THis is a gloomy day of publick humili­ation; Context. and the argument of this Chap­ter (on a branch whereof my lot is now fallen) is drooping, and heavines. Ver. 5. The people indeed, we find trembling (in the next Chapter) for the immoderate raine; Chap. 10.9. [Page 2]for it seems the clouds then dispensed their treasures too fast, as now they do: But a dunghilly worldling can howl on his bed under a losse or crosse: But our Ezra mourns more for the blacknesse, then the burning of the coale of sin. A formalist may some­time feel a legall fit, a pang of sorrow for his owne sins: but Ezra laments the mis-carriages of others; the people of Israel, the Priests, the Levits, the Prin­ces and Rulers, [...]er. 1.2. who were all imbarqued in that de­linquency that he deplores. Ezra's humiliation be­gan within, but ended not there: His sorrow-prest heart finds a vent in all the solemn dress, & equipage that grief uses to assume, and put on; laceration of garments, [...]er. 3.4, 5. plucking the hair from his head, and beard, pensively sitting down with silence, stupefaction, asto­nishment until the evening. And lest his passion shold be interpreted an immasculating, sullen stupidity, & amazed dulnesse, rather then an active repentance, (which ought to be a fruit-bearing-tree, & not a dead log) he raises and rowses himselfe, and betakes him­selfe to his knees, and spreads out his hands heaven­ward (the usuall visible demonstrations of the height of devotion) and offers the fruit of his lips, powring out his soul, clothing his sad apprehensions withaery, but solid and melting expressions, breathing forth his complaints to him who onely could relieve him, in a prayer that here is memorized and conveyd to posterity, distilling from his own pen. It is recorded of him, Chap. 7.6. that hee was a prompt Scribe: His tongue was as the pen of a ready writer when he commenc'd, and presented this suit at the throne of grace; and his pen is as a tongue to report it to succeeding genera­tions [Page 3]as an exemplary modell, or platform to steer us in putting up our petitions on semblable emer­gent occasions. And I said, O my God, &c. And thus is the Text allied to the Context.

If you now please (Right Honourable, Text. and the rest beloved in our Saviour) to see how the words that lie afore us shine with their own native, without borrowed lustre, Summe, Epitomie. They are considerable under the notion of a prayer; an ordinance, that if duly man­aged, can open and shut heaven, binde and loosen the hands of the Omnipotent, blast designes, coun­termine mines, command, countermand men, tie up divels, throw Rome into Tiber: a duty that sancti­fies fasting, as fasting quickens and imps the wings of it.

In which prayer the Petitioner draws himself and his people with a black coale, ver. 6.7. Anatomis. Parts. but limns his God with orient colours, ver. 8. vilifying, nullifying man; or if any diminutive can be added below a­basement it self: but magnifying God.

1. Hee decries himself and Israel, discovering his sorrow by the impression of his shame, and the ex­pression of their Nationall misery.

1. The impression of his shame, ver. 6. O my God, I am confounded, &c.

2. The expression of his and Israels misery, in a self-arraignment, and a self-condemnation.

1. His self-arraignment appears in drawing up a large indictment made up of an ingenuous confessi­on, and an heightning aggravation.

1. A confession of their sin under the varied and reiterated language of iniquities, and trespasses; em­phaticall [Page 4]and comprehensive titles.

2. The aggravation of those transgressions, By

1. The dimensions of them; height and depth.

The continued quantity, the magnitude, great, greatned.

The discrete quantity, or multitude; increast, multiplied.

2. The customary inveteratenesse; From the daies of our fathers to this day.

3. The Epidemicalnesse, and spreading univer­sality; the guilt of Kings and Priests is mentioned here, ver. 7. And if we cast our eyes back to the first, and second verses, we shall find Levits, People and Ru­lers all put into this bill of attainder.

Yet he contents not himself with this self-arraign­ment; but erects a Tribunall within his own brest, and thence he passes an impartial judgement on him­self, and the rest involved and engulft in this blame: For our iniquities have wee been delivered up.

Delivered; To whom? To what?

1. To whom? Homo homini lupus. To men; and one man is natural­ly a wolfe to another; and those men potent, Kings; and those many; and they ethnicks, heathenish, the Kings of the nations.

2. To what delivered? To sword, to captivity, to spoil, to confusion of face; and that not immi­nent, but incumbent; not feared, but felt; all too apparent; As it is (or appears) this day. So different translations have it.

2. Having thus deprest man, Root. he exalts God in his most magnetick, 1 attractive, amiable attribute, Grace; amplified by the fruit growing on that root; Fruit. rescue, [Page 5]preservation; causing a remnant to escape: And settlement; 2 giving us a nail in his holy place. And these favours re­ceiving their grace and glosse from those comfort­able ends that God level'd at; End. the lightning their eyes, and reviving their hearts in their servitude.

This is the Anatomie, these the lineaments of the Text. Which by this time you may perceive, corre­sponds and may aptly entitle it self to the times, and the time; to this day, and audience, being compo­sed of Rulers, and people; the parties mentioned in this Chapter. May the Text prove as profitable, as it is seasonable.

Here is a large Vintage; I cannot stand to pluck every grape; I must present them to you by clu­sters: and (like our Geographers) set down a line for a River, and a spot for a whole Country; here being such an ocean, a continent of matter under my hands.

1. I take my rise from Ezra's decrying, and vilify­ing himself, and Israel: and therein from the impressi­on of his shame; And I said, O my God, I am ashamed, Shame. and blush (or as other Translations render it, I am confoun­ded, and ashamed) to lift up mine eyes to thee, my God.

Both are agreeable to the Originall, [...] that uses two words, importing shame, blushing, confusion of face, or eyes, the seat of shame.

Shame is sometimes a vice, sometimes a punish­ment, sometimes a vertue: A vice, Rubor quo se contra pudorem muniebat. In A­gric. Epist. 11. as Tacitus writes of Domitians blushing, it was a shame, whereby hee fortified himself against shame. As Seneca saith of Sylla, He was never more to be dreaded, then when he blusht. Sometimes shame is a punishment; as at the end of [Page 6]the seventh verse. But here in Ezra it is a vertue; a shame whereof he needed not be ashamed.

Shame hath its sourse within, caused either by self-consciousnesse, [...]cita sudant [...]ecordia culpa. [...]ven. when a guilty soul sweats with reflecting on it self: Or, from a piercing apprehen­sion of others unworthinesse, which was Ezra's mo­tive in the Text; he was ashamed, because Israel was not ashamed of their mungrill matches. [...]er. 1. This shame was not his accuser, but compurgatour: He enters a caveat against them by the colouring of his cheek.

The badge of shame or modesty is blushing, [...]ushing. [...], [...]iog. Laert. the trans-fusion of a vermilion thorow the face: which sally of the blood into the cheeks we call the colour of vertue. Though it be oft an infirmity; yet oftner an index of ingenuity, as thistles speak the ground fertil that bears them.

Confusion (which in some Translations is inserted here) is the meridian, [...]onfusion of [...]ce. zenith, verticall point of shame, it can mount no higher; As shame tied up the peoples tongues when they were argued of halting between two opinions, [...] King. 18.21. they answered not a word; and Joshuah's tongue when Israel was foil'd at Ai, What shall I say? [...]os. 7.8. this is that confusion here spoken of; and this possesses Ezra too: O my God, (saith hee) I am confounded, at a stand, filled with astonishment, that Israel should so degenerate and degrade themselves. So planet-strook he was, that hee could not, durst not lift up his eyes. His looks were demisse, his eyes staked to the ground, Luk. 18.13. as the Publicans, that would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven.

And yet this shame of Ezra delivers him not over to despondency, or despair; for twice for failing in a [Page 7]breath hee bespeaks God his; O my God, O my God. Gen. 3.8, 10. Adams shame drove him from God; Ezra's drives him to God: it fastens his hold, so that hee applies God the closer to him, O my God.

