a Quid and a Quis The parts a Subject and an Object A thing threatned a party threatned The Subject or thing threatned is malediction Cursed The Object or man threatned is hee that keepeth backe his sword from bloud From the first which must first be handled we may collect this point Doct. 1. Gods Prophets were wont to threaten That it was the practise of Gods Prophets in former ages to denounce the Curse in their Sermons at sometimes They did not alwayes come with peace peace and words of blessing in their mouthes Their songs like z Psal 101.1 Davids had a due mixture and were composed of judgement as well as mercie The word Cursed as here you see and else-where may see flowes from the mouth falls from the pen of old Ieremy * Ier. 11.3 17.5 for all he was so tender boweld so mercifull hearted a man The writings of Moses are full of Curses Twenty times at least in the booke of Deuteronomie hath hee this phrase up Cursed be he that doth this and Cursed bee be that doth that Reade a whole catalogue in the 27. chapter from the 15. verse to the end in the 28. chapter from the 16 verse to the 21. The Prophet Esay is in the same straine The CURSE hath devoured the earth a Isa 24.6 The sinner being an hundred yeeres old shall be ACCURSED b 65.20 So is Malachy Cursed bee the deceiver c Mal. 1.14 I will send a CURSE upon you and will CURSE your blessings yea I have CURSED them already d 2.2 Yee are CURSED with a CURSE e 3.9 And so were the rest of the holy Prophets Never a one amongst them all did alwayes abstaine from thundering from threatning as is very manifest in their writings Neither need wee marvaile any whit at it For they had both cause to doe it and a call unto it First they had cause to threaten In their times the Reason 1 Law of the Lord was transgressed vice abounded vertue decayed commanded dueties were either wholly omitted or but coldly performed forbidden courses were eagerly followed delightfully walked in Wh◠meane else the many and manifold complaints of the Lord against Israel for her sins against Iacob for her transgressions Now the righteous God hath so ordered that where the breach of the Law goes before the curse of the Law must follow after f Deut. 28.15.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. quaest 34. in Deut. p. 170. Which wise and just ordinance of the Lord his holy Prophets having weighed could not did not spare to spend the arrowes of the Lawes rigorous curses when they saw most to have swerved and all prone to swerve from the Lawes righteous courses Had not David who was a Prophet as well as a King just cause to declaime woes when the men of his time did rebelliously decline Gods waies Cursed be the proud which doe erre or because they erre from thy Commandements g Psal 119.21 Reason 2 Secondly they had a call to this service The same God that gave them a charge and charter to comfort some h Isa 40.1 sealed them a commission to curse others as knowing i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. quaest 36. in Deut. p. 172. wicked men to be sooner moved better wrought upon by menaces than promises Ieremie's commission wee may reade at large in the beginning of his Prophesie See I have set thee this day over the Nations and over the Kingdomes to roote out to pull downe to destroy I will utter my judgements against them touching all their wickednesse Thou therefore gird up thy loynes arise and speake unto them all that I command thee k Ier. 1.10.16.17 Goe and cry in the eares of Ierusalem l Ier. 2.2 Ezekiels call and commission to this we have in the second and third chapters of his Prophesie where wee may read that the Lord himselfe set him upon his feet m Exek 2.1 put courage into his heart n Ibid. ver 6. words into his mouth o cha 9.1.2.3 p cha 2.9.10 spread before him opened vnto him the Legall Roll writ on both sides with lamentation mourning and woe which he was to q Ezek. 3.4 preach and reade in the deafe eares of rebellious Israel Vpon the like warrant did the other Prophets doe the like worke It was their priviledge to denounce the Curse therefore it was their practise Which being so Vse who sees not how worthy of blame all those bee who take on and cry out against us that are Gods Messengers for speaking to them at some times in the terrible language of the Law Speake wee comfortably to all at all times they can well beare it Preach we curses against any at any time they cannot endure it So r Sim. Cassian de relig Christ l. 6 c. 1. fol. 132. col 1. grievous to mans eare is Gods Word when it convinceth him of sinne or goes about with an holy violence to plucke him from the world and save him from hell as the threatnings of it are for all these purposes Why may not wee doe as our Predecessors the Prophets did Is our Charter lesse nay is not our Commission larger than theirs was Iohn Baptist who was greater than the rest of the ſ Mat. 11.11 Prophets as well in respect of t Bucer in Mat. 11. his office of preaching Christ after he was borne as of his act v Euthym. ca. 19. in Mat. 11. of acknowledging Christ by springing in the wombe before hee was borne was lesse than the least in the kingdome of Heaven that is not onely lesse than the blessed soules of glorified Saints in actuall happinesse x Lyr. in Mat. 11. or lesse in nature than y Stella in Luc. to 1. fol. 179 col 2. the Celestiall Angells which ever stand in Gods glorious presence but also lesse than the least of Christs holy Apostles lesse than the z Calv. in Mat. 11. Ministers of the Gospell who are the last in time of the Ministeriall function of the least esteeme in the worlds opinion Now that Iohn thundred may not wee then threat Did God bid Ieremie utter his judgements Moses curse and Malachie condemne and doth hee forbid us to doe the like I confesse we are Ministers of the Gospell Interpreters of the new Covenant and in that respect doe differ from the Prophets the a Legis Interpretes custodes Prophetae erant Scult in Isa ca. 1 pag. 9. Keepers the Interpreters of the old Must we for that cause never preach nor presse the Law Ah frivolous and groundlesse conclusion The Gospell it selfe is a law the law of Grace the law of Faith b 1. Cor. 9.21 It hath a c Chrysost Hom. 15. in Mat. Euthym. in Ma◠c 5. fol. 26. C.F. commanding a forbidding authority as well as the Law Doth the Law forbid the practise of sinne the Gospell
to bee wished that none might goe forth but under good Governours and religious Commanders Warre in it selfe is a punishment for sinne c Levit. 26.24.25 As it comes from our lusts d Iam. 4.1 so it comes for our lusts Culpam sanguineo sequitur Bellona flagello It is well observed by one commenting upon the two first verses of the third chapter of Iudges that e Fer. in Iud. p. 391. so long as the Israelites kept covenant with God they had no neede of armes but after they had once broken covenant with him and sinned against him they are faine to learne the art and try the fortune of warre And some have supposed that Mars was feigned by the Poets to be the God of warre because he did first invent weapons set men in battell aray and execute other warre-like exploites just at such times as hee was intended to punish the wicked Now if warre bee a punishment for sinne who fitter to taste it than the lewdest men that most deserve it Againe warre may prove a meanes to make men better I confesse we ordinarily see the conâ—rary true that followers of the field are no followers of the faith and amongst common souldiers you shall easily finde the corruptest men to f Lud. viv in Epist ad Henr. 8. Angl. Reg. whom it is a sport to destroy houses to rob Churches to ravish virgins to ruinate cities yea whose principall glory is to doe good to no man to hurt all men without all regard of