levelled to the ground turned into ashes and now there is nothing to be seene where they stood but dens of Foynes and Foxes but heapes of unprofitable stones but thickets of thistles nettles and bryers I have seene many great honest families broght by the barbarous rude souldier to cleanenes of teeth constrained to begge when these Horse-leeches were feeding upon their spoyles To how manie have yee even ye your selves inlarged your mercifull and charitable bowels who were accustomed to be bountifull unto others and who come to you to be the glorious object of the forwardnesse and overflowing grace of your cheerfull and liberall charity after that they were compelled like r Mark 14 51 52. the young man in the Gospel to leave in the hands of the robbers the sheet which others lesse cruell had left them to cover their nakednesse and to flie from them naked thinking themselves happie to be like unto ſ Ier. 39.18 Ebed-melech and t Ier. 45.5 Baruch after thē destruction of Ierusalem by the Babylonians and to have their life for a prey 14 But that also is not granted to all for the blood-thirstie crueltie of the wicked cannot be quenched but with the blood of the righteous The Lord Iesus the author and finisher of our Faith the Shepheard and Bishop of our soules after that v Heb. 12.2 he had endured the contradiction of sinners against himselfe was at the last set to sale by one of his owne Disciples betrayed with a kisse delivered unto the insolencie of the souldiers tyed hard with cordes beaten spitefully crowned with thornes scourged most cruelly brought forth to the Iews disfigured with streames of blood flowing from the most parts of his wounded bodie an ugly spectacle to make Rocks to cleave Tygres to weepe and the Divels themselves to quake and start backe with sorrow But all that cannot satisfie these more than stony-hearted and hellish Cannibals forthwith they cry x Ioh. 19.15 Away with him away with him crucifie him His death they thirst after neither can anie thing slake their thirst but the blood of his death His Disciples fared not better than hee y Act. 7.59 Steven the first Martyr was stoned for his sake What welcome his Apostles got of those to whom they preached the good tydings of peace yee may judge by the relation which the Apostle makes of the Feasts wherewith hee was intertained at his first comming to them a 2. Cor. 11.24 25 26 27. Of the Iewes saith he five times received I forty stripes save one thrice was I beaten with roddes once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwracke a night and a day I have beene in the deepe In iournying often in perills of waters in perills of robbers in perills by mine owne countrey men in perills by the heathen in perills in the city in perills in the wildernesse in perills in the sea in perills among false brethren In wearinesse and painfulnesse in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakednesse Behold I pray you in this one Apostle a three-fold universalitie of the evils which he suffered of the places where he suffered of the persons of whom he suffered he suffered hunger thirst nakednes cold imprisonment scourges and whips stoning shipwrack No place was a place of refuge to him against so many evils he suffred by sea by land in the citie in the wildernesse Lo wheresoever he came to preach there he found a crosse to take up and to be laid upon his shoulders All kind of persons had a quarrell to him the Gentiles and the Iewes of his owne nation known enemies and false brethren They conspired all they concurred all to bereave him of his life and prevailed for after that hee had passed thorow the burning Fornace of all other evils he was beheaded at Rome by the commandment of the Emperour Nero. When one Apostle one member of Christs Church was so hardly used thinke ye that the rest who sailed with him in the same ship did sleepe upon a calme and quiet sea without wagging and danger of shipwrack b Act. 12.2 Herod killed Iames the brother of Iohn with the sword c Rev. 10. Iohn was relegated into the Isle of Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Iesus Christ d Act. 5.40 41. after that he and the rest of the Apostles had been beaten had suffered shame for Christs Name at Ierusalem e Ioh. 21.18 19. The Lord foretold Peter that he should glorifie him by a violent death but where we know not for the probabilities be many that he was never at Rome The Ecclesiastical Stories tell us that f Dorotkgus in Synopsi Cyprian de duplici Martyrio Sabellicus Aeneid 7. lib. 2. c. Andrew his brother was crucified at Patros Bartholomew was flayed quick in a town of Armenia called Albana Philip was tyed to a poste and stoned to death at Hierapolis Thomas was put to death by the Indians to whom he preached the Gospel Matthew was nailed quicke to the ground at Myrmena Iames the sonne of Alpheus was cast headlong from the pinacle of the temple of Ierusalem and felled with stones and clubs Iude Lebbeus called also Thaddeus laid downe his life for the Gospel at Beryta after that hee had preached Christ to the Edesseniens and all Mesopotamia Simon the Cannite suffered martyrdome in Mauritania Matthias was executed amongst the Aethiopians Mark the Evangelist was trailed thorow the streetes of Alexandria in Egypt with a halter about his neck and afterwards burnt quicke Luke was hanged upon an Olive tree All the Apostles all the Evangelists sealed the doctrine of the Gospel with their innocent blood 15 The cruell tyrant Nero sowed the Christians in Wolves in Beares and other wilde beasts skins and uncoupling his Hounds and Mastiffes after them made the tearing and dismembring of innocent and godly men a game for the people to behold Others he tooke and heaping them one upon another as so manie Fagots set them on fire that they might serve for fire to warme and for light to shine by night to those which walked thorow the streets of Rome g Ters Apologet cap. 5. Sed tali dedicatore damnationis nostrae etiam gloriamur c. Wee glory saith Tertullian in this setter forth of our condemnation for whosoever knoweth him may iudge that nothing could be condemned by Nero but that which is a very good thing I should be too prolixe and tedious if I should name particularly all the circumstances of ten heavie persecutions which lasted 318. yeares from the eighth yeare of that lumpe of clay soked in blood called Nero unto Constantine the Great under Nero Domitian Traian Antoninus Verus Severus Maximinus Decius Valerian Aurelian Dioclesian in whose time so much blood was shed in one day that the executioners were wearie and faint with killing as h Euseb hist Eccles lib. 8. cap.
forgivenesse of sinne And such were some of you saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 6. reckoning many fins light and heavy usuall and horrible And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified If then he say that they are sanctified let every beleever say I am holy This is not pride of one that is haughty Non est ista superbâ—â—â—â—â—â— sed confessio non ingratâ— but a confession of one that is not unthankefull for if thou say that thou art holy of thy selfe thou art proude Againe beleeving in Christ and being a member of Christ if thou say not that thou art holy thou art unthankefull For the Apostle reproving pride saith not Thou hast not but he saith 1. Cor. 4. What hast thou that thou didst not receive Thou wast not reproved for saying that thou hadst that which thou hadst not but because thou wouldest have of thy selfe that which thou hadst yea acknowledge both that thou hadst and that thou hast nothing of thy selfe to the end that thou be neither proud nor unthankefull Dic Deo tuoe Sanctus sum quia sanctifieastime quia accepi non quia habuâ— quia in dedist non quia ego meruâ— Say to thy God I am holy because thou hast sanctified me because I have received it not because I had it because thou hast given it not because I have deserved it For on the other part thou beginnest to offer an iniury to our Lord Iesus Christ himselfe For if all Christians and beleevers and all that are baptized in him have put him on as the Apostle saith Gal. 3. As many of you as have beene baptized into Christ have put on Christ if they be made members of his body and say that they are not holy they offer a wrong to the head it selfe whose members are holy Looke now where thou art and take dignitie from thy head For ye were sometimes darkenesse but now are ye light in the Lord Ephes 5. He saith Yee were sometimes darknesse but have ye remained darknesse He that enlightneth is he come that yee should remaine darkenesse or that ye should be light in him Let therefore every Christian say yea let the whole body of Christ say Let him that suffereth tribulations diverse tentations and innumerable scandals cry and say Preserve my soule because I am holy IX It is no matter what many men which are not righteous thinke and speake of themselves every foole is a wise man in his owne eyes Many beggers have kings hearts and will bragge much of their antiquitie and worthinesse of their kindred and of the glory of their riches At Athens there was a certaine man called Å¿ Athenae lib. 12. Thrasylaus who detained with a pleasant madnesse deemed that all the ships which arrived there were his and in this same towne there is a foole who thinketh verily that he is King of great Britanne If a foole think that he is wise shall a wise man call himselfe a foole If a begger say that he is rich shall a rich man say of himselfe that he is poore If a man troubled in his hypochondres imagineth that hee is King of this Island shall the King mistake himselfe and put in question whether he be King or no If an hypocrite or a wicked man crack much of his owne righteousnesse shall he whom God hath mercifully clothed with this wedding garment denie what he hath received and say to his benefactor who hath bought him Thou art not my father X. We must not weigh such men in the deceiving weights of their owne imaginations but take the true balances of Gods word and weigh them therein There you shal reade of them that which was said to Belschatsar King of Babylon t Dan. 5.27 Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting There you shall finde them set out in very darke smoakie and hellish colours both in their inside and outside v Psal 59. Their inward part is very wickednesse There is no faithfulnesse in their mouth their throat is an open sepulchre they flatter with their tongue x 2 Pet. 2.14 Their eyes are full of adultery y Ier. 5 8. They are as fed horses when they rise in the morning every one neigheth after his neighbours wife a Psal 144.8 Their right hand is a right hand of falshood b Esa 59.7 8. Their feet runne to evill and they make haste to shed innocent blood Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity wasting and destruction are in their paths The way of peace they know not and there is no iudgement in their goings With all this having in themselves c Deut. 29.18 19. a root bearing gall and wormewood they adde drunkennesse to thirst hardnesse of heart contempt of God to sinne d Iob 21.14 15. They say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profite should we have if wee pray unto him The cause of all is e Psal 36.1 2 3 4. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart There is no feare of God before his eyes For he flattereth himselfe in his owne eyes when his iniquity is found to be hated The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit he hath left off to be wise and to doe good He deviseth mischiefe upon his bed he setteth himselfe in a way that is not good he abhors not evill For this cause such men are called f Psal 14.4 workers of iniquity God judging of them qualifying them not according to the ill which they do but according to the ill which they are willing to do For as righteous men doe not the good which they would doe and do the evill which they would not do so they contrariwise do often the good which they would not doe and doe not all the evill which they would doe XI For being servile and base minded often thorough a slavish feare of punishment they abstaine from evill and now and then through a mercenary hope of reward they doe some good like unto the Scribes and Pharisees whom Christ cursed with many woes for their manifold sinnes and namely because g Matt. 23.25 they made cleane the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they were full of extortion and excesse Such mens works which have a goodly shew what are they else but as one of the ancient Doctors of the Latin Church called them h Splendida peccata Glorious and glistering sinnes Therefore Christ said to his Disciples i Mat. 5.20 that except their righteousnesse should exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees they should in no case enter into the Kingdome of heaven Neverthelesse both hypocrites who abstaine from ill-doing through feare and i Matt. 23.5 doe all their workes to be seene of men having a k 2. Tim. 3.5 shew of godlinesse but denying the power
the blessed and perpetuall memory of the Church behold them destitute of meat to fill their bellies and of honest clothing to goe abroad eye them shrowding their nakednesse basely and poorely under sheepe and goat-skinnes view them now flying to the deserts and high mountaines now hiding themselves in dens and caves of the earth to save their lives Remember q 1. Kin. 18.13 the hundred Prophets which Obadiah hid by fifties in two caves feeding them with bread and water The Saints were thus put unto the pinch when their enemies and persecuters were full-gorging themselves with their goods 11 Behold the whips and scourges wherewith r Exod. 5.13 Pharaohs mercilesse taske masters teared and rent the flesh from the bones of Gods people Were not Å¿ 1. Kin. 22.27 Micaiah and t Ier. 20.2 Ier. 37.15 16. Ieremiah the Prophets of the Lord cast into a strait prison and there fed with bread and water of affliction to starve v 1. King 21.13 Naboth was he not killed with stones for his Vineyard Was not that the hyre wherewith x 2. Chro. 24.22 Ioash the Apostat payed Zachariah son of Iehoiada the high Priest for his conservation and education and requited the kindnesse which Iehoiada had done to him y Origen in Matth. cap. 23. Isaiah was cut thorow the middle with a Saw by Manasses Iesus Christ charged the Iewes and Ierusalem with z Matt. 23.34 37. scourging killing crucifying stoning persecuting of the Prophets wise men and Scribes wichwere sent unto them How manie hellish and horrible torments found out the Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes against the Iewes who would not leave the Law of the Lord their God Yee know a 2. Macc. 7. the story of the seven brethren and of their godly mother whom hee commanded first to be maimed then the skin to be pulled off their head with the haire and finally to be brought to the fire and fryed in a hote Caldron 12 Salomon saith truely that b Eccles 7.1 a good name is better than precious oyntment Neyther is there anie honest-hearted man but he findeth comfort in his povertie in his basenesse in all his most sharpe and pricking afflictions in death it selfe so that his reputation be kept spotlesse and that in his calamitie hee may shun to be made a mocking-stock For ye shall finde few men or women who desire to out-live their own dishonour and shame and there is no righteous man who can abide the disgracing injuries wherewith God is pierced thorow his side Neverthelesse discredit infamie shame is also the righteous mans share No affliction did nip c Iob 16.10 Iob 17 6. Iob 19 18. Iob 2.9 Iob so sensibly as when he saw himselfe to be made a laughing stock to young children a by-word of the people a Tabret before all men a Butt of reproaches to his best friends and to his owne wife d Iudg. 16.21 25. Sampson suffered patiently the pulling out of his eyes the binding of his armes and feet with fetters of brasse and the vile and toylsome grinding in the prison-house But when the Lords of the Philistins sent for him that he might make them sport and when he heard them thanking Dagon their fishie god for the affliction wherwith his God the God of heaven which hath made the sea and the dry land had visited him he forgate patience and cryed to heaven for vengeance David complained of his enemies because e Psal 35.21 they opened their mouth wide against him and said Aha Aha Our eye hath seene him c But f Psal 42.10 it was a sword in his bones whilst they said daily unto him Where is thy God Then he cryes to his God g Psal 69.9 The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me The Prophet Elisha cursed in the name of the Lord the little children who mocked him crying h 2. Kin. 2.23 24. Goe up thou bald head goe up thou bald head and called for the Beares of the wood to teare them i Lament 1.7 8. Ierusalem sighed when all that honoured her in her prosperitie despised her in her adversitie because they had seene her nakednesse and did mocke at her Sabbaths Then Ierusalem then the Church complained k Psal 79.1 2 3 4 5. O God the Heathen are come into thine inheritances thy holy Temple have they defiled they have layd Ierusalem on heapes The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meate unto the fowles of the heaven the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth Their blood have they shed like water round about Ierusalem and there was none to bury them We are become a reproach to our neighbours a scorne and derision to them that are round about us Then they all cryed How long LORD wilt thou be angry for ever Shall thy iealousie burn like fire But that which lay heaviest upon their hearts was l Psal 74.4 5 6 7 10. to heare Gods enemies roring in the midst of his congregations to see them set up their Ensignes for signes their armes lifting up axes upon the interlaced timber of the Sanctuary breaking downe with axes and hammers the carved worke thereof and burning it into ashes with all the Synagogues of God in the land Then they could not chuse but mourn and cry O God how long shall the adversarie reproach Shall the enemy blaspheme thy Name for ever 13 All the righteous men of the Christian Church have in all times beene tryed with these three kinds of tentations The Lord Iesus our Master and head m Matt. 8.20 had not where to lay his head Neither would his persecuters n Ioh. 19.23 suffer him to dye in the garments which he had but stript him of them leaving him nothing to hide his nakednesse The blessed Apostles the Rams and ring-leaders of Christs flock o Act. 3.6 had neyther gold nor silver but did p 1. Cor. 4.11 12. hunger and thirst and were naked and had no certaine dwelling place and laboured working with their owne hands In the primitive Church whosoever had goods were made a prey to Christs enemies and the Apostle beareth them witnesse that q Heb. 10.34 they tooke ioyfully the spoyling of their goods Many of you to whom I speake have heard your fathers relate how many quarrels were maliciously pickt against them to begger them and undoe their estates and how leaving all in Babylon as Lot did in Sodom to escape the burning thereof and save their soules they came to this blessed refuge and Sanctuary of Gods people in their shirts as Iacob passed the river Iordan and came to Laban having no other provisions and helps for his journey and peregrination but his staffe alone In these last troubles of France I who now speake to you have seene townes which before were girded with Walls fortified with Bulwarkes flanked with Turrets sowen with the seed of true Christians defaced
suffereth in us as when the head suffereth all the members suffer and when the members suffer the head suffereth Is not Christ the head are we not the members of his body This was the cause why the Apostles after they were beaten x Act. 5.41 reioyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christs name for this same cause the Apostle reioyced that he was y Eph. 4.1 the prisoner of the Lord that a Gal 6.17 he bare in his body the markes of the Lord Iesus that b Col. 1.24 hee filled up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for though all Christs sufferings bee accomplished and c Ioh 19.30 finished in capite in the head for the redemption of the Church yet they are not all fulfilled in corpore in the body for the edification of the Church but as long as there shall be in the world one faithfull to suffer Christ shall have some evill to suffer because Christ and the faithfull are one S. Paul was scholed with this Iesson before his entry into the Church when the Lord Iesus cryed unto him d Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me even as when ye tread a man upon the foot the head will cry Why treadest thou on me What wonder then if e Phil. 3.8 10. he counted all things but doung that he might know Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings that he might be made conformable unto his death and if hee rendred testimonie to all the Christians of his time that f Rom. 5.3 they gloried in tribulations O bonds more honourable than the Diadems of Kings O tribulations more glorious than the glory of Salomon Is there any golden chaine so glistering as the irons wherwith the Confessors are shackled for Christ Is there any glory to be matched with the glory of the blessed Martyrs suffering with Christ and in their sufferings made conformable to his image The Pagans say that it is sweete and honourable to dye for our countrey The souldiers glory in the wounds which they have received for the defence of their chimneyes And those which are led to the gallows for the service of their King feele glory in their shame and professe that they diâ—content seeing they die for their Soveraignes sake What is our native soyle compared with the Church what is the most glorious King of the earth paragoned with Christ Lesse than nothing We glory in our death for men which when we are dead cannot reward us and shall we bee ashamed to dye for Christ who when we are dead giveth us life and satiateth with immortall honours those which honor him for g Rom. 8.17 if we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him For this cause h Tert. Apologet cap. 1.46 ult Iust Apol 1. the first Christians when they were condemned thanked their Iudges but principally they thanked God saying i Aug. ser de Cypriano Deo gratias Thankes be to God so did our fathers and so must we doe So then ye have heard the causes why God will have his children to suffer for their owne sakes He will eyther chastise them for the sinnes which they have committed or restraine them from the sinnes which they might perpetrate or try them to make knowne how they can carry themselves in affliction or put in practice the manifold graces wherewith hee hath endued them or honour them with the glory of his Confessors and Martyrs X. When they are thus afflicted God hath also regard to other men First their afflictions are meanes whereby the Elect are converted to God Christ when he was persecuted in one Towne fled into another and preached there He k Mat. 10.23 commanded his Disciples to doe the like By occasion of the persecution in Ierusalem l Act. 8.1 4 Act. 11.19 20. the brethren were scattered abroad throughout the Regions of Iudea of Samaria of Phenice of Cyprus of Antioch where they preached the Lord Iesus and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number beleeved and turned unto the Lord. Why were n Act. 16.19 31. Paul and Silas cast into prison at Philippi The event shewed that God did it for the conversion of the Iaylor who was one of his Elect. And therefore Paul said o 2 Tim. 2 10. that hee endured all things for the Elects sake that they might also obtaine the salvation which is in Christ Iesus with eternall glory And writing to the Philippians from the prison at Rome where hee received the glorious crowne of Martyrdome he saith p Phil. 1.13 that the things which happened unto him had fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel so that his bonds in Christ were manifest to all Cesars Court and in all other places For howsoever he was q 2. Tim. 2.14 bound the word of God was not bound The prison was his Church there he preached and there he converted many Thus the Albigenses of France being dispersed by a most furious and violent persecution went preaching the Gospel in Germanie in Bohemia in England All the flourishing Churches in Europe at this day are the harvest which they sowed but especially r Tert. Apologet ca. ult Idem ad Scapul cap. ult Clemens Alex Strom. 4. the seede of the Church is the bloud of Christians for those which behold their constancy wonder wondering they inquire the cause thereof inquiring they learne it learning it they are converted Å¿ Iustin Apolog 1. Euseb lib. 4. cap. 8. Iust Mart. beholding the unexpugnable constancie of Christians in the atrocitie and extremitie of their torments said to himselfe that such men which made no account of death could not bee men given to pleasures and wickednesse because voluptuous men being timorous and faint-hearted cannot suffer any thing which is grievous to be felt and above all things fear death therupon he was converted became of an Idolater a ChristiaÌ„ of a Philosopher a Martyr I might relate unto you a most true storie of a Noble man converted by the wonderfull constancy of those of whom I spake in my last Sermon and protesting at the houre of his death that hee dyed in their faith But by this which I have said ye see that the temporall death of Gods Saints is eternall life and salvation to many of Gods Elect. Likewise their constancie and wonderfull boldnesse to maintaine the Gospell against all the wisedome and power of the world their holy stoutnesse to die for it is no small comfort to the Church and a great confirmation to the weake brethren which use the Apostle found in his bonds as he saith That t Phil 1.14 by them many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident were much more bold to speake the word without feare For this cause Saint Iohn saith that v 1. Ioh. 3.16 as Christ laid downe his life for us so wee ought to lay downe our lives for
