LONDON'S WARNING, BY JERUSALEM. A SERMON PREACHED AT PAUL'S CROSS ON MID-Lent Sunday last.  
By Francis White, Mr. of Arts, and sometime of Magdalene College in OXFORD.  Deut. 32.29 
Oh that they were wise, than they would understand this: they would consider their latter end.  
LONDON, Printed by George Purslowe, for Richard Fleming: and are to be sold at his Shop at the Sign of the three Flower-de-L●●●s, in Saint Paul's Alley, near Saint Gregory's Church. 1619.   

Vox index animi: Vox index esto libelli:  
Vox clamans titulum: Signat amans animum.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, AND RELIGIOUS Lady: MARY Lady HUNSDEN: as also to her truly Noble, and most virtuous Son, Henry Lord Hunsden: the blessing of Heaven and earth be multiplied.  
Right Honourable:  
PResuming on your favours, I am emboldened to present you with the firstlings of my endeavours, who may best challenge them, being the first who gave life and breath in your encouragements to these my intendments. For never had I engaged myself so far in these more public employments, but had contented myself in an obscure retire on my rural Charge; but that the experiments of your favour did for a while dictate another course unto me: which since good considerations have altered; it being aswell your religious desire, as my care, to feed mine own flock at home, though but a very little one, being in a place altogether dispeopled, rather than to intend another's Charge abroad: I had sometime thought the desolatenes of the place had been sufficient privilege for absence: but I find it otherwise: many being ready to find fault, as Eliab did with David for leaving, 
1. Sam. 17.28.  though but a few Sheep in the Wilderness. And therefore, to give offence to none, I will seek no farther excuses for my absence, but return unto mine own: and sith my absence can no longer suffer me to perform that service to your Honours which I could wish: I shall leave this small Present with you, as a pledge of that duty & service which I own: making up in my daily prayers to God for your Honours, what shall be wanting in the performances of my service to you: desiring the God of Heaven to bless your Honours with the blessings of this life, and blessedness of a better.  
Your honours most devoted Chaplain: FRANCIS WHITE.   

TO THE WORTHY SOCIETIES OF CITIZENS in this famous City of LONDON, in especial to his loving friends of the Parish of St. Sepulchres.  
WHat was sometime preached to the ear, is now presented to the eye: and the rather this, because the more may take notice of it, if any thing there be, which any ways may concern the Peace of our Jerusalem. Nothing there is at all, which may deserve the Printing: but if any thing there be, which any ways may avail the soul's good; the Lord Print that in the Heart: which is all I aim at, or can desire. I hope it will be offence to none, but to such only who put the gain of Deceit into a broken Bag (for whom I pass not) that our Prophet's invective against the scant measure, wicked Balances, and the bag of deceitful weights, is renewed in these times, and some of the City corners not exempted from it: which Discipline in time (no doubt) will redress and purge; That glorious things may ever be spoken of thee, 
Psal. 87.  thou City of God: and the Lord may still love the habitations of jacob, where his Name is called upon, and his will observed. Thus seek we still the peace of our Jerusalem, breaking off our sins by repentance, being at peace with God; that the God of peace and love, may establish for ever peace within our Walls, and set plenty within our Palaces, to his glory, and the comfort of us all in Christ jesus.  
Yours in all Christian Offices, and services of love, FRANCIS WHITE.   

LONDON'S WARNING.  MICAH. 6.9. 
The Lord's voice crieth unto the City, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.  
Majesty in this Chapter seems to parley even with misery: God parleys with man; and that the quarrel of a gracious God, with an unthankful people, may appear most just, Heaven and earth, the dumb creatures of God, which in the nineteeneth Psalm are styled the silent Preachers of God's glory, & mercy, unto man, are here cited to be eare-witnesses of man's unthankfulness unto God. For in the second verse, Hear ye, O Mountains, and ye mighty foundations of the earth, the Lords quarrel against his people. The witnesses thus produced, Rocks and Mountains, to convince the hardness of man's heart, and height of rebellion against his God. God, he gins his plea, and shows the ancient evidences of his love: Verse 5 O my people, Verse 4 saith God, what have I done unto thee, or wherein have I grieved thee? testify against me. Is it, because I brought thee out of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants, and led thee like a flock, Verse 5 by the hand of Moses and Aaron? Is it, because I turned Balaams' curse into a blessing unto you? Is it, because from Shittim unto Gilgal, nay, from Egypt, unto Canaan, I made known to you, my mercy, my power to your enemies? Is it this that ye lift up the heel against me? Is it this my kindness, which makes you thus unkind unto me? Remember, O my people, these great mercies of your Saviour, and so acknowledge the righteousness of the Lord. This is God's gracious plea with his unthankful people, which did so wound and abash their guilty conscience, that they cry out in the sixth verse: Verse 7 In quo occurram? wherewith shall I come before the Lord? And now God, he shall have burnt offerings; he shall have thousands of Rams; nay, ten thousand Rivers of Oil; nay, their first-born child, the fruit of their body, for the sin of their soul, And all this now if the Lord he will be but pleased. But this God, well he knows, to be but crusted obedience; much like unto a wound, which deceitful skill gathers to a skin, while within 'tis putrid and rankles to the bone: For so this seeming obedience, it doth often palliate the rancour and malice of an evil heart: and therefore, indicavit tibi, O homo, God he shows thee, O man, in the 8. Verse, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: Surely, to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God, which is the full sum of the Decalogue, and the whole duty of man.. And all burnt-offerings, thousands of Rivers of Oil, the fruit of the body, for the sin of the soul, they are all but splendida peccata, they are but glittering sins, if this be wanting, to do justly man with man, which is the one half duty of man, and to walk humbly with thy God, which is the other. This therefore being the very life and soul of our obedience, without which our obedience, like a dead carcase, stinks in the nostrils of the Lord, that you may all of you take notice of it, and not content yourselves with imperfect Commas of obedience, to do some part of that which God commandeth: nor yet with imperfect Colons of obedience, to do the one half of that which God commandeth: but that you may still endeavour to conclude all your actions with full Points of obedience, to do all which God commandeth; not man's, but the Lords voice crieth this in your ears; For the Lord's voice crieth unto the City, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name. Hear ye the Rod, and who hath happainted it. Which Text of holy Scripture seems to have in it the composure of a Syllogism. The Mayor Proposition in these words: The Lord's voice crieth unto the City. The Minor in these words: The man of wise dough shall see thy name: that is, shall see and consider the glory of God's name, his Majesty, and his power, and so with reverence attend unto his voice. The illation, or Conclusion, by way of exhortation, in these words: Hear ye therefore the Rod: He that is a man of wisdom amongst you, let him lend his ears and heart to hear of a Rod which the voice denounceth; unless ye turn from the evil of your ways: which God hath appointed most certainly to bring upon you; unless you prevent his punishments, with your penitence. In the Mayor consider we, 

1. Cuius hac vox, whose voice this is: it is the Lords voice.  
2. Qualis, what manner of voice it is: It is a crying voice: The Lord's voice crieth.  
3. The ubi, the place where it crieth; and that is the City. The Lord's voice crieth unto the City.    
In the Minor consider we: 

1. Quibus, to whom this voice is directed: to men of wisdom: The man of wisdom shall see thy name.  
2. The reason why the voice is directed only unto such: and that is, because they see God's name: they have an awful fear and reverence of the great Majesty of God, which tunes their ears and hearts, and makes them tunable to this voice, to attend with reverence unto the voice of so high a Majesty.    
In the Conclusion, consider we:  
Quid clamat: What the voice crieth: It tells us lovingly of a Rod from God: Hear ye the Rod, and who hath appointed it.  
These be the parts of this Text, and you have the Lords voice in the front of it, and the Lords Rod, in the conclusion or shutting up of it; to show how that they who will not hear the Lords Voice at the first, shall be sure to feel his Rod at the last. Let us therefore in the first place attend unto that, which is first proposed: which is, 
Psal. 29.  Vox jehovae, the Lords voice. The Lord's voice (saith the Prophet David) is a mighty voice, it makes Heaven and earth to shake: And so terrible is this voice to flesh and blood, that in the 20. of Exodus, Verse 19 the children of Israel cry out unto Moses: Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.  
Adam, before his fall, could well enough endure to hear the voice of God; but no sooner had he transgressed, but as you read, Genesis 3. when he hears the voice of God, he is afraid: Verse 10 I heard thy voice in the Garden, and was afraid. And this is the condition of us all, since the fall of our first Parents, we are so afraid to hear the voice of God, that we cry out with the Israelites: Let man speak with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And therefore, though in my Text mention be made of the Lords voice, this voice, it is not the Lords voice, which ye are afraid to hear, lest ye die: But the Lord's Prophet is the Lords voice in this place, which if ye hear not, ye die: & this it is no new thing, for the Lords Prophet to be styled the Lords voice. For in the first Chapter of Saint john's Gospel, there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the word, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the voice Christ, he is the Word: Saint john the Baptist Christ's Herald, he is the voice to publish and proclaim this word. So that Saint john, he was the Lord's voice to proclaim unto the jews verbum Dominum, the Word which is God. And our Prophet Micah in this place, he is the Lords voice to publish unto the jews, verbum Domini, the Word of God, the Word of the Lord. Now it is not said to be the Prophet's voice which publishes the message, but the Lords voice; because the people should attend with reverence to the Prophets, Gods Ministers voice, even as they would to the Lords own voice: sith God's Messenger, he is no other but vox jehovae, the Lords voice. Man indeed is the voice, because we are confounded when God himself doth speak: but not man's, but the Lords is the voice; because though man utter them, yet we should take the words as spoken from God, who else would speak the words unto us himself, but that our infirmity cannot away with the Majesty of the Speaker, who therefore makes man the voice, because man may well away to hear what man doth speak: and therefore though he make man the voice, yet will not have the voice acknowledged to be man's voice, but the Lords voice; because we should attend to what is spoken, as spoken from God, and not from man, who is only the Lords voice.  
