A COLLECTION OF SERMONS.  

1. The best Employment.  
2. A Gift for God alone.  
3. The true Penitent.  
4. The best Act of Oblivion.   
Together with NOTES upon JONAH.  
By Thomas Fuller.  Mat. 13. 52. An householder bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. 
LONDON, Printed for John Stafford, and are to be sold at the sign of the George near Fleet-bridge. 1656.   

THE BEST EMPLOYMENT.  Mat. 15. 30. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus feet, and he healed them. 
By Thomas Fuller.  
LONDON, Printed for john Stafford in George-yard near Fleet-bridge. 1656.   

To my worthy friends of S. Bridgets (commonly Brides) Parish in London. The Blessings of this and a better life.  
JAcob, when sending his Son into Egypt, advised them to carry 
* Gen. 43. v. 11.  to the Governor thereof, (their unknown Brother) a Present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds. Herein both the quality and quantity of the gift is considerable:  
The Quality: alas! look on them in themselves, and they were but mean. Egypt (to give it it's due) excelled Palestine in many Commodities which were better to barter with foreign Nations, as wicked men in all Ages surpass the servants of GOD in outward accommodations.  
The Quantity, but a little of each. To carry much would have been but the more burden to their Cattle which carried it, and perchance less acceptable to him that received it.  
However, one thing much commended this present, because (as the Text saith) they were the best fruits of the Land; and no rational person can expect better than what is best. Some conformity there is betwixt their Present, & this my Dedication; none is more sensible than myself of the meanness thereof: Besides Zoar, is it not a little one? yet is it the best that my barren condition can for the present afford, on which account I comfortably presume it will be as kindly taken as it is cordially tendered.  
All I will add is this; The Holy Spirit compareth good Council 
* Eccles. 12. v. 11.  nails fastened. In prosecution of which Metaphor, I hope that these nails which were entered into your hearts at the preaching of them, shall now be riveted into them by the printing thereof; which is the hearty desire of  
Your servant in Jesus Christ, THO: FULLER.   
ACT. 10. 38. Who went about doing of good. 
1. THe Text is parcel of that heavenly Sermon S. Peter preached at the conversion of the Centurion, and it is worth our inquiry into the Character of that Convert. Know then three Essentials did constitute a Centurion. 1. He must be a Soldier. 2. The Captain of an hundred men (whence his name Centurion.) 3. He must be a Gentile by extraction. For at this time the Rom. Emperor had took the Militia out of the hands of the Jews, who politicly would not trust that peevish & rebellious people with the sword in their hands, insomuch that there was a Castle, Acts 22. 24. which overawed the Temple.  
2. Now it is generally complained of Soldiers, that they are cruel, and (Luke 3. 4.) too prone to do violence. It is charged on Officers, that they are proud and insolent in improving their places, and Gentiles are accused of ignorance towards God, and wickedness in their conversations. All which observations are crossed in the Centurion in my Text. 
* I v. 1   
3. Instead of taking away, and invading the Propriety of others, He, ver. 2. parted with what was his own in much alms to the poor. Instead of being proud towards others, in much humility he macerated himself with fasting (v. 30.) Instead of being guilty of Ignorance and Profaneness, he feared God with all his house. Let none hereafter envy this Centurion the height of his place, or repine at his power, ruling over a hundred, seeing he was a man of a thousand.  
4. Let not any look on the Military profession, as on such a Gentile, out of which no Prophet; as on such a Nazareth, out of which no Good can arise. Let them not conceive the principles of fearing of God, and fight with Men so opposite, that they cannot meet in the same person. Seeing on enquiry it will appear, that all the Centurions in the New Testament were either good men, or less bad than many of more peaceable professions.  

1. The faithful Centurion (Mat. 8.) preferred for the same by our Saviour above those in Israel.  
2. The Centurion glorifying God, and justifying Christ at his Passion: Luke 23. 47. Certainly this was a righteous man.  
3. The just Centurion, who rescued S. Paul (Acts 22. 26.) from scourging, because a Roman.  
4. The serviceable Centurion, who at S. Paul's entreaty conveyed the young man to a Captain, whereby the Apostle escaped the conspiracy of his enemies.  
5. The civil Centurion, who kept S. Paul, Acts 24. 23. forbidding none to minister unto him.  
6. Julius the courteous Centurion, who saved S. Paul at his shipwreck, Acts 27. 42. when the Soldiers had a desire to kill him.   
But beyond all, and above all, the Centurion in this chapter, whose piety may be a perfect pattern for all Christians to imitate.  
5. Obj. If this Centurion was already so good, what needed S. Peter to be sent to him for his further conversion? What was this but actum agere, to do what was done before, seeing no further addition or accession could be made to his goodness, which already was so complete in the kind and degrees thereof.  
6. I answer, The Centurion was already in the state of Grace, but on the principles of a Jewish Proselyte: he looked for salvation by a Messiah, as yet to come, and on that account led a pious conversation. Had he died in that state, his soul, no doubt, had been saved with the rest of the godly Jews before Christ: But better things were provided for this Centurion, God had stored up more kindly mercies for him to receive; Peter is sent to inform of Christ come, and to clear his implicit into a distinct saith.  
7. To this purpose the Apostle acquainteth him in his Sermon with the person and practices of our Saviour, though certainly the breviate only, and chief heads, and not all his discourse at large, is opened by S. Luke, and my text is a principal part of our Christ his complete character, Who went about doing of good.  
8. Observe in the words, First, Christ's Humility, He went  
Secondly, His Industry.— No small way, but About.  
Thirdly, His Charity. Doing of good.  
First, Humility, He went, and that pedes ambulavit, he constantly footed it. Indeed he was brought from Nazareth, the place of his Conception, to Bethlehem, where he was born, in the womb of his Mother, and when forced to fly before he could go) into Egypt, probably was carried in the arms of his parents, otherwise he always travailed on foot, one time excepted, when not so much out of Majesty as Mystery, not so much to ease himself, as perform the prophetical prediction. He (Mat. 2.) road alternately on the Ass, and the Ass Colt, otherwise, always, (such his humility) he went.  
9 Secondly, His Industry, About. But here it will be demanded, whether this did not something trespass on our Saviour's gravity, and that staidness which he used in other actions. Did not this savour something of an erratical and circumfraneous motion? Sure it was contrary to the counsel he gave his Disciples, Into what town or city ye enter, there abide, Mat. 10. 11. Go not from house to house, Luke 10. 2. Had not therefore our Saviour, in like manner, better have fixed himself in one place, than thus to wander up and down when he went about?  
10. I answer, three satisfactory reasons may be rendered of our Saviour's frequent removals, though the first so sufficient in its self, it will give a discharge to the other two, as added only for Ornament, not Necessity: 1. Therefore our Saviour went about per force, because he had no certain habitation of his own, therein constantly to reside, but was fain to make use of the houses of his friends therein to abide. Mat. 8. 20. The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.  
11. By the way let me bespeak the thankfulness of many persons (whom I behold in this Auditory) to whom God hath not only given Agurs wish, Prov. 30. to be fed with food convenient for them, but also so large estates, that they have plenty of Places, exchange of Houses, variety of Habitations; How ought such to lay out their souls in thankfulness to God it faring in this point far better with them, than with our Saviour himself, who for want of a dwelling, was fain to go about.  
12. Secondly, Our Saviour went about, so the better to decline and escape the malice of those who sought after his life. Any man can at a near distance hit a dead mark, whilst he must be a good marksman indeed who can hit a flying Fowl. Christ therefore was always in motion, that he might not give a steady aim to his enemy's malice. When Herod the Fox designed his death in Galilee, than he took his private progress into Judea, and when those in Judea projected to murder him, he made his secret return into Galilee, or else retreated (John 11. 54.) to a City called Ephraim, in the wilderness, and continued there.  
13. He was unfit to be a Saviour of mankind, who would not by all prudential ways be a Saviour of himself. Though he would not decline death when his hour was come, he would not court it before that time, he would lay his life down, not throw it down, patiently give himself, not wilfully cast himself away for mankind. Otherwise, if he had refused to embrace all lawful ways of self-preservation, until his appointed time was come, he had died a Malefactor, not made by God a sin for us, but being a sinner of himself, no better than Felo de se, guilty of his own destruction.  
14. Thirdly, Christ went about, so the more conveniently to disperse and dispense his doctrine and miracles, that the more people might enjoy the benefit thereof. If the Sun should always stand still in one place, that part of the earth would be fried, and the rest frozen, that would be parched with heat, and the rest pinched with cold; wherefore the providence of Nature hath so ordered and disposed it, that the Sun shall take his circuit through the Zodiac, that so his light and heat may be communicated to the more Country's. Christ in like manner, that Sun of Righteousness, Mal. 4. 2. arising with healing in his wings, made his motion through the twelve Signs, I mean the twelve Tribes of Israel, that so the more places might participate of his Presence, Preaching, and Miracles.  
14. Pass we now from his Humility to his Charity, Went about doing of good, and that in several considerations, 

