the most barbarous of all Nations Marcellinus lib. 27. doe challenge Mars for their Country-man and so make him their God to whom they bow before they goe to battle and to whom they sacrifice the best of their captiues after their victory Where by the way in exercise of Armes to offer a laurell bough to a fayned Mars is more Thracian-like then Christian-like For in jest or in earnest wee should not attribute or make any shew of attributing victory to any other God Aedes victoâ—iae Alex. ab Alex. lib. â— cap. 11. but to Iehovah The Romanes likewise had their Temples consecrated to Victory And to put the Romish Philistims in the bushell with them as they duely deserue they sacrifice the prayse of their victory to Iack in the box or other Idols But all these may tax a great many that goe under the name of Christians They know that victory and deliverance are from God yet when it commeth to the acknowledgement and tendering to God his due honour they say little lesse in their actions then Pharoah said in plain termes Who is the Lord that I should obey his voyce Exod. 5. â— I know not the Lord. That which is related of Tamerlan called the Securg of God for tyrannie may make many blush at their unthankfulnesse to God Having taken Baiazet the great Turke at the battle of Stella montis or Cassona as the Turks cal it he weâ— out on foot to meet him brought him into his Tent sâ— him on the same Carpetâ— aâ— meat with himselfe and did hiâ— all the honour that possible he could he began to recouâ— how much they were both bounden to giue thanks unâ— God for the great things he had bestowed on them 〈◊〉 for bringing himselfe being a poore lame man to command from the borders of India to the gates of â—â—vastâ— from the which he had given Baiazet to command to thâ— borders of Hungarie insomuch saith he if God haâ— vouchsafed to haue given me a share in the whole world whaâ— could such a crooked thing as I desire more Anâ— are we not bound saith he to giue him many thankes This is more I am sure then a great many haue thought on in any serious manner but they are liker to Baiazer indeed whom Tamerlane questioned wheâ—her ever he had giveâ— thankes to God or no for making him so great an Emperour who confessed ingenuously that whereof many be guilty though they are ashamed to confesse it that he had never so much as thought upon giving thankes to God To whom Tâ—merlane replyed that iâ— was no wonder that so ungratefull a man should be made a spectacle of misery For you saith he being blind of one eye and I lame of a leg was there any worth in us why God should seâ— us over two great Empires Haec Lâ—onclavius in editione sua Annael Turcar. of Turkes and Tartars to command many more worthy then our selues I would haue many to obserue this and if neither Gods workes for them nor his Word to them nor their professing that they know him will serue to work their hearts to thankfulnesse yet let them for shame pick a pattern out of one of the worst men that ever we reade of and let them blush at the drowning of many great deliverances in oblivion as though God had been bound to them Are not some from their cradle to this day ingaged to the purity of Religion by their continuall preservation and admirable deliveries from the designes of their enemies yet how haue they requit religion and her followers in plain termes with the devill to their thanks Yea let those to whom God in fighting of his battles hath given any victory be humbled for their great neglect of this I speak in particular to the Hollander whose deliverances hath been admirable and whose maintenance is from the very finger of God against the whole forces of Babel but I fear their forgetfulnesse wil make God weary of them and we may well take them by the hand for we haue not yet so much as reckoned with God for the debt of 88 and the Powder-plot deliverance As we haue joyned in this so sacrilegious a sin of unthankefulnesse so God giue us to joyne both in reckoning and restitution It is a thing incident to Gods children to be too too faulty in this very particular if they looke not to it Witnesse good Hezekiah who had more minde to shew his pompe and bravery to the Babylonish Embassadours then to giue thankes to God for his deliverance from Senacherib and therefore the Lord met with him In time to come upon any opportunity forget not to offer sacrifice of praise be the victory never so little David in the very same case Psa 116.12 doth modell with himselfe what to render unto God What shall I render to Iehovah for all his bounty toward me The returne of thankes in any true manner and measure maketh an increase of the stock To these two former a third may be added respecting God that if any place contended for Purge out idolatry come under the conquerors government that he purge it from idolatrie and all salse worship so much as in him lyeth A mixture of religion or a linsie woolsie worship the Lord will not tollerate and what man dare take upon him then to doe it The suppressing of all false worship may be pressed upon Kings and Magistrates Reasons for suppresing falso worship wheresoever they haue right to command by these fiue reasons from Gods strict commandement in that behalfe from the nature of God to be worshipped from the office of the Magistrate from the practize of Idolaters and lastly from the evill that ensueth upon idolatrous worship Then to the first for in every particular I would be briefe God plyeth this point againe and againe upon his people and the rulers thereof namely that they should breake downe their images Exo. 23.24 32. that they should make no covenaÌ„t with them nor with their gods that they should not suffer them to dwell in thâ— land Deu. 12.13 they should make no mention of the names of their gods thaâ— they should destroy their places wherein they served their gods yeâ— the graven images Deut. 7.3 Againe thou shalt not stricke any convent with them What can be more more plainely said against tolleration for herein is forbidden as one saith well not onely their grosse idolls Tota eorum conversatio prohibita est or superstitious rites and ceremonies in the true worship of God but generally all conversation is forbiddeâ— with them as naught If any plead against this that the charge concerned the Iewes against the Canaanits in particular I answere observâ— but the reason of the charge and it will tell you that it concerneth all Gods people in the case of idolatrie or superstitious worship the rule must neede be as generall as the reason of the rule Exe. 23.23 but
