Martiall expeditions and the cause of the spinning out of this Unnaturall Warre for by these long and tedious Marches the enemies conjoyne their Forces or recruite their scattered Armies and so make our designes vanish away to smoake In a word speed and activity in all Military attempts is as needfull as valour to conduce an intestine warre as ours is to a blessed Period 4. In our Preparations If our Marches are tedious our preparations are yet longer and yet we omit in them the most necessarie implements of warre I meane Tents Pick-axes Shovels and Spades Waggons Hand-barowes and Wheele-barowes Tortues Mantelets and Ladders If the Militia of the City of London doth then desire to see a speedy and a blessed end of this unnaturall warre they are to provide this Winter these necessaries following for if our Armies were provided with them they would expedite more warlike attempts in one month then they can now doe in three months as it shall be proved when I come to speake of intrenching and sieges 1. They should alwayes have ready twelve hundred Tents of six yards broad and eight yards long 2. Foure hundred Waggons two hundred of them close covered and two hundred uncovered 3. Foure hundred Ladders two hundred of sixteen foot long and two hundred of twelve foot long 4. Fourescore light flat botes to crosse Rivers 5. Foure hundred Barowes two hundred with Wheeles and two hundred Hand-barowes 6. Twenty Tortues and twenty Mantelets that are Engines that goe upon Wheeles to preserve Souldiers from the Musket-shot when they make their approaches and are to be so made that they may suddenly be dismounted and carried in Waggons 7. Two thousand Pick-axes two thousand Shovels two thousand Spades 8. Eight Sommes of six peny Nailes foure Sommes of ten peny nailes and two Sommes of double ten peny nailes 9. Foure hundred deale boards of twelve foot long and foure hundred round deale Poles of twelve foot long and of six Inches thick 10. And twelve Canons twenty-foure Colverins forty eight Drakes ready mounted with all their appurtenances Balls Pouder and Match proportionable 11. One hundred Ovens of iron plate to bake a Bushell of bread at a time 12. Forty Bakers forty Brewers forty Butchers twelve young Carpenters with their Tooles and twelve Commissaries of Victuals having every one of them six Waggons apiece belonging to themselves to provide the Army with all maner of Provisions for if this warre continue but one yeere longer our Armies will be famished and not able to advance because the Counties will be so desolated except there be Commissaries of Victuals appointed to provide the Armie by Waggons out of the Adjacent Counties But some will say you perswade us to incredible and unnecessarie charges for the greater part of these things we can procure in those Counties thorow which our Armies doe march or intend to lay siege against any of the enemies Garrisons I answer it is a great improvidence for an Army to be without the necessaries that belong to it and we know by experience that before the Countrie can be summoned to bring in Ladders Barowes Pick-axes Shovels and Spades for that only can be found in the Country that an Army may be intrenched about a Garrison Towne and suppose they bring them in sooner yet are they so worn broken and out of repaire that they are of no service but to spinne out time I remember when one of our Armies was last yeare to storme or to scale Basing House that they were constrained to send to London to have them made and so lost a fortnight of faire weather and then when the Ladders came the weather being rainy and cold they were inforced to raise the siege for want of Tents Now had they had all these implements with them they had come off with honour and taken that house and not left the worke to be done this yeare or for the next as they carry themselves before it The very charges then that hath been cast away about that house would have paid for ten times as many implements as are here specified besides the losse of the time which is worth as much more and the blemish of the reputation of the undertakers which is more then all the rest I conclude then that an Army is not to advance without all these implements to crosse Rivers to besiege Townes to intrench it selfe to make mines to erect plat-formes gabions and to storme or assault strong-holds without loosing halfe a dayes time by staying for materials to hinder their prosecution in any warlike attempt 5. In our Discipline Our indulgence in Military Discipline is also a great cause of the spinning out of this warre for Souldiers doe what they please their Generals Commands are not regarded at all For an Officer this Summer against the speciall order of his Commander forsook his Station and by it indangered the whole Army and was the cause of the losse of many valiant men And in the West many have this Summer forsaken their Station appointed by their Generall and by their disobedience sold his honour and Reputation And the last Brigade of the five Regiments that went out of the City notwithstanding that an Order was expresly published a moneth afore they went out to be ready at an houres warning yet there went out very few with their colours but lingered away the time two or three dayes our runawayes are neither degraded nor punished and that is the cause they make a custome of it as they have lately done at Banbury where three moneths time and a great summe of money hath been cast away If any t Officer or Souldier among the Romanes did forsake the Station appointed to him by his Generall it was present death if Souldiers did not go out of the City with their colours they were tried by a Councell of warre if they runned away before the enemies the tenth man suffered for it the Officers were degraded and the rest cashiered The ten u thousand that ran away from the battell at Cannes notwithstanding the Romane Common-weale had never so much need of men as at that time yet all the Commanders and Officers were degraded of their Nobility and cashiered for ever to beare Armes and the common Souldiers banished for ten yeare into Sicile And surely if our Military Discipline be not reduced to the Roman austerity or after the Greeks that was that all runawayes should stand three market * dayes in womens apparell upon a stage to be derided at for their cowardize all will goe to confusion and this Unnaturall warre will be spinned out till there be no more oyle in the lamp of this Kingdome to give it life 6. In our Rules of warre The order or rules of warre were never so neglected as they are in our dayes 1. In intrenchments 2. In fortifying Camps 3. In scaling 4. In mining 5. In storming 6. In our manner of assaults Of all which particulars I shall speake of as briefly as