in respect of 

All times.  
All places.  
All persons.      
In endeavouring whereof may my weak endeavours, and your intentions, as well as we may observe our Saviour's motion, and go about after him. Sequiturque Patrem non passibus aequis, and though in circular motions it matters not where we begin, so be it we continue moving, till we return where we began; yet for methods sake we will first handle the first point, in respect of all times.  
16. Let us take notice of a Diurnal, or days work of our Saviour, He was no large liar on bed, but a timely riser about his father's work, John 8. 2. And early in the morning he came again into the Temple. As he rose early, he went late to bed, especially on the Sabbath day, the day of his greatest employment: for when he had wearied himself all the day long with preaching his Word, at night when his work was ended, his work was new begun. People then pressing upon him afresh (forbidden before by the superstitious Pharisees) to be healed by him. As he rose early and went late to bed, so all the day long was he busied in doing of good.  
17. If any time of the day may seem to be privileged from Employment, and exempted from Industry, sure it is, the time of Refection, when Men in midst of the Term of all their work, may and must make a Vacation to themselves, the better to refresh their hungry and weary bodies therein. But even at those times, was Christ intentive in doing of good. True it is, it was meat and drink unto him, to do his Father's work, [john 4. 32.] So zealous in prosecution thereof, that sometimes he fasted from other food. Mark 3. 20. He could not so much as eat bread, for the crowding of the company about him; but when Liberty was allowed him to take his repast, he improved his time in doing good, witness his demeanour at the table of the Pharisee, who invited him to dinner, as Luke 14. where he received not so much temporal food from the entertainer, as he bestowed Spiritual counsel upon him, verse 12. Then said he also to them that bade him, etc. He put forth a parable to them that were bidden, verse 7. and upon the occasion of these words, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God, uttered by a fellow guest, he put forth a most heavenly Parable.  
18. One demanded how a Man might make himself welcome at a Feast? to whom it was answered, ne sis, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come not thither without paying thy shot, lest otherwise he be beheld as a clog, or burden to the company. Another answered much to the same effect, Sat not there as a stone upon a stool, that is, contribute, if not money, yet mirth to the company, bring some ingratiating quality with thee, that may make thee acceptable to thy fellow guests. Sure I am our Saviour was not indebted to the company where he dined, bringing with him, though no carnal mirth, which ends in sadness, yet spiritual joy, contained in that holy counsel which he so freely bestowed.  
19 Secondly, In respect of all places, He did good wheresoever he came, at Nazareth, where he was conceived, Bethleem, where he was born, Jordan, where he was baptised, Galilee, where he conversed, Getbsemani, where he was betrayed, Galbatha, where he was condemned, Golgatha, where he was crucified, and which was the more to their sin and shame, such places which did partake most of his corporal presence, did reap the less benefit by his spiritual preaching, witness Bethsaida, Corazin, and Capernaum.  
20. Thirdly, In respect of all persons, 1. to those that were above him in a civil respect, namely, to Caesar and his Officers, not only preaching of Obedience, and payment of Tribute to the Emperor, but also putting himself to the expense of a Miracle, (Matthew. 17. 27.) rather than Caesar should have his Toll-mony unpaid. 2. To such as were beneath him, as poorer than himself, because not having so good friends to relieve them. Thus though he himself held all that he had in Frank-Almonage, and lived on the poor man's box, beholden to the charity of Joanna, Susanna, and other his good Benefactors for his Maintenance, yet of a little, he gave a little, it being his constant custom (especially about the good time of the Passover) to dispense his alms to the poor. Otherwise when he said to judas (John 13. 27.) That thou dost, do quickly. The rest of the Disciples could not so quickly have commented on his words: that he desired him, the bag-bearer, to give something to the poor; had not the same been conformable to Christ's common practice on such occasions, He did good to those about him, his Disciples, to those beside him, the ordinary Jews, to those againsts them, the very Soldiers sent to attach him, witness curing of Malchus his ear, strucken off by Peter.  
21. But I meet with a double objection against Christ going about to do general good; the one being a sin of omission, the other of commission, charged on his account: I begin with the first, which thus may be urged against him, He who hath ability and opportunity to do right, and omitteth the same, is guilty of doing wrong, or the pretermitting of a benefit in such a case, is the committing of an injury. Now our Saviour was solemnly quested and pressed (Luke 12. 13.) to divide their Inheritance betwixt the two brethren, & yet he declined the doing of so acceptable an office, and gave the Petitioner unto him in that kind, a flat denial.  
22. I answer, Both persons interested in the Dividend of the land, did not sue unto him, but so that it was only a single motion, not the joint petition of both Brethren interested therein. 2. Christ, a searcher of hearts, might discover in him, who made the motion, a covetous inclination, and perchance a litigious disposition, not to stand to any agreement. Lastly, and chiefly, he had no calling to meddle therein, being a private person, and captious people lay at the catch on any shadow of a fault to accuse him, for invading the office of a Magistrate.  
23. It is confessed, it is an honourable work to accommodate differences according to our Saviour's own principles, Blessed are the peacemakers, especially to compromise discord betwixt so near relations, as two Brethren. Hereby, haply, our Saviour might have prevented long and tedious suits, saved them the expenses of a costly prosecution in Law, and which was more, might have suppressed many uncharitable Animosities, and quenched heart burnings betwixt them. But one thing was wanting, A Commission to intermeddle therein, A good deed is an ill deed, do by him who hath no calling to do it, The Courts were open, and Judges therein appointed, to hear and determine Causes of this nature. They both, if so disposed, might sue out what was equivalent to our writ of partition in our Common Law, to part the Inheritance in equal portions betwixt them, whilst our Saviour justly refused to interpose in the Controversy, made a Mediator betwixt God and Man in matters of higher consequence, but not betwixt Man and Man in things of temporal concernments.  
24. Such therefore will find themselves much mistaken, who having little ability, and no authority, adventure on the Ministerial function to preach and baptise, conceiving they shall be justified and born out in the Court of Heaven by the integrity of their intentions to employ their parts to God's glory, whereas more is requisite to the legitimation of a public act, and making it good, when done by a private person, namely, a lawful commission to do it, for want whereof our Saviour abstained to intermeddle as a Magistrate, though, he went about doing of good.  
25. And here, by the way, let me insert another caution: Our Saviour's going about from place to place, not fixed in a certain station, nothing favoureth or befriendeth the practice of such, who refuse to reside on Parochial charge, but must have a whole Province, or Principality for the circuit of their plancticall preaching. These pretend to such prodigious parts, such Paramount gifts and graces, above the standard of other men, (and we must believe they have such signal endowments for they say to themselves, That they conceive if pity such Talents should be buried in one Parish, and such ample abilities be stifled within the narrowness of one Cure: and hence it is, these ambulatory Preachers remove from place to place, refusing to be settled in a certain habitation: But it is to be feared these men go about, sowing of Schism, setting of Errors, and spreading Faction, whilst our Saviour went about doing of good.  
26. The next is a fault of commission charged on our Saviour, that he went not always about doing of good, by his own confession, Mat. 10. 34. Think not I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, etc. Now such who come to bring asword to any place, surely their room is more welcome than their company, and it can no way be entitled to be a good work, when one (contrary to the law of nature itself) shall set variance betwixt so near and dear relations.  
27. I answer, Our Saviour's words, I come to set a man at variance, are not so to be understood, as if it were his principal purpose and original intent, out of premeditate plot, and set design to make these unnatural differences, but that such sad effects, de facto, would come to pass, per accidens, through the corruption in mankind: For the preaching of the Gospel would meet with such opposition in carnal minds, that our Saviour infallibly foresaw such domestical Antipathies would inevitably follow the same. Thus, as the Sun intended by nature to lighten clear eyes, and arising daily for that purpose, yet occasioneth the smarting of such who are sore, or blear-sighted: So Christ being a Peacemaker and Mediator, by his message, employment, and desire, proved against his own will through men's default, the general incendiaries in families, and by consequence in Cities, Countries, and Kingdoms, though he went about doing of good.  
28. Two eminent instances may be given of the good our Saviour did, First, all his Miracles were saving Miracles, which may serve for a character to distinguish them from the Miracles of his Apostles; St. Paul strikes seeing El●mas blind, Christ makes blind Bartimeus see; S. Peter strikes living Ananias and Sapphira dead; Christ makes dead Girus his daughter and Lazarus live. But if Christ was pleased to manifest himself in a destructive way, no rational creature shall be made the object of his anger, but a Figtree is sound out (and that but a barren one) Mat. 21. 19 to be cursed; Hogs are found out (and those the beastliest of all Beasts) Mat. 32. 8. to be drowned, to show that if God in the vindication of his own honour, doth deviate from his natural pronity and propensity to mercy, and is necessitated, se defendendo, to appear in a revenging way: it is our barrenness in goodness, and beastliness in badness, which enforceth him to what is contrary to his own inclination.  
29. Secondly, we may observe, that some of our Saviour's miracles were double ones, one growing within another. Thus Mat. 9 19 it was the chief intent of our Saviour to raise the daughter of the Ruler, when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, obiter, as in the way thither, he did almost as great a miracle in curing her, who was long troubled with an Issue of blood. Thus as cunning Gardeners are said to have a mystery, whereby (by inoculating one flower on another) they make them grow double: so our Saviour had Twin-miracles, and occasional springing up in the midst of an intentional miracle.  
30. But here a question may be propounded, not coming within the compass of those condemned by the Apostle, 2 Tim. 2. 23. For foolish and unlearned that do gender strife; but such the answering whereof may give some light to our heads, and heat to our hearts and affections.  
31. Seeing our Saviour was a Benefactor general to all persons and places where he came, how came it to pass that he was not the minion of mankind, deliciae humani generis, the darling of the world, seeing he deserved no less, by his favours conferred upon it? how came men so generally to hate him, so often to plot, and at last to practise his destruction?  
32. I answer, several reasons may be rendered, some nearer, some more remote, why our Saviour could never be popular, though no man more merited the same; First, because had he been universally beloved, it would have hindered the grand design of man's salvation, no Judas would have been found to betray him, no false Witnesses to accuse him, no Pilate to condemn him, no Soldiers to execute him, and therefore of necessity Christ was to incur many men's displeasure.  
33. Secondly, he was to have not only a notional, but also an experimental, yea, which was more, a meritorious knowledge of all miseries, to which humanity was subject, of hunger, Mark 11. 12. of thirst, john 4. 9 long and painful preaching with little profit, because of people's unbelief, weariness under pain, and nakedness upon the Cross, as also of the causeless and undeserved hatred of people from those on whom he had conferred great favours, that so he might the better know to pray for pity, and believe his servants in the same condition.  
34. Thirdly, though our Saviour went about doing of good, yet some wicked men hated him, merely because they were wicked men; there is a generation of people, which drive a trade (whereby they will never grow spiritually rich) of receiving good, & returning evil. David, as a Prophet, yea, a Type of Christ, complained of such, Psal. 35. 12. They rewarded me evil for good, to the spoiling of my soul. Some men have such foul stomaches, as to turn all honey into choler, converting courtesies they have received into anger and malice.  
35. Fourthly, Christ, though generally doing good, was distasted of many, because the Doctrines he delivered, were either above their understanding, or against their humour and inclination; it was said of Titus Vespasian the Emperor, Neminem à se dimisit tristem, He sent no man sad away from him. A happiness denied to our Saviour himself, for when (Mat. 19 22.) he advised the young man to sell all that he had and give it to the poor, and come and follow him; it is said, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  
36. Lastly, Christ, though generally ingratiating himself with his good deeds, could never arrive to be universally beloved, because he told people of their sins, and foretold them of their sufferings, especially the 23. of S. Matthew's Gospel, where he pronounceth eight woes, and every woe three fold (four and twenty in all in effect) against Scribes, and Pharisees and Hypocrites.  
37. It was said of Will: Nassaw, Prince of Orange, (Father to the late Maurice) the first Founder under God, of the Low-countrieses men's liberty, being a popular Prince, courteous in his carriage to the meanest person, that he never put off his hat to a Peasant, or Boar, but with that gesture the King of Spain lost a Subject, and a free Member was gained to the united Provinces, how well they will requite his kindness to his family, posterity will take notice, and succeeding generations will observe.  
38. But our Saviour never pronounced one of the aforesaid woes, but instantly he lost the affections of some, who became his enemies for telling them the truth: Here a Hypocrite hated him, there a Scribe scorned him; here a Lawyer left him, there a Pharisee forsook him; and at one time, Joh. 6. 66. many of his Disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  
39 And here it is worth our observation to take notice of the difference between the preaching of Moses and our Saviour, the former promised all outward happiness to such as kept God's laws, how they should be, Deut. 28. Blessed in the field, and blessed in the city, blessed in their body, and blessed in their ground, and blessed in their cattle, blessed in their basket, and blessed in their store, in a word, on condition they would observe God's commandments he preached and promised unto them all external peace, plenty, and prosperity,  
40. Our Saviour's Sermons were of a different, yea, contrary nature, as appeareth by that passage, Mat. 5. 44. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you?  
wherein is 1. Supposed, That the servants of God notwithstanding their walking soberly, righteously, and godlily, to the utmost of their endeavours, shall have many enemies, crusers, and persecutors.  
2. Imposed, That Gospel principles oblige such who will be the followers of Christ, to bless those who are their most professed enemies.  
These are two hard sayings together, and is able to bear them severally, & asunder; this mauled Christ his popularity, that notwithstanding all his heavenly Sermons, holy life, and happy miracles, he was hated by carnal men, chiefly on this account, because such as followed his Doctrines, must be sure of persecution here, and wait for a reward hereafter.  
41. Let not the Ministers of the Gospel be disheartened, and discouraged, if with all their painful preaching, and pious living and courteous, carriage to, and good usage of their people, they can never get, nor gain their general good will. The Disciple is not greater than his Master, nor the servant than his Lord, let us know to our comfort that Christ himself could never be long in peaceable possession of a general good esteem, but for the reasons aforesaid, fell into people's displeasure, though he went about doing of good.  
42. Now to make some use of the Text in general, and first, is it so that our Saviour went about doing of good? serveth in this the first place to confute such, who will not at all go about, but immure themselves in a Cloister, penned within the walls thereof, and then pride themselves in this their will-worship, as the highest and holiest state of perfection, though there they zily wither on the stalk they grew on, without contributing any thing by their pains and parts to the Church or Commonwealth: May not both Church and State, as their creditors, justly sue them on an Action of Debt, for imbezilling these their part; or, if you will, engrossing them to themselves alone, wherein the Communion of Saints doth claim a joint and public interest; sure I am, our Saviour, that grand Exemplar of Holiness, did not confine himself to a Cell, but went about doing of good.  
43. Secondly, confuteth such who go about, but how? not to do good, but to do mischief, every place they come at faring the worse for their company: Thus as a Snail may be traced by the slime she leaveth behind her, so these men may be tracked whithersoever they remove, by the sootsteps of their own wickedness. Here they have a wanton speech, there a drop, an uncharitable passage; there they scatter a profane expression, they may be followed and found out by their bad words in one place, and worse works in another; these leave Satan for their Sovereign, or chief of their order, Job 1. 7. Who came from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. But what to do? The Apostle telleth us, 1 Pet. 5. 8. Walking about seeking whom he may devour. Laziness is better than such labour, idleness than such employment, to go about doing of evil.  
44. Thirdly, it confuteth such, who (to give them their due) do some good, and go doing of some good, but they go not about, their motion is circular, but semicircular at the best, they are only beneficial to some of their own gang, of their own party, of their own faction, their goodness is not general and universal, to all the true and proper objects thereof.  
45. What saith S. Paul, Gal. 6. 10. As we have therefore opportunities, let us do good to all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith; those indeed are to have a Hanna's part of our Favour, a Benjamine's portion of our Bounty, yet so, as all in extremity, are the objects of charity, we are to balk none who come in our way, not to say that some of plentiful estates are bound to seek out such objects for their liberality.  
46. It is observed, that the disease called S. Anthony's fire, or the Cingles, (because it clippeth and surroundeth the body in fashion of a girdle) is never mortal, till it wholly compasseth the waist, both sides of the inflammation meeting together; but on the contrary, Charity is never Sovereign effectually, and cordial to purpose, until it finisheth its full circuit, and taketh its complete compass, going about to do good.  
47. It is an use of comfort to the Saints and servants of God, considering that Christ, who on Earth went about doing of good, now in heaven, antiquum obtinet, keeps his old wont, still retaineth his former merciful and bountiful disposition, he hath not less goodness, for having more greatness, less grace for having more glory, yea, rather now he doth greater and better things for us, because he is gone to the Father, John 14. 12. Whilst on earth his power was limited and confined, his lustre was clouded and eclipsed with his humanity, whereas now he is put into a better capacity to express himself, and assist us, able to work what we wish, and do what we desire.  
48. But now he doth not go about doing of good, because after his long weariness on earth, he is reposed in ease and honour, and fixed at the right hand of his Father in heaven, yet still in some sense he may be said to go about doing of good, such the extensiveness of his providence, through the whole circle of Creation, from Angels to worms, though the Masterpiece of his mercy is the daily making of intercession to God for his servants.  
49. Some difference there is amongst learned men about the manner of his making intercession, some conceiving it done only with his mouth, others only really by virtue of his merit, probably it may be done both ways, the rather because our Saviour hath a tongue (as also a whole body, but glorified) in heaven, and it is not likely, that the mouth which pleaded for us on earth, is altogether silent for us in heaven, but in what manner soever this intercession be made, it is so done, as makes it both acceptable to God, and effectual for us, by him who now reigneth in glory, and formerly went about doing of good. Amen.  
Finis.   

A GIFT FOR GOD ALONE.  S. LUKE 10. ver. 27. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, etc. 
LONDON. Printed for JOHN STAFFORD at Fleet bridge. 1655.   

A Gift for God alone.  PROV. 23. ver. 26. My son, give me thy heart. 
THese words, [My son▪] are used more than sixteen times in this Book. It is therefore well worth our inquiry, what particular persons Solomon designed by that relative compellation.  
First, Negatively: know that Rehoboam, Solomon's son begotten by him, (heir but to two parts of twelve of his Father's Kingdom, but not to the hundred part of his wisdom) was not particularly reflected at herein, nor any other of his bodily extraction; where, by the way, though we read of Solomon's Wives and Concubines, we can give but a slender account of his Children, finding but one Son, and two Daughters, 1 King. 4. 11, 15. And probably, he was not fruitful in issue, proportionably to his marriages.  
2. Nor Positively: know Solomon was but the instrumental Pen man, God's Spirit the principal Inditor of this Book. And as our Saviour said, Mat. 12. 50. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, sister, and mother; So, whosoever shall attentively hear, and conscionably practise the precept in my Text, the same is the beloved son, and dear daughter therein intended, My son, give me thy heart.  
3. We will begin with a brief paraphrase on each word, so to disincumber them from all show of difficulty, and then by God's assistance shall raise one staple Doctrine, prove and apply it.  
4. Give] not sell, we ought not to be saleable in God's service, having mercenary souls, chiefly aiming at our own interest. Indeed, we may, and must with Moses, Heb. 11. 26 have respect unto the recompense of reward; we may look to it, and  
was taken from him, and given to his companion. Then surely God will not hold them guiltless, who having first given him their hearts, afterwards take them away again, and confer them upon the world and wickedness. 2 Tim. 4. 10. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed.  
1. Come we now to confute those flammes, which the world, the flesh and the Devil, commonly suggest to men to deter them, or at the least to detain them from giving their hearts to God. Indeed I could give them better terms, as to call them pleas, pretences, excuses; but flammes is even good enough to express them.  
2. First, they allege for themselves, that in case they should give their hearts to God, they must presently take a final farewell of all comforts and contentments in this World. Hereafter (say they) we must expect to live a dismal, dreary, doleful, discontented, disconsolate life: no spark of pleasure, mirth, and jollity, but a lifeless heartless life, when we have given our hearts unto God.  
3. Answer, I know not whether this flame hath more of folly, or falsehood therein. Such needless fears and Jealousies the Devil starts in men's apprehensions. The Jews were afraid in case they did permit our Saviour publicly to preach amongst them, John. 11. 48. That the Romans would come and take away from them both the place and nation. Whereas indeed it had been the only way to prevent their invasion, seeing the putting of Christ to Death, did not only accelerate, but cause the ruin of their Nation. Thus men suspect that the giving of their hearts to God will mar their mirth, and destroy their delight for the time to come, whereas on the contrary, it is the only way, for the continuance, increase, and improvement thereof.  
4. True it is, it will retrench that Mockmirth which ends in mourning, that joy not to be rejoiced in, it will defaulk those exorbitances and extravagances of Carnal pleasure, wherein wicked men lay out their souls. But the tree of true joy shall thrive the better for the cutting off of these suckers. Yea, which is more, a soul is utterly unacquainted with virgin, delibated, and clarified joy, until such time as the heart be given to God, from which moment all true joy beareth the Date thereof.  
5. It is worth our observation to mark the difference betwixt the old Translation (made according to the vulgar Latin) and the new, conformed to the Original in the rendering of the eighth Verse of the fourth Psalm.  


