery Passenger sees it censures it How much more he that sees in secret Tribulation and anguish vpon euery soule that doth euill Euery soule here is no exemption by greatnesse no buying off with bribes no bleering of the eyes with pretences no shrouding our selues in the night of secrecy but if it be a soule that doth euill Tribulation and anguish is for it Contrarily If we doe well shall we not be accepted If we be charitable in our almes iust in our awards faithfull in our performances sober in our carriages deuout in our religious seruices conscionable in our actions Glory and honour and peace to euery man that workeâh good we shall haue peace with our selues honour with men glory with God and his Angels Yea that peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding such honour as haue al his Saints the incomprehensible glory of the God of peace the God of Saints and Angels to the participation whereof that good God that hath ordained vs as mercifully bring vs for the sake of his deare Sonne Iesus Christ the iust To whom with thee O Father and thy good Spirit one infinite God our God be giuen all praise honour and glory now and for euer Amen THE GREAT IMPOSTOR LAID OPEN IN A SERMON AT GRAYES INNE Febr. 2. 1623. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON ⧠Printed for NATHANIEL BVTTER 1624. TO THE MOST NOBLE AND WORTHILY HONOVRED SOCIETIE OF GRAYES INNE AT WHOSE BARRE THIS JMPOSTOR WAS openly arraigned J. H. HVMBLY DEDICATES THIS PVBLIKE LIFE OF HIS WEAKE AND VNWORTHIE LABOVR THE GREAT IMPOSTOR LAID OPEN OVT OF IER 17.9 The heart is deceitfull aboue all things I Know where I am in one of the famous Phrontisteries of Law and Iustice wherefore serues Law and Iustice but for the preuention or punishment of fraud and wickednesse Giue me leaue therefore to bring before you Students Masters Fathers Oracles of Law and Iustice the greatest Cheator and Malefactor in the world our owne Heart It is a great word that I haue said in promising to bring him before you for this is one of the greatest aduantages of his fraud that hee cannot bee seene That as that old Iugler Apollonius Thyanaeus when he was brought before the Iudge vanished out of sight so this great Impostor in his very presenting before you dispeareth and is gone yea so cunningly that he doth it with our owne consent and we would be loth that he could be seene Therefore as an Epiphonema to this iust complaint of deceitfulnesse is added Who can know it It is easie to know that it is deceitfull and in what it deceiues though the deceits themselues cannot bee knowne till too late As wee may see the ship and the sea and the ship going on the sea yet the way of a ship in the sea as Salomon obserues wee know not God askes and God shall answer What hee askes by Ieremie he shall answer by S. Paul Who knowes the heart of man Euen the spirit of man that is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 If then the heart haue but eyes enow to see it selfe by the reflection of thoughts it is enough Ye shall easily see heare enough out of the analogie and resemblance of hearts to make you both astonished and ashamed The heart of man lies in a narrow roome yet all the world cannot fill it but that which may be said of the heart would more than fill a world Here is a double stile giuen it of deceitfulnesse of wickednesse either of which knowes no end whether of being or of discourse I spend my houre and might doe my life in treating of the first See then I beseech you the Impostor and the Imposture The Impostor himselfe The heart of man The Imposture Deceitfull aboue all things As deceitfull persons are wont euer to goe vnder many names and ambiguous and must be exprest with an alias so doth the heart of man Neither man himselfe nor any part of man hath so many names as the heart alone For euery facultie that it hath and euery action it doth it hath a seuerall name Neither is there more multiplicitie than doubt in this name Not so many termes are vsed to signifie the heart as the heart signifies many things When ye heare of the heart ye thinke straight of that fleshie part in the center of the body which liues first and dies last and whose beatings you finde to keepe time all the body ouer That is not it which is so cunning Alas that is a poore harmelesse peece meerely passiue and if it doe any thing as the subministration of Vitall spirits to the maintenance of the whole frame it is but good no it is the spirituall part that lurkes in this flesh which is guilty of such deceit We must learne of
witty Idolatry to distinguish betwixt the stocke and and the inuisible powers that dwell in it It is not for me to be a stickler betwixt the Hebrewes and the Greeke Philosopherâ and Physitians in a question of naturall learning concerning the seat of the soule nor to insist vpon the reasons why the spirit of God rather places all the spirituall powers in the heart than in the braine Doubtlesse in respect of the affections there resident whereby all those speculatiue abilities are drawne to practise It shall suffice vs to take things as wee finde them and to hold it for granted that this Monosyllable for so it is in many languages comprises all that intellectiue and affectiue world which concerneth man and in plaine termes to say that when God saies The heart is deceitfull he meanes the vnderstanding will affections are deceitfull The vnderstanding is doubly deceitfull It makes vs beleeue it knowes those things which it doth not and that it knowes not those things which it doth As some foolish Mountebanke that holds it a great glory to seeme to know all things or some presuming Physitian that thinkes it a shame not to professe skill in any state of the body or disease so doth our vaine vnderstanding therein framing it selfe according to the spirits it meets withall if they bee proud and curious it perswades them they know euery thing if carelesse that they know enough In the first kinde What hath not the fond heart of man dared to arrogate to it selfe It knowes all the starres by their names Tush that is nothing It knowes what the stars meane by their verie lookes what the birds meane by their chirping as Apollonius did What the heart meanes by the features of the face it knowes the euents of life by the lines of the hand the secrets of Art the secrets of Nature the secrets of State the secrets of others hearts yea the secrets of God in the closet of heauen Yea not onely what God hath done but what he will doe This is Sapiens stultitia a wise folly as Irenaeus said of his Valentinians All Figure-casters Palmesters Physiognomers Fortune-tellers Alchymists fantasticke proiectors and all the rabble of professors of those ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Acts 19.19 not so much curious as idle Arts haue their word giuen them by the Apostle Deceiuing and deceiued neither can these men make any worse fooles than their hearts haue made themselues ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and well may that Alexandrian tax bee set vpon them in both names whether of actiue or passiue folly And as it commonly fals out that superfluous things rob the heart of necessary in the meane while those things which the heart may and should know it lightly mis-knowes As our senses are deceiued by distance or interpositions to thinke the stars beamie and sparkling the Moone horned the Planets equally remote the Sunne sometimes red pale other some so doth also our vnderstanding erre in misopinion of diuine things It thinkes it knowes God when it is but an Idoll of fancy as Sauls messengers when they came into the roome thought they had the true Dauid when it was but a Wispe it knowes the will of God when it is nothing but grosse mis-construction so as the common knowledge of men though they thinke it a Torch is but an Ignis Faânus to leade them to a ditch How many thousand Assyrians thinke they are in the way to the Prophet when they are in the midst of Samaria How many millions thinke they walke fairely on to heauen when indeed they are in the broad way that leads to destruction Oh poore blinde Pagans halfe-sighted Turkes bleare-eied Iewes blind-folded Papists Squint-eied Schismaticks purblind ignorants how well doe they finde themselues pleased with their deuotion and thinke God should bee so too when it is nothing but a mixture of mesprison superstition conceitednesse and according to the seldome-reuerently-vsed prouerbe whiles they thinke they haue God by the finger they hold a deuill by the toe and all this because their heart deceiues them If carelesse and loth to bee at the paines of knowing more it perswades them they know enough that they cry out of more as he did on the ointment Vt quid perditio hac What needs all this waste and makes them as conscionable for knowledge as Esau was for cattle I haue enough my brother keepe that thou hast to thy selfe or as contentedly-resolute as the Epicure in the Gospell Soule take thy ease thou hast knowledge enough laid vp for many yeeres From whence it is that too many rest simply yea wilfully in their owne measure not so much as wishing more skill in Soule-matters applauding their owne safe mediocritie like the credulous blinde man that thought he now saw a shimmering of the Sunne-beames when indeed his backe was towards it Hence it is that they scoffe at the foolishnesse of preaching scorne the forward bookishnesse of others fearing nothing but a surfet of Manna and hating to know more than their neighbours than their fore-fathers and thus are led on muffled vp in an vnfelt ignorance to their graue yea without the mercy of God to their hell And as in these things there is a presumption of knowing what we doe not so contrarily a dissimulation and concealement of the knowledge of what we doe vnderstand The heart of man is a great lier to it selfe this way Saint Paul saies that of Pagans which I may boldly say of Christians they haue the effect of the law written in their hearts yet many of them will not bee acknowne of one letter ingrauen there by the finger of God Certaine common principles there are together with this law interlinearily written in the Tables of the heart as that we must doe as we would be done to That there is a God That this God is infinite in iustice and truth and must bee serued like himselfe these they either blot out or lay their finger on that they may not bee seene purposely that they may sinne freely and faine would perswade themselues they neuer had any such euidence from God so putting off the checks of conscience with bold denials like the harlot of Iericho but worse than she that hath hid the Spies and now out-faces their entertainment Wherein the heart doth to it selfe that which Nahash the Ammonite would haue done to Israel put out his owne right eie that it may not see that law whereby it might be conuinced and finde it selfe miserable Thus the vnderstanding of man is euery way deceitfull in ouerknowing mis-knowing dissembling in all which it is like an euill and vnfaithfull eye that either will be seeing by a false glasse or a false light or with distortion or else wilfully closes the lids that it may not see at all and in all this deceiues vs. The will is no lesse cunning which though it make faire pretences of a generall inclination to good yet hic nunc in particulars hangs towards a
pleasing euill Yea though the Vnderstanding haue sufficiently informed it of the worthinesse of good and the turpitude of euill yet being ouercome with the false delectablenesse of sinne it yeelds to a misse-assent Reason being as Aquinas speakes either swallowed vp by some passion or held downe by some vicious habit It is true still the Will followes the Reason neither can doe otherwise but therefore if Reason mis-led be contrary to Reason and a schisme arise in the soule it must follow that the Will must needs bee contrary to Will and Reason Wherein it is like a Planet which though it be carried aboue perpetually by the first mouer yet slily creepes on his owne way contrary to that strong circumuolution And though the minde be sufficiently conuinced of the necessitie or profit of a good act yet for the tediousnesse annexed to it in a dangerous spirituall âcodie it insensibly slips away from it and is content to let it fall As some idle or fearefull Merchant that could be glad to haue gold if it would come with ease but will not either take the paines or hazard the aduenture to fetch it Thus commonly the Will in both respects Water-man-like lookes forward and rowes backward and vnder good pretences doth nothing but deceiue The affections are as deceitfull as either whether in misse-placing measure or manner Mis-placing They are fiery where they should be coole and where they should burne freeze Our heart makes vs beleeue it loues God and giues him pledges of affection whiles it secretly doats vpon the world like some false strumpet that entertaines her husband with her eyes and in the meane time treads vpon the toe of an Adulterer vnder the board That it loues iustice when it is but reuenge That it grieues for the missing of Christ when indeed it is but for the loaues and fishes That it feares God when indeed it is but afraid of our owne torment That it hates the sin when it is the person That it hates the world when it thrusts God out of doores to lodge it Measure That we loue God enough and the world but enough when as indeed the one loue is but as the cold fit of an ague the other an hot we chill in the one no lesse than we glow in the other when wee make God onely a stale to draw on the world That we doe enough hate our corruptions when at our sharpest we doe but gently sneape them as Hely did his sonnes or as some indulgent parent doth an vnthriftie darling whom he chides and yet feeds with the fewell of his excesse That we haue grieued enough for our sinnes when they haue not cost vs so much as one teare nothing but a little fashionable winde that neuer came further than the roots of our tongue That we doe enough compassionate the afflictions of Ioseph when we drinke wine in bowles That we feare God more than men when we are ashamed to doe that in presence of a childe which we care not to doe in the face of God Manner That our heart loues and hates and feares and ioyes and grieues truly when is an hypocrite in all That it delights constantly in God and holy things when it is but an Ephraims morning dew That our anger is zealous when it is but a flash of personall malice or a superstitious furie That we feare as sonnes when it is as cowards or slaues That we grieue as Gods patients when we fret and repine and struggle like franticks against the hand of our Maker Thus to summe vp all the heart of man is wholly set vpon cozenage the vnderstanding ouer-knowing mis-knowing dissembling The will pretending and inclining contrarily The affections mocking vs in the obiect measure manner and in all of them the heart of man is deceitfull Ye haue seene the face of this Cheator looke now at his hand and now ye see who this Deceiuer is see also the sleights of his deceit and therein the fashion the subiect the sequell of it from whence we will descend to our Demeanure towards so dangerous an Impostor The fashion of his deceit is the same with our ordinary Iuglers either cunning conueyance or false semblance Cunning conueyance whether into vs in vs from vs. The heart admits sinne as Paradise did the Serpent There it is but by what chinkes or cranies it entered we know not so as we may say of sinne as the Master of the feast in the Gospell said to his slouenly guest Quomodo intrasti How camest thou in hither Corruption doth not eat into the heart as our first Parents did into the apple so as the print of their teeth might be seene but as the worme eats into the core insensibly Neither is there lesse closenesse when it is entred I would it were as vntrue a word as it is an harsh one that many a professedly Christian heart lodges a deuill in the blinde roomes of it and either knowes it not or will not bee acknowne of it euery one that harbours a willing sinne in his brest doth so The malicious man hath a furious deuill the wanton an vncleane deuill a Beelphegor or a Tammonz the proud man a Lucifer the couetous a Mammon Certainly these soule spirits are not more truly in hell than in a wicked heart there they are but so closely that I know not if the heart it selfe know it it being verified of this citadell of the heart which was said of that vast Niniuâ that the enemie had taken some parts of it long ere the other knew it What should I speake of the most common and yet most dangerous guest that lodges in this Inne of the heart Infidelity Call at the doore and aske if such a one host not there They within make strange of it deny it forsweare it Call the officers make priuy search you shall hardly finde him Like some Iesuite in a Popish dames chamber he is so closely contriued into false floores and double wals that his presence is not more easily knowne than hardly conuinced confessed How easie is it to say that if infidelitie did not lurke in the hearts of men they durst not doe as they doe they could not but doe what they doe not Durst they sinne if they were perswaded of an hell durst they buy a minute of pleasure with euerlasting torments Could they so sleight heauen if they beleeued it Could they be so loth to possesse it Could they thinke much of a little painfull goodnesse to purchase an eternity of happinesse No no men fathers and brethren if the heart were not Infidell whiles the face is Christian this could not be Neither doth the heart of man more cunningly conuey sinne into and in it selfe than from it The sin that ye saw euen now openly in the hands is so swiftly past vnder the board that it is now vanished Looke for it in his fore-head there it is not looke for it vnder his tongue there is none looke for it in his
cogitation working as it commonly doth remissely causeth not any sudden alteration in our Traueller but as we say of Comets and Eclipses hath his effect when the cause is forgotten Neither is there any one more apparant ground of that lukewarme indifferency which is fallen vpon our times than the ill vse of our wandrings for our Trauellers being the middle ranke of men and therefore either followers of the great or commanders of the meaner sort cannot want conuenience of diffusing this temper of ease vnto both SECT XV. ALl this mischiefe is yet hid with a formall profession so as euery eye cannot finde it in others it dares boldly breake forth to an open reuolt How many in our memory whiles with Dinah they haue gone forth to gaze haue lost their spirituall chastity and therewith both the Church and themselues How many like vnto the brooke Cedron run from Hierusalem thorow the vale of Iehosaphat and end their course in the dead sea Robert Pointz in his preface to the testimonies for the reall presence 2 Chron. 24. A popish writer of our Nation as himselfe thought not vnlearned complaining of the obstinacy of vs hereticks despaires of preuailing because he findes it to be long agoe fore-prophecied of vs in the Booke of the Chronicles At illi Protestantes audire noluerunt It is well that Protestants were yet heard of in the old Testament as well as Iesuites whose name one of their owne by good hap hath found Num. 26.24 Like as Erasmus found Friers in S. Pauls time inter falsos Fratres Socrat. in Iosuam l. 1. c. 2. q. 19. Gretser contra Lerneum c. 1. 2. Vere aiquidam haereticus Iesuitas in sacris literis repertri But it were better if this mans word were as true as it is idle Some of ours haue heard to their cost whose losse ioyned with the griefe of the Church and dishonour of the Gospel we haue sufficiently lamented How many haue wee knowne stroken with these Aspes which haue died sleeping And in truth whosoeuer shall consider this open freedome of the meanes of seducement must needs wonder that we haue lost no more especially if he be acquainted with those two maine helps of our Aduersaries importunity and plausibility Neuer any Pharisee was so eager to make a Proselyte as our late factors of Rome and if they be so hot set vpon this seruice as to compasse sea and land to winne one of vs shall we be so mad as to passe both their sea and land to cast our selues into the mouth of danger No man setteth foot vpon their coast which may not presently sing with the Psalmist They come about mee like Bees It fares with them as with those which are infected with the pestilence who they say are carried with an itching desire of tainting others When they haue all done this they haue gained that if Satan were not more busie and vehement than they they could gaine nothing But in the meane time there is nothing wherein I wish we would emulate them but in this heat of diligence and violent ambition of winning Pyrrhus did not more enuy the valour of those old Romane souldiers which he read in their wounds and dead faces than we doe the busie audacitie of these new The world could not stand before vs if our Truth might be but as hotly followed as their falshood Oh that our God whose cause we maintaine would enkindle our hearts with the fire of holy zeale but so much as Satan hath inflamed theirs with the fire of fury and faction Oh that he would shake vs out of this dull ease and quicken ourslacke spirits vnto his owne worke Arise O North and come O South and blow vpon our garden that the spices thereof may flow forth These suters will take no deniall but are ready as the fashion was to doe with rich matches to carry away mens soules whether they will or no. Wee see the proofe of their importunity at home No bulwarke of lawes no barres of iustice though made of three trees can keepe our rebanished fugitiues from returning from intermedling How haue their actions said in the hearing of the world that since heauen will not heare them they will try what hell can doe And if they dare bee so busie in our owne homes where they would seeme somewhat awed with the danger of iustice what thinke we will they not dare to doe in their owne territories where they haue not free scope onely but assistance but incouragement Neuer generation was so forward as the Iesuiticall for captation of wils amongst their owne or of soules amongst strangers What state is not haunted with these ill spirits yea what house yea what soule Not a Princes Councell-Table not a Ladies chamber can be free from their shamelesse insinuations It was not for nothing that their great Patron Philip the second King of Spaine called them Clerices negotiadores and that Marcus Antonius Columna Generall of the Nauy to Pius Quintuâ in the battell of Lepanto and Viceroy of Sicile could say to Father Don Alonso a famous Iesuite affecting to be of the counsell of his conscience Voi altri padri di Ihesu hauete la mente al ciclo le mani al mondo l'anima al diauolo SECT XVI YEt were there the lesse perill of their vehemence if it were only rude and boysterous as in some other sects that so as it is in Canon shot it might be more easily shund than resisted but here the skill of doing mischiefe contends with the power their mis-zealous passions hide themselues in a pleasing sweetnesse and they are more beholden to policy than strength What Gentleman of any note can crosse our Seas whose name is not landed in their books before hand in preuention of his person whom now arriued if they finde vntractable through too much preiudice they labour first to temper with the plausible conuersation of some smooth Catholike of his owne Nation the name of his Countrey is warrant enough for his insinuation Not a word yet may be spoken of Religion as if that were no part of the errand So haue we seene an Hawke cast off at an Hernshaw to looke and flie a quite other way after many carelesse and ouerly fetches to towre vp vnto the prey intended There is nothing wherein this faire companion shall not apply himselfe to his welcome Countryman At last when he hath possest himselfe of the heart of his new acquaintance got himselfe the reputation of a sweet ingenuity and delightfull sociablenesse he findes opportunities to bestow some witty scoffes vpon those parts of our religion which lie most open to aduantage And now it is time to inuite him after other rarities to see the Monastery of our English Benedictines or if elsewhere those English Colleges which the deuout beneficence of our well-meaning neighbours with no other intention than some couetous Farmers lay saltcats in their doue-coats haue bountifully erected There it is a wondes
What relation hath wood to water or that which hath no sauour to the redresse of bitternesse Yet here is no more possibilitie of failing then proportion to the successe All things are subiect to the command of their Maker He that made all of nothing can make euery thing of any There is so much power in euery creature as he will please to giue It is the praise of Omnipotencie to worke by improbabilities Elisha with Salt Moses with wood shall sweeten the bitter waters Let no man despise the meanes when he knowes the Author God taught his people by actions as well as words This entrance shewed them their whole iourney wherein they should taste of much bitternesse but at last through the mercy God sweetned with comfort Or did it not represent themselues rather in the iourney in the fountaines of whose hearts were the bitter waters of manifold corruptions yet their vnsauourie soules are sweetned by the graces of his Spirit O blessed Sauiour the wood of thy Crosse that is the application of thy sufferings is enough to sweeten a whole Sea of bitternesse I care not how vnpleasant a potion I finde in this Wildernesse if the power and benefit of thy precious death may season it to my soule Of the Quayles and Manna THe thirst of Israel is well quenched for besides the change of the waters of Marah their station is changed to Elim where were twelue Fountaines for their twelue Tribes and now they complaine as fast of hunger Contentation is a rare blessing because it arises either from a fruition of all comforts or a not desiring of some which we haue not Now wee are neuer so bare as not to haue some benefits neuer so full as not to want something yea as not to be full of wants God hath much ado with vs either we lacke health or quietnesse or children or vvealth or company or ourselues in all these It is a vvonder these men found not fault with the want of sweet to their Quailes or with their old cloathes or their solitarie way Nature is moderate in her desires but conceit is vnsatiable Yet who can deny hunger to be a sore vexation Before they were forbidden sowre bread but now what leauen is to sowre as want When meanes hold out it is easie to be content Whiles their dough and other eates lasted vvhiles they vvere gathering of the Dates of Elim vve heare no newes of them Who cannot pray for his dayly bread when he hath it in his cup-bord But when our owne prouision failes vs then not to distrust the prouision of God is a noble tryall of faith They should haue said He that stopt the mouth of the Sea that it could not deuoure vs can as easily stop the mouth of our stomacks It was no easier matter to kill the first-borne of Aegypt by his immediate hand then to preserue vs He that commanded the Sea to stand still and guard vs can as easily command the earth to nourish vs He that made the Rod a Serpent can as well make these stones bread He that brought armies of Frogs and Caterpillers to Aegypt can as well bring vvhole drifts of birds and beasts to the desart He that sweetened the waters vvith Wood can aswell refresh our bodies vvith the fruits of the earth Why doe we not wait on him whom vve haue found so powerfull Now they set the mercy and loue of God vpon a wrong laste vvhiles they measure it onely by their present sense Nature is iocââd and cheerefull vvhiles it prospereth let God vvithdraw his hand no sight no trust Those can praise him vvith Timbrels for a present fauour that cannot depend vpon him in the vvant of meanes for a future We all are neuer vveary of receiuing soone weary of attending The other mutiny vvas of some few male-contents perhaps those strangers which fought their owne protection vnder the vving of Israel this of the whole troope Not that none were free Caleb Ioshua Moses Aaron Miriam were not yet tainted vsually God measures the state of any Church or Country by the most the greater part caries both the name and censure Sinnes are so much greater as they are more vniuersall so farre is euill from being extenuated by the multitude of the guilty that nothing can more aggrauate it With men commonnesse may plead for fauour vvith God at pleads for iudgement Many hands draw the Cable with more violence then few The leprosie of the whole body is more loathsome then that of a part But vvhat doe these mutiners say Oh that wee had dyed by the hand of the Lord And whose hand vvas this O ye fond Israelites if yee must perish by famine God caried you forth God restrained his creatures from you and vvhile you are ready to dye this ye say On that we had dyed by the hand of the Lord It is the folly of men that in immediate iudgements they can see Gods hand not in those whose second causes are sensible whereas God holds himselfe equally interessed in all challenging that there is no euill in the City but from him It is but one hand and many instruments that God strikes vs with The water may not lose the name though it come by chanels and pipes from the spring It is our faithlesnesse that in visible meanes we see not him that is inuisible And when would they haue vvisht to die When wee sate by the flesh-pots of Aegypt Alas what good vvould their flesh pots haue done them in their death If they might sustaine their life yet what could they auaile them in dying For if they were vnpleasant what comfort was it to see them If pleasant what comfort to part from them Our greatest pleasures are but paines in their losse Euery minde affects that which is like it selfe Carnall minds are for the flesh-pots of Aegypt though bought with seruitude spirituall are for the presence of God though redeemed with famine and would rather die in Gods presence then liue without him in the sight of delicate of full dishes They loued their liues well enough I heard how they shrieked when they were in danger of the Aegyptians yet now they say Oh that we had dyed Not Oh that wee might liue by the flesh-pots but Oh that wee had dyed Although life be naturally sweet yet a little discontentment makes vs weary It is a base cowardlinesse so soone as euer we are called from the garison to the field to thinke of running away Then is our fortitude worthy of praise when we can endure to be miserable But what can no flesh-pots serue but those of Aegypt I am deceiued if that Land affoorded them any flesh-pots saue their owne Their Landlords of Aegypt held it abomination to eate of their dishes or to kill that which they did eate In those times then they did eate of their owne and why not now They had droues of cattell in the Wildernesse vvhy did they not take of them Surely if they would haue
man may think these men slaine for their daughters they plainly dye for their sinne and these Gileadites might not haue liued without the periury of Israel and now sith they must dye it is good to make benefit of necessity I inquire not into the rigour of the oath If their solemne vow did not binde them to kill all of both sexes in Beniamin why did they not spare their virgins and if it did so binde them why did they spare the virgins of Gilead Fauours must be enlarged in all these religious restrictions Where breath may be taken in them it is not fit nor safe they should be straitned Foure hundred virgins of Gilead haue lost Parents and brethren and kindred and now finde husbands in lieu of them An inforced marriage was but a miserable comfort for such a losse like Wards or captiues they are taken and chuse not These suffice not their friendly aduersaries consult for more vpon worse conditions Into what troublesome and dangerous straits doe men thrust themselues by either vniust or inconsiderate vowes In the midst of all this common lawlesnesse of Israel here was conscience made on both sides of matching with Infidels The Israelites can rather be content their daughters should be stollen by their owne then that the daughters of aliens should be giuen them These men which had not grace enough to detest and punish the beastlinesse of their Gileadites yet are not so gracelesse as to chuse them wiues of the Heathen All but Athiests howsoeuer they let themselues loose yet in some things finde themselues restrained and shew to others that they haue a coÌscience If there were not much danger and much sinne in this vnequall yoke they would neuer haue perswaded to so heauy an inconuenience Disparitie of religion in matrimoniall contracts hath so many mischiefes that it is worthy to be redeemed with much preiudice They which might not giue their owne daughters to Beniamin yet giue others whiles they giue leaue to steale them Stollen marriages are both vnnatural and full of hazrad for loue whereof marriage is the knot cannot be forced this was rather rape then wedlocke What vnlikenesse perhaps contrarietie of disposition what auersenes of affection may there be in not only a sudden but a forceable meeting If these Beniaminites had not taken liberty of giuing themselues ease by diuorcemeÌt they would often haue found leisure to rue this stollen booty This act may not be drawn to example and yet here was a kinde of indefinite consent Both deliberation and good liking are little enough for a during estate and that which is once done for euer These virgins come vp to the feast of the Lord and now out of the midst of their daunces are carried to a double captiuity How many virgins haue lost themselues in daunces and yet this sport was not immodest These virgins daunced by themselues without the company of them which might moue towards vnchastity for if any men had been with them they they had found so many rescuers as they had assaulters now the exposing of their weake sex to his iniury proues their innocence Our vsuall daunces are guilty of more sinne Wanton gestures and vnchaste touches lookes motions draw the heart to folly The ambushes of euill spirits carry away many a soule from daunces to a fearefull desolation It is supposed that the parents thus robbed of their daughters will take it heauily There cannot be a greater crosse then the miscariage of children They are not onely the liuing goods bur pieces of their parents that they should therefore be torne from them by violence is no lesse iniury then the dismembring of their owne bodies NAOMI and RVTH BEtwixt the raigne of the Iudges Israel was plagued with tyranny and whiles some of them raigned with famine Seldome did that rebellious people want somewhat to humble them One rod is not enough for a stubborne child The famine must needs be great that makes the inhabitants to runne their country The name of home is so sweet that we cannot leaue it for a little Behold that land which had wont to flow with milke and hony now abounds with want and penurie and Bethleem in stead of an house of bread is an house of famine A fruitfull land doth God make barren for the wickednes of them that dwell therein The earth beares not for it selfe but for vs God is not angry with it but with men For our sakes it was first cursed to thornes thistles after that to moisture and since that not seldome to drought and by all these to barrennesse Wee may not looke alwaies for plenty It is a wonder whiles there is such superfluitie of wickednesse that our earth is no more sparing of her fruits The whole earth is the Lords and in him ours It is lawfull for the owners to change their houses at pleasure Why should we not make free vse of any part of our owne possessions Elimelech and his family remoue from Bethleem Iuda vnto Moab Nothing but necessity can dispense with a locall relinquishing of Gods Church Not pleasure not profit not curiosity Those which are famished out God calls yea driues from thence The Creator and possessor of the earth hath not confined any man to his necessary destruction It was lawfull for Elimelech to make vse of Pagans and Idolaters for the supply of all needfull helps There cannot bee a better imployment of Moabites then to be the treasures and purueyors of Gods children Wherefore serue they but to gather for the true owners It is too much nicenesse in them which forbeaâe the benefit they might make of the faculties of profane or hereticall persons They consider not that they haue more right to the good such men can doe then they that doe it and challenge that good for their owne But I cannot see how it could be lawfull for his Sons to match with the daughters of Moab Had these men heard how farre and vnder how solemn an oath their father Abraham sent for a wife of his owne Tribe for his sonne Isaac Had they heard the earnest charge of holy Isaac to the sonne hee blessed Thou shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan Hâd they forgotten the plagues of Israel for but a short conuersation with the Moabitish women If they plead remotenesse from their own people Did they not remember how fârre Iacob walked to Padan-Aram Was it further from Moab to Bethleem then froÌ Bethleem to Moab and if the care of themselues led theÌ from Bethleem to Moab should not their care of obedience to God haue as wel carried them backe from Moab to Bethleem Yet if their wiues would haue left their Idotrie with their maidenhead the match had been more safe but now euen at the last farewell Naomi can say of Orpah that shee is returned to her gods These men haue sinned in their choice and it speeds with them accordingly Where did euer one of these vnequall matches prosper
first encounter the Philistim receiues the first foile and shall first let in death into his eare ere it enter into his forehead Thou com'st to me with a sword and a speare and a sheild but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the host of Israel whom thou hast railed vpon This day shall the Lord close thee in my hand and I shall smite thee and take thine head from thee Here is another stile not of a boaster but of a Prophet Now shall Goliah know whence to expect his bane euen from the hands of a reuenging God that shall smite him by Dauid and now shall learne too late what it is to meddle with an enemy that goes vnder the inuisible protection of the Almighty No sooner hath Dauid spoken then his foot and hand second his tongue Hee runnes to fight with the Philistim It is a cold courage that stands onely vpon defence As a man that saw no cause of feare and was full of the ambition of victory hee flyes vpon that monster and with a stone out of his bag smites him in the forehead There was no part of Goliah that was capable of that danger but the face and that piece of the face the rest was defenced with a brazen wall which a weake sling would haue tryed to batter in vaine What could Goliah feare to see an aduersary come to him without edge or point And behold that one part hath God found out for the entrance of death He that could haue caused the stone to passe through the shield and brest-plate of Goliah rather directs the stone to that part whose nakednesse gaue aduantage Where there is power or possibility of nature God vses not to worke miracles but chuses the way that lies most open to his purposes The vaste fore-head was a faire marke but how easily might the sling haue missed it if there had not beene another hand in this cast besides Dauids Hee that guided Dauid into this field and raised his courage to this combat guides the stone to his end and lodges it in that seat of impudence There now lyes the great Defier of Israel groueling and grinning in death and is not suffered to deale one blow for his life and bites the vnwelcome earth for indignation that he dies by the hand of a Shepheard Earth and Hell share him betwixt them such is the end of insolence and presumption O God what is flesh and blood to thee which canst make a little peeble-stone stronger then a Gyant and when thou wilt by the weakest meanes canst strew thine enemies in the dust Where now are the two shields of Goliah that they did not beare off this stroke of death or wherefore serues that Weauers beame but to strike the earth in falling or that sword but to behead his Master What needed Dauid load himselfe with an vnnecessary weapon one sword can serue both Goliah and him If Goliah had a man to beare his shield Dauid had Goliah to beare his sword wherewith that proud blasphemous head is seuered from his shoulders Nothing more honours God then the turning of wicked mens forces against themselues There is none of his enemies but caries with them their owne destruction Thus didst thou O Sonne of Dauid foyle Satan with his owne weapon that whereby he meant destruction to thee and vs vanquished him through thy mighty power and raised thee to that glorious triumph and super-exaltation wherein thou art wherein we shall bee with thee IONATHANS Loue and SAVLS Enuy. BEsides the discomsiture of the Philistims Dauids victory had a double issue Ionathans Loue and Sauls Enuy which God so mixed that the one was a remedy of the other A good sonne makes amends for a way-ward father How precious was that stone that killed such an enemy as Goliah and purchased such a friend as Ionathan All Sauls Courtiers lookt vpon Dauid none so affected him none did match him but Ionathan That true correspondence that was both in their faith and valour hath knit their hearts If Dauid did set vpon a Beare a Lyon a Gyant Ionathan had set vpon a whole Host and preuailed The same Spirit animated both the same Faith incited both the same Hand prospered both All Israel was not worth this paire of friends so zealously confident so happily victorious Similitude of dispositions and estates tyes the fastest knots of affection A wise soule hath piercing eyes and hath quickly discerned the likenesse of it selfe in another as we doe no sooner looke into the Glasse or Water but face answers to face and where it sees a perfect resemblance of it selfe cannot choose but loue it with the same affection that it reflects vpon it selfe No man saw Dauid that day which had so much cause to dis-affect him none in all Israel should be a loser by Dauids successe but Ionathan Saul was sure enough setled for his time onely his Successor should forgoe all that which Dauid should gaine so as none but Dauid stands in Ionathans light and yet all this cannot abate one ior or dram of his loue Where God vniteth hearts carnall respects are too weake to disseuer them since that which breakes off affection must needs be stronger then that which conioyneth it Ionathan doth not desire to smother his loue by concealment but professes it in his cariage actions He puts off the Robe that was vpon him and all his garments euen to his Sword and Bow and Girdle giues them vnto his new friend It was perhaps not without a mystery that Sauls cloths fitted not Dauid but Ionathans fitted him and these he is as glad to weare as he was to be disburthened of the other that there might be a perfect resemblance their bodies are suted as well as their hearts Now the beholders can say there goes Ionathans other selfe If there bee another body vnder those clothes there is the same soule Now Dauid hath cast off his russet coate and his scrip and is a Shepheard no more he is suddenly become both a Courtier and a Captaine and a Companion to the Prince yet himselfe is not changed with his habit with his condition yea rather as if his wisedome had reserued it selfe for his exaltation he so manageth a sudden Greatnesse as that he winneth all hearts Honour shewes the man and if there be any blemishes of imperfection they will bee seene in the man that is inexpectedly lifted aboue his fellowes He is out of the danger of folly whom a speedy aduancement leaueth wise Ionathan loued Dauid the Souldiers honoured him the Court fauoured him the people applauded him onely Saul stomackt him and therefore hated him because he was so happy in all besides himselfe It had beene a shame for all Israel if they had not magnified their Champion Sauls owne heart could not but tell him that they did owe the glory of that day and the safety of himselfe and Israel vnto the sling of Dauid who in
men according to no other conditions then of their faith The Centurions seruant was sicke the Rulers sonne The Centurion doth not sue vnto Christ to come onely sayes My seruant is sicke of a Palsie Christ answers him I will come and heale him The Ruler sues vnto Christ that hee would come and heale his sonne Christ will not goe onely sayes Goe thy way thy sonne liues Outward things carie no respect with God The Image of that diuine Maiestie shining inwardly in the graces of the soule is that which wins loue from him in the meanest estate The Centurions faith therefore could do more then the Rulers greatnesse and that faithfull mans seruant hath more regard then this great mans sonne The Rulers request was Come and heale Christs answer was Goe thy way thy sonne liues Our mercifull Sauiour meets those in the end whom hee crosses in the way How sweetly doth he correct our prayers and whiles he doth not giue vs what we aske giues vs better then we asked Iustly doth he forbeare to go downe with this Ruler lest he should confirme him in an opinion of measuring his power by conceits of locality distance but he doth that in absence for which his presence was required with a repulse Thy sonne liueth giuing a greater demonstration of his omnipotencie then was craued How oft doth hee not heare to our will that hee may heare vs to our aduantage The chosen vessell would be rid of tentations he heares of a supply of grace The sicke man askes release receiues patience life and receiues glory Let vs aske what we thinke best let him giue what he knowes best With one word doth Christ heale two Patients the sonne and the father the sons feuer the fathers vnbeleefe That operatiue word of our Sauiour was not without the intention of a triall Had not the Ruler gone home satisfied with that intimation of his sonnes life and recouerie neither of them had beene blessed with successe Now the newes of performance meets him one halfe of the way and hee that beleeued somewhat ere he came and more when he went grew to more faith in the way and when he came home inlarged his faith to all the skirts of his familie A weake faith may be true but a true faith is growing He that boasts of a full stature in the first moment of his assent may presume but doth not beleeue Great men cannot want clients their example swaies some their authoritie more they cannot goe to either of the other worlds alone In vaine doe they pretend power ouer others who labour âut to draw their families vnto God The Dumbe Deuill eiected THat the Prince of our Peace might approue his perfect victories wheresoeuer hee met with the Prince of darknesse hee foyled him he eiected him He found him in heauen thence did hee throw him headlong and verified his Prophet I haue cast thee out of mine holy mountaine And if the Deuils left their first habitation it was because being Deuills they could not keepe it Their estate indeed they might haue kept and did not their habitation they would haue kept and might not How art thou falne from heauen O Lucifer He found him in the heart of man for in that closet of God did the euill spirit after his exile from heauen shrowd himselfe Sin gaue him possession which he kept with a willing violence thence hee casts him by his word and spirit He found him tyrannizing in the bodies of some possessed men and with power commands the vncleane spirits to depart This act is for no hand but his When a strong man keepes possession none but a stronger can remoue it In voluntary things the strongest may yeeld to the weakest Sampson to a Dalilah but in violent euer the mightiest caries it A spirituall nature must needs be in ranke aboue a bodily neither can any power be aboue a spirit but the God of spirits No otherwise is it in the mentall possession Where euer sinne is there Satan is As on the contrary whosoeuer is borne of God the seed of God remaines in him That euill one not onely is but rules in the sonnes of disobedience in vaine shall wee try to eiect him but by the diuine power of the Redeemer For this cause the Sonne of God was manifested that hee might destroy the workes of the Deuill Doe we finde our selues haunted with the familiar Deuills of Pride selfe-loue sensuall desires vnbeleefe None but thou O Son of the euerliuing God can free our bosomes of these hellish guests Oh clense thou mee from my secret sinnes and keepe mee that presumptuous sinnes preuaile not ouer me O Sauiour it is no Paradox to say that thou castest out more Deuils now then thou diddest whiles thou wert vpon earth It was thy word When I am lifted vp I will draw all men vnto me Satan weighes downe at the feet thou pullest at the head yea at the heart In euery conuersion which thou workest there is a dispossession Conuert mee O Lord and I shall be conuerted I know thy meanes are now no other then ordinary if we expect to be dispossessed by miracle it would be a miracle if euer wee were dispossessed Oh let thy Gospell haue the perfect worke in me so onely shall I bee deliuered from the powers of darknesse Nothing can be said to be dumbe but what naturally speakes nothing can speake naturally but what hath the instruments of speech which because spirits want they can no otherwise speake vocally then as they take voices to themselues in taking bodies This deuill was not therefore dumbe in his nature but in his effect The man was dumbe by the operation of that deuill which possessed him and now the action is attributed to the spirit which was subiectiuely in the man It is not you that speake saith our Sauiour but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you As it is in bodily diseases that they doe not infect vs alike some seize vpon the humors others vpon the spirits some assault the braine others the heart or lungs so in bodily and spirituall possessions In some the euill spirit takes away their senses in some their lims in some their inward faculties like as spiritually they affect to moue vs vnto seuerall sinnes One to lust another to couetousnesse or ambition another to cruelty and their names haue distinguished them according to these various effects This was a dumbe Deuill which yet had possessed not the tongue onely of this man but his eare not that onely but as it seemes his eies too O suttle and tyrannous spirit that obstructs all wayes to the soule that keepes out all meanes of grace both from the doores and windowes of the heart yea that stops vp all passages whether of ingresse or egresse Of ingresse at the eye or eare of egresse at the mouth that there might be no capacity of redresse What holy vse is there of our tongue but to praise our Maker to confesse our
should not import enough since others haue beene honoured by this name in Type he addes for full distinction The Sonne of the most High God The good Syrophenecian and blind Bartemeus could say The Sonne of Dauid It was well to acknowledge the true descent of his pedigree according to the flesh but this infernall spirit lookes aloft and fetcheth his line out of the highest heauens The Sonne of the most high God The famous confession of the prime Apostle which honoured him with a new name to immortalitie was no other then Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God and what other doe I heare from the lips of a fiend None more diuine words could fall from the highest Saint Nothing hinders but that the veriest miscreant on earth yea the foulest Deuill in Hell may speake holily It is no passing of iudgement vpon loose sentences So Peter should haue been cast for a Satan in denying forswearing cursing and the Deuill should haue beene set vp for a Saint in confessing Iesus the Sonne of the most high God Fond hypocrite that pleasest thy selfe in talking well heare this Deuil and when thou canst speake better then he looke to fare better but in the meane time know that a smooth tongue and a foule heart caries away double iudgements Let curious heads dispute whether the Deuill knew Christ to bee God In this I dare beleeue himselfe though in nothing else he knew what hee beleeued what hee beleeued what he confessed Iesus the Sonne of the most high God To the confusion of those semi-Christians that haue either held doubtfully or ignorantly mis-knowne or blasphemously denied what the very Deuils haue professed How little can a bare speculation auaile vs in these cases of Diuinitie So farre this Deuill hath attained to no ease no comfort Knowledge alone doth but puffe vp it is our loue that edifies If there be not a sense of our sure interest in this Iesus a power to apply his merits and obedience we are no wâât the safer no whit the better onely we are so much the wiser to vnderstand who shall condemne vs. The piece of the clause was spoken like a Saint Iesus the Sonne of the most high God the other piece like a Deuill What haue I to doe with thee If the disclamation were vniuersall the latter words would impugne the former for whiles hee confesses Iesus to be the Sonne of the most high God hee withall confesses his owne ineuitable subiection Wherefore would he beseech if he were not obnoxious He cannot hee dare not say What hast thou to doe with me but What haue I to doe with thee Others indeed I haue vexed thee I feare in respect then of any violence of any personall prouocation What haue I to doe with thee And doest thou aske O thou euill spirit what thou hast to doe with Christ whiles thou vexest a seruant of Christ Hast thou thy name from knowledge and yet so mistakest him whom thou confessest as if nothing could be done to him but what immediately concernes his owne person Heare that great and iust Iudge sentencing vpon his dreadfull Tribunall In as much as thou didst it vnto one of these little ones thou didst it vnto me It is an idle misprision to seuer the sense of an iniury done to any of the members from the head Hee that had humilitie enough to kneele to the Son of God hath boldnesse enough to expostulate Art thou come to torment vs before our time Whether it were that Satan who vseth to enioy the torment of sinners whose musick it is to heare our shrieks and gnashings held it no small piece of his torment to bee restrained in the exercise of his tyrannie Or whether the very presence of Christ were his racke For the guilty spirit proiecteth terrible things and cannot behold the Iudge or the executioner without a renouation of horror Or whether that as himselfe professeth he were now in a fearfull expectation 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 wee should herein feare then enquire but as all matters of faith though they cannot be proued by reason for that they are in an higher sphere yet afford an answer able to stop the mouth of al reason that dares bark 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 blessednes the good spirits find themselues ioined vnto the chiefe good and herevpon 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 horrour not to be expressed not to be conceiued How many men haue wee 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 misery 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 yee 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 wee 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 wee 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 certain height of supernaturall efficacie to which it is exalted by the omnipotence of that supreme and righteous Iudge Or lastly why may wee 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
