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<DATE>2014-08-14</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Simon Charles</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Reviewed.</ITEM>
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<STC T="S">19801</STC>
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<VID>177493</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<P>THE ROYALL RECEIPT: OR, HEZEKIAHS PHYSICKE. A SERMON DELIVERED At PAVLS-Cro&s;&s;e, on MICHA|ELMAS Day, 1622.</P>
<P>By ELIAS PETLEY</P>
<Q><BIBL>DEVT. 30.19.</BIBL>
<P>&mdash;Behold, J haue &s;et before you Death and Life, therefore chu&s;e Life.&mdash;</P></Q>
<P>LONDON, Printed by B.A. for EDWARD BLACKMORE, and are to be &s;old at his Shop, at the great South Doore, going vp into S. PAVLES. 1623.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE REVEREND AND RIGHT WORSHIP|FVL, M^r. DOCTOR DONNE, Dean of the Cathedrall Church of S. PAVL. LONDON.</HEAD>
<P>_LOth to expo&s;e my fir&s;t in|deauours publique, to the broad abu&s;e &amp; open preiu|dice of this iniurious &amp; ca|pricious Age (Reuerend Dean) and being wholy de&s;titute of any dependance on the Patronage and Mecae|na&s;hip of Great ones, with who&s;e magni|ficent Titles, Books of all &s;orts daily come mu&s;tring into the World. Whil&s;t I be|thought me to &s;elect &s;ome charitable Guardian, I know not what &s;trong confi|dence re&s;oluing on the goodne&s;&s;e of your nature, &s;o preuailed with me, that I &s;hould pre&s;ume to thru&s;t forth the&s;e vnpoli&s;hed and imperfect meditations vnder the au|thoritie of your name. This poore <HI>Infant</HI> had for a while till &s;ome few &s;ands were
<PB REF="3"> expired, a <HI>breathing,</HI> &s;uch as it was, within the <HI>confines</HI> of that renowned Church wherof the Prouidence of God hath made you a worthy Gouernor. When 'twas gon the importunitie of &s;om <HI>Shunemites</HI> would haue it fetcht again. Vouch&s;afe (oh man of God) to &s;end but the <HI>&s;taffe</HI> of your Appro|bation to lay vpon the <HI>face</HI> of the dead Child, and it &s;hall receiue a happy <HI>reuiuall.</HI> I &s;end it to you (Learned Sir) in the &s;ame words that old <HI>Iacob</HI> di&s;mi&s;t his Sonnes, <HI>Now God Almightie giue thee mercie in the &s;ight of the Man.</HI> Your fauourable accepta|tion, &s;hall for euer bind me to inuert the prayer on your &s;elfe, <HI>The Almightie giue the Man mercie in the &s;ight of God.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Wor&s;hips, in all dutie to be commanded, ELIAS PETLEY.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="3">
<HEAD>THE ROYALL RECEIPT.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>ESAY 38.2.3. 2. KINGS 20.2.3.</BIBL>
<P>Then <HI>Hezekiah</HI> turned his face towards the wall and prayd vnto the Lord, and &s;ayd, Remember now Oh Lord I be|&s;eech thee how I haue walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and haue done that which is good in thy &s;ight, and <HI>Hezekiah</HI> wept &s;ore.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_NOtwith&s;tanding, there is no man can pleade ignorance to the vniuer&s;all De|cree of God, concerning the nece&s;sitie of mans naturall mortalitie. <HI>Statutum e&s;t, &amp;c.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.27.</NOTE> It is appointed for all men to die once; and euery one can &s;ay with the wi&s;e woman of <HI>Tekoah</HI> vnto <HI>Da|uid,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 14.14,</NOTE> we mu&s;t all die. Yet we &s;ee mo&s;t men in the world &s;o liue, as though they &s;hould neuer die, and (alas) &s;o die as though they &s;hould neuer liue. When the time of our di&s;|&s;olution drawes on, our &s;oules are rather cha&s;ed out by violence, then yeelded by obedience into the hands of our Redeemer. That we may therefore learne &s;o to liue that we may die happily; and &s;o to die, that we may liue eter|nally: the prouidence of God no doubt checkt my medi|tations (troubled with <HI>Martha</HI> about many things) with <HI>vnum e&s;t nece&s;&s;arium:</HI> This one thing is nece&s;&s;ary: &amp; becau&s;e, <HI>Plus mouent exe~pla qua~ praecepta,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.42.</NOTE> Examples haue more powerfull inducement to per&s;wa&s;ion, then rules &amp; precepts: I therefore made choyce of this admirable and royall patterne of <HI>Hezekiahs</HI> godly behauiour, both in
<PB N="2" REF="4"> life and death, where at his &s;uppo&s;ed death he makes commemoration of his life, that his godly life may be con&s;olation at his death.</P>
<P>The whole &s;tory I may not vnfitly call the Tragique. Comedy of <HI>Hezekias,</HI> where in the three rules of the Stage are ob&s;erueable: (for we all play our parts on the Stage of this World, <HI>th&eacute;atron egen&eacute;themen,</HI> &s;aith the A|po&s;tle, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 4 9.</NOTE> <HI>We are made a &s;pectacle or Theatre to the world, to the Angels and to men.</HI>) Viz. <HI>Prota&s;is, Epita&s;is, Cata|&s;trephe.</HI> The <HI>Prota&s;is</HI> or Enarration of the danger is in the beginning of the Chapter, <HI>In tho&s;e dayes was</HI> Hezekiah <HI>&s;icke vnto the death.</HI> The Actors in the fir&s;t Scene are <HI>Frailty,</HI> he was &s;icke; <HI>Mortalitie,</HI> vnto the death; <HI>Muta|bitie,</HI> in tho&s;e dayes he was &s;icke.</P>
<P>If any might bee priuiledged from the infirmities of nature, the kings prerogatiue might challenge a prece|dency, who hath the title of God a&s;&s;igned him (not by any Sycophant) but by God him&s;elfe. <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 82.</NOTE> <HI>Dixi dy e&s;tis.</HI> I haue &s;ayd, you are gods: hath he &s;ayd it, and &s;hall it not &s;tand? Yea, true it is, gods they are, but fraile, mortal, mu|table gods: gods not in re&s;pect of their nature, but in re|gard of their power; gods not by humane con&s;titution, but by diuine in&s;titution; gods not by natiuitie, but by authoritie; gods not by reputatio~ of their per&s;ons, but by the deputation of their office. <HI>Daxi, eloim,</HI> a name not <HI>ous&iacute;as,</HI> of e&s;&s;ence; but <HI>exons&iacute;as,</HI> of power and autho|ritie. <HI>Qui ceteris Deus &s;ibi homo,</HI> a God to others, and a man to him&s;elfe: therefore &s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t, You &s;hall die like men, though yee liue like gods; ye &s;hall die like men: it cannot bee denyed a King hath <HI>Ius vitae &amp; necis,</HI> lawful power ouer life and death, yet the life that he giues to another, he cannot award him|&s;elfe; and the death he afflicts on others, hee cannot a|uoyd him&s;elfe, he cannot deliuer his owne &s;oule from the hand of the graue. <HI>Pal.</HI> 89.47.</P>
<P><HI>Hezekiah</HI> is &s;ickene&s;&s;e, and weakene&s;&s;e, an
<PB N="3" REF="4"> mi&s;ery can creepe and ne&s;tle in the Royall blood of. <HI>Cae|&s;ar,</HI> as well as in the vlcerate and putrified &s;ores of a la|zer. wherefore &s;aith <HI>Plutarch</HI> in his booke of Tran|quilitie, to this purpo&s;e: <HI>It is not the veluet Slip|per can fright away the Goute, nor the golden Ring pre|&s;erue the finger from a Felon, nor a Crowne ar Dia|dem, keepe away the Head-ach; nor the Purple role pre&s;erue the body from a Feauer.</HI> Nay if you marke it, the great ones for the mo&s;t part are of a more puling and weakely con&s;titution, their delicate breeding and delitious feeding makes their bodies more capable of di&s;ea&s;es, how doe they to&s;&s;e and tumble on their beds of Iuory, and take no re&s;t on their downy pillow: whereas <HI>The labouring man,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Solomon,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 5. v. 12.</NOTE> <HI>&s;leepes &s;weetly, whether he eate much or little.</HI></P>
<P>We all haue our trea&s;ure (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 4.7.</NOTE> in earthen ve&s;&s;els; the &s;tronge&s;t are &s;oone broken, a little knocke of &s;ickne&s;&s;e clatters them in peeces. Tho&s;e <HI>quos melione lu|to finxit praecordia Tiatan,</HI> whom nature hath formed and made vp of a finer mettall, they are the more brittle, how|euer all of the &s;ame mould, and of the &s;ame durt. <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vitrei &s;umus inter varios ca|&s;us ambulantes Aug.</HI></NOTE> I my &s;elfe al&s;o ama mortall man, and the of-&s;pring of him that was fir&s;t made of the earth. (&s;aith <HI>Solomon</HI>) <HI>na&s;ci &amp; mori.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">VVi&s;. 7.1.</NOTE> <HI>E|pictetus</HI> tould <HI>Adrian,</HI> to be borne and to die is common to the Prince and to the Begger: Principalitie <HI>theoon b&iacute;os nom&iacute;zetai, t&oacute; m&eacute; thanein ouch echei t' alla' dechei.</HI> It is dee|med the life of gods, only wants immortalitie. <NOTE PLACE="marg">14.15.</NOTE> <HI>Alexan|ders</HI> wound, and <HI>Antigonus</HI> his &s;ickne&s;&s;e, could humble the lofty minds of tho&s;e proud Painims, and make them &s;ay with <HI>Peter</HI> to <HI>Cornelius,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 10.26.</NOTE> <HI>kai gar ego anthropos, for I my &s;elfe al&s;o am a man.</HI> Nay as <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Barnabas</HI> to the men of <HI>Iconium</HI> and <HI>Li&s;tra, andres homoiopatheis, men of the &s;ame pa&s;sions that others are.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. In tho&s;e dayes according to the better interpre|tation (as I thinke) when the Angell of God had rai&s;ed the &s;iege of the <HI>A&s;&s;irians</HI> by the &s;laughter of a hun|dred
<PB N="4" REF="5"> foure&s;core and fiue thou&s;ands in one night: &s;o that when there was a <HI>hooke</HI> in the no&s;trhils of <HI>Zenacherib,</HI> &s;ickne&s;&s;e was a baite vnto <HI>Hezekiah</HI> in tho&s;e daies, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cro. 27.29.</NOTE> when the day of <HI>trouble, rebuke</HI> and <HI>blasphemy,</HI> was turnd to ioy and mirth and melodie, a &s;udden ouerca&s;t againe. In tho&s;e dayes when the daughter of <HI>Sion</HI> was <HI>laughing</HI> at the Proiects of the defeated aduer&s;arie, <NOTE PLACE="marg">22.</NOTE> their ioy is turnd into heauine&s;&s;e to weepe for <HI>Hezekiah.</HI> That <HI>clothed them with Scarlet and other delights.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 1.24.</NOTE> The king of <HI>A&s;hur</HI> could not &s;hoote an <HI>Arrow</HI> again&s;t the Cittie, yet now the Arrowes of the Almightie &s;ticke fa&s;t in his &s;oule, <NOTE PLACE="marg">33.</NOTE> it was prophe&s;ied of <HI>Zenacherib</HI> by the way that hee came, <NOTE PLACE="marg">34.</NOTE> by the &s;ame &s;hall he <HI>returne againe:</HI> it is verified of <HI>Heze|kiah,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> <HI>Du&s;t thou art, and to the du&s;t thou &s;halt returne a|gaine:</HI> in tho&s;e dayes when <HI>Hezekiah</HI> lookes for quiet|ne&s;&s;e, ea&s;e and tranquilitie; &s;ickene&s;&s;e a homebred enemy betrayes the Ca&s;tle of his health to the common aduer|&s;arie. When <HI>Hezekiah</HI> lookes to enioy all things, he can|not enioy him&s;elfe.</P>
<Q><HI>Valeat po&s;&s;e&s;&s;or oportet.</HI>&mdash;</Q>
<P>The &s;econd rule is the <HI>Epita&s;is</HI> or the aggrauation of this danger, that is in the expedition of the Prophet with the tidings of death: <HI>And</HI> E&s;ayas <HI>the Prophet the &s;onne of</HI> Amos <HI>came vnto him, and &s;ayd vnto him, Thus &s;ayth</HI> Iehouah, <HI>&s;et thy hou&s;e in order for thou &s;halt die and not liue.</HI> When the children of God were brought to a|ny fearefull exigence, their faire&s;t &amp; chiefe&s;t cour&s;e for reliefe, was to repaire vnto the Prophets of God, as the I&s;raelites at the oppre&s;&s;ion of the Taske-ma&s;ters, per&s;e|cution of Egyptians, preuailing of <HI>Amelech,</HI> burning at <HI>Taberah,</HI> biting of fiery Serpents, they flie and cry with open mouth to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> the Prophet of God. The <HI>Suna|mite</HI> when her child was departed, makes ha&s;t vnto the Prophet the man of God. Thus a &s;illy wench could relate to <HI>Naamans</HI> wife, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. King 4 22.</NOTE> would my Ma&s;ter were with the Prophet that is in <HI>Samaria,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. King 5.3.</NOTE> he would recouer him of his
<PB N="5" REF="5"> lepro&s;ie. The guift of healing it &s;hould &s;eeme was then be&s;low|ed on the Prophets, &s;ure I am they were the &s;pirituall Phi&s;itians to poure in the balme of <HI>Gilead</HI> into the ga|ping wounds of Gods afflicted ones. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 5. vlt.</NOTE> God hath giuen me &s;aith <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 50.4.</NOTE> the tongue of the learned, that I &s;hould know how to mini&s;ter a word in &s;ea&s;on to him that is a weary. Good rea&s;on therefore had <HI>Hezekiahs</HI> wearied &s;oule to expect &s;ome comfortable newes from the Prophet the Emba&s;&s;adour of God; but behold when his di&s;tre&s;&s;ed heart, being dried, parched, and &s;hrieueld as it were with angui&s;h, did pant and ga&s;pe for &s;ome refre&s;hing gale of con&s;olation from the Lord, Behold I &s;ay: a new &s;upply of mi&s;erie, the Prophet mo&s;t vn&s;ea&s;onably plies a corra&s;iue to a greene wound, poureth Vineger vpon Ni|tre, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 25.10. Phil. 2.27.</NOTE> that the good king might haue <HI>l&uacute;pen epi l&uacute;pen, &s;orrow vpon &s;orrow, ka&igrave; k&uacute; nati kuma kulindei,</HI> one waue of affliction commeth rowling on the necke of another: our Prophet like the la&s;t of <HI>Iobs</HI> vnwelcome me&s;&s;engers comes with the heauie&s;t newes, pre&s;ents him with the lees of the <HI>cup of trembling,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 51.17.</NOTE> heapes vp the mea&s;ure of his troubles with a &s;ad forbode of a pre&s;ent death. <HI>Morieris &amp; non viues,</HI> thou &s;halt die and not liue. This vgly pre&s;age addes to the au&s;teritie of death, and the lingring expectation pre&s;ents it in more fearefull and di&s;mall &s;hapes, <HI>Po&s;tquam adempta &s;pes e&s;t, la&s;&s;us cur&acirc; confectus &s;tu|pet.</HI> When all hopes that &s;upport the feeble &s;oule are da&s;ht and bereaued, the re&s;idue of life is but an atten|dance on death; and this delay is nothing el&s;e but an eeking and production of it, and as it were, a champing or ma&s;tichation on the bitternes of this potion. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;ia&s;ticus 41.1.</NOTE> <HI>O mors quam amara e&s;t tui recordatu</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Ben-&s;irach,</HI>) Oh death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liues at re&s;t in his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions. Be&s;ides, the&s;e &s;ini&s;ter and fatall predictions of death, like &s;o many Night-Rauens and &s;hreeking daughters of the Owle are commonly &s;ent to amaze and terrifie tho&s;e, who&s;e impieties are mature
<PB N="6" REF="6"> and white vnto the harue&s;t of vengeance. The Prophet <HI>Elias</HI> tels <HI>Ahab</HI> and <HI>Ie&s;abel</HI> where dogs likt the blood of <HI>Naboth,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King 21.19.</NOTE> there their tongues &s;hall be red with the purple that is now flowing in their veine. The &s;ame Prophet tels <HI>Ahazias</HI> to his face, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. King 1.4.</NOTE> that he is for euerbed-rid, &amp;c.</P>
<P>Thus <HI>Ahijah</HI> the Prophet in <HI>Shiloh</HI> telles the di&s;gui|&s;ed wife of <HI>Ierobeam,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. King. 14.12.</NOTE> no &s;ooner &s;he &s;hould &s;et foot with in the gates of her city, but death &s;hould &s;eize on her &s;ick &s;on <HI>Abiah.</HI> I maruell not that the&s;e (like the mutinous crew in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> campe) &s;hould be preaduerti&s;ed, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 16 29.</NOTE> <HI>that they &s;hall not die the death of all men.</HI> You &s;ee the&s;e ominous iudgments were on notorious, exemplary, and criminall malefactors. But that the &s;ame knell &s;hould go for <HI>Heze|kiah,</HI> a pious, a good man, a pious and good king, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s; 9.2.</NOTE> that <HI>all things &s;hould come alike vnto all the &s;ame euent, to the righ|teous and to the wicked, to him that &s;acrifizeth, and him that &s;acrificeth not.</HI> This is the <HI>Epita&s;is</HI> in aggrauating <HI>Heze|kiahs</HI> tragedy. The <HI>Cata&s;trophe</HI> is the i&s;&s;ue and turning the&s;e trouble&s;ome pa&s;&s;ages, to a happy &amp; vnexpected co~|clu&s;ion; on which part my purpo&s;e is onely to in&s;i&s;t a this time; <HI>Thou &s;halt die and not liue.</HI> What &s;hould <HI>Heze|kiah</HI> good man do in this ca&s;e? he perceiues in him&s;elf the &s;en&s;e of death, he heares by the Prophet the &s;entence of death, he knowes neither how to <HI>vndergo</HI> the one, nor <HI>o|uercome</HI> the other; may he not &s;ay as <HI>Dauid</HI> vnto <HI>Gad</HI> in his con&s;traind choyce of the <HI>famine,</HI> the <HI>plague,</HI> and the <HI>&s;word,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">. Sa. 14.14.</NOTE> <HI>I am in a great &s;traight,</HI> the enlarging out of this &s;traight, the winding of him&s;elfe out of the&s;e troubles, the meanes of his recouery, we may &s;tile the diuine Phi|&s;icke of a faithful &s;oule, con&s;i&s;ting of a threefold method.</P>
