A SERMON Preached at Reyfham in the County of Norff. the 22. of September, An. Do. 1588. And eftsoons at request published by R. H. Minister of God's word. Esaiae. 33.15.16. verses. 15. He that walketh in justice, and speaketh righteous things, refusing gain of oppression, shaking his hands from taking of gifts, stopping his ears from hearing of blood, and shifting his eyes from seeing of evil. 16. He shall dwell on high, his defence shall be the munitions of rocks, bread shall be given him, and his waters shall be sure. Augustinus in Psal. 68 Si tu factus es peccati tui defensor, Quomodo erit Deus liberator? ut ille sit liberator tu esto accusator, tu agnosce ut ille ignoscat. LONDON Printed by john Wolf for Edward Aggas. 1589. ¶ To the right reverend father, EDMUND by God's good providence, Bishop of Norwich, the days of Heaven to be multiplied with joyful increase of grace and peace from God the Farther through jesus Christ. CHrisippus (my good L.) being demanded, why he undertook not some public office in the common wealth. Si male curarem (quoth he) Dijs displicere. Si bene hominibus. And thus to avoid the horn of the argument (by secret insinuation) inferred upon the premises: that sibi vinere should be his suersbie, As the best way to escape from blame in the world. Whose caution in some sort I could commend, but his conclusion must I needs condemn of foul absurdity. For as there is no man (except he will be inutile pondus terrae: and such the Apostle suffereth not to eat) but holdeth his place as tenant at will by special assignation and limitation from the Lord, whether it be in the Church or common wealth: So (in truth) this ship willingly admitteth no loiterers, nor that body politic, easily retaineth corruption, but the one by discipline doth exonerate: the other by medicine doth evacuate such noisome burdens as otherwise would infect the body, or afflict the soul. The consideration whereof (in my guess) moved Plato to affirm, ●ist. 9 ad ●e. terent. divinane. li. 2. Non sibi soli; sed patriae, se esse natum: and Cicero to say, Neque ullare magis prodesse possum patriae, quam si tradam vias optimarum ●●t●um. In semblable persuasion Divines of every age have painfully enlarged their labours, not by instance in public and particular exercise of their function at home alone, but by writing of Cate chismes, penning of Sermons, & putting their studies into print, have also endeavoured to profit such abroad (as haply with all their hearts) would learn, but lack teachers: have ears to heg●e (and souls to sane) and yet all as want instruction. Thus by all possible means to manirest their uttermost good will to the benefit of the Church, & behoof of posterity. But ex duro ultima ferro est. For this unthankful age of ours, how unkindly (with plaited brows and pouting looks) entertaineth it this service and thankless office, embracing the while (with hearty applause) every odd left or bad toy that fond invention can excogirate. And first of all, the enemy of God's truth (if rampant) how yelpeth he: Sicut Cerberus in stigio. If couchant, how hisseth he, Sicut anguis in herba: and all to confront and overbear each laudable enterprise which might further the kingdom of God, or persuade the truth of religion among the sons of men. Again, the Atheist (ignawm paecus) how disdainfully (with a forked tongue) discardeth he each mohument of piety? how maliciously (in a preiudicat opinion) rejecteth he all censure that checketh his distempered affections? And who so shall but cross the path of his wicked delights, jamque faces & saxi volant furor arma ministrat. Moreover the world affordeth a giddy headed crew (absit tamen verho invidia) and these men of Arbens, (forsooth) look a squint at every occurrante that pat●●●● not their sinister fist. For all beir they scorn the dignities of school, and deride all prorogatine of learning: yet (like waltham's calf i●●a peevish choice) they will rather Credere homini prepter hominem, than hominibus propter veritatem: Who after a while that they have beard but who me they list, and but where they list, at length they list to hear none at all, but become malcoutent, fall into schism and heresy, lamentably vexing the Church with all their storms, En quo discordia C●●es perduxit miseros. And yet the wealthy Citizens of this world, whom the Apostle termeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: 2. Thes. 3.6 whose Iron sinews no labour can bow, nor law bind to the good behaviour. O 〈◊〉 oh, 〈…〉 How stand they at defiance with friendly reproof? how impatiently bear they the lore of restraint, enduring with delight the bobs & precious balms of sugared placentia, leading them unwares (as the fool to the stocks) to plough wickedness, to reap in iquitie, Hosea. 10.13. and to feed upon the frime of lies? But (whom I warn as brethren,) a last sort there be also, who though in sincerity & zeal they will seem to go before, some un quiet conceit or other (tho) doth so trouble & distract them, that to speed their fancy, & fixed their palate were not the least amongst Hercules labours: For one preacher is too formal, another too popular: This mana time server: that writer a man pleaser. One Sermon is too full of Doctors & distinctions, all savouring of Art: another lukewarm or kay-cold, devoid of all zeal. This brother affecteth a present Pulpit man without premeditation: another bringeth bosom stuff, all smelling of the Candle, and thus (as he said) Scinditur innertuns studia in contraria vulgus. ●uidius. So that thalone view of the face of these troublesome seas (enraged through the iniquity of the time) doth questionless hale away very many, otherwise, both apt & able to launch into the deep, & driveth them back to rest their boat by the calmer shore, as too too loath to grapple with the multitude (immanis belua) to whom proffered service seldom cometh in season, especially in the case of controlment. But what then? posita est sua meta malignis. And as one very well and wise lie writeth: Hieron. O●or. li. z. de gloria. virtus non in populi opinionem sed in seipsam intuetur, nec leges accipit, fed potius imponit ab omni malerum impetu semper invicta. The second thoughts (which experience holdeth the best) must therefore better advise divines, especially, and heart the servants of God (to whom that celestial Injunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth especially appertain) manfully to stand to their tackle, Coll. 3.2. & cheerly to hoist their sails at all assays, sith never befalleth shipwreck (though many sharp storms) where Christ guides the stern. And if the world have most unkindly entreated (nay cruelly persecuted) the son of God, Mat. 10.24. shall the servant be privileged above the master? And if the spouse herself must stoop to let the wicked plough deep furrows upon her back: who notwithstanding (as Hilary saith) doth vincere cum leditur emergere cum premitur, Psa. 129.3. De Trinit. lib. 7. & exaltari cum humiliatur. Shall not Gods soldiers march on (maugre the malice of men) & proceed with S. Paul by honour & dishonour, 2. Co. 6.8. by evil report and good report etc. sith the dearest jewels be farthest fetched: the purest metals have deepest mines, & difficilia quae pulchra. For as custom (though otherwise often the broker of falsehood) hath fitly drawn the Poet's verse into a proverb of proof: Commoditus omnis sua fert incommoda secum. Even so advisedly & truly said Diodorus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Diodorus. And verily aged is that saw & seasoned with long experience: Quaenocent, docent: For schola crucis, schola lucis. S. Augustine writing of the constancy of Martyrs in the grievous persecutions of the church: De Civit. dei. li. 22. ca 6. Ligabantur, includebantur, caedebantur: (saith he) yea, trucidabantur, torquebantur, laviebantur. But (quenching all this cruelty in a word) Multiplicabantur (quoth he) non pugnantes pro salute, fed salutem contemnentes pro seruatore. The cause standing thus (perdie) the pilgrim that will walk to heavenward must put on the mind to overstride many a stumbling block in the way, and undertaking his course, nec temere nec timide must heedfully pass the straights, per saxa, per ignes, even through purgatory itself curragiouslie maintaining the race from the hour of his first breath, until the last period of his mortal life. Where (as one saith) Lachrimae prius nobis deerunt quam causa dolendi. ●encea De ●it. bre. And no marvel at all: for he that will be crowned must not grudge to be crossed, sith no conflict no conquest, no conquest no victory: nay, the fiercer th'encounter, the more glorious the triumph to him that holdeth out to the end. Otherwise to begin with courage and to fail in the course, is to lose the Bravium th'apostle proposeth to the runners. And to fight for a while & faint in the lifts, is to gain the opprobrium wherewith the Romans upbroyd the Carthagiman Captain, ●. Cor. 9.24 vincerescis Hannibal, uti victoria nescis. As for me (I assure your good L.) I never abounded with that humour, nor ever yet lahoured of their disease whore fingers tickle Prurigine scribendi. For albeit many a time before this day I have been beset with request of sundry both in profession and vocation of the best, yet could I never be induced to divulgate my studies in writing (for causes needles here to repeat) though otherwise. (God's Church be my witness) I never was nice to hide or withhold the dimitalent committed to my trust, when or wheresoever it might do good. Howbeit, after I had upon special request preached this sermon, and was eftsoons laboured with assidual entreaty (in