THE FIRST SERMON. Of Evils incident to man, as he is man; and of the Righteous man.

I IF wee take but a slight view of man, who in his own pride and loftinesse of minde, hath taken to himselfe the glorious title of the Little world, if wee consider him in his person & in his state; wee shall finde, that he is but a cage of rottennesse, a sinke of filth, and a world of wretchednesse.

The seed wherof he comes, is a stinking excrement; and the ground wherein he is sowen, is a quagmire of dirt, a sinke of uncleanenesse, a strait and darke pit of loathsome and pestilent putrefaction, from whence he doth not escape, but is thrust out as a noisom & trou­blesome guest, who neyther can be kept longer, nor set at libertie without unspeakeable torments, both to the mother who hath conceiued, borne and nourished him so long in her wombe; and to himselfe, and of­tentimes without death to both.

When he is thus cast forth with sorrow and paines, if he had the use of understanding, to know the mise­ries whereunto he is borne; and of speech, to utter what he thinketh of them, he would make his moane, with Ieremy, Ierem. 20. vers. 18. That he came forth out of the wombe, to see labour and sorrow: and,Iob 3. ver. 2. cursing the day wherein hee was borne, would wish, with Iob, Iob 10. ver. 19. to have beene carried from the wombe to the grave. For he doth no sooner open his nostrils, to breathe & suck up the refreshing moy­sture [Page 3]of the ayre, but he is encountred and beset on all sides with unavoidable dangers: he is borne in teares, he liueth in miserie, and dyeth in griefe: hunger and thirst, cold and heate, nakednesse and weakenesse, la­bour and wearinesse, greasinesse & sweat, waking and sleeping, feavers and consumptions are the first depu­ties, who at his first entry into the world goe meete and welcome him, to make the first solemnities of this palace of vanitie and mourning; wherein hee hath seant set the first foote, when ignorance and forgetful­nesse, vaine hope and trembling feare, senslesnesse and despaire, joy and sadnesse, despite and cholor, burning lust and cold disdaine, a thousand combersome passi­ons, ten thousand pricking cares, troupe together, and joine themselves to the first band, to conduct & leade him by certaine journies and stations, incht to some longer, to some shorter, to the king of terrours, to the mannor of darkenesse, to the land of the shadow of death, whereIob 17.14. he shall say to the grave, Thou art my father: and to the worme, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

II. Whom can you name to me, that hath spent the short dayes of this life, and hath not walked upon the bryers, wherwith it is strewed; nor felt their pricks? Kings are the first amongst men; but they are men. And ye shall sooner finde the sea without billowes, the aire without moving, the bramble without prickles, than man without evils: for what is mans life but an Ocean of miseries, wherein there is no drop of true delight and happinesse?

When yee cast your eyes upon Kings and Princes, heed not the precious Crowne which glittereth upon their heads, nor the shining Purple which covereth their nakednesse, nor the legionaries and squadrons of souldiers which guard them, nor the Nobility which hedgeth them on all sides, nor the glorie of their servants, nor the magnificence of their fare, nor [Page 4]the excellencie of their palaces, nor the gorgeous pomp of their Court. Pierce further in, thrust your eyes within the centre of their hearts; consider their deeds and carriage, and you shal see at one sight a head crowned with gold, & a heart scorched with griefe: The flower of Purple, the brightnesse of Scarlet, the glistering plate-laces of Gold, the twinkling lewels, dazeling the eyes of the beholders; and pensivenesse, blacking the soule of him that beareth them: Men in­vironed with guards without, and besieged with feares and terrours within, ever laying some new plot, and manie times crossed in their designes; notwithstan­ding their great power, not able to doe all that they would, and often constrained to do what they would not; making a faire shew to those whom they hate, mistrusting those in whom they must needs trust; su­specting now their wives, now their children, fearing all those that feare them,TIBERIUS, Timeo incusto­ditos aditus, ti­meo & ipsos cu­fiodes. dreading all entries which are not kept, yea, and dreading also their own keepers; passing the dayes in painefull labours, in trouble of minde, in many dangers betweene shamelesse flatte­rers, craftie calumniators, and aposted assasms; and seeking, in the darkenesse of the night, the rest which a remorsefull remembrance of things past, a gnawing feare of things to come, & a thousand other perplexi­ties pull away violently from their eye-lids.Pro. 14.13. Even in laughter their heart is sorrowfull: and the end of their mirth is heavinesse. They drinke Wormewood in a cup of Gold; the Sugar of their delights is embittered with the Gall of discontent, and when they glut themselves with voluptuous pleasures, and swallow downe the most rare and costly dainties, as Behemoth draweth up Iordan into his throat, either feare death, as if they had the sharp point of a naked sword hanging by a haire above their heads; or long for it, to make a dolefull end of the huge heape of their manifold and wofull [Page 5]miseries, which extract from them now and then a vehement disdain of their royall Robes, with this true exclamation,O nobilem magis quàm felicem pannum, &c. O cloth more glorious than happy! the low­ziest beggar of the countrey would not stoop downeward to lift thee from the ground, if hee knew with how many cares, frights, and vexations of spirit thou art lyned.

All the Tragedies, though fabulously written, are made of the true miseries and strange calamities of Kings, Princes, and other great men of the world. Runne thorow the stories of Heathen men: of so ma­nie Kings, how few shall yee finde, whom a drie and peaceable death hath sent to the grave, where now the worme feedeth sweetly on them! In the Scrip­tures ye see Saul, possessed with the Divel, murthering the Lords Priests, smiting with the edge of the sword the whole Citie of Nob, men and women, children and sucklings, Oxen, Asses and Sheepe, seeking to kill his owne sonne and heyre, and finally imbruing his unmercifull and pittilesse hands with his owne blood. There ye see Ishbosheth slaine by his owne Captaines, in whom he had speciall affiance. There yee see the good and godly King David no sooner unpestered of one warre, but he is entangled into another: ye see him overwhelmed with domesticall calamities, con­strained to behold and suffer the incests, parricides, re­bellions revolts of his owne children, and to be upon his guard against them who should have guarded him. There ye see Salomon, the wisest, but not the best of the sonnes of men, after hee had taken a deepe draught in the crystaline cup of worldly prosperities, and given his heart to seeke and search out by wise-dome all things that are done under heaven, upbrai­ding them all with this true saying;Eccles. 1.14. Behold, all is va­nity and vexation of spirit. The life of all the Kings of luda was nothing else but as a web woven; as a bau­drick interlaced with evills: what was the state of the [Page 6]Kings of Israel, but an hideous spectacle of most hor­rible calamities? Neyther shall ye finde any amongst the Politicians and Statesmen, living amongst the wearisome turmoile of imploiments, who once in his life findeth not whereupon to sing to his perplexed soule Salomons complaint, which Gilimer the last King of the Vandales harped with a mourning and sorrow-full tune, to the Emperour Iustinian, whose prisoner he then was,Eccles. 1.2. Vanity of vanities, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

III. If such be the condition of Kings, of Princes, of Courtiers, of Statesmen who have their portion in this life, and seeme to be in a safe harbour against all kindes of stormes, and in all weathers; who is able to relate all the troubles which disquiet the mindes of o­ther men, and steepe the few drams of worldly com­forts, which they taste but seldome in their lives, with a quintall of gall? One bewaileth the death of his on­ly sonne: another curseth the day wherin he was made the father of a man childe: this man complaineth of his wives disloyaltie: that man conveyeth his wife to the sepulchre, with sadnesse and teares. He who lived in ease, is ashamed to see himselfe stript of all that he had; and he who spoyled him, is amazed when he is also spoyled by another stronger than himselfe. One amongst an hundred, mourneth for the death of his friend, who was to him more faithfull and steadable than a brother; but manie fret and are much moved, when they see their familiar friends, in whom they trusted, and in whose bosome they did lay all their se­crets, lift up their heeles against them.

To be short, there is no tongue that can fully ex presse all the evils that are incident to man in his per­son and state; neither is there any man, who feeleth not, with paine, the portion of those evils which is shared unto him. As they that sayle in shallow wa­ters, [Page 7]amongst rocks and shelves of sand, are not voyde of danger and of feare; so they that hoyse up sayles a­mongst the waves and surges of the tempestuous sea of this life, are not freed from annoyes and discontent­ments: all their pleasures are like the Locusts, whereof mention is made in the Revelation, whichRevel. 9▪ 8, 10. had hayre as the hayre of women, to entice with goodly shewes; and tayles like unto Scorpions, to sting with mortall discon­tent. They shall leave off to be mortall men, when evill shall leave off to pursue them: and teares shal not be wipt from their eyes, untill death hath closed their eye lids;Iob 5.7. For man is borne unto trouble, as the sparkes rise up to flye, andPsal. 90.10. the strength of his dayes is labour and sorrow.

IV. But amongst and above all men, many are the evils of the righteous man, as David said when hee was forced, through feare,1. Sam. 21.13. to change his behaviour before Abimelech King of Gath, and faining himselfe madde, escaped his enemies indignation, for he feareth not to call himselfe righteous: and calling to memorie the great number of evills, which hee had endured from the first day of his anointing till then, he pronoun­ceth, that many are the evils of the righteous. Which he speaketh so of himselfe, that he extendeth it to all those who can claime the title of righteous men to themselves. And because this saying is confirmed by the experience of all ages, and therefore it may seeme very strange, that a righteous man should be so storm-beaten with afflictions, he mitigateth the bitternesse of this averred sentence, with the sweetnesse of this no lesse experimented conclusion; But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

So the Text taketh you by the hand, and pointeth out to you, first, a righteous man, and his manifold afflictions; secondly, the LORD and his deliveries: whereunto if ye adde a question, which is implyed in [Page 8]the first part, why the LORD permitteth the righteous man to be so roughly used; ye shal have in these parts the matter of sundry Sermons: the first, of the righte­ous man, and of the characters whereby he is known. The second and third, of the evils wherewith the righ­teous man is on all sides thunder-stricken. The fourth and fift, of the causes wherefore Almighty GOD, and his loving father, suffereth him to be pushed and tossed to and fro with so manie evils. The rest shall be of the Lords deliverances. Let us then begin at the first part; and our beginning and helpe be in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth. Amen.

V. If ye define and describe exactly the righteous man, by the rules of the Law, which ascribeth this glo­rious and most excellent title to those onely, whose persons are (from the womb) without spot, whose actions are without sinne, and in whose lives Gods all-seeing eyes can perceive no blemish; let Papists say what they will, we will truly say with David in the Old Testament,Psal 14.10. There is none that doth good, no not one: and with S. Paul in the New Testament,Rom. 3.10. There is none righteous, no not one.

For if Papists speake of such men as are by S. Iude calledIude ver. 19. sensuall, not having the spirit, and say, That they may keepe the Law of God, if they will: the holy and true Apostle giveth them the lye, saying in the New Testament, that1. Cor. 2.14. The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishnesse unto him: neyther can he know them, because they are spiritually discer­ned. Now if he cannot know them, what ability can he have to doe them? And therefore Eliphaz sayth of such a man, in the Old Testament, thatIob 15.16. he is abomina­ble and filthy, drinking iniquity like water: for he is flesh, he is nothing but flesh, nothing but corruption and sinne. andRom. 8.7. the affection of the flesh, is enmitie against God: [Page 9]for it is not subiect to the Law of God, neyther indeed can be. If then we fit to these carnal men, the words which Ieremy spake to his auditors; asking of them,Ier. 13.23. r Can the Ethiopian change his skin? or the Leopard his spots? then may you also do good, that are accustomed to do evill; wee shall convert them to their owne use: because thatTit. 1.15. being infidels, their minde and conscience is defiled, and,Rom. 8.5. being after the flesh, they minde the things of the flesh,

If they speake of those of whom the Apostle saith, that they are after the spirit, and mind the things of the spi­rit, and affirm of them, that if they would, they might keepe the law; seeing they keepe it not, and that the holiest man that ever was, could not say truly,Pro. 20.9 I have made my heart cleane, I am pure from my sinne: then ac­cording to this saying, good men are ill men, honest men are knaves, upright men are malicious men: forIam. 4.17. to him that knoweth to doe good, and doth it not, to him it is sinne. And never did any, but a despitefull wicked man, say, I might do good if I would; but I will not doe it: whereas much otherwise, the godly & honest hearted man sayes,Rom. 7.18, 19. The will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I doe not: but the evill which I would not, that I doe. Whereof the Apostle rendreth this reason, writing to the Galathians;Gal. 5.17. for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that yee cannot doe the things that yee would. teaching most cleerely, that the sinnes of the spirituall man come from his weakenesse, and not from his will: otherwise they should be sinnes of malice, and not of infirmitie. I conclude then, that if mans righteousnesse be strictly examined in the ba­lance of the Law, there never was, andEccles. 7.20. there is not a iust man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not, saving our Lord Iesus Christ, who through the prerogative of his immaculate conception, by the wonderfull o­peration [Page 10]of the holy Spirit, wasRom. 8.3. in the likenesse of sin­full flesh, Heb. 7.26. holy, harmelesse, undefiled, & separate from sinners: and for that cause is calledAct. 3.14. the Righteous; that title belonging only to him in that respect.1. Ioh. 2.1.

VI. But what godly men cannot claime to them­selves in the rigorous strictnesse of the Law, that they finde in Gods mercifull acceptation, and in the mo­dification of his blessed Gospel, wherein he entitleth his beloved children, with this honourable name of Righteous men: judging of them, not by the imperfect perfection of their righteousnesses,Esa. 64.6. which are as filthy ragges; but by their affection and earnest endevour to be such as they should, and which they strive with might and maine to be,Phil. 3.7, 13, 14. forgetting those things which are behinde, and reaching forth to those things which are be­fore, and so pressing toward the marke, for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus. For God, who she­weth himselfe in the Law clothed with the majestu­ous and inexorable severitie of a Iudge; representeth himselfe in the Gospel as a Father, arrayed with meekenesse and mercy: regarding the willingnesse of his children, rather than anie perfection which may besought, but shall not be found in their obedi­dience, so long as they are in the way to their home.

For in the faithfull and true Christian, there are two men:Ephes. 4.22, 24. The old man, which we carry with us from our mothers womb, when we are first borne; and the new man, which is given to us when wee are borne a­gaine. That man is Satans worke, and the bitter fruit of the rebellion of the first Adam. This man is the worke of Gods Spirit, and the sweet fruit of the obedience of the second Adam. That man is corrupt by deceitfull lusts, and therefore is ever busied in draw­ing us away from goodnesse, and entising us to evill. This man is created after God in righteousnesse and true holinesse, and is ever thrusting us forward from evill to [Page 11]good. That man is strong and mightie: This man is feeble, and withstandeth with great difficultie. That man, though very powerfull & hard to be overcome, waxeth old and decayeth from day to day, untill he be altogether destroyed: This man increaseth every day in might and vigour; and like the people of Is­rael, when they were upon their journey, ascending to appeare before God in Sion, goethPsal. 84.7. from strength to strength, till he comeEphes. 4.13. unto a perfect man, unto the mea­sure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ. So that man is at the last subdued, overthrowne and killed by this man, as the monstrous Gyant Goliah was by little Da­vid. That man, where he reigneth, bringeth forth for fruitRom. 6.21, 22. shame, and his end is death: This man hath his fruit in holinesse, and his end is everlasting life.

From hence it is, that God, when he is to speake and make us know what account he maketh of his servants, considereth them not according unto those relickes of the old man, whose strength is weakened, and whose life decayeth and dyeth every day, to call them Sinners and wicked ones: but for hisPhil. 1.6. owne good workes sake, which he hath begun in them, and will performe untill the day of Iesus Christ, calleth them Saints, Righte­ous, Perfect. For the Divels worke in us, is not so considerable to defame us publikely with the disgracefull name of Sinners and wicked men, as Gods worke is to grace us with the honourable title of Saints and Righ­teous men: namely, seeing the Lord maintaineth, set­teth forward, & performeth his own good work, & at length destroyeth Satans work in us, as I have said. What wonder then if he qualifieth us with titles of honour, according as we are already, & shall be here­after for ever and ever, through his power and grace; and not according as Satan hath made us, and as wee shall not be alwayes, & for evermore? For this cause it is written, thatNumb. 23.21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Iacob, [Page 12]neyther hath he seene perversenesse in Israel. Not that there is none, but becauseMich. 7.18 he pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant if his heritage; covering it with the precious robe of the righteous­nesse of his deare Son,Col. 1.22. in whom he hath made us holy, unblameable, unreproveable, andColoss. 2.10. complete in his own fight: And therefore righteous and perfect in Christ, of un­righteous and uncomplete in our selves.

VII. The man whom God calleth righteous in this sense, is pourtrayed by the holy Spirit, as well nega­tively as affirmatively. David saith of him negative­ly, thatPsal. 1.1. he walketh not in the counsaile of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seate of the scornefull, and,Psal. 119 3. doth no iniquitie. S. Iohn saith, that1. Ioh. 3.6, 9. bee sinneth not, or, as he explaineth himselfe, doth not commit sinne, that is to say, he sinneth not with pleasure and content. Whereof the holy Apostle rendreth two reasons: for the first he saith, that he that committeth sinne, is of the Divell; he is Satans bond slave, for the Divell sinneth from the beginning: he hath ever beene, is, and shall be busied in ill doing.

Therefore whosoever sinneth as he doth, is his, and not Gods. But the righteous man is delivered out of his clawes, through our Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of God,Vers. 8. who for this purpose was manifested, that he might destroy the workes of the Divell. His second rea­son is this;Vers. 9. Whosoever is borne of God, doth not commit sinne: for his seed, the seed of his predestination and of his Spirit remaineth in him: and he cannot sinne, because he is borne of God. Bern. de na­tu [...]â & digai. tat. amo [...]. c. 6. Piccatum pati­tur potius quàm facit, quiex Deo natur est. Bernard saith, That he rather suf­fereth sinne, than committeth it: According to that saying of the Apostle;Rom. 7.20. If I doe that I would not, it is no more I that doe it, but sinne that dwelleth in me. Neither can he persevere and abide in sinne, because the law of his mind, warring against the law of his members, finally overmastereth in him the law of sinne. And [Page 13]therefore all his sinne come either from igno­rance, or from infirmitie, and lye so heavie upon his wearied soule that he cannot choofe but desire death to be freed of them; crying, as the Apostle did in the like case,Rom. 7.24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?

David describeth this man affirmatively, by all his inward and outward parts. By his heart;Psal. 1.2. His de­light is in the Law of the LORD, and in his Law doth he meditate day and night. By his tongue;Psal. 119.13, 46. He decla­reth with his lips all the iudgements of his mouth: he spea­keth of his testimonies before Kings, and is not ashamed. By his hands;Psal. 26.6. He washeth his hands in innocency, Psal. 37.21. he shew­eth mercy, and giveth. By his feet;Psal. 119.32. He runneth the way of Gods commandements, &c.

Therefore his Righteousnesse is not only a religi­ous abstinence, and refraining from evill; but also a carefull and conscionabe imployment in all things which are good: for1. Ioh. 3.7. he that doth righteousnesse, is righ­teous. As Iob wasIob 1.8. a perfect and an upright man, fearing God, and eschuing evill: and such as Zacharias and Eli­zabeth were, to whom the Scripture beareth witnesse, thatLuk. 1.6. they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse.

VIII. David challengeth and taketh upon him this title of a Righteous man: for, as I have said, hee speaketh not only of others; but also and principal­ly of himselfe. He spake thus truely, and he spake thus inspired by the Holy Ghost: Then this speech was no bragging; for the Spirit of God is neither lyer nor boaster. When Hezekiah brayed unto the LORD, thatIsa. 38.3. he would remember how he had walked before him in truth, and with a perfect heart: shall we say, that like the Peacock (who, in the height of his pride, covers himselfe all over with his taste) he tooke pleasure to display his righteousnesse before God, and to glasse [Page 14]himselfe vain-gloriously in his owne workes, as theLuk. 18.12. Pharisee gloried in his ordinary fasting, and liberall giving of tythes of all that he possessed?

Surely Papists, when they nick-name us with their owne titles of pride and presumption, because we call our selves Righteous men, will not stand (me thinks) to print the same stampe upon these godly mens foreheads: and seeing, in their opinion, it is great presumption and high pride to anie man living, to call himselfe a Righteous and holy man; they must needs have a very bad conceit of themselves, and confesse that they are unrighteous, unholy, and wic­ked men. whereupon they may take time to advise.

As for us, we may learne by this example of David, and manie mo which are to be found in the Scrip­ture, thatAugust. de verb. Domini, Serm. 28. Non ergohic arro­gantia est, sed fides: predicare quod acceperis, non est superbia, sed devotio. to preach what thou hast received, is not arro­gancy, but faith: is not pride, but devotion; as Augustin saith wisely: this caveat being kept, That thou seeke not in it thy owneglory, as the Pharisee did; but the glory ofI am. 1.17. the father of lights, of whom commeth from a­bove every good and perfect gift, as David, and Hezekiah did, and as the holy Apostles did, when they feared not to say, that2. Cor. 5.14. the love of Christ constrained them: and to speake manie good things of themselves, not through loftinesse of minde, that they might be prai­sed; but through free and true humilitie, that the gift of Christ might be knowne of all men, and thankes rendred to him: as Ambrose observeth wel upon that place. If we were taught to glory in the perfection of our workes, merites, and superogations, as Papists are, then every one should repulse that false doctrine of pride, and say with Ambrose, Ambros. de Iacobo, & vuâ b [...]a [...]â. lib. 1. cap. 6. I have no good workes wherein I should glory: I have no thing whereof I may bragge, and therefore I will glory in Christ: I will not glory because I am righteous; but I will glory because I am re­deemed: I will glory, not because I am voyd of sinne, but be­cause [Page 15]my sinne are forgiven me: I will not glory because any man hath beene profitable to me, or I to any man, but because Christ is an Advocate with the Father for me, but because the blood of Christ was shed for me. But when we are taught to confesse, that when we were like wan­dring sheep, the Lord sought us: when we were lost, he did finde us: when we were sick, hee healed us: when we were stinking and filthy, he made us cleane: when we were captives, he delivered us: when wee were sold under sin, he redeemed us: when we were dead, he gave us life: when were unrighteous and prone to all evill, he made us righteous, and inclined our hearts to his service: when we were the Divels Stewes, he made us his own Temple: when we were damned, he saved us: If any say that such teachers set us upon the pinacle of pride, & leade us not into the Temple of humilitie; they must confesse that they never had a lively feeling of any saving grace of God in themselves, or that they have never learned what it is to give thankes unto God: for how shall I give thankes to God for those gifts, which through humi­litie, as they say, I must deny to have received?

If we should say, that the Sunne shineth at midday; though it be most true, Papists will not beleeve it, ex­cept we bring some old Father with us, to witnesse that it is so. Let them therefore heed the speech ofAugust. in Psal. 85.2. S. Augustin, who explaining this prayer of David in the beginning of the 85. Psalme, which in Hebrew and in our translation, is the 86. Preserve my soule, be­cause I am holy: after that hee hath shewen, that it is true in Christ, who forgiveth all sinnes, and never committed anie; asketh, Dare I also say, For I am holy? answereth thus: If holy as sanctifying, Peccatorū om­nium non com­missor, sed de­missor. and not having need of any to sanctifie me, I am a proud man and a lyer: But if holy, as being sanctified (i. made holy) according to that which is written, 1. Pet. 1. Be ye holy, for I am holy. Let [Page 16]also the body of Christ, ys a let the man that cryeth from the ends of the earth, say with his head and under his head, I am holy: for he hath received the grace of holinesse, the grace of baptisme, and of forgivenesse of sinne. And such were some of you, saith the Apostle, 1. Cor. 6. reckoning many fins, light and heavy, usuall and horrible: And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified. If then he say that they are sanctified, let every beleever say, I am ho­ly. This is not pride of one that is haughty, Non est ista su­perb [...], sed confessio non in­grat [...]. but a confessi­on of one that is not unthankefull: for if thou say that thou art holy of thy selfe; thou art proude: Againe, beleeving in Christ, and being a member of Christ, if thou say not that thou art holy, thou art unthankefull. For the Apostle re­proving pride, saith not, Thou hast not, but he saith, 1. Cor. 4. What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Thou wast not reproved, for saying that thou hadst that which thou hadst not, but because thou wouldest have of thy selfe that which thou hadst: yea acknowledge both that thou hadst, and that thou hast nothing of thy selfe, to the end that thou be neither proud nor unthankefull. Dic Deo tuoe Sanctus sum, quia sanctifi­eastime: quia accepi, non quia habu [...]: quia in dedist, non quia ego meru [...]. Say to thy God, I am holy, because thou hast sanctified me: because I have recei­ved it not, because I had it: because thou hast given it, not because I have deserved it. For on the other part, thou be­ginnest to offer an iniury to our Lord Iesus Christ himselfe: For if all Christians, and beleevers, and all that are bapti­zed in him have put him on, as the Apostle saith, Gal. 3. As many of you as have beene baptized into Christ, have put on Christ: if they be made members of his body, and say that they are not holy, they offer a wrong to the head it selfe, whose members are holy. Looke now where thou art, and take dignitie from thy head. For ye were sometimes darke­nesse, but now are ye light in the Lord, Ephes. 5. He saith, Yee were sometimes darknesse: but have ye remained darknesse? He that enlightneth, is he come, that yee should remaine darkenesse, or that ye should be light in him? Let therefore every Christian say, yea let the whole body of Christ say, Let [Page 17]him that suffereth tribulations, diverse tentations, and innume­rable scandals, cry and say, Preserve my soule, because I am holy.

IX. It is no matter what many men, which are not righteous, thinke and speake of themselves: every foole is a wise man in his owne eyes. Many beggers have kings hearts, and will bragge much of their antiquitie, and worthinesse of their kindred, and of the glory of their riches. At Athens there was a certaine man, calledAthenae. lib. 12. Thrasylaus, who (detained with a pleasant madnesse) deemed that all the ships which arrived there, were his; and in this same towne there is a foole, who thinketh verily that he is King of great Britanne: If a foole think that he is wise, shall a wise man call himselfe a foole? If a begger say that he is rich, shall a rich man say of him­selfe that he is poore? If a man, troubled in his hypo­chondres, imagineth that hee is King of this Island, shall the King mistake himselfe, and put in question whether he be King or no? If an hypocrite or a wicked man crack much of his owne righteousnesse, shall he whom God hath mercifully clothed with this wedding gar­ment, denie what he hath received, and say to his bene­factor who hath bought him, Thou art not my father?

X. We must not weigh such men in the deceiving weights of their owne imaginations, but take the true balances of Gods word, and weigh them therein. There you shal reade of them, that which was said to Belschat­sar King of Babylon:Dan. 5.27. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. There you shall finde them set out in very darke, smoakie, and hellish colours, both in their inside and outside.Psal 59. Their inward part is very wickednesse. There is no faithfulnesse in their mouth: their throat is an o­pen sepulchre, they flatter with their tongue: 2 Pet. 2.14. Their eyes are full of adultery: Ier. 5 8. They are as fed horses, when they rise in the morning; every one neigheth after his neighbours wife: Psal. 144.8. Their right hand is a right hand of falshood: Esa. 59.7, 8. Their feet runne to [Page 18]evill, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths: The way of peace they know not, and there is no iudgement in their goings. With all this, having in them­selvesDeut. 29.18, 19. a root bearing gall and wormewood, they adde drun­kennesse to thirst, hardnesse of heart & contempt of God, to sinne.Iob 21.14, 15. They say unto God, Depart from us: for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes: What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profite should we have, if wee pray unto him? The cause of all is,Psal. 36.1, 2, 3, 4. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, There is no feare of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himselfe in his owne eyes, when his iniquity is found to be hated. The words of his mouth are ini­quity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to doe good. He deviseth mischiefe upon his bed, he setteth himselfe in a way that is not good, he abhors not evill. For this cause, such men are calledPsal. 14.4. workers of iniquity; God judging of them, & qualifying them, not according to the ill which they do, but according to the ill which they are willing to do. For as righteous men doe not the good which they would doe, and do the evill which they would not do: so they contrariwise do often the good which they would not doe, and doe not all the evill which they would doe.

XI. For being servile and base minded, often tho­rough a slavish feare of punishment, they abstaine from evill, and now and then through a mercenary hope of reward, they doe some good; like unto the Scribes and Pharisees, whom Christ cursed with many woes for their manifold sinnes: and namely, becauseMatt. 23.25. they made cleane the outside of the cup, and of the platter, but within they were full of extortion and excesse. Such mens works, which have a goodly shew, what are they else, but, as one of the ancient Doctors of the Latin Church called them,Splendida peccata. Glorious and glistering sinnes? Therefore Christ said to his Disciples,Mat. 5.20. that except their righteousnesse should exceed [Page 19]the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees, they should in no case enter into the Kingdome of heaven. Neverthelesse, both hypocrites, who abstaine from ill-doing through feare, andMatt. 23.5. doe all their workes to be seene of men; having a 2. Tim. 3.5. shew of godlinesse, but denying the power thereof: and pro­fane men, who make no scruple of ill-doing, live in pro­speritie, andPsal. 10.3. boast of their hearts desire. But,

Many are the Evils of the Righteous.

XII. What is the Church of God, but the Congre­gation of righteous men? Wicked men are in the Church, but they are not of the Church: as Lice, Fleas, Wormes are in the body, and are ingendred of the cor­ruption thereof, but are no part of the body: therefore the Church is calledDeu. 33.5. IESURUN, that is, the Righteous, or the Vpright, when it is said of Moses, that he was a king in Iesurun. i. amongst the upright.Ier. 8.22. Is there no balme in Gilead? is there no Physician there? If there be none there, where shall ye seek them? If there be no righteous men in the Church, where shall ye finde them? It is true, that it may be often excepted against the Church, considered by great and in the multitude, thatDeut. 32.15. IESURUN, the upright waxed fat and kicked; that when he was growne big, fat, and thicke, he forsooke God which made him, and lightly e­steemed the Rocke of his salvation: Matt. 20.15. for many be called, but few be chosen. And these which are chosen, have their owne moles and blemishes: they areIsa. 48.8. all transgressours from the wombe. But if they be compared with other men, they are terrestriall Angels, and celestiall men, as Chrysostome called Paul: And we may say in that respect with the Prophet Habakkuk, thatHabak. 1.13. the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than hee.

Notwithstanding that, the congregation of righte­ous men, the Church of God, the deare spouse of our Lord Iesus Christ, is so vexed and turmoiled with evils, that her God & husband nameth her by them, as if they were her christned name; calling upon her, and saying. [Page 20] Esa. 54.11. Oh thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted: So that not only this or that righteous man, but the whole companie of the righteous, if they were to make choice of a Liverie, might take for their device the Gules or red colour; or, as wee use here in England, the red Crosse, which is the right badge whereby Christ will have his followers to be known, saying unto them, and of them,Matt. 16.24. If any man will come after me, let him deny himselfe, and take up his crosse, and follow me. And if they were to seeke a word to their device, amongst thousands which may be found, they shall finde none fitter, or at least truer than this, ‘Many are the afflictions of the Righteous.’

XIII. What then? were it not better to send a bill of divorce to righteousnesse, and bid it farewell, that wee may be eased of these many evils? for to the righteous the Lord hath said,Ioh. 16.20. Ye shall weepe and lament: but of the wicked he saith, The world shall reioyce. Is not rejoycing better than weeping? Is it not better to feast with He­rod, and to dance with Herodias daughter, than to fast, to lye in prison, and to lose the head for righteousnesse sake, with Iohn Baptist? The world doth so, because the world judgeth so.

But yee, welbeloved, know, both by your fathers and your owne experience, thatPsal. 58.11. verily there is fruit for the righteous: he hath his reward within himselfe, a ful plea­sure and delight in the peace of an upright conscience,Pro. 15.15. which is a continuall feast: hee liveth in this present World,Tit. 2.12. godly towards God; who is the most ex­cellent object that his minde can chuse, and most wor­thie to be loved, praised, and served in heart, words and deeds: Righteously towards his neighbour, who is his owne flesh, and to the purchasing of whose good he is bound by the bands of nature, and inward suggestion of his owne conscience: Soberly in his owne person, to whom he oweth a decent and respectuous care, that he [Page 21]never do anie thing misbecoming a man, unbeseeming a Christian, and unworthy of the ranke wherein God hath placed him. For whom shall he not neglect, if hee neglect his owne honestie? and whom shall he respect, if he respect not his owne honour? Living so, he hath1. Tim. 6.6. godlinesse with contentment, which is great gaine: forEsa. 32.17. the worke of righteousnesse, shall be peace; and the effect of righte­ousnesse, quietnesse and assurance for ever. ButEsa. 57.21. there is no peace to the wicked, saith my God.

And in the end of the world, when the Lord Iesus shall comeMat. 3.12. with his Fanne in his hand, and throughly purge his floore, then he will gather his Wheat into the Garner; but will burne up the chaffe with unquench­able fire.Matt. 25.32. &c. Then, in his most righteous judgement, he will sunder the good from the lewd, the upright from the froward, the righteous from the wicked. Then he shall set the righteous on his right hand, and the wicked on the left. Then, then, by the power of the unchange­able sentence of his most righteous mouth, all the wic­ked shall depart from him, into everlasting fire; and all the righteous shall goe into eternall life: The wicked to burne eternally with the Divell; the righteous to reigne for ever and ever with their Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. ThereforeHos. 10.12. sow to your selves in righteousnesse, and ye shall reape in mercy, contentment, peace, joy, eternall life, through the merites of our Lord Iesus Christ; to whom with the Father & the holy Ghost, be all power, honour and glory world without end. Amen.

SERMON II, Of the many evils of the Righteous man.

1. THe Righteous mans Evills are of two kinds: The evills which he doth, the evils which he suffereth. In the Schools we call themMalum culpae, malum poenae. the Evills of offence, and the Evills of punishment: Those are sinnes. These are the paine inflicted for sinne. One of the most righteous men that ever was, said of himselfe, and of all his fellowes,1. Ioh. 1.8. If we say that we have no sinne, wee deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us. Neyther was there e­ver any of the most holy and perfect, who was ashamed to begge of God, to cry to heaven for forgivenesse of his sinnes; and who did not esteeme thatAug. de Civit. Dei, lib. 19. cap. 26. Ipsa iustitia nostra, quā ­vis ve [...]a sit propter ve [...]i boni finem ad quam re­fectur, tamen tanta est in hac vitâ, ut potius pecca­torum remis. sione constet, quàm perfe­ctione virtu­tum. his righte­ousnesse consisted rather in the forgivenesse of his sins, than in the perfection of his vertues. For all the Saints which have beene before us, had; all the Saints which are in the world, have; and all those who shall come af­ter [Page 23]us, shall have in themselves the evill of sinne: what marvell then if all had, if all have,torum remis­sione constet, quàm perfe­ctione virtu­tum. if all shall have also the evill of paine? Where the cause is present & working, no wonder if the effect follow hard, & tread it on the heeles. The evill of sinne is in all, why then should not the evill of paine be in all?

2 Sinne is morally evill: Punishment is but naturally evill. Sinne is an offence to God: the punishment of sin is an hurt and griefe to man. What is man, but a worm? what is the sonne of man, but a little worm? what then are all the evils which all men suffer? what is death it selfe?Rom. 6.23. death, which is the wages of sinne; death, which is the last evill, wherein all the evills that are incident to man, doe meet and end? what is the damnation of all Angels, and all men, compared to the least offence gi­ven unto the infinite Majestie of Almighty God? Not so much as a drop of water, matched with the great and huge Ocean. Sinne is the destruction of the well-being of man, which consisteth in his union with God, through the conformitie of his will with the will of God. The punishment of his sinne is but the destruction of his being, consisting in the union of his body with his soule. He that heeded not his well-being, he that hath refused to re­maine united to his God by obedience and holinesse of life; deserved he not to lose his being, which he recei­ved for his well-being? Or to speak more popularly: He who was created to knowe and serve God; he whose felicitie consisted in the knowledge and service of God; he who scorned to be happy after that maner, merited he not, by all right and reason, to be deprived of his life, which he received for that end, and to be miserable and unhappy for ever? Let men speake as they will: to speak properly, the afflictions of this life, are evils in our fee­ling onely; but sinne against God, who is the soveraign good, is evill in it selfe, and the evill of evills, whether we feele it, or we feele it not. Who then shall be allowed [Page 24]to complaine, if the great evill which he hath commit­ted, be rewarded with the small evil which he suffereth?

3 Yet the righteous man hath fewer sinnes than o­ther men have, and (if ye will permit me so to speake) lesse sinfull. Sin reigneth in the men of the world: it is weakened and mortified in Gods children. Sinne in worldlings, floweth from the stinking puddle of their hardned and malicious heart: To do evill, they finde nothing too hote; nothing too cold.Psal. 10. [...] 3, 4, 5. The wicked bles­seth the covetous, because they are like himselfe; he puffeth at all his enemies. Through the pride of his countenance, hee will not seeke after God; for all his thoughts are, that There is no God: neither will he suffer to be admonished; as yee may learn by the examples of Ahaz, Ahab, Manasses, and of daily experience. The spring of sinne in a righteous man, is his infirmitie; and therefore it is no sooner set before his eyes, but he breaketh it off by repentance, as David and Peter did.

If then we compare men with men, & not with God, wicked mens sinnes are like untoMat. 7.3. beames; whereas the righteous mans sinns are but motes, and light faults. God registreth, in the book of his rigorous judgement, the sinnes of the wicked, and willPsal. 50.21. reprove them, and set them in order before their eyes: but hee hath made a covenant with the righteous,Ier. 31.34. that he will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sinne no more; and that for Iesus Christ his deare Sonnes sake,Eph. 1.7. in whom we have redempti­on, i. the forgivenesse of sinnes through his blood, according to the riches of his grace. And yet (a strange thing, and a mat­ter of much astonishment!) thePsal. 10.5. wayes of the wicked pro­sper alwayes, and Gods iudgements are farre above out of his sight: On the other side, ‘Many are the Evils of the Righteous.’

4 His evills, or (as they are called in the translation) his afflictions, are so many, that it is uneasie to number them all. They hold one another by the hand, and [Page 25]conspire together to swallow up the righteous: yet wee may reduce them to two heads: for they are eyther ex­ternall, in losse of honour, of goods, and of life; or inter­nall, in great heavinesse and anguish of minde.

The Divels first care is to darken with calumnies the reputation of the righteous man, and (as David spea­keth)Psal. 4.2. to turne his glory into shame; that they who shine in the glorious light of their owne conscience, being spotted and blemished by false reports, may be rendred odious to all men, and unprofitable for the setting for­ward of Christs kingdome in their callings.

The first accusation is against their Religion, as being the fittest to stirre up and kindle the hatred of a supersti­tious people against them, and to stop the course of the heavenly doctrine. This accusation is stuffed with ma­nie common places of antiquitie, of multitude, of glo­rie, of honours, of riches, of succession, of union of Kings, Princes, people, of their agreement and combi­nation to maintaine the old doctrine of the Fathers, a­gainst the new Sect of the little flocke, of a few poore snakes, of an handfull of forlorne fellowes, men of a vile condition, of no birth, of lesse gifts.1. Pet. 3.20. Noah was estee­med a madde fellow, because of his lowlinesse. The ci­tizens of Sodome rejectedGen. 19.9. Lots admonition, & threat­ned him, because he was a forreiner and so journer a­mongst them.Gen. 31.53. Laban swearing by the gods of Abraham, & the gods of Nacor, that is, by the gods of their father Thare, laid covertly in Abrahams, Isaacs, and Iacobs dish, the re­proach of apostasie and defection from the ancient, but too stale, religion of their forefathers: whereunto Iacob had no regard, but sware by the feare of his father Isaac, as­sured of the truth of his Religion; which could not be outworne, neyther by length of time, nor by inve­terate custome, which is nothing elseCyprian. ad Pompeiū, Epist. 74. Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas er­roris est. but oldnesse of er­ror. The maine point of Hamans accusation against the Iewes, was; thatEst. 3.9. their lawes were diverse from all people: [Page 26]neyther did they keepe the Kings lawes.

Iesus Christ, the eternall Sonne of the heavenly Fa­ther, when he came into the world to bear witnesse un­to the truth, appealed (without anie difficultie) unto the conscience of every man,Ioh 8.46 and defied his enemies to prove him faultie in anie thing; yet hee could not eschue the venemous poison of reviling tongues. The heads of accusations against his innocent and glorious person, were, thatMat. 21.23. he preached, and did all things with­out authority: that bothLuk. 6.2. his Disciples andIoh. 5.16 he, did that which is not lawfull to doe on the Sabbath day: thatMatt. 26.64, 65. he blasphemed, because he called himselfe the Sonne of God, andMat. 9.3. forgave sinnes:Iohn. 7.41 that being of Galilee, he affirmed that he was the Christ: thatIohn 7.48. none of the Ru­lers, or of the Pharisees beleeved on him. When he con­versed with sinners, to convert them, they said,Mat. 11.19. Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. When they could not refute his doctrine, they would cast in his teeth, thatIohn 7.52. he was of Galilee, Mar. 6.3. a Carpen­ter, andMatt. 27.63. a deceiver. When he delivered those who were possessed with Divels, ther said,Matt. 12.24 This fellow doth not cast out Divels, but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Divels. Ney­ther did he, or said he anie thing so well, but his adver­saries maligned it with ill constructions. When he spakeIoh. 2.19 of the destroying of the Temple of his bodie, and ray­sing of it up in three dayes,Matt. 26.61. they accused him to have spoken of the Temple of Ierusalem; and when he con­vinced them of their sinnes, they cryed, thatIoh. 8.48. he was a Samaritane, and had a Divell,

Christ foretold his Disciples, thatMat. 5.11 men should revile them, and say all maner of evill against them falsly for his sake: for, said he,Matt. 10.25. if they have called the Master of the house Beel­zebub, how much more shall they call them of his houshold? And it did fall out so: false witnesses accused Steven, Act 6.11, 13. to have spoken blasphemous words against the Law of Moses, a­gainst the holy place, and against God. It was laid to Pauls [Page 27]charge, that he wasAct. 24.5, 6. a pestilent fellow, a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazarens, who had gone about to profane the Temple; 2. Cor. 6.8. and was a deceiver.

As this holy religion did rid way, & encrease among the Gentiles; there is no kind of calumnie, which the Divell did not devise to make it hateful. Then the Chri­stians were upbraided with manie heynous and foule crimes: that they sacrificed toTertull. A­pologet. cap. 7.8. Euseb. h [...]st. Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 1. Ibid. lib. 9. cap. 5. Minu [...]ius Fe­lix in Octa­vio. Bacchus and Ceres, be­cause they celebrated the Lords Supper with Bread and Wine: that they killed little children, and in their con­gregations did cate their flesh, and drinke their blood, because in the Lords Supper mention was made of the spirituall eating of Christs body, and drinking of his blood: that in their assemblies, which (for feare of per­secution) they held in the night time, their dogges, tyed to the Candlesticks, were inticed (by some collops cast before them) to leape forward, that bounding they might beate downe the lights at the time prefixed, and so the darkenesse might cover and hide from their eyes the shame of their incests with their mothers, sisters, and others of their neerest kindred; & did manie mo things which they shunned to name, and, as may be deemed, came never in any mans minde to doe them since the beginning of the world. Besides all these calumnies, many other exceptions were taken against them; asTertull. cap. 10. &c. Euseb histor. Eccles lib. 8. cap. 18. Idem lib. 9. cap. 7. their apostasie and defection from the religion of their predecessors; their contempt of the gods, and of all honour given to them; the profession of an accursed vanitie, of a blinde error, of a most abominable and exe­crable religion, &c.

5 When God, in the bowels of this mercy, made the truth of his religion to spring up againe in Germanie, in France, in this Island; were not all these crimes im­puted to our forefathers, whose eyes were first opened to see and imbrace the glorious light thereof? And al­though time, the mother of truth, hath swept away the [Page 28]imputations of eating of Pigges after the maner of the Passeover, of the extinguishing of the Torches and Candles, of incestuous villanie, wherewith our ance­stors were injuriously blemished: yet Christs enemies forbeare not to spew out of the open sepulchre of their stinking throats, in our faces, the reproach of heresie, noveltie, factions against God, schisme against the Church, and such like mustie defamations of very old date; which wee wipe away with the same Sponge wherewithEuseb. hi­stor. Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 1. the first Christians did blot them out, saying and verifying by the holy Scriptures, That our Reli­gion is the same which God from the beginning did preach to Adam, which Abraham, Isaac, Iacob and their off-spring professed, which was foretold by the Pro­phets, published by the Apostles to all nations, beleeved in the world, and is come from them to us, who pos­sesse it as we have received it of them in the holy Scrip­ture: That all doctrines introduced in the time between are but errours, untruthes, jugglings, & novelties broa­ched by the Divell; which shall be cleerly verified, when our adversaries (leaving off their bloodie persecutions) shall be willing to take a patient tryall, whether of our Religions will abide the hammering of Gods word.

6 But the dimnesse of untruth, fearing (above all things) to come to the light of the Scriptures, hateth unto death all those which light the candle, and, putting it on the candlestick, [...]rie it before the eyes of men, to enlighten their darkenesse. And therefore as whoores, seeking the renowne of chastitie, are accustomed to ex­probrate to honest women the vices wherwith they are polluted themselves: so the Divels limbs publish a­broad against Gods servants, the crimes whereof they know themselves to be guiltie; as these of heresie, of blasphemie, of high treason against God, whereof I have alreadie spoken. whereunto they adde the crimination of rebellion against the higher powers, of sedition a­gainst [Page 29]the State, of contriving of plots against their na­tive soyle; that the Kings and Princes of the earth, thinking their States to be much interessed by the do­ctrine of godlinesse, may be moved to joine hands for the extirpation thereof. To that purpose Satan had never want of Doegs.

So Ahimelech the high Priest was accused to have conspired with David against Saul their King, because1. Sam. 21.10, 13. Ahimelech in his innocencie had given victuals and the sword of Goliah to David, and had enquired of the Lord for him. So Ahab imputed to the Prophet Eliah, that1. King. 18.17. he troubled Israel: so he confessed that1. King. 22.8. hee hated the Prophet Micaiah, because he did not prophesie good con­cerning him, but evill: So Amazia the Priest of Bethel, sent to Ieroboam king of Israel, saying,Amos 7.10, 13. Amos hath conspi­red against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to beare all his words; because Amos prophesied against the Idolatry of the ten tribes, and that in Bethel, which was the Kings Sanctuary, and the Kings Court: So Sanballat did write calumniously of Nehemiah, thatNehem. 6.6, 7. hee and the Iewes thought to rebell, that hee might be King; and that he had appointed Prophets to preach of him at Ierusa­lem, that he was King in Iudah: So the adversaries of Iu­dah and Benjamin, to hinder the building of Ierusalem, writ to Artaxerxes; Ezr. 4.12, 13, 15. Be it knowne unto thee, ô King, that if this rebellious and bad citie be builded, and the walls set up a­gaine, then will they not pay toll, tribute and custome: for this city is a rebellious citie, and hurtful unto Kings and Provinces, and they have moved sedition within the same of old time; for which cause was this City destroyed, &c. This was Hamans common place against the Iewes:Est. 3.8 They keepe not the Kings lawes, therefore it is not for the Kings profite to suffer them. BecauseIer. 37.17. Ieremiah warned the people of Ierusa­lem to yeeld to the King of Babylon, according to the oath of fidelitie which they had made unto him; hee was deemed to be a traytor, who had falne away to the [Page 30]Caldeans. Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not worship the golden Image which the King had set up, their enemies went presently to the King, and said,Dan. 3.12. O King, they have not regarded thee. So the Pre­sidents & Princes of Persia, finding no occasion against Daniel concerning his carriage in the Kings affaires, charged him with contempt of the King, saying,Dan. 6.13. Hee regardeth not thee, ô King, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

The Iewes, dreading that Pilate would not be much moved with all the accusations which they should set on foot against Christ, for matters of Religion shuffled the second table with the first; rebellion against Casar, with blasphemie against God, and said unto him,Luk. 23.2 Wee found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying, that he himselfe is Christ a king. And again:Ioh. 19.12. If thou let this man goe, thou art not Caesars friend: whosoever maketh himselfe a King, speaketh against Caesar. They held the same course against Christs Disciples, for seeking the meanes to wrap them in rebellion. The Ru­lersAct. 4.18. commanded them not to speake at all, nor teach in the Name of Iesus: whereunto refusing to obey, theyAct. 5.28, 40. were arraigned before the Councell, and condemned to bee beaten for their rebellion. The Iewes of Thessalonica set all the citie on an uprore against Paul and Silas, slan­dering them & all the Christians of the town, thatAct. 17.7. they all did contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Iesus. After that the tyrantTacit. An­nal. lib. 15. Nero had at diverse times set the towne of Rome on fire, to please his wicked humour withall, and purchased by such ex­ecrable acts the ill-will of the whole people, he shifted them off himselfe, and suborned false witnesses to lay them upon the Christians. At that time, and long after, theTertull A­pologet. c. 40. Cyprian ad Demot. Arnob. ad­vers. Gentes, lib. 1. Aug. de Civ. Dei. li. 2. c. 3. Christians were accused to be the cause of all pub­lick calamities, and popular incommodities. If at Rome the river Tibris, running over his bankes, overflowed [Page 31]the walls: If in Egypt the river Nilus did not rise to a just height, that overflowing the whole countrey, it might make it fertile: If the heavens were turned into brasse, and refused to distill their dew upon the drie and dustie ground: If the earth, hardned into iron, disap­pointed the painfull labours of the husbandman, and defrauded the sower of the expected crop: If the plague of famine, if warres, if anie epidemicall sickness went ransacking men and beasts; who were blamed but the Christians? Christians, said they, are the authors, Chri­stians are the causes of all our mischiefs.