Old Translation.  
Thou haste put gladness in my heart: since the time their corn, and wine, and oil increased.   

New Translation.  
Thou haste put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn, and their wine increased.    
Here we may see that oil (to bring in three staple Commodities of the Land of Canaan) is inserted in the Vulgar without any warrant from the Original; we cannot but dislike such an addition, more than what is warranted in the Original; otherwise the Doctrine had been true in itself, though putting in honey, balm, all other commodities which that Land did afford. All of these could not equal that gladness of heart, which the Spirit of God puts into a Christians soul, after his heart is freely given to God's service.  
6. The second flame: if we give our hearts to God, we shall want one to discharge our several Relations to our wives, children, friends, neighbours, and acquaintance. God will so engross and monopolise our hearts to himself alone, we shall want the use of them, to all other purposes, and intents, where we stand engaged.  
7. Answer. This flame hath as much folly and more malice than the former. Give thy heart to God, and he will return it unto thee during thy life, (and what needeth any longer term?) therewith to discharge thy Relations better than ever before. A heart given to God will rule thy paces unto thy wife's bed, to keep thy affections loyal unto her without any wand'ring. In a word, it is so given to God, that it is still kept to thyself, to perform all those offices, which are according to God's command.  
8. Third flame, But my heart is so bad, it is not worthy God's acceptance, who justly will cast it away, both the gift & giver thereof. All the bad Epithets given to a heart in the Scripture, centre and unite themselves in the mind, yea concur in the constitution thereof. An obstinate heart, Deut. 2. 30. A froward heart, Psal. 101. 4. A proud heart, Psa. 101. 5. A perverse heart, Prov. 12. 8. A haughty heart, Prov. 18. 12. A stout heart, Esa. 9 9 A stony heart, Ezek. 11. 19 A hardened heart, Mar. 8. 17. A heart slow to believe, Luke 24. 25. An uncircumcised heart, Act. 7. 51. An impenitent heart, Rom. ●. 5. And what else soever is found in Scripture sounding to the disgrace thereof. If therefore I should give so bad a heart to God, he would refuse it, and return it to me in his just displeasure.  
9 I answer, if this flame cometh from a Hypocrite and Dissembler, it is utterly unworthy that any answer should be afforded thereunto. But if it come from a penitent soul, sadly sensible of its own badness, (as in charity we are bound to believe the best) it deserveth a better name than a flame, yea, is a hopeful and happy symptom (though of weak) of true grace in the party propounding it. Happy that man, blessed that woman, who from a feeling of their own unworthiness, make this sincere complaint.  
10. Be it known then to their comfort, that if they had a better heart, than this, whereof they complain, and did begrudge and repine to bestow it on God, yea, did keep and reserve the same for the service of Satan, and their own wicked lusts, than this were in them notorious and unpardonable Hypocrisy. But if this (as bad as it is) be the best heart they have, they may, yea must give it to God, and from him shall receive the same in a New edition bettered and amended. Thy obstinate heart shall be made obedient; thy froward heart, forward in God's service; thy proud heart, humble; perverse heart, pliable; haughty heart, submiss; stout heart, complying heart; stony heart, fleshy; hardened heart, soft; heart slow, quick to believe; uncircumcised heart, circumcised; impenitent heart, repenting, etc. The only way to get thy heart reform, is, to give it to God, who will create a new heart in thee, according to David's desire.  
11. Let us instance in three motives to quicken our performance in this duty. The first may be drawn from the dignity of the party desiring it; God, who might command, seems in some sort in the Text to request. These last ten years have made a sad change in many men's conditions. Such who formerly relieved others, have since received relief from others. Need hath taught many an ingenuous tongue, a language, wherewith formerly it was unacquainted. It may move a miser's heart to pity to hear them beg, (not through default of their own) who had a hand and heart to distribute to others. But ought we not to be affected with the motion made in the Text, wherein the great God of Heaven seemeth in some sort to wave his Might and Majesty, and in Trial of our Towardness and tenderness, becomes in the nature of a Petitioner unto us, my Son give me thy heart, or at least wise, doth only desire, what he may demand as his due, yea command as his right belonging unto him.  
12. Second motive may be drawn from the deserts of the Party, he is worthy (say the Pharisees of the Centurion to Christ) For whom thou shouldst do this thing, for he loveth our Nation, and hath built us a Synagogue, Luke 7. 5. Many and great are the endearments and obligations, which God hath put upon us, he loadeth us daily with benefits, Psal. 68 19 (though we make but light of that load) as appeareth by our constant ingratitude.  
13. The last motive may be taken from the danger of denial: for be thou well assured, if thou refuse to give God thy heart, it will not remain thine long, to thy comfort. If any special friend, so honest, that he would not deceive thee with false frights, and so wise that he could not therewith be deceived by others, should seriously inform thee, that this Night, thou should be plundered of a Jewel of great value, which thou hast in thy house, & should request it of thee, to secure it for thee (in the best acceptation of the word) promising safe keeping, and seasonable restoring thereof; Surely thou shouldst discover little discretion to run the hazard of a Robbery, and refuse so fair and civil a motion for thy own advantage. Know in like manner, the world, flesh, and Devil, one or all of them, will purloin thy heart from thee, and imbezle it to thy destruction. In prevention whereof, do thou make a Friend therewith, and speedily bestow it, where it may be preserved for thee. Adam himself, though armed with Original Integrity, how ill he kept his own heart, we his Posterity may sadly bemoan: despair thou therefore to be the Treasurer of thy own heart, thou canst not lock it so fast, but sin or Satan by force or fraud, will command and cozen thee out of the possession of it, if it be not solemnly given to God himself.  
14. And now, as once the Eunuch said to Philip, Acts 8. 36. See here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptised? so behold here all the requisites to a deed of gift, what is it that debarreth us, but that instantly this transaction of our hearts may be completed? Here we the Granters are present, and I charitably presume have our hearts in a spiritual sense, here within us; here is God the Grantee, who hath promised, where two or three are met together in his name, to be in the midst of them; here are witnesses enough, seeing he who as party to one deed (wherein himself is concerned) may be a witness to the grant of another, and legally attest the truth thereof. Nor is there any need of counsel of public Notaries to draw up and engross an instrument herein, seeing nothing is required to the giving of the heart save the giving of the heart; the more simply, the more surely it is pefrormed.  
15. O the commendable simplicity of former Ages, and their plain dealings in bargains and seals: what their hearts thought then tongues said; what their tongues said their teeth sealed, whose seals of brickle dough held better to all purposes and intents than ours of the most tenacious wax: how many Manors in those days were conveyed in few words, From me and mine, to thee and thine; where, as now, a span of ground can scarce be conveyed under a span of parchment, such is the litigiousness of our Age.  
16. But know, in giving our hearts, we are to deal with him who is the searcher of the hearts, and who hateth all ceremonious compliments, preferring downright sincerity. Indeed, if the head was to be given, some might conceive it fit and necessary that the tongue and brains thereof should be employed in making a large and eloquent Oration at such transactions; but the heart being now to be given, it may be done with silence and sincerity, with a serious promise, from this very moment to consecrate the same totally and finally to God's service.  
17. I have read of james the fourth, King of Scotland, that on his deathbed he bequeathed his heart to the Lord Douglas, to carry the same to jerusalem, and to see it buried by the grave of our Saviour, which the Lord performed accordingly; and in avowance thereof, the Honourable Families of the Douglasses at this day, give a heart proper in the Base-point of the Shield.  
18. Some will praise the officiousness of a Servant in doing his Master's command, but none can excuse the superstition of the Master, save only by charging it on the erroneous devotion of those dark days he lived in: but let not us delay it till our death, but in our life-time in the height of our health, wealth, and prosperity, let us not send by others, but give ourselves, not our carnal, corporeal heart, but our spiritual heart, (I mean, all the powers and faculties of our souls) not to be interred in the material grave of our Saviour, but to be buried with him in true mortification, which will be truly to practise the precept given in my Text, My son, give me thy heart. Amen.  
FINIS.   

THE TRUE PENITENT.  Prov. 28. 13. — He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin, shall find mercy. 
LONDON. Printed for JOHN STAFFORD at Fleet-bridge. 1655.   

