heaven Tripartit hist lib. 12. cap. 1. help thou me to root 〈◊〉 them and I shall help thee to overcome thine enemies For thâ—â— hee was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fling-fire in French Bon te feu Iust so the frogges of the bottomlesse pâ— doe croak and call together the Kings of the eariâ— to the battle of Armageddon with this incouragement Root out those pestilent Heretickes quit your Dominions of them and besides the peace and prosperity with plenty and obedience from your loyall Catholike subjects you shall haue heaven hereafter as sure as the Pope himselfe who hath the disposing of it But how they haue sped and prospered that haue followed their counsell I shall haue occasion to shew hereafter And as they are of their father the Devill and with lying words deceiue men so 〈◊〉 will assure you upon the word of God who cannot lie that if you will procure such Ministers as are of God warranting their Call by their life and doctrine and hearken to such and obey them as from the Lord the Lord hath said it Deut. 28.7 He shall curse thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face they shall come against thee one way Esa 1.19 and flee seven waies before thee If you will be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land Where obserue especially that there must be a willing obedience otherwise both the Minister and the meanes can doe no good It is a vain thing and the grossest point of Popery to presume upon the ordinances Obadiah 1. or the work done This is to make the Nest in the Clift of the rock out of which the Lord will bring every one down that so doth for God thereby is robbed of his glory and the soule cozened when it commeth to reckon The Trojans trusted foolishly to their Paâ—â—adium the Asiatickes to their Pessimuntius the Romanes to their Ancilia the Papists to the Crosse and holy-water and the Israel of God to the Arke of God As the idolatrous Papist in any common calamity cals for the pax and the host so the Israelites caused bring the Arke and putting carnall confidence in that without any counsell asked of Samuel or commandment from the Lord it must be carryed out to battell They were no better here then the uncircumcised Philistim or rather worse for they feared the Arke more then God and his people trusted to the Arke more then to God but the Arke was so far from saving them that God gaue both them and it into the hands of the enemies Yea for their wickednesse and vain confidence the Lord so abhorred his own Ordinances that he suffered them to be polluted with the foule hand of the uncircumcised Philistim who had nothing to doe with them In the very same predicament be our carnall Gospellers who being confident upon the profession of the outward badges of Christian profession as the Word and Sacraments thinke all shall be well enough they are baptized they haue the Word and receiue the Sacraments and they haue an excellent Teacher and they frequent the house of God and sit before the preacher and commend both him and the Sermon the Word is as a louely song and they shew much loue to him with their mouthes Ezech. 33.31 c. but there is one thing wanting which marreth all They heare the words saith God but they will not doe them If the distressed people in the Palatinate Bohemia and Switzerland examine the cause of their captivity in their own land I beleeue they shall finde their presuming on the meanes with unanswerable walking to haue deprived them of the means and made Ashur to lie heavy upon them their exemplary punishment giues an alarum from the Lord to England and Holland who presuming on some Watchmen upon the walls and some manna about their tents thinkes the Lord will never come against them nor remoue the Candlestick but let them know that except the deadnesse of Sardis and the lukewarmnesse of Laodicea be really repented of the Lord will pull them out of the 〈◊〉 of that rock Yea and rather pollute his own Ordinances then indure their mockerie The Provinces may happiâ—â— presume upon some purer reformation and expulsion 〈◊〉 the Antichristian Hierarchie but I protest upon my knowledge from the griefe of my soule that they carry a name that they liue but they are dead both to the power of the the Word and Discipline for besides the infection of all plaguie heresies that they keep warm amongâ— them where is the power of the Word in Saboath keeping family duties gracious words and holy walking Where is the Pastor that can say here am I and they whoâ— God hath given me Where is the power of the Ministery in shaking of the hearts of great Ones Who will not like the Nobles of the Tekoits Nâ—b 3.5 put their neckes to the work of the Lord Yea their great ones in a manner overtop both Word and Ministery and as their enemies speak like 〈◊〉 many petty Popes they make the power of both swords serue onely humane policy which as it is a justling out of Gods honour in putting the Cart before