Souldier knows not the goods of their friends from the goods of their enemies When the Citizens of Papia in Italy were at dissention by reason of the Faction between the Guelphs and the Gibellines the Gibellines procured a favourer of theirs called Facinas Cajus to assist them covenanting that hee should have the goods of Guelphes for his labour but he being once come into the City and prevailing he spared the goods of neither of them whereupon the Gibellines complained saying that their goods were also spoiled hee answered them that indeed they themselves were Gibellines and should bee safe but their goods were Guelphes and so belonged to the Souldiers And so it may fall out to them who have bin unfaithful to God Religion and their Country though they themselves may prove to be Catholikes yet their goods and places of preferment may be counted Hereticks Labour good both for body and soule The Heavens move and are pure the earth stands still and is full of dregs the industrious man hath no leisure to sinne the idle man hath neither leisure nor power to avoid sin Labour then is as wholsome for the soul as 't is profitable for the body Live-well and Dye-well are Twins Living and Dying well are Twins daughters of grace like Lea and Rachel and therefore as Jacob could not enjoy his Rachel till he had married Leah So all must first live well which is tedious and unpleasant before they can dye well which is beautifull and faire Thus the two Temples in Rome of Honour and Vertue were so contiguously built that no man could goe into the Temple of Honour before he went into the Temple of Vertue Apenance for Drunkennesse A Monke of Prague that had lived all his time in a Cloyster knowing little of the fashions of the world was at length appointed by his Superiour to receive Confessions which hee did of all such as came to him and he enjoyned penance according to the nature of the sins that were confest amongst the rest there came one which made confession that he was guilty of Drunkennesse The Fryar askt the Penitent what kind of sinne that was The man told him that it was drinking too much strong drink but the Fryar having no experience of it put off the mans penance to another time and in the interim he gate a good quantity of strong Liquor into his chamber where he so handled the matter that he stole himself drunk which he being but a novice that way made him very sick for a time when the man came to him again for his penance the Fryar enjoyned him to be drunk againe and so ever after he appointed all that confest drunkennesse no other penance but to be drunk againe supposing that to be drunk had punishment enough in it selfe The power of Preaching As the walls of Jerico fell downe by the Trumpets of the Priests so the strong holds of Satan are overthrowne by the Ministery of the Word A fit Embleme for over-curious women Mercury being to make a garment for the Moone could never fit her but either it would be too big or too little by reason she was alwayes increasing or decreasing This may be the Embleme of some women whose curiosity about their clothes can hardly be satisfied To speak well a hard lesson One comming to a Holy man desired him to learne him some good Lesson the good man bade him endeavour to speak well and when he had learned that to come to him againe and he would give him another Lesson The Holy man meeting afterward with his Scholler asked him if hee had learned his Lesson He answered no saying it was so difficult that he knew not when hee should learne it They that spend their estate in Luxury deserve no pitty It is reported of Alphonsus King of Arragon that when a Knight of his had consumed a great patrimony by lust and luxury and besides ran into debt and being to be cast into prison by his Creditors his friends petitioned the King for him The King answered that if he had spent so much money in the service of his Prince or for the good of his Country or in relieving his kindred I would have hearkned to you but seeing he hath spent so much upon his body 't is fit his body should smart for it So when we look up to God for mercy in our distresse and the comfort of the creatures have forsaken us he may justly answer If you had spent that abundance of the creature which I afforded you in my service or for the good of my people I would have heard you but now it is just you should be left in your distresse and that so much pleasure as you have had so much misery should follow according to Abrahams speech to the rich Glutton Luk. 16. 