forth their hands to wickednesse No man will put his hand into a fiery crucible to fetch gold thence because hee knowes it will burne him Did wee as truely beleeue the euerlasting burning of that infernall fire we durst not offer to fetch pleasures or profits out of the midst of those flames This degree of torment they grant in Christs power to command they knew his power vnresistible had hee therefore but said Backe to hell whence hee came they could no more haue staid vpon earth then they can now climbe into heauen O the wonderfull dispensation of the Almighty who though hee could command all the euill spirits downe to their dungeons in an instant so as they should haue no more opportunity of temptation yet thinkes fit to retaine them vpon earth It is not out of weaknesse or improuidence of that diuine hand that wicked spirits tyrannize here vpon earth but out of the most wise and most holy ordination of God who knowes how to turne euill into good how to fetch good out of euill and by the worst instruments to bring about his most iust decrees Oh that wee could adore that awfull and infinite power and cheerefully cast our selues vpon that prouidence which keepes the Keyes euen of hell it selfe and either lets out or returnes the Deuils to their places Their other suit hath some maruell in mouing it more in the grant That they might be suffered to enter into the Herd of Swine It was their ambition of some mischiefe that brought forth this desire that since they might not vexe the body of man they might yet afflict men in their goods The malice of these enuious spirits reacheth from vs to ours It is sore against their wils if wee be not euery way miserable if the Swine were legally vncleane for the vse of the table yet they were naturally good Had not Satan knowne them vsefull for man he had neuer desired their ruine But as Fencers will seeme to fetch a blow at the legge when they intend it at the head so doth this Deuill whiles he driues at the Swine hee aimes at the soules of these Gadarens by this meanes he hoped well and his hope was not vaine to worke in these Gergesens a discontentment at Christ an vnwillingnesse to entertaine him a desire of his absence he meant to turne them into Swine by the losse of their Swine It was not the rafters or stones of the house of Iobs children that hee bore the grudge to but to the owners nor to the liues of the children so much as the soule of their father There is no affliction wherein hee doth not strike at the heart which whiles it holds free all other dammages are light but a wounded spirit whether with sinne or sorrow who can beare What euer becomes of goods or limmes happy are wee if like wise souldiers we guard the vitall parts whiles the soule is kept sound from impatience from distrust our enemy may afflict vs he cannot hurt vs. They sue for a sufferance not daring other then to grant that without the permission of Christ they could not hurt a very swine If it be fearfull to thinke how great things euill spirits can doe with permission it is comfortable to thinke how nothing they can doe without permission Wee know they want not malice to destroy the whole frame of Gods worke but of all man of all men Christians but if without leaue they cannot set vpon an hogge what can they doe to the liuing Images of their Creator They cannot offer vs so much as a suggestion without the permission of our Sauiour And can hee that would giue his owne most precious blood for vs to saue vs from euill wilfully giue vs ouer to euill It is no newes that wicked spirits wish to doe mischiefe it is newes that they are allowed it If the owner of all things should stand vpon his absolute command who can challenge him for what hee thinkes fit to doe with his creature The first Fole of the Asse is commanded vnder the law to haue his necke broken what is that to vs The creatures doe that they were made for if they may serue any way to the glory of their Maker But seldome euer doth God leaue his actions vnfurnished with such reasons as our weaknesse may reach vnto There were sects amongst these Iewes that denied spirits they could not bee more euidently more powerfully conuinced then by this euent Now shall the Gadarens see from what a multitude of deuils they were deliuered and how easie it had beene for the same power to haue allowed those spirits to seize vpon their persons as well as their Swine Neither did God this without a iust purpose of their castigation His iudgements are righteous where they are most secret though wee cannot accuse these inhabitants of ought yet hee could and thought good thus to mulct them And if they had not wanted grace to acknowledge it it was no small fauour of God that hee would punish them in their Swine for that which hee might haue auenged vpon their bodies and soules Our goods are furthest off vs If but in these we smart wee must confesse to finde mercy Sometimes it pleaseth God to grant the suits of wicked men and spirits in no fauour to the suitors He grants an ill suit and withholds a good He grants an ill suit in iudgement and holds backe a good one in mercy The Israelites aske meat hee giues Quailes to their mouthes and leannesse to their soules The chosen vessell wishes Satan taken taken off and heares onely My grace is sufficient for thee Wee may not euermore measure fauour by condescent These Deuils doubtlesse receiue more punishment for that harmefull act wherein they are heard If wee aske what is either vnfit to receiue or vnlawfull to begge it is a great fauour of our God to bee denied Those spirits which would goe into the Swine by permission goe out of the man by command they had stayed long and are eiected suddenly The immediate works of God are perfect in an instant and doe not require the aide of time for their maturation No sooner are they cast out of the man then they are in the Swine They will leese no time but passe without intermission from one mischiefe to another If they hold it a paine not to be doing or of euill Why is not our delight to bee euer doing good The impetuousnesse was no lesse then the speed The Herd was caried with violence from a steepe downe place into the lake and was choaked It is no small force that could doe this but if the Swine had beene so many mountaines these spirits upon Gods permission had thus transported them How easily can they carie those soules which are vnder their power to destruction Vncleane beasts that wallow in the mire of sensualitie brutish drunkards transforming themselues by excesse euen they are the Swine whom the Legion caries headlong to the pit of perdition The
of ioy and thankfulnesse Hee knew well this meteor was not at the biggest it was newly borne of the wombe of the waters and in some minutes of age must grow to a large stature stay but a while and Heauen is couered with it From how small beginnings haue great matters arisen It is no otherwise in all the gracious proceedings of God with the soule scarce sensible are those first workes of his spirit in the heart which grow vp at last to the wonder of men and applause of Angels Well did Elijah know that God who is perfection it selfe would not defile his hand with an inchoate and scanted fauour as one therefore that fore-saw the face of heauen ouer-spread with this cloudy spot hee sends to Ahab to hasten his Charet that the raine stop him not It is long since Ahab feared this let neuer was the newes of a danger more welcome Doubtlesse the King of Israel whiles hee was at his diet lookt long for Elijahs promised showers where is the raine whose sound the Prophet heard how is it that his eares were so much quicker then our eyes Wee saw his fire to our terrour how gladly would we see his Waters When now the seruant of Elijah brings him newes from heauen that the clouds were setting forward and if hee hastened not would be before him The winde arises the clouds gather the sky thickens Ahab betakes him to his Charet Elijah girds vp his loynes and runnes before him Surely the Prophet could not want the offer of more ease in his passage but he will be for the time Ahabs lacquey that the King and all Israel may see his humility no lesse than his power and may confesse that the glory of those miracles hath not made him insolent Hee knew that his very sight was monitorie neither could Ahabs minde be beside the miraculous workes of God whiles his eye was vpon Elijah neither could the Kings heart be otherwise then well-affected towards the Prophet whiles he saw that himselfe and all Israel had receiued a new Life by his procurement But what newes was here for Iezebel Certainly Ahab minced nothing of the report of all those astonishing accidents If but to salue vp his owne honour in the death of those Baalites hee made the best of Elijahs merits hee told of his challenge conflict victorie of the fire that fell downe from Heauen of the conuiction of Israel of the vnauoidable execution of the Prophets of the prediction and fall of those happy showers and lastly of Elijahs officious attendance Who would not haue expected that Iezebel should haue said It is no striuing no dallying with the Almightie No reasonable creature can doubt after so prodigious a decision God hath wonne vs from Heauen hee must possesse vs Iustly are our seducers perished None but the God that can command fire and water shall bee ours There is no Prophet but his But shee contrarily in stead of relenting rageth and sends a message of death to Elijah So let the gods doe to mee and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time Neither scourges nor fauours can worke any thing with the obstinately wicked All euill hearts are not equally dis-affected to good Ahab and Iezebel were both bad enough yet Ahab yeelds to that worke of God which Iezebel stubbornly opposeth Ahab melts with that water with that fire wherewith Iezebel is hardened Ahab was bashfully Iezebel audaciously impious The weaker sexe is euer commonly stronger in passion and more vehemently caried with the sway of their desires whether to good or euill She sweares and stamps at that whereat shee should haue trembled She sweares by those gods of hers which were not able to saue their Prophets that she will kill the Prophet of God who had scorned her gods and slaine her Prophets It is well that Iezebel could not keepe counsell Her threat preâeâted him whom shee had meant to kill The wisedome and power of God could ââue found euasions for his Prophet in her greatest secresie but now he needs no other meanes of rescue but her owne lips She is no lesse vaine then the gods shee sweares by In spight of her fury and her oath and her gods Elijah shall liue At once shall she finde her selfe frustrate and forsworne She is now ready to bite her tongue to eat her heart for anger at the disappointment of her cruell Vow It were no liuing for godly men if the hands of Tyrants were allowed to be as bloody as their hearts Men and Deuils are vnder the restraint of the Almighty neither are their designes more lauish then their executions short Holy Elijah flees for his life wee heare not of the command of God but we would willingly presuppose it So diuine a Prophet should doe nothing without God His heeles were no new refuge As no where safe within the ten Tribes hee flees to Beersheba in the Territories of Iudah as not there safe from the machinations of Iezebel hee flees alone one dayes iourney into the wildernesse there hee sits him downe vnder a Iuniper tree and as weary of life no lesse then of his way wishes to rise no more It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better then my Fathers O strange and vncouth mutation What is this wee heare Elijah fainting and giuing vp that heroicall spirit deiected and prostrate Hee that durst say to Ahabs face It is thou and thy fathers house that troubleth Israel hee that could raise the dead open and shut the Heauens fetch downe both fire and water with his prayers hee that durst chide and contest with all Israel that durst kill the foure hundred and fifty Baalites with the sword doth hee shrinke at the frownes and threats of a woman doth hee wish to be rid of his life because hee feared to lose it Who can expect an vndaunted constancie from flesh and blood when Elijah failes The strongest and holiest Saint vpon earth is subiect to some qualmes of feare and infirmitie To bee alwayes and vnchangeably good is proper onely to the glorious Spirits in heauen Thus the wise and holy God will haue his power perfited in our weaknesse It is in vaine for vs whiles wee carie this flesh about vs to hope for so exact health as not to be cast downe sometimes with fits of spirituall distemper It is no new thing for holy men to wish for death Who can either maruell at or blame the desire of aduantage For the weary traueller to long for rest the prisoner for libertie the banished for home it is so naturall that the contrary disposition were monstrous The benefit of the change is a iust motiue to our appetition but to call for death out of a satietie of life out of an impatience of suffering is a weaknesse vnbeseeming a Saint It is not enough O Elijah God hath more worke yet for thee thy God hath more honoured thee
we are blest by their protection Who wonders not to heare a Prophet call for a Minstrell in the middest of that mournfull distresse of Israel and Iudah Who would not haue expected his charge of teares and prayers rather then of Musicke How vnreasonable are songs to an heauy heart It was not for their eares it was for his owne bosome that Elisha called for Musicke that his spirits after their zealous agitation might bee sweetly composed and put into a meet temper for receiuing that calme visions of God Perhaps it was some holy Leuite that followed the Campe of Iehoshaphat whose minstrelsie was required for so sacred a purpose None but a quiet brest is capable of diuine Reuelations Nothing is more powerfull to settle a troubled heart then a melodious harmony The Spirit of Prophesie was not the more inuited the Prophets Spirit was the better disposed by pleasing sounds The same God that will reueale his will to the Prophet suggests this demand Bring me a Minstrell How many say thus when they would put God from them Profane mirth wanton musicke debauches the soule and makes no lesse roome for the vncleane spirit then spirituall melody doth for the Diuine No Prophet had euer the Spirit at command The hand of the Minstrell can doe nothing without the hand of the Lord Whiles the Musicke sounds in the eare God speakes to the heart of Elisha Thus saith the Lord Make this valley full of ditches Yee shall not see wind neither shall ye see raine yet that valley shall be full of water c. To see wind and raine in the height of that drought would haue seemed as wonderfull as pleasing but to see abundance of water without wind or raine was yet more miraculous I know not how the fight of the meanes abates our admiration of the effect Where no causes can be found out wee are forced to confesse omnipotency Elijah releeued Israel with water but it was out of the cloudes and those cloudes rose from the sea but vvhence Elisha shall fetch it is not more maruellous then secret All that euening all that night must the faith of Israel and Iudah bee exercised with expectation At the houre of the morning sacrifice no sooner did the blood of that Oblation gush forth then the streames of vvaters gushed forth into their new channells and filled the Countrey with a refreshing moisture Elijah fetcht downe his fire at the houre of the euening sacrifice Elisha fetcht vp his water at the houre of the morning sacrifice God giues respect to his owne houres for the encouragement of our obseruation If his wisdome hath set vs any peculiar times wee cannot keepe them without a blessing The deuotions of all true Iewes all the world ouer were in that houre combined How seasonably doth the wisdome of God picke out that instant wherein hee might at once answer both Elishaes prophesie and his peoples prayers The Prophet hath assured the Kings not of water onely but of victory Moab heares of enemies and is addressed to warre Their owne error shall cut their throats they rise soone enough to beguile themselues the beames of the rising Sunne glistering vpon those vaporous and vnexpected waters caried in the eyes of some Moabites a semblance of blood a few eyes were enough to fill all eares with a false noise the deceiued sense miscaries the imagination This is blood the Kings are surely slaine and they haue smitten one another now therefore Moab to the spoile Ciuill broyles giue iust aduantage to a common enemy Therefore must the Camps be spoiled because the Kings haue smitten each other Those that shall bee deceiued are giuen ouer to credulity The Moabites doe not examine either the conceit or the report but flie in confusedly vpon the Campe of Israel whom they finde too late to haue no enemies but themselues As if death would not haue hastened enough to them they come to fetch it they come to challenge it It seizeth vpon them vnauoidably they are smitten their Cities razed their Lands marred their Wells stopped their trees felled as if God meant to waste them but once No onsets are so furious as the last assaults of the desperate The King of Moab now hopelesse of recouery would bee glad to shut vp with a pleasing reuenge with seuen hundred resolute followers he rushes into the battaile towards the King of Edom as if he would bid death welcome might he but carie with him that despighted neighbour and now mad with the repulse he returnes and whether as angry with his destiny or as barbarously affecting to win his cruell gods with so deare a sacrifice he offers them with his owne hand the blood of his eldest sonne in the sight of Israel and sends him vp in smoake to those hellish Deities O prodigious act whether of rage or of deuotion What an hand hath Satan ouer his miserable vassals What maruell is it to see men sacrifice their soules in an vnfelt oblation to these plausible tempters when their owne flesh and blood hath not beene spared There is no Tyrant to the Prince of darknesse ELISHA with the Shunamite THE holy Prophets vnder the old Testament did not abhorre the mariage bed they did not thinke themselues too pure for an institution of their Maker The distressed widow of one of the sonnes of the Prophets comes to Elisha to bemoane her condition Her husband is dead and dead in debt Death hath no sooner seized on him then her two sonnes the remaining comfort of her life are to be seized on by his creditors for bond-men How thicke did the miseries of this poore afflicted woman light vpon her Her husband is lost her estate clogged with debts her children ready to be taken for slaues Her husband was a religious and worthy man hee paid his debts to Nature he could not to his Creditors they are cruell and rake in the scarce-closed wound of her sorrow passing an arrest worse then death vpon her sonnes Widow-hood pouertie seruitude haue conspired to make her perfitly miserable Vertue and goodnesse can pay no debts The holiest man may be deepe in arerages and breake the banke Not through lauishnesse and riot of expence Religion teaches vs to moderate our hands to spend within the proportion of our estate but through either iniquitie of times or euill casualties Ahab and Iezebel were lately in the Throne who can maruell that a Prophet was in debt It was well that any good man might haue his breath free though his estate were not wilfully to ouer-lash our ability cannot stand with wisedome and good gouernment but no prouidence can guard vs from crosses Holinesse is no more defence against debt then against death Grace can keepe vs from vnthriftinesse not from want Whither doth the Prophets widow come to bewaile her case but to Elisha Euery one would not be sensible of her affliction or if they would pity yet could not releeue her Elisha could doe both Into his eare doth hee vnload her
thousand to the others ten as the Sunne more vsually causeth the traueller to cast off his cloke than the wind For those on the left hand miscarry men but two waies to distrust and deniall of God more rate sinnes but the other to all the rest wherewith mens liues are so commonly defiled The spirit of Christians is like the English leat whereof we reade that it is fired with water quenched with oyle And these two prosperity and aduersity are like heat and cold the one gathers the powers of the soule together and makes them abler to resist by vniting them the other diffuses them and by such separation makes them easier to conquer I hold it therefore as praise-worthy with God for a man to contemne a proffered honour or pleasure for conscience sake as on the racke not to denie bis profession When these are offered I will not nibble at the bait that I be not taken with the hooke 80 God is Lord of my body also and therefore challengeth as well reuerent gesture as inward deuotion I will euer in my praiers either stand as a seruant before my master or kneele as a subiect to my Prince 81 I haue not beene in others breasts but for my owne part I neuer tasted of ought that might deserue the name of pleasure And if I could yet a thousand pleasures cannot counteruaile one torment because the one may be exquisite the other not without composition And if not one torment much lesse a thousand And it not for a moment much lesse for eternity And if not the torment of a part much lesse of the whole For if the paine but of a tooth be so intolerable what shall the racking of the whole body be And if of the body what ãâã âhat be which is primarily of the soule If there be pleasures that I heare not of I will be wary of buying them so ouer-deare 82 As Hypocrisie is a common counterfeit of all vertues so there is no speciall vertue which is not to the very life of it seemingly resembled by some speciall vice So deuotion is counterfeited by superstition good thrift by niggardlinesse charity with vaine-glorious pride For as charity is bounteous to the poore so is vaine-glory to the wealthy as charity sustaines all for truth so pride for a vaine praise both of them make a man courteous and affable So the substance of euery vertue is in the heart which since it hath not a window made into it by the Creator of it but is reserued vnder locke and key for his owne view I will iudge onely by appearance I had rather wrong my selfe by credulity than others by vniust censures and suspicions 83 Euery man hath a kingdome within himselfe Reason as the Princesse dwels in the highest and inwardest roome the senses are the Guard and attendants on the Court without whose aid nothing is admitted into the Presence The supreme faculties as will memory c. are the Peeres The outward parts and inward affections are the Commons Violent Passions are as Rebels to disturbe the common peace I would not be a Stoicke to haue no Passions for that were to ouerthrow this inward gouernment God hath erected in me but a Christian to order those I haue And for that I see that as in commotions one mutinous person drawes on more so in passions that one makes way for the extremity of another as excesse of loue causeth excesse of griefe vpon the losse of what we loued I will doe as wise Princes vse to those they misdoubt for faction so hold them downe and keepe them bare that their very impotency and remisnesse shall affoord me securitie 84 I looke vpon the things of this life as an owner as a stranger As an owner in their right as a stranger in their vse I see that owning is but a conceit besides vsing I can vse as I lawfully may other mens commodities as my owne walke in their woods looke on their faire houses with as much pleasure as my owne yet againe I will vse my owne as if it were anothers knowing that though I hold them by right yet it is only by Tenure at will 85 There is none like to Luthers three masters Prayer Tentation Meditation Tentation stirs vp holy meditation Meditation prepares to Praier and Praier makes profit of Tentation and fetcheth all diuine knowledge from Heauen Of others I may learne the Theorie of Diuinity of these onely the Practise Other masters teach me by rote to speake Parrot-like of heauenly things these alone with feeling and vnderstanding 86 Affectation is the greatest enemy both of doing well and good acceptance of what is done I hold it the part of a wise man to endeuour rather that fame may follow him than goe before him 87 I see a number which with Shimei whiles they seeke their seruant which is riches lose their soules No worldly thing shall draw me without the gates within which God hath confined me 88 It is an hard thing for a man to finde wearinesse in pleasure while it lasteth or contentment in paine while he is vnder it After both indeed it is easie yet both of these must be found in both or else we shall be drunken with pleasures and ouerwhelmed with sorrow As those therefore which should eat some dish ouer-deliciously sweet doe allay it with tart sawce that they may not be cloyed and those that are to receiue bitter pills that they may not be annoyed with their vnpleasing taste rowle them in Sugar So in all pleasures it is best to labour not how to make them most delightfull but how to moderate them from excesse and in all sorrowes so to settle our hearts in true grounds of comfort that we may not care so much for being bemoned of others as how to be most contented in our selues 89 In wayes we see Trauellers chuse not the fairest and greenest if it be either crosse or contrary but the neerest though miry and vneuen so in opinions let me follow not the plausiblest but the truest though more perplexed 90 Christian societie is like a bundle of sticks laid together whereof one kindles another Solitary men haue fewest prouocations to euill but againe fewest incitations to good So much as doing good is better than not doing euill will I account Christian good fellowship better than an Eremitish and melancholike solitarinesse 91 I had rather confesse my ignorance than falsly professe knowledge It is no shame not to know all things but it is a iust shame to ouer-reach in any thing 92 Sudden extremitie is a notable triall of faith or any other disposition of the soule For as in a sudden feare the bloud gathers to the heart for guarding of that part which is principall so the powers of the soule combine themselues in an hard exigent that they may be easily iudged of The faithfull more suddenly than any casualtie can lift vp his heart to his stay in Heauen Whereas the worldling stands amazed
perillous and impious presumption continuance can no more make any wickednesse safe than the author of sinne no Deuill If I haue once sinned it is too much if oft woe bee to mee if the iteration of my offence cause boldnesse and not rather more sorrow more detestation woe be to me and my sinne if I be not the better because I haue sinned 99 It is strange to see the varieties and proportion of spirituall and bodily diets there bee some creatures that are fatted and delighted with poysons others liue by nothing but aire and some they say by fire others will taste no water but muddie others feed on their fellowes or perhaps on part of themselues others on the excretions of nobler creatures some search into the earth for sustenance or diue into the waters others content themselues with what the vpper earth yeelds them without violence All these and more are answered in the palate of the soule there bee some yea the most to whom sinne which is of a most venemous nature is both food and dainties others that thinke it the onely life to feed on the popular aire of applause others that are neuer well out of the fire of contentions and that wilfully trouble all waters with their priuate humours and opinions others whose crueltie delights in oppression and bloud yea whose enuie gnawes vpon their owne hearts others that take pleasure to reuiue the wicked and foule heresies of the greater wits of the former times others whose worldly mindes root altogether in earthly cares or who not content with the ordinarie prouision of doctrine affect obscure subtilties vnknowne to wiser men others whose too indifferent mindes feed on what-euer opinion comes next to hand without any carefull disquisition of truth so some feed foule others but few cleane and wholsome As there is no beast vpon Earth which hath not his like in the Sea and which perhaps is not in some sort parallelled in the plants of the earth so there is no bestiall disposition which is not answerably found in some men Mankinde therefore hath within it selfe his Goats Chameleons Salamanders Camels Wolues Dogs Swine Moles and whateuer sorts of beasts there are but a few men amongst men to a wise man the shape is not so much as the qualities If I be not a man within in my choices affections inclinations it had beene better for mee to haue beene a beast without A beast is but like it selfe but an euill man is halfe a beast and halfe a Deuill S. 100 Forced fauours are thanklesse and commonly with noble mindes finde no acceptation for a man to giue his soule to God when he sees he can no longer hold it or to bestow his goods when he is forced to depart with them or to forsake his sinne when hee cannot follow it are but vnkinde and cold obediences God sees our necessitie and scornes our compelled offers what man of any generous spirit will abide himselfe made the last refuge of a craued denied and constrained courtesie While God giues mee leaue to keepe my soule yet then to bequeathe it to him and whiles strength and opportunitie serue mee to sinne then to forsake it is both accepted and crowned God loues neither grudged nor necessarie gifts I will offer betimes that hee may vouchsafe to take I will giue him the best that he may take all O God giue me this grace that I may giue thee my selfe freely and seasonably and then I know thou canst not but accept me because this gift is thine owne FINIS MEDITATIONS AND VOWES DIVINE AND MORALL A THIRD CENTVRY 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 WORSHIPFVLL SIR EDMVND BACON Knight increase of honour strength of body perfection of VERTVE SIR There is no wise man would giue his thoughts for all the world which as they are the most pleasing and noble businesse of man being the naturall and immediate issue of that reason whereby he is seuered from brute creatures so they are in their vse most beneficiall to our selues and others For by the meanes hereof we enioy both God and our selues and hereby we make others partners of those rich excellencies which God hath hid in the minde And though it be most easie and safe for a man with the Psalmist to commune with his owne heart in silence yet is it more behouefull to the common good for which both as men and Christians we are ordained that those thoughts which our experience hath found comfortable and fruitfull to our selues should with neglect of all censures be communicated to others The concealement whereof me thinkes can proceed from no other ground but either timorousnesse or enuie Which consideration hath induced me to clothe these naked thoughts in plaine and simple words and to aduenture them into the light after their fellowes Consecrating them the rather to your name for that besides all other respects of dutie they are part of those meditations which in my late peregrination with you tooke me vp vnder the solitarie hilles of Ardenna wanting as then the opportunitie of other employment J offer them to you not for that your selfe is not stored with choice of better but as poore men vse to bring presents to the rich Jf they may carrie acceptation from you and bring profit vnto my soule it shall abundantly satisfie mee who should thinke it honour enough if I might be vouchsafed to bring but one pinne towards the decking of the Spouse of Christ whiles others out of their abundance adorne her with costly robes and rich medals J commend their successe to God their patronage to you their vse to the world That God multiplie his rare fauours vpon you and your worthy Ladie and goe you on to fauour Your Worships humbly deuoted IOS HALL MEDITATIONS AND VOWES 1 GOOD men are placed by God as so many starres in the lower firmament of the world As they must imitate those heauenly bodies in their light and influence so also in their motion and therefore as the Planets haue a course proper to themselues against the sway of the Heauen that carries them about so must each good man haue a motion out of his owne iudgement contrary to the customes and opinions of the vulgar finishing his owne course with the least shew of resistance I will neuer affect singularity except it bee among those that are vicious It is better to doe or thinke well alone than to follow a multitude in euill 2 What strange variety of actions doth the eie of God see at once round about the compasse of the earth and within it Some building houses some deluing for metals some marching in troups or encamping one against another some bargaining in the market some trauelling on their way some praying in their closets others quaffing at the Tauerne some rowing in the Gallies others dallying in their chambers and in short as many
men and better betwixt good qualities and infirmities Why hath God giuen me education not in a Desart alone but in the company of good and vertuous men but that by the sight of their good carriage I should better my owne Why should we haue interest in the vices of men and not in their vertues And although precepts be surer yet a good mans action is according to precept yea is a precept it selfe The Psalmist compared the Law of God to a Lanterne good example beares it It is safe following him that carries the light If he walke without the light he shall walke without me 66 As there is one common end to all good men saluation and one author of it Christ so there is but one way to it doing well and suffering euill Doing well me thinks is like the Zodiacke in the heauen the hie way of the Sunne thorow which it daily passeth Suffering euill is like the Eclipticke line that goes thorow the middest of it The rule of doing well the Law of God is vniforme and eternall and the copies of suffering euill in all times agree with the originall No man can either do well or suffer ill without an example Are we sawne in peeces so was Esay Are we beheaded so Iohn Baptist Crucified so Peter Throwne to wilde beasts so Daniel Into the furnace so the three children Stoned so Steuen Banished so the beloued Disciple Burnt so millions of Martyrs Defamed and slandered what good man euer was not It were easie to be endlesse both in torments and sufferers whereof each hath begun to other all to vs. I may not hope to speed better than the best Christians I cannot feare to fare worse It is no matter which way I goe so I come to heauen 67 There is nothing beside life of this nature that it is diminished by addition Euery moment we liue longer than other and each moment that we liue longer is so much taken out of our life It increaseth and diminisheth onely by minutes and therefore is not perceiued the shorter steps it taketh the more slily it passeth Time shall not so steale vpon me that I shall not discerne it and catch it by the fore-lockes nor so steale from me that it shall carry with it no witnesse of his passage in my proficiency 68 The prodigall man while he spendeth is magnified when he is spent is pitied and that is all his recompence for his lauisht Patrimonie The couetous man is grudged while he liues and his death is reioyced at for when he ends his riches begin to bee goods He that wisely keepes the meane betweene both liueth well and heares well neither repined at by the needy nor pittied by greater men I would so manage these worldly commodities as accounting them mine to dispose others to partake of 69 A good name if any earthly thing is worth seeking worth striuing for yet to affect a bare name when we deserue either ill or nothing is but a proud hypocrisie and to be puffed vp with the wrongfull estimation of others mistaking our worth is an idle and ridiculous pride Thou art well spoken of vpon no desert what then Thou hast deceiued thy neighbours they one another and all of them haue deceiued thee for thou madest them thinke of thee otherwise than thou art and they haue made thee thinke of thy selfe as thou art accounted the deceit came from thee the shame will end in thee I will account no wrong greater than for a man to esteeme and report me aboue that I am not reioicing in that I am well thought of but in that I am such as I am esteemed 70 It was a speech worthy the commendation and frequent remembrance of so diuine a Bishop as Augustine which is reported of an aged Father in his time who when his friends comforted him on his sicke bed and told him they hoped hee should recouer answered If I shall not die at all well but if euer why not now Surely it is folly what we must doe to doe vnwillingly I will neuer thinke my soule in a good case so long as I am loth to thinke of dying and will make this my comfort Not I shall yet liue longer but I shall yet doe more good 71 Excesses are neuer alone Commonly those that haue excellent parts haue some extremely vicious qualities great wits haue great errours and great estates haue great cares whereas mediocritie of gifts or of estate hath vsually but easie inconueniences else the excellent would not know themselues and the meane would bee too much deiected Now those whom we admire for their faculties we pittie for their infirmities and those which finde themselues but of the ordinarie pitch ioy that as their vertues so their vices are not eminent So the highest haue a blemished glory and the meane are contentedly secure I will magnifie the highest but affect the meane 72 The body is the case or sheath of the minde yet as naturally it hideth it so it doth also many times discouer it For although the forehead eyes and frame of the countenance doe sometime belie the disposition of the heart yet most commonly they giue true generall verdicts An angry mans browes are bent together and his eies sparkle with rage which when he is well pleased looke smooth and cheerefully Enuie hath one looke desire another sorrow yet another contentment a fourth different from all the rest To shew no passion is too Stoicall to shew all is impotent to shew other than we feele hypocriticall The face and gesture doe but write and make commentaries vpon the heart I will first endeuour so to frame and order that as not to entertaine any passion but what I need not care to haue laid open to the world and therefore will first see that the Text be good then that the glosse bee true and lastly that it be sparing To what end hath God so walled-in the heart if I should let euery mans eies into it by my countenance 73 There is no publike action which the world is not ready to scan there is no action so priuate which the euill spirits are not witnesses of I will endeuour so to liue as knowing that I am euer in the eies of mine enemies 74 When we our selues and all other vices are old then couetousnesse alone is young and at his best age This vice loues to dwell in an old ruinous cotage yet that age can haue no such honest colour for niggardlinesse and insatiable desire A young man might plead the vncertaintie of his estate and doubt of his future need but an old man sees his set period before him Since this humour is so necessarily annexed to this age I will turne it the right way and nourish it in my selfe The older I grow the more couetous I will be but of the riches not of the world I am leauing but of the world I am entring into It is good coueting what I may haue and cannot leaue behinde mee 75
we are all fooles and in silence all are wise In the two former yet there may bee concealement of folly but the tongue is a blab there cannot be any kinde of folly either simple or wicked in the heart but the tongue will bewray it He cannot be wise that speakes much or without sense or out of season nor he knowne for a foole that saies nothing It is a great misery to be a foole but this is yet greater that a man cannot be a foole but he must shew it It were well for such a one if he could be taught to keepe close his foolishnes but then there should be no fooles I haue heard some which haue scorned the opinion of folly in themselues for a speech wherein they haue hoped to shew most wit censured of folly by him that hath thought himselfe wiser and another hearing his sentence againe hath condemned him for want of wit in censuring Surely hee is not a foole that hath vnwise thoughts but he that vtters them Euen concealed folly is wisdome and sometimes wisdome vttered is folly While others care how to speake my care shall be how to hold my peace 83 A worke is then onely good and acceptable when the action meaning and manner are all good For to doe good with an ill meaning as Iudas saluted Christ to betray him is so much more sinfull by how much the action is better which being good in the kinde is abused to an ill purpose To doe ill in a good meaning as Vzza in staying the Arke is so much amisse that the good intention cannot beare out the vnlawfull act which although it may seeme some excuse why it should not be so ill yet is no warrant to iustifie it To meane well and doe a good action in an ill manner as the Pharisee made a good praier but arrogantly is so offensiue that the euill manner depraueth both the other So a thing may be euill vpon one circumstance it cannot bee good but vpon all In what euer businesse I goe about I will enquire What I doe for the substance How for the manner Why for the intention For the two first I will consult with God for the last with my owne heart 84 I can doe nothing without a million of Witnesses The conscience is as a thousand witnesses and God is as a thousand consciences I will therefore so deale with men as knowing that God sees me and so with God as if the world saw me so with my selfe and both of them as knowing that my conscience seeth me and so with them all as knowing I am alwaies ouer-looked by my accuser by my Iudge 85 Earthly inheritances are diuided oft-times with much inequality The priuilege of primogeniture stretcheth larger in many places now than it did among the ancient Iewes The younger many times serues the elder and while the eldest aboundeth all the latter issue is pinched In heauen it is not so all the sonnes of God are heires none vnderlings and not heires vnder wardship and hope but inheritors and not inheritors of any little pittance of land but of a Kingdome nor of an earthly Kingdome subiect to danger of losse or alteration but one glorious and euerlasting It shall content me here that hauing right to all things yet I haue possession of nothing but sorrow Since I shall haue possession aboue of all that whereto I haue right below I will serue willingly that I may reigne serue for a while that I may reigne for euer 86 Euen the best things ill vsed become euils and contrarily the worst things vsed well proue good A good tongue vsed to deceit a good wit vsed to defend errour a strong arme to murther authority to oppresse a good profession to dissemble are all euill yea Gods owne Word is the sword of the Spirit which if it kill not our vices kils our soules Contrariwise as poisons are vsed to wholesome medicine afflictions and sinnes by a good vse proue so gainfull as nothing more Words are as they are taken and things are as they are vsed There are euen cursed blessings O Lord rather giue me no fauours than not grace to vse them If I want them thou requirest not what thou doest not giue but if I haue them and want their vse thy mercy proues my iudgement 87 Man is the best of all these inferiour creatures yet liues in more sorrow and discontentment than the worst of them whiles that Reason wherein he excels them and by which he might make aduantage of his life hee abuses to a suspitious distrust How many hast thou found of the fowles of the aire lying dead in the way for want of prouision They eat and rest and sing and want nothing Man which hath farre better meanes to liue comfortably toyleth and careth and wanteth whom yet his reason alone might teach that he which careth for these lower creatures made onely for man will much more prouide for man to whose vse they were made There is an holy carelesnesse free from idlenesse free from distrust In these earthly things I will so depend on my Maker that my trust in him may not exclude all my labour and yet so labour vpon my confidence on him as my endeuour may be void of perplexity 88 The precepts and practice of those with whom we liue auaile much on either part For a man not to bee ill where hee hath no prouocations to euill is lesse commendable but for a man to liue continently in Asia as he said where hee sees nothing but allurements to vncleannesse for Lot to be a good man in the middest of Sodom to bee abstemious in Germany and in Italy chaste this is truly praise-worthy To sequester our selues from the companie of the world that we may depart from their vices proceeds from a base and distrusting minde as if wee would so force goodnesse vpon our selues that therefore onely we would be good because we cannot be ill But for a man so to bee personally and locally in the throng of the world as to withdraw his affections from it to vse it and yet to contemne it at once to compell it to his seruice without any infection becomes well the noble courage of a Christian The world shall be mine I will not be his and yet so mine that his euill shall be still his owne 89 He that liues in God cannot be wearie of his life because he euer findes both somewhat to doe and somewhat to solace himselfe with cannot bee ouer-loth to part with it because hee shall enter into a neerer life and societie with that God in whom hee delighteth Whereas he that liues without him liues many times vncomfortably here because partly he knowes not any cause of ioy in himselfe and partly he finds not any worthy employment to while himselfe withall dies miserably because hee either knowes not whither he goes or knowes he goes to torment There is no true life but the life of faith O Lord let me
with thee 9. Thy cheekes are comely with rowes of stones and thy necke with chaines Those parts of thee which both are the seats of beautie and most conspicuous to the eye are gloriously adorned with the graces of my sanctification which are for their worth as so many precious borders of the goodliest stones or chaines of pearle 10. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of siluer And though thou be already thus set forth yet I and my Father haue purposed a further ornament vnto thee in the more plentifull effusion of our Spirit vpon thee which shall bee to thy former deckings in stead of pure gold curiously wrought with specks of siluer The Church 11. While the King was at his repast my spikenard gaue the smell thereof BEhold O ye daughters euen now whiles my Lord and King seemes farre distant from mee and sits in the Throne of heauen amongst the companies of Angels who attend around vpon him yet now doe I finde him present with mee in spirit euen now the sweet influence of his graces like to some precious ointment spreads it selfe ouer my soule and returnes a pleasant sauour into his owne nosthrils 12. My welbeloued is as a bundle of myrrh vnto me lying betweene my brests And though I be thus delightfull to my Sauiour yet nothing so much as hee is vnto mee for loe as some fragrant pomander of myrrh laid betweene the brests sends vp a most comfortable sent so his loue laid close vnto my heart doth still giue mee continuall and vnspeakable refreshings 13. My welbeloued is as a cluster of Cypers vnto me among the vines of Engeddy Or if any thing can be of more excellent vertue such smell as the clusters of Cypers berries within the fruitfulst pleasantst and richest vineyards and gardens of Iudaea yeeld vnto the passengers such and more delectable doe I finde the sauour of his grace to mee CHRIST 14. My Loue behold thou art faire thine eies are like the Doues NEither doest thou on my part lose any of thy loue O my deare Church for behold in mine eies thus clothed as thou art with my righteousnesse oh how faire and glorious thou art how aboue all comparison glorious and faire Thine eies which are thy seers Prophets Apostles Ministers and those inward eies whereby thou seest him that is inuisible are full of grace chastitie simplicitie The Church 15. My welbeloued behold thou art faire and pleasant also our bed is greene NAy then O my sweet Sauiour and Spouse thou alone art that faire pleasant one indeed from whose fulnesse I confesse to haue receiued all this little measure of my spirituall beautie and behold from this our mutuall delight and heauenly coniunction there ariseth a plentifull and flourishing increase of thy faithfull ones in all places and through all times 16. The beames of our house are Cedars our galleries are of Firre And behold the congregations of Saints the places where we doe sweetly conuerse and walke together are both firme and during like Cedars amongst the trees not subiect through thy protecting grace to vtter corruption and through thy fauourable acceptation and word like to galleries of sweet wood full of pleasure and contentment CHAP. II. CHRIST 1. I am the Rose of the field and the Lillie of the valleyes THou hast not without iust cause magnified me O my Church for as the fairest and sweetest of all flowers which the earth yeeldeth the Rose and Lillie of the valleyes excell for beautie for pleasure for vse the most base and odious weeds that grow so doth my grace to all them that haue felt the sweetnesse thereof surpasse all worldly contentments 2. Like a Lillie among the thornes so is my loue among the daughters Neither is this my dignitie alone but thou O my Spouse that thou maiest bee a fit match for me art thus excellent aboue the world that no Lillie can be more in goodly shew beyond the naked thorne than thou in thy glorie thou receiuest from mee ouerlookest all the assemblies of aliens and vnregenerates The Church 3. Like the Apple-tree among the trees of the forest so is my welbeloued among the sonnes of men vnder his shadow had I delight and sate downe and his fruit was sweet vnto my mouth ANd to returne thine owne praises as some fruitfull and well-growne Apple-tree in comparison of all the barren trees of the wilde forest so art thou O my beloued Sauiour to me in comparison of all men and Angels vnder thy comfortable shadow alone haue I euer wont to finde safe shelter against all mine afflictions all my tentations and infirmities against all the curses of the Law and dangers of iudgement and to coole my selfe after all the scorching beames of thy Fathers displeasure and besides to feed and satisfie my soule with the soueraigne fruit of thy holy Word vnto eternall life 4. He brought me into the wine-cellar and loue was his banner ouer me He hath graciously led me by his Spirit into the midst of the mysteries of godlinesse and hath plentifully broached vnto mee the sweet wines of his Scriptures and Sacraments And looke how souldiers are drawne by their colours from place to place and cleaue fast to their ensigne so his loue which he spred forth in my heart was my onely banner whereby I was both drawne to him directed by him and fastned vpon him 5. Stay me with flagons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of loue And now O yee faithfull Euangelists Apostles Teachers apply vnto mee with all care and diligence all the cordiall promises of the Gospell these are the full Flagons of that spirituall wine which onely can cheere vp my soule these are the Apples of that tree of life in the middest of the Garden which can feed me to immortalitie Oh come and apply these vnto my heart for I am euen ouercome with a longing expectation and desire of my delayed glory 6. His left hand be vnder my head and let his right hand embrace me And whiles I am thus spiritually languishing in this agonie of desire let my Sauiour imploy both his hands to releeue mine infirmitie let him comfort my head and my heart my iudgement and affections which both complaine of weaknesse with the liuely heat of his gracious embracements and so let vs sweetly rest together 7. I charge you O daughters of Ierusalem by the Roes and by the Hindes of the field that yee stirre not vp nor waken my Loue vntill he please In the meane time I charge you O all yee that professe any friendship or affinitie with mee I charge you by whatsoeuer is comely deare and pleasant vnto you as you will auoid my vttermost censures take heed how you vex and disquiet my mercifull Sauiour and grieue his Spirit and wrong his name with your vaine and lewd conuersation and doe not dare by the least prouocation of your sinne to interrupt his peace 8. It is the voice of my welbeloued
I am glad of your sorrow and should weepe for you if you did not thus mourne Your sorrow is that you cannot enough grieue for your sinnes Let me tell you that the Angels themselues sing at this lamentation neither doth the earth afford any so sweet musicke in the cares of God This heauinesse is the way to ioy Worldly sorrow is worthy of pity because it leadeth to death but this deserues nothing but enuy and gratulation If those teares were common hell would not so enlarge it selfe Neuer sinne repented of was punished and neuer any thus mourned and repented not Loe you haue done that which you grieue you haue not done That good God whose act is his will accounts of our will as our deed If he required sorrow proportionable to the hainousnesse of our sins there were no end of mourning Now his mercy regards not so much the measure as the truth of it and accounts vs to haue that which wee complaine to want I neuer knew any truly peniteÌt which in the depth of his remorse was afraid of sorrowing too much nor any vnrepentant which wisht to sorrow more Yea let me tell you that this sorrow is better and more then that deepe heauinesse for sinne which you desire Many haue been vexed with an extreame remorse for some sinne from the gripes of a galled conscience which yet neuer came where true repentance grew in whom the conscience playes at once the accuser witnesse Iudge tormentor but an earnest griefe for the want of griefe was neuer found in any but a gracious heart You are happy and complaine Tell me I beseech you This sorrow which you mourne to want is it a grace of the spirit of God or not If not why doe you sorrow to want it If it be oh how happy is it to grieue for want of grace The God of all truth and blessednesse hath said Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and with the same breath Blessed are they that mourne for they shall be comforted You say you mourne Christ saith you are blessed you say you mourne Christ saith you shall be comforted Either now distrust your Sauiour or else confesse your happinesse with patience expect his promised consolation What doe you feare You see others stand like strong Oakes vnshaken vnremoued you are but a reed a feeble plant tossed and bowed with euery wind and with much agitation bruised Loe you are in tender and fauourable hands that neuer brake any whom their sinnes bruised neuer bruised any whom temptations haue bowed You are but flax and your best is not a flame but an obscure smoake of grace Loe here his spirit is as a soft wind not as cold water he will kindle will neuer quench you The sorrow you want is his gift Take heed lest while you vex your selfe with dislike of the measure you grudge at the giuer Beggers may not chuse This portion he hath vouchsafed to giue you if you haue any it is more then he was bound to bestow yet you say What no more as if you tooke it vnkindly that hee is no more liberall Euen these holy discontentments are dangerous Desire more so much as you can but repine not when you doe not attaine Desire but so as you be free from impatience free from vnthankfulnesse Those that haue tryed can say how difficult it is to complaine with due reseruation of thankes Neither know I whether is worse To long for good things impatiently or not at all to desire them The fault of your sorrow is rather in your conceit then in it selfe And if indeed you mourne not enough stay but Gods leisure and your eyes shall runne ouer with teares How many doe you see sport with their sinnes yea brag of them How many that should die for want of pastime if they might not sin freely and more freely talke of it What a Saint are you to these that can droop vnder the memory of the frailty of youth and neuer thinke you haue spent enow teares Yet so I encourage you in what you haue as one that perswades you not to desist from suing for more It is good to be couetous of grace and to haue our desires herein enlarged with our receits Weepe still and still desire to weepe but let your teares be as the raine in a sunne-shine comfortable and hopefull and let not your longing sauour of murmur or distrust These teares are reserued this hunger shall be satisfied this sorrow shall bee comforted There is nothing betwixt God and you but time Prescribe not to his wisedome hasten not his mercy His grace is enough for you his glory shall be more then enough To M. HVGH CHOLMLEY EP. V. Concerning the Metaphrase of the Psalmes FEare not my immoderate studies I haue a body that controls me enough in these courses my friends need not There is nothing whereof I could sooner surfet if I durst neglect my body to satisfie my mind But whiles I affect knowledge my weaknesse checkes me and sayes Better a little learning then no health I yeeld and patiently abide my selfe debarred of my chosen felicity The little I can get I am no niggard of neither am I more desirous to gather then willing to impart The full handed are commonly most sparing We vessels that haue any empty roome answer the least knock with a hollow noyse you that are full sound not If we pardon your closenesse you may well bear with our profusioÌ If there be any wrong it is to our selues that we vtter what wee should lay vp It is a pardonable fault to do lesse good to our selues that wee may doe more to others Amongst other endeauours I haue boldly vndertaken the holy Metres of Dauid how happily iudge you by what you see There is none of all my labours so open to all censures none whereof I would so willingly heare the verdit of the wise and iudicious Perhaps some thinke the verse harsh whose nice eare regards roundnesse more then sense I embrace smoothnesse but affect it not This is the least good quality of a verse that intends any thing but musicall delight Others may blame the difficulty of the tunes whose humour cannot be pleased without a greater offence For to say truth I neuer could see good verse written in the wonted measures I euer thought them most easie and least Poeticall This fault if any will light vpon the negligence of our people which endure not to take paines for any fit variety The French and Dutch haue giuen vs worthy examples of diligence and exquisitnesse in this kind Neither our eares nor voyces are lesse tunable Here is nothing wanting but will to learne What is this but to eate the corne out of the eare because we will not abide the labour to grinde and knead it If the question bee whether our verse must descend to them or they ascend to it wise moderation I thinke would determine it most equall that each part should
