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
VOXBELLI OR AN ALARVM TO VVARRE LONDON Printed by H.L. for Nathanael Newbery 1626. To the Right Honourable Sir Horatio Veere Knight Baron of Tilbury c. all blessings wished that concerne this life and that which is to come Right Honourable I Am not ignorant that great is the mischiefe and misery of warre than which as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maxim Tyrius Dissert 14. p. 143. one saith nothing amongst humane occurrences is more sorrowfull lesse pleasant b Theat Mund p. 85. Beasts in their kinde having more rest pleasure than they whose life is led in warfare For whereas the beast sleeps the night in its cave den the Souldier takes his rest at the signe of the Moone c 2. Cor. 11.27 in watchings often in fastings often subject to the violence of all Martiall stormes uncertain what the event and successe will be whose office is upon the Trumpets sound eyther mortem ferre or inferre to slay or bee slaine and neyther of both without some prejudice If he fals his wife his children his kindred his countrey have the losse of him if he conquers his rising is the ruine of others his riches the spoyle of others his joy the mourning of others insomuch that hee may cry out as Marcus Aurelius did when after many victories hee received his Triumph in Rome When I saw the poore captives in iron chaines desolate Widowes bereaved of their husbands disconsolate Orphans deprived of their parents a great deale of treasure gotten by force thought upon the number of those that were dead albeit I outwardly triumphed yet inwardly lamented and wept teares of bloud In times of war Countryes are wasted Cities dispoyled Temples profaned Religion despised equity suppressed humanity defaced what cruelty what impiety not notoriously practised All this considered I may possibly be censured by criticall carpers for setting pen to paper on such a subject and especially for inciting to so bloudy a businesse But the call being not mine but the Lords I shall the more willingly beare the burthen of any undeserved blame if what I have written may prevaile to provoke them whom it concernes to a readinesse to succour the distressed Church in forreine parts If it be demanded what hath emboldened me to crave your Honours patronage for these few papers I can answer nothing but partly your love to Christ his cause as you are a Beleever and partly your place in Gods field as a warlike Commander If the Author be thought presumptuous notwithstanding these motives censure his boldnesse at your pleasure but I beseech you be pleased to shelter the Matter not needlesse for these times from the worlds displeasure so shall you engage him to be a suitor to the Throne of Grace for your Honours prosperity in warre and peace who is Your Hon ready to be commanded in the Lord THO BARNES VOX BELLI IT is a saying of one of the Fathers in a written discourse to one of his friends a Facito aliquid operis ut te semper diabolus inveniat occupatum Hieron ad Rust Monach. Be alwaies doing something that Satan may never finde thee doing nothing The slothfull person doth the wiseman send to the silly Pismyre to learne her wayes b Prov. 6.6 The Apostle charged the Thessalonian Church that hee that would not labour should not eate c 2. Thes 3.10 And our Saviour himselfe pronounceth that servant blessed whom when his Master commeth he shall find doing d Luke 12.43 All this to give us to understand that e Nider Fornic l. 1. c. 1. p. 9. idlenesse is permitted to none emploiment the f Hieron ad Rust Monach. Devills disquieter is required of * Nid supr all For the sluggard takes no care but to g Leo Ser. 5. in Epiph. pamper his belly makes his life odious h Sen. Epi. 19. and beastly i Bernard disableth nature to doe its duetie k Cassian l. 10. defileth his soule with a world of iniquities l Senec. Epist 19. diseaseth his body with abundance of maladies and exposeth m Prosp Aqui. de vit contempl both to eternall misery in an utter exclusion from Gods blessed presence in his Kingdome of glory Now because not to bee well exercised is to bee ill exercised n Chrysost de virt vitio and the doing of that which is naught is as bad if not worse as the doing of nothing Therefore the maine object of our exercise must be Gods businesse Now in as much as the Lord hath many and differing workes for man to doe workes of peace he being the God of Peace o 2. Thes 3.16 workes of bloud he being a man of Warre p Isa 42.13 neither of these must bee omitted when need requireth and occasion serves for the doing of them Which thing the Prophet Ieremy taking into due consideration being also a Propheticall Diviner of Moabs destruction could not but earnestly incite to this work of the Lord of not withholding the sword from bloud Hee was not ignorant that peace is a q Dion Chrys orat 40. p. 244. better yea a blesseder r Synes orat de regn p 14. thing than war and that ſ Basil Seleuc. orat 23. p. 207. for one armie of men to come bandied like enemies against another is as an Ancient once spake both grievous and cruell In which respect Blessed are the Peace-makers our Saviours text t Matth. 5.9 would to our seeming a great deale more fitly have dropped from his pen. But it seemes he knew withall that a lawfull warre is to bee preferred before an unlawfull peace and that warre with Moab would be as well Israels peace as the Chaldees victory v 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist de Repub. l. 8. c. 15. Propter pacem bellum paratur Synes orat de Reg. p. 14. peace and x Est enim belli finis victoria Plutarch Scipio in vitis to 3. lat edit in 4. p. 465. victory being the ends of warre For which reason this good man Gods Pen-man must be borne with though he writes a Text in red letters having the sword for his pen bloud for his inke the curse for his stile Ier. 48.10 Cursed be he that keepeth backe his sword from bloud A Text so terrible that at the first it made me fearfull to meddle with it especially when I contemplated with my selfe that it would compell me to speak of curses and woes in a land of grace of bloud and blowes in a land of peace But when I considered that there are Canaanites to be smitten at home Christians to bee succoured abroad I tooke heart to venture this field perswading my selfe it would not prove unprofitable albeit I am caused to doubt of the acceptablenesse of it by the consciousnesse of my weakenesse to weild my weapon as I should The words being a commination or threatning doe cut themselves into two peeces
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
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
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
