The Trumpet of War. A Sermon preached at Paul's Cross the seventh of May 1598. By M. Steph. Gosson Parson of Great Wigborow in Essex. STANTIA LABOR●● ET Printed at London by V S. for I. O. dwelling in Paul's churchyard at the sign of the Parot. To the most reverend Father in God, Richard Bishop of London, my very good Lord, health and happiness here, and in the world to come. RIght reverend my very good Lord, every divine knows, that there is a storehouse in the Church of God, into which every good christian brings some affliction suffered, or some travel undertaken for God's sake. And although that from Abel to Christ, and from Christ jesus to this present day, there have been many prizes of both sorts carried into this treasury yet will it not be full before the end of the world, until which time, neither the tears nor the travels of the Church are like to cease. Therefore seeing it hath pleased God of his goodness to make me a little Nail in his Temple, to hang some part of his service upon, and hath from time to time afforded me a place among many learned men, called out from their studies in the Universities, or from their particular charges in the country, to the public service of the church at Paul's Cross, where every man bestirs him like a Bee, to carry wax and honey to the hive, and every man is profitable in his pains: I have brought in these labours to the church, fitted as well as I could, both to the time wherein we live, and to that honourable assembly to which I spoke. And because S: Augustine confesses, that when he beholds men carried away with a love of this present world, he cannot tell how wisdom should come in season to do them any good, in that people blown up with prosperity despise all that is said unto them: finding a great part of the ancient glory of this kingdom blasted with the breath of schism, and with an expectation of wars and troubles, and espying also with the Prophet jeremy, that there is no taking the wild Ass in the wilderness before she be with foal, I have slept in in such a time, as wisdom may happily come in season. The matters I entreated of are great, and I am little, but God (which when he was great became little to preach unto the world) hath assisted me: and what I have delivered, men shall best see to be true, when reading and preaching shall be removed, the cloud of this body rend in pieces, and we with purified and glorified bodies shall look upon the Lord. I know, that whilst we live here below, as preaching is compared in the Revelation unto thunder, so it is like it in the cause and effects of thunder Thunder proceeds from a vapour lifted up from the earth, and compassed with a cold cloud, in the motion and agitation, it catcheth fire, which breaketh out presently where the cloud is thinnest, and being out, sometime it strikes the body of a man, and not the clothes, sometime the clothes, and not the body. Preaching proceeds from the meditation of the heart, lifted up from earth to heaven, cold flesh is the cloud that keeps it in in the motion and agitation of the mind, it catches fire, while I miss (saith David) the fire kindled, being straightened within us, it strives to vent itself, and breaks out at the lips of the preacher where the cloud is thinnest and being forth, sometime it strikes the princes of the earth, and not the people that stand about them: sometime again it hits and moves the poor people, and not the Potentates. When these arrows of the almighty fly abroad, a preacher must not be dismayed to see them glance in the going for they stick not every where. Nay, it falleth out sometimes, that the hearers deal with us, as Saul did with David, who threw a spear at him when he played upon his harp, to charm the eiull spirit that was in Saul. Of which action it was wittily devised and written by him that cut the whole History of David for the King of Spain, and set it out in pictures. Dura est mens hominis ac sancto ingrata labori, The heart of man is hard, and unkind to holy labours. I speak not this in respect of any crooked measure laid unto my travails, for than I should detract from that religious auditory which gave me gracious hearing & acceptance, the glory shall be Gods, which wrought it in their hearts, and I trust, their answers a reward to them in heaven, for the heed and regard they gave unto me. And that my sermon might remain somewhat longer with them then the time wherein it was delivered, I have at the request of my friends put it forth in print, to the view of all, dedicating it unto your Lo. partly to submit it to your L. grave and learned censure, and to the censure of the Church of England, according to the rule of the holy ghost, which will have the spirits of the Prophet's subject to the Prophets: which course if every man could be content in humility to take, the controversies of our church would quickly be composed: partly to give some public testimony of my thankful heart and dutiful affection to your Lordship, which hath enabled me to do some good in the church of God, in some inferior services thereof, according to the talon bestowed upon me. Thus humbly beseeching God, which is the beginning and the end of all things, to give peace to his church and to our country, and to bless and continue your honourable labours in them both, and to crown them in heaven when your race is run, I humbly take my leave. Your Lordship's most humble servant, Stephan Gosson. The Trumpet of War. The Text. 2. Chro. 20. vers. 20. And when they arose early in the morning, they went forth to the Wilderness of Tekoa, and as they departed, jehossaphat stood & said, Hear ye me O judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God, and ye shallbe assured believe his Prophets; and ye shall prosper▪ IT is a wonder Right honourable) to see the base fear of man, the people of God may sometime be cast into, when they hear the enemy is in arms, or approacheth the Land, or hath taken some fort to intercept the passages and annoy the land: It was Asa his case, king of juda, when Baasa King of Israel was come to Rama, and had fortified there in such sort, that he stopped the passages of Asa his kingdom, and none could safely get in or out. This did cast Asa into a fear, and Hananie the prophet reproved him for it, 2 Chro. 16, 7. Indèede as Hambal never saw Fabius appear upon the mountains, but he likened him to a cloud that threatened rain: So when the enemy is possessed of places of advantage, it is human wisdom to reckon upon a storm, but if he be God's enemy, it is human weakness to stand in fear of him. In this case the heathen Poets have had their times to turn their pastoral tunes into sound of Trumpets, and the holy Prophets and Priests of God have had their times also to change their exhortations to mercy and compassion, into charges and alarms, and either with Azariah encourage both the Prince and the people to be strong handed, 2. Chro. 15. chapter 7. vers. Or with jehaziel in the 15. verse of this chapter, even in the name of God command both the Prince and the people not to fear the multitude of men, but to march forwards boldly towards the enemy, and look him in the face. I will follow the example of the Prophets and Priests of God at this time, and make you such music upon this ground, as it shall please God to minister unto me. This Scripture which I have read unto you, is a very Trumpet of war: herein we find juda and Jerusalem marching toward the enemy, under the conduct of jehoshaphat, upon intelligence given, that there was a great combination of foreign Princes, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the inhabitants of Mount Seir were come from beyond the seas to invade jehoshaphat. The place in the wilderness where the army sat down was discovered. That which offers itself to be discoursed, The division. stands upon these two parts in general, the first is the action of war, in these words, And when they arose early in the morning▪ they went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: The second is the exhortation to this action in these words, And as they departed jehoshaphat stood & said, hear ye me O judah, & ye inhabitants of jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God, and ye shall be assured, believe his Prophets, and ye shall prosper. In the action of war there arise these four points in particular to be handled: first, the equity of the action: secondly, the cause that makes the action of war to be just and lawful: thirdly, the persons concurring to this action: four, the execution of it, that is, the manner how it must be executed. These four I must fetch a little further off, yet not so far, but that I may easily draw them out from the verses going before, and immediately following after in this chapter. In the exhortation to this action, there be also two acts of the soul, two objects, two consequents: the first act is to trust: the first object is God, the first consequent is safety. Put your trust in the Lord your God, and ye shall be assured. The second act, to believe: the second object, the Prophets: the second consequent, Prosperity. Believe the Prophets, and ye shall prosper. That I may speak of all these parts in order, to God's glory, and the opportunity of the times wherein we live, I beseech you to join with me in humble and hearty prayers, etc. 1 The equity of the action of War. TO give you a view of the equity of this action, you shall find it to be just in reason, in religion, and in the practice of the church. It is just in reason. Thomas 1. p. q. 76. a. s. disputing how fit a receptacle the body of man is for the soul of man, shows that Natura non deest in necessarijs, Nature is not wanting in things necessary. But as nature hath given to bruit beasts horns and hooves, teeth & talons, for defence and offence: so having given unto man none of these, she hath given him reason and hands in steed of these. Man naturally consists of a body and a soul: his soul is comprehensive of universalities; and hath Uirtutem ad infinita, it is able to devise and contrive infinite things: nature hath set no bounds nor limits to the thoughts or opinions of the soul, neither hath she set any bounds to the coverings of the body, but as the soul is able to devise a covering for the body of such a temper as shall hold out the dint of sword, and smaller shot, and to devise engines of wars for battery and assaults, so hath she given hands to the body, which are organa organorum, instruments of instruments to frame these when they are devised. Nature not being wanting in things necessary, there may be a time wherein it shall be just and necessary for the soul of man to contrive weapons, & engines of offence, for the hands to work them, the body and arms to wear and wield them, and to put them in execution: such is the time of war. It is just in religion, for the spirit of God which is a holy spirit, that never persuades men unto any sin, was upon jehaziel verse 14. of this chapter, exhorting judah and jerusalem to this action at the putting on of their armour, Exodus 15. this is God's Title: The Lord is a man of war. In the Psalms, he is said to teach the fingers of the warrior to fight, and to cover his head in the day of battle; in the time of war the battles fought, are said to be God's battles, and the overthrows given, are said to be given by him. It is just in the practice of the Church. Deut. 20. 2. When the armies are come to an interview, and the battle ready to join, God commands the Priest to stand forth and encourage the soldier. God hath so disposes of our function, that we shall carry the hearts of the people in our hands, and either discourage them from the fight when God is angry, as Michaiah the Prophet did 2 〈…〉. 18. 16. I saw all Israel scattered in the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd, let them return every man to his house in peace: Or animate and hearten them on to the fight when God is with them, as the Priests did in the 6 of josua, when they blew the trumpets and the walls of jericho fell before them. This hath been the practice of the Church of England by the testimony of our own Chronicles, when the honour of our nation, the chivalry of England hath been in the field, it hath been used for a sufficient argument of encouragement unto the Soldier, before the actual encounter with the enemy, to say thus much, This day is the Church of England upon her knees for us. The action of war being thus found to be good & lawful in reason, in religion, and in the practice of the Church: it follows in the second place, to discover the cause the makes it to be just and lawful. The cause of War. War is of the nature of just judgement, and the calamities that wait upon war be very great: therefore as a Judge doth not punish every light offence, but such as are against the good of the common weal, so war is not to be undertaken upon every light occasion, but upon such as shall be proportionable to the damage & distress of war. Because there are many false claims and titles laid upon the action of war to justify the same, it shall not be amiss to shut out the false titles as I pass along, and let in the true. The first of them False titles of war. is infidelity: the second is, the revenge of the injuries done unto God by the sin of Idolatry, because Deut. 2. 34. the children of Israe war upon Sehon king of Hesbon an Idolater, they destroy his people, and take his cities. And Deut. 13. 