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.
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
valiant courage of Eleazar one of the principall Scribes in the dayes of the blood-thirstie Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes i 2. Maccab. 6.21 c. He was besought by the Kings officers for the old acquaintance they had with him to bring flesh of his owne provision such as was lawfull for him to use and make as if he did eate of the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the King that in so doing he might be delivered from death and for the old friendship with them finde favour A friendly counsell if yee consider the men which gave it but if ye consider the intention of the divell who suggested it a most violent assault and craftie tentation what so sweet as life what so desirable as to save it without any reall offence what so plausible or at least more excusable than to make a shew of an evill which indeed thou doest not to shun to be made a publike shew of the evill which otherwise thou must suffer with shame and great torments Flesh and blood will say to Eleazar that in this there was no sinne The Pope which giveth dispense to the Papists of this Realme to dissemble and deny their Religion will say that it was but a veniall sinne and of the number of those which are most pardonable Eleazar led with another Spirit even with k Esa 11.3 the Spirit of the Lord which is the spirit of knowledge of wisedome of counsell of might and of the feare of the Lord saith not so but considering the holy Law made and given by God It becommeth not our age said he in any wise to dissemble whereby many young persons might thinke that ELEAZAR being fourescore yeeres old and tenne was now gone to a strange religion and so they through mine hypocrisie and desire to live a little time and a moment longer should be deceived by me and I get astaine to mine old age and make it abominable for though for the present time I should bee delivered from the punishment of men yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty neyther alive nor dead wherefore now manfully changing this life I will shew my selfe such an one as mine age requireth and leave a notable example to such as be young to dye willingly and courageously for the honourable and holy lawes This seemed madnesse and despaire to his Iudges which changing the good will they bare him into hatred and their meeknesse into fury and rage let him straight wayes to the Tympan which was a most cruell kind of torture whereupon being ready to dye of the stripes which hee had received ceived he groaned and said It is manifest unto the Lord that hath the holy knowledge that whereas I might have beene delivered from death I now endure sore paines in body by being beaten but in soule am well content to suffer these things because I feare him XIV Reade also the storie of the cruell death and constancie l 2. Macc. 7 of the seven brethren and their mother at that same time the Tyrant himselfe marvelled at their courage for that neither the scourges and whips wherewith they were torne nor the cutting out of their tongues nor the mangling and maiming of all their members nor the pulling off of the skin of their heads with the haire nor the hot pannes and caldrons wherein they were fryed being yet alive could compell them against the law of God to eate swines flesh The eldest heire worthy of the prerogative of the first-borne answered to the Tyrants threats to the Hangmans whips and to all the tortures We are ready to dye rather than to transgresse the lawes of our fathers and exhorted his brethren as they exhorted him to dye manfully for the law of God And to make you know that this was not madnesse of mind but faith the second said to the King Thou like a fury takest us out of this present life but the King of the world shall raise us up which have dyed for his lawes unto everlasting life So spake the third so the fourth and the rest but the youngest was most wonderfull of all for neither could the promises of riches and honours tickle him nor the cruell torments which he had seene his brethren suffer shake his constancie but being encouraged by his most wonderfull mother he cryed to the executioners Whom wait ye for I will not obey the Kings commandement but I will obey the commandement of the law that was given unto our Fathers by Moses So they dyed so dyed last of all their marvellous mother after that she had beene to them in stead of a Levite or Priest and had exhorted and comforted them with a most excellent speech concerning the resurrection And therefore the Apostle ascribeth their victorious constancie to their faith saying Heb. 11.35 that by faith they were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtaine a better resurrection XV. The Christian Church aboundeth in such examples of most wonderfull victorie against the flesh the world and the divell In it this is to bee admired that men which may live in honor by denying Christ choose shame and dishonor preferre torments to ease sorrow to joy paine to pleasure death to life kissethe postes and other instruments of their punishments looke upon the torments with a cheerefull face runne to the fires as joyfully as worldings doe to a bridall feast and not onely rejoice but also m Rom. 53 glorie in tribulations which is the highest degree of pleasure and joy Steven stopping his eares to the murmuring of the people which like a swarme of Hornets and Waspes made a humming noise about him shutting his eyes to the stones wherewith they were armed to fell him and overcomming by faith the horrors of death n Act. 7.55 56 59 60. looked up stedfastly into heaven and seeing there the glory of God and Iesus standing on the right hand of God cryed with a triumphing voice Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Sonne of man standing on the right hand of God Neither could their showting nor the stones which hayled upon him stay him to kneele downe and to call upon God both for himselfe and for them XVI If ye search the Ecclesiasticall histories of the Martyrs of the primitive Church and of ours the examples of such victories are infinite S. Ignace Bishop of Antiochia hearing the roaring of the hungry Lions and seeing them stretching foorth their clawes to teare him and opening their throats to devoure his flesh cryed with a loud voice o Iren adv heres sib 5. Because I am Christs wheat now shall I be ground with the teeth of beasts that I may bee found to bee the pure bread of God p Euseb hist Eâ—cl lib. 4. cap. 15. Policarpe Bishop of Smyrna answered to those which now intreated him with many promises now impotuned him with threats to call the Emperour My Lord and to deny Christ to bee his Lord I have served him