for thy word saying When wilt thou comfort me XVI The comfort to them all is this that their affliction which to them is too too long is but a moment not onely in respect of God y 2. Pet. 3.8 with whom one day is as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeeres as one day but also in regard of the eternity of unspeakeable glory wherewith it shall be swallowed up a Rom 8.18 For I reckon saith the Apostle that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory which shall bee revealed in us Glory which these sufferings worke in us b 2. Cor. 4.17 For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory even so farre as it subdueth our pride mortifieth our lusts and is the Lords high way unto our eternall blisse Whereunto if yee adde the promise of deliverance even in this life nothing shall be wanting to our full comfort XVII What then shall we doe till the Lord come and deliver us what but waite upon the Lords pleasure The lewes knew by revelation from God the time of their bondage in Egypt and captivitie in Babylon which being come to an end they said confidently to God c Psal 102.13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come We have no such revelation and therefore we must bee content to relye upon Gods generall promise and say with David d Psal 130.5 I waite for the LORD my soule doth waite and in his word doe I hope assured that howsoever it seeme that heaven and earth conspire against us and that wee are brought to the pinch he shall put a new song in our mouthes and give us a most plentifull subject to sing as David did e Psal 40.1 In waiting I waited for the LORD and he inclined unto me and heard my cry f Heb. 10.23 For hee is faithfull that promised And g Luk. 1.37 with him no word is impossible The Lord in his great mercies give us this patient hope and assurance for Christ Iesus his deare sons sake who with him and the holy Ghost liveth and raigneth God blessed for evermore Amen SERM. IX Of Gods Iudgements upon Persecuters and of the last deliverance of the Church ESAIAH XXVI 21. For behold the LORD commeth out of his place to visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slaine 1. THe last motive to patience is taken from the Iudgements of God 2. The Lord is said to come when he iudgeth 3. He is said to come out of his place when his iudgements and mercies are made conspicuous 4. He visiteth the inhabitants of the earth eyther in iudgement or in mercy 5. Wicked men are called the inhabitants of the earth for godly men are strangers here 6. God will visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity which they thinke to bee good service to God 7. God will be avenged of those which shed the blood of his deare ones 8. Because he is righteous and faithfull 9. Great iudgements on persecuters 10. Namely on great men under the law 11. And principally on those who have persecuted the Christian Church 12. Prosperity in this world is a token of Gods indignation rather than of his love 13. The torments of hell prepared for wicked men 14. Their conscience tells them there is a hell 15. Hell is a place penall in its owne selfe 16. There is there paine of dammage most unsufferable 17. As likewise unconceiveable paine of sense 18. Which is universall 19. And everlasting 20. Persecuters above all others shall be tortured there with most exquisite torments 21. Great shall be in that day the glory of Gods Saints and terrible to their Persecuters 22. Great difference betweene the life and the end of wicked and of godly men 23. The Church cannot be destroyed 24. Exhortation and consolation 1. AS the words of this text are from God the last so should they bee in your hearts a most powerfull motive to a patient tarrying for the blessed time which the wisedome of the Lord hath appointed for the glorious and finall reliefe of his Church from all misery Ye may call the text DAN i e. Iudgement for it threatneth with no small mischiefe all bloody and cruell persecuters and by their overthrow promiseth deliverance to them which are persecuted The time of the one and of the other is not a time of many yeares moneths weekes dayes The afflictions of the Church shall be gone in a moment as ye have heard In a moment also shall come the destruction of those that persecute her who in their greatest prosperity are a Minut. Felix ut victima ad supplicium saginantur ut hostia ad poenam corâ—nantur like beasts fatted b Zeph. 1.8 and crowned with garlands for the day of the Lords sacrifice wherein saith the Lord I will punish the Princes and the Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparell II. For behold the Lord commeth O open the eyes of your minde ô bid your faith rise from her sleepe to behold in the immutable truth of the Lords threats in the inevitable power of his iustice in the innumerable iudgements which he hath already dispatched against wicked oppressors in his more than motherly love to his deare ones his promptnesse and readinesse to deliver his Church by the overthrow of all her enemies Hee he himselfe he who is the Lord will destroy them Neither shall they be able to shield themselves against the Lord He will not tarry he will not delay his comming Behold be commeth he is already on his iourney III. From whence commeth he Out of his place O Lord Art thou so in one place that thou art not at the same time in all places O infinite Maiestie c August ad Volusian Epist 3. Novit ubique totus esse nullo contmeri loco Novit venire non recedendo ubi erat Novit abire non desereÌ„do quo venerat Miratur hoc mens humaena quia non capit fortasse non credit thou canst be every where at one time and yet thou art do where Thou fillest with thy presence every place and loe thou art not contained in any place Thou canst come and not goe from the place where thou wast Thou canst depart and not leave the place whereunto thou didst come Our soules wonder at this but because of their narrownesse they cannot comprehend it O Lord grant that we may beleeve it And tell us how thou who hast the heaven for d Esa 66.1 thy throne and the earth for thy footstoole thou who sayest of thy selfe Doe I not fill the heaven and the earth O most wonderfull God teach us how thou commest and goest Dost thou not speake so not of
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
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
kingdomes prosper the people have peace when generous and worthy men who hate couetousnesse flattery and envy who respect above all worldly things the honour of the King who have no other end of their actions but the weal of the State are neerest to Kings DARIVS King of Persia holding a Pomegranet in his hand wished in stead of all treasures to have as many ZOPYRES as there were graines in that Apple shewing that there is nothing so needfull and profitable to Kings as faithfull Counsellers and servants of the chiefe of the Nobilitie such as ZOPYRVS was and yet no Iewell so rare to be found For though there be many nobles about Kings there be few upon whose fidelitie wisdome and magnanimitie Kings may relie Therefore blessed is this Realme wherein so many ZOPYRES so many of the heads of the Nobilitie are ever neere our most wise religious and righteous Kings eares Amongst whom your Honour shineth as a radiant Planet among the bright and glistering starres What are generositie wisdome faithfulnesse to the King love to the native soyle good and acceptable services to the State but gorgeous and glittering sinnes if they be severed from true godlinesse from faith in our Lord IESVS CHRIST from love to his beloved Church from holinesse of life and good workes acceptable to God What are Courtiers what are the Nobles of the Land what are Kings themselves without Christian vertues but like a certaine people of Asia which were wont to carry earthen vessels in golden Boxes What are all their riches honours dignities pleasures pastimes delights but trifles but faire vanishing bubbles which must give place to things more solid that bring to true beleevers an everlasting felicitie and ioy For as the shell of an Egge howsoever it bee white smoothe and well formed must bee broken that the Chicken may come out and that wherefore the shell was made appeare So the fashion and shew of this world must passe away that the incomprehensible estate which God hath laid up and keepeth in heaven for his deare ones may shine and bee made manifest Therefore where greatnesse and godlinesse where wordly prerogatives and celestiall priviledges where carnall and spirituall nobilitie faith in Christ and faithfulnesse to the King love to the State and charitie to the Church a vehement passion for the common-weale and true zeale to God are ioyned and maried together as they are in your Honours person every man that seeth them is bound to acknowledge to admire and to praise them and to render all honour and serviceable duties to those whom God hath so mercifully wonderfully honoured This then is the cause of the Dedication of these my Sermons to your Honour For who shall blame me if so far as in me is I honour with my Penne a Lord whom God hath sorichly honoured with his Gifts And who shall denie but that Sermons of the righteous mans evils and of the Lords deliverances may yea should bee dedicated to a Lord who though living in the midst of worldly contentments eateth the Paschall Lambe not onely with unleavened bread of sincerity truth but also with the bitter hearbes of godly sorrow ever sighing ever sobbing before God for the affliction of Ioseph ever praying ever crying to heaven for the deliverance restauration of Ierusalem lapping of the glib-sliding pleasures of this transitorie and fugitive life as GEDEONS souldiers lapped of the running waters and tasting them with thanks-giving as temporall gifts of God but drinking great draughts of teares flowing from the eyes of spirituall sadnesse ever expecting with a most firme hope the accomplishment of the Prophecies by the ruine of Babylon and deliverance of the Church ever hastening setting forward that necessary glorious worke by courageous and faithfull counsels and all other meanes lawfull and possible I cannot omit that which toucheth my selfe For being banished from France for the Gospell of Christ and for my nations sake and comming to his Maiesties Court where like unto ENDIMION after his long sleepe I saw nothing but new faces and seemed to my selfe as a man fallen out of the Cloudes your Honour embraced me with such kindnesse and humanitie and recommended me to his Maiestie with such affection that I should be iustly condemned of ingratitude if I did ever forget it Let that foule vice goe and burie it selfe in the gulfe of hell where it was bred I had rather be esteemed clownish and home-bred by rendring to your Honour in these unpolished sheetes such thankes as I can than called unthankefull by neglecting of my dutie The poore woman with her mite was as acceptable to God as the rich men with their rich gifts because shee gave what she had with a free heart And great Lords receive of their Vassals strawes and trifles for homage of great tenements I doubt not but this small and unworthy hommage shall finde in your most worthy Lordship the like acceptation as comming from one who with a true heart poures out his prayers to God for the increasing of all the blessings of this life and of the life to come upon your most honourable Person and illustrious Familie and who is Your Honours most humble most obedient and most affectionate Servant Gilbert Primerose THE RIGHTEOVS MANS EVILS AND THE LORDS DELIVERANCES THE FIRST SERMON Of Evils incident to man as he is man and of the Righteous man PSAL. 34. VER 19. Many are the evills of the righteous but the LORD delivereth him out of them all I. ALl men are subiect to many evills II. Kings Princes great men III. As well as other men IV. David ascribeth to the righteous man mo evills than to other men V. If the righteous man be examined according to the rules of the Law there is none righteous VI. If in Gods mercifull acceptation of the will for the deed all true Christians are righteous VII Description of the righteous negatively and affirmatively VIII He that is righteous and holy may call himselfe so IX Although hypocrites and wicked men claime that name to themselves X. The true characters of wicked men XI Their best workes are great sinnes XII The Church is the Congregation of righteous men and is assaulted with many evills XIII Exhortation to righteousnesse I IF wee take but a slight view of man who in his own pride and loftinesse of minde hath taken to himselfe the glorious title of the Little world if wee consider him in his person in his state wee shall finde that he is but a cage of rottennesse a sinke of filth and a world of wretchednesse The seed wherof he comes is a stinking excrement and the ground wherein he is sowen is a quagmire of dirt a sinke of uncleanenesse a strait and darke pit of loathsome and pestilent putrefaction from whence he doth not escape but is thrust out as a noisom troublesome guest who neyther can be kept longer nor set at libertie without unspeakeable torments both to the mother who hath
but the evill which I would not that I doe Whereof the Apostle rendreth this reason writing to the Galathians b Gal. 5.17 for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that yee cannot doe the things that yee would teaching most cleerely that the sinnes of the spirituall man come from his weakenesse and not from his will otherwise they should be sinnes of malice and not of infirmitie I conclude then that if mans righteousnesse be strictly examined in the balance of the Law there never was and c Eccles 7.20 there is not a iust man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not saving our Lord Iesus Christ who through the prerogative of his immaculate conception by the wonderfull operation of the holy Spirit was d Rom. 8.3 in the likenesse of sinfull flesh e Heb. 7.26 holy harmelesse undefiled separate from sinners and for that cause is called f Act. 3.14 the Righteous that title belonging only to him in that respect 1. Ioh. 2.1 VI. But what godly men cannot claime to themselves in the rigorous strictnesse of the Law that they finde in Gods mercifull acceptation and in the modification of his blessed Gospel wherein he entitleth his beloved children with this honourable name of Righteous men judging of them not by the imperfect perfection of their righteousnesses g Esa 64.6 which are as filthy ragges but by their affection and earnest endevour to be such as they should and which they strive with might and maine to be h Phil. 3.7 13 14. forgetting those things which are behinde and reaching forth to those things which are before and so pressing toward the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus For God who sheweth himselfe in the Law clothed with the majestuous and inexorable severitie of a Iudge representeth himselfe in the Gospel as a Father arrayed with meekenesse and mercy regarding the willingnesse of his children rather than anie perfection which may besought but shall not be found in their obedidience so long as they are in the way to their home For in the faithfull and true Christian there are two men i Ephes 4.22 24. The old man which we carry with us from our mothers womb when we are first borne and the new man which is given to us when wee are borne againe That man is Satans worke and the bitter fruit of the rebellion of the first Adam This man is the worke of Gods Spirit and the sweet fruit of the obedience of the second Adam That man is corrupt by deceitfull lusts and therefore is ever busied in drawing us away from goodnesse and entising us to evill This man is created after God in righteousnesse and true holinesse and is ever thrusting us forward from evill to good That man is strong and mightie This man is feeble and withstandeth with great difficultie That man though very powerfull hard to be overcome waxeth old and decayeth from day to day untill he be altogether destroyed This man increaseth every day in might and vigour and like the people of Israel when they were upon their journey ascending to appeare before God in Sion goeth k Psal 84.7 from strength to strength till he come l Ephes 4.13 unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ. So that man is at the last subdued overthrowne and killed by this man as the monstrous Gyant Goliah was by little David That man where he reigneth bringeth forth for fruit m Rom. 6.21 22. shame and his end is death This man hath his fruit in holinesse and his end is everlasting life From hence it is that God when he is to speake and make us know what account he maketh of his servants considereth them not according unto those relickes of the old man whose strength is weakened and whose life decayeth and dyeth every day to call them Sinners and wicked ones but for his n Phil. 1.6 owne good workes sake which he hath begun in them and will performe untill the day of Iesus Christ calleth them Saints Righteous Perfect For the Divels worke in us is not so considerable to defame us publikely with the disgracefull name of Sinners and wicked men as Gods worke is to grace us with the honourable title of Saints and Righteous men namely seeing the Lord maintaineth setteth forward performeth his own good work at length destroyeth Satans work in us as I have said What wonder then if he qualifieth us with titles of honour according as we are already shall be hereafter for ever and ever through his power and grace and not according as Satan hath made us and as wee shall not be alwayes for evermore For this cause it is written that o Numb 23.21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Iacob neyther hath he seene perversenesse in Israel Not that there is none but because p Mich. 7.18 he pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant if his heritage covering it with the precious robe of the righteousnesse of his deare Son q Col. 1.22 in whom he hath made us holy unblameable unreproveable and r Coloss 2.10 complete in his own fight And therefore righteous and perfect in Christ of unrighteous and uncomplete in our selves VII The man whom God calleth righteous in this sense is pourtrayed by the holy Spirit as well negatively as affirmatively David saith of him negatively that Å¿ Psal 1.1 he walketh not in the counsaile of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seate of the scornefull and t Psal 119 3. doth no iniquitie S. Iohn saith that v 1. Ioh. 3.6 9. bee sinneth not or as he explaineth himselfe doth not commit sinne that is to say he sinneth not with pleasure and content Whereof the holy Apostle rendreth two reasons for the first he saith that he that committeth sinne is of the Divell he is Satans bond slave for the Divell sinneth from the beginning he hath ever beene is and shall be busied in ill doing Therefore whosoever sinneth as he doth is his and not Gods But the righteous man is delivered out of his clawes through our Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of God x Vers 8. who for this purpose was manifested that he might destroy the workes of the Divell His second reason is this y Vers 9. Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne for his seed the seed of his predestination and of his Spirit remaineth in him and he cannot sinne because he is borne of God a Bern. de natuâ—â digai tat amoâ— c. 6. Piccatum patitur potius quà m facit quiex Deo natur est Bernard saith That he rather suffereth sinne than committeth it According to that saying of the Apostle b Rom. 7.20 If I doe that I
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
