Three Sermons 2

A Remedy for Security.

IT was a good piece of policy which the King of Aram commanded his two and thirty captains when they were to go out to battle against Israel: Fight (said he) neither with small nor great, save only against the King of Israel. He knew, that the King being once slain, the whole army would the sooner be discomfited. The like policy, I thought very fitting for me to observe at this time. Many and great are the sins of this generation, and (as it was said of Sodom ) the cry of them is come up before the Lord: But there is one grand-sin, upon which all the rest have their dependence, which, if we whose office it is to fight the good fight of faith, might be so happy as to subdue, doubtless we should see Satan fall down from heaven like lightning , and many come to amendment of life out of his snare, which are (now) taken of him at his will . And this is the sin of Security. Against this I have thought good to bend my whole force at this time, and for that ende, I have out of this brook of S. James his Epistle, chosen this clause, as a smooth stone, by which I may (if the Lord shall please so to bless my leuelling) smite this Goliath in the forehead, and make it to fall groneling to the earth which everywhere, and in every place doth (like that monster of the Philistines) so intolerably blaspheme the living God. This is my general drift, and this is also (as I may so call it) the Shaft, which I have chosen out of the Lord's quiver for this purpose.

The words may be divided into two parts: The first is, a Restraint from something which is evil; Laughter and Joy. The second is, a persuasion to a Good contrary thereunto, Mourning and Heauines. Of both these in course.

In handling the first part, it must first be inquired what Laughter it is, and what Joy, against which S. James setteth himself in this place. Laughter, is one of those endowments with which God furnished the Nature of man at his first creation, and therefore cannot be simply evil. Again it is said, that Abraham laughed when God promised him a son, which generally is interpreted to be that Reioycing of his in the Day of Christ, which our Savior himself reporteth of him for which cause Isaac had his name given him by God's appointment as a memorial thereof, it being as much to say in English as Laughter. When the Lord brought again the captivity of Zion (said the thankful people after the return frō Babylon) then was our mouth filled with Laughter . The same may be also said of Joy. For among the Fruits of the Spirit, Joy is numbered , and it is a blessing promised, that the voice of Joy shall be in the Tabernacles of the Righteous . Therefore to avoid all ambiguity of terms, and to know precisely and distinctly, what it is which S. James here dissuades, we must thus distinguish. There is a twofold Joy, or Laughter mentioned in Scripture: The one a Holy Joy; The other a Hellish Joy. The Holy joy hath for the author of it, the Spirit of God; therefore it is called Joy in the holy Ghost : the matter of it, is the light of God's countenance the assurance of his grace in Christ, the feeling ones self to be clothed with the garments of salvation the measure of it such that it is unspeakable ; the perpetuity such, that no man can take it from those that have in : None can conceive it but he which feeleth it, the stranger shall not meddle with it, saith Solomon . The fruits of it, are, Joy in the word ; Joy in the house of God ; Joy in the liberty and free Preaching of the Gospel ; Delight in the company of God's Saints , Joy in Afflictions Joy in the Conversion of others : Base account of the world . This is a Holy Joy; neither is it the purpose of the Apostle to restrain this Joy, but to enforce it rather: for indeed the Mourning which he persuades, makes way for this Joy. Now the other Joy is a Hellish Joy, the other Laughter is devilish. Solomon calleth them all Fools whose hearts are enueigled with it . Peter termeth them brute beasts lead with sensuality . This Joy is either in wicked things, or else in things (in their own nature tolerable) after a wicked manner. First, it is in wicked things. It is a pastime to fools to do wickedly . It is a Joy to drunkards to be at it early, and to sit till they be inflamed The Twilight is welcome to the Adulterer . The griping Nimrods of the world, rejoice in their taking men upon advantages, they dance upon the thresholds of those which are fallen into their hands proudly , & they spoil the poor when they have drawn him to their net . Ahab is soon out of his sullen humor, when news is come that Naboth is dead . The envious and malicious person is moved to Joy at the destruction of him whom he hates . The profane ones make themselves merry with the disgrace of those which run not with them to the same excess. Ishmael giereth at Isaac , and the Philistines must have Samson in to make them pastime . Holy Job was as a tabret to the godless ones , and the Drunkards made songs upon David . Thus this joy is in evil things. Or else (secondly) it is in allowable things after an ungodly manner. Honor, Wealth, Prosperity, Beauty, a Table richly decked, an overflowing cup, a fair house, &c. these things in themselves are not Evil, yet there is a Joy in these of which I may say as Paul did of the Corinthians Reioycing, that it it is not good : As, namely when men trust in them, and boast of them , and set their hearts thereon . Thus that vain-glorious Haman, having crept into some grace at Court, when he comes home, must needs send and call for his friends, to tell of the glory of his Riches, and of all the things wherein the King had promoted him . Thus Nebuchadnezzar walketh in his Royal palace, and looking about him, saith, Is not this great Babel which I have built? Thus the proud women in the Prophets time, walked with stretched out necks , priding themselves in their beauty. Thus the Epicures and belly-gods in Amos his days, ate the lambes of the flock, and calves out of the stall, and drank wine in bowles . Thus the Merchants of Tyre, which was the Marte of the people for many Yles , did lift up their hearts because of their Riches . Here is Joy in things not Evil, but yet after a manner which is not good. Now the fruits and effects of this Joy are thus registered in Scripture: Deepe security; They knew nothing (saith Christ, of the rejoicing people in the days of Noah) till the flood came : Secret soothing and flattering of the Heart : Confident expectation of nothing but Quietnes ( I shall never be moved :) Carelesnes to inquire after matters of religiō, ( The wicked is so proud that he seeketh not : Putting far off the evil day , The vision is for many days to come . Intolerable Pride joined with contempt of others, ( Pride is as a chain unto them : No respect to the necessities of God's children, ( No man is sorry for the affliction of Joseph :) A mocking of God's Messengers : A desperate resolution to take pleasure while it is to be had, and not to fear the day of vengeance, ( Let us eat and drink, tomorrow we shall die .) Thus have I labored to let you see out of the Scripture, what Laughter and what Joy it is which James intendeth here. In a word, thus: It is a fleshly Joy, delighting in things simply Evil, or else in the good blessings of God, after a gross and sensual sort, by which the heart is so setted up, and so lulled • sleep, that it makes men run on in a kind of secure course, without any awe of God's majesty, or constant care to avoid the wrath which is to come. This is the short of it: and, the Necessity of seeking to suppress this Joy, is the Doctrine commended unto us in this place.

Reasons to show the equity of this Doctrine, and by which to enforce it upon every of our souls, may be these.

[Reason. 1] 1. It is directly contrary to that which the spirit of God persuades all Christians unto. It is their duty to hate evil , therefore not to delight in it: to weep for it (as we shall see anon) therefore not to laugh at the committing it. They are commanded to set their affections upon the things above , and therefore not to ensnare their hearts with these baser joys: They are taught to seek after Durable riches , therefore not to dote upon fading wealth: after a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens , and therefore not to be bewitched with the conveniency of earthly dwellings: after Sitting at table in the kingdom of God , and therefore not to rejoice in earthly belly-cheare: after the Honor which shall be to the saints , and therefore not to be puffed up with worldly pomp: to long for the Congregation of the first borne, and the spirits of just and p • rfit men , and therefore not to place contentment in carnal fellowship. This is then one reason: This Joy is directly contrary to the main stream of Christianity. It is a reason of Paul's in some things. This becometh Saints , This becometh the Gospel , therefore it must be: The reason is the same in this: This becometh not Saints: This becometh not the Gospel, therefore it must not be.

[Reason. 2] 2. This kind of rejoicing, is never without the mixture of some secret bitterness. Even in Laughter the heart is sorrowful . And there is a double reason for it. 1. Carnal men seldom have their desire in every particular, and the want of that which is desired breeds a vexation greater by degrees then the contentment in the things enjoyed. Take Haman for an example: He went from court with a glad heart, and at home vanted of his honor, yet (saith he) All this doth not avail me, as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the Kings gater. He was so haunted with a spirit of Emulation against Mordecai, that it did distaste all that sweetness which he conceived in his honor. And still, it is (ordinarily) so in the providence of God, that worldly men have in their prosperities something or other comes athwart them, which galleth them as much, as the accomplishment of their desires in other things may seem to content them. 2. Inward terrors (as furies) do always follow those, who do willingly cherish in their bosoms, and practice in their lives any known corruption. A sound of fear is in their ears , and it is their judgment to have trembling hearts . Well may they set a face upon the matter, and feast and drink away their cares, yet they can have no true inward quiet. For there is no peace to the wicked, saith God . So then this is the second reason: It is no solid, but a merely superficial Joy, and therefore it is an idle thing to entertain it.

[Reason. 3] 3. It is a rejoicing of no continuance. The rejoicing of the wicked is short, and the joy of Hypocrites is but a moment . Solomon likeneth it to a fire of Thorns under a pot , which crackleth and blazeth awhile, but suddenly dieth. This kind of Joy is truly called short in two respects. 1. Because the things themselves rejoiced in, are so subject to hazard. Honor a blast: Beauty a perishing flower: Wealth hath wings like an egle , and is sudenly gone: and as the heathen said of the wealth of Merchants that it hangeth upon Ropes, so it may be said of all the contentments of the world, they do not hang upon a three-fold cord, which (as the saying is) cannot be easily broken , but upon a single twine, which is snapped in sunder with a twitch: And they which look highest and bear the greatest port, amp; most study the perpetuating of their fortunes, are but in the state of Counters, which now stand for pounds, and forthwith go but for a farthing. 2. Because life it self, in which all these things are enjoyed, is but short; Our d • ies are more swift then a post, they pass with the most swift ships, and as the Egle which flieth to the pray : Now carnal men in their rejoicing have but an estate for term of life at the utmost: For, when a wicked man dieth his hope perisheth , and what hope hath an hypocrite if God take away his soul: so then, if this Laughter be but momentary, if this joy be but for a season ; surely the counsel of James advising us to reject it, is not vain: For what wise man will set his heart upon that, which (like a shadow in the water) he may see and affect and catch after, but can never lay hold on.