Which president commends this note to us; the pearl, the point lies above ground, That

They that are at ods with sin because it is sin, 1. Observation. will blush even at other mens sins. Ezra shared not in this particu­lar crime, that thus fils his heart with grief, and his face with shame. As in the Prophesie, Isa. 24 23. the silver Moon is said to be confounded, and the spotlesse Sun to be ashamed. And stars of the cleerest beam, and first magnitude in the Church of God have been, and ought to be thus modest. Jer. 50.12. Your mother (saith God) shall be sorely confounded, shee that bare you shall be ashamed. Christians apostacy is said to put Christ to open shame. Were he on earth, Heb. 6.6. or now receptive of this passion, the sins of men would put him to it. But meer men have more reason to blush for men: Reasons. Whe­ther because sin is so shamefull in its own nature, 1 so that the Scripture makes it enter the lists of compa­rison with the most sordid things that earth can shew. Or, 2 whether to acquit themselves from the guilt of other mens sins, which we make our own by not being affected with them. Or, 3 whether from others aberrations we are prompted to review our own na­turall leprous deformity, which we derived from our parents loins, and unhappily improved and exprest, till God recall'd us to himself. Or, wee are minded, 4 that the seeds of the most prodigious sins are in us; though grace restrain or mortifie them: Else a Si­mon Peter might prove a Simon Magus; a Saint a Di­vell; [Page 8]every one of us a Saul, a Balaam, a Judas, a witch, a traitour to our Saviour. These recoyling thoughts draw the colour into our cheeks. 5 Or, whe­ther by command, counsell, connivence, or any o­ther way, wee have been accessary to others falls; since in religion all accessaries are principals. 6 Or, whether it be that we consider, that the sacred name of God is blasphemed, and the reputation of religi­on blasted by black mouthes, as if it were but an empty, barren, ineffectuall speculation, for the de­viations of the professors thereof: which probably stirr'd Ezra in my Text: (such a scandall is not to be expiated with tears of blood.) As the Duke of Ur­bins Painter being blamed for limning S. Peter and S. Paul high coloured, since fasting, mortification, labours, and watchings had discoloured and paled their cheeks, wittily and tartly replyed, That those Apostles were wan indeed while they lived, but they now blush to see those that pretend themselves to be their successors, to succeed them no otherwise then as a disease doth health, or night day. All these Reasons justifie this blushing we speak of.

But oh, Application. 1. Conviction. How many degrees distant from this tem­per of Ezra's are those, who are so far from a modest resentment of others sins, that they never ch [...]nge colour when they are convicted of their own! That can tear Gods sacred Name, dismember his Son be­tween their teethes, out-face the Sun, Magistrate, Minister in swinish drunkennesse, goatish lust, sa­vage oppressions, and what not, that would infect the air but to name? And yet are frontlesse: Like the contriver of the golden Legend; on whom a [Page 9]Papist could passe this verdict, Isa. 8.4. Jer. 3.3 Jer. 5.3. That hee had a leaden heart, and a brazen face. We read of a brew of brasse; of a whores forehead; of faces harder then rock; we have whole quarries of them; those impudent wretches died not without issue. Among all stations and ranks of persons that expostulation is not impertinent, Were they ashamed, when they had committed abominations? Jer. 8.12. Nay, they were not ashamed, neither could they blush.

Nay, wee are fallen on an age, into which those monsters have transmitted by a kind of transmigra­tion, their spirits, contemporaries to S. Austine, of whom he thus complains, Quid dignum' [...] vituperie nifi vi­tium? Ego n [...] vituperarer, vi­tiosior fiebarn. Conf. Though nothing be blamable but sin, I, lest I should be blamed, was fain to be more sinfull; & I belied my self, that I was guilty of what I never commit­ted, lest the more innocent I was, the more despicable I might appear. We are ashamed not to be shamelesse: At least, ashamed of what wee should count our crown, reli­gion, profession. We are ashamed of our glory, Phil. 3.18.19. and glory in our shame, as heirs to those prostitutes that extorted tears from S. Pauls eyes but to name. Wee have swarms of those that will with triumph, trum­pet forth how many they have plundred, opprest, ground to powder, ruin'd by their power; having no better plea then that of the wolfe to the lamb, Thou hast a better cause, but I have better teeth: boasting how many unwary onus they have over-reacht by flight of brain; with that hell-bred Proverb in their mouthes, Plain dealing is a jewell, but he that useth it shall die a beggar (and yet it is a wonder, there should be so many beggars, and so few plain dealing men): Brag­ging how many pliant souls, laden with sin, led a way captive by lust, they have insnared, and subdued by [Page 10]their blandishments. Which impudence is to let out sin to use, to wind it up to the highest peg; and it is a link of the chain of sin fastned next to the gates of hell. And it is as irrationall, as if a felon should boast of his fetters, a dog of his vomit, an infected person of his plague-sore, or a possest demoniack of his divell.

Deer Christians, 2 if there be any shadow of inge­nuity in us, [...]unsell. I trust we shall rather take part with Ez­ra in the Text, blushing for others sins, then thus in­solently proclaim our own (like Sodom).

1. [...]bortation. [...]m. 1.16. Let us not be ashamed of owning God: I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ (saith Paul). Nay, he points to his chain, Tim. 1.16. that hee bore for Christs cause, as children point where they are fine. [...]edecorosum [...]aro ruenti se [...]bducere. The Celtes in Damascene thought it a disgrace to withdraw them­selves from a falling wall: Let us be ashamed to flinch from God, though all the world should dis­claim him. Our Lord and Master will at the last day be ashamed of them that are now ashamed of him, Mar. 8.38. Let us not blush in a good cause, where justice, or mercy challenges our reliefe, though ju­stice, 2 or mercy should passe for a crime among men. Let us blush rather for dishonourable, Exhortation. dishonest, scurrilous, subdolous, unworthy words, and actions: Then shals remember thy wayes, Ezek. 16.61. and be ashamed, saith God to Israel. Motives.

What is past cannot be recall'd; 1 wee cannot be innocent, wee may be penitent: though wee can­not offer the spotlesse lamb of blamelesnesse; we may the turtles of penitency, our two eyes fill'd with shame and sorrow.

[Page 11]We are ashamed of bodily defects, of a summetry, 2 disproportion of parts, whereof wee are not guilty; wee are guilty of our spirituall deformity. Num. 12.14. As God argues to Moses about his sister Miriam; If her fa­ther had spit in her face, should shee not have been ashamed seven dayes? and now shee is a leper, let her be shut out seven dayes. So it holds by rules of equiva­lence; if wee be ashamed of what wee are meerly passive in from our heavenly Father; why not much more for our sin, wherein wee have been culpably active?

Even Nature (saith Tertullian) hath cast a shame­fastnesse on all sinfull evill. 3 Omne malum p [...] dore perfudit: [...] malefici gestiun latere, devitan [...] apparere, trepi­dant deprehensi­negant accusati­ne torti quide [...] facile aut sempe confitentur certe damnati maeren [...] vel fato vel a stris imputant; nolunt suum esse quid malum ag [...] noscunt. In A­polog. Malefactors delight to sculk, refuse to appear. They that are drunk, are drunk in the night: it was so in S. Pauls time, 1 Thess. 5.7. They tremble, and blush when apprehended; deny, when accused; when tortured, they seldome, or hardly confesse; condemn'd, they bemoan them­selves; and impute all, either to the malevolent a­spect of conjunction of Starres; or to the unresist­ablenesse of fate; they will not have guilt lie at their door, because it is guilt, and opprobrious. Let but nature work, it will prompt us to this modesty.

But grace, I hope, will be more expressive on us. I have seen Ephraim (saith God) smiting on his thigh; I have heard his moaning: and acknowledging him­self ashamed. It was melody in Gods ears, that con­fession; and that smiting a lovely prospect in his eye, as appeares by Gods melting, passionate lan­guage about him in the next verse. Ephraim is my deer son, my pleasant child, I remember him still; my bow­els are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy on him. [Page 12] [...] [Page 13] [...] [Page 12]And when the soule-wounded Publican durst not look up to heaven, [...]clinavit ocu­ [...], inclinavit [...]lum. heaven looked down to him; he declined his own eyes, and inclined Gods.