the reason both in Exodus and Deut concerneth all therefore so doth the rule They shall not dwell in the land saith the Lord least they make thee to sin against me for thou wilt serve their gods which shal be a snare unto thee And againe thou shalt not make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not giue to his sonne and his daughter thou shalt not take to thy sonne Marke the reason for he will turne away thy sonne from after me Haue not wofull experience taught us in this land and were wee not like to be taughâ— like fooles in a deeper and more dangerous instanceâ— Of the generalitie of this instance If any can say of his sons heart that an idolatrous daughter cannot turne it away from God then he might goe match him with such an one but the former were to contradict God 1. Ioh. 5.12 De corona militis cap. 10. therefore he may not doe the latter Babes saith S. Iohn keepe your selues from idolls That is as Tertullian saith ab ipsa effigie eorum From any relique or shew of them all which should be abandoned In precept Iohn forbiddeth these foure things The making of Idols the using of Idols Lib. 2.8 the keeping of them in the house or land for all must be put away as I haue shewed And lastly wee are to avoide the users of Idolls they must be abandoned Take heed that none spoyle or make a prey of you Col. 2.8 As for the Papists excuse that they are no Idolaters it is but a covering of fig-leaves as the word of God the wirtings of the learned both ancient and moderne doth fully manifest wherein they are discovered to be the very worst sort of Idolaters Pag. 685. Looke Master Perkins in his treatise of idolatrie of the last times The second reason may be taken from the nature of God and true religion which is one as God is one one faith Eph. 4.5 one God There be many false religions as there is much counterfeit Pearle but one true religion Lib. 4 de Divin institut compared to the Vnion or Margarit This appeareth by the Etymon of religion which is so called as Lactantius a religando from tying the soule unto God non a relegendo saith he as Tully would haue it Nor a relinquendo as the Atheist would haue it Relgio est qua se â—â—nima deo ligat 1. Sam. 4.4 So Augustine runneth upon the same ground Religion is that whereby the soule is tyed unto God and so Isidore to the same effect This unitie will endure no competition Dagon and the Arke cannot stand together Yea God will haue no partner in his Worship because he is a jealous God In that land where God dwelleth he will endure no worship but his owne Having commanded the Israelits to roote out all idolatrie and superstition Deut. 12.4.7 he sheweth them that he will choose out a place where he will put his name and there he will dwell thither should they resort As if the spirit of God should say where he dwelleth there must no Idols dwell Yea let Kings and Princes perswade themselues if they suffer idolatrie in the place where hee hath put his name hee will bee gone from them and the place It is an Athiest-like conceit of carnall wretches and grosse Papists as I haue heard from some of them That a man may be saved by any religion as though God would be pleased with any thing The third reason may be taken from the office of the Magistrate or supreme power whose office as it is to estabish true Religion and to maintain it so he must extirpate the false Moses beate the golden Calfe to powder Ezechiah brake the brazen Serpent Iosiah and Iehoshaphat plaid their parts in this and where they left any relict it is deservedly laid upon them as a fault but the high places they took not away That point of separatism against this is very unsound whereby they would abridge the power of the Magistrate in reforming of religion Their evasion likewise from the instance of the Kings under the Law is of no worth for Christ himselfe as a King reformed the Temple Sic Chrysostom Augustini and that as the Learned observeth two severall times first at the beginning of his course Ioh. 2 and lastly at or toward the end of his course Non verbis solum sed verberibus etiam Esa â—9 33 Math. 21.12 not onely by words saith Cyril but by strokes also did he reform the abuses and that as a Magistrate as all the Learned obserue Yea that Evangelicall Prophet fore-telleth that Kings under the Gospell shall be noursing fathers and Queens noursing-mothers to the Church Now fathers and mothers must as well abandon that which is naught from their children as maintain that which maketh for their good But since it doth rellish too much of Anabaptisme I would haue them let it goe Hence likewise that groundlesse reason against the truth of the Churches of England falls to the ground that they are false because they had no call but inforced constraint by the sword of the Magistrate the Magistrate as I haue proved in abandoning false worship and establishing the true worship doth nothing but what his place injoynes him