come when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth sometime for sincerity in our conversation Ioh. 3. 21. hee that doth truth commeth to the light an Israelite in whom is no guile Ioh. 1. 47. Sometime for the rule of Gods law Rom. 2. 8. Disobeying the truth and obeying vnrighteousnesse and 1. Pet. 1. 22. Your selves are purified by obeying the truth Sometime for the sincere doctrine of the Gospell Gal. 2. 5. that the truth of the Gospell might continue with you Sometime for Iustice Prov. 20. 28. Mercy and truth preserves the King Sometime for such a truth as depends not vpon Opinion which may erre but for that Metaphysicall truth which is affectio Entis and such I take it to be here and so in God it cannot faile so taken Rom. 3. 7. If the verity or truth of God hath more abounded through my lye and so vpon the premisses this doctrine builds it selfe There is nothing more certaine to come to passe in a due and true performance then the truth of all Gods promises Wee neede not stand to prop the truth of this truth vpon any weake foundation of mans building for his truth is himselfe Exod. 34. 6. aboundant in goodnesse and truth Man may be said to be true mercifull just but God is truth mercie and justice it selfe in the abstract so the Prophet here brings his truth in the second place as the sure performer of his mercifull kindnesse whatsoever saith Calvyn He doth promise by his mercy he doth faithfully performe because his mercy and truth are vndissolubly knit together they goe hand in hand and cannot be seperated and as he cannot lye nor deny himselfe Tit. 1. 2. No more can his truth faile Num. 23. 19. God is not as man that he should lye or the sonne of man to repent his truth is confirmed strengthened veryfied and so corroborated toward us for so the word translated great in the Originall signifieth that if we would we cannot put it from us but it will overcome us to acknowledge it if the Lord speake it even to the miraculous continuing of the Meale in the barrell and the Oyle in the Cruse 1. King 17. 14. Even in the preservation and maintenance of the Patriarch Iacob Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy the least of thy mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed vnto thy servant heere is finem non habitura fides his truth is even decked and clothed with constancy and firmnesse we cannot obiect against him as the Poet against Iason and in him against vnstable Man Mobilis AEsonide vernaque incertior aura Cur tua polliciti pondere verba earent Inconstant sonne of AEson fickle wight and more vnconstant then the wind in spring How is it that thy words are growne so light to want that weight should be in promising He deserves not with Antigonus to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who promised much and performed little neither with Thaeaginus to be called smoake who promised much being very poore neither with Hermodorus will he sell his words he doth not will not cannot equivocate with man in the truth of his promises as he that promised centum oves and performed centum ova he hath given us an hand-writing and obligation of promises made himselfe our debter not by owing but promising sayth the great Bishop of little Hippo the heavenly Augustine that we cannot say vnto him give that thou owest but we must pray vnto him for what he promiseth his promises are not like the golden shewes nor showers of the World who like Sathan Mat. 4. 9. promise what they cannot perform inverting the words of the wise Phocion who would have great matters performed not promised as Stobaeus witnesseth but they promise golden mountaines the opulency of Lidian Craesus which in performance prove but moale-hills Among the sonnes of the earth some indeed performe that which after ward they repent as Ioshua did to the Gibeonites Ios 9. 23. some promise what they can doe but meane it not as Iacobs sonnes to the Sichemits Gen 34. 26. Some promise willingly but give vnwillingly as Herod Iohn Baptists head to Herodias Mar. 6. 16. Some promise but after deny it as Laban dealt with Iacob Gen. 29. 23. as is complained Cap. 31. 41. Thou hast changed my wages tenne times but the promises of God are to the faithfull in hope without hope above hope and against hope the father of the faithfull proved all this to be true Rom. 4. 18. Who against hope beleeved in hope that he might be the Father of many Nations the ground of whose Faith was the promise according to that which was spoken so shall thy seede bee Gen. 15. 5. This was accompted vnto Abraham for righteousnesse saith Ambrese because he beleeved and required no reason so the truth of the Lord endureth for ever Because he hath made his truth as strong as the brazen pillers of eternitie to encourage his servants wholly to relye vpon him expecting the performance of his promises he made them before the foundation of the World inact them in the great Parliament of Heaven before all time Ephe. 1. 5. they were and are firme stable great and precious to make us partakers of the divine nature 2. Pet. 1 4. performed in time when the time of promise came which God had sworne to Abraham given a word of prmoise Rom. 9. 7 in Isaac shall thy seede be blessed purposed salvation for us before the world began 2. Tim. 1. 9. Purchased inheritance of promise Heb. 6. 12. be not sloathfull but followers of them which through Faith and patience inherit the promises adopted as children of promise Gal. 4. 28. Now we brethren as Isaac are the children of promise drawne Covenants of promise Ephes 2. 12. The spirit of truth the Scrivener of them Ephes 1. 13. And sealed with the spirit of promise having set not onely his hand but the signet of his right hand the character ingraven image of his own person Amen The truth of the father 2. Cor 10. 10. All the promises of God are yea Amen in CHRIST which is the truth it selfe Reu. 3. 14. These things saith the Amen the true and faithfull witnesse the new convenant drawne Ier. 31. 31. And the counterpane thereof Heb. 8. 8. Are of more force and vertue then all the bills bonds and obligations be they never so curiously and cunningly framed in the winding Mâ—ander of a Ploydons braine Heaven and Earth shall passe ereone jot or title of these can perish nay if there were neither booke record inke or paper in the world they are written more surely then with a pen of Iron ingraven more firmely then with the point of a Diamond by the spirit of Gods grace and adoption in the heart of every beleever and further we have not onely his bond
