ENGLANDS New-yeares Gift OR A Pearle for a Prince WITH Such Grapes from Thornes and Fruits from Foes to the whole Land as none shall be worse for wrongs nor hurt by any but themselves though the times should prove worse and worse Tolle lege Augustinus Et experto crede Hieronimo ex Hibernia Redivivo LONDON Printed by Robert Austin 1648. To every passive Reader TO all who parallell me with their wrong'd selves In two climes shorne torn split on rocks and shelves Best fruits from foes this paper present shewes From mine own bowells drawn as Silkwormes Clewes Chiefe here my kindnesse creeps which cannot goe To all my Brides firme Friends from whom my Foe Satan divorc'd me long though love regaines Spleens losse if Sectaries forbid not baines Englands New-years-Gift or a Pearle for a Prince IT is reported of Doctor Ridley a faith-sealing Martyr that the onely way to make him a mans friend was to doe him an ill turne at least this was the way to gaine his prayers Parallel to his practise was the Counsell that M. Omstead lately a zealous Preacher in Ireland gave to one that complained of some emulating sneaks or snakes of his owne Tribe who had stung him by detraction and bit him with a dogged and Theonine tooth that if he might advise him in this case he should presently goe to the Throne of Grace and powre out his soule in prayer for him as David put on sackcloth and mourned for his enemies even such as Saul Doeg and Achitophel and this is all the revenge he would take on them as the best way withall to doe himselfe good since to do evill for evill this was Paganish and Brutish one Dog Wolfe and Fox tearing and devouring another to doe good for good was carnall and naturall manus manum fricat mulus scabit mulum one hand rubs another one scabb'd mule knaps another one good turne requires and requites another to doe evill for good as Judas did to Christ and Laffin the false friend to his Patron the French Byron and as some Favorites and Traytors to their Kings bringing downe like Elder trees the walls in and by which they grew as the Cuckow teares the kind hedge Sparrow who bred her and fed her this is vile and viperous yea diabolicall but to good for evill and to overcome evill with good Rom. 12.21 this is truly Angelicall the highest pitch of Christianity sympathizing with Abraham who prayed for Abimelech that would have wronged him in his wife Gen. 20. with the Prophet whose prayer restored that withered hand of Jeroboams which was stretched out against him 1 King 13. with Paul and Silas who improved their best to save the soule of that cruell Jailor who whipped and abused their bodies Act. 16. yea to Christ himselfe who healed the eare of Malchus one of his riotous and rigorous apprehenders Joh. 18.10 and in this case of retaliating or remitting injuries as Julius Caesar and Pyrrhus the Epirote and many more which might be historified gained friends from foes chiefly the two Scipioes Asian and African so I would have it seriously poized that as patience is the most heroick fortitude overcoming a mans selfe more then others as fortius est qui se quà m qui fortissima vincit so impatiency is the greatest follie yea a madnesse fit to be whipped in Bedlam for a man not to take his crosse quietly and to bear it with Simon Cyreneus after Christ but to make his Crosse heavier by his owne fretting and fustian fuming then it is in it own nature as Thales his Asse made her burden of wool heavier by laying her selfe downe with it in the water as before she had melted her load of salt lighter by the like posture as if a man should give me a box on the one eare I should give my selfe a box on the other or lay another load on my right shoulder because a heavy burden is imposed on my left impatiency being such a salve for every fore as soute inke and tarre is to the washing of a foule face to make it seem faire or as the cutting of the thumb or the toe is medicineable to the curing of the Gout But if by patience and penitence thou live like some fire-flies called Pyruustae in brazen furnaces in the heat of most scorching crosses and come out of them as gold out of the fire more pure with the drosse and tin of thy hereditary corruptions more purged by the spirit of fire and of burning Esa 4. then thy most intestine and inveterate foes must doe thee good whether they will or no even sore against their wills like that Roman who resolving