if hee be tyed to the former he is tyed to the latter Contraia sunt sub eodem genere because contraries are under one and the selfe same logicall genus Neither by this means as they mistake were the Churches called but by the pains taking of the Ministerie Witnesse that course taken both in the raign of K. Edward and in the beginning of the raign of Q. Elizabeth would they but in sobriety difference the weaknesse of being from the nullity of being and the purity of a thing from the truth of a thing they should come off the quick-sands whereon they haue set themselues The judiciously sincere neither for fear favour gain or any by respect makes their Churches worse or better then they are indeed neither doe they attribute more or lesse to the Magistrate then is due Est vindex utriusque tabulae And as he is the Protector and Acquitter of both the Tables from abuse so let him haue his due but let him look to doe his due and let him not hearken to those Matchivilian heads who giue too much to him as the former giue too little perswading that he may tolerate any religion so it be for his profite Matchiavil relig Maxim 2. A more dangerous Principle then this is not hatched in hell and whatsoever Prince is perswaded of this as one faith well will in the end proue a very mocker of all religion Dâ—scourse against Match Nature it selfe will evince the falshood of this position for as Nature teacheth that there is a God so likewise that there is but one God for otherwise hee could not be perfect since perfection and unity are reciprocall by just
and quarrell and out-face heaven and earth by his sinnes he is fitter to be a souldier saith the Matchiavillist then he that will say surely and truely and so forth because such a one is a meer Puritan and so weak and faint-hearted that the enemy doth not fear him To come then to the answer of the point there is nothing more impious then the Position and nothing falser then the reason For the first is there any thing more impious then to prefer Paganism to Piety If this had been good in vain had Iohn perswaded the doubtfull Souldiers to take a holy course Likewise the reason that true Religion maketh men cowards it is against all reason against the nature of true magnanimity the power of Religion and the experience of time Standeth it with reason that hee that hath the strongest on his side should haue the least courage True magnanimity makes a man couragious to undertake the good and hate and abhor the evill as a base thing unworthy of such a spirit Who but the religious doe so The power of religiō Also the power of religion doth tie a man that hath it to his God assuring him if he loose this life he shall haue a better The souldier thus perswaded in his conscience and bearing Arms for a good cause as for the glory of God the defence of Religion the good of his Countrey and credit of his Prince will not loue his life unto death in the doing of his service Caesar tells us that the ancient Gaules were a generous and warlike people wherof he giues this ground that they resolutely beleeved the immortality of the soule Haue not all the true Worthies of the world bin religious ones Who more truly magnanimious Who more valorous victorious then David yet a man for zeal piety according to Gods own heart Who more couragious then holy Constantine who vanquished Licinius bringing peace to the Gospell and establishing the Gospel of peace What glorious victories had godly Theodosius who was Gods gift to the Church indeed against the Barbarians and other enemies of the Empire I could bring many other instances but these will suffice The wicked errant Cowards And as none more worthy then such so none more unworthy then irreligious Athiests the openly prophane or rotten hypocrite Was there ever a greater coward then Gajus Caligula Sueton. in Calig ca. 51 Dion in Calig who would hide his head at the Thunder And marching one time on foot through a streight with his Army was put in mind by one if the enemy should charge them what fear they might be in like a cowardly Atheist he mounts himselfe in an instant and fled with all his might though no man pursued him Let the word a witnesse beyond all exception determine this question The sinners in Syon are afraid fearfulnesse hath surprized the hypocrites Esa 33.14 For how can that man stand who is pursued by God and an ill conscience Other instances I might giue of great Tyrants yet starke Cowards but I can giue but a touch onely let me commend to you an instance of this kind worth your observation As the Kings of Iudah were holy and religious so they were valorous and victorious they were as God promised they should be the head and not the tayle but on the contrary as they were impious and idolatrous so they became degenerous and cowardly and so they became as God threatned the taile and not the head And as it is with Commanders so it is with souldiers The vertue of a souldier Xiphil apud Dion in Marc Anto. remarkeable and miraculous was that blessing that God gaue to Marcus Anthonius the Philosopher and his Army and that by means of the Christian companies that warred under him in his war against the Marcomans and Quadians He and his whole Army were inclosed in a dry country having no means to come by water but through a streight passage which the enemy kept and were like to be lost without one strok the Emperours Generall in this distresse told him that he had a Legion of Christians in his Army which could obtain any thing of their God that they prayed for the Emperour hereupon thought himselfe not too good to intreat them this office which they willingly and heartily performed in the name of Christ God as hee is ready to hear answered their desires with lightning