fruit thereof let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name may be no more remembred IV. Amongst the righteous men Satan is most incensed against those whom God pickes out from amongst the rest separates for some speciall and excellent worke in the Church or in the State For as Pirates saile by Barkes and small ships and boord Carrackes and other huge ships laden with the riches of the Orient so Satan lyeth in wait for those principally on whom God hath bestowed greatest plenty of gifts and preferred to the most eminent places in his Church As long as Iacob meddled with nothing at home Esau lived peaceably with him Sought he and obtained he his fathers blessing then Esau vowed to kill him Whilest Iesus Christ led a private life and made no shew of those treasures of heavenly graces which were hid in him the divell considered him not but when the Spirit lighted upon him in the bodily shape of adove when his Fathers voice was heard from heaven saying This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased when by the Baptisme of water and of the Spirit he was installed in the dignitie and imployment of Mediatour betwixt God and man then the divell heeded him tempred him set on foote against him as many enemies as there were men which knew him When Saul was a Pharisee exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers and a persecuter of the Church hee was much regarded and honoured of the Iewes but when of a Captaine he became an Apostle of a violent Persecuter a most zealous Preacher of a Iew a Christian of Saul Paul he became therwith a marke wherat the divell and his Angells did shoote all the venemous and fierie arrowes of their indignation What wonder then if the divell who hath ever his bow bent and ready aimeth chiefly at the Rammes and Leaders of Christs flocke hee knoweth by long experience and too too many tryalls that it is not written in vain l Zac. 13.7 Mat. 26.31 I will smite the shepheard and the sheepe of the flocke shall be scattered abroad V. Ye see then againe upon what condition ye are and name your selves Christians m Ioh. 15.19 If saith Christ ye were of the world the world would love his owne but because yee are not of the World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hateth you Tribulation trouble sorrow griefe teares all the evills that the divells malice can find out are the Christian mans portion in this world His hopes are not of this life for no reward is promised unto him but in the world to come As the bird-catcher casteth a little corne before the birds and hideth the net wherewith he involves them and as the fisher covereth the fish-hooke with the mortall bait whereunto hee knoweth the fish will speedily swimme so these which mind to deceive promise alwayes pleasant things and like unto the Syrenes of the Poets they sing most sweete songs to charme the simple ones whom they go about to intrap but the venome is in the taile and hee who listeneth unto them is amazed to see how by too much credulitie he hath bin drawn upon the dangers is sunke among the shelves of stinging cares and killing evills n Gen. 3.4 5. The divell spake of nothing to Eve but of knowledge of good and evill but of immortalitie but of eternity of life but of being like unto God himselfe what-she found ye know all Ignorance death resemblance to the imposter who had deceived her was the reward of the lightnesse of her beleefe o Mat 4.8 9. The Tempter shewed to Christ all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them and promised them all unto him so that he would fall downe and worship him p Mat. 7.15 The false Prophets come in sheepes cloathing that when oportunity shall serve they may dismember the whole flock The Papists and other Heretikes of this age couer their deadly poyson of false doctrine with the sugar of entising words and shew to those which have not their senses exercised to discerne both good and evill a golden cuppe of most delightfull and pleasant promises which when they put to their head they drinke nothing but gall and wormewood Fathers doe not so to their children they send them to the schoole give them Pedagogues and Tutors to instruct them and hold them in awe keepe them under a most seuere and rigorous discipline untill they come to mans age and be able to doe good service Then and no sooner they looke upon them with a cleere face they use them familiarly they open to them their purses they advance them to honours and dignities they make them their heires After this manner our heavenly Father at the beginning speakes to us most roughly of sorrowes and vexations hee schooles us in Christs Colledge where afflictions are our Tutors and rods our lessons q Mat 7.14 He forewarneth us that the way wherein we are to walke till we come to the pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore is narrow and spred over with thornes that the gate whereby we must enter if wee desire to enter into the kingdome of his glory is very straite and low to the end that when we finde such a way wherein there is nothing but narrownesse grinnes and bryars and such a gate wherein we cannot enter without pressing thrusting and stooping we may say one to another as it is written in the Prophet r Isa 30.21 This is the way walke yee in it whether ye turne to the right hand and whether yee turne to the left and concluding with reioycing as Iacob did in his great affliction Å¿ Gen. 8.17 This is the gate of heaven pray and say with David t Psal 118.18 19. Open to me the gates of righteousnesse I will goe into them I will praise the Lord this is the gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter VI. Flesh and blood cannot abstaine from controlling of this wise and fatherly course which Almightie God takes with his beloved children It is a strange and most uncouth thing to mans conceit that God not onely permits that his Saints which feare his Majestie which doe his will which lead among men an Angelicall life and are heaven upon earth should be thus exposed to so many calumnies vexations torments losses in commodities of this life and most dangerous tentations but also will be called the Author and cause of them all for it is he hee himselfe which asketh v Amos 3 6. Shall there be any evill in the citie and shall not the Lord doe it x Lam. 3.38 Evill and good proceede they not out of the mouth of the most High May he not represse the raging furie of our adversaries may hee not convert them all as hee did Paul If he will not convert them may he not destroy them at unawares as
vanities Vanity of vanities all is vanity III. If such be the condition of Kings of Princes of Courtiers of Statesmen who have their portion in this life and seeme to be in a safe harbour against all kindes of stormes and in all weathers who is able to relate all the troubles which disquiet the mindes of other men and steepe the few drams of worldly comforts which they taste but seldome in their lives with a quintall of gall One bewaileth the death of his only sonne another curseth the day wherin he was made the father of a man childe this man complaineth of his wives disloyaltie that man conveyeth his wife to the sepulchre with sadnesse and teares He who lived in ease is ashamed to see himselfe stript of all that he had and he who spoyled him is amazed when he is also spoyled by another stronger than himselfe One amongst an hundred mourneth for the death of his friend who was to him more faithfull and steadable than a brother but manie fret and are much moved when they see their familiar friends in whom they trusted and in whose bosome they did lay all their secrets lift up their heeles against them To be short there is no tongue that can fully ex presse all the evils that are incident to man in his person and state neither is there any man who feeleth not with paine the portion of those evils which is shared unto him As they that sayle in shallow waters amongst rocks and shelves of sand are not voyde of danger and of feare so they that hoyse up sayles amongst the waves and surges of the tempestuous sea of this life are not freed from annoyes and discontentments all their pleasures are like the Locusts whereof mention is made in the Revelation which k Revel 9 8 10. had hayre as the hayre of women to entice with goodly shewes and tayles like unto Scorpions to sting with mortall discontent They shall leave off to be mortall men when evill shall leave off to pursue them and teares shal not be wipt from their eyes untill death hath closed their eye lids l Iob 5.7 For man is borne unto trouble as the sparkes rise up to flye and m Psal 90.10 the strength of his dayes is labour and sorrow IV. But amongst and above all men many are the evils of the righteous man as David said when hee was forced through feare 1. Sam. 21.13 to change his behaviour