25. The Sermon is not done untill it be practised A Lady that was not her selfe at Church that day seeing her man come home askt him if Sermon were done He answered no Why then said she doe you come away He answered that though the Preacher had done speaking yet the Sermon was not done till the hearers had practised it Tyrants are Gods Rods which he casts into the fire when he hath done with them Caesar having bathed his sword in the blood of the Senate and his owne Countrey-men is after a while miserably murdered in the Senate by his owne friends Caessius and Brutus to shew unto Tyrants that the highest step of their greatnesse is tyed to a halter and that they are but the scourges and rods of the Almighty which he will cast into the fire as soon as he hath done with them Though Kings Crownes sit light upon their heads yet oftentimes they lye heavy upon their Consciences Philip the third of Spaine whose life was free from grosse evils professing that hee would rather lose all his Kingdomes then offend God willingly yet being in the Agony of death and considering more thorowly of his account he was to give to God feare struck into him and these words brake from him Oh would to God I had never reigned Oh that those yeares I have spent in my Kingdome I had lived a private life in the wildernesse Oh that I had lived a solitary life with God! how much more securely should I now have dyed how much more confidently should I have gone to the Throne of God what does all my glory profit me but that I have so much the more torment in my death Christians lives should answer Christs rules Ponormitan having read the 5 6 and 7. Chapters of Matthew and comparing the lives of people with those Rules of Christ said that either that was no Gospel or the people no Christians A triumphant Conquerour becomes a patient sufferer for Jesus Christ Trojane the Emperour had sent Eustochius one of his chiefe Captaines against the Barbarians who having vanquished them returned home The Emperour being very joyfull at this newes goes to meet him and brings him
new A Knight that durst appeare for a persecuted Truth and man One Dowglas a Scottish Knight having heard Master Wiseheart preach some things contrary to the corrupt Doctrine of those times said I know the Governour and Cardinall shall heare of it But say unto them said the Knight I will avow it and not onely maintaine the Doctrine but also the person of the Teacher to the uttermost of my power Christians must learn self-denyall Antoninus Pius when he undertook the Title of Emperour said he did then forgoe the property and interest of a private person so when wee take upon us the Name of CHRIST we should forgoe all selfish and private respects A covetous King and an ingratefull Guest Our Henry the seventh with his whole Retinue were Royally entertained by the Earle of Oxford for three dayes together at Henningham Castle in Essex when the King was to depart the Earle had caused three hundred of his Servants Retayners and Tenants to stand in ranckes on either side the long Cawsey from the Castle when the King came to the end of the ranckes and had taken notice of so many proper men all in one Livery he turned to the Earle and askt him if all those men were his houshold servants No Sir answered the Earle 't is not for my ease to keep so many in my house saying That most of them were Reteyners Well my Lord quoth the King I thank you for my good entertainment but I must not see my Lawes broken before my face my Atturney must speake with you about this businesse The King was as good as his word for it cost the Earle of Oxford 14000. Markes for his Composition upon the penall Statute of Reteyners Who is the most Foole A Cardinall that had a very fine staffe his fool was importunate that he would bestow it upon him which the Cardinall did upon condition that hee should not part with it but to one that was more foole then himselfe The Foole layes up his staffe very carefully till one day the Cardinal being sick and like to dye the Foole came to him askt him if he were willing to dye O no said the Cardinall I am afraid to dye because I doe not know whether I shal go to Heaven or to Hel The Foole hearing his Master say so runs presently and fetcheth the Staffe and gives it to the Cardinall again saying he had met with one now that was more foole then himselfe For sayes the foole you have spent your time so much in pompe and luxury neglecting the good of your soul that now you are afraid to dye Take your staffe againe for I know none that deserves it better 'T is enough to repent the day before ones death A Jewish Rabby pressing the practise of repentance upon his Disciples exhorted them to be sure to repent the day before they dyed one of them replyed that the day of any mans death was very uncertaine Repent therfore every day said the Rabbin and then you shall bee sure to Repent the day before you dye Meane Parentage no disparagement to vertuous men Seneca writing to a Knight of Rome who was preferred for his valour but yet of meane parentage for which he seemed to be troubled Seneca cites him this notable saying of Plato That there is no King but is raised from those which were servants and that there is no servant but had some of his Ancestors Kings Though gold comes from the earth none despiseth it and although drosse comes from the gold none regards it A vertuous man comming from meane Parentage is