SAULS' PROHIBITION staid.  
OR THE APPREHENSION, AND EXAMINATION OF SAUL.  
And the Indictment of all that persecute CHRIST, with a reproof of those that traduce the Honourable Plantation of VIRGINIA.  
Preached in a Sermon Commanded at Paul's Cross, upon Rogation Sunday, being the 28. of May. 1609.  
By DANIEL PRICE, Chaplain in ordinary to the PRINCE, and Master of Arts of EXETER College in OXFORD.  
LONDON Printed for Matthew Law, and are to be Sold in Paul's Churchyard, near unto Saint Austin's Gate, at the Sign of the Fox. 1609.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, THOMAS Lord Ellesmere, Lord Chancellor of England, and one of his majesties most Honourable Privy Counsel.  
MY Honourable and rightly eminent L. it is a Question whither God hath more blessed you, or the Land by you, the heavens have been so gracious to your Honour, and you so ready to return Grace and Honour to the Heavens. The Courts of judgement, and Chancery of Mercy witness your exquisite Wisdom in the temper of both, by your Lordship's sitting in the one sidus beneficum, a happy Star in the Star Chamber, in the other numen pacificum, a good Angel in the Chancery, and not only so, but in the Church, where your Honour hath vouchsafed favour to help many a Clergyman into Bethesdas pool, without the superstitious mediation of Angels. In regard of which pious and glorious Patronage, all that are able to speak or write in the Church, be they Scribes or Pharisees, I mean Rabbins, or Neophyts own much respect to your Lordship. Among the rest of the least I offer up this my poor Morning sacrifice, which first took fire at the Altar of Paul's Cross, it was a Sacrifice without the Temple, yet my Prayers shall be that this be like the fire in the temple which was never extinguished. And so with my hearty devotions to the Lord for the long health and happiness of your Lordship, the Noble Countess your Lady, and your worthy and Honourable Son, I rest,  
Your Lordships in all observance Daniel Price.   

SAULS' PROHIBITION STAYED. OR THE APPREHENSION AND EXAMINATION OF SAUL.  ACTS. 9.4. 
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?  
I Fear to speak of judgement, it made Foelix tremble, or of Mercy, for then the Wicked will not tremble, I cannot speak of Piety, for Piety is sick, nor of Faith, for Faith is dead, nor of Works, for Works are buried: Not of Devotion it is become Ostentation, nor of Religion, it is made a vain Speculation, nor of Prayer, for Prayer is contemned, nor of Alms for Alms are neglected, nor of Fasting for Fasts are banished, nor of Charity for Charity is Outlawed, Hope is become a vain presuming, Holiness Hypocrisy, zeal fury: The Commonwealth oppressions, safety virtues deprivation, hospitality depopulation: The Church Simonies possession, Schisms division Atheists expectation: This World a wilderness, a dry, heathy, thorny, bare, barren wilderness, wherein Satan the Serpent, Sin the Satire, Wrath the Lion, Lust the Leopard, Zi●m and I●m, the Ostrich and the Screech-owl and the Vulture do inhabit, wherein Virtue is an exile, Conscience a Hermit, Honesty a Stranger, Truth a Prisoner, a wild wilderness wherein all things are most miserable: The Ways rough and crooked, the Wealth base, the Pleasure's false, the Hopes vain, the Promises lies, the Delight light, the Glory short, the Sta●e a banishment and a Dungeon of condemned Persons, scrawling about the Globe of the Earth, the Theatre of their misery and mortality. In a word ALL THINGS are in such confusion, by reason of the Catechlisme and inundation of sin, that if ever even now, we may take up the speech of Esay unto God. O that thou wouldst break the heavens and come down, either in Merci: to pardon, or in judgement to punish the sins of the people.  
In the Lion there was sweetness and strength, In the Cherubims the face of a Lion and the face of a man, 
jud. 13.  with God there is aureum and aereum scepirum. 
Eze. 1.  And he hath sent down a Commission from the king's-bench of his judgement, 
Austen.  and another from the Chancery of his Mercy, his fountain hath sent forth sweet and bitter water, his mouth cursing, and blessing: It is the speech of David in his 32. Psalm, that joineth both these together, Many plagues are provided for the ungodly, but he that putteth his trust in the Lord, mercy shall compass him on every side. Behold in that one verse, Olives and Prickles upon one tree, punishment and pardon in one breath, life and death in one word, Gerezim and Eball in one place, winter and summer in one day, the fall and spring in one season, 
Mercerus.  the red Ensign of the wrath of God, and the red Ensign of the blood of Christ, an army of miseries, sorrows, punishments, anguishes, and an army of comforts, promises, hopes, mercies, deliverances; not so many darts on the one side, but so many shields on the other, justice not such indignation, but mercy hath as much compassion, if plagues compass, yet mercy shall nearer compass, if there be bitter waters of Marah, there is sweet wood cast in, to season it; if a red sea, yet Moses rod to divide it; if the Canaanites pursue Israel, yet a joshua to defend it.  
There was mercy and judgement together, and yet not together, in one verse but not in one place, there was a distance between them, as between Dives and Lazarus; but in the Text, I have read unto you, there is both, in one place, person, action. Transient in God, Immanent in Paul, judgement so sweetened, mercy so edged, that sweet and sour, life and death, love and fear, alluring and terrifying, never came nearer together, then in this Text, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?  
For if ever mercy and judgement met together, here may ye behold judicium misericordiae, misericordiam judicij, 
August. in Psal.  the judgement of mercy, and the mercy of judgement, a voice and a stroke, the one striking down to the earth, and the other lifting up to the heaven, a light shining from heaven, and a light shining to direct him to heaven, a light shining to him that was in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to bring him from the snare of darkness to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God: he that was the way met him in the way, he that was the light met him with a light, he that was the word, met him with the voice of the word, Saul, 
Psal. 29, 3.  Saul, why persecutest thou me? It was a voice indeed, it was the voice of the Lord, mighty in operation, the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice, the voice of the Lord breaketh the Cedars, yea the Lord breaketh the Cedars of Libanus, The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness, yea the wilderness of Cadesh. It was that voice that made jonas Mariners to shake, Foelix to fear, Herod to tremble, and the Devils to roar, It was the voice that struck the Soldiers with amazedness, Elimas the Sorcerer with blindness, Zacharias with dumbness, Ananias and Saphira with deadness, 
job. 31.  and of this voice johs Epiphonema and acclamation serveth, Quis poterit tonitruum magnitudinis illius intueri? who can understand the fearfulness o● his power, or hear the voice of his thunder? The walls in jerito could not stand, the C●da● in L●banus could not but shake, he wilderness in Cadesh could not but tremble, the Army at Mount Olivet could not but fall, the Auditory of S. Peter at jerusalem near stabbeth to the heart with this voice, and then how shall Paul a weak, single, simple, abortive birth, but fear and tremble, and become terrified, amazed, & astonished at the Echo of this voice? O It was a powerful voice, the voice that josephus speaketh of, crying, vox ab Oriente, 
Joseph. de bell. Judai.  vox ab Occidente, a voice from the East, a voice from the West, a voice from the four winds; it was no more powerful than this voice, and yet the voice not so powerful as merciful, it is vox suaviter fortis, fortiter suavis. S. Chrysostom observeth, 
Chrysost. in Act.  that they that came to betray Christ in the convoy of judas, and were strooken to the earth with Christ his words, were now in the company of Paul, when Paul was strooken to the earth by the words of Christ. If it were so, the miracle was the greater, and their sin the greater; but as my Saviour, so my Text singleth out none but Saul, and striketh Saul to the earth, it was the heaviest fall, and yet the happiest fall that ever any had; it was his fall and his rising, his funeral and his resurrection, his burial and his birth, his kill and quickening.  