In a word: 5 It were a strange thing (saith Austin) if in our faces there should be such a distance between our forehead and tongue, [...]rum, si in fa­ [...] tamum inter­ [...]llum inter [...]ntem, & lin­ [...]am ut frons [...]n comprimat [...]guam. Cont. [...]l. Pel l. [...]. [...] 1. that shame should not sup­presse and stifle a bold tongue. If Diodorus the Logi­cian fell down dead for shame, that he could not re­solve an Argument propounded to him: me-thinks if we were truly apprehensive of the multitude and horridnesse of our sins; and the venome naturally inter woven with our soules, and our unkind abuse of so gracious a God; we should blush even to death; and be ready to creep into the grave, or hell it self: we having too much cause to take Ezra's words out of his mouth, and to appropriate them to our selves. For our iniquities are increast over our head, &c.

I am fallen from the impression of his shame, 2 to the expression of his and Israels misery (set downe also as the ground of his shame) And that first in his self arraignment and inditement filed against him­self and Israel. Inditement. In which bill, his ingenuous confes­sion comes first to hand; Confession. displaying their sins under the varied termes of iniquities and trespasses.

Iniquity in our English Idiome sounds injustice, Iniquity. inequality. Indeed what is more unjust then sin? especially the sin of those within the bosome of the Church: who are favor'd and ennobled with so ma­ny mercies and priviledges? Are not my waies equall? and are not your waies unequall? Ezek. 18.25. As God expostulates with his people.

Trespasses is the other title Ezra gives their sins: Trespasse. [Page 13]which imports breaking bounds, and due limits, and invading anothers right.

Another peece of the character of sin: It leaps all hedges and ditches, breaks through all fences of re­lations or duties; and spares nor God, nor man.

But the Hebrew words run higher. The rootes whence they are borrowed, imply crookednesse, perversenesse, ignominious basenesse to be explo­ded and hist at; as the meanly versed in that tongue know.

The Jewes were a crooked and perverse genera­tion; as Steven stigmatizes them with it; Act. 7.51. offending against the cleerest Revelation, and most remarke­able dispensations of Divine providence.

Truth is, all sin is crookednesse, it being a de­flection from a streight Rule: But there is more crookednesse and perversenesse in some sins and sin­ners, then in others.

For perversenesse, we are generally like Children, that because they cannot have what they will, throw away what they have, slight what they may have: And will endure a world of hardship and redoubled blowes, rather then bend a knee, or give a word. There is a steely obstinacy, a twisted contrariety in our Nature. Abrahams children turned to stones, Matth. 3.9. to thwart John Baptist that speaks of stones turn'd to children.

And for crookednesse, we so affect winding Me­anders, and turning Labyrinths in our waies, Esay 59.8. that it may be said to us, as it was in the apologue to the Serpent; that having his deaths wound, stretched out himself streight. You should have lived so; you [Page 14]have lead a crooked life, [...] oportuit sic [...]xisse. [...]um. 23.10. and now you would die right and streight, and go strait to Heaven, like Ba­liam in his wish. But as the Tree falls, so it lies; if Death leave it crooked, such will Judgement find it.

But I spend but a word on words; 2 and the varia­tion of them; Aggravation. here Ezra goes on to aggravate Israels sinnes.

From the dimensions of them first characteriz'd in four or five expressions. 1 1. Great; There is their continued quantity, their magnitude. 2. Increast, [...] Multiplyed; There is their discrete quantity, their multitude. 3. Over our heads. 4. Up to Heaven: There is their extension, as afore their intension. And all these are of distinct consideration: for that may be great that multiplies not; and that may grow, which yet amounts not above our heads; and that may get above our heads, that yet ascends not to Heaven. Their sins were all this.

1. 1 Great; Whether we eye that individual, par­ticular sin, Great. whence Ezra took the hint of his La­mentation; the people of God matching with Ido­latrous wives, which stole and ravisht Solomons heart from his God: [...] King. 11. so stupifying and infatuating him, that, like a Bowle, he began to slugge toward the end of the Alley, neer his death, wracking even in the sight of the Haven. 2 Cor. 6.15.16 A sin which Paul calls un­equall yoaking, importing as great an asustatous inconsistency, as between light and darknesse, righ­teousnesse and unrighteousnesse, Christ and Belial.

Or whether we contemplate their sin in generall, it was great.

[Page 15]All sin is great, being an offence of a great, an in­finite God. But yet sins are of different magnitudes. It is a Stoicall fancy that they are equall. Nay, the same fins are greater or smaller in severall persons. If S. Peter had had S. Paul's malice, and S. Paul had had S. Peter's knowledge they had both committed the sin against the holy Ghost. I shall but touch up­on the ingredients that make up a great sin: because I have far to go, and not much time to spend.

Sins are accounted great in Gods Geometry, 1 that are committed against cleer light: Joh. 15.22. so haynous they are, that in comparison Christ accounts other sins none. A servant may unwarily rush on his master in the dark; but to tread on his foot, and to look him i'th' face, is insufferable. Great knowledge greatens sins: for knowledge is like the Unicornes horne, that doth well in a wise and good mans hand, but ill on a beasts head.

Sins also against eminent mercies are great: 2 God had rather his mercy should be unknown then slight­ed (saith Augustine) Do you requite God thus ye foolish peo­ple? faith Moses, Deut. 32.6. Gratiam nesciri maluit Deus, quam negligi. Aug. To requite good for good is but humane; in requite evill for evill is car­nall; to requite good for evill is God-like; but to requite evill for good is diabolicall.

And sins masked with a coverture of holinesse; 3 as Israels were. Ezck. 33.3 [...]. And they are thence denominated an hypocritical Nation in one place. Such sins are of a scarlet dye. There is no sin to that of under a pretext of Religion; 1 Sam. as David said of Goliah's sword wrapt up in the linnen Ephod, there is none to that. Hypo­crisie we call double iniquity; and therefore the [Page 16]punishment of the Hypocrite in hell is made the exemplar of the torment of the greatest sinners: they shall have their portion with hypocrites. Mat.

We had need to sollicite God then, Use. that though this Jebusite sin will continue in our coasts, our breasts; that yet he would guard us from sins, that lay waste the Conscience: Vastare consci­entiam. Psal. 19.13. Keep thy servant (prayes David) from presumptuous sins, so shall I be innocent from the great transgression. It is now a great commendati­on to a man, if it may be said of him (as Tacitus speaks) that he is without crying vices, Magis extra vi­tia, quam intra virtutes. though not within vertue; and he that doth the least mischief, is a Saint. But I cannot insist.

The second expression is, 2 that sins were not one­ly great, but did still greaten; they were increast and multiplyed, both in magnitude and multitude: as it is charged on them, Isa. 1.4. that they revolted more and more.

First for the continued quantity; Point. Sin will great­en, and wax, and grow; like drops to a torrent, a slip to a wood, a spark to a flame: The measure fils a pace. Wee read of the fulnesse of the Amorites sins. In good wee are as conscionable as children; wee care not how little we have for our money; we give God gold hard weight; a little religion on a knives point serves our turns; but wee never set a period to the bulk of sin. Jam. 1.14.15. Lust (saith S. James) having conceived, brings forth sin, and so proceeds to finishing. Sin hath its conception, that's delight; and the formati­on, that's designe; and the birth, that's the acting; and custome is the education of this brat; then follows a re­probate sense; and the next step is Hell. None declines [Page 17]to the worst at first, but gradually step by step; Nemo fit rep [...] turpissim [...]. Juven. As Mariners setting sayle, first lose sight of the shore, then of the houses, then of the steeples; then of mountains, and land. And as those that are way­laid by a consumption, first lose vigour, and then sto­mack, and then colour.

Then the discrete quantity must not be omitted: Our iniquities are increast and multiplyed, So the Hebrew gives it: multiplyed even above Arithmetick; as sparks out of the Ovens mouth.

