The Resolved Christian Exhorting to Resolution

Of the miseries and calamities of this life. Sect. I

I F they be miserable, that see not their own misery: howe much more miserable are they that are so far in love with this mortal and transitory life, that were they sure to live always in this world, they would not set a point by the kingdom of God! These be they, whose end is damnation, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is to their shame, which mind earthly things: These be they, whom the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, do rather allure to love & like this world, than the pains of everlasting miseries to come, may cause to abhor & loathe it: And these be they, who never tasted it how sweet the Lord is, nor the spiritual consolation and joy of the godly But as natural brute beasts led with sensuality, and made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of those things which they know not, and shall perish through their own imagination. Oh consider this ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none that can deliver you. God is true and righteous; if you will not turn, he hath whet his sword, he hath bent his bow, and made it ready: Surely God will wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy pate of him that walketh in his sins: The wicked shall turn into hell, and all nations that forget God; neither shall their silver or gold, be able to deliver them, in the day of the Lord's wrath, but that they shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. Away then with profane pleasure, despise these vain delights, & contemn this wretched world: of whose misery, uncertainty, frailty, changes and chances, not only the sacred Scriptures do cry out against, but also many wise and learned Philosophers, though Pagans and Ethnikes, have left sufficient testimony. The amity of the world is the enmity of God: whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, maketh himself an enemy of God. I have considered (saith Solomon) all the works that are done under the Sun, and behold, all is vanity, and vexation of the spirit. For proof hereof to insist only in the best creature in the world, for whose sake all things were made, to wit MAN, created after God's own image: who when he had renounced his former integrity, into what calamities and miseries he fell, it is impossible to utter. For Nature being fallen through the offense of the first Man, and defiled through Sin, the punishment thereof hath redounded unto all posterities the seed of Adam: So that Nature, which at the first was made good, perfect, & righteous, is now become so vain, so miserable, so frail, and so corrupt, in as much as the motion left unto it, tendeth always unto evil and inferior things.

Of the miserable Nature and Condition of Man. Sect. II

RIppe the whole condition and state of Mankind, and then you shall partly perceive the frailetie thereof. Man is made of the earth, conceived in sin, and borne to pain. Man is evil wretched, filthy, corrupt and abhominable, doing nothing that is good, mortal, vain and unprofitable, vanity, altogether lighter than vanity, sinful, miserable, dust and ashes, sown in corruption, dishonor and weakness, deceitful, naked, subject to death, dead in sin, a liar, an hypocrite, an enemy unto God, a creature that drinketh iniquity like water, a pilgrim, grass, ignorant, a stranger and soiourner, of no continuance, compassed with the snares of death, water spilled on the ground. By birth unclean, a child of wrath, a worker of iniquity, an open sepulcher, a worm, the meat of worms, dung and worms, deprived of God's glory, a wind, ignorant of the time when he came into the world, and when he shall depart, a beast by his own knowledge, from whom nothing can proceed but that which is corrupt, a rotten carcass, in whom there is no help, in whom dwelleth no good thing. Man is compared unto the foolish beasts, to grass, to a flour that fadeth, to a scattered stubble, to a shadow, to yesterday and to vanity. The days of his youth are shortened, and he is covered with shame. His help is vain, his thoughts are vain, his thoughts perish: His heart is wicked and deceitful, full of evil and madness. His beauty consumeth as a mouth: his throat is an open sepulcher; he useth his tongue to deceit, the poison of asps is under his lips: his mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; his feet are swift to shed blood; The 〈◊〉 fear of God is not before his eyes; he shall vanish as the grass. The glory of man is as the flour of grass, that vanisheth as a shadow, the mouth shall eat it up: his righteousness is as filthy clowtes. His life is short and tedious, it passeth away as a trace of cloud, as the mist, as a post that passeth by, as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water; as a bird that flieth through the air, as an arrow that is shot, as soon as we are borne, we begin to draw towards an end. Our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance. Mans days are as the days of an hireling, as a shadow, as a wind that passeth and cometh not again, as a flour of the field, as a span long, as a vision of the night, as a dream, they fade like the leaf, swifter than the weauers shuttle; they are full of trouble, full of sorrow, vanity, deceitful, nothing, yea less than nothing: whereupon Solomon said well, The dead are better than the living.

Of the miseries incident to the several ages of Man. Sect. III.

THe Prophet Jeremiah crieth out, How is it that I came forth of the womb, to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame! How much more cause have we, (miserable creatures) to cry out of our calamities, who were conceived and borne in sin, seeing Jeremiah complaineth so much, being sanctified in his mothers womb? Oh vain, miserable, and unhappy Men! Before we sin, we are strait fastened to sin, and before we can offend, we are fast bound with offense. Did not our Fathers eat the sower grape, and are not the teeth of the children set on edge therewith? Consider, O Man, from whence thou camest, blush whither thou goest, and fear where thou livest; we are begotten in uncleanness, brought forth with throbs and throws, and nourished in darkness: we began our tragedy with nakedness & weeping; we continue our parts, with pain and vexation, and with sorrow and misery we must take our farewell; our beginning is lamentable, our continuance wretched, and our departure grievous. The whole life of man, is beset and encountered with three capital enemies, Paine, Care and Sorrow; pain pincheth us, care consumeth us, and sorrow shortneth our days. There is no age of Man free from affliction and misery. In his Birth; Intollerable is the Mothers pains, and infinite are the Infants miseries; who cometh into the world, crying & weeping, poor, naked, weak and miserable, without speech, knowledge or strength to go: no sooner is the babe borne, but strait he is bound hand and foot, and cast into a cradle as into a prison, prefiguring the servitude that he is to suffer. Then entereth he into Childhood, and beginneth to war with the lack of reason, and to fight against his own folly; not knowing what he is, where he is, whence, nor for what he came. Now must he be kept under the fear of the rod, and learn some liberal science, or some mechanical art, whereby to maintain his life hereafter. Then cometh Youth, rash, headlong, venterous, voluptuous, foolish, prodigal, passionate; In this age he cometh into great dangers, fighting against the desires of the flesh, against fond affections, and vain imaginations, which cause the mind to waver, to be unconstant, and to be carried away with sundry phantasies; In this age he becometh a drunkard, a gamster, a quarreller, and oftentimes to be cast into prison, to be hanged, to loose his goods, and to cause his Parentes to end their days in sorrow. Then hath he to encounter with Manhoode; to this age is incident the charge of wife & children, the maintenance of family and care of posterity. Sometimes he is besieged with desire and covetousness, sometimes with fear to loose his goods, and other infinite such vanities and afflictions. Then lastly cometh Old-age stealing on, vnperceiued, wherein Man receives many incurable wounds, as baldness, bleared eyes, deaf ears, wrinkled brows, stinking breath, trembling hands, faint spirits, lean cheeks, corruption of stomach, gowty legs, with many more miseries innumerable, which never leave to vanquish the body, to disquiet the mind, & to wound the conscience. And thus are we tossed all the days of our life with grief, compassed with cares, and over-whelmed with calamity. Our Infancie is but a dream; our Childhoode but folly; our Youth madness; our Manhoode a combat; our Age a sickness; our Life misery; and our Death horror: we lament in the first minute, and rue to the last moment. Which way can we cast our eyes, but that we shall find cause of lamentation and heaviness? If we behold the heavens, from thence, for our sins, we were justly banished; If we look upon the earth, there we are imprisoned; on the right hand, we have the Saints, whose steps we have not followed; on the left hand, the wicked, whose race we have pursued: before us, we have our death ready to arrest us; behind us, our wicked life ready to accuse us; above us, God's justice ready to condemn us; and under us, hell fire ready to devour us.

Of the miseries of all Estates. Sect. IIII.

AS Man in respect of his age is vain & miserable, so also is he, and that much more (if it were possible) in respect of the quality and condition of his life and calling. For there is no estate, calling or degree exempt and free from vanity and misery; all are vain, all are vexed, all are tormented with worldly tempests, all do suffer the doleful blasts of calamity. Begin with the stowtest Champion, the mightiest Monarch, the greatest Emperor or Prince that ever lived on the earth, & come down to the poorest wretch, and meanest miser in the world, and you shall find that all, of all sortes, Poor and Rich, Servant and Master, Married and Singleman, Subject and Prince; to conclude, the Bad and the Good, tormented with temptations, tossed with tempests, disquieted with adversity, and therefore most frail, most miserable, yea nothing but misery. The Poor man, he is pressed with famine and thirst, suppressed with sorrow and heaviness, and oppressed with cold and needinesse. He is in great disdain, he is despised and contemned, buffeted and scorned; he lieth groveling at the Rich men's feet, and dying at their heels, as they go in the streets, and yet unregarded. He is shunned of his brethren, loathed of his friends, and hated of his neighbors. To ask for God's sake, he is oftentimes ashamed, if he will not ask, he is pined, and therefore mere necessity constrayneth him to beg. He accuseth God of unrighteousness and parcialitie, because he divided not the goods of this world equally: He blameth his neighbor of unmercifulness and cruelty, because he relieveth not his necessity; he fretteth and fumeth, he murmureth and curseth: whereupon it was said, It is better to die than to beg. The Rich man, he is overthrown in his abundance, he is puffed up with vain-glory, he putteth his trust & confidence in his goods and wealth, whereupon he braggeth and boasteth: He swelleth with pride and disdain; and yet labor in getting, fear in possessing, and sorrow in loosing, doth ever trouble and disquiet his mind. For where the treasure is, there will the heart be also. The Servant, or Bondman is loaden with labor, wearied with watchings, and worn with slavery: He is beaten with stripes, spoiled of his substance, and burdened with sorrow. The Masters offense is the Servants pain, & the Servants fault is the Masters prey: If he have wealth, he must spend it at his Masters pleasure, if he have naught, then must his labor make a painful purchase. O most miserable and irksome condition of servitude! As the wild Ass is the Lions prey in the wilderness, so are the poor men the meat of the rich. The Master, he ever liveth in fear lest the treachery of his servants shorten his days. If he be gentle, then is he contemned, if severe, then is he hated; for Curtesie bringeth contempt, and cruelty breedeth hatred. The Singleman, he fighteth against fond desires, and fleshly lust, for that unquiet Jebusite will hardly be restrained. All men cannot receive the gift of continency, save they to whom it is given. Satan kindleth the fire of Nature in them with the blast of frail suggestion, whereby the feeble and weak mind is secretly sawced with amorous desires, and the body made prone to perdition. The Married man, he is at his wits end, as they say, ever burning in jealousy: fear of loosing his goods doth vex him; loss of riches maketh him tremble; and the charge of household doth divide him diversely. He labors to discharge his wife, to provide for his children, and to pay his servants hire: And therefore the burden of wedlock is grievous & miserable. The Subject, he dependeth upon his Prince, he must be careful to obey; if his Sovereign frown, he must stoop & crowch; he must employ his goods and his life also, in defense of his King, yea he must become a martial man, and live in a miserable mood, making his only felicity, of other men's misery. The King, he liveth in continual fear of the treachery of traitors; he is set upon a hill as it were a mark; a small warte deformeth a Princes face, and in a King an error is desperate; he eateth the bread of affliction, and his drink is care and sorrow. Wherevppon an heathen Historiographer maketh mention of a King, to whom the Scepter and Crown were offered, who before he wore it, took the Crown in his hand, and beholding it a while, cried out saying; Oh thou golden Diademe, if man knew the miseries and griefs which thou bringest, there is none that would stoop to take thee up from the ground! showing thereby, that the life of Kings is less happy, than that of the Subject and Private man. The Badde, they live in misery; There is no peace saith the Lord unto the wicked. The worm of conscience shall never die, and the light of Reason shall never be darkened. As they have forsaken God, so hath God forsaken them, and delivered them up into a reprobate sense, that they might do such things as be not convenient; for whom the blackenesse of darkness is reserved forever. The Good, they are, as it were, in a continual furnace, by reason of persecution and crosses, they sustain mocks and stripes, fetters and imprisonments, some were stoned, some cut in pieces, some tempted, some slain with the sword, &c. Look Heb. 11. Who is weak and they are not weak? Who is offended and they burn not? To conclude then, Great travel is created for all men, and an heavy yoke upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out from their mothers womb til the day that they return to the mother of all things. Behold the misery of mortal men! behold their vanity! thought consumeth them, heaviness harmeth them, pensiuenesse doth possess them, terror doth turmoile them, fear putteth them out of comfort, horror doth afflict them, affliction doth trouble them, and trouble maketh them sad and heavy. If I have sinned (saith Job) then thou wilt straightly look unto me, and wilt not hold me guiltless of mine iniquity: if I have done wickedly, woe unto me: if I have done righteously, I will not life up my head being full of cenfusion, because I see my affliction.

