THE Wicked Man's Plot DEFEATED:  
OR, The Wicked Man, laughed out of Countenance.  
As it was Represented in a SERMON, Preached in St. Marry Woolchurch, London, May 11. 1656.  
By THOMAS BAKER▪ Rector of St. Marry the More, in EXON.  
Gal 4. 16. Am I therefore become your Enemy, because I tell you the Truth.  
Aug. Vis nunquam Tristis esse? Bene vive.  
Printed for the Author. 1656.   

The Epistle to the Reader.  
COURTEOUS READER,  
(FOr, with the present untoward Generation, I have not yet so far forfeited my charity, but that I shall still proclaim thee ●or such, as far as the infirm legs of these crippled lines shall carry them, until thou shall appear signally to deserve the contrary) we are fallen upon an Age (thou canst not but be tenderly sensible) wherein, not only those Courtly spirits, that are exquisite Gleekers, or Cribbagers; but even every Country Bumkin, that can but play at plain Trump, or Noddy, cannot but clea●ly discern the Knave every day to turn; and appear in his orient colours; yea in value to outvie, not the King only, the supreme Magistrate; but all that is called God. And then the less strange may it seem to observe, not only that all Kingly Authority is laid aside; but that all manner exercise of the Priestly function is suspended, amongst us. So that now, not only those his immediate Vicegerents a●e grown strangers to their Princely thrones; but we his voices, become hoarse, not with clamour so much as silence; yea our Tongues with standing still so long within the stables of our Mouths, no better then resty; yea, as by the hearing of an Hiena's voice, st●uck dumb; no marvel if we be driven (I say not with Zachary, in sac●ed page so much to call for writing-tables, as) with Io in the Poet, having our Hands and Tongues; at least our Tongues, which should serve us as Hands, for the holding of the Pens of ready Writers, cut off; and so by consequence our Teeth knocked out, to try the extremest of conclusions of making our Feet our Minds interpreters. And so, as they put us upon the exigence of leading Poetical lives; so enforce they our Lines to tread the measures of Poetic feet. Nay, the more surely to muzzle the mouths of us, that are the Analogical oxen, for the bearing of the Ark, deny us utterly the use of these very feet of ours, wherewith we ought to tread out the spiritual grain of the Word. Nay, now at l●st, when, possibly, with the improvements of our utmost skill, and industry, we may have arrived to some good measure of perfection in the New, and untrodden, Path of Pedography▪ even in these very feet of ours, by the good Angels of our Times (as jacob by the Angel in his Thigh) are we rendered so lame, that by them we are denied all manner Licence of giving out the sad Print of our, though never so pressing necessity. That Liberty, under the notion of Begging Scholars, and other vagrants, is (I know not by what law) interdicted us. However, when for these things sake, our souls at times cannot forbear weeping in secret places, ●or my particular Relation to thee; since my address speaketh me so charitable towards thee, thou shalt give me leave to mind thee, that even in civility as well as conscience, thou art bound to do me so much justice, as that what ever it be, that I shall offer thee with the Right Hand, thou be far from receiving, much more rending, with the Le●t. Which right shalt thou do me, thou shalt still encourage me to go on to be, what yet no discouragement shall ever take me ●ff from being  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. T. B.   
Psal. 37. 13. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn; for he hath seen that▪ his Day is coming. 
AS the whole Psalm may, not amiss, be styled a Caveat, entered in the behalf of the righteous, and that in the nature of an Apology of God's providence; which (not unlikely) may be quarrelled, for his prospering of the wicked in their enormous courses; yea, whose sharp sight, and sense, may possibly affect the hearts of the righteous with such a sting of envy, as so far to startle their confidence in this providence, as to justle them to a foul Apostasy from the King's Highway of righteousness, they may, more than probably, have proposed unto themselves to measure: So is this verse, now read, with the preceding, nothing else but a Prolepsis or Preoccupation, of an Objection may be framed against the course of this providence of his. The Objection we have in the preceding verse; strange it may not seem that the righteous man's confidence in this Providence, at times, appear to be shaken; for that the ungodly man ceased not to seek counsel against him; and to gnash upon him with his teeth, as if he had him now already within the reach of his cruel mercy, and were upon the point of tearing him in pieces. The anticipating Decision we have in the words now read; which point out unto us, the Almighty's scornful Defeasance of all these his jewelled, but abortive, Projects, and practices. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn, for he hath seen that his day is coming.  
The Text then, you cannot but clearly see, what jus● reason I shall have to term the Destruction of a Bibel, or the Defeasance of a Wicked Man's Plot. Yea, whereas in the practice of our Common Law, we, every day hear distinctly of a Judgement, and a Defeasan●, the one still voiding the other; in this branch of Go●s Law, we here meet with a Defeasance, which is not without the Attendance of an heavy Judgement.  
Wherein (not to perplex your memories with any intricate Divisions) I shall only charge them with the recognition of these two special Observables: The Manner of thi● Defeasance. 'Cause  
The Manner, of all th● most scornful and opprobrious; The Lord shall laugh him to scorn.  
The Cause two fold; The One, Subalternate. Other, Principal.  
The Subalt●●nate, is the near approach of this day; His Day is coming.  
The Principal, God's foresight of this days near approach, He hath seen it.  
These the Par●s. Of these plainly, orderly, and briefly, as I may. And first are we to begin with the Manner of the Defeasance of this the wicked man's Plot; which, we see here, is of all the most scornful and opprobrious. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn.  
There is a Fable, amongst the Poets, of jupiter, that, having married Metis, and devouring her, being with child by him, himself is at last delivered of an armed Pallas out of his head. And such Fables may you observe more than a good many men in the world to frame, & fashion, to themselves. They will needs dream them into a love like omnipotency, and then must they marry Metis; wed themselves, to a sad, and serious consultation, for the successful accomplishment of their, whatever, intended designs. Which, having greedily devoured, & thoroughly digested, their Brains must now be brought a bed of an armed Pallas; of such a well-hatched plot, as can in no wise miscarry. Hezekiah (may Rabsakeh be heard to be his Dictator) shall now say, I have counsel and strength for war, Esa. 36. 5. And then no marvel, if men now big-swollen with pride, shall, with Edom, in that other Prophet, Obad. 4. Exalt themselves as eagles, and build their nests amongst the stars; and then say in their hearts, as it is in the preceding Verse, who shall bring us down to the ground? And as those in that other prophet, Amos 9 10. No evil shall overtake, or prevent us. And this, for that, as those in that other prophet, Esa. 28. 15. We have made a Covenant with death, and with hell are we at an agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come nigh us; for we have made Lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. And, for the making of all cock sure indeed, resolve for for whoever they shall find standing in their way, as those Husbandmen for the heir, Luke 20. 14. To kill all, that all their inheritances may be theirs. Whereas yet all this their imaginary happiness shall, upon the true teste of trial, appear to be no other than a very Fable; not unlike that cloud, Ixion embraced instead of juno; yea, Aegri s●mnium; no other, than a sick man's Dream: as, when one dream●th (as the Prophet wordeth it, Esay 29. 8.) that he drinketh; but, when he awaketh, his soul is thirsty, and faint. And whatever pomp, or greatness, he may fond dote on, will in conclusion appear to be no better than that of the Duke of Burgundy's Beggar: for that his shape, which for a time he hath borrowed, when it cometh to be laid aside, no better a man is he at last, then at ●irst he was. The Allseeing Spectator, and infallible Judge, of Heaven and Earth, laugheth at these their ridiculous Interludes, at these their self-gulling Scenes. And, as he only is approved, whom God commendeth, 2. Cor. 10. 18.— Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo; however such brainsick Fancies may transport many a weak soul into a Fool's paradise; where they may honey themselves, as did our Prophet sometimes in the like case. Psal. 30. 6. I shall never be cast down. Yea, and there entitle God himself to the fixing of their stations; Thou Lord of thy goodness, hast made my Hill so strong: Especially, shall but the applause of men of their own cut, and making up, soothe them up in this their fancied settlement; yea be it that but even their posterity (as this same prophet of ours, Psal. 49. 13. hath it) shall praise their saying; a mere scorn yet, at last, shall the best of such appear, when the Lord shall make him no better than his sport, and laughingstock. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn.  
It is a word of the Satirists; 
Nil habet infelix, paupertas durius in se,  
Quam quod ridiculos homines facit—  
Much easier might want be born,  
Did it not make a man a scorn.   
The prophet jeremy, speaking of impenitent sinners, saith of them, Surely these are poor, these are foolish. jer. 5. 4. And such poor fools, that measure all things by their present fantastic happiness, and groundlessly promise themselves an uninterupted series, and endless succession, thereof, shall all such in conclusion appear, when they shall come to be sensible of the heaviest symptom of poverty upon them, of becoming the sad objects of the Almighty's laughter. The Kings of the earth stand up (saith our Royal prophet, Psal. 2.) i. e. Herod Ascalonita (saith Lyra upon the words) that maketh a bloody Inquisition after the Saviour of the World, upon his first sal●●tion thereof, Mat. 〈◊〉 An● Herod Antipas, that 〈…〉, by arraying him in a purple Robe, now he is upon the point of giving it his last valediction, Luke 23. And the Rulers, i. e. Pilate, and the chief priests (saith the same Lyra) take counsel together against the Lord, and this his Anointed. He that dwelleth in Heaven (saith the same prophet of ours, in the following verses) shall laugh them to scorn, (as him of the same stamp here in the Text) the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. God's laughter at the wicked hath more of an embittered gall, than a tickling spleen, in it; as relishing more of displeasure he conceiveth against sinners, than any delight he thereby findeth in himself: Nay, it is not only our prophet's word of him in this case; but his own of himself, to those that (for instance) wilfully shut up their ears against his counsel, Prov. 1. I will laugh at your calamity, when your fear cometh as a desolation, and your destruction as a whirl wind. Nay, in this Scene God shall not be a single Actor; but all the Saints and Angels shall join in Consort, to make up a Merry-Angry Chorus with him. And therefore, as the School telleth us, that what ever they discern, is in speculo Trinitatis, in the glass of the Trinity: the glass of the Divine Essence, which these Heavenly Spirits are still, with unspeakable joy, contemplating, reflecteth upon them, not so much the species of their own visages, as the cast of his countenance; unto whose resemblance they are still studying, the nearest they may, to compose themselves; mourning, as they see that darkened with a cloud; & Rejoicing, and Laughing, as they see that fitted though but to a Scornful, and so Angry, Laughter. So that, as there a multitude of the Heavenly Host with the Shepherds, cha●ting out that cheerful Doxology, of 〈◊〉 be to God on high▪ on earth peace, as soon as one Angel hath acquainted them with the glad ●idings of our Saviour's Birth, Luk. 2. No sooner doth the Almighty put his countenance into a Smiling-Frowning posture, but Regis ad exempl●● all the Saints, and Angels, 〈◊〉 on the same semblance of countenance. The righteous (saith our prophet) even those that live still upon the earth, shall rejoice to see such vengeance executed upon the ungodly, as that now he shall have the advantage of washing his footsteps in his his blood (as it is Psal. 58. 9) as soon as he shall discover the Almighty (as him here in the Text) to make him the subject of his scornful, and so wrathful, laughter. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn.  
Let then the Enemies of Truth, and all Righteousness, hiss, and gnash their teeth, at those that are not of their tune, and temper; let them triumph over them, with a 〈◊〉 have swallowed them up; this is the day that we looked for; and now we have seen and known it, as it is Lam. 2. 16. And laugh at them with an Aha, we have devoured them, as it is Psa. 35. 25. W●e unto you that laugh now (you know, is our Saviour's own doom) for you shall mourn and weep, Luke 6▪ 25. The son of Sirach, Ecclus. 27, 29. runneth a sad Descant upon this ground; Those that rejoice at the fall of the Righteous, anguish shall consume them before they di●. Nay, those that have afflicted the Righteous man, self-convicted of the guilt of these their barbarous, and savage practices; and knowing that the time is at hand, when they shall see him stand with great confidence before their faces (as it is, Wisd. 5.) may you hear, in great anguish of spirit, antedating their own sad Destiny, and wailing out their own doleful Elegy: This is he whom we had sometimes in derision, and a Proverb of reproach; we fool's accounted his Life madness, and his end without Honour; now is he numbered amongst the children of God, and his lot is amongst the Saints; whilst we, in the mean time, have in vain wearied ourselves in the ways of wickedness, and destruction; we have erred from the way of Truth, and the Sun of Righteousness is not Risen upon us. We say, in our ordinary proverb, that he Laugheth well, that Laugheth at last. Indeed, the success of a wicked Man, whilst he groweth Elated with his politic, and mischievous, practices upon the Righteous prospered, may afford him such a kind of Superficial Merriment, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; as may wet the Mouth; but hath little of virtue in it for the warming of the Heart. Yea and minister unto them such matter of Flickering Laughter, as that, like that of the Preachers fool, Eccles. 7. 6. it shall make a crackling Noise, as Thorns under a Pot. But, or ever the Pots of their Hearts be made hot with th●se thorns, Indignation (our Prophet is peremptory, Psal. 58. 8.) shall vex them, and lie heavy upon them, as a thing that is Raw. Or (as our New Translation readeth it) God shall take them away from this their joy, as with a whirlwind. Their Laughter shall in conclusion appear to be no other than Risus Sardonicus; as the Laughter of those that have eaten of the Herb Sardoa; whose forced Merriment, though it may outwardly set them a Grinning; yet is inwardly still Griping, and Galling, them. Continua Anxiet as nec mensae tempore cessat; to make the Poet speak the Language of Canaan. Even in the midst of Laughter their hearts are sorrowful; and the end of such mirth is always heaviness, Prov. 14. 13. So that then just reason may St. james seem to have for the Allarming of the Rich Men of his time, those that by unjust practices have heaped them up Riches, Go to now ye Rich men, weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you; you have lived in Pleasure on the Earth; you have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter; you have Condemned, and Killed, the Just; and none resisted you! Jam. 5. But Mourn you shall, and Weep; your Laughter shall be turned into mourning; and your joy into heaviness. Jam. 4. Yea, the Lords own word it is to those that forsake him; forget his Holy Mountain; and prepare a Table for their Troops. Esa. 65. My Servants shall Rejoice; but you shall be ashamed; my Servants shall Sing, and Laugh, for joy of Heart; but you shall Howl for vexation of Spirit. And then, as the Preacher, Eccles. 7. 3. Sorrow is better than Laughter: far better shall it in conclusion appear for the Righteous to live for a time, in a sad condition under their Enemies persecuting Hands; being fully assured that the time is at Hand that their Hearts shall so Rejoice, as that their Joy no Man shall take from them, as our Saviour sometimes to his Discipes in the like case, Joh. 16. 22. Then with their Persecutors that may perhaps for some short space Revel in all manner of jollity, and exercise an uncontrolled Tyranny upon them; when, at last, yea perhaps suddenly, they shall become sensible, that the Lord all this while Laugheth at these their unhallowed practices: clearly discovering his Day of Sadness to be at hand.  