Sins you see never go alone, Observation. but like the waves of the Sea, the end of the one is the beginning of ano­ther. David is a sad in tance, Isa. 5.28. he drew iniquity with cart-ropes, as Esay phrases it. First he is idle; then he lusts after anothers wife, then he sends for her, then violates her chaftity; when Uriah had but one Lamb in his bosome, and he had too many already: then he makes her Husband drunk, then plots his death, making the man contributuary to his own death by bearing the letters to Joab, and drawes Joab also within the compasse of the guilt.

What need have we to attend that caution, Application. Heb. 3.1 [...]. Take heed ye be not hardned by the deceitfullnesse of sin? We know where we begin and set out in a sin; but we know not where we shall end and take up. As no man can say he will let in so many pale [...]ulls of the Sea and no more. Many set up the trade of sweat­ing with common interlocutory oathes, as [...], and troth; many began theeving with pins and pence; many drunkennesse with one [...] more then enough, many last with a glance of the eye, and never dream [...] they should ever be prostituted to [Page 18]those prodigious extremities they after find them­selves almost irrecoverably ingulfed in. As when Pompey could not prevail with a City to billet his Ar­my with them, he yet perswaded them to admit of a few weak maimed Souldiers, but those recovered their strength, and opened the gates to the whole Army. The divel courts us onely to lodge a sin of infirmity, or two, and they gathering strength, and sinews, subdue us. It will be our wisdom to nip sin in the bloom, the bud, the first overture and sug­gestion; to kill this Cockatrice i' th' egge. For if we go with sin one mile, it will compell us to go with it twaine: It will swell like the cloud Eliab saw, from the bignesse of a mans hand to such an expansion, that it will cover the sky: like the waters of the Sanctuary, that may at first [...]each, to the ankles, but in tract of time increase over our heads.

3. Which is the third expression, I'll but name it. Sin will mount above our heads, Psal. 38.4. if it be suffer'd to take its course: Above our heads so as to usurpe, and tyrannize over us, to depresse us, to render us con­temptible, and to lay our honour in the dust [...]. So over our heads, as to keep us down, so that we can­not look after our God. So above our heads, as to dull our braines, benight our understandings, and in­satuates us. God calls Israel a sottish people. So a­bove our heads as to drown us in perdition; as the Apostle speaks, 1. Tim. 6.9. If God step not in.

Is it not better to keep it down, [...]. Use. then that sin should keep us under hatches, or our heads under water? Oh let us by faithfull approaches to our Christ, drown our sins in the red sea of his blood; [Page 19]and in the waters of repentance, break the heads of these Dragons. Implore God for assistance, that sin may not get heart-high in our affection, or head-high in our thoughts and fancy, and much lesse gain such a supremacy as to climb over our heads.

4. A fourth expression remains, Our trespasse is grown up to the Heaven: Unto, not into the heavens. Sin was bred there in the Angels, but cast downe thence, and shall never find the way back thither. Rev. 21.2. No unclean thing shall enter there. If it could, it would darken the Sun, put out the Moon, soale up the Constellations: But unto the heavens sin is so daring bold to fly, whether to intercept the passage of our Prayers thither, or to stop the influence and the light of heaven from descending hither: or to knock at heaven gate to sollicite for vengeance upon us. The sin of Sodom we read had a cry; Gen. 18.20. Gen. 4.10. John 1.2. Use. and Abel's blood a cry: And Ninevehs sin came up afore God. And our sins oft out-voice our prayers.

We have no remedy but to send our faith and prayers afore them to heaven to prepossesse our Sa­viour, that he may be our Master of requests, our Advocate, Mediator, Intercessor, a s [...]reene be­tween Gods scorching wrath, and us. That he may plead for us both with words and wounds, Quot vulners, tot [...]. Heb 12.24. for his blood speaks better things then the blood of Abel; The one calls for vindictive Justice; the other for pardoning mercy, and obtains it; yea even for over­grown sins.

2. Which inveteratenes of sin is a second aggrava­tion of Israels iniquity; From the daies of our fathers have we been in a greet trespasse unto this day.

[Page 20] Sin is of a cleaving adhering nature. Point. It seises us be­times. O Lord, when was I ever innocent (asketh Austin) And it will not leave us; if we welcom, and bed and board it. [...]eb. 12.1. [...]er. 13.23. It hangs fast on (saith Paul) It clings as swarthy blacknes to the Aethiope, or spots to the Leopard. As the leprosie to the house, that some­times could not be scraped off; [...]ev. 14 41.45. but the stones must be changed: nay sometimes the house demolish'd. Sin, like the Ivy on the wall, will not wholy be ex­tirpated, [...]er. 2.22. till these earthen walls of ours be pluckt down by death. Not sope, nitre; no nor fire and brim frone can wash off sin. It will not sound a re­treat: Nay, when the body declines, sin gathers strength like the weary Oxe, Bo [...] lassus fortiut sigit pedem. that takes the firmer footing. Messaline was wearied, but never satisfied with her basenesse.

And thats the reason that the paine of hell are e­ternall, Lassata, non sati­ [...]ta. Peccator peccat in suo aeterno. Greg. Use. Dilecta delicta. because we would sin eternally, would God lengthen out our lives here to eternity.

Oh let us importune our God to cut the thread of our wickednes, that we may not spin it out to such a length. Let us bet [...] break off this match, and sue out a divorce between us, and our darling sins: That God may never have occasion to say of us, as of Is­rael▪ Jer. 22.21. This hath been thy [...] from thy Youth. Dan. 4.27. Break off thy sins, saith Daniel [...]o Nebuchad­nezzar, cut this Gordian knot.

It is not yet too late the door of grace is still open, Motive. There is hope in Israel concerning this; Ezra 10.2. as it follows. Nay David hath no better [...] for obtaining mercy then the greatnes of his [...] Lord be mercifull to my iniquity, Psal. 25.11. for it is great.

[Page 21]The greater our sins are, the greater need we have of mercy. No man flies his Counsel because [...] cause is great and intricate, but plies him the more: The more dangerous diseases are, the more Physici­ans are sought to. Some offenders are like Jairus his daughter, newly dead, by consent to some unjusti­fiable act; Others, like he Widdows son of Naim, carrying out to burial, by acting unworthy things. Others, like Lazarus foure daies dead in the grave, stinking, and putrifying by living in sinne, with the stone of custome rouled upon them. Let none of these despair; Christ can raise all these, as he did those. Deferre not Reformation on this ground: mane is Gods Adverbe, but the divels Verbe; God saith early, he faith tarry: But though thou hast drawn out the line of sin to an undue length, [...] not away thy confidence. Christ is good at an old sore, all cures are alike to him. Go to him by the paces of faith in the words of Ambrose; O utinam ad mo­nimentum meum digneris accede­re, S [...] illachryna­verit pro me vi­ [...]am, [...]. Oh that thou wouldst be pleased to approch my monument, where my soule is inclosed; wouldst thou but weep over me, as thou didst over La [...]rus, I should live. That voice that commands thee to come forth, must en­able thee, as him, to arise and walk his wayes.

3. But Ezra calls us away to consider another ag­gravation of Israels sin: It was epidemicall, spreading universall, tainting all of all sorts; hee includes him­self, Wee; mentions here Kings, and Priestrs; but in the beginning of the Chapter, Prophets, People, and Rulers. He doth not frigi [...]lly assert, they are s [...]ers; particulatizing they would all uninforced have yeelded that: but hee takes the boldnesse to lay the particularity of [Page 22]their offence, the height, greatnesse, multiplicity of sins at every one of their doors.