I divide the little body of this my Text into the form and matter thereof. 
Division.  The form an Interrogation, the matter Saules violence in persecution. In the form observe first a question, Secondy, an Ingemination. In the matter, observe first, Soul persecuting, Secondly, Christ persecuted. Thus be these words divided, that divided the soul and the spirit, and the joints and the marrow of Saul, and of these in their order, first of the question.  
The Lord that in Deuteronomy is a Physician: in job a Bonesetter: 
Deu 32.39. job. 16.11 Esay. 5.1. joh. 15.1 Luk 2.46. Mat 8.25. Mat. 2.30 Exod. 15.3.  In Esay a Vine-dresser: in john a husbandman: in Luke a moderator, among the Doctors: in Matthew a Pilot amidst the Floods: in Mark a Lawgiver among the Lawyers: in Exodus a man of war among the Armies. He is here a justice to apprehend & an Examiner to questionize with Saul: Saul, Saul why persecutest thou me? He was in Esay, a Prince of Peace, and here is a justice of Peace, though he was sometimes put out of the Commission of Peace to work our Peace.  
The Lord might without any expostulating have powered down vengeance upon him, and so he had never come to his answer, he might have turned him into hell with all the people that forget God: he might have summoned out some punishment or other to have served the execution of wrath against Saul, 
Psal. 11.  his arm is not shortened, he had his greater armies and his lesser armies, 
joel. 1.  he might have sent out the least of his great ones, or a great army of his least, he might have sent the fire he used against the Sodomites, or the Sun with which he fought against the Ammonites, or the stars wherewith he plagued the Canaanites, or the sea wherewith he drowned the Egyptians, or the earth wherewith he swallowed the Murmurers, or the Bears wherewith he devoured the mockers, but he taketh another Course, he sendeth out no Outlawrie before Saul come to his answer, no castigation, nay no expostulation, but a mild and merciful speech. I should have expected burning coals from his lips, coals of fire from his nostrils, vials of wrath the furious servants and sergeant of indignation, against such a rampant ravening wolf, a merciless Tiger, an insatiate Tyrant, spirans minarum & caedis, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
1. Tim. 1. Chrysost.  breathing out threatenings & shughter, nay a murderer, oppressor, blasphemer, as he confesseth himself. Yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in Correction Moderation, in Reproof Compassion.  
The Doctrine, that the Lord is slow to anger, and in his indignation ready to show compassion, 
Doctrine.  when the Lord in Micah had called a congregation of the Mountains to hear his quarrel, as in Esay a convocation of heaven and earth, men and Angels to be witness against his people, 
Mich. 6.  yet hear what his speech was, O my people what have I done unto thee, or wherein have I grieved thee, 
Esay. 1.  testify against me: no threatening, no cursing, no fire or brimstone, storm or tempest, O popule mi, quid fecitibi? When his Prophet jonas had fled from his presence, and rebelled against him not only in flying, but in murmuring, and fuming, fretting in a querulous, contumacious, & contumelious contesting with God. God relpyeth only this; Dost thou well to be angry. He raged that God would not destroy Niniveh, a great and glorious, spacious, populous City, the Lady of the East, Queen of the Nations, Metropolis of Ass●ria, beauty of the world, that had so many 10000 noble, rich, honourable inhabitants, besides Infants and Innocents', and jonas to be angry to the death, that Niniveh was not destroyed, and afterwards that a Guord, 
jon. 4.9.  a weak▪ creeping, sprouting, fading, guorde of no conti●●●nce, springing in one night, dying in the other, and yet that jonas again is angry with God, very angry even to the death, for the death of this Guord, and God's reply unto him is only this, jonas dost thou well to be angry? Saul here that had his hand in so many murders, in so many bloody, tragical, barbarous executions, against whom the blood of the Martyrs cried for vengeance, yet God mercifully, and favourably, in as kind, and as familiar sort, with as much indulgence, as if the Spirit of Eli, or the soft voice in Elias had spoken, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? If john Baptist speak to the pharisees, he crieth out, O generation of vipers. If Peter to Ananias and Saphira, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie, 
Mat. 3.3. Acts. 5.10. Acts. 13.10.  why have ye agreed to tempt the spirit of God, he striketh them dead. If Paul to Elimas the Sorcerer, O thou full of all subtlety and mischief, the child of the Devil, 
Acts. 7.5.  and enemy of righteousness. If Stephen to the jews, O ye of stiff necked hearts and ears. Nay servants with their fellow servants, Brethren with their Brethren, that had the same Commission and profession, tied by all the bonds of nature and grace, yet in their writings and speeches, there have been bitter invectives, contestings and withstanding to the face, Paul and Barnabas, Cyprian and Cornelius, Origen and African, Chrysostome and Theophilus, Ruffinns and Jerome, Jerome and Austin, Austin and Symplician, Frosper and Hilary, Gregory and Eutichus, who have almost all fought as fiercely with their pens, as ever Caesar and Pompey did with their sword. But behold the Creator of all things, whose throne is heaven, whose footstool is the earth, who hath his garrisons of Angels in the heaven, of stars in the firmament, of storms in the wind, of mil-dew in the air, of Dragons in the deep, of all creatures in the world; he receiveth him friendly and favourably, even as a Master that had caught his runagate servant, and having him fast, thus (saith S. Chrys●stome) bespeaketh him; 
Chrysost. in Act.  Quid tibi v●s faciam nunc, ecce venisti sub manus meas, quo reeidit furor tuus insania, zelus intempestinus, ubi vincula? etc. Now I have apprehended thee, whatsoever thou wilt I will do to thee: whether hath thy madness tended, thy fury, thy unseasonable, unreasonable zeal, where be thy bonds or stripes or imprisonment, Crimen obijcit non tam arguendo, 
Locinus in Act.  quam defendendo: he objecteth his fault, not so much reproving Saul as defending himself, as he did in john to the jews, Many good works have I showed you from my father, 
john.  for which of them do ye stone me! So that Christ here his Mollis interrogat●o tollit iram, his sweet, soft, heavenly interrogation showeth, how far he was from indignation. Blessed and thrice blessed be his name for ever and ever.  