zeal of God's glory I dare say) to gather and pen the same, that (unworthy tho) it might become imprinted and imparted with many. Importunity (at last) overcame me to condescend and extorted my promise to set it down (which as memory would serve I have precisely here performed, as the learned of my coat with the other godly auditors of that presence where it was delivered I think will aver.) But yet with condition endorsed, that your L. grave censure first confirming it to the prefle, or commanding it to silence, I would accordingly answer expectation with yea or nay. Lo, reverend father how bluntly this my Rudis indigestaque moles presseth now upon your charitable patience, whose gravity trial assureth me) is nothing delighted with the empty sounds of hollow eloquence, but better contented with the fruitful form of the wholesome documents: Wherein how soever my iarrie style go limping lame and unpleasant, the matter I hope is both profitable and currant. And that sufficeth me, if the Lord shall sanctify my silly labour to some use or other, though to serve in the utmost courts of the temple. For the poor widows mite, where God is made umpire shall always overbalance the superfluities of that sort who stand upon their painted shea the to draw a leaden dagger out of an Iverie scabbard. Mar. 12.44. Luk. 21.2. And good father Latimers' New years gift to King Henry the eight (who when other Bishops sent rare and rich jewels of gold and plate, presented a fair new Testament with a Hand-karcher wrought about the borders with this inscription and poesy: Fornicatores & adulteros judicabit Deus, ●eb. 13.4. was (for weight & worth) more valued in God's account, than those other ruffling treasures that abounded in the Court. To conclude, if in this my discourse (hitherto subject to the ear alone, not the soundest witness among the senses, but now to be stripped to the eye itself, the subtlest searcher of all the rest) I have erred in matter, humanum est errare (my L.) but my amiss once discovered by the ken of the learned, Peccavi shall be my plea: for hereticum esse nolo. If otherwise by frivolous digression I have undiscreetly ranged without the ring of my compass, belike the man lost his way ere he witted: for that course was far from my purpose, and never in my custom, as the best acquainted with my fashion can best tell. But if any thing here in be well or in any measure commendable, let the praise he the Lords: the pain the authors: and the profit the Readers, that God which is all in all, may have all the glory. It only remaineth then that your good L. (according to your wont curresie) would accept this at my hand, as an infallible pledge of my obsequious mind, and eftsoons vouchsafe my feeble pilgrim to take up his crutch and to wander as a stranger in the world under the coverture of your favourable protection, that so he may find some harbour against the sturdy blasts and scornful spite of malice & malignity. The God of mercy and all consolation bless your L. in your godly cares for the Church, and enlarge his graces upon your heart, cheering up your aged days with the gladsome presence of his blessed spirit to the advancement of his glory and the avail of his Zion. Your L. much bounden, & in the Lord to command Rob. Humston. A Godly Sermon preached at Reyfham. Habakkuk. Cap. 3. vers. 3. God cometh from Teman, and the holy one from mount Paran, Selah, His glory covereth the Heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. THe Lord vouchsafing a long and most loving visitation to the people of juda and jerusalem (men and brethron in the Lord beloved) and therein a frank & gracious tender of mercy and saving health by the ministry of the Prophets. Such notwithstanding was their ingratitude and stubbornness, that no Caveat could warn, nor admonition pierce them, no lenity could bend, nor severity break them. But wretchedly they would enter into opposition against their God, and wilfully run headlong upon the pikes of his displeasure: Whereupon he is constrained to proceed to execution of justice against their rebellion, and to this end (as an instrument for the nonce) stirreth up Nabucadnesser the great king of Babel, who in rage and fury (with his Chaldean army) invading their country, most lamentably sacketh & spoileth the land of judea with fire and sword, and marching on with his cruel band toward the holy City, when by length of siege he had filled her families with famine and hunger, & her streets with howling & wring of hands at the head of every corner, jer. 19.9. at length he razeth her walls, entereth the City with a fearful alarm, fiereth her palaces, spoileth the temple, maketh jerusalem an heap of stones: 2. Re. 25.7. and (after sundry precedents of other fearful cruelties) carrieth away both Prince and people captives to Babylon. All which desolations (to befall the Church and to overwhelm God's children) our Habacuk foreseeing in the spirit of a Prophet (to his no small grief God wots) and observing withal the flourishing estate and wished success of the Chaldeans (that godless and cursed nation) thus insulting and triumphing over God's people (a thing to his seeming no less wonderful and strange) in this woeful instance of the unequal lot of the godly and the wicked in this world: job. 21.7. the godly commonly languishing in misery, jer. 12.1. the godless contrarily flourishing in felicity: Psa. 73.3. he goeth about to tread the Labyrinth, and assayeth by reason to found the depth of God's counsels in this so hard a case: But when the helps of Nature will not reach the height of these judgements, at last (as a ●an at his wits end) he resolveth to stand upon his watch, to listen to the Lord alone, Hab. 2.1. and to hear what he would say to the matter, and eftsoons receiving answer, that howsoever the works and ways of God (to the level of man's understanding) seem confused and out of joint, for his ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts: isaiah. 55.8.9. ) yet for all that, there is no judge more just than God, (as Esdras said) nor any more wise than the most highest. 2. Esd. 7.17. Who standeth not bound to render a reason of his proceed unto men (for who hath known the lords mind, Ro. 11.34. or who hath he made of his counsel. Our Prophet now blushing at his former blindness: breaketh out in this Chapter into a Psalm of praise, with earnest prayer for his so great oversight, and implying the ignorances of the people withal, becometh an humble suitor in the Church's behalf, that (sith remediless she must into Babylon) the Lord would not yet so forsake her, but when (in depth of grief and bottom of distress) her De profundis and prayer should arise, Psa. 130. and (as the incense) ascend into his presence, that then in wrath he would remember mercy, even for his own promise and name's sake. And grounding altogether upon grace, he falleth to enumeration and reckoning up of the marvelous works brought to pass in former time in the behalf of this Nation. And drawing an argument from the free love of God in the wonderful vocation and preservation of this people, he seemeth in great confidence to reason with the Lord, and to frame his demonstration after this manner: It is unlike (nay unpossible) O Lord, that thou (who in mercy hast numbered the hairs of our heads) shouldest once forgeat or forsake that people, Mat. 10.2. towards whom thy special mercies have been so often manifested of old. But this Nation of the jews, is that people, for whose sake thou hast wrought many and marvelous things in time past: Num. 21.34. stricken many a fierce battle: vanquished many a mighty King: Fed with Manna from heaven: josua. 12.9 Exo. 16.15 Exo. 44.22 josua. 1. Led by wonder through the Sea and brought safe to the land. Therefore unlike, Oh Lord (nay unpossible) it is that thou shouldest now forget or forsake this people, or suffer them to be swallowed up with sorrows in Babylon. The Prophet having thus handle this argument before, cometh now to prove the Minor or latter proposition by sound demonstrations drawn from the several works, wonderfully brought to pass in favour of this Nation. And (as the worthiest, and for the excellency thereof) he first of all propoundeth the giving of the Law in the text which I have taken, which may be reduced to this form. That people to whom the Lord vouchsafed (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) the giving of the Law, with an absolute abridgement of his own blessed will, so precisely written with his own hand, and so solemnly promulgate in his own presence, when his glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. The same doubtless is the chosen inheritance and peculiar people of God. But in favour of this people of the jews, God cometh from Teman, and the holy one from mount Paran, where in thunder and wonder the Decalogue & Law of Commandments was first promulgate and delivered. Therefore doubtless this people is the chosen inheritance and peculiar people of God, whom (by consequent) he will never forget nor forsake in their afflictions, sith in their favour and for this people's sake God cometh from Teman, and the holy one from mount Paran, etc. Which words (my thought) do impart a secret (but very sweet) allusion unto Moses speech, in affection jumping right, and in phrase somewhat near with our Prophet, when upon his death bed, and in his last farewell to the people, reisysing in his soul at the remembrance of God's mercies so bountifully extended towards this nation (aiming herein especially at the giving of the Law) saith he The Lord came from Smay and rose up from Seir unto them he appeared clearly from mount Paran and came with ten thousands of Angels, Deut. 33.2. and a fiery law at his right hand. Where first the occasion of the words (in m● understanding) offereth two things for our b●●rning in Habacuk his example before we come to handle the text itself. The first is his great and tender care for and in the Church's behalf, expressed by his ardent affection in bemoaning her calamity (onus) a burden upon his heart, Hab. 1.1. for so he beginneth his prophesy, and withal by his earnest entreating for her relief. The second, his confidence relying in Gods free mercy for her delivery, manifested also by his assured depending upon God's favour, the very life of his hope established upon the strength of the covenant. Of both which I would speak some what by way of observation, but very briefly, and so pass to my text. And first the Prophet's sweet affection towards the Church and people of God, a (special good part always in a good Pastor) teacheth ministers of the word, whatsoever they bear, not alone to be instant in season and out of season upon their several charge, 2. Ti. 4.2. the flock purchased with the blood of the Lamb, as men mindful to avoid the Apostles Vae and vengeance: joh. 1.29. Woe be to me, if I preach not the Gospel. 