7 This hath ever beene since the reformation, the heavie accusation against our fathers and us: that as we are blasphemers against God; so wee are rebellious a­gainst the high powers, unprofitable to our selves, of­fensive to our neighbours, enemies to all mankinde: So the Iesuites, and other Romish Clergie, perswaded the young King of France, who knew us not, that wee were plotting to set up a State within his State, a Demo­cracie within his Monarchie, and intended to cast off the yoake of subjects, that wee might become Reipub­licanes, subject to none but to our owne lusts and wills, like the Swissers. So when raine falls seldome upon the earth; when the earth is unpleasant with the sluttish­nesse of dust; when the meddowes, drawne dry with heate, make the owners to sigh, and the mowers to weepe; when the hayle finisheth the vintage before it begin; when the stormie whirlewindes plucke up the fruitfull trees by the rootes, and beate downe houses; when the ayre infected breatheth a mortal plague upon men and beasts; when the licentious souldier steps into his neighbours house, as if it were his owne; when go­ing out of it hee leaveth nothing behinde him but his owne filth and the cobwebs, & forgetteth nothing but to reckon with his Host, and bid him farewell: all ages, all orders upbraid the Huguenots, or, as they call us now [Page 32]in France, the Parpaillants, that is to say, Butter-flies, as authors of all, because we beleeve a new Law, and will not hold the good old Law of our fathers, who were as honest men, and had as much insight into matters of Religion, and more devotion than wee have. The old world was a good world; our fathers, who worshipped our Lady the Queene of heaven, and all the Angels and Saints which the Pope hath sent thither; our fathers, who were content to beleeve as the Church beleeved; our good fathers, who turned and whirled about so de­voutly their Paternosters, and mumbled them so religi­ously before the holy Images, which these new upstart fellowes call abominable Idols; had bread and drinke e­nough: but now, since prayers are made to God alone in a knowne tongue; since a few unlearned rascals and out-casts of the world, begin to prate most fondly of heavenly things; to flirt the holy Father on the nose, and call him the Antichrist; to beate downe Altars, to breake Images, as LEON the fourth Emperour of the Orient did, &c. we starve for hunger and thirst, and are diven to such miserie, that our state cannot bee worse. This was the Iewes answer to Ieremiah: Ier. 44.17, 18. Wee will burne incense unto the Queene of heaven, and poure out drinke offerings unto her as we have done, we and our fathers, our Kings and our Princes, in the cities of Iudah, and in the streets of Ierusalem. For then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evill: but since we left off to burne in­cense to the Queene of heaven, and to poure out drinke offe­rings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have beene con­sumed by the sword and by the famine.

8 Salomon saith,Prov. 25.18. that a man that beareth false witnesse against his neighbour, is a hammer, a sword, and a sharpe ar­row: he is a hammer to the hearer, who yeeldeth atten­tion unto his slandering; hee casteth him, with the blowes of his viperous tongue, into many dangerous symptomes and perplexitles of minde, as if he felled an [Page 33]Oxe: he is a sword to his owne soule, which he killeth with such artificiall lyes: he is a sharpe arrow to the in­nocent man whom he thus slandereth, shooting at his reputation a farre off, to breed him harme in one thing or other. forPsal. 27.12. false witnesses breathe out crueltie: Psal. 64.3, 4, 5. They whet their tongue like a sword, and shoot in stead of their ar­rowes, bitter words: that they may shoot in secret at the per­fect; suddenly do they shoot at him, and feare not. They encou­rage themselves in an evill matter: they commune of laying snares privily: they say, Who shall see them?

From hence arise most cruell persecutions. Then yee see nothing but kindling of fires, but sharpning of Swords, but smoothing of Pikes, but cleering of Parti­sans, but preparing of Muskets, but ravenous Harpies flying into the houses, and fowling the righteous mans goods: Then ye heare nothing but edicts of proscrip­tion, but Spoyle, spoyle; Ransack, ransack; Kill, kill, with all kinde of reproaches, curses, and execrations: Then wheresoever ye shall turne your face, ye shal meet with nothing but with faces inflamed with threatnings and slaughter, asAct. 9.1, 2. Sauls was, when he went to Damascus to bind the Disciples of the Lord: ye shal mark nothing but woodnesse, but outragiousnesse, but a wofull & sor­rowfull face of all things, but hell opened, the Divels unchained, and all their fiery malice displayed against the righteous; but ravishing of goods, defiling of ma­ried women, deflowring of Virgins; banishing, mur­thering, exquisite punishments, grievous tortures, new kindes of death, and, which is most insupportable to an honest heart, scoffing, upbraiding, despitefull rayling; or, if you will have the roll which the Apostle hath made of the righteous mans evills,Rom. 8.35. tribulation, distresse, persecution, famine, nakednesse, perill, sword, without excepti­on of sex, without pitie towards little children and sucklings, without any reverence to the gray haire and old age.

The Apostle, speaking of the godly and righteous men which lived under the tyrannie of the Idolatrous Kings of Iuda and Israel, and under the Kings of Syria and of Egypt; saith, thatHeb 11.36, 37, 38. they had tryall of cruell mockings and scourgings, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawen asunder, were tempted, were slaine with the sword: they wandred about in sheepes skinnes and goat skinnes, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Of whom the world was not worthy: they wandred in deserts, and in moun­taines, and in dens, and caves of the earth. What is deare to the righteous man in this world? His goods. What more deare than his goods? His life. What dearer to him, what much more esteemed of him than his goods, his life, and all the world? Gods glory, and his owne reputation. Marke in this catalogue of evils, the righteous man be­reft of all these things.

9 The first unexpected message that the bringers of ill news reported to Iob, was of the losse of all his goods: the second, of the unlooked-for and violent death of all his children. And, as if all that had beene but sport and play,Iob 2.7. the divel smote him with so many sore biles, that from the sole of his foot, even unto the crowne of his head, there was nothing found in him but the skin of his teeth.Iob 19.12. &c. His byles were so loathsome to the eyes, so stinking to smell, that his breath became strange to his wife; his servants, and those that dwelled in his house, counted him for a stranger, and when hee called them, gave him no answer: his acquaintance were estranged from him, his familiar friends forgot him; the men to whom hee committed his secrets, abhorred him; the young children despised and spake against him; his fa­miliar friends, which came to comfort him, gaped upon him with their mouth, and, adding affliction to the af­flicted, vexed his soule with reviling words; calling him an oppressor of the poore, a wicked man, an hypocrite, and disputed eagerly against him, that the hypocrites [Page 35]and wicked men are the meere and onely object of af­flictions: yea, his owne wife scorned his godlinesse and uprightnesse, and mocking him with ironicall and pinching words,Iob 2.9. Doest thou still, said shee, retaine thine integrity? Blesse God, and die. Besides that,Iob 7.13. when hee thought that his bed should comfort him, and his couch should ease his complaint, then hee was scared with dreames, and terrified through visions; so that he consumed like rotten wood, and as a garment that is moath-eaten. It seemes that God had made him an ex­ample and patterne of the manie evills wherewith the righteous are compassed and besieged on all sides.

10 If ye reade the storie of Davids life, ye shall judge that his owne sensible experience of the many evills, which lay heads and hands together to overthrow the righteous man, whereof hee speaketh in this Psalme; made him to cry with griefe in another Psalme:Ps. 42.7. Deep calleth unto deepe at the noyse of thy water spouts: all thy waves and thy billowes are gone over me. Consider2. Sam. 23.12. him, consider1. Kin. 19.4, 9. Elijah the Prophet, consider the1. Mac. 1.28, 29. Maccabees, and all those worthy Confessors and Martyrs, whom the blessed Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes re­commendeth, to the blessed and perpetuall memory of the Church: behold them destitute of meat to fill their bellies, and of honest clothing to goe abroad; eye them shrowding their nakednesse basely and poorely under sheepe and goat-skinnes; view them, now flying to the deserts and high mountaines, now hiding themselves in dens and caves of the earth, to save their lives. Re­member1. Kin. 18.13. the hundred Prophets, which Obadiah hid by fifties in two caves, feeding them with bread and wa­ter. The Saints were thus put unto the pinch, when their enemies and persecuters were full-gorging them­selves with their goods.

11 Behold the whips and scourges wherewithExod. 5.13. Pha­raohs mercilesse taske masters teared and rent the flesh [Page 36]from the bones of Gods people. Were not1. Kin. 22.27. Micaiah andIer. 20.2. Ier. 37.15, 16. Ieremiah, the Prophets of the Lord, cast into a strait prison, and there fed with bread and water of affli­ction, to starve?1. King. 21.13. Naboth, was he not killed with stones for his Vineyard? Was not that the hyre wherewith2. Chro. 24.22. Ioash the Apostat payed Zachariah son of Iehoiada the high Priest, for his conservation and education, and re­quited the kindnesse which Iehoiada had done to him?Origen. in Matth. cap. 23. Isaiah was cut thorow the middle with a Saw by Ma­nasses. Iesus Christ charged the Iewes and Ierusalem, withMatt. 23.34, 37. scourging, killing, crucifying, stoning, persecuting of the Prophets, wise men, and Scribes, wichwere sent unto them. How manie hellish and horrible torments found out the Ty­rant Antiochus Epiphanes against the Iewes, who would not leave the Law of the Lord their God? Yee know2. Macc. 7. the story of the seven brethren, and of their godly mo­ther, whom hee commanded first to be maimed, then the skin to be pulled off their head with the haire, and finally to be brought to the fire, and fryed in a hote Caldron.

12 Salomon saith truely, thatEccles. 7.1. a good name is better than precious oyntment: Neyther is there anie honest-hearted man, but he findeth comfort in his povertie, in his base­nesse, in all his most sharpe and pricking afflictions, in death it selfe; so that his reputation be kept spotlesse, and that in his calamitie hee may shun to be made a mocking-stock. For ye shall finde few men or women who desire to out-live their own dishonour and shame: and there is no righteous man, who can abide the dis­gracing injuries wherewith God is pierced, thorow his side. Neverthelesse discredit, infamie, shame is also the righteous mans share. No affliction did nipIob 16.10. Iob 17 6. Iob 19 18. Iob 2.9. Iob so sensibly, as when he saw himselfe to be made a laughing stock to young children, a by-word of the people, a Tabret before all men, a Butt of reproaches to his best friends, and to his owne wife.Iudg. 16.21, 25. Sampson suffered pati­ently [Page 37]the pulling out of his eyes, the binding of his armes and feet with fetters of brasse, and the vile and toylsome grinding in the prison-house: But when the Lords of the Philistins sent for him, that he might make them sport, and when he heard them thanking Dagon their fishie god for the affliction wherwith his God, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land, had visited him; he forgate patience, and cryed to heaven for vengeance. David complained of his ene­mies, becausePsal. 35.21. they opened their mouth wide against him, and said, Aha, Aha, Our eye hath seene him, &c: ButPsal. 42.10. it was a sword in his bones, whilst they said daily unto him, Where is thy God? Then he cryes to his God:Psal. 69.9. The reproaches of them that reproached thee, are fallen upon me. The Prophet Eli­sha cursed, in the name of the Lord, the little children who mocked him, crying,2. Kin. 2.23, 24. Goe up thou bald head, goe up thou bald head; and called for the Beares of the wood to teare them.Lament. 1.7, 8. Ierusalem sighed when all that honoured her in her prosperitie, despised her in her adversitie, because they had seene her nakednesse, and did mocke at her Sabbaths: Then Ierusalem, then the Church complained,Psal. 79.1, 2, 3, 4, 5. O God, the Heathen are come into thine inheritances thy holy Temple have they defiled: they have layd Ierusalem on heapes. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meate unto the fowles of the heaven: the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round a­bout Ierusalem; and there was none to bury them. We are be­come a reproach to our neighbours, a scorne and derision to them that are round about us. Then they all cryed, How long, LORD! wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy iealousie burn like fire? But that which lay heaviest upon their hearts, was,Psal. 74.4, 5, 6, 7, 10. to heare Gods enemies roring in the midst of his con­gregations; to see them set up their Ensignes for signes, their armes lifting up axes upon the interlaced timber of the San­ctuary, breaking downe with axes and hammers the carved worke thereof, and burning it into ashes, with all the Synagogues [Page 38]of God in the land. Then they could not chuse but mourn and cry, O God, how long shall the adversarie reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy Name for ever?

13 All the righteous men of the Christian Church, have in all times beene tryed with these three kinds of tentations. The Lord Iesus, our Master and head,Matt. 8.20. had not where to lay his head. Neither would his persecutersIoh. 19.23. suffer him to dye in the garments which he had, but stript him of them, leaving him nothing to hide his na­kednesse. The blessed Apostles, the Rams and ring-lea­ders of Christs flock,Act. 3.6. had neyther gold nor silver, but did1. Cor. 4.11, 12. hunger and thirst, and were naked, and had no certaine dwel­ling place, and laboured, working with their owne hands. In the primitive Church, whosoever had goods, were made a prey to Christs enemies; and the Apostle beareth them witnesse, thatHeb. 10.34. they tooke ioyfully the spoyling of their goods. Many of you to whom I speake, have heard your fa­thers relate, how many quarrels were maliciously pickt against them, to begger them, and undoe their estates; and how (leaving all in Babylon, as Lot did in Sodom) to escape the burning thereof, and save their soules, they came to this blessed refuge and Sanctuary of Gods peo­ple in their shirts, as Iacob passed the river Iordan, and came to Laban, having no other provisions and helps for his journey and peregrination, but his staffe alone. In these last troubles of France, I (who now speake to you) have seene townes, which before were girded with Walls, fortified with Bulwarkes, flanked with Turrets, sowen with the seed of true Christians; defaced, level­led to the ground, turned into ashes: and now there is nothing to be seene where they stood, but dens of Foynes and Foxes, but heapes of unprofitable stones, but thickets of thistles, nettles, and bryers. I have seene many great & honest families broght, by the barbarous & rude souldier, to cleanenes of teeth, & constrained to begge, when these Horse-leeches were feeding upon [Page 39]their spoyles. To how manie have yee, even ye your selves, inlarged your mercifull and charitable bowels; who were accustomed to be bountifull unto others, and who come to you to be the glorious object of the for­wardnesse and overflowing grace of your cheerfull and liberall charity, after that they were compelled, likeMark. 14 51, 52. the young man in the Gospel, to leave, in the hands of the robbers, the sheet w^ch others (lesse cruell) had left them to cover their nakednesse, and to flie from them naked; thinking themselves happie to be like untoIer. 39.18 Ebed-melech andIer. 45.5. Baruch, after thē destruction of Ierusalem by the Ba­bylonians, and to have their life for a prey!

14 But that also is not granted to all: for the blood-thirstie crueltie of the wicked cannot be quenched, but with the blood of the righteous. The Lord Iesus, the author and finisher of our Faith, the Shepheard and Bi­shop of our soules; after thatHeb. 12.2. he had endured the con­tradiction of sinners against himselfe, was at the last set to sale by one of his owne Disciples, betrayed with a kisse, delivered unto the insolencie of the souldiers, tyed hard with cordes, beaten spitefully, crowned with thornes, scourged most cruelly, & brought forth to the Iews, dis­figured with streames of blood, flowing from the most parts of his wounded bodie: an ugly spectacle to make Rocks to cleave, Tygres to weepe, and the Divels them­selves to quake and start backe with sorrow. But all that cannot satisfie these more than stony-hearted and hellish Cannibals: forthwith they cry,Ioh. 19.15. Away with him, away with him, crucifie him. His death they thirst after; neither can anie thing slake their thirst, but the blood of his death.

His Disciples fared not better than hee;Act. 7.59 Steven the first Martyr was stoned for his sake: What welcome his Apostles got of those to whom they preached the good tydings of peace, yee may judge by the relation which the Apostle makes of the Feasts wherewith hee [Page 40]was intertained at his first comming to them:2. Cor. 11.24, 25, 26, 27. Of the Iewes, saith he, five times received I forty stripes, save one: thrice was I beaten with roddes: once was I stoned: thrice I suffered shipwracke: a night and a day I have beene in the deepe. In iournying often, in perills of waters, in perills of rob­bers, in perills by mine owne countrey men, in perills by the hea­then, in perills in the city, in perills in the wildernesse, in perills in the sea, in perills among false brethren. In wearinesse and painfulnesse, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakednesse. Behold, I pray you, in this one Apostle a three-fold universalitie, of the evils which he suffered, of the places where he suffered, of the persons of whom he suffered: he suffered hunger, thirst, nakednes, cold, imprisonment, scourges, and whips, stoning, ship­wrack. No place was a place of refuge to him against so many evils: he suffred by sea, by land, in the citie, in the wildernesse: Lo, wheresoever he came to preach, there he found a crosse to take up, and to be laid upon his shoulders. All kind of persons had a quarrell to him: the Gentiles, and the Iewes of his owne nation, known enemies, and false brethren. They conspired all, they concurred all to bereave him of his life, and prevailed: for after that hee had passed thorow the burning For­nace of all other evils, he was beheaded at Rome by the commandment of the Emperour Nero. When one Apo­stle, one member of Christs Church, was so hardly u­sed, thinke ye that the rest, who sailed with him in the same ship, did sleepe upon a calme and quiet sea, with­out wagging, and danger of shipwrack?

Act. 12.2. Herod killed Iames the brother of Iohn with the sword.Rev. 10. Iohn was relegated into the Isle of Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Iesus Christ;Act. 5.40, 41. after that he, and the rest of the Apostles, had been beaten, & had suffered shame for Christs Name at Ierusalem.Ioh. 21.18, 19. The Lord foretold Peter, that he should glorifie him by a vio­lent death, but where we know not; for the probabilities [Page 41]be many that he was never at Rome. The Ecclesiastical Stories tell us, thatDorotkgus in Synopsi. Cyprian de duplici Mar­tyrio. Sabellicus, Aeneid. 7. lib. 2. &c. Andrew his brother was crucified at Patros: Bartholomew was flayed quick in a town of Armenia, called Albana: Philip was tyed to a poste, and stoned to death at Hierapolis: Thomas was put to death by the Indians, to whom he preached the Gospel. Mat­thew was nailed quicke to the ground at Myrmena: Iames, the sonne of Alpheus, was cast headlong from the pinacle of the temple of Ierusalem, and felled with stones and clubs: Iude Lebbeus, called also Thaddeus, laid downe his life for the Gospel at Beryta, after that hee had prea­ched Christ to the Edesseniens, and all Mesopotamia: Simon the Cannite suffered martyrdome in Mauritania: Matthias was executed amongst the Aethiopians: Mark the Evangelist was trailed thorow the streetes of Alex­andria in Egypt, with a halter about his neck, and after­wards burnt quicke: Luke was hanged upon an Olive tree. All the Apostles, all the Evangelists, sealed the do­ctrine of the Gospel with their innocent blood.

15 The cruell tyrant Nero sowed the Christians in Wolves, in Beares, and other wilde beasts skins, and, un­coupling his Hounds and Mastiffes after them, made the tearing and dismembring of innocent and godly men, a game for the people to behold. Others he tooke, and heaping them one upon another (as so manie Fa­gots) set them on fire, that they might serve for fire to warme, and for light to shine by night to those which walked thorow the streets of Rome.Ters. A­pologet. cap. 5. Sed tali dedicatore damnationis nostrae etiam gloriamur, &c. Wee glory, saith Tertullian, in this setter forth of our condemnation: for who­soever knoweth him, may iudge, that nothing could be condem­ned by Nero, but that which is a very good thing. I should be too prolixe and tedious, if I should name particular­ly all the circumstances of ten heavie persecutions, which lasted 318. yeares, from the eighth yeare of that lumpe of clay soked in blood, called Nero, unto Con­stantine the Great; under Nero, Domitian, Traian, Antoninus [Page 42]Verus, Severus, Maximinus, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, Di­oclesian, in whose time so much blood was shed in one day, that the executioners were wearie and faint with killing; asEuseb hist. Eccles. lib. 8. cap. 9. Eusebius, who was an eye witnesse of these dolefull spectacles, reporteth. Then the persecution was so eager, that in one moneth it consumed seven­teene thousand Christians: whereby yee may judge, what havock and murther was made of them in tenne yeares together that it lasted, being fostered by the di­visions which were in the Church, and secret treache­ries of false brethren; whereof Dioclesian the tyrant took occasion to undoe our Religion, and had utterly over­throwne it, if God had not opposed, to his wicked sleights and raging furie, the sword of Constantine the Great, first redresser of the Church, and defender of the true faith.Socrat. hist. Eccles. lib. 2. cap. 10.11.13. Iulian the Apostate depriving the Christi­ans of all dignities, promotions and honours, forbid­ding by severe edicts their children to be taught in hu­mane letters, and received into the publike Schooles, impoverishing them with great fines and exactions of money above their power; did more harme to the Church in one yeare, than Dioclesian did in tenne by his bloodie persecutions, though his one yeares Em­pire was not innocent of Christian blood. Who can expresse, how manie Christians were put to death, by the Emperours who were infected with the most abo­minable heresie of Arius? I overpasse imprisonments, relegations, banishments; which were called favours, courtesies, and workes of mercie, by the tyrants: forPro. 12.10. the tender mercies of the wicked are cruell. I omit the drowning, the hanging, the mangling the rosting, the broyling on Gridirons, the scorching, the burning with fire those who all the night were frozen with cold, and a thou­sand moe cruell tortures, whereby the Emperours and their people bent their minds, to smother the Christian Religion, as Herod sought to kill Christ in the cradle.

16. In vaine goe we to seeke in antiquity, examples of monstrous cruelties against the true Christians, when the last age wherein our fathers and restorers of the true Christian Religion lived, affordeth to us an huge number which cannot be numbred: If yee have read the storie of the Albigenses, ye shall finde there, how some of them were not burnt, but rosted faire and softly, that they might feele their death; some were burned quicke, some tormented after a strange manner by beetles and such like wormes, which, laide upon their navills, and covered with a dish, gnawed their bellies, and boaring them through even into their intralls, caused to these poore creatures a langui­shing, but a most sensible and dolorous death. All the faithfull of Merindoll were murthered upon an arrest or decree of the Parliament of Aix in Province: Fortie five of their wives, which were great with child, were shut up in a barne, and burnt there: thirty others were torne in pieces by the first Presidents commandement, and the little children, as they were thrust out of their wombes, trampled, and made to breathe in their first, before they had leasure to breathe in their first ayre. Florent Venot, after that he was a great while racked in an engine sharpe-topped at the lower end, which they called Chausse d' Hypocras, was made an unchristian shew in the middest of a bone-fire to the Christian King at his first entrie into the Capitall towne of his realme: Nicolaus Nail was first basted with hot scalding oyle and lead, and afterwards burnt quicke: The Tennis-Court-keeper of Avignon, was kept in a cage hanging in the great street; by night at the cold ayre, by day at the burning heate of the sunne, and so vexed a long time, either singing Psalmes to God more harmoni­ously than the Nightingale, or reprooving the supersti­tions and idolatries of the people which gazed upon him: In the booke of Martyrs, ye may read how Iohn [Page 44]Hooper. Doctor in Divinitie, was burnt at three times: how Thomas Noris and a Priest with him, was led bare­footed upon briars and thornes from the prison unto the place appointed for their execution, that in them might be fulfilled the Prophesie of Hosea, Hos. 2.6. Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thornes: how sundry were stiffe and frozen with extreame cold in the night, and the next day after sent to the fire: how the Arch-bishop of Canterbury did with-hold all kind of meat and drink from his prisoners, while they starved and dyed of hun­ger.

If I should relate unto you the Tragicall Massacres of France, in the yeare of Christ 1572. the slaughtering of an hundred thousand men and women like beasts, the rocking of little babes a-sleepe with present death, the stilling and pacifying of them with mercilesse destructi­on, the incestuous defyling of chaste Virgins, the de­spightfull using of grave Matrons, the pittilesse regar­ding of old age, the welcoming of infants as they came out of their murthered mothers wombs, with sword and fire, the pulling of others from the milke of their mothers breasts, to sucke them with their owne blood. If I should set out in true colours the principall townes of that great kingdome, as they were then; what should ye heare but blaspheming, but roaring, in the one part; but weeping, but lamenting, but crying to heaven for mercy and helpe, on the other? What should'ye see but fire, swords, murder, blood-shed, dead carcases, but roaring lyons, but firie dragons, but rayenous wolves, but2. Kin. 8. v. 12. Hazael and his Courtiers, killing, slaying murthe­ring young and old, dashing little children, ripping up women with child; but great rivers stained and sur­rounded with innocent blood?

If I should but draw unto you the first lines of the calamities of the Palatinate, and of the late desolation of the Churches of France; if I should speake unto you [Page 45]of honest women, first misused in that which is their most precious jewell, and then murdered, or blowne up in the ayre, with gun-powder thrust and stop­ped in their wombes; of young Virgins disguised in mens apparell, with doublet, breeches, the Lackeys cap upon their close shaven heads, the dagger upon their loynes, and constrained to follow the armies, neither daring, neither knowing to whom to make their mone; of sucklings, pulled violently from their mothers breasts, and murdered before the faces of their doubly-desolate parents; of some of them throwne in the aire, and received upon the points of pykes for a sport; of others, upon a wager who should cast them farthest off, flung into the waters, when the poore innocents were laughing upon their murderers, and playing with their beards; of many moe sold to these couseners, which we are accustomed to call Egyptians, at eighteene pence a peece; of men and women inthralled to the Mahume­tans for a little summe of money: as it is written,Psal. 44. v. 12. Thou sellest thy people for nought, and doest not increase thy wealth by their price: In a word, if I should but report what things I have heard, read, or seene, your minds would quake, your hearts would start backe with sorrow; nei­ther should ye finde teares enow to bewaile, nor I words sufficient to display and unfold unto you the crushing and bruising of Ioseph.

17. Therefore let us lay over it the vaile of si­lence, and make here a pause, ending this action with hearty prayers to God for the peace and prosperitie of Ierusalem: O Lord our God, thou hast fed us with ashes for bread: thou hast given us teares to drinke in great measure. Thou hast beene angry against our prayers: we have cryed unto thee, and thou hast not listened unto our supplications: But now, O Lord; but now turne thine eare unto us, and turne our hearts unto thee: Cause thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be [Page 46]saved through the merits of our onely Saviour Iesus Christ: to whom with thee and the holy Ghost bee all honour and glory both now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON III. Of the righteous mans Evills.

I. THat which is most grievous to the righ­teous man, in all the evills whereof I have spoken, is the upbraiding, disgrace, and shame wherewith hee is exercised. For whereas all criminalls finde pitty and commisera­tion in those that behold them, who either accompa­ny [Page 47]their death with teares, or behold it with silence: The faithfull and the righteous man can neither live nor die, but he shall be followed with opprobrious hues and cryes.Gen. 21. v. 9. Ismael mocked Isaac, that is, according to Pauls exposition,Gal 4. v. 29. persecuted him. When the Apostle faith, thatHeb. 11. v. 26. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; he giveth us to under­stand, that the Church hath beene from the beginning subject to contempt, defamations, taunts, and disho­nour for Christs sake: It was of Christ that Isaiah pro­phesied,Isa. 8. v. 18 Heb. 2. v. 13 Behold I, and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signes and for wonders in Israel: of him first, and then of his children.

He was upbraided in his life time with the nicke­names of a seducer, a drunkard, a glutton, a sorcerer, and of Beelzebub the Prince of the divells; but he was most outragously mocked in his death. InLuk. 22. v. 64. Caiphas house they blindfolded him, they strooke him on the face, they asked him, saying; Prophecye, Who is it that smote thee? InLuk. 23. v. 11. Herods Court he was set at naught, mocked, and arrayed in a white gorgeous robe, as a foole. In28, 29, 30. Pilats common hall, the souldiers stripped him,Mat. 27. to put on him a skarlet robe; and when they had platted a crowne of thornes, they put it upon his head, with a reede in his right hand: then they bowed the knee be­fore him, and mocked him, crying, Haile King of the Iewes; then they spat upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. In Golgotha. where hee was crucified betweene two theeves, as if he had beene a ma­lefactor, they that passed by, reviled him, and wagged their heads, saying,v. 39.40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47. Thou that destroyest the Temple, and buildest it in three dayes, save thy selfe: If thou be the Sonne of God, come downe from the crosse: likewise the chiefe Priests, the Scribes, and Elders, mocking him, said, y He saved others, himselfe he cannot save: If he be the King of Israel, let him now come downe from the crosse, and we will [Page 48]beleeve him: He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him. The theeves also which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Last of all, some of them perverted his words, saying, that he called for Elias, when he prayed, Eli, Eli, My God, my God, &c. Then was fulfilled that which he spake by David, say­ing,Psal. 21. v. 6, 7, 8. I am a worme, and no man; a reproach of men, and de­spised of the people: All they that see me, laugh me to scorn: they shoote out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

II. His children, his holy Apostles received no bet­ter entertainement of the men of the world: for what were they but1 Cor. 4. v. 9, 13. a spectacle unto the world, to Angels, and to men? Complaine they not, that they were made as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things; walking2. Cor. 6. v. 8, 9. by honour, and dishonour, by evill report, and good report; as de­ceivers, and yet true; as unknowne, and yet well knowne? The Apostles disciples, fared they better? No, no. The A­postle writeth of the Hebrews, thatHeb. 10. v. 33. they were made a gazing stocke by reproaches and afflictions; which I take literally: for we know, that the custome was to draw Christians to the threatres and publike play-houses; to carry them ridiculously disguised from scaffold to scaf­fold for a shew; to set them on pillories to disgrace them, and then to cast them naked to the Lyons to be dismembred and devoured in the eyes of the people: which delighting insuch spectacles, were accustomed to cry,Tertul. Apologet. cap. 40. Christianos ad Leonem: The Christians to the Lyon. Tantos ad unum? So many to one? saith Tertullian. Ioid. cap. ultima. Ad Lenonē dam­nando Chri­stianam, po­tius quam ad Leonem, &c. Ambe. tom. 3. serm 90. Euseb. hi [...]t. Ec [...]l. lib. 8. cap. 11. And because the Governours and Magistrates perceived that to Christian women, the defiling of their chastitie was more horrible and grievous than all kinds of torments, and most exquisite deaths; they condemned them ra­ther to serve bawdes in stewes, than to be torne by Lyons: which many of them prevented by killing of [Page 49]themselves:Ibid. c. 9. Others they stript,Aug. de civ. Dei. l. 1. c. 26. and tying them by one foot, hoised them up in the ayre, their heads downe­ward; and letting them hang so while they died, made of their naked bodies a most filthie and cruell specta­cle to all those that passed by:Ibid. c. 12. Of some men they would pull out the right eye, and put out of joint the left leg, and let them live, that they might be both ridiculous and miserable.

III. The Inquisitors of Spaine, send to the fire the reformed Christians arrayed in a yellow garment, cal­led the Sambenit, which is all set and covered over with crosses and black Divells, and mishapen after a fashion so ridiculous and monstrous to be seene, that some of the beholders cannot hold from laughter; some are scared, and flye away, beleeving the poore men to be so manie Divels come out of hell: none is touched with commiseration towards them. How often have the Papists welcomed their Kings with the honour, or ra­ther horror of such pageants, at their first entrance into their townes? as it is written of the Idolatrous people of Samaria,Hos. 7.3 They make the King glad with their wickednes, and the Princes with their lyes. Shall a Minister goe tho­row the streets in Popish townes, in the deepest peace, and not be hooted and hurried with most intolerable contumelies, although they be arrayed like the rest of the people? Can anie buriall be convoyed there with­out such showting and out-crying? How often have these most inhumane and cruell Tygres, denied the ho­nour of buriall to our brethren; accomplishing that which is written of them inRev. 11.8, 9, 10. the Revelation, by not suf­fering their dead bodies to be put in graves? How often have they unburied them, and made the Church to cry to God with sighes and sobs,

When as these carrion-eater-harpies were reioycing over them, and making merry, and sending gifts one to another; as questionlesse the chiefe Priests, the Scribes, the Phari­sees, the Elders of the Iewes, and the whole people did, after they had crucified and reviled most shamefully the Lord of glory, the Saviour of the Church, the Immanuel our Lord Iesus Christ. What Psalmes, thinke yee, are now sung in the Palatinate, and in the Churches of France? Surely the fortie foure, the seventie foure, the seventie nine, the foure-score, and others; where, a­mongst manie moe complaints, they poure forth of a sad and broken heart, with trembling words and many teares, into Gods bosome, this heavie, but too true moane;

So is verified not onely that which Salomon saith, thatEccl 8.14. there be inst men, unto whom it happeneth according to the worke of the wicked; but also that which David saith in my text, ‘Many are the Evills of the righteous.’

IV. For as the divell tempted Christ eft-soones, and gave him no respit, stirring up against him all kind of e­nemies, untill he nayled him upon the crosse; even so, he letteth never Christs members alone, but bringeth evils upon them, one on the necke of another, and ever con­triveth against them some new mischiefe, watching heedfully now to harme them, when they looke for [Page 51]some slackening. Thence is this pittifull lamenta­tion of the Church,Psal. 129.3. The Plowers plowed upon my backe: they made long their furrowes: Psal. 44.22. For thy sake we are killed all the day long. Thence is this wailefull plaint of every righteous man,Psal. 7.14 All the day long I have beene beaten, and my chastisement returned every day: So that not onely in diversitie, and hugenesse, but also in continu­ance, from the first day of the righteous mans spirituall birth, unto the last gaspe of his mortall life, ‘Many are the Evills of the righteous.’

V. They must be many; for many lay their heads to­gether to devise them: which, as it is said by the Pro­phet Micah, Mi [...]h. 2.2. forge iniquitiein their beds: and when the morning is light, they practise it; because they have power to doe it in their hands. The Spirit which inspires them, is the divell, the spoyler of all good, architect and ma­ster of all evill; who1 Pet. 5.8. as a roaring Lyon walketh about, see­king whom he may devoure. He breathes into the unrigh­teous mens hearts all kinds of devices and trickes a­gainst the righteous man. Thence it is, thatPsal. 37.12, 14, 32. the wicked plotteth against the iust, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth: The wicked have drawne out the sword, and have bent their bow to cast downe the poore and needy, and to slay such as be upright in their way: The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. Thence it is, thatPsal. 2.1, 2, 3. the heathen rage, the people imagine vaine things, the Kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers take counsell together against the Lord, and against his annoynted: saying, Let us breake their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us: Psal. 1.2 For loe, the wic­ked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon their string, that they may priuily shoot at the upright in heart. Da­vid was but one man: and he complaineth, thatPsal.119 157. his per­secuters and enemies were many: yea so many, that he was amazed at it, and cryed to God with astonishment,Psal. 3.1. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Of what nation were they? [Page 52] Psal. 118 10. All nations, saith he, compassed me about.

Had David alone so many enemies? It is no won­der then, if the Church wherein there are many Davids, maketh her prayer with this heauy complaint to God,Psal. 83.1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Keepe not thou silence, O God, hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God: for loe, thine enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee, have lift up their heads: They have taken crafty counsell against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones: They haue said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remem­brance: for they consulted together with one consent, they are confederate against thee. What men are these which dare attempt matters so high and impossible?v. 6, 7, 8. The Taber­nacles of Edom, of the Ishmaelites, of Moab, of the Haga­rens: Gebal and Ammon, and Amaleck: The Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre: Assur also is ioyned with them: they have holpen the children of Lot: All alike enemies to Gods people; and yet some of them the Idumeans, Ishmaelites, Moabites, Ammonits, kinsmen to Gods people: the Idume­ans, the neerest, & withall the most malicious and cruell of all; who not being able of themselves, to doe any harme to the Church, joyned with the Babylonians, who besieged Ierusalem and as if they had beene Trum­pets to sound the Alarum, heartned them: crying,Psal. 37 7. Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof.

VI. Such hath ever beene the condition both of every righteous man, whose aboad isEzec. 2 6 with briers, thornes, and scorpions; and of the whole Church, which isCane. 2.2. as the lillie among the thorns. Pro. 17.17 A friend loveth at all times, and he shall be borne as a brother in adversitie. The righte­ous man findeth seldome such friends: kinsmen and friends, who should love and protect him, are eyther the first to procure unto him all kind of mischiefe; or behold his adversitie, as if they were fremm bodies. And, which is worthy your observation, they which have or challenge to themselues the title and right of the el­dest [Page 53]and first borne, have ever persecuted their youn­gers, because they were their betters.

Was it not1. Ioh. 3.12. Cain the first borne, who murthered his innocent brother Abel? Gal. 4.29 Ismael, borne after the flesh, persecuted he not Isaac, who was borne after the spirit?Gen. 27.41. Esau, hated he not his younger brother Iacob? and was not this his vow, I will slay my brother Iacob? This ha­tred, was it not propagated to all their progenie? Had ever the Israelites, descended of Iacob, more fierce and mischievous enemies than the viperous brood of Esau? As soone as David was anointed King over Israel,1. Sam. 17.28. E­liab his elder brother envied him: the1. Sam. 23.19. Ziphims, men of his owne Tribe, treacherously betrayed him:1. Sam. 22.3, 4. Nei­ther could he finde any place of refuge for his father and mother in all Israel, but was constrained to seeke a safe­gard for them in Moab. Hee is no sooner peaceable in his kingdome,2. Sam. 15.13, 31. but his owne sonne seekes his life; but Achitophel, his gouernor, his familiar, who was privie to all his secrets, secondeth the Parricide with his perni­cious counsell; but the whole people followed their deadly attempts.2. Chro. 13.8. &c. The ten Tribes, after their revolt frō God and from the King, challenged to themselves the glorious title of Israel, and under that name which be­fore was common to the twelve, persecuted the other two; which retaining the puritie of Gods service, were constrained to discerne themselues from these Apo­states by the new name of Iowes. When Ierusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, Lam. 1.2. She wept sore in the night, and her teares were on her cheekes: among all her lovers shee had none to comfort her; all her friends dealt treacherously with her: they were become her enemies; Yee heare Christs spouse complaining in the song of Salomon: Cant. 1.6 My mo­thers children were angry with me: They made me the keeper of the vineyard, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. Cant. 5.7. the watch men that wēt about the city found me, they smote me, they woun­ded me: the keepers of the wals took away my vitile from me.

VII. Christ cometh no sooner into the world, butMat. 2.16 Herod seeketh to make him away, and for his sake slay­eth all the children of Bethlehem; yea, hee laid violent hands on his owne son, borne of a woman of the Tribe of Iuda: and therefore Augustus Caesar said, that, It was safer to be Herods pork, than his sonne.Mat. 14.10 Herod Anti­pas, the beheader of Iohn the Baptist,Luk. 23.11 mocked him, and sent him again to Pilate, who condemned him. The whole people of the Iewes, who should have adored him, cryed,Iohn 19.6, 15. Away with him: crucifie him, crucisie bum. If yee seek the first Actors of this Tragedie, ye shall finde, that the Pharisees were the first whoMat. 12.14. took counsell against him, how they might destroy him; thatMat. 21.15. the chief Priests & Scribes envied him;Mat. 26.3 that they assembled together, with the Elders of the people, unto the Palace of the High-Priest, who was called Caiphas, and consulted to kill him;ver. 65, 66 that the High-Priest condemned him of blasphe­mie; that all together they pronounced him to be guil­ty of death,Mat. 27.2, 12, 20. delivered him to Pontius Pilate the Gover­nor, accused him, perswaded the people that they should ask Barrabas, and destroy Iesus. So was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes;Psal. 118.22. The stone which the builders reiected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Iohn 7.5. His owne brethren not onely beleeved not in him, but alsoMar. 3 21 they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, Hee is beside himself. LikewiseMat. 26.23. one of his owne Disciples, who dip­ped his hand in the dish with him, betrayed him. And therefore Iohn saith, thatIohn 1.23 Hee came unto his owne, and his owne received him not.

VIII. Looke what intertainment the Master recei­ved of his owne, the same received his disciples, not of the lees of the people onely, but also of those which sat at the rudder, and held the stern of the common-wealth and of the Church. Christ foretold it should bee so, say­ing,Mat. 10.17, 18. Beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the Councels, [Page 55]and they will scourge you in their Synagogues: And yee shall be brought before Governors and Kings for my sake. The first and most violent enemies which they found, were theyRev. 3.9 which said they were Iewes, and were not; but the Syna­gogue of Satan: Their Ring-leaders were theActs 4.1 Acts 5.17, 24, 40. High-Priest, with all the rest of the Priests, the Captain of the Temple, the Sadducees and Pharisees. Wheresoever the Apostles came, that cursed Nation egged against them all kinde of folks;Act. 13.50. devout and honourable women, the chief men of cities, Acts 14 19. the whole people. As2 Thes. 2.15, 16. they both killed the Lord Iesus, and their owne Prophets; so, saith the Apo­stle, have they persecuted us: They please not GOD, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved.

Had the Church at that time no other persecuters? The Churches of the Gentilesverse 14 suffred like things of their owne countrey-men. At2 Cor. 11 32. Damascus, the Governer under Aretas the King, sought to apprehend Paul. AtActs 17.5 Thessa­lonica, all the lewd fellows of the baser sort, made an up­rore against him. AtActs 16.19. Philippi, the Masters of the Py­thonissa, seeing the hope of their gaine gone, because Paul had cast the spirit of divination out of her, egged the Magistrates against him and Silas. AtActs 19.24. Ephesus, De­metrius the Silver-smith, for a like cause, raised no small stirre against him.Acts 24.1 Tertullus the Oratour accused him.2 Tim. 4 14. Alexander the Copper-smith did him much evill. At Rome he was presented before the bloudy Tyrant Nero, whom hee callethver. 16.17 a Lion: Then no man stood with him, but all men forsook him: Then his friends abandoned him, and the Tyrant put him to death. What the rest of the Apostles suffered by false brethren and open enemies, ye may reade in the Acts, and in their lives.

IX. What the Church was to suffer after them byRev. 11.7 the Beast fighting against the Saints, and killing them; by the Whore of Babylon, Rev. 17.4, 6. drunken with the bloud of the Saints, and of the Martyrs of Iesus; byRev. 20.8. Gog and Magog, [Page 56]compassing about the beloved city; S. Ioh. hath foretold in the Revelation. What our Fathers, what we have suf­fered, not of the Turkes, Persians, Tartarians, Ameri­cans, and other sworne enemies of Christian Religion, but of those bloody butchers which call themselves Ca­tholicks; the heavens have seen; the earth, which hath drunk up our blood, can speak; the murtherers, which have shed it, can bear record; our owne experience can best of all testifie. What policy, what craft hath beene practised to undermine and wholly undoe us by our owne brethren, of our owne kinred, familie, religion, hardly would ye beleeve, if I should tell it. Christs pre­diction hath been accomplished:Luke 21.16. Yee shall bee betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death, and yee shall bee hated of all men for my Names sake. Our brethren have sold us for money, as flesh is sold at the shambles; and we have been lesse regarded than slaves by those which bought us: whose humanity, like Dracon's Lawes, is printed in all Christendome with our Fathers and our blood; and whose affection and loyaltie towards us, is written upon the running waters. What wonder then, if, among so many professed enemies and cunning trai­tors, ‘Many are the Evills of the righteous?’

X. The Righteous, considering how hee is thus be­sieged on all sides, and hurried in all fashions by foes and friends, is often overtaken with diverse thoughts and surmises, more dangerous than all the externall E­vils which may befall unto him. Worldlings judge of God's favour to men, by their prosperity; and of his ha­tred towards them, by their adversity. When Abime­lech King of Gerar saw Abraham thrive, hee said unto him,Gen. 21.22. God is with thee in all that thou doest. What he said, was true; but the ground whereupon hee built it, was sand: for,Luke 16.19, 20. the rich Glutton in the Gospell thrived; and [Page 57] Lazarus, who was laid at his gate full of sores, thrived not; yet that gluttō is in hell, because God was not with him: and Lazarus is in Abrahams bosome, because God was with him. The Scribes and Pharisees, evill Doctors of the good Law, concluded,Mat. 27.41, 42. That God was not with Christ, because hee delivered him not from the crosse. The righteous man himselfe, when his affliction is long and heavie, taketh like conclusions against him­selfe. When the Angell of the Lord said to Gideon, Iudg. 6.12, 13. The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour: Gideon answe­red, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? The Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us in­to the hands of the Midianites. Ye read Iobs complaints;Iob 6.4. The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poyson wher­of drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me: He teareth me in his wrath, Iob 16.9 he hateth me, he gnasheth upon me with his teeth, Iob 19.11. and he counteth mee unto him, as one of his enemies. Ye heare David crying out pittifully,Psal. 22. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so farre from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? Ieremiah bemoaned the state of the Church after the same manner,Lam. [...].20. Wherefore doest thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? And now in the Palati­nate, and now in France, doe not all the faithfull mourne and cry; doe we not cry with them, and for them, O Lord how long?

The wicked, when God crosses them in their desires and projects, are accustomed to say;Mal. 3.14, 14. It is in vaine to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordi­nance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of bosts? And now we call the proud happy: yea, they that worke, wickednesse, are set up; yea, they that tempt God. [...]e even de­livered: The righteous Asaph held the [...]me speech in his great affliction, and said,Psal. 73.13. Verily [...] have cleansed my heart in vaine, and washed my hands [...] innocencie.

Moreover, these internall [...]lls take such hold of the [Page 58]righteous man, that he will bring Gods word, which he hath beleeved, in question, doubt whether it be true; if the Religion which he professeth, be of God; if the cause which he sustaineth, and for which he doth un­dergoe so many evills, be good: for if it be good, if it be of God, why doth he not uphold it? David being brought to his wits end, and even to the pits brinke by Saul, deemed that Gods Prophets had deceived him, and said,Psal. 116.11. All men are lyars. What greater evill, I pray you, can befall a Christian man, than to bring in controver­sie Gods providence, and the perpetuall care which he hath of his Church? than to thinke that godlinesse, which he hath sucked with his mothers milke, is but a fable, a dreame, an invention of man? than to imagine that hitherto he hath imbraced a shadow for the body, hath sought the truth in a lye, hath esteemed vanity and winde, to be Gods word? than to frame such conceits a­gainst the honour of God, and his owne salvation?

If such doubts come not in his mind; if he beleeve that the religion which he professeth, is from above, thatPsal 34.15. the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his eares are open unto their cry; that light, peace, ioy, salvation is sowen for the upright man; it seemes unto him, that he is none of that number: and gathering out of the store and greatnesse of his evills, most dangerous presumpti­ons, he pronounceth against himselfe, That he hath beene an Hypocrite, a vile reprobate, and cast-away. I know that such perplexities are but short symptomes to the righteous man, whereof he recovereth by the powerfull assistance of Gods Spirit; when as they are deadly convulsions to the wicked, and wofull prefaces to a dolefull Tragedie, which they shall everlastingly act, and nev [...]r end: yet howsoever they be short, they are sensible, and lye so heavie vpon the wearied soule of the righteous m [...]n that in comparison, his outward evills seeme unto him [...]ter than a feather, wherewith [Page 59]the wind playeth in the ayre. So I have shewed you, that both by externall grievances, and internall griefes, ‘Many are the Evills of the Righteous.’

XI. Now the righteous man may say to the wicked, as David said to Saul, 1. Sam. 24.11. Know thou and see, that there is nei­ther evill nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soule to take it; and asDan. 6.22 Da­niel said to Darius, who had cast him into the Lyons den; Before thee, O King, I have done no hurt. For although it pertained to Christ alone, to say to his adversaries;Ioh. 8.46. Which of you convinceth me of sinne? yet all the righte­ous men may say of their persecuters, that which Da­vid said of his enemies,Psal. 35.7. Without cause have they hid for me their not in a pit: without cause they have digged for my soule. And when they pray, they feare not to protest of their innocencie in that hehalfe, and to say to God;Psal. 58.3, 4. They lye in waite for my soule: the mighty are gathered a­gainst me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord: They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to helpe me, and behold.

The rule of the righteous mans life, is Christs com­mandement and example. His commandement is,Mat. 5.39, 42, 44. Re­sist not evill; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheeke, turne to him the other also, &c. Give to him that asketh thee: Love your enemies, blesse them that curse, doe good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and per­secute you. The same commandement he gave by his Apostle, saying:Rom. 12.21. Be not overcome of evill; but overcome evill with good. What he commanded, that he practised in his life:1. Pet. 2.21, 22, 23. He suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sinne, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not a­gaine: when he suffered, he threatned not, but committed him­selfe to him that iudgeth righteously. Yea, not onely he did them no harme, but also hee did them all kind of good: He went about all Iudea, teaching the Gospell of the [Page 60]kingdome of heaven, healing all manner of sicknesse, and all manner of disease among the people, made the blind to see, the deafe to heare, the lame to walke; clean­sed the lepers, raised up the dead, fed, by the miraculous multiplication of bread, at divers times, many thou­sand soules; restored the eare to Malcus, which came to take him, prayed for those which crucified him; and therefore asked of his enemies, who tooke up stones to throw at him:Ioh. 10.32 Many good workes have I shewed you from my Father: for which of those workes doe you stone me?