Of man's three cruel Enemies which further and increase his misery. Sect. V

MAn, besides that he is exiled from Paradise, miserable by nature, and unable to stir either hand or foot, to get out of his misery, have three cruel enemies, savage and bloody Tyrants, that continually labor to captivate him in his wretchedness, yea, to bring him from temporal into eternal thralldom: These are the Flesh, the World and the Devil; the Flesh earthly and voluptuous, the world vain and curious, and the devil evil and malicious. These three enemies assail and tempt us, sometimes covertly, sometimes openly, but always maliciously. The devil being the principal Captain of this cursed crew, trusteth much upon the help of the Flesh, because a domestical enemy is apter to hurt: The Flesh also hath entered league with the World, being her greatest friend; and both have shaken hands with the Devil: and so do all three jointly conspire our subversion. The Flesh being borne and nourished in sin, defiled from her beginning, but much more corrupted by evil custom: she eagerly coveteth against the spirit, she daily murmureth against subjection, she suggesteth wickedness, disobeyeth reason, and is not restrained with fear. A grievous combat and great danger it is to wrestle against our familiar foe, especially we being Strangers, and she a Citizen; for she dwelleth in her own country, whereas we are but pilgrims and exiled persons. The Worlde, while with pleasures without it delighteth us, inwardly it deceiveth us; it killeth our souls while it flattereth our fantasie: for when it moveth us to settle our affections in these inferior things, what doth it but persuade us, with a golden hook to fish in a filthy puddle, where nothing can be gotten but venomous vermin? and with Sirens sweet notes woo us into the salt sea of perdition? All the favors and friendly countenances which the world doth yield, are but the kisses of an enemy, that under a deceitful sweetness it may shroud most bitter poison. The Devil that crooked serpent, the arch-enemy of man-kind, unto the flesh and the world joineth his force; them he helpeth, them he furthereth, them he useth, having no other desire, business, or study, but to entrap and to destroy our souls. This is he that speaks suttlely, that tempts guilefully, & deceives maliciously; he insinuateth evil motions, suggesteth venomous cogitations, and procureth lusts; he stirreth up broils, fostereth hatreds, and moveth desires of Reuenge; he beateth us with our own staff, bindeth us with our own girdle, laboring that our flesh, which was given us for a help, might be the cause of our fall and ruin. Great is the hazard in sustaining the continual encounters against the devils deceitful guiles; whom not only his suttle nature, but also the long practice and exercise of his malice hath made crafty. How little cause then have we to joy in this life, in which we have to struggle hourly, with so mighty, perverse, and malicious enemes, which can never be so overcome, but that after a little respite, they return, and bid us a new battle, and that with such variety and change of forcible temptations, that they put us in contiuall anguish of mind?

Why God would have our life to be so miserable as it is. Sect. VI

THe causes of these calamities are many, and of many sortes; but the main cause is Sin: Man suffereth for his sin. Yet the same causes of affliction are not always found to be in the Servants of God, as are in the wicked. To speak nothing in this place of the ungodly sort; God correcteth his children in this world, and proveth their faith by many and sundry troubles, crosses, afflictions and miseries; partly, that knowing the calamity & misery of this present life, they might be provoked, the rather speedily to flee to his mercy for succor; and partly, that thereby they might become like unto their Master & Head Christ Jesus, and die to sin, and rise up to newness of life, that hereafter they may live and reign with him eternally. Mothers and Nurces, when they would wean their suckling babes, use to annoint their breasts with bitter mustard; even so doth God pour mustard, that is, misery, upon the breasts of this life, unto which we are so much addicted, to wean us from it; that knowing the misery thereof, as by experience we are daily taught; & considering the same, as of duty we ought, we should withdraw our trust from temporalities, and contemn transitory trifles, raising up our hearts to contemplate things more divine and heavenly. Mariners, when they sails peaceably, the wind being prosperous, the weather seasonable, and the air quiet and temperate, do give themselves to banqueting and fables, and being careless, void of fear and danger, do pass the time, sometimes by music and play, sometimes by resting and sleeping: But when a sudden tempest doth arise, then at last, do they call for help from heaven, and incessantly they cry unto God for their delivery and safety. Even so we, rocked in the cradle of Prosperity, do give our selves to idleness and pleasure, but being stricken with adversity, we are warned of our duty: which may be proved by the examples of David and Manasseh, who in prosperity offended God grievously, but in adversity lived very godly and uprightly. And this is the reason why God would have us in this vale of misery, to be so miserable, so needy, so poor, so beggarly, so weak, so sickly, and of no continuance; to withdraw and alienate our hearts and minds, from the inordinate affections, desire and love, of this so loathsome a life, that we should sigh for the kingdom of heaven, as being soiourners on earth, and no Citizens, wayfairing men, and in continual warfare: yet notwithstanding there are not a few that be unwilling to leave this life, and to forsake the world, lusting still like hogs to wallow in mire. But what would these do if all our whole life were sweet and pleasant? would they then, trow you, exchaunge it for heaven? would they contemn it for God's sake? or would they say with Paul: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I desire to be loosed & to be with Christ. No, no, they had rather whine after the flesh-pots of Egypt, then pass through the desert into the land that floweth with milk and honnie. Oh thrice happy is that man who viewing these worldly miseries lifteth up himself above himself! And indeed, what comfort can a man reap in that place, that is governed by the Prince of darkness, and (for the most part) peopled with his rebellious and contentious children? Where vice is advanced, virtue scorned, the bad rewarded, and the good oppressed? What quietness or contentment can be enioyde where the pains be infinite, common, and intolerable; the pleasures few, rare, and damnable? where familiarity breedeth vexation to the mind, enmity to the body, and danger to the soul? where want is miserable, plenty full of peril, and a man on every side assaulted with vnplacable enemies?

What Death is: and of the necessity thereof. Sect. I

DEath is the separation of the soul from the body, with the dissolution of the body until the resurrection, as a punishment ordained of God, and imposed on Man, for his sin. For when God had settled Adam in Paradise, a place of pleasure, giving him such liberty as these words do import, Thou shalt eat freely of every tree of the Garden: Yet lest he should presumptuously equal himself with his Creator, he gave him this bridle to champe on; But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in that day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt DIE THE DEATH. Adam had soon forgotten this saying, thou shalt die, and hearkened unto that lying speech, ye shall not die. The Man gave ear to the woman, the woman to the serpent: they eat of the excepted tree, so the blind led the blind, and they both fell into the ditch. Here lieth the matter a bleeding, this is the old sore bred in the bone, that will never out of the flesh. O Adam, what hast thou done? Hast thou tasted of that fruit whereof God said unto thee, Thou shalt not eat of it? Oh how wert thou bewitched? Thou wast once in the state of grace, but now thou art in disgrace: thou wert once the child of God, but now in danger, for ought thou knowest, to be the child of the Serpent. God did once care altogether for thee, thou wast warm without apparel, naked without shame, satisfied without labor, thy meat was put into thy mouth: but now thou must be pinched with cold, and scorched with heat, thou must travel hard, and in the sweat of thy brows, thou must eat thy bread. Whilst thou keptst thyself within thy compass, thou wast an happy Adam: oh thank God for that! now being in misery, thou art accursed and unhappy; thank thyself, thyself-will sin for that! could not blessings allure thee, nor threatenings compel thee to obedience? O thankless Adam! sweet meat must have sower sauce. Thou art sick Adam, thou art sick unto death, thou hast provoked the wrath of God, and caused him to open his cup of curses; thy disease is desperate, and therefore Thou shalt die the death, that double death, the due reward of thy sin: for thou art become the sworn servant of sin and bondslave of Satan. He is God's friend that fulfilleth his commandment; but thou Adam, hast broken the commandment; therefore thou art God's enemy. He that committeth sin is of the devil; Thou Adam hast committed sin; therefore thou art not of God. He that sinneth, is the servant of sin: Thou hast sinned Adam; Therefore thou art out of God's service. He that is the servant of sin, must be paid with the sins wages: but thou art the servant of sin Adam; therefore thou shalt die the death; for the wages of sin is death. O lamentable fall! O pitiful case! the wrath of God ouerrunneth the whole world for thy disobedience, thy treason hath attainted all thy children, thy whole blood is corrupted, thy fall redoundeth unto us that come of thee. Alas! How shall we do? Adam is dust, hated of God, and ashamed of himself; he is cursed, he is sick for sin, he is dead, twice dead, subject to mortality, and subject to eternal damnation: his Children be in the same case. But woe unto us, we are so benūmed of our senses, that we feel not the sting of Death fixed in our flesh; the impostume of sin lieth so hidden in our hearts, that we think our selves whole and sound, as though we should never die. Thy incredulous and rebellious brood, O Adam, will not acknowledge their corruption and mortality; such, and so great is their self-love, and pride of heart! Thou art our Father, we be thy Children, the Children cannot but believe their Father speaking the truth of his own knowledge & experience. Cry out then, O father Adam, teach thy children to know themselves, blow thy trumpet, command silence, tell us, in what case thou standest, and what Inheritance thou hast purchased for us. Thus saith your Father, O ye children of Men, consider his sayings, listen, give ear; He that hath ears to hear let him hear. I Adam the Father of all Nations, was once a free-man, a blessed man, the child of GOD; the mercy of God embraced me on every side; in the earth there were blessings for me, ingraued as it were, in the herbs, flowers, and frites; yea, in the heavens & waters I saw innumerable tokens of God's love towards me: But alas! wretch that I am, when I was in honor, I forgot myself, I denied God my service, yea, I obeyed his enemy; and therefore now am I accursed, and debarred of all my former blessings, I am become a bond-man, a cursed creature, the servant of sin and Satan. I have sinned, I have sinned, my sins are infinite; the first, Idolatry, second, Pride, third, Incredulity, fourth, Contempt of God, fifth, the profanation of God's name, sixth, Murder, seventh, Avarice, eight, Theft, ninth, evil concupiscence, tenth, Ambition, &c. Alas! I sink in sin, I am ashamed of my nakedness, I tremble at God's voice. O Death, O Grave, yours is the victory! I and my wife are become a cursed couple; yea, not only we, but all our posterities; we be the root, they are the branches, if the root be bitter, the branches must be so also: we be the fountain, they are the spring, if the fountain be filthy, so must the spring be: Sin and Corruption be the riches that we bequeath unto our children: Rebellion is the inheritance that we have purchased for them. Such as the father is, such be the children, for we are all of the same nature, and have eaten the same sower grape. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death went over all men, in whom all men have sinned. There are two kinds of Death, bodily, and spiritual. Bodily death (which is called the first, because in respect of time it goeth before the second) is the separation of the soul from the body. It is appointed unto men that they shall once die: hereupon the Prophet David calleth death the way of the whole earth; what man liveth and shall not see death? the living know that they shall die, saith Solomon. Spiritual Death, which is termed the Second, is the separation of the whole man, body and soul, from the fellowship of God. The first is an entrance to death, the second is the accomplishment of it: the first is temporary, the second is eternal: the first is of the body only, the second is of both body and soul: the first is common unto all men, the second is proper to the reprobates.