is sure and eternall If any man will doe my Fathers will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God TO M. EDMVND SLEIGH EP. IV. A discourse of the hardnesse of Christianity and the abundant recompence of the pleasures and commodities of that profession HOw hard a thing it is deare Vncle to be a Christian perhaps others are lesse dull and more quiet more waxen to the impressions of grace and lesse troublesome to themselues I accuse none but whom I dare my selfe Euen easie businesses are hard to the weake let others boast I must complaine To keepe our station is hard harder to moue forward One while I scarce restraine my vnruly desires from euill ofter can find no lust to good My heart will either be vaine or sullen when I am wrought with much sweat to detest sinne and distaste the world yet who shall raise vp this drosse to a spirituallioy Sometimes I purpose vvell and if those thoughts not mine begin to lift me from my earth loe he that rules in the aire stoopes vpon me with powerfull tentations or the vvorld puls me downe with a sweet violence so as I know not vvhether I be forced or perswaded to yeeld I finde much weakenesse in my selfe but more treachery How vvilling am I to be deceiued How loth to bee altered Good duties seeme harsh and can hardly escape the repulse or delay of excuses and not without much strife grow to any rellish of pleasure and vvhen they are at best cannot auoid the mixture of many infirmities which doe at once disquiet and discourage the mind not suffering it to rest in vvhat it vvould haue done and could not And if after many fighes and teares I haue attained to doe well and resolue better yet this good estate is farre from constant and easily inclining to change And whiles I striue in spight of my naturall ficklenesse to hold my owne vvith some progresse and gaine vvhat difficultie doe I finde vvhat opposition O God what aduersaries hast thou prouided for vs vveake men what incounters Malicious and subtill spirits an alluring vvorld a serpentine and stubborne nature Force and fraud doe their vvorst to vs sometimes because they are spirituall enemies I see them not and complaine to feele them too late Other-whiles my spirituall eyes see them with amazement and I like a cowardly Israelite am ready to flee and plead their measure for my feare Who is able to stand before the sonnes of Anak Some other times I stand still and as I can weakely resist but am foiled with indignation and shame Then againe I rise vp not without bashfulnesse and scorne and vvith more hearty resistance preuaile and triumph when ere long surprized with a sudden and vnwarned assault I am caried away captiue whither I vvould not and mourning for my discomfiture study for a feeble reuenge My quarrell is good but my strength maintaines it not It is now long ere I can recouer this ouerthrow and finde my selfe whole of these wounds Besides suggestions crosses fall heauy and worke no small distemper in a minde faint and vnsetled vvhose law is such that the more I grow the more I beare and not seldome when God giues me respite I afflict my selfe either my feare faineth euils or my vnruly passions raise tumults vvithin me vvhich breed much trouble whether in satisfying or suppressing not to speake that sinne is attended besides vnquietnesse vvith terror Now you say Alas Christianitie is hard I grant it liue gainfull and happy I contemne the difficultie when I respect the aduantage The greatest labours that haue answerable requitals are lesse then the least that haue no regard Beleeue me when I looke to the reward I would not haue the worke easier It is a good Master whom we serue who not onely payes but giues not after the proportion of our earnings but of his owne mercy If euery paine that wee suffer were a death and euery crosse an hell we haue amends enough It were iniurious to complaine of the measure when we acknowledge the recompence Away with these weake dislikes tho I should buy it dearer I would be a Christian Any thing may make me out of loue with my selfe nothing with my profession I were vnworthy of this fauour if I could repent to haue endured herein alone I am safe herein I am blessed I may be all other things and yet with that dying Emperor complaine with my last breath That I am no whit the better let me be a Christian I am priuiledged from miseries hell cannot touch me death cannot hurt me No euill can arrest me while I am vnder the protection of him which ouer-rules all-good and euill yea so soone as it touches mee it turnes good and being sent and suborned-by my spirituall aduersaries to betray mee now in an happy change it fights for me and is driuen rather to rebell then wrong mee It is a bold and strange word No price could buy of me the gaine of my sinnes That which while I repented I would haue expiated with blood now after my repentance I forgoe not for a world the fruit of hauing sinned if not rather of hauing repented Besides my freedome how large is my possession All good things are mine to challenge to enioy I cannot looke beyond my owne nor besides it and the things that I cannot see I dare claime no lesse The heauen that rowles so gloriously aboue my head is mine by this right yea those celestiall spirits the better part of that high creation watch me in my bed guard me in my wayes shelter me in my dangers comfort me in my troubles and are ready to receiue that soule which they haue kept What speake I of creatures The God of spirits is mine and by a sweet and secret vnion I am become an heire of his glory yea as it were a limme of himselfe O blessednesse worthy of difficulty vvorthy of paine What thou vvilt Lord so I may be thine what thou wilt When I haue done all when I haue suffered all thou exceedest more then I want Follow me then deare Vncle or if you will leade me rather as you haue done in these steps and from the rough way looke to the end Ouer-looke these trifling grieuances and fasten your eyes vpon the happy recompence and see if you cannot scorne to complaine Pitie those that take not your paines and persist with courage till you feele the weight of your Crowne To Mr W. L. EP. V. Expostulating the cause of his vnsetlednesse in Religion which is pleaded to be our dissensions shewing the insufficiencie of that Motiue and comparing the state of our Church herein with the Romish I Would I knew where to finde you then I could tell how to take a direct ayme whereas now I must roue and coniecture To day you are in the tents of the Romanists to morrow in ours the next day betweene both against both Our aduersaries thinke you ours we theirs your conscience findes you
what if heauen fall say you His Holinesse as you hope vvill take none such courses Woe vvere vs if our safety depended vpon your hopes or his mercies Blessed be that God which malgre hath made and kept vs happie and hath lift vs aboue our enemies But what hope is there that he who chargeth subiects not to sweare allegeance will neuer discharge them from allegeance that those who clamorously and shamelessely complaine to the world of our cruelty will forbeare to sollicit others cruelty to vs Your hopes to you to vs our securities Is this the Religion you father vpon those Christian Patriarkes of the Primitiue Age O blessed Ireney Clemens Cyprian Basil Chrysostome Augustine Ierome and thou the seuerest exactor of iust censures holy Ambrose how vvould you haue spât at such a rebellious assertion What speake I of Fathers whose very mention in such a cause were iniury were impiety Which of those cursed heresies of ancient times for to them I hold it fitter to appeale haue euer bin so desperately shamelesse as to breed to maintaine a conceit so palpably vnnaturall vnlesse perhaps those old Antitactae may vpon generall termes be compelled to patronize it vvhile they held it pietie to breake the lawes of their Maker For you if you professe not to loue willing errors by this suspect and iudge the rest you see this defended with equall resolution and with no lesse cheerefull expence of blood In the body where you see one monstrous deformitie you cannot affect if you can doe so in your religion yet how dare you since the greater halfe of it stands on no other ground Onely God make you wise and honest you shall shake hands with this faction of Popery and I with you to giue you a cheerefull welcome into the bosome of the Church To my brother M. SA HALL EP. V. A discourse of the great charge of the ministeriall function together with particular directions for due preparation thereunto and cariage therein IT is a great and holy purpose deare Brother that you haue entertained of seruing God in his Church for what higher or more worthy imploiment can there be then to do these diuine duties to such a master and such a mother wherin yet I should little reioyce if any necessity had cast you vpon this refuge for I hate and grieue to thinke that any desperate mind should make Diuinity but a shift and dishonour this Mistresse by being forsaken of the world This hath been the drift of your education to this you were born dedicated in a direct course I doe willingly incourage you but not without many cautions Enter not into so great a seruice without much foresight When your hand is at the plow it is too late to looke backe Bethinke your selfe seriously of the weight of this charge and let your holy desire be allayed with some trembling It is a foolish rashnesse of yong heads when they are in Gods chaire to wonder how they came thither and to forget the awfulnesse of that place in the confidence of their owne strength which is euer so much lesse as it is more esteemed I commend not the waiward excuses of Moses nor the peremptory vnwillingnesse of Ammonius and Frier Thomas who maimed themselues that they might be wilfully vncapable Betwixt both these there is humble modesty and religious fearfulnesse easily to bee noted in those whom the Church honours with the name of her fathers vvorthy your imitation wherein yet you shall need no presidents if you well consider vvhat worth of parts what strictnesse of cariage what weight of offices God expects in this vocation Know first that in this place there wil be more holinesse required of you then in the ordinary station of a Christian for whereas before you were but as a common line now God sets you for a copy of sanctification vnto others vvherein euery fault is both notable and dangerous Here is looked for a setled acquaintance with God and experience both of the proceedings of grace and of the offers and repulses of tentations which in vaine we shall hope to menage in other hearts if we haue not found in our owne To speake by aime or rote of repentance of contrition of the degrees of regeneration and faith is both harsh and seldom when not vnprofitable We trust those Physicians best vvhich haue tryed the vertue of their drugs esteeming not of those which haue onely borrowed of their bookes Here will bee expected a free and absolute gouernment of affections that you can so ââere your own vessell as not to be transported with fury with selfe-loue with immoderation of pleasures of cares of desires with excesse of passions in all which so must you demeane your selfe as one that thinkes hee is no man of the vvorld but of God as one too good by his double calling for that which is either the felicitie or impotency of beasts Here must be continuall and inward exercise of mortification and seuere Christianitie whereby the heart is held in due awe and the vveake flames of the spirit quickned the ashes of our dulnesse blowne off a practice necessary in him whose deuotion must set many hearts on fire Heere must be wisedome and inoffensiuenesse of cariage as of one that goes euer vnder monitors and that knowes other mens indifferencies are his euils No man had such need to keep a strict meane Setting aside contempt euen in obseruation behold wee are made a gazing stocke to the world to Angels to men The very sayle of your estate must be moderated which if it beare too high as seldome it incurres the censure of profusion and Epicurisme if too low of a base and vnbeseeming earthlinesse your hand may not be too close for others need nor too open for your owne your conuersation may not be rough and sullen nor ouer-familiar and fawning whereof the one breeds a conceit of pride and strangenesse the other contempt not loosely mery nor Cynically vnsociable not contentious in small iniuries in great not hurtfully patient to the Church your attire for whither doe not censures reach not youthfully wanton not in these yeares affectedly ancient but graue and comely like the minde like the behauiour of the vvearer your gesture like your habit neither sauouring of giddy lightnesse nor ouerly insolence nor wantonesse nor dull neglect of your selfe but such as may beseeme a mortified minde full of worthy spirits your speech like your gesture not scurrilous not detracting not idle not boasting not rotten not peremptotorie but honest milde fruitfull sauourie and such as may both argue and worke grace your deliberations mature your resolutions well grounded your deuices sage and holy Wherein let me aduise you to vvalke euer in the beaten rode of the Church not to runne out into single paradoxes And if you meet at any time with priuate conceits that seeme more probable suspect them and your selfe and if they can win you to assent yet smother them in your brest and doe
not dare to vent them out either by your hand or tongue to trouble the common peace It is a miserable praise to bee a witty disturber Neither will it serue you to be thus good alone but if God shall giue you the honour of this estate the world will looke you should be the graue guide of a well-ordered family for this is proper to vs that the vices of our charge reflect vpon vs the sinnes of others are our reproach If another mans children mis-cary the Parent is pitied if a Ministers censured yea not our seruant is faulty vvithout our blemish In all these occasions a misery incident to vs alone our griefe is our shame To descend nearer vnto the sacred affaires of this heauenly trade in a Minister Gods Church is accounted both his house to dwell in and his field to worke in vvherein vpon the penalty of a curse he faithfully wisely diligently deuoutly deales with God for his people with his people for and from God Whether he instruct hee must doe it with euidence of the spirit or whether he reproue with courage and zeale or whether he exhort with meeknesse and yet with power or whether he confute with demonstration of truth not with rage and personall maliciousnesse not with a wilfull heat of contradiction or whether he admonish with long-suffering and loue without preiudice and partialitie in a word all these he so doth as he that desires nothing but to honour God and saue men His wisdome must discerne betwixt his sheepe and wolues in his sheepe betwixt the wholesome and vnsound in the vnfound betwixt the weake and tainted in the tainted betwixt the natures qualities degrees of the disease and infection and to all these he must know to administer a word in season He hath Antidotes for all tentations counsels for all doubts euictions for all errors for all languishings incouragements No occasion from any altered estate of the soule may finde him vnfurnished He must ascend to Gods Altar with much awe with sincere and cheerefull deuotion so taking celebrating distributing is Sauiour as thinking himselfe at table in heauen with the blessed Angels In the meane time as he wants not a thankefull regard to the Master of the feast so not care of the guests The greatnesse of an offender may not make him sacrilegiously partiall nor the obscurity negligent I haue said little of any of our duties and of some nothing yet enough I think to make you if not timorous carefull Neither vvould I haue you hereupon to hide your selfe from this calling but to prepare your selfe for it These times call for them that are faithfull and if they may spare some learning conscience they can not Goe on happily it argues a minde Christianly noble to bee incouraged with the need of his labours with the difficulties To Mrs A. P. EP. VI. A discourse of the signes and proofes of a true faith THere is no comfort in a secret felicitie To be happy and not know it is little aboue miserable Such is your state onely herein better then the common case of the most that the well of life lyes open before you but your eyes like Agars are not open to see it vvhiles they haue neither water nor eyes We doe not much more want that which vve haue not then that which we doe not know we haue Let mee tell you some of that spirituall eye-salue which the Spirit commends to his Laodiceans that you may clearely see how well you are There is nothing but those scales betwixt you and happinesse Thinke not much that I espy in you what your selfe sees not Too much neerenesse oft-times hindreth sight and if for the spots of our own faces we trust others eyes why not for our perfections You are in heauen and know it not He that beleeues is already passed from death to life You beleeue whiles you complaine of vnbeleefe If you complained not I should mis-doubt you more then you doe your selfe because you complaine Secure and insolent presumption hath killed many that breathes nothing but confidence and safety and abandons all doubts and condemnes them That man neuer beleeued that neuer doubted This liquor of faith is neuer pure in these vessels of clay without these lees of distrust What then Thinke not that I incourage you to doubt more but perswade you not to bee discouraged with doubting All vncertaintie is comfortlesse those that teach men to coniecture and forbid to resolue reade lectures of misery Those doubts are but to make way for assurance as the oft shaking of the tree fastens it more at the root You are sure of God but you are afraid of your selfe The doubt is not in his promise but your application Looke into your owne heart How know you that you know any thing that you beleeue that you will that you approue that you affect any thing If a man like your selfe promise you ought you know whether you trust him whether you relye your selfe on his fidelitie Why can you not know it in him that is God and man The difference is not in the act but the obiect But if these habits because of their inward and ambiguous nature seeme hard to be descried turne your eyes to those open markes that cannot beguile you How many haue bragged of their Faith when they haue embraced nothing but a vaine cloud of presumption Euery man repeats his Creed few feele it few practise it Take two boughs in the dead of winter how like is one wood to another how hardly discerned Afterwards By their fruit you shall know them That faith whose nature was obscure is euident in his effects What is faith but the hand of the soule What is the dutie of the hand but either to hold or worke This hand then holds Christ workes obedience and holinesse and if this act of apprehension be as secret as the cause since the closed hand hideth still what it holdeth see the hand of faith open see what it worketh and compare it vvith your owne proofe Deny if you can yet I had rather appeale to any Iudge then your preiudiced selfe that in all your needs you can step boldly to the Throne of Heauen and freely powre out your enlarged heart to your God and craue of him vvhether to receiue what you vvant or that you may vvant vvhat you haue and would not Be assured from God this can be done by no power but that you feare to misse of faith God as he is not so he is not called a father without this In vain doth he pray that cannot cal God father No father without the spirit of adoption no spirit without faith vvithout this you may babble you cannot pray Assume you that you can pray I dare conclude vpon my soule You beleeue As little as you loue your selfe denie if you can that you loue God Say that your Sauiour from heauen should aske you Peters question could your soule returne any other answer then Lord thou
knowest I loue thee Why are you else in such awe to offend that a world cannot bribe you to sinne Why in such deepe griefe vvhen you haue sinned that no mirth can refresh you Why in such feruent desire of enioying his presence Why in such agony when you enioy it not neither doth God loue you neither can you loue God without faith Yet more Doe you willingly nourish any one sinne in your brest do you not repent of all Doe you not hate all tho you cannot leaue all Doe you not complaine that you hate them no more Doe you not as for life wish for holinesse and endeuour it Nothing but faith can thus cleanse the heart that like a good hous-wife sweeps all the foule corners of the soule and will not leaue so much as one webbe in this roomie house Trust to it you cannot hate sinne for it owne sake and forsake it for Gods sake without faith the faithlesse hath had some remorse and feares neuer repentance Lastly doe you not loue a good man for goodnesse and delight in Gods Saints Doth not your loue leade you to compassion your compassion to reliefe An heart truely faithfull cannot but haue an hand christianly bountifull Charitie and Faith make vp one perfect paire of Compasses that can take the true latitude of a Christian heart Faith is the one foot pitcht in the centre vnmoueably while Charitie vvalkes about in a perfect circle of beneficence these two neuer did neither can goe asunder Warrant you your loue I dare warrant your faith What need I say more This heat of your affections and this light of your workes wil euince against all the gates of hell that you haue the fire of Faith let your soule then warme it selfe with these sweet and cordiall flames against all those cold despaires whereto you are tempted say Lord I beleeue and I will giue you leaue still to adde Helpe my vnbeleefe To Mr ED. ALLEYNE EP. VII A direction how to conceiue of God in our deuotions and meditations YOu haue chosen and iudged well How to conceiue of the Deitie in our prayers in our meditations is both the deepest point of all Christianitie and the most necessarie so deepe that if we wade into it we may easily drowne neuer finde the bottom so necessarie that without it our selues our seruices are prophane irreligious wee are all borne Idolaters naturally prone to fashion God to some forme of our owne whether of an humane bodie or of an admirable light or if our minde haue any other more likely and pleasing image First then away with all these wicked thoughts these grosse deuotions and with Iacob burie all your strange gods vnder the oake of Shechem ere you offer to set vp Gods Altar at Bethel and without all mentall representations conceiue of your God purely simply spiritually as of an absolute being without forme without matter without composition yea an infinite without all limit of thoughts Let your heart adore a spirituall Maiestie which it cannot comprehend yet knowes to be and as it were lose it selfe in his infinitenesse Thinke of him as not to be thought of as one whose wisdome is his iustice whose iustice is his power whose power is his mercie and whose wisedome iustice power mercy is himselfe as without qualitie good great without quantitie euerlasting without time present euery where without place containing all things without extent and when your thoughts are come to the highest stay there and be content to vvonder in silence and if you cannot reach to conceiue of him as he is yet take heed you conceiue not of him as he is not Neither will it suffice your Christian mind to haue this awefull and confused apprehension of the Deitie without a more speciall and inward conceit of three in this one three persons in this one essence not diuided but distinguished and not more mingled then diuided There is nothing vvherein the vvant of words can wrong and grieue vs but in this Here alone as we can adore and not conceiue so we can conceiue and not vtter yea vtter our selues and not be conceiued yet as wee may Thinke here of one substance in three subsistences one essence in three relations one IEHOVAH begetting begotten proceeding Father Sonne Spirit yet so as the Son is no other thing from the Father but another person or the Spirit from the Sonne Let your thoughts here vvalke warily the path is narrow the conceit either of three substances or but one subsistence is damnable Let me lead you yet higher and further in this intricate vvay towards the Throne of grace All this will not auaile you if you take not your Mediator with you if you apprehend not a true manhood gloriously vnited to the Godhead without change of either nature without mixture of both whose presence vvhose merits must giue passage acceptance vigour to your prayers Here must be therefore as you see thoughts holily mixed of a Godhead and humanitie one person in two natures of the same Deitie in diuers persons and one nature wherein if euer heauenly wisdome must bestir it selfe in directing vs so to seuer these apprehensions that none be neglected so to conioyne them that they bee not confounded O the depth of diuine mysteries more then can be wondred at O the necessitie of this high knowledge which vvho attaines not may babble but prayeth not Still you doubt and aske if you may not direct your prayers to one person of three Why not Safely and with comfort What need we feare while wee haue our Sauiour for our patterne O my father if possible let this Cup passe and Paul euery where both in thanks and requests but with due care of worshipping all in one Exclude the other while you fix your heart vpon one your prayer is sinne retaine all and mention one you offend not None of them doth ought for vs without all It is a true rule of Diuines All their externall workes are common To sollicit one therefore and not all were iniurious And if you stay your thoughts vpon the sacred humanitie of Christ with inseparable adoration of the Godhead vnited and thence climbe vp to the holy conceit of that blessed and dreadfull Trinity I dare not censure I dare not but commend your diuine method Thus should Christians ascend from earth to heauen from one heauen to another If I haue giuen your deuotions any light it is well the least glimpse of this knowledge is vvorth all the full gleames of humane and earthly skill But I mistake if your owne heart wrought vpon with serious meditations vnder that spirit of illumination will not proue your best master After this vveake direction studie to conceiue aright that you may pray aright and pray that you may conceiue and meditate that you may doe both and the God of heauen direct you inable you that you may doe all To M. THOMAS IAMES of Oxford EP. VIII A discourse of the grounds of the Papists
enuious vnderminings secret idolatry hypocriticall fashionablenesse haue spred themselues all ouer the world The Sunne of peace looking vpon our vncleane heaps hath bred these monsters and hath giuen light to this brood of darknesse Looke about you and see if three great Idols Honour Pleasure Gaine haue not shared the earth amongst them and left him least whose all is Your deniall driues mee to particulars I vrge no further If any aduersary insult in my confession tell him that I account them the greatest part of this euill neither could thus complaine if they were not VVho knowes not that as the earth is the dregs of the world so Italy is the dregs of the earth Rome of Italy It is no wonder to finde Satan in his Hell but to find him in Paradise is vncouth and grieuous Let them alone that will dye and hate to be cured For vs O that remedies were as easie as complaints That we could be as soone cleared as conuinced That the taking of the medicine were but so difficult as the prescription And yet nothing hinders vs from health but our wil neither Gospell nor Grace nor Glory are shut vp onely our hearts are not open Let me turne my stile from you to the secure to the peruerse tho why doe I hope they will heare mee that are deafe to God they will regard words that care not for iudgements Let me tell them yet if in vaine they must breake if they bow not That if mercy may be refused yet vengeance cannot be resisted that God can serue himselfe of them perforce neither to their thanke nor ease that the present plagues doe but threaten worse Lastly that if they relent not hell was not made for nothing What should be done then Except we would faine smart each man amend one and we all liue How commonly doe men complaine and yet adde to this heape Redresse stands not in words Let euery man pull but one brand out of this fire and the flame will goe out alone What is a multitude but an heape of vnities The more we deduce the fewer we leaue O how happy were it then if euery man would begin at home and take his owne heart to task and at once be his owne Accuser and Iudge to condemne his priuate errors yea to mulct them with death Till then alas what auailes it to talke While euery man censures and no man amends what is it but busie trifling But tho our care must begin at our selues it may not end there Who but a Cain is not his brothers keeper Publike persons are not so much their owne as others are theirs Who sits at the common sterne cannot distinguish betwixt the care of his owne safety and his vessels both drowne at once or at once salute the hauen Ye Magistrates for in you stand al our lower hopes whom God hath on purpose in a wise surrogation set vpon earth to correct her disorders take to your selues firme fore-heads courageous hearts hands busie and not partiall to discountenance shamelesse wickednesse to resist the violent sway of euils to execute wholesome lawes with strictnes with resolutioÌ The sword of the Spirit meets with such iron hearts that it both enters not and is rebated Loe it appeales to your arme to your ayd An earthen edge can best pierce this hardned earth If iniquity die not by your hands we perish And ye sonnes of Leui gather to your Moses in the gate of the Campe consecrate your hands to God in this holy slaughter of vice Let your voice be both a trumpet to incite and a two-edged sword to wound and kill Cry downe sinne in earnest and thunder out of that sacred chaire of Moses and let your liues speake yet louder Neither may the common Christian sit still and looke on in silence I am deceiued if in this cause God allow any man for priuate Here must bee all actors no witnesses His discreet admonitions seasonable reproofes and prayers neuer vnseasonable besides the power of honest example are expected as his due tribute to the common health What if we cannot turne the streame Yet we must swim against it euen without conquest it is glorious to haue resisted in this alone they are enemies that doe nothing Thus as one that delights more in amendment then excuse I haue both censured and directed The fauour of your sentence proceeds I know from your owne innocent vprightnesse So iudge of my seuere taxation It shall be happy for vs if wee can at once excuse and diminish accuse and redresse iniquity Let but the indeuour be ours the successe to GOD. EPISTLES THE THIRD AND LAST VOLVME CONTAINING TWO DECADS BY IOS HALL LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE MOST HIGH AND EXCELLENT PRINCE HENRY PRINCE of WALES All happinesse MOst Gratious Prince LEt me not whiles I desire to be dutifull seeme importunate in my dedications J now bring to your Highnesse these my last and perhaps most materiall Letters wherein if J mistake not as how easily are wee deceiued in our owne the pleasure of the variety shall striue with the importance of matter There is no worldly thing I confesse whereof I am more ambitious then of your Highnesses contentment which that you place in goodnesse is not more your glory then our ioy Doe so still and heauen and earth shall agree to blesse you and vs in you For me after this my officious boldnesse I shall betake my selfe in silence to some greater worke wherein J may approue my seruice to the Church and to your Highnesse as her second ioy and care My heart shall be alwayes and vpon all opportunities my tongue and pen shall no lesse gladly be deuoted to my gratious Master as one Who reioyce to be your Highnesses though vnworthy yet faithfull and obsequious Seruant IOS HALL THE SVMME OF THE SEVERALL EPISTLES DECAC V. EP. 1. To my B. Lord of Bathe and Wels. Discoursing of the causes and meanes of the increase of Popery EP. 2. To my Lord Bishop of Worcester Shewing the differences of the present Church from the Apostolicall and needlesnesse of our conformity thereto in all things EP. 3. To my Lady MARY DENNY Containing the description of a Christian and his differences from the worldling EP. 4. To my Lady HONORIA HAY. Discoursing of the necessity of Baptisme and the estate of those which necessarily want it EP. 5. To Sir RICHARD LEA. Discoursing of the comfortable remedies of all afflictions EP. 6. To Mr PETER MOLIN Preacher of the Church at Paris Discoursing of the late French occurrents and what vse God expects to bee made of them EP. 7. To Mr THOMAS SVTTON Exciting him and in him all others to early and cheerfull beneficence shewing the necessitie and benefit of good workes EP. 8. To E. B. Dedicated to Sir GEORGE GORING Remedies against dulnes and heartlesnes in our callings and encouragements to cheerfulnesse in labour EP. 9. To Sir IOHN HARRINGTON
God begin with those which he meant not to continue but to shew vs we may not alwayes look for one face of things The nurse feeds and tends her child at first afterward hee is vndertaken by the discipline of a Tutor must he be alwayes vnder the spoone and ferule because he began so If he haue good breeding it matters not by whose hands Who can denie that we haue the substance of all those royall lawes which Christ and his Apostles left to his Church What doe we now thus importunately catching at shadowes If there had been a necessitie of hauing what we want or vvanting what we haue let vs not so farre vvrong the wisdom and perfection of the Law-giuer as to thinke he would not haue inioyned that and forbidden this His silence in both argues his indifferencie and calls for ours which vvhile it is not peaceably entertained there is clamour without profit malice without cause and strife without end To my Lady MARY DENNY EP. III. Containing the description of a Christian and his differences from the worldling MADAM IT is true that worldly eyes can see no difference betwixt a Christian another man the out-side of both is made of one clay and cast in one mould both are inspired with one common breath Outward euents distinguish them not those God neuer made for euidences of loue or hatred So the senses can perceiue no difference betwixt the reasonable soule and that which informes the beast yet the soule knowes there is much more then betwixt their bodies The fame holds in this Faith sees more inward difference then the eye sees outward resemblance This point is not more high then materiall which that it may appeare let me shew what it is to be a Christian You that haue felt it can second mee with your experience and supply the defects of my discourse He is the liuing temple of the liuing God where the Deity is both resident and worshipped The highest thing in a man is his own spirit but in a Christian the spirit of God which is the God of spirits No grace is wanting in him and those which there are want not stirring vp Both his heart and his hands are cleane All his outward purity flowes from within neither doth he frame his soule to counterfet good actions but out of his holy disposition commands and produces them in the light of God Let vs begin with his beginning and fetch the Christian out of his nature as another Abraham from his Chaldea whiles the worldling liues and dies in nature out of God The true conuert therefore after his wylde and âecure courses puts himselfe through the motions of Gods Spirit to schoole vnto the Law there hee learnes what he should haue done what he could not do what he hath done what he hath deserued These lessons cost him many a stripe many a teare and not more griefe then terror for this sharpe master makes him feele what sinne is and what hell is and in regard of both what himselfe is When he hath vvell smarted vnder the whip of this seuere vsher and is made vile enough in himself then is he led vp into the higher schoole of Christ and there taught the comfortable lessons of grace there hee learnes vvhat belongs to a Sauiour what one he is what he hath done and for whom how he became ours vve his and now finding himselfe in a true state of danger of humilitie of need of desire of fitnesse for Christ he brings home to himselfe all that he learnes and what he knowes he applyes His former Tutor he feared this he loueth that shewed him his wounds yea made them this binds and heales them that killed him this shewes him life and leades him to it Now at once he hates himselfe defies Satan trusts to Christ makes account both of pardon glory This is his most precious Faith whereby he appropriates yea ingrosses Christ Iesus to himselfe whence he is iustified from his sinnes purified from his corruptions established in his resolutions comforted in his doubts defended against temptations ouercomes all his enemies Which vertue as it is most imployed and most opposed so caries the most care from the Christian heart that it be sound liuely growing sound not rotten not hollow not presumptuous sound in the act not a superficiall conceit but a true deepe and sensible apprehension an apprehension not of the braine but of the heart and of the heart not approuing or assenting but trusting and reposing Sound in the obiect none but Christ he knowes that no friendship in heauen can doe him good without this The Angels cannot God will not Ye beleeue in the Father beleeue also in me Liuely for it cannot giue life vnlesse it haue life the faith that is not fruitfull is dead the fruits of faith are good workes whether inward within the roofe of the heart as loue awe sorrow pietie zeale ioy and the rest or outward towards God or our brethren obedience and seruice to the one to the other reliefe and beneficence These he beares in his time sometimes all but alwayes some Growing true faith cannot stand still but as it is fruitfull in workes so it increaseth in degrees from a little seed it proues a large plant reaching from earth to heauen and from one heauen to another euery shower and euery Sun addes something to it Neither is this grace euer solitarie but alwayes attended royally for that he beleeues what a Sauiour he hath cannot but loue him and he that loues him cannot but hate whatsoeuer may displease him cannot but reioyce in him and hope to enioy him and desire to enioy his hope and contemne all those vanities which he once desired and enioyed His minde now scorneth to grouell vpon earth but soareth vp to the things aboue where Christ sits at the right hand of God and after it hath seene what is done in heauen lookes strangely vpon all worldly things He dare trust his faith aboue his reason and sense and hath learned to weane his appetite from crauing much Hee stands in awe of his own conscience and dare no more offend it then not displease himselfe He feares not his enemies yet neglects them not equally auoiding security and timorousnesse He sees him that is inuisible and walks with him awfully familiarly He knowes what he is borne to and therefore digests the miseries of his wardship with patience he findes more comfort in his afflictions then any worldling in pleasures And as hee hath these graces to comfort him within so hath hee the Angels to attend him without spirits better then his owne more powerfull more glorious These beare him in their armes wake by his bed keepe his soule while he hath it and receiue it when it leaues him These are some present differences the greatest are future which could not be so great if themselues were not witnesses no lesse then betwixt heauen and hell torment and glory an incorruptible crowne and
fire vnquenchable Whether Infidels beleeue these things or no we know them so shall they but too late What remaines but that we applaud our selues in this happinesse and walke on cheerily in this heauenly profession acknowledging that God could not do more for vs and that we cannot doe enough for him Let others boast as your Ladiship might with others of ancient and Noble Houses large patrimonies or dowries honorable commands others of famous names high and enuied honours or the fauours of the greatest others of valour or beauty or some perhaps of eminent learning and wit it shall be our pride that we are Christians To my Lady HONORIA HAY. EP. IV. Discoursing of the necessitie of Baptisme and the estate of those which necessarily want it MADAM MEthinks children are like teeth troublesome both in the breeding and losing and oftentimes painfull while they stand yet such as wee neither would nor can well be without I goe not about to comfort you thus late for your losse I rather congratulate your wise moderation and Christian care of these first spirituall priuiledges desiring onely to satisfie you in what you heard as a witnesse not in what you needed as a mother Children are the blessings of Parents and Baptisme is the blessing of children and parents wherein there is not onely vse but necessitie necessitie not in respect so much of the end as of the precept God hath enioyned it to the comfort of parents and behoofe of children which therefore as it may not be superstitiously hastened so not negligently deferred That the contempt of baptisme damneth is past all doubt but that the constrained absence thereof should send infants to hell is a cruell rashnesse It is not their sinne to die early death is a punishment not an offence an effect of sinne not a cause of torment they want nothing but time which they could not command Because they could not liue a while longer that therefore they should die euerlastingly is the hard sentence of a bloody religion I am onely sorie that so harsh an opinion should bee graced with the name of a Father so reuerend so diuine whose sentence yet let no man plead by halues He who held it vnpossible for a childe to be saued vnlesse the baptismall water were powred on his face held it also as vnpossible for the same Infant vnlesse the sacramentall bread were receiued into his mouth There is the same ground for both the same error in both a weaknesse fit for forgetfulnesse see yet how ignorant or ill-meaning posterity could single out one halfe of the opinion for truth and condemne the other of falshood In spight of whom one part shall easily conuince the other yea without all force since both cannot stand both will fall together for company The same mouth which said Vnlesse yee be borne againe of water and the Holy Ghost said also Except yee eat the flesh of the Sonne of Man and drinke his blood an equall necessitie of both And lest any should plead different interpretations the same S. Austin auerres this later opinion also concerning the necessary communicating of children to haue been once the common iudgement of the Church of Rome A sentence so displeasing that you shall finde the memory of it noted vvith a blacke coale and wip't out in that infamous bill of Expurgations Had the ancient Church held this desperate sequele what strange and yet wilfull crueltie had it beene in them to deferre baptisme a whole yeare long till Easter or that Sunday which hath his name I thinke from the white robes of the baptised Yea what an aduenture vvas it in some to adiourne it till their age with Constantine if being vnsure of their life they had been sure the preuention of death would haue inferred damnation Looke vnto that legall Sacrament of circumcision which contrary to the fancies of our Anabaptists directly answers this Euangelicall Before the eight day they could not be circumcised before the eight day they might die If dying the seuenth day they were necessarily condemned either the want of a day is a sinne or God sometimes condemneth not for sinne Neither of them possible neither according with the iustice of the Law-giuer Or if from this parallel you please to looke either to reason or example the case is cleere Reason no man that hath faith can be condemned for Christ dwels in our hearts by faith and hee in whom Christ dwels cannot be a reprobate Now it is possible a man may haue a sauing faith before baptisme Abraham first beleeued to iustification then after receiued the signe of circumcision as a seale of the righteousnes of that faith which he had when he was vncircumcised Therefore some dying before their baptisme may yea must be saued Neither was Abrahams case singular he was the Father of all them also which beleeue not being circumcised these as they are his Sonnes in faith so in righteousnesse so in saluation vncircumcision cannot hinder where faith admitteth These following his steps of beliefe before the Sacrament shall doubtlesse rest in his bosome without the Sacrament without it as fatally absent not as willingly neglected It is not the water but the faith not the putting away the filth of the flesh saith S. Peter but the stipulation of a good conscience for who takes Baptisme without a full faith saith Hierom takes the water takes not the spirit Whence is this so great vertue of the water that it should touch the body and cleanse the heart saith Austin vnlesse by the power of the word not spoken but beleeued Thou seest water saith Ambrose euery water heales not that water onely heales which hath the grace of God annexed And if there bee any grace in the water saith Basil it is not of the nature of the water but of the presence of the Spirit Baptisme is indeed as Saint Ambrose stiles it the pawne and image of our resurrection yea as Basil the power of God to resurrection but as Ignatius expounds this phrase aright beleeuing in his death we are by baptisme made partakers of his resurrection Baptisme therefore without faith cannot saue a man and by faith doth saue him and faith without baptisme where it cannot bee had not where it may be had and is contemned may saue him That spirit which workes by meanes will not be tyed to meanes Examples Cast your eyes vpon that good thiefe good in his death though in his life abominable he was neuer washed in Iordan yet is receiued into Paradise his soule was foule with rapines and iniustice yea bloody with murders and yet being scoured onely with the blood of his Sauior not with water of baptisme it is presented glorious to God I say nothing of the soules of Traian and Falconella meere heathens liuing and dying without Christ without baptisme which yet their honest Legend reports to be deliuered from hell transported to heauen not so much as scorched in Purgatory The one by the prayers of Gregory
pay vs what we haue lent and giue vs because we haue giuen That is his bounty this his iustice O happy is that man that may be a creditor to his Maker Heauen and earth shall be empty before he shall want a royall payment If we dare not trust God whiles we liue how dare we trust men when we are dead men that are still deceitfull light vpon the balance light of truth heauy of selfe-loue How many Executors haue proued the executioners of honest Wils how many haue our eyes seene that after most carefull choice of trusty guardians haue had their children and goods so disposed as if the Parents soule could returne to see it I doubt whether it could bee happy How rare is that man that prefers not himselfe to his dead friend profit to truth that will take no vantage of the impossibility of account What-euer therefore men either shew or promise happy is that man that may be his own auditor superuisor executor As you loue God and your selfe be not afraid of being happy too soone I am not worthy to giue so bold aduice let the wise man of Syrach speak for me Doe good before thou die and according to thine ability stretch out thine hands and giue Defraud not thy selfe of thy good day and let not the portion of thy good desires ouer-passe thee Shalt thou not leaue thy trauels to another and thy labours to them that will diuide thine heritage Or let a wiser then he Salomon Say not to morrow I will giue if now thou haue it for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth It hath beene an old rule of liberality He giues twice that giues quickly whereas slow benefits argue vncheerfulnesse and lose their worth Who lingers his receits is condemned as vnthrifty he that knoweth both saith It is better to giue then to receiue If we be of the same spirit why are wee hasty in the worse and slacke in the better Suffer not your selfe therefore good Sir for Gods sake for the Gospels sake for the Churches sake for your soules sake to be stirred vp by these poore lines to a resolute and speedy performing of your worthy intentions and take this as a louing inuitation sent from heauen by an vnworthy messenger You cannot deliberate long of fit obiects for your beneficence except it be more for multitude then want the streets yea the world is full How doth Lazarus lye at euery doore how many sonnes of the Prophets in their meanly-prouided Colledges may say not Mors in olla but fames how many Churches may iustly plead that which our Sauiour bad his Disciples The Lord hath need And if this infinite store hath made your choice doubtfull how easie were it to shew you wherein you might oblige the whole Church of God to you and make your memoriall both eternall and blessed or if you had rather the whole Common-wealth But now I finde my selfe too bold and too busie in thus looking to particularities God shall direct you and if you follow him shall crowne you howsoeuer if good bee done and that betimes he hath what he desired and your soule shall haue more then you can desire The successe of my weak yet hearty counsell shall make me as rich as God hath made you with all your abundance That God blesse it to you and make both our recknings cheerfull in the day of our common Audit To E.B. Dedicated to Sir George Goring EP. VIII Remedies against dulnesse and heartlesnesse in our callings and incouragements to cheerfulnesse in labour IT falls out not seldome if wee may measure all by one that the minde ouer-layed with worke growes dull and heauy and now doth nothing because it hath done too much ouer-lauish expence of spirits hath left it heartlesse as the best vessell with much motion and vent becomes flat and dreggish And not fewer of more weake temper discourage themselues with the difficulty of what they must doe some Trauellers haue more shrunke at the Mappe then at the way Betwixt both how many sit still with their hands folded and wish they knew how to be rid of time If this euill be not cured we become miserable losers both of good houres and of good parts In these mentall diseases Empiricks are the best Physicians I prescribe you nothing but out of feeling If you will auoid the first moderate your owne vehemency suffer not your selfe to doe all you could doe Rise euer from your deske not without an appetite The best horse will tyre soonest if the reines lye euer loose in his necke Restraints in these cases are encouragements obtaine therefore of your selfe to defer and take new dayes How much better is it to refesh your selfe with many competent meales then to buy one dayes gluttony with the fast of many And if it bee hard to call off the mind in the midst of a faire and likely flight know that all our ease and safety begins at the command of our selues he can neuer taske himselfe well that cannot fauour himselfe Perswade your heart that perfection comes by leisure and no excellent thing is done at once the rising and setting of many Sunnes which you thinke slackens your worke in truth ripens it That gourd which came vp in a night withered in a day whereas those plants which abide age rise slowly Indeed where the heart is vnwilling prorogation hinders what I list not to doe this day I loathe the next but where is no want of desire delay doth but sharpen the stomack That which we doe vnwillingly leaue we long to vndertake and the more our affection is the greater our intention and the better our performance To take occasion by the fore-top is no small point of wisedome but to make time which is wyld and fugitiue tame and pliable to our purposes is the greatest improuement of a man All times serue him which hath the rule of himselfe If the second thinke seriously of the condition of your being It is that we were made for the Bird to flye and Man to labour What doe we here if we repine at our worke We had not beene but that we might be still busie if not in this taske we dislike yet in some other of no lesse toyle there is no act that hath not his labour which varies in measure according to the will of the doer This which you complaine of hath beene vndertaken by others not with facility onely but with pleasure and what you chuse for ease hath beene abhorred of others as tedious All difficulty is not so much in the worke as in the Agent To set the mind on the racke of a long meditation you say is a torment to follow the swift foot of your hound all day long hath no wearinesse what would you say of him that finds better game in his study then you in the field and would account your disport his punishment Such there are though you doubt and wonder Neuer thinke to detract from