<P N="1">1 <HI>A preparatiue,</HI> fitting and preparing him&s;elfe by &s;olitary meditation. <HI>Ver.</HI> 2. <HI>Then Hezekiah.</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>A purgatiue,</HI> in the forme of prayer, where hee purges and acquits him&s;elfe from a &s;candall the times were likely to charge him with. <HI>Remember, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>A re&s;toratiue,</HI> prayers with infu&s;ion of teares,
<PB N="7" REF="6"> deuotion and contrition compounded together; and <HI>He|zekrah wept with great weeping.</HI></P>
<P>In the fir&s;t, note his demeanour to the
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Prophet.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prophe&s;ie.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>And fir&s;t of the former. One might well thinke that <HI>E&s;ayas</HI> (though a man of royall de&s;cent and noble family, yet broke the forme of good manners, abruply to come into the Kings chamber, and there bluntly without any ambages, intimations, and circumlocutions (as <HI>Nathan</HI> dealt with <HI>Dauid</HI> in a parable) <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 12.</NOTE> in downe right and pe|emptory termes deliuers his me&s;&s;age: <HI>Set thy hou&s;e in or|der.</HI> i. Go make thy will, <HI>Thou &s;halt die and not liue.</HI> You are <HI>ciuiliter mortuus:</HI> there is no remedy, away you mu&s;t to the land where all things are forgotten.</P>
<P>How doth <HI>Hezekiah</HI> take this? he flies not in the face of the Prophet, but <HI>faciem &s;uam auertit:</HI> turnes away his face: his &s;ilence expre&s;&s;eth his reuerence, his auer&s;ion ar|gues his moderation, the deportment implies the &s;ame acceptance of the Prophet wee reade of in the latter end of the next chapter. Good is the word of the Lord which thou la&s;t &s;poken, It is a mo&s;t excellent vertue to giue courteous entertainment to the Emba&s;&s;adors of God, though they treat of vnplea&s;ing &s;ubiects. This moderate, gratious, and mild temper were all the Saints of God of: with <HI>Iob</HI> they lay their finger on their mouth, becau&s;e it was the Lords doing: when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> declared to <HI>Aaron</HI> the the rea&s;on of Gods fearful iudgment on his two &s;ons <HI>Na|dab</HI> and <HI>Abihu:</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Leuit. 10.3.</NOTE> the text &s;aith, <HI>&amp; tacuit Aaron,</HI> it made vp <HI>Aarons</HI> mouth, hee held his peace. When <HI>Samuel</HI> told &s;uch a tale concerning the de&s;truction of <HI>Elies</HI> family that &s;hould make the eares of euery one that heares it tingle. <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 3 10.</NOTE> What &s;aith the good old man? it is the Lord, he may doe as &s;eems good in his own eyes. The &s;ame was <HI>Dauids</HI> re|&s;olution when he fled fro~ leru&s;alem at the con&s;piracy of <HI>Ab&s;alon,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 15.27.</NOTE> he bids <HI>Zadok</HI> the Prie&s;t carry backe the Arke into the city, &amp; on the inquiry at the Oracle, if the Lord &s;ay thus, I haue no delight inhim, Lo here I am, &amp;c. <HI>Za|dok</HI> might reply, What &s;hall become of me then? Note
<PB N="8" REF="7"> Note the words of the Text, <HI>And the king &s;ayd vnto</HI> Za|dok, <HI>Art not thou a Seer? returne vnto the Cittie in peace.</HI> This immunitie had the Prophets of God, this priuiledge in the opinion of <HI>Dauid,</HI> becau&s;e he was a Seer, his liber|tie might bee to returne in &s;afetie. Thus the godly looke not on the condition of the man like <HI>Iehu's</HI> com|panions, Wherefore came this mad fellow hither? but on the commi&s;sion which is &s;ealed with <HI>Sic dicit Domi|nus.</HI> Thus &s;aith the Lord. The entertainment of the world is contrary, har&s;h, and vnplea&s;ing: the&s;e men the &s;onnes of <HI>Zeruiah</HI> are too hard for vs, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 3. la&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Ieroboam</HI> layes violent hands on the Prophet, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King 13.4.</NOTE> <HI>Ananias</HI> commands <HI>Paul</HI> to bee &s;mitten on the mouth, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 23.2.</NOTE> and a ba&s;e Officer &s;mites Chri&s;t with the palme of his hand before he is bidden. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 18.22.</NOTE> If <HI>Dauid</HI> play a le&s;&s;on on his Harpe to charme <HI>Sauls</HI> melancholy madne&s;&s;e, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Sam. 18.11.</NOTE> he lets flie a iauelin to fa&s;ten him and the wall together. When <HI>Michaiah</HI> told <HI>Ahab</HI> the true euent of the battell in <HI>Ramoth-Gilead,</HI> whats his &s;alary? Take this fellow &amp; put him in pri&s;on, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cro. 18.26.</NOTE> and feed him with the bread of affliction and water of affliction: this was the ordi|nary diet of all the old tell troths, <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> to the ditch, <HI>Ie|remy</HI> to the dungeon, <HI>E&s;ay</HI> to the Saw, <HI>Iohn</HI> Bapti&s;t to the blocke, what &s;hould I &s;tand reckoning when our Sa|uiour &s;aith, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.35.</NOTE> all the race of the Prophets from righteous <HI>Abel,</HI> &amp;c. had the &s;ame meed that we mu&s;t looke for, you &s;hall be hated of al men for my names &s;ake. What ha|ted for the truth? for thou Lord art the truth? yes <HI>veritas odium parit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">:</HI> the que&s;tion S. <HI>Paul</HI> put to his <HI>Galatians</HI> is out of que&s;tion: <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.16.</NOTE> am I become your enemy becau&s;e I tell you the truth? a profe&s;&s;ed enemy &s;aith, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. King. 21.20</NOTE> <HI>Ahab</HI> to <HI>Elias,</HI> Ha&s;t thou found me oh mine enemy? The guiltie con&s;ci|ence is of a peeui&s;h elui&s;h nature, alwayes fretting at reprehen&s;ion: <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 39.12.</NOTE> <HI>When thou with rebukes do&s;t cha&s;ten man for &s;inne, he is as it were a moth fretting a garment</HI> (&s;aith our tran&s;lation of the P&s;alme) hee will bee worming to find a hole in the Prophets cote by &s;ome means or other.
<PB N="9" REF="7"> If <HI>Timothy</HI> charge them that are rich in this world, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Tim. 6.17.</NOTE> they that are rich will ouer-charge him. If <HI>Dauids</HI> Me&s;&s;engers come to comfort churli&s;h <HI>Hanun,</HI> they &s;hall finde &s;mall comfort, he (mo&s;t &s;hamefully and iniuriou&s;ly) &s;haued halfe their beards, and curtaild their garments and &s;ent them away. <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 10.4.</NOTE> If <HI>Titus</HI> rebuke <HI>apot omoos, &s;harply</HI> or cutting|ly, his two edged <HI>&s;word</HI> of the word &s;hall &s;carce fence him from di&s;paragement and inconueniencie. Such is our quea&s;ine&s;&s;e, we are more offended with the bitterne&s;&s;e of a whole&s;ome potion, than with the noy&s;omnes of a dan|gerous and deadly poy&s;on. More angry with the <HI>Sama|ritan</HI> for pouring in wine with his oyle than with the theeues that rob and &s;poile vs by the high way to <HI>Iericho,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.34.</NOTE> In&s;tead of bringing down euery mountain and high hill, &amp; makinge euery path &s;traight &amp; euen by the preaching of <HI>Iohn.</HI> I may borrow the P&s;almi&s;ts words to another &s;ence, and &s;ay; <HI>tange montes &amp; fumabunt,</HI> touch the moun|taines and they will &s;moke: like little Sinays, all on fire. The feare of this makes &s;ome degenerous minded men, in a manner to <HI>leaue the word of God and &s;erue at tables,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 6.2.</NOTE> What makes &s;uch in&s;en&s;ible colloguing, dawbing with vntempered morter, &s;owing pillowes vnder elbowes, laying cu&s;hions for dogs, healing the hurts of Gods peo|ple with &s;weet words, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 23.17.</NOTE> <HI>No euill &s;hall come vnto you though ye walke after the imaginations of your owne hearts.</HI> But a carnall, &s;en&s;uall, &s;eruile, temporizing ba&s;ene&s;&s;e. Tho&s;e that earne <HI>Balaams</HI> wages &s;o &s;moothly, &s;hall one day bee condemned with <HI>Balaams</HI> words, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 24.13.</NOTE> though the king &s;hould giue me a hou&s;e full of gold and &s;iluer, I cannot go be|yond the commandement of the Lord.</P>
<P>What an impo&s;ture it is to footh &amp; hony ouer the cre|dulous patient with per&s;wa&s;ion of a long life, when we reade in his face the Characters of death, to lul him with the confidence of &s;ecure peace when we &s;en&s;ibly de&s;cry the fellow with the pale hor&s;e (in the <HI>Reuelation</HI>) come po&s;ting like <HI>Iehu</HI> the &s;onne of <HI>Nim&s;hi,</HI> and marching fu|riou&s;ly
<PB N="10" REF="8"> <HI>Abrahams</HI> policie was counted his infirmtie, to tell <HI>Abimelech Sara</HI> was his &s;i&s;ter when &s;hee was his wife, he had wellnigh made him &s;inne: <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 20.9</NOTE> but it was the inuete|rate malice of the old &s;erpent to thwart the Sentence of God with <HI>Non moriemini,</HI> Ye &s;hall not die. Wherefore my brethren deale plainly, &s;tand fa&s;t in that libertie wherein Chri&s;t hath made you free, be not intangled in the&s;e &s;nares of flatterie; let <HI>Nathan</HI> in&s;inuate to <HI>Dauid,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 22.17.</NOTE> <HI>Tu es homo; Thou art the man.</HI> Let <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> tell his <HI>Herod;</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark. 6.18.</NOTE> <HI>Non licitum e&s;t tibi;</HI> It is not lawfull for thee to haue thy brother <HI>Phillips</HI> wife. Let <HI>Paul</HI> with&s;tand <HI>Pe|ter</HI> to his face at <HI>Antioch.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Galat. 2.24.</NOTE> Let <HI>E&s;ayas</HI> the &s;onne of <HI>A|mos</HI> &s;ay to <HI>Hezekiah, Morieris &amp; non viues;</HI> Speake and &s;pare not, &s;et an iron forehead again&s;t brazen-faced &s;inne. Sonne of man, faith God, &s;peake vnto them all that I &s;hall command thee, be not afrayde of their faces le&s;t I de&s;troy thee. But bee &s;ure you come with <HI>Sic dicit Dominus.</HI></P>
<P>This is the nice&s;t and curious point in your <HI>Chirurgerie</HI> to &s;earch and gage a wound with your <HI>probe</HI> of reproofe adui&s;edly: <NOTE PLACE="marg">Albert. g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">nt. delega. lib 1 vid K<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">k. Cur&s;. phil. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters"> p. 33.8.</NOTE> there is as much neede of Caution as of Courage, Circum&s;pection as Dexteritie: the <HI>Emba&s;&s;a|dour</HI> (though vpon &s;afe termes) may not &s;teppe out of the Circle of his Commi&s;&s;ion: the word of God is our <HI>Pre&s;cript, Mandate,</HI> and <HI>Commonitory:</HI> Within the li|mits and compa&s;&s;e whereof wee are bound to containe our &s;elues on perill of our &s;oules.</P>
<P>You that turne many to righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e &s;hine as <HI>&s;tarres</HI> &s;aith <HI>Daniels&punc;</HI> Angell, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 12.3.</NOTE> as you may not be <HI>Iudes wandring &s;tars,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iud ep. 13.</NOTE> &s;hooting into &s;uperior orbs: &s;o you may not be <HI>Iohus falling &s;tars,</HI> who&s;e name is cald <HI>Ab&s;int hium, Worm-wood,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reu. 8 11.</NOTE> to turne the waters of admonition into <HI>bitterne&s;&s;e. Doth a Fountaine &s;end foorth at the &s;ame place &s;weete water and bitter? My brethren the&s;e things ought not &s;o to bee,</HI> faith Saint <HI>Iames,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ia. 3.10 11.</NOTE> Beware then you make not the <HI>Pulpit</HI> a <HI>Pa&s;quil.</HI> That <HI>Sermons</HI> be not <HI>Satyrs</HI> to vent a priuate
<PB N="11" REF="8"> &s;pleene in a publike audience, to <HI>&s;uborne</HI> the &s;acred word as an <HI>Adnocate</HI> to carnall emulation, to ayme at the <HI>Churches di&s;grace</HI> through the <HI>loynes</HI> of &s;ome mens per&s;onall offen&s;es, to <HI>diue</HI> beyond <HI>&s;obrietie</HI> in to the &s;ecrets of Gods &s;crutiny, peeping like the men of <HI>Beth-&s;heme&s;h</HI> into the <HI>Arke,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Sam 6.19.</NOTE> pre&s;uming aboue that which is written, to be tampering twixt the Hammer and the Anuill, matters of &s;tate, as far fro~ the text as our calling: to <HI>draw la&s;ciuious characters,</HI> and embelli&s;h idle Pam|phlets with the <HI>oyle</HI> of Gods <HI>Tabernacle:</HI> to <HI>flu&s;h</HI> a do|ctrine of &s;edition, and then <HI>&s;pring</HI> a Couie of wicked v&s;es, of which &s;ort are they which creepe into hou&s;es and leade captiue &s;illy women. The&s;e extrauagancies haue no warrant, no &s;hew and pretext of <HI>Sic dicit Dominus.</HI> Let <HI>Timothy</HI> be <HI>in&s;tant,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Tim 3.6. 2. Tim 4.2.</NOTE> and let <HI>Titus</HI> rebuke withall autho|ritie, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.8.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters"></NOTE> but with &s;ound &s;peech, &s;uch as cannot be condem|ned. Let him that &s;peaketh &s;aith <HI>Peter,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Pet. 4.11.</NOTE> &s;peake as the <HI>O|racles</HI> of God: let him v&s;e <HI>&s;harpne&s;&s;e</HI> according to the power which the Lord giueth to edification and not vn|to <HI>de&s;truction.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 13,10.</NOTE> Let him not bring &s;trange fire to offer be|fore the Lord. Take the <HI>fire</HI> of your <HI>Zeale</HI> from the <HI>Altar</HI> of Gods word, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Prouer. 25.12.</NOTE> and v&s;e it in the <HI>Cen&s;ers</HI> of Charitie, come with <HI>Sic dicit Dominus.</HI> Then great ones will pray with <HI>Dauid,</HI> Let the righteous rarher reproue me. And a <HI>wi&s;e reprouer</HI> on an obedient eare &s;hall be like Iewels of gold and ornaments of much fine gold.</P>
<P>Now ob&s;erue <HI>Hezekiahs</HI> deportment to the Prophe&s;ie in a mutuall reference as the Prophe&s;ie hath relation vn|to him, and as he hath relation vnto the Prophe&s;ie. <HI>Thou &s;halt die and not liue.</HI> He doth not expo&s;tulate with God, nor darken coun&s;ell by words without knowledge (as <HI>Iob</HI> was taxt) <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 34.2,</NOTE> hee doth not <HI>moote</HI> the <HI>ca&s;e,</HI> and fill his mouth with <HI>arguments.</HI> As who &s;hould &s;ay;</P>
<P>Is this the recompence of all my faithfull &s;eruice? is this the fruit of my labours in the replantation of reli|gion, had I been deuoted to the &s;inne of my progenitors,
<PB N="12" REF="9"> had I <HI>ca&s;t</HI> my religion in the <HI>mould,</HI> my predece&s;&s;ors left at <HI>Dan</HI> and <HI>Bethel,</HI> walking in the paths of <HI>Nebats</HI> &s;onne in not repealing the Statutes of <HI>Omri,</HI> I could looke for no other wages of Sin but Death, &amp;c. Here we finde no &s;uch glottering, no &s;uch repining again&s;t God, who&s;e pro|ceeding in iudgement is often &s;ecret, alwaies iu&s;t, but he yeelds him&s;elfe with a &s;weet re&s;ignation to the di&s;po&s;all of Almightie God, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 21.19</NOTE> he po&s;&s;e&s;&s;eth his Soule (while he may po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e it) with patience, euen while he is dying, he ex|pects the goodne&s;&s;e of the Lord in the Land of the liuing, and me-thinkes in this <HI>patience,</HI> I behould a braue courage and heroycall magnanimitie, he is not deiected, dampt, or di&s;made at this tidings, his heart doth not droope &amp; faint like <HI>Nabals,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Sam. 25.</NOTE> that went away like a Stone, but he &s;tirres and mu&s;ters vp the faculties of his Soule, to make his <HI>ac|count</HI> with God, <HI>encounter</HI> with Death. Againe, con&s;ider as he hath reference to the <HI>Prophe&s;ie,</HI> he turnd his face to the wall, for whether &s;hould he turne him&s;elfe? to the World? <HI>paragei to &s;chema,</HI> the fa&s;hion of this World it pa&s;&s;eth away from him, &amp; he from it: Should he turne his Face to the trea&s;ures of his Hou&s;e? or plea&s;ures of his Hou&s;hold? there his chiefe&s;t comforts are his greate&s;t tortures, according to the e&s;timate of their &s;uppo&s;ed worth ari&s;eth the multiplication of &s;orrow and di&s;con|tent. For by how much he was affected with ioy in the fruition of them, by &s;o much is he afflicted with griefe in parting from them. Their plea&s;antne&s;&s;e makes him but the more vnwilling to forgoe them, and this &s;trugling with nece&s;sitie is not the le&s;t cau&s;e of mi&s;erie. Should he with <HI>A&s;a</HI> turne his Face vnto the Phy&s;itian, <HI>Doct&acirc; plus valet arte malum,</HI> the di&s;ea&s;e po&s;eth the <HI>Doctor,</HI> the helpe of Drugs may <HI>patch</HI> this Tabernacle, but when the <HI>cords</HI> are broken and the <HI>&s;takes</HI> lo&s;ed, &amp; this Tabernacle mu&s;t downe and be di&s;&s;olued, What &s;hould tho&s;e <HI>sken&oacute;|raphoi, rent-menders</HI> bu&s;ie them&s;elues any more? <HI>The Apothecarte makes a confection and is not able to fini&s;h his