the people of Israel for their dissimulation for to delay Justice because they fained they did not know the Ordinances of Justice c. 7. The Lord is alwayes so prone to do Justice that he complaines by his Prophet none m called for Justice c. meaning that he was alwayes ready to doe that which the Rulers of Israel were so unwilling to doe and that he was angry because they did not give eare to them that required and called for Justice 8. The Lord is excremely displeased when Justice is delaid or omitted as may appeare by this passage of the Prophet Isaiah Iudgement is turned backward and Iustice n standeth afarre off for Truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter c. yea Truth faileth and he that departeth from evill maketh himselfe a prey By these humane Instances and passages of the Word of God we may see how dangerous it is to omit or delay Justice and how pleasant and acceptable it is to God when Justice is speedily and unpartially administred And therefore we are all bound in Generall and every one in particular to addresse our fervent prayers to God that he would be pleased to infuse into the hearts of all the members of the Honourable Houses an earnest desire to administer speedy and unpartiall Justice Now they have drawne the sword out of her sheath by the Commissioners of war they have lately appointed to bring to a speedy Triall all those Criminall offenders that they have in their Custody Foure of which have been the cause of the shedding of more Christian bloud then ever o Benhadad King of Damascus caused to be split of the people of Israel And therefore the delay of their Triall is the more dangerous for time produceth many accidents that hinder and pervert Justice If all Christendome were not acquainted with the unmatchlesse Clemencie and indulgent proceedings of the Honourable Houses toward their prisoners the Malignant spirits would inpute the long retention of so many prisoners to Cruelty For the Emperour p Tiberius was used to say when he was demanded the reason why he kept criminall prisoners so long in hold Because said he they die daily and it would be too great a mercy by a suddaine execution to end their miseries Even so the Spanish q Inquisition when they will favour any of their prisoners they bring them speedily to their Triall and as suddenly to their execution but such as they intend to Martyr they keep them in continuall durance that they may suffer by their horrid torments a thousand deaths for one But our Prisoners fare as well as r Demetrius King of Macedonia that was detained prisoner three or foure yeares by Seleucus the great for he never had lesse care nor better fare or more ease then he had in his durance even so our Malignants are more joviall and in better liking then they were in the time of their liberty It were then a laudable frugality in these dayes of Pecuniaefames to bring the criminall Delinquents to a speedy Triall that if they be guilty they may be dealt withall as Quintus Fulvius dealt with the Senators of s Capua And for the prisoners of warre to expedite their exchange to free the prisoners they have of ours from their miseries And for such as are in hold for contempt to release them upon fines for feare their long retention disable them to give any so should our Prisons be cleared the state freed from danger and charges and the second secondary cause of the spinning out of this Unnaturall Warre removed The third Secondary Cause is The neglect of occasions opportunities advantages OCcasion or Opportunitie is a certaine nick of time unexpected nor thought upon that seemes to come accidentally and yet is guided by the will and the speciall Providence of God Now of all occasions or opportunities the Spirituall Civill and Military are of greatest concernment for the first concernes our soules the second our private and the publike welfare and the last our lives and liberties And by consequence the embracing of them very profitable and the omitting of them very prejudiciall to men But of these three the Spirituall opportunities are as much more to be carefully embraced as the Soule is more pretious then our meanes lives and liberties for upon the carefull and diligent observation of them depends our perpetuall Blisse and upon the neglect of them our eternall woe Neither can we expect to obtaine the Grace to make a profitable use of the Civill and of the Military Opportunities unlesse we be diligent and faithfull to observe all spirituall opportunities that may conduce to the advancement of the Glory of God the good of his Church and to the Salvation of our Soules For by the observation of the Spirituall we obtaine and preserve our selves in the favour of God without which favour all civill and military opportunities vanish away The ancient Moralists have figured opportunitie under the shape of a Woman having great wings at her back and a locke of haire hanging over her face but bald behind to intimate by her lock and her wings that if we let her slip when she offers her self to us she will fly away and never be recovered again And therefore that