was burned with two Bibles about his necke onely for selling some Bibles when at the same time a lewd Ballad-seller was graced in the selling of filthy and ribald Songs and Ballads Adde hereunto that lamentable merriment of a rich Merchant in Paris who for a iest which hee brake vpon the Fryars of S. Francis lost his life hee in merriment told them that they wâ—re a rope about their bodies because S. Francis should once haue beene hanged but was redeemed by the Pope on this condition that all his life after hee should weare a rope But they in earnest got iudgement against him that he should be hanged for it And when hee to saue his life recanted his speech they commended him for it and made hast to hang him while he was in that good minde Oh mercilesse men to whom iudgement without mercy belongeth Are these the principall causes of such sauage and pittilesse proceedings Or if they be not tell vs of some greater whereby poore Christians are chased with such seas of sorrowes out of the world Thirdly the cruelty of these idolatrous Papists bewrayeth it selfe to be most inhumane in that it spareth nor respecteth not nor pittieth any degree order sexe age or condition of men whom they take to be their enemies but as rough Ismaels their hands are against euery man that is euery sort of men Duke Medina professeth that his sword knowes no difference betweene Hereticks and Catholickes What no will you not know your own no not Catholicks We read in the history of the Germane Martyrs how Alphonsus Diazius came from Rome to Neoberge to kill his owne brother Iohn Diazius because he was a Protestant which most barbarous fact he with another cut-throat so cruelly performed as hath scarce beene heard of since Cain killed his brother Abel for Religion With what despightfull cruelty haue the poore Protestants beene compelled to carrie Faggots to burne their faithfull and painefull Pastors as two women of S. Germainâ— were forced to doe by Iacomell the Inquisitor and other his Monkes How vnnaturally haue they forced by their adiuration the Protestants to detect and bring into the danger of their liues their parents their children their brethren and sisters yea their deare wiues and companions who haue layd in their owne bosomes All which in that one examination of Robert Bartlet plainely appeareth I will adde hereunto that to which no parts of vnnaturall cruelty can be added that they haue compelled the children to set fire to the burning of their owne fathers against all lawes of God and nature it selfe as appeareth in the example of William Tilesworth to the burning of whom his owne daughter Ioane Clerke was forced to set fire as also of Iohn Scriuener whose owne children were forced to set fire to their naturall father And as if this were but a small thing yet Popish cruelty can afford vs examples without example among the most sauage heathens and barbarisme it selfe This one I cannot omit testified by Thuanus and out of his Historie transcribed by D. Bulkley in his addition to the booke of Martyrs that in the Towne of Nonne a certaine woman being drawne out of a priuie place where shee was fled from the rage of Popish Souldiers was in the sight of her husband shamefully defiled and then commanded to draw a sword was forced by others who ordered her hand to giue her husband a deadly wound whereof he died Oh vnnaturall tyrants of mankinde in whom naturall affection is so dried vp as not one drop of it must be reteined in those who are knit in the straytest bonds but whom God and nature haue made one euen these by Popish cruelty must be the executioners one of another Our owne vipers who like so many Nero's wrought hard night and day in the bowels of the earth to eate out the bowels of their owne mother-country spared neither King nor Queene nor Prince nor Nobles nor Senate nor Gentry nor young nor olde no not their owne friends and fauorites whom they would haue sent to heauen with one iumpe for the loue they bore them Adde hereunto that in the madnesse of their rage and furie they chased away all pittie and respect of seely persons who in respect either of their impotencie of minde or tender age might by all lawes of nature and nations haue layd claime to mercy if the Ocean of Heathenish I meane Popish cruelty had not broken all bankes and bounds To cleare this point we might be large to set out the vnnaturalnesse of their cruelty against the liuing and dead which could not hurt them any way Most lamentable was that spectacle of the childe which sprung out of the wombe of a woman burnt at Garnsey which being saued out of the fire was by the bloody executioners cast in againe because it was a young hereticke and so baptized in the mothers flames and it owne blood What hurt could that Boy of eight yeares olde doe vnto them or their religion which was scourged to death in Bonners house for religion What madnesse was it to apprehend a mad man as Collins who seeing the Priest holding his hoast ouer his head and shewing it to the people held vp a little dogge by the legges ouer his head for which he was taken and immediatly condemned to be burned with his dogge as Hereticks A wofull meane to bring a mad man into his wits With how little reason could they demand a reason of one Cowbridge a mad man of his faith and make the words of a mad man without vnderstanding to be heresie for which hee was burned at Oxford But alaâ— where fury rage hath made men mad no excuse will serue to moue to pâ—tie How vnnaturall is that wrath that sticketh not neither to bury the quicke as Marion at Burges was condemned to be buried aliue nor to vnbury and violate the graues of the dead In our owne Country and dayes of our fathers how M. Bucer and Phagius were cited out of their graues to appeare or any that would for them and that at Cambridge foure yeares after their burial is manifest which when the seely ashes could not do they were digged out burned on the market-hill How Wickliffe was condemned after his death his bones burnt 41. yeares after his buriall appeareth in the History of Maister Fox Richard Hun who was first apparently hanged and murdred in prison by their wicked hands was burnt also after his death Peter Martyrs wife the Diuinity Reader at Oxford was two yeares after her death digged out of her graue Iohn Glouer was not onely excommunicate but strucke with the great sentence of Maranatha after his death Iohn Tooly was cited by Bonner after he was dead and buried to appeare before him by such a day and the time of citation limited being expired and he not appearing he was excommunicate strait charge giuen that no man