Which fitly bringeth us to the view of the sec●nd Observable in this Defeat of the Wicked Man's Plot, the Cause thereof; which we may here see to be twofold: The One Subalternate, Other Principal.  
And first are we to begin with the Subalternate, the near approach of this his Day. His Day is commeng.  
In the 19 of St. Luke's Gospel a clear intimation have we, that, what Jerusalem there had, every sinner still hath, a twofold Day; a Day of Merciful visitation, and a Day of Drereful Vengeance. A Day of visitation; O that thou hadst known in this thy Day! A Day, wherein, as God visited Jerusalem, for three continued years, by the preaching of his Son: so doth he sinners still by the voice of his Successors; his lawfully ordained Messengers, and Ministers. And a Day of vengeance; Behold the Day of the Lord God of Hosts, the Day of vengeance, cometh, wherein he will Avenge him of his Enemies. Jer. 46. 10. Even of those, that (as we may, not amiss, Gloss this of the Prophet by that of the above-praised Evangelist, in the 44 of the above. praised Chapter) that shall appear such Enemies, not to him only, but themselves, as to have neglected the Day of their visitation. The first of these is the Day, wherein God vouchsafed us a fair opportunity of walking; even of walking in Newness of Life. Are there not twelve hours in the day? (saith our Saviour, Joh. 11. 9) if any Man walk in the Day, he stumbleth not; because he seeth the Light of the world. And yet who seeth no●, how far even the best of us are from being such good Husbands of this Day, as (according to that our Prophet's Euloge of Man, Psal. 104. 23.) to go forth to our work, and Labour; even this our work, and Labour, of Newness of Life, until the Evening: and therefore to say to our Couches of Idleness, as the Angel sometimes to jaob, Gen. 32. 26. Let me go; for the Day breaketh: that we are rather so far prone to turn the Day into Night, as to trifle away every hour of this Day in stretching us upon our Ivory Beds; in Dreaming them out in secure slumbers; in drawing down Deep Carouses; in wantoning in Lustful Embraces; in studying of politic Contrivances, how we m●y readiest swallow up the Estates; and so suck the Blood of our innocent Neighbour? And yet the Light of this Day (like those Northern people, that have the Equinoctial for their Horizon) we will needs have (as have they in their proper seasons) still Lasting. And, as those that labour of a Vertigo, conceive all things to Run Round, by reason of the Dizziness, that is in their Brain: for that we are Idly disposed, we will needs have the Time of this Day so far from passing, that we will neede● persuade ourselves, that we have a like command upon it, as had joshuah sometimes upon the Sun and Moon, Josh. 10▪ 12. Stand thou Sun in Gibeon, and thou Moon in the Valley of Ajjalon: so that, at our words it shall stand at a stay, to keep us company in th●s our Idleness. And, for any other Day, we put it far away from us (as it is Amos 6. 13.) and cause the seat of violence to draw near; and (as it is in the verse immediately following the Text) We draw out our Swords, and bend our Bows, to slay such as are of an upright Conversation. Yea we scoff at the tidings of any other days approach, as those in the Apostle, 2 Pe●. 3, 4. at the News of the coming of the Day of Judgement; where is the Promise; or rather Menace, of its coming? Or if, much ado, we will be drawn to hear of any such thing, we yet say, as those in the Prophet, Esay 56. 12. To morrow shall be as this Day, and much more abundant.— Cras, Cras, procrastinat— And still every Day, that shineth out upon us, shall, in our presumptions, still be sped of a New, and Fresh, Morrow, to attend it. The Spirit of God, in the mean time, whose peculiar office it is to bring all things to the Remembrahce of these, he inspireth, Joh. 14. 26. becometh every where, throughout the Sacred Volumes, an uncessant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of another Day, the wicked Man is to expect. Those, that come after him (saith Holy job of him) shall be astonished at the coming of his Day; as they, that went before him, were affrighted, Job 18. 20. Remember the children of Edom, O Lord in the Day of Jerusalem (you know is our Prophets Address unto him in her behalf, Psal. 137. 7.) how they cried Down with it, Down with it, even to the Ground. I saw (is the Lords own word, wherein he, no less justly then sharply, taxeth his people of Israel) that in the Day, wherein strangers carried away the Forces of your Brother Jacob, and Foreigners entered into the Gates, and cast Lots upon Jerusalem; that you Rejoiced ●ver the childred of Judah, in the Day of their Destruction, and spoke proudly in the Day of their Distress. Obad. 11. 12. And it is that other Prophet's just Exe●cration upon the Wicked, after that he hath capitulated with the Almighty about their prosperity; Prepare them, O Lord, for their Day; even the Day of slaughter. Jer. 12. 3. Yea this Day of the wickeds prosperity it pleaseth the same Lord oftentimes to contract; and so to speed their Day, or rather Nights, of Vengeance, that their Sun goeth down at Noon, and the Earth is Darkened with them in the clear Day, as it is Amos 8. 9▪ Yea, when God distributeth sorrows unto them in his Anger, and the Night of their Destruction cometh upon them, their Candle, that they might now at last hope should afford them some poor, weak, Light of Comfort, is, not seldom, put out, as it is job 21. 17. And so, as it is, 5. 14. of the same Book, they meet with Darkness in the Daytime. And then strange may it not seem to hear, that the Knees of this Profligate wretch (as Baltasars') shall appear to tremble, when he shall now find this Day, or rather this Day made Night (as it is Amos 5. 8.) unawares to overtake him, which he had put far away from him? Especially when he shall hear the Almighty vying an high Roar of Laughter with his loud-yelling Accent of Anguish of Spirit, upon his clear Foresight of this Days near Approach.  
Which is the more Principal cause of the Defeasance of th● the wicked Man's Plot; and in the next Place calleth for your consideration. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn; for he hath seen that his Day is coming.  
The word [Is coming] you see, is of an Indefinite Expression; and so far from pointing out the present Minute of this Days Appearance. At which, whilst debauched Miscreants, and to every good work Reprobate, will (not unlikely) be ready to catch Advantage; and shall therefore, with the five Foolish Virgins, Mat. 25. betake them to slumberings, and sleepings; and, with that Evil servant, in the 24 of the same Gospel, to Eating, and Drinking, and smiting his Fellow servants; whom therefore his Master, coming in a Day, that he looketh not for him; and in an Hour, that he is not aware of, shall cut in sunder, and appoint him his Portion with Hypocrites: He, that shall but duly poise things in the Balance of the Sanctuary, ●n the Scales of a Religious consideration; whose Fear is as his Faith, the Evidence of things not seen, will look upon this Day, of whose Indefinite, and Indeterminate Advent he is here thus cautioned, as if he saw, and felt it already come. At least, as Damocles did upon the Pendant Sword, which may every Minute drop down about his Ears, and make an immediate Dispatch of him. And therefore it is well worthy our best observation, that, when the Prophet Ezekiel, 7th. of his Prophecy, giveth the Inhabitants of Jerusalem a shrill Alarm of their inevitable Destruction at Hand, the Future, and Present, Tenses he so intortleth, and interweaveth, as that he seemeth to make both of equal certainty. I will shortly pour out my Fury, and accomplish mine Anger upon thee. vers. 8. That, you see, for the Future. And yet, vers. 6. we hear of nothing else but the found of Present Destruction: An End is come; the End is come; it watcheth for thee: Beho●a! it is come. Nay, the Final Desolation of this very Jerusalem though it be not Actually Accomplished until Two 〈◊〉 Forty years after our Saviour's 〈◊〉: Yet are the People of that Present Generation Forewarned thereof by him, as if it were already put in Execution: Behold! your House is left unto you dese●le. Mat. 23. 38. So that then, see I Uncleanness, Excess, Sacrilege, Barbarism, Cruelty, Blasphemy, Hypocrisy, all manner of Iniquity, to abound in an Age? and yet, not to scape with Impunity only; but to be sped of all manner of successful Prosperity? shall I now conclude, that they shall finally escape for this their wickedness? as it is Psal. 56. 7. No; I look upon their Destruction as undoubtedly to come upon them, as if I saw it Actually overtaking them. Nay, Ye say, It will be Fowl weather to Day, (you know, is our Saviour's words to the Pharisees) for the Sky is Red, and Lowering. Mat. 17. 3. See I Men to look with Red, and Lowering, Countenances, portending nothing but Bloody, and Destructive, Practices? I justly conclude, that there is a present Storm of Fowl weather, that boadeth, not others only from them, but even themselves. Nay, as the Flood cometh upon the old world, and sweepeth them all away, whilst they are Ea●ing and Drinking, Building and Planting, Marrying, and giving in Marriage. Matth. 24. 38. See 1 Men securely promising themselves an happy continuance, and prosperous success, in their never-so Irregular, Courses? upon this Security of theirs I look, as upon an undoubted Harbinger of the Day of their Destruction hard at the Doors. But, be it, that it shall please the Lord for a time to suspend the Execution of his Vengeance upon these High-grained, and Deep died Sinners: So that the Day thereof, he yet seeth every Day nearer Approaching, may for some short space be forborn; the Observation may in no wise escape us, that the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 Hhavar, signifieth as well to be Angry as to Forbear. When the Lord heard this, he was wroth, saith our prophet, Psal. 78. 22. Vatablus readeth, Audivit Dominus, & Distulit: The Lord heard, and forbore, Thou hast Abhorred, and Forsaken thine Anointed, saith the same prophet, Psal. 89. 37. St. Hierome readeth, 〈◊〉; Thou hast Forborn him. God's Forbearance of a Sinner in his wicked ways for a time, is so far from being a Testimony of his Favour, that it is rather an irrefragable Argument of his highly incensed Displeasure. What, if God, willing to show his wrath (saith the Apostle) and to make his Power known, endured with much Long-sufferance the vessels of wrath, fitted to Destruction? Rom. 9 22. So that then, see I Men to despise the Riches of God's Goodness, and Long-sufferance, which should lead them to Repentance; whilst he is Patiently Bearing with them in their Horrid, and Execrable, Impieties? I now assure myself that God intends to show his Wrath, and to make his Power eminently known,— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉— as upon vessels of wrath, that all this while have been fitting themselves to Destruction. If a Man will not turn (saith our prophet) then will he Bend his Bow, and make ready his Arrows against the Persecutors, Psal. 7. For though a Sinner do Evil an hundred times, and his Days be prolonged; yet at last (the Preacher is peremptory) it shall not go well with him, Eccles. 8. And therefore, however you may observe the Almighty to dance Attendance upon wicked Miscreants a long time, in a continued expectance of their Conversion; and, no less Passionately then Compassionately, to debate the reason of their Remissness in Turning unto him; Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will you Die, O ye House of Israel? Ezek. 33. 11. Thou gavest them place of Repentance (saith the Wiseman of the People) not being ignorant that they were a Naughty Generation, that their Malice was bred in them; and that their Cogitation would never be changed. Wisd. 12. 10. Yet, if now at last, after his long exercised, and so abused, patience, he can discover no semblance of turning, then doth he no longer forbear to let fly the Arrows of his vengeance. For whose drawing up to the head though he may take some time (as St. Hierome) to give them fair warning that they stand within the reach of his Arm: yet, when he letteth loose from the string, he striketh home indeed, and pierceth to the very heart. Sera tamen tacitis Poena venit pedibus; God, when he cometh with Leaden Heels to strike, striketh yet with Iron Hands, when he cometh. The further back a Blow is fetched, the Deeper it woundeth. And, when God's judgements are furthest adjourned, for point of Execution, they still leave, when they come to be executed, the most deadly Scar behind them. He, that is of Purer eyes then to behold Iniquity, will not suffer such Iniquity for ever to escape, as not undiscovered, so neither unpunished. But, as we say of a skilful Fencer, that his Hand and Eye still go together; upon the sight of the ungodlies courses, contumatiously continued, he taketh the matter into his own Hands, as it is v. 16. of this Psalm. And then woundeth to the purpose the Hairy Scalp of such an one, as goeth on still in his wickedness, as it is Psal. 68 21. And that Dreadful Day of vengeance the Hand of his Justice will at last be sure to bring on, which the Eye of his omniscience hath foreseen, and that perhaps for some long time, a coming. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn; for he hath seen that his Day his coming.  