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
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
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
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
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
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
cut downe he flyeth also as a shadow and continueth not Wherefore a Esa 2.22 cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of that ye should put your trust in him XIIII Must we not trust in men which are living and which are with us to helpe us Much lesse should we trust in them which are dead b cles 9.6 Their love their hatred their envy to mee to thee severally is now perished neither have they any more portion for ever in any thing that is done under the Sunne c Iob 14.21 Their sonnes come to honour and they know it not they are brought low but they perceive it not of them I except not those even those blessed soules which enjoy a perfect felicitie in the vision of God for d Rev. 14.13 they rest from their labours and e Esa 57.1 are taken away from that which is evill their felicitie consisting in this that their minds are filled with the perfect knowledge of God their hearts with his love and all the powers of their soule are ravished with a perpetuall meditation and contemplation of his infinite goodnesse which is never distracted with the disquieting cares of things which goe to and fro in this valley of miseries and world of vanitie XV. In whom then shall we trust In whom but in the Lord f Psal 128.8 9. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in Princes David speaking of the forefathers of Gods people saith of them g Psal 22.4 Our fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them Of himselfe hee saith h Psal 4.9 I will both lay mee downe in peace and sleepe for thou LORD onely makest mee dwell in safety Thou onely not Abraham Isaac Iacob not any Angell any Archangell not any living among men i Psal 18.27 28. Thou wilt save the afflicted people but wilt bring downe high looks Thou wilt light my candle the LORD my God will lighten my darknes And therefore k Psal 25.15 mine eyes are ever towards the LORD not towards the Saints nor the Angels for he shall plucke my feet out of the net l Psal 42.11 he is the health of my countenance the helpe whereunto l Psal 42.11 looke and my God m Psal 73.25 whom have I in heaven and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee And therefore hee saith againe n Psal 121.1 2. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hilles from whence cometh my helpe Say not that these hills are the Angells or Saints for headdeth My helpe cometh from the LORD which made heaven and earth from the LORD alone o Psal 62.11 12. God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God also unto thee O LORD belongeth mercy Power and mercy two qualities required in our Redeemer Deliverer and Saviour and belonging to God alone who may deliver us because power is his will deliver us because mercy also is his p Psal 46.1 God is our refuge and strength a very present helpe in trouble Therefore let worldlings q Psal 20.7 trust in their chariots and in their horses let Papists trust in Saints in Angels in Monks cowles in merits we will remember the Name of the LORD our God that we may be blessed For r Ierem. 17.7 blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD and whose hope the LORD is XVI Let us onely take heede that wee bee of those whom the Lord delivereth Å¿ Pro. 13.10 The Name of the LORD is a strong tower The righteous runneth unto it and is safe The righteous man hath many evills but the LORD delivereth HIM I taught you in my first Sermon the characters and true markes of a righteous man If when thou art afflicted thou saiest with David that t Psal 9.9 10. the LORD will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble consider and marke well how hee describeth these oppressed to whom the Lord is a refuge Read these words following And they that know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou LORD hast not forsaken them that seeke thee I have seen many in their affliction bragging of Gods predestination and saying that Gods Elect cannot perish That which they say is true for Gods Angell forewarning Daniel of the great troubles wherewith the Church was to be vexed by the Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes said unto him v Dan. 12.1 At that time thy people shall bee delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke And ye reade in the Revelation that x Rev. 20.15 whosoever was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire as also on the other side that those onely enter into the holy City y Rev. 21.27 which are written in the Lambes booke of life But this predestination is hid in the unsearchable secrecy of Gods breast and many bragge of it which have no part in it Therefore David will have us to enter into our owne breasts and to search there the markes of our predestination which God hath shut up in the unmeasurable and infinite depth of his own breast a Rom. 8.30 for whom he did predestinate them he also called giving them an effectuall and sanctifying knowledge of his most blessed and holy Name so that when he saith to them b Zech. 13.9 Thou art my people they answer presently The LORD is my God This is to know God and to seeke God and David saith that the Lord is a refuge to the oppressed which know his Name and seek him This is the knowledge of faith which taketh the blood of the Lambe of God and c Heb. 12.24 1. Pet 1.2 besprinkleth our soules with it that k Exod. 12.13 as when God saw the blood of the Paschall Lambe upon the houses where the IsrAelites were he passed over them and the plague was not upon them when he smote all the first borne in the land of Egypt so hee delivers us from the hands of our enemies and the evils of this life and of the life to come by the vertue of that blood according to the promise l Zec. 9.11 As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water This faith m Act. 15.9 puristeth the hearts it is the mother of uprightnesse and sinceritie before God in the performance of all duties of the first and second Table and therefore if thou lookest for Gods deliverance cleanse thy heart in such sort that thou may bee able to say with David n Psal 7.10 11. My defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart for God iudgeth the righteous and God is angry every day against the wicked o 1. Tim. 1 5. From this knowledge and faith