What ill did the Apostles, wherefore they should bee used so cruelly? They went through the whole world, converting men from darknesse unto the maruellous light of the Gospell, and did so many wonders a­mongst the people, that thenceAct. 14.11 some Idolaters tooke occasion to worship them; but the Iewes, to perswade the people to stone them.1. Cor. 4.11, 12. Being reviled, they blessed; be­ing persecuted, they suffered it; being defamed, they intreated. Much good did they to many: ill they did to none.

Read more ancient examples ofGen. 13.8. Abraham, yeelding for peace-sake to his Nephew Lot; ofGen. 49.5, 6, 7. Iacob, cursing his owne sonnes, Simeon and Levi for their bloodie anger against the Sichemites, though having a goodly shew of righteous vengeance; of1. Sam. 25 7, 8.15, 16. David, leading with his soul­diers a most innocent life amongst Nabals heards of cat­tle, and flocks of sheep; sparing Sauls life, who sought his, and bringing him to this true confession,1. Sam. 24.17. Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, where­as I have rewarded thee evill; Psal 38.12. being as a deafe man, when his enemies spake mischievous things against him,Psal 35.12, 13. cloathing himselfe with sackecloth, humbling his soule with fasting, praying most affectuously, when his enemies, which rewarded him evill for good, were sicke.

If ye desire examples of the Christians carriage, du­ring ten persecutions in the space of three hundred and odde yeares;Tert. Apol. cap. 1. & 37 When the people invaded them, they re­sisted [Page 61]not; when the Magistrate condemned them, they gave thanks: when the dead bodies of their brethren and kinsmen were drawn out of the rest of their graves, were pulled away from the Sanctuarie of death, they sought no revenge; albeit they were in greater num­ber than their enemies, and might with a few little fire­brands set on fire all the Townes, Boroughes, Villages, Castles of the Empire, if Christian Religion did not forbid all private menRom. 12.19. to avenge themselves, be­cause it is written; Vengeance is mine, I will repay it, saith the Lord. For this cause the holy Spirit often calleth the afflictions of the righteous, Sufferings: because they suf­fer the evill which is done unto them, but they do no e­vil to any man: wherunto also Christ hath bound them, when he callth thenMat. 10.26. Sheepe; insnuating, that they should be sheepe in simplicitie, to never thinke any evill; in innocencie, to never doe any evill; in patience, to beare all evills meekly without grudging and murmuring; in utilitie and commoditie, to feede with their milk, to cloath with their wooll whosoever stands in need of their helpe, to doe ill unto no man,Gal. 6.10. to doe good unto all men: especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith. Alas, alas! the number of such sheepe, of such righteous men, how rare is it? how many suffer not1. Pet. 3.17. 1 Pet. 4.29. for well doing, as Christians and righteous men: but for evill doing, as murtherers, theeves, robbers, and ravenous wolves, ra­ther than sheepe? (how many cannot abide to suffer, but thinking it a shame to packe up an injurie, will needs be avenged of their enemies? how many doe seeke to de­fend the Gospell against persecuters, by burning, kil­ling, murdering, filling the house of innocent peasants, of poore countrey folkes, with orbitie, desolation, and mourning? intending to cure one sinne with another sinne, taking the way of hell to goe to heaven, and thinking to defend the Gospell by unlawfull meanes. which the Gospell hath condemned. For it is not hee [Page 62]which suffereth evill, but he which doth it, that sinneth; And therefore the true righteous man is ever a patient, not an agent in evill; and the wicked not onely have no cause wherfore they should hate him, but have, in his manifold good deedes, a good cause wherefore they should love him: and yet not withstanding his innocent and good carriage, ‘Many are the Evills of the Righteous.’

XII. Sometimes many, blind-folded with ignorance, deeme that the righteous man is the most unrighteous that liveth in the world, and that Gods dearest servants are his greatest enemies: according to Christ saying;Ioh. 16.2 [...] The time commeth, that whosoever killeth you, will thinke that he doth God service. Yet it befalleth often, that the authors of the righteous mans evills, cover their private quarrels, and mischievous attempts against him, with the cloake of justice. Paul said of himselfe truely, thatPhil. 3.6. through zeale he had persecuted the Church, because1. Tim. 1.12. hee did it ignorantly in unbeleefe: And the Iewes answering to Christ,Ioh. 10.33. for a good worke we stone thee not, but for blasphe­my, and because that thou being a man, makest thy selfe God; beleeved verily that he was a blasphemer. Likewise the Gentiles, who persecuted the Christians, thought them to be enemies to mankind, whereas they shewed them­selves enemies Tect Apol. cap. 37. ho­stes maluistis vocare gene­ris humani potiùs quàm erroris nu­mani. to mans error, not to mans nature. Contrary, when1. Sam. 22.8. Saul said, that his sonne had made a league with the sonne of Iesse against him;2. Sam 15.3. when Absalom accused his father that he was not carefull to doe justice; when the Scribes and Pharisees laid many crimes to Christs charge; when the Guisards in the first and second trou­bles of France; when in these last troubles the Iesuites accused us, that we were plotting to set up a state in the state, a democracie in the Monarchie, they knew that they lyed. But such is the force and glory of justice, and of righteousnesse, that the wicked, when they know they doe wickedly, cloake their wicked courses against [Page 63]the righteous man with the glorious title of justice. Now whatsoever the persecuters thinke of their owne proceedings, the righteous man resteth upon his owne innocencie; knowing that there is not so great weight in the despightfull girds of venemous tongues, as in the testimonie of his owne conscience: and if hee were admitted to make an Apologie for himselfe, how easie a matter were it unto him to maintaine his owne inno­cencie, and to shew the falshood of all the accusa­tions, whereby he is made odious; and the manifest va­nitie of the most part of them?

XIII. It was a vaine accusation to impute unto Christians the cause of pestilence, of famine, of warres, of breaking out of waters, of the decaying of all things, hath waxed old;Cypr. ad Demetria­num. as if any such plague had never beene in the world before Christ was named in it: as if old men might not, with as good reason, move a processe against us; because they heare not, see not, pase not so well, are not so nimble, so quicke, so bigge-membred, so strong as when they were young; because their de­caying age is not so greene and livelie as their fathers was; because also they live not so long as their fathers did, and extend not the dayes of an healthfull life to seven, eight, nine hundred, and so many odde yeares, which were the ordinary daies of mens lives in the first age of the world. And why may not he, who is tor­mented with the gowt in his ioynts, racked with the gravell in his kidneyes, tortured with the stone in his bladder; or he who melteth drop after drop by a lan­guishing consumption; he who is made one of the for­ked order by his wife; he whose sonne is made, for his lewd like, the decking of a gallowes, &c. cry out against us, A faggot for the Huguenauts, a heape of wood to burne the Parpaillants? as the ancient Idolaters, and forefathers of the new Idolaters of this time, were wont [Page 64]to cry against our predecessors, The Christians to the Lyon.

XIV. Let our enemies be our Iudges: when they have received all manner of accusations against us, when we are arraigned as enemies to God, to the high Powers, to the Lawes, to good manners, to nature it selfe;Tert Apo­logetico, cap. 2. why are we used other wayes than all other guil­ty persons are?

1. It is permitted to all others which are arraigned, to speake in their owne defence whatsoever they can or may; or if they cannot speake, to hyre the mercenary tongue of some Lawyer, who without any suspicious of crime may answer, contradict, say whatsoever he thin­keth fittest for the commendation of the innocencie of his Client, though knowne to be guiltie, and worthy of death: for the Lawes will not suffer, that any man should be condemned, not heard, and without a free defence. We are the onely men whose mouthes are shut, and often gagged, for feare that we speake too cleerely: They will not have us to speake, because they are resol­ved to condemne us; knowing, that if we speake, our innocencie will shine like the beames of the Sunne in a faire summer day, and they cannot chuse but absolve us.

2. Though he who is arraigned, take the crime upon him, he is not, upon his simple confession, sent to the gallowes; but the Iudge knowing that there are many perire volentes, who desire to die, to cleere his owne con­science, inquireth diligently of the antecedents, the consequents, the place, the time, the manner, the com­plices and partakers, and all other qualities and circum­stances of the fact. There is no such inquirie made for or against us; wherein wee have offended the high Powers, where and when we pat out the candles, how many Virgins we have defiled, with which of our kins­women wee have committed incest: wee are called [Page 65] Huguenauts, which to our Iudges, without further in­quisition, is a name and proving of all crimes.

3. All other criminalls if they deny, are tortured un­till they confesse: The end of racking is to wring out confession. If it be prevented by confession, it hath no use: when it hath extorted confession, it ceaseth. A­mongst Tyrants onely, racking is a punishment: wee confesse freely what we are, we tell our Iudges that we are reformed Christians, or as ye speake here, Prote­stants: we speake the truth, and lye not. Our Iudges will not heare what we are: they will have us lye, and to confesse what we are not. Therefore they racke us, to make us deny. If other criminals deny, they beleeve them not: if we deny our selves to be Protestants, if we lye falsly, and say we are Rome Catholikes, they be leeve us.

4. There is no Iudge unpartiall, which desireth to absolve other malefactors; and therefore they are not constrained to deny, but racked untill they confesse, that they may be condemned: wee onely are forced to deny, that we may be absolved: when wee speake the truth, and confesse what we are, we are put to death: when yeelding to their violence, wee faine, and deny our Religion, not onely they suffer us to live, but also they reward us for our lying. Art thou and Huguenaut? Yea: Racke him. Art thou an Huguenaut? Alas, no, no. Hangman unbinde him, let him goe; he is an honest man, and must be recompenced. Whereby it is most evident, that wee are cleane of all crimes laide to our charge, except our Iudges will confesse, that in our per­sons, when we deny our Religion, they punish not high treason, adulteries, incests, murther, and a great many more crimes, whereof we are dayly accused. If that were iniquitie against the common wealth, and the State, they must needs grant that wee are guiltie of our Religion onely, or rather of the onely name thereof. For it is [Page 66]condemned when it is not knowne; when it is known, it is imbraced: And therefore our Persecuters will not know it, because they will condemne it; perceiving that all those which have condemned it, when they knew it not, have ceased to condemne it, yea professed and protected it, when they knew it.

5. The Emperour Traian, well informed of the inno­cencie of Christians, sent toPlin. Se­cundus epist. lib. 10. Epist. 103. & 104. Con­quirendi non sunt: Si de­ferantur, & arguaentur, puniendi sunt. Plinius Secundus Governor of Bythinia, after this manner; They must not be searched: if they be appeached and accused, they must be punished. Tert. Apol. cap. 2. O sen­tentiam ne­cessuate confusam! &c. O sentence confused with contradiction! hee forbiddeth to search them as innocent, he commandeth to punish them as guiltie; he spareth and rageth; he dissembleth, and punisheth: If they be guiltie, why are they not searched? If they be innocent, why are they punished? How many such decrees have beene given out against us? how many Edicts of pacification have beene made with us, as with honest men? and forthwith how ma­ny fires kindled, swords sharpened, gallowses prepared against us, as against malefactors? Yesterday we were the stay and props of the State, and must be cherished: This day we are the plague and undoing of the State, and must be killed: Though we are this day, as we were yesterday; except that we strive ever to be better, and shunne to decay in goodnesse, or to grow worse. But so it was from the beginning, so it is, so it shall be untill the end of the world, that ‘Many are the Evills of the Righteous.’

XV. Not so, may some say: wee that live here in a peaceable and blessed nation, and who, as we hope, are righteous men, have no evills, being guarded and hedg­ed round about with Gods bountifull and mercifull protection, through the daily care of our peaceable and most Religious King. It is true, well-beloved, thatPsal. 125.3. the rodde of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous: lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity; Your fa­thers [Page 67]had the evills, and ye possesse the good things of the land: But will ye say, against your selves, that ye are of the number of these belly-gods, which eating, drin­king, dancing, and spending merrily the short dayes of their brittle life,Amos 6.6. are not grieved with the affliction of Io­sepht God forbid, that ye should speake so unnaturally, and so falsly against your owne soules.

Is it not written,Rom. 12.15. Weepe with them that weepe: Heb. 13.3 Re­member them that are in bonds, as bound with them: and them which suffer adversitie, as being your selves also in the body? Have ye not read ofNehem. 1.3, 4. Nehe. 2.2. Nehemiah, that understanding the great affliction and reproach, wherein the Iewes lived after their returne to Ierusalem, he wept, mourned, fa­sted, and prayed with such sorrow of heart, that his countenance was very sad in the Kings presence, with whom he had great credit and favour? Ye know that the Apostle writeth to the Hebrewes, and of them, thatHeb. 10.32, 33. they endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilest they were made a gazing stocke, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilest they became companions of them that were so used. Know you not also that Saint Paul said, Who is weake, and I am not weake? who is offended, and I burne not? This is a great evidence and demonstration of the Communion of the Saints.

And who have given more evident demonstrations of a true sympathie, and fellow-feeling of the miseries of your brethren beyond Seas, than you? Have yee not wept? have ye not mourned? have ye not fasted? have ye not prayed to God for them? have ye not ope­ned your bowels, and purses unto them? have yee not beene much moved for their adversitie? have ye not, not onely according to your power, but also above your power, relieved their necessitie? Every oppression which they suffer, when it commeth to your eares, is it not a racke unto you? As many oppressions, are they not as many tortures to your vexed soules? What doth [Page 68]this whole Island desire with sighs and sobs, but to bee at warre with Christs enemies, which oppresse them, that is to say, to spend lives and goods for their reliefe? Because, as Constantius, father of Constantine the Great, first deliverer of the Christian Religion from the bloody persecutions of Tyrants, came from great Britanne; so it seemeth by the holy, vehement, and constant affection which God hath put in all the peo­ples hearts of this most flourishing Island, towards their afflicted brethren beyond Seas, that hee hath ordai­ned that delivetie shall come to them from us: In the meane time, in what griefe, in what anguish, in what perplexities, and vexation of mind are ye not? what rivers of teares doe ye not still powre out before God? what ejaculations? what prayers, and how fervent do­ye not dart towards the heavens for them? Then in you also is fulfilled this most true saying, ‘Many are the Evills of the Righteous.’

XVI. Thanke God with heart and mouth for this long and blessed peace wherein ye live; blesse him for his bountifull mercy, whereby ye heare, and see not; ye feele the affliction of Ioseph, and suffer not any in your owne persons, and are enabled to succour Christs distressed members which have no hope, after God, but in the Churches of this Island. Pray to God for the King, by whose care ye enioy this blessednesse: Pray for the increasing of our godly, courageous, and hope­full Prince in all Christian, Princely, and Majesticall gifts: Pray for the flourishing peace of this State, that in the ne [...]ce thereof ye may have peace: so If I forget thee O Ierusalem, let my right hand forget it selfe. Psal. 137.5, 6. If I doe not remember thee, let my torgue cle [...]ve to the [...] of my mouthe▪ If I preferre not Ierusalem above my chiefe ioy: O weepe, and pray unto God for his Church, and be not unthank­full for his gifts: be subiect to the King, and to the Prince, be faithfull to the S [...] be obedient and loving [Page 69]to your teachers, be innocent in your callings, be mo­dest in your behaviour, be more and more bountifull to the poore: so the King of Kings, so the God of peace, so the Spouse of the Church, so the Protector of Mo­narchies, so the father of the poore, shall blesse you, shield you, and remaine with you for ever. So be it; even so be it.

SERMON IV. Of the causes of the righteous mans Evills.

I. THE manifold Evills which are incident to Gods dear ones, howsoever they be so ex­tream, that they are sometimes driven by them upō the brim of the sleep downfal of despairing; yet this consideration, me thinks, is forcible, and most able to blunt the sharpest edge of most vehe­ment sorrows, to sweeten their gall, to asswage their vi­olence, and make their seeming intolerable heavi­nesse, easie to be borne: that they come not at unawares, and unlooked for; but, if we have eares to heare, and eyes to see, may be both foreknowne, and foreseene.

Surely our Lord Iesus Christ was no sooner presen­ted to the Lord in the Temple, but Simeon prophecyed of him, thatLuk. 2.34 he was set for the fall and rising againe of many in Israel, and for a signe which shall be spoken against. And Christ himselfe foretold his Disciples, thatMat. 10.16, 17, 18. he sent them forth as sheepe in the midst of Wolves. that they should bee de­livered up to the Councells, scourged in the Synagogues, brought before Governors and Kings for his sake: yea,Ioh 16.2 that whosoever killed them, should thinke that he did God service. Neither speaketh he of his Apostles onely, which were then present to heare his words, but in the parable of the marriage of the Kings sonne, he forewarneth all his servants, which he is to send forth to call men to the wedding, thatMat. 22.6 they shall be intreated spitefully, and slaine: And compareth his Church, which is the Congre­gation of righteous men,Mat. 7.25 to an house builded upon the rocke, which is storme-beaten with the floods of crosses, and winds of persecutions.

Therefore the holy Apostles exhorted the Disciples [Page 71]to continue in the faith, shewing them, thatAct. 14.22. we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdome of God. Which we? All righteous men, all true Christians: for gall that will live godly in Iesus Christ, shall suffer persecuti­on. 2. Tim. 3.12. The Lord himselfe sheweth for what end such things are foretold us, saying,Ioh. 16.4 These things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them: for lest we should be overtaken with afflictions, he advertiseth us that they shall come, and therefore ad­viseth us to looke for them; that fore-casting and expe­cting them, we may be upon our guard, & according to the exhortation of the Apostle,Eph. 6.13. take unto us the whole armour of God, that we may bee able to with­stand in the evill day, and having overcome all, stand still, like the rocke in the sea, which all the foaming waves of the Ocean, all the thundering tempests of the ayre, all the spite and might of all the elements cannot shake. When povertie, orbitie, shamefull and smarting diseases, when all kind of mischiefes rushed upon Iob, with such sudddainesse, that he had no leasure to heare and consider the particulars of any one of them, how could he have worshipped God, how could hee have faid,Iob 1.21. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed bee the name of the Lord; if, when he was at ease, he had not exercised himselfe, with the conceit of all evills which are incident to man? if hee had not harped often upon this meditation; God may deprive thee of all thy chil­dren, bring thee to leannesse of teeth, pull away thy soule from thy body? he hath done so to many other; why not to thee? Nothing, in my opinion, made Paul more forward to suffer afflictions, more bold to resist them, more strong to overcome them, than the fore­warningsAct. 20.23. which the Holy Ghost gave him, that in eve­ry citie bonds and afflictions waited for him. All they waited for him, hee waited for them: and when they they thought to steale upon him, they found him ready [Page 72]to buckle with them, and lend them his necke.

Brethren, Iesus Christ hath not deceived us; he hath not made to his Disciples stately and loftie promises of riches, of honours, of worldly preferments, as Cyrus the younger did to his followers: ye heare him speaking a­loud,Luk. 14.16, 27. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his owne life also, he cannot be my Disciple: and whosoe­ver doth not beare his crosse, and come after me, cannot be my Disciple. What the Lord hath foretold, experience hath made good:Rev. 6. At the opening of every seale of the sea­led booke, which is the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ, Iohn saw some new plague follow thereupon; and we see nothing round about us, in forraine coun­treys where that booke is unsealed, but wars, but dearth, but death, but all kind of miseries. Consider then, I pray you, & weigh wel upon what conditions ye have muste­red among the cōpanies of Christs souldiers; where your pay is losse of all your goods, your gaine is death, your victory is not of things seene, your triumph is disgrace, infamie, and shame. For ifLuk. 14.33. ye forsake not all that ye have, goods, life, honours, dignities, ye cannot be Christs Dis­ciples,

II. Looke what antipathie, what contrarietie of hu­mours is in nature betwixt plants and plants; as betwixt the Vine and the Colewort; betwixt the Colewort, and the Hearbe grace: betwixt the plants and beasts; as betwixt the Serpent, and the Ash-tree, the serpent and the Rue: be­twixt beasts and beasts; as betwixt the Catte and the Mouse, betwixt the Wolfe and the sheepe: betwixt man and beastes; as betwixt the serpent and man: the like disagreement, and farre greater, is betwixt the righteous and the wicked man: forPro. 29.27. an uniust man is an abomination to the iust: and he that is upright in the way, is abomination to the wicked. These contrary inclinations had their beginning with the world, and shall not have [Page 73]an end untill the worlds end. God is justice, and righte­ousnesse it selfe; and the divell professed enmity against him from the beginning. What wonder then if he bee an enemy to the righteous man, who is but Gods crea­ture? As soone as man was created, he seduced and supplanted him. Then God proclaimed unreconcile­able warre betweene them, saying to the divell, who was shrowded under the shape of a serpent;Gen 3.15. I will put enmity betweene thee and the woman: and betweene thy seede, and her seed: It shall bruise thy head; and thou shalt bruise his heele. The serpents seed, is the brood of wicked men, which have beene from the beginning, namely, those which persecute the Gospell. The seede of the wo­man, is our Lord Iesus Christ, with the whole band of righteous men. Iohn saw a battel in heaven:Rev. 12.17 Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his Angells. Iesus Christ, who onely is this Michael, because he onely is like unto God, and his An­gels and Saints, fought against the divell, and all the hellish rabble of wicked men, and of divells like unto himselfe.

There is no manifest cause knowne of the Antipa­thies and contrarietie of dispositions which are in na­ture: but the causes of disagreement betweene the righ­teous and unrighteous man, are knowne. They flow from contrary springs; and therefore their affections, their actions, their effects, their ends are contrary. Are not God and the divell enemies? The wicked man1. Ioh. 3.8 is of the divell: the righteous manVer 9. is borne of God. Hence it is, that the children beare out their fathers quarrell: the wicked is hud-winked with ignorance:Ioh. 16.3 He know­eth no the Father, nor the Sonne; neither will hee know them:Psal. 36.3. he will not learne to be wise, that he may doe good.

Ioh. 17.8.The righteous man knoweth surely, that Christ is come out from the Father, and beleeveth that the Fa­ther hath sent him:Rom 8 5 The wicked is after the flesh, and [Page 74]therefore he minds the things of the flesh The righteous being after the spirit, minds the things of the spirit: The wicked mans workes areGal. 5.19, 20, 21. the workes of the flesh, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleannesse, lasciviousnesse, idolatry, witcheraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murthers, drunkennesse, reuilings, and such like. The righteous mans works areVe. 22, 23 the fruits of the spirit, that is to wit, Love, ioy, peace, long suffering, gentlenesse, goodnesse, faith, meeknesse, temperance. Where there is so great a contrarietie and repugnancie of affections, of actions, of workes; what wonder if there be great enmitie? The righteous man is light in the Lord; andIoh. 3.20 every man that doth evill, hateth the light, neither commeth to the light, lest his deedes should bee discovered: for that cause hee hateth the righteous man, as the Pharisees hated Iesus Christ, because hee reproo­ved them of their vices. The righteous man likewise hateth the wicked:Psal. 139.21, 22. Doe I not hate them, O Lord, saith David, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. When heat and cold, moisture and drought, hardnesse and softnesse, light and darknesse, shall leaue off to bee at variance; then, then shall the righteous and wicked man ioyne hands, and enter into confederacy one with another:2. Cor. 6.14, 15, 16. for what fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse? and what communion hath light with darknesse? and what concord hath Christ with Beliall? and what part hath he that beleeveth with an Infi­dell? and what agreement hath the Temple of God with I­dolls? In this discord, there is this notable difference; that the righteous man hateth rather the vice, than the person of the wicked, and seeketh by prayers to God, by exhortations, admonitions, good examples, to con­vert him: whereas the wicked hateth both the ver­tues, and the person of the righteous, and seeketh to destroy him.

III. From thence it is, that assoone as a man be­gins to apply his mind and heart unto righteousnesse, Satan and the wicked world conspire to undoe him: for like asDan. 3.16, 17, 18. Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the forme of his visage was changed against Shadrac, Meshac, and Habednego, when to his face they refused to fall downe, and worship the image which he had made, and commanded, that the furnace wherein they were to bee cast, should bee kindled seuen times more than it was wont to be heat: even so, assoon as a man begins to draw his neck out of Satans coller, to shunne the company of wicked men, to draw neere unto God by repentance and newnesse of life, and to register his name in the Church booke, that he may be saved in the communi­on of the Saints; Satan sets all his malice on a flame to devoure him, and the wicked rush upon him with bill and claw, to teare him in peeces. For as theeves breake not into an house where there is nothing but straw, hay, stubble; but onely into such places where there is gold, silver, precious stones, and rich furniture: so the di­vell and his limbes heede not rascals, and scurvie fel­lowes; but if any man bee a worshipper of God, and doth his will, they lye in waite secretly, as a Lyon in his denne, they hide the snare in his way, they crouch, they stoope to catch him into their net.

As soone as Christ was borne,Mat. 2.16 Herod became out of his wits, seeking to slay him; to teach us, that as soon as we become Christians by a spirituall birth, wee shall not have want of Herods to seeke our lives. As soone as theRev. 12.3, &c. red dragon saw rhe woman with child travelling in her birth, and ready to be delivered, hee stood before her, that he might devoure her childe as soon as it was borne: but her child being caught up unto God, and she taking her selfe to her wings, to save her life by fly­ing into the wildernes, he cast out of his mouth a floud of water to drowne her. What was this vision but a [Page 76]type of the Church, against whom the divell stirreth up a world of wicked men, as so many waves of an over­flowing river, to swallow her up, when after a long bar­rennesse she conceiveth againe, and brings foorth chil­dren to God? Then ye heare nothing amongst those blood thirstie butchers, but crying,Ier. 11, 19 Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof: let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembred.

IV. Amongst the righteous men, Satan is most in­censed against those whom God pickes out from a­mongst the rest, & separates for some speciall and excel­lent worke in the Church, or in the State. For as Pi­rates saile by Barkes, and small ships, and boord Car­rackes, and other huge ships laden with the riches of the Orient: so Satan lyeth in wait for those principally, on whom God hath bestowed greatest plenty of gifts, and preferred to the most eminent places in his Church. As long as Iacob meddled with nothing at home, Esau lived peaceably with him: Sought he, and obtained he his fathers blessing? then Esau vowed to kill him. Whilest Iesus Christ led a private life, and made no shew of those treasures of heavenly graces which were hid in him, the divell considered him not: but when the Spirit lighted upon him in the bodily shape of adove; when his Fathers voice was heard from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Sonne, in whom I am well pleased; when by the Baptisme of water, and of the Spirit, he was installed in the dignitie and imployment of Mediatour betwixt God and man, then the divell hee­ded him, tempred him, set on foote against him as ma­ny enemies, as there were men which knew him When Saul was a Pharisee, exceedingly zealous of the traditi­ons of his fathers, and a persecuter of the Church, hee was much regarded and honoured of the Iewes: but when of a Captaine, he became an Apostle; of a violent Persecuter, a most zealous Preacher; of a Iew, a Chri­stian; [Page 77]of Saul, Paul; he became therwith a marke wher­at the divell and his Angells did shoote all the vene­mous and fierie arrowes of their indignation. What wonder then, if the divell, who hath ever his bow bent and ready, aimeth chiefly at the Rammes and Leaders of Christs flocke? hee knoweth by long experience, and too too many tryalls, that it is not written in vain,Zac. 13.7. Mat. 26.31 I will smite the shepheard, and the sheepe of the flocke shall be scattered abroad.

V. Ye see then againe, upon what condition ye are, and name your selves Christians.Ioh. 15.19, If, saith Christ, ye were of the world, the world would love his owne: but be­cause yee are not of the World, but I have chosen you out of the World, therefore the World hateth you. Tribulation, trouble, sorrow, griefe, teares, all the evills that the divells malice can find out, are the Christian mans portion in this world. His hopes are not of this life: for no reward is promised unto him, but in the world to come. As the bird-catcher casteth a little corne before the birds, and hideth the net wherewith he in­volves them; and as the fisher covereth the fish-hooke with the mortall bait, whereunto hee knoweth the fish will speedily swimme: so these which mind to deceive, promise alwayes pleasant things; and like unto the Syrenes of the Poets, they sing most sweete songs to charme the simple ones, whom they go about to in­trap; but the venome is in the taile, and hee who liste­neth unto them, is amazed to see how by too much cre­dulitie he hath bin drawn upon the dangers, & is sunke among the shelves of stinging cares, and killing evills.

Gen. 3.4, 5.The divell spake of nothing to Eve, but of know­ledge of good and evill, but of immortalitie, but of e­ternity of life, but of being like unto God himselfe: what-she found, ye know all; Ignorance, death, resem­blance to the imposter who had deceived her, was the reward of the lightnesse of her beleefe.Mat 4.8, 9. The Tempter [Page 78]shewed to Christ all the kingdomes of the world, and the glory of them, and promised them all unto him, so that he would fall downe and worship him.Mat. 7.15. The false Prophets come in sheepes cloathing, that when opor­tunity shall serve; they may dismember the whole flock. The Papists, and other Heretikes of this age, couer their deadly poyson of false doctrine with the sugar of enti­sing words, and shew to those which have not their senses exercised to discerne both good and evill, a gol­den cuppe of most delightfull and pleasant promises; which when they put to their head, they drinke no­thing but gall and wormewood.

Fathers doe not so to their children: they send them to the schoole, give them Pedagogues and Tu­tors to instruct them, and hold them in awe; keepe them under a most seuere and rigorous discipline, untill they come to mans age, and be able to doe good ser­vice: Then, and no sooner, they looke upon them with a cleere face, they use them familiarly, they open to them their purses, they advance them to honours and dignities, they make them their heires. After this manner, our heavenly Father at the beginning speakes to us most roughly of sorrowes and vexations: hee schooles us in Christs Colledge, where afflictions are our Tutors, and rods our lessons:Mat 7.14. He forewarneth us, that the way wherein we are to walke, till we come to the pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore, is narrow, and spred over with thornes; that the gate whereby we must enter, if wee desire to enter into the kingdome of his glory, is very straite and low: to the end that when we finde such a way, wherein there is nothing but narrownesse, grinnes, and bryars, and such a gate wherein we cannot enter without pressing, thru­sting, and stooping; we may say one to another, as it is written in the Prophet;Isa. 30.21 This is the way, walke yee in it, whether ye turne to the right hand, and whether yee turne to [Page 79]the left; and concluding with reioycing, as Iacob did in his great affliction,Gen. 8.17 This is the gate of heaven, pray and say with David, Psal. 118.18, 19. Open to me the gates of righteousnesse: I will goe into them: I will praise the Lord: this is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.

VI. Flesh and blood cannot abstaine from control­ling of this wise and fatherly course, which Almightie God takes with his beloved children. It is a strange and most uncouth thing to mans conceit, that God not onely permits, that his Saints which feare his Majestie, which doe his will, which lead among men an Angeli­call life, and are heaven upon earth, should be thus ex­posed to so many calumnies, vexations, torments, los­ses, in commodities of this life, and most dangerous tentations; but also will be called the Author and cause of them all: for it is he, hee himselfe, which asketh,Amos 3 6. Shall there be any evill in the citie, and shall not the Lord doe it? Lam. 3.38. Evill and good, proceede they not out of the mouth of the most High? May he not represse the raging furie of our adversaries? may hee not convert them all, as hee did Paul? If he will not convert them, may he not destroy them at unawares, as he did Pharaoh, and the Egyptians, Sodom, Gomorrha, Senacheribs hoast?Psal. 77.8, 9. Is his mercy cleane gone for ever? doth his promise faile for evermore? hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath hee in anger shut up his tender mercies?

Who can blame us if we aske, why the holy Apo­stles which went through the whole world, sowing it with the seede of Christians, planting Churches, buil­ding living Temples to the living God, raising the dead, healing the sicke, casting out divells, doing good to all men, ill to none, confirming their doctrine with signes, wonders, divers miracles, and distributions of the Ho­ly Ghost, according to Gods owne will; why such ce­lestiall, Angelicall, and most wonderfull men, were bound, imprisoned, scourged, set on pillories, moc­ked, [Page 80]abused, and cruelly murthered? Could they not have done better service to God being at libertie, than tyed with cords in a darke and solitary prison? being a­live, than dead? If it was farre better for them to de­part, and to be with Christ; their longer aboade in the flesh, was it not more needfull for the Church,Phil. 1.23, 24. as the Apostle sayeth of himselfe? The perpetuall care which they had of all the Churches, deserved it not a better entertainment? their innocent and fruitfull life, was it not worthy of a more calme and quiet death, and of a more honourable end?

Was it not more fit that the righteous Iob, Iob 31.17, 18, 19, 20. who called the fatherlesse to eate with him, who covered the nakednesse of the poore, and warmed them with the fleece of his owne sheepe, should have remained owner and dispenser of his owne goods, then the Sa­beans & Caldeans, who took them away for no good use? How many in the Palatinate, how many in France, were there like untoAct. 9.36. Tabitha, full of good works, and almes which they did, which have beene stript and spoyled of all their goods, and brought to the lesse blessed condition of asking and receiving! would not their goods have beene better in their owne hands, to distribute them to the poore, than in the hands of theeves, of robbers, of souldiers, which play them at cards and dice, and waste them upon their lusts?

This question is very difficult; Though the faith­full know, thatIer. 12.1. God is righteous, and thatIob 33.13. hee giveth not account of all bis deeds, yet they plead with him, and often controll his judgements. The weaker sort, seeing the righteous man beaten in peeces like a potsheard, are dis­mayed and scandalized. The dog. Atheists take occasion thereby to deny Gods providence, and to flowt poore Christians, asking of them,Iust. Apo­loget. 1. Clement Stromat. lib. 4. If God regards you, why suffer ye persecution? why are ye put to death? If ye an­swer, as some did in the primitiue Church, that it is not [Page 81]Gods will that wee be persecuted, but that he hath fore­told, by manner of prophesie, the things which we are to suffer, to prepare us to patience; ye shall finde some Iuli­an who will tell you out of the Scriptures, thatMatt. 10.30. the very haires of your head are all numbred, and that one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

VII.Ps. 77.13. Thy way, O God, is in the Sanctuary: There wee finde, thatDeu. 32.4. all his wayes are iudgement: that hee is a God of trueth, and without iniquity; that hee is iust and right: yea, thatPs. 25.10 all the pathes of the Lord are mercy and trueth, unto such as keepe his Covenant, and his Testimonies. Let us then enter into Gods Sanctuary, and there wee shall learne: or because we are alreadie entred in his Sanctuary, and are here present before his Majestie in his holy Temple, to heare him speake in his owne cause, let us learne of his owne mouth, that he stirreth righteous men up and downe, haleth them thorow the water, the fire, the swords, casteth them in a puddle of tribulations, out of which they finde no issue, for their sake, for other mens sake, for his owne sake: for their sake, because he will either correct, or weane, or try, or exercise, or honour them; for our sake, because hee will instruct us: for his owne sake, because he will shew his justice in the correction, his wisedome in the direction, his strength in the erection and lifting up, his glory in the wonderfull protection of his distrested Children.

VIII. Many men are of a slavish and naughtie dis­position.Pro. 29.19. A servant will not bee corrected by words: for though hee understand, hee will not answer: except the rodde whizze upon his shoulders, hee will not stirre. A Pro. 26.3. whip for the horse, a halter for the asse, and a rod for the fooles back. Gen. 16.4. Agar was proude in Abrahams house, she was brought low in the wildernes: Manasses was incorrigible so long as he was peaceable in Ierusalem, but when he was boūd with fetters, carried to Babylon, and cast into a darke prison,2. Chro. 33.11, 12. he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himselfe [Page 82]greatly before the God of his Fathers. Then was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes,Psal. 107.10, 11, 12, 13. Such as sit in darkenesse and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsell of the most high: Therefore hee brought down their heart with labour: they fell downe, and there was none to helpe. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and hee saved them out of their distresses. Matth. 4.24, 25. Those which were taken with divers diseases and torments, followed Christ to be hea­led: they that were whole, contemned him.

The same befals the most righteous, who often slum­ber, and, if they were not awaked by afflictions, should die in their sins. Iosephs brethren never bethought them­selves of their sinne, untill they were rudely used in Ae­gypt: then they called unto minde their iniquitie, and said one to another,Gen. 42.21. We are verily guiltie concerning our brother, in that wee saw the anguish of his soule, when hee be­sought us, and wee would not be are: Therefore is this distresse come upon us: So David said,Psal 119.67. Before I was afflicted, I went a­stray: but now have I kept thy word. SoIon 1.5. Ionas slept pro­foundly in the ship; butIon. 2.1. he prayed in the fishes belly: for prosperitie Iulls men asleepe, but adversitie rouzeth them up: Therefore God said of his people which had sinned against him,Hos. 5.15. I will goe and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seeke my face: In their af­fliction they will seek me earely. And Isaiah witnesseth of his time, that such whiskers whistled not in vaine about the Churches eares, saying,Isa. 26.16 Lord, in trouble they have remem­bred thee: they powred out their humble prayer when thy cha­stening was upon them. Look what the biting collyre is to the pinne in the eyes, the scorching cauter to the head­ache and catharres, the sharpe pricking of the Surgeons launcet, & bitter physick to a continual fever, the Creuset and the fire to gold and silver; the same are afflictions to the righteous mans sinnes, which are a suffusion and web upon the eie of the mind, a theume choaking Gods [Page 83]Spirit, & suffocating the heart, the Pleurisie & pestilent fever of the soule, the dross & tin of all godly affections.

SoNum. 12 1, 2, 10. Miriam was healed of her pride by leprosie: So2. Sam. 12.11. David learned to be chaste, by the incests of his owne sons: so Ionas learned obedience in the Whales bellie: SoLuk. 1.20. Zacharias, by the losse of his speech, was cured of his incredulity, & taught, not to open his mouth in time to come, but to praise and blesse the Lord his God: So the whole Church of IudaLev. 26.4. was humbled under the mightie hand of God; and, accepting of the punishment of her iniquitie, learned to say with heart and mouth,Micah 7.9. I will beare the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned a­gainst him: So the Churches of France by these last trou­bles were brought low, and taught to walke in Gods presence with feare and trembling: for howsoever they were innocent of the crime of rebellion laid to their charge; their vanitie, their ambition, their pride, their filthie covetousnesse, their loathing of the Gospel, their securitie, was become so exceeding great, that God could not beare with them any longer: They trusted in their little paltrie holds and forts, which they had raised as high as the clouds, and said not onely in their hearts, as Edom did, but with their mouths also,Obad. 3. Who shall bring us downe to the ground? The Lord heard the words of their pride, & in the turning of an hand, turned them topsie turvie; leaving onely some ruines, as traces of his indignation, whereby their Children may know, that there dwelt their Fathers. Then wee acknowled­ged, then we said,Pro. 18.10. The Name of the Lord is a strong tow­er: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

For this cause, S. Peter calleth Persecutions1. Pet. 4.17. Gods iudgements: Christ calleth themRev. 3.19. his chastisements: and S. Paul giveth the one and the other name to all kind of afflictions, saying that1. Cor. 11.31, 32. If wee would iudge our selves, wee should not bee iudged: But when we are iudged, wee are chaste­ned of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the [Page 84]world. I say then, that the first cause of the righteous mans Evils, is his owne sinnes; and their first end, is his cor­rection and amendment.

IX. Now he is not onely guiltie of sinnes past, for which he is chastised, but also hee is prone to fall in sin againe, as bearing in his breast the seede of all iniquitie: Alas, Alas!Iob 15.16. how abominable and filthie is man, which drin­keth iniquitie like water! Therefore God, like an expert Physician, mingleth unto him a cup of afflictions, not onely to cure him of former diseases, but also to preserve him from diseases to come. For tribulations are not one­ly medicines, but also antidotes & preservatives against the poison of sinne. They are bitter potions in taste, but they either restore or preserve health.Iob 33.14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Elihu saith in the booke of Iob, that God speaketh once, yea twice: yet man perceiveth it not. He instructeth men by his word, he sendeth to them his servants once, twice, thrice, to ad­vise them of their duetie, and they yeeld not attention unto his admonitions: Then hee openeth the eares of men, and sealeth his chastisement upon them: that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and drive away pride from man. So he keepeth backe his soule from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword; seasoning him with the salt of afflictions, that he rot not.

I will not enrollGen. 12.17. Pharao king of Egypt, norGen. 20.6, 7. Abi­melech, king of Gerar, among righteous men: yet when they would have sinned against God, by abusing Sara, Abrahams wife, God plagued them with so great plagues, that they were affraide to touch her. Surely David was a righteous man, and ye may perceive how in Absolems rebellion against him, God gave him with one stone two blowes: he chastised him for the mur­ther and adultery which hee had committed, and restrained him from sinne for the time to come. The one and the other for his good, as he confessed, say­ing,Psal. 119.73. It is good for me that I have beene afflicted, that I [Page 85]might learne thy statutes. Who was more righteous then Paul? yet confessing his owne infirmitie, and acknow­ledging how he was by nature inclined to pride, hee saith, that2. Cor. 12.7. there was given to him a thorne in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted a­bove measure. This Angell of Satan was not the divell himselfe, but, asChrysost ibi, & Homil. 1. ad popul. Antiochen. Chrysostome esteemeth, wicked men in­spired of the divell, such as was Alexander the Copper­smith, which did him much evill: such as were also the Iewes, the Gentiles, the Tyrants, and all Infidells, which persecuted him beyond all measure. This then is as if he had said, The Lord might stay all persecutions, and hand-fetter all those which vexe me; but because I was caught up into Paradise, and heard there unspeakeable words, and might have waxed proude thorow the ex­cellency of revelations, be hath permitted these An­gels of Satan to buffet me by divers persecutions and tribulations.

Because then that Peter and Paul, and their mates, howsoever they be wonderfull among men in holines, in righteousnesse, and in most rare gifts, still are men, and easie to be overtaken with sinne; they have neede to be held in with the curbe of a sharpe and rigo­rous discipline, lest they suffer themselves to be carri­ed away by the boisterous wind of their owne vanitie and pride: for as serpents are bred in man, of that which is most inward to him, even of the marrow of his bones; so arrogancie, and loftinesse of mind, is in­gendred in holy men, of the knowledge which they have of their owne excellency and righteousnesse: then they begin to looke too much at themselves, and too little to themselves: then they begin to rely upon their owne excellencie, and to forget their maker, as Adam and Eve did, and as it befell the good king2. Chro. 32.31. Isa. 38.2. Hezekiah; when he shewed his treasures to the King of Babylons Ambassadors. This is the high and broad way to hell, [Page 86]and therefore God, with bit and bridle, draweth his chosen ones backe from it, and manageth them with rods and spurres? not for any sinne which they have done, but for that which they would doe, if they left the narrow and straite way of humilitie and modesty. Heare againe what the Apostle saith of himselfe:2 Cor. 1.8, 9. Wee were, saith he, pressed out of measure, above our strength: in­somuch that we despaired even of life: yea, wee had the sen­tence of death in our selves. Why did God suffer a man so holy, a servant so profitable, an Apostle so excellent, to be so hardly intreated? God permitted it, saith he, that we should not trust in our selves, but in God which raiseth the dead.

If God did curbe after this manner his holy Apostle, what wonder if he tye others which are not so holy, to an yron chaine, and tame them with many oppressi­ons? For as standing water breedeth frogges, toads, and stinking mud; as the ground which is not tilled, yeel­deth nothing but brambles, thornes, and thistles; and as the Vine which is not cut, waxeth naught, and, in stead of good and sweet Raisins, bringeth forth wilde Grapes: even so righteous men, when they are not like racked wine, drawne with crosses out of the lees of their naturall corruption, they degenerate from their former righteousnesse, and become filthy, stinking, loathsome to God, and to man. But when, by mani­fold afflictions,1. Cor. 4.16. our outward man is subdued and brought under; the inward man is renued day by day, 1. Pet. 4.2. that we no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God, and soHeb. 12.10. be made partakers of his holinesse. Therefore let us reforme our judgments, re­fraine our tongues, and conclude with Ieremiah: Lam. 3.27. It is good for a man, that he beare the yoake in his youth.

X. Sometimes God shakes his whips, and scourges about the eares of the righteous man, not onely to correct him of sinnes past, to weane him from sinnes [Page 87]to come, but also to try him, and to know what is in his heart.Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember, saith Moses to the peo­ple of Israel, all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these fortie yeares in the wildernesse to humble thee, and to proove thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keepe his commandements, or no. See in one af­fliction, three ends whereunto God aimed: The first was,Num. 14.29, 33, 34, 35. to correct them of their murmuring against him: The seoond, to humble them, and keepe them in obedi­ence for the time to come: The third, to prove them, & to know what was in their hearts. Not that he is igno­rant of the most secret thoughts of mens hearts,Psal. 7.9. for the righteous God tryeth the hearts and reines, but because he is said to know, when hee maketh that which is in them, knowne both to themselves, and to others: As when he said to Abraham, Gen. 22.12. Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not with-held thy sonne, thine onely sonne from me: his meaning was, Now I have made thy faith in me, thy feare of me, thy love towards me, so manifest, that all the world hereafter shall acknowledge it, speake of it, and wonder at it.

XI. Now it is certaine, that often God casteth his children into a sea of afflictions, not to clense them of any sinne wherewith they were soyled, not to keepe them cleane from any sinne wherewith they might bee defiled; but onely to make tryall of them by divers temptations, which he doth for two respects:

First, as a Chirurgion by plaisters draweth out into the skinne the inward impostume which is hid in the flesh, that by suppuration it may be healed: so God by temptations bringeth men to the acknowledgement of their hid sinnes and naturall weaknesse; that finding how prone they are to evill, and how weake to resist it, they trust not any more in themselves, but in God,2 Cor. 12.9. whose strength is made perfect in weaknesse. So it is writ­ten of Hezekiah, that when the Ambassadors of the [Page 88]Princes of Babylon were sent unto him, to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land,2. Chron. 32, 31. God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. Then he was puffed up with vaine glory: whereof being ad­vised by the Prophet, and threatned with a most heavy punishment, he humbled himselfe, and answered,Isa. 38.8. Good is the word of the Lord, which he hath spoken. So Peter per­ceiving how soone, and upon how light a cause he had denyed his good master, whom he loved most tender­ly, and that after such bragging, thatMat. 26.33, 35, 75. though all men should be offended because of him, yet would he never be offen­ded, yea, though he should dye with him, yet would he not deny him; was confounded within himselfe, and astonished at his childish weaknesse, went out, and wept bitterly. What the worhy Martyrs of Christ, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Anne de Bourg, Coun­sellour of the Parliament at Paris, thought of them­selves, when for feare of death they recanted, how they were abashed and ashamed of their lightnesse, the stories of their Martyrdomes beare witnesse. Twice and thrice happy had beene the young man in the Gospell, to whom the Lord said,Mat. 19.21. If thou wilt be perfect, goe and sell that thou hast, and give to the poore, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me; if he had come by this commandement to the knowledge of the cove­tousnesse, which lay lurking in his narrow heart: for then he had not gone away sorrowfull, but had ac­knowledged his hidden corruption, and cryed to the Lord, Helpe my weaknesse. For that commandement was not a precept requiring actuall obedience; but a precept of Tryall, to disclose his insatiate avarice, and make it knowne to himselfe and others.

Secondly, as the Arabian incense, and most excellent spices perfume not the air with their sweet smelling sa­vour, till they be rubbed, brayed, or cast into the fire: and as the most precious jewells have a more shining [Page 89]glosse, and gracefull bright colour, in the darknesse of the night, than in the most radiant sunne-shine of a faire summer-day; so the jewells of Gods graces, where­with the righteous man is adorned, have not such a gli­stering and grace in the radiant and beame-shining day of his prosperitie, as in the gloomie and clowdy night of his adversitie. Therefore Saint Iames saith,Iam. 1.2, 3. My bre­brethren, count it all ioy when ye fall into divers tentations: whereof he rendereth this reason; knowing, that the try­ing of your faith, worketh patience: for if there were no adversitie, where should patience be? and if the righ­teous man were not broken and brayed with crosses, and tribulations, how should the good smell of his pa­tience, of his faith, of his humilitie, bemuske the Church of God? Gold is gold wheresoever it be, and keepeth its owne beautie and gracefulnesse: but put it in the Creuset, cast it in the fire, and it shall cast a more glistering brightnesse than it did before. The righteous man is Gods gold, and a precious jewell in his Trea­sure: In all states, his innoceny, integritie, meekenesse, is knowne to some men; but specially his faith is made manifest when he is in the fierie furnace of tribulation: then his drosse and tinne is evaporated, and vanisheth away like smoake; then the goodly metall of Gods gra­ces holds firme: then they give more light, and shew more grace, than all the gold of Ophir. As it is written in the eleventh chapter of the Prophecy of Daniel, v. 35. That some of them of understanding, shall fall, to try them, and to purge and make them white, even to the time of the end: and as it is said in the third chapter of Malachy, v. 2, 3. That the Lord is like a Resiners fire, and like Fullers soape: and he shall sit as a Refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purifie the sonnes of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righte­ousnesse. Therefore Saint Peter calleth our crosses1. Pet. 1.7. try­alls of our faith, much more precious than of gold that peri­sheth, [Page 90]though it bee tryed with fire: And Saint Paul calleth themRom. 5.3 Tribulations or Pressings, because that whatsoever persecuters intend, they are the Lords wine-presse, whereby the heavenly liquor of spirituall graces lurking in righteous men, which are the sweete grapes of Christs Vineyard, planted with his owne hand, are expressed and imparted to others, who find it to be of a sweet and most excellent rellish.

