a place by me and thou shalt stand on a rock and it shall come to passe while my glory passeth by that I will put thee into the clift of a Rocke and will cover thee with my hand I will make all my goodnesse passe before thee and I will cover thee with my hand whiles I passe by After I will tak away mine hand and thou shalt see my backe parts but not my face Now as the Lord said so hee did he passed by and while he passed he made a Proclamation The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gratious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and trueth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquitie transgression and sinne Behold how in the Lords comming to Moses mercy came before and after iudgement in the words following that will by no meanes cleare the guilty visiting the iniquitie of the Fathers vpon the Children The Lords sluggorne in his comming to Moses was mercifull and righteous first was Mercy and then Iustice this was the order of Davids Song I will said hee sing of Mercy and of Iudgment First of mercy then of Iudgement like Gods passing by Moses But here in my Text Gods order is inverted for there is first a song of Judgement and after of mercy what should be the cause of this This is as the Apostle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Multiformis â—lla sapientia Dei that is the manifold wisdome of God or the wisdome of God that is of many forms as there be diverse faces and formes of men so there be diverse hearts diverse dispositions some be thrown faced and some be thrown hearted with with the pure thou wilt shew thy selfe pure froward with the froward To one that is of a meeke disposition and of a gentle nature like Moses let the Pastour preach first of mercy as God came to Moses making all his goodnesse to goe before him But having to doe with fooles such as are into my Text it shall bee wisedome first to sing to them of Iudgement and thereafter of mercy Gods comming to Elias declared with what method he had to preach to that rebellious people with whom hee had to doe while hee was into the caue of Horeb the mount of God the Lord bade him come out and stand vpon the mount before the Lord and behold while God was comming to him there came from before him three mighty Messengers for to make awaye to the King of Glory The first Messenger was called the WIND A mighty strong winde rent the mountains and brake the rockes before the Lord but the Lord was not in the winde After the winde came another Poste called an EARTHQUAKE but the Lord was not in the earthquake After the Earthquak came yet one more furious called FIRE but the Lord was not in the fire After the fire came a still and foft voyce wherein was the Lord By this God teached Elias how he shuld teach that stiffnecked people how he should bring the Lord to them viz. that first he should preach Judgments whereby as by a wind the proud heartes like hie Mountaines might bee shaken and the harde hearts like rockes might be rent If that did not the turne let him yet threaten Iudgments like earthquaks which might mak all hearts to quak If that did not the turne that hee should preach Hell fire death and damnation against the Sonnes of men Now if men did tremble at the fire Gods will was that hee should preach with a soft and still voyce the mercyes of God the promises of the Gospell This order and Methode is plainely sette downe by Saint Iude Of some have compassion making a difference that is to some first preach mercy But others save with feare pulling them out of the fire there is a preaching of Iudgment To some preachers should bee as Barnabas sonnes of consolation to others they should bee as Iames and Iohn Boanerges duo fulmi na belli two sonnes of thunder Ill men like nettles must bee first gripped left they burne thee Gods naturall dealing with men is first to offer mercy vnto them if they will repent This was a Law of warre prescribed by God himselfe vnto his people when thou comest night vnto a City saith God to fight against it then proclaime peace vnto it But if it will not make peace with thee but will make warre against thee then thou shall be beseidge it As it was ordained by God in that warre so shuld it be practised in the Christian warrefare while Pastours come from God to a people they must first proclame peace vnto them But if they will not make peace then they must beseige them with the Cannons of Gods Judgements If Barnabas cannot winne the Citadell of mens hearts by consolations let James and Iohn Boanerges Sonnes of thunder besiege their hearts with the thunders of Gods Iudgements they must shoot downe the strong holdes of sin that every thought and imagination may bee taken and brought captive to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that preaching of Judgement is vnpleasant preaching to flesh and blood But heere is the command Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin vpon him Most men will heare onely the piping of mercy Songes of Loves but ditte their eares from the dinne of Judgements They like well of Barnabas with his consolations but cannot abide the thunders of Boanerges None so fain as fools would haue their head clapped fooles fedde on folly would bee fed in their follie Infelix Felix more vnhappy in deede than hee was happy in name could not heare Faul preach Pauls Text was of righteousnes of temperance and of Iudgement As he reasoned vpon the point of Iudgement Felix interrupted him crying vnto him in a feare God thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee There bee many vnhappy like Felix sold vnder sinne like Ahab who could not heare Mecaiah Gods Prophet I hate him said Ahab for hee doeth not prophesie good concerning me but evill But who can speak good to him that doth euill and bee a Trumpeter of Trueth The word of God bee it of Iudgement or of Mercy should not bee concealed from them to whom it is ordained while a man is become a fool in his sinnes a Sermon of Iudgment is for him the faithfull Pastour must denounce against him what ever is in his Roll not keeping vp a word were it to call him a foole in his face This was Iobs great comfort in his distresse that he had not concealed the words of the holy one the office of teachers the Lords servants is to blowe the Trumpet and warne the people with alarmes They are compared to the hewers of wood I have hewed them by my Prophets saith the Lord
