was this absolute Primacy and Headship of old as that when the Roman Dition was brought down to a Dukedome and subjected to the Exarchate of Ravenna the Archbishop of Ravenna upon the very same grounds stuck not as Blondus tels us to strive with the Bishop of Rome for Priority of place So necessarily was the rising or fall of the Episcopall Chair annexed to the condition of that City wherein it was fixed But in all this we well see what it is that was stood upon an arbitrable precedency of these Churches in a priority of order and according thereunto the Bishop of Rome is determined to be primae sedis Episcopus the Bishop of the first See A style which our late Learned Soveraign professed with Justinian not to grudge unto the modern Bishops of that See But as for a Primacy of Soveraignty over all Churches and such an Headship as should inform and inliven the body and govern it with infallible influences it is so new and hatefull as that the Church in all Ages hath opposed it to the utmost neither will it be indured at this day by the Greek Church notwithstanding the colourable pretence of subscription hereunto by their dying Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople in the late Florentine Council and the letters of union subscribed by them Anno 1539. Yea so far is it from that as that their Emperour Michael Palaeologus for yielding a kinde of subjection of the Eastern Bishops to the Roman would not be allowed the honour of Christian Burial as Aemilius hath recorded And in our time Basilius the Emperour of Russia which challengeth no small part in the Greek Church threatned to the Pope's Legate as I have been informed an infamous death and burial if he offered to set foot in his Dominions out of a jealous hate of this Usurpation Sect. 2. The Newnesse of challenged Infallibility THE particularities of this new arrogation of Rome are so many that they cannot be pent up in any streight room I will only instance in some few The Pope's Infallibility of Judgment is such a Paradox as the very Histories of all times and proceedings of the Church doth sufficiently convince For to what purpose had all Councils been called even of the remotest Bishops to what purpose were the agitations of all controversal causes in those Assemblies as Erasmus justly observes if this Opinion had then obtained Or how came it about that the Sentences of some Bishops of Rome were opposed by other Sees by the Successors of their own by Christian Academies if this conceit had formerly passed for current with the World How came it to passe that whole Councils have censured and condemned some Bishops of Rome for manifest Heresies if they were perswaded beforehand of the impossibility of those Errours Not to speak of Honorius of Liberius and others the Council of Basil shall be the voice of common observation Multi Pontifices c. Many Popes say they are recorded to have faln into Errours and Heresies Either all stories mock us or else this parasitical dream of impeccancy in judgment is a mere stranger And his disguise is so foul that it is no marvel if Errare non possum I cannot erre seemed to Eberhardus Bishop of Saltzburgh no other then the suit of an Antichrist Sect. 3. The Newness of the Popes Superiority to General Councils HOW bold and dangerous a Novelty is that which Cardinal Bellarmine and with him the whole Society and all the late Fautors of that See after the Florentine Synod stick not to avouch Summus Pontifex c. The Pope is absolutely above the whole Church and above a General Council so as he acknowledges no Judges on earth over himself How would this have relished with those well-near a thousand Fathers in the Council of Constance who punctually determined thus Ipsa Synodus c. The Synod lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost making a Generall Council representing the Catholick Church militant upon earth hath immediately power from Christ whereunto every man whosoever he be of what state or dignity soever although he be the Pope himself is bound to obey in those things which pertain to Faith or to the extirpation of Schism And fifteen years after that the General Council of Basil wherein was President Julianus Cardinall of Saint Angelo the Popes Legate defined the same matter in the same words It is no marvell if Cardinal Bellarmine and some others of that strain reject these as unlawfull Councils but they cannot deny first that this Decree was made by both of them secondly that the Divines there assembled were in their allowance Catholick Doctors and such as in other Points adhered to the Romane Church insomuch as they were the men by whose sentence John Husse and Hierome suffered no lesse then death and yet even so lately did these numerous Divines in the voice of the Church define the Superiority of a Council above the Pope What speak we of this when we finde that the Bishops of the East excommunicated in their assembly Julius the Bishop of Rome himself amongst others without scruple as Solzomen reporteth How ill would this Doctrine or practice now be endured Insomuch as Gregory of Valence dares confidently say that whosoever he be that makes a Council superior to the Pope fights directly though unawares against that most certain Point of Faith concerning Saint Peter's and the Roman Bishops Primacie in the Church Sect. 4. The new presumption of Papall Dispensations FRom the opinion of this supereminent Power hath flowed that common course of Dispensations with the Canons and Decrees of Councils which hath been