that time issued but either from the edicts perswasions approbations or encitements of these firebrands of Babylon Who committeth Kings and Princes together making them Woolues and tyrants one against another but this Romish Nebuchadnezzar Who bloweth vp massacres rebellions seditions treasons in all Countries but this scarlet whore of Babylon Who sendeth out cut-throates and villaines with pardons to stab and poyson Kings and Potentates of the earth yea to blow vp whole States and Kingdomes with one terrible blow but the holy Father of Rome Where is the Lord crucified euery day in his Saints or where are the Saints condemned for heretiques and consumed with fire but in the furnace which is made so hot by the ministers of this idolatrous Romish Tyrant What Doctrine besides Romish is a teacher and maintainer of cruelty of homicide of parricide in the highest and most vnnaturall degree so as the greatest Rebell or Traytor is Poperie it selfe Whose Priests or spirituall guides who should be men of peace besides Romish be the nimble and actiue hands and instruments of all the former mischiefe especially their Iesuites who not onely doe these things but as stout patrons defend those that doe them If wee looke at the generality of this cruelâ—y it hath beene almost without bounds or banks What Country in all the world haue the Papists set fooâ—e into but they haue left behind them the steps impressions and monuments of their tyrannie Manasseh made the streetes of Ierusalem onely runne with the blood of the Saints but there is neuer a corner in all Europe which these Idolaters haue not washed with streames of the blood of Martyrs as History sheweth If wee consider the multitudes of men women and children on whom this cruelty hath fed it will appeare to be most mercilesse I will not say how true that is of some who say there is not a day in the yeare which might not be dedicated to an hundreth seuerall Martyrs whose blood the Romanists haue shed But true it is that with the cup of death Babylon hath serued thousands and ten thousands at once and yet her insatiable thirst hath not beene satisfied One of their Innocent Popes with his Bishops made but one Bonfire of an hundreth Nobles and others in the Country of Alsatia in one day That mercilesse Minerius one of the Popes Captaines dispatched with his bloody designes against the innocent Merindolians caried himselfe in the execution more like a diuell feeding on the bowels of men than a man that had any bowels in him Who destroying a number of Townes before him to the number of two and twenty slew and murthered with all the cruelty that could be deuised the Inhabitants whether they resisted or not The women and maydens were rauished the women with childe and Infants borne and to be borne were lamentably destroyed the paps of many women which gaue sucke were cut off and the children looking for sucke at their mothers breasts dead before died also for hunger And as a monster that had neuer come of a woman hee waged warre against that seely sexe that could least resist him For when the men of Merindoll fled from his Armie and thought it best to leaue behinde them for their better expedition and safety their tender wiues and children hoping that the enemie would shew mercie to such a multitude of destitute and helplesse women and children this enemie of mankinde euertaking this seely prey practised such villany and cruelty vpon fiue hundred women at once besides the children as hath beene vnheard of In another of those Townes named Cabriers which vpon composition and condition that hee would lay downe his armour and vse no violence against them was yeelded into his hands he no sooner entred but falsifying his promise he raged as Maister Fox saith like a beast Hee picked out thirty choise men presently and caried them into a meddow and caused them to bee hewen in pieces by his souldiers Hee tooke forty seely women some of them with childe and put them into a Barne full of straw and hay and caused it to be set on fire at the foure corners whose lamentable out-cry when a souldier heard he in pitie opened a doore to let them out but as they were comming out the Tyrant caused them to be slaine and cut in pieces opening their bellies that their children fell out whom they troad vnder their feete And lest he should be vnlike to Dioclesian who set a Church on fire and burnt in it many thousand Christians he sent also a band of Ruffians not with fire as in the former instance but vvith the sword into the Church wherein as in a Sanctuarie were hid a great number of vvomen children and young Infants vvho vvithout all respect of place or persons slewe all they found In this one Towne vvere thus mercilesly murthered aboue a thousand Protestants In the yeare 1560. vnder Pope Pius or Impius rather the fourth were two Townes in the parts of Calabria taken and condemned at one time to the number of a thousand and sixe hundred Protestants Of them in one day were executed fourescore and eight in this manner They being all thrust into one house together as into a sheepe-fold the executioner commeth