VOXBELLI OR AN ALARVM TO VVARRE LONDON Printed by H.L. for Nathanael Newbery 1626. To the Right Honourable Sir Horatio Veere Knight Baron of Tilbury c. all blessings wished that concerne this life and that which is to come Right Honourable I Am not ignorant that great is the mischiefe and misery of warre than which as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maxim Tyrius Dissert 14. p. 143. one saith nothing amongst humane occurrences is more sorrowfull lesse pleasant b Theat Mund p. 85. Beasts in their kinde having more rest pleasure than they whose life is led in warfare For whereas the beast sleeps the night in its cave den the Souldier takes his rest at the signe of the Moone c 2. Cor. 11.27 in watchings often in fastings often subject to the violence of all Martiall stormes uncertain what the event and successe will be whose office is upon the Trumpets sound eyther mortem ferre or inferre to slay or bee slaine and neyther of both without some prejudice If he fals his wife his children his kindred his countrey have the losse of him if he conquers his rising is the ruine of others his riches the spoyle of others his joy the mourning of others insomuch that hee may cry out as Marcus Aurelius did when after many victories hee received his Triumph in Rome When I saw the poore captives in iron chaines desolate Widowes bereaved of their husbands disconsolate Orphans deprived of their parents a great deale of treasure gotten by force thought upon the number of those that were dead albeit I outwardly triumphed yet inwardly lamented and wept teares of bloud In times of war Countryes are wasted Cities dispoyled Temples profaned Religion despised equity suppressed humanity defaced what cruelty what impiety not notoriously practised All this considered I may possibly be censured by criticall carpers for setting pen to paper on such a subject and especially for inciting to so bloudy a businesse But the call being not mine but the Lords I shall the more willingly beare the burthen of any undeserved blame if what I have written may prevaile to provoke them whom it concernes to a readinesse to succour the distressed Church in forreine parts If it be demanded what hath emboldened me to crave your Honours patronage for these few papers I can answer nothing but partly your love to Christ his cause as you are a Beleever and partly your place in Gods field as a warlike Commander If the Author be thought presumptuous notwithstanding these motives censure his boldnesse at your pleasure but I beseech you be pleased to shelter the Matter not needlesse for these times from the worlds displeasure so shall you engage him to be a suitor to the Throne of Grace for your Honours prosperity in warre and peace who is Your Hon ready to be commanded in the Lord THO BARNES VOX BELLI IT is a saying of one of the Fathers in a written discourse to one of his friends a Facito aliquid operis ut te semper diabolus inveniat occupatum Hieron ad Rust Monach. Be alwaies doing something that Satan may never finde thee doing nothing The slothfull person doth the wiseman send to the silly Pismyre to learne her wayes b Prov. 6.6 The Apostle charged the Thessalonian Church that hee that would not labour should not eate c 2. Thes 3.10 And our Saviour himselfe pronounceth that servant blessed whom when his Master commeth he shall find doing d Luke 12.43 All this to give us to understand that e Nider Fornic l. 1. c. 1. p. 9. idlenesse is permitted to none emploiment the f Hieron ad Rust Monach. Devills disquieter is required of * Nid supr all For the sluggard takes no care but to g Leo Ser. 5. in Epiph. pamper his belly makes his life odious h Sen. Epi. 19. and beastly i Bernard disableth nature to doe its duetie k Cassian l. 10. defileth his soule with a world of iniquities l Senec. Epist 19. diseaseth his body with abundance of maladies and exposeth m Prosp Aqui. de vit contempl both to eternall misery in an utter exclusion from Gods blessed presence in his Kingdome of glory Now because not to bee well exercised is to bee ill exercised n Chrysost de virt vitio and the doing of that which is naught is as bad if not worse as the doing of nothing Therefore the maine object of our exercise must be Gods businesse Now in as much as the Lord hath many and differing workes for man to doe workes of peace he being the God of Peace o 2. Thes 3.16 workes of bloud he being a man of Warre p Isa 42.13 neither of these must bee omitted when need requireth and occasion serves for the doing of them Which thing the Prophet Ieremy taking into due consideration being also a Propheticall Diviner of Moabs destruction could not but earnestly incite to this work of the Lord of not withholding the sword from bloud Hee was not ignorant that peace is a q Dion Chrys orat 40. p. 244. better yea a blesseder r Synes orat de regn p 14. thing than war and that ſ Basil Seleuc. orat 23. p. 207. for one armie of men to come bandied like enemies against another is as an Ancient once spake both grievous and cruell In which respect Blessed are the Peace-makers our Saviours text t Matth. 