Of the uncertainty of the hour of Death. Sect. II.

DEath which is most certain, is most uncertain, in respect of the time, of the place, and of the kind of death; for no man knows, when, where, or how he shall die. Man knoweth not his time, but as the fishes which are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the children of men snared in the evil time, when it falleth upon them suddenly. Go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain. And yet ye cannot tell what shall be tomorrow: for what is your life? it is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and afterwards vanisheth aware: Behold the Judge standeth before the door. Well may we be compared unto men scaling the walls of a Beseeged city, at whom the cittizens discharging their pieces, encounter their assault with darts, stones, and other munitions, the better to defend themselves, and to offend the enemy; who as they be wounded, fall down, some from the top, some from the midst, and some at the bottom of the wall; some being wounded with gun-shot, some with darts, and some with stones. Even so fareth it with the men of this world, who while they labor to clime up unto the high state of Honor and Wealth, Death tumbleth them down, some from the highest degree of honor and riches, some from a middle or mean estate, and some very poor; some in their old age, some in their youth, and some in their infancy. Nothing makes death terrible and tedious, but want of consideration of it; the old man hath it right before him, the young man hard behind him, and all men daily over them, and yet we forget it. If a man were tied to a stake, at whom a most cunning Archer did shoot, wounding many about him and near him; some above him, some right against him, some under him, and the miserable wretch himself so fast bound that it were not possible for him to escape; would it not be deemed madness in him, if in the mean while forgeting his miserable estate, he should fall to bib and quaffe, to laugh and to be merry, as though he could not be touched? Who would not judge such a man quite out of his wits, that did not bethink himself how to escape, or if that were impossible, that did not prepare himself unto death? And are not we to be accounted stark mad, who know that the most expert Archer that ever was, or can be, even God himself hath bent his bow and made it ready. Yea he hath sent his darts of death already, unto them that are above us, that is, unto our ancestors and elders; and now one while he shooteth at them that be right against us, that is, our Equalls in age; another while he hitteth very near us, when he taketh away our Fathers, Mothers, or Brethren; on the right hand he woundeth our friends, on the left hand our enemies, and under us such as be younger then we: If among so many arrows of death, we lead in the mean time a wicked life, as though we should ever escape, who would not say, that we were Lunatique and Mad-men? like one that would go into a Tavern, and call for wine in great quantity, and there quaffe and carowse, having never a penny in his purse to pay the reckoning? Oh then, let us remember that we are fast bound unto the stake of mortality, that it is not possible for us to escape the darts of death: but that one time or other, we shall be deadly wounded, though we escape for a short time! God would have the hour of our death hid from us, that being uncertain when to depart this life, we might at all times be found ready to die. Therefore a good Christian ought always to acknowledge the goodness of God, to turn from his sins, and not to defer his conversion until the hour of death, Watch therefore (saith our Savior) for ye know not what hour your Master will come. Is there any that knoweth better, what we have to do, then he that is the Judge of our cause? Weigh his reason, because you know not the hour when your Master will come, therefore watch every hour; because you know not the day, watch every day; because you know not the week, watch every week; because you know not the month, watch every monneth; because you know not the year, watch every year: for though you do not certainly know when God will call for you, yet be ye sure that he will do it sometimes. Kings and Captains do set continual watch and ward, to guard their frontier towns and castles against the inuasious and incursions of the enemies; for no other cause, but only for that they do not know when their enemies will give the assault: and ought we to be less careful for the castle of our souls, then they for their earthly castles, considering that herein consisteth the salvation or damnation of our souls forever? Let us watch therefore continually (as Christ counselleth us) to the end we be not unprepared, Remember that Death tarrieth not, and that the covenant of the grave is not shown unto thee.

That death is to be desired of the godly. Sect. III

WHat Sailer, having escaped the danger, of the tempestuous and boisterous waves of the Sea, rejoiceth not when he cometh to the desired haven where he would be? What Traveler, having passed many dangerous ways, is not glad when he draweth near towards his own country? And we being wayfaring men, pilgrims, and mere strangers in this world (as is before declared) should rejoice and be merry drawing towards that joyful eternal rest prepared for us before all worlds. The children of Israel could not enjoy the promised land flowing with milk and honny, till they had passed over the river Jordan; and we cannot come to our inheritance, to our eterriall rest and pleasure, until we pass the narrowes of death. What is death then, to a Christian man, but the passage and way that leadeth from prison to liberty, from misery to happiness, and from bondage to blessedness? Great are the profits, and infinite are the commodities, that death bringeth unto the faithful. 1. It setteth our souls at liberty and delivereth them from infinite calamities, from error, sorrows, griefs, troubles, anguishes, dreams, fears, passions, suspicions; beside sin, ignorance, envy, hatred, distrust, ambition, and from other the like tribulations and afflictions, that daily disquiet, torment, and vex our souls, whiles they are weakened in the loathsome prison of our sinful, mortal and corruptible bodies. It delivereth also our bodies from infinite and innumerable dangers, whereunto they are subject as well on sea as land, as in any other place wheresoerver they converse; from all aches, pains and diseases, as fevers, consumptions, &c. which do wear and consume us with intolerable & fearful griefs, from the pain & necessity of traveling & laboring; and finally, from that perplexity that we have to search and to seek after the means how to be nourished, clad, lodged, and provided of all those things that are needful to maintain this miserable life. 2. It dischargeth and putteth us out of all danger of sinning anymore, and of being tempted of the devil, of the world, & of our own lust, concupiscence, inborne-corruptions, and rebellions of the heart, which never cease to provoke us to the doing of evil, which incessantly stir us up, to offend God, and so to procure upon our selves the curses of he law. What a misery it is, to be in subjection to sin on this manner, appeareth by earnestness and fervency of Paul, who with great zeal and vehemency, with deep sighs and groans, desired of God, that he might be delivered from that prick which wounded his flesh, which was the angel of Satan that did buffet him. And after the long and lamentable complaint that he made of the law that was in his members, striving against the law of his spirit, and leading him captive unto the law of sin, he bursteth into this pathetical exclamation, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! If a man would invent a torment for such as fear God, and desire to walk in newness of life, and to have part in the first Resurrection, he cannot devise a greater then this tryannie of sin to be exercised, tormented, and tempted with this unhappy Jebusite, the rebellion of his own flesh. O happy therefore and blessed death, that dischargeth us from such a cumbersome, cruel, and yrkesom bondage! 3. It delivereth us from the company of them that are lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, cursed speakers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, intemperate, fierce, no lovers at all of them that are good; Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God: having a show of godliness, but have denied the power thereof. Who can express what a misery it is to be enclosed and environed with the professed and sworn enemies of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and of his church, which are accursed goats, dogs, Wolves, Ravens, Kites and Cormorants, despising God and his graces, curious persons, rash, outrageous, profane, blasphemers, having neither faith nor fear, law nor conscience to repress and restrain their malice? What a torture is it to a godly mind, to live in the midst of such a froward and perverse generation, to be an eye witness of their abhominable impiety, to be an ear-witness of the abominable blasphemies, they belch & breath out against the majesty of God? Would not this sight and sense make a man weary of his life? Would not he say with David, Woe is me that I remain in Meshech, and dwell in the tents of Kedar. My soul hath too long dwelt with him that hateth peace. Elias seeing the idolatrous practices of the Israelites, and the strange cruelties of Ahab and Jezebel against the prophets and servants of God, went apart into the Wilderness and desired to die. 4. It preventeth the miseries that are to come. The righteous perisheth and no man considereth in his heart, and merciful men are taken away, and no man understandeth that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Paul saith, that some are asleep that they might not be condemned with the world. So Josiah was taken away that his eyes should not see all the evil that was to come. 5. It gives an entrance to the soul, that it may come into the presence of God, and see him face to face, and Jesus Christ in his glory, which sight so rauisheth the Angels, & all the blessed spirits in heaven, that they desire nor can wish for anymore joy or contentation but only in that. In thy presence (saith the Prophet) is the fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. If to hear and see king Solomon were thought so great a matter, that the Queen of Saba having a trial of his wisdom, and noting the comely order, and great port of his house, being as it were ravished & besides her self, brake out into these words: Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand ever before thee and hear thy wisdom. What a thing shall it be to behold the glorious face of God, that everlasting wisdom, that infinite greatness, inestimable beauty, and to enjoy the same for evermore? The consideration of this joy, made Paul to say, I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. And thus it is manifest that we ought not to fear death, but to desire it rather, to be thankful to God when it shall please him to send it us, to embrace it willingly, & to rejoice; considering on the one side, the miseries, griefs, and displeasures of this life, from whence it delivereth us; and on the other side, the comfort, joy, & contentment of the everlasting life whereunto it leadeth us. Wherevpon Solomon saith, the day of death is better then the day that one is born. And an heathen Philosopher could say, O ignorant men of their own misery! why praise ye not death, as the best inuentiō of nature? which bringeth felicity, expelleth misery, finisheth & endeth the labors & toils of age, preventeth the perils of youth, to many is a remedy, to some a wish, and to all an end: which deserveth better of none then of him to whom it cometh before it be called for.