13. this title seems to be expressed, God chargeth his people, that when they shall hear any hath gone out from among them and drawn other to the worship of strange gods, they shall destroy the inhabitants of that city, and race the city. The third is, supreme authority in things temporal. They that hold this opinion, imagine the heathen not to be Lords of their own lands, but either the Emperor or the Pope. The fourth is, unaptness to govern, because the heathen are barbarous and unfit to govern, and the law of Nature wills that such should be ruled by wiser than themselves; Aristotle saith, that war undertaken 4. Polit. cap. 5. against such, is just and lawful, because it is attempted against those that are borne to obey, and will not. This title is upheld by Mayor 2. d. 44. and by Sepulpeda 7. polit. cap. 3. They are all four false and erroneous: the two first, because God hath not given every man authority to revenge the injury done to him, but saith, Mihi vindicta, & ego rependam. Neither is it expedient for the race of man that it should be so, for, by this means the garboils and troubles of the earth would be so great, that God's injuries would rather be wultiplied than avoided. And seeing this cannot be demonstrated, Idolaters might lawfully betake themselves to arms in their own defence, whereby war should be just on both sides, which is unpossible. As in things natural, Simile non agit contra simile, Fire doth not fight with fire, but fire against water, one contrary struggles with an other: so in things moral, innocens non agit contra innocentem, The innocent strives not with the innocent, but the innocent with the offender, and the offender with the innocent, the war can be just but of one side. As for the instance of the wars of God's people upon Idolaters, divers titles have been sifted, and sought out by divers authors to justify them, of which I will yield you but two, both discovered in the scriptures. The one is God's donation. Psal. 105. 44. He gave them the lands of the heathen, & they took the labours of the people in possession. Jephtha pleads this title against the king of the Ammonites, judg. 11. 24 wouldst not thou possess that which Chemosh thy God giveth thee to possess? So, whomsoever the Lord our God driveth out before us, them will we possess. The other is the wrong first done unto Israel in their passage as they went out of Egypt, for which God gave Sihon and his people into the hands of Israel, and they possessed their lands. 27 verse of the same chapter. The third title is as false as the former, in that all the kings of the earth do hold their crowns of GOD that ●aith Per me Reges regnant, by me Kings rule and Princes decree Justice, in their lands and dominions temporal, neither Pope nor Emperor have any thing to do. And Caietan avoucheth, that to give any Q. 59 a. 8. such right to Pope or Emperor, is to take away the distinction of jurisdictions, and to bring in a confusion into the world. Last of all, how untrue and erroneous the fourth title is, may easily appear, in that many pagans and infidels are more ingenious, politic, and apt to govern, than many christians. Neither is it enough to justify the war, that the people upon whom the war is made, are inferior in wit unto the warrior, except they be so poor that they live like bruit beasts, or feed upon human flesh. In which case peradventure it may be lawful to invade them, not to kill them, as the Spaniards did the naked Indians, but to bring them in order to live 1. Polit. cap. 5. like men. Aristotle holds this to be lawful, when such people differ as far from men, as the body differs from the Soul. Yet is this either seldom or never to be admitted, except upon some occasion of innocents or wrong, and the war rather revoked to a defensive, than an offensive war. The false titles excluded, there remains but one just in general, that is, Necessity. Nullum bellum justum nisi necessarium. It may be just and necessary two ways, the one is in defence of the innocent, the other is in revenge of injuries. In defence of the innocent, because God hath given all the kingdoms of the earth to his son Christ Jesus, Ps. 2. Princes are exhorted to kiss the son of God, lest he be angry, and they perish. In another place of the Psalms, Princes are commanded to set open their gates, that the king of glory may come in. Therefore if either Turk, or Pope, or Idelatrous Princes force the law of Mahomet or Idolatry upon their people, when they are desirous to embrace the Gospel, the Gospel may then be bronght in by arms: but if the Turk or Pope, or Idolatrous Princes beguile their people, and their people willingly entertain a false religion, there is no violence offered, and Vbi non est vis non habet locum defensio: where no violence is offered, defence can take no place. On the contrary, if the Turk, Pope, or Idolatrous Princes conspire to drive out the Gospel from those Christian kingdoms where it is preached, Non est simile ius, The case is not alike: to banish the Gospel is to do an injury. The injuries that may make war to be just and lawful, are of divers sorts. In juries. Either when one Prince withholds that which is another's, or when iura gentium, 1 the laws of nations or passages are denied, 2 Deut. 25. 17. When Ameled had vexed the Israelites as they went out of Egypt, and smote the hindmost of them, God commanded them to revenge it, and to root out the remembrance of Amelec from under heaven. Moreover, if the fame and honour of a Prince be hurt, or disgrace and indignity offered to his ambassadors, war may lowfully be waged to revenge it, 2. Sam. 10 Upon the like wrong done to David's Messengers sent to the King of Ammon, when their clothes were cut, and their beards shaved, David revenged it by arms. Yea, it is sufficient if injury be done to a Prince's friend, Gen. 14. Injury was done to Lot in surprising him, and Abraham rescued him by sword. 1. Macha. 11. 27. Demetrius promiseth succour to jonathan against them that kept the Castle of Jerusalem, and commanded the forts that annoyed the Jews; jonathan reciprocally sent a supply of three thousand brave soldiers to Demetrius when his own companies had forsaken him. The reason of it is this, Amicus est alter idem. Wrong done to a prince's friend is done unto himself, but this caution must be added, that is, that he that stands in need of succour do request it, as the men of Gibeon did in the tenth of josua, or at least be willing to be succoured voluntate expressa aut interpretativa, to give aid to such, is to set the helping hand to a just and honest action. The last injury of all is invasion, and this is the Title of the War in this place, jehoshaphat and his people fight for their wives, children, goods, lands, their own lives, & their religion, against the invader. 3 The persons concurring to the action of war. THe third consideration is of the persons that concur to the action of war, which in this chapter are of four sorts, the Prince, the peers, the priests and the common soldier. As war must have a just title to make it lawful, so it must also be undertaken by lawful authority, that is, the authority of the Prince, who as he carries the sword of Justice to punish domestical disturbers of the common weal, in respect whereof he is said Rom. 13. not to bear the sword in vain: so he defendeth his people from the sorraine enemy by the sword of war, and is bound so to do Psal. 82. 4. He is charged to save the poor and oppressed, from the hand of the wicked that oppresseth them. The reason of it is this, that as in a common weal it is requisite there should be an authority, to punish offences, and to keep the same in order: so in the wide world, that all kingdoms and commonweals might be preserved, it is requisite there should be a power & authority to punish injuries, this power resting in no one Prince in the world as superior to all other Princes, war steps in in the place of just vindicative judgement, God hath left no other means unto Princes to fly unto. Howsoever, this may seem to be controlled by scripture, and reason, in that Rom. 12. the Apostles council is, Render to no man evil for evil. And if private revenge be not to be admitted, because the self and same person is both a Judge and an actor in his own cause, it may peradventure be thought as unfit for a Prince to be a Judge and an actor in his own cause. Yet is not the revenge of a Prince cut off by this. The Scripture Rom. 12. forbids private revenge, because Revenge is an act of vindicative Justice, which is Actus jurisdictionis an act of jurisdiction, which no private person obtains by reason of any wrong done to him: nevertheless, if revenge be taken by authority, it is not only not forbidden by the apostle, but commended as a thing necessary, in that he saith, Princes and Magistrates are the The difference between Princes & private persons in revenge. ministers of God to take vengeance upon them that do evil. The argument drawn from a private person, holdeth not in comparison with a Prince. A private person hath a speedy way to redress his own wrongs, by recourse to the authority of his superiors: a Prince hath no superior upon earth, nor any other redress than war if satisfaction have been expected, and denied. A private person in taking revenge in his own cause may exceed the bounds of justice, there is no such fear in the person of a Prince, his authority is public and administered by public council, whereby the affections of Princes are easily restrained: A private person cannot revenge himself, because he may not be a Judge and an actor in his own case; a Prince may be a Judge and an actor in his own case: Princes are gods, the authority of a prince is a little arm of the broad sea of authority which is in God, & as God revenging the injuries done to him and his kingdom, is a Judge and an actor in his own case: so a Prince revenging the injuries done to him, and his dominions, may be a Judge and an actor in his own case. The second sort of persons are the peers, 2 which may be divided into two ranks, either The Peers they are such as are called to council of state, they are all bound to give faithful council, not to deal with their master as Hushai dealt with Absalon when he taught him a trick to overthrow himself, or such as be leaders & commanders in the field, and they are all bound to the act of fortitude, to fight manfully, and neither for fear, nor flattery, nor corruption, nor loss of life, give up the towns and castles committed to their charge, without the consent of the prince that committed them to their trust. The third be the priests, we concur to 3 this action, not to manage arms, our warfare is spiritual, our weapons spiritual, they The Priests be prayers and tears: and as David was unfit to build the temple, because he was a warrior, so are we unfit to fight, because we are of the temple. Yet we concur with the action of war thus far, we converse with the soldier in the field, we bless him and pray for him before the fight, and we praise god for him when the fight is ended. The fourth & last is the common soldier, whose duty S. john Baptist describes, Luc. 4 3. 14. it is to do violence to no man, but to be The Common Soul. dies. contented with their pay: war being of the nature of just judgement, soldiers are of the nature of executioners, when they are called forth by authority to fight, they must remember that in this case they are inferior instruments unto God to punish the offences of the wicked, & fetting him before their eyes in these actions, they may not consecrate the first fruits of their fingers with robberies & outrage upon their friends, as they march along the countries, but join with the priest and the Levite, & the singers, as the soldiers do in this chapter, to call upon the Lord whom they serve in war. 4. The execution of the action of war. The last point to be discoursed in the action of war, is the manner how it must be executed, which in divers places of the scripture is very different. In this ca jehaziel wills them to stand still and look on, without striking stroke, but this being a particular direction of God's spirit for this war of jehoshaphat. and liable only to that time, it cannot be a precedent for all other wars at all other times, therefore in the execution of wars there be three differences of times to be considered: the beginning, the progress, and the end of it. In the beginning, because reason requireth in the ordinary affairs of this life, advice and diligence should be used answerable to the quality of the business in hand, war being the most weighty of all human affairs, there must be counsel & deliberation to begin it, Pro. 24. 6. Thou shalt enterprise thy war with council,. In the 21 verse of this chapter jehoshaphat enters Five things to be considered in the beginning of wars. into consultation about the war. ● here be five things in the beginning of war to be thought upon, the loss of the country against which we fight, the loss of the country that goes to fight, the loss of the church, the probability of the victory, and the intention of the warrior. If the loss of of the enemy be likely to fall out to be greater than the hurt he hath done, I find no great reckoning made of it, because the wilfulness of the enemy is the cause of it, which may have peace and will not. If the loss be of the second or third fort, that is, the loss of the warrior, or the loss of the church be likely to be greater, than the hurt already received, there is some care to be had of it, for war hath the property of physic, if the physician by healing the present infirmity, bring the body into worse case than it was before, his physic is very dangerous. Concerning the probability of the victory, which is the fourth point. Caietan holds that in the enterprise of war, the preparation must be so great, that the warrior may be Moraliter certus de victoria: sure of the victory. He brings in two examples G: 55. a. 3. for it, one of a Judge, another of the Agent and the Patient. If a Judge (saith he) send to apprehend a malefactor, and do not send so strong a company that he may be sure to take him, he doth more hurt then good. In the time of war the revenger is the Agent, the offender is the Patient, and in things natural Agens debet esse potens ad superandum passum, The agent must be powerful and able to overcome the patiented: the medicine must be stronger than the humour. But this is not absolutely necessary, because it is impossible: Psa. 33. The king is not saved by the multitude of an host, nor the mighty man delivered by his great strength. How pusian● soever the preparation of princes be, if God be not with them it is nothing worth, 2. Chro. 25. 