God the Iudge of the whole world who carry such blinde soules in filthy bodies as that they can neither feare the indignation of God nor heare with patience the admonitions of men bidding the Almighty to depart from them saying Wee desire not the knowledge of thy Wayes as though they were to be ordered by no rule to bee conformable to no right but had license to carry all lawes with their swords in their sheaths and to doe what ever their wicked hearts led them to I confesse I say all this to be true yet notwithstanding through Gods blessing g Providentia divina solet corruptos hominum mores bellis emendare Aug. de civ Dei l. 1. c. 1. tom 5. warre may be and indeed is a meanes to amend some h Arist de Rep. l. 8. c. 15. to make them just sober chast good whereas peace makes them wanton wicked intemperate growne over with the rust of idlenesse and so slaves to all kinde of naughtinesse And is it not pity that one soule should bee lost for lacke of any meanes which may doe it good If the daily feare and danger of death which is stirred up in a wicked man if he be not desperately secure when hee is amongst the Pikes may stir him up to lay about him for a better life and so availe to save his soule it were a thousand pities he should not see the Pikes nor bee sent to field I speake this the rather that I may incite such as have the office of pressing in these needfull times committed unto them to be carefull to cleanse the City and rid the Country as much as may bee of those stragling vagrants loytering fellowes and lewd livers so they be fit for service which doe so swarme amongst us It is a great deale fitter for themselves and better for our Kingdome that they be watching in garrison exercising armes and fighting in field for our friends against our enemies than ranging our streetes haunting our tavernes tipling in our tap-houses fidling in faires jetting on stages and lying like burthens upon the shoulders of our State yea which is worse daring the Almighty to his very face and pulling downe with both hands as fast as they can his heavie judgements upon the whole Nation If it be demanded how can a blessing bee expected upon the service of such souldiers how can wee looke that the worke of the Lord should prosper in such sinnefull hands You have an answer in the point we are upon The Lord smiteth one wicked man by the hand of another It cannot bee denyed that wee have cause to bee grieved that some of them who are gone already have carried along with them the guilt of such outrages as they committed in some countries of our owne which they passed through and I know wee have just reason to feare that some of them at least shall soundly pay for that their wickednesse yet wee have as good ground to hope that their violence at home shall bee no hinderance to Gods cause abroad from prospering from prevailing especially considering that we have Ioshuah's and Gideons in our Armies and a legion of prayers like an armed band daily striving with the Lord of Hosts that hee would bee pleased not to remember their sinnes to our judgement but rather to be mindefull of his owne covenant and mercifull to his owne inheritance Let this serve for the first use Vse 2. Terror to the wicked Secondly let terror to the wicked bee another use Had passionate Ieremy uttered this Text in Moabs hearing I doe imagine it would have made her eares tingle and her heart tremble to consider that the Chaldaeans are summoned by so terrible so forcible an argument to take sword against her Why should not our present doctrine worke the like effect of horror and trembling in all those amongst us who are like to Moab godlesse gracelesse and malicious men when it doth so plainely tell them that God can plague them by wicked men as bad as yea perhaps many degrees worse than themselves Should the Lord arme the Elements against them which are so needfull so usefull to man Should hee bid the aire infect them with a noisome pestilence the water drowne them by overflowing her bankes the fire burne them by transgressing its bounds the heavens to deny them their influence the earth her foyzen it were a terrible thing To command wilde beasts to devoure them the Bear to teare them the Lyon to rent them the Loapard to prey upon them were more terrible Should he command his Angells Basil Seleuc. orat 5. p. 42. who hating sinne with an intenstine hatred are ready to smite the hairy scalpe of any one Cae sarii dial 1 inter opera Naz. p. 1104. that goes on with an impenitent heart in impious courses Should the Lord I say command them to be as a * Ibid. Surgeons knife or an Husbandmans tooles to cut them off to root them out like infectious members from the body of mankinde like superfluous branches from his Vine like noysome weedes from the Garden of his Church were more terrible more unendurable But to make wicked men the instruments of executing his wrath upon the children of wrath I am not able to expresse how exceedingly more fearefull this is When the Prophet David did pray against his slanderous enemies under the person of Iudas he begins his imprecations thus Psal 109.6 Set thou a WICKED man over
him and let Satan stand at his right hand It seemes he thought he could not wish a greater judgement against his adversaries but one viz. a delivery over into the Devills hands than to have some wicked man their tormentor and when there was no remedy but that himselfe must be scourged for his sinne of numbring the people 2. Sam. 24.14 and the Lord in mercy offered him his choice of three rods he chose rather to fall into the hands of that living God who is a consuming fire than into the hands of man Heb. 12.29 Which choice he would never have made had he not known that wheras the justice of God is a mercifull justice the mercies of the wicked are cruell Prov. 12.10 Moab had better a thousand times have had the people of God come armed against her than a people so godlesse so mercilesse as the Chaldaeans were to bee called upon to take sword against her So thou hadst better have any of the rest of the creatures against thee than a wicked man and more mercy mayest thou meete with at its hands An infected aire may be corrected an unbounded fire may be quenched overswelling waters may be asswaged devouring beasts may be restrayned yea by the prayer of a Moses by the zeale of a Phineas the destroying Angell may be appeased but the rage of the wicked is unreasonable unsatiable What mercy canst thou looke for from him at whose hands Christ himselfe doth still suffer many injuries much ignominy and reproach yea who is an adversary to himselfe as every wicked man is Thou mayest be sure that hee who is led about of so many lusts will not cease to lay upon thee what pride malice envie hatred covetousnesse such mercilesse masters and commanders shall command him if thou beest but once in Gods justice to avenge thy wickednesse left unto such an executioner Tremble therefore and sinne no more with so high an hand you proud presumptuous offenders for it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of a wicked man whose justice is iniquity and whose very charity is cruelty it selfe â—se 3. Comfort Thirdly this may comfort us and strengthen our confidence in the certainty of their overthrow who are professed enemies to Gods people For rather than such shall escape ruine without repentance the Lord will arme their owne side against them and make men as wicked as themselves instruments of executing his judgements upon them It was for Israels comfort as Calvin Calv. in Ier. c. 48 v. 10. observeth upon the Text that Ieremy foretold Moabs overthrow by the Chaldaeans sword In like manner propound to your selves this point out of Ieremies words to your comfort and assure