that when I and they stood before thine Altar as the two Goats one of vs to be sacrificed to appease thy wrath and as Ionas with the Marriners in the tempest of thine anger one of vs to be cast out hast pleased to let the lot of the scape-goate fall on mee and to make them the sin-offring Nor weart thou content O Lord to repaie mee good for euill that rendered thee euill for good but after thou hadst pardoned me thou wouldst not pardon mine enemies as though thou hatest thy childrens enemies more then thine owne and louest them better then thy selfe giuing thy selfe for them when they were thine enemies and when we for want of spirituall senses had no sence of our spirituall wants then redeeming vs but confounding and sore vexing and suddainly turning backe and putting to a perpetuall shame those that hate vs and not vs that hated thee Now Lord taught by thy example that art so good to thine enemies and hauing thine owne word for it I cannot but loue mine enemies and pray for them that curse mee If it be a fault or a folly as the world esteemes it thou hast taught it mee and I would willingly erre with thee my God it is inough for the Disciple to be as his Master is But yet there are some of mine enemies I confesse that made mee first an enemie vnto thee O Lord whom I hate with a perfect hatred who are growne now so ill as they are past my prayers and haue gone further then thy mercie will follow them euen into the gates and mouth of hell that gap't so wide to deuoure me with thē O let the sword of thy Iustice be drunkē vvith the slaughter of these great arch-enemies of thy innocent little flock blessed be my Lord for carrying away like Samson the gates of hel that they should not preuaile ouer mee and so leading my captiuitie captiue and casting my soules enemies into the pit they had prepared for me Many farre greater starres and fairer lights then I O God hath the taile of that dragon dravvne dovvne after him from heauen hadst not thou to vvhom onely the fame belongeth taken my cause into thine ovvne hand I had also been vvinnovved caried like dust and chaffe before the wind Therefore as thou hast broken these mine enimies in peices so also scatter them that the peices of the mangled Serpent may neuer come together againe O let not the deadly vvound of the head of the beast be healed to make vvarre against thy Saints and against the Lambe for euer His daily Sacrifice HOw commeth it to passe O Lord that thou art so mindefull of man man beeing so forgetfull of thee Sure but that mercie is essentiall vnto thee and thou canst assoone forget to bee as forget to bee gratious it were impossible but such a man of sinnes and sorrovves as I am rather a vvorme and no man or more truly dust and ashes and none of all thy liuing creatures nothing indeed but a verie bundle of vanitie vanitie of vanities should dispaire of pardon and thinke my sinnes greater then they could be forgiuen I that haue seconded the first fall of man vvith so many fallings from thy grace and if that one were so powerfull to condemne all ah what are so many to conuince one I that haue as often denyed thee in my deeds as I haue sinned and that not thrice not seuen times but seauēty seauen times in a day I that haue so often when thou hast by thy graces come in and lodged with me for a vile price of base peasures betraied thee I that whereas I should haue mortified the old man and crrucified the lusts thereof so oft haue grieued thy good spirit and crucified the Lord of life within me and so buried and sealed him vp in an obdurate and stonie heart that it must be a great worke of thy power and mercie to rise againe in me and rowle away the stone I that haue thus filled vp my measure of iniquitie with Sodō how dare I with Abrahā so often mooue the Lord for mercie I that haue so often rebelled how can I hope to be receiued again to grace and pardon I that haue no other plea but guiltie how dare I importune the iust iudge vnlesse as that woman did the vniust iudge for iustice Hath my best seruice vnto thee been betthen theirs who kneeling saluting thee haile king of the Iewes yet crucified thee wherein haue my prayers and teares been better then those of the hypocritall Pharisies onely seeming for a time and so full of sinne that when I haue praied for forgiuenes I had neede pray again for forgiuenes of my prayers Ah my wretched soule mocke not thy Sauiour any longer with thy kneeling and prayers like those soldiers that crucified him thou hast gone alreadie further then Iudas not onely betraying him but beeing which he denied to be guiltie of the shedding of his innocent blood think with thy selfe how oft thou hast grieued his holy spirit turning the grace thereof into wantonnes how oft thou hast when he of this mercie had healed thee presently fallen into a relaps far worse then thy former disease how oft thou hast walowed thy self again in the mire when hee had