WHen our SAVIOVR rode into Ierusalem, accompa­nied with such multitudes of people, some vnclo­thing the trees, others their backes, to spread in his way, all of them shouting vp to heauen, with Hosanna, Math. 21. and Benedictus; it is said in the storie, that all the Citie was moued, and it gaue them occasion to aske, [...], who is this? The representation of such a person, with such a traine, in such a fashion, [Page 2] and with such a dittie, made them conceiue it was some rare and vnusuall thing.

My message this day is something out of course, and might well require a preface, (I am sure, Hosanna, and Benedictus, will be the summe of it,) besides a presence not ordina­rie, of the heads and corners of the people, and a face of Solemnitie, such as reserueth it selfe onely for festiuals. I thinke there is none so vnsensible, that is not moued here­at, and will aske, (at least) to himselfe, [...];Ier. 32. what meaneth this? Creauit Dominus nouum super terrā: Surely the Lord hath crea­ted some new worke in the Land, that hath produced this new meeting.

The very exhibition of these dumbe shewes, though they haue neither language nor speech, without the helpe of the tongue, were sufficient preface.

And yet I haue a preface in my text.Ecce. Ecce, behold, standeth at your doores, I meane the eares of your flesh, to lift vp their heads and hatches, I say not, that the King of glory, who is the King of kings, but yet that a glorious King, and his gracious confession may enter into your hearts.

[Page 3] It is placed at the gates of my text, and a thousand others in this booke, as Porters at the gates of great mens houses: Strangers & Wanderers, and Passengers, and Circumfora­neos, idle Companions that stand to gaze, they keepe out; admit none but friends and bidden ghests,Math. 22. such as are worthy to come in, and bring their garment with them; so is the office of Ecce here.

Those who come to these sacred assem­blies, with vnsanctified eares and spirits, on­ly ad augendam turbam, Senec. to make vp number, it repelleth with indignation and disdaine, as the Crier in their gentile sacrifices repelled prophane persons,— [...]. Away, away prophane persons; but such as shall lend their eares, and bend their intentions, and lay vp in their hearts, with Marie, that they may bring forth of their treasuries for their vse, with the Scribe; these, and none others it inuiteth, and pulleth after it, as with the cords and cables of the holy Ghost, as that chaine that was tied to the tongue of Mer­curie, and fastned to the eares of the people, drew his Auditors. Behold.

And (me thinketh,) it is somewhat like [Page 4] the King that vttered it; for the King is no more then another man, mole, in bulke of body; virtute, in power, he is more. We say, that a King hath long hands, he may sit in Ierusalem, and reach to the ends of his king­dome; as the body of the Sunne is in his sphaere alone, but his beames vpon the earth: and the blaze of a Comet is much far­ther extended then the starre it selfe goeth: so, though the body of Ecce, be but in the frontispice, and at the threshold of my text, yet doth the hand, the beames, the blaze, the vertue, and strength of it go into euery part. For, whether you consider his sicknesse, which he styleth bitternesse; and the time of that sicknesse, in peace, when he least looked for it; or, whether his recouery, Eruisti ani­mam meam, and the motiue to that recouery, in loue to my soule, perhaps when he least de­serued it; or, whether the cause of that sick­nesse, Sinnes, and the full remission of those sinnes, Proiecisti posttergum, when he did not so much as craue it; Ecce, imparteth it selfe to them all alike.

I fell vpon the mention of a King. I will set one Ecce more vpon the person from [Page 5] whom this speech came: It was the speech of Hezekiah the King: a great and magnifi­cent King, both at home and abroad; a ver­tuous and religious King, which is the pure gold in the Crowne of a King, the rest is but drosse; a King of the holy land, so was not Merodach Baladan in the head of the next Chapter, for he was the King of Babylon. It will be the more gratefull for the authors sake.

Said I, a speech? it is more: Scriptura He­zekiae Regis, the 9. verse, the writing of Heze­kiah the King: the labor, not of his tongue, but of his pen; he did not fundere, but fingere, poure it forth at aduentures, but frame it vpon aduice. I put a great difference betwixt speech, and writing. Speech hath wings, volat & auolat, it flieth and dieth; so doth not writing: you must seeke for a word, in aure, in the eare of him that receiued it, where it hath but slender footing; or in aëre, in the aire, where it perisheth with the sound. If you will seeke for a writing, you shall find it in aere, or in marmore, in plates of brasse, or in tables of stone, where it may be a mo­nument to after ages: It suruiueth the au­thor, [Page 6] and doth good to the liuing when the author is gone. In this sence it is true, Sur­gunt ex mortuis, Luk. 16. they arise from the dead, by whom the succeeding posterity is instructed and bettered; so sayd he of his writings, Po­sterorum negotium ago, Senec. I prouide for the times to come.

Yet there is more: for it is the writing of a King, I say not before his death, (from which he was newly deliuered, as in a parable of the resurrection, Heb. 11.) but instantly vpon that time, wherein he was neare to dying: and then are the words of a man most gratefull, ‘vt esse Phoebi dulcius humen solet, iam iam ca­dentis,’ as the light of the Sun, most pleasant about his going downe. But that which is most of all; it is written with the point of a diamond, to remaine for eternitie, and is a part of the euidences and muniments of the Church, layd vp amongst her sacred Re­cords, for a memoriall of his thankfulnesse, offered, and consecrated to God vpon that deliuerance.Plin. 2. Beati, quibus, deorum munere, da­tum est facere scribēda, aut scribere legenda: Hap­pie are they, whom God hath enabled, either to do things worthy to be written, or to [Page 7] write things worthy to be read: Hezekiah did both.

This is a part of his writing; the compo­sition whereof is of sundry and contrary parts: To giue you a summary view of all the materials therein, and their natural con­sequence:

First, you haue Peace, that leadeth to all 1 the rest; but Peace had an ill neighbour that troubled it, Sinne, in the hindmost part of 2 my Text. Sinne bringeth forth bitternesse: 3 and not onely so, but bitternesse added to bit­ternesse. 4

Bitternesse thus accumulated, must needs haue brought to the pit, and the pit, in the 5 end, would haue turned to corruption, or con­sumption. 6 Thus farre goeth the blacke line of my text, the shadow of sorrow and death.

But then cometh the other Hemisphaere of comfort and light; wherein you haue, first, the loue and good pleasure of God: second­ly,1 Redemption from the pit of corruption, as 2 touching the body: thirdly, Remission of sins, as 3 concerning the soule. So it is not here as in the 68. Psalme, where the singers go before, and the minstrels follow after, &c. here, the [Page 8] mourners go first, like the captiues in their ancient Triumphs; sinne, and sicknesse, and the pit, and corruption; then come the minstrels and singers, I meane the mercies of God, as in a triumphant chariot, curing both the body from sicknesse, and the soule from sins.

The three parts and roomes of my text wherein this whole matter is lodged and dis­posed,Diuision. are as clearely distinguished, as the three tabernacles of Peter, Matth. 17.

The first is, In my peace I had great bitternesse.

The second, But thou in loue to my soule, hast deliuered it from the pit of corruption.

The third, For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy backe.

Let these parts be, as those three taber­nacles.

Me thinketh I see Moses in the first, of a fearefull visage that hath need to be veiled, Bitternesse, Bitternesse.

