and by consequent more to be regarded then the preservation of their bodies because it is the most necessary Grace for Christians to attain to eternall blessednesse for upon their perseverance in the wayes of righteousnesse or the neglect and intermission of it depends their eternall woe or their eternall blisse And this supernaturall grace is as free a gift of God as faith and repentance is and not incident to naturall or unregenerate men but only peculiar to the true children of God and is as it were the very seale of their Election Adoption Calling and Justification and a true earnest of their future Glorification For except they persevere in the wayes of Piety and Righteousnesse from their first Calling to their end in mortifying their corruptions carnall desires the lust of the flesh and live religiously and soberly in this present world they will utterly fall away from the faith as did a Hymeneus and Philetus and loose all that they have wrought Now the greater this gift of Perseverance is the more are they to be earnest and diligent by fervent and continuall prayers and humble Supplications to God to obtaine it and the greater is their obligation to him when they have received the same This excellent Grace is compared to a Race where all run but none obtaines the prize but such as persevere to the end for it is nothing for men to begin well and to be fervent and active in all the duties of Piety for a moment of time or to cast forth flashes of zeale to seeme to advance the Glory of God and their owne private or the generall Reformation that is now in hand except they continue till the worke be done that they may so run that they may b obtaine The Architector that begins an excellent structure and does not make an end of it nor finish it after that exquisite Symetry that it was begun but for want of patience or to save charges leaves it unperfected or changeth the forme or composition of the first erection from a Corinthian forme to the Toscan or Jonique that are inferiour to it in charges beauty and excellency doth diminish his reputation and not increase the same for it is not the beginning but the compleating of a work in all perfection that honours and recommends the workmen Even so will it be with private men that begin well and walke fervently in the wayes and duties of Piety but doe not continue to the end And also with our Worthies if they should not porsevere to the end in this blessed worke of the true Reformation they have begun For as the Apostle saith concerning our Christian Calling That there are not many wise nor many mighty nor many noble after the flesh called Even so among so many millions of men of all degrees that inhabite these three Kingdomes there are but some few hundreds that have been called to this blessed worke of the Lord And this extraordinary grace and honour they have received of him should in my opinion induce them to persevere in this great worke till it be perfected for the lesser the number is the greater will be their honour because their unparalelled labours will be the greater And as for those that out of that small number have deserted the work preferring like c Demas and Alexander the love of this world before the glory of God let not their Apostasie be a motive of discouragement to the faithfull Ones but rather of a greater assurance of their perseverance in grace from which the others are fallen off as I will endeavour to make it appeare by instances 1. They began to run in the race but they continued not for as the Apostle saith If they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made d manifest that they were not of us c. 2. They had but a generall and superficiall calling and not the eternall nor speciall personall and peculiar calling For the gifts of God saith the Apostle are without e repentance c. 3. Nor the patience to run the race that was set f before them c. 4. Nor the grace to consider that the prize of this race was not to be obtained by the swift nor the victory of the g battell by the strong but by the grace of the Lord of Hosts c. 5. Neither did they by prayers and supplications nor by h watching and reiterated petitions require this grace of Perseverance of God c. 6. Nor considered that the Laodiceans and faint-hearted men cannot obtain the Kingdome of God but onely the fervent and the i violent carrie it away c. 7. and such that presse toward the k marke for the price of the high calling in Christ Jesus c. O what a measure of supernaturall Grace hath been then infused into those members of the Honourable Houses that have remained constant untill this day and that shall by the grace of God persevere unto the end and finish and compleate upon the immoveable Rocke of the Word of God this excellent Fabricke of the true Reformation already begun The greatest worke that ever was done in Christendome considering the potent and numerous opposers they are like to have that like so many Giants will with all the malice and power of the agents of the Prince of darknesse endeavour to traverse this spirituall building But let them not be discouraged