1. Co. 9.16. But withal to bethink them how it is further required in the Stewards, that they be found faithful, full of affections, pastoral care and zeal, 1. Co. 4.2. especially towards that people and stock committed to their charge, Ezech. 33. 6● whose blood shall be required at their hands. So Moses preferred the safety of his people before his own welfare, Exo. 32.32. when in heat of spirit he cried unto the Lord: Forgive them or raze me out of the book of life. jer. 9.1 So jeremy wished for water to his heart, and a fountain of tears to his eyes, that day and night he might weep for the slain of the daughters of juda. Ro. 9.3 So Paul desired Anatheman esse, and to be separated from God, if thereby he might reconcile the Hebrews his kinsmen after the flesh. And verily this is the grand charge (fuller of affection than repartition) which the prince of Pastors urged with vehemency upon Peter: joh. 21.15. Feed, feed, feed. Giving first a dreadful check unto such as sit at ease in Zion, Amos. 6.1 sleep in the lap of the Church, and pray upon the spoil of souls, and covertly implying a needful Caveat to all preachers of the word (before their divinity exercises) diligently and with due reverence to put in practise all the helps of reading, study, meditation, and conference, making prayer their key to open the door of the morning, from prayer to study, from study to the Pulpit, from the Pulpit to prayer, and thus by a due revolution again to the study, lest while by overspeaking we presume and pretend to avoid the first, we fall unwares into to a second woe, denounced against all such as dare take in hand the Lords work negligently: and yet when we have done what we can, jer. 48.10 except God give wind to our sails, we shall never run the point aright, but may say with Peter, We have laboured all night and taken just nothing. Luk. 5.5 The Lord make us more careful in our calling, and double his spirit upon his servants, by whose ministry the people are to be reduced to the obedience of Faith, and increase the number of true labourers: for the harvest is great. Mat. 9.37 Again, in the course of the Prophet, Magistrates may also learn to whet their affectious, to become more zealous and truly religious, careful to benefit the Church, and to further the course of the Gospel. They may not in imitation of king Hamon deface the ministry, 2 Sam. 10. nor curtal the livings of the Clergy, the messengers (not of David) but of David's Lord. They may not stretch the arm with jeroboam against the Prophet, I. Re. 13.4 nor yet become like julyan the Apostata, as Caterpillars cleaving to the fruits of the Church, but (putting on the bowels of affection and love) they must change their cheer with her happy or hard estate, to sorrow when she mourneth, and to sing when she rejoiceth, Nehem. 2.3 as careful Nouree-fathers' and tender Nurses consecrated by the Lord himself to feed his people in jacob, Ro. 12.15. and his inheritance in Israel. isaiah. 49.23 So good King could never take rest, till he had found an habitation for the God of jacob, Psa. 78.71 and having first prepared a place for the Ark, Psa. 132 4 most joyfully in sweet consort of Music danceth before the same. 2. Sa. 6.16 23. Which the nice and sornful Queen Michol disdaining, is plagued perpetua sterilitate to her grave. So josiah reigned religiously, jehosaphat carefully, & Ezechias zealously. S. Ambrose graceth Theodosius the Emperor with rare commendations, in this especially, that upon his deathbed and to his last breath, his chief care was spent for the peace and good estate of the Church. Among the worthy virtues of King Edgar (registered to his renown) his godly care and good affection toward the Church is especially observed in the story of his deeds, who having resigned his life & cast off his Crown and princely array, a learned man of that time (lest his fame should perish) clad his body with an honourable Epitath, and fit for the hearse of a King, wherein I find thus much for the present purpose. Templa Deo, Templis Monachos, Monachis dedit agros; Nequitie lapsum, justicieque locum. First, he was a builder of Churches, but so be very few. Secondly, he was a careful Patron to implant good ministers (call them Monks if ye will) in these Churches, but so do not many. Thirdly, he was a liberal giver of lands and possessions to maintain these ministers, but so do not any. The Tombs of our time are fair adorned with verses & flags, & ennobled with Arms and Crest, but a man may seek all the days of his life, and search all the graves of the dead, and yet fail to find a like precedent of piety. Well, let all people (of what sort or sex soever, learn in these so honourable examples to hallow their first thoughts, and to dedicate their last care, to the Church, and for religions sake, as esteeming & setting a dearer price upon heavenly than earthly, eternal than temporal things. So shall all grubbing Patrons of benefices, with their sacrilegious brokers whatsoever, learn at last (except they be shameless and past grace) to reform their greedy affections (wherein they have swallowed a great part of the Church's patrimony) and begin in time to yield her (at last) her own again. A thing, in truth, rather to be wished than expected. Sith not the vulgus alone, but men of greatest authority, & by your leave, men of great sincerity (as they will seem) have their hand in the spoils, and are found guilty of this trespass. We only strike the ear with a vanishing voice, it is the Lord that must touch the heart with an effectual feeling, 2. Cor. 3.6 else we may sit still hopeless in this behalf. For, Cathedram habet in Coelo, qui corda docet in terra: The heart teacher sitteth on high. Concerning the second observation, to wit, the Prophet's confidence etc. True it is, Psa. 34.19 many and manifold be the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth ouf of all. Where every penitent sinner may learn by our Habacuk in public or particular affliction to take heart of grace in confidence and boldness: For Constans contraria spernit, and Faith is like the Palm, the more it is pressed, Heb. 10. 2● the more it spreadeth and ariseth against all temptation. To draw near in assurance of faith, and to approach the mercy seat, in the alone merit and mediation of Christ the Messiah, hearted on in the cheerful promises of the Gospel, and that without all doubt or wavering, for he is faithful that hath promised. His will is stable, & his gifts without repentance. ●o. 11.29. In which confident assurance, the ancient patriarchs, the good kings, the holy Prophets and penitent sinners of every sort, have always derived their comfort from this free favour of God, the only fountain & cause efficient of all salvation. Where learn we first to loath and detest Pelaganisme & doctrine of Popery, set abroach by the merite-mongers (the enemies of the grace of God) who struggle to erect a Babel, ●en. 11.4 whose top may reach to heaven, and to stop the stream of this most ancient doctrine, contrary to all course of scripture & example of the Saints, who in every age & occasion (dealing with God in this case) do wholly abandon the mention, & smother all thought of merit, a point so well known (or at least) so often taught, that a man would deny it altogether needless to speak more expressly in this behalf. The use & benefit of this lesson (we digested) willbe this much. Luk. 18.11 That while our adversaries dare stand up with the Pharisee to brag and implead works in bar before the judge, depending (in part) upon desert; & building (partly) upon their own foundation, and therefore still tottering in their doctrine of doubtfulness, ●a. 1.6 & carried, as the waves of the sea, one while up to heaven, & suddenly down to hell, as inconstant in all their ways. We contrarily acknowledge with job, ●ob. 9.30 our uncleanness & with jeremy our wickedness, jer. 2.22. pitching Christ our one and only foundation, Psa. 71.16. & with the Psalmograph making mention of his righteousness only (justicia omnia exceptione maior) & made ours by imputation, shall sing care away with the king. Why art thou so heavy Oh my soul? Psa. 42.11 trust in God etc. and say with S. Paul, therefore justified by faith: We are at peace with God, through jesus Christ our Lord etc. yea, it is God that justifieth, and who shall condemn. There is now no condemnation to those that be engraffed into Christ etc. In which sweet confidence, we shall attain the quiet rest & blessed security of God's saints. The knowledge and assurance whereof, God for his Christ's sake, daily more and more increase confirm and seal up upon our consciences to his everlasting glory and our endless comfort, Hitherto of the occasion. Now a word or twain of the Phrase, and so to my text. God cometh from Teman. Blind Balaam did say, & therefore could say: Nu. 23.19 God is not a man that he should repent etc. Where lest we should fall into the heresy of the Anthropomorphitae we must learn that the actions of the body, as to go, to behold, & to come: the passions of the mind, as to rejoice, to be grieved, to repent & such like, so often in holy scripture ascribed unto God, are not so to be taken, as though these motions & perturbations could fall into the godhead (God forbidden) but are to be understood in a figure very apt to help our dullness, and significant to express Gods ready mercies always at hand to relieve wretched sinners: too apt in Moses absence to fall to Idolatry, ●xo. 32.1. and with the Bethulians in the point of peril to prescribe unto God. ●udith. 