your selves that although the enemies of Sion bee many and malignant powerfull and politick yet deliverance shall come Hest 4.14 and rather than that Romish Whore shall alwaies continue to sucke the bloud of Gods Saints some Heathenish power some Pagan Idolater shall soake his blade in her bloud and her souldiers and followers shall one day finde how like a Prophet one of their side once spake when he said Oh you Romanists Lud Viv. de vit sub Turc pag. 17. who love your libertie and stand much upon your immunities thinke with your selves how base how poore how dishonourable how slavish a life you are like to lead under Paganish enemies who will use you like beasts rather than men which hard condition shall be Gods just vengeance upon you Id. Ibid. p. 21. for your cruelty against his Church of which you doe professe your selves members And so let us leave the first point of the the second part of our Text and come to the second which stands thus That the sword must not be stretched out to bloud Doct. 3. The sword must keep scabbard untill it be called forth and hath a good warrant to strike without a just cause and a good call The sword may not drink bloud without warrant The holy Ghost doth not say here Cursed be hee that putteth not out his sword to bloud before he be called but Cursed be he that holdeth backe his sword from bloud when hee is willed and warranted to dip it to dye it in the same David had neither call nor cause to besmeare his sword with Vriah's bloud and how great a sinne hee did commit who knowes not that knowes the story or hath but heard how God chastized him according as hee told him that the sword should never depart from his house how Nathan reproved him Thou art the man and himselfe cryed peccavi for it 2. Sam. 12.7.10.13 Doeg had no call from God to slay in one day fourescore and five of the Lords Priests and how hainous and unlawfull a fact that was both the refusall of Sauls servants to doe it 1. Sam. 22.17.18 Psal 52.1.2 1. King 22.37 though their master commanded them and Davids just complaint and crying out against him doe declare Had not Ahab ill successe when he went up to battell against Ramoth Gilead against Gods will Did it not cost that good king Iosiah his life 2. Chr. 35.22.23 Iohn 18.11 Matth. 26.52 Stel. in Luc. c. 22. when hee would needs draw out his sword against Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt without Gods warrant yea contrary to Gods word in Pharaohs mouth When Peter pulled out his sword and cut off the high Priests servants eare our Saviour bade him put up againe telling him plainely that he that did smite with the sword should perish by the sword By which speech he did not so much hinder Peter for the present from a good action which he might do as one thinks but he reproved him Aug. in Iohan. tract 11â— and tooke him up roundly for what hee had done Now wherefore did hee reprehend him What Euâ—hym in Mat. c. 56. fol. â—67 because it is never lawfull for any man to defend Gods cause with the sword as some have thought No. Why then because Peters fleshly and unregenerate part did rashly rush upon this action without any respect to his Masters will without any warrant from his Masters call which planely argues that the smiting with the sword without a call was not permitted by Christ to Peter nor any other I hope you doe not expect many arguments for this when one or two may serve for all Reason 1 1. Actions of this nature tend to the taking away of naturall life Now life is so precious to the bruit creature that it strives to preserve it how it can how much more precious is the life of man by which man himselfe enjoyes many excellent benefits and the God of heaven gets much honour Therefore we had need be sure that we have speciall cause before we venture upon a work that takes away the life of such a creature as man is lest we rashly entrench so farre upon Gods honour and so wrongfully cut off man from the possession of blessing
forbids the principle of sinne d Nazianz. orat 42. p. 691. Basil edit lat The one forbids the end the other the beginning The one doth not more powerfully strike at the e Isid Peluâ— l. 1. epist 458. branches fruit actuall transgression than the other doth at the roote originall corruption Not that the Law meddles not with concupiscence at all but is not f Lombard l 3. epist 40. A. fol. 300. so universally so eminently so g Hag. Apparat Evang. ca. 15. sect 13. pa. 51. evidently against it as the Gospell is Yea this h Theophil Praefat. in Mat. Gospell doth threaten punishment as well as the Law Hee that beleeveth not is condemned already i Iohn 3.18 If any man love not the Lord Iesus let him be accursed k 1. Cor. 16.22 The Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven to render vengeance on all those that know not God and that obey not the Gospell l 2. Thes 1.8 Are not these sentences in the New Testament Now hath the Gospell it selfe it 's sowre as well as it 's sweete it's bottles of venegar as well as it's barrells of wine And must we Ministers of the Gospell in every passage of every Sermon deliver forth sweet wine never any tart vinegar be it never so needfull never so usefull Our blessed Saviour the sweetest Angell of peace that ever came into the world holy Paul the most Evangelicall Preacher since Christ that ever the Church had and the rest of the holy Apostles were not so stinted so streightned but they had their Vae's their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m The very word of the Septuagint in our Text which is translated cursed their woes and maledictions in their Sermons and sayings n Conferre with these Scriptures Mat. 11.21.22 c. 18.7 c. 23.13 saepius eodem capite Luc. 6.2.25.26 c. 11.42.43.44 c. Ioh 7.49 Gal 3.10 ver 13. Iude ver 11. Apoc. 8.13 c. 9. ver 12. c. 11.1 c. 12.12 Why then should wee the Apostles successors have a tye from threatning put upon our tongues * Object Answ But will you compare with the blessed Apostles I answer we doe not we dare not Personall comparisons wee may not make betwixt them and us yet every branch and limme of our Ministeriall function we must maintaine As we are inferiour to the Apostles in respect of infallibility of judgement about fundamentall truthes and eminency in other gifts and graces so wee differ from them in other things First our calling is not so immediate as theirs was Meanes of Arts and Tongues provided for the purpose must fit us for the worke of the Ministry Fishermen and Toll-gatherers may not now runne immediately as Peter and Matthew might and did from their boates and nets and seates of custome as the manner of some illiterate meerely unquallified Artificers is to become Doctors of the Law Secondly wee have not such revelations as they had nor thirdly the gift of Prophesie nor fourthly of miraculous faith All which the Apostles had in common with the Prophets o Sculterâ—n Isa c 1. conc 1 p. 7. 