in and taketh one and blinde-foldeth him with a muffler about his eyes and so leadeth him into a larger place hard by and commanding him to kneele downe hee cutteth his throat and leauing him halfe-dead and taking his Butchers knife and muffler all of a gore-blood he commeth againe to the rest and so leading one after another hee dispatcheth them all A direfull and lamentable spectacle to see insomuch that a Romanist professed in a letter to his friend at Rome that he could not write it without weeping Another Preacher one Simon Florellus writing to an Italian Doctor of Phisicke in the Vniuersity of Basill telleth vs what became of the rest These two Townes saith he are vtterly destroyed and eight hundred of the Inhabitants or as some write from Rome no lesse then a full thousand And this yeare were the residue of that godly fellowship martired But if we reade ouer the whole Turkish History and all the Records of the Heathen Emperours themselues we shall not be able to match no not in the Lion Nero nor Decius nor Dioclesianus that most wicked furie and rage which euer the sunne saw committed by the Papists in the Massacre of France wherein in the space of three dayes were tenne thousand Protestants not more cruelly then perfidiously slaine and murthered and in the space of thirty dayes to the number of thirty thousand The furies of hell were neuer more furious than these blood-sucking Romanists What reioycing was there at Rome for this Massacre what solemne Processions and Masses were by the Pope and his Cardinals for so notable a stratagem celebrated what generall ioy in Rome appeared in the publishing of a Iubile presently in shooâ—ing off great Ordinance in way of triumph
times hotter than euer before yea seuenty times seuen times hotter than euer Nabuchadnezzars was For that was prepared onely for three persons but this for the sudden burning and blowing vp of three Kingdomes England Scotland and Ireland That by heathens sanguinary and bloody men without the knowledge of God but this by men howsoeuer more bloody yet professing such a religion as out-boasteth all other for sanctity of life and workes of mercy That openly as in a course of iustice where prayer or strength or change of mind in the parties might haue preuented the extremity but this in the depth of blacke darknesse against all iustice in the fountaine against the liuing Law his Maiesty himselfe against the honourable Iudges which are speaking Lawes against all the Records and instruments of iustice which are silent Lawes and against the whole Parliament the makers of these Lawes and all this in such secret and vndermining manner as any league might assoone be made with hell it selfe as with these pioners who digged to the bottome of hell for mischiefe But marke when all things were thus prepared and these three flourishing countries after a sort a casting into that hellish flame the selfe same euent wickednesse returning vpon the heads of wicked doers wicked counsels the worst to the counsellors sowers of wickednesse reapers of destruction The Agents and instruments of this Romish Tyrant so intent vpon the straite commandement of their Master as forgetting their owne danger were some of them licked into the flame others eaten vp by the gallowes others deuoured by the mouth of the sword all of them made spectacles of confusion which they most intended while those whom they had designed as fewell for their flames had not an haire of their head no nor of their garments touched For which vnspeakable mercy the name of our God bee euermore praised Now to the seuerall parts Therefore because the commandement of the King was straite that the furnace should be exceeding hote c. Hence we note first what spirit it is that raigneth amongst idolaters euen the same which is heere discouered in Nabuchadnezzar namely the spirit of malice rage and cruelty which when things succeed not to their mind doth breathe out nothing but threatning slaughter and blood against the Saints of God Pharaoh a notable idolater who professed that he knew not the Lord nor would heare his voyce nor let the people goe how began he his raigne but by consulting to keepe vnder the people of God by heauie burthens and hard taske-ma-masters But when that succeded not but the more they were vexed the more they encreased hee added to the former cruelty a charge that the Midwiues should kill all the males of the Hebrewes in the byrth But neither did this prodigious cruelty prooue so successefull as hee desired for the Midwiues feared God and did not as the King commanded them but preserued aliue the men children And therefore transported by rage as one that had lost humanity it selfe he makes a more publike general law charging all his people that euery man-child that was borne they should cast into the riuer and drowne it With what furie and violence after he had made them weary of their liues by sundry oppressions did follow them into the bottome of the sea thinking belike that God had diuided the sea for no other purpose than for him to pitch his field in against his people It is plaine that had not God taken him off he would neuer haue taken his rod from off the Israelites Of Haman that idolatrous Tyrant the text saith being full of wrath against Mordecai for not bowing vnto him he thought it too little to lay hands onely on Mordecai but sought to destroy all the Iewes that were throughout the whole Kingdome of Ahashuâ—rosh euen the people of Mordecai and to this purpose procured letters from the King which he sent by Postes into all the Prouinces to root out to kill and to destroy all the Iewes both young and old children and women in one day Manasses was a wretched idolater who did euill in the sight of the Lord after the abomination of the Heathen he built the hie places which his good father Hezekiah had destroyed hee