upon their enemies and plenty of rain upon themselus which they kept in their Targets and Head-peeces and drunk Whereupon such fear fell upon their enemies that through terrour they were vanquished without stroke wherefore the Emperour called them The Thundering Legion and honoured them ever after and all Christians for their sakes But some will object object doe we not see and reade that men monstrously wicked haue behaved themselues to death so valorously in the field that their names haue no mean place in the book of valour I answer answ ambition may provoke a man to buy a bed of earthly honour vvith his dearest bloud or unadvisedly he may adventure not counting what it may cost him but if he should compare this life with eternall death attending after it upon all those that are not in Christ he durst not for a world be so prodigall of this life except he knew of a better yea he would quake and tremble at the verie thought of death Then to conclude this point as Ioshu◠had a resolution that he and his house would serue the Lord and as David would haue the faithfull to serue him so let those that will be Gods warriours be good warriours For as the evill carriage of Souldiers both Popish and Protestant haue laid Christian Kingdoms open to the Turkes tyrannie so we must confesse to our shame that our unworthy walking and walking after the flesh betrayes our good cause into the hand of the man of sin whose souldiours doe not prevaile because their carriage is better then their cause for both are starke naught but hee cannot endure that in his own Numb 2.31 which for a time he will in his enemies The Midianites that caused the Israelites to sin vvere vvorse then the Israelites but God first corrected his own people and then vexed the Midianites Last of all object 2 If any say that this my frame of a Souldier is like Sir Thomas Moore his Vtopia or Tully his Orator shewing rather what should be then what possible can be I answer it is true answ if we respect the perfection of the thing but it doth not follow that we should not labour for perfection No phisicall rules can be laid down nor receipts given to reduce the body to a perfect latitude of health yet still the Phisitians prescribe and study On all hands Valeat quātum valere potest Aut tales inveniant aut faciant Let bee done what can be done And first let one labour to be such and if they cannot finde such let them striue to make
Moon and the causes of the said Eclipse that they might not be dismayed at it through the ignorance of the cause Pericles going to war as he went aboord of his ship the Sun was eclipsed at the darknesse of which eclipse the Master of the ship was exceedingly astonished taking it for some ominous or prodigious thing but the General cast his cloake over the Masters face and asked him if there were any matter of terrour in that who answered noâ— No more in the other said the General but that the cause is not so well known If Heathens were thus wise is it not a shame for Christians to startle at the signes of heaven or at the casuall occurrences of accidents below Let Gods command medcine this shie disposition which is worse then heathenish in the Lords account Ier. 10.2 Be not dismayed at the signes of heaven for the Heathens are dismayed at them The third thing is seeking to idols or false Gods so did all the Heathen and new Rome is not one whit short of old Rome in this Maior coelitum populus quaÌ„ hominum lib. 2. cap. 7. Yea as Plinie saith of the one so I may say of the other that the number of their gods exceedeth the number of the Papists And as another saith well they are Lapideus populus a people made of stocks and stones to Saint George and to such they goe for successe in battell The last is difference of daies as some daies they hold good to fight on and some bad as though the Lord had made one day good and another bad This superstitious differencing of daies the other Rome held both in position and practise They were called Fighting-daies saith one wherein it was lawfull to fight with the enemy Proeliares dies appellantur quibus fas est hostem bello lacescere erant enim quaedam feriae publicae quibus nefas fuit id facere for there were some feriall daies wherein it was not lawfull to fight Of these irreligious daies and of their strictnesse in this point Cato maketh †Festus mention in his commentary upon the Civill Law In those daies saith he they did not levy men nor ioyne battell nor sit in iudgement The Macedonians abstayned from fight all the moneth ‘ Tacit. Dio. in Pompo of Iune The Germans held it unfortunate to fight in the beginning of the new Moon or in the full of the Moone It is observed of the Iewes that they neglecting to defend themselvs on the Saboth Pompey took Ierusalem Lucullus the Roman Captain considered better of the matter who being to fight upon the eighth day of October against Tigranes was by some of the company disswaded from it because Scipio as on that day had had a great defeat Plut. Rom. Apoth Let us said he therefore fight the more stoutly that we may make to the Romanes a good day of an evill Ioshua and Israel compassed Iericho seven daies and on the last day took it which was the Saboath of the Lord. Ios 6. One perswading a Generall not to fight upon some ominous conceit taken of the day Optimum augurium est pro patria fortiter pugnare ' I hold it saith he the best kind of divination to fight stoutly for my Country To obserue daies or months and times standeth not with Christian liberty It is charged upon the King of Bohemia when Prague was taken that he would not fight on the Lords day but it is one of the lightest aspersions put upon him by his calumnious enemies If he had fought and carryed the day they would