How far we ought to be addicted unto the world. Sect. I

Man is a Creature endued with a reasonable soul, (a Soul of noble substance, of exceeding beauty, inspired by the Father, redeemed by the Son, sanctified by the holy Ghost, and beautified with the image of the whole Trinity; a Soul created, to live with angels, to enjoy the love and felloship of an eternal Spouse, to be a Citizen of heaven, to inherit a kingdom, and everlastingly to triumph in royal dignity) to the end, that having a celestial beginning and heavenly original, he should despise and set light by these inferior and terrestrial things; and that his mind being by nature lofty, should not be depressed with the weight and burden of earthly and base drugs: but having his eyes shut, and his ears deaf, against these worldly vanities, should (contemning, or rather forgetting all human toys) lift up his heart, and with his cogitations and affections be conversant in heaven. As for the world, that at the beginning, cheereth, enricheth, and honoreth his friend, & in the end leaves him, poor, miserable, and in a damnable estate, (much like a Peacock, that with the stately fan he maketh of his own feathers, adorneth his fore-parts, but leaves his hinderparts naked and unseemly) man is but a traveler therein, and no dweller. We are strangers and way-faring men, as it were in common tents or Inns: for our whole life is nothing else then a way or course unto death: wherefore as travelers, if peradventure by the way, or in their lodging, they meet with any profitable spoil, straightway they refuse and reject it, as superfluous, and too heavy a burden for them to bear: if they come to any place of pleasure or pastime, they set light by it, and depart, their necessary affairs requiring haste in their journey: and on the other side, if they light on an ill Inn, or lodging, where they are badly entertained, they patiently forbear it, knowing they must depart the next day after, where they shall be better used, in another place. Even so ought we to be addicted to the love of these worldly honors, possessions and pleasures; and to care for no more wealth and goods, then what is necessary, for our journey and voyage; the rest we ought utterly to neglect as superfluous, and too heany a burden for us to bear, or rather we ought to contribute them with our fellow-travelers, who are in need and misery amongst us: neither let us give ear to the enticing pleasures of this world, lest they trouble us in our course; so shall we travel peaceably, without care and trouble, and at last, arrive at that honorable haven, where we tend unto.

A remedy against the temptation of worldly honors and preferments. Sect. II

THe world is couched in wickedness, and drenched in sin, it passeth away and the lusts thereof: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because the amity of the world, is the enmity of God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, maketh himself an enemy of God. But we are not of the world, to the end we should not be enwrapped and enfolded in the same condemnation with the world. The Devil is the Prince of this world, therefore if we love the world, and the things that are in it, we are subjects and slaves unto the Devil. We cannot be the Servants of Christ unless the world be crucified unto us, and we unto the world. O then, let us with the Apostle esteem of the world, and all the glory and honor of it, but as loss and dongue! Let us seek those things. which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God! Our heart ought to be where our treasure is; and where is our treasure but in heaven? Our life is hid with Christ in God; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. O let us not sell our birthright, for a mess of potage, as Esau did! Let us esteem more of the holy Land, then of the fleshpots and onions of Egypt. Is it not better to be nourished in the house of our Father with the bread of Angels, then with the Prodigal-child, to live among swine, with shales and husks? Is it not better to be saved with Lot, in running out of Sodom, then with Lots wife, lusting and longing after infamous and filthy pleasures to perish? Understand then ye unwise among the people; and ye fools, when will ye be wise? How long will ye take light for darkness, and darkness for light? sour for sweet, and sweet for sour? good for evil, and evil for good? That which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God. We must not therefore be sorrowful or agriened, to leave the honors and promotions of this world, which cause us to provoke God, to disdame our neighbors, and to forget our selves, yea, to worship and adore the devil, whoever kisseth where he meaneth to kill, giving his guests a draught of deadly poison in a golden cup, and in a stately ship wafting his passengers upon the rocks of eternal ruin. The pleasant savor of the cup inviteth, but the sweet taste of the poison choketh. The devil like an Eagle houereth in the air, as though his only delight were to view the Sun, and to look towards heaven; whereas in deed, he is a greedy kyte, bearing a ravening mind, that hath his eyes always fixed upon the earth, watching his time when he may best seize upon his prey. He is much like a Thief, who when by open violence he cannot catch his bootie, seeketh by shrowding himself in the valleys, bushes, and darkness of the night, to take the poor traveler unprovided, and so to spoil him of his goods: so the devil when he seeth, that by open pursuit, he cannot overthrow us, he covertly coucheth himself, in the shadows and briars of worldly honors, and other delightsome allurements, thereby to entrap us, ere we espy his trains. Worldly Honor is one of the principal snares whereby he inueigleth our souls, which surely cannot be desired of God's children, because it is given unto the wicked for wicked causes: so Balac a wicked king, thought to promote Balaam a wicked Prophet, unto honor, for his wicked cursing and falsehood. 2. Because it is not durable, being founded upon the false foundation of inordinate love or lucre; so Ahasuerus honored Haman the Agagite; and 3. because it is damnable, causing him that is so honored, to be blinded, to be ungrateful, and to forget himself. Bucephalus the horse of Alexander the great, so long as he was naked, would suffer any man to back him; but if he were furnished with the royal saddle, bridle, and other furniture, then grew he so proud, that no man might ride him but the King: so many, who in their mean calling were modest, humble & virtuous, by increase of honor, have changed their modesty into arrogancy, their humility into pride, and their virtues into vices: so that worldly honor, may well be termed; The Chair of Iniquity.

A remedy against the temptation of worldly riches and wealth. Sect III

WOrldly wealth, is not the true riches of God's children, nor the inheritance that Jesus Christ hath purchased for them: for his kingdom (which is the riches which we expect) is not of this world, but spiritual and heavenly. Jesus Christ is King of this Kingdom; but what temporal goods hath he purchased or possessed, being in this world; whereas he had not so much, as the little birds and foxes had? he had neither nest, nor hole to hide his head in. And the Apostles, who are the Peers and Princes of this Kingdom, what revenues or possessions had they in this world? Peter said unto the lame cripple, Silver and gold have I none. Paul also saith, we are as poor, and yet make many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. So then, the glory, the power, the estate, the riches, the wealth, the pleasures, the peace, and all the felicity wherewith God enricheth his children, are not earthly and corruptible, subject unto thieves and rust; but heavenly, spiritual, and durable, which God giveth unto us freely, without money, or anything else. These are the goods which we are to esteem, and to make much of; the Grace of God, our Adoption, Faith; the Word of God, Hope, Love, Patience, Humility, and especially the Righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is the Fountain, from whence all the rest of God's graces, favors and blessings, that he bestoweth upon us, do flow, and are derived unto us: this is our wealth, our chief felicity, and end of our blessedness. As for worldly riches, Jesus Christ affirming that they choke the good corn of God's word, insinuateth that they are like a wanton strumpet, who by her beauty allureth men to lust after her, and depriveth such as give themselves to enjoy her, of all virtue, honor, & honesty; and like unto wine, which by the sweetness thereof enticeth man to excessive drinking, yet withal, it taketh the man from himself, that is, it bereaveth him of his senses and reason. As those mountains that contain mines of gold and silver, are otherwise barren and unfruitful: so they that have riches, and veins of gold and silver, are barren and unprofitable to the service of God and man; for riches do breed pride and arrogancy, pleasures and pomp, contempt of others, and forgetfulness of God. They may be compared to wild beasts, whom a man can hardly take, and when he hath taken them, he must take great care how to keep them from doing mischief. They are as pleasant wine to a drunkard, and as a sword in a mad man's hand, to use rather to hurt, then to do good. He that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be innocent, saith Solomon; for as thorns are hardly gathered without pricking of the hands; so cannot riches without wounding of the conscience. As he that travaileth in the rain, shall hardly escape wetting, or he that walketh in the Sun eschew heat; so it is almost impossible for a rich man to avoid vice and corruption by his riches: whereupon Christ speaketh, How hardly do they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! and, though he expoundeth this speech afterwards, saying, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! Yet he addeth It is easier for a cable-rope to go through the eye of a needle, then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God: declaring how difficult it is for a rich man to escape confidence in his riches, and consequently to enter into the kingdom of God. Wherefore then should we be so loath to forsake those things, which are so far from giving contentment, and making us happy, that contrariwise they engender a thousand sorrows and cares, and so make us most miserable & wretched? O let us take no more care, but for what will serve our turn for food and raiment, having always in mind the parable of him that said Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, live at ease, eat, drink, and take thy pastime: who for putting trust in his riches, is justly condemned.

Another Remedy against the same Temptation. Sect. IIII.

MOreouer, we must consider, that these riches & worldly possessions, which we love so heartily, be not our own proper goods, but lent us; over which we are Bailiffs and Stewards, and not Lord's and Masters: which when the time of our stewardship is expired, others must dispose and rule. For God created heaven and earth; the earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is, the world, and they that dwell therein: Therefore God himself is the true and proper owner of our riches and possessions, and we, the inhabitants of the earth, are the Bailiffs and Tillers of the same. And lest men should suppose, that the earth becometh fruitful by their manuring, and husbandry, it bringeth forth nothing without the dew of heaven and rain. Whereupon, to bring us to the acknowledgement hereof, God required of the children of Israel, the first fruits of the land, which he had given them; thereby signifying, that he himself was the proper Lord of their wealth and possessions, and that they were the rulers and disposers of the same under God. Now then, seeing these riches are not our own proper goods, we must further acknowledge, that we must be accountable for the least farthing which we have received of God; after what manner we came by it, how and to what use we have bestowed and spent it? They that have received most, must make the greatest accompt, and of those that have received least, the accompt shall be less. This doctrine is plainly declared, in the parable of the Richman, and the Steward; wherein is shown, that no man, of what state or condition souer he be, is Lord of his own riches or substance, but the steward and disposer of it, accountable unto God for all things: for at the day of judgment, every man shall hear this voice speaking unto himself, Give accompt of thy stewardship. Wherefore it behooveth men, so to possess their riches, that their riches possess not them, and so to dispose of themselves, that they be as ready and as willing, to leave them, as to receive them; and to bless the name of the Lord, as well in the one as in the other, as Job did. Look lib. 2. chap. 5. Sect. 9.

Testimonies out of the word of God, against the vanities of worldly wealth. Sect. V

IOb, He hath devoured substance, and he shall vomit it, for God shall draw it out of his belly.

If I had made gold mine hope, or have said to the wedge of gold, Thou art my confidence: If I rejoiced because my substance was great, or because mine hand had gotten much. This also had been an iniquity to be condemned, for I had denied the God above.

Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither.

When the rich man sleepeth, he shall not be gathered to his fathers.

David, Be not vain, if riches increase, set not your heart thereon.

They trust in their goods, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. Yet a man can by no means redeem his brother, he cannot give his ransom to God.

Solomon, The treasures of wickedness profit nothing. Riches avail not in the day of wrath. He that trusteth in his riches shall perish.

Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble therewith.

An heretage is hastily gotten at the beginning, but the ende thereof shall not be blessed.

Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that perverteth his ways, though he be rich: he that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be innocent.

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver, and he that loveth riches, shall be without the fruit thereof: This also is vanity. There is an evil sickness that I have seen under the Sun, to wit, riches reserved to the owners thereof for their evil.

Ezekiel, They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be cast far off: their silver and their gold cannot deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord, they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fil their bowels, for their ruin is for their iniquity.

Amos, They know not to do right, saith the Lord, they store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountains of Samaria.