<PB N="13" REF="9"> owne worke. Non e&s;t in medico</HI>&mdash;it is not all His aroma|tique <HI>Spices</HI> and precious <HI>Ointments</HI> (whereof he had great &s;tore) can ad one <HI>grane</HI> or <HI>&s;cruple</HI> to his life. Should he turne his Face vnto his courteous and noble atten|dants? here one di&s;quiets his panting Soule with the di|&s;tracted State of the Common-wealth, another with the vn&s;etledne&s;&s;e of the true Religion, all of them bemoaning the lo&s;&s;e either of their Ma&s;ter or their Office. May not he &s;ay to the&s;e as <HI>Iob</HI> to his friends, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 16.2.</NOTE> <HI>Mi&s;erable comforters are ye all.</HI> Wherefore to turne from them as &s;o many <HI>remoras</HI> and pulbackes to deuotion, he turnes his Face to the wall; not of the Sanctuarie (as the Calde paraphra&s;t wedges a gue&s;&s;e in to the Text) that whether he could not goe with the paces of his body he might tend with the purpo&s;es of his minde, but &s;imply to the wall of his Chamber, it may be there was &s;ome Image erected to repre&s;ent the inui&s;ible God. I make an&s;were the <HI>&s;econd</HI> Commandement was not then &s;punged out of the <HI>deca|logue.</HI> Wherefore then? That he might recollect his fainting Spirits, that without hindrance or preturbation of other obiects he might freely and amply enlarge him|&s;elfe and poure forth his complaints in the &s;ight of his Maker. <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ille dolet vere qui &s;ine te&s;te dolet.</HI> He is &s;orry with a witne&s;&s;e that is &s;orry without a wit|ne&s;&s;e.</NOTE> <HI>Faciem &s;uam vertit ad parietem vt cor effu&s;ius le|uaret ad dominim, A mind di&s;po&s;ed to deuotion de&s;ines a &s;olitarie &s;eque&s;tration.</HI> The Soule of Man like a curio is and well-tuned In&s;trument, being <HI>&s;it</HI> for a Diuine <HI>har|monie</HI> may quickly be di&s;ordered by the le&s;t bru&s;h of ca|&s;ualtie. Our Sauiour the pre&s;ident of Pietie, we reade &s;till he went a&s;ide to pray: in his Supplications on the Mount of <HI>Oliues</HI> all night before his Pa&s;sion, He was the <HI>Pa&s;call Lambe</HI> &s;et apart from the the Flock before the Obla|tio~, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Zacharie 12.</NOTE> in the mourning of <HI>Hadad rimmon,</HI> Theres the family of euerne Tribe apart, &amp; their Wiues apart. <HI>Ieremy</HI> &s;aith, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ieremie. 13 17</NOTE> My Soule &s;ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters"> weepe for them in <HI>&s;ecret places.</HI> Let me <HI>alone</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Iob</HI>) that I may &s;peake, I poure out my heart by my &s;elfe, &s;aith the P&s;almi&s;t, <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alme 42.7.</NOTE> and as is his practi&s;e, &s;o is
<PB N="14" REF="10"> his precept, Commune <HI>with your hearts</HI> in your cham|ber: <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alme 4.</NOTE> to which our Sauiour alludes, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.6.</NOTE> when thou praye&s;t enter into thy chamber and <HI>&s;hut the doore.</HI> Saint <HI>Chry&s;o|&s;tome</HI> gathers this le&s;&s;on from the habite and po&s;ture of the Angels that hide their face and feete with their wings <HI>Teaching vs</HI> (&s;aith hee) <NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;. de epat.</NOTE> <HI>in time of prayer in a diuine rap|ture to forget our &s;elues and hide our humane nature, being &s;aith he one ha&s;ed and enuironed with a cheerefull reuerence to behold nothing conterminate aboute vs, but to thinke our &s;elues planted among&s;t the thicke&s;t of the Angels.</HI> Minde tho&s;e things which are aboue, and not tho&s;e things which are vpon the earth: this rectifying and well ma|naging our meditations is the <HI>dre&s;sing</HI> and preparing our liuely <HI>Sacrifice,</HI> otherwi&s;e our payers are the <HI>Sacrifice of a foole,</HI> what greater contumely and di&s;grace can bee offered to the wor&s;hip of God, than to pre&s;ent the <HI>skinne</HI> of o&s;tentation <HI>&s;tuft</HI> with ge&s;tures and complements in &s;tead of the &s;ub&s;tantiall <HI>body</HI> of a &s;pirituall <HI>Holocau&s;t:</HI> To bring <HI>vitulos labiorum</HI> the calues of our lips in the <HI>exel&s;is</HI> the high places of our tongues and braines, and not on the Altar of our hearts, to turne thy face vnto the wall, and not thy faith vnto the Lord, is gro&s;&s;e and inexcu&s;able Idolatry. Let this teach vs to driue away all carnall, wan|dring and vnbe&s;eeming thoughts as <HI>Abraham</HI> did the <HI>foule that troubled his Sacrifice.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.11.</NOTE></P>
<P>Againe, be not like the hypocrites to &s;tand and pray in the Sinagogues and corners of the &s;treete, <HI>Hezekiah</HI> turnes his face, as though hee would haue none take no|tice of what he did but onely God. Yet farre be it from me to taxe either of <HI>hypocri&s;ie</HI> or <HI>vaine-glory,</HI> the cu&s;tome of &s;ome men, who in the Temple or a&s;&s;embly, priuately curne their face to the wall, to pay the tribute of a thanke|full minde. To tho&s;e who are &s;uch feruent reprehenders of things <HI>indifferent,</HI> I might an&s;wer with Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 14 4 10.</NOTE> <HI>Tu quis?</HI> Who art thou that iudge&s;t? and <HI>Quid iu?</HI> Why do&s;t thou iudge thy brother. That <HI>Apologie</HI> the Phari&s;ees
<PB N="15" REF="10"> made for Saint <HI>Paul</HI> may &s;erue in this ca&s;e again&s;t a Pha|ri&s;ee, <NOTE PLACE="marg">A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">. 23.9.</NOTE> <HI>If an Angell or &s;pirit hath &s;poken vnto him, lets not fight again&s;t God.</HI> It may be bee the <HI>spirit</HI> of &s;upplication hath <HI>kindled</HI> the good motions of pietie in his heart, &s;hould he extingui&s;h them to preuent thy cauill? If thou ha&s;t faith, haue it to thy &s;elfe? it may bee the beating of the poore <HI>Publicans bre&s;t</HI> in the Temple is more acceptable to God then the <HI>noy&s;e</HI> of thy parlour-exer|ci&s;e. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1 <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> Let not therefore <HI>Michol</HI> mocke <HI>Dauid</HI> for dancing afore the Arke, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2, Sam. 6.20.</NOTE> with <HI>how glorious:</HI> nor <HI>Eli</HI> &s;ay <HI>Hanna</HI> is drunke for mouing her lips in the temple: nor the <HI>Pre&s;i|dents</HI> accu&s;e <HI>Daniel</HI> for praying with his window open. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 6.10.</NOTE> I &s;ay then, let a man in the <HI>&s;implicity</HI> of his heart without <HI>glancing</HI> at popular applau&s;e, put vp his vowes to God or perform any other chri&s;tia~ duty; though the gazing eye of the whole world were fixed on him; the ca~dor &amp; &s;inglenes of his ingenuous intention &s;hall warrant and beare out the <HI>openne&s;&s;e</HI> of his action: &s;o S. <HI>Au&s;tin, Qui ergo non ideo facit.</HI> He that doth it not that it may appeare vnto men, though in the appearance of men. <HI>Neminem videt in cor|de,</HI> he &s;ees none in his heart, but onely God to whom or for whom he doth his workes of charity, yet I denie not S. <HI>Pauls</HI> decorum, let all things be done decently and in order; it is commended to Chri&s;tian prudence to <HI>&s;ute</HI> our actions with conuenient &amp; corre&s;pondent circum&s;tances.</P>
<P><HI>Hezekiah prayd.</HI> No doubt but all the faithfull and loy|all people from <HI>Dan</HI> to <HI>Beer&s;heba</HI> had &s;olemne prayers and &s;upplications to God in the behalfe of their King, What? the <HI>breath of their no&s;trils,</HI> the annointed of the Lord, the light, the Lampe, the glory of I&s;rael! And great rea&s;on, as the people &s;ayd to <HI>Dauid.</HI> Art not thou worth ten thou&s;and of vs, the Iewel of the lands felicitie is layd vp in the Casket of the Kings &s;afetie, <HI>That wee may leade a quiet and a peaceable life in all godline&s;&s;e and hone&s;tie.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Tim. 2.2.</NOTE> Euery <HI>&s;ubiect</HI> of what degree and condition &s;oeuer, may iu&s;tly claime a <HI>right</HI> and intere&s;t in the kings happine&s;&s;e, vnle&s;&s;e &s;uch as blow the trumpet of rebellion
<PB N="16" REF="11"> with the &s;on of <HI>Bichri,</HI> &s;aying, <HI>We haue no part in</HI> Dauid, <HI>nor inheritance in the &s;onne of</HI> le&s;&s;e. <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 20.</NOTE> Yet though the Leuits pray, the Prie&s;ts pray, the Prophets pray, the Nobles and Commons, and all I&s;rael are on the knees of their &s;oule in the behalfe of their king, yet would <HI>Hezekiah</HI> pray for him&s;elfe. <HI>It is good for euery man to be his owne Chap|la<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">.</HI> Each mans a Prie&s;t for his owne &s;oule, a holy Prie&s;t|hood, &s;aith <HI>Peter</HI> to offer vp &s;pirituall &s;acrifice accepta|ble to God through Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>qui &s;ibi nequam cui bonus,</HI> he that will not pray for him&s;elfe, how &s;hould he pray for another, why &s;hould another pray for him? Prayer is the principall worke of Charitie, and Charitie (&s;aith the Prouerbe) begins at home. Thou &s;halt loue thy neighbor as thy &s;elfe. <HI>Primum vide &s;i no&s;ti diligere te tum commen|dam tibi proximum. Si nondum no&s;ti diligere te timeo ne de|cipias proximum &s;icut te.</HI> He that will cou&s;en him&s;elfe, how will he deale well with his neighbour? <HI>Dauid</HI> in loue to Ieru&s;alem, not onely intreats others to pray for it. <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 122.6.7.</NOTE> <HI>Oh pray for the peace of Ieru&s;alem,</HI> but him&s;elfe prays. <HI>Peace be within thy walls, &amp;c.</HI> He that cannot pray for the peace of con&s;cience, will neuer pray (at le&s;twi&s;e effectually) for the peace of the Church. <HI>Pharoh</HI> de&s;ires <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> prai|er, <HI>Saul</HI> reque&s;ts <HI>Samuels</HI> prayer, <HI>Simon Magus</HI> intreats <HI>Simon Peter</HI> to pray for him, &s;hamele&s;&s;e people as they are; they haue not the <HI>grace</HI> to pray for them&s;elues, yet they haue the <HI>face</HI> to &s;ollicite others. I know it is a ble&s;|&s;ed thing to haue the prayers of the Church for thee, but with thee al&s;o: the ab&s;ence or not appearance of thy prayers non-&s;uites the proceedings of the Church in the Court of heauen for thee. Therefore Saint <HI>Paul</HI> wills his Romans, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15.30.</NOTE> <HI>Sunagonize&s;thai,</HI> to &s;triue and contend toge|ther with him in their praiers to helpe him to wra&s;tle with God for a ble&s;&s;ing (for the word imports as much) This &s;hould teach euery man to follow his owne &s;uite to &s;ollicite his owne cau&s;e, for he that &s;erues God by his <HI>Atturney</HI> &s;hall goe to heauen by a <HI>Proxie.</HI></P>
<PB N="17" REF="11">
<P><HI>Hezekiah prayd.</HI> And to whom doth he pray? to the Angels? to the Saints? to the &s;pirits of iu&s;t and perfect men? the leitourgie of his Church had no <HI>ora pro nobis</HI> in it. He was well enformed what <HI>E&s;ayas</HI> had taught in his time concerning God, <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 63.16.</NOTE> <HI>Thou art our father, though A|braham be ignorant of vs;</HI> tho&s;e limited and circum&s;cribed &s;pirits haue no di&s;tinct and peculiar knowledge of hu|mane affaires, they cannot di&s;cerne our <HI>indiuiduall</HI> and <HI>per&s;onall</HI> &s;tates <HI>&s;uch knowledge is to excellent for them.</HI> It is Gods attribute to be <HI>cardiogno&s;tes,</HI> the knower of the heart, and <HI>Dauid</HI> makes it a diuine propertie to heare prayers. <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alme 65.2.</NOTE> <HI>Oh thou that heare&s;t the prayers, to thee &s;hall all fle&s;h come:</HI> our petitions pa&s;&s;e not through the hands of euery Courtier, <HI>one mediatour</HI> twixt God and man. <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Tim. 2.5.</NOTE> The man Chri&s;t Ie&s;us hee is the onely ma&s;ter of reque&s;ts, whom haue I heauen but thee O Lord. Let the papi&s;ts mangle them&s;elues like the Prie&s;ts of <HI>Baal</HI> with the in|uocation of God knowes what Saints. Learne wee of <HI>Hezekiah</HI> to call vpon <HI>Iehouah.</HI> He prad vnto the Lord: But to &s;mall purpo&s;e might &s;ome thinke at this time. Can the <HI>Iudge</HI> of the whole world <HI>reuer&s;e</HI> a &s;entence once pro|nounced? is the &s;trength of I&s;rael <HI>as man that he &s;hold lie, or the &s;on of man that he &s;hould repent?</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 23.19.</NOTE> Doth he v&s;e light|ne&s;&s;e? are not his words yea yea, nay nay? Wherefore then doth <HI>Hezekiah</HI> moue God after a definitiue iudge|ment? Beloued: it is &s;o with God that he can <HI>mutare &s;en|tentiam &amp; non con&s;ilium,</HI> change his &s;entence and not his decree: becau&s;e his &s;ecret and diuine purpo&s;es are &s;ome|times re&s;erued for a fit occa&s;ion to reueale and manife&s;t them&s;elues: which occa&s;ion mu&s;t often be <HI>&s;trucke</HI> out of contraries, like <HI>fire</HI> out of flint and &s;teele. So then he doth not <HI>mutare voluntatem,</HI> change his will, but <HI>velle mutatio|nem,</HI> will a change, the alteration &s;ub&s;i&s;ts not in the <HI>di&s;po|&s;er</HI> of the thing, but in the thing <HI>di&s;po&s;ed</HI> of. Hence <HI>Heze|kiah</HI> intreats God, though again&s;t God; like the father of the faithfull that hoped euen again&s;t hope, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.18.</NOTE> <HI>though hee kill
<PB N="18" REF="12"> me</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Job</HI>) <HI>yet will J tru&s;t in him.</HI> So <HI>Hezekiah,</HI> Though I mu&s;t dye, yet will I pray to him, for who knowes if God will turne from the execution of his fierce wrath. This admirable priuiledge of a mo&s;t con&s;tant and confi|dent affiance, hath the &s;auing Faith of Gods cho&s;en. A mo&s;t noble prerogatiue, <HI>prouotare a Deo ad Deum,</HI> to appeale from God to God him&s;elfe, and to <HI>implead</HI> his Maie&s;tie to remoue the cau&s;e from the Common Pleas of his Iu&s;tice, to the Chancerie of his Mercie: It can make way through a croud of oppo&s;itions and conditionall comminations, to the Throne of Grace, &amp; there obtaine a fauourable and plau&s;ible audience. Faith it is that can &s;cale and batter the Walls of Heauen, and take the King|dome thereof by violence. Learne we then, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">.</NOTE>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>When we can do no good el&s;e, we may pray,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Prayer may do vs good, when nothing el&s;e can.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>When we, &amp;c.</HI> When the botch, boin, or plague-&s;ore of <HI>Hezekiah</HI> glued &amp; fa&s;tned him to his couch, when the violent di&s;ea&s;e like &s;trakes of wild-fire, whurrie through his veines, dry vp his vitall and animall Spirits, &s;ucke and draine out the very marrow of his Soule, what can he doe? how &s;hould he driue out the barbarous ene|mie from the borders of the holy land? how can he ouer&s;ee the Rulers in the gate for admini&s;tration of Iu|&s;tice? how can he pro&s;ecute his happie reformation of religion? in what maner &s;hould he expres his zeale for the Lord of Ho&s;ts, he cannot compa&s;&s;e Gods Altar, nor tread in the Court of the Hou&s;e of the Lord, yet this (which is farre more excellent) he hath a familiar colloquie and parle with God, a free conference with his maker. I will not laui&s;h time to be copious in things obuious, onely apply it, art thou therfore hemd in with the iudgments of God, do&s;t thou &s;uffer the terror thereof with a trou|bled mind? can&s;t thou di&s;cerne no po&s;&s;ibility of eua&s;ion? <HI>confide fili mi,</HI> bee of good cheere, the mi&s;eries that <HI>pre&s;&s;e</HI> downe thy body &s;hall <HI>weigh</HI> vp thy &s;oule: the &s;ame <HI>claye</HI> that &s;eems to plai&s;ter and <HI>clam</HI> vp the eyelids of thy faith