The true Penitent.  LUKE 22. 61. And wept bitterly. 
TWo men do not more differ one from another, than the-selfe same man at several times, differs from himself. Behold a Christian at the High-water-mark, when 'tis Springtide of Grace with him, and how full is he fraught with pious Meditations? Good Thoughts, godly Words, gracious Works, so that one would think he would instantly steer from Holiness to Happiness. (The Top of Grace confines with the Bottom of Glory) and wonders to see so much Triumphant Sanctity in a Militant Christian. But now look on the same Man, at Ebbing Water, when left to himself in the Agony of a Temptation, and how much shall we find him disguised from himself? All his former good motions dead and buried, and in their room ariseth another Generation, which never knew Joseph. Dismal Thoughts, desperate Words, damnable Deeds, one would fear he would suddenly fall into the Bottomless pit, but one Hairs breadth betwixt him and Hell. Woeful the soul who comes so near, yet blessed the soul who never comes nearer. We need not go farther for a pregnant proof thereof, than to the Example of S. Peter, in this Chapter. How promise-valiant was He, never to forsake his Master? And yet in the time of trial, how basely did he behave himself? Thus every one can conquer a Temptation, but He who is assaulted with it, and when it is brought home to our heart, There is the Man, yea, there is more than the Man, yea, there must be a God to assist the Man, to subdue and overcome it.  
2. But as the sickness of Lazarus, so the sin of Saint Peter was not unto death, but for the Glory of God. Rejoice not over me, O mine enemy; for though I fall, yet shall I rise again. Soon after the Lord looked, the Cock Crew, and the day dawn'd in the heart of Saint Peter, out he hasts of the High Priests Hall; Privacy complyes best with Repentance. No such company for a Penitent, as only himself and his God, and now all alone he gives himself over to Lamentation. He smote the stony Rock also, and waters gushed forth; so that rivers Ran in desolate places. Cephas a stone, Peter, a rock, smitten with the sense of his sins, flows with plentiful rivers of Sorrow. O Happy day of his Repentance! day, which had a fair afternoon, but a very rainy morning, And he went out and wept bitterly.  
3. And wept bitterly. The Text contains the Cure for the falling sickness of the Soul, and is so short that it needs no division, only (to avoid confusion) I will handle it, first, in reference to Saint Peter, then in application to ourselves; mean time let none be offended at me, that clean through my discourse, I call him S. Peter, though then in the midst of his misery whom some will not style so, though now in the height of his happiness. Sure their taking of the Saintship from those in heaven, hath added no more holiness to themselves on earth. But, such Honour have all his Saints, that they are to be mentioned with honour. And see the Patent of Peter's Saint-ship penned with his tears in my text, written out so much the more fairly, by how much it was the more blurred. And wept bitterly.  
4. In reference to S Peter, three pertinent Questions must be propounded, & answered. The first, Why did S Peter take on so heavily, seeing so much may be said for lessening his fault? and though not wholly to excuse, in great degree to extenuate his offence. For first, it was but a sin of Infirmity, done besides, yea, against his purpose and intention. He did not with a high hand tempt a temptation: but alas! his Heart was too great for his Heart, his Will to promise too great for his power to perform. Secondly, a forcible Motive moved him thereunto, namely, fear to lose his life. It was not S. Peter, but S. Peter's Passion which denied his Master, or rather, he did but reserve himself to confess him at a fitter opportunity. Thirdly, As the Spouse in the Canticles saith, I sleep, but my heart waketh; So Saint Peter might say, My mouth renounceth my Master, but my mind doth retain him. The Denial is but from the teeth outwards, o'er, non cord. Lastly, the lameness of his Lie may be hidden or helped, by lending it the Charitable Staff of an equivocation, Verily I know not the Man, that is, I know him not with intent to tell you of him; or I know no such mere man as you mean, for my Master is both God and Man.  
5. The Answer to this Objection is easy: For, S. Peter did not look on such Passages, as might lessen his Fault, but only observed such Circumstances, as tended to the Heightening, Extending, and Aggravating thereof. As for Equivocation, that sluggish Piece of Popery, could not be so early a riser, as to be up in the Church in the twilight, and first dawning of the Gospel. For first, S. Peter did consider, that he was forewarned, and therefore should have been forearmed. He could not plead that he was surprised on a sudden, Christ having given him before a Caveat thereof. Secondly, He did it against his free Promise, and flat Protestation; as if Child's play, too mean for men, were good enough for God, fast and loose, bind and break, solemnly say one thing, and presently do another. Thirdly, He did it Thrice: Once may be imputed to Incogitancy, Twice ascribed to Infirmity, but Thrice is uncapable of any charitable Comment. So that Favour itself must be forced to condemn it for a wilful Offence. Lastly, It was not a bare Denial, but a Denial embossed with Oaths, and embroidered with Curses, such is the Concatenation betwixt one Sin and another. The Naturalists report of the Providence of the Pismire, that when she storeth up Grain for the Winter, she biteth off both the ends of the Corn, thereby to prevent the growing thereof. But if we should be so unhappy as to commit one Sin, O let us with speedy repentance spoil the procreative power thereof, before that One Sin hath begot another: for how quickly did S. Peter add Swearing to Lying, and Cursing to both?  
6. Thus the Ears and Eyes of S. Peter were only open to hear and see such matters as most made against him: learn we from him, to measure the dimension of a sin, and not to listen to what Flesh and Blood may prompt us, for the lessening of our Offences. Mattereth it not then, though we cannot measure the Compass of the Earth, take the Height of the Heavens, if we can, by the jacob's Staff of God's Word, take the true Altitude of our heinous transgressions: If there be any Circumstances which tend to the extenuating of our Faults, though we should chance to lose them, God's goodness will find them; and if we should forget them, he would remember them. Let us look seriously on such things as render our faults the foulest; following the Example of S. Peter in my Text, Looking upwards, he seeth God threatening, downwards, the Devil insulting within him, his Conscience raging without him, Good men mourning, Bad men mocking, that the first of the Apostles, S. Peter, in the Publick'st of Places, the High-Priests Hall, before the Profanest of Persons, the High-Priests Servants, at the Weakest of Motives, the Summons of a Maid, did the worst of Actions, Deny his Master, Once, and not touched thereat, Twice, and not troubled thereat, Thrice, but there he stopped, but there he stayed, but there he stinted: And he went out and wept bitterly.  
7. The second Question here to be demanded, is this, Wherein consisted the validity and efficacy of the weeping of S. Peter, that thereby he obtained his Pardon?  
8. To this we answer, First Negatively. The virtue of his Weeping did not consist in his Weeping, for by the bare Deed done, did redound neither Good to him, nor Glory to God. If God be thirsty, he will not tell us, nor drink of the buckets of our tears. For all the Rivers of the Field are his, and so are the Fountains on a thousand Hills. I could both sigh and smile, at the simplicity of some Pagan People in America, who having told a Lie, used to let their tongue's blood in expiation thereof. A good Cure for the Squinancy, but no Satisfaction for Lying. And if not Red tears, then much less White tears, are in themselves, any ways expiatory of the least sin. Now, Positively, Herein was the virtue of St. Peter's Weeping, which procured his Pardon, that his Weeping was washed in the blood of his Saviour: In vain had Peter wept, had not Christ first bled for Peter. Could the eyes of a Penitent vie moisture with the Month of April? All were to no purpose, without relating by Faith to Christ; such Prodigal weeping would sooner drown the Sinner, than wash a Sin. It was not the Water, but it was that Soap, Malac. 3. 2. which did rinse the soul of S. Peter.  
9 By the way we must observe, that all people are not bound to weep for their sins, because some cannot, by reason of natural impediment. There is genus siccoculum, people, whose eyes by nature are like the Pit, into which Joseph was put, wherein there was no water. Others there be, whose grief is too great to be managed by weeping. And as the tears are even ready to sally out of their eyes, they are countermanded back again with amazement and stupefaction: therefore those Mothers, who want Milk, are not bound to suckle their own Children, but either to bring them up by hand, or to provide a Nurse for them; so God expects not that those should weep, whose eyes are dry Nurses, but that some other ways they express their sorrow for their sins. And commonly such people, though they are water-bound, yet will not be wind-bound too, but what they spare in tears, they spend in sighs. Such persons are not to be reproached, but pitied, as lacking an outlet for the exportation of their sorrow; & it is to be feared, that Grief will wrong the Vessel the more, for lacking a vent; a favour, which Nature afforded to St. Peter in my Text: For He could go out and weep bitterly.  
10. The third and last Question to be propounded, is this: Suppose S. Peter had died suddenly, immediately after his denying of his Master, and just before his Repentance; What then had become of the soul of S. Peter?  
11. I answer: First, As is the Mother, so is the Daughter: an Impossible Supposition hath begot and brought forth an Impossible Conclusion. Suppose that the Sun had been quite put out in the last Eclipse, whence then should the torch of the Moon, and the taper of the Stars be lighted? Suppose that Abraham had really sacrificed Isaac, when he did but offer him, who then had been the Father of jacob? To come closer to the question. It was impossible for Peter to die before his Repentance; not but that he was mortal in himself (any Arrow in Death's Quiver might have wounded him to the heart, a Fever burn him, a Dropsy drown him, any deadly Disease surprise him) but because his life, as well natural, as spiritual, was hid with Christ in God, Col. 3. 3. whose wisdom, as it had permitted his Fall, so his goodness had decreed his Recovery.  
The Bones in the blessed body of our Saviour, were frangibilia, but not frangenda; they were breakable in their own nature, but could never actually be broken, as being secured from all possibility of fracture, by that Prophecy premised, A bone of him shall not be broken. In like manner, seeing God had determined the salvation of St. Peter; Heaven and Earth might sooner pass away, than he fall finally, in spite of Sickness, and Death, and Sin, and Satan, and Hell itself, he must rise, he must survive, he must recover. But, not forced with the strength of the Supposition, but out of good will, to gratify ingenious Adversaries, be it granted, that S. Peter had died suddenly, after his sin, and before his explicit, actual repentance for this particular fault; yet I say, his soul had gone to Heaven. For, consider first, Though the Boughs of his sins spread wide, and Branches sprouted high, yet the Root thereof was but humane Infirmity, consistent with saving Grace. And though he denied his Master Thrice, yet it was but Once in efeffect, All in one continued Hot blood, his soul being never cooled, or reinforced with new thoughts. Secondly, He had in him true repentance, quoad principium gratiae, an habitual Repentance, which through God's Mercy, and Christ's Merits, was sufficient for his salvation. If any dissent from me herein, because I make Habitual Repentance, like Janus, to look as well forward as backward, effectual for the remission of future, as well as past-sinnes; let such consider with themselves, First, they cannot, but must die. Secondly, they cannot, but must sin, and it is possible they may suddenly; guilty of sins of infirmity, actually unrepented of. In such a case their judgement will not allow Purgatory: Their will cannot endure Hell, Heaven is the place which they hope and desire to go to, wherefore what favour they expect for themselves, let them charitably allow to S. Peter. But what go we about to do? the Text takes away the subject of the Question, whereof we dispute, Peter did revive, and recover, witness his sighing, his sobbing, his weeping, his wailing in my Text.  
12. The use of this might serve to confute the censoriousness of many in this Age, who seeing their Brother guilty of a grievous sin, presently condemn him for A Reprobate and Castaway. Thus the Poor man's Soul, cast by his own sins to Hell's Brink, is thrown down by other men's Censures to Hell's Bottom. It is reported, of john Duns Scotus, the great School man, that being in a strong fit of an Apoplexy, the standers by conceived him to be dead indeed. Whereupon, out of the cruel kindness, and over-officious forwardness of his Friends and Kindred, he was buried as yet being alive, and afterwards knocked out his brains against the sides of the Coffin. Thus the precipitate hastiness of some censorious people, beholding their brother in a desperate sin, or deep temptation, bring no Cordials, but call for a Coffin, vote him spiritually dead, and instead of rubbing him, fall a winding him. They conclude, there is no hope, there is no help, he's passed sense, he's past saving, he's gone, he's given over to a reprobate mind, no way with him but one, and that is eternal damnation. Thus they bury men's souls alive, and (as much as lies in their power) tumble them into the bottomless pit; though the best is, such uncharitable carriage more hurteth the Doers than the Sufferers. Whereas men should know, that every wound in the soul, which is Mortal, is not mortiferum; And that it cometh to pass in the Christian Combat, what often happeneth in Bodily Battles. Fame's Trumpet kills more than the Sword, and many, reported by People to be slain overnight, are found alive in the morning, though (perchance) sorely wounded, or taken Captives. Sorely wounded! but so as they may be cured. Taken captives! but so as they may be freed by God's pardon on their repentance, like S. Peter in my Text, who went out, etc.  
13. So much of the Text, in reference to S. Peter: Come we now to the application unto ourselves. The Pope pretendeth to be the only Successor of S. Peter, but in this respect we all are his Successors; we all have followed him, we all have sat in his Chair, we all have denied our Master, though not Formally, totidem verbis, yet Equivalently, and it is to be feared, some of us Transcendently. There be divers degrees, and different manners of denying of Christ; some deny him Totally, as Apostates; some Partially, as Profane people; some in his Essence, as Atheists; some in his Deity, as Arians; some in his Humanity, as Nestorians; some in his Merits, as some Proud Papists; some in his spiritual Dominion over them, as all Licentious People. If I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of Hosts: Mal. 1. 6. so that they who call God Master with their mouths, and do not honour him in their hearts by their lives, do in effect Deny him, and Un-master him, as much as lieth in their power.  
14. Saint Paul complaineth, (Titus 1. last ver.) of some who profess that they know God, but in works they deny him. And S. Peter comes closer (second Epist. Cap. 2. ver. 1.) even denying the Lord that bought them. And the same reproof is echoed by S. Judas, ver. 4. turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. The best of us all, in some measure, have been guilty hereof, and have abused our Christian Freedom, the more freely to abuse Christ who gave it us. Wherefore, as we have been like S. Peter in Sinning, let us be like S. Peter in Sorrowing, let us go out, not with outward Moving, but inward Mending; not shifting our Place, but changing our Practice, go out of our Sins, go out of ourselves, go out to our Saviour, go out and weep bitterly.  
15. Yea, but may some man say, I never could, nor shall weep bitterly for my sins. I am affected for outward afflictions, like Rahel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted. If I have a Ship sunk in the Sea, I can almost again drown it in my weeping. But alas! when I am to sorrow for my Sins, no Tears, as Voluntaries, proffer themselves to my service. And I have much ado to Press any to bewail my Wickedness, yea, I have grieved more for one Temporal Cross, than for all the Sins I ever Committed: which makes me to fear, that for want of bitter weeping here, I shall go to the place of weeping and wailing hereafter.  
16. If any penitent Soul doth stagger with this Objection, let him stay himself with these following Meditations. First know, that Sorrow for Sufferings must of necessity be more Violent and Passionate, than our Sorrow for our Sins. First, because it is not only a Pure, Virgin, & Delibated Sorrow, but hath much of the mixture of Impatience, Discontentment, and Rebellion against Divine Providence. And these make the Sorrow more Vocal, Clamorous, and Obstreperous. Secondly, because we Sorrow for our Sufferings, with the whole man; and for our Sins, but with half the man, only our Regenerate Part, our Sanctified Moiety. For our Flesh, all the while, laughs at Sin, and delights in it. Thirdly, because Sorrow for our Sufferings makes an immediate impression upon our bodies, whereas sorrow for our Sins works directly on the Soul, and on the Body, but by the by, and at the second hand, Now, although all Sorrow doth flow from the Soul, as the Fountain; yet because it runneth through the Body, as the Channel, and from thence is furnished with outward Expressions (as Tears, Sighs, Cries, rending the Hair, wring the Hands, and the like) hence cometh it to pass, that Sorrow for Sufferings is best stored with plenty and variety of outward lamentations.  
17. For a second Comfort take this. Though Sorrow for Sufferings be more Passionate, Sorrow for Sins is more Permanent. David saith, Psal. 51. 3. And my sin is ever before me. As the Sin, so the Sorrow of a Saint is ever before him, morning, evening, early, late, day, night; he may go away with it, but cannot run away without it. Again, Sorrow for Sin doth grieve more, though it doth complain less, which will appear by comparing of Two sick Persons, one having the Toothache, the other the Consumption: He that hath the Toothache, cries out most, even to the disturbing of the standers by; and no wonder, if where the mouth be Plaintiff, it complaineth aloud of its own grievances: and yet all know the Toothache not to be mortal; it hath raised many from their Beds, sent few to the Grave, hindered the sleep of many, hastened the death of few: Whereas he who hath the Consumption, doth not roar, nor rage, nor cry out, and the little breath left in his bad lungs, he layeth out, rather than in living, than in sighing. And yet sure his grief is the greater, as knowing that he carrieth, though the easiest, yet the surest death about him. And such is a Saints Sorrow for his Sins, low and silent; the less grieving he keeps, the more grieving he keeps; the less he expresseth the more he retaineth. It is a continual dropping, and you know it is the sober rain which maketh the earth drunk.  
18. Third and last Comfort. Know, that our Sorrow for our Sins, though little in itself, is great in God's acceptance and Appreciation. Well doth any wise earthly Prince know how to value the liberality of his loyal Subjects, who shall assist him in his great want with a small sum of money, especially if he knoweth that they are deeply impoverished & struggle with their necessity, which makes his gracious goodness to interpret a small gift a great one, coming from a large Heart, confined to a narrow Estate. But far better doth the King of Heaven know how barren we are in Grace, how beggarly in Goodness, so that sorrow for our Sins comes from us with great difficulty and disadvantage, we are fain to strive and struggle against our corruptions, before one tear be extracted.  
Spigellius in his Book of Anatomy, telleth us, That many English Mothers and Nurses have a foolish custom to swaddle the breasts of their newborn Babes overhard, and so straiten their stomaches, that their lungs cannot dilate themselves in breathing: and this (by the way) doth he say is the cause why more die of the Consumption in England, than in any other Country. Sure I am, that by the wilful folly of our first Parents, Adam and Eve, before we had our Birth, when first we had our Being, we were so soul-bound with sin, and hard tied with the bands of Original Corruption, that it hindereth the spiritual breathing of all our affections. Yet God is pleased to take our Widow's Mite of Sorrow in good worth, knowing it proceds from poverty; yea, which is more, Heaven can smile to see a sinner grieve, that he cannot grieve for his sins; and God is pleased to see him squeeze the bottles of his eyes, though he can wring no moisture out of them. Twist these several Cords together into one Cable of comfort, which tied to the Anchor of hope, will keep the pensive soul from sinking in despair, though he cannot weep so bitterly for his sins, as he doth for outward afflictions.  
19 However, seeing it is the bounden duty of all, to endeavour to sorrow for their sins; this serves to confute the jollity of this Age. Wherein, instead of weeping bitterly, we have laughing heartily, and quaffing constantly, and faring daintily, and talking wantonly, and lying horribly, and swearing hideously, and living lazily, and dying desperately. In those days the Lord began to cut Israel, short, 2 Kings 10. 23. And God now begins to cut England short, short in men short in meat, short in money, short in wealth, so that it is to be feared, that Great Britain will be Little Britain, and remain great only in her Sins and Sufferings. And is this a time for men to lengthen themselves, when God doth shorten them! Is this a time for people to affect fond fashions, when it is to be feared we shall be all brought into the same fashion of Ruin and Desolation? A strange People! who can dance at so doleful music, as the Passing-bell of a Church and Commonwealth? Take heed, Atheism knocks at the door of the hearts of all men, and where Luxury is the Porter it will be let in. Let not the multiplicity of so many Religions as are now on foot, make you careless to have any, but careful to have the best.  
20. O Beloved, take the Fruit, though you should throw away the Basket though you should slight the Preacher, embrace his Counsel. Think not that Christ will call each of you immediately from Heaven as he did, Saul, Saul, why perscutest thou me? or that with S. Austin, you shall here a voice saying to you, tolle & lege, take up thy book and read: or that with St. Peter, before we repent, the cock must literally crow, and Christ Corporally look upon us. Every reproof of the Preacher, is the crowing of the Cock, every check in your Conscience, is the crowing of the Cock, every spectacle of Mortality presented before you, every affliction inflicted upon you, every motion to Repentance arising within you, is the crowing of the Cock. These you must listen to, and obey. And yet we read of the Sybarites, a luxurious people in Graecia, who, that they might better enjoy their case, and quiet, commanded that no Cocks should be kept in their City, that so they might sleep the more sound, not having their heads troubled with the proclamations of those Heralds of the Morning. So I am afraid there be some that could wish, that there were no more Preachers in England, then at one time there were smiths in Israel, no Cocks to crow, no ways to waken them out of the sleep of their carnal security.  
21. But I hope better things of you, and such as accompany salvation. Neitherneed I to use any other motive to incite you to spiritual sorrow, than the very words of our Saviour, Mat. 5. 4. Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Peter was comforted afterwards, yea, he had an express of Comfort dispatched and addressed to him in particular▪ Mark. 16. 7. But go your way, and tell his Disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Gallilee.  
22. Yea, all God's Saints shall taste of spiritual comfort. As Joshua when he entered to Jericho was careful to spare her house, at whose window the Red Lace did hang out, so God will be careful to preserve such, at whose windows, at whose eyes, Redness made by their mourning, as a sign of their sorrow doth appear, and at the last day, as it is Isaiah. 25. 8. The Lord God will wipe away tears from all their faces. The Papists have a tale, that as our Saviour sweated with carrying his Cross, a worthy woman, one Veronica met him, and gave him a handkerchief therewith to wipe his face. Which rag (they say) still remains at Rome, fit therein to wrap up the rest of their Apocraphal Traditions. Grant it a tale that this Saint gave a handkerchief to him, it is a truth, that he will give one to every good Saint, to take away their tears, and he will wipe the face of that Magdalen, who wiped his feet.  
23. It is reported of Aristotle that great Philosopher, that being unable to unriddle that mystery of nature, the motion of the Sea, impatient of his ignorance, he wilfully drowned himself in that water which Posed him, with these words, Quid ego non capio te, tu capias me, because I cannot conceive thee, thou shalt contain me: no little foolish deed of a great carnal wise man. But seeing that the happiness Heaven mounteth so High, that it cannot enter into the heart of man to conceive it, let us labour so to live here, that in due time going hence, we may enter into those Joys, which cannot enter into us, and be received by that Bliss, which cannot be conceived by our brain, Where amongst many other worthy Saints we shall meet with S. Peter, though not in the Pensive posture wherein we find him my Text, then Singing sweetly, who in my Text went out and wept bitterly. Amen.  
FINIS.   