meate there is sweetnesse In darknesse hee findeth light in weaknesse strength in despaire hope in trouble peace of conscience in raging and roaring furie patience in evill good in the divels most grimme and dreadfull mannonr the joyes and pleasures of paradise in all his afflictions most powerfull most wonderfull most joyfull deliveries his afflictions are many But the Lord delivereth him out of them all II. His afflictions are many they are almost infinite they are enchained and follow one another so hard so nigh that he complaineth with Iob in his griefe c Iob 9.18 Hee will not suffer mee to take my breath but filleth mee with bitternesse But who can relate the Lords deliveries and salvations whereof David which had passed thorow so many evills confessed that d Psal 71.15 he knew not the number Thinke not that any affliction severally that all the afflictions which are incident to men though they were camped and set in battell against thee can surmount his force and good will towards thee Fearest thou to starve for hunger e 1. Kin. 17 4 6 14. Commanded he not the Ravens to feed Elijah at the brook of Cherith increased hee not the handfull of meale in the widows barrell and the little oyle which was in her Cruse f Psal 147.9 Hee giveth to the beast his food and to the yong Ravens which cry and shall he forsake thee for whom his deare Sonne Iesus Christ is dead g Psal 33.18 19. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that feare him upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soule from death and to keepe them alive in famine Art thou dried up with thirst Remember that he opened l Gen. 21.19 Agars eyes and shee saw a well of water m Exod. 17.6 Psal 105.41 That he smote the rock in Horeb and the waters gushed out they ranne in the drie places like a river and quenched the thirst of his people that n Iudg. 15.19 he clave one of the grinders that was in the jaw-bone of the asse and made water to come thereout for Samson Fearest thou the plague which round about thee maketh havock of man beast and wouldst but canst not practise the cōmon precept Citò longè tardè Quickly far late The heat of the Sun the moistnes of the Moon do they annoy thee o Psal 91.5 6 7. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that fleeth by day nor for the pestilence that walkes in darknes nor for the destruction that wasteth at Noone day A thousand shall fall at thy side and tenne thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee p Psal 121.5 6. The LORD is thy keeper the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand The Sunne shall not smite thee by day nor the Moon by night Art thou exiled for Christs sake Art thou constrained to live amongst a people whose tongue thou understandest not God who q Psal 56.8 numbered Davids wandrings r Psal 147.2 will gather together the outcasts of Israel ſ Esa 43.6 Hee will say to the North Give up and to the South Keepe not backe bring my Sonnes from farre and my daughters from the end of the earth In the meane while he will follow thee in thine exile and blesse thee as t Gen. 46.4 he went downe with Iacob into Aegypt and blessed him there Art thou cast in a low pit where thou sittest in darknesse and in the shadow of death being bound in stockes and fetters among swearers blasphemers robbers and other malefactors hee which put in v Gen. 41.9 a Courtiers heart to speak for Ioseph which sent x Act. 12.7 his Angel to deliver Peter whom Herod had imprisoned y Act. 16.26 Hee which shooke all the foundations of the prison where Paul and Silas were laid in the stockes opened the doores and loosed the prisoners bonds hath a thousand meanes to breake the gates of brasse to cut the barres of iron in sunder to loose thy bands and bring thee out of darknesse out of the dungeon of the shadow of death Art thou a seafaring man one of those of whom a Pittacus one of the seven wise men said that they are neither among the living nor amongst the dead ever living within foure inches of death and therefore ever dying When b Psal 107.25 26 27 c. God commandeth and raiseth the stormie wind which lifteth up the waves thereof They mount up to the heaven they goe downe againe to the depths then soule is melted because of trouble They reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses He maketh the storme a calme so that the vvaves thereof are still Then are they glad because they be quiet So he bringeth them unto their desired haven Do thou the like cry to the Lord as the Disciples did c Matth. 8.25 26. Lord save us we perish and hee will arise and rebuke the Windes and the Sea and there shall bee a great calme Art thou faln into the Turks pitiless hands Art thou taken in warre and condemned to the miserable slaverie of rowing night and day in the gallies hearing and feeling nothing but whips whistling and reeling upon thy naked shoulders Be of a good courage and waite upon the Lord who in his owne time will say of thee as he said of Ioseph d Psal 81.6 7. I removed his shoulder from the burden his hands were delivered from the pots Thou callest in trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the secret place of thunder Thy heart is it torne in peeces with calumnies and revilings The day shall come I speake by mine owne experience and therefore I say the day shall come when thou shalt sing to God e Psal 31.19 20. O how great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keepe them secretly in a pavillion from the strife of tongues The wicked trayleth hee hayleth he thee before the Iudges without cause wonder not at that f Psal 37.32 33 34. The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him The LORD will not leave him in his hand nor condemne him when hee is iudged wait on the LORD and keepe his way and hee shall exalt thee to inherit the Land when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it Art thou sick of a mortall disease as g 2 Kin. 20 1 2. Hezekiah was turne thy face to the wall as he did pray unto the Lord as he did Cry to God as David did h Psal 41.4 LORD be mercifull unto mee heal