7. Therefore because we are flesh, ●en. 6.3 and the Lord remembering that we are but dust, ●sa. 78.39 it pleaseth him in great mercy to stoop to our infirmity, and to condescend to our capacity, speaking as a man unto mortal men, and to make his mercies palpable, afoording us all the helps of familiar phrases of figures, parables, and similitudes in holy writ, together with the Sacraments, ceremonies and rites of holy Church beside, thus by all possible means to establish our hearts in assurance of his saving health: and, by due consequence, to conduct us in the course of a holy and Christian life. Moreover, mark I pray, in the Prophet's phrase, the transposition of the Temple, where speaking of the glorious presence of God in the Mount at the giving of the Law, which was long and many a day before the time of this prophesy. Nevertheless, he setteth it down here as a thing in esse and fresh in view before their eyes: God cometh. Where I take this to be his drift: namely, to ascertain this people (right shortly to be plunged in distress) that God is now as near, and even coming, to relieve and release them in Babylon, as ever in former time, ●xo. 19.20. he was a God at hand to their fathers in the mount: ●xo. 44.22. at the read sea: yea, always in time of need, and therefore he would not have them daunted nor dismayed, nor yet to faint under the burden of their afflictions: For God cometh. Yea, when the spite and rage of the enemy is at the highest, and the calamity and grief of the godly at the heaviest, then God cometh. A noble lesson, fit for Princes & Ladies, for rich and poor men, for Magistrates, ministers and every Christian, sith no worldly wight (conversing in this vale of tears) can purchase immunity from thrall and human misery. Art thou in poverty, in sickness, in sorrow, in prison, in danger, yea, in death itself, God cometh, at whose presence, sorrow departeth, and dread shall fly back: For he is a God almighty, no power can let him: a God all merciful, no stay can prevent him. He cometh skipping over the mountains, Cant. 2.8. & riding upon the wings of the wind: Gen. 3.8 To Adam with the promise in time of despair: Gen. 22.11 To Abraham with supply in time of sacrifice: Gen. 26.3. To Isaac with relief in time of famine: Gen. 39.2. in time of exile with honour to joseph: 1 Re. 19.8 in time of persecution, with comfort to Eliah: jud 1.7.0 in time of battle, with a hand in Gedeons' hilt: 2. Re. 19.6. and in time of invasion, with triumph to Ezechia: Dan. 6.22 to- Daniel among the Lions: Susan. 60 to the children in the furnace: to Susanna at the stake: Act. 16.26 to the Apostle in the jail: Luk. 23. 4● to the thief upon the cross in the moment of death: yea, the bands of death shall break, and the pains of hell shall leave hold: for Veniens, veniet. He shall come at a pinch. His wrath endureth but the twinkling of an eye: beavines may last for a night, or annoy for an hour, but joy cometh in the morning. Oh therefore, whatsoever be thy case or condition, tarry patiently the lords leisure, and he shall make the end happy: Psa. 27.16. For God cometh. A short but very sweet lesson, and sweeter than the Lute to drive dumps from the heart, and to abandon in wealth wickedness, in health wantonness, in mirth forgetfulness, in want distrustfulness, in loss pensiveness, and in death fearfulness. Again, God cometh. How dare then these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proceed in their cruelties? How dare bloody Antiochus afflict the Church? how dare cruel jezabel murder the Prophets how dare proud Sennacherib blaspheme the lining God? ●. Re. 19.2. how dare wicked Herode behead john the Baptist? how dare churlish Dives despise the woeful Lazarus? Luk. 16.19. and how dare the wicked world set itself against God? For he cometh. & where wilt thou hide thyself? If thou climb up to heaven, even there he will find thee. If thou go down to hell, Amos. 9.2. his power will prevent thee. If thou make a way with the wings of the morning, his presence onertakes thee. If thou wouldst smother sin in the bottom of thy conscience, there is a worm to gnaw and grind thee. If thou call upon the hills to fall upon thee, or cry to the mountains to hide and coner thee, it will be in vain, it cannot prevail thee: for God cometh, a consuming fire, a terrible judge, a fierce revenger. And now shall the wicked find it as true as terrible, Deut. 4.24. that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Oh consider this, ye that forget God, lest he take you away in your wickedness: for if his wrath be kindled but a little, Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. And thus at last I come to the Text: which for order and memories sake, I will dispose to the understanding of the simple: Wherein, observe with me (I pray) these four circumstances naturally arising out of the words. The first, of the person: Who cometh? God. The second, of the place: from whence? From Teman, & mount Paran. The third, of the manner how: in glory? For his glory covereth the Heavens. The fourth & last, the end, and why he cometh? That the earth may be full of his praise. Who cometh: Whence, How, and why he cometh. Concerning the first, (to wit, of the person) I mind not to propound Hiero his question to Simonides: Cicer. de nat. deorum. For Christians have already learned; that touching the incomprehensible majesty and essence of the great and eternal God, Man's knowledge is too shallow to comprohende the unmeasurable depth. of this hidden mystery. When Reason therefore would be overbold and busy in this scutanie: let Religion overrule her: for where reason leaveth, religion beginneth: that religion propoundeth, faith apprehendeth: that faith assureth, hope holdeth: and that hope enjoyeth, Love shall accomplish. But the interim: who so shall saucelie pry with the Bethshamites into the Ark shall assuredly find destruction, 1. Sa. 6.19 and he that will curiously gaze upon the majesty of the godhead, shall be oppressed with the glory thereof. A lesson to be looked unto & in time to be learned of the secret Arrians of our days, whose proud and insolent spirits cannot be contained within the limits of this religious compass, till wayward conceit have carried them headlong into damnable heresies. Whereof we have daily examples. Epist. ad Leand. It was a grave speech of Gregory, that the sacred Scriptures are like a deep ford, where the Lamb may yet safely wade, when the Elephant shall swim. And right well said Augustine: Humilitas omnia quecunque benefacimus & precedat & comitetur & consequatur. Epist. 56. Humility is the entrance, the middle and end of all that is well done. And thus we may be warned, not overbusilie to pursue this point of the Essence and majesty of God. A second and safer way to better our knowledge and benefit ourselves in this behalf, is by the names of God, whereby it pleaseth him to manifest (in some sort) his existence, all sufficiency and mairstie, as when he saith to Abraham: I am Schad day, Gen. 17.1 all sufficient to uphold and sustains the creatures in heaven and earth, at whose almesbaket both King and Kaysar are brinen to beg their daily bread: at whose hand the eyes of all creatures do expect their food in due time, and at whose mercy seat all mankind must knock and cry for grace and remission of sins. To Moses, I am jehovah, the essential name of God, Exo. 3.6 to show (as man's capacity may bear it) his essence and being of himself before all eternity, from whom all things have their breath, moving and being. Again, he is sometime called Theos of his swiftness and presence, Act. 17.24 passing through the secret corners & privy places of the heart, & understanding our thoughts long before. Sometime, the Lord of Hosts, Psa. 46.8 11. to express his almightiness, with Frogs and Flies subduing Kings, and conquering Nations at his own will. Here he is called Elohah and the holy one, all very sweet and significant to set forth the power of God, and to persuade the fear of his most holy name. Where we must be warefull lest we become sotted with Popish superstitions, or enchanted with Romish sorceries, as though the wearing or bearing about us these names of God, written in virgin parchment, with crosses and characters were of force to cure maladies, to chase away bugs and cast out devils, which in truth is blasphemously to abuse and take in vain the holy name of God to our own destruction. But learn we rather to harbour and carry the power & faith of this name deep in our hearts: So shall it be to our comforts and victory in all temptation: For this is our victory that overcometh Satan, sin, & the world, even our faith. 