THE BEST ACT OF OBLIVION.  ECCLES: 12. 1, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. 
LONDON. Printed for JOHN STAFFORD at Fleet-bridge. 1655.   

The best Act of Oblivion.  PSAL. 25. 7. Remember not Lord the sins of my youth. 
IN these four Psalms which immediately follow one another, we may find the soul of David, presented in all the several postures of Piety, lying, standing, sitting, kneeling. In the 22. Psal. he is lying all along, falling flat on's face, low grovelling on the ground, even almost entering into a degree of despair. Speaking of himself in the History, of Christ in the Mystery, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  
2. In the three and twentieth Psalm, he standing, and through God's favour; in despite of his foes, trampling and triumphing over all opposition, The Lord is my shepherd, therefore shall I lack nothing.  
3. In the 24 Psalm he is sitting, like a Doctor in his Chair, or a Professor in his place, reading a Lecture of Divinity, and describing the Character of that man, how he must be accomplished, who shall ascend into the holy hill, and hereafter be partaker of happiness.  
4. In this 25 Psalm he is kneeling, with hands, and voice lifted up to God, and on these two hinges the whole Psalm turneth, the one is a hearty beseeching of God's mercy, the other a humble bemoaning of his own misery. Lent is a season for sorrow, this Week is the suburbs of Lent, this day the leader of this week, Shrove-Sunday, anciently used for penitents confessing of their sins. Wherefore what doctrine more needful in itself, more useful to us, more suitable to the Season, then to shrive ourselves to God on Shrove-Sunday, joining with David in his penitential devotions, Remember not O Lord the sins of my youth.  
5. Which words contain David's Petition to the King of heaven, that he would be pleased to pass an ACT OF OBLIVION, of the sins of his youth. Premise we this, that God cannot properly be said either to remember or forget, because all things always present themselves as present unto him. But in Scripture phrase, God is said then to remember men's sins, when he doth punish them, then to forget men's sins when he doth pardon them. Thus as Moses vailed his face, that he might be the better beheld, so God to allay the purity of his imcomprehensiblenesse with meaner mettle, namely with expressions after the manner of men, to make it work to our capacities, let us praise God for his goodness herein, that whereas we could not ascend to him, he doth descend to us, and let us pray him, that as here he doth cloud the object, to make it fitter for our eyes, so hereafter he would clear our eyes to make them fitter for the object, when in heaven we shall see him as he is.  
6. Before we come to the principal point, we must first clear the Text from the Encumbrance of a double objection. The first is this, it may seem (may some say) very improbable, that David should have any sins of his youth, if we consider the Principals whereupon his youth was passed. The first was Poverty, We read that his Father Jesse passed for an old man, we read not that he passed for a rich man, and probably his seven proper sons, were the principal part of his wealth. Secondly, painfulness: David, though the youngest was not made a darling, but a drudge, sent by his father to follow the Ewes big with young, where he may seem to have learned innocence and simplicity from the sheep he kept. Thirdly, Piety, Psal. 71. 5. For thou art my hope, O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth. And again in the 17 verse of the same Psalm, O God thou hast taught me from my youth: David began to be good betimes, a young Saint, and yet crossed that pestilent Proverb, was no old devil. And what is more still, he was constant in the furnace of affliction, Psal. 88 15. Even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind. The question than will be this, how could that water be corrupted, which was daily clarified? how could that steel gather rust, which was duly filled? How could David's soul in his youth be sooty with sin, which was constantly scoured with suffering.  
7. But the answer is easy, for though David, for the maine were a man after Gods own heart, (the best transcript of the best copy) yet he, especially in his youth, had his faults and infirmities, yea his sins and transgressions. Though the Scripture maketh no mention of any eminent sin in his youth, the business with Beersheba being justly to be referred to David's reduced, and elder age. I will not conclude that David was of a wanton Constitution, because of a ready Complexion. It is as injurious an inference, to conclude all bad which are beautiful, as it is a false and flattering consequence, to say all are honest who are deformed. Rather we may collect David's youth guilty of wantonness, from his having so many Wives and Concubines. But what go I about to do? Expect not that I should tell you the particular sins, when he could not tell his own, Psal. 19 Who can tell how oft he offendeth? Or how can David's sins be known to me, which he confesseth were unknown to himself, which made him to say, O Lord cleanse me from my secret sins. But to silence our curiosity, that our conscience may speak. If David's youth which was poor, painful, and pious, was guilty of sins, what shall we say of such whose education hath been Wealthy, Wanton, and Wicked? and I report the rest to be acted with shame, sorrow, and silence, in every man's conscience.  
8. The second objection hath more difficulty in it, which is this, this may seem but a superfluous prayer of David. For whereas in Charity it may and must be presumed, that David long since had begged pardon for his youthful sins, that upon his begging, God had granted it, that upon his granting God never revoked it. What need now had David to prefer this petition for pardon of antiquated sin, time out of mind committed by him, time out of mind remitted by God?  
9 To this Objection I shape a fourfold answer, First, though David no doubt, long since had been truly sorrowful for his youthful sins, yet he was sensible in himself, that if God would be extreme, to mark what was done amiss, though he had repent of those his sins, yet he had sinned in that his Repentance. Secondly, though God had forgiven David's sins so far forth, as to pardon him eternal Damnation, yet he had not remitted unto him temporal affliction, which perchance pressing upon him at this present, he prayeth in this Psalm, for the removing or mitigating of them. So then the sense of his words sound thus, Remember not Lord the sins of my youth, that is, Lord lighten and lessen the afflictions which lie upon me, in this mine old age, justly inflicted on me, for my youthful sins. Thirdly, God's pardon for sins past, is ever granted with this condition, that the Party so pardoned, is bound to his good behaviour for the time to come, which if he breaks, he deserves in the strictness of Justice to forfeit the benefit of his Pardon. Now David was guilty afterward in that grand transgression of Beersheba and Uriah, which might in the extremity of Justice have made all his youthful sins to be punished afresh upon him. Lastly, Grant David certainly assured of the Pardon of his youthful sins, yet God's Servants may pray for those blessings they have in possession, not for the obtaining of that they have, that is needless; but for the keeping of what they have obtained, that is necessary. Yea, God is well pleased with such prayers of his Saints, and interprets them to be praises unto him, and then these words, Remember not the sins of my youth, amount to this effect, Blessed be thy gracious goodness, who hast forgiven me the sins of my youth. However, here we may see that in matters of Devotion, too much caution cannot do amiss, in the point of Pardon for sins, we cannot seek too oft, shut too safe, bind too sure. And therefore David who prays elsewhere, Lord remember David in his Troubles, he could well be contented God would remember David's Person to protect it, David's Piety to reward it, David's Misery to remove it, wrong done to David to revenge it; but as for David's sins, and especially the sins of his youth, here he lies at another Guard, Remember not Lord the sins of my youth.  
10. Come we now to the principal point, which is this, youth is an age wherein men are prone to be excessively sinful. By youth I understand that distance of age, which is interposed betwixt infancy, and the time wherein nature decays; all the time, that a man in his strength is in his own disposing. Now the reasons, why youth rather than infancy or old age should be prone to wickedness are these: First, because that in youth they first break loose from the command of their masters, Gal. 4. 1. Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but is under Tutors, and governor's, until the time appointed of the Father, which time, though long a coming, when it comes at last, is very welcome to young men. Esay said in his heart, the days for the mourning, for my father Isaac will come shortly, then will I slay my brother Jacob. Thus young men plot, project, and promise to themselves, The days will come, when my Father, or Master, or Tutor, will die, either naturally, or legally, will decease, either in his person, or power over me, and then I'll roar, and revel, and gad, and Game, and Dice, and Drink, and what not? In a word, young men think, that they justly may have an action against their parents, for false imprisonment, because they have unjustly kerbed, and confined their wills; and though they dare not lay their action against their Parents, yet to make the best amends they may to themselves, whom they conceive heretofore wronged with too much restraint, they will hereafter right with too much liberty.  
11. Secondly, because youth is an age, wherein men's passions are most headstrong, violent, and impetuous, so that it may be called the Midsummer Moon, or if you will rather the Dog days of man's life.  
12. Thirdly, because as in youth, men's minds are most strong to desire, so their bodies are most able and active to perform any wickedness.  
13. Lastly, because young men put the day of death far from them. For there is nothing that more frights men from profaneness and into piety, than the serious apprehension of death appearing, with the Arrearages thereof, eternal damnation, in case the party dieth not in the faith and favour of God. Now whereas old men see death in plano, as under their eyes, death is represented to young men in Landskipt, as at a great distance from them. And when old men discourse to young men of death, young men are ready to answer them, as the High Priest did Judas in a different case, what is that to us? look you unto it. The days of a man saith David are threescore years and ten. Now what some men possibly may live to, young men think they certainly must live to, they will not abate a day, nor a minute, nor a moment of threescore and ten, they have calculated their own Nativities, and so long they are sure they shall live.  
14. As for the sins whereof youth is most properly guilty, they are these: First Pride, and indeed, though they, and none else, have any just cause to be proud, yet they have the best seeming cause to flesh and blood. For young men have health, and strength, and swiftness, and valour, and wit, and wisdom too, as they think themselves, though indeed the more fools because they think so themselves.  
15. Secondly Prodigality, for they begin where their Fathers did end, and are (the eldest son especially) in matter of Worldly wealth, as good men at their starting, as their fathers were at the ending of their Race. And commonly it cometh to pass, that where the father like Logic had his fist contracted, the son like Rhetoric hath his hand expanded.  
16. The third sin of youth is Rashness. For as old men, because they are acquainted with the Changes and chances of the world, when they go about any great Action, start all doubts, dangers, and difficulties, probable, and possible, whereby sometimes it comes to pass, that by their tedious tarrying on causeless caution, they lose the advantage of great Actions, which are made to go off with a spring of speedy execution; so on the other side, young men who know little, and fear less, being loath to confess the poverty of their experience by borrowing council from others, rashly run on, often to their hurt, always to their hazard, as if success was bound out of duty, to attend their most desperate designs. Yea, David himself cannot be excused from this sin of Rashness, witness his words to Abigail, the 1 of Sam. 25. 34. As the Lord God of Israel liveth, except thou hadst hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal, by to morrow light, any that pisseth against the wall. A precipitate project, what if the master was wilful, must all the servants be woeful? what if Nabal had been too niggardly of his meat, must David be too prodigal of his sword? Yea, and he binds it too with an oath, so that either he took God's name too vainly in jest, or the innocent blood too sadly in earnest. Rashness is the third sin of youth.  
17. Disobedience to Parents, followeth in the fourth place, a great sin to which young men are much subject, especially if their parents be feeble, and froward, and foolish too, perchance as doting by age, than they are ready to despise them.  
18. The fifth and last sin we insist on is wantonness, the proper and paramount sin of youth, and therefore S. Paul writing to Timothy, 2 Tim. 2. 22. Flee youthful lusts. One might think this precept, to Timothy might well have been spared, considering that Timothy had a weak body, subject to often infirmities, and such sick folk are likely to think rather of a Winding sheet, than Wantonness. Secondly, Timothy was temperate in his diet, daily drinking nothing but water, and such cold liquor was likely to quench all heat of lust, and yet because Timothy though a good man, though a weak, though a temperate man, yet but a man, and a young man, S. Paul thought the precept not improper for the person, Flee youthful lusts. Lust is the fifth sin of youth.  
19 All these five are the sins of youth. Would I could say but as truly these five are all the sins of youth. But alas, youth is capable of, and subject to all sins whatsoever. And yet, though youth be too bad in itself, let us not make it worse than it is; With the fashion of the World, when an offender is guilty of more than he can answer, to charge him with more than he is guilty. Youth may commit all sins, yet all sins are not the sins of youth. A young man may be covetous, yet Covetousness is no young man's sin. Old men would be angry, if they might not keep that vice to themselves. Though perchance they will call it by a more mannerly name of thriftiness. The result of all is this. These five sins are the waiters in ordinary, attending on youth. So that all young Persons are guilty of them in some measure, except God give them a better Proportion of restraining grace. As for sins extraordinary, waiters on youth, they are innumerable, being as many as any other age hath, either inclination to desire, or ability to commit.  
20. We come now to make a twofold Application of what hath been said, the one to young men, the other to old men. But you will say, where shall middle age People be placed? Shall they be wholly neglected in the dispensation of this day's doctrine? I answer, middle age People, shall have free leave and liberty to rank and reduce themselves, either amongst the young, or old persons, according to their own Christian discretions. But I know where I shall find them all, for naturally we all would be young, and therefore to them, amongst the young people, I thus address my discourse.  
21. You young people, ye have heard how youth is an age wherein men are prone to be exceedingly sinful, wherefore as you tender the Glory of God, the health of your bodies, the saving of your souls, let me entreat you to be careful to avoid the sins of youth. It will be your own another day. Remember what job saith, though no doubt an excellent man, Job 13. 26. Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. If you lead dissolute lives whilst you are young, other possessions I cannot promise you, for your Lands may be lost, your goods gone, but this possession ye shall be sure of, (a strange Possession often purchased by Prodigality) you shall possess the sins of your youth, and (if you live so long) in your old age sound smart, for the luxury and intemperance of your youth. Remember also what Solomon saith, Ecclesiastes 11. 9 Rejoice, O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee unto judgement. Which words consist: The first a Concession, The second a Commination; the first a Concession, for it is no positive Command, or rather it is but an interpretative Connivance, not so much given as gotten, and indulgent to the frailty of humane flesh, Rejoice, O young man in thy youth, etc. The second is a Commination, contrary to good Music, it is harshest in the close, I should like the Indentures well but for the condition: But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgement. Will bring thee, which words import two things. First, the unwillingness of youth to come to judgement, Secondly, the unavoidableness, that youth must come to judgement; And how soon you shall come to judgement, is known to God alone. Flatter not yourselves with a fond conceit of immortality. For though the Psalmist saith, a horse is but a vain thing to save a man, yet a very mote is no vain thing to destroy a man. And whosoever shall be pleased to count the number, and mark the age of this Sacrifice in the old Testament, shall find more Kids and Lambs offered, than Goats and old Sheep.  
22. But young men will say, preach you what you please, we will do what we list. Your persuasions shall not befool us out of the pleasures of youth. Yea, this is but an envious discourse. Have ye not read of a Tyrant who having had one of his eyes accidentally put out, cruelly caused an eye of every one of his subjects to be bored out, that they might not mock at his deformity? And so seeing youth is taken away from you, you would put it out in others, persuading them if you could prevail, to deprive themselves of those pleasures, to which youth doth entitle them.  
23. If any such there be that hear me to day, who fasten such envious Comments on my innocent doctrine, I say if any such there be, as I fear there be some, and hope there be few, and wish there were none, to such I say in the holy Irony of the Prophet Michaiah to King Ahab, Go up and prosper. Lard your souls with delight, may your own mind be the only Measure of your Pleasure, carve what you please, and eat what you carve, and much good may that do you which you eat; if it be not bad in itself, it shall never be made worse by my wishes. But as God saith to Daniel, Dan. 12. the last, in respect of his Prophecy, But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, and go thy way till the end be, for thou shalt rest, and stand up in the lot at the end of days: So say I to my Sermon this day, though only in relation to such as count it an envious discourse; Sermon sleep for seven and seven years, yea let the doctrine delivered this day, die for so long time, and when that time is expired, when it is probable enough that the Preacher shall be dead, the Sermon shall new live, and then have a resurrection in the belief of those young men, who now less believe it. The instructions now laughed at, will then be longed for. For indeed, this doctrine will grow the best when it is sown in those furrows, which age hath made in the face. Till then, my Sermon will be contented to bear the burden of Envy, and then they that accuse it, must bear the burden of Folly, when they shall freely acquit it, and flatly condemn themselves.  
24. I come now in the second place (and I hope with better success) to you aged persons, nor let it be interpreted any disloyalty against the crown of your old age, that I address myself to you in the last place; for (if I mistake not) the last, is the first, the close and conclusion the highest place in the Sermon. Let me in all humility advise you, not to repine at God's Providence, because your Youth is past. Course Compliments were exchanged betwixt Pharaoh and Moses at their last meeting, Exod. 10. 28. Pharaoh began, Get thee gone, look to thyself, see my face no more. Moses, though meek, not mopish, returned as short an answer, Thou hast well spoken, I will see thy face no more. The bargain is easily driven, where both parties desire it. ay, Pharaoh cares not for Moses, Moses cares as little for Pharaohs company. In like manner labour to be as willing to lose youth, as that hath been to leave you. Never seek by unlawful ways to woo it to stay one minute longer. Let the departing thereof cost thee not a sigh the more, or a smile the fewer. Is youth gone with the sweet thereof? then it is gone with the sin thereof: Is it gone with the delight thereof? then is it gone with the danger thereof: As hereafter your carnal delight will be the less, so your spiritual joy will be the more, if the fault be not in yourselves.  
25. Secondly, desire not, that as the Sun went back ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz, so that thou mightest be ten days, ten Weeks, ten Months, ten years younger than thou art. Such wishes I am sure are vain, I suspect are wicked. What Soldier having escaped a desperate fight, desireth himself again in the midst of it? What seaman having escaped the Sands and Shelves, wisheth himself there again? and seeing ye have passed salum juventutis, as Tully terms it, the troublesome Sea of youth; why should you wish yourselves in it again? Neither think to say within yourselves, O if we were young again, the time which formerly we misspent in riot, we would hereafter improve in piety. The truth hereof will plainly be perceived, by your well husbanding the life which is left you to God's glory. For he that will not be faithful in a little, will not be faithful in much. He will not be a good husband on the Remnant, would be a bad one, if he had the whole Cloth. It is therefore to be suspected, that in your desiring to be young again, you only make the pretence of Piety, the Pander to your own Profaneness.  
26. Beware therefore that in your old age ye be not guilty of the sins of youth. Gardiner's can tell you, that when Rosetrees are clipped in the month of May, so that then they cannot bring Roses, they do commonly bring them in the Autumn spring, in the month of September. And it is possible, if you have been restrained, either by sickness of body, or natural modesty, or want of opportunity, or restraining grace, from the excrescencies of youth, when you are young, I say it is possible, that you may be visited with such guests in your old age, and make them welcome at your own peril.  
27. And this let me commend unto you, when you survey the sins of your youth, take heed of mistaking your Oblivion, for Innocence, and thinking yourselves free from committing those sins which ye cannot remember. For were we at this instant arraigned for some sins we have done, we would plead, Not guilty. Not that we would be so impudent as to deny them if we did remember them, but we have as clearly forgot them, as if we had never committed them. Lord, thou layest such a sin to my charge, there is some error, some mistake, some other may be guilty of it, but it is not I. But O what is said, Rev. 20. 12. in the description of the General judgement, And the books were opened. The books wherein every one's faults are registered and recorded, the persons who, and with whom, the place where, the time when, and in this point, midnight is as clear a witness as noon day, concurring with the Testimony of our guilty consciences.  
28. Another place of Scripture also deserves your observation, Psal. 50. 21. these things hast thou done, and I kept silence, thou thoughtest, that I was altogether such a one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. I will set them in order. Alas! when we sin, we jumble and confound, and heap, and huddle all together without any order or method. But God in his Book will reduce it into a method.  
Imprimis, such a sin when thou first didst awake. Item, such a one before thou didst rise. Item, such a one before thou wast ready. Item, such a one before thou eatedst thy breakfast. Or else thus: I'll set them in order according to their several matter; The first leaf in the Book is Original sin, and then Actual sins against God; actual sins against ourselves, actual sins against our neighbours; then truly shall we be in the case of Judah, Gen. 44. 16. when the cup was found in his brother Benjamin's sack, and may say with him, What shall we say unto my Lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.  
29. One word more and I have done, and I hope none will censure my Sermon to be too long for this passage that remains, though our sins be set in order, and though the books be opened, be the books never so big, be the volumes never so vast, it matters not how big the books be of the debts we have owed if all be crossed. If therefore we have true interest in the mercies of God, and merits of Christ, we may confidently come, and may comfortably pray, and shall be certainly heard with David in my Text, Remember not O Lord the sins of my youth. Amen.   