Elias in the second, when he is raising the widowes sonne at Zareptha, 1. Reg. 17. Thou hast deliuered my soule from the pit.

CHRIST in the third, full of grace and truth, casting my sinnes behind his backe.

Or, if you please, let my text be as the [Page 9] Arke of testimonie, wherein there were kept for store, the tables of the Law, the pot of Manna, & Aarons rod, Heb. 9. They conceipt it well that the Arke is the Church; the Tables, the word; the Manna, the Sacraments; and the Rod, the discipline.

I am sure in the Arke of my text, there is first a rod, of bitternesse, bitternesse; and second­ly, the manna of deliuerance from the con­suming pit; and thirdly; the tables, not of the Law, but of the Gospell; not of the Old, but the New couenant; of the Law, not of facts, but of faith; the tender mercies of God, in absoluing from sinne.

In three words, Hezekiah is sicke, in the first tabernacle: sound, in the second, sanus, or sanabilis, onward to his health, as touch­ing his body: safe, and secure in the third, as concerning his soule. And in euery of these three are two remarkable things.

In the first,

• 1. sicknesse with the
  • qualitie, bitternes; ex­tremity and degree, bitternesse, bitternesse.
  • 2. the time and aduantage that the sicknesse tooke, In my peace.

[Page 10]In the second

• 1. deliuerance, Eruisti animam meam.
• 2. the motiue that induced God, thou in thy loue, &c.

In the third,

• 1. the cause of the sicknesse, Sinnes.
• 2. the remoue of that cause, Thou hast cast, &c.

1 I began at the first tabernacle, and there­in first with the rod, Amaritudo amaritudo. his sicknesse: In my peace I had great bitternesse.

The kind of this sicknesse is not mentio­ned till the 21 verse, there it is called vlcus, a botch; it is thought to haue bene a plague-sore, I dispute it not, I am sure it was some­what neere; I will but drinke of the brooke in my way, and giue you a short note. Wee haue knowne by bitter, bitter experience, what a plague is; but God tooke a plaister of figges, of his sweete mercies in Christ, well-nigh fifteene yeares sithence; and applied to the botch, and healed the sores of this [Page 11] land: in the vertue and strength whereof, we haue walked to this present day: and we for the figges of his mercies haue returned him the thistles of our sinnes, the clusters of Sodome, and the wine of Dragons; and yet, Ecce in pace, we heale our hurts with sweet words, crying, peace, peace, all is well, and so shall be; To morrow shall be as this day, and much better, and this yeare as the last, and freer.

Deceiue not your selues: you haue a great and populous Citie, sowne with the seede of man, as the Prophet speaketh; I may say, with the seed, rather the weed, of building. I say not, that your Citie may go out at your gates; surely, it may go out at your Sub­urbes; the hemme of your garment is more then the garment it selfe: the lop, and bur­then of the tree, more then the stemme can beare, and threatneth the ruine of the whole body. To speake plainely, the regions are white and drie to the haruest; there is matter enough within, in respect of your sinne; with­out, in respect of your building, for a pesti­lence to worke vpon, vnlesse, as the anti­dote of the blessed goodnesse of God, then [Page 12] cured, so the preseruatiue of his sauing grace, now keepe you from it. I go on.

Whatsoeuer were the species, manifest it is what the qualitie of the sicknesse was, bitter­nesse; what the quantitie, bitternesse, bitternesse; some sharpe and wringing disease; as when the Prophet cried out,Ier. 4. My bellie, My bellie; the very doubling of the word expressed what his paine was.

We are alwayes ill, when we are in our best health;August. in Psal. 102. Longum languorem trahimus; we liue in a long and languishing sicknesse; our wearinesse after labour and trauell is a sick­nesse, and sitting, or lying is physicke to cure it: sitting, and lying is a sicknesse, (wee cannot continue therein;) rising, and walk­ing is the cure of it: hunger, and thirst is sicknesse; eating, and drinking is the helpe to that: Eating, and drinking sicknesse; fasting, and abstinencie physicke to it.Gregor. Quotidianus defectus quid aliud est quàm prolixitas mortis? Our daily decay in nature, what is it else, but a lengthning of death? I will say briefly, tri­plici morbo laboramus, principio, medio, & fine; We are sicke of a threefold sicknesse, our be­ginning, midst, and ending: As Saint Au­gustine [Page 13] told the Manichees, of their idle and impious writings; principium truncum, medium putridum, finis ruinosus; their beginning was naught, their proceeding naught, their en­ding naught; So is it with vs; Ingressus flebilis, progressus debilis, egressus horribilis, a mourn­full natiuity, wofull life, dreadfull death.

Morbi, citatio ad mortem; sicknesse is a sum­mons to death: he that is least sicke, may, and in the end must die. Death hath euer her arrow in her bow, though in the prime ages of the world she was sometimes nine hun­dred yeares before she sped, yet now she hit­teth quickly; and when God saith, shoote, she shooteth; and so long as God saith, spare, she spareth. For what is thy life? Breue suspi­rium, a short panting. Canst thou measure the blast of winde? (said the Angell to Es­dras;) canst thou measure (say I) the blast of thine owne winde? the breath within thy nostrels? spiras, exspiras, now thou art brea­thing, anon thy breath is gone. It dealeth with the arke of thy body, as the doue with the Arke of Noah, which goeth forth, and commeth in, and goeth forth, and neuer cometh backe againe. So doth thy breath.

[Page 14] But, he that is sicke of a sicknesse indeed, a sicknesse that is mali moris, as the Physitians speake, such as this sicknesse of Hezekiah was, bitternesse, bitternesse, hath but a short recko­ning to make to the houre of his dying. For it fareth with the bodie of man, as with a vessell of wine in a frugall house; being kept for our selues, and our friends which drinke moderately, it is long in drawing; but, if sponges, Spongiae, Infundibu­la, Amphorae. and tunnels, and barrels come to it, such as are mightie to drinke, and strong to poure in, they will spend that in a day, which would haue serued a long time. So may the thread of my life be long in spinning, to the fortieth, or fiftieth yeare thereof; it may be, ad termi­num constitutum, Iob 14. vnto mine old age, (for that is the bounder of nature, and, ma­ledictus qui transfert terminos, Deut. 27. that thinketh,Senec. being old, to liue long; Huic vni aetati non interceditur, there is no dispensation for this age:) but if such quaffers shall come, as a [...], a burning feuer, or the like malig­nant diseases, that drinke vp humidu naturale, all the moisture in my bodie at once, and drie it vp like an harth, or like a bottle hung vp in the smoke; that is done in an houre, a mo­ment, [Page 15] which had not else bene done in ma­ny yeares to come.

Now, but in a word consider the person that is sicke;Mihi amar it is Hezekiah the King.

If any person in the earth be capable of that style,Dan. 3. Viue in aeternum, liue for euer, it is a King. What wanteth a King, of all the beasts of the field, or fowles of the aire, or fishes of the sea, what either nature can af­foord, or Art condite, to the diet of his bo­die, comfort of his heart, refreshing of his spirits? It seemeth, by a phrase vsed by the holy Ghost, that a King wanteth nothing. Nabal feasteth like a King, 1. Sam. 25. Araunah offereth to Dauid like a King, 2. Sam. 24. the Co­rinthians reigne like Kings, 1. Cor. 4. and yet is Hezekiah the King sick vsque ad mortem, vers. 1. euen vnto death, that is, bitterly, bitterly: death had stretched forth her hand against him, as Ieroboam against the Prophet, to haue smitten him, 1. Reg. 13. but that the Lord withered it. What is the reason? Sum quidem & ego morta­lis homo, 7. Sap. for I my selfe (saith the King) am also a mortall man.