1. joh. 5.4 A third and very good way to help yet in this case, is by consideration of the offices attributed to the persons in the Godhead: as Creation to the Father, and therein his wonderful wisdom, disposing and transposing all things to his own will: in the frame of whese providence, all the actions and accidents among the sons of men are daily wrought, and come to their appointed end. Redemption to the son, and therein his unspeakable mercy towards mankind, most willingly affording the dearest drops of his heart blood for the ransoming of wretched sinners. Sanctification to the Holy ghost, and herein the ineruaylous and powerful hand of our God, in changing and renewing the hearts of men, raising us daily from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness. very comfortable be these also to express and manifest the great care and goodness of our God, Psa. 86.15 by nature merciful, long suffering, slow to wrath, and ready to pardon wickedness. It is his mercy to take away the burden and weight of our sins, but it is his great mercy to renew us with indumentes of grace in this life, and to crown us with glory in the life to come. And hitherto of the first circumstance. And now to the second, to wit, of the place. From Teman and from mount Paran. Where, whether you take Taeman for that City of Idumaea builded by Teman one of the Tukes of the sons of Esau, and threatened by jeremy with utter extirpation, Gen. 36.1 because the Edomites or Idumaeans, Icr. 49.20 and namely the inhabitants of Taeman did solicit and surge the Babylonians to war against the jews, who therefore pray against them: Remember the children of Edom, O Lord, Psa. 137.9 in the day of jerusalem etc. Or else, as spoken by way of allusion to the land of Canaan, which in respect of mount Sinai lay South: For so Tremaellius translateth it, and others from the Hebrew phrase, do seem to insinuate. And as touching Paran, whether you take it as it is described for a waist and large Wilderness extended from Egypt unto mount Sinai and so toward Canaan, either else properly for a promontory and hill in this desert, taking denomination of the same and adjacent unto Sinai where the Law was given, which by the text and the place of Moses cited before seemeth most probable. Or whether you will thus interpret it: God Elohah, cometh from Taeman with a revenging hand, having enkindled a fire in Teman which shall devour the Palaces of Bosrha, and God Sanctus cometh from mount Paran with a relieving and holy hand to deliver a holy Law, and to a holy people. Sancti estote, quoniam sanctus sum: For holiness best becometh his house and people for ever. How so ever (I say) you list to understand it. (For I list not to be curious in scanning of places, or describing their situations.) This I take to be the Prophet's meaning: namely, to extol the tender mercies of the Lord so mightily delivering, and so mercifully relieving his people in their so long and tedious journeys through the desert, where he fed them from heaven, watered them from the rocks, bore them in his arms as a father doth his son: carried them on eagles wings most swiftly and safely from all peril and danger, and that which more is, and most excellent above all, vouchsafing them in this place the Decalogue and Law of Commandments to be their wisdom, direction and sanctification even all the days of their life. And here of purpose I will pass by the matter and manner of God's mercies in the deliverance of this people. For why should I insist upon the point, which is the very ground of my song, and foundation of all my building this day, and will take occasion rather to speak somewhat of the place of God's presence to his people, of the place of his worship: of preaching, hearing, praying, & communicating, of administration of Sacraments, and participation of the rites of holy Church. Where first of all I must freely confess (and most true it is) that every Christian hath a Temple within him. Every Temple hath an Altar. Every Altar hath a Sacrifice. Every place in dedicate to God's service. Every believer is a Priest to offer, and for every sort of men lifting up pure hands without wrath and contention. This is the doctrine of the Holy ghost scattered throughout God's book, & herein blessed be God, we are far from Donatisme, and tying of the worship of God to place or person. And yet for all that, the holy assemblies & congregations of Christians to preaching, prayer and public celebration of the service of God, and that in the Temple sacred and dedicated to this use, is a thing by so often repetition commanded and commended of God himself in holy Scripture, as his own ordinance, levit. 3.3. that it may be urged by an argument, a necessitate mandati, joel. 1.14. even upon our allegiance. isaiah speaking of the Temple & the use thereof in the person of God, isaiah. 56.7 I will bring them (saith he) to my holy mountain, and I will make them glad in my house of prayer, their offerings will I there accept, and it shall be called the house of prayer for all men. Ezechiels' oracle fitteth us also in this race: Eze. 43.7 where (speaking of the presence of God's grace: not for the Temple, but for the people's sake) he calleth it the place of God's throne, and the place of the soles of his feet, where he will dwell in the midst of his people. And Michea calleth jerusalem the tower of the flock, where the watchman of Israel doth ward and guard his folk most safely from day to day: Mich. 4.8 So that this point might again be enforced by an argument a praemils. But what should I speak of the sweet variety and rich plenty of those plants and flowers in this heavenly Paradise (odor vitae ad vitam) watered by the dew of Heaven, flowing with streams of comfort to the wounded conscience, Co. 2.16 by means of the wort and Sacraments, where the prayers of the Congregation are compared by an ancient father Murmuri maris to the violence and 'noys of the Seas, that pierce the ears of jehovah, and with force burst into his presence (ever-bearing all impediments? Why should I strain my voice to excite and stir you up to the religious and diligent frequenting of these heli● assemblies, where Christ hath promised hi● presence to two or three gathered in his name. Wither you are daily tolled to holy exercise of piety and devotion for the better increase of your knowledge and growing up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. Mat. 18.20 When in this case any shall be silent, and men wax mute, let the Sermon bell sound shame to the sluggar be with a woe to the crew of worldlings that wallow upon their beds of ivory, make cheer in bowls, Amos 6.4 and spend their days in vanity, recklessly neglecting the time of their visitation. And here I do reject the frantic and schismatical opinions of the anabaptistical feet commonly called Brownisses, who have wilfully divided and rend themselves from our congregations: deny us to have any Church: contemn our Sacraments, and condemn our Religion as Antichristian. The interim betaking themselves to private meetings, and seerete conventicles in corners. Oh how far be these vermins from King David's spirit and joy. One thing have I desired, Psa. 17.4 and that (saith he) I will require, even that I may dwell in the lords house all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to visit his Temple. Again, Leratus sum in his, Psa. 12● etc. It did him good at his heart, when they said: Let us go into the house of the Lord: yea, and again: Quam dilecta etc. Oh how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of hosts: Psa. 84.12 my soul hath a longing thereunto. O how far he these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Theodosius the Emperor his spirit and sorrow, who (being excommunicate for his of, fence at the great mutiny in Thessalia by Ambrose Bishop of milan, An. Dom. 391 and so by the Church's censure, cut off from the Communion of the faithful) ceaseth not in brackish tears to bewail his wretched estate, and day by day to dance attendance in humility and penitency to crave restitution, till at last he was again received into the Church. But if neither the joys of a king can induce them in time to retire, nor an emperors sorrows yet reduce them to come hume by weeping cross, 21 Sam 12 13 with open & humble acknowledgement of their offence to return with David in time, Mat. 27.4 lest judas Peccavi come too late: Then let the Magistrate (by whose negligence this sect monstrously swelleth with daily increase in divers parts of the land) Have an eye this way, lest foolish pity, spoil a city, and pester a common wealth with a people full of blasphemies against God, and not all void of treasons against the King. Dionysius the Bishop of Alexandria for bare not to tell Novatus to his teeth, that the sin is greater to break the unity and pear of the Church, ●…seb. in ●…ta Const. than to commit Idolatry. And reasoning a paena in the example of Chore, that quoth he was punished with the sword, but this with the yawning of the earth. Et non dubitatur scaeleratius esse commissum quod gravius erat vindicatum. That, saith he, was more heinously committed, which was more heavily punished. And now to the third circumstance, namely the manner of Gods coming in these words: His glory covereth the Heavens. Which as you see are discerned from the former part of the text, Psa. 3.2.4.8 by this word Selah full oft observed in the book of Psalms, Psa. 4.2.4 