be admit of some recompence Honours Wealth Preferments if they be taken from us they may return as they did unto Iob in far greater measure and the party wronged may receive full and ample satisfaction but What recompence may be made to a man for his life When that is gone all the Kingdoms which our Saviour saw in the Mount and the glory of themâ— are nothing worth neither is all the world all the power of Men and Angels able to give the least breath to him that hath lost it Nothing under God is able to make satisfaction for such a wrong the revenge that is taken afterward upon the party that hath done the wrong cannot be counted a recompence That is done In terrorem viventium non in subsidium mortuorum It serves to deter the living from committing the like outrage but it can no way help him that is dead David at the same time committed two sins great sins Murther and Adultery the reward of either of which by Gods Law is nothing else but death yet for his Adultery he seems to make some satisfaction to the party wronged for the Text notes that David took her to his Wife made her his Queen and that he went in unto her and comforted her all which may well be counted at least a part of recompence But for dead Vrias what means could David make to recompence to comfort him For this cause I verily suppose it is that in his Penitential Psalm wherein he bewails his sin he makes no particular confession no mention of his Adultery but of the other of Bloud he is very sensible and expresly prays against it Deliver me from Bloud-guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation as if Adultery in comparison of Murder were no crime at all I am sorry I should have any just occasion amongst Christian men so long to insist upon a thing so plain and shew that the sin of Bloud is a great and hainous sin But he that shall look into the necessities of these times shall quickly see that there is a great cause why this doctrine should be very effectually prest For many things are even publickly done which in part argue that men esteem of this sin much more sleightly then they ought Aristotle observed it of Phaleas one that took upon him to prescribe Laws by which a Common-wealth might as he thought be well governed that he had taken order for the preventing of smaller faults but he left way enough open to greater crimes Beloved the errour of our Laws is not so great as that of Phaleas was yet we offend too though on the contrary and the less dangerous side for great and grievous sins are by them providently curbed but many inferiour crimes find many times too free passage Murther though all be abominable yet there are degrees in it some is more hainous then other Gross malicious premeditated and wilful Murther are by our Laws so far as humane wisdom can provide sufficiently prevented but Murders done in haste or besides the intent of him that did it or in point of honour and reputation these find a little too much favour or Laws in this respect are somewhat defective both in preventing that it be not done and punishing it when it is done men have thought themselves wiser then God presuming to moderate the unnecessary severity as they seem to think of his Laws And hence it comes to pass that in Military Companies and in all great Cities and places of Mart and concourse few moneths yea few weeks pass without some instance and example of Bloudshed either by sudden quarrel or by challenge to Duel and single Combat How many examples in a short space have we seen of young men men of hot and fiery disposition mutually provoking and disgracing each other and then taking themselves bound in high terms of valour and honour to end their quarrels by their swords That therefore we may the better discover the unlawfulness of Challenge and private Combat let us a little enquire and examine in what cases Bloud may lawfully and without offence be shed that so we may see where amongst these single Combat may find its place The Manichees were of opinion that it was not lawful to violate any thing in which there was life and therefore they would not pull a branch from a tree because forsooth there was life in it To think that mans life may in no case be taken from him is but a branch of Manichism and the words of my Text do directly cross it where it is laid down that for the cleansing of bloud bloud may and must be shed For the avoiding therefore of the extreme we are to note that the lawful causes of Bloudshed are either Publick or Private Publick cases are two First in case of Iustice when a malefactour dies for his sin by the hand of the Magistrate Secondly in case of publick War and defence of our Countrey for the Doctrine of Christ is not as some have supposed an enemy to Souldiership and Military Discipline When Iohn the Baptist began to preach Repentance and amendment of life amongst those that came forth to understand and learn their duty the Text saith that the Souldiers came and ask'd him Master what shall we do And Iohn wills them not to lay down their weapons or to take another course of life which he ought and would have done if that course had been unlawful but he instructs them rather in their calling for he gives them these two Lessons Do no man wrong and Be content with your pay your wages then which there could not have been better or more pertinent counsel given to Souldiers these being the two principal vices of Souldiers to wrong places where they live by forage aud pillage and to mutiny in dislike of their pay When St. Peter came to preach to the Centurion in the Acts we find not a syllable in all