feare of him In this case the heathen Poets haue had theyr times to turne their pastorall tunes into sounde of Trumpets and the holie Prophets and Priestes of God haue had their times also to change their exhortations to mercie and compassion into charges and allarmes and either with Azariah incourage both the Prince and the people to bee strong handed 2. Chro. 15. chapter 7. vers Or with Iehaziel in the 15. verse of this chapter euen in the name of God commaunde both the Prince and the people not to feare the multitude of men but to march forwardes boldlie towardes the enemie and looke him in the face I will follow the example of the Prophets and Priestes of God at this time and make you such musicke vppon this grounde as it shall please God to minister vnto mee This Scripture which I haue read vnto you is a verie Trumpet of warre herein wee find Iuda and Hierusalem marching toward the enemie vnder the conduct of Iehoshaphat vppon intelligence giuen that there was a great combination of forraign Princes the Moabites the Ammonites the inhabitants of Mount Seir were come from beyonde the seas to inuade Iehoshaphat The place in the wildernesse where the armie sate downe was discouered That which offers it self to be discoursed stands vpon these two parts in general the first is the action of warre in these words And whē they arose early in the morning they went forth into the wildernes of Tekoa The second is the exhortation to this action in these words And as they departed Iehoshaphat stood said heare ye me O Iudah ye inhabitants of Ierusalē put your trust in the Lord your God and yee shall be assured beleeue his Prophets and ye shall prosper In the action of warre there arise these foure poynts in particular to be handled first the equitie of the action secondly the cause that makes the action of warre to be iust and lawfull thirdly the persons concurring to this action fourthly the execution of it that is the manner howe it must be executed These foure I must fetch a little further off yet not so far but that I may easily drawe them out from the verses going before and immediatly following after in this chapter In the exhortation to this action there be also two acts of the soule two obiects two consequents the first act is to trust the first obiect is God the first consequent is safetie Put your trust in the Lord your God and ye shall be assured The second act to beléeue the second obiect the Prophets the second consequent Prosperitie Beleeue the Prophets and ye shall prosper That I may speake of all these parts in order to Gods glorie and the opportunitie of the times wherein wee liue I beséech you to ioyne with mée in humble and heartie prayers c. 1 The equitie of the action of Warre TO giue you a view of the equitie of this action you shall finde it to be iust in reason in religion and in the practise of the church It is iust in reason Thomas 1. p. q. 76. a. s. disputing how fitte a receptacle the bodie of man is for the soule of mā shewes that Natura non deest in necessarijs Nature is not wanting in things necessarie But as nature hath giuen to bruit beastes hornes and hoofes téeth talants for defence and offence so hauing giuen vnto man none of these she hath giuen him reason and hands in stéede of these Man naturally consists of a bodie and a soule his soule is comprehensiue of vniuersalities and hath Uirtutem ad infinita it is able to deuise and contriue infinite things nature hath sette no bounds nor limits to the thoughts or opinions of the soule neither hath she set any boundes to the couerings of the bodie but as the soule is able to deuise a couering for the bodie of such a temper as shal hold out the dint of sword and smaller shotte and to deuise engins of warres for batterie and assaults so hath shee giuen handes to the body which are organa organorum instruments of instruments to frame these whē they are deuised Nature not being wanting in things necessary there may bée a time wherein it shall be iust and necessary for the soule of man to contriue weapons engins of offence for the hands to worke them the body and armes to weare and weild them and to put them in execution such is the time of warre It is iust in religion for the spirite of God which is a holy spirite that neuer persuades men vnto any sinne was vpon Iehaziel verse 14. of this chapter exhorting Iudah and Ierusalem to this action at the putting on of their armour Exodus 15. this is Gods Title The Lorde is a man of warre In the Psalmes he is saide to teach the fingers of the warrier to fight and to couer his head in the day of battell in the time of warre the battells fought are saide to be Gods battels and the ouerthrowes giuen are saide to be giuen by him It is iuste in the practise of the Church Deut. 20. 