truely honourable and a vicious man comming from Noble parentage is justly contemptible Loving Wives Conradus the third Emperour of that name having besieged Guelph Duke of Bavaria would yeeld to no other condition but onely to suffer such Gentlewoman as were in the City to come out of the Towne on foot with such things as they could carry about them The Ladies and Gentlewomen resolved neglecting all other Riches to carry their husbands children and the Duke himselfe on their backs The Emperour perceiving the quaintnesse of their device took such pleasure at it as weeping for joy presently turned his former inexorable rage and hatred to the Duke into speciall love and favour Some sorrows are not to be exprest Psamneticus King of Aegypt being prisoner to Cambyses King of Persia seeing his owne daughter passing before him in base array being sent to draw water at which sight his friends about him wept but himselfe could not be moved to utter one word presently after his sonne was carried to execution before his face neither did this move him to shew any passion but afterwards when a friend of his was to suffer then hee tare his haire and shewed great sorrow being demanded the reason of this his carriage he answered That the losse of a Friend might bee exprest but not the griefe for the losse of a childe Ingentes stupent A Painter being to represent the griefe of the standers by at the Sacrifice of Iphigenia according to the interest and affection every one did beare to so faire so young and so innocent a Lady when hee came to her Father as if no countenance were able to expresfe his sorrow hee drew him with a veyle over his face Cure leves loquuntur ingentes stupent Hence comes the Fiction of Niobe who having lost seven sons and seven daughters is feigned to be turned into a stone Valour scornes any kinde of base tricks Alexander being perswaded to make use of an advantage which the darknesse of the night afforded him to fall upon Darius No no said he it pleaseth me not to hunt after night stolne Victories Malo me fortunae poeniieat quam Victoriae pudeat I had rather repent of my bad fortune then be ashamed of an ill gotten Victory Christian Fortitude The Tripartite History tels us of one Same 's a Noble man who had and maintained a thousand servants of his owne yet was deprived of all his estate by the King of Persia and was compelled to serve one of the most abject and basest of his owne servants to whom the King also gave his wife that by this meanes he might cause him to deny his faith But he not at all moved kept his Faith intire willingly suffering all this wrong and indignity for Christ Tyrants requests are commands A poore man of Sevill in Spaine having a faire and fruitfull Peare-Tree one of the Fathers of the Inquisition desired some of the Fruit thereof The poore man not out of gladnesse to gratifie but feare to offend as if it were a sin for him to have better fruit then his betters suspecting that on his denyall the Tree might be made his own Rod if not his Gallowes plucked up the Tree roots and all and gave it to the Inquisitor A piece of Policy A stranger gave out that hee could teach Dionysius the Tyrant of Syracuse a way to discover any plot or practise that
while the Lord and his cause doe suffer A good Conscience preferr'd before worldly glory Flavianus Clemens one of Domitians Courtiers was so much in favour with that Emperour as he intended to make his Son his Successor in the Empire but this good Flavianus rather then he would breake the Peace of his Conscience in the matter of his Religion he was content to beare the turning of this great love the Emperour bore him into as great hatred so as he hated him to death and oppressed his whole House Honours change manners Two Schollers that were long brought up together agreed that which of them came first to preferment should help the other one of them came afterward to be a Bishop the other seeing himselfe forgotten or at least neglected came to the Bishop desiring him to remember his promise the Bishop made as if he knew him not not know me replyed the other I am such a one Oa said the Bishop 't is no marvaile I shouâ—d not knowyou for to tell you true I scarce know my selfe A good help for the Pope at a dead lift A Fryer Minorite wrote a Booke to prove that the Pope might be Excommunicate as well as any other man to which purpose he used this Dilemma either the Pope is a Brother or he is not a Brother if he be a Brother then 't is certaine he may be Excommunicate by a Brother if he be not a Brother why doth he say Our Father at which the Pope was very much troubled but a merry Courtier that waited on him said That it was an easie matter to avoyd the Fryers Dilemma the Pope desired to know how Why Sir said the Courtier Vos nunquam dicite Pater Noster solutum est argumentum Let your Holinesse never say the Lords Prayer and there 's an end of an old Song The sinfull examples of great men are of dangerous consequence