of late a great eye-sore to moderate beholders Franciscus à Victoria makes a wofull complaint of it professing to doubt whether in the end of the year there be more that have leave by this means to break the laws then those that are tied to keep them Thereupon wishing for remedy that there were a restraint made of those now boundlesse Dispensations and at last objecting to himself that such a Decree of restriction would be new and not heard of in any former Council he answers Tempore Conciliorum antiquorum c. In the time of the antient Councils Popes were like to the other Fathers of those Councils so as there was no need of any act for holding them back from this immoderate licence of dispensing yea if we do well turn over the laws and histories of the Antient we shall finde that Popes did not presume so easily and commonly to dispense with Decrees of Councils but observed them as the Oracles of God himself yea not onely did they forbear to doe it ordinarily but perhaps not once did they ever dispense at all against the Decrees of Councils But now saith he by little and little are we grown to this intemperance of dispensations and to such an estate as that we can neither abide our mischiefs nor
more to the enemy of God of whom we say commonly As proud as the Devil For that once-glorious Angel looking upon his own excellency wherewith he was invested in his creation began to be lift up in himself made himself his own Alpha and Omega acknowledging no essential dependance upon God as his beginning no necessary reference to God as his end and therefore was tumbled down into that bottomless dungeon and reserved in everlasting chains of darkness unto the judgement of the great day This is it which some think Saint Paul alludes to when he charges that a Bishop should not be a novice left he should be puffed up and fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the condemnation of the Devil 1 Tim. 3. 6. Now there are so many kinds of Pride as there are imaginary causes of self-exaltation and there are so many causes imagined hereof as there are things reputed more precious and excellent in the eyes of the world I might send you to Hugo's Chariot of Pride drawn with four horses that Age knew no more and the four wheels of it if I listed to mount Pride curiously but I will shew you her on foot To speak plainly therefore These five things are wont commonly to be the matter of our Pride Honour Riches Beauty Strength Knowledge Every of them shall have a word Those that are tainted with the first are State-proud Bladders puft up with the wind of Honour Thus Ninive Behold I sit as a Queen I am and there is none else Thus the insolent officer of Sennacherib Who art thou that thou despisest the least of my Masters servants Vicina potentibus superbia as that Father said Pride is an usual neighbour to greatness How hard is it for eminent Persons when they see all heads bare all knees bowed to them not to be raised up in their conceits not to applaud their own glory and to look overly upon the ignoble multitude as those which are Terrae filii mushroms worthy of nothing but contempt Hence it is that proud ones are incompatible with each other Look upon other Vices ye shall see one Drunkard hug another one debauch'd Wanton love another one Swearer one Profane beast delight in another but one Proud man cannot abide another as one twig cannot bear two Red-breasts Both would be best Caesar will not indure an equal nor Pompey a superiour The second are Purse-proud Vermis divitiarum superbia as St. Austin wittily Pride is in the Purse as the worm in the Apple Thus Nabal because he hath money in his bags and stock on his ground sends a scornful message to poor David though a better man then himself Many servants run away from their Masters now adaies How many examples meet us every where of this kind of them which having scrap'd together a little money more then their neighbours look big upon it and scorn the need of the better deserving and bluster like a tempest and think to bear down even good causes before them Secundas fortunas decent superbiae as the Comedian Pride becomes the wealthy Thus Solomon notes in his time that the rich speaks with commands the words weigh according to the Purse The third are the Skin-proud for Beauty goes no deeper such as with Jezebel lick themselves and with Narcissus dote upon their own Faces thinking it a wrong in any that sees them and admires them not spending all their thoughts and their time in fashions and complexion as if their Soul lay in their hide despising the ordinary forms of vulgar persons yea of the most beneficial nature Elatus erat animus tuus propter pulcritudinem Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty saith Ezekiel 28. 17. The fourth are the Sinew-proud which presume upon their own Strength and vigor Elatum cor robore saies the same Ezekiel 28. 