said The end of all things is at hand addeth this immediate inference Be you therefore sober and watch unto prayer 1 Pet. 4. 7. Yea our Lord himselfe who is aâ— hand speaks to each of these First Concerning Sobrietie Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcome with surfetting and drunkennesse and that day come on you unawâ—res Luk. 21. 34. Secondly The Evangelists generally for the same reason exhort to watching Matth. 24. 42. Mark 13. 33. and they doe not meane so much abstinence from sleep but from sinne and watching not for worldlinesse but for prayer Thirdly So Luke 21. 36. Watch ye therefore and pray alwayes and in the next words he gives a Directory of Prayer two heads of petitions one That ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to passe the other that ye may stand before the Sonne of man and if you aske when and how often this must be remembred he tels us that also pray alwayes a dutie needfull ever but most of all now in respect of our own particulars and the Churches of Iesus Christ And for our selves let us pray for pardon of sin strength against lusts standing in judgement and as the Martyrs in prison and at the stake said to themselves and others Pray pray pray so remember the Lord is at hand therefore forget not to pray yea Watch and pray Matth. 26. 41. that ye enter not into tentations into the devouring part thereof Ne intremus in ventrâ—m tentationis quasi bestiae cujusdam Theophylact as the belly of a beast we know not what calamitous times may be reserved for us but whatsoever they are or may be we cannot be armed against them but by prayer so we must be prepared and this we see by our Apostle who to the Text The Lord is at hand instantly subjoynes Be carefull for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanks giving let your request be made known unto God Phil. 4. 6. Pray for me saith Father Latimer to Bishop Ridley again and again pray for me p. 14. for I am sometimes so fearefull that I could creepe into a Mousehole It is his own expression but God doth visit me again with his consolation and then the other answers him unlesse the Lord assists me with his gracious ayde in the time of his service I know I shall play but the part of a white-liver'd Knight p. 15. and yet what Champions what victorious Champions were they both and that by prayer For in the same little Treatise of their comfortable conference during the time of their imprisonment Ridley calles on Latimer as upon an Old beaten Souldier for instruction p. 16. and help to buckle on his harnesse as he phraseth it and Latimer tels him you shall prevaile more with praying then studying p. 36. though mixture be best but forget not to pray Let every one for our selves remember the Lord is at hand Besides the houses we dwell in are made of clay and the calamities of these times are daily battering these Tabernacles of dust that may very soone and suddenly fall about our eares therefore let every one of us alwayes be sober and watchfull unto prayer and pray earnestly to God that he will give us Repentance from dead works that he will weane us from these things below and teach us to persevere in all Divine truth and make us abound in every good word and worke that he will enable us to be patient in tribulation and fill us with the most holy faith in the Lord Iesus Christ And for the Churches of Christ Jer. 30. 7. remember it is their Day the very day of Jacobs trouble all the Israel of our God is in perplexitie pray for them all at home and abroad pray for the overthrow of Antichrist the fall of Babylon pray for the Peace of Hierusalem and the wellfare of Sion yea pray earnestly holily constantly Gen. 32. 26. and as Iacob wrastle with God and doe not let him goe till he give you a blessing And you that make mention of the Lord hold not your peace Esa 62. 6 7. day nor night keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Hierusalem the Churches abroad and in these Kingdomes a praise in the earth And let us of this Nation pray pray that God would returne the Head to the Body the King to the Parliament that he will heale our breaches compose our differences and hasten the restauration of a safe and well grounded Peace that yet sticks in the Birth pray that he would lift up the light of his countenance upon England Scotland and Ireland Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon them and they shall be safe And let all them that love God that love their Religion that love their Countrey that love their Souls say Amen Yea say thou Amen to these things Thou that Art the Amen the faithfull and true Witnesse Revel 3. 14. the beginning of the Creation of God Amen Amen FINIS