Indeed, as we say of the Papists, that in the Sacrament, he is, every Day, Making his Maker: we, in semblance, will needs be making, us a God of such a composition, both for Hands, Face, and Eyes, as best pleaseth us; all of Sweetness, and Grace; but of Justice, and Rigour, nothing. Nothing of him will sink with us, but that his Mercy is great, and that he will be pacified for the multitude of his sins, as it is Ecclus. ●. 6. That vision in the mean time, that Ezekiel in the first of his Prophecy, seeth, of four several creatures appearing, each having four several Faces, is well worth our best Heeding; whereof the first is of a Man; the second of an Eagle; the third of an Ox; and the fourth of a Lion. And to every of these Faces hath the great God of Heaven and Earth eyes suitable. He hath the eyes of a Man, the eyes of his Providence; He ●uleth all things with his Power for ever (saith our Prophet) his Eyes behold the people. Ps. 66. 6. He hath the eyes of an Eagle, his eyes of simple Intelligence (as the School speaketh) wherewith he beholdeth all things; To his Eyes are all things Naked, & open, saith the Apostle. Heb. 4. 11. He hath his Ox Eyes; Eyes, not of compassion only; I have seen (is his own word) the Affliction of my People, that is in Egypt, Exod. 3. 7. But of Approbation to; The Eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous, saith our Prophet, Psal. 34. 14. And he hath his Eyes of a Lion likewise, his Eyes of Indignation. And for the sharp edge of these to be darted out upon the Proud, the picture of Patience cannot forbear to be instant. Job 40. 12. Look upon every one that is Proud, (saith he) and bring him L●w. And with these, by our Prophet's verdict (answering that Holy Man's Desire) as he beholdeth the Proud a far off, Psal. 138. 6. so doth he see the coming of the Wicked Man's Day. The Lord shall Laugh him to scorn; for he hath seen that his Day is coming.  
It is the saying of the Lord to Samuel now, by a Commission from 〈◊〉 being to anoint one of Iesse's sons for King over his People, he is now fixing his Eyes, and upon the point of laying his Hands, upon Eliab, The Lord seeth not as man seeth, 1 Sam, 16. 7. The Apostle, 1 Cor. 13. 12. giveth us as clear a Representation, as may be, of the different Edge of either of their Eye sights; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; we see (says he) as in a Glass, Darkly. A Glass; Qualia sunt Perspicilla sinum, seu Speculum oculere, saith a learned Interpreter upon the words; such as are old men's Spectacles; or Prospective Glasses to Old, or Young. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as it followeth; in a Dark, Mysterious, and Riddling, Representation. Yea, and not only so; but, for the General, we look upon any evil to come, as at the wrong end of a Prospective; and so (as those in the Prophet above praised) put it far away from us. Nay, find we not what ever Evil to make winged speed after us? We finally put off all thoughts thereof, as those in that other Prophet above praised; Is not the Lord amongst us? None Evil can happen unto us. Yea, whilst, through our weak Perspicils, wherewith we look upon the Aspects and Influences of the Heavens, we will needs be taking upon us a faculty of Divining of things to come; and hereupon cheer, and courage, up ourselves in the most Mischievous practices; as did Zedekiah, Ahab, 1 King. 22. 12. Go on, and prosper; who seeth not what just reason the whole world shall have to cry out of us, as those in that other Prophet, Zach. 10. 2. The Diviners amongst us have seen a ●ye? and told false Dreams? It is otherwise with this Allseeing God. In the Infallible Glass of himself he contemplateth all things, whether Past, or Future, or Present. Yea, and when he pleaseth, seeth not only, but calleth for things that are not, as if they were. Rom. 14. 17. And therefore pregnant is that the Prophet's words of him, Esay 7. 18. He shall hiss for the Fly, that is in the uttermost parts of Egypt; and the Bee in the Land of Assyria; and they shall come and rest in the Desolate Valleys. The very Poet can say, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; God hath an Eye armed with Revenge. Yea, Oculos Emissities, saith the Comic; Eyes, that dart out Dead-doing Rays. Nay Eyes as Thunderbolts, and those Right-aiming (saith the Wiseman) which discharged from the Clouds, as from a well-drawn Bow, readily fly to the Mark. Wisd. 5. 21. Nay, as his Hand draweth up these Thunderbolts of his judgements to the H●ad, and dischargeth th●m upon the wicked: so do●h his Eye, looking as at the Right End of a Prospective, draw them near home, and so speedeth the Executi●● of them. I will ba●●en my word (is his own word) to perform it. Jer. 1. 12. And this time, of his Acceleration of vengeance upon a ●e●ple, far is he from being so reserved, but that still he preacquainteth his Prophets therewith. Shall I hide from Abraham (is the same Lords solemn debate with himself about the destruction of Sodom) that thing▪ which I intent to do? Gen. 18. 17. No! the Prophet maketh a present and positive Answer to this the Lords Quere, Amos 3. 7. Surely the Lord will do nothing, but that he Revealeth his Secret to his Servants, the Prophets. And this you may see to be the Ground of our Saviour's own Address to his Father, after that he hath denounced Vengeance against Bethsaid●, Chorazin, and Capernaum; I thank thee Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou hast Hid these things from the Wise, and Prudent; and hast Revealed them unto Babe's, M●t. 11. 25. O! the marc●lesse Privilege of a right Prophet of the Lord! yea, but of a Child of God of a very Babe in Grace! That, when Frantic Enthusiasts shall vainly, and groundlessly, boast them of their Brainsick Revelations; and Worldly Wisemen of their full Magazines of Understanding, and Knowledge; shall only indeed have the Honour vouchsafed them, of being Privy Counselors to the great King of Heaven! It is one special Article of Precedence, I find given to the Study of History, in General, beyond all other Studies; Lectores suos vates reddit; That it rendereth its Readers Prophets. The observation of the success, Designs have b●en sped of in Times past, may well enable the observers to Presage how the like shall succeed for the Time to come. But then, the Reading of Holy Histories, of Divine Records, must needs much more be of signal virtue to inspire the Readers with a Prophetic Spirit. And then just reason may St. Paul seem to have for the magnifying of his Timothy, that, from a child he● hath studied the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make him wise unto Salvation. 1 Tim. 3. 15. So that then, if the Jews, by the Fig trees putting forth her Leaves, could Divine of the Summers near Approach, Matth. 24. 32. perhaps, out of these sacred Records, some Prognostics, not improbable, may be collected of the near approach of a Wicked Man's Day. And upon these our parts it shall be to look, as upon Red Crosses, set on the Doors of Infected Houses; seasonable Items that we come not near. And as upon Boighs cast out near the Anchors of Ships, fair Monitors that we dash not upon them. Of many, (being loath too far to exercise your Patience) I shall only name a few. The first (as already you have had an intimation) Security. You hear in the Gospel, how suddenly the Rich Cormorant's pleasing Lullaby, he singeth to his Soul; Soul, th●n hast much Goods laid up for many years, is, by the Almighty himself, intterrupted with a Dolefull Dirge; Thou Fool, this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee, Luke 12. 20. And the Apostle taketh it for an irrefragable conclusion, that, when Men cry Peace, and Safety, then sudden Destruction cometh upon them, like as Travel upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 1 Thes. 5. 3 And if, when God calleth to Weeping and Mourning, to Baldness and Sackcloth, there shall be flaying of Oxen, and killing of Sheep, eating Flesh, and drinking Wine, this Iniquity (is the Lords own express word to his people) shall not be purged, until ye Die, and Perish. Isa. 22. 14. A Man's secure enjoyment of himself, especially in wanton, and Lawless, Practices, is as certain, and immediate, a Forerunner of Destruction, as is the Day 〈◊〉 of the Sun's Appearance. The second, Pride. An Haughty Spirit goeth before a Fall, is a Maxim, the Wise man taketh fo● indisputable: Prov. 16. 18. So that then, where Pride shall o●ce be seen, as a Captain, to March in the Van, little question is there to be made, but that Destruction, as the Lieutenant, will still be sure to Bring up the Rear. And then, if Men shall once begin to say to themselves, as Babylon, Isa. 14. 13. I will ascend up above the Height of the Clouds; and will be like the Most High; and so shall arrogate unto themselves a Power of being Lords Paramounts' of the whole World; and give it Laws (though as those of D●aco) written in Blood; and shall therefore make no Bones of provoking their most Potent Neighbours to take up Arms for their Defence; the next News to be expected is a like Fatal Doom upon the● with that upon Babylon; Thou shalt be brought down to Hell, and to the sides of the pit. The third Hardness of Heart. When neither Mercies, nor Judgements, can reclaim Men from their Enormous courses; but that they shall still resolve to go on, as if they would dare the Almighty to execute vengeance upon them; it is too apparent a symbol that they are given up to a Reprobate sense; and are all this while treasuring up themselves wrath, against the Day of wrath, and the Revelation of God's Righteous judgements, Rom. 2. 5. If all the plagues wherewith God visiteth Pharaoh; and all the Qualifications of Long-sufferance, he sweetly tempereth with them, can at last make no impression upon him, then justly doth t●e same Lord take up a Resolution, that in his Destruction he will get him Honour. Exod. 14, The forth, Faintness of Spirit; which hath commonly Destitution of Counsel for its inseparable Companion. It is one special Presage of Egypt's Destruction at hand, that her Spirit shall fail in the midst of her, and that her Counsel shall be destroyed. Isa. 19 3. When Men shall be surprised with such a Panic Terror; or rather so pursued with Gild of Conscience, that (what Zebul sometimes to Gaal 〈◊〉. 9 36. Thou seest the sh●●●●es of the Mountains as if they were Men) they shall be so affrighted with Shadows, as if they saw an Army of Resolved Men marching in Battle-array against them; and shall so, by way of a strange kind of Antiperistasis, encourage the spoilt to come against the Fortress, as it is Amos 5. 9 but find none the least Cordial of Counsel in the mean time, for the cheering up their Drooping spirits in the Depth of their Distress; it cannot now appear a matter of great difficulty, without any great help of Art, to Divine, that the Ruin of such is closely treading upon their Heels. If an Hideons Noise of Trembling come once to be heard in the Camp of the Philistines, they presently melt away, beating one another. 1 Sam. 14, 15. 16. The fifth, Hy● hypocrisy. Ye Hypocrites (saith our Saviour to the Pharisees, boasting of their Religious Corban Mat 15. 7.) When the the Word of God must give place (I say not to men's received Traditions so much as) to their, not to be paralel●'d, Self ends; nay, when it shall be made a stalking-Horse for the compassing of these Self-ends of theirs: such Clay (yea, perhaps I may, not amiss, ● say Claw) Feet cannot long keep the Head (though it may appear all of pure Gold) long upon the Shoulders. Every Man's work shall be made manifest (saith the Apostle) for there will be a Day, that shall declare it. 1 Cor. 3. 13. The sixth, Oppression▪ When Men shall be practi●-sing to appear such Mighty Nimrods', as to Hunt every man his brother with a Net, then is the Day of their Visitation, and Perplexity at Hand. Mic. 7. Yea, in the same Net, which they have privily ●aid for others, not seldom, is their own Foot ta●ken. Psa. 9 And then, as St. Gregory, Cum sentio poenum, recogito Culpam; When the sense of Punishment may possibly have produced, what the guilt of Fault hath hitherto been far from being able to effect, a startling you out of your secure slumbers, the Confession of, what perhaps by dear-bought Experience you shall then be instructed in; and though, not unlikely,— ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; not without some kind of Reluctance, extorted from you, as from Adonibezek sometime: Jud. 1. 7. as I have done to others, so hath God requited me: you shall find to tend no less to the comfort of your own souls than God● Glory. When I heard these things (saith the Prophet) my Belly trembled, my Lips quivered, yea Rottenness entered into my very Bones, that I might find rest in the day of Trouble. Hab. 3. 16. O well is us, and happy shall we be, if our continual expectance of this Day's Advent shall affect our souls with a careful Anxiety; that thereby, as the Wind's violence by a fair tuft of Trees before an House, the Fury of its Breach being broken, before it break in upon us, at this Days appearance, we may find Rest in our souls. The seventh (not to trouble you with an Enumeration of further Particulars) the Contempt of God's faithful Messengers, and Ministers. When Men will be above Ordinances; and, by a Spirit (neither I, nor they, know what) shall assume unto themselves a Gift of Prophesying, before they are sent; and therefore, for the bringing the Priest's Function into contempt, whose Lips ought so to preserve Knowledge, as that the People are (as at an Oracle) to seek the Law at his Mouth only, for that he is the only true Messenger of the Lord of Hosts, as it is Mal. 2. 7. shall practise the exposing them to the Beggarly Rudiments or Elements (as the Apostle in another case, Gal. 4. 