before Abimelech King of Gath and faining himselfe madde escaped his enemies indignation for he feareth not to call himselfe righteous and calling to memorie the great number of evills which hee had endured from the first day of his anointing till then he pronounceth that many are the evils of the righteous Which he speaketh so of himselfe that he extendeth it to all those who can claime the title of righteous men to themselves And because this saying is confirmed by the experience of all ages and therefore it may seeme very strange that a righteous man should be so storm-beaten with afflictions he mitigateth the bitternesse of this averred sentence with the sweetnesse of this no lesse experimented conclusion But the Lord delivereth him out of them all So the Text taketh you by the hand and pointeth out to you first a righteous man and his manifold afflictions secondly the LORD and his deliveries whereunto if ye adde a question which is implyed in the first part why the LORD permitteth the righteous man to be so roughly used ye shal have in these parts the matter of sundry Sermons the first of the righteous man and of the characters whereby he is known The second and third of the evils wherewith the righteous man is on all sides thunder-stricken The fourth and fift of the causes wherefore Almighty GOD and his loving father suffereth him to be pushed and tossed to and fro with so manie evils The rest shall be of the Lords deliverances Let us then begin at the first part and our beginning and helpe be in the Name of the Lord who hath made heaven and earth Amen V. If ye define and describe exactly the righteous man by the rules of the Law which ascribeth this glorious and most excellent title to those onely whose persons are from the womb without spot whose actions are without sinne and in whose lives Gods all-seeing eyes can perceive no blemish let Papists say what they will we will truly say with David in the Old Testament n Psal 14.10 There is none that doth good no not one and with S. Paul in the New Testament o Rom. 3.10 There is none righteous no not one For if Papists speake of such men as are by S. Iude called p Iude ver 19. sensuall not having the spirit and say That they may keepe the Law of God if they will the holy and true Apostle giveth them the lye saying in the New Testament that q 1. Cor. 2.14 The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neyther can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Now if he cannot know them what ability can he have to doe them And therefore Eliphaz sayth of such a man in the Old Testament that r Iob 15.16 he is abominable and filthy drinking iniquity like water for he is flesh he is nothing but flesh nothing but corruption and sinne and Å¿ Rom. 8.7 the affection of the flesh is enmitie against God for it is not subiect to the Law of God neyther indeed can be If then we fit to these carnal men the words which Ieremy spake to his auditors asking of them t Ier. 13.23 r Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may you also do good that are accustomed to do evill wee shall convert them to their owne use because that v Tit. 1.15 being infidels their minde and conscience is defiled and w Rom. 8.5 being after the flesh they minde the things of the flesh If they speake of those of whom the Apostle saith that they are after the spirit and mind the things of the spirit and affirm of them that if they would they might keepe the law seeing they keepe it not and that the holiest man that ever was could not say truly x Pro. 20.9 I have made my heart cleane I am pure from my sinne then according to this saying good men are ill men honest men are knaves upright men are malicious men for y Iam. 4.17 to him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is sinne And never did any but a despitefull wicked man say I might do good if I would but I will not doe it whereas much otherwise the godly honest hearted man sayes a Rom. 7.18 19. The will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not For the good that I would I doe not
g Iuvenal Sat. 2. Esse aliquos manes subterranea regna Nec pueri credunt that whatsoever was spoken of old amongst the Gentiles is written in the Scriptures is beleeved in the Church of divels of hell of everlasting torments is but a bug-beare or scare-crow to feare superstitious folkes and hold them in awe But they strive unprofitably against the streame of their owne consciences which with a roaring voice doth summon them day and night to appeare before the judgement seat of the inexorable and Almighty Iudge Of all men those feare hell most who say there is no hell The sound of a shaking leafe maketh their hearts to shake for feare when there is none to pursue them And even then when they preach to men that hell is a fable they finde a most direfull hell within themselves burning up the most secret bowells of their wretched soules Why did Iudas hang himselfe when there was none upon earth to doe him any harme if there be no hell Death was more tolerable unto him than the feare of the unestimable torments which now hee suffereth there What were r Suet in Nerone c. 46 the monstrous dreames of Nero What Å¿ Xiphilinus Epitome Dionis the hideous and most ugly ghosts of those whom he had slaine which he saw a little before his death bounding out of the earth and leaping to his throat but a warning to appeare the next day in judgement to give an account of so much Christian and innocent blood which he had most wickedly shed If there bee no judgement after this life from whence came it that t Pro copius de bello Gothico lib. 1. Theodoricke king of the Gothes Protector of the wicked heresie of the Arrians after hee had put to death the 2. worthy Senators of Rome Symmachus Boetius because they maintained the true faith could not looke upon the head of a great fish that was set upon his table crying that it was the head of Symmachus which with most horrible yawning and fierie eyes sought to devoure him That was a citing indeed for suddenly he was taken to his bed and from thence to the grave v Thuanus lib. 57. Aubig 2. tom lib. 1. The Authors of the Massacres of France could not be at quiet many dayes after that bloody Tragedy for the horrible sight of great multitudes of ugly Ravens hovering about the Louure and voyces which cryed incessantly in their eares Murther murther murther suing them to come personally before him who sitteth on the throne and before the Lambe whom they had slaine in his members 'T is a truth not onely x Audreas Liba de cruentatione Cadaverum Levinus Lemnius de occultis natura miraculis lib. 2. cap. 7. ascertained by bookes but also averred by dayly experience in all nations That if a murtherer come in sight of the person whom hee hath slain the Coarse though almost rotten and stinking will bleed and disclose him What is that bleeding but a testimony that if men will not y Psal 58.11 There is a God that iudgeth in the earth and in his owne time will be avenged of all murtherers namely of them who lay violent hands upon his deare ones Therefore when the soules under the Altar cryed for vengeance against the persecuters who had stained their hands with their innocent blood a Rev. 6.11 it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled For as God spared the b Gen. 15.16 Amorites till their iniquity was full and as the Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees c Mat. 23.32 Fillye up the measure of your fathers because then all the righteous blood which their fathers had shed was to come upon them So the Lord hath a time appointed for the full deliverance of his Church and everlasting destruction of his enemies even the last and great day of this decaying world d 2. Thes 1.7 8 9 10 When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall bee punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to bee admired in all that beleeve in that day XV. Day which is a day of wrath e Zephan 1.15 a day of trouble and distresse a day of vastnesse and desolation a day of darknes and gloominesse a day of clouds and thicke darkenesse A night rather than a day yea both a day and a night A day wherein Gods judgements against all ungodly men shall shine cleerer than the noone day A night because of the place of the extreamity of the universalitie of the eternity of the effects of the paine whereunto they shall bee condemned by this thundering voice and unrecallable sentence of their righteous ludge f Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divell and his Angels To hell must they goe even to the darke and ugly g 1. Pet. 3.19 prison which shall be the last habitation of all ungodly sinners How pleasant how faire soever a prison be we say that there were never faire prisons And therefore what will not a man suffer rather than to goe to prison he will flee he will give all that he hath hee will runne to his friends and cry for succour h Aug. de verbis Aposto li. serm 18 Contremiscis c onturbaris pallescis c. S. Augustine saith that in his time they would flee to the Church runne to the Bishop fall downe lye wallowing at his feete cry with a pale countenance with a trembling voice My Lord I am troubled my Lord I am to be cast in prison take pitty of me relieve me So hard so unsufferable a paine doth it seeme to all men to bee in prison though it there were no other paine to be suffered but to be closed up Yea our owne houses would be hatefull unto us if our liberty of going abroad were restrained O then how huge how intolerable shall bee the torments of those bloody butchers who have shed the blood of Gods Saints like water when they shall bee cast headlong into the hellish prison which may bee most properly called i Iob 10.21 22. the land of darknesse and of the shadow of death Where there is no order and where light it selfe is darknesse O how shall they tremble how shall they cry and teare their soules when they shall bee violently throwne downe into the k Luk. 18.31 deepe and bottomlesse pit which m Aug. in 50. Homilius hom 16 â—uÌ„ sine poenitentiae remedio infoelices peccatores exceperit c. when it hath received impenitent sinners
