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<DATE>1-5-15</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1">
<P>A SERMON PREACHED AT THE PVBLIQVE FAST the eighth of <HI>March,</HI> in S^t MARIES <HI>OXFORD,</HI> BEFORE The Great A&s;&s;embly of the Members OF THE HONOVR-ABLE HOVSE OF COMMONS There A&s;&s;embled.</P>
<P><HI>By</HI> GRYFFITH WILLIAMS <HI>L. Bi&s;hop of</HI> OSSORY:</P>
<LICENSE LANG="eng">
<P>And publi&s;hed by their &s;peciall Command.</P>
</LICENSE>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 14.6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I am the way, the truth, and the life.</P></Q>
<P><HI>Oxford,</HI> Printed by <HI>Henry Hall.</HI> 1644.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="order">
<PB REF="2">
<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE>Die Sabbati nono Martii. 1643.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P><HI>ORdered that Ma&s;ter</HI> Bodvell <HI>and Ma&s;ter</HI> Watkins <HI>give the Bi&s;hop of</HI> O&s;&s;ory <HI>thankes, and de&s;ire him to Print his Sermon.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Noah Bridges.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>THE ONELY WAY TO PRESERVE LIFE.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>AMOS 5.6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Seeke the Lord, and you &s;hall live.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>_LIght</HI> is the fir&s;t-borne of all the <HI>di&s;tingui&s;hed</HI> Creatures; the <HI>fir&s;t</HI> word,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">The excellen|cie of the light.</NOTE> that the <HI>eternall</HI> word, after &s;o <HI>many</HI> ages of &s;ilence uttered forth, was, <HI>Let there be light;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.3.</NOTE> light that giveth <HI>life</HI> to all colours, that is the <HI>mother</HI> of all beauties, which hath no <HI>po&s;itive</HI> con|trary in nature, which maketh all things <HI>manife&s;t,</HI> to the dete&s;tation of all <HI>evill,</HI> and the crowning of every <HI>good,</HI> and which is a creature &s;o <HI>beloved</HI> of the Creator, that he calleth him&s;elfe by this name, &s;aying, <GAP DESC="foreign">;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. John. 1.5.</NOTE> and he makes it the mo&s;t worthy <HI>a&s;&s;ociate</HI> of truth, when he &s;aith, <HI>Send forth thy light and thy truth:</HI> therefore <HI>light</HI> is a Jewell,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 43.3.</NOTE> not to be <HI>valued</HI> by the judgement of man.</P>
<P>And yet the <HI>fight,</HI> by which we partake of all the benefits of the <HI>light,</HI> and without which the light will availe us <HI>nothing,</HI> nor yeeld us any <HI>comfort,</HI> as good old <HI>Toby</HI> &s;heweth, &s;aying, <HI>Quale gaudium e&s;t mihi qui in tenebris &s;edeo?</HI> is but <HI>one</HI> &s;en&s;e,
<PB N="2" REF="3">and but &s;carce the <HI>fifth</HI> part of the <HI>happine&s;&s;e</HI> of the <HI>&s;en&s;itive</HI> creature; a <HI>&s;mall</HI> thing, in re&s;pect of that mo&s;t <HI>invaluable</HI> good, which is termed <HI>life,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Life, how pre|tious.</NOTE> and which is of more worth to every <HI>li|ving</HI> creature, then is <HI>all</HI> the world; for the father of <HI>lyes</HI> &s;pake <HI>truth</HI> herein,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 2.4.</NOTE> though to a lying <HI>end, That skin for skin, and all that ever a man hath, he will give for his life.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore, as the greate&s;t <HI>threatning</HI> that God laid upon <HI>Adam,</HI> to deterre him from <HI>Rebellion,</HI> and to detaine him with|in the compa&s;&s;e of his <HI>obedience,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.17.</NOTE> was, <HI>In the day that thou eat|e&s;t thereof thou &s;halt die the death;</HI> &s;o the greate&s;t <HI>ble&s;&s;ing</HI> that he promi&s;eth to any man for <HI>all</HI> his &s;ervice, is <HI>life,</HI> or to live, as <HI>The ju&s;t &s;hall live by faith.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 2.4.</NOTE> Which &s;heweth how <HI>dete&s;table,</HI> beyond my ability of <HI>expre&s;&s;ion,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">The bloud-thir&s;ty, hovv dete&s;table.</NOTE> are tho&s;e <HI>bloud thir&s;ty</HI> men, that &s;o <HI>maliciou&s;ly</HI> and wickedly doe hunt after the <HI>life</HI> of man, and doe &s;hed the <HI>bloud</HI> of &s;o many innocents; no wayes like that <HI>good</HI> God, which made not <HI>death,</HI> nor de&s;ireth the <HI>death</HI> of any <HI>&s;inner,</HI> much le&s;&s;e the <HI>de&s;truction</HI> of the <HI>righteous;</HI> nor yet like <HI>Alexander,</HI> that knew not <HI>God,</HI> yet knew <HI>this,</HI> that when his mother <HI>Olympias,</HI> that was a <HI>bloudy</HI> woman, lay hard upon him, to <HI>kill</HI> a certaine <HI>innocent</HI> per&s;on, and to that end &s;aid <HI>often</HI> to him, that <HI>&s;he carried him 9 moneths in her wombe,</HI> therefore he had no <HI>rea&s;on</HI> to deny her; an&s;wered her mo&s;t wi&s;ely,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Am. Marcellin. l.</HI> 14. <HI>c.</HI> 10.</NOTE> <HI>Good mother aske for that, &s;ome other reward and re|compence,</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>life</HI> of man is &s;o <HI>deare,</HI> that no <HI>benefit</HI> can countervaile it, and the <HI>unju&s;t</HI> taking of it away is &s;o <HI>haynous,</HI> that it is impo&s;&s;ible for any <HI>mortall</HI> man to make &s;atisfaction for &s;o great an offence.</P>
<P>What &s;hall we &s;ay then to tho&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marth. 3.7.</NOTE> that when their owne mo&s;t <HI>gracious</HI> King doth &s;o <HI>often</HI> &s;ollicite for <HI>peace,</HI> do &s;till make them ready for <HI>battaile,</HI> and have taken away the <HI>lives</HI> of &s;o many thou&s;ands of men? truly, if they are not <GAP DESC="foreign">,
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Theff. 2.3.</NOTE> yet certainly they are the &s;onnes of <HI>Apollyon,</HI> the children of the <HI>de&s;trayer,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Death, how terrible.</NOTE> that without <HI>&s;peedy</HI> repentance can receive no better reward then <HI>damnation.</HI></P>
<P>But as <HI>life</HI> is the <HI>&s;weete&s;t</HI> and the mo&s;t excellent of <HI>all</HI> things that are in this world,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ari&s;tot, Ethic. l.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 6.</NOTE> &s;o <HI>death</HI> (&s;aith the Philo&s;opher) <HI>e&s;t omni|um terribilium terribili&s;&s;imum;</HI> becau&s;e this bringeth our <HI>yeares</HI>
<PB N="3" REF="3">to an <HI>end,</HI> fini&s;heth our <HI>dayes,</HI> and puts a <HI>period</HI> to all our <HI>joyes;</HI> and though there is but <HI>one</HI> way of <HI>life</HI> for all men, and that one <HI>alike</HI> to all, <HI>to come naked out of their mothers wombe;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 1.21.</NOTE> yet, as the <HI>Poet</HI> &s;aith,
<Q><L>Mille modis lethi mi&s;eros mors una fatigat.</L>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Statius The|bald. l.</HI> 9.</NOTE></Q> There are a thou&s;and wayes to bring <HI>any</HI> one of us unto his <HI>death.</HI></P>
<P>And here the Prophet threatneth <HI>death</HI> unto the people of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> many wayes;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">The <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> how threatned. <HI>Ovid de Tri&s;t.</HI></NOTE>
<Q><L>Quocunque a&s;piciunt, nihil e&s;t ni&s;i pontus &amp; ather.</L></Q> For, <HI>the Citie that went out by a thou&s;and &s;hall leave a hundred,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 3.</NOTE> and that which went out by an bundred &s;hall leave ten to the hou&s;e of I&s;rael,</HI> that is, as <HI>Remigius</HI> and <HI>Hugo</HI> &s;ay, the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> &s;hall be &s;o plagued by the <HI>A&s;&s;yrians,</HI>
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Reg. 18.10.</NOTE> as well in the three yeares &s;iege of <HI>Samaria,</HI> as al&s;o before and after the &s;ame, by the <HI>&s;word, famine,</HI> and the <HI>pe&s;tilence,</HI> which, <HI>Sicut unda &s;equitur undam,</HI> doe ever follow like <HI>Jobs</HI> me&s;&s;engers, one in the heele of another, the <HI>&s;word</HI> alwayes bringing <HI>famine,</HI> and the <HI>famine</HI> producing <HI>pe&s;tilence,</HI> &s;o that almo&s;t <HI>all</HI> &s;hall be con&s;umed, and &s;carce ten of a hundred &s;hall be left. And as the &s;pirit of God &s;aith unto <HI>E&s;ayas, Goe, tell this people, heare ye indeed, but un|der&s;tand not.</HI> Then &s;aid the Prophet, <HI>Lord, how long?</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 6.10.</NOTE> and he an&s;wered, <HI>untill the Cities be wa&s;ted without Inhabitant, and the hou&s;es without man, and the Land be utterly de&s;olate;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>England,</HI> how threatned, and how mi&s;erable we are.</NOTE> So now this <HI>di&s;tre&s;&s;ed,</HI> though formerly mo&s;t <HI>happy</HI> Kingdome, is threatned to be <HI>&s;courged</HI> in like manner; with the <HI>wor&s;t</HI> of warres, famines, and pe&s;tilences.
<Q><L>Pra&s;ent&eacute;mque viris intendunt omnia mortem.</L></Q> And as the Poet &s;aith, all that we do <HI>&s;ee,</HI> &s;ay, we are appointed to be <HI>de&s;troyed,</HI> and de&s;tined unto <HI>death;</HI> when as S. <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Quos fugere &s;eimus, ad quos ne&s;cimus;</HI> we know <HI>whom</HI> we would &s;hun, but we &s;carce know <HI>where</HI> or to <HI>whom</HI> we may flie to be <HI>&s;afe</HI> and &s;ecured of our lives; for as <HI>Jeremie</HI> &s;aith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 5.8, 9.</NOTE> <HI>Servants have ruled over us, and there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand; We get our bread with the perill of our lives, becau&s;e of the &s;word of the wilderne&s;&s;e:</HI> and therefore, as our Prophet &s;aith, <HI>Wailing is in all &s;treets, they &s;ay in all high|wayes,
<PB N="4" REF="4">alas,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 5.16.</NOTE> alas, and they call the husbandman to mourning, and &s;uch as are skilfull of lamentation to wayling.</HI></P>
<P>Yet &s;eeing the <HI>&s;word</HI> is the &s;word of the <HI>Lord,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">4.5, 6. 2. Reg 8.1. Amos 4.10.</NOTE> and it is the <HI>Lord</HI> that calleth for <HI>famine,</HI> and the <HI>pe&s;tilence</HI> is the &s;courge of <HI>God,</HI> which he &s;endeth among&s;t us, as our Prohet &s;aith; &amp; that God never <HI>draweth</HI> his &s;word,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How God dea|leth with his people.</NOTE> and <HI>throweth</HI> away the <HI>&s;cabberd,</HI> as if he <HI>never</HI> meant to put it up againe; never &s;ends a <HI>famine,</HI> but in that famine he can <HI>feed the young Ravens that call upon him, and &s;atisfie the hungry with good things;</HI> and never powreth out any <HI>plague,</HI> but that in the greate&s;t <HI>infection</HI> he can pre&s;erve his &s;ervants,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 91.7.</NOTE> that <HI>although a thou&s;and &s;hould fall be&s;ides them, and ten thou&s;and at their right hand, yet it &s;hall not come nigh them;</HI> and never &s;endeth any <HI>temptation,</HI> but if the &s;ault be not our owne,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 10.13</NOTE> <HI>he doth with the temptation make a way to e&s;cape, that we may be able to beare it;</HI> becau&s;e he, being <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the father of mercies,
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Cor. 1.3.</NOTE> and the God of all comfort,</HI> to them that <HI>feare</HI> him, as well as the God of <HI>ju&s;tice</HI> to render venge|ance to them that <HI>offend</HI> him, hath the &s;uppling <HI>oyle</HI> of mer|cy, as well as the &s;harpe <HI>wine</HI> of ju&s;tice to powre into the wounds of every <HI>penitent</HI> &s;inner; therefore our Prophet here joyneth to the <HI>lamentation</HI> for <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> an <HI>exhortation</HI> to repen|tance; and though he threatneth <HI>death</HI> for our &s;innes, yet he &s;etteth downe an <HI>antidote,</HI> whereby we might, if we would, pre&s;erve our <HI>life;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Phy&s;itians,</HI> how u&s;efull.</NOTE> and though I confe&s;&s;e the <HI>Phy&s;itians</HI> are ve|ry <HI>u&s;efull,</HI> and to be <HI>honoured,</HI> as the Scripture &s;peaketh, to be &s;ought after, e&s;pecially in the times of <HI>fickne&s;&s;e</HI> and mortality; yet I am &s;ure that neither <HI>Hippocrates,</HI> nor <HI>Galen,</HI> nor all the Schoole of <HI>Salerne,</HI> the whole Colledge of <HI>Phy&s;itians</HI> &s;hall ever be able to pro&s;cribe a <HI>potion,</HI> &s;o pretious and &s;o powerfull to pre&s;erve your <HI>life,</HI> as I &s;hall declare unto you; for God, which is truth it &s;elfe, hath &s;aid it, <HI>Seeke the Lord, and you &s;hall live;</HI> wherein I de&s;ire you to ob&s;erve,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Two parts of the Text.</NOTE> A <HI>Precept;</HI> the be&s;t <HI>worke</HI> that you can doe, <HI>Seeke the Lord.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. A <HI>Promi&s;e;</HI> the be&s;t <HI>reward</HI> that you can de&s;ire, <HI>And you &s;hall live.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. <NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">The Pre|cept, twofold.</NOTE> In the <HI>Precept</HI> you may &s;ee there are two words, and &s;o two parts.</P>
<LIST>
<PB N="5" REF="4">
<ITEM>1. <HI>Seeke,</HI> which is the <HI>act,</HI> that <HI>all</HI> men doe;</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The <HI>Lord,</HI> which is the <HI>object</HI> of our &s;eeking, wherein <HI>mo&s;t</HI> men faile.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. The word <HI>&s;eeke</HI> doth pre&s;uppo&s;e that we have <HI>lo&s;t,</HI> or be without the Lord; and &s;o we have indeed, we lo&s;t <HI>paradi&s;e,</HI>
<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">The act.</NOTE> we lo&s;t <HI>God,</HI> we lo&s;t our <HI>&s;elves,</HI> and our owne <HI>&s;oules,</HI> and are become like <HI>lo&s;t &s;heepe</HI> without a &s;hepheard; and therefore we have great rea&s;on to <HI>&s;eeke,</HI> and to &s;eeke <HI>diligontly,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke. 19.10.</NOTE> till we finde <GAP DESC="foreign">, what we lo&s;t. And</P>
<P>The <HI>lo&s;&s;e</HI> of God is nothing el&s;e but the withdrawing of his <HI>love,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">The lo&s;&s;e of God, what it is.</NOTE> and the with holding of the influences of his <HI>favour</HI> from us, like the parting of the &s;un from our <HI>horri&s;on,</HI> whereby <HI>dark|ne&s;&s;e</HI> followeth; and &s;o all <HI>mi&s;eries</HI> and mi&s;cheifes, <HI>fire and brim|&s;tone, &s;torme and tempe&s;t,</HI> warres, famines, plagues and all <HI>evills,</HI> mu&s;t be the lot of them that <HI>lo&s;t</HI> the love of God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Two things con&s;iderable.</NOTE> but then you mu&s;t con&s;ider.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The <HI>cau&s;e</HI> for which the Lord departeth from us.