we are to be very circumspect and observant to catch her by the fore-lock as she presents her selfe to us for if she doe but turne her back having no hold behind we loose her for ever And the losse of one Spirituall Civill and Military opportunitie may endanger our Salvation our meanes and the Publike well-fare and our lives and liberties As I will endeavour to prove by humane Histories and by Instances out of the Word of God But before I desire for feare of misprision to ground my discourse upon this Principle of Religion That whensoever the free-will the good pleasure and the eternall purpose of God is pleased to blesse a Kingdome with Peace and Prosperity he will then inable the King his Counsellours Generals of Armies Magistrates and all other subordinate Officers of that Kingdome to make use of all opportunities that may conduce to that end But on the contrary side If his will and pleasure be to humble correct or destroy a Kingdome then will he disable the King his Counsellours Generals of Armies Magistrates and all other subordinate Officers of that Kingdome to omit and neglect all favourable opportunities that may be offered to them that his will pleasure and eternall purpose concerning the humiliation correction or destruction of that Kingdome Common-weale families or private persons may come to passe and be accomplished in his time But some will object and say If all opportunities occasions or advantages in Spirituall Civill and Military actions depend meerly upon the free-will the good pleasure and the eternall purpose of God whether we be carefull or carelesse wise or imprudent valiant or timerous or omit or imbrace all Spirituall Civill and Military opportunities
it matters not Why should we then trouble our selves to be diligent and zealous in spirituall duties wise prudent in Civill actions and circumspect valiant expert in Military exploits since the issue of all depends upon the will of God I answer that this secret will and eternall purpose of God is a Mystery to men and that the wisest men upon earth cannot dive into it and therefore that we are to obey his revealed will that is that we should be fervent zealous and diligent in all spirituall duties to make our calling and a election sure and to be wise and prudent in all Civill actions according to that degree he hath beene pleased to indue us withall and make use of the experience valour and courage in warre that we have obtained as a gift from him to conduce all such things we undertake to the advancement of his Glory to the good of his Church and to the peace and prosperitie of our Countrie and doing so and in all our ends aiming at that blank howsoever it pleaseth the Lord to give an issue to our unfained endeavours we have discharged a good Conscience before God and men But if men in this glorious light or Sunne-shine of the Gospel will wilfully neglect the gracious meanes that God is pleased to afford them to procure their Salvation by the merits of Christ with feare and b trembling and fall from the faith and run a whoring after Popish Idolatry or the vaine and erroneous opinions of Sectaries or the licentious and impious courses of the ungodly and profane men of these dayes let them lay the cause of their condemnation upon themselves and not upon the secret will of our most just and gracious God that doth not desire the death of a sinner but rather that he would c returne from his wicked wayes Or if the wise and prudent men of these times should for some private ends omit to advise or counsell such things as in their owne judgement doe conduce to the above blessed end God notwithstanding will doe his worke and they will remaine inexcusable before him But if they advise or counsell sincerely such things as they judge to conduce to that blank abovesaid according to the wisedome and prudence the Lord hath given them howsoever the issue of their Counsell fall out they have discharged a good Conscience before God and men Even so if our Commanders in Chiefe or their subordinate Officers doe embrace all opportunities that are offered to them to end or to conduce this warre to a blessed peace howsoever the issue of it be they will be blamelesse before God and men but if for any private ends they omit any opportunities rules Maximes or Stratagemes of Military exploits to spinne out this Unnaturall Warre whereby they may endanger the State and themselves as oftentimes it comes to passe that omissions in Military exploits hath overthrowne Kingdomes or Common-weales and their Commanders also as it shall be proved by Instances yet shall the issue of this warre turne to Gods Glory and to the good of his Church for God is not tied to secondary meanes but will in his due time notwithstanding their wilfull omissions grant us a blessed peace but they shall be inexcusable before him and loose their honour and reputation with men For opportunities advantages in warre are so many mercies that the Lord doth graciously offer to Commanders Now if these mercies be despised and these advantages omitted wittingly God is an all-seeing God that will find out a time how closely soever it be carryed to reward them according to the intentions of their hearts But because there hath beene many faire opportunities lost within these three yeares that might if they had been imbraced have conduced this Unnaturall Warre to a blessed Period and that they are imputed by them that are ignorant of the events of warre to the neglect and omission of some of our Commanders in Chiefe I will endeavour to prove by Ancient and Moderne Ensamples that when God hath been pleased to humble correct or destroy a Kingdome that the wisest Politicians and the most experienced Commanders that ever were have omitted greater opportunities then they have done 1. In the yeare 432. of the foundation of Rome God being pleased to humble the Romanes and utterly to destroy the Samnites did so blind the Judgements