for since they have God on their side none shall be able to oppose nor hinder the perfecting of it If they doe but persevere as they have begun and tread for the time to come under their feet all carnall policies although they seeme according to humane reason necessary and much conducing to that end but truly and really most destructive to it as I have noted in my first Chapter for the true Worship of God is to have the precedencie in all Reformations for the delayes of it that are grounded upon Civill Politicke or Military respects doe but spinne out this warre and make all other endeavours fruitlesse and the very worke it selfe more difficult as we have had woefull experience of it since this warre begun And will alwaies be so untill it be prosecuted before all other affaires by an unanimous Perseverance and integrity of heart by them in Authority that God out a speciall mercy to this Nation hath elected and preordained by his eternall purpose out of so many millions of men to doe this worke before the beginning of the Creation and to be the faithfull Reformers of the abuses and Innovations that were crept into the Church of England and the famous Restorers of the Purity of the true Worship of God in all the Dominions of his sacred Majestie as it is now in Scotland and in all the best reformed Churches of Christendome That the mindes and affections of the people of England Scotland and Ireland may be for the future united and bound with the strongest links and bounds that be under the Sunne that is by a spirituall Conformity of Doctrine and Discipline and that the Church of God and these three Kingdomes may flourish againe under one King one Law and
the true and faithfull Messengers of God that are among us might then be bold to propound to the people in their Sermons and publike Exhortations as r Elijah did to the People of Israel this Quaerie If the Lord be God follow him If Baal follow him for we cannot halt any longer between two opinions Moreover this Galimafrey of Sects and Religions and the licentious profane and impious men that shelter themselves in our Armies in the Citie and Counties are the very s Achans that are the cause of all our disgraces for they foment the contentions that arise between our Commanders in Chiefe betweene their Officers between the Lievtenants and the Committees of our Counties Nay they dare presume to foment them in our Senate Assembly between the Magistrates in our Militia Hals Citie and between the Citizens and Common People to the end they may subsist and fish in the muddy waters of these Civill distractions And therefore there is no likelihood that a true Reformation may be procured before these Sectaries and licentious persons be banished into the unknowne Islands that the venome of their contagious tenents may not infect no more any of the simple or ignorant souls of these three Kingdomes I am not ignorant that the Honourable Houses were very fervent at the beginning of this Parliament to give the precedencie of this intended Generall Reformation to the affaires of the Church and to the restoring of the Puritie of the Service and Worship of God and withall to have cleansed the Kingdom of this vermine of Sectaries and accursed thing of licentious and impious men as a most proper and peculiar work for such wise and pious Senators But alas our sins were the cause that this fervour was quenched and that holy resolution retarded by the cunning of Satan and the deluding insinuations of his agents I meane of the Prelacie and Jesuiticall faction which under the colour of the publike good infused the venome of these contagious positions into the hearts of men That there was neither Wisdome nor Policy to establish so speedily the Presbyterial Discipline in the Church of England because it would deprive the Parliament of the great contributions that might be collected out of the multitudes of these Sectaries that would rather goe beyond the Seas or side with the enemy then to submit or conforme themselves to that Discipline and that it were safer to delay till these differences were nearer to an Accommodation Wise and carnall men but blind and ignorant in spirituall things this Counsell being like to prove as fatall unto them as the counsel that t Ahithophel gave to Absalom to enter into his Fathers Concubines at noone day that he might make him uncapable of reconciliation with his father was to himselfe for it was as pernicious in a two-fold manner 1. That the Contributions of these Sectaries might prove among the Contributions of the Children of God as the mothers that breed or come in a piece of rich cloth that consume and spoile the same in a short time 2. That by the conniving at these Sectaries against the speciall Word of God we might be made irreconcileable with our gracious and heavenly Father And for to make this pernicious Counsell more plausible they said it was the Policy of the Hollanders that doe indeed give a free Toleration to all sorts of Religions because they are of all the Nations of Christendome the most addicted to the Laodicean Temper and will doe