crying c Psal 37 7. Raze it raze it even to the foundation thereof VI. Such hath ever beene the condition both of every righteous man whose aboad is d Ezec. 2 6 with briers thornes and scorpions and of the whole Church which is c Cane 2.2 as the lillie among the thorns f Pro. 17.17 A friend loveth at all times and he shall be borne as a brother in adversitie The righteous man findeth seldome such friends kinsmen and friends who should love and protect him are eyther the first to procure unto him all kind of mischiefe or behold his adversitie as if they were fremm bodies And which is worthy your observation they which have or challenge to themselues the title and right of the eldest and first borne have ever persecuted their youngers because they were their betters Was it not g 1. Ioh. 3.12 Cain the first borne who murthered his innocent brother Abel h Gal. 4.29 Ismael borne after the flesh persecuted he not Isaac who was borne after the spirit i Gen. 27.41 Esau hated he not his younger brother Iacob and was not this his vow I will slay my brother Iacob This hatred was it not propagated to all their progenie Had ever the Israelites descended of Iacob more fierce and mischievous enemies than the viperous brood of Esau As soone as David was anointed King over Israel k 1. Sam. 17.28 Eliab his elder brother envied him the l 1. Sam. 23.19 Ziphims men of his owne Tribe treacherously betrayed him m 1. Sam. 22.3 4. Neither could he finde any place of refuge for his father and mother in all Israel but was constrained to seeke a safegard for them in Moab Hee is no sooner peaceable in his kingdome n 2. Sam. 15.13 31. but his owne sonne seekes his life but Achitophel his gouernor his familiar who was privie to all his secrets secondeth the Parricide with his pernicious counsell but the whole people followed their deadly attempts o 2. Chro. 13.8 c. The ten Tribes after their revolt frō God and from the King challenged to themselves the glorious title of Israel and under that name which before was common to the twelve persecuted the other two which retaining the puritie of Gods service were constrained to discerne themselues from these Apostates by the new name of Iowes When Ierusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians p Lam. 1.2 She wept sore in the night and her teares were on her cheekes among all her lovers shee had none to comfort her all her friends dealt treacherously with her they were become her enemies Yee heare Christs spouse complaining in the song of Salomon q Cant. 1.6 My mothers children were angry with me They made me the keeper of the vineyard but mine own vineyard have I not kept r Cant. 5.7 the watch men that wēt about the city found me they smote me they wounded me the keepers of the wals took away my vitile from me VII Christ cometh no sooner into the world but ſ Mat. 2.16 Herod seeketh to make him away and for his sake slayeth all the children of Bethlehem yea hee laid violent hands on his owne son borne of a woman of the Tribe of Iuda and therefore Augustus Caesar said that It was safer to be Herods pork than his sonne t Mat. 14.10 Herod Antipas the beheader of Iohn the Baptist v Luk. 23.11 mocked him and sent him again to Pilate who condemned him The whole people of the Iewes who should have adored him cryed x Iohn 19.6 15. Away with him crucifie him crucisie bum If yee seek the first Actors of this Tragedie ye shall finde that the Pharisees were the first who y Mat. 12.14 took counsell against him how they might destroy him that a Mat. 21.15 the chief Priests Scribes envied him b Mat. 26.3 that they assembled together with the Elders of the people unto the Palace of the High-Priest who was called Caiphas and consulted to kill him c ver 65 66 that the High-Priest condemned him of blasphemie that all together they pronounced him to be guilty of death d Mat. 27.2 12 20. delivered him to Pontius Pilate the Governor accused him perswaded the people that they should ask Barrabas and destroy Iesus So was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes c Psal 118.22 The stone which the builders reiected the same is become the head of the corner This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes f Iohn 7.5 His owne brethren not onely beleeved not in him but also g Mar. 3 21 they went out to lay hold on him for they said Hee is beside himself Likewise h Mat. 26.23 one of his owne Disciples who dipped his hand in the dish with him betrayed him And therefore Iohn saith that i Iohn 1.23 Hee came unto his owne and his owne received him not VIII Looke what intertainment the Master received of his owne the same received his disciples not of the lees of the people onely but also of those which sat at the rudder and held the stern of the common-wealth