8. The Army of Amafiah consisted of an hundred thousand very valiant men, but the man of God told him, that how strong soever he made himself, he should surely be overthrown if he did proceed, because God was not with him. David observes it, Psal 89. 43. That it is God that turns the edge of the sword of the warrior, & makes him unable to stand ● the day of battle. Remember the great Armada in the year 1588. The preparation was such, that the invader assured himself o victory & termed it invincible, yet was it in so short time with so few strokes & skirmishes, & with so small ships scattered and defeated, that to the eternal memory of gods high hand, & the utter scorn and reproach of the invader there was after the manner of the old Romans, a monument made of it, in certain coin stamped beyond the seas, with a resemblance of a navy, and this word fastened to it, venit, ivit, fuit, it came, it went, & it came to nothing. And there was not one ancient or honourable house in Spain but lost a son, or a brother, a kinsman or a friend in that voyage. If it should never be lawful to war but upon assurance of the victory drawn from the preparation, it should never be lawful for the smaller number to fight with the greater, or the weaker with the stronger, so should it have been unlawful for the Israelites to encounter the Aramites, 1. King. 22 27. when the Israelites pitched like two little flocks of kids before the Aramites, and the Aramites filled the country: So should it have been unlawful for jehoshaphat in this place to resist the invader, for he confesses vers. 12. of this chap. There is no strength in us to stand before this great multitude that cometh against us, neither do we know what to do, but our eyes are towards thee. Whereby you may perceive that in the action of war a case may so fall out, that it shall not be needful for the warrior to expect any great assurance of the victory, but put the matter in trial, even when the success is doubtful. Nevertheless I will say thus much unto you, that if a prince can find any means to assure himself of the victory before the war begin, he may use it. 1 Sam. 30, 8. When the Amalekites had sacked and fired Z●klag. David asketh counsel of God, whether he shall pursue them, & god assures him of the victory, he shall recover al. 1. Ch●. 14. Before he set upon the Philistines, god prescribes unto him which way he should go to work, he should recoil, & fetch a compass about by the mulberry trees, and when he heard a noise or a rustling of one going in the tops of the mulberry trees, than God commanded him to charge his enemies, for God was gone out before him. The like we find in Gedeon, God gave him signs and tokens to assure him that he should prevail, judg. 6. The sign was by the fleece wet when the ground was dry and the ground wet when the fleece was dry. judg. 7. 11. God sends him by night to the host of the Midianites, and by a dream of the enemy touching a barley cake, that tumbled down into the host of Midian, and destroyed it, God assured him that he would deliver his enemies into his hand. This assurance is not gathered from the preparation of man, but from the favour and power of God. Therefore when this certainty cannot be attained, princes are bound to attain to the greatest probability they can, and comparing the hope of their victory with the danger of their loss, adventure as far as shall be good for the common weal. If the probability be slender and the war offensive, they ought to give it over, because the war is voluntary: if the probability be slender, and the war defensive, it may not be given over, because the war is necessary, It is jehoshaphat's case here, the probability of the victory is very small in respect of his own forces, yet because he is invaded, & the war necessary, he makes head to resist the enemy, & commits the cause to God. The fift & last point concerning the beginning of this action, is the intention of the warrior. I ho. 2. 2. q. 40. a. 1. defines it to be Studium Pacis, desire of peace, for peace is the end of war, & v● Mali coerceantur, & boni subleventur, That the wicked may be bridled, & the good relieved. War may be undertaken upon good cause and law full authority, yet the intention of the warrior may be evil. Hereupon Cont. Faustum. S. Aug. condemns in a warrior Nocendi cupiditatem, ulciscendi crude litatem, animum implacabilem, feritatem, dominandi ●ibidinem, A desire to do mischief, cruelty in revenge, an implacable mind, a fell spirit, & an ambitious humour, seeking after rule & domination The second difference of time, is the progress of war before the victory: during which time, all the means are lawful that are requisite to the attaining of the victory, sleights, shifts, stratagems, burning, wasting, spoiling, undermining, battery, blows and blood. I will give you one example in Scripture for all, ●ol. 8. In the taking of Ai there is a stratagem, an ambush laid behind the city, an assault given before it, semblance of flight, by retiring to draw the enemy out, the city fired, the enemy enclosed, and then slaughtered before and behind. S. Aug. q. 10. upon josua determines this matter in few words. The third and last difference is, the time 3 after victory. victory achieved, and the enemy The time after victory. subdued, because the blood of the conqueror gins to cool, and it is against humanity to kill more than needs, the slaughter ceaseth. There be many things in cold blood to be required: first, to spare the innocents, Thou shalt not slay the iunocent. Exod. 23. 7 The innocents are reputed to be young, and old, women, and children, which are by reason of sex, or years, or infirmity, unable to carry arms, strangers, and Merchants, which are no parts nor members of the commonweal that hath offended, if it may be found they have stirred no coals in setting Princes together by the ears, nor carried arms in the restance made during the time of the fight. The next thing is satisfaction for the wrongs done, wherein the spoil and waste of the country is to be reckoned for a part, because it is a part of the punishment. Last o fall, hostage may be taken for security of peace, & the spoil may be divided among the soldiers, who deserve aswell to be partakers of the sweet, as of the sour & bitter brunts of war. jehoshaphat 2. Chron. 20. vers. 25 gives the spoil of the enemy to his army, every man carries for himself until he is weary. Now, seeing we do not make Sermons as beggars make tape upon a sticks end, wherein there is no taste, to give you a relish of all that hath been spoken about this action, cast your eyes upon the wars of your enemy, and your own wars. You shall find the wars of the enemy, in the Indies, in Portugal, in Granado, in the low countries, in France, and against us, to be uncharitable and unjust, uncharitable, in that they are enterprised without care or consideration of the loss of the countries, upon which he maketh war: or of the loss of the Church, whilst by his turbulent spirit christian kingdoms are dashed one against another, the professors of Religion extinguished, Christendom weakened, and the Turk strengthened: without commiseration or care also of his own country or forces by which he fights, leading them forth like sheep to the shambles to apparent slaughter, his own eyes beholding them sunk into the bottom of the seas like a stone, as the host of Pharaoh, or to lie pitifully bleeding at the feet of the revenger, as the Midianites lay at the feet of Gedeon. That his wars are as unjust as they are uncharitable, appears by the rough regiment of his warriors, that break all the ancient laws and privileges of the Countries where they enter, and turn the glorious and golden administration of justice, into a hard and iron government of war, administered by violence of arms: so that I may very well liken the feet of his soldiers to the feet of the wolf, of whom it is written, that whatsoever he treads upon never prospers after. Look upon your own wars another while, you shall find than to be very charitable and just, charitable in that they are undertaken with greater care of the loss of the enemy, than the enemy hath deserved, & with such a regard of our own loss & the loss of the church, that it is the prayer and desire of our superiors, that it may be performed with the least loss of English blood. The equity and justice of your wars appears, in that they are undertaken, either in the defence of the innocent in those dominions that are bound to set open their gates, that the King of Glory may come in, or in defence of yourselves at home, your wives, your children, your lands, your lives, your country, and an innocent maiden Queen, whose glorious life hath injuriously and dishonourably been sought and thirsted after these many years: and to this purpose, mercenary murderers, Jews, unnatural English, and hateful traitors hired by the enemy from time to time to destroy it. These injuries not ceasing, but increasing yet every day more and more, Crescente iniuria crescit ius ad satisfactionem, The more her majesties wrongs and injuries increase, the more her majesties right, and the right of the whole kingdom increaseth to redress it. And if you be not able in all this to conceive what a price god hath set upon the head of her Majesty, do as the countryman doth that knows not the price of a precious jewel: stand by the buyer and the seller, mark what the chapman bids for it, and the Merchant refuses, and you shall find it. Spanish iron hath been many times adventured with great preparation of sword and shot, but all scattered and defeated: Spanish gold hath been offered, ask what ye will to kill & murder, but still prevented: Spanish policies distilled every day into drifts to compass it, but disappointed. Blessed be God that hath set such a price upon the head of her Majesty, that the forces of this world are too weak to conquer her, the treasure of this world too base to buy her, and the wisdom of this world too crazed to cirumvent her. In respect of these high favours of almighty God, this word may well be written upon the crown of England, in great capital letters, set with shining diamonds, that every one may read it running, videntis & viventis, It is the imperial crown of that Lady, which by God's great mercy sees and outlives her enemies. To encourage you in so honourable wars as these, I know that if her majesty only were seated in some eminent place between heaven & earth, & did but cast down one princely regard upon you when you begin to march, it would give wings to your hearts, & hands, and feet, to fly about this action. But I can tell you of a greater than her majesty. As in public theatres, when any notable show passeth over the stage, the people arise up out of their seats, & stand upright with delight and eagerness to view it well: so is God described in the scripture to stand upright at the passions of his Church (as at the stoning of Stephen) to mark every man's carriage in the same. Assure yourselves therefore that in these invasions and wrongs of the enemy still attempted against our country, the God of S Stephen, the God of S George, the God of her majesty, the God of us all stands in the confines of heaven and earth, to see & mark, who sends his strokes nearest to the face of the enemy. And because the enemy hath but two ways to quail your courage, flattery and spanish facing, I will shut up all that I have spoken to this purpose, with a short exhortation of S. Aug. Exhorresce quod minatur omnipotens, & ama quod pollicetur omnipotens, & vilescet omnis mundus, sive promittens, sive terrens, Fear that which the almighty threatens, and love that which the almighty promises, & the whole world shall become so base and contemptible in your eyes, that you shall neither love nor fear that which the world promises or threatens. The second part. The exhortation to the action of war. THe action of war being thus discoursed, we are now come to the exhortation, wherein the first act of the soul is, to Trust. The hope of a Christian is compared sometime to a helmet, 1. Thes. 5. because it breaks many a blow that would astonish him: sometimes to an anchor, Hebrews the sixth chapter, because it stays him when the sea works, and the wind blusters. Gregory likens it to the fasting day that goes before a great holiday, because in the midst of our heaviness it puts us in mind, that joy and salvation is at hand. Bonaventure observeth that it includes two things, it hath two acts, which are the very wings that move it: one is an expectation or longing for the thing itself 3. d. 26. g. 4. & 9 that is hoped for, Esay 40. ver. 21. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall lift up the wings as the Eagles, they shall run and not be weary. This act is proper unto hope. The other is Trust, the act which jehoshaphat calls for here: this is a persuasion whereby we judge in distress that we shall have help at God's hand, and that without him we can have no help at all, Esay 30. 