that Sermon prejudicial to a Souldier's profession And therefore accordingly in the times of the Primitive Church Christians served even under Heathen Emperours and that with the approbation of God himself For in the Ecclesiastick story we read of the Legio fulminatrix of a Band of Souldiers called the Thundring Band because that at what time Marcus the Emperour lying with his Army in Germany was afflicted with a great drought and in great danger of the Enemy when they were now about to joyn battel the Christian Souldiers that Band fell flat on their faces and by their instant prayers obtained of God a great Tempest which to the Emperour and his Army brought store of cold refreshing water but upon the Enemy nothing else but fire and whirl-wind The Emperour's Epistle in which this story is related is this day extant recovered by Iustin Martyr who lived about the time the thing was done Wherefore we may not doubt of the lawfulness of that profession which it hath pleased God thus to grace and honour with such a miracle Besides
these two there are no other publick causes of Bloudshed As for the causes in private I know but one and that is when a man is set upon and forced to it in his own defence If a theif be robbing in the night and be slain the Law of God acquits him that did it and by the Roman Laws Nocturnum furem quomodo libet diurnum si se telo defenderet It was lawful to kill a theif by night at any hand and by day if he used his weapon Of private Bloudshed there is no cause but this and this we must needs allow of For in all other private necessities into which we may be driven the Law and Magistrate have place to whom we must repair for remedy but in case of defence of life against sudden on-set no Law can be made except we would make a Law to yeild our throats to him that would cut them or our Laws were like the Prophet that came to Ieroboam at Bethel and could dry up mens arms that offered violence Wherefore all cause of death one onely excepted is publick and that for great reason For to die is not a private action to be undertaken at our own or at any other private mans pleasure and discretion For as we are not born unto our selves alone but for the service of God and the Common-wealth in which we live so no man dies to himself alone but with the damage and loss of that Church or Common-wealth of which he is a member Wherefore it is not left to any private man's power to dispose of any man's life no not to our own onely God and the Magistrate may dispose of this As Souldiers in the Camp must keep their standing neither may they move or alter but by direction from the Captain so is it with us all Our life is a warfare and every man in the world hath his station and place from whence he may not move at his own or at another man's pleasure but onely at the direction and appointment of God his General or of the Magistrates which are as Captains and Leiutenants under him Then our lawful times of death are either when our day is come or to fall in battel or for misdemeanour to be cut off by the publick hand of Justice Vt qui vivi prodesse noluerunt corum more respub utatur He which otherwise wise dies comes by surreption and stealth and not warrantably unto his end And though we have spoken something in Apology and defence of War yet you may not think that in time of War your hands are loose and that you may at your pleasure shed the bloud of your Enemy Misericorditer etiam bella gerantur saith St. Austin even in War and Battel there is room for thoughts of peace and mercy and therefore many of the ancient Heroes renowned Souldiers and Captains were very conscientious of shedding the bloud of their Enemies except it were in Battel and when there was no remedy to avoid it In that mortal Battel Sam. 2. between the servants of David and the servants of Isbosheth the Scripture reports that Abner fled and Azahel Ioab's brother following him hard at heels to kill him Abner advises him twice Turn aside saith he why should I smite thee to the ground but when Azahel would not hearken but followed him still for his bloud then he stroke him with his spear that he died In the time of War when he might lawfully have done it in the fury of the Battel Abner would not shed bloud but by constraint Xenophon would make us beleive that the Souldiers in Cyrus his Army were so well disciplin'd that one of them in time of the Battel having lift up his arm to strike his enemy hearing the Trumpet to begin to sound the Retreat let fall his arm and willingly lost his blow because he thought the time of striking was now past So far were these men from thinking it lawful to shed the bloud of a Subject in time of peace that they would not shed the bloud of an Enemy in time of War except it were in the Feild Iulius Cesar was one of the greatest and stoutest Captains that ever was in the world he stood the shock of fifty set Battels besides all Seiges and Out-rodes he took a thousand Cities and walled Towns he over-run three hundred several Countreys and in his Wars were slain well near twelve hundred thousand men besides all those that died in the Civil Wars which were great numbers yet this man protested of himself and that most truly that he never drew bloud but in the Feild nunquam nisâ— in acie stantem never slew any man but in a set battel I have been a little the bolder in bringing these instances of Heathen men First because the doctrine of Christ through errour is counted an enemy to policy of War and Martial Discipline Secondly because we have found out many distinctions and evasions to elude the precepts