any thing for gain But this carnall Policy of theirs is like to prove fatall unto them for this Toleration of Religions hath already fomented so many divisions and contentions among them that will in all probabilitie be the cause of their ruine if they prevent it not by a speedy and a cordiall repentance for a Kingdome or a Common-weale divided within it selfe cannot u subsist And it is a wonder and a great mercy of God that we are not already consumed for never was a Kingdome more rent with divisions and contentions then England is Now it stands not with the Honour wisedome and pious inclination of the honourable Houses of Parliament to prefer carnall Counsels before the good of the Church of God They may be as prudent as serpents and as simple as doves but to allow of or connive at a small evill to avoide a greater it is not convenient to the Zerubbabels and the Nehemiahs of our times they are rather to say Should such a x man as I slee or should such men as we displease God in conniving for a time at Sectaries for their Contributions Alas these contributions are vanished away like the chaffe that is driven away by a whirle wind such a blow as we have had of late in the West would swallow three yeares of their Contributions and who can tell if it were not for their Toleration that it was given us and that these warres might have been ended two yeares agoe but for them But I am sure that y Achan was to be stoned before the Army of Israel could overcome Ai And that z Ionah was to be cast over-board into the sea before the ship and the Marriners could obtaine a calme Nay the erectors of our New Jerusalem are to be like Moses that rejected the honours riches and the pleasures of Egypt to suffer reproach and affliction with his brethren the Children of God And like Zerubbabel and Nehemiah that forsooke the great preferments that they had at the Court of Cyrus and of Artaxerxes the two great Kings of Persia for to erect the second Temple and restore the puritie of the ancient Service of the Jewes Now so much more as the building of this New Jerusalem doth exceed in worth and infatigable labour the reedifying of the old and as much as the restauration of the puritie of the Service and of the true Worship of God doth exceed the ancient Service of the Jewes So much should the Zerubbabels and the Nehemiahs of our daies endeavour to exceed in courage fervour and zeale in this great worke and acceptable Service of the Lord I meane in perfecting this true Reformation in hand But because they are but men and subject to the like passions and infirmities as we are we are all bound in generall and every one in particular to addresse our fervent prayers to the Throne of Grace That God will be pleased to indue them with all such abilities of courage resolution wisedome and unitie that they may speedily erect the foundations of this so long hoped for Jerusalem upon the Rock of the true Word of God that it may stand like Mount Sion for ever immoveable notwithstanding all oppositions whatsoever of the roaring waves of the swelling billowes and of the inraged seas of these Civill distractions to the great Glory of God to the everlasting Consolation of his Children and to the immortall honour of the Erectours The second Secondary Cause is The Delay of Iustice THe Heathen
therefore it is by warre that so many Nations Kingdomes and Common-weales have been utterly destroyed and consumed and above all by an intestine and Civill warre for a Nation being weakned by her own hands it breeds an opportunity for forraigne Princes to fall upon it and subvert and conquer the same But forraigne warres are often profitable to Kingdomes or Common-weales so they be managed without the limits of those Kingdomes or Common-weales Carthage flourished as long as b Hannibal wasted Italy But when Scipio came with a great Army to their gates misery and destruction issued upon it c England flourished when war was maintained in France but when the English were driven home it was wasted and desolated by Civill commotions and an intestine warre And therefore it is a sound and a sure Maxime or Reason of State to entertaine warre abroad that a Kingdome may be freed from it at home And this Maxime was carefully observed by the Romanes for a long time but as soon as they neglected the same they fell into civill contentions and into intestine warres As long as the French Nation entertained warres in Italy to recover the right they had in the Kingdome of Naples and in the Duchy of Milan France did prosper and flourish but as soon as that fatall Peace was concluded between d Henry the second King of France and Philip King of Spaine by the procurement of the Constable of France that aimed more at his own ends then to advance the honour of his King and the good of his native Countrie And that Savoy Piedmont and the rest of the dominions that the French held in Italy were made over to the Duke of Savoy as an inconsiderate dowry of King Henries daughter that he tooke to wife then issued presently after the destructive Civill warres of France that continued three and