There is no difference in nature betwixt a King and a meaner person.Quintil. Interuallis distin­guimur, [Page 16] exitu aequamur; we differ in condition, agree in dissolution. When Diogenes was po­ring amongst dead mens bones, Alexander asked him what he did there? he answered, I seeke the bones of Philip thy father, Ossa patris tui Philippi regis Ma­ced. quaero. King of Ma­cedon, but cannot find them. I may well ap­ply the words of the Psalme to them, Consti­tue Domine legislatorem super eos, Psal. 9. sciant se esse homines; Set thou ô Lord, a Law-giuer, or Ruler ouer them, that they may know they are but men. They giue lawes to the earth; and death to them, and her law is an euen & equall law, to King and people all alike.

It is a probleme worthy the inquiring;Homo est animal ra­tionale, mortal. sith other creatures are subiect to death no lesse then man, why Mortale is placed in the defi­nition of man alone. It is a parallell to this, (and one answer may serue to both) which the Prophet hath, Psalme 82. I haue said you are gods, but ye shall die like men. Why like men rather then other creatures? I will not giue that eminent and conspicuous reason, that when beasts die, by reason that their soules arise from the matter of their flesh, they die, and die thorowly;Moriuntur permoriun­tur. so is it not with man, but first he dieth, and endeth not there, but after [Page 17] death, Iudgement, Hebrewes 9.

I should rather say, that beasts, for the more part, liue out their time determinate by na­ture, til nature be annihilated, vnlesse violēce and casuality come betweene: the Elephant liueth longer then the Hart, the Hart then the Lion, the Lion then the Horse, the Horse then the Dog; all to their full age, vnlesse they be forced out of life: but man dieth in his infancie, and oftener in this then any o­ther age; no sooner saluteth the light of hea­uen, but he biddeth farewell to it; and that which is more, death entreth the very secrets of nature, the vault of the wombe, and with her Lynces eyes findeth out the wayes which the Eagle and Kite neuer found out, and kil­leth the babe in the wombe before it com­meth forth.

You haue heard of the sicknesse:2. In pace. Adde thereunto the time that his sicknesse watch­ed;Senec in Agam. In my peace. Victor timere quid potest? (said he in the Tragedie) and it is answered with a breath, Quod non timet.

Hezekiah had newly escaped from the iawes of a fearefull King,2. Reg▪ 18 & 19. one, that vaunted himselfe, that with the soles of his feet he had [Page 18] dried vp the riuers of the earth, (& thought (like Leuiathan) to haue drunke vp him, and his kingdome) who asked in the pride of his heart, where the Kings of Arphad, and He­mah, and Zepharuaim were; and, Hezekiah, Let not thy God deceiue thee, in whom thou trustest; and he would make the people to eate their dung, and drinke their water.

Now he is fallen afresh into the hands of the King of feares, Rex terro­rum, terror Regum. as Iob calleth him, Iob 18. and feare of Kings; who is, Rex super omnes fi­lios superbiae, Iob 41. who may say with much more confidence, then euer Zenacherib did, Where euer my foote treadeth, I drie vp the riuers; riuers of bloud in the veines, and of milke in the breasts, and of marrow in the bones; and aske for the Kings, of Arphad, and Hemah, and Zepharuaim, and Zenacherib him­selfe; and admonish the Kings of the earth, Let not your gods, your Idols of greatnesse, and glorie, and maiestie, deceiue you, wherein you trust; and cause them to eate the dust of the ground, and that the slime of the pit shall be sweet to them. Ecce, cùm dixerint pax, pax, Behold, when men shall cry peace, peace, sud­den destruction shall come vpon them. I [Page 19] will vse the words of the Prophet, 1. Reg. 14. I will do it in hac die, & in tempore hoc, at that day, and at that time; Quid? etiam nunc: what? yea, at this very instant; Ecce, in pace, at this very instant of time, when Hezekiah thought he had clipt the wings of peace, that it should neuer flie away againe; when stran­gers from abroad saluted him, Estne pax fra­ter? is all well? when he did not much lesse, then say to his soule, Anima quiesce, Soule take thine ease,Esay 28. flagellum transijt, non veniet, the scourge is past, and shall neuer come againe. Did he then thinke of a Iebusite in the Land, that should be a thorne in his eyes, and a pricke in his side? of a bosome enemie? a warre within his bones? an armie of trouble and temptation in his owne bowels? When a forreine enemie is discouered, the Beacons are fired, and an Ecce is giuen to the Country round about. Here is a domesticke, intestine enemie, without Beacon, or any admoniti­on at all; but whilest he sitteth in the armes of peace, as Sampson in the lap of Delilah, a sudden alarme is heard, Vp Sampson, the Phili­stines are vpon thee; Vp Hezekiah, bitternesse, bitternes is vpon thee. This deserueth the Ecce; [Page 20] for bitternesse in the time of war is no newes, Knowest thou not that it will be bitternesse in the later end? (Abner to Ioab 2. Sam. 2.) but bitter­nesse, and doubled bitternesse in the midst of peace, this is strange.

An image, a glasse, a sea of glasse, that all the people of the earth may stand vpō the shore of my text, and see the face of their fraile & vnconstant condition. A man, and the best of men, a King, & the best of Kings; (I speake not of Balthazar, but as he in the midst of his cups, so this) in the midst of his comforts, seized and surprised at vnawares with a grie­uous disease that added bitternesse vnto bit­ternesse; and cut not off the lap of his coate, (that is) pinched him in a finger or ioynt, but assaulted the life, in the inmost and stron­gest fort it had, and had it in her clutches, to bring it to the very pit.

One maruelled that men were so hardy to aduenture to Seas: why? Cùm multi pereant in aquis, sith many miscarried in the waters: He that answered him, maruelled as much how he durst goe to bed, sith many die in their beds. Had he nothing to wonder at but the Sea? I maruell he feared not his [Page 21] owne flesh, and that he durst trust himselfe with his owne body, I am sure, it is as fluide as the Sea. Liquescimus, we melt, we thaw dai­ly: our life goeth away per stillicidia, as it were by droppings.2. Sam. 14. Omnes nos velut aquae dilabi­mur, we all glide away like water that is spilt, and cannot be gathered vp againe. Here he shall find tempests, and gusts, and surges, and waues, and rockes, and quick-sands, and gulfes, and sea-monsters, no lesse then at Sea.

I wonder that men dare liue in such flesh, tam putri, & ruinosa domo, so rotten and rui­nous an house; where, not onely the gates, posternes, and windowes, but euery little creuis and chinke letteth in death: Looke how many members and parcels of the bo­dy, so many vessels of sicknesses, receptacles and harbours of death. Euery Apoplexie in the head; Swelling in the eare; Bleeding at the nose; Canker in the mouth; Squinancy in the throat; Pleurisie in the side; Stone in the kidney; Cholicke in the belly; may be a meanes to death.