did his Rocke and bring downe riuers of teares to wash away your bloodshed Doe not so much feare your iudgement as abhorre your sinne yea your selfe for it And vvith strong cries lift vp your guilty hands to that God whom you offended and say Deliuer me from blood-guiltinesse O Lord. Let me tel you As vvithout repentance there is no hope so with it there is no condemnation True penitence is strong and can grapple with the greatest sinne yea with all the powers of hell What if your hands be red vvith blood Behold the blood of your Sauiour shall wash away yours If you can bathe your selfe in that your Scarlet soule shall bee as white as Snow This course alone shall make your Crosse the way to the Paradise of God This plaister can heale all the fores of the soule if neuer so desperate Onely take heed that your heart be deepe enough pierced ere you lay it on else vnder a seeming skin of dissimulation your soule shall fester to death Yet ioy vs with your true sorrow vvhom you haue grieued with your offence and at once comfort your friends and saue your soule To Mr. IOHN MOLE of a long time now prisoner vnder the Inquisition at Rome EPIST. IX Exciting him to his wonted constancy and encouraging him to Martyrdome WHat passage can these lines hope to find into that your strait and curious thraldome Yet who would not aduenture the losse of this paines for him which is ready to lose himselfe for Christ what doe we not owe to you which haue thus giuen your selfe for the common faith Blessed bee the name of that God who hath singled you out for his Champion and made you inuincible how famous are your bonds how glorious your constancy Oh that out of your close obscurity you could but see the honour of your suffering the affections of Gods Saints and in some an holy enuie at your distressed happinesse Those wals cannot hide you No man is attended with so many eyes from earth and heauen The Church your Mother beholds you not with more compassion then ioy Neither can it be sayd how shee at once pities your misery and reioyces in your patience The blessed Angels looke vpon you with gratulation and applause The aduersaries with an angry sorrow to see themselues ouercome by their captiue their obstinate cruelty ouer-matched with humble resolution and faithfull perseuerance Your Sauiour sees you from aboue not as a meere spectator but as a patient with you in you for you yea as an agent in your indurance and victory giuing new courage with the one hand and holding out a Crowne with the other Whom would not these sights incourage who now can pity your solitarines The hearts of all good men are with you Neither can that place be but full of Angels which is the continuall obiect of so many prayers yea the God of heauen was neuer so neere you as now you are remoued from men Let me speake a bold but true word It is as possible for him to be absent from his heauen as from the prisons of his Saints The glorified spirits aboue sing to him the persecuted soules below suffer for him and cry to him he is magnified in both present with both the faith of the one is as pleasing to him as the triumph of the other Nothing obligeth vs men so much as smarting for vs words of defence are worthy of thankes but paine is esteemed aboue recompence How do we kisse the wounds which are taken for our sakes professe that we would hate our selues if we did not loue those that dare bleed for vs How much more shall the God of mercies bee sensible of your sorrowes and crowne your patience To whom you may truly sing that ditty of the Prophet Surely for thy sake am I flaine continually and am counted as a sheepe for the slaughter What need I to stir vp your constancy which hath already amazed and wearied your persecutors No suspition shall driue me hereto but rather the thirst of your praise He that exhorts to persist in well-doing while he perswades commendeth Whither should I rather send you then to the fight of your owne Christian fortitude which neither prayers nor threats haue beene able to shake Here stands on the one hand liberty promotion pleasure life and which easily exceeds all these the deare respect of wife and children whom your only resolution shall make widow and orphanes these with smiles and vowes and teares seeme to importune you On the other hand bondage solitude horror death and the most lingring of all miseries tuine of posterity these with frownes and menaces labour to affright you Betwixt both you haue stood vnmoued fixing your eyes either right forward vpon the cause of your suffering or vpwards vpon the crowne of your reward It is an happy thing when our own actions may be either examples or arguments of good These blessed proceedings call you on to your perfection The reward of good beginnings prosecuted is doubled neglected is lost How vaine are those temptations which would make you a loser of all this praise this recompence Goe on therefore happily keepe your eyes where they are and your heart cannot be but where it is and where it ought Looke still for what you suffer and for whom For the truth for Christ what can be so precious as truth Not life it selfe All earthly things are not so vile to life as life to truth Life is momentarie Truth eternall Life is ours the Truth Gods Oh happy purchase to giue our life for the truth What can we suffer too much for Christ He hath giuen our life to vs hee hath giuen his owne life for vs. What great thing is it if he require what he hath giuen vs if ours for his Yea rather if he call for vvhat he hath lent vs yet not to bereaue but to change it giuing vs gold for clay glory for our corruption Behold that Sauiour of yours weeping and bleeding and dying for you alas our soules are too strait for his sorrowes wee can be made but paine for him He vvas made sinne for vs vvee sustaine for him but the impotent anger of men he strugled vvith the infinite vvrath of his Father for vs. Oh vvho can endure enough for him that hath passed thorow death and hell for his soule Thinke this and you shall resolue vvith Dauid I will bee yet more vile for the Lord. The worst of the despight of men is but Death and that if they inflict not a disease vvill or if not that Age. Here is no imposition of that vvhich vvould not be but an hastning of that which vvill be an hastning to your gaine For behold their violence shall turne your necessitie into vertue and profit Nature hath made you mortall none but an enemie can make you a Martyr you must die though they vvill not you cannot die for Christ but by them How could they else deuise to make you happie
on indeed and sorrow with him but to his discomfort Where the griefe is extreme and respects neere partnership doth but increase sorrow Paul chides his loue What doe you weeping and breaking my heart The teares of those we loue doe either slacken our hearts or wound them Who then shall comfort him himselfe Sometimes our owne thoughts finde a way to succour vs vnknowne to others no not himselfe Doubtlesse as Aquinas the influence of the higher part of the soule was restrained from the aid of the inferiour My soule is filled with euils Psalm 87.4 Who then his Father here here was his hope If the Lord had not helpen me my soule had almost dwels in silence I and my Father are one But now alas he euen hee deliuers him into the hands of his enemies when he hath done turnes his backe vpon him as a stranger yea hee woundeth him as an enemy The Lord would breake him Esay 53.10 yet any thing is light to the soule whiles the comforts of God sustaine it who can dismay where God will releeue But here My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me What a word was here to come from the mouth of the Sonne of God My Disciples are men weake and fearefull no maruell if they forsake mee The Iewes are themselues cruell and obstinate Men are men gracelesse and vnthankfull Deuils are according to their nature spightfull and malicious All these doe but their kinde and let them doe it but thou O Father thou that hast said This is my welbeloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased thou of whom I haue said It is my Father that glorifies mee what forsaken me Not onely brought me to this shame smitten me vnregarded mee but as it were forgotten yea forsaken me What euen mee my Father How many of thy constant seruants haue suffered heauy things yet in the multitudes of the sorrowes of their hearts thy presence and comforts haue refreshed their soules Hast thou releeued them and dost thou forsake me me thine onely deare naturall eternall Sonne O ye heauens and earth how could you stand whiles the maker of you thus complained Ye stood but partaking after a sort of his Passion the earth trembled and shooke her rocks tore her graues opened the heauens withdrew their light as not daring to behold this sad and fearefull spectacle Oh deare Christians how should these earthen and rocky hearts of ours shake and rend in peeces at this Meditation how should our faces be couered with darknesse and our ioy be turned into heauinesse All these voices and teares and sweats and pangs are for vs yea from vs. Shall the Sonne of God thus smart for our sinnes yea with our sinnes and shall not we grieue for our owne shall he weepe to vs in this Market-place and shall not we mourne Nay shall he sweat and bleed for vs and shall not we weepe for our selues Shall he thus lamentably shrieke out vnder his Fathers wrath and shall not we tremble Shall the heauens and earth suffer with him and we suffer nothing I call you not to a weake and idle pitty of our glorious Sauiour to what purpose His iniury was out glory No no Ye daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for me but weepe for your selues for our sinnes that haue done this not for his sorrow that suffered it not for his pangs that were but for our owne that should haue beene and if wee repent not shall be Oh how grieuous how deadly are our sinnes that cost the Sonne of God besides bloud so much torment how farre are our soules gone that could not be ransomed with an easier price that tooke so much of this infinite Redeemer of men God and man how can it chuse but swallow vp and confound thy soule which is but finite and sinfull If thy soule had beene in his soules stead what had become of it it shall be if his were not instead of thine This weight that lies thus heauy on the Sonne of God and wrung from him these teares sweat bloud and these vnconceiueable grones of his afflicted spirit how should it chuse but presse downe thy soule to the bottome of hell and so it will doe if he haue not suffered it for thee thou must and shalt suffer it for thy selfe Goe now thou lewd man and make thy selfe merry with thy sins laugh at the vncleannesses or bloudinesse of thy youth thou little knowest the price of a sinne thy soule shall doe thy Sauiour did when he cryed out to the amazement of Angels and horror of men My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me But now no more of this It is finished the greater conflict the more happy victory Well doth he finde and feele of his Father what his type said before He will not chide alwaies nor keepe his anger for euer It is fearefull but in him short eternall to sinners short to his Sonne in whom the God-head dwelt bodily Behold this storme wherewith all the powers of the world were shaken is now ouer The Elders Pharises Iudas the souldiers Priests witnesses Iudges theeues executioners deuils haue all tired themselues in vaine with their owne malice and he triumphs ouer them all vpon the throne of his Crosse his enemies are vanquisht his Father satisfied his soule with this word at rest and glory It is finished Now there is no more betraying agonies arraignments scourgings scoffing crucifying conflicts terrors all is finished Alas beloued and will we not let the Sonne of God be at rest doe we now againe goe about to fetch him out of his glory to scorne and crucifie him I feare to say it Gods spirit dare and doth They crucifie againe to themselues the Sonne of God and make a mocke of him To themselues not in himselfe that they cannot it is no thanke to them they would doe it See and consider the notoriously-sinfull conuersations of those that should be Christians offer violence vnto our glorified Sauiour they stretch their hands to heauen and pull him down from his throne to his Crosse they teare him with thornes pierce him with nailes load him with reproches Thou hatest the Iewes spittest at the name of Iudas railest on Pilate condemnest the cruell butchers of Christ yet thou canst blaspheme and sweare him quite ouer curse swagger lye oppresse boyle with lust scoffe riot and liuest like a debauched man yea like an humane Beast yea like an vncleane Deuill Cry Hosanna as long as thou wilt thou art a Pilate a Iew a Iudas an Executioner of the Lord of life and so much greater shall thy iudgement bee by how much thy light and his glory is more Oh beloued is it not enough that hee dyed once for vs Were those paines so light that we should euery day redouble them Is this the entertainment that so gracious a Sauiour hath deserued of vs by dying Is this the recompence of that infinite loue of his that thou shouldest thus cruelly vex and wound him with thy sinnes Euery of our
saith to them Depart from me They would not know God when they might now God will not know them when they would Now therefore beloued if thou wouldst not haue God scorne the offer of thy death-bed fit thy soule for him in thy health furnish it with grace iniure it to a sweet conuersation with the God of heauen then mayest thou boldly giue it vp and hee shall as gratiously receiue it yea fetch it by his Angels to his glory Hee gaue vp the ghost We must doe as he did not all with the same successe Giuing vp supposes a receiuing a returning This inmate that we haue in our bosome is sent to lodge here for a time may not dwell here alwayes The âight of this tenure is the Lords not ours As hee said of the hatcher It is but lent it must be restored It is ours to keepe his to dispose and require See and consider both our priuilege and charge It is not with vs as with bruit creatures wee haue a liuing ghost to informe vs which yet is not ours and alas what is ours if our soules be not but must be giuen vp to him that gaue it Why doe wee liue as those that tooke no keepe of so glorious a guest as those that should neuer part with it as those that thinke it giuen them to spend not to returne with a reckoning If thou hadst no soule if a mortall one if thine owne if neuer to bee required how couldst thou liue but sensually Oh remember but who thou art what thou hast and whither thou must and thou shalt liue like thy selfe while thou art and giue vp thy ghost confidently when thou shalt cease to be Neither is there here more certainty of our departure than comfort Carry this with thee to thy death-bed and see if it can refresh thee when all the world cannot giue thee one dram of comfort Our spirit is our dearest riches if wee should lose it here were iust cause of griefe Howle and lament if thou thinkest thy soule perisheth it is not forfeited but surrendered How safely doth our soule passe thorow the gates of death without any impeachment while it is in the hand of the Almighty Woe were vs if he did not keepe it while we haue it much more when wee restore it We giue it vp to the same hands that created infused redeemed renewed that doe protect preserue establish and will crowne it I know whom I haue beleeued and am perswaded that hee is able to keepe that which I haue committed to him against that day O secure and happy estate of the godly O blessed exchange of our condition while our soule dwels in our breast how is it subiect to infinite miseries distempered with passions charged with sinne vexed with tentations aboue none of these how should it be otherwise This is our pilgrimage that our home this our wildernesse that our land of promise this our bondage that our kingdome our impotency causeth this our sorrow When our soule is once giuen vp what euill shall reach vnto heauen and wrestle with the Almighty Our lothnesse to giue vp comes from our ignorance and infidelity No man goes vnwillingly to a certaine preferment I desire to bee dissolued saith Paul I haue serued thee I haue beleeued thee and now I come to thee saith Luther The voyce of Saints not of men If thine heart can say thus thou shalt not need to intreat with old Hilariââ Egredere mea anima egredere quid times Goe thy wayes forth my soule goe forth what fearest thou but it shall flie vp alone cheerefully from thee and giue vp it selfe into the armes of God as a faithfull Creator and Redeemer This earth is not the element of thy soule it is not where it should be It shall be no lesse thine when it is more the owners Thinke now seriously of this point Gods Angell is abroad and strikes on all sides we know not which of our turnes shall be the next we are sure we carry deaths enow within vs. If we bee ready our day cannot come too soone Stirre vp thy soule to an heauenly cheerefulnesse like thy Sauiour Know but whither thou art going and thou canst not but with diuine Paul Vt contra Nullam animam recipio quae me âolente separatur à corpâre HieroÌ say from our Sauiours mouth euen in this sense It is a more blessed thing to giue than to receiue God cannot abide an vnwilling guest giue vp that spirit to him which he hath giuen thee and he will both receiue what thou giuest and giue it thee againe with that glory and happinesse which can neuer be conceiued and shall neuer bee ended Euen so LORD IESVS come quickly Gloria in excelsis Deo THE IMPRESE OF GOD. IN TWO SERMONS PREACHED AT THE COVRT In the Yeeres 1611. 1612. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. THE IMPRESE OF GOD. THE FJRST PART ZACHAR 14.20 In that day shall be written vpon the bridles or bels of the Horses Holinesse vnto the Lord and the pots of the Lords house shall be like the bowles before the Altar IF any man wonder whither this discourse can tend of horses and bels and pots and bowles for the Altar Let him consider that of Tertullian Ratio diuina in medulla est non in superficie These Horses if they be well menaged will proue like those fiery horses of Elias to carry vs vp to our heauen 2 King 2.11 These Bels like those golden bels of Aarons robe Exod. 39.25 These Pots like that Olla pulmenti of the Prophets after Elisha's meale 2 King 4. and these Bowles like that blessed and fruitfull nauell of the CHVRCH Cant. 7.2 S. Paul askes Doth God take care for oxen so may I here Doth God take care for horses Surely to prouide for them not to prophesie of them much lesse of their bels the vnnecessarie ornaments of a necessary creature But hee that forbids vs to learne of the horse that lesson of stubbornnesse by the PSALMIST and checks vs oft by the oxe and asse for their good nature would haue vs learne here vnder this parable of the horse and the bels of the horse and the writing on those bels the estate of our owne peace and sanctification God doth both speake and worke in Parables as that Father saith well Of this then I may truly say as Hierome said of the Booke of IOB Singula verba plena sunt sensibus Suffer your selues with Abrahams Ram to bee perplexed a while in these bryars that you may be prepared for a fit sacrifice to God In that day What day is that All dayes are his who is the Ancient of dayes and yet he sayes Abraham saw my day and reioyced Hee that made all dayes sayes yet againe This is the day which the Lord hath made There is one day of the weeke Gods ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
was shut as Cyril Chrisostome Eusebius Hierome vnderstand it rather it is a prophesie of that outward and during peace vnder the Gospell which all the true professors of it should maintaine with themselues All nations though fierce sterne of disposition Bellicosa pectora vertuutur in mansuetudinem Christianam Hier. Suniae Fritellae yet if they once stoop sincerely to the Gospel shall compose themselues to a sweet accordance and imploy their vnited strength to the seruice of God But how is this fulfilled Some in all ages haue run forth into fury troubled the coÌmon peace It is true but these are blanks such as vpon whom God hath not written holines It is no hoping that all horses shall be bridled or all bridles written on As grace so peace is not in such sort vniuersall that all should incline to it on all conditions There are some ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Peace-haters it is as possible to tame a waspe as to incline them to peace Such are the wilful Romanists of our time to omit Schismes which will rather mingle heauen earth together than remit one gainefull error But what euer become of these Manizers which doe thus exclude themselues from the coÌgregation of God it were happy if all the true acknowledged sonnes of the Church would admit the inscription of an holy peace Alas why doe wee that are brethren fall out for our change of suits by the way and make those quarrels deadly which deserue not to be quarrels Oh that some blessed Doue would bring an Oliue of peace into this Arke of God! Who is so fit for this glorious seruice as our gratious Peace-maker Nemo me impune lacesset is a good Posie but Beati pacifici is a better Let the Vice-gerent of him which is the Prince of peace as he was made for the peace of the walls and prosperity of the gates of Sion be that Angelus pacis Es 33.7 Let his wisdome and sweet moderation proceed to allay all these vnkindly stormes of the Church that we may liue to see that happy greeting of the Psalmist Righteousnesse and Peace haue kissed each other And as this holds in matter of iudgement so of practise too Do you see a loose lawlesse man wilful in his desires vnbridled in his affections inordinate in his life imploying his wit to scoffe at his Creator caring for nothing but the worse part of himselfe There is one of Zacharies horses when Gods Spirit breathes vpon the soule of this man he is now another from himselfe Holinesse to the Lord is written vpon his Bels. This was done sometimes of old Saul was among the Prophets Salomon and Manasses great patternes of conuersion but rarely in respect of the daies of the Gospell What should I speake of S. Paul No ground would hold him he runs chafing and foaming from Hierusalem to Damascus of his Iaylor of Mary Magdalen Behold whole troupes of wilde natures reclaimed Eph. 4. Col. 3. Act. 2. Who can despaire where God vndertakes Shew me neuer so violent and desperate a sinner let him be as Iobs wild asse in the desert or as Amos his horse that will run vpon the rocks Amos 6.12 if God once take him in hand thou shalt soone see that his horse is flesh and not spirit and shalt sing Deborahs Vngulae ceciderunt Iudg. 5.22 or Ioshuahs Subneruabis Ios 11.6 Now shalt thou see him stand quaking vnder the almighty hand of God so that he may write what he will in his bridle yea in his skin And if there be any such headstrong and restie stead here among vs let him know that God wil either breake his stomacke or his heart Flagellum equo saith Salomon and if that will not serue CollidaÌ in te equum equiteÌ Ier. 51.21 But alas how rare are these examples of reclamation Where is this power of the Gospell Men continue beasts still and with that filthy Gryllus plead for the priuilege of their bestiality The sins of men striue to outface the glory of the Gospell What shall I say to this If after all these meanes thou haue no bridle or thy bridle no inscription it is a fearefull doome of the Apostle If our Gospell be hid it is hid to them that perish Thus much of the horses bels Now from the pots and bowles you shall see the degrees of the Churches perfection and see it I beseech you without wearinesse with intention The pots of the Temple were seething vessels for the vse of sacrifice These are the Priests themselues here for that there is a distinction made betwixt the Pots of the Lords house and euery pot in Ierusalem The ordinary Iew was euery pot therefore the Pots of the Lords house must be his Ministers These vnder the Gospell shall be of more honourable vse as the bowles before the Altar like as the Altar of perfumes was more inward and of higher respect The pots were of shining brasse bowles of gold 1 King 7.50 It is no brag to say that the Ministery of the Gospell is more glorious than that of the Law The least in the kingdome of Heauen saith CHRIST is greater than Iohn Baptist Matth. 11.11 The Kingdome of Heauen that is the Church not as Austen Ierome Bede expound it of the third heauen for Christ would make an opposition betwixt the old and new Testament The not vnlearned Iesuite Maldonat while he taxeth vs for preferring euery Minister of the Gospell to Iohn Baptist mends the matter so well that he verifies it of euery person Minimus quisque in Euangelio that is qui Euangelium recipit maior est illo not feeling how hee buffets himselfe for if the least of those that receiue the Gospell how much more the least of those that preach it This is no arrogance God would haue euery thing in the last Temple more glorious than in the first which was figured by the outward frame more glorious in CHRISTS time than that of SALOMON as that was beyond the Tabernacle This is a better Testament Hebr. 7.22 That had the shadow this the substance Heb. 10. Vnder this is greater illumination Effundam spiritum meum saith the Prophet before some few drops distilled now a whole current of graces Effundam If therefore Iohn Baptist were greater than the sonnes of men because they saw Christ to come hee pointed at him comming ours must needs be more glorious because wee see and point at him now come and fully exhibited Wee will not contest with the Leuiticall Priesthood for cost of clothes for price of vessels let the Church of Rome emulate this pompe which cares not if shee haue golden vessels though shee haue leaden Priests wee enuie it not but for inward graces for learning knowledge power of teaching there is no lesse difference than betwixt the pots of the Temple and bowles of the Altar God sayes of them in way of reiection Non est mihi voluntas in vobis Mal. 1. Hence the
not sustaine vs while we are Away with these weake diffidences and if wee bee Christians trust God with his owne Psal 37.34 Wait thou on the Lord and keepe his wayes and he shall exalt thee He will make all things new And shall all things be made new and our hearts bee old Shall nothing but our soules be out of the fashion Surely beloued none but new hearts are for the new heauens Except we be borne anew we enter not into life All other things shall in the very instant receiue their renouation onely our hearts must bee made new before hand or else they shall neuer be renewed to their glory S. Peter when he had told vs of looking for new heauens and new earth infers this vse vpon it Wherefore beloued seeing yee looke for such things 2 Pet. 3.14 be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse Behold the new heauens require pure and spotlesse inhabitants As euer therefore we looke to haue our part in this blessed renouation let vs cast off all our euill and corrupt affections put off the old man with his works and now with the new yeere put on the new labour for a new heart begin a new life That which S. Iohn sayes here that God will say and doe in our entrance to glorification Behold I make all things new 2 Cor. 5.17 out of Esa 43. Saint Paul saith he hath done it already in our regeneration Old things are passed away all things are become new What meanes this but that our regeneration must make way for our glorification and that our glory must but perfect our regeneration and God supposes this is done when there are meanes to doe it Why doe we then still in spight of the Gospell retaine our old corruptions and thinke to goe to the wedding feast in our old clothes if some of vs do not rather as the vulgar reads that Iudg. 10 6. Addere nona veteribus adde new sinnes to our old new oathes new fashions of pride new complements of drunkennesse new deuices of filthinesse new tricks of Machiauelisme these are our nouelties which fetch downe from God new iudgements vpon vs to the tingling of the eares of all hearers and for which Topheth was prepared of old If God haue no better newes for vs we shall neuer enioy the new heauen with him For Gods sake therefore and for our soules sake let vs be wiser and renew our couenant with God and seeing this is a day of gifts let my New-yeeres-gift to you be this holy aduice from God which may make you happy for euer Let your New-yeeres-gift to God be your hearts the best part of your selues the center of your selues to which all our actions are circumferences and if they bee such a present as we haue reason to feare God will not accept because they are sinfull yet if they be humbled if penitent we know he will receiue them Psal 51. A contrite and a broken heart O God thou wilt not despise And if we cannot giue him our hearts yet giue him our desires and he will take our vnworthy hearts from vs I will take the stony hearts out of their bodies Ezec. 11.19 and he will graciously returne an happy New-yeeres-gift to vs Ezec. 11.14 I will put a new spirit within their bowels and will giue them an heart of flesh He will create a cleane heart and renew a right spirit within vs so as he will make a new heauen for vs he will make vs new for this heauen hee will make his Tabernacle in vs that hee may make ours with him Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men c. The superstitious Listrians cryed out amazed that Gods were come downe to them in the likenesse of men but we Christians know that it is no rare thing for God to come and dwell with men Yea are the Temples of the liuing God 2 Cor. 6.16 and I will dwell among them and walke there The faithfull heart of man is the Tabernacle of God But because though God bee euer with vs wee are not alwaies so with him yea whiles wee are at home in the bodie we are absent from the Lord as S. Paul complaines therefore will God vouchsafe vs a neerer cohabitation that shall not be capable of any interposition of any absence Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men But besides this Tabernacle of flesh time was when God dwelt in a materiall visible house with men Hee had his Tabernacle first which was a mouing Temple and then his Temple 2 Chron. 7.16 which was a fixed Tabernacle both of them had one measure both one name But as one said vpon that Eze. 42. Mensus est similitudinem domus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that both the Tabernacle and Temple were similitudes of Gods house rather than the house it selfe so say I that they were intended for notable resemblances both of the holy Church of God vpon earth and of the glorious Sanctuarie of heauen This is the true ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of God 1 Pet. 2.5 which word signifieth both a Temple Ezra 4.1 and a Palace Dan. 1.4 because he dwels where he is worshipped and he is magnificent in both It is the materiall Tabernacle which is alluded to the immateriall which is promised A Tabernacle that goes a thousand times more beyond the glittering Temple of Salomon than Salomons Temple went beyond the Tabernacle of Moses Neither let it trouble any man that the name of a Tabernacle implies flitting and vncertaintie For as the Temple howsoeuer it were called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a house of Ages yet lasted not either the first I meane or second vnto 500. yeeres so this house though God call it a Tabernacle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luke 16.9 yet he makes it an euerlasting habitation for he tels vs that both age and death are gone before it come downe to men But why rather doth the Tabernacle of God descend to men than men ascend to it Whether this be in respect of Iohns vision to whom the new Ierusalem seemed to descend from heauen descendit as one saith innotescendo and therefore it is resembled by all the riches of this inferiour world gold precious stones pearle or whether heauen is therefore said to descend to vs because it meets vs in the aire 1 Thess 4.16 when Christ Iesus attended with innumerable Angels shall descend to fetch his elect or whether this phrase be vsed for a greater expression of loue and mercy since it is more for Prince to come to vs than for vs to goe to his Court. Certainly God meanes only in this to set forth that perpetuall and reciprocall conuersation which hee will haue with men They shall dwell with God God shall dwell with them Our glory begins euer in grace God doth dwell with all those in grace with whom hee will dwell in glory Euery Christian carries in his
deliuered But besides the common desire of many finding the translation attempted by diuers and performed by some in such a manner as did not altogether satisfie It pleased my Father herein to improue my leasure wherein howsoeuer I may haue somewhat failed of the first elegancy yet I haue not beene far short of the sense I haue presumed to dedicate the same to your Lordship in respect of your many fauours and my obligations for which besides this officious though vnequall requitall I shal still vow my prayers for your Lordship and remaine Your Lordships most humbly deuoted RO HALL TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD GEORGE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBVRY PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND AND METRAPOLITAN TO THE REVEREND LORDS THE BISHOPS AND TO THE WHOLE FLOVRISHING CLERGIE OF ENGLAND ESPECIALLY THAT OF THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBVRY GATHERED TOGETHER IN THE CONVOCATION AT LONDON BEFORE WHOM THIS MEANE SERMON WAS DELIVERED J. H. THE LEAST OF ALL THE SERVANTS OF THE CHVRCH HVMBLY DEDICATES THIS HIS POORE AND VNWORTHY LABOVR IN aede Pauli déque Pauli oraculis Pro concione praeuiâ Synodo Jacrae Varias ab vno Spiritu Domino Deo Distinctiones esse donorum probans Ostendis Halle quanta spiritalium Quà m multiformis dos tibi fluat affatim Charismatumque multiplex peculium Quae nempe tractas per tui specimen doces Theologe nate pulpitis calami potens Cui suauitatis conscius semper stylus Cui pectus almi condus est sacrarij Et lingua promus pectoris cujus latus Loquentis ambit auribus rapax cohors Humerisque densa non sat est semel tua Hausisse vocis impetu fugacia Ni perlegendo te recognosci sinas Auri inuidebit oculus Templo Schola Nosti Decane flexanime quà m terecens Jam tunc ab ipso ambone redeuntem manu Prensum rogator vellicaui feruidus Manare fineres haec in absentum sinus Reliquisque nostri fratribus Cleri dari Quid mirum vbi ipsi postmodùm cudi typis Prouinciales postulant Episcopi Audin ' Iosephe Nolo iam te nil peto Non est amicus quod roget Domini regunt Parere justum est parere te certum est age Quà m facilis isthic obstetricanti labor Post tam verenda iussa quid restat mihi Nisi vt adprecantis suppleam idiotae locúm Amen sacrato succinens Patrum choro Lambethae Febr. 21. 1623. sic approbauit Tho Goadus S.T.D. NOAH'S DOVE YEe are here met which I humbly wish may proue euery way prosperous and happie to the Church of God most Reuerend Father in God Reuerend Bishops venerable Deanes Archdeacons Brethren of the Clergy by the prouidence of our good God and the command of our gracious Soueraigne to hold an holy Conuocation this day Blessed Paul in whose name this ancient pile doth not a little pride it selfe salutes you by my vnworthy tongue and as if he were present addresses himselfe to you and exhorts you In his former Epistle to the Corinthians the 12 Chapter verse 4. There are diuersities of gifts but the same spirit there are diuersities of ministeries but the same Lord and there are diuersities of operations but the same God c. SEe I beseech you the meet correspondence of all things Yee are met in one and here is vnity Yee are many of you met from the vtmost parts of this large Prouince and here is manifold diuersity yee are met the floure of our English Clergie learned and exquisite Diuines and here are diuersities of gifts Ye are met the Lords and Commons of our sacred function and here are diuersities of ministeries Yee are met for the holy affaires of the Church and here are Operations Ye are met as I verily hope and wish in vnity of Spirit and here is one Spirit Ye are lastly met to consecrate your selues your gifts Ministeries Operations to the seruice of our Lord God and here is that Lord that God whom we professe to serue Now that same God that same Lord Iesus Christ that same holy Spirit be present with vs all this day and by his blessed influences guide and gouerne this sacred meeting and happily direct all our councels and endeuours to the glory of his owne great name the saluation of our soules and the assured edification of his Church through Iesus Christ See here then Honoured Prelates and beloued Brethren the loope or combination of both worlds Both the worlds of our Diuinity The greater world God the lesser world Man What is there that can so much concerne vs to know to behold Will ye looke vp to God He is one in essence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Three in person The Father Lord Spirit He is three in one and one in three The Father Lord Spirit one and the same God Will yee cast your eye to Man yee shall see him not single but branched into infinite diuersitie not bare and naked but furnished with gifts not superfluous but destin'd to due seruices not idle but busie in meet operations Neither are these operations seruices gifts all of one kinde but diuersly distinguished and varied And whence are these so manifold graces so diuers imployments but from one God the Father Lord Spirit And wherefore are all these but that these operations ministeries gifts proceeding from one God Lord Spirit may be directed to one and may end as they began in a perfect vnity O maruellous coniunction of diuine and humane things O vnutterable communion of heauen and earth Wherein is laid forth vnto vs the intire respects and vnion of God to himselfe by consubstantialitie of God to man by munificence of man to God by the bond of thankfulnesse of men to each other by the bond of charity of gifts to ministeries of ministeries to operations of all to all I shall not now need neither indeed would it befit mee in so awfull an assembly of Diuines to dwell vpon Catecheticall points concerning the mysterie of the sacred Trinitie Although this labour is well worthy of you elsewhere my brethren and such as if I may perswade you you shall carefully bestow at home This familiar kinde of teaching the word of the beginnings of Christ is growne out of fashion Like ambitious Orators wee ouerlooke this popular straine and are carried to an affectation of perfection Ye see how the Heron can soare high yet liues for the most part in the lowest vally builds in the tallest trees yet feeds in the humble marishes So doe yee my deare fellow-labourers not so much caring to shew your selues learned as to make your people so This by the way Such as God is such he expresses himselfe to vs and such as hee expresses himselfe to vs such hee formes vs to himselfe As the Sun looking vpon a cloud fitly disposed for that purpose imprints in that moist glasse a certaine bright image of himselfe so doth God to his Church From that Celestiall and diuine Trinity therefore is here apparently deduced another Trinity sublunary and humane
conscience ye finde nothing and all this by the legier-de-maine of the heart Thus Achan hath hid his wedge and now he dares stand out to a lot Thus Salomons Harlot hath wip't her mouth and it was not she Thus Saul will lie-out his sacrilege vntill the very beasts out-bleat and out-bellow him Thus the swearer sweares and when hee hath done sweares that he swore not Thus the vncleane fornicator bribes off his sinne and his shame and now makes challenges to the world of his honesty It cannot be spoken how peeuishly witty the heart of man is this way neither doubt I but this wilinesse is some of the poyson that the subtile serpent infected vs with in that fatall morsell They were three cunning shifts which the Scripture recordeth of three women as that sex hath beene euer noted for more sudden pregnancie of wit Rachel Rahab and the good wife of Bahurim The first hiding the Teraphim with a modest seat the second the spies with flaxe-stalkes and the third Dauids scouts with corne spred ouer the Well but these are nothing to the deuices that nature hath wont to vse for the cloaking of sinne God made man vpright saith Salomon but he sought many inuentions Is Adam challenged for sinne Behold all on the sudden it is passed from his hand to Gods The woman that thou gauest me Is Saul challenged for a couetous and disobedient remissenesse the sinne is straight passed from the field to the Altar I saued the fattest for a Sacrifice to the Lord thy God So the one begins his sin in God and the other ends it in him Is Dauid bewitched with lust to abuse the Wife the Husband must be sent home drunke to hide it or if not that to his long home in a pretended fauour of his valour Is a griping Vsurer disposed to put his money together to breed a monster he hath a thousand quirks to cozen both law and conscience Is a Simoniacall Patron disposed to make a good match of his peoples soules it shall be no bargaine but a gift he hath a liuing to giue but an horse to sell And sure I thinke in this wise age of the world Vsurers and Simonists striue who shall finde the wittiest way to hell What should I speake of the secret frauds in contracts booties in matches subornation of instruments hiring of oathes feeing of officers equiuocations of answers and ten thousand other tricks that the heart of man hath deuised for the conueiances of sin in all which it too well approues it selfe incomparably deceitfull The false semblance of the heart is yet worse for the former is most-what for the smothering of euill this is for the iustifying of euill or the disgrace of good In these two doth this act of falshood chiefly consist in making euill good or good euill For the first The naturall man knowes well how filthy all his brood is and therefore will not let them come forth but disguised with the colours and dresses of good so as now euery one of natures birds is a Swan Pride is handsomnesse desperate fury valour lauishnesse is noble munificence drunkennesse ciuility flattery complement murderous reuenge iustice the Curtizan is bona foemina the Sorcerer a wise man the oppressor a good husband Absolom will goe pay his vowes Herod will worship the Babe For the second such is the enuy of nature that where shee sees a better face than her owne shee is ready to scratch it or cast dirt in it and therefore knowing that all vertue hath a natiue beauty in it she labours to deforme it by the foulest imputations Would the Israelites be deuout they are idle Doth Dauid daunce for ioy before the Arke he is a foole in a Morris Doth Saint Paul discourse of his heauenly Vision too much learning hath made him mad Doe the Disciples miraculously speake all the tongues of Babel They are ful of new wine Doe they preach Christs kingdome they are seditious The resurrection they are bablers Is a man conscionable he is an Hypocrite Is he conformable he is vnconscionable Is he plaine dealing hee is rudely vnciuill Is he wisely insinuatiue he is a flatterer In short such is the wicked craft of the heart that it would let vs see nothing in it owne forme but faine would shew vs euill faire that we might be inamored of it and vertue vgly that we might abhorre it and as it doth for the way so doth it for the end hiding from vs the glory of heauen that is laid vp for ouer-commers and shewing vs nothing but the pleasant closure of wickednesse making vs beleeue that hell is a palace and heauen a dungeon that so we might be in loue with death and thus both in cunning conueyance and false semblance The heart of man is deceitfull aboue all things Ye haue seene the fashion of this deceit cast now your eies vpon the subiect And whom doth it then deceiue It doth deceiue others it can deceiue it selfe it would deceiue Satan yea God himselfe Others first How many doe we take for honest and sound Christians who yet are but errant hypocrites These Apes of Satan haue learned to transforme themselues into Angels of light The heart bids the eies looke vpward to heauen when they are full of adultery It bids the hands to raise vp themselues towards their Maker when they are full of bloud It bids the tongue wagge holily when there is nothing in the bosome but Atheous profanenesse It bids the knee to bow like a Camell when the heart is stiffe as an Elephant yea if need be it can bid a teare fall from the eie or an almes or iust action fall from the hand and all to gâll the world with a good opinion In all which false chapmen and horse-coursers doe not more ordinarily deceiue their buyers in shops and faires than we doe one another in our conuersation Yea so crafty is the heart that it can deceiue it selfe By ouer-weening his owne powers as the proud man by vnder-valuing his graces as the modest by mis-taking his estate as the ignorant How many hearts doe thus grossely beguile themselues The first thinkes hee is rich and fine when hee is beggerly and naked so did the Angell of Laodicea The second is poore in his owne spirit when hee is rich of Gods spirit The third thinkes that he is a great fauourite of heauen when he is rather branded for an out-cast that hee is truly noble when he is a slaue to that which is baser than the worst of Gods creatures sinne Let the proud and ignorant worldling therefore know that though others may mocke him with applauses yet that all the world cannot make him so much a foole as his owne heart Yea so cunning is the heart that it thinkes to goe beyond the deuill himselfe I can thinks it swallow his bait and yet auoid his hooke I can sinne and liue I can repent of sinning and defeat my punishment by repenting I can runne vpon
they may be found out Wee are not ignorant saith Saint Paul of Satans deuices much more then may we know our owne Were the hearts of men as Salomon speakes of Kings like vnto deepe waters they haue a bottome and may bee fathomed Were they as darke as hell it selfe and neuer so full of windings and blinde waies and obscure turnings doe but take the lanthorne of Gods law in your hand and you shall easily finde all the false and foule corners of them As Dauid saith of the Sun nothing is hid from the light thereof Proue your selues saith the Apostle It is hard if falshood be so constant to it selfe that by many questions it bee not tripped Where this duty is slackned it is no wonder if the heart bee ouer-run with spirituall fraud Often priuy searches scarre away vagrant and disorderly persons where no inquiry is made is a fit harbour for them If yee would not haue your hearts therefore become the lawlesse Ordinaries of vncleane spirits search them oft Leaue not a straw vnshaken to finde out these Labanish Teraphim that are stollen and hid within vs And when we haue searched our best if we feare there are yet some vnknowne euills lurking within vs as the man after Gods owne heart prayes against secret sinnes let vs call him in that cannot be deceiued and say to God with the Psalmist Search thou me ô Lord and trie mee Oh let vs yeeld our selues ouer to bee ransackt by that all-seeing eye and effectuall hand of the Almighty All our daubing and cogging and packing and shuffling lies open before him and he onely can make the heart ashamed of it selfe And when our hearts are once stript naked and carefully searcht let our eyes be euer fixedly bent vpon their conueyances and inclinations If we search and watch not we may be safe for the present long we cannot for our eye is no sooner off than the heart is busie in some practise of falshood It is well if it forbeare whiles we looke on for The thoughts of mans heart are only euill continually and many a heart is like some bold and cunning theefe that lookes a man in the face and cuts his purse But surely if there be any guardian of the soule it is the eye The wise mans eye saith Solomon is in his head doubtlesse on purpose to looke into his heart My sonne aboue all keepings keepe thy heart saith he If we doe not dogge our hearts then in all our wayes but suffer our selues to lose the sight of them they run wilde and we shall not recouer them till after many slippery tricks on their parts and much repentance on ours Alas how little is this regarded in the world wherein the most take no keepe of their soules but suffer themselues to run after the wayes of their owne hearts without obseruation without controlement What should I say of these men but that they would faine be deceiued and perish For after this loose licentiousnesse without the great mercy of God they neuer set eye more vpon their hearts till they see them either fearfully intoyled in the present iudgements of God or fast chained in the pit of hell in the torments of finall condemnation Thirdly If our searches and watches should faile vs we are sure our distrust cannot It is not possible our heart should deceiue vs if we trust it not Wee carry a remedie within vs of others fraud and why not of our owne The Italians not vnwisely pray God in their knowne prouerbe to deliuer them from whom they trust for wee are obnoxious to those we relie vpon but nothing can leese that which it had not Distrust therefore can neuer be disappointed If our hearts then shall promise vs ought as it hath learned to profer largely of him that said All these will I giue thee although with vowes and oathes aske for his assurances if he cannot fetch them from the euidences of God trust him not If he shall report ought to vs aske for his witnesses if hee cannot produce them from the records of God trust him not If he shall aduise vs ought aske for his warrant if he cannot fetch it from the Oracles of God trust him not And in all things so beare our selues to our heart as those that thinke they liue amongst theeues and cozeners euer iealously and suspiciously taking nothing of their word scarce daring to trust our owne senses making sure worke in all matters of their transactions I know I speake to wise men whose counsell is wont to be asked and followed in matter of the assurances of estates whose wisdome is frequently imployed in the triall euiction dooming of malefactors Alas what shall it auaile you that you can aduise for the preuention of others fraud if in the meane time you suffer your selues to be cozened at home What comfort can you finde in publike seruice to the state against offenders if you should carry a fraudulent and wicked heart in your owne bosomes There is one aboue whom we may trust whose word is more firme than heauen When heauen shall passe that shall stand It is no trusting ought besides any further than he giues his word for it Mans Epithet is Homo mendax and his best part the hearts deceitfull Alas what shall we thinke or say of the condition of those men which neuer follow any other aduice than what they take of their owne heart Such are the most that make not Gods Law of their counsell As Esay said of Israel Esa 57.17 Abijt vagus in via cordis sui Surely they are not more sure they haue an heart than that they shall be deceiued with it and betraied vnto death Of them may I say as Salomon doth of the wanton foole that followes an harlot Thus with her great craft she caused him to yeeld Pro. 7.21 and with her flattering lips she intised him And he followed her straight wayes as an Oxe that goes to the slaughter or as a foole to the stocks for correction Oh then deare Christians as euer yee desire to auoid that direfull slaughter-house of hell those wailings and gnashings and gnawings and euerlasting burnings looke carefully to your owne hearts and what euer suggestions they shall make vnto you trust them not till you haue tried them by that vnfaileable rule of righteousnesse the royall law of your Maker which can no more deceiue you than your hearts can free you from deceit Lastly that wee may auoid not onely the euents but the very enterprises of this deceit let vs countermine the subtill workings of the heart Our Sauiour hath bidden vs be wise as Serpents What should be wise but the heart And can the heart be wiser than it selfe Can the wisdome of the heart remedie the craft of the heart Certainly it may There are two men in euery regenerate brest the old and the new And of these as they are euer plotting against each other wee must take the better side and labour
vnrighteousnesse we must redeeme it out of his hands with the highest ransome What is the price That is the maine thing in buying For Buying is no other than pactio pretij Else-where God proclaimes Hoe euery one that thirsteth come buy wine and milke without money and without price Esay 55. This is a Donation in forme of sale But here must be a price in the hand God will giue mercy and not sell it Hee will sell Truth and not giue it For what will he sell it First for Labour The Heathen Poet could say his gods sold learning for sweat The originall word here vsed is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Compara Get it any way either labore or precio yea labore vt precio This great foreman of Gods shop tells vs we cannot haue it vnder Prou. 2.4 Wee must seeke for her as siluer and search for her as for hid Treasures The veine of Truth lies low it must bee digged and delued for to the very center If Truth could be bought with ease and pleasure many a lazie Christian would bid faire for it who now resolue rather vpon want than toile The slothfull worldling will rather take vp a falshood for Truth than beat his braine to discerne Truth from falshood an error of free-cost is better than an high-rated Veritie Labour for Truth is turn'd ouer for the taske of Church-men no life sauours to these flegmaticke Spirits but that of the Lillies Neque laborant neque nent They neither labour nor spin This dull resolution is vnworthy of a Christian yea of a reasonable soule and if we should take vp no other for the body we should be fed with hunger and cloathed with nakednesse the earth should bee our fether-bed and the skie our Canopie wee should abound with want liue sauagely and die miserably It was the iust Canon of the Apostle He that labours not let him not eat Certainly he can neuer eat of the heauenly Manna of Truth that will not step forth to gather it Heare this yee delicate Courtiers that would heare a Sermon if yee could rise out of your beds that would lend God an houre if yee could spare it from your pleasures the God of heauen scornes to haue his precious Truth so basely vnder-valued if yee bid God lesse than labour for Truth I can giue you no comfort but that ye may goe to hell with ease The markets of Truth as of all other commodities varie It is the rule of Casuists Iustitia pretij non consistit in indiuiduo The Iustice of the Price doth not pitch euer vpon a point Sometimes the price of Truth hath risen it would not be bought but for danger sometimes not vnder losse not vnder disgrace not vnder imprisonment not vnder exile sometimes yet dearer not vnder paine yea sometimes it hath not gone for lesse than bloud It did cost Elias danger Michaiah disgrace Ieremie imprisonment the Disciples losse Iohn and Athanasius exile the holy Confessors paine the holy Martyrs death Euen the highest of these is pretium legitimum if God call for it how euer nature may tax it as rigorous yea such as the franke hearts of faithfull Christians haue bidden at the first word for Truth What doe yee weeping and breaking my heart For I am ready not to be bound only but to die for the name of the Lord Iesus saith S. Paul Act. 21. Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he giue for his life saith Satan but skin and life and all must a man giue for Truth and not thinke it an hard penny-worth Neither count I my life deare vnto me that I may finish my course with ioy saith the chosen vessell to his Ephesians Oh the heroicall spirits of our blessed fore-fathers that stucke not to giue their dearest heart-bloud for but some corollaries of sacred Truth whose burning zeale to Truth consumed them before those fires of Martyrdome and sent vp their pure and glorious soules like Manoahs Angell to heauen in the flame Blessed be God Blessed be his Anointed vnder whose gracious Scepter we haue enioyed daies as much more happy than theirs as their hearts were more feruent than ours We may now buy Truth at a better hand stake but our labour we carrie it with thanks I feare there want not those that would be glad to marre the market It can be onely knowne to heauen what treacheries the malice of hell may be a brewing Had but that Powder once taken nothing had beene abated of the highest price of our Predecessors we had paid for euery dram of Truth as many ounces of bloud as euer it cost the frankest Martyr should the Deuill haue beene suffered to doe his worst we might not haue grudged at this price of Truth Non est delicata in Deum secura confessio qui in me credit debet suum sanguinem fundere saith Ierome Christian profession is no secure or delicate matter he that beleeues must be no niggard of his bloud But why thus deare Not without good reason Monopolies vse to enhance the price Ye can buy Truth at no shop but one In coelo praeparata est Veritas tua Psal 89.2 Thy truth is prepared in heauen And it is a iust Rule of Law Quisque in rebus suis est moderator arbiter Euery man may rate his owne Neither is this only the sole commoditie of God but besides deare to the owner Dilexisti veritatem Thou hast loued Truth saith the Psalmist And it is a true rule in the Cases of Commerce Affectus astimari potest Our loue may be valued in the price Yea O God thy loue to Truth cannot be valued It is thy selfe thou that art Truth it selfe hast said so I am the Way the Truth and the Life We cannot therefore know how much thou louest thy Truth because as thy selfe is infinite so is thy loue to thy selfe What should we hunt for comparisons If all the earth were gold what were it when euen very heauen it selfe is trash to thee in respect of Truth No maruell if thou set it at an high rate It is not more precious to thee than beneficiall to vs. It frees vs Iohn 8.32 It renues vs Iames 1.18 It confirmes vs Prou. 12.19 It sanctifies vs Iohn 17.17 It defends vs Psal 91.4 Shortly it doth all for vs that God doth for God workes by his Almighty word and his Word is Truth Iohn 17. Therefore buy the Truth And if truth be thus precious thus beneficiall how comes it to passe that it is neglected contemned Some passe by it and doe not so much as cheapen it Others cheapen it but bid nothing Others bid something but vnder foot Others bid well but stake it not Others lastly stake downe but reuoke it The first that passe by and cheapen it not are carelesse vnbeleeuers The next that cheapen it and bid nothing are formall Christians The third that bid something but not enough are worldly semi-Christians The fourth that bid well and stake
