us For the unerring eye of his all-seeing providence and omnipotently stedfast hand by which he wields the scales of justice would not have suffered his consuming wrath to come any nearer to us then we were come unto the full measure of our iniquity 10 The first thing which then was or now is to be enquired after is what were the extraordinary and speciall sinnes which drew Gods iudgements so neare upon us These were not the cruelty of lawes enacted against professors of that religion which these traitors professed as they as foolishy as impiously alleadge nor was the negligence or connivence of such as were put in trust with the execution of these lawes the cause of the iudgement then threatned as some others out of misguided zeale suspect Of such negligence or omission or of whatsoever else may give any advantage to the adversaries of our peace and religion there were some positive causes in our selves God only knowes how many but of these we cannot but take notice which the Prophet Micah expresseth or some like unto them as sacriledge oppression and bribery in the layty Simony and time-serving in the Clergy luxury prophanenesse and hypocrisie in both Now when the professors of true religion shall give undoubted proofe of their constant and impartiall zeale against these foule enormities or for enquiring after the most enormous delinquents in all these kindes there will bee good hope that the lawes already enacted or projected against idolatry against superstition and false religion shall have their wished successe But suppose that upon the occasion or opportunity which these idolatrous miscreants had in a manner thrust into the hands of our law-makers the suppression of idolatry and superstition throughout this land had been more exact and more compleat then that which Hezekiah in the beginning of his raigne had wrought in Judah Was there any probability that those other diseases which Micah mentions would have beene one jot abated any likely-hood that the most amongst us would not have learned that song or ditty by heart is not the Lord now amongst us or the Antiphony unto it would have been no evill can come upon us Other grosse exorbitancies usually come within the stroake of the civill sword and lye open to the execution of wholesome lawes but for snipping this secret hypocrisie or presumptuous leaning upon the Lord though in the professors of true religion the severest execution of wholesome lawes or exercise of the civill sword hath no force or dint the cure of this disease properly belongs unto the Divine and the method to cure it is contrary to the ordinary course of law or physicke wee must breake a generall custome of this people and teach them not to rare their affections unto truth by their opposition unto false-hood not to measure their zeale and love to true religion by their hatred of false religion These be the very rootes of that hypocrisie or presumption which Micah so deeply taxeth in the state of Iudah the chiefe ingredient in the leaven of the Pharisees But lest more of this people should slide into an errour too common unto many as if such a reformation of religion as they affect would acquit or secure the state and kingdome from all danger of Gods threatned judgements let us here behold the severity and mercy of our gratious God Mercy I say towards us and severity towards our brethren professors of reformed religion in neighbour nations whom he hath of late subiected to the enemies sword and other calamities of warre for what transgression in particular hee only knowes but surely not for those transgressions which some out of discontented zeale conceive to be the only cause of his displeasure against this nation whensoever any crosse or calamity befals themselves for no man can suspect those foraine Churches which he hath visited of late were deepely guilty either of connivance to superstition or to much favouring Arminianisme However the righteous Lord by chastising them doth fore-warne us to examine and judge our selves and if we find no other causes or probable occasions to feare the approach of the like Iudgements upon our selves yet even this alone will in the day of visitation make a great addition to our generall accompt that we did not humble our selves with feare and trembling whilst the Lord did humble and correct them whilst his hand was heavy upon such of our nation as were sent abroad for their succour Our consciences will one day accuse us when wee shall have occasion to seeke the Lord that we have not for the yeares late past besought his goodnesse with greater feare and devotion to remoove the rod of his wrath from them But did the Lord in this interim direct no messengers of his wrath unto us within our own coasts Did mortality and famine only follow the campe abroad or townes besieged in other nations The famine Gods name be praised for it hath not for many yeares beene either universally spread throughout this land or extraordinary grievous upon any greater portion of it and yet hath left so deepe impression in some native members of this great body as may evidently convince the rest of great stupidity in not sympathizing more deepely with them And stupidity or dulnesse in any member whilst other suffer is an infallible Symptome of a dangerous disease oft-times a certaine prognosticke of death and hee were but an indocile Christian that could not by those knowne calamities which much people of this land have suffered from this messenger instruct himselfe how easie it is for the righteous Iudge to bring such calamity upon this kingdome by this messenger alone as would move even the most malicious and cruell enemies that we have had to bemoane our case although we were fully assured of a constant peace with all other neighbour-nations that have any power or ability to annoy us by the sword or any practice of hostility Rome in her growth in her height of greatnesse and in her