in the world Austin in his Confessions speaking of Poeticall Fictions saith that the Devill drew men on cunningly to wickednesse by them for whereas the Poets feigned such and such men who were sometimes famous in the world to be gods and did cry them up for Deities and attributed to thâ—m filthy lusts and wicked uncleannesse it came to passe that such as delighted in such wayes would blesse themselves in this that they did not imitate base men but the coelestiall gods Thus the Devil gets Sinne countenanced in the world by the examples of great ones the meaner sort thinking themselves safe if they have but men of eminency for their patterne A fit Meditation for every man Franciscus Xaverius writing to John the third King of Portugall gave him this wholsome counsell That he would every day for a quarter of an houre meditate upon that Divine sentence Wbat shall it profit a man to win the world and lose his owne soule And that he would seeke of God the right understanding of it and that he would make it the close of all his prayers the repetition of these words What shall it profit a man c. A Miracle in our dayes Mistris Hony-wood of Kent an ancient and religious Gentle-woman being in great distresse of Conscience for want of assurance oft crying out that she was certainly damn'd one day as she was in conference with some godly Divines who laboured what they could to comfort her and satisfie her spirit she still persisted in her dispairing expressions when the Ministers were about to depart she called for a cup of Wine for them which being brought she dranke to one of them a Glasse of the Wine and as soone as she had done in an extreame passion she threw the Venice Glasse against the ground saying As sure as this Glasse will breake so surely am I damned the Glasse rebounded from the ground without any harme which one of the Ministers suddenly caught in his hand and said Behold a Miracle from Heaven to confute your unbeleefe tempt God no more tempt God no more both the Gentlewoman and all the company were mightily amazed at this strange accident and all glorified God for what was done and the Gentlewoman through the Grace of God received much comfort and lived and dyed full of peace and assurance This hapned in King James his time and the whole Story was related to him in a Sermon immediately after it was done and so also was it related by another Preacher at Pauls Crosse Kings never want Laws to doe what they list Cambyses desirous to marry his owne sister asked his Magi whether it were lawfull or no for him to doe so They answered that indeed they had no Law for the Brother to marry the Sister but they had another Law whereby it was lawful for the Kings of Persia to doe what they listed The Churches treasure Saint Laurence the Martyr being demanded by Galienus the Tyrant where he had bestowed the Treasure of the Church he told him that within three dayes he would resolve him in the meane time he gathered together a great number of poore Christians saying that these were the riches of the Church He that serves God by a Proxy shall goe to Heaven by an Atturny There was a Merchant that seldome or never went to Church himselfe but used to send his Wife to pray for them both it hapned that they both dyed much about the same time and comming to Heaven Gates Saint Peter let the Woman only in saying That as she went to Church for both so she should be received into Heaven for both A sinfull life followed with a wofull death One Hermanus a great Courtier in the Kingdome of Bohemia being at point of death did most lamentably cry out That he had spent more time in the Palace then in the Temple and that he had added to the ryotousnesse and vices of the Court which he should have sought to have reformed and so dyed to the horrour of those that were about him A Bishops blessing not worth a halfe penny There was a poore blinde man that sate begging by the High-way who hearing that a Bishop was comming the old man bestirr'd himself with great expectation of a bountiful reward from his Lordship crying Good my Lord good my Lord bestow some small peece of silver upon this poore blinde man for Gods sake my Lord one halfe penny to this blinde man but on rode the Bishop and not a farthing could the poore man get who perceiving that the Bishop was past he cryed to him that if he would give him no mony he would yet give him his blessing the Bishops blessing in old time was a goodly matter which the Bishop hearing turned his Horse and went back to the blinde man bidding him kneele downe and he would give him his blessing which was to lay his hand upon his head and pray God to blesse him the blinde man fell upon his knees but instantly starts up againe and said 'T was no great matter whether he did blesse him or no for he