and of the Church Christ foretold it should bee so saying k Mat. 10.17 18. Beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Councels and they will scourge you in their Synagogues And yee shall be brought before Governors and Kings for my sake The first and most violent enemies which they found were they l Rev. 3.9 which said they were Iewes and were not but the Synagogue of Satan Their Ring-leaders were the m Acts 4.1 Acts 5.17 24 40. High-Priest with all the rest of the Priests the Captain of the Temple the Sadducees and Pharisees Wheresoever the Apostles came that cursed Nation egged against them all kinde of folks n Act. 13.50 devout and honourable women the chief men of cities o Acts 14 19. the whole people As p 2 Thes 2.15 16. they both killed the Lord Iesus and their owne Prophets so saith the Apostle have they persecuted us They please not GOD and are contrary to all men forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved Had the Church at that time no other persecuters The Churches of the Gentiles q verse 14 suffred like things of their owne countrey-men At r 2 Cor. 11 32. Damascus the Governer under Aretas the King sought to apprehend Paul At ſ Acts 17.5 Thessalonica all the lewd fellows of the baser sort made an uprore against him At t Acts 16.19 Philippi the Masters of the Pythonissa seeing the hope of their gaine gone because Paul had cast the spirit of divination out of her egged the Magistrates against him and Silas At v Acts 19.24 Ephesus Demetrius the Silver-smith for a like cause raised no small stirre against him x Acts 24.1 Tertullus the Oratour accused him y 2
by the Maliumetanes desirous to be killed for Christs sake But he returned as he went because none of those miscreants would debase themselves to flay such a calfe Now what was that desire but giddinesse but rashnesse but presumption and vaineglory A wise and experimented Pilot will never runne his ship upon the shelves and rocks If the storme drive him upon the dangers then he sheweth his courage and skill So a modest man will not to shew his courage cast himselfe into the fire of affliction and draw upon himselfe unnecessarie evils but if he be apprehended if the glory of God if the edification of the Church if the necessitie of his calling binde him to suffer for Christs sake then he will shew that when he lurked courage was not wanting to his warinesse but his warinesse ruled his courage and commanded it to waite vpon the Lord. Hee which seeketh enemies wilfully and rashly is a seditious and factious fellow But he which hath enemies and seeketh them not which is persecuted without cause or for Gods cause Hee which cannot shun them nor have peace with them except he forsake his station denie Christ scandalize the Church and then chuseth rather an honest and glorious death than a dishonest life is the truly wise and courageous man Therefore e Cyprian Epist 83. Cyprian warned his Church to be warie that they offered not themselves to their enemies but if they were taken to confesse constantly Wherein there is also a dutie of Charitie which we owe to our enemies 3. For howsoever not onely it is not an ill thing but rather a most glorious thing and a f Phil. 1.29 gift of God to suffer for Christ and to be his Martyr g Euseb hist Ecclis lib 4. cap. 15. as the Martyrs themselves acknowledged when they thanked God for that honour h Clemens Alexandr lib. 4. Stromatum yet notwithstanding we must not give any occasion to our enemies to heape sin upon sin by shedding of our innocent bloud which we should doe if we prevented their malice going to them when they seeke us not or betraying our selves to them when they cannot finde us and crying Here here I am come racke kill hang burne as the Circumcellions did Wherein also we should become wilfull murtherers of our owne selves for there is no great difference betweene killing of our selves and provoking other men to kill us IX Neither should we be much moved with the reviling of those which cast in our teeth that by fleeing we deny Christ and so fall into the pit whereof he hath forewarned us saying i Matth. 