Outer, and an Inner. The outer, in the Letter, Christian Prudence. The inner, in the Allegory, Christian Patience. Prudence in a seasonable flight, when a danger threatens. Enter thou into thy chambers, shut the doors about thee etc. Gen. 27.44. As Rebecca commanded jacob to fly to Haran, Exod. 11.22. till Fsau's fury was assuaged: or as the Israelites came not out of doors, till the morning, when the destroying Angel was abroad: So when a Persecution rageth, we must nor stand to ourface it, but retire into our chambers. This sense Athanasius gives the words, who grounded his Apology profugá on the letter of the text. Patience in a quiet expectation of the Divine pleasure, A Lapide. etc. Enter into thy chambers, etc. Not the chambers of Death, Purgatory, Limbus-patrum, or the Grave, as the Popish Commentators interpret it, of the retirements of mortality, till the day of Judgement. Nor the chambers of pleasure, such chambering hath wantonness always behind the Hang, Carthusian B●…. Muse●…. but the chambers of devotion, patiently waiting for the salvation of the Lord. For if you please to light one candle by another, this of the Prophet, Luther in locum. Cubicula ingredimur, susecreta mer●… nostrae in●… m●… 〈…〉 illicita 〈◊〉 ria●…●…us. Greg. 1.4. mor. 6.26. by that of the Psal. Luther sales they give the same light; Fret not thyself, because of the ungodly rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psal. 77. 7 O if this candle burn too dim, will you borrow a Taper of the Fathers? Cubicula ingredimur, says Gregory, we enter into our chambers, when we retire into the secret closerts of our souls, we shut the doors about us, when we coerce unlawful desires; or as the ordinary gloss, when we put a watch before the doors of our lips, lest the greatness of our misery, Pone custodiam ori, ne ex vehememia tribulationis verkaper rumant in offensam dei. Gloss, ordin. prompt our tongues to blasphemy and murmuring. Lastly the Argument of both, drawn from 1. The brevity of Affliction, Paululum ad momentum, for a very little moment. If there be any odds in minutes take the least of them: and that not multiplied, but donec pertranseat ira, till the indignation be over past: 'Tis a verb of speed, and bids you look up to the sky, and see how fast this cloud posts away on the wings of the wind. 2. The speedy relief we shall have from 1. Heaven. Ecce venit dominus, behold the Lord cometh. etc. 2. Earth. Terra revelabit, the earth shall reveal her bloods, and no longer cover her slain. These are the parts of our present discourse, and for their multiplicity, I shall need no other apology, then that they are like the six cities of refuge, each a Sanctuary, and I cannot throw open too many in these times of Persecution, yet because he that hath many places to visit, must not stay long in a place, I shall discover them to you, with all possible brevity, beginning with that which gins all our discourse, the Compliment, in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My people. And a mere compliment you may think it indeed, 1. The Compliment. that he should call a company of poor captive jews, His people. He is not a true Courtier on earth, that will bestow more than a Compliment on men in misery. But there is no such base Courtship in heaven. All God's compliments are real performances: He is not ashamed to own his people when they are at the worst. In captivity, as well as in liberty, the worst condition: In Babylon, as well as Jerusalem, the worst place. Populi mei, my people, in both. Nay when all happiness and comfort seem to disclaim them, than he invites them to himself, Come my people. Come? Lord, they have but a short step to thee, who art always present with them. When the world was covered with a Sea, Gen. 6.17. for fecit inhabitare, he brought a flood of waters upon the earth, Jerome reads it, Deus inhabitans, God dwelled upon the deluge. He would not trust his little world in the Ark, but li●e another Neptune, he must sit upon the waters and seem to venture the hazard of a shipwreck with it. Ere Israel trod a step towards Egypt, I will go down with thee, Gen. 46.4. saith the Lord. Down? what a word is that for a Deity? into Egypt? what a place, that, for his holiness. Yet, O the humility of our God He never thinks himself low enough to do his people good, no place too had for his society, which made it a rule among the Hebrew Doctors, Menos Ben. Isr. in Gen. that God and his peole are inseparable, he will bear a share in their misfortunes. Moses had the Hieroglyphic of it, when he appeared to him in a burning bush. A strange throne for such a majesty: yet here he lays aside the state of a Deity, and to rescue his people from the fire, puts himself into the midst of it. Will you but knock at joseph's prison door, and there they will tell you, Dominus cum illo, Gen, 39.21. the Lord was with him. Will you but cast your eye with Nabuchadnezar into the Furnace, and with Darius peep into daniel's den, and in both Angelus Domini, the Angel of the Lord, put nature to a contradiction; you have a fire burning and not consuming, The devourers devoured by their own prey, My people are gone into captivity, Isai. 52.4, 5. Ashur hath afflicted them without a cause, Et quià mihi nunc hìc, says the the Lord, what do I now here? why, where wouldst thou be, O Lord, but in heaven? is not that the Palace of thy Majesty? yet he seems to be at little ease in heaven, whilst his people are in durance on earth: his bondage is their captivity, and there is no heaven to him like his people's Prison: or if you will read it otherwise (as some do) Quid mihi nunc, what is now left me? you will wonder the more, that in the loss of a few Jewels, he should esteem himself Plundered of the whole Cabinet. Yet as the rights of the Crown are all equal, and by slipping off one of those flowers, 'tis a shrewd signe given all may be liable: so the divine providence hath an even property in all his Saints, and if he should suffer some to be lost, he would bring his original right in question. But this hath been disputed by a deluge, and that could not obliterate; with the flames, and they would not consume; with age, and that could not antiquate, with all the powers of darkness, and they could never get it by conquest. It hath puzzled the whole Presbytery of hell to forge a Smectimuus against this jure divine. But what a bold enemy hath God now upon earth, that dares out law whole kingdoms, and dash a nation at once out of the book of life, as if none were truly Subjects to the King of heaven, but the stoutest Rebels against their King on earth. O malice, where are thy bounds? Is it not enough, that thou hast banished us from our cities, our country, our houses, but wilt thou disfranchize us of the new Jerusalem, disinherit us of heaven, our truest home? Is it not sufficient, that thou hast stiptus of our dearest friends and fortunes, but wilt thou rob us of our God too? Is it no ease to thee, to condemn us for dead men while we live, and to make us uncapable to serve God and the King, but wilt thou pursue us in our gaves, and persecute us to the sentence of an eternal rheum. Though I ever esteemed S. Ribad. in vit. S. Aug Augustine the more prosound Doctor, for being called by the Manichees Prado anima●…am the Pirate of souls: Tortus p, 97. King james the founder Protestant, for being the Pope's Heretic, & you the more orthodox Christians, because you are the Traitors Papists: yet I pray God our wicked lives have not atticulated this Blasphemy to them. For will you esteem Him a Roman, that always