Micah, Are yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked? and the scant of measure which is abhominable?

Zephaniah, Neither their silver, nor their gold shall be able to deliver them from the day of the Lord's wrath.

Jesus Christ, Lay not up treasures for yourselves upon the earth, where the moth and canker corrupteth, and where thieves dignity through and steal. But lay up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither the mouth, nor canker corrupteth, and where thieves, neither dignity through nor steal.

You cannot serve God and Riches.

A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you: It is easier for a cable rope to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things enter in, and choke the word, and it is unfruitful.

Woe be to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.

Take heed and beware of covetousness; for though a man have abundance, yet his life standeth not in his riches. Read the parable following in the same place, and think on it.

Paul, And this I say, Brethren, because the time is short, hereafter that both they which have wives, be as though they had none: And they that weep, as though they wept not, and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not: and they that buy, as though they possessed not. And they that use this world, as though they used it not: for the fashion of this world goeth away.

We brought nothing into the world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. Therefore when we have food & raiment, let us therewith be content. For they that will be rich, fall into temptation and snares, and into many foolish and noisome lusts, which drown men in perdition & destruction. For the desire of money is the root of all evil.

Charge them that are rich in the world, that they be not high-minded, & that they trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living God, which giveth us abundantly all things to enjoy. That they do good, and be rich in good works, and ready to destribute and communicate: laying up in store for themselves, a good foundation against the time to come, that they may obtain eternal life.

James, Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you: your riches are corrupt, and your garments are moth-eaten: your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.

John, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him: For all that is in the world (as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life) is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that fulfilleth the will of God, abideth forever.

A remedy against the temptation of wordly pleasures. Sect. VI

SOme seek after the pleasures and contentment of their flesh; some delight in building of mansions and great houses; others take pleasure in fair gardens, orchards, allies, and arbors; some proudly attire themselves, others delight in adorning their houses; some take their felicity in eating & drinking; others in pleasant company, where they may laugh and be merry; some love to dance and to dally, other to transcend the bounds of honesty: Of these and such other wanton worldlings Solomon saith, Rejoice O young-man in thy youth, and let thine heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the way of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: But that after-clap, that doleful Item mars the market, but know, that for all these things, God will bring thee to judgment. Then, who will not shiuer in himself? who will not willingly forsake those pleasures, whose end and fruit is, shame and dishonor, penury and loss of goods, which bring infinite sicknesses unto the body, and unto the spirit dullness & blockishness; which bring a contempt of virtue and honesty, a hatred of true religion and of God himself; which make men effeminate, wanton, disdainful, yea, and so besotted that they are like unto beasts? pleasure & sorrow are twins, for Pleasure is no sooner hatched, hut Repeutance is at hand ready to supplant her; and therefore it is like a smile which presently is turned into sorrow and tears; or like a dream, the joy whereof at a man's waking vanisheth away: so pleasure flieth and slideth away, leaving rather cause of repentance then occasion of remembrance. It may be compared to a painted sepulcher, fair without and foul within; to pills, outwardly fairly guilt, and rolled in sugar, but within full of bitterness; yet pilles do vent and purge the body, but pleasures corrupt and poison both body and soul. They resemble the Sirens, beautiful above, but if you look on the hinder part, they have the tail of a Scorpion, which giveth such a sore stroke, that it benumbeth our bodies, and stingeth our souls to death. They are like venom or strong poison, tempered with hypocras or sweet milk. Pleasure is a gulf or fire that devoureth a man's substance, defileth his body, and killeth his soul; It is a path to all wicked practices, and the cause why the word of God doth not fructify in our hearts; for they that are in the flesh cannot please God, know ye not, that to whomsoever ye give yourselves as servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Now let us enter into our own hearts and consciences, let us examine our selves whether we take more delight in those things wherewith the devil is most delighted, in lasciousnesse, in pride, in quaffing, and other sins, then in honest behavior, in humility, in sobriety and in godliness? If we find our selves subjects and slaves unto these satanical suggestions, then death and damnation is our due, then our lodging, our palace, and our mansion-house shall be in that place which burneth with fire and brimstone, where is howling and crying, weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the unquenchable fire of God's fury contiunaly burneth, where the incurable worm of conscience ever stingeth, & where the intolerable torments of desperate minds always continue. Pleasure provoketh the anger of GOD, it separateth his love from man, it hasteneth his justice, it procureth perpetual destruction. Pleasure was the bane of Adam and his posterity, the destruction of the old world, the overthrow of Sodom, the ruin of the Shechemites, and the perdition of the Benjamites: why then should we be so besotted with these worldly pleasures, seeing by death we shall enjoy eternal and everlasting joys in heaven?

A remedy against the temptation of unwillingness to forsake wife, children and friends. Sect. VII

Howsoever we be left and forsaken, or rather sequestered and separated from our wives and children; yet are we not forsaken of God, & of his Son Jesus Christ our Savior, Him that cometh unto me (saith Christ) I cast not away. This is the Fathers will which hath sent me, that of all which he hatth given me, I should loose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of mine hand. As Elkanah said unto Anna: Why weepest thou? am not I better unto thee then ten sons? So, why should we be sorry to leave wife, children and friends? Is not Christ better unto us then ten wives, so many children, so many friends? Yea, then ten thousand times so many? He that saith unto his father and mother, I see you not, and to his brethren, and to his own children, I know you not, he observeth the word of the Lord and keepeth his covenant. Wherevpon Christ saith, He that loveth father or mother more then me, is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more then me is not worthy of me: and he that taketh not up his cross and followeth me, is not worthy of me: if any man come unto me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my Disciple. Howbeit we must remember that this hate is the hate of dissimulation, not of persecution, the hate of avoiding, not of annoying, the hate of godliness, not of cruelnesse; when we do not give ear unto them, or regard their Syren-like persuasions, when they seem to withdraw us from the service of God, and from doing of such things as he commands. Moreover, we must consider, that we, our wives, our children, and friends, are all, as it were trauelers going forth of this world, we take our voyage together, and if we go a little before, they shall shortly follow after. Wherefore, as at the beginning of our marriage or acquaintance, we left father & mother, and did cleave to our wives: so now it ought not to grieve us to leave them, and to return unto God, who is better unto us then father, mother, wife, children, friend, or anything else.

That though a man die in debt, yet he should not fear death. Sect. VIII

Objection.

O But my debt is great; if I die now, then when I am dead, my creditors will come and seize upon all that I have, so cruel they are, and so merciless, and so shall my poor wife and children be undone forever: Oh I would God I might live to be out of debt, and leave my wife and children free, though I left them little or nothing beside. Alas, how shall I do? Nay, how shall they do? Little I have, and even that little shall be taken from them: my wife shall be constrained to bestow her self against her own liking, and contrary to her affection, even for very need: and my children shall either beg, or endure some servile slavery, under some rigorous and cruel masters and mistresses. This is it that tormenteth my heart, this pincheth me sore, and pierceth even my very soul, when I think of it: and how can I but think upon my deer & near ones both night & day?

Answer.

YOu cannot commit your wife and children into the hands of a more faithful Guardian and Ouerseer then God is. He will take them into his protection, he promiseth that he will have a particular care over them, he will defend and maintain them against all oppressors, & will pour out a fearful vengeance upon the wrongs, outrages, and injuries that shall be done unto them, he will never forsake them. O then be not discoraged, faint not, Cast thy burden upon the Lord (saith David) and he shall nourish thee, he will not suffer the righteous to fall forever. Cast your care upon him for he careth for you, saith the Apostle. He feedeth the young ravens, he clotheth the lilies, how much more will he feed and clothe his children? What can care profit you? What can thought avail you? Which of you by taking thought (saith Christ) can add to his stature one cubit? If then he be not able to do the least thing why take you thought for raiment? Therefore ask not what shall ye eat, or what ye shall drink: your father knoweth that ye have need of these things. Let this stay and strengthen you, let this always comfort and cherish you, that God is your father, yea the father of your wife and children, that he knoweth your case, and what you and yours have need of: therefore he will in due time provide all necessaries for his children; for he is both willing and able to do it, and his care shall effect that that yours never can. See the experience hereof in the like case, and be comforted by it. One of the sons of the Prophets, being in debt, not by reason of any unthriftiness, or prodigality (for he was a man that feared the Lord ) but by the hand of God: died, leaving his poor wife and children to the cruelty of the Creditor, who came fiercely to take away the childrē from their mother, to answer the debt by bondage. This was a heavy cross to a man that feared the Lord, to live in debt, and to die in debt; especially when debt to his poor wife and children was so dangerous. Well, how did the poor widow and the orphans? How escaped they this danger? Even the merciful providence of God, which is ever good unto them that fear him, so increased that little oil which she had in her pitcher, that it paid her Creditor, and yielded her maintenance to maintain her self and her children: Now then think upon this comfortable story, and know, that God is not the God of this man alone, nor of this widow and orphans only, but he is your God, and the God and Father of all the faithful. Wherefore grieve not to die, seeing God will have it so; committee your wife, children and friends unto God, and he will protect them: they that have the Lord for their Shepherd, shall want nothing.

Testimonies of holy Scripture, touching the care that God hath over widows and fatherless children. Sect. IX

MOses, Ye shall not trouble any widow, nor fatherless child.

The Lord doth right unto the fatherless and widow.

Thou shalt not pervert the right of the stranger, nor of the fatherless, nor take the widows raiment to pledge.

When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in thy field, thou shalt not go to fetch it, but it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thine hands. When thou beatest thine Olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again, but it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather the grapes clean after thee, but they shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless and for the widow.

Cursed be he that hindereth the right of the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. And all the people shall say, So be it.

Job, They lead away the Ass (speaking of the wicked) of the fatherless, and take the widows Ox to pledge.

If I restrained the poor of their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail. If I have lift up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw that I might help him in the gate: Let my arm fall from my shoulder, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

David, The Lord will be a refuge for the poor, a refuge in due time, even in affliction.

Lord thou hast heard the desire of the poor, thou preparest their heart, thou bendest thine ear to them.

To judge the fatherless and poor, that earthly man cause to fear no more.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, and upon them that trust in his mercy: To deliver their souls from death, and to preserve them in famine.

The poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. Nothing wanteth to them that fear him. They that seek the Lord, shall want nothing that is good.

I have been young, and am old: yet I saw never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging hread.

Do right to the poor and fatherless, do justice to the poor and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: save them from the hand of the wicked.

The Lord keepeth the strangers, he relieueth the fatherless and widow: but he overthroweth the way of the wicked.

He is a Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows, even God in his holy habitation.

Solomon, Remoue not the ancient bounds, and enter not into the field of the fatherless: for he that redeemeth them, is mighty, he will defend their cause against thee.

The Lord will defend their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoil them.

Isaiah, Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and defend the widow.

Jeremiah, Thus saith the Lord, execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor, and vex not the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow.

Leave thy fatherless children, and I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in me.