the Horse so it is a thing that God cannot bear for hee is very jealous of his glory and of the Scepter of his Kingdom If the calamity of the aforesaid people cannot work let them and us take a veiw of Scotland the very paragon of true reformation where there was not so much as one hoofe of the beast left yea where their tallest Cedars were made to stoup at the foot of Gods Ordinances yet for want of fruits worthy of so great a mercie the Lord cast them in the furnace of affliction as famine sicknesse dearth and death yea which is worst of all he hath suffered the stinking carkasse of the interred whore to be raked out of the graue and the froggs of Aegipt to swarm in Goshen which is a great and fearfull wonder What think you Is Israel a servant Is he a home-born slaue Why is he spoyled Ier. 2.14 c. Hast not thou procured or deserved the like unto thy selfe v. 17. My counsell is that Princes States and people both with us and them might be humbled for this particular for God doth threaten us if we doe not Ier. 2.37 that wee shall goe forth from him with our hands upon our head yea he will reject our confidences and we shall not prosper in them The injoying of the meanes without the holy use of them maketh men but the more lyable to the wrath of God The word and works that were taught and wrought in Bethsaida made their case more woefull then the case of Tyrus and Sydon By how much higher Capernaaum was lifted up to heaven in the plenty of the meanes by so much lower was it prest down to hell in the abuse of the meanes Take notice then it is not the Temple of the Lord
giue me leaue to speake the words of trueth whereat I would haue none offended but rather offended with their owne negligence that all that haue had their hand in Gods battels from the Kings Majestie himselfe to the meanest souldier haue bene and are yet exceeding faultie in this as their owne hearts I know upon examination will tell them which neglect indeed to them and us both doth minister matter of great humiliation If they doe reply Instance that prayer hath been made God hath been sought to by themselves and others for them To this I answere Answ why doth not God heare them is his eare deafe or his hand shortned or is his good will to his abridged that he will not or cannot heare or helpe No no the fault is in our selues and our prayers our sinnes haue made a separation betwixt us and God so that if wee cry and shout Lament 3.8 yet as the Prophet saith he shutteth out our prayers The lineaments of prayer Though it be not my purpose nor for the place to handle the common place of prayer yet for the better discovery of our neglect and the amendment of it let me briefly lay downe what things in prayer if wee would speed by it should be observed namely the matter of it the person that maketh it the manner of it the qualitie of it and the helpes to sharpen it First for the matter it must be such as the spirit approveth on the rule whereof is laid downe in the word For the person he must be good otherwise his prayer is not good nor can it do any good The prayer of the just maÌ„ prevayleth much If I regard iniquitie in my heart saith the Prophet the Lord will not heare me And as the blind man in S. Iohn Ios 9. God heareth not sinners Moses Iehoshaphat Ezechiah Ezra were all good men their prayers were of force against their enemies The Lord heard them gave them the victory Kings Commanders should be good themselves if they would haue any good by their prayers for God is no respecter of persons the greaterâ—he partie is if he be not good the worser is his prayer in the sight of God yea let them haue some good men of God to be their mouthes to God The people of Israel being to ioyne with the Philistins 1. Sam. 7.8 they say to Samuel Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for us that he will saue us out of the hands of the Philistins Where no doubt the people ioyned with him but he led them in the duetie and was their mouth I shewed the necessitie of such before the Lord touch your hearts with a desire of such and stir up such for you Thirdly the manner of the prayer must be performed by going along with the spirit who helpeth our infirmites with sighes and sobs that cannot be expressed We must not be like to Iulius the second in our devotion who sate by the fire and said over his prayers in the time of the fight It is not the ringing nor chanting with the voyce nor the Barotonus lowing of a mightie lung that will prevaile with God Moses cryed hard to God Exod. 14. â—5 though he spake newer a word Which cry did so ring in Gods eare that he could not but answere why cryest thou Moses Egit vocis sileontio ut corde clamaret Aug Q. 52 in Ex yea as one saith well upon that place he held his peace that he might cry the louder not that the cry of the voyce is to be condemned but the cry of the spirit commendeth the matter to God Fourthly for the qualitie of it it must