walks in a Persian habit, Him an Israelite, whose language is pure Egyptian, or Him an Englishman; whom nature hath died a very Aethiopian? If we are God's people, true Israelites indeed, we should wear the habit, speak the language, and live according to the Laws and Constitutions of his Kingdom. When the Curashier Bishop was presented to the Pope, Speed Hen. 4. he would not own him for his Son, Hae non est tunica filij, This is not the eoate of my Son. And when God shall behold us in our exotike fashions, dressed with the vanities of all foreign Nations, when the times call for sackcloth and ashes: when he shall hear us speak in that infernal language of execrations and blasphemies, when bleeding England begs for our preys: When he shall see our faces speckled and pied, to court and adulterous eye, when our present miseries should bedew them with tears to pacify our angry God, what can we except but a Non novi, I know you not. This is not the habit, the language, nor complexion of my people: very true in the old law, where we do not read that every your strange spotted beasts were accepted for sacrifice. The claim God lays to us is by right of a Colof. 1.16.17. dominion, and so we own him subjection; by right of purchase, b 1. Cor. 6.20. so gratitude; by right of c Rom. 6.18. Con quest, so Homage; by d Exek. 16.8. Covenant, so Fidelity: yea by a sweer e 1. Cor. 15.10. Communion and so we own him our dearest affection. And cannot all the cords of love bind our Allegiance? Into what a sacred snare hath the Almighty brought himself, whereby he is chained up as it were, and bound to be Our God, and yet no bonds can hold us to our Obedience. Necessity hath forced the proudest heart to be assistance of that hand, which prosperity taught him to scorn: And me thinks, if there were no other argument left us but our own misery, it should teach us so much wisdom as to keep God our friend. The Church of England hath long called upon her lovers, but she finds them, as her elder Sister did, False, Lament. 1.19 Deceperunt me, they have deceived me. Humane friendship is like Quicksilver, which you may incorporate into Gold, but cast it into the fire, and 'twill steal away, as if it scorned its acquaintance: but the divine love is not made of such running mettle; The Christian cannot be cast into a Furnace of affliction, that is too hot for his maker. 'Tis a fiery trial indeed, but of God's love, as well as the Christian's faith. As the King of Arragon was sailing into Sicily, he observed the brids attending the ship, Panormitan lib. 1. derelus gest. Alphonsi. whilst he threw corn to them: but when they had eaten that up, away they flew, whereupon says he, Persimiles his garrisses purpur all & curiales mei, My Peers and Courtiers are very like these birds; I shall have their company by sea and land, so long as I feed and dignify them: but if my treasure fail, they take their wings, leaving me and the ship to the mercy of the storm. Great Alphonsus, thy Court is but the emble me of all mankind: so Scottish and coveteo us are the hearts of men, that there cannot be a true loves-knott tied amongst them, but in chains of gold, and threads of silver: but our God is no mercenary deity. He follows not our ship for booty or pillage: but as Queen Elizabeth one styled herself, Speed, Cron. the poor man's Queen: so out God is the Banished, Imprisoned, Plundered, poor man's God. My people? Lord, whom dost thou speak to? wilt thou own us in our blood, and look upon us in our misery? We have been indeed, Gens deo chara, A nation beloved: but now (O our misfortune!) Invisa deo, Abhorred of the Almighty. Once Rignum Dei, the Kingdom of God: but now, (O our fall!) Magnum latrocinium, A den of Thiefs. May we not say with Rebecca, if it be so, why am I thus? if we are still thy people, Lord, why are we thus efflicted? But did you never hear, what Ausonius answered Caesar, when he desired a copy of his Verses, Epist. ad Aug. Cas. Non habed idingenij, I have not so good a fancy, O Emperor: but command me and I shall have, Cur me poor negern, poor quodille putat, why should I say, I cannot do, what he thinks I can: So if God still call us his people, why should we think we are not? Did he own us in our Sins, and will he disclaim us in our Sorrows? could our very Injuries move him to compassion, and shall our calamities enrage him against us: Is it his custom to make men miserable, and then obhorre them? If he chasten every Son whom he loves, adversity sure is but an argument of his dearer affection. Will any man take the pains to prune a Vine, that is none of his own, or weed the Garden, that is another man's? Propriety is the ground of care, and by this we know we are his people, that he careth for us. Ezek. 34.11.15. When King Edward told John of France, his Prisoner, that he should have his liberty, if he would but do him homage for the Realm of France, French Hist. in john. 51. King. He answered him freely, like a King, That he must not speak to him of that, which he neither aught, nor would do, to alienate a right inalienable: Affliction may engage my person, but never the invielable right of my Crown. And do you think the God of heaven will debase himself to do homage to those two proud usurpers, the World and Devil for his dominions? no, His Propriety is as in alienable and immort all as Himself. Though now our ship be almost sinking, yet because it is his Vessel, 'tis an undoubted argument to me, that he will rebuke the tempest, and bring it safe to land. Do you think the God of heaven will lose his right? Though our Sovereign be now persecuted his life and honour, yet because, He is God's Anointed, you may be confident, he will restore him to his Crown and Dignity. Do you think the God of heaven will lose his right? Though the Church ne now almost buried in her own ruins, yet because it is His house, He will repair it into its former Beauty and Lustre. Did you ever know the God of heaven cheated of his right? In a word, where ever we cast our eyes now, we behold nothing but misery and destruction, yet because he is still pleased to own us as His peculiar people, we may assure ourselves, that notwithstanding our manifold provocations, he will yet look upon us for good, Malach 3.17. and in the day, that he maketh up his fuels, sparens, as a man spareth his own Son. Never thinks the God of heaven will lose his right: But that we may still take the boldness to present ourselves before him, as his own in Christ, and with the Priest between the Porch and the Altar, make it the argument of our devotion, jocl. 2.17.18. spare thy people, O God, and give not thy heritage to reproach. And so lest you should think I meant to entertain you only with a Compliment, I descend to the Counsel, my second general: And therein, First the Advice of the Letter Christian Prudence in a seasonable flight. Enter thou into thy Chambers, shut the doors about thee, and hid thyself. A Chamber was never but safe and delightful to a contemplative mind, 2. The Counsel. but now so much the better, as the world is worse. 1. Literal. 