Eight sermons dedicated to the Right Honourable His Grace the Lord Duke of Ormond and to the most honourable of ladies, the Dutchess of Ormond her Grace. Most of them preached before his Grace, and the Parliament, in Dublin. By the Right Reverend Father in God, Griffith, Lord Bishop of Ossory. The contents and particulars whereof are set down in the next page.

THE ONLY VVAY TO PRESERVE LIFE.

Amos 5.6.

Seeke the Lord, and you shall live.

LIght is the first born of all the distinguished Creatures; the first word, that the Eternal Word, after so many ages of silence uttered forth, was, Let there be light; light that giveth life to all Colours, that is the mother of all beauties, which hath no positive con∣trary in nature, which maketh all things manifest, to the detestation of all evil, and the crowning of eve∣ry good, and which is a creature so beloved of the Creator, that he calleth himself by this name, saying, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; and he makes it the most worthy associate of Truth, when he saith, Send forth thy light and thy truth: therefore Light is a Jewel, not to be valued by the judgment of man.

And yet the sight, by which we partake of all the benefits of the light, and without which the light will avail us nothing, nor yield us any comfort, as good old Toby sheweth, saying, Quale gaudium est mihi qui in tenebris sedeo? is but one sense, and but

scarce the fifth part of the happiness of the sensitive Creature; a small thing, in respect of that most invaluable good, which is termed Life, and which is of more worth to every living crea∣ture, then is all the world; for the Father of Lies spake Truth herein, though to a lying end, That Skin for Skin, and all that ever a man hath, he will give for his life.

Therefore, as the greatest threatning that God laid upon A∣dam, to deter him from Rebellion, and to detain him within the Compass of his Obedience, was, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death; so the greatest Blessing that he promiseth to any man for all his Service, is Life, or to live, ••s The just shall live by faith. Which sheweth how detestable, beyond my ability of expression, are those bloud-thirsty men, that so maliciously and wickedly do hunt after the life of man, and do shed the bloud of so many Innocents; no waies like that good God, which made not Death, nor desireth the Death of any sinner, much lesse the destruction of the Righteous; nor yet like Alexander, that knew not God, yet knew this, that when his Mother Olympias, that was a bloudy woman, lay hard upon him, to kill a certain innocent person, and to that end said often to him, that she carried him Nine Moneths in her Womb, therefore he had no reason to deny her; answered her most wise∣ly, Good Mother, ask for that, some other reward and recompence, because the life of man is so dear, that no benefit can countervail it, and the unjust taking of it away is so hainous, that it is im∣possible for any mortal man to make satisfaction for so great an offence.

What shall we say then to those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that when their own most gracious King doth so often sollicite for peace, do still make them ready for battel, and have taken away the lives of so many thousands of men? truly, if they are not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, yet certainly they are the sons of Apollyon, the children of the Destroyer, that without speedy repentance can receive no better reward then damnation.

But as life is the sweetest and the most excellent of all things that are in this world, so death (saith the Philosopher) est omni∣um terribilium terribilissimum; because this bringeth our years

to an end, finisheth our daies, and puts a period to all our joyes; and though there is but one way of life for all men, and that one alike to all, to come naked out of their Mothers womb; yet, as the Poet saith,

Mille modis lethi miseros mors una fatigat.

There are a thousand waies to bring any one of us unto his death.

And here the Prophet threatneth death unto the people of Israel many waies.

Quocunque aspiciunt, nihil est nisi pontus & aether.

For, the City that went out by a thousand, shall leave a hundred, and that which went out by an hundred shall leave ten to the house of Is∣rael, that is, as Remigius and Hugo say, the Israelites shall be so plagued by the Assyrians, as well in the three years siege of Sa∣maria, as also before and after the same, by the Sword, Famine, and the Pestilence, which, Sicut unda sequitur undam, do ever follow like Jobs Messengers, one in the heel of another, the sword alwaies bringing famine, and the famine producing pesti∣lence, so that almost all shall be consumed, and scarce ten of an hundred shall be left. And as the Spirit of God saith unto Esay∣as, Go, tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not. Then said the Prophet, Lord, how long? and he answered, until the Cities be wasted without Inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the Land be utterly desolate; So now this distressed, though formerly most happy Kingdom, is threatned to be scourged in like manner; with the worst of wars, famines, and pesti∣lences.

Praesentémque viris intendunt o nonia mortem.

And as the Poet saith, all that we do see, say, we are appointed to be destroyed, and destined unto death; when as S. Bernard saith, Quos fugere scimus, ad quos nescimus; we know whom we would shun, but we scarce know where or to whom we may flee to be safe and secured of our Lives; for as Jeremie saith, Ser∣vants have ruled over us, and there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand; We get our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the Sword of the Wilderness: And therefore as our Prophet saith, Wailing is in all streets, they say in all high-waies,

alas, alas, and they call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

Yet seeing the sword is the sword of the Lord, and it is the Lord that calleth for Famine, and the Pestilence is the scourge of God, which he sendeth amongst us, as our Prophet saith; and that God never draweth his sword, and throweth away the Scab∣berd, as if he never meant to put it up again; never sends a fa∣mine, but in that famine he can feed the young Ravens that call up∣on him, and satisfie the hungry with good things; and never powreth out any plague, but that in the greatest infection he can preserve his servants, that although a thousand should fall besides them, and ten thousand at their right hand, yet it shall not come nigh them; and never sendeth any temptation, but if the fault be not our own, he doth with the temptation make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it; because he, being 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Fa∣ther of mercies, and the God of all comfort, to them that fear him, as well as the God of Justice to render vengeance to them that offend him, hath the suppling Oyl of Mercy, as well as the sharp Wine of Justice to powre into the wounds of every peni∣tent sinner; therefore our Prophet here joyneth to the La∣mentation for Israel, an Exhortation to repentance; and though he threatneth Death for our sins, yet he setteth down an An∣tidote, whereby we might, if we would, preserve our life; and though I confess the Physitians are very useful, and to be honoured, as the Scripture speaketh, to be sought after, espe∣cially in the times of sickness and Mortality; yet I am sure that neither Hippocrates nor Galen, nor all the School of Salerne, the whole Colledge of Physitians shall ever be able to prescribe a Potion, so precious and so powerful to p••eserve your Life, as I shall declare unto you; for God, which is truth it self, hath said it; Seek the Lord, and you shall live; wherein I desire you to observe,

• 1. A Precept; the best work that you can do, Seek the Lord.
• 2. A Promise; the best reward that you can desire, And you shall live.

1. In the Precept you may see there are two words, and so two parts.

• 1. Seek, which is the Act, that all men do.
• 2. The Lord, which is the Object of our seeking, where∣in most men fail.

1. The word seek doth presuppose that we have lost, or be without the Lord; and so we have indeed, we lost Paradise, we lost God, we lost our selves, and our own Souls, and are become like lost sheep without a Shepherd; and therefore we have great reason to seek, and to seek diligently, till we find 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, what we lost. And

The loss of God is nothing else but the withdrawing of his Love, and the withholding of the influences of his favour from us, like the parting of the Sun from our Horizon, whereby darkness followeth; and so all miseries and mischiefs, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest, wars, famines, plagues, and all evils, must be the lot of them that lost the love of God, but then you must consider,

• 1. The cause for which the Lord departeth from us.
• 2. The means whereby we suffer him to be detained from us.

1. The cause that driveth away God from us, is sin; for by this Adam lost him, and as the Prophet sheweth, this makes the separation betwixt God and all the children of Adam: for your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear, saith Esayas: Cap. 59.2. And you may see this truth further cleared and pro∣ved in: And it is no marvel that sin should make such a sepa∣ration betwixt God and us, if we consider the nature of God, and of sin, for,

God testifieth of himself that he is holy; and there is as much difference betwixt holiness and sin, as is betwixt the clearest light and the blackness of darkness; for holiness is of such a re∣splendent Excellency, that the very Enemies of it, the pro∣phanest Atheists, that neither fear God, nor regard men, yet will they, nill they, they cannot chuse but approve it in o∣thers, though they reject it fro•• themselves; because as Sene∣ca saith, Virtus in omnium animos lumen suum immittit, ut qui non sequuntur eam, videant tamen; vertue and goodness do so shine among all men, that they which use it not, which love it not,

yet cannot chuse but see it, yea and confess it too, to be most ad∣mirable and excellent in it self; for what adulterer is so impure, but that his conscience will tell him, especially at some time or other, that chastity is better then his sensuality? What drunkard is so besotte••, but that his heart will tell him, especially when he is sober, that sobriety is better then surfetting and drunkenness? or what swearer is so far past all grace, that his own soul will not tell him, and sometimes compel his tongue to confess it, that to say indeed, is far better then by his hideous oaths to lose that God which made him, and heaped his blessings upon him?

On the other side, sin and filthiness are such ugly monsters, that the very followers and practisers thereof cannot chuse but condemn them and hate them in others, though they do love and follow the same in themselves: yea as St. Aug. saith, they that are filthy themselves, will call their own lewdness filthiness, and though they love it, yet they will not dare to profess it. And all this St. Chrysostom expresseth most elegantly, saying, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which in effect is, that holiness is such a thing, that the very Enemies thereof can∣chuse but admire it, and wickedness is such a thing, that the very Lovers thereof cannot chuse but condemn it; therefore it is no wonder that God, which is holiness it self in abstract••, should hate all those that work wickedness.

Yet you must observe that as every offence divorceth not man and wife; so all sins do not alike separate the love of God from us: for there be some sins that do but anger him, so that he on∣ly chides us, or most gently corrects us, not in his indignation, nor as the Prophet saith, in his heavy displeasure, but in love for the amendment of the sinner; and there be other sins, that do so highly provoke him, that he doth utterly forsake us, to exe∣cute his wrath and vengeance upon the sinner, for the honour of himself, and the destruction of the other, as the Lord saith, I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, that is, in his destruction. And therefore though we ought to take heed of all sins, yet more especially of these; because they are more odious unto God, and more pernicious unto our selves.

And here I find three sins set down of this kind, whereby these Israelites lost the Lord; and they are

• 1. Idolatry against God, v. 5. &. 26.
• 2. Injustice towards men. v. 7. & 11.
• 3. Contempt of the Priest, whereby they became hateful both to God and man, v. 10.

Which were 3 deadly sins; ••s I shal shew ••ou in their order.

