once suppose such a monster as the Poets faigned their Cacus to be whom for his insociable savagenesse they called semi hominem non hominem but halfe a man not a man one cujus regnum dirae speluncae fuerit solitudo whose lonesomenesse in a direfull cave was his Kingdome and whose wickednesse was so beyond other men's that like the Divell he had his name from it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that tooke pleasure neither in the winning society of a wife nor in the recreating sports of children one that would neither rule over others nor enter conference with them one that would give nothing to any but take from all whatsoever he could and could take whatsoever he pleased yet this horrid monster so abhorring all peace with others does by his very solitarinesse and detestation of all society declare plainly that freedome from all molestation and so peace is the prime scope and aime of all his desires And that I make not a fiction the uppermost step of my gradation suffer me to tell you that the very devils themselves what inveterate implacable cruelty soever they beare against the peace of men amongst themselves they conspire for peace and doe to all admiration conserve it Satan is not divided against satan Marke 3. and a whole legion of devils can dwell together as one in one man Marke 5.9 Nothing therefore is naturally more desirable then peace and there is none that hath all the impressions of nature so defaced in him but that some peace or other is beloved and desired of him how much more desirable then is the peace of Jerusalem as 't is the place of Gods worship and service and the seat of justice and judgment to all those that love either Where there is no peace the publike worship and service of God doth not onely lose its beauty and comlinesse but suffers much in its very essence and being One thing saies David have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord al the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord visit his temple or enquire in his temple Psal 27.4 but because David was a man of warre and the time of his reigne a time of warre he never could obtaine this his desire in any perfection though he were most zealous and earnest in it David never so much as thought of building an house unto the Lord till he had some respite from warre as appeares 2 Sam. 7.1 2. c. and when he did thinke on it God who knew his thoughts knew also that it was in a manner to no purpose for him upon whom warres were presently to returne to undertake that worke for neither could that worke it selfe be so well effected in such times nor the publike worship of God in that house if it should be built be neer so wel performed as it would be in more peaceable times And therefore observe how the Lord took off David from those thoughts as David himselfe relates it to his sonne Solomon 1 Chron. 22. v. 7.8.9.10 And David said to Solomon my son as for me it was in my mind to build an house unto the Name of the Lord my God but the Word of the Lord came to me saying thou hast shed blood abundantly and hast made great warres thou shalt not build an house unto my name because thou hast shed much blood upon the earch in my sight behold a sonne shall be borne unto thee who shall be a man of rest and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about for his name shall be Solomon and I will give peace and quietnesse to I frael in his dayes he shall build an house for my Name c. Behold David a man of warre though a man after Gods owne heart and his warres no other then what God had approved he was inhibited the building of an house for Gods publike worship and service onely for this reason because he had shed much blood and made great warres whereas the bloody reformers of these times cry up the laying of the foundation of their reformation of Gods publike worship in service in nothing but blood that the blood of those who professe the worshipping and serving of God in that publike manner and way for the sounding and erecting whereof many renowned Mattyres were willing to lose their blood so sarre are their thoughts from Gods thoughts and their wayes from Gods wayes Observe further how God to cleare his owne reason of forbidding David to build him an house that it was therefore therefore onely because he had made great warres and shed much blood at the same time when he inhibited David for that cause he gave commandement to his Sonne Solomon to build him an house for his name and alleadgeth the just contrary reason for that command viz. because he should be a man of peace and rest and one unto whom God promised that he would give rest from his enemies round about and give peace and quietnesse to Israel in his dayes And he indeed undertooke this worke and so prospered in it that he finished it in seven yeeres 1 Kin. 6.38 The inferences from hence are many and various according to the apprehension of severall Expositors but all that I shall urge from hence is but what I have already toucht That God by the very time appointed by him for the building of his Temple the place of his publique worship and service signifies unto us that times of peace are the onely times for his publike worship and service it selfe and that warres though never so just doe not onely hinder it but doe in a manner yea and in a great measure to prophane it and what I say of the times of peace and warre must of necessity reach to the places where peace or warres settle and therefore as the house for Gods publike worship and service was at first built in time of peace so 't was built in a City of peace in Ierusalem which is by interpretation the vision of peace God may I confesse be worshipped and served publikely in some Camps or Leagers yea in the midst of Mars-hill as 't is said Saint Paul once preacht Acts 17.23 But alas the worship and service that is usually performed unto God in such places hath scarce a rag of that beauty and splendor or a spark of that zeale and vigour wherewith it is adorned and inclined in places of peace unlesse they be such places of peace as doe not know what belong to their peace which indeed Ierusalem her selfe sometimes did not Luk. 19.42 How beautifull upon the mountaines saith the Prophet are feete of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace Isa 52.7 The Apostle appplies that saying to the Preachers of the Gospell Fom 10.15 How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospell of peace c. The beauty and excellency of preaching the Gospell is such as