The use of this Doctrine, Use. that we be like unto our Lord and Master, even in our reproofs and exprobrations to mitigate our anger and fury and fervour. The Philosopher in his Ethics, confineth and limiteth the Sea of anger to his bounds. 
Ethic. lib. 4.  Why against whom, how, when, and how far it may proceed: and surely, Christians may learn that lesson to observe the cause wherefore, the persons with whom, the season when, the manner how, and the end of the Term, how far it may pass, and how long endure. The greatest thing in that incomprehensible goodness, that we vespertilionum oculis, 
Aristotle.  with our Wants eyes can behold is his mercy, his justice exceedeth his works, his mercy exceedeth both; he is slow to anger, and he keepeth not his anger for ever. O then, if the natural edge of anger be whetted and sharpened on thy stony heart, to wound those thou art angry with; Remember to be slow unto anger, to be short in thy anger, to be mild in thy anger, remember how far this sword may be unsheathed.  
I know there is a time to hate, and a time to love, a time of peace, and a time of war, a time wherein Clergy and Laity that be in office may whet their tongues like razors, their salt must be quick, their voice piercing, their sound powerful; yet in all these kinds, Subesse debet iracundia non praess●, as Gregory counseleth, let anger rather attend your reprehension, 
Greg. in job. Angustaa Psal.  then command it; Non ut dominando praeveniat, sed ut simulando subsequatur: so that it bear not a fury by going before, but a show in coming after, and continue not in an odious, tedious passion and perturbation of anger: as thy anger must not be unadvisedly, not unjustly, so neither rashly nor perpetually. Anger is defined to be furor brevis, if it be furor, let it be brevis also, of Pompey it is observed, dies natalis fatalis, the day of his death, was on the day of his birth, 
Polychr.  and of jonahs' Guord, that it came up in a night, and withered in a night; and of Pliny's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, borne in the rising, dies in the setting of the sun, and the Toadstool, oritur moritur, 
Plin.  grows in a night and dies in a night: so let anger perish, consume and consummate itself in a day, sufficit dei malitta, the day hath enough for his own malice, sayeth the Prophet; nay, a day is too much, let it continue but a night, let it be like the untimely fruit of a woman, let it perish ere ever it see the Sun, sayeth David; nay, a night is too much, sufficit ad trom una vel altera hora, an hour or two is enough for anger sayeth Chrysostome; nay, an hour is too much; 
Chrysost. in Mat.  be no longer angry than thou mayest say over the Greek Alphabet, sayeth the Heathen Philosopher; nay, that is too much, sayeth the Divine, if thy violent, usurper Anger will hold the crown of reason, and manage the kingdom of understanding, let it be but for a moment, for the anger of God endureth but the twinkling of an eye, sayeth Scripture: Let not the Sun that glorious eye of the world, be as of thy wrath a faithful witness in heaven, so not of thy vengeance the swift witness in hell: and when thou art angry, be angry, but sin not, 
Leo Ep●st.  let it be cum animo medentis, non santentis, as Leo speaketh, not with the mind of a persecutor, but of a helper: speak thou unto thine enemy mildly without choler, moderately without fervour, as thy Master here did, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?  
Saul, Saul, the ingemination, Nomen bis tinctum sanguine, 
Austin.  a name again and again died deep enough in blood, once in the old, and once in the new Testament repeated, both of the Tribe of Benjamin, both Tyrants. It was a gracious favour of the Lord to vouchsafe to question with him, but to call him by his name, 
Be●. Lorinan Act. 9  and to ingeminate that name, Hoc indicat affectum commiserationis, it was a sign of his great affection and commiseration. When he was saluted by judas with a kiss, he useth no other word than this, judas betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? Why judas? thou one of my friends and followers, but twelve and one a Devil, one of my own trees to be so blasted, of my own foundations to be so undermined, of my own, that had professed to forsake all to follow me, and now none of all the world else to betray me, who vowed to follow to their losing of life, & now to follow and pursue, and entrap, and betray my life? judas thou to betray me, what, and to betray me with a kiss, the sign of perfect amity, and the seal of love, and dost thou seal thy treason with a kiss? judas my Apostle, my friend judas, as Luke calleth him; Dost thou betray the son of man with a kiss? It was a sign of his great affection, in speaking to Martha, who was more busy to provide for his body then for her own soul, Martha, Martha, thou art troubled about many things: but a greater sign of his affection, 
Luke 22.31.  when he beheld Peter weak, wracked, weatherbeaten, leaking, sinking Peter: he doubleth his speech, Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath sought to winnow thee.  
How mercifully dealt he with Peter, who when he was miraculously called from among Fishermen, to be a Fisher of men: yet fell most fearfully, and notwithstanding all his fainting and falling, yet he was restored and received: his story is an Ocean of mercy; you shall find him sometimes doubting, sometimes sinking, sometimes distrusting, sometimes denying, so peremptorily, and so blasphemously, as if he had been reprobate. Nay, in the greatest mysteries of our salvation, Peter was possessed with a dead, dull, heavy, drowsy sleep. Look upon him in the transfiguration, 
Luke 9.32.  Peter was a sleep. Look upon him in Christ's Prayer, Peter was a sleep. 
Mat. 26.39.  Look upon him in the very hour of the power of darkness, when Christ was to be betrayed, Peter was a sleep. 
Mar. ●3. 34.  In the Persecution of the Church, when earnest prayer was made by all the Church for Peter, 
Acts. 12.6.  even then also Peter was a sleep: And yet after all these slips and sleeps, and falls, and faults, Peter is received to be Angelus terrestris, Coelestis homo, Magister Gentium, Forma Martyrum, Formido Daemonum, 
Aug. de Temp.  Indultor criminum, Fons virtutum, etc. as Austen speaketh, and to be, though not Primas, yet Primus Apostolorum.  
but of all other that ingeminated Lamentation of his, even jerusalem, O jerusalem, jerusalem which killest Prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, 
Luk. 22.31.  as the hen gathereth her chickens, under her wings, & thou woulast not. The passionate compassion that our Saviour had over these, 
Mat. 23.27.  and so over all his, is so infinite, that no dimension in Art, no affection in nature, no proportion in the Creature can express it. O height of heaven, depth of hell, breadth of the world, distance of the Poles, love of friends, fathers, mothers, nurses, they are but shadows and semblances, kennings, not skanning of his favour, his mercies cannot be sufficiently descried or described; they be the heads of Nilus, rivers of Paradise, springs of Lebanon, fountains of Hermon, streams of Zion, jordan that maketh glad the City of God. They be the Charter of heaven, covenant of grace, assurance of glory, music to the ears, splendour to the eye, odour to the smell, dainties for the taste, pleasures for the sense, and solace for the soul: Misericordia Christi germinat, & ingeminat, he giveth grace liberally, multiplieth his grace given, conserving his grace multiplied, rewarding his grace conserved.  