'Tis a happiness not to be a witness of the mischief of the times, which 'tis as hard to behold, and be innocent, as to converse with and be safe: so that he, who needs not a chamber for contemplation, may for Protection. The old law opened cities of refuge, Math. 10.23 and sure the Gospel hath not shut them. He that gave the persecuted counsel, to fly out of one city into another, allows every man the choice of his own Sanctuary. When a danger approaches so near, that there is no safety in staying, and God offers us the wings of a Dove, fair and certain means of escape, not to fly then, Athonasus Apolog. pro fuga. were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in Athanasius phrase, to condemn providence itself, & to scorn deliverance, when 'tis kindly administered. For though God be omnipotent and can fetch a deliverance for us out of an Impossibility, yet because his power is commanded by his will, and his will is to save by means, Abomnipotentiâ Dei non est inferendum quidlibet, We must not presume to infer more from his omnipotency, than what is authorized by his will: else we should make no more use of God's imperial power, than we do of jugglers, only to show tricks to the world, & to please every man's humour, with a fresh miracle. Who can read without admiration, that God should fly from a weak man that he before whom the earth moves, and the seas go backward, Apoca. 20. v. 11 should be put to this poor shift to save his life from him, Psal. 104.7. whom a despicable worm could conquer: yet our Saviour fled into Egypt, leaving us an example that we might follow his steps. 1. Pet. 2. v. 21. He could have commanded an officer of heaven to have stroke Herod dead, or called out a Legion of Angels for his lifeguard, but that he would instruct our presumption, not to expect an Act of grace, where the Common-Law may relieve us: not to look for a Miracle, where ordinary prudence will protect us. Why do you not call home your Armies, and dismount your Ordinance, if you can ortaine the victory by sounding of Rams-hornes and breaking of Pitchers, yet with such an Artillery, Israel battered jericho to the ground? Nay, why so much provision for a Siege, if you can persuade the heavens to fill your Magazines with Manna enough? yet they were so courteous to the Israelites camp: but, if you dare not trust such an Artillery, or Sucklers to your Army, why will you venture your lives on a certain danger, upon the presumption of an extraordinary and disengaged providence? Nor doth it excuse the rashness, that Persecution is God's visitation. For what evil is not? The sword of Pestilence, as well as the sword of War, both are weapons of divine justice: And why will you court one more than the other? do you make any difference, whether you perish by a stab or by an infection? Since then the danger is equal, why not to be declined with equal prudence. Lot did not think it safe staying among the flames of Sodom, because they came from heaven: nor would the people embrace the Leper, for the divine hand that smote him. This were not to perish by God's visitation, but our own presumption, and to fetch in a judgement, not to have it sent us; he that bid us fly, when we are persecuted, did not except himself, when, with reverence be it spoken, he became a Persecuter. But whether can we fly from God's hand? Can we be too nimble for our destiny? or cheat the fates by changing our Hemisphere? No, as Alexander of Alexandria told Athanasius, whom he had elected his Successor in that See, but saw him decline it: so our destiny says, Ribadin. in vit. Athnasi. Fugere licet, Athanasi, non tamen effugies. Fly thou mayst, Athanasius, but thou salted not escape. Death is a common debt we own to nature, yet he is not so cruel a Creditor, as to demand it before'tis due. The time of payment is set down in God's book, and so long as we have any lawful means to preserve our lives, the dare is not yet expired. jerom. in joh. Nomest nostrum arripere mortem, sed illatam libentèr accipere: We must bid death welcome when he comes, but not hale him to us, and put the sit he in his hand whether he willor no: this were to antidare our own ruin, and to make death itself guilty of murder by cutting us down before our time. Though Martyr doom be the Crown of Christianity, yet we may not be so ambitious of it, as to betray ourselves to the Prison or Stake, Furiosum genus hominum. Aug. epist. ad Bonifac. as those furious Heretics, the Circumcellions in Austin's time, that went up and down begging Martyr doom, Come, Plunder, Stab, Burn us; and if none would be so kind as to kill them, they were so cruel as to become their own executioners. The Friars relate of their good Saint Francis, that he went up and down to Majorka, Bonavent. & Ribadin in vitâ Francisci. and Minorka, among the Mahometans, desiring to be put to death for Christ's sake; pity, he should go so fare for a halter, that had such a mind to it. But Christ himself was of another opinion, who hearing the jews had consulted to destroy him, John. 11.54. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he walked no more openly, but retired into a Village near a Wilderness, to teach all his Disciples, Origen in cataná Pat●…m in locum. Origen says, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Not to be too rash and hot upon dangers, though it be for truth itself. A wise Pilot will not run his ship wilfully on a rock, but if a tempest drive it, he will show his skill and courage to save it from splitting. That Commander needs not an enemy, that will drive his men on the Cannon's mouth. His temerity shall slay more than the enemy's sword: or if he chance to slunder upon success, yet he is more conquered with such a Victory, then by a discomfiture. So, he that seeks death, before death seeks him, dies not a Martyr, but a Man. slayer. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Clem. Alex. l. 4. Strom. For what difference is there, between falling on my own and running upon the point of another man's sword? He that dilivers himself into the hand of danger, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He joins in conspiracy with his persecuter against his own life. Clem. d. l. But if any man should be so unkind to his own soul, as to throw it away, yet he owes so much charity to his very persecuter, as not to give him an occasion to shed innocent blood: As Nazianzen observes of Marcus Arethusius his flight, that it was not so much in love to himself, Nazlan. orat. 3. adv. jusian. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but in compassion to his persecuters, lest he should fuel their malice with his own blood. Think me not though, so faint hearted an Orator, as to persuade any man to fly from his Colours. Christianity is no such cowardly Religion: but there go so many flowers to make up this crown of Martyrdom, that he, who doth but simply die for Christ, without other circumstances, is like to wear but a single flower, not the whole crown. Cuipatientia, mens benè conscia, congruacausa, Tempus & adsuerit, hic benè Martyr erit, As my Countryman * Alexander sir-named of Hales, a hamlet near Sudely Castle in Gloucester shire The only learned writer my Country hath to boast of. Speed. Alexander of Hales makes them into a Posey. He that hath patience, a good conscience, a just cause, and (what makes the Crown complete) a fit opportunity to die for Christ, He only deserves the name of a Full Martyr. The other three are like flowers in Autumn, withered and dry, till God's appointed time: then they will blossom and spring, and flourish in the Crown so that a future threatened danger we may decline without imputation of Cowardice, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Origen. loc: decked. because of the uncertainty of the event: but a present unavoidable one, we must undergo with the highest expression of valour. When our Saviour's hour was come, Mat. 16.23. Mat. 26.50. he called his friend Peter, Devil, for dissuading him from his Passion, & the Devil Judas, friend, for betraying him to it. Wonder