2. When the armies are come to an enterview and the battell readie to ioyne God commaundes the Priest to stand forth and encourage the souldier God hath so disposes of our function that wée shal carie the harts of the people in our handes and either discourage them from the fight when God i◠angry as Michaiah the Prophet did 2 〈…〉 18. 16. I saw all Israell scattered in the mountaines as sheepe that haue no shephearde let them returne euery man to his house in peace Or animate and harten them on to the fight when God is with them as the Priests did in the 6 of Iosua when they blew the trumpets and the walls of Iericho fell before them This hath béene the practise of the Church of England by the testimonie of our owne Chronicles when the honour of our nation the chiualrie of England hath béene in the fielde it hath béene vsed for a sufficient argument of encouragement vnto the Souldier before the actuall encounter with the enimie to saye thus much This daye is the Church of England vppon her knees for vs. The action of warre béeing thus found to be good lawfull in reason in religion and in the practise of the Church it followes in the second place to discouer the cause y ◠makes it to be iust and lawful The cause of Warre Warre is of the nature of iust iudgemēt and the calamities that waite vpon warre be very great therefore as a Judge doeth not punish euery light offence but such as are against the good of the common weale so warre is not to be vndertaken vpon euery light occasion but vpon such as shall bée proportionable to the dammage distresse of warre Because there are many false claimes and titles laide vpon the action of warre to iustifie the same it shall not be amisse to shut out the false titles as
is the difficultie of mans attaining to his ende trées and plants all inferiour creatures attaine their perfection and end with fewe motions with nourishment and augmentation The holy Angels of god attained vnto their end with one motion with one conuersion vnto god in instanti euen at the instāt of their creation became blessed But Man is cōpared in the ps to a watch he hath a great many gimols appertaining to him to mooue him hee mooues like a watch or a coatche with many whéeles The act of his vnderstanding giues him one motion presenting the obiect to him which he must embrace his appetite sensitiue giues him another motion cōtrarie to the former caro concupiscit aduersus spiritum the flesh lusteth against the spirite His own will giues him another motion God created it to moue it selfe ad opposita the external obiect giues him another motion The view of the forbidden fruit moued Eue to taste and eate it God himselfe which hath the hart of man in his hands and turnes it as the riuers in the South giues him another motion among all these some mouing regular some retrograde some forward some backwarde some towardes heauen some towardes earth It is no hard matter to tune an instrument of musick A paier of virginals or a payre of Organs when euery string and pipe is out of tune but man being a creature so witty so subtle so proude so surlie so wedded to his own will opinions rolling vpon so many whéeles to set euery string pipe of man in tune to make al his motions concur and agrée to gither Hic labor hoc epus est It is the hardest professiō in y e world to be a preacher The 4. reason is a riddle I pray you riddle me what is that that is the highest the lowest the fairest the foulest the strongest the weakest the richest the porest the happiest the vnhappiest the safest and the most in danger of any thing in the world I will not promise euerie one of you as Samson did a new sute of apparell to expound it It may bee this age wil take order for the Cleargies liberality yet I must tell you that as Samsons riddle was not expounded but by ploughing with Samsons Heifer so this cannot be declared but by ploughing w t Gods own Heifer And that I may not hold you long in suspence it is all but one thing it is a good Christian He is the highest thing in the world his conuersation is in heauen Col. He is the lowest thing in the world euery man treads vpon him he may say with Dauid De profundis ad te clamaui From the deapthes haue I called vnto thee This is very low He is the fairest thing in the world he is a member of the church of God which for her beautie is compared in the Canticles to the Sunne and the Moone and to an Armie well ordered and set in good aray thrée things very beawtifull to looke vpon He is the fowlest thing in the world so disguised with Watching Weeping Fasting Pennaunce and manie other voluntarie afflictions of bodie and mind that he lookes like a bottle dried in the smoak and tanned many times with the sun of persecution he growes as black as if he had lien among the pots He is the strōgest thing in the world he hath faith he hath hope he hath loue thrée strong thinges faith hath a force to remoue mountaines hope is an ancor that staies the