washt not thy feete onely but thy head and hands also how oft when thy heauenly Physition had purged thee returned to thy vomit And now Lord with what fig leaues shall I couer the shame of my sinne since I know thou hast cursed the fig-tree that bore leaues only Oh tell mee how with the Prodigall shall I returne to my Father or if I doe returne say hast thou any more kisses and embraces lest for such a riotous Sonne If the mountaines which yet offended not did tremble and melt away at thy presence and if euen thy holiest Saints at thy presence fell downe to the groūd almost for dead troubled and amazed saying surely they should die because they had seene the Lord if the Cherubins that stand alwaie before thee couer their faces looking but vpon thy Mercie-seate O with what face shall a guiltie soule come before thee when it appeares before thy seate of iustice Haue I not reason to hate my sinnes that are able to make the sight of thee which is so amiable and beatificall and to thy happie seruants a vision wherein their whole felicitie consists so full of horrour to mee O how the verie thought thereof confounds mee and as if now like Balthazar I sawe the handwriting against mee makes mee tremble and stand amazed smiting my knees one against another what can I say for my selfe or what can I doe what sinne-offring what peace-offering shall I bring to make attonement with the Lord what Moses or Aaron haue I to stand betweene Gods destroying Angel and mee whom haue I to make intercession for mee I dare not approach to my Sauiour whom my sinnes may iustly make of a meeke Lambe an enraged Lion vnto
see O make them lampes to burne alwaies before thee in thy Temple willing euen to consume themselues to giue light vnto thy house and readie beeing set on fire as it were in a burnt offering spend themselues for thine and thy Churches seruice and let me the least of them all finde grace with my Lord to see my candle also lightened by the Father of lights and so set it in thy Temple not suffering it at any time to be remooued out of the Candlestick but in thy mercie as thou didst encrease the widowes oile all the time of the famine so also increase thy grace in my lampe that it may with the wise virgins be found burning and shining at the comming forth of the Bridegroome and so I receiued into the rest of my Master Guide the Armie of thy Ministers with thy principall spirit O Lord lead them out of Egypt with a stretched out arme that all the powers of darknesse bandied especially to assault them preuaile not against them It is Sathans desire to grinde and winnowe them to make the watchmen of thy holy city to sleepe that so it may be betraied Out of his hatred to thee he seekes most to persecute these whome thou hast set in thy stead that the light of thy Temple beeing extinguished and put out and their Candlesticks remooued he may walke himselfe in the darke and that their eies beeing darkened the bodie blinded may fall into his pits and snares Thou therfore O God goe forth with our Armies vnto battell the cause is thine set bounds vnto the raging sea that it ouerflow not thy holy Land And now Lord since I am come into thy seruice and haue left all to followe thee let me neuer leaue thee to followe any other thing For as thou couldst neuer haue chosen a worse seruant so shall I neuer find so good a Master or meet with such a seruice it beeing fit onely indeede for thy heauenly Angels but because it hath pleased thee as that King to set earthē vessels among the golden ones of thy Temple therefore as euerie creature euen the silly worme doth striue to doe the seruice in his kind and order so among the vnworthiest of them doe I present my humble seruice vnto thee and knowing not what other thanks to render thee who hast made me fellow-seruant with thy Angels that are ministring spirits sent for the good of thy choosen I will euen render thy grace vnto thy glorie and ioyfully yeeld vp my selfe and my soule which thou hast so graciously accepted vnto the hands of my faithful redeemer there is nothing worthy to haue part with thee nothing shal vsurpe thy right in me or robbe thee of thine honour Though O Lord it is not I that doe or can do thee seruice It is thou that seruest thy selfe by me as by an instrument I haue not so much as moouing of my selfe it is thou that workest in me both the wil and the power I am of my selfe but a iarring instrument quite out of tune it is thou that tunest me and makest what soeuer musique and harmonie is in mee that so I among the rest of the Leuites might with ioy and mirth helpe to bring home thine Arke vnto Hierusalem that is aboue I haue nothing that I can call properly mine owne but my sinnes weakenesse and imperfections and wretchednesse whatsoeuer is else in mee more then these is thine O God of thy free gift and grace and therefore bound vnto thy seruice A meditation vpon the first of the seauen