hands of their Bishops so they did to Baal God and our Superiours haue had euer one and the same outward gesture Though here Paulus in vita Ambros not the Agent is so much regarded as the Action if your Ordinary would haue suffered you to haue done this peece of Idolatry you had neuer separated But the true God Bel and Dragon of England is the humane-Diuine-Seruice-Booke Let vs see what ashes or lumpes of pitch this Daniel brings We worship God in and by it as Papists doe by their Images Indeed we worship God in and by prayers contained in it Why should we not Tell me why is it more Idolatry for a man to worship God in and by a prayer read or got by heart than by a prayer conceiued I vtter both they are both mine if the heart speake them both feelingly and deuoutly where lies the Idoll In a conceiued prayer is it not possible for a mans thought to stray from his tongue in a prayer learned by heart or read is it not possible for the heart to ioyne with the tongue If I pray therefore in spirit and heartily vtter my desires to God whether in mine owne words or borrowed and so made mine what is the offence But say you if the Lord Iesus in his Testament haue not commanded any such Booke it is accursed and abominable But say I if the Lord Iesus hath not any where forbidden such a Booke it is not accursed nor abominable Shew vs the place where that we may know it with you Nay but I must shew you where the Apostles vsed any such Seruice booke shew you mee where the Apostles baptized in a Basin or where they receiued women to the Lords table for your ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Cor. 11. Passag twixt Caluin and Smith Egyptij vbi lautè epulati sunt post coeââa âd sâcuint Socrâ 5. c. 22. will not serue shew me that the Bible was distinguisht into Chapters and Verses in the Apostles time shew me that they euer celebrated the Sacrament of the Supper at any other time than euening as your Anabaptists now doe shew mee that they vsed one prayer before their Sermons alwaies another after that they preached euer vpon a Text where they preached ouer a Table or lastly shew mee where the Apostles vsed that prayer which you made before your last prophecie and a thousand such circumstances What an idle plea is this from the Apostolike times Platin. initio And if I should tell you that Saint Peter celebrated with the Lords Prayer you will not beleeue it yet you know the Historie But let the Reader know that your quarrel is not against the matter but against the Booke not as they are prayers but as stinted or prescribed Wherein all the world besides your selues are Idolaters Behold all Churches that were or are are partners with vs in this crime Oh idolatrous Geneua and all French Scottish Danish Dutch Churches All which both haue their set Prayers with vs and approue them Caluin Epist ad Protest Angl. Epist 87. Quod ad formulam c. As concerning a forme of Prayers and Rites Ecclesiasticall saith Reuerend Caluin I doe greatly allow that it should be set and certaine from which it should not be lawfull for Pastors in their function to depart Iudge now of the spirit of these bold Controlers that dare thus condemne all Gods Churches through the world as idolatrous But since you call for Apostolike examples did not the Apostle Paul vse one set forme of apprecations of benedictions What were these but lesser Praiers The quantity varies not the kinde Will you haue yet ancienter precedents The Priest was appointed of old to vse a set forme vnder the Law Num. 6.23 so the people Deu. 26.3 4 5 c. 15. Both of them a stinted Psalme for the Sabbath Psal 92. Answ to the Minist Counterpoys 327. What saith your Doctor to these Because the Lord saith he gaue formes of Prayers and Psalmes therefore the Prelates may Can we think that Ieroboam had so slender a reason for his calues Marke good Reader the shifts of these men This Answerer cals for Examples and will abide no stinting of Prayers because we shew no patterns from Scripture We doe shew patterns from Scripture and now their Doctor saith God appointed it to them of old must wee therefore doe it So whether we bring examples or none wee are condemned But Master Doctor whom I beseech you should we follow but God in his owne seruices If God haue not appointed it you cry out vpon inuentions if God haue appointed it you cry Wee may not follow it shew then where God euer inioyned an ordinary seruice to himselfe that was not ceremoniall as this plainly is not which should not bee a direction for vs But if stinting our prayers bee a fault for as yet you meddle not with our blasphemous Collects it is well that the Lords prayer it selfe beareth vs companie Counterpoys and is no small part of our Idolatrie Which though it were giuen principally as a rule to our prayers yet since the matter is so heauenly and most wisely framed to the necessitie of all Christian hearts Omnibus arietibus gregis id est Aposiolis suis dedit morem orandi Dimitte nobis c. Aug. epist 89. to deny that it may be vsed intirely in our Sauiours words is no better than a fanaticall curiousnesse yeeld one and all for if the matter bee more diuine yet the stint is no lesse faultie This is not the least part of our patchery except you vnrip this the rest you cannot But might not God be purely and perfectly worshipped without it Tell me might not God be purely and perfectly worshipped without Churches without houses without garments yea without hands or feet In a word could not God be purely worshipped if you were not Yet would you not seeme a superfluous creature speake in your selfe Might not God bee intirely worshipped with pure and holy worship though there were no other Bookes in the World but the Scripture If yea as who can denie it that knowes what the worship of God meaneth What then doe the Fathers and Doctors and learned Interpreters To the fire with all those curious Arts and Volumes as your Predecessors called them Yea let me put you in minde that God was purely and perfectly worshipped by the Apostolicke Church before euer the New Testament was written See therefore the idlenesse of your proofes God may be serued without a prescription of Prayer but if all Reformed Churches in Christendome erre not better with it The Word of God is perfect and admits no addition cursed were we if we should adde ought to it cursed were that which should be added But cursed be they that take ought from it and dare say Ye shall not pray thus Our Father c. Doe wee offer to make our Prayers Canonicall doe we obtrude them as parts of Gods Word Why cauill
you thus Why doth the same Prayer written adde to the Word which spoken addeth not Because conceiued Prayer is commanded not the other But first not your particular Prayer Secondly without mention either of conception or memorie God commands vs to pray in spirit and with the heart These circumstances onely as they are deduced from his Generals so are ours But whence soeuer it please you to fetch our Booke of publike Prayer from Rome or Hell or to what Image soeuer you please to resemble it Let moderate spirits heare what the pretious IEVVEL of England saith of it We haue come as neere as we could to the Church of the Apostles Apolog. p. 170. Accessimus c. H. Burr against Gyfford c. neither onely haue we framed our Doctrine but also our Sacraments and the forme of publike Prayers according to their Rites and Institutions Let no Iew now obiect Swines-flesh to vs He is no iudicious man that I may omit the mention of Cranmer Bucer Ridley Taylor c. some of whose hands were in it all whose voyces were for it with whom one IEWEL will not ouer-weigh ten thousand Separatists SEP The number of Sacraments seemes greater amongst you by one at the least than Christ hath left in his Testament and that is Marriage which howsoeuer you doe not in expresse termes call a Sacrament no more did Christ and the Apostles call Baptisme and the Supper Sacraments yet doe you in truth create it a Sacrament in the administration and vse of it There are the parties to bee married and their marriage representing Christ and his Church and their spirituall vnion to which mysterie saith the Oracle of your Seruice-Booke expresly God hath consecrated them there is the Ring hallowed by the said Seruice-Booke whereon it must bee laid for the Element there are the words of consecration In the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost there is the place the Church the time vsually the Lords day the Minister the Parish Priest And being made as it is a part of Gods Worship and of the Ministers office what is it if it be not a Sacrament It is a part of Prayer or preaching and with a Sacrament it hath the greatest consimilitude but an Idoll I am sure it is in the celebration of it being made a Ministeriall duty and part of Gods worship without warrant call it by what name you will SECTION XXXVIII HOw did Confirmation escape this number how did Ordination Marriage not made a Sacrament by the Church of England it was your ouer-sight I feare not your charitie some things seeme and are not such is this your number of our Sacraments you will needs haue vs take-in marriage into this ranke why so wee doe not you confesse call it a Sacrament as the vulgar misinterpreting Pauls Mysterium Eph. 5. why should we not if we so esteemed it wherfore âerue names but to denotate the nature of things if wee were not ashamed of the opinion we could not be ashamed of the word No more say you did Christ and his Apostles call Baptisme and the Supper Sacraments but we doe and you with vs See now whether this clause doe not confute your last where hath Christ euer said There are two Sacraments Yet you dare say so what is this but in your sense an addition to the word yea we say flatly there are but two yet we doe you say in truth create it a Sacrament how oft and how resolutely hath our Church maintained against Rome that none but Christ immediately can create Sacraments If they had this aduantage against vs how could we stand How wrongfull is this force to fasten an opinion vpon our Church which she hath condemned But wherein stands this our creation It is true the parties to bee married and their marriage represent Christ and his Church and their spirituall vnion Beware lest you strike God through our sides what hath Gods Spirit said either lesse or other then this Eph. 5.25 26 27 32. Doth he not make Christ the husband the Church his Spouse Doth he not from that sweete coniunction and the effects of it argue the deare respects that should bee in marriage Or what doth the Apostle aâânde else-where vnto when hee saies as Moses of Eue wee are flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone And how famous amongst the ancient is that resemblance of Eue taken out of Adams side sleeping to the Church taken out of Christs side sleeping on the Crosse Since marriage therefore so clearely represents this mysterie and this vse is holy and sacred what error is it to say that marriage is consecrated to this mysterie But what is the Element The Ring These things agree not you had before made the two parties to bee the matter of this sacrament What is the matter of the Sacrament but the Element If they be the matter they are the Element and so not the Ring both cannot be If you will make the two parties to be but the receiuers how doth all the mysterie lie in their representation Or if the Ring be the Element then all the mysterie must be in the Ring not in the parties Labor to bee more perfect ere you make any more new Sacraments but this Ring is laid vpon the Seruice-booke why not For readinesse not for holinesse Nay but it is hallowed you say by the booke If it bee a Sacramentall Element it rather hallowes the booke than the booke it you are not mindfull enough for this trade But what exorcismes are vsed in this hallowing Or who euer held it any other than a ciuill pledge of fidelitie Then follow the words of Consecration I pray you what difference is there betwixt hallowing and consecration The Ring was hallowed before the booke now it must be consecrated How iâely By what words In the name of the Father c. These words you know are spoken after the Ring is put on was it euer heard of that a SacrameÌtall Element was consecrated after it was applied See how-il your slanders are digested by you The place is the Church the time is the Lords day the Minister is the actor and is it not thus in all ââher reformed Churches aswell as ours Behold wee are not alone all Churches in the world if this will doe it are guiltie of three Sacraments Tell me would you not haue marriage solemnized publikely You cannot mislike though your founder seemes to require nothing heere but notice giuen to witnesses then to bed Well if publike Brâ state of Christians 17â you account it withall a graue and weighty businesse therefore such as must be sanctified by publike praier What place is fitter for publike praier than the Church Who is fitter to offer vp the publike prayer than the Minister who should rather ioyne the parties in Mariage than the publike deputy of that God who solemnly ioyned the first couple who rather than hee which in the
there should bee granted by Iohn 22. a Pardon for no lesse than a million of yeeres Who can endure since by their owne confession this fire must last but till the conflagration of the world that yet in one little Booke there should be tendred vnto credulous poore soules Pardons of but eleuen thousand thousands of yeeres What should we make many words of this There is now lying by me a worme-eaten Manu-script with faire Rubrickes in which besides other absurd and blasphemous promises there is power giuen to one little prayer to change the paines of hell due perhaps to him that sayes it into Purgatory and after that againe the paines of Purgatory into the ioyes of Heauen Lib. de Indulg Bellarmine had wisely respected his owne reputation if hee had giuen his voice according to that which he confesseth to haue beene the iudgement of some others That these like Bills were not giuen by the Popes but lewdly deuised by some of his base Questuaries for an aduantage But that which he should excuse hee defends What ingenuity of shame is to be expected of Iesuites and how cleane hath an old Parrot as he said of old forgotten the wand Who may abide this vniust and inhumane acceptation of persons that the wealthier sort may by their purses redeeme this holy treasure of the Church and by money deliuer the soules of themselues and their friends from this horrible Prison while the needy Soule must be stall frying in this flame without all hope of pardon or mature relaxation vntill the very last Iudgement day Lastly who can endure that whiles it is in the power of Christs Vicar to call miserable soules out of this tormenting fire which hell it selfe is said to exceed onely in the continuance yet that he should suffer them to lie howling there and most cruelly broyling still and not mercifully bestow on them all the heapes of his treasure as the spirituall ransome of so many distressed spirits Ambr. de Nabâth A wretched man is he as Ambrose said of the rich man which hath the power to deliuer so many soules from death and wants the will Why hath God giuen him this faculty of Indulgences if hee would not haue it beneficiall to Mankinde Auth. operis imperfect and where the Owner of the house will bee bountifull it is not for the Steward to bee niggardly Let that Circè of Rome keepe these huskes for her hogges SECTION XIII Concerning the distinction of Veniall and Mortall sinnes PArdons doe both imply and presuppose that knowne distinction of Mortall and Veniall sinne which neither hath God euer allowed neither whiles he gaine-sayes it will euer the Protestants That there are certaine degrees of euill we both acknowledge and teach so as we may here iustly tax the dishonesty and shamelesnesse of Campion Durcus Coccius and the Monkes of Burdeaux who haue vpbraided vs with the opinion of a certaine Stoicall and Iouinianish parity of sinnes yea Bellarmine himselfe hath already done this kinde office for vs. Some offences are more hainous than other yet all in the malignitie of their nature deadly As of poysons some kill more gently and lingringly others more violently and speedily yet both kill Moreouer if wee haue respect vnto the infinite mercy of God and to the obiect of this mercy the penitent and faithfull heart there is no sinne which to borrow the word of Prudentius is not veniall but in respect of the Anomy or disorder there is no sinne which is not worthy of eternall death Euery sinne is a Viper there is no Viper if we regard the nature of the best but kils whom she bites but if one of them shall haply light vpon the hand of Paul she is shaked into the fire without harme done Let no man feare that harmefull creature euer the lesse because he sees the Apostle safe from that poyson So is sinne to a faithfull man Saint Iohns word is All sinne is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Transgression of the Law 1 Ioh. 3.4 Rom. 6. Saint Pauls word is The wages of sinne is death Put these two together and this conceit of the naturall pardon ablenesse of sin vanishes alone Our Rhemists subtill men can no more abide this proposition conuerted than themselues All sinne indeed say they is anomia a transgression of the Law but euery transgression of the Law is not sinne The Apostle therefore himselfe turnes it for vs All vnrighteousnesse saith he is sin But euery ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is vnrighteousnesse saith Austen vpon the place For the Law is the rule of righteousnesse therefore the preuarication of the Law is vnrighteousnesse Yea their very owne word shall stop their owne mouth for how is sinne vniuocally distinguished into Veniall and Mortall if the Veniall be no sinne and the wages of euery sinne is death That therefore which the Papists presume to say that this kinde of sinne deserues pardon in it selfe vnlesse they will take the word merit catachrestically with Stapleton And that which Bellarmine and Nauarus adde that Veniall sinnes are not against but beside the Law and lastly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Fr. à Vict. summa sacr Poenitentiae nu 100. p. 63. That which Franciscus à Victoria writes that a Bishops blessing or a Lords Prayer or a knocke on the breast or a little holy water or any such like slight receipt without any other good motion of the heart is sufficient to remit Veniall sinne is so shamefully abhorring from all piety and iustice that these open bands both of nature and sinne must be eternally defied of vs. It is an old and as true a ride Decr. 23.4.4 est iniusta c. Petr. Alagâânae Comp. Manual Nauarri p. 91. p. 267. p. 140. p. 191. p. 352. p. 100. Socr. l. 5.21 âasinesse of pardon giues incouragement to sinne And beside what maner of sinnes doe they put in the ranke of Venials Drunkennesse adultery angry curses or blasphemies couetousnesse yea stealing lying cursing of parents horrible offences shroud themselues with them vnder this plausible title of veniall He must needs be shamelesly wicked that abhorres not this licentiousnesse Surely Socrates the Historian prophecied I thinke of these men There are some saith he that let goe whoredome as an indifferent matter which yet striue for an holy-day as for their life The ordinarie and not slight Controuersie as Cassander thinketh of the name nature condition punishment of the first sin ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Originall as Chrysostome calls it I willingly omit Neither doe I meddle with their Euangelicall perfection of vowes nor the dangerous seruitude of their rash and impotent Votaries nor the incoueniences of their Monkerie which yet are so great and many that the elect Cardinals of Paul the third doubted not with ioynt consent to affirme All the Orders of Couents we thinke fit to be abolished but for the condition of that single and solitary life let that be done which Cassander and
him Riches are but a liuelesse and senselesse metall the true God is a liuing God therefore trust in him Riches are but passiues in gift they cannot bestow so much as themselues much lesse ought besides themselues the true God giues you all things to enioy therefore Trust in him the two latter because they are more directly stood vpon and now fall into our way require a further discourse Elchai The liuing God is an ancient and vsuall title to the Almighty The liuing especially when he would disgrace an vnworthy riuall As S. Paul in his speech to the Lystrians opposes to their vaine Idols the liuing God Viuo ego As I liue is the oath of God for this purpose as Hierom noteth neither doe I remember any thing besides his hâlinesse and his life that he sweares by When Moses askt Gods name he described himselfe by I AM. He is hee liues and nothing is nothing liues absolutely but hee all other things by participation from him In all other things their life and they are two but God is his owne life and the life of God is no other then the liuing God and because he is his owne life he is eternall for as Thomas argues truly against the Gentiles Nothing ceases to be but by a separation of life and nothing can bee separated from it selfe for euery separation is a diuision of one thing from another Most iustly therefore is he which is absolute simple eternall in his being called the liuing God Although not onely the life that he hath in himselfe but the life that he giues to his creatures challengeth a part in this title A glimpse whereof perhaps the Heathen saw when they called him Iupiter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies to liue In him we liue saith S. Paul to his Athenians As light is from the Sunne so is life from God which is the true soule of the world more for without him it could not be so much as a carcasse and spreads it selfe into all the animate creatures Life we say is sweet and so it is indeed the most excellent and precious thing that is deriued from the common influence of God There is nothing before life but Being and Being makes no distinction of things for that can be nothing that hath no Being Life makes the first and greatest diuision Those creatures therefore which haue life we esteeme far beyond those that haue it not how noble soeuer otherwise Those things therefore which haue the perfitest life must needs be the best Needs then must it follow that he which is life it selfe who is absolute simple eternall the fountaine of all that life which is in the world is most worthy of all the adoration ioy loue and confidence of our hearts and of the best improuement of that life which he hath giuen vs. Trust therefore in the liuing God Couetousnesse the Spirit of God tels vs is Idolatry or as our old Translation turnes it worshipping of images Euery stampe or impression in his coyne is to the couetous man a very idoll And what madnesse is there in this idolatry to dote vpon a base creature and to bestow that life which wee haue from God vpon a creature that hath no life in it selfe and no price but from men Let me then perswade euery soule that heares me this day as Iacob did his houshold Gen. 35.2 Put away the strange gods that are among you and be cleane and as S. Paul did his Lystrians Oh turne away from these vanities vnto the liuing God The last attractiue of our trust to God is his mercy and liberality Who giues vs ãâã all things to enioy Who giues vs richly all things to enioy A theme wherein yee will grant it easie to leese our selues First God not onely hath all in himselfe but he giues to vs. He giues not somewhat though a crust is more then we are worthy of but all things And not a little of all but richly and all this not to looke on but to enioy Euery word would require not a seuerall houre but a life to meditate of it and the tongue not of men but of Angels to expresse it It is here with vs as in a throng we can get neither in nor out But as we vse to say of Cares so it shall be with our discourse that the greatnesse of it shall procure silence and the more we may say of this head the lesse wee will say It shall content vs onely to top these sheaues since we cannot stand to thresh them out Whither can ye turne your eyes to looke beside the bounty of God If yee looke vpward His mercy reacheth to the heauens If downeward The earth is full of his goodnesse and so is the broad sea If yee looke about you What is it that hee hath not giuen vs Ayre to breathe in fire to warme vs water to coole vs clothes to couer vs food to nourish vs fruits to refresh vs yea delicates to please vs beasts to serue vs Angels to attend vs heauen to receiue vs and which is aboue all his owne Sonne to redeeme vs. Lastly if ye looke into your selues Hath hee not giuen vs a soule to informe vs senses to informe our soule faculties to furnish that soule Vnderstanding the great surueyor of the secrets of Nature and Grace Fantasie and Inuention the master of the workes Memory the great keeper or Master of the rolles of the soule a power that can make amends for the speed of Time in causing him to leave behinde him those things which else he would so cary away as if they had not beene Will which is the Lord Paramount in the state of the soule the commander of our actions the elector of our resolutions Iudgement which is the great Councellor of the will Affections which are the seruants of them both a bodie fit to execute the charge of the soule so wondrously disposed as that euery part hath best opportunitie to his owne functions so qualified with health arising from proportion of humours that like a watch kept in good tune it goes right and is fit to serue the soule and maintaine it selfe an estate that yeelds all due conueniences for both soule and body seasonable times raine and sunshine peace in our borders competency if not plenty of all commodities good lawes religious wise iust Gouernours happy and flourishing dayes and aboue all the liberty of the Gospell Cast vp your bookes O yee Citizens and summe vp your receits I am deceiued if he that hath least shall not confesse his obligations infinit There are three things especially wherein yee are beyond others and must acknowledge your selues deeper in the Books of God then the rest of the world Let the first be the cleare deliuerance from that wofull iudgement of the pestilence Oh remember those sorrowfull times Aboue 30000. in one yeare when euer moneth swept away thousands from among you When a
that large and reall Map of the World thou didst thus abridge it into this little table of Man hee alone consists of Heauen and Earth Soule and Body Euen this earthly part which is vile in comparison of the other as it is thine O God I dare admire it though I can neglect it as mine owne for lo this heape of Earth hath an outward reference to Heauen other Creatures grouell downe to their earth and haue all their senses intent vpon it this is reared vp towards Heauen and hath no more power to looke beside Heauen then to tread beside the Earth Vnto this euery part hath his wonder The head is nearest to heauen as in place so in resemblance both for roundnesse of figure for those diuine ghests which haue their seat in it There dwell those maiesticall Powers of reason which make a Man all the senses as they haue their originall from thence so they doe all agree there to manifest the vertue how goodly proportions hast thou set in the face such as tho oft times we can giue no reason when they please yet transport vs to admiration What liuing glasses are those which thou hast placed in the midst of this visage whereby all obiects from far are clearely represented to the mind and because their tendernes lies open to dangers how hast thou defenced them with hollow bones and with prominent browes and lids And lest they should be too much bent on vvhat they ought not thou hast giuen them peculiar nerues to pull them vp towards the seat of their rest What a tongue hast thou giuen him the instrument not of taste only but of speech how sweet excellent voices are formed by that little loose filme of flesh what an incredible strength hast thou giuen to the weake bones of the iawes What a comely and towre like necke therefore most sinewy because smallest And lest I be infinite what able armes and actiue hands hast thou framed him whereby he can frame all things to his owne conceit In euery part beauty strength conuenience meet together Neither is there any whereof our weaknesse cannot giue reason why it should be no otherwise How hast thou disposed of all the inward vessels for all offices of life nourishment egestion generation No veine sinew arterie is idle There is no piece in this exquisite frame whereof the place vse forme doth not admit wonder and exceed it Yet this body if it be compared to the soule what is it but as a clay wall that encompasses a treasure as a woodden boxe of a Ieweller as a coorse case to a rich instrument or as a maske to a beautifull face Man was made last because he was worthiest The soule was inspired last because yet more noble If the body haue this honor to be the companion of the Soule yet withall it is the drudge If it bee the instrument yet also the clog of that diuine part The companion for life the drudge for seruice the instrument for action the clog in respect of contemplation These externall workes are effected by it the internall which are more noble hindered contrary to the bird which sings most in her cage but flyes most and highest at libertie This my soule teaches me of it selfe that it selfe cannot conceiue how capable how actiue it is It can passe by her nimble thoughts from heauen to earth in a moment it can be all things can comprehend all things know that which is and conceiue that which neuer was neuer shal be Nothing can fill it but thou which art infinite nothing can limit it but thou which art euery-where O God which madest it replenish it possesse it dwel thou in it which hast appointed it to dwell in clay The bodie was made of earth common to his fellowes the soule inspired immediately from God The body lay senselesse vpon the earth like it selfe the breath of liues gaue it what it is and that breath was from thee Sense motion reason are infused into it at once From whence then was this quickening breath No ayre no earth no water was here vsed to giue helpe to this Worke Thou that breathedst vpon man and gauest him the Holy Spirit didst also breathe vpon the bodie and gauest it a liuing Spirit we are beholden to nothing but thee for our soule Our flesh is from flesh our spirit is from the God of spirits How should our soules rise vp to thee and fixe themselues in their thoughts vpon thee who alone created them in their infusion and infused them in their creation How should they long to returne backe to the Fountaine of their being and Author of being glorious Why may wee not say that this soule as it came from thee so it is like thee as thou so it is one immateriall immortall vnderstanding spirit distinguished into three powers which all make vp one spirit So thou the vvise Creator of all things wouldest haue some things to resemble their Creator These other creatures are all body Man is body and spirit the Angels are all spirit not without a kind of spirituall composition Thou art alone after thine owne manner simple glorious infinite no creature can bee like thee in thy proper being because it is a creature How should our finite weake compounded nature giue any perfect resemblance of thine Yet of all visible creatures thou vouchsafest Man the neerest correspondence to thee not so much in the naturall faculties as its those diuine graces vvherewith thou beautifiest his soule Our knowledge holinesse righteousnesse vvas like the first copie from which they were drawne Behold we were not more like thee in these then now we are vnlike our selues in their losse O God we now praise our selues to our shame for the better wee were we are the vvorse as the sonnes of some prodigall or tainted Ancestors tell of the Lands and Lordships which were once theirs Onely doe thou vvhet our desires answerably to the readinesse of thy mercies that we may redeeme what we haue lost that we may recouer in thee what we haue lost in our selues The fault shall be ours if our damage proue not beneficiall I doe not finde that Man thus framed found the want of an helper His fruition of God gaue him fulnesse of contentment the sweetnesse which hee found in the contemplation of this new workmanship and the glory of the Author did so take him vp that he had neither leisure nor cause of complaint If Man had craued an helper hee had grudged at the condition of his Creation and had questioned that which he had perfection of being But hee that gaue him his being and knew him better then himselfe thinkes of giuing him comfort in the creature whiles hee sought none but in his Maker He sees our wants and fore-casts our reliefe when wee thinke our selues too happy to complaine How ready will he be to help our necessities that thus prouides for our perfection God giues the nature to his creatures Man must
Cain the death of one Abel The same Deuill that set enmitie betwixt Man and God sets enmity betwixt Man and Man and yet God said I will put enmitie betweene thy seed and her seed Our hatred of the Serpent and his seed is from God Their hatred of the holy Seed is from the Serpent Behold here at once in one person the Seed of the Woman and of the Serpent Cains naturall parts are of the Woman his vitious qualities of the Serpent The Woman gaue him to be a brother the Serpent to be a man-slayer all vncharitablenesse all quarrels are of one Author we cannot entertaine Wrath and not giue place to the Deuill Certainely so deadly an act must needs be deeply grounded What then was the occasion of this capitall malice Abels sacrifice is accepted what was this to Cain Cains is reiected what could Abel remedie this Oh enuie the corrosiue of all ill minds and the roote of all desperate actions the same cause that moued Satan to tempt the first Man to destroy himselfe and his posteritie the same moues the second Man to destroy the third It should haue beene Cains ioy to see his brother accepted It should haue beene his sorrow to see that himselfe had deserued a reiection his Brothers example should haue excited and directed him Could Abel haue stayed Gods fire from descending Or should he if he could reiect Gods acceptation and displease his Maker to content a Brother Was Cain euer the farther from a blessing because his Brother obtained mercy How proud and foolish is malice which growes thus mad for no other cause but because God or Abel is not lesse good It hath beene an old and happy danger to be holy Indifferent actions must be carefull to auoid offence But I care not what Deuill or what Cain be angry that I doe good or receiue good There was neuer any nature without enuie Euery man is borne a Cain hating that goodnesse in another which he neglected in himselfe There was neuer enuy that was not bloody for if it eate not an others heart it will eat our owne but vnlesse it be restrained it will surely feed it selfe with the blood of others oft-times in act alwaies in affection And that God which in good accepts the will for the deed condemnes the will for the deed in euill If there be an euill heart there will bee an euill eye and if both these there will be an euill hand How early did Martyrdome come into the world the first man that dyed dyed for Religion who dare measure Gods loue by outward euents when hee sees wicked Cain standing ouer bleeding Abel whose sacrifice was first accepted and now himselfe is sacrificed Death was denounced to Man as a curse yet behold it first lights vpon a Saint how soone was it altered by the mercy of that iust hand which inflicted it If Death had beene euill and Life good Cain had beene slaine and Abel had suruiued now that it begins with him that God loues O Death where is thy sting Abel sayes nothing his blood cryes Euery drop of innocent blood hath a tongue and is not onely vocall but importunate what a noyse then did the blood of my Sauiour make in Heauen who was himselfe the Shepheard and the Sacrifice the Man that was offered and the God to whom it was offered The Spirit that heard both sayes It spake better things thân the blood of Abel Abels blood called for reuenge his for mercy Abels pleaded his owne innocency his the satisfaction for all the beleeuing world Abels procured Cains punishment his freed all repentant soules from punishment better things indeed then the blood of Abel Better and therefore that which Abels blood said was good It is good that God should be auenged of sinners Execution of iustice vpon offenders is no lesse good then rewards of goodnesse No sooner doth Abels blood speake vnto God then God speakes to Cain There is no wicked man to whom God speakes not if not to his eare yet to his heart what speech was this Not an accusation but an inquirie yet such an inquirie as would inferre an accusation God loues to haue a sinner accuse himselfe and therefore hath he set his Deputie in the brest of man neither doth God loue this more then nature abhorres it Cain answers stubbornly The very name of Abel wounds him no lesse then his hand had wounded Abel Consciences that are without remorse are not without horror wickednesse makes men desperate the Murderer is angry with God as of late for accepting his brothers oblation so now for listning to his blood And now he dares answer God with a question Am I my brothers Keeper where be should haue said Am not I my brothers murderer Behold hee scorneth to keepe whom he feared not to kill Good duties are base and troublesome to wicked minds whiles euen violences of euill are pleasant Yet this miscreant which neither had grace to auoyd his sinne nor to confesse it now that he is conuinced of sinne and cursed for it how he howleth how he exclaimeth He that cares not for the act of his sinne shall care for the smart of his punishment The damned are weary of their torments but in vaine How great a madnesse is it to complaine too late He that would not keepe his brother is cast out from the protection of God he that feared not to kill his brother feares now that whosoeuer meets him will âill him The troubled conscience proiecteth fearefull things and sinne makes euen cruell men cowardly God saâ it was too much fauour for him to die he therefore wills that which Cain wills Cain would liue It is yeelded him but for a curse how often doth God heare sinners in anger He shall liue banished from God carying his hell in his bosome and the brand of Gods vengeance in his forehead God reiects him the Earth repines at him men abhorre him himselfe now wishes that death which he feared and no man dare pleasure him with a murder how bitter is the end of sin yea without end still Cain finds that he killed himselfe more then his brother We should neuer sinne if our fore-sight were but as good as our sense The issue of sinne would appeare a thousand times more horrible then the act is pleasant Of the Deluge THE World was growne so foule with sinne that God saw it was time to wash it with a Floud And so close did wickednes cleaue to the Authors of it that when they were washt to nothing yet it would not off yea so deep did it stick in the very graine of the earth that God saw it meet to let it soke long vnder the waters So vnder the Law the very vessels that had touched vncleane water must either be rinced or broken Mankind began but with one and yet he that saw the first man liued to see the Earth peopled with a world of men yet men grew not so fast as wickednesse One man could
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
the iourney and curse of the couetous prophet if God had not stayed him How oft are wicked men cursed by a diuine hand euen in those sins which their heart stands to It is no thank to lewd men that their wickednesse is not prosperous Whence is it that the world is not ouer-run with euill but from this that men cannot be so ill as they would The first entertainment of this message would make a stranger thinke Balaam wife and honest Hee will not giue a sudden answer but craues leasure to consult with God and promises to returne the answer he shall receiue Who would not say This man is free from rashnesse from partiality Dissimulation is crafty able to deceiue thousands The words are good when he comes to action the fraud bewaries it selfe For both he insinuates his own forwardnesse and casts the blame of the prohibition vpon God and which is worse deliuers but halfe his answer he sayes indeed God refuses to giue them leaue to goe He sayes not as it was He charges me not to curse them for they are blessed So did Balaam deny as one that wisht to be sent for againe Perhaps a peremptory refusall had hindered his further sollicitation Concealement of some truths is sometimes as faulty as a deniall True fidelity is not niggardly in her relations Where wickednesse meets with power it thinkes to command all the world and takes great scorne of any repulse So little is Balac discouraged with one refusall that he sends so much the stronger message Mo Princes and more honorable Oh that wee could be so importunate for our good as wicked men are for the compassing of their owne designes A deniall doth but whet the desires of vehement suitors Why are we faint in spirituall things when we are not denied but delayed Those which are themselues transported with vanity and ambition thinke that no heart hath power to resist these offers Balacs Princes thought they had strooke it dead when they had once mentioned promotion to great honour Selfe-loue makes them thinke they cannot be slaues whiles others may be free and that all the world would be glad to runne on madding after their bait Nature thinks it impossible to contemn honor and wealth and because too many soules are thus taken cannot beleeue that any would escape But let carnall hearts know there are those can spit the world in the face and say Thy gold and siluer perish with thee and that in comparison of a good conscience can tread vnder foot his best proffers like shadowes as they are and that can doe as Balaam said How neere truth and falshood can lodge together Here was piety in the lips and couetousnesse in the heart Who can any more regard good words that heares Balaam speake so like a Saint An housefull of gold siluer may not peruert his tongue his heart is won with lesse for if he had not already swallowed the reward and found it sweet why did he againe sollicit God in that which was peremptorily denyed him If his mind had not beene bribed already why did he stay the messenger why did he expect a change in God why was he willing to feed them with hope of successe which had fed him with hope of recompence One prohibition is enough for a good man Whiles the delay of God doth but hold vs in suspence importunity is holy and seasonable but when once he giues a resolute deniall it is prophane saucinesse to sollicit him When we aske what we are bidden our suites are not more vehement then welcome but when we begge prohibited fauours our presumption is troublesome and abhominable No good heart will endure to be twice forbidden Yet this opportunity had obtained a permission but a permission worse then a deniall I heard God say before Go not nor curse them Now he sayes Goe but curse not Anon he is angry that he did not goe Why did he permit that which he forbade if he be angry for doing that which he permitted Some things God permits with an indignation not for that he giues leaue to the act but that he giues a man ouer to his sinne in the act this sufferance implies not fauour but iudgement so did God bid Balaam to goe as Salomon bids the yong man follow the wayes of his owne heart It is one thing to like another thing to suffer Moses neuer approued those legall diuorces yet he tolerated them God neuer liked Balaams iourney yet he displeasedly giues way to it as if he said Well since thou art so hot set on this iourney be gone And thus Balaam tooke it else when God after professed his displeasure for the iourney it had beene a ready answer Thou commandedst me but herein his confession argues his guilt Balaams suite and Israels Quailes had both one fashion of grant in anger How much better is it to haue gracious denials then angry yeeldings A small perswasion hartens the willing It booted not to bid the couetous prophet hasten to his way Now he makes himselfe sure of successe His corrupt hart tels him that as God had relented in his licence to goe so he might perhaps in his licence to curse and he saw how this curse might blesse him with abundance of wealth hee rose vp earely therefore and saddled his Asse The night seemed long to his forwardnesse Couetous men need neither clocke nor bell to awaken them their desires make them restlesse O that we could with as much eagernesse seeke the true riches which onely can make vs happy We that see onely the out-side of Balaam may maruell why he that permitted him to goe afterward opposes his going but God that saw his heart perceiued what corrupt affections caried him hee saw that his couetous desires and wicked hopes grew the stronger the neerer he came to his end An Angell is therefore sent to with-hold the hasty Sorcerer Our inward disposition is the life of our actions according to that doth the God of spirits iudge vs whiles men censure according to our externall motions To goe at all when God had commanded to stay was presumptuous but to goe with desire to curse made the act doubly sinfull and fetcht an Angell to resist it It is one of the worthy imployments of good Angels to make secret opposition to euill designes Many a wicked act haue they hindered without the knowledge of the agent It is all one with the Almighty to worke by Spirits and men It is therefore our glory to be thus set on worke To stop the course of euill either by disswasion or violence is an Angelicall seruice In what danger are wicked men that haue Gods Angels their opposites The Deuill moued him to goe a good Angell resists him If an heauenly Spirit stand in the way of a Sorcerers sinne how much more ready are all those spirituall powers to stop the miscariages of Gods deare children How oft had we falne yet more if these Guardians had not
Ioshua that succeeded Moses no lesse in the care of Gods glory then in his gouernment is much deiected with this euent Hee rends his clothes fals on his face casts dust vpon his head and as if he had learned of his Master how to expostulate with God sayes What wilt thou doe to thy mighty Name That Ioshua might see God tooke no pleasure to let the Israelites lye dead vpon the earth before their enemies himselfe is taxed for but lying all day vpon his face before the Arke All his expostulations are answered in one word Get thee vp Israel hath sinned I do not heare God say Lye still and mourne for the sin of Israel It is to no purpose to pray against punishment while the sinne continues And though God loues to be sued to yet he holds our requests vnseasonable till there bee care had of satisfaction When we haue risen and redressed sin then may we fall downe for pardon Victory is in the free hand of God to dispose where hee will and no man can maruell that the dice of Warre run euer with hazard on both sides so as God needed not to haue giuen any other reason of this discomfiture of Israel but his owne pleasure yet Ioshua must now know that Israel which before preuailed for their faith is beaten for their sin When we are crossed in iust and holy quarrels we may well thinke there is some secret euill vnrepented of which God would punish in vs which though we see not yet he so hates that he will rather bee wanting to his owne cause then not reuenge it When we goe about any enterprise of God it is good to see that our hearts be cleere from any pollution of sin and when wee are thwarted in our hopes it is our best course to ransack our selues and to search for some sin hid from vs in our bosome but open to the view of God The Oracle of God which told him a great offence was committed yet reueales not the person It had been as easie for him to haue named the man as the crime Neither doth Ioshua request it but refers that discouery to such a meanes as whereby the offender finding himselfe singled out by the lot might bee most conuinced Achan thought he might haue lyen as close in all that throng of Israel as the wedge of Gold lay in his Tent. The same hope of secresie which moued him to sinne moued him to confidence in his sinne but now when hee saw the lot fall vpon his Tribe hee began to start a little when vpon his family he began to change countenance when vpon his houshold to tremble and feare when vpon his person to be vtterly confounded in himselfe Foolish men thinke to runne away with their priuie sinnes and say Tush no eye shall see me but when they thinke themselues safest God puls them out with shame The man that hath escaped iustice and now is lying downe in death would thinke My shame shall neuer be disclosed but before Men and Angels shall he be brought on the scaffold and find confusion as sure as late What needed any other euidence when God had accused Achan Yet Ioshua will haue the sinne out of his mouth in whose heart it was hatched My sonne I beseech thee giue glory to God Whom God had conuinced as a malefactor Ioshua beseeches as a son Some hot spirit would haue said Thou wretched traitor how hast thou pilfred from thy God and shed the blood of so many Israelites and caused the Host of Israel to shew their backes with dishonour to the Heathen now shall we fetch this sin out of thee with tortures and plague thee with a condigne death But like the Disciple of him whose seruant he was he meekely intreats that which he might haue extorted by violence My son I beseech thee Sweetnesse of compellation is a great helpe towards the good entertainment of an admonition roughnesse and rigor many times hardens those hearts which meekenesse would haue melted to repentance whether we sue or conuince or reproue little good is gotten by bitternesse Detestation of the sin may well stand with fauour to the person and these two not distinguished cause great wrong either in our charity or iustice for either we vncharitably hate the creature of God or vniustly affect the euill of men Subiects are as they are called sonnes to the Magistrate All Israel was not onely of the family but as of the loynes of Ioshua such must be the corrections such the prouisions of Gouernorus as for their children as againe the obedience and loue of subiects must be filiall God had glorified himselfe sufficiently in finding out the wickednesse of Achan neither need he honour from men much lesse from sinners They can dishonour him by their iniquities but what recompence can they giue him for their wrongs yet Ioshua sayes My sonne giue glory to God Israel should now see that the tongue of Achan did iustifie God in his lot The confession of our sins doth no lesse honour God then his glory is blemished by their commission Who would not be glad to redeeme the honour of his Redemer with his owne shame The lot of God and the mild words of Ioshua wonne Achan to accuse himselfe ingenuously impartially a storme perhaps would not haue done that which a Sun-shine had done If Achan had come in vncalled and before any question made out of an honest remorse had brought in this sacrilegious booty and cast himselfe and it at the foot of Ioshua doubtlesse Israel had prospered and his sinne had caried away pardon now he hath gotten thus much thanke that he is not a desperate sinner God will once wring from the conscience of wicked men their owne inditements They haue not more carefully hid their sinne then they shall one day freely proclaime their owne shame Achans confession though it were late yet was it free and full For he doth not onely acknowledge the act but the ground of his sinne I saw and coueted and tooke The eye betrayed the heart and that the hand and now all conspire in the offence If wee list not to flatter our selues this hath beene the order of our crimes Euill is vniforme and beginning at the senses takes the inmost fort of the soule and then armes our own outward forces against vs This shall once be the lasciuious mans song I saw and coueted and tooke This the theeues this the Idolaters this the gluttons drunkards All these receiue their death by the eye But oh foolish Achan with what eyes didst thou looke vpon that spoile which thy fellowes saw and contemned Why couldest thou not before as well as now see shame hid vnder that gay Babylonish garment and an heape of stones couered with those shekels of siluer The ouer-prizing and ouer-desiring of these earthly things caries vs into all mischiefe and hides from vs the sight of Gods iudgements whosoeuer desires the glory of metals or of gay clothes or
Leuite He that had helped to offer so many sacrifices to God for the multitude of euery Israelites sinnes saw how proportionable it was that man should not hold one sinne vnpardonable He had serued at the Altar to no purpose if he whose trade was to sue for mercy had not at all learned to practise it And if the reflexion of mercy wrought this in a seruant what shall we expect from him whose essence is mercy O God we doe euery day breake the holy couenant of our loue We prostitute our selues to euery filthy tentation and then runne and hide our selues in our fathers house the world If thou didst not seeke vs vp we should neuer returne if thy gracious proffer did not preuent vs we should be vncapeable of forgiuenesse It were abundant goodnesse in thee to receiue vs when we should intreat thee but lo thou intreatest vs that we would receiue thee How should we now adore and imitate thy mercy sith there is more reason we should sue to each other then that thou shouldest sue to vs because we may as well offend as be offended I doe not see the womans father make any meanes for reconciliation but when remission came home to his dores no man could entertaine it more thankfully The nature of many men is froward to accept and negligent to sue for they can spend secret wishes vpon that which shall cost them no indeuour Great is the power of loue which can in a sort vndoe euils past if not for the act yet for the remembrance Where true affection was once conceiued it is easily pieced againe after the strongest interruption Heere needs no tedious recapitulation of wrongs no importunity of sute The vnkindnesses are forgotten their loue is renued and now the Leuite is not a stranger but a sonne By how much more willingly he came by so much more vnwillingly hee is dismissed The foure moneths absence of his daughter is answered with foure dayes feasting Neither was there so much ioy in the former wedding feast as in this because theÌ he deliuered his daughter intire now desperate then he found a sonne but now that sonne hath found his lost daughter and he found both The recouery of any good is far more pleasant then the continuance Little doe we know what euill is towards vs Now did this old man and this restored couple promise themselues all ioy and contentment after this vnkinde storme and said in themselues Now we begin to liue And now this feast which was meant for their new nuptialls proues her funerall Euen when we let our selues loosest to our pleasures the hand of God though inuisibly is writing bitter things against vs. Sith wee are not worthy to know it is wisedome to suspect the worst while it is least seene Sometimes it falls out that nothing is more iniurious then courtesie If this old man had thrust his sonne and daughter early out of dores they had auoyded this mischief now his louing importunity detaines them to their hurt and his owne repentance Such contentment doth sincere affection finde in the presence of those we loue that death it selfe hath no other name but departing The greatest comfort of our life is the fruition of friendship the dissolution whereof is the greatest paine of death As all earthly pleasures so this of loue is distasted with a necessity of leauing How worthy is that onely loue to take vp our hearts which is not open to any danger of interruption which shall out-liue the date euen of faith and hope and is as eternall as that God and those blessed spirits whom wee loue If we hang neuer so importunately vpon one anothers sleeues and shead flouds of teares to stop their way yet we must bee gone hence no occasion no force shall then remoue vs from our fathers house The Leuite is stayed beyond his time by importunity the motions whereof are boundlesse and infinite one day drawes on another neither is there any reason of this dayes stay which may not serue still for to morrow His resolution at last breakes thorow all those kinde hinderances rather will he venture a benighting then an vnnecessary delay It is a good hearing that the Leuite makes hast home An honest mans heart is where his calling is such a one when he is abroad is like a fish in the aire whereinto if it leape for recreation or necessity yet it soone returnes to his own element This charge by how much more sacred it is so much more attendance it expecteth Euen a day breakes square with the conscionable The Sunne is ready to lodge before them His seruant aduises him to shorten his iourney holding it more fit to trust an early Inne of the Iebusites then to the mercy of the night And if that counsell had been followed perhaps they which found Iebusites in Israel might haue found Israelites in Iebus No wise man can hold good counsell disparaged by the meannesse of the Author If we be glad to receiue any treasure from our seruant why not precious admonitions It was the zeale of this Leuite that shut him out of Iebus We will not lodge in the City of strangers The Iebusites were strangers in religion not strangers enough in their habitation The Leuite will not receiue common courtesie from those which were aliens from God though home-borne in the heart of Israel It is lawfull enough in tearmes of ciuility to deale with Infidels the earth is the Lords and we may enioy it in the right of the owner while we protest against the wrong of the vsurper yet the lesse communion with Gods enemies the more safety If there were another aire to breathe in from theirs another earth to tread vpon they should haue their own Those that affect a familiar intirenesse with Iebusites in conuersion in leagues of amity in matrimoniall contracts bewray eyther too much boldnesse or too little conscience He hath no bloud of an Israelite that delights to lodge in Iebus It was the fault of Israel that an heathenish Towne stood yet in the nauell of the Tribes and that Iebus was no sooner turned to Ierusalem Their lenity and neglect were guilty of this neighbourhood that now no man can passe from Bethleem Iuda to Mount Ephraim but by the City of Iebusites Seasonable iustice might preuent a thousand euils whicâ afterwards know no remedy but patience The way was not long betwixt Iebus and Gibeah for the Sun was stooping when the Leuite was ouer against the first and is but now declined when he comes to the other How his heart was lightned when he was entred into an Israelitish City and can thinke of nothing but hospitality rest security There is no perfume so sweet to a Traueller as his own smoake Both expactation and feare doe commonly disappoint vs for seldome euer doe we enioy the good we looke for or smart with a feared euill The poore Leuite could haue found but such entertainment with the Iebusites Whither are the