thereof and profane men who make no scruple of ill-doing live in prosperitie and l Psal 10.3 boast of their hearts desire But Many are the Evils of the Righteous XII What is the Church of God but the Congregation of righteous men Wicked men are in the Church but they are not of the Church as Lice Fleas Wormes are in the body and are ingendred of the corruption thereof but are no part of the body therefore the Church is called m Deu. 33.5 IESURUN that is the Righteous or the Vpright when it is said of Moses that he was a king in Iesurun i. amongst the upright n Ier. 8.22 Is there no balme in Gilead is there no Physician there If there be none there where shall ye seek them If there be no righteous men in the Church where shall ye finde them It is true that it may be often excepted against the Church considered by great and in the multitude that o Deut. 32.15 IESURUN the upright waxed fat and kicked that when he was growne big fat and thicke he forsooke God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rocke of his salvation p Matt. 20.15 for many be called but few be chosen And these which are chosen have their owne moles and blemishes they are q Isa 48.8 all transgressours from the wombe But if they be compared with other men they are terrestriall Angels and celestiall men as Chrysostome called Paul And we may say in that respect with the Prophet Habakkuk that r Habak 1.13 the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than hee Notwithstanding that the congregation of righteous men the Church of God the deare spouse of our Lord Iesus Christ is so vexed and turmoiled with evils that her God husband nameth her by them as if they were her christned name calling upon her and saying Å¿ Esa 54.11 Oh thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted So that not only this or that righteous man but the whole companie of the righteous if they were to make choice of a Liverie might take for their device the Gules or red colour or as wee use here in England the red Crosse which is the right badge whereby Christ will have his followers to be known saying unto them and of them t Matt. 16.24 If any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse and follow me And if they were to seeke a word to their device amongst thousands which may be found they shall finde none fitter or at least truer than this Many are the afflictions of the Righteous XIII What then were it not better to send a bill of divorce to righteousnesse and bid it farewell that wee may be eased of these many evils for to the righteous the Lord hath said v Ioh. 16.20 Ye shall weepe and lament but of the wicked he saith The world shall reioyce Is not rejoycing better than weeping Is it not better to feast with Herod and to dance with Herodias daughter than to fast to lye in prison and to lose the head for righteousnesse sake with Iohn Baptist The world doth so because the world judgeth so But yee welbeloved know both by your fathers and your owne experience that x Psal 58.11 verily there is fruit for the righteous he hath his reward within himselfe a ful pleasure and delight in the peace of an upright conscience y Pro. 15.15 which is a continuall feast hee liveth in this present World a Tit. 2.12 godly towards God who is the most excellent object that his minde can chuse and most worthie to be loved praised and served in heart words and deeds Righteously towards his neighbour who is his owne flesh and to the purchasing of whose good he is bound by the bands of nature and inward suggestion of his owne conscience Soberly in his owne person to whom he oweth a decent and respectuous care that he never do anie thing misbecoming a man unbeseeming a Christian and unworthy of the ranke wherein God hath placed him For whom shall he not neglect if hee neglect his owne honestie and whom shall he respect if he respect not his owne honour Living so he hath b 1. Tim. 6.6 godlinesse with contentment which is great gaine for c Esa 32.17 the worke of righteousnesse shall be peace and the effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for ever But d Esa 57.21 there is no peace to the wicked saith my God And in the end of the world when the Lord Iesus shall come e Mat. 3.12 with his Fanne in his hand and throughly purge his floore then he will gather his Wheat into the Garner but will burne up the chaffe with unquenchable fire f Matt. 25.32 c. Then in his most righteous judgement he will sunder the good from the lewd the upright from the froward the righteous from the wicked Then he shall set the righteous on his right hand and the wicked on the left Then then by the power of the unchangeable sentence of his most righteous mouth all the wicked shall depart from him into everlasting fire and all the righteous shall goe into eternall life The wicked to burne eternally with the Divell the righteous to reigne for ever and ever with their Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Therefore g Hos 10.12 sow to your selves in righteousnesse and ye shall reape in mercy contentment peace joy eternall life through the merites of our Lord Iesus Christ to whom with the Father the holy Ghost be all power honour and glory world without end Amen SERMON II Of the many evils of the Righteous man PSALM XXXIV XIX Many are the Evills of the Righteous 1. THe Righteous man hath the evils of sinne and of punishment 2 The evill of sin is worse than the evill of punishment 3 The righteous man hath fewer sinnes and lesse sinfull than the wicked man yet hee hath mo Evils of punishment 4 He is slandered of heresie and blasphemy against God whereof there are many examples in the ancient Church 5 And in ours 6 Hee is also slandered of rebellion against the high powers and of all the evills that are in the world So it was 7 So it is 8 Hence all kind of Evills come upon him 9 Whereof Iob is a very cleere example 10 Vnder the Old Testament the faithful were tried by losse of goods 11 By many afflictions in their bodies 12 And by shamefull reproaches 13 The Christians also have beene tryed after the same maner with losse of goods 14 And of their lives 15 Namely under ten heavie persecutions 16 Great cruelties practised against the Reformed Churches of Germany and of France 17 Exhortation to pray for the peace of the Church 1. THe Righteous mans Evills are of two kinds The evills which he doth the evils which he suffereth In the Schools we call them l Malum culpae malum
apostasie and defection from the ancient but too stale religion of their forefathers whereunto Iacob had no regard but sware by the feare of his father Isaac assured of the truth of his Religion which could not be outworne neyther by length of time nor by inveterate custome which is nothing else b Cyprian ad PompeiuÌ„ Epist. 74. Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas erroris est but oldnesse of error The maine point of Hamans accusation against the Iewes was that c Est 3.9 their lawes were diverse from all people neyther did they keepe the Kings lawes Iesus Christ the eternall Sonne of the heavenly Father when he came into the world to bear witnesse unto the truth appealed without anie difficultie unto the conscience of every man d Ioh 8.46 and defied his enemies to prove him faultie in anie thing yet hee could not eschue the venemous poison of reviling tongues The heads of accusations against his innocent and glorious person were that e Mat. 21.23 he preached and did all things without authority that both f Luk. 6.2 his Disciples and g Ioh. 5.16 he did that which is not lawfull to doe on the Sabbath day that h Matt. 26.64 65. he blasphemed because he called himselfe the Sonne of God and i Mat. 9.3 forgave sinnes k Iohn 7.41 that being of Galilee he affirmed that he was the Christ that l Iohn 7.48 none of the Rulers or of the Pharisees beleeved on him When he conversed with sinners to convert them they said m Mat. 11.19 Behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of publicans and sinners When they could not refute his doctrine they would cast in his teeth that n Iohn 7.52 he was of Galilee o Mar. 6.3 a Carpenter and p Matt. 27.63 a deceiver When he delivered those who were possessed with Divels ther said q Matt. 12.24 This fellow doth not cast out Divels but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Divels Neyther did he or said he anie thing so well but his adversaries maligned it with ill constructions When he spake r Ioh. 2.19 of the destroying of the Temple of his bodie and raysing of it up in three dayes Å¿ Matt. 26.61 they accused him to have spoken of the Temple of Ierusalem and when he convinced them of their sinnes they cryed that t Ioh. 8.48 he was a Samaritane and had a Divell Christ foretold his Disciples that v Mat. 5.11 men should revile them and say all maner of evill against them falsly for his sake for said he x Matt. 10.25 if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold And it did fall out so false witnesses accused Steven y Act 6.11 13. to have spoken blasphemous words against the Law of Moses against the holy place and against God It was laid to Pauls charge that he was a Act. 24.5 6. a pestilent fellow a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazarens who had gone about to profane the Temple b 2. Cor. 6.8 and was a deceiver As this holy religion did rid way encrease among the Gentiles there is no kind of calumnie which the Divell did not devise to make it hateful Then the Christians were upbraided with manie heynous and foule crimes that they sacrificed to c Tertull. Apologet cap. 7.8 Euseb hâ—st Eccles lib. 5. cap. 1. Ibid. lib. 9. cap. 5. Minuâ—ius Felix in Octavio Bacchus and Ceres because they celebrated the Lords Supper with Bread and Wine that they killed little children and in their congregations did cate their flesh and drinke their blood because in the Lords Supper mention was made of the spirituall eating of Christs body and drinking of his blood that in their assemblies which for feare of persecution they held in the night time their dogges tyed to the Candlesticks were inticed by some collops cast before them to leape forward that bounding they might beate downe the lights at the time prefixed and so the darkenesse might cover and hide from their eyes the shame of their incests with their mothers sisters and others of their neerest kindred did manie mo things which they shunned to name and as may be deemed came never in any mans minde to doe them since the beginning of the world Besides all these calumnies many other exceptions were taken against them as d Tertull. cap. 10. c. Euseb histor Eccles lib. 8. cap. 18. Idem lib. 9. cap. 7. their apostasie and defection from the religion of their predecessors their contempt of the gods and of all honour given to them the profession of an accursed vanitie of a blinde error of a most abominable and execrable religion c. 5 When God in the bowels of this mercy made the truth of his religion to spring up againe in Germanie in France in this Island were not all these crimes imputed to our forefathers whose eyes were first opened to see and imbrace the glorious light thereof And although time the mother of truth hath swept away the imputations of eating of Pigges after the maner of the Passeover of the extinguishing of the Torches and Candles of incestuous villanie wherewith our ancestors were injuriously blemished yet Christs enemies forbeare not to spew out of the open sepulchre of their stinking throats in our faces the reproach of heresie noveltie factions against God schisme against the Church and such like mustie defamations of very old date which wee wipe away with the same Sponge wherewith e Euseb histor Eccles lib. 1. cap. 1. the first Christians did blot them out saying and verifying by the holy Scriptures That our Religion is the same which God from the beginning did preach to Adam which Abraham Isaac Iacob and their off-spring professed which was foretold by the Prophets published by the Apostles to all nations beleeved in the world and is come from them to us who possesse it as we have received it of them in the holy Scripture That all doctrines introduced in the time between are but errours untruthes jugglings novelties broached by the Divell which shall be cleerly verified when our adversaries leaving off their bloodie persecutions shall be willing to take a patient tryall whether of our Religions will abide the hammering of Gods word 6 But the dimnesse of untruth fearing above all things to come to the light of the Scriptures hateth unto death all those which light the candle and putting it on the candlestick â—â—â—rie it before the eyes of men to enlighten their darkenesse And therefore as whoores seeking the renowne of chastitie are accustomed to exprobrate to honest women the vices wherwith they are polluted themselves so the Divels limbs publish abroad against Gods servants the crimes whereof they know themselves to be guiltie as these of heresie of blasphemie of high treason against God whereof I have alreadie spoken whereunto they
over it the vaile of silence and make here a pause ending this action with hearty prayers to God for the peace and prosperitie of Ierusalem O Lord our God thou hast fed us with ashes for bread thou hast given us teares to drinke in great measure Thou hast beene angry against our prayers we have cryed unto thee and thou hast not listened unto our supplications But now O Lord but now turne thine eare unto us and turne our hearts unto thee Cause thy face to shine upon us and we shall be saved through the merits of our onely Saviour Iesus Christ to whom with thee and the holy Ghost bee all honour and glory both now and for ever Amen SERMON III. Of the righteous mans Evills PSALM XXXIV XIX Many are the Evills of the Righteous 1. HOw Christ was upbraided and dishonoured in his death 2 As likewise the holy Apostles and the first Christians 3 How our brethren are abused in Spaine and elsowhere 4 The righteous mans evills tread one another on the heeles 5 He hath many enemies which are the cause of the great number of his evills 6 His greatest enemies are his neerest kinsmen 7 All kind of persons were enemies to Christ 8 And to his Apostles and their disciples 9 All kind of men are enemies to the Church of our time 10 Hence come the inward evills which disquiet the righteous man 11 The righteous is persecuted unrighteously 12 Howsoever his persecuters iudge or speake otherwayes 13 The vanitie of many accusations set on foot against him 14 The iniquity of the Iudges proceeding against him 15 How these which live in peace as we in England may be said to have many evills 16 Exhortation to thankfulnesse and godlinesse of life I. THat which is most grievous to the righteous man in all the evills whereof I have spoken is the upbraiding disgrace and shame wherewith hee is exercised For whereas all criminalls finde pitty and commiseration in those that behold them who either accompany their death with teares or behold it with silence The faithfull and the righteous man can neither live nor die but he shall be followed with opprobrious hues and cryes o Gen. 21. v. 9. Ismael mocked Isaac that is according to Pauls exposition p Gal 4. v. 29. persecuted him When the Apostle faith that q Heb. 11. v. 26. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt he giveth us to understand that the Church hath beene from the beginning subject to contempt defamations taunts and dishonour for Christs sake It was of Christ that Isaiah prophesied r Isa 8. v. 18 Heb. 2. v. 13 Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signes and for wonders in Israel of him first and then of his children He was upbraided in his life time with the nicke-names of a seducer a drunkard a glutton a sorcerer and of Beelzebub the Prince of the divells but he was most outragously mocked in his death In Å¿ Luk. 22. v. 64. Caiphas house they blindfolded him they strooke him on the face they asked him saying Prophecye Who is it that smote thee In t Luk. 23. v. 11. Herods Court he was set at naught mocked and arrayed in a white gorgeous robe as a foole In v 28 29 30. Pilats common hall the souldiers stripped him u Mat. 27. to put on him a skarlet robe and when they had platted a crowne of thornes they put it upon his head with a reede in his right hand then they bowed the knee before him and mocked him crying Haile King of the Iewes then they spat upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head In Golgotha where hee was crucified betweene two theeves as if he had beene a malefactor they that passed by reviled him and wagged their heads saying x v. 39.40 41 42 43 44 46 47. Thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three dayes save thy selfe If thou be the Sonne of God come downe from the crosse likewise the chiefe Priests the Scribes and Elders mocking him said y He saved others himselfe he cannot save If he be the King of Israel let him now come downe from the crosse and we will beleeve him He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him The theeves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth Last of all some of them perverted his words saying that he called for Elias when he prayed Eli Eli My God my God c. Then was fulfilled that which he spake by David saying y Psal 21. v. 6 7 8. I am a worme and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoote out the lip they shake the head saying He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him II. His children his holy Apostles received no better entertainement of the men of the world for what were they but a 1 Cor. 4. v. 9 13. a spectacle unto the world to Angels and to men Complaine they not that they were made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things walking b 2. Cor. 6. v. 8 9. by honour and dishonour by evill report and good report as deceivers and yet true as unknowne and yet well knowne The Apostles disciples fared they better No no. The Apostle writeth of the Hebrews that c Heb. 10. v. 33. they were made a gazing stocke by reproaches and afflictions which I take literally for we know that the custome was to draw Christians to the threatres and publike play-houses to carry them ridiculously disguised from scaffold to scaffold for a shew to set them on pillories to disgrace them and then to cast them naked to the Lyons to be dismembred and devoured in the eyes of the people which delighting insuch spectacles were accustomed to cry d Tertul. Apologet. cap. 40. Christianos ad Leonem The Christians to the Lyon Tantos ad unum So many to one saith Tertullian e Ioid. cap. ultima Ad LenoneÌ„ damnando Christianam potius quam ad Leonem c. Ambe tom 3. serm 90. Euseb hiâ—t Ecâ—l lib. 8. cap. 11. And because the Governours and Magistrates perceived that to Christian women the defiling of their chastitie was more horrible and grievous than all kinds of torments and most exquisite deaths they condemned them rather to serve bawdes in stewes than to be torne by Lyons which many of them prevented by killing of themselves f Ibid. c. 9. Others they stript Aug. de civ Dei l. 1. c. 26. and tying them by one foot hoised them up in the ayre their heads downeward and letting them hang so while they died made of their naked bodies a most filthie and cruell spectacle to all those that passed by g Ibid. c. 12. Of some
men they would pull out the right eye and put out of joint the left leg and let them live that they might be both ridiculous and miserable III. The Inquisitors of Spaine send to the fire the reformed Christians arrayed in a yellow garment called the Sambenit which is all set and covered over with crosses and black Divells and mishapen after a fashion so ridiculous and monstrous to be seene that some of the beholders cannot hold from laughter some are scared and flye away beleeving the poore men to be so manie Divels come out of hell none is touched with commiseration towards them How often have the Papists welcomed their Kings with the honour or rather horror of such pageants at their first entrance into their townes as it is written of the Idolatrous people of Samaria h Hos 7.3 They make the King glad with their wickednes and the Princes with their lyes Shall a Minister goe thorow the streets in Popish townes in the deepest peace and not be hooted and hurried with most intolerable contumelies although they be arrayed like the rest of the people Can anie buriall be convoyed there without such showting and out-crying How often have these most inhumane and cruell Tygres denied the honour of buriall to our brethren accomplishing that which is written of them in i Rev. 11.8 9 10. the Revelation by not suffering their dead bodies to be put in graves How often have they unburied them and made the Church to cry to God with sighes and sobs k Psal 79.2 The bodies of thy Saints most deare Abroad to birds they cast The flesh of such as doe thee feare The beasts devoure and waste When as these carrion-eater-harpies were reioycing over them and making merry and sending gifts one to another as questionlesse the chiefe Priests the Scribes the Pharisees the Elders of the Iewes and the whole people did after they had crucified and reviled most shamefully the Lord of glory the Saviour of the Church the Immanuel our Lord Iesus Christ What Psalmes thinke yee are now sung in the Palatinate and in the Churches of France Surely the fortie foure the seventie foure the seventie nine the foure-score and others where amongst manie moe complaints they poure forth of a sad and broken heart with trembling words and many teares into Gods bosome this heavie but too true moane Vnto our neighbours thou hast made Of us a laughing stocke And they that round about us dwell At us doe grin and mocke Thus we serve for none other use But for a common talke They mocke they scorne they nod their heads Where ever they goe or walke So is verified not onely that which Salomon saith that l Eccl 8.14 there be inst men unto whom it happeneth according to the worke of the wicked but also that which David saith in my text Many are the Evills of the righteous IV. For as the divell tempted Christ eft-soones and gave him no respit stirring up against him all kind of enemies untill he nayled him upon the crosse even so he letteth never Christs members alone but bringeth evils upon them one on the necke of another and ever contriveth against them some new mischiefe watching heedfully now to harme them when they looke for some slackening Thence is this pittifull lamentation of the Church m Psal 129.3 The Plowers plowed upon my backe they made long their furrowes n Psal 44.22 For thy sake we are killed all the day long Thence is this wailefull plaint of every righteous man o Psal 7.14 All the day long I have beene beaten and my chastisement returned every day So that not onely in diversitie and hugenesse but also in continuance from the first day of the righteous mans spirituall birth unto the last gaspe of his mortall life Many are the Evills of the righteous V. They must be many for many lay their heads together to devise them which as it is said by the Prophet Micah p Miâ—h 2.2 forge iniquitiein their beds and when the morning is light they practise it because they have power to doe it in their hands The Spirit which inspires them is the divell the spoyler of all good architect and master of all evill who q 1 Pet. 5.8 as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may devoure He breathes into the unrighteous mens hearts all kinds of devices and trickes against the righteous man Thence it is that r Psal 37.12 14 32. the wicked plotteth against the iust and gnasheth upon him with his teeth The wicked have drawne out the sword and have bent their bow to cast downe the poore and needy and to slay such as be upright in their way The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him Thence it is that Å¿ Psal 2.1 2 3. the heathen rage the people imagine vaine things the Kings of the earth set themselves the rulers take counsell together against the Lord and against his annoynted saying Let us breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us t Psal 1.2 For loe the wicked bend their bow they make ready their arrow upon their string that they may priuily shoot at the upright in heart David was but one man and he complaineth that u Psal 119 157. his persecuters and enemies were many yea so many that he was amazed at it and cryed to God with astonishment x Psal 3.1 Lord how are they increased that trouble me many are they that rise up against me Of what nation were they y Psal 118 10. All nations saith he compassed me about Had David alone so many enemies It is no wonder then if the Church wherein there are many Davids maketh her prayer with this heauy complaint to God a Psal 83.1 2 3 4 5. Keepe not thou silence O God hold not thy peace and be not still O God for loe thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up their heads They have taken crafty counsell against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones They haue said Come and let us cut them off from being a nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance for they consulted together with one consent they are confederate against thee What men are these which dare attempt matters so high and impossible b v. 6 7 8. The Tabernacles of Edom of the Ishmaelites of Moab of the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon and Amaleck The Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre Assur also is ioyned with them they have holpen the children of Lot All alike enemies to Gods people and yet some of them the Idumeans Ishmaelites Moabites Ammonits kinsmen to Gods people the Idumeans the neerest withall the most malicious and cruell of all who not being able of themselves to doe any harme to the Church joyned with the Babylonians who besieged Ierusalem and as if they had beene Trumpets to sound the Alarum heartned them
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