especially be fervent it prevayleth much if it be fervent This is the fire that doth burne the odors in the Censor Moses zeale in this particular was so fervent in that battle against Amaleke that to use the words of the Prophet David It did eate him up A key cold Leiturgie galopt over or cast through a sive with a many parat-like Tautologies or a luke-warme lip-labour can never bring downe a blessing from God Fifthly and lastly the helps of prayer are fasting and mourning wherein and whereby the soule is humbled with God and fitted to hear from God and to speake to God The necessity of these you may see by the practise of Gods people in all the former examples 1 Sam. 7. â— The people of Israel in Mizpeth are said to draw water and poure it out before the Lord and they fasted What is that but as the Chaldee well observeth they poured out their hearts before God and shed teares in such aboundance as if they had drawn water So Iehoshaphat proclaimed a fast So Ezra proclaimed a fast and he and the people afflicted themselues before God Witichindus It is recorded of Otho the great Emperour to his great commendation that being to joyn battell with the Hungarians he proclaimed a fast in his Camp and called on the name of God This afflicting of the soule and pouring out of the heart is not yet come home to you the Warriours of the Lord and giue me leaue a little in particular to intreat your Highnesses to lay home the neglect of these duties to your hearts with both your hands Affliction or nothing will driue men to God God threatning his people that hee will leaue them which is indeed the fearfullest punishment tels us Hos 5.15 that in their affliction they would seek him early Histories tell us that the dumb son of Croesus found his tongue in the danger of his father The Lord hath been sought for you both frequently and fervently but you must seek him earnestly your selues or all is lost labour Hezekiah in his trouble sent to Esay the Prophet desiring him to lift up his prayer for the remnant that were left ch 37. v. 4 but in his own person also he fasted mourned and prayed hard v. 1.15 You should not want some of Gods Maisters of requests to lift up their prayers for you but you must also in your own persons with Hezekiah cry mightily to God if you mean to be heard There be too many though your Graces are not of the mind of that popish Earle of Westmoorland who said He needed not to pray he had Tenants enough to pray for him Turn in for Gods cause upon the closets of your own hearts examine your selues and be still And that it may not be a lame nor a liuelesse prayer get matter from reading hearing and meditating on the Word Labour for holiness without the which it is impossible to see God Get the guidance of the Spirit for bare saying is not prayer be fervent frequent and for fitting you the better afflict your souler in fasting and mourning as your State is afflicted With Hester make your servants fast and pray Try but this course in truth and as sure as the Lord liveth hee shall heap glory and honour upon
in patience For the patient wayting of the righteous shall not alwaies be forgotten Your Highnesses in all humble duty A. L. TO THE PRINCE HIS HIGHNES CHARLES The Hope of great Brittain Most gracious Prince WHILST with mournful eye I often viewed the deepe and long continued distresse of your dearest sister and of her royall Lord it gaue me occasion to inquire into the equitie of their cause which in all impartiall judgemeÌ„t shal be found so just that they and all that loue them may appeale to God for the pleading of it but perceiving the successe not to answer the cause and that some for want of love and some for want of judgement did judge the cause by the events I went with David into the sanctuary whence I discovered the causes of their calamitie notwithstanding of the goodnesse of the cause namely the all-wise God to be the chiefe workman who putteth every one into the refining pot that he appoints for his treasurye they and theirs and in them especially all the families of God to be the gold Aegipt or Babilon to be the sornace the Amalekits to be the fewell or fire-workemen the croaking frogges to be the bellowes and the purging and refining of his owne people to be the worke Vpon this discovery betweene love and feare yea out of more love then skill I must confesse I undertooke the framing of this modell of the sacred War wherein I handle at large the particulars of the said discovery as they doe occur in their proper places Heerin brieflie by way of application I haue laid the particuliar passages of both sides to the generall rules illustrated by the fittest examples that my reading would affoord me that the regularitie or obliquitie of euery passage may appeare I haue laid open according to my small skill the pandâ—micall diseases of warr together with the remedies by the way I haue touched vpon domestick affaires and in all this