declining dayes had received many grievous wounds was subiect in all estates to fearefull calamities and disasters yet never in such a lamentable and ruefull plight as the famine had brought her to if wee may iudge of her inward griefe either by her bitter outcries or by the deiected and gastly dresse in which one of her sonnes then living hath set her forth Si mea mansuris meruerunt moenia nasci Iupiter auguriis si stant immota Sibillae Carmina Tarpeias si nec dum despicis arces Advenio supplex non ut proculcet Oaxen Consul ovans nostraeve premant pharetrata secures Susa nec ut rubris aquilas figamus arenis Haec nobis haec antè dabas nunc pabula tantùm Poscimus ignoscas miserae pater optime genti Extremam defende famem satiavimus iram Siqua fuit lugenda Getis flenda Suëvis Hausimus ipsa meos horreret Parthia casus After a solemne resignation of all clayme title or interest to all former victories
and praying Every coward is capable of the former and he is a very foole that when other meanes faile cannot practice the later Must we then decline all triall of his wisdome by the received rule of humane policy This wee might doe but this we need not doe For the depth of his wisdome and policy will appeare if wee measure it by that rule or scale of that policy which the wisemen of this world hold in greatest admiration For so a great master of the art of policy tels us that when any state or kingdome is either weakened by meanes internall as by the sloath the negligence or carelesnesse of the Governours as diseases grow in mens bodies by degrees insensible for want of exercise or good dyet or whether they be wounded by causes external the only method for recovering their former strength and dignity is ut omnia ad sua principia revocentur by giving life unto the fundamentall lawes and ancient customes As for new inventions what depth or subtilities soever they cary unlesse they suite well with the fundamentall lawes or customes of the state wherein they practice they proove in the issue but like empiricall Physick which agrees not with the naturall disposition or customary dyet of the party to whom it is ministred Of the former aphorisme you have many probatum's in the ancient Roman state So have yee of the later in the state of Italy about the time wherein Machiavel wrote if we may believe him in his owne profession Admit then the rule or method were as for ought I have to say it is without exception yet the successe of the practice how conformable soever to the rule must still depend on that measure of goodnesse which is contained in the fundamentall lawes or primevall customes of every Nation If these be but comparatively good the successe of the practice cannot be absolute If they be but seemingly good or mixed with evill the great Philosopher treating of this subiect hath foretold the successe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is either falsly or but seemingly good will in revolution of time bring forth effects truly and really evill If the fundamenmentall lawes of any state be not firme or sound whatsoever else is laid upon them there lyes a necessity of finking with their owne weight Where the basis is but narrow the fastigium or roofe cannot be high Or where the foundation is both firme and spatious yet if the structure be set awry with every degree of height it gets there growes a parallell degree of inclination to its sudden downefall Now if Hezekiah in making choice of prayer before any other meanes of policy did practice according to the former rule that is as the ancient lawes of that kingdome and rules of goverment prescribed by his Ancestors did direct him he was more politickly wise than any Prince of other Nations in these times could be than any at this day can be besides such as have the like fundamentall lawes or take his practice in like exigence for their patterne For the fundamentall lawes of his kingdome were absolutely good as being immediately given by God himselfe The best lawes of other Nations were but the inventions of men Hence saith the Psalmist Psal. 147. v. 19. Hee sheweth his word unto Iacob his statutes and ordinances unto Israel Yet Moses presumed that other Nations which had no knowledge of their lawes in particular should from the happy successe which was to attend their due observance acknowledge in generall that their lawes were more righteous and able to make this people wiser than other Nations could be For so Moses had said Deut. 4. 5. Behold I have taught you statutes and Iudgements even as the Lord my God commanded me keepe therefore and doe them For this is your wisdome and understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall heare all these statutes and say surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people And what Nation is there so great that hath statutes and Iudgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day Amongst other Nations some had lawes in their kinde good for warre others for peace few or none good lawes for both none absolutely good for either No such lawes as their strict observance might secure them from their enemies They could not be so wise in projecting their owne future prosperity but their enemies might bee as subtile in contriving their adversity They could not bee so strong in battaile but their enemies and their Allies might be as strong as they They could not bee so industrious or vigilant for recovering the strength or dignity of their weakned estate but their enemies might be as vigilant to defeate their intentions Or albeit one Nation had so farre overtopped another as well in councell of peace as strength of warre as to be able to keepe them perpetually under yet no lawes no inventions of men could ever secure the most potent Nation on earth from such dangers as accrue from the host of inanimate or reasonlesse creatures albeit all Neighbour Nations were at peace with them or sworne confederates for