And thus now you see who is the Lords voice in this place: See we withal what instructions we have by this: why, first we have God's mercy commended to us, who vouchsafes to send a voice, before a rod: a voice to premonish, before a rod to punish: Secondly, we have God's Ministers duty set before us, in that he is vox, in that he must be a voice. Thirdly and lastly, we see Gods Ministers dignity, in that he is vox jehovae, the Lords voice. For the first, God's mercy, in that he sends a voice to premonish, before a rod to punish. And this mercy of God, it is every where commended unto us in holy Writ; from the Alpha, to the Omega; from the beginning, to the end. The first man Adam, no sooner had he lost himself, straying in forbidden paths from his God's command; but the voice of mercy seeks him out in the third of Genesis: Vbies? Adam, where art thou? Wicked Cain, he murders a righteous Abel: and the voice of mercy strait upon the murder calls upon him, to strike him with remorse for his sin, Vbi est? Where is thy Brother Abel? Alas, 
Gen. 4.  what hast thou done, that thy Brother's blood cries in mine ears for vengeance? The old world, 
1. Pet. 3.19, 20.  though now even drowned with the overflowings of ungodliness, yet, it perished not by the flood, but it had first a voice to admonish it: righteous Noah was sent unto it a preacher of righteousness. Nineveh that great City, God, he had purposed to destroy it, for the Cry of their sin, which came up to Heaven: but a voice is first sent unto them; jonah like a Dove is sent from before God's mercy-seat, with the Olive Branch of Peace in his mouth, 
jonah 1.  to fly to Nineveh with the silver wings of mercy, offering them mercy, if they do repent. And to come nigher home. Hear in my Text, you see jerusalem; rebellious jerusalem; a City so unthankful to her God; yet she hath a voice first sent unto her, the voice of mercy, to make her hear the rod, before the hand of justice is upon her, to make her feel the rod. And as the City jerusalem was vouchsafed this voice of Mercy, to win her home by repentance to her God: So this our jerusalem, this City of ours, a City as unkind to God, as ever was jerusalem, yet hath it voices upon voices sent unto it; it is full of voices: & these voices, with that voice of a Crier in the third of Matthew, forewarn us to flee from the wrath to come. Some of these voices Cry unto the City, to take heed how she harbours Drunkards, lest the Land spew out her Inhabitants, as a loathsome burden to her stomach. Some of these voices Cry unto the City, to take heed how she deal with Pride, lest pride, like Samson, carry away the gates of the City upon her back, and betray the strength of the City, whilst with her over-curious clothing she leaves the City bare, and like an Ague, having fashious for fits, shakes the Commonwealth, whilst she makes her wealth too common for other Nations, dearly buying at their hands, their strange fashions, and new devices, till at last Pride get a trip and (if prevention step not in) lay the City's honour in the dust. Some again of these Voices Cry unto the City to take heed she be not too secure, for the Devil is like the Usurer, all is well with him, so long as he sees security.  
Thus the Voices, you see, they discharge like so many Warning-pieces upon you, even from God, to forewarn you to flee from the wrath to come: now if ye will not hear this voice of Mercy, but like well-fed Horses will fetch your full careeres in sin, and seem to spurn against the Decree of Heaven, disdaining to humble yourselves in dust and ashes, and to come before God, in Fasting, Tears, and Prayer; if the rod of God, on the sudden smite any one, 
Dan. 5.  with Belshazzer quaffing in his Cups; or priding it with jezabel; 
2. Reg. 9  or promising security to himself with Dives: let him not blame GOD for his severity; 
Luke 12.  for God sent Voices upon Voices to recall him, but he would not be recalled: and therefore let him blame his own stupid security, who would not be won with the voice of Mercy, until he feel the stroke of justice. For us (Beloved) sith God thus in Mercy still vouchsafes a Voice to premonish, before a Rod to punish; let us hear and obey the Voice of Mercy, that so we may prevent the stroke of justice: for to be all ear and heart, to hear and obey, is the People's duty, as to be all Voice and Heart, to exhort and obey is the Ministers duty, which we have in the second place commended unto us; in that, God's Minister, he is vox, in that he is a voice. God's Minister he must be a voice. For in the 28. of Exodus, verse 35. we read, that Aaron's sound must be heard when he goeth into the Holy place, to minister before the Lord, that he die not. Whereupon saith venerable Beda, 
a Sacerdos ingredients, vel egrediens, moritur si de eo sonitus non audiatur, quia iram contra se occulti judicis exigit, si sine praedicationis sonitu incedit. Beda de vest. Sacerd. 1. Cor. 9.16. Mar. 16.15.  The Priest coming to minister before the Lord, he dies for it, if his sound be not heard: and the Minister of the Gospel, he stands guilty of death, if he take upon him to minister before the Lord, and have not his sound heard in the sincere preaching of the Gospel. God's Minister then needs must he be a voice. For woe unto him if he be not a voice: Woe unto me (saith the Apostle) if I preach not the Gospel; for their Commission is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Preach the Gospel. This then commends the necessity of preaching, against the common voice of the world, which holds a Paradox against the School of Christ; that the more preaching, the less practifing; and, Never were there more golden times, then when there was less voicing it in the Pulpit, and more mumming and massing it at the Altar: This is a strange world, when the more we are taught to do, the less we do; and when men's ears are like the thin ears of Come, which Pharaoh saw in a dream, in the 41. of Genesis; the thin ears devoured the full ears: For so our thin ears, which scarce heard good instruction in time of Popery, devour our full ears, which now in the light of the Gospel are daily filled with good instructions: for when we heard little, the boast is, we did much; and now we hear much, the cry is, we do just nothing at all. And therefore if God should deal with us in justice, and not in mercy, rather than he would suffer his voice thus to be wronged, to be thought the occasion of our seldom practice, and slack performance, he would quite take his Voices from us, and sith we will not be content to be brought to heaven, by the direction of his Voice, suffer us to go to hell, by the suggestion of the Devil, but God pities our infirmity: and though we (such is the weakness & error of our judgement) think the voice cry too too often, yet God (such is the deadness and dullness of our hearts) thinks the voice never to cry often enough. And therefore in the 58. of Isai. verse 1. saith God unto his Voice, unto his Prophet; Cry, Cry aloud, Spare not, but lift up thy voice like a Trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and to the house of jacob their sin.  
Now doth the voice of God say, Cry; the voice of man, needs must it cry, what the voice of God would have it cry. And therefore all that be Voices, let them not spare to cry, while they have a voice to cry, let the world regard their often crying as it please.  
And as for those, who have the calling of Voices, who are called to be Vocales, but prove muti: who are called to be vocal, but prove mute: it were to be wished, they would a little strain their voice, to speak somewhat in God's cause; that if not their voice, yet at leastwise their sound might be heard in God's Temple, as Aaron's was, whilst, though themselves be slow of Speech, as Moses was, 
Exod. 4.  yet they procure some Aaron to be their mouth, their sound unto the people that they die not, if their sound be not heard, and the people's blood which perish by their default, be not one day required at their hands.  
Now as this, it is for the Minister's duty, that he is a voice; so is it also for his dignity, that he is vox jehovae, the Lords voice: and this that he is the Lords voice, it first reflects in a memento, to the Minister himself; and then secondly, to the people. For the Minister himself, in that he is the Lords voice, it teaches him integrity, and humility.  
And first, integrity: for he, whom the God of Heaven makes choice of, to be his voice, need had he be, 
Luke 1.  as was Zacharias the Priest, a man just before God, walking without reproof. God's Minister then, he must not be a bare voice; but he must be, as was Saint john the Baptist, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a voice, he must be more than a voice, and his heart must utter works of piety, when his tongue speaks words of piety; his hands must deal works of charity, when his tongue delivers words of charity: nay, more than this, his modest clothing, like john's garment of Camel's hair; 
Math. 3.  this must be a voice, & preach against the fashions of the times. His temperate diet, like john's meat of Locusts, and wild Honey; this must be a voice, and preach against the Riot of our times: and thus must he be, not so much a speaking, as a walking voice; for he must approve himself to God, as did Saint john: 
john 5.  not only a shining, but a burning light: not only a shining light, to lighten the dim Candle of our understanding, & to make us to know God: but a burning light to inflame the fire of our love, and to make us to love God. He must be a preaching voice wheresoever he goes; as in the Temple, preaching words of Piety; so out of the Temple, preaching works of piety, that the sincerity of his works, may give countenance to the verity of his words. And this was signified in Aaron's garment; when as we read in the 28. of Exodus, verse 34. upon the skirts of Aaron's clothing, there was a golden Bell and a Pomegranate: a Bell, to signify God's Minister, he must be a sounding, a preaching voice: a golden Bell, to signify the doctrine which he preaches, must be sincere and pure; pure as the gold tried seven times in the fire: and with this golden Bel is joined a Pomegranate, to signify God's Minister: he must not only be a Bell to sound out the Gospel; nor only a golden Bell, sound in the sincere preaching of the Gospel; but he must be also, a Pomegranate: as the Pomegranate is full of pleasant kernels, so must God's Minister abound always in the work of the Lord; be full of good works: ut omnia quae loquitur, 
Beda de vest. Sacerd.  bonis confirmentur operibus, saith Beda: That the confirmation of his doctrine, may be the conformation of his life unto his Doctrine. Now if ever any Church in the world had in it this ring of golden Bells, it is the Church of England at this day. The church of Rome hath indeed a ring of Bells, but they be Tin, they be Latin Bells, & the Latin, often broken Latin too, which makes the ring so much the worse. For the Priests of Rome beat so altogether upon Latin, in the services of their Church, that most of them (such is the ignorance of their mass-priests) do often break it: whereas our ring, it is altogether of golden Bells, sound and sincere Preachers of the Gospel; delightful for their pleasant sound, and as delightful for their pleasant savour. For as they be golden Bells, for the purity of their doctrine; so be they also Pomegranates, for their virtuous life. Now, if it so sometime chance to hap you meet with a golden Bel, without a Pomegranate; a good Preacher for his Doctrine, but not so good for his life; never the worse mislike the ring, but hear his doctrine, and bear with his life. For well saith a good Father; 
Chrysost. in Mat. 23.  Si benè vixerint: The Ministers, if they live well, the benefit is their own; Si benè docuerint, if they teach well, the benefit is yours; accipite igitur quod vestrum est, nolite discutere quod alienum est: receive therefore, and skan their Doctrine, for that belongs to you: meddle not to scan their life, for that belongs to God; for they are the Lords Voices, and they stand or fall unto their own Master: but (God be thanked) never were the Lords voices, these golden Bells, better tuned, for life and doctrine, then at this day: the Lord so continue them, who first vouchsafed them to be his Voices, that these golden Saint-Bels may ring all in, may win all misled Christians to join with us in our holy profession, while their light so shines before men, that men seeing their good works, glorify their Father, which is in Heaven.  