1. Idolatry is a sin most hainous and most odious unto God; I know few or none so pestiferous; for though Atheism is a fearful sin, to be without a God in the World, without him, without whom we cannot live, we cannot move, we cannot have our being; Yet Atheism seemeth not so ugly a Monster, and so detestable unto God, as Idolatry is; and though the prophanation of Gods Holy Name is a transcendent sin; yet this seems but to ascend so high into Gods displeasure as Idolatry doth; For in the first precept which is against Atheism, he doth not say without any threatning, thou shalt have none other Gods but me; and in the third precept which forbiddeth all vain swearing, he doth but say, I will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh my name in vain; but in the second precept, where he prohibiteth Idolatry, he seems to search for words, and to coyn phrases to express his hatred to this sin, against which he expandeth his fury to a mighty reach, saying, I am a jealous God, that do visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, as if Idolaters only were the chiefest haters and the greatest enemies of Almighty God; and therefore most justly hated by God; and no marvel; for as Plutarch saith, he had rather men should think there was ne∣ver such a man in the world as Plutarch, than to say he was so savage and so cruel, as to kill and eat his dearest friends and children; ita satius est nullos Deos credere, quam Deos noxios: So it is better to think there are no Gods, than to believe them to be such as thy self art, as the Prophet speaketh; or like Ju∣piter, Saturn, and the rest of the Gentile Gods, that were murderers, adulterers, and such like wicked Gods: Gods not worthy to be men. So it is better to do no service unto God, than to do that which is so exceedingly contumelious unto the

Deity; because that service which is to injurious unto God, and so deroga••ory to his honour, is most acceptable unto the Devil; as the Israelites, mistaking the true se••vice, and thinking they sacrificed unto God, did indeed offer their sons and daughters unto devils, as the Psalmist speaketh, such is the nature of Ido∣latry; So that indeed we can never ple••se the devil better, nor shew our selves faithfuller servants unto him, than wh••n we do thus displease our God, and shew our selves so perfidious unto His Majesty.

And yet it is wonderful to consider how apt and prone the Chil∣dren of Israel were to fall and to wallow in this monstrous sin of Idolatry: for no sooner were they come out of Egypt, but they must worship God in the shape of a golden Calf, so they turned the glory of the incorruptible God, into the similitude of a Calfe that eateth hay; and no sooner was any good man dead that had plan∣ted the true Religion amongst them, but presently they supplanted the same by their Idolatry; and this our Prophet sheweth at large in this Chapter, as

1. To observe the order of their committing it, and not of the Prophets setting of it down, when he saith, you have born the tabernacle of your Moloc; th••t is, in the wilderness, when Moses was talking wi••h God on mount Sinai, as S••. Hierome and Rupertus think; or rather, as Ribera thinketh, when they com∣mitted fornica ion with the daughters of Moab, that were the next adjoyning neighbours unto the Ammonites, whose god this Moloc was; and you have born Chiun, your images, the star of your god, which ye made to your selves; or as St. Stephen reads it out of the Septuagint, the star of your God Remphan, or Rephan, as others read it, which Giraldus takes to be Hercules; Ribera thinks him to be Jupiter; but St. Hierom, Remig••us and Beda take it for the star of Venus, which going before the Sun in the morning was called Lucifer, and following the Sun at night was called Hesperus, and was worshipped by the Syrians, as the Queen of Heaven; and as Servius, upon that verse of Virgil.

Errantesque Deos agitataque numina Trojae, observeth how the Gentiles carried their tutelaty gods with them, as Rachel

did her fathers Idols, whithersoever they went: so the Israelites in imitation of them, carried these Images in the Tabernacle after a most solemn and a pompous manner.

2. The Prophet sheweth their Idolatry, when he forbids them to seek Bethel, and to enter into Gilgal, or to pass into Beersheba; because these places Bethel and Gilgal towards the North, and Beersheba Southward, were the uttermost parts and borders of the Holy Land, where Jeroboam did set up his golden Calves.

And the Children of Israel were such calves, that all the holy Prophets and the godly Kings, could never withdraw them from the Idolatrous service of these calves; and the reasons thereof you may gather out of the Text.

• 1. Because they were such gods as gave them ease and liberty.
• 2. Because they were calves.
• 3. Because they were golden calves.
• 4. Because they had wodden Priests; no better than their gods:

For

1. Jeroboam said, it is too much for you to go to Hierusalem; [Reason. 1] that is, too much cost, and too much pains; for he knew the peo∣ple would like very well of that Religion which would give them most ease, and prove least chargeable unto them; as men had ra∣thet sit to hear, than kneel to pray, and to give a small stipend to their poor Lecturer, than pay the tenth of all their increase unto their learned Pastor; but this liberty overthrew all their piety.

2. He made two calves, though there can be but one God, not [Reason. 2] only to imitate their former practice in the Wilderness, and their usual worship in Egypt, because he knew men would be easily seduced to their old wont, but especially to inlarge their liberty, to let them serve God as they list, which is very pleasing to flesh and bloud; because the calves were such gods, as did not much care what service was done unto them; yet

3. He set up golden calves, to make a glorious shew, because the [Reason. 3] veriest hypocrites in the world would fain seem to do all for the honour of God, and the preservation of the true Religion, pul∣chra

lavernâ, da mihi fallere, da justum sanctumque videri, when as indeed it is but like their god, a calfe, though of gold, yet dead without life, without sense; and such is the Religion of all Hy∣pocrites, a liveless and a senceless Religion; let them pretend what they please. And

[Reason. 4] 4. That they might sleep in their sins, and never wake, they must have Priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi, that is, of the regular ministers and conformable Clergy, but those that were sittest for such Libertines, as be∣ing neither able for their Learning to know God, to teach his truth and confute Errours, nor daring for their baseness to con∣tradict the people in any of all their wicked waies; for Jeroboam knew that Learned men, and men of worth, would never adore such Calves, though they were made of Gold; nor yet humour their people in their ease, idleness, and Idolatry; therefore when men would change their Religion, they must change their Priests, even as Christ did when he translated the Jewish service into the Christian Religion, he changed the Order of the Priesthood, saith the Apostle; so when we would overthrow the true Re∣ligion, and make way for Libertines, we must cast out the true Priests, and with Jeroboam take for them the basest of the peo∣ple, children of base men, viler than the earth, as Job speaketh, which can neither confute heresie, nor hinder Idolatry among their flocks.

But what saith the Text? this became a sin, an indeleable sin to all Israel, that caused them to be led into perpetual captivity, and to lose their everliving God, because they served these golden calves, and were led by these woodden Priests; for so the Prophet setteth down, therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the God of Hosts, and it was such an everlasting stain to Jeroboam, that it is his indeleable Epithite, carbone notabilis atro, Jeroboam the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin.

And it were well if this sin reached no farther than the chil∣dren of Israel; for indeed such is the nature of all men, apt and prone to devise services unto God as they list; every one will be independent, and serve God as he pleaseth; and all such devised

ervice is nothing else but Idolatry, saith the Apostle: and there∣ore St. John writing unto Christians, concludes his Epistle with little children, keep your selves from Idols, which is worth our ob∣servation; because they might (as many do) make an Idol of many things; of their Pulpit, of their Preachers, of their Altars, and of the most consecrated bread in the Eucharist, when, as the Church of Rome doth it to this very day, they transubstantiate the same to become Corpus Domini, and do orally eat that with their teeth, which the Scripture teacheth us to eat sacramentally by faith; which very doctrine of transubstantiation, and thereup∣on the adoration of their host, and the asportation of it, as the Israe∣lites did their Moloc, I fear, if it be rightly discussed, will prove to be little less than Idolatry; for as I will not reject that truth, which the Devil uttered, Thou art Jesus the Son of the most high God, nor refuse the four Gospels, and the three Creeds, of the Apostles, the Nicen and Athanasian, because the Pope useth them, but will believe all the truth that the Church of Rome believeth, and therein joyn with them the right hand of fellowship; so I will hate the errours, and detest the Idolatry of any Church that com∣mitteth it.

And therefore, though as the Christians of the Primitive Church were most falsly traduced, and charged to be the cau∣ses of all the calamities, dearths, wars, sedition, and all the other evils that happened unto the Heathens, (which indeed them∣selves were the sole causes of, because they would not become Christians) and therefore persecuted the Church of Christ, and in all their Counsels had none other Conclusions but Christianos ad leones, let us throw away these Christians to the Lyons, to the fires, and to the Waters; so now the Enemies of the truth say, we are Papists, and Idolatrous, and the causes of all these calamities that are fallen upon this Land; and there∣fore let them be deprived, degraded, and destroyed; yet in ve∣ry deed we are so far from those points, which Jewel, Cran∣mer, Latimer, and the rest of those holy Martyrs, and godly Re∣formers concluded to be Popish and Idolatrous, that as we have hitherto most learnedly refuted them, so we are most constant∣ly resolved to oppugn them while we live, and rather to lose

our lives, than to depart from the true protestant faith, and to embrace the Idolatry of any Church in the World: and you must know, that as the Philosopher saith, Non quia affirmatur, aut negatur, res erit, vel non erit, things are not so and so, be∣cause they are reported to be such; as Gold is not Copper, because an ignorant Artist affirmeth it, nor Copper Gold, because the like Ignoramus avoucheth it; so a wicked man is not good, nor Rebels loyal, because flatterers commend them; neither is a good man wicked, nor faithful Subjects malignants, nor true Protestants, Popish, because the slanderers traduce them; as Christ was neither a drunkard, nor a glutton, though the Jews accused him of both; and we are neither Papists nor Popish though as the Apostle saith in the like case, we are slanderously reported to be such, but things ought to be affirmed to be as they are indeed, and men ought to judge righteous judgements; and then you might see, and so be assured, we are so far from Po∣pery, that as I said before, we lay on them little less crime, than Idolatry.

And seeing 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is derived ab 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 video, we see it may be derived farther and brought nearer to our selves, then the Church of Rome; for so men may, as St. Hierom saith, erect an Idoll in their own brains, as the worldling makes his Gold to be his god; the Heretiques and Separatists make an Idoll of their false Religion: the precise Hypocrite makes an Idoll of his dissembled purity: and the very Rebels make an Idol of their se∣ducers and leaders, and their own most obstinate opinions: and all these, and the like, do offer up Idolatrous sacrifices upon the Altar of their own folly; and therefore well might St. John say, Keep your selves from Idols; because the children of the Church, when they leave their true Leaders, and take blind guides, may soon fall and be filled with Idolatry. And seeing we have so many such rebellious Idolaters amongst us, if there be any Idolaters in the world, is it any wonder that God should so abundantly poure out his indignation upon us? or that he should not visit for these things, and be avenged on such a nation as this?

2. Injustice was the other sin, whereby the Israelites lost the

Lord, when as the Prophet saith, they turned judgment into worm∣wood, and left off righteousness in the earth: wherein you may ob∣serve two things in the iniquity of this people.

• 1. Generally among all the Vulgar sort.
• 2. Particularly among the very Judges and Princes of the Land.