haue put his fighting as an imputation upon his profession for fighting upon the Saboath As fighting hereon and all other works should be avoyded as much as may be though the Papist as one saith pestereth the week with idoll-holydaies and heathenishly maketh lesse reckoning of this then of the least of his devised holydaies yet if necessity command either to assault or defend the day is made for man and not the man for the day That restriction which the Heathens held concerning their daies agreeth very well to the Lords day Si ultima necessitas suadeat administretur Cato in coÌ„ment de jure civili that is if necessitie inforce to fight we may Let Gods people therefore both in peace and warre beware of Romes superstition It is said that old Rome had their superstition from the Hetruscians whether they sent every year Valer. Max. lib. 1. cap. 1. six of the Patricians sonns to learn the rites of religion but all Nations now haue their superstition from new Rome which is become the Mistresse of Whorish inventions and whether our Romanists send their yong Cobbes to learn their postures and motions Of her whosoever borroweth for garnishing or rather for gaudifying of the worship of God may justly feare to the woe of their soules that they pay as deer for it as Israel did for the golden Calf The Altar of Damascus provoked the Lord to forsake his own Altar wherein Achaz presumed of safety oh Cimmâ—rian blindnesse and fearfull apostasie but it proved contrary for it was the ruin of him 2 Chron. 28.23 and of all Israel according to the word it was the break-neck of them or as some translate not unfitly it plagued him and all Israel Was the Apostle in fear of the Galatians Ga. l. 4.10 because they kept daies and monethsâ— And may not we feare and tremble who haue not onely their dismall hollow daies mince them as you will but 〈◊〉 great deale more of the devils dirt wherwith as with a garment spotted with the flesh the garment of Christ is fearfully defiled The strange Armes or colours of the enemy in the field or Cittie are ominous indeed for by them the wallâ— haue been scaled and the forces slain and routed without so much as a blow given in defence even so doe not the Armes of the Beast and the colours of the Whore set up cheek by joull with Gods colours in his House and amongst his Armies in the field presage some fearfull plague approching especially to those that are a sleep our Laodicean conceit shall be so far from sheltering us that thereby we provoke God that he can beare no longer but that he must needs spâ—â— us out of his mouth which if he doe it is to be feared we are such a loathsome thing that he will never take us up againe but make a new people to himselfe Wherefore in the first place Awake you Angels and Watchmen indeed upon the Walls whom I charge as you will answer before God your Master that you will cast away the inverse Trumpets of Furius Fulvus which sounded a retrait when they should haue sounded an Alarum With the Prophet Psay proclaime the iniquity of those things which pestereth Gods worship Isa 30.22 and run so many upon the rocks of separation Are they not the coverings of Idols or Idols themselues Shew the
is the friut of D. Hall his correspondencie with poperie for which he pleadeth in his treatise of travells and urged hard for conformitie with popish ceremonies by Heylin in his Geography As for the Papists applauding of our leiturgie as he speaketh there it is but a sorry prayse to it when they reckon with him they will pay him for this as they doe in the Epistle to Spalatoes recantation where belying him falsly with the name of an unlearned Minister they flout him for his bragge In the honour of the maried clergie pag. 55. that the English Church was honoured with a Dalmatian pall put upon a Bandogg indeed I know the Doctor knoweth them well enough and that there is no peace with Rome who haue sworne themselues deadly enemies to the gospel and the Professors thereof It is the oath of the Kinghts of the holy Ghost ordeyned by Henry the third of France Anno 1570. that they should persecute the Hugonits Now I come to the last argument which is the evill ensuyng upon the toleration of any false religion The Lord telleth the Israelits that if they destroy not all the idols of the Canaanits that his angershould be kindled against them Deut. 7.4 and he would destroy them suddenly How angry was God with Iehosaphat for hauing any thing to doe with idolatrous Achab therefore he rebuketh him sharply threatneth him fearfully by the mouth of Hanani the Seer 2. Chron. 19 2. shouldest thou helpe the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. And falling in the same fault againe in ioyning with wicked Ahaziah King of Israel he telleth him by the mouth of Eliezer because thou hast joyned they selfe with Ahazia the Lord hath broken thy workes 2. Chron. 20 37. If the Lord were thus angry for joyning in civill affaires how angry would he haue been if he had admitted their idolatry or matched with them The most part of the Kings and great ones Applicatiō they eyther forget God altogether or they thinke he is not the same God I would therefore haue them to cast but their eyes upon examples of later times and see how the Lord hath met with tolerators of false religion Henry the fourth of France begun well but he held not out whose tolerating of others though upon extremitie and imbracing of popery for a kingdom though from the teeth outward caused the Lord as one said well to him to smite first at his tongue wherewith he had denyed him and at last to smite at his heart by one of the furies of the same hellish religion which for the world he was content for a time to tollerate How did Q. Mary pay Cranmer and Ridley