in the Market a pretty while till at length a Country-man came to her and askt if she were not Master such a ones maide who answered she was I pray then said he commend me to your Master and give him this small testimony of my love which was twenty shillings and let him send some body to fetch two bushels of Wheat which I have set up at such a shop for him and I pray tell your Master that though he knowes me not yet I have cause to blesse God for the good I have received by his Ministery so the maid bought such provision as she was wont to doe and carried home the rest of the mony to her Master and Mistris and acquainted them with this strange providence and seasonable mercy Between greene heads and grey haires truth suffers much Inter juvenils judicium senile prejudieium veritas corrumpiter What for herbs in Summer and tosts in Winter a man cannot come by what he should have Vpon a Bishop of Elies Translation to Canterbury Laetentur Caeli transfertur ad Kentum ab Eli Cujus in adventum flent in Kent millia centum Rich Parsons need not preach A Gentleman meeting with a Ministers man of his acquaintance asked him how his Master did Very well Sir said the man But Thomas said the gentleman does thy Master preach still as lustily as he was wont to doe yes Sir replyed Thomas he preaches now and then though God be thanked he need not why need he not Thomas quoth the gentleman marry Sir said Thomas he is rich enough now and may give over preaching an 't please him A Prayer against the Grace of God In Edward the Sixt's time there happened a sweating Sicknesse in England whereof multitudes dyed in a short time the Scots that traded into the Northerne parts of this Kingdome demanded what disease it was that so many English-men dyed of the Country people that had never knowne any such sicknesse before knew not by what name to call it but as 't is usuall in strange accidents said 't was by the grace of God this was presently carried into Scotland that the English dyed of a new disease called The Grace of God whereupon the Clergy assembled together and composed a Collect or Prayer against the Grace of God which was ordered to be us'd on Sundaies and Holy-dayes in all the Churches of that Kingdome 't was in Latine thus Deus Sanctus Kintagernus Sanctus Romanus Sanctus Andreas libero nos hodie a Gratia Dei a faeda morte qua Angli moriuntur and in English it was thus God and Saint Mango St. Roman and St. Andrew shield us this day from God his Grace and from the foule death that the English-men dyed upon Foure blessings came into England together Greek Herefie Turkey-cocks and Beere Came into England all in one yeare Many cannot minde heaven they are so taken up with the earth King Henry the fourth asked the Duke of Alva if he had observed the great Eclips of the Sun which had lately hapned no said the Duke I have so much to doe on earth that I have no leisure to look up to heaven Nothing got by neglecting opportunities One that had gathered together many of the Sybils Books brought them to a King of the Romans to sell but demanding too much for them as the King thought they could not agree whereupon the man burnt the one halfe of his bookes and demanded double the price hee askt at first for the remainder which the King refusing to give he burnt halfe of the remaining part and doubled the price of all againe and then the King considering the value of them gave him the price I am afraid if we forbeare to give the prayers that God askes for the peace of Jerusalem the time may come that wee may be content to give blood and our estates too and yet not do one half quarter so much good as we may now by prayer This was spoken in a Sermon by an eminent Minister of London not long before our unhappy troubles Prayer more prevalent then an Army of men Mary Queen of Scots that was Mother to King James was wont to say That she feared Mr. Knockes Prayers more then an Army of ten thousand men A good tryall of bad servants Constantius the father of Constantine the great when he was advanced to honour he had about him of his servants some that were Pagans and some that were Christians he to discover who were Christians and who were not made an Edict That all those that were Christians and would not worship the Heathen Gods should immediately depart from the Court upon this all the Pagans flockt about him And many false-hearted Christians also presented their service to him To whom he made this answer nay sayes hee If you will be false to your Gods I will never trust you to be servants to me Embassadours whether sent from Kings or from God must not be abused It is reported that Rome was once destroyed to the ground for some abuses that were offered to an Embassadour that was sent unto it And David we know never played any such harsh play in all his life as he did to the Ammonites that despightfully used his Embassadours which he sent unto them when they shaved their beards and cut their coats 'T is no lesse dangerous for any to abuse the Ministers of Jesus Christ for they are Gods Embassadours An ignorant Bishop When Popery was profest in Scotland complaint was made to the Bishop of Dankelden of