1. The common people left off righteousness, and dealt most unjustly one with another, oppressing the poor, afflicting the just, and filling themselves with thefts, robberies, and all other kinds of unrighteousness, sins able to overthrow the whole earth, and to destroy all the Society of mankind; for justice establisheth the thrones of Kings, it exalteth a nation, it is the sister of peace, the mother of prosperity, the preserver of amity, and as Theognis saith.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: And on the other side injury and oppression, as Solomon saith, is able to make a wise man mad, and injustice is the destroyer of peace, the producer of War, and the bringer of whole Cities, Kingdoms and Nations to con∣fusion; for as St. Aug. saith, Quid sunt regna, remota justitia, nisi magna latrocinia? What are Kingdoms, if you take away justice, but as our Cities are now in most parts of our Land, the Dens of Thieves, that enrich themselves with the treasures of wickedness, and are clad with the spoiles of the poor? and how is it possible that men should live one by another, cum vivitur ex rapto? when Pillaging and Plundering shall become our common trade, and the great mens strength shall become the Law of justice? and yet this is not all, for

2. As the Prophet Esay saith, their Princes, that is, their chief Lords, were rebellious and companions of thieves; and their Judges their Sanhedrim, and great Council of State affli∣cted the just, as our Prophet saith, and took bribes, and tur∣ned aside the poor in the gate from their right; and what a la∣mentable thing is this, when the poor, the fatherless, and the widows that are oppressed shall come unto the gods to seek relief, and they shall find them like Devils? to add sor∣rows unto their afflictions, and to make the remedy far worse than the disease, when a man shall spend more in getting his

right, then his right is worth, or when as the Prophet saith, the judgement shall be turned into wormwood; which is now with us, as it was with them, the very State of this Kingdom; for when His Majesty called a Parliament, the highest Court of Ju∣stice in our Land, I may say of it, as the Lord saith of Israel, when he looked for grapes, it brought forth wild grapes: when we expected justice, behold we found oppression and wrong, yea, such oppressions, such injustice, and such cruelty we found among these Judges and Princes of Israel, as cannot be paral∣lel'd among the worst of Pagans; so that now indeed they have turned judgement into wormwood; which by reason of its ex∣ceeding bitterness made the French Proverb, Fort comme àloyne ou absynte, and made the Greek comicks to call it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, impotable.

And judgement may be turned into wormewood two spe∣cial waies.

[Way. 1] 1. When it is done, as it was upon Naboth, without any co∣lour of right, without any cause, and in the highest degree of injustice, with the greatest measure of iniquity: as when Ari∣stides was banished out of Athens, justus, quia justus, and the Christians were persecuted and murdered, only quia Christiani; and the Bishops are now hated of many men, only because they are Bishops, that is enough, though we can find none other cause in them worthy of death, or of bonds. And this is in∣deed absynthio amarius, bitterer than Wormwood, and is done by none but by the Sons of Belial; And shall I not visit for these things?

[Way. 2] 2. When it is done as Sulpitius Gallus did with his wife, because she walked abroad without her vaile, or as the Elder Cato did often deal with offenders, and P. Aemilius did with Rutilius, inflict a punishment for a just fault, but in the high∣est degree of severity; for though sometimes severity may and ought to be used, ut multitudinis furores compescantur, & atro∣cia flagitia puniantur, that the fury of the wild unruly mul∣titude may be refrained, and hainous offences, as Treasons and Rebellions, and the like intolerable sins, may by the punish∣ment of some be prevented in others; for so we find that whole

Towns have been burnt to ashes, and famous Cities have been utterly destroyed for the Tumults and rebellions of un∣dutiful and disloyal Citizens; yet in o••her cases, as M. Cicero saith in Marcellinus, when it was in my power either to con∣demn, or to absolve, ignoscendi non puniendi quaerebam causas, I did rather search out the means to save them, then look after the causes to punish them; or as Alphonsus, being advised by some of his followers, ut ne nimium lenis erga suos esset, that he should no be too gentle towards his people, lest they might bring him into contempt, answered more graciously, that he was rather to take heed, ne nimia severitas conciliet invidiam, lest too much severity should beget him hatred: so I believe it is the nature of the best men to be least severe, as holding it the better course to offend on the safer side, and rather merci∣fully to remit somewhat of the punishment that is due, than rigorously to add any thing more than is just; because mercy rejoyceth against judgement, and it is hardly believed that the son of Severity can be a good child of the God of Clemency, because as the Poet saith, — Sola deos aequat clementia nobis: And the Scripture reproveth the excess of cruelty towards the greatest Enemies of Gods Church; For the Lord threatneth to break the bars of Damascus, and to send a fire into the house of Hazael, and to devour the pallaces of Benhadad; and why will the Lord do all this? but because they were not satisfied with the subjection of the Gileadites, but when they had van∣quished them, they shewed themselves so merciless, that to sa∣tisfie their wrath upon them, they thrashed them with thrashing instruments of Iron: And so the Lord threatneth the Moabites, that he would send a fire upon Moab, which should devour the Pallaces of Kerioth; and Moab should die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the Trumpet; and he would cut off the Judge from the midst thereof and would slay all the Prin∣ces thereof with him: And why would the Lord do all this unto the Moabites? but because they were not satisfied with the pyls of the Edomites, but like merciless wretches, tri∣ump ng in the miseries of miserable men, they were so in∣raged against them, that like bruit beasts, which were void of

all humanity, they burnt the bones of the King of Edom into lime; for it is not acceptable unto the Lord, that any man should insult over his enemies in the day of their destruction, not speak proud∣ly in the time of their distress: and therefore we must examine quo animo, as well as quo supplicio, we do punish the greatest trans∣gressours; bec••use God oftentimes is offended with the manner of that punishment, whereof in respect of the matter he him∣self is the author.

And yet, as in judgements and punishments you must qualifie your own Affections, to do all without bitterness; so you must look to the quality of the offendor; for the same censure is not to be imposed, nor the same punishment to be inflicted on him that sinneth through infirmity, and upon another that op∣poseth authority, and sinneth through obstinacy; upon him that is seduced to rebellion, and upon the seducers and leaders of the more simple Rebels: for though all sins deserve punish∣ment, yet all sins are not alike, neither do all commit the same sins alike; but some sins are more contracted and more private, and others are more publick and more spreading; and therefore far more dangerous than the other, because such sinners, & peccant & docent peccare: and therefore God orde∣reth his judgements according to the offences; sins of infir∣mity he punisheth with pity, and mixeth his punishments with Clemency, but upon horrible sins he layeth terrible punish∣ments, and as he saith in Micah, He will execute vengeance in his anger; so when the Jews were grown incorrigible, he saith, He will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their life, and they shall smite them with the edge of the sword, and shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy upon them: and such a sin is murder, and the shedding of innocent bloud, whereof the Lord saith, Thine eye shall not pity him, but life shall go for life. And such a sin is the sin of Rebellion, which is as the sin of Witchcraft, and spreadeth it self like a Gangrene, and infecteth many millions of men; and therefore the resist∣ing of authority deserveth more severity and less clemency, than any sin, as you may see it in the punishment of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, who in the judgement of God himself

deserved no less than to be consumed with fire from Heaven, or to be sent down quick to Hell; which in the judgment of Op∣tatus, is so fearful and unparallel'd a vengeance, shewing the transcendent odiousness of rebellion, that the like cannot be found since the creation of the world; because rebelling against lawful Authority is no less than fighting against the divine Ma∣jesty; and therefore the most holy Saints of the Primitive Church, that were most innocent in all their lives, would not∣withstanding suffer the most cruel death, rather than they would resist this ordinance of God; or otherwise, if they had so impu∣dently reviled their Heathen Judges, and so rebelliously resisted their persecuting Kings, as you see many have done of late against the most gracious Princes, the Church had never canonized them for godly Martyrs, but had registred them among the most wic∣ked Malefactors.

3. Contempt of the Priest was the last, but not the least sin whereby the Israelites lost the Lord, when they hated him that rebuked in the gate, and abhorred him that spake uprightly, that is, the Prophet or Preacher, saith Cornelius à Lapide; because the Jews had their Tribunals and Judgements in the gates of their Cities, as Moses sheweth: and therefore Jeremy, Amos, and the rest of Gods servants sate also in the Gates, as you may see, to rebuke the wrong Judgements, as St. Hierom and Lyra note; and to speak uprightly, that is, Perfectum & sanctum sermonem, a perfect and a just Judgement, as the Septuagint and Symmachus render it; and this the people hated and abhor∣red; which is the height of all iniquity, to reject the Prophet, and to exclude his counsel from our judgements: for as the Gout is the shame of the Physitian, because he cannot cure it, so this is the plague of the soul, and a sin that is incurable; for though a man commits many and great sins, and leads a very dissolute life; yet if he will dutifully hearken unto counsel, and patiently bear with his rebukes, there is great hope of his amendment; but as the diseased that is deadly sick, and yet like Harpaste, that would not be perswaded that she was blind, though she could see no more than a milstone, will not believe that he is sick, and cannot indure the sight of his Physitian,

runs on a pace to death without any hope of life; so the Judges that hate the Prophets company, and abhor the assistance of the Priests in their judgements, as the Israelites now did, and that sinner who doth hate his Teacher, and shuns the society of him that seeks to save his soul, have little sign of grace, and as little hope of eternal life; and therefore the Scripture de∣scribing the deadly estate of the most desperate sinners, such as with Ahab had sold themselves to work wickedness, saith, they are like those that contend with their Priests, of whom there is little hope and less good to be expected any waies; for is it possible that a blind man should find his way, when he beats away his Leader? Or that a child should thrive, when he bites and beats away his nurse that gives him suck? So it is impossible that they should do well which hate the light, or that they should ever learn any good, which abhor the Teachers of all god∣liness.

Geminianus tells us, th••t the Ministers of Gods word are like the Hyades, whereof Job speaketh;

1. Because the Hyades or Pleiades, as we translate them, are watry stars, so called from their effects; the word Hyades of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifying nothing else but rain; So the Pre••chers pour [Respect. 1] out the showers of heavenly doctrine upon the barren ground of our souls, to make them fruitful, even as Moses saith, My doctrine shall drop as the rain, and my speech shall distill as the dew.

[Respect. 2] 2. Because that as when the Pleiades do arise, the daies lengthen, the Sun is hotter, and the Earth produceth more plen∣tiful fruits; so by the preaching of Gods word, the light of truth is increased, the heat of Christian love and charity is kind∣led, and the holy fruit of all good works is increased: There∣fore if the Preachers be as the rain to make us fruitful, as the light to direct our waies, as our Fathers to instruct us, and as the Angels of God to bring us into heaven, as the Scripture testi∣fieth that they are, then I beseech you tell me, what holy frui••, what heavenly light, or what Christian good can be in them, that despise their Teachers, and expell their fathers from their societies?