He that speake promiscuously, Observation. and indistinctly to all, speak to none. Reproofs and threats are oft in Scripture stiled burdens, and yet truly a burden is easily born away with a common shoulder. But when wee lay the axe to the root of the tree, and make our addresses from the Pulpit, or otherwise, to speciall ranks of persons, and particularize their sinnes; when Nathan comes up close to David, with Thou art the man; this touches to the quick: And though a David may take it acceptably at our hands, yet most will kick and fling. Praedicare est [...] ­hil aliud quam derivare in se furorem populi; Irritare crabro­nes. Plaut. Luther said knowingly, To preach is nothing else but to derive peoples fury on our heads; to stirre a wasps nest; to pull an old house upon us. How impatient were Stevens hearers, Act. 7.34? And Pauls Act 22.22.? And in those glasses we may see our own tem­per. But what though? Wee must not betray our own souls, nor yours by our silence. If you could take order that the biting texts of Scripture had an expurgatory. Index passed on them from heaven; wee poor spirited men are too prone to desire to sleep in a whole akin. Si de [...]emus, ti­memus deleri. Aug. De turpi silen­ti [...] demnabitur. But if wee blot out these pas­sages, wee shall be blotted out of the book of life. And while they are standing here, a Minister may be dam [...]d for his base silence. You will pardon us. Man may threaten prison; but God threatens hell. And truly a cock may have leave to wake a lion: It is pity great men should be let goe quietly to hell more then the meaner. Ezra, here leads the way: He swallowe not his words, as if he had gone too far already in his inditement, but undauntedly goes on [Page 23]from an accusation to a condemnation of all Israel, Rulers, and ruled; high, and low; supreme, and sub­ordinate; Rulers, Priests, and People as accessary to their own misery. For our iniquities have we, our Kings, and our Priests been delivered.

2. Observe, That self-accusation, Self-condem­nation. Observation. and self-condemna­tion are two symptomes of a repentance that need not be ve­pented of. They are marks ever to be found on cordi­all self-abasers; Gen. 18.27. as wee may collect from their lan­guage in Scripture, and elsewhere: Abram cries, I am but dust and asbes that speak to thee. Dust minds us of mortality, ashes of fire; as if he had deserved one and t'other. Jacob; Gen. 32.10. Psal. 73. I am lesse then the least of all thy mer­cies. David; So brutish was I, even as a beast before thee. John Baptist; I am not worthy to unloose his shee. The Centurion; I am unworthy thou shouldst come under my roof. S. Peter; Depart from me, O Lord, I am a sinfull man. St. Paul; The least of Saints, the greatest of sinners. B [...] Hooper in our Martyrology; Lord, I am hell, then art heaven: I a sink of sinne, thou a fount of grace. Brad­ford; I am [...] deafe as a stone as dumb as a nail; an hard­hearted, a painted hypocrite, as hee subscribes some of his Epistles: and Ezra here; for hee still involves himselfe.

Let us write after these Copies. Applicat. Every man hath a County Palatinate within his bosome; and may arraign and judge himself: and it is our security so to do: If wee judged our selves, 1 Cor. 11.30. wee should not be judged. He shall hereby sa [...]e God a labour: Parcamus [...], quia sibi [...] pe­percit. Let [...] spare this man, for hee spares [...] himself; as Aug. perso­nating God, sayes. Hee that justifies himself fights with God hand to hand, and is like to be [...] [Page 24]He that lies down at Gods feet, reaches him his hand to lift him up again. Luk. 18.14. Hee that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

But wee must look a little neerer to these words; For our iniquities have we been delivered.

There is a deliverance from evill, and to evill; the later is before us now: It is a delivery, a traditi­on, and resignation of us over to misery.

And the whole nation were passive in it: In this pronoun (wee) are concluded all beside the Kings and Priests here specified. Each sort had peculiar sins for which they smarted; and all for all: From the crown of the head to the seale of the foot there is us sound part, Isa. 1.5, 6. as Esay complains.

Sometimes a Nations sicknesse begins at the head, Observat. the Rulers: as the Shunamites child complain'd of his head. Sometimes at the feet, the inferiours; as A­sa's disease was in his feet. Sometimes the upper and lower parts of the body politique mutually con­tribute to each others ruine; as wee read, that the sins of the people moved God to suffer Satan to tempt David to number the people; 2 Sam. 24.1, 2. and then Davids sin determined in a plague on his people by passion; on himself by compassion and sympathy: as the ice begets the water, and the water the ice: As in the naturall body the stomack sends up vapours to the head, and the head sends down [...] and di [...] ­lations on the stomack and kings: As the Sun ex­hales vapours from the earth, and returns them in thunder and tempests. Note [...] [...].9. However it [...] Note we [...] of our selves▪ [...] [Page 25]Eagle peirct thorow with a dart sea [...]hored from her own wing; and the mot the word too, Propriis trans [...] gimur alis. We are trans­fixt by our own feathers. As Noah was drunk with his own wine; Goliah beheaded by his own sword; the rose destroid by the canker bred in it self; the brest by a self-bred wolfe; the apple by the worm; the dams belly eaten thorow by the young vipers; A­grippina kild by Nero, to whom shee gave breath: So are we undone by our selves. Sin like a Frier, whips it selfe: Punishment is connate, innate to sin: Connatum, i [...] tum sceleri sup­plicium. Lips. Fools because of their iniquities art afflicted, saith David, Psal. 107.17, 18. Wee may thank our own folly for our bane.

This Point calls more for improving, then proof; thitherward therefore shall I apply my self.

I foresaw the time would prevent me; therefore I shall endeavour to continue the residue of my Text in Application, Generall and Particular. Applicat. 1. Generall.

Generall first: This Observation, like a wel limnd picture, looks on all that look on it: It prompts us all, Rulers, and ruled.

1. To justifie our God in all his judiciary procee­dings towards us: So did David; Psal. 51.4. Dan. 9.7. That thou maist be justified, and cleer when thou judgest. So Daniel; Righte­ousnesse belongs to thee: but to us confusion of face. The cup of the bitter waters of Marah, and Meribah, that we have drunk so deep of, is of our own mingling and embittering. The r [...]ds that have scourged us are of our own making: Wee have extorted thun­derbolte out of Gods hand; for hee, like the Bee, stings not till provoked: Or like the flint, upon a colidion with the steel (our steely souls) he [...] sends [Page 26]forth some hasty sparks. And therefore,

2. Patience well becomes us: It is unequall for the offender to murmur or repine at the offended, and justly incensed party: I will bear (saith the Church) the indignation of the Lord, [...]ic. 7.9. because I have sinned against him. [...]leramus, & to­ [...]ramur. Tert. We have been long born with, and why should we not bear? Impatience, like the buls strug­gling in the net, or the birds fluttring in the lime-twigs, troubles, and fastens us, and engages us the more in affliction: Luk. 21.19. whereas in patience wee possesse our souls (saith Christ.) By faith I possesse God; by love, my brother; and by patience, my self.

3. Let Gods vindictive justice be a restrictive to us from adventuring on any unwarrantable course; like a Cherubim with a flaming sword, to guard the way to any forbidden fruit, since it is like to cost us so deer. Deut. 29.19. Let us not be secure in our sins, nor blesse our selves in any way that God curses; God is merci­ful, but withal just; bountiful, but not lavish; he wil spare till there be no remedy, 2 Chr. 36.16. as he did Israel; but though he hath a leaden foot, he hath an iron hand, as it is storied that Heruccius King of Algiers had. Patience abused converts to fury: Laesa patientia fit furor. When the snow of Mercies melts we are like to have a great flood: And as near as we are within prospect of Peace and Political happiness, we may miss of it; since I finde not that our sharp Physick hath kindely wrought with us; Lust, Pride, Excess, Swearing, Lying, Deceit, Gaming, Voluptuousness, and others sins National (it were easie to be endless in naming but their kindes) ebb not at all, but flow, and are at a Spring-tide. We are the more unsafe for being [Page 27]secure: When Adam was asleep he lost a Rib; it is sad when irrecoverable ruine is the first sign of danger: Nor let us bo [...] ster up ourselves with our Spiritual Church-priviledges, as the Ordinances or any other; they cannot exempt or shield us if we still provoke; There i [...] no Sanctuary, no Prote­ction for Presumption: As the Ark could not save Israel from the Philistines▪ nor the Temple the Jews from the Romans; nor the Palladium Troy from the Grecians; nor the Tombs of Martyrs Rome from the Goths, think not that Gods Quiver is spent; Rom. 2.5. we read of an inexhaust treasury of wrath.

