were the Persians behind the rest for though Herodotus a noble writer tells us nothing of the Magi in sole command but upon one onely time when they gained it by craft yet Mendoza commends them as accounting nothing in a man so princely as wisedom and learning therefore saith he where ever they found those there they chose though the men were of obscure note and quality poor and fortunelesse of weak bodies young years unbeauteous and those as Governours honoured But above all the Greeks honoured learned men with sole rule in so much that the fame of Greece grew rather from their excellent wisedom then great strength from their wise Sages then potent Souldiers and so did the Romans too and no Nation did the contrary so true is that of Alexander I had rather excell in knowledge then be potent in Armies These civilities and tokens of gratitude did former Ages expresse to learned men not more out of ingenuity and candor then necessity experience telling them that without their care and counsel neither peace nor war could well be managed and therefore them to honour and with them to close was to make a Virtue of Necessitie For who but these have been Lawgivers Counsellors and Rulers at home Ambassadors abroad demanded detained Rights mediated upon breaches made or prevented them that they be not Sollicited Leagues offensive and defensive treated upon effected compacts upon marriages and alliances it would be endless to nominate the good offices they have done for their Countryes what hazards they have undergone what defences they have made what storms they have kept off what gainful adventures they have promoted what staples of trade honour increase they have setled in short they may well be termed the Fathers of their Countries the Sine qua non's without which Realms and Commonwealths would import no more then Polyphemus his Statue which wanted its right Eye and beauty And therfore those that would exclude learned men from Rule and Government should do well first to declare their Project to make a Mutiny in the Universe and put an arrest upon intercourse to disturb the venust Eutaxie of this Globe and design invasion of the Sun Moon and Stars yea of their Maker and to dethrone him which when they effect I will fear the utter ruine of Learning and Learned men but not before The Sun indeed may be darkened and the Moon withdraw her light the Stars of heaven may fall and the foundations of Science may quiver through the Earthquakes that mens sins and passions may occasion but the world Rational and Intellectual is founded upon the abiding Pillars of Gods love and faithfulnesse of his stability and power as well as the world Elementary and the power and policy of men furious as Attila and crafty as Borgia shall never dissolve what God first deserts not Let it be the Learned mans care to honour God and to do good and in well doing to wait upon him and verily he shall inherit the land and be fed Psalm 37. 3. Yea let it be his Emulation to excel men in virtue as well as in Speculation Oratory Craft and Sublimenesse of capacity and there will be no fear but this bow of Ionathan will abide sure Think not O Powers and People that they can despond who know God sitteth upon the Circle of the earth and rideth upon the heaven to his peoples help under whom are his everlasting arms and to whom he is a Refuge who sees the tendencies and tempers of men and things setling them after their tedious and discomposed march through all the points of this Compass in the North point of his Glory can they give over their confidence who know God has appointed them a strong City and Salvation for walls and Bulwarks whose enemies are more Ants for industry then Eagles in power that the wounds they receive are more from the taunts of female and acide tongues then the rebukes of sober and well-stated reason who consider that Revolutions of persons and Governments are usuall and ought to be prepared for and submitted too that time spares not the best men The Patriarchs where are they and the Prophets do they live for ever Zach. 1. 5. Nor the best governments They all wax old as doth a garment by this Canker which frets out their life and lustre all things in this Hemesphere being compound discontinuous lubrick and crying to vengeance Thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time is come for the harvest of the earth is ripe Rev. 14. 15. come to their period That ingenuous Pope Pius the Second from hence fore spoke an end of the Roman Empire which in his time was sick and near unto death so that there was more need to prepare its grave then call for its Physician and therefore weighing these things the learned cannot but resolve with the Church Micha the 7. to bear the indignation of the Lord because they have sinned against him until he plead their cause and execute judgement for them In this God we hope and for this visitation in mercy we will wait though the figtree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be on the Vines though the labour of the Olive should fail and the fields yield no meat the flock be cut off from the field and there shall be no heard in the Stalls as the words are Hab. 3. 