not at Ignatius, and Germanicus, Ignat: Ep. all Rom. Luseb. l. 4. c. 15. Socrates. Scholastic. l. 4. c. 16. et 16. who being both condemned to the merciless teeth of wild Beasts, provoked those savage creatures to tear them in pieces. Censure not St Basil's utinam, when his immodest persecuter Modestus threatened him, with present death. Would to God it might go so well with me, said he, as to leave this carcase of mine in the quarrel of Christ. Did you behold the three Christians laid on a griditon by Amachius, Socrat. l. 3. c. 15. to be broiled to death, what could you expect, but tears, and supplications for mercy, or an open renouncing of their faith: yet as if those burning coals had only kindled their zeal, they gave him this flour, If thou dost long, O Amachius, after broiled meat, turn the other side of us, lest thou make but a raw feast of it, and the blood run about thy teeth. Such was the undaunted courage of the Saints, when they saw a necessity of suffering, that they more tormented the Persecuter with their constancy, than he could them with his torments, God knows, how many of our lots is may be, to drink of this bitter cup: keep in our chambers we may, and pray with our Saviour. If it be possible let this cup pass from us: yet if God shall put it into any of our hand, take it off we must with the greatest cheerfulness: 'Tis but a morning's draught, to that long and happy day, Eternity. Tertull I de suga in persecut. De corond wilit c. 1. Thammerus 1. de suga. Tertullian, & Theobaldus Thammerus, would have the Priest begin to you in this cup, against whom they shut up all Sanctuaries in time of persecution. The Apostles might decline it, if it were offered them in one city, by flying into another, because they were Preachers-generall, Ministers to the whole world, and so whither soever they went, they were still in their Parish, but we who are Shepherds to one little flock, if the wolf come, must perish with them. Forth people are their own, the minister the Peoplens; Them God hath trusted with their bodies, Him with their souls: Nay, shall we preach to them, Mat. 10.28. Netimete, Fear not them that kill the body, and we first take our heels? or did Christ say it, only to the Laity, Luk. 12.9. He that denies me before men, Him will I deny before the Angels of God. Specialitèr adversus Ecclesiam texuit volumina de pudicitia, de persecutione, etc. ter. lib. de Ecclesiast. scriptor. Martyrium aded extolleret, us ne fugam, aliasique latebras vel redemptionem vitae admitteret. Baron. an Christi. 201. n. 9 Yet all this is but a kind of zealous Montanisme. For Tertullian taking a discontent that his countryman Victor was preferred before him to the Bishopric of Carthage, after the death of Agrippinus, turned Montanist, & employed those acute parts of his, in defending many the Heresies of that Sect, in which catalogue is the deny all of flight to the persecuted. For the Cataphrygians so magnified Martyrdom; that they would not allow a man to save his life, though he could without scandal For my part, I did never love to uncover the nakedness of any the ancient Fathers of the Church; But when their opinions stand in competition with the truth, than St Cyprian hath given me a rule, Non debemus attendre quid aliquis ante nos faciendam putaverit, Cyprian. l. 2. Ep. 3. sed quid, qui ante omnes, Christus priùs fecerit. We must not look what any did before us, but what Christ did before all. He scarce saluted the world, but declared himself a man by flight, as well as by those querulous passions of hunger and thirst. And what he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, after the manner of men, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Athanasius says, Athan Apol. pro suga. is common to the whole kind: And shall nature be so cruel a Stepmother to our tribe only, as to deny us the privilege she indulgeth all her sons? Look into the Saint's Geography, & you shall find a double Synod, 1. Kin. 18.13. each consisting of fifty Prophets in a cave: The first Apostolical Council held in Golgotha, Quaresmius Tom. 2. elucid terrae sanctae. l. 4. c. 1. peregrin. 9 et. c. 22. peregr. 7. among dead men's bones: The Apostles had no other Convocation-house, Quaresmius says, but a large cave or an ample sepulchre: Nor did they like men, but beasts, In Latibulis, in their denns and burrows: Shall I give you a map of S. Paul's flight, out of his covert at Damascus, Latibulum Pauli fuit antrum in plagâ meridionalt Damasci, Quares. t. d. l. 7. c. 1. per. 6. to Iconium, from Iconium to Lystra, from Lystrato Ephesus, thence to Macodonia. You cannot forget old Polycarpe * Euseb. Eccles. hist l. 4. c. 15. Ribad. to Vit. S. Aug. Ille in Vit. S. Basilij. Soz. hist. Eccles l. 6. c. 2. & 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, hid in the cockloft, when his persecuters searched the house for him. S. Cyprian in his chamber, when the people cried, Cyprianum ad Leones, Away with him to the Lions. S. Augustine locked within doors, when the Manichees, that could not confute him with argument, would have done it with the poniard. S. Basil in the solitude of Pontus, when the peevish Prelate Eusebius molested him at Caesaroa. And though Origen in his youthful years was such a hot spur, as to run upon danger, yet in his riper age and judgement, when Alexandria was too hit for him, he was glad to accept of a corner to save his life. What should I tell you of S. chrysostom, Non t●…ultil ut judices ferat c●…s qui essent manefesti hosts, Soz ●… 8. c. 17. who, when there was a Synod packed by Theophilus to condemn him, withdrew himself, and sent them word by Demetrius, that they must not take him, for Tàm slultum, so very a fool, as to be tried by such judges, as were his professed enemies, but in a full convention he would make his defence. Nay great Athanasius, Socrat Scholar l. 1 6 35 l. 2. c. 1, etc. Ri●ad in l●it Athan. who for forty six years, was chased up and down by those Arian blood. hounds, Constantine, Constantius, Julian, and Valens, with so much malice and severity, that scarce any of the four Elements did dare protect him, but he was compelled to live in a Cistern, and sometimes in his Father's toomb like a dead man. And here I cannot pass by, that false imputation, which Thammerus casts on this reonowned Prelate, Thammerus de fug. l. 1. fol. 16. viz. That the occasion of his flight, was his own Avarice, in engrossing the corn, Constantine sent to the poor of Alexandria: A foul crime in a Bishop, Socrates. l 2 ●… 19 ad 28 Niceph. l. 9 c. 9 Theod. biss. Eccles. l 2, c 7, 8. etc. Lib 1 d●…c. 25. ad 32. S●… l 1. c 35 to rob the poor: but of this, and other false accusations preferred against him by the Arians, he was acquitted before the Emperor, and in a Council at Sardica, a city in Illyria; when Julius Bishiop of Rome sent a sharp Epistle to the Bishops of Antioch, for endeavouring to slain so Spotless an innocence: the true cause of his flight being the bloody malice of the Arian faction against him. Fugiant cum corum quisquam. specia●ter a persecutori●us queritur, etc. Aug Ep. 180. ad Honorat. And truly where the life or liberty of a Minister is sought (as at this day) I am to learn what obligation should stay him for ruin. For he is not so much the peoples, but he is still Lord of his own life: Nor because he hath the care of their souls, is it any warrant, he should neglect his own. Our charity may begin at ourselves, though I would not have it end there. If my my conscience tells me, I shall not be able to contest with the temptation, that I have not patience for aprison; nor courage for a stake, Mat. a. v. 13. Then as the Angel said to joseph, Arise I must, and take the young Child, My weak faith, and fly into Aegytt. Better a prudent flight, than a presumptuous residence. I had rather accept of S. Paul's basket at Damaseus, and keep my faith, Act, 9 25. then fit by the high Priests fire with Peter, Mat. 26. 