nothing more then for such times wherein he might againe as formerly he had in times of peace Psal 27. Psal 42. Psal 84. present both himselfe and his prayers to God in Gads house has holy Temple or Sanctuary the place of publike worship The Scythians who as Herodotus reports of them did worship very many Gods did erect neither Temple Altar nor statute to any God save onely Mars the God of warre intimating that where warres are predominant there all constant publike worship and sevice of God or whatsoever is called God is quite cashiered This we finde in sacred records the Prophets prophecying to the Jews the free liberty happy enjoying of Gods publike worship service amongst them did commonly join with it or rather promise before it some promise of peace Isa 52.7 a place even now cited How beautifull upon the mountaines are the feet of him that bringeth good tiings that publisheth peace c. then follows v. 8. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice c. There is little or no lifting up of the voice of watch-men to be excepted in any place till peace be proclaimed So Nahum 1.15 Behole upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace then followes O Judah keep thy solemne feasts performe thy vow where peace is there the publike worship and service of God may be performed with some solmnity but where peace is not though men should divote themselves to it never so much yet they cannot performe it with any solemnity nay scarce with any tolerable reverence if then there were no other reason of praying for the peace of Jerusalem but its being the place of Gods publike worship and service that alone is sufficient to ingage any man in that duty that desire to worship and serve God as he should But then confider Jerusalem as it is also the seat of justice and judgment and so the force of the argument for the praying for the peace thereof is in a manner doubled let judgement saith the Prophet Amos run downe as waters and righteousnesse as a mighty streame Cap. 5.24 that is let justice and judgment have their free course and run in their owne channell without chick stop or outlet now that cannot be but where God is pleased to grant peace to a place if God do not extend peace to a place as a river Isa 66.12 Justice and Judgement can never run downe there as a streame Righteousnesse and peace saith the Psalmist have kissed each other Psal 85.10 't is as true of this Righteousnesse and peace whereof we are now discoursing as of any and since they first greeted it can never be found where ever this Righteousnesse was without peace though this peace hath been in many places without Righteousnesse Just and strickt discipline may be and is observed in warre so farre as it may advantage either the designe in hand or the whole Armies safety or the Commanders honour but for common justice equally communicating it selfe unto all men 't is onely to be sound where peace is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Maximus Tyrius warre is the teacher or master of injustice In warres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as that woman complaines in Homer they kill men they fire Cities into ruinous heapes they lead away women and children into captivity or as Tacitus described the iniquity of a warre waged by Antonius and is found true of all warres Non dignitas non at as protegebat quo minus stupra caedibus caeda stupris miscerentur c. neither honour nor age nor ought else did protect any but rapes warre mingled with murders and murders with rapes hoarihared men and superanuated women esteemed not worthy to be made a prey or spoyle were drawn and dragged up and downe the streets for sport and pastime and young and tender Virgins together with youthes of any comelinesse and feature were even torne in peices by the lustfull Souldiers and the Souldiers themselves many of them slaine in their lusts by their owne fellowes burning in the same lusts with them O the injustice of warre 't is not to be expressed with just expressions 't is a maxime of warre quodcunque libet facere victori licet 't is lawfull for the victor to doe what him pleaseth and victor or not victor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Euripides hath it he is accounted an ill Souldier that does not some mischiefe and if any that are injured or abused prove so ridiculous or rather so mad as to complaine thereof either to the Generall or to some subordinate Commander the best answer they can expect is that of Caesar to Metellus when Metellus urged certaine lawes for not taking away the money in Saturnes Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The time of warre is no time for observing lawes or that of Caius Marius to some that accused him and his Souldiers of great wrongs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I cannot heare saith he the lawes for the noise of Armes the ratling of drums and the roaring of