advancing their state and dignity Against the hosts or armies of men some preparations may alwaies be made because they come not without notice or preparation but the severall hosts of the reasonlesse creatures come upon men for the most part without observation or fore-sight And one of them can execute anothers office or charge or every one accomplish that worke which the Armies of men did intend but could not execute That scarcity of bread or other calamity which sometime suddainly ariseth in some limbe or corner of a kingdome by want of trade or by shutting up too great a multitude of ships for a long time in one harbour whilst the enemy or Pirats annoy the coasts how easily might it be much increased if he that keepes the windes as in a treasure house should shut up a greater multitude of ships for a long time in the same harbour by a contrary winde albeit their enemies in the meane while become their friends albeit they were provided of an invincible navy at an houres warning Or in case they did know whence the winde commeth or whither it is going or could so covenant that it should blow where and when they listed yet if the Lord of hosts be so pleased he can bring a greater dearth and scarcity upon the most fertile provinces of the land then either the enemy or contrary windes can occasion either by withdrawing the sweet influence of the heavens or by corrupting the seed lately sowne or corne ready to be reaped with abundant moisture Or admit any people or Nation by miracle or divine dispensation might have authority not over the windes only but over the clouds the raine and dew or such a power of shutting and opening heaven as husband-men have of letting in brookes upon their medowes and taking them off againe at their pleasures so as they
plague of pestilence in later yeares as we doe that he visited the land of Iudah in Davids time Many of us believe or know that we have beene sicke grievously sicke and this we believe and know as firmely as we believe that Hezekias was sicke even unto death and recovered albeit his sicknesse and the plague wherewith Iudah was visited in David's time are both recorded in scriptures so are not any visitations wherewith the Lord hath visited either our selves in particular or this land and people in generall But though these or the like matters of fact be not exprest in scriptures which are the rule of our faith yet are the canonicall scriptures the only rule of faith how wee ought to demeane our selves when we are either visited in particular as Hezekias was or when Gods visitation is more generall and publique as it was upon Iudah in the raigne of David But however we may know maters of fact which are present or which fall out in our times as undoubtedly as we do maters of fact related in scriptures yet it will be objected that we may not give the same credit or beliefe unto any maters of fact done in former times related by Heathen or Christian by ancient or moderne Authors which we doe unto all maters of fact which have beene registred by canonicall writers All this is true yet unto writers as well Heathens as Christians wee may and ought to give though no sacred esteeme or credit yet an historicall or morall beliefe as many by profession Christians doe not distinctly give unto maters of fact related by sacred writers or at least unto their censures of them If all or most of us could but attaine unto such a distinct historicall beliefe of sacred writers as many have of stories related as well by ancient Heathens as by moderne Christians we would be more religious or lesse irreligious than for the most part we are Briefely though to believe as much concerning the signes of the times as the Heathens did though to make as good or better use of them than they did be not sufficient to acquit us from ruine and destruction foresignified yet not to believe as much as they did not to make so good use as they did not to bee so much affected with them as they were is enough and more than enough to condemne us enough to bring that ruine or calamity which they portend or foresignify inevitably and in full measure upon us Vnto these observations of Herodotus and Matchiavel I only adde this one that the greater the alterations or calamities be which are thus foresignified or portended the greater commonly and more strange the prodigies bee which foresignify them The more suddaine the blow or the fewer the forewarnings be the more expresse punctuall they are Two instances for this present shall suffice exhibited a little before or in the time wherein Matchiavel wrote Both forewarnings were giuen Vivâ voce by the voyce of men but of men which no man present knew either whence they were or whither they went after the delivery of their message The one vnto Iames the fourth then Lord and King of our now sister nation The apparition and message was so strange that the learned Historian from whom I haue it professeth he should hardly haue beleeued it vnlesse he had heard it from a man farre from lying and coyning of newes as from Sr Dauid Lindsey that famous King at armes and Knight of the Mount Hac belli denuntiatione in Scotiam prolata dum ad excercitum proficiscens rex Limnuchi vespertinas in Aede sacracantiones ut tum moris erat audit senex quidam ingressus capillâ— in rufum flavescente ac in humeros promisso fronte in calviciem glabre capite nudo veste longiusculâ cyanei coloris amictus ac linteo cinctus caetero asp ectu venerabilis is regem quaerens per turbam obstantium penetrat uâ—i ad eum accessit rustica quadam simplicitate super solium in quo rex sedebat innixus Rex inquit ego ad te sum mèssus ut te admoneam ne quo instituisti progrediaris quam admonitionem si neglexeris non erit è retuanec eorum qui te camit abuntur praeterea praemâ—nere sum iussus ne mulierum familiaritate consuetudine ac consiliâ— ut aris secus verò si facies damno ignominiâ— tibi res erit Haec locutus turbae sese