the field to bee anointed should now bee sent for out of the Countrey into the Court and now hee perceiued God was making way for the execution of that which he purposed hee attends the issue in silence neither shall his hand faile to giue furtherance to the proiect of God He therefore sends his sonne laden with a Present to Saul The same God which called Dauid to the Court welcomes him thither His comelinesse valour and skill haue soone wonne him fauour in the eyes of Saul The giuer of all graces hath so placed his fauours that the greatest enemies of goodnesse shall see somewhat in the holiest men which they shall affect and for which they shall honour the persons of them whose vertues they dislike as contrarily the saints on earth see somwhat to loue euen in the worst creatures No doubt Dauid sung to his harpe his harp was not more sweet then his song was holy Those Psalmes alone had beene more powerfull to chase the euill spirit then the Musicke was to calme passions both together gaue ease to Saul and God gaue this effect to both because he would haue Saul traine vp his Successor This sacred Musick did not more dispell Satan then wanton Musick inuites him and more cheers him then vs He phyes and danceth at a filthy Song he sings at an obscure dance Our sinne is his best pastime whereas Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall Songs are torment vnto the Tempter and Musick to the Angels in Heauen whose trade is to sing Alleluiahs in the Chore of glory DAVID and GOLIAH AFter the newes of the Philistims Army I heare no more mention of Sauls frenzy Whether the noise of Warre diuerted those thoughtfull passions or whether God for his peoples sake tooke off that euill spirit lest Israel might miscary vnder a franticke Gouernor Now Dauid hath leisure to returne to Bethleem The glory of the Court cannot transport him to ambitious vanity He had rather be his Fathers Shepherd then Sauls Armour-bearer All the magnificence and state which hee saw could not put his mouth out of the taste of a retyred simplicity yea rather hee loues his hooke the better since he saw the Court and now his brethren serue Saul in his stead A good heart hath learnt to frame it selfe vnto all conditions and can change estates without change of disposition rising and falling according to occasion The worldly mind can rise easily but when it is once vp knowes not how to descend either with patience or safety Forty dayes together had the Philistims and Israelites faced each other they pitched on two hills one in the sight of other nothing but a Valley was betwixt them Both stand vpon defence and aduantage If they had not meant to fight they had neuer drawne so neere and if they had beene eager of fight a Valley could not haue parted them Actions of hazard require deliberation not fury but discretion must be the guide of Warre So had Ioshua destroyed the Giantly Anakims out of the Land of Israel that yet some were left in Azzah Gath and Ashdod both to shew Israel what Aduersaries their forefathers found in Canaan and whom they mastered as also that God might winne glory to himselfe by these subsequent executions Of that race was Goliah whose heart was as high as his head his strength was answerable to his stature his weapons answerable to his strength his pride exceeded all Because he saw his head higher his armes stronger his sword and speare bigger his shield heauier then any Israelite hee defies the whole host and walking betweene the two Armies braues all Israel with a challenge Why are ye come out to set your battaile in aray Am not I a Philistim and you seruants to Saul Choose you a man for you and let him come downe to me giue me a man that we may fight together Carnall hearts are caried away with presumption of their owne abilities and not finding marches to themselues in outward appearance insult ouer the impotencie of inferiors and as those that can see no inuisible opposition promise themselues certainty of successe Insolence and selfe-confidence argues the heart to be nothing but a lumpe of proud flesh The first challenge of Duell that euer we finde came out of the mouth of an vncircumcised Philistim yet was that in open warre and tended to the sauing of many liues by aduenturing one or two and whosoeuer imitateth nay surpasseth him in challenge to priuate Duell in the attempt partaketh of his vncircumcision though he should ouercome and of his manner of punishment if in such priuate combats he cast away his life For of all such desperate prodigals we may say that their heads are cut off by their owne sword if not by their owne hand Wee cannot challenge men and not challenge God who iustly challengeth to himselfe both to take vengeance and to giue successe The more Goliah challenges and is vnanswered the more is he puft vp in the pride of his owne power And is there none of all Israel that will answer this champion otherwise then with his heeles Where is the courage of him that was higher then all Israel from the shoulders vpward The time was when Nahash the Ammonite had made that tyrannous demand of the right eyes of the Gileadites that Saul could aske vnasked What aileth the people to weepe and could hew his oxen in peeces to raise the spirits of Israel and now he stands still and sees the host turne their backe and neuer so much as aske what aileth the people to flie The time was when Saul flew forty thousand Philistims in one day and perhaps Caliah was in that discomfiture and now one Philistim is suffered by him to braue aââââel forty dayes whence is this difference The Spirit of God the spirit of fortitude was now departed from him Saul was not more aboue himselfe when God was with him then he is below others now that he is left of God Valour is not meerely of nature Nature is euer like it selfe by this rule he that is once valiant should neuer turne coward But now wee see the greatest spirits inconstant and those which haue giuen good proofes of magnanimitie at other times haue bewrayed white liuers vnto their owne reproch He that is the God of hosts giues and takes away mens hearts at his pleasure Neither is it otherwise in our spirituall combats sometimes the same soule dare challenge all the powers of darknesse which otherwhiles giues ground to a temptation We haue no strength but what is giuen vs and if the author of all good gifts remit his hand for our humiliation either wee fight not or are foyled Dauid hath now lien long enough close amongst his flocke in the fields of Bethleem God sees a time to send him to the pichtfield of Israel Good old Ishai that was doubtlesse ioyfull to thinke that he had afforded three sonnes to the warres of his King is no lesse carefull of their welfare and
Philistims may be against him The purpose of any fauour is more then the value of it Euen the greatest honours may be giuen with an intent of destruction Many a man is raised vp for a fall So forward is Saul in the match that hee sends spokes men to sollicit Dauid vnto that honour which he hopes will proue the high-way to death The dowry is set An hundred fore-skins of the Philistims not their heads but their fore-skins that this victory might bee more ignominious still thinking why may not one Dauid miscary as well as an hundred Philistims And what doth Sauls enuy all this while but enhance Dauids zeale and valour and glorie That good Captaine little imagining that himselfe was the Philistim whom Saul maligned supererogates of his Master and brings two hundred for one and returnes home safe and renowned neither can Saul now fly for shame There is no remedy but Dauid must be a sonne where he was a riuall and Saul must feed vpon his owne heart since he cannot see Dauids Gods blessing graces equally together with mans malice neither can they deuise which way to make vs more happy then by wishing vs euill MICHALS wyle THis aduantage can Saul yet make of Dauids promotion that as his Aduersarie is raised higher so hee is drawne nearer to the opportunity of death Now hath his enuy cast off all shame and since those craftie plots succeed not hee directly subornes Murtherers of his riuall There is none in all the Court that is not set on to bee an Executioner Ionathan himselfe is sollicited to imbrue his hand in the blood of his friend of his Brother Saul could not but see Ionathans cloathes on Dauids backe he could not but know the league of their loue yet because he knew withall how much the prosperitie of Dauid would preiudice Ionathan he hoped to haue found him his sonne in malice Those that haue the Iaundis see all things yellow those which are ouergrowne with malicious passions thinke all men like themselues I doe not heare of any reply that Ionathan made to his father when he gaue him that bloody charge but he waits for a fit time to disswade him from so cruell an iniustice Wisdome had taught him to giue way to rage and in so hard an aduenture to craue aide of opportunitie If we be not carefull to obserue good moodes when wee deale with the passionate we may exasperate in stead of reforming Thus did Ionathan who knowing how much better it is to be a good friend then an ill sonne had not onely disclosed that ill counsell but when be found his father in the fields in a calmes temper laboured to diuert it And so farre doth the seasonable and pithy Oratory of Ionathan preuaile that Saul is conuinced of his wrong and sweares As God liues Dauid shall not die Indeed how could it be otherwise vpon the plea of Dauids innocence and well-deseruings How could Saul say he should dye whom hee could accuse of nothing but faithfulnesse Why should he designe him to death which had giuen life to all Israel Oft-times wicked mens iudgements are forced to yeeld vnto that truth against which their affections maintaine a rebellion Euen the foulest hearts doe sometimes entertaine good motions like as on the contrary the holiest soules giue way sometimes to the suggestions of euill The flashes of lightning may be discerned in the darkest Prisons But if good thoughts looke into a wicked heart they stay not there as those that like not their lodging they are soone gone Hardly any thing distinguishes betwixt good and euill but continuance The light that shines into an holy heart is constant like that of the Sunne which keepes due times and varies not his course for any of these sublunary occasions The Philistim Warres renue Dauids victories and Dauids victory renues Sauls enuy and Sauls enuy renues the plots of Dauids death Vowes and Oaths are forgotten That euill spirit which vexes Saul hath found so much fauour with him as to winne him to these bloody machinations against an innocent His owne hands shall first bee imployed in this execution The speare which hath twice before threatned death to Dauid shall now once againe goe vpon that message Wise Dauid that knew the danger of an hollow friend and reconciled enemy and that found more cause to mind Sauls earnest then his owne play giues way by his nimblenesse to that deadly weapon and resigning that stroke vnto the wall flies for his life No man knowes how to be sure of an vnconscionable man If either goodnesse or merit or affinitie or reasons or oaths could secure a man Dauid had been safe now if his heeles doe not more befriend him then all these hee is a dead man No sooner is hee gone then messengers are sped after him It hath been seldome seene that wickednesse wanted Executioners Dauids house is beset with Murderers which watch at all his doores for the opportunitie of blood Who can but wonder to see how God hath fetch from the loines of Saul a remedy for the malice of Sauls heart His owne children are the onely meanes to crosse him in the sinne and to preserue his guiltlesse Aduersarie Michal hath more then notice of the plot and with her subtill with countermines her father for the rescue of an Husband Shee taking the benefit of the night lets Dauid downe through a window Hee is gone and disappoints the ambushes of Saul The messengers begin to be impatient of this delay and now thinke it time to inquire after their Prisoner She whiles them off with the excuse of Dauids sicknes so as now her Husband had good leisure for his escape and layes a Statue in his bed Saul likes the newes of any euill befalne to Dauid but fearing he is not sicke enough sends to aide his disease The messengers returne and rushing into the house with their Swords drawne after some harsh words to their imagined charge surprize a sicke Statue lying with a Pillow vnder his head and now blush to see they haue spent all their threats vpon a senselesse stocke and made themselues ridiculous whiles they would be seruiceable But how shall Michal answer this mockage vnto her furious father Hitherto shot hath done like Dauid wife now she begins to be Sauls Daughter He said to me Let me goe or else I will kill thee Shee whose wit had deliuered her Husband from the Sword of her Father now turnes the edge of her Fathers wrath from her selfe to her Husband His absence made her presume of his safety If Michal had not bin of Sauls plot he had neuer expostulated with her in those termes Why hast thou let mine enemy escapeâ neither had she framed that answer He said Let me goe I doe not find any great store of religion in Michal for both she had an Image in the house afterward mocked Dauid for his deuotion yet Nature hath taught her to prefer an Husband to a Father to chide a
Samuel himselfe whiles hee was aliue could not haue spoken more grauely more seuerely more diuinely than this euill ghost For the Lord will rent thy Kingdome out of thy hand and giue it to thy neighbour Dauid because thou obeyedst not the voyce of the Lord not executedst his fierce wrath vpon the Amalekites therefore hath the Lord done this vnto thee this day When the Deuill himselfe puts on grauity and religion who can maruell at the hypocrisie of men Well may lewd men bee good Preachers when Satan himselfe can play the Prophet Where are those Ignorants that thinke charitably of charmes and spells because they finde nothing in them but good words What Prophet could speake better words than this Deuill in Samuels Mantle Neither is there at any time so much danger of that euill spirit as when hee speakes best I could wonder to heare Satan preach thus prophetically if I did not know that as hee was once a good Angell so hee can still act what hee was Whiles Saul was in consultation of sparing Agag wee shall neuer finde that Satan would lay any blocke in his way Yea then hee was a prompt Orator to induce him into that sinne now that it is past and gone hee can lade Saul with fearefull denunciations of iudgement Till wee haue sinned Satan is a parasite when wee haue sinned hee is a Tyrant What cares hee to flatter any more when hee hath what hee would Now his onely worke is to terrifie and confound that hee may enioy what he hath wonne How much better is it seruing that Master who when wee are most deiected with the conscience of euill heartens vs with inward comfort and speakes peace to the soule in the midst of tumult Ziklag spoyled and reuenged HAd not the King of the Philistims sent Dauid away early his Wiues and his people and substance which hee left at Ziklag had beene vtterly lost Now Achish did not more pleasure Dauid in his entertainment than in his dismission Saul was not Dauids enemy more in the persecution of his person than in the forbearance of Gods enemies Behold thus late doth Dauid feele the smart of Sauls sinne in sparing the Amalekites who if Gods sentence had beene duly executed had not now suruiued to annoy this parcell of Israel As in spirituall respects our sinnes are alwayes hurtfull to our selues so in temporall oft-times preiudiciall to posteritie A wicked man deserues ill of those hee neuer liued to see I cannot maruell at the Amalekites assault made vpon the Israelites of Ziklag I cannot but maruell at their clemencie how iust it was that while Dauid would giue aid to the enemies of the Church against Israel the enemies of the Church should rise against Dauid in his peculiar charge of Israel But whilst Dauid rouing against the Amalekites not many dayes before left neither man nor woman aliue how strange is it that the Amalekites inuading and surprizing Ziklag in reuenge kill neither man nor woman Shall wee say that mercy is fled from the brests of Israelites and rests in Heathens Or shall wee rather ascribe this to the gracious restraint of God who hauing designed Amalek to the slaughter of Israel and not Israel to the slaughter of Amalek moued the hand of Israel and held the hands of Amalek This was that alone that made the Heathens take vp with an vn-bloudy reuenge burning only the wââes and leading away the persons Israel crossed the reuealed will of God insparing Amalek Amalek fulfils the secret will of God in sparing Israel It was still the lot of Amalek to take Israel at all aduantages vpon their first comming out of Egypt when they were weary weake and vnarmed then did Amalek assault them And now when one part of Israel was in the field against the Philistians another was gone with the Philistims against Israel the Amalekites set vpon the Coasts of both and goes away laded with the spoile No other is to bee exspected of our spirituall Aduersaries who are euer readiest to assayle when wee are the vnreadiest to defend It was a wofull spectacle for Dauid and his Souldiers vpon their returne to find mines and ashes in stood of houses and in steed of their Families solitude Their Citie was vanished into smoke their housholds into captiuitie neither could they know whom to accuse or where to enquire for redresse whiles they made account that their home should recompence their tedious iourney with comfort the miserable desolation of their home doubles the discomfort of their iourney what remained there but teares and lamentations They lifted vp their voyces and wept till they could weepe no more Heere was plentie of nothing but misery and sorrow The heart of euery Israelite was brim full of griefe Dauids ranne ouer for besides that his crosse was the same with theirs all theirs was his alone each man looke on his fellow as a partner of affliction but euery one lookt vpon Dauid as the cause of all their affliction and as common displeasure is neuer but fruitfull of reuenge they all agree to stone him as the Author of their vndoing whom they followed all this while as the hopefull meanes of their aduacements Now Dauids losse is his least griefe neither as if euery thing had conspired to torment him can hee looke besides the aggrauation of his sorrow and danger Saul and his Souldiers had hunted him out of Israel the Philistim Courtiers had hunted him from the fauour of Achish the Amalekites spoyled him in Ziklag yet all these are easie aduersaries in comparison of his owne his owne followers are so far from pittying his participation of the losse that they are ready to kill him because they are miserable with him Oh the many and grieuous perplexities of the man after Gods owne heart If all his traine had ioyned their best helpes for the mitigation of his griefe their Cordials had beene too weake but now the vexation that arises from their fury and malice drowneth the sence of their losse and were enough to distract the most resolute heart why should it bee strange to vs that wee meete with hard tryalls when wee see the deare Annoynted of God thus plunged into euils What should the distressed sonne of Ishai now doe Whither should hee thinke to turne him to goe backe to Israel hee durst not to goe to Achish hee might not to abide amonst those waste heapes hee could not or if there might haue beene harbor in those burnt wals yet there could bee no safety to remayne with those mutinous spirits But Dauid comforted himselfe in the Lord his God oh happie and sure refuge of a faithfull soule The earth yeelded him nothing but matter of disconsolation and heauinesse hee lifts his eyes aboue the hils whence commeth his saluation It is no maruell that God remembreth Dauid in all his troubles since Dauid in all his troubles did thus remember his God hee knew that though no mortall eye of reason or sence could discerne any euasion
the goods Wise and holy Dauid whose prayse was no lesse to ouercome his owne in time of peace than his enemies in warre cals his contending followers from Law to equitie and so orders the matter that since the Plaintifes were detained not by will but by necessity and since their forced stay was vse-full in garding the stuffe they should partake equally of the prey with there fellowes A sentence wel-beseeming the Iustice of Gods Annoynted Those that represent God vpon earth should resemble him in their proceeding It is the iust mercie of our God to measure vs by our wils not by our abilities to recompence vs graciously according to the truth of our desires and endeauours and to account that performed by vs which hee only letteth vs from performing It were wide with vs if sometimes purpose did not supply actions Whiles our heart faulteth not wee that through spirituall sicknesse are faine to abide by the stuffe shall share both in grace and glorie with the Victors The death of SAVL THe Witch of Endor had halfe slaine Saul before the Battell it is just that they who consult with Deuils should goe away with discomfort Hee hath eaten his last bread at the hand of a Sorceresse and now necessitie drawes him into that field where hee sees nothing but despaire Had not Saul beleeued the ill newes of the counterfeite Samuel hee had not beene strooke downe on the ground with words Now his beliefe made him desperate Those actions which are not sustayned by hope must needes languish and are only promoted by outward compulsion Whiles the mind is vncertaine of successe it relieues it selfe with the possibilities of good in doubts there is a comfortable mixture but when it is assured of the worst euent it is vtterly discouraged and deiected It hath therefore pleased the wisdome of God to hide from wicked men his determination of their finall estate that their remainders of hope may harten them to good In all likelihood one selfe-same day saw Dauid a victor ouer the Amalekites and Saul discomfited by the Philistims How should it bee otherwise Dauid consulted with God and preuailed Saul with the Witch of Endor and perisheth The end is commonly answerable to the way It is an idle iniustice when wee doe ill to looke to speede well The slaughter of Saul and his sonnes was not in the first Scene of this Tragicall field that was rather reserued by God for the last act that Sauls measure might bee full God is long ere hee strikes but when hee doth it is to purpose First Israel flees and fals downe wounded in Mount Gilboa They had their part in Sauls sinne they were actors in Dauids persecution Iustly therefore doe they suffer with him whom they had seconded in offence As it is hard to bee good vnder an euill Prince so it is as rare not to bee enwrapped in his iudgments It was no small addition to the anguish of Sauls death to see his sonnes dead to see his people fleeing and slaine before him They had sinned in their King and in them is their King punished The rest were not so worthy of pittie but whose heart would it not touch to see Ionathan the good sonne of a wicked father inuolued in the common destruction Death is not partiall All dispositions all merits are alike to it if valour if holinesse if sinceritie of heart could haue beene any defence against mortalitie Ionathan had suruiued Now by their wounds and death no man can descerne which is Ionathan The soule onely findes the difference which the body admitteth not Death is the common gate both to Heauen and Hell wee all passe that ere our turning to either hand The sword of the Philistims fetcheth Ionathan through it with his fellowes no sooner is his foot ouer that threshold than God conducteth him to glory The best cannot bee happy but through their dissolution Now therefore hath Ionathan no cause of complaint hee is by the rude and cruell hand of a Philistim but remoued to a better Kingdome then hee leaues to his brother and at once is his death both a temporall affliction to the sonne of Saul and an entrance of glorie to the friend of Dauid The Philistim-archers shot at randome God directs their arrowes into the bodie of Saul Lest the discomfiture of his people and the slaughter of his sonnes should not bee griefe enough to him hee feeles himselfe wounded and sees nothing before him but horror and death and now as a man forsaken of all hopes he begs of his Armour-bearer that deaths-blow which else hee must to the doubling of his indignation receiue from a Philistim Hee begges this bloudie fauour of his seruant and is denyed Such an awefulnesse hath God placed in souereigntie that no intreatie no extreamitie can moue the hand against it What metall are those men made of that can suggest or resolue and attempt the violation of Maiestie Wicked men care more for the sâââe of the World than the danger of their soule Despââââ Saul will now supply his Armor-bearer and as a man that ãâã armes against himselfe he falls vpon his owââ Sword What if he had died by the ãâã of a Philistin So did his sinne Ionathan and lost no glory These conceits of disreputation preuaile with carnall hearts aboue all spirituall respects There is no greater murderer ãâã glory Nothing more argues an heart voide of grace than to bee transporte onâ idle popularity into actions preiudiciaâââ to the Soule Euill examples especially of the great neuer escaped imitation the Aâââor-beateâ of Saul followes his Master and came doe that to himselfe which to his King hee durst not as if their owne Swords had beeing more familiar executions ãâã they yeelded vnto them what they grudged to their pursuers From the beginning was Sauls euer his owne enemy neither did any hands hurt him but his owne to and now his death is sutable ãâã his life his owne hand paies his âââard of all his wickednesse The end of Hypocrites and enuious men is commonly fearefull Now is the bloud of Gods Priests which Saul shed and of Dauid which hee would haue shed required and requited The euill spirit had said the euening before To âârrow thou shalt bee with mee and now Saul hasteth to make the Deuill no Liemâââââer than faile he giues himselfe his owne Mittimus Oh the wofull extremities of a despairing soule plunging him euer into a greater mischiefe to auoide the lesse He might haââ beene a patient in anothers violence and faultinesse now whiles hee will needs act the Philistins part vpon himselfe he liued and died a Murderer The case is deadly when the Prisoner breakes the Iayle and will not stay for his deliuery and though we may not passe sentence vpon such a soule yet vpon the fact we may the soule may possibly repent in the parting the act is hainous and such as without repentance kils the soule It was the next day ere the Philistims knew
how much they were victors then finding the dead corps of Saul and his sonnes they begin their triumphs The head of King Saul is cut off in lieu of Goliahs and now all their Idoll temples ring of their successe Foolish Philistims if they had not beene more beholden to Sauls sins than their gods they had neuer carried away the honour of those Trophees In stead of magnifying the iustice of the true God who punished Saul with deserued death they magnifie the power of the false Superstition is extremely iniurious to God It is no better than Theft to ascribe vnto the second causes that honor which is due vnto the first but to giue Gods glory to those things which neither act nor are it is the highest degree of spirituall robbery Saul was none of the best Kings yet so impatient are his subiects of the indignity offred to his dead corps that they will rather leaue their owne bones amongst the Philistims than the carcasse of Saul Such a close relation there is betwixt a Prince and Subiect that the dishonour of either is inseparable from both How willing should wee bee to hazard our bodies or substance for the vindication either of the person or name of a good King whiles hee liues to the benefit of our protection It is an vniust ingratitude in those men which can endure the disgrace of them vnder whose shelter they liue but how vnnaturall is the villany of those Miscreants that can bee content to bee actors in the capitall wrongs offered to soueraigne authoritie It were a wonder if after the death of a Prince there should want some Picke-thanke to insinuate himselfe into his Successor An Amalekite young man rides post to Ziklag to finde out Dauid whom euen common rumour âad notified for the annointed Heire to the Kingdome of Israel to bee the first Messenger of that newes which he thought could be no other than acceptable the death of Saul and that the tidings might be so much more meritorious hee addes to the report what hee thinkes might carrie the greatest retribution In hope of reward or honour the man is content to bely himselfe to Dauid It was not the Speare but the Sword of Saul that was the instrument of his death neither could this stranger finde Saul but dying since the Armour bearer of Saul saw him dead ere hee offered that violence to himselfe The hand of this Amalekite therefore was not guilty his tongue was Had not this Messenger measured Dauids foote by his owne Last hee had forborne this peece of the newes and not hoped to aduantage himselfe by this falshood Now he thinkes The tidings of a Kingdome cannot but please None but Saul and Ionathan stood in Dauids way Hee cannot chuse but like to heare of their remouall Especially since Saul did so tyrannously persecute his innocence If I shall onely report the fact done by another I shall goe away but with the recompence of a ââckie Post whereas if I take vpon mee the action I am the man to whome Dauid is beholden for the Kingdome hee cannot but honour and require mee as the Authour of his deliuerance and happinesse Worldly mindes thinke no man can be of any other than their owne dyet and because they finde the respects of selfe-loue and priuate profit so strongly preuailing with themselues they cannot conceiue how these should be capable of a repulse from others How much was this Amalekite mocked of his hopes whiles he imagined that Dauid would now triumph and feast in the assured expectation of the Kingdome and Possession of the Crowne of Israel he findes him renting his clothes and wringing his handes and weeping and mourning as if all his comfort had bin dead with Saul and Ionathan and yet perhaps hee thought This sorrow of Dauid is but fashionable such as greate heires make shew of in the fatall day they haue longed for These teares will soone be dry the sight of a Crowne will soone breed a succession of other passions But this errour is soone corrected For when Dauid had entertayned this Bearer with a sadfast all the day hee cals him forth in the euening to execution How wast thou not afraid saith he to put forth thy hand to destroy the Annoynted of the Lord Doubtlesse the Amalekite made many faire pleas for himselfe out of the grounds of his owne report Alas Saul was before falne vpon his owne Speare It was but mercie to kill him that was halfe dead that hee might die the shorter Besides his entreaty and importunate prayers mooued mee to hasten him through those painefull gates of death had I striken him as an enemy I had deserued the blow I had giuen now I lent him the hand of a friend why am I punished for obeying the voyce of a King and for perfiting what himselfe begun and could not finish And if neither his owne wound nor mine had dispatched him the Philistims were at his heeles ready to doe this same act with insultation which I did in fauour and if my hand had not preuented them where had beene the Crowne of Israel which I now haue here presented to thee I could haue deliuered that to King Achish and haue beene rewarded with honour let me not dye for an act well meant to thee how euer construed by thee But no pretence can make his owne tale not deadly Thy bloud be vpon thine owne head for thine owne mouth hath testified aganst thee saying I haue slaine the Lords Annoynted It is a iust supposition that euery man is so great a Fauourer of himselfe that hee will not mis-report his owne actions nor say the worst of himselfe In matter of confession men may without iniury be taken at their words If hee did it his fact was capitall If hee did it not his lye It is pitty any other recompence should befall those false Flatterers that can be content to father a sinne to get thankes Euery drop of royall bloud is sacred For a man to say that hee hath shed it is mortall Of how farre different spirits from this of Dauid are those men which suborne the death of Princes and celebrate and canonize the Mutherers Into their secret let not my soule come my glory be thou not ioyned to their Assembly ABNER and IOAB HOw mercifull and seasonable are the prouisions of God Zildag was now nothing but ruines and ashes Dauid might returne to the soile where it stood to the roofes and wals he could not No sooner is he disappointed of that harbour than God prouides him Cities of Hebron Saul shall die to giue him elbow-roome Now doth Dauid finde the comfort that his extremity sought in the Lord his God Now are his clouds for a time passed ouer and the Sunne breakes gloriously forth Dauid shall reigne after his sufferings So shall we if we endure to the end finde a Crowne of Righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue vs at that day But though Dauid well knew
see God iust we may goe on safely and prosper But here his foot staies and his hand fals from his Instrument and his tongue is ready to taxe his owne vnworthinesse How shall the Arke of the Lord came vnto me That heart is carnall and proud that thinkes any man worse than himselfe Dauids feare staies his progresse Perhaps he might haue proceeded with good successe but he dares not venture where hee sees such a deadly checke It is better to be too fearefull than too forward in those affaires which doe immediately concerne God As it is not good to refraine from holy businesses so it is worse to doe them ill Awfulnesse is a safe Interpreter of Gods secret actions and a wise guide of ours THIS euent hath holpen Obed-Edom to a guest hee lookt not for God shall now soiourne in the house of him in whose heart hee dwelt before by a strong faith else the man durst not haue vndertaken to receiue that dreadfull Arke which Dauid himselfe feared to harbour Oh the courage of an honest and faithfull heart Obed-Edom knew well enough what slaughter the Arke had made among the Philistims and after that amongst the Bethshemites and now hee saw Vzzah lye dead before him yet doth hee not make any scruple of entertaining it neither doth hee say My Neighbour Abinadab was a carefull and religious host to the Arke and is now payed with the bloud of his sonne how shall I hope to speed better but he opens his doores with a bold cheerefulnesse and notwithstanding all those terrors bids God welcome Nothing can make God not amiable to his owne Euen his very Iustice is louely Holy men know how to reioyce in the Lord with trembling and can feare without discouragement THE God of Heauen will not receiue any thing from men on free cost hee will pay liberally for his lodging a plentifull blessing vpon Obed-Edom and all his household It was an honour to that zealous Gittite that the Arke could come vnder his roofe yet God rewards that honour with benediction Neuer man was a loser by true godlinesse The house of Obad-Edom cannot this while want obseruation the eyes of Dauid and all Israel were neuer off from it to see how it fared with this entertainment And now when they finde nothing but a gracious acceptation and sensible blessing the good King of Israel takes new heart and hastens to fetch the Arke into his royall Citie The view of Gods fauours vpon the godly is no small encouragement to confidence and obedience Doubtlesse Obed-Edom was not free from some weaknesses If the Lord should haue taken the aduantage of iudgement against him what Israelites had not beene disheartened from attending the Arke Now Dauid and Israel was not more affrighted with the vengeance vpon Vzzah than encouraged by the blessing of Obed-Edom The wise God doth so order his iust and mercifull proceedings that the awfulnesse of men may bee tempered with loue Now the sweet singer of Israel reuines his holy Musicke and addes both more spirit and more pompe to so deuout a businesse I did not before heare of Trumpets nor dancing nor shouting nor sacrifice nor the linnen Ephod The sense of Gods passed displeasure doubles our care to please him and our ioy in his recouered approbation wee neuer make so much of our health as after sicknesse nor neuer are so officious to our friend as after an vnkindnesse In the first setting out of the Arke Dauids feare was at least an equall match to his ioy therefore after the first six paces hee offered a sacrifice both to pacifie God and thanke him but now when they saw no signe of dislike they did more freely let themselues loose to a fearelesse ioy and the body stroue to expresse the holy affection of the soule there was no liââthe no part that did not professe their mirth by motâon no noyse of voyce or instrument wanted to assist their spirituall iollity Dauid led the way dancing with all his might in his linnen Ephod Vzzah was still in his eye he durst not vsurpe vpon a garment of Priests but will borrow their colour to grace the solemnitie though hee dare not the fashion White was euer the colour of ioy and linnen was light for vse therefore he couers his Princely Robes with white linnen and meanes to honour himselfe by his conformity to Gods Ministers Those that thinke there is disgrace in the Ephod are farre from the spirit of the man after Gods owne heart Neither can there be a greater argument of a soule soule than a dislike of the glorious calling of God Barren Nical hath too many sonnes that scorne the holy habit and exercises she lookes through her window and seeing the attyre and gestures of her deuout husband despiseth him in her heart neither can shee conceale her contempt but like Sauls Daughter cast it proudly in his face Oh how glorious was the King of Israel this day which was vncouered to day in the eyes of the Maidens of his Seruants as a Foole vncouereth himselfe Worldly hearts can see nothing in actions of zeale but folly and madnesse Pietie hath no relish to their palate but distastfull DAVIDS heart did neuer swell so much at any reproch as this of his Wife his loue was for the time lost in his anger and as a man impatient of no affront so much as in the way of his deuotion he returnes a bitter checke to his MICAL It was before the Lord which those me rather than thy Father and all his house c. Had not Mical twitted her Husband with the shame of his zeale shee had not heard of the shamefull reiection of her father now since shee will bee forgetting whose Wife she was shee shall be put in mind whose Daughter she was Contumelies that are cast vpon vs in the causes of God may safely be repared If we be meale-mouthed in the scornes of Religion we are not patient but zealelesse Here we may not forbeare her that lyes in our bosome If Dauid had not loued Mical dearely he had neuer stood vpon those points with Abner He knew that if Abner came to him the Kingdome of Israel would accompany him and yet hee sends him the charge of not seeing his face except hee brought Mical Sauls daughter with him as if he would not regard the Crowne of Israel whiles he wanted that Wife of his Yet here he takes her vp roundly as if shee had beene an enemy not a partner of his bed All relations are aloofe off in comparison of that betwixt God and the soule He that loues Father or Mother or Wife or Childe better than me saith our Sauiour is not worthy of me Euen the highest delights of our hearts must be trampled vpon when they will stand out in riuality with God Oh happy resolution of the royall Prophet and Propheticall King of Israel I will be yet more vile than thus and will be low in mine owne sight he knew this very
than the delicate Bed of her whom he thought as honest as he knew faire The Arke saith hee and Israel and Iudah dwell in Tents and my Lord Ioab and the Seruants of my Lord abide in the open Fields shall I then goe into my house to eat and drinke and lye with my Wife by thy life and by the life of thy soule I will not doe this thing Who can but bee astonished at this change to see a Souldier austere and a Prophet wanton And how doth that Souldiers austeritie shame the Prophets wantonnesse Oh zealous and mortified Soule worthy of a more faithfull Wife of a more iust Master how didst thou ouer-looke all base sensuality and hatedst to bee happy alone Warre and Lust had wont to bee reputed friends thy brest is not more full of courage than chastity and is so farre from wandring after forbidden pleasures that it refuseth lawfull There is a time to laugh and a time to mourne a time to embrace and a time to bee farre from embracing euen the best actions are not alwayes seasonable much lesse the indifferent Hee that euer takes libertie to doe what hee may shall offend no lesse than hee that sometimes takes libertie to doe what hee may not If any thing the Arke of GOD is fittest to leade our times according as that is eyther distressed or prospereth should wee frame our mirth or mourning To dwell in seeled Houses whiles the Temple lyes waste is the ground of Gods iust quarrell How shall wee sing a Song of the Lord in a strange Land If I forget thee O Ierusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I doe not remember thee let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth yea if I preferre not Hierusalem to my chiefe ioy As euery man is a limme of the Communitie so must hee bee affected with the estate of the vniuersall bodie whether healthfull or languishing It did not more aggrauate Dauids sinne that whiles the Arke and Israel was in hazard and distresse hee could finde time to loose the reines to wanton desires and actions than it magnifies the religious zeale of Vriah that hee abandons comfort till he see the Arke and Israel victorious Common dangers or calamities must like the rapt motion carrie our hearts contrarie to the wayes of our priuate occasions He that cannot bee moued with words shall bee tried with Wine Vriah had equally protested against feasting at home and societie with his wife To the one the authoritie of a King forceth him abroad in hope that the excesse thereof shall force him to the other It is like that holy Captaine intended onely to yeeld so much obedience as might consist with his course of austeritie But Wine is a mocker when it goes plausibly in no man can imagine how it will rage and tyrannize hee that receiues that Traytour within his gates shall too late complaine of surprizall Like vnto that ill spirit it insinuates sweetly but in the end it bytes like a Serpent and hurts like a Cockatrice Euen good Vriah is made drunke the holiest soule may be ouer-taken It is hard gaine-saying where a King beginnes an health to a subiect Where oh where will this wickednesse end Dauid will now procure the sinne of another to hide his owne Vriahs drunkennesse is more Dauids offence than his It is weakly yeelded to of the one which was wilfully intended of the other The one was as the Sinner the other as the Tempter Had not Dauid knowne that Wine was an inducement to Lust hee had spared those superfluous Cups Experience had taught him that the eye debauched with Wine will looke vpon strange women The Drunkard may bee any thing saue good Yet in this the ayme failed Grace is stronger than Wine Whiles that with-holdes in vaine shall the fury of the Grape attempt to carry Vriah to his owne Bed Sober Dauid is now worse than drunken Vriah Had not the King of Israel beene more intoxicate with sinne than Vriah with drinke hee had not in a sober intemperance climbed vp into that Bed which the drunken temperance of Vriah refused If Dauid had bin but himselfe how had he loued how had he honoured this honest and religious zeale in his so faithfull Seruant whom now he cruelly seekes to reward with death That fact which Wine cannot hide the Sword shall Vriah shall beare his owne Mittimus vnto Ioab Put yee Vriah in the fore-front of the strength of the Battle and recule backe froÌ him that he may be smitten and dye What is becomne of thee O thou good spirit that hadst woont to guide thy chosen Seruant in his former wayes Is not this the man whom we lately saw so heart smitten for but cutting off the lap of the Garment of a Wicked Master that is now thus lauish of the bloud of a gracious and well-deseruing Seruant Could it be likely that so worthy a Captaine could fall alone Could Dauid haue expiated this sinne with his owne bloud it had beene but well spent but to couer his sinne with the innocent bloud of others was a crime aboue astonishment Oh the deepe deceitfulnesse of sinne If the Deuill should haue comne to Dauid in the most louely forme of Bathsheba her selfe and at the first should haue directly and in termes solicited him to murder his best Seruant I doubt not but hee would haue spat scorne in that face on which hee should otherwise haue doted now by many cunning windings Satan rises vp to that tentation and preuailes that shall bee done for a colour of guiltinesse whereof the foule would haue hated to bee immediately guiltie Euen those that finde a iust horror in leaping downe from some high Tower yet may bee perswaded to descend by stayres to the bottome Hee knowes not where he shall stay that hath willingly flipt into a knowne wickednesse How many doth an eminent offender draw with him into euill It could not bee but that diuers of the Attendants both of Dauid and Bathsheba must bee conscious to that adulterie Great mens sinnes are seldome secret And now Ioab must be fetcht in as accessary to the murder How must this example needs harden Ioab against the conscience of Abners bloud Whiles he cannot but thinke Dauid cannot auenge that in mee which he acteth himselfe Honour is pretended to poore Vriah death is meant This man was one of the Worthies of Dauid their courage sought glorie in the difficultest exploits That reputation had neuer beene purchased without attempts of equall danger Had not the Leader and Followers of Vriah beene more treacherours than his Enimies were strong hee had come off with Victory Now hee was not the first or last that perished by his friends Dauid hath forgotten that himselfe was in like sort betrayed in his Masters intention vpon the dowrie of the Philistims-fore-skinnes I feare to aske Who euer noted so foule a plot in Dauids reiected Predecessour Vriah must be the Messenger of his owne death Ioab must be
she had prepared to her sicke Brother her selfe is made a prey to his outragious Lust The modest Virgine intreates and perswades in vaine shee layes before him the sinne the shame the danger of the fact and since none of these can preuaile faine would winne time by the suggesting of vnpossible hopes Nothing but violence can stay a resolued sinner What hee cannot by intreaty hee will haue by force If the Deuill were not more strong in men than nature they would neuer seeke pleasure in violence Amnon hath no sooner fulfilled his beastly desires than he hates Tamar more than he loued her Inordinate lust neuer ends but in discontentment Losse of spirits and remorse of soule make the remembrance of that Act tedious whose expectation promised delight If we could see the backe of sinfull pleasures ere we behold their face our hearts could not but be fore-stalled with a iust detestation Brutish Amnon it was thy selfe whom thou shouldst haue hated for this villany not thine innocent sister Both of you lay together onely one committed incest What was she but a patient in that impotent fury of lust How vniustly doe carnall men mis-place their affections No man can say whether that loue or this hatred were more vnreasonable Fraud drew Tamar into the house of Amnon force intertained her within and droue her out Faine would she haue hid her shame where it was wrought and may not bee allowed it That roofe vnder which she came with honour and in obedience and loue may not be lent her for the time as a shelter of her ignominie Neuer any sauage could be more barbarous Shechem had rauished Dinah his offence did not make her odious his affection so continued that he is willing rather to draw bloud of himselfe and his people than forgoe her whom hee had abused Amnon in one houre is in the excesse of loue and hate and is sicke of her for whom he was ficke She that lately kept the keyes of his heart is now lockt out of his doores Vnruly passions runne euer into extremities and are then best apaied when they are furthest off from reason and moderation What could Amnon thinke would be the euent of so soule a fact which as hee had not the grace to preuent so hee hath not the care to conceale If hee lookt not so high as Heauen what could he imagine would follow hereupon but the displeasure of a Father the danger of Law the indignation of a Brother the shame and out-cryes of the World All which he might haue hoped to auoid by secresie and plausible courses of satisfaction It is the iust iudgement of God vpon presumptuous offenders that they lose their wit together with their honesty and are either so blinded that they cannot fore-see the issue of their actions or so besotted that they doe not regard it Poore Tamar can but bewaile that which she could not keepe her Virginity not lost but torne from her by a cruell violence She rends her Princely Robe and kâies ashes on her head and laments the shame of anothers sinne and liues more desolate than a widdow in the house of her brother Absalom In the meane time what a corosiue must this newes needs be to the heart of good Dauid whose fatherly command had out of loue cast his Daughter into the iawes of this Lion What an insolent affront must he needs construe this to bee offred by a Sonne to a Father that the Father should bee made the Pandar of his owne Daughter to his Sonne Hee that lay vpon the ground weeping for but the sicknesse of an Infant How vexed doe we thinke hee was with the villanie of his Heire with the rauishment of his Daughter both of them worse than many deaths What reuenge can he thinke of for so haynous a crime lesse than death and what lesse than death is it to him to thinke of a reuenge Rape was by the Law of God capitall how much more when it is seconded with Incest Anger was not punishment enough for so high an offence Yet this is all that I heare of from so indulgent a Father sauing that he makes vp the rest with sorrow punishing his Sonnes out-rage in himselfe The better-natur'd and more gracious a man is the more subiect he is to the danger of an ouer-remissenesse and the excesse of fauour and mercie The milde iniustice is no lesse perillous to the Common-wealth than the cruell If Dauid perhaps out of the conscience of his owne late offence will not punish this fact his sonne Absalom shall not out of any care of Iustice but in a desire of reuenge Two whole yeares hath this slye Courtier smothered his indignation and fayned kindnesse else his inuitation of Amnon in speciall had beene suspected Euen gallant Absalom was a great Sheep-master The brauery and magnificence of a Courtier must bee built vpon the grounds of frugalitie Dauid himselfe is bidden to this bloudie Sheep-shearing It was no otherwise meant but that the Fathers eyes should be the witnesses of the Tragicall execution of one Sonne by another Onely Dauids loue kept him from that horrible spectacle Hee is carefull not to be chargeable to that Sonne who cares not to ouer charge his Fathers stomacke with a Feast of Bloud AMNON hath so quite forgot his sinne that he dares goe to feast in that House where Tamar was mourning and suspects not the kindnesse of him whom he had deserued of a Brother to make an enemy Nothing is more vnsafe to be trusted than the faire lookes of a festred heart Where true Charitie or iust satisfaction haue not wrought a sound reconciliation malice doth but lurke for the opportunitie of an aduantage It was not for nothing that Absalom deferred his reuenge which is now so much the more exquisite as it is longer protracted What could bee more fearefull than when Amnons heart was merrie with Wine to be suddenly stricken with death As if this execution had beene no lesse intended to the Soule than to the bodie How wickedly soeuer this was done by Absalom yet how iust was it with God that he who in two yeares impunity would finde no leisure of repentance should now receiue a punishment without possibilitie of Repentance O God thou art righteous to reckon for those sinnes which humane partialitie or negligence hath omitted and whiles thou punishest sinne with sinne to punish sinne with death If either Dauid had called Amnon to account for this villanie or Amnon had called himselfe the reuenge had not beene so desperate Happie is the man that by an vnfayned Repentance acquits his soule from his knowne euills and improues the dayes of his peace to the preuention of future vengeance which if it bee not done the hand of God shall as surely ouertake vs in iudgement as the hand of Satan hath ouertaken vs in miscarriage vnto sinne ABSALOMS Returne and Conspiracie ONE Act of iniustice drawes on another The iniustice of Dauid in not punishing the rape of