my soule for I have sinned against thee and he i Psal 107.20 will send his word and heal thee and deliver thee from the tombe Seest thou the evill dayes of warre be not discouraged but say confidently upon that which thou hast seen in France of that which thou shalt see in the Palatinat k Psal 46.7 8 9 10 11. The LORD of hosts is with us the God of Iacob is our refuge Selah Come behold the works of the LORD what desolations he hath made in the earth He maketh warres to cease unto the end of the earth He breaketh the bow and cutteth the speare in sunder he burneth the chariot in the fire Bee still saith he and know that I am God I will be exalted among the Heathen I will bee exalted in the earth The LORD of hosts is with us The God of Iacob is our refuge Is there any thing impossible to the LORD l Psal 76.12 Heshall cut off the spirit of Princes Hee is terrible to the Kings of the earth After so many deliveries we sing to the glory of his power m Psal 74.13 14. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength thou breakest the heads of the Whales in the waters Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in peeces and givest him to bee meat to the people inhabiting the wildernesse If there rise n Zech. 1.19 20 21. foure hornes to scatter Iudah Israel and Ierusalem there shall also arise foure smiths to fray and break them how often have we seene such things Wee shall see them againe and againe for the Lord of hosts is with us Can there any affliction so great befall us as to be deprived of Gods Word your father 's felt the pricke and smart of it in Philip the second Charles the ninth and Queene Maries dayes Now is fulfilled in France and in the Palatinat the prophecie of Esaiah o Esa 30.20 21. Though the Lord give you the bread of adversitie and the water of affliction yet shall not thy Teachers bee removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers and thine eares shall heare a voice behind thee saying This is the way walke ye in it when ye turne to the right hand and when yee turne to the left Blessed bee God who in this countrey giveth us with the bread of his Word the bread of prosperitie p Psal 110 2. He ruleth there in the midst of his enemies Here hee is like a father in the midst of his children The greatest of all our evills is sinne And we sing unto him morning and evening with heart and mouth q Psal 103.1 2 3. O my soule blesse the LORD and all that is within mee bless his holy Name Blesse the LORD ô my soule and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth ALL thine iniquities who healeth ALL thy diseases c. Hast thou any other evill which neither is in my knowledge nor in my memorie r Exod. 14.21 Exod. 15.4 6. Hee who made the sea dry land and whose right hand dashed in peeces Pharao and his hoste ſ Iosh 3.15 16. He that made the waters of Iordan rise up upon an heape and stand still even then when they overflowed all the bankes t Dan. 3.25 Hee who gave refreshing to the three Confessors in the midst of the burning furnace v Dan 6.22 He who delivered Daniel from the jawes of the Lions x Ion. 2.2 11. He who kept Ionah alive in the Whales belly and turned into a custodie that hell where he looked for present death y Ezec. 37.7 8 9 10. Hee who putteth breath into drie bones who tyeth them together with sinewes who covereth them with flesh and skin who by a marvellous resurrection setteth them upon their feete and maketh them an exceeding great armie is not like unto Isaac unto whom Esau said a Gen. 27.38 Hast thou but one blessing my father bless me even me also O my father As hee hath judgements b Deu. 32.34 laid up in store and sealed up among his treasures so hath he c Deu. 28.32 a good treasure of deliveries which cannot bee dryed up d Psal 106 2. Who can utter the mighty actes of the LORD who can shew foorth all his praise e Psal 139.17 18. How precious ô God are my thoughts of them how great is the sum of them If I should count them they are mo in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee my spirit cannot conceive the number of thy deliveries III. I say then to you all as David said of old to his people f Psal 130.7 8. Let Israel hope in the LORD for with the LORD there is mercy much good-will to deliver your brethren which are now afflicted and to deliver you when hee shall also sit as a refiner to try and purifie you And with him is plentious redemption With him is force strength to redeeme he may doe it he can doe it he will doe it Hee shall redeem Israel from ALL his iniquities g 1. Cor. 10 13. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but wil with the tentation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Yea h Psal 121 7 8. the LORD shall preserve thee from ALL evill hee shall preserve thy soule The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy comming in from this time foorth and even for evermore IV. But how shall wee keepe reckoning of the LORDS deliveries seeing the maner of them goeth beyond all our wit and understanding for they are not all of one sort and the least and smallest of them is wonderfull Sometimes he worketh by meanes that we neglect them not Now and then hee giveth most miraculous deliveries besides and contrarie to all meanes that wee put not our hope and confidence in them Often hee delivereth the righteous man without all meanes to teach us to trust in him onely V. His meanes are divers and in their diversitie so many that it is almost impossible to reduce them into certaine heads In some ye see nothing but weaknesse In others might and strength In some wisedome in others follie In each of them such a varietie that neither am I able to expresse nor ye to conceive them Hee saved Moses David Elijah Iesus Christ Paul at divers times many zealous men among the Iewes under the bloody persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes many Confessors and faithfull brethren among the Christians in the primitive Church in our Fathers dayes and in ours by flight a most weake tedious and troublesome meane but yet a meane lawfull and approved of him as we shall see in the next Sermon VI. i Psal 33.16 17. There is no King saved by the multitude of any host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength An horse is a vaine thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by
