poenae the Evills of offence and the Evills of punishment Those are sinnes These are the paine inflicted for sinne One of the most righteous men that ever was said of himselfe and of all his fellowes m 1. Ioh. 1.8 If we say that we have no sinne wee deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Neyther was there ever any of the most holy and perfect who was ashamed to begge of God to cry to heaven for forgivenesse of his sinnes and who did not esteeme that n Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 19. cap. 26. Ipsa iustitia nostra quaÌ„vis veâ—a sit propter veâ—i boni finem ad quam refectur tamen tanta est in hac vitâ ut potius peccatorum remis sione constet quà m perfectione virtutum his righteousnesse consisted rather in the forgivenesse of his sins than in the perfection of his vertues For all the Saints which have beene before us had all the Saints which are in the world have and all those who shall come after us shall have in themselves the evill of sinne what marvell then if all had if all have torum remissione constet quà m perfectione virtutum if all shall have also the evill of paine Where the cause is present working no wonder if the effect follow hard tread it on the heeles The evill of sinne is in all why then should not the evill of paine be in all 2 Sinne is morally evill Punishment is but naturally evill Sinne is an offence to God the punishment of sin is an hurt and griefe to man What is man but a worm what is the sonne of man but a little worm what then are all the evils which all men suffer what is death it selfe o Rom. 6.23 death which is the wages of sinne death which is the last evill wherein all the evills that are incident to man doe meet and end what is the damnation of all Angels and all men compared to the least offence given unto the infinite Majestie of Almighty God Not so much as a drop of water matched with the great and huge Ocean Sinne is the destruction of the well-being of man which consisteth in his union with God through the conformitie of his will with the will of God The punishment of his sinne is but the destruction of his being consisting in the union of his body with his soule He that heeded not his well-being he that hath refused to remaine united to his God by obedience and holinesse of life deserved he not to lose his being which he received for his well-being Or to speak more popularly He who was created to knowe and serve God he whose felicitie consisted in the knowledge and service of God he who scorned to be happy after that maner merited he not by all right and reason to be deprived of his life which he received for that end and to be miserable and unhappy for ever Let men speake as they will to speak properly the afflictions of this life are evils in our feeling onely but sinne against God who is the soveraign good is evill in it selfe and the evill of evills whether we feele it or we feele it not Who then shall be allowed to complaine if the great evill which he hath committed be rewarded with the small evil which he suffereth 3 Yet the righteous man hath fewer sinnes than other men have and if ye will permit me so to speake lesse sinfull Sin reigneth in the men of the world it is weakened and mortified in Gods children Sinne in worldlings floweth from the stinking puddle of their hardned and malicious heart To do evill they finde nothing too hote nothing too cold p Psal 10. â— 3 4 5. The wicked blesseth the covetous because they are like himselfe he puffeth at all his enemies Through the pride of his countenance hee will not seeke after God for all his thoughts are that There is no God neither will he suffer to be admonished as yee may learn by the examples of Ahaz Ahab Manasses and of daily experience The spring of sinne in a righteous man is his infirmitie and therefore it is no sooner set before his eyes but he breaketh it off by repentance as David and Peter did If then we compare men with men not with God wicked mens sinnes are like unto q Mat. 7.3 beames whereas the righteous mans sinns are but motes and light faults God registreth in the book of his rigorous judgement the sinnes of the wicked and will r Psal 50.21 reprove them and set them in order before their eyes but hee hath made a covenant with the righteous Å¿ Ier. 31.34 that he will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sinne no more and that for Iesus Christ his deare Sonnes sake t Eph. 1.7 in whom we have redemption i. the forgivenesse of sinnes through his blood according to the riches of his grace And yet a strange thing and a matter of much astonishment the v Psal 10.5 wayes of the wicked prosper alwayes and Gods iudgements are farre above out of his sight On the other side Many are the Evils of the Righteous 4 His evills or as they are called in the translation his afflictions are so many that it is uneasie to number them all They hold one another by the hand and conspire together to swallow up the righteous yet wee may reduce them to two heads for they are eyther externall in losse of honour of goods and of life or internall in great heavinesse and anguish of minde The Divels first care is to darken with calumnies the reputation of the righteous man and as David speaketh x Psal 4.2 to turne his glory into shame that they who shine in the glorious light of their owne conscience being spotted and blemished by false reports may be rendred odious to all men and unprofitable for the setting forward of Christs kingdome in their callings The first accusation is against their Religion as being the fittest to stirre up and kindle the hatred of a superstitious people against them and to stop the course of the heavenly doctrine This accusation is stuffed with manie common places of antiquitie of multitude of glorie of honours of riches of succession of union of Kings Princes people of their agreement and combination to maintaine the old doctrine of the Fathers against the new Sect of the little flocke of a few poore snakes of an handfull of forlorne fellowes men of a vile condition of no birth of lesse gifts y 1. Pet. 3.20 Noah was esteemed a madde fellow because of his lowlinesse The citizens of Sodome rejected z Gen. 19.9 Lots admonition threatned him because he was a forreiner and so journer amongst them a Gen. 31.53 Laban swearing by the gods of Abraham the gods of Nacor that is by the gods of their father Thare laid covertly in Abrahams Isaacs and Iacobs dish the reproach of
mens weaknesse and mortality God forbiddeth us to feare men x Esa 40.10 11 13. Feare thou not saith he for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I vvill strengthen thee yea I will helpe thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesse Bebold all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded they shall be as nothing and they that strive with thee shall perish c. for I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee Feare not I will helpe thee Such exhortations and promises are frequent in the Scripture and upon them wee ground our selves when wee feare not men yea wee seeke comfort and strength against feare in Gods precedent deliveries Of time past we say with David y Psal 118.5 6. I called upon the LORD in my distresse The LORD answered mee and set me in a large place Therefore wee conclude as hee did for the time which is to come The LORD is on my side I will not feare what can man doe unto mee XII What then shall we be without feare Not so a s a. 8.12 13. Say ye not A confederacie to all them to whom this people shall say A confederacie neither feare ye their feare nor be afraid Sanctifie the LORD of hostes himselfe and let him be your feare and him be your dread Feare not men for b Psal 39.4 6. verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity Surely every man walketh in a vaine shew◠surely they are disquieted in vaine Feare God of whom and to whom Ieremiah saith c Ier. 10.6 7. For as much as there is none like unto thee O LORD thou art great and thy Name is great in might Who would not feare thee O King of Nations for to thee doeth it appertaine for as much as among all these wise men of the nations and in all their kingdomes there is none like unto thee Therefore as Christ said to his Disciples so say wee to you d Matt. 10.28 Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him which is able to destroy both body and soule in hell XIII As we should not feare men for the causes aforesaid so should wee not for the same causes put our trust in them as it is written e Psal 146.2 4. Put not your trust in Princes nor in any son of man in whom there is no help His breath goeth foorth hee returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish First it is said Put not your trust in Princes wherefore Are they not strong mightie wealthie Hath not God said of them and to them f Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods and all of you are children of the most High All that is true g Rom. 4.17 God calleth those things which be not as though they were They are gods but earthly gods but weake and mortall gods to whom God saith also in that same place h Psal 82.7 But ye shall die like men and ye that are Princes shall fall like another And therefore when in the vanity of their hearts they dare call themselves gods God answereth them as he did the K. of Tyre saying i Ezech. 