SERMON IV. Of the causes of the righteous mans Evills PSALM XXXIV XIX Many are the Evills of the Righteous 1. A All the Evills of the Righteous man and of the Church are foretold in the Scriptures 2. The cause of the righteous mans evills is the Antipathie which is betweene him and the wicked 3. As soone as a man begins to serve God he is persecuted 4. Satan is most incensed against those which have some speciall charge in the State or in the Church 5. Christ forewarneth us of persecutions that we may waite for them knowing that they are the way to heaven 6. It is strange that God not onely suffereth the righteous man to have so many evills but also will bee called the author of them all 7. God doth it for the righteous mans sake for other mens sakes for his owne sake 8. He correcteth the righteous man of his former sinnes 9. Hee withdraweth him from sinne in time to come 10. And therewith tryeth him 11. Often without any regard to sinne his onely end is to try him 12. As it is prooved by the examples of Iob 13. Of the spouse in the Canticles 14. And of Saint Paul 15. Great tryall of the Churches of the Palatinat and of France 16. Moreover afflictions are the exercise of the righteous mans Faith Meeknesse Charitie Patience Prayers Hope 17. And wonderfull constancie 18. Difference betweens the Righteous man and the Hypocrite 19. Prayer I. THE manifold Evills which are incident to Gods dear ones howsoever they be so extream that they are sometimes driven by them upō the brim of the sleep downfal of despairing yet this consideration me thinks is forcible and most able to blunt the sharpest edge of most vehement sorrows to sweeten their gall to asswage their violence and make their seeming intolerable heavinesse easie to be borne that they come not at unawares and unlooked for but if we have eares to heare and eyes to see may be both foreknowne and foreseene Surely our Lord Iesus Christ was no sooner presented to the Lord in the Temple but Simeon prophecyed of him that a Luk. 2.34 he was set for the fall and rising againe of many in Israel and for a signe which shall be spoken against And Christ himselfe foretold his Disciples that b Mat. 10.16 17 18. he sent them forth as sheepe in the midst of Wolves that they should bee delivered up to the Councells scourged in the Synagogues brought before Governors and Kings for his sake yea c Ioh 16.2 that whosoever killed them should thinke that he did God service Neither speaketh he of his Apostles onely which were then present to heare his words but in the parable of the marriage of the Kings sonne he forewarneth all his servants which he is to send forth to call men to the wedding that d Mat. 22.6 they shall be intreated spitefully and slaine And compareth his Church which is the Congregation of righteous men e Mat. 7.25 to an house builded upon the rocke which is storme-beaten with the floods of crosses and winds of persecutions Therefore the holy Apostles exhorted the Disciples to continue in the faith shewing them that f Act. 14.22 we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdome of God Which we All righteous men all true Christians for gall that will live godly in Iesus Christ shall suffer persecution g 2. Tim. 3.12 The Lord himselfe sheweth for what end such things are foretold us saying h Ioh. 16.4 These things have I told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them for lest we should be overtaken with afflictions he advertiseth us that they shall come and therefore adviseth us to looke for them that fore-casting and expecting them we may be upon our guard according to the exhortation of the Apostle i Eph. 6.13 take unto us the whole armour of God that we may bee able to withstand in the evill day and having overcome all stand still like the rocke in the sea which all the foaming waves of the Ocean all the thundering tempests of the ayre all the spite and might of all the elements cannot shake When povertie orbitie shamefull and smarting diseases when all kind of mischiefes rushed upon Iob with such sudddainesse that he had no leasure to heare and consider the particulars of any one of them how could he have worshipped God how could hee have faid k Iob 1.21 The Lord gave the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the name of the Lord if when he was at ease he had not exercised himselfe with the conceit of all evills which are incident to man if hee had not harped often upon this meditation God may deprive thee of all thy children bring thee to leannesse of teeth pull away thy soule from thy body he hath done so to many other why not to thee Nothing in my opinion made Paul more forward to suffer afflictions more bold to resist them more strong to overcome them than the forewarnings l Act. 20.23 which the Holy Ghost gave him that in every citie bonds and afflictions waited for him All they waited for him hee waited for them and when they they thought to steale upon him they found him ready to buckle with them and lend them his necke Brethren Iesus Christ hath not deceived us he hath not made to his Disciples stately and loftie promises of riches of honours of worldly preferments as Cyrus the younger did to his followers ye heare him speaking aloud m Luk. 14.16 27. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his owne life also he cannot be my Disciple and whosoever doth not beare his crosse and come after me cannot be my Disciple What the Lord hath foretold experience hath made good n Rev. 6. At the opening of every seale of the sealed booke which is the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ Iohn saw some new plague follow thereupon and we see nothing round about us in forraine countreys where that booke is unsealed but wars but dearth but death but all kind of miseries Consider then I pray you weigh wel upon what conditions ye have mustered among the cōpanies of Christs souldiers where your pay is losse of all your goods your gaine is death your victory is not of things seene your triumph is disgrace infamie and shame For if o Luk. 14.33 ye forsake not all that ye have goods life honours dignities ye cannot be Christs Disciples II. Looke what antipathie what contrarietie of humours is in nature betwixt plants and plants as betwixt the Vine and the Colewort betwixt the Colewort and the Hearbe grace betwixt the plants and beasts as betwixt the Serpent and the Ash-tree the serpent and the Rue betwixt beasts and beasts as betwixt the Catte and the Mouse betwixt the Wolfe and the sheepe
betwixt man and beastes as betwixt the serpent and man the like disagreement and farre greater is betwixt the righteous and the wicked man for p Pro. 29.27 an uniust man is an abomination to the iust and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked These contrary inclinations had their beginning with the world and shall not have an end untill the worlds end God is justice and righteousnesse it selfe and the divell professed enmity against him from the beginning What wonder then if he bee an enemy to the righteous man who is but Gods creature As soone as man was created he seduced and supplanted him Then God proclaimed unreconcileable warre betweene them saying to the divell who was shrowded under the shape of a serpent q Gen 3.15 I will put enmity betweene thee and the woman and betweene thy seede and her seed It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heele The serpents seed is the brood of wicked men which have beene from the beginning namely those which persecute the Gospell The seede of the woman is our Lord Iesus Christ with the whole band of righteous men Iohn saw a battel in heaven r Rev. 12.17 Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his Angells Iesus Christ who onely is this Michael because he onely is like unto God and his Angels and Saints fought against the divell and all the hellish rabble of wicked men and of divells like unto himselfe There is no manifest cause knowne of the Antipathies and contrarietie of dispositions which are in nature but the causes of disagreement betweene the righteous and unrighteous man are knowne They flow from contrary springs and therefore their affections their actions their effects their ends are contrary Are not God and the divell enemies The wicked man Å¿ 1. Ioh. 3.8 is of the divell the righteous man t Ver 9. is borne of God Hence it is that the children beare out their fathers quarrell the wicked is hud-winked with ignorance v Ioh. 16.3 He knoweth no the Father nor the Sonne neither will hee know them x Psal 36.3 he will not learne to be wise that he may doe good y Ioh. 17.8 The righteous man knoweth surely that Christ is come out from the Father and beleeveth that the Father hath sent him a Rom 8 5 The wicked is after the flesh and therefore he minds the things of the flesh The righteous being after the spirit minds the things of the spirit The wicked mans workes are b Gal. 5.19 20 21. the workes of the flesh which are these Adultery fornication uncleannesse lasciviousnesse idolatry witcheraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers drunkennesse reuilings and such like The righteous mans works are c Ve. 22 23 the fruits of the spirit that is to wit Love ioy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance Where there is so great a contrarietie and repugnancie of affections of actions of workes what wonder if there be great enmitie The righteous man is light in the Lord and d Ioh. 3.20 every man that doth evill hateth the light neither commeth to the light lest his deedes should bee discovered for that cause hee hateth the righteous man as the Pharisees hated Iesus Christ because hee reprooved them of their vices The righteous man likewise hateth the wicked e Psal 139.21 22. Doe I not hate them O Lord saith David that hate thee and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies When heat and cold moisture and drought hardnesse and softnesse light and darknesse shall leaue off to bee at variance then then shall the righteous and wicked man ioyne hands and enter into confederacy one with another f 2. Cor. 6.14 15 16. for what fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse and what communion hath light with darknesse and what concord hath Christ with Beliall and what part hath he that beleeveth with an Infidell and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idolls In this discord there is this notable difference that the righteous man hateth rather the vice than the person of the wicked and seeketh by prayers to God by exhortations admonitions good examples to convert him whereas the wicked hateth both the vertues and the person of the righteous and seeketh to destroy him III. From thence it is that assoone as a man begins to apply his mind and heart unto righteousnesse Satan and the wicked world conspire to undoe him for like as g Dan. 3.16 17 18. Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury and the forme of his visage was changed against Shadrac Meshac and Habednego when to his face they refused to fall downe and worship the image which he had made and commanded that the furnace wherein they were to bee cast should bee kindled seuen times more than it was wont to be heat even so assoon as a man begins to draw his neck out of Satans coller to shunne the company of wicked men to draw neere unto God by repentance and newnesse of life and to register his name in the Church booke that he may be saved in the communion of the Saints Satan sets all his malice on a flame to devoure him and the wicked rush upon him with bill and claw to teare him in peeces For as theeves breake not into an house where there is nothing but straw hay stubble but onely into such places where there is gold silver precious stones and rich furniture so the divell and his limbes heede not rascals and scurvie fellowes but if any man bee a worshipper of God and doth his will they lye in waite secretly as a Lyon in his denne they hide the snare in his way they crouch they stoope to catch him into their net As soone as Christ was borne h Mat. 2.16 Herod became out of his wits seeking to slay him to teach us that as soon as we become Christians by a spirituall birth wee shall not have want of Herods to seeke our lives As soone as the i Rev. 12.3 c. red dragon saw rhe woman with child travelling in her birth and ready to be delivered hee stood before her that he might devoure her childe as soon as it was borne but her child being caught up unto God and she taking her selfe to her wings to save her life by flying into the wildernes he cast out of his mouth a floud of water to drowne her What was this vision but a type of the Church against whom the divell stirreth up a world of wicked men as so many waves of an overflowing river to swallow her up when after a long barrennesse she conceiveth againe and brings foorth children to God Then ye heare nothing amongst those blood thirstie butchers but crying k Ier. 11 19 Let us destroy the tree with 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
able to deliver us from the burning fierie fornace and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King When the deepe gulfe of the red sea is before our faces when Pharao and his most dreadful and cruell armie followeth us hotly at the heeles when high and steep mountaines runne along by our sides and bereave us of all hope of flight then to say k Exod. 14 13. Feare ye not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will shew you to day In a present evill to looke for present deliverie in the middest of the valley of the shadow of death to see to imbrace life l Heb. 11 24 25 26. to refuse great riches and honours for the denying of Christ to chuse povertie by confessing him to preferre suffering of affliction with the people of God to the enjoying of the pleasures of sinne for a season to esteeme the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt as Moses did and as many Christians have done and doe still is a most wonderfull and speciall exercise of true faith What Vertues are more commanded unto us by precept 2. Meeknes charity and recommended unto us by most excellent examples of the Patriarkes of the Prophets of David of Iesus Christ of his holy Apostles than humilitie meekenesse charitie where find ye better occasion to practise them than in your greatest adversitie m 1. Cor. 4 11 12. Ye are reviled and ye blesse ye are defamed and ye intreat as Paul did ye are stoned to death as Steven was and ye kneele down and cry with a loud voice n Acts 7.6 Lord lay not this sinne to their charge This is true meekenesse this is true charitie We are tossed to and fro with most grievous and tedious tribulations 3. Patience then as the Apostle saith o Heb. 10.36 wee have neede of patience that after we have done the will of God wee may receive the promise then it is time to be that which we professe We say that Patience is the fairest flower of of the Christian mans garden Other flowers delight in faire weather and grow not but in ground well weeded and gnibbed up This groweth among the brairs thistles of stinging tribulations and spreadeth most faire when the weather is most foule Frost and Snow Haile and Lightning Stormes and Tempests make it to blossome with a most pleasant shew and to breathe a most sweet sent Then the righteous man not looking to the stone that hurteth him but lifting up his eyes to the almightie hand of the heavenly Father which threw it saith as David said of Shimei who cursed him p 2. Sam. 16.10 So let him curse for the Lord hath said unto him Curse Dauid Who shall then say Wherefore hast thou done so Men have their mischeivous ends when they afflict the righteous man and it may be that they molest him wrongfully Tribulations also may come upon him by his owne faults and many other wayes yet God hath an hand in all his most wise providence guideth them Shall he then repine shall he kicke against the prickes God forbid But rather knowing that his sufferings are Gods owne worke and that q Deu. 32.4 all his wayes are iudgement he taketh David for his President and saith with him I was r Psal 39.9 dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it Here here then is the wonderfull patience of the Saints who bridle their mouthes from grudging against God and open them not in their temptations but to poure out their humble requests and prayers before him Prayers 4. Prayers which faint and as it were droope in the faire summer-dayes of our peace and wealth but recover their vigor yea redouble their force in the fleeting and freezing winter of our calamitie God saith to the righteous man Å¿ Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble so he doth Ionas t Ioh. 2.1 snorted in the ship but hee was awake praied in the Whales belly The Disciples so long as the sea was calme and quiet prayed not but when the tempest arose and the winds spake lowd and the surges threatned the ship with sinking then they prayed then they cried v Matt. 8.25 Lord save us wee perish So Peter walked a little while upon the sea without praying but when hee saw the wind boistrous and began to sink he cried x Matt. 14 30. Lord save me Prayer is the meane whereby God bestoweth his blessings upon us It is the bucket which we dive and thrust farre into the undraynable fountaine of his graces that we may receive of his fulnesse and grace for grace Then tribulations are behoovefull unto us that by them knowing our need we may be moved to pray Are wee not saved y Rom. 8.24 by hope 5. Hope what hope what desire can wee have of heavenly things when all things laugh upon us in the world the present enjoying of the one expells out of our hearts the desire and hope of the other Therefore by the counterpoize of the evils of this life God stirreth up in us a most vehement desire of the life to come and holds our hope perpetually busied in praying and crying z Rev. 22.20 Even so Come Lord Iesus XVII All these graces without perseverance are nothing for a Matt. 24.13 he that shall endure unto the end 6. Perseverance Constancy shall bee saved And there is no perseverance without constancie The maine object of Constancie is tribulation neither is it seene but in things very difficult to undertake or to overcome b 2. Mac. 7. Consider the courage of seven brethren suffering all kinds of most cruell torments because they would not at the Kings commandement transgresse Gods commandement and eate swines flesh Wonder at the constancie of their marveilous mother who with a manly heart in a womans breast exhorted them to take their death cheerfully for Gods cause and after their execution went joyfully to the burning caldron and sealed also the truth with her blood How many faire promises were made unto them But c Heb. 11.35 they refused to be delivered that they might obtaine a better resurrection In the Ecclesiasticall stories of Christians such examples are infinite At d Euseb hister Eccles lib. 5. c. 1. Sanctus Vienne in France a Deacon of the Church called Sanctus being torne in pieces with hot pincers being at divers times so cruelly racked that hee was nothing but wounds but bruises but putrefying fores but a peece of swollen flesh without almost any figure or shape of a man could never be compelled to tell his name his familie his dwelling place His onely answer to all their rackings scorchings burnings was I am a Christian Neither could the Executioners by the Tympan by the hot and burning pans by the teeth of wild beasts wring out of Blandina a maide and servant to a Dame
of that same town any word but this Blandina I am a Christian and we do no evill When Decius persecuted the Church Babylas Bishop of Antioch Babylas led to the place of execution with his three sonnes desired that they should be first put to death to the end that he might exhort and confirme them which when hee had done his wife comforted him and after she had seen her husband and three children suffer death for Christs sake buried them together Much otherwise the Father and the Sonne with whom I was familiar The Father beseeched that he should die first that his Sonne who was a godly and learned Preacher might comfort him Then it was a wonderfull spectacle to Papists to see the Sonne at the foote of the gallowes preaching to his Father the merits of the death of Christ the vertue of his resurrection the vanitie of the world the unspeakable joyes of Paradise to heare him crying alowd Father ye cannot so soone knocke at the gate of heaven but Christ will open ye cannot so soone enter but I shall follow to hear and behold the old and venerable Father answering with a cheerefull countenance Sonne I see the heavens open and Iesus Christ at the right hand of God Then they were amazed to marke againe the young Minister forgetting himselfe and with a constant face preaching to other two which were also in the executioners hands the forgivenesse of sins the resurrection of the flesh and life everlasting To consider how constantly the foure died with what fervencie of celestial prayers they commended their spirits into Gods hands Then the chiefe of the Capuchin Monkes said to his companions Si coelum Huguenotis datur istis debetur If heaven bee given to Huguenots it is due to these men Then some Gentlemen cryed O happie religion which breeds in men a contempt of death which we dread most and a most sure hope of salvation who would not who should not fight manfully for the defence and suffer constantly for the confession of such a religion This day onely have we begun to know Christ Condemned men have been our Preachers We shall never hate Huguenotes any more XVIII Learne of all this discourse what difference there is betwixt the upright man and the hypocrite Iohn the Baptist calleth afflictions f Mat. 3.12 Gods fanne wherewith when he hath throughly purged his floore the chaffe flyeth away into the ayre and finally is burnt up with unquenchable fire but the wheate is gathered into the garner Hypocrites are chaffe lying in time of peace intermixt with the faithfull which are Gods wheat but g Psal 1.4 5. the wind of persecution driveth them away neyther can they stand in the congregation of the righteous for then there is nothing to be seene but Apostasies defections abjuring of the truth renouncing of the Gospell forsaking of all Communion with the Church Iesus Christ compareth tribulation and persecution h Mat 13.5 6 8 20 21 23. to the burning Sunne scorching the seede which hath no deepnesse of earth so that it withereth away but warming the seede which falls into good ground and making it to bring foorth fruite some an hundred fold some sixtie fold some thirtie fold The Hypocrite receiveth the word with joy but because hee hath not in himselfe the roote of an upright conscience when persecution ariseth because of word he is offended and starteth backe The righteous man is the good ground the sunne of persecution may blacken him but it cannot burne him In the most hot dayes of tribulation he is most plentious in good workes therefore the whole Church cryeth in the Canticles i Cant. 1.5 6. O ye daughters of Ierusalem I am blacke but comely k Bernar. in Cant. ser 25. Blacke in your judgement Comely in the judgement of God and Angels Blacke without l Vestro maleficio by your mischiefe for the Sunne of persecution hath looked upon me my mothers children were angry with me these good Catholikes have persecuted me Comely within m Dei beneficio through Gods benefit for n Psal 45.13 the Kings daughter is all glorious within As the tents of of Kedar as the curtaines of Salomon which are all blacke and dustie without but within are decked with most precious implements To conclude cast gold in water it keepeth its owne yellow shining cast it in the fire and melt it it becommeth brighter Cast earth in water it is by and by changed into mud cast hay in water it will suddenly rot cast earth in the fire it is instantly turned into dust and made a sport to the wind cast hay into the fire with a blaze it is made smoake and ashes So befalls it to the righteous man the hypocrite The hypocrit when he thriveth most and full-gorgeth himself with pleasures is like hay and a lumpe of earth in the water he is nothing but rottennesse and putrefaction when Gods hand is upon him he howles he despites God hee curseth him to his face and in the stirring of an eye is consumed he perisheth he vanisheth like earth and straw in the fire But the righteous man in his greatest prosperitie shineth in all godlinesse before men as gold in water and when hee is cast in the fierie furnace of tribulation he is like gold in the fire his workes then yeeld a more radiant lustre than before XIX The Lord in his mercy sanctifie us and make us throughly righteous that when the day of our tryall shall come we may be found to be fine metall and abiding the hammer the scissers and the fire may through faith and patience inherite the promises of grace peace and eternall life through the merits of our Lord Iesus Christ who o 1. Ioh. 5.20 is the true God and eternall life to whom is due and to whom let us render now and for evermore all praise honour and glory Amen SERMON V. Of the causes of the righteous mans Evills PSALM XXXIV XIX Many are the Evills of the Righteous 1. THe righteous man when hee suffereth for righteousnesse sake is honoured 2. It is a great glory to suffer for a good cause 3. Namely for God as many have done 4. To suffer for the Gospell is most glorious of all 5. Of those which suffer for the Gospell some are Confessors some Martyrs 6. What it is to be a Martyr 7. Three conditions required in a Martyr 8. The great glory of Martyrdome in that it makes the Martyrs resemble the Prophets Apostles and other Saints 9. Yea and Iesus Christ himselfe yet with foure differences 10. God afflicteth righteous men for other mens sake 1. That they may be converted 11.2 That they may bee instructed not to worship righteous men 12.3 That they may bee spurred to imitate their Christian vertues 13.4 That they may consider Gods wrath against sinne and feare 14. Finally God afflicteth the righteous man for his owne glory whereof there are many
