THE TRUE evangelical TEMPER.  
WHEREIN Divinity, and ecclesiastical History, are interwoven, and mixed, both to the profit and delight of the Christian Reader, and modestly, and soberly fitted to the present grand Concernments of this State, and Church.  
Preached in three Sermons, at S. Martin's in the Strand, upon that luculent prophecy of Peace, and Union, Esay chap. 11. v. 6.7. & 8.  
BY JO: JACKSON.  
Cornelius à Lapide in Isaiae cap. 2. v. 4.  
Christus per logen evangelicam charitatis, modestiae, justitiae, mansuetudinis, et patientiae, omnes gentium rixas, et dissidia componet, odia, et antipathias evellet, rixosos, et feroces compescet, facietque ut in eâden Ecclesia amicè versentur, quasi fratres Romani, et Graeci, &c. ANGLI et SCOTI, secundum illud Isaiae cap. 11. v. 6, 7, 8. habitabit Lupus cum Agno, pardus cum hoedo accubabit, &c.  
London printed by M. Flesh●r, for R. Milbourne, and are to be sold in Little Britain at the sign of the Holy Lamb. 1641.   

TO THE MOST NOBLE, MOST CHRISTIAN, and grand Audience, of S. Martin's.  
Be these three following Sermons presented now unto their Eyes, which have been lately unto their ears:  
Together with all possible apprecations unto them, of what they mostly purport, to wit, Reconciliation, and PEACE:  
From their most faithful, and Affectionate Servant, in the things of JESUS CHRIST, I. I.   

THE TRUE evangelical Temper, And Disposition.  Esay 11.6, 7, 8. 
6. The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid; and the calf and the young lion and the Fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.  
7. And the Cow and the Bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  
8. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weane● child shall put his hand on the den of the 
* Adder.  Cockatrice.  
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  
LEt this one thing declare how famous and notorious this Text is; that two of the Sibyls, in their Oracles, have not only pointed at it, but even translated it 
a Del Rio in loc. tantum non verbo tenus.  almost word for word. The one is alleged by 
b Lactant. Institut. lib. 7. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Lactantius, that Christian Cicero; and the other by him who hath obtained to be called the 
c Sibylla Cumana apud Virgil. 
— Nec magnos metuent armenta Leones,  
Occidet & Serpe●s, & fallax herba ven●●i.   Prince of Latin Poets. So as this Prophecy hath been contained neither within the limits of Jury nor Christendom, but hath been dispersed even among the Gentiles which knew not Christ, and among the Heathen which have not called upon his name; in so much as a Commentator unto the Text, asks the question 
d Gabriel Alvarez in locum. , Who now can deny unto the Sibyls a spirit of Prophecy? I for my part do not; neither will I grant it them. That excellent spirit of Prophecy might perhaps seize upon them, as it did upon Balaam: But I rather think they borrowed these Prophecies out of the Scripture, as the Israelites did jewels of the Egyptians, and that they only did the office of midwives, to translate them and bring them to light; or because the term of borrowing is too gentle and modified, because they neither acknowledge it, nor pay it again, in giving the glory to God: Therefore, I say, they stole them out of holy Writ, and pride themselves in the plumes of a Prophet indeed; in which regard, Justin Martyr, with great wit and eloquence calls them and such like, Fures Mosis & Prophetarum, the thieves, and freebooters of Moses and the Prophets.  
Both circumcision and uncircumcision, the Jewish Rabbins, and Christian Doctors take this Text to be meant of Christ, but with this vast difference, that the Jews construe it, of Christ still to come, and of his temporal Monarchy; The Christians of him already exhibited, and of his spiritual kingdom.  
It is rich as the high Priests pectoral, both for words and matter; In words, for the whole sentence is sweetened with a continued allegory. There are almost as many metaphors as words. In matter, for it speaketh all love, and peace, and reconciliation, and meekness, and the like. Let 
e {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Euseb. lib. 2.  Eusebius be the Expositor: It purporteth, saith he, the turning of fierce and brutal men, and people, who in regard of their savage and cruel nature, differ nothing from beasts, unto sweet and calm and sociable manners and conversation. So he. 
a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Procopius concurres: It signifies, saith he, that men who before were ravenous and belluine, to change their course of living, and to apply themselves to quite contrary studies, and in the same Church, to participate of the same spiritual meat. So he. And in a word, there is scarce one classic Author to be found, in best furnished Libraries, that glosseth otherwise.  
I have prefaced and scholied sufficiently unto the Text, I come now to seek out first the parts, and then the points of it: we must 
b {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. 2 Tim. 2.15.  rightly divide, that we may 
c {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Gal. 2.14.  rightly proceed.  
And for the parts thereof, they may be lessened, or multiplied, or varied, according to the conceit and apprehension of the Preacher; but it is a safe rule in the partition of holy Scripture, not to churn the sincere milk thereof till butter come, nor to wring the nose of it till blood come, Prov. 30.33. Bread must be distributed, not crumbled. Scripture must be dissected into parts, not beaten into powder. I have therefore notioned and cast the Text according to the number of the verses, into three plain and conspicuous members, which have as natural a flux and emanation forth of it, as the light in the air hath from that which is seated in the body of the Sun, or as the water in the rivulet hath from the fount: They are these.  
The first is the nocent, and inimicitious creatures, which are here enumerated to be seven; first the wolf, secondly the Leopard, thirdly the young lion, fourthly the bear, fiftly the lion, sixthly the asp, seventhly the Cockatrice.  
The second is, the innocent and harmless creatures, which hold proportion of number with the former, being seven also. The first is the Lamb, the second the Kid, the third the calf, the fourth the Fatling, the fift the Cow, the sixt the ox, the seventh the child.  
The third, and last is, the reconciliation, and conjunction of the two diverse, nay adverse parties, expressed in an elegant gradation of four ascents; first they shall dwell together, secondly lie down together, thirdly eat and feed together, lastly, play and sport together. These are the parts. The points or conclusions resulting out of these parts are likewise three; out of each, one, which shall be the demensum, or proportion of three several Sermons, every one of them being capable to be spread out so as to theme the Preachers speech, and the auditor's attention, for an hour's discourse.  
Begin we then with the first of these three parts: The seven injurious creatures; and there handle this Conclusion, for the first point, 
1. Conclusion.  viz.  
Man in his condition of nature and corruption, and even converted man, so far as he is unregenerate, is a fierce and savage creature, yea even unto man.  
Homo homini lupus, One man is a Wolf to another, hath been so truly said of old, that it hath obtained the authority of an adage; and well may it, when you see by this Text, it is scripture-proof. And would that were all; but man to man is both a Wolf and a Cockatrice, fulfilling the Text from the Alpha to the Omega of it; I, and all that is in the belly of it too; a Leopard, a young lion, &c. Yea, and more than is in the Text by far, He is an ass for sloth; Issacar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens, Gen. 49.14. He is a Stallion for lust; They are as fed horses, neighing after their neighbour's wife, Ier. 5.8. He is a Fox for craft, go tell that Fox, meaning Herod, Luke 13.32. What not? he will piece the lion's skin with the fox's tail; that is, add craft to strength, subtlety to violence, to bring his ends, and designs about.  
But I must not range as in a forest, when I am impaled with a Text. It will be sufficient to make good, that man is what this Text puts upon him; and that we shall easily do by other Texts of Scripture, which answer this, as face answereth face, Prov. 17.19. As iron sharpeneth iron, Proverbs 17.17.  
First then, man to man is a ravenous Wolf. Benjamin is a rapacious wolf, Gen. 49.27. Inwardly they are ravening Wolves, Mat. 7.15. I send you as sheep among Wolves, Mat. 10.16.  
Secondly, man is a Leopard. I saw a beast like unto a Leopard, saith S. John in his Revelation 13.2. So have I ten thousand; for man is a beast. Wicked men are plain beasts; I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, after the manner of men, complaineth S. Paul, 1 Cor. 15.32. Good men are too like unto beasts; So foolish was I and ignorant, even as it were a beast before thee, complaineth David, Psal. 73.22. Surely, I am more brutish than a man, complaineth Agur, Prov. 30.2. And also man is like unto a Leopard, in two things; a Leopard is a swift creature; Swifter than Leopards; the Prophet Habbakkuks phrase, Chap. 1. ver. 8. So is man, His feet are swift to shed blood, Rom. 3.15. A Leopard is a spotted creature: so is man; spotted in himself, and coinquinating others, with his vicious and infectious habits and customs; therefore the Prophet Jeremy meaneth the man-Leopard, not the beast-Leopard, when he asketh, Can the Leopard change his spots? Chap. 13. ver. 23.  
Thirdly, man is a young lion, or a lion's whelp, lurking and skulking to do mischief. A wicked man is by David, Psal. 17.12. assimilated to a lion's whelp lurking in secret places. Judah is a lion's whelp, Gen. 49.9, lurking one while for a prey to his lust, I pray thee let me come in unto thee, said he to Thamar, before he lay with her; and again for a prey to his cruelty; Bring her forth and let her be burned, said he, after he had lain with her: in both a lurking young lion.  
Fourthly, man is a bear; as very a bear as either of those two which came out of the wood and devoured the forty two children: As a roaring lion and a ranging bear, &c. Prov. 28.15. Nay worse than a bear: for better meet a bear robbed of her whelps, than some sort of wicked persons, Pro. 17.12.  
Fiftly, man is a lion; Lest he devour my soul, as a lion, speaks David, Psa. 7.3. And S. Paul in express terms calleth Nero a lion, 2 Tim. 4.17. The Lord delivered me out of the mouth of the lion.  
Sixtly, man to man is an asp also; one while a deaf Adder, stopping his ear to the sweet voice of the Charmer; and another while an hissing one, having the poison of asps under his lips, Psal. 13.3.  
Lastly, man is a Cockatrice, a Serpent, a Basilisk, biting the heel, and stinging the face, and fascinating with an envious eye the prosperity of his neighbour: Man, like the cup of wine in the hand of Solomon's drunkard, Prov. 23.32. bites like a Serpent, and stings like an Adder; he is ever either weaving the spider's webs of vain and idle actions, or hatching the Cockatrice eggs of wicked & sinful actions, Es. 59.4. Pope Alexander the third was so, while he went about to make another so; when at Venice he insulted over the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and setting his foot upon his neck, recited the thirteenth verse of the ninety first psalm, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and Adder, &c.  
Thus we see man to man, is 1. a ravenous wolf: 2. a swift and spotted Leopard: 3. a lurking lion's whelp: 4. a cruel and ranging bear: 5. ● roaring lion: 6. a poisonous asp: 7. a stinging Cockatrice. Thus man degrades himself, and (according to the phrase, Ap●c. 19.20.) receives characteren bestiae, the mark of the beast; receives it, I say, upon both the faculties of his soul, and the members of his body. Upon his understanding the character of the horse and mule, which have no understanding: upon his will, of the untamed Heifer: upon his eye, of the fascinating Basilisk: upon his ear, of the deaf Adder: upon his lips, of the poisonous Asp: upon his tongue, of the subtle Serpent: upon his reins, of the lascivious Goat: upon his knees, of the stiff Camel: upon his feet, of the swift Leopard, &c. all of them evil beasts, as S. Paul speaks out of the Cretian Poet, Tit. 1.12.  
The further enlargement, and filling up of this point, cannot better be done, than out of Church-story, which is the true Aretine, and scourge of all these Wolves & Leopards, &c. and hath written their lives with the same liberty, that 
a Eâdem libertate scripsit vitas Caesarum, quâ illi vixerunt.  they led them, as Erasmus ingeniously said of Suetonius his history of the twelve Caesars; and in all ecclesiastical Annals none fitteth this purpose so well, as the history of the ten Persecutions of the Primitive Church, well known by that name; wherein, because profitableness is interwoven with a great deal of delight and variety, I will carry you along to wade through that Acheldama, or field of blood, when 
b Canicula Persecutionis.  the dog-star, yea (to hold to the strict terms of my Text) the wolf-star, the leopard-star, &c. of Persecution so raged. Only first let this be annoted, that it will be hard to reconcile Authors in the order of their enumeration, for that which one reckons to be the sixt, another calls the fift, and that which to one is the seventh, to another is the sixt: which small difference I suppose to have been chiefly occasioned from the short respite the Church had between the second and third Persecution, even only one year, during the Caesarship of Nerv●; but to fall on the thing.  

The first Persecution.  
NEro was the 
a Orientem fidem primus Nero cruentavit. Tertul.  first incendiary, that made the bush burn; not smoke, or sparkle, but flame so high, that he was believed by some to be that Antichrist; and hither is referred the 
b Buron. ad an. 12. Neronis.  Abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, and mentioned by Christ. Two great and signal Historians give in evidence against him, how infest an enemy he was to Christians, though the 
c Exi●iabilem superstitionem. Tacitus.  one of them call Christianity an exitial superstition, and 
d Genus hominum novae & maleficae superstitionis. Sueton. in Nerone c. 16.  the other call Christians, A sort of people of a new and bewitching superstition. But though the testimony of them, being our enemies, be good touching the fact, yet Tacitus must be Tacite, and Suetonius, tranquil, touching the Religion; After the way that they (Poor purblind, pure blind Pagans) call superstition, so worship we the God of our Fathers. In 
p Neroni Cl. Caes. Aug. Pont. Max. Ob Provinciam latronibus, & his qui novam generi humano superstitionem inculcar. purgatam.  Spain, also was found a Trophy erected to his honour for purging that Province of thieves and Christians. What a lion was he (as S. Paul calls him) to devour such lambs as James the less, our Lord's brother, S. Mark the evangelist, S. Peter and S. Paul, Apostles, & c? He put Christians to divers sorts of most exquisite torments, burned some, crucified others, covered others with the skins of wild beasts, and baited them to death with dogs; others he staked through, rosined and waxened over their bodies, and so set them lighted up, as torches and lanterns to passengers. About the fourteenth year of his reign, he published this Edict, That 
q Quisquis Christianum se profitetur, tanquam humani generis convictus hostis, sine ulteriori sui defension, capite plectitor. Vide Corn. Tacitum. lib. 15. Annal. & Suetonium in Ner. c. 16.  if any professed himself a Christian, he should not be admitted to any defence of himself, but be put to death as a convict enemy of mankind. Lastly, what an Asp and Cockatrice was he when partly disliking the old buildings of Rome, and partly out of vain glory to get himself a name by a new structure, he set on fire the Edifices, Temples, and houses of the City, and when he had done, clapped the wicked fact upon the backs of Christians?   