adde the crimination of rebellion against the higher powers of sedition against the State of contriving of plots against their native soyle that the Kings and Princes of the earth thinking their States to be much interessed by the doctrine of godlinesse may be moved to joine hands for the extirpation thereof To that purpose Satan had never want of Doegs So Ahimelech the high Priest was accused to have conspired with David against Saul their King because f 1. Sam. 21.10 13. Ahimelech in his innocencie had given victuals and the sword of Goliah to David and had enquired of the Lord for him So Ahab imputed to the Prophet Eliah that g 1. King 18.17 he troubled Israel so he confessed that h 1. King 22.8 hee hated the Prophet Micaiah because he did not prophesie good concerning him but evill So Amazia the Priest of Bethel sent to Ieroboam king of Israel saying i Amos 7.10 13. Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel the land is not able to beare all his words because Amos prophesied against the Idolatry of the ten tribes and that in Bethel which was the Kings Sanctuary and the Kings Court So Sanballat did write calumniously of Nehemiah that k Nehem. 6.6 7. hee and the Iewes thought to rebell that hee might be King and that he had appointed Prophets to preach of him at Ierusalem that he was King in Iudah So the adversaries of Iudah and Benjamin to hinder the building of Ierusalem writ to Artaxerxes l Ezr. 4.12 13 15. Be it knowne unto thee ô King that if this rebellious and bad citie be builded and the walls set up againe then will they not pay toll tribute and custome for this city is a rebellious citie and hurtful unto Kings and Provinces and they have moved sedition within the same of old time for which cause was this City destroyed c. This was Hamans common place against the Iewes m Est 3.8 They keepe not the Kings lawes therefore it is not for the Kings profite to suffer them Because n Ier. 37.17 Ieremiah warned the people of Ierusalem to yeeld to the King of Babylon according to the oath of fidelitie which they had made unto him hee was deemed to be a traytor who had falne away to the Caldeans Because Shadrach Meshach and Abednego would not worship the golden Image which the King had set up their enemies went presently to the King and said o Dan. 3.12 O King they have not regarded thee So the Presidents Princes of Persia finding no occasion against Daniel concerning his carriage in the Kings affaires charged him with contempt of the King saying p Dan. 6.13 Hee regardeth not thee ô King nor the decree that thou hast signed but maketh his petition three times a day The Iewes dreading that Pilate would not be much moved with all the accusations which they should set on foot against Christ for matters of Religion shuffled the second table with the first rebellion against Casar with blasphemie against God and said unto him q Luk. 23.2 Wee found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar saying that he himselfe is Christ a king And again r Ioh. 19.12 If thou let this man goe thou art not Caesars friend whosoever maketh himselfe a King speaketh against Caesar They held the same course against Christs Disciples for seeking the meanes to wrap them in rebellion The Rulers ſ Act. 4.18 commanded them not to speake at all nor teach in the Name of Iesus whereunto refusing to obey they t Act. 5.28 40. were arraigned before the Councell and condemned to bee beaten for their rebellion The Iewes of Thessalonica set all the citie on an uprore against Paul and Silas slandering them all the Christians of the town that v Act. 17.7 they all did contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another King one Iesus After that the tyrant x Tacit. Annal lib. 15. Nero had at diverse times set the towne of Rome on fire to please his wicked humour withall and purchased by such execrable acts the ill-will of the whole people he shifted them off himselfe and suborned false witnesses to lay them upon the Christians At that time and long after the y Tertull Apologet c. 40. Cyprian ad Demot Arnob. advers Gentes lib. 1. Aug. de Civ Dei li. 2. c. 3. Christians were accused to be the cause of all publick calamities and popular incommodities If at Rome the river Tibris running over his bankes overflowed the walls If in Egypt the river Nilus did not rise to a just height that overflowing the whole countrey it might make it fertile If the heavens were turned into brasse and refused to distill their dew upon the drie and dustie ground If the earth hardned into iron disappointed the painfull labours of the husbandman and defrauded the sower of the expected crop If the plague of famine if warres if anie epidemicall sickness went ransacking men and beasts who were blamed but the Christians Christians said they are the authors Christians are the causes of all our mischiefs 7 This hath ever beene since the reformation the heavie accusation against our fathers and us that as we are blasphemers against God so wee are rebellious against the high powers unprofitable to our selves offensive to our neighbours enemies to all mankinde So the Iesuites and other Romish Clergie perswaded the young King of France who knew us not that wee were plotting to set up a State within his State a Democracie within his Monarchie and intended to cast off the yoake of subjects that wee might become Reipublicanes subject to none but to our owne lusts and wills like the Swissers So when raine falls seldome upon the earth when the earth is unpleasant with the sluttishnesse of dust when the meddowes drawne dry with heate make the owners to sigh and the mowers to weepe when the hayle finisheth the vintage before it begin when the stormie whirlewindes plucke up the fruitfull trees by the rootes and beate downe houses when the ayre infected breatheth a mortal plague upon men and beasts when the licentious souldier steps into his neighbours house as if it were his owne when going out of it hee leaveth nothing behinde him but his owne filth and the cobwebs forgetteth nothing but to reckon with his Host and bid him farewell all ages all orders upbraid the Huguenots or as they call us now in France the Parpaillants that is to say Butter-flies as authors of all because we beleeve a new Law and will not hold the good old Law of our fathers who were as honest men and had as much insight into matters of Religion and more devotion than wee have The old world was a good world our fathers who worshipped our Lady the Queene of heaven and all the Angels and Saints which the Pope hath sent thither