to kill his enemie in a Duell by running his sword into his brest so cured him of an Impostume which he broke that he made him a sounder man then ever he was as it is said of a bone that after breaking is soundly knit proves stronger then it was before to this purpose of getting summer fruits from tempestuous and winter foes as Virgil gathered gold from Ennius his drosse as Plato had a curb for his pride by Diogenes trampling on his bed with greater pride and as from the very oyle of Scorpions the Italians are said to reserve Antidotes against the stinging of Scorpions and Surgeons to cure the bitings of mad Dogs from the very livers of the said dead Dogs so I heard of a patient and religious Gentleman that being unequally yoaked and pestered with a wife little better then Moses his Zepporah Socrates his Xantippe or Jobs wife thought to be Dinah as soon as ever her waspish and aspish spirit was so conjured up that she gave him his broth all scalding hot and scorched him with her tongues wild-fire immediately he fled from her as from a Snake and retired himselfe into a wood or solitary grove where in his devout soliloquies he powred out his soule unto God in mentall and ejaculatory prayer in this and the like patterns of imitation and vertuous emulation quod cuiquam id cuivis it is easie for any man in the like cases or crosses inriched with the like graces of prayer patience and penitence to gather the like figs from thistles the like roses of sweet refections from the briers brambles and nettles of the like afflictions the like golden fruits from the like crosse and cankred foes more precious then any historified or poetized fruits in the Gardens of Adonis or the Orchards of the Hesperides kept so strictly by waking Dragons or Gryphins oh fortunati nimium si sua bona norint happy are the patient in what kind soever passive all the waves that bluster against this rocke of patience more excellent then all the white cliffie rocks in our Albion besides however impetuous in these tumultuous and tossing times they doe but dash themselves to some and froth and wash it whiter as the accusations of Potyphars wife Phedra and the goatish Judges did the innocency of Joseph of Hippolitus and Susanna
hedges of all commanded and limited obedience into forbidden pastures as David in his Adultery 2 Sam. 11.9 and Solomon in his uxorious Idolatry for which God set Absalom Semei Sheba and Ammon against the one 2 Sam. 16. 13. cap. 20. and Rezon and Iereboam 1 King 11.23 v. 26. against the other all the Organs of evill to Sion all the Factors and Agents for Antichrist for the Scarlet Whore for the Prince of darknesse chiefly in their unlawfull lustfull and unlimited warres against the Saints all and every one of them are under the power and command of the King of Sion the Father of the Saints he hath all the malignant powers plots and policies of earth and hell even Witches Conjurers and infernall spirits themselves all the sorcering Sorcering Masse-Priests and Friers of the Romish Hierarchie and all the Irish Nigromanticks at this day the Lord of Hosts hath them all as Wolves and Dogs in their chaines as Lions in their grates as roaring Bulls at their stakes and Bears at their rings he keeps them all in as Seas and rivers within their banks and bounds or lets them out as in the inundations in Ducalions time and in Noahs flood he hath all created powers as staves in his owne hands as arrowes in his owne quiver as David his stones in his sting to keep in or imploy at his pleasure he being the true Aeolus who hath all the winds in a bag all the waves in a bank all the wicked Hereticks and Tyrants within and without the Church hooked by their noses as he had Pharoah Senacherib Rabshekch 2. King 19.27 28. Holofernes Antiochus Epiphanes proud Cosroes Saul before his conversion Act. 9. cap. 22. 