and serving in the old Church for the singer's direction in the change of their voice or tune. Psa. 9.16.20 But here, Psa. 31.4. as I take it, Psa. 49.15 standing as an important note to move both attention and affection, Psa. 68.19 and no marvel, for the matter in hand is weighty. Men have written much of Xerxes' fourth coming with his Navies, Alexander with his Armies, and Solomon in his royalty, their fame flew far, and their puissance was renowned, yet were they but men, whose breath was in their nostrils, their power was limited, their arm was but flesh, their pomp was but a flower, soon changed into dust: yea, all was but vanity and lighter than vanity itself. But when God cometh forth, the heavens melted, and the earth shook (saith David) even as Sinai also was moved at the presence of the God of jacob. Psa. 68.8 For now the Heavens and firmament by violent fraction and rapture of the clouds seemed to burst in sunder, and the fearful lightnings and roaring thunderclaps did rend the bending sides of the sky: the dark & wallowing clouds skirmishing in the air, did drive away with vehement course, Psa. 77.17 as shunning most fearfully the sight of this presence Yea, the smothering mount in the rage of the tempest, did cast forth sparkling vapours, and flashings of fire like another Aetna or an image of hell, & thus God cometh from Teman, and thus came the holy one from mount Paran. Again, the people stricken with astonishment, stood trembling about the hill, not daring to approach, but (quaking) cry unto Moses, Obe thou our spokesman, or else we die. The rattling sharme of the Trump calling on, and summoning appearance, seemed to resemble the day of doom, when the heavy sentence (go ye cursed into everlasting fire) shall be denounced against the wicked, Yea, Mat. 25.4 the Sun was turned into blood, the fowls forsook the light, the beasts of the field sought secure among the dens of the Lions, and every creature else that could crawl away, sought a place or corner where to hide his head, and thus God cometh from Teman, and thus came the holy one from mount Paran. Furthermore, the Law itself (by a Sub paena) enforcing a strict and absolute obedience in work, word and thought (even under pain of death, ●eu. 28.15 and eftsoons bewraying the privation of original justice, revealing sin, discovering the impurity of nature, and displaying the very frame of man's heart, ●en. 6.5 altogether out of course, and out of measure wicked. Now she hurleth curses, and now she heapeth woes. Now she poureth out wrath, and now she plungeth sinners: and consequently dendunceth the heavy sentence of condemnation against all flesh. And thus God cometh from Teman, and thus came the holy one from mount Paran. The end and use of his thus coming, was to strike the hearts of this people with a reverend regard and holy fear of his most glorious name and presence to show what in justice he might challenge at ours hands, and the impossibility on our part to perform it in the least part, thus to bring all men to the knowledge of sin, and that thus the Law might school us unto Christ, Gal. 3.24 where (I pray) do not mistake me to lay these imputations to the Law, as properly the cause of sin (God forbidden.) For, as saith the Apostle: the Law is pure, Rom. 7.12 the Law is holy, and the Law is good. But in that she increaseth sin in that she is the minister of death, etc. it is per accidens, and in our default. For even as men deformed in their bodies, and blemished in their faces, while they be compassed with darkness, are not discerned from others: but the light once appearing doth by and by bewray their ugliness and show them in their kind, and yet the cause not in the light, but in themselves. So the Law is our light and glass poincting out our coruptions and deformities of nature, and yet the cause not in the glass, but in the flesh, not in the Law, but in our nature. And thus you have heard how God cometh from Teman, and the holy one from mount Paran. Now, where Moses calleth the Law jugum ferreum, a hard, a heavy & Iron yoke. Deur. 28. ● Christ calleth the Gospel jugum Suave, a sweet, a light & easy yoke. Mat. 11.3 Where isaiah calleth the Law Virgam exactoris, The rod of the oppressor. Esa. 9.4 Michea calleth the Gospel Virgam pastoris, Mich. 7.14 the rod of the Shepherd, where under he guideth his flock in the pastures of comfort, and conducteth them to the waters of life. Where jeremy termeth the Law Mallens dissipans petram, jer. 23.29 The hammer that grindeth the rocks to powder. Psa. 45.6 David calleth the Gospel Sceptrum Regni, The Sceptre of the kingdom, wherewith Christ (in all lenity and mildness) governeth in his Church, Esa. 42.3 not once breaking the bruised reed, nor yet quenching the smoking flar. Where S. Paul calleth the Law Ministram mortis, The minister of death. He saith, 2. Cor. 3. ● the Gospel is Ministratio vitae, The administration of life. So that God is now come to us not from Teman, but from heaven: not from mount Paran, but from mount Zion: not in the sharme of the trump denouncing death, Heb. 12. but in the sound of the trump proclaiming life: not in the shrill voice that cleaveth the mountains, 〈◊〉, Re. 19.11 but in the still voice that cheereth the conscience. And thus are we come from Taeman unto Canaan, from Paran unto Zion, from a condemning law to a reconciling Gospel, from a fearful judge to a merciful Saviour: and thus at last we are come home from the land and people of judaea to the realm and people of England. Mat. 11.31 And now will I deal with the last circumstance, to wit, the end and use of Gods coming in these words: The earth is full of his praise. Wherein I will be short, and conclude with an application of the matter of this my tedious discourse to the time and state wherein we live, and so will I bequeath you to the Lord. Where first the point I touched in a word at my entrance (if ye remember) to wit, the excellency of this work and mercy of God, towards the Nation and people of the jews, in gining them the Law, cometh now to a further consideration, and calleth us (except we will be like Horse and Moil that have no understanding, Psa. 32.9 to a more deep and serious meditation and examination of the unspeakable mercy of the Lord our God towards our Nation and people of England, in vouchsafing us the Gospel, and in continuing the same now full thirty years expired with diligence preached in our coasts. For this Gospel's sake blessing us still (by all this space) above other Nations with happy peace, a blessed Queen, a renowned government, a reverend ministry, a godly magistracy, and what not beside to our good? This Gospel hath been the fame and renown, the defence and glory, 2. Re. 2.11 the chariots and horsemen of England to this present day & hour. This Gospel hath posted through city & country without ceasing to teach and to instruct, to correct and to comfort, 2. Ty. 3. 1● to call sinners unto repentance, to gather the dispersed, to heal the broken hearted, Esa. 61.1.2 & to preach the acceptable day of the Lord. And all this (my brethren) hath been the time (yea the long and blessed time) of our planting, dressing and springing, Esa. 5.1 the Lord hath long expected (and even to this hour looketh) to gather and reap the grapes of our vine, the fruits of our fig tree, and the harvest of our so long and pleasant spring. Luk. 13 6 The Lord looketh for the sheaves of our obedience, Mat. ●. 37 repentance, faith, mercy, and the fear of his name, with conscience to walk before him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. The end of all is, Psa. 76.1 that God might be well known in judaea, and that his name might be great in Israel: that his fear might dwell in our land, and saith my text) that the earth may be full of his praise. But (alas and thrice alas therefore) the Lord hath a quarrel (yea a double quarrel) against our land, the trespass (yea trespass upon trespass) is committed in City and Countrens, and at the corners of each street, the Indictment is drawn against us, and the declaration put upon the file by the Prophet Hoseah (as the lords actuary) in this sort. Ho. 4.12 There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. The evidence followeth and is given by him that will be accuser, witness and judge against us, and this it is: Swearing and lying, killing and stealing, and whoring, Inundaverunt, have broken all wonted bounds, and overflowed the face of the earth, and what more? Sanguis sanguinem tetigit: Blood hath touched blood. One sin engendereth another. The cruelties committed in the extreme parts of the land from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South, have met together, mingled themselves in the bulk and midst of the land, and Sanguis sanguinem tetigit. A grievous accusation (you will say) but not fit for this presence. A fearful controversy of the Lords, but not well applied to this people. Well, if you will pardon me to say as Ambrose did unto Theodosius: Amb. Epist. ●9. li. 5 Neque Imperiale est, dicendi libertatem negare, Neque sacerdotale quod sentiat non dicere. Neither becometh it the Emperor to forbid free speech: Nor beseemeth it the preacher to forbear the presence, I shall be content to overpass the gross enormities whereof the Holy Ghost doth far the multitude in the words of the Prophet: Which palpable offences be daily whipped out of our streets, and commonly condemned at open Bar. And I will come to lurking and lurching sins, even to trespass of blood, not so easily discerned, nor so severely punished, and yet (by your leave) more accustoniably committed, and daily perpetrated amongst us. For howsoever men can wash with Pilate and overween to have clean hands and clear hearts from this accusation of blood, Mat. 27.24 yet must I lay it somewhet nearer the conscience. For it is God's cause, and therefore to be handled indifferently without respect of honour or office, degree or dignity, sith sin is the same, and savoureth of the soil, though embalmed with perfumes, though clad upon with velvet or satin, or yet cloaked with scarlet or purple. Then sith plain dealing best pleaseth God and good men, enter I pray into yourselves, common with your own hearts and be still. But tell me, tell me, can you be persuaded there be none among us that keep judgement from the poor, Zeph. 33 make widows their pray, isaiah. 