immiscuit nec eum precibus finitis rex eum requireret usquam comparuit quod eo magis mirum est visum quod eorum qui propiùs astiterant atque eum observabant avidi ex eo multa sciscitandi nemo eius discessum senserat In iis fuit David Lindesius Montanus homo spectatae fidei probitatis nec a literarum studiis alienus euius totus vitae tenor longissimè à mentiendo aberat à quo niâ—i ego haec uti tradii accepissem ut vulgatam vanis rumoribus fabulam omissurus eram And it is no wonder if this forewarning were so vnusuall strange seeing the calamity which through the neglect of it was so great as this famous Herauld in his writings complaines it could not be paralleld in any nation besides the Aegyptian for the losse of the Prince and so many Nobles in one day But though the blow was for the present terrible yet God be praysed the wound was not incurable Forsan has venturus amor praemiserat iras The wound or breach was at that time the wider that the cure or close of it might be the sweeter and let him perish that seekes any other vse of the ancient foehoods betwixs these two neighbouring nations then the setling of such loue and peace betwixt them as becommeth dearest sisters Let no other emulation possesse Nobility Gentry or Commonalty of either Kingdome besides true zeale in Gods service and loyall obedience to his Vicegerent their ioynt Lord and soveraigne If the former relation of that famous Knight and Herauld might seeme strange to any for the present their diffidence or incredulity might haue bin sufficiently convinced by an apparition and forewarning farre more strange exhibited within twelve or thirteen yeares after vnto the State or Court of Hungarie The King being at dinner the gates of his Castle being shut as the custome was a certaine ghost in forme and shape of a man evill favoured with crooked leggs came halting and knocks at the gate and with a loud shrill voyce desired to speake with the King to acquaint him with thinges which nearely concerned both the good of himselfe and of the Kingdome His speeches at first being not heard by the guard who were at the gate as it is the use in Princes courts he cryed louder and with a horrible voice demanded againe whether they gave the King notice thereof In the end certaine of the company being moved by the importunity of this deformed Ghost they demanded of him what hee
beware of them or unlesse hee had instructed them that the victory which God had promised to give his people at this time over their enemies was not to bee purchased by strength of sword but by patient possessing of their owne soules in time of warres and persecutions And of these times wherein false Prophets or false Christs did so prevaile with this people was that saying of our Saviour Iohn 5. 43. remarkably fulfilled I am come in my fathers name and yee receive me not If another shall come in his owne name him you will receiue The wisest amongst the Romans and amongst the rest Tacitus that great states-man or polititian observing the Iewes to have failed so fouly in their hopes of becoming Lords over the Nations by their expected King or Messias turn'd greater fooles than the Iewes had beene for having acknowledged the truth of the former prophecy which was so famous and so constantly received throughout the East He would have it fufilled in Vespatian in that hee was called out of Iudea unto the empire of Rome that is as they interpretit to be Lord of the whole world And which is most strange Iosephus himselfe a Iew by birth and education and therefore acquainted with the prophecies or prenotions concerning their Messias was either the Author of this foolish interpretation or the first Author now extant that did publish it Tacitus addes some credit to Iosephus his report of the constant fame throughout the East that Iudea should at that time bring forth the Lord of the whole world but hee makes no addition to Iosephus his folly in misapplying that which the Prophets had said and the esterne Nation had received concerning the King that was to arise out of Iudea unto Vespatian making him and his sonnes of true and lawfull Emperours false Christs Now to a-awake the Romans out of this proud fantastique dreame the true Christ the Lord of heaven and earth and judge of quicke and dead did exhibit these signes here mentioned in my text before the Romans had fully digested their triumphant feast and joy for the victory which they had gotten over the Iewish Nation Italy and Rome it selfe became the stage whereon these fearefull spectacles were acted and the whole Roman Empire were more then spectators if no Actors yet patients in this dolefull tragedy Besides the destruction of the old world by water and of Sodome and other foure cities by fire and brimstone no history of the world doth mention any such strange calamities as issued from the burning of the mount Vesuevius in Campania which first hapened in the first or second yeare of Titus although it hath oftentimes since procured great annoyance to neighbour provinces But that it begun first to burne in the dayes of Titus is cleere from the untimely death of Plyny the elder that great Naturalist Who out of curiosity going to search the cause of it was choaked to death with the smoake I have often put you in mind heretofore that many historians which either never read the sacred prophecies or did not minde them when they wrotte their histories are usually the best interpreters as well of the prophecies in the old as new testament Nor is the fulfilling of any prophecy in the old testament more litterally or more punctually related either in the old or new testament then the fulfilling of this prophecy in my text is by Dio Cassius a most judicious and ingenious heathen writer in the raigne of Titus The suddaine earthquakes were so grievous that all that valley was sultring hot and the tops of the mountaines sunke downe under the grouud were noyses like thunder