of the Generals of these two Nations that they let slip two faire opportunities first the two Consuls of the Romanes Titus Veturius and d Sempronius Posthumius omitted the opportunitie they had to march with their Army to Luceria a City they intended to besiege by the sea-shore the way being plaine and secure for to take a way thorow the mountaines that led them to a passe called Caudium invironed with steepe Rocks and high mountaines where they were presently inclosed by the Samnites and inforced for want of Provisions to require quarter which they obtained upon these conditions That they should leave six hundred Knights for hostages surrender their Armes Horses Carriages and baggage and passe under the yoke for their over-sight Secondly the Samnites had here a faire opportunity to have concluded a perpetuall peace with the Romanes if they had set at liberty and provided the Romanes with Provisions for their returne as they were counselled by a wise Senator of theirs Herenius father of their Generall But they unadvisedly for a little booty were the Cause of their own destruction for the Romanes were so incensed with this ignominy received that they never ceased untill they had by force of Armes reduced all the Samnites and their Countrey unto Romane Colonies 2. In the second Punick warre The Romanes by the great victories obtained in Sycilia and Sardinia against the Carthaginians being swollen up with pride God was pleased to humble them againe and so sent Hannibal with a great Army into Italy that defeated them in the three famous battels of the River Trebie of the lake Trasymene and of Cannes where they lost above one hundred thousand men yet because God had decreed that Rome should be the fourth and the e greatest Monarchy in the world he was pleased to infatuate the Judgement of f Hannibal the most provident and the most active Generall that ever was to omit the fairest opportunity that his heart could have wished to have obtained for his Common-weale a perpetuall Peace of the Romanes or by advancing immediately after his victory at Cannes to the wals of Rome that was extraordinarily amazed and weakly manned To have over-throwne by the taking of it the whole Romane Common-weale but the Omission of this opportunity was the cause of his owne ruine and of the destruction of his native Countrey 3. The Omission of the opportunity that g Persus the last King of Macedonia had to proclaime warre against the Romanes when Hannibal was in Italy and Scipio in Affrica was the cause he was shortly after deprived of his Kingdome and himselfe inforced
THE SIX SECONDARY CAVSES OF THE Spinning out of this Vnnaturall Warre By D. P. P. JEREMIAH 8. 20. The harvest is past and the summer is ended and yet we are not saved Octob. 19. 1644. Imprimatur JAMES CRANFORD LONDON Printed by George Miller 1644. To the Reader IF a small Sparrow cannot fall to the ground nor a haire from our head without the will of our Heavenly Father we may be the more confident that nothing shall nor can be fall to us in this unnaturall Warre except it be by the speciall providence of God for it is he only that disableth or inableth the secondary Causes according as his will and pleasure is to humble or to blesse us And therefore if it doth seeme to some that I impute the spinning of this Warre more then I should to the secondary Causes I intreate them to be more charitable in their constructions for my only aime is to show that the first and essentiall Cause is our sinnes impenitency and ingratitude for mercies heretofore received of our gracious God that hath been inforced by them to disable the secondary Causes from executing that as they might otherwise have done if he had not intended to humble us for the aforesaid transgressions Neither doe I as they may suppose expose these secondary Causes to the publique view out of any private ends or Cynick humour to barke at on to consine the actions of these times though I may boldly say that it is not by our wisedome policy or experience in Warre that we are in so good a condition but by the meere mercy of our gracious God but out of a desire to contribute my mite to the advancement of the true Reformation begun and to lend a weake helping hand to draw this Civill warre with the helpe of God to a blessed and a more speedy end that is spinned out by these secondary Causes And so Prest Thy humble servant in the Lord D. P. P. The Contents I. THe retarding of the true Reformation II. The delay of Justice III. The neglect of occasions opportunities or advantages IV. The divisions and contentions that are among us V. The strange Method of our Warre VI The want of perseverance THE SIX Secondary Causes of the Spinning out of this Vnnaturall Warre The first Secondary Cause is The retarding of a True Reformation ALl the faithfull Ministers of God that were resident in this famous City and that are come to it from all the parts of the Kingdome as into a Sanctuary to preserve themselves from the cruelty of the Cannibals of these dayes or that have been summoned to settle the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church according to the Word of God and the forme observed in the best Reformed Churches of France Germany and Scotland Have not yet been able by their infatigable labours fervent prayers orthodox Doctrine profitable exhortations and loving admonitions to mollifie our hearts or worke in us a true and a cordiall Reformation but rather like a stiffe necked people we are growne more licentious in our lives and conversations then we were before this great light of the Gospell did appeare to us as a morning Sunne which impenitency and hardnesse of heart should be lamented if it were possible with teares of blood because it is not to be parrelled for it doth exceed that of Nineveh for they converted themselves unto the Lord and turned from their a wicked wayes by the preaching and the the threatnings of the