THE RIGHTEOVS MANS EVILS AND THE LORDS DELIVERANCES By GILBERT PRIMEROSE Minister of the French Church of London PSAL. 129.2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevayled against mee LONDON Printed by H. L. for Nathanael Newberry and are to be sold at the signe of the Starre in Popes-head Alley Anno 1625. TO THE RIGHT NOBLE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND RIGHT RELIgious Lord IAMES MARQVESS of HAMMILTON Earle of Arran and Cambridge Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter Counsellor of the Kings most honourable privie Councell in both Realmes of England and Scotland Lord Great Steward of his Majesties houshold c. RIGHT HONOVRABLE WHat reading of holy Scripture and of Ecclesiasticall stories what experience hath taught mee of the Righteous mans Evils and the Lords deliverances that I preached to my Church at London in nine Sermons which in this booke I have dedicated to your Honour as an acknowledgement of the heroicall and Christian vertues which shine in your most Noble and Honourable person and as an homage due to them not as having any worthinesse and excellencie from their author whereby he should presume to offer them to such a Lord in whom all things excell in worth and shine in a most eminent degree of excellencie In Empires Kingdomes States Cities Families wee read and see the truth of the Oracle which said to ATTALVS King of Bithinia THOU AND THY SON NOT THE SONS OF THY SON His Maiestie who now holdeth the raines of this peaceable and flourishing kingdome is the onely King knowne in the world by stories who can reckon neere two thousand yeeres since his roiall Ancestors of whom he is lincally descended wore Crownes and Scepters In France they thinke it much if a man can prove his Nobilitie by foure Descents Since three hundred and odde yeeres that SIR GILBERT HAMMILTON came from England to Scotland was there advanced to all titles and degrees of honours of dignities of greatnesse among the most noble and honourable of the Realme by the HEROS of those dayes and King without peere ROBERT BRVCE who had knowne in England the antiquitie of his noble house and of all men then living could best iudge of his courage martiall actes and deserts and being preferred there to the mariage of the onely Daughter to my Lord Earle of Murray the Kings Nephew by his Princely Sister became the Stocke of the illustrious Race of the HAMMILTONS in Scotland whereof your Honour is the golden head how many Descents how many generations may be reckoned The fables tell of BELLEROPHON how after he had done many feates of armes not so much by his owne wisdome and strength as by the helpe of his winged Horse called PEGASVS he waxed proud and attempting with the same wings to mount up to heaven was flung to the earth and brake his leg whereby they teach us in a mysticall sense that many after they have beene borne upon the wings of their Princes favour and thereby have done good services conceive too ambitious and proud hopes and as if favour were desert aspiring to ascend into heaven to exalt their Throne above the rest of the starres and to be like unto their Maker are cut downe to the ground in an instant where all their pompe is laid in a grave of shame and dishonour as the Scripture speaketh of the King of Babylon under the name of LVCIFER In all the ancient stories hardly shall we finde any great man whose predecessors or himselfe have not beene stained with the blot of rebellion against their Soveraignes or of some negligence of their dutie towards them But your Honours forefathers had ever their affections so addicted to our Kings that King IAMES the third with the consent of the States and applause of the whole Realme thought them worthy to be rewarded with the mariage of his onely and deare Sister whom he gave in wedlocke to IAMES Lord Hammilton of whom your Lordship is come by many lineall successions This proximitie of blood to our Kings hath ever beene to your Ancesters and to your owne selfe a most attractive Adamant drawing and tying inseparably your hearts desires wills affections duties and services to their will and desires in all innocencie and uprightnesse according to Gods commandement the practice whereof is the stay of the State and the maintainer of peace in the Church and Common-weale FEARE GOD AND THE KING AND MEDDLE NOT WITH FACTIOVS MEN. So that this may be the Poesie of the Cognizance of your Honours most ancient and honourable Family FIDEET OBSEQVIO Of this fidelitie of these long profitable and acceptable services to our Kings continued in your Lordships familie from generation to generation and most effectually confirmed by your owne generous wise and good cariage in the Court and in the State the Kings Maiestie is a most glorious witnesse and a most magnificent rewarder For that affection which his Maiestie sheweth to your Honour those Dignities wherewith hee hath honoured you namely this last of LORD STEWARD of his royall House