sparing in some and too lavish and prodigail in others Obiect But it may be objected Valentinian the godly Emperor would be Baptised by none but Ambrose Answ The reason is apparant not to be respect of persons which caused him to travaile for Baptisme to Ambrose but because the Bishops of that time were generally possessed with Arianisme and scarce one so sound as Ambrose was the cause why he repaired thither But where Idolatry is banished Heresy demolished the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments established and sincerely delivered and administred Christ himselfe being the head and President over his Church giving gifts unto all that he sends though to some more to some lesse yet to all sufficient for their Calling Ephes 4. 11 We must not we ought not if we will escape the brand and marke of câ—rnall men have mens persons in admiration in setting one so farre before another to make them more than Christ himselfe ever made them which is to be instruments for the gathering of his Church It was his owne admonition Mat. 23. 8. Be ye not called Râ—â—bi for one is your Master which is Christ and he must be heard if he come in stammering Moses as well as in eloquent Paul or courtly Esay in the weakest and poorest of them Mat. 3. 17. and Math. 17. 5. This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him Neither must we idolatrously magnifie the creature to shrinke in and pinche and pinne up too streight the large glory of the Creator The wise man Wisd 14. 15. laying downe the ground-worke of all Idolatry and spirituall fornication saith thus A Father afflicted with untimely mourning when he had made an Image of his child soone taken away now honoured him as a God which was then a dead man and delivered to those that were under him ceremonies and Sacrifices Thus we see out of the heat of a too ardent and earnest love transported in a preposterous current that is soone taken from the Creator and given to the creature and where that true-loving affection of man is placed there is way made for Idolatry if not rightly and strongly guided by the Spirit of Grace and thus we may offend even in things that are most deare most neare unto us in our wives children selfe love c. as 1 Sam. 2. 29. Eli honoured his children more than God Ambition in the disobedience of our first Parents in a selfe love to themselves is made the way to that fearefull Apostacy hence covetous men are called Idolaters Eph. 5. 5. Col. 3. 5. Mammon is the Idoll and the worldling the Priest that sacrificeth to their imprisoned god as the Gyants Aloydae did to their captived Mars And upon this he bestowes a double worship an inward for hee loves desires delights and trusts in his wealth and an outward for he spends most of his time upon his Idoll in gathering carefully keeping watchfully encreasing painefully and honouring dutifully his carved and painted God and yet the dust of earthly profits hath put out both his eyes that hee sees not his horrible Idolatry The like wee see Wisd 13. 1. c. The madnesse of man first to ascribe the praise due to the Creator to stockes and stones creatures insensible Secondly to men which are but dust and ashes vers 18. for health he calleth to that which is weake Thirdly to wicked men the worst of reasonable creatures and then even to Devils the enemies of God and man they gave that incommunicable name of God Thus by little and little the Devill brought on the highest pitch of Idolatry making the wayes of men and their Religion as uncertaine as Hanniball's crooked passages upon the Alpes That fooles make a mocke at sinne Pro. 14. 9. and they erre in their hearts not knowing the wayes of God Psal 95. 10. Thus when we will set our hearts upon these sublunary and terrestriall vanities it is iust with God to make our ignorance both our sinne and our punishment that the ignorant Idolater may complaine with the wicked Wisd 5. 6. Therefore have we erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousnesse hath not shined upon us and the Sunne of righteousnesse rose not upon us we wearied our selves in the way of wickednesse and destruction yea we have walked through deserts where there lay no way but for the way of the Lord we have not knowne it Neither must we with these bezling Bacchanalians of Belshazzar swallowing his last draught in the sacred bolles which his father had sacrilegiously taken from the Temple drinke wine and praise the Gods of gold Silver Iron brasse wood Dan. 5. 4. neglecting to praise and glorifie the God in whose hand our breath is and whose are all our wayes sacrificing to our cuppes and our cannes our nets and our navigations Thus as though we had made an atonement with death and an agreement with hell Esay 28. 15. Though we be poysoned with the drowsie venome of the Aspe securely snorting in the fooles Paradise and enchaunted castle of this ebrietie swimming in the charmed cupps of Calypso and the dangerous drugges of Circes we are for all this in no more saftety than â— man sleeping in the midst of the Sea or upon the top of the tottering maste of a shippe Pro. 23 34. and though it have the face of beauty yet in the end it bites like a Serpent armed in the taile with the sting of a Cockatrice and though wee misse the heavy doome of Elpenor who in this madnesse was sent to the grave if not to the horrible pit with a broken necke Yet let every intemperate Helluâ— and grape-devouring panther the auncient Hierogly phicke of this vice know that without his speedy amendment his belly is his God and he glories in his shame a fearefull destruction waites his cursed end Phil. 3. 18. For he is a lover of pleasure more than of God 2 Tim. 3. 4. Neither must wee place in this our Hallelu-jah an admiration of any superstition be it as auncient as the Embryons world in its nonage like those Ephesians Acts 19. 28. for their she god Diana erring in the knowledge of the true God which is a spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and trueth Io. 4 24. or like those famosed Idolaters Ier. 44. 17. Wee will burne incense to the Queene of heaven and powre out drinke offerings vnto her as wee have done and our Fathers our Kings and Princes have done in the Cities of Iudah and in the Streetes of Ierusalem for then had we plenty of all things wee were then well and sawe no evill See wee not this foolish generation to continue praising the superstitious times of heathenderived Popery even wholly sprung out of superstitious Gentilisme as hath bin proved their outward showes and their antique fashions in crossing creeping washing elevating their new-made god c. that we might wonder at them as sometime M. Cato did
comming a plaine testification of their calling which afterward increased as the sand of the Sea the daughter of Aegypt forgot her fathers house and the prophane barren Gentile bore children unto God The wise men come here among the Iewes as Apostles and teachers of their Rabbinicall Doctors that so long had held the chaire of Moses blind fat-bellyes that could not see so farre as the auncient Sybils or those strangers that so oft had tossed over those divine Oracles of this starre of Iacob and the mighty volumes of their Master Moses but Thou O God hidest those things from the wise and prudent of the world and revealest them to babes and sucklings even so it is thy will Thou pullest downe the mighty from their seate and exaltest the humble and meeke Luke 2. revealing that mystery that was hid from ages and generations Testified likewise Iohn 4. 27. he is found talking with a Gentle-woman shewing himselfe to be a Iesus a Saviour to her vers 10. If thou knewest the gift of God that is mee which am given of my Father 2 Cor. 9. 15. so called by the Apostle Thankes be unto God for his unspeakeable gift And if thou knewest mee which am the true immortall Ambrosia Nectar and aqua vitae of the Soule-sicke sinners The fountaine of living waters Ier. 2. 13. The fountaine of Israel Psal 68. 26. all this he is even to the Gentile Iohn 4. 26. I that speake unto thee am hee I am the expectation of you Gentiles The sides of the North which Satan challenged for his owne seate and Pontificiall throne Esay 14. 13 are become the Citie of the great King Iesus Christ Psa 48. 3. so that even as a stone though malleable is hardly brought to frame and square to his fit place in a building yet being laboriously hammered is durable and of long continuance so the Gentiles were a most crabbed wilde stocke to plant in a most crooked timber to hewe for Gods building yet being planted and brought to the faith they are most permanent gathered into the inclosed garden of Gods Church Reason 1. That they might shewe forth the wonderfull riches of Gods mercy the greater the sinner the richer the mercy that saves him as Gods mercy appeared more in calling one covetous Publican one incontinent Magdalene one Saul as bloody as Nero or Iulian one lost sheepe to be brought home Luk. 15. one prophane Gentile than in a multitude that needed no repentance It is a greater worke of Gods divine majestie to change a wicked man to a godly than of nothing to erect the glorious arches of thewhole world as Paul said of himselfe Where sin abounded there grace more abounded 1 Tim. 1. 