28.2 Thou art a man and not God That is the meaning of the words following Nor in any sonne of man The sonnes of men are men the Princes are sonnes of men they are men And yee know that k Ier 17.5 thus saith the Lord Cursed bee the man that trusteth in men and maketh slesh his arme Be faithfull to your Princes Obey and keepe their commandements render to them their dues tribute custome feare honour l Matt. 22.21 give to Cesar that which is Cesars Pray to God for them but give not unto them Gods tribute Render not to any creature the homage of trust which is proper to God alone Hee can deliver But as for the sonnes of men in them there is no helpe Though they bee called gods none of them m Matt. 6.27 can by their godhead adde one cubit unto their stature n Psa 49.7 nor by any meanes redeeme their brother nor give to God a ransome for him Yea after that o Plutarch in Alexand. Alexander the Great hath published abroad that hee is sonne to Iupiter Hammon when hee shall see the humor running downe from his wounds he shall be constrained to say This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the blood of a man and not of God and when he shall smell the stink of his owne filth hee shall aske of his flatterers The gods yeeld they such a sent What gained p Marcellin lib. 17. Sapor King of Persia by taking to himselfe the proud titles of King of kings Brother to the Sunne and Moone Partaker of the Starres c. where is he now hath his pretended brotherhood with the Sunne and Moone his consanguinitie with the starres delivered him from the grave where now death feedeth on him Let Herod delight for a moment in the shouting and crying of his flatterers q Act 12.22 23. The voice of a God and not of a man by by the wormes shall eate him quick and constrain him to say to his claw-backes r Ioseph Antiq. lib. 19. cap. 7. Euseb Hist Eceles lib. 1. cap. 9. He whom ye called God endeth his life like men and this immortall dieth Let the Canonists fawne on the Pope and say that he is neither God nor man he knoweth that he is the sonne of man and wee know that he ſ 2. Thess 2.3 is the man of sinne that there is no help that there is nothing but perdition in him What is man but vanity t Psal 60. Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lie To be laid in the ballence they are altogether lighter than vanitie And therefore v Psal 60.11 the helpe of man is vanity For this cause God cursed the lewes when they trusted to Aegypt saying x Esa 31.1 3. Woe to them that goe downe to Aegypt for help and stay on horses and trust in charets because they are many Now the Aegyptians are men and not God and their horses flesh and not Spirit When the Lord shall stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and hee that is holpen shall fall downe and they all shall faile together What if man had power and wil to help for all that trust not in him His breath goeth foorth hee returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish all his designes all the trust thou hadst in him dieth with him for then he cannot helpe himselfe and how should he help thee y Iob 14.1 2. Man that is borne of woman is of few dayess and full of trouble he commeth foorth like a flower and is
a burning bush because it is no more esteemed in the world than a bush of briars which the shepheards set on fire said farre otherwayes that the blood of those Innocents which was then shed should bee to the Church as the dew of heaven or as the raine of the first and last season and make it to budde to blossome and bring foorth fruit yet againe more wonderfully and gloriously than before as it came to passe against all hope II. For even then God spake to many of his Saints as he did to the Iewes in their tribulation and commanded them to hide themselves in their cabinets untill the time of indignation were overpast because thē the Lord would come certainely and punish all their persecuters for their iniquity and namely the authors of such blood-shedding and so joyne with their overthrow the deliverie of his Church The remnant of the Church hid themselves the moment of the Lords wrath past Gods enemies were destroyed the Church was delivered and still flourisheth and yeeldeth most excellent fruit to the glory of the Lord our deliverer and to the eternall shame and confusion of our persecuters Here is then a new matter to be handled concerning the manner and the time of the Lords deliveries which is set downe by the Prophet in three severall points The first is a commandement which God giveth to his people saying Come my people enter thou into thy chamber and shut thy doores about thee The second is how long they must lye hid after this manner not for ever not for a long time but for a little moment untill the indignation bee overpast The third is the reason why they must lurke till then because then God will bee avenged of their enemies For behold the Lord commeth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity c. III. God speaketh to his people by his Prophet and giveth them a most excellent counsell to enter into their cabinets and to shut their doores about them which if ye take litterally is a counsell of holy prudence if ye take it allegorically it is a counsell of godly patience Christian and holy prudence is the rule of the righteous mans actions teaching him how to carry himselfe in all occurrences of times places and persons and how to frame and fit unto them all his actions privy and publike domesticall civill and religious As in time of persecution it will teach him neither to be too timorous to forsake his vocation whereunto God hath called him nor yet too rash and foole-hardy to tempt God by casting himselfe into unnecessarie dangers whereof the word of God which David called d Psal 119 105. a lampe unto his feete and a light unto his path giveth both precepts and examples When we are assured that God calleth us to confesse his holy Name and to glorifie his Majestie eyther by professing openly his word and preaching of it or by suffering for it then we must not aske and farre lesse take counsell of flesh and blood but remember the commandement e Math. 10.28 Feare not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him which is able to destroy both soule and body in hell Worldly prudence will say These men to whom God sendeth thee are mighty and cruell and will kill thee therefore take heed to thy selfe and flye Sanctified prudence will answer God which hath sent me is stronger and therefore will I not flye f Psal 11.1 In the LORD put I my trust how say ye to my soule Flee as a bird to your mountaine When God sent Samuel to anoint David worldly wisedome answered in him g 1. Sam. 16.2 How can I goe If Saul heare it he will kill me God spake unto him againe and confirmed him then hee gave place to the commandement and went It seemeth that Amazia gave a wise counsell to Amos saying h Amos 7.12 13 14 15 16. O thou Seer goe flee thou away into the land of Iudah and there eate bread and prophesie there but prophesie not againe any more at Bethel for it is the Kings Chappell and it is the Kings Court Yet Amos ruled by another Spirit reiected it and said The LORD said unto me Goe prophesie unto my people Israel that is to say I will obey the Lord and not thee And therfore i Ion. 1.2 3. Ionah yeeldeth too much to his own discourse and too little to Gods commandement when being sent to Niniveh hee tooke shipping to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord which would have beene a foule fault in any private man instructed in the wayes of the Lord how much more was it heinous in a Prophet for who is so negligently and slightly imbrued with the knowledge of God but hee will subscribe to that saying of David k Psal 139.7 8 9 10 11 12. Whither shall I goe from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there If I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts even there shall thy hand leade me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say surely the darknesse shall cover me even the night shall be light about me yea the darkenesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkenesse and the light are both alike to thee Ionah learned by an experimentall knowledge this to be true when the ship wherein he thought to flee from the presence of the Lord was unto him as a paire of stockes to hold him fast Therefore Christ a more compleat patterne to imitate and a more excellent president to follow than Ionah l Mat. 16.21 22 23. when his time was come to bee killed at Ierusalem reprooved Peter and called him Satan for disswading him from it Likewise m Act. 21.11 12 13 14. Paul would not by any meanes be disswaded from going to Ierusalem though Agabus had prophesied unto him that the Iewes should binde him and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles whereof the reason was that hee went thither n Act. 20.22 bound in the Spirit that is to say by particular revelation of the Spirit of the eternall and most wise God When we have such a revelation or by any other meanes are certified that God will have us to remaine and confesse then this precept of Esaiah of hiding our selves in our closets is no wayes directed unto us but rather this of Christ o Mar. 10.27 What I tell you in darkenesse that speake ye in light and what ye heare in the eare that preach ye upon the house tops Then we must not onely goe but run with great cheerefulnesse and alacritie thorow flouds fires swords to obey Gods commandements and say as David said p Psal 139.32 I will run the way of thy