of our blessed Saviour and his Apostles For as it hath been observed of the God-makers I mean the Painters and Statuaries among the Heathen they were wont many times to paint their Goddesses like their Mistresses and then think them most fair when they were most like what they best loved so is it with many Professours of Christian Religion they can temper the precepts of it to their liking and lay upon them glosses and interpretations as it were colours and make it look like what they love Thirdly because it is likely that the examples of these men will most prevail with those to whom I speak as being such to whom above all they affect to be most like Except therefore it be their purpose to hear no other Judgment but onely their own unruly and misorderly affections it cannot but move them to see the examples of men guided onely by the light of reason of men I say the most famous in all the world for valour and resolution to run so mainly against them To come then unto the question of Duels both by the light of reason and by the practise of men it doth appear that there is no case wherein subjects may privately seek each others lives There are extant the Laws of the Iews framed by God himself The Laws of the Roman Empire made partly by the Ethnick partly by Christian Princes A great part of the Laws of Sparta and Athens two warlike Common-wealths especially the former lie dispersed in our Books yet amongst them all is there not a Law or Custom that permits this liberty to Subjects The reason of it I conceive is very plain The principal thing next under God by which a Common-wealth doth stand is the Authority of the Magistrate whose proper end is to compose and end quarrels between man and man upon what occasion soever they grow For were men peaceable were men not injurious one to another there were no use of Government Wherefore to permit men in private to try their own rights
Christian action Victory and Conquest and when my Apostle here saith I can Doe all things his meaning is I can Overcome and Conquer all things And here is the second and most glorious part of Christian Omnipotency never was any true Christian overcome or can he For look how much he yeilds unto his enemy so much he fails of his profession and title David complains of Ioab and his Brethren These sons of Zerviah are too strong for me But Beloved a Christian man finds none of these sons of Zerviah whom he needs to fear or of whom he needs to complain For as Aristotle tells us that a magnanimous man is he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who thinks nothing great but conceits all things as inferiour to himself so may we define a true Christian to be such a one as to whom nothing is dreadful in whose eye nothing under God carries any shew of Greatness St. Paul hath left us a Catalogue in the end of the eighth to the Romans of all the forces outward and inward bodily and ghostly that can be mustered against us Life Death Angels Principalities Powers things present things to come heighth depth any creature imaginable and pronounces of them that in all these we are Conquerours Conquerours is too mean a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are more then Conquerours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostom we conquer them with ease without any pains or sweat Pancas Victoria dextras exigit we shall not need to bring forth against them all our forces a small part of them will be sufficient to gain the day and not onely overcome them but turn them to our benefit and behoof For sin is like unto Sampson's Lion it comes upon us with open mouth to devour us but when we have slain it we shall find honey in the belly of it Wonderful therefore is the power of a Christian who not onely overcomes and Conquers and kills the Viper but like the skilful Apothecary makes Antidote and Treacle of him Indeed our Adversaries seem to be very great St. Paul calls them by wonderful names as if he meant to affright us Powers Principalities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Depths the prince that ruleth in the air the god of this world and what not Yet notwithstanding as one speaks in Livy of the Macedonian War as I remember Non quam magni nominis bellum est tam difficilem existi maveritis victoriam we must not think there will be any doubt of the Victory because it is a War of great name and noise For me-thinks I discover in our Apostle when he uses these strange astonishing words a spiritual stratagem by which to stir us up and make us stand upon our guard he makes the largest report of our enemies forces We read that one of the Roman Captains perceiving his souldiers unnecessarily to faint draws out letters before them and reads the news of that which never was of I know not what Kings with Armies and multitude coming forthwith against them which Art of his did much avail him to gain the victory because it made the Souldiers to recollect themselves and fight with all their might Beloved I may not think that the Apostle in making this report of our enemies forces relates that which is not but this I think I may safely say that he makes the most of that which is For it can never hurt us to take our enemy to be as strong as he is or peradventure stronger for this is a very profitable errour it makes us more wary and provide our selves the better But to sleight and contemn our enemy to err on the contrary side and think him to be weaker then he is this hath caused many an overthrow It is a rule which Vigetius gives us Difficilime vincitur qui vere potest de suis de adversarii copiis