one called Deane Thomas That he preached too often whereupon the Bishop sent for him and charged him with what hee had heard The Deane answered that he preached but once upon the Sunday why man quoth the Bishop if thou that hast but a smal living preach once a Sunday what will the people say of me that have a great living and preach not once a yeare But prethee Deane Thomas tell me what thou preachest so often upon My Lord said hee I preach sometimes upon the Epistle and sometimes upon the Gospel appointed for the day as it hits Tush man said the Bishop thou art a foole I le tell thee what thou shalt doe when thou meetest with a good Pistle or a good Ghospel which makes for the priviledge of holy Kirk preach that and let the rest be My Lord said the Deane I have read both the old Law and the new and I can find none but good Pistles and Gospels in the Book of God if you can shew me any that are bad I will let them bee Now fie upon thee Deane Thomas replyed the Bishop what doest thou meane to trouble thy selfe so with the Scriptures And clapping himselfe upon his breast hee swore that for his part hee never knew Old Law nor New whereupon it grew into a Proverbe in Scotland when they would expresse a very ignorant man you are like the Bishop of Dunkelden that knew neither old Law nor
nor who it was that shewed him this courtesie having quite forgotten his former kindnesse to Cromwell not knowing what was become of him well at Dinner-time my L. Chancellour came home bringing with him the Lord Admirall and some other Noble-men to dine with him and in the presence of them all he fell to imbracing this Stranger and exprest exceeding much gladnesse to see him and holding him fast by the hand he turned to the Lords telling them the extraordinary favour that this Italian had shewed him in his extreame necessity and so relates the whole story to the Lords at dinner Cromwell placed this his friend next him at the Table and after dinner when the Lords were gone he falls to inquire of him the occasion of his comming into England who truly tels him how it was that he was much decayed in his estate and that his comming hither was to get in some debts owing to him here which were about fifteene thousand Ducats after many expressions of thankfulnesse and condoling with Frescobald for his misfortunes he carried him into an inner chamber where opening a Chest he tooke out a bagge of Gold and first of all he gave him sixteene Crownes saying there was that which he lent him at his comming from Florence next he gave him ten Crownes more saying so much the Suite of Apparrell cost which you gave me then he gives him other ten Crownes saying that you bestowed so much upon the Horse I rode away on but considering you are a Merchant said Cromwell it seemeth to me not honest to returne you your money without some consideration for the long detayning of it Take you therefore these foure Baggs and in every of them is foure hundred Ducats these you shall receive and enjoy from the hand of your assured friend This done he caused Frescobald to give him the names of his Debtors and what every one ought him appointing one of his Officers to cause his Debtors to make present payment of what they ought the Officer plyed the businesse so well that he had quickly procured all Frescobalds Debts whom Cromwell entertained in his house all the while and would have had him to continue with him his whole life promising him the loane of threescore thousand Ducats for foure yeares if he would continue and trade here in England but Frescobald who desired to returne into his owne Country and there quietly to continue the rest of his life with the great favour of the Lord Cromwell after many thankes for his high and noble entertainment departed towards his desired home where richly arriving he gave himselfe quietly to live But his wealth he small time enjoyed for in the first yeare of his returne he dyed The absurdity of Sooth-saying or judiciall Astrology The absurdity and imposture of Divination or Sooth-saying is ingeniously observed by Cicero in Pompey the great Croessus and Iulius Caesar to whom all the Chaldees and Wisards not only promised prosperous and long lives but assured them of timely and peaceable ends yet of their tumultuous imployments in the passage of their time upon earth and of their wretched and miserable deaths Histories make ample and frequent mention Where humane helpe failes we may expect Divine Philo with other Jewes being accused to Cajus Caligula by one Appion that they had refused to give Divine honour unto Caesar and for that cause were commanded from the Court he said to the rest of the Jewes his companions in that adversity Be of good comfort O my friends and Country-men against whom Caesar is thus grievously incensed because of necessity Divine aide must be present where humane helpe is absent Eight Rules to know false Doctrines by They that would not be corrupted with the Errours and Heresies