<PB N="19" REF="12"> &s;hall recouer and <HI>re&s;tore</HI> thy &s;ight againe: the &s;ame hand of prouidence that <HI>&s;tops</HI> the common way to heauen &s;hall let in thy &s;oule at the <HI>po&s;terne-gate</HI> of mercy, that it may haue an ample and free recour&s;e vnto thy Sauiour, that thou mai&s;t &s;ay with S. <HI>Paul,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 16 9.</NOTE> <HI>A large and effectual dore was opened vnto me.</HI> In a word, you who&s;e bowels of compa&s;|&s;ion yerne, for the laui&s;h effu&s;ion of that blood which is pretious in the &s;ight of the Lord, if you can doe nothing el&s;e, pray, &amp;c. Prayer can doe vs good when nothing el&s;e may, when health and wealth, liberty, meanes, main|tena~ce, courage, wi&s;dome, policy, &amp; all the acoutrements of nature &s;hall bee &s;tript off, &amp; the&s;e temporall ble&s;&s;ings <HI>&s;ly away like a dream, and be cha&s;ed away as a vi&s;ion of the night:</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 20.8.</NOTE> when the &s;weete abundance of outward plea&s;ures that once ouerflowd the bankes of happines (like <HI>Iordan in the time of harue&s;t</HI>) <NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;. 3.15. Eccl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">&s;. 40.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters"></NOTE> is dried vp and decayed. Oh then! welfare praier. In the imminent nece&s;&s;ity of pre&s;ent ex|tremity prayer auailes. When the earth is Iron, and the the heauens bra&s;&s;e, tis prayer obtains the <HI>former and later rain.</HI> This opens &amp; &s;huts the ca&s;ements of heauen: it dares &s;top the canon-mouth of thunder: it will &s;tep in and <HI>ward</HI> a blow whe~ the vengeance of God is &s;miting: it can bind the arms of iu&s;tice, &amp; <HI>male</HI> vp tho&s;e plagues that are &s;to|red for an euill day, it can <HI>re&s;cue</HI> and acquit a mi&s;erable <HI>debter</HI> attacht vpon an <HI>execution,</HI> You &s;ee how it ca~ keep of death: &amp; we read in holy booke how it hath rend ope the pri&s;on bard with &s;tone, &amp; brought out captiues from the gates of the graue: it was a large <HI>promi&s;e</HI> of Chri&s;t, <HI>quodcunque petieritis,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.7.</NOTE> what&s;oeuer you &s;hall ask the Father in my name it &s;hall be giuen: it was a gracious <HI>precept, in|uoca me in die tribulationis,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 29.12.</NOTE> call vpon me in the time of trouble, and I will heare thee: and it was the continuall <HI>experiment</HI> of the Saints, <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 116.</NOTE> <HI>in their di&s;tre&s;&s;e they called vpon the Lord,</HI> and he heard them and deliuered them, &amp;c. Oh therfore in the time of <HI>mi&s;ery</HI> call vpon the God of <HI>mercy,</HI> in the <HI>houre</HI> of death direct thy prayers to him that hath
<PB N="20" REF="13"> the <HI>power</HI> of death: what a ble&s;&s;ed flight hath the minde in meditation, when mounted on the wings of faith and repentance, it &s;ores vp in the pre&s;ence of God, and takes &s;anctuary in the mercifull armes of Ie&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>The next part of this <HI>diuine phy&s;icke</HI> is the <HI>purgatiue, Hezekiahs</HI> pills <HI>&s;ine quibus e&s;&s;e nole:</HI> wherewith he pur|geth and a&s;&s;oiles him&s;elfe from the &s;candalous imputa|tion the iniquitie of the times were likely to charge him withall, They are fowly mi&s;taken that thinke <HI>Hezekiah</HI> pleades <HI>merit</HI> in this place, no more then <HI>Nehemiah</HI> there. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Nehe. 13.22.</NOTE> <HI>Remember me oh Lord according to this, and &s;pare me ac|cording to the multitude of thy mercies.</HI> It is not the <HI>iu&s;ti|fication</HI> of him&s;elfe, but the <HI>illu&s;tration</HI> of a good cau&s;e <HI>Hezekiah</HI> &s;tands vpon. The matter that troubled his minde was this, to wit, the fickle e&s;tate of Religion which along time afore him was far-worne and ouer|growne with Idolatrie and &s;uper&s;tition: now but awhile afore his &s;ickne&s;&s;e imperfectly reformed and newly re|&s;tored to the primitiue dignitie of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in&s;titution (as <HI>Mo&s;es formed</HI> all things according to the patterne in the Mount; So <HI>Hezekiah reformed</HI> according to the patterne of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI>) which now by his death (hauing no heire to &s;ucceed him in his &s;oueraigntie or pietie) is like|ly not onely againe to bee &s;hufled out by former abu&s;es and prophanations, but idolatrie to get higher hand: be|cau&s;e tho&s;e that were alwayes nuzled in it, would be rea|die enough to &s;ay that <HI>Hez:</HI> &s;odaine death, was a pu|ni&s;hment of God for the di&s;&s;olution of their high places (to which the land generally was deuoted.) And this you may &s;ee was <HI>Rab&s;hekahs</HI> argument to ex&s;perate the &s;u|per&s;titious people again&s;t their eligious King, for main|taining the liberties of their opinion by rebellion. <HI>But if you &s;ay we tru&s;t in Iehouah our God is not that he who&s;e high places and altars</HI> Hezekiah <HI>hath taken away, &amp;c.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. King. 18.22.</NOTE> Marke how by this in&s;inuation hee cunningly winds a per&s;wa&s;ion into the ouer-credulous hearts of the igno|rant
<PB N="21" REF="13"> people, that <HI>Hezekiahs</HI> alteration was rather an in|nouation and prouocation of Gods wrath to him&s;elfe, than any &s;incere reformation of religion, that it was a tricke of &s;tate to binde men to come vp to <HI>Ierus:</HI> whereas the high-place and altars in the countrey (the monu|ments of their ancient fathers) might better &s;erue their turne. By this &s;ugge&s;tion of <HI>Rab&s;hekah</HI> you plainely per|ceiue how hee <HI>&s;cattereth</HI> the &s;eeds of di&s;loyalty in the hearts of <HI>Hezekiahs</HI> &s;ubiects, <HI>withdrawes</HI> them from their naturall alleagiance, <HI>confirmes</HI> and &s;trengthen them in their former ignorance, <HI>di&s;ables</HI> the reformation &s;et on foote, and makes them that are weake in faith to fall off and becomes apo&s;tates to their God, and traytours to the king. And now to &s;et a colour and glo&s;&s;e on the&s;e preten&s;es <HI>Hezekiahs</HI> vntimely death &s;hall bee alledged. From the drift of the &s;tory take onely this ob&s;eruation by the way. <HI>The mi&s;con&s;tructions of preiudicate opinions conceiued by &s;u&s;picious idolatrie, when they doe fore&s;tall, banke, and &s;top the currents of good attempts, before they come to a full perfection, not onely derogate from godly endea|uours, but ca&s;t a &s;candall and obloquie on the vndertakers.</HI> It is not death &s;o much as the adherent inconueniences that <HI>Hezekiah</HI> would auoyde. He refu&s;eth not to <HI>pay the debt</HI> we all owe by nature, but it <HI>&s;eemes to be exacted</HI> be|fore it is <HI>due,</HI> in regard of the cour&s;e of nature, the thrid of his life being not &s;pun to the ordinary length of his ripe age, in regard of Gods promi&s;e for perpetuall i&s;&s;ue to inherit the throne of <HI>Dauid,</HI> which was now in the loynes of a dying man, in regard of the worke of the Lord he had vndertaken, which was now at a &s;tay and vnaccompli&s;hed. Therfore <HI>Hezekiah</HI> prayes that his <HI>graue</HI> may not be a <HI>banke</HI> to ray&s;e vp their &s;uper&s;tition <HI>higher.</HI> He prayes, &s;eeing his faith was <HI>built</HI> not on the &s;andy ground of human inuentions and traditions, but on the <HI>rocke</HI> of Gods word that a &s;udden <HI>breach</HI> of life might not open a <HI>gap</HI> to let in the <HI>&s;treame</HI> of faction, &s;weepe away
<PB N="22" REF="14"> the memoriall of his deeds with a &s;trong <HI>tide</HI> of calumni|ation. Therefore &s;ayes he, <HI>on na Iehouah zekar-na, Remem|ber oh Lord I be&s;eech thee.</HI> This is that <HI>e'ro&oacute;tema tes su|neid&eacute;seoos,</HI> which Saint <HI>Peter</HI> makes the &s;oule and form<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> of Bapti&s;me, the <HI>ad&s;tipulation of a good Con&s;cience,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3.21.</NOTE> that can <HI>an&s;were</HI> all the obiections of Satan at the time of death, when he is mo&s;t bu&s;ie to <HI>confound</HI> vs with his <HI>So|phi&s;iry.</HI> Thus when God as a Iudge &s;at vpon <HI>Abimilech,</HI> and ca&s;t him, &s;aying, <HI>Thou art a dead man,</HI> he pleads not guiltie, <HI>In the integritie of my heart, and innocencie of my hands, haue I don this.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 20,5.</NOTE> Thus <HI>Samuel</HI> depo&s;ed at the re&s;ig|nation of his Magi&s;tracie, could challeng all I&s;raell vpon his vncorrupted hone&s;tie, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Sam. 12.3.</NOTE> Behold here I am, witne&s;&s;e a|gain&s;t me, who&s;e <HI>Oxe haue I taken, who&s;e A&s;&s;e haue I ta|ken, whom haue I defrauded, whom haue I oppre&s;&s;ed, at who&s;e hands haue I taken any bribe?</HI> Should the&s;e entergatories be propounded not only by them that <HI>ride on white a&s;&s;es, that &s;it in Iudgement,</HI> but euen by <HI>them that handle the pen of the Writer,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudg. 5.10.14.</NOTE> No doubt but an&s;wers would be made to the particulars, for their <HI>right-hands are full of bribes,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s; 26.10.</NOTE> and <HI>the Rulers loue to &s;ay with &s;hame, giue ye.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;. 4.18.</NOTE> Thus <HI>Dauid</HI> aquits him&s;elfe for the matter of competition with <HI>Saul, The Lord reward me according to my righteous dealing, ac|cording to the cleanne&s;&s;e of my hands &s;hall he recompence me.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 18.10.</NOTE> Thus <HI>Paul</HI> at the Councell-bord, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 23.1.</NOTE> <HI>Men &amp; brethren, I haue liued in all good con&s;cience before God vnto this day. Nehe|miah,</HI> iumps, with the <HI>memento</HI> in our Text, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Nehe. 5.19.</NOTE> Thinke vpon me for good, according to all that I haue done vnto this people, The rea&s;on of this boulde&s;&s;e, and confident affi|ance, is, The <HI>great God,</HI> hath <HI>planted</HI> in euerie Mans <HI>bre&s;t,</HI> a Iu&s;t and faithfull <HI>Steward,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.6.</NOTE> one that will not huddle his accounts, and when we owe a <HI>hundred,</HI> bid take the Bill, and &s;et downe <HI>fiftie,</HI> He keeps a iu&s;t reckoning, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ro. 2.15.16.</NOTE> an euen tally with <HI>God,</HI> by which we &s;hall haue <HI>euge,</HI> or <HI>apage,</HI> in that day when God &s;hal iudge the &s;ecrets of mens harts, by Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, the Con&s;cience bearing witne&s;&s;e.</P>
<PB N="23" REF="14">
<P>It can not be denied, that through the corruption of our &s;infull nature, nothing is pure, <HI>Who can bring cleane out of vncleane,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Iob,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 9.20.</NOTE> <HI>Jf I iu&s;tifie my &s;elfe, mine owne mouth &s;hall condemne me.</HI> Wherefore, euen our minds and <HI>con&s;ciences</HI> are defiled, yet by the benefit of the Couenant of Grace, ye are wa&s;hed, &s;anctified, clen&s;ed. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb 9.</NOTE> The bloud of Chri&s;t, who through the Eternall Spirit, offered him&s;elfe without &s;pot to God, purgeth the <HI>Con&s;cience</HI> from dead workes, to &s;erue the Liuing God, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Ioh. 1.7.</NOTE> The &s;trong <HI>do&s;is</HI> of our Sauiours bloud, purgeth vs from all &s;in. By this meanes we are re&s;tored to the illumination of Knowledge, per|fection of Faith, practice of good Workes, perpetuall &s;tudy of renouation, and &s;anctification of God in our hearts. Hence, hence ari&s;eth that <HI>bene actae vitae iucundi&s;&s;i|ma recordatio,</HI> the &s;weet reuiew and ple&s;ant meditation of a well-&s;pent life, that <HI>murus chaeneus,</HI> brazen &s;conce to beat back the bullets of &s;lander into the Face of malici|ous accu&s;ers, that <HI>whereas they &s;peake euill of you as of euill doers, they may be a&s;hamed that fal&s;ely accu&s;e your good con|uer&s;ation in Chri&s;t.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Pet. 1.16.</NOTE> This makes the righteous <HI>bould as a Lion,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 28.1.</NOTE> in all di&s;aduantage and mi&s;pri&s;ions, to triumph and reioyce, nay, to bo&s;t. <HI>Our bo&s;ting, our glorying, is this, the te&s;timonie of our Con&s;cience, that in &s;implicitie and godly &s;inceritie, not in fle&s;hly wi&s;edome, but by the grace of God we haue had our conuer&s;ation.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 10.11.</NOTE> Ah, what a &s;weet contentment will this be at our departing, what hony of con&s;olation &s;hall we find in that Lion of Death, that we can &s;ay with <HI>Paul,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 4.4.</NOTE> <HI>Nullius mihi con&s;cius &s;um,</HI> I know nothing by my &s;elfe, with <HI>Dauid,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 69 5.</NOTE> <HI>Lord thou knowe&s;t my &s;implicitie,</HI> with <HI>Iob,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 16.19.</NOTE> <HI>my witnes is in Heauen, &amp; my record is on High,</HI> with <HI>Simeon, Lord now lette&s;t thou thy &s;eruant depart in peace,</HI> with <HI>Hez, onna Iehouah zekar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">na, remember oh Lord, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;ame <HI>Regi&s;ter</HI> of God, &s;its in the <HI>Lumher-hou&s;e</HI> of Sin, and takes an Inuentorie of all things, <HI>The &s;innes of Iudah, are written with the Pen of Iron, and the point of a Diamond.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 17.1.</NOTE> And though the wicked di&s;cern it not, becau&s;e
<PB N="24" REF="15"> they are in <HI>darkene&s;&s;e,</HI> yet when God either in the gene|rall or particular Vi&s;itation &s;hall &s;earch Ieru&s;alem with a <HI>Lanthorne,</HI> and &s;hall light his Candle, <HI>The Spirit of Man</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Solomon</HI>) <HI>is the Candle of the Lord,</HI> Then the deeds of darkene&s;&s;e &s;hall appeare to be engro&s;|&s;ed in Capitall Letters, &s;o that one may <HI>run,</HI> that <HI>readeth</HI> them, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 2.2.</NOTE> Though for a while they di&s;port them&s;elues with God, and &s;et a good colour on their impieties, yet when the Foule-weather of Affliction &s;hall make the Painted. <HI>wall</HI> giue againe, &amp; the daubing with vntempered Mor|ter &s;hall fall off, and let in through the holes &amp; crannies, the Beames of that Light they thought to bee extingui|&s;hed, Then Lord! what Symptomes of perplexed &s;orrow and amazement &s;tartle the pa&s;&s;ions of the Soule? How doth a &s;warme of doubts and di&s;tractions &s;ting the very Con&s;cience, How doth the vengeance of God teare and rend the cauls of their hearts enclo&s;ed in their owne fat, When the &s;ins of their youth, and iniquities of their age, &s;hall hale them (like &s;o many griping Catch-poles) to the Tribunall &s;eate of Iu&s;tice, With what angui&s;h is their Soules bli&s;tered and tormented, being ready to appeare before that God, that is a <HI>con&s;uming fire,</HI> Then with what fearefull yels and lamentable eiulations doe they houle and <HI>rore vpon their Beds,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;e. 7.4.</NOTE> Yet, though the paines of Hell gets hold vpon them, they <HI>neuer call vpon God,</HI> neither is God in all their thoughts, Some fragments indeed, and broken peeces of prayers they mutter out, as imperti|nent to the occa&s;ion, as imperfect and di&s;membred in the compo&s;ing of them. How carefull therefore &s;hould we be in the time of health, with <HI>Noah</HI> the Precher of righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.22.</NOTE> to build the <HI>Arke</HI> of a good con&s;cience before the <HI>Floud</HI> of Gods iudgements come, With prudent <HI>Io|&s;eph,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 40.48.</NOTE> to lay vp in the <HI>Granaries</HI> of our harts, the immor|tall <HI>Sced</HI> of the Word, ere the <HI>Famine</HI> pinch vs. With <HI>Solomons</HI> prouident <HI>Ant,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Prou. 6.7.</NOTE> to horde vp <HI>Food</HI> of Con&s;olati|ion, ere the winter ouertake vs. With the vniu&s;t, but the
<PB N="25" REF="15"> <HI>Wi&s;e Steward,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.1.</NOTE> to plot for entertainment, ere we be thru&s;t out of our <HI>Office.</HI> With the wi&s;e <HI>&V;irgins,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.</NOTE> to haue the <HI>Oyle</HI> of Grace, in the <HI>Lamps</HI> of our Faith, before the <HI>Bride-Grooms</HI> come. Would&s;t thou then, with the penitent <HI>Thiefe,</HI> haue a <HI>memento mei?</HI> Thou mu&s;t fir&s;t haue a <HI>me|mento Dei.</HI> Shall Chri&s;t remember thee in Paradi&s;e? Re|member thou Chri&s;t in <HI>Caluary.</HI> They which <HI>like not to retaine God in their knowledge,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.28.</NOTE> God likes not to retaine them in his knowledge. I will profe&s;&s;e in that day. <HI>I know ye not,</HI> depart from me ye workers of Iniquitie. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.23.</NOTE> And it is a iu&s;t retaliation or requitall with God, <HI>Seeing thou ha&s;t forgotten the Law of thy God, I will al&s;o forget thee.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;. 4.6.</NOTE> As the Prophet <HI>O&s;e</HI> records, and <HI>Jeremy al&s;o,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 23.29.</NOTE> Therefore I will vt|terly <HI>forget</HI> thee, and for&s;ake thee: Wherefore,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>Put thy &s;elfe in mind of God.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Put God in mind of thy &s;elfe.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth, Then thy Creator will remember thee in the day of thy death. Rembember what I &s;ay vnto you, Let the Word of God be as Frontlets to thine Eyes, binde them about thy Neck, and write them on the Tables of thine Heart. Say with <HI>Dauid,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 119.</NOTE> <HI>J will neuer forget thy Commandements.</HI> Re|member the <HI>Promi&s;es</HI> of God with <HI>Faith,</HI> the <HI>Iudgements</HI> of God with <HI>Feare,</HI> the <HI>Mercies</HI> of God with <HI>Loue,</HI> His <HI>Benefits</HI> with <HI>Thankes,</HI> His <HI>Precepts</HI> with <HI>Obedience.</HI> His <HI>Cha&s;ti&s;ements</HI> with <HI>Patience.</HI> Remember thy <HI>Crea|tion</HI> with <HI>Reuerence,</HI> Thy <HI>Redemption</HI> with <HI>Holine&s;&s;e,</HI> Thy <HI>Pro&s;eruation</HI> with <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> Thy <HI>Glorification</HI> with <HI>Joyfulne&s;&s;e.</HI> Remember God in all places, at all times, vp &s;itting, downe lying, at euening, morning, &amp; noone day. <HI>Haue I not remembred thee in my Bed, and thought vpon thee when J was waking, P&s;.</HI> 63.7. Know ye not what a fearefull thing it is to forget God. The wicked &s;hall be turned into Hell, and all the people that <HI>forget</HI> God. <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 9.17.</NOTE> In Hell and Death, there is no man remembers thee: <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alme. 6.5.</NOTE> Yet, <HI>Diues</HI> hath in Hell a wofull <HI>memento.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.25.</NOTE> Sonne, remember,