erected altars for Baal and made a groue he worshipped all the hoast of heauen and serued them he built altars for all the host of heauen and that in the Court of the house of the Lord hee caused his sonnes to passe through the fier hee gaue himselfe to witchcraft and sorcery and vsed them that had familiar spirits and were southsayers Now if to all this you would adde an inseparable note to know a wilfull idolater by you haue it in the 16. verse Moreover Manasses shead innocent blood exceeding much till hee replenished Ierusalem from corner to corner Antiochus Epiphanes that monster of men both for his horrible idolatry and sauage cruelty against the Iewes called Epimanes forced the Iewes to lay aside the institution of God in circumcising their children as also in hatred of God to offer swines flesh vpon the altar and eate swines flesh in their houses in stead of Gods worship hee set vp the worship of Iupiter Olympius and this within the Temple of Ierusalem The bookes of Moses and the Prophets hee burnt c. All which horrible rage against God himselfe was attended with such barbarous and despightfull wasting and oppressing of the Church of God such murther and slaughter of the people of God as neuer was since there began to be a nation till that time as witnesseth Daniel chap. 12.1 Insomuch as stories report that Ierusalem was left desolate and void of all good men In both which high wickednesses by the consent of all writers he was an expresse type of that great Antichrist which was to come after him and is now in the world consuming the Saints of the most High and working no lesse misery to the Church of God than he did as we shal in part anon declare What shall I speake of the tyranny and cruelty of those Heathen Romane Emperours within the first 300. yeeres after Christ of whom not only the Apostles themselues suffered violent death but whosoeuer made any profession of their doctrine were most ignominiously tormented no respect had of sexe nor reuerence of age in so much as the dead bodies of men and women and children old and young together were cast out and lay naked in the streets like the pauement thereof And if we may beleeue history in the dayes of one of those ten Persecutors were ten thousand Christians crucified in one mount crowned with crownes of thornes and thrust into the sides with sharpe darts in imitation or derision rather of the death and passion of our Lord Iesus Christ. And in the last of those ten in the space of one moneth were slaine vnder the name of Martyrs seuenteene thousand persons beside a
in gratuitâ—es and large gifts to those that brought the newes of it insomuch as the History reporteth that the Cardinall of Loraine gaue him a thousand crownes that first brought him the tydings of it And as these barbarous Butcheries were committed by secret fraud and conspiracie so haue they by open hostility and professed warre made waste of Gods people powring out the blood of Protestants as waters on the earth and that with such fierce assaults as they haue slaine in one battell an hundred thousand and made their glory of it How many fewer had tasted of the same cup in England if their inuincible nauie in 88. had not beene broken by God and in England Scotland and Ireland how many aboue that number if their fire-works had preuailed in 1605. That 5. of Nouember shold haue beene Englands dismall and doomes day a fearefull and terrible day like the day of the Lord which shall burne like an Ouen wherein our very Sunne should haue been turned into blood and the whole land should haue beene drunke with the blood of the Inhabitants I would passe this point of their insatiable thirst after blood but that I cannot omit to adde a word or two of that infinite effusion of blood which the Popish Spaniards haue made among the poore Indians vnder pretence of conuerting them to the faith and that confirmed by their owne writers who report that neuer since the beginning of the world was there made such an hauock of people as the Spaniards haue made there That of two thousand thousand persons inhabiting one country Hispaniola in the yeare 1580. are not left aboue 500. or an hundred and fifty That more then tenne Realmes greater then all Spaine with Arragon and Portugall and those swarming with multitudes of people as Emmeâ—s on an Emmet hill are all turned to a Wildernesse That within the space of forty yeares seauen and twenty millions of people are destroyed in Hispaniola three millions in another Country fiue millions in fifteene yeares in another fiue millions in Perne foure millions in fiue small Iles fiue hundred thousand They haue throwne downe from the top of a steepe mountaine 700 men together and dashed them all to pieces In three moneths they famished 7000. children At one time they massacred 2000. Gentlemen that were the slower of all the Nobility of that Country And all this with such cruelties as were neuâ—r heard of before Which to auoid the poore men would hang themselues with their wiues and children the women did destroy their conceptions and in griefe and despaire dash their owne childrens braines against the stones lest they should come into the Spaniards hands Some of them professed that if the Spaniards went to heauen when they were dead they would neuer come there that they did carie themselues neither like Christians nor men but like diuels and that it had beene better the Indies had beene giuen to the diuels of hell than to the Spaniards All which are the words of their owne Writers and confirmeth the point in hand that the Romish Woolues are neuer satisfied with blood nor can be seeing they must bee nourished of that whereof they are ingendred Secondly their cruelty is not onely euident in such direfull and tragicall outrages in all Countries nor onely in that like rough Esaus their hand is against euery man but also in