8. yet notwithstanding these differences Christs beloved Disciple S. Iohn heard a great voice out of the Temple saying to the SEAVEN ANGELS Goe your way powre out the Vialls of the wrath of God upon the earth p Revel 16.1 that is he foresaw the Ministers of the Gospell in q Parae in Apoc col 805. Richard de S Vict. p 2. l. 5. sup Apocal c. 2. fol. 99. C. these times to have commission given them from the God of heaven to powre forth Gods curses comminatorily in their Sermons upon the heads of r Ibid. earthly minded men And indeed Å¿ Tunc enim producit Paradisus lignum scientiae boni mali quando Praedicator regnum Dei proponit bonis quando malis supplicium inferni exponitur Rampeog figur Biblic p. 272. then Paradise produces the Tree of knowledge of good and evill when the Preacher promiseth mercies to the good threatneth judgement against the bad Had wee no cause to curse it were another matter but in these times iniquity doth so abound and t Plerique hâc tempestate mortales ita peccatorum sordibus volutantur Hier. Ferrariens Triumph crucis proem p. 1. mortall men doe so wallow in sinnes sordid filth that wee must of necessity at sometimes bee the sonnes of thunder Let none therefore bee so mercilesse to themselves so injurious to us as to finde fault when we threaten Mercilesse they are to themselves in that they would have us to let them have liberty to sinne to death without controll having no stomacke as indeed they should have v Rampeog figur Biblic p. 272. to eate of that Paradise fruit of the knowledge of the evill of punishment which may make them abhorre the evill of sinne And injurious they are to us in that they would have us bring the guilt of their bloud upon our owne heads while like Locusts one of the plagues of Egypt x Exod. 10. which loves the spring time and fat pastures hopping to their houses feeding at their Tables and fawning upon them for their favour gifts we should sooth them in their sinnes and so spoile their soules I would not willingly have passed this point without a word of advise to my brethren in the Ministry that they would not spare to direct legall curses against godlesse men for their lawlesse courses but that I would without longer stay leade you on to the second part of the Text the party threatned or the object of the threatning He that keepeth backe or withholdeth his sword from bloud Part. 2. I will not here be curious in a subdivision lest I prove ridiculous in observation and by a Fryer-like stragling into quaint descants more pleasing to the flesh than wholesome for the soule I bring my selfe within the compasse of the guilt of taking Gods Name in vaine Let us hold our selves to the approvedest profitablest method of handling Scripture Texts first commenting and searching out the meaning next concluding and fetching out the matter 1. The Interpretation The first may wee dispatch in a word or two the words are so plaine Cursed be HE what he eyther the whole body of the Chaldaean or Babylonian Armie or any particular member especially the King and head of that body That withholdeth his sword Marke hee doth not say that puts not out as implying without a call but that keepeth back or as Arias Montanus that z Qui prohibet forbiddeth or as the Septuagint that a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exempteth as though he would plead a priviledge for his sword to keepe scabbard when hee is commanded to plucke it forth From bloud Whose bloud the bloud of the Moabites a proud disobedient envious malicious people noted enemies to Gods Church and branded for guilty of many hainous crimes some of which I
enjoyed by life as we will never be able to answer For mans life is never to be extinguished but when it is an hinderance to Gods glory and altogether hurtfull to humane society and not then neither but by such as are appointed by God to that worke Reason 2 2. The stretching out the sword to bloud requires the putting on of a kinde of cruelty as we see in Samuell 1. Sam. 15.33 Ios 10.26 who hewed Agag in pieces without any shew of compassion as we see in Ioshuah who hanged up the five Heathenish kings without any commiseration Now wee know that the Scripture doth every where almost call upon us for the contrary to be mercifull to put upon our selves the bowels of tender compassion to cloath our selves with goodnesse with kindnesse to doe good to all to love our enemies And therefore we had need have a speciall care that we have a speciall call to put this habite upon us lest wee exercise a lawlesse cruelty when and where we should shew lawfull mercy and lest when wee should compassionately spare the effusion of bloud wee doe unadvisedly spill it and by that meanes bring upon our owne heads the guilt of bloud which is a very fearefull and heavie thing This is a doctrine I doe desire may bee remembred by our reverend Iudges Vse 1 when being set in their judgement seates the lives of men are brought in question before them Oh what good may it make them doe what evill may it keepe them from how may it make them rid the innocent out of the bloud-hunters clawes and set them free from the hands of those wretches whose false tongues a bloud-thirsty desire arising from malicious covetousnesse doe set on worke to give in evidence against them Would they but consider at that time that the sword of justice must not touch the bloud of any man without a just and important cause oh what prayers would they make to God to guide them what paines will they take in sifting of causes in sounding of witnesses in examining of evidences in boulting out all appendant circumstances that they will not pass sentence upon the party except he be worthy of death indeed or if they do the fault shall be more in the Iurors than in any negligence in themselves to search the truth or want of conscience to passe sentence as out of the seate and in the sight of God himselfe I touch but upon this string Isocr Epist 2. p. 803. A cont praefat affix stratag Satan I have more pertinent uses to apply my selfe unto The first whereof I feare mee will be harsh because as that Orator told Philip great Alexanders father men love rather to be praised than reproved But if I be harsh I must crave pardon a twofold evill too common in our times A grosse error in some a rash practise in others doe necessarily call for a just reproofe Vse 2. Reproofe twofold 1. The error is that to give the stabbe for a crosse word or to challenge the field upon every slender occasion is a signe of true fortitude and that hee is a base gull no rightly valorous nor magnanimous Gentleman that will pocket up the least injury and not prosecute it to the very drawing of bloud from him that offers it Of these erroneous spirits and furious sparkes I would gladly know what proofes they can give that true valour consisteth in such exploits what call men have to expresse their fortitude by such private quarrells Is the thwarting of their humour the stirring of their choler a call sufficient cause warrantable enough they want grace or wit if once they thinke it Now Duells without a call to them are lawlesse things and did ever any man Divine or Pagan teach and avouch that lawlesse things are truely praise-worthy There are some enemies I confesse whose bloud to shed is a very laudable action but in heate of bloud to shed Christian bloud is a condemnable vice in the eyes of God yea what is further from true fortitude than this is The magnitude of the minde is proved by this that it is capable of eternity as a Father speaketh Bern. in Cantic ser 80. not by this that it scorneth to put up the pettiest injury True valour consists in patience and humility not in anger or unbridled fury For men to dog one another to the field that they may wreake their wrath the one upon the other and take away life the one from the other is a manifest badge of a base minde an evident token of a villanous spirit and dare any applaude it for a marke and signe of a brave courage and valiant spirit Basil Seleu. orat 5 p. 38. Oh applause as one said once on occasion of Cains churlish answer to God Am I my brothers keeper Oh voice more execrable than the murther it selfe oh impious and irreligious sentence This is to justifie wickednesse it selfe this is to applaude the manifest breach of the sixth Commandement in a hainous kinde To stretch out the sword before God commands to strike with the sword when God forbids call you this true Valour Valour it is as Augustine Aug. in Psal 58. To 8. saies of confidence in mans owne merits a mad valour then a reproveable a damnable valour