<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">The cau&s;e why the Lord departeth from us, is &s;inne.</NOTE></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The <HI>meanes</HI> whereby we &s;uffer him to be detained from us.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. The <HI>cau&s;e</HI> that driveth away God from us, is <HI>&s;inne;</HI> for by this <HI>Adam</HI> lo&s;t him, and as the Prophet &s;heweth, this makes the <HI>&s;eperation</HI> betwixt God and all the children of <HI>Adam:</HI> for <HI>your iniquities have &s;eperated betweene you and your God, and your &s;innes have hid his face from you that he will not heare,</HI> &s;aith <HI>E&s;ayas; Cap.</HI> 59.2. and you may &s;ee this truth further cleared and proved in
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Lament. 3.39. P&s;al. 5.5. Ezech. 18.4. Rom. 6.23. James 1.15.</NOTE>. And it is no <HI>marvaile</HI> that &s;inne &s;hould make &s;uch a <HI>&s;eperation</HI> betwixt God and us, if we con&s;ider the nature of God, and of &s;inne, for</P>
<P>God te&s;tifieth of him&s;elfe that he is <HI>holy;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 11.44.</NOTE> and there is as much difference betwixt holine&s;&s;e and &s;inne, as is betwixt the <HI>cleare&s;t</HI> light and the <HI>blackene&s;&s;e</HI> of darkne&s;&s;e; for <HI>holine&s;&s;e</HI> is of &s;uch a re&s;plendent <HI>excellency,</HI> that the very <HI>enemies</HI> of it, the prophane&s;t Athei&s;ts, that neither <HI>feare</HI> God nor <HI>regard</HI> men, yet will they nill they,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Why-&s;inne &s;e|petates us from God. The nature of holine&s;&s;e, how excellent.</NOTE> they cannot choo&s;e but <HI>approve</HI> it in o|thers, though they <HI>reject</HI> it from them&s;elves; becau&s;e as <HI>Se|neca</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Virtus in omnium animol lumen &s;uum immittit ut qui non &s;equuntur eam, videant tamen;</HI> vertue and goodne&s;&s;e doe &s;o &s;hine among all men, that they which <HI>u&s;e</HI> it not, which love it not, yet cannot choo&s;e but &s;ee it, yea and <HI>confe&s;&s;e</HI> it too, to be
<PB N="6" REF="5">mo&s;t <HI>admirable</HI> and excellent in it &s;elfe; for what <HI>adulterer</HI> is &s;o impure, but that his <HI>con&s;cience</HI> will tell him, e&s;pecially at &s;ome time or other, that <HI>cha&s;tity</HI> is better then his <HI>&s;en&s;uality?</HI> What <HI>drunkard</HI> is &s;o be&s;otted, but that his <HI>heart</HI> will tell him, e&s;pecially when he is &s;ober, that &s;obriety is better then <HI>&s;urfeting</HI> and <HI>drunkenne&s;&s;e?</HI> or what <HI>&s;wearer</HI> is &s;o farre pa&s;t all grace, that his owne &s;oule will not tell him, and &s;ometimes compell his <HI>tongue</HI> to confe&s;&s;e it, that to &s;ay <HI>indeed</HI> is farre bet|ter then by his <HI>hideous</HI> oathes to loo&s;e that God which made him,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">The nature of &s;inne, how ex|cerable.</NOTE> and <HI>heaped</HI> his ble&s;&s;ings upon him?</P>
<P>On the other &s;ide, <HI>&s;inne</HI> and filthine&s;&s;e are &s;uch ugly <HI>mon&s;ters</HI> that the very <HI>followers</HI> and practicers thereof cannot choo&s;e but <HI>condemne</HI> them and hate them in others, though they doe <HI>love</HI> and follow the &s;ame them&s;elves: yea as Saint <HI>Aug.</HI> &s;aith, they that are <HI>filthy</HI> them&s;elves,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug. de Civit. l.</HI> 14. <HI>c.</HI> 18. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t. in E|phe&s;. o.</HI> 4.</NOTE> will call their owne Jeudne&s;&s;e <HI>fil|thine&s;&s;e,</HI> and though they <HI>love</HI> it, yet they will not dare to <HI>pro|fe&s;&s;e</HI> it. And all this Saint <HI>Chry&s;a&s;tome</HI> expre&s;&s;eth mo&s;t elegant|ly, &s;aying, <GAP DESC="foreign">. which in effect is, that <HI>holine&s;&s;e</HI> is &s;uch a thing, that the very <HI>e|nemies</HI> thereof cannot choo&s;e but <HI>admire</HI> it, and <HI>wickedne&s;&s;e</HI> is &s;uch a thing, that the very <HI>lovers</HI> thereof cannot choo&s;e but <HI>condemne</HI> it; therefore it is no wonder that God, which is <HI>ho|line&s;&s;e</HI> it &s;elfe <HI>inab&s;tracte,</HI> &s;hould hate all tho&s;e that worke <HI>wic|kedne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>Yet you mu&s;t ob&s;erve that as <HI>every</HI> offence divorceth not man and wife;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">All &s;innes not alike.</NOTE> &s;o <HI>all</HI> &s;innes do not <HI>alike</HI> &s;eperate the love of God from us; for there be &s;ome &s;innes that doe but <HI>anger</HI> him, &s;o that he onely <HI>chides</HI> us, or mo&s;t <HI>gently</HI> corrects us, not in his <HI>indignation, nor</HI> as the Prophet &s;aith, <HI>in his heauy di&s;plea|&s;ure,</HI> but in <HI>love</HI> for the <HI>amendment</HI> of the &s;inner; and there be other &s;innes, that doe &s;o <HI>highly</HI> provoke him, that he doth <HI>ut|terly</HI> for &s;ake us, to execute his <HI>wrath</HI> and vengeance upon the &s;inner, for the honour of him&s;elfe and the de&s;truction of the other, as the Lord &s;aith, <HI>J will get mee honour upon</HI> Pharaoh, that is, in his <HI>de&s;truction,</HI> and therefore though we ought to take heed of <HI>all</HI> &s;innes, yet more <HI>e&s;pecially</HI> of the&s;e; becau&s;e they are more <HI>odious</HI> unto God, and more pernicious unto our &s;elves.</P>
<PB N="7" REF="5">
<P> And here I find three &s;innes &s;et downe of this kind, where|by the&s;e <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> lo&s;t the Lord; and they are
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Idolatry</HI> again&s;t God. <HI>v.</HI> 5. <HI>&amp;</HI> 26.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Inju&s;tice</HI> towards men <HI>v.</HI> 7. <HI>&amp;</HI> 11.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Contempt</HI> of the <HI>Prei&s;t,</HI> whereby they became hate&s;ull both to God and man, <HI>v.</HI> 10.</ITEM>
</LIST> Which were 3 <HI>deadly</HI> &s;ins; as I &s;hall &s;hew you in their <HI>or|der.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Idolatry</HI> is a &s;inne mo&s;t <HI>hainous</HI> and mo&s;t odious unto God; I know few or <HI>none</HI> &s;o pe&s;tiferous; for though <HI>Athei&s;me</HI> is a fearefull &s;inne, to be <HI>without</HI> a God in the world, without him, without whom <HI>we cannot live, we cannot move,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14.17.</NOTE> we cannot have our being;</HI> Yet <HI>Athei&s;me</HI> &s;eemeth not &s;o ugly a Mon&s;ter, and &s;o <HI>dete&s;table</HI> unto God, as <HI>idolatry</HI> is; and though the <HI>pro|phanation</HI> of Gods <HI>Holy Name</HI> is a tran&s;cendent &s;inne; yet this &s;eemes not to a&s;cend &s;o high into Gods di&s;plea&s;ure as idolatry doth; For in the fir&s;t precept which is again&s;t <HI>Athei&s;me,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">The three fear|full &s;innes of the I&s;raelites. 1. Their idola|try.</NOTE> he doth but &s;ay without any threatning, <HI>thou &s;halt have none other Gods but mee;</HI> and in the third precept which forbiddeth all <HI>vaine &s;wearing,</HI> he doth but &s;ay, <HI>I will not hold him guiltle&s;&s;e that taketh my name in vaine;</HI> but in the &s;econd precept, where he prohibiteth <HI>idolatry,</HI> he &s;eemes to <HI>&s;earch</HI> for words and to coyne phra&s;es to expre&s;&s;e his hatred to this &s;inne, again&s;t which he expandeth his fury to a mighty reach, &s;aying,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idolatry how hatefell to God.</NOTE> <HI>I am a jealous God, that doe vi&s;ite the &s;innes of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate mee,</HI> as if <HI>ido|laters</HI> onely were the cheife&s;t <HI>haters</HI> and the greate&s;t <HI>enemies</HI> of Allmighty God; and therefore mo&s;t iu&s;tly <HI>hated</HI> by God; and no marvaile; for as <HI>Plutarch</HI> &s;aith, he had rather men &s;hould thinke there was never &s;uch a man in the world as <HI>Plutarch,</HI> then to &s;ay he was &s;o <HI>&s;avage</HI> and &s;o cruell, as to kill and eate his <HI>deare&s;t</HI> friends and children; <HI>ita &s;atius e&s;t nulles Deas credere, qu&aacute;m Deos noxios:</HI> So it is better to thinke there are <HI>no</HI> Gods then to beleeve them to be &s;uch as thy &s;elfe art, as the Prophet &s;peaketh; or like <HI>Jupiter, Saturne,</HI> and the re&s;t of the <HI>Gentile</HI> Gods, that were <HI>murderers,</HI> adulterers, and &s;uch like <HI>wicked</HI> Gods: <HI>Gods</HI> not worthy to be <HI>men.</HI> So it is better to doe no <HI>&s;ervice</HI> unto God, then to doe that which is &s;o exceedingly <HI>con|tumelious</HI>
<PB N="8" REF="6">unto the deity; becau&s;e that &s;ervice which is &s;o in|jurious unto God, and &s;o derogatory to his honour, is mo&s;t <HI>ac|ceptable</HI> unto the Devill; as the <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI> mi&s;taking the true &s;er|vice, and thinking they &s;acrificed unto <HI>God,</HI> did indeed <HI>offer their &s;onnes and daughters unto devils,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 106.36.</NOTE> as the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t</HI> &s;pea|keth. &s;uch is the <HI>nature</HI> of idolatry; So that indeed we can ne|ver plea&s;e the <HI>devill</HI> better, nor &s;hew our &s;elves <HI>faithfuller</HI> &s;er|vants unto him, then when we doe thus <HI>di&s;plea&s;e</HI> our God, and &s;hew our &s;elves &s;o <HI>perfidious</HI> unto His Maje&s;tie.</P>
<P>And yet it is wonderfull to con&s;ider how <HI>apt</HI> and prone the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> were to <HI>fall</HI> and to <HI>wallow</HI> in this mon&s;trous &s;inne of <HI>Idolatrie:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How prone the I&s;raelites vvere to fall into ido|latrie.</NOTE> for no &s;ooner were they come out of <HI>E|gypt,</HI> but they mu&s;t wor&s;hip God in the &s;hape of a <HI>golden Calfe,</HI> &s;o <HI>they turned the glory of the incorruptible God, into the &s;imilitude of a Calfe that eateth hay;</HI> and no &s;ooner was a|ny <HI>good</HI> man dead that had planted the <HI>true</HI> Religion among&s;t them, but <HI>pre&s;ently</HI> they &s;upplanted the &s;ame by their <HI>Idola|trie;</HI> And this our Prophet &s;heweth at <HI>large</HI> in this Chapter, as</P>
<P N="1">1. <NOTE PLACE="marg">v. 26. 1 in the pa&s;&s;age to Canaan vvhen they wor|&s;hipped Molot</NOTE> To ob&s;erve the order of their <HI>committing</HI> it, and not of the Prophets <HI>&s;etting</HI> of it down, when he &s;aith, <HI>you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloc;</HI> that is, in the <HI>wilderne&s;&s;e,</HI> when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was talking with God on mount <HI>Sinai,</HI> as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> and <HI>Rupertus</HI> thinke; or rather, as <HI>Ribera</HI> thinketh, when they committed fornication with the daughters of <HI>Moab</HI> that were the next adjoyning neighbours unto the <HI>Ammonites,</HI> who&s;e god this <HI>Moloc</HI> was; and <HI>you have borne Chiun, your ima|ges, the &s;tarre of your god, which ye made to your &s;elves;</HI> or as S. <HI>Stephen</HI> reads it out of the <HI>Septuagint, the &s;tarre of your god Remphan,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Rhemphan</HI> vvho he was.</NOTE> or <HI>Rephan,</HI> as others read it, which <HI>Giraldus</HI> takes to be <HI>Hercules, Ribera</HI> thinkes him to be <HI>Jupiter;</HI> but S. <HI>Hie|ron, Remigius</HI> add <HI>Beda,</HI> take it for the &s;tarre of <HI>Venus,</HI> which going before the Sunne in the morning was called <HI>Lucifer,</HI> and following the Sunne at night was called <HI>He&s;perus,</HI> and was wor&s;hipped by the <HI>Syrians,</HI> as the Queene of Heaven; and as <HI>Servius,</HI> upon that ver&s;e of <HI>Virgil.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Errante&s;&abque; Deos agitataque numina Trojae,</HI> ob&s;erveth how the <HI>Gentiles</HI> carried their <HI>outolarie</HI> gods with them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 31.34.</NOTE> as <HI>Rachel</HI>
<PB N="9" REF="6">did her fathers idols, <HI>whither&s;oever</HI> they went: &s;o the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> in imitation of them, carried the&s;e <HI>images</HI> in the tabernacle af|ter a mo&s;t <HI>&s;olemne</HI> and a pompous manner.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Prophet &s;heweth their <HI>Idolatrie,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 in their &s;etled Land.</NOTE> when he forbids them to &s;eeke <HI>Bethel,</HI> and to enter into <HI>Gilgal,</HI> or to pa&s;&s;e into <HI>Beer&s;heba;</HI> becau&s;e the&s;e places <HI>Bethel</HI> and <HI>Gilgal</HI> towards the north, and <HI>Beer&s;heba</HI> &s;outhward,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 23.8. 1 Reg. 12.29.</NOTE> were the <HI>uttermo&s;t</HI> parts and borders of the holy land, where <HI>Jeroboam</HI> did &s;et up his gold|en Calves.</P>
<P>And the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> were &s;uch calves,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">The rea&s;ons vvhy the chil|dren of I&s;rael were alvvayes ready to vvor|&s;hip their calves.</NOTE> that all the <HI>ho|ly</HI> Prophets and the <HI>godly</HI> Kings, could never withdraw them from the <HI>Idolatrous</HI> &s;ervice of the&s;e claves; and the <HI>rea&s;ons</HI> thereof you may gather out of the Text.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Becau&s;e they were &s;uch gods as gave them <HI>ea&s;e</HI> and <HI>liberty.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Becau&s;e they were <HI>calves.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Becau&s;e they were <HI>golden</HI> calves.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Becau&s;e they had <HI>woodden</HI> Prie&s;ts; no <HI>better</HI> then their <HI>gods:</HI> For</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Jeroboam</HI> &s;aid,
<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on</NOTE> <HI>it is too much for you to goe to Hieru&s;a|lem,</HI> that is, too much <HI>co&s;t,</HI> and too much <HI>paines;</HI> for he knew the people would like very <HI>well</HI> of that Religion which would give them mo&s;t <HI>ea&s;e,</HI> and prove lea&s;t <HI>chargeable</HI> unto them; as men had rather &s;it to heare, then <HI>kneele</HI> to pray, and to <HI>give</HI> a &s;mall &s;tipend to their poore <HI>Lecturer,</HI> then pay the <HI>tenth</HI> of all their increa&s;e unto their learned pa&s;tor; but this <HI>liberty</HI> over|threw all their <HI>piety.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. He made 2 <HI>calves,</HI> though their can be but one God,
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on</NOTE> not onely to imitate their <HI>former</HI> practice in the <HI>wilderne&s;&s;e,</HI> and their u&s;uall wor&s;hip in <HI>Egypt,</HI> becau&s;e he knew men would be ea&s;ily &s;educed to their <HI>old wont,</HI> but e&s;pecially to inlarge their <HI>liberty,</HI> to let them &s;erve God as they <HI>li&s;t,</HI> which is very plea&s;ing to <HI>fle&s;h and blood;</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>calves</HI> were <HI>&s;uch</HI> gods, as did not <HI>much</HI> care what &s;ervice was done unto them; yet</P>
<P N="3">3. He &s;et up <HI>golden</HI> calves, to make a <HI>glorious</HI> &s;hew,
<NOTE N="3" PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on</NOTE> becau&s;e the verie&s;t <HI>hypocrites</HI> in the world would faine &s;eeme to do all for the <HI>honour</HI> of God, and the <HI>pre&s;ervation</HI> of the true Reli|gion,
<PB N="10" REF="7"><HI>pulchra lavern&acirc;,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Juven. S. 16</NOTE> da mihi fallere, da ju&s;tum &s;anctum&abque; videri,</HI> when as indeed it is but <HI>like</HI> their god, a <HI>calfe,</HI> though of <HI>gold,</HI> yet <HI>dead</HI> without <HI>life,</HI> without <HI>&s;en&s;e;</HI> and &s;uch is the Religion of all <HI>Hypocrites,</HI> a <HI>livele&s;&s;e</HI> and a <HI>&s;encele&s;&s;e</HI> Religion; let them <HI>pretend</HI> what they plea&s;e. and</P>
<P N="4">4. <NOTE N="4" PLACE="marg">Rea&s;on</NOTE> That they might <HI>&s;leepe</HI> in their &s;ins, and <HI>never</HI> wake, they mu&s;t have <HI>prie&s;ts of the lowe&s;t of the people, which were not of the &s;ons of Levi,</HI> that is, of the <HI>regular</HI> mini&s;ters and conform|able clergie, but tho&s;e that were <HI>fitte&s;t</HI> for &s;uch <HI>libertines,</HI> as being neither <HI>able</HI> for their learning to know God, to teach his <HI>truth</HI> and confute <HI>errors,</HI> nor <HI>daring</HI> for their ba&s;ene&s;&s;e to contradict the <HI>people</HI> in any of all their <HI>wicked</HI> wayes; for <HI>Je|roboam</HI> knew that <HI>learned</HI> men, and men of <HI>worth,</HI> would ne|ver adore &s;uch <HI>calves,</HI> though they were made of <HI>gold;</HI> nor yet humour their <HI>people</HI> in their <HI>ea&s;e idlene&s;&s;e</HI> and <HI>idolatrie;</HI> there|fore when men would change their <HI>Religion,</HI> they mu&s;t change their <HI>prie&s;ts,</HI> even as Chri&s;t did when he tran&s;lated the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> &s;ervice into the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Religion, he changed <HI>the order of the prie&s;thood,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 7.12.</NOTE> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle; &s;o when we would overthrowe the <HI>true religion,</HI> and make way for <HI>libertines,</HI> we mu&s;t ca&s;t out the <HI>true prie&s;ts,</HI> and with <HI>Jeroboam</HI> take for them the <HI>ba|&s;e&s;t</HI> of the people, <HI>children of ba&s;e men, viler then the earth, as Iob</HI> &s;peaketh,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">c. 30.8.</NOTE> which can neither con&s;ute <HI>here&s;ie,</HI> nor hinder <HI>idolatrie</HI> among their flocks.</P>
<P>But what &s;aith the <HI>Text?</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 12.30.</NOTE> this became a <HI>&s;inne,</HI> an <HI>indeleble</HI> &s;in to all <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> that cau&s;ed them to be led into <HI>perpetuall</HI> captivi|ty, and to loo&s;e their <HI>everliving</HI> God, becau&s;e they &s;erved the&s;e <HI>golden calves,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 27.</NOTE> and were led by the&s;e <HI>woodden prie&s;ts;</HI> for fo the Prophet &s;etteth downe, <HI>therefore will I cau&s;e you to goe into captivity beyond Dama&s;cus, &s;aith the Lord, who&s;e name is the God of Ho&s;tes,</HI> and it was &s;uch an <HI>everla&s;ting</HI> &s;taine to <HI>Jerobo|am,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 14.16. &amp;c. 15.30.</NOTE> that it is his <HI>indeleble</HI> epithite, <HI>carbone notabilis atro, Je|roboam the &s;on of Nebat that made I&s;rael to &s;inne.</HI></P>
<P>And it were well if <HI>this</HI> &s;inne reached no farther then the children of <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> for indeed &s;uch is the <HI>nature</HI> of all men, <HI>apt</HI> and prone to <HI>devi&s;e</HI> &s;ervices unto God as they li&s;t; every one will be <HI>independent,</HI> and &s;erve God as he plea&s;eth; and all
<PB N="11" REF="7">&s;uch <HI>devi&s;ed</HI> &s;ervice is nothing el&s;e but <HI>idolatrie,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.23.</NOTE> &s;aith the Apo|&s;tle: And therefore S. <HI>John</HI> writing unto Chri&s;tians, concludes his Epi&s;tle with <HI>litle children, keep your &s;elves from idols,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 5.21.</NOTE> which is worth our ob&s;ervation; becau&s;e they might (as many doe) make an <HI>idoll</HI> of many things; of their <HI>pulpit,</HI> of their <HI>Prea|chers,</HI> of their <HI>Altars,</HI> and of the mo&s;t <HI>con&s;ecrated</HI> bread in the Euchari&s;t, when, as the church of <HI>Rome</HI> doth it to this very day, they <HI>tran&s;ub&s;tantiate</HI> the &s;ame to become <HI>corpus domini,</HI> and do <HI>orally</HI> eat that with their teeth, which the Scripture teacheth us to eat <HI>&s;acramentally</HI> by faith; which very drctrine of <HI>tran&s;ub|&s;tantiation,</HI> &amp; thereupon the <HI>adoration</HI> of their ho&s;t, &amp; the <HI>a&s;|portation</HI> of it, as the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> did their <HI>Moloe,</HI> I feare, if it be <HI>rightly</HI> di&s;cu&s;&s;ed, will prove to be little le&s;&s;e then <HI>idolatrie;</HI> for as I will not reject that <HI>truth,</HI> which the <HI>Devill</HI> uttered, <HI>thou art Je&s;us the &s;onne of the mo&s;t high God,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">M. 5.7.</NOTE> nor refu&s;e the 4 <HI>Go&s;|pels,</HI> and the 3 <HI>Creeds,</HI> of the <HI>Apo&s;tles,</HI> the <HI>Nicen</HI> and <HI>Athana|&s;ian,</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>Pope</HI> u&s;eth them, but will beleive all the <HI>truth</HI> that the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> beleiveth, and therein joyne with them <HI>the right hand of fellow&s;hip;</HI> &s;o I will <HI>hate</HI> the <HI>errors,</HI> and dete&s;t the <HI>idolatrie</HI> of any Church that committeth it;</P>