17. Know this O Powers and People we of the bookish race are not so vain to trust in a shadow or disquiet our selves in vain we put not our trust in Chariots or Horse-men we will trust in the Name of the Lord and not fear what man can do unto us Quisquis meliora sperat levioribus nunquam frangitur we will with the favour of God persist in our Race through Arts and Sciences and our God pronounce Labour in vain on all those Actions which shall in any degree hinder this honourable and Christian Resolution and be they restrained by God who with Sanballet and Tobiah discourage this endeavour We will not build as Nehemiahs consorts did with swords in our hands they that thus take up the Sword may perish by the Sword holy contests must not be with Swords and staves those were the weapons of Christs apprehenders but with Prayers and Tears the Spiritual weapons of Christians war-fare Non armata patientia sed potentiore patientia and if these will either convince or prostrate our accusers and opposers we will not be wanting to our selves and though with Haman they plot our destruction yet will we not sin against God in ceasing to pray that the iniquitie of their hearts may be forgiven them We will not say despairingly with Esai's Eunuch We are drie trees because we desire to chuse the things that please our God and take hold of his Covenant and therefore hope to have a place in his house and a name better then of Sons and Daughters we
Atheism and irreligious Desperation that rears such Principles for when the heart is courted to believe nothing good or bad but what is fortunate or unfortunate then relucts it the Counsels and restraints of Divine Precepts and consciencious checks and flyes only to a fond and blind Chance or Oracle of Contingency accounting every thing that 's prosperous good and that 's dejected naught Faelix faustumque scelus virtus vocatur T was a damnable lewdness of Aruns his wife who to enjoy lustfully her Brother tells him that when a Kingdom is in pursuit small Evills as she called them were not to to be boggled at This leads then upon Designes in themselves rash though sometimes by the permission of God successfull as it did Regilianus the more bold then Judicious Emperour whose spirit being too great to buckle under the Command of power kindled towards an adventure of enlargment either by loss of life or gain of Honour Crowns the Meta ultima of Humane Felicity he judg'd not Profferers of their service to Men irresolute And therefore his Conclusion was to try what Witt and Boldness would offer him as the Trump that should carry the Game into that hand which held it In a Bravado he makes a Banquet and to it invites his Fellow-soldiers There he feeds them high and they to testify their acceptation drink freely In the midst of their mirth One probably appointed by him propounding whence the word Regilianus was derived a Grammarian by chance there was asked of the Company to give the etymologie of Regilianus who replyed Regilianus à Rege nomen ortum habet the Souldiery warmed with good liquor cryed out Meritò itaque Rex eris and so it passed for currant and he was Emperour which was by means not probable to such an end no more then a Cockle-shell is likely to empty the Ocean O Ambition thou art coccle in the goodly Corn of a virtuous mind thou art the wild Vine which bringest death into the pot of fairest hopes thou art the Harlot whom whosoever embraceth goeth down to the Chambers of death thou art the Divel that courtest men up to the pinnacle of the Temple that thence they may be hurled down to irrecoverable ruine They who are deserted by God and applauded by men fall into thy snares Thou hast traps for thine admirers of all sorts all ages in all Countries There is none that thy madnesse precipitates not but he that is kept by the Keeper of Israel who neither slumbreth nor sleepeth And therefore every man should look about him to keep this fury from his elbow as the great exciter to disorder and ruine This put Alexander upon invasion of others Dominions his own bounds were too narrow to limit his emulation Alexander great in the world thought the world a little ease a cage to him This Ambition made Absolom rebel Pompey fire Rome with quarrels Herostratus an obscure fellow that hee might be remembred burn the famous Ephesian Temple nay it endangered a crack in the glorious Eutaxie of Heaven which could not be expiated but by the dejection of Lucifer that first quickned it This is usually the companion of Changes distracted times and alterations produce this Monster Those who think they deserve better then God knows they do and have lesse then they are in their own opinion able to manage make out to the prey and