of these times must carefully reject all erronious and hereticall Doctrines to which purpose these generall rules may be very usefull First whatsoever Doctrine is contrary to godlinesse and opens a doore to Libertinisme and prophanenesse must be rejected as Soulepoyson such are Doctrines against the Sabbath Family duties and publick Ordinances and such is the Doctrine of an Universall Tolleration of all Religions Secondly such Doctrines must be rejected as hold forth a strictnesse above what is written many Doctrines in Popery are of this sort as Selfe-whippings voluntary Poverty and Vowes of Continency Thirdly whatsoever Doctrine tendeth to the lifting up of nature corrupted to the exalting of unsanctified Reason and giveth Free-will in supernaturall things to a man unconverted is a Doctrine contrary to the Gospel This Rule will preserve us against all Arminian Tenets Fourthly all Doctrines that set up our owne righteousnesse whether of Morality or Sanctification in the roome of Christs Righteousnesse that place good workes in the Throne of Christ are Doctrines of Antichrist and not of Christ Fifthly All Doctrines that doe so set up Christ and his Righteousnesse as to decry all workes of Sanctification and to deny them to be fruits and evidences of our Justification are to be avoyded and abhorred This Rule will keep us from most of the errours of the Antinomians Sixthly That Doctrine that lesseneth the priviledges of Beleevers under the New Testament and maketh their Infants in a worse condition then they were in under the Old Testament cannot be the Doctrine of the Gospel for the Gospcl tells us That Jesus Christ was made a Surety of a better Testament established upon better promises This Rule will preserve us against the poyson of Anabaptisme Seventhly That Doctrine that cryeth up purity to the ruine of unity is contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel for the Gospel calleth for unity as well as purity Eph. 4. 3 4 5 6. This Rule will teach us what to judge of the Congregationall way and of Tollerating different Religions which tends much to the breach of Spirituall love and unity and cannot be the Government of Christ Lastly whatsoever Doctrine is contrary to the rule of Faith or to any duty required in the ten Commandements or to any Petition of the Lords Prayer is not a Doctrine of Christ and therefore to be rejected A good argument for the immortality of the Soule When Frederick the Emperour was told of the death of a great Noble-man who had lived ninety yeares in all voluptuousnesse and pleasure yet was never knowne to be either diseased in body or disquieted in minde by any temporall affliction whatsoever this being related to the Emperour as a strange thing he made answer Even hence said he wee may ground that the Soules of men be immortall for if there be a God who first created and since governeth the world as both Divines and Philosophers teach and that there is none so stupid as to deny him to be just in all his proceedings there must then of necessity be other places provided to which the Soules of men must remove after death since in this life we neither see rewards conferred upon those that are good and honest nor punishments condigne inflicted
prodigall the first he said might give him often but the other ere long would have none to give Curst Cowes have short hornes Foelix Earle of Wartemberg sitting at supper with many of his friends it hapned that some at the Table fell into discourse of Luther and the peoples generall receiving of his Doctrine upon which the Earle swore a great Oath that ere he dyed he would ride up to the spurs in the bloud of the Lutherans but the very same night God stretched out his hand so against him that he was choaked with his owne blood Martin Luther the famous Instrument of Gods glory liv'd and dyed a very poore man Luther being very sick and expecting death though it pleased God he recovered that fit he made his Will concerning his Wife and Children after this manner Lord God I thank thee that thou wouldest have me live a poore and indigent person upon earth I have neither house nor lands nor possessions nor mony to leave thou hast given me Wife and Children them I give back unto thee nourish teach and keep them O thou the Father of Orphants and Judge of the Widow as thou hast done unto me so doe unto them Rulers should ever be at leasure to doe Justice An old Woman complaining to Adrian the Emperour of some wrongs done to her the Emperour answered he was not at leasure to heare her to whom she replyed That then he ought not to be at leasure to be Emperour where-with Adrian was so affected that he not only righted her wrongs presently but also ever after was more diligent to heare his subjects Causes Luthers Epitaph by Theodorus Beza Rome tam'd the world the Pope tam'd Rome so great Rome rul'd by power the Pope by deep deceit But how more large than Theirs was Luthers fame Who with one pen both Pope and Rome