5.9 would to our seeming a great deale more fitly have dropped from his pen. But it seemes he knew withall that a lawfull warre is to bee preferred before an unlawfull peace and that warre with Moab would be as well Israels peace as the Chaldees victory v 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist de Repub. l. 8. c. 15. Propter pacem bellum paratur Synes orat de Reg. p. 14. peace and x Est enim belli finis victoria Plutarch Scipio in vitis to 3. lat edit in 4. p. 465. victory being the ends of warre For which reason this good man Gods Pen-man must be borne with though he writes a Text in red letters having the sword for his pen bloud for his inke the curse for his stile Ier. 48.10 Cursed be he that keepeth backe his sword from bloud A Text so terrible that at the first it made me fearfull to meddle with it especially when I contemplated with my selfe that it would compell me to speak of curses and woes in a land of grace of bloud and blowes in a land of peace But when I considered that there are Canaanites to be smitten at home Christians to bee succoured abroad I tooke heart to venture this field perswading my selfe it would not prove unprofitable albeit I am caused to doubt of the acceptablenesse of it by the consciousnesse of my weakenesse to weild my weapon as I should The words being a commination or threatning doe cut themselves into two peeces
a Quid and a Quis The parts a Subject and an Object A thing threatned a party threatned The Subject or thing threatned is malediction Cursed The Object or man threatned is hee that keepeth backe his sword from bloud From the first which must first be handled we may collect this point Doct. 1. Gods Prophets were wont to threaten That it was the practise of Gods Prophets in former ages to denounce the Curse in their Sermons at sometimes They did not alwayes come with peace peace and words of blessing in their mouthes Their songs like z Psal 101.1 Davids had a due mixture and were composed of judgement as well as mercie The word Cursed as here you see and else-where may see flowes from the mouth falls from the pen of old Ieremy * Ier. 11.3 17.5 for all he was so tender boweld so mercifull hearted a man The writings of Moses are full of Curses Twenty times at least in the booke of Deuteronomie hath hee this phrase up Cursed be he that doth this and Cursed bee be that doth that Reade a whole catalogue in the 27. chapter from the 15. verse to the end in the 28. chapter from the 16 verse to the 21. The Prophet Esay is in the same straine The CURSE hath devoured the earth a Isa 24.6 The sinner being an hundred yeeres old shall be ACCURSED b 65.20 So is Malachy Cursed bee the deceiver c Mal. 1.14 I will send a CURSE upon you and will CURSE your blessings yea I have CURSED them already d 2.2 Yee are CURSED with a CURSE e 3.9 And so were the rest of the holy Prophets Never a one amongst them all did alwayes abstaine from thundering from threatning as is very manifest in their writings Neither need wee marvaile any whit at it For they had both cause to doe it and a call unto it First they had cause to threaten In their times the Reason 1 Law of the Lord was transgressed vice abounded vertue decayed commanded dueties were either wholly omitted or but coldly performed forbidden courses were eagerly followed delightfully walked in Wh◠meane else the many and manifold complaints of the Lord against Israel for her sins against Iacob for her transgressions Now the righteous God hath so ordered that where the breach of the Law goes before the curse of the Law must follow after f Deut. 28.15.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. quaest 34. in Deut. p. 170. Which wise and just ordinance of the Lord his holy Prophets having weighed could not did not spare to spend the arrowes of the Lawes rigorous curses when they saw most to have swerved and all prone to swerve from the Lawes righteous courses Had not David who was a Prophet as well as a King just cause to declaime woes when the men of his time did rebelliously decline Gods waies Cursed be the proud which doe erre or because they erre from thy Commandements g Psal 119.21 Reason 2 Secondly they had a call to this service The same God that gave them a charge and charter to comfort some h Isa 40.1 sealed them a commission to curse others as knowing i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. quaest 36. in Deut. p. 172. wicked men to be sooner moved better wrought upon by menaces than promises Ieremie's commission wee