answered with like bellowings above the searoared and the heavens resounded like noyse huge and great crashings were heard as if the mountaines had fallen together great stones leaped out of their places as high as tops of hils and after them issued abundance of fire and smoake in so much that it darkned the ayre and obscured the sunne as if it had beene ecclipsed so that night was turned into day and day into night many were perswaded that the Gyants had raised some civill broyles amongst themselves because they did see their shapes in smoak and heard a noyse of trumpets others thought the world should bee resolved into old Caos or consumed with fire some ranne out of their houses into the streets others from the streets or high-wayes into their houses otherer from sea to land some againe from the land to the sea Dio Cassius inhistoria Titi. Besides the large extent of this calamity through Aegypt Syria and Greece and great part of Africa related by this Author and toucht upon in the first booke of Comments upon the Creed page 49. c. The latine reader may finde many other circumstances in other good writers as in Procopius Zonaras c. faithfully collected by Maiolus tractatu de montibus pag. 520. 521. Though Cedrenus were a Christian yet I thinke when he wrote the history of Phocas he had as little minde or thought of the fulfilling of S. Iohn's prophecy Revelation the 8. Chap. v. 8. c. As Dio Cassius had of the accomplishment of our Saviour in my text And the second Angell sounded and as it were a great mountaine burning with fire was cast into the sea and the third part of the sea became bloud And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and the third part of the ships were destroyed Cednenus after a breife character of Phocas his ill favoured body and conditions in which latter his consort did too well agree with him tels us that in his time there was an inundation of all manner of mischiefes upon mankind an infinite number of men and beasts died and the earth denying her increase the famine and grievous pestilences arose and the winters were so sharpe and cruell that the sea freez'd and the fishes in it perished These were strange signes of the time and did portend the greatest alteration that ever befell Christian Churches by the erection of the two grand antichristian tyrannies the one in the East the other in the west Cedrenus in compendio historiae pag. 332. All that I have for this present to adde unto my former observations concerning the burning of Vesuvius is the admirable disposition of Gods providence in that he would not have the fulfilling of this prophecy in my text to be recorded by any Evangelist or other sacred writers but by this heathen historian A bright ray or beame of divine providence you may observe in so disposing the testimonies of these times as that the Evangelist S. Iohn who usually relates our Saviour's speeches more distinctly and more at large then the other three Evangelists doth not so much as mention our Saviour's prophecies either concerning the signes preceeding the destruction of Ierusalem or these signes in my text which were signes of his comming to judge the Nations The reason I
ipsam cum ex antiquis tum novis exemplis agnoscere oportet confiteri omnes magnos motus quicunque aut vrbi aut regioni evenerunt vel à coniectoribus vel à revelatione aliquâ prodigijs aut coelestibus signis praedici ac praenunciari solere Matchiav disput lib. 1. cap. 56. But besides the induction made by Herodotus whose works I doubt but know not whether Matchiavel had red many other instances he brings out of his owne observations and experience But some will aske what credit is to bee given to Matchiavel or men of his temper Litle or none I must confesse in point of censure or opinion concerning matter of religion or sacred use But as the testimony of the Iew in matter of fact is the most pregnant proofe that wee Christians can use against the Iewes themselves or for confirmation of our religion so Matchiavels testimony in matter of fact of this nature whereof we treat is most authentique against the Atheists or men of no religion For this great Politician was so farre from being too superstitious or credulous in this kinde that by his writings many have suspected him to have been rather irreligious more inclining to Atheisme then either to the Christian or Iewish nation And whatsoever in this kinde he hath observed as hee himselfe confesseth was in a manner evicted or extorted from him by the evidence of truth The true cause of such prodigious signes or forewarnings he professes he did not know and we have reason to believe him in this because he was ignorant of the right end or use of them But this saith he all we of Florence know that the comming of Charles the eigth French King with a puisant army was foretold long before by Ierome Savanorola and likewise foreshewed by many other signes rife in his times throughout the Dukedome of Tuscany Now this divination of Savanorola was not gathered from any politique observation for Charles his attempt was in all politique esteeme so incredible and rash that the grave Senators of Venice would give no credence unto the first newes of his entring into Italy untill one of their ancients better acquainted it seemes with that French Kings disposition then the rest told them that he could more easily believe this rash attempt of that French King then of any of his predecessors But besides the testimony of Matchiavel for this particular wee have the undoubted testimony of Philip de Comtnes that grave and religious Historian who was then agent for the French King in Italy and relates this prediction from Savanorola his owne mouth with more particulars then Matchiavel mentions for he expresly foretold him of that unexpected successe which Charles at his first comming did finde but this hee foretold with this proviso or caution that unlesse the King his master