their cruell and barbarous manner and minde in effecting their bloody proiects Farnesius hee voweth to ride his horse to the saddle in the blood of the Lutheranes Here nothing but a sea of blood can quench his blood-thirstinesse Minerius being intreated for some poore Merindolians who had left him their Citie houses and goods and had escaped onely in their shirts to couer their nakednesse sternly answered that he knew what he had to doe and that not one of them should escape his hands but he would send them to hell to dwell among the diuels Here was a more eager thirst not onely for the blood of their bodies but of their soules too the death of these poore Christians was a small thing in his eyes vnlesse it be accompanied with their damnation Adde hereunto the exquisitenesse of the torments and the vnnaturalnesse of the tortures by which they held men in death so long as possibly they could arguing that if they could inflict a thousand deaths on them or could hold them in dying a thousand yeares they would Hence commeth their burning by piece-meale and that not with fire onely but with fat Brimstone Pitch and Tarre also dropping on their heads And thus was that meeke and innocent Martyr George Marsh burned with a barrell of Pitch and Tarre dropping vpon his head neither when hee was thus tormented and dead was it thought sufficient vnlesse the Bishop should solemnly in a Sermon affirme that hee was now a fire-brand in hell Iohannes de Roma a Monke his name tels vs what house he was of got a Commission to examine the Lutherans and before any conuiction he vsed this torment to force them to accuse themselues Hee vsed to fill Boots with boyling grease and put them on the legges of whom hee suspected or listed and tying them backward to a Forme with their legges hanging downe ouer a soft fire so he examined them In the History of the Andrognians wee reade of one Odul Gâ—met a man of 60. yeares of age for whom they deuised a strange kinde of death and torment after this manner When they had taken and fitly bound him they tooke a kinde of vermine which breedeth in horse-dung and put them vpon his nauell couering them there with a dish which within short space pierced into his belly and killed him But what had these men done Had they killed their Kings or blowne vp whole Parliament houses Surely either their facts were haynous or the furie of their aduersaries ridiculous As cruelty neuer wanted cause of putting forth it selfe so here were no small causes pretended The most horrible torments that any Protestant suffered among them was for casting downe an Idoll not able to defend it selfe as in the examples of Betrand and Atkins others put to most cruell death for not acknowledging more Christs then one which was the first of those sixe bloody Articles whereby it was capitall not to professe that either there were not so many Christs or that one Christ should not be according to his body in so many places as there were seuerall hoasts distributed through the world Others were murthered for marrying a wife according to the examples of the Apostles many for reading the Scriptures sundry for hauing them or some small parts of them in the English tongue as Robert Silkeb and one Mistresse Smith at Couentry onely because they had the Lords prayer the Creed and tenne Commandements found about them Some put to death for selling bookes of Scriptures although it was a branch of their calling as a godly booke-seller in Auinion
protection and thou maist expect it Arme thy selfe and addresse thee to beare bâ—unts and blowes as a souldier but feare not victorie so long as God is neere thee and thou neere him and his helpe Put on patience to waite without haste-making though he delay helpe awhile he denies it not Neuer seeke to preuent troubles by laying aside integritie and good conscience It is no way of safetie to prouoke God nor a meanes of defence to lay aside the armour This is the condition of diuine protection 1. Pet. 3. vers 13. No man shall hurt you while you follow the thing that is good Ionas would faine auoid trouble by flying from God but God fetcheth him backe againe with a witnesse Here by the way note a speciall difference betweene the wicked and the godly in their troubles One hath his helpe from heauen others from hell or not higher than from the earth One from the Name of God others against the Name of God The wicked expect helpe one from another and combine against the righteous and can helpe themselues by lying slandering violence and turning themselues into all fashions and formes for aduantage but the godly expecting helpe from the name of God keepe themselues in Gods right waies and will meet with helpe onely thence Let vs trust our selues with God in troubles as well as in peace expecting the accomplishment of that gracious promise Psal. 34.19 Great are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord deliuereth him out of all If we take Gods Name with vs for our helpe the number of crosses shall not foile vs nor the power of persecutors daunt vs nor the continuance of trials breake vs. For nothing can hinder his helping hand from his seruants Nothing but sin separates betweene God and vs be humbled for sinne meete God in repentance keepe not silence be instant in prayer and all shall be well Christ is our ship if we be neuer so tossed wee shall not be drowned come to him awaken him as his Disciples Master saue vs Master of the great ship of thy Church helpe vs we perish and he will in due time stirre vp himselfe and speake to the winde and the sea and there shall be a great calme The end of the third Sermon THE ROMISH CONCEPTION Psalme 7.14.15.16 Behold he shall trauell with wickednesse for he hath conceiued mischiefe but he shall bring forth a lye He hath made a pit and digged it and is fallen into the pit that he made His mischiefe shall