judicare It is an hard matter to overcome him that truly knoweth his own strength and the strength of his adversary And here beloved is the errour of most Christians we do not know of what strength we are We look upon this body of ours and suppose that in so weak and faint a subject there cannot subsist so great strength as we speak of as if a man should prize the liquour by the baseness of the vessel in which it is As divers Land-lords have treasures hidden in their feilds which they know not of so many of us have this treasure of omntpotency in us but we care not to discover it and to know it did we but perfectly know our own strength and would we but compare it with the strength of our enemies we should plainly discover that we have such infinite advantage above them that our conquest may seem not to be so great as is pretended For the greater the advantages are the glory of the victory is the less and that which makes a conquest great is not so much the greatness of him that conquers as the strength and greatness of him that is overthrown Now that proportion is there betwixt the strength of God himself dwelling in us and all the strength of Heaven Earth and Hell besides how then can we count this spiritual War so fearful which is waged upon so unequal terms In quo si modo congressus cum hoste sis viceris in which if we but give the on-set we are sure to gain the victory restitisse vicisse est To resist is to conquer for so saith the Apostle Resist the Divil and he shall flee from you There was never yet any Christian conquer'd that could not and in this war not to yeild the victory is to get it As therefore one spake of Alexander's expedition into India Bene ausus est vana contemnere the matter was not much which he did the greatest thing in it was that he durst do it so considering our strength and the weakness of our adversaries we may without prejudice speak even of the worthiest Souldiers that ever fought these spiritual Battels Bene ausi sunt vana contemnere The greatest thing that we can admire in them is that they durst do it Would we but a little examine the forces of our adversaries we should quickly find it to be as I have said When Alcibiades a young Gentleman of Athens was afraid to speak before the multitude Socrates to put him in heart asks him Fear you saith he such a one and names one of the multitude to him No saith Alcibiades he is but a Tradesman Fear you such a one saith he and names a second No sor he is but a Pesant or such a one and names a third No for he is but an ordinary Gentleman Now saith he of such as these doth the whole multitude consist and by this device he encouraged Alcibiades to speak He that shall fear to encounter the multitude and army of spiritual adversaries which are ready to set themselves against him let him do by himself as Socrates did by Alcibiades Let
him sit down and consider with himself his enemies one by one and he shall quickly discover their weakness Primi in praeliis vincantur oculi It s a saying that the first thing that is overcome in a Souldier is his eye while he judges of his enemy by his multitude and provision rather then by his strength Beloved if we judge not of our adversary in gross and as it were by the eye we shall easily see that we shall not need to do as the King in the Gospel doth send to his enemy with conditions of peace for there is no treaty of peace to be had with these Had Zimri peace that slew his master saith the Scripture and There is no peace unto the wicked saith my God Not onely Zimri and the wicked but no Christian hath or can have peace he must be always as fighting and always conquering Let us single out some one of this Army and let us examine his strength Is it Sin doth so much affright us I make choice of it because it is the dreadfullest enemy that a Christian hath Let us a little consider its strength and we shall quickly see there is no such need to fear it Sins are of two sorts either great and capital or small and ordinary sins I know it were a paradox in nature to tell you that the greatest and mightiest things are of least force yet this is true in the case we speak of the greatest things are the weakest Your own experience tells you that rapes and murthers parricide poisoning treason and the rest of that rabble of arch sins are the sins of the fewest and that they have no strength at all but upon the weakest men for doubtless if they were the strongest they would reign with greatest latitude they would be the commonest they would be the sins of the most But wandring thoughts idle words petty lusts inconsiderate wrath immoderate love to the things of the world and the rest of that swarm of ordinary sins these are they that have largest extent and dominion and some of these or all of these more or less prevail with every man As the Magicians in Exodus when they saw not the power of God in the Serpents in the Bloud in the Frogs at the coming of the plague of the Lice presently cried Digitus Dei hic est this is the finger of God so I know not how it comes to pass though we see and confess that in those great and heinous crimes the Devil hath least power yet at the coming of Lice of the rout of smaller and ordinary sins we presently yeild our selves captives and cry out Digitus Diaboli the strength of the Devil is in these as if we were like unto that fabulous Rack in Plinie which if a man thrust at with his whole body he could not move it yet a man might shake it with one of his fingers Now what an errour is it in us Christians when we see the principal and captain sins so easily vanquish'd