Zechariah, Oppresse not the widow nor the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor, and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

Malachi, I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness. against those that vex the widow and fatherless, and oppress the stranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

Jesus Christ, I say unto you, be not careful for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more worth then meat? and the body then raiment? Behold the fowls of the heaven, for they sow not, neither reap, nor carry into the barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them: Are ye not much better then they? And why care you for raiment? Learn how the lilies of the field do grow, they are neither wearied, nor spin. Yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not do much more unto you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewith shall we be clothed? (For after these things seek the Gentiles) for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be ministered unto you. I will not leave you fatherless, but I will come to you. See Matth. 23.14.

Paul, The Lord is at hand: be nothing careful, but in all things let your requests be shown unto God, in prayer, and supplication, with giving of thanks.

Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with those things that you have, for he hath said, I will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. So that we may boldly say; The Lord is my helper.

James, Pure religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their adversity, and to keep himself unspotted of the world.

Vnmortified men, no fit inhabitants for the heavenly Jerusalem. Sect. I.

WHen a Condemned-man is returned to prison, all his mind runneth upon death, he detesteth his former life and conversation, he prayeth earnestly unto God, and regardeth no worldly pleasure, soft bedding, delicate fare, or costly apparel: Yea, if he be a man that feareth God, all his cogitatiōs are bent to life everlasting, greatly rejoicing that he is so near the heavenly kingdom, that he may take possession of his inheritance. And is not the sentence of death passed upon us, the first day that we came into this world? Be not our souls in our bodies, as in a prison? Do not we only expect the time of our execution? How cometh it to pass then, that we do not feel, or show us ready, & provide our selves to die, as doth the prisoner that hath received his sentence from an earthly Judge? Why do we fixe our whole delight on the world, why do we so much encumber our selves with earthly businesses, and why do not we willingly embrace death, that by it we may take possession of our inheritance? O let us not build where we cannot long continue, let us make our provision that we may live where we shall remain forever; let us not forget heaven for earth, the soul for the body, and heavenly treasures for earthly goods▪ for one month or day, for one hour or minute, let us not deprive our selves of that everlasting joy that shall never be takē frō us: let us endure stormy weather for one month, that we may have a thousand miliōs of years of fair weather: let us patiently bear the tribulation of one day, which will breed us exceeding great consolation forever: let not the pains of one moment of time fray us from taking possession of our kingdom, lest we shall be cast forever into the kingdom of darkness. In a temporal building, the stones must be broken, hewn, and squared, ere they be fit to make up the work. The Corn must be threshed, winowed, and purified, before it be ready for good bread. whirl wind must first blow ere Elias be wrapped into heaven. And we must be cut, hewn, & squared with a number of tribulations, sicknesses, and diseases, before we can be made fit & lively stones for the heavenly Jerusalem. The very victuals which nourish and maintain us come to very great loathsomeness, before they do work their perfection in us. From life they are brought to the fire, and clean altered from that they were when they were alive, from the fire to the trencher, from the trencher to the mouth, from the mouth to the stomach, & there so boiled & digested, before they norish, that whosoever saw the same, he would loathe & abhor his own nutriment, before it come to full perfection. And so must those children whom God delighteth in, be mangled and defaced in this world, which is the kitchen and mill to boil and grind the flesh of God's children in, till they attain their perfection in the world to come: and as a man looketh for the nourishing of his meat, when it is full digested, and not before: so must we look for our salvation, when the troublesome turmoiles of this world are passed, and not before. Raw flesh is not meat wholesome for man; and unmortified men be no creatures fit for God.

That sickness and tribulation is a token of God's love. Sect. II

THe holy Scriptures plainly testify, that the pains and pangs of Death, or whatsoever dolorous sicknesses, or other grievous maladies we suffer either before or with death, are no other thing in us Christians, then the rod of our most merciful and loving father; wherewith he correcteth and chasteneth his children, either to amend in us whatsoever offendeth his Majesty, lest we perish; or else to try our faith and patience, that we may be found unreprovable, laudable, & honorable before the tribunal seat of Jesus Christ, the Judge of the world, at his second coming. My son (saith he) despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God offereth himself unto you as unto sons; for what son is it that the father chasteneth not? If therefore ye be without correction whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. Moreover, we have had the fathers of our bodies which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: should not we much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, that we might live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he chasteneth us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastesing for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; but afterward it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness unto them which are thereby exercised. Wherefore lift up your hands which hang down, and weak knees: And make straight steps unto your feet, lest that which is halting be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Hitherto out of the Scriptures. An excellent comfort, and a sovereign salve for all them that are in such a case, visited with the hand of God, & tempted with this temptation. The Bush which Moses saw in Mount Horeb, burned, and yet consumed not; so must the faithful be tried in the fire of affliction, but not destroyed. They are compared to lilies growing among thorns, because they are placed in the midst of tribulation: to wheat, because Satan will sift us as men sift wheat, and as wheat is flailed, so the world afflicts us: and to vine branches, for as Vines being let out at large, in small time become wild and fruitless, so we being given over of God, and left to run after our own lust, are easily allured; but being pruned and dressed as their nature requireth, they bring forth greater and sweeter grapes; so we being kept in awe, and obedience by the band of affliction and sicknesses, will bring forth fruit, both in quantity more abundant, and in quality more sweet and pleasant. Thus then, that careful Husbandman even GOD our Father, pruneth his vines that they may bear much fruit. Wheerevpon the Prophet David maketh a solemn protestation, declaring what good affliction wrought in him, It is good for me (O Lord) that thou hast corrected me, for before I was afflicted, I went wong. And in another place, thy rod and thy staff have comforted me.

That God hath appointed his holy Angels to guard and preserve us in our sicknesses and troubles. Sect. III

WHat a comfort is that unto us, that in all our tribulations and sicknesses, yea, in the very sorrows and pangs of death, Almighty God hath given his holy Angels charge to direct our paths, and to keep us in all our ways, as he hath promised in his word. Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared. The Angel of the Lord pitcheth round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Examples hereof, we have in the holy Scriptures plentiful: Lot when Sodom and Gomorrhah should be destroyed was by Angels conducted and brought thence, and so, he and his Daughters escaped the danger. The Angel of the Lord comforted Hagar Saras maid, flying from her Dame, into the Wilderness, and preserved her from present peril. Jacob in his journey towards Mesopotamia, when he was in danger by the way, the Angels of God met him, which Jacob called God's host. The Angels conducted the children of Israel in the desert. Troupes of Angels in the likeness or horsemen and chariots of fire, defended Elisha the Prophet, against the king of Siria. And when his servant was afraid and said unto him; Alas Master, what shall we do? He answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more then they that be with them. An Angel preserved Shadrach, Meihach and Abednago in the midst of the fiery furnace, so that the fire had no power over their bodies; and delivered Daniel from the Lions mouth. An Angel from heaven appeared to our Lord Jesus Christ, in his passion, comforting him. And Angels carried the soul of Lazarus into Abraham's bosom. There are other infinite examples tending to this purpose, which for brevity sake I omit. Now therefore, seeing we are thus graced by God, what remaineth but that we patiently bear the rod of our heavenly Father laid upon us, and like obedient children kiss and embrace the same, when it is offered us, that we may be found ready to suffer all temptations and trials, wherewith it shall please the Lord to exercise us, having sure trust and confidence, that he which suffered and was tempted, is able to deliver them that suffer and are tempted out of trouble, danger, and affliction.

Comforts taken from the consequents following Death. Sect. IIII.

COnsidering, that after sickness followeth Death, and after death ensueth eternal life, and everlasting felicity: why should we be so faint and so weak in sickness? Let us pluck up our hearts therefore, that are afflicted with pains, and call to remembrance the life, and joys of heaven, that are reserved for all them that patiently do suffer here with Christ. Let us consider, that Christ himself suffered far greater & heavier torments then we do, who saith, Have ye no regard, all ye that pass by this way? Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. The servant is not greater then his master. Oh, let us therefore take our visitation in good part, and the Lord, when he shall see his good time, will send us help and comfort; only let us submit, and commit our selves to his heavenly protection and will. There is no temptation hath taken you, saith the Apostle, but such as appertaineth to man, and God is faithful, which will not suffer you to be tempted above that you be able, but will even give the issue with the temptation, that ye may be able to bear it. The Lord knoweth to deliver the godly out of temptation. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; (saith Christ) Behold, it shall come to pass, that the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days: Be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee the crown of life. Furthermore, we must cal to mind, that the Lord never leaveth them that faithfully serve him, and commit themselves altogether into his custody, but keepeth them as the apple of his eye. He will be as a fire round about them, that nothing do them hurt. Whereupon David could say of his own experience, Though I should walk through the valleie of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy siaffe, they comfort me. And to the end that the Lord might make us certain of his help and comfort, he earnestly exhorteth us, to call oftentimes unto him, and to sue for help, saying; Call upon me, in the day of trouble, so I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. And again, He shall call upon me, and I will hear him, I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him, and glorify him. So knowing assuredly, that the Lord will help us at the last, in his good time, according unto our own desire, if we patiently bear in the mean time, whatsoever his gracious goodness shall lay upon us; It remaineth that we have an invincible courage against all adversities, and sicknesses whatsoever, patiently expecting the reward of our hope, For the afflictions of this present life, are not worthy of the glory which shall be shown unto us.

Straungers that are evil entreated in a foreign land; where they sojourn, having parents, friends, and great possessions in their native soil, being now upon the point to return into their own country, are undoubtedly exceeding glad; for even already they seem, in a manner to see their houses, lands, and possessions, to talk with their parents, friends, and acquaintance; and to enjoy their wealth already. Evē so also, if we cal to mind, that here we are soiourners and strangers, very hardly entreated by the worlds friends; having in heaven, our own country, great riches of eternal treasures, a heavenly Father, that dearly loveth us in his beloved Son, and many loving friends, our eldest brother Jesus Christ, and all the holy Angels and Saints in glory, and an undefiled inheritance holy and immortal: If we consider, that we are at the very point, going thither, to take possession of our kingdom and royalty, we cannot choose but be exceeding glad thereof, even ravished with a fervent desire to be lifted up thither, with Paul, desiring to be loosed, and to be with Christ. For shall not the feeling of so grievous, and so many bodily afflictions, whereto we are subject in this strange land, and of the mortal wounds our souls do daily receive by offending God, cause us earnestly to desire, and fervently to pray to be delivered from the same? especially considering we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed, we have a building given of God, that is, an house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens? Shall not the incomprehensible excellency of the glory and dignity, which we shall enjoy in the kingdom of heaven, encourage us to enter in thither, though the entrance be narrow and straight? And shall not the certain and assured knowledge of the renewing of our bodies being risen again immortal, like unto the gloricus body of Christ, and joined to their sanctified souls; and then of the translating of the same into the kingdom of God our father, above all heavens, where we shall see the face of God, as the Sun in his brightness, and enjoy the effect of the prayers of Christ Jesus our Redeemer, made in our behalf, whē he said, Father, I will that they which thou hast given me, be with me, even where I am, that they may behold that my glory, which thou hast given me; move and stir us up to take possession of our inheritance, being now offered unto us? When Jesus Christ hath rendered up the kingdom to God his Father; then shall God the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost, be unto us all in all; we shall be replenished and satisfied with such a fullness of life, glory, and joy, so as we shall not be able to desire or to have anymore: even as vessels cast into the sea, being so filled with water, that they can desire or hold no more. We shall be inhabitants, and citizens of that holy City, which is of pure gold, which hath no need, neither of the Sun, nor of the Moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God shall light it, and the Lamb is the light of it. And finally, we shall be in the fellowship of Angels, shining as the Sun in his pride, and ravished with joy that shall never be taken from us.