a burning bush because it is no more esteemed in the world than a bush of briars which the shepheards set on fire said farre otherwayes that the blood of those Innocents which was then shed should bee to the Church as the dew of heaven or as the raine of the first and last season and make it to budde to blossome and bring foorth fruit yet againe more wonderfully and gloriously than before as it came to passe against all hope II. For even then God spake to many of his Saints as he did to the Iewes in their tribulation and commanded them to hide themselves in their cabinets untill the time of indignation were overpast because thē the Lord would come certainely and punish all their persecuters for their iniquity and namely the authors of such blood-shedding and so joyne with their overthrow the deliverie of his Church The remnant of the Church hid themselves the moment of the Lords wrath past Gods enemies were destroyed the Church was delivered and still flourisheth and yeeldeth most excellent fruit to the glory of the Lord our deliverer and to the eternall shame and confusion of our persecuters Here is then a new matter to be handled concerning the manner and the time of the Lords deliveries which is set downe by the Prophet in three severall points The first is a commandement which God giveth to his people saying Come my people enter thou into thy chamber and shut thy doores about thee The second is how long they must lye hid after this manner not for ever not for a long time but for a little moment untill the indignation bee overpast The third is the reason why they must lurke till then because then God will bee avenged of their enemies For behold the Lord commeth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity c. III. God speaketh to his people by his Prophet and giveth them a most excellent counsell to enter into their cabinets and to shut their doores about them which if ye take litterally is a counsell of holy prudence if ye take it allegorically it is a counsell of godly patience Christian and holy prudence is the rule of the righteous mans actions teaching him how to carry himselfe in all occurrences of times places and persons and how to frame and fit unto them all his actions privy and publike domesticall civill and religious As in time of persecution it will teach him neither to be too timorous to forsake his vocation whereunto God hath called him nor yet too rash and foole-hardy to tempt God by casting himselfe into unnecessarie dangers whereof the word of God which David called d Psal 119 105. a lampe unto his feete and a light unto his path giveth both precepts and examples When we are assured that God calleth us to confesse his holy Name and to glorifie his Majestie eyther by professing openly his word and preaching of it or by suffering for it then we must not aske and farre lesse take counsell of flesh and blood but remember the commandement e Math. 10.28 Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him which is able to destroy both soule and body in hell Worldly prudence will say These men to whom God sendeth thee are mighty and cruell and will kill thee therefore take heed to thy selfe and flye Sanctified prudence will answer God which hath sent me is stronger and therefore will I not flye f Psal 11.1 In the LORD put I my trust how say ye to my soule Flee as a bird to your mountaine When God sent Samuel to anoint David worldly wisedome answered in him g 1. Sam. 16.2 How can I goe If Saul heare it he will kill me God spake unto him againe and confirmed him then hee gave place to the commandement and went It seemeth that Amazia gave a wise counsell to Amos saying h Amos 7.12 13 14 15 16. O thou Seer goe flee thou away into the land of Iudah and there eate bread and prophesie there but prophesie not againe any more at Bethel for it is the Kings Chappell and it is the Kings Court Yet Amos ruled by another Spirit reiected it and said The LORD said unto me Goe prophesie unto my people Israel that is to say I will obey the Lord and not thee And therfore i Ion. 1.2 3. Ionah yeeldeth too much to his own discourse and too little to Gods commandement when being sent to Niniveh hee tooke shipping to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord which would have beene a foule fault in any private man instructed in the wayes of the Lord how much more was it heinous in a Prophet for who is so negligently and slightly imbrued with the knowledge of God but hee will subscribe to that saying of David k Psal 139.7 8 9 10 11 12. Whither shall I goe from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there If I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts even there shall thy hand leade me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say surely the darknesse shall cover me even the night shall be light about me yea the darkenesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkenesse and the light are both alike to thee Ionah learned by an experimentall knowledge this to be true when the ship wherein he thought to flee from the presence of the Lord was unto him as a paire of stockes to hold him fast Therefore Christ a more compleat patterne to imitate and a more excellent president to follow than Ionah l Mat. 16.21 22 23. when his time was come to bee killed at Ierusalem reprooved Peter and called him Satan for disswading him from it Likewise m Act. 21.11 12 13 14. Paul would not by any meanes be disswaded from going to Ierusalem though Agabus had prophesied unto him that the Iewes should binde him and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles whereof the reason was that hee went thither n Act. 20.22 bound in the Spirit that is to say by particular revelation of the Spirit of the eternall and most wise God When we have such a revelation or by any other meanes are certified that God will have us to remaine and confesse then this precept of Esaiah of hiding our selves in our closets is no wayes directed unto us but rather this of Christ o Mar. 10.27 What I tell you in darkenesse that speake ye in light and what ye heare in the eare that preach ye upon the house tops Then we must not onely goe but run with great cheerefulnesse and alacritie thorow flouds fires swords to obey Gods commandements and say as David said p Psal 139.32 I will run the way of thy
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
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
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
