murtherers have slain shall arise and bee received into eternall glory in the presence of their enemies with this welcome from the eternall Iudge g Mat. 25 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world O most wonderfull inheritance h Aug. Hareditas Domini nou minuitur multitudine possessorian tanta singulis quanta universis It is not diminished by the multitude of those which possesse it It is as large to every one apart as to the whole multitude together O most excellent and glorious inheritance It is a kingdome wherein our darkenesse shall bee converted into light our sorrow into ioy our trouble into peace our weaknesse into strength our dishonour into honour our ignominie into glory our misery into happinesse our death into life our patient hope into the reall enioying of all good our prayers into thanks-giving Where the heavens shall receive us the holy Angells welcome us the blessed Saints ioyne themselves unto us where our bodies being made of mortall immortall of naturall spirituall of burthensome nimble shall shine brighter than the fairest summer-day Where i 1. Cor. 15.28 God himselfe without any meanes shall bee all in all perfect and absolute knowledge to our mindes an ocean of love to our hearts soveraigne good and the blessed center of eternall rest to all our restlesse affections where he himselfe after a most wonderfull and glorious manner which cannot be imagined shall be light in our eyes melody in our eares the wished and longed-for obiect of all our senses where he saith That k Rev. 21.3 he himselfe shall be with us and be our God l Aug. de Civit Dei li. 22. capaile i. he shall be unto us all whereby we may be satisfied and whatsoever all may honestly desire life salvation meate drinke riches glory honour peace and all good Which David expressed in few words saying m Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore And againe n Psa 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousnesse I will be satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse For then God shall be the end of all our desires then o Aug. idid Ipse finis evit desideriorum nostrorum qui sine fine vide bitur sine faslidio amabitur sine fatigatione laud abitur We shall see him without end wee shall love him without loathing we shall prayse him without wearying Then also our enemies shall see our glory in him and with him and as the Author of the booke of Wisedome saith p Sap. 5.2 When they see it they shall be troubled with terrible feare and shall be amazed at the strangenesse of our salvation so farre beyond all that they looked for c. XXII O then dearely beloved let us learne to discerne wisely q Mal. 3.18 betweene the righteous and the wicked betweene him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Salomon saith that r Pro. 13.9 the lampe of the wicked shall bee put out comparing wicked men to a candle which when it begins to burne giveth a faire light but endeth in stinking smoake and caligiousnesse for their end is worse than their beginning because Å¿ Iob 21.30 they are reserved to the day of destruction to the day when wrath shall be brought foorth On the other side t Psal 37.37 39 40. Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace because the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD he is their strength in the time of trouble and the Lord shall helpe them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him The short dayes of mans fading and dying life me thinkes may be most conveniently compared to a stage-play wherein often Kings sonnes mount on the scaffold disguised in poore mens rags and beggers march with a stately pase attired in sumptuous robes about their greasie bodies hiding scurvie heads under crowns of gold and stretching forth a royall Scepter with scabbed hands but when the curtaines are remooved when the Tragedy is ended and the Players are stript of their borrowed apparell he that made so many vaine glorious shewes and called himselfe Hercules or Agamemnon is knowne to be poore Irus who goeth begging thorow the streetes and crackling crusts of browne bread betweene his muddie and rotten teeth and hee that was thought to be Irus is knowne to be the royall sonne of Aeacus T is even so betweene the Church and the world when v Luk. 16.19 20. Lazarus starves for hunger at the rich mans gate and the rich man jetteth in his purple and makes good cheere when x Mat. 27.39 Christ is nayled upon the crosse and his enemies stand hard by reviling him when the y Rev. 11.9 10 11 12. dead bodies of Christs two witnesses lye unburied in the streets of the great City and they that dwell upon the earth reioyce over them and thanke their gods of gold silver brasse because they have overcome them it seemes that those which are thus afflicted are but poore snakes forsaken of God and that those others which swim with content in the Ocean of worldly pleasures are Gods deare ones But when the divells shall bury the rich Glutton in the lowest pit of hell when boiling there in the lake of fire and brimstone he shall lift up his eyes and see Lazarus in Abrahams bosome abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of the house of God drinking great draughts in the river of his pleasures when the spirit of life from God shall enter into his two witnesses when they shall rise againe stand upon their feet and ascend up to heaven when a Mat. 24.30 Iesus Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory when he shall set his sheepe on his right hand and