5. As Goliah who dares in the confidence of his own arm challenge the whole hoast of God and scorns the dwarfs and shrimps of Israel The fifth is the Skill-proud puffed up with the conceit of Knowledge as Knowledge is indeed of a swelling nature There is much affinity betwixt Knowledge and Pride both came out of one Country for Pride is also natione coelestis as Hierom well and since she cannot climbe up thither again she will be mounting as high as she can towards it Every smatterer thinks all the Circle of Arts confined to the closet of his breast and as Job speaks of his haughty friends that all wisdome lives in him and dyes with him Hence is that curiosity of knowing vain querks of speculation hence singularity of opinion hating to go in the common track hence impatience of contradiction hence contempt of the mediocrity of others Out of this impatience Zidkijah could smite Michaiah on the eare and as buffeting him double say Which way went the Spirit of God from me to thee Out of this contempt the Scribes and Pharisees could say Turba haec this Laity that knows not the Law is accursed But besides these five a man may be proud of any thing yea of nothing yea of worse then nothing Evil. There may be as much Pride in rags as in tissues Diogenes tramples upon Plato's pride but with another pride And we commonly observe that none are so proud as the foulest In what kind soever it be the more a man reflects upon himself by seeking loving admiring the more proud he is the more damnable is his Pride But as in all other cases Pride is odious to God so most of all in point of Religion and in those matters wherein we have to doe with God A proud face or a proud back or a proud arm or a proud purse are hateful things but a proud Religion is so much worse as the subject should be better Let this then be the just 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Test of true or false Religion That which teacheth us to exalt God most and most to depress our selves is the true that which doth most pranck up our selves and detract from God is the false It was the rule of Bonaventure whom the Romanists honour for a Saint Hoc piarum mentium est c. This is the part of pious Souls to ascribe nothing to themselves all to the Grace of God So as how much soever a man attributes to the Grace of God he shall not swerve from Piety in detracting from Nature but if he substract never so little from the Grace of God and give it to Nature he indangers himself and offends In the safety of this proof our Doctrine triumphs over the Romish in all those Points wherein it opposeth ours Ours stands ever on Gods side exalting his free Grace and mere Mercy as the causes of our Salvation theirs dividing this great work betwixt God and themselves Gods Grace and mans Free-will and ascribing that to Merit which we to Mercy Herein Popery is pure Pharisaisme and comes within the verge of Spiritual Pride Solomon's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Insolent men
to their sin then to my wrong The main ground of the Exception is That I yield the Church of Rome a true visible Church wherein the harsh noise of a mis-construed phrase offends their eare and breeds their quarrell For this belike in their apprehension seems to sound no lesse then as if I had said The Church of Rome is a true-believing Church or a true part of the mysticall body of Christ a sense which is as far wide from my words or thoughts as from truth it self Wherefore serves this Book but to evince the manifold Corruptions of that foul Church That she is truely visible abates nothing of her abominations For who sees not that Visible refers to outward Profession True to some essentiall Principles of Christianity neither of them to soundnesse of Belief So as these two may too well stand together A true visible Church in respect of outward Profession of Christianity and an Hereticall Apostaticall Antichristian Synagogue in respect of Doctrine and Practice Grant the Romanists to be but Christians how corrupt soever and we cannot deny them the name of a Church Outward Visibility gives them no claim either to Truth or Salvation Shortly then in two things I must crave leave to vindicate my self One that I do no whit differ from my self the other that I differ not from the Judgement of our best Orthodox and approvedly-classicall Divines Both which cleared what have I done It is a grievous challenge this of Inconstancy for though whiles we are here in this region of Mutability our whole man is subject to change yet we do all herein affect a likenesse to the God of Truth in whom there is no shadow by turning especially in Religion so much more as that doth more assimilate and unite us to that unchangeable Deity Lo say they the man that once wrote No peace with Rome now cries nothing but Peace with Rome whiles he proclaims it a true visible Church and allows some Communion with it Alas brethren why will ye suffer a rash and ignorant Zeal thus to lye palpably in your way to Truth Be but pleased to cast your eyes upon the first Chapter of that Book of mine which is thus objected to me in a causelesse exprobration that which long since I wrote of the Irreconcilablenesse of Rome and see if that Section be not a full expression of the same Truth and that in the same words which I have here published There shall you finde taught That there is no other difference betwixt us and Rome then betwixt a Church miserably corrupted and happily purged betwixt a sickly languishing dying Church and one that is healthfull strong and flourishing That Valdus Wiclef Luther did never goe about to frame a new Church which was not but to cleanse restore reform that Church which was That they meant onely to be Physicians to heal not Parents to beget a Church There you shall finde That we are all the same Church by virtue of our outward Vocation whosoever all the world over worship Jesus Christ the only Son of God the Saviour of the world and professe the same common Creed that some of us doe this more purely others more corruptly that in the mean time we are all Christians but sound Christians we are not There ye shall finde this very Objection