<PB N="26" REF="16"> that thou in thy life-time had&s;t thy good, &amp;c. <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alme 50.22.</NOTE> Now then, con&s;ider this all ye that forget God, before ye goe to the Land where all things are forgotten. <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 88.12.</NOTE> One day, thou wilt &s;ay to God, Oh remember me for Ie&s;us &s;ake; now, God &s;aith, Remember me for Ie&s;us &s;ake. It is the Mini&s;ters dutie to put you in minde of the&s;e things (&s;aith S. <HI>Paul</HI> to <HI>Timothy</HI>) <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Tim. 2.15.</NOTE> Put them in remembrance; Nay, to rou&s;e you from the &s;lumber of &s;ecuritie, as the Mariners did <HI>Jo|nah,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 1.6.</NOTE> <HI>What meane&s;t thou, oh &s;leeper?</HI> You that are the <HI>Lords remembrances,</HI> keepe not &s;ilence, &s;aith <HI>E&s;ay.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 62.6.</NOTE> I will not be negligent to put you alwayes in remembrance of the&s;e things, &s;aith <HI>Peter.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Pet. 1.12.</NOTE> If I forget thee oh <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> let my right hand forget her cunning. If I doe not remember thee, &amp;c. <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 137.5.6.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Put God in mind of thy &s;elfe.</HI> Prayer is Gods re|membrancer. While way pray, God remembers vs, and forgets our &s;innes: While we neglect this holy dutie, he remembers our &s;innes, and forgets vs. You will &s;ay with the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 77.9.</NOTE> <HI>Can God forget to be gratious?</HI> No, it is im|po&s;&s;ible. Can a Woman forget her &s;ucking Child? <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 49.17.</NOTE> <HI>Grant &s;he may, yet will not J forget thee. J haue grauen thee on the Palmes of my Hands,</HI> &s;aith God vnto his Church. Now his writing, his engrauing, cannot be defaced, cannot be altered. Shall the Lawes of the <HI>Medes</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> &s;illy Panims, arrogate immutabilitie? Shall <HI>Pilate,</HI> an Earthly Magi&s;trate, beare out the vertue of a Warrant, with <HI>Quod &s;crip&s;i, &s;crip&s;i?</HI> And &s;hall not the Councell of the Great God, the Decree of the Mightie Iudge of the whole World, be <HI>Yea, and Amen. A Booke of remem|brance was written before the Lord</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Malachy</HI>) <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.16.17.</NOTE> for them that feared him and thought vpon his Name, and tho&s;e that thinke vpon his Name will be alwaies calling on it. In regard of the ab&s;olute perfection of the diuine Nature, the Omni&s;cience of God cannot po&s;&s;ibly be &s;tay|ned with obliuion. For, <HI>Known vnto God are all his workes from the foundation of the World.</HI> Yet, his plea&s;ure is to
<PB N="27" REF="16"> haue the appointed meanes v&s;ed for the execution of his Will, vnto which our dull natures are whetted by &s;uch figuratiue &s;peeches applyed to the diuine Nature of the immortall God, As expre&s;&s;e the <HI>pa&s;&s;ion of mortall Men.</HI> As to <HI>forget,</HI> to <HI>hide</HI> him&s;elfe, to <HI>ab&s;ent</HI> him&s;elfe, to <HI>turne away his Face,</HI> to <HI>with-draw</HI> his countenance, &amp;c. Such therefore as frequently re&s;ort vnto God by their prayers and &s;upplications, they are Gods familiar acquaintance, He hath taken &s;peciall notice of them, He <HI>remembers them.</HI> But, &s;uch as neuer &s;hew them&s;elues to God by a holy conuer&s;ation, they are meere <HI>&s;trangers.</HI> When they &s;hall come to claime acquaintance, and &s;crue them&s;elues into familiarity, Chri&s;t &s;hakes them off with <HI>non noui vos,</HI> I know you not, I remember no &s;uch. How art thou my Sheepe, and neuer hearde&s;t my voyce? How &s;hould you be knowne to be my Di&s;ciples, if you loue not one ano|ther? How art thou my Souldier? I neuer &s;aw thee in my &s;eruice, I find no &s;uch name in the Mu&s;ter-booke of tho&s;e that are in my pay. By what token, what &s;igne, can&s;t thou bring thy &s;elfe into the <HI>memorie</HI> of thy Sauior? The foundation of God &s;tands &s;ure, and hath this Seale, <HI>The Lord knowes who are his.</HI> Now therefore, in the ac|ceptable time, labour by all meanes to make thy &s;elfe knowne to God, that thy Face may &s;hine like <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his Face, with being often conuer&s;ant with God. Put thy &s;elfe forward, be alwayes employed in his &s;eruice, be a companion vnto tho&s;e that are Gods Children, friends, and fauourits, remaine in his hou&s;e, let thy Soule be way|ting &s;till vpon God, be alwayes preferring thy petitions, the more <HI>importunate</HI> the more welcome, in all things let your reque&s;ts be made knowne to God, &amp; not <HI>coldly,</HI> remi&s;ly, carele&s;ly, without any <HI>heat,</HI> or life, but with ob|&s;ecration, <HI>onna Jehouah, J be&s;eech thee,</HI> oh Lord, <HI>Jt is no &s;light mouing, put an earne&s;t vrging &amp; pre&s;&s;ing our petitions, makes them &s;peed well. Jacobs</HI> wre&s;ting, forced out a ble&s;|&s;ing. The Widowes trouble&s;ome mole&s;tation, made the
<PB N="28" REF="17"> vniu&s;t Iudge auenge her of her aduer&s;arie, <HI>Luke</HI> 18.5. The importunitie of the Neighbour that borrowed three Loafes, made his friend ri&s;e at mid-night. This obte&s;tati|on and vehement be&s;eeching, argues a &s;en&s;e and feeling of our owne wants, and awfull reuerence of the Maie&s;tie of God, a per&s;wa&s;ion of his gratious Benignitie, a con|fident hope of obtaining the de&s;ires of our Heart, a pre|tious valuation of the guift we &s;ue for, and a pledge of a thankefull acceptation. The Church of England puts the like forme of prayer in our Mouthes. Many of vs, pa&s;&s;e it ouer, <HI>Magis v&s;u quam &s;en&s;u,</HI> more by the <HI>formalitie</HI> and <HI>rotunditie</HI> of the words, than the <HI>efficacie</HI> of the matter compri&s;ed in them. The effectuall <HI>feruent</HI> prayers of a <HI>righteous</HI> man auaile much, &s;aith S. <HI>Iames,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam 5.16.</NOTE> And marke you what he &s;aith of a <HI>righteous Man,</HI> a good Con&s;cience furni&s;heth <HI>Hezekiah</HI> with matter. The good Man, out of the good trea&s;ure of his Heart, brings forth good things. It is this <HI>&s;tone</HI> that <HI>props</HI> vp the wearied hands of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and makes them <HI>&s;teadie.</HI> It is the abundarie &amp; Common place Booke of our <HI>Orizons. Innocence</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Dauid</HI>) mu&s;t goe before <HI>Incence, Ablution</HI> of the hands before <HI>Oblation</HI> by the hands. <HI>I will wa&s;h my hands in innocencie, &s;o will I compa&s;&s;e thy Altar.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 26.6.</NOTE> In this Lauer of innocencie, doth <HI>Hezekiah</HI> now bathe his Soule (for &s;o much as here is expre&s;&s;ed, &s;eemes to me rather a Preface to what he en|tended, than the prayer it &s;elfe.) This <HI>cleering</HI> our &s;elues, <HI>&s;trengthens</HI> our cau&s;e, and <HI>puts</HI> a ba&s;hfull Petitioner <HI>home</HI> to God. No &s;uch hinderance to Deuotion, as cu&s;tomarie &s;inne: This dead Fly, corrupts the Oyntment of Deuo|tion, and makes it &s;tinke in the No&s;trils of God. The prayer of the wicked is an abomination: <HI>Offring of Swins Fle&s;h, cutting off a Dogges Necke,</HI> the mo&s;t offen&s;iue and iniurious to the Wor&s;hip of God, that impietie it &s;elfe can deui&s;e. If I regard iniquitie in my heart (&s;aith <HI>Dauid</HI>) <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 66.16.</NOTE> God will not heare my prayer.</P>
<P>All &s;innes make a &s;eparation, a great Gulfe betwixt
<PB N="29" REF="17"> you and your God, more e&s;pecially <HI>Idolatry &s;ecuritie,</HI> and <HI>crueltie,</HI> the crying &s;ins of this land. For the fir&s;t, <HI>Ier.</HI> 11.13. God complains, the &s;treets of <HI>Ieru&s;alem</HI> are <HI>full of Altars,</HI> Therefore I will <HI>not heare,</HI> in the time they <HI>cry</HI> vnto me. 2. Securitie, <HI>Prou.</HI> 28.9. <HI>He that turnes away his Eare from hearing the Law, his prayer &s;hall be abhominable.</HI> So <HI>Zachary,</HI> As God cryed &amp; they would not heare, &s;o they cryed and God would not heare. 3. For crueltie, <HI>E&s;.</HI> 1.15. When you make many prayers, I will not heare: When you &s;pread forth the hands, I will hide mine Eyes: For your hands <HI>are fall of bloud.</HI> So <HI>Ieremiah,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 7.9.</NOTE> Will you &s;teale, and murther, and commit adulterie, and &s;weare fal&s;ely, and &s;tand before me in this Hou&s;e where my Name is called vpon. In generall, &s;aith the <HI>blind Man,</HI> God heares not &s;inners: But, if any be a wor&s;hipper of God, him God heareth. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn. 9.31.</NOTE> In this au&s;pitious a&s;&s;urance, doth <HI>Hezekiah</HI> begin his prayers, <HI>onna Ieh. &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Emortuales piorum voces&s;unt ob&s;eruandae.</HI> Saith one, There is great heed to be taken to the la&s;t words &amp; eiacu|lations of godly men, when they are readie to depart this World, becau&s;e, then <HI>repentance</HI> is brought to a head and perfected, the <HI>lu&s;ts</HI> of &s;inne are extingui&s;hed, the <HI>vanities</HI> of worldly plea&s;ures contemned, the <HI>temptations</HI> of &s;atan vanqui&s;hed, the <HI>ioyes</HI> of the Kingdome of Heauen graci|ou&s;ly repre&s;ented, whereupon &s;ome remarkeable te&s;ti|monie of their happie tran&s;migration <HI>drops</HI> from them like the <HI>Mantle of Elias,</HI> when he was taken vp to Heauen. Time would faile me to in&s;tance in our ble&s;|&s;ed Sauiour, <HI>Mo&s;es, Iacob, Dauid, Paul, Simeon, Stephan,</HI> with the whole army of <HI>Martyrs,</HI> who like &s;o many diuine <HI>Swans,</HI> in melodious raptures, <HI>warbled</HI> forth their Soules into the hands of God. Let this royall <HI>patterne</HI> afore our Eyes, be <HI>In&s;tar omnium:</HI> In&s;teed of all, to &s;tirre you to your wonted patience and atten|tion, I promi&s;e breuitie in taking it out aad hand|ling it.</P>
<PB N="30" REF="18">
<P>In the&s;e few words is compri&s;ed the <HI>Caracter of a true Saint,</HI> the de&s;cription of a godly Man:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>&V;erit as in mente.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Sincerit as in corde.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Bonitas in opere.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P N="1">1. Truth in the intentions of the mind without im|po&s;ture and fal&s;ification: <HI>J haue walked in Truth.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Sinceritie in the affections of the Heart without hypocri&s;ie and di&s;&s;imulation: <HI>With a perfect Heart.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Goodne&s;&s;e in the actions of his life without ma|lice or criminall aberration: <HI>J haue done that which is good.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Hithaelachetti,</HI> I haue walked, You know in Scripture, the cour&s;e of our life is called, A way. Our Sauiour men|tions two wayes, the <HI>broad,</HI> and the <HI>narrow.</HI> Of the for|mer, &s;aith <HI>Salomon,</HI> There is a way &s;eemes plea&s;ant, but the end thereof is death. But behold, I &s;hew you a more excellent way, the way of truth, the way of life. The way, truth, and life, <HI>Homini e&s;t iter ad Deum per Deum &amp; hominem,</HI> Mans way to God is by God and man Chri&s;t Ie&s;us. <HI>Quo itur Deus, qua itur homo,</HI> As God our iour|neys end, as Man our way vnto it. So S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug. de Ciui.</HI> 11. 2.</NOTE> and S. <HI>Ba&s;ile</HI> al&s;o, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ba&s;ile.</HI></NOTE> When our Lord <HI>is termed a way, we mu&s;t aduance our minds to a more &s;ublimed &s;ence than the vulgar and common acception, for we vnder&s;tand the order and race of the workes of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and illumination of know|ledge, by which we are brought to the perfect and neere cour&s;e of religion.</HI> I need not therefore &s;end you with the Pro|phet <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 6.16.</NOTE> to enquire for the <HI>old way,</HI> neither need you enquire with the Wi&s;e-men in the Ea&s;t, where is he? But you being taught of God, &s;hall heare a voyce behind you, &s;aying, <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 30.21.</NOTE> <HI>Haec e&s;t via, ambulate in illa:</HI> This is the way, walke in it. Now, for our direction and &s;afe proceeding in the way, the&s;e three things are principally nece&s;&s;arie:</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Light to &s;hew the way.</HI> i. <HI>Truth in the mind by the Word reuealing it.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Sight to know the way.</HI> i. <HI>Perfection of the heart by Faith receiuing it.</HI></P>
<PB N="31" REF="18">
<P N="3">3. <HI>Might to goe the way.</HI> i. <HI>Goodne&s;&s;e in actions, by our good-workes practizing it.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. To haue <HI>light,</HI> and no <HI>&s;ight,</HI> makes our Traueller grouell at noone day, becau&s;e that In&s;trument and <HI>Organ</HI> of the <HI>Eye of Faith,</HI> which &s;hould receiue the promi&s;es of God, the <HI>obiect</HI> of happine&s;&s;e, and <HI>conuey</HI> tho&s;e <HI>&s;pecies,</HI> and apparant &s;emblances, to the Soule to be di&s;cerned, is defectiue or wanting. If the light which is in you be darkene&s;&s;e, now great is that darkene&s;&s;e. Saith our Saui|our, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Pet. 2.9.</NOTE> <HI>He that lackth the&s;e things is blind and cannot &s;ee a farre off. Peter.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. To haue <HI>&s;ight,</HI> and no <HI>light,</HI> is a mi&s;erie not inferi|or to the former, When the comfortable light of the Go&s;pell is taken away, When the <HI>diaphanes,</HI> and per&s;pi|cuitie of Scriptures is clouded and ob&s;cured with a &s;trange language, When &s;upine <HI>ignorance</HI> &s;hall make vp the windowes of the Soule &s;o clo&s;e, that the <HI>rayes</HI> of the Go&s;pell cannot pierce into thee, When the heauie <HI>&s;leepe</HI> of prophane <HI>Athei&s;me,</HI> binds the &s;en&s;es, and &s;huts vp the Eye-lids: When in a &s;trange exta&s;ie, the dreams of <HI>enthou&s;ia&s;m,</HI> or a <HI>priuat Spirit,</HI> &s;hall delude the phan&s;ie with fal&s;e apparitions, and gro&s;&s;e expo&s;itions: There mu&s;t needs en&s;ue a <HI>gloomy darkene&s;&s;e,</HI> And the night coms wherein no Man can walke.</P>
<P N="3">3. To haue <HI>light</HI> and <HI>&s;ight,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclce&s;. 12.3.</NOTE> Yet, if <HI>might, abilitie,</HI> and a <HI>loco-motiue facultie,</HI> be wanting: If the <HI>Keepers of the Hou&s;e</HI> &s;hall tremble, and the &s;trong Men &s;hall bow them|&s;elues: If with <HI>Mephibo&s;heth,</HI> thou be lame on both legges, a Cripple in thy actiue and pa&s;&s;iue obedience. How can&s;t thou &s;ay with S. <HI>Paul?</HI> I haue fini&s;hed my <HI>cour&s;e:</HI> I haue <HI>run the race,</HI> that is &s;et before me, how with <HI>Hezekiah? hithalachetti,</HI> I haue walked. But when the nimble <HI>Feet of practice</HI> &s;hall be directed by the <HI>per|fect Eye</HI> of Faith, and that enlightned by the Word of <HI>Truth,</HI> this inables a Palmer to make ha&s;t with an euen cour&s;e vnto the Holy Land.</P>
<PB N="32" REF="19">
<P><HI>Before thee in Truth.</HI> There is the conformitie and corre&s;pondence of the intellect, to the patern and model of all Truth: that is, The renewing in the Spirit of the Mind, by the hearing of the Word.</P>