returne vpon his own head and his cruelty shall fall vpon his owne pate THe occasion of the Psalme is in the inscription concerning the words of Cushi one of Sauls Courtiers and Dauids accusers to Saul as if hee had beene a Rebell and sought Sauls life The parts of it are three 1 A prayer for deliuerance from his enemies and that God would cleare his innocency to the 12. verse 2 A Propheticall prediction of the destruction of the wicked to the 17. verse 3 A vow of thankfulnesse for deliuerance in the last verse These three verses of my Text being part of the seâ—ond generall hauing in them two particulars First that all the labour of wicked men against the Church is â—ut labour in vaine in respect of their owne intent and expectation verse 14. Secondly that the labour of wicked men is turned cleane contrary to their owne intent and expectation vers 15.16 And these things are set downe two waies 1. In Metaphor and similitude 2. In simple and expresse speech The former that all their labour is in vaine against the Church is expressed by a Metaphore frequent in Scripture taken from the trauell of a woman The minde of a wicked man is compared to a wombe or belly The conception is hurtfull and mischieuous thoughts and enterprises The cunning contriuing carrying and watching of fit opportunities is the nourishing perfecting and preparing to the birth while they carrie it the iust moneths in the meane time swelling with their own presumptions and glorying in the certaine expectation of their conceiued hopes The attempting of their enterprises is the parturition and trauell which costs them no small paine and labour The birth or fruite is some misshapen monster some mischieuous impe some treacherous Massacre some inuincible armie or powder-plot borne as Onuphrius writes of Pope Alexander the 6. for the destruction of all Italy so for the destruction of all England Scotland and Ireland But this monstrous shape is called a lye because mentiri is contra mentem ire as some allude When they looke vpon their owne childe and see the vgly face and shape of it in all the deformed members it is not to their minde they are ashamed and confounded and would faine seeke some father abroad either the Hugonot in France or the Puritans in England but that it is so like the fire as none can mistake the father of such a monster The latter that all the labour of the wicked is turned quite contrary to their owne expectation is set downe by another similitude taken from Hunters who as they lay snares and ginnes and pitfalls to take the sillie creatures euen so wicked men digge pits and delue deepe and lay their traines to winde in the godly into the destruction by them prepared In which sense it is said of Ioâ—sh and Iâ—hoiakim Ezek. 19.4.8 that the nations laid their nets for them and they were both taken in their pit But himselfe falles into his owne pit which he made that is whatsoâ—uer mischiefe the cruell Aduersaries deuise against the godly it catcheth themselues whereof Dauid had good experience Saâ—l layes his traine and digs a pit against Dauid 1 Sam 18.21 I will giue Dauid Micoll that she may be a snare to him and the hand of the Philistims may bee vpon him and verse 25. the King desireth no dowry but only an hundred foreskins of the Philistims to be auenged of his enemies for Saul saith the Text thought to make Dauid fall by the hand of the Philstims but Saul fell into his owne pit himselfe fell by the hand of the Philistims Chap. 31. The Philistims pressed so fore vpon him that they slew his three sons wounded himselfe sore and his owne hand also was against himselfe In the last verse of my Text all this is set out in simple and expresse words His mischiefe shall returne vpon his owne head his cruelty vpon his owne pate according to that in Prou. 5.22 His owne iniquities shall take the wicked himselfe and he shall bee holden with the cords of his owne sinne Doct. The wicked counsels and enterprises of the enemies of the Church are not only vaine in respect of others but mischieuous against themselues Esa. 33.11 yee shall conceiue chaffe bring forth stubble the fire of your breath shall deuour you In which place the holy Ghost holds the same comparison as here comparing wicked men to women that haue conceiued
pieces gird your selues and ye shall bee broken to pieces If they would by rage and furye make quicke dispatch and swallow vp at once the people of God and eate them as bread behold themselues are neuer nearer destruction than when they are most violent The Aegyptians were not more readie to kill and slay than the waters were to drowne them 3 Misery That inexpected destruction comes when they expect the sweet fruit of all their labour when they looke for light behold darknesse Here this birth of wicked men is vnlike the trauell of women When the childe is borne the womans danger and paines are gone and ioy comes in the stead because a child is borne into the world and this makâ—s her forget her sorow But in this birth and afterward â—s the greatest danger and perill and but a beginning of sorows When they cry peace peace then comes a sudden destruction Balthasar was seased on euen in his cups where there was nothing but carowsing and iolity and Amnon in his brothers house at a feast when his heart was most merry was slaine by his brother which was the issue of his incest Little thought hee that that reckoning awaited him 4 Misery That the mischiefe plotted against their greatest enemies recoyles vpon themselues as a piece ouercharged and recoyling strikes downe the shooter not the party aimed at Prou. 11.8 The iust escapeth out of trouble and the wicked commeth in his stead and the wicked shall be a ransome for the iust Wicked men catching the godly at aduantage are mercilesse no pity may be vsed no ransome will be taken for their deliuâ—rance therefore God takes the