indignation and he shall bee tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and the smoake of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night In vaine shall they strive and struggle to rid themselves from the eternall chaines of darkenesse wherewith they are tyed in that bottomlesse Mine for like unto fishprickt with the Anglers hooke the more they wrench and wriggle to escape faster and faster are they intangled and sinke deeper into the burning lake of death and damnation Are not darkenesse blood fire brimstone burning alive torments fearefull enough to make the haire to bristle and the stoutest heart to melt as waxe against the fire and yet all these are but shadowes and counterfeits of the extreamity of paine wherewith the damned are racked in hell If Nebuchadnezzars hot glowing furnaces if Antiochus caldrons of boyling oyle if Phalaris fierie brazen Bull if Davids sawes harrowes of yron and mortars if the needles the pinsers the burning yron grates and brazen chaires if the tympan the spits the flaying of living men and other torments practised by Tyrants against Christians were so fell and hideous if dayly men invent new tortures more fierce and terrible than those were doubtlesse the paines of hell which the divell deviseth or rather which are of Gods owne invention are ten thousand times more horrible than mans heart can imagine As in all Gods workes i Aug. epist 3. ad Volasianum Tota ratio facti potentia facientis Considera authorem tolle dubitanonē the reason of the doing is the power of the doer So in this let Atheists consider the author and all their doubts will cease God hath said it and will he not performe it XIIX As every member joynt and part of wicked men conspire together in sinne to offend God so the righteous and Almighty God hath bequeathed to each of them a severall torment The mind shall be racked with the consideration of the unexpugnable wrath of God and contemplation of its own endlesse infelicity The memory shall be continually tormented with the remembrance of the manifold and foule sinnes which were causes of such plagues The conscience shall feele a k Esa 66.24 Mar. 9.44 worme ever gnawing it with a most bitter but unfruitfull remorse of sinne The phantasie shall bee troubled with ghastly visions The eyes shall see nothing but ugly divells and damned persons The eares shall heare nothing but roarings of the infernall spirits but shriekes and dreadfull cryes of tortured malefactors What the palat shall taste what the nostrils shal smell what the hands shall catch hold of what the other parts of the body shall suffer in that dark dungeon of Gods wrath I know not This I know that as l 1. Cor. 3.9 eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither have entred into into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him in the kingdome of light with his owne selfe so no tongue can utter yea no heart can imagine the manifold and bitter plagues which the justice of God hath reserved for them that hate him in the kingdome of darkenesse with the m Iob 18.14 King of terrors XIX Happy would they thinke themselves if after many myriades of yeares they might hope for some reliefe but to fill up the unmeasurable measure of their miseries they know that God hath called the fire wherein they burne n Mat. 25.41 everlasting the death whereunto they are condemned o 2. Thes 1.9 everlasting destruction and qualifieth with the same title the worme which gnaweth their never-dying conscience saying that p Mark 9.48 it dyeth not They know that the entrance into hell is large and easie but the regresse impossible They know that the power and justice of God hath appointed unto them an immortall death an endlesse end everlasting darkenesse in the middest of an ay-burning fire poyson of dragons cruell venime of aspes bitternesse it selfe to eate and to drinke in the blackenesse of an eternall night whereupon the cloud of Gods curse and the shadow of death shall dwell for ever and the light of comfort shall never shine XX. This is the share allotted to all them that feare not God to q Luk. 16.19 the rich man who did no harme to Lazarus but onely refused to give him meate and to r Mat. 25.41 42. all his mates to ſ Mat. 25.30 the unprofitable servant to him who goeth to the marriage-feast without t Mat. 22.11 12 13. a wedding garment O then two and threefold more shall bee children of hell all those which throw the crummes of bread out of Lazarus mouth which are never weary of ill doing which have all their garments stained with the blood of Gods servants Shall it v Mat. 10.15 Mat. 11.22.24 be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of iudgement than for those who receive not the Preachers of the Gospell and refuse to heare the word Oh then how intolearble shall be then the plagues of God upon the Neroes Dioclesians all the persecuters of the Gospell x Psal 11.5 6. The Lord tryeth the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soule hateth Vpon the wicked hee shall raine snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest that shall be the portion of their cup. Then then y Rev. 16.10 they shall gnaw their tongues for paine then nothing shall be heard and seene amongst them but a Mat. 12.13 weeping and gnashing of teeth but crying b Rev. 6.16 to mountaines and rockes to fall upon them and to death to come and kill them when c Rev. 3.6 death shall flee from them d Aug. de Tempore serm 252. Quta quibus in hoc seculo vita offertur nolunt accipere in inferno quaerent mortem non poterint invenire When in this world life is offered unto them they refuse to accept it Therefore in hell they shall seeke death and shall not find it In that desire as there is a great sinne so there is in it a great paine It is a righteous thing with God to punish sinne therefore it is a sinne in the prisoners of hell to desire to shake off the punishment of sinne Againe e Quid tam poenale quā semper velle quod nūquam erit c. What is more penall saith Bernard than ever to desire that which never shall be and ever to be unwilling to that which shall never but be They shall never obtaine what they would and evermore sustaine what they would not XXI Adde unto all those punishments one which shall bee to all the persecuters of the Church a deadly wound ever bleeding for in that great day f Esa 26.19 Rev. 20.13 the earth the grave the sea death it selfe shall deliver up the dead which are in them the Martyrs whom these
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