[Reason. 4] 4. The conclusion of this Joy is fearful. The end of it is heaviness , and Woe be to you which now laugh, for you shall wail and weep . If you ask what Heauines: Hear what Abraham said to the rich man in hell: Thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasures, now therefore thou art tormented . Thus in the end, it bites like a serpent , and leads down to the chambers of death : Here is Joab's Kiss attended upon with a secret stab , & whereas the pleasures of sin were but for a season , the woe which followeth will be perpetual. The worm dieth not, the fire never goeth out : The breath of the Lord, like a river of brimstone doth kindle it . This is the last reason but not of the least validity. The wise man's Eies are in his head saith Solomon . He looketh not only upon the present face of things, but considereth before what the issue will be. It is no good purchase, to procure an endless woe, for a little sliding shadow of contentment. Thus I have labored to fortify S. James his counsel with four effectual reasons, that so we may have no color of reason to reject it. This carnal • joy, if it be againtst the general drift of Christianity, if it have not that fullness of conte • tment which it promiseth, if it be of no continuance, if it will certainly set in such a cloud, out of which will arise an eternal tempest never to be blown over with any tract of time, how must not the counsel given be worthy to be accounted of, which adviseth us to tur • e our Laughter into another tune, and our secure I • y, into some sadder quality. I have expounded and proved the doctrine, now let me make use.

This doctrine well agreeth with the Times. Nineveh was called a Reioycing City , this may truly be termed a Reioycing age; and like the people of Laish, we dwell careless, quiet, and sure in our own opinion. Every man sings a Requiem to his own heart. God hath of his goodness blessed us with peace, and peace (through our corruption) hath brought forth intolerable security. Religion is become nothing but a matter of Title, we have a name (as was said of Sardi ,) but all is little other then a very vizard of godliness. Are we not all generally without any fear of evil? Doth not every man applaud himself in his course, and make himself believe that his fashion and carriage is as it ought to be? Doth not every company, carry the very face of carnal quietness, men upholding and beating up one another (like the stones in an Arch) in their carelessness? Examine our thoughts, consider our speeches, see into our houses, look abroad upon the current of the Times, and see whether pleasure and Epicureanism, and that mad mirth (which Solomon speaks of ) have not engrossed the greatest part. I would it had but a week (which yet is a very unreasonable disproportion) for one serious minute about matters of godliness. This is made to be the very Ende of all: And as it was a Law in Ahasuerus his court (being given to pleasure and jollity,) that no man might enter it, being clothed with sackcloth , which is a mourners weed, so, now a days men cannot abide that which may mind them any way to intermit their carelessness: A discourse o • conference of religion dasheth all, and seemeth always as unseasonable, as is the snow in summer . A sermon of repentance is the very Burden of the Lord: either we be like Felix , not at leisure to hear it, or we make jests with our mouths , and as old Lot to his profane sons in Law, so we seem to many as though we did mock : say we what we will, you will say to yourselves, we shall • have peace , the Evil shall not come . Thus we stop the Eare like the Adder , and although the Lord • ing many alarms to awake us f • om the bed of security, yet we resolve (like the strumpet in Solomon ) to take our sill , and determine (as those in Jeremiah's time) to do • whatsoever thing go • h out of our own mouth . This is the sickness of the times, a disease which hath spread it self in • o every place. I say as Christ did to the accu • ers of the Adulnesse, Let him that is clear herein, cast the first stone at the application of this point. For albeit I know, some have some better care then the multitude, yet I am sure, that the five wiser virgins, slumbered and slept while the bridgroome tarried long, as well as the five foolish : and therefore we shall not need to shift off this doctrine from our selves to others, and to say, This is good for such or such, but we may say everyone to his own soul, It is even I to whom this belongeth. Wherefore seeing this is a matter which concerns all, I pray you let it be entertained by all: Let us rouse up our selves, let us not cry with the sluggard, yet a little sleep, a little slumber , but let us make hast with David, and let us bind our selves by a holy vow to cast away this hardened, brutish, presuming carelessness, as it were a menstruous cloth, and to say unto it, Get thee hence : Otherwise unless we do even strive against this bewitching evil out of hand, we shall even clean be hardened with the deceitfulness of sin , we shall freeze upon our dregs , and move the Lord to give us over with that fearful doom, He that is filthy, let him be filthy . And surely if God might please so to bless my speech, as that you might be moved by it to think seriously with your own souls, how true it is in this, which Abner said to Joab when the people fought one against another, namely, that it will be bitterness in the latter ende , you would then say to me as David did to Abigail, Blessed be thy Counsel . And so hoping that this first observation shall not utterly fall to the ground without fruit, I come to the second, touching the contrary good which is persuaded.

And this (indeed) is still the remarkable method of the Scripture, first to persuade a desisting from Evil, and then to stir up to the practice of good. Cease to do Evil, learn to do well . Abhor that which is Evil, cleave to that which is good. To break off an evil course, and so to stop, is but the one half of a Christians duty: To leave one bad fashion, and then to begin another, is but an exchange of sin, and no repentance.

Now the good commended here unto us is set down by two names, Mourning and Heauines. In handling hereof it shall be our first inquiry to know what Mourning and what Heauinesse it is, here meant. As I said of Joy, so I must of Mourning, it must necessarily be distinguished, and that by the Apostles direction. There is a Worldly Mourning, and there is a Godly Mourning . The Worldly Mourning, is a grief and passion of the heart for worldly things, or else for spiritual things in a worldly respect. Both the branches of this worldly sorrow are ordinary and common. Every natural man hath these affections to be grieved for losses of goods, of honors, of friends, &c. with pains and anguishes of body: Many are affected with these things extraordinarily. Now although these Touches are not simply evil (for it is a wickedness to be without natural affection ,) yet the aim of S. James is not unto them: There is another Branch of this Worldly Sorrow, the matter whereof is spiritual, but the respects, carnal. Ahab was humbled Esau wept Judas was deeply touched . Here was Heauines, yea and the causes thereof were spiritual. Ahab for his oppression, Judas for his treachery, Esau for the loss of the blessing: but the respects were not suitable. It was for the danger of Euil, and not for the Evil of Evil. Thus a man may be grieved, and yet neue • be saved. This kind of sorrow may be as a needle to p icke and to pierce the heart, and to make way for that true grief, but it is not properly that which is meant in this place. For this sorrow in it self, and in it own nature, if there be no more in it then I have said, causeth death . Now the other Mourning is a Godly Mourning, that is, a Mourning for sin because it is sin, a breach of God's will, and an offense to his Majesty. This is that very • hing which S. James persuades, and it is the Mother of true repentance, even of that Repentance which (as S. Paul speaketh) is not to be repented of. And of this I will endeavor to speak as effectually as I can.

The ground of it is (as I have said) the dishonor of God by sin. Now sin, that it may wound the more deeply, is to be considered of us three ways. 1. As it is in our selves. 2. As it is in others. 3. As it discovereth it self in the Miseries which it brings upon the Times. Of these three Respects I will treat severally.

1. That our own sins must be mourned for, I suppose we will not deny. Repentance is of absolute necessity to salvation, (for Except ye repent, ye shall perish, saith our Savior ;) and there can be no repentance without grief: For, (as we have heard out of Paul ) it is Godly sorrow which causeth repentance to salvation. Besides, the Scripture hath registered even a whole catalogue of Mourners in this kind. Look into i • , you shall there see David fainting , Hezekiah chattering like a crane , Job abhorring himself in dust and ashes , Manasseh humbling himself greatly , Ezra upon his knees in heaviness , Daniel sorowfully confessing his sin, and seeking the Lord by prayer with fasting , Ephraim (the whole body of a state) smiting upon the thigh , Peter weeping bitterly , the father of the possessed child bewailing his unbelief , Marie Magdalene washing Christ's feet with tears Paul crying out, O wretched man that I am ! Who would not wish to be one in this company. If they mourned, and went to heaven through the vale of Tears, what are we that we should expect a calmer passage? And know we this for a certainty, that the comforts of the Gospel which are treasured up in Christ, appertain only to such: not to them which are at ease in Zion , but to them which mourn in Zion The spirit of heaviness goeth before the garment of gladness; and there is no Reaping in Joy, without sowing in tears .

The next consideration of sin is, as it is in others: For even the sin of others must be a cause of sorrow to a Christian. Samuel mourned for Saul , David's eyes gushed out with rivers of waters, because men kept not the law . Ezra rent his clothes, and plukt off the hair of his head and beard, when he heard of the people's sin, in mixing the holy seed with the people of the land ; The soul of Jeremiah wept in secret for the pride of the times ; Lot vexed his righteous soul in seeing and hearing the unlawful deeds of the Sodomites : Paul's spirit was stirred to see the City of Athens subject to Idolatry : Christ mourned for the hardness of men's hearts , and wept for the security of Jerusalem : Who can persuade himself to carry the like Christian heart, who doth not bring forth the like sorrowing fruit? Two reasons there are why the the sins of others should affect our souls. 1. Piety to God. 2. Pitie to them. First, Piety to God enforceth it. For what dutiful respect can he carry to God, who can hear and see God to be dishonored without any touch? It grieves a friend to hear the disgrace of his friend. The godly are called the Friends of God . A poor friendship it is, if the heart be not effected with a wrong done to his Majesty. Secondly, Pitie to others requireth it. For whose bowels that hath in him any dram of goodness, would not yearn within him, whose heart would not melt, to see whole swarms, and millions of people which will needs be damned? surely there can be no religion, where there wants this compassion. I have read of Marcellus a Roman, that when as after a long siege, he entered by composition into that rich city of Syracusa, the tears trickled down h • s cheeks, to see so famous a city & such a multitude of Inhabitants brought into captivity. See, what affections have dwelt even in the Heathen, begetting sorrow for the miseries even of their enemies. A shame for a Christian to behold the daily ruin of a world of souls, number-les troupes to be led as captives by the prince of darkness, and not to bemoan it.