hell by the hands of flesh and beareth the image impresse and superscription of the world the flesh and the devill it is earthly sensuall and devillish Iam. 3. 15. You see then the low descent the base pedegree of this lofty valour but our Moderation is better borne even from above and hath learned of her Master Christ to be friendly to those that be hostile Matth. 5. 44. Love your enemies blesse them that curse you though they revile we must not doe good to them that hate you c. though by word and action they damnifie us we must study to winne them by our well-doing and this is the good turne saith father Latimer Part 2. p. 57. our Master Christ allowes us to doe to our enemies to Warme them at our fire and draw them from evill by our good It were easie to expatiate here and enlarge severall reasons as First Reasons Moderation is a gracious and an acceptable vertue it sweetens and endeares the owner thereof whereever he comes it offers a kind of violence upon mens affections bofore they be aware as the unbeleeving husband is wonne by the holy conversation of the wife 1 Pet. 3. 1. Secondly it is an healthfull vertue immoderation and wrath killeth Aug. de C. D. Hoâ—â—ot c. c. Iob 52. As Sylla is said in his anger to break a veine of which Rupture he died but qui suavis est vivit in moderationibus Pro. 12. 12. It is not indeed in the Hebrew but the Seventie and Latine so have it and Interpreters thereupon say That life is preserved and prolonged by Moderation but Thirdly take the reason of the Text in that sense of it the Lord is at hand seeing and hearing all our cogitations and speeches Psal 129. 2 3 4. Thou knowest my downsuting c. thou understandest my thoughts afar off c. there is not a word in my tongue but loe thou O Lord knowest it altogether It was good counsell of Seneca Sic fac omnia tanquam spectet aliquis and Moderation is not to learne that God himselfe alwaies observeth the motions and commotions of our spirits and every other distemper Fourthly The Lord is at hand to call us to account for every inward and outward exorbitance thinke speake well of all doe ill to none if we have beene immoderate in this or any other way let us repent amend and remember the Lord is at hand to reckon with us for every misdemeanour I might proceed in further confirmation and declare that this Moderation is of such vast and comprehensive extent that it checks all overflowings of heart tongue gesture apparell diet yea it hath influence upon all our doings and sufferings and then the First Vse will be matter of complaint in the universall want of this Moderation almost in all things and persons Application Vse 1. in this age and inundation of misery no Moderation or abatement of mirth though all the Land mourne how few doe lay it to heart as much excesse in diet almost as ever when so many be ready to sterve pride and those other abominable vanities now notorious also even women wont to be the devout Sex yet now how are some of them spots in your feasts Iude 14. with spots in their faces as if they would out-face our very dayes of Humiliation and men how greedy are they of the world plotting and projecting for riches and places as if here were their abiding citie and they had no thought of one to come and in Civill matters those Courts and contentions I heare not that men find either much more equitie or expedition Second Vse of limitation Vse 2. for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it must be of you your moderation not of or in things belonging unto God it reacheth not to the principles or practise of Religion observe that once for all Men must be as zealous for truth and holinesse as they can Men all men have no power to be Moderatours of them themselves are bounded and confined by the Almighty as Solomon said to Shimei Build thee an house at Ierusalem goe not from thence any whither 1 King 2. 36 37. From Gods word nothing must be taken and nothing must be added to it Deut. 4. 2. 12. 32. Revel 22. 18. Our God is omniscient discerning at first all possible emergencies of things persons and occursions so his Statutes be perfect and absolute and must be obeyed without dispute or moderation it is a most dangerous adventure to examine or regulate Divine Truths by Humane wisdome such daring hath introduced many foule Errors into the Church and retained them our Master Christ said Drinke ye all of this Matth. 26. 27. All the Clergie say the men of Rome the bloud may hang on Lay-mens beards they may spill it on the ground our God commands all men to know his Word and will the Papists will needs be Moderators here and forbiddeth Scriptures in the Mother Tongue because the common people may profane and abuse them a seeming antinomy and opposition appears sometimes in the Word of God yet even there and then men ought not to moderate but one Text must be compared with another and so darke places will be enlightened In every doubtfull businesse they were wont to aske of the Lord Gen. 25. 22. 