bestowed any gift that should leade vs away from himselfe It is an ignorant conceit that inquiry into nature should make men Atheous No man is so apt to see the Star of Christ as a diligent disciple of Philosophy doubtlesse this light was visible vnto more onely they followed it which knew it had more than nature He is truly wise that is wise for his owne soule If these wise men had bin acquainted with all the other stars of heauen had not seene the Star of Christ they had had but light enough to lead them into vtter darknes Philosophy without the star is but the wispe of error These Sages were in a meane betweene the Angels and the shepherds God would in all the ranks of intelligent creatures haue some to be witnesses of his Son The Angels direct the shepherds the Star guides the Sages the duller capacity hath the more cleare powerfull helps the wisdome of our good God proportions the meanes vnto the disposition of the persons their Astronomy had taught them this star was not ordinary whether in sight or in brightnes or in motion The eies of nature might well see that some strange newes was portended to the world by it but that this star designed the birth of the Messias there needed yet another light If the star had not besides had the commentary of a reuelation from God it could haue led the wise men only into a fruitlesse wonder giue them to be the of-spring of Balaam yet the true prediction of that false prophet was not enough warrant If he told them the Messias should arise as a star out of Iacob he did not tell them that a star should arise far from the posterity of Iacob at the birth of the Messias He that did put that Prophesie into the mouth of Balaâm did also put this illumination into the heart of the Sages the Spirit of God is free to breathe where he listeth Many shall come from the East and the West to seeke Christ when the Children of the Kingdome shall be shut out euen theÌ God did not so confine his election to the pale of the Church as that he did not sometimes looke out for speciall instruments of his glory Whither doe these Sages come but to Ierusalem where should they hope to heare of the new King but in the mother City of the Kingdome The conduct of the star was first only generall to Iudea the rest is for a time left to enquiry They were not brought thither for their owne sakes but for Iewries for the worlds that they might helpe to make the Iewes inexcusable and the world faithfull That their tongues therefore might blazon the birth of Christ they are brought to the head Citie of Iudea to report and inquire their wisdome could not teach them to imagine that a King could be borne to Iudea of that note and magnificence that a Star from heauen should publish him to the earth and that his subiects should not know it and therefore as presupposing a common notice they say Where is he that is burne King of the Iewes There is much deceit in probabilities especially when we meddle with spirituall matters For God vses still to goe a way by himselfe If we iudge according to reason and appearance who is so likely to vnderstand heauenly truths as the profound Doctors of the world these God passeth ouer and reueales his will to babes Had these Sages met with the shepherds of the villages neere Bethleem they had receiued that intelligence of Christ which they did vainely seeke from the learned Scribes of Hierusalem The greatest clarks are not alwaies the wisest in the affaires of God these things goe not by discourse but by reuelation No sooner hath the Starre brought them within me noise of Ierusalem then it is vanished out of sight God would haue their eies leade them so farre as till their tongues might be set on worke to winne the vocall attestation of the chiefe Priests and Scribes to the fore-appointed place of our Sauiours natiuity If the Star had carried them directly to Bethleem the learned Iewes had neuer searched the truth of those prophecies wherewith they are since iustly conuinced God neuer withdrawes our helps but for a further aduantage Howsoeuer our hopes seeme crossed where his Name may gaine we cannot complaine of losse Little did the Sages thinke this question would haue troubled Herod they had I feare concealed their message if they had suspected this euent Sure they thought it might be some Sonne or grandchild of him which then held the Throne so as this might winne fauour from Herod rather than an vnwelcome feare of riuality Doubtlesse they went first to the Court where else should they aske for a King The more pleasing this newes had bin if it had falne vpon Herods owne loynes the more grieuous it was to light vpon a stranger If Herod had nor ouer-much affected greatnesse he had not vpon those indirect termes aspired to the Crowne of Iewry so much the more therefore did it trouble him to heare the rumour of a successor and that not of his owne Setled greatnesse cannot abide either change or partnership If any of his subiects had moued this question I feare his head had answered it It is well that the name of forrainers could excuse these Sages Herod could not be brought vp among the Iewes and not haue heard many and confident reports of a Messias that should ere long arise out of Israel and now when he heares the fame of a King borne whom a Starre from heauen signifies and attends he is netled with the newes Euery thing affrights the guilty Vsurpation is full of ielousies and feare no lesse full of proiects and imaginations it makes vs thinke euery bush a man and euery man a thiefe Why art thou troubled O Herod A King is borne but such a King as whose Scepter may euer concurre with lawfull soueraignty yea such a King as by whom Kings doe hold their Scepters not lose them If the wise-men tell thee of a King the Starre tells thee he is heauenly Here is good cause of security none of feare The most generall enmities and oppositions to good arise from mistakings If men could but know how much safety and sweetnesse there is in all diuine truth it could receiue nothing from them but welcomes and gratulations Misconceits haue beene still guilty of all wrongs and persecutions But if Herod were troubled as Tyranny is still suspicious why was all Ierusalem troubled with him Ierusalem which now might hope for a relaxation of her bonds for a recouery of her liberty and right Ierusalem which now onely had cause to lift vp her drooping head in the ioy and happinesse of a redeemer yet not Herods Court but euen Ierusalem was troubled so had this miserable City beene ouer-toyled with change that now they were setled in a condition quietly euill they are troubled with the newes of better They had now got
to that name and bloud the going downe into Egypt had not so much difficulty as the staying there Their absence from their countrey was little better than a bannishment but what was this other than to serue a prentiship in the house of bondage to be any where saue at home was irkesome but to be in Egypt so many yeares amongst idolatrous Pagans must needs be painefull to religious hearts The Command of their God and the Presence of Christ makes amends for all How long should they haue thought it to see the Temple of God if they had not had the God of the Temple with them How long to present their sacrifices at the Altar of God if they had not had him with them which made all sacrifices accepted and which did accept the sacrifice of their hearts Herod was subtle in mocking the wise-men whiles he promised to worship him whom hee meant to kill now God makes the wise men to mocke him in disappointing his expectation It is iust with God to punish those which would beguile others with illusion Great spirits are so much more impatient of disgrace How did Herod now rage and fret and vainely wish to haue met with those false spies and tells with what torments he would reuenge their trechery and curses himselfe for trusting strangers in so important a businesse The Tyrants suspition would not let him rest long Ere many daies hee sends to inquire of them whom hee sent to inquire of Christ The notice of their secret departure increaseth his ielousie and now his anger runnes madde and his feare proues desperate All the infants of Bethleem shall bleed for this one And that hee may make sure worke hee cuts out to himselfe large measures both of time and place It was but very lately that the Starre appeared that the wise-men re-appeared not They asked for him that was borne they did not name when hee was borne Herod for more securitie ouer-reaches their time and fetches into the slaughter all the children of two yeears age The Priests and Scribes had told him the towne of Bethleem must bee the place of the Messia's natiuity He fetches in all the children of the coasts adioyning yea his owne shall for the time be a Bethleemite A tyrannous guiltinesse neuer thinkes it selfe safe but euer seekes to assure it selfe in the excesse of cruelty Doubtlesse hee which so priuily inquired for Christ did as secretly brew this massacre The mothers were set with their children on their laps feeding them with the brest or talking to them in the familiar language of their loue when suddenly the Executioner rushes in and snatches them from their armes and at once pulling forth his Commission and his knife without regard to shrikes or teares murthers the innocent babe and leaues the passionate mother in a meane betweene madnesse and death What cursing of Herod what wringing of hands what condoling what exclaiming was now in the streets of Bethleem O bloudy Herod that couldst sacrifice so many harmelesse liues to thine ambition What could those infants haue done If it were thy person whereof thou wert afraid what likelihood was it thou couldst liue till those sucklings might endanger thee This newes might affect thy successors it could not concerne thee if the heate of an impotent and furious enuy had not made thee thirsty of bloud It is not long that thou shalt enioy this cruelty After a few hatefull yeeres thy soule shall feele the weight of so many innocents of so many iust curses He for whose sake thou killedst so many shall strike thee with death and then what wouldest thou haue giuen to haue bin as one of those infants whom thou murtheredst In the meane time when thine executioners returned and told thee of their vnpartiall dispatch thou smiledst to thinke how thou had defeated thy riuall and beguiled the starre and deluded the prophesies whiles God in heauen and his Son on earth laugh thee to scorne and make thy rage an occasion of further glory to him whom thou meantest to suppresse He that could take away the liues of others cannot protract his owne Herod is now sent home The coast is cleare for the returne of that holy family Now God cals them from their exile Christ and his Mother had not stayed so long out of the confines of the reputed visible Church but to teach vs continuance vnder the Crosse Sometimes God sees it good for vs not to sip of the cup of affliction but to make a dict-drinke of it for constant and common vse If he allow vs no other liquor for many yeeres we must take it off cheerefully and know that it is but the measure of our betters Ioseph and Mary stirre not without a command their departure stay remoouall is ordered by the voice of God If Egypt had beene more tedious vnto them they durst not moue their foot till they were bidden It is good in our owne businesse to follow reason or custome but in Gods businesse if we haue any other guide but himselfe we presume and cannot expect a blessing O the wonderfull dispensation of God in concealing of himselfe from men Christ was now some fiue yeeres old he beares himselfe as an infant and knowing all things neither takes nor giues notice of ought concerning his remoouall and disposing but appoints that to be done by his Angell which the Angell could not haue done but by him Since hee would take our nature he would be a perfect childe suppressing the manifestation and exercise of that God-head whereto that infancy-nature was conioyned Euen so O Sauiour the humility of thine infancy was answerable to that of thy birth The more thou hidest and abasest thy selfe for vs the more should we magnifie thee the more should we deiect our selues for thee Vnto Thee with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory now and for euer Amen FJNJS Contemplations VPON THE HISTORIE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT The second Booke Containing Christ among the Doctors Christ Baptized Christ Tempted Simon Called The Mariage in Cana. The good Centurion By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE HONORABLE GENERALL SIR EDVVARD CECILL KNIGHT all honor and happinesse Most Honored Sir THe store of a good Scribe is according to our Sauiour both old and new J would if J durst be ambitious of this onely honor hauing therefore drawne forth these not-friuolous thoughts out of the old Testament I fetch these following from the new God is the same in both as the body differs not with the age of the sute with the change of robes The olde and new wine of holy Truth came both out of one vineyard yet here may wee safely say to the Word of his Father as was said to the Bridegroome of Cana Thou hast kept the best wine till the last The authority of both is equally sacred the vse admits no lesse
resistance If wee were not in a way to doe good we should finde no rubs Satan hath no cause to molest his owne and that whiles they goe about his owne seruice He desires nothing more than to make vs smooth paths to sinne but when we would turne our feet to holinesse he blocks vp the way with tentations Who can wonder enough at the sawcinesse of that bold spirit that dares to set vpon the Sonne of the euerliuing God who can wonder enough at thy meeknesse and patience O Sauiour that wouldst be tempted He wanted not malice and presumption to assault thee thou wantedst not humility to endure those assaults I should stand amazed at this voluntary dispensation of thine but that I see the susception of our humane nature laies thee open to this condition It is necessarily incident to manhood to be liable to tentations Thou wouldest not haue put on flesh if thou hadst meant vtterly to put off this consequence of our infirmity If the state of innocence could haue beene any defence against euill motions the first Adam had not beene tempted much lesse the second It is not the presenting of tentations that can hurt vs but their entertainment Ill counsell is the fault of the Giuer not of the Refuser We cannot forbid lewd eyes to looke in at our windowes we may shut our doores against their entrance It is no lesse our praise to haue resisted than Satans blame to suggest euill Yea O blessed Sauiour how glorious was it for thee how happy for vs that thou were tempted Had not Satan tempted thee how shouldest thou haue ouercome Without blowes there can be no victory no triumph How had thy power beene manifested if no aduersary had tried thee The first Adam was tempted and vanquished the second Adam to repay and repaire that foile doth vanquish in being tempted Now haue we not a Sauiour and High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but such an one as was in all things tempted in like sort yet without sinne how boldly therefore may we goe vnto the Throne of grace that we may receiue mercy and finde grace of helpe in time of need Yea this Duell was for vs Now we see by this conflict of our Almighty Champion what manner of Aduersary we haue how he fights how he is resisted how ouercomne Now our very temptation affords vs comfort in that we see the dearer we are vnto God the more obnoxious we are to this triall neither can we be discouraged by the hainousnesse of those euils whereto wee are moued since wee see the Sonne of God solicited to infidelity couetousnesse idolatry How glorious therefore was it for thee O Sauiour how happy for vs that thou were tempted Where then wast thou tempted O blessed Iesu or whither wentest thou to meet with our great aduersary I doe not see thee led into the market-place or any other part of the city or thy home-sted of Nazareth but into the vast wildernesse the habitation of beasts a place that carrieth in it both horror and opportunity why wouldst thou thus retire thy selfe from men but as confident Champions are wont to giue aduantage of ground or weapon to their Antagonist that the glory of their victory may be the greater So wouldest thou O Sauiour in this conflict with our common enemy yeeld him his owne termes for circumstances that thine honour and his foile may be the more Solitarinesse is no small helpe to the speed of a tentation Woe to him that is alone for if he fall there is not a second to lift him vp Those that out of an affectation of holinesse seeke for solitude in rocks and caues of the deserts doe no other than run into the mouth of the danger of tentation whiles they thinke to auoid it It was enough for thee to whose diuine power the gates of hell were weaknesse thus to challenge the Prince of darknesse Our care must be alwaies to eschew all occasions of spirituall danger and what we may to get vs out of the reach of tentations But O the depth of the Wisdome of God! How camest thou O Sauiour to be thus tempted That Spirit whereby thou wast conceiued as man and which was one with thee and the Father as God led thee into the wildernesse to bee tempted of Satan Whiles thou taughtest vs to pray to thy Father Leade vs not temptation thou meantest to instruct vs that if the same Spirit led vs not into this perilous way we goe not into it Wee haue still the same conduct Let the path bee what it will how can wee miscarry in the hand of a Father Now may wee say to Satan as thou didst vnto Pilate Thou couldst haue no power ouer me except it were giuen thee from aboue The Spirit led thee it did not driue thee here was a sweet inuitation no compulsion of violence So absolutely conformable was thy will to thy Deity as if both thy natures had but one volition In this first draught of thy bitter potion thy soule said in a reall subiection Not may will but thy will be done We imitate thee O Sauiour though we cannot reach to thee All thine are led by thy Spirit Oh teach vs to forget that we haue wils of our owne The Spirit led thee thine inuincibie strength did not animate thee into this combat vncalled What do we weaklings so far presume vpon our abilities or successe as that we dare thrust our selues vpon temptations vnbidden vnwarranted Who can pitty the shipwracke of those Marriners which will needes put forth and hoise sailes in a tempest Forty dayes did our Sauiour spend in the wildernesse fasting and solitary all which time was worne out in temptation how euer the last brunt because it was most violent is onely expressed Now could not the aduersary complaine of disaduantage whiles he had the full scope both of time and place to doe his worst And why did it please thee O Sauiour to fast forty dayes and forty nights vnlesse as Moses fasted forty dayes at the deliuery of the Law and Elias at the restitution of the Law So thou thoughtest fit at the accomplishment of the Law and the promulgation of the Gospel to fulfil the time of both these Types of thine Wherein thou intendest our wonder not our imitation Not our imitation of the time though of the act Here were no faulty desires of the flesh in thee to be tamed no possibility of a freer more easie assent of the soule to God that could bee affected of thee who wast perfectly vnited vnto God but as for vs thou wouldst suffer death so for vs thou wouldst suffer hunger that we might learne by fasting to prepare our selues for tentations In fasting so long thou intendest the manifestation of thy power in fasting no longer the truth of thy man-hood Moses Elias through the miraculous sustentation of God fasted so long without any question made of the truth of their bodies So long
be tryed with honour As some expert Fences that challenges at all weapons so doth this great enemie in vaine shall we plead our skill in some if wee faile in any It must be our wisedome to be prepared for all kind of assaults As those that hold Townes and Forts doe not onely defend themselues from incursions but from the Canon and the Pioner still doth that subtill Serpent trauerse his ground for an aduantage The Temple is not high enough for his next tentation He therefore carrie vp Christ to the top of an exceeding high mountaine All enemies in pitcht fields striue for the benefit of the Hill or Riuer or Wind or Sunne That which his seruant ââac did by his instigation himselfe doth now immediately change places in hope of preuailing If the obscure Countrie will not moue vs hee tries what the Court can doe if not our home the Tauerne if not the field our closet As no place is left free by his malice so no place must be made preiudiciall by our carelessnes and as we should alwayes watch ouer our selues so then most when the opportunity caries cause of suspition Wherefore is Christ caried vp so high but for prospect If the Kingdomes of the earth and their glorie were onely to be represented to his imagination the valley would haue serued If to the outward sence no hill could suffice Circular bodies though small cannot bee seene at once This show was made to both diuers kingdomes lying round about Iudea were represented to the eye The glory of them to the imagination Satan meant the eye could tempt the fancie no lesse than the fancie could tempt the will How many thousand soules haue died of the wound of the eye If we doe not let in sinne at the window of the eye or the doore of the eare it cannot enter into our hearts If there be any pompe maiestie pleasure brauerie in the world where should it bee but in the Courts of Princes whom God hath made his Images his deputies on earth There is soft rayment sumptuous feasts rich Iewels honourable attendance glorious triumphs royall state those Satan layes out to the fairest show But Oh the craft of that old Serpent Many a care attends greatnesse No Crowne is without thornes High seates are neuer but vneasie all those infinite discontentments which are the shaddow of earthly Soueraigntie he hides out of the way nothing may bee seene but what may both please and allure Satan is still and euer like himselfe If tentations might be but turnd about and showne on both sides the kingdome of darknesse would not be so populous Now whensoeuer the Tempter sets vpon any poore soule all sting of conscience wrath iudgement torment is concealed as if they were not Nothing may appeare to the eye but pleasure profit and a seeming happinesse in the enioying our desires those other wofull obiects are reserued for the farewell of sinne that our miserie may be seene and felt at once When we are once sure Satan is a Tyrant till then he is a Parasite There can be no safetie if we doe not view as well the backe as the face of tentations But oh presumption and impudence that hell it selfe may bee asham'd of The Diuell dares say to Christ All these will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship mee That beggerly spirit that hath not an âich of earth can offer the whole world to the maker to the owner of it The slaue of God would bee adored of his Creator How can wee hope hee should bee sparing of false boasts and of vnreasonable promises vnto vs when hee dares offer kingdomes to him by whom Kings reigne Tentations on the right hand are most dangerous how many that haue beene hardned with feare haue melted with honour There is no doubt of that soule that will not bite at the golden hooke False liârs and vaine-glorious boasters see the top of their pedigree If I may not rather say that Satan doth borrow the vse of their tongues for a time Whereas faithfull is hee that hath promised who will also doe it Fdelitie and truth is issue of the heauen If Idolatrie were not a deare sinne to Satan hee would not bee so importunate to compasse it It is miserable to see how he draws the world insensibly into this sinne which they professe to detest Those that would rather hazard the furnace than worship Gold in a statue yet doe adore it in the stampe and finde no saint with themselues If our hearts bee drawne to stoope vnto an ouer high respect of any creature wee are Idolaters O God it is no maruell if thy ielousie be kindled at the admission of any of thine owne workes into a competition of honour with their Creatour Neuer did our Sauiour say Auoide Satan till now It is a iust indignation that is conceiued at the motion of a riualitie with God Neither yet did Christ exercise his diuine power in this command but by the necessary force of Scripture driues away that impure Tempter It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue The rest of our Sauiours answeres were more full and direct than that they could admit of a replie but this was so flat and absolute that it vtterly daunted the courage of Satan and put him to a shamefull flight and made him for the time weary of his trade The way to be rid of the troublesome solicitations of that wicked one is continued resistance He that forcibly droue the tempter from himselfe takes him off from vs and will not abide his assaults perpetuall It is our exercise and triall that hee intends not our confusion SIMON called AS the Sunne in his first rising drawes all eyes to it So did this Sunne of righteousnesse when he first shone forth into the world His miraculous cures drew Patients his diuine doctrine drew Auditors both together drew the admiring multitude by troopes after him And why doe wee not still follow thee O Sauiour thorow deserts and mountaines ouer land and Seas that wee may bee both healed and taught It was thy word that when thou wert lift vp thou wouldst draw all men vnto thee Behold thou art lift vp long since both to the tree of shame and to the throne of heauenly glory Draw vs and wee shall runne after thee Thy word is still the same though proclaimed by men thy vertue is still the same though exercised vpon the spirits of men Oh giue vs to hunger after both that by both our soules may be satisfied I see the people not onely following Christ but pressing vpon him euen very vnmannerlinesse finds here both excuse and acceptation they did not keepe their distances in an awe to the Maistie of the speaker whiles they were rauished with the power of the speech yet did not our Sauiour checke their vnreuerent thronging but rather incourages their forwardnesse Wee cannot offend thee O God with the importunitie of our
filthinesse of the sinne was not so great as the impudency of the manner When the Prophet Nathan came with that heauy message of reproofe and menace to Dauid after his sinne with Bathsheba hee could say from God Behold I will raise vp euill against thee out of thine owne house and will take thy wiues before thine eyes and giue them vnto thy neighbour and he shall lie with thy wiues in the sight of this Sunne For thou didst it secretly but I will doe this thing before all Israel and before this Sunne The counsell of Achitophel and the lust of Absalom haue fulfilled the iudgement of God Oh the wisedome of the Almighty that can vse the worst of euils well and most iustly make the sins of men his executioners It was the sinne of Reuben that he defiled his fathers bed yet not in the same height of lewdnes what Reuben did in a youthfull wantonnesse Absalom did in a malicious despight Reuben sinned with one Absalom with ten Reuben secretly Absalom in the open eyes of heauen and earth yet old Iacob could say of Reuben Thou shalt not excell thy dignitie is gone whiles Achitophel sayes to Absalom Thy dignitie shall arise from incest Climbe vp to thy fathers bed if thou wilt sit in his throne If Achitophel were a politician Iacob was a Prophet if the one spake from carnall sense the other from diuine reuelation Certainly to sin is not the way to prosper what euer vaine fooles promise to themselues there is no wisdome nor vnderstanding nor counsell against the Lord. After the rebellion is secured for continuance the next care is that it may end in victory this also hath the working head of Achitophel proiected Wit experience told him that in these cases of assault celeritie vses to bring forth the happiest dispatch whereas protraction is no small aduantage to the defendant Let me saith he choose out now twelue thousand men and I will vp and follow after Dauid this night and I will come vpon him while he is weary and weak-handed No aduice could be more pernicious For besides the wearinesse and vnreadinesse of Dauid and his army the spirits of that worthy leader were daunted and deiected with sorrow and offered way to the violence of a sudden assault The field had beene halfe won ere any blow stricken Achitophel could not haue beene reputed so wise if he had not learned the due proportion betwixt actions and times He that obserueth euery winde shall neuer sow but he that obserues no winde at all shall neuer reape The likeliest deuices doe not alwayes succeed The God that had appointed to establish Dauids throne and determined Salomon to his succession findes meanes to crosse the plot of Achitophel by a lesse-probable aduice Hushai was not sent backe for nothing where God hath in his secret will decreed any euent hee inclines the wills of men to approue that which may promote his owne purposes Neither had Hushai so deepe an head neither was his counsell so sure as that of Achitophel yet his tongue shall refell Achitophel and diuert Absalom The pretences were fairer though the grounds were vnfound First to sweeten his opposition hee yeelds the praise of wisdome to his aduersary in all other counsels that hee may haue leaue to deny it in this His very contradiction in the present insinuates a generall allowance Then he suggests certaine apparent truths concerning Dauids valour and skill to giue countenance to the infereÌces of his improbabilities Lastly he cunningly feeds the proud humor of Absaloza in magnifying the power and extent of his commands and ends in the glorious boasts of his fore-promised victory As it is with faces so with counsell that is faire that pleaseth He that giues the vttrance to words giues also their speed Fauour both of speech and men is not euer according to desert but according to fore-ordination The tongue of Hushai the heart of Absalom is guided by a power aboue their owne Hushai shall therefore preuaile with Absalom that the treason of Absalom may not preuaile Hee that worketh all in all things so disposeth of wicked men and spirits that whiles they doe most oppose his reuealed will they execute his secret and whiles they thinke most to please they ouerthrow themselues When Absalom first met Hushai returned to Hierusalem hee vpbraided him pleasantly with the scoffe of his professed friendship to Dauid Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Sometimes there is more truth in the mouth then in the heart more in iest then in earnest Hushai was a friend his stay was his kindnes and now he hath done that for which he was left at Hierusalem disappointed Achitophel preserued Dauid Neither did his kindnesse to his friend rest here but as one that was iustly iealous of him with whom he was allowed to temporize he mistrusts the approbation of Absalom and not daring to put the life of his master vpon such an hazard he giues charge to Zadok and Abiathar of this intelligence vnto Dauid we cannot be too suspicious when we haue to doe with those that are faithlesse We cannot be too curious of the safety of good Princes Hushai feares not to descry the secrets of Absaloms counsell to betray a traytor is no other then a commendable worke Zadok and Abiathar are fast within the gates of Hierusalem their sonnes lay purposely abroad in the fields this message that concerned no lesse then the life of Dauid and the whole kingdome of Israel must bee trusted with a Maid Sometimes it pleaseth the wisedome of God who hath the variety of heauen and earth before him to single out weake instruments for great seruices and they shall serue his turne as well as the best No councellor of State could haue made this dispatch more effectually Ionathan and Ahimaaz are sent descried pursued preserued The fidelity of a maid instructed them in their message the suttlety of a woman saued their liues At the Well of Rogel they receiued their message in the Well of Bahurim was their life saued The sudden wit of a woman hath choked the mouth of her Well with dried corne that it might not bewray the messengers and now Dauid heares safely of his danger and preuents it and though weary with trauell and laden with sorrow he must spend the night in his remoue Gods promises of his deliuerance and the confirmation of his kingdome may not make him neglect the means of his safety If he be faithfull we may not be carelesse since our diligence and care are appointed for the factors of that diuine prouidence The acts of God must abate nothing of ours rather must we labour by doing that which he requireth to further that which he decreeth There are those that haue great wits for the publique none for themselues Such was Achitophel who whiles he had powers to gouerne a State could not tell how to rule his owne passions Neuer till now doe we find his counsell balked neither was it now
lust If now Dauid should haue returned to his owne bed hee had seconded the incest How much more worthy of separation are they who haue stained the mariage-bed with their wilfull sinne Amasa was one of the witnesses and abettors of Absaloms filthinesse yet is he out of policie receiued to fauour and imployment whiles the concubine suffer Great men yeeld many times to those things out of reasons of state which if they were priuate persons could not bee easily put ouer It is no small wisdome to engage a new reconciled friend that he may be confirmed by his owne act Therefore is Amasa commanded to leauie the forces of Iudah Ioab after many great merits and atchieuements lies rusting in neglect he that was so intire with Dauid as to bee of his counsell for Vriahs blood and so firme to Dauid as to lead all his battels against the house of Saul the Ammonites the Aramites Absalom is now cashiered must yeeld his place to a stranger late an enemy Who knows not that this sonne of Zeruiah had shed the blood of war in peace But if the blood of Absalom had not bin louder then the blood of Abner I feare this change had not been Now Ioab smarteth for a loyall disobedience How slippery are the stations of earthly honors and subiect to continuall ââueability Happy are they who are in fauour with him in whom there is no shadow of change Where men are commonly most ambitious to please with their first imployments Amasa slackens his pace The least delay in matters of rebellion is perilous may be inrecouerable The sons of Zeruiah are not sullen Abishai is sent Ioab goes vnsent to the pursuit of Sheba Amasa was in their way whom no quarrell but their enây had made of a brother an enemy Had the heart of Amasa beene priuy to any cause of grudge he had suspected the Kisse of Ioab now his innocent eyes looke to the lips not to the hand of his secret enemy The lips were smooth Art thou in health my brother the hand was bloody which smote him vnder the fift ribbe That vnhappy hand knew well this way vnto death which with one wound hath let out the Soules of two great Captaines Abaer and Amasa both they were smitten by Ioab both vnder the fift ribbe both vnder a pretence of friendship There is no enmity so dangerous as that which comes masked with loue Open hostility cals vs to our guard but there is no fence against a trusted trecherie We need not bee bidden to auoyde an enemy but who would run away from a friend Thus spiritually deales the world with our soules it kisses vs and stabs vs at once If it did not embrace vs with one hand it could not murther vs with the other Onely God deliuer vs from the danger of ãâã trust and we shall be safe Ioab is gone and leaues Amasa wallowing in blood That spectacle cannot but stay all passengers The death of great persons drawes euer many eyes Each man sayes Is not this my Lord Amasa Wherefore doe we goe to fight whiles our Generall lyes in the dust What a sad presage is this of our owne miscariage The wit of Ioabs followers hath therefore soone both remoued Amasa out of the way and couered him not regarding so much the losse as the eye-sore of Israel Thus wicked Politicks care not so much for the commission of villany as for the notice Smothered euils are as not done If oppressions if murders if treasons may be hid from view the obdured heart of the offender complaines not of remorse Bloody Ioab with what face with what heart canst thou pursue a Traitor to thy King whiles thy selfe art so foule a Traitor to thy friend to thy cozen-german and in so vnseasonable a slaughter to thy Soueraigne whose cause thou professest to reuenge If Amasa were now in an act of loyalty iustly on Gods part payd for the arerages of his late rebellion yet that it should bee done by thy hand then and thus it was flagitiously cruell Yet behold Ioab runs away securely with the fact haâââing to plague that in another whereof himselfe was no lesse guilty So vast are the gorges of some consciences that they can swallow the greatest crimes and find no straine in the passage It is possible for a man to be faithfull to some one person and perfidious to all others I do not find Ioab other then firme and loyall to Dauid in the midst of all his priuate falshoods whose iust quarrell he pursues against Sheba through all the Tribes of Israel None of all the strong Forts of reuolted Israel can hide the Rebell from the zeale of his reuenge The Citty of Abel lends harbor to that conspirator whom all Israel would and cannot protect Ioab casts vp a Mount against it and hauing inuironed it with a siege begins to worke vpon the wall and now after long chase is in hand to dig out that Vermin which hath earthed himselfe in this borough of Bethmaachah Had not the City been strong and populous Sheba had not cast himselfe for succor within those wals yet of all the inhabitants I see not any one man moue for the preseruation of their whole body Onely a woman vndertakes to treat with Ioab for their safety Those men whose spirits were great enough to maintaine a Traitor against a mighty King scorne not to giue way to the wisdome of a matron There is no reason that sexe should disparage where the vertue and merit is no lesse then masculine Surely the soule acknowledgeth no sex neither is varied according to the outward frame How oft haue we knowne female hearts in the brests of Men and contrarily manly powers in the weaker vessels It is iniurious to measure the act by the person and not rather to esteeme the person for the act She with no lesse prudence then courage challengeth Ioab for the violence of his assault and layes to him that law which he could not bee an Israelite and disauow the Law of the God of peace whose charge it was that when they should come neere to a City to fight against it they should offer it peace and if this tender must be made to forainers how much more to brethren So as they must inquire of Abel ere they batter'd it War is the extreme act of vindicatiue iustice neither doth God euer approue it for any other then a desperate remedy and if it haue any other end then peace it turnes into publike murder It is therefore an inhumane cruelty to shed blood where we haue not profered faire conditions of peace the refusall whereof is iustly punished with the sword of reuenge Ioab was a man of blood yet when the wise woman of Abel charged him with going about to destroy a mother in Israel and swallowing vp the inheritance of the Lord with what vehemency doth hee deprecate that challenge God forbid God forbid it me that I should deuoure or destroy it Although that city with
beene worthy to inioy him for her honest compassion Not more iustly then wisely therefore doth Salomon trace the true mother by the footsteps of loue and pity and adiudgeth the child to those bowels that had yearned at his danger Euen in morality it is thus also Truth as it is one so it loues intirenesse falshood diuision Satan that hath no right to the heart would be content with a peece of it God that made it all will haue either the whole or none The erroneous Church striues with the true for the liuing childe of sauing doctrine each claimes it for her owne Heresie conscious of her owne iniustice could be content to goe away with a leg or an arme of sound principles as hoping to make vp the rest with her owne mixtures Truth cannot abide to part with a ioynt and will rather endure to leese all by violence then a peece through a willing conniuency The Temple IT is a weak and iniurious censure that taxeth Salomons slacknesse in founding the house of God Great bodies must haue but slow motions He was wise that said the matters must be all prepared without ere we build within And if Dauid haue laid ready a great part of the metals and timber yet many a tree must be felled and squared and many a stone hewne and polished ere this foundation could be laid neither could those large Cedars be cut sawne seasoned in one yeare Foure yeares are soone gone in so vast a preparation Dauid had not beene so intire a friend to Hiram if Hiram had not beene a friend to God Salomons wisdome hath taught him to make vse of so good a neighbour of a fathers friend he knowes that the Tyrians skill was not giuen them for nothing Not Iewes onely but Gentiles must haue their hand in building the Temple of God Onely Iewes medled with the Tabernacle but the Temple is not built without the aide of Gentiles They together with vs make vp the Church of God Euen Pagans haue their Arts from heauen how iustly may we improue their graces to the seruice of the God of Heauen if there be a Tyrian that can worke more curiously in gold in siluer in brasse in iron in purple and blew silke then an Israelite why should not hee be imployed about the Temple Their heathenisme is their own their skill is their Makers Many a one workes for the Church of God that yet hath no part in it Salomon raises a tribute for the worke not of money but of men Thirty thousand Israelites are leauied for the seruice yet not continuedly but with intermission their labour is more generous and lesse pressing it is enough if they keep their courses one moneth in Lebanon two at home so as euer ten thousand worke whiles twentie thousand breathe So fauourable is God to his creature that he requires vs not to be ouer-toyled in the workes of his owne seruice Due respirations are requisite in the holiest acts The maine stresse of the worke lyes vpon Proselytes whose both number and paines was herein more then the Natiues An hundred and fifty thousand of them are imployed in bearing burthens in hewing stones besides their three thousand three hundred ouer-seers Now were the despised Gibeonites of good vse and in vaine doth Israel wish that the zeale of Saul had not robbed them of so seruiceable drudges There is no man so meane but may bee some way vsefull to the House of God Those that cannot worke in gold and siluer and silke yet may cut and hew and those that can doe neither yet may cary burdens Euen the seruices that are more homely are not lesse necessarie Who can dis-hearten himselfe in the conscience of his owne insufficiency when he sees God can as well serue himselfe of his labour as of his skill The Temple is framed in Lebanon and set vp in Sion Neither hammer nor axe was heard in that holy structure There was nothing but noise in Lebanon nothing in Sion but silence and peace What euer tumults are abroad it is fit there should bee all quietnesse and sweet concord in the Church Oh God that the axes of schisme or the hammers of furious contentions should bee heard within thy Sanctuary Thine house is not built with blowes with blowes it is beaten downe Oh knit the hearts of thy seruants together in the vnity of the spirit and the bond of peace that we may minde and speak the same things that thou who art the God of peace maist take pleasure to dwell vnder the quiet roofe of our hearts Now is the foundation laid and the wals rising of that glorious fabricke which all Nations admired and all times haue celebrated Euen those stones which were laid in the Base of the building were not ragged and rude but hewne and costly the part that lyes couered with earth from the eyes of all beholders is no lesse precious then those that are most conspicuous God is not all for the eye he pleaseth himselfe with the hidden value of the liuing stones of his spirituall Temple How many noble graces of his seruants haue been buried in obscuritie not discerned so much as by their owne eyes which yet as hee gaue so hee crowneth Hypocrites regard nothing but shew God nothing but truth The matter of so goodly a frame striues with the proportion whether shall more excell Here was nothing but white Marble without nothing but Cedar and Gold within Vpon the Hill of Sion stands that glittering and snowy pile which both inuiteth and dazeleth the eyes of passengers a farre off so much more precious within as Cedar is better then stone gold then Cedar No base thing goes to the making vp of Gods House If Satan may haue a dwelling he cares not though he patch it vp of the rubbish of stone or rotten sticks or drosse of metals God will admit of nothing that is not pure and exquisite His Church consists of none but the faithfull his habitation is in no heart but the gracious The fashion was no other then that of the Tabernacle onely this was more costly more large more fixed God was the same that dwelt in both hee varied not the same mysterie was in both Onely it was fit there should be a proportion betwixt the worke and the builder The Tabernacle was erected in a popular estate the Temple in a Monarchy it was fit this should sauour of the munificence of a King as that of the zeale of a multitude That was erected in the flitting condition of Israel in the desert this in their setled residence in the promised Land it was fit therefore that should bee framed for motion this for rest Both of them were distinguished into three remarkable diuisions whereof each was more noble more reserued then other But what doe we bend our eyes vpon stone and wood and metals God would neuer haue taken pleasure in these dead materials for their owne sakes if they had not had a further intendment Me thinkes
I see foure Temples in this one It is but one in matter as the God that dwels in it is but one three yet more in resemblance according to the diuision of them in whom it pleases God to inhabite For where euer God dwels there is his Temple Oh God thou vouchsafest to dwell in the beleeuing heart as we thy silly creatures haue our being in thee so thou the Creator of heauen earth hast thy dwelling in vs. The heauen of heauens is not able to containe thee and yet thou disdainest not to dwell in the strait lodgings of our renewed soule So then because Gods children are many and those many diuided in respect of themselues though vnited in their head therefore this Temple which is but one in collection as God is one is manifold in the distribution as the Saints are many each man bearing about him a little shrine of this infinite Maiestie And for that the most generall diuision of the Saints is in their place and estate some strugling and toyling in this earthly warfare others triumphing in heauenly glory therefore hath God two other more vniuersall Temples One the Church of his Saints on earth the other the highest heauen of his Saints glorified In all these O God thou dwellest for euer and this materiall house of thine is a cleare representation of these three spirituall Else what were a temple made with hands vnto the God of spirits And though one of these was a true type of all yet how are they all exceeded each by other This of stone though most rich and costly yet what is it to the liuing Temple of the holy Ghost which is our body What is the Temple of this body of ours to the Temple of Christs body which is his Church And what is the Temple of Gods Church on earth to that which triumpheth gloriously in heauen How easily doe wee see all these in this one visible Temple which as it had three distinctions of roomes the Porch the Holy-place the Holy of Holies so is each of them answered spiritually In the Porch wee finde the regenerate soule entring into the blessed society of the Church In the holy place the Communion of the true visible Church on earth selected from the world In the Holy of Holies whereinto the high Priest entred once a yeare the glorious heauen into which our true high-Priest Christ Iesus entred once for all to make an atonement betwixt God and man In all these what a meer correspondence there is both in proportion matter situation In proportion The same rule that skilfull caruers obserue in the cutting out of the perfect statue of a man that the height bee thrice the breadth and the breadth one third of the height was likewise onely obserued in the fabricke of the Temple whose length was double to the height and treble to the breadth as being sixty cubits long thirty high and twenty broad How exquisite a symmetry hast thou ordained O God betwixt the faithfull heart and thy Church on earth with that in heauen how accurate in each of these in all their powers and parts compared with other So hath God ordered the beleeuing soule that it hath neither too much shortnesse of grace nor too much height of conceit nor too much breadth of passion So hath he ordered his visible Church that there is a necessarie inequalitie without any disproportion an height of gouernment a length of extent a breadth of iurisdiction duely answerable to each other So hath he ordered his triumphant Church aboue that it hath a length of eternitie answered with an height of perfection and a breadth of incomprehensible glory In matter All was here of the best The wood was precious sweet lasting The stone beautifull costly insensible of age The gold pure and glittering So are the graces of Gods children excellent in their 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 onely to the Israelites and of them to the cleane within that yet another proper onely to the Priests and Leuites where was the Brazen Altar for sacrifice and the Brazen sea for washings The eyes 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 onely may enter not the Leuites there is whither the high Priest onely 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 onely 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 onely 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 wals we looke vnto the furniture What is the Altar whereon our sacrifices of prayer and praises are offered to the Almightie but a contrite heart What the golden Candlestickes 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 memory 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 O God doe wee 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 thy gracious 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 onely 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 wouldest dwell in an house of thine owne at thy Ierusalem So didst thou in the beginning lodge with our first Parents in a Tent Soiourne with Israel vnder the law and now makest
sinnes to informe our brethren How rife is this Dumbe Deuill euerywhere whiles hee stops the mouthes of Christians from these vsefull and necessarie duties For what end hath man those two priuiledges aboue his fellow creatures Reason and Speech but that as by the one he may conceiue of the great workes of his Maker which the rest cannot so by the other hee may expresse what hee conceiues to the honor of the Creator both of them and himselfe And why are all other creatures said to praise God and bidden to praise him but because they doe it by the apprehension by the expression of man If the heauens declare the glory of God how doe they it but to the eies and by the tongue of that man for whom they were made It is no small honor whereof the enuious spirit shall rob his Maker if he ãâã close vp the mouth of his onely rationall and vocall creature and turne the best of his workemanship into a dumbe Idoll that hath a mouth and speakes not Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Praise is not more necessary then complaint praise of God then complaint of ourselues whether to God or men The onely amends we can make to God what we haue not had the grace to auoid sinne is to confesse the sinne wee haue not auoided This is the sponge that wipes out all the blots and blurs of our liues If wee confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sins and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnesse That cunning man-slayer knowes there is no way to purge the sicke soule but vpward by casting out the vicious humor wherewith it is clogged and therefore holds the lips close that the heart may not dis-burden it selfe by so wholesome euacuation When I kept silence my bones consumed For day and night thy band O Lord was heauy vpon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer O let me confesse against my selfe my wickednesse vnto thee that thou maist forgiue the punishment of my sinne We haue a tongue for God when wee praise him for our selues when wee pray and confesse for our brethren when we speake the truth for their information which if we hold backe in vnrighteousnesse we yeeld vnto that dumbe Deuill where doe we not see that accursed spirit Hee is on the Bench when the mute or partiall Iudge speakes not for truth and innocence He is in the pulpit when the Prophets of God smother or halue or adulterate the message of their master Hee is at the barre when irreligious Iurors dare lend an oath to feare to hope to gaine Hee is in the market when godlesse chapmen for their peny sell the truth and their soule He is in the common conuersation of men when the tongue belies the heart flatters the guilty balketh reproofes euen in the foulest crimes O thou who only art stronger then that strong one cast him out of the hearts and mouthes of men It is time for thee Lord to worke for they haue destroyed thy Law That it might well appeare this impediment was not naturall so soone as the man is freed from the spirit his tongue is free to his speech The effects of spirits as they are wrought so they cease at once If the Sonne of God doe but remoue our spirituall possession we shall presently breake forth into the praise of God into the confession of our vilenesse into the profession of truth But what strange variety do I see in the spectators of this miracle some wondring others censuring a third sort tempting a fourth applauding There was neuer man or action but was subiect to variety of constructions What man could bee so holy as he that was God What act could bee more worthy then the dispossession of an euill spirit yet this man this act passeth these differences of interpretation What can we doe to vndergoe but one opinion If we giue almes and fast some will magnifie our charity and deuotion others will taxe our hypocrisie If wee giue not some will condemne our hard-heartednesse others will allow our care of iustice if wee preach plainly to some it will sauour of a carelesse slubbering to others of a mortified sincerity Elaborately some will tax our affectation others will applaud our diligence in dressing the delicate viands of God What maruell is it if it bee thus with our imperfection when it fared not otherwise with him that was purity and righteousnesse it selfe The austere fore-runner of Christ came neither eating nor drinking they say He hath a Deuill The sonne of man came eating and drinking they say This man is a glutton a friend of Publicans and sinners and here one of his holy acts caries away at once wonder censure doubt celebration There is no way safe for a man but to square his actions by the right rule of iustice of charitie and then let the world haue leaue to spend their glosses at pleasure It was an heroicall resolution of the chosen vessell I passe very little to be iudged of you or of mans day I maruell not if the people maruelled for here were foure wonders in one The blinde saw the deafe heard the dumbe spake the demoniacke is deliuered Wonder was due to so rare and powerfull a worke and if not this nothing We can cast away admiration vpon the poore deuices or actiuities of men how much more vpon the extraordinary workes of omnipotency Who so knowes the frame of Heauen and earth shall not much be affected with the imperfect effects of fraile humanity but shall with no lesse rauishment of soule acknowledge the miraculous workes of the same Almighty hand Neither is the spirituall eiection worthy of any meaner intertainment Raritie and difficultie are wont to cause wonder There are many things which haue wonder in their worth and leese it in their frequence there are some which haue it in their strangenesse and leese it in their facilitie Both meet in this To see men haunted yea possessed with a dumbe Deuill is so frequent that it is a iust wonder to finde a man free but to finde the dumbe spirit cast out of a man and to heare him praising God confessing his sinnes teaching others the sweet experiments of mercy deserues iust admiration If the Cynick sought in the market for a man amongst men well may we seeke amongst men for a conuert Neither is the difficulty lesse then the rarenesse The strong man hath the possession all passages are blockt vp all helpes barred by the trechery of our nature If any soule be rescued from these spirituall wickednesses it is the praise of him that doth wonders alone But whom doe I see wondring The multiude The vnlearned beholders follow that act with wonder which the learned Scribes entertaine with obloquy God hath reuealed those things to babes which he hath hid from the wise and prudent With what scorne did those great Rabbins speake of these sonnes of the earth This