Eccl. lib. 2. cap. 7. Pontius Pilat who condemned Christ to dye was overwhelmed with so many miseries that to be delivered of them all at once he followed the example of Iudas and killed himselfe t Act. 12. Herodés Agrippa after he had for a while persecuted the Christians killed Iames imprisoned Peter taking to himselfe the honour due to God was stricken by an Angell and was eaten of wormes whose pittilesse teeth taught him that he was a medden of putrefaction and not God v Suet on in Nerone cap. 47. 49. Nero the first persecuter of Christians among the Gentiles after that he had set Rome on fire put his wise and learned master to death rifled his mothers entrails to see where he lay when he was in her wombe taking life from her that gave him life burnt quicke or dismembred with the teeth of his dogs many thousands of Christians murthered all his friends and filled the whole Empire with orbity desolation and mourning having no friend but murther and crueltie finding no foe that would kill him Ergo ego inquit nic amicum habeo nee unimicum thrust himselfe thorow with his owne sword and was to himselfe his owne Hangman x Suet. in Domitiano ca. 13. 14. Domitian who worshipped no other God but himselfe who erected Temples and Altars to his own mortall deitie who constrained his people to call him the Lord our God and persecuted the Christians because they would not give that title to any other but to our Lord Iesus Christ nor worship any but God was betrayed of his owne wife in whom hee trusted was slaine by his owne servants was buryed without honour like a filthy carrion I should be too tedious if I should relate to you the tragical deaths of AdriaÌ„ of Severus of Decius of Valerian of Dioclesian of Maximinian of Maxentius of Maximin of Iulian the Apostate of Valens Arrian hereticke who were prodigious examples of Gods veÌ„geance against persecuters Which of you hath not heard or read the strange deaths of Kings and Princes who by murthering of our fathers sought to murther once againe Christ in the cradle and to give life to the beast which had beene wounded to death In them all was in all them that follow their bloody foot-steps shall be fulfilled that which is written in the Psalmes y Psal 21.8 9 10. Thine hand O Lord shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee Thou shalt make them as a fierie oven in the time of thine anger The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devoure them Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth and their seed from among the children of men Have wee not heard it Our owne eyes have they not seene it XII The best of us all is like unto Asaph a Psal 73.2 3 5 6.7 8 9. we are envious at the foolish our steps slip when we see the prosperitie of the wicked They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued 〈◊〉 other men Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chainâ—â— violence covereth them as a garment their eyes stand out with fatnesse they have more than heart could wish They are corrupt and speake wickedly concerning oppression they speake loftily they set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth Then we begin to fret to murmure to deny Gods providence to aske Is there knowledge in the most high These men which prosper are ungodly but wee who cleanse our hearts and wash our hands in innocency are plagued all the day long our chastisement returneth turneth every morning They are happy but we are miserable When we iudge when we speake so are we not foolish and ignorant like unto little children are wee not as beasts before our God If any man have a deadly wound whether is most to bee feared the putrefaction and impostume or the Chirurgions Launcet and Rasor the searing hot yron or the Gangrene What is sinne but the corruption and impostume of the soule what is affliction but the heavenly Physicians Rasor and cauter As then a wise man will say that he whose impostume is not launced is in danger of his life and he who feeleth every day the smart of the Rasor is in hope of recovery howsoever ignorant children will judge otherwayes and will choose rather a lingring and insensible death than a sharpe cure So will hee which entreth into the Sanctuary of God judge and say that sinners when the Lords hand is heavy upon them are happy because they are chastised for their correction as when a man sicke of the dropsie is kept under a strict and pinching diet But hee who covereth his face with fatnesse who spendeth his dayes in mirth and feeleth not the smart of the Lords rod is so much more miserable than the sicke man who being swolne up and defaced with the dropsie liveth in the Tavernes and every day overchargeth his decaying body with surfetting and drunkennesse as the soule is more precious than the body For what are such men but as fatted swine for the great day of the Lords slaughter as I have said And why doth the Lord b Minut. Felix Miseri in hoc altius tolluntur ut decidant altius heave them up and as it were set them on the pinacle of worldly pleasures and honours but to cast them downe into destruction and make their fall more remarkeable as was the fall of Haman persecuter of the Iewes and of Iezabel murtherer of the Prophets XIII But what although some of them d Iob 21.13 23 24. spend their dayes in wealth having still their breasts full of milke and their bones moistened with marrow What although they dye in their full strength and after the long dayes of a joyfull life being wholly at ease and quiet in a moment they goe downe to the grave without the least pricking of griefe without any feeling of the smart of death which may happen to some few in this world Shall they also escape the dint of the wrath and vengeance of the great and righteous Iudge in the world to come When God through a most wonderfull patience and long suffering hath given unto them many yeeres to repent as he gave to the men of the first world in the dayes of c Gen. 6.3 Noah an hundred and twenty yeares to amend their lives and they spend them all in riot in licentiousnesse in persecuting of his Church in presumptuous sinnes against his Majestie selling themselves to worke wickednesse in his sight as f 1. King 21.25 Ahab did will he not turne his patience into fury and pay them home at once requiting them with the unconceiveable punishment of eternall damnation XIV I know they doe what they can to shake out of their thoughts the feare of that judgement and to make their hearts beleeve that there is no such matter
forgivenesse of sinne And such were some of you saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 6. reckoning many fins light and heavy usuall and horrible And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified If then he say that they are sanctified let every beleever say I am holy This is not pride of one that is haughty Non est ista superbâ—â—â—â—â—â— sed confessio non ingratâ— but a confession of one that is not unthankefull for if thou say that thou art holy of thy selfe thou art proude Againe beleeving in Christ and being a member of Christ if thou say not that thou art holy thou art unthankefull For the Apostle reproving pride saith not Thou hast not but he saith 1. Cor. 4. What hast thou that thou didst not receive Thou wast not reproved for saying that thou hadst that which thou hadst not but because thou wouldest have of thy selfe that which thou hadst yea acknowledge both that thou hadst and that thou hast nothing of thy selfe to the end that thou be neither proud nor unthankefull Dic Deo tuoe Sanctus sum quia sanctifieastime quia accepi non quia habuâ— quia in dedist non quia ego meruâ— Say to thy God I am holy because thou hast sanctified me because I have received it not because I had it because thou hast given it not because I have deserved it For on the other part thou beginnest to offer an iniury to our Lord Iesus Christ himselfe For if all Christians and beleevers and all that are baptized in him have put him on as the Apostle saith Gal. 3. As many of you as have beene baptized into Christ have put on Christ if they be made members of his body and say that they are not holy they offer a wrong to the head it selfe whose members are holy Looke now where thou art and take dignitie from thy head For ye were sometimes darkenesse but now are ye light in the Lord Ephes 5. He saith Yee were sometimes darknesse but have ye remained darknesse He that enlightneth is he come that yee should remaine darkenesse or that ye should be light in him Let therefore every Christian say yea let the whole body of Christ say Let him that suffereth tribulations diverse tentations and innumerable scandals cry and say Preserve my soule because I am holy IX It is no matter what many men which are not righteous thinke and speake of themselves every foole is a wise man in his owne eyes Many beggers have kings hearts and will bragge much of their antiquitie and worthinesse of their kindred and of the glory of their riches At Athens there was a certaine man called Å¿ Athenae lib. 12. Thrasylaus who detained with a pleasant madnesse deemed that all the ships which arrived there were his and in this same towne there is a foole who thinketh verily that he is King of great Britanne If a foole think that he is wise shall a wise man call himselfe a foole If a begger say that he is rich shall a rich man say of himselfe that he is poore If a man troubled in his hypochondres imagineth that hee is King of this Island shall the King mistake himselfe and put in question whether he be King or no If an hypocrite or a wicked man crack much of his owne righteousnesse shall he whom God hath mercifully clothed with this wedding garment denie what he hath received and say to his benefactor who hath bought him Thou art not my father X. We must not weigh such men in the deceiving weights of their owne imaginations but take the true balances of Gods word and weigh them therein There you shal reade of them that which was said to Belschatsar King of Babylon t Dan. 5.27 Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting There you shall finde them set out in very darke smoakie and hellish colours both in their inside and outside v Psal 59. Their inward part is very wickednesse There is no faithfulnesse in their mouth their throat is an open sepulchre they flatter with their tongue x 2 Pet. 2.14 Their eyes are full of adultery y Ier. 5 8. They are as fed horses when they rise in the morning every one neigheth after his neighbours wife a Psal 144.8 Their right hand is a right hand of falshood b Esa 59.7 8. Their feet runne to evill and they make haste to shed innocent blood Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity wasting and destruction are in their paths The way of peace they know not and there is no iudgement in their goings With all this having in themselves c Deut. 29.18 19. a root bearing gall and wormewood they adde drunkennesse to thirst hardnesse of heart contempt of God to sinne d Iob 21.14 15. They say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profite should we have if wee pray unto him The cause of all is e Psal 36.1 2 3 4. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart There is no feare of God before his eyes For he flattereth himselfe in his owne eyes when his iniquity is found to be hated The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit he hath left off to be wise and to doe good He deviseth mischiefe upon his bed he setteth himselfe in a way that is not good he abhors not evill For this cause such men are called f Psal 14.4 workers of iniquity God judging of them qualifying them not according to the ill which they do but according to the ill which they are willing to do For as righteous men doe not the good which they would doe and do the evill which they would not do so they contrariwise do often the good which they would not doe and doe not all the evill which they would doe XI For being servile and base minded often thorough a slavish feare of punishment they abstaine from evill and now and then through a mercenary hope of reward they doe some good like unto the Scribes and Pharisees whom Christ cursed with many woes for their manifold sinnes and namely because g Matt. 23.25 they made cleane the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they were full of extortion and excesse Such mens works which have a goodly shew what are they else but as one of the ancient Doctors of the Latin Church called them h Splendida peccata Glorious and glistering sinnes Therefore Christ said to his Disciples i Mat. 5.20 that except their righteousnesse should exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees they should in no case enter into the Kingdome of heaven Neverthelesse both hypocrites who abstaine from ill-doing through feare and i Matt. 23.5 doe all their workes to be seene of men having a k 2. Tim. 3.5 shew of godlinesse but denying the power
the wind playeth in the ayre So I have shewed you that both by externall grievances and internall griefes Many are the Evills of the Righteous XI Now the righteous man may say to the wicked as David said to Saul t 1. Sam. 24.11 Know thou and see that there is neither evill nor transgression in mine hand and I have not sinned against thee yet thou huntest my soule to take it and as v Dan. 6.22 Daniel said to Darius who had cast him into the Lyons den Before thee O King I have done no hurt For although it pertained to Christ alone to say to his adversaries x Ioh. 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of sinne yet all the righteous men may say of their persecuters that which David said of his enemies y Psal 35.7 Without cause have they hid for me their not in a pit without cause they have digged for my soule And when they pray they feare not to protest of their innocencie in that hehalfe and to say to God a Psal 58.3 4. They lye in waite for my soule the mighty are gathered against me not for my transgression nor for my sin O Lord They run and prepare themselves without my fault awake to helpe me and behold The rule of the righteous mans life is Christs commandement and example His commandement is b Mat. 5.39 42 44. Resist not evill but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheeke turne to him the other also c. Give to him that asketh thee Love your enemies blesse them that curse doe good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you The same commandement he gave by his Apostle saying c Rom. 12.21 Be not overcome of evill but overcome evill with good What he commanded that he practised in his life d 1. Pet. 2.21 22 23. He suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps who did no sinne neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not againe when he suffered he threatned not but committed himselfe to him that iudgeth righteously Yea not onely he did them no harme but also hee did them all kind of good He went about all Iudea teaching the Gospell of the kingdome of heaven healing all manner of sicknesse and all manner of disease among the people made the blind to see the deafe to heare the lame to walke cleansed the lepers raised up the dead fed by the miraculous multiplication of bread at divers times many thousand soules restored the eare to Malcus which came to take him prayed for those which crucified him and therefore asked of his enemies who tooke up stones to throw at him e Ioh. 10.32 Many good workes have I shewed you from my Father for which of those workes doe you stone me What ill did the Apostles wherefore they should bee used so cruelly They went through the whole world converting men from darknesse unto the maruellous light of the Gospell and did so many wonders amongst the people that thence f Act. 14.11 some Idolaters tooke occasion to worship them but the Iewes to perswade the people to stone them g 1. Cor. 4.11 12. Being reviled they blessed being persecuted they suffered it being defamed they intreated Much good did they to many ill they did to none Read more ancient examples of h Gen. 13.8 Abraham yeelding for peace-sake to his Nephew Lot of i Gen. 49.5 6 7. Iacob cursing his owne sonnes Simeon and Levi for their bloodie anger against the Sichemites though having a goodly shew of righteous vengeance of k 1. Sam. 25 7 8.15 16. David leading with his souldiers a most innocent life amongst Nabals heards of cattle and flocks of sheep sparing Sauls life who sought his and bringing him to this true confession l 1. Sam. 24.17 Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evill m Psal 38.12 being as a deafe man when his enemies spake mischievous things against him n Psal 35.12 13. cloathing himselfe with sackecloth humbling his soule with fasting praying most affectuously when his enemies which rewarded him evill for good were sicke If ye desire examples of the Christians carriage during ten persecutions in the space of three hundred and odde yeares o Tert. Apol. cap. 1. 37 When the people invaded them they resisted not when the Magistrate condemned them they gave thanks when the dead bodies of their brethren and kinsmen were drawn out of the rest of their graves were pulled away from the Sanctuarie of death they sought no revenge albeit they were in greater number than their enemies and might with a few little firebrands set on fire all the Townes Boroughes Villages Castles of the Empire if Christian Religion did not forbid all private men p Rom. 12.19 to avenge themselves because it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay it saith the Lord. For this cause the holy Spirit often calleth the afflictions of the righteous Sufferings because they suffer the evill which is done unto them but they do no evil to any man wherunto also Christ hath bound them when he callth then q Mat. 10.26 Sheepe insnuating that they should be sheepe in simplicitie to never thinke any evill in innocencie to never doe any evill in patience to beare all evills meekly without grudging and murmuring in utilitie and commoditie to feede with their milk to cloath with their wooll whosoever stands in need of their helpe to doe ill unto no man r Gal. 6.10 to doe good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith Alas alas the number of such sheepe of such righteous men how rare is it how many suffer not Å¿ 1. Pet. 3.17 1 Pet. 4.29 for well doing as Christians and righteous men but for evill doing as murtherers theeves robbers and ravenous wolves rather than sheepe how many cannot abide to suffer but thinking it a shame to packe up an injurie will needs be avenged of their enemies how many doe seeke to defend the Gospell against persecuters by burning killing murdering filling the house of innocent peasants of poore countrey folkes with orbitie desolation and mourning intending to cure one sinne with another sinne taking the way of hell to goe to heaven and thinking to defend the Gospell by unlawfull meanes which the Gospell hath condemned For it is not hee which suffereth evill but he which doth it that sinneth And therefore the true righteous man is ever a patient not an agent in evill and the wicked not onely have no cause wherfore they should hate him but have in his manifold good deedes a good cause wherefore they should love him and yet not withstanding his innocent and good carriage Many are the Evills of the Righteous XII Sometimes many blind-folded with ignorance deeme that the righteous man is the