16. For this cause I obtayned mercy that in me first Christ Iesus might shew forth all long suffering for a patterne to them which should hereafter beleeve on him to life everlasting As the Orator spake He that exalts his dejected adversary to his auncient place and dignities and not onely thus but amplifies his honours I not onely comparatively equall him with the best of men but judge him most like to God himselfe It is the glory of a King to passe by offences saith Eccles so is Gods mercy made great in pardoning the innumerable sinnes of the East the abhominations of the Gentiles In the East was the fall of our first Parents the unbeleefe of Eva the disobedience of Adam Gen. 3. the fratricide of Cain Gen. 4. Nimrods rebellion first Idolatry Magicke delivered and taught by those Phantasticke divels Incubus and Succubus with many more so that here is the magnifying of his mercy also of his glory As it is a great glory to a King to have strangers from remote parts of the world to bring presents and submit themselves to his scepter and governement So is it to have the raging Gentiles that so long had bandied themselves against the Lord and his annoynted to yeeld their necks under his yoake and those lands which like Ezechiels bloudy pots had nought but theyr scum in them full of Mephyticall stinckes like the five Cities or like the pot among the children of the Prophets in which was nought but death and the entoxicating poyson of abhominable villaines should at the last like Noahs sacrifice be a favour of rest in the nosthrils of Almighty God pots of holinesse like those in Zach. 13. last And so here is the mercy love and glory of God manifested in the calling of those long-loathed Gentiles Thus wee see Christs Kingdome according to his promises and prophecyes reaching from sea to sea and from the great river to the ends of the World as the Angell said Of his Kingdome shall be no end not onely in regard of the stability and durance but also of the boundlesse interminable amplitude thereof The Ocean shall not bound his regiment His fame shall flie above the firmament Else where had beene those huge Nations which have bin converted to the faith some by Apostles c. to omit the rest our selves which long lay in the darknesse of superstitious Gentilisme and of late times by those famous Colonies in Virginia brought from worshipping of Divils mirabile dictu to worship the true God in spirit and truth the instruments of whose happy calling were our famous English If the mercy of God had not appeared how had wee and the most part of the world still remained in horrible blindnesse slaves to Satan and heires of eternall perdition Come unto us then miserably blinded Turkes Infidels and Pagans and we will tell you what God hath done for our soules we have tasted how true how gracious the Lord is the Sea of knowledge which Esay spake of is accomplished among the Churches of the Gentiles Ieremie said They should come unto God from the ends of the earth and it is fullfilled the concourse to the preaching of the Word foretold by Micah and Zacharie is verified Mic. 4. 1. Zach. 8. 20. This day are these Scriptures fulfilled in our eares Thus much for confirmation of the Doctrine the uses follow First to teach us to magnifie the glorious name of God who hath called us out of darknesse into the marveilous light of the saving knowledge of Christ If we should make a quare with David concerning the generall estate of man What is man that thou art so mindfull of him or of himselfe What am I and what is my Fathers house Why we were even a refused people in whom there was neither favour nor beauty without hope without God in the World children even whose profession was disobedience drowned in the sinke of abhominations Our religion if we had any was mere idolatry Quicquid humus pelagus coelum mirabile gignit Id dixere Deos colles freta flumina flammas What'ere the God of nature hath made strange In Sea in earth in hill floud fire
HALLELV-JAH OR KING DAVID'S SHRILL TRVMPET sounding a loude Summons to the whole World to Praise GOD. Delivered by way of Commentarie and plaine Exposâ—tion vpon the CXVII PSALME By RICHARD CHAPMAN Minister of the Word of God at Hunmanbie in Yorkshire Laus in nobis referatur ad ipsum laudabilium vniversorum authorem largitorem Bern. sup Cant. PSAL. 92. 1. It it a good thing to give Thankes vnto the Lord and to sing Praises vnto thy Name O most High LONDON Printed by B. Alsop and T. Fawcet for ROBERT ALLOT dwelling at the signe of the blacke Beare in St. Pauls Church-yard 1635. TO THE RIGHT VVOR pfull and his much honoured Friend RICHARD OSBALDESTON Esq all Happinesse c. Worthy Sir THE many and manifold kindnesses which I have received from you as reall additaments to my welfare like the officious Servant in the Comedy or like another Cynthius aurum vellet stand vp as so many Monitors bidding mee take heed of that detestable monster Ingratitude which so venemously hath stupified the sences of most so generally lessoned and taught in the Academie of the vnthankfull World Therefore to shun those detested shelves I have made bold out of a truly though not sufficiently thankfull heart to Dedicate this weake Embryo of my newly teeming braine vnto your selfe I might indeed take notice that there are Scyllean Criâ—tickes but Scylleos Canes obturata aure transibo Ierom. That there are left-handed Benjamites casting stones at an haire-bredth Iudg. 20. 6. Demea solus sapit that a Paper vessell may easily miscarry as the Travailer betwixt Ierusalem and Iericho Yet will I venture vnder your Worships patronage as little Teucer vnder the Buckler of Ajax to passe into the glassie Sea of the world having still more incouragement from Plinius secundus beati quibus Deorum munere datum est aut facere scribenda aut scribere facienda And it is given to Adamantius Origen Ne erubescas primum recte facere quae non potes bene melius erubescas male facere quae potes bene Euseb eccles Hist lib. 6. And though the manner of the handling of the Divine matter be weake and imperfect the very Image of the Author as you know yet the Subject of it is the Psalmodicall Hallelu-jah of Princely DAVID rowzing vp and goading the vnthankfull masse of Mankind to Praise-giving teaching them the Hosanna of Obedience here and their Hallelu-jah here and hereafter that they are ABRAHAMS sonnes who doe Abrahams workes Etiam fertus fecit mihi Iesum fratrem Abrahamum patrem Orig. hom 8. super Ezech. in Rom. câ—â— 4. And that there is Spuria pietas as well as Spuria febris a piety which goes with Iucobs voyce but Esaus hands masked in the colours and shewing forth the Symptomes of true holinesse which I desire to passe thus vnder your tutelarie Name and leave you and yours your actions and occasions to the All-guiding hand of Heavens protection and providence and rest Yours ever devoted to doe you service RICHARD CHAPMAN Ad Lectorem SI mihi viri Anglicani in presentia concedatis vitam hac conditione vt ne posthac in sapientiae inquisitione verseâ— diligo quidem vos sed Deo certum est parere potuis quam vobis ac quamdiu vivam valebo Philosophari atque vnumquemque vestruâ—â— exhortari ad virtutem non desistam SOCRATES oratio quae est apud Platonem in ejus Apologia HALLELV-IAH OR King DAVIDS shrill Trumpet founding a loude Summons to the whole World to Praise GOD. PSAL. 117. 