examples in the old Testament 15. And principally in the new Testament 16. The afflictions of the righteous are no tokens of Gods wrath but of his love 17. Carriage of the Churches of France in their affliction 18. Exhortation to beare Christs crosse courageously 19. Prayer I. GOD often loades the righteous man with crosses to honour him when he beareth his owne crosse a Luk. 22.33 40 41. as the malefactors which were crucified with Christ did then he is chastised and as one of them said We receive the due reward of our deeds so may he when hee is persecuted for righteousnesse sake as David was by Saul and Iob by the Divell or beares Christs crosse as b Mat. 27.32 Simon the Cyrenian did then his faith hope charitie is tryed then his patience and constancie is exercised then he is very much honoured II. Ye know that Cain slew his brother c 1. Ioh. 3.12 and wherefore slew he him because his owne workes were evill and his brothers righteous d Gen. 19.9 Lot was threatned by the vicious Sodomites because that being a forreiner and stranger he rebuked them e Gen. 37.2 Ioseph was hated and sold of his brethren because he advertised his father of their misdemeanour f Gen. 39.9 he was also cast in prison because hee would not sinne with his masters wife David complained of his enemies saying g Psal 38.20 They that render evill for good are mine adversaries because I follow the thing that good is Iohn Baptist was beheaded because hee said to Herod h Mat. 14.4 10. It is not lawfull for thee to have thy brothers wife All these suffered for righteousnesse sake and for the uprightnesse of a good conscience before God but they suffered not for God There be degrees in righteousnes The first is when a man suffereth for any good cause Is not that honourable and glorious before God and men i 1. Pet. 2.9 20. For as Peter writing to servants saith this is thanke-worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure griefe suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently but if when ye doe well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God III. The second is when hee suffereth immediately for God for the publike profession of his holy Word When k Dan. 3.18 the three children did chuse rather to bee burnt in the furnace than to worship Nebuchadnezzars golden Image they suffered for God when l Dan. 6.16 Dauid was cast into the Lyons denne because he would not obey the Kings idolatrous decree he suffered for God when m 2. Mac. 6.19 Eleazar one of the principall Scribes chused rather to dye gloriously than to live stained with the eating of Swines flesh hee suffered for God when the n 2. Mac. 7. the seven brethren and their mother were fryed scorched dismembred because they would not transgresse the Law they suffered for God when the whole Church at that time made her moane to God and said o Psal 44.22 For thy sake are we killed all the day long we are counted as sheepe for the slaughter she suffered for God If it be glorious to suffer for a good cause is it not more glorious to suffer for Gods cause IV. But to suffer for the Gospell is the most glorious of all p Rom. 1.17 For therein is the righteousnesse of God revealed from faith to faith There is evidently before our eyes set forth our Lord Iesus Christ who because hee q Dan 9.14 hath brought unto us everlasting righteousnesse and r 1. Cor. 1.30 is made unto us of God wisedome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption is with good and iust cause called ſ ler. 23.6 the Lord our righteousnesse Therefore hee who suffers for Christ is said after a most speciall manner to suffer for righteousnesse sake Of such speaketh Christ where he saith t Mat. 5.10.11 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of heaven What that righteousnesse is he sheweth in these words following Blessed are yee when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evill against you falsely for my sake When v Rev. 1.9 Iohn was telegated into the Isle of Pathmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Iesus Christ he suffered for righteousnesse when x Ioh. 9.3.4 the man that was borne blind and restored to sight by Christ was cast out of the Synagogue and excommunicated for Christs sake hee suffered for righteousnesse when y Ioh. 12.10 11. the chiefe Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death because that by reason of him many of the Iewes went away and beleeved on Iesus he suffered for righteousnesse when a Eph. 3.13 2. Tim. 2.9 10. Paul was cast into prison for preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles and endured many troubles for the Elects sake that they might obtaine the salvation which is in Christ Iesus with eternall glory he suffered for righteousnesse b Rev. 6.9 Those that were slaine for the word of God and for the testimony which they held whose soules Iohn saw under the altar suffered for righteousnesse sake V. Of such some are Confessors some are Martyrs The faithfull who were shut up in prison for Christs sake but were not yet tortured as also those which leaving their families goods friends and native soile fled to forrain nations lest they should be constrained to deny Christ were called c Cypr. epist 9. 21. Confessors All those which endured horrible great torments for the Gospels sake though they were not put to death were named Martyrs Tertullian calleth them d Tert. ad Martyres cap. 1. Martyres designatos appointed to be Martyrs e Euseb hist Ec. l. lib. 5. cap. 2. The Martyrs of Vienne in France after they had endured all kind of most cruel ignominious tormēts for Christs sake taking to thēselves the name of Confessors refused to be called Martyrs saying that the name of Martyrs pertaines to those only which have sealed their confession by their death even as Christ calleth f Rev. 2.13 Antipas his faithfull martyr because he was slain in Pergamus for the Gospel VI. In a generall signification Martyr is a witnesse The Gospel whereunto testimony is given is called g Isa 8.20 1. Ioh 5.11 the Testimony and the h Rev. 19.10 Testimony of Iesus Therefore it is said of Iohn i Ioh. 1.7 8 that he came for a witnesse to bear witnesse of the light And Christ saith of himselfe k Ioh. 18.37 I came into the world that I should beare witnesse unto the truth yea he calleth himselfe l Rev. 3.14 the Amen the faithfull and true witnesse Title which the m Euseb hist Eccles lib. 5. c. 2. Martyrs of Vienne esteemed to
for Christ in Christ holily with Christ wisely for Christ gloriously O how glorious before God is the death of Martyrs c Psal 116 15. Precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints but namely of his Martyrs which dye in him with him for him Weenest thou that it is but a slender glory that Christ hath chosen thee one among a thousand to be his Martyr that he will have thee to suffer not onely with him as doe all those which suffer for righteousnesse sake but also for him that as he d Ioh. 21.19 forewarned Peter by what death he should glorifie him so hee taketh thee by the hand and saith to thee Come I have picked thee out from many millions to beare witnes to the truth of my word before the great men of the earth to seale the faith thou hast in me with thy blood to honour me with thy death When c Gen. 32.6 7 8. Iacob was advertised that his brother Esau was comming to meete him and foure hundred men with him hee was greatly afraid and divided the people that were with him and the Flockes and the Heards and the Camels into two bands them he set foremost in the front of the battell f Gen. 33.2 3. the second place he gave to the hand-maides and their children the third to Lea and her children but he put Rachel and Ioseph hindermost because hee loved them best he adventureth all that he hath to save these two God doth farre otherwayes with his people he setteth foremost a little number of chosen men to whom hee hath distributed his graces in a greater scantling than to the rest them he setteth in the front to be his Martyrs and to fight against the powers of the world sparing the multitude to bee the seed-plot and nurserie of his Church IIX Who can conceive sufficiently the greatnesse of this honour g Luk. 6.23 When yeare hated excommunicated reproached put to death for the Sonne of mans sake Christ biddeth you reioyce and leape for ioy because the Prophets were used in like manner h Heb. 11.32 c. The Apostle in his epistle to the Hebrewes maketh a catalogue of many Worthies which under the Law suffered for the word of God of whom the world was not worthie that we may esteeme our selves most happy when God conformeth us to them i Iam. 5.10 11. S. Iames willeth us to take them for an example of suffering affliction of patience that as we count them happy so we may make it a part of our happinesse to bee like unto them k 1. Pet. 5.9 S. Peter will have us to know that the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren that are in the world And S. Paul will have us to remember that by tribulations for the Gospell l 1. Thess 2.14 wee become followers of the Churches of God which is no small honour It is said in the Song of Salomon that m Cant. 4.13 the plants of the Church are an Orchard of Pomegranates A Pomegranate hath within it sundry partitions and as it were little mansions with many graines in each of them of a sweete taste and red colour orderly set one by another and all together infolded and shut up under one outward skinne which hath at the top a little round circle like a crowne A most excellent Embleme of the faithfull who are as so many graines set orderly together by the unity of one faith and by the bond of perfectnesse which is charitie having a sweet taste in the holinesse of their life and a red colour in the conformitie of bloudy persecution in the severall Churches where God hath planted them under the Catholike Church whereof the head is our Lord Iesus Christ who as he was first crowned with thornes upon earth so is he now crowned with glory in heaven IX To him must we looke principally as the grains of the Pomegranate looke upward to the head of the skinne wherein they are wrapped and according to Peters exhortation n 1. Pet. 4.12 13. reioyce when we are in the furnace for our tryall in at much as wee are partakers of Christs sufferings for o Rom. 8.28 whom God did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne first in crosses for him next in crownes through him p Rom. 8.17 2. Tim. 2.11 the one and the other with him In this Realme men of good birth hold it no little honor to beare the liverie of the Kings Favourite and how much more the Kings owne liverie Shall wee not then account it a most speciall honour and glory to beare Christs liverie in whom God is well pleased and who is the King of kings to be for him made like unto him to be a curse among men for him who was a curse before God for us to dye that we may glorifie him who is dead to save us Should not the members bee ashamed to take their sports and delights under a head crowned with thornes I confesse that there is a great difference betwixt Christs sufferings and ours First hee is God and man we are but men Secondly hee was in his manhood without sinne there was never man so holy but he was a sinner Thirdly q Gal. 3.1 3. he in his torments was made a curse and drunke the full cup of Gods wrath which was so bitter to his soule that he cryed r Mat. 26.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All the Saints and Martyrs have alwaies in all their heaviest crosses beene comforted and supported of God Fourthly he suffered for the expiation of sinne and his death is the life of the world All the Martyrs ſ Rev. 7.14 15. have washed their robes and made them white in his blood therefore are they before the throne of God They have all suffered to beare witnesse that he suffered for the sinnes of the world none of them have suffered for the sins of the world t Leo. 1. epist 83 ad Palestinos Episcopos For though the death of many Saints hath beene precious in Gods eyes yet hath not the killing of any Saint beene the propitiation of the world The righteous have received but they have not given crownes and the fortitude of the faithfull hath brought forth examples of patience not gifts of righteousnesse The death of each one of them was severall neither did any by his owne end pay the debt of another considering that among thē sonnes of men Iesus Christ our Lord alone is he in whom all are crutified all are dead all buried all raised up of whom he said v Ioh. 12.32 If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me Yet in this is the conformitie of our sufferings with Christs sufferings that as when Christ suffered for our sake and in our roome we suffered in him so when we suffer for Christs sake he
servants by old and young The Papists saw it and wondred that the fire of persecution had not consumed but kindled and inflamed our zeale and some of them were converted So wee were corrected our devotion was increased Papists were amazed God was glorified XVIII Wherefore a Heb. 12.12 lift up the hands which hang downe and the feeble knees Though wee live here in peace yet we have no lease of peace yea in this publike peace everie one should looke for a great fight of afflictions flagging hands are not fit for the battel trembling knees cannot stand fast and upright at a meeting incounter of our enemies Let us then imitate wise prudent souldiers which in time of peace enure themselves by the exercises of war to sustaine the brunt coping of armed enemies in the day of battel When b Ps 91.7 a thousand shall fall at our side and tenne thousand at our right hand when c Rev. 12.4 the Dragon shall with his taile sweep the heavens and cast to the earth the third part of the starres when everie where yee shall see nothing but apostasies and defections of great men of wise men of Church men which are starres in the heaven of the Church stand not stil gazing upon them as d 2. Sam. 2.23 Ioabs souldiers did upon Hasael whom Abner had slaine and lost the fruit of the victorie But as e 2. Sam. 20.11 12 13. Ioabs servant removed Amaza whom Ioab had slaine out of the high way into the field cast a cloth upon him when he saw that everie one that came by him stood still and as he cryed Hee that favoureth Ioab and hee that is for David let him goe after Ioab whereupon all the people went on after Ioab to pursue after the traitor Sheba So let us remove all scandals from before our eyes and casting upon them the cloake of forgetfulnesse let us follow our Generall our Lord Iesus Christ the Prince and Captaine of the Lords Host who goeth before us fighting for the Lord our God against the Divell sinne and the world Whosoever favoureth Christ whosoever is for God let him follow Christ Let f 1. Tim. 1.18 19. us all warre a good warfare holding for shield faith and forsword the word of God not pausing on these Hymenees and Alexanders which loosing the rudder of a good conscience what wonder if they have made shipwrack of their faith yea let us tread upon their stinking carkases and trampling on the gastly examples of their lamentable revolts let us g Psal 3.14 presse toward the marke for the prince of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus That being through Gods powerfull and mercifull assistance each of us enabled to say truely with Paul h 2. Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good sight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith wee may thereupon inferre this sweete and blessed conclusion with Paul Henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give mee at that day and not to mee onely but unto them also that love his appearing XIX O almightie and most gracious Father bestow this saving grace upon this thy people which is here present before thee through the all-sufficient merits of thy only and deare Sonne and our only and most powerfull Saviour Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be all power all honour and all glorie for ever and ever Amen SERMON VI. Of the Lords Deliverances PSALM XXXIV XIX But the Lord delivereth him out of them all 1. THe Church compared to the Moone by reason of the vicissitude of her evils the Lords deliverances 2. Whereof there be many examples in the old Tastament 3. And in the new 4. Six principall points to be considered in the Lords deliverances 5. The deliverer of the Church is the LORD called IEHOVAH in the Heb. tongue 6. The word IEHOVAH leadeth us to the knowledge of the eternitie of Gods being and of that eternall vertue whereby he giveth being to all things and namely to his promises 7. All the qualities required in a deliverer are in the LORD 8. Thence the righteous man receiveth a most sensible and unspeakable comfort 9. God alone is the deliverer of the Church and needeth not the helpe of any 10. What is the nature of his deliverances 11. Exhortatiō not to feare men 12. Exhortation to feare God alone 13. Exhortation not to trust in men neither living 14. Nor dead though they be in heaven 15. Exhortation to trust in the Lord alone 16. Those whō the Lord delivereth are the Righteous only 17. Their righteousnesse is no cause meritorious of their deliverances 18. Notwithstanding it is a righteous thing with God to deliver them and that for three causes 19. The Lord giveth many blessings and deliverances to wicked men for righteous mens sake 20. Exhortation to righteousnesse 1. EXcellent and many are the titles wherewith the Church is adorned in holy Scripture Amongst all that wherewith shee is graced when the wise K. Salomon intitles her a Cant 6.10 faire as the Moon is the fittest to expresle her condition in this world She is faire indeed verie pleasant to behold as the Moone is Shee shineth among the people that walke in the darkenesse of ignorance as the Moone shineth in the night Her shining light is intermixed with darke staines of sinne as the bright shining light of the Moone is intermingled with blacke spots She hath her spots of her selfe as the Moone hath but b Ambr. Hexam lib 4 cap. 8. shee borroweth the light of immortalitie and of grace from the ay-during light of her brother the Lord Iesus Christ as the light of the Moone commeth from the Sunne O c Hos 139 Israel thou hast destroyed by thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe saith GOD to his Church Sinne is of ourselves destruction and death is from our sinne But d Psal 121.2 our helpe is from the Lord which made heaven and earth even from the Lord Iesus who is e Mal. 1.2 the Sun of righteousnesse f Luk. 1.78 the day spring from on high in whose wings is health g Psal 36.9 in whose light wee see light and through whose light h l. 2.15 we shine as lights in the world so that we say i Gal. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee The Moone hath her rising and setting and in each of them her increasing her fulnesse her decreasing her disappearing for a few daies when she is in her conjunction with the Sun So the Church of Christ rising in one place goeth downe in another and wheresoever shee riseth is subject to manie variations to growing bigger and bigger to waning to disappearing Then through the violence of persecutions she is constrained to obey Gods commandement k Esa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy
the promise which God made to David saying a Psal 89.30 31 32 33 34. If his children forsake my Law and walke not in my iudgements If they breake my statutes and keepe not my commandements Then will I visite their transgression with the rod and their iniquitie with stripes Neverthelessâ— my louing kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnes to fail my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Thence it was that Davids children were often chastened ever delivered that good Kings succeeded bad that many afflâ—â—tions were followed with notable deliveries that seventy yeares of captivitie ended in a most glorious and wonderfull libertie that the foure hundred yeares following had sadnesse seasoned with joy teares mingled with laughter speares changed into sithes swords beaten into mattockes prayers in the time of persecution ending in thankesgiving for peace untill the land being destitute and void of righteous men vomited out for ever and ever all her inhabitants for wheresoever are righteous men there Many are the evills of the Righteous But the Lord delivereth him out of them all III. The Christian Church hath succeeded both to the evills and deliveries of the Church of Israel and of Iuda as the Lord himselfe hath experimented in his own person and hath forewarned us b 1. Pet. 3.18 He was put to death in the flesh Many are the evills of the Righteous He was quickned by the Spirit The Lord delivereth him out of them all He saith to us c Ioh. 16.10 Verely verely I say unto you that yee shall weep and lament but the world shall reioice And yee shall bee sorrowfull but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy Ye shall bee sorrowfull because many are the evills of the Righteous your sorrow shall be turned into joy because the Lord delivereth him out of them all I have declared to you how many evils the Christian Church suffred at divers times by ten bloody persecutions by false brethren by the wicked heresie of Arrius But by divers means the Lord delivered her out of them all At last the Antichrist is come according to the Scriptures and the prophecie of the revelation concerning d Rev. 11.7 c. the two witnesses of God hath been fulfilled where it is said that the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit shall make warre against them and shall overcome them and kill them that their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great Citie three daies and a half that the people and nations shall see them and shall not suffer them to be put in graves that they that dwell upon the earth shall reioice over them and make merry and shal send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth That after three dayes and an halfe the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great feare fell upon them which saw them and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them Alas what evils hath not the beast practised against these two witnesses against the little handfull of those which professed the Gospel of Christ How often hath she fought vanquished killed them How often also hath God raised them from the dead in their successors what was this last peace of France but a most wonderfull resurrection The world for the first draught filleth a cup of good wine but after that it giveth nothing to drinke but poison of dragons and the cruell venome of aspes Contrariwise the e Ioh 2.10 Lord Iesus giveth the best wine last Hee f Iob 5.18 maketh sore to bind up he woundeth to make whole g 1. Sam. 2.6 He killeth to make alive Hee bringeth men downe to the grave that hee may bring them up againe Weeping h Psal 30.5 may endure for a night but singing cometh in the morning i Psal 126.6 They that sow in teares shall reap in ioy He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtlesse come againe with reioycing bringing his sheaves with him As in Musicke contrary voices give a pleasant sound by a discordant concord make a most delectable harmonie So these alterations and interchanges of evill good in our lives make the pleasures more acceptable when God sendeth them when after that the righteous man hath beene shaken and tossed with afflictions The Lord delivereth him out of them all IIII. He which doeth this worke is the LORD his worke is deliverance he whom hee delivereth is the righteous man The Evils out of which he delivereth him are all the evils which befall him Adde to these the maner how and the time when he delivereth the righteous man out of all his evils ye shall have six principall heads of doctrine to be handled in the exposition of the second part of this text V. The deliverer of the Church is the LORD The Hebrew word is IEHOVAH which is Gods Name The use of names is to put distinction betweene things that are of one kind and therefore when Iacob asked of God what was his Name he rebuked him saying Wherefore l Gen. 32.29 is it that thou doest aske after my Name The Iews say that he would not tell him his Name because the tongue of a mortall man neither should nor can expresse it For that same cause say they when Manoah Samsons father desired to know his Name he repressed his curiositie with this answer m Iudg. 13.17 18. Why askest thou after my Name seeing it is wonderfull But to speak properly he hath no Name because hee is alone and there are no other gods with him His Name is his owne selfe and therefore wonderfull above all wondering And so he would have Iacob and Manoah who tooke him for one of the Angels to think of him But when Moses asked by what name hee should call him when he should speak of him unto the children of Israel he commanded him to say unto them EHEIE n Exo d. 3 14. hath sent me unto you which word in our Bibles is translated IAM In the greeke of the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is which Plato learned in Syria called him o Iustin Cohortat ad Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is It is the first person of the future tense and may be translated He that shall be God spake further unto Moses p Exod. 3.15 Thus shalt thou say un-the Children of Israel IEHOVAH the God of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob hath sent me unto you This is my Name for ever and this is my Memoriall unto all ages So God called himselfe and so q Exod. 4.30 Moses named him to the people and to r Exod. 5.1 2. Pharao who hearing the Name which he never heard before answered Who is IEHOVAH I
our enemies our evils b Psal 138.6 Though the LORD be high yet hath he respect unto the Lowly but the proud he knoweth afarre off Almighty without a peere in heaven among the Angels in earth among the most dreadfull creatures as the Church singeth c Psal 89. 6 8 9 11 13 For who in heaven can bee compared unto the LORD Who among the sonnes of the mighty can bee likened unto the LORD OLORD God of Hosts who is a strong LORD like unto thee or to thy faithfulnesse round about thee Thou rulest the raging of the sea when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them The heavens are thine the earth also is thine As for the world and the fulnesse thereof thou hast founded them Thou hast a mighty arme strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand When wee complaine and make our moane to God d Psal 93.3 4. The flouds have lifted up O LORD the flouds have lifted up their voice the flouds lift up their waves we are taught to comfort our selves and to say The LORD who is on high is mightier than many waters yea than the mighty waves of the sea All-righteous for e Psal 103.16 the LORD executeth righteousnesse and iudgement for all that are oppressed All-good and most willing to deliver us for he is the LORD our God f Psal 50.1.7 The mighty God even the LORD hath spoken saying I am God even thy God hee is appeased to wards us he is reconciled with us through the blood of the crosse of his deare Sonne Our cause is his cause We are persecuted for righteousnesse sake Righteousnesse is the daughter of God We are persecuted for the Gospel The Gospel is his word We are persecuted for Christs sake Christ is his Sonne his deare Soone his onely Sonne I say then that he is All-wise and can All-mighty and may All-good and will deliver us Whatsoever he is hee is it to us and for us because hee is the LORD our God Hee hath delivered all our fathers predecessors g Psal 22.4 Our fathers saith David trusted in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them He will also deliver us And therefore every righteous man prayeth h Psal 106.4 Remember mee OLORD with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit mee with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen that I may reioice in the gladnesse of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance IIX Here is the comfort here is the consolation of the Church and of every righteous man in her that God heareth their prayers and delivereth them even then and namely then when they are forsaken of all men Iacob was alone when he fled from his fathers house because his brother Esau had vowed to kill him Then the Lord appeared unto him in a dreame and said unto him i Gen. 28.15 Behold I am with thee and will keepe thee in all places whither thou goest and will bring thee againe into the land for I will not leave thee untill I have done that which I have spoken to thee of David complaineth that k Psal 25.16 hee was desolate and afflicted yet hee seeketh comfort in the assurance of Gods assistance and saith l Psal 27.10 When my father and my mother forsake me then the LORD will take me up What extremitie was the Church brought into under the persecution of the cruell Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes m Dan. 11 32 45. who corrupted by flatteries such as did wickedly against the covenant and afflicted those which were upright so cruelly and so puissantly that there was none to help them Then the Church prayed n Psal 74.1 O God why hast thou cast us off for ever why doth thine anger smoake against the sheepe of thy pasture Then Sion said againe o Esa 49. 14 15. The LORD bath forsaken me and my LORD hath forgotten me Then the Lord answered againe Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee For then was fulfilled that Prophecy of Daniel p Dan. 12.1 At that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke Who is this Michael who like unto God who but our Lord Iesus Christ the great Prince which standeth and fighteth for his people when they can neither stand nor fight for themselves Was it not hee which cryed from heaven to Saul q Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me When an hoste came from the King of Syria and compassed the Citie of Dothan where Elisha was to take him his servant was affrighted and said r 2. Kin. 6.15 16. Alas my master how shall we doe But hee answered Feare not for they that be with us are moe than they that be with them After the same manner when the king Hezekiah was brought by Senacheribs army to such a pinch that he was constrained to inclose himselfe within the walls of Ierusalem for the safetie of his life all his kingdome being taken from him and having no power to resist fortified himselfe in the Lord his God and heartned his people saying f 2. Chron. 32.7 8. Be strong and courageous bee not afraid nor dismaid for the King of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him for there be moe with us then with him With him is the arme of flesh but with us is the LORD our God to helpe us and to fight our battells Yee see a good and godly king see also a good and godly people And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Iuda i.e. notwithstanding their weakenesse and fewnesse they leaned upon God and were delivered S. Raul with good reason did complaine of all his followers that at his first answer before Nero t 2. Tim. 4.16 No man stood with him but all men forsooke him Was he for that destitute and left alone Notwithstanding saith he the Lord stood with me and strengthened me And therefore when he saw all the powers of hell and all the malice of the earth uncoupled after poore Christians hee defied them saying v Rom. 8.30 If God be for us who can be against us Even as David said x Psal 27.1 3. The LORD is my light and my salvation whom shall I feare The LORD is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid though an hoste should encampe against me my heart shall not feare though warre should rise against me in this will I be confident and as Iesus Christ said to his Disciples y Ioh. 16.32 Ye shall leave
his and his righteousnesse cannot but moove him to undertake the defense thereof Vpon this foundation the Church made this prayer to God q Psal 44.22 23. For thy sake are wee killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever 3. Because he hath promised to deliver the righteous and it is a part of his righteousnesse to keepe his promise Hence is this prayer of David r Psal 71.2 Deliver mee in thy righteousnesse ſ Psal 143 1. answer me in thy righteousnesse Hence is this excellent saying of the blessed Apostle t 2. Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give at that day and not to me onely but unto them also that love his appearing Sweet v Bern. de gratia libero arbitrio in fine Bernard How calleth he the crowne which hee presumeth to be laid up for him the crowne of righteousnesse Is it not because that which is promised gratis of meere good will is asked righteously and as a thing due Finally he saith x 2. Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have beleeved and I am perswaded that hee is able to keepe depositum meum that which I have committed unto him He calleth Gods promise his depost and because he beleeved him who had made the promise hee redemands considently the thing promised promised through mercy but now to bee payed through righteousnesse The crowne then which Paul looketh for is the crowne of righteousnesse but of the righteousnesse of God not of his owne righteousnesse for it is a righteous thing that he render that which he oweth and hee oweth that which he hath promised this then is the righteousnesse whereof the Apostle thinketh so well even the promise of God For this cause David called Gods promises the word of his righteousnesse saying y Psal 119 123. Mine eyes faile for thy salvation and for the word of thy righteousnesse XIX Now God not onely delivereth the righteous man but also delivereth wicked men and fills them with many blessings for the righteous sake z Gen. 7.7 He saved Ham in the Arke for Noah his fathers sake a Gen. 6.9 who was a iust man and perfect in his generations walking with God b Gen. 18.32 If there had been tenne righteous men in Sodom God would not have destroyed it for tennes sake c Gen. 19.22 neither could he destroy it as long as righteous Lot was in it d Gen. 17.20 Ismael was blessed for Abrahā his fathers sake e Gen. 30.27 Laban confessed that the Lord had blessed him for Iacobs sake f Gen. 29.5 He blessed Potiphars house for Iosephs sake How often was the people of Israel saved from the fierie Wrath of God through the praiers of g Exod. 32.14 Num. 14.13 Psal 106.13 Moses Were not h 2. King 2.12 2. King 13 14. Elijah Elisha the Charet of Israel and the horse-men thereof more steedable to their people than an armie of horsemen i Act. 27.24 37. God gave he not to Paul all them that sailed with him which were two hundred threescore and sixteene soules When it was said to the soules that were under the Altar that k Rev. 6.11 they should rost yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should bee fulfilled This is to teach us that Gods Elect and the righteous men which are in the world are the upholders thereof and that it must finish when they shal be taken away from it as if ye pull from a ruinous house the props wherewith it is supported it goeth swiftly to the ground XX. Therefore let us above all things set our minds and hearts upon righteousnesse and endeavour to attaine to true holinesse of life that as it was said to Abraham l Gen. 12.2 Thou shalt be a blessing so may we be a blessing both to our selves and others namely that in the darke day of Gods indignation we may be m Psal 1.5 able to stand in judgement and with the congregation of the righteous n Psal 118.19 20. enter into the gates of righteousnesse and dwell forever o 2. Pet. 3.13 in these new heavens promised unto us wherein dwelleth righteousnesse and that through the most precious and powerfull merits of our onely Lord and Saviour p 1. Ioh. 2.2 Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all praise glory and honour both now and evermore Amen SERM. VII Of the infinite number and of the divers meanes of the Lords deliveries PSALM XXXIV XIX But the Lord delivereth him out of them all 1 THe righteous mans evills and the Lords deliverances are the exposition of Sampsons riddle 2. As many evills as many deliverances yea of each evill many deliverances 3. Exhortation to hope and trust in the Lord. 4. The Lord delivereth by meanes against means without meanes 5. He delivereth by weake meanes as by flight whereof shall be spoken in the next Sermon 6. Hee opposeth men to men and delivereth his Church by the sword 7. He maketh his creatures of all kinds to fight for his Church 8. He is wonderfull in the delivering of his Church against the nature of the meanes 9. He delivereth also without meanes 10. When his Church is destitute of all helpe and of all hope hee alone delivereth her without any visible helpe 11. When the righteous man is overcome he overcommeth his enemies and so is delivered 12. As it is most evident by the examples of Shadrach Meschah and Abednego 13. Of Eleazer 14. Of the seven brethren and of their mother mentioned in the second book of the Maccabees 15. As also of Christians in great number as of Steven 16. Of many Martyrs in the Primitive Church 17. And since the reformation 18. Such victories come of faith love and zeale 19. Prayer 1 THis text is a cleere exposition of Sampsons riddle a Iudg. 14.14 Out of the eater came forth meate and out of the strong came foorth sweetnesse afflictions are the eaters and as it seemes to men the destroyers of the righteous man and what is stronger than death what meat so good so seasonable of so excellent a rellish as comfort in affliction as joy in the middest of sorrow as glory and honor in shame what so sweet as to find heaven in hell content in discontent life in death Many are the evills of the righteous man There is the roaring Lyon rising up against him not one lyon but many there is the eater or rather there be the eaters b 1. Pet. 5.8 which walke about seeking to devoure him But the LORD delivereth him out of them all there is
be ascribed but to the most wonderfull power of God I put in this ranke the confusion and disorder which God sendeth amongst his enemies when he will deliver his people The Midianites come to fight against Israel but h Ver. 22. the LORD set every mans sword against his fellow even throughout all the host When i 2. Chron. 20.2 22 23 25. the Moabites Ammonites and Idumeans with one consent sought to destroy Iehoshaphat and his people the Lord troubled them with the spirit of division after such a manner that the Moabites and Ammonites slew and destroyed the Idumeans and after that every one helped to destroy another so that Iehoshaphat and his people had no more to doe but to goe and take away the spoyle and give thankes unto the Lord. How often by such divisions God hath saved the reformed Churches in forrein nations and namely in France we all know IX When God delivereth against the nature of meanes he will teach us that he standeth not in any need of meanes when his pleasure is to deliver And therefore now and then he delivereth without meanes k Pro. 16.7 When a mans wayes please the LORD he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him He delivered l Gen. 33.4 Iacob from Esau changing his heart and appeasing his wrath which was suddenly turned into imbracements kissing and weeping He delivered David from Saul by many meanes but when the messengers which were sent by Saul to take him prophecyed and thought no more on him what helpe of man what visible meanes were there When he preferred Ioseph in the Court of Pharao Daniel and his fellowes in the Court of Nebuchadnezzar and of Darius Nehemiah and Mordecai in the Court of Artaxerxes by what means did he it The Psalmist saith that m Psal 106 46. he made them to bee pittyed of all those that carryed them captives Hee converted Saul and of a persecuter made him a Christian of a Captaine an Apostle of a Ring-leader of most cruell and bloody Wolves a most vigilant and faithfull shepheard of Christs flocke David speaking through his owne experience saith to the man which is persecuted wrongfully n Psal 37.5 6. Commit thy way unto the LORD trust also in him and he shall bring it to passe and he shall bring foorth thy righteousnesse as the light and thy iudgements as the noone day Wee may wonder that he doth it but how he doth it who can tell How Saul knew Davids innocency we can tell o 1. Sam. 24.18 1. Sam. 26.21 because when he might he killed him not but it is wonderfull to consider by what unknowne wayes of Gods secret providence Saul fell twice into his hands Henry the third King of France spake of us at Tours as Saul spake of David and said that we were more righteous than hee because we had rewarded him good whereas he had rewarded us evill It was the wonderfull and immediate worke of GOD that hee could not bee saved but by them whose fathers hee had killed and was resolved to bee the protector of those whom he had persecuted if the Monks impoisoned knife had not cut too too soone for us the brittle thread of his mortall life God be praysed that amongst us there are no Clements no Barrauts no Chatels no Ravaillacs for p 2. Sam. 26.9 who can stretch forth his hand against the LORDS anointed and bee guiltlesse X. How often hath the Church beene afflicted stormed forsaken of all creatures destitute of all helpe of all counsell of all comfort and he he alone hath come on a sudden and both comforted and delivered her He prophecied by Daniel that under the persecution of Antiochus his people should be brought to such extremity that q Dan. 11.45 none should helpe them What then shall they perish for want of helpe It followeth in the next chapter r Dan. 12.1 And at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall bee delivered every one that shall be written in the book Who is this Michael who but our Lord Iesus Christ called elsewhere Å¿ Iosh 5.14 15. the Prince of the host of the LORD If all the Angels of heaven if all the men of the world should stand still with their armes crossed if all the creatures should with hold their helpe from us our Michael saith unto us t Mat. 28.18 20. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth and loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Though he be v Phil. 2.9 10. highly exalted though he have a Name which is above every name though he x Psal 47.7 be king of all the earth and that at his Name every knee must bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth yet he is our high Priest and beareth us into the most high and inmost heavens yea weareth us as an ornament upon his shoulders and upon his breast and as the Apostle saith y Heb. 2.11 is not ashamed to call us his brethren When all things seeme to be desperate and past hope of recoverie when the faithfull are nothing but a skeliton but a carcasse a Ezech. 37.2 c. of dry bones as the people of Iuda was in the captivitie of Babylon if it please him to speak the word onely they shall come together againe bone to bone they shall live rise again and be a great Army Hee hath by his word done things greater and more wonderfull By his word he hath made heaven earth by his word he heaped plagues upon plagues while they had destroyed Pharao and his people they that are sicke cry unto him b Psal 107 7. he sendeth his word healeth them c Mat. 9.6 20 22. By his word onely he cured one sicke of the palsie and the woman diseased with an issue of blood By his word onely he quieted the winds calmed the roaring seas rendred sight and light to the blind raised the dead By his word onely he restored his people to the land of Canaan By his word he saveth the Church By his word by his onely power and good will without any visible and knowne meanes he hath given peace to the Churches of France for when we were betrayed and sold by sundry of our brethren forsaken of many pursued by a great armie he was for us and delivered us Then wee sung with thanksgiving the hundreth twenty and fourth Psalme XI There is yet another kind of deliverie which commeth immediately of God and is most wonderfull of all How he delivereth us by the ruine of our enemies how by death he giveeh us life wee shall heare in the next Sermon but that hee delivereth us when
