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The golden sceptre held forth to the humble With the Churches dignityThe golden scepter held forth to the humble VVith the Churches dignitie
The golden sceptre held forth to the humble With the Churches dignity by her marriage. And the Churches duty in her carriage. In three treatises. The former delivered in sundry sermons in Cambridge, for the weekly fasts, 1625. The two latter in Lincolns Inn. By the late learned and reverend divine, John Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to His Majesty, Mr. of Emanuel College in Cambridge, and sometime preacher at Lincolns Inn.The golden scepter held forth to the humble VVith the Churches dignitie by her marriage. And the Churches dutie in her carriage. In three treatises. The former delivered in sundry sermons in Cambridge, for the weekely fasts, 1625. The two latter in Lincolnes Inne. By the late learned and reverend divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to His Maiesty, Mr. of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and somtime preacher at Lincolnes Inne.
London: printed by R. Badger for N. Bourne, 1638
THE GOLDEN SCEPTRE. › DoctrineTHE GOLDEN SCEPTER. › Doctrine
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But this is not all my answer: but secondly I 1say; that even for the things of this life, the Lord doth exalt the humble and bring down the proud; only with this caution, he doth both in season, when things are brought to maturity; as the Apostle Saint Peter saith, 1 Pet. 5. 6. humble your selves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. God doth it not on a sudden. When 2the proud like the corn are ripe, then he puts in the sickle, and cuts them down, and casts them into the fire. The wall which is swelled, must have a time to moulder and fall, and so on the contrary, there is a due time, for the exaltation of the humble. And therefore if thou sayest, I have humbled my self, and have not been healed, I have not been freed from such a temptation for all my humiliation; if this be thy case, then assure thy self thou art not humbled enough, but go thou and yet bring thy heart lower, and then be confident, that this rule will hold: the Lord will take off the smarting plaster ⟨p. 127⟩as soon as it hath eaten out the proud flesh; so soon as thy heart is truly humbled, the Lord will help thee: he will either remove the cross, or give thee that which is equivalent: and thus the Lord hath always done. So he dealt with Joseph. You 3happily may think, and he might think, it was long before he was exalted; but yet that time was not too long, for as soon as the LORD had truly humbled him, then he presently exalted him; as you may see in Psal. 105. 18, 19, 20. Whose feet they 4hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron, until the time that his word came; the word of the Lord tried him: then the King sent, and loosed him, &c. And so he dealt 5with Job. All that time that his friends were reasoning with him, his heart would not be brought down; but the Lord himself must come and reason with him; and then he began to abhorh mselfe, in dust and ashes: and how soon after was he restored, and all he lost restored double also? This being (as you see) Gods constant course, if thou humbling thy self, yet lyest long under a calamity, thou mayest assure thy self, there is something wanting in thy heart, and therefore be content with Gods dealing.