My Text instances in divers Arrows feather'd with Wrath, and headed with Ruine: Be pleased to cast your eys on the Text as I proceed.

What think: you of being delivered to men, 1 whose very mercies David calls cruelty? And there­fore Nebuchadnezzar, I conceive, seal'd the D [...]n of lions wherein Daniel was, because he thought it safer to trust him with the Lyons, then with his implaca­ble Enemies.

To be delivered to the Sword, sad experience, 2 the Mistris of Fools, hath shewn what that is better then I can deeypher it. Joel calls the day of War, Joel 2.1, 2. 2 King. 8.12. a day of gloomy and thick pitchy darkness: Aconitum hos [...] litatis. De Pa [...] Eliah wept to think of it; the poysoned kemlock of Ho­stility, Tertullian calls it; Complicatissim plaga. It is a stroke or plague like Pandora's Box; a compound of Plagues; a Bar to Religion: The Temple went slowly on, when they were fain to fight with one hand and build with the other. It is said, 1 Kin. 5.3. David could not build Gods house for the Wars about him; It silences Laws, cuts the [Page 28]sinews of Traffique and Trading, stifles Arts and Learning; thovgh some Birds of prey can fatten in hard weather, when all other Fowl are pined. When you hear that in the Troian Wars were slain 870000 Greeks and 670000 Troians; [...]ster Cos. That Ostend, though a little Fort, was so great a Grave as to devour 120000 persons; That S [...]lyman afore Vienna laid dead bodies in ditches level with the top of the Walls of Vienna; That 1000000 were slain in the Civill Warres of France; [...]lignius. and 20000 Churches equalled with the ground; That in our P [...]arsalicke fields in the quar­rels between the Houses of York and Lancaster, [...]terus. an 100000 fell, so that the red Rose began to be white with the blood that it had lost, and the white Rose red with the blood it had shed, and 10000 Families were thereby rooted out: [...]mmin [...]us. And that red Horse hath been some years trampling of late this Kingdom under foot: Can we finde in our hearts still to hug and harbor our old Iniquities, and to do what in us lies to move God to spin out this War to an eternity?

To be delivered to captivity and bondage, to be flaves (it may be) to slaves, however to persons suckled by Tygers, of Adamantine hearts: well might the Prophet forbid to weep for the dead, and bid Weep [...]r [...]y for them that were going away. [...]r. 22.10. God can reduce us to this.

To be delivered to spoil, your Houses, Cabinets ri [...]ed, [...]arbarus has se­ [...]es, & culta [...]valia miles, [...]c. your [...]ranaries emptied for others uses; to plant, and not to taste of the frai [...]; to see the pitch­fork in an hour scattering what in many yeers your providence hath rak'd together, which will make [Page 29]your ey-strings crack; yet to this can God bring us.

To be delivered to sharne and confusion of face; to be a pity to our friends, a scorn to our foes; to be a by-word, an hissing to forrain nations; to be abject objects for others to whet their wits, and to spend their dark sarcasmes upon; that our names should rot; or, if remembred by posterity, with reproach, as Pilats in the Creed. Nothing pierces ingenuous spirits more then shame and scorn: Heb. 11.36. mockings the A­postle thought cruell: No sword so sharp as the tongue, it flies lightly; but wounds deeply: Leviter volat, graviter violat. to all these disasters can God e [...]pose us.

Oh let us not continue to be cruell to our selves; but for your own sakes, (if you value not Gods ho­nour) for the wives fake of your bosome, for your childrens sake which you pretend to tender as the apple [...] of your eyes, the [...]ignet on your right hand, your heart-strings, lay what I have said to heart; if not, we can but weep in secret for you.

To confesse sin this day, and to persist in it, is to pro­fesse, This I have done, this I will do. To beat our brests, and not to reform, is to harden them. But I must not forget my main errand hither.

You (Right Honourable) have summon'd mee to attend you in this service; 2. Particular. and I know you would not have me prevaricate, or forfeit my trust. Give me leave to make my humble addresses to you in se­rious exhortation. My Text specifies the guilt of Kings, and Priests, and people; and the third verse af­firms, that the Princes and Rulers were chief in the trespasse. I come not hither to upbraid, but with all humility to advise you to what you are neerly [Page 30]concern'd in, both in reference to your selves and us, for the aversion of that wrath, that is gone out against us, and is to be read in legible characters on us; and for the prevention (as much as in you lies) of that inundation of miseries, that it may be the heavens are big with, ready to be delivered, if your failings prove the mid-wives. Kings and Priests are in the Text, and Rulers in the Chapter; but Kings here are none, and I hope no Priests, therefore I shall meddle neither with Crowns nor Miters; I love not to speak to the absent, but the present Rulers; here are a ring of Auditors, and you the Diamond. Let me mind you what Jewels are a glosse to your Corc­nets.

1. Prudence, You are our heads, and the head is the Throne of Prudence. It is prudence to be able to discern, between persons and things that differ; between tendernesse of Conscience, and obstinacy; between zeal and spleen: Doeg is called a lyar, though he spake truth of David, Psal. 120.3. because he spake not truth in love of truth, but spleen to David; to discerne between self-seeking Privadoes, and pub­like Spirits; between true Church and State con­verts, and complyers with times, shifting of sayles with every wind, calculating for every Meridian; that when time was, would bow to the Altar, now would pull downe Churches; that would in Pulpit shrivell up all Prayer, and confine it to the Lords prayer, and now will censure the saying of that Prayer. Your strength lies in your head, as Sam­s [...]ns in his hair. When Severus was ill of his feet, and some for that thought him unfit to governe, he [Page 31]replyed that he govern'd with his head, and not with his feet. And you had need of your eies in your head, that sit at helme, and steere between so ma­ny rocks and sands. 1 Kin. 3.9, 10, 11. God was in love with Solomons request, who wished nothing more, and nothing else but wisdom to manage his affairs.

Secondly, another sparkling Jem is Justice, Justice. with­out which prudence is but Achitophelian, Machia­velian, Jesuiticall craft. Job. 29.14. Plutarch. Moral. l. 3. Job counted Justice his Robe and Diadem. Philip of Macedon displaced a Magistrate because he coloured his beard, he was jealous he might colour a cause too. You must be as able, so men of truth, and unswayed integrity; Exod. 18.21. such as Jethro's Justicers were to be.

1. It is Justice to be accessible, that Petitioners may come at you, and not your doors guarded with living, as Solomons Throne was with livelesse Lions. As it was said to Augustus, he that dares approach thee, seems not to know thy greatnesse; he that dares not, seems not to know thy goodnesse. Gods presence-chamber is alwaies open.

2. It is Justice to have two eares, Si sat accusasse, quis erit inno­cens? one for the De­fendant, as well as one for the Plaintiffe. For though it be true, if it be enough to denie, who will be guilty? it is as true, if it be enough to accuse, who shall be innocent? Ca [...] was accus'd ninety times, and his integrity still brought him off.

3. It is Justice to awar [...] the accusers the same pu­nishment they intended the accused, in case they make not their accusation good. The geese in the Capitol at Rome were to be beaten if they gaggled without cause, though they once sav'd the Capitol [Page 32]by gaggling; and the dogs legs were to be broken that bark'd when no danger appreach'd: such pu­nishment (saith Cicero) do aspersers in Courts of Ju­dicature deserve: Pro Rosc. A­ [...]erin. [...]unes venatici. and then those setting-dogs durst not causlesly hurry innocence before your tribunals; detracters are more bound to restitution than theevs, by how much the name preponderates the estate, if at least there can be any recompence for defama­tion. There are three things that may not be dallied with, Non patitur lu­dum fama, fides, [...]culus. Tertul. de Pall. c. 5. our faith, our eye, and our reputation.