what are they but publike testimonies of the continuation of your good faithfull and well liked services to his Maiesties Royall person to our most excellent and hopefull Prince his Royall and onely Sonne and to the states of both kingdomes In the Court you are to his Maiestie that which IOSEPH was to PHARAO King of Egypt OBADIAH to ACHAB King of Israel MORDECAI to AHASVERVS King of Persia and ELIAKIM to whom God gave the key of the house of DAVID to the good King EZECHIAH and most like unto THEODORVS in the Court of VALENS Emperour of the Orient who being come of a most ancient and noble stocke and well brought up from the Cradle was not inferiour to any of the Imperiall Court in modestie wisedome erudition and good carriage ever seemed better than the charges and places whereunto he was advanced and was the onely man whose tongue was never licentiously unbridled never spake without consideration and foresight yea was never shut through feare of danger or hope of preferment and therefore was equally loved of great and small as your Lp. for the same vertues is much respected and loved of all states and degrees in both nations For by Gods speciall and rare blessing you carry your selfe in all your demeanour at Court and abroad so wisely that I may boldly affirme that to none if not to you doth belong that rare and wonderfull praise which Cicero giveth to BRVTVS and Marcellin to PRETEXTATVS saying that they did no thing to please yet whatsoever they did pleased and that other which all men gave to ANTHEMIVS Governour to the religious Emperour ARCADIVS HE SEEMED TO BE WISE AND SO HE WAS. The Royall Prophet David saith most truly in the twelfth Psalme that wicked men walke on every side when rascals are exalted among the sonnes of men Then DAVID fleeth and DOEG triumpheth But innocencie is protected oppression is repressed the states flourish
Epicureans and belly-gods That were as if I should cast pearles vnto swine Nor also before wickedly and cruelly disposed men That were as if one should cast that which is holy vnto doggs What then shall I doe I will put up the holy things I will packe up my Pearles and withdraw my selfe the most advisedly I can till the dirtie and muddie swine be out of the way and the dogs leave off barking and biting Or I will remove to some other place and display my sewels there to see and assay if I can finde a better market else-where For Christ giveth us not commandements of feare whereby we should forsake our callings to save our lives but of holy wisedome whereby we should be carefull to save our lives that at another time or in another place we may more commodiously and effectually practise our callings and so goe backe to leape the better VII Such commandements are not in the Church without most glorious precedents and examples most worthy to be followed Can we have any so perfect so excellent as of Christ himselfe Of him the Angel said to Ioseph g Matth. 2.13 Arise and take the young childe and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there untill I bring thee word b When he had shewne himselfe to be God by restoring the withered hand h Matt. 12.13 14 15. the Pharisees went out and held a counsell against him how they might destroy him But when Iesus knew it he withdrew himselfe from thence The inhabitants of Nazareth led him unto the brow of an hill that they might cast him downe headlong i Luk. 4.30 But bee passing thorow the midst of them went his way In the Temple of Ierusalem the Iewes tooke up stones to cast at him k Iohn 8.59 But Iesus hid himselfe and went out of the Temple going thorow the midst of them and so passed by The chiefe Priests and the Pharisees tooke counsell to put him to death after that he had raised Lazarus l Ioh. 11.54 Iesus therefore walked no more openly among the Iewes but went thence into a countrie neere to the wildernesse into a city called Ephraim and there continued with his disciples Wherefore hid he himselfe wherefore fled he Because m Ioh. 2.4 Ioh. 7.6 his houre was not yet come for when his houre was come not onely he fled not but n Ioh. 18.4 knowing all things that should come upon him went foorth and rendred himselfe to his enemies which neither knew him nor were able to take him And where he fled untill his time was come there he preached healed the sicke and did good to all men So when there was a great persecution against the Church at Ierusalem the Christians o Act. 8.1.4 Act. 11.19 20. were scattered abroad throughout the region of Iudea and Samaria and went every where preaching the word So Paul being at Damascus knowing that the Iews watched the gates day and night to kill him p Act. 9.24 25. The Disciples tooke him by night and let him downe by the wall in a basquet So when he was q Act. 14.5 6. at Iconium with Barnabas knew that the Iewes Gentiles with their Rulers had made an assault to use them despitefully to stone them they were ware of it fled unto Lystra So when in the uprore which Demetrius