rather will have it as Simeon and Levi had reparations for the indignity offered their Sister by force then not at all To these who would build when God is demolishing and plant when he is eradicating that is applicable which was said to Baruch Seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not It is a mercy to the soul more indicative of Gods indulgence to be restrained from accomplishing swelling Designes then to have Kingdoms Wealth Learning Beauty or what-ever is the darling of this mutable and pompous World It was good counsel which Turktill Abbot of Croyland gave his Monks Keep that fire Let O man of God this holy Lamp of zeale never go out in the Temple of thy soul cherish it with daily supplyes from that Ocean which is never dry but abounds and will increase thee while thou seekest in humility to be enabled to a devout lustre and calefaction of others True and well-ordered zeal will purifie and purge the soul from all restivenesse and stupid indifferencie and inflame it to a revenge on beloved sins On this score Moses abhorrs the golden Calf Abraham quits his Country the Saints and Martyrs their lives nay this to do did our Lord Jesus descend from heaven to earth as he testifies Iohn 18. 37. This is the ballast that keeps the soul from tottering and losing way in its steerage to heaven This keeps it close to old truth and makes it mistrust new as false lights though they glister never so amazingly This carries the soul to Christ with earnest and vehement petitions to be kept safe amidst temptations This will perswade the soul to esteem highly of holy Truths and holy men who speak according to the Law and testimony and to reject whatsoever comes with Nicodemus in the night undiscerned and stealingly upon us not daring to abide the test or the examen of Scripture 't will weigh glorious Nothings the Wens and Excrements of Religion in the balance and if they bee not weight publish them to be light matters of Deceit 'T will separate 'twixt the Sheep and the Goat the Chaffe and the Corn and in all things carry it self gratefully to God whose mercy has onely made the difference for what has it which it hath not received 1 Cor. 4. ver 7. Were this as much in deed as in word amongst us we should not huckster it in Religion as we doe nor could we thus dishonour the nobility of our souls by mean and vulgar regards of them as in the loosenesse of our principles and practices we not onely seem but really shew we do while we prefer our bodies before our souls our corruptible before our incorruptible selves When we are sick in body we send for the most noted learned and experienced Physician we can meet with No Quack no Emperick no barbarous Farrier-like practiser will serve the turn we cry yea and that wisely too Best is best cheap but in Affairs 'twixt God and our souls in the resolution of doubts about heaven and that conversation which must bring us thither through the Mercy of God any one serves the turn Ioane as the Proverb is is as good as my Lady the most rude and illiterate most acceptable rather chuse we the Bramble then the Vine rather those that know nothing but pride and prattle then those Bees of glory the learned Ministers who are laden with honey and would be glad to lodg what they have pluck'd by the assistance of God from the Flowers of Study and Meditation in the hives of humble
if there be any sorrow like my sorrow We pity the fond zeal of carnal men and giddy professors who begin well but are hindred in their way by wiles of men crafty and by their own lusts regnant in them who have a clamorous Magnificat for Diana and an Hosanna for Christ who are contented with nothing but discontents changes and every thing that fights against the power of godlinesse and proclaim a Treaty with all the infernal Furies the Divel the world and the flesh And in fine we pray for Charity which the Apostle calls the bond of perfection and terms greater then faith or hope because more durable the grace that only accompanies us to heaven there stays with us and the grace that makes us live heavenly upon earth without which all grace is but as sounding brasse or a tinkling cymball yea without which the gifts of Prophecying understanding mysteries and all knowledge faith able to remove mountains distribution of all we have to the poor yea martyrdom it self is nothing 1. Cor. 13. These and other things we professe to concur in with all sound Protestants and if this to believe and thus to do be to be scandalous Popish disaffected we would not be of good report nay we pray we may carry this Crosse of Christ to our graves and account this Reproach great Glory We can comfort our selves in these buffetings revilings contempts as in the sufferings of Christ which are to be fulfilled by us as by the holy men of all ages foregoing members of his body the Church Col. 1. 