I maruell againe why he commeth to his table, to eate and drinke there, why? [Page 22] Cum multi pereant in mensa, sith many die at their Tables: Did Tarquinius Priscus thinke, that the bone of a fish going crosse his throte, should haue choked him? or Sophocles, and Anacreon, that they should haue died of a ray­sin stone? or Fabius a Senatour, that an haire in a draught of milke should haue bene his end? or Ruffinus the Consull, that in kem­bing his head, the tooth of his Combe entring the flesh, should haue bene his deaths wound? or Lucia the daughter of Aurelius, that her Childe which she bare in her armes, thrusting a needle into her breast, should haue shortned her dayes? I could be infinite: So long as there shall be a man in the world, & mortalitie, casualtie, corruption to accom­panie that man; there shall be occasion for this ecce; behold in my peace; when I was most secure: to the stupor, and terror of all those that trust too much to their peace.

It is a singular part of the gracious pro­uidence of God vpon vs, to hide the houre of our deaths; as Isaack spake to his sonne, Gen. 27. Vides quòd senuerim, & ignorem diem mortis meae: Thou seest I am old, and yet not­withstanding, I know not the day of my [Page 23] death: Semper incognitus, vt sit semper suspe­ctus; that being alwayes vnknowne, we might alwayes haue it in suspition: and make that vse of our ignorance, that Cassian aduiseth, Omnis dies, velut vltimus ordinandus est; to dispose of euery day, as if it were our last day. Cer­taine it is,Gregor. Supremus vitae dies, supremus mundi dies; the last day of my life, is the last day of the world to me; for qualis hinc quis (que) egredi­tur, talis in iudicio repraesentabitur; such as I am at my death, such shall I be at my iudgment. And as certaine againe, that it is the greatest worke in the world, to die, to exchange life with death; and the best, to die well; as Ana­charsis, being asked, which was the best ship? That (said he) which is safely arriued. Adde vnto these the rule of Saint Angustine, Non potest malè mori, qui benè vixerit; and on the otherside; vix benè moritur, qui malè vixit; He cannot die ill, that hath liued well; and scarcely dieth well, that hath liued ill. These things conferred; be ye readie prepared for that day;Exod. 19. Estote parati in diem tertium; that it may find you in pace, in the peace of God, and of a good conscience, which passeth all vnderstanding.

[Page 24] I told you before, you had three sicknesses, I tell you now, you haue but three dayes of your liues: the one of your coming into the world; the other, of your stay; the last of your going out.

Be ready against the third day, the day of your going forth; which you cannot well be, except you begin to prouide on the first, and the second; lest that should betide you which is bemoned in my text, Ecce, in pace, amaritudo, amaritudo; Behold, when we dreampt of peace, we awaked to extremitie of bitternesse: and being taken in an euill time, you complaine, as in that mimesis of Saint Chrysostome, Valete amici, farewell friends, I must go an vnknowne iourney, by wayes vnknowne, into Countries farre remote: Vbi quale diuersorium habiturus sum, angelorum an daemonum, ignoro: where what lodging I shall find, amongst Angels, or Diuels, I know not.

Et tu, 2. Part. complexus amore, eruisti, &c. I am now come to the second Tabernacle of my text: wherein you haue Elias, & the manna I spake of. It containeth two things: first, the re­demption: Eruisti, secondly, the reason or motiue, Complexus amore.

[Page 25] The recouery so much the sweeter,1. Redemp­tion. by how much the danger the greater: Transisse de morte ad vitam, Bern. vitae gratiam duplicat, to passe from death to life is double life: So is the light more gratefull to him that was in the power of darknesse; and assurance, to him that de­spaired of assurance.

There was danger enough in the former clause, for there it was bitternesse, bitternesse, that is, as the Apostle calleth it, Act. 8. fel ama­ritudinis, the very gall of bitternesse: which im­porteth a disease, pessimi generis, of the worst sort, and in the paroxysme, and very height of it; but now, you haue it amplified by three circumstances more:

First,1. Ab ob­iecto. from the obiect; it striketh not at a bough, no defluxion in the eye, nor mutila­tion of an hand, &c. but is securis ad radicem, the axe laid to the roote, to hew downe life it selfe. Eruisti animam.

Secondly,2. Atermi­no. from the tearme, or, extent: for it is not the life infested, annoyed, disquieted alone; but lifted, and heaued at, to be throwne into the pit: Eruisti è fouea.

Thirdly,3. Abattri­buto. from the attribute of that pit, for it is not fouea refugij, or refrigerij; a pit of repose or [Page 26] comfort, such as Elias went into, and Dauid, & the Prophets that Obadiah hid, & the Saints that the world was not worthy of, Hebr. 11. but fouea corruptionis, consumptionis, putredinis, a pit of corruption, consumption, and rottennesse.

Take it altogether in the masse and lumpe, and see what it is, (besides the kind of the sicknesse, which is not here mentio­ned.) First, it is bitter: secondly, bitternesse it selfe: thirdly, bitternes, put to bitternes; fourth­ly, against life; fiftly, to thrust it downe to the pit: sixtly, the pit of corruption: this being his case, and then, to be pulled out of the teeth of death, as Dauid pulled his lambe and his kid out of the mouth of the Lyon and Beare, was the sin­gular mercy of God, worthy another Ecce, as at the first I declared.

Is it not mercy, (I aske,) to be saued from death? Death, whensoeuer it shall come vnto vs, and howsoeuer qualified, the grimnesse of her visage disguised, yet will it be feare­full enough. It is dissolutio naturae, the dissolu­tion of nature, and the dissociation of body and soule, ancient friends, and of long ac­quaintance: Dauid and Ionathan wept, and kist when they departed.

[Page 27] When Vzza was smitten dead for putting his hand to the Arke, 2. Sam. 6. Dauid was (angrie, shall I say?) troubled, grieued at it, and called the name of the place, rupturam vzzae, the breach of Vzzah. I am sure, when body and soule are sundred, there is ruptura, and cannot be without commotion, & pas­sion, Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo, non tanta esset martyrum fortitudo; if death were not bit­ter, Martyrs should want of their honour.

But what may the motiue be that procured this deliuerie?2. Motiue. Placuit tibi. I aske not now, with the bles­sed Apostle, Vbi conquisitor saeculi? 1. Cor. 1. where are the wise of the world,Aquilae ra­tionis, Talpae reli­gionis. Eagles for reason, Mowlewarpes for religion? but Vbi conquisitor Ecclesiae? the most regenerate, san­ctified, illuminate Contemplatiues of the Church; Let them say to themselues, as the Preacher did, Eccle. 7. I haue sought, and sought, one thing after another, to find out the reason, and adhuc quaeri anima mea, and yet my soule seeketh: I haue found a man of a thousand, but not a woman amongst them all. Giue me leaue to applie it. If you looke on the part of man which is as it were the weaker sexe; no rea­son can be giuen of this goodnesse of God [Page 28] towards him: but on the part of God, there is, one, for a thousand, and in stead of all the rest: Quoniam volens misericordiam est, Mich. 7. Because mercie pleaseth him.Dilexisti, Desiderasti, Coniunxisti Cinxisti, Complexus es. So in my text, placuit tibi, &c. God so desired, and knit, and conioyned, and girt, and embraced, and co­uered, and tooke pleasure and liking to the life of the King, that death could not hurt him:Operuisti. The very varietie of reading may stand for a rich Cōmentarie: but neither tongues, nor pennes, of men, nor Angels can ex­presse the riches of grace, when God is plea­sed to shew mercy vpon vs. The sweetnesse of nature brought forth beneplacitum in him: pleasure, brought forth loue; Loue, desire; desire, Vnion; Vnion, embracing: embracing girdeth close, like a girdle about the reines; and couereth and keepeth from hurt, that, that is beloued: In amore haec insunt omnia.

