THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S EVILS, AND THE LORDS DELIVERANCES.  
By GILBERT PRIMROSE, Minister of the French Church of London.  PSAL. 129.2. 
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.  
LONDON, Printed by H. L. for Nathanael Newberry, and are to be sold at the sign of the Star in Popes-head Alley. Anno 1625.   

TO THE RIGHT NOBLE, RIGHT HONOURABLE, AND RIGHT RELIgious Lord, JAMES, MARQVESS of HAMILTON, Earl of Arran and Cambridge, Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter: Counsellor of the Kings most honourable privy Council, in both Realms of England and Scotland; Lord Great Steward of his Majesty's household, etc.  
RIGHT HONOURABLE,  
WHat reading of holy Scripture and of Ecclesiastical stories, what experience hath taught me, of the Righteous man's Evils, and the Lords deliverances; that I preached to my Church at London in nine Sermons, which in this book I have dedicated to your Honour, as an acknowledgement of the heroical and Christian virtues, which shine in your most Noble and Honourable person, and as an homage due to them; not as having any worthiness and excellency from their author, whereby he should presume to offer them to such a Lord, in whom all things excel in worth, and shine in a most eminent degree of excellency.  
In Empires, Kingdoms, States, Cities, Families, we read and see the truth of the Oracle which said to ATTALUS King of Bithynia, THOU AND THY SON, NOT THE SONS OF THY SON. His Majesty, who now holdeth the raines of this peaceable and flourishing kingdom, is the only King known in the world by stories, who can reckon near two thousand years since his royal Ancestors, of whom he is lincally descended, wore Crowns and Sceptres. In France they think it much, if a man can prove his Nobility by four Descents. Since three hundred and odd years that SIR GILBERT HAMILTON came from England to Scotland, was there advanced to all titles and degrees of honours, of dignities, of greatness among the most noble and honourable of the Realm by the HEROS of those days, and King without peer ROBERT BRUCE, who had known in England the antiquity of his noble house, and of all men then living, could best judge of his courage, martial acts, and deserts; and being preferred there to the marriage of the only Daughter to my Lord Earl of Murray, the King's Nephew by his Princely Sister, became the Stock of the illustrious Race of the HAMMILTONS in Scotland, whereof your Honour is the golden head; how many Descents, how many generations, may be reckoned?  
The fables tell of BELLEROPHON, how after he had done many feats of arms, not so much by his own wisdom and strength, as by the help of his winged Horse called PEGASUS, he waxed proud, and attempting with the same wings to mount up to heaven, was fling to the earth, and broke his leg: whereby they teach us in a mystical sense, that many, after they have been borne upon the wings of their Prince's favour, and thereby have done good services, conceive too ambitious and proud hopes, and, as if favour were desert, aspiring to ascend into heaven, to exalt their Throne above the rest of the stars, and to be like unto their Maker, are cut down to the ground in an instant, where all their pomp is laid in a grave of shame and dishonour; as the Scripture speaketh of the King of Babylon, under the name of LUCIFER. In all the ancient stories hardly shall we find any great man, whose predecessors or himself have not been stained with the blot of rebellion against their Sovereigns, or of some negligence of their duty towards them: But your Honour's forefathers had ever their affections so addicted to our Kings, that King JAMES the third, with the consent of the States, and applause of the whole Realm, thought them worthy to be rewarded with the marriage of his only and dear Sister, whom he gave in wedlock to JAMES Lord Hamilton, of whom your Lordship is come by many lineal successions. This proximity of blood to our Kings, hath ever been to your Ancestors, and to your own self, a most attractive Adamant, drawing and tying inseparably your hearts, desires, wills, affections, duties, and services to their will and desires in all innocence and uprightness, according to God's commandment: the practice whereof is the stay of the State, and the maintainer of peace in the Church and Commonweal; FEAR GOD, AND THE KING; AND MEDDLE NOT WITH FACTIOUS MEN. So that this may be the Poesy of the Cognizance of your Honour's most ancient and honourable Family, FIDEET OBSEQVIO.  
Of this fidelity, of these long, profitable, and acceptable services to our Kings, continued in your Lordship's family from generation to generation, and most effectually confirmed by your own generous, wise and good carriage in the Court and in the State, the King's Majesty is a most glorious witness, and a most magnificent rewarder: For that affection which his Majesty showeth to your Honour, those Dignities wherewith he hath honoured you, namely this last of LORD STEWARD of his royal House, what are they but public testimonies of the continuation of your good, faithful and well liked services to his Majesty's Royal person, to our most excellent and hopeful Prince his Royal and only Son, and to the states of both kingdoms? In the Court you are to his Majesty that which JOSEPH was to PHARAOH King of Egypt, OBADIAH to ACHAB King of Israel, MORDECAI to AHASVERUS King of Persia, and ELIAKIM, to whom God gave the key of the house of DAVID, to the good King EZECHIAH, and most like unto THEODORUS in the Court of VALENS Emperor of the Orient; who being come of a most ancient and noble stock, and well brought up from the Cradle, was not inferior to any of the Imperial Court in modesty, wisdom, erudition and good carriage, ever seemed better than the charges and places whereunto he was advanced, and was the only man whose tongue was never licentiously unbridled, never spoke without consideration and foresight, yea was never shut through fear of danger, or hope of preferment, and therefore was equally loved of great and small, as your Lp. for the same virtues is much respected and loved of all states and degrees in both nations: For, by God's special and rare blessing, you carry yourself in all your demeanour at Court and abroad so wisely, that I may boldly affirm, that to none, if not to you, doth belong that rare and wonderful praise which Cicero giveth to BRUTUS, and Marcellin to PRETEXTATUS, saying, that they did no thing to please, yet whatsoever they did, pleased; and that other which all men gave to ANTHEMIUS Governor to the religious Emperor ARCADIUS, HE SEEMED TO BE WISE, AND SO HE WAS. The Royal Prophet David saith most truly in the twelfth Psalm, that wicked men walk on every side, when rascals are exalted among the sons of men: Then DAVID fleeth, and DOEG triumpheth. But innocence is protected, oppression is repressed, the states flourish, kingdoms prosper, the people have peace; when generous and worthy men, who hate covetousness, flattery, and envy, who respect above all worldly things the honour of the King, who have no other end of their actions but the weal of the State, are nearest to Kings. DARIUS' King of Persia, holding a Pomegranet in his hand, wished, in stead of all treasures, to have as many ZOPYRES as there were grains in that Apple: showing, that there is nothing so needful and profitable to Kings as faithful Counsellors and servants of the chief of the Nobility, such as ZOPYRUS was; and yet no jewel so rare to be found: For though there be many nobles about Kings, there be few upon whose fidelity, wisdom and magnanimity Kings may rely. Therefore blessed is this Realm, wherein so many ZOPYRES, so many of the heads of the Nobility, are ever near our most wise, religious and righteous King's ears: Amongst whom your Honour shineth as a radiant Planet among the bright and glistering stars.  
What are generosity, wisdom, faithfulness to the King, love to the native soil, good and acceptable services to the State, but gorgeous and glittering sins, if they be severed from true godliness, from faith in our Lord JESUS CHRIST, from love to his beloved Church, from holiness of life and good works, acceptable to God? What are Courtiers, what are the Nobles of the Land, what are Kings themselves, without Christian virtues, but like a certain people of Asia, which were wont to carry earthen vessels in golden Boxes? What are all their riches, honours, dignities, pleasures, pastimes, delights, but trifles but fair vanishing bubbles, which must give place to things more solid, that bring to true believers an everlasting felicity and joy? For as the shell of an Egg, howsoever it be white, smooth, and well form, must be broken, that the Chicken may come out, and that, wherefore the shell was made, appear: So the fashion and show of this world must pass away, that the incomprehensible estate which God hath laid up, and keepeth in heaven for his dear ones, may shine and be made manifest. Therefore where greatness and godliness, where worldly prerogatives and celestial privileges, where carnal and spiritual nobility, faith in Christ, and faithfulness to the King, love to the State, and charity to the Church, a vehement passion for the commonweal and true zeal to God, are joined and married together, as they are in your Honour's person; every man that seethe them is bound to acknowledge, to admire, and to praise them, and to render all honour and serviceable duties to those whom God hath so mercifully & wonderfully honoured.  
This then is the cause of the Dedication of these my Sermons to your Honour. For who shall blame me, if so far as in me is, I honour with my Pen a Lord, whom God hath sorichly honoured with his Gifts? And who shall deny, but that Sermons of the righteous man's evils, and of the Lords deliverances, may, yea should be dedicated to a Lord, who though living in the midst of worldly contentments, eateth the Paschall Lamb, not only with unleavened bread of sincerity & truth, but also with the bitter herbs of godly sorrow, ever sighing, ever sobbing before God for the affliction of joseph, ever praying, ever crying to heaven for the deliverance & restauration of jerusalem lapping of the glib-sliding pleasures of this transitory and fugitive life, as gedeon's soldiers lapped of the running waters, and tasting them with  as temporal gifts of God, but drinking great draughts of tears flowing from the eyes of spiritual sadness, ever expecting with a most firm hope the accomplishment of the Prophecies by the ruin of Babylon, and deliverance of the Church; ever hastening & setting forward that necessary & glorious work, by courageous and faithful counsels, and all other means lawful and possible.  
I cannot omit that which toucheth myself: For being banished from France for the Gospel of Christ, and for my nations sake, and coming to his Majesty's Court, where like unto ENDYMION after his long sleep, I saw nothing but new faces, and seemed to myself as a man fallen out of the Clouds; your Honour embraced me with such kindness and humanity, and recommended me to his Majesty with such affection, that I should be justly condemned of ingratitude, if I did ever forget it.  
Let that foul vice go and bury itself in the gulf of hell where it was bred; I had rather be esteemed clownish and homebred, by rendering to your Honour, in these unpolished sheets, such thankes as I can, than called unthankful by neglecting of my duty. The poor woman with her mite, was as acceptable to God, as the rich men with their rich gifts, because she gave what she had with a free heart: And great Lords receive of their Vassals straws, and trifles for homage of great tenements. I doubt not but this small and unworthy homage shall find in your most worthy Lordship, the like acceptation; as coming from one, who with a true heart, pours out his prayers to God for the increasing of all the blessings of this life, and of the life to come, upon your most honourable Person, and illustrious Family, and who is  
Your Honour's most humble, most obedient, and most affectionate Servant, Gilbert Primrose.   

THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S EVILS. AND THE LORDS DELIVERANCES.  

THE FIRST SERMON. Of Evils incident to man, as he is man; and of the Righteous man.  PSAL. 34. VER. 19 
Many are the evils of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.  
I. ALl men are subject to many evils:  
II. Kings, Princes, great men,  
III. As well as other men.  
iv David ascribeth to the righteous man more evils than to other men.  
V If the righteous man be examined according to the rules of the Law, there is none righteous.  
VI If in God's merciful acceptation of the will for the deed, all true Christians are righteous.  
VII. Description of the righteous, negatively and affirmatively.  
VIII. He that is righteous and holy, may call himself so:  
IX. Although hypocrites and wicked men claim that name to themselves.  
X. The true characters of wicked men.  
XI. Their best works are great sins.  
XII. The Church is the Congregation of righteous men, and is assaulted with many evils.  
XIII. Exhortation to righteousness.  
I IF we take but a slight view of man, who in his own pride and loftiness of mind, hath taken to himself the glorious title of the Little world, if we consider him in his person & in his state; we shall find, that he is but a cage of rottenness, a sink of filth, and a world of wretchedness.  
The seed whereof he comes, is a stinking excrement; and the ground wherein he is sown, is a quagmire of dirt, a sink of uncleanness, a straight and dark pit of loathsome and pestilent putrefaction, from whence he doth not escape, but is thrust out as a noisome & troublesome guest, who neither can be kept longer, nor set at liberty without unspeakable torments, both to the mother who hath conceived, borne and nourished him so long in her womb; and to himself, and oftentimes without death to both.  
When he is thus cast forth with sorrow and pains, if he had the use of understanding, to know the miseries whereunto he is borne; and of speech, to utter what he thinketh of them, he would make his moan, with jeremy, 
a jerem. 20. vers. 18.  That he came forth out of the womb, to see labour and sorrow: and, 
b job 3. ver. 2.  cursing the day wherein he was borne, would wish, with job, 
c job 10. ver. 19  to have been carried from the womb to the grave. For he doth no sooner open his nostrils, to breathe & suck up the refreshing moisture of the air, but he is encountered and beset on all sides with unavoidable dangers: he is borne in tears, he liveth in misery, and dyeth in grief: hunger and thirst, cold and heat, nakedness and weakness, labour and weariness, greasinesse & sweat, waking and sleeping, fevers and consumptions are the first deputies, who at his first entry into the world go meet and welcome him, to make the first solemnities of this palace of vanity and mourning; wherein he hath seant set the first foot, when ignorance and forgetfulness, vain hope and trembling fear, senselessness and despair, joy and sadness, despite and choler, burning lust and cold disdain, a thousand cumbersome passions, ten thousand pricking cares, troop together, and join themselves to the first band, to conduct & lead him by certain journeys and stations, incht to some longer, to some shorter, to the king of terrors, to the manor of darkness, to the land of the shadow of death, where 
d job 17.14.  he shall say to the grave, Thou art my father: and to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.  
II. Whom can you name to me, that hath spent the short days of this life, and hath not walked upon the briers, wherewith it is strewed; nor felt their pricks? King's are the first amongst men; but they are men. And ye shall sooner find the sea without billows, the air without moving, the bramble without prickles, than man without evils: for what is man's life but an Ocean of miseries, wherein there is no drop of true delight and happiness?  
When ye cast your eyes upon Kings and Princes, heed not the precious Crown which glittereth upon their heads, nor the shining Purple which covereth their nakedness, nor the legionaries and squadrons of soldiers which guard them, nor the Nobility which hedgeth them on all sides, nor the glory of their servants, nor the magnificence of their fare, nor the excellency of their palaces, nor the gorgeous pomp of their Court. Pierce further in, thrust your eyes within the centre of their hearts; consider their deeds and carriage, and you shall see at one sight a head crowned with gold, & a heart scorched with grief: The flower of Purple, the brightness of Scarlet, the glistering plate-laces of Gold, the twinkling lewels, dazzling the eyes of the beholders; and pensiveness, blacking the soul of him that beareth them: Men environed with guards without, and besieged with fears and terrors within, ever laying some new plot, and many times crossed in their designs; notwithstanding their great power, not able to do all that they would, and often constrained to do what they would not; making a fair show to those whom they hate, mistrusting those in whom they must needs trust; suspecting now their wives, now their children, fearing all those that fear them, 
c TIBERIUS, Timeo incustoditos aditus, timeo & ipsos cufiodes.  dreading all entries which are not kept, yea, and dreading also their own keepers; passing the days in painful labours, in trouble of mind, in many dangers between shameless flatterers, crafty calumniators, and aposted assasms; and seeking, in the darkness of the night, the rest which a remorseful remembrance of things past, a gnawing fear of things to come, & a thousand other perplexities pull away violently from their eyelids. 
f Pro. 14.13.  Even in laughter their heart is sorrowful: and the end of their mirth is heaviness. They drink Wormwood in a cup of Gold; the Sugar of their delights is embittered with the Gall of discontent, and when they glut themselves with voluptuous pleasures, and swallow down the most rare and costly dainties, as Behemoth draweth up jordan into his throat, either fear death, as if they had the sharp point of a naked sword hanging by a hair above their heads; or long for it, to make a doleful end of the huge heap of their manifold and woeful miseries, which extract from them now and then a vehement disdain of their royal Robes, with this true exclamation, 
g O nobilem magis quàm felicem pannum, etc.  O cloth more glorious than happy! the lowziest beggar of the country would not stoop downward to lift thee from the ground, if he knew with how many cares, frights, and vexations of spirit thou art lined.  
All the Tragedies, though fabulously written, are made of the true miseries and strange calamities of Kings, Princes, and other great men of the world. Run thorough the stories of Heathen men: of so many Kings, how few shall ye find, whom a dry and peaceable death hath sent to the grave, where now the worm feedeth sweetly on them! In the Scriptures ye see Saul, possessed with the Devil, murdering the Lords Priests, smiting with the edge of the sword the whole City of Nob, men and women, children and sucklings, Oxen, Asses and Sheep, seeking to kill his own son and heir, and finally imbruing his unmerciful and pitiless hands with his own blood. There ye see Ishbosheth slain by his own Captains, in whom he had special affiance. There ye see the good and godly King David no sooner unpestered of one war, but he is entangled into another: ye see him overwhelmed with domestical calamities, constrained to behold and suffer the incests, parricides, rebellions revolts of his own children, and to be upon his guard against them who should have guarded him. There ye see Solomon, the wisest, but not the best of the sons of men, after he had taken a deep draught in the crystalline cup of worldly prosperities, and given his heart to seek and search out by wisdom all things that are done under heaven, upbraiding them all with this true saying; 
h Eccles. 1.14.  Behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. The life of all the Kings of luda was nothing else but as a web woven; as a baudrick interlaced with evils: what was the state of the Kings of Israel, but an hideous spectacle of most horrible calamities? Neither shall ye find any amongst the Politicians and Statesmen, living amongst the wearisome turmoil of employments, who once in his life findeth not whereupon to sing to his perplexed soul salomon's complaint, which Gilimer the last King of the Vandals harped with a mourning and sorrowful tune, to the Emperor justinian, whose prisoner he then was, 
i Eccles. 1.2.  Vanity of vanities, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.  
III. If such be the condition of Kings, of Princes, of Courtiers, of Statesmen who have their portion in this life, and seem to be in a safe harbour against all kinds of storms, and in all weathers; who is able to relate all the troubles which disquiet the minds of other men, and steep the few drams of worldly comforts, which they taste but seldom in their lives, with a quintal of gall? One bewaileth the death of his only son: another curseth the day wherein he was made the father of a man child: this man complaineth of his wife's disloyalty: that man conveyeth his wife to the sepulchre, with sadness and tears. He who lived in ease, is ashamed to see himself stripped of all that he had; and he who spoiled him, is amazed when he is also spoilt by another stronger than himself. One amongst an hundred, mourneth for the death of his friend, who was to him more faithful and steadable than a brother; but many fret and are much moved, when they see their familiar friends, in whom they trusted, and in whose bosom they did lay all their secrets, lift up their heels against them.  
To be short, there is no tongue that can fully ex press all the evils that are incident to man in his person and state; neither is there any man, who feeleth not, with pain, the portion of those evils which is shared unto him. As they that sail in shallow waters, amongst rocks and shelves of sand, are not void of danger and of fear; so they that hoist up sails amongst the waves and surges of the tempestuous sea of this life, are not freed from annoys and discontentments: all their pleasures are like the Locusts, whereof mention is made in the Revelation, which 
k Revel. 9▪ 8, 10.  had hair as the hair of women, to entice with goodly shows; and tails like unto Scorpions, to sting with mortal discontent. They shall leave off to be mortal men, when evil shall leave off to pursue them: and tears shall not be wiped from their eyes, until death hath closed their eye lids; 
l job 5.7.  For man is borne unto trouble, as the sparks rise up to fly, and 
m Psal. 90.10.  the strength of his days is labour and sorrow.  
IU. But amongst and above all men, many are the evils of the righteous man, as David said when he was forced, through fear, 
1. Sam. 21.13.  to change his behaviour before Abimelech King of Gath, and feigning himself mad, escaped his enemy's indignation, for he feareth not to call himself righteous: and calling to memory the great number of evils, which he had endured from the first day of his anointing till then, he pronounceth, that many are the evils of the righteous. Which he speaketh so of himself, that he extendeth it to all those who can claim the title of righteous men to themselves. And because this saying is confirmed by the experience of all ages, and therefore it may seem very strange, that a righteous man should be so storm-beaten with afflictions, he mitigateth the bitterness of this averred sentence, with the sweetness of this no less experimented conclusion; But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
So the Text taketh you by the hand, and pointeth out to you, first, a righteous man, and his manifold afflictions; secondly, the LORD and his deliveries: whereunto if ye add a question, which is employed in the first part, why the LORD permitteth the righteous man to be so roughly used; ye shall have in these parts the matter of sundry Sermons: the first, of the righteous man, and of the characters whereby he is known. The second and third, of the evils wherewith the righteous man is on all sides thunder-stricken. The fourth and fift, of the causes wherefore Almighty GOD, and his loving father, suffereth him to be pushed and tossed to and fro with so many evils. The rest shall be of the Lords deliverances. Let us then begin at the first part; and our beginning and help be in the Name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth. Amen.  
V If ye define and describe exactly the righteous man, by the rules of the Law, which ascribeth this glorious and most excellent title to those only, whose persons are (from the womb) without spot, whose actions are without sin, and in whose lives Gods allseeing eyes can perceive no blemish; let Papists say what they will, we will truly say with David in the Old Testament, 
n Psal 14.10.  There is none that doth good, no not one: and with S. Paul in the New Testament, 
o Rom. 3.10.  There is none righteous, no not one.  
For if Papists speak of such men as are by S. jude called 
p jude ver. 19  sensual, not having the spirit, and say, That they may keep the Law of God, if they will: the holy and true Apostle giveth them the lie, saying in the New Testament, that 
q 1. Cor. 2.14.  The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Now if he cannot know them, what ability can he have to do them? And therefore Eliphaz saith of such a man, in the Old Testament, that 
r job 15.16.  he is abominable and filthy, drinking iniquity like water: for he is flesh, he is nothing but flesh, nothing but corruption and sin. and 
s Rom. 8.7.  the affection of the flesh, is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. If then we fit to these carnal men, the words which jeremy spoke to his auditors; ask of them, 
t jer. 13.23.  r Can the Ethiopian change his skin? or the Leopard his spots? then may you also do good, that are accustomed to do evil; we shall convert them to their own use: because that 
v Tit. 1.15.  being infidels, their mind and conscience is defiled, and, 
w Rom. 8.5.  being after the flesh, they mind the things of the flesh,  
If they speak of those of whom the Apostle saith, that they are after the spirit, and mind the things of the spirit, and affirm of them, that if they would, they might keep the law; seeing they keep it not, and that the holiest man that ever was, could not say truly, 
x Pro. 20.9  I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin: then according to this saying, good men are ill men, honest men are knaves, upright men are malicious men: for 
y jam. 4.17.  to him that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin. And never did any, but a despiteful wicked man, say, I might do good if I would; but I will not do it: whereas much otherwise, the godly & honest hearted man says, 
a Rom. 7.18, 19  The will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Whereof the Apostle rendereth this reason, writing to the Galathians; 
b Gal. 5.17.  for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. teaching most clearly, that the sins of the spiritual man come from his weakness, and not from his will: otherwise they should be sins of malice, and not of infirmity. I conclude then, that if man's righteousness be strictly examined in the balance of the Law, there never was, and 
c Eccles. 7.20.  there is not a just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not, saving our Lord jesus Christ, who through the prerogative of his immaculate conception, by the wonderful operation of the holy Spirit, was 
d Rom. 8.3.  in the likeness of sinful flesh, 
e Heb. 7.26.  holy, harmless, undefiled, & separate from sinners: and for that cause is called 
f Act. 3.14.  the Righteous; that title belonging only to him in that respect. 
1. joh. 2.1.   
VI But what godly men cannot claim to themselves in the rigorous strictness of the Law, that they find in God's merciful acceptation, and in the modification of his blessed Gospel, wherein he entitleth his beloved children, with this honourable name of Righteous men: judging of them, not by the imperfect perfection of their righteousnesses, 
g Esa. 64.6.  which are as filthy rags; but by their affection and earnest endeavour to be such as they should, and which they strive with might and main to be, 
h Phil. 3.7, 13, 14.  forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, and so pressing toward the mark, for the price of the high calling of God in Christ jesus. For God, who showeth himself in the Law clothed with the majestuous and inexorable severity of a judge; representeth himself in the Gospel as a Father, arrayed with meekness and mercy: regarding the willingness of his children, rather than any perfection which may besought, but shall not be found in their obedidience, so long as they are in the way to their home.  
For in the faithful and true Christian, there are two men: 
i Ephes. 4.22, 24.  The old man, which we carry with us from our mother's womb, when we are first borne; and the new man, which is given to us when we are borne again. That man is Satan's work, and the bitter fruit of the rebellion of the first Adam. This man is the work of God's Spirit, and the sweet fruit of the obedience of the second Adam. That man is corrupt by deceitful lusts, and therefore is ever busied in drawing us away from goodness, and enticing us to evil. This man is created after God in righteousness and true holiness, and is ever thrusting us forward from evil to good. That man is strong and mighty: This man is feeble, and withstandeth with great difficulty. That man, though very powerful & hard to be overcome, waxeth old and decayeth from day to day, until he be altogether destroyed: This man increaseth every day in might and vigour; and like the people of Israel, when they were upon their journey, ascending to appear before God in Zion, goeth 
k Psal. 84.7.  from strength to strength, till he come 
l Ephes. 4.13.  unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that man is at the last subdued, overthrown and killed by this man, as the monstrous Giant Goliath was by little David. That man, where he reigneth, bringeth forth for fruit 
m Rom. 6.21, 22.  shame, and his end is death: This man hath his fruit in holiness, and his end is everlasting life.  
From hence it is, that God, when he is to speak and make us know what account he maketh of his servants, considereth them not according unto those relics of the old man, whose strength is weakened, and whose life decayeth and dyeth every day, to call them Sinners and wicked ones: but for his 
n Phil. 1.6.  own good works sake, which he hath begun in them, and will perform until the day of jesus Christ, calleth them Saints, Righteous, Perfect. For the Devil's work in us, is not so considerable to defame us publicly with the disgraceful name of Sinners and wicked men, as God's work is to grace us with the honourable title of Saints and Righteous men: namely, seeing the Lord maintaineth, setteth forward, & performeth his own good work, & at length destroyeth Satan's work in us, as I have said. What wonder then if he qualifieth us with titles of honour, according as we are already, & shall be hereafter for ever and ever, through his power and grace; and not according as Satan hath made us, and as we shall not be always, & for evermore? For this cause it is written, that 
o Numb. 23.21.  He hath not beheld iniquity in jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. Not that there is none, but because 
p Mich. 7.18  he pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant if his heritage; covering it with the precious robe of the righteousness of his dear Son, 
q Col. 1.22.  in whom he hath made us holy, unblameable, unreprovable, and 
r Coloss. 2.10.  complete in his own fight: And therefore righteous and perfect in Christ, of unrighteous and uncomplete in ourselves.  
VII. The man whom God calleth righteous in this sense, is portrayed by the holy Spirit, as well negatively as affirmatively. David saith of him negatively, that 
s Psal. 1.1.  he walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, and, 
t Psal. 119 3.  doth no iniquity. S. john saith, that 
v 1. joh. 3.6, 9  be sinneth not, or, as he explaineth himself, doth not commit sin, that is to say, he sinneth not with pleasure and content. Whereof the holy Apostle rendereth two reasons: for the first he saith, that he that committeth sin, is of the Devil; he is Satan's bond slave, for the Devil sinneth from the beginning: he hath ever been, is, and shall be busied in ill doing.  
Therefore whosoever sinneth as he doth, is his, and not Gods. But the righteous man is delivered out of his claws, through our Lord jesus Christ the Son of God, 
x Vers. 8.  who for this purpose was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil. His second reason is this; 
y Vers. 9  Whosoever is borne of God, doth not commit sin: for his seed, the seed of his predestination and of his Spirit remaineth in him: and he cannot sinne, because he is borne of God. 
a Bern. de natu●â & digai. tat. amo●. c. 6. Piccatum patitur potius quàm facit, quiex Deo natur est.  Bernard saith, That he rather suffereth sin, than committeth it: According to that saying of the Apostle; 
b Rom. 7.20.  If I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Neither can he persevere and abide in sin, because the law of his mind, warring against the law of his members, finally overmastereth in him the law of sin. And therefore all his sin come either from ignorance, or from infirmity, and lie so heavy upon his wearied soul that he cannot choofe but desire death to be freed of them; crying, as the Apostle did in the like case, 
c Rom. 7.24.  O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?  
David describeth this man affirmatively, by all his inward and outward parts. By his heart; 
d Psal. 1.2.  His delight is in the Law of the LORD, and in his Law doth he meditate day and night. By his tongue; 
e Psal. 119.13, 46.  He declareth with his lips all the judgements of his mouth: he speaketh of his testimonies before Kings, and is not ashamed. By his hands; 
f Psal. 26.6.  He washeth his hands in innocency, 
g Psal. 37.21.  he showeth mercy, and giveth. By his feet; 
h Psal. 119.32.  He runneth the way of God's commandments, etc.  
Therefore his Righteousness is not only a religious abstinence, and refraining from evil; but also a careful and conscionabe employment in all things which are good: for 
i 1. joh. 3.7.  he that doth righteousness, is righteous. As job was 
k job 1.8.  a perfect and an upright man, fearing God, and eschewing evil: and such as Zacharias and Elizabeth were, to whom the Scripture beareth witness, that 
l Luk. 1.6.  they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.  
VIII. David challengeth and taketh upon him this title of a Righteous man: for, as I have said, he speaketh not only of others; but also and principally of himself. He spoke thus truly, and he spoke thus inspired by the Holy Ghost: Then this speech was no bragging; for the Spirit of God is neither liar nor boaster. When Hezekiah brayed unto the LORD, that 
m Isa. 38.3.  he would remember how he had walked before him in truth, and with a perfect heart: shall we say, that like the Peacock (who, in the height of his pride, covers himself all over with his taste) he took pleasure to display his righteousness before God, and to glass himself vaingloriously in his own works, as the 
n Luk. 18.12.  Pharisee gloried in his ordinary fasting, and liberal giving of tithes of all that he possessed?  
Surely Papists, when they nickname us with their own titles of pride and presumption, because we call ourselves Righteous men, will not stand (me thinks) to print the same stamp upon these godly men's foreheads: and seeing, in their opinion, it is great presumption and high pride to any man living, to call himself a Righteous and holy man; they must needs have a very bad conceit of themselves, and confess that they are unrighteous, unholy, and wicked men. whereupon they may take time to advise.  
As for us, we may learn by this example of David, and many more which are to be found in the Scripture, that 
o August. de verb. Domini, Serm. 28. Non ergohic arrogantia est, sed fides: predicare quod acceperis, non est superbia, sed devotio.  to preach what thou hast received, is not arrogancy, but faith: is not pride, but devotion; as Augustin saith wisely: this caveat being kept, That thou seek not in it thy owneglory, as the Pharisee did; but the glory of 
p I am. 1.17.  the father of lights, of whom cometh from above every good and perfect gift, as David, and Hezekiah did, and as the holy Apostles did, when they feared not to say, that 
q 2. Cor. 5.14.  the love of Christ constrained them: and to speak many good things of themselves, not through loftiness of mind, that they might be praised; but through free and true humility, that the gift of Christ might be known of all men, and thankes rendered to him: as Ambrose observeth well upon that place. If we were taught to glory in the perfection of our works, merits, and superogations, as Papists are, than every one should repulse that false doctrine of pride, and say with Ambrose, 
r Ambros. de jacobo, & vuâ b●a●â. lib. 1. cap. 6.  I have no good works wherein I should glory: I have no thing whereof I may brag, and therefore I will glory in Christ: I will not glory because I am righteous; but I will glory because I am redeemed: I will glory, not because I am void of sin, but because my sin are forgiven me: I will not glory because any man hath been profitable to me, or I to any man, but because Christ is an Advocate with the Father for me, but because the blood of Christ was shed for me. But when we are taught to confess, that when we were like wand'ring sheep, the Lord sought us: when we were lost, he did find us: when we were sick, he healed us: when we were stinking and filthy, he made us clean: when we were captives, he delivered us: when we were sold under sin, he redeemed us: when we were dead, he gave us life: when were unrighteous and prone to all evil, he made us righteous, and inclined our hearts to his service: when we were the Devil's Stews, he made us his own Temple: when we were damned, he saved us: If any say that such teachers set us upon the pinnacle of pride, & lead us not into the Temple of humility; they must confess that they never had a lively feeling of any saving grace of God in themselves, or that they have never learned what it is to give thankes unto God: for how shall I give thankes to God for those gifts, which through humility, as they say, I must deny to have received?  
If we should say, that the Sun shineth at midday; though it be most true, Papists will not believe it, except we bring some old Father with us, to witness that it is so. Let them therefore heed the speech of 
s August. in Psal. 85.2.  S. Augustin, who explaining this prayer of David in the beginning of the 85. Psalm, which in Hebrew and in our translation, is the 86. Preserve my soul, because I am holy: after that he hath shown, that it is true in Christ, who forgiveth all sins, and never committed any; asketh, Dare I also say, For I am holy? answereth thus: If holy as sanctifying, 
Peccatorun omnium non commissor, sed demissor.  and not having need of any to sanctify me, I am a proud man and a liar: But if holy, as being sanctified (i. made holy) according to that which is written, 1. Pet. 1. Be ye holy, for I am holy. Let also the body of Christ, is a let the man that cryeth from the ends of the earth, say with his head and under his head, I am holy: for he hath received the grace of holiness, the grace of baptism, and of forgiveness of sin. And such were some of you, saith the Apostle, 1. Cor. 6. reckoning many fins, light and heavy, usual and horrible: And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified. If then he say that they are sanctified, let every believer say, I am holy. This is not pride of one that is haughty, 
Non est ista superb●●●●●●, sed confessio non ingrat●.  but a confession of one that is not unthankful: for if thou say that thou art holy of thyself; thou art proud: Again, believing in Christ, and being a member of Christ, if thou say not that thou art holy, thou art unthankful. For the Apostle reproving pride, saith not, Thou hast not, but he saith, 1. Cor. 4. What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Thou wast not reproved, for saying that thou hadst that which thou hadst not, but because thou wouldst have of thyself that which thou hadst: yea acknowledge both that thou hadst, and that thou hast nothing of thyself, to the end that thou be neither proud nor unthankful. 
Dic Deo tuoe Sanctus sum, quia sanctifieastime: quia accepi, non quia habu●: quia in dedist, non quia ego meru●.  Say to thy God, I am holy, because thou hast sanctified me: because I have received it not, because I had it: because thou hast given it, not because I have deserved it. For on the other part, thou beginnest to offer an injury to our Lord jesus Christ himself: For if all Christians, and believers, and all that are baptised in him have put him on, as the Apostle saith, Gal. 3. As many of you as have been baptised into Christ, have put on Christ: if they be made members of his body, and say that they are not holy, they offer a wrong to the head itself, whose members are holy. Look now where thou art, and take dignity from thy head. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, Ephes. 5. He saith, Ye were sometimes darkness: but have ye remained darkness? He that enlighteneth, is he come, that ye should remain darkness, or that ye should be light in him? Let therefore every Christian say, yea let the whole body of Christ say, Let him that suffereth tribulations, divers tentations, and innumerable scandals, cry and say, Preserve my soul, because I am holy.  
IX. It is no matter what many men, which are not righteous, think and speak of themselves: every fool is a wise man in his own eyes. Many beggars have kings hearts, and will brag much of their antiquity, and worthiness of their kindred, and of the glory of their riches. At Athens there was a certain man, called 
s Athenae. lib. 12.  Thrasylaus, who (detained with a pleasant madness) deemed that all the ships which arrived there, were his; and in this same town there is a fool, who thinketh verily that he is King of great Britanne: If a fool think that he is wise, shall a wise man call himself a fool? If a beggar say that he is rich, shall a rich man say of himself that he is poor? If a man, troubled in his hypochondres, imagineth that he is King of this Island, shall the King mistake himself, and put in question whether he be King or no? If an hypocrite or a wicked man crack much of his own righteousness, shall he whom God hath mercifully clothed with this wedding garment, deny what he hath received, and say to his benefactor who hath bought him, Thou art not my father?  
X. We must not weigh such men in the deceiving weights of their own imaginations, but take the true balances of God's word, and weigh them therein. There you shall read of them, that which was said to Belschatsar King of Babylon: 
t Dan. 5.27.  Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. There you shall find them set out in very dark, smoky, and hellish colours, both in their inside and outside. 
v Psal 59  Their inward part is very wickedness. There is no faithfulness in their mouth: their throat is an open sepulchre, they flatter with their tongue: 
x 2 Pet. 2.14.  Their eyes are full of adultery: 
y jer. 5 8.  They are as fed horses, when they rise in the morning; every one neigheth after his neighbour's wife: 
a Psal. 144.8.  Their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: 
b Esa. 59.7, 8.  Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths: The way of peace they know not, and there is no judgement in their doings. With all this, having in themselves 
c Deut. 29.18, 19  a root bearing gall and wormwood, they add drunkenness to thirst, hardness of heart & contempt of God, to sin. 
d job 21.14, 15.  They say unto God, Depart from us: for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways: What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? The cause of all is, 
e Psal. 36.1, 2, 3, 4.  The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, when his iniquity is found to be hated. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his bed, he setteth himself in a way that is not good, he abhors not evil. For this cause, such men are called 
f Psal. 14.4.  workers of iniquity; God judging of them, & qualifying them, not according to the ill which they do, but according to the ill which they are willing to do. For as righteous men do not the good which they would do, and do the evil which they would not do: so they contrariwise do often the good which they would not do, and do not all the evil which they would do.  
XI. For being servile and base minded, often through a slavish fear of punishment, they abstain from evil, and now and then through a mercenary hope of reward, they do some good; like unto the Scribes and Pharisees, whom Christ cursed with many woes for their manifold sins: and namely, because 
g Matt. 23.25.  they made clean the outside of the cup, and of the platter, but within they were full of extortion and excess. Such men's works, which have a goodly show, what are they else, but, as one of the ancient Doctors of the Latin Church called them, 
h Splendida peccata.  Glorious and glistering sins? Therefore Christ said to his Disciples, 
i Mat. 5.20.  that except their righteousness should exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, they should in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Nevertheless, both hypocrites, who abstain from ill-doing through fear, and 
i Matt. 23.5.  do all their works to be seen of men; having a 
k 2. Tim. 3.5.  show of godliness, but denying the power thereof: and profane men, who make no scruple of ill-doing, live in prosperity, and 
l Psal. 10.3.  boast of their hearts desire. But,  
Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
XII. What is the Church of God, but the Congregation of righteous men? Wicked men are in the Church, but they are not of the Church: as Lice, Fleas, Worms are in the body, and are engendered of the corruption thereof, but are no part of the body: therefore the Church is called 
m Deu. 33.5.  JESURUN, that is, the Righteous, or the Upright, when it is said of Moses, that he was a king in jesurun. i. amongst the upright. 
n jer. 8.22.  Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no Physician there? If there be none there, where shall ye seek them? If there be no righteous men in the Church, where shall ye find them? It is true, that it may be often excepted against the Church, considered by great and in the multitude, that 
o Deut. 32.15.  JESURUN, the upright waxed fat and kicked; that when he was grown big, fat, and thick, he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation: 
p Matt. 20.15.  for many be called, but few be chosen. And these which are chosen, have their own moles and blemishes: they are 
q Isa. 48.8.  all transgressors from the womb. But if they be compared with other men, they are terrestrial Angels, and celestial men, as Chrysostome called Paul: And we may say in that respect with the Prophet Habakkuk, that 
r Habak. 1.13.  the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he.  
Notwithstanding that, the congregation of righteous men, the Church of God, the dear spouse of our Lord jesus Christ, is so vexed and turmoiled with evils, that her God & husband nameth her by them, as if they were her christened name; calling upon her, and saying. 
s Esa. 54.11.  Oh thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted: So that not only this or that righteous man, but the whole company of the righteous, if they were to make choice of a Livery, might take for their device the Gules or red colour; or, as we use here in England, the red Cross, which is the right badge whereby Christ will have his followers to be known, saying unto them, and of them, 
t Matt. 16.24.  If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. And if they were to seek a word to their device, amongst thousands which may be found, they shall find none fit, or at least truer than this, Many are the afflictions of the Righteous.  
XIII. What then? were it not better to send a bill of divorce to righteousness, and bid it farewell, that we may be eased of these many evils? for to the righteous the Lord hath said, 
v joh. 16.20.  Ye shall weep and lament: but of the wicked he saith, The world shall rejoice. Is not rejoicing better than weeping? Is it not better to feast with Herod, and to dance with Herodias daughter, than to fast, to lie in prison, and to lose the head for righteousness sake, with john Baptist? The world doth so, because the world judgeth so.  
But ye, well-beloved, know, both by your fathers and your own experience, that 
x Psal. 58.11.  verily there is fruit for the righteous: he hath his reward within himself, a full pleasure and delight in the peace of an upright conscience, 
y Pro. 15.15.  which is a continual feast: he liveth in this present World, 
a Tit. 2.12.  godly towards God; who is the most excellent object that his mind can choose, and most worthy to be loved, praised, and served in heart, words and deeds: Righteously towards his neighbour, who is his own flesh, and to the purchasing of whose good he is bound by the bands of nature, and inward suggestion of his own conscience: Soberly in his own person, to whom he oweth a decent and respectuous care, that he never do any thing misbecoming a man, unbeseeming a Christian, and unworthy of the rank wherein God hath placed him. For whom shall he not neglect, if he neglect his own honesty? and whom shall he respect, if he respect not his own honour? Living so, he hath 
b 1. Tim. 6.6.  godliness with contentment, which is great gain: for 
c Esa. 32.17.  the work of righteousness, shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. But 
d Esa. 57.21.  there is no peace to the wicked, saith my God.  
And in the end of the world, when the Lord jesus shall come 
e Mat. 3.12.  with his Fan in his hand, and throughly purge his floor, than he will gather his Wheat into the Garner; but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 
f Matt. 25.32. etc.  Then, in his most righteous judgement, he will sunder the good from the lewd, the upright from the froward, the righteous from the wicked. Then he shall set the righteous on his right hand, and the wicked on the left. Then, then, by the power of the unchangeable sentence of his most righteous mouth, all the wicked shall departed from him, into everlasting fire; and all the righteous shall go into eternal life: The wicked to burn eternally with the Devil; the righteous to reign for ever and ever with their Lord and Saviour jesus Christ. Therefore 
g Hos. 10.12.  sow to yourselves in righteousness, and ye shall reap in mercy, contentment, peace, joy, eternal life, through the merits of our Lord jesus Christ; to whom with the Father & the holy Ghost, be all power, honour and glory world without end. Amen.   