What A damnable valour Object when men irritate and provoke one another by reproaches by disgraces by other kinde of wrongs Yes even then a damnable valour Answ or rather Cowardize For he is conquered by his angry passions like a coward that falls to fighting for a few reproaches and it is a foolish thing to account a person a man of courage who like a vanquished slave lies prostrate at the feet of the lust of anger Tell me I pray did not David doe a more noble exploit by bearing with patience the cursings of Shimei than hee should have done if hee had drawne his sword and slaine him with it To lay snares for bloud for a few crosse words is a greater injury than those cross words can be a thousand times better it is injuriam ferre quà m inferre to suffer wrong Basil Seleu. orat ult p. 407. Aug. in psa 92. than offer it to beare the lesser than doe the greater At this bearance thine anger shall breake and split in pieces thy courage thy strength shall hold its owne For hee is a man of mettall indeede who can generously beare all adverse accidents Had but such challenges a good end were such single combates which are more grounded on malice than on the law of Armes usefull or gainefull in their issue there were some reason to commend them But their fruite and issue being for the most part so fearefull so woefull Bern in serm ad milit Templ cap. 2. fol. 83. Q. that the slayer committeth a deadly sinne the party slaine without Gods greater merey is sent to hell thou art to bee condemned if thou doest not condemne them It may be objected the
victor gets glory by his conquest and gaines a name to be the better champion Object Answ Eras Enchirid. mil Christ p. 136. 137. A sory glory God wot that being true which Erasmus writeth That to bee praised for sinnefull things of sinnefull men is false glory and true ignominy Reforme thine error therfore here worthily taxed whoever thou beest that thinkest those men the bravest sparkes whose wounding swords a petty injury can call forth to take revenge without a call from God lest if this error stickes to thee still thou fallest like Cain upon the least provocation to imbrue thy hands in thy brothers bloud and when thou hast done it be so farre from repenting as to contest with God as Cain did and out of thine envious malicious and hatefull heart rather to grieve that thy murthered brother hath not another life for thee to take away also Which passe shouldest thou ever come unto a remarkeable horror might take hold upon thee a guilty conscience ever vexe thee the gnawing whereof death it selfe though thou shouldest desire it would rather encrease by infinite degrees than ease in the least measure 2. Branch of reproofe Secondly there is a generation amongst us who in such troublesome times as these be steale from their Parents runne from their Masters tendering their service to take sword in hand when they have neither wit to weild it nor strength to fight with it the shop or the schoole being fitter for them than the field Their rashnesse also doth this doctrine reach at for they are old enough to heare a reproofe Silly yonguelings they doe inconsiderately venture on they know not what Where is their warrant to runne to warre The sword must not kill till it hath a call Dulce bellum inexpertis Warre is sweete untill they have tasted of it When they heare the Cannons roare the Armour clatter the Ayre thunder the Launces shiver the Heavens resound with hideous out-cries of parties slaine when they see the Swords glittering the Pikes piercing one with a leg off another without an arme one lye scrambling on the earth on this side another lye tumbling in bloud on that side the enemies looking fiercely striking furiously doubling blowes upon them threatning death unto them were there no more men in the world than themselves then peradventure wanting the fortitude which the field requireth they wil repent their rashnesse Campus fortem postulat Ennod Panegyr Theoderico Regi pag. 318. wishing they had waited for a better call not so theevishly stole away I taxe not Voluntaries who are fit for service I blame not them that have a call but I finde fault with such as in a discontented or new fangled humour will venture upon the pikes being altogether unable unfit to beare armes whose stay at home would bee a great deale more acceptable to God more profitable to man He that fightes without asound is no souldier Chrysol serm 14. p. 58. wrath carries him to valour his adventure is perillous not vertuous he seekes rather to perish than to vanquish as one speakes Did an * Dion Chrysost orat 38. heathen man once most justly complayne against the Nicomedians because for Pestilence and Earthquakes they did accuse their gods but for stirring up to warre they did applaude their men accounting the perswaders to battell the best Orators when to use such perswasions too there was neither need nor cause with better warrant may I blame such yongulings as account those men most worthy to be hearkned to who egg and entice them into the field when as having neither skill nor strength to use their weapons for lack of yeeres they are like to be more burthenous than helpfull to the armie If they perish by the sword they doe but reape the fruit of their owne rashnes And now enough of reproofe Thirdly lastly Vse 3 must not the sword be commanded to bloud without a call then use the meditation of this truth for thy defence when at any time thou art eyther provoked by gaine or malice to lay violent hands upon thy brother or tempted in discontent Saul-like to runne thy selfe upon thyne own sword To neither of these hast thou a call to doe either of these is a greivous sinne For the first of these what saies the Scipture Gen. 9.6 1. Ioh. 3.15 Who so sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed The murderer hath not eternall life abiding in him He that takes away his brothers life may heare God tell him The voyce of thy brothers bloud cryeth from off the earth against thee Vitam sustulisti Basil Seleue. orat 5. pag. 38. 39. sed non vocem abstulisti Thou hast spilt his life but thou canst not stop his mouth thou hast armed his bloud as an accuser against thee thou hast provoked the immortall God to be an adversary unto thee Some such noyse as this may sound in his eares which is most hideous horrid and fearefull to heare To the latter very aptly speakes an Ancient Aug. in Ioh. cap. 3. By how much the neerer to a man the murthered is by so much the crueller is the murtherer He therefore that murthereth himselfe is the worst murtherer because none is neerer to a man than himselfe Iob resolved to waite all the dayes of his appointed time untill his changing came Hee made not post-haste away before his time albeit one would thinke he had as great cause to have done it had it beene lawfull as ever any had whether we consider the tortures of his body or the terrors of his soule Senec. Ep. 24. The Heathen could tell us that a good man must not flye out of this life but depart out of it Hee must stay in this world till God bid him goe hee must not like a discontented Tenant warne himselfe out of this earthly tabernacle against his Landlords revealed will lest like the foolish fish he leape out of the pan into the fire and so finde by woefull experience the truth of our present point That the sword must not bee dipt in any bloud without a call Dâ—ct 4 For the sword to keepe scabbard when God calls it oâ—â— prâ—â—â—kes his displeasure as aâ— accuâ—â—ed thing And now I am descended to the last and largest point of all being the very upshot of the Text That to withhold the sword from bloud when there is just cause and a lawfull call is a dangerous thing displeasing to God exposing to the Curse A doctrine set downe so plainely by our Prophet here that * Habak 2.2 he that runnes may reade it Cursed be he that keepeth backe his sword from bloud and backed so firmely by testimony by example and by the contrary that none but the incredulous can once doubt of it The testimony is Deborah's in her song Iudg. 5.23 Curse yee Merosh said the Angell of the Lord Curse yee bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the helpe of the