A corollary.  
THe Soul of Man as conjoined with his Body, is in Scripture compared to a 
* Job 18. 6. Prov. 20. 27.  Candle: Non although omnes animae sunt aequales, all souls are equal in essence, yet both in operation (wherein they must ask the body leave to exercise itself by its proper organs) as also in duration whilst conjoined here with the body, there is great difference betwixt them. And we may in humble prosecution of the Scriptures Metaphor observe seven Candles in relation to their continuance in this life:  
1. The first and least size is of those who have life in them, but never see light without them.  
2. The second size is of such who are born into this world, but die before the concurrence of their Will with their Judgement, and therefore before their possibility of committing Actual sin, with the Babes of Bethlehem murdered by Herod.  
3. The third is of those who arrive at an ability of Actual sin, yet expire before they have attained unto the Perfection of Youth, with the Children that mocked the Prophet Elisha.  
4. The fourth size succeeds of those who are in the height and heat of their Youth, the proper subject of our foregoing Sermon.  
5. The fifth is of those who cannot be so foolish and fond in flattering themselves, but that they must confess Youth is passed with them, though as yet they are not sensible of any decay in Nature: These are my Pewfellows in age, God grant we may beware the Atheistical inference of those in the 2 Pet. 3. 4. denying the Day of Judgement, because all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation. We are subject to commit the same dangerous mistake in our Microcosm as they did in their great World, and to conclude Death will never surprise because we find not in ourselves any evident and eminent diminution of our strength, being as able and active as ever we have been in our remembrance.  
6. The sixth size is of those whose Almond-tree doth flourish, though the budding thereof be no sign of Spring, but Autumn in them; God grant they may understand the summons of Death, though at distance, listen to, and make good use of them.  
7. The seventh and last size is of such who cannot appear in this place, nor come within the hearing of a Sermon, no Church but a Chimney-corner, or a Bed is the place of their abode, whose Candle is in the socket, and Lamps ready to go out for want of oil to feed them.  
To all these several sizes, I mean to so many of them as are capable of understanding GOD in Solomon speaks, Eccles. 12. 1. Remember now thy Creator. I say now, now is an Atom, it will puzzle the skill of an Angel to divide: now is a Monosyllable in all Learned (and many other) Languages, best otherwise the name should be longer in pronouncing than the thing in continuing. God grant that what size soever the Candle of our life be, we may instantly remember our Creator. Amen.  
FINIS.   

NOTES UPON JONAH.  
By Thomas Fuller.  
LONDON, Printed for john Stafford in George-yard near Fleet-bridge. 1656.   

NOTES UPON JONAH:  

Chap. 1. ver. 1. The word of the Lord came also unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying.  
SOme thing must be premised of the Name, Parentage, Time and Place of this Prophet: His name (JONAH) signifying a Dove in Hebrew, but he answered his Name rather in flying so fast away, than in want of gall, wherewith he abounded.  
Parentage: son of Amittai. Men are differenced in the Bible, 1. by their Fathers: as Benaiah son of Jehoida. 2. Mother's: as Joab son of Zerviah. 3. Husband's: as Mary the wife of Cleophas. 4. Brother's: as Judas the brother of James. 5. Sons: as Simon of Cyrene the father of Alexander and Rufus. But that this Prophet was son to the widow of Sarepta, I believe no more, than that Dinah, Jacob's daughter was wife to Job. Or that Ruth was daughter to Eglon King of Moab: both which are as fond fabled by Jews, as justly rejected by Christians.  
As for the Time and Place of this Prophet when and where he lived, though here omitted, is supplied, 2 Kings 14. 25. He was of Gath Hepher, a City of the Tribe of Zebulon, and lived in the time of joash King of Israel.  
The word of the Lord came.] All Prophets and Preachers ought to have their Patent and Commission from God. How can they Preach except they be sent? Rom. 10. 15. That is, how can they Preach lawfully and profitably, though de facto they preach to their own great harm and others little good. But as long as there is currant coin, there will be counterfeit. Ieroboam's Priests under the Law, and Sheva's Sons in the Gospel, and at this day some who leap from the Loom to the Pulpit. I must confess, an Ass' head was good food in a famine; course meat is dainty when no better can be had. But now (thanks be to God) great is the company of Preachers, able and learned, and for aught I see, the Universities afford more Vinedressers, than the Country can yield them Vineyards. No necessity therefore, that such blind Guides should be admitted.   