Ordnance silence the lawes strike the very Judges themselves deafe If then it were but for Jerusalems being the seat or place of justice there being the Thrones of judgment the Thrones of the house of David Jerusalem deserved and so doe all such places still the best prayers and prayers of the best for the peace thereof Thus you have been showne the desirablenesse of Jerusalems peace as Ierusalem is taken litterally for that place which God had made choice of to be the place of his publike worship and service and the seat of justice and judgement now take Ierusalem in the mistery as it signifies Gods Church in what place or places soever it be planted or dispersed and so the arguments for the desirablenesse of Ierusalems peace may be doubled and trebled but I shall for the present choose rather to give you the application of what hath been delivered and reserve my meditations on the peace of Gods Church till I have liberty to enlarge them to some proportion befitting that subject If the peace of Ierusalem as Ierusalem is taken for the place of Gods publike worship and service and the seat of justice and judgement were then and so the peace of all such places is still a thing most desirable worthy of the best prayers c. In the first place you may from hence learn what to think of them in part who goe about to disturbe the peace of such places yea and to banish if it were in their power all peace from them I say you may from hence learne what to thinke in part of such for what heart so large what thought so vast as to be able to comprehend what they deserve in the totall Blessed saith our Saviour are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Math. 5.9 And if the Peace-makers are blessed we may conclude by the law of contraries that surely the peace disturbers are
one anothers blood Well then may learned and pious O Ecolampadius his intimation given upon those very words be made our observation Seditiosi hunc versum pro se trahunt sed declarant quod Babylonijs similes sint imo licet dicas inferiores quod nullum habeant mandatum a domino c. Seditious men wrest this verse to serve their owne seditions humors but they herein declare themselves to be like the Babylontans those so much abominated cruell Heathen nay thou maist say farre worse then they for that these have no command to take up those words which the Babylonians had And thus what Ezekiel said of the Prophets of Jerusalem Ezek. 22.25 28. is found by wofull experience too true of too many of the Prophets of this Nation There is a conspiracy of her Prophets in the midst thereof like a roaring lyon ravening the prey they have devoured soules they have taken the treasure and precious things they have made her many widowes in the midst thereof They have dawbed her Princes with untempered morter seeing vanity and divining lies unto them saying thus saith the Lord God when the Lord hath not spoken Or to take up the complaint of the Prophet Jeremiah Cap. 5. v. 30 31. A wonderfull and horrible thing is committed in the Land the Prophets prophesie falsly and the Priests beare rule or as it is in the margin take into their hands by their meanes and my people love to have it so and what will ye doe in the end thereof What will ye doe in the end thereof Nay I leave that to God to dispose and to you to expect Onely for further caution to my selfe and fellow-preachers suffer me in a word more to shew how ill-beseeming and incongruous if not wicked and pernitious it is for us Preachers of the Gospell suppose we did avoid those grosse exorbitances now mentioned to encourage to warres unlesse we have some speciall calling from God thereunto For what hath a Preacher of the Gospell of peace to do with war except it be to preach against it 'T is said that by the Law a Priest should not have his vote in a cause of blood I am sure 't is incongruous to say the least of it that a Minister who is commanded both to pray daily in the Congregation Give peace in our time O Lord and to dismisse the Congregation with a benediction of peace The peace of God which passeth all understanding keepe your hearts c. should have his voice so deepe in blood as to encourage any to the waging of warre wherein the blood not of one or two but of many thousands is often spilt in one battell Tune codem ore quo Christum praedicas bellum laudas cademque tuba Deum canis et satanam Doest thou with one and the same mouth both preach Christ that great Peace-maker that Prince of peace and praise warre What is that but with the same voice to trumpet forth the praise of God and of Satan Whence didst thou learne this Doctrine or what example hadst thou to preach such 'T is certaine neither Christ nor his Apostles for they ever taught and perswaded to peace as might be shewne by multitudes of examples whereof thou canst not be ignorant and yet thou wantest no ignorance Take we heede then we that are Preachers and so I winde up this lesson lest whereas 't is said of the Preachers of the Gospell as you heard once and againe How beautifull are the feet of him that brings glad tidings that publisheth peace the contrary be said of any of us How foul is the very tongue of such or such a Minister that brings sad tidings that incites to warre certainly such a Preacher either mistooke his calling or his commission or both 3 I have but a word more to adde and that is a word of Exhortation for I am unwilling to leave you with a reproof that you would be pleased to suffer your selves to obtaine what is or ought to be most desired by you your owne peace in the peace of our Nation and to that end that you would cast not oyle but water on that fire which now threatens the consumption not of the Cedars of Lebanon alone but