3. there were some that thought upon help from Egypt, to whom God saith that the strength of Pharaoh should be their shame, and their trust in the shadow of Egypt their confusion. This act is not so proper to hope as the former, but is borrowed of faith. And if you will see the necessity of it in the time of war, look into your own weakness. What is man but a worm crawling upon the earth? David was a mighty king, yet he confessed himself to be a worm and no man. As when little children first learn to go alone, feeling the feebleness of their own feet, nature teaches them to thrust out the hand to the wall, and trust to it to stay them: so being once made acquainted with our own weakness, both nature and religion teach us to trust to a stronger then ourselves. This may not be, the fair speech of man, Hier. 7. 4. Trust not in lying words, nor his fair looks, Ezech. 16. there were some that trusted in beauty, and were deceived; nor his strength, Hier. 17. 5. Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and makes flesh his arm; nor his wealth, 1. Tim. 6. 17. Trust not in uncertain riches: nor his wit, God is able to turn it into foolishness, as he did the wisdom of Ahitophel. Seeing no trust may be reposed in any of these, we must seek out a better object, that is here set down to be God himself. The first object [God.] THe reason of it is this, that all natural effects have recourse to their causes when they stand in need, and they become the stronger. The fish distressed slides into the water, and it is relieved: the bird flies to the dam, and it is shrouded under her wings: the Child runs to his parents: the Shunamites Child complained to his Father, he sent him to his Mother, she laid him upon her Lap, and forsook him not in death. Strike the dog, he runs to his master: wound the Soldier, he flies to the army. The Antiperistasis of the cold makes the heat retire into the fire, and the force thereof is greater. God is the first cause of all things, and all things have recourse unto him, Psalm, The eyes of all things do look up and trust in thee O Lord. If natural causes, whose goodness is finite do cherish their effects, how much more shall God, whose goodness is infinite? Sometimes man looks about him for the help of man, and finds none: Psal. 142. 4. David saith he looked about upon his right hand for help, and no body would know him, and espying man to fail, he turned him to God that never fails. The Prophet Hieremie blesses him that takes this course, he likens such a man to a tree, his trust to the root, God's favour to the sap that lies continually at the root to feed it and defend it. The devil knows this very well, therefore hath it ever been his practice to strip us of this object. You may see it in the speech of Rabsakeh, 2. Kings 18. 29. when the enemy lay before Jerusalem. Let not Ezechia (saith he) deceive you, neither let him make you to trust in the Lord, saying, the Lord will surely deliver us, and this City shall not be given over into the hands of the king of Assur. verily the people of Jerusalem were pitifully straightened when this was spoken, and their trouble so inevitable in man's eye, that they saw no present way to escape, nor conceived any likelihood to avoid them in time to come. The success of the enemy many times is so great, that he seems to be placed at the right hand of God, & to prosper in all his actions, such a matter it was Rabzakeh vaunted of in his speech, that God was on his side, in suffering him to come so near as to whet his tusks upon the walls of Jerusalem. God's own people in this case, appear to be at his left hand Gen. 4. 8. miserable and unregarded. Yet as Manasses and Ephraim standing one at the right hand of jacob, the other at his left, both ready to receive his blessing▪ jacob suddenly crossed his hands, laying his right hand upon Ephraim, and his left upon Manasles: so God suddenly shifts his hands in the days of trouble, he lays his right hand upon his people, and delivers them, and his left hand upon his enemies, pouring an unexpected contempt and confusion upon them all. I will give you two examples of it in the Scripture. Even in one night, when Ezechiah stood in fear of all, and Rabsakeh thought himself sure of all, the whole army of Sennacherib was defeated by an Angel. In one day, when the forces of jehoshaphat were very small, and the army of the invaders was very great, the whole power of the enemy was suddenly broken, they sell one upon another, and jehoshaphat found their carcases dead upon the ground, before he could come at them. It is a rule in Rhetoric, that if a man make choice of a friend to fly unto in time of need, he should survey his power in him, whether he be able, and his kindness, whether he be willing to yield him any succour. In this manner when we have singled out God from all other things in heaven or in earth to trust unto, it is good Rhetoric and good Divinity to take a view in him of his power, whether he be able, of his knowledge, whether he be skilful, and of his goodness, whether he be willing to relieve us. His power, without question is far God's power. above the power of man, for man's power is finite, and God's power is infinite, Psalm 89. O Lord of hosts who is like unto thee which art a mighty Lord. David acknowledges him to have such a power as cannot be matched. Ephesians 1. 19 Paul desires God te lighten the eyes of their understanding, that they may know what the exceeding greatness of his power is towards them that believe. In Arithmetic set one against ten ten against a hundred, a hundred against a thousand, a thousand against ten thousand, although there be great odds, yet there is some comparison, but if you could set down an infinite number, than there could be no comparison at all, because the one is finite, the other infinite: so is it between the power of God and man: set all the Princes of the earth in opposition against God, they shall never be able to withstand him. Pompey was wont to say, that with one stamp of his foot he could have all Italy in arms. God may say that with one stamp of his foot he can overthrow all Italy, and all the world beside when it is in arms, Psal. 68 1. Let God but arise▪ his enemies shall be scattered, and they that hate him shall fly before him. God is said Psa. 149. to bind kings in chains, and their nobles in fetters of iron. if he once fall into fettering of princes, it shall be done so sure, that no flesh shall be able to knock off their bolts again. P●. 147. God is reported to make fast the bars of your gates. If he once make the bars of your gates fast, trust to it, they shall be so fast, that no preparation of the invader shall break them open. We have three rules in Philosophy, that will make this plain unto you. The first is, that where there be two agents, a superior, and an inferior, the inferior can never overcome the superior, because the superior is more active. We say in Philosophy, that that is most active which is most separated from earthly parts, most elevated à materia. The physician distills his simples into waters, he makes his extractions and quintessences, that the more they be elevated à materia, they might be the more active, and work the better. Water is stronger than earth, because it is more active, and more elevated à materia. Fire is stronger than water, because it is yet more active and elevated à materia. You shall find it in the sacrifice of the Prophet, where the fire licked up the water, burned the wood, and consumed the sacrifice: Angels are stronger than men, because they are much more elevated à materia. God is stronger than the Angels, because he is most elevated, he is above earth, above water, above air, above fire, above men, above Angels, above all, and over all Actus purus, so full of activity, that none is able to inflict any passion upon him. The second rule is that variante materia, forma manet eadem, according to the change & alteration of your diet, according to the variation of the air, wherein you live, your blood, your humours, your bodies, your complexions do change and alter, but your soul is the same still. A man's enemy may cut off a piece of his body, a leg, or an arm, but he cannot cut off a piece of his soul. Look what the soul is to the body, that is God unto his church: all the prophets and apostles, thousands of holy and learned bishops and preachers have been cut off, some by persecution, some by natural death, yet religion stands, and the Church stands to this day, which is a sign that it is maintained by such a form as can not vary. Seeing then that all worldly things be transitory, men vary, the times vary, the policies of war vary, the weapons vary, the squares and orders of fight vary, the places of advantage and disadvantage vary, it is best trusting to such an object as cannot vary: such a one is God that hath esse quoddam magnum, such a great and invariable essence, that a man safely say unto him Pone me juxta te, & manus cuiusuis pugnet contra me, Lord set me by thee, & then let every hand fight against me, I fear no variation. The third rule is this, Animalia multa agunt & patiuntur per phantasiam, living creatures here beneath, do many things, and suffer many things, by reason of their apprehension of their object. The sheep at the first sight of the wolf apprehends him for a terrible object, and naturally fears & flies him: the lion quite contrary apprehends no terror in the wolf at all, but passes by him, and by all the beasts of the forest, with an honourable scorn and disdain of all. About man's apprehension of fear or courage, the situation of his eye either maketh all, or marreth all. When you stand here below upon the ground, and look up to the top of Paul's, they that stand upon the steeple, appear small of stature to you, although they be tall & great, and they that are next to you seem great, by reason of the distance of the one, and the nearness of the other: but if you stood upon the top of Paul's and looked down, than they that are above would seem great, and they that are beneath would seem little: So is it with men in the time of trouble, if their eyes be fastened upon the earth, their enemies will appear unto them to be great and mighty, and God which is so high will appear little. Nevertheless, if their eyes be in heaven, as jehoshaphat's eyes were, 2. Chro. 20. 12. Our eyes are towards thee, and look down from thence upon their enemies, God will appear strong and mighty, and the enemy weak and withered. I will give you three instances of it in the scriptures. Numbers 13. Espials were sent out to discover the land of Promise, some of them had a sheeps eye, they no sooner saw the great stature of the Inhabitants, all Giants or Giants fellows, the high walls of their cities reaching up to heaven, but they were afraid, they took the people to be invincible, & the towns impregnable. Caleb quite contrary having his eye in heaven upon God's power and promise, and looking down thence upon the people, and the Cities, apprehended no terror in them at all: let us go up (saith he) without doubt we shall overcome them. Caleb had a Lion's eye, he passed by the people and their Cities with an honourable scorn of all. 2. King. 7. Samaria was in great distress, a mighty enemy before it, a sore famine within it, there was a noble man upon whom the king leaned, that had so base an eye, that looking upon the present miseries, he took them to be greater than God, he persuaded himself that although God should rain victuals out of heaven, the famine could not be speedily removed: But E●●●a had his eyes in heaven, and looking down from thence, despised the present calamities, in respect of the present help and hand of God, that by next day would make the price of corn to stoop so low at the gates of Samaria, that it should be there at a very easy rate, and the siege removed. 1. Esdras 4. there was a flattering courtier, that looking upon the royal person of the King, held a paradox that the King is the strongest thing in the world, because he sendeth out his warriors that slay and kill, and overthrow Castles, Towns, and Towers, and dig up the mountains as they go: but Esa. 40. 22. the man of God apprehendeth no such greatness in kings & princes, when they be compared with God: and looking down from heaven upon the Kings of the earth he saith they be crickets in respect of God. Even then when they are in their chiefest ruff, with their chariots, and horse, & men at arms marching to the battle, they are but as grasshoppers trooping out, skipping and leaping up and down the field. By these things you may perceive that as Moses serpent did eat up the serpents of the Enchanters, so God's power devours and swallows up all the power and strength of man. There may be power where there is no skill to use it: If the Ox knew his strength God's knowledge. he would not suffer a child to drive him: if the horse were privy to his own force, he would not suffer a boy to ride him. But it is not so with God, as he hath might, so he knows when, and where, and how to use it, job 12. 