for pleading so hard to the King that she might haue a Masse Men must not thinke first to serve their owne turnes and then to serve Gods turne to goe on with policie making religion dance attēdance to it which indeed should serve religion is to set the Asse upon Christ and not Christ upon the Asse The disturbance and distraction of the Germanes which weakeneth them exceedingly against the common enemie ariseth especially from the toleration of diversitie of religion No thing as one saith well doth more combine the minds of men together then unitie of religion and nothing more dis-ioyneth them then diversitie of religion And it were good me thinke for the united Provinces to make up their union with unitie of religion And I may say boldly upon my former grounds made good by instances that they indanger themselues most by toleration of diversitie of religion Besides the multitude of idols in their houses whereof they make no bones though thereby they keep life in Poperie what a confused chaos of heresies what a State renting breach of Schismaticall divisions with a hotch-potch of opinions are to be found with them wherin to their blemishes they are holden the Antesignans or ring-Leaders through the world so that it is growne to a proverbe If a man had lost his religion he might find it at Amsterdam Which proverb I think may rather be inverted thus If a man bring any religion to Amsterdam he had best take heed he loose it not for reason and experience makes this position good that a place of opposition is not so dangerous to Religion as that place where for Religion every man may doe what he list They must not think that their manner of government or necessitie of trading or any other thing will serue to tolerate this toleration against the Law of God and nature the office of the Magistrate the example of the enemy and the evill ensuing on it I wish they may obserue and ponder together with the aim of their cruel enemy who looketh for more advantage out of this evill then out of any other thing Where there be many Apes there be but a few men Many weeds a little corn So a small deale of true religion where is so much diversity of religion Where there is a Cachexia or evill habite of humours there is but a little good bloud so an evill habit of corruption taketh away the life of true Religion in which indeed consisteth the life of true policy I pray God they may look to it and that he would open our hearts from the head to the foot to look to it at home where Popery is as freely practised as if it had publique toleration and that by connivency which God will not winke at And because matching with Idolaters setteth up the greatest gate to idolatry and by consequence layeth us open to Gods heavy wrath as God himselfe doth witnesse Deut. 7.4 They will turne away thy sonn◠from following me that they may serue other gods so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy you suddenly We must shut that floud-gate if we will not haue the plague come in and consume us I wonder how men can hold up their faces to speak for such Matches They are first flatly against the Word 2 Cor. 6.12 be not unequally yoked which the Doctors of Doway quote in their Marginall note upon Levit. 19 to condemn all matches with schismaticks and hereticks For confirmation whereof they cite Theodoret. Secondly the Lord taxeth such Matches as a high measure of sin instance in Ahab of whom it is said as if it had been a light thing to haue walked in the waies of his father 1 King 16.31 hee took to wife Iezabel who served Baal Thirdly of the evill effects of these Matches we need not goe no further then our own Nation It is reported in our Histories of Vortigern who Anno 450 at the perswasion of Hengist brought in a multitude of Saxons and marryed Rowen daughter to Hengist Intravit Satanas in cor eius Math. Westmonasteriens pa. 156. of whom it is said that the devill entred into his heart because being a Christian by profession he matched with
an Infidel which was a plague to himselfe and his and all the whole Nation As for that Country-gentleman Moderator I will say no more but this that he maketh a pretty shew if there were no Bible but of the two places he quoteth thence the last marreth all that he hath done 2 Chr. 28.9 For sure it was a part of Davids admonition to Salomon that in seeking the Lord he should shun and abhor all Idolatrous Matches for David hated all those that held of superstitious vanity And as Salomon forsook the Lord in this crossing Gods command and his fathers counsell so he and all Israel smarted for it I am sure that this place well understood and well applyed is worth all the rest that he hath said Yea if his moderation be but laid in the ballance with principles of humane policie it will be found lighter then vanity And if he know no more of the Spaniards nature practise and projects against us then he hath delivered he is but a Country Moderator indeed I would but intreat him to take notice of the judgement of as wise as great and as good a King as any lived in his age concerning matching with the Spanyard Lewis the 12 of France who for his goodnesse was called pater patriae being much importuned by Anne his Queen Ex lib. facetè dictorum Commentar Aenae Silvii de dicts ac factis Alphons to match his daughter Claudia after wife to Francis of Valois to Charles the fifth son to Maximilian made this wise answer You may as well desire saith he the Cat and the Mouse to agree in one intimating thereby saith the Authour that it was impossible for the Spanish and the French at any time to agree and all men know it is lesse possible for many respects for the English and Spanish to agree especially as things goe now If he would peruse