26. and all sanginnolent persecutors in all times letting them play their reaks and pranks so long till he got himselfe a name upon them either in the conversion of some few of them or the confusion of the most of them when their sinnes like the sinnes of the Amorites Gen. 11.16 and Sodomites were at the full ripenesse and fit for the sickle of deserved vengeance this then is the first cordiall I give to the corosives of the Saints the first ground of comfort to our present mourners in Sion Ezek. 9. the wicked which plow deep furrowes on our backs God himselfe yoakes them they are but rods in the hands of our Father but the Jailors and the Executioners of the will and decree of our Father Judge as a moderne Divine sweetly alludes to God they are but Gods Serjeants to arrest us for our undischarged debts our unrepented sins they cannot hurt us more then a sword in the scabberd till it be drawne and laid on by a valiant Martialist being of it selfe a dead instrument without a living hand to weild it as indeed the creature of it selfe whether animate or manimate can doe us neither good nor hurt without the restraining or mannaging of the Creator as Doctor Preston hath lively demonstrated as an experimentall Divine in his golden work of Gods All-sufficiency and I have fully explained in the Book called the Arraignement of the Creature And indeed this is a wonderfull ground of comfort to all that by the spirit can cry Abba Father Rom. 8.15 that their crosses come from a Father not from a severe Judge that they are but love-tokens from the Bridegroom to his Spouse Rev 3.19 healing pills from a Physitian castigating rods and ferulaes in in the hand of a Father Heb. 12.5 6 7. as Queen Elizabeth said once in some reall or imaginary Delinquencies of her heroick Essex ad correctionem non ad ruinam to correction not to destruction as Gods scourges were so Idolatrizing and Adulterizing Solomon whom though he afflicted in the revolt of ten Tribes and in excited enemies 1 King 11. yet he rejected not he tooke not his mercy from him as from Saul the Reprobate 2 Sam. 7.14 1 Sam. 16.1.14 Oh this is indeed Oleum vulneris latificans Galeni mell in ore melos in aure as the phrases be melodie to the eare musick to the mind and hony to the heart yea as Rosa Solis and Aqua vitae to our dead sownes and fainting spirits that though we be whipped for extraordinary sinnes and rebellions with sharp rods even as it were of wire and knotted cords not with ordinary willowes and birches as in former times that yet notwithstanding a whipping Father is a Father and purposes to bestow his inheritance upon his crying Child if as penitent as peccant he takes not a sword to run him through nor a Dagge to pistoll him when he is prostrate on his knees imploring mercy like the Gospells relenting prodigall with a mouth of confession and teares of contrition extracted by the heat and fire of love from the Limbeck a Few fathers prove Tyrants to their owne children like the Romane Manlius and Brutus or as once Manasses was before his conversion and the Jewish Saul to his Jonathan whom he would have executed of a heart full of compunction Luk. 15.17 18 19. Oh paululum supplicii satis est patri a little punishment is enough for a father as we may see in the passages betwixt David and Absalom 2 Sam. 14.21 cap. 18.33 the best Father and the worst child all the water of the Sea will not wash away the love of a Father it is as strong as death even when he frownes outwardly he favours inwardly as Joseph did his Brethren when he spoke roughly to them Gen. 42.6 aequa tamen semper mens est amica voluntas Oh suck this refreshing hony as a second Jonathan in thy faintings in the wildernesse of thy woes that though the evill of sin this malum culpae be from Satan and thy selfe yet this malum paenae the evill of punishment is from God Amos 3.6 cap. 2.4 per totum punishment doe I call it I thinke I must recant the phrase for though we read of the plagues of Aegypt of Sodome of Moab of Edom of Damascus of Ashur of Gaza of Teman of Ammon and of Tire Amos 1. per totum yet Divines dislike the phrase of punishment ever to be inflicted on the Church of God or any living members of the Church the punishment of the sins of all believers being already and at all times laid upon Christ the true Atlas who hath borne the burthen of his Fathers wrath paid the ransome of his brethren discharged all their debts cancelled all their bonds and given them their quietut est and Acquittance out of the Chancery or Exchequer of mercy though they were cleane cast by Moses and his infringed Law at the Kings Bench of Justice Esay 53.4 5 6. Rom. 3. v. 19 20 24 25. cap. 5.1 Ephe. 2. per totum and in this respect it being unjust with the Judge of heaven and earth Gen. 18.25 to do ought but right in craving a debt twice to be paid by the principall when it is paid by the suerty 1 Joh 1.9