Before I forsake this part,Animam eruisti. I must note vn­to you two things. First, that in death there 1 is no danger to the Soule, no more then was to the soule of Hezekiah: for anima, in my text, is not the substance, or essentiall part, (as principally it signifieth,) but an act and [Page 29] effect of that soule, to weet, that life, which it brought to the bodie in dowre, and portion when she married with it: and when she de­parteth from her bodie, she resumeth, and carrieth away with her that portion againe. So that, the Soule it selfe, is no way subiect to the pit.

Occidisti & possedisti? 1. Reg. 21. said Elias to Ahab. So saith God vnto death, Hast thou slaine, and gotten possession too? but of what? the flesh onely, not the soule: and that flesh shall lie as a surfet in the stomacke of death: and as the drunkard, regurgitat bilem suam, so shall death cast it vp againe Mors is Morsus, Senec. death is but biting not a consuming, and vtter de­uouring; as he that biteth, taketh some, and leaueth some, so death getteth a morsell of flesh, as the Kite taketh garbidge from the dunghill, and the dogge offall from the shambles; but the soule, it medleth not with. I cannot therfore better compare the graue, then to the hony combe, wherein is both hony and waxe. The hony of the soule is ta­ken out, the waxe of the flesh remaineth be­hinde, till the resurrection of iust men.

But as touching the flesh, the life whereof 2 [Page 30] is properly aimed at, here is her lot, her end, fouea corruptionis, the pit of corruption. The Riuers haste to the Seas, Stars to the West, Man to the pit:Iob 30. it is domus constituta omni vi­uenti, the house appointed to euery liuing man; domus Conuentionis, the house of Parlia­ment,Eccles. 12. for all estates to meet in; domus saeculi, the house of perpetuitie, till Christs second coming. Solum mihi superest sepulchrum, saith Iob, cap. 17. He is sure of nothing but his graue. It were a worthy Epitaph, to be set vpon the monument of euery man, I haue nothing but a graue: or if you wil truly reade it, Sepulcra, mea sunt, Graues, are mine. What need more then one? Yes, A Graue for his bodie, A Graue for his vanities, A Graue for his riches, A Graue for his hopes: all is buried with him. He that shall say, I haue houses, and lands, and vineyards, and fields, and gar­dens, deceiueth himselfe, and the truth is not in him; he hath nothing certaine but his graue. When Lazarus was raised out of his graue againe, what brought he out with him, sauing fascias sepulchrales, & sudaria, his nap­kins and Graue-cloathes?

The Astronomers maid laughed at her [Page 31] master, that stood gazing at the starres, and saw not the ditch that was before his feet. I know not what castles we are euer buil­ding in the aire, and we will saile vpon the mountaines, and make our nests with the Eagles, and touch the stars with our heads, when there is fouea, a pit, before our feet, which we neuer thinke of. Proud earth and ashes, terra calcans terram, earth so treading, and ietting vpon the earth, as if the earth should neuer tread vpon vs; when notwith­standing, this base and contemptible ele­ment (the sediment and dregs of the world) shall set her foot vpon our faces. Do we re­member the pit, the land of forgetfulnesse, the regions of darknesse, the place of silence, wherein our proud, and pampered, and stall-fed flesh must lodge? we that eat the fattest, and finest of the earth, and deuoure whole Countries, as the Oxe licketh vp the grasse; yea, beasts will not serue our turnes; we eate vp Man, deuoure a man and his heritage, Ecclus. 13. Mich. 2. pascua di­uitum sunt pauperes, the poore are the pasture of the rich; do we beare in our minds fo­ueam exedentem, consumptionis, the pit that shall eat, and consume our selues? we that lie and [Page 32] rot in the dung of our sinnes, (our flesh in­deed is so rotten vpon our backs, with foule & loathsome diseases, that peece will scarce hang vnto peece, so as our very bodies are alreadie become the graues of the liuing) do we remember foueam putredinis? the pit of corruption and rottennesse, whereinto wee are going? when, albeit from the body of a dead Lion, there came bees and hony: and so from the bodie of a dead horse, droanes, (they say) and from the body of a dead asse, hornets; yet from the bodie of a dead man, nothing but wormes and filthinesse. Haeredi­tabit serpentes, bestias, & vermes, Ecclus. 10. he shall inherit serpents, beasts and wormes: nay, haereditabunt, they shall inherit him; the Serpent gapeth for his soule, Beasts for his sub­stance, that shall reuell in his goods, Wormes for his flesh.

Quia proiecisti. 3. Part. I am now at the last Taber­nacle, wherein you haue Christ, with his bene­fits, and the Tables of the Gospell; and there­in, as I told you at the first, are likewise two things: First, the cause of his bitternes, sinnes; Secondly, the discharge of that cause, For thou hast cast, &c.

[Page 33] I haue bene lately vpon both these points,At White-Hall. in the hearing of many of this audi­torie: I shall say the lesse now. But Sinne, the sicknesse of the soule, is the reall and radicall cause of all bodily sicknesse. I alledge but one storie, from the 1. Reg. 17. The widow of Zareptha cometh to Elias, (her sonne be­ing then dead) and saith vnto him: What haue I to do with thee, thou man of God? art thou come vnto me to call my sinnes to remembrance? She was an excellent woman, and her praise is in the Gospell: when she had but a little meale, & a little oyle in a cruise, and was gathering two stickes, to make a widowes fire, and to dresse for her sonne and her, that they might eate and die; yet vpon the bidding of the Prophet, bring vnto me, and first vnto me, such was her faith, that she did it: yet she imputeth the sicknesse and death of her child, to her sins. Vespasian was of another minde; being sicke, and out of hope to liue, he threw the cur­taines aside, and spread his hands vnto heauen, and complained of his gods, im­merenti sibi vitam eripi, that he deserued not to die; had neuer committed any thing in his whole life, whereof he repented, but [Page 34] one; he had so much the more cause to re­pent him.

I hope, when Hezekiah prayeth at the third verse, O Lord, I beseech thee, remember how I haue walked before thee in truth, and with a per­fect heart, &c. He speaketh but secundum quid, not simply; and comparatè, compared with o­thers, importing affectum, and profectum, ra­ther desire, and endeuour so to do, then any perfection; and that he had no meaning, to thinke that he had no sinne; for it plainly ap­peareth in his owne speech, by the reason he giueth, that he thought sinne to be the cause of his sicknesse. Eruisti, quia proiecisti, first he remitteth his sinnes; (which was the course of our Sauiour in the Gospell) and then re­leeueth him of his sicknesse.Math. 9.