The third consideration of sin is, as it discovereth it self in the miseries, which by the justice of God it brings upon the Times: which thing also must be taken to heart. Thus was David moved, when he saw multitudes swept away with the Pestilence . Jeremiah wished his head full of water, and his eyes a fountain of tears, that he might weep day and night for the slain of the people and let his book of Lamentations be a testimony of his grief for common Miseries. So there was a general sorrow, when God took away that peer-les king Josiah; Jeremiah lamented, singing men and singing women mourned . Nehemiah sat and wept and mourned certain dates, when he heard of the great affliction and reproach of his countrymen, the remainder of the great captivity . Ester and her maids fasted, because of Haman's conspiracy . It argueth a desperate case when men are not humbled by Afflictions: Thou hast smitten them, but they have not sorowed: thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive corre • tion, said the Prophet of the forlorn Jews . Thence cometh that extraordinatie note set upon Ahaz, not found elsewhere: In the time of his tribulation did he yet trespass more against the Lord: this is king Ahaz This is the man who was not brought to any humiliation, no not by Affliction. And although a man have no cause of dejection, in regard of any personal grievance, yet the miseries of others are a sufficient motive. And therefore it is noted as a savage and brutish part, that when the city of Shushan, was in perplexity, the King and Haman sat drinking in the palace and woe is threatened against them which cherished themselves, but were not sory for the Affliction of Joseph For that cause, Nehemiah, though he himself were well enough, being the Kings butler, and in special grace with him, yet he professed that he could not but be sad, so long as he heard of the hard estate of his countrymen and though Moses lived at ease in Pharaohs court, yet still his mind was upon the burdens of the Israelites, and had no rest in himself until he went to visit his brethren : and Uriah would not afford himself the ordinary comfort of his Bed, so long as the Ark of God was in hazard Thus the fruits of sin, whether they be personal, or such as lie upon others, or such as (because of the common concernment of a state) we are interested in with others, must be taken notice of to further that Holy Heauinesse, which is commended to us in this place. Thus I have opened the doctrine, touching that Mourning and Heauinesse for sin, into which S. James would have us to turn all our accustomed security. I come now to the use and application hereof to our selves.

In the making of which use & application I will follow this order. 1. I will make it manifest that we have these causes of Mourning which have been handled hitherte. 2. I will lay open the general defect of this duty, notwithstanding the vrgency of these causes. 3. I will labor the persuading of that, to do which we have so great cause, and yet in the doing whereof we have been so exceeding negligent. These be (as it were) the lines, unto each of which I must endeavor to give his proper filling.

First, I must make it good that we have this treble cause of heaviness. 1. Our own sins: 2. The sins of the Times. 3. The evidences of God's displeasure against sin. Touching our own sins, that in the multitude and grievousness of them, we have much matter of Heauines, no man (I suppose) will deny. First for multitude, he that shall hear David's acknowledgement, that his sins are moe in number then the hairs of his head , and Job's confession, that he cannot answer God one of a thousand , how can he think his sins are few? And if there be any here (as this secure age brings forth many such) who supposeth the tale of his sins to be but small, let him do but this: Let him in the end of someone day, examine his course upon his bed and proceed with himself from point to point, from his waking in the morping to that hour, calling all (as near as he possibly can) his thoughts, speeches, actions to a • eckning: and then, when he hath found by a survey made, the idle, unprofitable, god-les thoughts, which have been as thick within him, as motes in the air, the vain, vicious, blasphemous, grace-les speeches which have fallen from his mouth, the evils which he hath done, the good duties, to God, to himself, to others, which he hath left undone, or (at lest) not so done as he should: when (I say) he hath found out all these, and hath (as his duty is) added this withal, that besides, there are many secret faults which he cannot see; then let him (like the workman, who by the sight of Hercules his foot, gathered the proportion of his whole body) think, put case he hath lived thirty, forty, or more years, what infinite millions of sins, he must needs be guilty of, since the particulars of one day do amount to so great a sum. This would make even the stoutest to hang down his head like a bulrush, and to be (as it were) confounded in himself if this were duly thought upon. It is said of Caesar, that when he heard that a certain Knight of Rome, being dead, and whose goods were set to sale, was in debt some thousand of pounds, be wished that the knights bolster might be bought for his use, thinking, that sure it had some extraordinary virtue in it, upon which a man could sleeepe who was so much in debt: And surely, if we had but a glimpse of the particular Debtes in which we stand bound to God, we would no less wonder at our selves that we can sleep so securely as we do, being liable to so great a reckoning, especially having so slender an assurance of discharge. And (indeed,) the not looking into the hinder ende of the wallet, is the cause of all our presuming. We are like swaggerers at a tauerne, who (in their humor) call in for as much as the house can afford, but when the shot cometh, then they storm, and are ready to swear, it cannot be so much: so we run on still upon the lash, and never look on the score, little do we think it to be so great as indeed it is. He amongst us, who is accustomed to swearing, though it be but now and then, yet if it were possible for him, to see but how many times he had sworn in the compass of one year, (besides his other sins,) I verily think, that if he were not utterly given over, it would make his belly to tremble , to consider it. Howsoever, this let us be sure of, they are all down in God's Register , and Job saith, that God sealeth up iniquities as in a bag , as rich men do their money, laying it up until the Audit. Now for the grievousness of our sins (which is another branch) I will note but one circumstance of many to set it out; and that is, the Riches of the means which we have long enjoyed, for better fruit. Suppose we, that we even now did hear the Lord calling to us as he did of old to the Jews, Come let us reason together , think earnestly what excuse we can make. Hath not the Lord been patient towards us? hath he not waited that he might have mercy upon us ; hath he not sent unto us early and late, Cast away your transgressions, why will ye die ? Hath not the light of holy direction long stood upon a candlestick in the midst of us? have we not still heard that voice, This is the way walk in it ? Now this is a sure thing: by how much the more we know, or may know, by so much the greater is our sin. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had had no sin, but now have they no cloke for their sin ; Thus the enlargemēt of God's mercy in blessing us with the means of holiness, is the greatest improuemont of our sin: And so (I hope) I have cleared this, that we have the first cause of Heauines, our own sins: touching which it is hard to say, which is the greater, the multitude of them, or their quality.

The next cause of sorrow, which must be manifested to be amongst us, is the sin of the Times. It was truly said that the Devil hath great wra • h, knowing that he hath but a short time . As his time is abridged, so is his malice enlarged; and thence it is, that this old Age of the world, is so fruitful in most monstrous impieties. All the evils of the precedent ages, are flown together into this, as into a common sewer. The filthiness of the people hath filled the land from corner to corner . Men were wont heretofore, amid their other evils, yet to have so much honesty, as to seek to shroud their sins under a mantle of secrecy. But now they declare them as Sodom , Atheism, Blasphemy, Drunkenness, Whoredom, Oppression, Contempt of religion, men never blush to be commonly noted for such kinds of evils. Indeed nothing (among the multitude) is in more disgrace then this, to be a conscionable and careful Christian. Me thinks, considering the full measure of Iniquity, I should hear the Lord cry to his Angel, Thrust in thy sicle and reap, for the time is come to reap, the Harvest of the Earth is ripe . Woe be to us if we cry not with David, It is time for thee Lord to work, for they have destroyed thy law So much briefly for that, which if my Tongue were as the pen of a swift writer , I were not able to set down at full, and which if we might reform with the sacrifice of our best blood; we might think it well bestowed. Thus we see the second cause of heaviness is not wanting. We can scarcely put our heads out at doors, or hear one speak, but we shall have cause to remember it.

The third thing deserving sorrow, to be handled, are the Evidences (in the times) of God's displeasure against sin. The prophet Amos saith, that there is no evil (meaning, no evil of punishment) but the Lord hath done it , and Jeremiah saith, that every such Evil is an infliction for sin; Man suffereth for his sin : which t • o places do evince thus much, that if there have been amongst us any common punishments, surely they have come from the Lord, and that for sin. Now what common Punishments the Lord hath laid upon our Times, he must needs be blind which seeth not. A raging, and (as I may rearme it) a man-eating pestilence in the chief parts of the kingdom (though we hitherto in these West parts, have been even miraculously spared: but let us not presume, if we have been idle lookers on, upon the visitations of others, the rod will fall the heavier when it comes) unseasonable seasons, unheard of inundations, fearful fires, the fowls of heaven, and the fishes of the sea destroyed . These things we hear, these things we discourse of at our Tables, and in our meetings as news, and as the occurences of the Times, but we let them die with the report, and never put them upon our hearts. What think we of the horrible oppression which reigneth, one man laboring to cate and devour another , the increasing of Papists, who (like the Canaanites to the Israelites) are as a whip on our sides, or as Thorns in our Eyes , the gross fatness which is grown upon most hearts, in that (like the Jews in Christ's time) men do not esteem nor know the things which appertain unto their peace ? What think we (I say) of these things? do they not give us cause to say as Moses did to Aaron, when God sent a sudden pestilence among the people, There is wrath gone out from the Lord, the plague is begun yes verily. Nay we may well expect, the accomplishment of that which was said of old, namely, that if we be not reformed by these things, the Lord will smite us yet seven times more for our sianes . Truth is, God hath been and is, very gracious to our days (for so is his manner, oft times to call back his anger, and not to stir up all his wrath ,) he hath set • eace in our borders , under the government of a Christian King, he hath not removed our Candlestick, as he justly might, because of the decay of our first love , yet even this is also to be counted a judgment, that the eyes of the most are so holden, that they do not see God's mercy, nor know how to turn these favors to a spiritual use, and full is every place of such Fools, (as Salonton speaks of) who have a price in their hands, but have none heart to get wisdom And this may serve to let us • ee what Evidences we have of the Lord's displeasure against sin, and withal, to make good the first point, that we have abundant matter of Heauinesse.