<P>And therefore,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How the prim. Chri&s;tians vvere landered.</NOTE> though as the Chri&s;tians of the <HI>Primitive</HI> Church were mo&s;t fal&s;ly <HI>traduced,</HI> and charged to be the cau|&s;es of all the <HI>calamities,</HI> dearths, wars, &s;edition, and all the other evils that happened unto the Heathens, (which indeed <HI>them|&s;elves</HI> were the &s;ole <HI>cau&s;es</HI> of, becau&s;e they would not become Chri&s;tians) and therefore <HI>per&s;ecuted</HI> the Church of Chri&s;t, and in all their <HI>coun&s;els</HI> had none other <HI>conclu&s;ions</HI> but <HI>Chri&s;tianos ad leones,</HI> let us throwe away the&s;e Chri&s;tians to the <HI>Lyons,</HI> to the <HI>fires</HI> and to the <HI>waters;</HI> &s;o now the <HI>enimies</HI> of the truth &s;ay, we are <HI>Papi&s;ts,</HI> and idolatrous, and the <HI>cau&s;es</HI> of all <HI>the&s;e</HI> calamities that are fallen upon this land;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hovv vve are now &s;landered.</NOTE> and there fore let them be <HI>deprived,</HI> degraded, and de&s;troyed; yet in ve|ry <HI>deed</HI> we are &s;o farre from tho&s;e points, which <HI>Jewell, Cran|mer, Latimer</HI> and the re&s;t of tho&s;e holy Martyrs, and <HI>godly</HI> re|formers concluded to be <HI>Popi&s;h</HI> and <HI>Idolatrous,</HI> that as we have hitherto mo&s;t <HI>learnedly</HI> refuted them, &s;o we are mo&s;t <HI>con&s;tant|ly</HI> re&s;olved to oppugne them while we <HI>live,</HI> and rather to loo&s;e
<PB N="12" REF="8">our <HI>lives,</HI> then to depart from the <HI>true</HI> prote&s;tant faith, and to embrace the <HI>idolatrie</HI> of any Church in the World: and you mu&s;t <HI>know,</HI> that as the Philo&s;opher &s;aith, <HI>non quia affirmatur, aut negatur, res erit, vel non erit,</HI> things are not &s;o &amp; &s;o, becau&s;e they are <HI>reported</HI> to be &s;uch; as <HI>gold</HI> is not <HI>copper,</HI> becau&s;e an ignorant <HI>arti&s;t</HI> affirmeth it, nor copper <HI>gold,</HI> becau&s;e the like <HI>ignoramus</HI> avoucheth it; &s;o a wicked man is not <HI>good,</HI> nor <HI>Res</HI> bels <HI>loyall,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>flatterers</HI> commend them; neither is a good man <HI>wicked,</HI> nor faithfull Subjects <HI>malignants,</HI> nor true prote|&s;tants, <HI>Popi&s;h,</HI> becau&s;e the &s;landerers <HI>traduce</HI> them; as Chri&s;t was neither <HI>a drunkard,</HI> nor <HI>a glutton,</HI> though the <HI>Jewes</HI> accu|&s;ed him of both;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.19.</NOTE> and we are neither <HI>Papi&s;ts</HI> nor <HI>Popi&s;h,</HI> though as the Apo&s;tle &s;aith in the like ca&s;e, <HI>we are &s;landerou&s;ly reported to</HI> be &s;uch,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 38.</NOTE> but things ought to be affirmed to be as they are <HI>indeed,</HI> and men ought <HI>to judge righteous judgements;</HI> and then you might <HI>&s;ee,</HI> and &s;o be <HI>a&s;&s;ured,</HI> we are &s;o far from <HI>Po|pery,</HI> that as I &s;aid before, we lay on them little le&s;&s;e crime, then <HI>idolatrie.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;eeing <GAP DESC="foreign"> is derived <HI>ab</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>video,</HI> we &s;ee it may be derived <HI>farther</HI> and brought <HI>neerer</HI> to our <HI>&s;elves,</HI> then the Church of <HI>Rome;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. in Je|rem c. 32. &amp; Aug. l. <HI>de vera veligione.</HI> Col. 3.5.</NOTE> for &s;o men may as S. <HI>Hierom</HI> &s;aith, erect an <HI>idoll</HI> in their owne <HI>braines,</HI> as the worlding makes his <HI>gold</HI> to be his <HI>god;</HI> the <HI>Heretiques</HI> and <HI>Seperati&s;ts</HI> make an <HI>idoll</HI> of their <HI>fal&s;e</HI> Religion: the preci&s;e <HI>Hypocrite</HI> makes an <HI>idoll</HI> of his di&s;&s;embled <HI>purity:</HI> and the very <HI>Rebels</HI> make an <HI>idoll</HI> of their <HI>&s;e|ducers</HI> and <HI>leaders,</HI> and their owne mo&s;t <HI>ob&s;tinate</HI> opinions: and all the&s;e, and the like, do offer up <HI>idolatrous</HI> &s;acrifices upon the <HI>altar</HI> of their owne <HI>folly;</HI> and therefore well might S. <HI>John</HI> &s;ay, <HI>keepe your &s;elves from idols;</HI> becau&s;e the children of the <HI>Church,</HI> when they leave their <HI>true leaders,</HI> and take blinde guides, may &s;oone fall and be filled with <HI>idolatrie.</HI> And &s;eeing we have &s;o many <HI>&s;uch</HI> rebellious Idolaters among&s;t us, if there be any <HI>idolaters</HI> in the world, is it any wonder that God &s;hould &s;o <HI>abundantly</HI> powre out his <HI>indignation</HI> upon us? or that <HI>he &s;hould not vi&s;it for the&s;e things,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ierem. 5.9.</NOTE> and be <HI>avenged on &s;uch a nati|on as this?</HI></P>
<P N="2">2 <HI>Inju&s;tice</HI> was the other &s;inne, whereby the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> lo&s;t
<PB N="13" REF="8">the Lord, when as the Prophet &s;aith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 7. The 2 &s;in of the I&s;raelites. Inju&s;tice.</NOTE> <HI>they turned judgement into wormewood, and left off righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e in the earth.</HI> where|in you may ob&s;erve 2 things in the <HI>iniquity</HI> of this people.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Generally</HI> among <HI>all</HI> the vulgar &s;ort.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Particularly</HI> among the very <HI>judges</HI> and <HI>Princes</HI> of the Land.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ierem. 5.1.</NOTE></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. The <HI>common</HI> people left off <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI>
<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">Generally</NOTE> and dealt mo&s;t <HI>unju&s;tly</HI> one with another, oppre&s;&s;ing the <HI>poore,</HI> afflicting the <HI>ju&s;t,</HI> and filling them&s;elves with thefts, robberies and all other kinds of unrighteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">The prai&s;e of Ju&s;tice. Pro. 25.5. Prov. 14.34. <HI>Theog. p.</HI> 431.</NOTE> &s;ins able to overthrowe the whole <HI>earth,</HI> and to de&s;troy all the <HI>&s;ocietie</HI> of mankinde; for <HI>ju|&s;tice e&s;tabli&s;heth the thrones of Kings, it exalteth a nation,</HI> it is the &s;i&s;ter of <HI>peace,</HI> the mother of <HI>pro&s;perity,</HI> the pre&s;erver of <HI>amity,</HI> and as <HI>Theognis</HI> &s;aith.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">: And on the other fide <HI>injury</HI> and oppre&s;&s;ion, as <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;aith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;, 7.7.</NOTE> <HI>is able to make a wi&s;e man mad,</HI> and <HI>inju&s;tice</HI> is the de&s;troyer of <HI>peace,</HI> the producer of <HI>Warre,</HI> and the bringer of whole <HI>Citties,</HI> Kingdomes and Nations to confu&s;ion; for as S. <HI>Aug.</HI> &s;aith, <HI>quid &s;unt regna, re|mota ju&s;titia, ni&s;i magna latrocinia?</HI> what are Kingdomes, if you take away <HI>ju&s;tice,</HI> but as our <HI>Citties</HI> are now in mo&s;t parts of our Land, <HI>the Dens of Theeves,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah. 6.13.</NOTE> that inrich them&s;elves with the <HI>trea&s;ures of wickedne&s;&s;e,</HI> and are clad with the <HI>&s;poiles of the poore?</HI> and how is it po&s;&s;ible that men &s;hould live one by ano|ther, <HI>cum vivitur ex rapto?</HI> when <HI>Pillaging</HI> and Plundering &s;hall become our <HI>common</HI> trade, and the great mens <HI>&s;trength</HI> &s;hall become the Law of <HI>ju&s;tice?</HI> and yet this is not all,
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Particularly</NOTE> for</P>
<P N="2">2. As the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> &s;aith, their <HI>Princes,</HI> that is,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1.23.</NOTE> their chiefe <HI>Lords,</HI> were <HI>rebellious and companions of theeves;</HI> and their <HI>judges</HI> their <HI>Sanhedrim,</HI> and great councell of <HI>State</HI> affli|cted the <HI>ju&s;t,</HI> as our Prophet &s;aith, and <HI>tooke bribes,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 12. Jerem. 5.5.</NOTE> and <HI>tur|ned a&s;ide the poore in the gate from their right;</HI> and what a la|mentable thing is this, when the <HI>poore,</HI> the fatherle&s;&s;e, and the widowes that are <HI>oppre&s;&s;ed</HI> &s;hall come unto the <HI>gods</HI> to &s;eeke reliefe, and they &s;hall finde them like <HI>Devils?</HI> to adde <HI>&s;or|rowes</HI> unto their afflictions, and to make the <HI>remedy</HI> farre wor&s;e than the <HI>di&s;ea&s;e,</HI> when a man &s;hall &s;pend more in <HI>getting</HI> his
<PB N="14" REF="9">right, then his <HI>right</HI> is worth, or when as the Prophet &s;aith, <HI>the judgement &s;hall be turned into wormewood;</HI> which is <HI>now</HI> with us, as it was with them, the very <HI>State</HI> of this Kingdome; for when His Maje&s;ty called a <HI>Parliament,</HI> the <HI>highe&s;t</HI> Court of Ju&s;tice in our Land, I may &s;ay of it, as the Lord &s;aith of <HI>I&s;|rael,</HI> when he looked for <HI>grapes,</HI> it brought forth <HI>wilde grapes:</HI> when we expected <HI>ju&s;tice,</HI> behold we found <HI>oppre&s;&s;ion and wrong,</HI> yea, <HI>&s;uch</HI> oppre&s;&s;ions, &s;uch <HI>inju&s;tice,</HI> and &s;uch <HI>crnelty</HI> we found among <HI>the&s;e</HI> Judges and Princes of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> as cannot be parallel'd among the wor&s;t of <HI>Pagans;</HI> &s;o that now indeed they have turned <HI>judgement</HI> into <HI>wormewood;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dio&s;corides</HI> lib 3. <HI>Apellus in I&s;a|gogico.</HI> Iudgement tur|ned to vvorme|vvood a wayes 1 way.</NOTE> which by rea|&s;on of its exceeding <HI>bitterne&s;&s;e</HI> made the <HI>french</HI> proverb <HI>fort comme &agrave;loyne ou ab&s;ynte,</HI> and made the <HI>Greeke</HI> comicks to call it <GAP DESC="foreign">, that is, <HI>impotable.</HI></P>
<P>And <HI>judgement</HI> may be turned into <HI>wormewood</HI> 2 &s;pe|ciall wayes.</P>
<P N="1">1. When it is done, as it was upon <HI>Naboth,</HI> without any <HI>co|lour</HI> of right, without <HI>any</HI> cau&s;e, and in the <HI>highe&s;t</HI> degree of <HI>inju&s;tice,</HI> with the <HI>greate&s;t</HI> mea&s;ure of iniquity: as when <HI>A|ri&s;tides</HI> was bani&s;hed out of <HI>Athens, ju&s;tus, quia ju&s;tus,</HI> and the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> were per&s;ecuted and murdered, onely <HI>quia Chri&s;tiani;</HI> and the <HI>Bi&s;hops</HI> are now hated of many men, <HI>one|ly</HI> becau&s;e they are <HI>Bi&s;hops,</HI> that is enough, though we can find <HI>none</HI> other cau&s;e in them <HI>worthy of death, or of bonds.</HI> And this is indeed <HI>ab&s;ynthio amarius,</HI> bitterer than <HI>wormewood,</HI> and is done by none but by the &s;ons of <HI>Belial;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 5.9.</NOTE> and &s;hall I not vi&s;it for the&s;e things?</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 vvay</NOTE> When it is done as <HI>Sulpitius Gallus</HI> did with his wife, becau&s;e &s;he walked <HI>abroad</HI> without her <HI>vaile,</HI> or as the Elder <HI>Cato</HI> did often deale with offenders, and P. <HI>Aemilius</HI> did with <HI>Rutilius,</HI> in&s;lict a puni&s;hment for a <HI>ju&s;t</HI> fault, but in the <HI>high|e&s;t</HI> degree of &s;everity; for though <HI>&s;ometimes</HI> &s;everity may and <HI>ought</HI> to be u&s;ed, <HI>ut multitudinis furores compe&s;cantur, &amp; a|trocia flagitia puniantur,</HI> that the <HI>fury</HI> of the <HI>wilde</HI> unruly mul|titude may be <HI>refrained,</HI> and <HI>haynous</HI> offences, as <HI>Trea&s;ons</HI> and Rebellions and the like <HI>intolerable</HI> &s;innes, may by the puni&s;h|ment of <HI>&s;ome</HI> be prevented in <HI>others;</HI> for &s;o we finde that <HI>whole</HI>
<PB N="15" REF="9">Townes have beene burnt to a&s;hes, and <HI>famous</HI> Cities have beene <HI>utterly</HI> de&s;troyed for the <HI>tumults</HI> and rebellions of <HI>un|dutifull</HI> and di&s;loyall Citizens; yet in <HI>other</HI> ca&s;es,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 19 <HI>in fine.</HI></NOTE> as <HI>M. Cicero</HI> &s;aith in <HI>Marcellinus,</HI> when it was in my <HI>power</HI> either to <HI>con|demne,</HI> or to ab&s;olve, <HI>igno&s;cendi non puniendi quaerebam cau&s;as,</HI> I did rather &s;earch out the meanes to <HI>&s;ave</HI> them, then looke after the cau&s;es to <HI>puni&s;h</HI> them; or as <HI>Alphon&s;us,</HI> being advi&s;ed by &s;ome of his followers, <HI>ut ne n&igrave;mium lenis erga &s;uos e&s;&s;et,</HI> that he &s;hould not be too <HI>gentle</HI> towards his people, le&s;t they might bring him into <HI>contempt,</HI> an&s;wered more <HI>graciou&s;ly,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Good men are naturally cle|ment.</NOTE> that he was rather to take heed, <HI>ne nimia &s;everitas conciliet invidiam,</HI> le&s;t too much <HI>&s;everity</HI> &s;hould beget him <HI>hatred:</HI> &s;o I beleeve it is the nature of the <HI>be&s;t</HI> men to be <HI>lea&s;t</HI> &s;evere, as holding it the <HI>better</HI> cour&s;e to offend on the <HI>&s;afer</HI> &s;ide, and rather <HI>merci|fully</HI> to remit <HI>&s;omewhat</HI> of the puni&s;hment that is due, then <HI>rigorou&s;ly</HI> to adde <HI>any</HI> thing more then is ju&s;t; becau&s;e <HI>mercy rejoyceth again&s;t judgement,</HI> and it is <HI>hardly</HI> believed that the &s;onne of <HI>&s;everity</HI> can be a good childe of the God of <HI>clemency,</HI> becau&s;e as the Poet &s;aith, &mdash;<HI>Sola deos aequat clementia nobis:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Claud.</HI> Exce&s;&s;e of &s;e|venty condem|ned by God. Ames 1.4, 5.</NOTE> And the Scripture reproveth the <HI>exce&s;&s;e</HI> of cruelty towards the <HI>greate&s;t</HI> enemies of Gods Church; for the Lord threatneth <HI>to breake the barres of Dama&s;cus, and to &s;end a fire into the hou&s;e of Hazaell, and to devoure the pallaces of Bonhadad;</HI> and why will the Lord doe all this? but becau&s;e they-were not <HI>&s;atisfied</HI> with the &s;ubjection of the <HI>Gileadites,</HI> but when they had <HI>vain|qui&s;hed</HI> them, they &s;hewed them&s;elves &s;o <HI>mercile&s;&s;e,</HI> that to &s;a|tisfie their <HI>wrath</HI> upon them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 34.</NOTE> <HI>they thra&s;hed them with thra&s;hing in&s;truments of iron:</HI> And &s;o the Lord threatneth the <HI>Moabites,</HI> that he would <HI>&s;end a fire upon Moab, which &s;hould devoure the Pallaces of Kerioth; and Moab &s;hould die with tumult, with &s;houting, and with the &s;ound of the Trumpet;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 2, 2, 3.</NOTE> and he would cut off the Judge from the mid&s;t thereof, and would &s;lay all the Prin|ces thereof with him:</HI> And why would the Lord doe all this unto the <HI>Moabites?</HI> but becau&s;e they were not <HI>&s;atisfied</HI> with the &s;poyles of the <HI>Edomites,</HI> but like <HI>mercile&s;&s;e</HI> wretches, tri|umphing in the <HI>mi&s;eries</HI> of mi&s;erable men, they were &s;o <HI>in|raged</HI> again&s;t them, that like <HI>bruit</HI> bea&s;ts, which were void of
<PB N="16" REF="10">all <HI>humanity,</HI>
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Reg. 3.27.</NOTE> they burnt the <HI>bones of the King of Edom into lime;</HI> for it is not <HI>acceptable</HI> unto the Lord, that any man &s;hould <HI>in&s;ult</HI> over his enemies in the day of their <HI>de&s;truction,</HI> nor &s;peake <HI>proudly</HI> in the <HI>time</HI> of their <HI>di&s;tre&s;&s;e:</HI> and therefore we mu&s;t examine <HI>quo animo,</HI> as well as <HI>quo &s;upplicio,</HI> we doe puni&s;h the <HI>greate&s;t</HI> tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors; becau&s;e God oftentimes is of|fended with the <HI>manner</HI> of that puni&s;hment, whereof in re|&s;pect of the <HI>matter</HI> he him&s;elfe is the author.</P>
<P>And yet, as in <HI>judgements</HI> and puni&s;hments you mu&s;t qualifie your owne <HI>affections,</HI> to doe all without <HI>bitterne&s;&s;e;</HI> &s;o you mu&s;t looke to the quality of the <HI>offendor;</HI> for the <HI>&s;ame</HI> cen&s;ure is not to be <HI>impo&s;ed,</HI> nor the &s;ame <HI>puni&s;hment</HI> to be inflicted on <HI>him</HI> that &s;inneth through <HI>infirmity,</HI> and upon <HI>another</HI> that op|po&s;eth <HI>authority,</HI> and &s;inneth through <HI>ob&s;tinacy;</HI> upon him that is <HI>&s;educed</HI> to rebellion, and upon the <HI>&s;educers</HI> and leaders of the more <HI>&s;imple</HI> Rebels:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">All &s;innes not alike, not the &s;ame &s;ins com|mitted alike.</NOTE> for though <HI>all</HI> &s;innes de&s;erve puni&s;h|ment, yet all &s;innes are not <HI>alike,</HI> neither doe all commit the <HI>&s;ame</HI> &s;innes alike; but &s;ome &s;innes are more <HI>contracted</HI> and more <HI>private,</HI> and others are more <HI>publique</HI> and more <HI>&s;preading;</HI> and therefore farre more <HI>dangerous</HI> then the other, becau&s;e &s;uch &s;inners, <HI>&amp; peccant &amp; docent peccare:</HI> and therefore God orde|reth his <HI>judgements</HI> according to the <HI>offences;</HI> &s;innes of <HI>infir|mity</HI> he puni&s;heth with <HI>pitty,</HI> and mixeth his puni&s;hments with <HI>clemency,</HI> but upon <HI>horrible</HI> &s;innes he layeth <HI>terrible</HI> puni&s;h|ments,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 5.15.</NOTE> and as he &s;aith in <HI>Micha, He will execute vengeance in his anger;</HI> &s;o when the <HI>Jewes</HI> were growne <HI>incorrigible,</HI> he &s;aith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jerem. 21.7.</NOTE> <HI>He will deliver them into the hand of tho&s;e that &s;eeke their life, and they &s;hall &s;mite them with the edge of the &s;word, and &s;hall not &s;pare them, nor have pitty, nor have mercy upon them:</HI> and &s;uch a &s;inne is <HI>murder,</HI> and the &s;hedding of <HI>innocent</HI> bloud, wherof the Lord &s;aith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 19.13. 21. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 span">de Ezech.</HI> 3.17, 18.</NOTE> <HI>Thine eye &s;hall not pitty him, but life &s;hall goe for life.</HI> And &s;uch a &s;inne is the &s;in of <HI>Rebellion,</HI> which is as the &s;inne of <HI>Witchcraft,</HI> and &s;preadeth it &s;elfe like a <HI>Gangrene,</HI> and infecteth many <HI>millions</HI> of men; and therefore the re&s;i&s;t|ing of <HI>authority</HI> de&s;erveth <HI>more</HI> &s;everity and <HI>le&s;&s;e</HI> clemency, then <HI>any</HI> &s;inne, as you may &s;ee it in the puni&s;hment of <HI>Corah, Dathan,</HI> and <HI>Abiram,</HI> who in the judgement of <HI>God</HI> him&s;elfe