Now in the second place, as the Minister sees his glory in this, that he is God's Voice, so that he may not be proud of this, that he is so highly dignified to be the Lords voice, he must withal learn this point of humility, how that he is but the voice, the Word, God puts it into his mouth what he shall fay, and he is but the Voice to publish it. And this we have confirmed unto us out of the 40. of Esay, where at the sixth verse, saith God unto the Prophet, Cry. Now the Prophet thus approved, to be God's Voice to cry, he awaits his message from God, and in humility he replies to God, Quid clamabo? What shall I cry? Now God, he puts his word into his Prophet's mouth, and bids him cry, All flesh is grass, and the grace thereof is as the flower of the field. So that by this you see, though the Prophet be the Voice to publish the message, yet the Word, God puts it into his mouth what he shall say. And therefore the Prophets being to deliver their message from God, they show their warrant, and still begin with this, Verbum jehovae, the word of the Lord. For so gins our Prophet Micah this his Prophecy, 
Chap. 1.1.  The Word of the Lord that came unto Micah: as if Micah, and all other the Prophets, were but so many Voices, still ready at hand, awaiting and expecting to receive the Word of the Lord, whensoever it came unto them for to publish it.  
Now, this being so, that God's Minister, he is but the voice; the Word, God puts it into his mouth what he shall say. Why then first, let no Messenger of the most High, no Minister of the Gospel, be any whit proud, or lifted up with this, though he far surpass all other in the gifts of the Spirit: for alas, he, who thinks himself the best, and best furnished for the ministery, he is but the Lord's Voice; and not a word, not a tittle can he utter of himself, but only the Word which the Lord God putteth into his mouth: even Balaam in the 22. of Numbers tells him as much; where he tells us, no not for a house full of gold and silver, he can speak a word good or bad, but only the Word, which GOD putteth into his mouth to speak; that, and no other can he speak. So that every Minister of God, he must in humility acknowledge and confess, what john the Baptist before him stood not upon to utter, 
john 1.23.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I am but the voice of him that crieth, of God that speaketh by me: For that which was matter of pride in Herod, to hear the acclamation of the people, The Voice of God, and not of Man, must be matter of humility in the Ministers of God, when they hear (The Voice of God, and not of Man) sith they be but God's Voices, 
Acts 12.22.  & the Word, God puts it into their mouth what they shall say. And therefore in the second place, in that God's Minister he is but the Lord's Voice, the Word it is God's Word, and he is but the Voice to publish it. This condemns the great folly of the world which is so ready to tax the Minister. And if his Doctrine, like the Arrow shot at peradventure, which smote wicked Ahab between the joints, light upon some Ahab, 
1. Reg. 22.34.  some ungodly man entering thorough, as the Word of GOD is lively, and mighty in operation, 
Heb. 4.12.  to the dividing asunder of the soul, the Spirit, the joints and marrow: This wicked Ahab, 
1. Reg. 22.8.  this ungodly man, he will hate the Lords Michaiah for this, he will hate the Lords Voice for this; because he prophecies, he preaches not good, but as he conceitsit evil unto him; whereas fond man, he considers not with himself, how that the word it is God's Word, and the Minister, he is but the Lord's Voice to publish it, and the Voice neither can it utter good or bad, but what the Lord God putteth into the mouth to say, as Micaiah told the Messenger of Ahab, who enticed him to accord with the false prophets, and to bring in his omnia bene with the rest: Surely (saith Micaiah) as the Lord liveth, whatsoever the Lord saith unto me, be it good, or be it bad, 
2. Reg. 22.14.  that, and no other can I speak. And therefore as we blame not the Bow, if the Arrow hit us, but rather the hand which directed toward us: so let not men storm against the Voice, which carries but the word unto our ears. But what then, shall we storm against the hand of God which aims the Word directly unto us? Why, storm we; if we will: but David tells us in his second Psalm, we rage and murmur but in vain: & if our rage be not the sooner over, God shall vex us in his displeasure, and break these vessels of Clay; these bodies of ours like a Potter's Vessel: be we wise therefore, and be we learned in God's fear, and take we heed henceforward how we storm against God's Voices as we do, Verse 39 jest as Gamaliel tells us, Acts 3. we be found fighters against God. And take we heed withal how we censure Gods Voices, as we do, bringing with us cautious ears, which hear more to descant on the Minister, then to profit by his ministery. For in that we censure the Minister of God, we seem to censure God himself, such the Minister, he is but the Lord's Voice, the Word it is Gods own Word, and the Minister, he is but the voice to publish it. And therefore as David took the indignities done to his Ambassadors by the Princes of the children of Ammon, 
2. Sam. 10.  as done unto himself, and so revenged them: so though even Princes, never so great ones of the world, wrong and abuse the Ambassadors of the Lord, these Voices of the Lord; God he will take the abuse as done unto himself, and will one day repay it home.  
Henceforth then let the people take heed how they hear, sith it is God's Word they hear, delivered only by man's voice. And let the Minister also take heed how he speak, since it is God's Word, and not his own, which he is to speak, that so, there being this sweet harmony between the Hearer of God's Word, and the Speaker, there may be more true devotion in the heart, and less censuring prattle with the tongue. And so from the Minister's duty, proceed we onward to the People's. It is so, you see, that the Minister, he is the Lords Voice; and therefore as it is all our duties to reverence the Lord, so is it also our duties to bear respect unto his Voices. For the Church, it is Christ's Spouse, and the Congregation of the faithful: the Church of God cannot better express her love to Christ her Husband, who is in Heaven, then by a due respect unto his Voices, who are here on earth. Now the due respect of a loving Wife unto her Husband, consists in three main duties. First, to love him: Secondly, to cherish him: Thirdly, to obey him. All which, the Church of God, and Congregation of the faithful, because she is the Spouse of Christ, is bound to impart unto his Voices, for they are Christ's receivers here ovearth, to receive for him these pledges of our love: And so also (saith our Saviour) he that receiveth you, receiveth me. 
Math. 10.40.   
Now we are first to love Christ's Voices: and this is the thing the Apostle beseecheth at our hands, to have them all in singular love, 
1. Thes. 5.12, 13.  who labour amongst us, who are over us in the Lord, who admonish us: to love such, with a more than ordinary, with a singular love for their works sake; and we are bound to love them in two respects: First, because they are Christ's, his Ambassadors, sent unto us with an Embassy of Peace, beseeching us in Christ's stead, 
2. Cor. 5.20.  to be reconciled unto God. Now if we love the Prince of Peace; needs must we love these Ambassadors of Peace: and if we love CHRIST JESUS, who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Word, needs must we love them, who are the Voices, to publish, and proclaim this Word. Secondly, we are bound to love them, because they love us, they watch over our souls; nay, they love many a man, better than he loves himself: for these Voices, 
Hier. 9.1.  they oftentimes with jeremy, carry about with them, whole fountains of tears, in their head, and in their heart, & draw from these Wells, with the two Buckets of their eyes, such abundance of tears, that their eyes shed tears day and night, for their sins, who seldom, or never shed a tear for their own sins: And therefore good reason have we, to love these Voices, or at leastwise not to hate them, as too too many do, who little better esteem of them, 
Gen. 16.12.  then of Ishmael: their hand against every man, and every man's band against them.  
I will say thus much, to the honour, and commendation of this famous City; There is no Nation under heaven more respects these Voices, if they be the Lords Voices indeed, than the more grave, and discreeter Citizens: And as for the rest, they love them too, but not with so good discretion: for they love them in a manner, as the Ape doth her young ones: they love them so importunately, that they kill them. And therefore it were to be wished, they would love them a little more, in loving them a little less, while they give the Voices a breathing time, to follow the Apostles rule to his beloved Timothy: 
1. Tim 4.13.  To give attendance to reading, and to exhortation, and to doctrine; that there may be a breathing while, for the Voices, to give attendance to reading: as well as all to exhortation, and to doctrine: For the Voices, they will be so much the better able, to teach others by their doctrine, when they have first taught themselves by their reading.  
Now as we are bound, to love the Lords Voices; so can we not better express our love unto them, then in cherishing them. For far be it, that the Lords Voices should be fed, like mere voices indeed; only with air: and that their maintenance should be the people's courtesy and benevolence; for this, it were a dishonour unto God, and a great abasing to the ministery. The very Heathens tell us as much. 
Ptut. Mor.  For Plutarch tells us of a Laconian, who seeing a Collector going about, and gathering the people's devotions for the gods: O (saith he) I will now make no more reckoning of the gods; so long as I see them go a begging, and to be poorer than myself. And would not, think you, many a churlish Nabal, and repining Laban of these days, be ready to fall into the same disdain of God, and of his Voices, if the Offals only of their revenues, and cruel mercies of their purse, were the stay, and maintenance of the Ministers life. This it were great pity, it should be so; and hope suggests the best, that it will never be. For were it so; as in the same Plutarch we read, 
Plut. Mor.  of one Philippus, a Priest amongst the Heathen, so poor, that he begged for his living, and yet he would go about, and tell how happy he should be. When (quoth one) will this be? When I am dead (saith he.) Why, (than poor fellow (quoth the other) thou art too blame, thou diest not quickly, that thou mayst be happy. Even thus should the Lords poor Voices be flouted of the world. The Lord is our portion, say the Voices, and we shall be happy; but when, saith the world, shall you have this portion, that ye may be happy? When we die, say the Voices. Why, then says the world; ye are too blame, ye die not quickly, to be happy in Heaven, whom the world hath took an order with, never to be happy on earth. But this, it is the voice of the sons of Belial, who have evil will at Zion, and had rather put a Church into their purse, then empty their purse upon the Church.  