fourescore and six yeares and he hath never done me any harm how then should I curse my King which hath saved me q Tert. Apolâ—get c. 1. 46. 49. All the Christians when they were condemned gave thanks as for a great benefit r Iust Mart. Apol. 1. Lucius thanked Vrbicius which had condemned him to die for Christs sake because said hee being delivered from evill masters I am going to my Father the King of heaven Amongst all is wonderfull the constancie of Felicitas a Widow of Rome like unto that of the Mother and of the seven children of whom I have already spoken for she also had seven sonnes Å¿ Gregor 1. hom 3. in Euang. tom 2. Other mothers fear lest their children die before them She feareth lest her sons live after her She converted them to Christ being taken with them shee confirmed them in the confession and faith of Christ Publius the Governor of the towne with faire words sought to entice her Have pittie saith he of thy selfe at least pittie these thy seven sonnes After with rough words hee thought to astonish her But she having in a womans body a mans breast Neither saith she are thy promises able to tickle mee nor thy threats to terrifie mee And choosing rather to loose all her Children than to see then loose Christ of a mother shee became a Preacher unto them and after she had seen them all glorifie the Lord Iesus by their death the love of Christ surmounting in her the griefe which she received of her orbitie she went also with drie eyes a laughing countenance and a most heroicall courage to the place of execution and received there the crowne of Martyrdome And therefore as Christ said of Iohn Baptiste that t Mat 11 9 he was a Prophet yea more than a Prophet so may wee say of her that she was a Martyr yea more than a Martyr Consider the tender love of a mother and ye shall confesse that the death of each of her sonnes was a martyrdome unto her She was then seven times Martyr in her seven sonnes and the eighth time in her own person After I have spoken of such a woman shall I goe back to men Shall I speak of v Euseb hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. 1. Attalus one of the Martyrs of Vienne in France in the time of Antonius Verus the yeare of Christ 178. who being set in a burning chaire of iron preached to the Romanes as if he had bin in a pulpit teaching them what God is reproving their cruelty maintaining the innocencie of Christians and saying This which you do is eating swallowing of mens flesh but we eate not mens flesh neither doe we harme to any man Shall I forget Laurentius Deacon of the Church of Rome who being laid upon an iron grate and a slow burning fire under it that he might feele his death This side said he is inough rosted turn me upon the other which being done after some space he said againe to the Governor x Prudent in hymno Coctum devora Et experimentuÌ„ cape Sit crudum an assum suavius Now both sides are well rosted come eate and try which is sweetest raw or rosted It was a common thing to all Christians in those dayes y Tertull de Idolat cap. 11. Quo ore Christianus thurarius si per Templa transibit quo ore flumantes aras despuet exsufflabit quibus ipse prospexit Minut Felix deos despuuÌ„t rideâ—t sacra when the hangmen would hale them violently to the Temples of their Idolls when the Iudges would command them to bow downe to the Altars and to worship the Idols if they had hands and feete free to breake the Images fling away the Censers trample on the sweete smelling incense and if they were bound they would puffe at the Temples spit at the abominable Images with great contempt wagg their heads at all the diabolicall superstition All this did the holy woman and couragious Martyr z Prud. in Martyrio Eulalia Martyr ad ista nâ—hil sed enim Iâ—fremit in que tyranni oculos Sâ—uta iacit simulacra dehinc Eulalia She did more shee spat upon the Governors face who by all kind of most cruell torments went about to constraine her to idolatry And this puffing and spitting at the onely naming of the false religion was most usuall in those dayes among the brethren O Faith O Courage O Victorie O gods of wood of stone of metall where is your Majestie O Tyrants where your power O cruel Executioners Dissipat impositamque molam where is your fury Loe not men onely but women but young children contemne you fight against you Thuribulis pede prosubigit overcome you XVII Shall passe under silence our own Martyrs to begin with one of the first even Ierome of Prague condemned to be burnt quicke by the bloody councell of Constantia How the stood before his passionate and ignorant Iudges without feare not onely contemning death but also lusting after it x Poggius Florent ep 3 a Papist which was an eye-witnesse of all the actes of that Tragedie relateth with admiration and praise He went to death with a cheerfull countenance when hee came to the place of execution he imbraced the post whereunto he was tied kissed it Perceiving the hangman going behind his back to set the wood on fire lest he should see it he cried unto him Come here come here and kindle the fire before my face for if I had dreaded it I should never have come to this place which I might have shunned Then with a most holy wonderful joy he sung a Psalm to God which the fire and the smoake had much adoe to interrupt Patricke Hammilton a young Gentleman of Scotland as he was going to the fire by his words and lookes affrighted in such sort Alexander Cambell a Dominican Frier his accuser that he became besides himselfe and died madde George Baynam and Iohn Frith Englishmen imbraced kissed their fagots Laurent Sanders imbraced with great joy the post whereunto the hangman was tying him and said O crosse of my good Lord. In France Steven Brun after that his Iudges had pronounced against him the sentence of death cryed with a loud voice My Iudges have condemned mee to live And Iohn Baron being advertised by his Iudges which had condemned him to appeale from them unto the Court of Parliament Can ye not said he bee content to have your owne hands defiled with my blood but ye will have other mens hands polluted with it also Amongst all I admire most the peasant of Lynri which meeting some prisoners condemned for the Religion after he had asked and known of them the cause of their condemnation leapt upon the chariot and went to dye with them Above all the victories of women are most wonderful As the hangman was ready to put to death a loving couple of Martyrs Iohn Bayly and his wife
the wife incouraged the husband saying Sweet heart heave a good heart for this day our marriage with our Lord Iesus shall bee accomplished The religious Gentlewoman Graveron called the day of her martyrdome the day of her marriage with Christ and seeing her companions refuse to give their tongues because there was no such thing mentioned in their sentence she being but a woman resolved them saying It is reasonable and sit that the tongue which hath the priviledge to praise God should also have the prerogative to leape first upon the Altar of burnt offering So Claude Tierry called the halter which was put about her necke the Carkanet and the rope wherewith she was bound to the post the girdle of her marriage with Iesus Christ and therupon made a most excellent discourse of the spirituall marriage of the Lord Iesus with his Church which begins here in the valley of death and is consummated in the mountaines of spices Minut Felix Quam â—ulchrum spectacadum Deo cum Châ—â—â—ia 〈…〉 Congreaâ—us c. Vâ—it enim qut quod conâ—enâ—it obtinuâ— O how pleasant a sight is it in the eyes of God when a Christian buckles with griefe and p ine when he sets himselfe in aray against threats punishments torments when he scoffingly ieasts at the dreadfull name of death at the lowring countenance of the pitilesse hangman when he holds up his libertie against Kings and Princes and yeelds to none but to God to whom he belongs when like a most glorious Triumpher and Conqueror hee insults and triumphes over his Iudge who hath condemned him For he which hath obtained that wherefore he fought hath vainquished XIIX There is nothing difficile where faith in God is nothing dreadfull where the love of God is nothing dolorous where true zeale to the glory of God is As the light of the sunne dimmeth all other lights and as the heat of the sunne cooleth all other heats so the light of faith dimmeth that which worldly men call the light of reason Reason saith as the Proconsull said to Cyprian Take time and advise Faith answereth as Cyprian did a In rebus Dei non est delibecandum In Gods affaires no man must advise Reason saith it is a sweet thing to live Faith saith it is better to dye for Christ than to live without Christ So also the heat of love and true zeale extinguisheth the heat of most burning fires When naturall sense saith it is burning Love answereth it is not so much as hot These are the victories of the faithfull in their most sensible torments they are so ravished and transported by faith with the love of their Saviour that as it were it benummeth them so that they heede not their paines as if they were senselesse for b 1. Ioh. 5.4 whatsoever is borne of God overcommeth the world and this is the victory that overcommeth the world even our faith XIX The Lord in his great mercy increase our faith whereby in this surceasing of outward enemies we may fight valiantly against our inward and spirituall foes which are more dangerous closing our hearts to all the suggestions of Satan to covetousnesse to pride to choler to all the ticklings of filthy lust shutting our eyes to vanity stopping our eares to calumnies flatterers all evill counsells keeping our spirits our soules our bodies blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ That fighting so we may overcome overcomming triumph triumphing receive the crowne of glory and of immortalitie which God hath prepared for us before the beginning of the world through the precious merites of our LORD IESVS CHRIST to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost bee all prayse all glory all honour both now and for evermore Amen SERM. VIII Of the manner and time of the righteous mans Deliverances ESAIAH XXVI 20. Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doores about thee hide thy selfe as it were for a little moment untill the indignation bee overpast 21. For behold the Lord commeth out of his place to visite the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquitie the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slaine 1. THe Church like unto the Phoenix findeth life in death 2. Because God according to his promise in this text reviveth her 3. He saveth her often by flight which sometimes is not lawfull 4. At other times is lawfull and necessarie and is commanded by God in this text according to the literall sense 5. Is also confirmed by the examples of godly men in the time of the old Testament 6. In the new Testament Christ himselfe hath commanded to flye in time of persecution 7. And hath confirmed his commandement by his own example the examples of his Apostles and many other most constant and courageous Christians 8. Flying prooved lawfull by three reasons 9. Fleeing is not a forsaking and denying but a confessing of Christ 10. This text in a figurative and allegoricall sense is an exhortation to patience 11. The first argument mooving us to patience is the will of God 12. The second is his wisedome whereby hee converteth all evills to the good of his Church 13. The third is the truth of his promises 14. In the second part of this text he promiseth that the persecution shall last but a moment 15. He reckoneth the yeers the moneths the dayes the moments of the affliction of his Church 16. How affliction which to us seemeth so long is said to continue but for a moment 17. Till that moment expire we must relye upon the truth of Gods promise I. AS of the ashes of the Phoenix when it seemeth to be nothing but dust groweth up another So when the Church to mans iudgement is gone lost and past all hope of recoverie when the persecuters say of her that which the Traytor Absalom a Psal 22.8 Mat. 27.43 and the treacherous Rebells that followed him said of David and the chiefe Priests Scribes and Elders of Christ Hee trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him Then then God by a most excellent and wonderfull deliverance reviveth her and maketh her to spring up againe more beautifull and glorious than she was before The third day of the Massacre of Paris Thuan. lib. 53. which was the Sunday in the moneth of August a bramble flourished in St. Innocents Church-yard The Papists ran to gaze upon it but could not tell wherefore and how a dry thorne blossomed in harvest out of due time and feason except that some tooke it as a token that God approoved their most unnaturall and savage crueltie but the wisest and best sort remembring that b Numb 17.8 Aarans rod which was but a dry peece of wood budded and blossomed and yeelded almonds when the Lord confirmed the Priesthood in the house of Levi and that the condition of the Church was represented unto c Exod. 3.2 Moses by
Epicureans and belly-gods That were as if I should cast pearles vnto swine Nor also before wickedly and cruelly disposed men That were as if one should cast that which is holy vnto doggs What then shall I doe I will put up the holy things I will packe up my Pearles and withdraw my selfe the most advisedly I can till the dirtie and muddie swine be out of the way and the dogs leave off barking and biting Or I will remove to some other place and display my sewels there to see and assay if I can finde a better market else-where For Christ giveth us not commandements of feare whereby we should forsake our callings to save our lives but of holy wisedome whereby we should be carefull to save our lives that at another time or in another place we may more commodiously and effectually practise our callings and so goe backe to leape the better VII Such commandements are not in the Church without most glorious precedents and examples most worthy to be followed Can we have any so perfect so excellent as of Christ himselfe Of him the Angel said to Ioseph g Matth. 2.13 Arise and take the young childe and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there untill I bring thee word b When he had shewne himselfe to be God by restoring the withered hand h Matt. 12.13 14 15. the Pharisees went out and held a counsell against him how they might destroy him But when Iesus knew it he withdrew himselfe from thence The inhabitants of Nazareth led him unto the brow of an hill that they might cast him downe headlong i Luk. 4.30 But bee passing thorow the midst of them went his way In the Temple of Ierusalem the Iewes tooke up stones to cast at him k Iohn 8.59 But Iesus hid himselfe and went out of the Temple going thorow the midst of them and so passed by The chiefe Priests and the Pharisees tooke counsell to put him to death after that he had raised Lazarus l Ioh. 11.54 Iesus therefore walked no more openly among the Iewes but went thence into a countrie neere to the wildernesse into a city called Ephraim and there continued with his disciples Wherefore hid he himselfe wherefore fled he Because m Ioh. 2.4 Ioh. 7.6 his houre was not yet come for when his houre was come not onely he fled not but n Ioh. 18.4 knowing all things that should come upon him went foorth and rendred himselfe to his enemies which neither knew him nor were able to take him And where he fled untill his time was come there he preached healed the sicke and did good to all men So when there was a great persecution against the Church at Ierusalem the Christians o Act. 8.1.4 Act. 11.19 20. were scattered abroad throughout the region of Iudea and Samaria and went every where preaching the word So Paul being at Damascus knowing that the Iews watched the gates day and night to kill him p Act. 9.24 25. The Disciples tooke him by night and let him downe by the wall in a basquet So when he was q Act. 14.5 6. at Iconium with Barnabas knew that the Iewes Gentiles with their Rulers had made an assault to use them despitefully to stone them they were ware of it fled unto Lystra So when in the uprore which Demetrius had raised against him at Ephesus r Act. 19.30 31. he would haue entred in unto the people the Disciples suffered him not and he followed their counsell So seeing he could not stay there without great ieopardie f Act. 20.1 he departed from thence and went into Macedonia and preached the Gospell there So t Act. 23.6 7. perceiving that his enemies were resolved to doe him some mischiefe he found a subtill but lawfull policie to put them by the eares and so escaped So v v. 17. advertised that fourtie naughty men had bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eate nor drinke till they had killed him he shunned that conspiracie by a most wise counsell So x Act. 25.11 knowing the corruption of his Iudge he appealed unto Caesar not forsaking his calling but desiring to live for his callings sake So S. Iohn writeth that y Rev. 12.6 the woman which was delivered of a childe fled into the wildernesse And that ye may know that her flight was approved of God it is said that there shee had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes So S. Cyprian seeing that the people cryed incessantly a Cyprian Epist 15. Cyprianum ad Leonem Cyprian to the Lyon withdrew himselfe from the furie of the people and fled not so much for his owne safetie as for the peace of the Church So S. Athanasius fled out of Alexandria where the Emperour had sent to take him So Policarpus so S. Chrysostome by their flight saved the Pastors for their Churches and the Churches for their Pastors So the Albigenses fleeing the persecution in France went through Germanie Bohemia and England and planted there the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ Of whom is this flourishing Church composed Of strangers which have forsaken their owne countries and commodities and have sought in this Sanctuary securitie for their lives and food for their soules and of whom I may say truly that God hath sent them before their distressed brethren to save their lives even as Ioseph said to his brethren b Gen. 45.7 God sent me before you to preserve you a posteritie in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance VIII It is a naturall thing to all living creatures to provide for their owne safetie Neither hath God the author of nature abolished that naturall instinct in his Saints but sanctified it directing them by his word and by his Spirit to doe lawfully and holily that is to say by good meanes and for a good end that whereunto they are inclined by nature If they did otherwayes might they not be iustly accused of tempting of the Lord their God of preventing his providence of seeking through vaine-glorie and ostentation to be Christs Martyrs when he craveth no such dutie at their hands Peter being too bold out of season denyed his Master The rest of the Disciples which fled and kept themselves quiet shunned that mischiefe For God blesseth rather a modest fleeing than a presumptuous abode When Peter rusht into Caiphas Hall the Spirit of God left him But when c Ioh 20.19 he was hid with the rest in a chamber the doores being shut for feare of the Iewes Iesus came to them and d Act 2.1.4 the holy Ghost descended upon them In Cyprians time there was a kinde of heretiques called Circumcellions which ran every where seeking the martyrdome and the Franciscane Friers write of Francis their Patron that he went to Maiorka Minorka and other places occupied
mind is to destroy it for ever but God by the persecutions chastiseth the securitie tryeth the faith exerciseth the patience of his children and setteth forth his owne glory in their delivery as ye have heard in the fourth Sermon He hath ever done so hee will doe so unto the worlds end and therefore let us in all our heavy displeasures rely upon his wisedome as it is written n Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto to the LORD trust also in him and he shall bring it to passe Then our owne experience shall inforce us to confesse that o Rom 8.28 we know that all things worke together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to his purpose So in Gods wisedome we have a second reason to move us to patience XIII Thirdly we should ever set before our eyes his truth which is more firme and constant than heaven and earth and all things that are therein men may be disloyall and false But p 2. Tim 2.13 if we beleeve not yet he abideth faithfull he cannot deny himselfe He is q 1. Sam. 15.29 the strength of Israel he will not lye nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent He hath wisedome to foresee the events before he promise he hath power to performe whatsoever he promiseth he is goodnesse it selfe and therefore he will throughly fulfill all his promises r Esa 55.10 11. For as the raine commeth downe and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it to bring foorth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So saith he shall my word be that goeth foorth out of my mouth it shall not returne unto me voyd but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it XIV Wee have his promise in the second part of our text for when he biddeth us hide our selves as it were for little moment untill the indignation be overpast he implyeth in the commandement a most comfortable promise that the affliction of the Church shall last but for a moment which being expired his indignation shall overpasse and the Church shall be delivered This promise and the exhortation grounded upon it is very formall in Habacuc where God speaketh after this manner ſ Hab. 2.3 The vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speake and not lye Though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry The promise is that the vision the prediction concerning the deliverance of the Church hath 〈◊〉 appointed time which being expired God will fulfill it the exhortation is Therefore waite upon it This time is not a long time it is but a moment t Psal 30.5 For his anger endureth but a moment In his favour is life weeping may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning as David saith in the thirty Psalme Yee have the like promise in the fiftie and fourth chapter of Isaith v Esa 54.7 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee I have hid my face from thee for a little in the moment of wrath but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the LORD thy redeemer XV. Here then wee have solid comfort and a soveraigne remedy against impatience in tribulation x Psal 125.3 For the rod of wickednesse shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put foorth their hands into iniquity we heare the promise and howsoever wee beleeve it we thinke the time to be very long and wee cry as David often in the Psalmes And thou Lord how long for one houre of affliction is more sensible unto us than a yeare of prosperitie Therefore God y Psal 103.14 knowing our frame and remembring bring that we are but dust speaketh unto us according to our hearts desire and telleth us that hee hath a time appointed for our deliverance whereof he keepeth a most exact reckoning and shall not lose the least parcell thereof a Eccl. 3.1 To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven A time to be afflicted a time to bee delivered the time of affliction is to some shorter to some longer To Noah and to his family in the Arke b Gen. 7.11 Gen. 1.13 14. it was of one yeare and tenne dayes To the people of Israel in Egypt c Gen. 15.13 four hundred years To the lews in Babylon d Ier. 25.12 Ier. 29.10 Dan. 5.2 seaventy years To the woman diseased with the bloody e Mar. 9.20 issue twelve yeares To the impotent whom the Lord cured at the poole of Ierusalem f Ioh. 5.5 thirty and eight yeares To the woman delivered of her child to bee fed in the wildernesse g Rev. 12.14 a time and times and halfe a time which are three yeares and an halfe To Moses to be hid h Exod. 2.2 three moneths Hosea speaking of the time of Gods deliveries saith i Hos 6.2 After two dayes will hee revive us In the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight k Ioh. 11.39 Lazarus was in the grave foure dayes l Luk. 18.33 The Lord was put to death and buryed and rose again the third day Hee advertised the Church of Smyrna that shee should have tribulation m Rev. 2.10 tenne dayes He spake of his houre when hee said to his mother n Ioh. 2.4 Mine houre is not yet come Hee said to his Disciples o Ioh. 16.16 A little while and ye shall not see me and againe a little while and ye shall see me In our text God speaketh of a little moment David saith p Psal 37.10 Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be The Apostle saith that q 2. Cor. 4.17 our affliction is light and is but for a moment He saith againe r Heb. 10.37 Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry S. Peter writeth to the faithfull of his time that ſ 1. Pet. 1.6 for a season they were in heavinesse through manifold temptations And it was said to the soules that were under the Altar that t Rev. they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should bee killed as they were should be fulfilled that is to say untill the end of the world which to flesh and blood is very long for if these blessed soules thought the time which was betweene their death and this vision of Iohn so long that they cryed v ver 10. How long O Lord what wonder if men leading a most wearisome and tedious life under the crosse cry to God as David did x Psal 119 82. Mine eyes faile