Out of this doubling and reiterating of the name, 
Doctrine.  I observe this doctrine, that the Lord doth so much desire the repenting of a sinner, that he will vouch safe his servants that favour as to double his call, and not at the first to proceed in judgement against loitering and linger converts: Expectat torpentes, inui●at repugnantes, he expecteth them that linger, 
Austen.  inviteth them that repugn, stirreth them that loiter. He calleth Saul 2. Samuel 3. his Spouse, 4. Sodom shall have some days, 
2. Sam. 3.4.  Niniveh shall have forty days, jerusalem forty years, There was a time when he did not call once, nay, for sinning once, he punished for ever, he thrust the Angels out of heaven for one sin, expelled Adam Paradise for one Apple, stoned Achan for one wedge, plagued Gehezi for one bribe, Ananias for one dissembling, Corah for one rebelling: & yet since to move us to repentance, hath borne with sinners years and years after a thousand falls of weakness and wilfulness in thought, in word, in deed: Every thing in God is worthily to be admired, and wondered at, but his mercy is to be embraced with amazedness, that he is merciful in so rich, so deep, so long, so broad, so unmeasurable a measure, in so great, so mighty, manifold, miraculous manner. Hilary on the 144. Psalm, hath a sweet saying to this purpose, Hoc magnum est, hoc mirum, 
Hilary in 144. Psal.  this is an especial thing in God, this is mightily to be wondered at in that mighty one, not that he made heaven, because he is powerful, nor that he settled the earth, because he is strength, nor that he distinguished the year by stars, because he is wise, not that he gave man a soul because he is life, not that he moveth the sea by ebbing and flowing, because he is a Spirit, but that he should be so merciful, who is so just, that he should so familiarly deal with us, who is a God; Hoc mirum, 
Hilary. 144. Ps  hoc magnum, and all this only to draw us to repentance.  
The use of this, to move you to conversion, by the merciful compassion of the Lord: In the manifold care he hath of careless man, Use. he hath drawn him out a way to walk: This is the way, walk in it, and lest the way should seem dark and hard to be found, he hath given him a lantern, and lest he should faint in the way, he hath placed a brook in the way to refresh him, that he may drink of the brook in the way: This way is Conversion, 
Bernard.  which though it be via anfractuosa, is not via infructuosa, though a hard, rough, craggy way, yet is it not an incommodious or a fruitless way, but the virtues thereof are eternal life: the world misconceiving this way, they utterly refuse it, they like not the pace, because they must run, they like not the race because it is long, they like not the passage because it is straight, they like not the entrance because it is narrow, they like not to climb, they fear the hill, they like not to sail, they fear the sea, the way hard, the race long, the race running, the passage strait, the door narrow, the sea perilous, the hill promontorious; alas, they cannot endure it: and so they tyre or retire with the thought of fear. Hereby they lose the life of Saints, and foreslow that holy conversion and conversation of the servants of the Lord. O my beloved, seeing the Lord is slow to anger, and of great mercy, draw near to him by a true, hearty, speedy conversion. It is a special gift of God, salve of sins, haven of sinners, joy of Angels, terror of Devils, the new creation of the Soul, the new life of the Saints, a consumption, yet not sickness, a mortification, and yet no death, a compunction, 
A Enigma Diumum.  yet scarcely sorrow, a kill and yet a quickening, a Crucifying, and yet a reviving: It is an A Enigma, wherein when we are borne, we are buried, and when we are quickened, 
Hugo de Victor.  we are killed, and when we are mortified, we are raised, and when our old man is consumed, our new life is consummated. O that ye were all sick of this Consumption, that Prayer might be your Physic, your Diet might be fasting. Compunction your blood letting, your potion the tears of sorrowing, faith your handmaid watching, and good works the signs of your recovering. If ye were sick of this Consumption, it would be the means to bring health to your bodies, happiness to your Souls, length to your lives, life to your days, for evermore it would be a means, you would live more religiously, love the Lord more sincerely, serve him more obediently, tender his glory more dearly, hear his word more carefully, practise it more conscionably, pray more devoutly, believe more faithfully, profess more fruitfully, which the Lord in mercy increase for ever in us; and so I come to my second general part, and therein first of the Person persecuting.  
Saul, And here first of all, 
2. Part.  if ye catechize Saul with what is thy name, or discharge such a peal of Gunne-shot upon him, as the Mariners did upon jonas, 
jonas ●.  what art thou? whence camest thou? what is thy name?, thy people, thy trade? You shall receive answer out of his own words, he is an Hebrew of the Hebrews, an Israelite of the Israelites, of the seed of Abraham, of the Tribe of Bentamin, by birth a Iew. by Privilege a Roman, by sect a Pharisie, by zeal a Persecutor, his personal advantages, prerogatives, dignities, excellencies of profession, emulation, conversation, wonderful! none ever had greater endowments and blessings of Nature than Saul. It is a worthy observation upon that comitial exercise had between Stephen and his Adversaries, 
Sigonius. Lorin. in 7. Act.  that there were some of all the world Opponents and Opposites in that Disputation and Persecution of Stephen, out of Europe Romans, out of Afric Alexandrians, out of Asia Cilicians, and of all these out of all the parts of the world, that were then known, and out of all those Nations reckoned, there was none, 
Acts. 2.3.  more violent for strength, more virulent for sting, more zealous in profession, more powerful in prosecution, more Tragical and tyrannical in execution than Saul, he wasted the Church, dispersed the Disciples, destroyed the christians, magna insania imo vesania saith Chrysostome, quod & in domos ingrediebatur, 
Chrysost.  & quod nec mulieribus parcebat: He followed Christians not only from the Synagogue into the streets, but from the streets, into the houses, their own houses, & violently, inhumanly drew out even the women unto their death. He was a Saul indeed, nay a Sheol, a very Hell, 
Lombard.  as Peter Lombard out of the Nature of the Original observeth, or Shaul as others observe, 
Lorin. in 9 Act.  Excitatus a Demone ad persequendum Ecclesiam, stirred up by the Devil to persecute the Church. He was a Wolf among the Lambs, a Bear among the Saints, a Lion ramping and roaring for his prey, nay, put together the wiliness of a Fox, strength of a Lion, sting of a Serpent, Saenity of a Wolf, the Savage madness of Bears, Boars, Leopards, Tigers, Crocodiles (for by all these in Scripture the wicked are described) they were all in Saul; his ZEAL had fired him, and therefore he saith of himself, by zeal I persecuted the church of God, so that Christ speaking to him now, & crying, Saul, Saul, meaneth, zeal, Zeal, why persecutest thou me? Is it possible that a sweet grape should be so sour? that poison should infe & such a fountain of life? that such an endowment should deserve such a punishment? such a blessing prove such a curse, the heat of the spirit, should be as hell fire? The glorious lustrous splendour of the Sun should be Cimmerian Egyptian darkness, and make a man a dog, a Christian a Devil? It is, it is, behold one for example for all, Saul his spur of zeal, proved a sting a piercing, poisoning, enuenoming assacinating sting, by zeal he persecuted the Church of God. I am sure true zeal is the true seal of the holy Ghost, it is the Leaxen that leaveneth the whole lump; it is the grain of Mustardseed, the spark of fire, the fire of the Temple, the measure of the Tabernacle, the Cubit of the Sanctuary the beacon of Mount Zion, and yet zeal hath marked Saul a persecutor, oppressor, maligner, blasphemer of God & his Gospel. I know the Kingdom of Heaven must suffer violence; jacob obtained by wresling, David by running, Paul by endeavouring, the Wise Virgins by watching, 
Austen.  the good servants by working, vis intrare in regnum coelorum, wilt thou enter into Heaven? violentus esto, be violent (sayeth Austen) nay, saith Christ the King of Heaven suffereth violence: But yet not a more hasty than wary violence, for as S. Bernard speaketh, Et fervour discretionem erigat, & discretio feruorem dirigat, zeal must stir up discretion, 
Berna d.  discretion must direct zeal. As the hope of a Christian, so the zeal of a Christian, is as Susanna between two Adulterers, as Virtue between two extremes, as In ocency between two Tyrants, Hercules between two Serpents, the grain between two Millstones: blind Ignorance on the one side, proud Insolence on the other side, a blind zeal, a proud zeal, the one superstitious, the other supercilious. The zeal of a Christian must be as Christ was before he came from heaven, he was in the midst of Angels, in the Cratch, he was in the midst of creatures. In the temple, in the midst of the Doctors. In the transfiguration, in the midst of the Prophets and Apostles. In the Cross, in the midst of the thieves. In the resurrection, in the midst of his Disciples, In the coming to judgement, in the midst of the elect and reprobate Lambs, on the one hand, Goats on the other, semper in medio, quia medium, semper medium, qui a mediator: Non in omnibus quadrat similitudo, 
Bernard.  as Austen spoke in the like, 
August. con Don.  but let zeal ever go in the midst, sail in the midst, pass in the midst; let diligence raise up negligence, be not cold, let moderation rule the passion, be not to hot, not bewitched with fiery fury, as Saul was, as that saul's zeal should persecute Christ.  