to think the common souldier or lesser sort invincible For certainly if the greatest sins be the weakest the lesser cannot be very strong Secondly is it Original corruption that doth so much affright us Let us consider this a little and see what great cause we have to fear it And first Beloved let us take heed that we seem not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fight with our own fansie and not so much to find as to feign an enemy Mistake me not I beseech you I speak not this as doubting that we drew any natural infection from the loins of our parents but granting this I take it to be impossible to judge of what strength it is and deny that it is any such cause why we should take it to be so strong as that we should stand in fear to encounter it and overcome it for we can never come to discover how far our nature is necessarily weak for whil'st we are in our infancy and as yet not altered à puris naturaelibus from that which God and nature made us none of us understand our selves and e'r we can come to be of years to be able to discover it or define any thing concerning the nature of it custom or education either good hath much abated or evil hath much improved the force of it so that for any thing we know the strength of it may be much less then we suppose and that it is but a fear that makes it seem so great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Chrysostom It is the nature of timerous and fearful men evermore to be framing to themselves causeless fears I confess it is a strange thing and it hath many times much amazed me to see how ripe to sin many children are in their young and tender years and e'r they understand what the name of Sin and evil means they are unexpectedly and no man knows by what means wonderfully prompt and witty to villany and wickedness as if they had gone to schole to it in their mothers womb I know not to what cause to impute this thing but I verily suppose I might quit Original sin from the guilt of it For it is a ruled case and concluded by the general consent of the Schools that Original sin is alike in all and St. Paul seems to me to speak to that purpose when he saith that God hath alike concluded all under sin and that all are alike deprived of the glory of God Were therefore Original sin the cause of this strange exorbitancy in some young children they should all be so a thing which our own experience teaches us to be false for we see many times even in young children many good and gracious things which being followed with good education must needs come to excellent effect In pueris elucet spes plurimorum saith Quintilian quae ubi emoritur aetate manifestum est non defecisse naturam sed curam In children many times an hope of excellent things appears which in riper age for want of cherishing fades and withers away a certain sign that Nature is not so weak as Parents and Tutors are negligent whence then comes this difference certainly not from our Nature which is one in all but from some other cause As for Original sin of what strength it is I will not discuss onely thus much I will say there is none of us all but is much more wicked then the strength of any primitive corruption can constrain Again let us take heed that we abuse not our selves that we use not the names of Original weakness as a stale or stalking-horse as a pretence to choke and cover somewhat else For oftentimes when evil education wicked examples long custom and continuance in sin hath bred in us an habit and necessity of sinning presently Original sin and the weakness of mans nature bear the blame Vbi per secordiam vires tempus ingenium defluxere naturae infirmitas accusatur When through sloth and
once turn'd a little water into wine then every year in so many Vine-trees to turn that into wine in the branches which being received at the root was mere water Or why was it more wonderful for him once to feed five thousand with five loaves then every year to feed the whole world by the strange multiplication of a few seeds cast into the ground After the same manner do we by the daily actions of Christian men For why is it a greater miracle to raise the dead then for every man to raise himself from the death of sin to the life of righteousness Why seems it more miraculous to open the eyes of him that was born blind then for every one of us to open the eyes of his understanding which by reason of Original corruption was born blind For by the same finger by the same power of God by which the Apostles wrought these miracles doth every Christian man do this and without this finger it is as impossible for us to do this as for the Apostles to do the miracles they did without the assistance of the extraordinary power of Christ. So that hitherto in nothing are we found inferiour unto the cheif Apostles what if there be some things we cannot do shall this prejudice our power It is a saying in Quintilian Oportet Grammaticum quaedam ignorare It must not impeach the learning of a good Grammarian to be ignorant of some things for there are many unnecessary quillets and quirks in Grammar of which to purchase the knowledge were but loss of labour and time Beloved in the like manner may we speak of our selves Oportet Christianum quaedam non posse it must not disparage the power of a Christian that he cannot do some things For in regard of the height and excellency of his profession these inferiour things which he cannot do they are nought else but Grammar quirks and to be ambitious to do them were but a nice minute and over-superstitious diligence And yet a Christian if he list