loving member of the same Hos 2.19 Eph. 5.23.24.32 now thou art ingrafted into Christ as a wild Olive by nature into a good Olive tree Rom. 11.24 and in him brings forth much fruit John 15.4 5. this is one fruit amongst the rest which growes on the tree of thy penitence and patience that if thou stand for Christ for his Truth for his Religion as once that Athanasius called the Atlas of the Faith he will be sure to stand for thee and to be with thee as thy Champion and deliver when thou passest through the waters and through the rivers that they doe not overflow thee as he was with Moses and Aaron and Israel in the red Sea Exod. 14. and with Noah in the first universall Deluge Gen. 7.1 and he will be with thee when thou walkest through the fire as he was with the three Jewish Martyrs in the furnace Dan. 3.25 and with S. Iohn in the furnace into which Domitian cast him a Tert. in praescrip adversus Haeret. according to his promise to all true Israelites the spirituall sonnes of Iacob Esay 43.1 2 3. yea he will be with thee as he was with wrestling and conquering Iacob Gen. 32.24 when any Laban or Esau comes against thee for any intended mischiefe Oh assure thy selfe he will be with thee when thou art amongst Lions as he was with Daniel cap. 6. and when thou fightest with such beasts as Paul fought with at Ephesus 1 Cor. 15.32 with Beares as David 1 Sam. 17. with young Lions as Sampson Judg. 15. and with men whose tongues are swords and sharp arrowes and under whose lips is the poyson of Asps yea if thy enemies with the horne of their power push thee into prison he is with thee there also as with Ioseph in Putiphars Goale Gen. 29.21 with Ieremy in the dark Dungeon Jer. 32.2 with Paul and Silas in the Philippian Prison Act. 16.25 26. yea with pious Philpot once in the Bishop of Londons Cole-hole and with that Martyr in Mr. Fox his Martyrologie who writ from his prison his delectable Paradise in Argiers yea if thou beest exiled and banished from thy house and harbour he is with thee where ever thou art racketed and bandied as he was with Abraham in a strange Countrey Gen. 12.7 with Isaac amongst the Philistines Gen. 26.12.24 with Jacob in Padan-Aram Gen. 20.43 and in Egypt Gen. 47.27 yea if thou beest led to execution and to suffering for his names sake to which there is a blessing pronounced Mat. 5.12 he is with thee there also as he was with Peter and Paul crucified with their heads downwards with Laurence roasted on a Gridiron with Polycarpus grinded to be pure Manchet for Christ with the teeth of Lions with Dagilla Tecla Quintilia Petronella pulled and torne in their flesh from the bone with burning Pincers yea with our Q. Maries Martyrs sincere Saunders blessed Bradford joyfully paying his vowes in Smithfield trusty Tailor skipping in joyfull Levaltoes when he was neere his burning sacrifice godly Glover sensible of the approach of the Spirit and with that young man who at the stake no sooner cryed Sun of God shine upon me but in a dark and gloomy day the Sun cast such gleames on him on a sudden as astonished all the Spectators yea as their last foe and enemy that is to be subdued is death 1 Cor. 15. Christ according to his promise Psal 41.3 is with his Saints they have him with old Simeon in the armes of their faith and with Paul live and die by faith both in their naturall death as he was with Jacob bowing and worshipping on his sick bed and with Theodosius Augustne Ambrose Luther Calvin Oecalampadius and others whose last spirituall breathings with Spirits surrendred into their Fathers hands are recorded to exultation and admiration by Grineus in his Apothegmata morientium amongst his Thesis in quarto as also he is with them in the most virulent violent deaths which cruelty and tiranny can invent as he was with every one of his Apostles who were martired excepting S. John whose acts lives and glorious deaths are fully recorded to any that will for consolation and imitation peruse them in Eusebius his first book of Histories cap. 25. his second book cap 1. his third book cap 1. his ninth book cap 1. Nicephorus his second book cap. 40. his fourth book cap. 7. Sabellicus his seventh book Eneid 4. Russinus his first book cap. 9. Hierom in the life of Paul the Magdeburgians in their Centuries Cent. 1. lib. 2. cap. 10. and Hosiander their Epitomizer Cent. 1. lib. 2. cap. 30. which I alledge as Inns by the way where the learned reader may drink if he will the unlearned passe by them if he