The Doctrine hence is, 
Doctrine.  that every Christian let moderation govern the stern of his violent opinion, or else his zeal is abominable before God; the Prayer of the reprobate is abominable, the Faith of the Hypocrite is abominable, the zeal of the fiery obstinate is abominable. In the Law they must bring no sacrifice without salt: zeal is that salt, they must bring no sacrifice without an eye, discretion is that eye: no unseasoned sacrifice, no service without zeal, no blind sacrifice, no zeal without discretion. 
Rom. 12.  The Apostle Paul directeth to Wisdom, Be wise, there is the Spur, zeal: but according to Sobriety, there is the bridle, discretion. The Disciples were commended for their duty in following Christ. There is zeal, but they were condemned for their zeal when they prayed for vengeance, there wanted discretion. The jews were commanded to gather Manna, there is a portion of zeal, but neither too much nor too little, there is the proportion of discretion. The holy Ghost descended with fire: there is zeal, but with a wind also that cooleth fire, there is discretion, Let zeal be like to Moses and Phineas, 
Ambrose.  Moses for mildness, Phineas for fervency, there is a Seraphical zeal, like to that in E. Zechiels' vision, 
Ezech. 1.16.  the face of a Lion, the face of a man; there is a Cherubicall zeal; let zeal and moderation be like Naomi and Ruth, let them go together, or if that pace will not serve, let them like Peter and john at the Sepulchre run together.  
Vespasians Emblem on his coin, did well moralise the meaning of zeals moderation, there was a Dolphin and an anchor, the Dolphin out strips the ship, the anchor stays the ship; if staidness and swiftness, earnestness and peaceablnes did go together, then were zeal, that true zeal that the holy Prophets and servants of God had. It was a fervent zeal that was in David, when he cried The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up, wherein David cried not, My zeal hath almost eaten up thy house, but the zeal of thy house hath almost eaten me up: 
Austen. Oscrius.  Saul was zealous as ever any was, and in zeal as outrageous as ever any; he was of the Tribe of Benjamin, and was the true Benjamin: jacob on his death bed, breathed and bequeathed him this blessing, Benjamin shall ravine as a Wolf in the morning, he shall devour the pray, and in the evening he shall divide the spoil. Paul was this Benjamin, Benjamin was Benoni, Paul was this Benoni, he was Benjamin the son of the right hand, and he was Benoni the son of sorrow; Benjamin the joy of his Father, Benoni the death of his mother: Bentamin filiorum minimus, 
Lor. in Ps. 75.  Paulus Apostolorum ultimus, Benjamin the death of Rachel his mother, Paul the death of the Church, vastans Ecclesiam sayeth Austen, the death of the Synagogue, 
Austen. Hierome.  tollens legem sayeth Hierome, Saul was a Wolf indeed in the morning, when he devoured the prey, etc. and made a prey of the Church, but in the evening he did divide the word richer than great spoils.  
The Use of this Doctrine, Use. is to direct and level your zeal aright, that it neither fall short nor fly over, neither on the right hand, nor on the left hand, but that it aim directly at the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ jesus. I come not hither this Spring to sneap your zeal with any frosty speech, absit, far be it from me to speak it, from you to think it: I know that Palsies and Apoplexies are more commonly incident in Christian zeal, then hot Agues: we need not quench the Spirit, O that we could kindle it: But my desire is, that you please so to moderate your zeal, that ye add with your zeal faith, so with your faith, knowledge, and with knowledge temperance, and with temperance patience, and with patience brotherly kindness, and with brotherly kindness love, or else if your zeal be never so hot, the hot fever or fervour thereof shall not avail you. Ye shall be like to those Fishers, with S. Peter, Fish all night but catch nothing, or those scholars in S. Paul, being always learning, profiting nothing; or those Petitioners in Saint james, ask always, receiving nothing, 
james. 5. Bernard. AElian. var. hist. Plutarch.  or the Eutichoei in S. Bernard, Praying always but obtaining nothing; like Atalanta running but a far off; like Diogenes Archer, shooting but a far off; like Peter following but far off, far off indeed, for your zeal shall make you enemies to the Cross of Christ, Oppressors, maligners, murderers, persecutors, to whom these Presents shall come greeting; Saul Saul, why persecutest thou me? If, therefore any of you have been so zealous, 
Barrowifts, Brownistes, Humorists, Atheists DEVILS, none else against Bishops  that you could have in zeal eaten up bishoprics, and Ecclesiastical Endowments, and in zeal have persecuted our reverend Fathers the Chariots of Israel, & the horsemen thereof, know it, that your zeal is a Saul, a persecutor, a Wolf, a Betrayer of the Church of God. Look upon Saul a Pharisie by his Father, a Pharisie by his Master, a Pharisie by birth, breeding, zeal, sect, and profession, his knowledge more, his tongues more, his labours more than any Pharisie of our time, yet he confesseth, by zeal I persecuted the Church of God. In the bowels of Christ jesus, truly with a religious soul consider it, and so turn as he did from an Impostor to a Pastor, from a persecutor to a professor, from a Wolf among Lambs, to a Lamb among Wolves, from shedding their blood, to offer for them to shed his own blood; from Saul to Paul, from a fierce, fiery, furious, mad monstrous Traitor, to a holy, happy, gracious, glorious Martyr, for he was as zealous for the Church, as ever against the Church; witness his afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, prisons, tumults, labours, watchings, fastings, and manifold sufferings, in enduring the Cross. But I end this point, and come from Paul's Cross to Christ's Cross in my last words, Why persecutest thou me?  