XII. Let us bring two or three examples to illu­strate the truth of this doctrine: Can we seeke, or if we seeke, shall we finde any more fit and convenient to our purpose, than the example of Iob? he shineth like gold, even in the eyes of God, in his greatest prosperitie: and God himselfe is his witnesse before the Angels of hea­ven, and Satan who had thrust himselfe among them, that then, even then,Iob 1. [...]. there was none like him in the earth; a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and es­chewed evill. The truth spake, but Satan beleeved him not: what God witnessed of Iob; that hee was be­fore men, and Satan could not deny but he seemed so: what then could he say against him? Nothing which was true: yet which he knew to be, and shall ever bee too true of many men in the world; and which he sus­pected, might be true in him also:Iob 1.9, 10, 11. Doth Iob, saith he, feare God for nought? hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on eve­ry side? thou hast blessed the worke of his hands, and his cat­tell is increased in the land: but put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. The summe of the accusation is this: Iob is an Hypocrite, he serveth thee, because thou blessest him: take thy bles­sings from him, and he will curse thee.

Therfore God, to shew that his Saints are not slaves, or hirelings, serving him for the reward, but loving and respectuous children, walking before him with an upright heart for conscience sake; giveth all that Iob [Page 91]had, into Satans hands. When Champions and Master-wrestlers walke abroad, arrayed in soft and precious cloathing; it is hard to judge of the health, integritie, and dispositions of their bodies, and of the ability and strength of their limbes: but when they come naked from the girdle upward to the lists or wrestling place, all the beholders see the proportion of their members; and as they perceive them to bee bigge-membred, and their limbs well set, judge of their vigour and might: So when Iob was cloathed with Gods goods, as with a garment, his patience, his faith, his constancy was knowne of few: but when the divell stript him of all, when he came naked to the theatre to wrestle with the foyler and overthrower of mankind; when then hee cryed aloud,Iob 1.21 2.2 Naked came I out of my mothers wombe, and naked shall I returne thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord; when speaking so, he sinned not, and attributed nothing unde­cent to God; his prowesse and valour was made manifest to Angels and men, who rejoyced for his victorie: and God himselfe, as it were clapping his hands, and applau­ding him, upbraided his enemy, saying with a nip­ping scoffe,Iob 2.3. Hast thou considered my servant Iob, how still he holdeth fast his integritie? The craftie and cunning fox is not discountenanced for this first foyle, and bitter jeast, but replying,V. 4, 5, 6. Skinne for skinne, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life: but put foorth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and hee will curse thee to thy face; he checked God, as beeing the cause of his over­throw, and of Iobs victory: as if he had said, What won­der if Iob have not cursed thee? for thou hast spared him: but now touch him in his health, which is most sensible unto him: let me racke his sinewes, bruise his bones, teare his flesh in pieces, and I undertake he shall curse thee by and by. See againe these two champions in the place of battell, in the presence of God, of his [Page 92]holy Angels, and of men: Satan smote him with sore biles, from the sole of his foot unto his crowne; hee stirred up his wife, his speciall friends, his servants, lit­tle children, all that knew him against him, to tempt him, to mocke him, to reuile him. When they slept, and he hoped that the night should ease his complaint, his adversary scared him with dreames, and terrified him through visions: yee see with what sleight and might his enemy struggleth with him, how hee endea­voureth to supplant him, to wring out of him some uncomely word against God. But hee remaining im­mooveable in his integritie,Iob 2.10. What, saith he? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evill? Iob 13.15, 16. though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: I will maintaine mine owne wayes before him: he also shall bee my salvation. In all this did he not sinne with his lippes, and spake nothing un­beseeming a Saint, & unworthie of the Lord his God.

Then was fulfilled that which he said,Iob 23.10. When hee hath tryed me, I shall come forth as gold. Then Satan overcome, sheweth a faire paire of heeles, and, putting his finger on his mouth, appeared no more before God, to craake. Satan, why hast thou remooved thy foote? why hast thou made head to thy adversary with thy heeles? hast thou not done against him all that thou couldst? thou hast blasted with lightening and thunder, or carryed a­way, by the violent hands of robbers, all his goods: thou hast made him desolate, and without children: there is no part of his body which thou hast spared; and it seemes that thou doest not let him live, but to be­waile his owne disaster: wherefore then doest thou not follow thy thrust, and prosecute thy designes? Alas! saith hee, I have done all that I could: I have done nothing of that which I intended, for hee hath not cursed God: for this I plotted all these mis­chiefes against him. And I am so farre from gaining a­ny thing thereby, that much otherwise, casting him in [Page 93]the burning furnace of most sensible and smarting tri­bulations, I have made him more beautifull and glori­ous. I deemed that he should curse God, and loe he bles­seth him. I thought to bring him in contempt upon the ashes: and loe, loe, hee is more righteous, more constant, more worshipfull upon the dunghill, than he was in his goodly and gorgeous house, in the honora­ble company of his wife, children, friends, and ser­vants. The orientall pearles are not so faire as his pockes: the smelling of roses is not so sweete as the stinke of his breath; his sores are cleerer and brighter than the beames of the Sun. I have (alas!) procured unto him an eternall renowne upon the face of the whole earth: I am cause, that he shall bee from hence­forth to all men a patterne and example of faith, of pa­tience, of constancie in their most heavie calamities. I have digged a pit for him, and I am fallen into the ditch which I have made: he is exalted, and I am confoun­ded.

XIII. This example is sufficient. Adde unto it that which is written of the Bride in the song of Salomon. She is so inflamed with the love of her Spouse, thatCant. 1.2. her onely desire is to bee led into his chamber, that there hee may kisse her with the kisses of his mouth, that there she may be glad, and rejoyce in his love. But when he is absent from her, as he seemes to bee in her affliction; whenCant. 3.2. she rises, and goes about the citie in the streetes, and in the broad wayes, to seeke him whom her soule loveth;Cant. 5.7 when the watch men that goe a­bout the citie, finde her, and smite her, and wound her; when the keepers of the walles take away her veile from her, and yet she leaveth not off to cry to them, Saw ye him whom my soule loveth? the flames of her love make a fairer blaze, and cast a greater heat. Then, then, all they which behold her, see evidently, thatCant. 8.6, 7. love is strong as death, that iealousie is hard as the grave: the coals thereof [Page 94]are coales of fire, and a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench that love, neither can the floods drowne it: If a man give all the substance of his house for love, it would ut­terly be contemned.

XIV. How should the love, the patience, the zeale, the constancy of Paul have bin known, if God had not crushed and ground him with continuall tentations and afflictions? wheresoever he went, he was adver­tised by the holy Ghost,Act. 20.23, 24. that bonds and afflictions waited for him. O how unpleasant & fearfull a message would that be to many at this day? and hee what? But, faith he, none of these things moove me, neither count I my life deare unto my felfe, so that I might finish my course with ioy, and the ministery which I have received of the Lord Iesus, to testifie the Gospell of the grace of God. Act. 21.11, 22, 13. The Disciples be­sought him with teares, not to goe up to Ierusalem, where Agabus had prophecyed that hee should bee bound: But he rebuking them. answered, What meane ye to weepe, and breake mine heart? for I am ready, not to bee bound onely, but also to dye at Ierusalem for the name of the Lord Iesus.

XV. When the Palatinate was in peace, when the Churches of France lived in their townes of suretie without feare, what wonder if they professed the Gos­pell publikely? But now when their sorts are levelled and cast downe to the ground, when their townes are dismantled, when they are curbed with strong Citadels, when they are disarmed among armed enemies, when they see nothing in their streets but the plagues of E­gypt, but swarmes of Priests, which are a most noy­some mixture of filthy and slinking flyes, but great store of Iesuites, which like loathsome frogs come un­sent for, leaping and croaking into their houses, and bed-chambers, but an infinite multitude of Monkes, which as so many locusts eate up all their substance, but armies of souldiers, which are to them the louzie dis­ease [Page 95]wherewith their bodies are pestered, their flesh is consumed, all the blood of their veines is suckt up: when they looke for nothing but present death, when a toy shall take their enemies in the head, to compell them once againe to solemnize with teares, and shed­ding of their innocent blood, S. Bartholomewes feast; Then to persevere in the faith, then to maintaine sted­fastly and stoutly the Gospell, then to abhorre more and more Papistry, and the man of sinne, to contemne the contempt of insolent Papists, to shut up their eares a­gainst the charming voice of the craftie Iesuite, to hold their mouthes open to confesse Iesus Christ, and to blesse God, is a manifest demonstration of true faith, and of that constancy which is worthy of a Christian. Wherfore as Moses said to the people of Israel, that God would sufferDeut. 13.1, 2, 3. false Prophets, and dreamers of dreames to arise among them, to proove them, and to know whether they loved the Lord their God with all their heart, and with all their soule: And as the Apostle said to the Corinthians,1. Cor. 11.19. There must be heresies amongst you, that they which are approoved, may be made manifest among you: So I say, that the righ­teous man must have many evills, that it may be known that hee serveth God, neither for the present goods which he hath received of his bountifull hand, neither for hope of any worldly benefite to come, but for his owne sake: as a lover seeketh no recompence of his love, but that which he findeth in the dignitie and ex­cellencie of the thing beloved.

XVI. Moreover, these many evils are as so many exer­cises and practices of the manifold graces wherewith God hath copiously furnished and graced the righteous man. God that said to him,Heb. 13.5. I will never leave thee, 1. Faith. nor forsake thee. If he beleeve that, when his Garners are full of Corne, when his Canes burst with Wine, when he sitteth in peace among his owne people, it is no won­der but here, here is a good exercise of his faith, to beleeve [Page 96]so when he seeth nothing on the left, nothing on the right hand, nothing before, nothing behind, but needi­nesse, but want, but beggerie: when he is threatned with present death, to believe certainly, to say resolutely, as the three Salamanders did to Nebucadnezzar, Dan. 3.17 Our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fierie fornace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. When the deepe gulfe of the red sea is before our faces; when Pharao, and his most dreadful and cruell armie, followeth us hotly at the heeles; when high and steep mountaines runne along by our sides, and bereave us of all hope of flight, then to say,Exod. 14 13. Feare ye not, stand still, and see the sal­vation of the Lord, which he will shew you to day: In a pre­sent evill to looke for present deliverie; in the middest of the valley of the shadow of death, to see, to imbrace life;Heb. 11 24, 25, 26. to refuse great riches and honours, for the deny­ing of Christ: to chuse povertie by confessing him: to preferre suffering of affliction with the people of God, to the enjoying of the pleasures of sinne for a season: to esteeme the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt, as Moses did, and as many Chri­stians have done, and doe still, is a most wonderfull and speciall exercise of true faith.

What Vertues are more commanded unto us by pre­cept,2. Meek­nes, charity and recommended unto us by most excellent ex­amples of the Patriarkes, of the Prophets, of David, of Iesus Christ, of his holy Apostles, than humilitie, meeke­nesse, charitie? where find ye better occasion to pra­ctise them, than in your greatest adversitie?1. Cor. 4 11, 12. Ye are re­viled, and ye blesse: ye are defamed, and ye intreat, as Paul did: ye are stoned to death, as Steven was, and ye kneele down, and cry with a loud voice,Acts 7.6 Lord lay not this sinne to their charge. This is true meekenesse: this is true cha­ritie.

We are tossed to and fro with most grievous and te­dious tribulations;3. Patience then, as the Apostle saith,Heb. 10.36. wee have [Page 97]neede of patience, that after we have done the will of God, wee may receive the promise: then it is time to be that which we professe. We say, that Patience is the fairest flower of of the Christian mans garden. Other flowers delight in faire weather, and grow not but in ground well weeded and gnibbed up: This groweth among the brairs & thi­stles of stinging tribulations, and spreadeth most faire, when the weather is most foule. Frost and Snow, Haile and Lightning Stormes and Tempests make it to blos­some with a most pleasant shew, and to breathe a most sweet sent. Then the righteous man, not looking to the stone that hurteth him, but lifting up his eyes to the al­mightie hand of the heavenly Father which threw it, saith, as David said of Shimei who cursed him,2. Sam. 16.10. So let him curse: for the Lord hath said unto him, Curse Dauid. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? Men have their mischeivous ends when they afflict the righteous man, and it may be that they molest him wrongfully. Tribu­lations also may come upon him by his owne faults, and many other wayes; yet God hath an hand in all, & his most wise providence guideth them. Shall he then repine? shall he kicke against the prickes? God forbid: But rather, knowing that his sufferings are Gods owne worke, and thatDeu. 32.4. all his wayes are iudgement, he taketh Da­vid for his President, and saith with him, I was Psal. 39.9 dumbe, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it. Here, here then is the wonderfull patience of the Saints, who bridle their mouthes from grudging against God, and open them not in their temptations, but to poure out their humble requests and prayers before him:

Prayers, 4. Prayers. which faint and as it were droope in the faire summer-dayes of our peace and wealth, but recover their vigor, yea, redouble their force in the fleeting and freezing winter of our calamitie. God saith to the righte­ous man,Psal. 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble so he doth Ionas Ioh. 2.1. snorted in the ship, but hee was awake, & praied in the [Page 98]Whales belly. The Disciples, so long as the sea was calme and quiet, prayed not; but when the tempest arose, and the winds spake lowd, and the surges threatned the ship with sinking, then they prayed, then they cried,Matt. 8.25. Lord save us, wee perish. So Peter walked a little while upon the sea without praying: but when hee saw the wind boi­strous, and began to sink, he cried,Matt. 14 30. Lord save me. Prayer is the meane whereby God bestoweth his blessings upon us: It is the bucket which we dive and thrust farre into the undraynable fountaine of his graces, that we may re­ceive of his fulnesse, and grace for grace. Then tribulati­ons are behoovefull unto us, that by them knowing our need, we may be moved to pray.

Are wee not savedRom. 8.24. by hope? 5. Hope. what hope, what desire can wee have of heavenly things, when all things laugh upon us in the world? the present enjoying of the one, expells out of our hearts the desire and hope of the o­ther. Therefore by the counterpoize of the evils of this life, God stirreth up in us a most vehement desire of the life to come, and holds our hope perpetually busied in praying and crying,Rev. 22.20. Even so; Come Lord Iesus.

XVII. All these graces without perseverance are no­thing: forMatt. 24.13. he that shall endure unto the end, 6. Perse­verance, Constancy. shall bee saved: And there is no perseverance without constancie. The maine object of Constancie, is tribulation: neither is it seene but in things very difficult to undertake, or to o­vercome.2. Mac. 7. Consider the courage of seven brethren suf­fering all kinds of most cruell torments, because they would not, at the Kings commandement, transgresse Gods commandement, and eate swines flesh. Wonder at the constancie of their marveilous mother, who, with a manly heart in a womans breast, exhorted them to take their death cheerfully for Gods cause; and after their execution, went joyfully to the burning caldron, and sealed also the truth with her blood. How many faire promises were made unto them! ButHeb. 11.35. they refused [Page 99]to be delivered, that they might obtaine a better resurrection.

In the Ecclesiasticall stories of Christians, such exam­ples are infinite. AtEuseb. hi­ster. Eccles. lib. 5. c. 1. Sanctus. Vienne in France, a Deacon of the Church, called Sanctus, being torne in pieces with hot pincers, being at divers times so cruelly racked, that hee was nothing but wounds, but bruises, but putrefying fores, but a peece of swollen flesh, without almost any fi­gure or shape of a man; could never be compelled to tell his name, his familie, his dwelling place. His onely an­swer to all their rackings, scorchings, burnings, was, I am a Christian. Neither could the Executioners, by the Tympan, by the hot and burning pans, by the teeth of wild beasts, wring out of Blandina a maide, and servant to a Dame of that same town, any word but this,Blandina. I am a Christian, and we do no evill. When Decius persecuted the Church, Babylas Bishop of Antioch,Babylas. led to the place of execution with his three sonnes, desired that they should be first put to death, to the end that he might exhort and confirme them: which when hee had done, his wife comforted him; and after she had seen her husband and three children suffer death for Christs sake, buried them together. Much otherwise, the Father and the Sonne with whom I was familiar; The Father beseeched that he should die first, that his Sonne, who was a godly and learned Preacher, might comfort him. Then it was a wonderfull spectacle to Papists, to see the Sonne at the foote of the gallowes, preaching to his Father the merits of the death of Christ, the vertue of his resurrection, the vanitie of the world, the unspeakable joyes of Paradise; to heare him crying alowd, Father, ye cannot so soone knocke at the gate of heaven, but Christ will open: ye cannot so soone enter, but I shall follow; to hear and behold the old and venerable Father answering with a cheerefull coun­tenance, Sonne, I see the heavens open, and Iesus Christ at the right hand of God. Then they were amazed to marke againe the young Minister forgetting himselfe, and with [Page 100]a constant face preaching to other, two which were also in the executioners hands, the forgivenesse of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, and life everlasting: To consider how constantly the foure died, with what fer­vencie of celestial prayers they commended their spi­rits into Gods hands; Then the chiefe of the Capuchin Monkes said to his companions, Si coelum Huguenotis datur, istis debetur: If heaven bee given to Huguenots, it is due to these men: Then some Gentlemen cryed, O happie religion, which breeds in men a contempt of death, which we dread most, and a most sure hope of salvation! who would not, who should not fight manfully for the defence, and suffer constantly for the confession of such a religion? This day onely have we begun to know Christ: Condemned men have been our Preachers: We shall never hate Huguenotes any more.

XVIII. Learne of all this discourse, what difference there is betwixt the upright man and the hypocrite Iohn the Baptist calleth afflictionsMat. 3.12. Gods fanne, wherewith when he hath throughly purged his floore, the chaffe flyeth away into the ayre, and finally is burnt up with unquenchable fire: but the wheate is gathered into the garner. Hypocrites are chaffe, lying in time of peace intermixt with the faithfull, which are Gods wheat: butPsal. 1.4, 5. the wind of persecution driveth them away, ney­ther can they stand in the congregation of the righte­ous: for then there is nothing to be seene but Aposta­sies, defections, abjuring of the truth, renouncing of the Gospell, forsaking of all Communion with the Church. Iesus Christ compareth tribulation and perse­cutionMat 13.5, 6, 8, 20, 21, 23. to the burning Sunne, scorching the seede which hath no deepnesse of earth, so that it withereth away; but warming the seede which falls into good ground, and making it to bring foorth fruite; some an hundred fold, some sixtie fold, some thirtie fold. The Hypocrite receiveth the word with joy, but because hee hath not [Page 101]in himselfe the roote of an upright conscience; when persecution ariseth because of word, he is offended, and starteth backe. The righteous man is the good ground: the sunne of persecution may blacken him, but it can­not burne him. In the most hot dayes of tribulation, he is most plentious in good workes: therefore the whole Church cryeth in the Canticles,Cant. 1.5, 6. O ye daughters of Ierusalem, I am blacke, but comely: Bernar. in Cant. ser, 25. Blacke in your judgement; Comely in the judgement of God and An­gels. Blacke without,Vestro ma­leficio. by your mischiefe; for the Sunne of persecution hath looked upon me: my mothers children were angry with me: these good Catholikes have persecu­ted me: Comely within,Dei bene­ficio. through Gods benefit: forPsal. 45.13. the Kings daughter is all glorious within: As the tents of of Kedar, as the curtaines of Salomon, which are all blacke and dustie without; but within are decked with most precious implements.

To conclude, cast gold in water: it keepeth its owne yellow shining: cast it in the fire, and melt it, it becom­meth brighter. Cast earth in water, it is by and by chan­ged into mud: cast hay in water, it will suddenly rot: cast earth in the fire, it is instantly turned into dust, and made a sport to the wind: cast hay into the fire, with a blaze it is made smoake and ashes. So befalls it to the righteous man & the hypocrite. The hypocrit, when he thriveth most, and full-gorgeth himself with pleasures, is like hay and a lumpe of earth in the water, he is no­thing but rottennesse and putrefaction: when Gods hand is upon him, he howles, he despites God, hee curseth him to his face, and in the stirring of an eye is consumed; he perisheth, he vanisheth like earth and straw in the fire. But the righteous man in his greatest prosperitie shineth in all godlinesse before men, as gold in water: and when hee is cast in the fierie furnace of tribulation, he is like gold in the fire: his workes then yeeld a more radiant lustre than before.

XIX. The Lord in his mercy sanctifie us, and make us throughly righteous, that when the day of our try­all shall come, we may be found to be fine metall; and abiding the hammer, the scissers, and the fire, may through faith and patience inherite the promises of grace, peace, and eternall life, through the merits of our Lord Iesus Christ, who1. Ioh. 5.20. is the true God and eternall life: to whom is due, and to whom let us render, now and for evermore, all praise, honour and glory. Amen.

SERMON V. Of the causes of the righteous mans Evills.

I.GOD often loades the righteous man with crosses, to honour him: when he beareth his owne crosse,Luk. 22.33, 40, 41. as the male­factors which were crucified with Christ did, then he is chastised; and as one of them said, We receive the due reward of our deeds, so may he: when hee is persecuted for righteousnesse sake, as David was by Saul, and Iob by the Di­vell; or beares Christs crosse, asMat. 27.32. Simon the Cyrenian did, then his faith, hope, charitie is tryed; then his patience and constancie is exercised, then he is very much ho­noured.

II. Ye know, that Cain slew his brother:1. Ioh. 3.12. and where­fore slew he him? because his owne workes were evill, and his brothers righteous. Gen. 19.9 Lot was threatned by the vicious Sodomites, because that, being a forreiner and stranger, he rebuked them.Gen. 37.2 Ioseph was hated and sold of his brethren, because he advertised his father of their mis­demeanour:Gen. 39.9 he was also cast in prison, because hee would not sinne with his masters wife. David com­plained of his enemies, saying,Psal. 38.20. They that render evill for good, are mine adversaries, because I follow the thing that good is. Iohn Baptist was beheaded, because hee said to Herod, Mat. 14.4, 10. It is not lawfull for thee to have thy brothers wife. All these suffered for righteousnesse sake, and for the uprightnesse of a good conscience before God; but they suffered not for God. There be degrees in righteousnes: The first is, when a man suffereth for any good cause: Is not that honourable and glorious before God and [Page 104]men?1. Pet. 2.9, 20. For (as Peter, writing to servants, saith) this is thanke-worthy, if a man, for conscience toward God, endure griefe, suffering wrongfully: for what glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if when ye doe well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is accep­table with God.

III. The second is, when hee suffereth immediately for God, for the publike profession of his holy Word. WhenDan. 3.18. the three children did chuse rather to bee burnt in the furnace, than to worship Nebuchadnezzars gol­den Image, they suffered for God: whenDan. 6.16 Dauid was cast into the Lyons denne, because he would not obey the Kings idolatrous decree, he suffered for God: when2. Mac. 6.19. Eleazar, one of the principall Scribes, chused rather to dye gloriously, than to live stained with the eating of Swines flesh, hee suffered for God: when the2. Mac. 7. the seven brethren and their mother were fryed, scorched, dismembred, because they would not transgresse the Law, they suffered for God: when the whole Church at that time made her moane to God, and said,Psal. 44.22. For thy sake are we killed all the day long, we are counted as sheepe for the slaughter, she suffered for God. If it be glorious to suffer for a good cause, is it not more glorious to suffer for Gods cause?

IV. But to suffer for the Gospell, is the most glori­ous of all.Rom. 1.17. For therein is the righteousnesse of God revea­led from faith to faith. There is evidently before our eyes set forth our Lord Iesus Christ, who because heeDan 9.14 hath brought unto us everlasting righteousnesse, and1. Cor. 1.30. is made unto us of God wisedome, and righteousnesse, and sancti­fication, and redemption, is with good and iust cause cal­led,ler. 23.6. the Lord our righteousnesse: Therefore hee who suf­fers for Christ, is said after a most speciall manner to suffer for righteousnesse sake. Of such speaketh Christ, where he saith,Mat. 5.10.11. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake: for theirs is the kingdome of heaven [Page 105]What that righteousnesse is, he sheweth in these words following: Blessed are yee when men shall revile you, and per­secute you, and shall say all manner of evill against you falsely for my sake.

WhenRev. 1.9. Iohn was telegated into the Isle of Pathmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Iesus Christ, he suffe­red for righteousnesse: whenIoh. 9.3.4 the man that was borne blind, and restored to sight by Christ, was cast out of the Synagogue, and excommunicated for Christs sake, hee suffered for righteousnesse: whenIoh. 12.10, 11. the chiefe Priests consulted, that they might put Lazarus to death, because that by reason of him many of the Iewes went away, and belee­ved on Iesus, he suffered for righteousnesse: whenEph. 3.13 2. Tim. 2.9, 10. Paul was cast into prison for preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and endured many troubles for the Elects sake, that they might obtaine the salvation which is in Christ Iesus, with eternall glory, he suffered for righteousnesse:Rev. 6.9. Those that were slaine for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held, whose soules Iohn saw under the altar, suf­fered for righteousnesse sake.

V. Of such some are Confessors, some are Martyrs. The faithfull who were shut up in prison for Christs sake, but were not yet tortured; as also those which leaving their families, goods, friends, and native soile, fled to forrain nations, lest they should be constrained to deny Christ; were calledCypr. epist. 9. & 21. Confessors. All those which endured horrible & great torments for the Gospels sake, though they were not put to death, were named Martyrs. Tertul­lian calleth themTert. ad Martyres, cap. 1. Martyres designatos, appointed to be Mar­tyrs. Euseb hist. Ec. l. lib. 5. cap. 2. The Martyrs of Vienne in France, after they had en­dured all kind of most cruel & ignominious tormēts for Christs sake, taking to thēselves the name of Confessors, re­fused to be called Martyrs, saying, that the name of Mar­tyrs pertaines to those only w^ch have sealed their confes­sion by their death: even as Christ callethRev. 2.13 Antipas his faith­full martyr, because he was slain in Pergamus for the Gospel.

VI. In a generall signification, Martyr is a witnesse. The Gospel whereunto testimony is given, is calledIsa. 8.20. 1. Ioh 5.11. the Testimony, and, the Rev. 19.10. Testimony of Iesus. Therefore it is said of Iohn, Ioh. 1.7, 8 that he came for a witnesse, to bear witnesse of the light. And Christ saith of himselfe,Ioh. 18.37. I came into the world, that I should beare witnesse unto the truth: yea, he calleth himselfeRev. 3.14 the Amen, the faithfull and true witnesse: Title, which theEuseb. hist. Eccles. lib. 5. c. 2. Martyrs of Vienne esteemed to be proper un­to him, because he not onely bare witnesse to the truth, but also sealed it with his most precious blood. So all true Christians are Christs Martyrs, because their whole life is nothing else but a martyrdome, that is to say, a te­stimony which they render to the Gospel,Martyrium vitae. that it is of God; and to Iesus Christ, that hee is the Sonne of God: Testimony, which they bare with such fervencie and zeale, that they would chuse rather to be scorched, rac­ked, torne in peeces, and die the most cruell death that mans wit can invent, than to leave off to glorifie their God and Saviour by publike confession, and holinesse of life. Such men are Martyrs in affection before God, who judgeth of men not according to the event of things, but according to their will and intention. If any man live in the Church, meaning to deny Christ, rather than to suffer losse of goods, or any bodily paine for his sake, he is an Apostate in Gods eyes, though he never bee put to that triall, and die peaceably in his bed, confessing Christ with his mouth. So he that is resolved to make lesse ac­count of his life, than of the Gospel, is a true Martyr be­fore God,1. Sam. 15.7. who looketh on the heart; though God spare him, and preserve his life from the hands of the wicked. If Paul said truely of Priscilla and Aquila, thatRom. 16.4. for his life they had laid downe their owne neckes, because they feared not to undergo all dangers for his releasing: shall God,1. Reg. 8.39. who onely knoweth the hearts of all the children of men, neg­lect the zeale and affection which his faithfull servants have to his service?

Martyrium sanguinis.Notwithstanding the Church, which diveth not into mens hearts, giveth not this glorious name of Martyrs, but to those which are Martyrs in action; which, I say, cannot by most exquisite torments, and painfull deaths, be driven back from their profession, which they sealed most constantly with their innocent blood: which though Christ did, yet we give not the name of Martyr­dome to his death, because it had a more speciall end, and is the ransom of mankind. The Church hath ever called Steven the first Martyr, as being the first which suffered death for Christs cause.Act. 12.2. Iames, the brother of Iohn, was the second.

VII. In them yee finde the three qualities which are necessarily required in them whom Christ honoreth with this glorious title: 1. They were full of faith, and of the holy Ghost. I say, that they were godly men: for a good conscience, a godly and an upright life, is so needfull in this case, that the Apostle saith,1. Cor. 13.3. Though hee give his body to be burned, and have not charitie, it profiteth him nothing. This is called by some the Martyrdome of life, and is more difficult than the Martyrdome of blood: for it is not so easie to a man to kill sinne in himselfe, to burne his covetousnesse, his pride, his ambition, his lusts and unlawfull desires in the fire of the Spirit, as to suffer the executioner to cast his body in a fire of wood. Which I pray you all to lay to your hearts, that in this time of outward peace with men, yee may bee Martyrs inward with God: Martyrs, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit; having your praise, not of men but of God.

2. They suffered for the best cause that ever any in­nocent man suffered for. Suffered they not for the Sonne of God, who is Psal. 45. fairer than all the children of men? Suffe­red they not for the Gospel, which is Rom. 2.16. the power of God un­to salvation to every one that beleeveth; and therefore more excellent than the Law, for which the Iewes suffered? Let no man say, that the theefe upon the crosse was a [Page 108]Martyr, because he repented, and confessed Christ: for repentance changeth not the nature of crosses; ney­ther can it be said truely, that all those which repent at the houre of their death, are Martyrs. The thiefe, con­fessed he not thatLuk. 23.41. he suffered iustly, and received the due reward of his deeds? And have we not this commande­ment of the holy Ghost,1. Pet 4.15, 16. Let none of you suffer as a mur­therer, or as a thiefe, or as an evill doer, or as a busie-body in other mens matters: yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorifie God on this behalfe? Aug. Epi. 61. & 166. It is the cause which maketh the Martyr, not the pu­nishment.Euseb. lib. 5 cap. 16. Aug. de cor­rectione Do­natistarum, cap. 7. Let not the Montanists, the Pepusians, the Marcionites, the Donatists, the Circumcellions, and other heretiques bragge of their Martyrs: there was never a­ny heresie so blockish, so ridiculous, so impious, but there was found some obstinate fellow, who offered to dye willingly for it. Men in our dayes have gone to the fire with a merry countenance for maintaining of Atheisme. For the divell hath also his Martyrs, whom an ancient Doctor calleth most properly,Martyres Sataricae virtutis. Martyrs of a diabolicall courage: and thereforeAug. in Psal. 68. all the praise of Mar­tyrdom is in the goodnesse of the cause, not in the grie­vousnes of the pain. Martyrs make not their cause to be good, or their doctrine to be the Gospel: it is the good cause, it is the Gospel that makes Martyrs. Our sufferings make not our cause iust: but a iust cause will make our sufferings glorious.

3. They had the choice of death and life: if they would have recanted, and ioyned themselves to the Iewes against Christ, they had not beene killed. If a Christ an be put to death for Christs sake, without of­fer of life upon condition of abjuring, the Church calleth him not a Martyr; for who knoweth what hee would have done, if the option of life had beene given unto him?Mat. 2.16 The innocent babes which Herod slew for Christs sake, were not Martyrs, because they had [Page 109]no such election, neither could they in that age have accepted it, if it had beene offered. Our fathers also which were massacred tumultuously without any ac­cusation, examination, exhortation, promise of life, for the same cause were not Martyrs: These, these one­ly which seeing on the right hand the Priest, the Altar, the Incense to offer, the breaden God to worship; and on the left, the hang-man stirring the fire, unsheathing and shaking threatningly the fatall sword, erecting the gibbet, or the scaffold, trussing his arme to hit right a deadly blow, spet at the Idols, flye from the Altars, run to the fire, to the sword, to the gallows, to the water, cry as Montalchino did at Milan; Let Christ, let Christ live, and Montalchino dye: these, I say, these are the men whom the Church hath honoured with the excellent title of Martyrs, who dye in Christ, with Christ, for Christ: in Christ holily, with Christ wisely, for Christ glo­riously. O how glorious before God is the death of Martyrs!Psal. 116 15. Precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints; but namely of his Martyrs, which dye in him, with him, for him.

Weenest thou that it is but a slender glory, that Christ hath chosen thee, one among a thousand, to be his Martyr? that he will have thee to suffer, not onely with him, as doe all those which suffer for righte­ousnesse sake, but also for him? that as heIoh. 21.19. forewarned Peter, by what death he should glorifie him; so hee ta­keth thee by the hand, and saith to thee, Come, I have picked thee out from many millions, to beare witnes to the truth of my word before the great men of the earth, to seale the faith thou hast in me with thy blood, to ho­nour me with thy death? WhenGen. 32.6, 7, 8. Iacob was advertised that his brother Esau was comming to meete him, and foure hundred men with him, hee was greatly afraid, and divided the people that were with him, and the Flockes, and the Heards, and the Camels, into two [Page 110]bands: them he set foremost in the front of the battell:Gen. 33.2, 3. the second place he gave to the hand-maides and their children: the third, to Lea and her children; but he put Rachel and Ioseph hindermost, because hee loved them best: he adventureth all that he hath, to save these two. God doth farre otherwayes with his people: he setteth foremost a little number of chosen men, to whom hee hath distributed his graces in a greater scantling, than to the rest: them he setteth in the front to be his Mar­tyrs, and to fight against the powers of the world; spa­ring the multitude to bee the seed-plot and nurserie of his Church.

IIX. Who can conceive sufficiently the greatnesse of this honour?Luk. 6.23 When yeare hated, excommunica­ted, reproached, put to death for the Sonne of mans sake, Christ biddeth you reioyce, and leape for ioy, because the Prophets were used in like manner.Heb. 11.32, &c. The Apostle, in his epistle to the Hebrewes, maketh a catalogue of many Worthies, which under the Law suffered for the word of God, of whom the world was not worthie; that we may esteeme our selves most happy when God conformeth us to them.Iam. 5.10, 11. S. Iames willeth us to take them for an example of suffering affliction, & of patience; that as we count them happy, so we may make it a part of our hap­pinesse to bee like unto them.1. Pet. 5.9 S. Peter will have us to know, that the same afflictions are accomplished in our bre­thren that are in the world: And S. Paul will have us to re­member, that by tribulations for the Gospell,1. Thess. 2.14. wee be­come followers of the Churches of God; which is no small honour. It is said in the Song of Salomon, thatCant. 4.13. the plants of the Church are an Orchard of Pomegranates. A Pomegranate hath within it sundry partitions, and as it were little mansions, with many graines in each of them, of a sweete taste and red colour, orderly set one by another, and all together infolded and shut up under one outward skinne; which hath at the top a little [Page 111]round circle like a crowne. A most excellent Embleme of the faithfull, who are as so many graines set orderly together by the unity of one faith, and by the bond of perfectnesse, which is charitie; having a sweet taste in the holinesse of their life, and a red colour in the con­formitie of bloudy persecution, in the severall Chur­ches where God hath planted them, under the Catho­like Church, whereof the head is our Lord Iesus Christ; who as he was first crowned with thornes upon earth, so is he now crowned with glory in heaven.

IX. To him must we looke principally, as the grains of the Pomegranate looke upward to the head of the skinne wherein they are wrapped; and, according to Pe­ters exhortation,1. Pet. 4.12, 13. reioyce when we are in the furnace for our tryall, in at much as wee are partakers of Christs suffe­rings: for,Rom. 8.28. whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne: first in crosses for him, next in crownes through him:Rom. 8.17. 2. Tim. 2.11. the one and the other with him. In this Realme, men of good birth hold it no little honor to beare the liverie of the Kings Favourite; and how much more the Kings owne live­rie? Shall wee not then account it a most speciall ho­nour and glory to beare Christs liverie, in whom God is well pleased, and who is the King of kings; to be for him made like unto him, to be a curse among men for him, who was a curse before God for us; to dye that we may glorifie him, who is dead to save us? Should not the members bee ashamed to take their sports and de­lights under a head crowned with thornes?

I confesse, that there is a great difference betwixt Christs sufferings and ours. First, hee is God and man, we are but men: Secondly, hee was in his manhood without sinne: there was never man so holy, but he was a sinner: Thirdly.Gal. 3.1 3. he in his torments was made a curse, and drunke the full cup of Gods wrath, which was so bitter to his soule, that he cryed,Mat. 26.46. My God, my [Page 112]God, why hast thou forsaken me? All the Saints and Mar­tyrs have alwaies in all their heaviest crosses beene com­forted and supported of God. Fourthly, he suffered for the expiation of sinne, and his death is the life of the world. All the MartyrsRev. 7.14, 15. have washed their robes, and made them white in his blood, therefore are they before the throne of God. They have all suffered, to beare witnesse, that he suffered for the sinnes of the world: none of them have suffered for the sins of the world.Leo. 1. epist. 83, ad Pale­stinos Episco­pos. For though the death of many Saints hath beene precious in Gods eyes, yet hath not the killing of any Saint beene the propitiation of the world. The righteous have received, but they have not given crownes: and the fortitude of the faithfull hath brought forth examples of patience, not gifts of righteousnesse. The death of each one of them was severall: neither did any by his owne end, pay the debt of another; considering, that among thē sonnes of men, Iesus Christ our Lord alone is he, in whom all are crutifi­ed, all are dead, all buried, all raised up: of whom he said, Ioh. 12.32 If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.

Yet in this is the conformitie of our sufferings with Christs sufferings: that as when Christ suffered for our sake, and in our roome, we suffered in him; so when we suffer for Christs sake, he suffereth in us: as when the head suffereth, all the members suffer; and when the members suffer, the head suffereth. Is not Christ the head? are we not the members of his body? This was the cause why the Apostles, after they were beaten,Act. 5.41. reioyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christs name: for this same cause the Apostle reioyced, that he wasEph. 4.1. the prisoner of the Lord, thatGal 6.17. he bare in his body the markes of the Lord Iesus, thatCol. 1.24 hee filled up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ: for though all Christs sufferings bee accomplished andIoh 19.30 finished in ca­pite, in the head, for the redemption of the Church; yet they are not all fulfilled in corpore, in the body, for the edification of the Church: but as long as there shall be [Page 113]in the world one faithfull to suffer, Christ shall have some evill to suffer; because Christ and the faithfull are one. S. Paul was scholed with this Iesson before his entry into the Church, when the Lord Iesus cryed unto him,Act. 9.4. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? even as when ye tread a man upon the foot, the head will cry, Why treadest thou on me? What wonder then, ifPhil. 3.8, 10. he counted all things but doung, that he might know Christ, and the fellowship of his sufferings, that he might be made conformable unto his death; and if hee rendred testimonie to all the Christians of his time, thatRom. 5.3. they gloried in tribulations?

O bonds, more honourable than the Diadems of Kings! O tribulations, more glorious than the glory of Salomon! Is there any golden chaine so glistering, as the irons wherwith the Confessors are shackled for Christ? Is there any glory to be matched with the glory of the blessed Martyrs, suffering with Christ, and in their suf­ferings made conformable to his image? The Pagans say, that it is sweete and honourable to dye for our countrey: The souldiers glory in the wounds which they have received for the defence of their chimneyes: And those which are led to the gallows for the service of their King, feele glory in their shame, and professe that they di [...]content, seeing they die for their Sove­raignes sake. What is our native soyle, compared with the Church? what is the most glorious King of the earth, paragoned with Christ? Lesse than nothing. We glory in our death for men, which, when we are dead, cannot reward us: and shall we bee ashamed to dye for Christ, who, when we are dead, giveth us life, and satia­teth with immortall honours those which honor him? forRom. 8.17. if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him. For this cause,Tert. Apo­loget. cap. 1.46. & ult. Iust. Apol, 1. the first Christians when they were condemned, thanked their Iudges; but principally they thanked God, saying,Aug. ser. de Cypriano. Deo gratias, Thankes be to God: so did our fathers; and so must we doe.

So then ye have heard the causes why God will have his children to suffer for their owne sakes. He will ey­ther chastise them for the sinnes which they have com­mitted, or restraine them from the sinnes which they might perpetrate, or try them, to make knowne how they can carry themselves in affliction, or put in pra­ctice the manifold graces wherewith hee hath endued them, or honour them with the glory of his Confes­sors and Martyrs.

X. When they are thus afflicted, God hath also re­gard to other men. First, their afflictions are meanes whereby the Elect are converted to God. Christ, when he was persecuted in one Towne, fled into another, and preached there: HeMat. 10.23. commanded his Disciples to doe the like. By occasion of the persecution in Ierusa­lem,Act. 8.1, 4 Act. 11.19, 20. the brethren were scattered abroad throughout the Regions of Iudea, of Samaria, of Phenice, of Cyprus, of Antioch, where they preached the Lord Iesus; and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number belee­ved, and turned unto the Lord. Why wereAct. 16.19, 31. Paul and Silas cast into prison at Philippi? The event shewed, that God did it for the conversion of the Iaylor, who was one of his Elect. And therefore Paul said,2 Tim. 2 10. that hee endured all things for the Elects sake, that they might also obtaine the salvation which is in Christ Iesus, with eternall glory. And writing to the Philippians from the prison at Rome, where hee received the glorious crowne of Martyr­dome, he saith,Phil. 1.13 that the things which happened unto him, had fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel; so that his bonds in Christ were manifest to all Cesars Court, and in all other places. For howsoever he was2. Tim. 2.14. bound, the word of God was not bound. The prison was his Church: there he preached, and there he converted many.

Thus the Albigenses of France, being dispersed by a most furious and violent persecution, went preaching the Gospel in Germanie, in Bohemia, in England. All [Page 115]the flourishing Churches in Europe, at this day; are the harvest which they sowed: but especiallyTert. Apo­loget. ca. ult. Idem ad Scapul. cap. ult. Clemens A­lex. Strom. 4. the seede of the Church, is the bloud of Christians: for those which be­hold their constancy, wonder; wondering, they inquire the cause thereof; inquiring, they learne it; learning it, they are converted.Iustin. A­polog. 1. Euseb. lib. 4. cap. 8. Iust. Mart. beholding the unexpug­nable constancie of Christians in the atrocitie and ex­tremitie of their torments, said to himselfe, that such men which made no account of death, could not bee men given to pleasures and wickednesse; because volup­tuous men, being timorous and faint-hearted, cannot suffer any thing which is grievous to be felt; and above all things, fear death. therupon he was converted, & be­came of an Idolater, a Christiā; of a Philosopher, a Martyr

I might relate unto you a most true storie of a No­ble man converted by the wonderfull constancy of those of whom I spake in my last Sermon, and prote­sting at the houre of his death, that hee dyed in their faith. But by this which I have said, ye see, that the tem­porall death of Gods Saints, is eternall life and salvati­on to many of Gods Elect.

Likewise their constancie and wonderfull boldnesse to maintaine the Gospell against all the wisedome and power of the world, their holy stoutnesse to die for it, is no small comfort to the Church, and a great confir­mation to the weake brethren: which use the Apostle found in his bonds, as he saith, ThatPhil 1.14 by them many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident, were much more bold to speake the word without feare. For this cause, Saint Iohn saith, that1. Ioh. 3.16. as Christ laid downe his life for us, so wee ought to lay downe our lives for the brethren. Who would not be glad to exchange his transitorie and fraile life, for the salvation and everlasting life of Gods Elect? And who would not chuse to die, toIam 5.20 convert a sinner from the errour of his way, to cover a multitude of sinnes, and to save a soule from death? Therein is both honor and [Page 116]profit: Honour to the Confessors and Martyrs, by whose bands and death, so me are converted, many are confirmed. Profit to Gods Elect, which by such means are saved. There is not in this world any honour so profitable, any profit so honourable: and therefore the Apostle considering the honour which commeth of this profit, and the profit which floweth from this honour, writ to the Colossians, thatCol. 1.24. hee reioyced in his sufferings for them, i. e. for their conversion to the faith, and con­firmation in the faith, as being Christs Minister in the one & in the other. Let, I pray you, let the same mind be in us, which was in such holy men: Let us all bee for this end Christs Martyrs in affection, and thanke the Lord our God for this libertie of his Gospel in this Realme, wherein there is no Tyrant, no persecuter to make us Martyrs in action.

XI. Secondly, men readily conceive extravagant o­pinions of those whom God hath furnished with rarest gifts; and as they are inclined to superstition, canonize them, and send up commandement to the heavens to receive them for their gods. Thus the Gentiles erected Temples, dedicated Altars, instituted new honors and religious worship to some odde men among their Ancestors, of whom they had received some speciall benefit. ThusAct. 3.12 the Iewes held their eyes fixed on Peter and Iohn, who had restored a lame man to his feete, as if by their power and holinesse that miracle had beene wrought. ThusAct. 10. [...]. 25, 26▪ Cornelius, though a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, fell downe at Peters feet, and worshipped him, as if he had beene more than a man. ThusAct. 14.10, 11, 12, 13 the Idolaters of Lystra, called Barnabas, Iupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, and would have offered sa­crifice unto them, because they healed a cripple, who never had walked. Thus the Pope and his Cardinalls canonize and register with the Saints some speciall men, of whose holinesse and miracles, they say they [Page 117]have sufficient warrant, and give expresse commande­ment to the people to worship them.

God, foreseeing that the divell through his malice, would doe his utmost endeavour to re-establish Idola­trie againe in these same holy mens persons, by whom he had banished it out of the world; even when they did greatest miracles, turmoyled them with greatest af­flictions, that those which saw them in such a miserable state, might judge and say that they were men like unto themselves, and that they wrought such wonders by Gods finger, and not by their own power. For the same cause, the evills which they suffered, are registred in ho­ly Scripture: that as S. Panl, after hee had begun to tell how he was taken up into Paradise, brake off his dis­course in the middest, saying,2. Cor. 12.6. I forbeare, lest any man should thinke of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me: so we may say of them, that which they acknowledged themselves to be, thatAct. 14.15 they were also men of like passion with us; for that which they were by grace, should not make us forget that which they were by na­ture, even mortall men like our selves.

XII. Wherupon,Chrysost. Homi. 1. rd popul. Anti­ochen. Chrysostom giveth us another ad­vertisement: for when wee exhort you to imitate Da­vid, Elias, Paul, Peter, such or such a Saint, your custome is to answer; I am not Peter, I am not Paul: as if Peter and Paul had beene of some other stuffe than ye are, as if they had not beene mortall, feeble, and sinnefull men as ye are. Therefore to take from you all excuse, when ye cover your carelesnesse and sloath with such vaine ex­cuses; God hath exercised with most infirmities those on whom he hath bestowed greatest graces: that seeing they have beene like unto us in weaknesse, diseases, af­flictions and passions belonging to man, we despaire not of attaining to the resemblance of the heavenly and saving graces wherewith they were garnished. For this end S. Iames propoundeth unto us the example of Eli­as, [Page 118]of whom he saith, thatI am. 5.17, 18. he was subiect to like passions as we are; that if wee pray with fervencie, as he did, wee be assured that we shall speed as he did.

XIII. To these three reasons wee may▪ adde the fourth, taken from afflictions as they are corrections & chastisements of Gods deerest servants; that God will have us to consider them as testimonies of his wrath a­gainst sinne▪ and to say to our selves, Hath God dealt so roughly with so holy men when they offended him, and shall he beare with us? or as Christ said,Luk. 23.33. If these things be done in a greene tree, what shall be done in the dry? This reason is so cleer, that S. Peter urgeth it as an infallible de­monstration, saying,1. Pet. 4.17, 18. The time is come, that iudgement must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God? Where­fore let us lay this to our hearts, and learne by such ma­nifest tokens of Gods wrath against sinne, to prevent his indignation by an unfained amendment of life. Esay saith, thatEsa. 26.9. when Gods iudgements are in the earth, the inha­bitants of the world will learne righteousnesse. God grant, that as we are of the number of these inhabitants of the world, so we may be of the number of those Students, which are schooled by their brethrens afflictions, to learne righteousnesse, to stand in awe of God, and to serve him with an upright heart, before his face all the dayes of our life.

XIV. Finally, God by the afflictions of his deare ones, namely, by those which they suffer for righteous­nesse sake, manifesteth the infallible truth of his pro­mises, and the excellencie of his mightie power in their deliverie from the evill day, and from all the plots, con­spiracies, secret practices, malicious attempts, violent in­vasions of theirs and his enemies; which then are con­strained to avouch, that it is by the finger of God, and not by the hand of man, that the Church subsisteth up­on earth, and, as it is said in the Psalmes, thatPsal. 10.2 Christ [Page 119]in the mids of his enemies. He saith,Esa. 43.2, 3. When thou pas­sest thorow the waters, I will be with thee: and thorow the ri­vers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest thorow the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neyther shall the flame kindle upon thee: for I am the Lord thy God, the holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.

