Selected quad for the lemma: world_n
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A34747
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The nail & the wheel the nail fastned by a hand from heaven, the wheel turned by a voyce from the throne of glory / both described in two severall sermons in the Green-yard at Norwich by John Carter, pastor of Great St. Peters.
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Carter, John, d. 1655.
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1647
(1647)
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Wing C654A; ESTC R34786
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76,219
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107
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not one stone left upon another There 's one dayes difference saith Sencca upon occasion of the burning of a stately City betwixt the greatest City and none What should I speak of Families A few descents makes them ancient and a century or two of years wears them quite out they are like Jona's Gourd flourish for an evening and in the morning smitten withered forgotten their names and stems worn out One generation passeth another cometh none stayeth Upon this Theater of the earth how doth man act his part how neer is his exit to his entrance Man that is born of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down he â—leeth also as a shaddow and never continueth in one stay now he is rich presently poore now in health presently sick now he is alive and in a moment he is gone down to the grave This mutability of all Mundane things the ancient Heathens were sensible of and did signifie by the name and posture of their Goddesse Fortune She was called Vortuna à Vorto from turning and she was pictured sitting upon a wheel to shew what her chief work was viz. Ima summis summa imis commiscere to bring in vicissitudes of all things to raise a man to the top of honour riches happinesse and then to turn him down again to the bottom of infamy poverty misery The whole world what is it but a Sphere It consists ex stante moto centro scilicet circumferentia of fixed and moved viz. of center and circumference The earth is fixed and standeth fast and all other things move and turn round about it as a circle or the ring of a wheel which whirles about continually that which is first is last and that which is last is first and nothing abides at a stay all things are unstable and voluble To make some application of this to our selves And first Are all things in the world but as so many wheeles so many rolling things Let the consideration of this serve to take down the pride of the great men of the world Let not the rich man glory in his riches nor the mighty man in his strength nor the honourable man in his dignity and preferment Why because of the instability of all things Rota erigendo cadit The wheel whilest it lifts up it self it falls And he that 's highest of all now may in a little space be low euough Proud Nebuchadnezzar walks upon the battlements of the stately Palace of his Kingdom and said Is not this great Babel that I have built for the honour of my Majesty But while the word was in the Kings mouth there fell a voice from heaven which cryed O Wheel Oh King Nebuchadnezzar to thee it is spoken Thy Kingdom is departed from thee And he was presently brought low enough to dwell with the beasts of the field to eat grasse with the oxen and to be wet with the dew of heaven Fortunate Belisarius the great Lord Generall under Justinian He was honored and feared of all nations Victorious in all his expeditions such a favorite of the Emperor that in his Coin was stamped on the one side Justinian on the other side Belisarius and over Belisarius the Emperor put this inscriptione Romanorum decus The Romans glory So great a man so triumphing upon the top of the wheel through envy which ever follows vertue and eminency was quickly brought to the lowest his eys put out and he compelled to beg his bread in the temple of Sophia day by day and this was his form of prayer Panem Belisario date quem virtus extulit in vidia oppressit Give a piece of bread to Belisarius whom vertue advanced envy oppressed Thou therefore that with Capernaum art even lift up to heaven be not insolent thou knowest not how soon thou mayst be brought down to hel Exalt not thy self over proudly above thy brethren I meet with an ancient story it commonly goeth along with Ezekiels wheels I wil give it you shortly and leave it to your selves to apply Sesostris King of Aegypt a potent and victorious Prince when he rid in triumph he compelled four conquered Kings to draw his golden Chariot which they did patiently because they could not avoid it One of the four kings that drew cast his eye continually upon the Chariot wheel and being demanded the reason by Sesostris he made answer I see in this wheel the mutability of all worldly things That part of the wheel which is neerest heaven is presently upon the earth This made such an impression in Sesostris that he would never afterwards suffer his Chariot to be drawn by Kings nor yet by men but carryed himself more humbly and gently The application is easy as I said at first and therefore I leave it to you I think within these few years we have seen amazing changes in the Crown in the Mitre in the Army in the Church in the State and in the City Let me speak on a little further and make a second Use Are all things in this world but turning wheels Instable and rouling Then set not your heart on any thing here below This I say brethren It remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it because the fashion of this world passeth away Where the world is compared to a ghost or apparation that appears and soon vanisheth or to a shew upon a stage there 's a great pomp every one acts their part and on the suddain the play is done ther 's and end of all Set not your heart on that which is transitory not on the turning wheel but upon him that moves the wheel namely upon God God made all things changeable saith Augustine that we might rest on him only and in him who is unchangeable immutable He is the father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning Therefore is it rightly said that God is mans proper place wherein he ought to rest as in his center and end All things which are made have their certain place and term God created the heaven and filled it with Angels he created the earth and filled it with beasts and plants and creeping things he created the sea and filled it with fishes he created the aire and filled it with flying fouls What proper place is now left for man Or what wil God now give unto man wherein he may rest All other places are taken up and ful already Therefore when there was nothing else left to give to man God gave himself to man God himself would be mans inheritance and resting place All other places are restless and ful of change only God is immutable and changeth not I said says