Maximam Emphasim habet illud me, perfecutest me? this was the word that struck him to the earth, 
Austen. Chrysostome.  struck him from his horse, struck him down from his presumption, Persecutest thou me? it struck him down earth to earth. The Father's compare the state of Saul at this time unto some riotous young man, who by noctivagating and nightly disorder in the streets, quarrels, and fights, and wounds whosoever he meeteth, at the length meeteth with his own Father in the dark, and woundeth him; his Father at the length discerning him, crieth out, Son, Son, why hast thou slain me? thou my flesh and blood, and thou the shedder of my blood, I the cause of thy life, and thou the cause of my death, thou my son and I the father of thy beginning, thy sword my son, and thou my son, the father of my ending, O Son, why hast thou slain me? the Son replieth, what thee my Father? my Father, the light of my eyes, breath of my nostrils, joy of my heart, honour of my name; what thee my Father? It is I thy Father that thou hast wounded, that thou hast slain, thy Father that begat thee, bred thee, fed thee, fostered thee, nourished thee, exalted thee, endowed thee, that thought nothing too dear for thee, and now thou hast slain me. All the gory, gaping wounds that Caesar had, came not so near him, as the stab that Brutus gave him: what thou my Son? the Son of my hopes, and the Son of my desire, what Brutus my son, what Absol●n my son, my son? hast thou rebelled, hast thou persecuted me, O the wonderment, astonishment, amazement of such a Father, 
Osor. evan. Part. Hiem.  and of such a Son? Such the Emphasis of this voice, persecute me: why was it not sufficient, I was born poorly, bred barely, clothed meanly, fed miserably, pursued violently, entrapped & betrayed treacherously, but that yet thou must persecute me? was not my hungering, thirsting, fainting, sweeting, bleeding, dying, sufficient, not all my labours in travailing, travels in preaching, temptations while I hungered, sorrows when I fainted, 
Austen.  fears when I retired, tears while I pitied, blood while I suffered, sub iniustis, pro iniustis, cum iniustis, sub niustis judicibus, iniustis causis, 
Graeca Liturg  iniustis poenis, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, all the miseries, needs, anguishes, scorns, thorns, whips, nails, drops, tears, clots, streams of blood that issued from me, would not these serve?  
It is observed that Paul knew neither the voice nor the speaker, for what had been the sting that Paul had been touched with, if he had known he had persecuted Christ, but he did persecute Christ, for his servants be his Church and the temples of the holy Ghost, and they be his members, his Temples therefore his Church, his members therefore his body.  
The Doctrine, 
Doctrine.  that he that doth violently persecute any of the servants of the Lord, doth persecute Christ himself: I need not to expatiate in the proof of this, those titles of servants, sons, brethren, children, spouse, branches of his vine, sheep of his fold, members of his body, showeth sufficiently how dearly he loveth them & their profession, Qui vos tangit me tangit, he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of my eye. And my SOVEREIGN interpreting this my saviours Text in his Megasine of Learning, 
The King's Majesty his Book to all Christian Princes.  that divine and royal book against Antichrist, proveth hence that none that ever knew Scripture, can deny but by Christ often is meant his saints and servants.  
The use of this Doctrine is to stand in fear of entering into the number of the persecutors of Christ, Use. the fear of sin in Cain wandering, the beastliness of sin in Nebuchodonosor grazing, the terror of sin in Balthasar trembling, the shame of sin in Haman hanging, the punishment of sin in Dives burning; these are examples to astonish and deject the greatest sinners, but to an honest and religious soul that ever hath tasted of any part of the goodness of the Lord, this is the most potent reason to fear him, that by sin he doth persecute Christ, he doth crucify again the son of God. When God in a Christians conscience crieth within him, why persecutest thou me? and yet he continue in sin so often and so long, that his mind is never troubled, his spirit never daunted, his thoughts never checked, his soul never grieved: O this is a wound and a grievous wound, from which the Lord for ever and ever deliver us. Lorizus observeth out of the Legend, that it is a received opinion among the Papists, that whosoever is borne upon the day of Saint Paul's Conversion, shall ever be free from any harm by venom and poison. I doubt not but it is a fable: but I could wish that you that have heard this calling of S. Paul at the time of his Conversion, would now be converted, that the poison of wickedness may never do you hurt again. It is the labour of all that come hither, and the Lord give a blessing to their labours. You have received all kinds of exhortation and of instruction: Aaron's bells, Moses rod, Esayes trumpet, Ierem●es hammer, David's harp, salomon's songs, Ebals curses, Geresims blessings, Peter; keys, Paul's sword; the milk of exhortation, wine of compunction, the oil of consolation, and the Water of regeneration. What could ye have desired more than ye have received? O let not all these arise in witness against you, let not the Lord continue his cry, why persecute ye the Lord? Semel locutus est Dominus Paulus semper conversus est, 
Austen.  He spoke but once to Paul, & Paul was a Convert; and by this one call, converts many Churches. O come ye not so oft to the Cross, to return enemies to the Cross of Christ.  
And now to come to some Application for this place and presence, and to omit the particular sins of our Nation, the Pride of the Court, usury of the City, Dissension in the Clergy, oppression in Gentry, disobedience in the Commonalty, the lies, lusts, oaths, uncleanness, drunkenness, profaneness and wickedness of all, and of all sorts. I will only aim at the two Monsters of this time, Atheism and Apostasy, which do bring and continue the over streaming 'slud of God's wrath upon us: they are both General, both fearful; the extent of my speech cannot say enough, either of them, or against them; for Atheism howsoever some Schoolmen distinguish that there is none that denieth a God, quoad omnipo entiam, sed quoad providentiam, yet I say our age, and this your CITY, 
Lombard. Zincbius.  affords such Devils, that neither confess or care for the providence or omnipotency of God, who abound in the fullness of iniquity, to whom nothing is accounted evil, because nothing accounted good, nothing can be a sin, because nothing is a law; the first Article of whose Creed is in profession, that there is no God: the second, that the story of the Creation is a fable, the mystery of the Incarnation fallible, the doctrine of Redemption improbable, of Election unprofitable, of Predestination unavaileable, of the Resurrection impossible: The next, that there is no Heaven no Hell, adding the Corolary, that if there be a Hell, and they must to it, they hope that they shall not lack Company: O who can express the misery of such a hardened heart, or who without a heart harder can choose but tremble at such a lamentable state? O what can be called judgement, when nothing doth sear, what can be called Love, when nothing doth allure, O what doth he either hope or fear, who acknowledgeth no Religion, no Resurrection, no Reprobation, no judgement, no Heaven nor Hell, no God at all. To these belong for ever all the curses, vengeance, woes fire, brimstone, storm, tempest, cups of God's wrath, dregs of his cups, vials of the dregs of desolation and damnation, Mors sine morte, sinis sine fine, 
Greg. in job.  numerus plagarum sine numero. These be Murderers, assacinats, persecutors of Christ; they stretch out his arms, bow his neck, pierce his side, nail his hands, and imbrue his body with these blasphemous stripes and scourges. Heavy, O heavy is the sleep of that Soul, that is not awakened by these warnings: Stony, O stony is that heart that is not feared with these terrors.  