of all crimes laide to our charge except our Iudges will confesse that in our persons when we deny our Religion they punish not high treason adulteries incests murther and a great many more crimes whereof we are dayly accused If that were iniquitie against the common wealth and the State they must needs grant that wee are guiltie of our Religion onely or rather of the onely name thereof For it is condemned when it is not knowne when it is known it is imbraced And therefore our Persecuters will not know it because they will condemne it perceiving that all those which have condemned it when they knew it not have ceased to condemne it yea professed and protected it when they knew it 5. The Emperour Traian well informed of the innocencie of Christians sent to f Plin. Secundus epist lib. 10. Epist 103. 104. Conquirendi non sunt Si deferantur arguaentur puniendi sunt Plinius Secundus Governor of Bythinia after this manner They must not be searched if they be appeached and accused they must be punished g Tert. Apol. cap. 2. O sententiam necessuate confusam c. O sentence confused with contradiction hee forbiddeth to search them as innocent he commandeth to punish them as guiltie he spareth and rageth he dissembleth and punisheth If they be guiltie why are they not searched If they be innocent why are they punished How many such decrees have beene given out against us how many Edicts of pacification have beene made with us as with honest men and forthwith how many fires kindled swords sharpened gallowses prepared against us as against malefactors Yesterday we were the stay and props of the State and must be cherished This day we are the plague and undoing of the State and must be killed Though we are this day as we were yesterday except that we strive ever to be better and shunne to decay in goodnesse or to grow worse But so it was from the beginning so it is so it shall be untill the end of the world that Many are the Evills of the Righteous XV. Not so may some say wee that live here in a peaceable and blessed nation and who as we hope are righteous men have no evills being guarded and hedged round about with Gods bountifull and mercifull protection through the daily care of our peaceable and most Religious King It is true well-beloved that h Psal 125.3 the rodde of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity Your fathers had the evills and ye possesse the good things of the land But will ye say against your selves that ye are of the number of these belly-gods which eating drinking dancing and spending merrily the short dayes of their brittle life i Amos 6.6 are not grieved with the affliction of Iosepht God forbid that ye should speake so unnaturally and so falsly against your owne soules Is it not written i Rom. 12.15 Weepe with them that weepe k Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them which suffer adversitie as being your selves also in the body Have ye not read of l Nehem. 1.3 4. Nehe. 2.2 Nehemiah that understanding the great affliction and reproach wherein the Iewes lived after their returne to Ierusalem he wept mourned fasted and prayed with such sorrow of heart that his countenance was very sad in the Kings presence with whom he had great credit and favour Ye know that the Apostle writeth to the Hebrewes and of them that m Heb. 10.32 33. they endured a great fight of afflictions partly whilest they were made a gazing stocke both by reproaches and afflictions and partly whilest they became companions of them that were so used Know you not also that Saint Paul said Who is weake and I am not weake who is offended and I burne not This is a great evidence and demonstration of the Communion of the Saints And who have given more evident demonstrations of a true sympathie and fellow-feeling of the miseries of your brethren beyond Seas than you Have yee not wept have ye not mourned have ye not fasted have ye not prayed to God for them have ye not opened your bowels and purses unto them have yee not beene much moved for their adversitie have ye not not onely according to your power but also above your power relieved their necessitie Every oppression which they suffer when it commeth to your eares is it not a racke unto you As many oppressions are they not as many tortures to your vexed soules What doth this whole Island desire with sighs and sobs but to bee at warre with Christs enemies which oppresse them that is to say to spend lives and goods for their reliefe Because as Constantius father of Constantine the Great first deliverer of the Christian Religion from the bloody persecutions of Tyrants came from great Britanne so it seemeth by the holy vehement and constant affection which God hath put in all the peoples hearts of this most flourishing Island towards their afflicted brethren beyond Seas that hee hath ordained that delivetie shall come to them from us In the meane time in what griefe in what anguish in what perplexities and vexation of mind are ye not what rivers of teares doe ye not still powre out before God what ejaculations what prayers and how fervent doye not dart towards the heavens for them Then in you also is fulfilled this most true saying Many are the Evills of the Righteous XVI Thanke God with heart and mouth for this long and blessed peace wherein ye live blesse him for his bountifull mercy whereby ye heare and see not ye feele the affliction of Ioseph and suffer not any in your owne persons and are enabled to succour Christs distressed members which have no hope after God but in the Churches of this Island Pray to God for the King by whose care ye enioy this blessednesse Pray for the increasing of our godly courageous and hopefull Prince in all Christian Princely and Majesticall gifts Pray for the flourishing peace of this State that in the neâ—ce thereof ye may have peace so If I forget thee O Ierusalem let my right hand forget it selfe n Psal 137.5 6. If I doe not remember thee let my torgue cleâ—ve to the 〈◊〉 of my mouthe If I preferre not Ierusalem above my chiefe ioy O weepe and pray unto God for his Church and be not unthankfull for his gifts be subiect to the King and to the Prince be faithfull to the Sâ—â—â—â— be obedient and loving to your teachers be innocent in your callings be modest in your behaviour be more and more bountifull to the poore so the King of Kings so the God of peace so the Spouse of the Church so the Protector of Monarchies so the father of the poore shall blesse you shield you and remaine with you for ever So be it even so be it
thy chastening was upon them Look what the biting collyre is to the pinne in the eyes the scorching cauter to the headache and catharres the sharpe pricking of the Surgeons launcet bitter physick to a continual fever the Creuset and the fire to gold and silver the same are afflictions to the righteous mans sinnes which are a suffusion and web upon the eie of the mind a theume choaking Gods Spirit suffocating the heart the Pleurisie pestilent fever of the soule the dross tin of all godly affections So a Num. 12 1 2 10. Miriam was healed of her pride by leprosie So b 2. Sam. 12.11 David learned to be chaste by the incests of his owne sons so Ionas learned obedience in the Whales bellie So c Luk. 1.20 Zacharias by the losse of his speech was cured of his incredulity taught not to open his mouth in time to come but to praise and blesse the Lord his God So the whole Church of Iuda d Lev. 26.4 was humbled under the mightie hand of God and accepting of the punishment of her iniquitie learned to say with heart and mouth e Micah 7.9 I will beare the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him So the Churches of France by these last troubles were brought low and taught to walke in Gods presence with feare and trembling for howsoever they were innocent of the crime of rebellion laid to their charge their vanitie their ambition their pride their filthie covetousnesse their loathing of the Gospel their securitie was become so exceeding great that God could not beare with them any longer They trusted in their little paltrie holds and forts which they had raised as high as the clouds and said not onely in their hearts as Edom did but with their mouths also f Obad. 3. Who shall bring us downe to the ground The Lord heard the words of their pride in the turning of an hand turned them topsie turvie leaving onely some ruines as traces of his indignation whereby their Children may know that there dwelt their Fathers Then wee acknowledged then we said g Pro. 18.10 The Name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe For this cause S. Peter calleth Persecutions h 1. Pet. 4.17 Gods iudgements Christ calleth them i Rev. 3.19 his chastisements and S. Paul giveth the one and the other name to all kind of afflictions saying that k 1. Cor. 11.31 32. If wee would iudge our selves wee should not bee iudged But when we are iudged wee are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world I say then that the first cause of the righteous mans Evils is his owne sinnes and their first end is his correction and amendment IX Now he is not onely guiltie of sinnes past for which he is chastised but also hee is prone to fall in sin againe as bearing in his breast the seede of all iniquitie Alas Alas l Iob 15.16 how abominable and filthie is man which drinketh iniquitie like water Therefore God like an expert Physician mingleth unto him a cup of afflictions not onely to cure him of former diseases but also to preserve him from diseases to come For tribulations are not onely medicines but also antidotes preservatives against the poison of sinne They are bitter potions in taste but they either restore or preserve health m Iob 33.14 15 16 17 18. Elihu