10.33 Whosoever shall denie me before men him will I also denie before my Father which is in heaven k ver 38. And he that taketh not his crosse and followeth after mee is not worthy of mee For such preachers of magnanimity and constancie are either enemies or of our owne folkes If enemies answer as l Athanas Apolog. de fuga Athanasius did to the Arrians Ye are forsooth scandalized because we flee the persecution Lay your hands to your hearts and confesse that ye are sorie and much discontented that we have prevented your malice and by our flight have hindered the intention ye had to kill us If we doe ill to flee ye doe worse to persecute us Leave off to seeke our lives and we shall leave off to flee for the safetie of our lives For what is our fleeing but a testimonie of your persecution If friends take heed that they preach not against fleeing because they would be glad that all remained to deny Christ as they are resolved to doe rather then to lose their commodities It is not good to tempt God Many which tarry at home goe to the Masse lest they should beare Christs crosse and fall into that inconvenience whereof they will seeme to be affrighted for us But he that fleeth leaving his goods and all that he hath among his enemies forsaking his friends for Christs sake seeking with a thousand incommodities libertie of conscience among an unknowne people hath a most heavy crosse upon his shoulders and not onely denyeth not Christ but maketh knowne to all men his faith in him his love to him his zeale for him And therefore the ancient Church called such men Confessors whereas the persecutors and hypocrites call them Denyers If they were willing to deny would they flee would they leave their goods forsake their friends hazard their lives to deny Wherefore flee they because they shun all occasions whereby they may be compelled through the weakenesse of the flesh to denie Christ and seeke else-where with losse of goods danger of their lives much griefe and anguish of minde among men of an unknowne tongue whose conditions fashions customes are contrarie unto theirs libertie to confesse him resolved not onely to flee but also to die rather then they should renounce that faith that hope that confidence which they have in Gods mercies and in Christs merits For as Chrysostome saith m Chrysrst ad popul Autiochen homil 67. The Christian mans life should bee full of blood not by shedding of other mens blood but by a strong resolution to shed his owne blood for Christ when it shall be needfull Hee that is thus disposed is not led with n 2. Tim. 1.7 the Spirit of feare as our enemies hypocrites and ignorantly zealous brethren say but with the Spirit of power of love and of a sound minde The occasions will teach him when Gods will is that he flee when that he slay to die Therefore wee should pray one for another as Paul did for Timothie o 2. Tim. 1.7 The Lord give thee understanding in all things X. If these words be taken in a figurative and allegoricall sense then as I have said they are an exhortation to patience like unto many others which ye reade in the Psalmes and in the Prophets David saith p Psal 37.7 Be silent to the Lord and waite patiently for him Esaiah said to the Iewes q Isam 30.15 In quietnesse and confidence shall be your strength Ye reade in the Lamentations of Ieremiah r Lament 3.26 27 28 29. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly waite for the salvation of the Lord It is good for a man that he beare the yoake in his youth Hee sitteth alone and keepeth silence because hee hath borne it upon him Hee putteth his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope Which figurative manner of speeches are thus set downe else-where in proper words Å¿ Luk. 21.19 In your patience possesse ye your soules ye have need of patience that after yee have done the will of God yee might receive the promise But the Spirit of God useth such figurative speeches in this matter because they are very popular and most fit to expresse the nature of patience for because the people was to be led captive into Babylon and to be
g Iuvenal Sat. 2. Esse aliquos manes subterranea regna Nec pueri credunt that whatsoever was spoken of old amongst the Gentiles is written in the Scriptures is beleeved in the Church of divels of hell of everlasting torments is but a bug-beare or scare-crow to feare superstitious folkes and hold them in awe But they strive unprofitably against the streame of their owne consciences which with a roaring voice doth summon them day and night to appeare before the judgement seat of the inexorable and Almighty Iudge Of all men those feare hell most who say there is no hell The sound of a shaking leafe maketh their hearts to shake for feare when there is none to pursue them And even then when they preach to men that hell is a fable they finde a most direfull hell within themselves burning up the most secret bowells of their wretched soules Why did Iudas hang himselfe when there was none upon earth to doe him any harme if there be no hell Death was more tolerable unto him than the feare of the unestimable torments which now hee suffereth there What were r Suet in Nerone c. 46 the monstrous dreames of Nero What Å¿ Xiphilinus Epitome Dionis the hideous and most ugly ghosts of those whom he had slaine which he saw a little before his death bounding out of the earth and leaping to his throat but a warning