thirty yeares and consumed above eight hundred thousand men of the French Nation and brought that Kingdome to the very brim of destruction But when it had pleased God by an unexpected mercy and by the wisedome valour and clemencie of * Henry the fourth to reunite the alienated affections of that populous nation and to keepe or observe the above-said Maxime and to drive this intestine warre into Artois and Flanders and to fire the dominions of the Incendiarie of the French Civill warres then began that Kingdome to flourish again for this diversion procured an honourable peace of ten yeares for the French in the which that politick King to entertaine the foresaid Maxime sent most of the licentious and contentious spirits of his Kingdome unto Hungaria and into the low Countries and by these meanes restored that desolated Kingdome into a most flourishing estate And his Counsellours of State that had the managing of the Military and Politick affaires of the Kingdome after his death during the Minority of Lewis the 13. his son perceiving that for want of forraigne employment the French Nobility began to soment Civill Commotions in the Kingdome aided by the Spanish faction they were constrained to embrace again this ancient Maxime which they have constantly observed to this day and have by it maintained the honour of their King and much increased their Dominions Even so out of this principle or Reason of State did Queene e Elizabeth undertake the protection of the Low Countries that the English Nobility might have employment abroad and exercise themselves in Military exploits that she might have alwayes ready some experienced Commanders and Officers of Capacity to leade an Army if her enemies attempted any invasion upon her dominions and this her wise and politick course succeeded most happily for she maintained thereby her Kingdome in peace and in a prosperous condition suppressed the rebellions in Ireland aided the French with her Treasures and with experienced Commanders Officers and Souldiers curbed the insolencie of the Spaniard by Sea and made the naturall colour of that element to be often changed into Crimson by the undaunted valour and the great experience of her Commanders Officers and Mariners in Sea-fights And by her warlike expeditions to Cales and the West India increased her Ships and Navies and all manner of Trade and commerce and left at her death England and Ireland in a prosperous peace and condition By these Instances and many more that might be produced to the same end it is apparent that forraigne warres are often times profitable in these foure cases so they be managed out of the limits of a Kingdome or Common-weale 1. It purgeth them of licentious men 2. It frees them of Civill commotions and intestine warres 3. It is a Nurcery for Commanders and experienced Officers 4. It increaseth commerce and trading and doth rather inrich a Kingdome then waste the same 1. The Romanes never inroled any souldiers for their forraign warres out of their inhabitants or Citizens before all the licentious and contentious men that are apt to breed Civill commotions had been f inroled and when they had subdued a Kingdome or Province they erected Colonies in it where they sent all the most licentious men of their City and their old souldiers to whom they appointed so much land as they might live with all 2. It frees a Kingdome from Civill commotions for if licentious and needy people find but some discontented Nobles to side withall they will presently foment a party and kindle the fire of a Civill warre but as the only way to quench a fire is to take from it the combustible matter that increaseth the same even so to prevent Civill distractions we are to purge the City and Kingdome of licentious and decaied men and to send them away into forraigne warres 3. Few or none are ignorant that the Germane and the Low Countrie warres have beene the Nurcery of the greater part of the experienced English French and Scotch Commanders and Officers that are now in these dayes It is true that of these three Nations the number of the English is the smallest because that in the peaceable Raigne of King James Commanders and Officers of experience in warre were not regarded yet those that out of a naturall inclination to Armes went thither to be trained up are not inferiour to any but the number of them is so small that they are now constrained to employ licentious Germanes for principall officers but Germany Sweden and England it selfe is beholden to the Scots for Commanders and Officers of warre And for the French the Maxime of Henry the fourth afore related hath much increased the Capacity of the French Nobility and of their foot souldiers in martiall exploits so that for seiges or battels they are not inferiour to any And therefore forraigne warres are the Nurcery of experienced Commanders and Officers of warre 4. For the increase of Trade and Commerce the forraigne warre that the French and the Hollanders have maintained these many yeares against the House of Austria hath much increased their trade and commerce and are now