For you (beloved) the Lords Voices are persuaded better things of you, how regardful of them you have always been, and how careful you be, 
2. Reg. 4.  not only with the good Shunamite, to provide them a Chamber, a Table, & a Stool, when they turn in unto you: but to send them away, as joseph did his Brethren; 
Gen. 42.  with their Sacks full of Corn, and every man his money in his Sacks mouth: meat for the belly, and money for the back. For which care of yours, in cherishing the Lords Voices; the blessing of Heaven, and the farnesse of the earth, be your great reward. And may they ever live, registered in the Calendar of Saints, who already have, or hereafter shall, more like the Primitives of old; then the holdfast Possessives of these times, thus bring in part of their Possessions, and lay it down at the Apostles feet, bringing an offering, to the work of the Tabernacle; to this so worthy a work. Now as we are to love, and cherish; so are we also to obey the Lords Voices. And this is it the Apostle exhorts you unto, Heb. 13. Verse 17 Obey them which have the over sight of you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, for them unto God, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. You are then to obey God's Minister: because God hath set him, as a watchman over your souls, & he must give an account to God for your souls. Now if ye do what he commands you from God, his shall be the joy; and yours the crown. But if yet will be stiff-necked, and not obey; though his be the grief, to see his ministery take no better effect amongst you, yours shall be the peril. For if he give up his account of your souls, with grief of heart, for your disobedience to the Gospel of Christ: this, it is unprofitable, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for you, and not for him. And therefore, as you tender your souls, obey the Lords Voices, which watch over your souls. Give an obedient ear to the Lords Voices, to hear them: and an obedient heart to the Lord himself, to fear him, that ye may be blessed. For in the 30. of Deuteronomie, Verse 20 there be three ways set down; the three roads, by which we come to blessedness: the first is, by loving the Lord thy God: the second, by obeying his Voice: and the third, by cleaving unto him; so that, if thou love the Lord, because he is thy Father; if thou cleave unto him, because he is thy saviour; if thou obey his Voice, because he is thy Lord: thou, and thy Seed, shall live, and be blessed upon earth. For if thou obey diligently the Voice of the Lord, the Lord in the 28. of Deut. pronourices thee Blessed in the City, Verse. 3 and blessed in the field, Verse 4 blessed in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of the ground, Verse 6 blessed in thy coming in, and in thy going out, Verse 8 blessed in thy storehouses, blessed in all thou settest thine hand unto. Thus shall the man be blessed, that obeys the Voice of the Lord. And therefore all ye, who desire blessedness, hear, and obey, that ye may eat the good things of the Land. And thus now, you see, how, for the Lords sake, whose Spouse the Church is, you are to love, to cherish, and to obey, the Lords Voices: Now let every faithful Christian, which is a member of the true Church, the Spouse of Christ, plight faith to Christ, the Husband of this Spouse, for the performance of this Christian duty: which God so requires at our hands. And so from the Voice, come we to see the nature of the Voice. It is a crying Voice: The Lord's Voice Cryoth: and need had the Voice be a Crying Voice: for it hath a City to Cry in, and a whispering still Voice is not for the City: for this, none could hear. Nay, an ordinary speaking voice, is not for the City: for this few could hear. And therefore, the Voice, being sent unto the City, it is a Crying Voice, that all might hear it. And thus doth God, by sending a Crying Voice unto them, take away all colourable pretences, and excuses from the City. For, had a still voice, or an ordinary speaking voice, come unto them, their plea had been; non audivimus: the Voice, it was so still, that, what, for the clamours of the City, we heard it not. And therefore, the Voice, it is a Crying Voice: that all might hear it: and none might have excuse, wherewith to cloak his fin. Now than the Voice, it is a Crying Voice: in three respects. First, it is a crying Voice, to make an outcry against crying sins. Secondly, it is a crying Voice, to rouse and awake the City, dead asleep in sin: which no Voice, but a crying Voice could rouse. Thirdly, it is a crying Voice, to leave the City without excuse: to take away all excuse from the City. For the first, the Voice, it is a crying Voice, to make an out cry against crying sins.  
Sin, it hath got a voice in the world: yea, and that a loud crying Voice, in the ears of God. cain's sin of murder, it had a crying Voice: for Abel's blood, in the fourth of Genesis, cries in God's ears for vengeance. The sin of Sodom, it had a crying Voice: For in the 18. of Genesis, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, is said to be great in the ears of the Lord. And in these last, and worse days of the world, sin hath more lift up her voice then ever: for sin hath got a roaring voice: & now sin, which before did but cry to heaven for vengeance; it now roars for vengeance: Now that there be many roarers abroad in the world, who, because their father the Devil, is styled by Saint Peter, Verse 8 in the last Chapter of his first Epistle, a roaring Lion; blush not to style themselves, his roaring Whelps, his roaring Boys. And these roaring Boys, send roaring out of their Potguns, in their drunken fits, nothing else, but fearful blasphemies against the God of Heaven. Now then, since sin hath not only got a crying, but even a roaring voice in the world; high time it is, God should have at leastwise a crying Voice in the world, to make an outcry against these crying, and these roaring sins: and that for two respects. The one, in respect of God; the other, in respect of man. First in respect of God; it is most necessary, God should have a crying Voice abroad in the world. For should sin still go about in the world, thus uncontrolled, with a crying, and a roaring voice, it would carry the whole world to hell with most voices: For the voice of blasphemy would quite drown the voice of Piety, and the voice of Prayer, it would be turned into the voice of cursing; and where no voice were heard, but the crying voice of sin, all men would learn to speak no language, but the language of the Devil: all men would be of one tongue: but that tongue dipped in boiling Brimstone, to speak nothing but Blasphemy; the language of the damned; that tongue dipped in gall, to speak of nothing but cursedness and bitterness; that tongue dipped in blood, to speak of nothing but blood and slaughter; so advancing itself, even to the Throne of God: if it were possible, to pull God out of his Throne: one while crying out, Vbi est Deus? Where is God? another while crying out, Non respicit Deus; God regardeth not: yet another while flatly roaring out, Non est Deus, There is no God. This, and far more worse than this, would be the language of the world, were there no voice heard in the world, but the crying voice of sin: God therefore, to stop the mouth of the Devil, who thus goes about to deface his glory: scoming at his power, with Vbi est Deus? Where is God? deriding his providence, with, Non respicit Deus: God regardeth not: Nay more than this; seeking to pull God out of his Throne, with, Non est Deus: There is no God: God, he also sends a crying Voice into the world, to make an outcry against this Cry of sin, and to drown and confound this cursed language of the world, invented in hell, & learned of the Devil: which being of a far higher reach, then ever Babel could possibly have been, would tower up higher than to Heaven; even to the Throne of God, if it were possible, to dethrone that great Monarch of the world, with Non est Deus, There is no God. And now, that Gods crying voice is heard in the world, the better part of the world hath learned the holy tongue, and words of piety, are now more often heard, than words of blasphemy; and the Voice of prayer, is now more frequent, than the Voice of cursing: So that now, no longer, Where is God? for, jehova in coelis: Our God, he is in heaven; no longer now God regardeth not: for our God, as he is in heaven, so beholds he all things that are done, both in heaven and earth, and his providence governs all things. 
Wisd. 14.  No longer now, Non est Deus, There is no God; for our God, he is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Reu. 1.4.  He, who is, who was, and is to come: our God, he is from all eternity.  
Now, as God thus sends a crying Voice into the world, to vindicate his glory from the unrighteousness of men, 
Rom. 1.18.  who else would withhold the truth of God in unrighteousness: So doth he also, in great compassion unto man, send his crying Voice into the world, to outcry crying sins, lest crying sins, still crying in God's ears for vengeance, should pull down the vials of God's wrath, to consume man from off the face of the earth: for the crying voice of sin, is still importuning the hand of justice, with one plague or other, to cut off the sinner. And one while it calls for a second Deluge, to drown the world, for the overflowings of ungodliness, which are in the world: yet another while, it calls for a famine, to punish the want and scarcity of good men: yet another while, it calls for pestilence and the sword, to punish our abuse of health and happiness. And thus is the voice of sin still urging the hand of justice, to write bitter things against the sinner: but the crying Voice of mercy, which God, for the good of man, sends into the world, speaks better things both from God to man, and for man to God. And it first speaks from God to man, that man would prevent punishment by penitence, that man would prevent a second flood, to drown the world for sin, by first drowning his sin in a flood of leers: leaving his crying sins, and falling a crying for his sins. Now as this crying Voice speaks mercy from God to man, so doth it also speak for mercy, unto God for man: for in the second of joel, the Priests, these crying Voices of the Lord, Verse 17 they weep between the porch and the Altar, and cry to God; Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage over to reproach; and God in the 18. and 19 verses, to show how much he accepts the cry of his Voices, the cries and prayers of his Ministers, which they power before him for his people, himself vouchsafes a gracious reply, and makes the answer, how that at the cry of his Ministers, he cannot but be jealous over his Land, and spare his people, and give them their heart's desire, corn, wine and oil, and freedom from their enemies: such is the force of prayer for the people, in the Lords Ministers mouth, if it be fervent from the heart. Now then, ye people of the Lord, if ye have any care, or regard at all of your souls, learn to distinguish between the cry of voices, that knowing which cry against your souls good, and which cry for the good of your souls, you may be able to discern, which you are to hear, and obey, which to shut your ears against, and to avoid. You see here there be three crying voices abroad in the world; The first is the crying, nay the roaring voice of the Devil, and this voice cries unto you to breath defiance against Heaven, and to write your names in the earth, with the red ink of blood, or the black ink of hellish villainy: This voice cries unto you with wicked Kain, to murder a righteous Abel, it cries unto you to play the traitor with judas, it cries unto you to take away another man's possession with Ahab, it cries unto you to steal a wedge of gold with Achan, it cries unto you to play the drunken Sot with Nabal, it cries unto you to play the uncharitable Miser with Dives, it cries unto you to die your souls of the devils hue, in the black deeds of darkness and of wickedness. Now the second crying voice which is abroad in the world, is the crying voice of sin, and this cries to heaven for a punishment for sinners, it cries unto the clouds to deny the sinner rain, it cries unto the sun to deny the sinner light, it cries unto the earth to deny the sinner food, it cries to Mercy not to regard the sinner, it cries to justice to renounce the sinner, it cries to hell to receive the sinner, and it cries for tortures to torment the sinner: this is the crying voice of sin, which is never with us, but is still against us. Now the third and last crying voice, which is Gods crying Voice of Mercy, this cries unto you, not to play Kains part, and to kill, but to love thy brother as thyself; not to play judas part, and betray, but to obey from the heart those which are set over you; not to play Ahabs' part, and oppress, but to give to every man his own; not to play achan's part, and to steal, but to work every man with his own hands, & to eat his bread in the sweat of his brows; not to play Nabals' part, and be drunk, but to be sober, to watch and to play; not to play Dives part, and to be miserable, but to do good, to distribute, to be to all men charitable; and then again, it cries unto you, as you would have the clouds drop rain, so let your eyes drop tears for your sins; as you would have the earth be fruitful, so to be fruitful in good works as you would have the sun give light, so to walk as children of light; as you would have heaven, & escape hell, so to have your conversation in heaven, while ye live on earth. This is the Voice of mercy, which is ever with us, and never is against us.  