our fathers who were content to beleeve as the Church beleeved our good fathers who turned and whirled about so devoutly their Paternosters and mumbled them so religiously before the holy Images which these new upstart fellowes call abominable Idols had bread and drinke enough but now since prayers are made to God alone in a knowne tongue since a few unlearned rascals and out-casts of the world begin to prate most fondly of heavenly things to flirt the holy Father on the nose and call him the Antichrist to beate downe Altars to breake Images as LEON the fourth Emperour of the Orient did c. we starve for hunger and thirst and are diven to such miserie that our state cannot bee worse This was the Iewes answer to Ieremiah a Ier. 44.17 18. Wee will burne incense unto the Queene of heaven and poure out drinke offerings unto her as we have done we and our fathers our Kings and our Princes in the cities of Iudah and in the streets of Ierusalem For then had we plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evill but since we left off to burne incense to the Queene of heaven and to poure out drinke offerings unto her we have wanted all things and have beene consumed by the sword and by the famine 8 Salomon saith b Prov. 25.18 that a man that beareth false witnesse against his neighbour is a hammer a sword and a sharpe arrow he is a hammer to the hearer who yeeldeth attention unto his slandering hee casteth him with the blowes of his viperous tongue into many dangerous symptomes and perplexitles of minde as if he felled an Oxe he is a sword to his owne soule which he killeth with such artificiall lyes he is a sharpe arrow to the innocent man whom he thus slandereth shooting at his reputation a farre off to breed him harme in one thing or other for c Psal 27.12 false witnesses breathe out crueltie d Psal 64.3 4 5. They whet their tongue like a sword and shoot in stead of their arrowes bitter words that they may shoot in secret at the perfect suddenly do they shoot at him and feare not They encourage themselves in an evill matter they commune of laying snares privily they say Who shall see them From hence arise most cruell persecutions Then yee see nothing but kindling of fires but sharpning of Swords but smoothing of Pikes but cleering of Partisans but preparing of Muskets but ravenous Harpies flying into the houses and fowling the righteous mans goods Then ye heare nothing but edicts of proscription but Spoyle spoyle Ransack ransack Kill kill with all kinde of reproaches curses and execrations Then wheresoever ye shall turne your face ye shal meet with nothing but with faces inflamed with threatnings and slaughter as e Act. 9.1 2. Sauls was when he went to Damascus to bind the Disciples of the Lord ye shal mark nothing but woodnesse but outragiousnesse but a wofull sorrowfull face of all things but hell opened the Divels unchained and all their fiery malice displayed against the righteous but ravishing of goods defiling of maried women deflowring of Virgins banishing murthering exquisite punishments grievous tortures new kindes of death and which is most insupportable to an honest heart scoffing upbraiding despitefull rayling or if you will have the roll which the Apostle hath made of the righteous mans evills f Rom. 8.35 tribulation distresse persecution famine nakednesse perill sword without exception of sex without pitie towards little children and sucklings without any reverence to the gray haire and old age The Apostle speaking of the godly and righteous men which lived under the tyrannie of the Idolatrous Kings of Iuda and Israel and under the Kings of Syria and of Egypt saith that g Heb 11.36 37 38. they had tryall of cruell mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment They were stoned they were sawen asunder were tempted were slaine with the sword they wandred about in sheepes skinnes and goat skinnes being destitute afflicted tormented Of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountaines and in dens and caves of the earth What is deare to the righteous man in this world His goods What more deare than his goods His life What dearer to him what much more esteemed of him than his goods his life and all the world Gods glory and his owne reputation Marke in this catalogue of evils the righteous man bereft of all these things 9 The first unexpected message that the bringers of ill news reported to Iob was of the losse of all his goods the second of the unlooked-for and violent death of all his children And as if all that had beene but sport and play h Iob 2.7 the divel smote him with so many sore biles that from the sole of his foot even unto the crowne of his head there was nothing found in him but the skin of his teeth i Iob 19.12 c. His byles were so loathsome to the eyes so stinking to smell that his breath became strange to his wife his servants and those that dwelled in his house counted him for a stranger and when hee called them gave him no answer his acquaintance were estranged from him his familiar friends forgot him the men to whom hee committed his secrets abhorred him the young children despised and spake against him his familiar friends which came to comfort him gaped upon him with their mouth and adding affliction to the afflicted vexed his soule with reviling words calling him an oppressor of the poore a wicked man an hypocrite and disputed eagerly against him that the hypocrites and wicked men are the meere and onely object of afflictions yea his owne wife scorned his godlinesse and uprightnesse and mocking him with ironicall and pinching words k Iob 2.9 Doest thou still said shee retaine thine integrity Blesse God and die Besides that l Iob 7.13 when hee thought that his bed should comfort him and his couch should ease his complaint then hee was scared with dreames and terrified through visions so that he consumed like rotten wood and as a garment that is moath-eaten It seemes that God had made him an example and patterne of the manie evills wherewith the righteous are compassed and besieged on all sides 10 If ye reade the storie of Davids life ye shall judge that his owne sensible experience of the many evills which lay heads and hands together to overthrow the righteous man whereof hee speaketh in this Psalme made him to cry with griefe in another Psalme m Ps 42.7 Deep calleth unto deepe at the noyse of thy water spouts all thy waves and thy billowes are gone over me Consider n 2. Sam. 23.12 him consider o 1. Kin. 19.4 9. Elijah the Prophet consider the p 1. Mac. 1.28 29. Maccabees and all those worthy Confessors and Martyrs whom the blessed Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes recommendeth to
Tim. 4 14. Alexander the Copper-smith did him much evill At Rome he was presented before the bloudy Tyrant Nero whom hee calleth a ver 16.17 a Lion Then no man stood with him but all men forsook him Then his friends abandoned him and the Tyrant put him to death What the rest of the Apostles suffered by false brethren and open enemies ye may reade in the Acts and in their lives IX What the Church was to suffer after them by b Rev. 11.7 the Beast fighting against the Saints and killing them by the Whore of Babylon c Rev. 17.4 6. drunken with the bloud of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Iesus by d Rev. 20.8 Gog and Magog compassing about the beloved city S. Ioh. hath foretold in the Revelation What our Fathers what we have suffered not of the Turkes Persians Tartarians Americans and other sworne enemies of Christian Religion but of those bloody butchers which call themselves Catholicks the heavens have seen the earth which hath drunk up our blood can speak the murtherers which have shed it can bear record our owne experience can best of all testifie What policy what craft hath beene practised to undermine and wholly undoe us by our owne brethren of our owne kinred familie religion hardly would ye beleeve if I should tell it Christs prediction hath been accomplished e Luke 21.16 Yee shall bee betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinsfolks and friends and some of you shall they cause to be put to death and yee shall bee hated of all men for my Names sake Our brethren have sold us for money as flesh is sold at the shambles and we have been lesse regarded than slaves by those which bought us whose humanity like Dracon's Lawes is printed in all Christendome with our Fathers and our blood and whose affection and loyaltie towards us is written upon the running waters What wonder then if among so many professed enemies and cunning traitors Many are the Evills of the righteous X. The Righteous considering how hee is thus besieged on all sides and hurried in all fashions by foes and friends is often overtaken with diverse thoughts and surmises more dangerous than all the externall Evils which may befall unto him Worldlings judge of God's favour to men by their prosperity and of his hatred towards them by their adversity When Abimelech King of Gerar saw Abraham thrive hee said unto him f Gen. 21.22 God is with thee in all that thou doest What he said was true but the ground whereupon hee built it was sand for g Luke 16.19 20. the rich Glutton in the Gospell thrived and Lazarus who was laid at his gate full of sores thrived not yet that gluttoÌ„ is in hell because God was not with him and Lazarus is in Abrahams bosome because God was with him The Scribes and Pharisees evill Doctors of the good Law concluded h Mat. 27.41 42. That God was not with Christ because hee delivered him not from the crosse The righteous man himselfe when his affliction is long and heavie taketh like conclusions against himselfe When the Angell of the Lord said to Gideon i Iudg. 6.12 13. The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour Gideon answered Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us The Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites Ye read Iobs complaints k Iob 6.4 The arrows of the Almighty are within me the poyson wherof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me He teareth me in his wrath l Iob 16.9 he hateth me he gnasheth upon me with his teeth m Iob 19.11 and he counteth mee unto him as one of his enemies Ye heare David crying out pittifully n Psal 22. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so farre from helping me and from the words of my roaring Ieremiah bemoaned the state of the Church after the same manner o Lam. â— 20 Wherefore doest thou forget us for ever and forsake us so long time And now in the Palatinate and now in France doe not all the faithfull mourne and cry doe we not cry with them and for them O Lord how long The wicked when God crosses them in their desires and projects are accustomed to say p Mal. 3.14 14. It is in vaine to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of bosts And now we call the proud happy yea they that worke wickednesse are set up yea they that tempt God â—e even delivered The righteous Asaph held the â—â—me speech in his great affliction and said q Psal 73.13 Verily 〈◊〉 have cleansed my heart in vaine and washed my hands 〈◊〉 innocencie Moreover these internall â—â—lls take such hold of the righteous man that he will bring Gods word which he hath beleeved in question doubt whether it be true if the Religion which he professeth be of God if the cause which he sustaineth and for which he doth undergoe so many evills be good for if it be good if it be of God why doth he not uphold it David being brought to his wits end and even to the pits brinke by Saul deemed that Gods Prophets had deceived him and said r Psal 116.11 All men are lyars What greater evill I pray you can befall a Christian man than to bring in controversie Gods providence and the perpetuall care which he hath of his Church than to thinke that godlinesse which he hath sucked with his mothers milke is but a fable a dreame an invention of man than to imagine that hitherto he hath imbraced a shadow for the body hath sought the truth in a lye hath esteemed vanity and winde to be Gods word than to frame such conceits against the honour of God and his owne salvation If such doubts come not in his mind if he beleeve that the religion which he professeth is from above that Å¿ Psal 34.15 the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open unto their cry that light peace ioy salvation is sowen for the upright man it seemes unto him that he is none of that number and gathering out of the store and greatnesse of his evills most dangerous presumptions he pronounceth against himselfe That he hath beene an Hypocrite a vile reprobate and cast-away I know that such perplexities are but short symptomes to the righteous man whereof he recovereth by the powerfull assistance of Gods Spirit when as they are deadly convulsions to the wicked and wofull prefaces to a dolefull Tragedie which they shall everlastingly act and nevâ—r end yet howsoever they be short they are sensible and lye so heavie vpon the wearied soule of the righteous mâ—n that in comparison his outward evills seeme unto him â—â—ter than a feather wherewith
of that same town any word but this Blandina I am a Christian and we do no evill When Decius persecuted the Church Babylas Bishop of Antioch Babylas led to the place of execution with his three sonnes desired that they should be first put to death to the end that he might exhort and confirme them which when hee had done his wife comforted him and after she had seen her husband and three children suffer death for Christs sake buried them together Much otherwise the Father and the Sonne with whom I was familiar The Father beseeched that he should die first that his Sonne who was a godly and learned Preacher might comfort him Then it was a wonderfull spectacle to Papists to see the Sonne at the foote of the gallowes preaching to his Father the merits of the death of Christ the vertue of his resurrection the vanitie of the world the unspeakable joyes of Paradise to heare him crying alowd Father ye cannot so soone knocke at the gate of heaven but Christ will open ye cannot so soone enter but I shall follow to hear and behold the old and venerable Father answering with a cheerefull countenance Sonne I see the heavens open and Iesus Christ at the right hand of God Then they were amazed to marke againe the young Minister forgetting himselfe and with a constant face preaching to other two which were also in the executioners hands the forgivenesse of sins the resurrection of the flesh and life everlasting To consider how constantly the foure died with what fervencie of celestial prayers they commended their spirits into Gods hands Then the chiefe of the Capuchin Monkes said to his companions Si coelum Huguenotis datur istis debetur If heaven bee given to Huguenots it is due to these men Then some Gentlemen cryed O happie religion which breeds in men a contempt of death which we dread most and a most sure hope of salvation who would not who should not fight manfully for the defence and suffer constantly for the confession of such a religion This day onely have we begun to know Christ Condemned men have been our Preachers We shall never hate Huguenotes any more XVIII Learne of all this discourse what difference there is betwixt the upright man and the hypocrite Iohn the Baptist calleth afflictions f Mat. 3.12 Gods fanne wherewith when he hath throughly purged his floore the chaffe flyeth away into the ayre and finally is burnt up with unquenchable fire but the wheate is gathered into the garner Hypocrites are chaffe lying in time of peace intermixt with the faithfull which are Gods wheat but g Psal 1.4 5. the wind of persecution driveth them away neyther can they stand in the congregation of the righteous for then there is nothing to be seene but Apostasies defections abjuring of the truth renouncing of the Gospell forsaking of all Communion with the Church Iesus Christ compareth tribulation and persecution h Mat 13.5 6 8 20 21 23. to the burning Sunne scorching the seede which hath no deepnesse of earth so that it withereth away but warming the seede which falls into good ground and making it to bring foorth fruite some an hundred fold some sixtie fold some thirtie fold The Hypocrite receiveth the word with joy but because hee hath not in himselfe the roote of an upright conscience when persecution ariseth because of word he is offended and starteth backe The righteous man is the good ground the sunne of persecution may blacken him but it cannot burne him In the most hot dayes of tribulation he is most plentious in good workes therefore the whole Church cryeth in the Canticles i Cant. 1.5 6. O ye daughters of Ierusalem I am blacke but comely k Bernar. in Cant. ser 25. Blacke in your judgement Comely in the judgement of God and Angels Blacke without l Vestro maleficio by your mischiefe for the Sunne of persecution hath looked upon me my mothers children were angry with me these good Catholikes have persecuted me Comely within m Dei beneficio through Gods benefit for n Psal 45.13 the Kings daughter is all glorious within As the tents of of Kedar as the curtaines of Salomon which are all blacke and dustie without but within are decked with most precious implements To conclude cast gold in water it keepeth its owne yellow shining cast it in the fire and melt it it becommeth brighter Cast earth in water it is by and by changed into mud cast hay in water it will suddenly rot cast earth in the fire it is instantly turned into dust and made a sport to the wind cast hay into the fire with a blaze it is made smoake and ashes So befalls it to the righteous man the hypocrite The hypocrit when he thriveth most and full-gorgeth himself with pleasures is like hay and a lumpe of earth in the water he is nothing but rottennesse and putrefaction when Gods hand is upon him he howles he despites God hee curseth him to his face and in the stirring of an eye is consumed he perisheth he vanisheth like earth and straw in the fire But the righteous man in his greatest prosperitie shineth in all godlinesse before men as gold in water and when hee is cast in the fierie furnace of tribulation he is like gold in the fire his workes then yeeld a more radiant lustre than before XIX The Lord in his mercy sanctifie us and make us throughly righteous that when the day of our tryall shall come we may be found to be fine metall and abiding the hammer the scissers and the fire may through faith and patience inherite the promises of grace peace and eternall life through the merits of our Lord Iesus Christ who o 1. Ioh. 5.20 is the true God and eternall life to whom is due and to whom let us render now and for evermore all praise honour and glory Amen SERMON V. Of the causes of the righteous mans Evills PSALM XXXIV XIX Many are the Evills of the Righteous 1. THe righteous man when hee suffereth for righteousnesse sake is honoured 2. It is a great glory to suffer for a good cause 3. Namely for God as many have done 4. To suffer for the Gospell is most glorious of all 5. Of those which suffer for the Gospell some are Confessors some Martyrs 6. What it is to be a Martyr 7. Three conditions required in a Martyr 8. The great glory of Martyrdome in that it makes the Martyrs resemble the Prophets Apostles and other Saints 9. Yea and Iesus Christ himselfe yet with foure differences 10. God afflicteth righteous men for other mens sake 1. That they may be converted 11.2 That they may bee instructed not to worship righteous men 12.3 That they may bee spurred to imitate their Christian vertues 13.4 That they may consider Gods wrath against sinne and feare 14. Finally God afflicteth the righteous man for his owne glory whereof there are many