the goates on the left when b Rev. 1.7 they which pierced him shall see him and by him shall be throwne downe into the rich Mine of eternall torments c Aug. 50. homil Homil 16. Morituri vitae morti sine sine victuri to dye there unto life and to live unto death world without when those d Sap. 5.4 5 whose life they accounted madnesse and their end disgrace shall be received into the haven of eternall securitie then then all the Bulls of Bashan shall know that al their life was but a ridiculous move-merry their pleasures but a shew their felicitie but the glympse of a shadow that those whom they had sometimes in derision and who were in their mouthes a Proverb of reproach are Gods beloved children and his most precious jewells XXIII O then where are they that thinke to overthrow the Church And when will they listen to this truth Minde they to raine downe upon the Church a deluge of
would not it is no more I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me Neither can he persevere and abide in sinne because the law of his mind warring against the law of his members finally overmastereth in him the law of sinne And therefore all his sinne come either from ignorance or from infirmitie and lye so heavie upon his wearied soule that he cannot choofe but desire death to be freed of them crying as the Apostle did in the like case c Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death David describeth this man affirmatively by all his inward and outward parts By his heart d Psal 1.2 His delight is in the Law of the LORD and in his Law doth he meditate day and night By his tongue e Psal 119.13 46. He declareth with his lips all the iudgements of his mouth he speaketh of his testimonies before Kings and is not ashamed By his hands f Psal 26.6 He washeth his hands in innocency g Psal 37.21 he sheweth mercy and giveth By his feet h Psal 119.32 He runneth the way of Gods commandements c. Therefore his Righteousnesse is not only a religious abstinence and refraining from evill but also a carefull and conscionabe imployment in all things which are good for i 1. Ioh. 3.7 he that doth righteousnesse is righteous As Iob was k Iob 1.8 a perfect and an upright man fearing God and eschuing evill and such as Zacharias and Elizabeth were to whom the Scripture beareth witnesse that l Luk. 1.6 they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse VIII David challengeth and taketh upon him this title of a Righteous man for as I have said hee speaketh not only of others but also and principally of himselfe He spake thus truely and he spake thus inspired by the Holy Ghost Then this speech was no bragging for the Spirit of God is neither lyer nor boaster When Hezekiah brayed unto the LORD that m Isa 38.3 he would remember how he had walked before him in truth and with a perfect heart shall we say that like the Peacock who in the height of his pride covers himselfe all over with his taste he tooke pleasure to display his righteousnesse before God and to glasse himselfe vain-gloriously in his owne workes as the n Luk. 18.12 Pharisee gloried in his ordinary fasting and liberall giving of tythes of all that he possessed Surely Papists when they nick-name us with their owne titles of pride and presumption because we call our selves Righteous men will not stand me thinks to print the same stampe upon these godly mens foreheads and seeing in their opinion it is great presumption and high pride to anie man living to call himselfe a Righteous and holy man they must needs have a very bad conceit of themselves and confesse that they are unrighteous unholy and wicked men whereupon they may take time to advise As for us we may learne by this example of David and manie mo which are to be found in the Scripture that o August de verb. Domini Serm. 28. Non ergohic arrogantia est sed fides predicare quod acceperis non est superbia sed devotio to preach what thou hast received is not arrogancy but faith is not pride but devotion as Augustin saith wisely this caveat being kept That thou seeke not in it thy owneglory as the Pharisee did but the glory of p I am 1.17 the father of lights of whom commeth from above every good and perfect gift as David and Hezekiah did and as the holy Apostles did when they feared not to say that q 2. Cor. 5.14 the love of Christ constrained them and to speake manie good things of themselves not through loftinesse of minde that they might be praised but through free and true humilitie that the gift of Christ might be knowne of all men and thankes rendred to him as Ambrose observeth wel upon that place If we were taught to glory in the perfection of our workes merites and superogations as Papists are then every one should repulse that false doctrine of pride and say with Ambrose r Ambros de Iacobo vuâ bâ—aâ—â lib. 1. cap. 6. I have no good workes wherein I should glory I have no thing whereof I may bragge and therefore I will glory in Christ I will not glory because I am righteous but I will glory because I am redeemed I will glory not because I am voyd of sinne but because my sinne are forgiven me I will not glory because any man hath beene profitable to me or I to any man but because Christ is an Advocate with the Father for me but because the blood of Christ was shed for me But when we are taught to confesse that when we were like wandring sheep the Lord sought us when we were lost he did finde us when we were sick hee healed us when we were stinking and filthy he made us cleane when we were captives he delivered