The second Persecution.  
ANd there was a transmigration of the same Wolvish, Leopardine, Leonine spirit into Domitian the Emperor, who was the 
r Secundus nempe erat qui contra nos Christianos persecut●onis incendium ex●i●avi●. Euseb. hist. lib. 3. c. 13.  second Phaeton that set the Christian world on fire. He was the true heir of Nero's cruelty, saith 
s I● scel●ratam Ner●niani in Deum ●di●, & impietatis successit. Euseb. ib.  Eusebius: yea, more cruel than Nero in this regard, that he fed his eyes by being a spectator of those wickednesses, which Nero only commanded to be done: So 
t jussit s●eler a ●antum N●ro, non spectavit. Vid. Tacit. in vita Julii Ag●icolae.  Tacitus of him, and Justin Martyr in his second Apology for Christians, hath the express form of his inquisition, viz. that they should swear to declare the truth, whether they were Christians, and if they confessed, then by the Law the sentence of death passed on them. What a proud stately lion was he, to command himself to be worshipped as God? What a wolf was he, to hunt S. John to the Isle Patmos, after he had caused him to be thrown into a cauldron of scalding oil, out of which he came only anointed? What a bear was he, to devour Antipas that faithful witness, Apoc. 2. Cletus Bishop of Rome, & c? What a Leopard was he in being swift to shed blood, when he fell upon the whole family of David, in hatred to Christ, who was of that stock and lineage? Lastly, nothing can be said more to declare what a ravenous beast he was, within the Sept of Christ, then that now it was that there was erected an office of seven Scribes, or public Notaries, who had the City of Rome divided among them into so many several Wards, and had enough to do to take exact notice, and keep Registers of the Martyrs that were put to death in the several streets, and places of the City.   

The third Persecution.  
ANd Trajan, the Author of the third Persecution, though by nature he was one of the most fair and debonair men that ever lived, and was also so good a Prince for the republic, that it is remembered of him, before his peers and Nobles, he delivered a sword to the perfect of the praetorship, bidding him, 
u Cape hunc ensem, & si bonus fuero, pro me; sin malus, contra me, eo utitor.  if he were good, to use it for him; if evil, against him: yet was he metamorphosed into a wolf, a Leopard, &c. against the Lambs, and Kids of Christ's fold. I cannot now give you a nomenclature or list of the particulars. Search and consult the Martyrologies, and you shall find the names of those, who under this Persecution were red in their apparel, and their garments like him that treadeth the winepress, Esay 63.2. who were clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, Apoc. 19.13. Only in general let it be noted that 
w Suidas in verbo Trajan.  Tiberianus his perfect in Palestina informed him that there could not be found Magistrates and Officers enough to take punishment on the Christians; and in the Epistles of Plinius secundus, his viceroy, there are extant to this day, two famous and known Epistles 
x Plin. Epist lib. 10. Epist. 97. & 98. , the one of Pliny to Trajan, to inform him of the innocent manners of Christians, and of their great sufferings, and to inquire what course he should further take with them. Whereupon Trajan wrote back to Pliny, that henceforth the Christians should not be sought for, nor hunted to judgement seats, but if they were brought, and convict, and persevered, they should be punished.   

The fourth Persecution.  
THe fourth Persecution was a sore and long brunt, when the Wolves and Leopards &c. were those three Emperors, Elius Adrianus, Marcus Antonius Pius, and Marcus Aurelius Verus; wherein the Church had no breathing for whole twenty years together; and now all went to the pot without respect of Sex, dignity, or number; not of Sex; for the tender woman was no more favoured then stouthearted men: Felicitas with her seven Sons, were all at once fellows in martyrdom; not of dignity; for now suffered such eminent and virtuous persons, as Photinus' Bishop of Lions, Irenaeus, venerable Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna, Justin Martyr that great and noble Philosopher, and divers Bishops of Rome: these were ecclesiastics; and amongst the laics, Hermes perfect of the City, with his Wife, Children, and whole family; which amounted to the number of 1250. persons, who were all fagotted together, to make one great bonfire: Lastly, not of number; for Granianus proconsul of Asia, wrote to Adrian the Emperor, that he would give over his place, and leave the government, for that so great multitudes of innocent persons were daily drawn to the stake, through the clamours and envy of the vulgar, being 
y Sine ullo discrimine, nominis tantum, et sectae rei.  guilty of nothing but a mere name and sect.   

The fift Persecution.  
ANd after a long peace of above sixty years, began the fift Persecution. The wolf and Leopard &c. now was Severus the Emperor; 
z Verè Imperator sui nominis.  an Emperor of his own name, as they jested upon him, Severe was his name, and severe his nature. The Gentiles now envying the long Summer of the Christians peace, began to accuse them as close enemies of the Empire, and secret beutefeaus of rebellion, that they refused to adorn, and add pomp to the Emperor's Victories, with flowers, carpets, laurels, Incense; that they refused to swear by the fortune of Caesar; that they were still talking of a King and kingdom to come: whereupon in the tenth year of his reign, he sent forth a general Edict that none should be Christians; and withal a special Edict was sent to Rome, to the perfect of the City, to inquire into the colleges and assemblies for them. But nothing that can be produced here, but is less than the testimony of the noble and learned Tertullian, who now wrote that famous apology of his to Scapula, in the behalf of Christians. 
a existimant omnis publicae ●ladis, omnis popularis incōm●di, Christianos esse causam. Si Tiberi● ascendit in moenia, si Nilus non ascendi● in arva, si Coelū stetit, si t●rra movit, si fames, si tues, Christianos ad ●●ones, acclamatur.  They esteem us Christians, saith he, to be the cause of all public misery, or epidemical incommodity; if Tiber swell up unto the walls, if Nilus' water not the corn fields, if Heaven stand, or earth move, if there be famine, or pestilence, &c. presently they cry out, Throw the Christians to the Lions.   

The sixt Persecution.  
ANd as if Severus had transpired his soul into Maximinus, the stirrer up of the sixt Persecution, he now became the wolf, and Leopard, &c. a man of both barbarous body, and mind: that is declared by those titles, which even his own gave him, calling him Cyclops, Busyris, Phalaris, Sciro, Trypho, Gyges; it was occasioned from certain grievous earthquakes, which (according to the usual scandal) was ascribed as a punishment to the Christians, because they would not do worship to the Heathen gods: and though it were limited both to a short time, (for it was precinct with a triennial girdle) and only to the Clergy, as the fomenters and nourishers of the Religion, yet did it so scorch within the Tropics of the Church, that many thousands suffered, and that by divers and sundry kinds of death, in so much as now Orige● wrote a notable book de Martyrio, to comfort the afflicted state of Christians.   

The seventh Persecution.  
ANd now Decius took place upon the Stage to play the beast, in the seventh Persecution, which hitherto is judged to be the most cruel of all by far, insomuch as many lapsed and apostatised from the faith, to the great both dishonour and disadvantage of the Religion: which occasioned Cyprians notable book de Lapsis. he acted a double part, first using the violence and force of the wolf, Leopard, Lion, and bear; for when he saw Christ served in every place, and the fanes of the Heathen Gods to lie forlorn and neglected, he threatened and menaced bitterly his Prefects, and precedents, with all kinds of ignominies and tortures, if they did not forthwith compel the Christians to worship the Gods, whereupon they vied cruelties, and strove who should overcome each other therein: So did he vex the Church 
b Varius apparatus suppliciora. Gr. Nys. in vita S. Greg. tha●mat.  with various & interchangeable pomp of sufferances as Gregory Nyssen speaks. Secondly, he made use also of the Serpentine craft of the asp and Cockatrice. For his torments were so lengthened, and wire-drawn, to the end Christians might feel themselves die, and taste of the sorrows of the grave to the utmost; that S. Cyprian called them, 
c Tormenta sine solatio mo●tis. Cypr. Ep. 8.  torments without the hope or comfort of death; and S. Jerome complains, that he was the Christians 
d Hostis call●dus, tarda ad mortem supplicia conq●irēs, animas cupiebat christianorun jugulare, non corpora.  crafty and subtle enemy, so wearying out their patience by tedious sufferances, that he sought rather to kill their souls, than their bodies.   

The eighth Persecution.  
THe eighth Persecution lies more blind in Church-story than the other, and the lines of it are drawn more dark and uncertain; who was the chief wolf, Valerian, or Aurelian, or Gaellus and Volusianus, remains in some difference: some of the chief lambs and Kids that were devoured, were Cornelius Bishop of Rome, and Cyprian Bishop of Carthage, &c. in it many were flayed alive, and many for fear fled into deserts and caves, witnesseth S. Jerome in the life of Paul the Eremite.   

The ninth Persecution.  
THen arose the ninth Persecution, when Dioclesian was the wolf for ten whole years together, without any intermission, when (saith the 
e Plebs Dei depopulata est, et omnis ferè orbis sacro cruore Martyrum infectus est. Severus Sulp●tius lib. 2. Sacr. hist.  Historian) the people of God was depopulated, and almost the whole world besmeared with the sacred blood of the Martyrs: it was occasioned by a Prophecy or Oracle spread abroad, that if all the Christians were but once slain, the Roman Empire should notably flourish: whereupon the tyrant raged without all mercy, in so much as in one month above 17000. suffered. Eusebius was an eyewitness of these things, who tells a most tragical story hereof, how some were shaven, some racked, some whipped, some burned, some drowned, some beheaded, some hanged, some crucified, some famished, some pulled in pieces, without all respect of modesty, women were exposed naked to torture: it was free for every one to bastinado a Christian where he met him, with staves, sticks, clubs, bridles, rods, whips, ropes. Many had their thighs broken, others inverted with feet upward, and head downward, and a fire being underneath; were so smoked and suffocated to death; others anointed with scalding lead, others with hot water, others given for meat to the beasts of the field, others to fish of the Sea, others had sharp needles thrust under their nails, others tied to stakes and trees, and famished, till they did gnaw the flesh off their own arms and feet. In a word, this Beast did boast of two things, of the 
f De aucto imperio, & delet● nomine Christian●.  increase of the Empire, and of the blotting out of the very name of a Christian.   

The tenth Persecution.  
LAstly, Julian that Apostate and Renegado from the Christian faith, played both the strong and subtle Beast, whilst he shut up the schools of the Christians, that so he might introduce ignorance and barbarism, whilst he prohibited them of bearing any public office, inflicted both corporal smart and pecuniary mulcts upon them, called them himself, and commanded others to nickname them Galileans, restored the Temple to the Jews to despite the Christians, appointed some to be torn in pieces with horses, caused the bellies of Women and Virgins to be ripped up, filled with oats and barley, and set as troughs to the swine, &c.  
I have, methinks, been telling a long and a sad story, and Lupus in f●bula, still a wolf, and a Leopard, and a Lion, and a bear, and an Adder is in one end of it. And, if enquiry were made lower, have there not been, are there not now, as very Wolves and Leopards as these? what was Bonner and Gardiner in Queen Mary's days? what was H. 8. of whom a Cabala or tradition goes, that on his deathbed, he confessed, he had never spared man in his wrath, nor woman in his lust? what was Charles the fift, 
g Immanuel Meteranus lib. 2. descriptione bell. Belgici.  who was guilty of the blood of 50000. Protestants whilst he was in the low Countries? what was the Duke of 
h Meteran. lib. 4.  Alva, who destroyed 18000. Protestants in Belgia, in six years' time only? what was the incendiary of the Massacre in France, August the sixt, Anno 1572. when in one night there were ten thousand Protestants butchered with wicked and cruel hands? what a kennel of these Wolves, Leopards, &c. was there in France, where one hundred and forty thousand were thus served, in the space of two and twenty years 
i Dietericus post. in festum S. Steph. , beginning the account at the year of the last patience of the Saints, 1564? And lastly, that it may appear indeed, what bloodhounds the Papists are, what a shambles their Church is, consult● grand witness of their own, greater than exception, Antonius Ciccarell●▪ who continueth on the history of Platina; he in the life of Pope Gregory the thirteenth of that name, relateth that the ambassador of the King of France, in an Embassy to the said Pope, the better to ingratiate his Master with his holiness, told him, that from the death of the admiral, in fourteen years, there had been put to death in France, for the Religion, seventy thousand heretics, as he called them. So true is that of 
k In Psal. 118. T●ta terra purpurata est sanguine Martyrum.  Saint Augustine, The whole earth is almost a purple Island, scarleted and redded with the blood of Martyrs. And, all doubt removed, if we had but Stephen's eyes to see heaven open, and behold first all the Martyrs of the old Testament, from the blood of Abel, to the blood of Zacharias; and than all the Martyrs of the new Testament, from the blood of the Proto-Martyr Stephen, to the blood of him or her, who lastly suffered, it may be yesterday, or to day, under the Popish Inquisition, or Turkish slavery, or elsewhere: And lastly, if we withal take the word Martyr in the fullest importance, and significancy of the word, for those who have suffered for a good cause, in their good names, in their estates, in imprisonment and restraint, as well as in life or limb, (for it is a ruled case, 
l Possumus, & nos sine ferro, & flamma esse martyrs.  that a man may be a Martyr without sword or fire) then, I say, what a goodly troop of red-coated soldiers would they be? how infinitely beyond the stupendious Armies of Xerxes or Semiramis? Who would not ask after them, Who are these that come out of Edom with their garments red? But it may be thought, I follow the chase after these beasts too hot, and too far; but I wish both Magistrates and Ministers would join together to hunt these Wolves, &c. to their holes, and to their dens, and there keep them from ranging abroad, to prejudice the flock of Christ. It is now high time to fall upon Application.   

The Application.  
THe clew or thread to guide the Application of this point, must be that Text of S. Paul to Timothy, 2 Ep. Chap. 3. ver. 16. All Scripture is profitable for Doctrine, for Reproof, for Correction, for Instruction, &c. together with that other, Rom. 15.4. Whatsoever is written, is written for our learning, that we through patience, and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. So as right Application of Scripture is the bending of it to a fivefold Use; First, doctrinal against ignorance; Secondly, Elenchicall, or Confutative against error; Thirdly, Corrective, against vice; Fourthly, Instructive, or Directory, how to walk exactly, and circumspectly, in reference to that particular truth: And lastly, Consolatory, against fear or despair. A method (certainly) very scriptural, and authentic, but of more frequent use with the Divines of other Countries, then with our English Divines. They may be resembled unto the five stones that David gathered up, when he went with his sling against Goliath. And if a Preacher could but sling them with that vigour and strength that he did, (for it was not David's sling, but his arm, nor Scanderbegs sword, but his force▪ which were so considerable) and then with the dexterity of the men of Gibeah, who threw stones at an hairs-breadth, judges 20.16. surely he would make the greatest opposite either to the Theory, or practic of Divinity, to stagger and fall down; only here is the discrepance, those five stones were all smooth ones, but these three of them only, that is, Doctrine, Instruction, and Consolation, are smooth, two of them, that is, reproof, and Correction, are sharp and rugged, as that wherewith Zippora cut off her son's foreskin. 
l Amant homines verita●em luc●ntem, non redarguentem.  Men love truth when it shines, but not when it redargues.  