greatest ships in the greatest storms loue is as strong as death it enters the strongest holde neither walles nor bulworks nor rampiers can keepe it out what a strength had Dauid Non timebo quid faciat mihi homo I will not feare what man can do vnto me What a strength had Eliah the Prophet that durst go to a king and face him and tell him that it was he that troubled all Israell A good christian hath sometime a strength and a power in his eie passing the eie of Plantianus Herodian saith of Plantianus Seuerus the Emprors minion that he had such a teror in his couetenance that men durst not looke him in the face if they did they were so dawnted that it droue them to cast their eies downe vnto the ground For this cause when he went abrode he had certaine Anteambulones some that ran before him to marshall the way and giue warning of his comming that men might cast their eies to the earth as hee passed by but this terror was vnto his inferiors It is said of S. Benedictus that he had such a power and terror in his eie euen to his superiors that casting but a look vpon Totylas the king of the Gothes afurious an audacious king hee made him quake and tremble Marke it when you wil in the persecutions of the church you shall many times discouer such a glorie and maiestie in the countenaunce of them that are put to death as was in the face of Stephē when he was stoned their torments are more afraid of them than they are of their torments Yet are they againe so weake at another time if God do but hide himselfe a while that eyther they complaine with Dauid Quare tristis incedo dum affligit me inimicus Why goe I thus heauily while mine enemy oppresses me Or couch down with Eliah vnder a Juniper trée wearie of themselues and desire God to take awaie their life He is the richest thing in the worlde hee hath Christ Jesus the very treasure riches of God and in him all thinges he is the poorest thing againe hee hath his good name and his goodes taken from him Heb. 11. 37. He is destitute afflicted and tormented euen to the losse of life it selfe at last He is the happiest thing in the world he hath a good conscience which is a continuall feast Prou. 15. He is againe the vnhappiest his handes be tied hee may not be reuenged his eies be muffled he may sée no vanitie his lips be sealed hée may not render rebuke for rebuke and liuing here in this world which is a kind of Paradice to carnall men full of Honour and wealth and pleasures which many other men embrace while GOD hath set him as the Poets fained of Tantalus vppe to the chinne in these thinges and will not suffer him to taste them Touch not taste not handle not What a miserable life is this Last of all he is the safest thing in the world he is euer vnder the shadowe and protection of the winges of God he is also the most in danger in soule and in body of any thing in the world his soule is the very But against which Satan dischargeth all his shot of temptations his bodie manie times in perils by sea by lande among false brethren compassed about with daunger on the right hand and on the left Being the office of the preacher to bring both these endes togither and euerie man being desirous to be partaker of the
of people the exhortatiōs differ They that haue already beléeued are so affected with heuenly things that they despise the world such are exhorted to looke for trouble aduersitie before it comes so deales our Sauior Iames Paul with their schollers such as are affected with the world and doe not yet stedfastly beléeue God is contented to drawe them vnto him with promises of worldly prosperitie that by these steppes they may ascend by little and little to loue him for himselfe at last Such were they that Iehoshaphat spake vnto men affected with their peace and prosperitie hee therefore exhorts them to beléeue the prophets with an expectation of prosperitie S. Iohn Ep. 3. discouers two kindes of prosperitie to his friend Gaius one of the soule another of the body and he wishes both to him Where the holy prophets and priests of God haue their due regard credite both these folow the soul prospers the prophets doctrine is likend in scripture to raine mās soule is the ground into which it falleth and by the watering thereof many a goodlie flowre of Fayth Hope Loue Temperaunce and such like heauenly vertues créepe out of the paradice of the soule The bodie prospers also Ps 8. 