The other grand persecutors of Christ, 
PAPISTS.  be the Papists and Apostates to Popery, that bane and poison of Reason, and Witchcraft of Religion, that cup of Fornication, that venom of Babylon, wherein they maintain, that they may eat their God, kill their king, subvert the Scriptures, adore Bones, pray to Stones, Deify the Dead, deserve Heaven, contest with God, and equalize their Popes with God; 
Onuphrius Platina Benno. etc.  Some whereof have been Heretics, some necromancers, many blasphemers, all Traitors. O that ever any Soul purchased with the blood of Christ, should be so traduced, their reason so blinded, their understanding so darkened, and their salvation so endangered, as to be guilty of crucifying the son of God day by day, and violently incurring his own damnation.  
The general Apostasy from the true profession unto his Souls confusion, who liveth and seethe not, who seethe and lamenteth not? Pity, O for ever pity, that ingenuous, generous, worthy Spirits, should be so blindly led by those children of darkness, the Priests and jesuits among us. O Beloved, stop your eyes and ears, and solemnly vow to God, that you will for ever, even to the death resist these charms and incantations of those men of sin: Let them urge what ever they can, all is false: their antiquity, wherein their claim is false, yet the Devil is more ancient than they, or their Learning, which is also a false claim, yet the pharisees more learned than they, or their good works, which is also a false claim, yet the Hypocrite in Micah is more glorious than they: 
Micah. 6.8.  or their miracles, which are also false; yet the Devil the Angel of light is more powerful than they, or their blasphemies, murders, treasons, barbarous conspiracies, wherein I confess the Devil is scarce more abundant than they, and when all these things are described, if then they be not found to be bewitched, to be enemies to the Cross of Christ, to crucify again the Lord of life, and to persecute as Saul here did, then burn the Oracles of the Prophets and Apostles, pull down your Churches and Temples, profess that Christ's merits do not suffice, or rather deny that there was a Christ.  
Let it be the common slander of our discontented Runagates beyond seas, 
higgon's the runagate against D. Morton.  casting base aspersions upon the strong men of our Israel, the Reverend Bishops and worthy Doctors that have laboured against the common Adversary: Let it be their devilish calumny, that they do it only to serve the time, and to attain their preferment; But let never so hellish uncharitable a thought come into any of your souls, as that so many wise, judicious, religious, absolutely learned Fathers, should ever dissemble with their God. If ever any such should be found, let that curse of judas fall upon him, let his place be void, and let another take his room, let his children be vagabonds, and his seed begging their bread, let his habitation be a dwelling for Foxes. But if it be found that they deal sincerely, as in the sight of the allseeing God, and that upon the fear of the loss of body and soul, if they should beguile you. O then hear them and believe them, for with them are the words of eternal life.  
Paul had a Commission to go to persecute, I have by Saul received a Commission to inquire of those that do persecute. And therefore leaving these two Monsters, let us briefly descend to examine some persons and let all of you now enter into due examination, whether any of you have persecuted Christ or no; If there be among you a common Drunkard, a common Usurer, a common Swearer, a common lewd liver, a common hinderer and slanderer of God's word, know thou that thou art a Saul, thou dost persecute Christ: If there be an Atheistical Degge, that doth revile the Messengers of God with base and scandalous slanderous aspersions, abusing and abasing scornfully that Reverend and Honourable Title of PRIEST, Know, that if thou have not part in the Priesthood here; thou shalt have none in the Kingdom there & in that thou dost it to the least of these, thou dost it to Christ, thou art a Saul, thou dost persecute Christ: If there be any one that viperlike hath eaten out his birth, building upon the ruins of broken poor Citizens eating up his Brethren like bread; the stone out of the wall shall cry against thee, and know it, that thy house is Golgotha, the place of dead men's skulls, and thy possession is Acheldema the field of blood: The bread thou eatest is the flesh of man, the wine thou drinkest is the blood of man, thou art a Cannibal, thou art a Saul, thou dost persecute Christ.  
If there be any amongst your men of Traffic that ever have afforded any Engines of Artillery, to that great enemy of Christ and Christians the Turk, thereby to work the massacre of Christians, and effusion of their blood know it that that blood doth cry against thee, thou art a Saul, thou dost persecute Christ, any, thou art a judas, thou dost betray Christ. If there be any among you that may deserve the style of a quarreling, querulous, litigious wrangler, and spend the greatest time of his life in Law, like that Triwltius in Milan, of whom this Epitaph was made; Qui nun quam quicuit, hic quievit, he that never rested▪ nor let any others, here he rests; If there be any such know thou art a Saul, thou dost persecute Christ.  
If there be any such that have engrossed the livings of the Church, to make a common sale of Souls hereafter, Simoniacally to sell that which the Kings of this Land, so many years have given: Let them beware, for though the Devil plead for them by Scripture, that they have not freely received, and therefore not freely to give them: Let them remember that though the Clergy must labour, yet buy they must not, and to beg they are ashamed: Let them know they are sacrilegious Balthazirs,, and the gold they receive shall be aurum Tolesanum, it shall bring a curse upon them, 
Erasmus. Adag.  their families and posterities, they are like bloody Saul, to whom Christ speaketh, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?  
If there be any such Lawyers, that undertake any unjust and false causes, or proterminate their Clients, as Innocentius observed; Nec terminantur negotia, 
Jano. de vita. hum. Conditi.  donec evacuat a marsupia, and never suffer their causes to be ended until their purses be consumed, 
Aelian. Var. hist. lib. 9 cap. 18.  which made Themistocles so sharply to censure the Law, that if two ways were showed him, the one going to Hell, the other to the Bar, he would sooner take the way that leadeth to Hell: If there be any such unconscionable Lawyer, let him know he is a Saul, he doth persecute Christ.  
If there be any that have opposed any action intended to the glory of God, and saving of souls and have stayed the happy proceeding in any such motion; let him know, that he is a persecuter, and an adversary of Christ.  