Isa 16.6 Ier. 48.29.32.33 his loftinesse and arrogancie Therefore the spoiler is fallen upon thy Summer fruites and joy and gladnesse is taken away from the land of Moab Secondly Insolence against God The horne of Moab is cut off and his arme is broken saith the Lord. Make ye him drunken Vers 25 26. for he magnified himselfe against the Lord. Moab shall be destroyed from being a people because hee magnified himselfe against the Lord. Vers 42. Thirdly Insulting over the Church is another cause of just destruction by the sword Moab shall wallow in his vomite and he shall also be in derision For was not Israel a derision unto thee since thou spakest of him thou skippedst for joy Vers 29.27 Goliah's vaunts against the host of Israel put the stone into Davids sling which pierced his temples put the sword into Davids hand which parted his head from his body and so discomfited his insolent Army of uncircumcised Philistims 1. Sam. 17. Fourthly for Tumultuousnesse and Rebellion evident is that which we finde towards the end of this chapter I will bring upon it even upon Moab the yeare of their visitation saith the Lord. A fire shall come forth out of Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sion which shall devoure the corner of Moab Vers 44.45 and the crowne of the head of the TVMVLTVOVS ones And what was it else but the suppressing of Rebellion that moved the Israelites to make warre upon the Beniamites Iudg. 20.12 26. Fiftly for False-heartednesse pretences of unity and yet practises of enmity you may collect it out of the 30. verse where Moabs wrath and lyes are joyned together and noted as a cause of the Chaldaeans comming by Gods appointment against her to destroy her While I thought with my selfe how I might improve this point many particulars offered themselves amongst those many I made choice of three First Vse 1 to meete with that fantasticall conceit of the Anabaptisticall Sect That it is not lawfull for true Christians to make warre Are Christians prohibited to doe that same thing which if the Chaldaeans did not they were threatned to bee cursed What worke is there which may lawfully bee done for the Lord by any that are his enemies which may not in some cases for some causes with some cautions be done by his friends In this same question Whether a Christian Magistrate may lawfully make warre the state of it lies not in unnecessary warre When Kings and Princes through an ambitious and covetous desire to enlarge their owne territories and to encroach upon other mens rights without Gods warrant doe take sword in hand and bid battell with it wee detest it wee abhorre it and perswade our selves that the authors of such warres have an heavie account to give to God for the abundance of innocent bloud that is ordinarily shed for the rapines burnings whoredomes devastations c. which doe usually attend them But wee speake of a necessary defensive warre When a Christian Prince partly to preserve the lives liberties and religion of his owne subjects partly to relieve his Allies abroad which are neere unto him both in the flesh and in the Lord when they are oppressed by the common adversary shall make warre it is not onely lawfull but also so needefull that did hee not doe it he should highly displease God as being an unnaturall father to his country an unkind friend to them whom hee doth owe and should shew most kindenesse unto In these cases he doth not Rom. 13. he ought not to beare the sword in vaine what ever the Anabaptists say to the contrary If wee should tell that generation that Abraham made warre with the Sodomites Gen. 14. Gen. 17. Ioshuah passim Iudg. 6. Iudg. 13.14 15 chapters Moses with the Amalekites Iosuah with the Canaanites Gideon with the Midianites Sampson with the uncircumcised Philistims and Gods encouraging and prospering them in this worke is a notable argument of the lawfulnesse of it I know they will yeeld to us in that holding it lawfull in the time of the old Testament to make warre But where say they is it warranted in the New Where warrented Why where is it condemned Doth Iohn Baptist condemne it Souldiers military men came to him asked him what they should doe and what 's his answer to them Luke 3. not leave your station forsake your garrison give over your military kinde of life but bee content with your wages doe no man wrong Neither did Christ nor any of his Apostles disallow it The Capernaite Centurion remained a souldier after he became a Christian Christ did not bid him cease the field after hee had truely embraced the faith He commended his believing Matth. 8. Act. 10. Verily I have not found such faith in Israel hee condemned not his calling his being a Centurion The like may bee said of Cornelius the Captaine of the Italian band whose Captaineship continued after his conversion neither was it condemned by Peter when hee preached unto him and bestowed Baptisme upon him Object Isa 2.4 Yea but Isaiah prophesied of the times of the Gospell in the new Testament when he said They shall beate their swords into plow-sheares and their speares into pruning-hookes Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation neither shall they learne warre any more Therefore Christians may not make warre now under the Gospell I answer Answ the scope of the Prophet there is not to forbid Magistrates a necessary warre against the enemies of their lives and Gods cause but to shew what peace should be betwixt the Iewes and the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospell which was accomplished when our Peace-maker Eph. 2.14 Christ Iesus brake down the partition wall betwixt them and us and when in a time of dearth the Church of the Gentiles in Graecia did send reliefe even above their power 2. Cor. 8.1 to the Church of the Iewes in Syria They have many other cavills scarce worth the spending of our inke and paper which of purpose I passe over lest in such an argument as this I prove tedious to the Reader Secondly Vse 2. Terror I may here take just occasion to preach terror unto all those whom God hath indued with strength of body so that they might bee fit in time of neede to stand their country in good stead by bearing the sword against her enemies and they waste this strength and ability of theirs some on wine some on women some by one kinde of riotous living some by another and so indispose themselves for all good offices at home in peace for all good service in the warres abroad The naturall gift which God hath given them they should perfect by art by commendable exercises eyther in military matters or some lawfull calling and they eyther by a sottish idlenesse or a bestiall licentiousnesse disable themselves to make such use of their bodies as they are given them for The
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