<P><HI>And with a perfect Heart.</HI> There is conformitie of the <HI>Will and affection</HI> vnto the intellect, transformed by the renouation of the Mind, when the exorbitant and irre|gular pa&s;&s;ions, are brought to the obedience of Chri&s;t, <HI>Doing the will of God from the Heart, Eph.</HI> 6.6.</P>
<P><HI>And haue done that which is good in their Eyes.</HI> Not <HI>&V;ideo meliora proboque deteriora &s;equor:</HI> approoue the better and follow the wor&s;e: But, <HI>feci,</HI> I haue done it. There is the conformitie and adaequation of his <HI>practice</HI> in euerie good word and worke, an&s;werable to the for|mer congruitie of Heart and Mind, to the Truth of God. He addes, <HI>in thine Eyes,</HI> becau&s;e, what&s;oeuer the will of Man doth naturally pur&s;ue with an eager de&s;ire, be it neuer &s;o <HI>foule</HI> an euil, it is <HI>masked</HI> with a <HI>&s;hew</HI> of Virtue, and embraced in the appearance of good (as that Deuil in the likene&s;&s;e of <HI>Samuel.</HI>) And becau&s;e God &s;eeth not as Man &s;eeth, his pure Eyes can endure no vncleane&s;&s;e. Therefore not that which <HI>Bleer-Eyed rea&s;on</HI> coniectures to be good, but what tho&s;e <HI>Eyes that are ouer the righte|ous,</HI> vouch&s;afes to behold as a plea&s;ing obiect, <HI>That haue I done.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. To doe good without truth in the knowledge and &s;inceritie in the Heart, is but, <HI>&s;plendidum peccatum,</HI> a glo|rious Sinne. The highe&s;t reach of hone&s;t infidelitie, coms many degrees &s;hort of Heauen: Such good workes may &s;lacke the Fire of Hell, but not extingui&s;h: They may make damnation (it may bee) more tollerable, but not le&s;&s;e durable. What&s;oeuer is not of Faith, is Sinne, and <HI>Qui non credunt etiam nunc condemnantur,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.23. Iohn 3.18.</NOTE> They that be|leeue not, are damned all readie.</P>
<P N="2">2. To walke in Truth without &s;inceritie of affection and vprightne&s;&s;e in action, is but an idle &s;wimming
<PB N="33" REF="19"> &s;peculation of the truth, <HI>changing</HI> indeed <HI>the truth of God into a lie.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ro. 1.25.</NOTE> This comes farre &s;hort of the Deuil, who is the fa|ther of <HI>lies</HI> yet knowes more <HI>truth</HI> than the world be&s;ide.</P>
<P>Hee that &s;aith I know God and keepes not his com|mandements (in plaine termes &s;aith Iohn) <HI>He is a lier and the truth is not in him.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Ioh. 2.4.</NOTE></P>
<P N="3">3. To haue good motions and inclinations of the heart without directions of the truth and operation of life, is a meere impotencie to godline&s;&s;e like Balaams wi&s;h, let mee die the death of the righteous but cares not to liue the life of the righteous: the&s;e abortiue inchoations, and faire blo&s;&s;omes neuer came to any ripene&s;&s;e and maturitie in grace, but vani&s;h like the apples of Sodome into &s;moke, or the fla&s;hes of a blazing meteor into &s;tinking ayre:</P>
<P>Wherefore this threefold cord mu&s;t not ea&s;ily be bro|ken, the&s;e twines may not be vnraueld <HI>&amp; quae non pro&s;unt &s;ingula iuncta inuant:</HI> like the wheeles in Ezekiels vi&s;ion, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 1.6.</NOTE> one wheele within another, like the wings of the Cheru|bims on the mercie &s;eate one mu&s;t touch another, like the &s;eraphicall order in the heauenly Quier <HI>i&s;te ad istum, vuus ad vuum,</HI> mutually an&s;wering one another. This reci|procall coherence and entortled dependance &s;eemes to be each an <HI>exege&s;is</HI> and illu&s;tration, nay a proofe and de|mon&s;tration of the other. I haue walkt in truth how know you that, becau&s;e with a perfect heart, how know you that is perfect. <HI>The heart of man is deceitfull aboue all things who can know it. tot mendacij latebris &s;catet cor humanum tam fraudulenta hypocry&s;i tectum e&s;t vt &s;eip&s;um &s;epe fallat,</HI> the heart of man breakes out into &s;o many &s;ecret burrow|holes or lurking places of deceipt, it is ca&s;ed or couered with &s;uch fraudulent hypocry&s;ie, that many times it de|ciues it &s;elfe, or a man puts a tricke vpon his owne &s;oule. This is an infallible token of a perfect heart to e&s;chew euil and doe good: <HI>bonum feci,</HI> I haue done good when the euill of the tongue keepes touch with the motions or wheeles of the heart, and are both &s;et and kept according
<PB N="32" REF="20"> to the Sonne of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e it makes the true <HI>watch</HI> of a Chri&s;tian. This triplicitie in vnitie an&s;wers to the holy Trinitie, and that all were in her: wee haue a te&s;timony beyond exception euen of God him&s;elfe. 2. Cron. 31.20. and hee wrought that which was <HI>good</HI> and <HI>right</HI> and <HI>truth</HI> before the Lord, &s;hall wee briefely and in a word di&s;mi&s;&s;e the particulars, the fir&s;t is <HI>be&euml;meth,</HI> in truth how can that be? <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al 116.10.</NOTE> &s;eeing <HI>omuis homo mendax,</HI> euery mans a liar, in that he is a &s;inner hee's a liar, and he that &s;aith hee hath no &s;inne (is the greater liar) becau&s;e he deceiues him&s;elfe and there is no trueth in him: Hezekiah &s;peakes not in re|&s;pect of his <HI>per&s;onall infirmities,</HI> for in many things wee of|fend all: but in re&s;pect of his <HI>godly fidelitie in his royall of|fice</HI> &s;quaring all his proceedings Eccle&s;ia&s;tique and ciuill according to the rule &amp; method of all truth, take a view of them both, in his Church gouernment ob&s;erue his de|forming the wor&s;hip of the <HI>fal&s;e gods,</HI> reforming the wor|&s;hip of the <HI>true God,</HI> with what courage, zeale, and mag|nanimitie di&s;&s;olued he the forgeries of &s;uper&s;tition crept into the Church? how did hee demoli&s;h their idoles and carued images? &s;tocke vp their groues? deface their high places? breake downe their altars errected in euery nooke and canton of the Citie? in a word all the religions of profanation &s;pecially the <HI>brazen Serpent.</HI> By them abu&s;ed how did he pound and &s;tamp them in pieces and &s;et them floting in the brooke of Kidron. And for reformation marke what zeale hee hath for the Lord of ho&s;ts, the fir&s;t yeere, nay the fir&s;t moneth after his inauguration hee opened the doores of the hou&s;e of the Lord, who&s;e locks and hinges were ru&s;ted for want of v&s;age.</P>
<P>How &s;umptuou&s;ly repaired hee the Temple who&s;e ruines made her de&s;olate? how carefully hee made the Leuits cary foorth the filth that defiled the holy places? how cheerefully did hee courage vp the drooping &s;pirits of the &s;onnes of Aaron? how faithfully re&s;tored hee the Church goods and con&s;ecrated wealth and embeziled?
<PB N="33" REF="20"> how diligently did did hee &s;tabli&s;h diuine &s;eruice with trumpets and Church-mu&s;ique? how &s;olemnly did hee celebrate the pa&s;&s;eouer with the ioyfull concour&s;e of the whole nation. La&s;tly how clearely did hee through the vaile of Mo&s;es behold the <HI>grace and truth</HI> that comes by Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, as his frequencie in prayer, his patience in trouble, his confidence in danger, his per&s;euerance in faith, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>D prid ox.</HI></NOTE> giue abundant witne&s;&s;e for politique affaires, pro|&s;peritie is the hand-maid of pietie, it is impo&s;&s;ible the &s;tate of that common-welth &s;hould totter that is vpheld by the pillars and &s;upportments of true religion. I &s;peake not how hee freed his &s;ubiects from the oppre&s;&s;ion of <HI>A&s;&s;y|ri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">s</HI> tyrannie. How he vanqui&s;hed the Phili&s;tines and out in peeces that continuall rodd of the Church, how his prayers defeated the armie of Zenacherib. I let pa&s;&s;e his pious workes, as buildings, fortifications, water-workes, proui&s;ion and munition for vpholding and maintaining <HI>truth.</HI> Oh happy land with &s;uch a King. Now while&s;t I reade a Lecture of Hezekiah, tell me, did not your hearts burne within you while&s;t I made a relation of your owne happine&s;&s;e. I know you haue made the application alrea|die with a thankefull Iubile for the pro&s;perous raigne of our good Hezekiah who being &s;icke could turne his face and pray <HI>onna lehouah.</HI> Remember &amp;c. as you heard that <HI>King</HI> of Bi&s;hops our former mo&s;t worthy Dioce&s;&s;er out of this Chapter in this place to a &s;olemne a&s;&s;embly declare vnto you, &amp; de&s;eruedly we may euer thanke our God for him. For neuer yet was the Chri&s;tian world ble&s;t, with &s;o wi&s;e, &s;o learned, &s;o vigilant, &s;o con&s;tant a defender of the <HI>truth</HI> as he is at this day. Witne&s;&s;e in the&s;e trouble&s;ome times of warre the peaceable and flouri&s;hing e&s;tate of true religion: Witnes that gracious &s;uccour and reliefe to har|borle &s;te exiles per&s;ecuted for the <HI>truths</HI> &s;ake: Witne&s;&s;e his daily encouragement to the Mini&s;ters of Gods <HI>truth:</HI> Wit|ne&s;&s;e that vniforme reformation for preaching fundamen|tall points of <HI>truth</HI> on Sabboth after-noones, the mo&s;t
<PB N="36" REF="21"> direct and happie&s;t cour&s;e for aduancement of the truth which is according to godline&s;&s;e: witne&s;&s;e his zealous exactne&s;&s;e in the ballances of iu&s;tice. I might ouerwhelme you with a cloud of witne&s;&s;e. I onely appeale to tho&s;e excellent and eternall monuments of truth, his writings, and &s;peeches, publi&s;hed among&s;t vs, when euery leafe, page, and line is an indeleble <HI>tracke</HI> and foote&s;tep of his walking in truth. Therefor the Lord heard his prayers and lengthened his yeeres (and I be&s;eech God our &s;innes may not &s;horten them) <HI>heeatked oh Lord and thou gaue&s;t him a long life yea euen for euer and euer.</HI></P>
<P>Come we to our &s;elues with Iere. inqui&s;ition <HI>run to and fro through the &s;treets of Ieru&s;alem,</HI> looke and enquire if ye can finde a man or if there bee any that &s;eeketh <HI>truth.</HI> Where (tell) &s;hall wee &s;pie out a true <HI>Nathaniel</HI> in whom there is no guile: who can make that earne&s;t prote&s;tation of Saint Paul. <HI>I &s;peake the truth before God, I lie not!</HI> or &s;ay with Iacobs &s;onnes when Io&s;eph would beare them downe, they were &s;pies, <HI>we are true men.</HI> Gen. 42.11.</P>
<P><HI>Vetus illa e&s;t quaerela,</HI> as B. <HI>Iewel</HI> beginnes that excel|lent and elegant apologie, it is an ancient complaint deriued from the fir&s;t times euen of the Patriarches and Prophets, confirmed by the letters and te&s;timonies of all memorie that truth goes a pilgrimage vpon earth, wee know not where &s;hee it re&s;ident, like the Sonne of man &s;hee hath not where to lay her head: yet mee thinkes I heare an ob&s;treperous Papi&s;t quarell and contend, that truth is the minion of the Pope: his infallible iudge|ment hath in&s;tald her in Saint Peters Chaire, <HI>heic illius arma, heic currus fuit,</HI> &s;hall wee enquire at his holine&s;&s;e for the &s;acred way of truth? I feare mee <HI>Pontius Pilates</HI> expo&s;tulation, &s;hall bee all the &s;atisfaction wee get there: <HI>quid e&s;t veritas?</HI> what is truth? with what a confu&s;ed heape of notirious lies, palpable impo&s;tures, gro&s;&s;e il|lu&s;ions
<PB N="37" REF="21"> doth he gull his Catholique admirers, onely hee prooues Saint Pauls &s;aying true. <HI>The comming of the man of &s;inne is in lying wonders and deceiuablene&s;&s;e of vnrighteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e.</HI> There bundles of Legends and packes of incredible fibles them&s;elues are a&s;hamed of: and <HI>Canus</HI> &s;aith he that wrote the golden Legend was a man of a brazen face and a leaden heart. Their image which they &s;o &s;tiffely main|taine, the Prophet Habakuk calles them <HI>Doctores mendacij</HI> the teachers of lies. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.18.</NOTE> The Prophet Ieremie <HI>Doctrina vani|tatis,</HI> the Doctrine of vanitie, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 10.8.</NOTE> Zach. &s;ayes there tera|phim are <HI>&s;peakers of a lie.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 10.2.</NOTE> Becau&s;e not onely the outward &s;hape and vi&s;ible &s;imilitude re&s;embles nothing le&s;&s;e then what it importeth, <HI>we know that an idol is nothing in the world.</HI> But al&s;o that in ward notion conceiued and fa&s;hioned, in the braine is nothing el&s;e but a meere ful&s;ie &s;peech, vaine &s;peculation of carnall inuention, if then tho&s;e images are teachers of lies what are the patrons of them? <HI>idle &s;hepheards, they that make them</HI> (&s;aih the P&s;almi&s;t) <NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 12.17.</NOTE> <HI>are like vnto them, &s;o are all they that put their tru&s;t in them:</HI> their doctrine of aquiuocation and mentall re&s;eruation: <HI>quanam veritas</HI> what truth is this their api&s;h exorci&s;mes and Coniuration of the Deuill with belles and tapers. <HI>Q. v.</HI> what truth is this? their adoration of holy reliques, immunitie, and rotten bones. <HI>Q. v.</HI> what truth is this. Their prodigi|ous miracles wrote not onely by our Ladies &s;hrine at <HI>Laureto Sichem Haull,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tur&s;elin Lip&s;ius.</HI></NOTE> but by euery paine and Triobolarie S. foy&s;ted into the Popes Almanake. What truth is this? their tran&s;ub&s;tantiation where the Shaueling waues vp his breaden god and neuer &s;aith <HI>I haue a lie in my right hand.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 44.20.</NOTE> I &s;hould wonder that men (otherwi&s;e, verie di&s;creet, iu|dicious, and learned) &s;hould yeeld a&s;&s;ent to &s;uch toyes but that our Apo&s;tle &s;aith, <HI>God &s;hall &s;end ihem &s;trong delu|&s;ions that they &s;hould beleeue a lie.</HI></P>
<P>But you that haue the way of truth more clearely re|uealed and the light of the Go&s;pel &s;hining in your <HI>Go&s;han.</HI> hath not the Lord a controuer&s;ie with this land <HI>etiam quia
<PB N="36" REF="22"> nulla veritas,</HI> becau&s;e there is no truth, truth is peri&s;hed from among you. We finde &s;aith Saint <HI>Ba&s;il.</HI> two &s;igni|fications of truth, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ba&s;il in P&s;.</HI> 15.</NOTE> <HI>the one is the apprehen&s;ion of tho&s;e things that altogether belong vnto a ble&s;&s;ed life. The other is the whol&s;ome knowledge of &s;uch things as appertaine onely vnto this.</HI> For the former, is not the gold become dro&s;&s;e! the reli|gion full of hypocry&s;ie! full of di&s;&s;imulation, vnder the colour of long prayers to deuoure widowes hou&s;es! vnder the pretence of pious v&s;es to &s;ucke the blood of the father|le&s;&s;e, and prey vpon goods of Orphans! Haue wee not &s;heeps clothing, Wolues rauening, Salomons <HI>guilded pot&s;heads,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 29.23.</NOTE> our Sauiours <HI>painted &s;epulchres,</HI> men that make religion a thorowfare to their aduantages, the profe&s;&s;ion of truth a &s;aueguard to their couetous and corded enter|pri&s;es, who&s;e bowels would not yern to &s;ee <HI>Iacobs</HI> &s;onnes comfort their father, mourning for that child them&s;elues vnnaturally bereaued him of? <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 37.35.</NOTE> to &s;ee <HI>Iezabel</HI> proclaime a fea&s;t; <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kin. 21.9.</NOTE> <HI>Gehezi</HI> fetch apparrell for the young Prophets of Mount Ephraim? <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Kin. 5 22.</NOTE> Hanballat protect Nehemiah? <NOTE PLACE="marg">Neh 6.11.</NOTE> <HI>Herod</HI> enquire for the &s;tarre? the <HI>Scribes</HI> make Apologie for the Sabboth, and <HI>Iudas</HI> plead for the poore, <HI>quanam veritas,</HI> what truth is this? may not wee &s;ay with Saint Iames, <HI>this mans religion is vaine,</HI> and with Saint Paul <HI>they change the truth of God into a lie.</HI></P>
<P>For truth in morall and ciuill conuer&s;ation, is more precious than the gold of Ophir, the Onix and the Saphir, a rare iewel, I will get mee (&s;aith Iere.) <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier 5.5.</NOTE> vnto the great men and will &s;peake vnto them for they haue knowen the way of the Lord, and the iudgements of their god, but the&s;e haue altogether broken the yoke, the <HI>&s;uaue ingum,</HI> the &s;weete yoke of the knowledge of the truth, I would to God in the <HI>&s;eates of Iustice</HI> there were no coriuption at the bench, no briberie at the barre, no partialitie in pleading, no calumniation in the witne&s;&s;e, no peruertion in the &s;en|tence: in the <HI>Church,</HI> I would to God there were no &s;ci&s;|maticall aemulation, no Haereticall A&s;per&s;ion, no Papi&s;ti|call