may reade at large in the beginning of his Prophesie See I have set thee this day over the Nations and over the Kingdomes to roote out to pull downe to destroy I will utter my judgements against them touching all their wickednesse Thou therefore gird up thy loynes arise and speake unto them all that I command thee k Ier. 1.10.16.17 Goe and cry in the eares of Ierusalem l Ier. 2.2 Ezekiels call and commission to this we have in the second and third chapters of his Prophesie where wee may read that the Lord himselfe set him upon his feet m Exek 2.1 put courage into his heart n Ibid. ver 6. words into his mouth o cha 9.1.2.3 p cha 2.9.10 spread before him opened vnto him the Legall Roll writ on both sides with lamentation mourning and woe which he was to q Ezek. 3.4 preach and reade in the deafe eares of rebellious Israel Vpon the like warrant did the other Prophets doe the like worke It was their priviledge to denounce the Curse therefore it was their practise Which being so Vse who sees not how worthy of blame all those bee who take on and cry out against us that are Gods Messengers for speaking to them at some times in the terrible language of the Law Speake wee comfortably to all at all times they can well beare it Preach we curses against any at any time they cannot endure it So r Sim. Cassian de relig Christ l. 6 c. 1. fol. 132. col 1. grievous to mans eare is Gods Word when it convinceth him of sinne or goes about with an holy violence to plucke him from the world and save him from hell as the threatnings of it are for all these purposes Why may not wee doe as our Predecessors the Prophets did Is our Charter lesse nay is not our Commission larger than theirs was Iohn Baptist who was greater than the rest of the ſ Mat. 11.11 Prophets as well in respect of t Bucer in Mat. 11. his office of preaching Christ after he was borne as of his act v Euthym. ca. 19. in Mat. 11. of acknowledging Christ by springing in the wombe before hee was borne was lesse than the least in the kingdome of Heaven that is not onely lesse than the blessed soules of glorified Saints in actuall happinesse x Lyr. in Mat. 11. or lesse in nature than y Stella in Luc. to 1. fol. 179 col 2. the Celestiall Angells which ever stand in Gods glorious presence but also lesse than the least of Christs holy Apostles lesse than the z Calv. in Mat. 11. Ministers of the Gospell who are the last in time of the Ministeriall function of the least esteeme in the worlds opinion Now that Iohn thundred may not wee then threat Did God bid Ieremie utter his judgements Moses curse and Malachie condemne and doth hee forbid us to doe the like I confesse we are Ministers of the Gospell Interpreters of the new Covenant and in that respect doe differ from the Prophets the a Legis Interpretes custodes Prophetae erant Scult in Isa ca. 1 pag. 9. Keepers the Interpreters of the old Must we for that cause never preach nor presse the Law Ah frivolous and groundlesse conclusion The Gospell it selfe is a law the law of Grace the law of Faith b 1. Cor. 9.21 It hath a c Chrysost Hom. 15. in Mat. Euthym. in Ma◠c 5. fol. 26. C.F. commanding a forbidding authority as well as the Law Doth the Law forbid the practise of sinne the Gospell
Lord against the mightie that is to say Fer. in Iud. c. 5. pag. 407. because they kept their swordes in their sheaths when they should have fought in his cause for his Church The example is Saul's who was accurst in his affaires and had his kingdome rent from him for sparing the life of the King of Amalek when God had given him a charge to cut him off 1. Sam. 15.8.23 The contrary is set downe by the Prophet Ezekiel Ezech. 29.20 who tells us that Nebuchadnezzar though a wicked King had the land of Egypt given him as his pay for his paines in punishing the people of Egypt with his sword according to the command which God gave him to doe it The rewarding of such a worke when it was done with a temporall blessing doth intimate that to leave such a worke undone when the Lord calls to it procureth the Curse temporall at least Is not the stretching out the sword to bloud sometimes Gods worke Is it not a worke as from him Reason so for him Is not his command the ground of it Is not the bringing of his owne counsells to passe in the destroying of some to the glory of his justice in the relieving of others to the praise of his mercy the end of it But to omit the worke of the Lord is a cursed thing For if remissenesse in such a worke as appeares in the former part of the verse then much more the totall omission of it exposeth to the Curse Cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lord NEGLIGENTLY therefore to withhold the sword from bloud when God requires it must needes be an accursed thing It proves impiety to shew pitty at such a time Mercy then is a