SERMON two, Of the many evils of the Righteous man.  PSALM. XXXIV. XIX. 
Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
1. THe Righteous man hath the evils of sin, and of punishment.  
2 The evil of sin is worse than the evil of punishment.  
3 The righteous man hath fewer sins, and less sinful than the wicked man; yet he hath more Evils of punishment.  
4 He is slandered of heresy and blasphemy against God, whereof there are many examples in the ancient Church,  
5 And in ours.  
6 He is also slandered of rebellion against the high powers, and of all the evils that are in the world. So it was:  
7 So it is.  
8 Hence all kind of Evils come upon him:  
9 Whereof job is a very clear example.  
10 Under the Old Testament the faithful were tried by loss of goods,  
11 By many afflictions in their bodies,  
12 And by shameful reproaches.  
13 The Christians also have been tried after the same manner, with loss of goods,  
14 And of their lives:  
15 Namely, under ten heavy persecutions.  
16 Great cruelties practised against the Reformed Churches of Germany and of France.  
17 Exhortation to pray for the peace of the Church.  
1. THe Righteous man's Evils are of two kinds: The evils which he doth, the evils which he suffereth. In the Schools we call them 
l Malum culpae, malum poenae.  the Evils of offence, and the Evils of punishment: Those are sins. These are the pain inflicted for sin. One of the most righteous men that ever was, said of himself, and of all his fellows, 
m 1. joh. 1.8.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Neither was there ever any of the most holy and perfect, who was ashamed to beg of God, to cry to heaven for forgiveness of his sins; and who did not esteem that 
n Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. 19 cap. 26. Ipsa iustitia nostra, quamvis ve●a sit propter ve●i boni finem ad quam refectur, tamen tanta est in hac vitâ, ut potius peccatorum remis. sione constet, quàm perfectione virtutum.  his righteousness consisted rather in the forgiveness of his sins, than in the perfection of his virtues. For all the Saints which have been before us, had; all the Saints which are in the world, have; and all those who shall come after us, shall have in themselves the evil of sin: what marvel then if all had, if all have, 
torum remissione constet, quàm perfectione virtutum.  if all shall have also the evil of pain? Where the cause is present & working, no wonder if the effect follow hard, & tread it on the heels. The evil of sin is in all, why then should not the evil of pain be in all?  
2 Sin is morally evil: Punishment is but naturally evil. Sin is an offence to God: the punishment of sin is an hurt and grief to man. What is man, but a worm? what is the son of man, but a little worm? what then are all the evils which all men suffer? what is death itself? 
o Rom. 6.23.  death, which is the wages of sin; death, which is the last evil, wherein all the evils that are incident to man, do meet and end? what is the damnation of all Angels, and all men, compared to the least offence given unto the infinite Majesty of Almighty God? Not so much as a drop of water, matched with the great and huge Ocean. Sin is the destruction of the well-being of man, which consisteth in his union with God, through the conformity of his will with the will of God. The punishment of his sin is but the destruction of his being, consisting in the union of his body with his soul. He that heeded not his well-being, he that hath refused to remain united to his God by obedience and holiness of life; deserved he not to lose his being, which he received for his well-being? Or to speak more popularly: He who was created to know and serve God; he whose felicity consisted in the knowledge and service of God; he who scorned to be happy after that manner, merited he not, by all right and reason, to be deprived of his life, which he received for that end, and to be miserable and unhappy for ever? Let men speak as they will: to speak properly, the afflictions of this life, are evils in our feeling only; but sin against God, who is the sovereign good, is evil in itself, and the evil of evils, whether we feel it, or we feel it not. Who then shall be allowed to complain, if the great evil which he hath committed, be rewarded with the small evil which he suffereth?  
3 Yet the righteous man hath fewer sins than other men have, and (if ye will permit me so to speak) less sinful. Sin reigneth in the men of the world: it is weakened and mortified in God's children. Sin in worldlings, floweth from the stinking puddle of their hardened and malicious heart: To do evil, they find nothing too hot; nothing too cold. 
p Psal. 10. ● 3, 4, 5.  The wicked blesseth the covetous, because they are like himself; he puffeth at all his enemies. Through the pride of his countenance, he will not seek after God; for all his thoughts are, that There is no God: neither will he suffer to be admonished; as ye may learn by the examples of Ahaz, Ahab, Manasses, and of daily experience. The spring of sin in a righteous man, is his infirmity; and therefore it is no sooner set before his eyes, but he breaketh it off by repentance, as David and Peter did.  
If then we compare men with men, & not with God, wicked men's sins are like unto 
q Mat. 7.3.  beams; whereas the righteous man's sins are but motes, and light faults. God registereth, in the book of his rigorous judgement, the sins of the wicked, and will 
r Psal. 50.21.  reprove them, and set them in order before their eyes: but he hath made a covenant with the righteous, 
s jer. 31.34.  that he will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more; and that for jesus Christ his dear Son's sake, 
t Eph. 1.7.  in whom we have redemption, i. the forgiveness of sins through his blood, according to the riches of his grace. And yet (a strange thing, and a matter of much astonishment!) the 
v Psal. 10.5.  ways of the wicked prosper always, and Gods judgements are fare above out of his sight: On the other side, Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
4 His evils, or (as they are called in the translation) his afflictions, are so many, that it is uneasy to number them all. They hold one another by the hand, and conspire together to swallow up the righteous: yet we may reduce them to two heads: for they are either external, in loss of honour, of goods, and of life; or internal, in great heaviness and anguish of mind.  
The Devil's first care is to darken with calumnies the reputation of the righteous man, and (as David speaketh) 
x Psal. 4.2.  to turn his glory into shame; that they who shine in the glorious light of their own conscience, being spotted and blemished by false reports, may be rendered odious to all men, and unprofitable for the setting forward of Christ's kingdom in their callings.  
The first accusation is against their Religion, as being the fittest to stir up and kindle the hatred of a superstitious people against them, and to stop the course of the heavenly doctrine. This accusation is stuffed with many common places of antiquity, of multitude, of glory, of honours, of riches, of succession, of union of Kings, Princes, people, of their agreement and combination to maintain the old doctrine of the Fathers, against the new Sect of the little flock, of a few poor snakes, of an handful of forlorn fellows, men of a vile condition, of no birth, of less gifts. 
y 1. Pet. 3.20.  Noah was esteemed a mad fellow, because of his lowliness. The citizens of Sodom rejected 
z Gen. 19.9.  Lot's admonition, & threatened him, because he was a foreigner and so journer amongst them. 
a Gen. 31.53.  Laban swearing by the gods of Abraham, & the gods of Nacor, that is, by the gods of their father There, laid covertly in Abraham's, isaac's, and jacob's dish, the reproach of apostasy and defection from the ancient, but too stolen, religion of their forefathers: whereunto jacob had no regard, but swore by the fear of his father Isaac, assured of the truth of his Religion; which could not be outworn, neither by length of time, nor by inveterate custom, which is nothing else 
b Cyprian. ad Pompeium, Epist. 74. Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas erroris est.  but oldness of error. The main point of haman's accusation against the jews, was; that 
c Est. 3.9.  their laws were divers from all people: neither did they keep the King's laws.  
jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the heavenly Father, when he came into the world to bear witness unto the truth, appealed (without any difficulty) unto the conscience of every man, 
d joh 8.46  and defied his enemies to prove him faulty in any thing; yet he could not eschew the venomous poison of reviling tongues. The heads of accusations against his innocent and glorious person, were, that 
e Mat. 21.23.  he preached, and did all things without authority: that both 
f Luk. 6.2.  his Disciples and 
g joh. 5.16  he, did that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day: that 
h Matt. 26.64, 65.  he blasphemed, because he called himself the Son of God, and 
i Mat. 9.3.  forgave sins: 
k john. 7.41  that being of Galilee, he affirmed that he was the Christ: that 
l john 7.48.  none of the Rulers, or of the Pharisees believed on him. When he conversed with sinners, to convert them, they said, 
m Mat. 11.19.  Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. When they could not refute his doctrine, they would cast in his teeth, that 
n john 7.52.  he was of Galilee, 
o Mar. 6.3.  a Carpenter, and 
p Matt. 27.63.  a deceiver. When he delivered those who were possessed with Devils, there said, 
q Matt. 12.24  This fellow doth not cast out Devils, but by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils. Neither did he, or said he any thing so well, but his adversaries maligned it with ill constructions. When he spoke 
r joh. 2.19  of the destroying of the Temple of his body, and raising of it up in three days, 
s Matt. 26.61.  they accused him to have spoken of the Temple of jerusalem; and when he convinced them of their sins, they cried, that 
t joh. 8.48.  he was a Samaritane, and had a Devil,  
Christ foretold his Disciples, that 
v Mat. 5.11  men should revile them, and say all manner of evil against them falsely for his sake: for, said he, 
x Matt. 10.25.  if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? And it did fall out so: false witnesses accused Steven, 
y Act 6.11, 13.  to have spoken blasphemous words against the Law of Moses, against the holy place, and against God. It was laid to Paul's charge, that he was 
a Act. 24.5, 6.  a pestilent fellow, a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarens, who had gone about to profane the Temple; 
b 2. Cor. 6.8.  and was a deceiver.  
As this holy religion did rid way, & increase among the Gentiles; there is no kind of calumny, which the Devil did not devise to make it hateful. Then the Christians were upbraided with many heinous and foul crimes: that they sacrificed to 
c Tertull. Apologet. cap. 7.8. Euseb. h●st. Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 1. Ibid. lib. 9 cap. 5. Minu●ius Felix in Octavio.  Bacchus and Ceres, because they celebrated the Lords Supper with Bread and Wine: that they killed little children, and in their congregations did eate their flesh, and drink their blood, because in the Lord's Supper mention was made of the spiritual eating of Christ's body, and drinking of his blood: that in their assemblies, which (for fear of persecution) they held in the night time, their dogs, tied to the Candlesticks, were enticed (by some collops cast before them) to leap forward, that bounding they might beat down the lights at the time prefixed, and so the darkness might cover and hide from their eyes the shame of their incests with their mothers, sisters, and others of their nearest kindred; & did many more things which they shunned to name, and, as may be deemed, came never in any man's mind to do them since the beginning of the world. Besides all these calumnies, many other exceptions were taken against them; as 
d Tertull. cap. 10. etc. Euseb histor. Eccles lib. 8. cap. 18. Idem lib. 9 cap. 7.  their apostasy and defection from the religion of their predecessors; their contempt of the gods, and of all honour given to them; the profession of an accursed vanity, of a blind error, of a most abominable and execrable religion, etc.  
5 When God, in the bowels of this mercy, made the truth of his religion to spring up again in Germany, in France, in this Island; were not all these crimes imputed to our forefathers, whose eyes were first opened to see and embrace the glorious light thereof? And although time, the mother of truth, hath swept away the imputations of eating of Pigs after the manner of the Passeover, of the extinguishing of the Torches and Candles, of incestuous villainy, wherewith our ancestors were injuriously blemished: yet Christ's enemies forbear not to spew out of the open sepulchre of their stinking throats, in our faces, the reproach of heresy, novelty, factions against God, schism against the Church, and such like musty defamations of very old date; which we wipe away with the same Sponge wherewith 
e Euseb. histor. Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 1.  the first Christians did blot them out, saying and verifying by the holy Scriptures, That our Religion is the same which God from the beginning did preach to Adam, which Abraham, Isaac, jacob and their offspring professed, which was foretold by the Prophets, published by the Apostles to all nations, believed in the world, and is come from them to us, who possess it as we have received it of them in the holy Scripture: That all doctrines introduced in the time between are but errors, untruths, juggle, & novelties broached by the Devil; which shall be clearly verified, when our adversaries (leaving off their bloody persecutions) shall be willing to take a patiented trial, whether of our Religions will abide the hammering of God's word.  
6 But the dimness of untruth, fearing (above all things) to come to the light of the Scriptures, hateth unto death all those which light the candle, and, putting it on the candlestick, ●●●rie it before the eyes of men, to enlighten their darkness. And therefore as whores, seeking the renown of chastity, are accustomed to exprobrate to honest women the vices wherewith they are polluted themselves: so the Devil's limbs publish abroad against God's servants, the crimes whereof they know themselves to be guilty; as these of heresy, of blasphemy, of high treason against God, whereof I have already spoken. whereunto they add the crimination of rebellion against the higher powers, of sedition against the State, of contriving of plots against their native soil; that the Kings and Princes of the earth, thinking their States to be much interessed by the doctrine of godliness, may be moved to join hands for the extirpation thereof. To that purpose Satan had never want of Doegs'.  
So Ahimelech the high Priest was accused to have conspired with David against Saul their King, because 
f 1. Sam. 21.10, 13.  Ahimelech in his innocence had given victuals and the sword of Goliath to David, and had enquired of the Lord for him. So Ahab imputed to the Prophet Eliah, that 
g 1. King. 18.17.  he troubled Israel: so he confessed that 
h 1. King. 22.8.  he hated the Prophet Micaiah, because he did not prophesy good concerning him, but evil: So Amazia the Priest of Bethel, sent to jeroboam king of Israel, saying, 
i Amos 7.10, 13.  Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words; because Amos prophesied against the Idolatry of the ten tribes, and that in Bethel, which was the King's Sanctuary, and the King's Court: So Sanballat did write calumniously of Nehemiah, that 
k Nehem. 6.6, 7.  he and the jews thought to rebel, that he might be King; and that he had appointed Prophets to preach of him at jerusalem, that he was King in judah: So the adversaries of judah and Benjamin, to hinder the building of jerusalem, writ to Artaxerxes; 
l Ezr. 4.12, 13, 15.  Be it known unto thee, o King, that if this rebellious and bad city be builded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute and custom: for this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto Kings and Provinces, and they have moved sedition within the same of old time; for which cause was this City destroyed, etc. This was haman's common place against the jews: 
m Est. 3.8  They keep not the King's laws, therefore it is not for the King's profit to suffer them. Because 
n jer. 37.17.  jeremiah warned the people of jerusalem to yield to the King of Babylon, according to the oath of fidelity which they had made unto him; he was deemed to be a traitor, who had fall'n away to the Chaldeans. Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not worship the golden Image which the King had set up, their enemies went presently to the King, and said, 
o Dan. 3.12.  O King, they have not regarded thee. So the Precedents & Princes of Persia, finding no occasion against Daniel concerning his carriage in the King's affairs, charged him with contempt of the King, saying, 
p Dan. 6.13.  He regardeth not thee, o King, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.  
The jews, dreading that Pilate would not be much moved with all the accusations which they should set on foot against Christ, for matters of Religion shuffled the second table with the first; rebellion against Caesar, with blasphemy against God, and said unto him, 
q Luk. 23.2  We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying, that he himself is Christ a king. And again: 
r joh. 19.12.  If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a King, speaketh against Caesar. They held the same course against Christ's Disciples, for seeking the means to wrap them in rebellion. The Rulers 
s Act. 4.18.  commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the Name of jesus: whereunto refusing to obey, they 
t Act. 5.28, 40.  were arraigned before the Council, and condemned to be beaten for their rebellion. The jews of Thessalonica set all the city on an uproar against Paul and Silas, slandering them & all the Christians of the town, that 
v Act. 17.7.  they all did contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one jesus. After that the tyrant 
x Tacit. Annal. lib. 15.  Nero had at divers times set the town of Rome on fire, to please his wicked humour withal, and purchased by such execrable acts the ill-will of the whole people, he shifted them off himself, and suborned false witnesses to lay them upon the Christians. At that time, and long after, the 
y Tertull Apologet. c. 40. Cyprian ad Demot. Arnob. advers. Gentes, lib. 1. Aug. de Civ. Dei. li. 2. c. 3.  Christians were accused to be the cause of all public calamities, and popular incommodities. If at Rome the river Tiber, running over his banks, overflowed the walls: If in Egypt the river Nilus did not rise to a just height, that overflowing the whole country, it might make it fertile: If the heavens were turned into brass, and refused to distil their dew upon the dry and dusty ground: If the earth, hardened into iron, disappointed the painful labours of the husbandman, and defrauded the sour of the expected crop: If the plague of famine, if wars, if any epidemical sickness went ransacking men and beasts; who were blamed but the Christians? Christians, said they, are the authors, Christians are the causes of all our mischiefs.  
7 This hath ever been since the reformation, the heavy accusation against our fathers and us: that as we are blasphemers against God; so we are rebellious against the high powers, unprofitable to ourselves, offensive to our neighbours, enemies to all mankind: So the Jesuits, and other Romish Clergy, persuaded the young King of France, who knew us not, that we were plotting to set up a State within his State, a Democracie within his Monarchy, and intended to cast off the yoke of subjects, that we might become Reipublicanes, subject to none but to our own lusts and wills, like the Swissers. So when rain falls seldom upon the earth; when the earth is unpleasant with the sluttishness of dust; when the meadows, drawn dry with heat, make the owners to sigh, and the mowers to weep; when the hail finisheth the vintage before it begin; when the stormy whirlwinds pluck up the fruitful trees by the roots, and beat down houses; when the air infected breatheth a mortal plague upon men and beasts; when the licentious soldier steps into his neighbour's house, as if it were his own; when going out of it he leaveth nothing behind him but his own filth and the cobwebs, & forgetteth nothing but to reckon with his Host, and bid him farewell: all ages, all orders upbraid the Huguenots, or, as they call us now in France, the Parpaillants, that is to say, Butterflies, as authors of all, because we believe a new Law, and will not hold the good old Law of our fathers, who were as honest men, and had as much insight into matters of Religion, and more devotion than we have. The old world was a good world; our fathers, who worshipped our Lady the Queen of heaven, and all the Angels and Saints which the Pope hath sent thither; our fathers, who were content to believe as the Church believed; our good fathers, who turned and whirled about so devoutly their Pater-nosters, and mumbled them so religiously before the holy Images, which these new upstart fellows call abominable Idols; had bread and drink enough: but now, since prayers are made to God alone in a known tongue; since a few unlearned rascals and outcasts of the world, begin to prate most fond of heavenly things; to flirt the holy Father on the nose, and call him the Antichrist; to beat down Altars, to break Images, as LEON the fourth Emperor of the Orient did, etc. we starve for hunger and thirst, and are diven to such misery, that our state cannot be worse. This was the jews answer to jeremiah: 
a jer. 44.17, 18.  We will burn incense unto the Queen of heaven, and pour out drink offerings unto her as we have done, we and our fathers, our Kings and our Princes, in the cities of judah, and in the streets of jerusalem. For than had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil: but since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.  
8 Solomon saith, 
b Prov. 25.18.  that a man that beareth false witness against his neighbour, is a hammer, a sword, and a sharp arrow: he is a hammer to the hearer, who yields attention unto his slandering; he casteth him, with the blows of his viperous tongue, into many dangerous symptoms and perplexitles of mind, as if he felled an Ox: he is a sword to his own soul, which he killeth with such artificial lies: he is a sharp arrow to the innocent man whom he thus slandereth, shooting at his reputation a fare off, to breed him harm in one thing or other. for 
c Psal. 27.12.  false witnesses breathe out cruelty: 
d Psal. 64.3, 4, 5.  They whet their tongue like a sword, and shoot in stead of their arrows, bitter words: that they may shoot in secret at the perfect; suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily: they say, Who shall see them?  
From hence arise most cruel persecutions. Then ye see nothing but kindling of fires, but sharpening of Swords, but smoothing of Pikes, but clearing of Partisans, but preparing of Muskets, but ravenous Harpies flying into the houses, and fowling the righteous man's goods: Then ye hear nothing but edicts of proscription, but Spoil, spoil; Ransack, ransack; Kill, kill, with all kind of reproaches, curses, and execrations: Then wheresoever ye shall turn your face, ye shall meet with nothing but with faces inflamed with threatenings and slaughter, as 
e Act. 9.1, 2.  saul's was, when he went to Damascus to bind the Disciples of the Lord: ye shall mark nothing but woodness, but outrageousness, but a woeful & sorrowful face of all things, but hell opened, the Devil's unchained, and all their fiery malice displayed against the righteous; but ravishing of goods, defiling of married women, deflowering of Virgins; banishing, murdering, exquisite punishments, grievous tortures, new kinds of death, and, which is most insupportable to an honest heart, scoffing, upbraiding, despiteful railing; or, if you will have the roll which the Apostle hath made of the righteous man's evils, 
f Rom. 8.35.  tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, without exception of sex, without pity towards little children and sucklings, without any reverence to the grey hair and old age.  
The Apostle, speaking of the godly and righteous men which lived under the tyranny of the Idolatrous Kings of juda and Israel, and under the Kings of Syria and of Egypt; saith, that 
g Heb 11.36, 37, 38.  they had trial of cruel mockings and scourge, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawen asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheep's skins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth. What is dear to the righteous man in this world? His goods. What more dear than his goods? His life. What dearer to him, what much more esteemed of him than his goods, his life, and all the world? God's glory, and his own reputation. Mark in this catalogue of evils, the righteous man bereft of all these things.  
9 The first unexpected message that the bringers of ill news reported to job, was of the loss of all his goods: the second, of the unlookedfor and violent death of all his children. And, as if all that had been but sport and play, 
h job 2.7.  the devil smote him with so many sore biles, that from the sole of his foot, even unto the crown of his head, there was nothing found in him but the skin of his teeth. 
i job 19.12. etc.  His biles were so loathsome to the eyes, so stinking to smell, that his breath became strange to his wife; his servants, and those that dwelled in his house, counted him for a stranger, and when he called them, gave him no answer: his acquaintance were estranged from him, his familiar friends forgot him; the men to whom he committed his secrets, abhorred him; the young children despised and spoke against him; his familiar friends, which came to comfort him, gaped upon him with their mouth, and, adding affliction to the afflicted, vexed his soul with reviling words; calling him an oppressor of the poor, a wicked man, an hypocrite, and disputed eagerly against him, that the hypocrites and wicked men are the mere and only object of afflictions: yea, his own wife scorned his godliness and uprightness, and mocking him with ironical and pinching words, 
k job 2.9.  Dost thou still, said she, retain thine integrity? Bless God, and die. Besides that, 
l job 7.13.  when he thought that his bed should comfort him, and his couch should ease his complaint, than he was scared with dreams, and terrified through visions; so that he consumed like rotten wood, and as a garment that is moth-eaten. It seems that God had made him an example and pattern of the many evils wherewith the righteous are compassed and besieged on all sides.  
10 If ye read the story of David's life, ye shall judge that his own sensible experience of the many evils, which lay heads and hands together to overthrow the righteous man, whereof he speaketh in this Psalm; made him to cry with grief in another Psalm: 
m Ps. 42.7.  Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water spouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Consider 
n 2. Sam. 23.12.  him, consider 
o 1. Kin. 19.4, 9  Elijah the Prophet, consider the 
p 1. Mac. 1.28, 29.  Maccabees, and all those worthy Confessors and Martyrs, whom the blessed Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews recommendeth, to the blessed and perpetual memory of the Church: behold them destitute of meat to fill their bellies, and of honest clothing to go abroad; eye them shrouding their nakedness basely and poorly under sheep and goat-skinnes; view them, now flying to the deserts and high mountains, now hiding themselves in dens and caves of the earth, to save their lives. Remember 
q 1. Kin. 18.13.  the hundred Prophets, which Obadiah hide by fifties in two caves, feeding them with bread and water. The Saints were thus put unto the pinch, when their enemies and persecuters were full-gorging themselves with their goods.  
11 Behold the whips and scourges wherewith 
r Exod. 5.13.  Pharaohs merciless task masters teared and rend the flesh from the bones of God's people. Were not 
s 1. Kin. 22.27.  Micaiah and 
t jer. 20.2. jer. 37.15, 16.  jeremiah, the Prophets of the Lord, cast into a straight prison, and there fed with bread and water of affliction, to starve? 
v 1. King. 21.13.  Naboth, was he not killed with stones for his Vineyard? Was not that the hire wherewith 
x 2. Chro. 24.22.  joash the Apostate paid Zachariah son of jehoiada the high Priest, for his conservation and education, and requited the kindness which jehoiada had done to him? 
y Origen. in Matth. cap. 23.  Isaiah was cut thorough the middle with a Saw by Manasses. jesus Christ charged the jews and jerusalem, with 
z Matt. 23.34, 37.  scourging, kill, crucifying, stoning, persecuting of the Prophets, wise men, and Scribes, wichwere sent unto them. How many hellish and horrible torments found out the Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes against the jews, who would not leave the Law of the Lord their God? Ye know 
a 2. Macc. 7.  the story of the seven brethren, and of their godly mother, whom he commanded first to be maimed, than the skin to be pulled off their head with the hair, and finally to be brought to the fire, and fried in a hot Cauldron.  
12 Solomon saith truly, that 
b Eccles. 7.1.  a good name is better than precious ointment: Neither is there any honest-hearted man, but he findeth comfort in his poverty, in his baseness, in all his most sharp and pricking afflictions, in death itself; so that his reputation be kept spotless, and that in his calamity he may shun to be made a mocking-stock. For ye shall find few men or women who desire to outlive their own dishonour and shame: and there is no righteous man, who can abide the disgracing injuries wherewith God is pierced, thorough his side. Nevertheless discredit, infamy, shame is also the righteous man's share. No affliction did nip 
c job 16.10. job 17 6. job 19 18. job 2.9.  job so sensibly, as when he saw himself to be made a laughing stock to young children, a byword of the people, a Tabret before all men, a Butt of reproaches to his best friends, and to his own wife. 
d judg. 16.21, 25.  Samson suffered patiently the pulling out of his eyes, the binding of his arms and feet with fetters of brass, and the vile and toilsome grinding in the prisonhouse: But when the Lords of the Philistines sent for him, that he might make them sport, and when he heard them thanking Dagon their fishie god for the affliction wherewith his God, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land, had visited him; he forgot patience, and cried to heaven for vengeance. David complained of his enemies, because 
e Psal. 35.21.  they opened their mouth wide against him, and said, Aha, Aha, Our eye hath seen him, &c: But 
f Psal. 42.10.  it was a sword in his bones, whilst they said daily unto him, Where is thy God? Then he cries to his God: 
g Psal. 69.9.  The reproaches of them that reproached thee, are fallen upon me. The Prophet Elisha cursed, in the name of the Lord, the little children who mocked him, crying, 
h 2. Kin. 2.23, 24.  Go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head; and called for the Bears of the wood to tear them. 
i Lament. 1.7, 8.  jerusalem sighed when all that honoured her in her prosperity, despised her in her adversity, because they had seen her nakedness, and did mock at her Sabbaths: Then jerusalem, than the Church complained, 
k Psal. 79.1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  O God, the Heathen are come into thine inheritances thy holy Temple have they defiled: they have laid jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven: the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. Then they all cried, How long, LORD! wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire? But that which lay heaviest upon their hearts, was, 
l Psal. 74.4, 5, 6, 7, 10.  to hear God's enemies roaring in the midst of his congregations; to see them set up their Ensigns for signs, their arms lifting up axes upon the interlaced timber of the Sanctuary, breaking down with axes and hammers the carved work thereof, and burning it into ashes, with all the Synagogues of God in the land. Then they could not choose but mourn and cry, O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy Name for ever?  
13 All the righteous men of the Christian Church, have in all times been tried with these three kinds of tentations. The Lord jesus, our Master and head, 
m Matt. 8.20.  had not where to lay his head. Neither would his persecuters 
n joh. 19.23.  suffer him to dye in the garments which he had, but stripped him of them, leaving him nothing to hide his nakedness. The blessed Apostles, the Rams and ringleaders of Christ's flock, 
o Act. 3.6.  had neither gold nor silver, but did 
p 1. Cor. 4.11, 12.  hunger and thirst, and were naked, and had no certain dwelling place, and laboured, working with their own hands. In the primitive Church, whosoever had goods, were made a prey to Christ's enemies; and the Apostle beareth them witness, that 
q Heb. 10.34.  they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods. Many of you to whom I speak, have heard your fathers relate, how many quarrels were maliciously picked against them, to beggar them, and undo their estates; and how (leaving all in Babylon, as Lot did in Sodom) to escape the burning thereof, and save their souls, they came to this blessed refuge and Sanctuary of God's people in their shirts, as jacob passed the river jordan, and came to Laban, having no other provisions and helps for his journey and peregrination, but his staff alone. In these last troubles of France, I (who now speak to you) have seen towns, which before were girded with Walls, fortified with Bulwarks, flanked with Turrets, sown with the seed of true Christians; defaced, leveled to the ground, turned into ashes: and now there is nothing to be seen where they stood, but dens of Foins and Foxes, but heaps of unprofitable stones, but thickets of thistles, nettles, and briers. I have seen many great & honest families brought, by the barbarous & rude soldier, to cleanness of teeth, & constrained to beg, when these Horseleeches were feeding upon their spoils. To how many have ye, even ye yourselves, enlarged your merciful and charitable bowels; who were accustomed to be bountiful unto others, and who come to you to be the glorious object of the forwardness and overflowing grace of your cheerful and liberal charity, after that they were compelled, like 
r Mark. 14 51, 52.  the young man in the Gospel, to leave, in the hands of the robbers, the sheet which others (less cruel) had left them to cover their nakedness, and to fly from them naked; thinking themselves happy to be like unto 
s jer. 39.18  Ebedmelech and 
t jer. 45.5.  Baruch, after them destruction of jerusalem by the Babylonians, and to have their life for a prey!  
14 But that also is not granted to all: for the bloodthirsty cruelty of the wicked cannot be quenched, but with the blood of the righteous. The Lord jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls; after that 
v Heb. 12.2.  he had endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, was at the last set to sale by one of his own Disciples, betrayed with a kiss, delivered unto the insolency of the soldiers, tied hard with cords, beaten spitefully, crowned with thorns, scourged most cruelly, & brought forth to the jews, disfigured with streams of blood, flowing from the most parts of his wounded body: an ugly spectacle to make Rocks to cleave, Tigers to weep, and the Devils themselves to quake and start back with sorrow. But all that cannot satisfy these more than stonyhearted and hellish Cannibals: forthwith they cry, 
x joh. 19.15.  Away with him, away with him, crucify him. His death they thirst after; neither can any thing slake their thirst, but the blood of his death.  
His Disciples fared not better than he; 
y Act. 7.59  Steven the first Martyr was stoned for his sake: What welcome his Apostles got of those to whom they preached the good tidings of peace, ye may judge by the relation which the Apostle makes of the Feasts wherewith he was entertained at his first coming to them: 
a 2. Cor. 11.24, 25, 26, 27.  Of the jews, saith he, five times received I forty stripes, save one: thrice was I beaten with rods: once was I stoned: thrice I suffered shipwreck: a night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own country men, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Behold, I pray you, in this one Apostle a threefold universality, of the evils which he suffered, of the places where he suffered, of the persons of whom he suffered: he suffered hunger, thirst, nakedness, cold, imprisonment, scourges, and whips, stoning, shipwreck. No place was a place of refuge to him against so many evils: he suffered by sea, by land, in the city, in the wilderness: Lo, wheresoever he came to preach, there he found a cross to take up, and to be laid upon his shoulders. All kind of persons had a quarrel to him: the Gentiles, and the jews of his own nation, known enemies, and false brethren. They conspired all, they concurred all to bereave him of his life, and prevailed: for after that he had passed thorough the burning Furnace of all other evils, he was beheaded at Rome by the commandment of the Emperor Nero. When one Apostle, one member of Christ's Church, was so hardly used, think ye that the rest, who sailed with him in the same ship, did sleep upon a calm and quiet sea, without wagging, and danger of shipwreck?  

b Act. 12.2.  Herod killed james the brother of john with the sword. 
c Rev. 10.  john was relegated into the Isle of Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of jesus Christ; 
d Act. 5.40, 41.  after that he, and the rest of the Apostles, had been beaten, & had suffered shame for Christ's Name at jerusalem. 
e joh. 21.18, 19  The Lord foretold Peter, that he should glorify him by a violent death, but where we know not; for the probabilities be many that he was never at Rome. The Ecclesiastical Stories tell us, that 
f Dorotkgus in Synopsi. Cyprian de duplici Martyrio. Sabellicus, Aeneid. 7. lib. 2. etc.  Andrew his brother was crucified at Patros: Bartholomew was flayed quick in a town of Armenia, called Albana: Philip was tied to a post, and stoned to death at Hierapolis: Thomas was put to death by the Indians, to whom he preached the Gospel. Matthew was nailed quick to the ground at Myrmena: james, the son of Alpheus, was cast headlong from the pinnacle of the temple of jerusalem, and felled with stones and clubs: jude Lebbeus, called also Thaddeus, laid down his life for the Gospel at Beryta, after that he had preached Christ to the Edesseniens, and all Mesopotamia: Simon the Cannite suffered martyrdom in Mauritania: Mathias was executed amongst the Aethiopians: Mark the Evangelist was trailed thorough the streets of Alexandria in Egypt, with a halter about his neck, and afterwards burnt quick: Luke was hanged upon an Olive tree. All the Apostles, all the Evangelists, sealed the doctrine of the Gospel with their innocent blood.  
15 The cruel tyrant Nero sowed the Christians in Wolves, in Bears, and other wild beasts skins, and, uncoupling his Hounds and Mastiffs after them, made the tearing and dismembering of innocent and godly men, a game for the people to behold. Others he took, and heaping them one upon another (as so many Faggots) set them on fire, that they might serve for fire to warm, and for light to shine by night to those which walked thorough the streets of Rome. 
g Ters. Apologet. cap. 5. Sed tali dedicatore damnationis nostrae etiam gloriamur, etc.  We glory, saith Tertullian, in this setter forth of our condemnation: for whosoever knoweth him, may judge, that nothing could be condemned by Nero, but that which is a very good thing. I should be too prolix and tedious, if I should name particularly all the circumstances of ten heavy persecutions, which lasted 318. years, from the eighth year of that lump of clay soaked in blood, called Nero, unto Constantine the Great; under Nero, Domitian, Traian, Antoninus Verus, Severus, Maximinus, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, Dioclesian, in whose time so much blood was shed in one day, that the executioners were weary and faint with killing; as 
h Euseb hist. Eccles. lib. 8. cap. 9  Eusebius, who was an eye witness of these doleful spectacles, reporteth. Then the persecution was so eager, that in one month it consumed seventeen thousand Christians: whereby ye may judge, what havoc and murder was made of them in ten years together that it lasted, being fostered by the divisions which were in the Church, and secret treacheries of false brethren; whereof Dioclesian the tyrant took occasion to undo our Religion, and had utterly overthrown it, if God had not opposed, to his wicked sleights and raging fury, the sword of Constantine the Great, first redresser of the Church, and defender of the true faith. 
i Socrat. hist. Eccles. lib. 2. cap. 10.11.13.  julian the Apostate depriving the Christians of all dignities, promotions and honours, forbidding by severe edicts their children to be taught in humane letters, and received into the public Schools, impoverishing them with great fines and exactions of money above their power; did more harm to the Church in one year, than Dioclesian did in ten by his bloody persecutions, though his one year's Empire was not innocent of Christian blood. Who can express, how many Christians were put to death, by the Emperors who were infected with the most abominable heresy of Arius? I overpasse imprisonments, relegations, banishments; which were called favours, courtesies, and works of mercy, by the tyrants: for 
k Pro. 12.10.  the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. I omit the drowning, the hanging, the mangling the roasting, the broiling on Gridirons, the scorching, the burning with fire those who all the night were frozen with cold, and a thousand more cruel tortures, whereby the Emperors and their people bend their minds, to smother the Christian Religion, as Herod sought to kill Christ in the cradle.  
16. In vain go we to seek in antiquity, examples of monstrous cruelties against the true Christians, when the last age wherein our fathers and restorers of the true Christian Religion lived, affordeth to us an huge number which cannot be numbered: If ye have read the story of the Albigenses, ye shall find there, how some of them were not burnt, but roasted fair and softly, that they might feel their death; some were burned quick, some tormented after a strange manner by beetles and such like worms, which, laid upon their navills, and covered with a dish, gnawed their bellies, and boaring them through even into their intralls, caused to these poor creatures a languishing, but a most sensible and dolorous death. All the faithful of Merindoll were murdered upon an arrest or decree of the Parliament of Aix in Province: Forty five of their wives, which were great with child, were shut up in a barn, and burnt there: thirty others were torn in pieces by the first Precedents commandment, and the little children, as they were thrust out of their wombs, trampled, and made to breathe in their first, before they had leisure to breathe in their first air. Florent Venot, after that he was a great while racked in an engine sharpe-topped at the lower end, which they called Chausse d' Hippocras, was made an unchristian show in the midst of a bonfire to the Christian King at his first entry into the Capital town of his realm: Nicolaus Nail was first basted with hot scalding oil and lead, and afterwards burnt quick: The Tennis-Court-keeper of Avignon, was kept in a cage hanging in the great street; by night at the cold air, by day at the burning heat of the sun, and so vexed a long time, either singing Psalms to God more harmoniously than the Nightingale, or reproving the superstitions and idolatries of the people which gazed upon him: In the book of Martyrs, ye may read how john Hooper. Doctor in Divinity, was burnt at three times: how Thomas Noris and a Priest with him, was led  upon briers and thorns from the prison unto the place appointed for their execution, that in them might be fulfilled the Prophecy of Hosea, 
l Hos. 2.6.  Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns: how sundry were stiff and frozen with extreme cold in the night, and the next day after sent to the fire: how the Archbishop of Canterbury did withhold all kind of meat and drink from his prisoners, while they starved and died of hunger.  
If I should relate unto you the Tragical Massacres of France, in the year of Christ 1572. the slaughtering of an hundred thousand men and women like beasts, the rocking of little babes asleep with present death, the stilling and pacifying of them with merciless destruction, the incestuous defyling of chaste Virgins, the despiteful using of grave Matrons, the pitiless regarding of old age, the welcoming of infants as they came out of their murdered mother's wombs, with sword and fire, the pulling of others from the milk of their mother's breasts, to suck them with their own blood. If I should set out in true colours the principal towns of that great kingdom, as they were then; what should ye hear but blaspheming, but roaring, in the one part; but weeping, but lamenting, but crying to heaven for mercy and help, on the other? What should'ye see but fire, swords, murder, bloodshed, dead carcases, but roaring lions, but fiery dragons, but rayenous wolves, but 
m 2. Kin. 8. v. 12.  Hazael and his Courtiers, killing, slaying murdering young and old, dashing little children, ripping up women with child; but great rivers stained and surrounded with innocent blood?  
If I should but draw unto you the first lines of the calamities of the Palatinate, and of the late desolation of the Churches of France; if I should speak unto you of honest women, first misused in that which is their most precious jewel, and then murdered, or blown up in the air, with gunpowder thrust and stopped in their wombs; of young Virgins disguised in men's apparel, with doublet, breeches, the Lackeys cap upon their close shaved heads, the dagger upon their loins, and constrained to follow the armies, neither daring, neither knowing to whom to make their moan; of sucklings, pulled violently from their mother's breasts, and murdered before the faces of their doubly-desolate parents; of some of them thrown in the air, and received upon the points of pikes for a sport; of others, upon a wager who should cast them farthest off, fling into the waters, when the poor innocents were laughing upon their murderers, and playing with their beards; of many moe sold to these couseners, which we are accustomed to call Egyptians, at eighteen pence a piece; of men and women enthralled to the Mahometans for a little sum of money: as it is written, 
n Psal. 44. v. 12.  Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price: In a word, if I should but report what things I have heard, read, or seen, your minds would quake, your hearts would start back with sorrow; neither should ye find tears enough to bewail, nor I words sufficient to display and unfold unto you the crushing and bruising of joseph.  
17. Therefore let us lay over it the veil of silence, and make here a pause, ending this action with hearty prayers to God for the peace and prosperity of jerusalem: O Lord our God, thou hast fed us with ashes for bread: thou hast given us tears to drink in great measure. Thou hast been angry against our prayers: we have cried unto thee, and thou hast not listened unto our supplications: But now, O Lord; but now turn thine ear unto us, and turn our hearts unto thee: Cause thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved through the merits of our only Saviour jesus Christ: to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory both now and for ever. Amen.   

SERMON III. Of the righteous man's Evils.  PSALM XXXIV. XIX. 
Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
1. HOw Christ was upbraided and dishonoured in his death;  
2 As likewise the holy Apostles, and the first Christians.  
3 How our brethren are abused in Spain, and elsowhere.  
4 The righteous man's evils tread one another on the heels.  
5 He hath many enemies, which are the cause of the great number of his evils.  
6 His greatest enemies are his nearest kinsmen.  
7 All kind of persons were enemies to Christ;  
8 And to his Apostles and their disciples.  
9 All kind of men are enemies to the Church of our time.  
10 Hence come the inward evils, which disquiet the righteous man.  
11 The righteous is persecuted unrighteously;  
12 Howsoever his persecuters judge, or speak otherways.  
13 The vanity of many accusations set on foot against him.  
14 The iniquity of the judges proceeding against him.  
15 How these which live in peace, as we in England, may be said to have many evils.  
16 Exhortation to thankfulness, and godliness of life.  
I. THat which is most grievous to the righteous man, in all the evils whereof I have spoken, is the upbraiding, disgrace, and shame wherewith he is exercised. For whereas all criminals find pity and commiseration in those that behold them, who either accompany their death with tears, or behold it with silence: The faithful and the righteous man can neither live nor die, but he shall be followed with opprobrious hues and cries. 
o Gen. 21. v. 9  Ishmael mocked Isaac, that is, according to Paul's exposition, 
p Gal 4. v. 29.  persecuted him. When the Apostle faith, that 
q Heb. 11. v. 26.  Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; he giveth us to understand, that the Church hath been from the beginning subject to contempt, defamations, taunts, and dishonour for Christ's sake: It was of Christ that Isaiah prophesied, 
r Isa. 8. v. 18 Heb. 2. v. 13  Behold I, and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel: of him first, and then of his children.  
He was upbraided in his life time with the nicke-names of a seducer, a drunkard, a glutton, a sorcerer, and of Beelzebub the Prince of the devils; but he was most outragously mocked in his death. In 
s Luk. 22. v. 64.  Caiphas house they blindfolded him, they strooke him on the face, they asked him, saying; Prophesy, Who is it that smote thee? In 
t Luk. 23. v. 11.  Herod's Court he was set at naught, mocked, and arrayed in a white gorgeous robe, as a fool. In 
v 28, 29, 30.  Pilat's common hall, the soldiers stripped him, 
u Mat. 27.  to put on him a scarlet robe; and when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, with a reed in his right hand: then they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, crying, Hail King of the jews; then they spat upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. In Golgotha. where he was crucified between two thiefs, as if he had been a malefactor, they that passed by, reviled him, and wagged their heads, saying, 
x v. 39.40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47.  Thou that destroyest the Temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself: If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross: likewise the chief Priests, the Scribes, and Elders, mocking him, said, y He saved others, himself he cannot save: If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him: He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him. The thiefs also which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Last of all, some of them perverted his words, saying, that he called for Elias, when he prayed, Eli, Eli, My God, my God, etc. Then was fulfilled that which he spoke by David, saying, 
y Psal. 21. v. 6, 7, 8.  I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people: All they that see me, laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.  
II. His children, his holy Apostles received no better entertainment of the men of the world: for what were they but 
a 1 Cor. 4. v. 9, 13.  a spectacle unto the world, to Angels, and to men? Complain they not, that they were made as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things; walking 
b 2. Cor. 6. v. 8, 9  by honour, and dishonour, by evil report, and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known? The Apostles disciples, fared they better? No, no. The Apostle writeth of the Hebrews, that 
c Heb. 10. v. 33.  they were made a gazing stock by reproaches and afflictions; which I take literally: for we know, that the custom was to draw Christians to the threatres and public playhouses; to carry them ridiculously disguised from scaffold to scaffold for a show; to set them on pillories to disgrace them, and then to cast them naked to the Lions to be dismembered and devoured in the eyes of the people: which delighting insuch spectacles, were accustomed to cry, 
d Tertul. Apologet. cap. 40.  Christianos ad Leonem: The Christians to the Lyon. Tantos ad unum? So many to one? saith Tertullian. 
e joid. cap. ultima. Ad Lenonem damnando Christianam, potius quam ad Leonem, etc. Ambe. tom. 3. serm 90. Euseb. hi●t. Ec●l. lib. 8. cap. 11.  And because the Governors and Magistrates perceived that to Christian women, the defiling of their chastity was more horrible and grievous than all kinds of torments, and most exquisite deaths; they condemned them rather to serve bawds in stews, than to be torn by Lions: which many of them prevented by killing of themselves: 
f Ibid. c. 9  Others they stripped, 
Aug. de civ. Dei. l. 1. c. 26.  and tying them by one foot, hoist them up in the air, their heads downward; and letting them hang so while they died, made of their naked bodies a most filthy and cruel spectacle to all those that passed by: 
g Ibid. c. 12.  Of some men they would pull out the right eye, and put out of joint the left leg, and let them live, that they might be both ridiculous and miserable.  
III. The Inquisitors of Spain, send to the fire the reformed Christians arrayed in a yellow garment, called the Sambenit, which is all set and covered over with crosses and black Devils, and misshapen after a fashion so ridiculous and monstrous to be seen, that some of the beholders cannot hold from laughter; some are scared, and fly away, believing the poor men to be so many Devils come out of hell: none is touched with commiseration towards them. How often have the Papists welcomed their Kings with the honour, or rather horror of such pageants, at their first entrance into their towns? as it is written of the Idolatrous people of Samaria, 
h Hos. 7.3  They make the King glad with their wickedness, and the Princes with their lies. Shall a Minister go thorough the streets in Popish towns, in the deepest peace, and not be hooted and hurried with most intolerable contumelies, although they be arrayed like the rest of the people? Can any burial be convoyed there without such shouting and out-crying? How often have these most inhuman and cruel Tigers, denied the honour of burial to our brethren; accomplishing that which is written of them in 
i Rev. 11.8, 9, 10.  the Revelation, by not suffering their dead bodies to be put in graves? How often have they unburied them, and made the Church to cry to God with sighs and sobs,  


k Psal. 79.2.  The bodies of thy Saints most dear,  
Abroad to birds they cast:  
The flesh of such as do thee fear,  
The beasts devour and waste?   
When as these carrion-eater-harpies were rejoicing over them, and making merry, and sending gifts one to another; as questionless the chief Priests, the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Elders of the jews, and the whole people did, after they had crucified and reviled most shamefully the Lord of glory, the Saviour of the Church, the Immanuel our Lord jesus Christ. What Psalms, think ye, are now sung in the Palatinate, and in the Churches of France? Surely the forty four, the seventy four, the seventy nine, the fourscore, and others; where, amongst many more complaints, they pour forth of a sad and broken heart, with trembling words and many tears, into God's bosom, this heavy, but too true moan;  