us when wee were sold under sin he redeemed us when we were dead he gave us life when were unrighteous and prone to all evill he made us righteous and inclined our hearts to his service when we were the Divels Stewes he made us his own Temple when we were damned he saved us If any say that such teachers set us upon the pinacle of pride leade us not into the Temple of humilitie they must confesse that they never had a lively feeling of any saving grace of God in themselves or that they have never learned what it is to give thankes unto God for how shall I give thankes to God for those gifts which through humilitie as they say I must deny to have received If we should say that the Sunne shineth at midday though it be most true Papists will not beleeve it except we bring some old Father with us to witnesse that it is so Let them therefore heed the speech of Å¿ August in Psal 85.2 S. Augustin who explaining this prayer of David in the beginning of the 85. Psalme which in Hebrew and in our translation is the 86. Preserve my soule because I am holy after that hee hath shewen that it is true in Christ who forgiveth all sinnes and never committed anie asketh Dare I also say For I am holy answereth thus If holy as sanctifying PeccatoruÌ„ omnium non commissor sed demissor and not having need of any to sanctifie me I am a proud man and a lyer But if holy as being sanctified i. made holy according to that which is written 1. Pet. 1. Be ye holy for I am holy Let also the body of Christ ys a let the man that cryeth from the ends of the earth say with his head and under his head I am holy for he hath received the grace of holinesse the grace of baptisme and of
the wind playeth in the ayre So I have shewed you that both by externall grievances and internall griefes Many are the Evills of the Righteous XI Now the righteous man may say to the wicked as David said to Saul t 1. Sam. 24.11 Know thou and see that there is neither evill nor transgression in mine hand and I have not sinned against thee yet thou huntest my soule to take it and as v Dan. 6.22 Daniel said to Darius who had cast him into the Lyons den Before thee O King I have done no hurt For although it pertained to Christ alone to say to his adversaries x Ioh. 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of sinne yet all the righteous men may say of their persecuters that which David said of his enemies y Psal 35.7 Without cause have they hid for me their not in a pit without cause they have digged for my soule And when they pray they feare not to protest of their innocencie in that hehalfe and to say to God a Psal 58.3 4. They lye in waite for my soule the mighty are gathered against me not for my transgression nor for my sin O Lord They run and prepare themselves without my fault awake to helpe me and behold The rule of the righteous mans life is Christs commandement and example His commandement is b Mat. 5.39 42 44. Resist not evill but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheeke turne to him the other also c. Give to him that asketh thee Love your enemies blesse them that curse doe good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you The same commandement he gave by his Apostle saying c Rom. 12.21 Be not overcome of evill but overcome evill with good What he commanded that he practised in his life d 1. Pet. 2.21 22 23. He suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps who did no sinne neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not againe when he suffered he threatned not but committed himselfe to him that iudgeth righteously Yea not onely he did them no harme but also hee did them all kind of good He went about all Iudea teaching the Gospell of the kingdome of heaven healing all manner of sicknesse and all manner of disease among the people made the blind to see the deafe to heare the lame to walke cleansed the lepers raised up the dead fed by the miraculous multiplication of bread at divers times many thousand soules restored the eare to Malcus which came to take him prayed for those which crucified him and therefore asked of his enemies who tooke up stones to throw at him e Ioh. 10.32 Many good workes have I shewed you from my Father for which of those workes doe you stone me What ill did the Apostles wherefore they should bee used so cruelly They went through the whole world converting men from darknesse unto the maruellous light of the Gospell and did so many wonders amongst the people that thence f Act. 14.11 some Idolaters tooke occasion to worship them but the Iewes to perswade the people to stone them g 1. Cor. 4.11 12. Being reviled they blessed being persecuted they suffered it being defamed they intreated Much good did they to many ill they did to none Read more ancient examples of h Gen. 13.8 Abraham yeelding for peace-sake to his Nephew Lot of i Gen. 49.5 6 7. Iacob cursing his owne sonnes Simeon and Levi for their bloodie anger against the Sichemites though having a goodly shew of righteous vengeance of k 1. Sam. 25 7 8.15 16. David leading with his souldiers a most innocent life amongst Nabals heards of cattle and flocks of sheep sparing Sauls life who sought his and bringing him to this true confession l 1. Sam. 24.17 Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evill m Psal 38.12 being as a deafe man when his enemies spake mischievous things against him n Psal 35.12 13. cloathing himselfe with sackecloth humbling his soule with fasting praying most affectuously when his enemies which rewarded him evill for good were sicke If ye desire examples of the Christians carriage during ten persecutions in the space of three hundred and odde yeares o Tert. Apol. cap. 1. 