like them not The result of all is this if thou be a Believer for I have Cordialls onely for such as corasives to the slaves of sinne and Satan if thou hast such relations to Christ as I have touched upon as to a head a husband a father a friend then let who will be the rod in Gods hand to afflict thee the instrument or executioner to torment thee be they Achitophels and Hamans for pestilent plots Judasses and Joabs for treachery Neroes Caligulaes and Perianders for cruelty Serpents for subtilty Lions for power Foxes for policie though they spin never such Spiders webs to catch thee set never so covered snares to intrap thee though they despise thee dispight thee vilifie thee nullifie thee revile thee peesecute thee and hunt thee as Saul did David as Iezabel did Elias and Pope Leo Luther though they defame thee and sleight thee as the false Apostles did Paul as the Pharisees did Christ as the Arrians the Orthodox Christians as the Papists all Protestants some calling their very hounds by the name of Luther Calvin and the like as the mad and unwormed whelps of Cerberus our Familists Fantasticks new Seekers and Anabablers terme now all zealous and judicious Divines no better then black Dogs barking in Pulpits in Steeple and Stone Churches as Satan speakes in them as at first so still in Serpents I fay if they could hate thee and howle at thee more then Iulian the Apostate Porphiry and Lucian the Atheist against thy incarnate Saviour yet neverthelesse I can give thee this mirth in mourning joy in tribulation light in darknesse rejoycing in suffering Act. 5.40 1 Cor. 4.9 10. honour in thy disgrace 1 Sam. 2.30 and such an Ariadnees thred to bring thee out of the mazes and Labyrinths of their perturbations as I have given Cordialls for every other crosse in the end of my seven helps to Heaven that thou mayest be sure of a good issue in a victorious Trophie and Triumph over all thy enemies if thou canst but rest and rely by faith and affiance on the Lord of Hosts who fights in thee with thee and for thee as he fought in and for David against Goliah 1 Sam. 17.45 in and for Ionathan against the Philistines 1 Sam.
the Ates and Haggs which throw the balls and brands as Adultery betwixt man and wife of division betwixt God and us Esa 59.2 take away the cause and the effect will cease take the mote out of the eye the thorne out of the heele the thiefe out of the candle the eye leaves watering the heel rankling and the candle smoaking let us cast our refractory Jonasses out of the Church Achans out of the campe Achitophels out of the Court Sinons and Hereticall Simon Magusses out of our Cities self-seekers finger-lickers pence-spongers state-caterpillars corrupt Officers out of place and grace both in City and Country chiefly every man hew every Agag in pieces at home mortifie his owne lusts put the sacrificing knife of the word and spirit to his bosomed Delilah his owne bewitching domineering sin that most reigns in him or as an entertained spirit is his familiar and so all remoras obstructions removed the chamber of our hearts furnished for Christs cohabitation Joh. 14.23 Rev. 3.20 as he lodged with Zachous Luke 19. then he that is the Lord of our Castles will be sure to keep them the strong armed man being thrown out Luk. 11.22 we need no more then feare foes spirituall or corporall forraign or domestick then one of the sons of Anak or a Briarcus feares a Pygmie then Ajax or Ashilles feared babling Thersites will men both cominus and eminus in offensive and defensive warres fight for their own rights and possessions and will not the Lord of Hosts hold his owne in us will a Spaniard keep a Hold or Fort with tenacity that he once possesseth and as Jepthah told the King of Ammon Jud. 11.24 will every man hold his owne and keepe that which God hath given him and will not God hold his owne if we be his will he suffer men to swallow us up quick as the great Whale did Ionas if God command us not to forsake our friend and our fathers friend Prov. 27. he that hath been a friend to our father Abraham and to David and delivered them out of all their troubles Psal 139.1 if we insist in Abrahams steps Rom. 4 12. and be of the spirituall House and heart of David Zach. 12.10 he will also deliver us as he did them according to his purpose and promise Psa 34.18.19 he will not faile thee nor forsake thee more then he did Ioshua cap. 1.5 Heb. 13.5 