1. O Praise the Lord all yee Nations praise him all yee People THis booke of Psalmes contayning the Sacred songs in the Scriptures was penned by the direction and inspiration of that all-guiding Spirit of Truth as a briefe Compendium of the holy Historie as Augustine saith Matchlesse DAVID in composing of them sometimes speakes as a King Psal 101. 2. I will walke in my house with a perfect heart noting his Princely and Religious government both of his Kingdome and Family Sometime as a Prophet speaking of the Messiah his Incarnation Sufferings Resurrection Exaltation c. himselfe the type CHRIST the antitype Some of them further comprehend matter of Inseruction concerning Faith and Manners as Psal 1. 15. 37. Other some contayne matter of Prayer and Confession of sinnes as Psal 25. 51 c. Some prayers against the Enemies of the Church as Psal 79. 83. c. Some Historicall as Psal 78. 105. 106 c. Some commâ—nding Gods lawes as Psal 19. 119. Some describing Gods wonderfull Power as Psal 18. Some Thankesgivings for severall deliverances as Psal 144. Some are for the stirring up of men to praise God for his Mercies as here Wherein the Prophet summons all Gods people comprised in these great Seedes of Iaphet and Sem to praise God to acknowledge the Scepter and Kingdome of CHRIST IESVS the true Messiah Not onely his generall regiment in which even the Devils are his vassals to exercise unregenerate Men and Women in theyr lusts till hee bring them to destruction from the poysonous soporiferous cup of sinne to the scalding cup of Gods eternall Wrath but obediently to submit themselves to that mighty Scepter by which in particular hee guides and governes his Church And so this Epaineticall or Praise-giving Psalme brancheth it selfe into two parts First a Proposition or generall exhortation verse 1. O praise the Lord all yee Nations praise him all yee People Secondly a double reason 1. In regard of his Mercy in making Promises 2. His Truth in the performing of them verse 2. To leave this for a while come wee to the first which is the Exhortation In which consider 1. The Duty enjoyned in the Exhortation Praise which is urged by the interjection O which is not supernumerall but necessary 2. The Object the Lord 3. The parties enjoyned 1. Nations 2. People which are taken of some generally for all the people of God but others and the more generall current of Interpreters doe by these note the two great Seedes The Gentiles which are accounted before theyr calling Hos 1. 6. Not beloved and vers 9. Not my People but heere Prophetically called to praise God And the Iewes which by a certaine speciall prerogative are called Gods people his darlings and dearely Beloved ones which hee carried upon his winges as an Eagle her young ones and led them in the Wildernesse like a flocke of Sheepe which had his speciall protection and favour the kisses of his mouth Hee gave his Lawes unto Iacob his Statutes and Ordinances to Israel Hee hath not dealt so with any Nation Psal 147. 19. As it were confining his Graces within the skirts and straite borders of Palestina at Salem is his Tabernacle Psal 76. 2. The duty is called here Hallelu-jah which is doubled in this Verse and repeated in the next To shew how necessary the sacrifice of Praise and Thankesgiving is and also
Bullocke was burnt without the Campe Levit. 6. 12. And further the remooving the Scepter from Iudah which came to passe at the Idumean Herod entring to the Kingdome by the favour and furtherance of Antonius and afterward more strongly seated and setled by Augustus when he cruelly slaughtered their Sanhedrim as Philo their owâ—â— Countreyman doth witnesse and their owâ—â— Rabbins in their Talmud cry out Wee unto us for the Scepter is now taken away from Iudah and the Lawgiver from betweene his feet This might also be shewed by the generall ceasing of the Iewish Sacrifices the multitudes of Hecatombes among the Gentiles which all gave place and died with the great Heathenish Pan when this immaculate Lambe was slaine Also by the ending of the yeare of Iubile with Christ himselfe upon the Crosse proclaimed to be ended Ioh. 19. 30. It is finished the ending of the Monarchies prophecied by Daniel which should have their full Period when the Stone should be cut out of the mountaine without hands which ended in that lascivious Egyptian Queene Cleopatra all being brought under the yoke and subjection of the Romane their owne Simeon in whom they say the spirit of the great Sinagogue did cease hee testifieth Luke 2. 26 27 c. Also their owne Prophetesse Anna of the tribe of Asher Luke 2. 38. Also the ancient Sibyls as that Erithraea which spake so excellently of CHRIST that she seemes to Saint Augustine to have beene a Citizen of the Citie of God which bookes were had in that reverend esteeme that when Augustus Caesar searching up their ancient Prophecies throughout Africa Sicilia and the Colonies of Italie to be brought to Rome to examine the true from the false He caused 2000. to be devoured by fire yet he preserved the Zibillian Oracles and caused them to be locked up into golden chests at the foot of the Image of Apollo in mount Pallatine in Rome but these are copiously handled by that Hammer of the Iewes and Mahumetanes Philip Morney Lord of Plesse and others Thus must we provoke the seed of holy Sem to embrace the Gospell by shewing them that it is in vaine to expect any other to come in great power but that great mystery is already made knowne which is God manifested in the flesh iustified in the Spirit seene of Angels preached unto the Gentiles c. according to the Scriptures 1 Tim. 2. 16. That they may acknowledge Davids sonne and Davids Lord whom they must kisse in obedience or perish everlastingly Heare then yee sonnes of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made unto our Fathers Acts 3. 25. Heare I say the kingly David sweet singer of Israel calling you forth of your blindnesse to joyne with the Gentile to praise God in this Hallelu-jah you must be one in the bond of the Spirit and the unity of peace be no more the deafe Adder that stoppeth their eares though the Charmer charme never so wisely Psal 58. 4. This is the CHRIST whose blood hath beene so long required at your hands Matth. 27. 25. Answere not with your elders Mar. 11. 33. Wee cannot tell you have had both your Patriarks and your Prophets pointing at him the Vale of the Temple is rent and now you have vs Gentiles to preach him unto you Luke 23. Heb. 9. The Lord therefore for his CHRISTS sake the sonne of his love and the ingraven Image of his Person remoove the vaile from your hearts that with us you may have your eyes opened to see the way into the holy or holies made open by the great High Priest of our Calling that you may come at the found of this silver Trumpet of your owne David that as your diminishing hath beene the riches of the world so your restoring may be life from the dead and that it may be in due time accomplished and performed we shall daily powre out our prayers in the name of IESVS CHRIST to the Father by the blessed Spirit to which three glorious Persons and but one onely wise God be all honour and glory for evermore Amen Here endeth the first part being verse 1. VERSE II. PSAL. 117. 2. For his mercifull kindnesse is great toward us and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever Praise yee the Lord. THe tres-noble branch of Iesse king David having by a propheticall spirit not onely summoned but enjoyned both Iewes and Gentiles to the joyntpraising of God declaring the boundlesse compasse and unlimited circuit of the kingdome of CHRIST not onely King of the Iewes as Pilate stiled him Iohn 19. 