Lord against the mightie that is to say Fer. in Iud. c. 5. pag. 407. because they kept their swordes in their sheaths when they should have fought in his cause for his Church The example is Saul's who was accurst in his affaires and had his kingdome rent from him for sparing the life of the King of Amalek when God had given him a charge to cut him off 1. Sam. 15.8.23 The contrary is set downe by the Prophet Ezekiel Ezech. 29.20 who tells us that Nebuchadnezzar though a wicked King had the land of Egypt given him as his pay for his paines in punishing the people of Egypt with his sword according to the command which God gave him to doe it The rewarding of such a worke when it was done with a temporall blessing doth intimate that to leave such a worke undone when the Lord calls to it procureth the Curse temporall at least Is not the stretching out the sword to bloud sometimes Gods worke Is it not a worke as from him Reason so for him Is not his command the ground of it Is not the bringing of his owne counsells to passe in the destroying of some to the glory of his justice in the relieving of others to the praise of his mercy the end of it But to omit the worke of the Lord is a cursed thing For if remissenesse in such a worke as appeares in the former part of the verse then much more the totall omission of it exposeth to the Curse Cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lord NEGLIGENTLY therefore to withhold the sword from bloud when God requires it must needes be an accursed thing It proves impiety to shew pitty at such a time Mercy then is a foolish mercy and hee that shewes it verifies that saying of an heathen man It is an hard thing to bee mercifull and wise at the same instant Agesilaus apud Plut. Apopth Moral in tom 2. pag. 191. Graecol edit To bee mercifull to him whom God would have destroyed by the sword and to bee wise enough to provide for himselfe an escape from the curse is very difficult I would now apply my selfe to apply the point but that I must first explaine it by the object and the motive cause I meane by answering two questions first against whom secondly for what the sword is commanded forth by God that so wee may know when wee have a good call to the battell Both which I entend to dispatch with as much brevity as I can Quest 1. Against whom God calleth forth the sword For the first Our Text tells us that it was Moabitish bloud which the Chaldaeans swordes were to bee sheathed in the Moabites their enemies were they to wage battell with not with their owne countrimen allies and friends The Lord gave charge to Reheboam King of Iudah not to make warre with Ieroboam King of Israel 1. King 12.24 and why because Israel and Iudah were sisters and friends The Lord was angry with the Ephraimites so that hee slew two and forty thousand of them for quarrelling and contending with Iephtah their brother Iudg. 12.6 Those valiant Kings and Captaines which wee read of in Scripture have still fought with their owne and Gods enemies as David with the Philistims Iosuah with the Canaanites Iehosaphat with the Moabites Nehemiah with the Ammonites c. The Lord never taught their hands to warre nor their fingers to fight with any but such as they were Object Mat. 5.44 Luke 6.27.28 But how stands this with that counsell of our Saviour Love your enemies blesse them that curse you pray for them that persecute you Is to warre with them to love them Is to joine battell with them to blesse them Answ 1 I answer First of all what hindereth but that a man may love his enemies while hee combates with them when his fighting with them proceedes rather from hatred to their sinne than from want of love to their person Answ 2 Secondly I give no just occasion to move this objection For I doe not say that God doth alwaies call a man to wage warre with his enemies but when the sword is called forth it must know our foes not our friends for the object of its stroakes Bernard Bern. serm ad Milit. Templ c. 3. f. 83. col 4. liâ— R. said well Our very enemies are not to bee killed if they can by any meanes else bee curbed from infesting from oppressing the Church but when that cannot be it is a great deale better that the rod be cut with the sword than still rest upon the backe of the Righteous and cause them to put forth their hands to iniquity Our Lords counsell to love our enemies doth no whit prejudice the just causes of warre If the cause be good neither the effect Bern. ad Milit. Templ ca p. 1. fol. 83. col 4 P nor issue can bee naught though the bloud of thousands bee spilt by it Our next taske therefore must be to give in our answer to the second demand viz. Quest. 2. What be the causes of a just warre For what causes the Lord gives warrant to wage warre with our foes What is it to give satisfaction to the unreasonable motion of rash anger to compasse that honour that applause amongst men which wee ambitiously aspire to to get our enemies possessions which we unlawfully covet meerly to be made Lords of Sea and of Land or to rule by our selves without Competitor I know carnall men both amongst a Plut. de Consol ad Apol. to 2. Graecol edit 108. A. Salust in Catil Dion Chrys orat 38. fol. 317. 318. Tul. Epist Fam. l. 8. Epist antepenult Infidells and b Bern. ad Mil. Templ c. 2. fol. 83. col 4. Q. Christians have in former times made warre for these causes And at c Tacit. hist 4. this day these vices are to such persons the chiefest bellowes to blow this fire For what but these makes Rome Spaine and Austria stirre up such combustions as have of late been kindled and doe yeerely flame more and more in the Christian world But are these just causes No no there is neither equity nor d Bern. ad Mil. Templ c. 2. fol. 83. safety in them They are rather Robbers than Souldiers who are led to field onely by these motives What then are just causes Such as for which Moab was to be wasted by the Chaldaean sword What were they These five sinnes as you may see if you consult but with some verses in this present chapter 1. Monstrous pride 2. Insolence against God 3. Insulting over the Church 4. Tumultuousnesse and rebellion 5. False-heartednesse Which vices in other enemies as well as Moab have been Gods warrant to his owne Worthies to fight his battells in the old Testament First I say monstrous Pride We have heard of the pride of Moab He is exceeding proud even of his haughtinesse and his pride