Yet this was the sin of the Israelites, and I fear, we cannot free our selves from it: for how have they been used since the beginning of this Parliament? Was not he most cried up, that cried most against the Church and Church-men? And men of no note became famous in the House by making invective speeches against the Bishops, and he was deemed most eloquent that was most bitter against them; and how h••ve they been handled ever since? Voted out of all their means, and not any thing left them to buy them bread: graviora morte; and being thus made as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things unto this day, as the Apostle speaketh: they are either cast with Joseph into the dungeon, or driven to wander in desarts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; And I may say of some of them with Jeremy, they that did feed deli∣cately are desolate in the streets, they that were clad in scarlet em∣brace dunghils, they sigh and seek bread, and have given their plea∣sant things for meat to relieve their souls. And shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Yes, saith our Prophet: and for these things the Israelites lost the Lord: and we may fear he hath left us for the same faults.

2. The means or waies by which we depart from God and so lose the Lord, are very many; I will only name unto you these three, whereby Joseph lost our Saviour in Jerusalem;

And they are,

• 1. Negligent security.
• 2. Ignorant blindness.
• 3. Obstinate opinion.

1. Joseph went with Christ into the Temple, but through neg∣ligence [Way. 1] to look after him, he went homewards without him, so the neglect to seek God, is the only way to lose God; bec••use as Saint Gregory saith, Quem tentationis certamen superare non valuit, saepe securitas deterius stravit.

2. Joseph knew not that Christ was left behind him; and [Way. 2] so many men know not that they are without the Lord, being like the Inhabitants of Egypt that reap the benefits of Nilus, but are ignorant of the fountain from whence it springs; be∣cause they are ignorant of their faith and of their own most

desperate condition, while they have mo••e care of the Evidence of their Lands, than they have of the assurance of their Salva∣tion.

[Way. 3] 3. Joseph thought that Christ was gone before with their friends, and thereby he was deceived; so many men lose the Lord by their false perswasions; for Arius thought he found Christ when he denied his Deity; Saint Paul thought he did God good service when he persecuted the Saints of God; and so many men, as those seditious Preachers and Brownists about London, and many other parts of this Kingdom do think, perhaps, they teach the truth of God, when as God knoweth, they teach the people nothing else but the most desperate and damnable doctrine of devils, when they perswade them to re∣sist the ordinance of God, which commandeth every soul to sub∣mit it self unto the higher powers, and that is the King, as Saint Peter testifieth; and so by these false thoughts they do uter∣ly lose the true God, and shall finally lose themselves, unless they do speedily change their minds; and therefore as the Em∣perour Antoninus was wont to say in another case, so I say in this, ejice opinionem, si vis salvus esse, cast away such false opinions and believe the truth, relie not on your selves, nor on your lying Leaders, but as our Prophet saith, Seek the Lord, and you shall live. And so much for the causes and the waies by which we lose the Lord.

Now when the Lord is lost, the only remedy that we have is to seek him; but alas beloved, is it in our power to find him, or have we any ability to seek him? Can the lost sheep find her shepherd, or could Adam ever seek after God, if God had not sought after him, and called him, Adam, where art thou? I must answer like Athanaeus riddle, a man and no man, with a stone and no stone, kill'd a bird and no bird, that sate upon a tree and no tree; that is, an Eunuch, with a pummy killed a bat upon a fennel; so I say, it is, and it is not: for if you speak of a man unregenerate, and as yet destitute of Gods grace, he can no more seek for grace than dead Lazarus could raise himself out of his grave: because the Apostle affirmeth all to be, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, dead in trespasses and sins: and

our Saviour saith, Without me you can do nothing: and Prosper calleth the grace of God, Creatricem bonorum in nobis, the Creator of all the good that is in us, according to that saying of the Apo∣stle, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, we are his workmanship, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, created in Christ Jesus: and you know that a creation is from nothing.

But when the Lord hath quickned our dead spirits, and mol∣lified our hard hearts, then he looketh that we should not be, quasi dormientes quasi non volentes, as men asleep and negligent of our own good, but that we should diligently seek the way, and finding the same, to walk therein: for this exhortation to seek the Lord, and our Saviours invitation, to come unto him, and the like, do sufficiently evince, that in all Christians God worketh not sicut in lapidibus insensatis, as in senseless stones, or in creatures that have no reason, as Saint Augustine speaketh, but in men that have a freedom of will to follow after those things which do pertain unto salvation; Quia liberum arbitrium non ideo tolli∣tur quia juvatur, sed ideo juvatur quia non tollitur; because our free-will is not taken away, because it is helped, but it is there∣fore helped because it is not taken away, as the same St. Augustine speaketh. And Fulgentius hath the like saying, l. 2. De veritate praedest.

And therefore seeing the Devil can neither forcibly compel us to any evil, nor violently detain us from any good, but only by the proposal of seducing objects, and by the subtle obscuring the beauty of the perfect good, to allure us unto the one, and to with∣draw us from the other, we ought to arm our selves with a reso∣lution to follow the counsel of the Prophet, to Seek the Lord, that we might live, and not die; for Why will you die, O ye Inhabitants of England?

But in this our inquisition and search after God, we ought care∣fully to consider of these four particulars.

• 1. To find out the cause, why he left us.
• 2. To go to the place, where he resideth.
• 3. To know the time, when he may be found.
• 4. To understand the manner, how we are to seek him.

For,

1. God was amongst us as in the holy place of Sinai, and then Kings with their Armies did flee, and were discomfited, and we of his houshold divided the spoyl; and then God sent a gracious rain upon his Inheritance, and refreshed it when it was weary, and poured his benefits upon us; he made peace in all our borders, and filled us with the flower of wheat, and he blessed us so, that we were even envied for our happiness; but now he hath forsaken us, and hideth his face from us, and goeth not forth with our Armies, but he hath kindled his wrath against us, and counted us as one of his enemies; he hath made his arrows drunk in our bloud, and his terrours do set themselves in array against us, so that now we are a by-word among the Heathens, and our enemies laugh us to scorn.

Therefore as the good Physitian first se••rcheth out the cause of the disease, and then prepareth a potion for the cure; and as Joshuah, when God turned away from the children of Israel, and delivered them up into the hands of their Enemies, never left searching, till he had found out the accursed thing, that was the cause of their destruction; and David also, when there was a famine three years, year after year, inquired of the Lord, what should be the cause thereof; so we must inquire and search out the cause why the Lord hath overthrown all our hedges, and given us as a spoyle unto our Neighbours. And herein as Demodacus said of the Milesians, they were no fools, but they did the same things that fools did: So I say, we are no Israelites, but I fear we have committed the same sins as the Israelites did, Idolatry, injustice, and contempt of our Teachers: nay, have we not added unto these Sacriledge, Perjury, Drun∣kenness, Luxury, and all kind of uncleanness? Yea, have we not made injustice, and perjury, and sacriledge, and contempt of the Ministers, and rebellion against the Ordinance of God, and many other sins that formerly were but personal sins, now to become national, when they are committed, continued, and maintained by the Representatives of the whole Kingdom? And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this, saith the Lord? Yes, saith our Prophet, wee shall be to them that desire the day of the Lord, for it is darkness and not light, and it shall

be as if a man did flee from a Lion, and a Bear met him: that is, to escape the least, and to fall into the greater punishment; be∣cause the Lion is a more noble enemy than the Bear, when as the Poet saith,

Parcere prostratis scit nobilis ira Leonis.

But the Bear is a most ravenous raging Beast, that will tear us all to pieces; so it is to escape the Sword and to die by Famine, to provide against Famine and to be destroyed by the Pestilence, which shall follow one another so long as we continue in our sins; and the wrath of the Lord shall not be turned away, but his hand will be stretched out still: As in Levit. 26. after many plagues he addeth, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins. And therefore if you would turn away the wrath of God, you must turn away from these sins that have provoked him to wrath; Quia sublata causa tollitur effectus. And then

2. If you would find the Lord, you must go to the place where he resideth; for though Enter praesenter Deus est ubique poten or, in respect of his omnipotent Essence, the spirit of the Lord filleth all places: If we climb up into Heaven he is there, if we go down to Hell he is there also; and as the Schools say, he is Supra coelos non elatus, subter terram non depressus, intra mundum non inclusus, extra mundum non exclusus: yet in respect of his favourable presence he is not to be found in every place; for if you seek the righteous God among unrighteous men, the faithful God among lying perjurers, as the Grecians sought for Helen in Troy, when she was with Proteus in Egypt, we shall be sure to miss him; because the holy spirit of discipline fleeth from deceit, and dwel∣leth not in the body that is subject unto sin; and therefore the place is to be considered where we must seek him: and that is prin∣cipally

• 1. The Church of Christ, among the faithful. And
• 2. The holy Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles.

1. As Joseph and Mary when they lost Christ, found him not in the waies among their friends and acquaintance, but in the Temple among the Doctors; so we shall find him, not in the factious confederacies of private Conventicles, but in the pub∣lique

assemblies of Gods holy Church, which is the place where his honour dwelleth; not among Perjurers, Lyers, Rebels, and the like, but among the faithful, and among those that fear the Lord; for The Lord is with them that fear him, and put their trust in his mercy, and with such he may be found.

And therefore if you would find the Lord, you must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful; you must have nothing to do with the stool or seat of wickedness, which imagineth mischief, and doth countenance their wickedness by a Law; but where you see the righteous gathering themselves in the name of Christ, and joyning their forces in the fear of God, there is the Lord in the midst of them, even as himself hath promised; I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

2. As we may find the Lord in the Church of the righteous, so we may find him in the holy Scriptures; not in the Turks Al∣coron, nor in the Popes Canon, nor in mans Tradition, nor in any like unwritten verities, which are the muddy inventions of distracted brains, and the idle vanities of seduced souls; we send you to no such places to seek the Lord, whatsoever the malice of our adversaries saith of us; but we direct you to the pure Word of God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, for thy Word is truth, and the Scriptures 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, testifie of me, saith our Saviour; and therefore Deliciae meae scripturae tuae, thy Scri∣ptures are my delights, saith S. Augustine; and the reason is ren∣dered by S. Hierom; because they are able (as the Apostle s••ith) to make us wise unto salvation; and all wisdom without this is but meet foolishness; for, Quid prodest esse peritum & peri∣turum? what will it boot a man to be wise unto perdition, to be subtle to play the Rebel, to be a crafty Traytor, and to go to Hell with a great deal of wit and learning, as St. Augustine speaketh?