13. O that my people had hearkened vnto me sayth God I would haue humbled their enemies and turned my hand against their aduersaries The reason of it is the same by which we say trees and plants do prosper which standing with the roote in the mire in the water draw that to them which is good for them and refuse that which is hurtfull and so they grow and prosper not by any vnderstanding of their own but because they are guided ab intelligentia non errante they are guided by god whose vnderstāding neuer erres The knowledge of the prophet is a light streaming out of Gods own bosome into the breastes of y e prophet as the learning of the scholer is a paterne of the learning of the master so the knowledge of y t prophet is a bright heame of the knowledge that is in god they that will beléeue the prophets shall be guided ab intelligentia non errante by an vnderstanding y t neuer erres they shall prosper in their actions Contrariwise they that despise and reiect the Priestes and the Prophets sent vnto them are like vnto a beaten bark in the maine sea without rudder without maister without Card or Compasse snatched away with euery flaw and rent vpon euery rocke they can neuer prosper It shal be good for you in these dayes wherein men haue laide all their batterie against the Church as if there were nothing in this kingdome out of order but the Church to considder somewhat better of your owne selues and doe it in time For I dare bée bolde to tell you that God can not abide to sée that kingdome prosper which cannot abide to sée his church prosper 2. Chron. the foure and twentieth chapter and twentith verse Why transgresse ye the commandements of the Lord saith Zechariah surely ye shall not prosper The worde was no sooner out of his mouth but the people conspired against him they got him to be made away by the kings commaundement The holy man saide no more to it at his death but this The Lorde looke vpon it and require it and the yeare was no sooner come about but God sent an army against them smaller in number than themselues closed them all in their enemies hands the kingdome was spoyled the nobilitie destroyed and rifled the pray sent to Damascus the king himselfe murdered in his bed by his owne seruauntes and all this was done saith the holyghost for the blood of the children of the Priestes As many of you as take our prosperitie to bee a pricke in your eies laye this to your heartes and thinke vpon it It grieueth me to speake it and it grieueth me more to thinke it you may see it if you will that whilest you are whetting of a knife for to cutte our throates God is whetting of a sworde to cut your throats It was the promise of our Sauiour that the Faith of the Church shoulde remooue mountaines and indeede the persecuting heathen emperors were very great mountaines that stoode verie high and very stiffe in the churches way but the faith of the Church hath remoued them all out of her way It was the praier of the Church against her ennemies long since Dorsum eorum incurua Lord bow down their backs looke vpon Domitian Decius Dioclesian Iulian the apostata Herod and Antiochus and a number such like Princes persecuting of the church all their backes haue bin sodainely bowed downe or broken by one feareful death or other Valerian the emperour was a bitter enemy of the Church and it pleased GOD in his life time so to bow downe his backe that he made him a footestoole for his prowd ennemie the King of Persia to get vp to horse Looke vppon the liues or vpon the deaths of all the princes of the earth that euer stoode vp in opposition against the church you shal find that verified in them that Dauid noted Uindemiat spiritum principum he cuttes off the spirits of Princes In which maner of spéech he likeneth GOD to a vinerole and the Princes of the earth to great clusters of Grapes in the time of Uintage when they are ripe and the measure of their sins full then commeth God in with his paring knife he shareth off these great clusters one after an other and sweepeth them awaye quite from the face of the earth My Text hauing thus ledde mee by steppes and degrées vppe to the chinne in the Churches quarrell because that after the last seruice I perfourmed to the Church in this place it was told me to my head fortie miles hence in the presence of an honourable man that I had stricken at some great person and should be called in question for it I do not thinke but my innocencie was lookte into in that it was almost two yeares since and from that daye to this I neuer heard more of it Neuerthelesse that I be no more mistaken I wil speake a word or two to this purpose and so commit you to God I remember the Prophet Hieremie in his fourth chapter and fourth vers finding his speach to be of little force amongest the common people said thus to himselfe surely they are poore and foolish and knowe not the way of the Lorde I will get mée to the great men speake to them for they know it But when he had taken a view of them he confessed that they also had cast away the yoke of their obedience vnto god This was not my drift at that time neither is it my intent now I do rather set before mine eies the complaint of the Prophet Hieremie Lament 3. where he compareth great persons to fine gold and to the stones of the sanctuarie and bewailes to sée them in disgrace If it be