It is Justice to proportion the punishment to the offence. He is a strange Justicer that knocks out a Mans braines to kill a Waspe on his forehead. As Pollio cast his servant to the Lampries, for breaking a glasse. As the grand Seignior of the Turks ripped nine Eunuches for one Melon that was eaten with­out leave.

5. It is the life-blood of Justice to expedite Ju­stice, and not to turn it into Wormwood by unjust sentences, or into Vinegar by delaies: to suffer poor souls to lie longer languishing at hopes hospital, than needs.

6. Exod. 23.2, 3. Prov. 24.23. It is Justice to be impartiall, and not respect Persons, but Causes. Commineus complains, that many mens Offices and Lands were taken from them for running away in the battell between Lewis the ele­venth, and the Burgundians, and given to those that ran nine miles farther than they.

3. Mercy. Psal. 10 [...].1. But this Justice must be intermix'd with mercy and moderation: My Song shall be of Mercy and Judge­ment (saith David.) The robes of Judgement are usually red bestrea [...] with white, the one the colour [Page 33]of severity, the other of mercie. You are the fa­thers of your Country (stil'd Patricians among the Romans) we would look on you with veneration, not slavish terror. You must bear with us, and bear us in your armes by love, in your hearts by care, Male terrore [...] neratio acqui [...] ­tur; timor abi [...] secedas m [...]net­mor in odium, mor; timor in [...] ­veren [...]iam ver [...] tat Max. on your shoulders by patience. Reverence as ill pur­chas'd by terrifying, when you are gone, fear goes too, but love will remrine; fear converts to hatred, but love to veneration, saith Plinius 2. Some seeme so to be angry with others vices, as if they envied them (idem) A debonaire gentlenes is a grace to you; Sic irascuntur quasi invideant Geminio. Id. Art [...]in [...]. when you temper and allay your severe gravity with so much mildnesse as may weigh against it. It will be rare in you so to abstain from sin, as if you par­doned no man, and yet so to pardon, as if your selves were daily offenders: you should be our Noahs putting forth your hand to pluck opprest ones into the Arke of your protection, when floods are a­broad.

Jerome wished Pammachius a noble man, Coecorum ocul [...] manus d [...]bilium claudorum pes. Justis suppliciis illachrym [...]vit. to be an cie to the blind, an hand to the weak, and a foot to the lame. Vespasian would mourne over just punish­ments, and when he was to signe the death of any, would say, I would I could not a letter of the book. Ʋtinamnesciren [...] literd [...]. What difference between a man, and a brazen statue of man, but that one hath bowells, and the other hath none? Sylla was a divel to command Marcus Pletorius to be slain on the place, Nov [...] [...] miseri [...]dia. Val. Max. l. 9. c. 2. because he fell into a swoun at the sight of the execution of Marius, a new punisher of mercie. The first that ever was reveng'd on vertue. It was a sad thing that the Jews were fain to purchase leave to weep. You resemble God [Page 34]whom you represent, no way neerer than by mer­cy; the lovelyest of his Attributes, and should he take his advantage, [...] & nolle [...]bile. [...]is est pro­ [...]sse Leoni. we were all lost men. You are never more like your selves, than when mercifull: it is noble not to do all you are able. To lie pro­strate to a Lyon saves the life. To be on the higher ground, should be no advantage to a generous spirit: onely cowards, and the ignoble are cruel. The an­cient Nobility of Rome, [...]t. Qu. Rom. [...]27. [...]v. 12.1. and Arcadia, wore moons on their shooes, to mind them of the worlds muta­bility. The highest may come to stand in need of mercy; with what hearts can they expect it, what face ask it, [...]m. 2.13. [...]iv. Decad. 1. that denyed it? Judgement mercilesse to them that show no mercy. Appius took away all appeals in case of life and death, and when he came to need an appeal, he was justly denyed it. Eutro­pius endeavoured to take away the relief of Sanctu­aries, and himself was afterward hail'd out of San­ctuary, from the very hornes of the Altar. [...]d Pop. 36.51. To show mercy (saith Chrysostome) is a greater worke than to build magnificent Temples, nay, to raise the dead.

Fourthly, Shall I adde love and inclineablenesse too, and studiousnesse of peace adornes you. War (I trust) shall ever be your refuge, never your choice. To war as to marriage, not lust of gaine, or dissention, but procreation of peace should be the motive. Esto bellando pa­cificus. Aug. Carry peace in your hearts, when the sword is in your hands. Hercules club was made of the Olive, the embleme of peace: it is a fit speech for a Spanish mouth, that the smell of Gun-pow­der in the Field, is as sweet as of incense at the Al­tar. [Page 35]Love of blood-shed becoms the Scarlet whore of Rome, whose Religion was planted in, and watered with blood. Let the killing of twelve mil­lions in two and forty yeers in the West-Indies, at­tested by Bartholomeus A Casa a Bishop there; Let French-massacres, Sicilian even-songs, Spanish In­quisitions (which Heinsius aptly calls the fourth Fury) let these stuffe Popish Chronicles, and not furnish out ours.

Fifthly, Nemo regere potest, nisi qui & regi Sen. de Ir [...] Patience and temper-render you honou­rable in mens eies, passion exposeth to contempt. None can rule well that cannot rule themselves, but are overruled by passion. He that cannot guide a boat in a River, is unfit to steere a ship in a storme. It would make the most furious spirit dispassionate to hear of the great cruelty of the Emperor Theodo­sius, when he gave life to his Passion, though other­wise he be by Ambrose and others, fam'd for a most Temperate, Mercifull, Religious Prince; because a servant of his was slain in an uprore in Thessalo­nica, he in a rage caused a Massacre to passe on the City, so that in three houres seven thousand inno­cents were butchered. Ye had need set a strong guard on your passions.

Sixthly, Humility, lowlinesse becomes the high as well as the low, Non magni [...]co sed tumor. Sen. Nobilis facta humilitate nobi­lier. Hier. Epita. Marcel Inopum cellas dignanter intr [...] cas. your Saviour condescended to wash Judas feet, those feet that trudged up and down to betray him, and that soyl off, which he contracted with those walkes. Pride is no true great­nesse, but a swelling excrescence. Noblesse is by humility made more noble. It was Jeromes advice to Pammachius, Vouchsafe to enter somtimes the [Page 36]lowest cells of the meanest. The proud in ascend­ing, descend; the humble in descending, ascend in the esteem of God, and all good men.

Seventhly, Religion deeks ye. Jethro's Magi­strates were to be men fearing God; [...]xod. 18.21. [...]emmata quid [...]ciunt? [...]iremur te non [...]a.— miserum [...] aliorum in­ [...]mbere famae. [...]uvenal. [...]abiles quadam [...]cessitate con­ [...]ringuntur, ne [...] antiquorum [...]robitate dege­ [...]rent. though you are Gods before men, You are but men before God. Plead not your descent, unlesse you answer the worth of your Predecessors: Let not that be escheat and buried with the owners. We had rather admire you, than your stem: it is wretched to glister with borrowed lustre. Nobles (saith Hierome) are constrained by a kind of necessity not to degene­rate from the probitie of their Ancestors: Else as the people did worship Isis, and not the creature that bore the image: think when we show you re­verence, we mean it to your Ancestors. As Ma­riners, have your eie upon heaven, when your hand is on the helme. Why should not great and good stand together? God is Optimus Maximus, Best and Greatest: and they have met and been concentred in men. As Joseph, Hester, Morde­cai, Obediah, Nehemiah, Daniel, the Lord Depu­tie of Cyprus in the Acts, Acts 8.27. Phil. 4.22. the E [...]ch of Queene Can­dace, Flavianus in Vespasianus Court, Derotheus in Dioclesians, Terentius in Valentinians durst be good. Indeed, there is no true greatnesse disjoyned from goodnesse. Exod. 30.15. Gratius einomen [...] quem p [...]statis. Apol. adv. Gen. c. 34. Every man is as he is in Gods books. Tertullian said of Augustas, the name of Pietie was more gracious to him, than of Power. The holyest man is the noblest on earth, saith Clement, alluding to that of Solomon, Proverbs [...].26. The Righteous is better than his Reighbour. [Page 37]Hierome would say of Paula, [...]. Strom. 7. Genere nobilis, sanctitate nobi­lior. Nescio quo pa­cto veritas in Nobili plus pla­cet; forte quia plus cares. a virgin descending on the father side from Aenaeas, on the mothers from A­gamemnon, Shee was noble in Stock, but nobler in sanctitie. And Bernard wittily to Sophia the virgin, God is no respecter of persons; yet I know not how goodnesse in the Noble takes us most; perhaps because it is usually more wanting in them.