Therefore though you should be constrained to dwell with Meshec, and to have your habitation among the tents of Kedar, among the Egyptians or Babylonians, among them that are enemies unto peace, as God knows how soon any of us may

be taken by such enemies: yet if we leave them, and take the holy Scriptures, there we shall have the Lord to be our compa∣nion, though we should be shut up with Jeremy in the dun∣geon. But

3. For the time of seeking God, you must remember that the Prophet bids us Seek the Lord while he may be found; and many men seek salvation, in medio gehennae quae operata est in medio terrae; and therefore mistaking their time they miss to find it; for God allowed us no time, to seek him, but the time present, during this life, and no other time; and you know the first Aphorism of Hippocrates is, that Ars longa, vita brevis, Art is long, and our Life is short; yea, so short, that as Seneca saith, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and others, quarrelled with na∣ture for giving beasts and plants so long an age, and to man so short a time, which as the Prophet saith, is but a span long, a dreame, a thought, a nothing; so soon passeth our time away, and we are gone. And yet it is strange to see, how men do spend that little time which they have to live, aut nihil agen∣do, aut malè agendo, either in doing nothing, or that evil which is indeed far worse than nothing; for though you see no man willing to part with his money, yet you may find how lavish every man is of his time, which is more pretious than all wealth: And Seneca tels us of divers men in his time, that spent every day an hour or two in the Barbers shop, to cut down those hairs that grew the night before, and were more curious of their locks than they were careful of the Common-wealth; and others worse than these, spend their time in gaming, drink∣ing, and oppressing their poor Neighbours; and they are very loath to consider, how vainly and how wickedly they do wast their dayes: for he that hath desired with ambition, conquered with insolency, cozened with subtilty, plundered with cove∣tousness, and mis-spent all by prodigality, must needs be affraid to review those things, which must needs make him ashamed; or if these men have so much grace to look back to see what they have mis-spent, before they have spent all, then shall you hear them say, that if they were young again, they would change their course, and Seek the Lord, that they might live, and not

lose their lives in following after lying vanities; but alas that cannot be; for as Plato saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, time and tyde stay for no man, and as the Poet saith, nec quae preteriit hora redire potest, that which is past cannot be recalled again; and Se∣neca saith, that the greatest Poet that ever was tells us, our happi∣est daies do pass from us first.

And therefore I say to you young men, remember your Crea∣tor in the daies of your youth, and as Timothy had known the Scriptures, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and was nur∣sed up in the fear of the Lord, so do you; for what will it avail you to compose your speech according to the rules of Lilly, and the Rhetorick of Cicero, and not to have your lives answerable to the rules of charity and the precepts of the holy Scriptures? to learn out of Aristotle the nature of the creatures, and to remain ignorant of the will of the Creator? and to have learned that whereby you may live richly here for a while, and to neglect that whereby you may live happily hereafter for ever? And I say to you old men that nunquam se∣ra est ad paenitendum via, it is never too late to repent if you can but truly repent; for he that requireth your first fruits re∣fuseth not your last age; And I say to you all, to day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for now is the time accep∣table, now is the day of Salvation; & semper nocuit differre vocatis.

But though we ought at all times in all places to seek the Lord, yet there are some times wherein we ought more especi∣ally and more earnestly to seek after him, than at all other times; and those are the times of troubles and adversities, when God scourgeth us for losing him: for so God biddeth us, call upon me in the time of trouble; and Christ saith, come unto me all you that travel and are heavy Laden; and so the Brethren of Joseph sought unto God in their troubles, and the Mariners that transported Jonas, though but heathens, yet will they call every man upon his God, when the Sea was ready to swallow them up; and the Disciples being in the like danger came cry∣ing unto Christ, and said, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Lord save us, me perish; and they that will not seek the Lord in

their distress will never seek him; for the Prophet speaking of the wicked, saith, fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name: and of them that will not then seek him, the Lord saith, Why should ye be stricken any more? as if he had said, you are now past all hope, when your afflictions cannot make you seek the Lord, but that you will revolt more and more, and prove like Pharaoh, that the more the Lord plagued him, the more he har∣dened his own heart.

And therefore seeing the Lord hath now bent his bow like an enemy, and set us as a mark for the arrow, he hath set our necks under persecution, and turned our songs into mournings, and our happy and long continued Peace into cruel Wars: though here∣tofore we have past our time in vanities, and have neglected to seek the Lord: yet if we have any grace, let us now seek unto the Lord, and say with the Prophet, O Lord, wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long a time? turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned, renew our daies as of old. And

4. For the manner how we ought to seek the Lord, it must be.

• 1. Totally with all our parts.
• 2. Carefully with all diligence.

1. With all our parts of body and soul, externally and in∣ternally, with outward profession, and with inward obe∣dience. For

1. Externally we are to glorifie God in our body, that is, with our members, with bended knees, with our eyes lifted up to Heaven, and with our tongues praising God, and confessing our own sins; that God may be justified in his sayings and clear when we are judg∣ed, otherwise, as many ask and receive not, because they ask amiss, that is, aut praeter verbum aut non propter verbum, either not ac∣cording to Gods will, or not for Christ his sake: so many men do seek and find not, because they seek amiss, either too proudly or too remissly, or some way else otherwise than they ought to seek; and therefore that you may not miss to find, I beseech you mark how you may seek aright, as other godly men have done; and that is briefly.

• 1. Humiliando corpus: by humbling our bodies.
• 2. Confitendo peccata, confessing our sins.
• 3. Orando Deum, praying to God. For

1. Look upon the Saints of the former times, and see how they humbled themselves when they sought the Lord; for when Sennacherib sent Rabshecah against Hierusalem, Hezechiah rent his cloaths, and covered himself with Sackcloath, and went in∣to the House of the Lord. When Josias heard the Curses of the Law against the transgressours thereof, his heart was tender, saith the Text, and he humbled himself and rent his cloaths, and wept before the Lord; and so did Ahab, though but an Hy∣pocrite, and the King of Ninev••h, though but an Heathen, and all that fought the Lord aright, humbled themselves before the Lord: and to testifie the truenesse of their humiliation they rent their cloaths, they put on Sackcloath, they besprinkled themselves with ashes, they went barefoot, and they fasted from all meat, & a licitis abstinuerunt, quia concupierunt illicita. For though a beggar may be proud in his rags, and another may be humbled in scarlet, yet quia per exteriora cognoscun∣tur interiora, and our habits and actions should suit with the times and occasions, as we put on wedding garments and our mourning weeds, when the times do call for such: so it is not fit to come with proud hearts, vain habits, wanton looks, and patched faces, when we come fasting and to be humbled for our sins, for this is not to humble our selves with fasting, as the Pro∣phet speaketh.

2. We must confess our sins and acknowledge our own un∣righteousness. We have transgressed and Rebelled, saith the Pro∣phet Jeremy; and Baruch setteth down the form of the con∣fession that we should make, saying, to the Lord our God be∣longeth righteousness, but to us the confusion of faces, to our Kings, and to our Princes, and to our Priests, and to our Prophets, and to our Fathers, for we have sinned before the Lord, we have done ungodly, we have dealt unrighteously in all thine Ordinances: and the Pro∣phet Daniel maketh the very same confession; and so David, when God sent the Plague among his people, confessed his own sins, saying, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: and the

reason of this is rendred by Solomon, He that hideth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh the same shall find mercy.

And therefore I do confess the sins of the Clergy, we have not discharged our duties as we ought to do; and I would say a great deal more of the highest order of our Calling, but that a great deal more than is true is said by others: for we will not excuse our selves: but as the Poet saith of Women.

Parcite paucarum diffundere crimen in omnes.

Blame not all because some are lewd, so I say of the Bishops and Clergy: let every horse bear his own burthen, let them that transgress, if you know any such, be severely punished, and as their lives should be more holy, so let the punishment of the of∣fenders be the more exemplary, and let that Judas that wil be∣tray his Master have the reward of Judas: but as Christ cashie∣red not all the Apostles, because Judas was a Traytor, and Peter a denier of his Master: so should not we destroy the Calling, or as Abraham saith, destroy the righteous with the wicked, because some of them in your opinion may be unworthy of that calling: for this would be culpam flagitio fugare, to drive away sin by a greater sin, & vertere domum, in stead of verrere domum, to de∣stroy the house, when they should but sweep the house.

And as the Priests so must the People confess their sins if they would find the Lord, for it will not serve our turn to recriminate, to do as Adam did, lay the fault upon the woman, or as Saul did, to post over his fault unto the People: it is not the way to find the Lord, to lay all the blame upon the Parliament, and to make the Rebels the sole causes of our miseries: for though they cannot be excused for their wickedness, yet you may be assured we suffer all this that is come upon us for our own sins, though not for the sin of Bebellion, yet for other odious sins, that have provoked God to stir up these Rebels to punish us; and as the Prophet saith, erravimus cum patribus, so it may be, we might, if we would confess the truth, say erravimus cum fratribus, we have in some sort committed the same sins with them; for sins may be

committed divers waies, as 1. By acting it. 2. By commanding it, as David did Joab to kill Urias. 3. By Counselling how to do it, as Balaam did Bala•• to intangle Israel. 4. By consenting to it, as David speaketh, When thou sawest a thief thou consentest unto him, and hast been partaker with the adulterer. 5. By delighting to see it done, as St. Paul saith, to have pleasure in them that sin. 6. By our silence, conniving and not hindering sin to be committed, when it lyeth in our power, and it is our duty so to do; for qui non vetat peccare cum possit, jubet; and if any of you that are here, have or had your hearts at London in any of these waies, the Holy Ghost will tell you, though thou hast not denied my faith, when thou dwellest even where Satans seat is, yet 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I have somewhat against thee; because thou shouldst have nothing to do, no compliance at all with the stool of wickedness, which frameth mischief by a Law: and therefore repent, and be not ashamed to confess your sins to God, if you would find the Lord. And

3. We must make our humble and our fervent Prayers to God, that he would forgive us our sins, and be intreated for us, and reconciled unto us for his mercies sake, and for his son Jesus Christ his sake; Lord have mercy upon us, and forgive us our sins, that we have sinned against thee; for this was the practice of all the Saints of God, in all their calamities, as you may see, when the Israelites murmured against Moses, and God would have utterly destroyed them for it, Moses prayed un∣to the Lord, and said, Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy; so when Sen∣nacherib came against Hierusalem, Hezechiah the King and Isaiah the Prophet prayed, and cryed to heaven: And his pray∣er is set down, 2 Reg. 19.15. and when the Moabites and Ammonites, in a huge multitude, came against Jehosaphat, he set himself to seek the Lord, saith the Text, and proclaimed a Fast throughout all Judah, and made an excellent prayer to God, 2 Chron. 20.6. usque ad vers. 13. which I desire you to read and observe it well; so Daniel, after he had made confession of the sins of the people, makes an earnest and most fervent Prayer to God for the remission of their sins; so David saith

unto God; look upon mine adversities and miseries and forgive me all my sins: and Christ biddeth us to ask, and we should have, Mat. 7.7.