Now choose you which of these three voices will you hear: the devils voice, you see, how it comes unto you with a word clothed with death, and plays the Orator for hell, to gain right to your soul through unrighteous practices; and will you hear this voice, to obey and follow it? Why, follow it you may; but know where it leads: it leads to the paths of death, & highway to damnation. The crying voice of sin, this you hear, how it cries to, heaven against you, and still in the end proves a backward friend to those her vassals, who obey sin in the lust thereof; though at first, the better to serve her turn, she fawn upon them: and will you now be won by the enticing voice of sin, to follow and obey it in the lust thereof? why, follow it you may, but it threatens your destruction; for sin will one day pay her servants their wages home, and will requite their evil life which was spent in her service, with everlasting death, which is their wages for their service: 
Rom. 6.  for, the wages of sin is death; and therefore as you tender your souls, redeemed by Christ's precious blood from the power of sin and Satan, captivate not your souls again, by listening to the enticements of sin, and provocations of the Devil; but lend your ears only to the Lords crying Voice of mercy, attend only this blessed Voice which cries abroad in the world, to bring sinners home again to God by repentance: and if you shut your ears, the doors of your soul, against all other enticing voices of sin and Satan, and open them only to the Lords crying Voice, to prepare a way for the King of glory to enter in: assure yourselves, such shall be the peace and joy of your souls, that you shall have heaven in your souls in this life, and your souls shall have heaven in another life. And so much for the first reason, why the Voice, it is a crying Voice.  
Now secondly, the Voice, it is a crying Voice, to rouse and awake the dead & secure City: dead asleep in sin, which no voice but a crying Voice could rouse: and this collection fitly arises from some variety of interpretation of the word in the Original, which is here rendered a City; for (as Calvin hath observed it) some read it, Vox jebovae ad civit atem; some again, Ad exper gefaciendum clamat. Some read it, The Voice of the Lord crieth to the City. Some again read it; The Voice of the Lord crieth to rouse, & to awake: which implies the great deadness & security of the City, which could not be awaked without a crying Voice; for as our blessed Saviour, being to raise dead Lazarus from death to life, is said to cry with a loud voice, Clamavit voce magna (saith the text) he cried with a loud voice, 
john 11.  Lazarus, come forth; so our blessed Saviour being to raise the dead sinner, dead in sins & trespasses, as it is Ephes. 2. he makes his Voices crying Voices, verse. 1 to cry unto the sinner to come forth of the grave of sin: Surge qui dormis, Awake thou that sleepest, 
Ephes. 5.14.  and stand up from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.  
Now as the City Jerusalem had need of this crying Voice: even so hath our Jerusalem, this City of ours. Our Citizens complain, It is now a dead world, a dead time, and there is little stirring in the world, little trading; but they may more justly complain in another sense, that it is a dead world indeed, men carrying about with them living bodies, but dead souls; and, There is little stirring in the world; for iniquity hath got the upper hand, and jets above honesty every where; so that honesty stirs little abroad, for she hath little trading in the world: while wicked men, who make a trade of sinning by their evil customs, make the greater part of the world their customers: and therefore if ever the Lords crying Voices cried to dead men's ears, to hear the word of the Lord, now is the time; for the greater part of men, like the widow which liveth in pleasure, 
1. Tim. 5.6.  are dead while they live. And could you but every week have bills brought you in, to signify within the City liberties, and without, how many souls die in a week; some of a surfeit of drunkenness, some of a swelling tympany of pride, some of the burning fever of malice, some of the dropsy of covetousness, some of one or other disease of the soul; you would bless yourselves, to see most men's bodies to be but living sepulchres for dead souls: and you would pity the great task which is imposed upon the Lords crying Voices, to hear them cry to dead men's ears, which hearing will not hear, and to dead men's hearts, which will not understand: and therefore blame we not the Lords Voices, for their importunate crying in our ears, crying unto us in season and out of season, crying at all seasons; for they cry most unto dead men.  
And well saith Saint Augustine, 
Quam difficile sargit, quem moles male consuetudinis premit: sed tamen surgit post vocem magnam, August. in Joan. tract. 49.  Hard it is to awake a sinner, whom custom hardens in his sin, and yet such a sinner, he may be wakened, if you often call upon him for repentance. At much and often crying then, even the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it; shall live: Cry then still, ye Voices of the Lord, whom God hath made the City's Criers, to cry lost children home again to him their heavenly Father, by repentance: and spare not to cry, whilst voice and breath do serve to cry: and though ye cry to dead men's ears, yet is not your labour in vain in the Lord: for Truth itself hath said it in the fift of john, for the comfort of your labours: Verily, verily I say unto you, Verse. 25 the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it, shall live. And this is also comfort for the sinner, that though he be dead in sins, nay with Lazarus, dead four days: Dead the first day by delight in sin, dead the second day by consent to sin, dead the third day, by the act of sin, dead the fourth day, by a customary sinning: so that it may be said of him, as of Lazarus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he now stinks in the nostrils of the Lord: yet if this dead sinner will but hear the Voices of the Lord, crying and crying again, in precept upon precept, exhortation upon exhortation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come forth thou sinner: how come forth? why, S. Angustine tells thee how; quando consiteris, procedis: 
August in John. ibid.  when thou dost confess thy sin to God, thou comest forth of the grave of sin. And if the sinner thus come forth, vomiting up, as it were, his sins, which are a burden to his conscience, the stomach of his soul, by an humble confession unto God; Truth itself hath said it, this dead sinner, he shall live. And though he come forth of the grave of sin, bound like Lazarus, hand and foot, bound with the chains of his sins: yet Christ shall give his Ministers charge over him, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, lose him from his sins, absolve him and let him go in peace. And therefore to draw up all unto an end: Let not Gods Voices despair of doing good, though they cry most unto dead men, because Truth hath said it for the comfort of their labour, The dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of GOD: and let not dead men, men dead in sins and trespasses, if they hear the voice of the Son of God, despair of mercy; for Truth hath also said it, to their comfort, They that hear the Voice of the Son of God, shall live: they that hear Christ's Surgite mortui, Arise ye dead in this life, and live the life of Grace in this world: shall hear Christ's Surgite mortui: Arise ye dead after this life, and live the life of glory in the world to come. And so come we to the third and last Reason, why the Voice, it is a crying Voice, and that is to take away all excuse from the City, of Nunquam audivimus, We never heard the voice. For man, such is his folly, when once sin lays open his nakedness, he flatters himself, all is well, if he have but a cloak to cast upon his sin; for so our first Parents, no sooner had they sinned, but they seek for a cloak to palliate their sin; 
Gen 3.  and Eve, she must be the cloak for Adam's sin, and the Serpent the cloak for eves sin. And all we, Adam's sinful posterity, have worn this cloak of excuse even almost threadbare by long usage of it, in palliating of our sins: And we cloak Drunkenness with good fellowship; we cloak Covetousness with good thriftiness; we cloak Pride with decency and comeliness: there is no sin but we have a cloak for it, or else, if we want a cloak for our sin, we are ready to fetch a cloak from heaven, and even to accuse God himself, to excuse our sin: As Sr Thomas Moor tells us of a prisoner at the Bar, who being convict of felony, pleads his pardon upon this, how that God had so ordained him to be a Thief, and therefore he could no other do but steal: For who ever resisted the will of God? But the judge answered him very well; If God hath ordained thee to be a Thief and to steal, God hath also ordained me to be a judge, and to hang thee for thy thievery.  
Now as we spare not, thus to accuse God, to excuse our sin: So are we most ready to excuse ourselves, by accusing of God's Word: and the whole world is set on this: And some Nations in the world, think it excuse sufficient for their sin, that they never had these crying Voices of the Lord, to sound his Word and precepts in their ears: but Saint Paul tells them: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Rom. 2.1.  Thou art inexcusable O man, who makest this thy Plea. For thou hast a visible word, which, though it preach not to thine ears, yet doth it preach unto thine eyes: and makes thy two eyes, the two witnesses of God's glory and mercy towards thee. For the Sun, which gives thee light, the air thou breathest in, the earth thou feedest on: these be dumb Preachers, 
Rom. 1.19.  and preach God's mercy to thine eyes: and no Nation is there in the world, but it hath this kind of preaching in it. 
Psal. 19.3.  For there is no speech nor language (saith the Prophet) where the voice of these Preachers is not heard. And therefore this is enough to evince the world's unthankfulness unto God, for the riches of his mercies, & to leave the world (as the Apostle witnesseth) without excuse. 
Rom. 1.20.  But yet God, he farther takes excuse from man (so loath he is man should cast away his soul with excuses) and he writes the Notions of his Law, even in the heart of every man: 
Rom. 2.14. & 15.  making every man's conscience, to be his Accuser, or excuser before God: Nay, more than this: yet farther, to take excuse from Man; God, he not only gives a visible word to preach unto our eyes, nor only the Notions of his Law, written in our hearts, but he sends an audible Word amongst us, his Voices to cry and proclaim his Law in our ears, and to revive it in our hearts; so, that we can plead no excuse at all for ourselves: Our eyes are our witnesses, which daily behold God's mercies: our hearts are our witnesses, 
Rom. 2.15.  which show the effect of the Law written in the heart: and our ears are our witnesses, which daily hear Gods crying Voices (and they cannot choose but hear them, because they be crying Voices) still crying unto us, This is the way, walk in it. O let not us then, sith God is so careful to take excuse from us, make excuses to ourselves, to destroy our souls. Let us not shut our eyes from beholding God's mercy; let us not shut our ears from listening to his judgements; and let us not harden our hearts against his fear, to disobey his Law, and dishonour his Name: but sith he is so careful to preach his Name to our eyes, to our hearts, and to our ears: let us obey these divers calls of mercy, that we may be saved: otherwise if we do, no excuse you see will serve, but we must utterly perish.  
Now if any Nation in the world be left inexcusable in these respects: this little Goshen of ours, this little Island of ours, is most without excuse, which (as speaks the Prophet Isaiah) in his 11. Chapter, is full of the Knowledge of the Lord, Verse 9 even as the waters cover the Sea: So that England is not so much environed with the waters of the Sea, as it is full of the Knowledge of the Lord, and of his Word: every nook and angle of our Land, having a plentiful increase of the Lords Voices in it, to cry & proclaim the Lords message in our ears. This famous City (more especially) it is so full of the Lords crying Voices, that some stick not to complain, They have too much knowledge now adays: but take they heed how they complain, they have too much, lest God for our unthankfulness punish us, as he doth many other Nations, with little enough. And let us know thus much, to make us careful, to make good use of our knowledge: the more knowledge we have, the less excuse we have for our sin: And the more the Lords Voices cry amongst us, the more shall be our punishments, if we obey them not: 
Luke 12. ●7.  For the Servant that knows his Master's will, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. And therefore, as you desire to secure the City from the Lords Rod, and your own souls from his consuming wrath: Sith God, to leave you without excuse, sends crying Voices unto you, in mercy to forewarn you: lend your ears, and hearts, to hear and obey that, which the Lords Voice crieth to your City: For the Lord's Voice crieth to the City.  