course I haue made the sacred word the loadstone the compasse and the lesbian rule whereby to square and direct all the rest This I presumed to dedicate to their Highnesses because they are the speciall parties as the Lord speaketh that haue seene affliction by the Rod of Gods wrath Lam. 3. but considering how they and theirs Gods cause in their hands and whatsoever is commended to them standeth need both of a protector and revenger I was emboldened on the knees of my bounden duetie and best affection to intreat your grace that according to your accustomed favour you would vouchsafe to looke into this looking-glasse and howsoever its vnpolished ruggednes may rather be discovered by your compleate skill Heroick experience in Armes then its abilitie to direct so Princely a Director yet that sure word wherewith this glasse is steeled will both be light to leade you and strength to make you victorious and as a Trumpet though a meane Officer serveth to rouse the courage of the greatest Commander so this shall rather give an Alarum to your Martiall spirit theÌ„ ad to your Highnes literature courage or skill Gird on your sword then Gracious Sir goe on in the Lord and for the Lord and prosper Our eies are fixed towards God and then upon you in te unuÌ„ oculi omniuÌ„ conversi you are the tree from whose shade the Saints doe looke for shelter refreshing and which shall kill by Antipathye the Snakes of Babel If your Grace would giue me leaue I could lay downe many motives as first Gods honor in the dust Religion at the stake the healing of the beasts wound and the setting of Dagon againe upon the stumps Secondly it was Iosuahs honor to deliver the craftie Gibionits once become his confederates from the fiue Kings whom he put to the sword what honor shall it be to you to vindicate from disgrace and wrong a paragon of Princes a tryed Iewel aboue the patience of her sex an onely loving and a lovely Sister a Prince persecuted by the wicked and deprived of all for the maintenance of the truth a Princely issue as deare and neare to you as Lot was to Abraham and lastlie the people of God in an Aegiptian thraldome Teares here are the best Orators I will say no more but as the wife of Intiphernes said to Darius concerning her brother you can never haue another Sister Thirdly that cruell and cursed crew that hunt for their soules would devoure you and yours if opportunitie should serve Fourthly it shal be your greatest honour to fight Gods battles and who knoweth but that you are the man for whom God hath reserved that honor Charles the great made Rome great And may not a greater Charles raze Romes greatnes Concerning the ruine of Rome which must be accomplished by your Princelie name I commend to your Grace this prophesie Imperium fâ—sâ—es C. fastus seeptra triumphus Quaefuerant penitus C. veniente cadent Fifthly your late admirable deliverance out of the paw of the lyon out of the Iaw of the Beare requireth by course that you should encounter with Goliah Non potuit perire taÌ„tarum lachrimaraÌ„ filius Aug conf Lib. 3. c. 12. Tu non inventa reperta es Sir God thought on you and on vs in you when you thought not on your selfe and blessed be God his name who hath made that principall good that the sonne of so many prayers could not perish Yea wee may truely say to our comfort that you are found againe Lastly your Princely resolution and irrevocable word hath ingaged you to the service of Sions deliverance if you should leaue Sion helplesse which God forbid it were in a manner hopelesse To inlarge these motives to your Grace were but to bring the gleanings of the grapes to the vintage of your literature and policie craving therefore pardon for my boldnesse of speech bluntnesse of phrase Play my selfe the subject and my humble suite at the soote of your Highnesse censure Your Highnesse his most humblie devoted A. L. TO THE HONOVRABLE AND HIGH COVRT OF PARLIAMENT Right Honourable and most Worthy AS many things fall in between the end and the putting of it in execution So whilst J was in hand with this Treatise by the providence of God and his Majesties call you were assembled in the Honourable and High Court of Parliament Which Assembly we pray may be like that assembly of David and his States in Hebron where first they made a covenant before the Lord and thereafter went to warre against the Iebusites and then against the Philistims and overcame them both 2 Sam. 3.15 Strike your Covenant then with the Lord and your warre shall surely prosper For the discoverie of your Adversaries which is a main principle of warre you need not a Vox populi you haue vivam vocem Principis Onely this little Work which I humbly commend unto your view I wish may be vox tubae to your martiall designes a perspectiue it is whose optic medium is the word