had raised against him at Ephesus r Act. 19.30 31. he would haue entred in unto the people the Disciples suffered him not and he followed their counsell So seeing he could not stay there without great ieopardie f Act. 20.1 he departed from thence and went into Macedonia and preached the Gospell there So t Act. 23.6 7. perceiving that his enemies were resolved to doe him some mischiefe he found a subtill but lawfull policie to put them by the eares and so escaped So v v. 17. advertised that fourtie naughty men had bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eate nor drinke till they had killed him he shunned that conspiracie by a most wise counsell So x Act. 25.11 knowing the corruption of his Iudge he appealed unto Caesar not forsaking his calling but desiring to live for his callings sake So S. Iohn writeth that y Rev. 12.6 the woman which was delivered of a childe fled into the wildernesse And that ye may know that her flight was approved of God it is said that there shee had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes So S. Cyprian seeing that the people cryed incessantly a Cyprian Epist 15. Cyprianum ad Leonem Cyprian to the Lyon withdrew himselfe from the furie of the people and fled not so much for his owne safetie as for the peace of the Church So S. Athanasius fled out of Alexandria where the Emperour had sent to take him So Policarpus so S. Chrysostome by their flight saved the Pastors for their Churches and the Churches for their Pastors So the Albigenses fleeing the persecution in France went through Germanie Bohemia and England and planted there the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ Of whom is this flourishing Church composed Of strangers which have forsaken their owne countries and commodities and have sought in this Sanctuary securitie for their lives and food for their soules and of whom I may say truly that God hath sent them before their distressed brethren to save their lives even as Ioseph said to his brethren b Gen. 45.7 God sent me before you to preserve you a posteritie in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance VIII It is a naturall thing to all living creatures to provide for their owne safetie Neither hath God the author of nature abolished that naturall instinct in his Saints but sanctified it directing them by his word and by his Spirit to doe lawfully and holily that is to say by good meanes and for a good end that whereunto they are inclined by nature If they did otherwayes might they not be iustly accused of tempting of the Lord their God of preventing his providence of seeking through vaine-glorie and ostentation to be Christs Martyrs when he craveth no such dutie at their hands Peter being too bold out of season denyed his Master The rest of the Disciples which fled and kept themselves quiet shunned that mischiefe For God blesseth rather a modest fleeing than a presumptuous abode When Peter rusht into Caiphas Hall the Spirit of God left him But when c Ioh 20.19 he was hid with the rest in a chamber the doores being shut for feare of the Iewes Iesus came to them and d Act 2.1.4 the holy Ghost descended upon them In Cyprians time there was a kinde of heretiques called Circumcellions which ran every where seeking the martyrdome and the Franciscane Friers write of Francis their Patron that he went to Maiorka Minorka and other places occupied
suffereth in us as when the head suffereth all the members suffer and when the members suffer the head suffereth Is not Christ the head are we not the members of his body This was the cause why the Apostles after they were beaten x Act. 5.41 reioyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christs name for this same cause the Apostle reioyced that he was y Eph. 4.1 the prisoner of the Lord that a Gal 6.17 he bare in his body the markes of the Lord Iesus that b Col. 1.24 hee filled up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for though all Christs sufferings bee accomplished and c Ioh 19.30 finished in capite in the head for the redemption of the Church yet they are not all fulfilled in corpore in the body for the edification of the Church but as long as there shall be in the world one faithfull to suffer Christ shall have some evill to suffer because Christ and the faithfull are one S. Paul was scholed with this Iesson before his entry into the Church when the Lord Iesus cryed unto him d Act. 