Contemplations. L1a.XX. true rule ofGods favour ; As plants !aft longer then fenfitive creatures and brute A creaturesout-livetbe reafonable; fo,amo"\!ft the reafooable,it is no ne~es for the wickedly great,to inherit thefe eanhly glones,longer then the belt. Therewants not apparent reafon for this difference; Good Princes are fctcht away to a betterCrown ; Theycannot be lofers, that exchange a weak and fading honor,foraperfccllionandetemiry of ble!fedoeffe: Wicked men livelong to their own difadvange;they doe but carry fo many more brands to their hell: Iftherefore there be a juO: man that perilheth in hisrighteoufoeffe 1 and there be a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickednelfe,far be it from us,either to pitty the removall of the juft,or to envy the continuance ofthewicked; This continues to his loffe, that to an happy advancement. It is v<ry like that H1zeklah marrying fo late,in the vigour both of his aoe,and he- B lioelfe,made a careful! choice ofawife futable to his own piety; Ncith~r had his delight been fo much in her (according to her name) ifher ddight had nor beene, as his, in God; Their iffue fwarves fr0m both, fo fully inheriting the vices et"his grand-father Ahaz,as ifthere had been no inrerveocion ofan Htztki•h: So we have feenthe kernel! ofa well fruited plant degenerate into that crab, or willow, which gave tbe original! to his ftock;yet can I not fay that Ht'{diah was as free from traducing evill to his fon M •n•ffih,as Aho:. was free from traducing good to his fen H<'{fkiah: Evill is incorporated ia the bell nature,whereascven the Jean good defcends from above. We may not meafuregrace bymeanes: Was it pollible that UJian'.f{th having been trained up in th~ religious Court of his father Ht:z;ekiah, under the eye of fo C holy Prophets and PrieO:s, under the lhadow of the TempleofGod,afrcr a childhood feafoned with fo gracious precepts, with fo frequent exercife ofdevotion, lhould run thus wild into all heathenilh abominations ; as if there had bcene nothing but Idolatry inthe feed ofhis conception , in the milke of his nourilhment, in the rules ofhis inllitution,in the pratlice ofhis examples~ How vaine are all-outward helps without the influence of Gods Spititf and that Spimbreathes where he lifteth : jlOOd education raifeth great hopes,butthe proofe of them is iothe divine beneditlton. I feare to look atthe out-rages ofthis wicked foone of He:ukiAh : What havock dothhe make in the Churchof God~ as ifbe had been born to ruine Rdigion, as if his only f<licity bad been to untwiO:,or teare, io oneday, that holy web which his D farher had been weaving nine and twentyyoares ~ and contrarily , to fet up in one houre chat o!fentive pile, which had been above three hundred yeares in pulling down: fo long had the high pllccs O:ood; the zealc of Ht'{fkiah in demolilhing them honoured him, above all hispredecefiors; and now the tirO: at! ofthis green head was their reed1fying: That mifchiefe may be done in a day , which many ages cannorredrelfc. Fearefull were the prefagesofthefe bold beginnings; From the miC-building of rhefe Chapptlsofthe Hils to the true God, c.M•n•ffih proceeds to eretling ofaltars to a falfe,even to B••l,rhe God of AhAh, tbe ftale Idoll ofthe heathen; yer further, not comennvhh fo few Deities, he worlhipsall the hoaO: ofheaven; and that he might defpighr God yet more,he fctsup altars tothefeabufed rivals of their Maker, E in the very houfeol the Lord; that holy placedoth he not feare to defilewtth the gravenlmaoe ofthe grove, that he had made: Never Amoriredid fo wichdly as c.M•n•f!tb;t> and,which was yerworf<, jt fufficed not to be thus wicked himfelf, but he fcduced Gods people to thefe abominations ; and that his example might move the more,hc fpares not his own fen from the fire ofthe Idol-facrifice. Neither were his witcheries lelfe enormious , then his Idolatry; he obferved times, he ufcd inchantments,hcdealr with familiar fpirits, and with wizards: Neither were either ofthefe worfe then his cruelty; Helhedinnoccnt bloud till he had filled Jerufalem from one end to another. 0 c.M•n•Jfib,ho_wno ldfe cruel! ~er~ tho_u to thine own foulo,t~en to thy Judah: What an hideou1 110: ofmonftrouS!mptety 1s herc;Any one ofwh1ch were enough to
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