10.2 and the fatherless their spoil? Exo. 22.22 Be there but a few (trow ye) that by usuries cruel trade devour the needy, Exo. 22.25 and feed upon the flesh of those that fall into their nets? Deu. 23.19 Be there no oppressors of their brethren, Pro. 28.8 that quench their daily thirst with the tears of women and children, Zach. 7.10 making breach of bands better than their lands, and grinding the faces of such as are taken in their snares? Be there no carry tales that give joabs stab with judas kiss, Leu. 19.16 no biting slanderers, that make lying their custom, Psal. 15.3 and delight to die their tongues in the blood of their brethren (as Chrisostome speaketh. Pro. 26.20 ) Be there (think you) no secret lurchers that store up violence in the counting house, Pro. 22.22 and rob the poor of their contributions for their own advantage? Amos 8.4 I pray God the false witness and the suborner, Deu. 19.19 the corrupt questman and extortioner be not found with the rest, Mich. 3.11 in our Counties, and at our Sessions, in our Cities, and even at our sermons. And if they be, God give them ears to hear, and hearts to repent, in time to judge themselves, lest they be condemned of the Lord: for all these be bloody sins, and all such persons bloodsuckers, indicted of the blond of God's people. Again, Exod. 22 26 27 the poor man's pledge wrongfully withholden, the labourers hire kept back till the morning, the buildings enlarged by Achabs' cruelty, Mat. 26.25 the coffers enriched by judas frecherie, these be also bloody sins, and in every of these is trespass of blood. The shops sorted with wares, and the warehouse with store, the tables with dainties, the Cupboards with plate, the Wardrobes with suits, and the granaries with corn. Take heed (my good brethren) lest in these the blood do also cleave unto your singers. I grant, before men, device may excuse it, custom will smooth it, and (for the time) silence can conceal it. But when the Lord shall visit jerusalem with lanterns, and search your corners with lights, Zeph. 1.12 than blood will burst forth, then blood will appear: For there is nothing so secret that shall not be disclosed, Mat. 10.26 nor any thing hidden, that shall not be known. O take heed that many far not hardly for thy superfluity: that many live not in penury for thy prodigality: that many go not a begging for thy polling, encroaching and enclosing: that many sit not mourning for thy merry making: that many go not full bare, job. 35.9 for thy going so brave. For thus, and infinite ways beside, thou mayst become guilty of blood. woe (saith Zephavie, Zeph 3.1 and woe saith Nahum) be to the bloody and robbing city, Nah. 3.1 the one speaking of jerusalem, the other of Ninive, and why bloody I pray? she heard not the voice of the poor: the prisoner perished in the dungeon, & the beggar died at the gate for want of relief. And therefore, O bloody City, guilty of their blood: and why a bloody City? she received not correction, faith Zephonie, she trusted not in the Lord, she drew not near unto God, & therefore, O bloody City, & O bloody country, guilty of thine own blood, and therefore thine own blood be upon thine own head. Draco his laws were said to be written with blood, they were so forced with cruelties & heavy impositions. Our laws of England, blessed be God, are good and renowned, yet is it to be feared, that for want of due execution, they (sometime) become like Solon's cobwebs, and too often, under pretext of justice, hard injuries be urged against the poor. The Emperor Titus who deemed the day lost, wherein he did not good,) desired and was invested with the dignity of Priesthood, to the end to keep himself from oppressions, from cruelties and shedding of blood. A memorable and right honourable precedent for judges, esperially, and men of authority. Yet is it to be feared, we have few of Titus mind at this day in the laud. The jews made no conscience to shed innocent blood: they moneyed judas to betray his master, such was their cruelty. But when (with a wounded conscience) he threw it back upon them; their money might not come in their treasury: Mat. 27.8 no it was the price of blood: such was their hypocrisy, therefore it came by no common consent to buy therewith the field for burial: but by special providence to discern and name it the bloody field, or field of blood even to this day. Oh my beloved, it is to be feared, we have many such fields in England. Bloody fields, bloody vineyards, bloody cities, bloody houses, bloody Magistrates, bloody Ministers, bloody merchants, bloody Lawyers, bloody men and bloody women, bloody hands and bloody platters, and the price of blood within our walls. ●ab. 2.11 Lapis de pariete. (sayeth our own Prophet:) a stone shall cry out of the wall. and the Beam out of the timber shall make answer: Woe be to him that buildeth a town with blood, and his house with iniquity. And have we not just cause, judge I pray, to fear that the land full (not of the praise of God) but of cursing and bitterness, of cruelty and blood. shall taste of fearful judgements for her contempt, and to suspect that the sins of the land, jer. 17.1 written with an Iron pen upon the tables of our heart, and graven with a Diamond point upon the horns Altar, are grown to the quality and height of those crying sins, which threaten us with utter destruction. The Lord of hosts menaced of late to stretch the line of Samaria over the Realm of England, and to sound our Cities and measure our families with the Plummet of the house of Ahab, and not to leave one to make water against a wall. While the danger was fresh, we were souddeinly daunted, and began to curse the days spent in vanity and wickedness, jocl. 1.15 which had brought the day of destruction so near upon our heads. Wherein our enemies came against us as fierce as the Wolves in the evening, or as the Eagles 'gree, Zeph. 33 die of their pray, with purpose, had not the Lord in mercy prevented them, to have taken away and trampled under feet the glorious Gospel of Christ, and to have erected superstition and idolatry in all our land, to have bereft us of our most lawful and loving Sovereign, the lords anointed Queen, and to have turned our inheritance to heathenish strangers, to have invaded our country with Edom's alarm and turned our floods of peace into channels of blood▪ to have murdered the honourable counsel our and grave judge, the reverend Bishop and venerable magistrate, Deur. 32.25 the wealthy Citizen and painful craftsman, the aged matron and the chaste virgin, the infant in the cradle and the cr●ple at the gate▪ without remorte or respect of sex degree or age. And for execution of these so heavy judgements, the Lord threat eneth us with a people and Nation Idolatrous and uncircumcised as the Philistines, extremely cruel and tyrannous as the Scythians, achieving their exploits not so much by martial prowess, as by dishonourable practice, not so much by courage of their own, as by corruptng th'adverse Captains, a thing whereof we have had tod late experience, of whom I trust I may speak a troth without scandal: And as one said of the Macedonian king Phillips soldiers▪ Proiustie i●, rapinas & caedes pro sobrie tarmebrie tatem colebant, Theopompus Histor. veritatem & pactorum fidemsuperbe deridebant periuria & imposturas ducebant laudes ingenii. Even so say I of these, the trovyes of Pupists soldiers, the Pope's vassals, whether Spanish, Frenth; Italian, or whencesoever: if violation & wilful contempt of ancient laws of Arms, held so xsacted, yet among the Heathens, if breach of oath and promise sealed upon the conscience by Sacraments of holy Church: if profanation of leagues and truce taken still, salved upon their seared consciences with Fides non est servanda cum Hereticis, if weapons yet blundred and glutted in the bowels of God's Saints, even then when they deemed themselves most safe under the oath and warrant of a King: in a word, if treacheries and treasons, massacres & murders, barbarous designments and greedy inquisitions for blood be apparent testimonies of cruelty and infidelity, then Oh heavens (where now the souls are most happy in the hand of the Lord,) and Oh thou earth, where the bodies of so many and great states lie now full low, murdered by flagitious treacheries. O heaven and earth, I say, bear witness of the cruelty and infidelity of these our enemies (the slaughter-slaves of Antichrist) whom it were easy to trace in blood to apparent and ruthful instances of most furious tragedies. But (Oh thou blood thirsty bawd, thus foiled in blood, and stained with indignities, howsoever the Lord shall deal with England for her transgressions, for surely it is a wicked Nation) yet blood shall be upon thy head, and blood in thy hands, blood upon thy conscience, and blood in bar against thee, at the great day when the righteous God shall bring sorrow upon thy soul in revenge of his servants