37 When the people invaded them they resisted not when the Magistrate condemned them they gave thanks when the dead bodies of their brethren and kinsmen were drawn out of the rest of their graves were pulled away from the Sanctuarie of death they sought no revenge albeit they were in greater number than their enemies and might with a few little firebrands set on fire all the Townes Boroughes Villages Castles of the Empire if Christian Religion did not forbid all private men p Rom. 12.19 to avenge themselves because it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay it saith the Lord. For this cause the holy Spirit often calleth the afflictions of the righteous Sufferings because they suffer the evill which is done unto them but they do no evil to any man wherunto also Christ hath bound them when he callth then q Mat. 10.26 Sheepe insnuating that they should be sheepe in simplicitie to never thinke any evill in innocencie to never doe any evill in patience to beare all evills meekly without grudging and murmuring in utilitie and commoditie to feede with their milk to cloath with their wooll whosoever stands in need of their helpe to doe ill unto no man r Gal. 6.10 to doe good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith Alas alas the number of such sheepe of such righteous men how rare is it how many suffer not Å¿ 1. Pet. 3.17 1 Pet. 4.29 for well doing as Christians and righteous men but for evill doing as murtherers theeves robbers and ravenous wolves rather than sheepe how many cannot abide to suffer but thinking it a shame to packe up an injurie will needs be avenged of their enemies how many doe seeke to defend the Gospell against persecuters by burning killing murdering filling the house of innocent peasants of poore countrey folkes with orbitie desolation and mourning intending to cure one sinne with another sinne taking the way of hell to goe to heaven and thinking to defend the Gospell by unlawfull meanes which the Gospell hath condemned For it is not hee which suffereth evill but he which doth it that sinneth And therefore the true righteous man is ever a patient not an agent in evill and the wicked not onely have no cause wherfore they should hate him but have in his manifold good deedes a good cause wherefore they should love him and yet not withstanding his innocent and good carriage Many are the Evills of the Righteous XII Sometimes many blind-folded with ignorance deeme that the righteous man is the
children there is no part of his body which thou hast spared and it seemes that thou doest not let him live but to bewaile his owne disaster wherefore then doest thou not follow thy thrust and prosecute thy designes Alas saith hee I have done all that I could I have done nothing of that which I intended for hee hath not cursed God for this I plotted all these mischiefes against him And I am so farre from gaining any thing thereby that much otherwise casting him in the burning furnace of most sensible and smarting tribulations I have made him more beautifull and glorious I deemed that he should curse God and loe he blesseth him I thought to bring him in contempt upon the ashes and loe loe hee is more righteous more constant more worshipfull upon the dunghill than he was in his goodly and gorgeous house in the honorable company of his wife children friends and servants The orientall pearles are not so faire as his pockes the smelling of roses is not so sweete as the stinke of his breath his sores are cleerer and brighter than the beames of the Sun I have alas procured unto him an eternall renowne upon the face of the whole earth I am cause that he shall bee from henceforth to all men a patterne and example of faith of patience of constancie in their most heavie calamities I have digged a pit for him and I am fallen into the ditch which I have made he is exalted and I am confounded XIII This example is sufficient Adde unto it that which is written of the Bride in the song of Salomon She is so inflamed with the love of her Spouse that y Cant. 1.2 her onely desire is to bee led into his chamber that there hee may kisse her with the kisses of his mouth that there she may be glad and rejoyce in his love But when he is absent from her as he seemes to bee in her affliction when a Cant. 3.2 she rises and goes about the citie in the streetes and in the broad wayes to seeke him whom her soule loveth b Cant. 5.7 when the watch men that goe about the citie finde her and smite her and wound her when the keepers of the walles take away her veile from her and yet she leaveth not off to cry to them Saw ye him whom my soule loveth the flames of her love make a fairer blaze and cast a greater heat Then then all they which behold her see evidently that c Cant. 8.6 7. love is strong as death that iealousie is hard as the grave the coals thereof are coales of fire and a most vehement flame Many waters cannot quench that love neither can the floods drowne it If a man give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned XIV How should the love the patience the zeale the constancy of Paul have bin known if God had not crushed and ground him with continuall tentations and afflictions wheresoever he went he was advertised by the holy Ghost d Act. 20.23 24. that bonds and afflictions waited for him O how unpleasant fearfull a