1 Sam. 23. and elsewhere or of his Priests Exod. 18. 15. Deut. 17. 9. alibique or at his word 1 Sam. 22. 5. 2 Chron. 18. 4. and in other places we must say with Saint Paul in all such matters What saith the Scripture Rom. 4. 3. And againe what saith the Scripture Galat. 4. 30. The Scripture is the sole rule judge and moderator The first Christians were exceedingly precise this way not to tell you how they would not part with a word not a syllable not a letter in divine truths they complied not with the Heathen in small matters Optat. l. 3. p. 71. Plin. Ep. 97. Tertul. de Cor. Mil. p. 153. Id. p. 283. Suidas in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist l. 4. c. 15. m p. 180. They would not burne incense nor weare a crowne nor stick their doores with Laurel nor lay grapes at Bacchus feet Polycarpe would rather dye then sweare by Caesars fortune and the Christians in Iustine Martyr would not tell a lie to save their lives the after connivence and complication brought in errors by heapes and huddles and Rhenanus a learned Papist confesseth the foundation thereof was laid in this presumed Moderation the first approaches of Gentiles to Christianity were invited and entertained with some pleasing changes of their rites whereas their totall resection would have thrust them quite off In Tertul. p. 103. M. but those tolerable alterations as they seemed introduced most intolerable superstition and profanenesse the smart whereof doth yet remaine and we are not purged from the shame and staine of it to this very day there ought to have beene no blinding no blending in Divine
and yet God not robbed of his honour care being taken that their sports be not sinfull nor they in them and if any Sermon or Lecture occasionally be in the place and on the day of their refreshings that they repaire thither also for even the Canons of 1604. required Schoolemasters to bring their Schollers to the Sermons see them quietly and civilly behave themselves there and examine them at times convenient what they have learned by such comming Yea their condition then both inwardly and outwardly will bee much bettered Can. 79. And to the other part of the Objection I say First I wish on mine owne behalfe and others that those heathenish mad and riotous usages had never been knowne among Christians and that now they might be quite abandoned for ever but let the neighbour-hood and charity of those times at least in some time of the yeere be continued sure I am that some who had withered hands all the yeere beside did at that season stretch them out to the poore Secondly Though this day of Christs Birth be thus overcome by our monethly Fast yet our Saviours Nativitie hath and shall have its Commemoration not onely in the Day solemnized for his Resurrection in which is involved all the Complement and Consummation of Christs doing and suffering and Exaltation but further the Lords Day is thought to be the very determinate Day of the weeke when Christ was borne for those that mention the Priviledges of the elder Brother the first Day of the weeke say it was not onely the first Day of the world no night went before it Alb. M. Comp. p. 158. but it shall be the last day and no night shall come after it and that it was the very Day of Christs Birth and Baptisme c. Thirdly If the serious disquisition of Historians and Mathematicians shall calculate and designe the moneth the day I shall not vote against the Christian celebration therof but as at Berne when the Gospel was first reintroduced they set their prisoners at libertie and proclaimed freedome and we observe a Day in memory of our Deliverance from that Hellish Romish Powder Plot so if God please to deliver us from the Diabolicall designes of these times I hope you will appoint a Day in Commemoration thereof Fifthly Jejunia And for Fasting Dayes your Christian Moderation is already made known not twice or thrice in the weeke which they said of old might savour of vain-glory Vit. Pat. part 2. p. 150. 4. neither have you commanded such rigourous observation as Luther blamed in Melanct. macerating his body Vit. ubi sup quasi ferrum aut saxum esset nor as Bernard who confessed he did too much debilitate his body by abstinence and watching but as Zach. 8. 19. The Fast of the fourth moneth c. and yet besides this you have had many other occasionall dayes of Humiliation that which you had the last weeke among your selves was most remarkable among men and acceptable we are assured unto your God also and yet I crave leave to invite unto one Solemn Fast more Oh that a Trumpet were blown in Sion and a Fast sanctified but I would have it sanctified thorow both the Armies in all the Kingdome and though your power reach not so farre I wish it were tendered to them and triall were made of them however two most memorable occasions implore Divine direction and blessing upon your unwearied labours First Treatie of Pacification is in your serious endeavours that the Kingdoms may yet be happy in a safe and well-grounded Peace it is high time to hasten it the whole Land almost is already laid waste by the Sword which if not speedily sheathed is bringing upon us a worse evill unavoydably a Famine for they that be slain with the sword are better then they that be slain with hunger c. Lam. 4. 