19. but even the heathen are his inheritance linked into the society of faithfull Abraham by the bond of faith and obedience elsewhere as Psal 19. 1. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke c. Even insensible creatures as Sunne Moone Starres Meteors Thunder Haile Snow c Psal 148. are called upon for the performance of this dutie every creature be it never so base in the sight of Man bearing upon it the workemanship of his hands even by silence loudly proclaimes it's Maker but he is praised of Man in a more lively and louder straine a shriller and sweeter Diapason sounding from an heaven-sprung soule which in the internall externall superiour and inferior powers and faculties thereof doth manifestly beare the Image of God and the characteristicall badge and stampe of the Divinitie as Calvin saith is invested and inriched with such a measure and furnishment of Graces as it pleaseth the Olimpian love to distribute to every one as Homer in the twylight of nature could say the ditty of whose duty in this vers 2. is composed of Gods mercy and truth and so this brings us to the reason for his mercifull kindnesse c. In which are considerable 1. His Mercie 2. His Trueth in performing his promises 3. The certainty of both confirmed in the object toward us 4. The Epiphonema and conclusion of this Psalme which is accounted the last of the Iewes Hallelu-jahs which were appointed to be sung at their Passeover ending in the same cadence in which it begun Praise yee the Lord. Mercifull kindnesse the first motive injoyning the dutie is a common place in which as in a Maze or Labyrinth we may loose our selves and make an easie entrance but no end for all the wayes of God are mercie and truth Psal 25. 9. The Almighty hath stepped no where beneath or above the circle of the Moone but he hath left plaine prints and characters of his mercies that he that runnes may reade them and that we may take notice of the tendernesse of them sometime they are expressed in the love of Parents to Children Psal 103. 13. As a father pittieth his children so doth the Lord pitty them that fear him sometime in the love of Eagles to their young Is 49. even exceeding the love of a woman to her sucking child verse 15. hee hath
and counterpane thereof but for our better assurance wee have his oath Gen. 22. 16. I have sworne by my selfe as much as if he had said let me be no more God if these things be not performed thus Isa 45. 23. sometime for this purpose he sweareth by his Soule Ier. 51. 14. Amos 6. 8. by his Name Ier. 44. 26. by his Holines Amos 4. 2. by his right hand Isa 62. 8. so to sweare by himselfe his Name Holinesse c. are all one contrary to Philo the Iewe who would have God to sweare by himselfe and man by his attributes thus God for our assurance deales with us like a debter who for the certainty of payment pawns his Faith Truth Soule and sometime his God and this promise was so Sacred even in the light of Nature that Adesilaus King of the Lacedemonians thanked Tissiphernes for breaking his promised truce because by this breach he had incurred the anger of the Gods if thus inviolable in Man how much more in God who will not falsifie his truth nor alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth Psal 89. 33. and whose truth of promise is so confirmed in his CHRIST Rom. 15. 8. It was the worthy resolution of the Prophets long before the actuall incarnation of CHRIST and the reall performance of that great mysterie 1 Tim. 3. 16. that he would performe his truth to Iacob Mic. 7. 20 that he is the Lord Iehova and changeth not Mal. 3. 6. and that he is faithfull 2 Tim. 2. 13 so that his truth endureth for ever And that we may be the more assured of this turth for our third Reason let us looke a little into the all-sufficiency of his power and launch our selves into the mayne Ocean of his omnipotencie David tels us Psal 115. 3 hee hath done whatsoever pleased him he hath potentiall power by which he is able to doe more then he will As of stones to rayse up children to Abraham Math. 3. 9. to send 12 legions of Angels to rescue our Saviour CHRIST from the Crosse Math. 26. 53. to built a thousand worlds c. But his will is the limmit of his power In his actuall power by which he mightily works in the daily preservation and gubernation of his creatures he works not with wearinesse irkesomenesse or tediousnesse but without all impediment not as Man in the sweate of his face but in the whole Hexameron and worke of Creation he onely spake the Word and they were made successively in order by his word onely he causeth the thunder which is his glorious voyce the Hindes to calve and the whole course of nature to be continued in her severall species without controlment so that whether wee respect his principall promise in sending CHRIST the desire of all nations or his inferiour lesse principall all are surely sealed duely to be performed unto us and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever But it may be obiected against the faithfulnes of Gods truth Gen. 12. 7 hee promiseth to give Abraham the land of Canaan but he inherited it not as the protomartyr witnesseth Acts 7. 4. God brought him in but gave him no inheritance in it no not the breadth of one foote Resp Though Abraham did not personally possesse it yet he may be said to inherite it two wayes First mystically as it was not onely a fertile fruitfull and country in Asia as Scicilia to Italie but likewise it did Typically shadowe the Kingdome of Heaven the celestiall Canaan the Church Tryumphant and this did Abraham inherit in his owne person called his owne bosome Luke 16. 23. into which all the faithfull are gathered as into a sure haven out of the raging stormes of the glassie Sea the brickle world Rev. 4. 6. So that God in the performance of his promises though he give not the samething yet hee give something equibalent as to Iosia 2 Kings 22. 10. Though he gaue him not long life the promised portion to obedient children Exo. 20. 12. yet he gave him a more excellent thing taking him from the evill which presentlie upon his death fell heavily vpon his people and giving him a better life in Heaven Secondly he may be said to inherit it though not in his owne person or his immediate seede yet in his posterity 430 yeares after the promise was made as the Apostle proveth Gal. 3. 17. so though not to the same parties yet to their successors the truth of God is surely performed the godly mans patience is expected for Hab. 2. 3. the vision is for an appoynted time though it tarty waite for it which shall surely come and not stay thus Psal 97. 11. Light is sowne for the the righteous not in the harvest but in the seede time thy harvest is but in hope as the husbandman casteth his seede into the ground and is content to stay the time of the reaping so must wee waite for the promises And though yet hee hath not gathered the dispiered of Iacob his ancient people yet the time shall come when the Shulamites shall returne and the spirit of grace shall be powred upon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem Zach. 12. 10. CHRIST himselfe the coyne or corner stone and to joyne together those two great seeds the Iewes and Gentiles as by a corner two wals which otherwise were broken a sunder are joyned and made one and the building perfected Ephes 2 20. and thus of the truth of all his promises revealed to his Church from time to time sealed by the infallible witnesse of the Spirit of truth even to Peters vision Acts 10. 19 are and shall surely be performed so the Doctrine is confirmed against all Atheists that doubt of any of the particulers and say 2 Pet 3. 5. Where is the promise of his comming and against all those by whom the way of truth is blasphmed and evill spoken of let God be true and every Man a lyer Rom. 3. 4. To teach us to make the truth of God in his promises the ground worke of our comfort stedfastly setling our faith and full assurance thereon devote Barnard in the consideration of this truth was even ravished in an holy extasie saying O the wonderfull love of God in our adoption the trueth of his promises and his power in their performance we must beleeve with Abraham beleeving above hope though in mans reason they seemed to be frustrate as those millions of Nations to issue out of halfe sacrificed Isaac and with faithfull Paul who in his dangerous voyage to Rome a great tempest arising neither Sunne nor Starres appearing for many dayes and being hopelesse of all safety Acts 27. 20. saw by the vision of his faith and comforts the Marriners that there should be no losse of any mans life but onely of the Ship and with David Psal 77. 2 â—n the day of my trouble I sought the Lord c. when his Soule