he will lift up himselfe and his strength against thine enemies Psal 7.6 he shall turne them backward Psa 9.3 and breake the armes of then power Psa 10.15 they shall fall into the pit that they have digged and into the snare they have set for thee as Faux Garnet Digby and our Jesuited powder Traytors were catcht in their own snares Psa 9.10 11. he will keep thee as the apple of his eye and hide thee under the shadow of his wings from the wicked that intreacheth thee Ps 17.9.10 though he come upon thee like a Lion greedy of his prey v. 11.12 If God once arise and be present with thee thy enemies shall be scattered as the dust and chasse before the wind they shall vanish as smoak and melt as the wax before the fire Psa 68.1.2 though they come about thee like Bees or like Thornes they are but a blaze they shall be extinct Call thou upon God in the day of thy trouble that 's thy duty he will deliver thee that 's thy dignity Psal 50.15 Will the Regall Lion lose life but he will rescue his Whelps if he heare them yell and will not the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to whom vengeance belongs Psal 94.1 avenge the cause of his little ones who cry night and day unto him Did not the Romans the Athenians and all the Pagans fight to the death pro focis for their wives and children as well as pro Aris for their Paenates their house Gods Oh! if the Greeks were so incouraged in their Ajax and Achilles the Trojans in their Hector and Troylus the Philistines in their Goliah and most Nations in the Colyphonians though mercenary like our Switzers if they could get them to stand for them Shall not he that is armed cap a pe with the shield and buckler of faith be confident of a Trophie over every malignant enemy externall internall and infernall that fights under the banners of Jehovah Elohim the great Commander and disposer of all created powers and natures Angelicall humane and belluine from the Lion to the Worm and the wretched Wren who can do a thousand times more for his friends and favourites then ever Achilles for his Patrocius whose death he so revenged or Hercules for his Theseus or Pirotheus not being able to save himselfe from the plots of Nessus the Centaure no more then Samson the Jewish Hercules from the complottings of his Harlot and the Philistines against his life and liberty Iud. 16.20 so unhappy is all humane power and strength as all may see in these two broken glasses if God once leave it as the German Phoenix Melancthon hath well observed so happy are all those true Israelites true-hearted Nathanaels patrizing with Abraham to whom God hath made a promise that he will blesse those who blesse them and curse those who curse them Gen. 12.3 there being as it were a covenanted League as now betwixt two Nations and oft betwixt the Romans and their Confederates betwixt Christ and his Church mutually to aid one another in all essayes and assaults Oh! if the Saints be blessed who offer themselves willingly to help the Lord Iudg. 5.9.23 it 's no question of the other auxiliary God will never be wanting to help them secundum necessitatem non voluntatem according to their necessity when God will not according to their own will which is now the case of our English Sion forbeggers must be no choosers Novit Medicus non agrotus our Physitian knowes better then we poore impatient Patients how and when to balme our long Phlebotomized bleeding times from our regnant crimes we must not indent nor articulate with the King of Kings nor limit the Almighty by our prescriptions as did the Bethulians Iudith 7.30 31. and that wicked Iehoram 2 King 6.33 it is enough that he will not alwayes be plowing and that the rod of the wicked shall not alwayes be upon the godly but at last be burned when his peccant children are scourged and humbled upon his promises of deliverance tandem aliquando at his good leisure and pleasure not at ours In the interim let every perplexed spirit work upon this meditation even parallelling parvis magna the strong God with the weak arme of flesh that if the Romans put such successefull confidence in their Manlius the defender of their Capitoll in their Camillus languishing Romes restorer in their Marcellus Romes sword in their Fabius Romes Atlas against Hannibal the Greeks in their Themistocles the prop and pillar in their eloquent and thundering Orators Demosthenes and Pericles and of latter times