Unto our neighbours thou hast made  
Of us a laughing stock,  
And they that round about us dwell,  
At us do grin and mock.  
Thus we serve for none other use,  
But for a common talk:  
They mock, they scorn, they nod their heads,  
Where ever they go or walk.   
So is verified not only that which Solomon saith, that 
l Eccl 8.14.  there be inst men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; but also that which David saith in my text, Many are the Evils of the righteous.  
iv For as the devil tempted Christ eftsoons, and gave him no respite, stirring up against him all kind of enemies, until he nailed him upon the cross; even so, he letteth never Christ's members alone, but bringeth evils upon them, one on the neck of another, and ever contriveth against them some new mischief, watching heedfully now to harm them, when they look for some slackening. Thence is this pitiful lamentation of the Church, 
m Psal. 129.3.  The Plowers ploughed upon my back: they made long their furrows: 
n Psal. 44.22.  For thy sake we are killed all the day long. Thence is this wailful plaint of every righteous man, 
o Psal. 7.14  All the day long I have been beaten, and my chastisement returned every day: So that not only in diversity, and hugeness, but also in continuance, from the first day of the righteous man's spiritual birth, unto the last gasp of his mortal life, Many are the Evils of the righteous.  
V They must be many; for many lay their heads together to devise them: which, as it is said by the Prophet Micah, 
p Mi●h. 2.2.  forge iniquitiein their beds: and when the morning is light, they practise it; because they have power to do it in their hands. The Spirit which inspires them, is the devil, the spoiler of all good, architect and master of all evil; who 
q 1 Pet. 5.8.  as a roaring Lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. He breathes into the unrighteous men's hearts all kinds of devices and tricks against the righteous man. Thence it is, that 
r Psal. 37.12, 14, 32.  the wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth: The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bend their bow to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be upright in their way: The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. Thence it is, that 
s Psal. 2.1, 2, 3.  the heathen rage, the people imagine vain things, the Kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed: saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us: 
t Psal. 1.2  For lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon their string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. David was but one man: and he complaineth, that 
u Psal. 119 157.  his persecuters and enemies were many: yea so many, that he was amazed at it, and cried to God with astonishment, 
x Psal. 3.1.  Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Of what nation were they? 
y Psal. 118 10.  All nations, saith he, compassed me about.  
Had David alone so many enemies? It is no wonder then, if the Church wherein there are many Davids, maketh her prayer with this heavy complaint to God, 
a Psal. 83.1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  Keep not thou silence, O God, hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God: for lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee, have lift up their heads: They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones: They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance: for they consulted together with one consent, they are confederate against thee. What men are these which dare attempt matters so high and impossible? 
b v. 6, 7, 8.  The Tabernacles of Edom, of the Ishmaelites, of Moab, of the Hagarens: Gebal and Ammon, and Amaleck: The Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre: Assur also is joined with them: they have helped the children of Lot: All alike enemies to God's people; and yet some of them the Idumeans, Ishmaelites, Moabites, Ammonits, kinsmen to God's people: the Idumeans, the nearest, & withal the most malicious and cruel of all; who not being able of themselves, to do any harm to the Church, joined with the Babylonians, who besieged jerusalem and as if they had been Trumpets to sound the Alarm, heartened them: crying, 
c Psal. 37 7.  Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof.  
VI Such hath ever been the condition both of every righteous man, whose abode is 
d Ezec. 2 6  with briers, thorns, and scorpions; and of the whole Church, which is 
c Cane. 2.2.  as the lily among the thorns. 
f Pro. 17.17  A friend loveth at all times, and he shall be borne as a brother in adversity. The righteous man findeth seldom such friends: kinsmen and friends, who should love and protect him, are either the first to procure unto him all kind of mischief; or behold his adversity, as if they were fremm bodies. And, which is worthy your observation, they which have or challenge to themselves the title and right of the eldest and first borne, have ever persecuted their youngers, because they were their betters.  
Was it not 
g 1. joh. 3.12.  Cain the first borne, who murdered his innocent brother Abel? 
h Gal. 4.29  Ishmael, borne after the flesh, persecuted he not Isaac, who was borne after the spirit? 
i Gen. 27.41.  Esau, hated he not his younger brother jacob? and was not this his vow, I will slay my brother jacob? This hatred, was it not propagated to all their progeny? Had ever the Israelites, descended of jacob, more fierce and mischievous enemies than the viperous brood of Esau? As soon as David was anointed King over Israel, 
k 1. Sam. 17.28.  Eliab his elder brother envied him: the 
l 1. Sam. 23.19.  Ziphims, men of his own Tribe, treacherously betrayed him: 
m 1. Sam. 22.3, 4.  Neither could he find any place of refuge for his father and mother in all Israel, but was constrained to seek a safeguard for them in Moab. He is no sooner peaceable in his kingdom, 
n 2. Sam. 15.13, 31.  but his own son seeks his life; but Achitophel, his governor, his familiar, who was privy to all his secrets, secondeth the Parricide with his pernicious counsel; but the whole people followed their deadly attempts. 
o 2. Chro. 13.8. etc.  The ten Tribes, after their revolt from God and from the King, challenged to themselves the glorious title of Israel, and under that name which before was common to the twelve, persecuted the other two; which retaining the purity of God's service, were constrained to discern themselves from these Apostates by the new name of jowes. When jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, 
p Lam. 1.2.  She wept sore in the night, and her tears were on her cheeks: among all her lovers she had none to comfort her; all her friends dealt treacherously with her: they were become her enemies; Ye hear Christ's spouse complaining in the song of Solomon: 
q Cant. 1.6  My mother's children were angry with me: They made me the keeper of the vineyard, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. 
r Cant. 5.7.  the watch men that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my vitile from me.  
VII. Christ cometh no sooner into the world, but 
s Mat. 2.16  Herod seeketh to make him away, and for his sake slayeth all the children of Bethlehem; yea, he laid violent hands on his own son, borne of a woman of the Tribe of juda: and therefore Augustus Caesar said, that, It was safer to be Herod's pork, than his son. 
t Mat. 14.10  Herod Antipas, the beheader of john the Baptist, 
v Luk. 23.11  mocked him, and sent him again to Pilate, who condemned him. The whole people of the jews, who should have adored him, cried, 
x john 19.6, 15.  Away with him: crucify him, crucify bum. If ye seek the first Actors of this Tragedy, ye shall find, that the Pharisees were the first who 
y Mat. 12.14.  took counsel against him, how they might destroy him; that 
a Mat. 21.15.  the chief Priests & Scribes envied him; 
b Mat. 26.3  that they assembled together, with the Elders of the people, unto the Palace of the Highpriest, who was called Caiphas, and consulted to kill him; 
c ver. 65, 66  that the Highpriest condemned him of blasphemy; that all together they pronounced him to be guilty of death, 
d Mat. 27.2, 12, 20.  delivered him to Pontius Pilate the Governor, accused him, persuaded the people that they should ask Barrabas, and destroy jesus. So was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalms; 
c Psal. 118.22.  The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. 
f john 7.5.  His own brethren not only believed not in him, but also 
g Mar. 3 21  they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself. Likewise 
h Mat. 26.23.  one of his own Disciples, who dipped his hand in the dish with him, betrayed him. And therefore john saith, that 
i john 1.23  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.  
VIII. Look what entertainment the Master received of his own, the same received his disciples, not of the lees of the people only, but also of those which sat at the rudder, and held the stern of the commonwealth and of the Church. Christ foretold it should be so, saying, 
k Mat. 10.17, 18.  Beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the Counsels, and they will scourge you in their Synagogues: And ye shall be brought before Governors and Kings for my sake. The first and most violent enemies which they found, were they 
l Rev. 3.9  which said they were jews, and were not; but the Synagogue of Satan: Their Ringleaders were the 
m Acts 4.1 Acts 5.17, 24, 40.  Highpriest, with all the rest of the Priests, the Captain of the Temple, the Sadducees and Pharisees. Wheresoever the Apostles came, that cursed Nation egged against them all kind of folks; 
n Act. 13.50.  devout and honourable women, the chief men of cities, 
o Acts 14 19  the whole people. As 
p 2 Thes. 2.15, 16.  they both killed the Lord jesus, and their own Prophets; so, saith the Apostle, have they persecuted us: They please not GOD, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved.  
Had the Church at that time no other persecuters? The Churches of the Gentiles 
q verse 14  suffered like things of their own countrymen. At 
r 2 Cor. 11 32.  Damascus, the Governor under Aretas the King, sought to apprehend Paul. At 
s Acts 17.5  Thessalonica, all the lewd fellows of the base sort, made an uproar against him. At 
t Acts 16.19.  Philippi, the Masters of the Pythonissa, seeing the hope of their gain gone, because Paul had cast the spirit of divination out of her, egged the Magistrates against him and Silas. At 
v Acts 19.24.  Ephesus, Demetrius the Silver-smith, for a like cause, raised no small stir against him. 
x Acts 24.1  Tertullus the Orator accused him. 
y 2 Tim. 4 14.  Alexander the Coppersmith did him much evil. At Rome he was presented before the bloody Tyrant Nero, whom he calleth 
a ver. 16.17  a Lion: Then no man stood with him, but all men forsook him: Then his friends abandoned him, and the Tyrant put him to death. What the rest of the Apostles suffered by false brethren and open enemies, ye may read in the Acts, and in their lives.  
IX. What the Church was to suffer after them by 
b Rev. 11.7  the Beast fight against the Saints, and killing them; by the Whore of Babylon, 
c Rev. 17.4, 6.  drunken with the blood of the Saints, and of the Martyrs of jesus; by 
d Rev. 20.8.  Gog and Magog, compassing about the beloved city; S. joh. hath foretold in the Revelation. What our Fathers, what we have suffered, not of the Turks, Persians, Tartarians, Americans, and other sworn enemies of Christian Religion, but of those bloody butchers which call themselves Catholics; the heavens have seen; the earth, which hath drunk up our blood, can speak; the murderers, which have shed it, can bear record; our own experience can best of all testify. What policy, what craft hath been practised to undermine and wholly undo us by our own brethren, of our own kindred, family, religion, hardly would ye believe, if I should tell it. Christ's prediction hath been accomplished: 
e Luke 21.16.  Ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death, and ye shall be hated of all men for my Names sake. Our brethren have sold us for money, as flesh is sold at the shambles; and we have been less regarded than slaves by those which bought us: whose humanity, like Dracon's Laws, is printed in all Christendom with our Fathers and our blood; and whose affection and loyalty towards us, is written upon the running waters. What wonder then, if, among so many professed enemies and cunning traitors, Many are the Evils of the righteous?  
X. The Righteous, considering how he is thus besieged on all sides, and hurried in all fashions by foes and friends, is often overtaken with divers thoughts and surmises, more dangerous than all the external Evils which may befall unto him. Worldlings judge of God's favour to men, by their prosperity; and of his hatred towards them, by their adversity. When Abimelech King of Gerar saw Abraham thrive, he said unto him, 
f Gen. 21.22.  God is with thee in all that thou dost. What he said, was true; but the ground whereupon he built it, was sand: for, 
g Luke 16.19, 20.  the rich Glutton in the Gospel thrived; and Lazarus, who was laid at his gate full of sores, thrived not; yet that glutton is in hell, because God was not with him: and Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom, because God was with him. The Scribes and Pharisees, evil Doctors of the good Law, concluded, 
h Mat. 27.41, 42.  That God was not with Christ, because he delivered him not from the cross. The righteous man himself, when his affliction is long and heavy, taketh like conclusions against himself. When the Angel of the Lord said to Gideon, 
i judg. 6.12, 13.  The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour: Gideon answered, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? The Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Ye read jobs complaints; 
k job 6.4.  The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me: He teareth me in his wrath, 
l job 16.9  he hateth me, he gnasheth upon me with his teeth, 
m job 19.11.  and he counteth me unto him, as one of his enemies. Ye hear David crying out pitifully, 
n Psal. 22.  My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so fare from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? jeremiah bemoaned the state of the Church after the same manner, 
o Lam. ●. 20.  Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? And now in the Palatinate, and now in France, do not all the faithful mourn and cry; do we not cry with them, and for them, O Lord how long?  
The wicked, when God crosses them in their desires and projects, are accustomed to say; 
p Mal. 3.14, 14.  It is in vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of boasts? And now we call the proud happy: yea, they that work, wickedness, are set up; yea, they that tempt God. ●e even delivered: The righteous Asaph held the ●●me speech in his great affliction, and said, 
q Psal. 73.13.  Verily 〈◊〉 have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands 〈◊〉 innocence.  
Moreover, these internal ●●lls take such hold of the righteous man, that he will bring God's word, which he hath believed, in question, doubt whether it be true; if the Religion which he professeth, be of God; if the cause which he sustaineth, and for which he doth undergo so many evils, be good: for if it be good, if it be of God, why doth he not uphold it? David being brought to his wit's end, and even to the pits brink by Saul, deemed that God's Prophets had deceived him, and said, 
r Psal. 116.11.  All men are liars. What greater evil, I pray you, can befall a Christian man, than to bring in controversy God's providence, and the perpetual care which he hath of his Church? than to think that godliness, which he hath sucked with his mother's milk, is but a fable, a dream, an invention of man? than to imagine that hitherto he hath embraced a shadow for the body, hath sought the truth in a lie, hath esteemed vanity and wind, to be God's word? than to frame such conceits against the honour of God, and his own salvation?  
If such doubts come not in his mind; if he believe that the religion which he professeth, is from above, that 
s Psal 34.15.  the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry; that light, peace, joy, salvation is sown for the upright man; it seems unto him, that he is none of that number: and gathering out of the store and greatness of his evils, most dangerous presumptions, he pronounceth against himself, That he hath been an Hypocrite, a vile reprobate, and castaway. I know that such perplexities are but short symptoms to the righteous man, whereof he recovereth by the powerful assistance of God's Spirit; when as they are deadly convulsions to the wicked, and woeful prefaces to a doleful Tragedy, which they shall everlastingly act, and nev●r end: yet howsoever they be short, they are sensible, and lie so heavy upon the wearied soul of the righteous m●n that in comparison, his outward evils seem unto him ●●ter than a feather, wherewith the wind playeth in the air. So I have showed you, that both by external grievances, and internal griefs, Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
XI. Now the righteous man may say to the wicked, as David said to Saul, 
t 1. Sam. 24.11.  Know thou and see, that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it; and as 
v Dan. 6.22  Daniel said to Darius, who had cast him into the Lion's den; Before thee, O King, I have done no hurt. For although it pertained to Christ alone, to say to his adversaries; 
x joh. 8.46.  Which of you convinceth me of sin? yet all the righteous men may say of their persecuters, that which David said of his enemies, 
y Psal. 35.7.  Without cause have they hid for me their not in a pit: without cause they have digged for my soul. And when they pray, they fear not to protest of their innocence in that hehalfe, and to say to God; 
a Psal. 58.3, 4.  They lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord: They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.  
The rule of the righteous man's life, is Christ's commandment and example. His commandment is, 
b Mat. 5.39, 42, 44.  Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also, etc. Give to him that asketh thee: Love your enemies, bless them that curse, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. The same commandment he gave by his Apostle, saying: 
c Rom. 12.21.  Be not overcome of evil; but overcome evil with good. What he commanded, that he practised in his life: 
d 1. Pet. 2.21, 22, 23.  He suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again: when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Yea, not only he did them no harm, but also he did them all kind of good: He went about all judea, teaching the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven, healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people, made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk; cleansed the lepers, raised up the dead, fed, by the miraculous multiplication of bread, at divers times, many thousand souls; restored the ear to Malcus, which came to take him, prayed for those which crucified him; and therefore asked of his enemies, who took up stones to throw at him: 
e joh. 10.32  Many good works have I shown you from my Father: for which of those works do you stone me?  
What ill did the Apostles, wherefore they should be used so cruelly? They went through the whole world, converting men from darkness unto the marvelous light of the Gospel, and did so many wonders amongst the people, that thence 
f Act. 14.11  some Idolaters took occasion to worship them; but the jews, to persuade the people to stone them. 
g 1. Cor. 4.11, 12.  Being reviled, they blessed; being persecuted, they suffered it; being defamed, they entreated. Much good did they to many: ill they did to none.  
Read more ancient examples of 
h Gen. 13.8.  Abraham, yielding for peace-sake to his Nephew Lot; of 
i Gen. 49.5, 6, 7.  jacob, cursing his own sons, Simeon and Levi for their bloody anger against the Sichemites, though having a goodly show of righteous vengeance; of 
k 1. Sam. 25 7, 8.15, 16.  David, leading with his soldiers a most innocent life amongst Nabals' herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep; sparing saul's life, who sought his, and bringing him to this true confession, 
l 1. Sam. 24.17.  Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil; 
m Psal 38.12.  being as a deaf man, when his enemies spoke mischievous things against him, 
n Psal 35.12, 13.  clothing himself with sackcloth, humbling his soul with fasting, praying most affectuously, when his enemies, which rewarded him evil for good, were sick.  
If ye desire examples of the Christians carriage, during ten persecutions in the space of three hundred and odd years; 
o Tert. Apol. cap. 1. & 37  When the people invaded them, they resisted not; when the Magistrate condemned them, they gave thanks: when the dead bodies of their brethren and kinsmen were drawn out of the rest of their graves, were pulled away from the Sanctuary of death, they sought no revenge; albeit they were in greater number than their enemies, and might with a few little firebrands set on fire all the Towns, Boroughes, Villages, Castles of the Empire, if Christian Religion did not forbid all private men 
p Rom. 12.19.  to avenge themselves, because it is written; Vengeance is mine, I will repay it, saith the Lord. For this cause the holy Spirit often calleth the afflictions of the righteous, Sufferings: because they suffer the evil which is done unto them, but they do no evil to any man: whereunto also Christ hath bound them, when he callth than 
q Mat. 10.26.  Sheep; insnuating, that they should be sheep in simplicity, to never think any evil; in innocence, to never do any evil; in patience, to bear all evils meekly without grudging and murmuring; in utility and commodity, to feed with their milk, to  with their wool whosoever stands in need of their help, to do ill unto no man, 
r Gal. 6.10.  to do good unto all men: especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Alas, alas! the number of such sheep, of such righteous men, how rare is it? how many suffer not 
s 1. Pet. 3.17. 1 Pet. 4.29.  for well doing, as Christians and righteous men: but for evil doing, as murderers, thiefs, robbers, and ravenous wolves, rather than sheep? (how many cannot abide to suffer, but thinking it a shame to pack up an injury, will needs be avenged of their enemies? how many do seek to defend the Gospel against persecuters, by burning, kill, murdering, filling the house of innocent peasants, of poor country folks, with orbity, desolation, and mourning? intending to cure one sin with another sin, taking the way of hell to go to heaven, and thinking to defend the Gospel by unlawful means. which the Gospel hath condemned. For it is not he which suffereth evil, but he which doth it, that sinneth; And therefore the true righteous man is ever a patiented, not an agent in evil; and the wicked not only have no cause wherefore they should hate him, but have, in his manifold good deeds, a good cause wherefore they should love him: and yet not withstanding his innocent and good carriage, Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
XII. Sometimes many, blindfolded with ignorance, deem that the righteous man is the most unrighteous that liveth in the world, and that God's dearest servants are his greatest enemies: according to Christ saying; 
t joh. 16. 2●  The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth God service. Yet it befalleth often, that the authors of the righteous man's evils, cover their private quarrels, and mischievous attempts against him, with the cloak of justice. Paul said of himself truly, that 
v Phil. 3.6.  through zeal he had persecuted the Church, because 
x 1. Tim. 1.12.  he did it ignorantly in unbelief: And the jews answering to Christ, 
y joh. 10.33.  for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man, makest thyself God; believed verily that he was a blasphemer. Likewise the Gentiles, who persecuted the Christians, thought them to be enemies to mankind, whereas they shown themselves enemies 
a Tect Apol. cap. 37. hosts maluistis vocare generis humani potiùs quàm erroris numani.  to man's error, not to man's nature. Contrary, when 
b 1. Sam. 22.8.  Saul said, that his son had made a league with the son of jesse against him; 
c 2. Sam 15.3.  when Absalon accused his father that he was not careful to do justice; when the Scribes and Pharisees laid many crimes to Christ's charge; when the Guisards in the first and second troubles of France; when in these last troubles the Jesuits accused us, that we were plotting to set up a state in the state, a democracy in the Monarchy, they knew that they lied. But such is the force and glory of justice, and of righteousness, that the wicked, when they know they do wickedly, cloak their wicked courses against the righteous man with the glorious title of justice. Now whatsoever the persecuters think of their own proceed, the righteous man resteth upon his own innocence; knowing that there is not so great weight in the despiteful girds of venomous tongues, as in the testimony of his own conscience: and if he were admitted to make an Apology for himself, how easy a matter were it unto him to maintain his own innocence, and to show the falsehood of all the accusations, whereby he is made odious; and the manifest vanity of the most part of them?  
XIII. It was a vain accusation to impute unto Christians the cause of pestilence, of famine, of wars, of breaking out of waters, of the decaying of all things, hath waxed old; 
d Cypr. ad Demetrianum.  as if any such plague had never been in the world before Christ was named in it: as if old men might not, with as good reason, move a process against us; because they hear not, see not, pace not so well, are not so nimble, so quick, so bigge-membred, so strong as when they were young; because their decaying age is not so green and lively as their fathers was; because also they live not so long as their fathers did, and extend not the days of an healthful life to seven, eight, nine hundred, and so many odd years, which were the ordinary days of men's lives in the first age of the world. And why may not he, who is tormented with the gout in his joints, racked with the gravel in his kidneys, tortured with the stone in his bladder; or he who melteth drop after drop by a languishing consumption; he who is made one of the forked order by his wife; he whose son is made, for his lewd like, the decking of a gallows, etc. cry out against us, A faggot for the Huguenauts, a heap of wood to burn the Parpaillants? as the ancient Idolaters, and forefathers of the new Idolaters of this time, were wont to cry against our predecessors, The Christians to the Lyon.  
XIV. Let our enemies be our judges: when they have received all manner of accusations against us, when we are arraigned as enemies to God, to the high Powers, to the Laws, to good manners, to nature itself; 
c Tert Apologetico, cap. 2.  why are we used other ways than all other guilty persons are?  
1. It is permitted to all others which are arraigned, to speak in their own defence whatsoever they can or may; or if they cannot speak, to hire the mercenary tongue of some Lawyer, who without any suspicious of crime may answer, contradict, say whatsoever he thinketh fittest for the commendation of the innocence of his Client, though known to be guilty, and worthy of death: for the Laws will not suffer, that any man should be condemned, not heard, and without a free defence. We are the only men whose mouths are shut, and often gagged, for fear that we speak too clearly: They will not have us to speak, because they are resolved to condemn us; knowing, that if we speak, our innocence will shine like the beams of the Sun in a fair summer day, and they cannot choose but absolve us.  
2. Though he who is arraigned, take the crime upon him, he is not, upon his simple confession, sent to the gallows; but the judge knowing that there are many perire volentes, who desire to die, to clear his own conscience, inquireth diligently of the antecedents, the consequents, the place, the time, the manner, the complices and partakers, and all other qualities and circumstances of the fact. There is no such inquiry made for or against us; wherein we have offended the high Powers, where and when we pat out the candles, how many Virgins we have defiled, with which of our kinswomen we have committed incest: we are called Huguenauts, which to our judges, without further inquisition, is a name and proving of all crimes.  
3. All other criminals if they deny, are tortured until they confess: The end of racking is to wring out confession. If it be prevented by confession, it hath no use: when it hath extorted confession, it ceaseth. Amongst Tyrant's only, racking is a punishment: we confess freely what we are, we tell our judges that we are reform Christians, or as ye speak here, Protestants: we speak the truth, and lie not. Our judges will not hear what we are: they will have us lie, and to confess what we are not. Therefore they rack us, to make us deny. If other criminals deny, they believe them not: if we deny ourselves to be Protestants, if we lie falsely, and say we are Rome Catholics, they beleeve us.  
4. There is no judge unpartial, which desireth to absolve other malefactors; and therefore they are not constrained to deny, but racked until they confess, that they may be condemned: we only are forced to deny, that we may be absolved: when we speak the truth, and confess what we are, we are put to death: when yielding to their violence, we fain, and deny our Religion, not only they suffer us to live, but also they reward us for our lying. Art thou and Huguenaut? Yea: Rack him. Art thou an Huguenaut? Alas, no, no. Hangman unbind him, let him go; he is an honest man, and must be recompensed. Whereby it is most evident, that we are clean of all crimes laid to our charge, except our judges will confess, that in our persons, when we deny our Religion, they punish not high treason, adulteries, incests, murder, and a great many more crimes, whereof we are daily accused. If that were iniquity against the common wealth, and the State, they must needs grant that we are guilty of our Religion only, or rather of the only name thereof. For it is condemned when it is not known; when it is known, it is embraced: And therefore our Persecuters will not know it, because they will condemn it; perceiving that all those which have condemned it, when they knew it not, have ceased to condemn it, yea professed and protected it, when they knew it.  
5. The Emperor Traian, well informed of the innocence of Christians, sent to 
f Plin. Secundus epist. lib. 10. Epist. 103. & 104. Conquirendi non sunt: Si deferantur, & arguaentur, puniendi sunt.  Plinius Secundus Governor of Bythinia, after this manner; They must not be searched: if they be appeached and accused, they must be punished. 
g Tert. Apol. cap. 2. O sententiam necessuate confusam! etc.  O sentence confused with contradiction! he forbiddeth to search them as innocent, he commandeth to punish them as guilty; he spareth and rageth; he dissembleth, and punisheth: If they be guilty, why are they not searched? If they be innocent, why are they punished? How many such decrees have been given out against us? how many Edicts of pacification have been made with us, as with honest men? and forthwith how many fires kindled, swords sharpened, gallows prepared against us, as against malefactors? Yesterday we were the stay and props of the State, and must be cherished: This day we are the plague and undoing of the State, and must be killed: Though we are this day, as we were yesterday; except that we strive ever to be better, and shun to decay in goodness, or to grow worse. But so it was from the beginning, so it is, so it shall be until the end of the world, that Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
XV. Not so, may some say: we that live here in a peaceable and blessed nation, and who, as we hope, are righteous men, have no evils, being guarded and hedged round about with God's bountiful and merciful protection, through the daily care of our peaceable and most Religious King. It is true, wellbeloved, that 
h Psal. 125.3.  the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous: lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity; Your fathers had the evils, and ye possess the good things of the land: But will ye say, against yourselves, that ye are of the number of these belly-gods, which eating, drinking, dancing, and spending merrily the short days of their brittle life, 
i Amos 6.6.  are not grieved with the affliction of josepht's God forbidden, that ye should speak so unnaturally, and so falsely against your own souls.  
Is it not written, 
i Rom. 12.15.  Weep with them that weep: 
k Heb. 13.3  Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them: and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body? Have ye not read of 
l Nehem. 1.3, 4. Nehe. 2.2.  Nehemiah, that understanding the great affliction and reproach, wherein the jews lived after their return to jerusalem, he wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed with such sorrow of heart, that his countenance was very sad in the King's presence, with whom he had great credit and favour? Ye know that the Apostle writeth to the Hebrews, and of them, that 
m Heb. 10.32, 33.  they endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst they were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst they became companions of them that were so used. Know you not also that Saint Paul said, Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? This is a great evidence and demonstration of the Communion of the Saints.  
And who have given more evident demonstrations of a true sympathy, and fellow-feeling of the miseries of your brethren beyond Seas, than you? Have ye not wept? have ye not mourned? have ye not fasted? have ye not prayed to God for them? have ye not opened your bowels, and purses unto them? have ye not been much moved for their adversity? have ye not, not only according to your power, but also above your power, relieved their necessity? Every oppression which they suffer, when it cometh to your ears, is it not a rack unto you? As many oppressions, are they not as many tortures to your vexed souls? What doth this whole Island desire with sighs and sobs, but to be at war with Christ's enemies, which oppress them, that is to say, to spend lives and goods for their relief? Because, as Constantius, father of Constantine the Great, first deliverer of the Christian Religion from the bloody persecutions of Tyrants, came from great Britanne; so it seemeth by the holy, vehement, and constant affection which God hath put in all the people's hearts of this most flourishing Island, towards their afflicted brethren beyond Seas, that he hath ordained that delivetie shall come to them from us: In the mean time, in what grief, in what anguish, in what perplexities, and vexation of mind are ye not? what rivers of tears do ye not still pour out before God? what ejaculations? what prayers, and how fervent do ye not dart towards the heavens for them? Then in you also is fulfilled this most true saying, Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
XVI. Thank God with heart and mouth for this long and blessed peace wherein ye live; bless him for his bountiful mercy, whereby ye hear, and see not; ye feel the affliction of joseph, and suffer not any in your own persons, and are enabled to secure Christ's distressed members which have no hope, after God, but in the Churches of this Island. Pray to God for the King, by whose care ye enjoy this blessedness: Pray for the increasing of our godly, courageous, and hopeful Prince in all Christian, Princely, and Majestical gifts: Pray for the flourishing peace of this State, that in the ne●ce thereof ye may have peace: so If I forget thee O jerusalem, let my right hand forget itself. 
n Psal. 137.5, 6.  If I do not remember thee, let my torgue cle●ve to the 〈◊〉 of my mouth▪ If I prefer not jerusalem above my chief joy: O weep, and pray unto God for his Church, and be not unthankful for his gifts: be subject to the King, and to the Prince, be faithful to the S●●●● be obedient and loving to your teachers, be innocent in your callings, be modest in your behaviour, be more and more bountiful to the poor: so the King of Kings, so the God of peace, so the Spouse of the Church, so the Protector of Monarchies, so the father of the poor, shall bless you, shield you, and remain with you for ever. So be it; even so be it.   

SERMON iv Of the causes of the righteous man's Evils.  PSALM XXXIV. XIX. 
Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
1. A All the Evils of the Righteous man, and of the Church, are foretold in the Scriptures.  
2. The cause of the righteous man's evils, is the Antipathy which is between him and the wicked.  
3. As soon as a man gins to serve God, he is persecuted.  
4. Satan is most incensed against those which have some special charge in the State, or in the Church.  
5. Christ forewarneth us of persecutions, that we may wait for them; knowing that they are the way to heaven.  
6. It is strange, that God not only suffereth the righteous man to have so many evils, but also will be called the author of them all.  
7. God doth it for the righteous man's sake, for other men's sakes, for his own sake.  
8. He correcteth the righteous man of his former sins.  
9 He withdraweth him from sin in time to come;  
10. And therewith tryeth him.  
11. Often, without any regard to sin, his only end is to try him:  
12. As it is proved by the examples of job,  
13. Of the spouse in the Canticles,  
14. And of Saint Paul.  
15. Great trial of the Churches of the Palatinat, and of France.  
16. Moreover afflictions are the exercise of the righteous man's Faith, Meekness, Charity, Patience, Prayers, Hope.  
17. And wonderful constancy.  
18. Difference betweens the Righteous man, and the Hypocrite.  
19 Prayer.  
I. THE manifold Evils which are incident to God's dear ones, howsoever they be so extreme, that they are sometimes driven by them upon the brim of the sleep downfall of despairing; yet this consideration, me thinks, is forcible, and most able to blunt the sharpest edge of most vehement sorrows, to sweeten their gall, to assuage their violence, and make their seeming intolerable heaviness, easy to be borne: that they come not at unawares, and unlooked for; but, if we have ears to hear, and eyes to see, may be both foreknown, and foreseen.  
Surely our Lord jesus Christ was no sooner presented to the Lord in the Temple, but Simeon prophesied of him, that 
a Luk. 2.34  he was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. And Christ himself foretold his Disciples, that 
b Mat. 10.16, 17, 18.  he sent them forth as sheep in the midst of Wolves. that they should be delivered up to the Counsels, scourged in the Synagogues, brought before Governors and Kings for his sake: yea, 
c joh 16.2  that whosoever killed them, should think that he did God service. Neither speaketh he of his Apostles only, which were then present to hear his words, but in the parable of the marriage of the King's son, he forewarneth all his servants, which he is to send forth to call men to the wedding, that 
d Mat. 22.6  they shall be entreated spitefully, and slain: And compareth his Church, which is the Congregation of righteous men, 
e Mat. 7.25  to an house builded upon the rock, which is storme-beaten with the floods of crosses, and winds of persecutions.  
Therefore the holy Apostles exhorted the Disciples to continue in the faith, showing them, that 
f Act. 14.22.  we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Which we? All righteous men, all true Christians: for gall that will live godly in jesus Christ, shall suffer persecution. 
g 2. Tim. 3.12.  The Lord himself showeth for what end such things are foretold us, saying, 
h joh. 16.4  These things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them: for lest we should be overtaken with afflictions, he advertiseth us that they shall come, and therefore adviseth us to look for them; that forecasting and expecting them, we may be upon our guard, & according to the exhortation of the Apostle, 
i Eph. 6.13.  take unto us the whole armour of God, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having overcome all, stand still, like the rock in the sea, which all the foaming waves of the Ocean, all the thundering tempests of the air, all the spite and might of all the elements cannot shake. When poverty, orbity, shameful and smarting diseases, when all kind of mischiefs rushed upon job, with such sudddainesse, that he had no leisure to hear and consider the particulars of any one of them, how could he have worshipped God, how could he have said, 
k job 1.21.  The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord; if, when he was at ease, he had not exercised himself, with the conceit of all evils which are incident to man? if he had not harped often upon this meditation; God may deprive thee of all thy children, bring thee to leanness of teeth, pull away thy soul from thy body? he hath done so to many other; why not to thee? Nothing, in my opinion, made Paul more forward to suffer afflictions, more bold to resist them, more strong to overcome them, than the forewarnings 
l Act. 20.23.  which the Holy Ghost gave him, that in every city bonds and afflictions waited for him. All they waited for him, he waited for them: and when they they thought to steal upon him, they found him ready to buckle with them, and lend them his neck.  
Brethren, jesus Christ hath not deceived us; he hath not made to his Disciples stately and lofty promises of riches, of honours, of worldly preferments, as Cyrus the younger did to his followers: ye hear him speaking aloud, 
m Luk. 14.16, 27.  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my Disciple: and whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my Disciple. What the Lord hath foretold, experience hath made good: 
n Rev. 6.  At the opening of every seal of the sealed book, which is the Gospel of our Lord jesus Christ, john saw some new plague follow thereupon; and we see nothing round about us, in foreign countries where that book is unsealed, but wars, but dearth, but death, but all kind of miseries. Consider then, I pray you, & weigh well upon what conditions ye have mustered among the companies of Christ's soldiers; where your pay is loss of all your goods, your gain is death, your victory is not of things seen, your triumph is disgrace, infamy, and shame. For if 
o Luk. 14.33.  ye forsake not all that ye have, goods, life, honours, dignities, ye cannot be Christ's Disciples,  
II. Look what antipathy, what contrariety of humours is in nature betwixt plants and plants; as betwixt the Vine and the Colewort; betwixt the Colewort, and the Herb grace: betwixt the plants and beasts; as betwixt the Serpent, and the Ash-tree, the serpent and the Rue: betwixt beasts and beasts; as betwixt the Cat and the Mouse, betwixt the Wolf and the sheep: betwixt man and beasts; as betwixt the serpent and man: the like disagreement, and fare greater, is betwixt the righteous and the wicked man: for 
p Pro. 29.27.  an unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way, is abomination to the wicked. These contrary inclinations had their beginning with the world, and shall not have an end until the world's end. God is justice, and righteousness itself; and the devil professed enmity against him from the beginning. What wonder then if he be an enemy to the righteous man, who is but God's creature? As soon as man was created, he seduced and supplanted him. Then God proclaimed unreconcilable war between them, saying to the devil, who was shrouded under the shape of a serpent; 
q Gen 3.15.  I will put enmity between thee and the woman: and between thy seed, and her seed: It shall bruise thy head; and thou shalt bruise his heel. The serpent's seed, is the brood of wicked men, which have been from the beginning, namely, those which persecute the Gospel. The seed of the woman, is our Lord jesus Christ, with the whole band of righteous men. john saw a battle in heaven: 
r Rev. 12.17  Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his Angels. jesus Christ, who only is this Michael, because he only is like unto God, and his Angels and Saints, fought against the devil, and all the hellish rabble of wicked men, and of devil's like unto himself.  
There is no manifest cause known of the Antipathies and contrariety of dispositions which are in nature: but the causes of disagreement between the righteous and unrighteous man, are known. They flow from contrary springs; and therefore their affections, their actions, their effects, their ends are contrary. Are not God and the devil enemies? The wicked man 
s 1. joh. 3.8  is of the devil: the righteous man 
t Ver 9  is borne of God. Hence it is, that the children bear out their father's quarrel: the wicked is hud-winked with ignorance: 
v joh. 16.3  He knoweth no the Father, nor the Son; neither will he know them: 
x Psal. 36.3.  he will not learn to be wise, that he may do good.  

y joh. 17.8.  The righteous man knoweth surely, that Christ is come out from the Father, and believeth that the Father hath sent him: 
a Rom 8 5  The wicked is after the flesh, and therefore he minds the things of the flesh The righteous being after the spirit, minds the things of the spirit: The wicked man's works are 
b Gal. 5.19, 20, 21.  the works of the flesh, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revile, and such like. The righteous man's works are 
c Ve. 22, 23  the fruits of the spirit, that is to wit, Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Where there is so great a contrariety and repugnancy of affections, of actions, of works; what wonder if there be great enmity? The righteous man is light in the Lord; and 
d joh. 3.20  every man that doth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be discovered: for that cause he hateth the righteous man, as the Pharisees hated jesus Christ, because he reproved them of their vices. The righteous man likewise hateth the wicked: 
e Psal. 139.21, 22.  Do I not hate them, O Lord, saith David, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. When heat and cold, moisture and drought, hardness and softness, light and darkness, shall leave off to be at variance; then, then shall the righteous and wicked man join hands, and enter into confederacy one with another: 
f 2. Cor. 6.14, 15, 16.  for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Beliall? and what part hath he that believeth with an Infidel? and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols? In this discord, there is this notable difference; that the righteous man hateth rather the vice, than the person of the wicked, and seeketh by prayers to God, by exhortations, admonitions, good examples, to convert him: whereas the wicked hateth both the virtues, and the person of the righteous, and seeketh to destroy him.  
III. From thence it is, that as soon as a man gins to apply his mind and heart unto righteousness, Satan and the wicked world conspire to undo him: for like as 
g Dan. 3.16, 17, 18.  Nabuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrac, Meshac, and Habednego, when to his face they refused to fall down, and worship the image which he had made, and commanded, that the furnace wherein they were to be cast, should be kindled seven times more than it was wont to be heat: even so, assoon as a man gins to draw his neck out of Satan's collar, to shun the company of wicked men, to draw near unto God by repentance and newness of life, and to register his name in the Church book, that he may be saved in the communion of the Saints; Satan sets all his malice on a flame to devour him, and the wicked rush upon him with bill and claw, to tear him in pieces. For as thiefs break not into an house where there is nothing but straw, hay, stubble; but only into such places where there is gold, silver, precious stones, and rich furniture: so the devil and his limbs heed not rascals, and scurvy fellows; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doth his will, they lie in wait secretly, as a Lion in his den, they hide the snare in his way, they crouch, they stoop to catch him into their net.  
As soon as Christ was borne, 
h Mat. 2.16  Herod became out of his wits, seeking to slay him; to teach us, that as soon as we become Christians by a spiritual birth, we shall not have want of Herod's to seek our lives. As soon as the 
i Rev. 12.3, etc.  red dragon saw the woman with child travelling in her birth, and ready to be delivered, he stood before her, that he might devour her child as soon as it was borne: but her child being caught up unto God, and she taking herself to her wings, to save her life by flying into the wilderness, he cast out of his mouth a flood of water to drown her. What was this vision but a type of the Church, against whom the devil stirreth up a world of wicked men, as so many waves of an overflowing river, to swallow her up, when after a long barrenness she conceiveth again, and brings forth children to God? Then ye hear nothing amongst those blood thirsty butchers, but crying, 
k jer. 11, 19  Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof: let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.  
iv Amongst the righteous men, Satan is most incensed against those whom God picks out from amongst the rest, & separates for some special and excellent work in the Church, or in the State. For as Pirates sail by Barks, and small ships, and board Carrackes, and other huge ships laden with the riches of the Orient: so Satan lieth in wait for those principally, on whom God hath bestowed greatest plenty of gifts, and preferred to the most eminent places in his Church. As long as jacob meddled with nothing at home, Esau lived peaceably with him: Sought he, and obtained he his father's blessing? then Esau vowed to kill him. Whilst jesus Christ led a private life, and made no show of those treasures of heavenly graces which were hid in him, the devil considered him not: but when the Spirit lighted upon him in the bodily shape of adove; when his Father's voice was heard from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; when by the Baptism of water, and of the Spirit, he was installed in the dignity and employment of Mediator betwixt God and man, than the devil heeded him, tempered him, set on foot against him as many enemies, as there were men which knew him When Saul was a Pharisee, exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers, and a persecuter of the Church, he was much regarded and honoured of the jews: but when of a Captain, he became an Apostle; of a violent Persecuter, a most zealous Preacher; of a jew, a Christian; of Saul, Paul; he became therewith a mark whereat the devil and his Angels did shoot all the venomous and fiery arrows of their indignation. What wonder then, if the devil, who hath ever his bow bend and ready, aimeth chief at the Rams and Leaders of Christ's flock? he knoweth by long experience, and too too many trials, that it is not written in vain, 
l Zac. 13.7. Mat. 26.31  I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.  
V Ye see then again, upon what condition ye are, and name yourselves Christians. 
m joh. 15.19,  If, saith Christ, ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the World, but I have chosen you out of the World, therefore the World hateth you. Tribulation, trouble, sorrow, grief, tears, all the evils that the devil's malice can find out, are the Christian man's portion in this world. His hopes are not of this life: for no reward is promised unto him, but in the world to come. As the birdcatcher casteth a little corn before the birds, and hideth the net wherewith he involves them; and as the fisher covereth the fish-hooke with the mortal bait, whereunto he knoweth the fish will speedily swim: so these which mind to deceive, promise always pleasant things; and like unto the sirens of the Poets, they sing most sweet songs to charm the simple ones, whom they go about to entrap; but the venom is in the tail, and he who listeneth unto them, is amazed to see how by too much credulity he hath been drawn upon the dangers, & is sunk among the shelves of stinging cares, and killing evils.  