1 
m {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  The doctrinal use.  
THe Doctrine whereunto this point is profitable, is this; to justify, and propugn God's manner of dealing with his Church; that he should allow such nimrod's, mighty hunters in the forest of his Carmel, such boars in his Vineyard, such Wolves, bears, Leopards, and lions, in his holy Mountain, as the Church is here styled verse 9 such Adders, and Snakes in his bush; that man's malice should execute, what God's grace decrees; that the blood of Martyrs should be the seed of the Church; that Religion should batten with blood; that God should tie the child to both breasts, of milk and blood; that the bush should burn and not consume; that while wicked men go about to cross God's decree, they bring it on, and while they rush against his will they fulfil it; that Christ should both be as loving an husband to his Spouse, as Elkanah was to Hanna, and yet Vir sanguinum, a bloody husband too, as Zippora called Moses; that it should be asked of God's dearest servants, Who are these who come out of Edom with their garments red? Lastly, that he whose ways are always equal, whose actions are exactly commensurate with equity and justice, who lays judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plumb-line, should thus let loose the chain, and turn such Wolves upon his lambs, such Leopards upon his Kids, &c. as if his Church were rather a kennel, than a fold.  
Which because it is one of the grand tentations, therefore both to clear God's justice, and to prepare our souls against whatsoever the day may bring forth, I will make the more exact disquisition and inquiry into the reasons and grounds hereof.  
And first, let it be considered, that it is none other thing than Christ hath foretold and forewarned his Church of, that they must be as sheep among wolves, that they must be as sheep to the slaughter, that they must be hated of all men for his name's sake, that in the world they should have tribulation, that the time should come, that in killing them men should think they did God good service, and the like: So as no man can say, there is any breach of Covenant, or non-performance on God's part, or that, as it is in the proverb, he holdeth in the one hand a piece of bread, and in the other a stone.  
Secondly, no tentation took hold of them in this kind, but what very many of them desired; and longed for more than for their appointed food. Many of the militant Saints have longed for the death of martyrdom, and digged for it more than for hid treasures, and rejoiced exceedingly to find the grave, Job 3.21, 22. 
n Melchior Adamus in vita Lutheri.  Luther desired it, and prayed all his life, that by this death he might glorify God. In the third Persecution, under Trajane, the Christians, quasi manu facta, gathered together like a band of soldiers, and appeared in whole troops in Asia, and Bythinia, offering themselves to martyrdom, so that the proconsul cried out, 
o O miseri, si cupitis mori, non habetis praecipitia & rests? Tertul. ad Scapul. cap. ult.  Oh miserable wretches, if you desire to die, are there not precipices and halters enough? 
p Omnes ad martyrium quasi aves ad alvearium convolantes. Baron. ex D. Chrys.  all did take wings and fly to martyrdom, as Bees to the hive. In Edessa, women ran with their children in their arms, ready with haste, to let them fall forth, as Mephibosheth's Nurse did him, striving which should first lay down their lives for Christ's sake. In the ninth Persecution under Dioclesian, they sought it as eagerly as ambitious Prelates did bishoprics.  
Thirdly, hereby they lose nothing: nay were they not infinite gainers? the Martyrs themselves, who went the farthest in suffering, and were not rent and torn only, but devoured of these Wolves and Lions, would not (some of them, not then; not one of them now) have saved one drop of that blood, which they sold at so brave a rate: have they not now for a short pain, got a durable pleasure; for a sinful miserable and transitory life, acquired to themselves an holy and happy eternity?  
Objection. And so might they have done too, if their candle had burned to within the Socket, and they gone to their graves like a rick of corn, which is white unto the harvest?  
Answ. Perhaps so indeed, and perhaps otherwise, but by that path, their crown of glory had neither been so certain, nor so soon, nor so weighty; not so certain; for (alas!) how many are so far from suffering any thing for Christ, by way of passive obedience, as they will do nothing, by way of active? how many have outlived their piety, forsaken their righteousness, and in the hot sunshine of prosperity have ungirt and cast off that cloak which the wind of adversity would have caused them gather close unto their breast? Not so soon neither; and that is to be accounted for some loss, when as one day in God's Courts, is better than a thousand elsewhere; Not so massy; for if any shall sit on Christ's right hand and on his left; if any shall shine as the Sun in the kingdom of the Father; if any shall sit upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel; if any shall have palms in their hands and crowns on their heads, it shall be the slain witnesses: and therefore 
q Martyri● coronari.  to be crowned with martyrdom, is the ecclesiastical form of speaking, and S. Steven the Protomartyre of the New Testament had to his name, as by divine dispensation, a crown, and hence blessed 
r {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Ign. Ep. 11 ad Rom.  Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Romans, professeth He had rather die for Christ, then reign over all the ends of the earth.  
Fourthly, Is there any way so much to glorify God and Christ? can the members do more honour to the head then in suffering for it, or with it? hath any man greater love than this, to deny himself, and lay down his fame, his riches, his life for his friend? Oh how doth it cry up Christ, in the world, that he hath such servants, as can drink of the cup that he drank of; such followers, as can die for the faith of him, who died for the love of them.  
Fiftly and lastly, there is no way, or means, whereby to make the condemnation of these ravenous Wolves, and Lion rampants, more just, nor their doom more heavy, then by suffering them to bring on their own heads, the blood of Martyrs; Right precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints, and especially such a death, and of such Saints. How bitter a curse that was, when the Jews imprecated themselves with His blood be on us, and on our children; the event hath declared, when full 1600 years' flux of time now already past, hath obtained no relaxation thereof, and his blood is upon those, upon whom his servants blood is upon. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? When Zacharias, the last Martyr of the Old Testament, was slain between the Temple and the Altar, he dying said, The Lord shall look upon it, and require it, 2 Chron. 24.22.   

2 The 
s {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  elench or use of redargution.  
THe error which this point is profitable to confute and redargue, is twofold; First of the Jews, 
Contra 1 judaos.  and secondly of certain Christians Judaizing. The error of the Jews is, that they stick in the bark, and expound the text to be fulfilled to the very letter of it, that the wolf, and the Lamb shall (indeed) without any trope, or metaphor at all, dwell together, and the Leopard and Kid lie down together, &c. Whence they then infer that fundamental, and soule-splitting venom of doctrine, which is directly antipodes to Christian Religion, That the Messiah is not yet come, because these antipathies, and jars do still remain amongst the creatures as fresh, as if Adam had but fain yesterday or to day.  
The erring and Judaizing Christians here are the Millenaries, 
2 Iudaiza●tes.  a sect of learned, and critical Christians, who expect in the last thousand years of the Church, the cream of all militant perfection, and excellency of manners; and that all sourness amongst Christians shall be absorbed of Charity, and the discords of their dispositions shall be tuned up to so sweet an unison, and harmony of love and sympathy, as Wolves and Leopards shall cohabit with Lambs, and Kids; feroce and belluine men, with the meek and placable. Lactantius was slipped unawares into this opinion, and S. Jerome doth (not lightly) stigmatize, and animadvert him for it, and not Lactantius only, but very many of good name, in divers ages of the Church, being taken (it seems) partly with the probability of the text, Apoc. 20.2. Satan was to be bound up a thousand years, and partly with the authority and magistrality of the first assertor of it, 
t Baron. ad an. 118.  Papias Bishop of Hierapolis, a man of that sanctity, and esteem, that he drew no meaner adherents to him, Theniustin Martyr, Irenaeus, &c. but it is sufficient to note these things with an obelisk; They are dead tenets, and opinions, and we will not do with them, as Saul, and the Witch with Samuel, call them up from their dorters again.   

3. 
u {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  The use of Correction.  
NOw the vice or fault which this point is profitable to correct, is that froward, morose, churlish, rugged; nay far more, that cruel, fierce, inhuman, belluine disposition, which is not only in natural and wicked men, but even in such as are in part regenerate, and sanctified. Better be beasts then like beasts: and yet such are the blots and spots of our semi-conversions, so great is the imperfection of our regeneration, as after grace hath blunted the point, and rebated the edge of our corruption, yet is there still too much of the jaw of the lion, and of the paw of the bear in us, too little of the man, too much of the beast, so as we may abhor ourselves in dust and ashes, and cry out with Agur, and David, (as before was mentioned) Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man in me. So foolish was I, and ignorant, even as it were a beast before thee. To give a touch upon each particular again: there is too much of the greediness of the wolf still remaining, as appears by our rapacity, by our snatching, and catching, at far more than is our own, or can justly call us Master. Too much of the Leopard, both in our swiftness to evil, and in our spots, and streaks, with sinful customs, and habits. Too much of the lion's whelp, in hunting after an unlawful prey. Too much of the bear in cruelty, oppression, and fierceness. Too much of the lion too; we would roar, and have all the beasts in the forest tremble: if we say the ass's ears are horns, we would have none dare gainsay it. He is militantly triumphant in these days, that would not be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, some great one. Too much of the asp i● our venomous and scalding words, which burn like coals of iuniper. And lastly, too much of the Cockatrice, or Basilisk in our envious and evil eyes. Alas, that we should thus defile that human nature of ours, which God vouchsafed to take into union with his Godhead. That Primitive love and gentleness, which did so much of old adorn the manners of Christians, is now only not utterly lost; we go not only to law one with another, (which S. Paul so decried) but to revilings, contestations, fightings, combats. Raca and fool are now tempers and modifications of speech. Where is there a a Bonaventure that I may worship 
* In fra●re Bonaventura Adam peccasse non videtur. , in whom Adam's fall could scarce be seen. Well, it becomes us to be humbled under the apprehensions hereof, and to bewail and lament this taint and irregeneracy of our natures, and to fall upon the practice of thorough-mortification, not giving over till we be gentle, and innocent as lambs, kids, Children, &c.   

4. 
x {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  The use of Instruction.  
ANd the practice▪ or piety that this point puts us upon, is a fourfold Instruction.  
First, we must not vex ourselves, or take scandal at God's providence, and dispensation towards his Church, nor distress ourselves with bootless problems, Why God should let loose Wolves, and lions, and bears into the very fold of his Church, among his Lambs and Kids; That we shall tread upon the Adder and Basilisk, Psal. 91.13. That he will make a covenant betwixt us and the beasts of the field, Job 5.23. That we shall stop the mouths of lions, Heb. 11.33. These and the like are temporal promises; and the grand rule, or Canon of them is, That they must be understood, Cum exceptione crucis, & castigationis. These Nimrodians are but what they are, and what they will be unless God change them, that is, Wolves and bears, &c. and for the Church it is profitable to melt away her dross, and purge away her tin; and therefore Cyprian in his Book De lapsis, observes that the seventh Persecution, under Decius, was justly inflicted by God, to reform the depraved manners of the Christians.  
Secondly, we must carefully shun such beasts, as we would not stand too near the grate at the Tower: it is not always the voice of the sluggard to say, There is a lion in the way. It is folly, without a warrant in our hand to take the bear by the tooth, or the lion by the paw: just the spirit of the sprighty Ascanius in 
y Op●at aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte Leonem.  Virgil, to wish a lion to come out of the forest and meet him. Such usually trace their own ruin, whilst they turning again, all to rent them.  
Thirdly, if God's providence have cast thee with Daniel into a den of lions, so as thou Mayest take into thy mouth David's complaint, My soul is among lions; then do as men in woods and forests, when they spy the wild beast coming, climb a tree? what tree? even the tree whereon our Lord hung. Climb it, how? By faith, & meditation, & prayer, stretch thyself upon his cross, Tell him, if thou perish, thou dost perish, but it shall be at the foot of him that was crucified. Cry, O jesu, jesu, jesu, be thou my Jesus. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous shall run unto it and be safe, Prov. 18.10. 
z Diogenes in vit.  A Sparrow pursued by an Hawk, fled into the bosom of Xenocrates, which he refused to put out again, saying, It was a dishonest thing to betray a guest. The moral, or rather the theology of it, is easy:  
Fourthly, suppose the worst; that it be the will of God, thou suffer from these beasts, be lacerated and torn with these Bears and Wolves, devoured by these lions, poisoned by these asps, stung by these Cockatrices; Lay thine hand upon thy mouth, possess thy soul in patience; the Lord will look upon it, and require it; it will, assuredly, make for thine advantage, and their smart. When the Tyrant Phocas had betrayed Maurice the Emperor, his Master, had slain his wife and children, and was ready to bereave himself at once, both of life and diadem, yet did he not blaspheme through grief of heart, but put to silence the voice of murmuring, with that versicle of Psal. 119. Righteous art thou, O Lord, and right are thy judgements. But that which falls most fit and opposite here, is the last words of Ignatius, who when he was thrown to the wild beasts to be devoured, (for that was his kind of martyrdom) meekly concluded thus: 
a Frumentum Dei sum, & molor dentibus ferarum, ut purus Dei panis sim. Surius in vita B. Ign.  I am God's grain, or corn, and must be grinded between the teeth of these beasts, that I may so make pure bread to my God.   

5. 
b {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  The use of Consolation.  
LAstly, even out of this strong, comes sweet; out of this lion, and Wolf, &c. comes an honeycomb of comfort; better be the Martyr, than the Tyrant, better be the Lamb than the Wolf, the Kid than the Leopard. If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him. A venerable old man, walking the streets of Alexandria, in time of Persecution, upon notice given that he was a Christian, is suddenly enclosed by an unruly company of Idolaters, who after all manner of despiteful usage, both in words and deeds, began jointly with much scorn, to demand of him, what great miracles hath this Christ of thine done, whom thou makest to be God? To whom the blessed Saint made ready and cheerful answer; I can quietly and patiently endure all these wrongs which you do me, and more & greater, if need be, without disquiet to myself, or trouble to you. But yet, more fit & concentre, is that aculeate speech of Chrys. when Eudoxia the Empress raged against him, like a lioness, 
c {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, &c. Chrys. Epist. ad Cyriacum.  I pass not for all the threatenings of the Empress. If she will banish me, The earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof: If she will saw me asunder, let her, I have Esay for an ensample: If she will throw me into the Sea, I remember Jonas: If she will cast me into the furnace, I remember the three Children: If she will stone me, I remember Stephen: If she will take mine head, I remember John Baptist: If she will throw me to the lions, I remember Daniel: If she will take my goods, let her take them; Naked came I out of my mother's womb. Thus the horse in Job neighs at the trumpet, the Leviathan laughs at the spear. Faith sucks comfort even out of the most adverse estate that can befall a Christian.    
The end of the first Sermon.   