It is a great and public task for the Lords Voices to Cry unto a City: And therefore, jonah being sent to Nineveh that great City, feign would he fly from the presence of the Lord, fearing to be the Lords Crier in so great a City; till the Word of the Lord comes unto him the second time, 
jon. 3.1. & 2.  commanding him, Arise, and go to Niniveh that great City, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. Now as it fared with jonah, so it fares with most of the Lords Voices, but that the Lord is with them, and they preach the preaching which he commands them, they would draw back, as fearing to cry unto a City. And therefore when the Lords Voices, out of this and such like public places, cry unto your City, blame not the Voices, for the Voices, they of themselves are slow enough to Cry unto a City: but that the Lord in mercy to a City, compels them, as he did jonah, to arise and go unto the City, and preach the preaching he commands them, which ye are the more willingly to hear; because they preach no other, but the preaching which God bids them preach. And therefore blame me not, though (who am I the meanest of God's Voices) if I show unto you how the Lords quarrel with this City in my Text, agrees in some sort to this famous City. For let us but parallel God's benefits bestowed on both these Cities, and then see whether both Cities have been so thankful unto God for these his benefits, as they ought to be. First, for jerusalem, this City in my Text, saith God to her, in the fourth and fift verse of this present Chapter, Remember my loving kindnesses of old, how I brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, and delivered thee out of the house of Servants: nor only so, but gave thee Moses, Aaron and Miriam for thy guides. And hath not God done this, and much more for our City? Let us remember his loving kindnesses of old, how God, he hath delivered us from Egypt, Rome's tyranny, which in the 11. of the Revelation, is styled to us by the name of Egypt, Verse 8 and hath freed us from the house of Servants, from the slavish and Egyptian bondage of an usurning Pharaoh the Pope; who would still have made both Prince and People, Servants and Vassals to his painted holiness: and who in one thing was more than a Pharaoh, in that he sought to destroy by cruel death, not only all the Males, but Females too of the Stock of Sem; who professed themselves members of the true Church: nor only this hath God done for us; but he hath also given us a Moses; a most gracious King: As he also gave us a Miriam, 
Queen Elizabeth.  a gracious Queen of happy memory, dear Sister to our gracious Moses, both a nursing Father and Mother to our Church; and an Aaron, a holy and a learned Clergy, to guide and govern us, ever since we set foot out of this blind Egypt, in the way of peace and truth. Nor only this did God for the people of the jews; but in the fift Verse, he bids them remember, how Balak. King of Moab consulted their destruction; and how Balaams' Curse, God, he turned it into a blessing unto them. And hath not God done this & much more for our City? For let us but remember what in Eighty eight was consulted against us; when Pope Balaam was sent for to bless the Navy, and to curse God's people: How the Lord turned Pope Balaams' Curse into a Blessing unto us: let us remember these old loving kindnesses of the Lord, and so acknowledge the righteousness of the Lord, his faithfulness and his mercy to us: these be the benefits, which God, he would not have his City jerusalem, to forget parallel to the benefits bestowed on us: which far be it, this our jerusalem, this famous City of ours should once forget.  
And thus we see, God, he is as kind to us, as ever he was to his Jerusalem; but let us see in the second place; whether we be not as unthankful unto God for these his benefits, as ever Jerusalem was. Jerusalem betrayed her unthankful heart to God two manner of ways: openly, by her many rebellions; and secretly, by her hypocrisy: for her open rebellions, they are set down in the three next verses following my Text, where you shall find treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked; scant measure, wicked balances, and a bag of deceitful weights, violence & oppression in the rich men, a deceitful tongue in the mouth of all. Now God wondering at this, to see for all the mercies which he showed to them, for all the crying & preaching of his Voices, such gross sins and enormities should reign in such a City, a City so beloved, a City where his Word was so often preached, his Voices still crying to the City, he breaks forth in admiration of the thing, Adhuc an sunt? What, for all my mercies to you? What, for all the crying of my Voices to you? Adhuc an sunt? Is it possible? Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked? scant measure, wicked balances, a deceitful weight? And are yet the rich men full of violence, and every man's tongue deceitful in his mouth? why, if it be so, high time it is to punish; and sith mercy will not win you, judgement shall compel you. Whereupon in the very next verses, God, he proceeds to judgement: Therefore I will make thee sick in smiting thee, etc.  
Now look we to it, whether this City's rebellion be not the rebellion of our City, whether hierusalem's transgression be not the sin of our Jerusalem; for first, are there not with us the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked? Why, search the coffers of Extortioners and griping oppressors, there shall you find the treasures of iniquity; search the coffers of corrupt Patrons, there also shall you find the treasures of iniquity; search most men's coffers, & more or less, you shall be sure to find the treasures of iniquity: so that we cannot deny it, but with us the treasures of wickedness do yet lodge in the house of the wicked. Now in the second place, to make a full purse, do not some amongst us make a scant measure, & is there not with us a scant measure, which is abominable, wicked balances and a bag of deceitful weights? this must we needs confess that it is so: but it is the care of this Honourable City, as much as may be, to redress it, that it be not so, & might the delinquents in this kind smart for it, who bring Gods curse upon the City, while they strive to get a pony by abomination, by a scant measure, which in the tenth verse God hath pronounced abominable. The meaner sort of offenders in this kind, they are often met with, & justice overtakes them, but as Demetrius told Alexander, when Alexander called him in question for his piracy, I indeed (saith he) play the Pirate in two small Erigots, & am called in question for it, but great Alexander, he roams about, & with two great armies robs the whole world, and no man dares to control him for it: So many a petty Demetrius, who plays the false Merchant to get a penny or two by false balances and weights, is often most deservedly punished for it: But there is a great Alexander, a great man in the world, who dealing in whole sale, gets the gain of whole pounds by false balances and weights, and, as a sip under his full sail, cuts it away a main; so these in their whole sale carry smoothly away the gain of whole hundreds, by false balances and weights, and no man regards it, but the God of heaven, who here inveighs against it by his Prophet, and threatens a punishment to the City for it. Now in the third place, hierusalem's sin was violence and oppression in her rich men, her rich men were full of violence; & what, is our Jerusalem free from this? if the cry of the poor and the oppressed will free the City, so much the happier is the City: but it may be feared, that as our Prophet complained of the rich inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the seventh Chapter of this his prophesy, Verse. 4 how that the best of them was a brier, and the most upright, sharper than a thorne-hedge: So it may be feared, there be with us many such briars and thorne-hedges, who if a poor sheep chance to fall into their hands, will, like briars and thorns, make him leave some of his fleece behind him, and well it is many times, if they leave him a whole skin to sleep in: but let these rich oppressors, if any such harbour within the City of God, hencesorward, take notice of it, that they are neither good friends to the City, nor to their own souls: for these their unlawful practices bring a curse upon the one and upon the other.  
Now in the fourth and last place, hierusalem's sin was a lying and deceitful tongue, for their tongue was deceitful in their mouth. In their mouth, may some man say; what needs this addition? for how can the tongue be deceitful, but in the mouth? but this, it is most Emphatical, their tongue is deceitful in their mouth, that is, they no sooner open their mouth, but their tongue is ready to speak deceit: so that deceit, it not only lurks in the closet of the heart for some assays, but it lies lurking under the tongue, and is ready still in the porch of the mouth, to vent itself upon all assays. And this is it which the Prophet jeremy speaks, 
jerem. 9.5.  They have taught their tongues to speak lies, they need not study long for a deceitful answer, as occasion serves; for they have so well enured their tongues to a lie, that they have it still ready at their tongue's end. This lying and deceitful tongue, it was hierusalem's sin, and so common amongst them, that as the Prophet jeremy speaks, 
jerem. 9.4.  Every one was to take heed of his neighbour, and not to put trust in any brother: for every brother used deceit, and every friend dealt deceitfully. And what, is our Jerusalem free from this? Plain-dealing men, who have to deal with nimble tradesmen, will tell you no; for alas, how many trades-mens tongues with us nowadays are deceitful in their mouth, who are as skilful in the trade of lying, as of selling, having words at will to bring a poor simplician to their price? And as they thus can teach their tongues to speak a lie, racking both credit and their honesty, for the advantage of their wares, using fawning terms which sound like music in the buyers ears, and like a Sirens song deceive the simpler sort: so do they also teach their nimble hands to dance the measures, encroaching on advantage in their measure, to the defrauding of the buyers purse, if his eye be not still their overseer: so that now, if ever, the advice holds good, Caveat emptor, let the buyer be wary, and take heed, for the world is full of nothing but deceit: and to say truth, most men's tongues are nowadays deceitful in their mouth; for it is a nimble and a complementing world: and the world, like Naphthali, 
Gen. 49.21.  gives goodly words; but it is not like Dorcas, full of good works: 
Acts 9.36.  for, to speak in the Prophet David's phrase, you shall have words as soft as butter, 
Psal. 55.21.  but this butter will not stick upon your bread; for you shall have words, but no deeds. So that we may cry to God with the Prophet David in his 12. Psalms, for want of faithful dealing men; the Lord help us, for they speak every one deceitfully with his neighbour, flattering with their lips, and speak with a double heart. All this being so, the rebellions of our Jerusalem being so nigh of kin to hierusalem's sin, may not God as justly complain of us, as of Jerusalem here he doth? and may not he truly say to us as to Jerusalem? What, for all my mercies in that I delivered you from Egypt, from Rome's tyranny, and from the house of servants, the slavery & bondage of an usurping Pharaoh the Pope? What, for all this, that I have given you a Moses and a Miriam, Kings and Queens to be your nursing Fathers, and nursing Mothers, & holy Aaron's for your Pastors? what, for all this, that I delivered you from the evil in 88 was consulted against you, when I turned Pope Balaams' curse into a blessing unto you? what, for all this, that I daily send unto you Voices upon Voices, to cry and proclaim unto your City what is the Lords will, and which is the way, that ye should walk in it: for all these mercies of mine, for all this crying and preaching of my Voices, adhucan sunt? What, is it possible? Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked? Are there yet scant measures, false balances, and a bag of deceitful weights in the shop of the wicked? Is there yet Violence and Oppression in the heart of the wicked? And is there yet a deceitful tongue in the mouth of the wicked? If thus it be, and you will not be won by my mercies; if thus it be, and you will not be cured by my menaces; thou City of God, as to Jerusalem, so must I say to thee, though my beloved City; Yet thou shalt be punished, and I will make thee as Jerusalem, sick in smiting thee, because of thy sins, etc. And therefore, thou beloved City of God, sith God hath so blessed thee with his mercies, prove not thus unkind unto thy God, do not so requite thy God for his mercies, as Jerusalem did, but remove with speedy hand these thy sins wherewith thou art charged from the Lord, and repent thee of the evil of thy sin, that God may repent him of the evil of punishment intended against thee for thy sin. Did not thy God love thee, he would not send thee Voices upon Voices as he doth, to cry this in thine ears, that thou mayest prevent thy punishment by thy penitence; and therefore if thou be wise, be thou warned by Jerusalem, and avert God's judgements from thee, by thy conversion to thy God. And in thy conversion as thou art to shake off hierusalem's sin, and manifest rebellions, so have not to do with her saultring and secret hypocrisy in thy converérsion: for Jerusalem, as she had her open rebellions, so had she also her lurking hypocrisy; for do but behold her, and see her hypocrisy in the sixth verse of this chapter: whereas if now she meant to make a mends for all her rebellions, she breaks forth in a strain, pleasing enough in the ear of man; but God, who sees the heart, knew it to be but glozing and hypocrisy. (Oh) saith she, in quo occurram, wherewith shall I come before the Lord? I will bring with me my thousands of Rams, my ten thousand rivers of oil. I will spare no cost to appease my God: nay, more than this; I will give the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul: And what? not all this yet as much as God requires? No (O) man, God he requires not so much of thee: for in the eight verse this only is the thing the Lord requires; but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.  