<PB N="17" REF="10">de&s;erved no le&s;&s;e then to be <HI>con&s;umed</HI> with <HI>fire from Heaven,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rebellion, how horrible a &s;in.</NOTE> or to be &s;ent downe <HI>quicke to Hell;</HI> which in the judgement of <HI>Optatus,</HI> is &s;o <HI>fearefull</HI> and unparallel'd a vengeance, &s;hew|ing the <HI>tran&s;cendent</HI> odiou&s;ne&s;&s;e of rebellion, that the <HI>like</HI> can|not be found &s;ince the <HI>creation</HI> of the world: becau&s;e rebel|ling again&s;t <HI>lawfull</HI> authority is no le&s;&s;e then <HI>&s;ighting</HI> again&s;t the divine Maje&s;tie; and therefore the mo&s;t <HI>holy</HI> Saints of the Primitive Church, that were mo&s;t <HI>innocent</HI> in all their lives, would notwith&s;tanding &s;uffer the mo&s;t <HI>cruell</HI> death, rather then they would <HI>re&s;i&s;t</HI> this ordinance of God; or otherwi&s;e, if they had &s;o <HI>impudently</HI> reviled their <HI>Heathen</HI> Judges, and &s;o <HI>rebelli|ou&s;ly</HI> re&s;i&s;ted their <HI>per&s;ecuting</HI> Kings, as you &s;ee <HI>many</HI> have done of <HI>late</HI> again&s;t the mo&s;t <HI>gracious</HI> Princes, the Church had never <HI>canonized</HI> them for godly <HI>Martyrs,</HI> but had <HI>regi&s;tred</HI> them a|mong the mo&s;t wicked <HI>Malefactors.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <NOTE PLACE="marg">The third &s;in of the <HI>I&s;rae|lites.</HI> Ver&s;. 10.</NOTE> <HI>Contempt of the Prie&s;t</HI> was the <HI>la&s;t</HI> but not the <HI>lea&s;t</HI> &s;inne whereby the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> lo&s;t the Lord, when they <HI>hated him that rebuked in the gate, and abhorred him that &s;pake uprightly,</HI> that is, the <HI>Prophet</HI> or Preacher, &s;aith <HI>Cornelius &agrave; Lapide;</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>Jewes</HI> had their <HI>Tribunals</HI> and Judgements in the <HI>gates</HI> of their Cities, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;heweth: and therefore <HI>Jeremy, Amos,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 21.19.</NOTE> and the re&s;t of Gods &s;ervants &s;ate al&s;o in the <HI>gates,</HI> as you may &s;ee
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Jerem. 17 19. E&s;dras l. 2. c. 8.</NOTE>, to rebuke the <HI>wrong</HI> judgements, as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> and <HI>Lyra</HI> note; and to &s;peake <HI>uprightly,</HI> that is, <HI>Perfectum &amp; &s;anctum &s;ermonem,</HI> a perfect and a ju&s;t judgement, as the <HI>Septuagint</HI> and <HI>Symmachus</HI> render it; and <HI>this</HI> the people <HI>hated</HI> and abhor|red; which is the <HI>height</HI> of all iniquity, to reject the <HI>Prophet,</HI> and to exclude his <HI>coun&s;ell</HI> from our judgements:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sinners that re|ject their Tea|chers and Pa|&s;tors, are in|curable.</NOTE> for as the <HI>Gout</HI> is the &s;hame of the Phy&s;itian, becau&s;e he cannot <HI>cure</HI> it, &s;o this is the <HI>plague of</HI> the &s;oule, and a &s;inne that is <HI>incurable;</HI> for though a man commits <HI>many</HI> and great &s;ins, and leads a very <HI>di&s;&s;olute</HI> life; yet if he will dutifully <HI>hearken</HI> unto coun&s;ell, and patiently beare with his <HI>rebukes,</HI> there is <HI>great</HI> hope of his amendment; but as the <HI>di&s;ea&s;ed</HI> that is <HI>deadly</HI> &s;icke, and yet like <HI>Harpa&s;te,</HI> that would not be per&s;waded that &s;he was <HI>blind,</HI> though &s;he could &s;ee no more then a <HI>mil&s;tone,</HI> will not believe that he is <HI>&s;icke,</HI> and cannot indure the <HI>&s;ight</HI> of his Phy&s;itian,
<PB N="18" REF="11">runnes on a pace to <HI>death</HI> without any hope of life; &s;o the <HI>Iud|ges</HI> that hate the Prophets <HI>company,</HI> and abhorre the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the <HI>Prie&s;ts</HI> in their judgements, as the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> now did, and that <HI>&s;inner</HI> who doth hate his <HI>teacher,</HI> and &s;huns the <HI>&s;ociety</HI> of him that &s;eekes to &s;ave his &s;oule, have little <HI>&s;igne</HI> of grace, and as little <HI>hope</HI> of eternall life; and therefore the Scripture de|&s;cribing the <HI>deadly</HI> e&s;tate of the mo&s;t de&s;perate &s;inners, &s;uch as with <HI>Abab</HI> had &s;old them&s;elves to worke wickedne&s;&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea. 4 4</NOTE> &s;aith, <HI>they are like tho&s;e that contend with their Prei&s;ts,</HI> of whom there is <HI>little</HI> hope and <HI>le&s;&s;e</HI> good to be expected any wayes; for is it <HI>po&s;&s;ible</HI> that a blind man &s;hould <HI>find</HI> his way, when he <HI>beats</HI> away his leader? or that a <HI>child</HI> &s;hould thrive, when he <HI>bites</HI> and beats away his <HI>nur&s;e</HI> that gives him &s;ucke? So it is <HI>impo&s;&s;ible</HI> that they &s;hould doe <HI>well</HI> which hate the <HI>light,</HI> or that they &s;hould ever learne any <HI>good,</HI> which abhorre the <HI>teachers</HI> of all godline&s;&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Geminianus</HI> tells us,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gemin. de calo. l.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 22. Job. 9.9. The Preachers like the Hya|des.</NOTE> that the Mini&s;ters of Gods word are like the <HI>Hyades,</HI> whereof <HI>Iob</HI> &s;peaketh;</P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e the <HI>Hyades</HI> or <HI>Pleiades,</HI> as we tran&s;late them, are <HI>watry</HI> &s;tarres, &s;o alled from their <HI>effects;</HI> the word <HI>Hyades</HI> of <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifying nothing el&s;e but <HI>raine;</HI> <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Re&s;pect."> So the Preachers powre out the <HI>&s;howers</HI> of heavenly doctrine upon the barren ground of our &s;oules, to make them <HI>fruitfull,</HI> even as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aith, <HI>My doctrine &s;hall drop as the raina,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.2.</NOTE> and my &s;peech &s;hall di&s;till as the dew.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Re&s;pect."> Becau&s;e that as when the <HI>Pleiades</HI> doe ari&s;e, the dayes <HI>lengthen,</HI> the &s;un is <HI>hotter,</HI> and the earth produceth more <HI>plenti|full</HI> fruits; &s;o by the preaching of Gods word, the <HI>light</HI> of truth is increa&s;ed, the <HI>heat</HI> of chri&s;tian love and charity is kind|led, and the holy <HI>fruit</HI> of all good works is increa&s;ed: There|fore if the Preachers be as the <HI>raine</HI> to make us <HI>fruitfull,</HI> as the <HI>light</HI> to direct our <HI>wayes,</HI> as our <HI>fathers</HI> to in&s;truct us, and as the <HI>Angells</HI> of God to bring us into heaven, as the Scripture te&s;ti|fieth that they are, then I be&s;eech you tell mee, what <HI>holy</HI> fruit, what <HI>heavenly</HI> light, or what <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> good can be in them, that de&s;pi&s;e their <HI>teachers,</HI> and expell their <HI>fathers</HI> from their &s;ocieties?</P>
<PB N="19" REF="11">
<P> Yet this was the &s;inne of the <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI> and I feare, we cannot <HI>free</HI> our &s;elves from it: for how have they beene u&s;ed &s;ince the <HI>beginning</HI> of this Parliament? was not he <HI>mo&s;t</HI> cryed up, that <HI>cryed</HI> mo&s;t again&s;t the Church and Church-men? and men of <HI>no note</HI> became <HI>famous</HI> in the Hou&s;e by making invective <HI>&s;peech|es</HI> again&s;t the <HI>Bi&s;hops;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. 1. Cor. 4.13.</NOTE> and he was deemed mo&s;t <HI>eloquent</HI> that was mo&s;t <HI>bitter</HI> again&s;t them; and how have they beene hand|led ever <HI>&s;ince?</HI> voted out of all their <HI>meanes,</HI> and not <HI>any</HI> thing left them to buy them bread: <HI>graviora morte;</HI> and being thus made
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.38. and 37.</NOTE> as <HI>the filth of the world, and the off: &s;couring of all things unto this day,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaketh: they are either ca&s;t with <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> into the <HI>dungeon,</HI> or driven to wander in <HI>de&s;arts and in mountaines, and in dennes and caves of the earth, being de&s;titute, afflicted, tormented;</HI> And I may &s;ay of &s;ome of them with <HI>Je|remy, they that did feed delicately are de&s;olate in the &s;treets, they that were clad in &s;carlet embrace dunghills, they &s;igh and &s;eeke bread, and have given their plea&s;ant things for meate to releive their &s;oules.</HI> And <HI>&s;hall I not vi&s;it for the&s;e things,</HI> &s;aith the Lord,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jerem. 5.9. Lament. c. 4.5. <HI>et c.</HI> 1. 11.</NOTE> and <HI>&s;hall not my &s;oule be avenged on &s;uch a nation as this?</HI> Yes, &s;aith our Prophet: and for the&s;e things the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> lo&s;t the Lord: and we may <HI>feare</HI> he hath <HI>left</HI> us for the &s;ame faults.</P>
<P N="2">2. The <HI>meanes</HI> or wayes by which we <HI>depart</HI> from God and &s;o loo&s;e the Lord, are very many; I will onely name unto you
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">The wayes where by God is lo&s;t from us.</NOTE> the&s;e three, whereby <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> lo&s;t our Saviour in <HI>Ieru&s;alem;</HI> and they are,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Negligent &s;ecurity.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Ignorant blindne&s;&s;e.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Ob&s;tinate opinion.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> went with Chri&s;t into the <HI>Temple,</HI> <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Way."> but through <HI>neg|ligence</HI> to looke after him, he went <HI>homewards</HI> without him, &s;o the <HI>neglect</HI> to &s;eeke God, is the onely way to loo&s;e God; becau&s;e as Saint <HI>Gregory</HI> &s;aith, <HI>quem tentationis certamen &s;upe|rare non valuit, &s;aepe &s;ecuritas deserius &s;travit.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> knew not that Chri&s;t was left <HI>behind</HI> him; <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Way."> and &s;o many men <HI>know not</HI> that they are <HI>without</HI> the Lord, being like the inhabitants of <HI>Egypt</HI> that reape the benefits of <HI>Nilus,</HI> but are ignorant of the <HI>fountaine</HI> from whence it &s;prings; be|cau&s;e they are ignorant of their <HI>faith</HI> and of their owne mo&s;t
<PB N="20" REF="12">de&s;perate <HI>condition,</HI> while they have more care of the <HI>evidence</HI> of their lands, then they have of the <HI>a&s;&s;urance</HI> of their &s;alvati|on.</P>
<P N="3">3. <MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Way."> <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> thought that Chri&s;t was gone before with their friends, and thereby he was <HI>deceived;</HI> &s;o many men loo&s;e the Lord b<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter"> their <HI>fal&s;e per&s;wa&s;ions;</HI> for <HI>Arjus</HI> thought he found Chri&s;t when he denied his <HI>deity.</HI> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> thought he did God <HI>good</HI> &s;ervice when he per&s;ecuted the <HI>Saints</HI> of God; and &s;o many men, as tho&s;e <HI>&s;editious</HI> Preachers and <HI>Browni&s;ts</HI> about <HI>London,</HI> and many other parts of this Kingdome doe thinke, perhaps, they teach the <HI>truth</HI> of God, when as <HI>God</HI> knoweth, they teach the people <HI>nothing</HI> el&s;e but the mo&s;t <HI>de&s;perate</HI> and damnable doctrine of devills,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.</NOTE> when they per&s;wade them <HI>to re|&s;i&s;t the ordinance of God,</HI> which commandeth <HI>every &s;oule to &s;ub|mit it &s;elfe unto the higher powers,</HI> and that is the <HI>King,</HI> as Saint <HI>Peter</HI> te&s;tifieth;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Pet. 2.13.</NOTE> and &s;o by the&s;e <HI>fal&s;e</HI> thoughts they doe <HI>utter|ly</HI> loo&s;e the <HI>true</HI> God, and &s;hall <HI>finally</HI> loo&s;e them&s;elves unle&s;&s;e they doe <HI>&s;peedily</HI> change their minds; and therefore as the Em|perour <HI>Antoninus</HI> was wont to &s;ay in <HI>another</HI> ca&s;e, &s;o I &s;ay in this, <HI>ejice opinionem, &s;i vis &s;alvus e&s;&s;e,</HI> ca&s;t away &s;uch <HI>fal&s;e opini|ons</HI> and beleeve the <HI>truth,</HI> relie not on your <HI>&s;elves</HI> nor on your <HI>lying</HI> leaders, but as our Prophet &s;aith, <HI>Seeke the Lord, and you &s;hall live.</HI> And &s;o much for the <HI>cau&s;es</HI> and the <HI>wayes</HI> by which we <HI>loo&s;e</HI> the Lord.</P>
<P>Now when the Lord is <HI>lo&s;t,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">What we ought to doe, when we have lo&s;t God. Gen. 2.</NOTE> the onely <HI>remedy</HI> that we have is to <HI>&s;eeke</HI> him; but alas beloved, is it in our <HI>power</HI> to find him, or have we any <HI>ability</HI> to &s;eeke him? can the lo&s;t <HI>&s;heepe</HI> finde her <HI>&s;hepherd,</HI> or could <HI>Adam</HI> ever <HI>&s;eeke</HI> after God, if God had not &s;ought after him, and called him, Adam, <HI>where art thou?</HI> I mu&s;t an&s;wer like <HI>Athanaus</HI> riddle, a <HI>man</HI> and no man, with a <HI>&s;tone</HI> and no &s;tone, kill'd a <HI>bird</HI> and no bird, that &s;ate upon a <HI>tree</HI> and no tree; that is, an <HI>Eunuch</HI> with a <HI>pummy</HI> kill'd a <HI>bat</HI> upon a <HI>fennell;</HI> &s;o I &s;ay, it is, and it is not: for if you &s;peake of a man <HI>unregenerate,</HI> and as yet de&s;titute of Gods <HI>grace,</HI> he can no more <HI>&s;eeke</HI> for grace then dead <HI>Lazarus</HI> could rai&s;e him&s;elfe out of his grave; becau&s;e the Apo&s;tle affirmeth all to be, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>dead in tre&s;pa&s;&s;es and &s;innes:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.2.</NOTE> and
<PB N="21" REF="12">our Saviour &s;aith, <HI>Without me you can doe nothing:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 15.5. <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Pro&s;per de lib. arbit.</HI></NOTE> and <HI>Pro&s;per</HI> calleth the <HI>grace</HI> of God <HI>Creatricem bonorum in nobis,</HI> the Creator of all the good that is in us, according to that &s;aying of the Apo&s;tle, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>wee are his workeman&s;hip,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>created in Chri&s;t Je&s;us:</HI> and you know that a <HI>creation</HI> is from <HI>nothing.</HI></P>
<P>But when the Lord hath <HI>quickned</HI> our dead &s;pirits, and <HI>mol|li&s;ied</HI> our hard hearts, then he looketh that we &s;hould not be, <HI>qua&s;i dormientes qua&s;i non volentes,</HI> as men <HI>a&s;leepe</HI> and negli|gent of our owne good, but that we &s;hould <HI>diligently</HI> &s;eek the way, and <HI>finding</HI> the &s;ame, to <HI>walke</HI> therein:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.10.</NOTE> for this <HI>exhorta|tion</HI> to <HI>&s;eeke</HI> the Lord, and our Saviours <HI>invitation,</HI> to <HI>come</HI> unto him, and the like, doe &s;ufficiently evince,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 11.28.</NOTE> that in all <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> God worketh not <HI>&s;icut in lapidibus in&s;en&s;atis,</HI> as in <HI>&s;en&s;ele&s;&s;e</HI> &s;tones, or in creatures that have no <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> as Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;peaketh, but in men that have a <HI>freedome</HI> of will to follow af|ter tho&s;e things which doe pertaine unto <HI>&s;alvation;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug in epi&s;t.</HI> 89. <HI>qua&s;t.</HI> 2.</NOTE> Quia li|berum arbitrium non ideo tollitur quia juvatur, &s;ed ideo juvatur quia non tollitur;</HI> becau&s;e our <HI>free will</HI> is not taken <HI>away,</HI> be|cau&s;e it is <HI>helped,</HI> but it is therefore <HI>helped</HI> becau&s;e it is not ta|ken <HI>away,</HI> as the &s;ame S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;peaketh. And <HI>Fulgentius</HI> hath the like &s;aying, <HI>l.</HI> 2. <HI>De veritate praede&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore &s;eeing the Devill can neither <HI>forcibly</HI> com|pell us to any <HI>evill,</HI> nor <HI>violently</HI> detaine us from any <HI>good,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How the Devill inticeth us, and cannot compell us to &s;inne.</NOTE> but onely by the propo&s;all of <HI>&s;educing</HI> objects, and by the &s;ubtly <HI>ob&s;curing</HI> the beauty of the <HI>perfect</HI> good, to <HI>allure</HI> us unto the one, and to withdraw us from the other, we ought to arme our &s;elves with a <HI>re&s;olution</HI> to follow the <HI>coun&s;ell</HI> of the Prophet, to <HI>Seeke the Lord, that we might live,</HI> and not die; for <HI>Why will you die, O ye Inhabitants of</HI> England?</P>
<P>But in this our <HI>inqui&s;ition</HI> and &s;earch after God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Foure things to be cohli|dered in our &s;earch for God.</NOTE> we ought <HI>carefully</HI> to con&s;ider of the&s;e 4 particulars.
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. To finde out the <HI>cau&s;e,</HI> why he <HI>left</HI> us.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. To goe to the <HI>place,</HI> where he <HI>re&s;ideth.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. To know the <HI>time,</HI> when he may be <HI>found.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. To under&s;tand the <HI>manner,</HI> how we are to <HI>&s;eeke</HI> him,</ITEM>
</LIST> For,</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="22" REF="13"> 1. <NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">To know the cau&s;e why God left us. P&s;al. 147.14.</NOTE> God <HI>was among&s;t us as in the holy place of Sinai,</HI> and then <HI>Kings with their Armies did &s;lee,</HI> and were di&s;comfited, and we of his hou&s;hold <HI>divided the &s;poyle;</HI> and then God &s;ent <HI>a graci|ous raine</HI> upon his inheritance, and refre&s;hed it when it was weary, and powred his <HI>benefits</HI> upon us; he made <HI>peace</HI> in all our borders, and filled us <HI>with the flower of wheat,</HI> and he ble&s;&s;ed us &s;o, that we were even <HI>envied</HI> for our happine&s;&s;e; but now <HI>he hath for &s;aken us,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.11.</NOTE> and hideth his face from us, and <HI>goeth not forth with our Armies,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 6.4.</NOTE> but he hath kindled his <HI>wrath</HI> again&s;t us, and counted us <HI>as one of his enemies;</HI> he hath made <HI>his ar|rowes drunke in our bloud,</HI> and his terrors doe &s;et them&s;elves <HI>in array</HI> again&s;t us, &s;o that now we are a <HI>by word</HI> among the Hea|thens, and our <HI>enemies laugh us to &s;corne.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore as the good <HI>Phy&s;itian</HI> fir&s;t &s;earcheth out the <HI>cau&s;e</HI> of the di&s;ea&s;e, and then prepareth a <HI>potion</HI> for the cure; and as <HI>Jo&s;hua,</HI> when God turned away from the children of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and delivered them up into the hands of their <HI>enemies,</HI> never left <HI>&s;earching,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;hua 7.18.</NOTE> till he found out the <HI>accur&s;ed</HI> thing, that was the <HI>cau&s;e</HI> of their de&s;truction;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">. Sam. 21.1.</NOTE> and <HI>David</HI> al&s;o, when there was a <HI>famine</HI> three yeares, <HI>yeare after yeare,</HI> inquired of the Lord, what &s;hould be the <HI>cau&s;e</HI> thereof; &s;o we mu&s;t <HI>inquire</HI> and &s;earch out the <HI>cau&s;e</HI> why the Lord hath <HI>overthrowne all our hedges,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">We have com|mitted the &s;ame &s;ins, and more &s;ins, and more haynou&s;|ly then the <HI>I&s;|raelites</HI> did.</NOTE> and given us as a <HI>&s;poyle</HI> unto our neighbours. And herein as <HI>Demodacus</HI> &s;aid of the <HI>Mile&s;ians,</HI> they were <HI>no fooles,</HI> but they did <HI>the &s;ame things that fooles did:</HI> &s;o I &s;ay, we are no <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI> but I feare we have committed <HI>the &s;ame &s;innes</HI> as the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> did, <HI>idolatry, inju&s;tice,</HI> and <HI>contempt</HI> of our teachers: nay, have we not <HI>added</HI> unto the&s;e <HI>&s;acriledge, perjury, drun|kenne&s;&s;e luxury,</HI> and all kinde of uncleanne&s;&s;e? yea, have we not made <HI>inju&s;tice,</HI> and <HI>perjury</HI> and <HI>&s;acriledge,</HI> and <HI>contempt</HI> of the Mini&s;ters, and <HI>rebellion</HI> again&s;t the <HI>ordinance</HI> of God, and many <HI>other</HI> &s;innes that formerly were but <HI>per&s;onall</HI> &s;innes, now to become <HI>nationall,</HI> when they are <HI>committed, continued,</HI> and <HI>maintained</HI> by the <HI>repre&s;entatives</HI> of the whole Kingdome? and &s;hall not <HI>my &s;oule be avenged on &s;uch a nation as this,</HI> &s;aith the Lord?