blood poured upon the face of the earth by thy tyranny. But Oh, how hath the oppressor ceased and the gold thirsty Babel been infatuate, Esa. 14.4 her rod broken, and the Sceptre departed. The Lord our God hath been our general by land, & our Admyralt by Sea. He that maketh wars to cease in all the world, hath knapped the spear in sunder: ●sa. 46.9 he hath broken the ships of the Sea by the East wind, and covered our head in the day of battle, and therefore shall every good man sing of his praise without ceasing. ●sa. 30.13 O thou King of Nations and hope of Israel, ●er. 14.8 a good God hast thou been unto England, ●u. 22.17 when Balaam of Rome hath cursed, yet hast thou blessed us. When Balaac of Spain hath practised mischief against us, than hast thou discovered and disappointed it. ●. Sam. 17 3 When Achitophel at home hath conspired, ●. Re. 1.5 & ● 17 confusion hath caught him. When Adoniah the wily aspirer sought the Shunamite to wife and the kingdom withal, the edge of justice cut him short. ●. Re. 11 1 When Athalia the murtheress went about to raze the line of the blood royal, thy providence prevented her. Psa. 37.15 Yea, their sword (as David sayeth) hath gone through their own heart, their girdles & garters have been their halters, their own hands their own hangmen, that lay in wait to murder thine anointed, 2. Sam. 21 17 and went about to quench the light in Israel. This O Lord was thy doing, Psa. 121.5 and it was marvelous in our eyes. Thou hast been our keeper upon our right hand, Psa. 118.23 the careful watchman that hast not forsaken thy England in the day of distress: When Prince and people (yea, so many thousands that know not the right hand from the left) were designed to a black and bloody day of destruction. jonas. 4.11 Psa. 45.3 But the most mighty (according to his worship and renown) hath girt his sword upon his thigh, and defended his own glory & Gospel against their spite, Psa. 79 10 that would have said: where is now their God? The Lord hath not withholden his helping hand from his handmaid Elizabeth our good & gracious Queen in time of trial a sheep to the slaughter: in time of government, a tender Nurse to the Church, for whose sake he hath heaped so many blessings upon our land. The Lord hath not shut his ears at the pitiful moan and cry of so many widows and desolate Orphans, whose weak and weary limbs find relief in our Almshouses and hospitals, some monunients of piety yet left in our land. No, no, howsoever it be, a good God is our God, and loving unto Israel, Psa. 73.1 even to such as be of a pure heart. And therefore it shall go well with the godly: as for our enemies, Eccl. 8.12 he that dwelleth in the Heavens hath laughed them to scorn: yea, the Lord shall have them in derision. Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth be moved, Psa. 46.2 and though the foundations of the hills be out of course. For when the Seas do swell and rage horribly, yet the Lord God is mightier, strong is his hand and mighty is his arm. He hath thrust his hook into the jaws of Sennacherib, isaiah. 37.29 and the Seas have swallowed the troup of Pharaos' host. Yea, Moab shall be our washpot, Exo. 14.27 and Edome shall kneel unto our shoe. Psa. 60.8 Our footsteps shall be dipped in the blood of our enemies, Psa. 68.23 and the tongues of the dogs shall be red with the same: So that a man shall say, verily there is a reward laid up for the righteous: Psa. 38.11 doubtless, there is a God that judgeth the earth. But shall we now become secure and cast away care: shall we say, pax, ●er. 8.11 pax, and all is well, Non veniet super nos malum, Mich. 3.11 The spaniards come no more? Will you steal and murder? ●er. 7.9.10 commit adultery, and swear falsely, and yet come and stand before me (saith the Lord) and say, we are delivered though we have committed all these abominations? Amos 6.3 shall we come before the Lord with bloody hands and guilty hearts: put far off the evil day, and approach to the seat of iniquity, and yet think to escape the judgements of God? O beloved, take heed is a fair thing, and happy they that be made warefull by the barmes of others: For the mastiff is beaten, that the Lion might couch: 'tis plain, but a true and pathetical distichon: Non utbs non regio, non aetas ulla severi, juditii, exemplis, non domus ulla caret. No town, no land, no age, nor house, that time of grace contemned: But heavy judgements fell for payt, and woeful was the end. When threatenings would not serve, nor th'old world could be warned, Gen. 7.21 then came the flood. When dangers were forgotten, Gen. 19.24 and Sodom grew secure, 2. Re. 17 than came fire from heaven. When Israel (the mount of the Lords in heritance) waxed wilful & despised the Prophets, than came ashur the rod of God's wrath. 2. Re. 25 When juda (the signet of the Lords right hand) became indurate, and would not be reclaimed, then came Nabucadnessar with fire and sword. When jerusalem sored with the Eagle, Lam. 1.1 & made her nest among the stars, Oh sudden was her downfall to sorrow and desolation. When the Britons would be wantoness & derided Gildas warnings, than came the Romans, and then came their woe: For Propter avaritiam & rapinam principum, propter iniquitatem & iniustitiam judicum, propter desidiam & dissidium Episcoporum, propter luxuriam & impietatem populi, patriam perdiderunt Britanni. Will you know what rooted out the ancient Britain's out of this land, and brought a most lamentable face of a common wealth upon the same? It was the covetousness and oppressions of the Nobles, and Peers, the injuries & extortions of the judges and Lawyers, the sloth and dissension among the Bishops & clergy, the rout and riot of the people and commons. These, these (my brethren) be the sins that bring kingdoms to ruin, and populous cities to desolate heaps of stones, and God is chief justice that striketh Nations with destruction, Psa. 107. 4● and poureth contempt upon Princes for their disobedience. He hath his Angels above, and his armies below with a storehouse of plagues to discharge upon the wicked. Hos. 11.6 He can let fall a bloody sword upon the rebellious City. He can pine a pampered people with penury and scant. He can strip the land of pride to a hissing and shame. Hos. 2.3 He can smite with the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Ps. 7.12.13 Surely his how is full bent, and his sword ready whet. He is coming to execution with the instruments of death. O, it is full time then for us to turn unto the Lord, Zeph. 2.1.2 to sow in tears that we might reap in joy, Amos. 8.10 to seek the Lord while he may be found, and to gather ourselves before the decree come forth, to turn our feasts into fasts, and our songs into sighings, to gird sorrow about our loins, and to rend our hearts with mourning: yea, the time is come for prince and subjects (with the King and people of Ninive) to come forth in sackcloth and ashes, jonas. 3.6 for the Bride (with Queen Hester to forsake her closet, Hest. 4.15 and the Bridegroom his chamber, For the minister of the Lord to cry between the porch and the Altar, jocl. 2.16 17 ) spare Oh Lord, spare thine heritage, that we all come forth in mourning cheer with the tears of repentance, to turn away God's heavy wrath and prepared destruction. For his hand is not shortened, but that he can pay us home, nor his wrath (for all this) so withdrawn, but that he will revenge. Again, our case is not so desperate, nor we so far fallen from God. Our wickedness is not of that height, nor our sins of so deep die, but unfeigned repentance will reconcile us unto God, and blot out all remembrance of former displeasure out of his sight. If therefore there be any consolation in Christ jesus, ●hil. 2.1 any desire or liking of Christian religion. If there be any love or loyalty towards her sacred majesty, or care in thy heart of thy native country. If any hope of resurrection to eternal life, any longing or looking for the kingdom to come: Let thy repentance, thy tears, thy sorrow for sin, thy covenant to serve the Lord undertaken this day, & (in some good measure of grace) performed all the days of thy life, be means to sue for thy pardon, to reconcile thee to the Lord, to turn away his wrathful indignation, and to continue his wont mercies toward the realm of England. And here let every one begin with himself, and seek first a reformation in his own conscience. And herein God help us and prosper the work of our hands upon us O Lord, prosper thou our handy work: Psa. 90.17 So jerusalem shallbe builded, Psa. 79.13 and thy Zion never be removed, but stand fast for ever. So we that be thy people and sheep of thy pasture, shall give thee thanks for ever. So shall our victory be thy glory: the fall of our foes, the advancement of thy Gospel: the preservation of our lives, the amendment of our wicked lives hereafter, that in life and death we may be thine, and glorify thee our rock, our defence, & only God of trust, even all the days of our life. That after our short and uncertain course here below spent in thy service and fear: we may at last departed in peace from this vale of misery to thy kingdom of glory, there to reign with thee for ever, and to be satiate with the fullness of thy glory in the heavens for evermore, and that by thy alone merit, and in the only mediation of jesus Christ our sole sufficient saviour, to whom O Father of lights, together with thee and the Holy Ghost, three distinct in person, one only true, eternal, and everliving God be immortal praise, glory, power, dominion, and majesty, both now and for ever. Amen. FINIS. LONDON Printed by john Wolf for Edward Aggas. 1589.