fourescore and six yeares and he hath never done me any harm how then should I curse my King which hath saved me q Tert. Apolâ—get c. 1. 46. 49. All the Christians when they were condemned gave thanks as for a great benefit r Iust Mart. Apol. 1. Lucius thanked Vrbicius which had condemned him to die for Christs sake because said hee being delivered from evill masters I am going to my Father the King of heaven Amongst all is wonderfull the constancie of Felicitas a Widow of Rome like unto that of the Mother and of the seven children of whom I have already spoken for she also had seven sonnes Å¿ Gregor 1. hom 3. in Euang. tom 2. Other mothers fear lest their children die before them She feareth lest her sons live after her She converted them to Christ being taken with them shee confirmed them in the confession and faith of Christ Publius the Governor of the towne with faire words sought to entice her Have pittie saith he of thy selfe at least pittie these thy seven sonnes After with rough words hee thought to astonish her But she having in a womans body a mans breast Neither saith she are thy promises able to tickle mee nor thy threats to terrifie mee And choosing rather to loose all her Children than to see then loose Christ of a mother shee became a Preacher unto them and after she had seen them all glorifie the Lord Iesus by their death the love of Christ surmounting in her the griefe which she received of her orbitie she went also with drie eyes a laughing countenance and a most heroicall courage to the place of execution and received there the crowne of Martyrdome And therefore as Christ said of Iohn Baptiste that t Mat 11 9 he was a Prophet yea more than a Prophet so may wee say of her that she was a Martyr yea more than a Martyr Consider the tender love of a mother and ye shall confesse that the death of each of her sonnes was a martyrdome unto her She was then seven times Martyr in her seven sonnes and the eighth time in her own person After I have spoken of such a woman shall I goe back to men Shall I speak of v Euseb hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. 1. Attalus one of the Martyrs of Vienne in France in the time of Antonius Verus the yeare of Christ 178. who being set in a burning chaire of iron preached to the Romanes as if he had bin in a pulpit teaching them what God is reproving their cruelty maintaining the innocencie of Christians and saying This which you do is eating swallowing of mens flesh but we eate not mens flesh neither doe we harme to any man Shall I forget Laurentius Deacon of the Church of Rome who being laid upon an iron grate and a slow burning fire under it that he might feele his death This side said he is inough rosted turn me upon the other which being done after some space he said againe to the Governor x Prudent in hymno Coctum devora Et experimentuÌ„ cape Sit crudum an assum suavius Now both sides are well rosted come eate and try which is sweetest raw or rosted It was a common thing to all Christians in those dayes y Tertull de Idolat cap. 11. Quo ore Christianus thurarius si per Templa transibit quo ore flumantes aras despuet exsufflabit quibus ipse prospexit Minut Felix deos despuuÌ„t rideâ—t sacra when the hangmen would hale them violently to the Temples of their Idolls when the Iudges would command them to bow downe to the Altars and to worship the Idols if they had hands and feete free to breake the Images fling away the Censers trample on the sweete smelling incense and if they were bound they would puffe at the Temples spit at the abominable Images with great contempt wagg their heads at all the diabolicall superstition All this did the holy woman and couragious Martyr z Prud. in Martyrio Eulalia Martyr ad ista nâ—hil sed enim Iâ—fremit in que tyranni oculos Sâ—uta iacit simulacra dehinc Eulalia She did more shee spat upon the Governors face who by all kind of most cruell torments went about to constraine her to idolatry And this puffing and spitting at the onely naming of the false religion was most usuall in those dayes among the brethren O Faith O Courage O Victorie O gods of wood of stone of metall where is your Majestie O Tyrants where your power O cruel Executioners Dissipat impositamque molam where is your fury Loe not men onely but women but young children contemne you fight against you Thuribulis pede prosubigit overcome you XVII Shall passe under silence our own Martyrs to begin with one of the first even Ierome of Prague condemned to be burnt quicke by the bloody councell of Constantia How the stood before his passionate and ignorant Iudges without feare not onely contemning death but also lusting after it x Poggius Florent ep 3 a Papist which was an eye-witnesse of all the actes of that Tragedie relateth with admiration and praise He went to death with a cheerfull countenance when hee came to the place of execution he imbraced the post whereunto he was tied kissed it Perceiving the hangman going behind his back to set the wood on fire lest he should see it he cried unto him Come here come here and kindle the fire before my face for if I had dreaded it I should never have come to this place which I might have shunned Then with a most holy wonderful joy he sung a Psalm to God which the fire and the smoake had much adoe to interrupt Patricke Hammilton a young Gentleman of Scotland as he was going to the fire by his words and lookes affrighted in such sort Alexander Cambell a Dominican Frier his accuser that he became besides himselfe and died madde George Baynam and Iohn Frith Englishmen imbraced kissed their fagots Laurent Sanders imbraced with great joy the post whereunto the hangman was tying him and said O crosse of my good Lord. In France Steven Brun after that his Iudges had pronounced against him the sentence of death cryed with a loud voice My Iudges have condemned mee to live And Iohn Baron being advertised by his Iudges which had condemned him to appeale from them unto the Court of Parliament Can ye not said he bee content to have your owne hands defiled with my blood but ye will have other mens hands polluted with it also Amongst all I admire most the peasant of Lynri which meeting some prisoners condemned for the Religion after he had asked and known of them the cause of their condemnation leapt upon the chariot and went to dye with them Above all the victories of women are most wonderful As the hangman was ready to put to death a loving couple of Martyrs Iohn Bayly and his wife