may challenge this power that he can do all things yea even such things as he cannot do St. Austin answering a question made unto him why the gift of Tongues was ceased in the Church and no man spake with that variety of Languages which divers had in the Primitive times wittily tells us That every one may justly claim unto himself that miraculous gift of Tongues For since the Church which is the body of Christ of which we are but members is far and wide disperst over the earth and is in sundry Nations which use sundry Languages every one of us may well be said to speak with divers Tongues because in that which is done by the whole or by any part of it every part may claim his share Beloved how much more by this reason may every one of us lay a far directer claim to an absolute power of doing all things even in its largest extent since I say not some inferiour member but Christ who is our Head hath this power truly rcsident in him Howsoever therefore in each member it seems to be but partial yet in our Head it is at full and every one of us may assume to our selves this power of doing all things because we are subordinate members unto that Head which can do all things But I must leave this and go on to the remainder of my Text. Hitherto I have spoken first of the person I. Secondly of his power can do I should by order of the words proceed in the third place unto the subject or object of this power pointed out unto us in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things But the subject of this Christian power hath been so necessarily wrapped up and tied together with the power that for the opening of it I have been constrain'd to exemplifie at large both what this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this all things is and how far it doth extend so that to enter upon it anew were but to trouble you with repetition of what is already sufficiently opened I will go on therefore unto the second General of my Text. For here me thinks that question might be asked which Dalilah asked of Sampson Tell me I pray thee wherein this great strength lieth Behold Beloved it is expressed in the last words through Christ that strengtheneth This is as I told you that hair wherein that admirable strength of a Christian doth reside I confess I have hitherto spoken of wonderful things and hardly to be credited wherefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest the strangeness of the argument call my credit into question Loe here I present unto you the ground of all this A small matter sometimes seems wonderful till the cause of it be discovered but as soon as we know the cause we cease to marvel how strange soever my discourse of Christian omnipotency doth seem yet look but upon this cause and now nothing shall seem incredible For to doubt of the Omnipotency of a Christian is to question the power of Christ himself As the Queen of Sheba told King Solomon that she had heard great things of him in her own countrey but now she saw truth did go beyond report so Beloved he that travels in the first part of my Text and wonders at the strange report of a Christian mans power let him come to the second part to our Solomon to him that is greater then Solomon to Christ and he shall find that the truth is greater then the fame of it for if he that was posses'd of the evil spirit in the Gospel was so strong that being bound with chains and fetters he brake them all of what strength must he be then whom it pleaseth Christ to enable or what chains or fetters shall be put upon him which he will not break From this doctrine therefore that Christ is he that doth thus enable us we learn two lessons which are as it were two props to keep us upright that we lean not either to the right hand or to the left First Not to be dejected or dismay'd by reason of this outward weakness and baseness in which we seem to be Secondly not to be puft up upon opinion and conceit of that strength and glory which is within us and unseen For the first for our own outward weakness be it what it will we cannot be more weak more frail then Gideon's pitchers now as in them their frailty was their strength and by being broken they put to flight the Army of the Midianites so where it pleases Christ to work that which seems weakness shall become strength and turn to flight the strongest adversary Satis sibi copiarum cum Publio Decio nunquam nimium Hostium sore said one in Livie we may apply this unto our selves be we never so weak yet Christ alone is army and forces enough and with him we can never have too many enemies The flesh indeed is weak for so our Saviour tells us yet
ask them For when our Saviour tells us we must seek the Kingdom of Heaven and all these things shall be cast in upon us he chalks out unto us the true way to posses our selves of the world sufficiently for what doth he else but tell us that if we ask as Solomon did we shall doubtless be rewarded as Solomon was When God in the Book of Kings had given Solomon a promise to have whatsoever he would ask and Solomon had onely asked an understanding heart to discern betwixt good and bad Because saith God thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked unto thy self long life or the life of thine enemies Lo I have done according to thy words yea I have given that which thou askedst not even riches So that among Kings there shall be none like unto thee all thy days Here is the true method of prevailing with God for temporal things and blessings If we do earnestly beg at his hands those things onely which are principally good for us it is a thing so