message would that be to many at this day and hee what But faith he none of these things moove me neither count I my life deare unto my felfe so that I might finish my course with ioy and the ministery which I have received of the Lord Iesus to testifie the Gospell of the grace of God e Act. 21.11 22 13. The Disciples besought him with teares not to goe up to Ierusalem where Agabus had prophecyed that hee should bee bound But he rebuking them answered What meane ye to weepe and breake mine heart for I am ready not to bee bound onely but also to dye at Ierusalem for the name of the Lord Iesus XV. When the Palatinate was in peace when the Churches of France lived in their townes of suretie without feare what wonder if they professed the Gospell publikely But now when their sorts are levelled and cast downe to the ground when their townes are dismantled when they are curbed with strong Citadels when they are disarmed among armed enemies when they see nothing in their streets but the plagues of Egypt but swarmes of Priests which are a most noysome mixture of filthy and slinking flyes but great store of Iesuites which like loathsome frogs come unsent for leaping and croaking into their houses and bed-chambers but an infinite multitude of Monkes which as so many locusts eate up all their substance but armies of souldiers which are to them the louzie disease wherewith their bodies are pestered their flesh is consumed all the blood of their veines is suckt up when they looke for nothing but present death when a toy shall take their enemies in the head to compell them once againe to solemnize with teares and shedding of their innocent blood S. Bartholomewes feast Then to persevere in the faith then to maintaine stedfastly and stoutly the Gospell then to abhorre more and more Papistry and the man of sinne to contemne the contempt of insolent Papists to shut up their eares against the charming voice of the craftie Iesuite to hold their mouthes open to confesse Iesus Christ and to blesse God is a manifest demonstration of true faith and of that constancy which is worthy of a Christian Wherfore as Moses said to the people of Israel that God would suffer f Deut. 13.1 2 3. false Prophets and dreamers of dreames to arise among them to proove them and to know whether they loved the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soule And as the Apostle said to the Corinthians g 1. Cor. 11.19 There must be heresies amongst you that they which are approoved may be made manifest among you So I say that the righteous man must have many evills that it may be known that hee serveth God neither for the present goods which he hath received of his bountifull hand neither for hope of any worldly benefite to come but for his owne sake as a lover seeketh no recompence of his love but that which he findeth in the dignitie and excellencie of the thing beloved XVI Moreover these many evils are as so many exercises and practices of the manifold graces wherewith God hath copiously furnished and graced the righteous man God that said to him h Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee 1. Faith nor forsake thee If he beleeve that when his Garners are full of Corne when his Canes burst with Wine when he sitteth in peace among his owne people it is no wonder but here here is a good exercise of his faith to beleeve so when he seeth nothing on the left nothing on the right hand nothing before nothing behind but needinesse but want but beggerie when he is threatned with present death to believe certainly to say resolutely as the three Salamanders did to Nebucadnezzar i Dan. 3.17 Our God whom we serve is
valiant courage of Eleazar one of the principall Scribes in the dayes of the blood-thirstie Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes i 2. Maccab. 6.21 c. He was besought by the Kings officers for the old acquaintance they had with him to bring flesh of his owne provision such as was lawfull for him to use and make as if he did eate of the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the King that in so doing he might be delivered from death and for the old friendship with them finde favour A friendly counsell if yee consider the men which gave it but if ye consider the intention of the divell who suggested it a most violent assault and craftie tentation what so sweet as life what so desirable as to save it without any reall offence what so plausible or at least more excusable than to make a shew of an evill which indeed thou doest not to shun to be made a publike shew of the evill which otherwise thou must suffer with shame and great torments Flesh and blood will say to Eleazar that in this there was no sinne The Pope which giveth dispense to the Papists of this Realme to dissemble and deny their Religion will say that it was but a veniall sinne and of the number of those which are most pardonable Eleazar led with another Spirit even with k Esa 11.3 the Spirit of the Lord which is the spirit of knowledge of wisedome of counsell of might and of the feare of the Lord saith not so but considering the holy Law made and given by God It becommeth not our age said he in any wise to dissemble whereby many young persons might thinke that ELEAZAR being fourescore yeeres old and tenne was now gone to a strange religion and so they through mine hypocrisie and desire to live a little time and a moment longer should be deceived by me and I get astaine to mine old age and make it abominable for though for the present time I