dreames of nothing but peace making God the approoving Parron of his villanies and if hee were not acknowledged Heb. 11. 6. To be a rewarder both of the righteous and of the wicked rendering to the one honour glory and immortall life and to the other indignation wrath tribulation and anguish Rom. 2. 7. hee might justly be reputed as the wicked themselves but it is as possible to change and alter the nature and essence of God as for the obstinate unjust person to escape the instruments of death prepared for him Psal 7. 12. Even the iust shall reioyce when he seeth the vengance Psal 58. in the performance of this truth Consider then what danger it is to weare the livery of disobedience to treade upon the egges of a Cockatrice to hatch their poysonous egges which who so eateth dyeth and that which is crushed breaketh into a viper to weave the Spiders webbe Isa 59. 5. to have any thing to doe with the unfruifull workes of darkenesse but to inherite shame and confusion Be ye then like the kine of Beth-sheemosh drawing the Arke 1 Sam. 6. 12. though their calves lowed to them and they to their calves yet being yoaked to the Arke they could not turne backe so resolve with thy selfe that though thy calves thy brutish affections cry after thee and thy deareling sinnes like so many swarmes of Bees troupes of beloved friends or dearest children as Augustine confesseth of himselfe upon his conversion from a dissolute Manichey incompasse thee on every side for reentertainement yet being tyed to the Aâ—ke by thy covenant of obedience refuse renounce shake them off and cast them away as Ephraim his Idols If thou wilt needs follow thine imaginations which are evill Gen. 6. 5. and suffer thy selfe to lye sottishly chayned in the inchaunted Castle and fooles Paradise of sinne Pitching thy tents in the Bethaven and house of vanity drowned in the Soporiferous Nepenthick dregs of the cyrce and bewitching corruption of thine owne heart silencing the thoughts and vailing the eyes both of sinne and punishment the very visions of thy head will one day make the affraid Dan. 4. 2 an evill conscience will be unto thee as Iobs messenger Ioh 1. 19. a disasterous nuncio to torment thee Prov. 28. 1. cause thee to flye when no man pursueth thee smite thee with astonishment of heart Deu. 28. 28. Lev 26. 17 give thee the oyle of sadnesse in stead of gladnesse cause thee to say of laughter thou art madde when the best of thy comforts is buâ— from the teeth forward with Nero thou may est change thy chamber but not thy chamber fellowe for the eyes which sinne hath shut punishment doth open the whole world of the damned sufficiently testifying as we see in Bal tazar Dan. 5. in the time of Gods silence what a Iolly fellow he was God gave him a Kingdome Majestie and honour all Nations tremble before him he put downe and exalted whom he would securely carrowfing with hi Queenes and his Concubines his Princes and proceres in the sacred bowles of the Temple praysing the Gods of golde and silver but the God in whose hands his breath was he regarded not his counsels and hests he obeved not tell me now when his countenance châ—ngeth and his knees knocke one against another what an unquiet house is here when his Iudge is but writing against him with a little finger thus it is with wicked men in the time of their disobedience and Gods patience as cold congealeth together things of quite contrary natures as wood stones Iron c. till the fire come to dissolve them so the soule of man hath frozen together sinnes of all sorts and because man is Sathanically blinded God hath appoynted the fire of his judgement to dissolve them letting them see what a horrid confusion they have brought upon their owne heads and what a confused Babel and disordered heape of enormities they have piled and compiled together against the day of wrath the just Judge of the world is not like Phillip of Macedon who heard the poore womans cause while he slept and so gave sentence against her but true and just in all his sayings whether they be Menaces or Mercies even the word which I have spoken unto you shall judge you at the last day Iohn 12 48. Eodem constanciae firmitatis elogio ornabitur clementia veritas The mercy and trueth of God are commended in the same title of constancy and stabilitie both grounded upon himselfe if hee be thy Master then where is thy dutifull feare and if thy father then where is thy filiall obedience Mal. 1. 6. If thou expect his promises looke to thine owne vowe squaring thy obedience by the rule of his law which must be thy compasse Cynosure and loadstarre to guide thee to the inherritance which is sealed by his promises in Heaven to be the happy portion guerdon of all obedience respected more than sacrifice 1 Sam. 15 22. Eccles 4. 17. Hos 6. 6. Ier. 7 22. This unmeasurable truth of God teacheth us as dutifull children in this matter to imitate the father of truth in our awfull and lawfull oathes our promises and simple asseverations let truth be the character and image of the inward affection of our hearts and our tongues the true ambassadors of our Soules the mouth and the minde are coupled together in an holy Marriage Math. 12. 34. Out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and doth a fountaine send forth at one conduit bitter water and sweete water Iam. 3. 11. so when the tongue speaketh that which the heart never thought it is conceived in Adultery and he that bringeth forth such bastards offends not onely the rule of charity but infringes the inviolable bond of chastity makes a dangerous breach in that morall verity which is incomparably more beautifull among Christians than the farre-admired Helena was accompted among the Grecians for she crownes all those that dye her Martyrs The King is strong women is strong wine is strong but the truth is above all it liveth and conquereth for evermore 1 Esd 4. 38. Fidelity in keeping promises is a fruit of the Spirit and called Faith Gal. 5. 22. a property of him that is qualified to dwell in Gods Tabernacle and rest upon his holy Mountaine Psal 15. 4. It is Gods owne precept Ephes 4. 15. Put away lying and speake truth every man to his neighbour it is our armour of proofe able to abide the fiery tryall to make truth our proposition honesty our assumption and conscience our conclusion In this wee are like to God himselfe whose wayes are mercy and truth hee whose soule is fraught with this may safely with undaunted boldnesse launch foorth into the depth of his enemies set saile and direct his course to the haven of Heaven to the father the God of truth Psal 30. To the Son which is truth it selfe Iohn 14.