THE TRUE evangelical TEMPER. The second Sermon.  ESAY 11.6, 7, 8. 
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid, &c.  
IN the former Sermon, was only prosecuted the first of those three parts, into which the Text was divided, which was the pursuit and hunting of the seven nocent, and harmful creatures; wherein (in some sense) we may be termed with Nimrod, mighty hunters before the Lord, so to dare to hold a wolf by the ears, to wash a leopard's spots, to take a lion's whelp by the beard, a bear by the tooth, a Lion by the paw, an Adder by the sting, and to crush the eggs of a Cockatrice.  
The second part of the Text, now to be handled, are the parties innocent, and injuried, which are enumerated to be seven also, that so the one might hold proportion in number, with the other; and of these seven creatures, six of them are beasts, as well as the former; but than they are not evil beasts, as before was quoted out of Tit. 1.12. they are such beasts as are in league with man, Job 5.23. they are such beasts as while the Law was up, (illius aram, &c.) furnished God's Altar with Sacrifices, and now under the gospel, our tables with meat. Lastly, they are such beasts, as are emblems and hieroglyphics of Christian virtues, and graces, and whereunto man may be set to school, to learn charity and civility, and meekness, and patience, and innocency, and obedience, and peace, and the like.  
I will do, as God did unto Adam, Gen. 2.19. bring them unto you: not (as he there) to consider their names, but their natures.  
The first is the lamb, a most meek, and harmless creature; therefore the phrase of the Old Testament is, a lamb without blemish, Exod. 12.5. and of the New Testament, an immaculate Lamb, 1 Pet. 1.19. A Lambe was the type of Christ, under the Law: So was the Paschall lamb, and the other offertory lambs too; but Christ himself under the gospel; Behold the Lamb of God, was said of him, John 1.29. So were all the Apostles of Christ, lambs too, Behold I send you forth, as lambs among Wolves, Luke 10.3. and not they only, but all the servants of Christ, unto the end of the end of the world, are Lambs; feed my Sheep, feed my Lambs, Ioh. 21.15.  
The second is the Kid, a most innocent creature also, second to none but the lamb, therefore was there a positive Law, with the Jews, both given Exod. 23. and 34. and repeated, Deut. 14. not to seethe the Kid in the mother's milk. Not that there was any direct, or formal sin, in that manner of Cookery, but that, and such like injunctions are called 
a Sepes Legi●.  hedges of the Law, to train up the mind of man from fierceness, and cruelty, and to accustom it to meekness, and gentleness. As also, because it was a creature that did no cruelty, therefore it should suffer non●. A Kid is a creature, acceptable to God for Sacrifice; the Paschall Kid was as allowable, as the Paschall Lamb, You shall take it either from the Sheep, or from the Goats, Exod. 12.5. acceptable to Angels for a present, being both Gideon's present, Iudg. 6.19. and Manoah's, Iudg. 13.19. acceptable to man for meat, which was the ground of the thrifty son's complaint, Thou never gavest me a Kid, to entertain my friends, Luke 15.28. Lastly, so acceptable to Tamar, that for a Kid she sold her honour, and honesty too, unto Judah her Father in Law, Gen. 39 a Kid with Tamar went as far, as mandrakes with Rachel.  
The third is the calf; a dish for three Angels at once, Gen. 18.7. He ran to the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good. Nay, even to entertain God, in Sacrifices, By the blood of goats, and Calves, saith the Apostle, Heb. 9.12. Yea in our spiritual sacrifices, he requires Vitulos labiorum, The calves of the lips, Hos. 14.3. to entertain God? Yea sufficient to be a God, some have thought. Jeroboam made two golden Calves, 1 King. 12.28. Yea, Aaron the man of God did it, Exod. 32.4. made a molten calf.  
The fourth is the Fatling. S. Jerome, in translating the 
b {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  Hebrew word, renders it 
c Ovis.  The sheep; the Seventy Translators of King Ptolemy render it 
d {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  the Bull; the interlineary Bible of Aria● Montanus 
e Pecus pingue.  concurres with our best, and latest English Translation of K. James; it follows well the calf, (the third of these) for they are put together, both 
f Vituli saginati.  Ier. 46. and Luke 15. thrice in that Chapter mention is made of the fat calf. Whereby, in a fair parabolical interpretation, is meant no less, no worse a thing, than Christ himself. The indulgent Father there represents God; the elder and thrifty brother, the Jew; the younger and prodigal, the Gentile; the Fatling killed to entertain him, Christ slain, and crucified; the melody, the whole Chore of Heaven, and heavenly-minded men, rejoicing at the conversion of a sinner.  
The fifth is the Cow, an holy, and useful creature too; holy to God, in Sacrifices; 
g Cineres rufae vaccae.  The ashes of a red Cow you have, Num. 19 of which the Apostle makes mention, Heb. 9 useful also, and profitable unto man; it is part of the description of a lucky, and prosperous man, that his Cow calveth, Job 21.10. and, in that grand, and noonday Prophecy of Christ, which is in the seventh of Esay, it is said, A man shall nourish a young Cow, 
Esay 7.21.  &c. and for the abundance of milk thereof shall eat butter.  
The sixt is the ox, so as now I have 
h {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Bos in lingua. vide Eras. Chil.  an ox upon my tongue, as the Greek proverb hath it, though in another sense. And the ox is, as the former, another brave piece of the Creation. Indeed there is, in Moses his Law, an ox to be stoned to death, and his flesh not to be eaten, Exod. 21. but that was Bos▪ cornupeta, a pushing ox; and Job 6. there is Bos mugiens, a lowing ox, but that is only when he wants fodder. Otherwise, the ox is first, a wise creature; he knows his owner, Esay 1.3. Secondly, a profitable creature; he treadeth out the corn, 1 Cor. 9.9. Where no Oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox, Prov. 14.4. and this excellency is peculiar to the ox, that 
i Bos lassus fortiùs figit pedem.  the more weary he is, the more strong doth he fix his footings. Lastly, he is an holy creature, being one of the beasts for oblation, and sacrifice, he that sacrificeth an ox, &c. Esay 66.3.  
The seventh and last of these innocent creatures, is an innocent indeed, a Child, the true, and most perfect emblem of innocency, and humility. And this last of the seven, is most elegantly set forth in a gradation of three steps. First a Child, in indefinite terms, but employed to be more than an Infant; for it can go, yea it can lead, a little Child, saith the text, shall lead them; and if it were no more than so, even that were a fair copy of meekness and innocency. Our Saviour else wrote worse hieroglyphics than Pierius, who both Matth. cap. 18. & 19 sets up little children as looking-glasses of grace to dress ourselves in: and S. Paul else missed the rule as far as our Saviour the example, when 1 Cor. 14.20. he bids us in malice to be children. Secondly, 
k Ablactatus.  A weaned Child, and that is a more perfect copy then the other. Therefore David expressing his lowliness, Psal. 131. saith, My soul is even as a weaned Child. Thirdly, 
i Lacte●s.  a sucking Child, the most perfect, and absolute copy of all, nothing in the world being so innocent, and meek, as the Child, which hangeth yet upon the mother's breast, Psal. 22.9.  
I have gone through all these seven several Prototypes, and copies of goodness, meekness, gentleness, patience, innocency, and the rest of graces which are of the same lineage and affinity. Enumerate them now only by their bare names, and no more: the Lamb, the Kid, the calf, the Fatling, the Cow, the ox, the Child. And now this second part of the text is also ripe, to gather that observation, or conclusion, which most naturally buddeth out of it. It is white unto the harvest. The Mower (that is, the Preacher) may fill his hand, and he that bindeth up the sheaves (that is, the Auditor) his bosom. And it is this;  
Religion charactereth itself upon the regenerate soul in innocency, 
Conclusion.  and patience, &c.  
Or thus:  
The doctrine of the gospel, sincerely obeyed, first Christianizeth men, and then civilizeth them.  
Or thus:  
Grace of Regeneration, as it gets ground, and wi●● upon the soul, doth exp●● and thrust out, fierce and brutal passions, and introduceth gracious habits of sweetness, peace and love.  
Or thus:  
Sanctification truly wrought in the heart layeth aside the rapacity of the wolf, the spots of the Leopard, the lurking of the lion's whelp, the cruelty of the bear, the roaring of the Lion, the poison and calumny of the asp, the sting of the Cockatrice; and on the contrary, it degrees into the soul the immaculateness of the lamb, the innocency of the Kid, the humility of the calf, the nutriment and sustentation of the fatling, the milky fruitfulness of the Cow, the labour, and profitableness of the ox, the lowliness of the Child.  
I will make choice to enlarge, and spread forth this point, by way of fact, choosing the fairest examples out of divine, and ecclesiastical story, that so it may hold better measure with the method of the former.  
And out of the Old Testament, I will take only two instances, of Abel, and Zacharias, the first, and last of its Martyrs. How innocent a lamb Abel was, and how cruel a wolf his brother Cain was, hear Saint John speak, 1 Epist. 3. chap. 12. verse. Cain was of that wicked one, and slew his brother: and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. And for the other, Zacharias, how meek a lamb was he, who when he was stoned to death, said no more but this, 
2 Chron. 24.22.  The Lord will look upon it, and require it.  
But the new Testament is our proper scene; where begin with the ram, & he-goat of the flock, the high-Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was the true spotless lamb indeed. He may also be resembled to each one of the seven inimicitious beasts, but in another sense: As first he was a Wolf, for he was his father's Benjamin, being his natural and begotten son, worth ten thousand of us, who are only his adopted sons; and Benjamin is a wolf, Gen. 49.  
Secondly, he was a spotted Leopard, but it was with our sins, when he bore the iniquity of us all.  
Thirdly, he was rightly a lion's whelp. Judah, our Lord's own tribe, is so termed in his father's legacy, Gen. 49.9.  
Fourthly, he was a bear too, but it was when he roared like a bear, Esay 59.11. that is, cried out with strong cries and tears, saith the Apostle to the Hebrews.  
Fiftly, he was a lion, but it was to victorize for us, not to prey upon us: so he was the lion of the tribe of Judah.  
Lastly, he was an Adder, or Serpent, but it was the Serpent lift up upon the cross.  
But now he is all these innocuous and harmless creatures, Sensu currenti, even in the purport and acception that they stand here. As,  
First a Lamb; not streaked, like Jacobs' Lambs, but an immaculate lamb, saith S. Peter.  
Secondly, a Kid, broiled on the coals of his father's wrath, boiled in his mother's milk, [Blessed are the paps, &c.] A Goat; the 'scape Goat that carried our sins into the wilderness, out of his father's sight.  
Thirdly, a calf, slain to entertain the prodigal Gentile, home to his Faher● house, Luke 15.  
Fourthly, a Fatling, or a Sheep; so 
m {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  S. Jerome translates the word, 
Ovis. S. Hieron.  and then Christ is rightly so termed, As the sheep dumb before the Shearer: the Text the Eunuch light on out of Esay, Acts 8.32. and the very word and name JESUS anagrammatizeth into 
n {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Thou art a Sheep.  
Fiftly, a Cow, the red Cow under the law; not the type, but the antitype, Heb. 9.13.  
Sixtly, an ox, but according to Solomon's phrase, Prov. 7.22. As ox to the slaughter.  
Lastly, a Child, under that term the prophecy presents us to him, Esay 7.16. and in the Acts, Chap. 4.27. he is called The holy child Jesus; Yea even the Devils and Oracles knew him by this title; for when Augustus Caesar was at the cost of an Hecatomb at Delphos, to know who should succeed him in the Empire, the Oracle at last answered, An Hebrew boy, &c. whereupon presently he returned to Rome, and built an Altar in the Capitol, which he called 
o Ara primog●niti D●i. Suidas in vita Augusti. Niceph. l. 1. c. 17.  The Altar of God's first born son.  
Next after our guide-star, let us bring on the stage the four evangelists, the 
p Qua●uor tubae. Aug.  four trumpets of God, to blow abroad the grateful fame of a Saviour, the 
q Quatuor quadrigae. Calvin.  four Steeds or palfreys to carry the Son of righteousness about the world, and see if they also were not Lambs, &c.  
S. Matthew, at first a greedy wolf, a tolling publican, but after his calling, Sequela, a following calf, in leaving all, and following Christ; a fruitful Cow, in feeding the Church with the milk of his Gospel, which he wrote in 
r Vide Baron. in Martyrol. Roman. ad Sept. 21.  Hebrew; A laborious ox, in his 
s Euseb. Hist l 3. c. 1. Socrat. l. 3. c. 15.  Apostleship to the Ethiopians; And lastly, a Lamb, a Sheep of the slaughter in his 
t In Aethi●pia praedicans Martyrium passus est. Mart. Rom.  martyrdom.  
S. Mark, the epitomiser of S. Matthew, after he had played the fat calf in feeding the Church, the Cow in nourishing it with the sincere milk of the word, the ox in treading out the corn of the bread of life, first by writing his Gospel at the request of the brethren at Rome, and then by going into Egypt, and being the first that constituted a Church in Alexandria; he lastly was a slaughter-Lamb also, for being bound with cords, hurried through sharp stones, and grievously afflicted, he in the end suffered martyrdom 
u Vide Bedam. Euseb. hist. l. 2. c. 14, 15. & lib. 3. c. ult. Hieron. de Scriptor. Eccl. Niceph. hist. l. 2. c. 43. Lippom. Tom. 7. & Sur. Tom. 2. &c. , in the eight year of Nero's reign.  
S. Luke the beloved physician, an ox indeed, and so the Painters draw him with an ox by him, for he did write so 
w {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  in order of all both that Jesus did or taught; that he did 
x Mugire Euangelium per totum orbem.  mow and low the Gospel abroad over all the world, as Albertus Magnus spoke of Aquinas, who for his natural silence and taciturnity was called bos mutus, a dumb ox; and after with two horns he had gored all unbelievers, with his Gospel, and with his Acts of the Apostles, the annals of the Primitive Church, and had also been a plain itinerant in Preaching the Gospel 
y Epiphan. haeres. 51.  in France, Italy, Dalmatia, and Macedonia; he 
z Multa passus pr● Christi nomine. Rom. Martyrol.  suffered many things for the name of Christ, & 
a Nazian. in Orat. 1. cont. Julian. Niceph. l. 2. c. 43. Pauli●us Nolanus ad Severum, Epist. 12.  died a holy Martyr, although some doubt thereof 
b Vid. Baron. in Rom. Mar. ad Octob. 18. .  
S. John, lastly, having written his Eagle sighted Gospel, and towered aloft into the highest mysteries of Divinity, seen and written his Divine Revelations, founded and governed all the Churches of Asia, suffered casting into a hot cauldron of oil, banishment into Pathmos, and was a Martyr in will, though not in deed, being spent with old age, died in his second childhood at Ephesus, preaching love and charity, threescore and eight years after the passion of his Lord, and Master 
c Vide Hieron. in Scrip. Eccl. & Baron. ad Decem. 27. Rom. Martyr. : And thus much of the four evangelists.  