Verse 2. Arise and go to Niniveh that great City, and cry against it: for their wickedness is come up before me.  
The words contain Ionah's Commission. The place whither he was sent. What he should do there.  
The Commission, Arise. As if he had said, Thou hast long preached in Israel to little purpose: Great the pains, Small the profit of thy Ministry. I will therefore transplant thy preaching, to see if it will bring more fruit in another soil. It is a sign of a ruin of a Church, when their Pastors are called from their Flocks to go to Foreigners. As jonah, who was here made Nonresident against his will. When the eyestrings are broken, the heartstrings hold out not long after. The Prophets are called Seers, their departure presageth, that their Parishes soon after will die and decay. For sure the Children of Israel prospered not long after, that jonah a star of the first bigness was fall'n from that firmament to arise into the horizon of Nineveh.  
Go to Nineveh that great City.] It is more than probable that this City being the Metropolis of Assyria, was not a little proud of the greatness of it, as able thereby to outface the judgements of God, and to blunt the edge of his revenging sword with the populousness of her Inhabitants, before it could cut clean through them. But let no City, though never so great, thus presume upon her multitudes; the greater, the fairer mark she is for the arrows of God's judgements (though indeed nothing seems great in his eyes save that man that seems little in his own:) and God can quickly subtract in a day by sword, plague and famine, what health, peace and plenty hath multiplied in seven years. This Island since the ends of two Kingdoms, were made the middle of one Monarchy, hath got the addition of Great Britain, yet if compared to the Continent, we may say of it, as Lot of Zoar, Is it not a little one? Isa. 40. 15. Behold the Nations are as the drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of a balance, he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing. Let us the Inhabitants thereof not be proud of the greatness of it, which probably puffed up Niniveh the great City.  
And cry against it.] Ministers must not mutter, but publicly and strongly cry against sinners: First, because sinners are afar off: Isa. 59 2. But your iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God. Mat. 15. 8. Their heart is far from me. Ephes. 2. 13. You who sometimes were afar off. Secondly, because they are deaf. Thirdly, asleep. Fourthly, dead. If any object, why then it is lost labour to cry against sinners, Preaching to the Dead is as unprofitable as Praying for them. I Answer, Not so. For it is said, john 5. 25. The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Too blame then are those that are cruelly kind unto their people in sowing pillows under their elbows. Honey-dewes, though they be sweet in taste, do blast and black the corn: And smoothing of people in their sins, though pleasant to the palate of flesh, damneth and destroyeth the soul. And yet this command to cry no whit favours their practice, who change the strength of matter into stentoriousnesse of voice. Such pieces make a great report with powder, but are charged with no shot, and are useless to the beating down of sin. And it may be said of their crying, that they do but whisper whilst they hollow.  
For their wickedness is come up before me.] What the particular sin of Nineveh was, is not expressed. Some think, had that City been arraigned for the sins of Sodom, it would have been found guilty: And no doubt Sorcery the sin of the East, was no stranger in her own Country, and therefore the Ninevites thereto much addicted. But that Oppression was certainly their predominant sin, may be gathered out of the third of Nahum, ver. 1. O bloody City, it is full of lies and robbery, the prey departeth not. Not content to be a Queen of those Countries she had subdued, she was a Tyrant. So then we see, all sins but Oppression especially, though naturally they tend downwards to their centre, and with their weight press sinners to Hell; Yet they do mount upwards by their cry and clamour, Gen. 4. 10. & 18. 20. It were then an advised way for us to make some counter-sounds to drown the noise of our sins, that God may not hear them. First, by sending up sighs from a penitent heart. Secondly, prayers and alms, Acts 10. 41. Cornelius thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Thirdly, by pleading Christ his merits; That the loud language of his blood may out-noise and silence the cry of our sins. Heb. 12. 24. Yet let Oppressors take notice, that theirs being the sin of Nineveh, as it is of an higher nature, so is it of an higher cry than other sins. And let the remorseless Extortioner take this into his consideration: Hand-mills, though they grind not so much, yet they grind as much to powder as either Winde-mills or Water-mills, which are far greater: though these Oppressors do not mischief to so many as Nineveh did, yet to so many as comes within their clutches; they show as merciless cruelty, and this is a sin will come up before God.   

Verse 3. But Jonah rose up to flee into Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Japho: For he found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare thereof; and went down into it, that he might go with them into Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord.  
But Jonah rose up.] Whose superscription doth this Book bear? Ionah's. Why did he not like Alexander, when he was painted lay his finger on his wart? Why did he not conceal in silence his own faults and infirmities? Why did he paint his own deformity with his own pencil? Because the Penmen of the Holy Word, are unpartial Relators of their own faults, and of them who are dearest and nearest unto them. Who speaks more against David than David? So ignorant was I and foolish, even as a beast before thee. Who accuseth S. Paul more than S. Paul? 1 Tim. 1. 13. I was a Blasphemer, and a Persecuter, and an Oppressor. We learn from S. Stephen, Acts 7. 22. That Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, but in Moses in his own writings, we find no mention or commendation of this his learning. He spared not himself in registering his passion in smiting of the rock, neither spared he to record the cruelty of Levi his Grandfather, the shrewishness of Zippora his Wife, the Idolatry-promoting of Aaron his Brother, the murmuring of Miriam his Sister, the profaneness of Nadab and Abihu his Nephews. This amongst other reasons may be one to prove, that no Scripture is of private interpretation, but that holy men of God wrote it, as they were inspired by God's holy Spirit. Whereas the Books of Heathen Writers are nothing else but the Inventories of their own virtues. What are Caesar's Commentaries, but commentaries on the text of his own valour? But for a man thus far to be unmanned, as to banish self-love from himself, and with jonah, to put his own flight and fault into the Calendar of Eternity. Who sees not the finger of God in Ionah's hand writing this prophecy?  
Sundry carnal reasons may be alleged for Ionah's flight: First, fear of extreme and cruel usage from the wicked Ninevites. Secondly, despair that his preaching barren in Israel should be fruitful in Ashur. Thirdly, the strangeness of the message, distasteful to a Jewish palate, to be sent to the Gentiles. Fourthly, a zeal to his Country, he might perceive that the conversion of the Gentiles would be the eversion of the Jews; and therefore he was loath to be accessary to the destruction of his own Nation. Fiftly, that reason alleged by himself in the fourth Chap. and ver. 2. He feared to be disproved, because God was so merciful. But let his reasons, though never so many and weighty, be put into one scale, and Gods absolute command weighed against them in the other, TEKEL, They are weighed in the balance and found too light. Prosper: Obedientia non discutit Dei mandata, sed facit. The Popish tenant of blind Obedience, is true doctrine in this case; What God commands let's put in speedy execution, without denying or delaying, or disputing the difficulties that attend it.  
To flee.] God bids jonah go, and he flies, he supererogates, but in a wrong work. In him the Proverb finds truth, The more haste, the worse speed. We see then, those that want legs to go in goodness, can find wings to fly in wickedness. The Elders of the Jews (probably aged Grandsires) how late were they up that night our Saviour was betrayed? How early did they rise that morning he was condemned? How duly did they attend the whole day he was crucified? who otherwise (no doubt) would have been in their beds as drowsy as Dormice. It is not therefore the greatness of the strides, nor the swiftness of the pace, but the rightness of the way which maketh our going pleasing unto God. 1 Cor. 9 24. So run that ye may obtain. And if, with David, we cannot run the way of God's commandments, let us go them; if not go, let us creep. And this may comfort us, that though▪ we go not so swift in our calling as we could desire, yet we go in our calling: Our pace, though not fast, is firm; and still by degrees we draw nearer and nearer to that Niniveh, to which God hath sent us.  
To Tarshish.] What and where this Tarshish was, Authors only agree, in disagreeing. Let this suffice: Be this Tarshish in Asia, be it in Africa; Be it City, be it Country; Be it Sea, be it Continent: this sure I am, it was not that Nineveh to which jonah was sent.  
From the presence of the Lord.] It were great ignorance in us to charge jonah with such ignorance, as if he thought it absolutely possible to fly from God's presence: And if he had been so erroneous, he made the most unadvised choice, to fly to the Sea, where there appears the most evident demonstration of God's powerful presence. Psal. 107. 23. They that go down into the Sea in ships, etc. The sight of the Sea might have been a Remembrancer to an Atheist, and put him in mind of a God. Esau went to kill his brother jacob, but when he met him his mind was altered, he fell a kissing him, and so departed. Thus the waves of the Sea march against the shore, as if they would eat it up: But when they have kissed the utmost brink of the sand, they melt themselves away to nothing. And this spectacle must needs make a man acknowledge a Deity. So then, these words to fly away from the presence of the Lord, are not simply to be understood; there being no flying from God, but thus: From God, an angry Judge for our sins; to God, a merciful Father in our Saviour. By this phrase than is meant, He deserted the Office of a Prophet, he forsook and relinquished the Ministerial Function, whereabout God had employed him. Thus to be In God's presence is used in Holy Writ, Deut. 10. 8. The Lord separated the Tribe of Levi to stand before the Lord. 1 Kings 17. 1. As the Lord liveth, saith Elias, before whom I stand. What kind of men than ought we Ministers to be? How decently ought we to demean and behave ourselves, who are Chaplains in Ordinary to the King of Heaven. Every Month is our waiting Month: We are bound to constant and continual attendance. It was the title of the Angel Gabriel, Luke 1. 19 I am Gabriel that stands in the presence of God, i. e. Ever ready to be sent of him in any employment. Now as Angels are Gods Ministers in Heaven, so Ministers are Gods Angels on Earth, and stand in his presence from which Jonah did fly.  
And he went down to Japho, for he found a ship going to Ta●shish.] Japho was the Port of jerusalem, distant from thence some thirty miles, in the Tribe of Dan, afterwards called joppa. Here jonah finds a ship for his purpose; how all things seem to favour and flatter his flight. He lights on a ship, the ship sets sail, and at the first the tide serves, the wind seconds them. Let us suspect ourselves, and search our actions whether they be not wrong, when we run without rub, and sail without remora: For the first entrance into sin is easy and pleasant; whereas in good actions when we begin them, it is a thousand to one, but that the Devil or our corruptions, start some enemies or obstacles to hinder us.  
So he paid the fare thereof.] Jonah herein seems to be a man of a good conscience. Harken ye detainers of the wages of the hirelings: Know that Oppression, the master whom you serve, will deal otherwise with you, than you deal with your servants: For the wages of sin is death, and that shall duly be paid you. And you Servants who have received your hire afore hand, deal not worse with your Masters, for dealing the better with you, but conscionably do your work, that the Outlandish Proverb may not be verified in you, He that pays his Servants wages afore hand, cuts off his right arm: that is, Occasions him to be lazy and slothful.  
That he might go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.] Pharaoh's dreams were doubled, because it was a thing determined by God, Gen. 40. 42. So these words were doubled in the Text, to show that it was no sudden motion or project whereon jonah stumbled unawares, but it was a purpose consulted, concluded, debated, determined. He would, that he would fly from the presence of the Lord. Now, it is the opinion of some, that jonah altered his calling and turned Merchant, but this is more than can be proved out of the words. Traffic in itself is lawful, making those wooden bridges over the Sea, which join the Islands to the Continent, adopting those Commodities to Country's, whereof they are barren themselves by nature. But it is not fitting that the Tribe of Levi should change Lots with the Tribe of Ashur; Or that those who have Curam Animarum, should take upon them Curam Animalium: Apply themselves to Husbandry, grazing, or any Mechanical Trade.   

Verse 4. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the Sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the Sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.  
But the Lord.] Though the man did thus leave his Master, yet the Master will not thus leave his man: but sends a Pursuivant after him. Learn from hence, God is careful for his Servants, though they be careless for themselves. Gen. 19 16. Thus also was God merciful to Thomas, (who, for his temper, may be called, the jonah of the Apostles) making a new apparition for the confirming of his faith, john 20. 26. Let us pray to God, that he would love us to the end; that though we forsake him, he would not forsake us. That though we forget the duty of Children to him, he would be pleased to remember the love of a Father to us. And here we may admire God's goodness to take such pains about the recalling of a froward sinner. Lord! what was jonah that thou shouldst regard him? or the son of Amittai, that thou shouldst visit him?  
Sent out a great wind into the Sea.] God is the commander of the winds, and hath them at his beck as the Centurion had his Servants. He saith to the East wind, Go, and he goeth, Exod. 10. 13. And the West wind, Come, and he cometh, Exod. 10. 19 And to the South wind, Do this, and he doth it, Psal. 78. 16. If it be objected, that the Devil is styled, Ephes. 2. 2. The Prince of the power of the air: and therefore (to give the Devil his due) since wind is nothing else but air moved by vapours: It may seem to be a subject of the Devils Dominions. I Answer, The Devil is no absolute Prince of the air, no Monarch, but only he hath a deputed Command therein under the God of Heaven. And Satan dares not for the fear of a praemunire exceed his commission, and endeavour any thing in the air, without God's express command or permission: Much less can Witches and Conjurers (Lieutenants under the Devil) perform any thing therein. And as for the Heathens fancy, which make AEolus God of the Wind, it is lighter than the wind itself.  
So that the ship was like to be broken.] Here a difficult Objection may be started. How could it stand with God's justice to put so many innocent Mariners in hazard and jeopardy of their lives for the sin of jonah alone? But these Sheep, what have they done? Will God destroy the righteous with the wicked? Shall not the Judge of all the earth do righteously? I answer, first at large. In God's proceedings what we cannot conceive to be good, we must not condemn to be bad: But suspect ourselves, suspend our censures, admire his works, which are never against right, though often above reason. To come nearer: God need not pick a quarrel with man, he hath just matter enough at any time to have a controversy with him, and to commence actions against him. These Mariners, though not guilty with jonah in this particular act; yet had deserved this punishment of God, for their former manifold transgressions, from which no man is free.  
Yet God hastened this punishment upon them for Jonah's presence with them. Wash not in the same bath with Cerinthus, decline the society of notorious sinners, Rev. 18. 4. Gold, though the noblest mettle, loseth of his lustre by being continually worn in the same purse with silver: And the best men by associating themselves with the wicked, are often corrupted with their sins, yea and partake of their plagues. Yet when men are implunged in misery, through the faults of others, and suffer for company for the sins of others, (as men in suretyship, undone by the prodigality of their friends for whom they were bound, Let them reflect their eyes on their own faults, and know that though they be innocent in this particular, yet they have deserved this punishment of God for some other sin. And God may justly take advantage at his own pleasure to inflict the punishment. However, let them know themselves for sinners in an high degree, who involve others within the very and latitude of their own punishments; As drunken Husbands, who by their prodigality drowned their whole Family in a sea of want, making their Wives, Children, Servants, Cattle pinch and pine through their riot, and excess. For our parts let us labour to attain to true piety, that so we may rather be a joseph, whose goodness may make a whole family to prosper; Rather one of those ten Righteous, for whose righteousness a whole Sodom might be saved; then an Achan, for whose sins an Army may be routed; or a jonah, for whose fault, a whole ship full of men was like to be broken.   