foolish mercy and hee that shewes it verifies that saying of an heathen man It is an hard thing to bee mercifull and wise at the same instant Agesilaus apud Plut. Apopth Moral in tom 2. pag. 191. Graecol edit To bee mercifull to him whom God would have destroyed by the sword and to bee wise enough to provide for himselfe an escape from the curse is very difficult I would now apply my selfe to apply the point but that I must first explaine it by the object and the motive cause I meane by answering two questions first against whom secondly for what the sword is commanded forth by God that so wee may know when wee have a good call to the battell Both which I entend to dispatch with as much brevity as I can Quest 1. Against whom God calleth forth the sword For the first Our Text tells us that it was Moabitish bloud which the Chaldaeans swordes were to bee sheathed in the Moabites their enemies were they to wage battell with not with their owne countrimen allies and friends The Lord gave charge to Reheboam King of Iudah not to make warre with Ieroboam King of Israel 1. King 12.24 and why because Israel and Iudah were sisters and friends The Lord was angry with the Ephraimites so that hee slew two and forty thousand of them for quarrelling and contending with Iephtah their brother Iudg. 12.6 Those valiant Kings and Captaines which wee read of in Scripture have still fought with their owne and Gods enemies as David with the Philistims Iosuah with the Canaanites Iehosaphat with the Moabites Nehemiah with the Ammonites c. The Lord never taught their hands to warre nor their fingers to fight with any but such as they were Object Mat. 5.44 Luke 6.27.28 But how stands this with that counsell of our Saviour Love your enemies blesse them that curse you pray for them that persecute you Is to warre with them to love them Is to joine battell with them to blesse them Answ 1 I answer First of all what hindereth but that a man may love his enemies while hee combates with them when his fighting with them proceedes rather from hatred to their sinne than from want of love to their person Answ 2 Secondly I give no just occasion to move this objection For I doe not say that God doth alwaies call a man to wage warre with his enemies but when the sword is called forth it must know our foes not our friends for the object of its stroakes Bernard Bern. serm ad Milit. Templ c. 3. f. 83. col 4. liâ— R. said well Our very enemies are not to bee killed if they can by any meanes else bee curbed from infesting from oppressing the Church but when that cannot be it is a great deale better that the rod be cut with the sword than still rest upon the backe of the Righteous and cause them to put forth their hands to iniquity Our Lords counsell to love our enemies doth no whit prejudice the just causes of warre If the cause be good neither the effect Bern. ad Milit. Templ ca p. 1. fol. 83. col 4 P nor issue can bee naught though the bloud of thousands bee spilt by it Our next taske therefore must be to give in our answer to the second demand viz. Quest. 2. What be the causes of a just warre For what causes the Lord gives warrant to wage warre with our foes What is it to give satisfaction to the unreasonable motion of rash anger to compasse that honour that applause amongst men which wee ambitiously aspire to to get our enemies possessions which we unlawfully covet meerly to be made Lords of Sea and of Land or to rule by our selves without Competitor I know carnall men both amongst a Plut. de Consol ad Apol. to 2. Graecol edit 108. A. Salust in Catil Dion Chrys orat 38. fol. 317. 318. Tul. Epist Fam. l. 8. Epist antepenult Infidells and b Bern. ad Mil. Templ c. 2. fol. 83. col 4. Q. Christians have in former times made warre for these causes And at c Tacit. hist 4. this day these vices are to such persons the chiefest bellowes to blow this fire For what but these makes Rome Spaine and Austria stirre up such combustions as have of late been kindled and doe yeerely flame more and more in the Christian world But are these just causes No no there is neither equity nor d Bern. ad Mil. Templ c. 2. fol. 83. safety in them They are rather Robbers than Souldiers who are led to field onely by these motives What then are just causes Such as for which Moab was to be wasted by the Chaldaean sword What were they These five sinnes as you may see if you consult but with some verses in this present chapter 1. Monstrous pride 2. Insolence against God 3. Insulting over the Church 4. Tumultuousnesse and rebellion 5. False-heartednesse Which vices in other enemies as well as Moab have been Gods warrant to his owne Worthies to fight his battells in the old Testament First I say monstrous Pride We have heard of the pride of Moab He is exceeding proud even of his haughtinesse and his pride