2 But when I looke vpon the cure, the re­moue of the cause, I cannot but remember what God spake vnto Abraham, Gen. 15. Ego merces tua magna nimis, I am thine exceeding great reward: what, vnto Dauid, 2. Sam. 12. I haue done this, and that for thee; & si par­ua sunt ista, and if these things were too small, I would haue added much more. Iust as the Apo­stle writeth, Ephes. 3. abundantly much more thē [Page 35] we either aske or thinke. For did Hezekiah craue the remission of his sinnes? In his whole song there is not a word, a syllable of it: You haue heard of his truth and righ­teousnesse, and perfect heart, no mention of sinne: and all his petition, and moane, and teares that he spent, was for his life alone. God granteth him that, & aliquid ampliùs, and somewhat more, & aliquid melius, some­thing better; for admit he had died, yet had his case bene good enough; Mori non timeo, quia ad bonum Dominum vado, I feare not to die, because I go to a good Lord. But if I die in my sinne, if that circumstans peccatum, Hebr. 12. cleaue to my soule at my going hence, it will be as mill-stones vnto it, to plunge it into the bottomlesse pit of eternall destruction: therefore besides, and before the cure of his sicknesse, he pardoneth his sinnes.

Wherein he dealeth with Hezekiah, as he did with Moses, Num. 17. when he bad him bring twelue rods for the twelue Tribes, and lay them in the Tabernacle before the testimo­nie; and the rod for that Tribe which the Lord would chuse, should bud. When Moses came [Page 36] to reuiew the rods, the rod of Aaron had not onely budded, that is, chipt, or broken the rinde; but the buds were swolne, and fully brought forth, and after buds, blossomes and flowers, and after these, ripe Almonds.

So befell it Hezekiah; so shall it all the elect of God, who know no more what to aske, then Hezekiah did; he thought of no more, but the bud of his bodily health; but he gi­ueth him withall, the ripest, and sweetest fruit of all others, forgiuenesse of his sinnes: and (me thinketh) he fulfilleth all the de­grees of that former storie; for, let the par­don of sinne, be germen, the bud; and the pardon of all his sinnes, be gemma, the knot or swelling bud;Peccata omnia post tergum proiecisti. and the leauing them be­hind his backe, flos, the blossome; but the casting them behinde his backe, as if he were angry that they prest before his face, is amyg­dala, the fruit, more then all the rest. He that will purge the body, leaueth no dregs of the sicknesse, for feare of relapse: so is the par­don of God, a plenary pardon of all his sins: and whereas before they were vnder those pure eyes that cannot behold wickednesse, now they are set behinde his backe, that he may [Page 37] not behold them: and not onely set, or left, (for then, Clamabunt post nos; they will follow God againe) but throwne, as stones from a sling, and, with violence offered to his iustice, banished in such sort, as that they may neuer returne againe: so speaketh he (in effect) Psal. 103. Quantum distat ortus ab occasu, Looke how farre the East is from the West, so farre hath he set our sinnes from vs: so Mich. 7. proijcit in pro­fundum mare, he taketh our sins and throweth them into the bottome of the sea.

You haue heard of Hezekiah the good King of Iudah, Application and his double condition, the one which nature and sinne brought vpon him, sicknesse, and approch to death: the o­ther, what grace and indulgence did for him: [...] (had I almost said with the Apostle, Galat. 4.) these things were spoken in an allegorie, sure I am they were spoken propter aliud, for another purpose, not for Hezekiah's sake. But as Ezekiel (Ezech. 4.) lieth and sleepeth vpon his left and right side, and maketh him bread of moulter corne, and baketh it in bullockes dung, &c. to shew the siege and famine to come: So haue I chosen this storie of Heze­kiah, [Page 38] to be but a modell and patterne of those things which hapned to our gracious KING.

Hezekiah our King,Hezekias. our religious King, who though he restored not religion, as Hezekiah did, (which he found restored to his hand) yet he maintaineth, and propug­neth religion, and spared not the high places no more then Hezekiah did, I meane the throne of Antichrist himselfe, not that brasen Serpent, pearched vpon his pole of suprema­cie aboue all the Kings of the earth, and the whole Church of God: And as famous to the world, (he will be in succeeding ages) for his miraculous deliuerance from that generall gunpowder-massacre, as euer He­zekiah was for his miraculous deliuerance from Zenacherib the King of Assur; in a night, was that host discomfited, and in a night, the labours and hopes of many moneths defeated: I am sure, as renowned as euer Hezekiah was, propter scripturam, for his bookes written and published to the world, in defence of the Gospell and Church of God.

Not to recede from the tearmes of myEcce in pace [Page 39] text, I am sure he is a King of peace. And here you may stand, as at a pillar or moni­ment by the high-way side, and take a view of it. Ecce, in pace: it is worthy admiration, that for sixteene yeares space, (to keepe the phrase of this Story, 2. Reg. 19.) there hath not an enemy shot an arrow, nor come with a shield, nor raised vp a rampart, against a­ny Citie or towne of his kingdome: (in an happie houre be it spoken.) Hath your Man­na, the meane time, bred wormes? or do the Quailes come out of your nostrels? or are you of­fended with your peace? Hath it made you proud, and petulant, and lasciuious, and improuident, and vnprouided against your Enemies? Where is the fault? I must answer with Christ, Duritia, malitia cordium vestorum, the hardnesse, the badnes of your own hearts; The Manna was good, the Quailes good, the peace good, both in him that bestowed it, and in him that procured it; your selues naught that vsed it not aright. Cast but your eyes backe to the latter part of the reigne of that Mayden Queene, (the maiden-head and honour of whose gouernment was neuer stained) whose bones are in peace, [Page 40] her soule in blisse, and her name in eternall remembrance; thinke vpon one poore and beggerly warre, (as the Apostle named poore and beggerly elements,) vile, seruile bellum, rather rebellion then warre; with beasts, rather then men, or men, after the manner of beasts, earthed in their thickets and bogges, as Foxes in their holes; (to speake nothing of the treasure it wasted,) how much of our English bloud, of the very flower and prime of our gentrie, that one warre suckt out: and then tell me if peace, for her owne sake, (with­out the weedes that grow vp with it,) be to be disliked?

All this while I haue bene vpon the sub­iect of my text alone, Hezekiah our King, without adding any attribute, or telling you what he hath suffered. Now it followeth, Hezekiah our King was sicke, and sicke as Hezekiah was,Aegrota­uit. vsque ad mortem, euen vnto the death; his sicknesse was bitternesse, bitter­nesse, downe to the very side and mouth of the pit,Marke 5. [...], as Iairus his daughter, he was at the last cast; [...], as Paul spake of Epaphroditus, Philip. 2. at the next doore, the nearest neighbor to death, (I may [Page 41] now by the blessing of God speake home; Habet praeteritarum calamitatum secura recor­datio delectationem quandam, when a danger is gone and past, it is pleasure to repeate it: ‘Libet sinistras res meas percurrere.’) I go for­ward with that text, the prouidence of God hath euen fitted it to my mouth; I say he was sicke to the death, but God had mercy vp­on him, and not vpon him alone, but also vp­on vs and the whole kingdome,Philip. 2. [...] lest we should haue sorrow vpon sor­row; sorrow, for the losse of our Queene, (like the losse of our eyes, our bowels) his Ladie and Consort, as his rib pluckt from his side, the halfe of his soule torne from him; and sorrow for the losse of himselfe.