Now let me show our neglect, & what slender sorrow these things have brought forth amongst us; I will proceed distinctly and in order: and first what little mourning there is for personal sins: The seat of sorrow is the heart, ( Rent your hearts, saith Joel ), and that only Knoweth the bitterness of the soul. It is impossible that I should be privy to men's secret bewaylings, neither will I judge any, by the smoothnes of his look, or the drines of his cheeks; for every cloud doth not drop down rain, neither is every mist of sorrow dissolved into tears: Yet there is one thing by which it may be shrewdly suspected that (to speak of the generality) men are in very little heaviness for their sins, and that is, the little reformation which appears. The mourning heart cannot but be displeased in it self, for the Euills which it hath ommitted This displeasure will turn the delight in sin, into a hatred of sin. This hatred will bring forth that which Paul calleth Care , that is, a pensive and busy study how to amend: And it cannot be but God would so bless these motions, (being indeed the workings of his own spirit) as that sin, being quailed in the root, shall also wither in the leaf, and the love of holiness being planted in the heart, shall shoot out some fruit in the life. I know it is possible, for a dear child of God, bitterly to bewail some special corruption, confidently to vow against it, earnestly to beg deliverance from it, to strive to subdue it with the utmost might, & yet again & again to be ensnared with it: But, that Wickedness should be sweet in a man's mouth , that he should obey it in the lusts thereof , that he should take thought for it to fulfill it , that he should hate to be reformed , and yet be said, to mourn and be heavy for his sin, sure I am it is impossible. He mourneth not for drunkenness, who riseth early to follow it : He mourneth not for covetousness, who is plotting and imagining matters of oppression and unjust getting upon his bed . He mourneth not for swearing, who saith, With my tongue I will prevail, what hath any body to do, who is Lord over me ? and so in other specialties: so that this then is a true conclusion: There is but little amendment of sin, therefore sure there is but little sorrow for sin.

Come we now to the next, what sorrow there is for the sins of others. Our scantnes in this may well be collected out of the former. For the ground of my sorrow for another sin, is the sting which I feel of mine own. He therefore which laments not for his own, can hardly be affected for another's. But I will insist upon a more particular Evidence, which is this; the little care that is had for the reformation of others. He which mourns for another's sin, will endeavor as much as in him lieth, to reform that which is the cause of his mourning. I remember the saying of S. James, If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say to them, Depart in peace, warm yourselves, fill your bellies, notwithstanding ye give not those things which are needful, what helpeth it ? So if a man say, Oh I am sorry to see how evil men are, and yet seek not to pull them out of the fire , and to reclaim them from that eternal evil into which they are falling, to what end is that sorrow, or how shall I think that it is unfeigned? And this duty of seeking to reform the sin of others, lieth upon all, though upon some more then upon others. The Magistrate by his Authorit • e, he beareth not the sword for naught , and Nehemiah, when matters were amiss, spake not so much to the offenders, as to the Rulers . The Minister, by the word: still proving if God at any time will give repentance, that men may come to amendment . Every private man, by discreet admonition ( thou shalt plainly rebuke thy neighbor ,) or at least by prayer , that God may oper their eyes, to the end they may see their misery. Now if there be a defect in these, the sword of authority being let to rust in the sheath, and the people not being made to see their transgressions , and men stopping their mouths, so that they never give a word of Admonition to their delinquent neighbors, if (I say) there be such a defect in these things, how do we mourn, where is our pity over men's souls, if we can see men run on to their own destruction, & not stretch out our hands to pull them (as a brand) out of the fire? Look you to it that it be not your fault; it is the common sickness of the Times, happy be you, if you be free from the Infection. I will put you over to the accusing or excusing of your own Thoughts , and so come to the next point.

And that is touching our being affected with the tokens which we see of God's wrath against sin. And surely the very face of things (as they now stand) is sufficient to bewray the iron deadness of men's hearts in this particular. All things do even savor of an universal security. Many blows are given, but the people turn not unto him that smiteth . The woeful occurrences of the Times, have the same working with men which a great stone hath when it falleth into the Waters. Falling in, it maketh a great noise, and stirreth the Water very much, and one wave begetteth another for a good pretty space, at last the motion groweth weaker and weaker, and the Water returneth again unto his former smoothnes. So in this: We hear of diverse searefull accidents: at the first coming of the news, we are much moved, and it runneth from man to man, with much swiftness; but on a sudden, when this first address is past, the matter dieth away, we are as we were, and the thing it self leaves no impression; and by this means is that veresied, which was complained of old, The Lord calleth unto weeping & mourning, and behold Joy and gladness, slaying oxen & killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, &c. No humiliation followeth upon God's judgments. But whereas every Judgment of God should be as a warning peal to repentance, we be like the smiths dog, who, the harder the anuile is beaten on, lieth by and sleeps the sounder, so a deeper kind of drowsiness hath overtaken us.

Now then that these two points are cleared, the one touching the causes of Heauinesse which we have, the other touching our scantness in framing our selves to that measure of holy sorrow which becometh us, surely, if we suppose any weight to be in this which is commended to us by S. James, I doubt not but I shall easily persuade you in the general drift of my whole sermon, namely to turn your Laughter into Mourning, and your Joy into heaviness. For the better furtherance whereof let me commend unto your best consideration these particulars.

First, the special respect which the Lord beareth to those whose spirits are full of heaviness, either in all or i • any one of the regards which I have mentioned. Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my Throre, and the Earth is my footstool, all these things hath my hand made, all these things have been saith the Lord, and to him will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my words . Consider the place. The seat of the Lord is full of glory, and from thence he beholdeth all the Earth, but his more special Eye, is to the trembling and bruised souls; the Mourning spirit is unto him the most pleasing sacrifice . David saith that the Lord hath a bottle in which he doth put the Tears of the humbled, not one of them falleth to the ground without his Notice. Me thinketh this motive should not be without effect: for who would not do that which will draw the eye of the Lord's respect toward him. God hath a general providence over all. Thou Lord shalt save both man and beast but the groaning hearts are his chiefest treasure.

Secondly, that in the times of common Miseries, the Lord maketh special provision for the safety and comfort of those which mourn. Excellent for this purpose is that place in Ezekiel when the six Angels (like men) were come forth against Jerusalem, with everyone a weapon in his hand to destroy it, first there was a course taken to set a mark upon their foreheads which did mourn and cry for all the abominations that were done in the midst thereof. The sword of vengeance was not drawn forth to the slaughter till particular order was taken for their safety. Lot was in continual heaviness for the sins of Sodom, and we see the destroying Angel could do nothing until he was come to the place appointed for his refuge . You have heard before of Jeremiah's mourning: note I pray you the fruit of it in this particular. When Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and (as the manner is in such surprises) many went to wrack, the Lord so wrought, that when as the king himself and his sons were not spared yet by Nebuchadnezzar's own mouth, special charge was given for the preservation of Jeremiah, Take him (said he to the chief steward) look well to him, do him no harm, do unto him even as he shall say unto thee . The poor despised Prophet whose soul had wept in secret in the days of their jollity, was now specially pr • uided for, when the Body of the people received the due reward of their deep security. Thus the meek are hidden in the day of wrath , and if it do come to pass that they be swept away with common calamities, yet their Death is precious in God's sight, and it shall be their happiness to be taken away from the Euills to come

Thirdly, that the Lord hath tied himself by a promise to afford to all such a gracious plenty of inward refreshing. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. This is gone out of the lips of the Lord; & he will not alter it : The Gospel which we preach is truly said to be Tydings of great Joy and indeed such a joy it is, which the heart of man in this mortality is too little to receive; Now the sweetness thereof belongs only to these that mourn. The spirit of the Lord (saith Christ) is upon me: he hath sent me to preach glad tidings: but to whom? To the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort those that mourn, &c . Such as these he will fill with good things , their Souls shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness : they shall have the spirit of consolation, a secret Witness in their bosoms, that they are the children of God . Woe be to him whom the desire of this blessing cannot move.

Fourthly, that albeit the comfort which such have is but secret, and such as by reason of the hidden-nes thereof, maketh many a man to think that it is the dullest and most perplexed life in the world to be a good Christian, yet at the day of judgment it shall be made more apparent. Now the tears upon their faces, are as a curtain, before their happiness, that it cannot be seen, but then, they shall be wiped awayy , that, shall be a Day of full Refreshing , and then shall the Lord say, turning him (as it were) to the secure worldlings, which have lived in pleasures on the earth and in wantonness . Behold, my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry, behold, my servants shall drink, and yet shall be thirsty, behold, my servants shall rejoice, and ye shall be asshamed: Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, and ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, & shall howl for vexation of mind .

To draw then to a conclusion. You see a duty commended to us, by the mouth and ministry of S. James, to turn our Careles Laughter into a holy Mourning, & our presuming Joy into a godly Heavines. It is not without cause that we are persuaded to this exchange. Look we into our selves, our own sins muster together before our eyes in no small troupes, enough to wound the dullest heart. Cast we our face to others, we see the world lying in wickedness , and Hell even enlarging it self , to receive it: Examine we the times, many things tell us plainly, that surely God is not well pleased. Consider we again our own course we must needs ye • d, that we have been two secure, and that these things have not so affected us as they should: Think we further of the benefit and worth of that which we are persward • d to, we shall find it attended upon with a train of blessings. How shall we then deny our obedience to this holy advise; I pray you then, Let my counsel be acceptable unto you . You are here, many Merchants, and much of your trading stands upon exchange . Well is he in his own opinion who can put away some ill-conditioned ware for a more current commodity. Behold here the best exchāge which you ever made, Let your Laughter be turned into Mourning, and your Joy into Heauines. Sure I am, a commodity it is, for which (which all desire) you shall receive a very quick and plentiful return. Quick it will be, For yet a very little while, and he that shall come will come and he will not tarry : and it will be plentiful, for they which now go weeping, shall returnne with joy, nay which is more, they shall bring their sheaves .

The Ruin of God's Enemies: PREACHED Upon the Commemoration-day of the deliverance from the Gun-powder Treason.

THis is the conclusion of that Divine song which Deborah and Barak sang after that great deliverance which God gave the Israelites from Jabin king of Canaan, and after the overthrow of Sisera the general of the field. Now when as in the latter part of this hymn, Deborah (who, I suppose was the cōpiler of it) had after a most cloquent manner, set out the fashiō of Sisera his fall, by the hands of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite , she shutteth up all with this prophetical conclusion, So perish all thine enemies, O Lord. This is the order of the place.