691 and deny my Master: Pet. Mart. Ep ad Lucens. Euseb. l. 14. c. 14. With Peter Martyr rather leave my Church at Luca & enjoy a good conscience: then keep my Living and lose my faith with Quintus. Sure he cannot be said to deny Christ by flying, who flies least, he should deny him. Nay what more real, and public confession can he make of his faith, then to leave all for his Saviour? Lock upon his plundered house, his scattered patrimony, nay the poor man's cheeks, that were fed with his bread, and do they nor all suffer a kind of Martyrdom for his Allegiance? Can you behold his Wife and Children, the constant addition, and companions of his misfortunes, and do they not all see me to you so many confessors of his Loyalty? Nay where another Curate can't be had, what if I should say, Domus ipsa divinat, The very Parsonage house, can Preach obedience to the whole Parish? Tell me now, which denies Christ before men, He that sits secure at home, and Rebels, or He, that exposeth himself to all difficulties, to keep a good conscience. He that stays in his house, and goes to Mass, or He, that flies to keep himself from Idols. Peter Martyr upbraydes the presumption of his Parishioners, who esteemed him a Coward for his prudence, and boasted that they were Equites Christi fortes & probati Valiant and approved Cavaleirs of Heaven, Pet Mart Ep. 2. ad fra: Lucens. p. 1104. that would rather die, then stir a foot from. Christ's Banner, and yet ran to the enemy, and fought under a Popish Ensign. O quàm multos fefellit haec vana spes? How many hath this vain hope deceived? whilst they despise this common remedy of weakness, or rather true Christian policy, they run their consciences on a wilful, and deserved ruin. Nor is the Ministers absence uncharitable, where his presence is unprofitable: For it is not his absence, but the people's profession, that exposeth them to the Wolf: not his flight, but their faith, that invites the persecuter. Or if he did stay, when his office ceaseth, He is spiritually absent (the worst of the two) though corporally present: yea, how unable were he to confirm the weak, who himself is the weakest? so that, where the people can have no benefit of his presence, they are his greatest Persecuters, that quarrel with his absence. Will you not allow him to learn to handle his weapon in a chamber, that he may come prepared, and not be hissed off the stage? Athan. Apol. pro fugd. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Flight is a fencing School, where we exercise ourselves at foils with death, ere we come to a public encounter. Call it no more Fear that he is gone, but Art: not cowardice, but strategem. He is stepped aside, as the Fencer falls back sometime, to give the fiercer onset: or the Soldier retreats, only to return with greater courage to the battle. Have you but the patience, till the cloud breaks, and the Sun will recompense your short darkness with a more glorious light. Christ shall stay no longer in Egypt, then till Herod is dead: then, the Sun of righteousness shall rise in Inry with heading in his wings. Let not Carthage think they have quite lost their Cyprian, Cypr. Ep. 9 in less than two years Decius dieth, & he returns their vigilant Bishop and Pastor. Doth Alexandria despair of ever seeing Athanasins again? why, the very same power, that first banished, restores him again to his seized Bishopric. Theod. l, 1, & 2. For Constantius is now sending his Imperial letters, to invite him home, and devout, George the sequestratour, must out of his usurped Prelacy. Do but permit Luther to keep close, Sleid. Anno 1521. till the Pope's Bull hath done roaring, and you shall hear him again in his pulpit at Witenberge. Suffer Melancton to hid a while in the Cities of Harcinia: when the Siege is raised, Sleid: 1547. he will return to his Divinity school in that University. The text allows not of such chamber, as should entertain you in a perpetual security, but by the septuagints word, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they are like the Cabinet, where you put up your jewels safe, till you please to wear them, or the common Magazines, where you lay in provision, till necessity calls it forth. Besides, will you make the Almighty so unskilful a General, as to venture all his Army on the very first charge: some Reserves he will have for the Necessities of his Church: As Demosthenes, when one upbraided his flight, answered, Serve me patrioe, Plat. I keep myself for my Country: so the learned Clergy, that take fanctuary here, and in other places of safety, are but the Churches Reserve, not to be commanded up, till the very last plunge of the Battle. And how many triumphs doth the Church own to this one Persecuted Brigade? When all the world was Arian●…, Atha●as ●… ad orthedox: frat. stout Athanasius lead up the Reserve of Orthodox Bishops, and quite roused the Here sie, that it could never gather a head since. When the Pope had the necks of all Christian Princes under his club foot, and they held their Consciences, and Domions in Vassalagae from him, did not that poor Reserve, Lather a single Monk cut off this Philistin's head with his Own Sword? I cannot tell what we should have done for a Redeemer, had not David saved his life in a Cave Can you have had the branch, if the stock of jesse had been cut down and withered? Nay we had all been Pagans till this day, Baronius t. 1. annal. had not some of those fifteent thousand, that fled from ferusalem at the Stoning of Steeven, Act. 8. 1. crossed the British seas: By this, the Roman Sceptre was prevented by the Cross of Christ, and England made one of the first Chambers, where Christianity was borne. In all the rety rements of these worthies, the Church hath reaped a very plentiful harvest. Had shoe nor many of * Psal, 3. In the Cave, Ps. 57 In the Wilderness, Ps. 63. His prayer in the Cave, Ps. 142. Euseb l. 3. c. 15. David's Psalm, out of a Wilderness, & a Cave? choice flowers, for so barren a soil. Saint Johns Revelations, out of the I'll Patmos, the place of his banishment: The Apostles 'Greed, a Oblonga cisterna in rupe montia excisa etc. Quaresmius, tom. 2. elucid. terra sanctae. l. 4. c. 1. pereg 9 out of a long vault at the foot of mount Olivet: where the Twelve drew it up, ere they dispersed themselves throughout the world: The Athanasian b Nauclerus vol. 2. Chronol generat. 