the very shrubs and brambles of the Forest at least be perswaded to with-hold what fuell you can from it for feare your selves be suddenly made the fuell of it You both see and heare that unlesse you purchase warre at a very deare rate peace will follow you though you doe not follow it And doe you love blood heding so dearly as that you will freely part with that which at other times drops from you as so much of your blood to help forward the spilling of others blood and your owne too O the blindnesse and madnesse of such a people none so blind as they that will not see and none more mad then they that stop their eares at the voice of the Charmer charme he never so wisely Who hath bewitched you or what people were ever thus besotted I cannot finde in all sacred or prophane history that ever I set eye on any example to parallell this That obstinate sottishnesse of the people of Judah and Jerusalem set forth in a dialogue betwixt God and the Prophet Isaiah Cap. 6.9 10 11 12. comes the neerest this of any that I can remember I pray God it be not brought neerer in the conclusion yet all this resemblance is onely in generals but for particulars I challenge all the encouragers to warre and they will streine hard for an example to match it if they can and 't is a strange obstinacy whereof no record can shew a president nor any false prophet feigne one O my beloved if I may call those beloved that love not the peace of Jerusalem bethink your selves in time lest the Lord bring upon you the fruit of your thoughts Jerem. 6.19 That as now when the sword of the Lord would in all probability be quiet Ier. 476. and put up its self into its scabbard and rest and be still ye will not suffer it v 7. the Lord ere long give it a charge against you not to be quiet till it have devoured at least all those who desire that it may still devour The Husband-men call for peace that they may now in their season beat their swords into plowsheares and their speares into pruning hookes The Merchants and Sea-faring men call for peace that they may now at their accustomed time goe downe to the sea in ships and doe businesse in great waters bringing a rich supply of all sorts of merchandize from all parts of the world The Trades-men they call for peace that they may recover their languishing trading ere the spirits thereof be quite spent Wives and Children cry for peace that they may not sit as widowes and Orphans lamenting the losse of their deare husbands and carefull fathers All that are oppressed and wronged cry for peace that the Judges of our Land like Samuel in the dayes of peace may keepe their constant circuites 1 Sam. 7. v. 14 15 16. and judge their causes in the â—â—onted places All the faithfull and loyall hearted Subjects call for peace that they may see their Lord the King delivered from the strivings of the people and brought back again to his house and sit on his throne in safety and honour The King himselfe cals for peace that his subjects may sit under their owne vines and under their owne figgetrees enjoying their wonted happinesse accounted his Nay the King of Kings here in our Text cals upon all these to call and cry to him for peace that all these and many other blessings which accompany peace may once againe returne to us and settle their abode amongst us Let us then in obedience to Gods command if not in the sense of our owne present condition hasten unto with all speed and ply with all importunity that Throne of grace to which we are thus graciously invited and for Zions sake let us not hold our peace and for Jerusalems sake let us not rest untill the righteousnesse and peace thereof goe forth as brightnesse and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth Glory be to God in the highest and on Earth peace good will towards men FINIS
in Ierusalem and from thence the Gospell shall be published and so the Church transplanted in all the world and therefore the Church having her first rise and beginning from Jerusalem she might well beare Ierusalems name Pray for the peace of Ierusalem I had once thought to have opened the other part of the Text ere I had let you further into the treasurie of this but me thinks I see you impatient of being kept off any longer from tasting of these rarities which have been already presented before you I forbeare therefore all super-addition of arguments to invite your attention to the Text and fall close to the unbowelling of it The Text at the first touch fals into two parts a Precept and a Promise The precept in the first words pray for the Peace of Jerusalem The promise in the following words they shall prosper that love thee In the precept these five particulars offer themselves to our consideration 1. The Act or Duty commanded and that is to pray Pray c. 2. The object of that Act and that is peace Pray for the peace 3. The Specification or determination of that object not for all peace nor the peace of all but for the Peace of Ierusalem Pray for the Peace of Ierusalem 4. The party by whom this precept is delivered and that as the title of the Psalme shewes is David David the King of Ierusalem take Ierusalem in the letter but David the sonne or citizen of Ierusalem take Ierusalem in the misterie 5. The party unto whom this precept is recommended and they are no where expressed but fully implyed in the word precamini or rogate pray ye all ye that have any interest in or relation to Ierusalem pray for the Peace thereof so farre the precept extends but the promise reacheth further and fetcheth in all those that love prosperity assuring them that they shall all prosper that so love Ierusalem wherein three other particulars require our observation 1. The subject matter of the promise and