matter in hand to pay a ransome for them body for body skin for skin life for life and the right owners of mischiefe shall enioy it There is little cause why Gods people should enuie the prosperity of their enemies or study for reuenge but rather pitty them and pray for them so many as are curable for their last dish will marre all the feast little do they know what they are doing They are twisting a cord to hang themselues They are digging a pit but the earth falles on them and pashes themselues to pieces The bread of afflâ—ction prepared for others themselues mâ—st eate They poore men are in trauell of a viper which must needs kill the parent and seeing they cannot bee stopped from sin they cannot be stopt from the punishment As little cause haue the enemies to glory in their conception Stay a while and behold the lineameâ—ts of the birth from top to toe and see a shamefull and ougly viâ—sage I come now to the application hereof to our present occasion This day is this text fulfilled in your eares Wherein giue me leaue a little to shew you how our owne sowers of winde haue reaped the whirlewinde and how those who trauelled with wickednesse haue brought foorth not onely a lye but an vntimely and mischieuous birth which no sooner saw the light but most iustly it depriued the parents of it This misshapen monster was the Gunpowder-treason a mother of treasons an vnmatchable store-â—ouse of villanies wherein grex cum regâ— arae cum focis Pietie and Iustice Peace and Plentie Religion and Honestie should all haue been buried in one graue and all consumed in one bonfire This conception pleased them well for it was meete that whence they receiued all their mischiefe namely the Parliament that very place should be designed for their punishment said Catesby to Winter who wondred at the fiâ—e conceit They beare not their conception without much labour and paines and care and cost Great care of secrecie that none be admitted into the Councell but by oath and the sacrament Great labouâ— in many painfull iourneys both beyond seas and on this side in digging the pit and the mine night and day many moneths together c. And as great cost Digby hath 1500. pounds Tressam 2000. Percy would bring 4000 and ten galloping horses though he robbed the Earle of Northumberland for it out of the rents of seuerall houses The charge of 36. barrels of powder wood coale iron in abundance and of victuals for so many labourers and diggers No lesse care in contriuing and forming this misshapen monster in the wombe and carrying it the due moneths And all this while they swell with conceit and dreame of nothing but disposing the kingdom and euery mans estate Euery thing both at home and abroad is so cunningly contriued they make themselues sure of all Why the Letter saith God and man hath concurred to punish the wickednesse of these times And to the Lord Retire your selfe into the countrey where you may expect the euent with safetie for though there be no appearance of any stirre yet I say they shall receiue a terrible blow this Parliament and the danger is past so soone as you haue burnt the letter And in the countrey the night before the day designed to be our doomes-day they boldly entred into a stable and tooke away great horses which they made account of as their owne by their owne Law now the Lawes were blowne vp And Sir Nimrod Digby appoynts his hunting match that day to surprise the Lady They haue their Proclamations readie and all cocksure Thus haue they conceiued mischiefe and these Digbyes and diggers haue digged a pit with a mouth as wide as hell to swallow vp three great kingdomes at one morsell and haue carried the conception the full moneths Now to the Birth For what saith Percy shall we alwaies talke Gentlemen and neuer doe any thing But what doe they They bring foorth a lye a vaine worke they haue in hand God scatters their deuice They plot destruction against all the godly in the land they cannot hurt one of their haires Nay worse than so the pit they haue digged falls on themselues These hunters hunt the liues of others themselues are hunted and taken The powder they lay for others blowes vp themselues And this is worth the obseruing that Catesby first deuiseth the powder-plot and his owne powder first burnes himselfe he first smarted and was maimed and after killed together with Percy by one bullet shot with powder Others consenting were many slaine with shot and powder yea euen those whose liues were desired to be spared for further vse yet Gods iustice brought their owne deâ—iâ—e on their heads One of them as Faux was sorrie he could not blow vp himselfe he would haue thought it a benefit if it had been no worse with him than he had intended to others Another as Winter seeing the vglinesse of this monster was so confounded as he professed that his fault for the temporall part was greater than could be forgiuen and confessed hee saw too late that such courses please not almightie God All of them in case it had been done purposed to disauow it for the foulenesse of it till they had power enough to make their partie