How he accomplisheth this promise, it is both won­derfull and profitable to consider: for when hee will shew his strength; that which he doth, seemeth contrarie to that which he intendeth to doe. When he came to lighten and gladden Abrahams soule, by the confirmati­on of his promises, he sentGen. 15.12. an horror of great darkenesse upon him. Gen. 32.25. When hee came to blesse Iacob, hee wrestled with him, and put his thigh out of joynt.2. Kin. 2.21. Elisha sweet­ned the unholsome waters with salt.Ioh 9.6. Iesus Christ, put­ting clay on the eyes of a blinde man, restored him to his sight:Marc. 7.33. he put his fingers into the eares of a man that was deafe, and they were opened.

Even so he debased and abated Ioseph to the lowest pit of the prison, that his power might be marvelled at in advancing of him to the highest dignitie of Pharaos Court. Hee winked at Pharao and his armie, when they persecuted and pursued his people into the midst of the red sea; that when with the blast of his nostrils the sea came and covered them, and they sunke as lead in the mightie waters, his people might sing unto him,Exod 15.11. Who is like unto thee, O LORD, amongst the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holinesse, fearefull in praises, doing wonders? and his enemies might say of him, thatIosh. 2.11 hee is God of Heaven above, and in earth beneath. Hee permitted Senacherib King of Assyria to take all the defensed cities of Iuda, and to bring Hezakiah to such extremitie, that hee had not two thousand men to withstand him: then hee sent his An­gel from Heaven to deliver him: thenEsa. 37.20. all the kingdomes of the earth knew, that he is the Lord, even hee only.

Consider Nebucadnezzar in his rage & fury, comanding [Page 120]to heat the burning fierie furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heat, and to cast the three Confessors into it, saying to them,Dan. 3.15. Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? His mind was to destroy the bodies of these Saints. But, O miracle of the almightie power and vertue of God! the fire was a rampier and wall to guard them, the flame was a garment to clothe them, the furnace was a fountaine to refresh them. Mortall bodies were cast into the fire, & they were not hurt thereby, as if they had bin immortall: the flames received them tyed, and untying them, were tied themselves. They spared the hands and the feet, whereof they burned the bands: They slew the men that cast these Salamanders into the furnace; for the furnace was exceeding hot: to teach you, that the strength of the fire was neither extinguished nor abated: yet they touched not the bodies of the Saints; not changing their nature, but bearing respect to their godlinesse: yea and such respect, that there was not an haire of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, neither had the smell of fire passed on them; which goeth beyond all admiration. The fire dared not touch, but their bands. The Tyrant fettered them, the fire unfettered them; that ye may see the crueltie of the Tyrant, and the obedi­ence of the element. The Princes and Governours of the kingdome were come thither to see the great solem­nitie of the dedication of the golden image but they saw that which they could never have thought of. They came to worship the idoll: they went home admi­ring and worshiping the power of God. The king him­selfe, who ere-while had cast in the fire these three Con­fessors, because they would not serve his gods, nor worship the golden image which he had set up, was constrained to worship their God, and to confesse, thatVers. [...]9. there is none other God that can deliver after this sort. So Satan was confounded in his malice, seeing his power abated by his owne craft, whereby he laboured to over­throw [Page 121]the servants of the living God: and Gods Power, Wisdome, Goodnesse, Providence, was glorified in their deliverie.

God1. Kin. 17 4. spake to the ravenous Ravens, and they fed Elijah: HeIon. 2.10 spake to the Whale, and it vomited out Io­nas upon the dry land. When his people was scattered hi­ther & thither among the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, and other Nations,Esa. 43.6 bee said to the North, Give up; and to the South, Keep not backe: bring my sons from farre, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. So was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes,Ps 76.11 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee.

XV. Such examples of the glorious power of God in the afflictions of righteous men, are most frequent in the New Testament. As in the creation he commanded light to shine out of darkenesse: So in the redemption of mankind he made our Saviour a curse for us, that hee might blesse us: and put to death the Prince of life, that through his death he might give life to those which were dead. His enemies sealed and guarded the Sepulchre where hee was buried, and said,Psal 3.2. There is no help for him in God: ButRom. 1.4 hee was declared to be the Sonne of God, with power, according to the Spirit of holinesse, by the resurrection from the dead; and was more glorious in his death, than he was in his life.

So his Church is never so wonderfull as in the perse­cution. ThenExod. 3.2, 3, 4. ye see the great sight which made Moses amazed; The bush burning with fire, and yet not consu­med. What more vile than a bush? what more contemp tible in the eyes of men, than the Church? what more susceptible of burning, than a bush? what so easie to bee overthrowne as the Church; as the little flocke of weak sheepe inclosed with an armie of strong and cruell wolves? yet the bush was not burnt, because God was in the midst of the bush: So the Church cannot be de­stroied, because Christ hath said,Matth. 28 Loe, I am with you al­way, [Page 122]even unto the end of the world.

ConsiderAct. 16.22. Paul and Silas torn with stripes, thrust into the inner prison, and their feete made fast in the stocks. The infidels might have said, that the God, who suffreth his servants to be thus abused, is either weake and impo­tent, or unrighteous and malicious. But see & behold in this permission a most wonderfull work of his power, goodnesse and mercy. His Saints had their feete in the stockes, their hands in the gyves: Their heart was franke, their tongue was free. The Divell was then a prentise, and had not learned to gag: Their heart was inditing a good matter: Their tongue was the pen of a readie writer. At mid-night, they were waking. What did they while they waked? did they howle for griefe and paine? complained they of their contumelies? ac­cused they the crueltie of the blood-thirstie Governors? blamed they the rigor of the pitilesse laylour? No, No. They praied; they sang praises unto God so loud, that the prisoners heard them. Then (O marvellous power of God!)Ver. 26. suddenly there was a great earthquake: the founda­tions of the prison were shaken: all the doores were opened, and every mans bands were loosed. If they had beene unbound, if they had walked with full libertie up and down in the prison; if they had taken hold of the pillars thereof, as Samson did, and shaken them, the miracle had not bin so conspicuous: but when they are throwne downe into the lowest prison, when they are loaden with cloggs, when they are bound so fast that they cannot budge, when through their onely prayer the earth trembleth, the foundations of the darke dungeon skip like a yong Vnicorne, when all the prisoners bands burst, and are broken asunder, as a threed of Tow is broken when it toucheth the fire; when all those which were tyed, were loosed, and the laylor who had bound them, was him­selfe tyed with terrour and despaire, and finally delive­red from the bondage of sinne, and honoured with the [Page 123]glorious libertie of the children of God, by the prea­ching of these two most contemptible prisoners; Gods power shined more bright than the Sunne in the fairest Summers day, and shewed it selfe alwayes most won­derfull.

Can yee but wonder, when yee seeAct. 24.25. Felix sitting to judge Paul, and yet trembling at the words which Paul spake, as if Paul had judged him? when Festus is amazed,Act. 26.24, 28. and Agrippa is almost perswaded, by this prisoner arraig­ned before them, to be a Christian? The Doctor is tyed; his speech is on wings, and flyeth abroad: the Preacher is shut up in prison; his doctrine runneth swiftly everie where. Can yee binde the beames of the Sunne, and im­prison them? when that shall be done, Tyrants shall shackle the Gospel, and unfeather it that it flye not.

Ye may behold the same marvell of Gods power, mercie, & wisedome in the rest of the Apostles, & in the whole Christian Church.1. Cor. 1.27, 28. Learning hath beene in­structed by ignorance: Wisedome hath beene confoun­ded by foolishnesse. By weakenesse, the might of the world hath bin destroyed:2 Cor. 10.5. everie thought is brought into captivitie to the obedience of Christ; and in us, un­to this day, is fulfilled that which the Lord said to Paul, 2. Cor. 12.9. My strength is made perfect in weakenesse: That both in the conversion of the world, and protection of the Church,2. Cor. 4.7. the excellencie of this power may bee of God, and not of us.

XVI. Where then are they which judge of a mans blisse and happinesse by his prosperitie, & esteem those who with Paul and the rest of the Apostles,1. Cor. 4.11. hunger and thirst, are naked, are buffeted, have no certaine dwelling place, &c. to be miserable, unhappie, and as odious to God, as they are haynous to men? Will they say, 1 that to be corrected of God is a token of his wrath? ButPro. 3.11, 12. the wise man andHeb. 12.5, 6. the holy Apostle say farre otherwayes, My sonne, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, and [Page 124]faint not when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord lo­veth he chasteneth, & scourgeth everie son whom he receiveth. Are ye not the sonnes of God? Looke to all Gods chil­dren who have been before you: Have they not all gro­ned under Gods chastising hand, some in one manner, some in another? ThereforeVer 7, 8. if ye endure chastening, God dealeth you as with sonnes: for what sonne is he whom the fa­ther chasteneth not? Then when ye aske, if God doth well to use you hardly; if yee be children, your question is answered: But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sonnes.

2 Will they deny, that to bee kept from sinne, is a very good thing? Let them consider, thatVer. 9, 10. we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: Shall vvee not much rather be in subiection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? for they verily for a few dayes chastened us, after their owne pleasure; but hee for our profit, that wee might bee partakers of his holinesse: that not onely wee may bee corrected of sinnes past, but also preserved and witholden from sinning in time to come, and so lead a godly life before God and men.

3 Now Ver. 11. no chastening for the present seemeth to be ioyous, but grievous: Neverthelesse, afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby: Their faith, their hope, their charitie, their constancie, their patience, their humilitie, their devotion, are both tryed and exercised. Hath not experience taught you, that the vine, when it is bared at the root, purged; wee­ded, husbanded carefully, becometh more fruitfull, and at the vintage filleth the Fats with sweet wine? Even so▪ saith Christ,Ioh. 15.2. my Father purgeth every branch that beareth fruit, that it may bring foorth more fruit. Cast gold into the fire, and a Goldsmith shall make a ring of it. If yee will build a house for good service, for comliness, for pleasure and honour, the stones must be hewen smooth, the tim­ber must be squared & carved with the hammer & chisel: [Page 125]Even so God melteth and purifieth us in the fire of affli­ction, to make us precious jewels for his cabinet; he po­lisheth & smootheth us with the hammer & chisel of tri­bulations, to make us living stones in his heavenly Ie­rusalem, w^ch groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord.

XVII. If yee had seene the Churches of France in their affliction, ye should have marked in them a won­derfull change, and would have said, that these evills had befallen them for their greater good. Their dam­mages were great, as ye have heard: but their advanta­ges were greater. They became more honest, and meek, more heedfull to the word, more zealous to Gods ser­vice, more prone and bent to all the dueties of chari­tie: All foolish and filthie talking was banished from their mouthes: their tongues infected no more the aire with lascivious and wanton songs: Sighing, sobbing, groning to God, was their delight; prayers, singing of Psalms, mutuall exhortations to amendment of life, was their ordinary speech. Those, whose habitation before that time was night and day in the Tavernes, departed not from the holy assemblies, crying to God for grace, mercie and peace, with fasting and prayers night & day. Drunkennesse gave place to sobriety, pride to humili­tie, dissolution to modestie, crueltie to humanitie. Our enmities and dissentions were turned into kisses of charitie, into brotherly imbracements, into all inde­vours and good offices of true friendship in the com­munion of Saints: Our doores were shut to all riot, dis­solutenesse, insolencie. Our hearts were open to God: Our houses were become Churches, where God was religiously and with true zeale worshipped by parents and children, by maisters and servants, by old and young The Papists saw it, and wondred, that the fire of persecution had not consumed, but kindled and inflamed our zeale: and some of them were converted. So wee were corrected, our devotion was increased, Papists [Page 126]were amazed, God was glorified,

XVIII. Wherefore Heb. 12.12. lift up the hands which hang downe, and the feeble knees. Though wee live here in peace, yet we have no lease of peace: yea, in this publike peace eve­rie one should looke for a great fight of afflictions: flag­ging hands are not fit for the battel: trembling knees cannot stand fast and upright at a meeting & incounter of our enemies. Let us then imitate wise & prudent soul­diers which in time of peace enure themselves, by the ex­ercises of war, to sustaine the brunt & coping of armed enemies in the day of battel. WhenPs. 91.7. a thousand shall fall at our side, and tenne thousand at our right hand: whenRev. 12.4. the Dragon shall with his taile sweep the heavens, and cast to the earth the third part of the starres: when everie where yee shall see nothing but apostasies and de­fections of great men, of wise men, of Church men, which are starres in the heaven of the Church, stand not stil gazing upon them, as2. Sam. 2.23. Ioabs souldiers did upon Ha­sael whom Abner had slaine, and lost the fruit of the vi­ctorie: But as2. Sam. 20.11, 12, 13. Ioabs servant removed Amaza whom Io­ab had slaine, out of the high way into the field, & cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that everie one that came by him, stood still; and as he cryed, Hee that favoureth Io­ab, and hee that is for David, let him goe after Ioab; where­upon all the people went on after Ioab, to pursue after the traitor Sheba: So let us remove all scandals from be­fore our eyes, and casting upon them the cloake of for­getfulnesse, let us follow our Generall, our Lord Iesus Christ the Prince and Captaine of the Lords Host, who goeth before us fighting for the Lord our God a­gainst the Divell, sinne, and the world. Whosoever fa­voureth Christ, whosoever is for God, let him follow Christ, Let1. Tim. 1.18, 19. us all warre a good warfare, holding for shield, faith; and forsword, the word of God, not pausing on these Hymenees and Alexanders; which loosing the rudder of a good conscience, what wonder if they have made ship­wrack [Page 127]of their faith: yea, let us tread upon their stinking carkases, and trampling on the gastly examples of their lamentable revolts, let usPsal. 3.14. presse toward the marke for the prince of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus; That being, through Gods powerfull and mercifull as­sistance, each of us enabled to say truely with Paul, 2. Tim. 4.7, 8. I have fought a good sight, I haue finished my course, I haue kept the faith, wee may thereupon inferre this sweete and blessed conclusion with Paul; Henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse, which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give mee at that day, and not to mee onely, but un­to them also that love his appearing.

XIX. O almightie and most gracious Father, be­stow this saving grace upon this thy people which is here present before thee, through the all-sufficient merits of thy only and deare Sonne, and our only and most pow­erfull Saviour Iesus Christ our Lord: to whom, with thee and the holy Ghost be all power, all honour, and all glo­rie for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON VI. Of the Lords Deliverances.

1. EXcellent and many are the titles where­with the Church is adorned in holy Scripture: Amongst all, that wherewith shee is graced, when the wise K. Salomon intitles herCant 6.10. faire as the Moon, is the fittest to expresle her condition in this world. She is faire in­deed, & verie pleasant to behold, as the Moone is: Shee shineth among the people that walke in the darkenesse of ignorance; as the Moone shineth in the night. Her shi­ning light is intermixed with darke staines of sinne; as the bright shining light of the Moone is intermingled with blacke spots. She hath her spots of her selfe, as the Moone hath; butAmbr. Hexam. lib 4 cap. 8. shee borroweth the light of immor­talitie and of grace from the ay-during light of her bro­ther, the Lord Iesus Christ; as the light of the Moone commeth from the Sunne. O Hos 139 Israel, thou hast destroy­ed by thy selfe, but in mee is thy helpe, saith GOD to his [Page 129]Church. Sinne is of ourselves: destruction and death is from our sinne. ButPsal. 121.2. our helpe is from the Lord, w^ch made heaven and earth, even from the Lord Iesus, who is Mal. 1.2. the Sun of righteousnesse, Luk. 1.78. the day spring from on high, in whose wings is health, Psal. 36.9. in whose light wee see light, and through whose lightl. 2.15. we shine as lights in the world: so that we say,Gal. 2.20. I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in mee.

The Moone hath her rising and setting, and in each of them her increasing, her fulnesse, her decreasing, her disappearing for a few daies, when she is in her conjun­ction with the Sun: So the Church of Christ, rising in one place, goeth downe in another; and wheresoever shee riseth, is subject to manie variations, to growing bigger and bigger, to waning, to disappearing. Then, through the violence of persecutions, she is constrained to obey Gods commandement;Esa. 26.20. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doores about thee: hide thy felfe as it were for a little moment, untill the indignation be overpast. Then wings are given her,Rev. 12.14. that she may flie into the wildernesse, into her place, from the face of the serpent, and be nourished there for a time, and times, and halfe a time, even for the time of Gods good pleasure. Then having her backe turned to the world, & her face to God; then being in her conjunction with Iesus Christ her Sun, she possesseth in him a secret, but a most cleer & perfect light: Then is fulfilled in her that which is writ­ten in the Psalmes,Psal. 45.13. The kings daughter is all glorious with­in. She remaineth not alwayes thus: but after the few dayes of her vanishing out of the sight of the world, like a bride coming out of her chamber, shee rejoyceth to begin her race againe, and to quicken with her light them that dwell in the valley of the shadow of death; having nothing firme, nothing constant in this world, but the inconstancie of her unsteadfast estate.

As there is a vicissitude and interchangeable course of light and darkenesse, of the day & the night, of Summer [Page 130]and Winter: AsEccles. 1.6, 9. the thing that hath bin, is that which shall be: and that which is done, is that which shall bee done, and there is no new thing under the Sunne; all things having in their inequalitie this equalitie that they goe and come, like the wind which whirleth about continually from the South to the North, and returneth againe according to his circutes: So the Church of God, so righteous men w^ch are in the Church, have their alterations & changings from good to evill, from evill to good, and againe from good to e­vill; from prosperity to adversity, from adversity to pros­perity by a perpetuall and most constant revolution, till the great and long looked-for day of refreshing come, and put an end to all our evills, ingulfing them in the e­ternall joyes of heavenly goods. And therefore David telleth us in our text by forme of history, through his owne experience, and fortelleth us by forme of prophe­cie, that ‘Many are the Evills of the Righteous: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.’

II. Peruse all the ancient histories, and yee shall finde that it hath ever been so. The first man was scarcely come out of Gods hands, and created after the likenesse of his maker, when Satan tempted, seduced, overthrew, and plunged him into an Ocean of evills and woes. Then he might have wept, because Many are the evills of the Righteous. Look how soon he is cast down to the ground by Satans malice, he is as soone lifted up by the mighty power of Gods hand, and the mercifull promise of the seed of the woman: Then he might have sung for joy, because the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

The promise was a prediction of the vicissitude of e­vills and of goods shared to the Church.Gen. 3 15. I will (saith God to the serpent) put enmitie betweene thee and the wo­man, and betweene thy seede and her seede: It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heele. The seede of the wo­man, is Iesus Christ the righteous, and the Church of righ­teous men with him and under him. The serpent shall [Page 131]bruise the Churches heel: Many are the Evills of the Righ­teous. The seed of the woman shall bruise his head: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

Gen. 4.8.25. Cain, killing Abel his righteous brother, caused a heart-breaking sorrow to his righteous parents, Adam & Eue: Many are the Evills of the Righteous. God gave them ano­ther seede in stead of Abel whom Cain slew, and they called him Seth; But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

When the world was drowned in a deluge of waters, Noah was constrained to see all his kindred, and all the children of God overwhelmed by the flood, and to lie prisoner in the Arke with his familie,Gen. 8.13 the space of a yeare among all kind of beasts, to save his life: Many are the Evills of the Righteous. At the yeares end God remem­bred him, & drying up the waters, brought him out of that captivitie, andGen. 9.9. established a new covenant with him: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

Gen. 12 1, 4. Heb. 11.8, 9 Abraham, obeying Gods calling, left his country, his kindred, and fathers house, and went out, not know­ing whither hee went: hee sojourned in the land of pro­mise, as in a strange countrey, dwelling in tabernacles, which hee removed from one nation to another, from one kingdome to another people: His wife was twice ravished: the countrey people abused him: his nephew Lot rewarded his good deeds with unthankfulnes: with all this, his wife was barren, and hee had no children: Many are the Evills of the Righteous. In the middest of his afflictions, as it were in the fit of an ague,Gen. 24 35. God gave him flocks, and heards, and silver, and gold, and camels, and asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, in so great a number, thatGen. 14.14. he armed of his servants borne in his owne house, three hundred and eighteene for the rescuing of Lot. Psal. 105 14, 15. God suffered no man to doe him wrong, he rebuked Kings for his sake, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and doe my Prophets no harme. Hee constrained them to render him his wife undefiled: he gave him a sonne in [Page 132]his old age to make him laugh. But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

God prophecied to Abraham, thatGen. 15.13, 14. his seed should be a stranger in a land that was not theirs, and should serve them, and be afflicted by them foure hundred yeares. So it was: And so was averred this saying of David; Many are the evills of the Righteous. Heare also the prophecie of the Cata­strophe; And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I iudge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. So was it also: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

When the people had taken possession of the Land of promise flowing with milke and hony, how many times were they beaten, vanquished, subdued, oppressed by the Philistines, Amorites, Moabites, and other neighbors! Many are the evills of the Righteous: They cryed to God, and he heard their requests; he sent them men clothed with his Spirit, which delivered them; he gave them as many dayes of peace, as they had of warre: But the Lord delivereth him out of all.

Ye have heard in what troubles, in what dangers, in what disquiet and perplexities David lived a great while after he was anointed King of Israel; and what afflicti­ons he had in his owne familie: ye know also what was the event of them all, and that he spake by his owne ex­perience, when he said, Many are the evils of the Righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

Ye have read the promise which God made to David; saying,Psal. 89.30, 31, 32, 33, 34. If his children forsake my Law, and walke not in my iudgements: If they breake my statutes, and keepe not my com­mandements: Then will I visite their transgression with the rod, and their iniquitie with stripes: Nevertheless [...] my louing kind­nesse will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulnes to fail: my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Thence it was, that Davids children were often chastened, ever delivered; that good Kings succeeded bad; that many affl [...]tions were followed [Page 133]with notable deliveries; that seventy yeares of captivitie ended in a most glorious and wonderfull libertie; that the foure hundred yeares following, had sadnesse seaso­ned with joy, teares mingled with laughter, speares changed into sithes, swords beaten into mattockes, prayers in the time of persecution ending in thankesgi­ving for peace; untill the land being destitute and void of righteous men, vomited out for ever and ever all her inhabitants: for wheresoever are righteous men, there ‘Many are the evills of the Righteous, But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.’

III. The Christian Church hath succeeded both to the evills and deliveries of the Church of Israel and of Iuda, as the Lord himselfe hath experimented in his own person, and hath forewarned us:1. Pet. 3.18. He was put to death in the flesh: Many are the evills of the Righteous. He was quick­ned by the Spirit: The Lord delivereth him out of them all. He saith to us,Ioh. 16.10. Verely, verely, I say unto you, that yee shall weep and lament, but the world shall reioice: And yee shall bee sor­rowfull, but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy. Ye shall bee sorrowfull, because many are the evills of the Righteous: your sorrow shall be turned into joy, because the Lord de­livereth him out of them all.

I have declared to you how many evils the Christian Church suffred at divers times by ten bloody persecuti­ons, by false brethren, by the wicked heresie of Arrius. But by divers means the Lord delivered her out of them all.

At last, the Antichrist is come, according to the Scrip­tures; and the prophecie of the revelation concerningRev. 11.7. &c. the two witnesses of God, hath been fulfilled: where it is said, that the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit, shall make warre against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them; that their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great Citie three daies and a half; that the people and na­tions shall see them, and shall not suffer them to be put in graves; that they that dwell upon the earth, shall reioice over them, [Page 134]and make merry, and shal send gifts one to another, because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth: That after three dayes and an halfe, the Spirit of life from God, entred into them: and they stood upon their feet, and great feare fell upon them which saw them, and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. Alas! what evils hath not the beast practised against these two witnesses, a­gainst the little handfull of those which professed the Gospel of Christ? How often hath she fought, vanqui­shed, killed them? How often also hath God raised them from the dead in their successors? what was this last peace of France, but a most wonderfull resurrection?

The world for the first draught filleth a cup of good wine; but after that, it giveth nothing to drinke but poi­son of dragons, and the cruell venome of aspes. Con­trariwise theIoh 2.10. Lord Iesus giveth the best wine last. HeeIob 5.18. maketh sore, to bind up: he woundeth, to make whole.1. Sam. 2.6. He killeth, to make alive: Hee bringeth men downe to the grave, that hee may bring them up againe. Weeping Psal. 30.5. may endure for a night; but singing cometh in the morning. Psal. 126.6. They that sow in teares, shall reap in ioy. He that goeth forth, and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtlesse come againe with reioycing, bringing his sheaves with him. As in Musicke contrary voices give a pleasant sound, & by a discordant concord make a most delectable harmonie: So these al­terations and interchanges of evill & good in our lives, make the pleasures more acceptable, when God sendeth them; when, after that the righteous man hath beene shaken and tossed with afflictions, ‘The Lord delivereth him out of them all.’

IIII. He which doeth this worke, is the LORD: his worke is deliverance: he whom hee delivereth, is the righteous man: The Evils out of which he delivereth him, are all the evils which befall him. Adde to these, the maner how, and the time when he delivereth the righteous man out of all his evils, & ye shall have six principall heads of [Page 135]doctrine to be handled in the exposition of the second part of this text.

V. The deliverer of the Church is the LORD: The Hebrew word is IEHOVAH, which is Gods Name. The use of names is to put distinction betweene things that are of one kind: and therefore when Iacob asked of God what was his Name, he rebuked him, saying, Where­fore Gen. 32.29. is it that thou doest aske after my Name? The Iews say, that he would not tell him his Name, because the tongue of a mortall man neither should, nor can expresse it. For that same cause, say they, when Manoah Samsons father desired to know his Name, he repressed his curiositie with this answer,Iudg. 13.17, 18. Why askest thou after my Name; seeing it is wonderfull? But to speak properly, he hath no Name, because hee is alone, and there are no other gods with him: His Name is his owne selfe; and therefore won­derfull above all wondering: And so he would have Ia­cob and Manoah, who tooke him for one of the Angels, to think of him.

But when Moses asked by what name hee should call him, when he should speak of him unto the children of Israel; he commanded him to say unto them, EHEIE Exo d. 3 14. hath sent me unto you: which word in our Bibles is tran­slated, IAM: In the greeke of the Septuagint, [...], He that is: which Plato learned in Syria, & called himIustin. Co­hortat. ad Graec. [...], That which is: It is the first person of the future tense, and may be translated, He that shall be.

God spake further unto Moses, Exod. 3.15. Thus shalt thou say un­the Children of Israel; IEHOVAH, the God of your fa­thers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Iacob, hath sent me unto you: This is my Name for ever, and this is my Memoriall unto all ages. So God called himselfe, and soExod. 4.30. Moses named him to the people, and toExod. 5.1, 2. Pharao: who hearing the Name which he never heard before, answered, Who is IEHOVAH? I know [...] IEHOVAH; and so despised God, whom by this new name he judg­ed [Page 136]to be a new God; though the Name was not new, but was from the beginning known to the Church, and God served by it.

Therefore the Iewes are too superstitious, when they maintaine it to be so secret, that no man can; and if any could, none should be so bold as to pronounce it. How it was pronounced, it is hard to tell: but that it was pro­nounced, we know by the relation of Pagans: for how couldBiblioth. li. 1. part. 2. cap. 5. Apud Iudaeos Mo­ses à Deo, qui vocetur IAO, accep­tas leges dae­re praese fe­rebat. Diodorus Siculus know that the God of the Iewes was called IAO, if hee never heard that Name? And who doubteth, but the Latin Name IOVIS, whereby the Romans worshipped the God of gods, was taken from this Name IEHOVAH, which they pronounced as we would do, if it were written IOWIS? & it may be that the Hebrewes pronounced IHOWA, and not IEHOVAH. SurelyClemen. Strom. lib. 5. Clement Alexandrin. though a Christian, miscarried, as well as Diodorus Siculus a Pagan, both in the writing, & in the pronūciation; when trans­posing the letters, he saith, that the name of foure let­ters which the Priests did beare on their foreheads, was IAOV.

VI. But he hitteth the marke when he writeth, that that Name signifies as much as [...], i. he that is, and that shall be: God calling himselfe so, not to de­scribe his essence, which is infinite and incomprehensi­ble, but, asIust. co­hortat. ad Graecos. Iustin observeth, to make an opposition be­tween himselfe, and all other gods, which have no be­ing at all. In our Bibles out of the Greek it is turned LORD. In the French Bibles it is most properly tran­slated ETERNALL, because, though no name can expresse the essence of the least and most contemptible of all the creatures, farre lesse of the glorious Majestie of the Creator; yet it telleth us, that God hath an eternall being of himselfe, and so leadeth us to the consideration of the eternitie o [...] his being.

Esaiah saith, thatEsay 57 15 he enhabiteth eternity: and hee saith [Page 137]of himselfe exclusively to all those w^ch are called gods,Esa. 44.6. Esa. 48.13. I am the first, & I am the last, & besides me there is no God. For this cause Iohn calls him,Rev. 1.4. He which is, which was, & which is to come: He which was without beginning:Psal. 90.2. Before the mountains were brought foorth, ere ever thou hadst formed the earth, and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God: He which is without alteration: forIam. 1.17 with him is no variablenesse, neither shadow of turning: And which is to come without end:Psal. 102 25, 26, 27. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the workes of thy hands: They shall perish, but thou shalt endure, yea, all of them shall waxe old like a garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy yeares shall have no end. And therefore he calleth himselfe in a most proper sense,Exod. 3.14. I am: for neither loseth hee any thing by the time which is past: neither gaineth he any thing by that which is to come; but is ever like unto himselfe, is ever present with himselfe, having an eternall being of himselfe, from himselfe, in himselfe, to himselfe.

It is also the name of his almighty power, whereby he giveth being to all things.Esa. 40.12, 21, 22, 23. Who hath measured the wa­ters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a spanne, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Have ye not knowne? have ye not heard? hath it not bin told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foun­dation of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as a grassehopper: he that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth the Princes to nothing; that maketh the Iudges of the earth as vanity.

Moreover, it is the Name of his fidelity, constancie, and truth in all his promises, threatnings, commande­ments, exhortations, words, deeds.Esa. 14.27. For the LORD of hoastes hath purposed, and who shall disannull it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turne it backe? And therefore [Page 138]when he was to deliver his people out of the bondage of Aegypt, according to his promises made to Abra­ham, Isaac, and Iacob, he said unto Moses, Exod. 6, 2.3. I am the LORD: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Iacob, by the name of God almightie; but by my name IEHOVAH was I not knowne to them. Not but they knew him, and worshipped him with that Name, as you may reade in their lives: but he speaketh of an experimentall know­ledge, and saith, that they knew him not, because in their time he had not given a reall being to the promises w^ch he made them: which when he did by Moses, and had led his people thorow the red sea, they sang,Exod. 15.3. The LORD is a man of warre: the LORD is his Name. where his Name IEHOVAH, is turned LORD. For that cause, when he threatned to smite all the first born in the land of Ae­gypt, and promised to spare his owne people, hee said,Exod. 12.12. I am the LORD. For the same cause, the Prophets or­dinarily begin and end their prophecies of promises, & of threatnings, saying, The LORD hath spoken, the mouth of the LORD hath spoken. Whereunto I doubt not but David had regard, when he saith, that the LORD delive­reth the righteous man out of all his evils: He hath pro­mised to deliver him, saying,Psal. 91.14, 15, 16. Because he hath set his love upon mee, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath knowne my Name: He shall call upon mee, and I will answere him: I will be with him in trouble: I will deliver him, and honour him: With long life will I satisfie him, and shew him my salvation. He is the LORD, and will per­forme his promise:Num. 23 19, God is not a man, that he should lie; nei­ther the sonne of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall be not doe it? or, hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

VII. In this Name then are comprehended all the qualities required in him who challenges the title of a Deliverer. He is All-wife, All-mighty, All-righteous, All good. All-wise: Psal. 147 4, 5. Hee telleth the number of the [Page 139]starres: he calleth them all by their Names: Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite: How much more knoweth he the plots of our enemies, & our evils?Psal. 138.6. Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the Low­ly: but the proud he knoweth afarre off.

Almighty, without a peere in heaven among the An­gels, in earth among the most dreadfull creatures, as the Church singeth:Psal. 89. 6, 8, 9, 11, 13 For who in heaven can bee compared unto the LORD? Who, among the sonnes of the mighty, can bee likened unto the LORD? OLORD God of Hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulnesse round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them: The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: As for the world, and the fulnesse thereof, thou hast founded them: Thou hast a mighty arme, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. When wee complaine, and make our moane to God,Psal. 93.3, 4. The flouds have lifted up, O LORD, the flouds have lifted up their voice: the flouds lift up their waves; we are taught to comfort our selves, and to say, The LORD, who is on high, is mightier than ma­ny waters: yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.

All-righteous, forPsal. 103.16. the LORD executeth righteousnesse and iudgement for all that are oppressed.

All-good, and most willing to deliver us: for he is the LORD our God.Psal. 50.1.7. The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, saying, I am God, even thy God: hee is appeased to wards us, he is reconciled with us through the blood of the crosse of his deare Sonne: Our cause is his cause. We are persecuted for righteousnesse sake: Righteous­nesse is the daughter of God. We are persecuted for the Gospel: The Gospel is his word. We are persecuted for Christs sake: Christ is his Sonne, his deare Soone, his onely Sonne. I say then, that he is All-wise, and can: All-mighty, and may: All-good, and will deliver us. Whatso­ever he is, hee is it to us, and for us; because hee is the LORD our God. Hee hath delivered all our fathers & [Page 140]predecessors.Psal. 22.4. Our fathers, saith David, trusted in thee: they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them: He will also de­liver us. And therefore every righteous man prayeth,Psal. 106.4. Remember mee, OLORD, with the favour that thou bea­rest unto thy people: O visit mee with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may reioice in the gladnesse of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.

IIX. Here is the comfort, here is the consolation of the Church, and of every righteous man in her, that God heareth their prayers, and delivereth them, even then, and namely then when they are forsaken of all men. Iacob was alone when he fled from his fathers house; be­cause his brother Esau had vowed to kill him. Then the Lord appeared unto him in a dreame, and said unto him,Gen. 28.15. Behold, I am with thee, and will keepe thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee againe into the land: for I will not leave thee, untill I have done that which I have spo­ken to thee of. David complaineth, thatPsal. 25.16. hee was desolate and afflicted: yet hee seeketh comfort in the assurance of Gods assistance, and saith,Psal. 27.10. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. What extremitie was the Church brought into, under the per­secution of the cruell Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes, Dan. 11 32, 45. who corrupted by flatteries such as did wickedly against the covenant, and afflicted those which were upright, so cru­elly, and so puissantly, that there was none to help them? Then the Church prayed,Psal. 74.1. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoake against the sheepe of thy pasture? Then Sion said againe,Esa. 49. 14, 15. The LORD bath forsaken me, and my LORD hath forgotten me. Then the Lord answered againe, Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her wombe? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. For then was fulfilled that Prophecy of Daniel: Dan. 12.1. At that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trou­ble, [Page 141]such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the booke. Who is this Mi­chael? who like unto God? who but our Lord Iesus Christ, the great Prince which standeth and figh­teth for his people, when they can neither stand nor fight for themselves?

Was it not hee which cryed from heaven to Saul, Act. 9.4. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? When an hoste came from the King of Syria, and compassed the Citie of Do­than where Elisha was, to take him, his servant was affrigh­ted, and said,2. Kin. 6.15, 16. Alas! my master, how shall we doe? But hee answered, Feare not: for they that be with us, are moe than they that be with them. After the same manner, when the king Hezekiah was brought by Senacheribs army to such a pinch, that he was constrained to inclose himselfe with­in the walls of Ierusalem for the safetie of his life, all his kingdome being taken from him, and having no power to resist; fortified himselfe in the Lord his God, and heart­ned his people, saying,2. Chron. 32.7, 8. Be strong and courageous, bee not afraid, nor dismaid for the King of Assyria, nor for all the mul­titude that is with him, for there be moe with us, then with him. With him is the arme of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to helpe us, and to fight our battells. Yee see a good and godly king: see also a good and godly people: And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Iuda. i.e. notwithstanding their weakenesse and fewnesse, they leaned upon God, and were delivered.

S. Raul with good reason did complaine of all his fol­lowers, that at his first answer before Nero, 2. Tim. 4.16. No man stood with him, but all men forsooke him. Was he for that de­stitute, and left alone? Notwithstanding, saith he, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me. And therefore when he saw all the powers of hell, and all the malice of the earth uncoupled after poore Christians, hee defied them, saying,Rom. 8.30. If God be for us, who can be against us? E­ven [Page 142]as David said:Psal. 27.1, 3. The LORD is my light, and my sal­vation, whom shall I feare? The LORD is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? though an hoste should encampe against me, my heart shall not feare: though warre should rise against me, in this will I be confident: and as Iesus Christ said to his Disciples,Ioh. 16.32. Ye shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. He is not alone, who hath God with him.

IX. Senacherib was mad, when hee sent Rabshakeh to blaspheme the Lord, and to say to the inhabitants of Ieru­salem:Esa. 36.18, 19, 20. Beware lest Hezekiah perswade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us, &c. Hath any of the gods of the nati­ons delivered his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharuaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they amongst all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Ierusalem out of my hand? But the Lord an­swered him,Esa. 37.23, 29. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voyce, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the holy One of Israel, &c. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into mine cares, therefore will I put my hooke in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turne thee backe by the way by which thou camest. Then Hezekiah might have served him in his owne dish, and asked him; Where is Nisroch the god of Assyria? hath he delivered thee out of the hands of the Lord our God? Nebuchadnezzar was so furious, and be­sides himselfe, that in his rage he asked of Shadrach, Me­schah, and Abednego, Dan. 5.15, 17, 29. Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? They answered, Our God whom wee serve is able to deliver us: and hee learned ere long to spell that lesson, and to say, There is none other God that can deliver after this sort.

In France, the Papists seeing our scarcitie and neediness, lack of men, lack of treasures which are the sinews of the [Page 143]warre, did cast in our teeth, that we had but God for all kind of pottages, i. for all purposes: for men, God; for treasures, God; for holds and fortresses, God; for all helpe, for all reliefe, God. O Lord,Psal. 74.18. remember this, that the enemy hath reproached the LORD, and that the foolish peo­ple hath blasphemed thy name. O the good pottage, O the excellent restorative, wherein the principall ingredient is God, wherein God is the onely ingredient!Psal, 18.31. for who is God, save the LORD? or who is a rocke, save our God? The souldiers relye upon the warinesse and watchful­nesse of their Captaine. The flock sleepeth in peace un­der the staffe of their Shepheard. Passengers, which faile in great waters, are without feare under the protection and care of a well-experienced Pilot. Little children dread no ill when they are fast by their fathers.

We sight under the Standard of him, who is1. Sam. 15 45. the LORD of hosts. Antigonus king of Syria, being ready to give battell by sea, hard by the Isle called Andros, answe­red to one of his men, who advertifed him, that his ene­mies had moe ships than he,Plutarch in Pelopida. For how many ships recko­nest thou me? for the dignitie of the Generall is much to be esteemed, when it is sorted with prowesse and expe­rience. Where is there prowesse, where experience, if it be not in God?9.4. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardued himselfe against him, and hath prospered? Therefore when our enemies threaten us with their ar­mor & armies, we send them the defiance of the ancient Church,Esa. 8, 9, 10 Associate your selves, O ye people, and ye shall bee broken in peeces: & give care, all ye of farre countries: gird your selves, and ye shall be broken in pieces: gird your selves, & ye shall be broken in pieces: take counsell together, and it shall come to nought: speak the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us.

We are his sheepe, and he is the shepheard,Psal. 121.4. the kee­per of Israel which shall neither slumber nor sleepe: of whom, and to whose eternall glory, we sing,Psal. 23. 1, 2, 3, 4. The LORD is my shepheard, I shall not want: he maketh me to lie downe in greene [Page 144]pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters: hee restoreth my soule: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousnesse for his names sake. Yea, though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death, I will feare no evill: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me.

The skiffe wherein we sayle,Psal 46. 2, 3, 5. is his. Therefore will we not feare, though the earth be remooved, and though the moun­taines be carryed into the middest of the sea, though the wa­ters thereof roare, and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof: God is in the midst of her: shee shall not be mooved: God shall helpe her right early: the LORD of hosts is with us: the God of Iacob is our refuge. Selah. Mat. 8.24, 25, 26. When the winds blow hard, when the tempest ariseth, and the waves cover her, if we cry to him, he will arise, and re­buke the winds & the sea, and there shall be a great calm.

We are his children: he is our father, lying hardLuk. 11.7. by the doore of his owne house, waking when wee sleepe, hearing us when we cry, rising speedily to helpe us when we call upon him. And therefore in our distresse wee cry unto him,Esa. 63.15, 16. Looke downe from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holinesse, and of thy glory: where is thy zeale, and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowells, and of thy mer­cies towards me? are they restrained? Doubtlesse thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel ac­knowledge us not: Thou, O LORD, art our Father: our Re­deemer is thy name from everlasting.

X. Our Redeemer is his name, and his onely.Psal. 3.8. Sal­vation belongeth unto the LORD: all his deliverances are either temporall salvations from the evill of afflicti­on, or eternall salvations from the evill of sinne: In the one and other sense is that true which he saith,Esa. 43.11, 13. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour: for as none can deliver out of his hand, soDan. 3.29. none can deliver as he can. Psal. 5.12. He compasseth the righteous with favour, as with a shield: hePsal 22.19. is strength to him that is weake,Psal. 9.9. a refuge for the oppressed,Psal. 91.2.9. a fortresse for those which are persecuted, [Page 145] a shadow to those which are sun burnt with afflictions, a most pleasant, strong, and well furnished habitation to those which are exiled for righteousnesse sake. To him onely belongeth that which David saith,Psal. 18.2. The Lord is my rocke, and my fortresse, and my deliverer: my God, my strength, in whom I will trust: my buckler, and the horne of my salvation, and my high tower.

His deliveries are not palliative cures, easing for a while, and not healing altogether; nor anodins, taking away for some houres all sense of paine, and not the paine it selfe. They are salvations, and as it were resur­rections from among the dead.Dan. 6.27. He delivereth and resou­eth, and he worketh signes and wonders in heaven and in earth. Such were the deliveries of Israel out of the land of E­gypt, of David from Saul, of Hezekiah and Iosaphat from their enemies, of Shadrac, Meshac, and Habed-nego, out of the burning furnace, of Daniel from the power of the Lions, of his people out of the captiuitie of Babylon; such have ever beene the deliveries of the Church; such was this last deliverie of the Churches of France.

XI. Having such a Deliverer, such a Redeemer, such a Saviour, let us neither feare men, nor trust in them: yea, let us not feare the divell himselfe. For the divell was not so hardie, as to doe violence toIob 1.12. Iob, orMat. 8.29. to enter into the swine, without Gods leave: The divelsEph. 6.12. are principalities and powers, and spirituall wickednesse in high pla­ces, and yet we should not feare all their spirituall and powerfull wickednes, because God, who is our deliverer, is stronger: Shall we then feare men which are borne, which live, which dye in weaknes? What can the migh­tiest of them all doe without the Lord? what can they all doe against the Lord? If he be with us, if he be against them, who shall be against us? who shall be for them?

What fearest thou? their multitude and number? If thou hast received grace to say with David, Psal. 3.5, 6. the Lord susteined me, thou hast also received grace to say with [Page 146]him, I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me.

What fearest thou? Their strength and great might? CouldGen. 6.4, 7. the Giants which were on the earth in the dayes of Noah, keepe themselves from the flood of Gods wrath?Numb. 13.32, 33. Num. 14, 19 The people of Israel feared the people of Ca­naan, because these were men of great stature, and a­mong them were the Giants, the sonnes of Anak, and they were as grashoppers compared to them. Then Iosua and Caleb said to them, Feare not the people of the Land, for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: feare them not. Conformably where­untoIos. 11.21. Ioshuah cut off the Anakims, and destroyed them utter­ly with their cities, and there was none of them left in the land of the children of Israel. WhenDeut. 3.1, 2, 11. Og king of Bashan came against the people of Israel with all his people, the peo­ple had occasion to feare: for Og was of the remnant of gyants: his bed-sted was of yron: the length thereof was nine cubits, and the breadth foure cubits, after the cubit of a man. But God said to Moses, Feare him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land into thy hand. What did then all his [...]gnesse and tallnesse availe him? Could it hin­der the children of Israel from singing to God,Psal. 136.18, 19, 20. He slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever; Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever; and Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever? 1. Sam. 17.4, 7, 11, 32. When the Israelites saw the great and huge monster Goliah, the staffe of whose speare was like a weavers beame, and the head thereof weighed sixe hundred shekels of yron, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. But David, led with another spirit, said to Saul, Let no mans heart faile, because of him: thy servant will goe, and fight with this Philistine: and he went with a sling in his hand; and with a stone which he flung at him, he slew him, according as he had said,Ver. 47. The Lord saveth not with sword and speare? for the battellis the LORDS.

What fearest thou? their prudence, their wisedome, [Page 147]their slight and shifting devices? Feare not.Psal. 94.11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanitie. He blow­eth upon them, and they vanish away with their authors. ForPro. 21.30, 31. there is no wisedome, nor understanding, nor counsell a­gainst the LORD: Iob 12.13, 17, 20, 21. with him is wisedome and strength he hath cousell and understanding: he leadeth counsellers away spoyled, and maketh the Iudges fooles: he remooveth away the speech of the trustie, and taketh away the understanding of the aged: hee powreth contempt upon Princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mightie.

Finally,Psal. 90.3 he turneth man to destruction, and saith, Returne ye children of men. And therefore he saith to his children, when they feare the power of his enemies,Esa. 51.7, 8. Hearken un­to me ye that know righteousnesse, the people in whose heart is my law: feare ye not the reproch of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings: for the moth shall eate them up like a garment; and the worme shall eate them like wooll: but my righteousnes shall befor ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Wicked and mighty men build their designes upon the hope of long life, and learne not by so many examples of the mortality of the greatest among men, thatEsa. 40.23, 24. the Lord bringeth the Princes to nothing, and maketh the Iudges of the earth as vanity: yea, they shall not be planted: yea, they shall not be sowen: yea, their stocke shall not take roote in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirle-wind shall take them away as stubble. This was1. King. 22.27, 28. Achabs trust, when he commanded to put Micaiah in prison, and to feed him with bread and water of afflicti­on, untill he came backe in peace: but Micaiah answe­red with great confidence, If thou returne at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken at all by me. The wicked and malici­ous Apostate Iulian threatned the Christians, whom hee called Galileans in derision, with many evills and mis­chiefes, as soone as he should come backe from his expe­dition against the Persians, trusting in the predictions of the Magicians, and in the ambiguous oracles of his gods: [Page 148]But the Christians feared him, not, knowing that he was a mortall man, or, as Athanasius called him, Nubeculaci­tò transitura, a cloud which is soone gone. Henry II. King of France, said that hee should see with his owne eyes Anne de Bourg burnt quicke: That same day he received at the tilting a stroake with a speare in the eye, whereof he died. His sonne Francis II. erected the scaffold for the martyrizing of the Prince of Condé, Prince of his owne blood. That same night a paine in his eare killed him, and the Prince escaped.

For these causes taken from Gods deliveries, & mens weaknesse and mortality, God forbiddeth us to feare men.Esa. 40.10, 11, 13. Feare thou not, (saith he,) for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I vvill strengthen thee; yea, I will helpe thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse: Bebold all they that were incensed against thee, shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee, shall perish, &c. for I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Feare not, I will helpe thee. Such exhortations and promises are frequent in the Scripture, and upon them wee ground our selves when wee feare not men, yea wee seeke comfort and strength against feare, in Gods precedent deliveries. Of time past we say with David, Psal 118.5, 6. I called upon the LORD in my distresse: The LORD answered mee, and set me in a large place. Therefore wee conclude as hee did, for the time which is to come. The LORD is on my side, I will not feare: what can man doe unto mee?

XII. What then? shall we be without feare? Not so.s;a. 8.12, 13. Say ye not, A confederacie to all them, to whom this people shall say, A confederacie: neither feare ye their feare, nor be a­fraid: Sanctifie the LORD of hostes himselfe, and let him be your feare, and him be your dread: Feare not men, forPsal. 39.4, 6. ve­rily every man at his best state is altogether vanity: Surely e­very man walketh in a vaine shew [...] surely they are disquieted in vaine. Feare God, of whom and to whom Ieremiah [Page 149]saith,Ier. 10.6, 7. For as much as there is none like unto thee, O LORD, thou art great, and thy Name is great in might; Who would not feare thee, O King of Nations? for to thee doeth it apper­taine, for as much as among all these wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdomes, there is none like unto thee. There­fore as Christ said to his Disciples, so say wee to you,Matt. 10.28. Feare not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soule: but rather feare him which is able to destroy both body and soule in hell.

XIII. As we should not feare men for the causes a­foresaid, so should wee not for the same causes put our trust in them, as it is written,Psal. 146.2, 4. Put not your trust in Prin­ces, nor in any son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth foorth, hee returneth to his earth: in that very day his thoughts perish.

