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A19953 Gods mercies and Ierusalems miseries A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, the 25. of Iune. 1609. By Lancelot Dawes, Master of Arts and fellow of Queenes Colledge in Oxford. Dawes, Lancelot, 1580-1653. 1609 (1609) STC 6388; ESTC S109409 43,755 146

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vnder a bushell is become like to Dauids Sunne which commeth foorth as a Bridegroome out of his chamber and reioyceth as a Giant to runne his course the professors of the Gospell haue wonderfully increased so that now their sound is gone through the earth and their words vnto the ends of the world Psal 90.4 There is no place in the Globe of the earth where Christ is professed which hath not some Protestants Italy the very Center and sinke of Popery and the seat of the great Whore when Iezabel hath done what shee can in murthering the Lords Prophets will affoord seuen thousand men which haue neuer bowed the knees of their hearts vnto Baal Vid Bell. de Paul Rom. lib 3. cap. 21. Nostris temporibus Romana sedes magnā Germaniae partem amisit Suetiam Gothiam Noruegiam Damam c. In France wee haue a farre greater number in Germanie the maior part almost all Polonie all Denmarke Swethen Norway Britaine and all the Islands in the Northerne seas which haue taken the militarie Oath to fight vnder Christs standard If these be not equall to them yet consider on eyther side such as know the Principles of Christian Religion and can giue an account of their faith and we haue a farre greater number for the common people amongst them are stupide blind and doe no more vnderstand the mysteries of their saluation then Pagans and Infidels or those in the Acts who being demaunded of Paul whether they had receiued the holy Ghost made answere that they neuer heard whether there was an holy Ghost or no. Act. 19.2 And little maruell for many of their Priestes doe no more vnderstand their Masses which they mumble dayly in their Churches then Balaams Asse vnderstood his owne voice It is enough for them to belieue as the Church belieueth though they know no more what that is then did Bellarmines Collier who being demaunded what he belieued quoth hee that which the Church beleeueth being againe demaunded what that was answered the same which I belieue Herein we will not thinke much that the Papists exceede vs Bellarmine may giue good measure if he draw the dregs and all August in Psal 39. but Austen will teach him another lesson Noli numerare turbas hominum incedentes latas vias implentes crastinum circum ciuitatis natalem clamando celebrantes ciuitatem ipsam male viuendo turbantes noli illas attendere multi sunt quis numerat sed pauci per viam angustam incedunt Christ hom 40. ad populum Antiochium Chrysostome will teach him that not in numeri magnitudine sed in virtutis probitate consistit multitudo It was a prety stratageme of the Romaine Captaine when his Souldiers were few in number to make euery man draw a bough in the drie dust that so the ●amnites with which hee was to encounter beholding them a farre off might beleeue that his Armie was greater then indeed it was we are no such dastards as to be afraid of euery withered branch that can rayse vp dust into the ayre Liuius decad 1. lib. 9. if the Papists purpose to match vs with multitude let them bring such as haue some skill to handle their spirituall weapons I end seeing the Church is like vnto the Moone sometimes in a glorious splendour sometimes clouded with Schisme and sometime so darkened with the shadow of heresie and superstition and persecution that the eyes of Linceus can scarse behold her Seeing that the Papists at this day cannot compare neyther with the number of Christians taking the name generally for all such as professe the name of Iesus nor with the Protestant Churches if we take an account onely of such as vnderstand the Principles of their Religion Hic non tenetur nota marginalis quae nunquā occurrit in li. Sent. P. Lamberti I see no reason why Bellarmine should make multitude a Note of the true Church or if it were why the Papists should challenge it themselues and therfore hee may bee well censured with a hic magister non tenetur ſ Viues de causis Co rupt Art or nota quod haec nota nihil notat it was onely to make vp the number of notes that hee may number one Art nam cum non prosunt singula multa iuuant though they be of little force being seuerally considered yet if they bee all ioyntly taken they will proue like t Plut Apoth Seleucus his roddes or like a threefold corde which is not easily broken Indeede hee had need to bee stronger then Hercules that could cut off all the heads of Hydra at one blow but a simple warriour taking one by one may make an end of them before hee bee wearied for they are like to the tayle of Sertorius his horse Plutar. in vita sertorij which a valiant Souldier taking it all together could not pull off but a poore Skull pulling one hayre after an other had quickly made it bare Vse 2 Secondly dooth Gods flocke sometimes consist of a very small number then it behoueth thee beloued Christian with greater diligence to trie and examine thy selfe whether thou bee comprehended in this number for as in that vniuersall deluge of waters all were drowned that were not in Noahs Arke so in the great floud of fire which shall bee at the end of the world all shall be swept away with a riuer of brimstone which are not of this flocke it is a common saying he shall neuer haue God for his father which hath not the Church for his mother and hee shall neuer bee a member of the Church triumphant which is not first of the Church Militant first then thou art to enquire whether thou bee of the true visible Church and this thou shalt know by two markes by the true preaching of the word by the right vse of the Sacraments for where these two are performed according to the prescript of Gods word there must needs be a true church this is somewhat but it is not all for what did it auaile Iudas to bee numbred amongst the twelue hee was in hell before any of the rest came at heauen all that are in the church bee not of the church there are both good and bad fish in this net there is wheat and tares in this field Sheepe and Goates in this fold thou must therefore goe further and examine whether thou bee one of that Company which God from eternity elected vnto life and in time effectually calleth by his holy Spirit and makes true members of his Sonne Iesus Christ which is the head of this body whether thou bee of that flock which Christ calleth his gardē Cant his sister his spouse his loue his doue his vndefiled which is the pillar and ground of truth 1. Tim. 3.13 the body of Christ Eph. 1.23 the temple of the Lord Eph. 2.21 which the gates of hell shall neuer preuaile against Matth. 16 18. Here thou must exercise thy