are as a shadow and there is none abiding Earth is onely the place of their peregrination d Ioh. 17.11 16. They are saith Christ in the world but they are not of the world Heaven is their home e Heb. 13.14 For here have we no continuing citie but we seeke one to come Every day wee heare God saying vnto vs f Micha 2.10 Arise yee and depart for this is not your rest Therefore as g 1 Kings 19.8 Eliah walked forty dayes and fortie nights till he came unto Horeb the mount of God So we walke apace and goe still forward till we come to the heavenly Mannor whereof the Apostle saith that h Heb. 4.9 there remaineth a rest to the people of God i Matt. 6.21 There is our treasure there is our heart also As a way-faring mans heart is at home because at home are his wife his children and whatsoever he loveth There is k Phil. 3.20 our conversation though our bodies be here The wicked may see that which we beleeve and daily experience teacheth them to say with the women of Tekoah l 2 Sam. 14.14 We must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up againe Yet notwithstanding they m Phil. 3.19 minde earthly things n Psal 49.11 Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations They call their lands after their owne Names Therefore seeing they have nothing before their eyes no end of their thoughts and actions but the earth it is no wonder that they should be called the inhabitants of the earth Out of the earth were they taken In earth they dwell in earth they have their portion to earth shall their bodies returne and if hell be in the center of the earth as many say there shall they have their last and eternall habitation VI. For what cause will the Lord visite them so rigorously For their iniquitie that is to say for the excessivenesse of their most immoderate sinnes as the word must be taken here what sinnes were those Questionlesse too too many amongst a people enemies to God and to his Church but above all the persecution of the Church They thought undoubtedly that all the harme which they did to the Church was righteousnesse and good service done to their gods As Christ hath forewarned us that they who shall kill us will deeme o Ioh. 2.16 that they doe God service But God calleth this their pretended service iniquity a most hainous and enormous sinne and if ye desire a specification of the kind of this sin God in the text calleth it blood or according to the Hebrew word bloods for by that word God signifieth the extreame and unquenchable thirst of bloud wherewith these murtherers were so dry that when they had shed it all they would have gladly shed more and wished that each of those whom they had slaine had possessed a hundred lives to furnish to them more blood to spill They kill because they take pleasure in killing like unto the Tyrant Caligula who wished that the people of Rome had all one necke that at one blow he might cut it off VII O Tyrants O bloud-thirstie butchers ye slay the Saints of God under coolur of justice and ye think that not onely God will not avenge it but that he will rather allow and reward it Whereas God saith that the earth shall disclose her bloods and shall no more discover her slaine The earth it selfe shall open her wombe and unfold her bowells and cry to God Loe here is the innocent blood which thy enemies have shed Loe here are the bodies of thy beloved servants whom these Massacrers have slaine p Iob 26.6 Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering O then shall the earth conceale your murthers from him Have ye not read that q Psal 5.6 the Lord will abhorre the bloudy and deceitfull man Doubt not but that which is written is true r Psal 116 1â— Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints and therefore hee will with an hand of yron thrust hard together the bellies of those horse-leeches which have drunke their bloud and straine them till they spue it out of their bloudy throats He hath said that Å¿ Gen. 9.5 6. he will require the life of man at the hand of every beast and at the hand of every mans brother How much more will he require the life of his deare servants at the hands of their murtherers Hee hath ordeined before the law of a most just and inexorable law that who so sheddeth mans blood by man his blood shall bee sbed whereof he rendreth two reasons The first that mens lives are in their bloud The second that in the image of God made he man Vnder the Law he confirmed this Law by another law and said t Num 35.33 that bloud unjustly shed defileth the land though it bee the blood of an ill man And the land cannot be cleansed of the bloud that is shed therein but by the bloud of him that shed it This law is irrevocable for Christ hath also said in the Gospell that v Mat. 26.52 all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword If men put it not in execution God will and till he doe it the land where the blood of his Saints who are restored to his image is shed shall remaine polluted x Gen. 4.10 The voice of Abels blood cryod unto him from the ground and hee listened unto it The soules of a great many Abels which are under the Altar cry unto him with a loud voyce y Rev. 6.9 10. How long O Lord holy and true doest thou not iudge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth And will hee not heare them He will he will z Rev. 13.10 for he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints They expect with patience it shall be so because they know by faith it must be so IIX God who hath spoken it is truth it selfe he is strength it selfe a 1. Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent Therefore it must be so He is justice it selfe therefore it shall be so For howsoever we be sinners the cause for which we are molested and vexed is his His who is Almighty and just his who loveth it his who will not suffer it to bee overthrowne by the malice and wickednesse of men his who will defend them who maintaine it and destroy them who seeke to overthrow it This is the comfort which the Apostle giveth to the Thessallonians who bare a crosse as heavy then as your brethren beyond seas doe now saying unto them b 2. Thes 1.6 7. It is a righteous
Eccl. lib. 2. cap. 7. Pontius Pilat who condemned Christ to dye was overwhelmed with so many miseries that to be delivered of them all at once he followed the example of Iudas and killed himselfe t Act. 12. Herodés Agrippa after he had for a while persecuted the Christians killed Iames imprisoned Peter taking to himselfe the honour due to God was stricken by an Angell and was eaten of wormes whose pittilesse teeth taught him that he was a medden of putrefaction and not God v Suet on in Nerone cap. 47. 49. Nero the first persecuter of Christians among the Gentiles after that he had set Rome on fire put his wise and learned master to death rifled his mothers entrails to see where he lay when he was in her wombe taking life from her that gave him life burnt quicke or dismembred with the teeth of his dogs many thousands of Christians murthered all his friends and filled the whole Empire with orbity desolation and mourning having no friend but murther and crueltie finding no foe that would kill him Ergo ego inquit nic amicum habeo nee unimicum thrust himselfe thorow with his owne sword and was to himselfe his owne Hangman x Suet. in Domitiano ca. 13. 14. Domitian who worshipped no other God but himselfe who erected Temples and Altars to his own mortall deitie who constrained his people to call him the Lord our God and persecuted the Christians because they would not give that title to any other but to our Lord Iesus Christ nor worship any but God was betrayed of his owne wife in whom hee trusted was slaine by his owne servants was buryed without honour like a filthy carrion I should be too tedious if I should relate to you the tragical deaths of AdriaÌ„ of Severus of Decius of Valerian of Dioclesian of Maximinian of Maxentius of Maximin of Iulian the Apostate of Valens Arrian hereticke who were prodigious examples of Gods veÌ„geance against persecuters Which of you hath not heard or read the strange deaths of Kings and Princes who by murthering of our fathers sought to murther once againe Christ in the cradle and to give life to the beast which had beene wounded to death In them all was in all them that follow their bloody foot-steps shall be fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes y Psal 21.8 9 10. Thine hand O Lord shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee Thou shalt make them as a fierie oven in the time of thine anger The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devoure them Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth and their seed from among the children of men Have wee not heard it Our owne eyes have they not seene it XII The best of us all is like unto Asaph a Psal 73.2 3 5 6.7 8 9. we are envious at the foolish our steps slip when we see the prosperitie of the wicked They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued 〈◊〉 other men Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chainâ—â— violence covereth them as a garment their eyes stand out with fatnesse they have more than heart could wish They are corrupt and speake wickedly concerning oppression they speake loftily they set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth Then we begin to fret to murmure to deny Gods providence to aske Is there knowledge in the most high These men which prosper are ungodly but wee who cleanse our hearts and wash our hands in innocency are plagued all the day long our chastisement returneth turneth every morning They are happy but we are miserable When we iudge when we speake so are we not foolish and ignorant like unto little children are wee not as beasts before our God If any man have a deadly wound whether is most to bee feared the putrefaction and impostume or the Chirurgions Launcet and Rasor the searing hot yron or the Gangrene What is sinne but the corruption and impostume of the soule what is affliction but the heavenly Physicians Rasor and cauter As then a wise man will say that he whose impostume is not launced is in danger of his life and he who feeleth every day the smart of the Rasor is in hope of recovery howsoever ignorant children will judge otherwayes and will choose rather a lingring and insensible death than a sharpe cure So will hee which entreth into the Sanctuary of God judge and say that sinners when the Lords hand is heavy upon them are happy because they are chastised for their correction as when a man sicke of the dropsie is kept under a strict and pinching diet But hee who covereth his face with fatnesse who spendeth his dayes in mirth and feeleth not the smart of the Lords rod is so much more miserable than the sicke man who being swolne up and defaced with the dropsie liveth in the Tavernes and every day overchargeth his decaying body with surfetting and drunkennesse as the soule is more precious than the body For what are such men but as fatted swine for the great day of the Lords slaughter as I have said And why doth the Lord b Minut. Felix Miseri in hoc altius tolluntur ut decidant altius heave them up and as it were set them on the pinacle of worldly pleasures and honours but to cast them downe into destruction and make their fall more remarkeable as was the fall of Haman persecuter of the Iewes and of Iezabel murtherer of the Prophets XIII But what although some of them d Iob 21.13 23 24. spend their dayes in wealth having still their breasts full of milke and their bones moistened with marrow What although they dye in their full strength and after the long dayes of a joyfull life being wholly at ease and quiet in a moment they goe downe to the grave without the least pricking of griefe without any feeling of the smart of death which may happen to some few in this world Shall they also escape the dint of the wrath and vengeance of the great and righteous Iudge in the world to come When God through a most wonderfull patience and long suffering hath given unto them many yeeres to repent as he gave to the men of the first world in the dayes of c Gen. 6.3 Noah an hundred and twenty yeares to amend their lives and they spend them all in riot in licentiousnesse in persecuting of his Church in presumptuous sinnes against his Majestie selling themselves to worke wickednesse in his sight as f 1. King 21.25 Ahab did will he not turne his patience into fury and pay them home at once requiting them with the unconceiveable punishment of eternall damnation XIV I know they doe what they can to shake out of their thoughts the feare of that judgement and to make their hearts beleeve that there is no such matter
shall be saith S. Augustine shut upward and open downeward where the deeper they shall sinke l Rev. 9.2 the more shall it inlargeit selfe that they may never find an end of sinking The divells themselves are afraid to go there how much more men whose bones shall cracke whose teeth shall clatter whose hearts shall quake at the onely naming of it XVI Wo wo be unto them for no heart can imagin no tongue can iutter the tortures and torments which are impossible to be endured which needs they must endure there Alas what ease shall they find where when they shall be banished from the quickening sight of the living God never to see his face againe but inflamed with fury and indignation against them when it shall bee said unto them Depart from me ye cursed when they shall shall cry n Mat. 25.11 12. Lord Lord open to us and he shall answer Verily I say unto you I know you not o Aug. ibid. Vltra nescientur à Deo qui Deum scire noluerunt Yee knew not mee in your life and I know you not in your death If God shall not know them to aide them shall any of his creatures know them If the Sunne of righteousnesse who hath healing in his wings shall refuse to embright them with the least glance of the beames of his glorious face shall he suffer the light of this visible sun moone and starres to shine upon them If he who is called p Rom. 15 5. the God of consolation shall forsake them shall the blessed Angels shall the holy men of God be more mercifull than their maker who is mercy it selfe Shall any of the creatures which are in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth come and comfort them As when the woman in the fearefull famine of Samaria cryed to the King q 2. King 6.26 27. Helpe my Lord O King he answered If the Lord doe not helpe thee whence shall I help thee out of the barne-floore or out of the wine-presse So when these damned wights shall cry to the creatures for helpe grim and froward faces frowning browes an universall refusall shall be their first and last answer Our Creator shall they say is your enemy shall we be your friends As hee hath commanded you to depart from him so get you hence and depart from us Yea the Lord himselfe teacheth us in the parable of r Luk. 16.24 the rich glutton that if they should aske but one drop of water to coole their tongue it shall not be given unto them Å¿ Aug. de Tempore 252. Consider I pray you saith S. Augustine if a man were cast out of the congregation of this Church for some crime with how great forrow with how many agonies would his soule be vexed though out of the Church he may eate drinke converse with men and have some hope to be received into it again Surely this pain seem'd so heavy to Cain the first murtherer of Gods Saints that he cryed through despaire and great griefe of heart t Gen. 4.13 My punishment is greater than I can beare Oh then how many terrours how great anguish of mind shall wring and wrest the spirits of those who for their crimes shall bee excommunicated for ever from the glorious Church which is in heaven from the innumerable company of Angels from the congregation of all the Saints and from all the unspeakeable joyes of the heavenly Ierusalem Divines call this punishment Poena damni The paine of losse or dammage and say that it is but the first part of the unconceiveable torments which are prepared for the divells and for the viperous brood of wicked men XVII It goeth not alone It is ioyned with that which the same Divines call Poena sensus the paine of sense or of feeling Can they lose the favour of God with the comfortable use of all his creatures and not feele the redoubled blowes of the heavy sword of his indignation When v Est er 7.7 8. the king Ahasuerus in his wrath turned his backe to Haman the Kings servants covered Hamans face and heaved him away to the gallowes So when God shall withdraw the light of his face from these thrice unhappy bodies the divells who are the executioners of his high justice shall x Mat. 22.13 bind them hands and feete and take them away and cast them into utter darkenesse that as they delighted in the inward darkenesse of their minds and y Ioh. 3.19 20. hated the light and would not come unto it because their deeds were evill and lest they should bee reprooved so they may be tormented with utter darkenesse more palpable than the fogges of Egypt and so thicke that no sunne-shine of any worldly or heavenly comfort shall be able to sparkle thorow them If ye desire to know how great is the paine of sence or of feeling which is there the Scripture calleth it a Rev. 14.19 the great wine-presse of the wrath of God which shall bee troden till blood come out of it even unto the horse bridles It calleth it also b Esa 66.15 16. a fire and flame of fire whereby the Lord will plead against his enemies fire which c ver 24. shall never be quenched because it shall never lacke either matter to kindle it or a mighty breather to blow it 'T is a d Rev. 21.8 lake which burneth with fire and brimstone 'T is e Esa 30.33 Tophet ordemed of old made deepe and large the pile whereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a streame of brimstone doth kindle it 'T is a f Mat. 5.22 Gehenna of fire What paine so sensible as to be burnt alive and what paine so terrible and pittifull as when the Iewes g Buxtorf ex libro Ialcutam Ieâ—emiam ca. 7. tooke their young children and offering them in sacrifice to Molec gave them to one of the Priests who laid them upon the armes of the brazen Idoll after it was set on fire and glowing red the rest of the Priests in the meane while sounding with Drums Trumpets Timbrels and other loud instruments lest the parents should heare the pittifull cryes of their children and bee touched with compassion by reason of which sounding the place was called Tophet and because it was in a valley belonging to Hinnom it was called Gehinnom or Gehenna i. the valley of Hinnom a name most usuall amongst the Iewes in Christs dayes and long before to signifie the place and the paines of the damned As they were wont to call the divell Principem Gehennae The Prince of Gehenna or of hell where h Rev. 14.9 10 11. If any man worship the beast and his Image and receive his marke in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his
persecutions Know they not that she is e Gen. 8.4 the Lords Arke which as the water increaseth mounteth up higher and higher and cannot be submerged Vndertake they to beate her with stormie winds and with the violent streames of afflictions Experience might have taught them long agoe that she is f Mat 7.24 25. the Lords house founded upon the rocke and that the gates of hell shall not prevaile against her Have they dismantled her populous townes and laid her open to the violence of all her enemies I g Zech. 2.5 saith the LORD will be unto her a wall of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her Is she h Rev. 11.11 Rev. 13.7 overcome by the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit and thrust downe into the grave of death and of eternall oblivion As the belly of the Whale was a safe habitation to i Ion. 1.17 Ionah so the graves shall been most sure lodging and bed of rest to them till he who k Ion. 2.10 spake unto the fish and it vomited out Ionas upon the dry land shall speake to the earth to the sea to the fire to all the creatures that have the least bone of his faithfull servants committed unto them and l Esa 43.6 say to the North Give up and to the South Keepe not backe bring my sonnes from farrre and my daughters from the ends of the earth Thou the Church shall rise againe to the great astonishment of those that persecuted her and shall remaine upon the earth till her time be come to bee received into the glory of her spouse where she is already in many thousands of her members which now m Rev. 7.9 stand before the thrane and before the Lamb cloathed with white robes and palmes in their hands This is her hope this is her trust which shall not bee disappointed and therefore when the sharpe rods of affliction whizze with multiplied blows upon her back eares she comforteth her selfe and saith n Mich. 7.7 8 9 10. I will looke unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will heare me Reioyce not against me O mine enemie when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkenesse the Lord shall bee a light unto me I will beare the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill he plead my cause and execute iudgement for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousnesse Then she that is mine enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me Where is the Lord thy God mine eyes shall behold her now shall she be troden downe as the mire of the streets XXIV 1. Vse Let us all dearely beloved rest in this hope and possesse our soules with patience whereof we have a o Tertul. de Patientia c. 15. Satis idoneus Patientiae sequester Deus Si iniuriā deposueris penes tum ultor est c. Gardian most excellent most trustie most sure even God himselfe If thou commit unto him thy iniury hee is a revenger If thy dammage he is a restorer If thy payne he is a Physician If thy death he is a raiser up from the dead what cannot patience doe which hath God for debtor It will hope against hope when it is brought to the red sea and seeerh nothing before behind on all sides but present death it will p Exod. 14.13 stand still and see the salvation of the Lord knowing that he with draweth his healing hand till the wound be desperate that it is his glory to deliver out of danger 2. Vse when it is come to the height and cannot bee shunned by the wit and strength of man that his power is more conspicuous where there is no wine he turnes water into wine and raiseth Lazarus when he is dead buryed and stinking He hath said of the afflicted man who calleth upon him q Psal 51.15 I will be with him in trouble let us thanke him for his promise and chuse r Bern. in Psal Qui habitat serm 17. Bonum est in cammo habere te mecum quà m esse sine te velin coelo rather to bee with him in the middest of Nebuchadnezzars burning furnace than in heaven without him saying as David said ſ Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none in earth that I desire besides thee And because he is faithfull in all his promises and t 2. Cor. 1.4 comforteth us in all our tribulations let us looke with the eye of a stedfast faith for the sweet fruit of this bitter seed v 2. Cor. 4.17 for the eternitie of blessednesse which is hid in the moment of our afflictions for the exceeding weight of glory which these light wounds of weake and mortall mens hands worke in us O let us this day x Rom. 8.23 2. Cor. 5.2 groane within our selves most earnestly and cry to heaven for the comming of the great day wherein y Rev. 20.14 15. death and hell and whosoever shall not be found written in the booke of life shall be cast into the lake of fire which is the second death and we z 1. Thes 4.17 shall be caught up in the clouds to meete the Lord in the aire and so shall we ever be with the Lord by a most fruitfull and glorious exchange For whereas he is now with us in the fulnesse of grace to shew us the paths of life we shall be then with him in the fulnesse of glory and living with him for ever shall with one heart and mouth sing this song of David Full many be the miseries That righteous men doe suffer But out of all adversities The Lord doth them deliver O Lord this is the desire of our hearts this is our request unto thee Heare us and answer us through the precious and infinite merits of Iesus Christ thy Sonne to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be all praise honour and glory both now and for evermore Amen FINIS ERRATA PAg. 66. l. 8. for sent r writ p. 71. l. 28. r. cleannes l. 34. As. l. 35. d. they p. 95. l. 34. Caves p 97. l. 3. d. of p 104. l. 16. d. the. p. 107. l. 5. r. seale l. 28. inwardly p. 124. l 7. with you p. 130. l. 6. circuits p. 198. l 18. d. not p. 204 l. 6. a little p. 125. l. 2 d. of