13. With him is wisdom and strength. The School men say that he knows non entia, things that are not. They take it out of the fourth chapter to the Romans 17 verse. He calls things that are not as if they were. These are of two sorts, either such as are not now in act, but either have been in time passed, or shall be in time to come. A second sort of things that are not, is such, as neither are now in act, nor ever were, nor ever shall be. Seeing then it is the cowardice of man, especially in the times of wars, to fear many things that never were, nor are, nor shallbe, it is good at such times to make God the only object of our trust which sees and knows, that many things which we fear shall never fall upon us. Last of all there may be power and skill God's goodness. to help when there is no will to use it: let us search then whether God be as willing to succour his people as he is powerful and skilful. Surely if he were not, he might be said to be less kind unto his children, than man and beast is unto their young, they cherish their young, they fight for them and defend them. God's goodness towards his people can not be delivered unto you by a better hand than by the doctrine of his providence which includes both his knowledge and his wil Concerning which, seeing there have been divers errors, and I perceive the days and times require they should be touched and opened, I will deal with them as the venerable Judges of our Country deal (in care and compassion of the queens liege people) with those attorneys whom they find to be lose in the haft, and fit for nothing but to disquiet a kingdom, I will disgrace them, and disable them to do any more mischief, race them out of Errors about the providens of God. the roll and let them go. There be 6 of them in number. The first is, the error of the stoics, setting down a kind of providence which they call Fate or Destiny, which runs thorough a rank of causes, & brings in an absolute and inevitable necessity that pinions the arms and the actions of God and man. This error Theodoret discovereth in his sirt book of curing the affections of the Greeks, and Alphonsus de Castro in his seventh book of Heresies, in two several Treatises, one of Fate, the other of Future contingent, beats the nose of this error flat to the face of the devisers & amintainers of it. The second is the error of Averroes Metaph. 12. tying God's providence only to celestial things, all terrestrial & corruptible things exempted. This is bewrayed by Cyril. Hierosol. catach. 8. Clemens Alexander. li. 5. Storm. and saint Hierome upon the eight chapter of Ezechiel, and the twelfth verse (where the Jews said, Dominus dereliquit terram, the Lord hath forsaken the earth) avowcheth that this error was crept into the hearts of the Jews, for which God threatened in the ninth chapter of Ezechiel that his eye should not spare them. The third is, the error of some that held, that God's providence stretcheth itself to corruptible things, only after a general manner, and Ad rerum genera & species, non ad singularia. Nicenus showeth it in his eight book of Philosophy and the fourth chapter, this is against the doctrine of the holy-ghost, that teacheth, that a sparrow lights not on the ground, nor a hair falleth from our heads without his providence. The fourth is, the error of Rabbi Moses the Jew, laid open by Tho. 1. p. q. 22. a. 2. Rabbi Moses thought, that among corruptible things, man only appertained to the providence of God, which the Prophet Hieremie confuteth in his two and thirty chapter and the seven and twenty verse, Ego Dominus Deus universae carnis, I am the Lord of all flesh, both man and beast. The fift is the error of the Platonists, which distinguish three kinds of providence, one of the supreme and high god, which stretches primarily to spiritual things, and secondarily to all the world: another of separated substances that move the heavens circulariter: a third of certain daemons, which the Platonists place in the between God and man. Of these I may say as the Prophet Esay saith, chapter 28. They have made falsehood their refuge, they have shrouded under vanity, and have trusted unto lies. The sixth is the error of Atheists, which utterly denies any God, any care or providence concerning the creatures, but will have all things to be ruled by fortune and chance. This is disclosed by Lactantio li. 1. instit. ca 2. Nicen, ●. 8 Philos. ca 3. and others. The best way to disgrace and disable this, is to set a coxcomb upon the head of it, as David doth, The fool hath said in his heart there is no God. Look upon all the creatures in the world, you shall find them all make up one great and glorious army, whereof God (like a Monarch) is the high commander, they are all marshalde into their several ranks and orders, wherein they march and move obedient to his beck. Look upon the actions & operations of insensible things, stones, plants, and herbs, you shall see them all tend to their peculiar ends for which they were created, of which ends they have no knowledge themselves, but are directed unto them by the hand of God, as the arrow is directed to the mark by the eye, and the arm of the Archer. Our faith acknowledgeth him. I believe in God. The Scriptures discover him. Ps. 70. 90. 1. O Lord thou hast been our habitation from generation to generation. Comparisons bewray him, Wisd. 7. Gold is but Gravel in respect of him: the creatures confess him, Ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos, it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. What a shame is it, that the young, both of men and beasts are no sooner borne into the world, but by & by nature teacheth them to turn their mouth to the breasts that brought them forth, and men should live in a religious kingdom until they come to the years of discretion, and neither by nature nor religion yet be taught to turn the mouth of confession unto God to find him out, that set his hand to the womb to bring them forth? I will leave all other proofs and examples that may serve this purpose, to bring you near to our own times. There was but few years since a profane company about this City, which were called the damned Crew, men without fear, or feeling, either of Hell or Heaven, delighting in that title: It pleased God to draw them all into one net. They were shipped all into one Bark, and passing down the River with sound of Trumpets, in a fair day, a fair tide, a fair wind, and a fair new bark, suddenly about one of the Reaches a perry of wind came from the land, & so filled the sails, that they were all run under water before they came to Grauesende, I could never hear to this day that any one of them escaped. If that the Bark did appertain to any of this honourable city, you may remember this great judgement of God by your own loss. I do but gather it up as I go, to put you in mind that if God did bless Laban, for jacob, and Putifar for joseph, he shall bless you and your affairs for receiving of such as receive him, and curse and cross you and your affairs for entertaining of such as do not entertain him. It is well noted in Gregory that the performance of things past breeds an assurance of things to come. The experience of God's Judgements executed upon his enemies, and of his favours and deliverances extended to them that fear him, are sufficient arguments of the care he hath of us, Tho. 1. 2. q 40. a. s. shows that experience makes a man confident two ways, the one is by making a matter easy, that which a man hath done often he can easily do again, he hath no distrust at all to work it; Eth. 3. ca 8. He that hath often overcome in war, trusts to overcome again. The other is the persuasion experience breeds, that the thing which we go about may be compassed. Both these are in David's experience, and in Paul's. David having found deliverance by God's hand out of many troubles, saith: that in the name of his God he will leap over the wall. His experience had made the matter so easy to him that it was but a skip or a jump in his conceit. Paul confesseth. 2. Cor. 1. 8. of the troubles that happened to him in Asia, wherewith he was pressed out of measure, that they were cast upon him to this end, that he might not trust in himself but in the Lord which hath delivered him, and doth deliver, and will deliver him hereafter. Seeing then God hath a care to save and defend his servants, as it was a base fear of the Israelits, after so long experience of his mighty hand, so many miracles wrought, signs and wonders showed on their behalf, in Egypt, in the red sea, and in the wilderness, to distrust of their entry into the land of promise: So after so many trials of God's favour in the delivery of this kingdom from the hands of the enemy, it were a wild and contemptible cowardice, to distrust of the like hereafter. And because in the time of war the fear of one makes many fear, and the running of one makes many fly, I will end the discourse of this object with the speech which Vitalis a soldier and a martyr, used to Vrsicinus a Physician which suffered many bitter torments for religion, but at last, Vitalis perceiving that as his pains began to increase, his courage & countenance began to be abated; Noli Vrsicine (saith he) quialios curare consueuistite Antonin 1. p. hist. cit. 6. c. 25. ipsum perdere, & post tot vulnera accepta, corona frandari sempiterna. Do not now Vrsicinus which hast usually healed others, destroy thyself, and after so many wounds received, lose an eternal crown of glory. verily the attempts of the enemy upon this land have been many, hitherto your courage and forwardness in the defence of your Country hath encouraged others, if you chance at any time to espy the drifts of the enemy to increase, or his rage grow greater and greater, be notnow apalled, & after so many and furious brunts manfully withstood, lose an eternal crown of glory. The first consequent [safety.] THe first consequent, flowing from this act and this object, you see is safety, [you shallbe assured.] To understand this security aright, you must consider that our trust looks two ways, one is towards God, and there it hath assurance, because his power is such as cannot be mastered, his knowledge such, that none can go beyond him, and his goodness such that he is ever ready and willing to help his servants. Es. 28. 6. He is a strength unto them that turn away the battle from he gates. They that trust in the lord (saith David) shall be as mount Zion that cannot be moved. Psa 125. David found him to be his vice-admiral, that carried the light before him in the darkest times of trouble and guided him with wisdom out of heaven. Ps. 27. 1 The lord is my light and my salvation. The other way it looks is, to the thing hoped for, which is salvation, and this is of two sorts, either eternal, or temporal: God promises neither of these absolutely, but upon condition. The condition of the former is Ro. 8: Si tamen compatimur. If we suffer with him▪ we shallbe glorified with him. The condition of the latter is Inuoca me & eruante, God enters into a covenant with his people. Exo. 23. to cast out their enemies by little & little; the people enter into a covenant with God also Ex. 24. to do all that he commandeth. It was the order that God & Solomon took one with another, 1. kin. 8. 44. That when the people went to war, they should pray towards the temple. Therefore if you trust to receive at God's hands any of these two things, you must do it per debita media & debito sperandi mod●, otherwise it is presumption. But if you go the right way to work in the time of war, if every man reform his own life, it was it that A chior told Olophernes, If there were no sin in the inhabitants of Bethnlia, he should fall before them and become a reproach and a scorn onto all the world: if every man betake himself to such a care and preparation of defence, as if all lay upon man and god did not concur, and then with prayer and devotion so commend the cause to God, as if all lay upon God and man did not cencur. You shall then find that to be verified in you, which Socrates found in the lacedemonians, who perceiving that in certain wars between the A thenians & them, the A thenians offered much gold unto their Idols, yet they departed still out of the field beaten. He asked the Oracle what might be the cause of it? and it was answered, that the prayers of the Lacedæmonians prevailed more than the gold of the A thenians. No doubt but much cost hath been laid upon all the actions and attempts of the enemy against you, yet he goes away beaten, if you will know the reason, the prayers of the church of England, have prevailed more than the gold of Spain. The seccond Act [Believe.] THis act in the handling of my Text comes after, which in order of generation goes before the former. Heb. 11. Faith is the foundation of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. The foundation goes before the building, and the evidence before possession. The gloss upon the 1. Matt. saith, that as Abraham begat Isaac, so faith begets hope. Prayer is the interpreter of hope, and Rom. 10. We cannot pray except we believe. How shall they call upon him, in whom they have not believed? ver. 14. Intellectus est prior potentia quam voluntos. Man's appetite moves him not to hope for any thing before he knows it either by sense and feeling, or by an apprehension of understanding. Therefore as 2. Kin. 6 the servant of the Prophet feared until his eyes were opened, by which he saw the help God had provided, and when he saw it his fear vanished: so until the mind be lightened by faith, we are distrustful & stant in doubt, but if we believe our doubt is over. Believe we cannot but by preaching, whereby it grows that the object of this act in this place, is the Prophet. The second object. [The Prophet.] AMos. 3. 7. God will do nothing but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the Prophets. In this respect the Prophet is called a seer. 1 kin. 9 He sees saith Isidore many things that other men see not. Sometimes he sees things belonging to the Majesty of God. Esa. 6. He sees God sitting upon a high throne; sometimes he sees things appertaining unto the manners of men. Esay. 58. 7. He sees it necessary to the fasts of the Jews to join works of mercy, in feeding the hungry, and releasing the hands of such as were oppressed; sometimes he sees things present. 