The Nail the VVheel THE NAIL FASTNED by a Hand from Heaven THE WHEEL TVRNED by a Voyce from the Throne of Glory Both Described in two severall SERMONS In the Green-yard at NORWICH By JOHN CARTER Pastor of Great St. PETERS LONDON Printed by J. Macock for M. Spark and are to be sold by WILLIAM FRANKLIN at his shop in the Market-place in Norwich 1647. TO the glory of her Sex The Right Honorable both by the first and second Birth the worthy and most religious Lady the Lady FRANCES HOBARTE MADAM YOur Honor knows I have ever been afraid of the Press hitherto I have stood out against all importunity and I was peremptorily resolved never to have published any thing in Print but now I am inforced whether I wil or no to send abroad these two smal pieces And since they must out I humbly present them to your Ladyship Not for any worth that is in them Not for your Honors protection of them let them go forth at their own peril nor yet for the subjects sake the matter of them in the general not so directly and properly complying with your Ladyships condition they are rather for the instruction of Magistrates But I dedicate them to your Honor because they are your due Whatever I can perform in the service of God and more by far then ever I am able to do low to the gracious Lady Frances To say truth your Honor called for them and here they are take them with favorable acceptation Something your Ladyship wil meet withal in both Sermons appliable and useful in regard of your self The NAIL I mean the good Nail wil give your Honor a fresh sight of that Noble Gentleman worthy Sir JOHN HOBARTE your Honors lately deceased husband He was a gallant Nail by the grace of God wel filed from all rust and ruggedness He was a bright Nail as burnished gold shining more and more every day he lived that I can testifie to the comfort of my soul by a godly conversation He was a great and a strong Nail His abilities were beyond the common pitch He had a good head for wisdom and understanding He had a good heart Faithful and zealous he was for God for Religion for his Country for our Solemn Covenant He was a fixed Nail not only in the Capitol but also in the Sanctuary his care and painful endeavors were layd out not only for the Common-wealth but for the Church also yea he himself was a little suncturary to the faithful Manisters of Jesus Christ He was a stout Nail steeled with Christian resolution and courage not counting his life dear if he might have sacrificed it as partly he did for the Kingdoms peace his Countries safety and the Churches settlement He was a Nail on which the Welfare and prosperity of our Sion did much depend And for our sins God hath plucked out this useful Nail We see this great Nail turned into a little Wheel and he is now rolled into the House appointed for all the living I wil not tel the world of your Ladiships immoderate sorrow and how you sit disconsolate sighing sobbing and mourning like a faithful Turtle bereaved of her mate I wil rather guide my speech to your Honor and direct your eye to the Wheel Worthy Sir John Hobarte he was a stately Wheel he moved bravely in his time and did much of Gods work with all alacrity yea he counted that life worse then death when his motion was any whit stopped by infirmity of body so as he could not be active in the Publick service as he desired This Voluble and swift Wheel is now broken at the Cistern and your heart Madam was almost broken too Oh! I beseech your Honor look up to the throne of glory it is the voice of the Lord hath turned the Wheel He hath spokâ—n and hath done it Submit Submit with humility patience cheerfulness Rejoyce rather what a world of comforts may your Ladiship have in your loss He did worthily in his life he dyed religiously I saw him draw his last breath but so much Majesty and peace in a dying countenance I never saw A stranger would have thought he had been only in some sweet-contenting sleep or tasting the heavenly joys What an Honorable name hath he left behind him Is it not as an oyntment powred forth even as the fragrant spikenard The Nail is pulled out of this lower wall but it is not lost it 's only advanced and set up higher He is fastned in the wall of the New Jerusalem he shines and ever shal shine bright in glory And we all ere long shal roul after him and then shal your Ladyship enjoy a better Communion with your husband then ever Be content to waite is it not a little while I intended a very short Epistle but my pen begins to be free and eager of its way I can hardly hold it in it would fain be dropping out something of your honors goodness I wel know how little your Honor affects the praise of men your praise is in the Gospel and your Ladiship wel knows how much I abhorr base flattery And God he knows my design is not to make you proud by speaking your vertues to your face but only this I would most gladly take occasion to publish something to the world of those eminent Graces which the Lord hath wrought in your Honor by his holy spirit that your Ladiships example may be propounded as a pattern to all Chrâ—stian women which they may ever look upon and follow Elect Lady I could tel them how I have ever found you walking in the truth even in the most perilous and seducing times with what obedience you have always heard the word resigning up your wil to Gods Command How your deportment was to your Noble yoke-fellow the heart of your husband did safely trust in you All that were but lookers on did see tâ—e entireness of your heart the intention of your love your loyalty and faithfulness joyned with all diligence and care You made in your study and work to do him good in regard of his body in regard of his estate but especially and above all in regard of his soul I could take occasion by this my dedication to tel the world That even whilest you are on earth your conversation is in heaven I can truly testify that your Ladiship is a widow indeed continuing in fasting and prayer and reading and meditation and that this is your work night and day in the temple in your closet in your family That 's remarkable in your family you observe Davids houres Every morning every noon and every night you have prayer Scripture read and expounded and that by an able and a called Minister of the Gospel besides repetitions of Sermons singing of Psalms and constant Catechising a most necessary work the Noble Olive-plant your precious daughter answering with the first with all readyness and cheerfulness to her immortal honor I confess hearing the