Prophet Jonah But alas the preaching of all these faithfull Messengers of God nor the Judgements that have been inflicted these three yeares upon this Nation cannot move us to feare and apprehend the last b viols of the wrath of God that are ready to fall upon our heads so insensible and stupid are our hearts that they seeme like Nabals heart to be turned into c stones And yet there never was more Fasting nor more dayes of Humiliation nor prayers addressed to the Throne of Grace in this Kingdome then there is at this present time and since these warres began What may then be the reason that our prayers are rejected at this time by our gracious God It must assuredly be this That our Fasts our humiliations and our prayers are all formall and not sincere and that we applaud the d forme but deny the power of godlinesse and that we serve God with our lipps and deny him in our hearts we bowe downe our heads for a day like a * bulrush but all the moneth after instead of mortifying our lusts we inflame them by our carnall cogitations Instead of examining our selves and diving into the secret corners of our deceitfull hearts we censure and reprehend the carriage and actions of others instead of being lowly and humble in our own eyes we are swollowed up with pride and selfe-conceitednesse we can see a straw in our brothers eye but we cannot see a beame in our owne We are apt with our father Adam to transfer our own sins upon others or like the hypocriticall Pharisie blesse our selves when we are worse then Publicans we can say such a one is this and such a one is that or these mens sins are the cause of our present miseries but we doe not put our hands upon our brests and confesse ingeniously Lord my sins have a greater share in these publike calamities then any other mans sins O let us then in the Name of God returne unto him judge our selves that we may not be judged let us sweep before our own doores and the streete will be soon cleansed I meane let us every one in particular mortifie our own corruptions reforme our lives manners and conversations and abhorre formality the k Laodicean temper and be fervent sincere and zealous in the wayes of righteousnesse and not seeme only to be righteous but strive to be really so for by this spirituall dissimulation we may deceive others and our selves but we cannot deceive God that searcheth the hearts and will reward us not according to our faire showes but according to our reality or hypocrisie And this personall Reformation will be a good step to the Generall which will never be attained if every one of us doe not endeavour in particular to reforme our selves And as concerning the Generall Reformation of the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church we are all bound to petition to the Honourable Houses of Parliament that they would be pleased to make the same the first worke of their unparrelled labours And that it may have the precedency of the Civill Politick and Military Reformations because the blessed issue of these last depends altogether upon the setling of the first as I will endeavour to make it appeare by these reasons following 1. Our gracious God is a jealous God that abhorres all mixtures of Religions and hath been pleased to teach us to prefer his Glory before all other respects And that all other ends set
to follow like a slave the Triumphant Chariot of Paulus Aemilius his Conquerour And yet it is not to be doubted but this King had wise Counsellours and Politicians about him but God had decreed that the Kingdome of Macedonia should be of the number of those Kingdomes that should exalt the Romane Monarchy 4. The omission of the opportunity that h Antiochus the great had to proclaime warre against the Romanes when their forces were busied in Macedonia was the cause that he was defeated in divers battels constrained to make a dishonourable peace with the Romanes and that Armenia the great was presently after brought under the Romane yoke by Lucullus and Pompeius neither did this great Monarch want great Politicians and experienced Commanders for Hannibal attended at his Court but God had decreed that his large Dominions should increase the Romane Empire 5. The omission of the opportunitie that Mounsieur the i Lautrec Generall of the French in the Kingdome of Naples had to take the Citie of Naples if he had pursued the Prince of Orange as the rules of warre required after he had routed his Army was the cause of this valiant Commanders death and the losse of the whole Kingdome of Naples 6. The omission of the opportunity of an houres time that Henry the fourth k King of France had to defeat the Duke of Parme and all his Army at a strait passage leading to the ford of a small River three small Leagues from Paris where he had purposed to fall upon him was the cause he was constrained to raise his siege and to see before his face that great City relieved that was then reduced to extreme Misery by want of Provisions This slip of opportunity proceeding certainly from the secret will of God that decreed that Paris should be yeelded presently after to the will and obedience of her lawfull Prince without the shedding of a drop of bloud for Henry the fourth was one of the most active and experienced Commanders of that Age Now I come to prove by Instances out of the Word of God that all opportunities are guided and directed by the speciall providence of God 1. The favourable opportunity of l Rebekah comming the first of all the Virgins to the well according to the request of Abrahams servant cannot be said to be accidentall for the circumstances doe so clearly manifest that it was guided by a speciall Providence of God 2. The gracious opportunity of the m Ishmaelites comming by presently after Josephs brethren had cast him into a Pit that he might be sold and led into Egypt to become the preserver of all his fathers family came not casually but by a speciall and gracious