also he hath beene beaten with the drunkard and hath not felt it it is a sure token that he will yet to it againe Let all men learne heere in their afflictions to seeke out the cause of their trouble When the Philistims sawe them selues miserably plagued with a filthie and shamefull disease they tooke counsell how it might bee tryed wherefrom their affliction came They had the Arke of God a prisoner among them This was the summe of all the counsell Now therefore make a new cart and take two milk kine on which there hath come no yoke and tie the kine to the Cart and bring the calves home from them And take the Arke of the Lord and lay it vpon the cart and send it away that it may gee And see if it goeth vp by the way of his owne coast to Beth-Shemesh if that bee then he hath done vs this great evill but if not then wee shall know that it is not his hand that smote vs but a chance that happened vnto vs. There be many Christians in their afflictions worse then these Philistims though they see things more than two kine drawing a cart by his owne coast yet can not say that it is God that hath done it lesse can they tell that their sinnes haue beene the cause of it but such a thing fell foorth such a thing hath chanced to be it happened so vnto me such was my fortune This is Philistimes language worthy to be banished with buffets as Nehemiah buffeted the little children of the Israelites and pluckt off their haire when he heard them speaking the language of Ashdod It so happened Such was my chance It was my fortune is not Christian but Ashdodian language This is Gods question Wherefore is the living man sorrowfull This is also Gods answere Man suffereth for his sins They are worthy to be scourged and buffeted who while they are afflicted speake of fortun or chance Sathan in his words may teach many Christians to speake when he desired God to scourge Iob he said not God send him an hard weird an evill fortoun or God send him a sudden chance or ill must hee happen But Streach out thy hand touch all that hee hath And againe the second tyme Put furth thyne hand now and touch his bone and his flâ—sh The Magicians of Egypt called the plague the finger of God or Gods send What a shame then should this be for Christians to speake of fortune or chance or hap seeing the divell and his magicians can call afflictions the hand of God or the finger of God Let the lyars of Ephraim say they are not Ephramits but Shibboleth shal proue then to bee Ephramits Let the vngodly deny that they are wicked and giue thanks with the Pharisee that they are not lyke other men but by their very language incontinent yee shall know Some filthie words or bloody oathes for toun hap chance or such words will bewray them By their accent yee shall know that they are of Galile that is of this world Surely said one to Peter thou also art a Galilean and thy speach agreeth thereto The tongue betweene man and man is lyke an interpreter betweene two strangers The heart of every man is a stranger to every other man But out of the abundance of the heart the tongue speaketh bee it good bee it evill The words are the interpretation of the heart If Words beguile works dummy can not lie Againe in the doubling of the name of finne before affliction I obserue that God is loath to afflict till he bee provoked by transgressions by iniquities in the plural number that is againe and againe Till sinnes be multiplyed God scourgeth not the foole Gods wrath commeth not out vpon man till hee bee pressed with mens sinnes as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaues The doctrine then is this God is slowe and loath to come to stroakes till he be provoked againe and againe yea and againe also This is well set downe by the Prophet Amos who declaring Gods iudgments against divers peoples setteth downe first men sinning againe and againe once twise thrise yea foure tymes before that God began to afflict The first is Gaza Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not turne away the punishment thereof The second is Tyrus Thus saith the Lord for three tarnsgressions of Tyrus and for four I will not turne away the punishment thereof The third is Edom Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Edom and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof The fourth is Ammon Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Ammon and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof The fifth is Moab Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Moab and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof The sixt is Judah Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Iudah and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof The seventh is Israel Thus saith the Lord for three transgressions of Israel and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof The eight is Britans Thus saith the Lord for thirtie transgressions of Britane and for fourtie I will not turne away the punishment thereof Our transgressions are thirtie for three fourtie for foure See how God delighteth to afflict One man sinneth and God forgiveth againe man sinneth and God forgiveth againe yet man sinneth and God forgiveth But at last when men multiplie their transgressions God punisheth saying I will not turne away the punishment thereof The vse is let men beware of doubling and tripling of sinnes If iniquities come after transgressions it is to be feared that God say for three transgressions and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof They are but fooles that say Let vs sinne that grace may abound Though while men sinne God seemes to them to bee inclosed vp into the heavens yet hee sees men into their sinnes Though he come to iudgement softly with foote of wooll when he is come he striketh with armes of yron The longer the stroake be in comming it commeth downe the sadder A sudden or hasty blowe is not of such force as a stroake fetcht from necke to heele Let no man therefore sooth him selfe vp in his sinnes thinking that there is nothing in God but mercie no not As hee is mercifull and gratious long suffering abundant in goodnesse and trueth Hee is also a righteous Lord a God of iustice who will in no wayes cleare the guiltie Bee what men will bee if they be fooles because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities they shall bee afflicted Otherwise where should bee the GOD of iustice Objection Heere some man may object that this seemeth not ever to