saith in the booke of Iob that God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not He instructeth men by his word he sendeth to them his servants once twice thrice to advise them of their duetie and they yeeld not attention unto his admonitions Then hee openeth the eares of men and sealeth his chastisement upon them that he may withdraw man from his purpose and drive away pride from man So he keepeth backe his soule from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword seasoning him with the salt of afflictions that he rot not I will not enroll n Gen. 12.17 Pharao king of Egypt nor o Gen. 20.6 7. Abimelech king of Gerar among righteous men yet when they would have sinned against God by abusing Sara Abrahams wife God plagued them with so great plagues that they were affraide to touch her Surely David was a righteous man and ye may perceive how in Absolems rebellion against him God gave him with one stone two blowes he chastised him for the murther and adultery which hee had committed and restrained him from sinne for the time to come The one and the other for his good as he confessed saying p Psal 119.73 It is good for me that I have beene afflicted that I might learne thy statutes Who was more righteous then Paul yet confessing his owne infirmitie and acknowledging how he was by nature inclined to pride hee saith that q 2. Cor. 12.7 there was given to him a thorne in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should be exalted above measure This Angell of Satan was not the divell himselfe but as r Chrysost ibi Homil. 1. ad popul Antiochen Chrysostome esteemeth wicked men inspired of the divell such as was Alexander the Copper-smith which did him much evill such as were also the Iewes the Gentiles the Tyrants and all Infidells which persecuted him beyond all measure This then is as if he had said The Lord might stay all persecutions and hand-fetter all those which vexe me but because I was caught up into Paradise and heard there unspeakeable words and might have waxed proude thorow the excellency of revelations be hath permitted these Angels of Satan to buffet me by divers persecutions and tribulations Because then that Peter and Paul and their mates howsoever they be wonderfull among men in holines in righteousnesse and in most rare gifts still are men and easie to be overtaken with sinne they have neede to be held in with the curbe of a sharpe and rigorous discipline lest they suffer themselves to be carried away by the boisterous wind of their owne vanitie and pride for as serpents are bred in man of that which is most inward to him even of the marrow of his bones so arrogancie and loftinesse of mind is ingendred in holy men of the knowledge which they have of their owne excellency and righteousnesse then they begin to looke too much at themselves and too little to themselves then they begin to rely upon their owne excellencie and to forget their maker as Adam and Eve did and as it befell the good king Å¿ 2. Chro. 32.31 Isa 38.2 Hezekiah when he shewed his treasures to the King of Babylons Ambassadors This is the high and broad way to hell and therefore God with bit and bridle draweth his chosen ones backe from it and manageth them with rods and spurres not for any sinne which they have done but for that
for Christ in Christ holily with Christ wisely for Christ gloriously O how glorious before God is the death of Martyrs c Psal 116 15. Precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints but namely of his Martyrs which dye in him with him for him Weenest thou that it is but a slender glory that Christ hath chosen thee one among a thousand to be his Martyr that he will have thee to suffer not onely with him as doe all those which suffer for righteousnesse sake but also for him that as he d Ioh. 21.19 forewarned Peter by what death he should glorifie him so hee taketh thee by the hand and saith to thee Come I have picked thee out from many millions to beare witnes to the truth of my word before the great men of the earth to seale the faith thou hast in me with thy blood to honour me with thy death When c Gen. 32.6 7 8. Iacob was advertised that his brother Esau was comming to meete him and foure hundred men with him hee was greatly afraid and divided the people that were with him and the Flockes and the Heards and the Camels into two bands them he set foremost in the front of the battell f Gen. 33.2 3. the second place he gave to the hand-maides and their children the third to Lea and her children but he put Rachel and Ioseph hindermost because hee loved them best he adventureth all that he hath to save these two God doth farre otherwayes with his people he setteth foremost a little number of chosen men to whom hee hath distributed his graces in a greater scantling than to the rest them he setteth in the front to be his Martyrs and to fight against the powers of the world sparing the multitude to bee the seed-plot and nurserie of his Church IIX Who can conceive sufficiently the greatnesse of this honour g Luk. 6.23 When yeare hated excommunicated reproached put to death for the Sonne of mans sake Christ biddeth you reioyce and leape for ioy because the Prophets were used in like manner h Heb. 11.32 c. The Apostle in his epistle to the Hebrewes maketh a catalogue of many Worthies which under the Law suffered for the word of God of whom the world was not worthie that we may esteeme our selves most happy when God conformeth us to them i Iam. 5.10 11. S. Iames willeth us to take them for an example of suffering affliction of patience that as we count them happy so we may make it a part of our happinesse to bee like unto them k 1. Pet. 5.9 S. Peter will have us to know that the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren that are in the world And S. Paul will have us to remember that by tribulations for the Gospell l 1. Thess 2.14 wee become followers of the Churches of God which is no small honour It is said in the Song of Salomon that m Cant. 4.13 the plants of the Church are an Orchard of Pomegranates A Pomegranate hath within it sundry partitions and as it were little mansions with many graines in each of them of a sweete taste and red colour orderly set one by another and all together infolded and shut up under one outward skinne which hath at the top a little round circle like a crowne A most excellent Embleme of the faithfull who are as so many graines set orderly together by the unity of one faith and by the bond of perfectnesse which is charitie having a sweet taste in the holinesse of their life and a red colour in the conformitie of bloudy persecution in the severall Churches where God hath planted them under the Catholike Church whereof the head is our Lord Iesus Christ who as he was first crowned with thornes upon earth so is he now crowned with glory in heaven IX To him must we looke principally as the grains of the Pomegranate looke upward to the head of the skinne wherein they are wrapped and according to Peters exhortation n 1. Pet. 4.12 13. reioyce when we are in the furnace for our tryall in at much as wee are partakers of Christs sufferings for o Rom. 8.28 whom God did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne first in crosses for him next in crownes through him p Rom. 8.17 2. Tim. 2.11 the one and the other with him In this Realme men of good birth hold it no little honor to beare the liverie of the Kings Favourite and how much more the Kings owne liverie Shall wee not then account it a most speciall honour and glory to beare Christs liverie in whom God is well pleased and who is the King of kings to be for him made like unto him to be a curse among men for him who was a curse before God for us to dye that we may glorifie him who is dead to save us Should not the members bee ashamed to take their sports and delights under a head crowned with thornes I confesse that there is a great difference betwixt Christs sufferings and ours First hee is God and man we are but men Secondly hee was in his manhood without sinne there was never man so holy but he was a sinner Thirdly q Gal. 3.1 3. he in his torments was made a curse and drunke the full cup of Gods wrath which was so bitter to his soule that he cryed r Mat. 26.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All the Saints and Martyrs have alwaies in all their heaviest crosses beene comforted and supported of God Fourthly he suffered for the expiation of sinne and his death is the life of the world All the Martyrs ſ Rev. 7.14 15. have washed their robes and made them white in his blood therefore are they before the throne of God They have all suffered to beare witnesse that he suffered for the sinnes of the world none of them have suffered for the sins of the world t Leo. 1. epist 83 ad Palestinos Episcopos For though the death of many Saints hath beene precious in Gods eyes yet hath not the killing of any Saint beene the propitiation of the world The righteous have received but they have not given crownes and the fortitude of the faithfull hath brought forth examples of patience not gifts of righteousnesse The death of each one of them was severall neither did any by his owne end pay the debt of another considering that among thē sonnes of men Iesus Christ our Lord alone is he in whom all are crutified all are dead all buried all raised up of whom he said v Ioh. 12.32 If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me Yet in this is the conformitie of our sufferings with Christs sufferings that as when Christ suffered for our sake and in our roome we suffered in him so when we suffer for Christs sake he