And if we thus unfainedly confess our sins, and fervently beg pardon, and constantly forsake our sins, God is faithful, (saith the Apostle) that is, faithful, because he promised, to forgive us our sins.

2. As we are to seek the Lord externally, with all the parts of our bodies, so we are to seek him internally, with all the faculties of our soul; and as David concludes this manner to his Son Solomon, it must be with a perfect heart, and a willing mind, for otherwise to seek the Lord with outward profes∣sion, and not with inward obedience is but meer hypocrisie, like the Religion of the Jews, that were ever handling of ho∣ly things, but without feeling, and drew near unto God with their mouths, and honoured him with their lips, when they called upon him, and prayed unto him, but removed their hearts far from him: And therefore God abhorred their devotion, and said, I hate, I despise your feast daies, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies, though you offer me burnt offerings, and your meat offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I re∣gard the peace-offerings of your fat Beasts, and as the Lord saith in Jerem. When they fast, I will not hear their cry, and when they offer burnt offering and oblation, I will not accept them, but I will consume them by the Sword, and by the Famine, and by the Pestilence: because this outward profession is none otherwise than a shadow that is something in show but nothing in substance, or like Zeuxis and Parhasius Pictures, whereof Zeuxis deceived the birds with his counterfeit grapes, and Parhasius deceived his fellow Painter with the Picture of a Sheet.

But let not us deceive our selves with a sheet or a shadow of holiness, and think that currant which is but counterfeit: for we must seek the Lord with all our hearts, or otherwise, if we offer Sacrifice with Cain, and pray with the Pharisee, and fast with the Jews to strife and debate, or with the Rebels to plunder and murder, and hear as many Sermons as the pre∣cisest

Hypocrite, and yet forsake not our sins, and obey not Gods Ordinance, to submit our selves to the higher powers, but Rebell against Gods Anointed, we may with Esau hunt for a blessing, but catch a curse, and seek the Lord for mercy, but find him in his justice: when he shall say unto us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, I know you not whence you are, depart from me all ye that work iniquity.

2. As we are to seek the Lord totally, with all the parts both of our bodies and of our souls; so we are to seek him, not frigide, coldly and carelesly, but with all diligence, as the wo∣man that lost he•• g••oat lighted a candle, and swept the house, and sought diligently till she found it; and therefore St. Chrysostome writing upon these words of the Apostle, work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling, saith; he doth not barely use the simple word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, work it out, but he saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, as the Father doth interpret it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, accurately, precisely, and with a great deal of care and study; even as Saint Paul saith the twelve Tribes served God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; instantly (saith our Translation) day and night; and surely not without great cause; for as in the civil policie, salus populi est suprema lex, the safety of King and Peo∣ple is principally to be regarded; so in the life of a Christian, hoc est unum necessarium, this ought to be our chiefest care, to seek the Lord; for as Seneca saith of Philosophy, sive aliquid habes, O jam Philosophare, sive nihil, hoc prius quaere quam quidquam; so much better may I say with the Prophet, whether thou hast somewhat or nothing; yet seek the Lord before thou seekest any thing.

2. The Object of our seeking is the Lord: a Subject much farther exceeding the former, than the Coelestial globe is larger than the Center of this earth: and therefore he might easily be found, if he were but carefully sought: for Jupiter est quod∣cunque vides — and the Spirit of the Lord filleth all places being not far from every one of us, seeing as the Apostle saith, in h m we live, and move, and have our being: how then can we mi••s to find him, without whom we cannot choose but lose our selves?

But such is our misery, that we seek him not; for as the swine do eat the acorns, yet never look up to the tree from whence they fall: so do we deal with the blessings of God: we gather them, and yet are ignorant of him, and do sacrifice with the Athenians 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and therefore we thank him not, because we know him not, and we know him not, be∣cause we seek him not: but many of us seek our Lady, and not the Lord, and pray to her and offer sacrifice to the Queen of heaven, more and better than to the Lord of heaven: other•• seek to neither Lord nor Lady, but to their servants, (that here on earth are commonly prouder than their Masters) to the Saints and Angels: others mounting not their thought any higher than the earth, do only seek for the things of this world, quae∣renda pecunia primum; some for riches, some for honours, and some for revenge, which is the worst some of all; and others seek knots in a bulrush, great doubts in needless points; for I will not touch on those overwise men, that seek to find out the deepest Mysteries of Gods secrets, in his absolute decrees and unsearchable waies of Election and Reprobation, and the like; but of those lighter heads, that bestow their search about things of nothing, as the Graecians did beat their brains to find out how many rowers Ulysses ship had, and whether the Iliads or the Odys∣ses were first written; so we must know whether the ancient Monks wore their Cloaks short like the French, or down to the heels like the Spaniards, or whether Saint Augustine wore a white garment upon his black cloaths, or a black cheimer upon a lawn surplice; and a thousand such like points and cere∣monies that are like the spiders web, which will make no gar∣ment for them; or like the banquet of a sick mans dream, that will not satisfie their hungry souls, and are raised up by the Devil, to this only end, that while we seek after these fruitless things, that may hurt us much, but avail us little, that may best be spared and ought least to be disputed, we might leave off to seek the Lord, and those things that do necessarily pertain unto salvation.

But in universalibus later error, general things are often dark, and every one saith that he seeks the Lord, but that either

he m••keth darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him with dark waters and thick clouds to cover him; or else dwelleth in the light that no man can attain unto it; otherwise, God forbid, that you should imagine, saith every man, that we do not seek the Lord. Therefore to take away this curtain, to unvail this glorious face, and to let you see, that few of us do seek the Lord, whatsoever we say, the Prophet tells us plainly, that to seek the Lord, is to seek good, and not evil, or, as he explaine h it further in the immediate Verse 15. it is to hate the evil and love the good, and to establish judgement in the gate; and this the Prophet David said long before, eschew evil, and do good, and dwell for evermore.

Besides, God is truth, and God is justice; therefore you must seek the truth, and you must do justice: for When truth shall flourish out of the earth, and righteousness, shall look down from heaven, then the Lord will shew loving kindness he will speak peace unto his people, and our Land shall give her increase; but while our Land flows with Lies, and the father of lies rewards the Liers, and spreads them abroad to uphold robberies, oppres∣sions, and rebellions; the Lord will not speak peace unto us; because righteousness and peace have kissed each other; and therefore though we should be never so desirous of peace, and to procure peace, be contented, it should be done upon un∣righteous terms, it may be with the ruine of the Church; yet it cannot be; because it is not in the power of any man, no not of the King himself to conclude a peace, when God proclaim∣eth war; for as he calleth for a sword upon the Inhabitants of a Land, so it is he, and he alone, that maketh wars to cease in all the world, he breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sun∣der, and burneth the Chariots in the fire, and without him it can∣not be done; as you may see in Ier. 47.6. And I fear (and I pray God it be but my fear) that as the wrath of God was ne∣ver appeased, for the innocent bloud of the Gibeonites, that Saul most unjustly spilt, untill it was revenged by bloud upon the house of Saul, so the innocent bloud, that hath been spilt in this Kingdom, can never be expiated, untill an attonement be made by bloud; because that without bloud there is no remission,

that is, of bloud, unless they do with Manasses wipe away the streams of bloud, with the streams of most penitent tears; for he that sheddeth mans bloud, that is, illegally, by man shall his bloud be shed, that is, judiciarily, by the Magistrate, saith God in the Old Testament; and all they that take the sword, that is, without due authority, shall perish by the sword, that is, by just authority, saith our Saviour Christ in the New Testament; and therefore if your peace may not be had with truth and accord∣ing unto Justice, gird you with your swords upon your thighs, O you mighty men of valour, and let the right hand of the most highest teach you terrible things, untill as our Prophet speaketh, judgement shall run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream, that is, smoothly without any manner of oppo∣sition, as Montanus and Vatablus render it: Set God and his truth alwaies before your eyes, and labour for that peace, which may stand with the peace of Conscience, and with your peace with God; or otherwise you may purchase a worldly peace at too dear a rate, it may be with the loss of your souls; when God shall say unto you, as he doth unto the Jews; Shall not I visit for these things? as if he said, you indeed for your peace and prosperities sake, for fear of danger, and in hope of rest, may be contented to wink at all these sins that have provoked me to wrath, and perhaps to sell my truth, and suffer my ser∣vice to be abused, and my servants to be destroyed, that you may live in peace: but do you think that I am such an one as your selves, or that I will suffer all these things to go unrevenged? No, no, saith the Prophet, The Lord is known to execute judgement, and he will be Judge himself; he will kindle the fire, and none shall quench it.

And therefore noble and religious Gentlemen, that love your God better than the World, and his eternal honour better than your own temporal happiness, love peace and ensue it, but let it be with the truth and with justice; let the story of the wor∣thy Maccabees be set before your eyes, that rather than they would change their Religion, or suffer the service of God any waies to be impaired, and their Ecclesiastical government to be in any thing changed, they sold their peace with the loss of

their lives, which is their everlasting praise; and here I do profess, I do most heartily wish for peace, and would think my self most happy to see peace established, as of old; but rather than I should see it with the ruine of the Church, with a Pres∣byterian Discipline, that new-sprung out-landish weed of mans invention, and no plant of Gods plantation, I beseech Almigh∣ty God, that I may beg my bread and se••k it in desolate pla∣ces, that my bloud may be poured like water upon the ground, and the remainder of my years may be cut off from the Land of the Living; so much do I desire to imbrace mine own mi∣sery, rather than to see the Churches infelicity, and the service of God so much vilified. And I am confident, that all my bre∣thren the Bishops and Prelates will say with Jonas, Si propter nos haec tempestas, if you see just cause, cast us all into the sea, so you save the Ship of Christ, preserve the Church, rent not the gar∣ment of Christ, devour not the revenues of the Clergy, and de∣stroy not the government that was established by the Apostles, and continued to Gods glory and the gaining of so many thou∣sand souls to Christ, from his being on earth to this very day; be∣cause the dishonour that must infallibly redound to God, and the detriment that must fall to the Church of Christ, by the abolish∣ing of Episcopacy, troubleth us a great deal more, than any loss that can happen unto our selves; for did we see the same go∣vernment, with the same power, as it ought to be, setled on any other persons; though our selves were degraded, (how justly we would leave the censure unto God,) you should never hear me speak much thereof.