to appeare the next day in judgement to give an account of so much Christian and innocent blood which he had most wickedly shed If there bee no judgement after this life from whence came it that t Pro copius de bello Gothico lib. 1. Theodoricke king of the Gothes Protector of the wicked heresie of the Arrians after hee had put to death the 2. worthy Senators of Rome Symmachus Boetius because they maintained the true faith could not looke upon the head of a great fish that was set upon his table crying that it was the head of Symmachus which with most horrible yawning and fierie eyes sought to devoure him That was a citing indeed for suddenly he was taken to his bed and from thence to the grave v Thuanus lib. 57. Aubig 2. tom lib. 1. The Authors of the Massacres of France could not be at quiet many dayes after that bloody Tragedy for the horrible sight of great multitudes of ugly Ravens hovering about the Louure and voyces which cryed incessantly in their eares Murther murther murther suing them to come personally before him who sitteth on the throne and before the Lambe whom they had slaine in his members 'T is a truth not onely x Audreas Liba de cruentatione Cadaverum Levinus Lemnius de occultis natura miraculis lib. 2. cap. 7. ascertained by bookes but also averred by dayly experience in all nations That if a murtherer come in sight of the person whom hee hath slain the Coarse though almost rotten and stinking will bleed and disclose him What is that bleeding but a testimony that if men will not y Psal 58.11 There is a God that iudgeth in the earth and in his owne time will be avenged of all murtherers namely of them who lay violent hands upon his deare ones Therefore when the soules under the Altar cryed for vengeance against the persecuters who had stained their hands with their innocent blood a Rev. 6.11 it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled For as God spared the b Gen. 15.16 Amorites till their iniquity was full and as the Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees c Mat. 23.32 Fillye up the measure of your fathers because then all the righteous blood which their fathers had shed was to come upon them So the Lord hath a time appointed for the full deliverance of his Church and everlasting destruction of his enemies even the last and great day of this decaying world d 2. Thes 1.7 8 9 10 When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall bee punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to bee admired in all that beleeve in that day XV. Day which is a day of wrath e Zephan 1.15 a day of trouble and distresse a day of vastnesse and desolation a day of darknes and gloominesse a day of clouds and thicke darkenesse A night rather than a day yea both a day and a night A day wherein Gods judgements against all ungodly men shall shine cleerer than the noone day A night because of the place of the extreamity of the universalitie of the eternity of the effects of the paine whereunto they shall bee condemned by this thundering voice and unrecallable sentence of their righteous ludge f Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divell and his Angels To hell must they goe even to the darke and ugly g 1. Pet. 3.19 prison which shall be the last habitation of all ungodly sinners How pleasant how faire soever a prison be we say that there were never faire prisons And therefore what will not a man suffer rather than to goe to prison he will flee he will give all that he hath hee will runne to his friends and cry for succour h Aug. de verbis Aposto li. serm 18 Contremiscis c onturbaris pallescis c. S. Augustine saith that in his time they would flee to the Church runne to the Bishop fall downe lye wallowing at his feete cry with a pale countenance with a trembling voice My Lord I am troubled my Lord I am to be cast in prison take pitty of me relieve me So hard so unsufferable a paine doth it seeme to all men to bee in prison though it there were no other paine to be suffered but to be closed up Yea our owne houses would be hatefull unto us if our liberty of going abroad were restrained O then how huge how intolerable shall bee the torments of those bloody butchers who have shed the blood of Gods Saints like water when they shall bee cast headlong into the hellish prison which may bee most properly called i Iob 10.21 22. the land of darknesse and of the shadow of death Where there is no order and where light it selfe is darknesse O how shall they tremble how shall they cry and teare their soules when they shall bee violently throwne downe into the k Luk. 18.31 deepe and bottomlesse pit which m Aug. in 50. Homilius hom 16 â—uÌ„ sine poenitentiae remedio infoelices peccatores exceperit c. when it hath received impenitent sinners