it be a Sacrament as they say yet the Sacrament of orders barreth them of it as the military sacrament did bar the souldier But Severus more wisely Herodian lib. 3. upon better warrant gaue them free liberty to haue their wiues at home but Alexander permitted them to haue them in their Camps with their families after the Persian manner and so to liue and breed in Camps as the Hollander doth at Sea Though this proved well for Alexander as every thing did and though a great many loving wiues willing to liue and die with their husbands would be of his mind yet upon mature judgement the middle rule shall proue the best but I leaue it to the scanning of the judicious and I come again to Discipline Sejanus as Tacitus reporteth would haue Camps remote from Cities except they did beleagre them that by the evils of the Cities they might not be corrupted Yea the lascivious and disordered youths were brought into the Campes IuveneÌ„ urbano luxu lascivientem melius est in castris haberi lib. 2. Annal. that by the force of Discipline they might be reclaimed For as the Synagogue of Rome and all the lymmes of that confused Babel liketh nothing worse then the Discipline of Christs Campe so to the loose Atacticks of these evill times there is nothing more contrary then the medicine of Discipline A great many therefore had need to be in Camps if Campes were as they should be the schooles of Discipline As the necessitie of this Discipline is evident from the exorbitancy of corrupt nature and the evils incident to a militarie life so it is more then manifest from Gods own command concerning the government of the Israelites Camp wherunto Moses and Ios hua had a great respect namely that Discipline should be exactly exercised as appeareth in the censure of Achan and others Yea the Romans whose glory was their God and their Common-wealth their best inheritance made this the inlarger and maintainer of their Dominions It was said of Scipio to his great commendation that hee was the restorer of Discipline not onely fayling but also neglected among the Romanes insomuch that hee held it a greater labour to reduce his own forces to Discipline then to giue battle to the Numantines his enemies therefore he abandoned all Bauds Whoores Coseners Coggers Diviners and Figure-flingers And to giue our enemies their due for the wicked are wise in their own generation how admirable hath the Turkes been in the â—ictnesse of Discipline I formerly shewed Pandect Turc cap. 24. whereof you â—ay see more at large in Leunclavius Hypolitus Busbequius â—â—d others Yea to come to a latter instance in one of â—e greatest of Gods enemies that this age affoorded nameâ—â— the Duke de Maine for excellency in discipline he was â—â—cond to none For the ruin of this The causes of the decay of Discipline I may again with â—â—e learned renew my complaint but I haue handled that before onely the causes would be observed which I take First to be want of piety the duties of the second Table wise from the duties of the first Other causes we may gather from the words of Appian Lib. 4. de bello civili These are the things saith he that layeth millitary Discipline in the dust every one forgetteth his place namely that he is a souldier hee preferreth the serving of a private humour or his own lust to the publique good great Ones or Princes abuse the service of Inferiours to their own onely gain In sua orat apud Dionys Haâ—â—carnas Appius Clauâ—â—us giveth another cause namely mans palliating foule sins with abused names as haughtinesse and contempt with the name of gravity filthy ribauldry with the name of merriment palpable foolery with the name of simplicity starke staring madnesse with the name of fortitude bloudie oaths with the name of big souldier-like words drunkennesse with the name of good fellowship the Idol-maker of a Cup with the name of a good subject and lastly the loose carriage of great Ones with the names of refreshing themselues And by the contrary the best things are branded with the worst and foulest names as piety by the name of Puritanism humility with the name of pusillanimity simplicity of speech is called hypocrisie and sobriety singularity and reproofe of sin too much holinesse due execution of discipline cruelty but remissenesse of discipline gentlenesse As the evill is manifest with the causes thereof so of necessity there must be a medicine else all is mard and with this as I shewed the great Ones in themselues must begin Moses and Iosua if they will leade the Lords forces must disciplinate themselues before they direct others If a King 〈◊〉 in the Camp Discipline should rule him It is very base flattery and meat and drink to many to suggest to Kings that they may rule others by Laws and themselues by their our wils The very Heathen Emperours who had no moâ— knowledge then the bookes of Nature or at most such 〈◊〉 Morall Philosophy could affoord and no more glory bâ—â— transitory command yet they would subject themselues tâ—â— the selfe-same Laws that they willed others to obey A notable instance in this we