providence of God proceeding from the love and care he hath of his Children 3. The blessed opportunity of n Pharaohs daughter comming down to wash her selfe at the River Nylus was not accidentall but directed by an admirable Providence of God to save Moses that he might be instructed in all the Sciences of the Egyptians to be more able to discharge the great and honourable charge the Lord had appointed him unto viz. to be the deliverer of his elected people of Israel that groaned under the cruell bondage of the Egyptians 4. The favourable opportunity for o Saul of the losse of the Asses of Kish his father came not accidentally but by a speciall Providence of God that Saul might be privately anointed King of Israel according to the will and pleasure of the Lord neither did those signes that the Prophet Samuel told him he should meet withall upon the way as he returned homeward happen casually but by the speciall Providence of God that the words he had spoken by his Prophet concerning the election of Saul to the Crowne of Israel might be confirmed 5. The gracious opportunity that p Hushat tooke by the fore-lock to overthrow the wise Counsell of Ahithophel came not accidentally but by an admirable Providence of God that Ahithophel might for his former impious Counsell concerning King Davids concubines runne head-long to confusion notwithstanding his worldly wisdome and that Absalom should receive the just reward of his persidious and abhorred rebellion against so loving a Father 6. The blessed opportunity that q Hezekiah King of Judah tooke upon the blasphemies of Rabshakeh against God and the Temple of Jerusalem to goe up into the House of the Lord and there rehearsed all the words of Rabshakeh and rent his clothes and humbled himselfe greatly was the cause that the Lord hearkened to his prayer and sent one of his Angels into the Camp of the Assyrians and smote one hundred and fourescore thousand of his men and caused Sennacherib to returne the same way he came 7. The gracious opportunity that r Nehemiah tooke upon the King Artaxerxes notice of his dejected countenance for his extraordinary humiliation because of the desolation of Jerusalem was the cause that he obtained a Commission from the King to erect again the Temple of Jerusalem and to restore there the true worship of God and to deliver from Captivity many thousands of the Jewes 8. The blessed opportunity that Queene s Esther took by the fore-lock to petition to the King Ahasuerus when he was invited to her banket for the preservation of herself and of her people was the cause of one of the greatest blessings that ever happened to the Church of the Jewes for it was the cause of the preservation of all the Nation of the Jewes and of the House and Family of King David from which our blessed Saviour according to the flesh was to descend and therefore an incomparable blessing By these and the former Instances we may see that the observations or omissions of all Spirituall Civill and Military opportunities depend upon the speciall Providence of God and that they are guided and directed by it to that end that God in his wisedome knowes to be most convenient to conduce to the greater advancement of his glory and the good of his Church And that we are to addresse our humble supplications to him alone if we intend for the future to prevent the slips of such opportunities as he shall be pleased to afford unto us againe or be able to embrace them as so many gracious mercies of his favour to us in Christ And that we are also to humble ourselves before our gracious God for having hitherto so carelesly omitted ten speciall opportunities that might greatly have conduced to obtaine a blessed peace and to procure a happy Period to this Unnaturall Warre if he had been pleased to have given us the grace to have embraced them by which omission of ours and by as many more faire opportunities omitted by the other party by the like Providence of his we may be perswaded upon a sure ground since it is his pleasure to poise in the balance of his divine Justice the events of this Unnaturall Warre so equally that our Humiliation
must be greater and more sincere before we can be esteemed fit for to see a gracious deliverance and a blessed end of these publike miseries I should now in this place to illustrate this point relate these twenty opportunities or advantages omitted on both sides but I desire to be excused since they are already but too evident to ingenious spirits and therefore will leave them to be exposed to the publike view in the next succeeding age by some that may then relate them truly and unpartially without feare to offend any of the Parties And will conclude this point with this Christian admonition to the true Children of God that they are all obliged in the generall and every one in their particular to pray day and night unto the Lord that he will be pleased to indue his sacred Majesty the honourable Houses of Parliament the Generals of their Armies their Magistrates and all their subordinate Officers with such supernaturall Graces Wisedome and fore-sight that they may imbrace cheerefully all such opportunities and advantages that he shall be pleased to offer unto them to obtaine a blessed Peace with Truth and to give a happy Period to these Civill distractions jealousies and contentions that will by degrees if God in his Mercy and they in their care and Wisedome prevent it not reduce this Kingdome to an incurable consumption for all advantages and opportunities in warre except they aime and tend to that blessed end of peace above-said are commonly fatall to such as require it not when they have an advantage to doe it for so it fell out with the Samnites and with Hannibal as it doth appeare by the two first instances quoted in this Chap. for it is too late to entertaine Treaties of Peace when a Kingdome is so extenuated of meanes or abilities that it can no longer contribute