valiant courage of Eleazar one of the principall Scribes in the dayes of the blood-thirstie Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes i 2. Maccab. 6.21 c. He was besought by the Kings officers for the old acquaintance they had with him to bring flesh of his owne provision such as was lawfull for him to use and make as if he did eate of the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the King that in so doing he might be delivered from death and for the old friendship with them finde favour A friendly counsell if yee consider the men which gave it but if ye consider the intention of the divell who suggested it a most violent assault and craftie tentation what so sweet as life what so desirable as to save it without any reall offence what so plausible or at least more excusable than to make a shew of an evill which indeed thou doest not to shun to be made a publike shew of the evill which otherwise thou must suffer with shame and great torments Flesh and blood will say to Eleazar that in this there was no sinne The Pope which giveth dispense to the Papists of this Realme to dissemble and deny their Religion will say that it was but a veniall sinne and of the number of those which are most pardonable Eleazar led with another Spirit even with k Esa 11.3 the Spirit of the Lord which is the spirit of knowledge of wisedome of counsell of might and of the feare of the Lord saith not so but considering the holy Law made and given by God It becommeth not our age said he in any wise to dissemble whereby many young persons might thinke that ELEAZAR being fourescore yeeres old and tenne was now gone to a strange religion and so they through mine hypocrisie and desire to live a little time and a moment longer should be deceived by me and I get astaine to mine old age and make it abominable for though for the present time I should bee delivered from the punishment of men yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty neyther alive nor dead wherefore now manfully changing this life I will shew my selfe such an one as mine age requireth and leave a notable example to such as be young to dye willingly and courageously for the honourable and holy lawes This seemed madnesse and despaire to his Iudges which changing the good will they bare him into hatred and their meeknesse into fury and rage let him straight wayes to the Tympan which was a most cruell kind of torture whereupon being ready to dye of the stripes which hee had received ceived he groaned and said It is manifest unto the Lord that hath the holy knowledge that whereas I might have beene delivered from death I now endure sore paines in body by being beaten but in soule am well content to suffer these things because I feare him XIV Reade also the storie of the cruell death and constancie l 2. Macc. 7 of the seven brethren and their mother at that same time the Tyrant himselfe marvelled at their courage for that neither the scourges and whips wherewith they were torne nor the cutting out of their tongues nor the mangling and maiming of all their members nor the pulling off of the skin of their heads with the haire nor the hot pannes and caldrons wherein they were fryed being yet alive could compell them against the law of God to eate swines flesh The eldest heire worthy of the prerogative of the first-borne answered to the Tyrants threats to the Hangmans whips and to all the tortures We are ready to dye rather than to transgresse the lawes of our fathers and exhorted his brethren as they exhorted him to dye manfully for the law of God And to make you know that this was not madnesse of mind but faith the second said to the King Thou like a fury takest us out of this present life but the King of the world shall raise us up which have dyed for his lawes unto everlasting life So spake the third so the fourth and the rest but the youngest was most wonderfull of all for neither could the promises of riches and honours tickle him nor the cruell torments which he had seene his brethren suffer shake his constancie but being encouraged by his most wonderfull mother he cryed to the executioners Whom wait ye for I will not obey the Kings commandement but I will obey the commandement of the law that was given unto our Fathers by Moses So they dyed so dyed last of all their marvellous mother after that she had beene to them in stead of a Levite or Priest and had exhorted and comforted them with a most excellent speech concerning the resurrection And therefore the Apostle ascribeth their victorious constancie to their faith saying Heb. 11.35 that by faith they were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtaine a better resurrection XV. The Christian Church aboundeth in such examples of most wonderfull victorie against the flesh the world and the divell In it this is to bee admired that men which may live in honor by denying Christ choose shame and dishonor preferre torments to ease sorrow to joy paine to pleasure death to life kissethe postes and other instruments of their punishments looke upon the torments with a cheerefull face runne to the fires as joyfully as worldings doe to a bridall feast and not onely rejoice but also m Rom. 53 glorie in tribulations which is the highest degree of pleasure and joy Steven stopping his eares to the murmuring of the people which like a swarme of Hornets and Waspes made a humming noise about him shutting his eyes to the stones wherewith they were armed to fell him and overcomming by faith the horrors of death n Act. 7.55 56 59 60. looked up stedfastly into heaven and seeing there the glory of God and Iesus standing on the right hand of God cryed with a triumphing voice Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Sonne of man standing on the right hand of God Neither could their showting nor the stones which hayled upon him stay him to kneele downe and to call upon God both for himselfe and for them XVI If ye search the Ecclesiasticall histories of the Martyrs of the primitive Church and of ours the examples of such victories are infinite S. Ignace Bishop of Antiochia hearing the roaring of the hungry Lions and seeing them stretching foorth their clawes to teare him and opening their throats to devoure his flesh cryed with a loud voice o Iren adv heres sib 5. Because I am Christs wheat now shall I be ground with the teeth of beasts that I may bee found to bee the pure bread of God p Euseb hist Eâ—cl lib. 4. cap. 15. Policarpe Bishop of Smyrna answered to those which now intreated him with many promises now impotuned him with threats to call the Emperour My Lord and to deny Christ to bee his Lord I have served him
Epicureans and belly-gods That were as if I should cast pearles vnto swine Nor also before wickedly and cruelly disposed men That were as if one should cast that which is holy vnto doggs What then shall I doe I will put up the holy things I will packe up my Pearles and withdraw my selfe the most advisedly I can till the dirtie and muddie swine be out of the way and the dogs leave off barking and biting Or I will remove to some other place and display my sewels there to see and assay if I can finde a better market else-where For Christ giveth us not commandements of feare whereby we should forsake our callings to save our lives but of holy wisedome whereby we should be carefull to save our lives that at another time or in another place we may more commodiously and effectually practise our callings and so goe backe to leape the better VII Such commandements are not in the Church without most glorious precedents and examples most worthy to be followed Can we have any so perfect so excellent as of Christ himselfe Of him the Angel said to Ioseph g Matth. 2.13 Arise and take the young childe and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there untill I bring thee word b When he had shewne himselfe to be God by restoring the withered hand h Matt. 12.13 14 15. the Pharisees went out and held a counsell against him how they might destroy him But when Iesus knew it he withdrew himselfe from thence The inhabitants of Nazareth led him unto the brow of an hill that they might cast him downe headlong i Luk. 4.30 But bee passing thorow the midst of them went his way In the Temple of Ierusalem the Iewes tooke up stones to cast at him k Iohn 8.59 But Iesus hid himselfe and went out of the Temple going thorow the midst of them and so passed by The chiefe Priests and the Pharisees tooke counsell to put him to death after that he had raised Lazarus l Ioh. 11.54 Iesus therefore walked no more openly among the Iewes but went thence into a countrie neere to the wildernesse into a city called Ephraim and there continued with his disciples Wherefore hid he himselfe wherefore fled he Because m Ioh. 2.4 Ioh. 7.6 his houre was not yet come for when his houre was come not onely he fled not but n Ioh. 18.4 knowing all things that should come upon him went foorth and rendred himselfe to his enemies which neither knew him nor were able to take him And where he fled untill his time was come there he preached healed the sicke and did good to all men So when there was a great persecution against the Church at Ierusalem the Christians o Act. 8.1.4 Act. 11.19 20. were scattered abroad throughout the region of Iudea and Samaria and went every where preaching the word So Paul being at Damascus knowing that the Iews watched the gates day and night to kill him p Act. 9.24 25. The Disciples tooke him by night and let him downe by the wall in a basquet So when he was q Act. 14.5 6. at Iconium with Barnabas knew that