should bee delivered from the punishment of men yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty neyther alive nor dead wherefore now manfully changing this life I will shew my selfe such an one as mine age requireth and leave a notable example to such as be young to dye willingly and courageously for the honourable and holy lawes This seemed madnesse and despaire to his Iudges which changing the good will they bare him into hatred and their meeknesse into fury and rage let him straight wayes to the Tympan which was a most cruell kind of torture whereupon being ready to dye of the stripes which hee had received ceived he groaned and said It is manifest unto the Lord that hath the holy knowledge that whereas I might have beene delivered from death I now endure sore paines in body by being beaten but in soule am well content to suffer these things because I feare him XIV Reade also the storie of the cruell death and constancie l 2. Macc. 7 of the seven brethren and their mother at that same time the Tyrant himselfe marvelled at their courage for that neither the scourges and whips wherewith they were torne nor the cutting out of their tongues nor the mangling and maiming of all their members nor the pulling off of the skin of their heads with the haire nor the hot pannes and caldrons wherein they were fryed being yet alive could compell them against the law of God to eate swines flesh The eldest heire worthy of the prerogative of the first-borne answered to the Tyrants threats to the Hangmans whips and to all the tortures We are ready to dye rather than to transgresse the lawes of our fathers and exhorted his brethren as they exhorted him to dye manfully for the law of God And to make you know that this was not madnesse of mind but faith the second said to the King Thou like a fury takest us out of this present life but the King of the world shall raise us up which have dyed for his lawes unto everlasting life So spake the third so the fourth and the rest but the youngest was most wonderfull of all for neither could the promises of riches and honours tickle him nor the cruell torments which he had seene his brethren suffer shake his constancie but being encouraged by his most wonderfull mother he cryed to the executioners Whom wait ye for I will not obey the Kings commandement but I will obey the commandement of the law that was given unto our Fathers by Moses So they dyed so dyed last of all their marvellous mother after that she had beene to them in stead of a Levite or Priest and had exhorted and comforted them with a most excellent speech concerning the resurrection And therefore the Apostle ascribeth their victorious constancie to their faith saying Heb. 11.35 that by faith they were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtaine a better resurrection XV. The Christian Church aboundeth in such examples of most wonderfull victorie against the flesh the world and the divell In it this is to bee admired that men which may live in honor by denying Christ choose shame and dishonor preferre torments to ease sorrow to joy paine to pleasure death to life kissethe postes and other instruments of their punishments looke upon the torments with a cheerefull face runne to the fires as joyfully as worldings doe to a bridall feast and not onely rejoice but also m Rom. 53 glorie in tribulations which is the highest degree of pleasure and joy Steven stopping his eares to the murmuring of the people which like a swarme of Hornets and Waspes made a humming noise about him shutting his eyes to the stones wherewith they were armed to fell him and overcomming by faith the horrors of death n Act. 7.55 56 59 60. looked up stedfastly into heaven and seeing there the glory of God and Iesus standing on the right hand of God cryed with a triumphing voice Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Sonne of man standing on the right hand of God Neither could their showting nor the stones which hayled upon him stay him to kneele downe and to call upon God both for himselfe and for them XVI If ye search the Ecclesiasticall histories of the Martyrs of the primitive Church and of ours the examples of such victories are infinite S. Ignace Bishop of Antiochia hearing the roaring of the hungry Lions and seeing them stretching foorth their clawes to teare him and opening their throats to devoure his flesh cryed with a loud voice o Iren adv heres sib 5. Because I am Christs wheat now shall I be ground with the teeth of beasts that I may bee found to bee the pure bread of God p Euseb hist Eâ—cl lib. 4. cap. 15. Policarpe Bishop of Smyrna answered to those which now intreated him with many promises now impotuned him with threats to call the Emperour My Lord and to deny Christ to bee his Lord I have served him