Guicciardine but a little whom he citeth for their prayse he might see the Spanyard painted out in his colours as also in other Histories both forreigne and domestick as in their pride Atheism Cruelty Filthinesse Fidefragie Avarice and Beggary yea in one of their own Writers that they are loved of no Nation and yet we must dote upon them I was taken thus off the way a little by reason of this occurrent but desiring of God that that Match may never be I return to conclude the point against Toleration with that threatning of Christ against the Angels of the Churches of Pergamus and Thyatira if they suffered any longer the doctrine of Balaam and Iezabel which he hated he would come against them Rev. 2.12 and giue them according to their workes So indeed will he doe with all both Ministers and Magistrates that tolerate false Religion CHAP. XL. Of the moderation of the Conquerours passions and of his Temperance I Come now to the second particular of the Conquerours carriage namely the moderation of himselfe which brancheth out it selfe in these two things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the moderation of his passions and temperance in the use of things in the command of these doth a man conquer himselfe which indeed is the greatest conquest for what shall it profite a man to overcome all others and to be a slaue to himselfe that is to his own corruptions but if a man can overcome himselfe he cannot be conquerd Where the soule is free saith Plato and is the Commandresse of the Passions there is the bravest victory Vincere posse hostes haud parva est gloria regni At se posse ipsos vincere maior ea est To conquer foes its glory great to Fings Themselvs to conquer greater glory brings That speech of Claudian to Honorius the Emperour is worthy the noting where he sheweth him that if he could conquer from one India to another and all the world should obey him yet if he should obey hi. inordinate pâ—ssions as fear lust and wrath he were no free man tunc omnia iure tenebis Cum poteris rex esse tui Then holdst thou all by right Whilst King th' art of thy selfe In a word as Seneca saith He overcommeth twice that overcommeth himselfe Excesse of passion was a foule blemish to Phillips victorie vaunting himselfe of his great victory at Cheronea over the Grecians he grew to such a height of pride that Archidamus Agiselaus his sonne took him wisely down with this cooler Rhodig ii 6 cap. 26. That he could not see his shadow to be any longer after the victory then it was before the victory A fit answer indeed for this exorbitancy of passion is from want of knowledge of a mans selfe That divine Oracle should ever be with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Know thy selfe Augustus Caesar Severus and other Heathens were so eminent in this excellent Motto that it commended them more then all their victories and though they had but the rules of nature and meer Morality to direct them yet they may make many a one blush that liveth under the light of the Gospell Charles the Great was not so truely great from that Majesty and Dominion wherein hee excelled as from that care hee had that hee and his should behaue themselues worthy of so great victories as may appeare by a speech worthy of himselfe made to his souldiers after the victory in that long war against the Lombards and Saxons Heroes vocabimus 〈◊〉 socit regum wherein he calleth his souldiers by the name of Nobles and â—ings fellowes and willeth them to carry themselues as Kings over their owne corruptions and that they should not deface that glory gotten in war by drunkenesse scurrilitie or beastlinesse of which if they should keepe themselues unspotted and carrie themselues toward women and orphanes as became generous spirits he would not onely maintayne them but he would also account injurie done to them as Les-majestie against himselfe but if they should let loose their raines to disorder they should turne their glory into shame and his bounty into punishment Aeneas Silvius lib. 2. Commentar de rebus gestus Alphonsus Rom. 12.21 Question I would haue all conquerours both Generalls and souldiers to take a patterne our of this To this I may add that carriage of Fredericke the Emperour after his victory over the Gunzians in Hungary Wee haue done a great worke saith he my souldiers but their remaineth a greater namely to overcome our selues by bridâ—ing our avarice and desire of revenge To apply with the Author had the now Emperour and his learned of him the blood and outrage of their victories had not made so loud a cry in Gods eares as at this day it doth It is a good rule for conquerours ApplicatioÌ„ be not overcome of evill but overcome evill with good Rom. 12.2 And it were a greater glory for some to conquer their passions rather then Pulpits To come to later times Lewes the 12 was eminent in this vertue and Henry the 4 of France is for