haue in Adrian the Emperour the first after Octavius Caesar that revived Discipline and therefore much magnified by Aelian in his Tackticks Sparlian in vita Hadrian Lib. 5. eb 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was the manner in creating of a Tribune of war to put a sword into his hand as an Ensign of command vvhich the Emperour holding out to the Tribune Behold saith he receiâ—â— this sword which if I command and rule in reason as a Prine should doe draw it out and use it for me but if I doe otherwise use it against me Crinitus hath words to the same effect spoken by the Emperour to Sura when hee set him over the Pretorian forces So Dio. But Suidas hath the words in Greeke Secondly if Commanders would haue Discipline the must not disdain to shew them the way And that great Generals haue not denyed to doe in things even inferiour to their place As I shewed you before in Adrian so by a whole Iury of the learned the like is testified of Scipio the restorer of Discipline He would haue no beds and to shew them an example he used himselfe to much hardnesse lying no better then on a bed filled with Hay hee abandoned all dainties and delicacies Ignâ—viam aliaque mi litum vitta exercendo potius in castris velut in scholis quam puniendo sustulit Appian de bell HispaÌ„ 1. alij so that ease had no intertainment and by these pains he obtained his end As it is said of him to his great praise That hee tooke away sloth and other vices of the souldiers rather by his exercise in the Campe as in a schoole then by inflicting of punishment â—et Christian Kings and Commanders learne this of â—od the great Commander
your heads and shame upon your enemies This course will break the heads of the Dragons of your sinns this will offer violence to heaven and as it were inforce God to answer this will be like an earthquake to your enemies it will sinke them it will swallow them up A pretty instance of this I remember from the confession of an arch-enemy of the Gospell namely Queen mother of Scotland who fighting against God and the erecting of his Kingdom confessed openly That she feared more the fasting and prayer of the man of God Iohn Knox and his Disciples then an Army of 20000 armed men As your neglect hath been great in this particular so the blemish of out Nation in neglecting and opposing this office is indeleble No Nation professing the Gospell but they haue publiquely been humbled in some measure we excepted we onely haue not set forth to help thus against the mighty which I thinke verily hath accursed all the rest of our helps that they are as Water spilt upon the ground It is true that the soules of Gods people haue been exceedingly humbled in secret for the afflictions of Ioseph and haue poured out their hearts in aboundance of sighes and teares for their miseries But what is this to the publique discharge Since I am fallen upon the point I cannot but with griefe obserue that this Nation hath been at such opposition and enemity with this duety that it is thought as dangerous a thing to undertake it as it was in Athens to make mention of the recovery of Salamis or as it was amongst the Iewes to speake in the name of Iesus What should be the cause of this I haue often wondred I am sure of this It is an evill sign of an evill cause yea a fearfull fore-runner and provoker of Gods long protracted wrath to fall upon us Not any finne of omission or commission hath a more fearfull threatning against it then this Witnesse the Prophet Esay Ch. 22.12.13.14 When God saith he called to weeping and mourning and to humiliation in the highest degree as the word importeth then behold saith he ioy and gladnesse slaying of Oxen and all the contraries by which they braved out God to his face But what followed A fearfull threatning Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye saith the Lord of Hosts Whose eares should not tingle to heare this And whose heart should not tremble to thinke upon it And yet the best in this is too secure But since the duety is so called for and since it setteth such an edge on invocation it hath so prevailed against the enemies of Sion and the neglect of it is so severely threatned what may be the cause may some say that in a Christian Common wealth it should be thus neglected and withstood If you will haue my opinion in my judgement I conceiue these to be the Remoraes or break-necks of this duty First the universall plenty except the wants of the meaner for so long as there be Oxen and Sheep to kill and sweet wine enough so long no humiliation Ioel 1.13 When the meat offering and the drink-offering fayleth them then will the Priests saith the Lord by Ioel gird themselues in sackcloth and lament and houle A second let is the conceited glory of the Church the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord say they and that imgreat pompe and glory and what need we mourn It is an outside glury indeed but there is