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 19.</NOTE> yes, &s;aith our Prophet, <HI>woe &s;hall be to them that de&s;ire the day of the Lord,</HI> for <HI>it is darkne&s;&s;e and not light, and it &s;hall
<PB N="15" REF="13">be as if a man did flee from a Lion, and a Beare met him:</HI> that is, to e&s;cape the <HI>lea&s;t,</HI> and to fall into the <HI>greater</HI> puni&s;hment; be|cau&s;e the <HI>Lion</HI> is a more noble enemie then the <HI>Beare,</HI> when as the Poet &s;aith,
<Q><L>Parcere pro&s;tratis &s;cit nobilis ira Leonis.</L></Q> But the <HI>Beare</HI> is a mo&s;t <HI>ravenous</HI> raging Bea&s;t,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 5.12.14.</NOTE> that will teare us all to pieces; &s;o it is to e&s;cape the <HI>&s;word</HI> and to die by <HI>famine,</HI> to provide again&s;t <HI>famine</HI> and to be de&s;troyed by the <HI>pe&s;tilence,</HI> which &s;hall follow one <HI>another</HI> &s;o long as we <HI>continue</HI> in our &s;innes; and the <HI>wrath</HI> of the Lord &s;hall not be turned <HI>away,</HI> but <HI>his hand will be &s;tretched out &s;till:</HI> As in <HI>Levit.</HI> 26. after many plagues he addeth, <HI>I will bring &s;even times more plagues upon you for your &s;innes.</HI> And therefore if you would turne away the <HI>wrath</HI> of God, you mu&s;t turne away from <HI>the&s;e &s;innes</HI> that have <HI>provoked</HI> him to wrath; <HI>Quia &s;ublata cau&s;a tollitur effectus.</HI> And then</P>
<P N="2">2. If you would <HI>finde</HI> the Lord,
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">The place where God may be found.</NOTE> you mu&s;t goe to the <HI>place</HI> where he re&s;ideth; for though <HI>Enter prae&s;enter Deus e&s;t ubi&abque; potenter,</HI> in re&s;pect of his omnipotent <HI>e&s;&s;ence,</HI> the &s;pirit of the Lord &s;illeth <HI>all</HI> places: <HI>If we climbe up into Heaven he is there, if we goe downe to Hell he is there al&s;o;</HI> and as the Schooles &s;ay, he is <HI>Supra coelos non elatus, &s;ubter terram non depre&s;&s;us, intra mundum non inclu&s;us, extra mundum non exclu&s;us:</HI> yet in re|&s;pect of his <HI>favourable pre&s;ence,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How God fil|leth all places.</NOTE> he is not to be found in <HI>every</HI> place; for if you &s;eeke the <HI>righteous</HI> God among <HI>unrighteous</HI> men, the <HI>faithfull</HI> God among <HI>lying</HI> perjurers, as the <HI>Grecians</HI> &s;ought for <HI>Helen</HI> in <HI>Troy,</HI> when &s;he was with <HI>Proteus</HI> in <HI>Egypt,</HI> we &s;hall be &s;ure to <HI>mi&s;&s;e</HI> him; becau&s;e <HI>the holy &s;pirit of di&s;cipline &s;leeth from deceit, and dwelleth not in the body that is &s;ubject unto &s;inne;</HI> and therefore the <HI>place</HI> is to be con&s;idered where we mu&s;t <HI>&s;eeke</HI> him: and that is principally
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The <HI>Church</HI> of Chri&s;t, among the faithfull.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">God is found 1. Inthe Church among the faithfull.</NOTE> And</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The <HI>holy</HI> Scriptures of the Prophets and Apo&s;tles.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. As <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> and <HI>Mary</HI> when they lo&s;t Chri&s;t, found him not in the <HI>wayes</HI> among their <HI>friends</HI> and acquaintance, but in the <HI>Temple</HI> among the <HI>Doctors;</HI> &s;o we &s;hall finde him, not in the <HI>factious</HI> confederacies of <HI>private</HI> Conventicles, but in the <HI>pub|lique</HI>
<PB N="24" REF="14">a&s;&s;emblies of Gods <HI>holy</HI> Church,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 26.8.</NOTE> which is the <HI>place where his honour dwelleth:</HI> not among <HI>Perjurers, Lyers, Rebels,</HI> and the like, but among the <HI>faithfull,</HI> and among tho&s;e that <HI>feare</HI> the Lord; for <HI>The Lord is with them that feare him, and that put their tru&s;t in his mercy,</HI> and with &s;uch he may be found.</P>
<P>And therefore if you would <HI>finde</HI> the Lord, you mu&s;t not <HI>walke in the coun&s;ell of the ungodly,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 1 1.</NOTE> nor &s;tand in the way of &s;in|ners, nor &s;it in the &s;eat of the &s;cornfull;</HI> you mu&s;t have nothing to doe <HI>with the &s;toole or &s;eat of wickedne&s;&s;e,</HI> which imagineth <HI>mi&s;chiefe,</HI> and doth countenance their <HI>wickedne&s;&s;e</HI> by a Law; but where you &s;ee the <HI>righteous</HI> gathering them&s;elves in the <HI>name</HI> of Chri&s;t, and joyning their <HI>forces</HI> in the <HI>feare</HI> of God, there is the <HI>Lord</HI> in the mid&s;t of them, even as him&s;elfe hath promi&s;ed;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 26 12.</NOTE> <HI>I will dwell in them, and walke in them, and will be their God, and they &s;hall be my people.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">In the holy Scriptures.</NOTE> As we may finde the Lord in the <HI>Church</HI> of the righteous, &s;o we may finde him in the <HI>holy Scriptures;</HI> not in the Turkes <HI>Alcoron,</HI> nor in the Popes <HI>Canon,</HI> nor in mans <HI>tradition,</HI> nor in any like <HI>unwritten</HI> verities, which are the <HI>muddie</HI> inventi|ons of <HI>di&s;tracted</HI> braines, and the idle vanities of <HI>&s;educed</HI> &s;oules; we &s;end you to no &s;uch <HI>places</HI> to &s;eeke the Lord, what&s;oever the <HI>malice</HI> of our adver&s;aries &s;aith of us; but we direct you to the <HI>pure</HI> Word of God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 17.17. John 5.39. <HI>Aug. Confe&s;&s;. l.</HI> 11. <HI>c.</HI> 2. 2. Tim. 3.13. <HI>Hieron, in ep. ad Demetrad.</HI></NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, for <HI>thy Word is truth,</HI> and the Scriptures <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>te&s;tifie of me,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour; and therefore <HI>Deliciae meae &s;cripturae tuae,</HI> thy Scriptures are my delights, &s;aith S. <HI>Augu&s;tine;</HI> and the rea|&s;on is rendered by S. <HI>Hierome;</HI> becau&s;e they are able (as the A|po&s;tle &s;aith) <HI>to make us wi&s;e unto &s;alvation;</HI> and all wi&s;edome without <HI>this</HI> is but meere fooli&s;hne&s;le; for, <HI>Quid prode&s;t e&s;&s;e peritum &amp; periturum?</HI> what will it boot a man to be <HI>wi&s;e</HI> un|to perdition, to be &s;ubtle to play the Rebell, to be a cra&s;ty Traytor,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. quo &s;up.</NOTE> and to goe to <HI>Hell</HI> with a great deale of <HI>wit</HI> and lear|ning, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;peaketh?</P>
<P>Therefore though you &s;hould be con&s;trained <HI>to dwell with Me&s;hec,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 120 4, 5.</NOTE> and to have your habitation <HI>among the tents of Cedar,</HI> among the <HI>Egyptians</HI> or <HI>Babylonians,</HI> among them that are enemies unto peace, as God knowes how <HI>&s;onne</HI> any of us may
<PB N="25" REF="14">be taken by &s;uch enemies: yet if we <HI>leave</HI> them, and take the <HI>holy</HI> Scriptures, there we &s;hall have the <HI>Lord</HI> to be our compa|nion, though we &s;hould be &s;hut up with <HI>Jeremie</HI> in the <HI>dun|geon.</HI> But</P>
<P N="3">3. For the <HI>time</HI> of &s;eeking God,
<NOTE N="3" PLACE="marg">The time when God may be found.</NOTE> you mu&s;t remember that the Prophet bids us <HI>Seeke the Lord while he may be found;</HI> and many men &s;eeke &s;alvation, <HI>in medio gehennae quae operata e&s;t in medio terrae;</HI> and therefore mi&s;taking their <HI>time</HI> they mi&s;&s;e to <HI>finde</HI> it; for God allowed us <HI>no time</HI> to &s;eeke him, but the time <HI>pre&s;ent,</HI> during <HI>this</HI> life, and no <HI>other</HI> time; and you know the fir&s;t Aphori&s;me of <HI>Hippocrates</HI> is, that <HI>Ars longa, vita brevis,</HI> Art is <HI>long,</HI> and our life is <HI>&s;hort;</HI> yea, &s;o &s;hort,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Seneca de bre|vitate vita, c.</HI> 1.</NOTE> that as <HI>Seneca</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Ari&s;totle, Theophra&s;tus,</HI> and others, quarrelled with <HI>na|ture</HI> for giving <HI>bea&s;ts</HI> and <HI>plants</HI> &s;o <HI>long</HI> an age,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 90.10.</NOTE> and to man &s;o <HI>&s;hort</HI> a time, which as the Prophet &s;aith, is but a <HI>&s;pan</HI> long, a <HI>dreame,</HI> a <HI>thought,</HI> a <HI>nothing;</HI> &s;o &s;oone pa&s;&s;eth our time away, and we are gone. And yet it is &s;trange to &s;ee, how men doe &s;pend that <HI>little</HI> time which they have to live, <HI>aut nihil agen|do, aut mal&egrave; agendo,</HI> either in doing <HI>nothing,</HI> or that <HI>evill</HI> which is indeed farre <HI>wor&s;e</HI> then nothing; for though you &s;ee no man willing to part with his <HI>money,</HI> yet you may finde how <HI>lavi&s;h</HI> every man is of his <HI>time,</HI> which is more <HI>pretious</HI> then all wealth: And <HI>Seneca</HI> tels us of <HI>divers</HI> men in his time,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Seneca de bre|vit. vit. cap.</HI> 12.</NOTE> that &s;pent <HI>every</HI> day an houre or two in the <HI>Barbers</HI> &s;hop, to cut downe tho&s;e <HI>haires</HI> that grew the <HI>night</HI> before, and were more <HI>curious</HI> of their locks then they were <HI>carefull</HI> of the Common-wealth; and <HI>others</HI> wor&s;e then the&s;e, &s;pend their time in <HI>gaming,</HI> drink|ing, and oppre&s;&s;ing their <HI>poore</HI> neighbours; and they are very loath to con&s;ider, how <HI>vainly</HI> and how wickedly they do wa&s;t their dayes: for he that hath de&s;ired with <HI>ambition,</HI> conquered with <HI>in&s;olencie,</HI> cozened with <HI>&s;ubtilty,</HI> plundered with <HI>cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> and mis-&s;pent all by <HI>prodigality,</HI> mu&s;t needs be affraid to <HI>review</HI> tho&s;e things, which mu&s;t needs make him <HI>a&s;hamed;</HI> or if the&s;e men have &s;o <HI>much</HI> grace to looke backe to &s;ee what they have <HI>mis-&s;pent,</HI> before they have <HI>&s;pent</HI> all, then &s;hall you heare them &s;ay, that if they were <HI>young</HI> againe, they would <HI>change</HI> their cour&s;e, and <HI>Seeke the Lord,</HI> that they might <HI>live,</HI>
<PB N="18" REF="15">and not <HI>loo&s;e</HI> their lves in following affter <HI>lying</HI> vanities; but alas that cannot be; for as <HI>Plato</HI> &s;aith, <GAP DESC="foreign">, time and tyde &s;tay for no man, and as the Poet &s;aith, <HI>nec quae preteriit horaredire pote&s;t,</HI> that which is <HI>pa&s;t</HI> cannot be recal|led againe; and <HI>Seneca</HI> &s;aith, that the greate&s;t Poet that ever was tels us, our <HI>happie&s;t</HI> dayes do pa&s;&s;e from us <HI>fir&s;t,</HI></P>
<P>And therefore I &s;ay to you <HI>young</HI> men,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl&s;. 12.1.</NOTE> <HI>remember your Crea|tor in the dayes of your youth,</HI> and as <HI>Tymothy</HI> had knowne the Scriptures,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.15.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="foreign">, and was <HI>nur|&s;ed</HI> up in the <HI>feare</HI> of the Lord, &s;o do you; for what will it a|vaile you to compo&s;e your <HI>&s;peech</HI> according to the rules of <HI>Lillie,</HI> and the Rhetoricke of <HI>Cicero,</HI> and not to have your <HI>lives</HI> an&s;werable to the rules of <HI>charity</HI> and the precepts of the <HI>holy</HI> Scriptures? to learne out of <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> the nature of the <HI>creatures,</HI> and to remaine ignorant of the will of the <HI>creator?</HI> and to have learned that whereby you may live <HI>richly</HI> here for a while, and to neglect that whereby you may live <HI>happily</HI> hereafter for ever? And I &s;ay to you <HI>old</HI> men that <HI>nunquam &s;e|rae&s;t ad paenitendum via,</HI> it is never too <HI>late</HI> to repent if you can but <HI>truly</HI> repent; for he that requireth your <HI>fir&s;t</HI> fruites re|fu&s;eth not your la&s;t age;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 95.</NOTE> And I &s;ay to you all, <HI>to day if you will heare his voice, harden not your hearts;</HI> for <HI>now is the time accep|table, now is the day of Salvation; &amp; &s;emper nocuit differre vocatis.</HI></P>
<P>But though we ought at <HI>all times</HI> in <HI>all places</HI> to &s;eeke the Lord,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">When we ought mo&s;t e|&s;pecially to &s;eeke the Lord.</NOTE> yet there are <HI>&s;ome</HI> times wherein we ought more <HI>e&s;peci|ally</HI> &amp; more <HI>earne&s;tly</HI> to &s;eek after him, then at <HI>all</HI> other times; and tho&s;e are the <HI>times of troubles</HI> and adver&s;ities, when God &s;courgeth us for loo&s;ing him;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 50.15. Mat. 11.28.</NOTE> for &s;o God biddeth us, <HI>call upon me in the time of trouble;</HI> and Chri&s;t &s;aith, <HI>come unto mee all you that travell and are heavie Laden;</HI> and &s;o the brethren of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> &s;ought unto God in their <HI>troubles,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ionas</HI> 1.5.7.</NOTE> and the Mariners that tran&s;ported <HI>Jonas,</HI> though but heathens, yet will they call <HI>every</HI> man upon his God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.25.</NOTE> when the Sea was ready to &s;wallow them up; and the Di&s;ciples being in the <HI>like</HI> danger came cry|ing unto Chri&s;t, and &s;ayed, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Lord &s;ave us, we peri&s;h;</HI> and they that will not &s;eeke the Lord in
<PB N="19" REF="15">their di&s;tres will never &s;eeek him;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 83 16.</NOTE> for the Prophet &s;peaking of the wicked, &s;aith, <HI>fill their faces with &s;hame,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1.5</NOTE> that they may <HI>&s;eek thy</HI> name: and of them that will not <HI>then</HI> &s;eeke him, the Lord &s;aith, <HI>why &s;hould yee be &s;tricken any more?</HI> as if he &s;aid, you are <HI>now</HI> pa&s;t <HI>all</HI> hope, when your <HI>afflictions</HI> cannot make you &s;eek the Lord, but that you will revolt <HI>more and more,</HI> and prove like <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> that the more the Lord <HI>plagued</HI> him,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Exc.</HI> c. 8. c. 9. c. 10.</NOTE> the more he <HI>hardened</HI> his owne heart.</P>
<P>And therefore &s;eeing the Lord hath <HI>now</HI> bent his <HI>bowe like an enemie,</HI> and &s;et us as a <HI>marke for the arrowe,</HI> he hath &s;et <HI>our necks under per&s;ecution,</HI> and turned our <HI>&s;ongs</HI> into mournings, and our <HI>happy</HI> and <HI>long</HI> continued Peace into <HI>cruell</HI> Warres: though <HI>heretofore</HI> we have pa&s;t our time in <HI>vanities,</HI> and have <HI>neglected</HI> to &s;eeke the Lord: yet if we have <HI>any</HI> grace, let us <HI>now</HI> &s;eeke unto the Lord, and &s;ay with the Prophet, <HI>O Lord, wherefore do&s;t thou forget us for ever,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 5.23.21.</NOTE> and for&s;ake us &s;o long a time? turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we &s;hall be turned, re|new our dayes as of old.</HI> and</P>
<P N="4">4. For the <HI>manner</HI> how we ought to <HI>&s;eeke</HI> the Lord, it mu&s;t be.
<NOTE N="4" PLACE="marg">The manner how we ought to &s;eek the Lord. 1 Totally with all parts 1 of our bodyes. 1 Cor. 6.20.</NOTE></P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Totally</HI> with all our parts.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Carefully</HI> with all diligence.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. Withall our parts of body and &s;oule, <HI>externally</HI> and <HI>in|ternally,</HI> with <HI>outward</HI> profe&s;&s;ion and with <HI>inward</HI> obe|dience. for</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Externally</HI> we are to <HI>glorify God in our body,</HI> that is, <HI>with our members,</HI> with <HI>bended</HI> knee&s;e, with our eyes <HI>lifted</HI> up to Heaven, and with our tongues <HI>pray&s;ing</HI> God and <HI>confe&s;&s;ing</HI> our owne &s;innes;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.4. James 4.2.</NOTE> that God may be <HI>ju&s;tified in his &s;ayings and cleere when we are judged,</HI> otherwi&s;e, as many <HI>aske</HI> and <HI>receive not, becau&s;e they aske ami&s;&s;e,</HI> that is, <HI>aut praeter verbum aut non propter verbum,</HI> either not according to Gods will or not for Chri&s;t his &s;ake: &s;o many men do <HI>&s;eeke</HI> and finde not, becau&s;e they &s;eeke <HI>ami&s;&s;e,</HI> either too <HI>proudly</HI> or too <HI>remi&s;&s;ly,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Our outward &s;eeking con&s;i&s;t|eth chiefly &s;o 3 points.</NOTE> or &s;ome way el&s;e otherwi&s;e then they ought to &s;eeke; and therefore that you may not <HI>mi&s;&s;e</HI> to finde, I be&s;eech you marke <HI>how</HI> you may &s;eeke a right, as other godly men have done; and that is briefly.</P>
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<PB N="18" REF="16">
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<PB N="19" REF="16">
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<LIST>
<PB N="28" REF="18">
<ITEM>1.