by the Maliumetanes desirous to be killed for Christs sake But he returned as he went because none of those miscreants would debase themselves to flay such a calfe Now what was that desire but giddinesse but rashnesse but presumption and vaineglory A wise and experimented Pilot will never runne his ship upon the shelves and rocks If the storme drive him upon the dangers then he sheweth his courage and skill So a modest man will not to shew his courage cast himselfe into the fire of affliction and draw upon himselfe unnecessarie evils but if he be apprehended if the glory of God if the edification of the Church if the necessitie of his calling binde him to suffer for Christs sake then he will shew that when he lurked courage was not wanting to his warinesse but his warinesse ruled his courage and commanded it to waite vpon the Lord. Hee which seeketh enemies wilfully and rashly is a seditious and factious fellow But he which hath enemies and seeketh them not which is persecuted without cause or for Gods cause Hee which cannot shun them nor have peace with them except he forsake his station denie Christ scandalize the Church and then chuseth rather an honest and glorious death than a dishonest life is the truly wise and courageous man Therefore e Cyprian Epist 83. Cyprian warned his Church to be warie that they offered not themselves to their enemies but if they were taken to confesse constantly Wherein there is also a dutie of Charitie which we owe to our enemies 3. For howsoever not onely it is not an ill thing but rather a most glorious thing and a f Phil. 1.29 gift of God to suffer for Christ and to be his Martyr g Euseb hist Ecclis lib 4. cap. 15. as the Martyrs themselves acknowledged when they thanked God for that honour h Clemens Alexandr lib. 4. Stromatum yet notwithstanding we must not give any occasion to our enemies to heape sin upon sin by shedding of our innocent bloud which we should doe if we prevented their malice going to them when they seeke us not or betraying our selves to them when they cannot finde us and crying Here here I am come racke kill hang burne as the Circumcellions did Wherein also we should become wilfull murtherers of our owne selves for there is no great difference betweene killing of our selves and provoking other men to kill us IX Neither should we be much moved with the reviling of those which cast in our teeth that by fleeing we deny Christ and so fall into the pit whereof he hath forewarned us saying i Matth. 10.33 Whosoever shall denie me before men him will I also denie before my Father which is in heaven k ver 38. And he that taketh not his crosse and followeth after mee is not worthy of mee For such preachers of magnanimity and constancie are either enemies or of our owne folkes If enemies answer as l Athanas Apolog. de fuga Athanasius did to the Arrians Ye are forsooth scandalized because we flee the persecution Lay your hands to your hearts and confesse that ye are sorie and much discontented that we have prevented your malice and by our flight have hindered the intention ye had to kill us If we doe ill to flee ye doe worse to persecute us Leave off to seeke our lives and we shall leave off to flee for the safetie of our lives For what is our fleeing but a testimonie of your persecution If friends take heed that they preach not against fleeing because they would be glad that all remained to deny Christ as they are resolved to doe rather then to lose their commodities It is not good to tempt God Many which tarry at home goe to the Masse lest they should beare Christs crosse and fall into that inconvenience whereof they will seeme to be affrighted for us But he that fleeth leaving his goods and all that he hath among his enemies forsaking his friends for Christs sake seeking with a thousand incommodities libertie of conscience among an unknowne people hath a most heavy crosse upon his shoulders and not onely denyeth not Christ but maketh knowne to all men his faith in him his love to him his zeale for him And therefore the ancient Church called such men Confessors whereas the persecutors and hypocrites call them Denyers If they were willing to deny would they flee would they leave their goods forsake their friends hazard their lives to deny Wherefore flee they because they shun all occasions whereby they may be compelled through the weakenesse of the flesh to denie Christ and seeke else-where with losse of goods danger of their lives much griefe and anguish of minde among men of an unknowne tongue whose conditions fashions customes are contrarie unto theirs libertie to confesse him resolved not onely to flee but also to die rather then they should renounce that faith that hope that confidence which they have in Gods mercies and in Christs merits For as Chrysostome saith m Chrysrst ad popul Autiochen homil 67. The Christian mans life should bee full of blood not by shedding of other mens blood but by a strong resolution to shed his owne blood for Christ when it shall be needfull Hee that is thus disposed is not led with n 2. Tim. 1.7 the Spirit of feare as our enemies hypocrites and ignorantly zealous brethren say but with the Spirit of power of love and of a sound minde The occasions will teach him when Gods will is that he flee when that he slay to die Therefore wee should pray one for another as Paul did for Timothie o 2. Tim. 1.7 The Lord give thee understanding in all things X. If these words be taken in a figurative and allegoricall sense then as I have said they are an exhortation to patience like unto many others which ye reade in the Psalmes and in the Prophets David saith p Psal 37.7 Be silent to the Lord and waite patiently for him Esaiah said to the Iewes q Isam 30.15 In quietnesse and confidence shall be your strength Ye reade in the Lamentations of Ieremiah r Lament 3.26 27 28 29. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly waite for the salvation of the Lord It is good for a man that he beare the yoake in his youth Hee sitteth alone and keepeth silence because hee hath borne it upon him Hee putteth his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope Which figurative manner of speeches are thus set downe else-where in proper words Å¿ Luk. 21.19 In your patience possesse ye your soules ye have need of patience that after yee have done the will of God yee might receive the promise But the Spirit of God useth such figurative speeches in this matter because they are very popular and most fit to expresse the nature of patience for because the people was to be led captive into Babylon and to be
thy nature but of the workes of thy iudgements and mercies Brethren Iearne and wonder Men speake so of God And therefore God borroweth mens phrases and as they speake of him so speaketh he of his owne selfe e Ier. 23.24 Wicked men when they spoile kill and abuse most licentiously the righteous man doe say f Psal 94.7 The LORD shall not see neither shall the God of Iacob regard it As if he were in his Closet fast asleepe or busied with other matters when they reele to and fro to doe mischiefe or as if he dwelt so farre off from them that he cannot see them What say they g Iob 22.12 13 14. Is not God in the height of heaven and behold the height of the starres how high they are how doth God know Can he iudge through the darke cloud Thicke cloudes are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of heaven For this cause God saith that seeing they thinke and speake so he will come out of his place to visit i.e. to punish the Inhabitants of the earth for their iniquitie Even as it is said when the Giants were building the Towre of Babel that h Gen. 11.5 7. the LORD came downe to see the City and the Towre which the children of men builded and said Goe to let us goe downe and there confound their language And as when he was to destroy Sodome and Gomorrha he said to Abraham i Gen. 18.21 I will goe downe now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know As likewise when his time was come to take vengeance of Pharao and deliver his people he said to Moses k Exod 3.7 8. I have surely seene the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taske-masters for I know their sorrowes and I am come downe to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians When he withdraweth his care from his children and suffereth his enemies to afflict them he saith in Hosea l Hos 5.15 I will goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offence And then they acknowledging their owne folly cry unto him m Psal 60.1 O turne thy selfe to us againe n Psal 80.14 Returne we beseech thee ô God of hostes looke downe from heaven and behold and visit this Vine After the same manner when he destroyeth their persecuters he delivereth them and saith that he commeth out of his place to visit them them who are his children in his favour them who are his enemies and the oppressors of his children in the extremitie of his anger IV. He calleth the one and the other his visitation For o 1 Tim. 6.16 he dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto and cannot be seene of us but by his workes which when he displayeth not we thinke and we say that he is absent But when we see and feele them then we say he is present and hath visited us As we speake of him so speaketh he of himselfe though p Act. 17.27 28. hee be not farre from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being Or rather he teacheth us that he doth all things by rule by number and by ballance that first he takes a perfect notice of our estate and afterwards setteth his workes forward The workes whereby he visiteth us are either of mercie or of iudgement And therefore his visitations are taken in the Scriptures sometimes for his mercies sometimes for his iudgements And it is said that he visiteth us either when he giveth us conspicuous testimonies of his favour or when he punisheth us for our sinnes In the first sense it is said that q Gen. 21.1 the LORD visited Sarah as he had said which in the words following is thus explained And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken Because he fulfilled his promise and gave a Sonne to Sarah the Scripture saith that he visited Sarah In the same sense Ioseph said to his brethren r Gen. 50.25 God will surely visite you i.e. deliver you And so is the word expounded by Zacharias in his song where he saith that ſ Luk. 1.68 God hath visited and redeemed his people Ye reade the like in the Acts where it is written that t Act 15.14 God did visite the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his Name For their calling to the light of the Gospell was their visitation When Ierusalem made light of that light Christ said that v Luk. 19.44 she knew not the time of her visitation In the second sense visitation of punishment is double The one is of love and of grace whereby God visiteth his owne deare children as he said to David x Psal 89.31 32 33. If they breake my statutes and keepe not my commandements then will I visite their transgression with the rod and their imquitie with stripes Neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile We have heard heretofore that this kinde of visitation is most usefull It is not so much y Minut. Felix Non est poena militia est Fortitudo enim infirmitatibus roboratur Et calamitas saepius disciplina virtutis est a punishment to the Church as her warfare For fortitude is corroborated by infirmities And often affliction and calamitie is the schoole and mistresse of vertue It is ever so to the Church The other commeth from Gods heavie wrath and indignation and hath for end not the correction but the destruction of the sinner As when God said that hee a Hos 1.4 would visite the blood of Iezreel upon the house of Iehu he threatned the Kings house with a totall and finall overthrow as he saith in the words following that he would cause to cease the kingdome of the house of Israel In this sense David made this prayer to God b Psal 59.5 O LORD God of hostes the God of Israel awake to visite all the heathen for he addeth by way of exposition Be not mercifull to any wicked transgressors This word is so taken in this text when the Prophet saith that the Lord commeth out of his place to visite i. e. to punish in his anger and hot displeasure Whom will he visite V. The inhabitants of the earth What Are not all men are not Gods servants inhabitants of the earth aswell as other men No men to speake properly are inhabitants of the earth For we are all tenants at the will of the great Lands Lord not owners and our life is a soiourning rather than a dwelling on earth All true beleevers acknowledge this truth and say in their prayers to God c 1 Chro. 29.15 We are strangers before thee and soiourners as were all our fathers Our dayes on the earth
are as a shadow and there is none abiding Earth is onely the place of their peregrination d Ioh. 17.11 16. They are saith Christ in the world but they are not of the world Heaven is their home e Heb. 13.14 For here have we no continuing citie but we seeke one to come Every day wee heare God saying vnto vs f Micha 2.10 Arise yee and depart for this is not your rest Therefore as g 1 Kings 19.8 Eliah walked forty dayes and fortie nights till he came unto Horeb the mount of God So we walke apace and goe still forward till we come to the heavenly Mannor whereof the Apostle saith that h Heb. 4.9 there remaineth a rest to the people of God i Matt. 6.21 There is our treasure there is our heart also As a way-faring mans heart is at home because at home are his wife his children and whatsoever he loveth There is k Phil. 3.20 our conversation though our bodies be here The wicked may see that which we beleeve and daily experience teacheth them to say with the women of Tekoah l 2 Sam. 14.14 We must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up againe Yet notwithstanding they m Phil. 3.19 minde earthly things n Psal 49.11 Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations They call their lands after their owne Names Therefore seeing they have nothing before their eyes no end of their thoughts and actions but the earth it is no wonder that they should be called the inhabitants of the earth Out of the earth were they taken In earth they dwell in earth they have their portion to earth shall their bodies returne and if hell be in the center of the earth as many say there shall they have their last and eternall habitation VI. For what cause will the Lord visite them so rigorously For their iniquitie that is to say for the excessivenesse of their most immoderate sinnes as the word must be taken here what sinnes were those Questionlesse too too many amongst a people enemies to God and to his Church but above all the persecution of the Church They thought undoubtedly that all the harme which they did to the Church was righteousnesse and good service done to their gods As Christ hath forewarned us that they who shall kill us will deeme o Ioh. 2.16 that they doe God service But God calleth this their pretended service iniquity a most hainous and enormous sinne and if ye desire a specification of the kind of this sin God in the text calleth it blood or according to the Hebrew word bloods for by that word God signifieth the extreame and unquenchable thirst of bloud wherewith these murtherers were so dry that when they had shed it all they would have gladly shed more and wished that each of those whom they had slaine had possessed a hundred lives to furnish to them more blood to spill They kill because they take pleasure in killing like unto the Tyrant Caligula who wished that the people of Rome had all one necke that at one blow he might cut it off VII O Tyrants O bloud-thirstie butchers ye slay the Saints of God under coolur of justice and ye think that not onely God will not avenge it but that he will rather allow and reward it Whereas God saith that the earth shall disclose her bloods and shall no more discover her slaine The earth it selfe shall open her wombe and unfold her bowells and cry to God Loe here is the innocent blood which thy enemies have shed Loe here are the bodies of thy beloved servants whom these Massacrers have slaine p Iob 26.6 Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering O then shall the earth conceale your murthers from him Have ye not read that q Psal 5.6 the Lord will abhorre the bloudy and deceitfull man Doubt not but that which is written is true r Psal 116 1â— Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints and therefore hee will with an hand of yron thrust hard together the bellies of those horse-leeches which have drunke their bloud and straine them till they spue it out of their bloudy throats He hath said that Å¿ Gen. 9.5 6. he will require the life of man at the hand of every beast and at the hand of every mans brother How much more will he require the life of his deare servants at the hands of their murtherers Hee hath ordeined before the law of a most just and inexorable law that who so sheddeth mans blood by man his blood shall bee sbed whereof he rendreth two reasons The first that mens lives are in their bloud The second that in the image of God made he man Vnder the Law he confirmed this Law by another law and said t Num 35.33 that bloud unjustly shed defileth the land though it bee the blood of an ill man And the land cannot be cleansed of the bloud that is shed therein but by the bloud of him that shed it This law is irrevocable for Christ hath also said in the Gospell that v Mat. 26.52 all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword If men put it not in execution God will and till he doe it the land where the blood of his Saints who are restored to his image is shed shall remaine polluted x Gen. 4.10 The voice of Abels blood cryod unto him from the ground and hee listened unto it The soules of a great many Abels which are under the Altar cry unto him with a loud voyce y Rev. 6.9 10. How long O Lord holy and true doest thou not iudge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth And will hee not heare them He will he will z Rev. 13.10 for he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints They expect with patience it shall be so because they know by faith it must be so IIX God who hath spoken it is truth it selfe he is strength it selfe a 1. Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent Therefore it must be so He is justice it selfe therefore it shall be so For howsoever we be sinners the cause for which we are molested and vexed is his His who is Almighty and just his who loveth it his who will not suffer it to bee overthrowne by the malice and wickednesse of men his who will defend them who maintaine it and destroy them who seeke to overthrow it This is the comfort which the Apostle giveth to the Thessallonians who bare a crosse as heavy then as your brethren beyond seas doe now saying unto them b 2. Thes 1.6 7. It is a righteous