And next unto them, let us behold the Apostles of Christ, and see whether they also were not sent forth as sheep among Wolves; whether in their lives they were not innocent as sucking children, and in their deaths, As the sheep before the Shearer? Before the Shearer? Nay that was not all, to be shorn only, they were oves occisionis withal, sheep for the slaughter: they light of such Wolves as did not tondere, but deglubere, not fleece them only, but devour them also.  
Begin with S. Peter, the great Apostle of the circumcision, who after he had streamed down upon the Church such abundance of sincere milk, as himself styleth it, and that at two breasts, his two most Catholic, most orthodox, most inspired Epistles, and evangelized abundantly with his tongue in preaching the Gospel, as well as with his hand in writing; he lastly was crucified under Nero, as his Master was, but after a diverse form, with his head downward, just like a Sheep upon the cambrel 
d 
Vid. Baron. Annal Rom. Mar. Heg●sip. juniorem de excidio Hicros. lib. 3. c. 2.  
Acta passionis, quae seruntur Lini nomine.  .  
S. Andrew the Apostle also, though he have added nothing to the Canon of Scripture, yet much increase came to the Church by the labour of this ox; for he preached the Gospel in many Countries, in Thracia, Scythia, Achaia, went over Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bythinia, unto the Euxine Sea, &c. and having finished his course, he was lastly, apprehended by Aegeas the proconsul, shut up in Prison, grievously whipped and beaten, crucified upon an Olive tree, where he hung two days Euangelizing to the people 
e Vid. Notat. Baron. ad Nov. 30. Rom. Mart. .  
S. Philip, 
f Niceph. hist. l. 2. c. 39 Lipom. To. 6 Surius Tom. 3. Martyr. Roman. ad Maii 1.  after he had converted almost all Scythia to the faith of Christ, at Hierapolis, a City of Asia, was fastened to the cross, and stoned to death, treading the steps both of his Master, and of Stephen the Protomartyr.  
S. James 
g Euseb. l. 2. c. 22. Josephus Antiqu. l. 20. c. 8. Origen. lib. 1. contra Celsum. Martyr. Rom. ad Maii 1.  called James the less, and James the just, and James the brother of our Lord, and first Bishop of Jerusalem, was knocked in the head like an ox, or calf, after he had been thrown down from a pinnacle of the Temple, and his thigh broke.  
S. James 
h Martyrolog. Rom. ad 25. Julii.  the brother of S. John the evangelist, was about the feast of Easter beheaded of Herod Agrippa.  
S. Bartholomew 
i Martyrol. Rom. ad 25. August , first as a good sheep gave his fleece and milk, by diligent divulging the Doctrine of the kingdom, and then his skin also, like another Zisca, the Bohemian Captain, for he was excoriated, and flayed, his skin pulled over his ears alive.  
S. Thomas, 
k Vid. cundem Authorem cum annot. Baronii ad Decemb. 21.  called the Apostle of India, having blown the trumpet of the Gospel to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcans, and Brahmins, and lastly coming into India, after he had there also thrust in the tender plants of Christian Religion, was by the King's command, thrust through with darts.  
Judas Thaddeus, 
l Vid. eundem librum ad Octob. 28.  after he had, like an ox strong to labour, ploughed up the fallow grounds of Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Idumea, Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, and had thrown in the seed of the Gospel, died one of the glorious witnesses of Jesus Christ; some say slain by the Idolatrous Priests.  
Simon the Canaanite 
m Idem ibidem.  fellow-Martyr, as well as fellow-Apostle with Thaddeus, after he had brought the glad tidings of salvation into India, and entered Persia, together with Thaddeus, having by their joint endeavours brought an innumerable company of souls, to subject their necks to the yoke of Christ, both together received the crown of martyrdom.  
Mathias, 
n Idem ad Feb. 24.  elected into the room of Judas Iscariot, having promulgated the Gospel in Judea, and Ethiopia, was served like the rest, Martyred by the Axe or Hatchet.  
Lastly, S. Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles, 
o Idem ad Junii 29.  after manifold labours, in taking upon him the care of all Churches, and both by preaching, and writing, giving so much milk, that he may be resembled to the Cow, in the seventh of Esay, which was so fruitful at the pail, that for the abundance of milk she did give, the owner might eat butter. He, I say, though he scaped Nero's hands, the first time of appearance before him; yet the second time, he was devoured of the lion.  
Thus we have seen not one of the four evangelists, not one Apostle, (Saint John's miraculous deliverance only excepted) went to their graves, Sicca morte, with a dry winding-sheet. All of them were Lambs, kids, Calves, Fatlings, cows, Oxen, Babes, in their fruitful, and innocent lives, in their patient and silent deaths.  
But we must not here break off; let us continue on the story down lower still, from the Apostles, and evangelists, unto their Disciples, and Scholars, and there we shall see the very same, that they were Lambs, both in their lives, and in their deaths.  
1. In their lives.  
Hear first the Apostles evidence, Heb. 11. which though there spoken of the Fathers of the Old Testament, yet most applicable to the primitive Saints of the New: through faith they subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of Lions, quenched the violence of the fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women received their dead raised to life again, others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings, and scourgings; yea moreover of bonds, and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheep skins and goat skin's, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy, &c.  
Next, let Plinius Secundus, viceroy to Trajan, under the third Persecution, witness: who in his Epistles yet extant certifies his Lord about the blameless behaviour of Christians, and how they did but sing 
k Antelucanos Hymn●s.  Psalms and hymns, before the dawnings of the day, &c.  
And here again takes place fitly the Certificate of Graninianus, the Emperor Adrian his proconsul in Asia, that the Christians were persecuted and killed, 
i Sine ullo crimine, nomini●tan●ū, et sectae rei.  without any fault at all, being guilty only of a name, and sect.  
Lastly, Consult Baronius, especially in his second Tome, touching the manners of the ancient Primitive Christians, and there you shall find, ex scriniis, most honourable verdicts, & testimonies of their lamblike, childlike integrity; not only from their friends, as Origen against Celsus, Tertullian to Scapula, &c. but even their enemies being Judges, such as Porphyry, Julian, the sibyl's, the Oracles, &c. That they were temperate, chaste, peaceable, far more virtuous livers than the Philosophers of the Gentiles; That they would not lie, that they abhorred Theaters, and public spectacles, especially of blood; that they were kind, liberal, merciful, especially to such as were in bonds for Christ; that they were faithful subjects, valiant soldiers, profitable commonwealths men, thankful in prosperity, cheerful in adversity. These and such like are by the most faithful Writers of the story of those times, given in, to be the guise of those worthy Saints. But I shall shame ourselves in recounting their just praises. Their panegyric is our libel, their Encomium our Invective, and satire. Our conversations compared to theirs, are but as foils to set off the lustre of those militant glories.  
2. In and at their deaths.  
What meek Lambs, and innocent Babes there too! we cannot say of them as Samuel to Saul, 
m 1 Sam. 15.14.  What meaneth this bleating of sheep, and lowing of Oxen? No; the Saints in their most unjust sufferings, and undeserved deaths have not been bleating sheep, but dumb Lambs, Esay 53.7. not lowing Oxen, but m●●e Oxen, as Aquinas before mentioned. When 
n French History.  Martial Byron will die like a mad man, and Parry like a 
o Cambd. Elizab.  braggart; then shall God's sheep lie dumb before the shearer; They shall keep silence in that day, because it is an evil day. Come then, let us draw near them, and sit down on the ground beside them, in the day of their sorrow, as jobs three friends, and we shall not hear them charge God foolishly, though their grief be very great. Yea, go nearer, and draw the curtains of their deathbeds, and hear them exspiring, and breathing out their last breath with a perfumed Comfite, or a sugar-plum in their mouth, that is, 
p {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  with a word of piety, (as Nazianzene testifieth S. Basil did) both to sweeten the sorrows of death to themselves, and to minister grace unto the hearers.  
And first I must needs begin with Ignatius, the most blessed Bishop of Antiochia, full sixteen hundred years ago, within five, and S. Peter's 
q Chrys. hom. de transl.. S. Ign.  immediate Successor in that chair, when he was thrown to the Beasts, said no more than thus. I am God's grain and must be ground between the upper, and nether millstone of these beasts teeth, that I may make pure bread unto God. lo, if his soul were not even as a weaned child; and indeed, 
r Niceph. Hist. l. 2. c. 3.  some say he was that very child that Jesus took up in his arms, in the Gospel. The example doth so suit the Text, that I could not pretermit it here, though it be mentioned 
s See the first Sermon.  before: neither is it coleworts twice sod.  
Next him, let us make mention of Polycarpus, Bishop of Smirna, and some say that individual Angel of the Church of Smirna, whereunto the second of those seven Asiatic Epistles are written. He was disciple to S. John, and Master to Ireneus, and in a word, a man so venerable amongst both the Christians, and Heathen, that his ordinary style was, The Doctor of whole Asia. He when the cursed proconsul tempted him to deny Christ, and he should save his life, answered meekly as a Lamb, I have served Christ these fourscore and six years, and he never harmed me, and shall I now deny, 
t {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Euseb. His. l. 4. c. 14.  and blaspheme my King, and Saviour?  
Cyprian Bishop of Carthage may well be remembered next, who was of noble descent, and both orator, and senator of Carthage, before he was by public applause 
u Pontus' his own Deacon wrote his History, and is prefixed before his works by Pamelius.  elected Bishop, he suffered banishment, and the next year martyrdom about 260. years after Christ: when he came to the block, he gave his headsman 20. pieces of Gold, and died also meek as a Lamb or Kid, with these words in his mouth, God be thanked for vouchsafing my soul this gaol-delivery out of the dungeon of my body.  
S. Ambrose Bishop of Milan, died in Milan on Easter eve, in the year of Christ 397. Count Stilico made suit unto him, when he was fastened to his bed, that for the public good of the Church, he would seek by his prayers to obtain of God, the prolongation of his own life. S. Ambrose answered, I have not so lived amongst you, that I am ashamed to live longer; neither do I fear to die, because I have a good Lord. Did he not herein, though he were the great shepherd of Milan, speak like a Lamb? 
w Spondanus epist. Baron. annal.  a speech only worthy of S. Ambrose, and so gnomical and weighty, that 
x Possidius in vita D. Augustin. c. 27.  S. Augustin highly commends it. But let us come now a great deal lower, in tract of time.  
Queen Elizabeth of famous memory, who, like another Deborah, judged this Israel forty years, and that so happily, that even 
y Io. de Seres, in his French Inventory.  the French Historian saith, she proved thereby to the world that a Woman might govern as well as any man: when in her Sisters quinquennium, she was one day apprehended, to be carried she knew not whither, seeing some of her servants standing aloof off, she said no more, but these two words, tanquam ovis, alluding to Isaiah's prophecy of Christ, As a sheep to the sl●●ghter, &c.  
John Picus, 
z Jo. Picus ex Mirandulae principum generenatus, secretarum naturae rerum cupidus explora●or, consummatus simul Philosophus & Theologus adhuc imberbis, &c.  Earl of Mirandula, a most diligent searcher into the secrets of nature, and an exact both Philosopher, and Divine, before he was capable of transgressing Moses his Law, in cutting the tuffes of his beard; in a word, The wit of the world: If Christ's death, and our own, said he, were ever in our eyes, how could we sin? welcome death, not as an end of trouble, but as an end of sin.  
Ferdinand Earl of Darby, who died in Queen Elizabeth's days, having at his death four physicians, and two Divines, the Bishop of Chester, and Mr. Leigh his own chaplain, said to one of his physicians the day before he died, 
a Stow's Chronicle in Q. Elizabeth.  I know for a certainty, I must now die, and I will take away with me only one part of mine arms, I mean mine eagle's wings, so will I flee swiftly into the bosom of Christ my Saviour. Nobly and Christianly spoken indeed! and therefore the more noble because the more Christian-like.  
The 
b {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Jo. Brosserius de Juello.  jewel of Bishops, Juell Bishop of Sarisbury, riding to preach at Lacock in Wilts, a gentleman meeting him on the way, and seeing his body weak, and spent with divine labours, advised him to return back again, replied, Nay, 
c D. Humphred. in vita Juelli.  it becomes a Bishop to die preaching; alluding to that brave speech of the Emperor Vespasian 
d Xiphil. in vit. Vespas. , It becomes an Emperor to die standing. There was a brave ox, that would tread out the corn, till he fell down in the yoke. Where such Oxen are, the crib cannot be empty.  
Lastly, I will make up the Decade with a meaner person, but neither mean in knowledge, nor grace, Elizabeth Folks, who alluding to the Text, 1 Cor. 13. last verse, when her soul was ready to take flight out of her body, concluded her mortality with these words, Now farewell faith, farewell hope, and welcome charity. and it is so aculeate, and excellent, that I find it 
e Melchior Adam in vit. Theol. German. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  made up into a Greek distich, and cut upon the grave-stone of Doctor Boraius, professor of Divinity there, and is now to be read in the Church at Basil.  
If any desire any more of these 
f Mucrones verborum. Cic.  pointed and diamonded speeches, which do indeed 
g Relinquere aculeum in auditorum animis.  leave a sting, and goad in the mind of the pious Auditor, or Reader, they must frequent the house of mourning, especially when the Christian decumbent grows near to the grave, and his life to the Sepulchre, for then the soul grows more divine, when the tabernacle of the body begins to rent, that it can look out of the chinks, and espy the beams of an heavenly light. He must also ransack story, especially Ecclesiastical Annals, which is the best piece of history, and most especially Martyrologies, the best piece of Church-story.  
Scaliger saith he had rather have been the Author and composer of one Ode in Horace, than King of all Arragon. I had rather utter from my heart, out of a true Christian sense and feeling, such a sentence or apothegm, as these recited are, when I am God's prisoner, and gone up to my last bed, then be the sole famed Author of all Horace his Odes, yea, of all homer's Rhapsodies, whom nine Cities strove about, which should be his birth-spot; Yea more, of all the Sibylline Oracles. But I must contain, and fall upon  