Verse 5. Then the Mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast the wares that were in the ship into the Sea to lighten it of them: But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay down, and was fast asleep.  
Then the Mariners were afraid.] These words afford an harder than Sampson's riddle: Out of the Bold came Fear. Out of the Profane, Piety. Out of the Covetous, came Casting away of goods. Mariners they are the hardiest of all people, so always in danger, that they are never in danger, as if their hearts were made of those rocks, amongst which they use to sail, yet see they feared. They are accounted a profane kind of people, a-kined unto the unjust Judge, Luke 18. 2. They are esteemed the Nazareth of the world, out of which cometh no good; Yet see, they pray. They are generally covetous, venturing their lives for lucre: yet see, they cast away their goods. Whence we may learn, that afflictions are able to affright most profane men into piety: whether really inflicted, as unto Pharaoh; or certainly denounced, as unto Ahab. Wherefore, let us labour that we be as good, when afflictions are removed, as when they are inflicted; as pious in wealth, as in want; as well affected in health, as in sickness, that in prosperity we prove not Apostates from those pious resolutions, which we made in adversity. When David had appointed Solomon King, 1 Kings 1. 36. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered, AMEN. And the Lord God of my Lord the King, say, AMEN. So when in afflictions we have made any vows of future piety, if we have deliverance, let us pray to God to ratify and confirm our resolutions; and to give us strength to fulfil and perform them: Lest otherwise we take but a lease of piety, during the term that the tempest doth last, & relapse to our former wickedness when the calm begins.  
And cried every man unto his God.] General punishments must have general prayer and humiliation, otherwise the plaster will be too narrow for the sore. To his God. The ship was fraught with a Miscelanie of all Nations: It was a Babel, and contained a confusion of as many Religions, as that of Languages: None were at a loss for a Deity to pray to. (So an unnatural sin was Atheism) Yet woeful than was the estate of the World, when one could not see GOD for Gods. But let us now be thankful, that as the true Serpent of Moses, eat up and devoured the seeming Serpents which jannes' and jambres the Egyptian Enchanters did make: So now, in the civilised world the knowledge of the true God hath devoured and done away all fancies and fables of feigned Gods. Nevertheless, as the Heathens in this ship, so every Christian may still pray to his proper GOD. My Lord and my God, saith Thomas. I thank my god, 1 Cor. 1. 4. The same is God to all in general, and to each in particular.  
And cast the wares that were in the ship into the Sea.] Skin for skin, and all that a man hath, will he give for his life, Act. 27. Now if life be so dear, how dear is the life of our life, the eternal happiness of our souls? What shall a man gain, if & c? Therefore when it cometh in competition, whether we shall lose our souls, or our goods; let us drown our outward pelf, lest it drown us; let us cast it away, lest we be cast away by it. Woe be to him that loadeth himself of thick clay, Hab. 2. 6. Rather as joseph saved himself from his Mistress, though he left his garment behind him: So it matters not though we lose (the clothes of our souls) our earthly possessions; so be it our souls themselves still remain safe and entire. And if in such a case we must forgo our goods, much more must we forsake our sins which are good for nothing, but to sink us down to destruction, Heb. 12. 1. Le's lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us. And not only pray to God to assists us, but with the Mariners in the Text, back and second our prayers by using all lawful means for our own safety.  
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship.] I here read a contradiction in Jonah's actions: He went down into the sides of the ship; this favours of flight and of fear: And there he slept; this of confidence and security. Yet wonder I not that I cannot make sense of Jonah's actions, who surely at this time could scarce make sense of his own. Sin distracts men, and makes them at the same time embrace contradicting purposes: So that their resolutions fight as the twins in Rebecka's womb, and are as contrary to themselves as to God's laws. See Jonah at one instant, Formidat & audet.  
And lay down, and was fast asleep.] An Emperor hearing of the death of one of his subjects, who was deeply indebted, sent to buy his bed, supposing there was some opium, or soporiferous virtue therein, that he could sleep so sound thereon and be so much engaged. Surely this Emperor would have proved a 〈◊〉 Chapman to have purchased Jonah's ship; who, notwithstanding he had so many things within, without, about, above, beneath to disturb him, yet, as if the rossing of the waves, had been the rocking of this cradle; and the roaring of the winds, Lullabyes in his ear, was fast asleep. Learn, first, it is a great sin with Jonah to be drowsy, when the rest are at their devotion, and yet many such Separatists, and Non-conformists we have, who by their sluggishness divide themselves from the whole Congregation. Indeed, Eutiches had some plea for his sleeping, because S. Paul's Sermon was continued until midnight. But we may say to our people, as our Saviour to his Disciples, What? can ye not watch with me one hour? Secondly, it is a great sin with us (with Jonah) to be secure, whilst we (with others) are in a common danger, and calamity. Consider the present estate of the Christian Church; Is it not tossed with the tempest of war, as bad as Jonah's ship? It lost an Anchor, when the Palativate was lost. It sprung a Leak, when Rochel was taken. One of the main Masts thereof was split, when the King of Sweden was killed. Though we in this Island be safe in the sides of the ship, yet let us not be sleepy as jonah; but with our prayers commend to God the distresses of our Beyond▪ sea▪ brethren; and thank God that we (like Gedeon's Fleece) are dry, when the ground round about is wet with weeping; steeped in tears, bedewed with mourning. Thirdly, persevering in sin besots men, and makes them insensible of the greatest dangers. It makes men like Nabal, their heart dies within them, and they become like a stone; so frozen in their sins, that no fear of Hell-fire can thaw them. Thus David, when he killed Uriah, seemed to kill his own conscience. How was he bereavest of sense of sin and punishment for nine months together; yea, the time of Bathsheba's deliverance was come, but the time of David's repentance was not come. Who ever saw the Sun so long in an eclipse? Let us therefore stop sin in the beginning: For profaneness as well as piety is advanced by degrees, and in the progress thereof, hath certain stages before it comes to the journey's end. Crush it therefore in the first motion before it comes to be a settled thought; in the thought, before it break forth into action; in the action, ere it become a disposition; in the disposition, ere it be an habit; in the infant-habit, before it become inveterate, and another nature. And here also we may see how desperate security in wicked men hath by usurpation entitled itself to be true valour. Men count wicked men full of sortitude, which run on Gods drawn sword without any fear; when alas! it is nothing but a sottish security arising from a seared conscience. Will any say, that it is true valour in a Bedlam that he feels no pain, whose limbs are benumbed and passed sense.   

Verse 6. So the Shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, o sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.  
So the Shipmaster.] The Shipmaster that was, (but now no Master of it, the Tyranny of the tempest Commanding both it and him) begins to bestir him. Great men must not think to be privileged from danger by the eminency of their place. Mordecai to Hester: Think not thou shalt escape in the King's house more than all the jews. Yea, sometimes Great men are in the greatest dangers, they are most aimed at, Fight neither against small nor against great, save only against the King of Israel, 1 Kings 22. 31. Now sithence there was a Governor in a ship, it teacheth us that no company can long subsist without order and superiority one above another: From the Courtiers to the Prisoners, Gen. 39 22. joseph had all the Prisoners in the Prison committed to to his hand. Ten is but a small number, yet Moses made Governors over ten, Exod. 18. 21. Yea, as there is Michael the Archangel in heaven, so is there Beel Zebub the Prince of Devils in Hell: So much order there is in the very place of confusion. Away then with the Anabaptist, who would set all men at odds by making all men even. For a Commonwealth to want Chief, it is the chief of all wants, every man will do what he list, few what they should: too much liberty would make men slaves to their own self-will. Let us therefore be subject to the higher powers, knowing that there are no powers but of God.  
Came unto him, and said.] Every one in authority ought to look unto those which are under their command; otherwise they shall answer to God for such faults as those commit which are under their charge, through their oversight and neglect. Christ is said to have baptised▪ john 3. 23. And yet it is said, john 4. 2. That he himself baptised not, but his Disciples. We see that the deed of the Servants being done by the countenance and command of the Master, is attributed and ascribed to his Master as his own proper work. If the Master hears of his Servants drunkenness, and punisheth it not, it is the Master's drunkenness. If the Master hears of his Servants profaneness, and reproves him not for it, it is his profaneness. Blame-worthy then are those Magistrates who would have the profit, not the pain; the credit, not the care of their place and charge: so that they deal with those that are under them, as David did with Adoniah, they will not so much as trouble themselves to say to Offenders, Why dost thou so?  
What meanest thou, o sleeper!] See here the Gentile teacheth the Jew, the Pagan preacheth to the Prophet, and he is content to hear him. How faulty is their pride, who count it an embasing of their knowledge to listen to the advice of others, who in any respect are their inferiors, joh. 9 ver. 34. Yet David harkened to the advice of Abigail, Abraham to the counsel of Sarah, Apollo's to the instruction of Aquila and Priscilla, yea Solomon (the wisest of earthly Kings) had a Council of Aged men which stood before him. Neither need any man think much to learn of the meanest of men, who may be taught by Pismires and Lillyes. Yet when inferiors on just occasion adventure to counsel those that are above them, that their counsel may better relish, Let it be seasoned with these three ingredients, first, Secrecy. This alone was good in Peter's reproving of our Saviour, Mat. 16. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He took him aside. Secondly, Seasonableness. Abigail, 1 Sam. 25. 36. told drunken Nabal neither more nor less, till the next morning: she thought her physic would work the better, if she gave it him fasting. Thirdly, Humility. Naaman's Servants: Father, if the Prophet had bid thee some great thing, wouldst not thou have done it? 2. Kings 5. 13. They brought not only good Logic, reasoning from the greater 〈…〉 but also good Ethics, Father. These cautions observed, meaner persons by God's assistance, with hope of success, may take upon them to advise their betters.  
Arise, and call upon thy God.] He doth not only reprove him for what he had done amiss, but also directeth him in what he should do well. They are miserable Guides, that tell the wand'ring Traveller, that he hath lost the way, but tell him not how to find it.  
Arise.] Men must put away all laziness, when they prepare themselves to prayer. Indeed, when in sickness we are Gods prisoners, than we can only rouse up our souls and not arise in our bodies; then, with Hezekiah, we may lie on our bed and pray, pleading to God, as Mephibosheth to David, that his servant is lame: But otherwise, Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently. The first fruits of the Ass was not to be dedicated to God in the levitical Law, but the neck thereof was to be broken. Let us break the ass' neck, let us banish all sloth and laziness when we go about to perform any service of God, Call upon thy God.] Because perchance the Shipmaster had a great opinion of the sufficiency of Ionah's God, or because he might have a conceit that Ionah's prayers might be more prevalent than his own. Aeschinus said unto his Uncle Mitio, in the Comedy:  

Tu potius deos comprecare, nam tibi eos certo scio,  
Quo vir melior es, quam ego sum, obtemperaturos magis.   
Or else he only aimed at a general collection of prayers, hoping that that cable-rope would be strongest that was twisted of most several cords.  
If so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.] It is worth our search to know, when these words, If so be God will, are to be inserted into our prayers, and when they must be omitted. When we pray for pardon of our sins, than we must omit them: For God hath said, At what time etc. I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance. Now let us not dispute of what is determined suspect what is sure. God saith, he will. Let us not say, If so be God will. If our repentance be unfeigned, our pardon may be undoubted: In such a case, Let us come to the Throne of Grace with boldness in the assurance of faith, with reasoning, trust perfectly in grace. But when we pray for the removal of punishment, than these words are no Parenthesis, but an essential part of our prayers, than we must submit ourselves not our wills, but thy will be done; then with children we must not cry to carve our own meat, but eat that which God our Father cuts for us, though it be untoothsome for our palates to taste, it is never unwholesome for our stomaches to digest.   

Verse 7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, that we know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.  
And they said every one to his fellow.] The apprehension of the present danger, was the cement that did glue and unite their different judgements and affections, to resolve on that, which they conceived was for their general good. It is likely that the beasts in the Ark when they were in a common danger of drowning did agree together, and for that time dispense with their mutual Antipathies. Grant then that we have several tempers, humours, opinious; yet the apprehension that we have one grand unpartial enemy, the Devil, who like a roaring Lion seeks to devour us: This should make us centre our votes in such resolutions, which are behooveful for all our goods.  
Come let us cast lots.] The use of Lots was very ancient amongst both Jews and Gentiles. They were of three natures, 1. The Lot Divinatorie, used by Haman, Hest. 3. 7. And as for this kind of Lot, it is utterly unlawful, We have no such custom, nor yet the Churches of God. Secondly Divisorie, Obad. 11. Mat. 27. 35. Thirdly Consultory, Leu. 16. 21. Iosh. 7. 18. 1 Sam. 14. 42. These are lawful, if used lawfully, with these cautions: First, in matters of difficulty; As quicksilver in the Iliaca passio, when nothing else can untwine the guts; in perplexed and intricate causes. Secondly, in matters of consequence, otherwise there may difficiles nugae; Riddles not worth the reading. Hard shells without a kernel not worth the cracking. Difficulties which deserve not the resolving. Thirdly, they are to be ushered with prayer, as in the choice of Mathias, Act. 1. Fourthly, that nothing therein be attributed to Chance, Prov. 16. 33. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposition thereof is from the Lord. Whole. Fortune, that God of man's making; is a mere Idol of Dagon: and falls down at the approach of the Ark of GOD's providence: Losing both head and hands, power both to plot and perform. It is not Fortune blind through ignorance that cannot see, But Divine Justice blind through impartiality that will not see, which ordereth the matter. Lastly, no cozenage or deceit is to be used in them. Lots are God's scales, wherein he weigheth matters of seeming equality, and shows which preponderates: they therefore that falsify this balance of the Sanctuary, must needs be abomination in the sight of God.  
Now because Lots may say to Cards, what Naomi said to Boaz, They are near unto us, and of our affinity; something also of the use of them. It were no great harm if there were no other Cards used, than those of Clothiers about wool, and of Mariners in the ship. But as for Cards to play with, Let us not wholly condemn them, lest lacing our consciences too strait, we make them to grow awry on the wrong side.  
Such Recreations are lawful if we use them as jonathan tasted the honey, putting forth the end of his rod he touched a little of it, and his eyes were cleared. But let us take heed of a surfeit, into which those do fall who either play out of covetousness, or for more than their estates can bear, or constantly and continually; all their meat is sauce, all the days in their Almanac play-days, though few Holidays. The Creation lasted but a Week, but these men's Recreations all the days of their lives; such using of lawful exercises is altogether unlawful.  
That we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.] The best man in the ship carried sin enough about him to drown himself, ship, and passengers. But this milk we suck from the breasts of our mother Eve, to shift and post off the fault from ourselves, how guilty soever we are, 1 Sam. 15. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best sheep: Now ver. 15. it is said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep. He that was the greatest in the sin, would not be at all in the shame. Should God scourge this Land with Famine, or any other general punishment, The Courtiers would impute the cause thereof to the Covetousness of the Citizens: The Citizens to the Prodigality of the Courtiers: The Rich to the unthankfulness, discontented murmuring of the Poor: The Poor to the hardheartedness of the Rich: The Laity to the Clergies want of preaching: The Clergy to the Laities want of practising: Every one would post the fault from himself, and be inquisitive with these Mariners, For whose fault this evil was upon them.  
FINIS.