So you see what it is to seek the Lord, not his Essence which is incomprehensible, but to do his will, and to obey his Command∣ments which is most acceptable unto him, as to love him, to pray unto him, to rely upon him, and to do towards all men, that which is just and righteous in his sight. Or to set down all in a word, do as the Lord directs you, and you shall live; and that is,

• 1. To do your own best endeavours to preserve your lives. And yet
• 2. Refer the preservation of your lives only unto God.

1. In the time of peace and prosperity, the best way for us to preserve our life is to serve God; for if you honour your father and mother, your daies shall be long in the Land, saith the Lord himself; and so the keeping of his other Precepts is the preserva∣tion of our lives. But the bloud-thirsty and deceitful man shall not live out half his daies: and so the drunk••rd, the luxurious and the malicious shall by their sins diminish their years; because sin is that sharp Atropos which cutteth off the thread of mans life, and the great Epitomiser which abbreviates all things un∣to us; as it wasteth our wealth, it destroyeth our health, it confi∣neth our liberty, it shortneth our daies, and to sum all in one Catastrophe, it brings us all into our graves: when as Trajan said unto Valens, it sends victory unto our enemies, and destroyeth us sooner than our enemies; and therefore as you love your life, so you must hate your sin, and as the Heathens clipped the wings of victory lest it should fly away from them unto their enemies; So we must clip our sins, or else victory will fly unto our enemies.

2. In the time of dangers, wars, plagues, or any other distress, we are commanded by God to do our best to preserve our lives; for it is not enough for us to say, the Lord will save us, but we must do our best to save our selves; So the Mari∣ners that carried Jonas prayed unto their Gods, and yet rowed, their best to preserve their lives; So Jehosaphat, Ezechias and Josias when the Armies of their enemies came against them, did put their whole trust in Gods assistance, and rely upon his help for their deliverance; yet they prepared the instruments of War, they fortified their Cities, and gathered all the strength of men that they could make to withstand the violence of their Foes; and we must do the like, when we are in the like dan∣ger; for though the Scripture bids us, cast our care upon God; yet it bids us not to cast away our care, or to be without care, but to have a care, and the best care that we can take to preserve our lives from the danger of the enemy, to raise men and mo∣ney, and as Solomon saith, to prepare the horse for the day of bat∣tel. And then

2. When the horse is prep••red, and we have endeavoured

our best, we must refer our lives only unto God; it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but as the Prophet saith, salvation belongeth unto the Lord; for it is he that giveth victory in the battel, and it is he that saveth our life from destru∣ction; for as his help will not preserve us without our care; so all our care cannot save us without his help; but when both these go together, then we may be sure that our care and indeavour with his favour and assistance will so preserve us that we shall live.

Therefore when we lose and are put to the worst, we should not be dejected, which is the fault of too many of us, but we should say with King David, I will yet trust in God, which is the help of my countenance and my God; and when we gain and get the better of our enemies, we should not be puf∣fed up with pride, and diminish the praise of God, who gave us the better, which is the fault of as many more, that ascribe too much unto themselves and too little to Gods goodness: but, as the Poet saith of Pompey, so much more should we say, that are Christians.

—Non me videre superbum Prospera fatorum, nec fractum adversa videbunt.

Or as Menivensis saith of King Alfred,

Si modo victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat, Si modo victus erat ad crastina bella parabat.

So should we do, in all fortunes go on, eodem vultus tenori, and in all our actions rely on God, and refer our selves wholly un∣to him: and doing so, we shall be sure to live.

1. Because he hath promised us, that if we thus seek him according to his will, we shall live according as we desire; and he is not as man that he should lye, nor as the Son of man that he should change his mind, but he is Yea and Amen, he is truth it self: and therefore sicut verus est in retributione malorum, ita veràx est in promissione bonorum, as he is most certain in the punishment of the wicked, so he is as certain in his promise to the godly.

[Reason. 2] 2. Because he is willing to save us, and therefore cryeth un∣to us, Why will ye dye? why will ye dye: O ye house of Israel?

For as I live saith the Lord, I desire not the death of a sinner; and it is worth our observation to consider how pathetically and how feelingly he speaketh to this purpose: O that my people would have hearkened unto me, for if Israel had walked in my waies, I should soon have put down their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries; the haters of the Lord should have been found lyars, but their time should have endured for ever.

3. Because he is able both to performe his promise, and to sa∣tisfie [Reason. 3] our desires: which our Prophet sheweth at large, saying, Seek him that maketh the seven stars, and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night, that calleth for the waters of the Sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: that is, as St. Hieron. sheweth, seek him that is the Creator of all things, that is mighty to save, and able to do whatsoever he pleaseth, to strengthen the spoyled, as Vatab. and Arias say: or as Aquila turns it, subridere potentiam poten∣tium, to scorn the strength of the mighty, and to destroy the de∣stroyer.

And therefore if God be with us, though we be weak and our enemies strong, we few and they many, yet we need not fear them: because we rely not upon our own strength, but upon the assistance of our God, qui dividit contritionem super fortitudinem, which casteth abundance of destructions upon the mighty, as the Septuagint render the words of the Prophet; and though we be simple, and our enemies subtle and crafty, full of all politique devices, to raise men and to get money, and to unite their strength by wicked Covenants, Oaths and Associations: yet we need not fear, because we relye not upon our own wit, but upon the wis∣dom of God, which can destroy the wisdom of the wise, and cast away the understanding of the prudent, and turn the counsel of Achitophel to his own destruction: & non est concilium contra eum: and therefore, O my beloved Brethren, seek the Lord, and fear not, but, as Moses saith, stand still, that is, constant in your resolution, for the service of your God and the King, and behold the salvation of the Lord which he will shew unto you this day, or at this time: For there is no restraint unto the Lord to save by many or by few, as both Jonathan and Asa testifie.

2. The promise (as I told you at first) is the best of all de∣sires, you shall live; the former part was like the toylsome labour of the Inhabitants of Persepolis, when they cut the wood with their axes; but this latter is like the feast that Cyrus made unto them, when they had finished their Labours: durus labor, sed merces dulcis, though the labour is hard, yet the reward is sweet; and it never troubles us, to take great pains, where we shall be well paid, but to labour all night with the Apostles, and to catch nothing, durus est hic sermo, this is a hard saying, after a hard la∣bour; but it is not so in Gods service: for, though in following the lusts of the flesh, and the vanities of this World, excessit medi∣cina modum, the reward that the Devil gives us, shall be a great deal sorer than all the pain we have taken in his service: for he deals with u••, as Alexander did with Clitus, Calisthenes and other of his chiefest Captains; or as Darius did with Eudemus, to expose him unto death, when he forsook his own native Coun∣try, and de••icated his whole life to his command; yet in the service of Christ it is far otherwise: whatsoever a man doth for him he shall be rewarded a hundred fold, and though he gives but a cup of cold water for his sake, yet for this, he shall not lose his reward; And therefore this should incourage us to seek the Lord, because our reward doth so far exceed our work.

But let us consider the nature of this promise, thou shalt live; that is, live long, live well, and live for ever. For

1. Though the bloud-thirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their daies, and the ungodly shall be soon cut down like the grass, gemit sub pondere tellus, when the earth is weary to bear them on it; yet if we seek the Lord, our daies shall be long in the Land, which the Lord our God given us, and though the pestilence, that walketh in darkness, and the arrow that flyeth in the noon day, do threaten our death at every hour, yet when a thousand shall fall besides us, and ten thousand on our right hand, it shall not come nigh us: such is the reward of serving God.

2. They shall not only live, for a miserable life is not so good as a happy death, but they shall live well and happily while they live; for surely it shall go well with the righteous, saith the Prophet, and King David saith, the Lions may want and suffer hunger,

but they that fear the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good, and the reason is rendred by the Apostle, because godliness hath the promise both of this life and of the life to come. And

3. If we eschew evil and do good, we shall live for evermore, & gloriosum imperium sine fine dabit, and God will give us a Kingdom without ending; And therefore seeing this promise is so plentiful, it is worth our labour that we should seek the Lord.

[Object.] But here, it may be some will demand how doth he performe his promise? for, did not the Prophets, the Apostles, and all the Martyrs of the Primitive Church seek the Lord, and believe in Christ with all their hearts; and yet was not Zachary stoned in the Courts of the house of the Lord? Micheas killed by Jo∣ram? Amos knockt in the head with a club? Isaiah sawed in pieces by Manasses? John Baptist beheaded? St. Stephen sto∣ned? James killed? St. Paul beheaded? St. Peter crucified? St. Thomas killed with a Javelin? St. Mark burned? and what shall I say of Simeon, Polycarpus, Justinus, Attalus, Marcella, Apollonia, and abundance more of holy Saints, whereof alii flammis exusti, some were burned, others beheaded, and all de∣prived of their life for seeking the Lord and confessing Christ? And for any happy life the servants of God do lead, doth not St. Paul say that all which will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution; and afflictions do wait for them in every place? and when the ungodly flourish like a green bay tree, cloathed in scarlet, and fine linnen, and fair deliciously every day; the poor Saints even in their bonds are glad to eat ashes as it were bread, and to mingle their drink with weeping?

I confess this hath been ever a sore objection that disheart∣ned many men, and made King Davids feet well nigh to slip; but if I shall obtain your patience to stay with me a little in Gods Sanctuary, I shall soon unty this Gordian knot, or so cut it to pieces, that it can no waies be any hinderance to our progress. For

1. Seneca proveth, that long life consisteth not in the great number of years, but in vertuous actions; and the wise man saith, an undefiled life is the old age; for God esteemeth of no

time but what we spend in his service; and therefore they that lived 100 years in pleasures have but lost all their time, and been as dead all that time which they lived; and those holy Saints that were cut off in the midst of their daies, have lived longer, because they spent their whole time in Gods service; the other lost their time, and lost their life, as Titus was wont to say, diem perdidi, I lost the day, wherein I did no good, and these have gained eve∣ry hour. And

2. Whatsoever afflictions the Saints do suffer, we must not account them so great miseries unto them, as the world takes them; for the Philosopher tells us, that quicquid recipitur, recipi∣tur ad modum recipientis; and they esteem them not as the world doth; but they count them, as the fatherly chastisements of Gods love, and not any arguments of Gods hatred, and as the Poet saith,

Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit.

the same hand, which layed on their stripes will heal their sores.

[Way. 1] 1. By giving them that invincible gift of patience; which doth more iurage their tormenting persecutors, then themselves are in suffering torments.