so fully answered as if it had been either formerly moved or so long since prevented the words are these But how harshly doth this sound to a weak reader and more then seems to need reconciliation with it self that the Church should be one and yet cannot be reconciled Certainly yet so it is The dignity of the outward forme which comprehends this Unity in it self avails nothing to Salvation nothing to Grace nothing to the soundnesse of Doctrine The Net doth not straight make all to be Fish that it hath dragg'd together ye shall finde in it vile weeds and whatsoever else that devouring element hath disgorged The Church is at once one in respect of the common Principles of Faith and yet in respect of consequences and that rabble of opinions which they have raked together so opposed that it cannot as things now stand by any glew of Concord as Cyprian speaketh nor bond of Unity be conjoined That which Rome holds with us makes it a Church that which it obtrudes upon us makes it Hereticall the truth of Principles makes it one the Error and impiety of Additions makes it irreconcilable c. Look on the face therefore of the Roman Church she is ours she is Gods look on her back she is quite contrary Antichristian More plainly Rome doth both hold the Foundation and destroy it she holds it directly destories it by consequent In that she holds it she is a true Church howsoever impured in that she destroies it what semblance soever she makes she is a Church of malignants If she did altogether hold it she should be sound and Orthbox if altogether she destroied it she should be either no Church or devilish but now that she professes to hold those things directly which by inferences she closely overthrows she is a truely visible Church but an unsound one Thus I wrote well-near twenty years agone without clamor without censure And since that in my Latine Sermon to the Convocation did I very ought from this hold Did I not there call heaven earth to record of our innocence in separating from the Romane Church Did I not cast the fault upon their violence not our will Did I not professe Lubentes quidem discessimus c. We willingly indeed departed from the Communion of their Errors but from the Communion of the Church we have not departed Let them abandon their Errours and we embrace the Church Let them cast away their Soul-killing Traditions and false appendances of their new Faith we shall gladly communicate with them in the right of the same Church and hold with them for ever This I freely both taught and published with the allowance with the applause of that most Reverend Synod and now doth the addition of a Dignity bring envy upon the same Truth Might that passe commendably from the pen or tongue of a Doctor which will not be endured from the hand of a Bishop My brethren I am where I was the change is yours Ever since I learned to distinguish betwixt the right hand of Veritie and the left of Errour thus I held and shall I hope at last send forth my Soul in no other resolution And if any of you be otherwise minded I dare boldly say he shall doe more wrong to his Cause then to his adversary That I differ not from my self you have seen see now that I differ not from our learned judicious approved Divines That the Latine or Western Church subject to the Romish Tyranny unto the very times of Luther was a true Church in which a saving profession of the truth of Christ was found and wherein Luther himself received his Christianity
Horseleach that cry still Give give Prov. 30. 15. Give is for Christians but Give give is for worldlings as it was the doubling of the stroke upon the Rock that offended If we be Christians we are richer then the world can make us Having therefore food and raiment let us be therewith content 1 Tim. 6. 8. But if thou wilt needs inlarge thy boundlesse desires take this with thee there is somewhat as unsatiable as thine eye The grave and hell never say It is enough Prov. 30. 16. Thus fashion not your eye to the Covetousnesse of the world The next is the Proud looks There is a generation O how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up Prov. 30. 13. There is nay where is there any other The world is all such admiring it self scorning all others And if ever now is that of the Prophet verified The childe shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honourable Esa 3. 5. One prides himself in his bags another in his gay coat one in his titles another in his fame one in agility another in skill one in strength another in beauty Every one hath something to look big upon Oh fools either ignorant or forgetfull of what ye are of what ye shall be goe on to wonder at your poor miserable glory and greatness ye are but lift up for a fall your height is not so sure as your ruine ruine to the dust yea to hell Him that hath a proud heart will I not suffer faith God Psal 101. 5. Fashion not your eye therefore to the Pride of the world The last is the Envious eye by an eminence called Oculus nequam an evil eye Is thine eye evil because I am good saith the Housholder Mat. 20. 15. As if Envy had ingrossed all malignity into her own hands This cast of the eye the World learned of the Devil who when himself was fallen could not abide that man should stand Far be it from us to learn it of the World As happy is this vice is executioner enough to it self Putredo ossium invidentia Envy is the rotting of the bones Prov. 14. 