<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">Humbling our&s;elves.</NOTE> <HI>Humiliando corpus:</HI> by humbling our bodyes.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Confitendo peccata,</HI> confe&s;&s;ing our &s;ins.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Orando Deum,</HI> praying to God. For</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. Looke upon the Saints of the former times, and &s;ee how they <HI>humbled</HI> them&s;elves when they <HI>&s;ought</HI> the Lord;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 22.11.19. P&s;. 51.17. 2 Chron. 12.7. Judges 20.26. 2 Chron 7.11.</NOTE> for when <HI>Sennacherib</HI> &s;ent <HI>Rab&s;hecah</HI> again&s;t <HI>Hieru&s;alem, Hezechiah</HI> rent his <HI>clothes</HI> and covered him&s;elfe with <HI>Sackcloth,</HI> and went in|to the <HI>Hou&s;e</HI> of the Lord. When <HI>Jo&s;ias</HI> heard the <HI>cur&s;es</HI> of the Law again&s;t the <HI>tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors</HI> thereof, his <HI>heart was tender,</HI> &s;aith the Text, and he <HI>humbled</HI> him&s;elfe and rent his <HI>clothes,</HI> and <HI>wept before the Lord;</HI> and &s;o did <HI>Ahab</HI> though but an Hy|pocrite, and the King of Ninive though but an Heathen, and all that &s;ought the Lord <HI>aright,</HI> humbled them&s;elves before the Lord: and to te&s;tify the <HI>truene&s;&s;e</HI> of their <HI>humiliation</HI> they rent their <HI>clothes,</HI> they put on <HI>Sackcloth,</HI> they be&s;prinkled them&s;elves with <HI>a&s;hes,</HI> they went <HI>barefoote,</HI> and they <HI>fa&s;ted</HI> from all meat, <HI>&amp; a licitis ab&s;tinuerunt, quia concupierunt illici|ta.</HI> For though a beggar may be proud in his <HI>rags,</HI> and another may be bumbled in <HI>&s;carlet,</HI> yet <HI>quia per exteriora cogno&s;cun|tur interiora,</HI> and our <HI>habits</HI> and actions &s;hould &s;uit with the times and <HI>occa&s;ions,</HI> as we put on <HI>wedding</HI> garments and our <HI>mourning</HI> weeds, when the <HI>times</HI> do call for &s;uch: &s;o it is not fit to come with <HI>proud</HI> hearts, <HI>vaine</HI> habits, <HI>wanton</HI> lookes and <HI>patched</HI> faces,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 35.13.</NOTE> when we come <HI>fa&s;ting</HI> and to be <HI>humbled</HI> for our &s;ins, for this is not to <HI>humble our &s;elves with fa&s;ting,</HI> as the Prophet &s;peaketh.</P>
<P N="2">2. <NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Confe&s;&s;ing our &s;in. Lam. 3, 42. Bat. 1.15.16. &amp;c. 2.12. Dan. 6.5. &amp; 8. &amp; Ezra. 9.6.</NOTE> We mu&s;t <HI>con&s;e&s;&s;e</HI> our &s;ins and acknowledge our owne <HI>un|righteo&s;ne&s;&s;e. We have tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed and Rebelled,</HI> &s;aith the Pro|phet <HI>Jeremie;</HI> and <HI>Baruch</HI> &s;etteth downe the forme of the con|fe&s;&s;ion that we &s;hould make, &s;aying, <HI>to the Lord our God be|longeth righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, but to us the confu&s;ion of faces, to our Kings, and to our Princes, and to our Prie&s;ts, and to our Pro|phets, and to our Fathers, for we have &s;inned before the Lord, we have done ungodly,</HI> we have <HI>dealt unrighteou&s;ty in all thine or|dinances:</HI> and the Prophet <HI>Daniel</HI> maketh the very <HI>&s;ame</HI> con|ie&s;&s;ion; and &s;o <HI>David,</HI> when God &s;ent the <HI>Plague</HI> among his people, confe&s;&s;ed his <HI>owne</HI> &s;innes, &s;aying, <HI>I have &s;inned, and
<PB N="29" REF="18">I have done wickedly:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 24.17.</NOTE> and the rea&s;on of this is rendered by <HI>So|lomon, he that hideth his &s;innes &s;hall not pro&s;per, but he that confe&s;&s;eth and for&s;aketh the &s;ame &s;hall finde mercy.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov, 18.13.</NOTE></P>
<P>And therefore I doe <HI>confe&s;&s;e</HI> the &s;innes of the <HI>Clergy,</HI> we have not <HI>di&s;charged</HI> our duties as we <HI>ought</HI> to doe; and I would &s;ay a <HI>great</HI> deale more of the <HI>highe&s;t</HI> order of our calling,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.12. 1 Sam. 15.21.</NOTE> but that a <HI>great</HI> deale more than is <HI>true</HI> is &s;aid by others: for we will not <HI>excu&s;e</HI> our &s;elves: but as the Poet &s;aith of women.</P>
<Q><L>Parcite paucarum diffundere crimen in omnes.</L></Q>
<P>Blame not all becau&s;e &s;ome are leaud, &s;o I &s;ay of the <HI>Bi|&s;hops</HI> and Clergy: let every hor&s;e beare his owne burthen, let them that <HI>tran&s;gre&s;&s;e,</HI> if you know any &s;uch, be <HI>&s;everely</HI> puni|&s;hed, and as their lives &s;hould be more <HI>holy,</HI> &s;o let the puni&s;h|ment of the offenders be the more <HI>exemplary,</HI> and let that <HI>Ju|das</HI> that will betray his ma&s;ter have the reward of <HI>Judas:</HI> but as Chri&s;t ca&s;hiered not <HI>all</HI> the Apo&s;tles, becau&s;e <HI>Judas</HI> was a Traytor, and <HI>Peter</HI> a denyer of his ma&s;ter: &s;o &s;hould not we de&s;troy the <HI>calling,</HI> or as <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;aith, de&s;troy <HI>the righteous with the wicked,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>&s;ome</HI> of them in your opinion may be unworthy of that calling: for this would be <HI>culpam flagitio fugare,</HI> to drive away &s;inne by a greater &s;inne, <HI>&amp; verte<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">e do|mum,</HI> in &s;teed of <HI>verrore domum,</HI> to <HI>de&s;troy</HI> the hou&s;e, when they &s;hould but <HI>&s;weepe</HI> the hou&s;e.</P>
<P>And as the <HI>Prie&s;ts</HI> &s;o mu&s;t the <HI>people</HI> confe&s;&s;e their &s;innes if they would <HI>finde</HI> the Lord, for it will not &s;erve our <HI>turne</HI> to recriminate, to do as <HI>Adam</HI> did, lay the fault upon the <HI>woman,</HI> or as <HI>Saul</HI> did, to po&s;t over his fault unto the <HI>people:</HI> it is not the way to finde the Lord, to lay all the <HI>blame</HI> upon the <HI>Parliament,</HI> &amp; to make the <HI>Rebels</HI> the &s;ole <HI>cau&s;es</HI> of our mi&s;eries: for though they cannot be <HI>excu&s;ed</HI> for their wic|kedne&s;&s;e, yet you may be a&s;&s;ured we &s;uffer <HI>all</HI> this that is come upon us for our <HI>owne</HI> &s;innes, though not for the &s;inne of <HI>Rebel|lion,</HI> yet for <HI>other</HI> odious &s;innes, that, have <HI>provoked</HI> God to &s;tirre up the&s;e <HI>Rebels</HI> to puni&s;h us; and as the Prophet &s;aith, <HI>er|ravimus cumpatribus,</HI> &s;o it may be, we might, if we would <HI>confe&s;&s;e</HI> the truth, &s;ay <HI>erravimus cum fratribus,</HI> we have in <HI>&s;ome</HI> &s;ort committed the <HI>&s;ame</HI> &s;innes with them; for &s;innes may be
<PB N="22" REF="19">committed divers wayes,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sins may be committed di|vers wayes.</NOTE> as 1 by <HI>acting</HI> it, 2 by <HI>commanding</HI> it, as <HI>David</HI> did <HI>Joab</HI> to kill <HI>&V;rias.</HI> 3 by <HI>Councelling</HI> how to doe it, as <HI>Baalam</HI> did <HI>Balac</HI> to intangle <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> 4 by <HI>con|&s;enting</HI> to it,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 50.8.</NOTE> as <HI>David</HI> &s;peaketh; <HI>when thon &s;awe&s;t a theefe thou con&s;ented&s;t unto him, and ha&s;t been partaker with the adulterer;</HI> 5 by <HI>delighting</HI> to &s;ee it done,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.32.</NOTE> as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith, <HI>to have plea|&s;ure in them that</HI> &s;inne. 6 by our <HI>&s;ilence,</HI> conniving and not <HI>hindering</HI> &s;inne to be committed, when it lyeth in our <HI>power,</HI> and it is our <HI>duty</HI> &s;o to doe; for <HI>qui non vetat peccare cum po&s;&s;it, jubet;</HI> and if any of you that are <HI>here,</HI> have or had your <HI>hearts</HI> at London in any of the&s;e wayes, the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> will tell you, though thou ha&s;t not denyed my <HI>faith,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 2.14. or a few things</NOTE> when thou dwelle&s;t even where <HI>Satans Seat</HI> is, yet <GAP DESC="foreign"> I have <HI>&s;omewhat again&s;t</HI> thee; becau&s;e thou &s;hould&s;t have <HI>nothing to doe,</HI> no com|plyance at all <HI>with the &s;toole of wickedne&s;&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s; 94 20 For in all this I &s;peake not of Popi&s;h and <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">u|ricular confe&s;|&s;ion to the Prie&s;t.</NOTE> which frameth mi&s;|chiefe by a Law:</HI> and therefore <HI>repent,</HI> and be not a&s;hamed to <HI>confe&s;&s;e</HI> your &s;innes to God, if you would finde the Lord. and</P>
<P N="3">3. We mu&s;t make our <HI>humble</HI> and our fervent <HI>Prayers</HI> to God, that he would <HI>forgive</HI> us our &s;innes, and be <HI>intreated</HI> for us, and reconciled unto us for his <HI>mercies</HI> &s;ake, and for his &s;on <HI>Je&s;us</HI> Chri&s;t his &s;ake; <HI>Lord have mercy upon us, and forgive us bur &s;ins,</HI>
<NOTE N="3" PLACE="marg">Fervent pray+ers.</NOTE> for this was the <HI>practice</HI> of all the Saints of God, in all their calamities, as you may &s;ee,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 14.19.</NOTE> when the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> murmured again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> &amp; God would have <HI>utterly</HI> de&s;troyed them for it, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> prayed un|to the Lod, and &s;aid, <HI>Pardon I be&s;eech thee the iniquity of this people,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 32.20.</NOTE> according to the greatne&s;&s;e of thy mercy;</HI> &s;o when <HI>Sen|<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">ach<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">ri<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters"></HI> came again&s;t <HI>Hieru&s;alem, Hezechia</HI> the King and <HI>I|&s;aiah</HI> the Prophet prayed, and <HI>cryed to heaven:</HI> and his pray|er is &s;et downe, 2 <HI>reg.</HI> 19.15. and when the <HI>Moabites</HI> and <HI>Ammonites,</HI> in a huge multitude, came again&s;t <HI>Jeho&s;aphat, he &s;et him&s;elfe to &s;eeke the Lord,</HI> &s;aith the Text, and <HI>proclaimed a Ea&s;t throughout all Juda,</HI> and made an <HI>excellent</HI> prayer to God, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 20.6. <HI>u&s;&abque; adver&s;.</HI> 13. which I de&s;ire you to read and <HI>ob&s;erve</HI> it well; &s;o <HI>Daniel</HI> after he had made <HI>confe&s;&s;ion</HI> of the &s;innes of the people makes an <HI>earne&s;t</HI> and mo&s;t fervent <HI>Prayer</HI> to God for the remi&s;&s;ion of their &s;innes; &s;o <HI>David</HI> &s;aith
<PB N="31" REF="19">unto God; <HI>looke upon mine adver&s;ities and mi&s;eries and forgive mee all my &s;innes:</HI> and Chri&s;t biddeth us to <HI>aske,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 9.16. u&s;|que ad 20. ve.</NOTE> and we &s;hould have; Mat.</HI> 7.7.</P>
<P>And if we thus unfainedly <HI>confe&s;&s;e</HI> our &s;innes,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 25.17.</NOTE> and fervently begge pardon, and con&s;tantly <HI>for&s;ake</HI> our &s;ins, God is <HI>faithfull,</HI> (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) that is, <HI>fathfull,</HI> becau&s;e he promi&s;ed,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 1.9.</NOTE> to <HI>forgive us our &s;innes.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2, As we are to &s;eeke the Lord <HI>externally,</HI> with all the parts of our <HI>bodyes,</HI> &s;o we are to &s;eeke him <HI>internally,</HI>
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">With all the faculties of our &s;oules.</NOTE> with all the faculties of our <HI>&s;oule;</HI> and as <HI>David</HI> concludes this <HI>manner</HI> to his &s;onne <HI>Solomon,</HI> it mu&s;t be <HI>with a perfect heart, and a willing minde,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Chron. 28.9.</NOTE> for otherwi&s;e to <HI>&s;eeke</HI> the Lord with <HI>outward</HI> profe&s;|&s;ion, and not with <HI>inward</HI> obedience is but meere <HI>hypocri&s;y,</HI> like the Religion of the <HI>Jewes,</HI> that were ever <HI>handling</HI> of ho|ly things, but without <HI>&s;eeling,</HI> and drew neere unto God <HI>with their mouthes,</HI> and honoured him <HI>with their lips,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 29.13.</NOTE> when they <HI>called</HI> upon him, and <HI>prayed unto him,</HI> but <HI>removed their hearts farre from him:</HI> and therefore God <HI>abhorred</HI> their devotion and &s;aid, <HI>I hate, I de&s;pi&s;e your fea&s;t dayes,</HI> and <HI>I will not &s;mell in your &s;olemne a&s;&s;emblies,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 5.21.22 &amp; E&s;ay 1.11.</NOTE> though you offer me burnt offerings &amp; your meat offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace-offlerings of your fat Bea&s;ts,</HI> and as the Lord &s;aith in <HI>Jerem. when they fa&s;t, I will not heare their cry,</HI> and when they offer <HI>burnt offiering</HI> and oblation, <HI>I will not accept them,</HI> but I will <HI>con&s;ume</HI> them by the <HI>&s;word</HI> and by the <HI>famine</HI> and by the <HI>pe&s;tilence:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 14.12</NOTE> becau&s;e this <HI>outward</HI> profe&s;&s;ion is none o|therwi&s;e then a <HI>&s;hadowe</HI> that is &s;omething in <HI>&s;howe</HI> but nothing in <HI>&s;ub&s;tance,</HI> or like <HI>Zeuxis</HI> and <HI>Parha&s;ius</HI> pictures,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Outward pro|fe&s;&s;ion what it is like.</NOTE> whereof <HI>Zeuxis</HI> deceaved the <HI>birds</HI> with his counterfeit grapes, and <HI>Parha&s;ius</HI> deceaved his <HI>fellow painter</HI> with the picture of a &s;heete.</P>
<P>But let not us deceave our &s;elves with a <HI>&s;heete</HI> or a <HI>&s;hadowe</HI> of holine&s;&s;e, and think that <HI>currant</HI> which is but counterfet: for we mu&s;t &s;eeke the Lord with <HI>all our hearts,</HI> or otherwi&s;e, if we offer Sacrifice with <HI>Caine,</HI> and pray with the <HI>Phari&s;ie,</HI> and fa&s;t with the <HI>Jewes</HI> to <HI>&s;trife and debate,</HI> or with the <HI>Rebels</HI> to plunder and murder,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 58.4.</NOTE> and heare as many Sermons as the <HI>pre|ci&s;e&s;t</HI>
<PB N="32" REF="20">Hypocrite, and yet for&s;ake not our <HI>&s;innes,</HI> and obey not Gods <HI>ordinance,</HI> to &s;ubmit our &s;elves to the <HI>higher</HI> powers, but <HI>Rebell</HI> again&s;t Gods Annointed, we may with <HI>E&s;aw</HI> hunt for a ble&s;&s;ing, but catch a <HI>cur&s;e,</HI> and &s;eeke the Lord for <HI>mercy,</HI> but finde him in his <HI>ju&s;tice:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 13.27.</NOTE> when he &s;hall &s;ay unto us, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>I know you not whence you are, depart from me all ye that worke iniquity.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">We are to &s;eeke the Lord mo&s;t diligently</NOTE> As we are to &s;eeke the Lord <HI>totally,</HI> with all the parts both of our bodyes and of our &s;ouls; &s;o we are to &s;eekhim, not <HI>frigid&egrave;,</HI> coldly and carele&s;ly, but with all <HI>diligence,</HI> as the wo|man that lo&s;t her groat <HI>lighted a candle,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk: 15.8.</NOTE> and &s;wept the hou&s;e, and &s;ought diligently till &s;he found it;</HI> and therefore S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t.</HI> writing upon the&s;e words of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>worke out your owne Salvation with feare and trembling,</HI> &s;aith, he doth not barely u&s;e the &s;imple word <GAP DESC="foreign">,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philip. <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">.12.</NOTE> worke it out, but he &s;aith, <GAP DESC="foreign"> that is, as the Father doth interpret it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>accurately,</HI> preci&s;ely, and with a <HI>great</HI> deal of care &amp; &s;tudy; even as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith the 12 tribes &s;erved God, <GAP DESC="foreign">; <HI>in&s;tantly</HI> (&s;aith our tran&s;lation) <HI>day and night;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 26.7.</NOTE> and &s;urely not without great cau&s;e; for as in the <HI>civill</HI> politie, <HI>&s;alus populi e&s;t &s;uprema lex,</HI> the &s;afety of <HI>King</HI> and <HI>People</HI> is principally to be regarded; &s;o in the <HI>life</HI> of a Chri&s;tian, <HI>hoc e&s;t unum nece&s;&s;arium,</HI> this ought to be our <HI>chiefe&s;t</HI> care, to <HI>&s;eek the Lord;</HI> for as <HI>Seneca</HI> &s;aith of Philo&s;ophy, <HI>&s;ive aliquid habes, &ocirc; jam Philo&s;ophare, &s;ive nihil, hoc prius quaere qu&agrave;m quidquam;</HI> &s;o much better may I &s;ay with the Prophet, whether thou ha&s;t <HI>&s;omewhat</HI> or nothing; yet <HI>&s;eeke the Lord</HI> before thou &s;eeke&s;t any thing.</P>
<P N="2">2. <NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">The object of our &s;eeking the Lord.</NOTE> The <HI>object</HI> of our &s;eeking is the <HI>Lord:</HI> a <HI>Subject</HI> much far|ther exceeding the former, then the <HI>caele&s;tiall</HI> globe is larger then the <HI>center</HI> of this earth: and therefore he might ea&s;ily be found, if he were but <HI>carefully</HI> &s;ought: for <HI>Jupiter e&s;t quod|cun&abque; vides.</HI> &mdash; and <HI>the Spirit of the Lord filleth all places,</HI> being <HI>not &s;arre from every one of us,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 17.28.</NOTE> &s;eeing as the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, <HI>in him we live, and move, and have our being:</HI> how then can we mi&s;&s;e to <HI>find</HI> him, without whom we cannot choo&s;e but <HI>loo&s;e</HI> our &s;elves?</P>
<PB N="33" REF="20">