but a little glory within A third let is this men are so inslaved to sin and Satan and so vassalled to their own corruptions that they dare not incounter with their Maisters for whose service they haue bored their eares The fourth Remora is this the plants that are not of Gods planting know well that the use of humiliation would find out the causes of our evill amongst which themselues would be found to be the chief So that it is no wonder that they cannot endure to hear of humiliation But if men be thus fearfull to awake sleeping dogs and will hazard themselues and the Nation upon the point of Gods Pike what a fearfull plight shall they be in in that gloomy day that is like to come upon us wherein the Lord shall giue the Alarum May not Ahab condemne us in this Obliviscitur se Regem esse ubi Deum omniū Regem pertimescit purpuram abjicit c. And where shall we appeare when Ninivie sheweth it selfe Of whose King Ambrose giveth this pretty observation that he forgot himselfe to be a King when once his heart was smitten with the fear of the King of Kings hee casteth away his robes and beginneth by his repentance to be a King indeed for he lost not his command but changed it from the worse the better But to conclude the point oh that my counsell could please all those that I haue spoken to both Kings Ministers and people that we might be humbled as one man together and every man apart by himselfe and renting our hearts before the Lord never leaue importuning him nor let him goe till he were intreated If we would humble our selus the Lord would humble our enemies It is his Covenant Psal 81.13.14 Oh that my people had hearkened to me and walked in my waies I should soon haue subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their Adversaries Oh that wee were like Israel in the Iudges Chap. 20. who went to God the second time humbling themselues and offering burnt-offerings and peace offerings whereupon the Lord gaue their enemies into their hands So if we would humble our selues and kill our sinnes our enemies should quickly loose what they haue got and pay full deerly for all costs and damages But before I conclude the point take one caveat with the duty that it be performed with sincerity and singlenesse of heart for if it be done in hypocrisie or perfunctorily slighted over in the performance it provokes God and plagues the performer The Hollanders and French fast but without exprobation be it spoken they had need to send as God speaks for mourning women Ier. 19.17 that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn A soft heart sets well to a mournfull ditty where this is wanting there is no musick Humiliarion without reformation is a mockery of God and the undoing of a good cause The Lord tels us in the 58 chapter of Esay and the 7 of Zacharie how he abhorred the fasting of his people without reformation he giues a good reason in the fift and sixth verses They fasted not to the Lord but to themselues that is for their own ends as if men would serue their own turns with God and care not a whit how hee be served of them it were just with God to mock both them and us with shews of favours because we mock him with shews of service and amendment And surely if we look not to it in the humbling of
a fast through all Iudah vers 3. I shew the scantling of the place the rather 2. Chron. 32 20.21.22 because I know no place in all the booke of God fitter for this purpose Other instances there be as that prayer of Hezekiah against the Asstrians The like course tooke the Israelits being to ioyne battle with the Philistins So Iacob looking for nothing but for battle from his brother he prepareth himselfe by prayer So did Ezra I urge the more places the rather because I would inforce the necessitie of the duetie and manifest the good effect of the same being performed and justly to tax our selues to our humiliation for the neglect or uniound performance of this duetie To the first you may see by this cloud of witnesses how strict Gods people haue beene in this duetie To the second it is likewise cleare that good successe hath followed the duetie in all the quoted testimonies Ezra relating how he had commended the cause to God wheÌ„ they stood in feare of their enemies sheweth us what was the issue of this their holy practize Ezra 8.23 So wee fasted and besought our God for this and he was intreated of us And for the last namely our neglect would to God our mourning for the sin were as manifest as the sin it selfe looke but on the successe of our battles that argueth our neglect God is one the same God the cause is likewise Gods but God is not sought unto he is not importuned Wee are like to the Israelits going against Beniamin who inquired of the Lord whether they should goe up against them or no and what tribe should lead them and hauing their direction in both these they set themselues in order Heare they make the cause sure and for avoyding