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me even as when ye tread a man upon the foot the head will cry Why treadest thou on me What wonder then if e Phil. 3.8 10. he counted all things but doung that he might know Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings that he might be made conformable unto his death and if hee rendred testimonie to all the Christians of his time that f Rom. 5.3 they gloried in tribulations O bonds more honourable than the Diadems of Kings O tribulations more glorious than the glory of Salomon Is there any golden chaine so glistering as the irons wherwith the Confessors are shackled for Christ Is there any glory to be matched with the glory of the blessed Martyrs suffering with Christ and in their sufferings made conformable to his image The Pagans say that it is sweete and honourable to dye for our countrey The souldiers glory in the wounds which they have received for the defence of their chimneyes And those which are led to the gallows for the service of their King feele glory in their shame and professe that they diâ—content seeing they die for their Soveraignes sake What is our native soyle compared with the Church what is the most glorious King of the earth paragoned with Christ Lesse than nothing We glory in our death for men which when we are dead cannot reward us and shall we bee ashamed to dye for Christ who when we are dead giveth us life and satiateth with immortall honours those which honor him for g Rom. 8.17 if we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him For this cause h Tert. Apologet cap. 1.46 ult Iust Apol 1. the first Christians when they were condemned thanked their Iudges but principally they thanked God saying i Aug. ser de Cypriano Deo gratias Thankes be to God so did our fathers and so must we doe So then ye have heard the causes why God will have his children to suffer for their owne sakes He will eyther chastise them for the sinnes which they have committed or restraine them from the sinnes which they might perpetrate or try them to make knowne how they can carry themselves in affliction or put in practice the manifold graces wherewith hee hath endued them or honour them with the glory of his Confessors and Martyrs X. When they are thus afflicted God hath also regard to other men First their afflictions are meanes whereby the Elect are converted to God Christ when he was persecuted in one Towne fled into another and preached there He k Mat. 10.23 commanded his Disciples to doe the like By occasion of the persecution in Ierusalem l Act. 8.1 4 Act. 11.19 20. the brethren were scattered abroad throughout the Regions of Iudea of Samaria of Phenice of Cyprus of Antioch where they preached the Lord Iesus and the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number beleeved and turned unto the Lord. Why were n Act. 16.19 31. Paul and Silas cast into prison at Philippi The event shewed that God did it for the conversion of the Iaylor who was one of his Elect. And therefore Paul said o 2 Tim. 2 10. that hee endured all things for the Elects sake that they might also obtaine the salvation which is in Christ Iesus with eternall glory And writing to the Philippians from the prison at Rome where hee received the glorious crowne of Martyrdome he saith p Phil. 1.13 that the things which happened unto him had fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel so that his bonds in Christ were manifest to all Cesars Court and in all other places For howsoever he was q 2. Tim. 2.14 bound the word of God was not bound The prison was his Church there he preached and there he converted many Thus the Albigenses of France being dispersed by a most furious and violent persecution went preaching the Gospel in Germanie in Bohemia in England All the flourishing Churches in Europe at this day are the harvest which they sowed but especially r Tert. Apologet ca. ult Idem ad Scapul cap. ult Clemens Alex Strom. 4. the seede of the Church is the bloud of Christians for those which behold their constancy wonder wondering they inquire the cause thereof inquiring they learne it learning it they are converted Å¿ Iustin Apolog 1. Euseb lib. 4. cap. 8. Iust Mart. beholding the unexpugnable constancie of Christians in the atrocitie and extremitie of their torments said to himselfe that such men which made no account of death could not bee men given to pleasures and wickednesse because voluptuous men being timorous and faint-hearted cannot suffer any thing which is grievous to be felt and above all things fear death therupon he was converted became of an Idolater a ChristiaÌ„ of a Philosopher a Martyr I might relate unto you a most true storie of a Noble man converted by the wonderfull constancy of those of whom I spake in my last Sermon and protesting at the houre of his death that hee dyed in their faith But by this which I have said ye see that the temporall death of Gods Saints is eternall life and salvation to many of Gods Elect. Likewise their constancie and wonderfull boldnesse to maintaine the Gospell against all the wisedome and power of the world their holy stoutnesse to die for it is no small comfort to the Church and a great confirmation to the weake brethren which use the Apostle found in his bonds as he saith That t Phil 1.14 by them many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident were much more bold to speake the word without feare For this cause Saint Iohn saith that v 1. Ioh. 3.16 as Christ laid downe his life for us so wee ought to lay downe our lives for