n Gen. 3.4, 5.  The devil spoke of nothing to Eve, but of knowledge of good and evil, but of immortality, but of eternity of life, but of being like unto God himself: what-she found, ye know all; Ignorance, death, resemblance to the imposter who had deceived her, was the reward of the lightness of her belief. 
o Mat 4.8, 9  The Tempter showed to Christ all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and promised them all unto him, so that he would fall down and worship him. 
p Mat. 7.15.  The false Prophets come in sheep's clothing, that when opportunity shall serve; they may dismember the whole flock. The Papists, and other Heretics of this age, cover their deadly poison of false doctrine with the sugar of enticing words, and show to those which have not their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, a golden cup of most delightful and pleasant promises; which when they put to their head, they drink nothing but gall and wormwood.  
Father's do not so to their children: they send them to the school, give them Pedagogues and Tutors to instruct them, and hold them in awe; keep them under a most severe and rigorous discipline, until they come to man's age, and be able to do good service: Then, and no sooner, they look upon them with a clear face, they use them familiarly, they open to them their purses, they advance them to honours and dignities, they make them their heirs. After this manner, our heavenly Father at the beginning speaks to us most roughly of sorrows and vexations: he schools us in Christ's College, where afflictions are our Tutors, and rods our lessons: 
q Mat 7.14.  He forewarneth us, that the way wherein we are to walk, till we come to the pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore, is narrow, and spread over with thorns; that the gate whereby we must enter, if we desire to enter into the kingdom of his glory, is very straight and low: to the end that when we find such a way, wherein there is nothing but narrowness, grins, and briars, and such a gate wherein we cannot enter without pressing, thrusting, and stooping; we may say one to another, as it is written in the Prophet; 
r Isa. 30.21  This is the way, walk ye in it, whether ye turn to the right hand, and whether ye turn to the left; and concluding with rejoicing, as jacob did in his great affliction, 
s Gen. 8.17  This is the gate of heaven, pray and say with David, 
t Psal. 118.18, 19  Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them: I will praise the Lord: this is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.  
VI Flesh and blood cannot abstain from controlling of this wise and fatherly course, which Almighty God takes with his beloved children. It is a strange and most uncouth thing to man's conceit, that God not only permits, that his Saints which fear his Majesty, which do his will, which lead among men an Angelical life, and are heaven upon earth, should be thus exposed to so many calumnies, vexations, torments, losses, in commodities of this life, and most dangerous tentations; but also will be called the Author and cause of them all: for it is he, he himself, which asketh, 
v Amos 3 6.  Shall there be any evil in the city, and shall not the Lord do it? 
x Lam. 3.38.  Evil and good, proceed they not out of the mouth of the most High? May he not repress the raging fury of our adversaries? may he not convert them all, as he did Paul? If he will not convert them, may he not destroy them at unawares, as he did Pharaoh, and the Egyptians, Sodom, Gomorrha, Senacheribs' host? 
y Psal. 77.8, 9  Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?  
Who can blame us if we ask, why the holy Apostles which went through the whole world, sowing it with the seed of Christians, planting Churches, building living Temples to the living God, raising the dead, healing the sick, casting out devils, doing good to all men, ill to none, confirming their doctrine with signs, wonders, divers miracles, and distributions of the Holy Ghost, according to Gods own will; why such celestial, Angelical, and most wonderful men, were bound, imprisoned, scourged, set on pillories, mocked, abused, and cruelly murdered? Can they not have done better service to God being at liberty, than tied with cords in a dark and solitary prison? being alive, than dead? If it was fare better for them to departed, and to be with Christ; their longer abode in the flesh, was it not more needful for the Church, 
a Phil. 1.23, 24.  as the Apostle sayeth of himself? The perpetual care which they had of all the Churches, deserved it not a better entertainment? their innocent and fruitful life, was it not worthy of a more calm and quiet death, and of a more honourable end?  
Was it not more fit that the righteous job, 
b job 31.17, 18, 19, 20.  who called the fatherless to eat with him, who covered the nakedness of the poor, and warmed them with the fleece of his own sheep, should have remained owner and dispenser of his own goods, than the Sabeans & Chaldeans, who took them away for no good use? How many in the Palatinate, how many in France, were there like unto 
c Act. 9.36.  Tabytha, full of good works, and alms which they did, which have been stripped and spoilt of all their goods, and brought to the less blessed condition of ask and receiving! would not their goods have been better in their own hands, to distribute them to the poor, than in the hands of thiefs, of robbers, of soldiers, which play them at cards and dice, and waste them upon their lusts?  
This question is very difficult; Though the faithful know, that 
d jer. 12.1.  God is righteous, and that 
e job 33.13.  he giveth not account of all bis deeds, yet they plead with him, and often control his judgements. The weaker sort, seeing the righteous man beaten in pieces like a potsherd, are dismayed and scandalised. The dog. Atheists take occasion thereby to deny God's providence, and to flout poor Christians, ask of them, 
f Iust. Apologet. 1. Clement Stromat. lib. 4.  If God regards you, why suffer ye persecution? why are ye put to death? If ye answer, as some did in the primitive Church, that it is not God's will that we be persecuted, but that he hath foretold, by manner of prophecy, the things which we are to suffer, to prepare us to patience; ye shall find some julian who will tell you out of the Scriptures, that 
g Matt. 10.30.  the very hairs of your head are all numbered, and that one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.  
VII. 
h Ps. 77.13.  Thy way, O God, is in the Sanctuary: There we find, that 
i Deu. 32.4.  all his ways are judgement: that he is a God of truth, and without iniquity; that he is just and right: yea, that 
k Ps. 25.10  all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep his Covenant, and his Testimonies. Let us then enter into God's Sanctuary, and there we shall learn: or because we are already entered in his Sanctuary, and are here present before his Majesty in his holy Temple, to hear him speak in his own cause, let us learn of his own mouth, that he stirreth righteous men up and down, haileth them thorough the water, the fire, the swords, casteth them in a puddle of tribulations, out of which they find no issue, for their sake, for other men's sake, for his own sake: for their sake, because he will either correct, or wean, or try, or exercise, or honour them; for our sake, because he will instruct us: for his own sake, because he will show his justice in the correction, his wisdom in the direction, his strength in the erection and lifting up, his glory in the wonderful protection of his distrested Children.  
VIII. Many men are of a slavish and naughty disposition. 
l Pro. 29.19.  A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand, he will not answer: except the rod whizz upon his shoulders, he will not stir. A 
m Pro. 26.3.  whip for the horse, a halter for the ass, and a rod for the fools back. 
n Gen. 16.4.  Agar was proud in Abraham's house, she was brought low in the wilderness: Manasses was incorrigible so long as he was peaceable in jerusalem, but when he was bound with fetters, carried to Babylon, and cast into a dark prison, 
o 2. Chro. 33.11, 12.  he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers. Then was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalms, 
p Psal. 107.10, 11, 12, 13.  Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most high: Therefore he brought down their heart with labour: they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 
q Matth. 4.24, 25.  Those which were taken with divers diseases and torments, followed Christ to be healed: they that were whole, contemned him.  
The same befalls the most righteous, who often slumber, and, if they were not awaked by afflictions, should die in their sins. joseph's brethren never bethought themselves of their sin, until they were rudely used in Egypt: then they called unto mind their iniquity, and said one to another, 
r Gen. 42.21.  We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not be are: Therefore is this distress come upon us: So David said, 
s Psal 119.67.  Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. So 
t jon 1.5.  jonas slept profoundly in the ship; but 
v jon. 2.1.  he prayed in the fishes belly: for prosperity julls men asleep, but adversity rouzeth them up: Therefore God said of his people which had sinned against him, 
x Hos. 5.15.  I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: In their affliction they will seek me early. And Isaiah witnesseth of his time, that such whiskers whistled not in vain about the Church's ears, saying, 
y Isa. 26.16  Lord, in trouble they have remembered thee: they poured out their humble prayer when thy chastening was upon them. Look what the biting collyre is to the pin in the eyes, the scorching cauter to the headache and catharres, the sharp pricking of the Surgeon's launcet, & bitter physic to a continual fever, the Creuset and the fire to gold and silver; the same are afflictions to the righteous man's sins, which are a suffusion and web upon the eye of the mind, a theume choking God's Spirit, & suffocating the heart, the Pleurisy & pestilent fever of the soul, the dross & tin of all godly affections.  
So 
a Num. 12 1, 2, 10.  Miriam was healed of her pride by leprosy: So 
b 2. Sam. 12.11.  David learned to be chaste, by the incests of his own sons: so jonas learned obedience in the Whale's belly: So 
c Luk. 1.20.  Zacharias, by the loss of his speech, was cured of his incredulity, & taught, not to open his mouth in time to come, but to praise and bless the Lord his God: So the whole Church of juda 
d Lev. 26.4.  was humbled under the mighty hand of God; and, accepting of the punishment of her iniquity, learned to say with heart and mouth, 
e Micah 7.9.  I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him: So the Churches of France by these last troubles were brought low, and taught to walk in God's presence with fear and trembling: for howsoever they were innocent of the crime of rebellion laid to their charge; their vanity, their ambition, their pride, their filthy covetousness, their loathing of the Gospel, their security, was become so exceeding great, that God could not bear with them any longer: They trusted in their little paltry holds and forts, which they had raised as high as the clouds, and said not only in their hearts, as Edom did, but with their mouths also, 
f Obad. 3.  Who shall bring us down to the ground? The Lord heard the words of their pride, & in the turning of an hand, turned them topsie turvie; leaving only some ruins, as traces of his indignation, whereby their Children may know, that there dwelled their Fathers. Then we acknowledged, than we said, 
g Pro. 18.10.  The Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.  
For this cause, S. Peter calleth Persecutions 
h 1. Pet. 4.17.  Gods judgements: Christ calleth them 
i Rev. 3.19.  his chastisements: and S. Paul giveth the one and the other name to all kind of afflictions, saying that 
k 1. Cor. 11.31, 32.  If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged: But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. I say then, that the first cause of the righteous man's Evils, is his own sins; and their first end, is his correction and amendment.  
IX. Now he is not only guilty of sins past, for which he is chastised, but also he is prone to fall in sin again, as bearing in his breast the seed of all iniquity: Alas, Alas! 
l job 15.16.  how abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water! Therefore God, like an expert Physician, mingleth unto him a cup of afflictions, not only to cure him of former diseases, but also to preserve him from diseases to come. For tribulations are not only medicines, but also antidotes & preservatives against the poison of sin. They are bitter potions in taste, but they either restore or preserve health. 
m job 33.14, 15, 16, 17, 18.  Elihu saith in the book of job, that God speaketh once, yea twice: yet man perceiveth it not. He instructeth men by his word, he sendeth to them his servants once, twice, thrice, to advise them of their duty, and they yield not attention unto his admonitions: Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth his chastisement upon them: that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and drive away pride from man. So he keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword; seasoning him with the salt of afflictions, that he rot not.  
I will not enrol 
n Gen. 12.17.  Pharaoh king of Egypt, nor 
o Gen. 20.6, 7.  Abimelech, king of Gerar, among righteous men: yet when they would have sinned against God, by abusing Sara, Abraham's wife, God plagued them with so great plagues, that they were afraid to touch her. Surely David was a righteous man, and ye may perceive how in Absolems' rebellion against him, God gave him with one stone two blows: he chastised him for the murder and adultery which he had committed, and restrained him from sin for the time to come. The one and the other for his good, as he confessed, saying, 
p Psal. 119.73.  It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Who was more righteous than Paul? yet confessing his own infirmity, and acknowledging how he was by nature inclined to pride, he saith, that 
q 2. Cor. 12.7.  there was given to him a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure. This Angel of Satan was not the devil himself, but, as 
r Chrysost ibi, & Homil. 1. add popul. Antiochen.  Chrysostome esteemeth, wicked men inspired of the devil, such as was Alexander the Coppersmith, which did him much evil: such as were also the jews, the Gentiles, the Tyrants, and all Infidels, which persecuted him beyond all measure. This then is as if he had said, The Lord might stay all persecutions, and hand-fetter all those which vex me; but because I was caught up into Paradise, and heard there unspeakable words, and might have waxed proud thorough the excellency of revelations, be hath permitted these Angels of Satan to buffet me by divers persecutions and tribulations.  
Because then that Peter and Paul, and their mates, howsoever they be wonderful among men in holiness, in righteousness, and in most rare gifts, still are men, and easy to be overtaken with sin; they have need to be held in with the curb of a sharp and rigorous discipline, lest they suffer themselves to be carried away by the boisterous wind of their own vanity and pride: for as serpents are bred in man, of that which is most inward to him, even of the marrow of his bones; so arrogancy, and loftiness of mind, is engendered in holy men, of the knowledge which they have of their own excellency and righteousness: then they begin to look too much at themselves, and too little to themselves: then they begin to rely upon their own excellency, and to forget their maker, as Adam and Eve did, and as it befell the good king 
s 2. Chro. 32.31. Isa. 38.2.  Hezekiah; when he shown his treasures to the King of Babylon's Ambassadors. This is the high and broad way to hell, and therefore God, with bit and bridle, draweth his chosen ones back from it, and manageth them with rods and spurs? not for any sin which they have done, but for that which they would do, if they left the narrow and straight way of humility and modesty. Hear again what the Apostle saith of himself: 
t 2 Cor. 1.8, 9  We were, saith he, pressed out of measure, above our strength: insomuch that we despaired even of life: yea, we had the sentence of death in ourselves. Why did God suffer a man so holy, a servant so profitable, an Apostle so excellent, to be so hardly entreated? God permitted it, saith he, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.  
If God did curb after this manner his holy Apostle, what wonder if he tie others which are not so holy, to an iron chain, and tame them with many oppressions? For as standing water breedeth frogs, toads, and stinking mud; as the ground which is not tilled, yields nothing but brambles, thorns, and thistles; and as the Vine which is not cut, waxeth naught, and, in stead of good and sweet Raisins, bringeth forth wild Grapes: even so righteous men, when they are not like racked wine, drawn with crosses out of the lees of their natural corruption, they degenerate from their former righteousness, and become filthy, stinking, loathsome to God, and to man. But when, by manifold afflictions, 
v 1. Cor. 4.16.  our outward man is subdued and brought under; the inward man is renewed day by day, 
x 1. Pet. 4.2.  that we no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God, and so 
y Heb. 12.10.  be made partakers of his holiness. Therefore let us reform our judgements, refrain our tongues, and conclude with jeremiah: 
a Lam. 3.27.  It is good for a man, that he bear the yoke in his youth.  
X. Sometimes God shakes his whips, and scourges about the ears of the righteous man, not only to correct him of sins past, to wean him from sins to come, but also to try him, and to know what is in his heart. 
b Deut. 8.2  Thou shalt remember, saith Moses to the people of Israel, all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee, and to prove thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or no. See in one affliction, three ends whereunto God aimed: The first was, 
c Num. 14.29, 33, 34, 35.  to correct them of their murmuring against him: The seoond, to humble them, and keep them in obedience for the time to come: The third, to prove them, & to know what was in their hearts. Not that he is ignorant of the most secret thoughts of men's hearts, 
d Psal. 7.9.  for the righteous God tryeth the hearts and reines, but because he is said to know, when he maketh that which is in them, known both to themselves, and to others: As when he said to Abraham, 
e Gen. 22.12.  Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me: his meaning was, Now I have made thy faith in me, thy fear of me, thy love towards me, so manifest, that all the world hereafter shall acknowledge it, speak of it, and wonder at it.  
XI. Now it is certain, that often God casteth his children into a sea of afflictions, not to cleanse them of any sin wherewith they were soiled, not to keep them clean from any sin wherewith they might be defiled; but only to make trial of them by divers temptations, which he doth for two respects:  
First, as a Chirurgeon by plasters draweth out into the skin the inward imposthume which is hid in the flesh, that by suppuration it may be healed: so God by temptations bringeth men to the acknowledgement of their hid sins and natural weakness; that finding how prone they are to evil, and how weak to resist it, they trust not any more in themselves, but in God, 
f 2 Cor. 12.9.  whose strength is made perfect in weakness. So it is written of Hezekiah, that when the Ambassadors of the Princes of Babylon were sent unto him, to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, 
g 2. Chron. 32, 31.  God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. Then he was puffed up with vain glory: whereof being advised by the Prophet, and threatened with a most heavy punishment, he humbled himself, and answered, 
h Isa. 38.8.  Good is the word of the Lord, which he hath spoken. So Peter perceiving how soon, and upon how light a cause he had denied his good master, whom he loved most tenderly, and that after such bragging, that 
i Mat. 26.33, 35, 75.  though all men should be offended because of him, yet would he never be offended, yea, though he should dye with him, yet would he not deny him; was confounded within himself, and astonished at his childish weakness, went out, and wept bitterly. What the worhy Martyrs of Christ, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Anne de Bourg, Counsellor of the Parliament at Paris, thought of themselves, when for fear of death they recanted, how they were abashed and ashamed of their lightness, the stories of their Martyrdoms bear witness. Twice and thrice happy had been the young man in the Gospel, to whom the Lord said, 
k Mat. 19.21.  If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me; if he had come by this commandment to the knowledge of the covetousness, which lay lurking in his narrow heart: for than he had not gone away sorrowful, but had acknowledged his hidden corruption, and cried to the Lord, Help my weakness. For that commandment was not a precept requiring actual obedience; but a precept of Trial, to disclose his insatiate avarice, and make it known to himself and others.  
Secondly, as the Arabian incense, and most excellent spices perfume not the air with their sweet smelling savour, till they be rubbed, brayed, or cast into the fire: and as the most precious jewels have a more shining gloss, and graceful bright colour, in the darkness of the night, than in the most radiant sunshine of a fair summer-day; so the jewels of God's graces, wherewith the righteous man is adorned, have not such a glistering and grace in the radiant and beame-shining day of his prosperity, as in the gloomy and cloudy night of his adversity. Therefore Saint james saith, 
l jam. 1.2, 3.  My brebrethrens, count it all joy when ye fall into divers tentations: whereof he rendereth this reason; knowing, that the trying of your faith, worketh patience: for if there were no adversity, where should patience be? and if the righteous man were not broken and brayed with crosses, and tribulations, how should the good smell of his patience, of his faith, of his humility, bemuske the Church of God? Gold is gold wheresoever it be, and keepeth its own beauty and gracefulness: but put it in the Creuset, cast it in the fire, and it shall cast a more glistering brightness than it did before. The righteous man is God's gold, and a precious jewel in his Treasure: In all states, his innoceny, integrity, meekness, is known to some men; but specially his faith is made manifest when he is in the fiery furnace of tribulation: then his dross and tin is evaporated, and vanisheth away like smoke; then the goodly metal of God's graces holds firm: then they give more light, and show more grace, than all the gold of Ophir. As it is written in the eleventh chapter of the Prophecy of Daniel, v. 35. That some of them of understanding, shall fall, to try them, and to purge and make them white, even to the time of the end: and as it is said in the third chapter of Malachy, v. 2, 3. That the Lord is like a Resiners' fire, and like Fuller's soap: and he shall sit as a Refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Therefore Saint Peter calleth our crosses 
m 1. Pet. 1.7.  trials of our faith, much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire: And Saint Paul calleth them 
n Rom. 5.3  Tribulations or Press, because that whatsoever persecuters intent, they are the Lords winepress, whereby the heavenly liquor of spiritual graces lurking in righteous men, which are the sweet grapes of Christ's Vineyard, planted with his own hand, are expressed and imparted to others, who find it to be of a sweet and most excellent relish.  
XII. Let us bring two or three examples to illustrate the truth of this doctrine: Can we seek, or if we seek, shall we find any more fit and convenient to our purpose, than the example of job? he shineth like gold, even in the eyes of God, in his greatest prosperity: and God himself is his witness before the Angels of heaven, and Satan who had thrust himself among them, that then, even then, 
o job 1. ●.  there was none like him in the earth; a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil. The truth spoke, but Satan believed him not: what God witnessed of job; that he was before men, and Satan could not deny but he seemed so: what then could he say against him? Nothing which was true: yet which he knew to be, and shall ever be too true of many men in the world; and which he suspected, might be true in him also: 
p job 1.9, 10, 11.  Doth job, saith he, fear God for nought? hast thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his cattles is increased in the land: but put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. The sum of the accusation is this: job is an Hypocrite, he serveth thee, because thou blessest him: take thy blessings from him, and he will curse thee.  
Therefore God, to show that his Saints are not slaves, or hirelings, serving him for the reward, but loving and respectuous children, walking before him with an upright heart for conscience sake; giveth all that job had, into Satan's hands. When Champions and Master-wrestlers walk abroad, arrayed in soft and precious clothing; it is hard to judge of the health, integrity, and dispositions of their bodies, and of the ability and strength of their limbs: but when they come naked from the girdle upward to the lists or wrestling place, all the beholders see the proportion of their members; and as they perceive them to be bigge-membred, and their limbs well set, judge of their vigour and might: So when job was clothed with God's goods, as with a garment, his patience, his faith, his constancy was known of few: but when the devil stripped him of all, when he came naked to the theatre to wrestle with the foyler and overthrower of mankind; when then he cried aloud, 
q job 1.21 2.2  Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord; when speaking so, he sinned not, and attributed nothing undecent to God; his prowess and valour was made manifest to Angels and men, who rejoiced for his victory: and God himself, as it were clapping his hands, and applauding him, upbraided his enemy, saying with a nipping scoff, 
r job 2.3.  Hast thou considered my servant job, how still he holdeth fast his integrity? The crafty and cunning fox is not discountenanced for this first foil, and bitter jest, but replying, 
s V 4, 5, 6.  Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life: but put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face; he checked God, as being the cause of his overthrow, and of jobs victory: as if he had said, What wonder if job have not cursed thee? for thou hast spared him: but now touch him in his health, which is most sensible unto him: let me rack his sinews, bruise his bones, tear his flesh in pieces, and I undertake he shall curse thee by and by. See again these two champions in the place of battle, in the presence of God, of his holy Angels, and of men: Satan smote him with sore biles, from the sole of his foot unto his crown; he stirred up his wife, his special friends, his servants, little children, all that knew him against him, to tempt him, to mock him, to revile him. When they slept, and he hoped that the night should ease his complaint, his adversary scared him with dreams, and terrified him through visions: ye see with what sleight and might his enemy struggleth with him, how he endeavoureth to supplant him, to wring out of him some uncomely word against God. But he remaining immooveable in his integrity, 
t job 2.10.  What, saith he? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? 
v job 13.15, 16.  though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: I will maintain mine own ways before him: he also shall be my salvation. In all this did he not sin with his lips, and spoke nothing unbeseeming a Saint, & unworthy of the Lord his God.  
Then was fulfilled that which he said, 
x job 23.10.  When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Then Satan overcome, sheweth a fair pair of heels, and, putting his finger on his mouth, appeared no more before God, to craake. Satan, why hast thou remooved thy foot? why hast thou made head to thy adversary with thy heels? hast thou not done against him all that thou couldst? thou hast blasted with lightning and thunder, or carried away, by the violent hands of robbers, all his goods: thou hast made him desolate, and without children: there is no part of his body which thou hast spared; and it seems that thou dost not let him live, but to bewail his own disaster: wherefore then dost thou not follow thy thrust, and prosecute thy designs? Alas! saith he, I have done all that I could: I have done nothing of that which I intended, for he hath not cursed God: for this I plotted all these mischiefs against him. And I am so fare from gaining any thing thereby, that much otherwise, casting him in the burning furnace of most sensible and smarting tribulations, I have made him more beautiful and glorious. I deemed that he should curse God, and lo he blesseth him. I thought to bring him in contempt upon the ashes: and lo, lo, he is more righteous, more constant, more worshipful upon the dunghill, than he was in his goodly and gorgeous house, in the honourable company of his wife, children, friends, and servants. The oriental pearls are not so fair as his pocks: the smelling of roses is not so sweet as the stink of his breath; his sores are clearer and brighter than the beams of the Sun. I have (alas!) procured unto him an eternal renown upon the face of the whole earth: I am cause, that he shall be from henceforth to all men a pattern and example of faith, of patience, of constancy in their most heavy calamities. I have digged a pit for him, and I am fallen into the ditch which I have made: he is exalted, and I am confounded.  
XIII. This example is sufficient. Add unto it that which is written of the Bride in the song of Solomon. She is so inflamed with the love of her Spouse, that 
y Cant. 1.2.  her only desire is to be led into his chamber, that there he may kiss her with the kisses of his mouth, that there she may be glad, and rejoice in his love. But when he is absent from her, as he seems to be in her affliction; when 
a Cant. 3.2.  she rises, and goes about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways, to seek him whom her soul loveth; 
b Cant. 5.7  when the watch men that go about the city, find her, and smite her, and wound her; when the keepers of the walls take away her veil from her, and yet she leaveth not off to cry to them, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? the flames of her love make a fairer blaze, and cast a greater heat. Then, then, all they which behold her, see evidently, that 
c Cant. 8.6, 7.  love is strong as death, that jealousy is hard as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, and a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench that love, neither can the floods drown it: If a man give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.  
XIV. How should the love, the patience, the zeal, the constancy of Paul have been known, if God had not crushed and ground him with continual tentations and afflictions? wheresoever he went, he was advertised by the holy Ghost, 
d Act. 20.23, 24.  that bonds and afflictions waited for him. O how unpleasant & fearful a message would that be to many at this day? and he what? But, faith he, none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto my self, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God. 
e Act. 21.11, 22, 13.  The Disciples besought him with tears, not to go up to jerusalem, where Agabus had prophesied that he should be bound: But he rebuking them. answered, What mean ye to weep, and break mine heart? for I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to dye at jerusalem for the name of the Lord jesus.  
XV. When the Palatinate was in peace, when the Churches of France lived in their towns of surety without fear, what wonder if they professed the Gospel publicly? But now when their sorts are leveled and cast down to the ground, when their towns are dismantled, when they are kerbed with strong Citadels, when they are disarmed among armed enemies, when they see nothing in their streets but the plagues of Egypt, but swarms of Priests, which are a most noisome mixture of filthy and slinking flies, but great store of Jesuits, which like loathsome frogs come unsent for, leaping and croaking into their houses, and bedchambers, but an infinite multitude of Monks, which as so many locusts eat up all their substance, but armies of soldiers, which are to them the lousy disease wherewith their bodies are pestered, their flesh is consumed, all the blood of their veins is sucked up: when they look for nothing but present death, when a toy shall take their enemies in the head, to compel them once again to solemnize with tears, and shedding of their innocent blood, S. Bartholomewes' feast; Then to persevere in the faith, then to maintain steadfastly and stoutly the Gospel, then to abhor more and more Papistry, and the man of sin, to contemn the contempt of insolent Papists, to shut up their ears against the charming voice of the crafty jesuite, to hold their mouths open to confess jesus Christ, and to bless God, is a manifest demonstration of true faith, and of that constancy which is worthy of a Christian. Wherefore as Moses said to the people of Israel, that God would suffer 
f Deut. 13.1, 2, 3.  false Prophets, and dreamers of dreams to arise among them, to prove them, and to know whether they loved the Lord their God with all their heart, and with all their soul: And as the Apostle said to the Corinthians, 
g 1. Cor. 11.19.  There must be heresies amongst you, that they which are approved, may be made manifest among you: So I say, that the righteous man must have many evils, that it may be known that he serveth God, neither for the present goods which he hath received of his bountiful hand, neither for hope of any worldly benefit to come, but for his own sake: as a lover seeketh no recompense of his love, but that which he findeth in the dignity and excellency of the thing beloved.  
XVI. Moreover, these many evils are as so many exercises and practices of the manifold graces wherewith God hath copiously furnished and graced the righteous man. God that said to him, 
h Heb. 13.5.  I will never leave thee, 
1. Faith.  nor forsake thee. If he believe that, when his Garners are full of Corn, when his Canes burst with Wine, when he sitteth in peace among his own people, it is no wonder but here, here is a good exercise of his faith, to believe so when he seethe nothing on the left, nothing on the right hand, nothing before, nothing behind, but neediness, but want, but beggary: when he is threatened with present death, to believe certainly, to say resolutely, as the three Salamanders did to Nebucadnezzar, 
i Dan. 3.17  Our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. When the deep gulf of the red sea is before our faces; when Pharaoh, and his most dreadful and cruel army, followeth us hotly at the heels; when high and steep mountains run along by our sides, and bereave us of all hope of flight, then to say, 
k Exod. 14 13.  Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you to day: In a present evil to look for present delivery; in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death, to see, to embrace life; 
l Heb. 11 24, 25, 26.  to refuse great riches and honours, for the denying of Christ: to choose poverty by confessing him: to prefer suffering of affliction with the people of God, to the enjoying of the pleasures of sin for a season: to esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, as Moses did, and as many Christians have done, and do still, is a most wonderful and special exercise of true faith.  
What Virtues are more commanded unto us by precept, 
2. Meekness, charity  and recommended unto us by most excellent examples of the Patriarches, of the Prophets, of David, of jesus Christ, of his holy Apostles, than humility, meekness, charity? where find ye better occasion to practise them, than in your greatest adversity? 
m 1. Cor. 4 11, 12.  Ye are reviled, and ye bless: ye are defamed, and ye entreat, as Paul did: ye are stoned to death, as Steven was, and ye kneel down, and cry with a loud voice, 
n Acts 7.6  Lord lay not this sin to their charge. This is true meekness: this is true charity.  
We are tossed to and fro with most grievous and tedious tribulations; 
3. Patience  then, as the Apostle saith, 
o Heb. 10.36.  we have need of patience, that after we have done the will of God, we may receive the promise: than it is time to be that which we profess. We say, that Patience is the fairest flower of of the Christian man's garden. Other flowers delight in fair weather, and grow not but in ground well weeded and gnibbed up: This groweth among the brairs & thistles of stinging tribulations, and spreadeth most fair, when the weather is most foul. Frost and Snow, Hail and Lightning Stormes and Tempests make it to blossom with a most pleasant show, and to breathe a most sweet sent. Then the righteous man, not looking to the stone that hurteth him, but lifting up his eyes to the almighty hand of the heavenly Father which threw it, saith, as David said of Shimei who cursed him, 
p 2. Sam. 16.10.  So let him curse: for the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? Men have their mischievous ends when they afflict the righteous man, and it may be that they molest him wrongfully. Tribulations also may come upon him by his own faults, and many other ways; yet God hath an hand in all, & his most wise providence guideth them. Shall he then repine? shall he kick against the pricks? God forbidden: But rather, knowing that his sufferings are Gods own work, and that 
q Deu. 32.4.  all his ways are judgement, he taketh David for his Precedent, and saith with him, I was 
r Psal. 39.9  dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it. Here, here then is the wonderful patience of the Saints, who bridle their mouths from grudging against God, and open them not in their temptations, but to pour out their humble requests and prayers before him:  
Prayers, 
4. Prayers.  which faint and as it were droop in the fair summer-days of our peace and wealth, but recover their vigour, yea, redouble their force in the fleeting and freezing winter of our calamity. God saith to the righteous man, 
s Psal. 50.15  Call upon me in the day of trouble so he doth jonas 
t joh. 2.1.  snorted in the ship, but he was awake, & prayed in the Whale's belly. The Disciples, so long as the sea was calm and quiet, prayed not; but when the tempest arose, and the winds spoke loud, and the surges threatened the ship with sinking, than they prayed, than they cried, 
v Matt. 8.25.  Lord save us, we perish. So Peter walked a little while upon the sea without praying: but when he saw the wind boisterous, and began to sink, he cried, 
x Matt. 14 30.  Lord save me. Prayer is the mean whereby God bestoweth his blessings upon us: It is the bucket which we dive and thrust fare into the undraynable fountain of his graces, that we may receive of his fullness, and grace for grace. Then tribulations are behooveful unto us, that by them knowing our need, we may be moved to pray.  
Are we not saved 
y Rom. 8.24.  by hope? 
5. Hope.  what hope, what desire can we have of heavenly things, when all things laugh upon us in the world? the present enjoying of the one, expels out of our hearts the desire and hope of the other. Therefore by the counterpoise of the evils of this life, God stirreth up in us a most vehement desire of the life to come, and holds our hope perpetually busied in praying and crying, 
z Rev. 22.20.  Even so; Come Lord jesus.  
XVII. All these graces without perseverance are nothing: for 
a Matt. 24.13.  he that shall endure unto the end, 
6. Perseverance, Constancy.  shall be saved: And there is no perseverance without constancy. The main object of Constancy, is tribulation: neither is it seen but in things very difficult to undertake, or to overcome. 
b 2. Mac. 7.  Consider the courage of seven brethren suffering all kinds of most cruel torments, because they would not, at the King's commandment, transgress God's commandment, and eat swine's flesh. Wonder at the constancy of their marvellous mother, who, with a manly heart in a woman's breast, exhorted them to take their death cheerfully for God's cause; and after their execution, went joyfully to the burning caldron, and sealed also the truth with her blood. How many fair promises were made unto them! But 
c Heb. 11.35.  they refused to be delivered, that they might obtain a better resurrection.  
In the Ecclesiastical stories of Christians, such examples are infinite. At 
d Euseb. hister. Eccles. lib. 5. c. 1. Sanctus.  Vienne in France, a Deacon of the Church, called Sanctus, being torn in pieces with hot pincers, being at divers times so cruelly racked, that he was nothing but wounds, but bruises, but putrefying fores, but a piece of swollen flesh, without almost any figure or shape of a man; could never be compelled to tell his name, his family, his dwelling place. His only answer to all their rackings, scorchings, burnings, was, I am a Christian. Neither could the Executioners, by the Tympan, by the hot and burning pans, by the teeth of wild beasts, wring out of Blandina a maid, and servant to a Dame of that same town, any word but this, 
Blandina.  I am a Christian, and we do no evil. When Decius persecuted the Church, Babylas Bishop of Antioch, 
Babylas.  led to the place of execution with his three sons, desired that they should be first put to death, to the end that he might exhort and confirm them: which when he had done, his wife comforted him; and after she had seen her husband and three children suffer death for Christ's sake, buried them together. Much otherwise, the Father and the Son with whom I was familiar; The Father beseeched that he should die first, that his Son, who was a godly and learned Preacher, might comfort him. Then it was a wonderful spectacle to Papists, to see the Son at the foot of the gallows, preaching to his Father the merits of the death of Christ, the virtue of his resurrection, the vanity of the world, the unspeakable joys of Paradise; to hear him crying aloud, Father, ye cannot so soon knock at the gate of heaven, but Christ will open: ye cannot so soon enter, but I shall follow; to hear and behold the old and venerable Father answering with a cheerful countenance, Son, I see the heavens open, and jesus Christ at the right hand of God. Then they were amazed to mark again the young Minister forgetting himself, and with a constant face preaching to other, two which were also in the executioners hands, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, and life everlasting: To consider how constantly the four died, with what fervency of celestial prayers they commended their spirits into God's hands; Then the chief of the Capuchin Monks said to his companions, Si coelum Huguenotis datur, istis debetur: If heaven be given to Huguenots, it is due to these men: Then some Gentlemen cried, O happy religion, which breeds in men a contempt of death, which we dread most, and a most sure hope of salvation! who would not, who should not fight manfully for the defence, and suffer constantly for the confession of such a religion? This day only have we begun to know Christ: Condemned men have been our Preachers: We shall never hate Huguenotes any more.  
XVIII. Learn of all this discourse, what difference there is betwixt the upright man and the hypocrite john the Baptist calleth afflictions 
f Mat. 3.12.  Gods fan, wherewith when he hath throughly purged his floor, the chaff flieth away into the air, and finally is burnt up with unquenchable fire: but the wheat is gathered into the garner. Hypocrites are chaff, lying in time of peace intermixed with the faithful, which are God's wheat: but 
g Psal. 1.4, 5.  the wind of persecution driveth them away, neither can they stand in the congregation of the righteous: for then there is nothing to be seen but Apostasies, defections, abjuring of the truth, renouncing of the Gospel, forsaking of all Communion with the Church. jesus Christ compareth tribulation and persecution 
h Mat 13.5, 6, 8, 20, 21, 23.  to the burning Sun, scorching the seed which hath no deepness of earth, so that it withereth away; but warming the seed which falls into good ground, and making it to bring forth fruit; some an hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold. The Hypocrite receiveth the word with joy, but because he hath not in himself the root of an upright conscience; when persecution ariseth because of word, he is offended, and starteth back. The righteous man is the good ground: the sun of persecution may blacken him, but it cannot burn him. In the most hot days of tribulation, he is most plenteous in good works: therefore the whole Church cryeth in the Canticles, 
i Cant. 1.5, 6.  O ye daughters of jerusalem, I am black, but comely: 
k Bernar. in Cant. ser, 25.  Black in your judgement; Comely in the judgement of God and Angels. Black without, 
l Vestro maleficio.  by your mischief; for the Sun of persecution hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me: these good Catholics have persecuted me: Comely within, 
m Dei beneficio.  through God's benefit: for 
n Psal. 45.13.  the King's daughter is all glorious within: As the tents of of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon, which are all black and dusty without; but within are decked with most precious implements.  
To conclude, cast gold in water: it keepeth its own yellow shining: cast it in the fire, and melt it, it becometh brighter. Cast earth in water, it is by and by changed into mud: cast hay in water, it will suddenly rot: cast earth in the fire, it is instantly turned into dust, and made a sport to the wind: cast hay into the fire, with a blaze it is made smoke and ashes. So befalls it to the righteous man & the hypocrite. The hypocrite, when he thriveth most, and full-gorgeth himself with pleasures, is like hay and a lump of earth in the water, he is nothing but rottenness and putrefaction: when God's hand is upon him, he howls, he despites God, he curseth him to his face, and in the stirring of an eye is consumed; he perisheth, he vanisheth like earth and straw in the fire. But the righteous man in his greatest prosperity shineth in all godliness before men, as gold in water: and when he is cast in the fiery furnace of tribulation, he is like gold in the fire: his works then yield a more radiant lustre than before.  
XIX. The Lord in his mercy sanctify us, and make us throughly righteous, that when the day of our trial shall come, we may be found to be fine metal; and abiding the hammer, the scissors, and the fire, may through faith and patience inherit the promises of grace, peace, and eternal life, through the merits of our Lord jesus Christ, who 
o 1. joh. 5.20.  is the true God and eternal life: to whom is due, and to whom let us render, now and for evermore, all praise, honour and glory. Amen.   

SERMON V Of the causes of the righteous man's Evils.  PSALM XXXIV. XIX. 
Many are the Evils of the Righteous.  
1. THe righteous man when he suffereth for righteousness sake, is honoured.  
2. It is a great glory to suffer for a good cause;  
3. Namely for God, as many have done.  
4. To suffer for the Gospel is most glorious of all.  
5. Of those which suffer for the Gospel, some are Confessors, some Martyrs.  
6. What it is to be a Martyr.  
7. Three conditions required in a Martyr.  
8. The great glory of Martyrdom, in that it makes the Martyrs resemble the Prophets, Apostles, and other Saints;  
9 Yea, and jesus Christ himself, yet with four differences.  
10. God afflicteth righteous men for other men's sake; 1. That they may be converted;  
11.2. That they may be instructed, not to worship righteous men;  
12.3. That they may be spurred to imitate their Christian virtues;  
13.4. That they may consider God's wrath against sin, and fear.  
14. Finally, God afflicteth the righteous man for his own glory, whereof there are many examples in the old Testament,  
15. And principally in the new Testament.  
16. The afflictions of the righteous are no tokens of God's wrath, but of his love.  
17. Carriage of the Churches of France in their affliction.  
18. Exhortation to bear Christ's cross courageously.  
19 Prayer.  
I. GOD often loads the righteous man with crosses, to honour him: when he beareth his own cross, 
a Luk. 22.33, 40, 41.  as the malefactors which were crucified with Christ did, than he is chastised; and as one of them said, We receive the due reward of our deeds, so may he: when he is persecuted for righteousness sake, as David was by Saul, and job by the Devil; or bears Christ's cross, as 
b Mat. 27.32.  Simon the Cyrenian did, than his faith, hope, charity is tried; then his patience and constancy is exercised, than he is very much honoured.  
II. Ye know, that Cain slew his brother: 
c 1. joh. 3.12.  and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous. 
d Gen. 19.9  Lot was threatened by the vicious Sodomites, because that, being a foreigner and stranger, he rebuked them. 
e Gen. 37.2  joseph was hated and sold of his brethren, because he advertised his father of their misdemeanour: 
f Gen. 39.9  he was also cast in prison, because he would not sinne with his master's wife. David complained of his enemies, saying, 
g Psal. 38.20.  They that render evil for good, are mine adversaries, because I follow the thing that good is. john Baptist was beheaded, because he said to Herod, 
h Mat. 14.4, 10.  It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. All these suffered for righteousness sake, and for the uprightness of a good conscience before God; but they suffered not for God. There be degrees in righteousness: The first is, when a man suffereth for any good cause: Is not that honourable and glorious before God and men? 
i 1. Pet. 2.9, 20.  For (as Peter, writing to servants, saith) this is thankworthy, if a man, for conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully: for what glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.  
III. The second is, when he suffereth immediately for God, for the public profession of his holy Word. When 
k Dan. 3.18.  the three children did choose rather to be burnt in the furnace, than to worship Nebuchadnezzars golden Image, they suffered for God: when 
l Dan. 6.16  David was cast into the Lion's den, because he would not obey the King's idolatrous decree, he suffered for God: when 
m 2. Mac. 6.19.  Eleazar, one of the principal Scribes, choosed rather to dye gloriously, than to live stained with the eating of Swine's flesh, he suffered for God: when the 
n 2. Mac. 7.  the seven brethren and their mother were fried, scorched, dismembered, because they would not transgress the Law, they suffered for God: when the whole Church at that time made her moan to God, and said, 
o Psal. 44.22.  For thy sake are we killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter, she suffered for God. If it be glorious to suffer for a good cause, is it not more glorious to suffer for God's cause?  
IU. But to suffer for the Gospel, is the most glorious of all. 
p Rom. 1.17.  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. There is evidently before our eyes set forth our Lord jesus Christ, who because he 
q Dan 9.14  hath brought unto us everlasting righteousness, and 
r 1. Cor. 1.30.  is made unto us of God wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, is with good and just cause called, 
s ler. 23.6.  the Lord our righteousness: Therefore he who suffers for Christ, is said after a most special manner to suffer for righteousness sake. Of such speaketh Christ, where he saith, 
t Mat. 5.10.11.  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven What that righteousness is, he showeth in these words following: Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.  
When 
v Rev. 1.9.  john was telegated into the Isle of Pathmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of jesus Christ, he suffered for righteousness: when 
x joh. 9.3.4  the man that was borne blind, and restored to sight by Christ, was cast out of the Synagogue, and excommunicated for Christ's sake, he suffered for righteousness: when 
y joh. 12.10, 11.  the chief Priests consulted, that they might put Lazarus to death, because that by reason of him many of the jews went away, and believed on jesus, he suffered for righteousness: when 
a Eph. 3.13 2. Tim. 2.9, 10.  Paul was cast into prison for preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and endured many troubles for the Elects sake, that they might obtain the salvation which is in Christ jesus, with eternal glory, he suffered for righteousness: 
b Rev. 6.9.  Those that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held, whose souls john saw under the altar, suffered for righteousness sake.  
V Of such some are Confessors, some are Martyrs. The faithful who were shut up in prison for Christ's sake, but were not yet tortured; as also those which leaving their families, goods, friends, and native soil, fled to foreign nations, lest they should be constrained to deny Christ; were called 
c Cypr. epist. 9 & 21.  Confessors. All those which endured horrible & great torments for the Gospel's sake, though they were not put to death, were named Martyrs. Tertullian calleth them 
d Tert. add Martyrs, cap. 1.  Martyrs designatos, appointed to be Martyrs. 
e Euseb hist. Ec. l. lib. 5. cap. 2.  The Martyrs of Vienne in France, after they had endured all kind of most cruel & ignominious torments for Christ's sake, taking to themselves the name of Confessors, refused to be called Martyrs, saying, that the name of Martyrs pertains to those only which have sealed their confession by their death: even as Christ calleth 
f Rev. 2.13  Antipas his faithful martyr, because he was slain in Pergamus for the Gospel.  
VI In a general signification, Martyr is a witness. The Gospel whereunto testimony is given, is called 
g Isa. 8.20. 1. joh 5.11.  the Testimony, and, the 
h Rev. 19.10.  Testimony of jesus. Therefore it is said of john, 
i joh. 1.7, 8  that he came for a witness, to bear witness of the light. And Christ saith of himself, 
k joh. 18.37.  I came into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth: yea, he calleth himself 
l Rev. 3.14  the Amen, the faithful and true witness: Title, which the 
m Euseb. hist. Eccles. lib. 5. c. 2.  Martyrs of Vienne esteemed to be proper unto him, because he not only bare witness to the truth, but also sealed it with his most precious blood. So all true Christians are Christ's Martyrs, because their whole life is nothing else but a martyrdom, that is to say, a testimony which they render to the Gospel, 
Martyrium vitae.  that it is of God; and to jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God: Testimony, which they bore with such fervency and zeal, that they would choose rather to be scorched, racked, torn in pieces, and die the most cruel death that man's wit can invent, than to leave off to glorify their God and Saviour by public confession, and holiness of life. Such men are Martyrs in affection before God, who judgeth of men not according to the event of things, but according to their will and intention. If any man live in the Church, meaning to deny Christ, rather than to suffer loss of goods, or any bodily pain for his sake, he is an Apostate in God's eyes, though he never be put to that trial, and die peaceably in his bed, confessing Christ with his mouth. So he that is resolved to make less account of his life, than of the Gospel, is a true Martyr before God, 
n 1. Sam. 15.7.  who looketh on the heart; though God spare him, and preserve his life from the hands of the wicked. If Paul said truly of Priscilla and Aquila, that 
o Rom. 16.4.  for his life they had laid down their own necks, because they feared not to undergo all dangers for his releasing: shall God, 
p 1. Reg. 8.39.  who only knoweth the hearts of all the children of men, neglect the zeal and affection which his faithful servants have to his service?  