The Application.  
ANd that also according to the two former guid-texts of 2 Tim. 3.16. & Rom. 15.4. and according to the former method of Doctrine, ² Improofe, Correction, Instruction, and Consolation.  

The Doctrine resulting hence is this; 
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Those whom Christ justifies by his merit, he also sanctifies by his Spirit. So much is collected to my hand by an orthodox professor 
h Zach. Ursinus ad loc. , Commenting to this Text; and the context, or alliance that the text hath with the protext, or verse immediately foregoing, makes it very plain: for verse 5. of this Chapter, our Prophet thus vaticinates, righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins: lo there Christ justifying us by the imputation of his righteousness. Then instantly follows; The Wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with the kid, &c. lo there Christ sanctifying us by the imparting of inherent righteousness; and to the same thing it appertains, that Apoc. 7.14. mention is made of robes washed, and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Why, how doth that sound? Is it not enigmatical and full of problem, to wash white in blood? Is it not rather white in milk or water, red in blood, or wine? but I answer, No; it is of brave significancy to express, the bleaching, whitening, alablastering, cleansing quality of Christ's blood, the sanctification of true justification, that the red scarlet lace of Christ's blood, must be entortled and interwoven into a bracelet, with a white silken thread of holiness and regeneration; or that it must tie about the bunch of hyssop, which to be of a cleansing nature is implied by that of David in the 
i Psal. 51.  chief of his penitentials, Wash me with hyssop, &c.  
So likewise, in the description of Christ which is Cant. 5.10. My beloved is white, and ruddy: it is thus glossed, white in his life, ruddy in his death; white in his holiness, red in his Passion. Or make those two epithets run down from his head, and beard, who is the head, unto the skirts, and phylacteries of our garments, who are the members, and it must thus be glossed: ruddy to us, in justifying us, by his blood, and so washing us from the guilt of sin, and white, in sanctifying us by his Spirit, and so washing us from the filth of sin. The brief is no more than thus: if we be Christ's, we will crucify all those sensitive, irrational, heady, impetuous natures of the wolf, bear, lion, &c. and get formed in us the innocency of the lamb, Kid, calf, and Child, in eschewing evil, the negative part of sanctification; and the fruitfulness and labour of the Cow, and ox, in doing good, which is the positive, and affirmative part.   

The Redargution. 
2 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}·   
NOw secondly for the Elench, and use of improofe, it shows what Paradoxes, and mere lies in divinity, those Satanized proverbs of the world are, which the wise men of the world (forsooth) cry up as maxims of Prudence, Oracles of State, principles fit to come out of the school of the wisest Masters: they are such as these, Make yourself a sheep, and the wolf will eat you, Make yourself a worm, and you shall be trod upon: bear one injury so as you invite not a new: It is no fault to repel force with force, nor to undermine fraud with fraud: An injury cannot be done to him that is willing to receive it, &c. Brave Articles of the world's Creed! Thus the devil makes us false spectacles, and we are willing to put them on, till we miss the bridge and fall into the ditch. Thus partly by the sincerity, and false information of others, and partly by the blindness, and false apprehensions of our own mind, inward corruption being strengthened by outward infection, we are misled from virtue, and grace, and dashed in pieces, as a wave upon the rock. The very utmost proficiency, that any man can attain to, in the world's school, is not to love patience, and innocency, only to allow it; & that but 
k M.S. M.F.  in two cases, neither, the one of necessity, the other of advantage: so making it a stupifying medicine in the former, and a matter of merchandizing in the latter. And I do not much marvel at it, when I consider that depraved reason leads quite awry, and that which is most rectified falls far short of conceiving, how strong, and honourable a grace, patience, and meekness is. Therefore the Stoics were defamed by all other schools, for introducing their patience, which indeed was no better than a counterfeit or carcase of true patience, being only a stupid senselessness, and wretched carelessness.  
Patience is ever an act of power, for there is much strength required to bear burdens, and especially injuries, the greatest of burdens. Hence it is that to forgive sins is assigned to be a proper act of God's omnipotency, Exod. 34.6. And so again, impatience is a sign of weakness, and therefore children, women, and sick persons, are observed well by 
l Arist. Rhet. l. 2.  Aristotle to be most revengeful. How wickedly therefore did that base Tuscan jest on God, and abuse the text, [Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord] in saying, Revenge was so sweet a morsel, as God kept it for his own tooth. Well; let it be the denigration, and such a spot in the Mahometan, or Turkish religion, as no fuller's soap can wash out, that the allowance it gives to revenge was one of the great inducements at first, and now is one of the greatest fomenters of that Idolatry, and which draws the most followers and Proselytes unto it: and on the contrary, let that scandal of the Christian Religion, that it makes men Cowards, be remembered to the glory of it, That Patience, and Christianity are of the same dimensions; that a Lamb, a Kid, and a fat calf are the proper Coat, or arms that Christian Religion bears; a Child the Crest, a Cow, and an ox the Supporters; Lastly, that other lesson he suffered his Ushers that went before him to teach: but patience, and the like, he reserved for himself to sit in the chair, and be the grand Master thereof: learn of me, for I am lowly and meek, and you shall find rest for your souls.   

The Correction. 
3 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.   
ANd thirdly, If the true Disciples of Christ be Lambs, and Kids, &c. Then be it pressed to the just correction of the depraved manners of us modern Christians, whose very lives are, in short, a daily, horary, momently breaking of that great evangelical precept of love, and charity, which is the fulfilling of the Law, and bond of perfection. Oh God if the breaches of charity, by jealousies, surmises, suspicions of the heart, by the dejections, and falling down of our countenances upon our brethren, by the winking and scorning of our eyes, by the detraction, calumny, and revilings of our tongues, by virulency and gall of our pens, and by the violence of our hands, if, I say, these, and the like were the fulfillings of the Law, what godly gospelers, & professors should we be! but I must contract myself, and take in this sail of speech. The longer I was in the enlargement, and filling up of the point, the more brief may I be in Application. Therefore because 
m Rectum index sui, & obliqui.  that which is straight shows at once both its own rectitude, and the crookedness of the contrary; I will give you here an excellent Scheme of Charity. For Charity is like Nebuchadnezar's tree, in Daniel, which hath many, and far-extended boughs and branches, which as they seize upon, and respect a new object, so do they still take up a new name. As thus; faith is the root of Christianity. Charity is the bowl of the same tree, which when it is exercised promiscuously towards all men, it is called 
n {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  philanthropy: when towards certain men, 
o {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Friendship; when towards our blood and allies, 
p {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  natural affection: when towards strangers, 
q {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Hospitality: when towards the faithful, 
r {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Brotherhood: when towards our superiors, 
s Officiositas.  Duty: when towards our inferiors, 
t Humanitas.  Humanity, or courtesy: when towards men in prosperity, and welfare, 
u {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Goodwill: when towards men in misery, 
w {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  Mercy. A tree, you see, so laden with fruit, that the boughs of it bend down to the ground, and court the hand of him that passeth by to pluck off her grapes.   

The Instruction. 
4 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.   
THE Instruction is a goad to prick us on to beware of that dangerous Rock of pseudo-martyrdom. There is a foolish affected kind of martyrdom, when a man exposeth his estate, good name, liberty, life, and all to sufferance and danger, and God shall pay him for all in this one word, Who required these things at your hands? The Arians, and Arius himself suffered grievous things for their Tenets, but they were but pseudomartyrs. The Donatists suffered many things from the civil Magistrate, and reputed themselves Lambs and Martyrs, but S. Augustine nervously takes from them that glorious wreath. The Arminians in the Low Countries, and Papists in England, have not suffered a little neither, heretofore, but it was because they might not be suffered to plunder commonwealths, perplex States, betray Princes, lead Captive simple women, &c. Therefore they are pseudomartyrs. There may be Wolves in sheepskins. Therefore as Saint Paul speaks of one that is 
x {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  a widow indeed, so must we look to it, that we be Lambs, Kids, Calves indeed; that there be not so much of the calf in us, as not to know either what, or why, or how, or when to suffer: for circumstances, individuate actions, and the innocency of the Lamb, should be joined with so much of the wisdom of the Serpent, as to direct our actions both in suffering, and doing, by fair and probable means, unto glorious ends. To this purpose then, let us here subvect such safe and necessary rules, as if God call us to suffer here, our patience, and innocency, may be made up into a crown of martyrdom.  
The rules here are only three.  
The first is, that a Sheep for the slaughter must first be a Sheep of the fold; A true Martyr must be a true member of the Church. 
y Extra Ecclesiam non est Martyrium. Vide Baron. ad an. 362. n. 37.  It is a ruled case, No martyrdom without the pale of the Church. Where there is not the truth of Religion, there cannot be the truth of martyrdom. It must not be respected what, but who it is that suffers. He that is not a member of the body, cannot suffer for the head. If a Turk should advance Christ above Mahomet, or a Jew above Moses, or a Pagan above an Idol, and should suffer for so doing, were he therefore a Martyr?  
Secondly, next the righteousness of the person, the righteousness of the cause is requisite; which is as necessary to remunerable suffering, as fuel to make a fire, or dough to make a cake: to suffer, that is well, but than it must be for righteousness sake, Mat. 5.10. as Christians, 1 Pet. 4 16. It is not the pain, but the cause that makes the Martyr, saith the old rule; there were three at once on one cross; one to be saved, another to save, a third to be damned 
z Omnium similis poena, sed dissimilis causa. Aug. conc. 2. in Psal. 34. ; they had all the like punishment, but not the like cause.  
Thirdly, there is requisite also, right ends and intentions, it is the end that crownes the work. The glory of God, the honour of Christ, the sealing of the truth, the propagating Religion, the confirming the weak, the comforting the strong, the confounding the adversaries; these and such like are warrantable, and justifiable ends, in undertaking sufferings. Saint Augustine presents a complaint against such as 
a Quaeritis Martyrum gloriam, &c.  did seek the Glory of Martyrs, &c. Some out of vain glory, others out of 
b Libido moriendi, Sene●.  a lust of dying. Some out of stiffness of spirit, and the like affect, and draw on themselves sufferings, when they receive no summons thereto from God, nor shall receive comfort from themselves.   


5 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  The Consolation.  
LAstly, are we the Lambs and Kids of God's fold, the Calves of his stall, the Kine of his pasture, the Oxen of his crib, the Babes of his Nursery? what then can be more comfortable? Doth God take care for Oxen? 1 Cor. 9.9. Is a good man merciful to his beast? Was Jacob so careful of his flock, as not to over-drive it? and shall not God be much more careful of us? Yea, surely, if we make it but our care to be his Lambs, and Kids, he will make it his care, 1. To protect us; to take us out of the paw of the lion, and of the bear; to deliver us, as he did S. Paul, out of the mouth of the lion, so far as that deliverance conduceth to our eternal good. 2. To provide for us; he giveth fodder unto his cattle. He muzzleth not the mouth of the ox. He can first feed us by Ravens, and then feed the Ravens that call upon him. He will feed his sheep, and his lambs, both with daily bread for our bodies, and spiritual Manna for our souls. 3. To save us; he will both set the goats on his left hand, and the sheep, Lambs, Kids, on his right.    
The end of the second Sermon.   

THE TRUE evangelical TEMPER. The third Sermon.  ESAY 11.6, 7, 8. 
The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid, &c.  
THe Text at the first was tripartited, and two of those parts are already handled, to wit, the seven nocent Creatures, in the first Ser. and the 7. innocent in the last. There now remains to be spoken too in this, the third, and last general part, which is the concord and agreement of these most divers, yea adverse parties, the wolf with the Lamb, the Leopard with the Kid, &c.  
It was cautioned in the Law not to yoke an ox, and an ass together 
a Deut. 22.10. , and the gospel too bids us not be unequally yoked 
b 2 Cor. 6.14. , but what is it to be unproportionably yoked, if this be not? a Lamb to a wolf, &c. And it is yet more strange, if (with Jerome, Rupertus, and others) we observe that this accord is not made, by way of the retrograde motion, as Crabs swim backward; as if the Lamb should degenerate, and go dwell with the wolf, or the Kid go lie down with the Leopard, so forsaking their own righteousness, and taking up others' vices. But it is the regular, and straight course of regeneration, the wolf turning lamb, and the Leopard turning Kid; Craft and Cruelty being the terms from which, and simplicity, and innocency the terms to which of this Conversion.  
But most remarkable of all is it, to consider the full and perfect expression of this their reconciliation, and atonement, which is a gradual expression, growing up to the height of its emphasis by four steps. The first is that they shall dwell together; not under one canopy, or under one elevation of the Pole, but under one house, and roof. And if it were no more, this wants no weight of significancy of itself, for cohabitation contains in it all the offices of matrimonial dearness. And S. Peter requires no more of Husband and Wife, but that they be 
c {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. 1 Pet. 37.  dwellers together, or housed together, as the word imports.  
The second is that they lie down together. A further degree of neereness. To have one bed, is more than to be in one house; under one covering, more than to be under one roof. Can two walk together except they be friends? is the question, Amos 3.3. but lie down together sure they cannot, especially so near, as one to keep another warm, Eccles. 4.10.  
The third is to feed, and eat together. Another degree of vicinity, and nearness. Therefore the Law when it separates one from close, and familiar accesses to another, severs à mensa, as well as à thoro, both from board, and bed. Nathan therefore expressing in his parable of David's conviction the near approaches of Wedlock, saith it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his own bosom, 2 Sam. 12.3. Lo there is mensa, and thorus, board and bed together again. And David said the like to Mephibosheth, Thou shalt eat bread at mine own table, when he would show him the utmost of kindness, 2 Sam. 9.7.  
The fourth is, that they play and sport together. A thing so true a symbol of dearness, and always so connate thereunto, that Abimelech in the 
d Gen. 26.8.  book of Genesis, looking out of a window, and seeing Isaac sporting with Rebecca, concluded thereupon she was surely his Wife. Which thing also Zorobabel in the apocryphal Esdras 
e Esd. 4.29  thus expresseth: I saw, saith he, Apame the King's Concubine, the daughter of the noble Bartacus, sitting at the right hand of the King, and taking the crown from his head, and setting it upon her own head; she also struck the King with her left hand: and yet for all this the King gaped and gazed upon her with open mouth: if she laughed upon him he laughed also; but if she took any displeasure at him, the King was fain to flatter, that she might be reconciled to him again.  
These are the four degrees to make up this one entire union and accord. And now the way is opened for the third, and last Conclusion, which is this:  
It is a disposition and temper truly evangelical, and savouring of Christ, to be peaceable, and reconcilable, and that in all the several approaches of love and union.  
Or thus:  
The Gospel is a true cause of peace, and peace is a true effect of the gospel.  
Or thus:  
The Messiah where he is monarchical, and rules, is also Eirenarchicall, and atones.  
Christ Jesus is the true Augustus of the world, and the sceptre of his kingdom as it is a righteous, so is it also a peaceable sceptre; wheresoever & whensover he is known and obeyed, there & then he doth by his Word and Spirit, waste and take away all hatreds, enmities, and antipathies, and makes Wolves, and Lambs, Leopards, and Kids, lion's whelps, and Calves, bears, and Kine, lions, and Oxen, Asps, and young Children, (for thus the Text conjugates them) dwell together, lie down together, eat together, and play together; that is, have friendly and mutual intercourse of affections, actions, customs, habits.  
Therefore is he called in his type Melchisedech, King of Salem 
f Gen. 14.18. , which the Apostle renders 
g Heb. 7.2. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  King of peace. Therefore also Solomon was another type of him: Solomon, I say, in whose days abundance of peace flourished, not David, a man of War and blood.  
Therefore again was he born under the reign of peaceable Augustus, who enjoyed such cessation of war, that he shut the gates of Janus' Temple, and brought together all the world to be taxed. His natalitiall hymn was sung not by a regiment of soldiers, but by a Chore of Angels. The ditty of that hymn, or carol, Peace on earth. The tidings of his birth brought not to cavaliers, but to quiet and simple Shepherds: The time of the revelation of it, in the night season, a time of silence and rest. His style, A Prince of Peace 
h isaiah 9.6. . His baptismal Laver awaited by a Dove, the most peaceable of birds. S. John's testimony of him, Behold the lamb of God; A Lamb, the most peaceable of beasts. His Gospel an Euangelium; that is, Glad tidings of peace. His Ministers, Messengers of peace and reconciliation. His Salve, or Present, when he came to his Disciples, Peace be with you. His Vale, or Legacy, when he went from them, My peace I leave with you. His threefold office, all concurring to peace; As a Prophet, he did foretell, and proclaim peace; As a Priest, he did earn, and purchase peace; As a King, he did settle and confirm peace. And lastly, all this so luculently foretold by this our Prophet Esaias, that he seems rather 
i De prae●eri●o historiam t●xere, quam de futuro vaticinari.  to write an history of a thing past, than a prophecy of a thing to come, and is rather an 
k Po●ius Euangelista quam Propheta.  evangelist than a Prophet, as S. Jerome most excellently speaketh of him. And though this prophecy shine as the Sun in the Firmament, yet is there one every whit as bright as this in the second Chapter of this Prophecy, at the fourth verse. The words are these: He shall judge among the Nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plough shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation, neither shall they learn war any more. A Prophecy so trapped with the ornaments of speech, that two of the Latin Poets 
k Pax me certa ducis placidos conflavit in usus, Agricolae nunc sum, militis ante sui. Martial. lib. 14. Epigr. 34.  Martial, and 
l Aspera nunc positis mi●●scunt secula bellis, Claudentur belli portae. Virg. Egl.  Virgil, like bold biards, have plumed it, to imp their own train; just as before the sibyl's had done by my Text; but to Application.  