2. king. 5. Elizeus sees Gehesi taking rewards although he were not with him: and 2. kin. 6. although he were not in the counsel chamber of the king of Syria, yet he discovered all the plots and practices of the king of Syria to the king of Israel, s● that the king of Syria wondered at it, and mistrusted that some of his own counsel had been false unto him, until they told him there was a Prophet in Israel which bewrayed all to the king of Israel which the king of Syria spoke in his privy lodgings. Sometimes he sees things to come, Es. 47. 12. The prophet foresees the destruction of Babylon, and tells them of it, that two things shall come upon them in one day, loss of children & widowhood. The light where with the prophhetes saw so much, was a light above nature, confirmed with arguments above nature, it was confirmed by miracles. And as the doctrine of the prophets came down from heaven confirmed by miracles, so the gospel which we preach to you came down from heaven and was confirmed by miracles. Mar. 16. it is said that the Lord wrought with the Apost and confirmed the word with signs that followed: yea, there is a kind of miracle wrought by it unto this day. What a wonder is it to see a grievous sinner that hath frozen in his wickedness many years suddenly converted with one sermon, with one sentence in a sermon? All the wisdom of the philosophers could never do it without a mountain of books, much time, much teaching, much practice ex frequentatis actibus, and when they had done their best, they could never attain unto it. It may seem strange that the office of the Prophets & Preachers being so excellent an office, & their doctrine so confirmed from time to time, that neither prophet nor preacher should in this declining age of ours be regarded, and we may say as the prophets did Quis credidit auditu nostro? Who hath believed our report? The people are grown like to springs in summer, the more heat without, the more cold within, the more preaching the less devotion. They may be compared to the pinnacles of the belfry, begin to ring they begin to quake, as if they were afraid, continue ringing, they stand still, their fear is past. In the beginning of her Mayest. reign every man began to tremble at the word of God and to give heed to the preaching of the same: but the happy continuance Seven reasons of ●he contempt of ●he Prophets and Preachers of God's word. thereof hath made it so familiar unto you that you care not for it. Methinks I could yield some reasons of these events, 5 on your part, 1. of ours, & the last on gods part The 1. is the disposition that is in men. As between the face of a man & a glass, so is it between the preacher & the hearer. The face of a man, is the same face, but according to the disposition of the glasses whereon it hath reflection it appears different, in some it seems smooth, in some wrinkled, in some long, in some round, there be some preposterous glasses, that make that which is straight, appear crooked. Some will invert the parts of man, and set his head down and his heels up. Such a glass was Amasia to the prophet after the slaughter of the Edomits, the prophet reproved him for offering Incens to Idols after the uctorie, he shook him up like a dishclout. Art thou become the King's counsellor? such a glass was Ahab to Michaia when he fed him with the bread of affliction: such glasses were the people to Hieremy lament Raita jehova gna vatati it is as much as if the Prophet said, Lord thou hast seen that that which is right in me they have made crooked. Such a glass was Harding to jewel, the learned Bishop complained of it, that whatsoever he spoke was to long or to short, or one way or other it stood awry. Such a glass is the new Presbytery couching down at the gates of great persons, with her belly full of barking libels to disgrace the persons of the best men, and the labours of the best learned in the Church of England. And to be plain with you, because I trust you love plains, such glasses we that are preachers in the country meet withal. You may see it by the practice the holy ghost discovers Hier. 18. 18. Let us smite Hieremie with the tongue, and give no heed to his word. The best way the devil can find to disgrace preaching, is to disgrace that preacher. Concerning this practice, I assure myself that much water goes by the Mill, which the Miller knows not of, therefore standing before the honourable Judges of our Country, I will open some things to this purpose as I pass along. The last Assizes in the Country where I dwell, there was a Minister, a bachelor of Divinity, that had a cause against one that held his benefice as farmor, and would keep from him both his living and his rent that should maintain him, and do it by law. But there was a base generation then present, which belike have some inferior services to courts of justice, whom I cannot better liken than unto Florus an idle fellow, that said of Cesar, Ego nolo Caesar esse, I will not be Caesar to march up and down in armour among the Britain's, and so lead a laborious and painful life: to whom Cesar answered, ego nolo Florus esse, ambulare per popinas, etc. I will not be Florus to creep into every kitchen, or to be shrouded under the roofs of victualling houses, woorried & and eaten up at last with louse and laziness. This generation is such as have had honest trades and occupations to get their living, but per adventure by some evil carriage in their trades, having lost both credit and custom, and now scorning the sweat of their occupation, have found out a new occupation, to live by the sweat of other men's brows: and to compass this the better, have joined themselves to some cracked Attorney, which since his disgrace and rasing out of the roll, hath wandered a while in France, until his face, or his fortune, or ill fashion of life might be forgotten, and so returns closely to his old bias. This kind of people espying but one minister to be drawn forth into suits and quarrels, gave it out lustily that they would have the next assizes better furnished, they would have three or four of our brethren there. I will say to your Honours of these people, as David said to Solomon concerning Semei. 1. kin. 2. 8. With thee is Semei that cursed me with a horrible curse. Although my hand be not upon him, yet thou shalt not count him innocent, for thou art a wise man and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him. When any of these caterpillars and cozeners of the queens liege people, shall hale any of the Clergy by violence into the courts, as you are wise & learned in the laws of our Country, mark well the nature of the action, and the quality of the persons, and do according to the wisdom God hath put into your hearts, you know what you ought to do in these cases better than I can teach you. I dare be bold to say, that you shall find the Clergy of England haunted at this day with three cumbers that troubled the Prophet jeremy, Lament. 3. The first is, that his enemies chased him like a bird from tree to tree. The second was, they would not tarry until he was dead, but cast him quick into a pit, the third against all humanity, when they had him down they threw stones upon him presently to keep him down, a barbarous cruelty passing the cruelty of the Italian, the heathen, and the spaniard. The Italian hath a trick in the art of the rapier & the dagger to teach his scholar with a travace or two to get the point of his adversaries weapon, and having that, to lock him up so sure that he may turn away his face from him and run him through, which he saith he doth Per non veder crudeltà because he will behold no cruelty. The tragedies of the heathen poets are stuffed full of murder, inhmanity and horrible actions, yet are they performed with such a care and compassion of the people, that they are all conveyed from the people's eyes. The spanish inquisition hath been so kind in some cruelties, that they have of grace and favour greased the halter for some that wear strangled for religion, that they might be dispatched the sooner. Let us crave any of these favours at the hands of our enemies, let them turn away their faces from us when they kill us, that their eyes delight not, and their cheeks blush not at their own cruelty: or convey the horror and inhumanity of their▪ actions behind the stage, that the people be not sxandald: or grease every halter that stops our breath that the rope may ride, and make a quick riddance of us al. Or if they be so gallant falconers that they make it their pastime and recreation to pursue us like a quail or a partridge from place to place, and such huntsmen as having once straightened their game be desirous to tumble it into a pit, let them tarry until we be cold in the mouth, and then throw Pelion and Ossa the Giant's weight upon us, we know we shall rise again. By these practices both you my Lords, and you good people may easily discern, that this world is a very sea of troubles, wherein there be two ships under sail, both men of war. The one is the church, where Christ is the master, his cross the mast, his sanctimony the sails, the tackle is his patience and perseverance, the cast pieces are the Prophets, apostles, and preachers whose sound hath been hard over all the world, the mariners be the Angels singing their Celeumata glory be to God on high, the fraught is the souls of just men, women, and children, And the rich gifts and devotions bestowed upon churches and colleges bound up in gabs that shall never perish. The rudder is charity, all the motions and actions of the church are wrought in love, the anchor is hope, the flag in the top of her is faith, the word written in it, Premimur non oprimimur. We are cast down (saith the Apostle) but we perish not. There is another ship at sea which hath this ship in rhace, that is the Piracy of hell, a hot ship and full of wildfire, where the Devil is master, pride the mast, impurity the sail, the wisdom of flesh the Card, the mystery of iniquity the compass, Diagoras the Atheist, Indas' the traitor, and the whole rabble of hell the Mariners: two tire of Ordnance planted in her, one mixed of heretics & schismatics, another of persecuting heathen princes, that spit smoke & sulphur at the church of God. There belongs no anchor to this vessel, to stay it when the storms of the wrath of God arise, for it is subject to despair. The flag in the top is infidelity, the word written in it, Lu●rum est pietas. gain is godliness. You may see it in the continual chase of the Church, for the church's treasure, lands and leases given in Pios usus. The days have been, the question was, What shall we bring 1. Sa. 7. 9 to the man of God? The days are now, the question is in every Court of justice, in every high court of Parliament, what shall we take from the man of God? In the noble Shunamites days, they devised to build up a chamber for the prophet, to set him up a stool, a table, and a candlestick. In these noble days, men devise how to pull down the chambers of the prophets, to overthrow his stool and his table, and break his candlestick in pieces. In the days of the Levites when the portions of the priests were detained and the Levites scattered, there was a good Nehemiah that reproved the Judges and Elders, and set the house of God in order, and brought the tithes bark again unto the priest. In these days, if God stir up a good Nehemia to deliver us our portion into our hands, the Kite catcheth it before we can put it to our mouth. The Clergy of England may now join hand in hand in a fair roundelay and sing and record one to another, as little children do in the streets, When shall we eat white bread? when the puttock is dead. Tobiah and Sanaballet perceiving the walls of Jerusalem begin to rise, asked whether the walls were so high that a Fox might not get over them: and in these days of ours, if any trick of a Fox may be found to cross the Church, we shall be sure to have it put in practice. To this purpose it may be you shall perceive some broker belonging to the common Law, or some jester hanging upon the Court, or some Lyris Poet and common Rhymer hovering about this City, suborned and bolstered to deal in derision of the Church in time of parliament as Italians do in their plays, that come huffing in on a sudden with flights, shifts juggling, packing, tricks of legier de main, all cast and contrived to no other end but to intoxicate the whole Scene, and to make game and laughter for the lookers on. But let the grave affairs of this church and kingdom be once turned into sport, and you shall quickly see by the multitude of judicious eyes fastened upon the actions of all kingdoms, by the books of intelligences daily printed, and by the innumerable company of learned heads and pens, working and walking day and night, that all Christendom shortly will ring of the pageants played among us, & shortly all Christendom will abhor us, as a people profane and irreligious. A great part of this mischief being hatched by the presbytery. 