welcome to God that even because we have done this all other things which we ask not shall aboundantly be cast upon us As Laban when Iacob asked him Leah and Rachel to wife gave them unto him and not onely so but gave him Zilpah and Billah as handmaids to wait on them a gift which Iacob never requested So hath God some blessings like unto Leah and Rachel he will give us the latter Zilpah and Billah though we never ask them I know it is a very hard matter to perswade the world of the truth of this which hitherto I have taught For as St. Peter tells us that there shall come mockers who shall ask Where are the promises of his coming do not all things continue alike since the creation So are there many mockers in the world who ask us Where are these goodly promises made unto the godly where is the promise of the possession of the earth made unto the meek spirited where is the promise of gain and commodity made unto the godly Is it not with them as it is with other men are there any men whose case is more miserable then theirs have they not their shares in all the plagues that usually befall the world We have heard that piety still carries a blessing with it but the world takes it to be like unto that Equus Seianus a certain Horse which past for a By-word a Proverb amongst our fore-fathers No man could ever thrive that kept it Beloved he that shall look into the state and condition of good men shall see that there is some cause of these querulous questions For the setling therefore of the minds of Christians scandalized we will before we come to consider in what other sense godliness is profitable first remove certain errours which are like motes in the eyes of common Christians and hinder them that they cannot see so clearly in what sense these promises of earthly blessings are made and secondly we will search the reasons why notwithstanding these promises good men have commonly the least part of the worlds good and both these breifly The Errours to be removed are especially two The first we usually mistake the nature and quality of God's promises Men when they hear of God's promises to preserve those that are his presently think that God by these promises is bound to exempt them from common casualties and as it were to alter the common course of the world in their behalf And therefore whensoever any common calamities and inundation of evil overflow the world they presently expect a Noah's Ark to Ferry them over and preserve them harmless Beloved these promises of God give us no ground thus far to presume There is no way of avoiding these common casualties but by providing our selves to bear our parts Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord shall deliver them out of all God hath not promised that good men shall have no trouble but he hath made a certain promise to deliver them This comfort therefore we have above all the world besides that in all these general deluges of Famine of Captivity of Pestilence it is no hard matter to descry that God hath extraordinarily taken care of those that are his and that in such sort as the world uses not to do When his own people were led into captivity the Psalmist tells us that he gat them favour and grace in the eyes of their enemies and made all those that had led them away captive to pity them When Alaricus the Goth had taken Rome by publick proclamation he gave security to all those that fled into the Temples of the blessed Apostles and made it death for any man to molest them In which example St. Austin doth justly triumph and challenges all the Ethnick Antiquity of the world besides to shew where ever it was heard that in open War the Temples of the gods gave security to those that fled into them and doth very strongly prove that all the distress and felicity that befell the City of Rome at the time of the saeking of it was but of the common casualties and custome of War But all the graces and mercies by which men found refuge and security came onely for God's sake and through the power of the Name of Christ. In these common miseries therefore which befall Cities and Common-wealths we may easily read not so much the Edict of Alaricus as the Proclamation of God himself in the Psalmist Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm And sometimes openly sometimes secretly evermore certainly God doth deliver Secondly an other errour there is wherein we much abuse our selves and mistake the promises of God They are many times made good unto us when we beleive it not For as the Iews anciently would not beleive that Christ was come into the world because he came not in that manner as they expected he should so fares it with many Christians in regard of these promises of gain â— of good success and deliverance Except God come home unto us in all our desires except he do all that we think good he should we are easily apt to except and think there is no truth in his promises If we thrive not to our mind if the success be not that which we expected we think this is reason enough to charge God with breach of promise whereas indeed we ought to know that be it little or much that comes unto us it is sufficient to make God as good as his word For that a good man thrives at all is meerly from God For if the Divil and the World could do with all no part of the worlds good should fall on the righteous be it therefore but little that they have since they have it so much against the World's will it is a great argument of God's extraordinary providence over them that they have that little Since it is apparent that the world opposes against it and