9) of a Necessitous, and calamitous, condition; that thereby they may be enforced, either to Prophesy Deceits; or be tamely content to have their Tongues finally shut up in silence; this Iniquity shall be unto them as a Breach, ready to fall, whose Breaking cometh suddenly in an instant. Esa. 30. 13. And therefore the Author of the Books of Sacred Chronicles telleth us of the People, that they Mocked the Messengers of God, and misused his Prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose, and there was no Remedy. 2 Chron. 36. 16. And if Jerusalem shall but so stone the Prophets, as I say not to make Bread of stones for them (a conclusion yet the Devil would sometimes fain have persuaded our Saviour, in his extremity of Hunger, to have tried, Math. the 4. and the 3.) but (like unnatural Parents rather, Matth. 7. 9) shall give them stones for Bread; yea, lest even of these, they may chance to make an hard shift to make work for their Teeth, shall finally shut up their Mouths; such Barbarous cruelty is immediately followed with a sentence of Remediless Desolation; Behold! your House is left unto you Desolate, Luk. 13. 34. So that then, see I Men, with jonah to sleep securely in their Rebellious courses? when they have too just reason to fear, that the Tempest of Gods too justly incensed Displeasure may speedily swallow them up? See I them to stretch their Plumes beyond the compass of their Nests? and, forgetting the Rock, from whence they are Hewn; and the Pit, out of which they are Digged; to insult over those, God hath placed in an Eminent Sphere above them? See I them turning the Grace of God into wantonness? and to look upon his judgements as no other than Scarecrows? Bug-bears, merely made up for the affrighting of children? See I them Machinating to make Machiavelli speak the Language of Canaan? Yea to make that Heavenly Language a Gentleman-usher to lead in the most Hellish practices? Nay all Religion, upon the Result, to be concluded to be nothing but the Spawn of a Poetic Brain? purposely excogitated to keep Men in awe? and to Broke for Politic ends? See I them eating up the people of God daily, as if they would eat Bread? whilst they scarce leave them crumbs of Bread to eat? but give them up, most mercilessly, to depend upon their Prayers for Daily Bread? To say no more, see I Men practising to leave the Israel of God without a Right-Teaching Prophet? or at best, to propose them to themselves for Trumpets of their own Designs? or else these Trumpets must give, I say not as the Apostle, an uncertain, but no sound at all? So that the People shall be rather in an imminent peril of a Famine of the Word, than the Accomplishment of their whatever self-ends be crossed, or obstructed? Here (as it is 2 Chron. 15. 7.) no longer may a People look for continuance of Peace; but for all manner of vexations round about them. Except you see Signs (you know, is out Saviour's word to the Nobleman of Capernaum) you will not Believe. Joh. 4. 48. But then if Men will not Believe Signs, what can they be concluded for other then mere Infidels? And with these Signs having laboured, as your Remembrancer, to Awake you; & as (as St. jude in the 17. of his Epistle) to save you with Fear; and, to pluck you out of the Fire, before the Flames of God's Anger grow so intense, that there be none to quench them; however some amongst you may look with a Prejudicated Eye upon, and turn the Deaf Ear unto, such Plain dealing Tell-truths; Ora, Dei jussu, non unqu●m credita; and so, by God's just judgement, shall have your Ears heavy, and your Eye; ●hut up; lest seeing with your Eyes, and Hearing with your Ears, you should be converted and Healed, as it is, Esa. 6. 10. just reason, in ●he mean time, I take up a confidence, that (what St. Paul sometimes to his Ephefian Elders, Acts 20.) I am Pure from the Blood of all Men; for that I have not s●unned to declare unto you the whole counself of God. And then (as our Prophet Ps. 55) O! that I have wings like a D●ve! for than would I make haste to escape, because of the stormy Wind, and Tempests! What great reason that our souls look out for Doves wings? Radit iter liquidum; wherewith we be far from Hover over out old sensual lusts? but flying away with all possible speed? that (as the Apostle, 1 Thes. 5. 4.) that Dreadful Day overtake us not as a Thie●? Certainly, high time can we not but conclude it for us to run (as the same Apostle adviseth Heb. 12. 1.) with Patience, and yet with cheerfulness too, the Race that is set before us. At least (as is the word of him, that is the Light of the world, Joh. 12. 35.) to walk, while we have Light, lest darkness come upon us; for that it is but a very little while, that we are to expect this Light with us. Yea for that (as it is Jer. 6. 4.) we cannot but clearly discover, how far the Day, even the Day of Grace, is spent; and how the shadows of the Evening, of the Evening of Ignorance, yea and Vengeance too, are still every Minute, stretching them out more signally over us. And indeed, there are but two Days (as already you have had intimated) or rather a Day and a Night, that dichotomize the whole life of Man; the Day of Grace; and the Day, or rather Night, of Vengeance. And now, shall we so far turn God's Grace into wantonness, as to spend the Day assigned unto this Grace, in worldly Lusts, in sensual Pleasures, in the Pressures of our poor Brethren; whose cries, though they cannot open our Ears, yet will they be sure, sooner or later, to enter into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbath; great reason, that, in Anguish of Spirit, we still conceive, we hear a voice speaking unto us, not unlike that in the Prophet, Ezech. 7. The morning is come upon thee, the Day of trouble is near; at least as that, in that other Prophet, Esay 21. The Morning cometh, and also the Night. Let it then be our care to walk in a true, sincere, and unfeigned Reformation of Life, whilst the Light of this Day of Grace lasteth; whilst the Sun of Righteousness therein, with the Gladsome, though but now Glimmering▪ Beams of his countenance, shineth out upon us. And, then whilst Darkness, overshadowing the Drowsy, and secure; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Diogenes sometime to his Physician, upon his Deathbed; when, after a short sleep, he demanded of him how he did; one sleep, and so Darkness, shall prove unto them nothing else but the Forerunner of another; a Spiritual of an Eternal sleep, and Darkness; the Day of Grace, shall we circumspectly walk in the Light thereof, we shall find to be but the Prologue of another unto us; and that more Bright, and Lightsome, Day, even the Day of Glory; a Day, which shall need neither Sun, nor Moon, for the Enlightening it; but the Glory of God, and the Lamb, shal● be its Light; to the happy contemplation, and Fruition, whereof, in thy good time, O LORD, bring every one of us; and to this purpose grant, that the words, which we have this day heard with our outward Ears, etc.  
FINIS.   

GOD'S PROVIDENCE Asserted:  
In another SERMON; Preached at St. Butt●lphs Aldersgate London, near about the same time, as the former, and by the same Author.  
1 PET. 5. 7. Cast all your Care upon him; for he careth for you.  
AUG. Qui curam tui habuit, antequam esses, quomodo curam tui non habebit, cum sis quod voluit ut esse●?  
Printed for the Author. 1656.   

To the Reader.  
READER,  
SHall I find thee, this in captious Age, but unbiased, or unprejudicate, I shall look upon thee as upon some Rare Philippian, in the midst of a crooked, and Perverse Generation. If Capricious, and Censorious, I meet with no worse Measure than I look for, in these Days, wherein Ignorance, and, its inseparable companion, Impu●dence, are every Day Riding in their Triumphant Chariots of Countenance, and Encouragement; whilst Pure, Orthodox, Knowledge is still Quarrelled, and Censured; and therefore is fain, as a poor Pedee, to stand upon its weak Guard of Vindication. And this is the sole Ground of the Publication of these Ensuing Treati●es; for that some Black Mouths, which have none, the lest, appearance of Candour in them, have, Eo Nomine, Traduced them; for that they have too closely Trodden upon the Heels of Truth. However, the observance of the wind of any Man's Breath, though never so strong, and Poisonous, shall in no wise discourage me from sowing me Righteousness; however an Harvest of Mercy, yea but of Justice, may not yet perhaps be expected by me. Mean while, as I know, that the Sermons, Preached, sufficiently justify God the Father, in his Providence; and God the Son in his Just Proceedings: So am I confident, that Printed, they will vindicate, the Author, in the Eyes of all Sober-Minded Men, against all calumnious Aspersions. So that, he, that by the Malevolo's of the Time, whilst he is overshadowed with the Dark cloud of their Black Censure, may appear a Monstrous Bug bear, shall (not unlikely yet) in these poor Pieces, when they shall come to be exposed to the Light of Public View, not be conceived to be of so Dreadful a shape. Who, what ever he may appear, is far from professing himself  
Thine, longer than thou art Truths; T. B.   
Psal. 147. 9 The latter part of the Verse. And feedeth the young Ravens; that call upon him. 
THis Psalm, by the consent of all Interpreters, is concluded to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hallelujah for its Title. And (will we hear Apollinarius?) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ jointly, and entirely, chanted out by the Prophets Zachary, and Haggee, at the Re-edification of the City, and Instauration of the Temple; at least at their clear prevision, and prediction, of this so Glorious a work, as either. Each Verse is as a fresh Incentive to the iteration of this Hallelujah; and so to the perpetuation of the work of God's praise; every one containing in it a new Argument, for this Duties enforcement. Whereof this pregnant instance of his careful Providence, for those of the Meanest, and least of Dignity in his Family (which just reason we entertain for a strong pledge of the care, he will still be sure to take, for the preservation of his Church, and chosen; yea their reparation out of their Ruins, yea Dust, they may possibly be brought unto) we have here in the Text, is not the least. And feedeth the young Ravens, that call upon him.  
The Text than you cannot but see what a sovereign Cordial it hath in it, for the comforting, and supporting, the hearts of God's People, in any, the greatest, extremity; as having in it a strong Argument, enforcing his Political, from the consideration of his Oeconomical, Care; not unlike that, our Saviour, using this very instance of the Text, a Minori ad Majus, presseth upon his Disciples, Math. 6. 26. If God so feed the Fowls of the Air, are not you much better than these? Wherein, I shall only commend unto your Observations these two Generals; The Master, and his Care. Family, and their Duty.  
The Master we have here pointed out unto us in the Conjunction [And] where the Pronoun [He] is to be resumed. And Herald  
His Care, in the word Feeding; And he Feedeth.  
The Family, whereof those of the lowest Degree only, we here meet with specified, are the young Ravens.  
And the Duty of these Servants, is to Call upon this their Master. A●d Feedeth the young Ravens, that Call upon him.  
To begin at the Right end, with the Master of the Family, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, you know, is St. james his word; Every Good, and Perfect, Gift is from Above, coming down from the Father of Lights. Jam. 1. 17. Quod dat Esse, dat conservare, is the Old Rule. The same Cause, that gave us Being, before we were, provideth likewise for the Maintenance of our Being, now we Are. Philosophy may suggest unto us, that it is the exquisite Temper of the Elements in our Bodies, that prolongeth our Days. Astrology may teach us, that they are the happy Positions, and Aspects, of the Stars, that make us Fortunate in our Designs. But Divinity in the mean time, upon which all other Arts, and Sciences (as the Virgins upon the King's Daughter, Psal. 45. 15.) are, as Handmaids to attend; informeth us, of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; a God, that guideth, and governeth, all these second Causes; and (with Pharaoh's Magicians, Exod. 8. 19) putteth us in Mind of Digitus Dei; the Finger of this Great God, that pointeth out unto us his powerful Presence, and Presidence, in the midst of all Events. I form the Light, and create Darknsfs, is his own word, Esa. 45. 7.) As there is no Evil of punishment (for it is that Evil only, which, without Blaspheming his Honour, ●ee can father upon him) so much less any Good of recompense, or reward, that I may so speak (yea so, after his own Example, speak I may; Fear not Abraham, saith himself, for I am thine exceeding great reward. Gen. 15. 1.) as no Misery, so much less Mercy; but hath its original Being from his Hand. If job, in the Chaldees theft; if David, in Shemei's scurrilous language; could look higher; the one than the plundering Fingers of the one; the other, than the others Foul unhallowed Mouth; nay, if all the Saints of God, not in the Blessings only, whereof they are daily sensible; but in all their Crosses and Calamities, wherewith at times they are Afflicted; not regarding so much subordinat Instruments, have still, principally at least, had recourse unto this Hand; how well shall it become us, nay how necessary shall it appear for us, in the Blessings, and Benefits, that are every Morning, renewed upon us, whether it be in the Clouds dropping Fat● e●s; in the Earth's bringing forth her Increase; in the raising u● up Friends for the sustaining us with daily bread; to look up unto the Hills from whence cometh our Help? And, for wh●●ever Benefits, or Blessings, we may stand in need, or be 〈◊〉, of, to send up, both our Prayers, and praises, unto him, from whom they originally descend; as doth our Prophet here: He Feedeth the young Ravens.  