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power We must apply this comfort to us for we shall never be without enemies But we have our warranter and protector in heaven who fore warnes us not only of their enterprises but also of their overthrow c Esa 54.15 16 17. Behold saith he they shall surely gather together but not by me whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake Behold I have created the Smith that bloweth the coales in the fire and that bringeth forth an instrument for his worke And I have created the destroyer to destroy No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in iudgement shou shalt condemne This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousnesse of me saith the Lord. IX The Church is an Anvile which hath broken in peeces many hammers Or as Zechariah saith d Zach. 12.3 it is a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it Where are now the foure Monarchies which persecuted the Church Hath not e Dan. 2.34 35 44 45. the stone cut out of the mountaine without hands hath not the Church of Christ the Church which is come downe from Gods holy mountaine even from heaven the Church which is not the work of any man but of God the Church which is but like a little stone in the eyes of the world hath not this little stone broken them all to peeces and consumed them like chaffe which the wind carryeth away But it is become a great mountaine which filleth the whole earth It is a spirituall kingdome which the Lord of heaven hath set up and therefore shall never bee destroyed God said to mount Seir to the people of Edom the children of Esau Because thou hast had a perpetuall hatred and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity in the time that their iniquity had an end Therefore as I live saith the Lord God Ezech. 35.5 I will prepare thee unto blood and blood shall pursue thee sith thou hast not hated blood blood shall pursue thee Have any of the Massacrers of our fathers prospered How many wonderfull judgements of God upon them and their children might I relate unto you if time could permit The gaggers have beene gagged and strangled with wormes bursting out of their stinking throates those which imbrued their hands with innocent blood have swumme in their owne blood the children of persecuters were seene begging at the doores of your fathers whom their fathers had spoiled Many pursued by the divell did runne up and downe like mad men crying that they were damned because they had persecuted the Church and shed innocent blood Then the Church sang to God g Psal 92.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. O LORD how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deepe A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a foole understand this when the wicked springs as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever but thou O LORD art most high for evermore for loe thine enemies O LORD for loe thine enemies shall perish All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered but my horne shalt thou exalt like the horne of the Vnicorne c. X. The author of the booke of Wisedome saith that h Sap. 6.5 sharpe iudgement shall be to them that be in high places And experience teacheth that the iudgements of God on them have beene most sharpe conspicuous and wonderfull i 1. King 21.19 22.38 In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth which Achab shed there they licked Achabs blood Proud k 2. King 9.35 36. Iezabel after she had slain the Prophets of the Lord was eaten by dogs Neither was there left in the family of Achab so much as a dogge that pissed against the wall In the beginning of the twenty seaventh chapter following our text the Prophet saith that l Esa 29.1 in that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent even Leviathan that crooked serpent and hee shall slay the dragon that is in the sea He calleth so the Kings of Assyria and of Babylon which were the most cruell subtile and venemous persecuters of his Church Consider and see how he punished them m 2. King 19. Senacharib was slaine by his owne sonnes in the house of Nisroch his God And n Herodot Euterp◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after his death the Egyptians whom he had oppressed erected unto him an image of stone with this inscription Whosoever looketh upon me let him feare God His third son Esar Haddon was slaine by Merodach Baladan who transported the Empire from Nimveh in Assyria to Babylon in Chaldea o Dan 5.1 Belshazzar the first and last of Merodaches race was killed among the goblets and dishes and in the midst of his Courtiers and Concubines whilest he was blaspheming the name of God the Monarchie was by Cyrus and Darius translated to the Medes and Persians p 2. Macc. 9.9 Antiochus Epiphanes famous for his most unnaturall and barbarous cruelty against the Church of the Iewes was smitten with the incurable and remedilesse sicknesse of wormes and lice which rising up out of his bowells and all the parts of his body consumed his flesh with many and strange torments and such a stinking smell that he himselfe could not abide it Thus dying a most miserable death hee left his Realme to his children amongst whom God sent the Spirit of division and discord which left them never in peace till they were consumed one by another XI Herodées q Ioseph Antiquit. Iudaic. lib. 17. cap. 8. Idem de bello Iudaico lib. 1. ca. 21. murtherer of the children of Bethelem through the righteous judgement of God became parricide of his owne children and at last after he had been long tortured with a cholike passion and unspeakeable torments in his entrails and all disfigured with the dropsie and scurfe wherwith his whole body was spread over was gnawen by swarmes of lice and worms which bursting forth out of those parts of his body which naturall shame commanded him to hide and dolefull necessitie constrained him to discover made him a most filthy and stinking spectacle to his Courtiers and a most loathsome guest to himselfe r Ioseph Autiq. lib. 18. cap. 9. Herodés Antypas who beheaded Iohn Baptist was relegated to Lion with his incestuous wife Herodias and ended there his wicked life by a wretched and miserable death Å¿ Euseb hâ—st