I am yet in the sicknesse. It was bitternesse, bitternesse; and yet to the children of God, in the fruite and effect of it, dulcedo, dulcedo, sweetnesse aboue the hony and hony comb. It is a paradoxe in nature what I shall deli­uer: Would you looke for grapes from thornes? or water from a rocke? or oyle from a stone? or good out of euill? or sweetnesse out of bitternesse? that is, comfort out of sicknesse?Nazianz. Yet so it is. Morbo crucior, & gau­deo, [Page 42] non quia crucior, sed vt alijs patientiae sim magister, I am sicke and tortured with sick­nesse, yet am I glad, not for the torture, but for being a patterne of patience to others. Antigonus made the like vse of his sicknesse, Nihilo peiùs fuit, hic morbus submonuit nè ani­mo efferamur, cum simus mortales: I am not the worse for it, my sicknesse putteth me in mind not to be proud, seeing I am mortall [...], was the saying of Croesus another king in Herodotus, rich euen to a Prouerb: My sufferings, grieuous though they are, are my lessonings; which Lipsius well rendred, nocumenta, documenta; and Gregory not worse then he, detrimenta corpo­rum, incrementa virtutum, paine to the body, gaine to the soule. The bed of a sicke man is as a schoole, a doctorall chaire of learning and discipline; then are his words written with an adamant claw, and go deepe into the minds of them that heare them; then is his tongue, the tongue of the learned, as tou­ched with a cole from the altar; and his mouth the veine and fountaine of life, when the soule is weaned from the world, the flesh mortified, the spirit consecrated to God, and [Page 43] himselfe rapt vp, as it were, into the third heauens, where he seeth and heareth those things which he neuer saw nor heard afore­time.

There are that are able to report his Swans songs, the last before his death, (for ought appeared to the contrary) how he be­haued himselfe towards God and man, and acted both King and Priest; and setting him­selfe in articulo mortis, in the very ioynt and poynt of dying: Looking backwards to his life past, and forwards to the life to come, neglected not any thing, neither of his pri­uate nor of the publicke State, with many di­uine meditations, holy professions, religious promises, prudent instructions, which (for my part) I wish they were scriptura Hezekiae regis, brought to the light of the world, that all might vnderstand them.

But what becometh of this sicknesse?Eruisti. re­maineth it still? No. For the sweet wood of the mercies of God, was cast into the waters of Marah, and altered their bitternesse.

And so must I alter my text. Iordan is now gone backward. Behold in my peace, bit­ternesse, bitternesse, (said Hezekiah.) Behold [Page 44] in our bitternesse, bitternesse, peace, must I say. Ecce euangelizo vobis gaudium magnum quod erit omni ciuitati, (as the Angel in the Gospel) behold I bring you tidings of great ioy, which shall be to the whole Land; and God say Amen to it; that I may euer be as Ahimaaz 2. Sam. 18. to bring you good tidings of such things. His soule is deliuered from the pit of corruption. And we trust that God hath ad­ded to his yeares, as he did to the yeares of Hezekiah, we pray that it may be, and likely it is, if we adde to our prayers, that God will adde to his yeares. If we aske life for him, God shall giue him a long life; and after that long life ended, A life for euer and euer. Psalme 21.

But of all other things you will aske the meanes how he was deliuered.Placuit tibi. He wanted not any thing that the earth could minister vnto him, neither the helpe of learned and painfull Physicians, (benedictio Domini super eos, &c. Psal. 129. the Lord prosper them, we wish them good lucke in the name of the Lord,) nor the intercessions of his faithfull Subiects, that haue bowed the knees both of their bodies and hearts, and with their pray­ers, [Page 45] as an incense in the morning, and the lif­ting vp of their hands as an euening sacrifice, they haue pierced through the clouds, and knocked at the gate of his mercy at mid­night, and giuen him no rest on behalfe of their King,2. Reg. 2. Our father, our father, the Chariots and horsemen of Israel, is going from vs, O Lord spare him.

Ariston was a good King, but wanted Issue: and the people desirous to haue one of his race to gouerne after him, begged him Issue of their gods. That sonne so obtained they named Demaratus, [...]. Votis populi expetitus. because the people had gained him by their prayers. I doubt not but our King was another Demaratus, beg­ged by his people at the hands of God; or ra­ther (according to his owne name) that our Iacob was another Israel, and that he and his people wrestled with God by their earnest supplications, to gaine a blessing of health from him: and although, as to Israel, a sinew of his thigh be yet shrunke,Genes. 32. that is, the ability & strength of his body somwhat abated; we trust that in time God wil also restore that. But whatsoeuer I haue yet named, is but a second and subordinate meanes: and vaine [Page 46] (we know) is the helpe of man, our helpe must stand in the name of the Lord which hath made heauen and earth, or we shall neuer be holpen; therefore the prime, predominant, and su­preme cause, that our King was deliuered, was the same that Hezekiah found, Placuit ti­bi, dilexisti, &c. the good pleasure and loue of God.

Now the good will of him that dwelt in the bush, euer dwell with our King, and marrie him vnto him with euerlasting mercy and com­passion. The couenant of day and night be broken, but the couenant of his peace with our King and his kingdomes be neuer broken. Fathers for­get their sonnes, and nurses their sucking babes, and mothers the fruite of their wombes. The Lord neuer forget our King, nor his seed after him, nor the people committed to their charge.

By this time you may ghesse at the reason of our meeting (so many thousand of soules together in one place:) though not in the house of the Lord, I grant, yet in the courts of the Lords house, euen in the midst of thee ô Ierusalem, in the fairest and fittest theatre we haue for such purposes, to make it like [Page 47] Araunah his threshing floore, a place for an altar of our thankfulnesse, whereon we are to offer the Calues of our lips; our reasonable seruice; an Eucharisticall sacrifice for the life of our King, whom God hath so lately res­cued from the fangs and throte of destructi­on:Sueton. that as when the tidings came to Rome of Germanicus his better amendment, (they had newes before of his desperate sicknesse, which strucke them all to the heart; and Ger­manicus was an excellent Prince, beloued of the people, and one that said of himselfe af­terwards at the time of his death, Flebunt Germanicum etiam ignoti, Strangers will misse and bewaile Germanicus,) they ran into their Capitoll, men, women and children, and rent open the doores thereof, and offered their votes, and filled the whole Citie with the noise of their congratulation, Salua Ciuitas, salua Patria, saluus Germanicus, the City is safe, the country safe, Germanicus safe: So come we into this our Capitoll, our greatest Panegyris, inured with the like meetings, (hither came that Lady of euer-blessed memory,Ann. 1588. to giue thankes vnto God for her victorie ouer the Spaniard) with such frequency of people as [Page 48] you see, with such feruencie of heart to blesse the name of our God, and congratu­late our selues, because Salua Ciuitas, salua Pa­tria, saluus Iacobus, the City is safe, the king­dome safe, our King safe. And as before that, whē Augustus was likewise recouered, (whom they styled Patrem patriae, the Father of the countrey) to shew their loue to their Empe­rour,Aere collato. they layd their purses together, and set vp a Statue to Antonius Musas the Physician that recouered him, and placed it by the Image of Aesculapius: So we in affection and loue to our King, though we giue not titles to men, and honour the Physician but with that honour that is due vnto him, yet, Aere collato, ioyning our hearts and soules together, as if we were all but one man, we set vp our Sta­tue, and (if it be possible) raise our Colossus of thankfulnesse, that may reach vp to the heauen of heauens, vnto that great God that hath created the Physician, and taught him his wisdom, and made the medicines of the earth to take away the paines of men. Ec­clesiasticus 38.