time may come when God may summon these voluptuous ones to stretch out the sword to bloud yea and threaten against them the terrible Curse if they doe not doe it This Curse how can they then escape when their bodies weakened by sinne shall make them refuse to follow this call and cause them to bee readier with the Kitchin-Curre that Plutarch speakes of to runne to the pot than with the generous Grey-hound to the field Thirdly is it so that to withhold the sword from bloud when the Lord calls it forth procureth the Curse Vse 3. Exhortation then goe thou Text of ours thou short sentence of old Ieremy that authentick Prophet goe I say into all Brittanne be as a trumpet to her inhabitants to sound an alarme unto war Thou standest upon their shelves lyest upon their deskes art in their houses as the other sentences of the Bible bee Oh round them in their eare present thy selfe to their eyes that the sight of thee may make them stirre in the Lords quarrell who have been backward all this while and make them constant that have begunne untill they have done the worke of the Lord. Thou maiest be the bolder in thine importunity now the royall head of great Brittanne our dread Soveraigne hath taken the course to exempt his kingdomes from this Curse by beginning to draw his weapon for the helpe of the Lord against the mighty and the Lord grant that like the sword of Ionathan it may never returne empty Now now I say never lin crying never lin sounding in his subjects eares untill Iehovah repaires the ruines of Sion and settle more peace in the Christian world And inasmuch as I have gone thus farre in discourse upon thee give mee leave to give thy Presse-money to this worke And now O England where shall I begin whom shall I first call upon Might I be suffred and do no wrong to the Text to speak in an allegory I would begin with mine owne calling wish them as many Champions amongst them have already done to dag their pens dipt in the Fount of holy Writ as farre into the body of Hereticall Divinity as Ehud did his dagger into Eglon's bowells Iudg. 3.20 Ib. ver 25. that Errors servants may like Eglons bee ashamed Next I could entreat the temporall Magistrate to stretch forth the sword of his authority to the spilling of the bloud of those dangerous enemies grosse impieties who have got such strength in these evill times Finally I could advise every Christian to use a Metaphoricall weapon not hypocrisie which woundeth religion under a colour of devotion but the sacrificing knife Chrysol serm â— pag. 28. that sharp weapon the sword of Repentance which may lay ableeding their mightiest corruptions that they may never prevaile nor beare rule againe But the stream of my exhortation must not runne in this improper channell The Text doth not enjoine it though the times doe well require it I must goe more litterally to worke and say to this Kingdome as Moses to Ioshuah Chuse out men and goe out to fight Blessed be he that keepeth not backe his sword from bloud Goe out and fight why what is there a Moab in the world and doth Moab provoke us or provoke God to call us to draw sword against her Yes both First there is a Romish Antichrist a Popish Faction and therefore a Moab in the world For the Romish beast which now rageth How the Pope and his Faction are like to Moab 1. In their originalls in many particulars may bee compared with that wicked Moab so oft mentioned in the old Testament First Moab was a childe of Incest begat by Lot in his drunken fit of one of his daughters So Antichrist is an incestuous brat bred of * Religio peperit divitias Religion the Mother and of Riches the Childe The Christian Emperors in the first age after Christ endowed the Church with great revennues bestowed upon Relgion much substance Religious Bishops grew drunke with riches intoxicated with honours in this their drunken fit committed filthinesse with worldly wealth and begate that monster the Romish Whore Secondly was Moab an Idolater had he his Idoll and abomination Chemosh 1. King 12.33 Who grosser Idolaters than Papists be who have a multitude of Idolls and abominations Thirdly the Moabites were not onely Idolaters themselves but also enticers of others to Idolatry calling the Israelites to the sacrifices of their gods Num. 25.2 and drawing Salomon himselfe notwithstanding his wisedome to build an high place for their Idoll Chemosh 1. King 11.7 Doth not the Romish Moab draw the whole world to wonder after him poysoning the Princes of the earth with his Idolatries and perverting them notwithstanding their wisedome Who knowes not how bold his Factors have beene to entice our Gospellers to their Masses superstitious services How many Gentlemen have their filthy Cages their Popish houses beyond the Seas robbed of their sonnes deprived of their daughters Isa 15.17 Fourthly Moab got aboundance by wrong Antichrist hath raysed himselfe to his rule and riches which is uncountable by secret villany and open violence Iudg 11.17 Fiftly Moab would not let Israel passe thorow his land to their place no more will Antichrist permit Protestants by a free use of their conscience to passe thorow his countryes quietly to the kingdome of heaven They of our side that have to doe there unlesse they bee very wary are in daily danger of the bloudy Inquisition They that dye there when they lye on their death-beds are molested by the Priests with proffers of fopperies and fooleries unto them Sixtly did the King of Moab send Balaam on his Asse to curse Israel so the Romish King of the Romish Moab sends abroad his Bulls Num. 22. Balaams and Asses to curse and condemne Gods people Lastly for I omit many things it was prophesied in the old Testament that Moab should be smitten with the starre of Iacob Num. 24.17 It is likewise prophesied in the new * 2. Thes 2.7 Testament that the man of sinne shall bee consumed by the breath of the Lords mouth and with the brightnesse of his comming There is a Moab then in the world O England a fit object for thy sword a meete foe to fight withall Yea but what cause hath England to take sword against Moab what injurie what wrong have the Romanists done her What causes No * 2. The same sins as causes of destruction by the sword in the Romane Papacy now that were in Moab in Ieremies time 1. The pride of Papists 2. Thes 2.4 lesse than the Chaldaeans had to make their sword red with Moabs bloud First have we not heard of the pride of Rome how that man of sinne sitteth in the Temple of God exalting himselfe above all that is called God Have not we heard of a Sunne and a Moone of a Vniversall Vicar of Christ and a Catholike King of pompous
Cardinalls haughty Bishops and proud Prelates Secondly 2. Their insolence against God doth not Romish Moab magnifie himselfe against the Lord adding to his Word and taking from it what he pleaseth How sawcily doth hee make himselfe the Lords Competitor in title in supremacy in authority to devise Lawes and coine Articles of Faith to make a Purgatory Limbus Patrum and Limbus Infantum to Gods Heaven and Hell giving his Priests power as hee presumeth to make a man a god-man flesh bloud and bones of a peece of bread trampling Gods statutes under his feet to set up his owne blasphemous inventions and is not England wronged egregiously while the God of England is thus dishonoured Thirdly who have ever more injuriously opposed 3 Insulting over the Church more imperiously insulted over the Church than Papists have Do not they laugh in their sleeves that they have gulled us with sugred words and faire pretences Doe they not rejoyce in the ruines of the Palatinate of Rhine and are glad to see the Sunne of another Elizabeths glory in the eclipse How hath the Romish Emperour insulted over the person of noble Palatine Cancel Hisp pag. 65. calling him in base and contumelious termes a slave or vassaile and that to the face of the English Embassador They that have read the booke of Martyrs have often seen how those Romish wolves did crow over the lambes of Christ when once they had gotten them in their pawes In deriding Israel and reproaching Sion ancient Moab came never neer them Fourthly these Romish Moabites are a tumultuous broode confederate in Faction against the Church and Religion The croaking Frogs of this Fen the Priests and Iesuites call the Princes of the earth to battell against the Saints Iudg. 3.12.13 Moab once gathered Ammon and Amaleck to fight against Israel so doth the Pope his Princes and Vassailes at this day What a tumultuous compact was there betwixt them in buying and selling the Palsgraves possessions Cardinall Lodowick is the cardinall man in that businesse he sets downe this position That it is more just and profitable Cancel Hisp pag. 79. 