Plutarch. The Drones that lie at home. traducing honourable end avours of these abroad, are to be expelled the common wealth.  In which Quaere give me leave to examine the lying speeches that have injuriously vilified and traduced a great part of the glory of God, the honour of our Land, joy of our Nation, and expectation of many wise, and Noble Senators of this kingdom, I mean in the Plantation of VIRGINIA. When the descry of the Indians, was offered to that learned and famous Prince Henry the seventh, Some idle, dull and unworthy Skeptics moved the King not to entertain the motion. We know our loss by the Spaniards gain, but now the Souls of those Dreamers do seem by a Pythagorical Transanimation to be come into some of those scandalous and slanderous Detractors of that most Noble Voyage. Surely, if the prayers of all good Christians prevail, the expectation of the wisest and noblest, the knowledge of the most experimented and learnedst, the relation of the best traveled, and obseruantst be true, it is like to be the most worthy Voyage that ever was effected by any Christian, in descring any Country of the world; both for the peace of the Entry, for the plenty of the Country, and for the Climate. Seeing that the Country is not unlike to equalize (though not Inata for gold, which is not impossible yet) Tyrus for colours, Basan for woods, Persia for oils, Arabia for Spices, Spain for silks, Tharsis for shipping, Netherlands for Fish, Bononia for fruit, and by tillage, Babylon for Corn, besides the abundance of Mulberries, Minerals, metals, Pearls, Gums, Grapes, Dear, Fowl, drugs for Physic, herbs for food, roots for colours, ashes for Soap, timber for building, pasture for feeding, rivers for fishing, and whatsoever commodity England wanteth. The Philosopher commendeth the Temperature, the Merchant the commodity, the Politician the opportunity, the Divine, the Piety, in converting so many thousand souls. The Virginian desireth it, and the Spaniard envieth us, and yet our own lazy, drowsy,, yet barking Countrymen traduce it: who should honour it, if it were but for the remembrance of that Virgin Queen of eternal memory, who was first godmother to that land and Nation. As also that VIRGIN Country may in time prove to us the Barn of Britain, as Sicily was to Rome, or the Garden of the world as was Thessaly, or the Argosy of the world as is Germany.  
And besides the future expectation, the present encouragement is exceeding much, in that it is a Voyage countenanced by our gracious King, consulted on by the Oracles of the Council, adventured in by our wisest and greatest Nobles, and undertaken by so worthy, so honourable, and religious a LORD, and furthered not only by many other parties of this Land, both Clergy and Laity, but also by the willing, liberal contribution of this Honourable City, and as that thrice worthy Deane of Gloucester, 
D. Morton.  not long since remembered his Majesty and his Nobles, that it is a Voyage, wherein every Christian ought to set to his helping hand, seeing the Angel of Virginia crieth out to this land, as the Angel of Macedonia did to Paul, O come and help us. There is a fearful woe denounced against those that came not to assist Deborah; Curse ye Meroz (sayeth the Angel of the Lord) Curse ye the inhabitants thereof, 
judge 5.  because they came not to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty: Whosoever they be that purposely withstand or confront this most Christian, most Honourable Voyage, let him read that place and fear. Hath God called this land ad summum munus Apostolicum to that great work of Apostleship, that whereas this was one of the first part of Christendom that received the Gospel, so now it is the first part that ever Planted and Watered the Gospel in so great, fair, fruitful a Country, and shall sceptical Humorists be a means to keep such an honour from us, such a blessing from them? No my Beloved, to the present assurance of great profit, add this future profit, that whosoever hath a hand in this business, shall receive an▪ unspeakable blessing, for they that turn many to righteousness, 
Dan. 12.  shall shine as the stars for ever and ever: you will make plutarchs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Athenocus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Savage country to become a sanctified Country; you will obtain their best commodities, they will obtain the saving of their Souls, you will enlarge the bounds of this Kingdom, nay the bounds of heaven, & all the Angels that behold this, if they rejoice so much at the conversion of one Sinner, O what will their joy be at the conversion of so many, Go on as ye have begun, and the Lord shall be with you, go and possess the land, it is a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey; God shall bless you, and those ends of the world shall honour him.  
I will end with one word of exhortation to this City, many excellent things are spoken of thee, as sometimes of the City of God. Hither the Tribes come, even the Tribes of the Lord, herein is the Seat of judgement, even the seat of the house of David, Peace be within thy walls, plenteousness within thy Palaces.  
Yet remember how manifold infections hence as from a fountain have issued out, all the tricks of deceiving, the divers lusts of filthy living, the Pride of attire, the cause of oppression, gluttony in eating surfeit in drinking, and the general disease of the fashions: 
Lactant. 7. diuin Justit.  so that as Lactantius out of Sibilla prophesieth of Rome, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So may it be said of the Transformation of London. It should be jerusalem the City of God, and it is become Murders slaughter-house, Thefts refuge, Oppressions safety, Whoredoms Stews, Usuries Bank, Vanities Stage, abounding in all kind of filthiness and profaneness O remember that sins have been the pioneers of the greatest Cities, 
His majesties speech the 21. of May to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at Greenwich.  and have not left one stone upon another.  
My Honourable L. Mayor, I need not to remember you in this behalf; The last Sabaoth you received a Lesson though not from the Cross yet from the Crown by our royal Ecclesiastes, practise that lesson both concerning the infection of the body, and infection of the soul of this city: remember the charge, your year must end, and your life must end & you must give account of your Stewardship. My Honourable Lords, ye Reverend Fathers of the Law, your judgement is the Harbinger to the greater judgement, Ye are Gods, but ye shalt die like men, as God hath honoured you, 
Psal. 82.  so honour him in setting forth of his glory, in punishing of his enemies, in countenancing of his servants. O my Lords, if there were not negligence either in Spiritual or Temporal judges, could there be so many hundred Priests and jesuits, Locusts of the bottomless pit among us, and so many thousand Papistical Apostates, since the death of the late Queen of blessed Memory. Remember to punish these, and to proceed in judgement against them, lest God proceed in judgement against you. And not only punish his Enemies, but countenance, yea and reverence his servants: O look upon the dejected state of the royal Priesthood, the Clergy, They seek not their ancient honours, their honour lieth in the dust but it shall revive: They seek now but ordinary favours: It was a faithful witness of a religious and good heart in one of the chiefest & honourablest among you, in the L. Bishop of Winchester's case, that the contempt of the Clergy, 
My L. Cook in his reports.  will be the downfall of Religion: had the Levites in the Law their Privileges, and have the meanest Clarks in your law their privileges, and shall the Clergy be PROHIBITED theirs? it is God's cause not theirs, and if God take it in hand, all your Prohibitions will not serve. Remember then to countenance and reverence his servants.  
All of you my Beloved, hear the Sum of all, fear God and keep his commandments, let there be unity and verity in you of the Clergy, judgement and mercy in you of the Magistracy, obedience and religion in you of the Commonalty. You all know God is angry, wrath is come out, the Plague is begun, yea continued from year to year, rideth progress from Country to Country, executeth judgement upon high and low, and keepeth Court at this time within this City. O serve the Lord in fear, Kiss the son lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the right way, with true repentant sinners appease him, with poor distressed wretches entreat him, with patriarchs and Prophets, and Apostles believe him, with all his Saints and servants love him, with the holy Angels praise him, with Heaven, Earth and all the Creatures duly and dutifully serve him, which Grace the God of all Grace grant us all Amen.  
FINIS.