Application.  
IN applying, and making use of this point, it will not be amiss to hold to the former method, of showing how to elicit and fetch out of it the fivefold profit of Doctrine, Redargution, Correction, Instruction, and Consolation; and having so do●e, to commit both the text, and Sermons on it, to the blessing of God's Spirit, which must incubate, and brood both, to make them fruitful.  

The use of Doctrine. 
Doctrina.   
ANd first this point is profitable to bring forth this Doctrine, that Christianity is a sociable Religion. The end of Christ's coming was to be a mediator, not only to unite man to God, but even man to man; that Christians might dwell together; in one house, both Ecclesiastical, the Church; and economical, the family; and political, the commonwealth; lie down together, in the undefiled bed of holy and chaste wedlock, if they either need it, or will it; and in any other noble, and lawful familiarities of intimacy, and dearness; eat together, both the eucharistical Bread of the Lord's Table, and the daily bread of their own boards. Lastly, play together, in those honest and warrantable recreations, which are of good report among the Saints, to fit them better for both their general, and particular callings.  
What is the Church but a Communion of Saints? the Church Militant a Communion of Saints on earth, and the Church Triumphant, a Communion of Saints in Heaven. Coetus fidelium, A company or knot of the faithful, is a short and received definition of the Church. The Religion of the Jews was all for distinction, and separation of both persons, and things; the Jew from the Gentile, the holy from the profane, the clean from the unclean. But Christ did so demolish and break down that partition wall, that it is like the Picts wall in Northumberland, scarce one stone to be found upon another.  
Christian Society is like a faggot, one stick keeps another glowing; like stones in an arch, one holds and fastens another, Christ himself being the key-stone. Solitary persons as they have (indeed) the fewest provocations unto evil, so have they the fewest incitations unto good.  
Divine Oracles still point at loneliness and solitude as at an abyss of misery. Begin at the beginning: it is observed to my hand, that in the second days work of the Creation, God gave no commendation of, nor blessing unto it, as to the rest, because it was a day's work of division. 
m Gen. 1.7.  And after that a little, when he played his own critic, it was the only quarrel he picked with his workmanship, that man was alone; all was good, and very good 
n Gen. 1.31. , but this was not good 
o Gen. 2.18. . Go on; Elias, a great Prophet, yet he complains of it, I only am left alone 
p 1 Kings 14.14. . jobs sorrowful Messengers make it their under song of sad tidings, I am escaped alone to tell thee 
q Job 1. . Martha murmurs at it, Master carest thou not my sister hath left me to serve alone 
r Luk. 10.40. . Jeremy makes his threnes take their hint, and rise from it, how doth the popular City sit solitary 
s Lam. 1.1 ? S. Paul bemoans, himself for it, 
t 2 Tim. 4.10.  Demas hath forsaken me, yea, 
u Ver. 16.  all forsook me. 
w Ruth. 1.13. & 20.  Ruth bewails it, The hand of the Lord is gone out against me, the Almighty hath imbittered my soul; Yea it is every widow's case, as well as Ruth's to be 
x 1 Tim. 5.5. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  desolate, and alone. But what say I of Elias, or Job, or the like, men of like passions with ourselves; Christ himself groaned under the burden of it, when all his Disciples forsook him and fled; which thing the Evangelist notes as one of the critical passages of his Passion, and the Prophet sets it out, as an heightening and advancing of his sufferings, that he trod the winepress alone 
y Esa. 63.3 . So as this is the sum, if a man be alone, he shall be in misery; and again, if a man be in any misery he shall be left alone 
z Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris. : Solitude and misery being like water, and ice, the one mutually producing the other. Woe, and alone go together, Eccles. 4.10. Hence it comes about that S. John Baptist sent two of his Disciples to Christ 
a Mat. 11.2. . Yea a greater than the Baptist did so: Christ did it, in the Mission first of his Twelve 
b Mar. 6.7. , and after of his Seventy 
c Luk. 10.1. & Mat. 20.30. , both of which sacred colleges he sent forth by two, and two. So of old, two were of the Embassy to Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron; two into Canaan, Joshua and Caleb; two to restore the Temple, and worship of God, after the Captivity of Babylon, Joshua and Zorobabel. So likewise in the New Testament we have Christ, and John his Precursor; two are sent to Jerusalem to prepare the last Supper, Peter and John; two Witnesses, Apoc. 11.3. So farther, John Husse, and Jerome of Prague, in the council of Constance; Luther and Melancthon in Saxony; Zwinglius and Oec●lampadius in Helvetia; Bucer and Capito at Argentine; Calvin and Farell at Geneva. Binarii omnes, all by couples, and twoes, That if the one fall, his fellow may lift him up, Eccles. 4.10. He that separates man from man, doth as much as in him lies separate man from God. For what is poor, and silly man alone, but a very screech-owl, and satire, a melancholic and hypochondriack creature, growing pensive and thought-sick? turn him into his Oratory, and let him shut the Chamber door, and doth he not often fall a telling the panes of glass, as fast as a Papist doth his Beads? Is he not often so pursued by the bloodhounds of his own Conceits, as he is forced to cry out with Anthony in ecclesiastical Story 
d Domine cupio servari, sed haud permittunt saepè cogitationes meae: has reprime, o bone jesu, et serva me. : Lord, quoth he, I thirst for salvation, but my thoughts scarce will allow me the hope of it; O Lord, repress them, and save me. And if they grow (as often they do) so immodest and importunate, as they can neither be prevented by divine meditation, nor ejected by fervent prayer, nor corrected by serious repentance, than man grows a sorry and miserable creature indeed. For they jangle all out of tune the sweet bells of reason and judgement, and makes him at the best mopish, if not frantic. This of the first use: the second follows which is   

The use of improofe or Redargution. 
Redargutio.   
ANd the Elench here lies directly, and pointblank against the Papists. For bring both Religions (ours and theirs) unto this test, and see whether is more pacific and charitable, and by consequent whether is the more evangelical, and gospel-like. For so far as my interest in Religion goeth (and surely that is a very airy soul, whose chief rest and stay is not his Religion) I shall willingly put it wholly upon this issue.  
But let us a little set out the bounder-stones of this disquisition upon which we are fallen, and stretch the scrutiny to that angelical birth-carol of our blessed Lord, Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace: and from thence take out this safe, and grand rule of enquiry: That Religion which gives most glory to God, and nourisheth most peace with man, let a crown be set upon the head of her, and let all other Sects bow the knee, and cry abrech before her.  
And for the first of these two touchstones, without any unjust scandalising of the Papist, or any undeserved justifying of the Protestant, the terms betwixt us, and them stand just thus. For the original of our salvation, we place it wholly in the grace of God; for the middle of it, we put it wholly in the merits, and righteousness of Christ; and for the end of it, we refer it wholly to the glory of God. Thus making God the 
e Proram et puppim salutis. Rainold. in Thes.  Alpha, and Omega, the front, and the rear, the beginning, middle, and end of our salvation. On the other hand, the Papist cries in the language of Solomon's Harlot, dividatur, let it be divided. For the original of salvation they make to be partly Grace, and partly freewill; the middle they put partly in man's merits, and partly in God's mercy; the end they refer partly to the glory of God, and partly to the honour of the creature, in their Idolatrous worshipping of Saints, &c. So giving that to the Creature, which is proper to the Creator, to whom be praise for ever, and ever, Amen.  
But bring them both to the second touchstone, which is indeed the touchstone of the Text, and that Religion which is more turbulent, seditious, and stormy, let it be thrown overboard to lighten the ship of the Church, that it miscarry not before it thrust into the 
f Acts 27.8.  fair Havens: And that which is more calm, quiet, peaceable, charitable, less rampant, and more couchant, which both teacheth, and practiseth the lying down, and dwelling together of the wolf and lamb, let it be received, and the other refused. And here I doubt not but the day will be ours.  
It is true, we have separated ourselves from the Church of Rome, and that by right: for it was after a thousand Complaints, Disputations, Protestations against their Errors; after many meek Colloquies, and Conferences, nervous and sinewy Arguments, humble Petitions, plain Declarations, grievous sufferings, and martyrdoms; and all we got was scorn, and laughter; no pity to our side; no redress to theirs. So as, though the time of our ignorance God passed by, yet when he had opened our eyes to see the truth, we could not but fall off from them, except we should have proculcated and trampled under foot most fair hopes of immortality unto glory. We durst not partake any longer of her sins, lest we should be made also to partake of her plagues. But yet this our falling off is only from their doctrine, not from their civil society, this 
g Arminius in Thes.  defection is from them only in point of faith, not of charity. Though the sceptre be departed from them, and I hope shall ever so continue, yet have they had all fair usage from Cesar, all convenient connivences, and compliances from the State, and Church, all freedom and immunities with other subjects, in civil matters: yet is there so much of the wolf and lion in them, that they will not dwell peaceably with us, nor eat, and lie down with us; I mean not only in our Churches to serve God with us, but not in our commonwealth, in our cities, towns, Villages. They are goads and pricks in our sides, 
h Prov. 3. v. 29.30.  they intend evil against us, when we dwell without fear by them. They strive with us causelessly, when we do them no harm. Their countenances fall upon us, as Cains upon his brother. They deride our worship, and zeal, as Michall did David's. They revile, and word-beat our persons, as Shimei. They plot treason to our State, like Athalia.  
And because we will not seek far for instances, here will come about, in the anniversary observation thereof, within these three or four days▪ a day which stands in our almanacs like a pillar of salt; a day which God made 
i Ex nigro et infausto, candidum etfelicem populo Romano. Plut. in vit. Lucul.  of a black and unlucky one, a most white and happy one to people of England, as Lucullus spoke in alike case; a day which, methinks, they should speak of, as Job of his birthday, 
k Job 3. v. 4. &c.  Let that day be darkness, let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon, it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it, and let a cloud remain upon it, let it not be joined unto the days of the year, nor let it come into the count of the months. Yea desolate be that night, and let no joy be in it. Let the stars of the twilight be dim, let it look for light but have none, neither let it see the dawning of the day: because it shut not up the doors of their mother's wombs, that no such miscreants, and deperdite wretches as they proved, should ever have stepped into the world; a day which we would forget, if they would remember it with such shame, and sorrow, as would well become them; but whereas some of them justify it, others excuse it, and some begin to deny it, we must be as a thread, or gimmall ring about their finger to put them in mind of their sin. A plot hatched out of Pluto's brain, as Minerva out of Jupiter's; invented, one would imagine, not by men, but by Cacodaemons; a hyperbolical, diabolical, nay hyperdiabolicall plot, moulded in the depths of satanical contrivances▪ in the acting of which what did they mean to antedate the resurrection of all those whose bodies lie at Westminster, with Kings, and counsellors of the earth, who have there made themselves desolate places? as Job opened his mouth, Chap. 3. vers. 14.  
And to second this, whilst I am transcribing these Schedules, and while these Sermons were between the Pulpit, and the press, lo what happened in the same place on Saturday, being the 21. of this instant November 1640. John James a Popish Recusant with a rusty dagger came into Westminster-hall, and there did stab into the breast Peter Heywood Esquire, one of the King's Justices of the Peace within the limits of Westminster, as he was going up to the Committee for Religion, to give up a book of the names of all the Papists which inhabited, or sojourned within the said limits, being thereunto required by Parliament. An attempt so daring, and bold, as nothing could be more: for if circumstances, which individuate an action, be considered, it will easily so appear, without any flow of words to greaten it.  
The Gentleman being venerable for age, and white and blooming as an Almond-tree; in the very seats of secular justice; the great Court of Parliament being convened, and the Committees then sitting; upon the person of a Justice of Peace, being employed about that business by the Parliament; upon the very day before the House was to receive the holy Communion, and which by that sudden and barbarous act was so unframed, as that they were forced 〈◊〉 adjourn that holy business, &c.  
I hold mine own Religion so good, as it needs not fetch lustre from the disgrace of another: It is a poor Religion that must ascend, and climb up to its own glory by another's dishonour, and shame; but these things are so palpable, and apparent, as if we should hold our peace, the very stones out of the wall, and the timber out of the roof of that structure would speak; But to the third Use, which is   