8. As you must be good; so do good, be devoted to the publick good; the one profits onely your selves, the other us all. Be not felfish, tread not in­wards. Pompey being upon an expedition to Sicilie of purveyance for corn, when it grew scarce in Rome, and disswaded by his friends, Necesse est ut e­am, non ut vi­vam. objecting the danger of the voyage, answered them, It is more ne­cessary that I should goe, then live. An heavie peece of iron, like a good Patriot, will leave its particular re­lation to the load-stane; and falling, expresse its homage to the earth, the common centre of heavie bodies.

If your Lordships be invested with these qualifi­cations, and expresse them; it will never be said, that the unjust are set over the Law, the impious o­ver Religion, ignorance over Learning, or monsters over men: And it may be written over your House door, as over the Court of Justice in Zant,

This place hates wickednesse, loves peace, punishes guilt, preserves law, and right, and honours, and incourages the good.

We have all of all sorts heard our duties set out; and had I time to set them on by perswasive, puthe­ticall [Page 38]convictive incentives, I cannot select better then the last verse of my Text offers to my hand, coming as uninforced, as honey dropping from the comb.

Consider what wee have, and what wee would have; what wee injoy, and what wee-expect and desire; we may eccho forth Ezra's word here.

Wee have reason to celebrate (as well as Ezra or Israel) the Grace shewn to us from the Lord our God. For a little space [...]ath grace been [...]hewed. Grace. Hee hath loved this Kingdome, because hee would love it; the ground of his love is in his im­mutable self, and not in us: as it is said of his love to Israel, Deut. 7.7, 8. The Lord did set his love upon you, because hee loved you. And what is such a love but free-grace? For we were fitter to set his foot, then his heart upon.

And this grace could no more conceal it self then the Sunne; Shewed. it hath shewn it self in so many rivu­lets and streams; in so many mercies, full, choice, seasonable, melting mercies; that wee (if any Na­tion under heaven) may say wee have comprehen­ded (or rather been comprehended by) the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Gods love. The Phi­losophers tel us but of three dimensions; the Apo­stle hath found out four in Gods mercy, Eph. 3.18.

And wee have had a large share in this grace that Ezra memorizeth in the Text: I'll walk on his grounds. In grace, mercy remembred amidst judge­ment: in allayes, remitting and relaxation of Gods heavie hand. Hee hath not let out all his wrath; but corrected us in judgement, weight, and mea­sure: Ʋltra, citra con­digmem. His punishents fall on this side, his mercies goe beyond our merits, as David sings, Psal. 103.10. [Page 39]Hee takes away a part, that might have stript us of all, as Anitus said of Alcibiades in Plutarch. He sends a feaver, that might cast into everlasting burning; He scourges with rods, that might with Scorpions; Hee begins, that might make an end of us: He hath afflicted us three or four yeers with a Civill sword, that might have delivered us to a seventy yeeres Babylonish Captivity.

A share wee have had in his reserving-mercy; Leaving us a remnant to e­scape. Isa. 6. ult. leaving us a remnant to escape: but decimating, ty­thing us; when hee might have left us but a tenth, as hee did to Israel. Nay, wee were all forfeited to his justice: hee hath laid no more on us then hee hath enabled us to bear, and given us a door, a pas­sage out, as S. Paul speaks, 1 Cor. 10.13.

A share in his setling grace: A nail in, &c. Jer. 22.23. giving us a naile in his holy place, his Church: Establishing us, as Eliakim; Making us a nail in a sure place. The Gospel hath ir­radiated, and shed his cleer beams without setting or eclipse for above four score yeers upon us: We have been a Goshen; wee have dwelt in his Ta­bernacle, and holy Hill, as it is promised, Psal. 15.1, ult. though wee have neglected the conditions there specified in the Psalm. Wee have deserved to be un-nation'd, un-Church'd by a Bill of divorce from heaven; to be tumbled about as a ball into strange lands, as it is Jer. 22.18. Israel complains, Isa. 63.18. they had possest the Sanctuary but a little while: Wee cannot say so.

Ezra is gratefull in the Text for grace a little space: what owe we for so long a possession? To lighten our eyes.

God hath also lightned our eyes

[Page 40]By outward favours, Sam. 14.29. as Jonathans were by ho­ney; and wee as hee, have received our honey at the end of a rod, that wee might the more va­lue it.

By favours of an higher alloy hee hath lightned our eyes, that had the shadow of death upon them: Which was Oecolampadius his support (his name si­gnifies a lamp or light) on his death-bed; who, when his friends asked him, Whether the light of the candle did not trouble him, clapt his hand on his brest, and said, Here I have sufficient light, the light of Gods countenance.

In a word, To revive our hearts. (to defraud your patience no longer)

God hath revived our hearts (as Ezra speaks in the close of the Text) wee are even raised from the grave of an intestine Warre; and comforted with hopes that wee shall not, like raised Lazarus, fall back into the same grave again. And this com­fort, at the height of affliction, is like mercy at the block; like welcome showres to the chopped ground; or like the Sun-beams after this flood: like a shadow, a bower against scorching heat.

Man would never thus have spared man: and therefore David calls his kindnesse to the house of Saul (that deserved ill at his hands) the kindnesse of God, 2 Sam. 9.3. and not of man. Comfort is here enti­tled Reviving, or Re-enlivening in the Hebrew Idi­ome: It is a kinde of resurrection. But I must take leave.

Let mee borrow Rhetorick from S. Paul: I be­seech, Rom. 12.1. or conjure you (men, brethren, and Fathers) by all these mercies and pledges of Gods love; and [Page 41]such others as we know not of (for it is with mercy as with the Globe, Terra incognit [...] it is thought the unknown part of the world is greater then what is discovered) I beseech you that these mercies may be as nails faste­ned by the master of Assemblies (as Solomon elegant­ly) to rivet the former propounded duties into your heads, hearts, and lives; let the mercy of God lead us to shame and sorrow for our sins; Let Gods Justice tutor us to be just: Let Gods moderation and for­bearance make an impression of mercy on us toward each other: and let us not by reiterating, repeating the same sins, be guilty of the worst of crimes, ingratitude: nor by our obstinacy, our i­ron sinew, exasperate God to Judgement, Isa. 28.21. Gen. 3.8. which is called his strange work. Toward which he walked so slowly, when he went to doomb Adam; and de­ferred it to the cool of the day: whereas he ran to meet the returning Prodigal; and renews his mer­cies every morning, and is still afore-hand with us: Like the Sun bidding us good morrow afore we are up. That we may not move God to put his mercies into suit, and to recover them out of our hands: as God chooses to expresse himself by the Prophet, Hos. 2.9. I will recover my wool, and my flaxe that I lent.

But if neither judgement, nor mercy; neither glad nor sad tidings; neither the dark nor the bright side of the cloud of Providence be operative with us: you put your Ministers to a stand, and pose us; who with Moses and S. Paul would have our owne Names blotted out of the book of life, assoon as yours, Exod. 32.32. Rom. 9.3. if we could help you, but Gods counsel shall stand. However we by dealing freely with you, shall free our owne [Page 42]soules from being guilty of your blood: And as the Prophet incourages himself, though once he thought to give over preaching, conceiving he laboured and expended his strength in vaine: Isa. 49.4. Well, Yet my worke is with the Lord, and though, Israel be not gathered, my reward is with my God. I close with that of S. Paul to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 10.15. I speak to men of understanding, judge ye what I say.