12. p. 608. Ribad in Vit. eypr. out of an old cistern at Treveris in Germany, where that Father penned it against the Arians. Godly and learned men are of such a diffusivanature, that like the rivers, if they be denied passage in their proper channelts, they swell above the banks, and water the sterile country about it. S. Cyprian being banished Carthage, retired to Curhis, confirming the Martyrs, and relieving the poor. S. Chrysostom in his exile to Cucusus wrote that divine Paradox, Nemo Laeditur, nisi à seipso, Zo●. l. 8. c. 27. Ribab. in Vit. Chrysom. and though he found the People Pagan, yet he lest them Christian: For by his unwearied pains and exemplary piety, he planted a Christian Church, and at his departure, ordained seven Bishops, and many Presbytens there. You would think, jupbraided your Idleness, should I tell you of Origen's preaching at Caesanea, Erasm in Vit. Origen Pet Mart. ad Lucens. Sleid. l. 3. an. 1521. extant tom. 1. & 2. when he was driven from Alexandria: Of Peten Martyr's. Divinity Lectures at Argentoratum, When he could Preach no longer at Luce: of Lather's tomes, which he wrote in the Castle of Wartenburg, when they laid wait for his life at Wormatia: and of Brentius his Commentaries in his recess, Sleid. k 20. an 1548. when the Spaniards expolled him his Church at Hala. You are not of this reserve, whom your Parishes have spewed out for your drunkenness and luxury: Nor any, that come hither, as to a Garden of pleasures, to live at ease, or as to a Fair of preferments, her honour and advancement, as too many follow our Aimies, only for Quarter and pillage, who never mean to draw a sword. None are of the Church's Regiment, but those whom Conscience and Loyalty to God and the King, have brought to this place, and are willing, when God shall call, to lay down their lives for the Churches good. As oft as I think of Witenberg, I esteem every such Champion (How mean soever he seem to the eye of the World) a Pledge of divine protection. For when Charles the sift besieged that University, God so heard the prayers of Pomeranus and other learned men, Sleid l. 19 Wig de Jugd ministe. that, when the Souldiens entered, instead of Violence, they showed them all reverence, and spared the City for their sakes. Pray God, We never meet with a worse enemy. By the divine Indulgence, we have this Zoar, this Pella yet left us: but if he hath purposed, this shall not be the last stage of our slight, as the Poet of himselse and his friend, Martial. E. pigr. Quocunque, in loce, Roma duobus erit: so, let this be our comfort, that God and a Christian, wherever they are, make a great city. He cannot want the conveniences of one place, who is accompanied with him that fills all places, and we may besure of His society, who fly for his sake, as Nazianzen said of A. thanasius, Nor. orat. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, He fled for the Trinity, and therefore with the Trinity. Ask me not, What you shall eate, or what you shall drink, or where withal you shall be clothed? Rather than your Heavenly Father will suffer you to want any of these, The Heavens shall rain Manna, the Rocks run with a pleasant stream, and the winds serve in Varieties for you. You have forgot the Dry cruse, that sprang with oil, the Lion's jaws, that distilled honey, the Raven, that carried meat in his bill, and the Fish, that brought money in his mouth, to defray the charges of God's people. All the creatures are ready to bring in Contribution, either provision or money for their relief. We cannot sure be driven into a more barren soil, Ps, 63. v. 6. than the wilderness of Ziph; yet there David was satisfied, as with marrow and fatness. Do you not think the Angel mistaken, Math. 2. that he should send foseph with our Saviour into Egypt, A Nation always abhorred of the jews: this were, in your judgement, to deliver him out of one danger into another: yet there the divine providence designed him a safe quarter, and provided our tender Jesus a bed in Heliopolis, for his hard manger in Bet blehem. Whether could you imagine St chrysostom was going, but as a certain prey to famine and misery, Zor. l. d. Ribad. in vit. when he went in banishment into Armenia, without friend or fortune? yet there God raised him two noble friends, Philadelphus, and Diescorus, who esteemed themselves happy in so rich a prize, and became not only Patrons to his Person, but Proselytes to his Religion. How was it possible, great Athanasius could live six years in a cistern, Naucler. vol. 2. chronol. gen. 12. and sour months in his Father's monument, had not God moved the heart of a Virtuous matron to convey him daily relief? Will you behold you own misfortunes in reverend Brentius, who after twenty six years constant preaching at Hala in Swethland, with his Wise and Children was, by the bloody Papists, thrown out of his own house into a hospital, and, Sleid. l. 20. an. 1548. as if that had been too stately a Palace for a poor Protestant, sent a begging, had not Vlrichus Duke of Witenberg, Hospitium occultum, entertained him privately in his own Court. What should I tell you of poor Merlin, Fr. Hist. who during the massacre at Paris (a fortnight together) was fed with one egg a day, which a Hen laid in the Hey-mow, where he hide himself? or of distressed Peter Martyr, Pet. Mart ep. adfr. Lucens. whom Martin Bucer relieved at his own Table, till he preferred him to be Divinity reader at Argentoratum, and procured him an honourable stipend of the Senate Since the divine providence hath found out so many unexpected ways of relieving his people, why should we think his hand will be shortened towards any of us, who are now under the like persecution? In the Civil Wars of France, Fran Hist. the Papists scoffed the Protestants, that they had neither Men nor money, but a God for all purposes, and this Magazine never failed them. We have almost for got our mean beginning: who it was, that advanced us out of the dust to be a terror to our enemies? Had our King any Arsenal of Arms, but the divine providence? any Magazine left him, but his God? do but continue your affiance in Him, and he will be Riches, honours, friends, maintenance, All to you. Or, put the worst that can be, if our Enemies should bear us off God's earth, yet they will but drive us into Heaven: and poor prize, they will have of our bones, (but a lasting monument of their own shame) when our immortal Souls shall mount above the Stanes, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Clem Alex. l. shrew. 4. a Place above the reach of a persecution As Luther answered Cajetan's Oratous, when he asked him, Melanston in presat ad town 2. Lutheri. where he could live safe, if Prince Frederick did not protect him, Sisb Coelo, Vuder the Firmament somewhere, burr if Earth will not entertain me, Heaven shall, In my Father's house are many mansions, which puts me in mind of our Inner chamber, The Allegory, in Christian Patience. Enter thou into thy chambers, etc. This, as well as the Other, my next particular. But we have been so long in the other, The Counsel, 2. Allegorical. that as Cyprian, De patieptia dicturus, patiention vestram, Before I discourse of Patiences I had need beseech your patience: yet as Moses from mount Nebo, Had only a view of Canaan a fare off, and then died: so, Please you only to look into this Inner room, and I shall conclude. Patience is a retiring Virtue: she always keeps her chamber, and never goes abroad to meet affliction, but bids it welcome, when it comes. He is too delicate for her acquaintance, that cannot entertain so churlish a guest. Erras, erras frater, says S. Jerome to Heliodore, Ier, Ep. ad Heliodor. You are mistaken Brother, you are mistaken, if you think to be a Christian and not to suffer. 'twas Iulian's scoff, but a true one, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. 