then any whatsoeuer Iustin lib. 18. That Tyrian proued the wisest in the end who hauing concluded in the Euening with his fellowes that hee which could first in the next morning behold the Sun which they worshipped as a God should bee King looked not toward the East where hee riseth but towards the westerne mountaines where his rayes did first appeare We will follow his Example and seeing we cannot seeke into the fountaine at which the Cherubs did couer their faces let vs behold it in the mountaines that is the Prophetes and Apostles Hierom. lib. 110. Commēt in Ezech. as Ierome expounds the word or the mountaines that is the creatures and works of God in all which it doth most clearely shine there is no worke of God in al which there doth not appeare such manifest Characters of his mercy that he which runneth may reade them Those benefites in tended towards his children as namely Election before all time creation in the beginning of time Vocation Redemption Iustification in the fulnes of time Glorification after all time c. To proue them to bee so many riuers of the bottomles Ocean of Gods neuer dying mercy it were but to busie my selfe about a principle which I hope none of you will call into question Gods almighty power is manifested vnto vs in that hee hath created the world of nothing p Psal 33.6 and made all the hoast of heauen by the breath of his mouth and it is a property in describing of which Gods Secretaries do striue to be eloquent Iob to shew it saith that q Iob. 9. he spreadeth out the heauens like a Canopie and walketh vpon the the height of the Sea that he maketh the starres Arcturus and Orion and Pleiades and the climates of the South Elihu sets it forth vnder Benoth whose taile is like a Cedar r Iob. 40. and his bones like staues of brasse yet the Lord leadeth him whither soeuer hee will and vnder Leuiathan which makes the depth to boile like a pot and the sea like a pot of ointment and yet the Lord can put a hooke in his nose and pearce his iawes with an Angle Dauid to shew it sayth that hee maketh the mountaines to skippe like Rammes and the little hils like young sheepe Psalm 114. I say to expresse it sayth that ſ Isa 40. all nations before him are as a droppe of a bucket and are counted as the dust of the ballance that he taketh away the Isles as a little dust that hee hath measured the waters in his fist counted heauen with a span comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountaines in a weight and the hilles in a ballance and yet his mercy goeth beyond his power in that his omnipotency hath made nothing but what his mercy moued him to create and it comes after too in preseruing and guiding and protecting by his heauenly prouidence a branch of his mercy whatsoeuer his powerfull hand hath made if hee should but once stoppe the influence of his mercy al the works of his hands should presently bee annihilated t Psal 33.5 The earth is full of the mercies of the Lord sayth the Psalmist hee sayth not the heauens sayth Austen Quia non indigent misericordia vbi est nulla miseria they needed no mercy where there is no miserie Augustin in illum locum and yet in another place hee addeth the heauens to thy truth an other of his attributes goeth vnto the clouds there it stayeth but thy mercy goeth further Psal 14.5.9 it reacheth vnto the heauens in fewer wordes It is ouer all his works But my text leades me to entreat of his mercy as it hath reference vnto his iustice where you shall find that of two infinites one doth infinitely surpasse an other to bee called a mercifull God and the father of mercy is a title wherein God especially delighteth but he is almost neuer called the God of iudgement heare how hee proclaimeth himselfe The Lord the Lord strong there is one Epithite of his power mercifull gratious slow to anger aboundant in goodnesse and truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquity and transgression and sinne there are sixe of his mercy Then comes his iustice in punishing of offences not making the wicked innocent visiting the iniquity of the Fathers vpon the children vnto the third and fourth generation there he confines his iustice hee sayth vnto vs as he doth vnto the seas in Iob (w) Iob. 38.11 Hither shalt thou goe and thou shalt goe no further here shalt thou stay thy raging waues it shall not passe the fourth generation and that is more then Ordinarie if it come so farre it is but at a high spring Exo. 20.5.6 vpon such as hate him but his mercy followes like a boundlesse Ocean vpon thousandes of those that loue him Nay the Prophet tels vs that to punish is with God a rare extraordinary work x Esa 28.21 The Lord sayth he shall stand as in as in mount Perazim he shall be angry as in the valley of Gibeon that hee may doe his worke his strange worke and bring to passe his act his strange act This is an act of iudgement where you see that to punish with him is an vncouth and strange worke an acte indeed vnto which without compulsion of iustice hee could not be drawne hee is more loath to put out his hand for to inflict a iudgement then euer was Octauius to subscribe his name to the execution of any publike offender whose vsuall speech was this Sueton. Vtinam nescirem literas I would to God I could not write How oft doth miserable man offend against his maker surely if the iust man fall seuen times then the wicked falleth seuenty times seauen times yet hee maketh his Sunne to shine vpon them both he makes his rain to fall vpon them both still almost hee containeth the sword of his iustice within the sheath of his mercy if in case hee bee enforced to draw it hee is as it were touched with a feeling of that which the wicked suffer heare himselfe speak Therefore thus sayeth the Lord of hoastes Isa 1.24 the holy one of Israel ah I will ease me of mine aduersaries and auenge mee of mine enemies it is a kind of ease to be auenged of thine enemie and therefore God when the Iewes continue still to prouoke him to his face will ease himselfe by inflicting his iudgements vpon them I will ease me of mine enemies but it comes with an ah or alas it is paine and griefe to him hee is wounded to the very heart his bowels are rowled and turned within him a few teares might haue made him sheath his sworde and deferre his punishments the history of Ahab will proue as much who was one that had solde himselfe to worke wickednes that prouoked the Lord God more then all the Kings of Israel that were