Testimonies out of the holy Scriptures, that God is always ready to help and assist them, that seek unto him, in the time of affliction and misery. Sect. V

IOshua, The Lord said unto Joshua, saying: Arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I give to the children of Israel: I will be with thee, I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee; Be strong, and of a good courage.

David, Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, and upon them that trust in his mercy: To deliver their souls from death, and to preserve them from famine.

I sought the Lord and he heard me, yea he delivered me out of all my fear. The poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The righteous cry, & the Lord heareth them, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near unto them that are of a contrite heart, and will save such as be afflicted in spirit. Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken. Read the seven and thirtieth Psalm throughout, and you shall find therein excellent comfort.

The Lord is near to all that call upon him, yea to all that call upon him in truth: he will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him.

Isaiah, Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust, and will not fear, for the Lord God is my strength and song: and also is become my salvation.

Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not afraid, for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee and help thee. I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee: Fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord and thy redeemer, the holy one of Israel.

Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by name, thou art mine: when thou passest through water, I will be with thee, and through the floods, that they do not overflow thee. When thou walk • st through the very fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forsaken me. Can a woman forget her child, & not have compassion on the son of her womb? though they should forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palm of mine hands.

Jeremiah, Thus saith the Lord, They shall come weeping, and with mercy will I bring them again. I will lead them by the rivers of water, in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble, for I am a father in Israel.

Jesus Christ, In the world, you shall have affliction, be of good comfort, I have overcome the world Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Be faithful unto the death, and I will give thee the crown of life.

Paul, God is faithful, which will not suffer you to be tempted, above that you be able, but will even give the issue with the temptation, that ye may be able to bear it. If we suffer with Christ, we shall reign with him.

Peter, The Lord knoweth to deliver the godly out of temptation.

An exhortation to Christian Patience after the example of Jesus Christ our Savior. And how the wicked behave themselves in their afflictions. Sect. I

CHristian Patience, is a moderation and tolerance of our evils, expressing in outward actions, a spirit of contentment and gladness, that striveth so well and maisteseth in such sort, the sense of nature, which shunneth grief, that in the end, it worketh in us an affection of piety and godliness joined with a free and cheerful mind, under the yoke of obedience of the will of God, through a certain expectatiō of things promised, & causeth us to judge Impaciencie, to be contumacy and rebellion to this divine will; and sufficient of itself, to make a man to be called, wretched. Of this sort was the Pacience of Job, who seemed as it were, to take pleasure in his afflictions, as the Salamander that delighteth to bathe his limbs in the burning flames. But especially such was the Patience of Jesus Christ our Savior, the only example and true pattern of perfect Patience, who became obedient unto the death, even the death of the Cross: For behold, hanging upon the same, he openeth five fountains streaming out with his guiltless blood, and showeth us his whole body all goary with lashes, and shall not this encourage us, patiently to endure all tribulation, and to war against our desires and vain appetites, when they withdraw us from trial, to delight and pleasure? When our foot is pricked (much more the head or heart) all the whole body is so disquieted, that we wish rather for the Surgeon to lance us, then for any pleasures to delight us. and can we (if we be true members indeed) endure to see Christ our Head, so cruelly pricked and crowned with thorns, but that we must needs be more willing to sorrow with our Head, and to be lanced for his sake, then to lean unto worldly solaces which he contemned? It is an indecent thing to have a dainty member under a thorny head. Shall Christ our only Lord with the King of Nineveh, mourn in sackecloath and ashes? Shall he with Jonathan venture to climb most craggy and dangerous rocks, to fight alone with a whole troop of Philistines: shall he climb up to mount Caluarie loaden with a heavy Cross upon his wounded shoulders, to encounter the devil & all his vassals? Shall he fall on the most rigorous sword of his own justice for our sins? And shall we for whose sakes all this was done, unnaturally and ungratefully refuse to follow his example? and to suffer anything for his sake, that hath suffered so much for us? Alas! we are they, that deserve to sit with Job in the ashes, to mourn in sack cloth with the Ninevites, with naked knees to creep up the craggy rock of affliction, to hazard our lives amongst a thousand blades and torments; finally to embrace the ruefull sword of God's justice and revenge, and to fall upon the same; such and so great are our enormous and horrible sins! O senseless and benumbed hearts and souls of ours, if at the consideration of so heavy and lamentable a sight, of so great and glorious benefits, cannot find any scope or field of sorrow and thankfulness! But yet if any grace remaineth in us, let us be sorry for our want of sorrow, and bewail our unthankfulness, let us patiently endure some affliction for Christ his sake, that we may bear his marks in our flesh, lest we fall into a careless security, or into a desperate madness, and be deprived of the infinite and endless blessings that Christ hath purchased for us. Far other effect took Christ's sufferings in Paul, who being a perfect scholar in this doctrine, would have no other University but Jerusalem, no School but Caluary, no Pulpit but the Cross, no letters but Christ's wounds, no Commaes but his lashes, no Colons but his thorns, no Periods but his nails, and no Lesson but Christ Jesus and him crucified. In this School we may learn by Christ's nakedness, how to clothe us, by his thorny crown to adorn us, by his gall and vinegar to diet us, by his praying for his murderers to revenge us, by his hanging on the Cross to repose us, by his painful and bitter death to esteem the pleasures of this life; briefly, by his life and death, we may learn how to behave our selves in all troubles and afflictions. See lib. 2. Chap. 4. Sect. 4. Many gape for Christ's kingdom, but hate his Cross, breathing after prosperity, but abhorring adversity, and loath to enter in at the straight gate. Many would rejoice with Christ, but none will sustain his afflictions. Every man would eat bread with him, but few will taste of his cup. Finally, many would love him while prosperity doth last, and while they may receive any comfort at his hands: But who is he that will follow and embrace the shame of his Cross? Many love to wallow in their own lusts, hating correction and reformation of their lewd behavior, who when they feel the weight of the rod, are ready to renie and to open their sacrilegious mouths even against the Almighty, not knowing in the mean time, or rather not believing, that the Holy Ghost accounteth them happy and blessed, who suffer the trial of the Lord patiently: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. But they that love the Lord Jesus unfeignedly, follow his steppes, and lean to him, as well in a duersitie, sorrow, and misery, as in the time of prospetitie: for this love seeketh not her own things: and they who seek for pleasure, ease and rest; who follow Christ in prosperity, but leave and fly from him in adversity, may well be termed Bastards and Hirelings, such as love themselves and their own filthy lucre, and beastly lusts better then they do Christ. These men when they feel any smart of affliction, do presently cry out, that it had been best if they had never been borne, or else destroyed as soon as they were borne a wicked saying, unworthy to be heard in a Christian man's mouth. No doubt but these impatient worldlings do desire the help and favor of God, but it is only because of the extremity which they suffer, they desire God's favor, because they would escape his rod, and therefore these be their ordinary wishes; Oh that I were well again! oh that I were rid of this pain! oh that I were eased of my sickness or sorrow! whereby it appeareth plainly, that, so they might have their health, and live at their hearts ease, they would set little by the help or favor of God. Yet some of them are so far blinded in the pit of impatiency, that they stick not to offer violent hands unto themselves, and to shorten their own lives, as did Abimelech, Saul, Ahithophel, Zimri, and Judas Iscariot, rather then by living, they would be compelled to suffer any longer, some small sickness or other calamity, or abide the tants of the opē world. I speak not this because I allow of that unsavory opinion of stoical Indolencie, or lack of grief; for there is no such cheerfulness required of us, as should take away all sense and feeling of grief and bitterness: for so there should be no patience in the Saints suffering of the Cross of Christ, unless they were both inwardly and outwardly vexed ( Which folly seerefuted, lib. 2. Chap. 5. Sect. 17.) but because the wicked, impatient of a little affliction do run into such extremities.

How the godly behave themselves in their sicknesses and other calamities whatsoever. Sect. II

WHen the godly and sincere worshippers of God do feel the sharpness of poverty, the sting of infamy, the pain of diseases, or the horror of death; their courage quaileth not, but rather kick all desperation aside; because they understand that they must manfully in faith bear all sorts of crosses and evils: they find such sweetness in the favor and grace of God, that for the desire they have to the same, they are content, not only to be deprived of all their worldly delights and earthly pleasures, but also to suffer the rod of their heavenly father, and patiently to endure the weight of the Cross laid on them. As the natural child loveth his father entirely; and though his father beat him, yet he doth love him nevertheless; so the childrē of God being of a good nature, do love God their father with all their heart, with all their strength; and if he beat and correct them, yet they cease not to love him still, and in love they perform their obedience unto him continually, saying with Job, Though he slaie me yet will I trust in him. And therefore they arm themselves with Patience and Hope. By Patience they vanquish themselves and their affections, they overcome all calamities, and stand steadfast with a quiet mind, and well disposed with a resolute heart to bear, and forbear. Now their Hope upholdeth Christian Patience, which is an assured expectation of those things which are truly and expressly promised of God, and believed of us by faith. For there is a mutual relation of Hope to Faith. Faith believeth that God saith truth, Hope looketh for those things which Faith hath believed: Faith believeth that eternal life is through Christ our Savior prepared for us, and that if we suffer with him, we shall reign with him; Hope expecteth and patiently waiteth to receive in due time the thing that God hath promised unto us; howsoever in the mean time it be tossed with adversities: Hope vanisheth not away though it seeth not what it hopeth for: It quaileth not, although things fall out clean cross and contrary. Abraham hoped that God would keep his promise with him, although he saw not the means. He hoped also he should possess the promised land, although as yet he enioyd not one foot of it, but saw it inhabited of mighty Nations. David hoped he should be King of Israel, and yet he was continually in danger of his life, by reason of the tyranny of Saul. And the faithful in a constant Hope of their delivery, lay all their sicknesses and troubles upon the shoulder of Patience, and say with Jeremiah, This is my sorrow and I will bear it. They will not faint in adversity, for then their strength were small; nor want comfort in trouble; for A good conscience is a continual feast. They will not break the Lord's bonds, for then they were like the heathen, but wait for his leisure for Faith maketh no haste.

That extremity of pains should not cause us to be impatient. Sect. III

Objection.

Oh my sickness is grievous, and my pains extreme! I can take no rest neither day nor night, such is the rage and violence of my disease.

Answer.