that 's Prosperity they shall prosper 2. The condition of the promise and that is the loving Ierusalem so as to pray for her peace they shall prosper that love thee 3. The extent of the promise collected from the persons unto whom this promise is made namely they and all they and onely they that so love Ierusalem as to pray for the Peace thereof These are the parts of the Text and these are the particulars of each part but for feare lest the Text might lose some of its strength and virtue by being chopt into so many small pieces I shall forbear the prosecuting that division and subdivision and choose rather to give you the juce and substance if not the spirit and quintessence of all these particulars in these 4 propositions 1 That the peace of Jerusalem is a thing most desirable worthy of the best prayers and the prayers of the best 2 That the prime meanes both of procuring and preserving the peace of Jerusalem is to pray for it 3 That it is the duty of all men that have any interest in or relation to Jerusalem to pray for the peace thereof themselves and to incite others to doe the like 4 That they and all they and onely they shall prosper that so love Jerusalem as to pray for the peace thereof I begin with the first proposition That the peace of Jerusalem is a thing most desirable worthy of the best prayers and prayers of the best This proposition I shall endeavour to make good both according to the literall and according to the misticall acceptation of this terme Ierusalem and first according to the literall Doct. The peace of Jerusalem as Jerusalem is taken for the place of Gods worship and the seat of justice and judgement was then and so is the peace of all such places still a most desirable thing worthy of the best prayers c. Tantum est pacis bonum saith Saint Augustine lib. 19. de Civitate Det cap. 11. ut etiam in rebus terrenis atque mortalibus nihil gratius solcat audiri nihil desiderabilius concupisci nihil possit melius invenâ—ri such is the good of Peace that amongst earthly and transitory things nothing is to be heard of more acceptable nothing is to be wished for more desirable nothing can be found out more excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysos hoâ—â— 3. in Coloss saith Saint Chrysostome the mother of all good things are the ground of all joy and as there is no man qui gaudere nolit who would not rejoyce so there is no man qui parem habere nolit who would not have peace is Saint Augustines position in the booke before cited cap. 12. and he there makes it good and 't is so good what he there saith that I thinke it worthy both of our repeating and observing ipsi qui bella volunt saith that stout Champion of the Church nihil aliud quam vincere volunt they that most desire warres doe therefore desire them that may conquer and overcome and so in the upshot they desire wars that may obtaine a more glorious peace for what is victory or conquest but the subduing and bringing into subjection those that oppose and resist and what is that when it is accomplished but very peace so that warres themselves are waged upon an intention of peace and peace is the desired end of all warres They which doe most disturbe the peace which they enjoy and therefore are accounted enemies of peace yea of their owne peace they doe not so properly hate peace as desire to exchange one peace for another neither would they that there should be no peace at all but that such a peace should be as they would The most factious seditious fellowes that are though out of their factious seditious spirits they seperate themselves from society and peace with others yet with their fellow-conspirators they observe and keep an exact kind of peace or else they could never improve their conspiracies to so much mischiefes as they doe Theeves and robbers could not either with the least safety or successe infect and trouble the peace of others unlesse they did preserve a firme seeming peace amongst themselves or if there be any such beast of prey that is either so powerfull in strength or so fearfull by nature that he need not or dare not commit himselfe to any companion but plots and acts all his robberies and other outrages himselfe alone yet in his owne house with his owne family he studies peace and quietnes and if any disturbance chance therin none more forward then he to correct and vindicate it domus suae pacem si ita necesse est saith Saint Augustine of such a one etiam saeviendo componit he composeth the peace of his house if it be needfull so to doe even by tyrannizing and exercising cruelty on those that infringed it Nay I will crave leave to step one step further with that father let us for
into one baptisme but he that observes how they delight in one anothers destruction might well doubt whether they were dipt or besprinkled with the blood of the Lambe as they give out or with the blood of some beast of prey They say they eat all of the same spirituall meat and drink all of the same spirituall drink and indeed amongst us Heathen the eating together at one table is to us a strong tie of friendship and some of us as the Scythians by name have accounted no obligation greater for the ingaging us in all firmnesse of love and fidelity each to other then the tasting together a little blood in the same cup but as for these Christians neither eating together at their Lords table and that of that bread which they say came downe from heaven can quiet their rising stomacks nor their drinking together of that cup which they acknowledge to be the cup of the new Covenant in Christs blood can allay their fiery spirits from taking up Armes one against another to the spilling each others blood One of their Apostles tels them that 