The clause it self is a Prophecy: for, albeit it run in the sorme of an Imprecation, yet it being considered, what Deborah was, even a Prophetess , we must needs think that the ground of her speech, was the knowledge she had, touching the future estate & condition of God's Church, for which cause she maketh the desire of her soul suitable to the purpose and determination of God. As therefore she well knew that Evil should hunt the enemies of God to destruction , and that the providence of God should attend upon those which love him, for their continual preservation, so here she testifieth the fullness of her desire that it may be so; So let all thine, &c. but they that love thee, &c.

It being clear then (as I take it) that this verse came out of the mouth of Deborah as a Prophetess, it may be divided into two parts. The first sets down the ruin of God's enemies, So let all thine Enemies • erish, &c. The second declareth the prosperity of God's friends: But they that love thee shall be as the sun, &c.

I have chosen the first part only to handle at this time, the general doctrine whereof is, That the Enemies of God shall perish so as Sisera did. For the opening whereof, two things must be done: first, it must be shown who be God's Enemies: secondly, it must be inquired how Sisera perished, and then the ruin of Sisera must be applied to all God's Enemies.

In one word they be generally called God's Enemies, which are the Enemies of God's Church. Thus the Lord sware that he would have war with Amalek from generation to generation, because Amalek fought with Israel , and Ethan in the Psalm, saith, that those which reproached the footsteps of God's anointed, reproached the Lord , according as Paul was said to persecute Christ , because he persecuted the Church : In the same sense, Saneherib, is said to have railed against the Holy one of Israel , because he railed against the Church and people of God in Israel. Now the enemies of God's Church are of two sorts. Some are directly and professedly enemies unto Piety, and to the truth and religion of God, and seek by all means how to root it out and to abolish it. Such were the Philistines, the Amorites, the Amalekite • , the Midianites, &c. of old, and after that the Babylonians, and other Monarchs, whom Daniel prophesied of: and such at this day are the Turks to whom even the very name of a Christian is abhominable. Another sort shroud themselves under a name of the Church and of true Religion, but yet indeed and in truth are enemies to the sincerity of Religion. And these must also be distinguished, some do profess a different kind of Religion, and use another manner of worshipping God then the true Church useth, such were the Samaritans in ancient times, who after their rent from the Jews, retained circumcision, boasted of their fathers, and expected the Messias yet were not God's people , but were deadly enemies to the Jews . And such now are the Papist • , who boast that they only are the Church, but yet under this pretense persecute the Church, and are in a continual opposition thereunto: For which cause their Church being typed out by the name of The great whore, is said to be drunken with the blood of Saints and Martyrs : whereof these latter times have had and still have very plentiful experience. These Enemies in their malice against God's Church use a double course. The one is of opē hostility: Therefore the Antichristian Church is said to make war with the Saints : And what wars the Romish Church with her assistants hath made, and doth still study to make against the Protestant Churches in these parts of the World, there is no man, who knoweth anything, can be ignorant. The other course is of secret practicing, which is also twofold. First by seditions, factions, conspiracies, poisonings, and all to bring confusion upon Kingdoms, that so (if it were possible) they might quench the light of the Gospel, and establish their own Idolatry. An • evident instance whereof we have had in the powder-Treason, a devise, which a man would think the devil himself should be ashamed to father, and yet Papists do not blush that their Religion should be the hatcher of such a hellish enterprise. Secondly, by privy suggestions of their creeping Jesuits and Seminaries, to corrupt and deceive the minds of the unsettled, and to poison them with their popish drugs. They come from the Sea of Rome in amongst us, like the sammon and fish of that sort into the fresh rivers to do their kind, and to beget a new spawn and fry of Catholics. These be the Frogs which come out of the mouth of the Dragon , the little foxes which the Spouse complaineth of , which like their predecessors, compass sea and land to make one of their profession. .

A second rank of these Enemies shrouded under the Name of the Church, are those which profess true Religion, but yet are adversaries to the Life and power of Religion. Such our Church is pestered with at this day, and is even dark with them as Egypt with the grasshoppers . These are they which cannot endure the yoke of the Gospel, which will not abide to be ruled by the Word and discipline of the church, but resolve to break those bands and to cast those cords from them : Our Savior calleth these his Enemies, who will no • that he should reign over them . Such are they also who are adversaries to the Word preached, hindering (as much as in them lieth) the passage of it, and seeking (like Elymas) to turn away others from it: All seeming-wise, (for the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God :) All covetous worldlings, (for, the amity of the world is the enmity of God :) All Epicures and be • lie-gods, (for, such are Enemies to the Cross of Christ :) All continuers in gross sins, (for, God surely will wornd the head of his Enemies, and the hairy pate of him that walketh in his sins .) These and such like, live in the Church, and profess to know God, but yet are the Enemies of God, and come within the compass of this Prophecy.

The second thing to be labored in, is an enquiry how Sisera perished, that so we may know how the Enemies of God shall perish. The ruin of Sisera is made a pattern for the ruin of God's Enemies. Touching the conspirers against God's people, the Psalmist prayeth thus, Do thou to them as to Sisera, & as to Jabin at the river of Kishon ; And, concerning these Kings of the earth, which by the persuasion of the spirits of Devils ( the frogs of Romeb) and themselves against God's Church, it is prophesied that they shall be gathered together to a place called Arma-gedon , that is, they shall receive a famous foil, even such an one as Sisera received at the waters of Megiddo : Wherefore to the end we may understand how God's Enemies shall perish, it is fit to inquire how Sisera did perish. In Sisera his overthrow there be to be noted three things. First, the time; that it was when Sisera was in his greatest height, he was furnished with • ine hundred chariots of iron, and by him (under his master) the children of Israel had been sore vexed twenty years . Secondly, the means; that he was sold into the hands of a woman . Thirdly, the manner, that it was an irrecoverable destruction: All the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, there was not a man left , Sisera himself sank down at Iaels feet, and lay there dead ; The children of Israel prevailed against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan . So then, The Enemies of God, shall perish as Sisera, that is; in their greatest jollity, by means (in man's opinion) most unlikely, and so, as after their fall received, they shall be past all recovery. It will be easy to show the truth hereof by the Scripture. First they shall perish in their jollity, and in the height of their security. I have seen the wicked strong, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree, yet he passed away . When the workers of Iniquity do flourish they shall be destroyed forever . God will shoot an arrow at them suddenly When they shall say, Peace and safety, th • n shall come upon them sudden • destruction . Secoudly, the means but weak in comparison; Whereupon it is a general rule, that God hath chosen weak things to confound the mighty things . Even Wormes shall • ate King Herod , and Grashoppers, and cankers shall be the Lord's great host Thirdly, the overthrow shall be irrecoverable, like the breaking of a potters pot, in the breaking whereof is not found a sheard, to take fire out of the hearth, or water out of a pit ; like smoke that vanisheth , like stubble before the wind: Whereupon the ruin of An • ichrists kingdom is compared to the casting of a great millstone into the sea, with such violence (saith the holy Ghost) shall the great city Babylon be cast and shall be found no more . Our Times have had two notorious and never to be forgotten exampels of the truth hereof. The one in the Spanish fleet in eighty eight. The overthrow of it we cannot be ignorant of, and we have great cause to remember it. It was like the fall of Sisera. First it was in the Iollitie thereof. The Navy was called Invincible: They had made themselves sure of us, they had shared the pleasant things of the land among them in their own seeming: They which abode at home, said one to another, as Siser • es mother did to her Ladies, Have they not gotten and divide the spoil ? Secondly, the means was but weak in comparison. Our nauie for number and proportion of ships much smaller, our men fewer, our time of preparation much less. We may truly say, it was not by our own sword, neither did our own arm sa • e us They fought from heaven, even the stars in their courses fought against them Thirdly, it was an utter spoil, scarce a ship left to do any further service. The other example is this of the Powder-Treason: touching which you shall see that the Enemies of God and of his Church engaged in it perished also as Sisera: First in their height of confidence. For (now) among Papists both at home and abroad, there was a very confident expectation of some great good to be done for the Catholic cause, and the matter being brought even to the push, and t • at mous •• r of theirs being come almost to the Birth, they made full account of their golden day, in which they should bath their • ands in the blood of all good C •• is • ans, and establish the Idolatrous service of their Breaden god. Secondly▪ by means unlikely: It was no • b • wrai • d, nor defeated by any wit or policy of man; but in them was verisied that of the Psalm, Their own tongues fell upon them , their own pen discovered them, and that which the watchful e • e of government did not espy, their own privy buzzing brought to light. I report no new thing: you know the letter, how it was endited, to whom it was sent, & how it was construed. And so was that made good which Solomon said, Curse not the King &c. that which hath wings shall declare the matter ; It was a quill, a piece of a wing, that revealed it. Thirdly it was an utter fall: their putposes were defeated to their own confusion: So that we may well take up that of the Psalms, They made a pit and digged it, and fell into the pit that they made; their mischief is returned upon their own head, and their cruelly fallen upon their own pate , and Praised be the Lord, which hath not given us, as a pray unto their teeth . Thus by plain Testimonies of Scripture, and by our own experience, it i • proved unto us, that the E • emies of God and of his Church shall All perish so as Sisera, in the height of their pride, by means (in man's conceit) improbable, by a course & ruin irrecoverable.