Martyrium sanguinis.  Notwithstanding the Church, which diveth not into men's hearts, giveth not this glorious name of Martyrs, but to those which are Martyrs in action; which, I say, cannot by most exquisite torments, and painful deaths, be driven back from their profession, which they sealed most constantly with their innocent blood: which though Christ did, yet we give not the name of Martyrdom to his death, because it had a more special end, and is the ransom of mankind. The Church hath ever called Steven the first Martyr, as being the first which suffered death for Christ's cause. 
* Act. 12.2.  james, the brother of john, was the second.  
VII. In them ye find the three qualities which are necessarily required in them whom Christ honoureth with this glorious title: 1. They were full of faith, and of the holy Ghost. I say, that they were godly men: for a good conscience, a godly and an upright life, is so needful in this case, that the Apostle saith, 
q 1. Cor. 13.3.  Though he give his body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth him nothing. This is called by some the Martyrdom of life, and is more difficult than the Martyrdom of blood: for it is not so easy to a man to kill sin in himself, to burn his covetousness, his pride, his ambition, his lusts and unlawful desires in the fire of the Spirit, as to suffer the executioner to cast his body in a fire of wood. Which I pray you all to lay to your hearts, that in this time of outward peace with men, ye may be Martyrs inward with God: Martyrs, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit; having your praise, not of men but of God.  
2. They suffered for the best cause that ever any innocent man suffered for. Suffered they not for the Son of God, who is 
r Psal. 45.  fairer than all the children of men? Suffered they not for the Gospel, which is 
s Rom. 2.16.  the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; and therefore more excellent than the Law, for which the jews suffered? Let no man say, that the thief upon the cross was a Martyr, because he repent, and confessed Christ: for repentance changeth not the nature of crosses; neither can it be said truly, that all those which repent at the hour of their death, are Martyrs. The thief, confessed he not that 
t Luk. 23.41.  he suffered justly, and received the due reward of his deeds? And have we not this commandment of the holy Ghost, 
v 1. Pet 4.15, 16.  Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busybody in other men's matters: yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf? 
x Aug. Epi. 61. & 166.  It is the cause which maketh the Martyr, not the punishment. 
y Euseb. lib. 5 cap. 16. Aug. de correctione Donatistarum, cap. 7.  Let not the Montanists, the Pepusians, the Marcionites, the Donatists, the Circumcellions, and other heretics brag of their Martyrs: there was never any heresy so blockish, so ridiculous, so impious, but there was found some obstinate fellow, who offered to dye willingly for it. Men in our days have gone to the fire with a merry countenance for maintaining of Atheism. For the devil hath also his Martyrs, whom an ancient Doctor calleth most properly, 
z Martyrs Sataricae virtutis.  Martyrs of a diabolical courage: and therefore 
a Aug. in Psal. 68  all the praise of Martyrdom is in the goodness of the cause, not in the grievousness of the pain. Martyrs make not their cause to be good, or their doctrine to be the Gospel: it is the good cause, it is the Gospel that makes Martyrs. Our sufferings make not our cause just: but a just cause will make our sufferings glorious.  
3. They had the choice of death and life: if they would have recanted, and joined themselves to the jews against Christ, they had not been killed. If a Christ an be put to death for Christ's sake, without offer of life upon condition of abjuring, the Church calleth him not a Martyr; for who knoweth what he would have done, if the option of life had been given unto him? 
b Mat. 2.16  The innocent babes which Herod slew for Christ's sake, were not Martyrs, because they had no such election, neither could they in that age have accepted it, if it had been offered. Our fathers also which were massacred tumultuously without any accusation, examination, exhortation, promise of life, for the same cause were not Martyrs: These, these only which seeing on the right hand the Priest, the Altar, the Incense to offer, the breaden God to worship; and on the left, the hangman stirring the fire, unsheathing and shaking threateningly the fatal sword, erecting the gibbet, or the scaffold, trussing his arm to hit right a deadly blow, spit at the Idols, fly from the Altars, run to the fire, to the sword, to the gallows, to the water, cry as Montalchino did at Milan; Let Christ, let Christ live, and Montalchino dye: these, I say, these are the men whom the Church hath honoured with the excellent title of Martyrs, who die in Christ, with Christ, for Christ: in Christ holily, with Christ wisely, for Christ gloriously. O how glorious before God is the death of Martyrs! 
c Psal. 116 15.  Precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints; but namely of his Martyrs, which die in him, with him, for him.  
Weenest thou that it is but a slender glory, that Christ hath chosen thee, one among a thousand, to be his Martyr? that he will have thee to suffer, not only with him, as do all those which suffer for righteousness sake, but also for him? that as he 
d joh. 21.19.  forewarned Peter, by what death he should glorify him; so he taketh thee by the hand, and saith to thee, Come, I have picked thee out from many millions, to bear witness to the truth of my word before the great men of the earth, to seal the faith thou hast in me with thy blood, to honour me with thy death? When 
c Gen. 32.6, 7, 8.  jacob was advertised that his brother Esau was coming to meet him, and four hundred men with him, he was greatly afraid, and divided the people that were with him, and the Flocks, and the Herds, and the Camels, into two bands: them he set foremost in the front of the battle: 
f Gen. 33.2, 3.  the second place he gave to the handmaidens and their children: the third, to Lea and her children; but he put Rachel and joseph hindermost, because he loved them best: he adventureth all that he hath, to save these two. God doth fare otherways with his people: he setteth foremost a little number of chosen men, to whom he hath distributed his graces in a greater scantling, than to the rest: them he setteth in the front to be his Martyrs, and to fight against the powers of the world; sparing the multitude to be the seedplot and nursery of his Church.  
JIX. Who can conceive sufficiently the greatness of this honour? 
g Luk. 6.23  When year hated, excommunicated, reproached, put to death for the Son of man's sake, Christ biddeth you rejoice, and leap for joy, because the Prophets were used in like manner. 
h Heb. 11.32, etc.  The Apostle, in his epistle to the Hebrews, maketh a catalogue of many Worthies, which under the Law suffered for the word of God, of whom the world was not worthy; that we may esteem ourselves most happy when God conformeth us to them. 
i jam. 5.10, 11.  S. james willeth us to take them for an example of suffering affliction, & of patience; that as we count them happy, so we may make it a part of our happiness to be like unto them. 
k 1. Pet. 5.9  S. Peter will have us to know, that the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren that are in the world: And S. Paul will have us to remember, that by tribulations for the Gospel, 
l 1. Thess. 2.14.  we become followers of the Churches of God; which is no small honour. It is said in the Song of Solomon, that 
m Cant. 4.13.  the plants of the Church are an Orchard of Pomegranates. A Pomegranate hath within it sundry partitions, and as it were little mansions, with many grains in each of them, of a sweet taste and red colour, orderly set one by another, and all together enfolded and shut up under one outward skin; which hath at the top a little round circle like a crown. A most excellent Emblem of the faithful, who are as so many grains set orderly together by the unity of one faith, and by the bond of perfectness, which is charity; having a sweet taste in the holiness of their life, and a red colour in the conformity of bloody persecution, in the several Churches where God hath planted them, under the Catholic Church, whereof the head is our Lord jesus Christ; who as he was first crowned with thorns upon earth, so is he now crowned with glory in heaven.  
IX. To him must we look principally, as the grains of the Pomegranate look upward to the head of the skin wherein they are wrapped; and, according to Peter's exhortation, 
n 1. Pet. 4.12, 13.  rejoice when we are in the furnace for our trial, in at much as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings: for, 
o Rom. 8.28.  whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son: first in crosses for him, next in crowns through him: 
p Rom. 8.17. 2. Tim. 2.11.  the one and the other with him. In this Realm, men of good birth hold it no little honour to bear the livery of the King's Favourite; and how much more the Kings own livery? Shall we not then account it a most special honour and glory to bear Christ's livery, in whom God is well pleased, and who is the King of kings; to be for him made like unto him, to be a curse among men for him, who was a curse before God for us; to dye that we may glorify him, who is dead to save us? Should not the members be ashamed to take their sports and delights under a head crowned with thorns?  
I confess, that there is a great difference betwixt Christ's sufferings and ours. First, he is God and man, we are but men: Secondly, he was in his manhood without sin: there was never man so holy, but he was a sinner: Thirdly. 
q Gal. 3.1 3.  he in his torments was made a curse, and drunk the full cup of God's wrath, which was so bitter to his soul, that he cried, 
r Mat. 26.46.  My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? All the Saints and Martyrs have always in all their heaviest crosses been comforted and supported of God. Fourthly, he suffered for the expiation of sin, and his death is the life of the world. All the Martyrs 
s Rev. 7.14, 15.  have washed their robes, and made them white in his blood, therefore are they before the throne of God. They have all suffered, to bear witness, that he suffered for the sins of the world: none of them have suffered for the sins of the world. 
t Leo. 1. epist. 83, ad Palestinos Episcopos.  For though the death of many Saints hath been precious in God's eyes, yet hath not the kill of any Saint been the propitiation of the world. The righteous have received, but they have not given crowns: and the fortitude of the faithful hath brought forth examples of patience, not gifts of righteousness. The death of each one of them was several: neither did any by his own end, pay the debt of another; considering, that among than sons of men, jesus Christ our Lord alone is he, in whom all are crutified, all are dead, all buried, all raised up: of whom he said, 
v joh. 12.32  If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.  
Yet in this is the conformity of our sufferings with Christ's sufferings: that as when Christ suffered for our sake, and in our room, we suffered in him; so when we suffer for Christ's sake, he suffereth in us: as when the head suffereth, all the members suffer; and when the members suffer, the head suffereth. Is not Christ the head? are we not the members of his body? This was the cause why the Apostles, after they were beaten, 
x Act. 5.41.  rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ's name: for this same cause the Apostle rejoiced, that he was 
y Eph. 4.1.  the prisoner of the Lord, that 
a Gal 6.17.  he bore in his body the marks of the Lord jesus, that 
b Col. 1.24  he filled up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ: for though all Christ's sufferings be accomplished and 
c joh 19.30  finished in capite, in the head, for the redemption of the Church; yet they are not all fulfilled in corpore, in the body, for the edification of the Church: but as long as there shall be in the world one faithful to suffer, Christ shall have some evil to suffer; because Christ and the faithful are one. S. Paul was schooled with this jesson before his entry into the Church, when the Lord jesus cried unto him, 
d Act. 9.4.  Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? even as when ye tread a man upon the foot, the head will cry, Why treadest thou on me? What wonder then, if 
e Phil. 3.8, 10.  he counted all things but dung, that he might know Christ, and the fellowship of his sufferings, that he might be made conformable unto his death; and if he rendered testimony to all the Christians of his time, that 
f Rom. 5.3.  they gloried in tribulations?  
O bonds, more honourable than the Diadems of Kings! O tribulations, more glorious than the glory of Solomon! Is there any golden chain so glistering, as the irons wherewith the Confessors are shackled for Christ? Is there any glory to be matched with the glory of the blessed Martyrs, suffering with Christ, and in their sufferings made conformable to his image? The Pagans say, that it is sweet and honourable to dye for our country: The soldier's glory in the wounds which they have received for the defence of their chimneys: And those which are led to the gallows for the service of their King, feel glory in their shame, and profess that they discontent, seeing they die for their Sovereign's sake. What is our native soil, compared with the Church? what is the most glorious King of the earth, paragoned with Christ? Less than nothing. We glory in our death for men, which, when we are dead, cannot reward us: and shall we be ashamed to dye for Christ, who, when we are dead, giveth us life, and satiateth with immortal honours those which honour him? for 
g Rom. 8.17.  if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him. For this cause, 
h Tert. Apologet. cap. 1.46. & ult. Iust. Apol, 1.  the first Christians when they were condemned, thanked their judges; but principally they thanked God, saying, 
i Aug. ser. de Cypriano.  Deo gratias, Thanks be to God: so did our fathers; and so must we do.  
So than ye have heard the causes why God will have his children to suffer for their own sakes. He will either chastise them for the sins which they have committed, or restrain them from the sins which they might perpetrate, or try them, to make known how they can carry themselves in affliction, or put in practice the manifold graces wherewith he hath endued them, or honour them with the glory of his Confessors and Martyrs.  
X. When they are thus afflicted, God hath also regard to other men. First, their afflictions are means whereby the Elect are converted to God. Christ, when he was persecuted in one Town, fled into another, and preached there: He 
k Mat. 10.23.  commanded his Disciples to do the like. By occasion of the persecution in jerusalem, 
l Act. 8.1, 4 Act. 11.19, 20.  the brethren were scattered abroad throughout the Regions of judea, of Samaria, of Phenice, of Cyprus, of Antioch, where they preached the Lord jesus; and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. Why were 
n Act. 16.19, 31.  Paul and Silas cast into prison at Philippi? The event shown, that God did it for the conversion of the jailor, who was one of his Elect. And therefore Paul said, 
o 2 Tim. 2 10.  that he endured all things for the Elects sake, that they might also obtain the salvation which is in Christ jesus, with eternal glory. And writing to the Philippians from the prison at Rome, where he received the glorious crown of Martyrdom, he saith, 
p Phil. 1.13  that the things which happened unto him, had fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel; so that his bonds in Christ were manifest to all Caesar's Court, and in all other places. For howsoever he was 
q 2. Tim. 2.14.  bound, the word of God was not bound. The prison was his Church: there he preached, and there he converted many.  
Thus the Albigenses of France, being dispersed by a most furious and violent persecution, went preaching the Gospel in Germany, in Bohemia, in England. All the flourishing Churches in Europe, at this day; are the harvest which they sowed: but especially 
r Tert. Apologet. ca ult. Idem ad Scapul. cap. ult. Clemens Alex. Strom. 4.  the seed of the Church, is the blood of Christians: for those which behold their constancy, wonder; wondering, they inquire the cause thereof; enquiring, they learn it; learning it, they are converted. 
s justin. Apolog. 1. Euseb. lib. 4. cap. 8.  Iust. Mart. beholding the unexpugnable constancy of Christians in the atrocity and extremity of their torments, said to himself, that such men which made no account of death, could not be men given to pleasures and wickedness; because voluptuous men, being timorous and faint-hearted, cannot suffer any thing which is grievous to be felt; and above all things, fear death. thereupon he was converted, & became of an Idolater, a Christian; of a Philosopher, a Martyr  
I might relate unto you a most true story of a Noble man converted by the wonderful constancy of those of whom I spoke in my last Sermon, and protesting at the hour of his death, that he died in their faith. But by this which I have said, ye see, that the temporal death of God's Saints, is eternal life and salvation to many of Gods Elect.  
Likewise their constancy and wonderful boldness to maintain the Gospel against all the wisdom and power of the world, their holy stoutness to die for it, is no small comfort to the Church, and a great confirmation to the weak brethren: which use the Apostle found in his bonds, as he saith, That 
t Phil 1.14  by them many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident, were much more bold to speak the word without fear. For this cause, Saint john saith, that 
v 1. joh. 3.16.  as Christ laid down his life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Who would not be glad to exchange his transitory and frail life, for the salvation and everlasting life of God's Elect? And who would not choose to die, to 
x jam 5.20  convert a sinner from the error of his way, to cover a multitude of sins, and to save a soul from death? Therein is both honour and profit: Honour to the Confessors and Martyrs, by whose bands and death, so me are converted, many are confirmed. Profit to God's Elect, which by such means are saved. There is not in this world any honour so profitable, any profit so honourable: and therefore the Apostle considering the honour which cometh of this profit, and the profit which floweth from this honour, writ to the Colossians, that 
y Col. 1.24.  he rejoiced in his sufferings for them, i. e. for their conversion to the faith, and confirmation in the faith, as being Christ's Minister in the one & in the other. Let, I pray you, let the same mind be in us, which was in such holy men: Let us all be for this end Christ's Martyrs in affection, and thank the Lord our God for this liberty of his Gospel in this Realm, wherein there is no Tyrant, no persecuter to make us Martyrs in action.  
XI. Secondly, men readily conceive extravagant opinions of those whom God hath furnished with rarest gifts; and as they are inclined to superstition, canonize them, and send up commandment to the heavens to receive them for their gods. Thus the Gentiles erected Temples, dedicated Altars, instituted new honours and religious worship to some odd men among their Ancestors, of whom they had received some special benefit. Thus 
a Act. 3.12  the jews held their eyes fixed on Peter and john, who had restored a lame man to his feet, as if by their power and holiness that miracle had been wrought. Thus 
b Act. 10. ●●. 25, 26▪  Cornelius, though a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, fell down at Peter's feet, and worshipped him, as if he had been more than a man. Thus 
c Act. 14.10, 11, 12, 13  the Idolaters of Lystra, called Barnabas, jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, and would have offered sacrifice unto them, because they healed a cripple, who never had walked. Thus the Pope and his Cardinals canonize and register with the Saints some special men, of whose holiness and miracles, they say they have sufficient warrant, and give express commandment to the people to worship them.  
God, foreseeing that the devil through his malice, would do his utmost endeavour to re-establish Idolatry again in these same holy men's persons, by whom he had banished it out of the world; even when they did greatest miracles, turmoiled them with greatest afflictions, that those which saw them in such a miserable state, might judge and say that they were men like unto themselves, and that they wrought such wonders by God's finger, and not by their own power. For the same cause, the evils which they suffered, are registered in holy Scripture: that as S. Panl, after he had begun to tell how he was taken up into Paradise, broke off his discourse in the midst, saying, 
d 2. Cor. 12.6.  I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seethe me to be, or that he heareth of me: so we may say of them, that which they acknowledged themselves to be, that 
e Act. 14.15  they were also men of like passion with us; for that which they were by grace, should not make us forget that which they were by nature, even mortal men like ourselves.  
XII. Whereupon, 
f Chrysost. Homi. 1. rd popul. Antiochen.  Chrysostom giveth us another advertisement: for when we exhort you to imitate David, Elias, Paul, Peter, such or such a Saint, your custom is to answer; I am not Peter, I am not Paul: as if Peter and Paul had been of some other stuff than ye are, as if they had not been mortal, feeble, and sinful men as ye are. Therefore to take from you all excuse, when ye cover your carelessness and sloth with such vain excuses; God hath exercised with most infirmities those on whom he hath bestowed greatest graces: that seeing they have been like unto us in weakness, diseases, afflictions and passions belonging to man, we despair not of attaining to the resemblance of the heavenly and saving graces wherewith they were garnished. For this end S. james propoundeth unto us the example of Elias, of whom he saith, that 
f I am. 5.17, 18.  he was subject to like passions as we are; that if we pray with fervency, as he did, we be assured that we shall speed as he did.  
XIII. To these three reasons we may▪ add the fourth, taken from afflictions as they are corrections & chastisements of God's dearest servants; that God will have us to consider them as testimonies of his wrath against sin▪ and to say to ourselves, Hath God dealt so roughly with so holy men when they offended him, and shall he bear with us? or as Christ said, 
g Luk. 23.33.  If these things be done in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? This reason is so clear, that S. Peter urgeth it as an infallible demonstration, saying, 
h 1. Pet. 4.17, 18.  The time is come, that judgement must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God? Wherefore let us lay this to our hearts, and learn by such manifest tokens of God's wrath against sin, to prevent his indignation by an unfeigned amendment of life. Esay saith, that 
i Esa. 26.9.  when God's judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. God grant, that as we are of the number of these inhabitants of the world, so we may be of the number of those Students, which are schooled by their brethren's afflictions, to learn righteousness, to stand in awe of God, and to serve him with an upright heart, before his face all the days of our life.  
XIV. Finally, God by the afflictions of his dear ones, namely, by those which they suffer for righteousness sake, manifesteth the infallible truth of his promises, and the excellency of his mighty power in their delivery from the evil day, and from all the plots, conspiracies, secret practices, malicious attempts, violent invasions of theirs and his enemies; which then are constrained to avouch, that it is by the finger of God, and not by the hand of man, that the Church subsisteth upon earth, and, as it is said in the Psalms, that 
k Psal. 10.2  Christ in the mids of his enemies. He saith, 
l Esa. 43.2, 3.  When thou passest thorough the waters, I will be with thee: and thorough the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest thorough the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee: for I am the Lord thy God, the holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.  
How he accomplisheth this promise, it is both wonderful and profitable to consider: for when he will show his strength; that which he doth, seemeth contrary to that which he intendeth to do. When he came to lighten and gladden abraham's soul, by the confirmation of his promises, he sent 
m Gen. 15.12.  an horror of great darkness upon him. 
n Gen. 32.25.  When he came to bless jacob, he wrestled with him, and put his thigh out of joint. 
o 2. Kin. 2.21.  Elisha sweetened the unwholesome waters with salt. 
p joh 9.6.  jesus Christ, putting clay on the eyes of a blind man, restored him to his sight: 
q Marc. 7.33.  he put his fingers into the ears of a man that was deaf, and they were opened.  
Even so he debased and abated joseph to the lowest pit of the prison, that his power might be marvelled at in advancing of him to the highest dignity of pharao's Court. He winked at Pharaoh and his army, when they persecuted and pursued his people into the midst of the red sea; that when with the blast of his nostrils the sea came and covered them, and they sunk as lead in the mighty waters, his people might sing unto him, 
r Exod 15.11.  Who is like unto thee, O LORD, amongst the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? and his enemies might say of him, that 
s Iosh. 2.11  he is God of Heaven above, and in earth beneath. He permitted Senacherib King of Assyria to take all the defensed cities of juda, and to bring Hezakiah to such extremity, that he had not two thousand men to withstand him: then he sent his Angel from Heaven to deliver him: then 
t Esa. 37.20.  all the kingdoms of the earth knew, that he is the Lord, even he only.  
Consider Nebucadnezzar in his rage & fury, commanding to heat the burning fiery furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heat, and to cast the three Confessors into it, saying to them, 
v Dan. 3.15.  Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? His mind was to destroy the bodies of these Saints. But, O miracle of the almighty power and virtue of God! the fire was a rampire and wall to guard them, the flame was a garment to cloth them, the furnace was a fountain to refresh them. Mortal bodies were cast into the fire, & they were not hurt thereby, as if they had been immortal: the flames received them tied, and untying them, were tied themselves. They spared the hands and the feet, whereof they burned the bands: They slew the men that cast these Salamanders into the furnace; for the furnace was exceeding hot: to teach you, that the strength of the fire was neither extinguished nor abated: yet they touched not the bodies of the Saints; not changing their nature, but bearing respect to their godliness: yea and such respect, that there was not an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, neither had the smell of fire passed on them; which goeth beyond all admiration. The fire dared not touch, but their bands. The Tyrant fettered them, the fire unfettered them; that ye may see the cruelty of the Tyrant, and the obedience of the element. The Princes and Governors of the kingdom were come thither to see the great solemnity of the dedication of the golden image but they saw that which they could never have thought of. They came to worship the idol: they went home admiring and worshipping the power of God. The king himself, who erewhile had cast in the fire these three Confessors, because they would not serve his gods, nor worship the golden image which he had set up, was constrained to worship their God, and to confess, that 
x Vers. ●9.  there is none other God that can deliver after this sort. So Satan was confounded in his malice, seeing his power abated by his own craft, whereby he laboured to overthrow the servants of the living God: and God's Power, Wisdom, Goodness, Providence, was glorified in their delivery.  
God 
y 1. Kin. 17 4.  spoke to the ravenous Ravens, and they fed Elijah: He 
a jon. 2.10  spoke to the Whale, and it vomited out jonas upon the dry land. When his people was scattered hither & thither among the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, and other Nations, 
b Esa. 43.6  be said to the North, Give up; and to the South, Keep not back: bring my sons from fare, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. So was fulfilled that which is written in the Psalms, 
c Ps 76.11  Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee.  
XV. Such examples of the glorious power of God in the afflictions of righteous men, are most frequent in the New Testament. As in the creation he commanded light to shine out of darkness: So in the redemption of mankind he made our Saviour a curse for us, that he might bless us: and put to death the Prince of life, that through his death he might give life to those which were dead. His enemies sealed and guarded the Sepulchre where he was buried, and said, 
d Psal 3.2.  There is no help for him in God: But 
e Rom. 1.4  he was declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; and was more glorious in his death, than he was in his life.  
So his Church is never so wonderful as in the persecution. Then 
f Exod. 3.2, 3, 4.  ye see the great sight which made Moses amazed; The bush burning with fire, and yet not consumed. What more vile than a bush? what more contempt tible in the eyes of men, than the Church? what more susceptible of burning, than a bush? what so easy to be overthrown as the Church; as the little flock of weak sheep enclosed with an army of strong and cruel wolves? yet the bush was not burnt, because God was in the midst of the bush: So the Church cannot be destroyed, because Christ hath said, 
g Matth. 28  Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  
Consider 
h Act. 16.22.  Paul and Silas torn with stripes, thrust into the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks. The infidels might have said, that the God, who suffreth his servants to be thus abused, is either weak and impotent, or unrighteous and malicious. But see & behold in this permission a most wonderful work of his power, goodness and mercy. His Saints had their feet in the stocks, their hands in the gyves: Their heart was frank, their tongue was free. The Devil was then a prentice, and had not learned to gag: Their heart was inditing a good matter: Their tongue was the pen of a ready writer. At midnight, they were waking. What did they while they waked? did they howl for grief and pain? complained they of their contumelies? accused they the cruelty of the bloodthirsty Governors? blamed they the rigour of the pitiless laylour? No, No. They prayed; they sang praises unto God so loud, that the prisoners heard them. Then (O marvellous power of God!) 
i Ver. 26.  suddenly there was a great earthquake: the foundations of the prison were shaken: all the doors were opened, and every man's bands were loosed. If they had been unbound, if they had walked with full liberty up and down in the prison; if they had taken hold of the pillars thereof, as Samson did, and shaken them, the miracle had not been so conspicuous: but when they are thrown down into the lowest prison, when they are loaden with clogs, when they are bound so fast that they cannot budge, when through their only prayer the earth trembleth, the foundations of the dark dungeon skip like a young Unicorn, when all the prisoners bands burst, and are broken asunder, as a thread of Tow is broken when it toucheth the fire; when all those which were tied, were loosed, and the jailer who had bound them, was himself tied with terror and despair, and finally delivered from the bondage of sin, and honoured with the glorious liberty of the children of God, by the preaching of these two most contemptible prisoners; Gods power shined more bright than the Sun in the fairest Summers day, and shown itself always most wonderful.  
Can ye but wonder, when ye see 
k Act. 24.25.  Felix sitting to judge Paul, and yet trembling at the words which Paul spoke, as if Paul had judged him? when Festus is amazed, 
l Act. 26.24, 28.  and Agrippa is almost persuaded, by this prisoner arraigned before them, to be a Christian? The Doctor is tied; his speech is on wings, and flieth abroad: the Preacher is shut up in prison; his doctrine runneth swiftly everie where. Can ye bind the beams of the Sun, and imprison them? when that shall be done, Tyrants shall shackle the Gospel, and unfeather it that it fly not.  
Ye may behold the same marvel of God's power, mercy, & wisdom in the rest of the Apostles, & in the whole Christian Church. 
m 1. Cor. 1.27, 28.  Learning hath been instructed by ignorance: Wisdom hath been confounded by foolishness. By weakness, the might of the world hath been destroyed: 
n 2 Cor. 10.5.  every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; and in us, unto this day, is fulfilled that which the Lord said to Paul, 
o 2. Cor. 12.9.  My strength is made perfect in weakness: That both in the conversion of the world, and protection of the Church, 
p 2. Cor. 4.7.  the excellency of this power may be of God, and not of us.  
XVI. Where then are they which judge of a man's bliss and happiness by his prosperity, & esteem those who with Paul and the rest of the Apostles, 
q 1. Cor. 4.11.  hunger and thirst, are naked, are buffeted, have no certain dwelling place, etc. to be miserable, unhappy, and as odious to God, as they are heinous to men? Will they say, that to be corrected of God is a token of his wrath? But 
r Pro. 3.11, 12.  the wise man and 
s Heb. 12.5, 6.  the holy Apostle say fare otherways, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, and faint not when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, & scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Are ye not the sons of God? Look to all God's children who have been before you: Have they not all groaned under Gods chastising hand, some in one manner, some in another? Therefore 
t Ver 7, 8.  if ye endure chastening, God dealeth you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Then when ye ask, if God doth well to use you hardly; if ye be children, your question is answered: But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.  
Will they deny, that to be kept from sin, is a very good thing? Let them consider, that 
v Ver. 9, 10.  we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live? for they verily for a few day's chastened us, after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness: that not only we may be corrected of sins past, but also preserved and withholden from sinning in time to come, and so lead a godly life before God and men.  
Now 
x Ver. 11.  no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby: Their faith, their hope, their charity, their constancy, their patience, their humility, their devotion, are both tried and exercised. Hath not experience taught you, that the vine, when it is bared at the root, purged; weeded, husbanded carefully, becometh more fruitful, and at the vintage filleth the Fats with sweet wine? Even so▪ saith Christ, 
y joh. 15.2.  my Father purgeth every branch that beareth fruit, that it may bring forth more fruit. Cast gold into the fire, and a Goldsmith shall make a ring of it. If ye will build a house for good service, for comeliness, for pleasure and honour, the stones must be hewn smooth, the timber must be squared & carved with the hammer & chisel: Even so God melteth and purifieth us in the fire of affliction, to make us precious jewels for his cabinet; he polisheth & smootheth us with the hammer & chisel of tribulations, to make us living stones in his heavenly jerusalem, which groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord.  
XVII. If ye had seen the Churches of France in their affliction, ye should have marked in them a wonderful change, and would have said, that these evils had befallen them for their greater good. Their damages were great, as ye have heard: but their advantages were greater. They became more honest, and meek, more heedful to the word, more zealous to God's service, more prone and bend to all the duties of charity: All foolish and filthy talking was banished from their mouths: their tongues infected no more the air with lascivious and wanton songs: Sighing, sobbing, groaning to God, was their delight; prayers, singing of Psalms, mutual exhortations to amendment of life, was their ordinary speech. Those, whose habitation before that time was night and day in the Taverns, departed not from the holy assemblies, crying to God for grace, mercy and peace, with fasting and prayers night & day. Drunkenness gave place to sobriety, pride to humility, dissolution to modesty, cruelty to humanity. Our enmities and dissensions were turned into kisses of charity, into brotherly embracements, into all endeavours and good offices of true friendship in the communion of Saints: Our doors were shut to all riot, dissoluteness, insolency. Our hearts were open to God: Our houses were become Churches, where God was religiously and with true zeal worshipped by parents and children, by masters and servants, by old and young The Papists saw it, and wondered, that the fire of persecution had not consumed, but kindled and inflamed our zeal: and some of them were converted. So we were corrected, our devotion was increased, Papists were amazed, God was glorified,  
XVIII. Wherefore 
a Heb. 12.12.  lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. Though we live here in peace, yet we have no lease of peace: yea, in this public peace every one should look for a great fight of afflictions: flagging hands are not fit for the battle: trembling knees cannot stand fast and upright at a meeting & encounter of our enemies. Let us then imitate wise & prudent soldiers which in time of peace enure themselves, by the exercises of war, to sustain the brunt & coping of armed enemies in the day of battle. When 
b Ps. 91.7.  a thousand shall fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand: when 
c Rev. 12.4.  the Dragon shall with his tail sweep the heavens, and cast to the earth the third part of the stars: when every where ye shall see nothing but apostasies and defections of great men, of wise men, of Church men, which are stars in the heaven of the Church, stand not still gazing upon them, as 
d 2. Sam. 2.23.  Joab's soldiers did upon Hasael whom Abner had slain, and lost the fruit of the victory: But as 
e 2. Sam. 20.11, 12, 13.  Joab's servant removed Amaza whom joab had slain, out of the high way into the field, & cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him, stood still; and as he cried, He that favoureth joab, and he that is for David, let him go after joab; whereupon all the people went on after joab, to pursue after the traitor Sheba: So let us remove all scandals from before our eyes, and casting upon them the cloak of forgetfulness, let us follow our General, our Lord jesus Christ the Prince and Captain of the Lords Host, who goeth before us fight for the Lord our God against the Devil, sin, and the world. Whosoever favoureth Christ, whosoever is for God, let him follow Christ, Let 
f 1. Tim. 1.18, 19  us all war a good warfare, holding for shield, faith; and forsword, the word of God, not pausing on these Hymenees and Alexander's; which losing the rudder of a good conscience, what wonder if they have made shipwreck of their faith: yea, let us tread upon their stinking carcases, and trampling on the ghastly examples of their lamentable revolts, let us 
g Psal. 3.14.  press toward the mark for the prince of the high calling of God in Christ jesus; That being, through God's powerful and merciful assistance, each of us enabled to say truly with Paul, 
h 2. Tim. 4.7, 8.  I have fought a good sight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, we may thereupon infer this sweet and blessed conclusion with Paul; Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto them also that love his appearing.  
XIX. O almighty and most gracious Father, bestow this saving grace upon this thy people which is here present before thee, through the all-sufficient merits of thy only and dear Son, and our only and most powerful Saviour jesus Christ our Lord: to whom, with thee and the holy Ghost be all power, all honour, and all glory for ever and ever. Amen.   

SERMON VI Of the Lords Deliverances.  PSALM XXXIV. XIX. 
But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
1. THe Church compared to the Moon, by reason of the vicissitude of her evils, & the Lords deliverances:  
2. Whereof there be many examples in the old Testament,  
3. And in the new.  
4. Six principal points to be considered in the Lords deliverances.  
5. The deliverer of the Church, is the LORD; called JEHOVAH in the Heb. tongue.  
6. The word JEHOVAH leadeth us to the knowledge of the eternity of Gods being, and of that eternal virtue whereby he giveth being to all things, and namely to his promises.  
7. All the qualities required in a deliverer, are in the LORD.  
8. Thence the righteous man receiveth a most sensible and unspeakable comfort  
9 God alone is the deliverer of the Church, and needeth not the help of any.  
10. What is the nature of his deliverances.  
11. Exhortation not to fear men.  
12. Exhortation to fear God alone.  
13. Exhortation not to trust in men, neither living,  
14. Nor dead, though they be in heaven.  
15. Exhortation to trust in the Lord alone.  
16. Those whom the Lord delivereth, are the Righteous only.  
17. Their righteousness is no cause meritorious of their deliverances.  
18. Notwithstanding, it is a righteous thing with God to deliver them, and that for three causes.  
19 The Lord giveth many blessings and deliverances to wicked men, for righteous men's sake.  
20. Exhortation to righteousness.  
1. EXcellent and many are the titles wherewith the Church is adorned in holy Scripture: Amongst all, that wherewith she is graced, when the wise K. Solomon entitles her 
a Cant 6.10.  fair as the Moon, is the fittest to express her condition in this world. She is fair indeed, & very pleasant to behold, as the Moon is: She shineth among the people that walk in the darkness of ignorance; as the Moon shineth in the night. Her shining light is intermixed with dark stains of sin; as the bright shining light of the Moon is intermingled with black spots. She hath her spots of herself, as the Moon hath; but 
b Ambr. Hexam. lib 4 cap. 8.  she borroweth the light of immortality and of grace from the ay-during light of her brother, the Lord jesus Christ; as the light of the Moon cometh from the Sun. O 
c Hos 139  Israel, thou hast destroyed by thyself, but in me is thy help, saith GOD to his Church. Sin is of ourselves: destruction and death is from our sin. But 
d Psal. 121.2.  our help is from the Lord, which made heaven and earth, even from the Lord jesus, who is 
e Mal. 1.2.  the Sun of righteousness, 
f Luk. 1.78.  the day spring from on high, in whose wings is health, 
g Psal. 36.9.  in whose light we see light, and through whose light 
h l. 2.15.  we shine as lights in the world: so that we say, 
i Gal. 2.20.  I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.  
The Moon hath her rising and setting, and in each of them her increasing, her fullness, her decreasing, her disappearing for a few days, when she is in her conjunction with the Sun: So the Church of Christ, rising in one place, goeth down in another; and wheresoever she riseth, is subject to many variations, to growing bigger and bigger, to waning, to disappearing. Then, through the violence of persecutions, she is constrained to obey God's commandment; 
k Esa. 26.20.  Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thy self as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. Then wings are given her, 
l Rev. 12.14.  that she may fly into the wilderness, into her place, from the face of the serpent, and be nourished there for a time, and times, and half a time, even for the time of God's good pleasure. Then having her back turned to the world, & her face to God; then being in her conjunction with jesus Christ her Sun, she possesseth in him a secret, but a most clear & perfect light: Then is fulfilled in her that which is written in the Psalms, 
m Psal. 45.13.  The king's daughter is all glorious within. She remaineth not always thus: but after the few days of her vanishing out of the sight of the world, like a bride coming out of her chamber, she rejoiceth to begin her race again, and to quicken with her light them that dwell in the valley of the shadow of death; having nothing firm, nothing constant in this world, but the inconstancy of her unsteadfast estate.  
As there is a vicissitude and interchangeable course of light and darkness, of the day & the night, of Summer and Winter: As 
n Eccles. 1.6, 9  the thing that hath been, is that which shall be: and that which is done, is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the Sun; all things having in their inequality this equality that they go and come, like the wind which whirleth about continually from the South to the North, and returneth again according to his circutes: So the Church of God, so righteous men which are in the Church, have their alterations & change from good to evil, from evil to good, and again from good to evil; from prosperity to adversity, from adversity to prosperity by a perpetual and most constant revolution, till the great and long looked-for day of refreshing come, and put an end to all our evils, ingulfing them in the eternal joys of heavenly goods. And therefore David telleth us in our text by form of history, through his own experience, and fortelleth us by form of prophecy, that Many are the Evils of the Righteous: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
II. Peruse all the ancient histories, and ye shall find that it hath ever been so. The first man was scarcely come out of God's hands, and created after the likeness of his maker, when Satan tempted, seduced, overthrew, and plunged him into an Ocean of evils and woes. Then he might have wept, because Many are the evils of the Righteous. Look how soon he is cast down to the ground by Satan's malice, he is as soon lifted up by the mighty power of God's hand, and the merciful promise of the seed of the woman: Then he might have sung for joy, because the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
The promise was a prediction of the vicissitude of evils and of goods shared to the Church. 
o Gen. 3 15.  I will (saith God to the serpent) put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The seed of the woman, is jesus Christ the righteous, and the Church of righteous men with him and under him. The serpent shall bruise the Church's heel: Many are the Evils of the Righteous. The seed of the woman shall bruise his head: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  

p Gen. 4.8.25.  Cain, killing Abel his righteous brother, caused a heart-breaking sorrow to his righteous parents, Adam & Eve: Many are the Evils of the Righteous. God gave them another seed in stead of Abel whom Cain slew, and they called him Seth; But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
When the world was drowned in a deluge of waters, Noah was constrained to see all his kindred, and all the children of God overwhelmed by the flood, and to lie prisoner in the Ark with his family, 
q Gen. 8.13  the space of a year among all kind of beasts, to save his life: Many are the Evils of the Righteous. At the years end God remembered him, & drying up the waters, brought him out of that captivity, and 
r Gen. 9.9.  established a new covenant with him: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  

s Gen. 12 1, 4. Heb. 11.8, 9  Abraham, obeying God's calling, left his country, his kindred, and father's house, and went out, not knowing whither he went: he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles, which he removed from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people: His wife was twice ravished: the country people abused him: his nephew Let rewarded his good deeds with unthankfulness: with all this, his wife was barren, and he had no children: Many are the Evils of the Righteous. In the midst of his afflictions, as it were in the fit of an ague, 
t Gen. 24 35.  God gave him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and camels, and asses, and man-servants, and maidservants, in so great a number, that 
v Gen. 14.14.  he armed of his servants borne in his own house, three hundred and eighteen for the rescuing of Lot. 
x Psal. 105 14, 15.  God suffered no man to do him wrong, he rebuked Kings for his sake, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my Prophets no harm. He constrained them to render him his wife undefiled: he gave him a son in his old age to make him laugh. But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
God prophesied to Abraham, that 
y Gen. 15.13, 14.  his seed should be a stranger in a land that was not theirs, and should serve them, and be afflicted by them four hundred years. So it was: And so was averred this saying of David; Many are the evils of the Righteous. Hear also the prophecy of the Catastrophe; And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. So was it also: But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
When the people had taken possession of the Land of promise flowing with milk and honey, how many times were they beaten, vanquished, subdued, oppressed by the Philistines, Amorites, Moabites, and other neighbours! Many are the evils of the Righteous: They cried to God, and he heard their requests; he sent them men clothed with his Spirit, which delivered them; he gave them as many days of peace, as they had of war: But the Lord delivereth him out of all.  
Ye have heard in what troubles, in what dangers, in what disquiet and perplexities David lived a great while after he was anointed King of Israel; and what afflictions he had in his own family: ye know also what was the event of them all, and that he spoke by his own experience, when he said, Many are the evils of the Righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
Ye have read the promise which God made to David; saying, 
a Psal. 89.30, 31, 32, 33, 34.  If his children forsake my Law, and walk not in my judgements: If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments: Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes: Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail: my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Thence it was, that David's children were often chastened, ever delivered; that good Kings succeeded bad; that many afflictions were followed with notable deliveries; that seventy years of captivity ended in a most glorious and wonderful liberty; that the four hundred years following, had sadness seasoned with joy, tears mingled with laughter, spears changed into scythes, swords beaten into mattocks, prayers in the time of persecution ending in thanksgiving for peace; until the land being destitute and void of righteous men, vomited out for ever and ever all her inhabitants: for wheresoever are righteous men, there Many are the evils of the Righteous, But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
III. The Christian Church hath succeeded both to the evils and deliveries of the Church of Israel and of juda, as the Lord himself hath experimented in his own person, and hath forewarned us: 
b 1. Pet. 3.18.  He was put to death in the flesh: Many are the evils of the Righteous. He was quickened by the Spirit: The Lord delivereth him out of them all. He saith to us, 
c joh. 16.10.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: And ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Ye shall be sorrowful, because many are the evils of the Righteous: your sorrow shall be turned into joy, because the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
I have declared to you how many evils the Christian Church suffered at divers times by ten bloody persecutions, by false brethren, by the wicked heresy of Arrius. But by divers means the Lord delivered her out of them all.  
At last, the Antichrist is come, according to the Scriptures; and the prophecy of the revelation concerning 
d Rev. 11.7. etc.  the two witnesses of God, hath been fulfilled: where it is said, that the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them; that their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great City three days and a half; that the people and nations shall see them, and shall not suffer them to be put in graves; that they that dwell upon the earth, shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelled on the earth: That after three days and an half, the Spirit of life from God, entered into them: and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them, and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. Alas! what evils hath not the beast practised against these two witnesses, against the little handful of those which professed the Gospel of Christ? How often hath she fought, vanquished, killed them? How often also hath God raised them from the dead in their successors? what was this last peace of France, but a most wonderful resurrection?  
The world for the first draught filleth a cup of good wine; but after that, it giveth nothing to drink but poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Contrariwise the 
e joh 2.10.  Lord jesus giveth the best wine last. He 
f job 5.18.  maketh sore, to bind up: he woundeth, to make whole. 
g 1. Sam. 2.6.  He killeth, to make alive: He bringeth men down to the grave, that he may bring them up again. Weep 
h Psal. 30.5.  may endure for a night; but singing cometh in the morning. 
i Psal. 126.6.  They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth, and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. As in Music contrary voices give a pleasant sound, & by a discordant concord make a most delectable harmony: So these alterations and interchanges of evil & good in our lives, make the pleasures more acceptable, when God sendeth them; when, after that the righteous man hath been shaken and tossed with afflictions, The Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
four He which doth this work, is the LORD: his work is deliverance: he whom he delivereth, is the righteous man: The Evils out of which he delivereth him, are all the evils which befall him. Add to these, the manner how, and the time when he delivereth the righteous man out of all his evils, & ye shall have six principal heads of doctrine to be handled in the exposition of the second part of this text.  
V The deliverer of the Church is the LORD: The Hebrew word is JEHOVAH, which is God's Name. The use of names is to put distinction between things that are of one kind: and therefore when jacob asked of God what was his Name, he rebuked him, saying, Wherefore 
l Gen. 32.29.  is it that thou dost ask after my Name? The jews say, that he would not tell him his Name, because the tongue of a mortal man neither should, nor can express it. For that same cause, say they, when Manoah Samsons father desired to know his Name, he repressed his curiosity with this answer, 
m judg. 13.17, 18.  Why askest thou after my Name; seeing it is wonderful? But to speak properly, he hath no Name, because he is alone, and there are no other gods with him: His Name is his own self; and therefore wonderful above all wondering: And so he would have jacob and Manoah, who took him for one of the Angels, to think of him.  
But when Moses asked by what name he should call him, when he should speak of him unto the children of Israel; he commanded him to say unto them, EHEIE 
n Exo d. 3 14.  hath sent me unto you: which word in our Bibles is translated, IAM: In the greek of the Septuagint, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He that is: which Plato learned in Syria, & called him 
o justin. Cohortat. ad Graec.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That which is: It is the first person of the future tense, and may be translated, He that shall be.  
God spoke further unto Moses, 
p Exod. 3.15.  Thus shalt thou say un-the Children of Israel; JEHOVAH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of jacob, hath sent me unto you: This is my Name for ever, and this is my Memorial unto all ages. So God called himself, and so 
q Exod. 4.30.  Moses named him to the people, and to 
r Exod. 5.1, 2.  Pharaoh: who hearing the Name which he never heard before, answered, Who is JEHOVAH? I know 〈◊〉 JEHOVAH; and so despised God, whom by this new name he judged to be a new God; though the Name was not new, but was from the beginning known to the Church, and God served by it.  
Therefore the jews are too superstitious, when they maintain it to be so secret, that no man can; and if any could, none should be so bold as to pronounce it. How it was pronounced, it is hard to tell: but that it was pronounced, we know by the relation of Pagans: for how could 
s Biblioth. li. 1. part. 2. cap. 5. Apud judaeos Moses à Deo, qui vocetur JAO, acceptas leges daere praese ferebat.  Diodorus Siculus know that the God of the jews was called JAO, if he never heard that Name? And who doubteth, but the Latin Name JOVIS, whereby the Romans worshipped the God of gods, was taken from this Name JEHOVAH, which they pronounced as we would do, if it were written JOWIS? & it may be that the Hebrews pronounced IHOWA, and not JEHOVAH. Surely 
t Clemen. Strom. lib. 5.  Clement Alexandrin. though a Christian, miscarried, as well as Diodorus Siculus a Pagan, both in the writing, & in the pronunciation; when transposing the letters, he saith, that the name of four letters which the Priests did bear on their foreheads, was JAOV.  
VI But he hitteth the mark when he writeth, that that Name signifies as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, i. he that is, and that shall be: God calling himself so, not to describe his essence, which is infinite and incomprehensible, but, as 
v Iust. cohortat. ad Graecoes.  justin observeth, to make an opposition between himself, and all other gods, which have no being at all. In our Bible's out of the Greek it is turned LORD. In the French Bibles it is most properly translated ETERNAL, because, though no name can express the essence of the least and most contemptible of all the creatures, fare less of the glorious Majesty of the Creator; yet it telleth us, that God hath an eternal being of himself, and so leadeth us to the consideration of the eternity o● his being.  
Esaiah saith, that 
x Esay 57 15  he enhabiteth eternity: and he saith of himself exclusively to all those which are called gods, 
l Esa. 44.6. Esa. 48.13.  I am the first, & I am the last, & besides me there is no God. For this cause john calls him, 
m Rev. 1.4.  He which is, which was, & which is to come: He which was without beginning: 
n Psal. 90.2.  Before the mountains were brought forth, ere ever thou hadst form the earth, and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God: He which is without alteration: for 
o jam. 1.17  with him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning: And which is to come without end: 
p Psal. 102 25, 26, 27.  Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands: They shall perish, but thou shalt endure, yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. And therefore he calleth himself in a most proper sense, 
q Exod. 3.14.  I am: for neither loseth he any thing by the time which is past: neither gaineth he any thing by that which is to come; but is ever like unto himself, is ever present with himself, having an eternal being of himself, from himself, in himself, to himself.  
It is also the name of his almighty power, whereby he giveth being to all things. 
r Esa. 40.12, 21, 22, 23.  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as a grasshopper: he that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth the Princes to nothing; that maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.  
Moreover, it is the Name of his fidelity, constancy, and truth in all his promises, threatenings, commandments, exhortations, words, deeds. 
s Esa. 14.27.  For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? And therefore when he was to deliver his people out of the bondage of Egypt, according to his promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, he said unto Moses, 
t Exod. 6, 2.3.  I am the LORD: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto jacob, by the name of God almighty; but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. Not but they knew him, and worshipped him with that Name, as you may read in their lives: but he speaketh of an experimental knowledge, and saith, that they knew him not, because in their time he had not given a real being to the promises which he made them: which when he did by Moses, and had led his people thorough the red sea, they sang, 
v Exod. 15.3.  The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his Name. where his Name JEHOVAH, is turned LORD. For that cause, when he threatened to smite all the first born in the land of Egypt, and promised to spare his own people, he said, 
x Exod. 12.12.  I am the LORD. For the same cause, the Prophets ordinarily begin and end their prophecies of promises, & of threatenings, saying, The LORD hath spoken, the mouth of the LORD hath spoken. Whereunto I doubt not but David had regard, when he saith, that the LORD delivereth the righteous man out of all his evils: He hath promised to deliver him, saying, 
y Psal. 91.14, 15, 16.  Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my Name: He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble: I will deliver him, and honour him: With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. He is the LORD, and will perform his promise: 
z Num. 23 19,  God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall be not do it? or, hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?  
VII. In this Name then are comprehended all the qualities required in him who challenges the title of a Deliverer. He is All-wife, Almighty, All-righteous, All good. Alwise: 
a Psal. 147 4, 5.  He telleth the number of the stars: he calleth them all by their Names: Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite: How much more knoweth he the plots of our enemies, & our evils? 
b Psal. 138.6.  Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the Lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.  
Almighty, without a peer in heaven among the Angels, in earth among the most dreadful creatures, as the Church singeth: 
c Psal. 89. 6, 8, 9, 11, 13  For who in heaven can be compared unto the LORD? Who, among the sons of the mighty, can be likened unto the LORD? OLORD God of Hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them: The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: As for the world, and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them: Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. When we complain, and make our moan to God, 
d Psal. 93.3, 4.  The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice: the floods lift up their waves; we are taught to comfort ourselves, and to say, The LORD, who is on high, is mightier than many waters: yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.  
All-righteous, for 
e Psal. 103.16.  the LORD executeth righteousness and judgement for all that are oppressed.  
All-good, and most willing to deliver us: for he is the LORD our God. 
f Psal. 50.1.7.  The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, saying, I am God, even thy God: he is appeased to wards us, he is reconciled with us through the blood of the cross of his dear Son: Our cause is his cause. We are persecuted for righteousness sake: Righteousness is the daughter of God. We are persecuted for the Gospel: The Gospel is his word. We are persecuted for Christ's sake: Christ is his Son, his dear Soon, his only Son. I say then, that he is Alwise, and can: Almighty, and may: All-good, and will deliver us. Whatsoever he is, he is it to us, and for us; because he is the LORD our God. He hath delivered all our fathers & predecessors. 
g Psal. 22.4.  Our fathers, saith David, trusted in thee: they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them: He will also deliver us. And therefore every righteous man prayeth, 
h Psal. 106.4.  Remember me, OLORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.  
JIX. Here is the comfort, here is the consolation of the Church, and of every righteous man in her, that God heareth their prayers, and delivereth them, even then, and namely then when they are forsaken of all men. jacob was alone when he fled from his father's house; because his brother Esau had vowed to kill him. Then the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, and said unto him, 
i Gen. 28.15.  Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into the land: for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. David complaineth, that 
k Psal. 25.16.  he was desolate and afflicted: yet he seeketh comfort in the assurance of God's assistance, and saith, 
l Psal. 27.10.  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. What extremity was the Church brought into, under the persecution of the cruel Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes, 
m Dan. 11 32, 45.  who corrupted by flatteries such as did wickedly against the covenant, and afflicted those which were upright, so cruelly, and so pvissantly, that there was none to help them? Then the Church prayed, 
n Psal. 74.1.  O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Then Zion said again, 
o Esa. 49. 14, 15.  The LORD bathe forsaken me, and my LORD hath forgotten me. Then the Lord answered again, Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. For than was fulfilled that Prophecy of Daniel: 
p Dan. 12.1.  At that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Who is this Michael? who like unto God? who but our Lord jesus Christ, the great Prince which standeth and fighteth for his people, when they can neither stand nor fight for themselves?  
Was it not he which cried from heaven to Saul, 
q Act. 9.4.  Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? When an host came from the King of Syria, and compassed the City of Dothan where Elisha was, to take him, his servant was affrighted, and said, 
r 2. Kin. 6.15, 16.  Alas! my master, how shall we do? But he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them. After the same manner, when the king Hezekiah was brought by Senacheribs' army to such a pinch, that he was constrained to enclose himself within the walls of jerusalem for the safety of his life, all his kingdom being taken from him, and having no power to resist; fortified himself in the Lord his God, and heartened his people, saying, 
f 2. Chron. 32.7, 8.  Be strong and courageous, be not afraid, nor dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us, then with him. With him is the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. Ye see a good and godly king: see also a good and godly people: And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of juda. i.e. notwithstanding their weakness and fewness, they leaned upon God, and were delivered.  
S. Raul with good reason did complain of all his followers, that at his first answer before Nero, 
t 2. Tim. 4.16.  No man stood with him, but all men forsook him. Was he for that destitute, and left alone? Notwithstanding, saith he, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me. And therefore when he saw all the powers of hell, and all the malice of the earth uncoupled after poor Christians, he defied them, saying, 
v Rom. 8.30.  If God be for us, who can be against us? Even as David said: 
x Psal. 27.1, 3.  The LORD is my light, and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident: and as jesus Christ said to his Disciples, 
y joh. 16.32.  Ye shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. He is not alone, who hath God with him.  
IX. Senacherib was mad, when he sent Rabshakeh to blaspheme the Lord, and to say to the inhabitants of jerusalem: 
a Esa. 36.18, 19, 20.  Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us, etc. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharuaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they amongst all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver jerusalem out of my hand? But the Lord answered him, 
b Esa. 37.23, 29.  Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the holy One of Israel, etc. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into mine cares, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. Then Hezekiah might have served him in his own dish, and asked him; Where is Nisroch the god of Assyria? hath he delivered thee out of the hands of the Lord our God? Nabuchadnezzar was so furious, and besides himself, that in his rage he asked of Shadrach, Meschah, and Abednego, 
c Dan. 5.15, 17, 29.  Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? They answered, Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us: and he learned ere long to spell that lesson, and to say, There is none other God that can deliver after this sort.  
In France, the Papists seeing our scarcity and neediness, lack of men, lack of treasures which are the sinews of the war, did cast in our teeth, that we had but God for all kind of pottages, i. for all purposes: for men, God; for treasures, God; for holds and fortresses, God; for all help, for all relief, God. O Lord, 
d Psal. 74.18.  remember this, that the enemy hath reproached the LORD, and that the foolish people hath blasphemed thy name. O the good pottage, O the excellent restorative, wherein the principal ingredient is God, wherein God is the only ingredient! 
e Psal, 18.31.  for who is God, save the LORD? or who is a rock, save our God? The soldiers rely upon the wariness and watchfulness of their Captain. The flock sleepeth in peace under the staff of their Shepherd. Passengers, which fail in great waters, are without fear under the protection and care of a well-experienced Pilot. Little children dread no ill when they are fast by their fathers.  
We sight under the Standard of him, who is 
f 1. Sam. 15 45.  the LORD of hosts. Antigonus' king of Syria, being ready to give battle by sea, hard by the Isle called Andros, answered to one of his men, who advertifed him, that his enemies had more ships than he, 
g Plutarch in Pelopida.  For how many ships reckonest thou me? for the dignity of the General is much to be esteemed, when it is sorted with prowess and experience. Where is there prowess, where experience, if it be not in God? 
h 9.4.  He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardued himself against him, and hath prospered? Therefore when our enemies threaten us with their armour & armies, we send them the defiance of the ancient Church, 
i Esa. 8, 9, 10  Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces: & give care, all ye of fare countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces: gird yourselves, & ye shall be broken in pieces: take counsel together, and it shall come to nought: speak the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us.  
We are his sheep, and he is the shepherd, 
k Psal. 121.4.  the keeper of Israel which shall neither slumber nor sleep: of whom, and to whose eternal glory, we sing, 
l Psal. 23. 1, 2, 3, 4.  The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want: he maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters: he restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  
The skiff wherein we sail, 
Psal 46. 2, 3, 5.  is his. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be remooved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar, and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof: God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved: God shall help her right early: the LORD of hosts is with us: the God of jacob is our refuge. Selah. 
n Mat. 8.24, 25, 26.  When the winds blow hard, when the tempest ariseth, and the waves cover her, if we cry to him, he will arise, and rebuke the winds & the sea, and there shall be a great calm.  
We are his children: he is our father, lying hard 
o Luk. 11.7.  by the door of his own house, waking when we sleep, hearing us when we cry, rising speedily to help us when we call upon him. And therefore in our distress we cry unto him, 
p Esa. 63.15, 16.  Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness, and of thy glory: where is thy zeal, and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies towards me? are they restrained? Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: Thou, O LORD, art our Father: our Redeemer is thy name from everlasting.  
X. Our Redeemer is his name, and his only. 
q Psal. 3.8.  Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: all his deliverances are either temporal salvations from the evil of affliction, or eternal salvations from the evil of sin: In the one and other sense is that true which he saith, 
r Esa. 43.11, 13.  I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour: for as none can deliver out of his hand, so 
s Dan. 3.29.  none can deliver as he can. 
t Psal. 5.12.  He compasseth the righteous with favour, as with a shield: he 
v Psal 22.19.  is strength to him that is weak, 
x Psal. 9.9.  a refuge for the oppressed, 
y Psal. 91.2.9.  a fortress for those which are persecuted, a shadow to those which are sun burnt with afflictions, a most pleasant, strong, and well furnished habitation to those which are exiled for righteousness sake. To him only belongeth that which David saith, 
a Psal. 18.2.  The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer: my God, my strength, in whom I will trust: my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.  
His deliveries are not palliative cures, easing for a while, and not healing altogether; nor anodins, taking away for some hours all sense of pain, and not the pain itself. They are salvations, and as it were resurrections from among the dead. 
b Dan. 6.27.  He delivereth and resoueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth. Such were the deliveries of Israel out of the land of Egypt, of David from Saul, of Hezekiah and josaphat from their enemies, of Shadrac, Meshac, and Habednego, out of the burning furnace, of Daniel from the power of the Lions, of his people out of the captivity of Babylon; such have ever been the deliveries of the Church; such was this last delivery of the Churches of France.  
XI. Having such a Deliverer, such a Redeemer, such a Saviour, let us neither fear men, nor trust in them: yea, let us not fear the devil himself. For the devil was not so hardy, as to do violence to 
c job 1.12.  job, or 
d Mat. 8.29.  to enter into the swine, without God's leave: The devils 
e Eph. 6.12.  are principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places, and yet we should not fear all their spiritual and powerful wickedness, because God, who is our deliverer, is stronger: Shall we then fear men which are borne, which live, which die in weakness? What can the mightiest of them all do without the Lord? what can they all do against the Lord? If he be with us, if he be against them, who shall be against us? who shall be for them?  
What fearest thou? their multitude and number? If thou hast received grace to say with David, 
f Psal. 3.5, 6.  the Lord sustained me, thou hast also received grace to say with him, I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me.  
What fearest thou? Their strength and great might? Can 
g Gen. 6.4, 7.  the Giants which were on the earth in the days of Noah, keep themselves from the flood of God's wrath? 
h Numb. 13.32, 33. Num. 14, 19  The people of Israel feared the people of Canaan, because these were men of great stature, and among them were the Giants, the sons of Anak, and they were as grasshoppers compared to them. Then josua and Caleb said to them, Fear not the people of the Land, for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. Conformably whereunto 
i Ios. 11.21.  joshuah cut off the Anakims', and destroyed them utterly with their cities, and there was none of them left in the land of the children of Israel. When 
k Deut. 3.1, 2, 11.  Og king of Bashan came against the people of Israel with all his people, the people had occasion to fear: for Og was of the remnant of giants: his bedstead was of iron: the length thereof was nine cubits, and the breadth four cubits, after the cubit of a man. But God said to Moses, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land into thy hand. What did then all his dignesse and tallness avail him? Can it hinder the children of Israel from singing to God, 
l Psal. 136.18, 19, 20.  He slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever; Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever; and Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever? 
m 1. Sam. 17.4, 7, 11, 32.  When the Israelites saw the great and huge monster Goliath, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head thereof weighed six hundred shekels of iron, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. But David, led with another spirit, said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail, because of him: thy servant will go, and fight with this Philistine: and he went with a sling in his hand; and with a stone which he fling at him, he slew him, according as he had said, 
n Ver. 47.  The Lord saveth not with sword and spear? for the battellis the LORDS.  
What fearest thou? their prudence, their wisdom, their slight and shifting devices? Fear not. 
o Psal. 94.11.  The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. He bloweth upon them, and they vanish away with their authors. For 
p Pro. 21.30, 31.  there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the LORD: 
q job 12.13, 17, 20, 21.  with him is wisdom and strength he hath cousel and understanding: he leadeth counsellors away spoilt, and maketh the judge's fools: he remooveth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged: he poureth contempt upon Princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.  
Finally, 
r Psal. 90.3  he turneth man to destruction, and saith, Return ye children of men. And therefore he saith to his children, when they fear the power of his enemies, 
s Esa. 51.7, 8.  Harken unto me ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law: fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revile: for the moth shall eat them up like a garment; and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall before ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Wicked and mighty men build their designs upon the hope of long life, and learn not by so many examples of the mortality of the greatest among men, that 
t Esa. 40.23, 24.  the Lord bringeth the Princes to nothing, and maketh the judges of the earth as vanity: yea, they shall not be planted: yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall whither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. This was 
v 1. King. 22.27, 28.  Achab's trust, when he commanded to put Micaiah in prison, and to feed him with bread and water of affliction, until he came back in peace: but Micaiah answered with great confidence, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken at all by me. The wicked and malicious Apostate julian threatened the Christians, whom he called Galileans in derision, with many evils and mischiefs, as soon as he should come back from his expedition against the Persians, trusting in the predictions of the Magicians, and in the ambiguous oracles of his gods: But the Christians feared him, not, knowing that he was a mortal man, or, as Athanasius called him, Nubeculacitò transitura, a cloud which is soon gone. Henry II. King of France, said that he should see with his own eyes Anne de Bourg burned quick: That same day he received at the tilting a stroke with a spear in the eye, whereof he died. His son Francis II. erected the scaffold for the martyrising of the Prince of Condé, Prince of his own blood. That same night a pain in his ear killed him, and the Prince escaped.  
For these causes taken from God's deliveries, & men's weakness and mortality, God forbiddeth us to fear men. 
x Esa. 40.10, 11, 13.  Fear thou not, (saith he,) for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness: Bebold all they that were incensed against thee, shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee, shall perish, etc. for I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Such exhortations and promises are frequent in the Scripture, and upon them we ground ourselves when we fear not men, yea we seek comfort and strength against fear, in God's precedent deliveries. Of time passed we say with David, 
y Psal 118.5, 6.  I called upon the LORD in my distress: The LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. Therefore we conclude as he did, for the time which is to come. The LORD is on my side, I will not fear: what can man do unto me?  
XII. What then? shall we be without fear? Not so. 
a s; a. 8.12, 13.  Say ye not, A confederacy to all them, to whom this people shall say, A confederacy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid: Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and him be your dread: Fear not men, for 
b Psal. 39.4, 6.  verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity: Surely every man walketh in a vain shew● surely they are disquieted in vain. Fear God, of whom and to whom jeremiah saith, 
c jer. 10.6, 7.  For as much as there is none like unto thee, O LORD, thou art great, and thy Name is great in might; Who would not fear thee, O King of Nations? for to thee doth it appertain, for as much as among all these wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. Therefore as Christ said to his Disciples, so say we to you, 
d Matt. 10.28.  Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.  
XIII. As we should not fear men for the causes aforesaid, so should we not for the same causes put our trust in them, as it is written, 
e Psal. 146.2, 4.  Put not your trust in Princes, nor in any son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth: in that very day his thoughts perish.  
First it is said, Put not your trust in Princes: wherefore? Are they not strong, mighty, wealthy? Hath not God said of them, and to them. 
f Psal. 82.6  I have said ye are Gods, and all of you are children of the most High? All that is true. 
g Rom. 4.17.  God calleth those things which be not, as though they were: They are gods, but earthly gods, but weak and mortal gods: to whom God saith also in that same place, 
h Psal. 82.7.  But ye shall die like men, and ye that are Princes, shall fall like another. And therefore when in the vanity of their hearts they dare call themselves gods, God answereth them as he did the K. of Tyre, saying, 
i Ezech. 28.2.  Thou art a man, and not God.  
That is the meaning of the words following, Nor in any son of man: The sons of men are men: the Princes are sons of men; they are men: And ye know, that 
k Ier 17.5.  thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in men, and maketh flesh his arm. Be faithful to your Princes: Obey and keep their commandments, render to them their dues, tribute, custom, fear, honour; 
l Matt. 22.21.  give to Cesar that which is Caesar's. Pray to God for them: but give not unto them God's tribute. Render not to any creature the homage of trust, which is proper to God alone: He can deliver.  
But as for the sons of men, in them there is no help. Though they be called gods, none of them 
m Matt. 6.27.  can by their godhead add one cubit unto their stature, 
n Psa. 49.7  nor by any means redeem their brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. Yea, after that 
o Plutarch. in Alexand.  Alexander the Great hath published abroad, that he is son to jupiter Hammon, when he shall see the humour running down from his wounds, he shall be constrained to say, This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the blood of a man, and not of God; and when he shall smell the stink of his own filth, he shall ask of his flatterers, The gods yield they such a sent? What gained 
p Marcellin. lib. 17.  Sapor King of Persia, by taking to himself the proud titles of King of kings, Brother to the Sun and Moon, Partaker of the Stars? etc. where is he now? hath his pretended brotherhood with the Sun and Moon, his consanguinity with the stars delivered him from the grave, where now death feedeth on him? Let Herod delight for a moment in the shouting and crying of his flatterers, 
q Act 12.22, 23.  The voice of a God, and not of a man: by & by the worms shall eat him quick, and constrain him to say to his clawbacks, 
r joseph. Antiq. lib. 19 cap. 7. Euseb. Hist. Eceles. lib. 1. cap. 9  He whom ye called God, endeth his life like men, and this immortal dieth. Let the Canonists fawn on the Pope, and say that he is neither God nor man: he knoweth that he is the son of man; and we know that he 
s 2. Thess. 2.3.  is the man of sin; & that there is no help, that there is nothing but perdition in him. What is man, but vanity? 
t Psal. 60.  Surely men of low degree are vanity; and men of high degree are a lie: To be laid in the ballence, they are altogether lighter than vanity. And therefore 
v Psal. 60.11.  the help of man is vanity. For this cause God cursed the Jews when they trusted to Egypt, saying, 
x Esa. 31.1, 3.  Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in charets because they are many: Now, the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horse's flesh, and not Spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth, shall fall; and he that is helped, shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.  
What if man had power and will to help? for all that, trust not in him: His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth: in that very day his thoughts perish: all his designs, & all the trust thou hadst in him, dieth with him: for than he cannot help himself, and how should he help thee? 
y job 14.1, 2.  Man, that is borne of woman, is of few dayess, and full of trouble: he cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he flieth also as a shadow, and continueth not. Wherefore 
a Esa. 2.22.  cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of, that ye should put your trust in him?  
XIIII. Must we not trust in men which are living, and which are with us, to help us? Much less should we trust in them which are dead: 
b cles. 9.6.  Their love, their hatred, their envy, to me, to thee severally, is now perished: neither have they any more portion for ever in any thing that is done under the Sun: 
c job 14.21.  Their sons come to honour, and they know it not: & they are brought low, but they perceive it not of them.  
I except not those, even those blessed souls which enjoy a perfect felicity in the vision of God: for 
d Rev. 14.13.  they rest from their labours, and 
e Esa. 57.1.  are taken away from that which is evil; their felicity consisting in this, that their minds are filled with the perfect knowledge of God, their hearts with his love, and all the powers of their soul are ravished with a perpetual meditation and contemplation of his infinite goodness, which is never distracted with the disquieting cares of things which go to and fro in this valley of miseries, and world of vanity.  
XV. In whom then shall we trust? In whom, but in the Lord? 
f Psal. 128.8, 9  It is better to trust in the LORD, than to put confidence in Princes. David speaking of the forefathers of God's people, saith of them, 
g Psal. 22.4.  Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. Of himself he saith, 
h Psal. 4.9.  I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou LORD only makest me dwell in safety: Thou only, not Abraham, Isaac, jacob; not any Angel, any Archangel; not any living among men. 
i Psal. 18.27, 28.  Thou wilt save the afflicted people, but wilt bring down high looks: Thou wilt light my candle; the LORD my God will lighten my darkness. And therefore 
k Psal. 25.15.  mine eyes are ever towards the LORD, not towards the Saints, nor the Angels: for he shall pluck my feet out of the net: 
l Psal. 42.11.  he is the health of my countenance, the help whereunto 
l Psal. 42.11.  look, and my God: 
m Psal. 73.25.  whom have I in heaven? and there is none upon earth, that I desire besides thee. And therefore he saith again, 
n Psal. 121.1, 2.  I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. Say not, that these hills are the Angels or Saints; for headdeth, My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth: from the LORD alone 
o Psal. 62.11, 12.  God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God: also unto thee, O LORD, belongeth mercy: Power and mercy, two qualities required in our Redeemer, Deliverer, and Saviour, and belonging to God alone; who may deliver us, because power is his; & will deliver us, because mercy also is his. 
p Psal. 46.1.  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  
Therefore let worldlings 
q Psal. 20.7.  trust in their chariots, and in their horses: let Papists trust in Saints in Angels, in Monks cowls, in merits. we will remember the Name of the LORD our God, that we may be blessed. For 
r jerem. 17.7.  blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.  
XVI. Let us only take heed that we be of those whom the Lord delivereth. 
s Pro. 13.10.  The Name of the LORD is a strong tower: The righteous runneth unto it, and is safe. The righteous man hath many evils, but the LORD delivereth HIM. I taught you in my first Sermon the characters and true marks of a righteous man: If when thou art afflicted, thou sayest with David, that 
t Psal. 9.9, 10.  the LORD will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble, consider and mark well how he describeth these oppressed, to whom the Lord is a refuge. Read these words following, And they that know thy Name, will put their trust in thee: for thou LORD hast not forsaken them that seek thee.  
I have seen many in their affliction bragging of God's predestination, and saying, that God's Elect cannot perish. That which they say is true: for God's Angel forewarning Daniel of the great troubles wherewith the Church was to be vexed by the Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes said unto him, 
v Dan. 12.1.  At that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book: And ye read in the Revelation, that 
x Rev. 20.15.  whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire: as also on the other side, that those only enter into the holy City, 
y Rev. 21.27  which are written in the Lamb's book of life. But this predestination is hid in the unsearchable secrecy of God's breast, and many brag of it, which have no part in it. Therefore David will have us to enter into our own breasts, and to search there the marks of our predestination, which God hath shut up in the unmeasurable and infinite depth of his own breast: 
a Rom. 8.30  for whom he did predestinate, them he also called; giving them an effectual and sanctifying knowledge of his most blessed and holy Name: so that when he saith to them, 
b Zech. 13.9.  Thou art my people, they answer presently, The LORD is my God. This is to know God, and to seek God, and David saith, that the Lord is a refuge to the oppressed, which know his Name, and seek him.  
This is the knowledge of faith, which taketh the blood of the Lamb of God, and 
c Heb. 12.24. 1. Pet 1.2.  besprinkleth our souls with it: that 
k Exod. 12.13.  as when God saw the blood of the Paschall Lamb upon the houses where the IsrAelites were, he passed over them, and the plague was not upon them, when he smote all the first borne in the land of Egypt; so he delivers us from the hands of our enemies, and the evils of this life, and of the life to come, by the virtue of that blood, according to the promise, 
l Zec. 9.11.  As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.  
This faith 
m Act. 15.9  puristeth the hearts, it is the mother of uprightness and sincerity before God in the performance of all duties of the first and second Table: and therefore if thou lookest for God's deliverance, cleanse thy heart in such sort, that thou may be able to say with David, 
n Psal. 7.10, 11.  My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart: for God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry every day against the wicked.  