6. and to the Spirit which is the spirit of truth 1 Iohn 5. 6. What shall wee say then of these spurious brats of Sathan which beare his image and superscription in their lying dissembling false swearing undermining ledgier-dumaine c. which have the deepenesse of craft in the center of their hearts whose sinne of lying goes not alone like the Raile but like the Partridge in covies coupled and yoaked with the Theefe as his fittest copesmate Zach. 5. 4. Let our Saviour CHRIST bee the Herald to derive theyr base pedigree and lyneall discent Iohn 8. 44. You are of your father the Devill he was a lyer from the beginning so are yee as like as one apple to another and how many of these Cratians Tit. 1. 12. which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes lyers Irijahs and false accusers Iere. 37. 13. bearing in his tongue the image of his patron which is called an Accuser Rev. 12. 20. How many covetous lying Gehezies which beare the marke of their infamous leprosies to their graves 2 Kings 5. 25. how many dissembling Ziba's 2 Sam. 16. 2. undermining the honest hearted Mephibosheth how many like the false and perjured Elders against the innocent Susanna in whose gray beards and grave heads should have shined the lustre and splendor of truth and honestie yet filled with in continency and perjury How many of such false witnesses as were suborned against our Saviour CHRIST Math. 26. And those perjured wretches which out of their venemous hearts and mouths belched out those false accusations and foule aspersions upon the sincere Narcissus sometime Byshop of Ierusalem Al which three were shortly after rewarded with the due desert of perjury how many of those monsters of men who in the dayes of that Virag the mirror of Fame of more than famous memory have not onely multiplyed and variated strange and hell-bred plots and Iesuiticall more than Italianated complots against her Sacred person crowne and Kingdome like those monsters in Affrica every day a new conspiracy but even after her death to cast the venome of their more then malicious spite upon her immaculate Virgin soule that rests with her God Nec mors mihi finiet iras Saeva sed in manes manibus arma dabo It is not death can end my endlesse wrath But Spite shall rake her ashes Envie saith Hence then thou sublimated malice among the infernall Spirits her incorruptible part is gone to God that gave it how many of those dogged Doegs 1 Sam. 22. How many Ananiasses and Saphyraes Acts 5. with thousands more which like locusts cover the surface of the Earth is not the Starre Wormewood fallen into the glassie Sea of this world and hath poysoned it the whole world lyes in wickednesse 1 Iohn 5. 19. There is none that doth good no not one Psal 14. 3. Truth is parted from the Sonnes of Men Psal 12. 1. Every man is a lyer Rom. 3. 4. the abstruse Hypocrite thinkes all simplicity faulty and truth scarce warrantable Learne then beloved from aged Eleazer 2 Macchab. 6 24. who going to his death because he would not eate Swines flesh unlawfull to the Iewes profession was counselled for the saving of his life to dissemble faine the eating thereof but he considering his age his gray haires his Godly education c. answered It becommeth not our age in any wise to dissemble So a Christian bearing in his crest the Armes of Heaven being a Knight of the conquering order of Saint Vincent and of the red Crosse must not defraud his brother in any matter for God is the avenger of all such things 1 Thes 4. 6. neither dissembling in matters of Religion which is a capitall lye nor in civill affaires as being pernicious nor in the least kinde which may be officious for none of these are justifiable being layd in the ballance of Gods truth Quisquis esse aliquid genus mendatij quod peccatum non sit putarit seipsum decipit Hee that thinkes any the least kinde of lye to be no sinne deceives himselfe for No lye is of the truth 1 Iohn 2. 21. for the severall kindes of lying and dissembling reade at large Augustine de mendacio ad consentium Further that wee may be drawne to love the Truth let us consider the Iudgements of the true God against the enemies of his truth Psal 5. 6. He will destroy them that speake lyes him that in the one closet of his heart sees a dissembling lye and in the other Cabinet conceives the Embryo of truth Psal 55 23 Bloody and deceitfull Men shall not live out halfe their dayes Wisd 1. 11. The mouth that belyeth sleyeth the Soule Iohn makes it a marke of Reprobation Revel 21. last Whose portion is the flying Booke of Iudgements Zach. 5 4. and Revel 22. 15. Lyers are the blacke guests entertained in the same ranke with Murtherers Adulterers Witches Dogs and the Divels Machivistians which must be without and have their portion in vtter darknesse Nec artificioso mendatio nec simplici verbo opertet quenquam decipere quia quomodo libet mentitur quis occidet animam suam We must not deceive eyther by artificiall Lying or by pretended Simplicity for by what meanes soever a Man doth lye hee destroyes his owne soule Turpis est omnis fraus etiam in rebus vilibus Dissimulation in the least things is abominable See the all-just God justly punishing Vladislaus a Christian King of Poland and Hungarie because hee broke a Truce dissembling with Amurath the 6. an irreligious Turke with a great overthrow of 30000. at Berna a just revenge for perfidious dissembling The like may be seene upon equivocating Arrius who being called to the Councell of Constantinople that there hee might renounce his Heresie deceives those Fathers by a paper in his bosome in which he had written his Heresie swearing hee beleeved as he had written meaning in a divelish mentall reservation his hereticall position which hee kept in secret but see the justice of God following him at the heeles for presently after by the loosnesse of his Belly in the sodaine terrour of his Conscience sinne lying now at the doore hee empties his very bowels into the draught so taking his last farewell of the world a just judgement upon perfidious Equivocators and enemies of the Truth And I would to God that the maintayners of mentall reservation cunningly contriving their mixt propositions partly mentall partly vocall seeking hereby to delude the truth would looke upon and consider these Examples upholding that Monster which no doubt was first bred and brought to light from the darke Cells of the State-undermining Iesuits these Assassionates as they have severall and sundry many and manifold policies especially in the Elders and Fathers of that Order as hath beene discovered in their subterranious vaults in their severall Colledges so have they likewise severall Names in every new Christened