First it is said, Put not your trust in Princes: wherefore? Are they not strong, mightie, wealthie? Hath not God said of them, and to them.Psal. 82.6 I have said ye are Gods, and all of you are children of the most High? All that is true.Rom. 4.17. God calleth those things which be not, as though they were: They are gods, but earthly gods, but weake and mortall gods: to whom God saith also in that same place,Psal. 82.7. But ye shall die like men, and ye that are Princes, shall fall like ano­ther. And therefore when in the vanity of their hearts they dare call themselves gods, God answereth them as he did the K. of Tyre, saying,Ezech. 28.2. Thou art a man, and not God.

That is the meaning of the words following, Nor in any sonne of man: The sonnes of men are men: the Prin­ces are sonnes of men; they are men: And yee know, thatIer 17.5. thus saith the Lord, Cursed bee the man that trusteth in men, and maketh slesh his arme. Be faithfull to your Prin­ces: Obey and keepe their commandements, render to them their dues, tribute, custome, feare, honour;Matt. 22.21. give to Cesar that which is Cesars. Pray to God for them: but give not unto them Gods tribute. Render not to any creature the homage of trust, which is proper to God [Page 150]alone: Hee can deliver.

But as for the sonnes of men, in them there is no helpe. Though they bee called gods, none of themMatt. 6.27. can by their godhead adde one cubit unto their stature, Psa. 49.7 nor by any meanes redeeme their brother, nor give to God a ransome for him. Yea, after thatPlutarch. in Alexand. Alexander the Great hath published abroad, that hee is sonne to Iupiter Hammon, when hee shall see the humor running downe from his wounds, he shall be constrained to say, This is [...], and not [...], the blood of a man, and not of God; and when he shall smell the stink of his owne filth, hee shall aske of his flatterers, The gods yeeld they such a sent? What gainedMarcellin. lib. 17. Sapor King of Persia, by taking to himselfe the proud titles of King of kings, Brother to the Sunne and Moone, Par­taker of the Starres? &c. where is he now? hath his pre­tended brotherhood with the Sunne and Moone, his consanguinitie with the starres delivered him from the grave, where now death feedeth on him? Let Herod de­light for a moment in the shouting and crying of his flatterers,Act 12.22, 23. The voice of a God, and not of a man: by & by the wormes shall eate him quick, and constrain him to say to his claw-backes,Ioseph. Antiq. lib. 19. cap. 7. Euseb. Hist. Eceles. lib. 1. cap. 9. He whom ye called God, endeth his life like men, and this immortall dieth. Let the Cano­nists fawne on the Pope, and say that he is neither God nor man: he knoweth that he is the sonne of man; and wee know that he2. Thess. 2.3. is the man of sinne; & that there is no help, that there is nothing but perdition in him. What is man, but vanity?Psal. 60. Surely men of low degree are vanity; and men of high degree are a lie: To be laid in the ballence, they are alto­gether lighter than vanitie. And thereforePsal. 60.11. the helpe of man is vanity. For this cause God cursed the lewes when they trusted to Aegypt, saying,Esa. 31.1, 3. Woe to them that goe downe to Aegypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in charets be­cause they are many: Now, the Aegyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not Spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth, shall fall; and hee that [Page 151]is holpen, shall fall downe, and they all shall faile together.

What if man had power and wil to help? for all that, trust not in him: His breath goeth foorth, hee returneth to his earth: in that very day his thoughts perish: all his designes, & all the trust thou hadst in him, dieth with him: for then he cannot helpe himselfe, and how should he help thee?Iob 14.1, 2. Man, that is borne of woman, is of few dayess, and full of trou­ble: he commeth foorth like a flower, and is cut downe: he fly­eth also as a shadow, and continueth not. WhereforeEsa. 2.22. cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of, that ye should put your trust in him?

XIIII. Must we not trust in men which are living, and which are with us, to helpe us? Much lesse should we trust in them which are dead:cles. 9.6. Their love, their hatred, their envy, to mee, to thee severally, is now perished: neither have they any more portion for ever in any thing that is done under the Sunne: Iob 14.21. Their sonnes come to honour, and they know it not: & they are brought low, but they perceive it not of them.

I except not those, even those blessed soules which enjoy a perfect felicitie in the vision of God: forRev. 14.13. they rest from their labours, andEsa. 57.1. are taken away from that which is evill; their felicitie consisting in this, that their minds are filled with the perfect knowledge of God, their hearts with his love, and all the powers of their soule are ravished with a perpetuall meditation and contemplati­on of his infinite goodnesse, which is never distracted with the disquieting cares of things which goe to and fro in this valley of miseries, and world of vanitie.

XV. In whom then shall we trust? In whom, but in the Lord?Psal. 128.8, 9. It is better to trust in the LORD, than to put confidence in Princes. David speaking of the forefathers of Gods people, saith of them,Psal. 22.4. Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. Of himselfe hee saith,Psal. 4.9. I will both lay mee downe in peace, and sleepe: for thou LORD onely makest mee dwell in safety: Thou onely, not [Page 152] Abraham, Isaac, Iacob; not any Angell, any Archangell; not any living among men.Psal. 18.27, 28. Thou wilt save the afflicted people, but wilt bring downe high looks: Thou wilt light my can­dle; the LORD my God will lighten my darknes. And there­forePsal. 25.15. mine eyes are ever towards the LORD, not towards the Saints, nor the Angels: for he shall plucke my feet out of the net: Psal. 42.11. he is the health of my countenance, the helpe where­untoPsal. 42.11. looke, and my God: Psal. 73.25. whom have I in heaven? and there is none upon earth, that I desire besides thee. And therefore hee saith againe,Psal. 121.1, 2. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hilles, from whence cometh my helpe. Say not, that these hills are the Angells or Saints; for headdeth, My helpe cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth: from the LORD alonePsal. 62.11, 12. God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God: also unto thee, O LORD, belongeth mercy: Power and mercy, two qualities requi­red in our Redeemer, Deliverer, and Saviour, and belon­ging to God alone; who may deliver us, because power is his; & will deliver us, because mercy also is his.Psal. 46.1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present helpe in trouble.

Therefore let worldlingsPsal. 20.7. trust in their chariots, and in their horses: let Papists trust in Saints in Angels, in Monks cowles, in merits. we will remember the Name of the LORD our God, that we may be blessed. ForIerem. 17.7. blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

XVI. Let us onely take heede that wee bee of those whom the Lord delivereth.Pro. 13.10. The Name of the LORD is a strong tower: The righteous runneth unto it, and is safe. The righteous man hath many evills, but the LORD delivereth HIM. I taught you in my first Sermon the characters and true markes of a righteous man: If when thou art afflicted, thou saiest with David, thatPsal. 9.9, 10. the LORD will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble, consi­der and marke well how hee describeth these oppressed, to whom the Lord is a refuge. Read these words follow­ing, And they that know thy Name, will put their trust in thee: [Page 153]for thou LORD hast not forsaken them that seeke thee.

I have seen many in their affliction bragging of Gods predestination, and saying, that Gods Elect cannot pe­rish. That which they say is true: for Gods Angell fore­warning Daniel of the great troubles wherewith the Church was to be vexed by the Tyrant Antiochus Epipha­nes said unto him,Dan. 12.1. At that time thy people shall bee delive­red, every one that shall be found written in the booke: And ye reade in the Revelation, thatRev. 20.15. whosoever was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire: as also on the other side, that those onely enter into the holy City,Rev. 21.27 which are written in the Lambes booke of life. But this predestination is hid in the unsearchable secrecy of Gods breast, and many bragge of it, which have no part in it. Therefore David will have us to enter into our owne breasts, and to search there the markes of our pre­destination, which God hath shut up in the unmeasura­ble and infinite depth of his own breast:Rom. 8.30 for whom he did predestinate, them he also called; giving them an effectuall and sanctifying knowledge of his most blessed and holy Name: so that when he saith to them,Zech. 13.9. Thou art my peo­ple, they answer presently, The LORD is my God. This is to know God, and to seeke God, and David saith, that the Lord is a refuge to the oppressed, which know his Name, and seek him.

This is the knowledge of faith, which taketh the blood of the Lambe of God, andHeb. 12.24. 1. Pet 1.2. besprinkleth our soules with it: thatExod. 12.13. as when God saw the blood of the Paschall Lambe upon the houses where the IsrAelites were, he passed over them, and the plague was not up­on them, when he smote all the first borne in the land of Egypt; so hee delivers us from the hands of our ene­mies, and the evils of this life, and of the life to come, by the vertue of that blood, according to the promise,Zec. 9.11. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.

This faithAct. 15.9 puristeth the hearts, it is the mother of up­rightnesse and sinceritie before God in the performance of all duties of the first and second Table: and therefore if thou lookest for Gods deliverance, cleanse thy heart in such sort, that thou may bee able to say with David, Psal. 7.10, 11. My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart: for God iudgeth the righteous, and God is angry every day against the wicked.

1. Tim. 1 5.From this knowledge, and faith unfained, commeth charitie; a vehement love of God, and of man for Gods sake: and therefore God describeth the righteous man whom he delivereth, by those two markes of knowledge, and of love, saying,Psal. 91.14. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because hee hath knowne my Name.

This love is conjoyned with a great reverence and re­spectuous feare of God, and the keeping of his most holy commandements in the simplicitie of an upright life. Wilt thou then bee assured of Gods salvation?Psal. 85.9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that feare him. Psal. 103.17, 18. The mer­cy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that feare him, and his righteousnesse unto childrens children to such as keepe his Covenant, and to those that remember his com­mandements to doe them. Psal. 116.6. The LORD preserveth the simple.

Such righteous cannot with dry eyes behold the sinnes of the world whereby God is exceedingly offen­ded: but they mourne and weepe before God, and in their weeping have a most sure marke of Gods love and care towards them. When God turned the Cities of So­dom and Gomorrha into ashes,2. Pet. 2.7, 8. He delivered the righte­ous Lot, who was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their unlawfull deeds. When he was to destroy Ierusalem, he gave commandement to his Angell, saying,Ezech. 9.4. Goe thorow the midst of the Citie, thorow the midst of Ierusalem, [Page 155]and marke a marke upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the middest thereof.

If the righteous man sigheth for the abominations that be done in the world, hee is no way a complice in them: therefore God said to Elijah, 1. King. 19, [...]8. I have left me se­ven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

If these markes of a righteous man be in thee, they are sufficient to make thee partaker of Gods deliveries: he looketh not to thy qualities which make thee to bee re­doubted or contemned among men.Psal. 147 10, 11. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man: the LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Luk. 16.19. The purple and fine linne, sump­tuous and dainty fare, musicke and dancing could not deliver the rich man from the torments of hell, because he was wicked: Povertie, beggerie, nakednesse, pining sick­nesse could not barre Lazarus from the everlasting plea­sures of Paradise, because he was righteous.Pro. 11.3, 4, 6. The inte­gritie of the upright shall guide them, but the perversenesse of transgressors shall destroy them. Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousnesse delivereth from death. The righteous­nesse of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their owne naughtinesse.

XVII. The righteousnesse of the upright delivereth him, not as a cause meritorious of deliverie, as the Pa­pists would perswade you, for it is stained with many spots and blemishes of sinne, as yee have learned in the first sermon; but as a quality requisite in him whom the Lord will deliver: for if we seeke the true causes of our deliveries, God saith first negatively, thatDeut. 9.4 it is not for our righteousnesse: Next he saith affirmatively, that it isEzech. 20.9, 14, 44 Ezec. 36.22 for his owne Names sake. If temporall deliverie from the evill of affliction come not from our merits, can eter­nall deliverie from sinne and hell bee the merite of any [Page 156]mans righteousnesse? The bread for which we sweat, before we can have it to eate, is the gift of God, and wee aske it of God in that qualitie: and shall the bread of life be the reward of an hireling? No, no:Rom. 6.23. The gift of God is eternall life, through Iesus Christ our Lord,

If Papists say, that David praieth,Psal. 7.8. Iudge me, O LORD, ac­cording to my righteousnesse, and according to mine integritie that is in me, and saith plainly,Psal. 18.19, 20. The LORD rewarded me ac­cording to my righteousnesse: according to the cleannesse of my hands hath he recompensed me, &c. Answer, that in these and such like places which are infinite, he declareth that he was inriched with the qualities, wherewith hee that waites on the Lords deliverance, must bee graced; but speaketh nothing of the causes of his deliverance, which in the end of the 18. Psalme, he acknowledgeth to bee Gods free mercy, saying,Ver 50. Great deliverance giveth hee to his King, and sheweth mercy to his anoynted, to David, and to his seed for evermore. And else-where confesseth, that it is Gods righteousnesse, and not his, when he prayeth thus,Psal. 143.1, 2. Answer me in thy righteousnesse, and enter not into iudge­ment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be iu­stified. So he forsaketh all merits, and asketh grace, when in another part he prayeth,Psal. 25.18. O bring thou me out of my distresses: looke upon mine affliction and my paine, and forgive all my sinnes. Such prayers, are they not most frequent in the Psalmes? When the Papist singeth in the Church a de Profundis, if hee understand what hee saith, will he not be mooved to deny all merits, when he con­sidereth this prayer of righteous. David? Psal. 130.2, 3, 4, 7. Lord, heare my voice: let thine eares be attentive to the voyce of my supplicati­ons: If thou, LORD▪ shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shal stand? but there is forgivenesse with thee, that thou mayest bee feared. Let Israel hope in the LORD: And why? because for­sooth, there is a great deale of righteousnesse in Israel. Not so: why then? because with the Lord there is mercy, [Page 157]and with him is plentious redemption. Let us also acknow­ledge and confesse with heart and mouth, thatIam. 3.22. it is of the LORDS mercies that we are not consumed, because his com­passions faile not.

XIIX Though this doctrine of the nullitie of the righteous mans merits, and of the efficacie of the saving mercies of our righteous God, be most true, yet2. Thes. 1.6. it is a righteous thing with God to deliver the righteous man, 1. because being iust by nature,Psal. 45.7 he loveth righteousnesse, and hateth wickednesse, and is as sensible of the one to protect it, as of the other to punish it.Psal 34.15, 16. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous: and his eares are open unto their cry: the face of the Lord is against them that doe evill, to cut off the remem­brance of them from the earth.

2. Because the cause for which righteous men suffer, is his, and his righteousnesse cannot but moove him to undertake the defense thereof. Vpon this foundation the Church made this prayer to God,Psal. 44.22, 23. For thy sake are wee killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter: awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.

3. Because he hath promised to deliver the righteous, and it is a part of his righteousnesse to keepe his pro­mise. Hence is this prayer of David, Psal. 71.2. Deliver mee in thy righteousnesse: Psal. 143, 1. answer me in thy righteousnesse. Hence is this excellent saying of the blessed Apostle,2. Tim. 4.7, 8. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse, which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give at that day, and not to me onely, but unto them also that love his appearing. SweetBern. de gratia & libero arbi­trio, in fine. Bernard: How calleth he the crowne which hee pre­sumeth to be laid up for him, the crowne of righteousnesse? Is it not because that which is promised gratis, of meere good will, is asked righteously, and as a thing due? Finally, he saith, 2. Tim. 1.12. I know whom I have beleeved, and I am perswaded, that hee is able to keepe depositum meum, that which I have committed unto him. He calleth Gods promise his depost, and because he belee­ved [Page 158]him who had made the promise, hee redemands considently the thing promised; promised through mercy, but now to bee payed through righteousnesse: The crowne then which Paul looketh for, is the crowne of righteousnesse; but of the righte­ousnesse of God, not of his owne righteousnesse: for it is a righ­teous thing that he render that which he oweth: and hee oweth that which he hath promised: this then is the righteousnesse whereof the Apostle thinketh so well, even the promise of God. For this cause David called Gods promises, the word of his righteousnesse, saying,Psal. 119 123. Mine eyes faile for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousnesse.

XIX. Now God not onely delivereth the righteous man, but also delivereth wicked men, and fills them with many blessings for the righteous sake.Gen. 7.7. He saved Ham in the Arke, for Noah his fathers sake,Gen. 6.9. who was a iust man, and perfect in his generations, walking with God. Gen. 18.32. If there had been tenne righteous men in Sodom, God would not have destroyed it for tennes sake, Gen. 19.22. neither could he de­stroy it as long as righteous Lot was in it.Gen. 17.20. Ismael was blessed for Abrahā his fathers sake.Gen. 30.27. Laban confessed that the Lord had blessed him for Iacobs sake.Gen. 29.5 He blessed Po­tiphars house for Iosephs sake. How often was the people of Israel saved from the fierie Wrath of God, through the praiers ofExod. 32.14. Num. 14.13. Psal. 106.13. Moses? Were not2. King. 2.12. 2. King. 13, 14. Elijah & Elisha, the Charet of Israel, and the horse-men thereof, more steedable to their people than an armie of horsemen?Act. 27.24, 37. God, gave he not to Paul all them that sailed with him, which were two hun­dred, threescore and sixteene soules? When it was said to the soules that were under the Altar, thatRev. 6.11. they should rost yet for a little season, untill their fellow-servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should bee fulfilled. This is to teach us, that Gods Elect, and the righteous men which are in the world, are the upholders thereof; and that it must finish when they shal be taken away from it: as if ye pull from a ruinous house the props where­with it is supported, it goeth swiftly to the ground.

XX. Therefore let us above all things set our minds and hearts upon righteousnesse, and endeavour to at­taine to true holinesse of life, that, as it was said to A­braham, Gen. 12.2 Thou shalt be a blessing, so may we be a blessing both to our selves and others, namely, that in the darke day of Gods indignation, we may bePsal. 1.5. able to stand in judgement, and with the congregation of the righte­ousPsal. 118.19, 20. enter into the gates of righteousnesse, and dwell forever2. Pet. 3.13. in these new heavens, promised unto us, wherein dwelleth righteousnesse, and that through the most preci­ous and powerfull merits of our onely Lord and Savi­our1. Ioh. 2.2. Iesus Christ the righteous: to whom with the Father, and the holy Ghost, be all praise, glory, and honour, both now and evermore. Amen.

SERM. VII. Of the infinite number, and of the divers meanes of the Lords deliveries.

1 THis text is a cleere exposition of Sampsons riddle,Iudg. 14.14. Out of the eater came forth meate, and out of the strong came foorth sweetnesse: afflictions are the eaters, and as it seemes to men, the destroyers of the righteous man: and what is stronger than death? what meat so good, so seasona­ble, of so excellent a rellish as comfort in affliction, as joy in the middest of sorrow, as glory and honor in shame? what so sweet, as to find heaven in hell, content in dis­content, life in death? Many are the evills of the righteous man: There is the roaring Lyon rising up against him: not one lyon, but many: there is the eater, or rather there be the eaters1. Pet. 5.8. which walke about seeking to de­voure him; But the LORD delivereth him out of them all: there is meate, there is sweetnesse. In darknesse, hee fin­deth light, in weaknesse strength, in despaire hope, in trouble peace of conscience, in raging and roaring furie patience, in evill good, in the divels most grimme and dreadfull mannonr, the joyes and pleasures of para­dise, in all his afflictions most powerfull, most wonder­full, most joyfull deliveries: his afflictions are many,

But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

II. His afflictions are many, they are almost infinite, they are enchained, and follow one another so hard & [Page 161]so nigh, that he complaineth with Iob in his griefe,Iob 9.18. Hee will not suffer mee to take my breath, but filleth mee with bitter­nesse: But who can relate the Lords deliveries and salva­tions, whereof David, which had passed thorow so ma­ny evills, confessed thatPsal. 71.15. he knew not the number? Thinke not that any affliction severally, that all the afflictions w^ch are incident to men, though they were camped and set in battell against thee, can surmount his force and good will towards thee.

Fearest thou, to starve for hunger?1. Kin. 17 4, 6, 14. Commanded he not the Ravens to feed Elijah at the brook of Cherith? increased hee not the handfull of meale in the widows barrell, and the little oyle which was in her Cruse?Psal. 147.9. Hee giveth to the beast his food, and to the yong Ravens, which cry; and shall he forsake thee, for whom his deare Sonne Iesus Christ is dead? Psal. 33.18, 19. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that feare him, upon them that hope in his mercy, to deliver their soule from death, and to keepe them alive in famine. Art thou dried up with thirst? Remember that he openedGen. 21.19. Agars eyes, and shee saw a well of water:Exod. 17.6. Psal. 105.41 That he smote the rock in Horeb, and the waters gushed out, they ranne in the drie places like a river, and quenched the thirst of his people; thatIudg. 15.19. he clave one of the grinders that was in the jaw-bone of the asse, and made water to come there­out for Samson.

Fearest thou the plague, which round about thee ma­keth havock of man & beast, and wouldst, but canst not, practise the cōmon precept, Citò, longè, tardè, Quickly, far, late? The heat of the Sun, the moistnes of the Moon, do they annoy thee?Psal 91.5, 6, 7. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that fleeth by day, nor for the pesti­lence that walkes in darknes, nor for the destruction that wasteth at Noone day: A thousand shall fall at thy side, and tenne thou­sand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Psal. 121.5, 6. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The Sunne shall not smite thee by day, nor the Moon by night.

Art thou exiled for Christs sake? Art thou constrained to live amongst a people, whose tongue thou under­standest not? God, whoPsal 56.8 numbered Davids wandrings, Psal. 147.2. will gather together the outcasts of Israel: Esa. 43.6. Hee will say to the North, Give up: and to the South, Keepe not backe: bring my Sonnes from farre, and my daughters from the end of the earth. In the meane while he will follow thee in thine exile, and blesse thee, asGen. 46.4 he went downe with Iacob in­to Aegypt, and blessed him there.

Art thou cast in a low pit, where thou sittest in dark­nesse and in the shadow of death being bound in stockes and fetters, among swearers, blasphemers, robbers, and other malefactors? hee which put inGen. 41.9 a Courtiers heart to speak for Ioseph, which sentAct. 12.7 his Angel to deliver Peter whom Herod had imprisoned;Act. 16.26. Hee which shooke all the foundations of the prison where Paul and Silas were laid in the stockes, opened the doores, and loosed the prisoners bonds, hath a thousand meanes to breake the gates of brasse, to cut the barres of iron in sunder, to loose thy bands, and bring thee out of darknesse, out of the dungeon of the shadow of death.

Art thou a seafaring man, one of those of whomPittacus. one of the seven wise men said, that they are neither among the living, nor amongst the dead, ever living within foure in­ches of death, and therefore ever dying? WhenPsal. 107.25, 26, 27, &c. God commandeth, and raiseth the stormie wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof: They mount up to the heaven, they goe downe a­gaine to the depths, then soule is melted because of trouble: They reele to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end: Then they cry unto the LORD in their trou­ble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses: He maketh the storme a calme, so that the vvaves thereof are still: Then are they glad, because they be quiet: So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Do thou the like: cry to the Lord as the Disciples did,Matth. 8.25, 26. Lord save us, we perish, and hee will arise and rebuke the Windes and the Sea, and there [Page 163]shall bee a great calme.

Art thou faln into the Turks pitiless hands? Art thou taken in warre, and condemned to the miserable slave­rie of rowing night and day in the gallies, hearing and feeling nothing but whips whistling and reeling upon thy naked shoulders? Be of a good courage, and waite upon the Lord, who in his owne time will say of thee, as he said of Ioseph, Psal. 81.6, 7. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots: Thou callest in trouble, and I delivered thee: I answered thee in the secret place of thun­der.

Thy heart is it torne in peeces with calumnies and re­vilings? The day shall come, I speake by mine owne ex­perience, and therefore I say the day shall come, when thou shalt sing to God,Psal. 31.19, 20. O how great is thy goodnesse, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, w^ch thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sonnes of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man, thou shalt keepe them secretly in a pavillion from the strife of tongues.

The wicked, trayleth hee, hayleth he thee before the Iudges without cause? wonder not at that.Psal. 37.32, 33, 34. The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemne him when hee is iudged: wait on the LORD, and keepe his way, and hee shall exalt thee to inherit the Land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

Art thou sick of a mortall disease, as2 Kin. 20 1, 2. Hezekiah was? turne thy face to the wall, as he did: pray unto the Lord, as he did: Cry to God as David did,Psal. 41.4 LORD be mercifull unto mee, heal my soule, for I have sinned against thee, and hePsal. 107.20 will send his word, and heal thee, and deliver thee from the tombe.

Seest thou the evill dayes of warre? be not discoura­ged, but say confidently upon that which thou hast seen in France, of that which thou shalt see in the Palatinat, [Page 164] Psal. 46.7, 8, 9, 10, 11. The LORD of hosts is with us: the God of Iacob is our re­fuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the LORD, what de­solations he hath made in the earth: He maketh warres to cease unto the end of the earth: He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the speare in sunder: he burneth the chariot in the fire. Bee still, saith he, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the Heathen: I will bee exalted in the earth: The LORD of hosts is with us: The God of Iacob is our refuge. Is there any thing impossible to the LORD?Psal. 76.12. Heshall cut off the spirit of Prin­ces: Hee is terrible to the Kings of the earth. After so many deliveries we sing to the glory of his power,Psal. 74.13, 14. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength, thou breakest the heads of the Whales in the waters: Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in peeces, and givest him to bee meat to the people inhabiting the wildernesse. If there riseZech. 1.19, 20, 21. foure hornes to scatter Iudah, Israel, and Ierusalem, there shall also arise foure smiths to fray and break them: how often have we seene such things! Wee shall see them againe and againe, for the Lord of hosts is with us.

Can there any affliction so great befall us, as to be de­prived of Gods Word? your fathers felt the pricke and smart of it in Philip the second, Charles the ninth, and Queene Maries dayes. Now is fulfilled in France and in the Palatinat the prophecie of Esaiah, Esa. 30.20, 21. Though the Lord give you the bread of adversitie, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy Teachers bee removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers: and thine eares shall heare a voice behind thee, saying, This is the way, walke ye in it, when ye turne to the right hand, and when yee turne to the left. Bles­sed bee God, who in this countrey giveth us with the bread of his Word, the bread of prosperitie:Psal. 110 2. He ruleth there in the midst of his enemies. Here hee is like a father in the midst of his children.

The greatest of all our evills, is sinne. And we sing un­to him morning and evening with heart and mouth,Psal. 103.1, 2, 3. O my soule, blesse the LORD, and all that is within mee bless [Page 165]his holy Name: Blesse the LORD, ô my soule, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth ALL thine iniquities, who hea­leth ALL thy diseases, &c.

Hast thou any other evill w^ch neither is in my know­ledge, nor in my memorie?Exod. 14.21. Exod. 15.4, 6. Hee who made the sea dry land, and whose right hand dashed in peeces Pharao and his hoste:Iosh. 3.15, 16. He that made the waters of Iordan rise up up­on an heape, and stand still, even then when they over­flowed all the bankes:Dan. 3.25 Hee who gave refreshing to the three Confessors in the midst of the burning furnace:Dan, 6.22. He who delivered Daniel from the jawes of the Lions:Ion. 2.2, 11. He who kept Ionah alive in the Whales belly, and tur­ned into a custodie that hell where he looked for present death:Ezec. 37.7, 8, 9, 10. Hee who putteth breath into drie bones, who tyeth them together with sinewes, who covereth them with flesh and skin, who by a marvellous resurrection setteth them upon their feete, and maketh them an ex­ceeding great armie, is not like unto Isaac, unto whom Esau said,Gen. 27.38. Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. As hee hath judgementsDeu. 32.34. laid up in store, and sealed up among his treasures: so hath heDeu. 28.32. a good treasure of deliveries, which cannot bee dryed up.Psal. 106, 2. Who can utter the mighty actes of the LORD? who can shew foorth all his praise? Psal. 139.17, 18. How precious, ô God; are my thoughts of them! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are mo in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee: my spirit cannot conceive the number of thy deliveries.

III. I say then to you all, as David said of old to his people,Psal. 130.7, 8. Let Israel hope in the LORD, for with the LORD there is mercy, much good-will to deliver your brethren which are now afflicted, and to deliver you when hee shall also sit as a refiner to try and purifie you: And with him is plentious redemption: With him is force & strength to redeeme: he may doe it, he can doe it, he will doe it. Hee shall redeem Israel from ALL his iniquities. 1. Cor. 10 13. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but wil with the [Page 166]tentation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. YeaPsal. 121 7, 8. the LORD shall preserve thee from ALL evill: hee shall preserve thy soule: The LORD shall preserve thy going out, and thy comming in, from this time foorth, and even for evermore.

IV. But how shall wee keepe reckoning of the LORDS deliveries, seeing the maner of them goeth beyond all our wit and understanding? for they are not all of one sort, and the least and smallest of them is won­derfull. Sometimes he worketh by meanes, that we neg­lect them not: Now and then hee giveth most miracu­lous deliveries besides and contrarie to all meanes, that wee put not our hope and confidence in them: Often hee delivereth the righteous man without all meanes, to teach us to trust in him onely.

V. His meanes are divers, and in their diversitie so many, that it is almost impossible to reduce them into certaine heads. In some ye see nothing but weaknesse; In others, might and strength: In some wisedome, in o­thers follie: In each of them such a varietie, that nei­ther am I able to expresse, nor ye to conceive them.

Hee saved Moses, David, Elijah, Iesus Christ, Paul at divers times, many zealous men among the Iewes un­der the bloody persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, ma­ny Confessors and faithfull brethren among the Chri­stians in the primitive Church; in our Fathers dayes and in ours, by flight, a most weake, tedious, and trouble­some meane, but yet a meane lawfull and approved of him, as we shall see in the next Sermon.

VI.Psal. 33.16, 17. There is no King saved by the multitude of any host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength: An horse is a vaine thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Yet God imployeth often men, horses, hosts, for the safety of the king, & deliverie of his people, opposing men to men, flesh to flesh, vanitie to vanitie. Thus he in­troduced his people into the land of Canaan by Ioshua, & [Page 167]delivered them often by the Iudges, by David, and other good Kings: Thus after he had tryed the faith, patience, and constancie of the christian Church for the space of 3. hundred years by x. most heavy persecutions, he stird up Constantine the Great to deliver them by the sword from their enemies.

In these skirmishes and combats men fight, but1. Sam. 17.17. the battell is the LORDS. It is he which giveth the victorie to them on whose side he is, as the scales of a ballance hang upon that side where there is most weight. This was that which Moses prophecied to his people,Deut. 33.27. The e­ternall God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting armes: and he shall thrust out thy enemies from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. This was the confession of the Church of Israel with prayer and thanksgiving;Psal. 44.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Our Fathers got not the land in possession by their owne sword, nei­ther did their owne arme save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Iacob: Through thee will wee push downe our enemies. Through thy Name will wee tread them under that rise up against us: for I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save mee: But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that bated us: In God wee boast all the day long, and praise thy Name for ever. Selah.

Looke on what side God is, there few are enow, there two are enow, there one is enough. Few are e­now: Gedeon and three hundred men were sufficient against the Midianites, becauseIudg. 6.16. the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Therefore when hee was going to fight, hee cōmanded his souldiers to cry,Iudg. 7.18. The sword of the LORD, and of Gedeon. First, the sword of the LORD, as being the principall combatant; Next, of Gedeon, as of a weak in­strument in Gods hands; and as the Midianite drea­med,Vers. 23. a cake of barley bread, which tumbling into the [Page 168]host of Midian, smote it, and put it to flight. Three hun­dred Albigenses of Angrogne defended themselves in a medow against seven thousand Papists; and having no other armour but slings, gave them the chase. Two are enow, as1. Sam. 14.6. Ionathan, and the young man that bare his armour against the garrison of the Philistins. For, as hee faid, there is no restraint to the LORD, to save by many or by few.

When it is Gods pleasure to deliver by one, one is e­nough.Iudg. 15.15. Samson, with the jaw-bone of an Asse, slew a thousand Philistins, andIudg. 16.27, 30. pulling down the house upon three thousand of them, slew them all. Wonderfull were the exploits of Davids Worthies, but principally of2. Sam. 23.8. the first three: for each of them being aloue, slew ma­ny hundred of Gods enemies, because God was with them.

But where God is not with men, there a great host is as weake as one man: And therefore when God drew himselfe back from the Iewes by reason of their sinnes, they made their moan, and said,Psal 44.9, 10. Thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame, and goest not foorth with our armies: Thou makest us to turn backe from the enemie: and they which hate us, spoile for themselves.

VII. Sometimes God armeth his creatures, and they fight against the enemies of his people either alone, or jointly with them. He fought against Pharao by turning of the river into blood, by Frogs, by Lice, by swarmes of Flies, by the murraine of Beasts, by the plague of Boyles and Blanes, of Haile, Thunder, and Lightning, of Locusts, and Darknesse: at last by his Angell, which smote all the first-borne of Aegypt from men unto the cattell. Hezekiah being inclosed in Ierusalem, and not able to resist against Senacherib & his army,2. Kin. 19.35. the Angell of the LORD went out, and smote, in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred, foure score, and five thousand. When, of these champions of the heavēly host, one alone doth so great [Page 169]deeds, what would not doe allPsal. 68.17. the Chivalrie of God, which is of twenty thousands, even of thousands of Angells, Psal. 34.7. which encampe round about them that feare God? Wherefore Da­vid prayed the LordPsal. 35.5. to send his Angell to chase his ene­mies. t. 12.7 One Angell delivered Peter: a multitude of An­gels delivered2. King. 6.17. Elisha, and carryedLuk. 16.22. Lazarus into Abra­hams bosome.

When Ioshua was fighting against five kings of Cana­an,Iosh. 10.11. the LORD cast downe great stones from heaven upon them, and they were moe which dyed with haile stones, than they whom the children of Israel slew with the swords. When in the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart, and sundry other tribes through lazinesse followed not De­borah and Barak in the warre against Iabin and Sisera, the heavens and the starres fought with them against those puissant enemies.

IIX. Often God worketh besides all meanes, yea and against the nature of meanes. Ioseph is sold by his brethren, and cast into a loathsome prison, that he may be exalted to the highest glory that is in Kings Courts. The sea was a safegard to the people of Israel, even then when the Egyptians were overthrowne in the mid­dest of it. The blowing of trumpets, and the burning lamps were fitter to discover Gedeon with his three hun­dred disarmed men to the hoste of the Midianites, than to discomfit it. TheIosh, 6.4. blowing of rammes hornes was not so fit to cast downe the walles of Iericho, as to advertise the Citizens to be upon their guard, and to watch to hold them up. What could Davids sling serve against Go­liaths speare? and who would not have mocked the three hundred Albigenses fighting with slings against seven thousand men well armed, as if they had beene as many birds in a hemp-yard? It pleaseth God to deliver so, that his Church vaunt not against him, saying,Iudg. 7.2. Mine owne hand hath saved med, and so relye upon the meanes, and make him a co-partner onely of the deliverie, and [Page 170]not author thereof. When the Lyons spare Daniel, when the fire beareth respect to the three Confessors, when the Whale swalloweth up Ionah, and three dayes, and three nights after, vomiteth him out of her belly upon the dry land without any harme, who can deny but that such de­liveries were against the nature of meanes, and cannot be ascribed but to the most wonderfull power of God?

I put in this ranke the confusion and disorder which God sendeth amongst his enemies, when he will deliver his people. The Midianites come to fight against Israel, butVer. 22. the LORD set every mans sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host. When2. Chron. 20.2, 22, 23, 25. the Moabites, Ammonites, and Idumeans with one consent sought to destroy Iehoshaphat and his people, the Lord troubled them with the spirit of division after such a manner, that the Moabites and Ammonites slew and destroyed the Idumeans, and after that, every one helped to destroy another: so that Iehosha­phat and his people had no more to doe, but to goe and take away the spoyle, and give thankes unto the Lord. How often, by such divisions, God hath saved the refor­med Churches in forrein nations, and namely in France, we all know.

IX. When God delivereth against the nature of meanes, he will teach us that he standeth not in any need of meanes when his pleasure is to deliver. And therefore now and then he delivereth without meanes.Pro. 16.7. When a mans wayes please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. He deliveredGen. 33.4 Iacob from Esau, changing his heart, and appeasing his wrath, which was suddenly turned into imbracements, kissing, and weeping. He de­livered David from Saul by many meanes: but when the messengers which were sent by Saul to take him, prophe­cyed, and thought no more on him, what helpe of man, what visible meanes were there? When he preferred Io­seph in the Court of Pharao, Daniel and his fellowes in the Court of Nebuchadnezzar, and of Darius, Nehemiah [Page 171]and Mordecai in the Court of Artaxerxes, by what means did he it? The Psalmist saith, thatPsal. 106 46. he made them to bee pittyed of all those that carryed them captives. Hee conver­ted Saul, and of a persecuter, made him a Christian; of a Captaine, an Apostle; of a Ring-leader of most cruell and bloody Wolves, a most vigilant and faithfull shepheard of Christs flocke.

David, speaking through his owne experience, saith to the man which is persecuted wrongfully,Psal. 37.5, 6. Commit thy way unto the LORD: trust also in him, and he shall bring it to passe: and he shall bring foorth thy righteousnesse as the light, and thy iudgements as the noone day. Wee may wonder that he doth it: but how he doth it, who can tell? How Saul knew Davids innocency, we can tell,1. Sam. 24.18. 1. Sam. 26.21. because when he might, he killed him not: but it is wonderfull to consi­der, by what unknowne wayes of Gods secret provi­dence, Saul fell twice into his hands. Henry the third, King of France, spake of us at Tours, as Saul spake of David, and said, that we were more righteous than hee, because we had rewarded him good, whereas he had re­warded us evill. It was the wonderfull and immedi­ate worke of GOD, that hee could not bee saved but by them whose fathers hee had killed; and was resolved to bee the protector of those whom he had persecuted, if the Monks impoisoned knife had not cut too too soone for us the brittle thread of his mortall life. God be praysed, that amongst us there are no Cle­ments, no Barrauts, no Chatels, no Ravaillacs: for2. Sam. 26.9. who can stretch forth his hand against the LORDS anointed, and bee guiltlesse?

X. How often hath the Church beene afflicted, stor­med, forsaken of all creatures, destitute of all helpe, of all counsell, of all comfort; and he, he alone hath come on a sudden, and both comforted and delivered her? He prophecied by Daniel, that under the persecution of An­tiochus, his people should be brought to such extremity, [Page 172]thatDan. 11.45. none should helpe them. What then? shall they pe­rish for want of helpe? It followeth in the next chap­ter,Dan. 12.1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, e­ven to that same time: and at that time thy people shall bee de­livered, every one that shall be written in the book. Who is this Michael? who but our Lord Iesus Christ, called else­where,Iosh 5.14, 15. the Prince of the host of the LORD? If all the An­gels of heaven, if all the men of the world should stand still with their armes crossed, if all the creatures should with hold their helpe from us, our Michael saith unto us,Mat. 28.18, 20. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth: and loe, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Though he bePhil. 2.9, 10. highly exalted, though he have a Name which is above every name, though hePsal. 47.7 be king of all the earth, and that at his Name every knee must bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; yet he is our high Priest, and beareth us into the most high and inmost heavens, yea weareth us as an ornament up­on his shoulders and upon his breast, and, as the Apostle saith,Heb. 2.11 is not ashamed to call us his brethren.

When all things seeme to be desperate, and past hope of recoverie, when the faithfull are nothing but a skeli­ton, but a carcasseEzech. 37.2, &c. of dry bones, as the people of Iuda was in the captivitie of Babylon, if it please him to speak the word onely, they shall come together againe, bone to bone; they shall live, rise again, and be a great Army. Hee hath by his word done things greater and more wonderfull. By his word he hath made heaven & earth: by his word he heaped plagues upon plagues, while they had destroyed Pharao and his people: they that are sicke, cry unto him,Psal. 107 7. he sendeth his word & healeth them. Mat. 9.6, 20, 22. By his word onely he cured one sicke of the palsie, and the wo­man diseased with an issue of blood. By his word onely he quieted the winds, calmed the roaring seas, rendred [Page 173]sight and light to the blind, raised the dead. By his word onely he restored his people to the land of Canaan. By his word, he saveth the Church. By his word, by his onely power and good will, without any visible and knowne meanes, he hath given peace to the Churches of France: for when we were betrayed, and sold by sun­dry of our brethren, forsaken of many, pursued by a great armie, he was for us, and delivered us: Then wee sung with thanksgiving the hundreth twenty and fourth Psalme.

XI. There is yet another kind of deliverie which commeth immediately of God, and is most wonderfull of all. How he delivereth us by the ruine of our ene­mies; how by death he giveeh us life, wee shall heare in the next Sermon: but that hee delivereth us, when to mans opinion we are overcome, it is a paradoxe to the world, and yet a most certaine and verified truth in the Church. In the second and third of the Revelation, many excellent promises were made to him that overcom­meth. When the persecutions were most fervent and fre­quent, and many were put to death for Christs sake: then they were exhorted to fight, to stand fast; and when they stood fast, it is said that they overcame. It is writ­ten of Christs two witnesses, thatRev. 11.7 the beast should make warre against them, and overcome them, and kill them. It is al­so written ofRev. 7.9, 14. those which stood before the throne, that they came out of great tribulation, and yet had palmes in their hands. They came out of great tribulation, they were vanquished: they had palmes, in their hands, they were van­quishers. Evē asRom. 8.36, 37. the Apostle saith out of the forty fourth Psalme, For thy sake we are killed all the day long, wee are ac­counted as sheepe for the slaughter: then we are subdued and surmounted. Yet he addeth, Nay, in all these things we are more than Conquerors, through him that loved us. This is ve­ry strange: we are overcome by our enemies when they slay us: and yet at that same time we are overcommers.

How shall we reconcile this contrarietie? ye will all grant, that the Generall of an Armie, fighting against his enemies, whatsoever dammage and harme hee cau­seth and procureth unto them, preuaileth not, but ra­ther is overcome of them, if still they keepe fast that wherefore he fighteth, and which he hoped to pull away from them by violence. So it is with us. The divell, great Generall of the world, stirreth up against us the ar­mies of Gog and Magog, all the fiends of hell, all the wic­kednesse of the earth, not to torment us, to spoyle us of our goods, to kill us, for neither is hee covetous of our goods, nor enemy to our persons, which hee loveth when we are like to himselfe; but by such racking, spoy­ling, killing, to wring out of us a denying of our religi­on, and so to separate us from the love of God, and make us to lose our salvation which is in Christ. When then we hold fast the shield of faith, wherewith we quench all the fierie darts of the wicked, when we remaine faithfull unto death, when in the midst of our greatest anguishes, and of most exquisite deaths, we challenge, and defie all our enemies, and cry to them all,Rom. 8.35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distresse, or perse­cution, or famine, or nakednesse, or perill, or sword? I say that we are Conquerours, and Satan with all his brood is conquered.

XII. A few examples will make this truth more cleer. We have already spoken of Iob, out of whose mouth the divell by so many tentations could not wring one evill word against God, as he intended: who then was victo­rious? Satan or Iob? surely Iob, who stood fast in the place of combate, when Satan fled, and was no more seene.

The example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is no lesse wonderfull. The divell put inDan. 3. Nebuchadnezzars heart to set up, in the plaine of Dura, in the Province of Babylon, an image of gold, whose height was threescore [Page 175]cubits, and the breadth thereof sixe cubits, to call to the dedication of that Idol the Princes, Governours, all the Rulers of the Provinces, to dedicate it with the melodi­ous and most pleasant sound of the Cornet, Flute, Harp, Sackbut, Psalterie, Dulcimer. and all kinds of musick, to command to all peoples, nations, and languages there present, to fall downe and worship it at what time they should heare the consort of musicke; to adde to this command a most fearefull threat, that whosoever fell not downe and worshipped, should the same houre bee cast into the midst of a burning fierie furnace. For whom was made all this pompe, all this glorious shew? for whom did the instruments of musicke sound so sweetly? for whom did the furnace burne so exceedingly? For these three onely: for the divell knew that all the rest of the Kings subiects would obey, and worship the image. Ye see a combate very difficult, ambushes most dangerous, a gulfe pro­found, a bottomlesse pit, a downe-right pitch on both sides, pleasure and feare; the delectable harmonie of all kinds of musick, to allure the simple ones; the frightfull sight of a burning furnace, to appall and amaze the most inflexible and obdurate courages. See the event: there is nothing but obedience amongst all: All bow, all kneel, all worship; three onely stand upright, and kneele not. Whereupon they are accused by certaine Caldeans. The accusation is important: There are, say they, certaine Iewes, not thy naturall Subiects, but strangers, and thy slaves, whom thou hast set over the affaires of the Province of Baby­lon, preferring them to thy naturall Subiects, and the great men of thy countrey, even Shadrach, Meschah, and Abednego: these men, O King, have not regarded thee. These base and unthankefull fellowes have contemned and despised thee. What accusation could bee more cunningly plaited? but as many accusations, as many praises: As many crimes intended, as many commenda­tions of godlinesse: the King frets, chafes, threatneth, [Page 176] If, saith he, ye fall not downe, and worship not the image which I have made, ye shall be cast the same houre into the midst of a fierie furnace, and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? As many threats, as many victories: as many beholders, as many witnesses of their triumphs. They fight alone, they vanquish alone, they triumph alone. And that which maketh their combat admirable, and their victorie glorious, after that all have yeelded, all have bowed their knees to the Idol, they stand firme, and stirre not. They dispute not with themselves; Loe, all the honourable, all the wise, all the rich men of the Realme, and all the people obey the King, what will men thinke of us, if we alone struggle and be stubborne? If we had gone formost to honour the Image, we might be called too forward: but if after so many thousands we yeeld to necessitie; if wee follow the multitude and the best sort, who can justly blame us? Moreover, if wee frame our wills to the Kings will, wee may releeve and further our brethren: whereas our obstinacy will make their bondage more grievous than it was. Such politi­call considerations come not in their minds, farre lesse in their mouths: but they answer with a more than man­ly courage, Our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fierie furnace: yea, he is able to deliver us out of thine hand, O King: but if not, be it knowne unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship thy golden Image which thou hast set up. O faith in God, O love to God, O constancy for God! The divell is confounded, the King is overcome, they triumph.

XIII. Reade the storie of the valiant courage of Ele­azar, one of the principall Scribes in the dayes of the blood-thirstie Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes: 2. Maccab. 6.21, &c. He was be­sought by the Kings officers, for the old acquaintance they had with him, to bring flesh of his owne provision, such as was lawfull for him to use, and make, as if he did eate of the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the King, that in [Page 177]so doing, he might be delivered from death, and for the old friendship with them, finde favour. A friendly counsell, if yee consider the men which gave it; but if ye consider the in­tention of the divell who suggested it, a most violent assault, and craftie tentation: what so sweet as life? what so desirable as to save it, without any reall offence? what so plausible, or at least more excusable, than to make a shew of an evill, which indeed thou doest not; to shun to be made a publike shew of the evill, which otherwise thou must suffer with shame and great torments? Flesh and blood will say to Eleazar, that in this there was no sinne: The Pope which giveth dispense to the Papists of this Realme, to dissemble and deny their Religion, will say that it was but a veniall sinne, and of the number of those which are most pardonable.

Eleazar led with another Spirit, even withEsa. 11.3. the Spirit of the Lord, which is the spirit of knowledge, of wisedome, of counsell, of might, and of the feare of the Lord, saith not so: but considering the holy Law made and given by God; It be­commeth not our age, said he, in any wise to dissemble, whereby many young persons might thinke, that ELEAZAR being foure­score yeeres old and tenne, was now gone to a strange religion; and so they, through mine hypocrisie, and desire to live a little time, and a moment longer should be deceived by me, and I get astaine to mine old age, and make it abominable: for though for the present time I should bee delivered from the punishment of men, yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty, neyther alive nor dead: wherefore now manfully changing this life, I will shew my selfe such an one as mine age requireth, and leave a notable example to such as be young, to dye willingly and coura­geously for the honourable and holy lawes. This seemed mad­nesse and despaire to his Iudges, which changing the good will they bare him into hatred, and their meek­nesse into fury and rage, let him straight wayes to the Tympan, which was a most cruell kind of torture; where­upon being ready to dye of the stripes which hee had re­ceived, [Page 178]ceived, he groaned and said, It is manifest unto the Lord, that hath the holy knowledge, that whereas I might have beene de­livered from death, I now endure sore paines in body, by being beaten; but in soule am well content to suffer these things, be­cause I feare him.

XIV. Reade also the storie of the cruell death and constancie2. Macc. 7 of the seven brethren, and their mother, at that same time. the Tyrant himselfe marvelled at their cou­rage; for that neither the scourges and whips wherewith they were torne, nor the cutting out of their tongues, nor the mangling and maiming of all their members, nor the pulling off of the skin of their heads with the haire, nor the hot pannes and caldrons, wherein they were fryed, being yet alive, could compell them against the law of God to eate swines flesh. The eldest heire, worthy of the prerogative of the first-borne, answered to the Tyrants threats, to the Hangmans whips, and to all the tortures, We are ready to dye, rather than to transgresse the lawes of our fathers; and exhorted his brethren, as they exhorted him, to dye manfully for the law of God. And to make you know that this was not madnesse of mind, but faith, the second said to the King, Thou, like a fury, ta­kest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise us up, which have dyed for his lawes, unto everlasting life. So spake the third, so the fourth, and the rest: but the youngest was most wonderfull of all; for neither could the promises of riches and honours tickle him, nor the cruell torments which he had seene his brethren suffer, shake his constancie, but being encouraged by his most wonderfull mother, he cryed to the executioners, Whom wait ye for? I will not obey the Kings commandement: but I will obey the commandement of the law that was given unto our Fathers by Moses. So they dyed: so dyed last of all their marvellous mother, after that she had beene to them in stead of a Levite, or Priest, and had exhorted and com­forted them with a most excellent speech concerning the [Page 179]resurrection: And therefore the Apostle ascribeth their victorious constancie to their faith, saying,Heb. 11.35. that by faith they were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtaine a better resurrection.