And therefore, thou City of God, be thou farther instructed by Jerusalem, and as thou art to leave hierusalem's sin, that thou mayst escape hierusalem's punishment: So in thy conversion to thy God, play thou not the Hypocrite as Jerusalem did. Bring we not then our thousand Rams for an offering unto God; but offer we up ourselves, soul and body, a living sacrifice unto God. 
Rom. 12.1.  Bring we not our ten thousand rivers of oil; but bring we with us penitent hearts and eyes like holy David's, to gush out rivers of tears, because we, none of us keep Gods Law. Bring we not the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul, but good works the fruit of our faith, for the sin of our soul, the fruit of infidelity: and so do we that which God requires of us; to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God; for this is it which the Lord's Voice crieth unto the City, and let us now seek a man, a fit man, a man of wisdom, to hear what the Voice crieth: For the man of wisdom shall see thy name. It is easy to find men, but it is hard to find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a man: we may go up and down the City with Diogenes, & find thousands of men, but not a man among a thousand. It is easy to find Adam, a man of earth, it is easy to find Enosh, a man of infirmity; but to find Ish, a man of wisdom and courage, this man is hard to find; and yet no man is a fit man to hear the voice of the Lord, but this man of wisdom: and therefore we must seek narrowly for this man of wisdom, whom we shall be better able to discern, if we distinguish men into three ranks, and place in the first rank, men of folly, in the second, men of wisdom, but with this restriction, in suo genere, in their kind; in the third rank, men of wisdom indeed, men sanctified from above, wise unto salvation, who are the only fit men to hear the voice of the Lord. For the first, men of folly: There be at this day in the world, two sort of fools, mad fools, and golden fools; and of the mad fools holy David speaks in his 53. Psalm, vers. 1. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God: and do but a while survey the passages of his life, and you will say he is a mad fool indeed; for he hath no other God but his belly, for his belly is his god: 
Philip. 3.19.  & never did those foolish Babylonians in that story, offer up more daily to their Idol Bel, than he doth daily to his Idol belly, to his god, his belly; his drink-offering are healths and carouses; the Incense which he burns, Indian smoke: his Church, none but a Playhouse: the ordinary sermons which he hears, a Comedy: his funeral scrmons, a Tragedy: his Morning prayer, God damn me: his Evening prayer, Devil take body and soul. Now what a mad Bedlam is this, in such mad humours, to jest away his soul? But (O) that this man were wise, and would leave this jovial folly, to learn jehovahs' fear, 
Luk. 15.10.  that the Angels in Heaven might rejoice at his conversion, as the Devils in hell now laugh at his folly and destruction!  
Now the second sort of fools are of Dives kin, who for all his riches, 
Luk. 12.20.  is called in the Gospel but a fool: and these fools, they say to the wedge of gold, Thou art our God: and the service of their God is in conotousnesse, which is idolatry; so that they be idolaters, 
Col. 3.5.  and delight in nothing more than in a mass, even a mass of money, which is all they care for; now preach to such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, preach profit to them, and they hear you gladly; but preach unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, preach Christ unto them, and they hear you not: These, though they be not so mad, yet they be as bad fools as the former: for though they will not abuse God's blessings as the former, and empty their purse upon their belly, yet (which is almost as bad) they will not use God's blessings at all, but empty their belly for their purse, whereas the golden mean it is, which commends the man. And therefore the man of wisdom, he stands by, and sees the folly of both these, and learns the instruction of wisdom by them both; so that he is neither for the belly his god, nor yet for gold his god, but his only request to God, is that of the Wiseman in the thirtieth of Proverbs, Verse 8 Feed me (O Lord) with food convenient for me. And thus now you see the madness of folly: See we withal in the second place, the folly of some wisdom: 
james 3.15.  There is a wisdom which Saint james tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is not from above; but it is earthly, sensual and devilish. It is first earthly, it studies only how to get lands and livings on earth, it cares not at all for the Land of the living in Heaven: It is sensual, all it minds, is for the pleasure of the body, it minds not at all the comforts of the soul: It is devilish, 
2a. 2ae. Quaest 45. art. 1.  Diabolica (saith Aquinas) propter imitationem superbiae Diaboli, Devilish, because it makes the man that hath it proud, and envious as the Diveil. Now this Devilish wisdom, it is in the devils gift, and he hath bestowed it on the proud aspiring jesuit, who by this Devilish wisdom, contriving the death of Princes, and downfall of States and Kingdoms, upholds the sensual wisdom of the Priests in pleasure, and the earthly wisdom of the Pope in state and magnificence: but far be this wisdom from us, it makes us sapientes, it makes us wise, 
jerem. 4.22.  but (as saith the Prophet) wise only to do evil. And therefore take we heed of this wisdom; for it is devilish, it is from the Devil, and it fits us for the Devil, making us the devils Apes, by imitation of his practices in this life, and the devils Heirs, by partaking of his punishments in hell fire. And therefore again and again take we heed of this devilish wisdom, and let us seek for the true wisdom, which S. james tells us, is from above, from the Father of lights, 
jam. 1.5. & 6.  who giveth the true wisdom to every one that asketh of him, if he ask in faith. Now this wisdom, which is from God above, and which only truly denominates a man, a man of wisdom, hath two properties: For first, as Aquinas observes, 
2a. 2ae. Quaest. 45. Art. 3. & Art. 6.  it makes a man contemplari divina, to fix his heart in contemplation upon God. And then secondly it serves, regulare humanos actus, to regulate and direct our actions: For the first, the chief point of true wisdom is in the first place, to have an eye to God and to his Laws; so that though we converse with men on earth, 
Phil. 3.20.  yet our conversation may be with God in heaven: and this we have proved unto us out of the 4. of Deut. vers. 6. where (saith God) Keep my Laws and ordinances, and do them: for, Haec est Sapientia, This is your wisdom: and if ye thus observe and keep my statutes, the people round about you shall say of you, Only this people is wise, and of understanding, and a great nation. By this than shall you discern a man of wisdom, seest thou a man like Zachary and Elizabeth, just and walking in the ordinances of his God? Seest thou a man like unto Cornelius, a devout man, and one that feareth God? Seest thou a man like unto Nathaniel, a true Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile? Seest thou a man like unto S. Paul, crucified to the world, and therefore held of the world but a fool for Christ's sake? Be bold to say it, Such a man as this, and none but such a man as this, is the man of wisdom, of whom we speak: For though the world be not so quicksighted, as to pierce into the depth of this; How this can be, that a man who forsakes the pleasures and vanities of the world, and lives in the world, dead to the world, as a man out of the world, whose conversation is in Heaven; that this man, he should be the only man of wisdom in the world: Though (I say) the world doth not easily attain to the reach of this, yet may the world soon be brought to confess this truth, by the evidence of her own judgement in worldly matters: For the world deems him the only wise man, who is provident for aftertimes, and who with joseph can lay up in time of plenty, 
Gen. 41.33.  for the time of dearth: now who more provident in this kind, than this man of wisdom, of whom we speak? who more lays up for aftertimes than he? for he is still conversant in God's book, which is a rich storehouse for the soul, to furnish it with the panoply of a Christian; 
Ephes. 6.  and therefore he still hath recourse to this rich treasury, to furnish his soul with all things needful at all assays for aftertimes; and in time of prosperity, he stores up patience to help him in adversity; in time of health, he stores up God's mercies to refresh him in his sickness; in time of peace and quietness, he stores up constancy and Christian resolution, to back him out in time of persecution. And as he is thus provident for the good of his soul in this life; so is he most of all provident for his souls good after this life. For he like a good Pilgrime-traveller, because he would not cumber his soul too much with the trash of this world, which might hinder his expedition in his journey to Heaven, he wisely sends his treasures to Heaven before him: some on poor men's backs, clothing them; some in poor men's bellies, feeding them; and some in poor men's hands, liberally relieving them, to meet him in Heaven, when himself comes thither, where his soul is sure to find them, and a reward with them.  
Now let the world speak truth; whether this so provident a man, be not the only man of wisdom in the world. And I would to God all that have souls to save, would be thus wise unto salvation, and would be as provident for their souls, as they are careful for their bodies, that wisdom might embrace us all for her children.  