o 1. Tim. 1 5.  From this knowledge, and faith unfeigned, cometh charity; a vehement love of God, and of man for God's sake: and therefore God describeth the righteous man whom he delivereth, by those two marks of knowledge, and of love, saying, 
p Psal. 91.14.  Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my Name.  
This love is conjoined with a great reverence and respectuous fear of God, and the keeping of his most holy commandments in the simplicity of an upright life. Wilt thou then be assured of God's salvation? 
q Psal. 85.9  Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him. 
r Psal. 103.17, 18.  The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children to such as keep his Covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. 
s Psal. 116.6.  The LORD preserveth the simple.  
Such righteous cannot with dry eyes behold the sins of the world whereby God is exceedingly offended: but they mourn and weep before God, and in their weeping have a most sure mark of God's love and care towards them. When God turned the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes, 
t 2. Pet. 2.7, 8.  He delivered the righteous Lot, who was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. When he was to destroy jerusalem, he gave commandment to his Angel, saying, 
v Ezech. 9.4.  Go thorough the midst of the City, thorough the midst of jerusalem, and mark a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.  
If the righteous man sigheth for the abominations that be done in the world, he is no way a complice in them: therefore God said to Elijah, 
x 1. King. 19, ●8.  I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.  
If these marks of a righteous man be in thee, they are sufficient to make thee partaker of God's deliveries: he looketh not to thy qualities which make thee to be redoubted or contemned among men. 
y Psal. 147 10, 11.  He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man: the LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. 
a Luk. 16.19.  The purple and fine linne, sumptuous and dainty fare, music and dancing could not deliver the rich man from the torments of hell, because he was wicked: Poverty, beggary, nakedness, pining sickness could not bar Lazarus from the everlasting pleasures of Paradise, because he was righteous. 
b Pro. 11.3, 4, 6.  The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.  
XVII. The righteousness of the upright delivereth him, not as a cause meritorious of delivery, as the Papists would persuade you, for it is stained with many spots and blemishes of sin, as ye have learned in the first sermon; but as a quality requisite in him whom the Lord will deliver: for if we seek the true causes of our deliveries, God saith first negatively, that 
c Deut. 9.4  it is not for our righteousness: Next he saith affirmatively, that it is 
d Ezech. 20.9, 14, 44 Ezec. 36.22  for his own Names sake. If temporal delivery from the evil of affliction come not from our merits, can eternal delivery from sin and hell be the merit of any man's righteousness? The bread for which we sweat, before we can have it to eat, is the gift of God, and we ask it of God in that quality: and shall the bread of life be the reward of an hireling? No, no: 
e Rom. 6.23.  The gift of God is eternal life, through jesus Christ our Lord,  
If Papists say, that David prayeth, 
f Psal. 7.8.  judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me, and saith plainly, 
g Psal. 18.19, 20.  The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me, etc. Answer, that in these and such like places which are infinite, he declareth that he was enriched with the qualities, wherewith he that waits on the Lord's deliverance, must be graced; but speaketh nothing of the causes of his deliverance, which in the end of the 18. Psalm, he acknowledgeth to be Gods free mercy, saying, 
h Ver 50.  Great deliverance giveth he to his King, and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore. And elsewhere confesseth, that it is God's righteousness, and not his, when he prayeth thus, 
i Psal. 143.1, 2.  Answer me in thy righteousness, and enter not into judgement with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. So he forsaketh all merits, and asketh grace, when in another part he prayeth, 
k Psal. 25.18.  O bring thou me out of my distresses: look upon mine affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins. Such prayers, are they not most frequent in the Psalms? When the Papist singeth in the Church a de Profundis, if he understand what he saith, will he not be moved to deny all merits, when he considereth this prayer of righteous. David? 
l Psal. 130.2, 3, 4, 7.  Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications: If thou, LORD▪ shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Let Israel hope in the LORD: And why? because forsooth, there is a great deal of righteousness in Israel. Not so: why then? because with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. Let us also acknowledge and confess with heart and mouth, that 
m jam. 3.22.  it is of the LORDS mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  
XIIX Though this doctrine of the nullity of the righteous man's merits, and of the efficacy of the saving mercies of our righteous God, be most true, yet 
n 2. Thes. 1.6.  it is a righteous thing with God to deliver the righteous man, 1. because being just by nature, 
o Psal. 45.7  he loveth righteousness, and hateth wickedness, and is as sensible of the one to protect it, as of the other to punish it. 
p Psal 34.15, 16.  The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous: and his ears are open unto their cry: the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.  
2. Because the cause for which righteous men suffer, is his, and his righteousness cannot but move him to undertake the defence thereof. Upon this foundation the Church made this prayer to God, 
q Psal. 44.22, 23.  For thy sake are we killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter: awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.  
3. Because he hath promised to deliver the righteous, and it is a part of his righteousness to keep his promise. Hence is this prayer of David, 
r Psal. 71.2.  Deliver me in thy righteousness: 
s Psal. 143, 1.  answer me in thy righteousness. Hence is this excellent saying of the blessed Apostle, 
t 2. Tim. 4.7, 8.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give at that day, and not to me only, but unto them also that love his appearing. Sweet 
v Bern. de gratia & libero arbitrio, in fine.  Bernard: How calleth he the crown which he presumeth to be laid up for him, the crown of righteousness? Is it not because that which is promised gratis, of mere good will, is asked righteously, and as a thing due? Finally, he saith, 
x 2. Tim. 1.12.  I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded, that he is able to keep depositum meum, that which I have committed unto him. He calleth Gods promise his depost, and because he believed him who had made the promise, he redemands confidently the thing promised; promised through mercy, but now to be paid through righteousness: The crown then which Paul looketh for, is the crown of righteousness; but of the righteousness of God, not of his own righteousness: for it is a righteous thing that he render that which he oweth: and he oweth that which he hath promised: this than is the righteousness whereof the Apostle thinketh so well, even the promise of God. For this cause David called God's promises, the word of his righteousness, saying, 
y Psal. 119 123.  Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness.  
XIX. Now God not only delivereth the righteous man, but also delivereth wicked men, and fills them with many blessings for the righteous sake. 
z Gen. 7.7.  He saved Ham in the Ark, for Noah his father's sake, 
a Gen. 6.9.  who was a just man, and perfect in his generations, walking with God. 
b Gen. 18.32.  If there had been ten righteous men in Sodom, God would not have destroyed it for ten sake, 
c Gen. 19.22.  neither could he destroy it as long as righteous Lot was in it. 
d Gen. 17.20.  Ishmael was blessed for Abraham his father's sake. 
e Gen. 30.27.  Laban confessed that the Lord had blessed him for jacob's sake. 
f Gen. 29.5  He blessed Potiphars' house for joseph's sake. How often was the people of Israel saved from the fiery Wrath of God, through the prayers of 
g Exod. 32.14. Num. 14.13. Psal. 106.13.  Moses? Were not 
h 2. King. 2.12. 2. King. 13, 14.  Elijah & Elisha, the Chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof, more steedable to their people than an army of horsemen? 
i Act. 27.24, 37.  God, gave he not to Paul all them that sailed with him, which were two hundred, threescore and sixteen souls? When it was said to the souls that were under the Altar, that 
k Rev. 6.11.  they should roast yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. This is to teach us, that God's Elect, and the righteous men which are in the world, are the upholders thereof; and that it must finish when they shall be taken away from it: as if ye pull from a ruinous house the props wherewith it is supported, it goeth swiftly to the ground.  
XX. Therefore let us above all things set our minds and hearts upon righteousness, and endeavour to attain to true holiness of life, that, as it was said to Abraham, 
l Gen. 12.2  Thou shalt be a blessing, so may we be a blessing both to ourselves and others, namely, that in the dark day of God's indignation, we may be 
m Psal. 1.5.  able to stand in judgement, and with the congregation of the righteous 
n Psal. 118.19, 20.  enter into the gates of righteousness, and dwell forever 
o 2. Pet. 3.13.  in these new heavens, promised unto us, wherein dwelleth righteousness, and that through the most precious and powerful merits of our only Lord and Saviour 
p 1. joh. 2.2.  jesus Christ the righteous: to whom with the Father, and the holy Ghost, be all praise, glory, and honour, both now and evermore. Amen.   

SERM. VII. Of the infinite number, and of the divers means of the Lords deliveries.  PSALM XXXIV. XIX. 
But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
1 THe righteous man's evils, and the Lords deliverances, are the exposition of sampson's riddle.  
2. As many evils, as many deliverances; yea, of each evil many deliverances.  
3. Exhortation to hope and trust in the Lord.  
4. The Lord delivereth by means, against means, without means.  
5. He delivereth by weak means, as by flight, whereof shall be spoken in the next Sermon.  
6. He opposeth men to men, and delivereth his Church by the sword.  
7. He maketh his creatures of all kinds to fight for his Church.  
8. He is wonderful in the delivering of his Church, against the nature of the means,  
9 He delivereth also without means.  
10. When his Church is destitute of all help, and of all hope, he alone delivereth her without any visible help.  
11. When the righteous man is overcome, he overcommeth his enemies, and so is delivered,  
12. As it is most evident by the examples of Shadrach, Meschah, and Abednego,  
13. Of Eleazar,  
14. Of the seven brethren, and of their mother, mentioned in the second book of the Maccabees,  
15. As also of Christians in great number, as of Steven,  
16. Of many Martyrs in the Primitive Church,  
17. And since the reformation.  
18. Such victories come of faith, love, and zeal.  
19 Prayer.  
1 THis text is a clear exposition of sampson's riddle, 
a judg. 14.14.  Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness: afflictions are the eaters, and as it seems to men, the destroyers of the righteous man: and what is stronger than death? what meat so good, so seasonable, of so excellent a relish as comfort in affliction, as joy in the midst of sorrow, as glory and honour in shame? what so sweet, as to find heaven in hell, content in discontent, life in death? Many are the evils of the righteous man: There is the roaring Lion rising up against him: not one lion, but many: there is the eater, or rather there be the eaters 
b 1. Pet. 5.8.  which walk about seeking to devour him; But the LORD delivereth him out of them all: there is meat, there is sweetness. In darkness, he findeth light, in weakness strength, in despair hope, in trouble peace of conscience, in raging and roaring fury patience, in evil good, in the devil's most grim and dreadful mannonr, the joys and pleasures of paradise, in all his afflictions most powerful, most wonderful, most joyful deliveries: his afflictions are many,  
But the Lord delivereth him out of them all.  
II. His afflictions are many, they are almost infinite, they are enchained, and follow one another so hard & so nigh, that he complaineth with job in his grief, 
c job 9.18.  He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness: But who can relate the Lords deliveries and salvations, whereof David, which had passed thorough so many evils, confessed that 
d Psal. 71.15.  he knew not the number? Think not that any affliction severally, that all the afflictions which are incident to men, though they were camped and set in battle against thee, can surmount his force and good will towards thee.  
Fearest thou, to starve for hunger? 
e 1. Kin. 17 4, 6, 14.  Commanded he not the Ravens to feed Elijah at the brook of Cherith? increased he not the handful of meal in the widow's barrel, and the little oil which was in her Cruse? 
f Psal. 147.9.  He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young Ravens, which cry; and shall he forsake thee, for whom his dear Son jesus Christ is dead? 
g Psal. 33.18, 19  Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Art thou dried up with thirst? Remember that he opened 
l Gen. 21.19.  Agars' eyes, and she saw a well of water: 
m Exod. 17.6. Psal. 105.41  That he smote the rock in Horeb, and the waters gushed out, they ran in the dry places like a river, and quenched the thirst of his people; that 
n judg. 15.19.  he clavae one of the grinders that was in the jawbone of the ass, and made water to come thereout for Samson.  
Fearest thou the plague, which round about thee maketh havoc of man & beast, and wouldst, but canst not, practise the common precept, Citò, longè, tardè, Quickly, far, late? The heat of the Sun, the moistness of the Moon, do they annoy thee? 
o Psal 91.5, 6, 7.  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that fleeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at Noon day: A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. 
p Psal. 121.5, 6.  The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The Sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the Moon by night.  
Art thou exiled for Christ's sake? Art thou constrained to live amongst a people, whose tongue thou understandest not? God, who 
q Psal 56.8  numbered David's wanderings, 
r Psal. 147.2.  will gather together the outcasts of Israel: 
s Esa. 43.6.  He will say to the North, Give up: and to the South, Keep not back: bring my Sons from fare, and my daughters from the end of the earth. In the mean while he will follow thee in thine exile, and bless thee, as 
t Gen. 46.4  he went down with jacob into Egypt, and blessed him there.  
Art thou cast in a low pit, where thou sittest in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in stocks and fetters, among swearers, blasphemers, robbers, and other malefactors? he which put in 
v Gen. 41.9  a Courtier's heart to speak for joseph, which sent 
x Act. 12.7  his Angel to deliver Peter whom Herod had imprisoned; 
y Act. 16.26.  He which shaken all the foundations of the prison where Paul and Silas were laid in the stocks, opened the doors, and loosed the prisoners bonds, hath a thousand means to break the gates of brass, to cut the bars of iron in sunder, to lose thy bands, and bring thee out of darkness, out of the dungeon of the shadow of death.  
Art thou a seafaring man, one of those of whom 
a Pittacus.  one of the seven wise men said, that they are neither among the living, nor amongst the dead, ever living within four inches of death, and therefore ever dying? When 
b Psal. 107.25, 26, 27, etc.  God commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof: They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths, than soul is melted because of trouble: They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end: Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses: He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still: Then are they glad, because they be quiet: So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Do thou the like: cry to the Lord as the Disciples did, 
c Matth. 8.25, 26.  Lord save us, we perish, and he will arise and rebuke the Winds and the Sea, and there shall be a great calm.  
Art thou fallen into the Turks pitiless hands? Art thou taken in war, and condemned to the miserable slavery of rowing night and day in the galleys, hearing and feeling nothing but whips whistling and reeling upon thy naked shoulders? Be of a good courage, and wait upon the Lord, who in his own time will say of thee, as he said of joseph, 
d Psal. 81.6, 7.  I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots: Thou callest in trouble, and I delivered thee: I answered thee in the secret place of thunder.  
Thy heart is it torn in pieces with calumnies and revile? The day shall come, I speak by mine own experience, and therefore I say the day shall come, when thou shalt sing to God, 
e Psal. 31.19, 20.  O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man, thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.  
The wicked, traileth he, haileth he thee before the judges without cause? wonder not at that. 
f Psal. 37.32, 33, 34.  The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged: wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the Land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.  
Art thou sick of a mortal disease, as 
g 2 Kin. 20 1, 2.  Hezekiah was? turn thy face to the wall, as he did: pray unto the Lord, as he did: Cry to God as David did, 
h Psal. 41.4  LORD be merciful unto me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee, and he 
i Psal. 107.20  will send his word, and heal thee, and deliver thee from the tomb.  
Seest thou the evil days of war? be not discouraged, but say confidently upon that which thou hast seen in France, of that which thou shalt see in the Palatinat, 
k Psal. 46.7, 8, 9, 10, 11.  The LORD of hosts is with us: the God of jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth: He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth: He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder: he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, saith he, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the Heathen: I will be exalted in the earth: The LORD of hosts is with us: The God of jacob is our refuge. Is there any thing impossible to the LORD? 
l Psal. 76.12.  Heshall cut off the spirit of Princes: He is terrible to the Kings of the earth. After so many deliveries we sing to the glory of his power, 
m Psal. 74.13, 14.  Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength, thou breakest the heads of the Whales in the waters: Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and givest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. If there rise 
n Zech. 1.19, 20, 21.  four horns to scatter judah, Israel, and jerusalem, there shall also arise four smiths to fray and break them: how often have we seen such things! We shall see them again and again, for the Lord of hosts is with us.  
Can there any affliction so great befall us, as to be deprived of God's Word? your fathers felt the prick and smart of it in Philip the second, Charles the ninth, and Queen Mary's days. Now is fulfilled in France and in the Palatinat the prophecy of Esaiah, 
o Esa. 30.20, 21.  Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers: and thine ears shall hear a voice behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. Blessed be God, who in this country giveth us with the bread of his Word, the bread of prosperity: 
p Psal. 110 2.  He ruleth there in the midst of his enemies. Here he is like a father in the midst of his children.  
The greatest of all our evils, is sin. And we sing unto him morning and evening with heart and mouth, 
q Psal. 103.1, 2, 3.  O my soul, bless the LORD, and all that is within me bless his holy Name: Bless the LORD, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth ALL thine iniquities, who healeth ALL thy diseases, etc.  
Hast thou any other evil which neither is in my knowledge, nor in my memory? 
r Exod. 14.21. Exod. 15.4, 6.  He who made the sea dry land, and whose right hand dashed in pieces Pharaoh and his host: 
s Iosh. 3.15, 16.  He that made the waters of jordan rise up upon an heap, and stand still, even then when they overflowed all the banks: 
t Dan. 3.25  He who gave refreshing to the three Confessors in the midst of the burning furnace: 
v Dan, 6.22.  He who delivered Daniel from the jaws of the Lions: 
x jon. 2.2, 11.  He who kept jonah alive in the Whale's belly, and turned into a custody that hell where he looked for present death: 
y Ezec. 37.7, 8, 9, 10.  He who putteth breath into dry bones, who tieth them together with sinews, who covereth them with flesh and skin, who by a marvellous resurrection setteth them upon their feet, and maketh them an exceeding great army, is not like unto Isaac, unto whom Esau said, 
a Gen. 27.38.  Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. As he hath judgements 
b Deu. 32.34.  laid up in store, and sealed up among his treasures: so hath he 
c Deu. 28.32.  a good treasure of deliveries, which cannot be dried up. 
d Psal. 106, 2.  Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can show forth all his praise? 
e Psal. 139.17, 18.  How precious, o God; are my thoughts of them! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee: my spirit cannot conceive the number of thy deliveries.  
III. I say then to you all, as David said of old to his people, 
f Psal. 130.7, 8.  Let Israel hope in the LORD, for with the LORD there is mercy, much goodwill to deliver your brethren which are now afflicted, and to deliver you when he shall also sit as a refiner to try and purify you: And with him is plenteous redemption: With him is force & strength to redeem: he may do it, he can do it, he will do it. He shall redeem Israel from ALL his iniquities. 
g 1. Cor. 10 13.  He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the tentation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Yea 
h Psal. 121 7, 8.  the LORD shall preserve thee from ALL evil: he shall preserve thy soul: The LORD shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this time forth, and even for evermore.  
IU. But how shall we keep reckoning of the LORDS deliveries, seeing the manner of them goeth beyond all our wit and understanding? for they are not all of one sort, and the least and smallest of them is wonderful. Sometimes he worketh by means, that we neglect them not: Now and then he giveth most miraculous deliveries besides and contrary to all means, that we put not our hope and confidence in them: Often he delivereth the righteous man without all means, to teach us to trust in him only.  
V His means are divers, and in their diversity so many, that it is almost impossible to reduce them into certain heads. In some ye see nothing but weakness; In others, might and strength: In some wisdom, in others folly: In each of them such a variety, that neither am I able to express, nor ye to conceive them.  
He saved Moses, David, Elijah, jesus Christ, Paul at divers times, many zealous men among the jews under the bloody persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, many Confessors and faithful brethren among the Christians in the primitive Church; in our Father's days and in ours, by flight, a most weak, tedious, and troublesome means, but yet a mean lawful and approved of him, as we shall see in the next Sermon.  
VI 
i Psal. 33.16, 17.  There is no King saved by the multitude of any host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength: An horse is a vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Yet God employeth often men, horses, hosts, for the safety of the king, & delivery of his people, opposing men to men, flesh to flesh, vanity to vanity. Thus he introduced his people into the land of Canaan by joshua, & delivered them often by the judges, by David, and other good Kings: Thus after he had tried the faith, patience, and constancy of the christian Church for the space of 3. hundred years by x. most heavy persecutions, he stirred up Constantine the Great to deliver them by the sword from their enemies.  
In these skirmishes and combats men fight, but 
k 1. Sam. 17.17.  the battle is the LORDS. It is he which giveth the victory to them on whose side he is, as the scales of a balance hang upon that side where there is most weight. This was that which Moses prophesied to his people, 
l Deut. 33.27.  The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out thy enemies from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. This was the confession of the Church of Israel with prayer and thanksgiving; 
m Psal. 44.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.  Our Fathers got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for jacob: Through thee will we push down our enemies. Through thy Name will we tread them under that rise up against us: for I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me: But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that bated us: In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy Name for ever. Selah.  
Look on what side God is, there few are enough, there two are enough, there one is enough. Few are enough: Gedeon and three hundred men were sufficient against the Midianites, because 
n judg. 6.16.  the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Therefore when he was going to fight, he commanded his soldiers to cry, 
o judg. 7.18.  The sword of the LORD, and of Gedeon. First, the sword of the LORD, as being the principal combatant; Next, of Gedeon, as of a weak instrument in God's hands; and as the Midianite dreamt, 
p Vers. 23.  a cake of barley bread, which tumbling into the host of Midian, smote it, and put it to flight. Three hundred Albigenses of Angrogne defended themselves in a meadow against seven thousand Papists; and having no other armour but slings, gave them the chase. Two are enough, as 
q 1. Sam. 14.6.  jonathan, and the young man that bore his armour against the garrison of the Philistines. For, as he said, there is no restraint to the LORD, to save by many or by few.  
When it is God's pleasure to deliver by one, one is enough. 
r judg. 15.15.  Samson, with the jawbone of an Ass, slew a thousand Philistines, and 
s judg. 16.27, 30.  pulling down the house upon three thousand of them, slew them all. Wonderful were the exploits of David's Worthies, but principally of 
t 2. Sam. 23.8.  the first three: for each of them being alone, slew many hundred of God's enemies, because God was with them.  
But where God is not with men, there a great host is as weak as one man: And therefore when God drew himself back from the jews by reason of their sins, they made their moan, and said, 
v Psal 44.9, 10.  Thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame, and goest not forth with our armies: Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us, spoil for themselves.  
VII. Sometimes God armeth his creatures, and they fight against the enemies of his people either alone, or jointly with them. He fought against Pharaoh by turning of the river into blood, by Frogs, by Lice, by swarms of Flies, by the murrain of Beasts, by the plague of Boyles and Blanes, of Hail, Thunder, and Lightning, of Locusts, and Darkness: at last by his Angel, which smote all the firstborn of Egypt from men unto the cattles. Hezekiah being enclosed in jerusalem, and not able to resist against Senacherib & his army, 
x 2. Kin. 19.35.  the Angel of the LORD went out, and smote, in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred, four score, and five thousand. When, of these champions of the heavenly host, one alone doth so great deeds, what would not do all 
Psal. 68.17.  the Chivalry of God, which is of twenty thousands, even of thousands of Angels, 
z Psal. 34.7.  which encamp round about them that fear God? Wherefore David prayed the Lord 
a Psal. 35.5.  to send his Angel to chase his enemies. 
b t. 12.7  One Angel delivered Peter: a multitude of Angels delivered 
c 2. King. 6.17.  Elisha, and carried 
d Luk. 16.22.  Lazarus into Abraham's bosom.  
When joshua was fight against five kings of Canaan, 
e Iosh. 10.11.  the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them, and they were more which died with hail stones, than they whom the children of Israel slew with the swords. When in the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart, and sundry other tribes through laziness followed not Deborah and Barak in the war against jabin and Sisera, the heavens and the stars fought with them against those puissant enemies.  
JIX. Often God worketh besides all means, yea and against the nature of means. joseph is sold by his brethren, and cast into a loathsome prison, that he may be exalted to the highest glory that is in King's Courts. The sea was a safeguard to the people of Israel, even then when the Egyptians were overthrown in the midst of it. The blowing of trumpets, and the burning lamps were fit to discover Gedeon with his three hundred disarmed men to the host of the Midianites, than to discomfit it. The 
f josh, 6.4.  blowing of rams horns was not so fit to cast down the walls of jericho, as to advertise the Citizens to be upon their guard, and to watch to hold them up. What could david's sling serve against Goliaths spear? and who would not have mocked the three hundred Albigenses fight with slings against seven thousand men well armed, as if they had been as many birds in a hemp-yard? It pleaseth God to deliver so, that his Church vaunt not against him, saying, 
g judg. 7.2.  Mine own hand hath saved med, and so rely upon the means, and make him a copartner only of the delivery, and not author thereof. When the Lions spare Daniel, when the fire beareth respect to the three Confessors, when the Whale swalloweth up jonah, and three days, and three nights after, vomiteth him out of her belly upon the dry land without any harm, who can deny but that such deliveries were against the nature of means, and cannot be ascribed but to the most wonderful power of God?  
I put in this rank the confusion and disorder which God sendeth amongst his enemies, when he will deliver his people. The Midianites come to fight against Israel, but 
h Ver. 22.  the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host. When 
i 2. Chron. 20.2, 22, 23, 25.  the Moabites, Ammonites, and Idumeans with one consent sought to destroy jehoshaphat and his people, the Lord troubled them with the spirit of division after such a manner, that the Moabites and Ammonites slew and destroyed the Idumeans, and after that, every one helped to destroy another: so that jehoshaphat and his people had no more to do, but to go and take away the spoil, and give thankes unto the Lord. How often, by such divisions, God hath saved the reformed Churches in foreign nations, and namely in France, we all know.  
IX. When God delivereth against the nature of means, he will teach us that he standeth not in any need of means when his pleasure is to deliver. And therefore now and then he delivereth without means. 
k Pro. 16.7.  When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. He delivered 
l Gen. 33.4  jacob from Esau, changing his heart, and appeasing his wrath, which was suddenly turned into embracements, kissing, and weeping. He delivered David from Saul by many means: but when the messengers which were sent by Saul to take him, prophesied, and thought no more on him, what help of man, what visible means were there? When he preferred joseph in the Court of Pharaoh, Daniel and his fellows in the Court of Nabuchadnezzar, and of Darius, Nehemiah and Mordecai in the Court of Artaxerxes, by what means did he it? The Psalmist saith, that 
m Psal. 106 46.  he made them to be pitied of all those that carried them captives. He converted Saul, and of a persecuter, made him a Christian; of a Captain, an Apostle; of a Ringleader of most cruel and bloody Wolves, a most vigilant and faithful shepherd of Christ's flock.  
David, speaking through his own experience, saith to the man which is persecuted wrongfully, 
n Psal. 37.5, 6.  Commit thy way unto the LORD: trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass: and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgements as the noon day. We may wonder that he doth it: but how he doth it, who can tell? How Saul knew David's innocency, we can tell, 
o 1. Sam. 24.18. 1. Sam. 26.21.  because when he might, he killed him not: but it is wonderful to consider, by what unknown ways of Gods secret providence, Saul fell twice into his hands. Henry the third, King of France, spoke of us at Tours, as Saul spoke of David, and said, that we were more righteous than he, because we had rewarded him good, whereas he had rewarded us evil. It was the wonderful and immediate work of GOD, that he could not be saved but by them whose fathers he had killed; and was resolved to be the protector of those whom he had persecuted, if the Monk's empoisoned knife had not cut too too soon for us the brittle thread of his mortal life. God be praised, that amongst us there are no Clements, no Barrauts, no Chatels, no Ravaillacs: for 
p 2. Sam. 26.9.  who can stretch forth his hand against the LORDS anointed, and be guiltless?  
X. How often hath the Church been afflicted, stormed, forsaken of all creatures, destitute of all help, of all counsel, of all comfort; and he, he alone hath come on a sudden, and both comforted and delivered her? He prophesied by Daniel, that under the persecution of Antiochus, his people should be brought to such extremity, that 
q Dan. 11.45.  none should help them. What then? shall they perish for want of help? It followeth in the next chapter, 
r Dan. 12.1  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be written in the book. Who is this Michael? who but our Lord jesus Christ, called elsewhere, 
s Iosh 5.14, 15.  the Prince of the host of the LORD? If all the Angels of heaven, if all the men of the world should stand still with their arms crossed, if all the creatures should with hold their help from us, our Michael saith unto us, 
t Mat. 28.18, 20.  All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Though he be 
v Phil. 2.9, 10.  highly exalted, though he have a Name which is above every name, though he 
x Psal. 47.7  be king of all the earth, and that at his Name every knee must bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; yet he is our high Priest, and beareth us into the most high and inmost heavens, yea weareth us as an ornament upon his shoulders and upon his breast, and, as the Apostle saith, 
y Heb. 2.11  is not ashamed to call us his brethren.  
When all things seem to be desperate, and past hope of recovery, when the faithful are nothing but a skeleton, but a carcase 
a Ezech. 37.2, etc.  of dry bones, as the people of juda was in the captivity of Babylon, if it please him to speak the word only, they shall come together again, bone to bone; they shall live, rise again, and be a great Army. He hath by his word done things greater and more wonderful. By his word he hath made heaven & earth: by his word he heaped plagues upon plagues, while they had destroyed Pharaoh and his people: they that are sick, cry unto him, 
b Psal. 107 7.  he sendeth his word & healeth them. 
c Mat. 9.6, 20, 22.  By his word only he cured one sick of the palsy, and the woman diseased with an issue of blood. By his word only he quieted the winds, calmed the roaring seas, rendered sight and light to the blind, raised the dead. By his word only he restored his people to the land of Canaan. By his word, he saveth the Church. By his word, by his only power and good will, without any visible and known means, he hath given peace to the Churches of France: for when we were betrayed, and sold by sundry of our brethren, forsaken of many, pursued by a great army, he was for us, and delivered us: Then we sung with thanksgiving the hundreth twenty and fourth Psalm.  
XI. There is yet another kind of delivery which cometh immediately of God, and is most wonderful of all. How he delivereth us by the ruin of our enemies; how by death he giveeh us life, we shall hear in the next Sermon: but that he delivereth us, when to man's opinion we are overcome, it is a paradox to the world, and yet a most certain and verified truth in the Church. In the second and third of the Revelation, many excellent promises were made to him that overcommeth. When the persecutions were most fervent and frequent, and many were put to death for Christ's sake: then they were exhorted to fight, to stand fast; and when they stood fast, it is said that they overcame. It is written of Christ's two witnesses, that 
d Rev. 11.7  the beast should make war against them, and overcome them, and kill them. It is also written of 
e Rev. 7.9, 14.  those which stood before the throne, that they came out of great tribulation, and yet had palms in their hands. They came out of great tribulation, they were vanquished: they had palms, in their hands, they were vanquishers. Even as 
f Rom. 8.36, 37.  the Apostle saith out of the forty fourth Psalm, For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter: then we are subdued and surmounted. Yet he addeth, Nay, in all these things we are more than Conquerors, through him that loved us. This is very strange: we are overcome by our enemies when they slay us: and yet at that same time we are overcommers.  
How shall we reconcile this contrariety? ye will all grant, that the General of an Army, fight against his enemies, whatsoever damage and harm he causeth and procureth unto them, prevaileth not, but rather is overcome of them, if still they keep fast that wherefore he fighteth, and which he hoped to pull away from them by violence. So it is with us. The devil, great General of the world, stirreth up against us the armies of Gog and Magog, all the fiends of hell, all the wickedness of the earth, not to torment us, to spoil us of our goods, to kill us, for neither is he covetous of our goods, nor enemy to our persons, which he loveth when we are like to himself; but by such racking, spoiling, kill, to wring out of us a denying of our religion, and so to separate us from the love of God, and make us to lose our salvation which is in Christ. When then we hold fast the shield of faith, wherewith we quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, when we remain faithful unto death, when in the midst of our greatest anguishes, and of most exquisite deaths, we challenge, and defy all our enemies, and cry to them all, 
g Rom. 8.35.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? I say that we are Conquerors, and Satan with all his brood is conquered.  
XII. A few examples will make this truth more clear. We have already spoken of job, out of whose mouth the devil by so many tentations could not wring one evil word against God, as he intended: who then was victorious? Satan or job? surely job, who stood fast in the place of combat, when Satan fled, and was no more seen.  
The example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is no less wonderful. The devil put in 
h Dan. 3.  Nebuchadnezzars heart to set up, in the plain of Dura, in the Province of Babylon, an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits, to call to the dedication of that Idol the Princes, Governors, all the Rulers of the Provinces, to dedicate it with the melodious and most pleasant sound of the Cornet, Flute, Harp, Sackbut, psaltery, Dulcimer. and all kinds of music, to command to all peoples, nations, and languages there present, to fall down and worship it at what time they should hear the consort of music; to add to this command a most fearful threat, that whosoever fell not down and worshipped, should the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. For whom was made all this pomp, all this glorious show? for whom did the instruments of music sound so sweetly? for whom did the furnace burn so exceedingly? For these three only: for the devil knew that all the rest of the King's subjects would obey, and worship the image. Ye see a combat very difficult, ambushes most dangerous, a gulf profound, a bottomless pit, a downright pitch on both sides, pleasure and fear; the delectable harmony of all kinds of music, to allure the simple ones; the frightful sight of a burning furnace, to appall and amaze the most inflexible and obdurate courages. See the event: there is nothing but obedience amongst all: All bow, all kneel, all worship; three only stand upright, and kneel not. Whereupon they are accused by certain Chaldeans. The accusation is important: There are, say they, certain jews, not thy natural Subjects, but strangers, and thy slaves, whom thou hast set over the affairs of the Province of Babylon, preferring them to thy natural Subjects, and the great men of thy country, even Shadrach, Meschah, and Abednego: these men, O King, have not regarded thee. These base and unthankful fellows have contemned and despised thee. What accusation could be more cunningly plaited? but as many accusations, as many praises: As many crimes intended, as many commendations of godliness: the King frets, chafes, threatneth, If, saith he, ye fall not down, and worship not the image which I have made, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a fiery furnace, and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? As many threats, as many victories: as many beholders, as many witnesses of their triumphs. They fight alone, they vanquish alone, they triumph alone. And that which maketh their combat admirable, and their victory glorious, after that all have yielded, all have bowed their knees to the Idol, they stand firm, and stir not. They dispute not with themselves; Lo, all the honourable, all the wise, all the rich men of the Realm, and all the people obey the King, what will men think of us, if we alone struggle and be stubborn? If we had gone foremost to honour the Image, we might be called too forward: but if after so many thousands we yield to necessity; if we follow the multitude and the best sort, who can justly blame us? Moreover, if we frame our wills to the Kings will, we may relieve and further our brethren: whereas our obstinacy will make their bondage more grievous than it was. Such political considerations come not in their minds, fare less in their mouths: but they answer with a more than manly courage, Our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace: yea, he is able to deliver us out of thine hand, O King: but if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship thy golden Image which thou hast set up. O faith in God, O love to God, O constancy for God! The devil is confounded, the King is overcome, they triumph.  
XIII. Read the story of the valiant courage of Eleazar, one of the principal Scribes in the days of the bloodthirsty Tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes: 
i 2. Maccab. 6.21, etc.  He was besought by the King's officers, for the old acquaintance they had with him, to bring flesh of his own provision, such as was lawful for him to use, and make, as if he did eat of the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the King, that in so doing, he might be delivered from death, and for the old friendship with them, find favour. A friendly counsel, if ye consider the men which gave it; but if ye consider the intention of the devil who suggested it, a most violent assault, and crafty tentation: what so sweet as life? what so desirable as to save it, without any real offence? what so plausible, or at least more excusable, than to make a show of an evil, which indeed thou dost not; to shun to be made a public show of the evil, which otherwise thou must suffer with shame and great torments? Flesh and blood will say to Eleazar, that in this there was no sin: The Pope which giveth dispense to the Papists of this Realm, to dissemble and deny their Religion, will say that it was but a venial sin, and of the number of those which are most pardonable.  
Eleazar led with another Spirit, even with 
k Esa. 11.3.  the Spirit of the Lord, which is the spirit of knowledge, of wisdom, of counsel, of might, and of the fear of the Lord, saith not so: but considering the holy Law made and given by God; It becometh not our age, said he, in any wise to dissemble, whereby many young persons might think, that ELEAZAR being fourscore years old and ten, was now gone to a strange religion; and so they, through mine hypocrisy, and desire to live a little time, and a moment longer should be deceived by me, and I get astaine to mine old age, and make it abominable: for though for the present time I should be delivered from the punishment of men, yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty, neither alive nor dead: wherefore now manfully changing this life, I will show myself such an one as mine age requireth, and leave a notable example to such as be young, to dye willingly and courageously for the honourable and holy laws. This seemed madness and despair to his judges, which changing the good will they bore him into hatred, and their meekness into fury and rage, let him strait ways to the Tympan, which was a most cruel kind of torture; whereupon being ready to dye of the stripes which he had received, ceived, he groaned and said, It is manifest unto the Lord, that hath the holy knowledge, that whereas I might have been delivered from death, I now endure sore pains in body, by being beaten; but in soul am well content to suffer these things, because I fear him.  
XIV. Read also the story of the cruel death and constancy 
l 2. Macc. 7  of the seven brethren, and their mother, at that same time. the Tyrant himself marvelled at their courage; for that neither the scourges and whips wherewith they were torn, nor the cutting out of their tongues, nor the mangling and maiming of all their members, nor the pulling off of the skin of their heads with the hair, nor the hot pans and caldrons, wherein they were fried, being yet alive, could compel them against the law of God to eat swine's flesh. The eldest heir, worthy of the prerogative of the firstborn, answered to the Tyrant's threats, to the Hangman's whips, and to all the tortures, We are ready to dye, rather than to transgress the laws of our fathers; and exhorted his brethren, as they exhorted him, to dye manfully for the law of God. And to make you know that this was not madness of mind, but faith, the second said to the King, Thou, like a fury, takest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise us up, which have died for his laws, unto everlasting life. So spoke the third, so the fourth, and the rest: but the youngest was most wonderful of all; for neither could the promises of riches and honours tickle him, nor the cruel torments which he had seen his brethren suffer, shake his constancy, but being encouraged by his most wonderful mother, he cried to the executioners, Whom wait ye for? I will not obey the King's commandment: but I will obey the commandment of the law that was given unto our Fathers by Moses. So they died: so died last of all their marvellous mother, after that she had been to them in stead of a Levite, or Priest, and had exhorted and comforted them with a most excellent speech concerning the resurrection: And therefore the Apostle ascribeth their victorious constancy to their faith, saying, 
Heb. 11.35.  that by faith they were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.  
XV. The Christian Church aboundeth in such examples of most wonderful victory against the flesh, the world, and the devil. In it this is to be admired; that men which may live in honour by denying Christ, choose shame and dishonour, prefer torments to ease, sorrow to joy, pain to pleasure, death to life, kissethe posts and other instruments of their punishments, look upon the torments with a cheerful face, run to the fires as joyfully as worldings do to a bridal feast, and not only rejoice, but also 
m Rom. 53  glory in tribulations; which is the highest degree of pleasure and joy.  
Steven stopping his ears to the murmuring of the people, which like a swarm of Hornets and Wasps made a humming noise about him, shutting his eyes to the stones wherewith they were armed to fallen him, and overcoming by faith the horrors of death, 
n Act. 7.55 56, 59, 60.  looked up steadfastly into heaven, and seeing there the glory of God, and jesus standing on the right hand of God, cried with a triumphing voice, Behold, I see the Heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Neither could their shouting, nor the stones which hailed upon him, stay him to kneel down, and to call upon God, both for himself and for them.  
XVI. If ye search the Ecclesiastical histories of the Martyrs of the primitive Church and of ours, the examples of such victories are infinite. S. Ignace Bishop of Antiochia hearing the roaring of the hungry Lions, and seeing them stretching forth their claws to tear him, and opening their throats to devour his flesh, cried with a loud voice, 
o Iren adv. heres. sib. 5.  Because I am Christ's wheat, now shall I be ground with the teeth of beasts, that I may be found to be the pure bread of God.  