'Tis your duty, Soen. 1.3.6.12. when Insuries are offered you, to bear them patiently. And if our duty, why are we such strangers to this noble virtue? Sure you are not so straitened in room, but that you may spare Patience a chamber. She expects not any stately palace, but a Quiet mind: the least closet you have will serve her turn, But your Hearts. A cheap guest she is: you may save your hang and Perfumes, she delights in no Ornaments, but the Cross: no delicacies, but faith and hope: she keeps not her chamber for state, but devotion, and shuts the doors against all company, but afflictions. A strange humour this! Can she dwell with misery and not the destroyed with it? Why not? Do you not see the Keeper sport with his Lion, when the Spectator will scarce trust his chain. Misery looks terrible only upon strangers. Let patience bring you acquainted, and though it look grim upon you at first, yet you will find it a very sweet companion. For Patience can tell thee, All thy misery is fetched in by thyself, or sent from God. If by thyself, No greater argument for patience. He that could never forgive another, will not sure be so unkind to himself, this were to add Impatience to Imprudence, and by the same reason thou vexest at thy former error, thou mayest vex at thy vexing? If from God, Tertul. l. de patiented. Cui magis patientiam, quam domino? To whom is our Patience more due, then to the Lord? He hath borne with our Injuties, and shall not we endure his chastisements? Proud clay, will thou ever be checking the Potter? Insolent earth, wouldst thou control, where thou shouldest admire? Is his Wisdom himself, Himself infinite, and shall not be know what is most expedient for thee? Is his Justice himself, Himself merciful, and because his proceed seem harsh, wilt thou call them unjust? In fine, Is his will the rule of his actions, His goodness of his will? And can any thing, but what is good, proceed from goodness itself? Cull dew dignatur irasci Tert I. de.pat. Tertullian is in the right, Beatum illum servum, etc. Happy the man, with whom God vouchsafes to be angry! Suffer him, O suffer him to scourge thee here, that he may spare thee hereafter. For did Mercy open all her bowels upon thee, yet she could not produce such another mercy, as this very Anger. Indeed for a man to be thrown out of plenty into want, out of a large Revenue, unto almost an Alms, is as great a temptation, as now common. Yet remember, The greater the evil; The more glorious the conquest. 'Tis no Victory, to vanquish a poor worm, No praise, to wade over a shallow foard; but to cut the Ocean, and encounter a potent Enemy is the true gallantry, that deserves the laurel. Great evils have this benefit with them, that their difficulties are not so large, but their Crowns are proportionable, and though they require much patience to conquer them, yet that is, only that they may Crown the Victor with the greater glory. Many of us, I know, were never in the list before; now we are set upon by a fierce Judgement, show what patience you have, what fortitude. Let not the Heathen Philosopher shame you, who could laugh at his own shipwreck, when we cry out, as if our eternal happiness were embarked in a Coffer. He could throw that careless Epitaph after his goods, Pereant, ne Peream, Let them perish, lest I perish with them; but we wish, we had sunk in the same bottom, or with the discontented Israelites, That we had died, ere we came out of Egypt. What means this Impatience, this cowardice? Have the Enemy sequestered your hearts, as well as your Lands? Have they plundered you of your Faith together with your Goods? me thinks I hear you talk like Laban, Wherefore have they taken away my Gods? As if you knew not, what to do for a God, a Christ, a Heaven, now your wealth is gone. Come, dissemble no longger, but profess thyself an Atheist, who knowest no Deity, but thy Mammon: Be no more a Christian, who canst not suffer for righteousness sake. Never was any man loser by a sjust cause, Totum seculum pereat, modò patientiam lucri ●…a●…am, Text. de pat. though he had nothing left him, but his patience. He is richer with this then with the whole Indies. Righteousness will not be long in his debt: but he that hath lost a friend for Her she will pay him with a God. He that is deprived of his liberty for her, she will recompense him with a Redeemer, He that shall lose Lands, or Houses, or Life for Hes, she will repay him with a Kingdom, a Crown, yea Eternity itself. O let me ever be such a loser, and Impatience itself cannot complain? Wherefore, let not your Hearts be troubled, but possess your Souls in patience. Non Villas, August. non Laudes, Not your Farms, not your Lordships, those you are least masters of now: but Animas, Your Souls, That manor you have still left you: nothing can dispossess you of it, but your Impatience. And why will you make a Foreign evil domestical, and fetch in those furies, that are now abroad, to disquiet patience in her chamber? When Luther saw Melancton torn in himself at the distractions of the Church, Sleid. l. 7. an. 1330. Curio ad hunc modumte crucias, etc. said he, Why dost thou thus torment thyself with impatient thoughts? If our Cause be naught, why do we not throw it up? If Just, why should we make God a liar in so many promises of success? If ever a sad Melanction be in this Assembly, let him entreat his patience to keep her chamber but a moment, and he, that is to come, will come and will not tarry: which is the last particular, I shall at this time treat of, the First argument, which like a key locks both chamber doors, Vsque ad momentum, for a very little moment. But are there any minutes in God's Ephemerideses? Argument, 1. from the Brevity of our affliction. do such atoms of time come under his observation? Our Philomathists have kept their account so well, that they have lost us some part of our year: but God numbers the days, the hours, yea the very minutes of our affliction. No so exact a Chronologer, as the divine providence. Yet you may say unto me, as the Disciples to Christ, Joh. 16. v. 18. Quid est hoc modicum, What is this little while? we know not what he meaneth. For the Jews were seventy years in Babylon, and yet he calls it, Tanquam param momenti, Not a full minute. Nay, Our four year's Troubles, which have seemed almost an Age to us, will he esteem, but a moment! o longum modicum! O modicum longum, pledomine, longum est & multum valde ninis, Bern. 74. Ser. in Cant. these are long minutes indeed, when shall we see an end of our sorrows? But the Almighty measures time by another dial than we do: Not the motion of the Sun, but the purpose of his will. The clock was set from all eternity, but the fly cannot denore the minutes and faster than the poise, The divine pleasure, drives it. Did we set our wills by his will, God's clock, and ours would always agree and strike deliverance together. There was a Dial in Campus Martius at Rome, that never went according to the Sun: And if Our moments, and God's differ, 'tis because they are not set by his will. Our desires are poized with the heavy weights of self love, and our private ends, and therefore move faster, than God's will: so that the divine assistance may happily come too late in respect of our Hasty desires, but never in regard of our True necessity. The shortest stay seems long to a running mind, the longest short to the patiented. Esteem not God then slow, who keeps the very minute of his promise, though he come not at the moment of thy expectation. In chronical diseases you must be ruled by your Physician: though you may desire Physic in the Paroxysm or hot sit, yet he may think it time enough when the sit is over. so, Nospeed to this same God's-speed, and then we are to judge our deliverance quick enough, when he shall esteem it seasonable, Again, I have seen the twelve signs of the Zodiac compass a Dial, and denote the twelve hours of the days God hath signs about his Watch too, Faith, Repentance, etc. but Deliverance is one of the last: now would you have the clock strike Twelve before One, deliverance before repentance? this is against the order of Numeration; The hand must point at Repentance, and newness of life, ere it stand at Deliverance. But will you give me leave to follow Luther's advices to put this noment in the Predicament of relation, Luther. in Psal. 2. and then he saith, it will Absorbere praedicamentum quantitatis, quite swallow up the predicament of quantity: that is, compare the time of our sufferings with that other of our sins, and the vasteternity, which expects us hereafter, and you will confess, 'tis not half a moment. First look upon your sins, on both sides, Their Gild and Duration. The Gild is eternal, though the Act be transient. Chrysost in 5. Joh. Caten. part. gr. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God judgeth not always of sin by its Continuance, but its Nautre. Now, what proportion between a temporal punishment and an eternal one due? The very meditation of an everlasting fire, Aug. Med. made Austin cry out, High ure, hic feca modo in aeternum parcas, Burn me, O Lord, cut me in pieces here, so thou wouldst spare me for ever? O merciful God, do we murmur under a short Purgatory in this life, when we are liable to an eternal torment? if every sin merit everlasting death, how many eternities of misery are due to out many crying sins? yet thou hast given us, but a Sip of sorrow, that by a Praelibation of this bitter cup, we may prevent the drinking the very dregs in Hell: that by atast of tempor all misery, we may never be devoured by an eternali. 2 King. 17.5. But will you as Elijah upon the Widow's Son, stretch this moment upon your sins, lay mouth to mouth, and hands to hands, and what a vast disproportion will you find, between this Little David, and that Huge Goliath? A Child of four years old, Our present sorrows, and this Philistin of threescore, Our past iniquities? The very fingar of this man of Gath, Our sins, is bigger than the whole body of our sufferings, Job compares his sins to the sands of the Sea, and if you will sit down and tell the sands of the Sea, and your sufferings together, what Alps, what mountains of sin will you lay aside for one little heap of sorrow? O our Impanitency is our greatest Calamity! This hath spun out the moment into so many years already. For War is an Itinerary, not a mansionary evil: It is going it circuit through the World, and would soon pass through England, did not our many crimes detain it in so long an Assize with us, Ask no more, Jer. 4.21, 22. How long shall I behold the Standard and hear the sound of the Trumpet? When God doth still complain. My People are foolish, they have not known me: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. Wonder not, that the desire of our hearts, Peace, hath been so long an abomination to our Enemies, when the Almighty doth yet stretch out his hands to Us, a disobedient and goine saying People. Lord, what Unreasonable Creatures are we? Salu. l. 6. de gub. dei. Volumus delinquere & nolumus Verberari, We would of offend and not suffer for it. Thou must remove thy judgements, O God: but we may retain our sins: Thou must not afflict us, but we may dishonour thee. I see I must be plain with you: Is there a nasty drunkard, a rotten adulterer, or a damned swearer the less for these sad times? Are we not all more undone in our manners then our estates; and have we not less of virtue left us, then of our substance? Nay, would Salvian's complaint were not verified, Assiduitas calamitatum, augmentum criminum, o Incredible, The Continuance of our misery doth but increase our iniquity, like that snaky monster, that multiplied the more for the beheading? Boast not to me, what a good Subject thou art, when thou dost recruit the King with thy money, and rout him with thy sins. Tell me not, what a friend thou art to thy Native Country, when thou wilt not expend a lust, to save it from ruin. How fare short art thou of the very Heathens piety, who did not think the safety of their Nation too dear, at the price of their blood, and yet thou wilt not part with one of thy sins to redeem it from destruction? Never speak of peace more, so long as thou art thus at open War with Heaven. If you would have God keep his moment in punishing, why do not you observe your modicum in sinning. Can you blame the Physician, if the disease continues, when the Patient will not forbear the meats that nourish it? An intemperate stomach doth but poison physic, and so feed the malady with the medicine. And will you think the Almighty cruel, That the War lasts, when Nos per nostrum non patimur seelus, etc. Our sins will not suffer the Enraged Deity to put up his Sword. Alas! His moment hath hitherto waited upon Ours: O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? when will it once be? For God's sake, for the King's sake, yea for Sion's sake, let this be the day. God hath even put Deliverance in our own power, and why will you defer your happiness any longer? Humble your Souls under the mighty hand of God, and he will bend the stubborn hearts of our Enemies to Peace. Do but Repent of your sins, and the War is ended: make your Peace with God, and go, Proclaim Peace, throughout all England. But Once more; Compare the time of your suffering on Earth to that of your reigning in Heaven, and if a Thousand years be but as a day in that Kingdom, we have not yet suffered the hundred thousand'th minute of an hour of that day. The vast circumference of the Earth contains more than two thousand and five hundred miles, yet the Mathematician will prove 'tis but a Point in respect of the Heavens, Kecher. Geograph. because from any superficies he doth not less behold halfethe Heavens, then if he were in the Centre of the Earth. So the many thousand year's extension of sorrow, is butan Instant in respect of eternity: Because eternity seems not less eternal if you look upon it from the very Centre of misery. Will you see it tried by Saint Paul, who stepped up into the Third Heaven, to wrigh the Cross and the Crown. And returned with this joyful Probatum est, The most ponderous Cross is but a feather in the scales, 2. Cor. 4.17. a Momentary lightness, in comparison of that surpassing, exceeding, eternal, (where shall I stay?) weighty Crown of glory. Complain not then of thy short pain, when an eternal ease expects thee. Think not that sorrow long, that ends in everlasting joy: but hold out this little moment, thou hast but this one step to thy Crown. Bishop Fisher, in Hen. 8. And as the Bishop, when he was going to suffer, threw away his staff, and bid his legs do their duty, He should not trouble them fare. So command thy Faith and Patience to do their last office, Jàm patùm itineris restat, Thou art almost at thy journeys end, at the very gates of Immortality: And what a dishonour to faint at the end of the Race? what a misfortune, to suffer shipwreck in the Haven? stretch thy patience, but a moment, and what a blessed Change wilt thou find it, To breathe thy Soul out of sorrows into joy, out of misery into happiness, out of terments into pleasures for evermore. For our present affliction, will but add to the degrees of our Happiness, and we shall be the more blessed, that we were once so miserable. O dear Lorà, so inflame our hearts with the love of Eternity, that the longest affliction may seem short, the heaviest light, in comparison of that everlasting bliss which thou hast prepared for us in thy Kingdom. Unto which bring us, for the merits of Jesus, to whom with thee and the holy Spirit, be ascribed all Honour and Glory, for ever, Amen. FINIS. ERRATA. PAg. 7. l. 8. r. Their bondage is His captivity. l. 21. for would, r. could.