— Labour improbus omnia vincit; that nothing is too hard for hard Labour to master, as it was the position of an Heathen, so was it a mere Heathen position. Much more of Divine Truth is there in that of that other Poet, Heu nihil invitis, fas quenquam fidere Divis; without a Fiat from Heaven, no hope is there of the happy Accomplishment of any Design upon Earth. And to this true pricked Note, strange may it not seem to hear our sweet-singer tuning his Melodious voice in Consort, Psal. 127▪ 1. Except the Lord build the House, it is but lost labour of them, that build it. It is not thy rising early that can make thee Rich; not the barring of thy Gates, that can make thee safe: not a League with all the Elements in the world, with the Stones of the street, with the Beasts of the Field, yea with Death, and Hell itself, that can secure thee; unless it shall please the Lord to take thee into his Protection; and to safeguard thee under the shadow of his Wings. So that then, be'st thou Poor, let thine eyes prevent the Morning-watch; let all things be hushed up in the deep silence of the Night, before thou betakest thee to repose: and let the Labour of thine Hands, during all this time, be altogether restless, for the sustenence of thee, and thy Family: yet shall it not please the Lord to prosper thine endeavours with a Blessing, Wages mayst thou earn; but put them in a broken Bag, as it is, Hag. 1. 6. yea, thou shalt be followed with a curse worse than that of thy first Father, Adam. Gen. 3. 19 So that ●n the extremest sweat of thy Brow, thou shalt not be able to eat thy Bread. If thou be'st Rich, manage thine Estate to the best advantage; use all means possible for the enhancing of thy Fortune's; though ●y even raking Hell for projects, and plots, to this purpose; and then this no marvel if it shall be oftentimes with the B●ne o● thy Brother; the spoil of the Church, thy Spiritual; and the Ruins of thy Natural; Mother, thy Country: and now Fee all the Oracles of the Law, for the fast Rivering, and Settling of whatever, by Hook, or Crook, thou hast gotten together, yea, ●ake Physic, when thou art sick, clothes, when thou art cold; Bread, when thou art Hungry: ye● shall all thy counsel, like that of Achitophel, 2 Sa. 15. 31. be ●urned into Foolishness; thy Physic prove li●e that of As●hs, 2. Chron. 16. 12. not able to preserve thee from a lingering Death: thy clothes like david's in his old age, 1 King. 1. 1. not able to keep thee warm: thy Bread like that Bread of Deceit, in the Wise man. Pro. 20. 17. which shall fill thy mouth with nothing but Gravel; unless it shall please the Lord to quicken these, otherwise dead, Means with a virtuous efficacy. Yea, he that is Agens Liberrimum, of all Agents the Freest, and so may indulge, or deny, Life, when▪ and where he pleaseth, unto Means: no reason that we distrust, but that without means, above means, against means, he is able to provide for us. without means, He giveth light the three first Days, without the Sun, Gen. 1. 2. And causeth Herbs, and Plants, to Grow, without Rain, Gen. 2. 16. notwithstanding that either of these are the ordinary means of either's production. Above means; He maketh a little Meal, and Oil, to sustain the Widow and the Prophet, for a long time, 1 King. 17. And the Brighthess of his Father's Glory Feedeth no less than Five thousand Persons, with no more than five Loaves, and two Fishes, Matt●. 14. Against means; The Israelites, when they are stung with Fiery Serpents (notwithstanding that the sight of Brass is naturally present death unto such, as some of the learned Rabbius have observed) are yet healed by the bare sight of the Brazen Serpents, Num. 21. And spital, and Clay, things, in themselves likely to put out the Eyes of him that seeth, are yet by our Saviour, used, as a means, for the Cure of the Man▪ that is born blind, joh. 9 So that then, just reason may this same Saviour of ours seem to have for ●is Answer to the Devil, when, 〈◊〉 the satisfaction of his Hu●●er, in his extreme necessity, he would have perswade● him to make Bread of stones, Match 4. Man liveth not by Bread only, but by every Word, that proc●●●eth out of the mouth of God. Yea, and no less our Prophet here, for the entituling of the Lord to the preservation of the young Ravens, when their Parents, which should, by the Law of Nature, afford them sustenance, desert them. And Feedeth the young Ravens.  
In the mean time, as the Philosopher, by his immoderate dissuasion of the fear of death, occasioned some preposterously, and prematurely, to cast away their lives: and, as some unskilful Physicians, whilst they labour to comfort the stomach, not seldom inflame the Liver: I would not willingly have any so far misconstrue me, as to conceive that, whilst I mind you of a necessity of God's Blessing upon your endeavours, I would work in you a careless neglect of the means; as if his providence were a sufficient warrant to make you improvident: or his working in your Actions a protection for your Oscitancy, and Idleness. What Metellus sometimes spoke of his many False Gods, of our only True God is most sure, and certain: ay isdem Deos Propitios esse aequum est, qui sibi non snnt Inimici: He will be a Friend to those only, that are not Enemies to themselves. That general resolution of the Spartans' therefore just reason that every one of us, in our several Stations, take up; Admotam manu Fortunam invocare: first to pray to God for a Blessing upon our Designs, and then to use the Means, which God hath appointed to that purpose. And as the Israelites, do the Work with one Hand, and hold the Sword with the other, whilst they are Repairing the Temple, Neh. 4. 18. with one of our Hands still are we to be conversant about the works of our Calling; whilst with the other, we are lifting up the Sword of Prayer, for a Blessing upon these works of ours. Naaman is assured, by the Prophet, that he shall be cured of his Leprosy; yet must he go, and wash in Jordan seven times 2. Kin. 5. Hez●kiah that he shall recover of his sickness; yet must he apply a Bunch of Figs to his s●re, ●●a. 38. Paul, that he shall come 〈◊〉 to Rome; but then may not any one of them, that are embarked, in a fancied hope of safety, forsake the Ship, Act. 27. The sum is, as we are not to lie sullen in a Ditch, looking to be drawn out by others: not so carelessly, and recklessly, to cast our Care upon God, as to neglect the Means, which he hath appointed: so are we neither to be such Idolaters of second-Causes, as to kiss our own Hands; to sacrifice to our own Nets; no● to make our own Counsels, or Endeavours, the sole Ground of our Confidence; which, without a Blessing from the Highest, cannot in the least measure avail us. But, as they say o● Quail●, that, whilst one of their Wings may perhaps be a little drenched in the Sea, the other still beareth up towards Heaven: whilst one of our Hands is solicitously intent upon the works of our Vocation, still is the other to be l●●ted up to Heaven for a Benediction; that we have such respect unto second Causes, that st●ll we remember, that the due ordering, and disposing, them cometh from the First, that is here emidently said to Feed the young Ravens, that call upon him.  
To seal up this point in a word, look how some exquisite picture of a Dear Friend, which he hath left with us, still, upon sight thereof, reneweth in us the Memory of him that left it: in like manner ought every Blessing, we expect, or enjoy (jupiter est quodcunque vides— as in every of these clearly may we discern the Lineaments of such a picture) still mind us (as the Romish Church pretendeth to use her pictures) of praising that God, and praying unto him, whose pictures they are. ' Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; let God still have the first place in our Thoughts; yea, let him still, by us, be acknowledged, what he proclaimeth himself to be, Apoc. 1. 8. A and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sea, from which the Source of all Blessings is originally derived upon us; and unto whom therefore the Rivulets of our praise are Finally to return.  
Laboret Superbus, saith M. Aurelius, in an Epistle of his to the King of Sicily; Let the Proud, and Envious, travail as much as they will; and the Ambitious sore as high as he can; yet of little avail will all Humane Diligence at last appear, without Divine Assistance. So that then, find we our Garners stored with plenty? Our Bags stuffed with Coin? Our Tables served with all manner of varieties? And all things succeeding according to our heart's desires? Shall we now say as N●buchadnezzar, Dan. 4. 30. Are not these the great Babel's, which I have built with the strength of mine own Arm? No, rather as good old jacob, Gen. 32. 10. (a consideration the new upstarts of our times you may observe studiously to banish their Memories) in Humility of Spirit, acknowledge we, I am not worthy the least of thy Mercies; with my stuff, the staff of a Despicable Fortune, came I over this Jordan; from this or that mean Beginning; and now I am become two Bands; I am arrived to this higth of condition. Disclaim we whatever Power, or Efficacy, Flesh and Blood may assume to itself; and ascribe we unto God the Glory of what ever Blessings we enjoy; Non nobis, Domine, non nobis; Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name, give the Praise. The same (He) is the God, from whom cometh salvation, Psal. 68 20. The same (He) that buildeth his stories in the Heavens; that hath founded his Troops in the Earth, and calleth for the waters of the Sea, and poureth them out upon the Face of the Earth, Amos 9 6. that here Feedeth the young Ravens, that call upon him  
Which fi●ly bringeth me from the contemplation of the Person of the great Master (He) unto the Care of his Family; which we have in the word Feeding. He feedeth.  
That, which Philosophy determineth to be the Place of Virtue, that Divinity would would have to be the Centre forou● Desires to rest in; the Middle, and Mean betwixt two Extremes. Tutius v●ves— is the Lyriques' sage Note, and Caution, to his Licinius: 
Best live we, when we launch not into th' Deep;  
Nor to the Shore too closely d● we keep.  Neque Nimis, neque nihil; He, that is, neither lift up with Abundance, nor pressed down with Want, without all question, liveth in the best Estate. Abundance is the Mother of Presumption; Want of Despair. Abundance of Envy, want of Contempt. Abundance of prodigal Licentiousness, want of excessive Carfulness. Abundance of Apostasy from God, want of taking God's Name in vain; as the Prophet Agur elegantly, Prov. 30. 9 Look we but into the exterior Cloister of Nature, for Natural subsistences; and there shall we find Plants, if too Little, or too Much, watered, to Die; if Indifferently, to Thrive, and Pr●sper. Listen we to the great Ethique Master for Morals, and he will tell us: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; that Excess is incident to Transgression; Defect to Prevarication; Mediocrity the only Conduit-pipe of true Comfort and Contentation. To silence many things, to this purpose, might be heaped up, send we but our Eyes, and Ears, to the Experience, whether of ourselves, or others; and how true shall we prove of all, for the general, what Germanicus, in Tacitus, sometimes spoke of the Chatti: Pavidi adversis, inter secundas, non Divini, n●n Humani, juris Memores? That in Adversity they are Fearful; in Prosperity unmindeful of the Laws, both of God, and Man? Nay, let me but appeal to the consciences of you, that have too Little (as you are too prone uncessantly to complain) whether the immoderate Care of compassing of the things of this Life, drive you not sometimes to take, at least to think of, sinister, and indirect projects, and practices: of you, that have more then enough yourselves (a proportion yet, few will be drawn to acknowledge; scarce one of a thousand can speak this language of Canaan) whether the care of Disposing of what you have gotten, Distract you not as much as the other care of Getting; whether an Extremity, of either side, withdraw you not equally from the ser● vice of God. And yet, how true appeareth it of more than a good many of us, that which the Satirist sometimes spoke of the Romans: Prima fere vota— 
The Prayers, that, most frequently resound  
Within our Temples, are that wealth abound?  We enlarge our Desires, like Hell; like the Grave, we are never satisfied: nothing within the Orbicular compass of the World, can fill up the Dimensions of our Triangular hearts. Some are covetous Spendthrifts; some are covetous Hold fasts. Some desire Abundance of this World's Goods, merely to Hoord it up; dealing with their Mammon, as the two Giants sometime with Mars; first, they lock it fast, and then they worship it. Others hearts earn after, Superfluity, either to Riot it in Excess, and Surquedry; to Rusfle it in Bravery; to Lavish it out profusely upon their Minions, and Servants; the most Politic, for the purchase of what ever Accursed things. And so as David used Murder for a Pander to his Adultery: these make their Covetise a Broker for their Prodigality, yea all manner of Villainy. 
— O Prodiga rer 'em  
Luxuries, nunquam Parvo contenta—  
O that of our Days Prodigal Luxury!  
Which Natures Little cannot satisfy!  Quomodo concedet, quae Rogas, quae, si habeas, jubet ut contemnas? is a seasonable Contemplation of St. chrysostom, by the way: How thinkest tho● (saith he) that God shall hear thee, when thou prayest for Superfluity, which, when thou shalt have it in thy possession, he wisheth thee to contemn? How shall it stand with his Honour to gratify thee with those things, in the use whereof he knoweth that thou wilt Dishonour him? The Egyptians, that, like Tongue-less men (the sad Fate of many a true Israelite, yea voice of the Lord, in these Days of ours) delivered all by signs, which they termed Hieroglyphiques, were wont to clap a Bushel upon the head of the Sun, to intimate the measure, that even in the best things is to be observed. Our Saviour, in that his Absolute Form of Prayer, dictated to his Disciples, prescribeth the utmost Bounds, our Desires are in no wise to exceed; Give us this Day our daily bread, Luk. 11. 3. Certainly, that of the Apostle, 1 Tim. 6. 8. just reason we entertain for a Liberal gloss upon that our Saviour's Text; Having Food, and Raiment, let us therewith be content. Certainly, a soul seasoned with the least moderation, cannot but highly approve of that Dimensum, cut out by the Poet, as a very fair one: 
Si Ventri bene, si Latere, Pedibus que tuis, nil  
Divitiae poterunt Regales addere majus:  
If Belly, Sides, and Feet, be well at ●ase,  
A Prince's Treasure cannot better please.  Apuleius his advice, to this purpose, is no less Elegant, then Apposite; Fortunam velut Tunicam proba▪ magis Concinnam, quam Longam; Conceive of thy Fortune as of thy Coat; which is then best made up, when it is rather Decent, for the fitting of thy Body, then overlong, for the fettering of thine Heels. And that wel-tempered Affection of that other Heathen, in this case, may well serve to prescribe to the best Christians imitation; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Enamoured I am not of spacious Fie●ds,  
Nothing too much to me much comfort yields.   