who carry and nourish the child in their wombe and at last bring forth But what child bring they forth with so much trauaile Surely that which is a shame to the Parents chaffe and stubble vaine and vnprofitable conceits that come to nothing But that is not all They bring forth a dangerous and pernicious iâ—pe which for the most part is the death of the mother It is a fire which as easily consumes them as a mighty and ragiâ—g fire doth chaffe or stubble Their own fire deuoures them For can a man carry fire in his bosome and not be burnt Esa. 59.5 The wicked conceiue mischiefe and bring forth iniquity they hatch the cockatice egges The cockatrice or basiliske is no sooner hatched but it kils him with the very sight that lightes vpon it and ordinarily it eates out the belly of the dam in comming forth Such are the issues and fruits of cruell and mischieuous men against the Lord and his people Psalme 9.15 The heathen are sunke downe in the pit that they made in the net that they hid is their owne foot taken Reason 1 This is so because God scattereth the deuises of the craftie so as they cannot accomplish what they enterprise Iob 5.12 he will not alwaies let the successe be to their expectation They consult not with God but against him and therefore must not prosper Come saith Pharaoh let vs worke wisely to keep vnder the Israelites But hee could not worke wisely enough the more they oppressed the more the other increased verse 12. They might drowne many male children but themselues must saue Moses the Deliuerer 2. Gods loue to his Church makes all the counsels of the enemies pernicious to themselues for hee takes all that is done against the godly as done against himselfe he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye Zach. 2.8 God hath vndertaken the care and charge of his people and will neuer neglect the safety of his charge nor to releeue his people that commit themselues to him but especially when they call vpon him to turne the counsels of wicked Achitophels into folly All the contempt and cruelty is against God himself therefore mischiefe against the Church must needs bee like an arrow shot bolt-vpright which falles vpon the head of the shooter 3. The deuise of wicked men against the iust must needs miscary because they set their plots vpon a slippery foundation which will bring downe the house vpon their owne heads namely vpon lies and falsehood Psal. 62.3.4 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man ye shall be all slaine ye shall be as a shaken wall their delight is in lies And the whole frame leanes vpon the arme flesh or the arme of man which they make their hope and so lie vnder the curse of them that make flesh their arme Ier. 17.5 and withdraw their hearts from the Lord. Esa. 59.4 they trust in vanity conceiue mischief and bring forth iniquity 4. It is most iust with God to render tribulation to them that trouble his seruants that the most righteous law of retaliation might be returned on them Psal. 62.11 God spake it once yea twise I heard it that power belongeth to God and mercy for thou rewardest euery one according to his deed How iust is it that the Artizan of death should perish in his owne net and that he who breweth mischiefe should drink it This is that iust retaliation which our Sauiour threatens Mat. 7.2 with what measure you mete it shall bee measured to you againe If the Egyptians make a wicked decree to drowne the Israelitish children and will needes follow them into the sea to drowne them it is iust that themselues bee drowned with a memorable destruction You haue heard how Daniel was appointed for the Lions food but the next day all his accusers and their families were cast in in his stead and torne in pieces ere they came to ground You haue heard also how the same furnace which was prepared for Sadrach and his fellowes licked vp and burnt in stead of them the accusers Yea the Lord in this iust retaliating of euil men hath often smitten their owne consciences and opened their owne mouths to cleare his righteous iudgement as we see in Adoni-bezek Iudg. 1.7 seuenty kings vnder my table with their thumbs cut off gathered bread vnder my table As I haue done so hath God rewarded mee Eusebius recordeth of the cruel tyrant Maxentius that comming with an armie against Constantine the Great to decâ—iue Constantine and his armie he caused his souldiers to make a great bridge ouer Tiber where Constantine should passe and cunningly lay plankes on the ships that when the army came vpon the plankes the ships should sinke and so drowne the enemie but Maxentius hearing of Constantines approching in his rage rushed out of the gates of Rome and commanded his followers to attend him and through fury forgetting his owne worke led a few ouer his bridge and the ships sinking himselfe and his followers were all drowned And Eusebius fitteth our very text vnto him Lacum apâ—ruit et effodit cum et incidiâ— in soueam quam operatus est He made a pit and digged it and fell into the pit that he made This sets forth vnto vs the misery of the wicked enemies of the Church which we shall more clearely see in foure particulars 1 Misery That all their paine and labour is for their owne destruction Sinne in Hebrew is called gnamal and in Greke ponerîa both which words signifie labour and trauell to note the great labour that wicked men take in committing sinne they are euen as women in trauell Ier. 9.5 they take great paines to doe wickedly Sinne is a worke of the flesh and sinners are workemen Esa. 59.5 weauers and spinners but weaue an ill web and spin a thred of their owne destruction euen an halter for their owne heads as Haman was at charges to set vp his own gallows Our text shews that they wil be at paines and trauell for their designes as a woman that carries and brings forth a childe but the birth killes themselues and themselues must feele the smart of their subtill deuises 2 Misery That they liue in perpetuall perill of destruction There is not a moment wherein they can free or secure themselues from the stroke of God They cannot say at any time Now we are in safety because they are alwaies in armes against God If they would hide their counsells from him behold he sees in the darkenesse aswell as in the day to ouerturne them all and make wicked counsell worst to the counsellor If they would combine themselues in holy leagues and confederacyes heare what the wise man saith Prou. 11.21 though hand ioyne in hand yet shall not the wicked escape vnpunished All of them vnited are as easily ouercome in hiâ— hand as one man Esa. 8.9 gather ye together on hâ—â—pes and ye shall be broken to