p Euseb. hist. E●cl. lib. 4. cap. 15.  Policarpe Bishop of Smyrna answered to those which now entreated him with many promises, now impotuned him with threats, to call the Emperor My Lord, and to deny Christ to be his Lord; I have served him fourscore and six years, and he hath never done me any harm, how then should I curse my King, which hath saved me?  

q Tert. Apol●get. c. 1. & 46. & 49.  All the Christians, when they were condemned gave thanks, as for a great benefit. 
r Iust. Mart. Apol. 1.  Lucius thanked Vrbicius which had condemned him to die for Christ's sake, because, said he, being delivered from evil masters, I am going to my Father the King of heaven.  
Amongst all, is wonderful the constancy of Felicitas, a Widow of Rome, & like unto that of the Mother and of the seven children, of whom I have already spoken; for she also had seven sons. 
s Gregor. 1. hom. 3. in Euang. tom. 2.  Other mothers fear lest their children die before them: She feareth lest her sons live after her: She converted them to Christ: being taken with them, she confirmed them in the confession and faith of Christ. Publius' the Governor of the town, with fair words sought to entice her: Have pity, saith he, of thyself, at least pity these thy seven sons. After, with rough words, he thought to astonish her: But she, having in a woman's body a man's breast; Neither, saith she, are thy promises able to tickle me, nor thy threats to terrify me. And choosing rather to lose all her Children, than to see then lose Christ; of a mother she became a Preacher unto them: and after she had seen them all glorify the Lord jesus by their death, the love of Christ surmounting in her the grief which she received of her orbity, she went also with dry eyes, a laughing countenance, and a most heroical courage, to the place of execution, and received there the crown of Martyrdom. And therefore as Christ said of john baptist, that 
t Mat 11 9  he was a Prophet, yea more than a Prophet; so may we say of her, that she was a Martyr, yea more than a Martyr. Consider the tender love of a mother, and ye shall confess that the death of each of her sons was a martyrdom unto her. She was then seven times Martyr in her seven sons, and the eighth time in her own person.  
After I have spoken of such a woman, shall I go back to men? Shall I speak of 
v Euseb. hist Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 1.  Attalus, one of the Martyrs of Vienne in France, in the time of Antonius Verus, the year of Christ 178. who, being set in a burning chair of iron, preached to the Romans, as if he had been in a pulpit; teaching them what God is, reproving their cruelty, maintaining the innocence of Christians, and saying, This which you do, is eating & swallowing of men's flesh; but we eat not men's flesh, neither do we harm to any man.  
Shall I forget Laurentius Deacon of the Church of Rome, who being laid upon an iron grate, and a slow burning fire under it, that he might feel his death, This side, said he, is enough roasted, turn me upon the other: which being done after some space, he said again to the Governor, 
x Prudent. in hymno. Coctum devora, Et experimentum cape, Sit crudum an assum suavius.  Now both sides are well roasted, come, eat, and try which is sweetest, raw or roasted.  
It was a common thing to all Christians in those days, 
y Tertull, de Idolat. cap. 11. Quo ore Christianus thurarius si per Templa transibit, quo ore flumantes aras despuet, & exsufflabit, quibus ipse prospexit. Minute Felix. deos despuunt: ride●t sacra.  when the hangmen would hale them violently to the Temples of their Idols, when the judges would command them to bow down to the Altars, and to worship the Idols, if they had hands and feet free, to break the Images, fling away the Censers, trample on the sweet smelling incense: and if they were bound, they would puff at the Temples, spit at the abominable Images, with great contempt; wag their heads at all the diabolical superstition. All this did the holy woman and courageous Martyr 
z Prud. in Martyrio Eulalia. Martyr ad ista n●hil, sed enim I●fremit, in que tyranni oculos S●uta iacit, simulacra dehinc.  Eulalia: She did more; she spat upon the Governor's face, who by all kind of most cruel torments, went about to constrain her to idolatry. And this puffing and spitting at the only naming of the false religion, was most usual in those days among the brethren. O Faith! O Courage! O Victory! O gods of wood, of stone, of metal! where is your Majesty! O Tyrants, where your power! O cruel Executioners, 
Dissipat, impositamque molam  where is your fury! Lo, not men only, but women, but young children contemn you, fight against you, 
Thuribulis pede prosubigit.  overcome you.  
XVII. Shall pass under silence our own Martyrs? to begin with one of the first: even Jerome of Prague, condemned to be burnt quick by the bloody council of Constantia, How the stood before his passionate and ignorant judges without fear, not only contemning death, but also lusting after it; 
x Poggius Florent. ep. 3  a Papist, which was an eyewitness of all the acts of that Tragedy, relateth with admiration and praise. He went to death with a cheerful countenance, & when he came to the place of execution, he embraced the post whereunto he was tied, & kissed it. Perceiving the hangman going behind his back to set the wood on fire, lest he should see it, he cried unto him, Come here, come here, and kindle the fire before my face: for if I had dreaded it, I should never have come to this place, which I might have shunned. Then with a most holy & wonderful joy he sung a Psalm to God, which the fire and the smoke had much ado to interrupt.  
Patrick Hamilton, a young Gentleman of Scotland, as he was going to the fire, by his words and looks affrighted in such sort Alexander Cambell, a Dominican friar his accuser, that he became besides himself, and died mad.  
George Baynam and john Frith, Englishmen, embraced & kissed their faggots, & Laurent Sanders embraced with great joy the post whereunto the hangman was tying him, and said, O cross of my good Lord.  
In France Steven Brun, after that his judges had pronounced against him the sentence of death, cried with a loud voice, My judges have condemned me to live. And john Baron, being advertised by his judges, which had condemned him, to appeal from them unto the Court of Parliament, Can ye not, said he, be content to have your own hands defiled with my blood, but ye will have other men's hands polluted with it also? Amongst all, I admire most the peasant of Lynri, which meeting some prisoners condemned for the Religion, after he had asked and known of them the cause of their condemnation, leapt upon the chariot, and went to dye with them.  
Above all, the victories of women are most wonderful: As the hangman was ready to put to death a loving couple of Martyrs, john Bayly and his wife; the wife encouraged the husband, saying, Sweet heart, heave a good heart; for this day our marriage with our Lord jesus shall be accomplished. The religious Gentlewoman Graveron called the day of her martyrdom, the day of her marriage with Christ: and seeing her companions refuse to give their tongues, because there was no such thing mentioned in their sentence, she being but a woman, resolved them, saying, It is reasonable and sit, that the tongue which hath the privilege to praise God, should also have the prerogative to leap first upon the Altar of  offering. So Claude Tierry, called the halter which was put about her neck, the Carcanet, and the rope wherewith she was bound to the post, the girdle of her marriage with jesus Christ: and thereupon made a most excellent discourse of the spiritual marriage of the Lord jesus with his Church, which gins here in the valley of death, and is consummated in the mountains of spices. 
Minute Felix. Quam ●ulchrum spectacadum Deo, cum Ch●●●ia 〈…〉 Congrea●us, etc. V●it enim qut quod con●en●it, obtinu●.   
O how pleasant a sight is it in the eyes of God, when a Christian buckles with grief and paine; when he sets himself in array against threats, punishments, torments; when he scoffingly jests at the dreadful name of death, at the lowering countenance of the pitiless hangman; when he holds up his liberty against Kings and Princes, and yields to none but to God, to whom he belongs; when, like a most glorious Triumpher and Conqueror, he insults and triumphs over his judge who hath condemned him! For he which hath obtained that wherefore he fought, hath vainquished.  
XIIX. There is nothing difficile, where faith in God is; nothing dreadful, where the love of God is; nothing dolorous, where true zeal to the glory of God is. As the light of the sun dimmeth all other lights; and as the heat of the sun cooleth all other heats: so the light of faith dimmeth that which worldly men call the light of reason. Reason saith, as the Proconsul said to Cyprian, Take time and advise: Faith answereth, as Cyprian did, 
a In rebus Dei non est delibecandum.  In God's affairs no man must advise. Reason saith, it is a sweet thing to live: Faith saith, it is better to dye for Christ, than to live without Christ. So also the heat of love and true zeal, extinguisheth the heat of most burning fires. When natural sense saith, it is burning; Love answereth, it is not so much as hot. These are the victories of the faithful in their most sensible torments: they are so ravished and transported by faith, with the love of their Saviour, that, as it were, it benumbeth them so, that they heed not their pains, as if they were senseless: for 
b 1. joh. 5.4.  whatsoever is borne of God, overcommeth the world: and this is the victory that overcommeth the world, even our faith.  
XIX The Lord in his great mercy increase our faith, whereby in this surceasing of outward enemies, we may fight valiantly against our inward and spiritual foes, which are more dangerous; closing our hearts to all the suggestions of Satan, to covetousness, to pride, to choler, to all the tickle of filthy lust: shutting our eyes to vanity, stopping our ears to calumnies, flatterers, all evil counsels, keeping our spirits, our souls, our bodies blameless unto the coming of our Lord jesus Christ. That fight so, we may overcome; overcoming, triumph; triumphing, receive the crown of glory, and of immortality, which God hath prepared for us before the beginning of the world, through the precious merits of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all praise, all glory, all honour, both now and for evermore. Amen.   

SERM. VIII. Of the manner and time of the righteous man's Deliverances.  ESAIAH. XXVI. 
20. Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.  
21. For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to visit the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.  
1. THe Church, like unto the Phoenix, findeth life in death;  
2. Because God, according to his promise in this text, reviveth her.  
3. He saveth her often by flight, which sometimes is not lawful.  
4. At other times is lawful and necessary, and is commanded by God in this text, according to the literal sense;  
5. Is also confirmed by the examples of godly men in the time of the old Testament.  
6. In the new Testament, Christ himself hath commanded to fly in time of persecution.  
7. And hath confirmed his commandment by his own example, the examples of his Apostles, and many other most constant and courageous Christians.  
8. Flying proved lawful by three reasons.  
9 Fleeing is not a forsaking and denying, but a confessing of Christ.  
10. This text, in a figurative and allegorical sense, is an exhortation to patience.  
11. The first argument moving us to patience, is the will of God.  
12. The second, is his wisdom, whereby he converteth all evils to the good of his Church.  
13. The third is, the truth of his promises.  
14. In the second part of this text, he promiseth that the persecution shall last but a moment.  
15. He reckoneth the years, the months, the days, the moments of the affliction of his Church.  
16. How affliction, which to us seemeth so long, is said to continue but for a moment.  
17. Till that moment expire, we must rely upon the truth of God's promise.  
I. AS of the ashes of the Phoenix, when it seemeth to be nothing but dust, groweth up another: So when the Church to man's judgement is gone, lost, and past all hope of recovery, when the persecuters say of her, that which the Traitor Absalon, 
a Psal. 22.8 Mat. 27.43.  and the treacherous Rebels that followed him, said of David, and the chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders of Christ, He trusted on the LORD, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. Then, than God by a most excellent and wonderful deliverance reviveth her, and maketh her to spring up again more beautiful and glorious than she was before.  
The third day of the Massacre of Paris, 
Thuan. lib. 53.  which was the Sunday, in the month of August, a bramble flourished in St. Innocents Churchyard: The Papists ran to gaze upon it, but could not tell wherefore, and how a dry thorn blossomed in harvest out of due time and feason, except that some took it as a token, that God approved their most unnatural and savage cruelty: but the wisest and best sort remembering, that 
b Numb. 17.8.  Aarans rod, which was but a dry piece of wood, budded and blossomed, and yielded almonds, when the Lord confirmed the Priesthood in the house of Levi, and that the condition of the Church was represented unto 
c Exod. 3.2.  Moses by a burning bush, because it is no more esteemed in the world than a bush of briers which the shepherds set on fire; said fare otherways, that the blood of those Innocents which was then shed, should be to the Church as the dew of heaven, or as the rain of the first and last season, and make it to bud, to blossom, and bring forth fruit yet again more wonderfully and gloriously than before: as it came to pass, against all hope.  
II. For even then, God spoke to many of his Saints, as he did to the jews in their tribulation, and commanded them to hide themselves in their cabinets, until the time of indignation were overpast, because then the Lord would come certainly, and punish all their persecuters for their iniquity, and namely, the authors of such bloodshedding, and so join with their overthrow, the delivery of his Church. The remnant of the Church hide themselves, the moment of the Lords wrath past, God's enemies were destroyed, the Church was delivered, and still flourisheth and yields most excellent fruit, to the glory of the Lord our deliverer, and to the eternal shame and confusion of our persecuters.  
Here is then a new matter to be handled, concerning the manner and the time of the Lords deliveries, which is set down by the Prophet in three several points: The first is a commandment which God giveth to his people, saying, Come, my people, enter thou into thy chamber, and shut thy doors about thee. The second is, how long they must lie hid after this manner: not for ever, not for a long time, but for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. The third is the reason why they must lurk till then: because than God will be avenged of their enemies. For behold the Lord cometh out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, etc.  
III. God speaketh to his people by his Prophet, and giveth them a most excellent counsel, to enter into their cabinets, and to shut their doors about them: which if ye take literally, is a counsel of holy prudence; if ye take it allegorically, it is a counsel of godly patience.  
Christian and holy prudence is the rule of the righteous man's actions, teaching him how to carry himself in all occurrences of times, places, and persons, and how to frame and fit unto them all his actions, privy and public, domestical, civil, and religious. As in time of persecution, it will teach him neither to be too timorous to forsake his vocation, whereunto God hath called him; nor yet too rash, and foolhardy to tempt God, by casting himself into unnecessary dangers, whereof the word of God (which David called 
d Psal. 119 105.  a lamp unto his feet, and a light unto his path) giveth both precepts and examples.  
When we are assured, that God calleth us to confess his holy Name, and to glorify his Majesty, either by professing openly his word, and preaching of it, or by suffering for it; then we must not ask, and fare less take counsel, of flesh and blood, but remember the commandment, 
e Math. 10.28.  Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Worldly prudence will say: These men to whom God sendeth thee, are mighty and cruel, and will kill thee; therefore take heed to thyself, and fly. Sanctified prudence will answer; God which hath sent me, is stronger, and therefore will I not fly. 
f Psal. 11.1.  In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? When God sent Samuel to anoint David, worldly wisdom answered in him, 
g 1. Sam. 16.2.  How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me. God spoke unto him again, and confirmed him: then he gave place to the commandment, and went. It seemeth, that Amazia gave a wise counsel to Amos, saying, 
h Amos 7.12, 13, 14, 15, 16.  O thou Seer, go, flee thou away into the land of judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the King's Chapel, and it is the Kings Court. Yet Amos, ruled by another Spirit, rejected it, and said, The LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel, that is to say, I will obey the Lord, and not thee. And therefore 
i jon. 1.2, 3.  jonah yields too much to his own discourse, and too little to God's commandment, when, being sent to Niniveh, he took shipping to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord: which would have been a foul fault in any private man instructed in the ways of the Lord, how much more was it heinous in a Prophet? for who is so negligently and slightly imbrued with the knowledge of God, but he will subscribe to that saying of David, 
k Psal. 139.7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.  Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there: If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me: If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me: even the night shall be light about me: yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. jonah learned by an experimental knowledge this to be true, when the ship wherein he thought to flee from the presence of the Lord, was unto him as a pair of stocks to hold him fast.  
Therefore Christ, a more complete pattern to imitate, and a more excellent precedent to follow than jonah, 
l Mat. 16.21, 22, 23.  when his time was come to be killed at jerusalem, reproved Peter, and called him Satan, for dissuading him from it. Likewise 
m Act. 21.11, 12, 13, 14.  Paul would not by any means be dissuaded from going to jerusalem, though Agabus had prophesied unto him that the jews should bind him, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles: whereof the reason was, that he went thither 
n Act. 20.22.  bound in the Spirit, that is to say, by particular revelation of the Spirit of the eternal and most wise God.  
When we have such a revelation, or by any other means are certified, that God will have us to remain and confess, than this precept of Esaiah, of hiding ourselves in our closerts, is no ways directed unto us, but rather this of Christ, 
o Mar. 10.27.  What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house tops. Then we must not only go, but run with great cheerfulness and alacrity, thorough floods fires, swords, to obey God's commandments, and say as David said, 
p Psal. 139.32.  I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.  
IU. But when we have no certain knowledge of God's will, & are so disposed, that we may say with S. Paul, 
q Phil. 1.21.  Christ to me to live, & to die, is gain: when, I say, we are resolved to suffer all extremities, and a thousand deaths, rather than to deny him, than the practice of this commandment is not only lawful, but also necessary: than not only we may, but also should try, if hiding of ourselves, and fleeing, be the means which God hath appointed to deliver us from the present evil of persecution. God gave an express commandment to the people of Israel, 
r Exod. 12.32.  that none of them should go out at the door of his house, until the morning of that night wherein he smote the firstborn of Egypt: The like commandment was given to Rachab, 
s Iosh. 2.19  that none of her family should go out of the doors of her house into the street, lest they should perish in the destruction of the town of jericho. I confess that we have not any such personal commandment directed unto us: but I say, that this general commandment, Come my people, enter thou into thy chamber, etc. is sufficient, and a good warrant for all God's people, till he choose such as pleaseth him, and make them to know manifestly, that he will have them to be public Confessors and Martyrs, whereof, they cannot make question, if once they be taken, and laid in bonds for Christ's sake: for than they must drink the cup which the Lord setteth to their heads more gladly and courageously then Socrates did the Hemlock. Till than they may convey themselves out of their enemy's hands, by lurking in some hid and unknown place, by fleeing, or any other way which is not unlawful.  
V 
t Gen. 27.43.  Rebeckah advertised that Esau had vowed to slay jacob, counselled him to flee to Laban her brother, and he did so. 
v Exod. 2.15.  Moses knowing that Pharaoh sought to slay him, fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelled in the land of Midian; not forsaking his calling, but waiting till God gave him a more clear declaration of his will thereupon: which after he had received, he returned into Egypt, nothing dreading the fear of Pharaoh, and of all his Court. How often did 
x 1. Sam. 19.22.27. 2. Sam. 15.14.  David flee from place to place, to shun the wrath of his King, and the conspiracy of his own son, not for lack of courage, but though godly prudence and foreseeing advisedness? David which had the promise of the kingdom of Israel, fled: David which knew that his kingdom could not be taken from him, fled: Oh how many excellent Psalms did he make at those times! whereby ye may know, that he mistrusted not the truth of God's promise, yet would not tempt him, by trying of his power. 
a 1. King. 17.1. judg. 5.17.  Elijah, which by his prayers shut the heavens, and it reigned not upon the earth by the space of three years and six months: 
b 1. King. 17.22.  Elijah, which raised from death the widow's son of Sarepta: 
c 1. King. 1.10.12.  Elijah, which brought fire from heaven upon the King's Captains and their fifties: That wise, godly, and wonderful Prophet, when he was threatened by jezebel, 
d 1. King. 19.2, 3.  fled he not for his life to Beersheba in juda, and from thence to the wilderness? At that time 
e 1. King. 18.13.  Obadiah, hide he not an hundred men of the Lords Prophets, by fifty in a cave, when jezebel sought them, to kill them? what can be said against those holy Fathers, which in the time of the cruel persecuter Antiochus Epiphanes, 
f Heb. 11.38.  wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth, and, of whom the Apostle saith, that the world was not worthy?  
VI If any say, That such precepts and examples are of the old Testament, and should not be fitted to Christians which live under the Gospel; I answer, That in the new Testament, the commandments are more formal, and the examples more frequent and enforcing.  
Christ, gave he not this express commandment to his Apostles, 
g Mat. 10.17, 23.  Beware of men; and, when they persecute you in this City, flee ye into another? 
h Tert. de fugain persecutione cap. 6.  Some say, that this commandment was temporal, & given to the Apostles only, & for that time only when they were sent to preach the Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, even as that other commandment in the beginning of the Chapter, 
i Mat. 10.5.  Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any City of the Samaritans enter ye not, which is now abolished. True; the commandment forbidding to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and Samaritans, is abrogated, but by another commandment, 
b Mark. 16.15.  Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. Tell us now where, how, and when the commandment of fleeing in persecution hath been recalled: And if it be not annulled by another commandment, why it should not stand for ever, as the rest do which are in that chapter (that one of not preaching the Gospel to the nations, excepted)  
What have they to answer to this other commandment, 
c Mat. 24.15.  When ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand) then let them which be in judea, flee into the mountains? etc. Had the Apostles any thing to do with it? Were they in jerusalem when the town was besieged? There were many Christians; to them it pertained, to it they obeyed, for 
d Atha●as. Apolog. de fug acontra Arianos. Hic est hominum terminus ad perfectionemducens, ut quod Deus iubet, hoc faciant.  this is the way to perfection, to do that which God commandeth.  
But to come back to the 10. chapter of Mat. Said he to the Apostles only; or rather, hath he not said to the Apostles first, next to all Preachers of the Gospel, and consequently to all Christians; 
e Matt. 10.16.  Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of Wolves: Be ye therefore wise as Serpents, and simple as Doves? What is that to be simple as Doves? It is to be harmless: what to be wise as Serpents? To keep ourselves from harm, and as it followeth, to beware of men; when they persecute us in one City, to flee into another.  
What? are their ears stopped with incredulity, when this other commandment is read unto them, 
f Matt. 7.6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again, and rend you? Is this a commandment of fleeing and of hiding of ourselves? why not? why shall I remain, but to walk abroad? Why walk abroad, but to confess? I must not confess before Epicureans and belly-gods: That were as if I should cast pearls unto swine. Nor also before wickedly and cruelly disposed men: That were as if one should cast that which is holy unto dogs. What then shall I do? I will put up the holy things, I will pack up my Pearls, and withdraw myself the most advisedly I can, till the dirty and muddy swine be out of the way, and the dogs leave off barking and biting: Or I will remove to some other place, and display my sewels there, to see and assay if I can find a better market elsewhere. For Christ giveth us not commandments of fear, whereby we should forsake our callings to save our lives, but of holy wisdom, whereby we should be careful to save our lives, that at another time, or in another place, we may more commodiously and effectually practise our callings, and so go back to leap the better.  
VII. Such commandments are not in the Church without most glorious precedents, and examples most worthy to be followed. Can we have any so perfect, so excellent, as of Christ himself? Of him the Angel said to joseph, 
g Matth. 2.13.  Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word. b When he had shown himself to be God by restoring the withered hand, 
h Matt. 12.13, 14, 15.  the Pharisees went out, and held a counsel against him, how they might destroy him: But when jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence. The inhabitants of Nazareth led him unto the brow of an hill, that they might cast him down headlong: 
i Luk. 4.30.  But be passing thorough the midst of them, went his way. In the Temple of jerusalem, the jews took up stones to cast at him: 
k john 8.59.  But jesus hide himself, and went out of the Temple, going thorough the midst of them, and so passed by. The chief Priests and the Pharisees took counsel to put him to death, after that he had raised Lazarus. 
l joh. 11.54.  jesus therefore walked no more openly among the jews: but went thence into a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. Wherefore hide he himself? wherefore fled he? Because 
m joh. 2.4. joh. 7.6.  his hour was not yet come: for when his hour was come, not only he fled not, but 
n joh. 18.4.  knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and rendered himself to his enemies, which neither knew him, nor were able to take him. And where he fled until his time was come, there he preached, healed the sick, and did good to all men.  
So when there was a great persecution against the Church at jerusalem, the Christians 
o Act. 8.1.4. Act. 11.19, 20.  were scattered abroad throughout the region of judea, and Samaria, and went every where preaching the word. So Paul being at Damascus, & knowing that the jews watched the gates day and night to kill him, 
p Act. 9.24, 25.  The Disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basquet. So when he was 
q Act. 14.5, 6.  at Iconium with Barnabas, & knew that the jews & Gentiles, with their Rulers, had made an assault to use them despitefully, & to stone them; they were ware of it, & fled unto Lystra. So when in the uproar which Demetrius had raised against him at Ephesus, 
r Act. 19.30, 31.  he would have entered in unto the people; the Disciples suffered him not, and he followed their counsel. So seeing he could not stay there without great jeopardy, 
f Act. 20.1.  he departed from thence, and went into Macedonia, and preached the Gospel there. So 
t Act. 23.6, 7.  perceiving that his enemies were resolved to do him some mischief, he found a subtle, but lawful policy to put them by the ears, and so escaped. So 
v v. 17.  advertised that forty naughty men had bound themselves under a curse, that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him, he shunned that conspiracy by a most wise counsel. So 
x Act. 25.11.  knowing the corruption of his judge, he appealed unto Caesar, not forsaking his calling, but desiring to live for his callings sake. So S. john writeth, that 
y Rev. 12.6  the woman which was delivered of a child, fled into the wilderness: And that ye may know that her flight was approved of God, it is said, that there she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days.  
So S. Cyprian seeing that the people cried incessantly, 
a Cyprian. Epist. 15.  Cyprianum ad Leonem, Cyprian to the Lion, withdrew himself from the fury of the people, and fled; not so much for his own safety, as for the peace of the Church. So S. Athanasius fled out of Alexandria, where the Emperor had sent to take him. So Policarpus, so S. Chrysostome by their flight saved the Pastors for their Churches, and the Churches for their Pastors. So the Albigenses fleeing the persecution in France, went through Germany, Bohemia, and England, and planted there the knowledge of our Lord jesus Christ. Of whom is this flourishing Church composed? Of strangers which have forsaken their own countries, and commodities, and have sought in this Sanctuary security for their lives, and food for their souls, and of whom I may say truly, that God hath sent them before their distressed brethren, to save their lives; even as joseph said to his brethren, 
b Gen. 45.7  God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  
VIII. It is a natural thing to all living creatures to provide for their own safety: Neither hath God, the author of nature, abolished that natural instinct in his Saints, but sanctified it, directing them by his word and by his Spirit to do lawfully and holily, that is to say, by good means and for a good end, that whereunto they are inclined by nature.  
If they did otherways, might they not be justly accused of tempting of the Lord their God, of preventing his providence, of seeking through vainglory and ostentation to be Christ's Martyrs, when he craveth no such duty at their hands? Peter being too bold out of season, denied his Master. The rest of the Disciples which fled, and kept themselves quiet, shunned that mischief. For God blesseth rather a modest fleeing, than a presumptuous abode. When Peter rushed into Caiphas Hall, the Spirit of God left him: But when 
c joh 20.19.  he was hid with the rest in a chamber, the doors being shut for fear of the jews, jesus came to them, and 
d Act 2.1.4.  the holy Ghost descended upon them. In Cyprians time, there was a kind of heretics, called Circumcellions, which ran every where seeking the martyrdom: and the Franciscane Friars writ of Francis their Patron, that he went to Maiorka, Minorka, and other places occupied by the Maliumetanes, desirous to be killed for Christ's sake: But he returned as he went, because none of those miscreants would debase themselves to flay such a calf. Now what was that desire, but giddiness, but rashness, but presumption and vainglory? A wise and experimented Pilot will never run his ship upon the shelves and rocks: If the storm drive him upon the dangers, than he showeth his courage and skill: So a modest man will not, to show his courage, cast himself into the fire of affliction, and draw upon himself unnecessary evil: but if he be apprehended, if the glory of God, if the edification of the Church; if the necessity of his calling bind him to suffer for Christ's sake, than he will show that when he lurked, courage was not wanting to his wariness, but his wariness ruled his courage, and commanded it to wait upon the Lord. He which seeketh enemies wilfully and rashly, is a seditious and factious fellow: But he which hath enemies, and seeketh them not, which is persecuted without cause, or for God's cause; He which cannot shun them, nor have peace with them, except he forsake his station, deny Christ, scandalise the Church, and then chooseth rather an honest and glorious death, than a dishonest life, is the truly wise and courageous man. Therefore 
e Cyprian. Epist. 83.  Cyprian warned his Church to be wary, that they offered not themselves to their enemies; but if they were taken, to confess constantly.  
Wherein there is also a duty of Charity which we own to our enemies. 
3.  For howsoever not only it is not an ill thing, but rather a most glorious thing, and a 
f Phil. 1.29.  gift of God to suffer for Christ, and to be his Martyr, 
g Euseb. hist. Ecclis. lib 4. cap. 15.  as the Martyrs themselves acknowledged, when they thanked God for that honour: 
h Clemens, Alexandr. lib. 4. Stromatum.  yet notwithstanding we must not give any occasion to our enemies, to heap sin upon sin, by shedding of our innocent blood, which we should do if we prevented their malice, going to them when they seek us not, or betraying ourselves to them when they cannot find us, and crying, Here, here I am, come, rack, kill, hang, burne, as the Circumcellions did; Wherein also we should become wilful murderers of our own selves, for there is no great difference between killing of ourselves, and provoking other men to kill us.  
IX. Neither should we be much moved with the reviling of those which cast in our teeth, that by fleeing we deny Christ, and so fall into the pit whereof he hath forewarned us, saying, 
i Matth. 10.33.  Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven: 
k ver. 38.  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. For such preachers of magnanimity and constancy, are either enemies, or of our own folks.  
If enemies, answer as 
l Athanas. Apolog. de fuga.  Athanasius did to the Arrians: Ye are forsooth scandalized, because we flee the persecution. Lay your hands to your hearts, and confess that ye are sorry and much discontented, that we have prevented your malice, and by our flight have hindered the intention ye had to kill us: If we do ill to flee, ye do worse to persecute us: Leave off to seek our lives, and we shall leave off to flee for the safety of our lives. For what is our fleeing, but a testimony of your persecution?  
If friends, take heed that they preach not against fleeing, because they would be glad that all remained to deny Christ, as they are resolved to do, rather than to lose their commodities: It is not good to tempt God. Many which tarry at home, go to the Mass, lest they should bear Christ's cross, and fall into that inconvenience whereof they will seem to be affrighted for us: But he that fleeth, leaving his goods and all that he hath among his enemies, forsaking his friends for Christ's sake, seeking with a thousand incommodities, liberty of conscience among an unknown people, hath a most heavy cross upon his shoulders, and not only denyeth not Christ, but maketh known to all men his faith in him, his love to him, his zeal for him. And therefore the ancient Church called such men Confessors, whereas the persecutors, and hypocrites, call them Denyers. If they were willing to deny, would they flee? would they leave their goods, forsake their friends, hazard their lives to deny? Wherefore flee they? because they shun all occasions whereby they may be compelled through the weakness of the flesh to deny Christ, and seek elsewhere, with loss of goods, danger of their lives, much grief and anguish of mind, among men of an unknown tongue, whose conditions, fashions, customs are contrary unto theirs, liberty to confess him; resolved not only to flee, but also to die, rather than they should renounce that faith, that hope, that confidence which they have in God's mercies, and in Christ's merits. For as Chrysostome saith, 
m Chrysrst. ad popul. Autiochen. homil. 67.  The Christian man's life should be full of blood, not by shedding of other men's blood, but by a strong resolution to shed his own blood for Christ, when it shall be needful. He that is thus disposed, is not led with 
n 2. Tim. 1.7.  the Spirit of fear, as our enemies, hypocrites, and ignorantly zealous brethren say, but with the Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind; The occasions will teach him, when Gods will is that he flee, when that he slay to die: Therefore we should pray one for another, as Paul did for Timothy, 
o 2. Tim. 1.7.  The Lord give thee understanding in all things.  
X. If these words be taken in a figurative and allegorical sense, then, as I have said, they are an exhortation to patience, like unto many others, which ye read in the Psalms, and in the Prophets. David saith, 
p Psal. 37.7  Be silent to the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Esaiah said to the jews, 
q Isam. 30.15.  In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Ye read in the Lamentations of jeremiah, 
r Lament. 3.26, 27, 28, 29.  It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord: It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth: He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him: He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. Which figurative manner of speeches are thus set down elsewhere in proper words, 
s Luk. 21.19.  In your patience possess ye your souls: ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.  
But the Spirit of God useth such figurative speeches in this matter, because they are very popular, and most fit to express the nature of patience: for because the people was to be led captive into Babylon, and to be enthralled there the space of threescore and ten years, the Prophet showeth them what they must do then. For as they that traffic by sea, when they see the storm coming, sail to some haven, and anchor there until the storm be past; or as the people of Israel, when the Angel of the Lord destroyed the first borne of Egypt, and Rahab at the sack of jerico, kept themselves quiet in their houses, the doors being shut: So, saith the Prophet, must ye do in the great and heavy storm of affliction, which is to come upon you: Enter into your chambers, shut the doors about you, hide yourselves there, let none go forth, haste to the haven of salvation, lest ye perish. What chambers, what havens are these? Can there be any so sure and safe as God himself, of whom, and to whom David saith, 
v Psal. 31.19, 20.  O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence, from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion, from the strife of tongues. And therefore applying this to himself, he said, 
x Psal. 91.1, 2.  He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty: I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I will trust. For, 
y Pro. 8.10  the Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. After the same manner, and in the same sense, Habacuc said, 
a Hab. 2.1.  I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say to me. These things were then spoken, but they belong to all ages, and are to us this day examples and instructions, to rely upon God in our tribulations with patience, and quietness of mind.  
XI. Many are the reasons which should move us to a most humble and quiet subjection of our spirits, without fretting of ourselves, without murmuring, when we are afflicted, and they which afflict us, prosper: but especially there be four: The first is taken from the will of God; the second from his wisdom; the third from his truth; the fourth from his justice.  
The first thing we must look unto in our afflictions, is the will of God. For as jeremiah, after the destruction of jerusalem by the Babylonians, and burning of the Temple to ashes, withdrew his eyes from the earth, & lifting them up above all the visible heavens, settled them upon God, and asked, 
b Lam. 3.37, 38.  Who is he that saith, This is come to pass, and the Lord hath not commanded it? evil and good, proceedeth it not out of the mouth of the Lord? so must we all think, so must we all speak. The wicked prosper, because it is Gods will: we are oppressed, because it is Gods will. Our master and Doctor hath taught us both by precept, and by example, to think and to speak so. Hath he not commanded us to pray, Thy will be done? It is his will, that we be so unworthily vexed and tormented. 
c Math. 10.29, 30.  Are not, saith he, two sparrows: sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father? but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. As if he had said, Fare less shall any evil befall you without the will of your Father. Therefore he submitted himself unto his Father's will, when he was to dye for us sinners, saying, 
d Mat. 26.39.  Not as I will, but as thou wilt; and commanded Peter, which drew the sword to defend him, to put up his sword into the sheath, with this reason, 
e joh. 18.11.  The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? So he said to the Disciples going to Emmaus, 
f Luk. 24, 26.  Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? why ought he? because forsooth it was the will of God.  
In this meditation, we must not only say of God, as Nabuchadnezzar did, that 
g Dan 4.35.  he doth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What dost thou? but acknowledge also with the Apostle, that 
h Rom 12.2.  his will is good, acceptable, and perfect, and therefore most worthy that our wills be offered up in a  sacrifice unto it. This was the shield wherewith that 
i Tert. de patientia. ca 14. operarius ill● victoria●um Dei.  most worthy achiever of the victories of God, that rare and wonderful pattern of patience, extinguished all the fiery darts, which either by the loss of his goods, or by the death of his children, or by the stinking and filthy sores of his body, or by the chiding of his wife, or by the contempt of his servants, or by the uncourteous and churlish comforts of his friends, or by affrighting dreams the devil threw at him. He repelled them all with this one word, 
k job 1.21  Blessed be the name of the Lord. So the brethren knowing that the will of God was, that Paul should go up to jerusalem, and be there bound, and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, ceased to dissuade him, saying, 
l Act. 21.14.  The will of the Lord be done. For God is a Father: neither would it be his will that we should be afflicted, except it were for our good. We sing first, 
m Psal. 135 3, 5, 6.  Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good. Then we add: For I know that the LORD is great, & that our LORD is above all gods: whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. This then is the first reason to move us to patience: It is the will of the Almighty God, who to us is a loving Father, that we be toiled and hurried with many afflictions: and we own all submission, all obedience to his will.  
XII. Is he only Almighty and all good? Is he not also Alwise? Doubtless he is Hath he not made light to shine out of darkness, benediction to spring out of malediction, life to rise out of death? He bridleth the unbridled affections of men, he setteth in order all their disordered actions: when they fight against his will, he doth his will, not in them, but by them. The Scribes and Pharisees with the Priests conspire against Christ: judas selleth him: Pilate condemneth him: the soldiers crucify him: how many divers intentions, how many disagreeing ends of these wicked men in the tormenting of one man? God the great and experimented Physician, maketh of all these sins a most excellent antidote against sin; of all these poisons, a sovereign and singular medicine for the health of the soul. When the wicked persecute the Church, their mind is to destroy it for ever: but God, by the persecutions, chastiseth the security, tryeth the faith, exerciseth the patience of his children, and setteth forth his own glory in their delivery, as ye have heard in the fourth Sermon. He hath ever done so, he will do so unto the world's end: and therefore let us in all our heavy displeasures rely upon his wisdom, as it is written, 
n Psal. 37.5  Commit thy way unto to the LORD: trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass: Then our own experience shall enforce us to confess, that 
o Rom 8.28.  we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. So in God's wisdom we have a second reason to move us to patience.  
XIII. Thirdly, we should ever set before our eyes his truth, which is more firm and constant than heaven and earth, and all things that are therein: men may be disloyal and false. But 
p 2. Tim 2.13.  if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. He is 
q 1. Sam. 15.29.  the strength of Israel, he will not lie, nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. He hath wisdom to foresee the events before he promise: he hath power to perform whatsoever he promiseth: he is goodness itself, and therefore he will throughly fulfil all his promises. 
r Esa. 55.10, 11.  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sour, and bread to the eater So, saith he, shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.  
XIV. We have his promise in the second part of our text: for when he biddeth us hide ourselves as it were for little moment, until the indignation be overpast: he implieth in the commandment a most comfortable promise, that the affliction of the Church shall last but for a moment; which being expired, his indignation shall overpasse, and the Church shall be delivered. This promise, and the exhortation grounded upon it, is very formal in Habacuc, where God speaketh after this manner: 
s Hab. 2.3.  The vision is yet for an appointed time: but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. The promise is, that the vision, the prediction concerning the deliverance of the Church, hath 〈◊〉 appointed time; which being expired, God will fulfil it: the exhortation is, Therefore wait upon it: This time is not a long time: it is but a moment. 
t Psal. 30.5  For his anger endureth but a moment: In his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning: as David saith in the thirty Psalm. Ye have the like promise in the fifty and fourth chapter of Isaith: 
v Esa. 54.7, 8.  For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. I have hid my face from thee for a little, in the moment of wrath: but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy redeemer.  
XV. Here then we have solid comfort, and a sovereign remedy against impatience in tribulation. 
x Psal. 125.3.  For the rod of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous? lest the righteous put forth their hands into iniquity: we hear the promise, and howsoever we believe it, we think the time to be very long, and we cry, as David often in the Psalms, And thou Lord, how long? for one hour of affliction is more sensible unto us, than a year of prosperity. Therefore God 
y Psal. 103.14.  knowing our frame, and remembering bring that we are but dust, speaketh unto us according to our hearts desire, and telleth us, that he hath a time appointed for our deliverance, whereof he keepeth a most exact reckoning, and shall not lose the least parcel thereof.  

a Eccl. 3.1  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be afflicted, a time to be delivered: the time of affliction is to some shorter, to some longer. To Noah and to his family in the Ark, 
b Gen. 7.11 Gen. 1.13, 14.  it was of one year and ten days. To the people of Israel in Egypt, 
c Gen. 15.13.  four hundred years. To the lews in Babylon, 
d jer. 25.12. jer. 29.10. Dan. 5.2.  seaventy years. To the woman diseased with the bloody 
e Mar. 9.20  issue, twelve years. To the impotent, whom the Lord cured at the pool of jerusalem, 
f joh. 5.5.  thirty and eight years. To the woman delivered of her child to be fed in the wilderness, 
g Rev. 12.14.  a time, and times, and half a time, which are three years, and an half. To Moses to be hid 
h Exod. 2.2.  three months. Hosea, speaking of the time of God's deliveries, saith, 
i Hos 6.2.  After two days will he revive us: In the third day will he raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 
k joh. 11.39.  Lazarus was in the grave four days: 
l Luk. 18.33.  The Lord was put to death, and buried, and rose again the third day. He advertised the Church of Smyrna, that she should have tribulation 
m Rev. 2.10  ten days. He spoke of his hour, when he said to his mother, 
n joh. 2.4.  Mine hour is not yet come. He said to his Disciples, 
o joh. 16.16.  A little while, and ye shall not see me, and again a little while, and ye shall see me. In our text God speaketh of a little moment. David saith, 
p Psal. 37.10.  Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. The Apostle saith, that 
q 2. Cor. 4.17.  our affliction is light, and is but for a moment: He saith again, 
r Heb. 10.37,  Yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. S. Peter writeth to the faithful of his time, that 
s 1. Pet. 1.6.  for a season they were in heaviness through manifold temptations. And it was said to the souls that were under the Altar, that 
t Rev.  they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled: that is to say, until the end of the world, which to flesh and blood is very long: for if these blessed souls thought the time which was between their death, and this vision of john, so long, that they cried, 
v ver 10.  How long O Lord? what wonder if men leading a most wearisome and tedious life under the cross, cry to God as David did, 
x Psal. 119 82.  Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?  
XVI. The comfort to them all is this, that their affliction, which to them is too too long, is but a moment, not only in respect of God, 
y 2. Pet. 3.8  with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; but also in regard of the eternity of unspeakable glory, wherewith it shall be swallowed up. 
a Rom 8.18.  For I reckon, saith the Apostle, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us; Glory which these sufferings work in us. 
b 2. Cor. 4.17.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a fare more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, even so fare as it subdueth our pride, mortifieth our lusts, and is the Lords high way unto our eternal bliss. Whereunto if ye add the promise of deliverance, even in this life, nothing shall be wanting to our full comfort.  
XVII. What then shall we do, till the Lord come and deliver us? what, but wait upon the Lord's pleasure? The Jews knew by revelation from God, the time of their bondage in Egypt, and captivity in Babylon; which being come to an end, they said confidently to God, 
c Psal. 102.13.  Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. We have no such revelation: and therefore we must be content to rely upon God's general promise, and say with David, 
d Psal. 130.5.  I wait for the LORD: my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope; assured, that howsoever it seem, that heaven and earth conspire against us, and that we are brought to the pinch, he shall put a new song in our mouths, and give us a most plentiful subject to sing as David did, 
e Psal. 40.1  In waiting, I waited for the LORD, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry: 
f Heb. 10.23.  For he is faithful that promised. And 
g Luk. 1.37.  with him no word is impossible.  
The Lord in his great mercies give us this patiented hope and assurance, for Christ jesus his dear sons sake, who with him and the holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth God blessed for evermore. Amen.   