paenitentiall Psalmes of Dauid Psalm 6. vers 1. O Lord rebuke me not in thine Indignation neither chastice mee in thy displeasure I Require not O Lord that thou rebuke mee or chastice mee not at all it beeing the prerogatiue of thy children here in this world to be chastened and punished for their sinnes whereas thou sufferest the wicked without troubling to heape vp wrath against the day of wrath till they haue filled vp the measure of their iniquitie My sinnes I know exact chasticement onely I desire that thou correct mee in thy mercie not in thine anger as a sonne not as a bastard with the correction of thy Israel not with the plagues of Egypt to amendment not destruction to the humbling not the hardening of my heart to my comfort not confusion that thou reaching out thy helping hand as thou didst to Peter when he was sinking I be not ouerwhelmed in the waters of temptation or as the burning bush or three children be not consumed in the fire and furnace of affliction but that they may be to mee as the whale to Ionas not to swallow but to preserue and to my sinnefull soule as salt to tainted flesh to keepe it from putrefaction Set bounds O Lord to the raging seas that they ouerflow not and put thy bridle and hooke into the mouth of the beast that it deuoure not the heart of the Turtle If thou rebuke in thy wrath who can beare it if thine anger be kindled yea but a little who can stand before thee if thou but touch the mountaines must they not smoake for it The least breath of thy displeasure is able to blast all the beautie of the world and as a word of thy mercie made all so a word of thine anger is able to destroie all How glad would they be that beare the insupportable burthen of thine anger if in exchaunge thereof the mountaines would fall vpon them and the hills couer them Oh how light a load are the greatest mountaines in comparison of thy least heauie displeasure At the day of thy wrath the heauens shall be rowled vp as a peece of parchment the starres fall from the firmament the moone be turned into blood and the sunne darkned then Lord who am I withwhom thou shouldst be angrie or what is flesh and blood what seely man that thou shouldest striue with him Turne the edge of thy wrath O Lord against those principalities and powers of darknesse that resist thee from vs poore soules that submit our earthen vessells euen to be broken in peeces by the Potter that made vs. O thou Lion of the Tribe of of Iudah spare them that lie prostrate before thee and pardon vs if not thy punishment yet thine anger then if thou killest vs we shall loue thee and in death it selfe remember thee in the pit giue thee thankes Vers. 2. Haue mercie vpon me Lord for I am weake O Lord heale me for my bones are vexed O God whose mercie is thy greatest glorie and whose glorie and power is most seene in mans weaknesse and frailtie as wherein there is no other power seene let not thy invincible strength striue with so weake an adversarie as an arme of flesh wrastle not O God with thy poore seruant as with Iacob vnlesse as vnto him thou chaunge his name to Israel and giue him the blessing of preuailing with God For O Lord thy yron rodde if it as that of Moses he turned
THE YOVNG DIVINES APOLOGIE for his continuance in the Vniuersitie with Certaine Meditations written by NATHANIEL POVVNOLL late student of Christ-church in Oxford Printed by CANTRELL LEGGE Printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge 1612. And are to be sold in Pauls Churchyard by MATTHEVV LOVVNES at the signe of the Bishops head ⧠TO THE REVEREND FAther in God IOHN L. Bishop of London RIght woorthie and reuerend Father in God Blame not your ancient Obseruer if nowe after he hath recouered in a manner at Cambridge that life which he lost at his departure from Oxford he rises aniew as it wear out of his ashes to do his humble seruice to your Lordship and indeede to whome can any fruit that comes from him bee with more right presented theÌ„ to him in whose garden and vnder whose shadow it griew Into whose hand should this small booke though wanting his owne Epistle be deliuered but vnto that to which it hath before giuen so many Epistles whear can it looke for protection with more hope theÌ„ whear it hath formerly with all fauour founde it If your Lordship thearfore will be pleased to be the defender of this Apologie and to breath as I may truely say the breath of life againe into his sequent Meditations that so beeing annimated aniew with those vnspeakeable sighs and alike feruent zeale of spirit whearwith they wear first as in fierie chariots carried vp into heau'n I doubt not but they will seeme beeing so quickned to any that shall reade them especially if as Iob wished in a case not much vnlike his foule wear in his foules stead no cold or dull or dead lettets and in so doing you shall not onely followe him into his graue but call him out of it with this so speciall a benefit