There is but one word more in my text,Peccata. and so an end. But as it standeth in the hind­most [Page 49] and dishonourablest part of my text, as the lees lie in the bottome of the vessell, the sting in the taile of the Scorpion, so it is the worst word. It is that, that troubleth Is­rael (as Ahab asked Elias, but Elias charged vpon him) and vtinam ascindantur (say I,Gal. 5.) I would they were cut off that trouble vs. Estne pax Iehu? 2. Reg. 9. (said Iehoram vnto him:) Is it peace Iehu? What peace, so long as thy mothers fornications and her witchcrafts are yet in force? It is Doeg the Edomite that killed the Prophets of the Lord.1. Sam. 22. I knew it (said Dauid) when Doeg the Edomite was there. It is Iudas at the board. Will you know the Iudas, the Doeg, the Ieza­bel, the Ahab, the mischiefe, the bane, the ruine, the wrecke of a kingdome? It is sinne: that which brought sicknesse vpon Hezekiah, and will bring it againe; that which God pardoned to Hezekiah (proiecisti post tergum;) and the Lord be so mercifull to vs as to grant vs our pardon. But it is a feare­full doome which is pronounced, Prouerb. 8. Propter peccata terrae, erunt multi Principes eius: For the sinnes of the Land, there shall be ma­ny Princes thereof. Many in the cluster, and at once; as they cry in the Gospell, Here is [Page 50] Christ, and there Christ, we know not where; so, this your King, and that your King, we know not who: Many in the change and succession;Hos. 13. Dabo Regem in furore meo, & aufe­ram in indignatione mea: I will giue a King in my rage, and take him away in my wrath, giuing and taking both in displeasure: ei­ther of both were bad enough, and our sinnes are accommodated to beare either iudgement, for they are peccata terrae, not the sinnes of single soules, but the sinnes of the Land. Our Sacriledge, not the Sacriledge of Achan; our oppression, of Ahab; our adulte­rie, of an Israelite with a Madianitish-woman; our pride, of Iesabel which painted alone; our effeminatenesse, of Absolon which set more by the haire of his head, then his whole body was worth; our drunkenesse, of Nabal; our vsury, of whom shall I say? (I mistake my selfe: there is not an Vsurer named in person in the whole booke of God: their names are written in the earth, and hardly will they find them written in the booke of life. The Lord be mercifull to them:) these were the sinnes of priuate soules, and haue borne their vengeance. A­nima [Page 51] quae peccauerit ipsa morietur. Ours are cō ­mon, Epidemicall, popular and populous sinnes,Senec. both in number and measure, peccant, & publicant, we sinne and delight to sinne, sinne and declare our sinnes as Sodome. Feare we not the sequele? The yeare hath bene fa­tall already for the death of an Arch-Duke, an Empresse, and an Emperour (they say;) and to looke nearer home, of a great, and glorious Queene, since the dayes of our Deborah which ruled in Israel 44. yeares, not her like so farre as the world is Christian; Great by Paren­tage, Great by Marriage, Greater by her Gra­ces, the beloued and honoured of God and Man, and my most gracious Mistresse. ‘Ne­scis quid serus vesper ferat:’ we are not yet come to the euening of the yeare; we haue had rumors of warres and commotions, and Earth-quakes; one the most prodigious birth that these latter ages of the world haue brought forth; and a signe from heauen that dazeled our eyes, and might haue daun­ted our hearts, but slighted in such sort, as if we had seene but the shining of a Glow-worme: I feare not the euents, what hath bene, nor the portents, what may be; I feare [Page 52] our portentuous and prodigious sinnes, which are as significant and prognosticant of the wrath of God, as any of these won­ders.

We haue yet our King, Serus in coelum re­deat, long and long may we haue him: who may say vpon better ground then euer Nerua did,Dion. Se nihil fecisse in regni administratione, quo minùs possit, deposito imperio, tutò priuatus viue­re; that he hath not done any thing sithence he came to the gouernment, but laying his Scepter and Crowne aside, he might liue as a priuate man without controlement: I will not ouerflow. But may I without piacle forget in the very last scaene of one of his latest actions amongst vs before his depar­ture hence, (which might haue bene his last, if God had not fauoured vs) what he then did? I say not that he rose early, and sate long in a Court of honour and iustice, (yet giue me a King vpon the earth, that e­uer with so much sollicitude and zeale, spent so many dayes, and so many houres in a day in the hearing and examining of one cause. Of one of their Lewesses in France, they write, that he sate in a Cloyster from mor­ning [Page 53] to euening, and lost his dinner to heare the quarrels of his Monks,) of this I speake not; nor that he added in the close of his businesse, that he would make it his studie night and day, and neither slumber nor sleepe till he had brought to light the Non constats, as he tearmed them, which were not so liquid and cleare as the rest: I meane of a speech of his during the time that that cause was in hearing, (I report it in the presence of many and matchlesse witnesses) when ta­king his hat from his head, that he might do it not without ceremonie, remembring that tribunall seate whereat he must one day stand, turning to his sonne who sate by his side, and out of regard to him, that it might not be said hereafter, he had bene the child of an ignoble parent; whatsoeuer his other sinnes were, wherewith he confessed he was fraught as the vilest caytiffe vpon earth, yet for doing of iustice, his minde and purpose therein, (pardon the zeale and exuberancie of the speech) he needed not the mercie of God.Claud. ‘En Princeps, en orbis apex,’ Shew me his like againe.

I say, we haue yet our King, & adolescentem [Page 54] secundum, Eccles. 4. a Prince by his side, quasi flo­rem rosarum in diebus vernis, Ecclus. 50. as a prime-rose in the Spring season, sprowting and spreading himselfe vnder his boughes. ‘Accipiat patris exemplum;’ Idem. we haue root and branch, rem and spem, a morning and a mid­day Sunne, the first and the latter raine, or (to keepe to the story which I haue in hand) as Zenacherib told Hezekiah, 2. Reg▪ 18. Thou saist thou hast eloquence, but counsell & strength are for the warre. We haue a King for counsell, and a Prince (if God blesse him) for strength, a King to instruct, and a Prince to execute: Onely beware of your sins, peccata terrae, the sinnes of the Land; breake them off with re­pentance, lament them betimes, that they make not you to lament, when it is too late: when the lamentation shall be, not of pri­uate soules, but like that of Hadadrimmon in the fields of Megiddon, Zach. 12. when lugebunt familiae, familiae seorsim, all the families of the Land shall mourne, the familie of the house of Dauid apart, and of Nathan apart, and of Leui apart, &c. But whither am I going? Wee came to reioyce in the safetie of our King, and in the name of our God to set vp [Page 55] our banners of ioy, as in the 20. Psal. and we pray for our King, as that people did for theirs, in the words of the same Psalme, that God will continue his blessing, and perfect that good worke which he hath begun vp­pon him.Psal. 20. 1. The Lord heare thee in the day of thy trouble, the name of the God of Iacob defend thee. Send thee helpe from his Sanctuarie, and streng­then thee out of Sion. Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifices. Grant thee according to thy hearts desire, and fulfill all thy petitions.

AMEN.