SERM. IX. Of God's judgements upon Persecuters, and of the last deliverance of the Church.  ESAIAH XXVI. 
21. For behold the LORD cometh out of his place, to visit the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.  
1. THe last motive to patience, is taken from the judgements of God.  
2. The Lord is said to come, when he judgeth.  
3. He is said to come out of his place, when his judgements and mercies are made conspicuous.  
4. He visiteth the inhabitants of the earth, either in judgement, or in mercy.  
5. Wicked men are called the inhabitants of the earth: for godly men are strangers here.  
6. God will visit the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, which they think to be good service to God.  
7. God will be avenged of those which shed the blood of his dear ones,  
8. Because he is righteous and faithful.  
9 Great judgements on persecuters,  
10. Namely, on great men under the law,  
11. And principally on those who have persecuted the Christian Church.  
12. Prosperity in this world, is a token of God's indignation, rather than of his love.  
13. The torments▪ of hell prepared for wicked men.  
14. Their conscience tells them there is a hell.  
15. Hell is a place penal in its own self.  
16. There is there pain of damage most unsufferable.  
17. As likewise unconceivable pain of sense,  
18. Which is universal,  
19 And everlasting.  
20. Persecuters, above all others, shall be tortured there with most exquisite torments.  
21. Great shall be in that day the glory of God's Saints, and terrible to their Persecuters.  
22. Great difference between the life and the end of wicked and of godly men.  
23. The Church cannot be destroyed.  
24. Exhortation and consolation.  
1. AS the words of this text are from God the last, so should they be in your hearts a most powerful motive to a patiented tarrying for the blessed time, which the wisdom of the Lord hath appointed for the glorious and final relief of his Church from all misery.  
Ye may call the text DAN, i e. judgement: for it threatneth, with no small mischief, all bloody and cruel persecuters, and by their overthrow promiseth deliverance to them which are persecuted. The time of the one, and of the other, is not a time of many years, months, weeks, days: The afflictions of the Church shall be gone in a moment, as ye have heard. In a moment also shall come the destruction of those that persecute her, who in their greatest prosperity are 
a Minut. Felix. ut victima ad supplicium saginantur: ut hostia ad poenam cor●nantur.  like beasts fatted, 
b Zeph. 1.8.  and crowned with garlands for the day of the Lords sacrifice: wherein, saith the Lord, I will punish the Princes, and the King's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.  
II. For behold the Lord cometh. O open the eyes of your mind, o bid your faith rise from her sleep to behold, in the immutable truth of the Lords threats, in the inevitable power of his justice, in the innumerable judgements which he hath already dispatched against wicked oppressors, in his more than motherly love to his dear ones; his promptness and readiness to deliver his Church, by the overthrow of all her enemies. He, he himself, he who is the Lord will destroy them. Neither shall they be able to shield themselves against the Lord: He will not tarry, he will not delay his coming: Behold be cometh; he is already on his journey.  
III. From whence cometh he? Out of his place. O Lord, Art thou so in one place, that thou art not at the same time in all places? O infinite Majesty, 
c August. ad Volusian. Epist. 3. Novit ubique totus esse, & nullo contmeri loco. Novit venire, non recedendo ubi erat. Novit abire, non deserendo quo venerat. Miratur hoc mens humaena, & quia non capit, fortasse non credit.  thou canst be every where at one time: and yet thou art do where. Thou fillest with thy presence every place: and lo, thou art not contained in any place. Thou canst come, and not go from the place where thou wast: Thou canst departed, and not leave the place whereunto thou didst come. Our souls wonder at this, but because of their narrowness, they cannot comprehend it: O Lord grant that we may believe it: And tell us, how thou who hast the heaven for 
d Esa. 66.1.  thy throne, and the earth for thy footstool, thou who sayest of thyself, Do I not fill the heaven and the earth? O most wonderful God, teach us how thou comest and goest? Dost thou not speak so, not of thy nature, but of the works of thy judgements and mercies?  
Brethren, jearne, and wonder. Men speak so of God: And therefore God borroweth men's phrases; and as they speak of him, so speaketh he of his own self. 
e jer. 23.24.  Wicked men when they spoil, kill, and abuse most licentiously the righteous man, do say, 
f Psal. 94.7.  The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of jacob regard it. As if he were in his Closet fast asleep, or busied with other matters, when they reel to and fro to do mischief: or as if he dwelled so fare off from them, that he cannot see them. What, say they, 
g job 22.12, 13, 14.  Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars how high they are: how doth God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seethe not, and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.  
For this cause God saith, that seeing they think and speak so, he will come out of his place to visit, i.e. to punish the Inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: Even as it is said, when the Giants were building the Tower of Babel, that 
h Gen. 11.5, 7.  the LORD came down to see the City and the Tower, which the children of men builded, and said, Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language: And as when he was to destroy Sodom and Gomorrha, he said to Abraham, 
i Gen. 18.21.  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know: As likewise when his time was come to take vengeance of Pharaoh, and deliver his people, he said to Moses, 
k Exod 3.7, 8.  I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, by reason of their taskmasters: for I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. When he withdraweth his care from his children, and suffereth his enemies to afflict them, he saith in Hosea, 
l Hos. 5.15.  I will go, and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence. And then they acknowledging their own folly, cry unto him, 
m Psal. 60.1  O turn thyself to us again: 
n Psal. 80.14.  Return, we beseech thee, o God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this Vine. After the same manner, when he destroyeth their persecuters, he delivereth them, and saith, that he cometh out of his place to visit them; them who are his children, in his favour; them who are his enemies, and the oppressors of his children, in the extremity of his anger.  
iv He calleth the one and the other, his visitation. For, 
o 1 Tim. 6.16.  he dwelleth in the light, which no man can approach unto; and cannot be seen of us, but by his works: which when he displayeth not, we think and we say, that he is absent: But when we see and feel them, than we say he is present, and hath visited us. As we speak of him, so speaketh he of himself, though 
p Act. 17.27, 28.  he be not fare from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being. Or rather he teacheth us, that he doth all things by rule, by number, and by balance; that first he takes a perfect notice of our estate, and afterwards setteth his works forward.  
The works whereby he visiteth us, are either of mercy, or of judgement. And therefore his visitations are taken in the Scriptures, sometimes for his mercies, sometimes for his judgements. And it is said that he visiteth us, either when he giveth us conspicuous testimonies of his favour, or when he punisheth us for our sins.  
In the first sense it is said, that 
q Gen. 21.1  the LORD visited Sarah, as he had said: which in the words following is thus explained, And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken: Because he fulfilled his promise, and gave a Son to Sarah, the Scripture saith, that he visited Sarah. In the same sense, joseph said to his brethren, 
r Gen. 50.25.  God will surely visit you. i.e. deliver you. And so is the word expounded by Zacharias in his song, where he saith, that 
s Luk. 1.68.  God hath visited, and redeemed his people. Ye read the like in the Acts, where it is written, that 
t Act 15.14  God did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his Name. For their calling to the light of the Gospel, was their visitation. When jerusalem made light of that light, Christ said, that 
v Luk. 19.44.  she knew not the time of her visitation.  
In the second sense, visitation of punishment is double: The one is of love and of grace, whereby God visiteth his own dear children, as he said to David, 
x Psal. 89.31, 32, 33.  If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments: then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes: Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. We have heard heretofore, that this kind of visitation is most useful. It is not so much 
y Minut. Felix. Non est poena, militia est. Fortitudo enim infirmitatibus roboratur: Et calamitas saepius disciplina virtutis est.  a punishment to the Church, as her warfare. For fortitude is corroborated by infirmities: And often affliction and calamity is the school and mistress of virtue. It is ever so to the Church.  
The other cometh from God's heavy wrath and indignation, and hath for end, not the correction, but the destruction of the sinner: As when God said that he 
a Hos. 1.4.  would visit the blood of jezreel upon the house of jehu, he threatened the King's house with a total and final overthrow; as he saith in the words following, that he would cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. In this sense David made this prayer to God, 
b Psal. 59.5  O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: for he addeth by way of exposition, Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. This word is so taken in this text, when the Prophet saith, that the Lord cometh out of his place to visit, i. e. to punish in his anger, and hot displeasure. Whom will he visit?  
V The inhabitants of the earth. What? Are not all men, are not Gods servants inhabitants of the earth, aswell as other men? No men, to speak properly, are inhabitants of the earth. For we are all tenants at the will of the great Lands Lord, not owners: and our life is a sojourning, rather than a dwelling on earth.  
All true believers acknowledge this truth, and say in their prayers to God, 
c 1 Chro. 29.15.  We are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. Earth is only the place of their peregrination. 
d joh. 17.11, 16.  They are, saith Christ, in the world, but they are not of the world. Heaven is their home. 
e Heb. 13.14.  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Every day we hear God saying unto us, 
f Micha 2.10.  Arise ye and departed, for this is not your rest. Therefore as 
g 1 Kings 19.8.  Eliah walked forty days and forty nights till he came unto Horeb the mount of God: So we walk apace, and go still forward, till we come to the heavenly Manor, whereof the Apostle saith, that 
h Heb. 4.9.  there remaineth a rest to the people of God. 
i Matt. 6.21  There is our treasure, there is our heart also: As a way-faring man's heart is at home, because at home are his wife, his children, and whatsoever he loveth. There is 
k Phil. 3.20  our conversation, though our bodies be here.  
The wicked may see that which we believe, and daily experience teacheth them to say with the women of Tekoah, 
l 2 Sam. 14.14.  We must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet notwithstanding, they 
m Phil. 3.19  mind earthly things. 
n Psal. 49.11.  Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations: They call their lands after their own Names. Therefore seeing they have nothing before their eyes, no end of their thoughts and actions, but the earth, it is no wonder that they should be called the inhabitants of the earth. Out of the earth were they taken. In earth they dwell, in earth they have their portion, to earth shall their bodies return, and if hell be in the centre of the earth, as many say, there shall they have their last and eternal habitation.  
VI For what cause will the Lord visit them so rigorously? For their iniquity, that is to say, for the excessiveness of their most immoderate sins, as the word must be taken here: what sins were those? Questionless too too many amongst a people enemies to God and to his Church: but above all, the persecution of the Church.  
They thought undoubtedly that all the harm which they did to the Church, was righteousness, and good service done to their gods: As Christ hath forewarned us, that they who shall kill us, will deem 
o joh. 2.16.  that they do God service: But God calleth this their pretended service, iniquity, a most heinous and enormous sin: and if ye desire a specification of the kind of this sin, God in the text calleth it blood, or according to the Hebrew word, bloods: for by that word God signifieth the extreme and unquenchable thirst of blood, wherewith these murderers were so dry, that when they had shed it all, they would have gladly shed more, and wished that each of those whom they had slain, had possessed a hundred lives, to furnish to them more blood to spill. They kill, because they take pleasure in killing, like unto the Tyrant Caligula, who wished that the people of Rome had all one neck, that at one blow he might cut it off.  
VII. O Tyrants, O bloodthirsty butchers! ye slay the Saints of God under coolur of justice: and ye think, that not only God will not avenge it, but that he will rather allow and reward it. Whereas God saith, that the earth shall disclose her bloods, and shall no more discover her slain. The earth itself shall open her womb, and unfold her bowels, and cry to God, Lo, here is the innocent blood which thy enemies have shed: Lo, here are the bodies of thy beloved servants, whom these Massacrers have slain: 
p job 26.6.  Hell is naked before him: and destruction hath no covering. O then shall the earth conceal your murders from him?  
Have ye not read, that 
q Psal. 5.6.  the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man? Doubt not, but that which is written is true. 
r Psal. 116. 1●.  Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of all his Saints; and therefore he will with an hand of iron thrust hard together the bellies of those horseleeches, which have drunk their blood, and strain them till they spew it out of their bloody throats.  
He hath said, that 
s Gen. 9.5, 6.  he will require the life of man at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of every man's brother. How much more will he require the life of his dear servants at the hands of their murderers? He hath ordained before the law of a most just and inexorable law, that who so sheddeth man's blood, by man his blood shall be sbed: whereof he rendereth two reasons; The first, that men's lives are in their blood; The second, that in the image of God made he man. Under the Law he confirmed this Law by another law, and said, 
t Num 35.33.  that blood unjustly shed, defileth the land, though it be the blood of an ill man. And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. This law is irrevocable: for Christ hath also said in the Gospel, that 
v Mat. 26.52.  all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. If men put it not in execution, God will: and till he do it, the land where the blood of his Saints, who are restored to his image, is shed, shall remain polluted. 
x Gen. 4.10  The voice of Abel's blood cryod unto him from the ground, and he listened unto it. The souls of a great many Abel's, which are under the Altar, cry unto him with a loud voice, 
y Rev. 6.9, 10.  How long, O Lord, holy and true! dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And will he not hear them? He will, he will: 
z Rev. 13.10.  for he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints: They expect with patience; it shall be so, because they know by faith it must be so.  
JIX. God who hath spoken it, is truth itself: he is strength itself: 
a 1. Sam. 15.29.  The strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. Therefore it must be so. He is justice itself; therefore it shall be so.  
For howsoever we be sinners, the cause for which we are molested and vexed, is his: His who is Almighty and just: his who loveth it: his who will not suffer it to be overthrown by the malice and wickedness of men: his who will defend them who maintain it, and destroy them who seek to overthrow it. This is the comfort which the Apostle giveth to the Thessallonians, who bore a cross as heavy then, as your brethren beyond seas do now; saying unto them, 
b 2. Thes. 1.6, 7.  It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord jesus shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power. We must apply this comfort to us: for we shall never be without enemies.  
But we have our warranter and protector in heaven, who fore warns us not only of their enterprises, but also of their overthrow. 
c Esa. 54.15, 16, 17.  Behold, saith he, they shall surely gather together, but not by me whosoever shall gather together against thee, shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the Smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work: And I have created the destroyer to destroy. No weapon that is form against thee, shall prosper: and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement, show shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness of me, saith the Lord.  
IX. The Church is an Anvil which hath broken in pieces many hammers: Or, as Zechariah saith, 
d Zach. 12.3.  it is a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it, shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Where are now the four Monarchies which persecuted the Church? Hath not 
e Dan. 2.34, 35, 44, 45.  the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, hath not the Church of Christ, the Church which is come down from God's holy mountain, even from heaven, the Church which is not the work of any man, but of God, the Church which is but like a little stone in the eyes of the world, hath not this little stone broken them all to pieces, and consumed them like chaff which the wind carrieth away? But it is become a great mountain which filleth the whole earth. It is a spiritual kingdom which the Lord of heaven hath set up, and therefore shall never be destroyed.  
God said to mount Seir, to the people of Edom, the children of Esau, Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword, in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, 
Ezech. 35.5.  I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, blood shall pursue thee.  
Have any of the Massacrers of our fathers prospered? How many wonderful judgements of God, upon them and their children, might I relate unto you, if time could permit. The gaggers have been gagged, and strangled with worms bursting out of their stinking throats: those which imbrued their hands with innocent blood, have swum in their own blood; the children of persecuters were seen begging at the doors of your fathers, whom their fathers had spoiled; Many, pursued by the devil, did run up and down like mad men, crying, that they were damned, because they had persecuted the Church, and shed innocent blood. Then the Church sang to God, 
g Psal. 92.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.  O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep: A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this: when the wicked springs as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is, that they shall be destroyed for ever: but thou, O LORD, art most high for evermore: for lo thine enemies, O LORD, for lo, thine enemies shall perish: All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered, but my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of the Unicorn. etc.  
X. The author of the book of Wisdom, saith, that 
h Sap. 6.5.  sharp judgement shall be to them that be in high places: And experience teacheth, that the judgements of God on them have been most sharp; conspicuous, and wonderful. 
i 1. King. 21.19 & 22.38.  In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, which Achab shed, there they licked Achab's blood. Proud 
k 2. King. 9.35, 36.  jezabel after she had slain the Prophets of the Lord, was eaten by dogs. Neither was there left in the family of Achab so much as a dog that pissed against the wall. In the beginning of the twenty seaventh chapter following our text, the Prophet saith, that 
l Esa. 29.1.  in that day, the LORD with his sore, and great, and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. He calleth so the Kings of Assyria, and of Babylon, which were the most cruel, subtle, and venomous persecuters of his Church. Consider and see how he punished them. 
m 2. King. 19  Senacharib was slain by his own sons in the house of Nisroch his God: And 
n Herodot. Euterp●. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  after his death, the Egyptians whom he had oppressed, erected unto him an image of stone, with this inscription, Whosoever looketh upon me, let him fear God. His third son Esar Haddon, was slain by Merodach Baladan, who transported the Empire from Nimveh in Assyria to Babylon in Chaldea. 
o Dan 5.1.  Belshazzar the first and last of Merodaches race, was killed among the goblets and dishes, and in the midst of his Courtiers and Concubines, whilst he was blaspheming the name of God, & the Monarchy was by Cyrus and Darius translated to the Medes and Persians. 
p 2. Macc. 9.9.  Antiochus Epiphanes, famous for his most unnatural and barbarous cruelty against the Church of the jews, was smitten with the incurable and remediless sickness of worms and lice, which rising up out of his bowels and all the parts of his body, consumed his flesh with many and strange torments, and such a stinking smell, that he himself could not abide it. Thus dying a most miserable death, he left his Realm to his children, amongst whom God sent the Spirit of division and discord, which left them never in peace till they were consumed one by another.  
XI. Herodées, 
q joseph. Antiquit. judaic. lib. 17. cap. 8. Idem de bello judaico. lib. 1. ca 21.  murderer of the children of Bethelem, through the righteous judgement of God, became parricide of his own children; and at last, after he had been long tortured with a cholike passion, and unspeakable torments in his entrails, and all disfigured with the dropsy and scurf wherewith his whole body was spread over, was gnawn by swarms of louse and worms, which bursting forth out of those parts of his body, which natural shame commanded him to hide, and doleful necessity constrained him to discover, made him a most filthy and stinking spectacle to his Courtiers, and a most loathsome guest to himself. 
r joseph. Autiq. lib. 18. cap. 9  Herodés Antypas, who beheaded john Baptist, was relegated to Lion with his incestuous wife Herodias, and ended there his wicked life, by a wretched and miserable death. 
s Euseb h●st. Eccl. lib. 2. cap. 7.  Pontius Pilate, who condemned Christ to dye, was overwhelmed with so many miseries, that to be delivered of them all at once, he followed the example of judas, and killed himself. 
t Act. 12.  Herodés Agrippa, after he had for a while persecuted the Christians, killed james, imprisoned Peter, taking to himself the honour due to God, was stricken by an Angel, and was eaten of worms; whose pitiless teeth taught him, that he was a medden of putrefaction, and not God.  

v Suet on. in Nerone. cap. 47. & 49.  Nero the first persecuter of Christians among the Gentiles, after that he had set Rome on fire, put his wise and learned master to death, rifled his mother's entrails to see where he lay when he was in her womb, taking life from her that gave him life; burnt quick, or dismembered with the teeth of his dogs, many thousands of Christians, murdered all his friends, and filled the whole Empire with orbity, desolation, and mourning, having no friend but murder and cruelty, finding no foe that would kill him, 
Ergo ego, inquit, nic amicum habeo, nee unimicum.  thrust himself thorough with his own sword, and was to himself his own Hangman.  

x Suet. in Domitiano. ca 13. & 14.  Domitian, who worshipped no other God but himself, who erected Temples and Altars to his own mortal deity, who constrained his people to call him the Lord our God, and persecuted the Christians, because they would not give that title to any other but to our Lord jesus Christ, nor worship any but God; was betrayed of his own wife, in whom he trusted, was slain by his own servants, was buried without honour, like a filthy carrion.  
I should be too tedious, if I should relate to you the tragical deaths of Adrian, of Severus, of Decius, of Valerian, of Dioclesian, of Maximinian, of Maxentius, of Maximin, of julian the Apostate, of Valens Arrian heretic, who were prodigious examples of God's vengeance against persecuters. Which of you hath not heard or read the strange deaths of Kings and Princes, who by murdering of our fathers, sought to murder, once again, Christ in the cradle, and to give life to the beast which had been wounded to death? In them all was, in all them that follow their bloody footsteps, shall be fulfilled that which is written in the Psalms, 
y Psal. 21.8, 9, 10.  Thine hand, O Lord, shall find out all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them: Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. Have we not heard it? Our own eyes, have they not seen it?  
XII. The best of us all is like unto Asaph, 
a Psal 73.2, 3, 5, 6.7, 8, 9  we are envious at the foolish, our steps slip when we see the prosperity of the wicked: They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued 〈◊〉 other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain●● violence covereth them as a garment: their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily: they set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Then we begin to fret, to murmur, to deny God's providence, to ask, Is there knowledge in the most high? These men which prosper are ungodly, but we who cleanse our hearts, and wash our hands in innocency, are plagued all the day long; our chastisement returneth turneth every morning. They are happy, but we are miserable.  
When we judge, when we speak so, are we not foolish and ignorant, like unto little children? are we not as beasts before our God? If any man have a deadly wound, whether is most to be feared, the putrefaction and imposthume, or the Surgeon's Launcet and Razor, the searing hot iron, or the Gangrene? What is sin, but the corruption and imposthume of the soul? what is affliction, but the heavenly Physicians Razor and cauter? As then a wise man will say, that he whose imposthume is not lanced, is in danger of his life; and he who feeleth every day the smart of the Razor, is in hope of recovery: howsoever ignorant children will judge otherways, and will choose rather a lingering and insensible death, than a sharp cure: So will he which entereth into the Sanctuary of God, judge and say that sinners, when the Lords hand is heavy upon them, are happy, because they are chastised for their correction, as when a man sick of the dropsy, is kept under a strict and pinching diet. But he who covereth his face with fatness, who spendeth his days in mirth, and feeleth not the smart of the Lords rod, is so much more miserable than the sick man, who being swollen up and defaced with the dropsy, liveth in the Taverns, and every day overchargeth his decaying body with surfeiting and drunkenness, as the soul is more precious than the body. For what are such men, but as fatted swine for the great day of the Lords slaughter, as I have said? And why doth the Lord 
b Minut. Felix Miseri in hoc altius tolluntur ut decidant altius.  heave them up, and, as it were, set them on the pinnacle of worldly pleasures and honours, but to cast them down into destruction, and make their fall more remarkable, as was the fall of Haman, persecuter of the jews, and of jezabel, murderer of the Prophets?  
XIII. But what although some of them 
d job 21.13, 23, 24.  spend their days in wealth, having still their breasts full of milk, and their bones moistened with marrow? What although they die in their full strength, and after the long days of a joyful life, being wholly at ease and quiet, in a moment they go down to the grave, without the least pricking of grief, without any feeling of the smart of death; which may happen to some few in this world? Shall they also escape the dint of the wrath and vengeance of the great and righteous judge in the world to come? When God, through a most wonderful patience, and long suffering, hath given unto them many years to repent, as he gave to the men of the first world in the days of 
c Gen. 6.3.  Noah, an hundred and twenty years to amend their lives; and they spend them all in riot, in licentiousness, in persecuting of his Church, in presumptuous sins against his Majesty, selling themselves to work wickedness in his sight, as 
f 1. King. 21.25.  Ahab did; will he not turn his patience into fury, and pay them home at once, requiting them with the unconceivable punishment of eternal damnation?  
XIV. I know they do what they can to shake out of their thoughts the fear of that judgement, and to make their hearts believe, that there is no such matter; 
g juvenal. Sat. 2. Esse aliquos manes, & subterranea regna. Nec pueri credunt.  that whatsoever was spoken of old amongst the Gentiles, is written in the Scriptures, is believed in the Church, of devils, of hell, of everlasting torments, is but a bugbear or scarecrow, to fear superstitious folks, and hold them in awe. But they strive unprofitably against the stream of their own consciences, which with a roaring voice doth summon them day and night to appear before the judgement seat of the inexorable and Almighty judge. Of all men those fear hell most, who say there is no hell. The sound of a shaking leaf, maketh their hearts to shake for fear, when there is none to pursue them. And even then when they preach to men that hell is a fable, they find a most direful hell within themselves, burning up the most secret bowels of their wretched souls. Why did judas hang himself, when there was none upon earth to do him any harm, if there be no hell? Death was more tolerable unto him, than the fear of the unestimable torments which now he suffereth there. What were 
r Suet, in Nerone. c. 46  the monstrous dreams of Nero? What 
s Xiphilinus Epitome Dionis.  the hideous and most ugly ghosts of those whom he had slain, which he saw a little before his death, bounding out of the earth, and leaping to his throat, but a warning to appear the next day in judgement to give an account of so much Christian and innocent blood, which he had most wickedly shed? If there be no judgement after this life, from whence came it, that 
t Pro copius de bello Gothico, lib. 1.  Theodoricke king of the Goths, Protector of the wicked heresy of the Arrians, after he had put to death the 2. worthy Senators of Rome, Symmachus & Boetius, because they maintained the true faith, could not look upon the head of a great fish that was set upon his table, crying that it was the head of Symmachus, which with most horrible yawning, and fiery eyes, sought to devour him? That was a citing indeed: for suddenly he was taken to his bed; and from thence to the grave. 
v Thuanus lib. 57 Aubig. 2. tom. lib. 1.  The Authors of the Massacres of France, could not be at quiet many days after that bloody Tragedy, for the horrible sight of great multitudes of ugly Ravens, hover about the Lowre; and voices which cried incessantly in their ears, Murder, murder, murder: suing them to come personally before him who sitteth on the throne, and before the Lamb whom they had slain in his members.  
'Tis a truth not only 
x Audreas' Liba. de cruentatione Cadaverum. Levinus Lemnius de occultis natura miraculis. lib. 2. cap. 7.  ascertained by books, but also averred by daily experience in all nations, That if a murderer come in sight of the person whom he hath slain, the Coarse, though almost rotten and stinking, will bleed, and disclose him. What is that bleeding, but a testimony, that, if men will not, 
y Psal. 58.11.  There is a God that judgeth in the earth, and in his own time will be avenged of all murderers, namely of them who lay violent hands upon his dear ones? Therefore when the souls under the Altar, cried for vengeance against the persecuters, who had stained their hands with their innocent blood, 
a Rev. 6.11  it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled.  
For as God spared the 
b Gen. 15.16.  Amorites, till their iniquity was full, and as the Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees. 
c Mat. 23.32.  Fillye up the measure of your fathers; because then all the righteous blood which their fathers had shed, was to come upon them: So the Lord hath a time appointed for the full deliverance of his Church, and everlasting destruction of his enemies; even the last and great day of this decaying world, 
d 2. Thes. 1.7, 8, 9, 10  When the Lord jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with the Angels of his power, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to be admired in all that believe in that day.  
XV. Day, which is a day of wrath, 
e Zephan. 1.15.  a day of trouble and distress, a day of vastness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness: A night rather than a day; yea both a day and a night. A day wherein God's judgements against all ungodly men, shall shine clearer than the noon day: A night, because of the place, of the extremity, of the universality, of the eternity, of the effects of the pain whereunto they shall be condemned by this thundering voice, and unrecallable sentence of their righteous Iudge, 
f Mat. 25.41.  Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his Angels.  
To hell must they go, even to the dark and ugly 
g 1. Pet. 3.19.  prison, which shall be the last habitation of all ungodly sinners. How pleasant, how fair soever a prison be, we say, that there were never fair prisons. And therefore what will not a man suffer, rather than to go to prison? he will flee, he will give all that he hath, he will run to his friends, and cry for secure. 
h Aug. de verbis Aposto li. serm. 18 Contremiscis, c onturbaris, pallescis, etc.  S. Augustine saith, that in his time they would flee to the Church, run to the Bishop, fall down, lie wallowing at his feet, cry with a pale countenance, with a trembling voice, My Lord, I am troubled: my Lord, I am to be cast in prison, take pity of me, relieve me. So hard, so unsufferable a pain doth it seem to all men to be in prison, though it there were no other pain to be suffered, but to be closed up: Yea our own houses would be hateful unto us, if our liberty of going abroad were restrained: O then, how huge, how intolerable shall be the torments of those bloody butchers, who have shed the blood of God's Saints like water, when they shall be cast headlong into the hellish prison, which may be most properly called 
i job 10.21, 22.  the land of darkness, and of the shadow of death. Where there is no order, and where light itself is darkness? O how shall they tremble, how shall they cry and tear their souls, when they shall be violently thrown down into the 
k Luk. 18.31.  deep and bottomless pit; which 
m Aug. in 50. Homilius. hom. 16. ●um sine poenitentiae remedio infoelices peccatores exceperit, etc.  when it hath received impenitent sinners, shall be, saith S. Augustine, shut upward, and open downward: where the deeper they shall sink, 
l Rev. 9.2.  the more shall it inlargeit self, that they may never find an end of sinking? The devils themselves are afraid to go there: how much more men, whose bones shall crack, whose teeth shall clatter, whose hearts shall quake at the only naming of it.  
XVI. woe, woe be unto them: for no heart can imagine, no tongue can iutter the tortures and torments which are impossible to be endured, & which needs they must endure there, Alas! what ease shall they find, & where; when they shall be banished from the quickening sight of the living God, never to see his face again, but inflamed with fury and indignation against them? when it shall be said unto them, Depart from me ye cursed; when they shall shall cry, 
n Mat. 25.11, 12.  Lord, Lord, open to us: and he shall answer, Verily I say unto you, I know you not: 
o Aug. ibid. Vltra nescientur à Deo qui Deum scire noluerunt.  Ye knew not me in your life, and I know you not in your death.  
If God shall not know them, to aid them, shall any of his creatures know them? If the Sun of righteousness, who hath healing in his wings, shall refuse to embright them with the least glance of the beams of his glorious face, shall he suffer the light of this visible sun, moon, and stars, to shine upon them? If he, who is called 
p Rom. 15 5.  the God of consolation, shall forsake them, shall the blessed Angels, shall the holy men of God be more merciful than their maker, who is mercy itself? Shall any of the creatures which are in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth, come and comfort them? As when the woman in the fearful famine of Samaria, cried to the King, 
q 2. King. 6.26, 27.  Help my Lord, O King: he answered, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barne-floore, or out of the winepress? So when these damned wights shall cry to the creatures for help; grim and froward faces, frowning brows, an universal refusal shall be their first and last answer: Our Creator, shall they say, is your enemy, shall we be your friends? As he hath commanded you to departed from him, so get you hence, and departed from us. Yea, the Lord himself teacheth us in the parable of 
r Luk. 16.24.  the rich glutton, that if they should ask but one drop of water to cool their tongue, it shall not be given unto them.  

s Aug. de Tempore 252.  Consider, I pray you, saith S. Augustine, if a man were cast out of the congregation of this Church for some crime, with how great sorrow, with how many agonies would his soul be vexed, though out of the Church he may eat, drink, converse with men, and have some hope to be received into it again? Surely, this pain seemed so heavy to Cain, the first murderer of God's Saints, that he cried through despair, and great grief of heart, 
t Gen. 4.13.  My punishment is greater than I can bear. Oh then how many terrors, how great anguish of mind shall wring and wrest the spirits of those, who for their crimes shall be excommunicated for ever, from the glorious Church which is in heaven, from the innumerable company of Angels, from the congregation of all the Saints, and from all the unspeakable joys of the heavenly jerusalem? Divines call this punishment Poena damni, The pain of loss or damage, and say, that it is but the first part of the unconceivable torments which are prepared for the devils, and for the viperous brood of wicked men.  
XVII. It goeth not alone. It is joined with that which the same Divines call Poena sensus, the pain of sense, or of feeling. Can they lose the favour of God, with the comfortable use of all his creatures, and not feel the redoubled blows of the heavy sword of his indignation? When 
v Est er 7.7, 8.  the king Ahasuerus in his wrath turned his back to Haman, the King's servants covered haman's face, and heaved him away to the gallows: So when God shall withdraw the light of his face from these thrice unhappy bodies, the devils, who are the executioners of his high justice, shall 
x Mat. 22.13.  bind them hands and feet, and take them away, and cast them into utter darkness; that as they delighted in the inward darkness of their minds, and 
y joh. 3.19, 20.  hated the light, and would not come unto it, because their deeds were evil, and lest they should be reproved, so they may be tormented with utter darkness, more palpable than the fogs of Egypt, and so thick, that no sunshine of any worldly or heavenly comfort shall be able to sparkle thorough them.  
If ye desire to know how great is the pain of sense, or of feeling, which is there; the Scripture calleth it, 
a Rev. 14.19.  the great winepress of the wrath of God, which shall be trodden till blood come out of it, even unto the horse bridles: It calleth it also 
b Esa. 66.15, 16.  a fire, and flame of fire, whereby the Lord will plead against his enemies: fire, which 
c ver. 24.  shall never be quenched, because it shall never lack either matter to kindle it, or a mighty breather to blow it. 'Tis a 
d Rev. 21.8.  lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: 'Tis 
e Esa. 30.33.  Tophet ordained of old, made deep and large, the pile whereof is fire and much wood, and the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. 'Tis a 
f Mat. 5.22.  Gehenna of fire. What pain so sensible; as to be burnt alive? and what pain so terrible and pitiful, as when the jews 
g Buxtorf. ex libro jalcutam Ie●emiam. ca 7.  took their young children, and offering them in sacrifice to Molec, gave them to one of the Priests, who laid them upon the arms of the brazen Idol, after it was set on fire, and glowing red, the rest of the Priests in the mean while, sounding with Drums, Trumpets, Timbrels, and other loud instruments, lest the parents should hear the pitiful cries of their children, and be touched with compassion: by reason of which sounding, the place was called Tophet, and because it was in a valley belonging to Hinnom; it was called Gehinnom, or Gehenna, i. the valley of Hinnom▪ a name most usual amongst the jews in Christ's days, and long before, to signify the place and the pains of the damned: As they were wont to call the devil, Principem Gehennae, The Prince of Gehenna, or of hell: where, 
h Rev. 14.9, 10, 11.  If any man worship the beast and his Image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy Angels: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.  
In vain shall they strive and struggle to rid themselves from the eternal chains of darkness, wherewith they are tied in that bottomless Mine: for, like unto fishprickt with the Anglers hook, the more they wrench and wriggle to escape, faster and faster are they entangled, and sink deeper into the burning lake of death and damnation.  
Are not darkness, blood, fire, brimstone, burning alive, torments fearful enough, to make the hair to bristle, and the stoutest heart to melt as wax against the fire? and yet all these are but shadows and counterfeits of the extremity of pain, wherewith the damned are racked in hell. If Nebuchadnezzars hot glowing furnaces: if Antiochus caldrons of boiling oil: if Phalaris fiery brazen Bull: if David's saws, harrows of iron, and mortars; if the needles, the pinsers, the burning iron grates and brazen chairs; if the tympan, the spits, the flaying of living men, and other torments practised by Tyrants against Christians, were so fell and hideous; if daily men invent new tortures more fierce and terrible than those were, doubtless the pains of hell which the devil deviseth, or rather which are of Gods own invention, are ten thousand times more horrible than man's heart can imagine. As in all God's works, 
i Aug. epist 3. ad Volasianum. Tota ratio facti, potentia facientis. Considera authorem: tolle dubitanonen.  the reason of the doing, is the power of the doer: So in this, let Atheists consider the author, and all their doubts will cease. God hath said it, and will he not perform it?  
XIIX. As every member, joint, and part of wicked men conspire together in sin to offend God: so the righteous and Almighty God hath bequeathed to each of them a several torment. The mind shall be racked with the consideration of the unexpugnable wrath of God, and contemplation of its own endless infelicity. The memory shall be continually tormented with the remembrance of the manifold and foul sins, which were causes of such plagues. The conscience shall feel a 
k Esa 66.24. Mar. 9.44.  worm ever gnawing it with a most bitter, but unfruitful remorse of sin. The fantasy shall be troubled with ghastly visions.  
The eyes shall see nothing but ugly devils, and damned persons. The ears shall hear nothing but roar of the infernal spirits, but shrieks and dreadful cries of tortured malefactors. What the  shall taste, what the nostrils shall smell, what the hands shall catch hold of, what the other parts of the body shall suffer in that dark dungeon of God's wrath, I know not: This I know, that as 
l 1. Cor. 3.9.  eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, in the kingdom of light, with his own self: so no tongue can utter, yea no heart can imagine the manifold and bitter plagues which the justice of God hath reserved for them that hate him, in the kingdom of darkness, with the 
m job 18.14.  King of terrors.  
XIX. Happy would they think themselves, if after many myriades of years they might hope for some relief: but to fill up the unmeasurable measure of their miseries, they know that God hath called the fire wherein they burn, 
n Mat. 25.41.  everlasting; the death whereunto they are condemned, 
o 2. Thes. 1.9.  everlasting destruction, and qualifieth with the same title the worm, which gnaweth their neverdying conscience, saying, that 
p Mark 9.48.  it dyeth not. They know that the entrance into hell is large and easy, but the regress impossible. They know that the power and justice of God hath appointed unto them an immortal death, an endless end, everlasting darkness in the midst of an ay-burning fire, poison of dragons, cruel venom of asps, bitterness itself, to eat and to drink in the blackness of an eternal night; whereupon the cloud of God's curse, and the shadow of death shall dwell for ever, and the light of comfort shall never shine.  
XX. This is the share allotted to all them that fear not God; to 
q Luk. 16.19.  the rich man, who did no harm to Lazarus, but only refused to give him meat, and to 
r Mat. 25.41, 42.  all his mates; to 
s Mat. 25.30.  the unprofitable servant, to him who goeth to the marriage-feast without 
t Mat. 22.11, 12, 13.  a wedding garment. O then two and threefold more shall be children of hell, all those which throw the crumbs of bread out of Lazarus mouth, which are never weary of ill doing, which have all their garments stained with the blood of God's servants. Shall it 
v Mat. 10.15. Mat. 11.22.24.  be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgement, than for those who receive not the Preachers of the Gospel, and refuse to hear the word? Oh then how intolearble shall be then the plagues of God upon the nero's, Dioclesian's, & all the persecuters of the Gospel? 
x Psal. 11.5, 6.  The Lord tryeth the righteous: but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: that shall be the portion of their cup.  
Then, than 
y Rev. 16.10.  they shall gnaw their tongues for pain: then nothing shall be heard and seen amongst them but 
a Mat. 12.13.  weeping and gnashing of teeth, but crying 
b Rev. 6.16.  to mountains and rocks to fall upon them, and to death to come and kill them, when 
c Rev. 3.6.  death shall flee from them. 
d Aug. de Tempore serm. 252. Quta quibus in hoc seculo vita offertur, & nolunt accipere: in inferno quaerent mortem, & non poterint invenire.  When in this world life is offered unto them, they refuse to accept it: Therefore in hell they shall seek death, and shall not find it. In that desire as there is a great sin, so there is in it a great pain. It is a righteous thing with God to punish sin: therefore it is a sin in the prisoners of hell, to desire to shake off the punishment of sin. Again, 
e Quid tam poenale, quam semper velle quod numquam erit, etc.  What is more penal, saith Bernard, than ever to desire that which never shall be, and ever to be unwilling to that which shall never but be? They shall never obtain what they would; and evermore sustain what they would not.  
XXI. Add unto all those punishments one, which shall be to all the persecuters of the Church a deadly wound ever bleeding: for in that great day, 
f Esa. 26.19. Rev. 20.13.  the earth, the grave, the sea, death itself shall deliver up the dead which are in them, & the Martyrs whom these murderers have slain shall arise, and be received into eternal glory in the presence of their enemies, with this welcome from the eternal judge, 
g Mat. 25 34.  Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  
O most wonderful inheritance! 
h Aug. Hareditas Domini nou minuitur multitudine possessorian: tanta singulis, quanta universis.  It is not diminished by the multitude of those which possess it: It is as large to every one apart, as to the whole multitude together. O most excellent and glorious inheritance! It is a kingdom, wherein our darkness shall be converted into light, our sorrow into joy, our trouble into peace, our weakness into strength, our dishonour into honour, our ignominy into glory, our misery into happiness, our death into life, our patiented hope into the real enjoying of all good, our prayers into .  
Where the heavens shall receive us, the holy Angels welcome us, the blessed Saints join themselves unto us: where our bodies being made of mortal immortal, of natural spiritual, of burdensome nimble, shall shine brighter than the fairest summer-day.  
Where 
i 1. Cor. 15.28.  God himself without any means, shall be all in all, perfect and absolute knowledge to our minds, an ocean of love to our hearts, sovereign good, and the blessed centre of eternal rest to all our restless affections; where he himself, after a most wonderful and glorious manner which cannot be imagined, shall be light in our eyes, melody in our ears, the wished and longed-for object of all our senses: where he saith, That 
k Rev. 21.3  he himself shall be with us, and be our God, 
l Aug. de. Civit Dei. li. 22. capaile.  i. he shall be unto us all whereby we may be satisfied, and whatsoever all may honestly desire; life, salvation, meat, drink, riches, glory, honour, peace, and all good. Which David expressed in few words, saying, 
m Psal. 16.11.  In thy presence is fullness of joy: at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. And again, 
n Psa. 17.15  As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I will be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.  
For then God shall be the end of all our desires: then 
o Aug. idid. Ipse finis evit desideriorum nostrorum, qui sine fine vide bitur, sine faslidio amabitur, sine fatigatione laud abitur.  We shall see him without end, we shall love him without loathing, we shall praise him without wearying. Then also our enemies shall see our glory in him, and with him: and as the Author of the book of Wisdom saith; 
p Sap. 5.2.  When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of our salvation, so fare beyond all that they looked for, etc.  
XXII. O then dear beloved, let us learn to discern wisely 
q Mal. 3.18.  between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.  
Solomon saith, that 
r Pro. 13.9.  the lamp of the wicked shall be put out: comparing wicked men to a candle, which when it gins to burn, giveth a fair light, but endeth in stinking smoke and caligiousnesse: for their end is worse than their beginning, because 
s job 21.30.  they are reserved to the day of destruction, to the day when wrath shall be brought forth.  
On the other side, 
t Psal. 37.37, 39, 40.  Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace, because the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble: and the Lord shall help them, and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him,  
The short days of man's fading and dying life, me thinks, may be most conveniently compared to a stage-play: wherein often Kings sons mount on the scaffold, disguised in poor men's rags; and beggars march with a stately pace, attired in sumptuous robes about their greasy bodies; hiding scurvy heads under crowns of gold, and stretching forth a royal Sceptre with scabbed hands: but when the curtains are remooved, when the Tragedy is ended, and the Players are stripped of their borrowed apparel, he that made so many vain glorious shows, and called himself Hercules, or Agamemnon, is known to be poor Irus, who goeth begging thorough the streets, and crackling crusts of brown bread between his muddy and rotten teeth: and he that was thought to be Irus, is known to be the royal son of Aeacus.  
'tis even so between the Church and the world: when 
v Luk. 16.19, 20.  Lazarus starves for hunger at the rich man's gate, and the rich man jetteth in his purple, and makes good cheer: when 
x Mat. 27.39.  Christ is nailed upon the cross, and his enemies stand hard by, reviling him: when the 
y Rev. 11.9 10, 11, 12.  dead bodies of Christ's two witnesses lie unburied in the streets of the great City, and they that dwell upon the earth, rejoice over them, and thank their gods of gold, silver, brass, because they have overcome them, it seems that those which are thus afflicted, are but poor snakes forsaken of God; and that those others, which swim with content in the Ocean of worldly pleasures, are Gods dear ones.  
But when the devils shall bury the rich Glutton in the lowest pit of hell, when boiling there in the lake of fire and brimstone, he shall lift up his eyes, and see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom abundantly satisfied with the fatness of the house of God, & drinking great draughts in the river of his pleasures: when the spirit of life from God shall enter into his two witnesses: when they shall rise again, stand upon their feet, and ascend up to heaven: when 
a Mat. 24.30.  jesus Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory: when he shall set his sheep on his right hand, and the goats on the left: when 
b Rev. 1.7.  they which pierced him, shall see him, and by him shall be thrown down into the rich Mine of eternal torments, 
c Aug. 50. homil. Homil. 16. Morituri vitae, & morti sine sine victuri.  to dye there unto life, and to live unto death world without: when those 
d Sap. 5.4, 5  whose life they accounted madness, and their end disgrace, shall be received into the haven of eternal security; then, than all the Bulls of Bashan shall know, that all their life was but a ridiculous move-merry, their pleasures but a show, their felicity but the glimpse of a shadow, & that those whom they had sometimes in derision, and who were in their mouths a Proverb of reproach, are Gods beloved children, and his most precious jewels.  
XXIII. O then where are they that think to overthrow the Church? And when will they listen to this truth? Mind they to rain down upon the Church a deluge of persecutions? Know they not, that she is 
e Gen. 8.4  the Lords Ark, which, as the water increaseth, mounteth up higher and higher, and cannot be submerged? Undertake they to beat her with stormy winds, and with the violent streams of afflictions? Experience might have taught them long ago, that she is 
f Mat 7.24, 25.  the Lords house, founded upon the rock, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. Have they dismantled her populous towns, and laid her open to the violence of all her enemies? I, 
g Zech. 2.5.  saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Is she 
h Rev. 11.11. Rev. 13.7.  overcome by the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, and thrust down into the grave of death, and of eternal oblivion? As the belly of the Whale was a safe habitation to 
i jon. 1.17.  jonah: so the graves shall been most sure lodging and bed of rest to them, till he who 
k jon. 2.10.  spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out jonas upon the dry land, shall speak to the earth, to the sea, to the fire, to all the creatures that have the least bone of his faithful servants committed unto them, and 
l Esa. 43.6.  say to the North, Give up; and to the South, Keep not back: bring my sons, from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Thou the Church shall rise again to the great astonishment of those that persecuted her, and shall remain upon the earth, till her time be come to be received into the glory of her spouse, where she is already in many thousands of her members, which now 
m Rev. 7.9  stand before the thrane, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.  
This is her hope; this is her trust which shall not be disappointed: and therefore when the sharp rods of affliction whizz with multiplied blows upon her back & ears, she comforteth herself, and saith, 
n Mich. 7.7, 8, 9, 10.  I will look unto the Lord: I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me: Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise: when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgement for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness: Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.  
XXIV. 
1. Use.  Let us all, dear beloved, rest in this hope, and possess our souls with patience, whereof we have a 
o Tertul. de Patientia. c. 15. Satis idoneus Patientiae sequester Deus. Si iniuriam deposueris penes tum, ultor est, etc.  Guardian most excellent, most trusty, most sure, even God himself: If thou commit unto him thy injury, he is a revenger; If thy damage, he is a restorer; If thy pain, he is a Physician; If thy death, he is a raiser up from the dead: what cannot patience do, which hath God for debtor? It will hope against hope; when it is brought to the red sea, and seeerh nothing before, behind, on all sides, but present death, it will 
p Exod. 14.13.  stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord; knowing, that he with draweth his healing hand till the wound be desperate; that it is his glory to deliver out of danger, 
2. Use.  when it is come to the height, and cannot be shunned by the wit and strength of man; that his power is more conspicuous, where there is no wine, he turns water into wine, and raiseth Lazarus when he is dead, buried, and stinking.  
He hath said of the afflicted man, who calleth upon him, 
q Psal. 51.15.  I will be with him in trouble: let us thank him for his promise, and choose 
r Bern. in Psal. Qui habitat. serm. 17. Bonum est in cammo habere te mecum, quàm esse sine te velin coelo.  rather to be with him in the midst of Nebuchadnezzars burning furnace, than in heaven without him, saying as David said, 
s Psal. 73.25.  Whom have I in heaven, but thee? and there is none in earth that I desire besides thee.  
And because he is faithful in all his promises, and 
t 2. Cor. 1.4.  comforteth us in all our tribulations, let us look with the eye of a steadfast faith for the sweet fruit of this bitter seed, 
v 2. Cor. 4.17.  for the eternity of blessedness, which is hid in the moment of our afflictions, for the exceeding weight of glory, which these light wounds of weak and mortal men's hands work in us. O let us this day 
x Rom. 8.23. 2. Cor. 5.2.  groan within ourselves most earnestly, and cry to heaven for the coming of the great day, wherein 
y Rev. 20.14, 15.  death and hell, and whosoever shall not be found written in the book of life, shall be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, and we 
z 1. Thes. 4.17.  shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, by a most fruitful and glorious exchange: For whereas he is now with us in the fullness of grace, to show us the paths of life, we shall be then with him in the fullness of glory; and living with him for ever, shall with one heart and mouth sing this song of David,  

Full many be the miseries  
That righteous men do suffer:  
But out of all adversities,  
The Lord doth them deliver.   
O Lord, this is the desire of our hearts, this is our request unto thee. Hear us and answer us, through the precious and infinite merits of jesus Christ thy Son: to whom, with thee and the holy Ghost, be all praise, honour and glory, both now and for evermore. Amen.   
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  
PAg. 66. l. 8. for sent r writ. p. 71. l. 28. r. cleanness. l. 34. As. l. 35. d. they. p. 95. l. 34. Caves. p 97. l. 3. d. of. p, 104. l. 16. d. the. p. 107. l. 5. r. seal. l. 28. inwardly. p. 124. l 7. with you. p. 130. l. 6. circuits. p. 198. l 18. d. not. p. 204 l. 6. a little. p. 125. l. 2▪ d. of.