binding with the dead in one knot of thankfulnesse all his Friends that yet liue and cannot but ioy to see your Lordships fauour out-liue the person on whom it is bestowed of whome my selfe being the least shal euer thinke I am most bound to be Your L. to command in all good seruice G. FLETCHER To the Reader THe Authour of this small discourse or rather giue mee leaue so to call him the Swan that before his death sung this divine song is now thear whear he neither needs the praise nor feares the envy of any whose life as it deserued all so it was covetous of no mans commendation himselfe beeing as farre from pride as his desert was neere it Yet because it was his griefe that hee should die before hee was fit to doe God the service hee desired and his freinds desire that beeing so fit as hee was for his seruice hee might if it had been possible neuer haue died at all thearfore his booke was bould to thrust it selfe into that world which the Authour of it had lately left therby to satisfie both his Makers desire in doing the church of God some seruice and his friends griefe in not suffering him altogether to lie dead And truely what better seruice can it doe then to persuade with reason since Authoritie forces not our young Neophytes to abide awhile in the schooles of the Prophets at Bethel before they presume to enter the Temple at Hierusalem and if reason can doe little with them because happily they want it yet let his Example an argument that prevailes much with the common People of whome such Prophets are the tayle make them at least see and confesse though they know not how to amend their fault Ten yeares had hee liued in the Vniversitie eight languages had hee learnt and taught his tongue so many seuerall waies by which to expresse a good heart watching often daily excercising alway studying in a word making an ende of himselfe in an ouer-feruent desire to benefit others and yet after hee had as it wear out of himselfe sweat out all this oyle for his lampe after hee had with the Sunne ran so many heauenly races and when the Sunne was laied abed by his labours after hee had burnt out so many candles to giue his minde light hauing alwaies S Pauls querie in his minde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee neuer durst adventure to doe that after all these studies done and ended which our young Novices doeing nothing coumpt nothing to doe but still thought himselfe as vnfit as hee kniew all men weare vnworthy of so high an honour as to be the Angells of God I could wish that he had left behinde him if not all his learning yet some of his modesty to be deuided among these empty sounding vessels that want both but since in him so great examples of piety knowledge industrie and vnaffected modestie are all fallen so deepely a sleep as I am afraid we shall hardly find in any of his age the like which I speake not to deny iust praise to the liuing but who wil not affoard a fiew flowers to strowe the cophine of the dead thear was no way to awaken them and in them him but by layeing them vp not with him in his graue but in these immortal monuments of the presse the liuing Tombes proper to dead learning wherin these flowers may liue though their â—oote be withered and though the trunke be dead the branches flowrish Let rich men therefore in the guilded sepulchres and proud monuments of their death beg for the memorie of their liues the righteous shall be had in euerlasting remembrance without any such proud beggary nor shall he euer be behoulding to a dead stone for the matter and good reason Righteousnes beeing a shadow of that diuine substaÌ„ce which hath in it no shadowe of change much lesse of corruption only I could wish that their liues wear as long as their memories that so this crooked age might haue as great store as it hath need of them G. F. AN APOLOGIE FOR YOVNG Students in Diuinitie why they stay in the Vniversitie to learne before they presume to teach abroad Written and sent by NATHANIEL POVVNALL for his owne defence to his Parents MOst gracious and deare Parents I could neuer yet perswade my selfe to be of Galbas mind who thought it needlesse that any man should be tied to giue an accoumpt of his idle time much lesse of Pericles that hauing ill stewarded the Common-wealths Treasurie did not thinke so much how to make his accompt as how to make no accompt at all but since the season doth in a manner now require that I send you some fruits of your so long and so well manured and so carefully planted yet so long barren vine as whose fruits you haue with patience for many more yeares expected then that Husbandman did the fruits of his barren figtree though as yet it beeing the first spring it can send forth but small grapes yet such as they are since they be not wild grapes I hold it honest so farre to serue the time though no time seruer as of mine owne accord vnlike those bad husbandmen in the Gospel to