24. For as S. Ierom saies 'T is a great glory to reach from earth to heaven from dust and ashes to a being of immortality of Servants to be made Sons and of beggars heirs heirs of a Kingdom and that of heaven too the most durable and supream dignity our nature is capable of For we can through the power of Christ wish our selves accursed for his sake and resolve to be and suffer his rebuke without smiting again though we had power and command thereto since thus God hath allowed Religion to be defendedâ—… non saevitiâ sed patientiâ non scelere sed fide and we hope while we thus walk to Sion with our faces thitherward we shall be suffered to passe safe and if we fall with the good man in the Gospel into the hands of men cruel and inhumane shall have Powers like good Samaritans to restore what is unjustly taken from us and pour oyle and wine into our wounds yea we pray though not for preferment not for gain by wording godlinesse yet for permission to worship the God of our Fathers though after the way which some men mis-naÌ„me Superstition Formality Will-worship not thereby intending Rivalry with any other way of worship but desiring to attend upon Gods discovery in the use of that means which we are perswaded is according to the word of God written in the Law and in the Prophets and to which the judgments of many holy Martyrs and men have given testimony and this we trust your favour will permit since to others no more nor no truer Protetestants then we this liberty is indulged as a means to propagate the Gospel and since that of Casiodore ought to be in the mindes of Governours Neminem gravare debet Imperium quod ad utilitatem debet respicere singulorum This O Powers is the sense of those who are well-willers to learning who would not have troubled the world with any taste of their fears and sufferings or defence of their innocency did not their silence amidst the many provocations of bold and defamatory challengers in some sense and in easie peoples opinions though not in Truth confesse them guilty impunitatem consequuntur mali dum modesti tacent yea did not they fear Crowns of thorns preparing if some may have their wills for their captive heads for which Crowns of gold and silver for a memorial in the Temple of the Lord are I hope appointed as the Phrase is Zach. 6. 11. 14. so true is that of the Orator Nihil est tam sanctum quod non aliquando violetaudacia For mine own part I professe before God Angels and men I am moved to this service to the Muses not out of Passion not out of Vain-glory not to gratifie any party I Love or displease any party with whom in principle I coÌ„ply not these would be uningenious motives and receive their defeat and brand to be unproper foundations for so Christian a work that which rouses me up is that glory of God peace on earth and good will to men all which are propagated by Learning and the promise of God to own those that in a right and pious way own him I look upon the primitive Fathers and Christians who thought not so meanly of their faith and art as to forbear owning them for fear they might be lost with their party or lie too open to the worlds knowledge of them I love a sober freedom in a cause that concerns whatever is dear to man his soul his eternity his fame all which are in hazard if Learning and Learned men grow obsolete Our Lord says If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch There is nothing so great a spur to me next the glory of God as the Presidents of former times and the courage of holy men who were more ready to suffer then deserve so ill requitall of their integrity Synesius tells us nothing is more rhetoricall then sufferings the blood of Martyrs was seed to the Church and made their persecutors turn admirers yea sometimes sufferers it is surely a great distrust of God which makes men faint in a good cause how much more Evangelical and Christian were the minds of Polycarpus Athanasius Cyril Cyprian Iustin Martyr Arnobius Epiphanius Luther Melancthon and all the holy Fathers and Reverend Bishops of the Church who dealt with men like Solinus his Agriophagi who fed upon Panthers and Lions and breathed out nothing but bloud and wounds then are ours while we are to deale with Christian Magistrates well disciplned souldiers and common people who have heard of Christ and seem to cry a daily Hosannah to him Why should we not believe that God will protect and men pardon if not be perswaded to love those who call to them as Ionas did almost out of the Whales belly in the language of the Disciples to their Lord and Master Carest thou not that we perish Who O who knowes the mind of God perhaps God is now dealing with our Governours as with Artaxerxes to contribute to the restoring of the destroyed places of religion and learning It may be not by might nor by power but by his Spirit by a jawbone by rams horns all the rampiers raised against learning may with Iericho's wals fall down and therefore it concerns us all to wait the good pleasure of God and to cast our bread upon the waters to do