Last of all in that these that are troubled crye to God J observe a comfort for these that crye in trouble when a man can once crye to God in his trouble it is a token that God shortly will deliver One that is pined with the stone gravell so long as hee but whineth for the difficultie hee hath in making water the Surgeon will not cut him but will say let him bee till hee crye from the time once hee beginneth to cry then is it time to cutt that once done he is delivered from his paine There is in man a stone harder than the Stone of the bladder viz. the stone of the heart The heart stone is of sinne the bladder Stone is but of sand Sinne gravell is a stone gravell for hardnesse there is no flint so hard as a hard heart As the Stone gravell is from sand one pickle ioyning to another till at last manie pickles beeing knit together in a lumpe become a confirmed stone even so the heart gravell is from one sinne joyned to another till they be in an huge number together like a cluster At last in length of time by custome they harden together from thence is the confirmed stone of the heart So long as this stone is not very painefull in affliction but onely maketh the sinner to whine the Lord will let that sinner suffer still for a space hee will delay his cure but if once the paine bee so that it cause the sinner to cry God that most cunning Surgeon will cut out the cause of his cry Behold the trueth of this into my text Then they cry vnto the Lord there is the cry and he delivereth them there is the cure The vse Let vs try our soules in trouble whither they cry or but whine if the soule but whine in afflictions it is a token that deliverance is yet far off but if the soule once begin to crye God is ready to deliver By our prayer to God we shall know the mind of our God in our troubles the working of our afflictions In this crying to God there is a great difference the wicked cryeth more for his sore than his sinne the godly man cryeth more for his sin than his sore So to doe is not the practise of a prentise The Lord teach vs both how wee should cry to our God and wherfore chiefly we should cry To God bee glorye for ever Amen A SHORT MEDITATION against mans securitie in life AS intensive colde in time of frost maketh water to congeale and bindeth all vp so that the earth is neither fit for plowing or sowing so into the hearts of manie there is a frost yea a lying frost so that the fallow ground of their heartes cannot bee riven vp An excessive cold at Gods service stayeth the pleugh of Gods â—grace Yee all woulde thinke it an vncouth thing to see pleughsly in frost in the moneth of May and yet more into August The yeere is but of the age of twelve monethes Maye is but the youth thereof and yet if in that moneth there should bee no appearance of fruites what would you thinke of such a yeere And yet alas many of vs who have past the June yea the August of our age are as yet frozen in the dregges of our sinnes as though the beames of Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse had never shined vpon our soules What is this that wee cannot remember our mortalitie * One sythe cutteth down both Prince and people How manie Kings of this land are dead and but one alive The rest are gone for to give account how they have swayed the scepter when they sustained the person of God All the glorie of the greatest except they bee godly shall perish like the snuffe of a candle that is trodde vnder-foote Let vs therefore so live to die that wee maye die to live If wee digge not the Myne we shall never find the treasure If wee could lay this to our heart wee should bee swifter than Hazael in running to our God THE SICKE MANS SALVE THE THIRD SERMON Psal. 107. v. 19. Then they cry vnto the Lorde in their trouble hee saved them out of their distresses V. 20. Hee sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions IN my former Sermon it hath beene declared what the sicke fooles did while they were neere the doores of death it is saide Then they cryed vnto the Lord Jn this Sermon wee shall heare Gods part It is in these words â—ee saved them out of their distresses hee sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions The division of these words Jn these wordes I see two things first God after hee hath heard afflicted sinners saveth them and delivereth them out of their distresse secondly it is set downe by what meanes hee delivered these sicke persons in these wordes hee sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their graves or destructions As for that it is saide in the first part of my dâ—yes Text that God saved these sicke out of their distresses J observe the great mercie of God there is no sinne or sicknesse I see so great but if the sicke sinner can crye to him God hath mercie for him as it is of sicknesse so of all other affliction If man can crye vnto God God is readie to send succour This Moses declared well vnto Jsrael The Lord said hee shall scatter you among the nations and yee shall bee left few in number and there yee shall serve gods the workes of mens handes wood and stone which neither heare nor see nor eate nor smell there is Gods iudgment against mans sin But shall the LORDS arme bee stretched out still Will not God bee any more mercifull heare what is subioyned But if from thence thou shalt seeke the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seeke him with all thy heart and with all thy soule Manie a time had the sicke fooles of my text offended his Majestie yet here is mercie they cryed and hee saved God sometimes indeed while hee hath beene often provoked by the sinnes of men after diverse deliverances will seeme to bee more hard to bee intreated that men maye beware to be relapses from such he will hide his face for a space Verily said Jsaiah thou art a God that hideth thy self O God of Israel the Saviour hee may hide himself for a litle but not long While hee heareth the heart-cryes of his creature hee is forced to draw the curtaine and shew himselfe vnto it He that forbade man to hide himself from his owne flesh can not long deny himselfe to a sicke sinner crying in his distresse Of this we have a notable speach in the Psalme I sought the Lord and hee heard mee delivered mee from all my feares