9. but let not the feare of Sword or Famine scare you into any other Peace then that which is the Peace of God made in Christ joyned with truth else a greater mischiefe will fall upon the Nation then warre or hunger Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water but of hearing the word of God c. Amos 8. 11. Great cause have we therefore now to cry mightily unto God and seeke of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance Ezr. 8. 21. Secondly The great change in Ecclesiasticals that is to appeare suddenly in the Kingdome in respect of Worship and Government may well double our devotions in this very time Prolog in Matth. Hierome Writes that when Cerinthus Ebion and other heretiques denyed Christs coming in the flesh the holy men of those times desired Saint Iohn the Evangelist to write his Gospel in their confutation which he promised upon their undertaking to Fast and Pray for Gods blessing which done Saint Iohn he said was full of the holy Ghost and wrote In the beginning was the Word c. Joh. 1. 1. And indeed when the greatnesse of this worke is looked upon with the multitude of opposers there is great reason we should all with our holiest diligence invocate the Majestie of heaven that these things may tend to his glory and finde acceptation in the souls hearts and lives of the people Sixthly Ecclesiastici The men of my Profession desire to have a share in your Moderation also and indeed I cannot think but that of Titus otherwhere called Joseph de B. J. 7. lib. c. 13. deliciae humani generis favoured not of humanitie when his souldiers had taken the Temple at Hierusalem and the Priests begged their lives he denyed them saying they should perish together I wish all the evils of these men were destroyed but doe none of their persons deserve favour did none of them to their power withstand the inundation of superstition When the Monks and Nunnes here thrust themselves out of their unclean Cages they had salaries for their lives and in other countreys Exire poterunt ad laborem Mycou Vit. Zuingli coniugium literas quis erat animus They were dismissed from their employment but had stipends to their death You have already herein declared your Moderation in assigning a portion for the support of wife and children and it were well if no complaints were brought before you against some that are so loath to part there with Seventhly Heterodoxi Another sort of men call for your Moderation yea and plead merit too I know not what to call them but I meane the men of many opinions though I hope they be neither so numerous nor faultie as their opposites suggest and yet to as many of them as pretend to godlinesse and be with us in Covenant I say no more but wish them to read it to study it to keep it in the rest I would wonder with what conscience or wisdome they abstaine from that bond when the Romanists universally are in armed
men have so much dishonoured to his face we should be in a most desperate condition Goe hence therefore and examine and bewaile and consider Gods providence hath made this day this very day the head of all that jocundity a day of Humiliation doe not miscall it let it be so to every one of us for our owne the Nationall transgressions it hath beene formerly guilty of in those dayes and if the Lord who is at hand had called any of us out of the world when we were busie in those foolish vaine and unchristian usages we may now tremble to thinke how unfit we had beene to meet the Lord Iesus coming in the clouds Secondly Heavenly-mindednesse Let us wisely weane our selves from the world and this we learne from the very next words after the Text The Lord is at hand In nothing be carefull Yea our Lord himselfe gives us the same counsell in the very same words Luk. 21. 34. Take heed that your hearts be not at any time overcome with the cares of this life and that day come upon you unawares There may be a season for other things but none for Christians to be sollicitous for earthly things Our Father is in heaven so we say so we pray heaven is our Countrey so we professe Heb. 11. 16. Why doe we then digge so deepe in the earth and desire to load our selves with thick clay The Apostle in the Chapter before my Text hath expressions that may loath any man thereof whose end is destruction and their glory is in their shame who mind earthly things Phil. 3. 