did faithfully execute the worke whereunto the Lord of Lords and King of Kings had designed him he would quickly call in his commission and bring the French armies backe againe into their owne land with disgrace and losse The event did prove both these parts of this prediction to be most true This great alteration of state and warres in Italy as Matchiavel confidently affirmes was likewise portended or foresignified by such apparitions in the ayre as the Authour of the second booke of Maccabees in his 5. chap. mentions that is by apparitions of great armies of men joyning battel over Aretium a Towne in Tuscany The words of the Authour of the second of Maccabees before cited are these And then it hapned that through all the city for the space almost of 40 daies there were seene horse-men running in the ayre in cloth of gold and armed with lances like a bande of souldiers and troopes of horse-men in array encountring and running one against another with shaking of shields and multitude of pikes and drawing of swordes and casting of darts and glitterings of golden ornaments and harnesse of all sorts wherefore every man prayed that that apparition might turne to good He instances in another signe or prodigie well known to all in Florence which did portend or fore-signifie the death of Lorenzo de Medices who laid the first foundation of the present Dukedome of Tuscany in his family being a man who by his wisdome had preserved all Italy a long time in peace For a litle before his death the roofe of their chiefe Church or Temple tooke fire from heaven which much defaced it The banishment of Petrus Soderinus a great peere and pillar of the state of Florence in his time and the calamities which ensued thereupon were likewise fore-signified or portended by the burning of their Guild-hall or Senate-house by lightning or fire from heaven These examples he brings from his owne knowledge another he brings out of Livy of one Aeditius an honest countrey-man who was warned and commanded by a voice in the dead of night more cleare and shrill then the voice of man to tell their Magistrates that the Gaules their enemies were comming to be revenged upon the Romans So hee concludes his discourse as hee did begin it that whatsoever might be thought of such conjectures or forewarnings this is most certaine by experience that some great alterations alwaies follow upon such signes or forewarnings As for Herodotus I like his verdict in this kinde the better because hee refer'd this observation of prodigies or signes of the time unto the Egyptian nation which was the most ancient and most remarkeable Kingdome amongst the Heathens And what reason the Egyptians had to observe these prodigies and signes of the time more than others both Iewes and Christians canno but know or may remember seeing God had shewed such signes and wonders in the land of Egypt as had not beene shewne in any nation before such as can scarce be paralleld in any nation since besides in the destruction of Ierusalem untill the day of judgement or the signes which shall bee given before it come Vnto matters related by the Author of the second book of Maccabees if not for his own esteeme yet for S. Pauls or whoever were the Author of the epistle to the Hebrewes we owe such an historicall beliefe as may ground maters of sacred or canonicall use or application because that sacred Author hath given him credit or countenance in his relations of the persecutions of Gods people long before his owne time which are not registred by any ancient Author now extant besides this Author of the second booke of Maccabees 2. Maccab. 7. 7. Heb. 11. 35. They extend an undoubted truth too farre which make canonicall scriptures to bee the only rule of our beliefe as well for maters of fact as for matter of Doctrine or use For some maters of fact though not related in canonicall scriptures wee may and doe beliefe or know as certainly as those maters which are related by sacred historians Wee all of us as stedfastly believe and know that God hath often visited this land with the
degrees that this figtree was the time of their fall and ruine after such forewarnings is not so determinate in respect of us as the time of Ierusalem's and Iudah's ruine after our Saviours death and resurrection were For the time of their ruine was both foretold by the Prophets and prefigured by matter of fact as by their fore-elders wandring forty yeares in the wildernesse and by the forty dayes which after our Saviours resurrection were given them to bethinke themselves better and to make their peace with God as the Ninevites did upon forewarning given them by Ionas But leaving these punctuall or speciall forewarnings wee are to follow the forewarnings here mentioned in the 3. and 4. verses of this Chapter with the like generall signes of times ensuing The province of Galilee had its forewarning in the massacre of these Galileans whose bloud Pilate mingled with the sacrifices The inhabitants of Ierusalem had their particular forewaring likewise in the lamentable disaster of those eighteene upon whom the tower in Siloe fell These Galileans were they many or few did perish in Ierusalem and their disaster for this reason was more publique such as the whole nation of the Iewes could not but take notice of so that both signes put together with the circumstances of the time and place wherein they hapned did portend that the utter ruine of the whole nation should be in Ierusalem It might be true in part which the chiefe Priests and Pharisees had observed Ioh. 7. 