[Way. 2] 2. By filling them with true content, that is, in any estate to be contented; which is far better than to abound with wealth, and to want this heavenly gift; for he is most rich that desires nothing, and he is best pleased, that is never discon∣tented. And

[Way. 3] 3. By making them to rejoyce in tribulation, and to account it all joy, when they fall into divers temptations; a strange thing, that they should rejoyce in that which the world doth most fear; yet such is the case of the righteous, that neither life, nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any other thing shall be able to sepa∣rate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus; but they abound in want, they are content in Prison, they rejoyce in death, and in all things they are more than conquerours for his sake that loved them.

And therefore to conclude, let us seek the Lord and we shall live, and we shall be happy; because he never faileth them that

seek him; but he will hear their prayers and will help them, so that they need fear neither the scarlet gowns, nor the sharpest swords, neither their dissembling friends, nor their greatest ene∣mies; for that God is with them in Prison, as with Joseph; in the Sea, as with Jonas; in the fire, as with the three Children, and in all places, to preserve them, from all evil here, and to bring them to all happiness hereafter, to live for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be all praise and dominion for ever and ever, Amen.

Jehovae Liberatori.

FINIS.

Notes

• The excellen∣cy of the light.
• Gen. 1.3.
• 1 John 1.5.
• Psal. 43.3.
• Life, how pre∣cious.
• Job 2.4.
• Gen. 2.17.
• Hab. 2.4. The bloud-thirsty, how detestable.
• Am. Marcellin l. 14. c. 10.
• Matth. 3.7.
• 2 Thes. 2.3:
• Death, how terrible.
• Aristot. Ethic. l. 3. c. 6.
• Job 1.21.
• Statius The∣baid. l. 9.
• The Israelites, how threatned
• Ovid de Trist.
• Vers 3.
• 2 Reg. 18.10.
• Esay 6.10.
• England, how threatned, and how miserable we are.
• Lam. 5.8, 9.
• Amos 5.16.
• Esay 34.5, 6. 2 Reg. 8.1. Amos 4.10.
• How God dea∣leth with his people.
• Psal. 91 7.
• 1 Cor. 10.13.
• 2 Cor. 1.3.
• Physitians, how useful.
• Two parts of the Text.
• 1. The Pre∣cept, twofold.
• 1. The Act.
• Luke 19.10.
• The loss of God what it is
• Two things considerable.
• 1. The cause why the Lord departeth from us, is sin.
• Lam. 3.39. Psal 5.5. Ezek. 18 4. Rom. 6.23. Jam. 1.15. Lev. 11.44.
• Why sin sepa∣rates us from God.

  The nature of holiness▪ how excellent.
• The nature of sin, how exe∣crable.
• Aug. de Civit. l. 14. c. 18. Chrys. in Eph. c. 4.
• All sins not alike.
• Exod. 14.17.
• The three fear∣ful sins of the Israelites. 1. Their Idola∣try.
• Idolatry how hateful to God.
• Psal. 106.36.
• How prone the Israelites were to fall into Idolatry.
• Ver. 26. 1 In the pas∣sage to Cana∣an when they worsh pped Moloc.
• Remphan who he was.
• Gen. 31.34.
• 2 In their set∣led Land.
• 2 Reg 23 8: 1 Reg 12.29.
• The reasons why the chil∣dren of Israel were alwaies ready to wor∣ship their calves.
• Juven. §. 16.
• Heb 7.12.
• Cha. 30.8.
• 1 Reg. 12.30.
• Ver. 27.
• 1 Reg. 14.16. &c. 15. 30.
• Col. 2.23. 1 Joh. 5.21.
• Mat 5.7.
• How the Pri∣mitive Christi∣ans were slan∣dered.
• How we are now slandered.
• Mat. 11.19.
• Rom. 3.8.
• Hier. in Jer. c. 32. & Aug. l. de vera reli∣gione. Col. 3 5.
• Jer. 5 9.
• Ver. 7. The second sin of the Israe∣lites, Injustice.
• Jer. 5.1.
• 1 Generally.
• The praise of Justice. Pro. 25.5. Pro. 14.34. Theog. p. 431.
• Eccles. 7.7.
• Mica. 6.13.
• 2 Particularly. Isa. 1.23.
• Ver. 12•• Jer 5 5.
• Dioscorides l. 3. Apellus in Isa∣gogico. Judgment tur∣ned to worm∣wood two waies.
• Jer. 5.9.
• Lib. 19 in fine.
• Good men are naturally cle∣ment.
• Claud. Excess of se∣verity condem∣ned by God. Amos 1.4, 5.
• Vers. 3.
• Amos 2.2, 3.
• 2 Reg 3.27.
• All sins not alike, nor the same sins com∣mitted alike.
• Micah. 5.15.
• Jer. 21.7.
• Deut. 19.13, 21 Et vide Ezek. 8.17, 18.
• Rebellion, how horrible a sin.
• The third sin of the Israe∣lites. Ver. 10.
• Deut. 21.10.
• Jer. 17 19. Esdras l. 2. c. 8.
• Sinners that reject their Teachers and Pastors, are incurable.
• Hos 4.4.
• Gem. de coelo. l. 1 c. 22. Job 9 9. The Preachers like the Hya∣des
• Deut. 32 2.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 1 Cor. 4.13. Heb. 11.38. and 37.
• Jer. 5.9.
• Lam. 4 5. & 1.11.
• 2. The waies whereby God is lost from us.
• Rom. 13.
• 1 Pet. 2.13.
• What we ought to do, when we have lost God. Gen. 2.
• Eph. 1.2.
• Joh. 15.5. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Prosper de lib. arbit.
• Eph. 2.10••.
• Mat. 11.28.
• Aug in Epist. 89. quaest. 2.
• How the devil inticeth us, and cannot compel us to sin.
• Four things to be conside∣red in our search for God.
• 1. To know the cause why God left us. Psal. 147.14.
• Job 19.11:
• Cap. 6.4.
• Josh. 7.18. 2 Sam 21.1.
• We have com∣mitted the same sins, and more sins, and more hainous∣ly than the Is∣raelites did.
• Vers. 19.
• Hos. 5.12.14.
• 2. The place where God may be found.
• How God fil∣leth all places.
• God is found 1. In the Church among the faithful.
• Psal 26.8.
• Psal. 1.1.
• Lev. 26.12.
• 2 In the holy Scriptures.
• John 17.17. John. 5.39. Aug. Confes. l. 11. c. 2. 2 Tim. 3.13. Hieron. in ep. ad demetriad.
• Aug. quo sup.
• Psal. 120.4.5.
• 3. The time when God may be found.
• Seneca de bre∣vitat. vita, c. 1.
• Psal 90.10:
• Senec de b••e∣vit. vit. c. 12.
• Eccles. 12 1.
• 2 Tim. 3.15.
• Psal 95.
• When we ought most especially to seek the Lord.
• Psal 50 15. Mat. 11.28.
• Jonas 1.5, 7.
• Mat. 8.25.
• Psal. 83.16.
• Isa. 1.5.
• Exod. c. 8, c 9, c. 10.
• Lam. 5.23, 21.
• 4 The manner how we ought to seek the Lord. 1 Totally with all parts. 1 of our bodies 1 Cor. 6.20.
• Rom. 3.••. James 4.••.
• Our outwar•• seeking consist∣eth chiefly 〈◊〉〈◊〉 three point••
• 1 Humbling our selves.
• 2 Reg. 22.11, 19 Psal. 51.17. 2 Chron. 12.7. Judges 20.26. 2 Chron. 7.14.
• Psal 35.13.
• 2 Confessing our sins. Lam. 3 42. Bar. 1.15, 16. &c. 2 12. Dan 6.5, & 8. & Ezra. 6.6.
• 2 Sam. 24.17.
• Prov. 28.13.
• Gen. 3.12. 1 Sam. 15.21.
• Sins may be committed di∣vers waies.
• Psal. 50.8.
• Rom. 1.32.
• Rev 2.14. or a few things
• Psal 94.20. For in all this I speak not of Popish and au∣ricular confes∣sion to the Priest.
• 3 Fervent prayers.
• Num. 14.19.
• 2 Chron 32.20.
• Dan 9.16 us∣que ad 20. ver.
• Psal. 25.17.
• 1 Joh. 1.9.
• 2. With all the faculties of our souls.
• 1 Chro. 28 9.
• Isa. 29.13.
• Amos 5.21.22. & Isa. 1.11.
• Jer. 14.12.
• Outward pro∣fession what it is like.
• Isa. 58.4.
• Luke 13.27.
• 2. We are to seek the Lord most dilig••ntly
• Luke 15.8.
• Phil. 2.12.
• Acts 26.7.
• 2. The object of our seeking the Lord.
• Acts 17.28.
• What men do seek after.
• How many men search for trifles.
• What it is to seek the Lord
• Ver. 14.
• Psal. 37 27.
• Psa. 85.11, 12.
• None can make peace but God. Jer. 25.29. Psal. 46.9.
• Ver. 24.
• If we alone be the cause of all this storm, and if our per∣sons by any thing, that could be done to us, could ap∣pease these di∣stractions, and procure the peace of the Church and State, do what you will to us. Non multum nos movebit.
• What we ought to do to live.
• 1. To do our best to pre∣serve our own lives. 1. In the time of peace. Psal. 55.23.
• Niceph. l. 11. c. 3.
• 2. In the time of dangers.
• 2. To rely wholly upon God.
• Psal. 81.14, 15, 16.
• Ver. 8.
• Fortificare de∣biles.
• Ver. 9.
• 1 Cor. 1.19.
• Prov. 21.30.
• Exod. 14.13.
• 1 Sam. 14.6. 2 Chro. 14.11.
• 2. The promise
• Justia. l. 1. hist.
• How ill some masters reward their servants.
• Val. Max. l. 9. c. 3. Curtius hist. l. 3.
• How abun∣dantly Christ rewardeth his servants.
• Mat. 10.42.
• 1. The seekers of God shall live long. Psal 37.2.
• Psal. 91.6.
• 2. They shall live well. Isa. 3.10.
• Psal. 34.10.
• 1 Tim. 4.8. 3. They shall live for ever. Psal. 37.27.
• How they that sought the Lord were used in this world.
• Alii ferro per∣empti, alii pa∣tibulo cruciati. Euseb. Ec. hist.
• 2 Tim. 3.12. Acts 20.23. Psal 37.36. Luke 16.
• Sol.
• Seneca de bre∣vit. vitae c. 8.
• Sap. 1. All time lost that is not spent in Gods service.
• 2. Afflictions not so esteem∣ed by the Saints as they are by the worldlings.
• How God sweetneth the afflictions of his servants.
• Tert. in apol••g
• Phil. 4.11.
• James 1.2. Rom. 8.31. Ver. 37.