the Iewes Gentiles with their Rulers had made an assault to use them despitefully to stone them they were ware of it fled unto Lystra So when in the uprore which Demetrius had raised against him at Ephesus r Act. 19.30 31. he would haue entred in unto the people the Disciples suffered him not and he followed their counsell So seeing he could not stay there without great ieopardie f Act. 20.1 he departed from thence and went into Macedonia and preached the Gospell there So t Act. 23.6 7. perceiving that his enemies were resolved to doe him some mischiefe he found a subtill but lawfull policie to put them by the eares and so escaped So v v. 17. advertised that fourtie naughty men had bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eate nor drinke till they had killed him he shunned that conspiracie by a most wise counsell So x Act. 25.11 knowing the corruption of his Iudge he appealed unto Caesar not forsaking his calling but desiring to live for his callings sake So S. Iohn writeth that y Rev. 12.6 the woman which was delivered of a childe fled into the wildernesse And that ye may know that her flight was approved of God it is said that there shee had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes So S. Cyprian seeing that the people cryed incessantly a Cyprian Epist 15. Cyprianum ad Leonem Cyprian to the Lyon withdrew himselfe from the furie of the people and fled not so much for his owne safetie as for the peace of the Church So S. Athanasius fled out of Alexandria where the Emperour had sent to take him So Policarpus so S. Chrysostome by their flight saved the Pastors for their Churches and the Churches for their Pastors So the Albigenses fleeing the persecution in France went through Germanie Bohemia and England and planted there the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ Of whom is this flourishing Church composed Of strangers which have forsaken their owne countries and commodities and have sought in this Sanctuary securitie for their lives and food for their soules and of whom I may say truly that God hath sent them before their distressed brethren to save their lives even as Ioseph said to his brethren b Gen. 45.7 God sent me before you to preserve you a posteritie in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance VIII It is a naturall thing to all living creatures to provide for their owne safetie Neither hath God the author of nature abolished that naturall instinct in his Saints but sanctified it directing them by his word and by his Spirit to doe lawfully and holily that is to say by good meanes and for a good end that whereunto they are inclined by nature If they did otherwayes might they not be iustly accused of tempting of the Lord their God of preventing his providence of seeking through vaine-glorie and ostentation to be Christs Martyrs when he craveth no such dutie at their hands Peter being too bold out of season denyed his Master The rest of the Disciples which fled and kept themselves quiet shunned that mischiefe For God blesseth rather a modest fleeing than a presumptuous abode When Peter rusht into Caiphas Hall the Spirit of God left him But when c Ioh 20.19 he was hid with the rest in a chamber the doores being shut for feare of the Iewes Iesus came to them and d Act 2.1.4 the holy Ghost descended upon them In Cyprians time there was a kinde of heretiques called Circumcellions which ran every where seeking the martyrdome and the Franciscane Friers write of Francis their Patron that he went to Maiorka Minorka and other places occupied
mind is to destroy it for ever but God by the persecutions chastiseth the securitie tryeth the faith exerciseth the patience of his children and setteth forth his owne glory in their delivery as ye have heard in the fourth Sermon He hath ever done so hee will doe so unto the worlds end and therefore let us in all our heavy displeasures rely upon his wisedome as it is written n Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto to the LORD trust also in him and he shall bring it to passe Then our owne experience shall inforce us to confesse that o Rom 8.28 we know that all things worke together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to his purpose So in Gods wisedome we have a second reason to move us to patience XIII Thirdly we should ever set before our eyes his truth which is more firme and constant than heaven and earth and all things that are therein men may be disloyall and false But p 2. Tim 2.13 if we beleeve not yet he abideth faithfull he cannot deny himselfe He is q 1. Sam. 15.29 the strength of Israel he will not lye nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent He hath wisedome to foresee the events before he promise he hath power to performe whatsoever he promiseth he is goodnesse it selfe and therefore he will throughly fulfill all his promises r Esa 55.10 11. For as the raine commeth downe and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it to bring foorth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So saith he shall my word be that goeth foorth out of my mouth it shall not returne unto me voyd but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it XIV Wee have his promise in the second part of our text for when he biddeth us hide our selves as it were for little moment untill the indignation be overpast he implyeth in the commandement a most comfortable promise that the affliction of the Church shall last but for a moment which being expired his indignation shall overpasse and the Church shall be delivered This promise and the exhortation grounded upon it is very formall in Habacuc where God speaketh after this manner ſ Hab. 2.3 The vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speake and not lye Though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry The promise is that the vision the prediction concerning the deliverance of the Church hath 〈◊〉 appointed time which being expired God will fulfill it the exhortation is Therefore waite upon it This time is not a long time it is but a moment t Psal 30.5 For his anger endureth but a moment In his favour is life weeping may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning as David saith in the thirty Psalme Yee have the like promise in the fiftie and fourth chapter of Isaith v Esa 54.7 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee I have hid my face from thee for a little in the moment of wrath but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the LORD thy redeemer XV. Here then wee have solid comfort and a soveraigne remedy against impatience in tribulation x Psal 125.3 For the rod of wickednesse shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put foorth their hands into iniquity we heare the promise and howsoever wee beleeve it we thinke the time to be very long and wee cry as David often in the Psalmes And thou Lord how long for one houre of affliction is more sensible unto us than a yeare of prosperitie Therefore God y Psal 103.14 knowing our frame and remembring bring that we are but dust speaketh unto us according to our hearts desire and telleth us that hee hath a time appointed for our deliverance whereof he keepeth a most exact reckoning and shall not lose the least parcell thereof a Eccl. 3.1 To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven A time to be afflicted a time to bee delivered the time of affliction is to some shorter to some longer To Noah and to his family in the Arke b Gen. 7.11 Gen. 1.13 14. it was of one yeare and tenne dayes To the people of Israel in Egypt c Gen. 15.13 four hundred years To the lews in Babylon d Ier. 25.12 Ier. 29.10 Dan. 5.2 seaventy years To the woman diseased with the bloody e Mar. 9.20 issue twelve yeares To the impotent whom the Lord cured at the poole of Ierusalem f Ioh. 5.5 thirty and eight yeares To the woman delivered of her child to bee fed in the wildernesse g Rev. 12.14 a time and times and halfe a time which are three yeares and an halfe To Moses to be hid h Exod. 2.2 three moneths Hosea speaking of the time of Gods deliveries saith i Hos 6.2 After two dayes will hee revive us In the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight k Ioh. 11.39 Lazarus was in the grave foure dayes l Luk. 18.33 The Lord was put to death and buryed and rose again the third day Hee advertised the Church of Smyrna that shee should have tribulation m Rev. 2.10 tenne dayes He spake of his houre when hee said to his mother n Ioh. 2.4 Mine houre is not yet come Hee said to his Disciples o Ioh. 16.16 A little while and ye shall not see me and againe a little while and ye shall see me In our text God speaketh of a little moment David saith p Psal 37.10 Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be The Apostle saith that q 2. Cor. 4.17 our affliction is light and is but for a moment He saith againe r Heb. 10.37 Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry S. Peter writeth to the faithfull of his time that ſ 1. Pet. 1.6 for a season they were in heavinesse through manifold temptations And it was said to the soules that were under the Altar that t Rev. they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should bee killed as they were should be fulfilled that is to say untill the end of the world which to flesh and blood is very long for if these blessed soules thought the time which was betweene their death and this vision of Iohn so long that they cryed v ver 10. How long O Lord what wonder if men leading a most wearisome and tedious life under the crosse cry to God as David did x Psal 119 82. Mine eyes faile