<P> But &s;uch is our mi&s;ery, that we <HI>&s;eeke</HI> him not; for as the <HI>&s;wine</HI> doe eate the <HI>acornes,</HI> yet never looke up to the <HI>tree</HI> from whence they fall: &s;o doe we deale with the <HI>ble&s;&s;ings</HI> of God: we gather <HI>them,</HI> and yet are ignorant of <HI>him,</HI> and do &s;acrifice with the <HI>Athenians</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> and therefore we <HI>thanke</HI> him not becau&s;e we <HI>know</HI> him not, and we <HI>know</HI> him not, be|cau&s;e we <HI>&s;eeke</HI> him not: but many of us &s;eeke our <HI>Lady,</HI> and not the <HI>Lord,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">What men doe &s;eeke after.</NOTE> and pray to her and offer &s;acrifice to the <HI>Queene</HI> of heaven, more and better then to the <HI>Lord</HI> of heaven: others <HI>&s;eeke</HI> to neither <HI>Lord</HI> nor <HI>Lady,</HI> but to their <HI>&s;ervants,</HI> (that here on earth are <HI>commonly</HI> prouder then their Ma&s;ters) to the <HI>Saints</HI> and Angells: others mounting not their thought any <HI>higher</HI> then the <HI>earth,</HI> doe onely &s;eeke for the things of <HI>this</HI> world, <HI>quae|renda pecunia primum;</HI> &s;ome for <HI>riches,</HI> &s;ome for <HI>honours,</HI> and &s;ome for <HI>revenge,</HI> which is the wor&s;t &s;ome of all; and others &s;eeke <HI>knots</HI> in a bulru&s;h, great <HI>doubts</HI> in <HI>needles</HI> points; for I will not touch on tho&s;e <HI>overwi&s;e</HI> men,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How many men &s;earch for trifles.</NOTE> that &s;eeke to find out the <HI>deepe&s;t</HI> My&s;teries of Gods &s;ecrets, in his <HI>ab&s;olute</HI> decrees and <HI>un&s;earchable</HI> wayes of <HI>election</HI> and <HI>reprobation,</HI> and the like; but of tho&s;e <HI>lighter</HI> heads, that be&s;tow their <HI>&s;earch</HI> about things of <HI>nothing,</HI> as the <HI>Graecians</HI> did beat their braines to find out how <HI>many rowers &V;ly&s;&s;es</HI> &s;hip had, and whether the <HI>Iliads</HI> or the <HI>Ody&s;&s;es</HI> were fir&s;t written; &s;o we mu&s;t know whether the ancient <HI>Monks</HI> wore their cloakes <HI>&s;hort</HI> like the <HI>French,</HI> or downe to the <HI>heeles</HI> like the <HI>Spaniards,</HI> or whether Saint <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> wore a <HI>white</HI> garment upon his <HI>blacke</HI> cloathes, or a <HI>blacke</HI> cheimer upon a <HI>lawne</HI> &s;urplice; and a thou&s;and &s;uch <HI>like</HI> points and ceremonies that are like the <HI>&s;piders</HI> web, which will make no <HI>garment</HI> for them; or like the <HI>banquet</HI> of a &s;icke mans dreame, that will not <HI>&s;atisfy</HI> their hungry &s;oules, and are rai&s;ed up by the <HI>Devill,</HI> to this <HI>onely</HI> end, that while we &s;eeke after the&s;e <HI>fruitle&s;&s;e</HI> things, that may hurt us <HI>much,</HI> but availe us <HI>little,</HI> that may <HI>be&s;t</HI> be &s;pared and ought <HI>lea&s;t</HI> to be di&s;puted, we might leave off to &s;eeke the <HI>Lord,</HI> and tho&s;e things that doe <HI>nece&s;&s;arily</HI> pertaine unto &s;alvation.</P>
<P>But <HI>in univer&s;alibus latet error,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">What it is to &s;eeke the Lord</NOTE> generall things are often <HI>darke,</HI> and every one &s;aith that he <HI>&s;eekes the Lord,</HI> but that ei|ther
<PB N="34" REF="21"><HI>he maketh darkne&s;&s;e his &s;ecret place, his pavilion round about him with darke waters and thicke cloudes to cover him;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 14. V. P&s;al. 37.27.</NOTE> or el&s;e <HI>dwelleth in the light that no man can attaine unto it;</HI> otherwi&s;e, God forbid, that you &s;hould <HI>imagine,</HI> &s;aith every man, that we doe not <HI>&s;eeke the Lord.</HI> Therefore to take away this <HI>curtaine,</HI> to <HI>unvaile</HI> this glorious face, and to let you &s;ee, that <HI>few</HI> of us doe <HI>&s;eeke the Lord,</HI> what&s;oever we &s;ay, the Prophet tels us plainely, that <HI>to &s;eeke the Lord</HI> is to <HI>&s;eeke good,</HI> and <HI>not evill</HI> or, as he explaineth it further in the immediate ver&s;e. 15. it is <HI>to hate the evill and love the good,</HI> and to <HI>e&s;tabli&s;h judgment in the gate;</HI> and this the Prophet. <HI>David</HI> &s;aid long before, <HI>e&s;chew evill, and doe good, and dwell for evermore.</HI></P>
<P>Be&s;ides, God is <HI>truth</HI> and God is <HI>ju&s;tice;</HI> therefore you mu&s;t &s;eeke the <HI>truth,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 85.11.82.</NOTE> and you mu&s;t doe <HI>ju&s;tice;</HI> for <HI>When truth &s;hall flouri&s;h out of the earth and righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e &s;hall looke downe from heaven,</HI> then the <HI>Lord will &s;hew loving kindne&s;&s;e, he will &s;peake peace unto his people, and our land &s;hall give her increa&s;e;</HI> but while our land flowes with <HI>lies,</HI> and the father of lies <HI>rewards</HI> the liers, and &s;preads them abroad to uphold <HI>robberies,</HI> oppre|&s;&s;ions, and rebellions; the Lord will not <HI>&s;peake peace</HI> unto us; becau&s;e <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and peace have ki&s;&s;ed each other;</HI> and therefore though we &s;hould be never &s;o <HI>de&s;irous</HI> of peace, and to procure <HI>peace,</HI> be contented, it &s;hould be done upon <HI>un|righteous</HI> termes, it may be with the ruine of the <HI>Church;</HI> yet it cannot be;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">None can make peace but God. Jerem. 25.29. P&s;al. 46.9.</NOTE> becau&s;e it is not in the power of <HI>any</HI> man, no not of the <HI>King</HI> him&s;elfe to <HI>conclude</HI> a peace, when God <HI>proclai|meth</HI> warre; for as he calleth for a <HI>&s;word</HI> upon the inhabitants of a land, &s;o it is he, and he alone, that <HI>maketh warres to cea&s;e in all the world, he breaketh the bow, and knappeth the &s;peare in &s;un|der, and burneth the Chariots in the fire, and without him it can|not be done;</HI> at you may &s;ee, <HI>Ier,</HI> 47.6. And I <HI>feare</HI> (and I pray God it be but <HI>my</HI> feare) that as the wrath of God was ne|ver appea&s;ed, for the <HI>innocent</HI> bloud of the <HI>Gibeonites,</HI> that <HI>Saul</HI> mo&s;t <HI>unju&s;tly</HI> &s;pilt, untill it was revenged by <HI>bloud</HI> upon the hou&s;e of <HI>Saul,</HI> &s;o the <HI>innocent</HI> blond, that hath beene &s;pilt in this <HI>Kingdome,</HI> can never be <HI>expiated,</HI> untill an attonement be made by <HI>bloud;</HI> becau&s;e that <HI>without bloud there is no remi&s;&s;ion,</HI>
<PB N="35" REF="21">that is, <HI>of bloud,</HI> unle&s;&s;e they doe with <HI>Mana&s;&s;es</HI> wipe a way the &s;treames of <HI>bloud,</HI> with the &s;treames of mo&s;t <HI>penitent</HI> teares; for <HI>he that &s;heddeth mans blond,</HI> that is, <HI>illegally, by man &s;hall his bloud be &s;hed,</HI> that is, <HI>judiciarily,</HI> by the Magi&s;trate, &s;aith God in the old Te&s;t: and <HI>all they that take the &s;word,</HI> that is, without <HI>due</HI> authority, <HI>&s;hall peri&s;h by the &s;word,</HI> that is, by <HI>ju&s;t</HI> authority, &s;aith our Saviour Chri&s;t in the New Te&s;tament; and therefore if your <HI>peace</HI> may not be had with <HI>truth</HI> and accor|ding unto <HI>ju&s;tice,</HI> gird you with your <HI>&s;words</HI> upon your thighs, O you mighty men of valour, and let <HI>the right hand of the mo&s;t highe&s;t teach you terrible things,</HI> untill as our Prophet &s;peaketh, <HI>judgement &s;hall runne downe as waters, and righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e as a mighty &s;treame,</HI> that is, <HI>&s;moothly</HI> without any manner of oppo|&s;ition, as <HI>Montanus</HI> and <HI>Vatablus</HI> render it:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">v. 24.</NOTE> Set God and his <HI>truth</HI> all waies before your eyes, and labour for that <HI>peace,</HI> which may &s;tand with the peace of <HI>con&s;cience,</HI> and with your peace with <HI>God;</HI> or otherwi&s;e you may purcha&s;e a <HI>worldly</HI> peace at too <HI>deare</HI> a rate, it may be with the lo&s;&s;e of your &s;oules; when <HI>God</HI> &s;hall &s;ay unto you, as he doth unto the <HI>Jewes; Shall not I vi&s;ite for the&s;e things?</HI> as if he &s;aid, you indeed for your <HI>peace</HI> and pro&s;perities &s;ake, for feare of <HI>danger</HI> and in hope of <HI>re&s;t,</HI> may be contented to <HI>winke</HI> at all the&s;e &s;innes that have <HI>provoked</HI> mee to wrath, and perhaps to &s;ell my <HI>truth</HI> and &s;uffer my <HI>&s;er|vice</HI> to be abu&s;ed, and my <HI>&s;ervants</HI> to be de&s;troyed, that you may live in <HI>peace:</HI> but doe you thinke <HI>that I am &s;uch a one as your &s;elves,</HI> or that I will <HI>&s;uffer</HI> all the&s;e things to goe <HI>unrevenged?</HI> no, no, &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>the Lord is knowen to execute judge|ment, and he will be Iudge him&s;elfe;</HI> he will kindle the <HI>fire,</HI> and none &s;hall quench it.</P>
<P>And therefore <HI>noble</HI> and religious Gentlemen, that love your <HI>God</HI> better then the <HI>world,</HI> and his <HI>eternall</HI> honour better then your owne <HI>temporall</HI> happine&s;&s;e, <HI>love peace</HI> and en&s;ue it, but let it be with the <HI>truth</HI> and with <HI>ju&s;tice;</HI> let the &s;tory of the wor|thy <HI>Maccabees</HI> be &s;et before your eyes, that rather then they would <HI>ch&agrave;nge</HI> their religion, or inffer the <HI>&s;ervice</HI> of God <HI>any</HI> wayes to be impaired, and their <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall</HI> government to be in any thing changed, they &s;ould their <HI>peace</HI> with the lo&s;&s;e of
<PB N="36" REF="22">their <HI>lives,</HI> which is their everla&s;ting pray&s;e; and here I doe profe&s;&s;e, I doe mo&s;t <HI>heartily</HI> wi&s;h for peace, and would thinke my &s;elfe mo&s;t <HI>happy</HI> to &s;ee peace e&s;tabli&s;hed, <HI>as of old;</HI> but rather then I &s;hould &s;ee it with the ruine of the <HI>Church,</HI> with a <HI>Pre&s;|byterian</HI> di&s;cipline, that new-&s;prung out-landi&s;h <HI>weede</HI> of mans invention, and no <HI>plant</HI> of Gods plantation, I be&s;eech All migh|ty God, that I may <HI>beg</HI> my bread and &s;eeke it in <HI>de&s;olate</HI> pla|ces, that my <HI>bloud</HI> may be poured like water upon the ground, and the <HI>remainder</HI> of my yeares may be cut off from the land of the living; &s;o much doe I de&s;ire to imbrace mine owne <HI>mi&s;ery,</HI> rather then to &s;ee the Churches <HI>infelicity,</HI> and the &s;ervice of God &s;o much vili&s;ied. And I am confident, that all my <HI>bre|thren</HI> the Bi&s;hops and Prelates will &s;ay with <HI>Jonas, Si propter nos haec tempe&s;tas,</HI>
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">If we <HI>alone</HI> be the cau&s;e of <HI>all</HI> this &s;torme, and if our per|&s;ons by any thing, that could be done to us, could ap|pea&s;e the&s;e di|&s;tractions, and procure the peace of the Church and State, do vvhat you will to us, <HI>Non multum nos movebit.</HI></NOTE> if you &s;ee ju&s;t cau&s;e, ca&s;t us all into the &s;ea, &s;o you &s;ave the &s;hip of Chri&s;t, pre&s;erve the <HI>Church,</HI> rent not the <HI>garment</HI> of Chri&s;t, devoure not the <HI>revenues</HI> of the Clergy, and de&s;troy not the <HI>government</HI> that was e&s;tabli&s;hed by the <HI>Apo|&s;tles,</HI> and continued to Gods <HI>glory</HI> and the gaining of &s;o many <HI>thou&s;and</HI> &s;oules to Chri&s;t, from his <HI>being</HI> on earth to this <HI>very</HI> day; becau&s;e the <HI>di&s;honour</HI> that mu&s;t <HI>infallibly</HI> redound to God, and the <HI>detriment</HI> that mu&s;t fall to the Church of Chri&s;t, by the aboli&s;hing of <HI>Epi&s;copacy,</HI> troubleth us a great deale more, then any <HI>lo&s;&s;e</HI> that can happen unto our &s;elves; for did we &s;ee the &s;ame government, with the &s;ame <HI>power,</HI> as it ought to be, &s;etled on any other per&s;ons; though our &s;elves were degraded, (how <HI>ju&s;tly</HI> we would leave the cen&s;ure unto God,) you &s;hould ne|ver heare mee &s;peake much thereof.</P>
<P>So you &s;ee what it is to <HI>&s;eeke the Lord,</HI> not his <HI>e&s;&s;ence</HI> which is <HI>incomprehen&s;ible,</HI> but to doe his <HI>will</HI> and to obey his comman|dements which is mo&s;t <HI>acceptable</HI> unto him, as to <HI>love</HI> him, to <HI>pray</HI> unto him,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">What we ought to doe to live.</NOTE> to <HI>rely</HI> upon him, and to <HI>doe</HI> towards all men, that which is <HI>ju&s;t</HI> and righteous in his &s;ight. Or to &s;et downe all in a <HI>word,</HI> doe as the Lord <HI>directs</HI> you, and you <HI>&s;hall live;</HI> and that is,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. To doe your owne <HI>be&s;t endeavours</HI> to pre&s;erve your lives. and yet</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Referre the <HI>pre&s;ervation</HI> of your lives <HI>onely</HI> unto God.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1"><PB N="37" REF="22"> 1. In the time of <HI>peace</HI> and pro&s;perity,
<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">To doe our, be&s;t to pre&s;erve our owne lives; 1 In the time of peace.</NOTE> the <HI>be&s;t</HI> way for us to <HI>pre&s;erve</HI> our life is to <HI>&s;erve</HI> God; for if you <HI>honour your father and mother,</HI> your dayes &s;hall <HI>be long in the land,</HI> &s;aith the Lord him&s;elfe; and &s;o the keeping of his <HI>other</HI> precepts is the <HI>pre&s;er|vation</HI> of our lives. But the <HI>bloud-thir&s;ty and deceitfull man &s;hall not live out halfe his dayes:</HI> and &s;o the drunkard,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 55.23.</NOTE> the luxurious and the malicious &s;hall by their <HI>&s;innes</HI> dimini&s;h their yeares; be|cau&s;e &s;inne is that &s;harpe <HI>Atropos</HI> which cutteth off the <HI>thread</HI> of mans life, and the great <HI>Epitomi&s;er</HI> which abbreviates all things unto us; as it <HI>wa&s;teth</HI> our wealth, it <HI>de&s;troyeth</HI> our health, it <HI>con&s;ineth</HI> our liberty, it <HI>&s;hortneth</HI> our dayes, and to &s;umme all in one <HI>cata&s;trophe,</HI> it <HI>brings</HI> us all into our graves: when as <HI>Trajan</HI> &s;aid unto <HI>Valens,</HI> it &s;ends <HI>victory</HI> unto our enemies,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Niceph. l.</HI> 11. c. 3.</NOTE> and de&s;troyeth us &s;ooner then our enemies. and therefore as you love your <HI>life,</HI> &s;o you mu&s;t hare your <HI>&s;inne,</HI> &amp; as the Heathens <HI>clipped</HI> the wings of <HI>victory</HI> le&s;t it &s;hould fly away from them unto their enemies; So we mu&s;t <HI>clip</HI> our <HI>&s;innes,</HI> or el&s;e victory will fly unto our enemies.</P>
<P N="2">2. <NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">In the time of dangers.</NOTE> In the time of <HI>dangers,</HI> warres, plagues or any other di|&s;tre&s;&s;e, we are commanded by God to doe our <HI>be&s;t</HI> to pre&s;erve our lives; for it is not enough for us to &s;ay, <HI>the Lord will &s;ave us,</HI> but we mu&s;t doe our be&s;t <HI>to &s;ave our &s;elves;</HI> So the Mari|ners that carried <HI>Ionas</HI> prayed unto their <HI>Gods,</HI> and yet <HI>rowed</HI> their be&s;t to pre&s;erve their lives; So <HI>Icho&s;aphat, Ezechias</HI> and <HI>Io&s;ias</HI> when the <HI>armies</HI> of their enemies came again&s;t them, did put their whole <HI>tru&s;t</HI> in Gods a&s;&s;i&s;tance, and relied upon his <HI>helpe</HI> for their deliverance; yet they prepared the <HI>in&s;truments</HI> of warre, they fortified their <HI>Cities,</HI> and gathered all the <HI>&s;trength</HI> of men that they could make to with&s;tand the <HI>violence</HI> of their foes; and we mu&s;t doe the <HI>like,</HI> when we are inthe <HI>like dan|ger;</HI> for though the Scripture bids us, <HI>ca&s;t our care upon God;</HI> yet it bids us not <HI>to ca&s;t away our care,</HI> or to be without care, but to have a <HI>care,</HI> and the <HI>be&s;t</HI> care that we can take to <HI>pre&s;erve</HI> our lives from the danger of the enemy, to <HI>rai&s;e</HI> men and mo|ney, and as <HI>Salomon</HI> &s;aith, to prepare the <HI>hor&s;e for the day of battaile.</HI> and then</P>
<P N="2">2. When the <HI>hor&s;e</HI> is prepared,
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">To rely wholly upon God.</NOTE> and we have endeavoured
<PB N="38" REF="23"><HI>our be&s;t,</HI> we mu&s;t referre our <HI>lives</HI> onely unto <HI>God; it is not in him that willeth</HI> nor in him that <HI>runneth,</HI> but as the Prophet <HI>&s;ayeth, &s;alvation belongeth unto the Lord;</HI> for it is he <HI>that giveth victory in the battle,</HI> and it is he that <HI>&s;aveth our life from de&s;tru|ction;</HI> for as his <HI>helpe</HI> will not pre&s;erve us without our <HI>care;</HI> &s;o all our <HI>care</HI> cannot &s;ave us without his <HI>helpe;</HI> but when <HI>both</HI> the&s;e go together, then we may be &s;ure that our <HI>care</HI> and in|deavour with his <HI>favour</HI> and a&s;&s;i&s;tance will &s;o pre&s;erve us that we &s;hall live.</P>
<P>Therefore when we <HI>loo&s;e</HI> and are put to the <HI>wor&s;t,</HI> we &s;hould not be <HI>dejected,</HI> whichis the fault of <HI>too</HI> many of us, but we &s;hould &s;ay with King <HI>Davia, I will yet tru&s;t in God, which is the helpe of my countenance and my God;</HI> and when we <HI>gaine</HI> and get the <HI>better</HI> of our enemies, we &s;hould not be <HI>puf|fed</HI> up with <HI>pride,</HI> &amp; dimini&s;h the <HI>prai&s;e</HI> of God, who <HI>gave</HI> us the better, which is the fault of as <HI>many</HI> more, that a&s;cribe too <HI>much</HI> unto themselves and to <HI>little</HI> to Gods goodne&s;&s;e: but, as the Poet &s;aith of <HI>Pompey,</HI> &s;o much more &s;hould we &s;ay, that are Chri&s;tians.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash; <HI>Non me videre &s;uperbum</HI></L>
<L>Pro&s;pera fatorum, nec fractum adver&s;a videbunt.</L>
<L>Or as <HI>Meniven&s;is</HI> &s;aith of King <HI>Alfred,</HI></L>
<L>Si modo victor-erat ad cra&s;tina bella pavebat,</L>
<L>Si modo victus erat ad cra&s;tina bella parabat.</L></Q>
<P>So &s;hould we doe, in <HI>all</HI> fortunes go on, <HI>eodem vultus teno|re,</HI> and in all our <HI>actions</HI> rely on God, and referre our &s;elves <HI>wholly</HI> unto him: and doing &s;o, we &s;hall be &s;ure <HI>to live.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e he hath promi&s;ed us, that if we thus &s;eeke him according to his will, we &s;hall live according as we de&s;ire; and he is not as man that he &s;hould lye, nor as the &s;onne of man that he &s;hould <HI>change his minde,</HI> but he is <HI>yea and amen,</HI> he is truth it &s;elfe; and therefore <HI>&s;icut verus e&s;t in retributione ma|lorum, it a ver&agrave;x e&s;t in promi&s;&s;ione bonorum,</HI> as he is mo&s;t cer|taine in the <HI>punt&s;hment</HI> of the wicked, &s;o he is as certain in his <HI>promi&s;e</HI> to the godly,</P>
<P N="2">2. <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Rea&s;on"> Becau&s;e he is <HI>willing</HI> to &s;ave us, and therefore cryeth un|to us, <HI>why will ye dye? why will ye dye: &ocirc; ye hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI>