to the charges of warre because such a peace can neither be profitable or honourable to any of the parties for Necessity hath no law and necessity will constraine men to hard conditions There is more honour and wisedome to give a Peace then to accept of it This was the t Maxime of Henry the fourth both with his owne subjects and with the House of Austria whereby he obtained great honour and restored a desolated Kingdome into a flourishing estate over-rigorous conditions to one of the parties makes a peace of no continuance It fell out so with u Charles the fifth Emperour of Germany by the rigorous peace he inforced upon Francis the first King of France because of the advantage he had the said King being then his prisoner but it proved fatall unto him for after he had consumed in warre thirty millions of gold and spilt much Christian bloud he wonne not a foot of ground in France for all his labour and charges God grant we may rather give an honourable Peace so it be with the continuance of his Truth and his Gospell then to accept of a Peace of no continuance with seeming advantages c. The fourth Secondary Cause is Our Contentions and Divisions APelles the famous Athenian Painter was not more excellent in his Art then in wit and ingenuity for to cast the beholders of his works into a greater admiration he used to place next to the Picture of his beautiful Venus when he did expose her to the view of the Athenians the picture of an old deformed and wrinkle faced woman that by her swarty complection grim favour and ill shape the excellent Symetry lineaments and rare feature of his Venus might seeme the more wonderfull Even so it will not be impertinent for me to set forth the deformity of Contention and the dangerous effects of this infernall fury before I describe the perfection of the Angelicall beauty of Concord and Unity that she may bee more cherished and admired and the other more abhorred in these times of civill divisions Contention proceeds from ambition pride and envie as we may daily see by experience that contentious persons are generally tainted with these vices that come from fulnesse of bread ease and a long and continued Peace Now contentions produce divisions and divisions breed factions and factions an intestine warre and all these an Antipathie of affections which never was greater in any Kingdome then it is in this at this present time for the father is divided against his sonne and the sonne against the father and the husband against the wife and the wife against her husband one brother against his brother and one servant against his fellow servant So that there is not a City Borough Towne Village Hamlet House or Family at this present in this Kingdome but is infected with this contagious disease or venome of Contention And this is not happened casually nor accidentally but by the speciall Providence of God for our correction and humiliation if we returne unto the Lord unfainedly but for our utter destruction if we remaine and continue in our impenitencie and hardnesse of heart But some may say From whence doth proceed this Epidemicall disease or this general division we that are but wormes cannot dive into the Counsels of God yet we may by his permission aime at the secondary causes of these our Civill divisions and antipathie of affections which I conceive to be these The long peace that we have injoyed in the time of Queene Elizabeth King Iames and for 16. yeares together under our Soveraigne King Charles his raigne hath increased this Kingdome in wealth and inured us to ease idlenesse vanitie and licentiousnesse riches hath bred in some of us ambition pride envie and self-conceitednesse the very incendiaries of contentions and divisions And ease and idlenesse have begotten in us lascivious desires stubbornnesse and obstinacie to doe and beleeve what seemeth good in our own eyes and so by degrees we have forgotten our Maker and like stubborne horses have kicked at and rebelled against our gracious God I meane that we are growne desperately sinfull and have despised his Ordinances erected a will-worship and gone a whoring after new Innovations And hereupon the ambition pride covetousnesse and profanenesse of the Prelacie seconded with the Loanes Conduct and Ship-money and the apparent approaches and inclinations to Popery by the bowing crouching and kneeling at Altars Railes have made us groane for a Reformation in Civill and Ecclesiasticall miscarriages The which to oppose the Prelacie and the Jesuiticall faction under colour to increase his Majesties Prerogative have withdrawne his love and his person from his most faithfull Parliament perswaded him to forsake his Royall Seat to goe to York to raise an Army under colour of a Guard for his Person to annihilate the Priviledges of Parliament the Laws of the Land and the Liberties of the Subjects and so formed the first partie in the North whereupon the honourable Houses were of necessity inforced to gather forces not to oppose his sacred Majestie but those that under his name endeavour as much as they can to undoe the