<PB N="37" REF="22"> inclination, no &s;imonicall v&s;urpation, no Hypocri|ticall di&s;&s;imulation, in the <HI>Ciue</HI> I would to God the Commerce and traffique might happily thrine without &s;ini&s;ter and abu&s;iue dealings, in garbling and &s;ophi&s;tica|ting the wares, in darkning the lights, impairing the waights without hauing <HI>a &s;tone, and a &s;tone,</HI> the <HI>mea&s;ures of leaues</HI> and <HI>baggs of deceipts</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"></NOTE> I would to God the Contract: and Leagues of amitie, might be &s;trucke without periurie, di&s;loyaltie, trecherie, di&s;hone&s;tie, and the new deui&s;ed trade of breaking, I would to God that &s;peeches and re|ports were purged from the Leuin of malice, enuie, and de|bate, and the like &s;owre and vn&s;auorie corruption. God forbid that I &s;hould &s;inne again&s;t the Lord, in cea&s;ing to pray for you in the &s;ame words of our ble&s;&s;ed Sauiour, <HI>&s;an&s;tifie them with thy truth, thy word is the truth.</HI> But woe is mee, there is none righteous (&s;aith Micah) <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mich. 7.2.</NOTE> euery man hunts his neighbour with a net, that they may doe euill with both hands earne&s;tly, euery one is an hypocrite and adi&s;&s;embler, E&s;. 9.17. They haue no courage for the truth. Ier. 9.3. what a lamentable thing is this where the &s;hiuering &s;oule &s;its vpon the lips ready to take her flight into another world, we mu&s;t be forced to &s;ay contrarie to Hez. remember how I haue walked in the Coun&s;ell of the vngodly, <HI>in fal&s;ehood with a deceit full heart and haue done that which is wicked in thine eyes &amp;c. Wherefore (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) putting away lying, let euery man &s;peake the truth vnto his neighbour.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4 15.2.4.</NOTE> Hereby you &s;hall expre&s;&s;e the image of God created in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and holine&s;&s;e of truth, hereby you may a&s;&s;ure your &s;elues to bee the children of God for &s;o many as are the Sonnes of God are led by the &s;pirit of God which holy conuoy is called <HI>pneuma alethe|as</HI> Ioh. 14.17. the &s;pirit of truth &s;aith our Sauiour &s;hall lead you into all trueth, heer's your onely confort when you he &s;icke vpon your bed, when this earthly tabernacle &s;hall be di&s;lolued, you &s;hall dwell in the Lords tabernacle and re&s;t vpon his holy hill, hee that &s;peaketh the truth
<PB N="38" REF="23"> from his Heart, and v&s;eth no deceipt in his tongue (&s;aith the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t.</HI>) <HI>Ba&s;ile</HI> notes, that <HI>the truth is from the Heart:</HI> becau&s;e, out of the aboundance of the Heart, the tongue &s;peaketh.</P>
<P>The Aream of &s;peech, flowes from the &s;our&s;e and &s;pring of the inward affections: Thereupon &s;aith <HI>Heze|kiah,</HI> in the next place, <HI>velef &s;halem,</HI> with a perfect Heart. The Heart it is that God requires: <HI>My Sonne giue me thy Heart:</HI> Not thy Braines or thy Raines, thy Hand or thy Head, but thy <HI>Heart:</HI> And aptly, becau&s;e nothing can repleni&s;h the Heart of Man, but God onely. <HI>Tres &s;unt cap&s;ulae:</HI> There are three little Clo&s;&s;ets and cels for the three Per&s;ons in the Trinity, yet one Heart for one God. I will prai&s;e God with the be&s;t member that I haue, that is, my Heart. It is the principall part both in e&s;&s;ence and exi&s;tence, dignitie and virtue; whereupon dependeth our life, mouing, being; therefore fitte&s;t for God, in whom we <HI>liue, moone, and haue our being.</HI></P>
<P>Some tran&s;late <HI>integro Corde,</HI> with a whole Heart, <HI>Cor vnum, via vna,</HI> an intire Heart: All your affections &amp; fa|culties of your Soule, mu&s;t <HI>hoc agere,</HI> be intent vpon this one thing.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Sine compo&s;itione obiecti,</HI> without compounding the obiect: There is no <HI>coparcinorie</HI> with God. Woe be to the &s;inner (&s;aith <HI>Ben: Sirach</HI>) that goes two manner of wayes. The Law forbids Lin&s;ey-wol&s;ey garments, &s;owing Mi&s;cellane, yoking Oxe &amp; A&s;&s;e toge|ther, to intimate how hatefull it is to that God (who&s;e Nature is mo&s;t &s;imple) to haue, copes-mates. For vs to con&s;ult with Fle&s;h and Blood in mattes of Religion. The God of Truth, is like the naturall Mother of the Child, <HI>all or none.</HI> No concord twixt <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> and <HI>Belial,</HI> If God be God follow him, &s;aith <HI>Elias,</HI> 1. <HI>Kings</HI> 18.21.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Integro Corde, Sine diui&s;ione &s;ubiects,</HI> without deui|ding the Heart into &s;euerall tenements and parcels. We may not haue our affections &s;cattered like the portions of
<PB N="39" REF="23"> <HI>Medea's</HI> Children. The Heart cannot liue like <HI>in&s;ect creatures,</HI> as Eare-wigges, Wa&s;pes, &amp; Emits, &amp;c. which will craule being cut in peeces, <HI>aner dip&s;uchos,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ari&s;t. de anim.</HI> 4.7.</NOTE> &s;aith Saint <HI>Iames,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iames. 1.8</NOTE> <HI>A double minded man is vncon&s;tant in all his wayes,</HI> For when the Mind brancheth it &s;elfe into many intenti|ons, it breeds a puzzle and confu&s;ion in all actions. <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cum animus di|uiditur in mul|ta fit minor in &s;ingula.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Nu&s;|quam e&s;t qui vbi&abque; e&s;t,</HI> He that is euerie where is no where. It is a &s;igne of a cloyd &s;tomach to be ta&s;ting of euerie di&s;h: Varietie may plea&s;e the palat, but nouri&s;heth not the body. He that trauels with his Religion, may find many an ho&s;t but few freinds: beware then of di&s;traction like <HI>Metius Suffetius,</HI> houering twixt the <HI>Albans</HI> and the <HI>Romanes,</HI> was drawne in peeces with wild Hor&s;es. <HI>Deborah</HI> cur&s;ed <HI>Meros,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iud. 5.23</NOTE> becau&s;e it was <HI>q. meros grae.</HI> part for <HI>Si&s;era,</HI> part for <HI>Deborah.</HI> So <HI>Nehemiah,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Neh. 13</NOTE> <HI>anathe|matized</HI> tho&s;e people that &s;pake halfe <HI>A&s;hodod,</HI> halfe <HI>He|brew.</HI> God &s;pewes out <HI>Laodicea,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reu. 3.16</NOTE> being neither hot nor cold. Oh then, in a word remember that <HI>entole megale,</HI> the great Commandement our Sauiour &s;peakes of, <HI>Thou &s;halt loue the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Others commonly tran&s;late, <HI>perfecto Corde,</HI> with a <HI>perfect Heart.</HI> Now who can &s;ay, my Heart is perfect. There is none &s;o Iu&s;t vpon the Earth, that doth good and &s;innes not, &s;aith the <HI>Preacher.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle. 7.22</NOTE> So the Prophet <HI>Ieremiah,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 17.9</NOTE> <HI>The Heart is deceitfull aboue all things, de&s;peratly wicked. Who can know it?</HI> Perfection is con&s;idered after a foure|fould manner: it is either,</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Originall,</HI> at the Creation in the Primitiue &s;tate of Innocencie. <HI>God made Man perfect, but he found out ma|ny inuentions.</HI> He had many tricks in his Head to vndoe him&s;elf. This then is lo&s;t and is <HI>irrecouerable.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Legal,</HI> in the &s;trickt ob&s;eruance and due perfor|mance of euerie iot and puntilio of the Law, that the ri|gour of Gods &s;euere&s;t Iu&s;tice can exact: And this is <HI>im|po&s;&s;ible.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Morall,</HI> in the comppleat attainment of all virtu|ous
<PB N="40" REF="24"> <HI>habits,</HI> by the con&s;tant &s;tudy and frequent practice of Morall precepts and ob&s;eruations: And this is <HI>impro|fitable.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>Euangelicall,</HI> in a carefull and earne&s;t indeauour of entire obedience to the whole Law, hauing by &s;auing Faith, the con&s;ummation of the All-&s;uflicient righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t imputed. And this perfection in neuer &s;o weake a manner, in neuer &s;o &s;mall a mea&s;ure, is true and ab&s;olute perfection. A new borne Babe hath as perfect a <HI>Heart,</HI> as the olde&s;t Man and greate&s;t Giant. Euerie child of God, by the benefit of <HI>New-birth,</HI> hath the perfection of all parts, though in this World he hath not all parts of perfection. But (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle) <HI>When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part is done away,</HI> 1. <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.10.</P>
<P><HI>The Heart then is perfect:</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Comparatiu&eacute;,</HI> By way of compari&s;on, in re&s;pect of tho&s;e Men, who&s;e Hearts the god of this World hath blynded with the manifold attaintures of vnclean|ne&s;&s;e. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.</NOTE></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Inchoatiu&eacute;,</HI> By way of inchoation and perfect be|ginning of Grace, being confident of this verie thing, that he which hath begun a good worke in you, will <HI>accompli&s;h</HI> it vnto the day of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil 1.6.</NOTE></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Acceptiu&eacute;,</HI> By way of acceptance, &s;uch are the riches of his Mercie, and aboundant goodne&s;&s;e of his fa|uourale indulgence, that he accepteth a Man according to that which he hath, &amp; not according to that which he hath not. <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 8.12.</NOTE></P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>Affectiu&eacute;,</HI> By way of affection, God crownes the defires of the Heart &amp; adornes the purpo&s;es of the mind, with &s;uch a profitable increa&s;e of per&s;euering growth, that meane and poore attempts at fir&s;t, ari&s;e at length to a good &s;cantling of perfection. See a patterne of <HI>S. Paul,</HI> I count not my &s;elfe to haue apprehended, as though I were alreadie <HI>perfect:</HI> but this one thing I doe, forget|ting
<PB N="41" REF="24"> that which is behind, and reaching forth to that which is before, I pre&s;&s;e toward the marke of the prize &amp;c.</P>
<P>You &s;ee an affection is a kind of perfection, for &s;o im|plyes the con&s;equent exhortation. <HI>Let as many as be per|fect, be thus minded, &amp;c.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> 15</NOTE> You may attaine vnto this perfe|ction <HI>by looking into the perfect law of Liberty,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam 1.25.</NOTE> by which, as in a <HI>Gla&s;&s;e,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Cor. 3.18.</NOTE> you are changed from Glorie to Glorie, that you may be <HI>perfect</HI> as your Heauenly Father is <HI>perfect.</HI> In a word, follow your endeauors with daily and de|uout prayer, becau&s;e &s;aith <HI>Iames,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam. 1.17.</NOTE> Euerie good and <HI>perfect</HI> guift is from the Father of Light. And I doubt not the Man of God may be <HI>perfect</HI> and thoroughly furni&s;hed vnto all good workes. <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Tim. 3.17.</NOTE></P>
<P>The word naturally &s;ignifies a <HI>peaceable Heart,</HI> for indeed, the perfection of the Heart con&s;i&s;ts in the peace and concord of the affections, <HI>Loue is the bond of perfecti|on,</HI> A peaceable heart is a louing heart, Charity is a bond, becau&s;e it vnites and combines the di&s;ordered pa&s;&s;ions in a plea&s;ant harmonie, and peaceable tranquilitie. The Heart of a Chri&s;tian, is like the Needle in a Compa&s;&s;e, being touched with the Load-&s;tone of the holy Spirit, and &s;ecretly guided by the Pole, that is the Loue of God. In all the tempe&s;ts and &s;tormes that beat vpon the &s;illy Bark of the Soule, when all the &s;towage and layding tumble vp and downe, and the Mariners them&s;elues flag|ger and reele to and fro like a drunken Man, and are at their wits ends: Then this peaceable Heart is not moo|ued, <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al 112.</NOTE> he will not be afraid of any ill tidings, his Heart &s;tands fa&s;t, his Heart is e&s;tably &s;hed.</P>
<P>This peace is threefould.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Eternall</HI> will God, <HI>Rom.</HI> 5.1. being iu&s;tified by Faith, we haue peace with God.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Internall</HI> with our &s;elues, when the terrors of God doe not warre again&s;t our Con&s;cience, nor the de&s;ires mutinie again&s;t the Law of God, and this is begotten of
<PB N="42" REF="25"> the former, both wrot by Chri&s;t, who is <HI>pax no&s;tra,</HI> our peace, <HI>Eph.</HI> 2.14. concluded on by the blood of his Cro&s;&s;e <HI>Col.</HI> 1.20.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Externall,</HI> with others, liuing without quarrels, brabbles, and contentions, though not without troubles, and mole&s;tations, <HI>in the world you &s;hall haue troubles. Indea|uour as much as po&s;&s;ible to haue peace with all men.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ro. 12.18.</NOTE> This pri|ueledge we enioy by our <HI>Rex &s;halem,</HI> the King of peace, This is the pro&s;perous e&s;tate Chri&s;ts Di&s;ciples had giuen them by legacie. <HI>My peace I giue vnto you: My peace I leaue vnto you,</HI> &s;aith our Sauiour vnto them in his la&s;t Will and Te&s;tament.</P>
<P>As for the vngodly it is not &s;o with them, <HI>nulla pax im|pijs</HI> &s;aith <HI>E&s;ay</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;. 57.20.21.</NOTE> the wicked are like the <HI>troubled &s;ea</HI> when it cannot re&s;t, who&s;e waters ca&s;t vp mire and durt, <HI>there is no peace &s;aith my God vnto the wicked.</HI> How ere in a wretchle&s;&s;e &s;ecuritie, they flatter them&s;elues &s;aying, <HI>peace peace,</HI> they make a couenant with death, and with Hell they are at agreement, yet they, by this very compact proclaime open warre again&s;t heauen, and bid defiance to the Lord of Ho&s;ts, they de&s;pight the &s;pirit of grace and like ob&s;tinate <HI>rebels,</HI> &s;hew them&s;elues to bee <HI>theomachoi</HI> fighters again&s;t God. No peace within them: their tu|multuous con&s;cience &s;ounds <HI>alarm</HI> to buckle with the iudgements of God, which they know are readie to en|counter them, concupi&s;cence hotly pur&s;uing the plea&s;ures of &s;inne for a &s;ea&s;on like the <HI>Ephe&s;ian</HI> Copper &s;mith makes an vprore, and ciuill combu&s;tion in them, all the pa&s;&s;ions of the mind, as <HI>loue, ioy, feare, &s;orrow, anger, hope &amp;c.</HI> are become mutinous, &s;o that like the race of Cadmus his armed men, which came vp of &s;erpents teeth, they mutually &s;lay one another, or rather like the garri&s;on of the Phili&s;tines being &s;mote with a diuine terror euery ones &s;word is again&s;t his fellow, thus the &s;editious thoughts in the bre&s;t of a wicked man, with an vnplaca|ble furie di&s;comfite and melt each other. <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Populumque potentem in &s;ua victrici conuer|&s;um vi&s;cera dextra. Luc.</HI></NOTE> No peace
<PB N="43" REF="25"> without them: all the creatures of God &s;et them&s;elues in a <HI>battalia</HI> again&s;t their makers enemy, the <HI>Angels</HI> fight again&s;t Aegyptians and <HI>A&s;&s;yrians,</HI> the <HI>&s;larrs</HI> fight in their cour&s;e again&s;t <HI>Si&s;era</HI> the <HI>Son and Moone,</HI> again&s;t <HI>Amalech.</HI> the <HI>fire</HI> from heauen again&s;t Sodom. The <HI>waters</HI> again&s;t the old world, the <HI>aire</HI> infected with pe&s;tilence in the time of King <HI>Dauid</HI> &s;lew three&s;core and fiue thou&s;and, the <HI>earth</HI> opened and &s;wallowed vp <HI>Dathan</HI> and couered the congregation of <HI>Abiram.</HI> That which &s;hould be, for their welth is an occa&s;ion of falling, their <HI>table is made a &s;nare</HI> in the imprecation of the P&s;almi&s;t, and &s;aith Iob. <HI>the meat in their bowels &s;hall turne to the poy&s;on of A&s;ps.</HI> Finally they are of a quarrel&s;ome and wrangling nature; like <HI>I&s;hmael who&s;e hand was again&s;t euery man, and euery mans hand again&s;t him,</HI> oh then with <HI>Hez.</HI> walke <HI>Velef Shalem</HI> with a <HI>peaceable</HI> and quiet heart, indeauor &s;aith the Apo. to keepe the vnitie of the &s;pirit in the bond of peace. E&s;|chew euill and doe good, &s;eeke <HI>peace</HI> and en&s;ue it. I would di&s;mi&s;&s;e you now with the peace of God, onely a word or two of the third part, for I told you they were in&s;epraably twi&s;ted the threefold cable to fa&s;ten to the Anchor of your hope, which mu&s;t not ea&s;iely bee broken. <HI>Ve ha tou be&euml;necha ha&s;hithi.</HI> I haue done that which is good in thine eyes, the kingdome of heauen &s;aith our Saviour, comes not <HI>ek parat&euml;r&euml;&s;eoos,</HI> by ob&s;eruation, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 17.12.</NOTE> it is not in words, but in power &s;aith Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Cor. 4.20.</NOTE> not euery one that &s;aith Lord, Lord, &s;hall enter into the kingdome of hea|uen, but he that <HI>doth</HI> the will of my Father. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat 7.21.</NOTE> The lawyer propounded his que&s;tion wi&s;ely, <HI>quid faciam,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.25.</NOTE> ma&s;ter what &s;hall I doe to inherit euerla&s;ting life, as our Sauiours an&s;were inferrs <HI>hee fac et viue,</HI> doe this and liue. <HI>It in not &s;ufficient to haue perfection of heart without operation of good,</HI> iu&s;tification and &s;anctification are in&s;eparable, by faith we are iu&s;tified, by good workes wee are &s;anctified, wee are iu&s;tified by the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e which is of God, thorow faith which is perfect, not inherent: we are &s;anctified by