<PB N="39" REF="23">For <HI>as I live &s;aith the Lord, I de&s;ire not the death of a &s;inner;</HI> and it is worth our ob&s;ervation to con&s;ider how <HI>pathetically</HI> and how feelingly he &s;peaketh to this purpo&s;e: <HI>&ocirc; that my peo|ple would have hearkened unto me, for if I&s;rael had walked in my wayes, I &s;hould &s;oone have put downe their enemies,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 81.14, 15 16.</NOTE> and tur|ned my hand again&s;t their adver&s;aries; the haters of the Lord &s;hould have beene found lyars, but their time &s;hould have endured for ever.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Becau&s;e he is <HI>able</HI> both to <HI>performe</HI> his promi&s;e, <MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Rea&s;on"> and to <HI>&s;a|tisfie</HI> our de&s;ires: which our Prophet &s;heweth at large, &s;aying, <HI>&s;eeke him that maketh the &s;eaven &s;tarres, and Orion, and turneth the &s;hadow of d&egrave;ath into the morning,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">vc. 8.</NOTE> and maketh the day darke with night, that calleth for the waters of the Sea, and powreth them out upon the face of the earth:</HI> that is, as S. <HI>Hieron.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">fortificare de|biles.</NOTE> &s;hew|eth, &s;eeke him that is the creator of all things, that is mighty to &s;ave, and able to doe <HI>what&s;oever</HI> he plea&s;eth, to &s;trengthen the &s;poyled, as <HI>Vatab.</HI> and <HI>Arias</HI> &s;ay: or as <HI>Aquila</HI> turnes it,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">vc. 9.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ub|ridere potentiam potentium,</HI> to &s;corne the <HI>&s;trength</HI> of the migh|ty, and to de&s;troy the de&s;troyer.</P>
<P>And therefore if God be <HI>with</HI> us, though we be <HI>weake</HI> and our enemies <HI>&s;trong,</HI> we few and they many, yet we need not feare them: becau&s;e we rely not upon our owne <HI>&s;trength,</HI> but upon the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of our God, <HI>qui dividit contritionem &s;uper fortitudinem,</HI> which ca&s;teth <HI>abundance</HI> of de&s;tructions upon the mighty, as the <HI>Septuagint</HI> render the words of the Prophet; and though we be <HI>&s;imple,</HI> and our enemies <HI>&s;ubtle</HI> and crafty, full of all politique devices, to rai&s;e <HI>men</HI> and to get <HI>money,</HI> and to <HI>unite</HI> their &s;trength by wicked <HI>covenants,</HI> oathes and a&s;&s;ocia|tions: yet we need not feare, becau&s;e we rely not upon our owne <HI>wit,</HI> but upon the <HI>wi&s;edome</HI> of God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Col. 1.19.</NOTE> which can <HI>de&s;troy the wi&s;edome of the wi&s;e, and ca&s;t away the under&s;tanding of the prudent,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 21.30.</NOTE> and turne the coun&s;ell of <HI>Achitophell</HI> to his owne de|&s;truction: <HI>&amp; non e&s;t concilium contra eum:</HI> and therefore,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14.13.</NOTE> O my bel. br. <HI>&s;eeke the Lord,</HI> and <HI>feare</HI> not, but, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aith, <HI>&s;tand &s;till,</HI> that is, <HI>con&s;tant</HI> in your re&s;olution,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 14.6. 2 Chron. 14.11.</NOTE> for the <HI>&s;ervice</HI> of your God and the King, and <HI>behold the &s;alvation of the Lord which he will &s;hew unto you this day,</HI> or at <HI>this</HI> time: <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">or there
<PB N="40" REF="24">is no <HI>re&s;traint</HI> unto the Lord <HI>to &s;ave by many</HI> or <HI>by few,</HI> as both <HI>Jonathan</HI> and <HI>A&s;a</HI> te&s;tifie.</P>
<P N="2">2. <NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">The promi&s;e.</NOTE> The <HI>promi&s;e</HI> (as I told you at fir&s;t) is the <HI>be&s;t</HI> of all de|&s;ires, <HI>you &s;hall live;</HI> the former part was like the <HI>toyl&s;ome</HI> la|bour of the inhabitants of <HI>Per&s;epolis,</HI> when they cut the wood with their axes; but this <HI>latter</HI> is like the <HI>fea&s;t</HI> that <HI>Cy|rus</HI> made unto them, when they had fini&s;hed their Labours: <HI>durus labor,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Iu&s;tin. l.</HI> 1. <HI>hi&s;t.</HI></NOTE> &s;ed merces dulcis,</HI> though the labour is <HI>hard,</HI> yet the reward is <HI>&s;weet;</HI> and it never troubles us, to take <HI>great</HI> paines, where we &s;hall be <HI>well</HI> paid, but to labour all <HI>night</HI> with the Apo&s;tles, and to catch <HI>nothing, durus e&s;t hic &s;ermo,</HI> this is a <HI>hard</HI> &s;aying,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How ill &s;ome ma&s;ters reward their &s;ervants.</NOTE> after a hard <HI>labour;</HI> but it is not &s;o in Gods &s;ervice: for, though in following the <HI>lu&s;ts</HI> of the <HI>fle&s;h,</HI> and the <HI>vanities</HI> of this <HI>World, exce&s;&s;it medicina modum,</HI> the <HI>reward</HI> that the Devill gives us, &s;hall be a great deale <HI>&s;orer</HI> then all the paines we have taken in his &s;ervice:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Val. Max. l. 9. c. 3. <HI>Curtius</HI> h<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t l. 3.</NOTE> for he deales with us, as <HI>Alex|ander</HI> did with <HI>Clitus, Cali&s;thenes</HI> and other of his <HI>chiefe&s;t</HI> Cap|taines; or as <HI>Darius</HI> did with <HI>Eudemus,</HI> to expo&s;e him unto <HI>death,</HI> when he for&s;ook his owne <HI>native</HI> Country and dedica|ted his whole life to his command; yet in the &s;ervice of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> it is farre otherwi&s;e:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How abun|dantly Chri&s;t rewardeth his &s;etvants.</NOTE> what&s;oever a man doth for him he &s;hall be rewarded a hundred fold, and though he gives but a <HI>cup of cold water</HI> for his &s;ake, yet for this, <HI>he &s;hall not loo&s;e his reward;</HI> And there fore this &s;hould <HI>incourage</HI> us to <HI>&s;eeke the Lord,</HI> be|cau&s;e our <HI>reward</HI> doth &s;o farre exceed our <HI>worke.</HI></P>
<P>But let us con&s;ider the <HI>nature</HI> of this promi&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 10.42.</NOTE> <HI>thou &s;halt live;</HI> that is, live <HI>long,</HI> live <HI>well,</HI> and live for <HI>ever.</HI> for</P>
<P N="1">1. <NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">The &s;eekers of God &s;mall live long. P&s; 37.2.</NOTE> Though the <HI>blood-thir&s;ty and deceitfull men &s;hall not live out halfe their dayes, and the ungodly &s;hall be &s;oone cut downe like the gra&s;&s;e, gemit &s;ub pondere tellus,</HI> when the earth is <HI>wearie</HI> to beare them on it; yet if we <HI>&s;eeke the Lord,</HI> our daies <HI>&s;hall be long in the Land, which the Lord our God giveth us,</HI> and though the <HI>pe&s;tilence,</HI> that walketh in <HI>darkene&s;&s;e,</HI> and the <HI>arrowe</HI> that flyeth in the <HI>noone</HI> day doe threaten our <HI>death</HI> at <HI>every</HI> houre,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s; 91.6.</NOTE> yet when a thou&s;and &s;hall fall <HI>be&s;ides</HI> us, and ten thou&s;and on our <HI>right</HI> hand, it &s;hall not come nigh us: &s;uch is the <HI>reward of &s;erving God.</HI></P>
<P N="2"><PB N="41" REF="24"> 2. They &s;hall not onely <HI>live,</HI>
<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">They &s;hall live well.</NOTE> for a <HI>mi&s;erable</HI> life is not &s;o good as a happy death, but they &s;hall live <HI>well</HI> and happily while they live; for <HI>&s;urely it &s;hall goe well with the righteous,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 3.10.</NOTE> &s;aith the Prophet, and King <HI>David</HI> &s;aith, <HI>the Lions</HI> may <HI>want</HI> and <HI>&s;uffer hunger,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 34.10.</NOTE> but <HI>they that feare the Lord &s;hall want no manner of thing that is good,</HI> and the rea&s;on is rendered by the Apo&s;tle,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.8.</NOTE> becau&s;e <HI>godline&s;&s;e hath the promi&s;e both of this life and of the life to come.</HI> and</P>
<P N="3">3, If we e&s;chew <HI>evill</HI> and doe <HI>good,
<NOTE N="3" PLACE="marg">They &s;hall live for ever. P&s;. 37.27.</NOTE> we &s;hall live for ever|more, &amp; glorio&s;um imperium &s;ine fine dabit,</HI> and God will give us a Kingdome without <HI>ending;</HI> And therefore &s;eeing this <HI>pro|mi&s;e</HI> is &s;o <HI>plentifull,</HI> it is worth our <HI>labour</HI> that we &s;hould <HI>&s;eeeke the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>But here, <MILESTONE UNIT="Ob."> it may be &s;ome will demand how doth he <HI>performe</HI> his promi&s;e? for, did not the <HI>Prophets,</HI> the <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> and all the <HI>Martyrs</HI> of the <HI>Primitive</HI> Church <HI>&s;eeke the Lord,</HI> and <HI>be|leive</HI> in Chri&s;t with <HI>all</HI> their hearts; and yet was not <HI>Zachary</HI> &s;toned, in the courts of the hou&s;e of the Lord? <HI>Micheas</HI> kil|led by <HI>Joram? Amos</HI> knockt in the head with a club?
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How they that &s;ought the Lord were u&s;ed in this world.</NOTE> <HI>E&s;ay</HI> &s;awed in pieces by <HI>Mana&s;&s;es? John Bapti&s;t</HI> beheaded? S. <HI>Ste|phen</HI> &s;toned? <HI>James</HI> killed? S. <HI>Paul</HI> beheaded? S. <HI>Peter</HI> crucified? S. <HI>Thomas</HI> killed with a <HI>Javelin?</HI> S. <HI>Marke</HI> burned? and what &s;hall I &s;ay of <HI>Symeon, Polycarpus, Ju&s;tinus, Attalus, Marcella, Apolloniae,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Alii ferrro per|empti, alii pa|tibulo cruciati.</HI> Eu&s;eb. Ec. hi&s;t</NOTE> and abundance more of <HI>holy</HI> Saints, whereof <HI>alii flammis exu&s;ti,</HI> &s;ome were <HI>burned,</HI> o|thers <HI>beheaded,</HI> and all deprived of their <HI>life</HI> for <HI>&s;eeking the Lord</HI> and confe&s;&s;ing Chri&s;t; And for any <HI>happy</HI> life the &s;er|vants of God doe lead, doth not S.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim 3.12. Act. 20.23.</NOTE> <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ay that <HI>all which will live godly in Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;hall &s;uffer per&s;ecution; and affli|ctions doe waite for them in every place?</HI> and when the <HI>ungodly flouri&s;h like a greene bay tree,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 37.36. Luke 16.</NOTE> clothed in <HI>&s;carlet</HI> and fine lyn|nen, and fare <HI>deliciou&s;ly</HI> every day; the poore <HI>Saints</HI> even in their bonds are glad <HI>toeat a&s;hes as it were bread,</HI> and to <HI>mingle their drinke with weeping?</HI></P>
<P>I confe&s;&s;e this hath been ever a <HI>&s;ore</HI> objection that di&s;heart|ned <HI>many</HI> men, and made King <HI>Davids</HI> feete <HI>wellnigh</HI> to &s;lip; <MILESTONE UNIT="Sol."> but if I &s;hall obtaine your <HI>patience</HI> to &s;tay with me a <HI>little</HI> in
<PB N="42" REF="25">Gods &s;anctuary, I &s;hall &s;oone unty this <HI>Gordian</HI> knot, or &s;o cut it to pieces, that it can no wayes be any <HI>hinderance</HI> to our progre&s;&s;e. for</P>
<P N="1">1. <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Seneca de bre|vit vita c.</HI> 8.</NOTE> <HI>Seneca</HI> proveth; that <HI>long</HI> life con&s;i&s;teth not in the great <HI>number</HI> of yeares, but in <HI>vertuous</HI> actions; and the wi&s;e man &s;aith, <MILESTONE UNIT="Sap."> <HI>an underfiled life is the old age;</HI> for God e&s;teemeth of <HI>no|time</HI> but what we &s;pend in his <HI>&s;ervice;</HI> and therefore they that lived 100 years in <HI>plea&s;ures</HI> have but <HI>lo&s;t</HI> all their time,
<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">All time lo&s;t thans not &s;pent in Gods &s;ervice</NOTE> and been as <HI>dead</HI> all that time which they lived; and tho&s;e <HI>holy</HI> Saints that were <HI>cut</HI> off in the <HI>mid&s;t</HI> of their dayes, have lived <HI>longer,</HI> becau&s;e they &s;pent their <HI>whole</HI> time in Gods &s;ervice; the other <HI>lo&s;t</HI> their time, and lo&s;t their <HI>life,</HI> as <HI>Titus</HI> was wont to &s;ay, <HI>diem perdidi,</HI> I lo&s;t the <HI>day,</HI> wherein I did <HI>no</HI> good, and the&s;e have gained <HI>every</HI> houre. and</P>
<P N="2">2. <NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">afflictions not &s;o e&s;teemed by the Saints as they are by the worldings.</NOTE> What&s;oever <HI>afflictions</HI> the Saints doe &s;uffer, we mu&s;t not account them &s;o <HI>great</HI> mi&s;eries unto them, as the world takes them; for the Philo&s;opher tels us, that <HI>quicquid recipitur, re|cipitur ad modum recipientis;</HI> and they <HI>e&s;teeme</HI> them not as the world doth; but they <HI>count</HI> them, as the fatherly <HI>cha&s;ti&s;ements</HI> of Gods <HI>love,</HI> and not any arguments of Gods <HI>hatred,</HI> and as as the Poet &s;aith,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">How God &s;weetneth the afflictions of his &s;ervants.</NOTE>
<Q><L>&V;na eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit.</L></Q> the <HI>&s;ame</HI> hand, which layed on their <HI>&s;tripes</HI> will heale their <HI>&s;ores.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="way"> By giving <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull in apo|log<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters">.</NOTE> them that <HI>invincible</HI> gift of <HI>patience;</HI> which doth more <HI>inrage</HI> their <HI>tormenting</HI> per&s;ecutors, then them|&s;elves are in &s;uffering <HI>torments.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="way"> By filling <NOTE PLACE="marg">H<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters">ip. 4.11.</NOTE>them with true <HI>content,</HI> that is, in <HI>any</HI> e&s;tate to be <HI>contented;</HI> which is farre better then to abound with <HI>wealth,</HI> and to want this heavenly <HI>gift;</HI> for he is <HI>mo&s;t</HI> rich that de&s;ires <HI>nothing,</HI> and he is <HI>be&s;t</HI> plea&s;ed, that is <HI>never</HI> di&s;con|tented. and</P>
<P N="3">3. <MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="way"> <NOTE N="3" PLACE="marg">James 1 2. Rom. 8.31. V. 37.</NOTE> By making them to <HI>rejoyce in tribulation</HI> and to account it <HI>all joy,</HI> when they fall <HI>into divers temptations;</HI> a &s;trange thing, that they &s;hould <HI>rejoyce</HI> in that which the world doth mo&s;t <HI>feare;</HI> vet &s;uch is the <HI>ca&s;e</HI> of the righteous, that <HI>neither life, nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any other thing
<PB N="43" REF="25">&s;hall be able to &s;eparate them from the love of God which is in Chri&s;t Je&s;us;</HI> but they abound in <HI>want,</HI> they are content in <HI>Pri&s;on,</HI> they rejoyce in <HI>death</HI> and in <HI>all</HI> things they are <HI>more then conquerers for his &s;ake that loved them.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore to conclude, let us <HI>&s;eeke the Lord</HI> and we <HI>&s;hall live,</HI> and we &s;hall be <HI>happy;</HI> becau&s;e he <HI>nover faileth them that &s;eeke him;</HI> but he will <HI>heare</HI> their prayers and will <HI>helpe</HI> them, &s;o that they need <HI>feare</HI> neither the <HI>&s;carlet</HI> gownes, nor the <HI>&s;harpe&s;t</HI> &s;words, neither their <HI>di&s;&s;embling</HI> friends, nor their <HI>greate&s;t</HI> enimies; for that God is with them in <HI>Pri&s;on,</HI> as with <HI>Jo&s;eph;</HI> in the <HI>Sea,</HI> as with <HI>Jonas;</HI> in the <HI>fire,</HI> as with the 3 Children; and in <HI>all</HI> places, to <HI>pre&s;erve</HI> them, from all <HI>evill</HI> here, and to <HI>bring</HI> them to all <HI>happine&s;&s;e</HI> hereafter, to live for|ever, though <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> our Lord, to whom be <HI>all</HI> prai&s;e and dominion for ever and ever, AMEN.</P>
<CLOSER>Iehovae liberatori</CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="afterword">
<PB REF="26">
<HEAD>How the <HI>Rebels</HI> dealt with the Bi&s;hop while he was Preaching this Sermon.</HEAD>
<P>VVHile <HI>Archimedes</HI> was very &s;tudious in the fra|ming of his <HI>Mathematicall</HI> proportions, the ene|mie, &s;aith the hi&s;torian, was &s;acking the Towne and pulling him out of his <HI>hou&s;e,</HI> or ready to pull downe his Hou&s;e about his egres: and not much unlike; that <HI>very</HI> day, the <HI>8^t^h</HI> of <HI>March,</HI> when I was, as <HI>Religious</HI> as I could, I am &s;ure, with an <HI>unfaigned</HI> heart, Preaching this <HI>very</HI> Sermon in S. <HI>Ma|ries,</HI> the Rebels out of <HI>Northampton,</HI> &s;eized upon my <HI>Hou&s;e,</HI> tooke away all my goods and Cattle, and as I am in|formed by a letter from a <HI>faithfull</HI> Preacher, the Commit|tee concluded to <HI>&s;eque&s;ter</HI> all my E&s;tate, and all that I <HI>pur|cha&s;ed</HI> for my Wife and Children by the <HI>indefatigable</HI> paines of <HI>17</HI> years &s;ervice, in an honourable hou&s;e, to the u&s;e of the Parliament; &s;o that <HI>now</HI> the poore Bi&s;hop of <HI>O&s;&s;ory,</HI>
<Q><L>Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charibdim;</L></Q></P>
<P>Or as <HI>Lucian</HI> &s;aith, &s;hunning the <HI>&s;moak</HI> (of the <HI>Iri&s;h</HI> in|&s;urrection, that onely <HI>withheld</HI> all that they &s;hould pay unto him) he fell into the <HI>fire</HI> (of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Rebellion, that <HI>thus</HI> tooke <HI>all</HI> that he had from him;) for which I pray God to <HI>for|give them;</HI> it doth <HI>no</HI> wayes trouble me, when I know, that he, which <HI>lent</HI> me all, may <HI>ju&s;tly</HI> &s;end <HI>whom</HI> he will to fetch <HI>all</HI> away from me; and I do <HI>Profe&s;&s;e</HI> before my God; if I had all the Rebels E&s;tate, yet I &s;hould <HI>freely</HI> without the <HI>lea&s;t</HI> di&s;pute, <HI>leave</HI> it, <HI>loo&s;e</HI> it, and <HI>part</HI> with it, rather then I would take their <HI>wicked</HI> covenant, prove <HI>di&s;loyall</HI> unto
<PB REF="26">my King, depart an <HI>inch</HI> from the <HI>truth</HI> of God, or <HI>any.</HI> wayes de&s;ile my <HI>con&s;cience</HI> for any <HI>worldly</HI> wealth; and I doe <HI>heartily</HI> thanke my God, that he hath given me <HI>this</HI> re|&s;olution, to <HI>rejoyce</HI> more in the <HI>&s;incerity</HI> of this my Profe|&s;&s;ion, then any waies to <HI>grieve</HI> at my lo&s;&s;es, afflictions or per&s;e|cutions: and therefore the taking away <HI>of</HI> my <HI>E&s;tate</HI> moves me to <HI>nothing</HI> els, but to <HI>pray</HI> to God to give them <HI>grace</HI> to repent them of their <HI>&s;innes</HI> committed again&s;t <HI>God,</HI> and their <HI>Rebellion</HI> again&s;t their <HI>King,</HI> whom God hath com|manded them to <HI>honour</HI> and to <HI>obey:</HI> &s;o I <HI>leave</HI> them, that left <HI>nothing</HI> be&s;ides <HI>Loyalty</HI> to his King and <HI>fidelity</HI> to his God, unto their orator, &s;till remaining,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Gr. O&s;&s;ory.</SIGNED>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<P><HI>Though the Lord &s;lay me, yet will I tru&s;t in him,</HI> &s;aith holy Job; and though the <HI>pretended</HI> Parliament, &s;hould rob me to my very <HI>&s;hirt;</HI> yet will I both <HI>Preach</HI> and <HI>write</HI> and <HI>pray</HI> again&s;t their <HI>wickedne&s;&s;e;</HI> this will I do, &s;o <HI>helpe</HI> one God, who is <HI>my</HI> God, in whom I <HI>tru&s;t.</HI> Amen</P>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