30. And where other earthly torments die with men this follows them into Hell and shall there torture them eternally The wicked shall see it and shall be grieved frendens contabescet and shall gnash and pine Psal 112. 10. Fashion not your eye therefore to the Envy of the world We have done with the Eye in the Uncleanness Covetousness Pride Envy of it we might have taken the Forehead in our way that is the seat of Impudency it is frons aerea a brow of brasse Esa 48. 4. yea meretricia an whores forehead that refuses to be ashamed Jer. 3. 4. yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giant-like confronting Heaven which Ecclesiasticus prayes to be delivered from Ecclus. 2. 3. 5. that can boldly bear out a sin committed either out-facing the fact as Gehezi or the fault as Saul This is the fashion of the world by lyes imprecations perjuries to outbrave the most just reproof A wicked man hardneth his face Prov. 21. 29. This fashion is not for us Christians If we cannot be guiltlesse we cannot be shamelesse at least we can blush at our sins The dye of our Repentance strives with the crimson of our Offence and we can out of the true remorse of our Souls say with the Prophet We lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God Jer. 3. 25. Thus fashion not your Forehead to the Impudence of the world We passe to the Eare wherein there is a double fashion to be avoided First there is a Deaf eare shut up against all instruction like the Adder's against the charm Psal 58. 5. How shut up A filme or fore-skin is grown over it which hinders the way of the voice Jer. 6. 10. Behold their eare is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken Hence it is that we preach in vain we labour in vain to what purpose do we tear our throats and spend our lungs and force our sides in suing to a deaf world Who hath believed our report or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed If ever we will hear the voice of the Son of God and live we must therefore have our eares opened this our fore-skin must be pierced Aurem perforasti mihi Thou hast digged my eare as the word originally sounds Psal 40. 6. The finger of our Omnipotent Saviour must doe it and his Ephphatha Mar. 7. 34. Let the deaf world perish in their infidelity and disobedience but for us let us say with Samuel Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth Secondly there is an Itching eare 2 Tim. 4. 3. that out of a wanton curiosity affects change of doctrine How commonly do we see a kinde of Epicurisme in the eare which when it hath fed well of many good dishes longs to surfeit of a strange composition Yea there is an appetitus caninus that passing by wholsome viands falls upon unmeet and foul-feeding morsels We have heard Sermons enough Oh now for a Masse We have heard our owne Divines Oh for a Jesuite at a Vespers Oh foolish Israelites who hath bewitched you that loathing the Manna of Angels your mouth should hang towards the Egyptian garlick God hath a medicine in store for this itch if we prevent him not Tinnient aures saith he Jer. 19. 3. If our eares itch after strange doctrine others ears shall tingle at our strange Judgements The God of Mercy prevent it and since we accurse our selves if we speak any other words then our Masters say you to Christ speaking by us Master whither shall we goe from thee thou hast the words of eternall life Thus fashion not your Eare to the deafnesse to the inconstancy of the world The ill fashions of the Tongue call me to them whereof the variety is no lesse infinite then of words forbidden and offensive The Eye and the Eare are receivers but the Tongue is a spender and it layes out according to the store of the heart For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh saith our Saviour No words can expresse the choice of ill words I will limit my speech to three ill fashions of the Tongue Falshood Maliciousnesse Obscenity 1. The world hath a False tongue in his head false every way in broaching of errours in sophistry of their maintenance in deceits and cozenages of contracts in lies whether assertory which breed misreports or promissory which cause disappointments in perjuries in equivocations in flatteries and humouring of men or times What a world of untruth offers it self here to us Lord whom can a man speak with that he dares believe whom dares he believe that deceives him not How is that of the Psalm verified Diminutae sunt veritates Truth is minished from the children of men Yea let it be from the children of men it is a shame it should be thus
let thine enemies perish O Lord. These Bulls are seconded with their own brood the Calves of the people Who are they but those which follow and make up the herd the credulous seduced multitude which not out of choice but example join in opposition to God Silly calves they go whither their dams lead them to the field or to the slaughter-house Blinde obedience is their best guide Are they bidden to adore a God which they know the baker made they fall down upon their knees and thump their breasts as beating the heart that will not enough believe in that pastry-Deity Are they bidden to goe on pilgrimage to a Chappel that is a greater pilgrim then themselves that hath four several times removed it self and changed stations as Turselline considently they must goe and adore those wandring walls Are they bidden to forswear their Allegiance and to take armes against their Lawful and native Soveraign they rush into the battel without either fear or wit though for the aide of a sure enemy which would make them all as he threatned in Eighty eight alike good Protestants Very calves of the people whose simplicity were a fitter subject for pity then their fury can be of malice were it not that their power is wont to be imployed to the no small prejudice of the cause of God And would it boot ought to spend time in perswading these Calves that they are such to lay before them the shame of their ignorance and stupidity Hear now this O foolish people and without understanding which have eyes and see not which have eares and hear not Jer. 5. 