<PB N="44" REF="26"> the fruits of the &s;pirit and practi&s;e of new obedience which is inherent and not perfect. Of the one wee &s;ay with Saint Paul, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ro. 4.5.</NOTE> <HI>to him that worketh not but beleeueth, faith is ac|counted for righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI> Of the other wee &s;ay with Saint <HI>Iohn,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Iohn. 3.7.</NOTE> <HI>qui facit iu&s;ticiam iu&s;tus est,</HI> hee that doth rithteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e is righteous.</P>
<P>The Church of Rome &s;candalizeth our doctrine in this point (as in al things el&s;e) charging vs to preach again&s;t good workes, that they are nece&s;&s;ary to &s;aluation, <HI>qua&s;i tingi tantum &amp; credere &s;atis &s;it homine Chri&s;tiano,</HI> as if only to bee bapti&s;ed and to beleeue, were &s;ufficient for a Chri&s;tian man. Know proud Rome wee acknowledge their nece&s;&s;itie, wee exclude their meritorious dignitie, wee &s;ay faith alone (in&s;trumentally) iu&s;tifies, but iu&s;tifying faith is not alone, the <HI>heat</HI> of fire burnes, and not <HI>the light,</HI> and yet the heat is not without the light, the <HI>eye</HI> alone &s;ees and not the <HI>head,</HI> yet the eye &s;ees not out of the head. We remit the <HI>idle</HI> faith to the cloy&s;ter, the dead faith to <HI>lim|bo</HI> our <HI>&s;auing faith,</HI> and the <HI>faith of Gods elect,</HI> it is alwaies op|peratiue <HI>di ag&agrave;p&euml;s e'nergoum&eacute;ne, working by loue</HI> like <HI>Dorcas</HI> full of good workes, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 2.8. Tit. 1.1. Gal. 5.6.</NOTE> alwaies putting the hand to charitable exerci&s;e, our Church &s;aith with old <HI>I&s;aae</HI> let mee feele thee my &s;onne, if thy hands bee the hands of <HI>E&s;au</HI> rough with oppre&s;&s;ion, extortion, &s;imony, v&s;urie, briberie, &amp;c. &s;hee pre&s;ently concludes thou art the prophane <HI>E&s;au,</HI> and there is no ble&s;&s;ing for &s;uch mi&s;creants: wee exhort nay wee charge you with Timothy to be <HI>rich in good workes,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Tim. 6.17.</NOTE> to abound in charity, to be <HI>filled with the fruits of righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1.11.</NOTE> to ca&s;t your bead vpon the waters, <HI>to giue a portion to s;eauen and al&s;o to eight,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 11.1.</NOTE> to enlarge your bowels of compa&s;&s;i|on, to your poore brethren, with <HI>Iob</HI> to be <HI>a foot to the lame, aneye to the blind,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 29.15.</NOTE> a reliefe to tho&s;e that are in pri&s;on fa&s;t bound in mi&s;erie and yron.</P>
<P>We propound the &s;ame example with our Sauiour, <HI>Be ye mercifull, as your heauenly Father is mercifull.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">.36.</NOTE> Your <HI>do|ing good,</HI> is a meanes to glorifie God. <HI>Sic luceat lux ve|&s;tra,</HI>
<PB N="45" REF="26"> let vour light &s;o &s;hine before Men, that they &s;eeing your good workes, may glorifie, our Father which is in Heauen. They are a <HI>confirmation of your Election,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Pet. 1.10.</NOTE> to make it &s;ure, Giue all diligence to make your election &s;ure. They are <HI>demon&s;trations of repentance,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.8.</NOTE> Bring forth there|fore fruits worthy amendment of life, <HI>They are the in|tendment of our comming into the World,</HI> created to good workes. They are <HI>incitements and incouragements</HI> of the Saints to a Spirituall emulation, Let vs prouoke one ano|ther to loue and to good workes. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.24.</NOTE> The&s;e things if you know, happie are you if you <HI>doe</HI> them, As we mu&s;t doe good, &s;o we mu&s;t be carefull to doe it well, <HI>kalon me kalon eim&euml; kaloos,</HI> a good matter may be marred in the manner of the doing, The <HI>Phari&s;ies</HI> Trumpet blowes away his Charitie: To doe good out of a humour, is not to giue, but to ca&s;t away a benefit. When a good turne is racked out of a man, it is thankes enough to forgiue the benefa|ctour, &s;aith <HI>Seneca.</HI> Therefore for well managing and di&s;|po&s;ing your good deeds, take with you the rule of <HI>Heze|kiah, lephaneca, be&euml;necha,</HI> before the Face of God, in his eyes, in his &s;ight. Hee that is thoroughly po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a full per&s;wa&s;ion of the Diuine pre&s;ence, will al|waies demeane him&s;elfe, and order his actions with an awfull reuerence, as be&s;eeming the re&s;pect of &s;o great a Maie&s;tie. Walke before me, &s;aith God to <HI>Abraham,</HI> and be perfect: as if his pre&s;ence were the path way to per|fection. For out of this carefull &amp; con&s;tant deportment, re&s;ulteth that Diuine virtue &s;o often &s;poken of in holy Writ. <HI>Timor Iehouae,</HI> the feare of the Lord, whereby the godly dares not doe any thing he knowes will be offen|&s;iue, &amp; giue di&s;ta&s;t to God. This apprehen&s;ion re&s;traines the &s;allying de&s;ires of the Fle&s;h, it bridles the bounding of the wanton appetite, &s;uppre&s;&s;eth and keepes downe affectation of vaine glorie, it chokes and &s;tifles that in&s;o|lence which by <HI>vaporing</HI> would &s;ully the bightne&s;&s;e of good workes, it cuts off the &s;prouting &s;ugge&s;tions of
<PB N="46" REF="27"> Satan, it weedes out the tares of an ouerweening valu|ation, whereby Men commonly hugge &amp; applaud them|&s;elues in good a&s;&s;ayes: Finally, it hedges vp all gappes, makes vp all occa&s;ions of &s;inne, teaching vs to an&s;were with cha&s;t <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> to his lu&s;t-full Mi&s;tre&s;&s;e, <HI>How can I doe this great wickedne&s;&s;e,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 39.9.</NOTE> <HI>How can I doe this great wickedne&s;&s;e, and &s;in again&s;t God?</HI></P>
<P>The want of this per&s;wa&s;ion, of <HI>lephanecha,</HI> opens the Sluce-gate to let in Athei&s;me and prophanne&s;&s;e, drowne the World, <HI>Tu&s;h &s;ay they, God cares not for it, neither is there vnder&s;tanding in the mo&s;t High.</HI> Were Men certain|ly re&s;olued, that God doth <HI>eye</HI> them in all their affaires, would they doe &s;uch things in &s;ecret as they would be a&s;hamed the lea&s;t Child &s;hould behold them? <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">on pu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> con|&s;pectu dei, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">us &s;anctis angel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">&punc; quod p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">e in con&s;pectu homi|num, Era&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">al</HI></NOTE> Dur&s;t they di&s;honour his Sacred titles, abu&s;e his Word, defile his Sanctuarie, di&s;grace his Name, prophane his Sabboths, baffle and flout his Mini&s;ter? Dur&s;t they then Crucifie, againe the Lord of Life, trample on the blood of the Co|uenant, and braue the menacies of God with pre&s;umptu|ous &s;ins? Would they conte&s;t and quarrell with his Iu|&s;tice, &s;aying, <HI>Where is the God of Iudg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ment?</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.17</NOTE> <HI>What is the Almightie that we &s;hould &s;erue him?</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 21.15</NOTE> Would the Mur|therer watch for the mid-night, the Adulterer for the twie-light? &s;aying, <HI>No eye &s;hall &s;ee me. Quid prode&s;t ha|bui&s;&s;e latendi facultatem, cum latendi fiduciam non hahent,</HI> What aduantage hath the &s;ecrecy of &s;in without &s;ecurity, With what confidence can an offendor hide him&s;elfe where the Iudge apparantly di&s;cerneth him? <HI>Quam ob rem in Diuinitatis &s;inu nos agere credamus,</HI> Thinke your &s;elues &s;eated in the verie bo&s;ome of the Deity, &s;et thy &s;elfe before the Eyes of God, &s;et God alwaies before thine Eyes, knowing <HI>echei theos ekdikon o'mma, God hath a reuenging Eye.</HI> And as the apo&s;tle &s;aith, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.13</NOTE> <HI>All things are naked and open, tetracheli&s;mena</HI> (&s;o open as the Sacrifice that is cleft a&s;under through the Chine or Back-bone) <HI>to the Eyes of him with whom we haue to doe.</HI></P>
<P>But what of all this? <HI>Exitus ergo quis e&s;t oh gloria,</HI>
<PB N="47" REF="27"> Doth he &s;tand vpon condignitie or congruitie of his me|rits, Alas! <HI>Hezekiah</HI> knowes, when he hath done all he can he is but an vnprofitable &s;eruant. what is the illation, what then doth he inferre vpon the&s;e premi&s;es? <HI>vaieuk,</HI> he wept, his trembling, faultring tongue is not able to vtter the de&s;ires of his Heart, but his teares become his Oratours, <HI>Atque etiam lacrymae pouderae vocis habent:</HI> The&s;e are the ambitious &s;uiters, to intreat, and plead, and importunatly intercede for him, as if they &s;hould v&s;urpe the words of the <HI>P&s;almi&s;t,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al 39.1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Oh &s;pare me a little, that I may recouer my &s;trength before I goe hence and be no more &s;eene, hold not thy peace at my teares, &amp;c.</HI> Teares haue a more per&s;wa&s;iue and moouing eloquence than &s;peech, they are more emphaticall than words, One &s;aith of <HI>Pe|ters</HI> weeping, <HI>Jnuenio quod fleuit non inuenio quid dixit,</HI> I find he wept, I find not what he &s;aid. So may I &s;ay of <HI>Hezekiahs</HI> reque&s;t, &amp;c.</P>
<P>This is the <HI>third part</HI> of the Kings method of Phy&s;ick, the <HI>Re&s;toratiue,</HI> &amp; fitly &s;o, becau&s;e God pre&s;ently <HI>re&s;tores</HI> him, &s;aying, I haue heard thy prayers, &amp; &s;eene thy teares. The ingredients are both <HI>prayers</HI> and <HI>teares,</HI> not teares alone, for &s;o <HI>E&s;au</HI> could lift vp his voyce and weepe, but <HI>prayers</HI> and <HI>teares,</HI> deuotion and contrition. This is the Spirituall electuarie, the Golden cordiall, Amber-gree&s;t, di&s;&s;olued Pearle, and precious di&s;tillation of the Saints of God. This is the Spirit of generous Wine, locked vp in the Cellar of the Spou&s;e, re&s;erued in Gods Bottle, put my teares into thy Bottle. This <HI>nectar</HI> and <HI>nepenthe, &s;tayes the Beloued with Flagons,</HI> and fea&s;ts him with the <HI>Wines vpon the Lees well refined.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 30.6. Can. 3.6.</NOTE> The <HI>Wines</HI> of prayer, vpon the <HI>Lees</HI> of a troubled Spirit. Deuotion is the <HI>rea&s;onable Sa|crifice,</HI> Compunction is the letting out the life of it be|fore the Lord, the pouring forth the floud of teares in the blood of the Sacrifice, or becau&s;e euerie Sacrifice mu&s;t be <HI>&s;alted with Salt,</HI> the brini&s;h teares are the Salt and condi|ment to &s;ea&s;on the oblation of prayers. The perfume of
<PB N="48" REF="28"> the Tabernacle, was made of <HI>myrh</HI> and <HI>frankincence,</HI> of each alike, the bitter mirh is &s;orrow, and contrition, the incence is prayers, let my prayer bee &s;et before thee as in|cence, both together make a &s;weet &s;mell in the no&s;trilles of God, <HI>the &s;weet odours</HI> are <HI>the prayers of the Saints,</HI> in this my&s;ticall &s;en&s;e &s;aith the &s;pou&s;e in the Cant. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Can. 3 6.</NOTE> <HI>Vado ad mon|tem myrrhae &amp; ad collem thuris,</HI> I get me to the mountaines of mirh, &amp; to the hilles of frankin&s;ence, the mount of con|trition, and hills of deuotion, thus Iacob had power ouer the Angel &s;aith O&s;e. <HI>He wept and made his &s;upplication.</HI></P>
<P>He wept, there is <HI>mons mirrhae</HI> the mountaine of mirh, hee made his &s;upplication, ther's <HI>colle<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> thuris,</HI> the hilles of frankincence, thus Hanna <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">rauit eum e&s;&s;et amaro animo flens largiter,</HI> in the biterne&s;&s;e of her &s;oule, <HI>thats her mirh</HI> &s;hee prayd vnto the Lord, that is her <HI>frenkincerce. a'ga|thoi dar'a d&agrave;krnes a'ndres,</HI> good men are alwayes weeping men. This world is nothing el&s;e to them, but the valley of <HI>Bochim</HI> weepers, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudg 2.5.</NOTE> the drie eyes are a &s;igne of a barren heart, like the mountaines of <HI>Gilboah,</HI> vpon you bee nei|ther dew nor raine, the godly with <HI>Iob</HI> &s;ay <HI>ros pernoctabat in ramo meo,</HI> the dew lay all night vpon my branch. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 29.19.</NOTE> What doe I &s;peake of <HI>dew,</HI> the metaphor is too narrow, as in the Creation, <HI>&s;piritus dei incubuit &s;uper aquas,</HI> the &s;pirit of God lay and brooded on the waters. So the &s;ame being <HI>&s;piritus &s;upplicat <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">onum,</HI> the &s;pirit of &s;upplication. <HI>Zach.</HI> 12.10. It &s;its and broods vpon the waters of repentance in the new creation of a faithfull conuert. And againe as in the redemption, the &s;pirit of God de&s;cended in the &s;hape of a doue, vpon Chri&s;t in Iordan, &s;o in the bapti&s;me of repentance, doth the &s;pirit of God appeare in the &s;hape of a mournefull Doue. <HI>Thou ha&s;t Doues eyes by the riuers of water, &s;aith the beloued.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.12.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>Bechi gad<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">l,</HI> great weeping, <HI>ahi&s;&s;us abi&s;&s;um vocat:</HI> one deepe calls another, becau&s;e of the noy&s;e of the water|pipes: the depth of mi&s;erie on the depth of mercie, by the noy&s;e of deuout teares. Here is the &s;pirituall inunda|tion
<PB N="49" REF="28"> that beares vp the Arke of <HI>Noah</HI> nearer vnto heauen, great weeping, &s;obbing, lamentation, and great mourning, torrents, and land-floods, <HI>cataracts,</HI> and falles of water, that breakes all the bayes and beares away all oppo&s;itions, that &s;toppe the pa&s;&s;age of there orizons, like the men of <HI>Mizpah,</HI> they wept and powred out water before the Lord. <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Sam. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters"></NOTE> <HI>Dauid</HI> was a miracle in weeping, hee drencht and &s;ou&s;t him&s;elfe, hee made his bed &s;wim in teares.</P>
<Q><HI>Mirandum e&s;t vnde illi oculis &s;uffecerit humor.</HI></Q>
<P>Ieremie cries out for teares, as if his head were on fire, and nothing could quench it but a fountaine. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 9.1.</NOTE> Oh that my head were water, <HI>quis dabit,</HI> who will giue my head water, and mine eyes a fountaine of teares, &amp;c. The Church lets teares runne downe like a riuer, <HI>Lament.</HI> 2.18. weeping is &s;uch a &s;trengthning to prayers that the Scrip|tures tearme it meat and drinke, <HI>luctu &s;uo anima pa&s;citur</HI> the &s;oule finds a great repa&s;t and nouri&s;hment in mour|ring <HI>e&s;t quadam flere voluptas,</HI> it is a kind of plea&s;ure to weepe, wee reade of <HI>bread of teares, and drinke of teares.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 80.5.</NOTE> But <HI>lacrymas in men&s;ura,</HI> teares in mea&s;ure &s;aith the P&s;al|mi&s;t. He that hath not his mea&s;ure of them heare, &s;hall haue them without mea&s;ure hereafter. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they</HI> then that <HI>mourne now, for they &s;hall bee comforted: heauine&s;&s;e may endure for a night, but ioy commeth in the morning, they that &s;ow in teares, &s;hall reape the harue&s;t of eternall life in ioy: hee that goes on his way weeping, &s;hall doubtle&s;&s;e come againe and bring his &s;heaues with him, the ran&s;omed of the Lord &s;hall returne and come to Zion with &s;ongs and euerla&s;ting ioy, &s;ighing and &s;orrow &s;hall be done away, God &s;hall wipe away all teares from their eyes.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;.51.11.</NOTE> I &s;ay then, of this &s;anctified weeping in the words of the P&s;almi&s;t. P&s;. 84.6. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they that going through the vale of mi&s;ery, v&s;e it for a well, who&s;e pooles are fild with this water.</HI></P>
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<HEAD>In &s;ome Copies, the Printer intreats the courteous Reader to correct the&s;e Errors.</HEAD>
<P>Pag. 5. lin. 22. leaue out <HI>vgly,</HI> p. 18. l. 17. for boni cramp, read <HI>boyn,</HI> p. 33. l. 32. f. or, r. <HI>and.</HI> l. 35. f. euil, r. <HI>Dial,</HI> p. 34. l. 3. f. her, r. <HI>Hez.</HI> l. 23. f. relig, r. <HI>reliques,</HI> p. 37. l. 15. f. ful&s;ie &s;peech, r. <HI>fancie, Spectre.</HI> l. 17. f. idle, r. <HI>Idol,</HI> l. 23. f. immu|nitie, r. <HI>Mummie,</HI> l. 26. f. pain, r. <HI>punie,</HI> p. 36. l. 14. f. corded r. <HI>&s;ordid,</HI> p. 37. l. 7. f. leaues, r <HI>leanne&s;&s;e,</HI> p. 38. l. 5. f. Aream, r. <HI>&s;tream.</HI> There are other <HI>literall, figuratiue,</HI> and <HI>punctuall</HI> faults, which the Ingenuous will either mend or pardon. For Greeke I had none &s;uch Notes as I might not omit, I haue expre&s;&s;ed in Italian Letter.</P>
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<Q>Graeciam in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1+ letters">ium portans.&mdash;</Q>
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