XV. The Christian Church aboundeth in such ex­amples of most wonderfull victorie against the flesh, the world, and the divell. In it this is to bee admired; that men w^ch may live in honor by denying Christ, choose shame and dishonor, preferre torments to ease, sorrow to joy, paine to pleasure, death to life, kissethe postes and other instruments of their punishments, looke upon the torments with a cheerefull face, runne to the fires as joyfully as worldings doe to a bridall feast, and not onely rejoice, but alsoRom. 53 glorie in tribulations; which is the highest degree of pleasure and joy.

Steven stopping his eares to the murmuring of the people, which like a swarme of Hornets and Waspes made a humming noise about him, shutting his eyes to the stones wherewith they were armed to fell him, and overcomming by faith the horrors of death,Act. 7.55 56, 59, 60. looked up stedfastly into heaven, and seeing there the glory of God, and Iesus standing on the right hand of God, cryed with a trium­phing voice, Behold, I see the Heavens opened, and the Sonne of man standing on the right hand of God. Neither could their showting, nor the stones which hayled upon him, stay him to kneele downe, and to call upon God, both for himselfe and for them.

XVI. If ye search the Ecclesiasticall histories of the Martyrs of the primitive Church and of ours, the ex­amples of such victories are infinite. S. Ignace Bishop of Antiochia hearing the roaring of the hungry Lions, and seeing them stretching foorth their clawes to teare him, and opening their throats to devoure his flesh, cry­ed with a loud voice,Iren adv. heres. sib. 5. Because I am Christs wheat, now shall I be ground with the teeth of beasts, that I may bee found to bee the pure bread of God.

Euseb. hist. E [...]cl. lib. 4. cap. 15. Policarpe Bishop of Smyrna answered to those which now intreated him with many promises, now impo­tuned him with threats, to call the Emperour My Lord, and to deny Christ to bee his Lord; I have served him fourescore and six yeares, and he hath never done me any harm, how then should I curse my King, which hath saved me?

Tert. Apo­l [...]get. c. 1. & 46. & 49.All the Christians, when they were condemned gave thanks, as for a great benefit.Iust. Mart. Apol. 1. Lucius thanked Vrbicius which had condemned him to die for Christs sake, be­cause, said hee, being delivered from evill masters, I am going to my Father the King of heaven.

Amongst all, is wonderfull the constancie of Felicitas, a Widow of Rome, & like unto that of the Mother and of the seven children, of whom I have already spoken; for she also had seven sonnes.Gregor. 1. hom. 3. in Euang. tom. 2. Other mothers fear lest their children die before them: She feareth lest her sons live after her: She converted them to Christ: being ta­ken with them, shee confirmed them in the confession and faith of Christ. Publius the Governor of the towne, with faire words sought to entice her: Have pittie, saith he, of thy selfe, at least pittie these thy seven sonnes. Af­ter, with rough words, hee thought to astonish her: But she, having in a womans body a mans breast; Neither, saith she, are thy promises able to tickle mee, nor thy threats to terrifie mee. And choosing rather to loose all her Chil­dren, than to see then loose Christ; of a mother shee be­came a Preacher unto them: and after she had seen them all glorifie the Lord Iesus by their death, the love of Christ surmounting in her the griefe which she received of her orbitie, she went also with drie eyes, a laughing countenance, and a most heroicall courage, to the place of execution, and received there the crowne of Martyr­dome. And therefore as Christ said of Iohn Baptiste, thatMat 11 9 he was a Prophet, yea more than a Prophet; so may wee say of her, that she was a Martyr, yea more than a Martyr. Consider the tender love of a mother, and ye shall con­fesse [Page 181]that the death of each of her sonnes was a martyr­dome unto her. She was then seven times Martyr in her seven sonnes, and the eighth time in her own person.

After I have spoken of such a woman, shall I goe back to men? Shall I speak ofEuseb. hist Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 1. Attalus, one of the Mar­tyrs of Vienne in France, in the time of Antonius Verus, the yeare of Christ 178. who, being set in a burning chaire of iron, preached to the Romanes, as if he had bin in a pulpit; teaching them what God is, reproving their cruelty, maintaining the innocencie of Christians, and saying, This which you do, is eating & swallowing of mens flesh; but we eate not mens flesh, neither doe we harme to any man.

Shall I forget Laurentius Deacon of the Church of Rome, who being laid upon an iron grate, and a slow burning fire under it, that he might feele his death, This side, said he, is inough rosted, turn me upon the other: which being done after some space, he said againe to the Go­vernor,Prudent. in hymno. Coctum de­vora, Et experi­mentū cape, Sit crudum an assum suavius. Now both sides are well rosted, come, eate, and try which is sweetest, raw or rosted.

It was a common thing to all Christians in those dayes,Tertull, de Idolat. cap. 11. Quo ore Christianus thurarius si per Templa transibit, quo ore fluman­tes aras de­spuet, & ex­sufflabit, qui­bus ipse pro­spexit. Minut Felix. deos despuūt: ride [...]t sacra. when the hangmen would hale them violently to the Temples of their Idolls, when the Iudges would command them to bow downe to the Altars, and to worship the Idols, if they had hands and feete free, to breake the Images, fling away the Censers, tram­ple on the sweete smelling incense: and if they were bound, they would puffe at the Temples, spit at the abominable Images, with great contempt; wagg their heads at all the diabolicall superstition. All this did the holy woman and couragious MartyrPrud. in Martyrio Eulalia. Martyr ad ista n [...]hil, sed enim I [...]fremit, in que tyran­ni oculos S [...]uta ia­cit, simulacra dehinc. Eulalia: She did more; shee spat upon the Governors face, who by all kind of most cruell torments, went about to constraine her to idolatry. And this puffing and spitting at the onely naming of the false religion, was most usuall in those dayes among the brethren. O Faith! O Courage! O Victorie! O gods of wood, of stone, of metall! [Page 182]where is your Majestie! O Tyrants, where your power! O cruel Executioners,Dissipat, impositam (que) molam where is your fury! Loe, not men onely, but women, but young children contemne you, fight against you,Thuribu­lis pede pro­subigit. overcome you.

XVII. Shall passe under silence our own Martyrs? to begin with one of the first: even Ierome of Prague, condemned to be burnt quicke by the bloody councell of Constantia, How the stood before his passionate and ignorant Iudges without feare, not onely contemning death, but also lusting after it;Poggius Florent. ep. 3 a Papist, which was an eye-witnesse of all the actes of that Tragedie, relateth with admiration and praise. He went to death with a cheerfull countenance, & when hee came to the place of execution, he imbraced the post whereunto he was tied, & kissed it. Perceiving the hangman going behind his back to set the wood on fire, lest he should see it, he cried unto him, Come here, come here, and kindle the fire before my face: for if I had dreaded it, I should never have come to this place, which I might have shunned. Then with a most holy & wonderful joy he sung a Psalm to God, which the fire and the smoake had much adoe to interrupt.

Patricke Hammilton, a young Gentleman of Scotland, as he was going to the fire, by his words and lookes af­frighted in such sort Alexander Cambell, a Dominican Frier his accuser, that he became besides himselfe, and died madde.

George Baynam and Iohn Frith, Englishmen, imbraced & kissed their fagots, & Laurent Sanders imbraced with great joy the post whereunto the hangman was tying him, and said, O crosse of my good Lord.

In France Steven Brun, after that his Iudges had pro­nounced against him the sentence of death, cryed with a loud voice, My Iudges have condemned mee to live. And Iohn Baron, being advertised by his Iudges, which had condemned him, to appeale from them unto the Court of Parliament, Can ye not, said he, bee content to have your [Page 183]owne hands defiled with my blood, but ye will have other mens hands polluted with it also? Amongst all, I admire most the peasant of Lynri, which meeting some prisoners con­demned for the Religion, after he had asked and known of them the cause of their condemnation, leapt upon the chariot, and went to dye with them.

Above all, the victories of women are most wonder­ful: As the hangman was ready to put to death a loving couple of Martyrs, Iohn Bayly and his wife; the wife in­couraged the husband, saying, Sweet heart, heave a good heart; for this day our marriage with our Lord Iesus shall bee accomplished. The religious Gentlewoman Graveron cal­led the day of her martyrdome, the day of her marriage with Christ: and seeing her companions refuse to give their tongues, because there was no such thing mentio­ned in their sentence, she being but a woman, resolved them, saying, It is reasonable and sit, that the tongue which hath the priviledge to praise God, should also have the preroga­tive to leape first upon the Altar of burnt offering. So Claude Tierry, called the halter which was put about her necke, the Carkanet, and the rope wherewith she was bound to the post, the girdle of her marriage with Iesus Christ: and therupon made a most excellent discourse of the spiritu­all marriage of the Lord Iesus with his Church, which begins here in the valley of death, and is consummated in the mountaines of spices.Minut Felix. Quam [...]ul­chrum spe­ctacadum Deo, cum Ch [...]ia [...] Congrea [...]us, &c. V [...]it enim qut quod con [...]en [...]it, obtinu [...].

O how pleasant a sight is it in the eyes of God, when a Chri­stian buckles with griefe and p ine; when he sets himselfe in a­ray against threats, punishments, torments; when he scoffingly ieasts at the dreadfull name of death, at the lowring counte­nance of the pitilesse hangman; when he holds up his libertie a­gainst Kings and Princes, and yeelds to none but to God, to whom he belongs; when, like a most glorious Triumpher and Conqueror, hee insults and triumphes over his Iudge who hath condemned him! For he which hath obtained that wherefore he fought, hath vainquished.

XIIX. There is nothing difficile, where faith in God is; nothing dreadfull, where the love of God is; nothing dolorous, where true zeale to the glory of God is. As the light of the sunne dimmeth all other lights; and as the heat of the sunne cooleth all other heats: so the light of faith dimmeth that which worldly men call the light of reason. Reason saith, as the Proconsull said to Cyprian, Take time and advise: Faith answereth, as Cyprian did,In rebus Dei non est delibecan­dum. In Gods affaires no man must advise. Reason saith, it is a sweet thing to live: Faith saith, it is better to dye for Christ, than to live without Christ. So also the heat of love and true zeale, extinguisheth the heat of most bur­ning fires. When naturall sense saith, it is burning; Love answereth, it is not so much as hot. These are the victo­ries of the faithfull in their most sensible torments: they are so ravished and transported by faith, with the love of their Saviour, that, as it were, it benummeth them so, that they heede not their paines, as if they were senselesse: for1. Ioh. 5.4. whatsoever is borne of God, overcom­meth the world: and this is the victory that overcommeth the world, even our faith.

XIX The Lord in his great mercy increase our faith, whereby in this surceasing of outward enemies, we may fight valiantly against our inward and spirituall foes, which are more dangerous; closing our hearts to all the suggestions of Satan, to covetousnesse, to pride, to cho­ler, to all the ticklings of filthy lust: shutting our eyes to vanity, stopping our eares to calumnies, flatterers, all evill counsells, keeping our spirits, our soules, our bodies blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. That fighting so, we may overcome; overcomming, tri­umph; triumphing, receive the crowne of glory, and of immortalitie, which God hath prepared for us be­fore the beginning of the world, through the pre­cious merites of our LORD IESVS CHRIST, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, bee all [Page 185]prayse, all glory, all honour, both now and for ever­more. Amen.

SERM. VIII. Of the manner and time of the righteous mans Deliverances.

I. AS of the ashes of the Phoenix, when it see­meth to be nothing but dust, groweth up another: So when the Church to mans iudgement is gone, lost, and past all hope of recoverie, when the persecuters say of her, that which the Traytor Absalom, Psal. 22.8 Mat. 27.43. and the treacherous Re­bells that followed him, said of David, and the chiefe Priests, Scribes, and Elders of Christ, Hee trusted on the LORD, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. Then, then God by a most excellent and wonderfull deliverance reviveth her, and maketh her to spring up againe more beautifull and glorious than she was before.

The third day of the Massacre of Paris, Thuan. lib. 53. which was the Sunday, in the moneth of August, a bramble flourished in S^t. Innocents Church-yard: The Papists ran to gaze upon it, but could not tell wherefore, and how a dry thorne blossomed in harvest out of due time and feason, except that some tooke it as a token, that God approo­ved their most unnaturall and savage crueltie: but the wisest and best sort remembring, thatNumb. 17.8. Aarans rod, which was but a dry peece of wood, budded and blossomed, and yeelded almonds, when the Lord confirmed the [Page 177]Priesthood in the house of Levi, and that the condition of the Church was represented untoExod. 3.2. Moses by a bur­ning bush, because it is no more esteemed in the world than a bush of briars which the shepheards set on fire; said farre otherwayes, that the blood of those Innocents which was then shed, should bee to the Church as the dew of heaven, or as the raine of the first and last season, and make it to budde, to blossome, and bring foorth fruit yet againe more wonderfully and gloriously than before: as it came to passe, against all hope.

II. For even then, God spake to many of his Saints, as he did to the Iewes in their tribulation, and comman­ded them to hide themselves in their cabinets, untill the time of indignation were overpast, because thē the Lord would come certainely, and punish all their persecuters for their iniquity, and namely, the authors of such blood­shedding, and so joyne with their overthrow, the deli­verie of his Church. The remnant of the Church hid themselves, the moment of the Lords wrath past, Gods enemies were destroyed, the Church was delivered, and still flourisheth and yeeldeth most excellent fruit, to the glory of the Lord our deliverer, and to the eternall shame and confusion of our persecuters.

Here is then a new matter to be handled, concerning the manner and the time of the Lords deliveries, which is set downe by the Prophet in three severall points: The first is a commandement which God giveth to his peo­ple, saying, Come, my people, enter thou into thy chamber, and shut thy doores about thee. The second is, how long they must lye hid after this manner: not for ever, not for a long time, but for a little moment, untill the indignation bee overpast. The third is the reason why they must lurke till then: because then God will bee avenged of their ene­mies. For behold the Lord commeth out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, &c.

III. God speaketh to his people by his Prophet, and [Page 188]giveth them a most excellent counsell, to enter into their cabinets, and to shut their doores about them: which if ye take litterally, is a counsell of holy prudence; if ye take it allego­rically, it is a counsell of godly patience.

Christian and holy prudence is the rule of the righteous mans actions, teaching him how to carry himselfe in all occurrences of times, places, and persons, and how to frame and fit unto them all his actions, privy and publike, domesticall, civill, and religious. As in time of persecution, it will teach him neither to be too timo­rous to forsake his vocation, whereunto God hath cal­led him; nor yet too rash, and foole-hardy to tempt God, by casting himselfe into unnecessarie dangers, whereof the word of God (which David calledPsal. 119 105. a lampe unto his feete, and a light unto his path) giveth both precepts and examples.

When we are assured, that God calleth us to confesse his holy Name, and to glorifie his Majestie, eyther by professing openly his word, and preaching of it, or by suffering for it; then we must not aske, and farre lesse take counsell, of flesh and blood, but remember the com­mandement,Math. 10.28. Feare not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soule: but rather feare him which is able to de­stroy both soule and body in hell. Worldly prudence will say: These men to whom God sendeth thee, are mighty and cruell, and will kill thee; therefore take heed to thy selfe, and flye. Sanctified prudence will answer; God which hath sent me, is stronger, and therefore will I not flye.Psal. 11.1. In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soule, Flee as a bird to your mountaine? When God sent Samuel to anoint David, worldly wisedome answered in him,1. Sam. 16.2. How can I goe? If Saul heare it, he will kill me. God spake unto him againe, and confirmed him: then hee gave place to the commandement, and went. It seemeth, that Amazia gave a wise counsell to Amos, saying,Amos 7.12, 13, 14, 15, 16. O thou Seer, goe, flee thou away into the land of Iudah, and there eate [Page 189]bread, and prophesie there: but prophesie not againe a­ny more at Bethel: for it is the Kings Chappell, and it is the Kings Court. Yet Amos, ruled by another Spirit, reiected it, and said, The LORD said unto me, Goe, prophesie unto my people Israel, that is to say, I will obey the Lord, and not thee. And therforeIon. 1.2, 3. Ionah yeeldeth too much to his own discourse, and too little to Gods commandement, when, being sent to Niniveh, hee tooke shipping to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord: which would have beene a foule fault in any private man instructed in the wayes of the Lord, how much more was it heinous in a Prophet? for who is so negligently and slightly imbrued with the knowledge of God, but hee will sub­scribe to that saying of David, Psal. 139.7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Whither shall I goe from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there: If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts, even there shall thy hand leade me, and thy right hand shall hold me: If I say, surely the darknesse shall co­ver me: even the night shall be light about me: yea, the darke­nesse hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkenesse and the light are both alike to thee. Ionah learned by an experimentall knowledge this to be true, when the ship wherein he thought to flee from the presence of the Lord, was unto him as a paire of stockes to hold him fast.

Therefore Christ, a more compleat patterne to imi­tate, and a more excellent president to follow than Ionah, Mat. 16.21, 22, 23. when his time was come to bee killed at Ierusalem, re­prooved Peter, and called him Satan, for disswading him from it. LikewiseAct. 21.11, 12, 13, 14. Paul would not by any meanes be disswaded from going to Ierusalem, though Agabus had prophesied unto him that the Iewes should binde him, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles: whereof the reason was, that hee went thitherAct. 20.22. bound in the Spi­rit, that is to say, by particular revelation of the [Page 180]Spirit of the eternall and most wise God.

When we have such a revelation, or by any other meanes are certified, that God will have us to remaine and confesse, then this precept of Esaiah, of hiding our selves in our closets, is no wayes directed unto us, but rather this of Christ,Mar. 10.27. What I tell you in darkenesse, that speake ye in light: and what ye heare in the eare, that preach ye upon the house tops. Then we must not onely goe, but run with great cheerefulnesse and alacritie, thorow flouds fires, swords, to obey Gods commandements, and say as David said,Psal. 139.32. I will run the way of thy commandements, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

IV. But when we have no certain knowledge of Gods wil, & are so disposed, that we may say with S. Paul, Phil. 1.21. Christ to me to live, & to dy, is gain: when, I say, we are resolved to suffer all extreamities, and a thousand deaths, rather than to deny him, then the practice of this commandement is not onely lawfull, but also necessarie: then not onely we may, but also should trye, if hiding of our selves, and fleeing, be the meanes which God hath appointed to de­liver us from the present evill of persecution. God gave an expresse commandement to the people of Israel,Exod. 12.32. that none of them should goe out at the doore of his house, untill the morning of that night wherein hee smote the first-borne of Egypt: The like commandement was gi­ven to Rachab, Iosh. 2.19 that none of her family should goe out of the doores of her house into the street, lest they should perish in the destruction of the towne of Iericho. I con­fesse that wee have not any such personall commande­ment directed unto us: but I say, that this generall com­mandement, Come my people, enter thou into thy chamber, &c. is sufficient, and a good warrant for all Gods peo­ple, till he chuse such as pleaseth him, and make them to know manifestly, that he will have them to bee publike Confessors and Martyrs, whereof, they cannot make question, if once they bee taken, and laid in bonds for [Page 190]Christs sake: for then they must drinke the cup which the Lord setteth to their heads more gladly and coura­geously then Socrates did the Hemlocke. Till then they may convey themselves out of their enemies hands, by lurking in some hid and unknowne place, by fleeing, or any other way which is not unlawfull.

V.Gen. 27.43. Rebeckah advertised that Esau had vowed to slay Iacob, counselled him to flee to Laban her brother, and he did so.Exod. 2.15. Moses knowing that Pharaoh sought to slay him, fled from the face of Pharao, and dwelt in the land of Mi­dian; not forsaking his calling, but waiting till God gave him a more cleere declaration of his will thereupon: which after he had received, he returned into Egypt, no­thing dreading the feare of Pharao, and of all his Court. How often did1. Sam. 19.22.27. 2. Sam. 15.14. David flee from place to place, to shun the wrath of his King, and the conspiracy of his owne sonne, not for lacke of courage, but though godly pru­dence and fore-seeing advisednesse? David which had the promise of the kingdome of Israel, fled: David which knew that his kingdome could not be taken from him, fled: Oh how many excellent Psalmes did he make at those times! wherby ye may know, that he mistrusted not the truth of Gods promise, yet would not tempt him, by trying of his power.1. King. 17.1. Iudg. 5.17. Elijah, which by his prayers shut the heavens, and it rained not upon the earth by the space of three yeares and sixe moneths:1. King. 17.22. Elijah, which raised from death the widdowes sonne of Sarepta:1. King. 1.10.12. E­lijah, which brought fire from heaven upon the Kings Captaines and their fifties: That wise, godly, and won­derfull Prophet, when he was threatned by Iezebel, 1. King. 19.2, 3. fled he not for his life to Beersheba in Iuda, and from thence to the wildernesse? At that time1. King. 18.13. Obadiah, hid he not an hundred men of the Lords Prophets, by fifty in a cave, when Iezebel sought them, to kill them? what can bee said against those holy Fathers, w^ch in the time of the cruel persecuter Antiochus Epiphanes, Heb. 11.38. wandered in deserts, and in [Page 192]mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth, and, of whom the Apostle saith, that the world was not worthy?

VI. If any say, That such precepts and examples are of the old Testament, and should not bee fitted to Chri­stians which live under the Gospell; I answer, That in the new Testament, the commandements are more formall, and the examples more frequent and inforcing.

Christ, gave hee not this expresse commandement to his Apostles,Mat. 10.17, 23. Beware of men; and, when they persecute you in this City, flee ye into another? Tert. de fugain per­secutione cap. 6. Some say, that this cōman­dement was temporall, & given to the Apostles onely, & for that time only whē they were sent to preach the Gos­pell to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, even as that other cōmandement in the beginning of the Chapter,Mat. 10.5. Goe not into the way of the Gentils, and into any City of the Samaritans enter ye not, w^ch is now abolished. True; the commande­ment forbidding to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and Samaritans, is abrogated, but by another comman­dement,Mark. 16.15. Goe ye into all the world, and preach the Gospell to every creature. Tell us now where, how, and when the commandement of fleeing in persecution hath been re­called: And if it be not annulled by another comman­dement, why it should not stand for ever, as the rest doe which are in that chapter (that one of not preaching the Gospel to the nations, excepted)

What have they to answer to this other commande­ment,Mat. 24.15. When ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso rea­deth, let him understand) then let them which bee in Iudea, flee into the mountaines? &c. Had the Apostles any thing to doe with it? Were they in Ierusalem when the towne was besieged? There were many Christians; to them it pertained, to it they obeyed, forAtha [...]as. Apolog. de fug acontra Arianos. Hic est homi­num termi­nus ad per­fectionemdu­cens, ut quod Deus iubet, hoc faciant. this is the way to perfe­ction, to doe that which God commandeth.

But to come back to the 10. chapter of Mat. Said he to the Apostles only; or rather, hath he not said to the Apo­stles [Page 193]first, next to all Preachers of the Gospell, and con­sequently to all Christians;Matt. 10.16. Behold I send you forth as sheepe in the middest of Wolves: Be ye therefore wise as Ser­pents, and simple as Doves? What is that to be simple as Doues? It is to be harmelesse: what to be wise as Ser­pents? To keepe our selves from harme, and as it fol­loweth, to beware of men; when they persecute us in one City, to flee into another.

What? are their eares stopt with incredulity, when this other commandement is read unto them,Matt. 7.6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast yee your pearles before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turne againe, and rent you? Is this a commandement of fleeing and of hiding of our selves? why not? why shall I remaine, but to walke abroad? Why walke a­broad, but to confesse? I must not confesse before Epi­cureans and belly-gods: That were as if I should cast pearles vnto swine. Nor also before wickedly and cru­elly disposed men: That were as if one should cast that which is holy vnto doggs. What then shall I doe? I will put up the holy things, I will packe up my Pearles, and withdraw my selfe the most advisedly I can, till the dirtie and muddie swine be out of the way, and the dogs leave off barking and biting: Or I will remove to some other place, and display my sewels there, to see and assay if I can finde a better market else-where. For Christ giveth us not commandements of feare, whereby we should forsake our callings to save our lives, but of holy wisedome, whereby we should be carefull to save our lives, that at another time, or in another place, we may more commodiously and effectually practise our cal­lings, and so goe backe to leape the better.

VII. Such commandements are not in the Church without most glorious precedents, and examples most worthy to be followed. Can we have any so perfect, so excellent, as of Christ himselfe? Of him the Angel said [Page 194]to Ioseph, Matth. 2.13. Arise, and take the young childe and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there untill I bring thee word. b When he had shewne himselfe to be God by restoring the withered hand,Matt. 12.13, 14, 15. the Pharisees went out, and held a coun­sell against him, how they might destroy him: But when Iesus knew it, he withdrew himselfe from thence. The inhabitants of Nazareth led him unto the brow of an hill, that they might cast him downe headlong:Luk. 4.30. But bee passing tho­row the midst of them, went his way. In the Temple of Ie­rusalem, the Iewes tooke up stones to cast at him:Iohn 8.59. But Iesus hid himselfe, and went out of the Temple, going thorow the midst of them, and so passed by. The chiefe Priests and the Pharisees tooke counsell to put him to death, after that he had raised Lazarus. Ioh. 11.54. Iesus therefore walked no more openly among the Iewes: but went thence into a countrie neere to the wildernesse, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. Wherefore hid he himselfe? wherefore fled he? BecauseIoh. 2.4. Ioh. 7.6. his houre was not yet come: for when his houre was come, not onely he fled not, butIoh. 18.4. knowing all things that should come upon him, went foorth, and rendred himselfe to his enemies, which nei­ther knew him, nor were able to take him. And where he fled untill his time was come, there he preached, healed the sicke, and did good to all men.

So when there was a great persecution against the Church at Ierusalem, the ChristiansAct. 8.1.4. Act. 11.19, 20. were scattered a­broad throughout the region of Iudea, and Samaria, and went every where preaching the word. So Paul being at Damascus, & knowing that the Iews watched the gates day and night to kill him,Act. 9.24, 25. The Disciples tooke him by night, and let him downe by the wall in a basquet. So when he wasAct. 14.5, 6. at Iconium with Barnabas, & knew that the Iewes & Gentiles, with their Rulers, had made an assault to use them despite­fully, & to stone them; they were ware of it, & fled unto Ly­stra. So when in the uprore which Demetrius had raised against him at Ephesus,Act. 19.30, 31. he would haue entred in unto the [Page 195]people; the Disciples suffered him not, and he followed their counsell. So seeing he could not stay there without great ieopardie,Act. 20.1. he departed from thence, and went into Ma­cedonia, and preached the Gospell there. SoAct. 23.6, 7. perceiving that his enemies were resolved to doe him some mis­chiefe, he found a subtill, but lawfull policie to put them by the eares, and so escaped. Sov. 17. advertised that four­tie naughty men had bound themselves under a curse, that they would neither eate nor drinke till they had killed him, he shunned that conspiracie by a most wise counsell. SoAct. 25.11. knowing the corruption of his Iudge, he appealed unto Caesar, not forsaking his calling, but desiring to live for his callings sake. So S. Iohn writeth, thatRev. 12.6 the woman which was delivered of a childe, fled into the wildernesse: And that ye may know that her flight was approved of God, it is said, that there shee had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred, and threescore dayes.

So S. Cyprian seeing that the people cryed incessantly,Cyprian. Epist. 15. Cyprianum ad Leonem, Cyprian to the Lyon, withdrew himselfe from the furie of the people, and fled; not so much for his owne safetie, as for the peace of the Church. So S. Athanasius fled out of Alexandria, where the Emperour had sent to take him. So Policarpus, so S. Chrysostome by their flight saved the Pastors for their Churches, and the Churches for their Pastors. So the Albigenses fleeing the persecution in France, went through Germanie, Bohemia, and England, and plan­ted there the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ. Of whom is this flourishing Church composed? Of stran­gers which have forsaken their owne countries, and commodities, and have sought in this Sanctuary secu­ritie for their lives, and food for their soules, and of whom I may say truly, that God hath sent them before their distressed brethren, to save their lives; even as Io­seph said to his brethren,Gen. 45.7 God sent me before you to pre­serve [Page 196]you a posteritie in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

VIII. It is a naturall thing to all living creatures to provide for their owne safetie: Neither hath God, the author of nature, abolished that naturall instinct in his Saints, but sanctified it, directing them by his word and by his Spirit to doe lawfully and holily, that is to say, by good meanes and for a good end, that whereunto they are inclined by nature.

If they did otherwayes, might they not be iustly ac­cused of tempting of the Lord their God, of preventing his providence, of seeking through vaine-glorie and ostentation to be Christs Martyrs, when he craveth no such dutie at their hands? Peter being too bold out of season, denyed his Master. The rest of the Disciples which fled, and kept themselves quiet, shunned that mischiefe. For God blesseth rather a modest fleeing, than a presumptuous abode. When Peter rusht into Caiphas Hall, the Spirit of God left him: But whenIoh 20.19. he was hid with the rest in a chamber, the doores being shut for feare of the Iewes, Iesus came to them, andAct 2.1.4. the holy Ghost descended upon them. In Cyprians time, there was a kinde of heretiques, called Circum­cellions, which ran every where seeking the martyr­dome: and the Franciscane Friers write of Francis their Patron, that he went to Maiorka, Minorka, and other places occupied by the Maliumetanes, desirous to be killed for Christs sake: But he returned as he went, be­cause none of those miscreants would debase themselves to flay such a calfe. Now what was that desire, but gid­dinesse, but rashnesse, but presumption and vaineglo­ry? A wise and experimented Pilot will never runne his ship upon the shelves and rocks: If the storme drive him upon the dangers, then he sheweth his cou­rage and skill: So a modest man will not, to shew his courage, cast himselfe into the fire of affliction, and [Page 197]draw upon himselfe unnecessarie evils: but if he be ap­prehended, if the glory of God, if the edification of the Church; if the necessitie of his calling binde him to suffer for Christs sake, then he will shew that when he lurked, courage was not wanting to his warinesse, but his warinesse ruled his courage, and commanded it to waite vpon the Lord. Hee which seeketh enemies wil­fully and rashly, is a seditious and factious fellow: But he which hath enemies, and seeketh them not, which is persecuted without cause, or for Gods cause; Hee which cannot shun them, nor have peace with them, except he forsake his station, denie Christ, scandalize the Church, and then chuseth rather an honest and glorious death, than a dishonest life, is the truly wise and courageous man. ThereforeCyprian. Epist. 83. Cyprian warned his Church to be warie, that they offered not themselves to their enemies; but if they were taken, to confesse con­stantly.

Wherein there is also a dutie of Charitie which we owe to our enemies.3. For howsoever not onely it is not an ill thing, but rather a most glorious thing, and aPhil. 1.29. gift of God to suffer for Christ, and to be his Martyr,Euseb. hist. Ecclis. lib 4. cap. 15. as the Martyrs themselves acknowledged, when they thanked God for that honour:Clemens, Alexandr. lib. 4. Stro­matum. yet notwithstanding we must not give any occasion to our enemies, to heape sin upon sin, by shedding of our innocent bloud, which we should doe if we prevented their malice, going to them when they seeke us not, or betraying our selves to them when they cannot finde us, and crying, Here, here I am, come, racke, kill, hang, burne, as the Circum­cellions did; Wherein also we should become wilfull murtherers of our owne selves, for there is no great dif­ference betweene killing of our selves, and provoking other men to kill us.

IX. Neither should we be much moved with the re­viling of those which cast in our teeth, that by fleeing [Page 198]we deny Christ, and so fall into the pit whereof he hath forewarned us, saying,Matth. 10.33. Whosoever shall denie me before men, him will I also denie before my Father which is in heaven: ver. 38. And he that taketh not his crosse, and followeth after mee, is not worthy of mee. For such preachers of magnanimi­ty and constancie, are either enemies, or of our owne folkes.

If enemies, answer asAthanas. Apolog. de fuga. Athanasius did to the Arrians: Ye are forsooth scandalized, because we flee the perse­cution. Lay your hands to your hearts, and confesse that ye are sorie and much discontented, that we have prevented your malice, and by our flight have hindered the intention ye had to kill us: If we doe ill to flee, ye doe worse to persecute us: Leave off to seeke our lives, and we shall leave off to flee for the safetie of our lives. For what is our fleeing, but a testimonie of your per­secution?

If friends, take heed that they preach not against flee­ing, because they would be glad that all remained to de­ny Christ, as they are resolved to doe, rather then to lose their commodities: It is not good to tempt God. Many which tarry at home, goe to the Masse, lest they should beare Christs crosse, and fall into that inconveni­ence whereof they will seeme to be affrighted for us: But he that fleeth, leaving his goods and all that he hath among his enemies, forsaking his friends for Christs sake, seeking with a thousand incommodities, libertie of conscience among an unknowne people, hath a most heavy crosse upon his shoulders, and not onely denyeth not Christ, but maketh knowne to all men his faith in him, his love to him, his zeale for him. And therefore the ancient Church called such men Confessors, whereas the persecutors, and hypocrites, call them Denyers. If they were willing to deny, would they flee? would they leave their goods, forsake their friends, hazard their lives to deny? Wherefore flee they? because they shun [Page 199]all occasions whereby they may be compelled through the weakenesse of the flesh to denie Christ, and seeke else-where, with losse of goods, danger of their lives, much griefe and anguish of minde, among men of an unknowne tongue, whose conditions, fashions, cu­stomes are contrarie unto theirs, libertie to confesse him; resolved not onely to flee, but also to die, rather then they should renounce that faith, that hope, that confidence which they have in Gods mercies, and in Christs merits. For as Chrysostome saith,Chrysrst. ad popul. Au­tiochen. homil. 67. The Christian mans life should bee full of blood, not by shedding of other mens blood, but by a strong resolution to shed his owne blood for Christ, when it shall be needfull. Hee that is thus disposed, is not led with2. Tim. 1.7. the Spirit of feare, as our enemies, hypo­crites, and ignorantly zealous brethren say, but with the Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound minde; The occasi­ons will teach him, when Gods will is that he flee, when that he slay to die: Therefore wee should pray one for another, as Paul did for Timothie, 2. Tim. 1.7. The Lord give thee understanding in all things.

X. If these words be taken in a figurative and allego­ricall sense, then, as I have said, they are an exhortation to patience, like unto many others, which ye reade in the Psalmes, and in the Prophets. David saith,Psal. 37.7 Be si­lent to the Lord, and waite patiently for him. Esaiah said to the Iewes,Isam. 30.15. In quietnesse and confidence shall be your strength. Ye reade in the Lamentations of Ieremiah, Lament. 3.26, 27, 28, 29. It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly waite for the salvation of the Lord: It is good for a man that he beare the yoake in his youth: Hee sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because hee hath borne it upon him: Hee putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. Which figurative manner of speeches are thus set downe else-where in proper words,Luk. 21.19. In your patience possesse ye your soules: ye have need of patience, that after yee have done the will of God, yee might receive the promise.

But the Spirit of God useth such figurative speeches in this matter, because they are very popular, and most fit to expresse the nature of patience: for because the people was to be led captive into Babylon, and to be in­thralled there the space of threescore and ten yeeres, the Prophet sheweth them what they must doe then. For as they that traffique by sea, when they see the storme comming, saile to some haven, and anchor there untill the storme be past; or as the people of Israel, when the Angell of the Lord destroyed the first borne of Egypt, and Rahab at the sacke of Ierico, kept themselves quiet in their houses, the doores being shut: So, saith the Pro­phet, must ye doe in the great and heavy storme of affli­ction, which is to come upon you: Enter into your chambers, shut the doores about you, hide your selves there, let none goe foorth, haste to the haven of salvati­on, lest ye perish. What chambers, what havens are these? Can there be any so sure and safe as God him­selfe, of whom, and to whom David saith,Psal. 31.19, 20. O how great is thy goodnesse, which thou hast laid up for them that feare thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy pre­sence, from the pride of man: thou shalt keepe them secretly in a pavillion, from the strife of tongues. And therefore applying this to himselfe, he said,Psal. 91.1, 2. Hee that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the Al­mighty: I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my for­tresse, my God in whom I will trust. For,Pro. 8.10 the Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. After the same manner, and in the same sense, Ha­bacuc said,Hab. 2.1. I will stand upon my watch, and set mee upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say to me. These things were then spoken, but they belong to all ages, and are to us this day examples and instructions, to re­lye upon God in our tribulations with patience, and qui­etnesse of mind.

XI. Many are the reasons which should moove us to a most humble and quiet subiection of our spirits, with­out fretting of our selves, without murmuring, when we are afflicted, and they which afflict us, prosper: but espe­cially there be foure: The first is taken from the will of God; the second from his wisedome; the third from his truth; the fourth from his iustice.

The first thing we must looke unto in our afflictions, is the will of God. For as Ieremiah, after the destruction of Ierusalem by the Babylonians, and burning of the Tem­ple to ashes, with-drew his eyes from the earth, & lifting them up above all the visible heavens, settled them upon God, and asked,Lam. 3.37, 38. Who is he that saith, This is come to passe, and the Lord hath not commanded it? evill and good, proceedeth it not out of the mouth of the Lord? so must wee all thinke, so must we all speake. The wicked prosper, because it is Gods will: we are oppressed, because it is Gods will. Our master and Doctor hath taught us both by precept, and by example, to thinke and to speake so. Hath he not commanded us to pray, Thy will be done? It is his will, that we be so unworthily vexed and tormented.Math. 10.29, 30. Are not, saith he, two sparrowes: sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father? but the very haires of your head are all numbred. As if hee had said, Farre lesse shall any evill befall you without the will of your Father. Therefore he submitted himselfe unto his Fathers will, when he was to dye for us sinners, saying,Mat. 26.39. Not as I will, but as thou wilt; and commanded Peter, which drew the sword to defend him, to put up his sword into the sheath, with this reason,Ioh. 18.11. The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drinke it? So he said to the Disciples going to Emmaus,Luk. 24, 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? why ought he? because forsooth it was the will of God.

In this meditation, we must not onely say of God, as Nebuchadnezzar did, thatDan 4.35. he doth according to his will in [Page 202]the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? but acknowledge also with the Apostle, thatRom 12.2. his will is good, acceptable, and perfect, and therefore most worthy that our wills be offered up in a burnt sacrifice unto it. This was the shield wherwith thatTert. de patientia. ca. 14. operari­us ill [...] victo­ria [...]um Dei. most worthy atchiever of the victories of God, that rare and wonderfull patterne of patience, extinguished all the fierie darts, which ey­ther by the losse of his goods, or by the death of his chil­dren, or by the stinking and filthy sores of his body, or by the chiding of his wife, or by the contempt of his servants, or by the uncourteous and churlish comforts of his friends, or by affrighting dreames the divell threw at him. He repelled them all with this one word,Iob 1.21 Bles­sed be the name of the Lord. So the brethren knowing that the will of God was, that Paul should goe up to Ierusa­lem, and be there bound, and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, ceased to disswade him, saying,Act. 21.14. The will of the Lord be done. For God is a Father: neyther would it be his will that we should be afflicted, except it were for our good. We sing first,Psal. 135 3, 5, 6. Prayse the LORD, for the LORD is good. Then we adde: For I know that the LORD is great, & that our LORD is above all gods: whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deepe places. This then is the first reason to moove us to patience: It is the will of the Almighty God, who to us is a loving Father, that we be toyled and hurryed with many afflictions: and we owe all submission, all o­bedience to his will.

XII. Is he onely Almighty and all good? Is he not also All-wise? Doubtlesse he is Hath he not made light to shine out of darkenesse, benediction to spring out of malediction, life to rise out of death? He bridleth the unbridled affections of men, he setteth in order all their disordered actions: when they fight against his will, he doth his will, not in them, but by them. The Scribes and [Page 203]Pharisees with the Priests conspire against Christ: Iudas selleth him: Pilat condemneth him: the souldiers cruci­fie him: how many divers intentions, how many disa­greeing ends of these wicked men in the tormenting of one man? God the great and experimented Physician, maketh of all these sinnes a most excellent antidote a­gainst sinne; of all these poisons, a soveraigne and sin­gular medicine for the health of the soule. When the wicked persecute the Church, their mind is to destroy it for ever: but God, by the persecutions, chastiseth the se­curitie, tryeth the faith, exerciseth the patience of his children, and setteth forth his owne glory in their deli­very, as ye have heard in the fourth Sermon. He hath e­ver done so, hee will doe so unto the worlds end: and therefore let us in all our heavy displeasures rely up­on his wisedome, as it is written,Psal. 37.5 Commit thy way unto to the LORD: trust also in him, and he shall bring it to passe: Then our owne experience shall inforce us to confesse, thatRom 8.28. we know that all things worke together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. So in Gods wisedome we have a second reason to move us to patience.

XIII. Thirdly, we should ever set before our eyes his truth, which is more firme and constant than hea­ven and earth, and all things that are therein: men may be disloyall and false. But2. Tim 2.13. if we beleeve not, yet he abideth faithfull, he cannot deny himselfe. He is1. Sam. 15.29. the strength of Is­rael, he will not lye, nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. He hath wisedome to foresee the events be­fore he promise: he hath power to performe whatsoe­ver he promiseth: he is goodnesse it selfe, and therefore he will throughly fulfill all his promises.Esa. 55.10, 11. For as the raine commeth downe, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring foorth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the ea­ter So, saith he, shall my word be that goeth foorth out of my [Page 204]mouth: it shall not returne unto me voyd, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

XIV. Wee have his promise in the second part of our text: for when he biddeth us hide our selves as it were for little moment, untill the indignation be overpast: he im­plyeth in the commandement a most comfortable pro­mise, that the affliction of the Church shall last but for a moment; which being expired, his indignation shall o­verpasse, and the Church shall be delivered. This pro­mise, and the exhortation grounded upon it, is very for­mall in Habacuc, where God speaketh after this manner:Hab. 2.3. The vision is yet for an appointed time: but at the end it shall speake, and not lye: Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. The promise is, that the vision, the prediction concerning the deliverance of the Church, hath [...] appointed time; which being expired, God will fulfill it: the exhortation is, Therefore waite upon it: This time is not a long time: it is but a mo­ment.Psal. 30.5 For his anger endureth but a moment: In his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but ioy commeth in the morning: as David saith in the thirty Psalme. Yee have the like promise in the fiftie and fourth chapter of Isaith: Esa. 54.7, 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mer­cies will I gather thee. I have hid my face from thee for a little, in the moment of wrath: but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy redeemer.

XV. Here then wee have solid comfort, and a sove­raigne remedy against impatience in tribulation.Psal. 125.3. For the rod of wickednesse shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous? lest the righteous put foorth their hands into iniquity: we heare the promise, and howsoever wee beleeve it, we thinke the time to be very long, and wee cry, as David often in the Psalmes, And thou Lord, how long? for one houre of affliction is more sensible unto us, than a yeare of pros­peritie. Therefore GodPsal. 103.14. knowing our frame, and remem­bring [Page 205]bring that we are but dust, speaketh unto us according to our hearts desire, and telleth us, that hee hath a time ap­pointed for our deliverance, whereof he keepeth a most exact reckoning, and shall not lose the least parcell thereof.

Eccl. 3.1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every pur­pose under the heaven. A time to be afflicted, a time to bee delivered: the time of affliction is to some shorter, to some longer. To Noah and to his family in the Arke,Gen. 7.11 Gen. 1.13, 14. it was of one yeare and tenne dayes. To the people of Is­rael in Egypt,Gen. 15.13. four hundred years. To the lews in Babylon,Ier. 25.12. Ier. 29.10. Dan. 5.2. seaventy years. To the woman diseased with the bloodyMar. 9.20 issue, twelve yeares. To the impotent, whom the Lord cured at the poole of Ierusalem,Ioh. 5.5. thirty and eight yeares. To the woman delivered of her child to bee fed in the wildernesse,Rev. 12.14. a time, and times, and halfe a time, which are three yeares, and an halfe. To Moses to be hidExod. 2.2. three moneths. Hosea, speaking of the time of Gods deliveries, saith,Hos 6.2. After two dayes will hee revive us: In the third day will he raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Ioh. 11.39. Lazarus was in the grave foure dayes: Luk. 18.33. The Lord was put to death, and buryed, and rose again the third day. Hee advertised the Church of Smyrna, that shee should have tribulationRev. 2.10 tenne dayes. He spake of his houre, when hee said to his mother,Ioh. 2.4. Mine houre is not yet come. Hee said to his Disciples,Ioh. 16.16. A little while, and ye shall not see me, and againe a little while, and ye shall see me. In our text God speaketh of a little moment. David saith,Psal. 37.10. Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. The Apostle saith, that2. Cor. 4.17. our affliction is light, and is but for a moment: He saith againe,Heb. 10.37, Yet a lit­tle while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. S. Peter writeth to the faithfull of his time, that1. Pet. 1.6. for a season they were in heavinesse through manifold temptations. And it was said to the soules that were under the Altar, thatRev. they should rest yet for a little season, untill their fel­low-servants also, and their brethren that should bee killed as [Page 206]they were, should be fulfilled: that is to say, untill the end of the world, which to flesh and blood is very long: for if these blessed soules thought the time which was be­tweene their death, and this vision of Iohn, so long, that they cryed,ver 10. How long O Lord? what wonder if men lea­ding a most wearisome and tedious life under the crosse, cry to God as David did,Psal. 119 82. Mine eyes faile for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?

XVI. The comfort to them all is this, that their affli­ction, which to them is too too long, is but a moment, not onely in respect of God,2. Pet. 3.8 with whom one day is as a thousand yeares, and a thousand yeeres as one day; but also in regard of the eternity of unspeakeable glory, wherewith it shall be swallowed up.Rom 8.18. For I reckon, saith the Apostle, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory which shall bee revealed in us; Glory which these sufferings worke in us.2. Cor. 4.17. For our light affli­ction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory, even so farre as it subdueth our pride, mortifieth our lusts, and is the Lords high way unto our eternall blisse. Whereunto if yee adde the promise of deliverance, even in this life, no­thing shall be wanting to our full comfort.

XVII. What then shall we doe, till the Lord come and deliver us? what, but waite upon the Lords plea­sure? The lewes knew by revelation from God, the time of their bondage in Egypt, and captivitie in Baby­lon; which being come to an end, they said confidently to God,Psal. 102.13. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. We have no such revelation: and therefore we must bee content to relye upon Gods generall promise, and say with David, Psal. 130.5. I waite for the LORD: my soule doth waite, and in his word doe I hope; assured, that howsoever it seeme, that heaven and earth conspire against us, and that wee are brought to the pinch, he shall put a new song in our mouthes, and [Page 207]give us a most plentifull subject to sing as David did,Psal. 40.1 In waiting, I waited for the LORD, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry: Heb. 10.23. For hee is faithfull that promised. AndLuk. 1.37. with him no word is impossible.

The Lord in his great mercies give us this patient hope and assurance, for Christ Iesus his deare sons sake, who with him and the holy Ghost, liveth and raigneth God blessed for evermore. Amen.

SERM. IX. Of Gods Iudgements upon Persecuters, and of the last deliverance of the Church.

1. AS the words of this text are from God the last, so should they bee in your hearts a most powerfull motive to a patient tar­rying for the blessed time, which the wisedome of the Lord hath appointed for the glorious and finall reliefe of his Church from all misery.

Ye may call the text DAN, i e. Iudgement: for it threatneth, with no small mischiefe, all bloody and cru­ell persecuters, and by their overthrow promiseth delive­rance to them which are persecuted. The time of the one, and of the other, is not a time of many yeares, moneths, weekes, dayes: The afflictions of the Church shall be gone in a moment, as ye have heard. In a moment also shall come the destruction of those that persecute her, who in their greatest prosperity areMinut. Fe­lix. ut victi­ma ad sup­plicium sagi­nantur: ut hostia ad poe­nam cor [...] ­nantur. like beasts fat­ted,Zeph. 1.8. and crowned with garlands for the day of the Lords sacrifice: wherein, saith the Lord, I will punish the Princes, and the Kings children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparell.

II. For behold the Lord commeth. O open the eyes of your minde, ô bid your faith rise from her sleepe to be­hold, in the immutable truth of the Lords threats, in the inevitable power of his iustice, in the innumerable iudge­ments which he hath already dispatched against wicked oppressors, in his more than motherly love to his deare ones; his promptnesse and readinesse to deliver his Church, by the overthrow of all her enemies. Hee, he himselfe, he who is the Lord will destroy them. Neither shall they be able to shield themselves against the Lord: He will not tarry, he will not delay his comming: Behold be commeth; he is already on his iourney.