themselues As the conquered is thus to respect their owne honour Touch nâ— idolatrie so especially they are to respect the honour of God in matter or manner of religion that neither for feare of death nor desire of deliverance they admit any point of false worship The three children are a good patterne herein that preferred obedience to their God before place preferment before the Kings favour yea to life it selfe Amongst many other instaÌ„ces of this nature I reade of some in the Scottish historie pertinent to the matter in hand When the castle of Saint Andrewes was takeÌ„ by the French there were may of good fashion put into the French Gallies but the chiefe men of birth place as the two Liflyes the Laird of Grange others were committed to strong holds in France wherein were Captains by whom they were much pressed to heare masse but they replyed that though they had their bodies in keeping yet they had no command over their consciences neither would they do any thing against their consciences if the King himselfe would command them Those that were in the Gallies were no lesse resolute for being arrived at Nanses and the great Salve being sung a gaudie picture of the Lady was offered to them to kisse amongst the rest a Scottishman being urged he meekly desired them not to trouble him for he knew it was one of the devils iewels and a cursed idoll and therefore said he I will not touch it But the Patron and the Arguisier with two officers having the chiefe charge of all such business thrust the idoll on his face and put it betweene his hands whereof when he saw he could not be rid he tooke it verie orderly in his hands and looking advisedly upon it he flung it into the river and said let our lady now save herselfe sure shee is light enough let her learne to swim After which they urged no Scottishman with their idolls Let men keepe themselues from idolls and God will keepe them if it were in the middest of a firie furnace I cite these the rather because a great many of our Mirmaid-Professors thinke outward presence at Mass very lawfull though it be not inforced and for such vaine toyes they esteeme them as they are if a man be compelled who will hazard his life or libertie for such a small matter but let me tell such that he that will save his life so shall loose it and he that will loose his life rather then dishonour God in the least thing shall saue it The Israelits in their captivitie are straitly enioyned to quit themselues of the customes of the nations that is not to defile themselvs with any of their Idols though they were to obey in all things lawfull Yea when they should see the heathens dote upon their idolls they should boldly say unto them the gods that haue not made the heavens and the earth they shall perish from the earth Ier. 10.11 and from under the heavens I wish that the afflicted in the Palatinat and Bohemia may so quit themselues for they be in great danger and so much for this particular CHAP. XLVII Of the patience of the conquered THe conquered in the next place with his generous behavior must ioyne continued patience which is able to beat into powder the hardest adamant of affliction yea here indeed is the proper place of patience and in this it hath the perfect worke ‘ NunquaÌ„ est patientiae virtus in prosperis nota lib. 11 Moral Rom. 5.3 The vertue of pacience saith Gregory is not knowen in prosperitie Therefore the Apostle setteth downe patience as a fruite of tribulation in the godly Tribulation worketh patience Lactantius hence giveth a reason why good men come under the power of ill men namely that they may learne patience and have occasion to exercise †Necesse est iustum viruÌ„ in potestate esse hominis in justi ut patientiam capiat patientia enim malorum perlatio est de Divin instit lib. 5. patience for patience hath his proper vvork in evill not as Seneca saith very diuine-like ‘ Incommoda non sunt optabâ—lia sed virtus qua perferuntur Epist 68. that wee should desire evill for the manifestation of our patience as to be overcome by the enemie to be forsaken of our friends but if those evills fall upon us wee should desire herein to manifest our patience For the better pressing of you in your present condition to the practize of this dutie giue me leave to unfold briefly these foure heads wherein the summe of this duetie both for knowledge and practize doth consist namely The sum of paâ—ience câ—nsisteth in 4 things Ignotinuilâ— Cupido the excellencie of it the necessitie of it the motives to it and the meanes to come by it For the first we must first of all know what true patience is wee cannot otherwise desire it yea wee may cozen our selues as many doe with a shew or shadow of patience without any true substance therefore I doe not meane by patience an apatheticall sâ—upiditie or sencelesnes whether stoicall or naturall whereby men become like blockes under the burthen by setting a presse upon their hearts neyther that seeming patience from the teeth outward which some in their troubles proclaime to men yet with an inward grudge as it were or dislike of Gods hand which Gregorie termeth well VelamentuÌ„ furoris non virtus mansuâ—tudinis Homil 35. in Luc. 21. a vaile of furie not a vertue of patience nor last of all that meere morall vertue of the heathens wherewith they were so highly gifted and did so manifest the same in their lives and deaths that they may make us ashamed but by patience I understand that fruit of the spirit or that grace of God whereby his children doe beare and out-beare every thing willingly and constantly that the Lord doth lay upon them and that in obedience to his will so that it differenceth the godly under the crosse not onely from the openly wicked raging and reviling but also from the best meerly morall or civill men of the world whose outside of patience maketh so glorious a shew to the world What saith Melancthon is the patience of Socrates or Marius or as Austin of Fabricius Scipio or Regulus in comparison of the patience of the Saints even as the chaffe to the wheate or base metall to the purest gold It is true they endured and that to the death but as Melancthon it was a bare outside their was no life in it it wanted faith for the ground Gods honour for the end consolation for the friut and effect There be none of those three in philosophicall patience and therefore Austin saith well of this subiect that a man can haue no true vertue except he be justified in by Christ Contra â— lâ—g lib. 4 neyther can any be iustified but he that liveth by faith such were neither Scipio nor any of the rest