Now the second property of true wisdom is; it serves to regulate and rule out our actions, making them go in a strait and right line: for all our ways are crooked ways, till such time as wisdom make strait steps unto our feet: and therefore Wisdom may well be called the soul's Controller; and happy is the soul, where wisdom is controller. For Wisdom or Folly is the Mistress of all our actions, and folly is to our actions, as the Varlet Bawd is to the Strumpet, to entice us unto sin; but wisdom is to our actions, as the natural Mother to her child, to win us unto goodness. Folly saith to the young heir, Be prodigal now thou hast it, and let it fly in vanity: but saith Wisdom unto him, Live honestly, now thou hast it, and use it to sobriety. Saith Folly to the old Man, Be covetous now thou hast it, and let it lie by thee. But saith Wisdom unto him, Do good while thou hast it, for therefore was it given thee. Folly, bids the angry man give a stab for a wrong: but Wisdom is for patience. Folly bids the riotous man exceed in his Diet: but Wisdom is for Temperance. Folly bids us get it, no matter how: but Wisdom is for conscience. And thus do Wisdom and Folly strive for our actions: and one while we yield to folly, and another while to wisdom: but happy he, who when he sees Wisdom and Folly thus plead pro and con for his actions, judges wisely of the matter, and gives Wisdom but her due. For such a man, he is a man of wisdom, a man in whom Wisdom delights: For the obedient ear, is wisdoms delight: And therefore this man, he is the only fit man to hear God's Voice; because wisdom makes him to see God's Name, while he still beholds God in an holy contemplation, and still draws nearer and nearer unto God, in an heavenly conversation. For the man of wisdom shall see thy Name: Videbit nomen, Shall see thy name. One would take it at first blush, to be more natural in propriety of speech, for the Prophet to have said, Shall hear thy name, rather than Shall see thy name. But it is most significant as it is, The man of wisdom shall see thy name. For we often hear God's name, and we fear it not. For some, who hear it, blaspheme it: and most, who hear it, regard it not with that reverence, as beseems the high Majesty of so great and glorious a name. Whereas, did we propose to ourselves to see God's name: did we see, and behold, with the eye of Faith, the holy Angels of Heaven still praising this name: Did we see and behold the Devils in hell trembling at this name: Did we see and behold the Saints on earth adoring this name: Did we see and behold all the creatures of God obeying this name, our hearts would tremble within us, to take this holy name into our mouth, but with fear and reverence: we would fear vainly to swear by, and blaspheme as we do, this holy name, which the Angels in Heaven, with continual. Hallelujahs, praise & magnify: and the Saints on earth, with all the devotions of an humbled foul reverence and adore: and we would even quake and tremble, slightly, as too too commonly we do, upon every small occasion, to use this holy name, at which even the Devils themselves do tremble, and all the creatures of God stoop, and obey. And therefore, he that is a man of wisdom amongst us, he will endeavour to see further then ordinary; he will see God's name: When he hears God's name to be a name of Power; he will withal in the rare workmanship, and exquisite fabric of Heaven and earth, see and acknowledge the Majesty of this name: when he hears God's name to be a name of glory and great renown; he will withal, in the continual praises of Saints and Angels, who daily sing Te Deums unto God, see and acknowledge the glory of this name. To be brief, he that is a man of wisdom amongst us, when he hears Gods Name proclaimed in his Word; if this move him not, he will join his eyes with his ears, and see God's name glorious in his works, which will strike him with astonishment. For we are all of us like the Queen of Saba, 
1. King. 10.  readier to believe our eyes, than our ears: She hears of salomon's wisdom; but she credits not the report, till she comes to be an eye-witness of salomon's glory, when she is greatly astonished to see his wisdom, and the glory of his house: So we, hearing of God's wisdom, his glory, and his power preached unto us in his Word: though our tongues confess not so much to the world, yet our hearts (such is the imagination of the heart, only evil, and that continually) oftentimes fond call in question the truth of what we hear, and doubts arise whether all be true: But when once with our eyes we see God's wisdom, in the order and governance of his creatures, and his glory and power in their excellency, we then begin to stand astonished at the lustre of so high a Majesty. And this is it which holy job confesseth: I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, 
job 42.5, & 6.  but now mine eye seethe thee, I abhor myself, and repent in dust & ashes. And therefore again and again let me urge it to you, as you desire to approve yourselves men of wisdom; have this property of a wise man in you, to have your eyes still in your head, ready upon all assays to see God's name. And in your prosperity, see Gods gracious name, to praise him for his bounty; in your adversity, see Gods powerful name, to call upon him for his help and mercy: see his name, a tower to defend you in danger: see his name, a sweet ointment to refresh you in sickness: see his name, a Saviour to save you from your sins, that ye despair not of mercy: and see his name, a judge to question you for you sins, that you presume not of mercy. To be brief, set God always before your eyes, and in all your actions see God's name; in the beginning, to begin in the fear of his name, and see God's name in the ending to conclude to the glory of his name, that your actions being begun, continued, and ended in him, they may be crowned and accepted of him.  
Thus, would we still but see God's name for the direction of our actions, we should not need to fear God's rod wherewith he punishes the obliquity of our actions: but because we often, more for fashion's sake then any true devotion, press to this and such like places; only to hear God's name, and yet prove little better, because withal we do not propose unto ourselves to see God's name, to fear God's name, we, who will not use our eyes to see God's name, for this contempt are here summoned by the Prophet to use our ears, and to hear God's rod: Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it: of which but in a word.  
It is not bear ye the rod, but only audite, hear ye the rod: so that if ye hear the rod, and prevent the stroke with penitence and tears, with fastings and with prayers, and all the true devotions of an humbled soul, it is in your own choice whether or no ye feel the rod: For Niniveh that great City, when she no sooner heard the rod, Yet forty days, and Niniveh shall be destroyed, but from the highest to the lowest, 
jonah 3.  they humbled themselves in sackcloth, and in ashes. This humiliation of theirs, their fasting, their sackcloth, and their ashes, were as so many Orators to plead for mercy for them in the ears of God, and God spared the City, and heard their cry: because they first heard the cry of his Voice, Yet forty days, and Niniuch shall be destroyed, and strait upon it humbled themselves in dust and ashes. Now God, he cries the same in the ears of this City, as he did to Niniveh, audite, hear ye the rod: and if ye now hear the rod as Niniveh did, & humble yourselves with fastings and with prayers, nor only so, but which is most memorable in Niniuchs' humiliation, as it is recorded in the 3. of jonah, v. 8. If every man turn from the evil of his way, some from their swearing, some from their carousing, some from their oppressing, all from their evil dealing: thou beloved City of God, upon this thy humiliation, the rod shall much rather departed from thee, than it did from Niniveh: only audite, hear ye only, ye men of Israel, and wash thee, O jerusalem, 
jerem. 4. v. 14.  from thy wickedness, that thou mayst be saved. Now as the comfort is, the rod, it comes not suddenly and unawares upon us, but with an audite, first hear ye it, which is as the word of peace offered to a Nation, before the sword be once unsheathed for the battle. So the comfort also is, that it is but virga, it is but a rod, it is not the axe in the 3. of Math. laid to the root of the tree, quite to cut down every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit. It is not virga ferrea, God's iron rod in the 2. Psalm. to crush and break in pieces these bodies of earth, like a Potter's vessel: but it is only virga, it is only but a rod; and as the comfort is, that it is only but a rod, so the comfort also is, that it is a Deo, it is from God, God hath appointed it, who is our Father, to be a gentle correction for his children.  
But let not now these comforts make us careless of the judgement, and because God is slow to anger, and doth not strait punish, but often first call upon us for repentance, Hear ye the rod, & so amend: Let us not wilfully mistake God's mercy, and upon this be slow in our conversion unto God, because the punishment, when it comes, it is but a rod; let not us slight the punishment, and seem careless of the judgement, because the rod, when it is upon us, it is in a Father's hand, who is most tender in his punishments; let not this encourage us in our sins, for though the rod be from God a Father, yet is it also from God a most severe judge, though the rod come with an Audite, Hear ye it, and make delay? Why, the more delays be in the stroke, the more heavy is the stroke, and pays the homer when it comes: though the rod when it comes, be but a rod, yet a rod it is, and such a rod, which makes the whole world our enemy; for the whole world, it is God's rod, wherewith he scourges the rebellious nation. The fire, it was God's rod, to consume the two Captains of the King of Samaria and their followers, who came violently to surprise the Lords Prophet. 
2. Reg. 1.  The earth, 
Numb. 16.  it was God's rod, to swallow up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, for their rebellion: The water, it was God's rod, to drown the old world, and to overthrow the host of Pharaoh: And, for a long while, the infected air hath been a rod unto this City. War, it is God's rod, to punish the unthankful abuse of peace: Famine, it is God's rod to punish the unthankful abuse of his creatures: Pestilence, it is God's rod, wherewith, for a long time, God hath punished this City, and now he doth but strike a stroke or two with this rod, take away some one or two with his heavy plague; and that not often neither, but now and then, to see if this his gentle correction will make us wise; now at last men of wisdom, to see his name, hear his rod, and fear his Majesty, that the evil come not upon us for our sins.  
And thus now you see, though it be but a rod which is here menaced against us, yet in that it is a rod, it is enough to set heaven and earth against us: and therefore sith it is so, that every creature of God, at the great Maker's command, is a rod ready at hand, to scourge the rebellious nation, this should teach us to live in an awful fear of this rod, and when Satan tempts us to sin, to look about us, and think every creature we see, an enemy to us, if we sin; for this will make us enemies unto sin. Have we then (if we be wise) still an eye to this rod, and so learn we to fear God, in whose hand it is, that while we live in fear of God and of his rod, God may not fear us with his rod: For, as for us (Beloved) we fear what our sins deserve, there is some rod, some judgement or other hovering over our heads: but let us in time prevent the judgement, and hear the Lords Voice from Heaven. Now he doth premonish us, that he may take his rod from us, and not punish us, let us come before God with tears in our eyes, with Peccavi in our mouths, with devotion in our hearts, and with alms in our hands; that God seeing our penitence, may remove his punishments. It is an usual saying amongst us, Every good child, he will go unto his father, and keep his Mid-lent with his father. And let us herein approve ourselves good children indeed of God our heavenly Father, in going this day unto him our Father, every one of us, who are so many Prodigals of God's graces and mercies towards us, following the good resolution of the Prodigal: 
Luke 15.18.  go we unto our Father, and say unto Him; Father, we have sinned against Heaven and against Thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy sons: Accept us, Holy Father, we beseech thee, and embrace us with the arms of thy mercy, now we come unto thee: spare thy people, who turn unto thee with fastings and with prayers, and all the true devotions of an humbled and sanctified soul, and take thy rod from us; for we will hear thy Voice to obey it, and see thy name, to fear it and to praise it: Only open our eyes, that we may see; and our ears, that we may hear; and withal, Open thou our mouths, that our lips may speak thy praises: and so will we daily confess, to the honour of thy Name, unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us Kings and Priests to God his Father, even to jesus Christ, 
Revel. 1.  that faithful Witness, the first Begotten of the dead, and prince of the Kings of the earth; unto Him, and unto Him alone, for the riches of his mercy unto us, be all glory and praise, from this time forth, and for ever. Amen.  
FINIS.