III. From whence commeth he? Out of his place. O Lord, Art thou so in one place, that thou art not at the same time in all places? O infinite Maiestie,August. ad Volusian. E­pist. 3. Novit ubique totus esse, & nullo contmeri lo­co. Novit ve­nire, non re­cedendo ubi erat. Novit abire, non deserēdo quo venerat. Mi­ratur hoc mens humae­na, & quia non capit, fortasse non credit. thou canst be every where at one time: and yet thou art do where. Thou fillest with thy presence every place: and loe, thou art not contained in any place. Thou canst come, and not goe from the place where thou wast: Thou canst depart, and not leave the place whereunto thou didst come. Our soules wonder at this, but because of their narrownesse, they cannot comprehend it: O Lord grant that we may beleeve it: And tell us, how thou who hast the heaven forEsa. 66.1. thy throne, and the earth for thy footstoole, thou who sayest of thy selfe, Doe I not fill the heaven and the earth? O most wonderfull God, teach us how thou commest and goest? Dost thou not speake so, not of thy nature, but of the workes of thy iudgements and mercies?

Brethren, Iearne, and wonder. Men speake so of God: And therefore God borroweth mens phrases; and as they speake of him, so speaketh he of his owne selfe.Ier. 23.24. Wicked men when they spoile, kill, and abuse most li­centiously the righteous man, doe say,Psal. 94.7. The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Iacob regard it. As if he were in his Closet fast asleepe, or busied with other mat­ters, [Page 210]when they reele to and fro to doe mischiefe: or as if he dwelt so farre off from them, that he cannot see them. What, say they,Iob 22.12, 13, 14. Is not God in the height of hea­ven? and behold the height of the starres how high they are: how doth God know? Can he iudge through the darke cloud? Thicke cloudes are a covering to him, that he seeth not, and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

For this cause God saith, that seeing they thinke and speake so, he will come out of his place to visit, i.e. to punish the Inhabitants of the earth for their iniquitie: Even as it is said, when the Giants were building the Towre of Babel, thatGen. 11.5, 7. the LORD came downe to see the City and the Towre, which the children of men builded, and said, Goe to, let us goe downe, and there confound their lan­guage: And as when he was to destroy Sodome and Go­morrha, he said to Abraham, Gen. 18.21. I will goe downe now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know: As likewise when his time was come to take vengeance of Pharao, and deliver his people, he said to Moses, Exod 3.7, 8. I have surely seene the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, by reason of their taske-masters: for I know their sorrowes, and I am come downe to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. When he withdraweth his care from his children, and suffereth his enemies to afflict them, he saith in Hosea,Hos. 5.15. I will goe, and returne to my place, till they acknowledge their offence. And then they ac­knowledging their owne folly, cry unto him,Psal. 60.1 O turne thy selfe to us againe: Psal. 80.14. Returne, we beseech thee, ô God of hostes: looke downe from heaven, and behold, and visit this Vine. After the same manner, when he destroyeth their persecuters, he delivereth them, and saith, that he com­meth out of his place to visit them; them who are his chil­dren, in his favour; them who are his enemies, and the oppressors of his children, in the extremitie of his anger.

IV. He calleth the one and the other, his visitation. For,1 Tim. 6.16. he dwelleth in the light, which no man can approach unto; and cannot be seene of us, but by his workes: which when he displayeth not, we thinke and we say, that he is absent: But when we see and feele them, then we say he is present, and hath visited us. As we speake of him, so speaketh he of himselfe, thoughAct. 17.27, 28. hee be not farre from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being. Or rather he teacheth us, that he doth all things by rule, by number, and by ballance; that first he takes a perfect notice of our estate, and afterwards set­teth his workes forward.

The workes whereby he visiteth us, are either of mer­cie, or of iudgement. And therefore his visitations are ta­ken in the Scriptures, sometimes for his mercies, some­times for his iudgements. And it is said that he visiteth us, either when he giveth us conspicuous testimonies of his favour, or when he punisheth us for our sinnes.

In the first sense it is said, thatGen. 21.1 the LORD visited Sa­rah, as he had said: which in the words following is thus explained, And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spo­ken: Because he fulfilled his promise, and gave a Sonne to Sarah, the Scripture saith, that he visited Sarah. In the same sense, Ioseph said to his brethren,Gen. 50.25. God will surely visite you. i.e. deliver you. And so is the word expoun­ded by Zacharias in his song, where he saith, thatLuk. 1.68. God hath visited, and redeemed his people. Ye reade the like in the Acts, where it is written, thatAct 15.14 God did visite the Gen­tiles, to take out of them a people for his Name. For their cal­ling to the light of the Gospell, was their visitation. When Ierusalem made light of that light, Christ said, thatLuk. 19.44. she knew not the time of her visitation.

In the second sense, visitation of punishment is dou­ble: The one is of love and of grace, whereby God visiteth his owne deare children, as he said to David, Psal. 89.31, 32, 33. If they breake my statutes, and keepe not my commandements: [Page 212]then will I visite their transgression with the rod, and their imquitie with stripes: Neverthelesse, my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile. We have heard heretofore, that this kinde of visi­tation is most usefull. It is not so muchMinut. Fe­lix. Non est poena, militia est. Fortitudo enim infirmi­tatibus robo­ratur: Et calamitas saepius disci­plina virtu­tis est. a punishment to the Church, as her warfare. For fortitude is corroborated by infirmities: And often affliction and calamitie is the schoole and mistresse of vertue. It is ever so to the Church.

The other commeth from Gods heavie wrath and in­dignation, and hath for end, not the correction, but the destruction of the sinner: As when God said that hee Hos. 1.4. would visite the blood of Iezreel upon the house of Iehu, he threatned the Kings house with a totall and finall over­throw; as he saith in the words following, that he would cause to cease the kingdome of the house of Israel. In this sense David made this prayer to God,Psal. 59.5 O LORD God of hostes, the God of Israel, awake to visite all the heathen: for he addeth by way of exposition, Be not mercifull to any wicked transgressors. This word is so taken in this text, when the Prophet saith, that the Lord commeth out of his place to visite, i. e. to punish in his anger, and hot dis­pleasure. Whom will he visite?

V. The inhabitants of the earth. What? Are not all men, are not Gods servants inhabitants of the earth, as­well as other men? No men, to speake properly, are in­habitants of the earth. For we are all tenants at the will of the great Lands Lord, not owners: and our life is a soiourning, rather than a dwelling on earth.

All true beleevers acknowledge this truth, and say in their prayers to God,1 Chro. 29.15. We are strangers before thee, and soiourners, as were all our fathers: Our dayes on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. Earth is onely the place of their peregrination.Ioh. 17.11, 16. They are, saith Christ, in the world, but they are not of the world. Heaven is their home.Heb. 13.14. For here have we no continuing citie, but we seeke one to come. Every day wee heare God saying vnto vs, [Page 213] Micha 2.10. Arise yee and depart, for this is not your rest. Therefore as1 Kings 19.8. Eliah walked forty dayes and fortie nights till he came unto Horeb the mount of God: So we walke apace, and goe still forward, till we come to the heavenly Man­nor, whereof the Apostle saith, thatHeb. 4.9. there remaineth a rest to the people of God. Matt. 6.21 There is our treasure, there is our heart also: As a way-faring mans heart is at home, because at home are his wife, his children, and whatso­ever he loveth. There isPhil. 3.20 our conversation, though our bodies be here.

The wicked may see that which we beleeve, and daily experience teacheth them to say with the women of Te­koah, 2 Sam. 14.14. We must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up againe. Yet notwithstanding, theyPhil. 3.19 minde earthly things. Psal. 49.11. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling pla­ces to all generations: They call their lands after their owne Names. Therefore seeing they have nothing before their eyes, no end of their thoughts and actions, but the earth, it is no wonder that they should be called the in­habitants of the earth. Out of the earth were they ta­ken. In earth they dwell, in earth they have their por­tion, to earth shall their bodies returne, and if hell be in the center of the earth, as many say, there shall they have their last and eternall habitation.

VI. For what cause will the Lord visite them so rigo­rously? For their iniquitie, that is to say, for the excessive­nesse of their most immoderate sinnes, as the word must be taken here: what sinnes were those? Questionlesse too too many amongst a people enemies to God and to his Church: but above all, the persecution of the Church.

They thought undoubtedly that all the harme which they did to the Church, was righteousnesse, and good service done to their gods: As Christ hath forewarned us, that they who shall kill us, will deemeIoh. 2.16. that they [Page 214]doe God service: But God calleth this their pretended ser­vice, iniquity, a most hainous and enormous sinne: and if ye desire a specification of the kind of this sin, God in the text calleth it blood, or according to the Hebrew word, bloods: for by that word God signifieth the ex­treame and unquenchable thirst of bloud, wherewith these murtherers were so dry, that when they had shed it all, they would have gladly shed more, and wished that each of those whom they had slaine, had possessed a hun­dred lives, to furnish to them more blood to spill. They kill, because they take pleasure in killing, like unto the Tyrant Caligula, who wished that the people of Rome had all one necke, that at one blow he might cut it off.

VII. O Tyrants, O bloud-thirstie butchers! ye slay the Saints of God under coolur of justice: and ye think, that not onely God will not avenge it, but that he will rather allow and reward it. Whereas God saith, that the earth shall disclose her bloods, and shall no more discover her slaine. The earth it selfe shall open her wombe, and un­fold her bowells, and cry to God, Loe, here is the inno­cent blood which thy enemies have shed: Loe, here are the bodies of thy beloved servants, whom these Massa­crers have slaine:Iob 26.6. Hell is naked before him: and destruction hath no covering. O then shall the earth conceale your murthers from him?

Have ye not read, thatPsal. 5.6. the Lord will abhorre the bloudy and deceitfull man? Doubt not, but that which is written is true.Psal. 116.1 [...]. Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of all his Saints; and therefore hee will with an hand of yron thrust hard together the bellies of those horse-leeches, which have drunke their bloud, and straine them till they spue it out of their bloudy throats.

He hath said, thatGen. 9.5, 6. he will require the life of man at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of every mans brother. How much more will he require the life of his deare [Page 215]servants at the hands of their murtherers? Hee hath or­deined before the law of a most just and inexorable law, that who so sheddeth mans blood, by man his blood shall bee sbed: whereof he rendreth two reasons; The first, that mens lives are in their bloud; The second, that in the image of God made he man. Vnder the Law he confirmed this Law by another law, and said,Num 35.33. that bloud unjustly shed, defileth the land, though it bee the blood of an ill man. And the land cannot be cleansed of the bloud that is shed there­in, but by the bloud of him that shed it. This law is irrevo­cable: for Christ hath also said in the Gospell, thatMat. 26.52. all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. If men put it not in execution, God will: and till he doe it, the land where the blood of his Saints, who are restored to his image, is shed, shall remaine polluted.Gen. 4.10 The voice of Abels blood cryod unto him from the ground, and hee listened unto it. The soules of a great many Abels, which are un­der the Altar, cry unto him with a loud voyce,Rev. 6.9, 10. How long, O Lord, holy and true! doest thou not iudge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And will hee not heare them? He will, he will:Rev. 13.10. for he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints: They expect with patience; it shall be so, because they know by faith it must be so.

IIX. God who hath spoken it, is truth it selfe: he is strength it selfe:1. Sam. 15.29. The strength of Israel will not lie, nor re­pent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. Therefore it must be so. He is justice it selfe; therefore it shall be so.

For howsoever we be sinners, the cause for which we are molested and vexed, is his: His who is Almighty and just: his who loveth it: his who will not suffer it to bee overthrowne by the malice and wickednesse of men: his who will defend them who maintaine it, and destroy them who seeke to overthrow it. This is the comfort which the Apostle giveth to the Thessallonians, who bare a crosse as heavy then, as your brethren beyond [Page 216]seas doe now; saying unto them,2. Thes. 1.6, 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power. We must apply this comfort to us: for we shall never be with­out enemies.

But we have our warranter and protector in heaven, who fore warnes us not only of their enterprises, but also of their overthrow.Esa. 54.15, 16, 17. Behold, saith he, they shall surely gather together, but not by me whosoever shall gather together against thee, shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the Smith that bloweth the coales in the fire, and that bringeth forth an in­strument for his worke: And I have created the destroyer to de­stroy. No weapon that is formed against thee, shall prosper: and every tongue that shall rise against thee in iudgement, shou shalt condemne. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousnesse of me, saith the Lord.

IX. The Church is an Anvile which hath broken in peeces many hammers: Or, as Zechariah saith,Zach. 12.3. it is a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it, shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be ga­thered together against it. Where are now the foure Mo­narchies which persecuted the Church? Hath notDan. 2.34, 35, 44, 45. the stone cut out of the mountaine without hands, hath not the Church of Christ, the Church which is come downe from Gods holy mountaine, even from heaven, the Church which is not the work of any man, but of God, the Church which is but like a little stone in the eyes of the world, hath not this little stone broken them all to peeces, and consumed them like chaffe which the wind carryeth away? But it is become a great mountaine which filleth the whole earth. It is a spirituall kingdome which the Lord of heaven hath set up, and therefore shall never bee de­stroyed.

God said to mount Seir, to the people of Edom, the children of Esau, Because thou hast had a perpetuall hatred, [Page 217]and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword, in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, Ezech. 35.5. I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, blood shall pursue thee.

Have any of the Massacrers of our fathers prospered? How many wonderfull judgements of God, upon them and their children, might I relate unto you, if time could permit. The gaggers have beene gagged, and strangled with wormes bursting out of their stinking throates: those which imbrued their hands with innocent blood, have swumme in their owne blood; the children of per­secuters were seene begging at the doores of your fa­thers, whom their fathers had spoiled; Many, pursued by the divell, did runne up and downe like mad men, crying, that they were damned, because they had per­secuted the Church, and shed innocent blood. Then the Church sang to God,Psal. 92.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deepe: A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a foole understand this: when the wicked springs as the grasse, and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish; it is, that they shall be destroyed for ever: but thou, O LORD, art most high for evermore: for loe thine enemies, O LORD, for loe, thine enemies shall perish: All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered, but my horne shalt thou exalt like the horne of the Vnicorne. &c.

X. The author of the booke of Wisedome, saith, thatSap. 6.5. sharpe iudgement shall be to them that be in high pla­ces: And experience teacheth, that the iudgements of God on them have beene most sharpe; conspicuous, and wonderfull.1. King. 21.19 & 22.38. In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, which Achab shed, there they licked A­chabs blood. Proud2. King. 9.35, 36. Iezabel after she had slain the Pro­phets of the Lord, was eaten by dogs. Neither was there left in the family of Achab so much as a dogge that pis­sed against the wall. In the beginning of the twenty [Page 218]seaventh chapter following our text, the Prophet saith, thatEsa. 29.1. in that day, the LORD with his sore, and great, and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent, and hee shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. He calleth so the Kings of Assyria, and of Babylon, which were the most cruell, subtile, and ve­nemous persecuters of his Church. Consider and see how he punished them.2. King. 19. Senacharib was slaine by his owne sonnes in the house of Nisroch his God: AndHerodot. Euterp [...]. [...]. af­ter his death, the Egyptians whom he had oppressed, ere­cted unto him an image of stone, with this inscription, Whosoever looketh upon me, let him feare God. His third son Esar Haddon, was slaine by Merodach Baladan, who trans­ported the Empire from Nimveh in Assyria to Babylon in Chaldea.Dan 5.1. Belshazzar the first and last of Merodaches race, was killed among the goblets and dishes, and in the midst of his Courtiers and Concubines, whilest he was blaspheming the name of God, & the Monarchie was by Cyrus and Darius translated to the Medes and Persians.2. Macc. 9.9. Antiochus Epiphanes, famous for his most unnaturall and barbarous cruelty against the Church of the Iewes, was smitten with the incurable and remedilesse sicknesse of wormes and lice, which rising up out of his bowells and all the parts of his body, consumed his flesh with many and strange torments, and such a stinking smell, that he himselfe could not abide it. Thus dying a most miserable death, hee left his Realme to his children, a­mongst whom God sent the Spirit of division and dis­cord, which left them never in peace till they were consu­med one by another.

XI. Herodées, Ioseph. Antiquit. Iudaic. lib. 17. cap. 8. Idem de bel­lo Iudaico. lib. 1. ca. 21. murtherer of the children of Bethelem, through the righteous judgement of God, became parri­cide of his owne children; and at last, after he had been long tortured with a cholike passion, and unspeakeable torments in his entrails, and all disfigured with the dropsie and scurfe wherwith his whole body was spread [Page 219]over, was gnawen by swarmes of lice and worms, which bursting forth out of those parts of his body, which na­turall shame commanded him to hide, and dolefull ne­cessitie constrained him to discover, made him a most filthy and stinking spectacle to his Courtiers, and a most loathsome guest to himselfe.Ioseph. Autiq. lib. 18. cap. 9. Herodés Antypas, who be­headed Iohn Baptist, was relegated to Lion with his in­cestuous wife Herodias, and ended there his wicked life, by a wretched and miserable death.Euseb h [...]st. Eccl. lib. 2. cap. 7. Pontius Pilat, who condemned Christ to dye, was overwhelmed with so many miseries, that to be delivered of them all at once, he followed the example of Iudas, and killed himselfe.Act. 12. Herodés Agrippa, after he had for a while persecuted the Christians, killed Iames, imprisoned Peter, taking to him­selfe the honour due to God, was stricken by an Angell, and was eaten of wormes; whose pittilesse teeth taught him, that he was a medden of putrefaction, and not God.

Suet on. in Nerone. cap. 47. & 49. Nero the first persecuter of Christians among the Gentiles, after that he had set Rome on fire, put his wise and learned master to death, rifled his mothers entrails to see where he lay when he was in her wombe, taking life from her that gave him life; burnt quicke, or dis­membred with the teeth of his dogs, many thousands of Christians, murthered all his friends, and filled the whole Empire with orbity, desolation, and mourning, having no friend but murther and crueltie, finding no foe that would kill him,Ergo ego, inquit, nic a­micum ha­beo, nee uni­micum. thrust himselfe thorow with his owne sword, and was to himselfe his owne Hang­man.

Suet. in Domitiano. ca. 13. & 14. Domitian, who worshipped no other God but him­selfe, who erected Temples and Altars to his own mor­tall deitie, who constrained his people to call him the Lord our God, and persecuted the Christians, because they would not give that title to any other but to our Lord Iesus Christ, nor worship any but God; was betrayed of [Page 220]his owne wife, in whom hee trusted, was slaine by his owne servants, was buryed without honour, like a fil­thy carrion.

I should be too tedious, if I should relate to you the tragical deaths of Adriā, of Severus, of Decius, of Valerian, of Dioclesian, of Maximinian, of Maxentius, of Maximin, of Iulian the Apostate, of Valens Arrian hereticke, who were prodigious examples of Gods vēgeance against persecu­ters. Which of you hath not heard or read the strange deaths of Kings and Princes, who by murthering of our fathers, sought to murther, once againe, Christ in the cradle, and to give life to the beast which had beene wounded to death? In them all was, in all them that fol­low their bloody foot-steps, shall be fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes,Psal. 21.8, 9, 10. Thine hand, O Lord, shall find out all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fierie oven in the time of thine anger: The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devoure them: Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. Have wee not heard it? Our owne eyes, have they not seene it?

XII. The best of us all is like unto Asaph, Psal 73.2, 3, 5, 6.7, 8, 9. we are en­vious at the foolish, our steps slip when we see the pros­peritie of the wicked: They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued [...] other men. Therefore pride com­passeth them about as a chain [...] violence covereth them as a garment: their eyes stand out with fatnesse, they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speake wickedly concerning oppression; they speake loftily: they set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Then we begin to fret, to murmure, to deny Gods providence, to aske, Is there knowledge in the most high? These men which prosper are ungodly, but wee who cleanse our hearts, and wash our hands in inno­cency, are plagued all the day long; our chastisement re­turneth [Page 221]turneth every morning. They are happy, but we are mi­serable.

When we iudge, when we speake so, are we not foo­lish and ignorant, like unto little children? are wee not as beasts before our God? If any man have a deadly wound, whether is most to bee feared, the putrefaction and impostume, or the Chirurgions Launcet and Ra­sor, the searing hot yron, or the Gangrene? What is sinne, but the corruption and impostume of the soule? what is affliction, but the heavenly Physicians Rasor and cauter? As then a wise man will say, that he whose impostume is not launced, is in danger of his life; and he who feeleth every day the smart of the Rasor, is in hope of recovery: howsoever ignorant children will judge otherwayes, and will choose rather a lingring and insensible death, than a sharpe cure: So will hee w^ch entreth into the Sanctuary of God, judge and say that sinners, when the Lords hand is heavy upon them, are happy, because they are chastised for their correction, as when a man sicke of the dropsie, is kept under a strict and pinching diet. But hee who covereth his face with fatnesse, who spendeth his dayes in mirth, and feeleth not the smart of the Lords rod, is so much more mi­serable than the sicke man, who being swolne up and defaced with the dropsie, liveth in the Tavernes, and e­very day overchargeth his decaying body with surfetting and drunkennesse, as the soule is more precious than the body. For what are such men, but as fatted swine for the great day of the Lords slaughter, as I have said? And why doth the LordMinut. Felix Miseri in hoc alti­us tolluntur ut decidant altius. heave them up, and, as it were, set them on the pinacle of worldly pleasures and honours, but to cast them downe into destruction, and make their fall more remarkeable, as was the fall of Ha­man, persecuter of the Iewes, and of Iezabel, murtherer of the Prophets?

XIII. But what although some of themIob 21.13, 23, 24. spend their [Page 222] dayes in wealth, having still their breasts full of milke, and their bones moistened with marrow? What although they dye in their full strength, and after the long dayes of a joy­full life, being wholly at ease and quiet, in a moment they goe downe to the grave, without the least pricking of griefe, without any feeling of the smart of death; which may happen to some few in this world? Shall they also e­scape the dint of the wrath and vengeance of the great and righteous Iudge in the world to come? When God, through a most wonderfull patience, and long suffering, hath given unto them many yeeres to repent, as he gave to the men of the first world in the dayes ofGen. 6.3. Noah, an hundred and twenty yeares to amend their lives; and they spend them all in riot, in licentiousnesse, in persecuting of his Church, in presumptuous sinnes against his Ma­jestie, selling themselves to worke wickednesse in his sight, as1. King. 21.25. Ahab did; will he not turne his patience into fury, and pay them home at once, requiting them with the unconceiveable punishment of eternall damnation?

XIV. I know they doe what they can to shake out of their thoughts the feare of that judgement, and to make their hearts beleeve, that there is no such matter;Iuvenal. Sat. 2. Esse aliquos manes, & subterranea regna. Nec pueri credunt. that whatsoever was spoken of old amongst the Gen­tiles, is written in the Scriptures, is beleeved in the Church, of divels, of hell, of everlasting torments, is but a bug-beare or scare-crow, to feare superstitious folkes, and hold them in awe. But they strive unprofitably a­gainst the streame of their owne consciences, which with a roaring voice doth summon them day and night to appeare before the judgement seat of the inexorable and Almighty Iudge. Of all men those feare hell most, who say there is no hell. The sound of a shaking leafe, maketh their hearts to shake for feare, when there is none to pursue them. And even then when they preach to men that hell is a fable, they finde a most direfull hell within themselves, burning up the most secret bowells [Page 211]of their wretched soules. Why did Iudas hang him­selfe, when there was none upon earth to doe him any harme, if there be no hell? Death was more tolerable unto him, than the feare of the unestimable torments which now hee suffereth there. What wereSuet, in Nerone. c. 46 the mon­strous dreames of Nero? WhatXiphilinus Epitome Dionis. the hideous and most ugly ghosts of those whom he had slaine, which he saw a little before his death, bounding out of the earth, and leaping to his throat, but a warning to appeare the next day in judgement to give an account of so much Chri­stian and innocent blood, which he had most wickedly shed? If there bee no judgement after this life, from whence came it, thatPro copius de bello Go­thico, lib. 1. Theodoricke king of the Gothes, Protector of the wicked heresie of the Arrians, after hee had put to death the 2. worthy Senators of Rome, Sym­machus & Boetius, because they maintained the true faith, could not looke upon the head of a great fish that was set upon his table, crying that it was the head of Symma­chus, which with most horrible yawning, and fierie eyes, sought to devoure him? That was a citing indeed: for suddenly he was taken to his bed; and from thence to the grave.Thuanus lib. 57. Aubig. 2. tom. lib. 1. The Authors of the Massacres of France, could not be at quiet many dayes after that bloody Tra­gedy, for the horrible sight of great multitudes of ugly Ravens, hovering about the Louure; and voyces which cryed incessantly in their eares, Murther, murther, murther: suing them to come personally before him who sitteth on the throne, and before the Lambe whom they had slaine in his members.

'Tis a truth not onelyAudreas Liba. de cruentatio­ne Cadave­rum. Levinus Lemnius de occultis na­tura mira­culis. lib. 2. cap. 7. ascertained by bookes, but also averred by dayly experience in all nations, That if a murtherer come in sight of the person whom hee hath slain, the Coarse, though almost rotten and stinking, will bleed, and disclose him. What is that bleeding, but a te­stimony, that, if men will not,Psal. 58.11. There is a God that iudgeth in the earth, and in his owne time will be avenged of all [Page 224]murtherers, namely of them who lay violent hands up­on his deare ones? Therefore when the soules under the Altar, cryed for vengeance against the persecu­ters, who had stained their hands with their innocent blood,Rev. 6.11 it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, untill their fellow-servants also, and their bre­thren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled.

For as God spared the Gen. 15.16. Amorites, till their iniquity was full, and as the Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees.Mat. 23.32. Fillye up the measure of your fathers; because then all the righteous blood which their fathers had shed, was to come upon them: So the Lord hath a time appointed for the full deliverance of his Church, and everlasting de­struction of his enemies; even the last and great day of this decaying world,2. Thes. 1.7, 8, 9, 10 When the Lord Iesus shall be revea­led from heaven, with the Angels of his power, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ, who shall bee pu­nished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to bee admired in all that beleeve in that day.

XV. Day, which is a day of wrath, Zephan. 1.15. a day of trouble and distresse, a day of vastnesse and desolation, a day of darknes and gloominesse, a day of clouds and thicke darkenesse: A night ra­ther than a day; yea both a day and a night. A day where­in Gods judgements against all ungodly men, shall shine cleerer than the noone day: A night, because of the place, of the extreamity, of the universalitie, of the eternity, of the effects of the paine whereunto they shall bee condemned by this thundering voice, and unrecallable sentence of their righteous ludge,Mat. 25.41. Depart from me ye cursed into everla­sting fire, prepared for the divell and his Angels.

To hell must they goe, even to the darke and ugly1. Pet. 3.19. prison, which shall be the last habitation of all ungodly sinners. How pleasant, how faire soever a prison be, we [Page 225]say, that there were never faire prisons. And therefore what will not a man suffer, rather than to goe to prison? he will flee, he will give all that he hath, hee will runne to his friends, and cry for succour.Aug. de verbis Apo­sto li. serm. 18 Contre­miscis, c on­turbaris, pallescis, &c. S. Augustine saith, that in his time they would flee to the Church, runne to the Bishop, fall downe, lye wallowing at his feete, cry with a pale countenance, with a trembling voice, My Lord, I am troubled: my Lord, I am to be cast in prison, take pit­ty of me, relieve me. So hard, so unsufferable a paine doth it seeme to all men to bee in prison, though it there were no other paine to be suffered, but to be closed up: Yea our owne houses would be hatefull unto us, if our liberty of going abroad were restrained: O then, how huge, how intolerable shall bee the torments of those bloody butchers, who have shed the blood of Gods Saints like water, when they shall bee cast headlong into the hellish prison, which may bee most properly calledIob 10.21, 22. the land of darknesse, and of the shadow of death. Where there is no order, and where light it selfe is darknesse? O how shall they tremble, how shall they cry and teare their soules, when they shall bee violently throwne downe into theLuk. 18.31. deepe and bottomlesse pit; whichAug. in 50. Homilius. hom. 16. [...]ū sine poeni­tentiae re­medio infoe­lices pecca­tores exce­perit, &c. when it hath received impenitent sinners, shall be, saith S. Augustine, shut upward, and open downeward: where the deeper they shall sinke,Rev. 9.2. the more shall it inlargeit selfe, that they may never find an end of sinking? The divells themselves are afraid to go there: how much more men, whose bones shall cracke, whose teeth shall clatter, whose hearts shall quake at the onely naming of it.

XVI. Wo, wo be unto them: for no heart can imagin, no tongue can iutter the tortures and torments w^ch are impossible to be endured, & w^ch needs they must endure there, Alas! what ease shall they find, & where; when they shall be banished from the quickening sight of the living God, never to see his face againe, but inflamed with fu­ry and indignation against them? when it shall bee said [Page 226]unto them, Depart from me ye cursed; when they shall shall cry,Mat. 25.11, 12. Lord, Lord, open to us: and he shall answer, Ve­rily I say unto you, I know you not: Aug. ibid. Vltra nesci­entur à Deo qui De­um scire no­luerunt. Yee knew not mee in your life, and I know you not in your death.

If God shall not know them, to aide them, shall any of his creatures know them? If the Sunne of righteous­nesse, who hath healing in his wings, shall refuse to em­bright them with the least glance of the beames of his glorious face, shall he suffer the light of this visible sun, moone, and starres, to shine upon them? If he, who is calledRom. 15 5. the God of consolation, shall forsake them, shall the blessed Angels, shall the holy men of God be more mercifull than their maker, who is mercy it selfe? Shall any of the creatures which are in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth, come and comfort them? As when the woman in the fearefull famine of Samaria, cryed to the King,2. King. 6.26, 27. Helpe my Lord, O King: he answered, If the Lord doe not helpe thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barne-floore, or out of the wine-presse? So when these damned wights shall cry to the creatures for helpe; grim and froward faces, frow­ning browes, an universall refusall shall be their first and last answer: Our Creator, shall they say, is your enemy, shall we be your friends? As hee hath commanded you to depart from him, so get you hence, and depart from us. Yea, the Lord himselfe teacheth us in the parable ofLuk. 16.24. the rich glutton, that if they should aske but one drop of water to coole their tongue, it shall not be given un­to them.

Aug. de Tempore 252.Consider, I pray you, saith S. Augustine, if a man were cast out of the congregation of this Church for some crime, with how great forrow, with how many a­gonies would his soule be vexed, though out of the Church he may eate, drinke, converse with men, and have some hope to be received into it again? Surely, this pain seem'd so heavy to Cain, the first murtherer of Gods [Page 227]Saints, that he cryed through despaire, and great griefe of heart,Gen. 4.13. My punishment is greater than I can beare. Oh then how many terrours, how great anguish of mind shall wring and wrest the spirits of those, who for their crimes shall bee excommunicated for ever, from the glo­rious Church which is in heaven, from the innumerable company of Angels, from the congregation of all the Saints, and from all the unspeakeable joyes of the hea­venly Ierusalem? Divines call this punishment Poena dam­ni, The paine of losse or dammage, and say, that it is but the first part of the unconceiveable torments which are pre­pared for the divells, and for the viperous brood of wic­ked men.

XVII. It goeth not alone. It is ioyned with that which the same Divines call Poena sensus, the paine of sense, or of feeling. Can they lose the favour of God, with the comfortable use of all his creatures, and not feele the redoubled blowes of the heavy sword of his indig­nation? WhenEst er 7.7, 8. the king Ahasuerus in his wrath turned his backe to Haman, the Kings servants covered Ha­mans face, and heaved him away to the gallowes: So when God shall withdraw the light of his face from these thrice unhappy bodies, the divells, who are the executi­oners of his high justice, shallMat. 22.13. bind them hands and feete, and take them away, and cast them into utter darkenesse; that as they delighted in the inward darkenesse of their minds, andIoh. 3.19, 20. hated the light, and would not come unto it, be­cause their deeds were evill, and lest they should bee re­prooved, so they may be tormented with utter darkenesse, more palpable than the fogges of Egypt, and so thicke, that no sunne-shine of any worldly or heavenly comfort shall be able to sparkle thorow them.

If ye desire to know how great is the paine of sence, or of feeling, which is there; the Scripture calleth it,Rev. 14.19. the great wine-presse of the wrath of God, which shall bee troden till blood come out of it, even unto the horse [Page 228]bridles: It calleth it alsoEsa. 66.15, 16. a fire, and flame of fire, whereby the Lord will plead against his enemies: fire, whichver. 24. shall never be quenched, because it shall never lacke either mat­ter to kindle it, or a mighty breather to blow it. 'Tis a Rev. 21.8. lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: 'TisEsa. 30.33. Tophet or­demed of old, made deepe and large, the pile whereof is fire and much wood, and the breath of the Lord, like a streame of brimstone, doth kindle it. 'Tis a Mat. 5.22. Gehenna of fire. What paine so sensible; as to be burnt alive? and what paine so terri­ble and pittifull, as when the IewesBuxtorf. ex libro Ial­cutam Ie [...]e­miam. ca. 7. tooke their young children, and offering them in sacrifice to Molec, gave them to one of the Priests, who laid them upon the armes of the brazen Idoll, after it was set on fire, and glowing red, the rest of the Priests in the meane while, sounding with Drums, Trumpets, Timbrels, and other loud instruments, lest the parents should heare the pitti­full cryes of their children, and bee touched with com­passion: by reason of which sounding, the place was called Tophet, and because it was in a valley belonging to Hinnom; it was called Gehinnom, or Gehenna, i. the valley of Hinnom▪ a name most usuall amongst the Iewes in Christs dayes, and long before, to signifie the place and the paines of the damned: As they were wont to call the di­vell, Principem Gehennae, The Prince of Gehenna, or of hell: where,Rev. 14.9, 10, 11. If any man worship the beast and his Image, and re­ceive his marke in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God, which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall bee tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy Angels: and the smoake of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.

In vaine shall they strive and struggle to rid themselves from the eternall chaines of darkenesse, wherewith they are tyed in that bottomlesse Mine: for, like unto fish­prickt with the Anglers hooke, the more they wrench and wriggle to escape, faster and faster are they intangled, [Page 229]and sinke deeper into the burning lake of death and dam­nation.

Are not darkenesse, blood, fire, brimstone, burning alive, torments fearefull enough, to make the haire to bristle, and the stoutest heart to melt as waxe against the fire? and yet all these are but shadowes and counterfeits of the extreamity of paine, wherewith the damned are racked in hell. If Nebuchadnezzars hot glowing furna­ces: if Antiochus caldrons of boyling oyle: if Phalaris fierie brazen Bull: if Davids sawes, harrowes of yron, and mortars; if the needles, the pinsers, the burning yron grates and brazen chaires; if the tympan, the spits, the flaying of living men, and other torments practised by Tyrants against Christians, were so fell and hideous; if dayly men invent new tortures more fierce and terri­ble than those were, doubtlesse the paines of hell which the divell deviseth, or rather which are of Gods owne invention, are ten thousand times more horrible than mans heart can imagine. As in all Gods workes,Aug. epist 3. ad Volasi­anum. Tota ratio facti, potentia fa­cientis. Con­sidera au­thorem: tolle dubitanonē. the reason of the doing, is the power of the doer: So in this, let Atheists consider the author, and all their doubts will cease. God hath said it, and will he not performe it?

XIIX. As every member, joynt, and part of wicked men conspire together in sinne to offend God: so the righteous and Almighty God hath bequeathed to each of them a severall torment. The mind shall be racked with the consideration of the unexpugnable wrath of God, and contemplation of its own endlesse infelicity. The memory shall be continually tormented with the remem­brance of the manifold and foule sinnes, which were causes of such plagues. The conscience shall feele a Esa 66.24. Mar. 9.44. worme ever gnawing it with a most bitter, but unfruitfull re­morse of sinne. The phantasie shall bee troubled with ghastly visions.

The eyes shall see nothing but ugly divells, and dam­ned persons. The eares shall heare nothing but roarings [Page 230]of the infernall spirits, but shriekes and dreadfull cryes of tortured malefactors. What the palat shall taste, what the nostrils shal smell, what the hands shall catch hold of, what the other parts of the body shall suffer in that dark dungeon of Gods wrath, I know not: This I know, that as1. Cor. 3.9. eye hath not seene, nor eare heard, neither have entred into into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, in the kingdome of light, with his owne selfe: so no tongue can utter, yea no heart can imagine the manifold and bitter plagues which the justice of God hath reserved for them that hate him, in the kingdome of darkenesse, with theIob 18.14. King of ter­rors.

XIX. Happy would they thinke themselves, if after many myriades of yeares they might hope for some re­liefe: but to fill up the unmeasurable measure of their miseries, they know that God hath called the fire where­in they burne,Mat. 25.41. everlasting; the death whereunto they are condemned,2. Thes. 1.9. everlasting destruction, and qualifieth with the same title the worme, which gnaweth their never­dying conscience, saying, thatMark 9.48. it dyeth not. They know that the entrance into hell is large and easie, but the re­gresse impossible. They know that the power and ju­stice of God hath appointed unto them an immortall death, an endlesse end, everlasting darkenesse in the middest of an ay-burning fire, poyson of dragons, cruell venime of aspes, bitternesse it selfe, to eate and to drinke in the blackenesse of an eternall night; whereupon the cloud of Gods curse, and the shadow of death shall dwell for ever, and the light of comfort shall never shine.

XX. This is the share allotted to all them that feare not God; toLuk. 16.19. the rich man, who did no harme to Laza­rus, but onely refused to give him meate, and toMat. 25.41, 42. all his mates; toMat. 25.30. the unprofitable servant, to him who goeth to the marriage-feast withoutMat. 22.11, 12, 13. a wedding garment. O then [Page 231]two and threefold more shall bee children of hell, all those which throw the crummes of bread out of Laza­rus mouth, which are never weary of ill doing, which have all their garments stained with the blood of Gods servants. Shall itMat. 10.15. Mat. 11.22.24. be more tolerable for the land of So­dom and Gomorrha in the day of iudgement, than for those who receive not the Preachers of the Gospell, and re­fuse to heare the word? Oh then how intolearble shall be then the plagues of God upon the Neroes, Dioclesians, & all the persecuters of the Gospell?Psal. 11.5, 6. The Lord tryeth the righteous: but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soule hateth. Vpon the wicked hee shall raine snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: that shall be the portion of their cup.

Then, thenRev. 16.10. they shall gnaw their tongues for paine: then nothing shall be heard and seene amongst them butMat. 12.13. weeping and gnashing of teeth, but cryingRev. 6.16. to mountaines and rockes to fall upon them, and to death to come and kill them, whenRev. 3.6. death shall flee from them. Aug. de Tempore serm. 252. Quta qui­bus in hoc seculo vita offertur, & nolunt acci­pere: in in­ferno quae­rent mor­tem, & non poterint in­venire. When in this world life is offered unto them, they refuse to accept it: Therefore in hell they shall seeke death, and shall not find it. In that desire as there is a great sinne, so there is in it a great paine. It is a righteous thing with God to punish sinne: therefore it is a sinne in the prisoners of hell, to desire to shake off the punishment of sinne. A­gaine,Quid tam poenale, quā semper vel­le quod nū ­quam erit, &c. What is more penall, saith Bernard, than ever to desire that which never shall be, and ever to be unwilling to that which shall never but be? They shall never obtaine what they would; and evermore sustaine what they would not.

XXI. Adde unto all those punishments one, which shall bee to all the persecuters of the Church a deadly wound ever bleeding: for in that great day,Esa. 26.19. Rev. 20.13. the earth, the grave, the sea, death it selfe shall deliver up the dead which are in them, & the Martyrs whom these murthe­rers have slain shall arise, and bee received into eternall glory in the presence of their enemies, with this welcome [Page 232]from the eternall Iudge,Mat. 25 34. Come ye blessed of my Father, in­herite the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

O most wonderfull inheritance!Aug. Hareditas Domini nou minuitur multitudine possessorian: tanta singu­lis, quanta universis. It is not dimini­shed by the multitude of those which possesse it: It is as large to every one apart, as to the whole multi­tude together. O most excellent and glorious inheri­tance! It is a kingdome, wherein our darkenesse shall bee converted into light, our sorrow into ioy, our trou­ble into peace, our weaknesse into strength, our disho­nour into honour, our ignominie into glory, our mise­ry into happinesse, our death into life, our patient hope into the reall enioying of all good, our prayers into thanks-giving.

Where the heavens shall receive us, the holy Angells welcome us, the blessed Saints ioyne themselves unto us: where our bodies being made of mortall immortall, of naturall spirituall, of burthensome nimble, shall shine brighter than the fairest summer-day.

Where1. Cor. 15.28. God himselfe without any meanes, shall bee all in all, perfect and absolute knowledge to our mindes, an ocean of love to our hearts, soveraigne good, and the blessed center of eternall rest to all our restlesse affecti­ons; where he himselfe, after a most wonderfull and glo­rious manner which cannot be imagined, shall be light in our eyes, melody in our eares, the wished and longed-for obiect of all our senses: where he saith, That Rev. 21.3 he himselfe shall be with us, and be our God, Aug. de. Civit Dei. li. 22. capaile. i. he shall be unto us all whereby we may be satisfied, and whatsoever all may honestly desire; life, salvation, meate, drinke, riches, glory, honour, peace, and all good. Which David expressed in few words, say­ing,Psal. 16.11. In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy: at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. And againe,Psa. 17.15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousnesse: I will be satisfied, when I a­wake, with thy likenesse.

For then God shall be the end of all our desires: then [Page 233] Aug. idid. Ipse finis e­vit desiderio­rum nostro­rum, qui sine fine vide bi­tur, sine fa­slidio ama­bitur, sine fatigatione laud abitur. We shall see him without end, wee shall love him without loa­thing, we shall prayse him without wearying. Then also our enemies shall see our glory in him, and with him: and as the Author of the booke of Wisedome saith;Sap. 5.2. When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible feare, and shall be amazed at the strangenesse of our salvation, so farre beyond all that they looked for, &c.

XXII. O then dearely beloved, let us learne to dis­cerne wiselyMal. 3.18. betweene the righteous and the wicked, betweene him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.

Salomon saith, thatPro. 13.9. the lampe of the wicked shall bee put out: comparing wicked men to a candle, which when it begins to burne, giveth a faire light, but endeth in stin­king smoake and caligiousnesse: for their end is worse than their beginning, becauseIob 21.30. they are reserved to the day of destruction, to the day when wrath shall be brought foorth.

On the other side,Psal. 37.37, 39, 40. Marke the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace, because the sal­vation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble: and the Lord shall helpe them, and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, be­cause they trust in him,

The short dayes of mans fading and dying life, me thinkes, may be most conveniently compared to a stage­play: wherein often Kings sonnes mount on the scaf­fold, disguised in poore mens rags; and beggers march with a stately pase, attired in sumptuous robes about their greasie bodies; hiding scurvie heads under crowns of gold, and stretching forth a royall Scepter with scab­bed hands: but when the curtaines are remooved, when the Tragedy is ended, and the Players are stript of their borrowed apparell, he that made so many vaine glorious shewes, and called himselfe Hercules, or Agamemnon, is knowne to be poore Irus, who goeth begging thorow the streetes, and crackling crusts of browne bread be­tweene his muddie and rotten teeth: and hee that was [Page 230]thought to be Irus, is knowne to be the royall sonne of Aeacus.

Tis even so betweene the Church and the world: whenLuk. 16.19, 20. Lazarus starves for hunger at the rich mans gate, and the rich man jetteth in his purple, and makes good cheere: whenMat. 27.39. Christ is nayled upon the crosse, and his enemies stand hard by, reviling him: when theRev. 11.9 10, 11, 12. dead bodies of Christs two witnesses lye unburied in the streets of the great City, and they that dwell upon the earth, re­ioyce over them, and thanke their gods of gold, silver, brasse, because they have overcome them, it seemes that those which are thus afflicted, are but poore snakes for­saken of God; and that those others, which swim with content in the Ocean of worldly pleasures, are Gods deare ones.

But when the divells shall bury the rich Glutton in the lowest pit of hell, when boiling there in the lake of fire and brimstone, he shall lift up his eyes, and see Laza­rus in Abrahams bosome abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of the house of God, & drinking great draughts in the river of his pleasures: when the spirit of life from God shall enter into his two witnesses: when they shall rise againe, stand upon their feet, and ascend up to hea­ven: whenMat. 24.30. Iesus Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory: when he shall set his sheepe on his right hand, and the goates on the left: whenRev. 1.7. they which pierced him, shall see him, and by him shall be throwne downe into the rich Mine of eternall tor­ments,Aug. 50. homil. Ho­mil. 16. Mo­rituri vitae, & morti sine sine vi­cturi. to dye there unto life, and to live unto death world without: when thoseSap. 5.4, 5 whose life they accounted madnesse, and their end disgrace, shall be received into the haven of eternall securitie; then, then all the Bulls of Bashan shall know, that al their life was but a ridiculous move-merry, their pleasures but a shew, their felicitie but the glympse of a shadow, & that those whom they had sometimes in derision, and who were in their mouthes a Proverb of [Page 235]reproach, are Gods beloved children, and his most pre­cious jewells.

XXIII. O then where are they that thinke to over­throw the Church? And when will they listen to this truth? Minde they to raine downe upon the Church a deluge of persecutions? Know they not, that she isGen. 8.4 the Lords Arke, which, as the water increaseth, mounteth up higher and higher, and cannot be submerged? Vnder­take they to beate her with stormie winds, and with the violent streames of afflictions? Experience might have taught them long agoe, that she isMat 7.24, 25. the Lords house, foun­ded upon the rocke, and that the gates of hell shall not pre­vaile against her. Have they dismantled her populous townes, and laid her open to the violence of all her ene­mies? I, Zech. 2.5. saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Is sheRev. 11.11. Rev. 13.7. over­come by the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit, and thrust downe into the grave of death, and of e­ternall oblivion? As the belly of the Whale was a safe habitation toIon. 1.17. Ionah: so the graves shall been most sure lodging and bed of rest to them, till he whoIon. 2.10. spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Ionas upon the dry land, shall speake to the earth, to the sea, to the fire, to all the creatures that have the least bone of his faithfull servants commit­ted unto them, andEsa. 43.6. say to the North, Give up; and to the South, Keepe not backe: bring my sonnes, from farrre, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Thou the Church shall rise againe to the great astonishment of those that perse­cuted her, and shall remaine upon the earth, till her time be come to bee received into the glory of her spouse, where she is already in many thousands of her members, which nowRev. 7.9 stand before the thrane, and before the Lamb, cloathed with white robes, and palmes in their hands.

This is her hope; this is her trust which shall not bee disappointed: and therefore when the sharpe rods of af­fliction whizze with multiplied blows upon her back & [Page 236]eares, she comforteth her selfe, and saith,Mich. 7.7, 8, 9, 10. I will looke unto the Lord: I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will heare me: Reioyce not against me, O mine enemie: when I fall, I shall arise: when I sit in darkenesse, the Lord shall bee a light unto me. I will beare the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, untill he plead my cause, and execute iudgement for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousnesse: Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be tro­den downe as the mire of the streets.

XXIV.1. Vse. Let us all, dearely beloved, rest in this hope, and possesse our soules with patience, whereof we have a Tertul. de Patientia. c. 15. Satis i­doneus Pa­tientiae se­quester De­us. Si iniuriā deposueris penes tum, ultor est, &c. Gardian most excellent, most trustie, most sure, even God himselfe: If thou commit unto him thy iniury, hee is a re­venger; If thy dammage, he is a restorer; If thy payne, he is a Physician; If thy death, he is a raiser up from the dead: what cannot patience doe, which hath God for debtor? It will hope against hope; when it is brought to the red sea, and see­erh nothing before, behind, on all sides, but present death, it willExod. 14.13. stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord; knowing, that he with draweth his healing hand till the wound be desperate; that it is his glory to deliver out of danger,2. Vse. when it is come to the height, and cannot bee shunned by the wit and strength of man; that his power is more conspicuous, where there is no wine, he turnes water into wine, and raiseth Lazarus when he is dead, bu­ryed, and stinking.

He hath said of the afflicted man, who calleth upon him,Psal. 51.15. I will be with him in trouble: let us thanke him for his promise, and chuseBern. in Psal. Qui habitat. serm. 17. Bonum est in cammo ha­bere te me­cum, quàm esse sine te velin coelo. rather to bee with him in the middest of Nebuchadnezzars burning furnace, than in heaven without him, saying as David said,Psal. 73.25. Whom have I in heaven, but thee? and there is none in earth that I desire be­sides thee.

And because he is faithfull in all his promises, and [Page 237] 2. Cor. 1.4. comforteth us in all our tribulations, let us looke with the eye of a stedfast faith for the sweet fruit of this bitter seed,2. Cor. 4.17. for the eternitie of blessednesse, which is hid in the mo­ment of our afflictions, for the exceeding weight of glo­ry, which these light wounds of weake and mortall mens hands worke in us. O let us this dayRom. 8.23. 2. Cor. 5.2. groane within our selves most earnestly, and cry to heaven for the comming of the great day, whereinRev. 20.14, 15. death and hell, and whosoever shall not be found written in the booke of life, shall be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, and we1. Thes. 4.17. shall be caught up in the clouds to meete the Lord in the aire, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, by a most fruitfull and glorious exchange: For whereas he is now with us in the fulnesse of grace, to shew us the paths of life, we shall be then with him in the fulnesse of glory; and living with him for ever, shall with one heart and mouth sing this song of David,

O Lord, this is the desire of our hearts, this is our request unto thee. Heare us and answer us, through the pre­cious and infinite merits of Iesus Christ thy Sonne: to whom, with thee and the holy Ghost, be all praise, ho­nour and glory, both now and for evermore. Amen.