2 The second reason is, the mistaking of the physic that should have been administered unto the presbytery. Conference, connivence, toleration, disputation, printing of books, and preaching of sermons, have been applied unto them, these are all wrong Apozems, one dram of Elleborus would have purged this humour. It was the judgement of a very learned Bishop many years ago, that correction would amend it. By favour and support these Uermine that were long since, by the labours of learned bishops hewn in pieces, have crept out of their holes, from Leidon and other places, and by continual rolling recovered their tail, their torn papers and maimed pamphlets have been stitched together again with a skein of Sister's thread, and wrought round with a white selvedge of reformation to grace them, whereby the ears of the Church have been filled with a new hissing, to the very mockery of religion, and the impudent slander of the church of England, which is by God's great blessing at this day (even in her ruins) the most famous church in Europe. It is said of S. Antony, that two years before the heresy of Arrius broke forth, being in his devotions and casting up his eyes towards heaven, he had a vision, wherein he saw God's altar compassed about with a company of brute beasts, kic king and striking at it with their heels, until they overthrew it, and trampled all the holy things under their feet. He wept when he beheld it, and persuading himself that some trouble in the church would follow, he prayed unto God to turn away the mischief. Were S. Anthony now alive, he should not see these matters by shadows or representations in the air, but in lively acts and deeds, God's altar environed with a company of proud Mules, striking at it with their heels, the altar itself battered by violence and beaten down, holy things trodden on and trampled with foul feet. Those things which in all religious ages have been counted Phobera cai phricodestata, fearful and terrible, are now of no reckoning nor reputation, religion scorned, the priest derided, those conflicts between the preachers and the people that Paul tasted at Ephesus, where he fought with beasts in the shape of men. All these miseries springing from a wrangling humour of the Presbytery, that hath brought religion into contempt. Never a good S. Antony weeps over it, never a good Mattathias rents his clothes, no man's bowels work like the wine that hath no vent, to inveigh against it with that eagerness the cause requires. It is a sign that religion decay, and devotion grows cold among us. When the weather is hot every man opens his mouth, but when it is cold he shuts it so close that his teeth chatter: where zeal is there is heat, and where heat is men will quest and open, Psal. 77. Aperiam os meum, I will open my mouth (saith the Prophet David.) We cannot (saith Peter) but speak the things that we have seen and heard. Where no zeal is, there is no heat, where no heat, no speech but chattering and unperfect sounds, hollow and minced between the teeth, as if men were afeard to speak: surely such are unfit for God's service, he cannot abide to see a quaking hand in his quarrel. As it is a sign of faintness to see this & to be silent, so it is a sign there is something in men unnatural. For we say in Philosophy, unum quod que magis inclinots in id cuius est. Every thing is naturally inclined unto that to which it apertaineth. If the body be in danger, the arm is presently lifted up to receive the blows coming upon itself, that with the hazard of itself it may save the body, because it is a member of the body. This Honourable City is a body politic, every good citizen which is a member of it, when he spies the Charters, privileges, and immunities thereof granted by the grace and favour of our Princes, to be in danger, will with the hazard of his own substance seek to defend and keep it. The Church is a body mystical, every one of you if you appertain to God is a Citizen of this Jerusalem, & when you see the church in danger, if there be any kind or natural affection in you at all, every man when the danger doth approach, will with the hazard of his own person, object and cast himself between the church and it. But the want of this affection, and the neglect of this physic, is a reason of the contempt that grows upon us. 3 The third is, the difficulty of man's attaining to his end, trees and plants, & all inferior creatures, attain their perfection and end with few motions, with nourishment and augmentation. The holy Angels of god attained unto their end with one motion, with one conversion unto god, in instanti, even at the instant of their creation became blessed. But Man is compared in the ps. to a watch, he hath a great many gimols appertaining to him to move him, he moves like a watch or a coach with many wheels. The act of his understanding gives him one motion, presenting the object to him which he must embrace, his appetite sensitive gives him another motion contrary to the former, caro concupiscit adversus spiritum the flesh lusteth against the spirit. His own will gives him another motion, God created it to move itself ad opposita, the external object gives him another motion, The view of the forbidden fruit moved Eve to taste and eat it. God himself which hath the heart of man in his hands and turns it as the rivers in the South, gives him another motion: among all these, some moving regular, some retrograde, some forward, some backward, some towards heaven, some towards earth, It is no hard matter to tune an instrument of music, A pair of virginals or a pair of Organs when every string and pipe is out of tune, but man being a creature so witty, so subtle, so proud, so surly, so wedded to his own will & opinions, & rolling upon so many wheels, to set every string & pipe of man in tune, to make all his motions concur and agree together Hic labor hoc epus est, It is the hardest profession in the world to be a preacher. The 4. reason is a riddle. I pray you riddle me what is that, that is the highest the lowest, the fairest the foulest, the strongest the weakest, the richest the poorest, the happiest the unhappiest, the safest and the most in danger of any thing in the world? I will not promise every one of you as Samson did, a new suit of apparel to expound it. It may be this age will take order for the Clergies liberality, yet I must tell you, that as Samsons riddle was not expounded but by ploughing with Samsons Heifer, so this cannot be declared but by ploughing with Gods own Heifer. And that I may not hold you long in suspense, it is all but one thing, it is a good Christian. He is the highest thing in the world, his conversation is in heaven, Col. He is the lowest thing in the world, every man treads upon him, he may say with David, De profundis ad te clamavi. From the depths have I called unto thee. This is very low. He is the fairest thing in the world, he is a member of the church of God, which for her beauty is compared in the Canticles to the Sun and the Moon, and to an Army well ordered and set in good array, three things very beautiful to look upon. He is the foulest thing in the world, so disguised with Watching, Weeping, Fasting, Penance, and many other voluntary afflictions of body and mind, that he looks like a bottle dried in the smoke, and tanned many times with the sun of persecution he grows as black as if he had lain among the pots. He is the strongest thing in the world, he hath faith, he hath hope, he hath love, three strong things; faith hath a force to remove mountains, hope is an anchor that stays the greatest ships in the greatest storms, love is as strong as death, it enters the strongest hold, neither walls, nor bulwarks, nor rampires can keep it out; what a strength had David? Non timebo quid faciat mihi homo, I will not fear what man can do unto me. What a strength had Eliah the Prophet that durst go to a king and face him and tell him that it was he that troubled all Israel. A good christian hath sometime a strength and a power in his eye passing the eye of Plantianus. Herodian saith of Plantianus, Severus the Emprors minion, that he had such a terror in his covetenance that men durst not look him in the face, if they did, they were so daunted that it drove them to cast their eyes down unto the ground. For this cause when he went abroad he had certain Anteambulones, some that ran before him to marshal the way and give warning of his coming, that men might cast their eyes to the earth as he passed by; but this terror was unto his inferiors. It is said of S. Benedictus, that he had such a power and terror in his eye, even to his superiors, that casting but a look upon Totylas the king of the Goths, afurious & an audacious king, he made him quake and tremble. Mark it when you will in the persecutions of the church, you shall many times discover such a glory and majesty in the countenance of them that are put to death, as was in the face of Stephen when he was stoned, their torments are more afraid of them, than they are of their torments. Yet are they again so weak at another time, if God do but hide himself a while, that either they complain with David, Quare tristis incedo dum affligit me inimicus? Why go I thus heavily while mine enemy oppresses me? Or couch down with Eliah under a Juniper tree, weary of themselves, and desire God to take away their life. He is the richest thing in the world, he hath Christ Jesus the very treasure & riches of God, and in him all things: he is the poorest thing again, he hath his good name and his goods taken from him. Heb. 11. 37. He is destitute, afflicted, and tormented, even to the loss of life itself at last. He is the happiest thing in the world, he hath a good conscience, which is a continual feast. Prou. 15. He is again the unhappiest, his hands be tied, he may not be revenged: his eyes be muffled, he may see no vanity: his lips be sealed, he may not render rebuke for rebuke, and living here in this world which is a kind of Paradise to carnal men, full of Honour and wealth, and pleasures, which many other men embrace, while GOD hath set him (as the Poets feigned of Tantalus) up to the chin in these things, and will not suffer him to taste them. Touch not, taste not, handle not. What a miserable life is this? Last of all, he is the safest thing in the world, he is ever under the shadow and protection of the wings of God: he is also the most in danger in soul and in body of any thing in the world, his soul is the very But against which Satan dischargeth all his shot of temptations, his body many times in perils by sea, by land, among false brethren, compassed about with danger, on the right hand and on the left. Being the office of the preacher to bring both these ends together, and every man being desirous to be partaker of the height, the beauty, the strength, the riches, the happiness, and the safety that accompanies religion, but few or none willing to taste of the baseness, the deformity, the weakness, the poverty, the misery, and the danger that waits upon religion, Many deal with us as Demas did with Paul, that forsook Paul and be took himself to the present world. The fift reason is, the combat of contraries: when fire and water meet, you shall hear a rattling and hissing in the water, which proceeds from the encounter of two contraries, the one striving to destroy the other. The end of God's word is to reform man's judgement, and his life: God's word is true, but Omnis homo mendax, Every man is a liar, his judgement erroneous and his life erroneous. When truth and falsehood, the word of god and the word of man do meet, there gins the conflict, the one strives to destroy the other. God's word is a fire, men's affections are water, when fire and water join, they begin to rattle and bisse one at another. Paint a fire upon a piece of cloth, and cast that into the water, you shall hear no hissing at all, because it is no true fire. Paul preaching at Ephesus against their idols, he scattered true fire among them, Demetrius startles at it and stirs up sedition among the people, there the contrary roars and rattles: in comes the Town-clerk with the magnificence of Diana, a false fire, a counterfeit fire, there is no contradiction to him at all. It is the very case oftentimes, if the preacher come to you with a painted fire, and stroke your spleen, and tell you that all is well, because you are predestinate you shall go to Heaven sleeping, as men carried in a Coach without any action or motion of your own, we shall never be gainsaid. But come to you with a true fire, and tell you▪ you must work out your salvation with fear and trembling, you begin to murmur, because you are contrary unto us. The word in us labours to destroy sin in you, sin in you labours to destroy the word in us, and thus we become despised. These five reasons are on your part. The next is on our part, and it is drawn from generation. Preaching is an act of generation, it begets faith. Among other things in the talk of Esdr as with God, 2. Esd. 5. 