might be produced to prove how dangerous it is for a State to employ Commanders in Chiefe in one Service that have had formerly or may yet have secretly some Antipathie of affections so much predominant are the passions of men over their naturall reason except they be curbed and restrained by a great measure of supernaturall Grace Now having sufficiently described some part of the deformity and of the dangerous effects of this fury of contention and division I come to shew the sweet Harmony and the excellent fruits of Unity and Concord The whole frame of nature without Concord and Unity would suddenly be changed into a Chaos of confusion if the powerfull hand of the Almighty did permit contention to raigne between any of the elements for we see what strange combustions happen in the aire for a small distemper that befals sometimes between the Meteors Concord and Unity is the humane saviour and preserver of Kingdomes and Common-weales A s Kingdome divided against it selfe cannot subsist saith our Saviour And how much lesse shall a weaker party subsist if it be divided by contentions and Antipathies of affections as ours is It was an ingenious Metaphor used by a Scythian t King to induce his sonnes to Unity To command a servant of his to bring before him a bundle of Arrowes knit together and to charge his sonnes one after another to endeavour to breake the same but they were not able whereupon he bad them to take them one by one and they brake them all easily Even so said he to them If you remaine constantly united one with another it will be impossible for the neighbour Nations to subdue or overcome you but if you let divisions and contentions be fomented among you you will become the prey of your meanest enemies And for the greater confirmation of the point I will endeavour to prove it by Instances both ancient and moderne 1. As long as the Ancient Greeks continued in unitie one with another it was impossible for u Philip the first King of Macedonia to reduce them into servitude But as soon as they by the covetousnesse of some of their Oratours were divided into factions it was an easie thing for him and Alexander the great his sonne to deprive them of their liberty 2. As long as the Romane Senatours were linked in unity one with another the Romane liberty was preserved and their Common-weale flourished and commanded the greater part of the world but as soon as they were divided into factions some for x Pompeius other for Caesar other for Crassus and other for Lepidus Caesar in a short time deprived them of their liberty 3. As long as the ancient y Gaules and Britanes were united together they flourished and sacked the Citie of Rome But when they were divided into factions by the Romane agents they were in a short time subdued by the Romanes 4. The Unitie and Concord that was among the z Commanders in Chiefe of the Protestant Party in the Civill warres of France was the only meanes after Gods favour of their subsistance for one cannot otherwise chuse that reads that History but admire the wisdome and meeknesse of the Admirall of Chatillon and the great industry he used to accord with the incompatible dispositions and naturall inclinations of some that were violent and fiery in all their designes and enterprises as was the Prince of Conde and Monsieur Dandelot and others yet with his humility and meeknesse he did quench all contentions that did arise from this Antipathy of dispositions and kept alwayes their will and affections constantly united to the Generall Cause 4. The unity and concord that was between Fabius Maximus P. b Decius two great Generals and Scipio and Lellius two other great Commanders was wonderfully profitable to the Romane Common-weale and that of Phocion and of Aristides to the Athenians Common-weale 5. The unity of c Themistocles and Aristides that were otherwise mortall enemies in their private affaires was extremely profitable to all the Greeks in the Councell of warre that was called by Euripidias their Generall before the battell of Salamine for their unity in opinion was the cause to obtaine that famous victory and of the preservation of all the Greeks 6. As long as the Duke of d Sommerset and the Lord Admirall his brother in the time of Edward the sixth King of England were united and linked in love and affections one with the other they preserved their credit and honours at Court against all their opposites But as soon as they came to be disunited and that by the instigations of their Ladies private discontents and contentions were fomented the Lord Admirall was presently arraigned by the connivance and the want of the assistance and support of the Lord Protector his brother and he himselfe shortly after by the potency of his adversaries brought to the same miserable end To conclude this point all the well affected Christians are obliged to pray daily to our gracious God that he will be pleased to indue abundantly the honourable Houses our Commanders in Chiefe the Assembly of Divines the Civill Magistrates the Militia the Committees in the City and in all the well-affected Counties the Citizens and common people with this speciall grace of Unity and Concord and with an unanimous spirit and resolution to maintaine his Truth his sacred Majesties just Prerogative the Priviledges of Parliament the Lawes of the Land and the Liberties of the Subject according to our last Covenant The fifth Secondary Cause is The unknowne Method of our Warre OF all the Judgements of God that are familiar to men the Pestilence the Famine and the Sword are reputed to be the greatest And of these three Warre is esteemed the most dreadfull And of all Warres the Civill is conceived to be the most destructive And therefore it is no wonder when the Lord sent his Prophet Gad to King David saying a Thus saith the Lord Choose thee Either three yeeres famine or three monthes to be destroyed before thy foes while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee or else three dayes the sword of the Lord even the Pestilence c. if that good King did rather chuse to fall into the hand of the Lord for very great are his mercies then into the hands of cruell men Neither doe we finde in any ancient or moderne Histories that any Nation or Kingdome hath been utterly destroyed by the Pestilence or the famine for these two Judgements proceed more immediately from the hand of God that is mercifull and leave alwayes a remnant as an evidence to men of his incomprehensible compassions and mercies But Warre seemes more to proceed from men yet there is not any warre that hath any beginning continuance or end without the speciall will and pleasure of God that are of a more cruell disposition then Tygers when the Lord hath cast the bridell of permission over their neckes And