The whole scope of that our Saviour's Parable of the Rich Cormorant in the Gospel, whose preproperous jewelling of the Fruits of his field, and so reckoning without his Host, as we say, is met with by a sharp counterblast from the Almighty, is but Emblematically to demonstrate (as you may see) that Man's Lise consisteth not in the Abundance of those things, he possesseth, Luke 12. 15. Alas, my Beloved! shall we measure our Happiness merely by those things, that are before us, how much wiser shall we approve our selus then country people, at a Puppet-play; which stand gazing, with Admiration, upon the strange Motion of the Puppets; but never think of the man, that moveth them from within the Engine? And so (as our Prophet of the Proud, Psal▪ 10. 4.) God, upon the Result, is not, all this while, in our Thoughts? who yet only is that Spirit, that giveth Energy, and Efficacy, unto whatever Blessings we enjoy? That word of the Philosopher, in this sense, therefore may justly challenge our best Attention, and consideration; Ingredimini; sunt hic quoque Dii; in every of the Blessings, we are daily sensible of, our parts it shall be still to contemplate his Power, and Goodness; for that in every of these it is easy to discern the God. head. Christ, by the Apostle, is termed the Fullness of him that filleth All in All, Ephes. 1. 23. So that then he that filleth All in All▪ and of whose Fullness Christ himself receiveth, is only God. He it is, that can, as make Daniel look Fuller, and Fairer, with Pulse, and Water, than all the Children, that eat of the King's Meat, and Drink of his Wine, Dan. 1. 15. so send an Atrophy with the choicest Viands: as he sometimes dealt with the Israelites, Psal. 106. 15. He gave them their Desires (saith our Prophet) but sent leanness withal into their souls. For mine own part (as I have just reason) I shall for ever publish, and proclaim, unto the world, that I never saw God's Providence so clearly, as since the time I have seen least of my visible, & Legal, Means. At least, that he h●th raised me up such Means, as I had never the least reason to hope for. Yea, since my Afflictions hath wrought in me some weak Desires (let me be interpreted, as God knoweth, I speak, without ostentation) to please him, I have found some, that formerly have been mine enraged Enemies, not to be at Peace only with me; but to have abounded in pregnant symbols of fast Friendship towards me. And then, as we find the case to stand with joseph; the bright Appearance of God's Providence in his Eye so darkeneth the sight of his brethren's Malicious practices, as doth the Sun that of the Lesser Stars, that now, in conclusion, he telleth them; It is not you, that sent me hither, but God, Gen. 45. 8. God's Hand, in the working of second Causes (as ezechiel's Hand from under the wings of the Cherubims, Ezech. 1. 8.) ought still so conspicuously, upon all Emergencies, to appear unto us, as that they then still appear least in sight. So that then, as Samuel, having received a Commission from the Lord, for the Anointing one of Iesse's ●ons King over his People, and, for a time, not a little, perplexed about the choice of the Person, hath David at last pointed out unto him, 1 Sam. 16. 12. in the perusal of the Range, and Series, of all second Causes, our parts it shall be still signally to print, and pitch, upon this [He] as the Great, wheel that setteth those Lesser a work; and here, by way of Eminence, is said to Feed the young Ravens.  
Which fitly bringeth me from the Contemplation of the Person of the Master, and his Care; unto that of those of the Meanest quality in the Family, the young Ravens. And ●eedeth the yo●ng Ravens.  
It is our Prophet's word of the Great Master of this his Numerous Family of the world. Psal. 104. 28. He openeth his hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness. So Hospital, and Magnificent, is he, that he shutteth not up his Gates against Rich, or Poor; but keepeth open House to all comers. And this if he appear careful, that the very Dogs be not barred their crumbs, as the Canaanitish woman sometimes, in that her Pathetical Debate with our Saviour, Matth. 15. 27. will he not much more (think we) carefully provide, that the children be accommodated with the portions of Olive branches? And, (as this Master himself to his Disciples, instancing in these very Ravens, in the Text here specified, Luk. 12. 24.) if he Feed them, what just reason we account ourselves of an higher Estimate with him than they? St. Chrysost●m hath observed of the Raven, that, of all Creatures, she is Notoriously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; void of Natural Affection; as leaving her young ones, as soon as they are Hatched; neglecting in the least measure to provide for their sustenance. And then, well might the same Father magnify God's Mercy, and Loving kindness, towards Elijah, as Miraculous, 1 King. 17. 6. that he should Feed him by Ravens; Creatures, Naturally so unnatural, that they neglect to Feed their own young. And that therefore this Great Master, for the supply of their negligence of Parental Care, Feedeth them; either with certain little Flies, as the above-praised chrysostom, or as Cassiodore, with the Dew of Heaven. St. Gregory layeth down the time, and withal giveth the Reason, of this the Ravens unnatural Deportment towards their young: for that (saith he) as long as they are but covered with their skin, or but spoon feathered, they are yet of a divers colour from themselves; and so, having hitherto no Appearance but of a Bastard Brood, he would have them to be the less Faulty, shall they all this while prove Remiss in providing for them. And this is that, which he would have, not obscurely, intimated by the picture of Patience, 38. of his Book 41. Who provideth for the Raven his Food, when their young ones cry unto God? they wander, for lack of Meat. A lively Emblem of the Black Prince of Darkness, and his Proselytes, that will not countenance, or encourage, any, as long as they have about them the white of Innocence; until they see upon them a Deep Tincture of their own Native Blackness. Nay, shall any appear but of grisled Hue, but Neutrally affected towards the Good Cause; and come not out to help the Lord against the Mighty; as, for a long time they have had; so have they still, a Curse ye Me●oz in store, to be Thundered out against them. If the Daughter shall not appear, in every Lineament to resemble the Mother, as it is Ezek. 16. 44. she shall utterly be disclaimed by her for her Daughter. But, when there shall be like People, like Priest, as it is Host 4. 9 when both shall consort in a cursed Harmony to bring in Anarchy, and Confusion, into a Church, and State; this Damnable Sympathy shall so unite their Hearts, that the Lame shall so far Direct the Blind, and the Blind support the Lame, till at last it may be Feared, or Hoped for rather, that both may fall into the Pit of Destruction. Nor may it escape us without special observation, that they are young only, and not the old overgrown, Ravens, that God is here said thus Emphatically to Feed. Those old Birds of Rapine, that are perfect in the Trade of Preying for themselves; that make no Distinction of the Flesh of Men, of Worms, of Flies, of Fruits, of Seeds (as the naturalists observe of these Birds) but pel-mell fly at all, whatever Goods, or Possessions, though even of the Church, the Poor, yea their own Nearest Relations; to Gorge, and Glut, their Insatiate appetite withal; they are not of this Masters Feeding; as being no part of his Family. But when my Father, and Mother, Forsake me (saith our Prophet) the Lord Taketh me up, Psal. 27. 10. Those, that are left Destitute of all Humane Support; and that even by those, that, by all obligations, both of God, and Nature, are to afford them their best Helping-hands; especially, shall they, in this their sad condition, still appear with their white Livery of Inno●cence about them; those onel● owneth he for his Care, an● Charge. Nor is it otherwise with this Great Master, for hi● Occononomy, and Dispensati● on, for Spirituals, than Tem●porals. Those, that will be s● far their own Carvers, as t● Heap up unto themselves Tea●chers, as it is 2 Tim. 4. 3. they are as little of this Great Masters Teaching, as are the other of his Feeding. But Receive● with Meekness (saith St. james the engrafted Word, which is a●ble to save your Souls, Jam. 1. 2● It is the word, not that growleth up of the wild stock o● an Irregular, Brainsick, uncommissioned, Fancy; but what is Graffed by the true, and skilful, Husbandman, lawfully called by the Master into the Orchard of his Church; whereby this Great Master cherisheth, and nurseth up, a soul unto salvation. I lift not ●ere to fly out into Tropological Excursions; as that Christ should be this Raven; not only for that he is Black; and this, not in regard only of the similitude of his sinful flesh; but of the Rage of Persecution, which, for the whole time of his mortal pilgrimage here upon Earth, might justly seem to Dis-colour him (for which cause his Spouse, the Church, is said to be Black too, Cant. ● 5.) but for that his voice ● that of the Raven likewise ● Cras, Tomorrow; for th● hereafter his servants are t● expect their Reward. You sha● be comforted; you shall obstain mercy; you shall be cal●led the children of God; is h●● Promise to his Disciples, hi● Sermon upon the Mount throughout. And therefore that word of his Father Iaco● to Laban, Gen. 30. 33. ma● well seem to become him, tha● is Born of his Seed; My righteousness shall answer for me stime to come: or (as it is in th● Margin) tomorrow. But forbear further to inquire in● ●o this the Master's care, in this way of his Provision for this part of his Family. That they ●ee in some good measure Taught, as well as Fed, I shall only, in one word, leave them a short Lesson of their Duty towards this Master of theirs, which is their Calling upon him, and so take leave, both of them, and you. And Feedeth the young Ravens that call upon him.  
They are gracious Articles of a Covenant, that the Lord is pleased to enter with his People. Psal. 81. 11. Open thy Mouth wide, and I shall fill it. We justly account it an easy way of compassing a Blessing, when we may have it for Ask●ing. Our way of being spe●● of any Favour at the Almigh●ties hands is no more Difficult. It is bu● Ask, and Have; but opening our Mouth, and we shall be sure to have it filled▪ If the Widow had not wanted Vessels, whose mouths she might have opened, and so filled, she had never wanted Oil, 2 King. 4. 7. If joash, with his Arrows, had smitten upon the ground six, or seven, times, whereas he smote but thrice, he had smitten Syria until he had utterly consumed it, 2 Kin. 13. 19 If we find ourselves, at any time, destitute of any Blessing, we would fain be provided of, none shall we have reason to blame but ourselves, that are remiss in the Duty of opening our Mouths in Prayer. No reason that we charge the Almighty, that is still ready to do exceeding abundantly above all, that we can Ask, or Think, Ephes. 3. 20. And yet would I not willingly be so far misinterpreted, as that hereby you should be induced to conceive, that I intent so far to elevate Prayer beyond the proper Sphere of its Activity, as to conclude that ●here is no Mercy to be had at God's hands without its previous Mediation. And it shall come to pass (is his own word to his People) that before they call, I will answer; and, whilst they are yet speaking, I will hear, Isa. 65. 24. And our Saviour's wo●d of his Father is, that he knoweth what things, we have need of, before we Ask, Matth. 6. 8. Only, as a great Prince will not abate of the least punctilio of Homage from the meanest of his Subjects: Beneficium propter Officium; this Great King of Heaven ordinarily granteth not any Boon to any of his Subjects, unless he hath first the Homage of Prayer duly paid him. We see here the condition, is expected the young Ravens should perform; and that is calling upon him; or else, in their greatest Extremity, they may miss of their feeding by him. And Feedeth the young Rivens, that call upon him.  
Now God is called upon, not in the Litteral accent of Prayer only; but in a Metaphorical likewise; and that both of Tears, and Distress. Of Tears first. Interdum Lachrymae pondera vocis habent: Tears are not always Mutes, with the Almighty; but Vowels rather still, as well as Liquids'. For this cause the Mourning Prophet calleth our unto the people; Ne taceat pupilla oculitui: Let not the apple of thine Eye cease, Lam. 2. 18. Upon which words Bellarmine (more temperate in his Contemplations then Controversies) Claims assidue ad Deum; non Lingua, sed Oculis; non Verbis, sed Lachrymis; ista enim est oratio, quae Deum placare solet: Cry aloud (saith he) not with thy Tongue, but with thine Eyes; not with thy words, but with thy tears; for that is the prayer, that maketh the most forcible entry into the Ears of the Great God of Heaven. Certainly, as Olympias sometimes of Antipater, when he had written her a long Letter, fraught with most unjust Aspersions upon her son, Alexander; Ignorare videtur Antipater, quod una Matris L●chrymula centum delebit Epistolas: Antipater (saith she) seemeth to be ignorant, that the least tear of a Mother is able wash out the stains of the foulest calumnies against a Son: let the Devil, in the most malicious manner, present our Heavenly Father with the most Black, and Liberal, Catalogue of our sins; one Tear yet of a truly penitent Soul shall be of virtue to Bl●t out all, when the times of Refreshing shall come from his gracious presence.  
Nor yet is God less effectually called upon in the Metaphorical accent of Distress then of Tears. Out of the Deeps have I called unto thee O Lord, saith our Prophet, Psal. 130. 1. Nay, One Deep calleth upon another, because of the Noise of the Water pipes; all thy waves, and storms, are gone over me, Psal. 42. 9 That portion then, that Achsah, Calebs' Daughter, desireth of her Father, Upper, and Nether Springs, Jo●. 15. 19 may well seem to be the portion, that every child of God, whilst he liveth here upon earth, is to expect from his Heavenly Father. This appeareth signally to be our Prophet's portion here. And therefore justly fihde we him complaining of the water pipes, issuing out of the upper-springs of Affliction, as Rain from the Clouds, poured down, in full Cataracts, upon him; and waves, and storms, as upon a Ship at Sea, from Below beating upon him, and threatening his immediate swallowing up. And then no marvel, if such a confused Noise as this, from Deeps, both Above, and Below, call up another Deep, even the Deep of God's Mercy (as the Disciples sometimes their Master, in the Tempest, Matth. 8.) for the quieting, and becalming, of all these, whatever, Boisterous storms of Tribulation, and Persecution Be ye Followers of God, as Dear children, you know, is the Apostles precept. Eph. 5. 1. If the waters of Distressed Suppliants tears, wherewith you may every where see their Furrowed cheeks, upon the tender sense of this their Distress, Blubbered, shall no more soften your Hearts, than the Mountains of Gilboa, 2 Sam. 1. 21. leaving them, as they found them Dry, and Barren; so that the sight of their calamitous condition shall not, in some measure, stir up in you tender Bowels of compassion; how dwelleth the love of God, nay, what the least Resemblance of him appeareth there yet in you? But let the cries of tears, wrung from them by their Distress, enter into your ears; and enlarge your hearts, and hands, in a Magnificent Distribution to their Necessities. And then, when the great Judge of Heaven, and Earth, you shall, at the last Day, hear, publicly acknowledging himself for your Almsman; in as much you have done any Act of Mercy unto the least of these my Brothers, you have done it unto me: you shall hear him withal joyfully welcomming you to the Fruition of his heavenly Kingdom; Come ye Blessed Children of my Father; receive the Kingdom, prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Grant this, we beseech thee, O Merciful, Father, through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Redeemer; to whom, with thee, O Father, and the Blessed Spirit, be all Honour, Glory, Praise, Power, Might, Majesty, and Dominion; now, and for evermore. Amen.  