52. Serch and looke for out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet Nor was our Saviour to whom they apply this observation in particular a Galilean by birth but a neighbour-born unto Ierusalem for he was borne in Bethlehem the city of David But at the time of this great Prophets birth who was to falsifie their observation in respect of future times for he made Peter Iohn and Iames and other Galileans more then Prophets there arose a seditious sect in Galilee which did first oppose the payment of tribute unto Caesar. And all the opposition which this rebellious people made against the Roman empire tooke its originall from Iudas the Gaulonite and his sons And as Galilee was the beginning of woe unto Ierusalem and the Iewish Nation so it was the first in the plagues and woes here denounced For Vespasian being sent to quell this rebellion made his first invasion upon Galilee and tooke in all the cities and principall townes within that province before hee made any assault upon Ierusalem or other cities of Iudas The number of Galileans which perished in that warre was so great that I should hardly believe Iosephus his relations or them unlesse our Saviour had foretold this calamity was to bee nationall and universall for all were to perish besides such as did in time repent which God wote were but a few But had those Galileans no signes of the times besides these forewarnings in my text to disswade them from that desperate warre yes signes they had many and most pregnant which did verifie the literall meaning of our Saviours prophecie signes abundant to instruct them that the Lord had appointed the Romans to rule over them and these signes they had partly before partly after Vespaians comming to manage the warre on the Romans part against them King Agrippa of whom wee read Acts 26. in that excellent oration set downe by Iosephus in his second booke and sixteenth Chapter did forewarne them more like a Prophet than a polititian but these forewarnings concern'd the whole Nation as much as they did Galilee After the invasion made upon Galiles by Vespasian Josephus himselfe who wrote the history of those warres in which he had beene a principall agent tooke warning by the visible signes of the time to yeeld himselfe to the Romans upon the taking of Iotopata But a more feare full forewarning they had in the second taking of Ioppa whither the Galileans had fled in great abundance hoping at least to have escaped the Romans forces by ships if they were not able to defend themselves by land but they found the wind and weather to fight more bitterly against them than the Romans had done The tempest did drive them from the Sea and the Romans from the city Some were swallowed by the waves some killed themselves for feare of being drowned many were dashed against the rocks so that the sea was bloudy and all the shore was covered with dead bodies Such as escaped the Sea were killed by the Romans foure thousand two hundred dead bodies were cast upon the shore lib. 3. Chap. 15. Did the rest of the Galileans take warning by these mens disaster or by the destruction of this and other cities and the generall desolation of their countrey They did in part but to no purpose They saw it was in vaine to defend the cities of Galilee but even the desperate estate hereof they tooke as a signe of the time or as a watch-word to fortify Ierusalem the chiefe city and Metropolis of their Nation This was the city which the Lord had chosen amongst all the cities of Israel to place his name there and God they thought was bound in honour to defend his chosen city Out of this perswasion all the men of warre that were left in Galilee and in other places overrunne by Vespasian did repaire unto Ierusalem and in the issue of this resolution they fulfilled that which our Saviour had foretold that not only the Galileans but the inhabitants of Ierusalem should perish Had those Galileans after despaire of defending their owne cities or strong holds or after they saw Vespsiaan's army bent against Ierusalem fled as our Saviour admonished his followers into the mountaines or dispersed themselves amongst other Nations they might have escaped that butchery which the Romans practised upon them and they upon others of their owne Nation And unlesse they and others of their owne Nation contrary to our Saviour's admonition had floc'kd unto Ierusalem after they had seene it begirt with the Roman forces the Burgesses or inhabitants of that famous city had submitted themselves unto the Romans who were ready to give them better quarter than now one Christian Nation will upon like occasion give another But the inhabitants of that city being over-crowded with the multitude which daily flocked unto them and which they admitted to be partakers with them of the legall sacrifices they became partakers of that vengeance which still pursued the seditious what place soever they made choice of for their refuge Thus by neglecting or contemning the signes of the time which our Saviour had given them the greater part of that Nation more then five to one of such as were then ready to beare armes were first shut upon Ierusalem as in a prison or as so many fatted beasts in a market The Temple afterwards becomming as the slaughter-house or shambles To recount all the miseries which they suffered in the city and in the Temple by the famine and by the
a visible model or character of his owne forme◠dealing with this stubborne people When wee read the sacred story 2. Chron. 