't is a shame for them to goe to law with one another especially before us Infidels but they are not ashamed to goe to warre with one another and that before us or any else In a word they complaine of us Heathen for offering our sonnes and our daughters in sacrifice to devils and yet they sacrifice daily their sonnes and daughters and themselves and al to their own divilish malice and revenge Assuredly these practises will never gaine us to be of their profession and either let them tell us of some other Christ or let them never tell us that they are Christians for we shall be Infidels as they call us in that too as in other things till we see a better agreement betwixt Christs actions and theirs and betwixt their owne profession and practises Thus is Christ and Chriscianity blasphemed amongst the Heathen and what think you will our adversaries the Papists say Nay what will they not say that is evill both of us and our Religion I dare not speake what they will say lest some should say that I taught them what to speake but I will be hold to tell you what some of them have said upon lesse occasion as Doctor Kellison by name in his survey of new Religion lib. 6. cap. 1. sect 4.5 The reformers as he cals us urge nothing so much as that we must obey Princes and their injunctions but this they doe onely when Ecclesiasticall power calls them to an account or when the Princes lawes doe favourise their doctrine and if any doe marke their proceedings they shall see that they honour not Authority but love their herefies as that railing Romanist calls our orthodox opinions which if Princes will not like then they contemne and despise all Authority and will not let to make a mutiny and stir up Subjects to rebellion thus that foule mouth hath slandered us and our Religion upon no occasion given no not the least for he feigns the occasion upon the Protestants carriage towards Queen Mary which to the eternall honor of our Protestant Religion in generall and to the perpetuall renown of the anciently religious Protestants within the Counties of Suffolk and Norfolk in particular was so humbly and faithfully loyall as it could not well be transcended and what thinke you then will such bold calumniators cast on us and our Religion now upon these sad and unnaturall differences and divisions betweene our most pious Sovereigne and his Great Councell I mourne to thinke what a scandall our Religion is like to undergoe unlesse God doe miraculously interpose and compose those distractions Offences must come but woe be unto them whosoever they are by whom the offence cometh especially such an offence as brings with it a scandall upon Religion O pray then for the peace of our Jerusalem and pray that the prime disturbers thereof may be discovered whosoever they are and then I am confident the Papists mouthes will be stopt from charging the Protestants with rebellion against their Prince for whatsoever they shall please to call our present division as lesse then rebellion who can call it that would not suffer his tongue to rebell against his heart or both against God and his King It will appeare upon discovery of the Authors thereof that they themselves especially the Jesuits and their old friends the Anabaptists together with the Brownists and other Sectaries like Sampsons foxes tied together by the tailes though their heads look contrary wayes have been the maine if not the onely incendiaries of these our never-sufficiently to be deplored tumults and insurrections but I shall not trouble my selfe or you further about this deep-laid and high-raised iniquity They encourage themselves in an evill matter they commune of laying snares privily they say who shall see them They search out iniquities they accomplish a diligent search both the inward thought of every one of them and the heart is deep but God shal shoot at them with an arrow suddainly shall they be wounded so they shall make their owne tongue to fall upon themselves all that see them shall flee away and all men shall fear and declare the worke of God for they shall wisely consider of his doing Psal 64 And then though the crime it selfe may want a name yet the Actors and complotters thereof at least the chiefe of them will not want for such vengeance as we hope shall terrifie others from ever attempting the like horrid enterprise Secondly we may from hence also be informed what to judge of those who if they have not been the first movers or prime contrivers in the betraying the blessed peace of this Nation wherein God hath been so solemnly worshipped and served and justice and judgement so duly executed yet they have been too great encouragers and abettors of such traytors It was a complaint taken up by Erasmus against some Clergy-men in his time and in the times not long before him that when any Princes were inclinable to warres Alius e sacro suggesto promittit omnium admissorum condonationem c. One saies he promiseth from the sacred pulpit pardon of all offences whatsoever to all such as will fight under such or such Princes banners Alius clamat invictissime Princeps another cries out most mighty Prince doe but you hold your resolution for the favouring of this Religion and God shall fight for you Alius promittit certam victoriam prophetarum voces ad rem impiam detorquens another he promiseth certaine victory wresting the very sayings of the holy Prophets to that most unholy businesse Tam bellaces conciones audivimus Monachorum Theologorum c. such warlike Sermons saith that Author have we heard from Monks and other Divines and I would we had never heard the like from some of our Preachers have not some of our Preachers of late runne up and downe from pulpit to pulpit and there lifted up