FINIS.   

CHRIST'S Coming to JUDGEMENT Deciphered.  
In a Third SERMON; Preached at Lincolnes-Inn, by the same Author.  
1 IHES 4. 17. Then we, which are Alive, shall be caught up together in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  
AMBROS. Nun tibi videntur Aquilae circa Corpus, quardo veniet in illa Die, cum Intelligibilibus Nu bibus Filius Hominis?  
Prin●ed for the Author. 1656.   
Matth. 24. 28. Wheresoever the Carcase is, there will the Eagles be gathered together. 
THat, in the Latter Days (whereof I shall not need to mind you, Deterior Posterior; that the latter the worse still) false Prophets shall Arise, that in their Desert, and Chamber, Conventicles, shall be Actors of such Mountebank Miracles, as thereby, if it were possible, to deceive the very Elect, as we have our Saviour himself expressly averring, V. 24. of this Chap. So have we him withal Verse 26. sagely cautioning, not to give over hasty credit unto them. If they shall say unto you (saith he) He is in the Desert, go not forth; if in the Chambers, believe them not. Simon Magus (it seemeth) was the Captain General of this Accursed Militia; the Ringleader of this Ranting Crew. Who making himself some Great one, as it is, Act. 8. 9 even so Great, that (will we hear St. Augustine) he gave out, that it was he, that, in the Person of the Father, gave the Law to the Israelites, upon Mount Sinai; he, that, in the Reign of Tib●rius Caesar, suffered, in the Person of the Son; he, that, at the Feast of Pentecost, in the person of the Holy Ghost, descended upon the Apostles in the shape of Fiery cloven Tongues. Whereby he had so bewitched Nero himself, & the people of Rome, that they erected a Statue in Honour of him. Who yet at last, by a Fall, whilst he attempteth a flight, hath his Credit, with his Leg, cracked. And so as (Maximus) Qui Pennas Assumpsit, Plantus Amittit; whilst he will needs be taking unto him the advantage of Artificial Wings, he loseth the use of his Natural Feet. Our Saviour, for the invalidating of the Authority, and Energy, any such Impostors may have upon the Faith of any of his, which may otherwise expect the solemnity of Signs to usher in his coming to judgement, telleth them, as in the verse before the Text, that his coming shall be as Lightning; Sicut Fulgur, non eget Praecone, aut Nuntio; sed statim omnibus apparet, saith St. chrysostom; for that, as Lightning needeth no Harbinger, or Messenger, but breaketh out in no less glorious, then sudden, Appearance, unto every Eye: so shall he, at his coming, irradiate every Eye with the Sudden, and Glorious, Appearance of his Divine, yea and Humane, Presence, too: so in, the words now read, that it shall appear most eminently conspicuous, by the thronged confluence of all the Saints unto him, as of Eagles to a Carcase. For, wheresoever the carcase is, there will the Eagles be gathered together.  
The Text than you cannot but see what just reason I might have to say that it is a Summary Description of the Magnetical Virtue, shall appear in our Saviour's Person, at his coming to judgement; wherein I might commend unto your considerations these two Principal observables; The Efficacy of the Loadstone. Compliancy of the Iron. But, for that (as the Preacher, Eccles. 10. 19 a Feast is made for Laughter) and that, in the Day of Christ's coming to judgement, God's servants, as on a Feast-day, shall laugh for joy of Heart, as it is Isa. 65. 14. We shall not do amiss to take a distinct view of— The Table Guests.  
The Table furnished with nothing, but a Carcase.  
The Guests Eagles: which we shall do well to contemplate First in their general Notion of Eagles.  
Secondly, in a more special consideration of their sweet inclination to Agreement; They are gathered together.  
These the Parts; of these plainly, briefly, and orderly. And of the Substratum, the Table, first are we to take a view; which, we see yet, is set out with nothing but a Carcase, Where the Carcase is.  
We usually proportion the Entertainment of our Tables to the Quality of the Guests, we are to entertain. And then can it not but seem extremely incongruous to entertain the palates of Nobles, yea Princes (whereof these Eagles here, as hereafter will more at large appear, may well be looked upon as proper Emblems) with no better Fare than a Carcase. Some Interpreters I meet with, that, for the Declination of this seeming Gross Soloecism, rea●e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Body. Where the Body is, there will the Eagles be gathered together. But, be it read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as here, a Dissolution; of the Primitive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; which the Latins render Cadaver; and our Translation a Carcase; of Cado, to Fall: yet, as I have often seen excellent Venison cased up in course Paste; saepe sub sordido Pallio; and a great Depth of Wisdom under a Russet Cloak: this Carcase yet affordeth such choice Viands, as the choicest palates shall have no reason to disdain; as having no worse food in it then Christ himself; whose Flesh is Meat indeed, and his Blood Drink indeed, Joh. 6. 55. And then far juster reason shall I have to say of this Carcase, than Samson sometimes of the Carcase of his Lion, judg. 14. 8. that it hath Honey in it; yea that which is sweeter than Honey; or the Honicomb. And indeed, either of these Readins, of Body, or Carcase, will suit well enough with the Drift of the Holy Ghost in the Text; for that by the word (Carcase) may justly seem to be pointed out unto us our Saviour's Passion; wherein his Body was reduced to a Carcase, for our Transgressions: and by the word (Body) his Resurrection; by the which he consummated our Redemption. Who was Delivered for our Offences (saith the Apostle) and Raised again for our Justification. Rom. 4. 25. And in the selfsame Place (saith St. Hilary) where this Body was offered up in Sacrifice, and so became a Carcase; shall the same Carcase become a Glorified Body; wherein he shall appear to judge both Quick, and Dead; even in the Valley of Ichoshaphat near Jerusalem: as out of joel 3. 2. is clearly to be collected. And the pregnant reason hereof we shall not need to go far to seek. Congruum esi (saith that Father) ut Christus ibi juste judicet omnes, ubi pro omnibus ipse injuste judicatus est; ibique conspiciatur ejus Majestas, ubi antea visa est ejus Abj●stio, & Humilitas. It cannot but seem to suit with the Rules of all Reason, and Justice, that Christ in that place should judge the World in Righteousness, where himself heretofore was unrighteously condemned; and that there his Majesty be eminently conspicuous, where his usage had been so Reproachful, and Opprobrious. Aristotle l. 9 de Historia Animalium, amongst divers other sorts, reckoneth up, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; the under, or Vulture, Eagle; and of this sort of Eagle, as Ulysses Aldrovandus interpreteth that of job, in the 39 of his Book: She seeketh the Prey; and, her Eyes behold afar off; her young ones suck up Blood; and where the slain are, there is she: so of this specially, more than probable is it that, our Saviour intendeth this Aphorism in the Text.  
And then, taking for granted (what hereafter shall more clearly appear) that by this sort of Eagles the Saints are intended, how far shall the greatest part of us appear from being Saints (a Title yet, we are all more prone, as is most evident, to arrogate to ourselves, then to give it to the best in Heaven) when, though we have more then enough in us of the more Generous Eagles, whose Guise is (saith the same Naturalist) not to be pleased with any other Prey, but such as themselves have Taken Alive, and Killed; but of these under, or vulture, that content them with a slaughtered Carcase, nothing? The living Dog of a New Flourishing, Conventicle, or Commonwealth, we like much better than the Dead Lion of a Decayed Church, or what ever Decried Government. We account it far beneath us to stoop to a slaughtered carcase; but like well, as Eagles, to mount up with wings, as the Prophet hath it, Isa. 40. 31. there to make some Glorious Body our purchase. Oderunt Pan●os tuos jesu, saith St. Bernard: Christ's Robes of Majesty, wherein (as upon Mount Tabor) he may appea●, we are well pleased with; but can in no wise away with his Rags of Poverty, wherein (as upon Mount Calvary) he may discover himself unto us. Every step of a Christians progress to Glory may you, as in a Map, see Graphically delineated before you, Psal. 110. whose Rise however it be all of a Triumphant strain; The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my Right hand, until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool: yet is its close tempered with an intimation of a Task of Militancy to precede; He shall drink of the Brook in the way; therefore shall he lift up his Head. Before we may hope to have ou● heads lifted up, for their Glorious investiture with a Crown of Immortality, in the Life to come, with those men that bowed down their Heads to drink water, judg. 7. 6. we must resolve to bow down, for the taking of a Deep, and Bitter, Draught of the Brook of Mortification, and Tribulation, and Persecution, whilst we are here in the way of this Life: sit down in Bochim▪ before we can come to Beracah; sow in Tears, before we can reap in joy; and (as St. Peter hath it 1 Epist. cap. 4. v. 19) suffer patiently, according to Gods will, committing our souls to him, in well doing, as unto a Faithful Creator. So that then, whilst those that will here prematurely appear to be of the temper of the more Generous Eagles; and so to pray on Bodies, before they become Dead carcases; and so as Cannibals, will be feeding on the living; sucking out the Hearts-bloud of Widows, of Orphans; of the Church, their Spiritual; and their Natural Mother, the Country; at least, Corpora corporibus jung●bat Mortua Vivis; Shall, after the example of Mezentius, make no difference between the Living, and the Dead; but take all for Fish, that cometh to the Net; and swallow all for lawful purchase, with their Leviathan Jaws, they can seize upon; whilst, thus Eaglelike (what is Jacob's word of Benjamin, Gen. 49. 27.) in the Morning they are Devouring the Prey; in the Evening of their Death, nay on the next morrow of their Resurrection, they shall have no spoil to divide. It is an heavy Doom, such preproperous Eagles (as these Hypocrites in the Gospel, Mat. 6. 2) are to expect at the Last Day; you have had your reward▪ Delicatus est nemis, qui & hic vult Gaudere cum saeculo, & postea Regnare cum Christo, saith St. Augustine. It savoureth of the Horseleeches appetite, to affect a Frolicking here in this Life with the world, and hereafter to reign with Christ in the Life to come. But be ye Patient, establish your hearts, saith St. james, Jam. 5. 8. Take we up here contentedly with whatever poor, and lean, Portion of the things of this Life, our Heavenly Father shall be pleased here to cut out for us; yea approve we ourselves patient, shall he please to lay upon our Necks the heavy yoke of all manner of Tribulation, and Persecution; yea confine us to the Austere Diet of Contrition, and Mortification; and let this Vulture, this Raven. Eagles Dialect be so signally ours, that (as it is Zeph. 3. 3.) we contentedly forbear the Gnawing of the Bones till the morrow; on the morrow, in the morning of our Resurrection, rays of unspeakable comfort shall we find darting out upon our souls; for that then we shall be sensible, that (as it is 2 Cor. 4. 17.) the light Afflictions of this Life, that are but for a Moment, have all this while been working for us a far most Excellent, and Eternal, weight of Glory.  
And thus far shall it serve to have surveyed the Table; which you have seen to be far from being sumptuous, or luxuriant; as being furnished with nothing but a Carcase. Come we now to take a view of the Guest's; whom yet we may discern to be very Noble, as being no worse than Princes; of which Eagles, in their General Notion of Eagles, just reason we look upon as proper Emblems. Which is the first Notion, wherein we are to contemplate these Guests the Notion of Eagles. Wheresoever the Carcase is, there the Eagls will be gathered together.  
You have already had an intimation, that by the Eagles the Saints are heese intended. Now, fo● the Proof of this supposition, what Lineaments of Resemblance between the one, and the others countenances are to be discovered, will not be unworthy the Expense of some of our Time, and Pains, for a Summary Enquiry.  
First then Eagles (we know) are the Kings of Birds. You have seen (is the Lords own word to his People) how I bore you on Eagls Wings, Exod. 19 4. The Pitch, the Eagle flieth at, favoureth of a well-feathered Plume; It is Potent, Princely, Royal. For which cause I find, that the Romans, the greatest Potentates, the Sun's Eye ever beheld, still bore the Eagle in their Standard. And such Eagls are the Saints. The Prince of the Kings of the Earth (saith St. john) hath made us Kings, Apoc. 1. 6. And therefore that Gloss of Saint Greg. upon those words of job, 36. of his Book 7. He withdraweth not his Eyes from the Righteous; but with Kings are they on the Throne; is well worthy our best Observation: Reges sunt, quia Tentationum suarum Motibus, non consentiendo succumbere, sed Regendo Praeesse noverant: They are Kings (saith he) for that they tamely lie not down, by con● scenting unto temptations; but know the way how to master, and subdue them; Bridling the Intemperance of their Appetites; Cooling the Heat of their Lusts; Beating down the Height of their Pride; Curing the Itch of their Covetise; Startling them from the Lees of their Surquedry; and plucking off the Disguise of their Hypocrisy: and so, in him that hath made them such being (as the Apostle, Rom. 8. 37.) in all these more than conquerors.  