26. or the lamentations of Ieremy concerning the miserable massacre of both Priests and people of young and old and the utter destruction of both city and temple by Nebuchadnezzar we cannot much wonder at such cruelty as was then practised by a barbarous and cruell tyrant alwaies willing to doe his worst against all that did oppose him But that these historicall expressions of Ierusalem's misery under Nebuchadnezzar a patterne of tyrants should become true prophecies that the miseries of this people at that time should be but as prodigious signes or portendment of farre greater miseries under the Roman Titus the flower of curtesy and mirrour of affability amongst Princes this points at somewhat extraordinary at somewhat worthy of admiration This visible type or shadow hath a body answerable unto it Titus is the type or shadow than whom no man that day living could have beene more unwilling either to practice cruelty upon any private man or to bring ruine upon any city or Nation And yet the Iewish Nation and Ierusalem the Queene of cities did suffer farre greater misery under him than any city or Nation of the world besides did ever suffer under the most bloudy tyrant into whose hands the Lord had given them But how unwilling soever he was to practice cruelty or suffer it to be practised by others under him yet he was bound to practice the discipline of warre not to staine either his owne worth or the majesty of the Roman empire by prostituting his native clemency unto desperate stubborne rebels That of the Prophet Hosea was never more truely verified never more exactly fulfilled in any generation of this people than it was in this last Perditio tua ex te ô Israel salus ex me That this city and Temple was spared so long that this people had so large a time for repentance this was altogether from God who willeth not the death of him that dyes and to testify this amor benevolentiae this good will of his unto them as they were men even unto the last end and after they had broken off amorem amicitiae the love of friendship he sends for a generall against them not a Vitellius but a Titus a man quoad haec or in this particular after his owne heart a man as it were composed of princely valour and clemency That in the issue the city the Temple and people perished after such a tragicall and unparallel'd a manner as they did this was their owne doing their owne seeking They themselves did give fire first unto the Temple and afterwards by their desperate stubbornesse provoked the Roman souldiers to accomplish the combustion so contrary unto Titus his will and command that nothing besides necessity would have excused them but thus they and their forefathers provoked God himselfe to punish and plague them so often as they were plagued hee being alwaies of his owne nature and goodnesse more compassionate towards them than any father can be towards his sonne than any mother towards the fruits of her wombe To conclude this point the blood of these few Galileans which Pilate mingled with the blood of their sacrifices and that disaster which befell those eighteene by the fall of the Tower in Siloe being compared with the nationall disaster of Ierusalem Galilee beare but the same proportion which the cloud that Elias servants saw arising out of the sea like a mans hand did unto that great inundation which immediatly followed upon it Now as none but a Prophet could have prognosticated such abundance of moisture from so litle an appearance so none but the Prince of Prophets could have discovered that unparallel'd destruction of Galilee Iudea and the Iewish Nation from such pettie and private disasters as these two mentioned in my text forty yeares before their accomplishment THE MORALL PART OF THIS TREATISE THE most vsefull consideration which these words discussed compared with the former chapter afford us are for the generall two First they teach us to beware of rash iudgment or censuring others as extraordinary sinners or more grieuous sinners then our selues though Gods visible iudgments vpon them which are alwayes most just be extraordinary Secondly they instruct us to lay Gods extraordinary judgements upon others or other unusuall signes of the times unto our own hearts For these are the usuall meanes whereby the spirit of God doth worke sinners to true repentance Wherein true repentance which is the duties whereunto our Saviour by these signes exhorts the people doth consist is the subject of other meditations consonant to these present To the first point that rash judgment or vnadvised censuring of others is a foule fault even in best men all men good and bad doe agree But not to censure or esteeme of others on whom God hath shewed notorious judgments as more notorious sinners then those which escape his judgments this may seeme for diverse reasons questionable First as all sober-minded men agree it cannot stand with the goodnesse of God to plague or punish any but for some sinne or other And if thus to deale with men be a branch of his goodnes it must be a branch of his justice to recompence extraordinary and grievous sinners with extraordinary and grievous punishments What fault is it then to judge of the cause by the effect why may we not censure them for notorious sinners or more grievous sinners than our selves whom the righteous Lord hath remarkably judged or grievously punished If to reward every man according to all his waies bee the irresistible rule of eternall and unchangeable justice what reason have wee to deny all those to bee most grievous sinners which he that cannot erre in judgment hath punished most severely Every part of these Quere's would sway much with any reasonable Christian if there were no punishment reserved by Gods eternall justice for the life to come All of them would bee unanswerable if the truth of that maxime or generall rule God rewards every man according to all his wayes or workes did determine or expire with our last mortall breaths But seeing we all expect or at least professe our expectation that Christ Iesus shall come to judge as well all those which are dead as those which he shal finde alive at his second comming we cannot by rule of faith or reason expect that every man should be rewarded according to all his waies before that last and finall judgment Wee may not presume that any man the least sinner that dyes in his sinnes should be punished according to all his deserts before that last and generall assize After that day or after the eternall and most righteous judge hath given finall sentence wee may safely say and pronounce that this man hath beene a more grievous sinner than that than we our selves were because we see him more grievously punished or sentenced to a more