The use of Correction. 
Correctio.   
ANd the last Use of redargution did not lie more direct against the whole bulk of Popery, than the Use of Correction doth here against those public Incendiaries, and Conflagrators of the world, who are all for the sword, and war: 
l Videant qui bella movent. Muscul. in loc.  Let them see to it, who are such movers, and stirrers up of war, saith Musculus upon this Text. And let them look to it indeed, who know only how to ride the red horse of war, and take peace from the earth, and kill one another, Apoc. 6.4. who cry till they be hoarse again, as they, judges 7.20. The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon: who have ever in their mouths that of Peter, Master shall I smite? Like Caesar's soldier, Doth the Senate deny my Master the Consulship? but 
m Hic enfis dabit.  this sword shall give it him. But when shall you hear them speak in that phrase of the Prophet Jeremy, Chap. 47. ver. 6. O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest and be still. They are not for esay's prophesy of turning swords into plowshares, &c. but all for Joel's, Chap. 3. of turning plowshares into swords, &c. These know not what spirit themselves are of; I am sure far from an evangelical spirit, and temper: The way of peace they have not known. So far from kenneling the wolf and the Lamb together, or from stalling the ox and lion together, as they foment, and add fuel to their inimicitious qualities.  
I am not slipped into that anabaptistical conceit and tenet, whereinto they say both Erasmus and Ferus, two Beaucle●●s fell, that all wars were utterly unlawful under the Gospel. holiness to the Lord is found written upon 
n Zach. 14.20.  the bridles of horses, which is a warlike beast, as well as upon the high priest's frontlet, which is a man of peace. I will not now enter upon the point myself, but refer only him that is scrupulous herein, unto a most learned, and satisfactory Author, Grotius, in the first book and second Chapter, De jure belli & pacis, wherein he proves just wars to be lawful, both by the law of nature, and by the law of Nations, and by Divine Law before the gospel, and lastly, by the verdict even of the Gospel itself.  
Nevertheless, the most can be said for war, is this, that it may be necessary, it cannot be good of itself; even the same that was said of Aurelian, a severe man, A man rather necessary than good. The best plea it hath in Divinity, is either permission, as Moses suffered divorce in small cases, by reason of the hardness of men's hearts: or necessity, as David ate the showbread, and the Disciples plucked the ears of corn on the Sabbath day, being driven thereto by hunger.  
The direful effects, and sad consequences of War are so many, and great, as they may seem to require a just Volume. I will bestow this one Paragraph in pointing at them. And I will begin with two notable emblems of the misery that is in war: The one the Hawk and the Bitturn lying upon the ground, with this word, 
o Nulla salus bello.  No safety at all in war. The Hawk hath struck down the Bitturn, and seized upon it, and the Bitturne lying under, strikes his bill upward through the hawks gorge. The other is two pots floating upon a pond, or surface of a water with this word, 
p Si collidimur, frangimur.  If we knock together, we sink together. In war, any one may begin, but it is in the power of the Conqueror when to end: In war, even the Conqueror is commonly a loser: In war Fathers bury children, whereas in peace children bury Fathers, as Croesus Apophthegmatized, when he was captivated by Cyrus. In War, holy things are projected to dogs; witness that illustrious Temple of Jerusalem, which was forty six years in building, but scarce as many hours in demolishing. In war, every man is a Gadarene, respecting a swine more than a man; witness Titus Vespasian, who in the sacking of Jerusalem sold thirty Jews for a penny, to be a tulio to them, who had sold Christ for thirty pence. In War, old men bow themselves at the feet of their enemy, with as many tears and prayers, as a dry brain, and a faltering tongue can afford: Women are distracted between care for the fruit of their bodies to preserve their children from sword, and the sin of their souls, to preserve their chastity from lust. Lastly, to say no more, in war, the barbarous soldier ransacks houses, breaks open locks, rifles chests, ravisheth wives, and daughters, blunts his sword with the blood of Fathers and sons, and like Samson's Foxes, set on fire whole fields of corn. These and such like things have occasioned many fair and goodly Proverbs, and apothegms, whereinto a great deal of wisdom is abridged, beside the character of Antiquity, that is now stamped upon them: As that of Probus the Emperor for one, 
q Brevi spero milites non habebimus necessarios. Vopiscus.  I hope shortly soldiers shall not be so much as necessary; That of Antonius Pius, taken up from Scipio, That he had rather save one Citizen, then destroy a thousand enemies; That of Cicero, 
r Attic. l. 7. Ep. 14.  A most unjust peace is more profitable than a most unjust war. And lastly, that of Livy, which seems to be more warrantable, That 
s Liv. lib. 30.  a certain peace is both better and safer, than an hoped-for victory.  
And the encomiums, and blessings of peace will challenge one other Paragraph, before we shut up this Use, still allowing to Kings and their Senates, and counsels, right of drawing or sheathing the sword, when a desperate disease requires so sharp a cure. Vespasian the Emperor expressed upon his coins the felicities of peace, by the device of fair and full ears of corn, growing out of two hands conjoined together. Julius Caesar had another 
t Cadu●eum cum cor●ucopia.  not unlike it. Peace makes small things great, and great things impregnable; it is the very supporter of inidividuals, Families, Churches, commonwealths. Take a Church, or a Polity newly come out of the Mint of God's Providence, and give it but the milk of peace to drink, and it shall grow up fast to all strength and greatness. In peace, Kings are nursing Fathers, and Queens are nursing Mothers; the Magistrate is a 
u Custos utriusque tabulae.  Keeper of both Tables; The Merchant brings home wine, and oil; The Husbandman sows in hope, and reaps in joy; widows are comforted, and Maids are given in marriage; The Land flows with milk and honey; The lands stand thick with corn▪ that they do laugh and sing; Jacobs' blessing falleth upon men, the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth; There is no leading into to Captivity, no complaining in the streets; Rachel weeps not for her children, and will not be comforted; Old men go to their graves in peace; There is not a shield or a sword found amongst ten thousand of Israel 
w Judges 5.8. . Thus much in prosecution of the Use of Correction. The fourth now follows, which is   

The use of Instruction. 
Instructio.   
NOw the Use of Instruction cannot better be issued forth, then as the holy Ghost doth it in those divers, and weighty Texts, which are all exhortations unto the dwelling together, and lying down together, and feeding together, and playing together, of Wolves, and Lambs. Seek peace and pursue it, Psal. 34.14. Pursue it? how is that? the 
x {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} à Persequi, Prosequi.  root shows the nature of the branch: If it fly from thee as swift as a Roe or hind, yet follow the chase still, pursue and hunt it to thine own home, and to thy dwelling. S. Peter hath the same exhortation, for he allegeth the same Text, 1 Epist. 3. Chap. ver. 11. Seek peace and 
y {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}  ensue it. Those more than forty learned Translators which King James employed in that Ptolome-like work of the last Translation, put no more difference betwixt their rendering of David's Hebrew word, and S. Peter's Greek word, but pursue, and ensue: The Hebrew word of the Old Testament signifies a strong pursuit, and the Greek word of the New signifies a swift pursuit. S. Paul concurres with S. Peter, both in the same exhortation, and same 
z {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  word, Rom. 14.19. Let us 
a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  follow after the things which make for peace. So doth the penman of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Chap. 12. v. 14. 
b {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}.  follow peace.  
But not to follow this following indistinctly, and inconfusedly let us here propound the hedge, and limits of our speech. Follow it then, pursue it, ens●e it first in the several kinds of it; secondly, according to the several degrees of it; thirdly, according to the right order and method of it; and lastly, by the surest and safest rule of it; of which four, briefly, and in order.  
First, pursue it, I say, in the several kinds of it, which are three; 1. Economical, or household peace, in all those three several relations which do constitute a perfect family; the matrimonial relation betwixt husband and wife; the parental knot, betwixt Parents and children; and the servile one, betwixt Masters and servants. Now in each of these relations, commonly the superior is the Wolf, and Leopard, and lion, and the inferior the Lamb, Kid, and calf, while husbands are bitter to their wives, while Parents provoke their children to wrath, and whilst Masters threaten their servants; and too often by a reversed order, the inferior plays the Wolf, and superior must be the Lamb, when there are such wives as Vashti, such children as Absolom, such servants as Gehezi, or Ziba; but whether of the two ways the fault hath been, let us henceforth follow peace, and let the wolf go and dwell with the Lamb, and Leopard lie down with the Kid. The second is ecclesiastical, or Church-peace, which must be pursued too, both swiftly, and strongly. If the Shepherds have played the Lords, more than the Fathers over God's heritage; or if the flock have played the Church rebels rather than obedient children let them convert, and repent, and henceforth dwell & lie down, &c. together. The third is political, or Common-wealth-peace, which we had need to follow too; as the King is towards the Subject in protection, and just government, so the Subject towards the King in loyalty and allegiance, and Subject towards Subject in love, and concord.  
Secondly, we must pursue it according to the several degrees of it, which are four: 1. Interior peace with a man's self, both with his affections, and with his conscience; and this is the basis, and ground of all other peace, for if there be storms within, there will hardly be a calm without. 2. Exterior peace, both with beasts figurative, and beasts proper; that is, both betwixt man and man, and betwixt man and beast; for even that is taken in, as a branch of the covenant▪ Job 5.23. 3. Superior peace with celestial powers, both betwixt 
c Rom. 51  God and man, and betwixt 
d Ps 91.11 Mat. 4.6.  Angels and man. 4. Eternal peace, which is that sweet harmony and consent which passeth all understanding, when the Lambs and Kid shall ●e down safely, and securely in the fold of the Church Triumphant, by those who have been Wolves, and Leopards; yea, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God.  
Thirdly, we must pursue it according to the right method and order, which is this; first righteousness, and then peace: Melchisedech was first King of righteousness, as his name signifies, and then King of Salem, or peace, as his title imports. This is the method observed in the nuptials, and embracements of these two, Psal. 85.11. righteousness and peace have kissed each other; and it is the very method of this place and Text: for ver. 5. of this Chapter, which is the immediate pro-text, it is prophesied, righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, &c. and then in the very next verse of all begins this grand Prophecy of peace, The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, &c. internal peace without righteousness is but security; external peace without it, is but servitude and slavery; supernal is but presumption; and eternal is but fancy. Look to it therefore, that we do in this work {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, go the right way to work, lay a good foundation, and then the superstructure is like to stand.  
Lastly, let peace be prosecuted, and followed, by the safest and surest rule of this pursuit: which (certainly) is that of Solomon, Prov. 16.7. When a man's ways please the Lord▪ he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Here is a short cut; Please one, and please all, as we say: for house-peace in the family, where, it may be, the Mistress is a good Huswife, but of shrewish condition. To go about to work out true peace by our applications, and compliances with men, is an endless work, and to go about by the bow, but to attain both peace with others, and peace within ourselves, by this one most compendious way, of being reconciled to God, in the face of his son, is to go straight by the string. And now the fift and last use calls on us, to take notice of it, to wit   


Consolatio.  The use of Consolation.  
LAstly now, the comfort redounding from hence unto us is this, that God in his infinite mercy unto this poor, sinful, unworthy Nation of ours, hath so long, and for so many years together rained and showered down upon us, this great evangelical blessing, the blessing of peace, the very badge and cognizance of our profession, and the footsteps, I hope, of Christ's being amongst us; that as our Nation was the first Christian kingdom in the world, as 
e ●ol. Virg. l. 2.  Polydore Virgil testifieth, and our King Lucius, the first Christian King in the world, as venerable 
f Bede l. 1. c. 4.  Bede testifieth: so it hath been the most peaceable kingdom, for many last past years. First under our Deborah, that ruled and judged this Israel forty years: and then under King James, that peaceable Augustus, who chose it for his Motto▪ out of all the eight beatitudes, 
g Beati pacifici. Mat. 5.8.  Blessed are the peacemakers; and now under a meek, and sweet natured Prince, that sits upon his father's Throne; and it is machivels' observation, that a succession of three good Princes together doth notably contribute to establishment, and felicity of a kingdom.  
These are blessings which as ourselves have enjoyed, so all our friends have congratulated unto us, and our enemies have envied unto us, and pined away, and grown lean at our prosperity. It is true; there hath been of late an intercision, and interruption herein. Our peace both of Church and commonwealth hath been a little plundered and perplexed▪ God hath cast a fly into our precious ointment, and shred an handful of wild Gourds into our pot: but I hope it is but as a foil, the better to set off so long and great a peace; It is but as our Saviour dealt with the Emavitane Disciples 
h Luke 24.28.  when he made as though he would have gone farther, that they might grow the more importune with him to stay: and I should not at all doubt of it, if I could but see us once all of us as if all England were but one man, to prosecute, and pursue this peace according to that most safe, and sure 
i Touched before in the use of instruction.  rule; of making up our peace with God, in and through his Son, by breaking off our sins by repentance, and new obedience.  
And the rather because I find our very enemies Prophets to foretell, and heralds to declare it, for us. Cornelius' ● Lapide, a very famous Jesuit, and great commentator upon holy Scripture; whose volumes are swelled to that proportion that they take up half a Class●● in our public Libraries; and to that repute, as he is crept into most private Studies of those who affect learning, and have money to buy so many Volumes: he, I say, Commenting to that text of Scripture, Esay, chap. 2. verse 4. They shall beat their sword● into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-ho●ks: Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation, neither shall they learn war any more; Thus he writes: Christ, saith he, by the evangelical Law of charity, modesty, justice, meekness, and patience, shall agree, and compound the jars, and discords of all Nations, shall pluck up by the roots their antipathies, and hatreds, shall bridle the fierce and quarrelsome, and shall cause, that in one, and the same Church, there do friendly converse together, as brethren, Romans and Greeks, &c. ENGLISH and SCOTS; and so shall be fulfilled that of Esay 11.6. 
See the words in Latin, in the Title-page of these Sermons.  The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, &c.  
What, is Saul among the Prophets? must a very Papist, a Jesuit, who do so labour to disturb our peace, be a Trumpet, and Prophet of our peace? we thank him for it, whether it procee●ded from his ingenuity or from necessity, 〈◊〉 the spirit of vaticinatio● was on him, as it was u●●on Balaam, and the High Priest when Christ suffered. We cannot say to him, as the King of M●chaia, Thou never prophesied 〈◊〉 good unto me, but ●●●waies evil. But we wil● speak to him, as to 〈◊〉 Ahimaaz, in this thing he is a good man and brings good tidings.  
God of his goodness, who is the Author of peace, send us all sorts, all degrees of peace, through Christ Jesus, who is the Prince of peace, that every one of us both by our affections, and prayers, and endeavours may bring tribute, and offerings unto this 〈…〉, and so be the children of peace. Amen.    
FINIS.   

Novemb. 27. 1640.  
Imprimatur, ●oh● 〈◊〉