19. Damnation is their end and why should not Hell be their portion who care not for Heaven But they are the brave men of the world in the meane time No such matter their glory is in their shame they wallow in the myre with swine that might have conversed with Saints But who are those damnable and inglorious men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that are wise for the world that mind earthly things What shall I say more what can I adde better then that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 29 30 31. This I say brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they who have wives be as though they had none and they that weepe as though they wept not and they that reioyce as though they reioyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as though they used it not for the fashion of this world passeth away The dehortation is very full and emphaticall but that which I especially observe in it is that it is compassed in and about at the beginning and in the end with the argument of my Text lest our hearts that hanker so much world-ward should any way get out after it Thirdly Perseverance The Lord is at hand therefore constantly persevere in his holy truths and this Vse is held out to us by Iohn the Divine Blessed is he that readeth and they that keep the words of this Prophesie for the time is at hand Revel 1. 3. Yea and S. Paul assoon as he had mentioned this doctrine 1. Cor. 10. 11 makes this very use and application Wherfore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he full ver 12. He that is strong must not be secure because he stands in slippery places nay he standeth not onely he thinketh that he standeth therfore let him take heed lest he fall and caution for perseverance is not onely sutable to my text but the times these suffering times wherein men are most apt to recidivate and fall away as the parable of the seed and sowers make evident Matth. 13. 21. Peter and the other Apostles promised fairly to themselves and their Master in the Calme Though wee should die with thee yet will we not deny thee so said all the Disciples Mat. 26. 35. Yet in the storm nay before the storme came at them they runne away for feare they haste to shelter indeed from shelter because from Christ They all forsooke him and sted vers 56. Thus Demas entangled with the love of earthly things deserts Christ and his Apostle embraceth the present world and departs to Thessalonica 2. Tim. 4. 10. where he is made a keeper of the Pagan Idoles as some of the Ancient have recorded Doroth. Synop. but as for us let that of our Master Christ be ever in our ears alwayes in our hearts Luk. 12. 9. He that denieth me before men shall be denyed before the Angels of God and if Christ turne his face from thee in that day tremble at thy doome who will who can who dare speake for thee if thine owne Advocate be silent and indeed it is most just they be so dealt with that Apostatize from the truths of Christ it is just I say Lege talionis even by the Law of retaliation for that 's the sentence of the holy Ghost If we deny him he will also deny us 2. Tim. 2. 12. Fourthly Holinesse Zealous endeavours after holinesse and thus S. Paul having spoken of the Iudgement to come 2 Cor. 5. 10. he adds presently vers 11. Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men to what but the righteous actions of godlinesse and Christianity and upon this very foundation S. Peter builds a strong argument to holinesse for having spoken at large doctrinally of the day of the Lord as also concerning the formidable manner of his coming 2 Pet. 3. 11. Seeing then that all these things must be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse he interrogates but answers not not because the holy Ghost was at a Non plus and could not expresse it but because he would have us enquire examine and increase in every good word and worke in our own persons and as farre as ever our relations doe and can reach private men in their interests publique persons in their engagements according to that of the holy Prophet which concerns every one of us Let iudgement run downe as waters and righteousnesse as a mighty stream Amos 5. 12. It must be done speedily delayed no longer let it run downe and it must be performed impartially run down as waters which favour none drench all that be neer them yea and powerfully also as a mightie stream that will suffer no obstructions but beares all oppositions before it and that of the author to the Hebrews is pertinent to this purpose also Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more because ye see the day approaching Heb. 10. 24. 25. a Scripture otherwise remarkable in these times wherein men consider one another and provoke not to love but to schisme and siding not to good works but their owne fancies to separation and forsaking the assemblies but there the