The first use of this doctrine, is to stir us up to fill our mouths with the praises of God, so often as we recount the deliverances which God hath vouchsafed to his Church, especially those which in our own times we have had experience of. This use did Deborah make of the victory against Sisera : Moses of the overthrow of Pharaoh, and the deliverance out of Egypt . Many be the Psalms which were penned upon such occasion • . It is the chief thing which God exspecteth of us, Call upon me in the day of trouble, so will I deliu • r thee, and thou shalt glorify me . The spirit of God no • ably describeth the joy of the Church for the ruin of the kingdom of Antichrist, Hallelu-iah, s • luation, and glory, and honor, and power be to the Lord our God, &c. and the servants of God are incited and incoutaged so to do. O heaven retoyce of her, and ye holy Apostles and Trophets, for God hath given you judgment on her . And albeit we may have cause of pity when we think upon their souls, yet so far forth a • the Ruin of the enemies of God, makes for the church • good, we ought to rei •• ce in their cue • throw. The Righteous (saith David) shall rejoice when he s • eth the vengeance ; and, • l • sed shall he be (said the people touching Babylon, which had held them in long captivity) that taketh and d • s • eth thy children against the stones . No nation hath more cause to perform this duty then we: It were long to rehearse cuerie particular: Truly may it be said of the Church of England, as Jacob said of Joseph in his will, The archers have grieved her, and shot against her, and hated her, but her bow hath abode strong, the hands of her arms have been strengthened by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob , and she may say as the Church of Israel, They have of tentimes affucted me from my youth up, but they could not prevail against me . Neither was any deliverance given us by God, more notorious then was this, from that bloody Massaker intended agains • the whole state by an unheard of kind of execution, upon the Kings Maieslie, his dearest Queen, their Princely son (ou • Hope for hereafter) the honorable councellours, the noble Lord's and Barons, the Reverend Bishops, the grave Sages and Judges of the Land, besides many worth • e gentlemen and commoners of the Realm; no story, whether barbarous or Christian maketh mention of any the like brutish, hellish cruelty. That which (in my opinion) throughout the story of the Scripture cometh nearest unto it, is that plot of Haman, for the utter rooting out of the people of the Jews. For the better quickening of us unto thankfulness, I will a little insist upon it, and show you first, how these two conspiracies, (that of Haman and his adherents, and this of the Papists combined in the Powder-reason) do agree: and then secondly, wherein, this latter doth in savage cruelty far exceed that: and so by consequence how our deliverance is far more admirable then was that of the Jews, though that were also very famous: First touching the agreement betwixt the two plots and the deliverances from both, mark it thus. The Jews Enemies, were their Enemies for God's sake: These ours for Religions sake. These had set down a certain day in which (as it were) in an instant to do their villainy. Ours, bad resolved upon a day also, yea even upon a very point of time, in which to accomplish their devilish enterprise. These had disposed the manner of the Jews destruction by a Lot, every conspirator was appointed his particular service. Ours had allotted everyone his task, some to provide at home, some to negotiate abroad in other countries, some to make tumults in the city, others to raise rebellion in the country: Nay scarce a Papist of any intelligence in the land, (as may easily be gathered by their general confidence at that time) but he was employed at the least thus far forth, to pray for the good success of the Catholics, there being then some special service in hand for their common Benefit. These which sought mischief against the Jews had the warrant of a king, for that which they did: Ours, the allowance of him, that taketh upon him to be above kings, the Man of Rome, even his Holines his unholy dispensation: Indeed a thing devised in Hell, might soon pass with Seene and allowed, at Rome. Well, in fine, these adversaries were suddenly defeated; ours, in amoment disappointed, even when their monstrous conception was at the very point of deliverance. They were slain the same day in which they thought to have murdered: these perished then when they promised to themselves an eternal victory. Thus far we have seen, Enemies alike, danger alike, a deliverance in some circumstances not unlike: Now mark, how in some other things again, this of ours far exceeds. These enemies to the Jews were of another Nation: these Popish conspirators were our own countrymen. The Jews whom they sought to destroy were their under-lings, captives, and such as lived in their land but by courtesy: Those whom these Romish Leaguers sought to murder, were their lawful governors, to whom both by Religion and Nature they did owe obedience. Oh inhumanity, oh Popery, be these thy fruits! If this be religion let hell be made heaven, and let the depth of villainy, be the height of piety. The plotters against the Jews were heathen men, Pagans, Infidels, Haman himself an Amalekite, a sworn enemy to God's truth. These, in name Christians and Catholics of Rome, members of that church, out of which (if we will believe them) • here is no Holiness. Well might Nero be a Saint, if this were holiness. I may well say of them, as Jacob did of the fact of Simeon and Levi; Cursed be their wrath, for it was fierce, and their rage for it was cruel . To proceed yet: These illwishers to the Jews, albeit they meant nothing but mischief, yet they carried not their purpose so closely but that it was known, and the poor Jews had warning, if not to escape death, yet to avoid the misery which might happen to their souls by a sudden death: These (whom we speak of) intended such a slaughter, which being but a blast might have brought many to their reckoning before god, before they had thought upon their account.

Never my rage so great among men called Christians, but although the blood was shed, yet there was leave given to the soul to prepare it self for the Lord. But Popery must be like it self, it hath ever been a butcherie of souls. How true is the saying of Solomon: The mercies of the wicked are cruel . This Romish mercy, to say men be Heretics, and yet to send them away quick without any moment of time to repent them. If this be their mercy, what think you may their cruelty be? Hang down your heads you Papists, and shame, you pretensed Catholics, never se • ke for figleaues to cover the nakedness of your Italian mother: though she be washed with nitre, and much sope, yet this Iniquity is so marked before God , & so hateful in the sight of all indifferent men, that the reproach thereof can never be done away. There is yet one very effectual circumstance to note out the exceeding greatness of our deliverance above this of the Jews: God gave deliverance to these Jews in a time when they were humbled by captivity, and had also cast down themselves by fasting and prayer, for the avoiding of that which was coming towards them. I confess here was mercy, but this of ours far exceeds. For the Lord wrought this for us in a time, when we were (as we yet are) puffed up by the continuance of prosperity, and even lulled asleep in the depth of security, our great sins crying loud in his ears for vengeance, and even urging his Justice to make us a by-word and an astonishment to the world, by some extraordinary judgment. So that in this we have a greater evidence of God's mercy, that when so many foul enormities, especially the long contempt of the Gospel, did even fight against us, yet he wrought so for us, as to deliver us out of the very jaws of destruction. Now all these things being duly considered, I may truly say of this fifth of November, as was said of the night in which the Israelites went out of Egypt; It is a Day to be kept holy to the Lord, it is that day of the Lord, which all the children of England must keep throughout their generations . And although Papists, for th • hiding of their own shame may wish of this day, as Job in his agony of his birth-day that it may nor be joined to the days of the year, , yet let us ever make conscience, according to the most religious appointment of the Law, to keep it in his season from year to ye we , as an eternal president of God's care for his Church, and as a never dying testimony of the hideous cruelty of blood-thirsty Catholics. And I would I could speak anything that might be effectual to quicken the common and universal dullness of our spirits, whom these great and unspeakable kindnesses of God, to us, to our State, our governors, our wives and families do very meanly affect. I remember what Io • b said to David, when he shown so little cheerfulness, after the victory against Absalom, I perceive (said I • ab) that if Absalō had lived, and we all had died this day, that then it would have pleased thee well . It may be so thought of many, that if all good people had been swallowed up in that gulf, and none but Atheists and Papists lef • alive, it would have given them more contentment. If we cannot show our selves to rejoice in the goodness of God unto his Church, surely we shall never see the Felicitie of his chosen .

Secondly, this Doctrine is •• ll of comfort to all true Christians. For here we have a •• bl • lute assurance of the irrecoverable foil which shall be given to all the enemies of God's Church. They shall perish like • isera: They that hate Zion shall be all ashamed and turned backward . God will arise and his enem ••• shall be scattered, they that hate him shall she before him . The Lord hath said this, and he will perform it. Especially this is to be appl • ed as a comfort to all that fear God, in respect of the continual working and tempering of the Popisher • e • they are continually plotting and devising treasons, mutinies, murders: They brag in their talks, and swords are in their lips , they imagine deceitful words against the quiet of the land , they encourage themselves in a wicked purpose, and commune together to lay snares privily . But the word of God shall be true: They conceive mischief, but shall bring forth a lie . Happely the Lord may here and there execute some personal vengeance upon some by them; Happely they may increase in corners, and draw disciples after them , it being just with God, so to punish the contempt of the Gospel in this land, and to send them strong delusions to believe lies, who will not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved : but certainly their main purpose for the confusion of protestant kingdoms which they aim at, and the public reestablishment of Idolatry which they gape for, I am fully persuaded that they shall never accomplish, but still their policies and enterprises shall turn back upon them to their own confusion. For doubtless the time now fast approacheth in which we shall see the verifying of that prophecy, which speaking of the ruin of Antichrists kingdom, as of a thing already done, crieth out, It is fallen, It it fallen, Babylon the great city &c the limbs thereof shall fight with the the Lamb, but the Lamb shall consume them .

Thirdly, here is matter of Aduertisement to us all to beware of joining our seues with these Enemies of God and of his Church either in likeness of opinion, or pliablenes of affection, or aptness to pity them and to think tolerably of them, or in familiarity of conversation. We are commanded to Go out of Babylon, that we be not partaker of her sins, and so receive of her plagues : We ought rather every main for his part to help forward that judgment which God hath prepared for them: Magistrates by punishing, Ministers by confuting their errors, private men by discovering them: which is the effect of the charge touching Babylon, Reward her as she hath rewarded you, and give her double according to her works , and, Put yourselves in array against Babel round about, all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she hath sinned against the Lord : Furthermore, this we are also to be admonished, not to think it enough, if in show and outward profession, we eleaue to God's Church, unless also we respect and follow these things which may advance God's glor • e and edify his Church. For this is a sure thing, that albeit the professed enemies of our Church, because of the promise of God, shall not prevail in regard of an universal ruin to the Church and State, yet if we be (as to to many are) adversaries to the sincerity of religion, adversaries to the preaching of the word, contemners of the ordinances of God, worldlings, belly-God's , lovers of pleasure, more then lovers of God , Walkers after our own lusts denying the power of godliness in our lives, the force of this curse touching the Ruin of God's enemies shall light upon us; neither shall it serve our turn in the day of Christ to say, we were no Papists: For albeit we have Lord, Lord , and the Temple of the Lord , in our mouths, yet if we hate to be reformed ; and walk stubbornly against God , The Lord will not be merciful unto us, but the wrath of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against us, and he will put out our name from under heaven .

The Worldlings Downefall.