Secondly, the Eagles have a property of Renewing themselves, and Restoring their youth. Making thee young, and lusty, as an Eagle, saith the Kingly Prophet, Psal. 103. 5. Now, the way of this the Eagles Renovation, is, by Interpreters, variously related. St. Augustine would have this to be the manner: that when, by reason of their Age, the upper part of their Beaks so far out-grow the Nether, that they are now no longer able to open their Mouths; and so, for want of Food, begin to languish; they get them to a craggy Rock; against which striking off the excresc●cy of the upper part of their Beaks, which hindered their Feeding, they hereby enable themselves to Feed afresh; and so recover their Youth, and strength. Athanasius giveth us an Account, as of another Malady, they labour of; so of another Remedy, they use for their recovery. Caligantibus occulis; when their Eyes grow Dim (saith he) they drench themselves in a cold Fountain; then expose themselves to the heat of the Sun beams; whereby the Scales falling from their Eyes, they recover their sight, and youth. Both these ways of Renovation we shall do well to to take together, and to apply to the Saints of God. When the Excrescency of our worldly Desires, and Carnal Lusts, shall so entirely have deadened our spiritual Appetites (that as David in another case, Psal. 102. 4.) we forget to eat our Bread; when the Eyes of our understanding we may find too sensibly grown so Dim, that we, neither can, nor will, any longer, discern those things that belong to our peace; lest, seeing with our Eyes, and hearing with our Ears; we should be converted, and Healed, as it is Isa. 6. 10. our parts it shall be to betake us unto the Rock, Christ (for so 1 Cor. 10. 4. I find him expressly styled) to put off all manner Dulness, and Deadness, of the Old Man, which is corrupt according to the Deceitful Lusts: as it is Ephes. 4. 22. to bathe ourselves thoroughly in the Laver of unfeigned Repentance; and then fix the Eyes of them steadily upon the Sun of Righteousness, that Ariseth with Healing in his Wings, as it is Mal. 4. 2. Looking unto Jesus (saith the above praised Apostle) the Author, and Finisher, ●f our Faith, Heb. 12. 2. and so become Renewed in the Spirit of our Minds, Ephes. 4. 23.  
Lastly (not to stretch the strings of the Analogy so far, as to endanger the cracking them) Eagles (as in part you have already had intimated) Fly a great height from the earth; a pitch above all other Birds. Yea, as Araun●h is said to give as a King unto the King, 2. Sam. 24. 23. these Kings of Birds get them up near unto the King of Stars, the Sun; by the undaunted, and unmoved, contemplation of whose Rays they try the Legitimation of their young. And this is that, which Interpreters would have intended by that of job 39 of his Book above praised; The Eagle Mounteth up, and maketh he● Nest on high; and her Eyes beh●ld a far off. The Sons of God, are still in like manner, yea in a far Higher, manner Affected. They contemplate not only Christ the Sun of Righteousness; but (with the woman, Apoc. 12. 1.) they are clothed with him; trampling the Moon in the mean time, all earthly things, as the Moon inconstant, under their Feet. And by this Test shall we do well to try ourselves, whether we be the Genuine Sons of God, or no. So that then, if our Affections shall appear wholly, yea but principally, set upon earthly things; if the Dunghills of this world shall appear to be the Darlings of our souls; nay, if, when the scorching beams of Persecution shall be darting out from the Body of this Sun of Righteousness, and so submit us to all manner sufferings for his sake; like the children of Ephraim, Psal. 78. 10. though Harnessed, and carrying Bows, we shall yet turn our Backs in in the Day of Battle; choosing rather to become Proteusses of all shapes; Chameleons of all colours; yea, like so many R●lypusses, resolve still to be of the complexion of the Present Times; rather than expose our Persons, or Estates, in the least measure, to any Peril, or Hazard: we are (as the Apostle, Heb. 12. 8. in Downright terms, censured us) Bastards, and no Sons. But, what the Poet sometimes of Fame, Ingrediturque solo, caput inter Nubila condens: If, whilst, as Pilgrims▪ we are walking; or rather, as Prsmires, crawling, up and down the Ant-heapes of this world; our Conversation, our Burgeship, the strength of our Affection, shall appear to be in Heaven; at least, as a Line drawn through a Circle, toucheth the Centre but once, but the Circumference twice; if our hearts shall appear twice as much intent upon Heavenly, as Earthly things; nay, if, as Houses, built upon Rocks, we shall cheerfully weather the most violent Gusts of all manner of Tribulation, and Persecution; if neither the enchanting sounds of whatever Musical instruments, nor the Dreadful Apprehension of the Torments of the Ho●●est ●iery Furnace, shall be able so far to work upon us, as to make us to fall down before any Golden Image, any Tyrannical Nabuchadnezzar shall set up; if nothing shall be able to separate us from the Love of God, that is in Christ Jesus; whether it be the height of hoped for Preferment, or the depth of Dreaded Distress, as it is Rom. 8. 39 but that we steadily resolve to continue Faithful unto Death; then may we undoubtedly assure ourselves that we are our Heavenly Father's Legitimate Sons, and so Heirs, yea Co heirs, with our Elder Brother Christ, of the Crown of Glory.  
And so, having done with the General Notion of these Guests, as Eagles; we are now to take a short Glimpse of them, in the more special consideration of their sweet inclination to Accord, and Agreement, at this their Table. They keep not a Centaur's Feast; washing the Tables, and Cates, and Cups, before them, in blood; but celebrate rather a Love, at least, a Peace, Feast; Agreeing, without any the least jar, or discord, during the whole time of their sitting. They are gathered together. Wheresoever the Carcase is, there the Eagles will be gathered together.  
We all know the old word, Saevis inter se convenit Vrsis: Bears, though of most savage Natures, can quietly Accord, and Agree. Yea, no less than seven Devils can Peaceably cohabite in one Mary Magdalen, Luk. 8. 2. Yea, the Evangelical Prophet's Prediction of the time of Christ's coming, Isa. 11. 6. you may see to be, that the Wolf, shall Dwell with the Lamb; the Leopard, with the Kid; the Lion, and the Calf; shall lie down together. And then strange may it not seem to hear, that the little Flock of Christ's Lambs, the small Multitude of Believers, in the Apostles Divine Actuary, Act. 4. 32. should be of one Heart, and one Mind. We, in this Frantic Age of ours, delivered every day of such Monsters, as Africa never bred; as if that curse from the God of jacob were signally fallen upon us, that fell from jacob sometimes upon his two bloody Sons, Gen. 49. 7. I will Divide them in jacob, and Scatter them in Israel; and, as if we saw that staff of the Bonds of Brotherhood between judah, and Israel, Zach. 11. 7. by God, for our sins, too justly, and conspicuously, Broken; nay, as if that cursed Harvest of the Cadmus' Teeth, so long since ●own, were now, in a loathsome Plenty, come up amongst us,— Domus catulos non alit uno du●s; like Dogs, we snap, and sna●l, one at another; striving which shall first seize upon the Bones of our Brother's Estate; nay, as the Spaniard 〈…〉 on the Indians, we try co 〈…〉ions which of us shall leave an impression of the Deepest scar upon those poor Innocents', we have enslaved. Nay, we whet our Tongues, our Pens, our Swords, with as sharp an edge, as Malice can set upon them, one against another; being, not only so far divided in opinion for point of Government, that one crieth up Monarchy, another Aristocracy, a third Democracy; but for Religion too; a Religando, saith the the Etymologist; which should tie us; not all jointly to God only; but every one severally to another: and so bind up all our Spoils universally in the Bundle of Life; as the Corinthians of old professed of themselves, that they were one of Paul, another of Cephus; every one of us, like the sticks of a broken Faggot, seemeth singularly, and pertinaciously, to stand up in the Defence of his own Fancied Religion; one a Socinian, another an Anabaprist, another an Antinomian, another an Arrian; one a Separatist, another an Anti-Scripturist; one a Ranter, another a Quaker, another a Seeker: yea indeed all, upon the matter, to seek for such a pure Religion; as hath in it any the least power of Godliness. Nay, as the Antique French; or rather as ourselves, their Apes; so prone are we, every day, to change the Habit of our whatever pretended Religion, as that every Day we appear in a New Mode, and Fashion. And so, what Tacitus sometimes of the Romans; ubi Solitudinem faciunt, Pacem appellant; whilst we seem to interpret a mere Desolation, and Annihilation, of Religion for a Peaceable, and Pure, Settlement, and Reformation, thereof: whilst thus, I say, we assume unto ourselves an un-commissioned and unbounded, Liberty, Nunc Leo, nunc Vulpes;— of appearing, every Day, in a New Trim, and Dress, of Religion; Nusquam qui ubique; we have scarce any thing indeed of true Religion left amongst us. Nay, unto that sharpness of contention (as Paul, and Barnabas, Act. 15. 39) are we grown in these cases, that (what Tacitus sometimes of Segestes, and Ariminius, the one the Father, the other the Son, in Law) Quae apud concordos vincula charit●tis, Incitamenta Irarum apud infensos sunt; those Bonds of Christian Affinity, which, whilst we accorded, were a sweet means to tie us close together, now we Ravel, and Flitter, thus, we find to be sad incentives and provocations, to keep us at the greater Distance, and Variance. I would gladly season, perhaps some of you that are here Present, with better Principles, than hitherto, possibly, may have been distilled into you. You know the Rise of that old word; Divide, & Impera; Divide Affections once, and you shall suddenly come to divide the spoil. And therefore wo●ld I have you to follow Love, and Peace, with all Men, that call upon the Name of the Lord, 2 Tim. 2. 22. but so as to follow this Love and Peace, in Truth, Ephes. 4. 15. lest otherwise, like that House in the Gospel, founded upon the sand, what ever superstruction you may Rear thereon, come speedily to Ruin, and Confusion. Singularity, and Humour, and Turbulence of spirit, whether in Opinion, or Affection, wherever they are, are far from being symbols of a Christian Temper. Nay, as they say of Bees, that, whensoever there ariseth stir, and strife, amongst them, it is an infallible sign that their King is about to remove, and to leave his H●ve: however our Spiritual Can●ers may vaunt themselves as they please, as they if had engrossed the great God of heaven for their own peculiar; and (as is that just Sarcasme upon the Fathers of the Trent Council, that they had the Holy Ghost every week sent them in a Cloak-bag) had conjured, and circumscribed, him within the circle of their own Tribe; as long as by Schism, by Faction, by Division, they break the Unity of the Spirit, which should tie all ●he Members of Christ's Body together in the Bond of Peace, it is not only a clear presage that the King of Heaven is upon the point of Leaving; but too pregnant an evidence that he hath actually left, such unquiet, and turbulent, Conclaves, and Conventicles. The first visible shape, that the Holy Ghost ever descended in, was the shape of a Dove. And he, that came in a Dove, will not come but upon a Dove. Not such, as, through a singulat conceit of their Simulata sanctitas; doublerefined Holiness, separate themselves from their despised brethren; nor such as make a great stir, and Noise, in the world with the Lightning of Pride; the Thunder of Blasphemy; the Winds of Malediction, and Depravation; the Storms of Oppression; and Sword of Persecution: but such as are like himself, D●ves, Men of a Mild, a Meek, and Peaceable, Temper, and Disposition. Nay Elect (saith St. Peter to his scattered strangers) according to the Fore knowledge of the Father, through the sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the Blood of Christ, ● Pet. 2. 2. Where there is no appearance of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon a Man, though not in the visible shape of a Dove, yet as upon a Dove, a Creature Gentle, and Peaceable, little Ground of Assurance shall any such have reason to take up, that 〈◊〉 is predestinated. Abraham, in tha● his sacrifice to the Lo●●, Gen. 15. divideth the Heifer, the Shee-Goat, and the Ram; but the Turtle Dove, and the Pigeon, he divideth not. Carnal Men (how spiritual soever our Novel selfe-justiciaries, or rather New-modelled Pharisees, may cry themselves up for) as are prone to be divided by Discords, and Separations, and Dissensions, and so have no semblance of the Holy Ghost upon them, have no Interest, as not in the Predestination of the Father; so neither in the Son's Redemption. But the Birds, the Pigeon, and the Turtle Dove, Creatures, that have no Gall in them, Spiritual Men, such as are proper Rec●pracles of the Grace of the Holy Ghost, of the Father's Love in Electing, and the Son's Wisdom in Redeeming, them, have no shadow, or semblance, of the least Inclination to Division in them. The Kingdom of Heaven, whereby, in the stile of Scripture, the Holy Ghost is intended, and wherein that ever-blessed 〈◊〉▪ but an uni-Triumvirate, an undivided Trinity in an unity of Divine Essence, as a Glorious Monarch, Reigneth, the Apostle fitly mindeth us, that it is first Righteousness, and then Peace. Rom. 14. 17. And then just reason may the same Apostle seem to have, for the apposing of his Corinthians with this Poignant quaere; As long as there are strifes, and Divisions, amongst you, are you not Carnal? 1 Cor. 3. 4. As long as we practise nothing but the Defrauding, the Depraving, the Spoiling, the Murdering, one another, can we ever hope to find in ourselves any pledge 〈…〉, of the Holy Ghosts descent upon us? Or of the Father's Predestination, or the Son's Redemption, of us? I shall take leave of you, with the same leave, that the same Apostle taketh of the same Corinthians of his. 2 Cor. 13. 11. My Brethren be of one Mind, live in Peace, and the God of Love, and Peace shall be with you. Approve we our selus, ●n the presence of God, and Man, to be peaceable spirits; and then shall we sensibly find, that those three, that bear record in Heaven, 1 joh. 5. 7. and sweetly accord in an unity of of Divine Essence, shall jointly seal up unto us an Assurance of an Inheritance of 〈…〉 in Light; that after the Earthly houses of our Tabernacle's dissolved, we shall have a Building of God, an House, not made with hands, Eternal in the Heavens: Which, O Lord, we beseech thee, in thy good time, grant every one of us; and, to this purpurpose, grant, that 〈◊〉 word, which this Day we● have heard with our outward Ears, may, etc.  
FINIS.