81. that some Catholicke Prince possesse the Palatinate than that Count Fredericke a Calvinist an emulous Prince of the Imperiall dignity and a perpetuall enemy to the house of Austria be restored Vpon this position Cancel Hisp pag. 90. Ibid. p. 97 98. Bishop Caraffa the Popes Legate at Vienna concludes upon Bavaria to be the fittest man The Emperour next resolves upon it he shall be the man and this resolution forsooth hee cannot alter without the offence of Almighty God Having set downe this resolution with himselfe he dispatcheth a Capuchine Frier called Hyacinthus Ibid. p. 96. Ibid. p. 116. to negotiate the businesse with the King of Spaine because the determination of that translation depended upon Spaine To worke therefore the Spanish King the better to his will the Popes Legate with the Emperour Ib. 108 111. by letter after letter sollicites the Capuchine to slacke no diligence in the businesse In the meane time Ib. 96 98. 101. the Emperour writes to Don Balthazar Zuniga Councellor of State in the Spanish Court Cardinall Lodowick importuneth the Popes Legate at Bruxells Ibid. to worke the Infanta to this Faction also Now lest the King of great Brittanne by his Legate the Earle of Bristow mediating with Spaine about the restitution of the Palatinate to his sonne againe should hinder the proceedings Ibid. p. 106. the Pope forsooth must devise a way to satisfie him after the Palatinate should be settled upon Bavaria Ibid. p. 117 Well the conclusion is Spaine conjoines in this cursed confederacy and concludes the businesse in foure Articles First That Bavaria shall restore the upper Austria Secondly That Bavaria shall content himselfe with the Electorall voice and upper Palatinate onely Thirdly That Spaine should have the lower Palatinate and Bavaria disclaime all title thereto Fourthly That the Emperour and Spanish King shall make a league together to make an offensive and defensive warre against whomsoever should resist their proceedings Were not here Moabs tumultuous ones Was not here Geball and Ammon and Amalak Philistia and those of Tyre joyned together against Gods Israel In which confederacy how falsly they dealt under faire pretences appeares by this that while Spaine spoiled the daughter of her dominions he glozed with the father and pretended a marriage with the brother And while the Emperour promised our King to stay the execution of the proscription against the Palatinate Cancel Hisp p. 67. Ibid. 75. Ibid. 77. Ibid 78. Bavaria proceeded in the same and the Emperour thanked him for it encouraged him in it The doctrine of equivocation is so well studied of these Romish Moabites that in most of their waightiest affayres with Protestant Princes lyes and falsehoods strike the greatest stroke pretences of unity and practises of enmity are found no where more than amongst them These things considered never had Chaldaea greater cause to fight with Moab than wee with Rome Vti olim de Philippo Macedonico dixit Demostheues Atheniensibus orat Olynt 1. and if ever with her then now while the bloud of the Saints shed by her doe call for vengeance and while the snares which she layeth for the bloud royall of the Brittish race besides other manifest wrongs doe call us Brittaines to goe forth against her Now a necessity to this worke lyeth upon us Fit purses for contribution must now stand open fit persons for execution are now called upon neyther as I conceive can any good reason bee given why eyther of both should now bee spared Gird your swords therefore upon your thighes O you valiant ones and ride on with courage and renowne Our Iehosaphat summons against this Moab what ranke what degree amongst the Gentry amongst the Commonalty of his dominions may not account it their glory to have an hand in this enterprise For the Gentry the golden bubble upon the brest Vid. Alexand. ab Alexand. l. 5. c. 16. Draud in Sched Reg. pag. 315. 316. little moones upon the shoes gold rings upon the hands golden chaines about the necke garments of purple given by Princes the ancient Ensignes of nobility were but ioyes to grace nobility with in comparison to heroicke exploites in Gods cause for the Church her right Oh that Gentlemen fit for this service would delight more to weare their armes in field than to paint them in their houses grave them in their seales place them in their portalls and weave them in their Sumpter-cloathes Then to be sure their holding of Armes would not bee so much for worldlings to behold them as for the Church to be beholding to them for the same For the Commonalty If the generous sort must take sword against Moab and it be their glory so to do then let not the meaner and vulgar sort think it any disparagement to goe forth under them When Presses come if their places and charge will permit it as Officers that presse ought to have a speciall regard to that and to doe nothing for sinister respects let not them frame worthlesse pretences to shift their Princes call If they hide their heads when they should encourage their owne hearts in Gods cause that calls on them if they chuse rather as the manner of some is to starve in woodes than to stirre to warres or coine lies and falsehoodes to delude the Officers I doe not see how they can escape the Curse which the Text â—oth speake of and bring a blessing upon their heads Be bold therefore in the Lord and be strong in the power of his might you could never stirre in a more needefull time your sword now may doe more acceptable service for the Lord than it could have done for many yeeres When Moab is curbed Iudg. 3.30 Isa 16. ult chap. 25.10 Israel shall have rest when Moabs glory is abated and troden downe as straw for the dunghill then distressed Sion shall have glory and her scattered stones in our neighbour-nations shall bee gathered together againe If you say we could be content to bee forward were we sure of successe I answer doubt not of that Ios 7. Iudg. 5.15 if Chemesh if Achan if the divisions of Ruben if secret well-wishers to the Romish cause and slightnes in seeking to the God of all Armies doe not crosse us Let the abomination of Moab bee kept under amongst us at home and the mighty of Moab shall not conquer us abroad Let such men as hide the Babylonish garment in the rotten tents of their Popish hearts who having a face for the Prince and an heart for the Pope would be glad of an opportunity to betray their country for a wedge of gold have nothing to doe in our Campes Let not the Nobles of Iudah send letters to Tobiah nor reveale the matters of Nehemiah to him Neh. 6.17 19. Let Popish Ladies have no acquaintance with State-secrets for then Balaam and Balak shall bee sure to know them Let the loyall subjects with an unanimous consent adde sinewes to the warre and let not corrupt Officers make those sinewes to shrinke In a word let the Lord bee sought carefully in all our proceedings and then the God of Iacob will be with us the Lord of Hosts will fight for us and prosper our handy-worke Bern. ad Milit. Templ c. 2. Securi igitur procedite milites intrepido animo inimicos crucis Christi propellite In the bowels of Christ Iesus put forth your hands to the worke of the Lord let not your spirits fayle in your bodies let not your swords rust in their sheaths let not your coyne fret in your chests And you that can do nothing this way with your purses or with your persons fight with your prayers to the God of heaven bee morning and evening in his presence Chamber with your suites tell him that for Sions sake you cannot bee silent nor yet will be untill hee hath made bare his arme in his owne cause cloathed his foes with the robes of shame and compassed his Saints with songs of deliverance FINIS