people that knowes not the Law is accursed Yet the mercie of God makes an aduantage of their simplicity in that they are therefore lesse subiect to cauillation and incredulitie as contrarily his iustice causes the proud knowledge of the other to lie as a blocke in their way to the ready assent vnto the diuine power of the Messias Let the pride of glorious aduersaries disdaine the pouerty of the clients of the Gospell it shall not repent vs to goe to heauen with the vulgar whiles their great ones goe in state to perdition The multitude wondered Who censured but Scribes great Doctors of the Law of the diuinity of the Iewes What Scribes but those of Ierusalem the most eminent Academie of Iudea These were the men who out of their deepe reputed iudgment cast these foule aspersions vpon Christ Great wits oft-times mis-lead both the owners and followers How many shall once wish they had beene borne dullards yea idiots when they shal find their wit to haue barred them out of heauen Where is the Scribe where is the disputer of this world Hath not God made the wisdome of the world foolishnesse Say the world what it will a dram of holinesse is worth a pound of wit Let others censure with the Scribes let me wonder with the multitude What could malice say worse Hee casteth out Deuills through Beelzebub the Prince of Deuils The Iewes well knew that the Gods of the heathen were no other then Deuills Amongst whom for that the Lord of Flies so called whether for the concourse of flies to the abundance of his sacrifices or for his ayde implored against the infestation of those swarmes was held the chiefe therefore they stile him The Prince of Deuills There is a subordination of spirits some hier in degree some inferiour to others Our Sauiour himselfe tells vs of the Deuill and his Angels Messengers are inferiour to those that send them The seuen Deuills that entered into the swept and garnished house were worse then the former Neither can Principalities and Powers and Gouernours and Princes of the darkenesse of this World designe other then seuerall rankes of euill Angels There can be no beeing without some kinde of order there can bee no order in paritie If wee looke vp into heauen there is The King of Gods The Lord of Lords hier then the hiest If to the earth There are Monarchs Kings Princes Peeres people If wee looke downe to hell There is the Prince of Deuills They labour for confusion that call for parity What should the Church doe with such a forme as is not exemplified in heauen in earth in hell One deuill according to their supposition may be vsed to cast out another How far the command of one spirit ouer another may extend it is a sector of internall state too deepe for the inquiry of men The thing it selfe is apparent vpon compact and precontracted composition one giues way to other for the common aduantage As we see in the Common-wealth of Cheaters and Gut-purses one doth the fact another is seed to bring it out and to procure restitution both are of the trade both conspire to the fraud the actor falls not out with the reuealer but diuides with him that cunning spoile One malicious miscreant sets the Deuill on worke to the inflicting of disease or death another vpon agreement for a further spirituall gaine takes him off There is a Deuill in both And if there seeme more bodily fauour there is no lesse spirituall danger in the latter In the one Satan wins the agent the suitor in the other It will bee no cause of discord in hell that one deuill giues ease to the body which another tormented that both may triumph in the gaine of a soule O God that any creature which beares thine Image should not abhorre to bee beholden to the powers of hell for aid for aduice Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that men goe to inquire of the God of Ekron Can men bee so sottish to thinke that the vowed enemie of their soules can offer them a bait without an hooke What euill is there in the City which the Lord hath not done what is there which he cannot as easily redresse He wounds he heales againe And if he will not it is the Lord let him doe what seemes good in his eies If he doe not deliuer vs he will crowne our faithfulnesse in a patient perseuerance The wounds of a God no better then the salues of Satan Was it possible that the wit of Enuy could deuise so hie a slander Beelzebub was a God of the heathen therefore herein they accuse him for an Idolater Beelzebub was a Deuill to the Iewes therefore they accuse him for a coniurer Beelzebub was the chiefe of Deuils therefore they accuse him for an Archexorcist for the worst kind of Magician Some professors of this blacke Art though their worke be deuillish yet they pretend to doe it in the name of Iesus and will presumptuously seeme to do that by command which is secretly transacted by agreement the Scribes accuse Christ of a direct compact with the Deuill and suppose both a league and familiarity which by the law of Moses in the very hand of Saul was no other then deadly Yea so deepe doth this wound reach that our Sauiour searching it to the bottome findes no lesse in it then the sinne against the Holy Ghost inferring hereupon that dreadfull sentence of the irremissiblenesse of that sinne vnto death And if this horrible crimination were cast vpon thee O Sauiour in whom the Prince of this world found nothing what wonder is it if wee thy sinfull seruants bee branded on all sides with euill tongues Yea which is yet more how plaine is it that these men forced their tongue to speake this slander against their owne heart Else this blasphemie had beene onely against the sonne of man not against the holy Ghost but now that the searcher of hearts finds it to bee no lesse then against the blessed Spirit of God the spight must needs be obstinate their malice doth wilfully crosse their conscience Enuie neuer regards how true but how mischieuous So it may gall or kill it cares little whether with truth or falshood For vs Blessed are we when men reuile vs and say all manner of euill of vs for the name of Christ For them What reward shall be giuen to thee thou false tongue Euen sharpe arrowes with hot burning coles Yea those very coles of hell from which thou wert enkindled There was yet a third sort that went a mid way betwixt wonder and censure These were not so malicious as to impute the miracle to a Satanicall operation they confesse it good but not enough and therefore vrge Christ to a further proofe Though thou hast cast out this dumbe Deuill yet this is no sufficient argument of thy diuine power We haue yet seene nothing from thee like those ancient miracles of the times of our
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 horrour which ariseth from the place whereto they are euerlastingly confined For if the incorporeall spirits of liuing men may bee held in a loathed or painfull body and conceiue sorrow to bee so imprisoned Why may wee 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 O my soule at the thought of this wofull condition of the euill Angels who for one onely act of Apostasie from God are thus perpetually tormented whereas we sinfull wretches multiply many and presumptuous offences against the Maiestie of our God And withall admire and magnifie that infinite mercy 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 opportunitie of a perfect freedome from them for euer Praise the Lord O my soule and all that is within me praise his holy Name who for giueth all thy sinnes and healeth all thine infirmities Who redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy 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 they 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 deny that day of finall retribution Oh the wonderfull mercy 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 highest extremitie of his vengeance Hee 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 stayes a time for both Though with this difference of mercy to vs men that here not onely 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 he sues I beseech thee torment mee not The world is well changed since Satans first onset vpon Christ Then hee could say If thou be the Sonne of God now Iesus the Sonne of the most high 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 hee lists can change the note of the Tempter to vs How happy are wee 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 Almighty 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 yee shall see the very masters whom ye haue serued the powers of darknesse vnable to auoid the reuenges of God How much lesse shall man striue with his Maker man whose breath is in his nostrils whose house is clay whose foundation is the dust Nature teaches euery creature to wish a freedome from paine the foulest spirits cannot but loue themselues and this loue must needs produce a deprecation of euill Yet what a thing is this to heare the deuill at his prayers I beseech thee torment me not Deuotion is not guilty of this but feare There is no grace in the suit of Deuils but nature no respect of glory to their Creator but their owne ease They cannot pray against sinne but against torment for sinne What newes is it now to heare the profanest mouth in extremitie imploring the Sacred Name of God when the Deuils doe so The worst of all creatures hates punishment and can say Lead me not into paine onely the good heart can say Leade mee not into temptation If wee can as heartily pray against sinne for the auoiding of displeasure as against punishment when wee haue displeased there is true grace in the soule Indeed if wee could feruently pray against sinne we should not need to pray against punishment which is no other then the inseparable shadow of that bodie but if we haue not laboured against our sins in vaine doe wee pray against punishment God must be iust and the wages of sinne is death It pleased our holy Sauiour not onely to let fall words of command vpon this spirit but to interchange some speeches with him All Christs actions are not for example It was the errour of our Grand-mother to hold chat with Satan That God who knowes the craft of that old Serpent and our weake simplicitie hath charged vs not to enquire of an euill spirit surely if the Disciples returning to Iacobs Well wondred to see Christ talke with a woman well may wee wonder to see him talking with an vncleane Spirit Let it be no presumption O Sauiour to aske vpon what grounds thou didst this wherein wee may not follow thee Wee know that sinne was excepted in thy conformitie of thy selfe to vs wee know there was no guile found in thy mouth no possibilitie of taint in thy nature in thine actions Neither is it hard to conceiue how the same thing may bee done by thee without sinne which wee cannot but sinne in doing There is a vast difference in the intention in the Agent For on the one side thou didst not aske the name of the spirit as one that knew not and would learne by inquiring but that by the confession of that mischiefe which thou pleasedst to suffer the grace of the cure might bee the more conspicuous the more glorious so on the other God and man might doe that safely which meere man cannot doe without danger thou mightest touch the leprosie and not be legally vncleane because thou touchedst it to heale it didst not touch it with possibility of infection So mightest thou who by reason of the perfection of thy diuine nature wert vncapable of any staine by the interlocution with Satan safely conferre with him whom corrupt man pre-disposed to the danger of such a parle may not meddle with without sinne because not without perill It is
Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel Let it be knowne this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy Seruant and that I haue done all these things at thy word Heare me O Lord heare me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God that thou hast turned their hearts backe againe The Baalites prayers were not more tedious then Elijahs was short and yet more pithy then short charging God with the care of his couenant of his truth of his glory It was Elijah that spake loud Oh strong cryes of faith that pierce the heauens and irresistably make their way to the throne of grace Israel shall well see that Elijahs God whom they haue forsaken is neither talking nor pursuing nor trauelling nor sleeping Instantly the fire of the Lord fals froÌ heauen consumes the burnt sacrifice the wood the stones the dust licks vp the water that was in the trench With what terror must Ahab and Israel needs see this fire rolling downe out of the sky and alighting with such fury so neere their heads heads no lesse fit for this flame then the sacrifice of Elijah Well might they haue thought How easily might this fire haue dilated it selfe and haue consumed our bodies as well as the wood and stone and haue lickt vp our blood as well as that water I know not whether they had the grace to acknowledge the mercy of God they could doe no lesse then confesse his power The Lord is God The Lord is God The iron was now hot with this heauenly fire Elijah stayes not till it coole againe but strikes immediately Take the Prophets of Baal let not one of them escape This wager was for life Had they preuailed in procuring this fire and Elijah failed of effect his head had been forfeited to them now in the contrary successe theirs are lost to him Let no man complaine that those holy hands were bloody This sacrifice was no lesse pleasing to God then that other Both the man and the act were extraordinarie and led by a peculiar instinct Neither doth the Prophet this without the assent of the supreme Magistrate who was now so affected with this miraculous worke that hee could not in the heat of that conuiction but allow the iustice of such sentence Farre be it from vs to accuse Gods commands or executions of cruelty It was the ancient and peremptory charge of God that the authors of Idolatry and seduction should dye the death no eye no hand might spare them The Prophet doth but moue the performance of that Law which Israel could not without sinne haue omitted It is a mercifull and thanke-worthy seuerity to rid the world of the Ring-leaders of wickednesse ELIjAH running before AHAB Flying from IEzEBEL I Heare no newes of the foure hundred Prophets of the Groues They lye close vnder the wing of Iezebel vnder their pleasing shades neither will be suffered to vndergoe the danger of this tryall the carkeises of their fellowes helpe to fill vp the haife-dry channell of Kishon Iustice is no sooner done then Ahab heares newes of mercy from Elijah Get thee vp eate and drinke for there is a sound of abundance of raine Their meeting was not more harsh then their parting was friendly It seemes Ahab had spent all that day fasting in an eager attendance of those conflicting Prophets It must needs bee late ere the execution could be done Elijahs part began not till the euening So farre must the King of Israel bee from taking thought for the massacre of those foure hundred and fifty Baalites that now hee may goe eate his bread with ioy and drinke his wine with a chearefull heart for God accepteth this worke and testifies it in the noise of much raine Euery drop of that Idolatrous blood was answered with a showre of raine with a streame of water and plenty poured downe in euery showre A sensible blessing followes the vnpartiall stroakes of seuere iustice Nothing is more cruell then an vniust pitie No eares but Elijahs could as yet perceiue a sound of raine the clouds were not yet gathered the vapours were not yet risen yet Elijah heares that which shall be Those that are of Gods Councell can discerne either fauours or iudgements afarre off the slacke apprehensions of carnall hearts make them hard to beleeue that as future which the quicke and refined senses of the faithfull perceiue as present Ahab goes vp to his repast Elijah goes vp to his prayers That day had bin painfull to him the vehemence of his spirit drawes him to a neglect of his body The holy man climbes vp to the top of Carmel that now hee may talke with his God alone neither is he sooner ascended then he casts himselfe downe vpon the earth He bowes his knees to God and bowes his face downe to his knees by this humble posture acknowledging his awfull respects to that Maiestie which he implored We cannot prostrate our bodies or soules too low to that infinitely glorious Deity who is the Creator of both His thoughts were more high then his body was low what he said wee know not we know that what he said opened the heauens that for three yeares and an halfe had bin shut vp God had said before I will send raine vpon the earth yet Elijah must pray for what God did promise The promises of the Almighty do not discharge our prayers but suppose them he will doe what he vndertakes but wee must sue for that which we would haue him doe Our petitions are included in the decrees in the ingagements of God The Prophet had newly seene and caused the fire to descend immediately out of heauen he doth not looke the water should doe so he knew that the raine must come from the clouds and that the clouds must arise from vapours and those vapours from the Sea thence doth he expect them But as not willing that the thoughts of his fixed deuotion should be distracted he doth not goe himselfe onely sends his seruant to bring him the newes of his successe At the first sight nothing appeares Seuen times must he walke to that prospect and not till his last view can discerne ought All that while is the Prophet in his prayers neither is any whit danted with that delay Hope holds vp the head of our holy desires and perseuerance crownes it If we receiue not an answer âo our suits at the sixth motion wee may not bee out of countenance but must try the seuenth At last a little cloud arises out of the Sea of an hand breadââ So many so feruent prayers cannot but pull water out of heauen as well as fire Those sighs reflect vpon the earth and from the earth reflect vpon heauen âom heauen rebound vpon the Sea and raise vapours vp thence to heauen againe If we finde that our prayers are heard for the substance wee may not cauill at the quantitie Euen an hand broad cloud contents Eliah and fils his heart full
of his seruice The euening praises the day and the chiefe grace of the theater is in the last Scene Be faithfull to the death and I will giue thee a Crowne of life That Elijah should be translated and what day he should be translated God would haue no secret The sonnes of the Prophets at Bethel at Iericho both know it and aske Elisha if he knew it not Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy Master from thy head this day and hee answered Yea I know it hold yee your peace How familiarly do these Prophets inter-know one another How kindly do they communicate their visions Seldome euer was any knowledge giuen to keep but to impart The grace of this rich Iewell is lost in concealement The remouall of an Elijah is so important a businesse that it is not fit to be done without noise Many shall haue their share in his losse he must be missed on the sudden it was meet therefore that the world should know his rapture should be diuine and glorious I doe not finde where the day of any naturall death is notified to so many by how much more wonder there was in this Assumption by so much more shall it bee fore-reuealed It is enough for ordinarie occurrents to bee knowne in their euent supernaturall things haue need of premonition that mens hearts may bee both prepared for their receit and confirmed in their certainty Thrice was Elisha intreated thrice hath hee denied to stay behinde his now-departing Master on whom both his eyes and his thoughts are so fixed that hee cannot giue allowance so much as to the interpellation of a question of his fellow-Prophets Together therefore are this wonderfull paire comne to the last stage of their separation the bankes of Iordan Those that were not admitted to bee attendants of the iourney yet will not bee debarred from being spectators of so maruellous an issue Fifty men of the sonnes of the Prophets went and stood to view afarre off I maruell there were no more How could any sonne of the Prophets stay within the Colledge walls that day when hee knew what was meant to Elijah Perhaps though they knew that to bee the Prophets last day yet they might thinke his disparition should bee sudden and insensible besides they found how much hee affected secrecie in this intended departure yet the fifty Prophets of Iericho will make proofe of their eyes and with much intention assay who shall haue the last sight of Elijah Miracles are not purposed to silence and obscuritie God will not worke wonders without witnesses since hee doth them on purpose to winne glory to his name his end were frustrate without their notice Euen so O Sauiour when thou hadst raised thy selfe from the dead thou wouldest bee seene of more then fiue hundred brethren at once and when thou wouldest raise vp thy glorified bodie from earth into Heauen thou didst not ascend from some close valley but from the Mount of Oliues not in the night not alone but in the cleare day in the view of many eyes which were so fixed vpon that point of thine heauen that they could scarce bee remoued by the checke of Angels Iordan must be crossed by Elijah in his way to heauen There must be a meet parallel betwixt the two great Prophets that shal meet Christ vpon Tabor Moses and Elias Both receiued visions on Horeb to both God appeared there in fire and other formes of terrour both were sent to Kings one to Pharaoh the other to Ahab Both prepared miraculous Tables the one of Quailes and Manna in the Desert the other of Meale and Oyle in Sarepta Both opened heauen the one for that nourishing dew the other for those refreshing showres Both reuenged Idolatries with the sword the one vpon the worshippers of the golden Calfe the other vpon the foure hundred Baalites Both quenched the drought of Israel the one out of the Rocke the other out of the Cloud Both diuided the waters the one of the Red Sea the other of Iordan Both of them are forewarned of their departure Both must be fetcht away beyond Iordan The body of Elijah is translated the body of Moses is hid What Moses doth by his Rod Elijah doth by his Mantle with that hee smites the Waters and they as fearing the diuine power which wrought with the Prophet runne away from him and stand on heapes leauing their dry channell for the passage of those awfull feet It is not long since he mulcted them with a generall exsiccation now he onely bids them stand aside and giue way to his last walke that he might with dry feet mount vp into the celestiall chariot The waters doe not now first obey him they know that Mantle of old which hath oft giuen lawes to their falling rising standing they are past ouer and now when Elijah finds himselfe treading on his last earth hee profers a munificent boone to his faithfull seruant Aske what I shall doe for thee before I am taken from thee I doe not heare him say Aske of me when I am gone In my glorified condition I shall bee more able to bestead thee but aske before I goe Wee haue a communion with the Saints departed not a commerce when they are inabled to doe more for vs they are lesse apt to be sollicited by vs It is safe suing where we are sure that we are heard Had not Elijah receiued a peculiar instinct for this profer he had not been thus liberall It were presumption to be bountifull on anothers cost without leaue of the owner The mercy of our good God allowes his fauourites not onely to receiue but to giue not onely to receiue for themselues but to conuey blessings to others What can that man want that is befriended of the faithfull Elisha needs not goe farre to seeke for a suit It was in his heart in his mouth Let a double portion of thy spirit be vpon me Euery Prophet must be a sonne to Elijah but Elisha would be his heire and craues the happy right of his primogeniture the double share to his brethren It was not wealth nor safety nor ease nor honour that Elisha cares for the world lies open before him hee may take his choice the rest he contemneth nothing will serue him but a large measure of his masters spirit No carnall thought was guilty of this sacred ambition Affectation of eminence was too base a conceit to fall into that man of God He saw that the times needed strong conuictions he saw that hee could not otherwise weild the succession to such a Master therefore he sues for a double portion of spirit the spirit of prophesie to foreknow the spirit of power to worke We cannot bee too couetous too ambitious of spirituall gifts such especially as may inable vs to win most aduantage to God in our vocations Our wishes are the true touch-stone of our estate such as we wish to be we are worldly hearts affect earthly things spirituall
whiles our hearts are euill The Cruse and the Salt must bee their owne The act must bee his the power Gods He cast the Salt into the spring and said Thus saith the Lord I haue healed these waters there shall not be from thence any more death or barrennesse Farre was it from Elisha to challenge ought to himselfe Before when hee should diuide the waters of Iordan he did not say Where is the power of Elisha but Where is the Lord God of Elijah and now when hee should cure the waters of Iericho hee saies not Thus saies Elisha but thus saith the Lord I haue healed these waters How carefull is the man of God that no part of Gods glory should sticke to his owne fingers Iericho shall know to whom they owe the blessing that they may duely returne the thankes Elisha professes he can doe no more of himselfe then that Salt then that Cruse onely God shall worke by him by it and what euer that almighty hand vndertakes cannot faile yea is already done neither doth he say I will heale but I haue healed Euen so O God if thou cast into the fountaine of our hearts but one Cruse-full of the Salt of thy Spirit we are whole no thought can passe betweene the receit and the remedy As the generall visitor of the Schooles of the Prophets Elisha passeth from Iericho to that other Colledge at Bethel Bethel was a place of strange composition there was at once the golden Calfe of Ieroboam and the Schoole of God True religion and Idolatry found a free harbour within those wals I do not maruell that Gods Prophets would plant there there was the most need of their presence where they found the spring head of corruption Physitians are of most vse where diseases abound As he was going vp by the way there came forth little children out of the City and mocked him and said to him Goe vp thou bald-head Goe vp thou bald-head Euen the very boyes of Bethel haue learned to scoffe at a Prophet The spight of their Idolatrous parents is easily propagated Children are such as their institution Infancy is led altogether by imitation it hath neither words nor actions but infused by others If it haue good or ill language it is but borrowed and the shame or thanke is due to those that lent it What was it that these ill-taught children vpbraided to the Prophet but a sleight naturall defect not worthy the name of a blemish the want of a little haire at the best a comely excrement no part of the body Had there been deformity in that smoothnesse of the head which some great wits haue honoured with praises a faultlesse and remedilesse eye-sore had beene no fit matter for a taunt How small occasions will be taken to disgrace a Prophet If they could haue said ought worse Elisha had not heard of this God had crowned that head with honor which the Bethelitish children loaded with scorne Who would haue thought the rude termes of waggish boyes worthy of any thing but neglect Elisha lookes at them with seuere browes and like the heire of him that cald downe fire vpon the two Captaines and their fifties curses them in the name of the Lord Two shee-Beares out of the wood hasten to bee his executioners and teare two and forty of them in peeces O fearefull example of diuine Iustice This was not the reuenge of an angry Prophet it was the punishment of a righteous Iudge God and his Seer lookt through these children at the Parents at all Israel he would punish the parents mis-nurturing their children to the contemptuous vsage of a Prophet with the death of those children which they had mis-taught Hee would teach Israel what it was to mis-use a Prophet And if hee would not endure these contumelies vnreuenged in the mouthes of children what vengeance was enough for aged persecutors Doubtlesse some of the children escaped to tell the newes of their fellowes what lamentation doe wee thinke there was in the streets of Bethel how did the distressed mothers wring their hands for this woefull orbation And now when they came forth to fetch the remnants of their owne flesh what a sad spectacle it was to finde the fields strawed with those mangled carkasses It is an vnprofitable sorrow that followes a iudgement Had these parents beene as carefull to traine vp their children in good discipline and to correct their disorders as they are now passionate in bemoaning their losse this slaughter had neuer beene In vaine doe we looke for good of those children whose education we haue neglected In vaine do we grieue for those miscariages which our care might haue preuented Elisha knew the successe yet doth he not balke the City of Bethel Doe wee not wonder that the furious impatience of those parents whom the curse of Elisha robbed of their children did not breake forth to some malicious practice against the Prophet Would wee not thinke the Prophet might misdoubt some hard measure from those exasperated Citizens There lay his way hee followes God without feare of men as well knowing that either they durst not or they could not act violence They knew there were Beares in the wood and fires in heauen and if their malice would haue ventured aboue their courage they could haue no more power ouer Elisha in the streets then those hungry beasts had in the way Whither dare not a Prophet go when God cals him Hauing visited the schooles of the Prophets Elisha retires to mount Carmel after some holy solitarinesse returnes to the City of Samaria He can neuer be a profitable Seer that is either alwaies or neuer alone Carmel shall fit him for Samaria contemplation for action That mother City of Israel must needs afford him most worke Yet is the Throne of Ahaziah succeeded by a brother lesse ill then himselfe then the parents of both Ahabs impiety hath not a perfect heire of Iehoram That son of his hates his Baal though he keepes his calues Euen into the most wicked families it pleaseth God to cast his powerfull restraints that all are not equally vicious It is no newes to see lewd men make scruple of some sinnes The world were not to liue in if all sinnes were affected by all It is no thanke to Ahab and Iezebel that their sonne is no Baalite As no good is traduced from parents so not all euill there is an Almighty hand that stops the foule current of nature at his pleasure No Idolater can say that his child shall not be a conuert The affinitie betwixt the houses of Israel and Iuda holds good in succession Iehoram inherits the friendship the aid of Iehoshaphat whose counsell as is most likely had cured him of that Baalisme It was a good warre whereto he solicites the good King of Iudah The King of Moab who had beene an ancient Tributarie from the daies of Dauid falls now from his homage and refuses to pay his hundred thousand Lambes and hundred
to take him There are Spies vpon him whose espials haue moued their anger and admiration Hee is descried to be in Dothan a small towne of Manasses A whole Armie is sent thither to surprise him The opportunitie of the night is chosen for the exploit There shall bee no want either in the number or valour or secrecie of these conspired troupes and now when they haue fully girt in the village with a strong and exquisite siege they make themselues sure of Elisha and please themselues to thinke how they haue incaged the miserable Prophet how they should take him at vnawares in his bed in the midst of a secure dreame how they should carie him fettered to their King what thankes they should haue for so welcome a prisoner The successor of Gehezi riseth early in the morning and sees all the Citie encompassed with a fearfull host of foot horse charets His eye could meet with nothing but woods of pikes and wals of harnesse and lustre of metals and now hee runnes in affrighted to his Master Alas my Master what shall wee doe Hee had day enough to see they were enemies that inuironed them to see himselfe helplesse and desperate and hath onely so much life left in him as to lament himselfe to the partner of his miserie He cannot flee from his new master if he would he runnes to him with a wofull clamour Alas my Master what shall we do Oh the vndanted courage of faith Elisha sees all this and sits in his chamber so secure as if these had onely beene the guard of Israel for his safe protection It is an hard precept that hee giues his seruant Feare not As well might hee haue bid him not to see when he saw as not to feare when he saw so dreadfull a spectacle The operations of the senses are not lesse certaine then those of the affections where the obiects are no lesse proper But the taske is easie if the next word may find beleefe For there are moe with vs then with them Multitude and other outward probabilities do both lead the confidence of naturall hearts and fix it It is for none but a Dauid to say I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that haue set themselues against me round about Flesh and blood riseth and falleth according to the proportion of the strength or weaknesse of apparent meanes Elishaes man lookt about him yet his Master prayes Lord open his eyes that they may see Naturally we see not whiles we doe see Euery thing is so seene as it is Bodily eyes discerne bodily obiects onely spirituall can see the things of God Some men want both eyes and light Elishaes seruant had eyes wanted illumination No sooner were his eyes open then he saw the mountaine full of horses and charets of fire round about Elisha They were there before neither doth Elisha pray that those troups may be gathered but that they may be seene not till now were they descried Inuisible armies guard the seruants of God whiles they seeme most forsaken of earthly ayd most exposed to certaine dangers If the eyes of our faith be as open as those of our sense to see Angels as well as Syrians we cannot be appalled with the most vnequall termes of hostilitie Those blessed Spirits are ready either to rescue our bodies or to carie vp our soules to blessednesse whether euer shall bee enioyned of their Maker there is iust comfort in both in either Both those Charets that came to fetch Elijah and those that came to defend Elisha were fiery God is not lesse louely to his owne in the midst of his iudgements then hee is terrible to his enemies in the demonstrations of his mercies Thus guarded it is no maruell if Elisha dare walke forth into the midst of the Syrians Not one of those heauenly Presidiaries strucke a stroke for the Prophet neither doth hee require their blowes onely hee turnes his prayer to his God and sayes Smite this people I pray thee with blindnesse With no other then deadly intentions did these Aramites come downe to Elisha yet doth not he say Smite them with the Sword but Smite them with blindnesse All the euill he wishes to them is their repentance There was no way to see their errour but by blindnesse He that prayed for the opening of his seruants eyes to see his safe-gard prayes for the blinding of the eyes of his enemies that they might not see to doe hurt As the eyes of Elishaes seruant were so shut that they saw not the Angels when they saw the Syrians so the eyes of the Syrians shall bee likewise shut that when they see the man they shall not see the Prophet To all other obiects their eyes are cleare onely to Elisha they shall bee blind blind not through darknesse but through misknowledge they shall see and mistake both the person and the place Hee that made the senses can either hold or delude them at pleasure how easily can hee offer to the sight other representations then those which arise from the visible matter and make the heart to beleeue them Iustly now might Elisha say This is not the way neither is this the Citie wherein Elisha shall bee descried He was in Dothan but not as Elisha hee shall not be found but in Samaria neither can they haue any guide to him but himselfe No sooner are they come into the streets of Samaria then their eyes haue leaue to know both the place and the Prophet The first sight they haue of themselues is in the trap of Israel in the iawes of death those stately Palaces which they now wonder at vnwillingly carie no resemblance to them but of their graues Euery Israelite seemes an executioner euery house a Iayle euery beame a Gibbet and now they looke vpon Elisha transformed from their guide to their common murderer with horror and palenesse It is most iust with God to intangle the plotters of wickednesse in their owne snare How glad is a mortall enemy to snatch at all aduantages of reuenge Neuer did the King of Israel see a more pleasing sight then so many Syrian throats at his mercy and as loth to lose so faire a day as if his fingers itched to bee dip't in blood hee saies My father shall I smite shall I smite them The repetition argued desire the compellation reuerence Not without allowance of a Prophet would the King of Israel lay his hand vpon an enemy so miraculously trained home His heart was still foule with idolatry yet would he not taint his hand with forbidden blood Hypocrisie will bee still scrupulous in fomething and in some awfull restraints is a perfect counterfeit of conscience The charitable Prophet soone giues an angry prohibition of slaughter Thou shalt not smite them Wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captiue with thy sword and with thy bow As if he said These are Gods captiues not thine and if they were thine owne their blood could not bee shed
garment that is but mended a new house that is repaired Blush if yee haue any shame who thus ignorantly and maliciously cast this in our teeth Goe to now my brethren wee are by Gods grace reformed Let vs take heed lest we be deformed againe by mutuall dissentions This is that which weakens and lames vs and which laies vs open to the insulting triumphs of our Aduersaries Yet lest wee should seeme to giue too much way to a spightfull slander these iarres of our ãâã so great as our enemies either desire or clamour Certainly what disconâââner hitherto haue troubled vs wee are beholding to none other for them but to these our kinde enemies who vpbraid vs with them For if they had but reacht forth vnto vs an helping hand in due time and ioyntly conferd their endeuours which then behooued them for the reforming of the Church all had run squarely on There had beene no iarres no grudgings no parts takings But they stifly refused and by their frowardnesse and pertinacy caused this so weighty a taske to be cast vpon some few and those both weak vnable and altogether vnfit for such a charge It could not therefore be otherwise but that the opinions of some single men not conferd together in such a businesse must needs somewhat differ But thankes be to thee O blessed God the Author of peace that hast vouchsafed by thy spirit so to bridle the distemperate affections of men that their busie spirits being stirred vp haue not boyled forth into more fearefull diuisions But what are these so great dissentions and blowes of bloudy warre which our aduersaries so cry out vpon Forsooth rather than want they can faine names of sects to themselues And where they can finde the least difference in the paper of any obscure Author of ours presently they cry out New schismes new sects What malice is this what eager desire of multiplying quarrels If it had been so of old so small hides had not serued to containe the volumes of Augustine Epiphanius Philastrius there had not beene fewer sects than teachers since the publishing of the Gospell But let vs passe ouer the number and come to the weight Let the malitious prattle what they will With some of ours the controuersie is not about any solid lims of Christian Faith but onely of the very skin with some others not about the skin but the garment rather nor about the garment it selfe neither but of the very hemme There are certaine scholasticall opinions of a middle ranck meere Theologicall Corollaries or perhaps some outward ceremonies wherein we dissent Principles of Christian Religion there are not And withall these controuersies are but such as that when the heat whether of zeale or anger shall abate and either part shall well vnderstand each other they will easily admit of a Reconciliation Neither haue these very Romanists lesser quarrels amongst themselues They can more hide their enmities not exercise them lesse If they bee more wise they are not more accordant Neither is there I dare say any head of Religion wherein they doe at once differ from vs and agree all with one another Finally our differences are no greater than were those of old among the holy Fathers of the Church whose quarrels notwithstanding are not so odiously blazoned by posterity I let passe the priuate scoldings of the Ancients not without some vnpleasing I had almost said misbeseeming tartnesse I had rather set before your eyes for good luck sake those publique altercations of the Churches and Fathers which afterward shut vp in a blessed concord What quarrels arose at the Councell of Ephesus betweene Cyril of Alexandria and Iohn of Antioch The Churches vnder both stuck not to counterthunder Anathemaes one against another Thereupon Theodoret thrust in his sickle into this haruest against whom Cyrillus by Enoptius instigation makes as strong opposition Theodoret accuseth Cyril of Apollinarisme Cyril accuses Theodoret of Nestorianisme The flame of their rage brake out more and more and almost drew the Christian world to parties so that afterwards when Theodoret would haue entred the Councell of Chalcedon the Egyptian and other reuerend Bishops cryed out We must cast out Cyril if we take in Theodoret The very Canons cast him forth God abhors him The like was done afterwards in the eighth Action The Bishops openly proclaiming He is an Heretick a Nestorian Away with the Heretick But when the matter was well scand and it was found that he willingly subscrib'd to the Orthodox Creeds and the Epistles of Leo The whole Synod with one accord cryed out Theodoret is well worthy of a See in the Church Let the Church receiue her Orthodox Pastor It is worthy of immortality that which Gregory Nazianzan âât ordeth of holy Athanasius The Romans seem'd to the Easterne Churches to follow the heresies of Sobellius in denying three Hypostases The Easterne likewise seemed to the Romans to fauour too much of Arrius in denying three Persons The quarrell grew hot Then came that great dispenser of soules and hauing meekly and mildly calld forth both sides before him he so handled the businesse that granting them the free vse of their termes he tied them close to the matter and shewed them a light whereby they might behold one another vpon this without more adoe finding themselues both in the right they fall to mutuall embracements Neither would it speed otherwise with vs Brethren as I doe verily beleeue if some Athanasius from Heauen would but ioyne our hands together Oh if once the gates of intestine and horrid warres were shut vp and the religious Princes which are the Nursing-fathers of the reformed Churches would command by vertue of their authority a Synod to be assembled as Generall as it might wherein both parts freely and modestly might lay forth their opinions and such common termes might be agreed vpon as wherein both parts might freely rest without preiudice to either How easily then how happily might these grieuous stirs bee quietly pacified Let vs pray for this my brethren let vs pray deuoutly In the meane while let vs all sweetly incline our hearts to peace and vnity Let there be amongst vs as S. Augustine to Ierome pure brotherhood Neither let vs suffer our selues vpon euery slight quirke of opinion to be distracted or torne asunder Let vs forget that there were euer any such in respect of the deuotion of a Sect as Luther Melancton Caluin Zuinglius Arminius or if any other mortall name for what haue we to doe with man Let vs breathe nothing let vs affect nothing but Iesus Christ We Diuines are Pleyades as Gregory saith wittily Let vs therefore shine still together though not without some difference of place In a pomegranate are many graines vnder one rinde You know the mystery Let vs ioyne these pomegranates to our Bells Let vs be loud but consorted Let vs deuote for euer with one heart all our operations ministeries gifts to one God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost to
one Head Christ one body the Church that being washed with one Baptisme ransomed with one price professing one Faith and holding the Vnity of the spirit in the bond of Peace we may at last happily enioy one and the same Heauen through Iesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the holy Spirit be ascribed all honour and glory for euermore Amen FINIS AN HOLY PANEGYRICK A SERMON PREACHED at Pauls Crosse vpon the anniuersarie Solemnitie of the happie Inauguration of our drad Soueraigne Lord King James March 24. 1613. 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 SIR JOHN SWINERTON Knight Lord Maior of the Citie of LONDON All Grace and Happinesse RIght Honourable MY owne forwardnesse whereof it repenteth me not hath sent forth other of my labours vnbidden but this your effectuall importunitie hath drawne forth into the common light It is an holy desire that the eye may second the eare in any thing that may helpe the soule and we that are fishers of men should bee wanting to our selues if wee had not baits for both those senses J plead not the disaduantage of a dead letter in respect of that life which elocution puts into any discourse Such as it is J make it both publike and yours J haue caused my thoughts so neere as J could to goe backe to the verie tearmes wherein J expressed them as thinking it better to fetch those words I haue let fall than to follow those J must take vp That therefore which it pleased your Lo. to heare with such patient attention and with so good affection to desire J not vnwillingly suffer abroad that these papers may speake that permanently to the eyes of all our Countrymen which in the passage found such fauour in the eares of your Citizens and such roome in so many hearts Besides your first and vehement motion for the Presse your knowne loue to learning deserues a better acknowledgement and no doubt findes it from more worthie hands And if my gratulation would adde any thing those should enuie you which will not imitate you For the rest God giue your Lo. a wise vnderstanding and couragious heart that you may prudently and strongly menage these wilde times vpon which you are fallen and by your holy example and powerfull endeuours helpe to shorten these reines of licentiousnesse That so this Citie which is better taught than any vnder heauen may teach all other places how to liue and may honour that profession which hath made it renowmed and all Gods Church ioyfull The welfare and happinesse whereof and your Lo. in it is vnfainedly wished by Your Lordships humbly deuoted IOS HALL AN HOLY PANEGYRICKE 1 SAM 12.24 25. Therefore feare you the Lord and serue him in truth with all your hearts and consider how great things he hath done for you But if you doe wickedly ye shall perish both ye and your King I Hold it no small fauour of God Right Honourable and beloued that hee hath called mee to the seruice of this day both in the name of such a people to praise him for his Anointed and in his name to praise his Anointed to his people The same hand that giues the opportunitie vouchsafe to giue successe to this businesse That which the Iewes sinned in but desiring it is our happinesse to enioy I need not call any other witnesse than this day wherein we celebrate the blessing of a King and which is more of a King higher than other Princes by the head and shoulders And if other yeeres had forgotten this tribute of their loyaltie and thankfulnesse yet the example of those ancient Romane Christians as Eusebius and Sozomen report would haue taught vs Decimum quemque annum Imperatores Romani magna festiuitate celebrant Sozom l. 1. 24. Idem Euseb de vita Const that the tenth compleat yeere of our Constantine deserues to be solemne and Iubilar And if our ill nature could be content to smother this mercy in silence the very Lepers of Samaria should rise vp against vs and say We doe not well this is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace My discourse yet shall not bee altogether laudatorie but as Samuels led in with exhortation and carried out with threatning For this Text is a composition of duties fauours dangers of duties which we owe of fauours receiued of dangers threatned The duties that God lookes for of vs come before the mention of the fauours we haue receiued from him though after their receit to teach vs that as his mercy so our obedience should be absolute and the danger followes both to make vs more carefull to hold the fauours and performe the duties And mee thinkes there cannot be a more excellent mixture If we should heare only of the fauors of God nothing of our duties wee should fall into conceitednesse if onely of our duties without recognition of his fauours we should prooue vncheerefull and if both of these without mention of any danger we should presume on our fauours and be slacke in our duties Prepare therefore your Christian eares and hearts for this threefold cord of God that through his blessing these dueties may draw you to obedience the dangers to a greater awe and the fauours to a further thankfulnesse The goodnesse of these outward this as is not such as that it can priuilege euery desire of them from sinne Iuxta Homer ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Monarchie ãâ¦ã and likeââ to his rule that sits in the assembly of Gods One God ãâ¦ã the acclamation of those ancient Christians and ye it was mis-desired of the Isrâââes Wee may not euer desire that which is better in it selfe but that which is bâtter for vs Neither must wee follow our conceit in this iudgement but the appointment of God Now though God had appointed in time both a Scepter and a Law-giuer to ãâã yet they sinned in mending the pase of God and sputting on his decree And if they had staid his leisure so that they had desired that which was best in it selfe best for them appointed by God and now appointed yet the manner and ground offended For out of an humor of innouation out of discontent out of distrust out of an itch of conformitie to other Nations to aske a King it was not onely a sinne as they confesse vers 29. but ragnah rabbah a great wickednesse as Samuel tells them vers 17. and as oftentimes we may reade Gods displeasure in the face of heauen he shewes it in the weather God thunders and raines in the middest of wheat-âaruest The thunder was fearefull the raine in that hot climate and season strangely vnseasonable both to bee in the instant of Samuels speech was iustly miraculous The heathen Poets bring in their fained God thundering in applause I neuer finde the true God did so Psal 29. This voice of
our pride and false confidence in earthly things then with a fleshly criââ though hainously seconded It was an hard and wofull choise of three yeares famine added to three fore-past or of three moneths flight from the sword of an enemie or three dayes pestilence The Almighty that had fore-determined his iudgement referres it to Dauids will as fully as if it were vtterly vndetermined God hath resolued yet Dauid may choose That infinite wisdome hath foreseene the very will of his creature which whiles it freely inclines it selfe to what it had rather vnwittingly wils that which was fore appointed in heauen We doe well beleeue thee O Dauid that thou wert in a wonderfull strait this very liberty is no other then fetters Thou needst not haue famine thou needst not haue the sword thou needst not haue pestilence one of them thou must haue There is misery in all there is misery in any thou and thy people can die but once and once they must dye either by famine warre or pestilence Oh God how vainely doe we hope to passe ouer our sinnes with impunitie when all the fauour that Dauid and Israel can receiue is to choose their bane Yet behold neither sinnes nor threats nor feares can bereaue a true penitent of his faith Let vs fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great There can bee no euill of punishment wherein God haue not an hand there could be no famine no sword without him but some euils are more immediate from a diuine stroke such was that plague into which Dauid is vnwillingly willing to fall He had his choyce of dayes moneths yeares in the same number and though the shortnesse of time prefixed to the threatned pestilence might seeme to offer some aduantage for the leading of his election yet God meant and Dauid knew it herein to proportion the difference of time to the violence of the plague neither should any fewer perish by so few dayes pestilence then by so many yeares famine The wealthiest might auoid the dearth the swiftest might runne away from the sword no man could promise himselfe safety from that pestilence In likelihood Gods Angell would rather strike the most guilty Howeuer therefore Dauid might well looke to be inwrapped in the common destruction yet he rather chooseth to fall into that mercy which hee had abused and to suffer from that iustice which he had prouoked Let vs now fall into the hands of the Lord. Humble confessions and deuout penance cannot alwayes auert temporall iudgements Gods Angell is abroad and within that short compasse of time sweepes away seuenty thousand Israelites Dauid was proud of the number of his subiects now they are abated that he may see cause of humiliation in the matter of his glory In what we haue offended we commonly smart These thousands of Israel were not so innocent that they should onely perish for Dauids sinne Their sinnes were the motiues both of this sinne and punishment besides the respect of Dauids offence they die for themselues It was no ordinarie pestilence that was thus suddenly and vniuersally mortall Common eyes saw the botch and the markes saw not the Angell Dauids clearer sight hath espyed him after that killing peragration through the Tribes of Israel shaking his sword ouer Ierusalem and houering ouer Mount Sion and now hee who doubtlesse had spent those three dismall dayes in the saddest contrition humbly casts himselfe downe at the feet of the auenger and layes himselfe ready for the fatall stroke of iustice It was more terrour that God intended in the visible shape of his Angell and deepeâ humiliation and what he meant he wrought Neuer soule could be more deiected more anguished with the sense of a iudgement in the bitternesse whereof hee cryes out Behold I haue sinned yea I haue done wickedly But these Sheepe what haue they done Let thine hand I pray thee be against me and against my fathers house The better any man is the more sensible he is of his owne wretchednesse Many of those Sheepe were Wolues to Dauid What had they done They had done that which was the occasion of Dauids sinne and the cause of their owne punishment But that gracious penitent knew his owne sinne he knew not theirs and therefore can say I haue sinned What haue they done It is safe accusing where wee may be boldest and are best acquainted our selues Oh the admirable charitie of Dauid that would haue ingrossed the plague to himselfe and his house from the rest of Israel and sues to interpose himselfe betwixt his people and the vengeance He that had put himselfe vpon the pawes of the Beare and Lyon for the rescue of his Sheepe will now cast himselfe vpon the sword of the Angell for the preseruation of Israel There was hope in those conflicts in this yeeldance there could be nothing but death Thus didst thou O sonne of Dauid the true and great Shepheard of thy Church offer thy selfe to death for them who had their hands in thy blood who both procured thy death and deserued their owne Here he offered himselfe that had sinned for those whom he professed to haue not done euill thou that didst no sinne vouchsauest to offer thy selfe for vs that were all sinne Hee offered and escaped thou offeredst and diedst and by thy death we liue and are freed from euerlasting destruction But O Father of all mercies how little pleasure doest thou take in the blood of sinners it was thine owne pitie that inhibited the Destroyer Ere Dauid could see the Angell thou hadst restrained him It is sufficient hold now thy hand If thy compassion did not both with-hold and abridge thy iudgements what place were there for vs out of hell How easie and iust had it beene for God to haue made the shutting vp of that third euening red with blood his goodnes repents of the slaughter and cals for that Sacrifice wherewith he will be appeased An Altar must be built in the threshing floore of Araunah the Iebusite Lo in that very Hill where the Angell held the sword of Abraham from killing his Sonne doth God now hold the Sword of the Angel from killing his people Vpon this very ground shall the Temple after stand heere shall be the holy Altar which shall send vp the acceptable oblations of Gods people in succeeding generations O God what was the threshing-floore of a Iebusite to thee aboue all other soyles What vertue what merit was in this earth As in places so in persons it is not to bee heeded what they are but what thou wilt That is worthiest which thou pleasest to accept Rich and bountifull Araunah is ready to meet Dauid in so holy a motion and munificently offers his Sion for the place his Oxen for the Sacrifice his Carts Ploughs and other Vtensils of his Husbandry for the wood Two franke hearts are well met Dauid would buy Araunah would giue The Iebusite would not sell Dauid will not take Since it was for