did tame Goe fixious Greece goe tell Alcides then His Club is nothing to great Luthers Pâ—n A Prophesie accomplished most exactly forty yeares after it was attered Spotswood Arch-Bishop of Glasgow having procured the imprisonment and coâ—demnation of one Mr. Welsch and other godly Ministers in Scotland Anno 16â—5 Master Welsch writes out of prison a Letter to the Lord Levinston of Kilsyth wherein he Prophesieth not only the utter abolishing of Episcopacy but the down-fall and ruine of that great Prelate and his Family in these words Sir I am farre from bitternesse but here I denounce the wrath of an everlasting God against him meaning Spotswood which assuredly shall fall except it be prevented Sir Dagon shall not stand before the Arke of the Lord and those names of Blasphemy that he weares of Lord-Bishop and Arch-Bishop will have a fearefull end Not one word of this is fallen to the ground for Episcopacy is now abolished there as all men know and for that part of the Prophesie which concernes Spotswood himselfe even in the top of all his honours when he had come up to be Arch-Bishop of St. Andrewes and Chancellor of the Kingdome he was cast out of Scotland and dyed a poore miserable man at London having not a six-pence of his owne to buy bread while he liv'd nor to bury him when he was dead but as it was begg'd at Court The evident hand of God lighted on his Posterity his Lands of Darfie all the conquesse he was able to make to his eldest Son Sir John Spotswood is ready to be sold and that branch of his posterity to goe a beging his second Son Sir Robert Spotswood President of the Colledge of Justice for his Treason against Scotland did dye miserably upon a Scaffold at St. Andrewes an obdurate impenitent man his Brother the Bishop of Clogher was cast out of his great estates in Ireland and in his extreame old age forced to teach Children in Scotland for his bread but being unfit for that imployment he went to London where he was long a Suitor for the meanest place in the Ministry that he might be kept from starving but could not obtaine it Learning is to be preferred before Honour The Emperour Sigismond having Knighted a Doctor of the Civill Law this new Knight presently leaves the society of his old fellow Doctors and keeps company altogether with the Knights which the Emperour observing called him foole for preferring Knight-hood before Learning saying That he could make a thousand Knights in one day but not a Doctor in a thousand yeares The ingenuity of a Scotch Colonell A Scotch-man newly come over to Utrecht and presenting himselfe to Colonell Edmunds his Country-man told him That my Lord his Father and such such Knights and Gentlemen his Cousens were all in good health the Colonell turning to the Gentlemen that were in company with him at that time said Gentlemen beleeve not one word he saith my Father is but a poore Baker of Edenborough and workes hard for his living whom this Knave would make a Lord to curry favour with me and make you beleeve I am a great man borne Truth Error elegantly compared to Tamars two twins Gen. 38. in a Sermon before the Parliament The different judgements of Professors throughout the Land shew that our Church hath Twins in her wombe so much of Truth as hath been already owned by the Parliament Zarah-like hath put forth the hand none can say but this came out first for you have marked it with the scarlet thred of a Civill Sanction yet is there a Pharez a Division or Separation as the word properly signifies whose breakings out are notoriously knowne as also his challenge of Primogenâ—ture Our hopes are that Zarah will in due time be fully borne notwithstanding this interposition and that you will say to the Party that separates in Doctrinall Principles by maintaining opinions that are destructive and prey upon the vitall spirits of Religion as the Mid-wise then did to Pharez upon thee be this breach and not upon us may it never come to be upon you may you never come to be partakers of other mens sins in so high a degree Hitherto the damnable Heâ—esies and daring Blasphemies which have been vented every where may be thought to stand on the private account of such as â—ent them but if representative England which God forbid should espouse their Crimes by over-much connivence at them the guilt would then become Nationall and too heavie for us to beare A comfort for poore faithfull Ministers As Christ and all his Apostles were poore in respect of worldly goods so for the most part the most eminent Ministers of the Gospel have been men of meane conditions as to worldly estates Martin Luther had neither lands nor houses nor mony to leave his Wife and Children when he dyed Calvins Inventory Library and all came not to six score pound Mr. Perkins dyed a very poore man Mr. Ainsworth even while he wrote his excellent commentary upon the Pentateuch had but nine-pence a week to live on Mr. Samuel Herne when he dyed left a Wife and many small Children without