20. How long will ye suffer your selves to be befooled and beslaved with the tyranny of Superstition God hath made you men why will ye abide men to make you vitulos populorum the calves of the people We must leave you as ye are but we will not leave praying for your happy change that God would consecrate you to himself as the calves of his altar that ye may be offered up to him an holy lively reasonable acceptable sacrifice in your blessed Conversion Amen The last and worst title of these enemies is The people that delight in warre Warre is to the State as Ignis and Ferrum the Knife and the Searing-iron to the body the last and most desperate remedy alwaies evill if sometimes necessary it is not for pleasure it is for need It must needs be a cruel heart that delights in warre He that well considers the fearful effects of warre the direption of goods the vastation of Countries the sacking and burning of Cities the murdering of men ravishing of women weltring of the horse and rider in their mingled blood the shrieks and horror of the dying the ghastly rage of the killing the hellish and tumultuous confusion of all things and shall see the streets and fields strewed with carkasses the chanels running with streams of blood the houses and Churches flaming and in a word all the woful tyrannies of death will think the heathen Poets had reason to devise Warre sent up from Hell ushered and heralded by the most pestilent of all the Furies every of whose haires were so many snakes and adders to affright and sting the world withall Little pleasure can there be in such a spectacle It is a true observation of St. Chrysostome that warre to any Nation is as a tempest to the Sea tossing and clashing of the waves together And fain would I hear of that Mariner that takes delight in a Storm The executioners of peaceable Justice are wont to be hateful no man abides to consort with a publick Headsman and what metal then shall we think those men made of who delight in cutting of throats and joy to be the furious executioners of a martial vengeance where besides the horror of the act the event is doubtful The dice of Warre run still upon hazard David could send this message to Joab The sword devoures at randome so and such 2 Sam. 11. 25. Victory is not more sweet then uncertain And what man can love to perish It is true that Warre is a thing that should not but must be neither is it other then an unavoidable act of vindicative Justice an useful enemy an harsh friend such an enemy as we cannot want such a friend as we entertain upon force not upon choice because we must not because we would It challenges admittance if it be just and it is never just but where it is necessary if it must it ought to be Where those three things which Aquinas requires to a lawful warre are met Supreme Authority a warrantable Cause a just Intention a Supreme Authority in commanding it a warrantable Cause in undertaking it a just Intention in executing it it is no other then Bellum Domini Gods warre God made it God owns it God blesses it What talk I of the good Centurion the very Angels of God are thus Heavenly souldiers The wise Lacedamonians had no other statues of their Deities but armed Yea what speak I of these Puppets the true God rejoyces in no title more then of the Lord of Hoasts In these cases say now Blessed be the Lord who teaches my hands to warre and my fingers to fight But if Ambition of enlarging the bounds of dominion Covetousness of rich booties emulation of a rival Greatness shall unsheath our swords now every blow is Murder Wo to those hands that are thus imbrued in blood Wo to those Tyrants that are the authors of this lavish effusion every drop whereof shall once be required of their guilty Souls God thinks he cannot give a worse Epithet to those whom he would brand for death then Wicked and blood-thirsty men David might not be allowed to build God an House because he had a bloody hand the cause was holy yet the colour offends How hateful must those needs be to the God of Mercies that delight in Blood the true brood of him that is the man-slayer from the beginning There are strange diets of men as of other creatures whereof there are some that naturally feed on poison and fatten with it and it may be there are Cannibals that finde mans blood sweet yet I think it would be hard to finde a man that will profess to place his felicity in a cruel hazard So doth he that delights in warre and if no man for shame will be known to doe simply and directly so yet in effect men bewray this disposition if they be first osores pacis haters of peace as the Psalmist calls them Ps 120. 7. stubbornly repelling the fair motions and meet conditions thereof if secondly they take up slight and unjust causes of warre as it is noted by Suetonius of Julius Caesar which this Iland had experience of that he would refrain from no occasion of warre if never so unjust contrary to the better temper and resolution of wiser Romans then himself who would rather save one Subject then kill a thousand Enemies if thirdly they