I Know not whereto better to compare this Text then to the Writing upon the Wall, in the midst of the king of Babel his royal feast. When the king was in the height of his banquet, drinking wine (as the story speaks) before a thousand , suddenly he saw the fingers of a man's hand over against the Candlestick upon the plaster of the Wall. It cooled him presently, his Countenance was changed, his thoughts troubled him, the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against the other. Of the same nature is this Text, It seemeth to me to be (as it were) a Counter-buffe or Crosseblow, to the plots, and endeavours of carnal and worldly-wise men, for the settling of their outward estate here in this life. In the sixth and eleventh verses of this Psalm, we may see them in their prime, bestirring themselves exceedingly, trusting in their goods, boasting themselves in the multitude of their Riches, and (like the rich man in the Gospel) pulling down their barns, and building greater , imagining that their habitation shall continue ever, and calling their lands by their names, that they may preserve their memory from Obliuion. But now mark the Writing upon the Wall: Yet man shall not continue in honor, he is like the beasts that die. This is as a sudden qualme over the stomach, as the sentence of death, as an vnexspected gust amidst a great calm, and it doth utterly distaste all the former supposed felicity. Thus much (briefly) to give a general insight into this place of Scirpture.

For order in handling it, take it thus. Here is a twofold thwarting or crossing of the purposes of the ungodly worldling. The first is this; He shall not be that which he ever wished to be: He shall not continue in honor: The other is this; He shall be that which he never desired to be: He shall be like the beasts that die. He shall miss of that which he sought for, and he shall have that which he looked not for. Of these two severally.

The first part is, that Man shall not continue in honor. In which clause there is no word very an biguous. It may happily be demanded, whether the word ( Man ) is of so large an extent, as that there by is meant every particular Man: whereto is answered that the wore must be restrained only to such a Man, as is in this Psalm described, who trusts in his God's, and boasts himself in the multitude of his Riches, and supposeth his Habitation shall continue ever, &c. The word in the Hebrew Text is, Adam a name given to our first Father, but fit • ing to us all, in regard that our making is of Earth : yet best agreeing to him, who as he is Earth by creation, so is Earth also in affection, minding only earthly things, as speaketh Paul : And such an one indeed, is here intended. Touching the word ( Honor, ) it is well known what it meaneth. And yet (in the ignorance of some) it may happen to be too much restrained. Therefore by it we must conceive generally any eminent estate, or such condition which either for wealth, office, blood, or any outward part, is of regard and esteem amongst men: It is well translated by some ( shining: ) so that it signifieth any such condition, which doth (as it were) glitter in men's eyes, which the world approveth of, for worldly respects. Now the world ( Continue ) implieth a possibility of be • ng in Honor. because no man can be said not to continue in honor but only he which hath formerly been in Honor. So that now this first clause occasioneth me to discourse upon two points: One, that a carnal man, a man that hath no taste of any goodness, may possibly thrive and prosper and grow great here on Earth. The other; that the Prosperity of such an one hath no perpetuity.

Touching the first of these, we have proose enough for Wicked man, yet saith of him, that his ways always prosper , and that (as it is well translated out of the Hebrew) they are fenced in, as though he were ordinarily out of the reach of common miseries. And the same David records in another Psaime , how much it troubled him and what a temptation it was unto him to see the flourishing estate of the ungodly: I fretted (saith he) at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked . The very same thing also so perplexed the Prophet Jeremiah, that he was bold even to reason the case with God, how it could stand with his justice so to suffer it. Wherefore doth the way of the Wicked prosper, and why are they all in wealth that rebelliously trangresse? The point is excellētly described by Job, The Wicked live and wax old, and grow in wealth: their seed is established in their sight with them, and their generation before their Eies, their houses are peaceable without Fear, and the rod of God is not upon them, their bullock gendereth, and faileth not, their cow calueth and casteth not her calf, &c. The Scripture also giveth more light to this doctrine by examples, proving thus much unto us, that even the children of God, such as fear him and make conscience of their ways, come often far behind the wicked in outward prosperity: Isaac the son of promise is carried to the slaughter, when Ishmael the son of the Bond woman sitteth quietly at home. Jacob the loved, is put forth to keep sheep, and Esan the hated, goes on hunting. If you look for Joseph you shall find him in prison , for Daniel, you shall see him in the den , for Jeremiah, he is making books of Lamentations and wishing his head were full of waters, and his Eies a fountain of tears , to express his grief, when the ungodly streich themselves upon their beds, and eat the Lambs of the flock, and the calves out of the fold, and sing to the sounds of the viole, and drink wine in boules, and put far away the evil day . Now the reason why the Lord taketh, this (as may seem) a strange course, is this. First that his children, for their sins, in this life may not go altogether vnchastised, and by chastisement may be brought to the greater measure of humility: and that the profane, having at lest some show of some good things, may not go altogether unrewarded, and so may the sooner fill up the meansure of iniquity. Secondly, that it may appear to be but a slander, which the devil imputed to Job, and in him, to all that are the Lord's, that they serve God for rewards . For when they even in the midst of the cross, shall continue • n their innocence, it will then be manifest, that it is conscience and not reward which keeps them in obedience. Thirdly, the Lord taketh this course, as to take away all color of excuse from the ungodly, so to assure us, that he doth not, (as it were) make his books of account clear in this life, but reserveth the full and final account, until the last day of reckoning, in which everything shall be recompensed to the full, whether it be good or evil. Thus we see the truth of this point and the reasons of it; namely that a carnal man may have a full measure of outward prosperity.

The use of this doctrine is very excellent. It serveth to show the vanity of a conceit, which is crept into the hearts of a great many, and which so strongly possesseth them, that it maketh them to contemn all religious instruction, and neglect all reformation whatsoever: And it is this. There is many an one (and let every man look into his own heart to see whether he be not the mā) who being in his conscience guilty of many sins which by the ministry of the word are publicly reproved, as, of ignorance, contempt of the Word, and Sacraments, scorning of Religion, neglect of the worship of God, Sabaoth-breaking, Swearing, Wantonness, Oppression, and such like, yet blesseth himself in his heart, and sets light by the threatenings of God's vengeance; because for all his hardened course of sinning against God, God seemeth to bless him, and to prosper him in all things: And therefore he doth often thus commune with his own soul: I do indeed hear the Preacher speak much against me, and I confess myself to be even such an one as he nameth: he telleth often of the wrath and displeasure of God against such courses, and how the Lord is an avenger of all such things. But yet still (God I him thank) here I live and have health and quietness: my heart is at peace, my field beareth as good a Crop, my cattle bring as great merease, my business hath as good success myself carry as good credit and opinion with the world, as the holiest of them all. Now if God were so offended with my carriage as the Preacher would enforce, how could it be that he being the giver of these things, would bestow them upon me? Is it likely that I should thus enjoy them, if my conversation were not pleasing in his sight? Would he thus favor me, unless he did love me? Surely no: And therefore here is my resolution, they shall all talk and preach, and reprove while they will, I will continue one manner of man, seeing I see the blessing of God upon me so apparently. These be the very thoughts of carnal men, who strengthen their hands to evil, because of outward prosperity. Now the doctrine taught is very effectual to show the idleness of this sancie. David here speaking of a mere worldling, denieth not but he may be in Honor. So that a man may outwardly prosper, & yet still be hateful & abominable before God. Esan was a man hated of God, yet the fatness of the earth was his portion as well as holy Jacob's. And when Abrahā entreated god on the behalf of Ishmael, although the Lord would not yield in regard of tying the promiseed seed to his generation; yet for outward things he promised to make him fruitful and to multiply him exceedingly The Scripture speaketh of some, which have their portion in this life , and yet have no part in haven: such an one was the rich glutton, of whom the Text saith, that in his life time he received pleasure , and was therefore tormented afterwards. So that it is but a fond course for any man to promise peace to his own soul because of outward things. For, (as Solomon saith) the same condition is to the just and to the wicked, to him that sweareth, and to him that feareth and oath . Let not then any man, being by the powerful applying of the word convicted of sin, hearten himself to continue in it because of God's forbearance, imagining, because God holdeth his peace, that he is such an one as himself is; but rather let him fear, least the Lord do but fat him up against the day of slaughter, suffering him to run on, till he have filled up the full measure of Iniquity, that he may then receive the full measure of destruction. And so much for the first doctrine.