The second is shewed in forgiving the pâ—ecept of which is laid downe Eph. 4. 32. Forgiue one another as God for CHRISTS sake forgave you when our Saviour CHRIST had laid it downe in that methodicall Prayer commended and commanded to his Church Mat. 6. 12. And that vnder paine of excommunication from God retaliating vpon vs the same measure we offer to others knowing our backward perversnesse in performing those duties of love especially this of forgiving he begins a fresh Sermon Verse 14. Drawne from the law of equity by which we shal be measured If you will not forgive men their trespasses no more will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses In the parable of the vnmercifull servant Mat. 18. 34. How sharpely doth our Saviour reprehend him O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst mee shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow as I had pitty on thee and his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors c. Pro. 19. 11. It is the glory of a man to passe by offences Yet not in a foolish pitty as Ahab with Benhadad 1. King 21. letting him escape whom the Lord had commanded to be slaine or to take away the sword from the secular Magistrate the Kings owne Sonne borne of his Grace and soveraignety for he is appointed to punish offenders whose ordinance is from God Rom. 13. 4. of such Deut. 19. 13. Their eyes must not spare the offenders whose escapements by their negligence shal be required at their hands but of revenge for private wrongs to take the sword of Iustice into our owne hands how dare we when God hath threatthreatned by the mouth of truth it selfe that their shal be iudgement without mercy to him that sheweth no mercy and he that forgiveth not must never be forgiven how many woes then lye vpon this Iron age wherein we live how many of those barbarous Scythians which seeke no iustice but by bloody cruelty sword and revenge to right themselves say not then I will recompence evill but waite vpon the Lord and he shall save thee Prov. 20. 22. How many are there whose hearts are as hard as the nether mill-stone and whose hands are withered like the hand of Ieroboam which they cannot stretch forth to give any thing If they give it is for their owne ends and not for the affliction of Iosoph Amos 6. 6. Which with many more showes that we are but emptie barrels sounding but holding no liquor our professions like the bird with the great voyce but almost no body and as we know not how to give no more doe we how to forgive our private grudges heart-burnings and continuall suits which makes one cluster of humane Lawe more esteemed then the whole Vintage of divine Law proclaime that our profession is nought but policie our cases in Law more worth than the cases of Conscience Lastly this doctrine serveth as a Counterplea to a false Challenge made by the wicked and vnregenerate Man daring in his presumptuous security to challenge those mercies of God as his owne by free Charter like the Divels lay claime to the whole World Mat. 4. 9. All these things will I give thee pretending them all to be his owne free Lordship but Dan. 4. 21. It is Iehovah the most high God that beareth rule over all the Kingdomes of Men giveth them vnto whom he will Or like the deepe Lunatike who dreames of Kingdomes and greatnesse being poore or like the Foole in Athens who challenged all the Ships in the port and all the riches that came to the Citty to he his when in the meane time hee had scarce a rag to cover himselfe withall or like Isaiahs Dreamer dreaming of eating drinking but waking his soule is emptie hungry and thirsty Or like Charles the 7. king of France being by our victorious English and that warlike Edward named the Blacke-prince almost expelled and expulsed his whole Kingdome was called King of the poore Biturgians a King without a Kingdome So doe the wicked claime an interest in Gods mercies CHRIST indeed is sufficient for all but not efficient to all Ioh. 1. 12. To as many as received him he gave power to be called the sonnes of God He came to all but all receives him not The mercies of God Psal 120. Are from ever lasting to everlasting Great are thy tender mercies Psal 119. 156. but it is vpon them that feare him Mal. 4. 2. Vpon such the Sunne of Righteousnesse shall shine with healings in his wings as the Sunne is cheerefully pleasant to eyes that be found so it is troublesome to the sore so is CHRIST IESVS in his rising and even as a halfe blind man passing over a narrow bridgevsing spectacles which make the bridge seeme broader then it is the blind man being thus deceived falls headlong into the water So by the spectacles of corrupt naturall reason and presumption which the wicked man lookes through the mercy of God which is the bridge is made too broad his iustice shruck too narrow leaning vpon the one forgetting the other till he tumble downe into the brimstone Gulfe of perdition so that thou must know saith Stella that as he is mercifull so is he iust and of most exact integrity Zeph 3. 5. The iust Lord is ia the middest of his Temple he will doe no iniquity every morning doth he bring his iudgement to light Therefore doth he punish most heavily in regard of the weight and greatnesse of sinne most justly because of the holinesse of his Law and most certainely because of his integrity truth In this regard Nehemiah Chap. 9. 33. acknowledgeth Thou O lord art iust in all that is come vpon vs for thou hast dealt truely but we have done wickedly Mercy and justice walking in a iust Paralell with God humble thy heart than and examine thy selfe if thou lye with Moab corrupted vpon the lees and dregs of Swearing Lying Stealing c. Thy claime to Gods mercies is nought thou art in the gall of bitternesse having neither part nor portion in this businesse Act. 8. 21. Be ye not deceiued 1. Cor. 6. 9. The vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God No vncleane thing is written in the Booke of the Lambe Reu. 21. 27. Be thou then obedient to the Heavenly vocation and the mercie of God shall imbrace thee on every side The second motive inioyning us to the duty of praise is drawne from the truth of the Lord that is the stedfast mutability and the vnchangable constancie of his promises the most certaine and continuall testimonies of his Grace in sending CHRIST and in him performing all those Covenants betwixt him and his people Sometime truth is taken as opposed to all the outward Leviticall cerimonies onely shaddowing the Messiah to come Ioh. 4. 23. The time shall