the brethren Who would not be glad to exchange his transitorie and fraile life for the salvation and everlasting life of Gods Elect And who would not chuse to die to x Iam 5.20 convert a sinner from the errour of his way to cover a multitude of sinnes and to save a soule from death Therein is both honor and profit Honour to the Confessors and Martyrs by whose bands and death so me are converted many are confirmed Profit to Gods Elect which by such means are saved There is not in this world any honour so profitable any profit so honourable and therefore the Apostle considering the honour which commeth of this profit and the profit which floweth from this honour writ to the Colossians that y Col. 1.24 hee reioyced in his sufferings for them i. e. for their conversion to the faith and confirmation in the faith as being Christs Minister in the one in the other Let I pray you let the same mind be in us which was in such holy men Let us all bee for this end Christs Martyrs in affection and thanke the Lord our God for this libertie of his Gospel in this Realme wherein there is no Tyrant no persecuter to make us Martyrs in action XI Secondly men readily conceive extravagant opinions of those whom God hath furnished with rarest gifts and as they are inclined to superstition canonize them and send up commandement to the heavens to receive them for their gods Thus the Gentiles erected Temples dedicated Altars instituted new honors and religious worship to some odde men among their Ancestors of whom they had received some speciall benefit Thus a Act. 3.12 the Iewes held their eyes fixed on Peter and Iohn who had restored a lame man to his feete as if by their power and holinesse that miracle had beene wrought Thus b Act. 10. â—â— 25 26 Cornelius though a devout man and one that feared God with all his house fell downe at Peters feet and worshipped him as if he had beene more than a man Thus c Act. 14.10 11 12 13 the Idolaters of Lystra called Barnabas Iupiter and Paul Mercurius and would have offered sacrifice unto them because they healed a cripple who never had walked Thus the Pope and his Cardinalls canonize and register with the Saints some speciall men of whose holinesse and miracles they say they have sufficient warrant and give expresse commandement to the people to worship them God foreseeing that the divell through his malice would doe his utmost endeavour to re-establish Idolatrie againe in these same holy mens persons by whom he had banished it out of the world even when they did greatest miracles turmoyled them with greatest afflictions that those which saw them in such a miserable state might judge and say that they were men like unto themselves and that they wrought such wonders by Gods finger and not by their own power For the same cause the evills which they suffered are registred in holy Scripture that as S. Panl after hee had begun to tell how he was taken up into Paradise brake off his discourse in the middest saying d 2. Cor. 12.6 I forbeare lest any man should thinke of me above that which he seeth me to be or that he heareth of me so we may say of them that which they acknowledged themselves to be that e Act. 14.15 they were also men of like passion with us for that which they were by grace should not make us forget that which they were by nature even mortall men like our selves XII Wherupon f Chrysost Homi. 1. rd popul Antiochen Chrysostom giveth us another advertisement for when wee exhort you to imitate David Elias Paul Peter such or such a Saint your custome is to answer I am not Peter I am not Paul as if Peter and Paul had beene of some other stuffe than ye are as if they had not beene mortall feeble and sinnefull men as ye are Therefore to take from you all excuse when ye cover your carelesnesse and sloath with such vaine excuses God hath exercised with most infirmities those on whom he hath bestowed greatest graces that seeing they have beene like unto us in weaknesse diseases afflictions and passions belonging to man we despaire not of attaining to the resemblance of the heavenly and saving graces wherewith they were garnished For this end S. Iames propoundeth unto us the example of Elias of whom he saith that f I am 5.17 18. he was subiect to like passions as we are that if wee pray with fervencie as he did wee be assured that we shall speed as he did XIII To these three reasons wee may adde the fourth taken from afflictions as they are corrections chastisements of Gods deerest servants that God will have us to consider them as testimonies of his wrath against sinne and to say to our selves Hath God dealt so roughly with so holy men when they offended him and shall he beare with us or as Christ said g Luk. 23.33 If these things be done in a greene tree what shall be done in the dry This reason is so cleer that S. Peter urgeth it as an infallible demonstration saying h 1. Pet. 4.17 18. The time is come that iudgement must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God Wherefore let us lay this to our hearts and learne by such manifest tokens of Gods wrath against sinne to prevent his indignation by an unfained amendment of life Esay saith that i Esa 26.9 when Gods iudgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learne righteousnesse God grant that as we are of the number of these inhabitants of the world so we may be of the number of those Students which are schooled by their brethrens afflictions to learne righteousnesse to stand in awe of God and to serve him with an upright heart before his face all the dayes of our life XIV Finally God by the afflictions of his deare ones namely by those which they suffer for righteousnesse sake manifesteth the infallible truth of his promises and the excellencie of his mightie power in their deliverie from the evill day and from all the plots conspiracies secret practices malicious attempts violent invasions of theirs and his enemies which then are constrained to avouch that it is by the finger of God and not by the hand of man that the Church subsisteth upon earth and as it is said in the Psalmes that k Psal 10.2 Christ in the mids of his enemies He saith l Esa 43.2 3. When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee When thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neyther shall the flame kindle upon thee for I am the Lord thy God the holy One of Israel thy Saviour How he accomplisheth this