The second doctrine of the first clause is, that the prosperity of the wicked is not perpetual ( But, he shall not continue in honor. ) This ( But ) is that which crosseth the hopes of all Worldings, & nippeth their exspectations in the head. Many the like Buts we find in holy Scripture. The bread of deceit is sweet, (saith the wise man,) But the throat is filled with gravel . Rejoice, O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the fight of thine Eyes: But know, that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment . These things hast thou done and I held my Tongue, therefore thou thoughtest, that I was like thee: But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thee . It is the speech of God to wicked Hypocrites. So Paul speaking of those which are opposites to the the ministry of the Word, giveth them their But also. As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobates concerning the faith: But they shall prevail no longer . So the Rich man in the Gospel was met withal: He promised to his soul great matters, But God said unto him, O fool this night they shall fetch thy soul from thee . So that this word (But) proveth many times to be as gall and worm-wood: It doth so come athwart the purposes of the ungodly. He shall not continue in honor (saith the Text:) the word • are properly, He shall not tarie all night in Honor: and thereupon because it is Adam in the Hebrew, some (& the same learned) have used this place to prove that Adam fell the same day in which he was created: How ever it be touching that, the holy Ghost his meaning is to note out a very short continuance. We are wont to describe a short abode, by lodging in an Inn, where a man seldom stayeth in his travail above a night. Now the continuance of the carnal man in his honor and prospetitie, shall be far less, the time shall be (as it were) a degree shorter. The truth hereof is fulfilled by two means. For first, either his prosperity continueth not to him, or else (secondly) he continueth not to his prosperity. Touching the first, Job saith, that the wicked man albeit he have gotten much and raked heaps together, yet many times, his eyes see the destruction . And to effect this, the Lord hath set even an host of enemies against all worldly things. The rich in money is in danger of Thieves, he which abounds in household stuff is in hazard of fire: The rust layeth siege to thy gold, and the moth to thy garment. Thy great herds of cattle may be swept away with rottenness: At sea Pirates may spoil thee: In thy husbandry, blasting may undo thee. All these and many moe means then these, the Lord hath to take prosperity from the ungodly. Add, that sometime the Plague lighteth on him, which David prayed for upon his Enemies: the extortioner (or usurer ) catcheth all that be hath . The Lord can make him when he sow • h much, to bring in but little, and to put up his wealth into a broken bag : So that he shall consume like that fat of Lambs , and grow poor and wast in his outward estate, to the vexing of his heart, he knoweth not how: yea and all this many times in less space then the wealth was gathered. The tree which was many years in growing, is burnt to ashes in a short space: And the famous temple of Jerusalem which was forty and six years a building , was soarse so many hours in burning. The wealth of many years getting is many times brought to nothing in an instant. It is like unto the chaff, wh • ch though it be a while laid up together upon an heap, yet on a sudden cometh a blast of wind, and scattereth it to and fro, from the face of the earth, so that it is even a thing impossible to bring it back again to the former condition: And by this means is that verified upon the Man of Earth, which the Scripture saith: He hath devoured substance, and he shall vomit it; for God shall draw it out of his belly: The increase of his house shall go away, it shall flowe away in the day of God's wrath, then shall none of his meat be left, therefore shall none hope for his goods . As the Lord doth often thus deal with the wicked Worldling in his own person, so though he suffer happily the owner himself to enjoy that he hath during his time, yet he curseth it to his posterity. God layeth up the sorrow of the Father for his children . And If his children be in great number, the sword shall destroy them, and his posteri • ie shall not be satisfied with bread : He begetteth a son (saith Solomon) and in his hand is nothing : one that cometh to beggary notwithstanding the great Wealth of his predecessor. This is an Evil which the preacher, 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 saw under the sun, A man, to whom God hath given riches, and treasures, and honor, and he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that it desireth, but God giveth him no power to eat thereof, but a strange man shall eat it up at It is that which in this Psalm is called, leaving riches for others: and wherewith the Lord twitted the Rich man, whose shall these things be which thou hast provided? Thus the Lord when he is so pleased can and doth take away prosperity from the Wicked. Now put case it continue in full measure with him so long as he continueth, yet at last the Lord taketh him from it. So he took the Rich man from his wealth Haman from his honor , Belibazzar from this Empire Nabal from his abundance , Herod from his state the Glutton from his belly-cheer . Indeed (saith David) I have seen the wicked strong, and spreading himself like a green Bay-tree, yet he passed away, and loe he was gone, I sought him but he could not be found : And Zophar in Job; The rejoicing of the Wicked is short, and the joy of the Hypocrites is but a moment. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish forever like his dung, so that they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall flee away as a dream, and they shall not find him, and shall pass away as a vision of the night, so that the Eye which had seen him shall do so no more . This is the portion of the Wicked man, and the heritage that he shall have from God for his works .

The use of this doctrine is twofold. The first is taught by David, thus, Be not vain, if riches increase, set not your heart thereon . It is further urged by Solomon: Wilt thou cast thine eyes upon that which is nothing? for riches taketh her to her wings as an Egle and flieth into the Heaven . The Apostle Paul also, presseth the same point: Charge them that are rich in this world, that they trust not in uncertain riches ; It is but folly for a man to trust to that of which there is no assurance. All is but like to Jonah his Gourd, which came up in a n • ght, and •• ithered in a night . Rather we should labor for that one needful thing , whereof being once possessed, we can never after be deprived.

The second use is taught in this Psalm: : We not afraid, let it never disquiet thee, when one is made rich, and when the glory of his house is increased, for he shall take nothing away when he dieth : More at large in another Psalm. Fret not thyself because of the wicked man, neither be envious for the evil doers, for they shall soon be cut down as the grass, and shall wither like the green herb. And afterwards; Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not appear and thou shalt lock after his place, and be shall not be found, his day is coming, &c So that the use is, to teach us to possess our so • les with patience notwithstanding the gallantnes and jollity of the ungodly: for he hath but his time, like a great Thistle which starts up in the Summer, and at the coming of Winter is hidden in the Earth; or, a counter, which now by the Merchant is put for an hundred pounds, and anon is thrown into the bag, and is no better then those which stood but for an half-penny. Thus much for the first Cross: The earthly man shall not be that which he wished to be.

Now followeth the second: He shall be that he never looked to be. He is like the beasts that die. This cause is to be applied, chiefly to the end and • eath of the earthly man; in which, he shall be like the beasts that die: or, as it is more properly, He shall be like the beasts dying of the moraine , and so become cation and are good for nothing. Now for the opening her of, wear to understand that the earthly minded man is in h • s death like unto Beasts so dying, in four things especially. The first is, that he dieth unwillingly. So it is with the Beast. It is in the nature of every things to desire the preservation of it self, and to abhor the coutrarie. Hereupon in the unreasonable creature there is a kind of struggling & reluctance, and wrestling with death, so that it doth not but by violence yield thereunto. Even so is it with the ungodly which mindeth only earthly things. His death (I know) may be peaceable in show (the natural strength being wasted and abated by some long sickness) and in speech, he may pretend a willingness to depart: but it is impossible that it should be with fullness of inward consent. For what hope hath the hypocrite, when he hath heaped up riches, if God take away his soul, saith the Scripture ; And, when a wicked man dieth, his hope perisheth, saith Solomon . So that because he cannot with any comfort, assure himself of entrance into rest, therefore he cannot but be most unwilling to depart. For who will be willing to part from a present setlednes, for a matter of uncertainty? Who would not rather stay here to enjoy that which he is well acquainted with, then to loose his life for the hazard of he knoweth not what? True it is, God's children long to be dissolved , and I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departing is at hand, saith Paul, in a comfortable and rejoicing manner . But with the wicked it is not so; death, to them is called The king of fear , and the slymie valley is a place of terrout to their conceit. Therefore, they will fetch thy soul from thee , saith God to the rich man. As who should say, Thou art I know loath to depart, but they shall fetch is away from thee, they shall take it by violence. The second particular wherein this earthly man, is like to the dying beasts, is this. The cark is of the Beast so dying, cannot choose but be noisome and unsavory: the smell is offensive unto everyone that passeth by, and the sight unpleasing. So is the dying worldling in God's sight. Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints, saith David . And no marvel. Their Bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost their souls are holy and unblameable and without fault, (by the blood of Christ) in God's sight Their death therefore must need be a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor unto God. As for the ungodly, it is not so with them. Their be dies are cages of uncleanness, their Throtes open sepulchers their members. weapons of unrighteousness : In their souls, dwelleth the Prince that ruleth in the air, even the spirit who worketh in the children of disobedience. . How can they be but noisome in the eyes of God, yea most loathsome and abominable? Surely he will say unto them, Depart from me I know you not . The third degree of likeness betwixt the dying Beast and the dying Worldling is this. The body of a beast whom such a disease hath quelled, becometh a pray to the fowls of the air, and is torn in pieces by other beasts. Where the dead Carkeis is, thither the Egles resort, saith our Savior . It fareth so with the worldling. For as his goods ill gotten come many times, through the just judgment of God, to be a pray to others, and to be the spoil of strangers, so his soul is ceased upon by the damned spirits, and is presently arraigned before the judgment seat of God , and is dismissed thence into it Owne place , where it is kept in chains under darkness, unto the iudgemē of the great day . The fourth and last point of likeness is this. There is no regard had of the death of a brute beast, the remembrance is soon gone. The owner happily may • ewaile that loss, it being some diminution of his substance: but otherwise, it is a matter which the world pas • eth by and taketh no notice of. So is the death of the carnal Worldling. There may be (perhaps) some sorrow among his own people, who received some out: and benefit by his means, and with them his memor e may continue. But else there is no miss. The Church of God hath no occasion to lament his loss, in regard that it is deprived of a comfortable member. No man wi • l open his mouth to say of him, Alas he is now gone, who if he had still lived, such was his zeal, has godly wisdom, and good carriage, that he might much have furthered God's glory. But men let him go with some such phrase, What is such as one gone? and there is an end, some other worldling (perhaps) of the same humor, and of the like fleshly disposition, who hath been fellow with him in the same carnal courses, may chance to say as the old Prophet did, over the Prophet of God when he buried him, Alas my brother , my old friend, such an one is gone, with whom I have joyfully conversed many a time, whom I have been acquainted with so many years, &c. Here is all. But God's Church finds not it self maimed in regard of the holy communion of Saints. And thus by degrees his memory soon dieth, according to the saying of Solomon. The memorial of the just shall be blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot . His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the streets. And so much for the opening of this doctrine.

Now for the preventing of all suspicious misconstruing • , , I must (before I mention the use) say thus much . If any man shall spider-like turn the sweet taste of a well-meant speech into poison, & imagine it to be an invective against some particular, he shall therein wrong both me and himself. Me, in uncharitable mistaking me: Himself, because he shall by that means be hindered from making that good use of the doctrine taught, which is required. If your demand of me therefore, whom I mean by this Man of whom I have discoursed hitherto: I say unto thee (whosoever thou art which makest the questiō) Thou art the man, if so be thou be such an one as is in this Psalm described, which trustest in thy good, and boastest in the multitude of thy Riches . My sermon hitherto hath been as a parable: in which though one singular man hath been named, yet one in special hath not been meant, I will make the moral and meaning to be the same that our Savior Christ made to that speech of his, touching the Rich man. In the ende to show his true intent, he added this saying, So is he that gatheroth ri ••• to himself and is not rich in God. The same is the Man intended in this doctrine. But as for aiming at any one in particular, my conscience is free in the sight of God. And therefore let us all apprehend and entertain it as a matter which concerties our selvēs, and make this use of it, to beware how in our lives and conversations, we be like brute beasts lead with sensuality , or like horse and mule which understandeth not , or as the sow, whose greatest felicity is to wallow in mire , or in unbridled lusts like fed horses , or otherwise like the baser creatures groveling, still on the earth and always looking downward: For this is certain, if we live like beasts, we shall perish like the beasts, and our last end shall be like theirs, yea and worse then theirs; because, death which is to them an end of woe, shall be to us the beginning of sorrows, and as it were a prologue to the most woeful Tragedie, of a never ending misery.

Let God alone have the glory.