49. God's tells him, that in generation, Infans non parit ea quae sunt senum, a child cannot perform that which a man performs. Therefore Paul would not have a preacher to be a young scholar. A great part of the troubles of the church of England hath sprung out of green heads, that have much busied themselves about the state of bishops, these are young cockerels, that have learned only to clap their féeblewing, & to crow upon the roost in time of peace, but when religion is in danger, they dare not come into the cockpit, to try masteries for religion as M. jewel and many other good bishops have done that are gone to God. As preaching is an act of generation, that requires growth, so it is an exercise of artillery, that requireth strength and knowledge. The souls of men are the fairest marks that can be shot at: and we must do as archers do The archer first takes a view of his mark, then considers the distance of the ground, after that he carries his eye over all the shafts in his quiver, he pulls out, and puts in one after another, until he have made choice of his arrow: then he proves it with his finger, and judges by his ear whether it be dry and fit to fly unto the mark: then he marks how the wind sits, to help him or to hinder him: when he hath put his arrow into the bow, and begun to draw, if there come a guske of contradiction in his way, he hath the discretion to pause and to bear with it, until it have spent itself: when the blast is over, he sets his foot to the ground, lies close to his bow, draws his arrow up to the head, and sticks it up to the feathers. Either want of years for the act of generation, or want of growth to draw the bow of the Prophets and Apostles, & want also of skill to shoot, and care to shoot when we have taken our aim, makes us many times to miss the mark, and so we become despised. The seventh and last reason is on God's part, and this is fearful. When God is determined to destroy a people, he makes their heart's fat, and their ears heavy, and they become careless of the word of God. It was it that the Prophets noted in Ama●a●. By this I know (saith he) that God is determined to destroy thee, Quia non acquievisti consilio meo, Because thou hast not followed my council. I pray you think upon it in this opposition of yours against the Church of England▪ it is very ominous, a fearful sign that God is determined to destroy you, Quia non acquievistis consilio nostro, Because you have been taught the truth ever since the beginning of the blessed reign of her majesty, and you have not harkened unto our counsel. Let us yet obtain the credit at your hands which you ought to yield us, and you shall see what wilfoow of it, even this consequent, which he, jehoshaphat, speaketh of [You shall prosper.] The second consequent [Prosperity.] THis may seem strange that jehoshaphat in this busy time of war draws the people to have regard unto the Prophets, with an expectation of prosperity: at such times men commonly dare not give any countenance to the prophets, for fear of the trouble that is annexed to religion. This is to exhort the faithful to build upon the sand. A man would think he should rather have moved than to prepare themselves unto temptation, as Saint james doth, or for trouble, as our Saviour Christ doth pressuram habebitis, you shall have trouble, or to look for persecution, as Paul doth: He that will live godly (saith he) must suffer prsecution. Of which kind of speech Saint Augustine saith, Qui hoc loquitur confortat infirmum ut non cum ille crediderit prospera huius saeculi speret. Si autem doctus fuerit prospera huius saeculi spcrare, ipsa prosperitate corrumpitur, & superuenientibus, adversitatibus sauciatur aut fortassis extinguitur. He that speaketh this, speaketh not this to the end that a man when he hath believed, should look for the prosperity of this world, for if he be taught so to do, prosperity itself corrupteth him, and when adversity cometh, either it woundeth him very sore, or dispatcheth him outright. A Preacher of the word of GOD builds not upon the rock▪ when he builds so, but upon the sand, and when the rain falleth, the wind blows, and the waves of adversity beat upon his work, the fall of his house is great. But if ye look well into the scriptures, you shall find that according to the difference of times, and of the affections of people, the exhortations differ. They that have already believed, are so affected with heavenly things that they despise the world, & such are exhorted to look for trouble & adversity before it comes: so deals our Saviour, james, & Paul with their scholars: such as are affected with the world, and do not yet steadfastly believe, God is contented to draw them unto him, with promises of worldly prosperity, that by these steps they may ascend by little and little to love him for himself at last. Such were they that jehoshaphat spoke unto, men affected with their peace and prosperity, he therefore exhorts them, to believe the prophets, with an expectation of prosperity. S. john Ep. 3. discovers two kinds of prosperity to his friend Gaius, one of the soul, another of the body, and he wishes both to him. Where the holy prophets and priests of God have their due regard & credit, both these follow, the soul prospers: the prophet's doctrine is likend in scripture to rain, man's soul is the ground into which it falleth, and by the watering thereof many a goodly flower of Faith, Hope, Love, Temperance, and such like heavenly virtues creep out of the paradise of the soul. The body prospers also, Ps. 8. 13. O that my people had harkened unto me (saith God) I would have humbled their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The reason of it is the same▪ by which we say trees and plants do prosper, which standing with the root in the mire, & in the water, draw that to them which is good for them, and refuse that which is hurtful: and so they grow and prosper, not by any understanding of their own, but because they are guided, ab intelligentia non errant, they are guided by god, whose understanding never errs. The knowledge of the prophet is a light streaming out of Gods own bosom into the breasts of the prophet, & as the learning of the scholar is a pattern of the learning of the master, so the knowledge of that prophet, is a bright home of the knowledge that is in god: they that will believe the prophets shall be guided, ab intelligentia non errant, by an understanding that never errs, & they shall prosper in their actions. Contrariwise, they that despise and reject the Priests and the Prophets sent unto them, are like unto a beaten bark in the main sea, without rudder, without master, without Card or Compass, snatched away with every flaw, and rend upon every rock, they can never prosper. It shall be good for you in these days wherein men have laid all their battery against the Church, as if there were nothing in this kingdom out of order but the Church, to considder somewhat better of your own selves, and do it in time. For I dare be bold to tell you, that God can not abide to see that kingdom prosper, which cannot abide to see his church prosper. 2. Chron. the four and twentieth chapter, and twentieth verse, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord (saith Zechariah) surely ye shall not prosper. The word was no sooner out of his mouth, but the people conspired against him, they got him to be made away by the king's commandment. The holy man said no more to it at his death, but this, The Lord look upon it and require it: and the year was no sooner come about, but God sent an army against them smaller in number than themselves, closed them all in their enemy's hands, the kingdom was spoiled, the nobility destroyed and rifled, the pray sent to Damascus, the king himself murdered in his bed by his own servants, and all this was done (saith the holyghost) for the blood of the children of the Priests. As many of you as take our prosperity to be a prick in your eyes, lay this to your hearts, and think upon it. It grieveth me to speak it, and it grieveth me more to think it: you may see it if you will, that whilst you are whetting of a knife for to cut our throats, God is whetting of a sword to cut your throats. It was the promise of our Saviour, that the Faith of the Church should remove mountains: and indeed the persecuting heathen emperors were very great mountains that stood very high, and very stiff in the church's way, but the faith of the Church hath removed them all out of her way. It was the prayer of the Church against her enemies long since, Dorsum eorum incurua, Lord bow down their backs, look upon Domitian, Decius, Dioclesian, julian the apostata, Herod and Antiochus, and a number such like Princes persecuting of the church, all their backs have been suddenly bowed down or broken by one fearful death or other. Valerian the emperor was a bitter enemy of the Church, and it pleased GOD in his life time so to bow down his back, that he made him a footstool for his proud enemy the King of Persia, to get up to horse. Look upon the lives, or upon the deaths of all the princes of the earth that ever stood up in opposition against the church, you shall find that verified in them that David noted, Uindemiat spiritum principum, he cuts off the spirits of Princes. In which manner of speech he likeneth GOD to a vinerole, and the Princes of the earth to great clusters of Grapes in the time of Uintage, when they are ripe, and the measure of their sins full, then cometh God in with his paring knife, he shareth off these great clusters one after an other, and sweepeth them away quite from the face of the earth. My Text having thus led me by steps and degrees up to the chin in the Church's quarrel, because that after the last service I performed to the Church in this place, it was told me to my head forty miles hence in the presence of an honourable man, that I had stricken at some great person, and should be called in question for it: I do not think but my innocency was looked into, in that it was almost two years since, and from that day to this I never heard more of it. Nevertheless, that I be no more mistaken, I will speak a word or two to this purpose, and so commit you to God. I remember the Prophet Hieremie in his fourth chapter and fourth vers. finding his speech to be of little force amongst the common people, said thus to himself: surely they are poor and foolish, and know not the way of the Lord, I will get me to the great men & speak to them, for they know it. But when he had taken a view of them, he confessed, that they also had cast away the yoke of their obedience unto god. This was not my drift at that time, neither is it my intent now. I do rather set before mine eyes the complaint of the Prophet Hieremie Lament. 3. where he compareth great persons to fine gold, and to the stones of the sanctuary, and bewails to see them in disgrace. If it be the commendation of the two Tables that they were written with gods own finger, it can not but be a matter of high reckoning and reputation, that men do rise to honour and authority, either in the church or in the commonweal, it is a curious parcel guilt laid upon them by Gods own finger, and no wicked tongue may lick it off again. Yet I must tell you thus much, that as every man hath a particular end of his actions, and embraceth all the honest means he can to attain to it; the end of the Merchant is gain, the end of the Soldier is victory: so the end of the Preacher is God's glory: the means we use to attain unto it, is preaching, and preaching is hailshot; we send it among the thickest of you, desirous to hit you all. And if we can strike, and strike kindly here a Judge, and there a Magistrate, here a Nobleman, there a Gentleman, here a Courtier, there a Countryman, here a Lawyer, there a Client, it fareth with us as it did with the Troyans', when the siege was raised, and the Grecians returned to their ships, they delighted to view the void places where they fought: when our work is over, it doth us good as we come this way, to cast up our eyes to these places where we have tried our strength in God's service, and may say unto ourselves, Here we tilted, there we tourneyed, here we thundered, there we lightened, here we fought, and there we overcame, bearing up a rich conquest of souls upon the point of our spears to heaven. The Philosopher saith of natural bodies, that the nearer they come to their sphere, the faster they move. Throw a stone from above, the nearer it comes to the earth, the faster it moveth: the dog when he follows the hare, the nearer he is to it, the faster he runs to pinch and take hold of it: the Falcon, soaring in the air, and spying his game beneath, strikes the wing, and comes down with such a force, that the air suffers violence in his passage, the nearer he comes to it, the swifter he flies, and makes his point bravely when he stowps. By this long continuance of the gospel among you, the kingdom of heaven is nearer to you now than when you first believed: God stands at the end of your race, as he did at the top of jacobs' ladder to allure you: put your trust in him, and you shall be assured: he hath sent out his Prophets and Preachers to hallow the game unto you, If you cling somewhat close unto us, you shall move speedily towards your sphere, you shall run well, and stop well, live well, and die well, and make a gallant point. As for myself, because it is no small matter for God to separate a Priest from the people, and to take him near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation, Num. 16. 9 standing here in the sight of God, of Angels, of men, we speak present Scaevola. And the Wiseman saith Eccl. 43. that all things are directed by God to a good end, and when we have spoken much, yet we cannot attain to them: but this is the end of all, that God is all, and there will come a time (saith Augustine) when we shall enter into the presence of God, wherein many things we talk of now shall cease, and God shall be one in all, and we shall be all one, and speak one thing, and praise one God. I will therefore wind up all that I have spoken this day with that short prayer wherewith Saint Augustine makes an end of a laborious disputation of the holy Trinity, Domine Deus unus, Deus Trinitas, quaecunque dixi in his libris de tuo, agnoscant & tui: Si qua de meo, & tu ignosce & tui. O Lord my God, which art one God, God the Trinity, if I have spoken any thing here that is thine, I humbly beseech thee and thine to accept it at my hands: If I have spoken any thing that is mine, or followed the sway of flesh and blood, I humbly beseech thee and thine to forgive it me, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the holyghost; three glorious persons in Trinity, one eternal God in substance, to whom be all honour and glory, praise, power, and dominion, now and ever, Amen. FINIS. THE LECTURES OF SAMVEL BIRD OF IPSWIDGE UPON the 8. and 9 chapters of the second Epistle to the Corinthians. Printed by john Legate, Printer to the University of Cambridge. 1598.