promise it is both wonderfull and profitable to consider for when hee will shew his strength that which he doth seemeth contrarie to that which he intendeth to doe When he came to lighten and gladden Abrahams soule by the confirmation of his promises he sent m Gen. 15.12 an horror of great darkenesse upon him n Gen. 32.25 When hee came to blesse Iacob hee wrestled with him and put his thigh out of joynt o 2. Kin. 2.21 Elisha sweetned the unholsome waters with salt p Ioh 9.6 Iesus Christ putting clay on the eyes of a blinde man restored him to his sight q Marc. 7.33 he put his fingers into the eares of a man that was deafe and they were opened Even so he debased and abated Ioseph to the lowest pit of the prison that his power might be marvelled at in advancing of him to the highest dignitie of Pharaos Court. Hee winked at Pharao and his armie when they persecuted and pursued his people into the midst of the red sea that when with the blast of his nostrils the sea came and covered them and they sunke as lead in the mightie waters his people might sing unto him r Exod 15.11 Who is like unto thee O LORD amongst the gods who is like thee glorious in holinesse fearefull in praises doing wonders and his enemies might say of him that Å¿ Iosh 2.11 hee is God of Heaven above and in earth beneath Hee permitted Senacherib King of Assyria to take all the defensed cities of Iuda and to bring Hezakiah to such extremitie that hee had not two thousand men to withstand him then hee sent his Angel from Heaven to deliver him then t Esa 37.20 all the kingdomes of the earth knew that he is the Lord even hee only Consider Nebucadnezzar in his rage fury comanding to heat the burning fierie furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heat and to cast the three Confessors into it saying to them v Dan. 3.15 Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands His mind was to destroy the bodies of these Saints But O miracle of the almightie power and vertue of God! the fire was a rampier and wall to guard them the flame was a garment to clothe them the furnace was a fountaine to refresh them Mortall bodies were cast into the fire they were not hurt thereby as if they had bin immortall the flames received them tyed and untying them were tied themselves They spared the hands and the feet whereof they burned the bands They slew the men that cast these Salamanders into the furnace for the furnace was exceeding hot to teach you that the strength of the fire was neither extinguished nor abated yet they touched not the bodies of the Saints not changing their nature but bearing respect to their godlinesse yea and such respect that there was not an haire of their head singed neither were their coats changed neither had the smell of fire passed on them which goeth beyond all admiration The fire dared not touch but their bands The Tyrant fettered them the fire unfettered them that ye may see the crueltie of the Tyrant and the obedience of the element The Princes and Governours of the kingdome were come thither to see the great solemnitie of the dedication of the golden image but they saw that which they could never have thought of They came to worship the idoll they went home admiring and worshiping the power of God The king himselfe who ere-while had cast in the fire these three Confessors because they would not serve his gods nor worship the golden image which he had set up was constrained to worship their God and to confesse that x Vers â—9 there is none other God that can deliver after this sort So Satan was confounded in his malice seeing his power abated by his owne craft whereby he laboured to overthrow the servants of the living God and Gods Power Wisdome Goodnesse Providence was glorified in their deliverie God y 1. Kin. 17 4. spake to the ravenous Ravens and they fed Elijah He a Ion. 2.10 spake to the Whale and it vomited out Ionas upon the dry land When his people was scattered hither thither among the Chaldeans Assyrians Medes Persians and other Nations b Esa 43.6 bee said to the North Give up and to the South Keep not backe bring my sons from farre and my daughters from the ends of the earth So was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes c Ps 76.11 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee XV. Such examples of the glorious power of God in the afflictions of righteous men are most frequent in the New Testament As in the creation he commanded light to shine out of darkenesse So in the redemption of mankind he made our Saviour a curse for us that hee might blesse us and put to death the Prince of life that through his death he might give life to those which were dead His enemies sealed and guarded the Sepulchre where hee was buried and said d Psal 3.2 There is no help for him in God But e Rom. 1.4 hee was declared to be the Sonne of God with power according to the Spirit of holinesse by the resurrection from the dead and was more glorious in his death than he was in his life So his Church is never so wonderfull as in the persecution Then f Exod. 3.2 3 4. ye see the great sight which made Moses amazed The bush burning with fire and yet not consumed What more vile than a bush what more contemp tible in the eyes of men than the Church what more susceptible of burning than a bush what so easie to bee overthrowne as the Church as the little flocke of weak sheepe inclosed with an armie of strong and cruell wolves yet the bush was not burnt because God was in the midst of the bush So the Church cannot be destroied because Christ hath said g Matth. 28 Loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Consider h Act. 16.22 Paul and Silas torn with stripes thrust into the inner prison and their feete made fast in the stocks The infidels might have said that the God who suffreth his servants to be thus abused is either weake and impotent or unrighteous and malicious But see behold in this permission a most wonderfull work of his power goodnesse and mercy His Saints had their feete in the stockes their hands in the gyves Their heart was franke their tongue was free The Divell was then a prentise and had not learned to gag Their heart was inditing a good matter Their tongue was the pen of a readie writer At mid-night they were waking What did they while they waked did they howle for griefe and paine complained they of their contumelies accused they the crueltie of the blood-thirstie Governors blamed they the rigor of the pitilesse