contention about the leading they haue the bravest Leaders allotted them Iudges 20. and for their forces they were eyther enough or too many yea of the choyce souldiers and very well ordered but how sped they But very meanly as you may see in the text they were twice foyled and lost to the number of 40000 men But what was wanting heare I answere even the selfe same things that are wanting in us Search of sin and seeking to God Wee doe not read in all the text that they did eyther of these till they were beaten to it And what needed they in their owne conceit They had a just cause and the Lord his owne warrant and braue Commanders and for multitude they might haue eaten them up and why should they goe to God for the victory they doubted not of that but as they looked least to the matter of greatest waight so they were plagued in that which they least feared to teach them and others to take their whole errand with them God gaue them twice into the hand of their enemies and then they saw their ouersight and went up to the Lord and wept and fasted Vers 26. and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord then by the Lords direction they went up and prospered So wee may lay our hands upon our mouthes in this case and proclaim our selues to be faulty for wee haue presumued much upon a good cause and secundary meanes but wee haue not wrastled with God for the victory The Pagans and Papists doe condemne us in this who toyle themselues with their idols babling out many blasphemons prayers and that for the most part for the prosperous successe of wicked designes Lib. de bello punico Appianus telleth us that before the Romans ioyned battel they sacrificed to Audaciâ—ie and Feare Plutarch Satim ante acient immolato equâ— concepere votum Florus telleth us that the Lacedemonians before the fight sacrificed to the Muses The MysiaÌ„s before they fought did sacrifice a horse To what a number of Saints doe the Papists sacrifice when they goe to fight how doe they ply the idoll of the Masse in which they put their considence The Iesuits indeed the Popes bloud-hounds trust more to the prey then to their prayers They much resemble as one saith well the Vultures whose nests as Aristotle saith cannot be found yet they will leave all games to follow an Army because they delight to feed upon carryon neyther will they be wanting with their prayers such as they are for the successe of the great Cracke and blacke day as they call it wherin these harpies thought to haue made but a breakfast of us all they erected a new Psalter for the good successe of a wicked counter parliament the depth of whose consultation was fiery meteors the proiect whereof was the rending of mountaines and tearing of rockes with an earthquake of firie exhalations to consume and swallow up both hils and valleys and to increase the iniquitie with wicked Iesabel they would colour it with a fast and with blasphemous and lying Rabshakah they would beare the world in hand by this their Psalter that they came not up against us without the Lord 1. Reg. 25. and the Lord had bidden them doe it Their develish dittie consisteth of a seven-fold psalmody which secretly they passed from hand to hand set with tunes to be sung for the cheering up of their wicked hearts with an expectation as they called it of their day of Iubilie The matter consisteth of rayling upon King Edward and Elizabeth and our Soveraigne that now is of perition imprecation prophesie and prayse for successe I will set downe some of these because the Psalter it selfe is rare or not to be had For they are taken up by the Papists as other books be that discover their shame Prayer Psalme 1. Confirme say they the heart of those thy laborours endue them with strength from aboue and giue successe unto their endeavours Embolden our hearts with courage to concur with them freely in the furthering of thy service Confirme your hearts with hope Prophesie Psal 2. for your redemption is not far off The yeare of visitation draweth to an end and jubilation is at hand The memorie of novelties shall perish with a cracke as a ruinous house falling to the ground he will come as a flame that bursteth out beyond the fornace His fury shall fly forth as thunder and pich on their tops that maligne him Howsoever God in mercie disappointed them yet by these you may see as by so many ignivomus eruptions of the helfiry-zeale of Aetna what their diligent endevour was for they would be wanting in nothing The necessitie therfore of the duetie the good successe of it the sinister zeale of idolatrie in this point according to their kind and the danger of the neglect of it may provoke us if wee be not void of sense to set upon the duetie If idolaters who by their prayers and sacrifice bringing nothing but sorrow upon themselues doe so bestir themselves what fooles are wee in slighting off so excellent a duetie wherein the Lord hath promised to be with us yea