CHrist telleth his Disciples, If any man will follow me, let him forsake himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Consider here, how mercifully the Lord deals with us; He tells us the worst first, he showeth us what we should trust to. First then, we must follow him, and then we shall sit with him, at his table. The manner of God's proceedings, is to send good after evil, as he made light after darkness; to turn Justice into Mercy, as he turned water into wine. See Li. 2. Cap. 3. Sect. 2 We must go through a sea of troubles, before we come to the haven of rest. As the beasts were first killed and then sacrificed, so must we be first killed, and then sacrificed. Sickness and affliction is the knife of corection, to lop off the rotten twigges, to prune and dress us. It is the cords to bind the ram unto the Altar; the chariot to carry our thoughts into heaven; the hammer which squareth the rough stones till they be plain, smooth, and fit for the temple; the messenger which is sent to compel them to the banquet, which will not come being invited. As the rod maketh the scholar apply his book; so under the Cross we apply our selves unto wisdom. But (say you) the rod wherewith I am beaten is sharp, and the pains intolerable. Surely, no chastising for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; but afterward it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness, unto them which are thereby exercised. Behold Christ suffered, leaving you an ensample that ye should follow his steppes: Others of God's Saints also suffered great torments, troubles, temptations, and grievous afflictions, who were tried by mockings and scourgings, by bonds and imprisonments: they were stoned, they were hewn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword, they wandered up and down in sheep skins, &c being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. And what is it that you suffer being compared with their torments & trials? See lib. 2. chap. 5. Sect. 14. & 15 Be patient then, call into mind such as have endured greater and more grievous pains then you, and so shall your grief seem less unto you. To be altogether without sickness, trouble, or some cross, look not for while you live in this vale. Look not for ease and quietness upon the earth, nor among men, but in God alone, for whose sake you must suffer all things, even tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. Wherefore once again be strong, courage yourself, and confirm your imbecility with the sweet promises of the Lord, who is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye shall be able, but will even give the issue with the temptation, that ye may be able to bear it. The Lord will come shortly, and give you a great reward, and will wipe away all tears from your eyes. See lib. 2. Chap. 5. Sect. 14.

That no man may asswage his grief by laying violent hands on himself. Sect. IIII.

Objection.

OH, but it hath tormented me thus long; and it is like to continue longer then I can bear it. I am, as it were, a mark set up to shoot at; Well may I say with the Prophet; Mine eye, my soul, and my body are consumed with grief; my life is wasted with heaviness, and my years with mourning, my strength faileth for my pain, and my bones are consumed. I am a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors; and a fear to mine acquaintance. O heavy and hard saying, Take up thy cross and follow me.

Answer.

YEa, but this is much heavier and harder; Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. They which follow Christ in taking up their cross in this world, have no cause to dread the sentence of eternal damnation in the world to come: For If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him. Surely he shall never be moved, but the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance; his horn shall be exalted with glory. As it is pleasant and praise-worthy unto men, to have their children resemble them; to have in their of-spring expressed the future image of their own favor; So doth Christ delight to see his divine prowess & generositie set forth in his children's acts and practices, especially to see in us the skarres, wennes and warts of his vexation and pains; which the more they deface us in outward show, the more they beautify us in soul; and the more ugly they make us in the preposterous judgment and glorious they render us in the sight of God. As the scar of a wound in the childes face, which he hath suffered in his fathers quarrel, though it disfigure his favor, is a more edging whetstone of fatherly affection in the Parent, then if it were absent, because it yieldeth a perpetual testimony of a dutiful and loving child; So God, more desirons to have us affectionate, then fortunate children, delighteth more in our patient sufferings, sicknesses, and afflictions for his sake, which are assurances of our love towards him, then to see us swim in his temporal gifts. He praiseth more the Ninevites in sackcloth, and Job in the ashes, then either of them in all their pomp, and glory of their riches, wherefore then should we cry, Death is in the pot, seeing Christ Jesus our Prophet hath seasoned it, not with a little flower or meal, but with his own blood? He hath broken the ice, he hath fanctified our afflictions, he hath sweetened all our pains with the excess of his unspeakable love: He hath given us such a president and example, in suffering for us, as it must needs seem little, whatsoever we suffer for him. Let us not be dismayed therefore with our cross & affliction; let not the extremity of the pains, the sharpness of our miseries, nor the continuance of our sickness daunt our courage: we are not better then our Master, who suffered far more then we must, nor wiser then God himself, by whose providence, this affliction fell into our share. Yet you say, your pain is like to continue longer then you shall be able to bear it. But how can you remove it from you? Will you offer violent hands unto yourself? Will you cut asunder that which God hath joined, as did Achitophel, Saul, Judas and Pilate? Think you to get ease by shortening your own life? Nay, so far shall you be from finding of any ease or rest, that by so doing, these your temporal (or rather momentary) afflictions, shall be turned into everlasting torments, in the unquenchable flames of hell fire. Man was not borne of his own pleasure, neither must he die at his own lust. It is written Thou shalt not kill. If we may not kill another, much less may we kill our selves. God will require our blood, yea at our own hands, if we be guilty of such an unnatural murder. God hath made man after his own image, and we must not deface the image of God; which if we presume to do, we are guilty of horrible murder. And to that you say, you are forsaken of your friends; Christ Jesus will never forsake you: Him that cometh unto me, (saith he) lneuer cast away. No man shall pluck you out of his hands.

That our impatiency doth provoke God the more to punish us. Sect. V.

Objection.

GOd forbid I should make myself away, that was no part of my thought, but my meaning is, that my afflictions and pains be so great, so extreme and so intolerable, that I cannot bear them patiently.

NOt patiently? Alas, whom hurt you by your impatiency, but your own soul? Can your impatiency alter the will of God, or change his purpose? No verily; Yea, by your impatiency, you make your own case worse; as well by the inward grief, which vexeth and tormenteth you, as also, because thereby you tempt and provoke the Lord, and pull down his wrath upon you. As earthly Parents, when they perceive their children to be brought in good order, subjection and obedience, by their correction, do then cease from beating of them: So our heavenly Father, when he seeth us patient, and humble in our affliction, is moved to pity, so as he turneth our troubles into kindness and doing us good; whereas on the contrary side, by our impatiency and stubbornness, he is compelled to lay more grievous punishments upon us. Also as Kings and Captains, do more gently entreat those enemies, that have willingly yielded themselves into their grace and favor; then such as be taken captives, by force of doubtful fight: Even so doth God deal more favorably with those, who patiently humble themselves under his hand, and submit them unto his corrections, then with such, who being over-mastered with sensuality and pride of heart, do continually provoke him, and prepare themselves to hold out, and still to rebel and resist his holy will. God would not have us perish with the wicked, and therefore he chastiseth in us, whatsoever he seeth amiss, even in this world; so that his rods and corrections are testimonies, that he accounteth us his lawful children, and not bastards. We see if two children strive together, and if a man coming by, take one of them, and beat him, leaving the other, we will judge straight-way, that this man is the father of that child he corrected, and that the other appertained not unto him. And this is it that the Apostle Peter meaneth, when he saith, that Judgment beginneth at the house of God; showing that they are his children and household servants, which are afflicted in this life. Wherefore, if Carpenters strike with their hatchets upon pieces of Timber, to smooth and plain them: if Masons polish the stones with the strokes of an hammer; we gather, that they would employ them to some building: Even so, if God lift upon us his hatchets and hammers of tribulation, let us assure our selves, that he hath chosen us, to put us in the building of his holy Temple; and so that we are his dear and well-beloved children. Let us suffer our selves to be guided by him, that is infinitely wiser then we, and loveth us better then we love our selves. As in running a race, the agility & goodness of the horse is known; the strength and courage of the man in the combat, the savor and quality of many drugs in rubbing, bruising, or casting them into the fire, as we do incense; the stars which appear not by day, shine in the night; So the faith, the zeal, the constancy, the patience, and other virtues which God communicateth to his Elect, which are hid in prosperity, do manifest themselves in afflictions. And therefore the Apostle saith, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in anguish for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, them am I strong. Now the Lord would make known your patience, your faith, and other virtues; and will you, kicking against the prick, complain of your extreme handling? Surely if you do so, you are unworthy the least of all God's comforts yet hath not God so dealt with you, he giveth you not what you have deserved; nay, he leaveth you not without comfort, he will not that his works should perish; wherefore you must think that he dealeth with you, according to his infinite mercy, as a most gracious and loving father; who will not that you should perish with the wicked, humbling you therefore, to make you a worthy Citizen of his heavenly kingdom. To conclude, when you say the Lord's prayer, you say, Thy will be done. Now the Lord's will is done towards you, and will you show yourself rebellious and disobedient unto his will? So your heart denieth that, which your mouth uttereth, and saith unto you, in your ear; Ah Hypocrite, if thou mightest choose, thou haddest rather that thy will might be done, then that the will of God should be done. Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as appertaineth to man, and God is faithful, which will not suffer you to be tempted, above that you be able, but will even give the issue with the temptation, that ye may be able to bear it. By your patience possess your souls saith Christ.

Testimonies out of the holy Scriptures exhorting unto Patience. Sect. VI

SOlomon, He that ruleth his own mind, is better then he that winneth a city. Waite upon the Lord, and he shall save thee.

Isaiah, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. Yet therefore will the Lord wait, that he may have mercy upon you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have compassion upon you: for the Lord is God of Judgment; blessed are all they that wait upon him.

Jeremiah, It is good both to trust and to wait for the salvation of the Lord.

Jesus Christ, Resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thee right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him take thy cloke also. And whosoever will compel thee to go with him a mile, go with him twain.

But that which fell on good ground are they which with an honest and good heart hear the word and keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

By your patience possess your souls.

Paul, We rejoice in tribulations, knowing, that tribulation bringeth forth patience: and patience experience, and experience hope: and hope maketh not ashamed.

Reioycing in hope, patient in tribulation, and continuing in prayer.

In all things we must approve our selves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses.

Let us not be weary of well doing, for in due time we shall reap, if we faint not.

We our selves rejoice of you in the churches of God, because of your patience, and faith in all your persecutions, and tribulations that ye suffer: which is a token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for the which ye also suffer.

Ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Cast away everything that presseth down, and the sin that hangeth so fast on: let us run with patience the race that is set before us, &c. Read out this 12. Chap.

James, Knowing that the trying of faith bringeth forth patience: Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of our Lord. Be ye also patient therefore, and settle your hearts, for the coming of our Lord draweth near.

Peter, Girde up the loins of your mind, be sober and trust perfectly on the grace, that is brought unto you by the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

For hereunto are you called, for Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steppes.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

And with knowledge, temperance, and with temperance patience, and with patience godliness: for if these things be among you, and abound, they will make you that ye shall neither be idle, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John, Deerely beloved, now are we sons of God, but yet it doth not appear what we shall be: and we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Here is the patience of the Saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God, and faith of Jesus.

That Faith is grounded upon the faithful promise of Almighty God and of the excellent effects of the same. Sect. I

VErelie verelie I say unto you (saith Christ) that ye shall weep and lament, and the world shall rejoice; and ye shall sorrow, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy. Who would not hasten to joy, and who would not wish to want sorrow? I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from you. Wherefore seeing to see Christ, is to rejoice, and seeing we can have no perfect joy until we see Christ; what blindness, and blockishness, yea, what madness is it, to love affliction, and to be so much addicted unto misery and worldly tears; and not rather to hasten to that joy that shall never be taken from us? Yet this cometh to pass, because we want Faith and Hope, because we believe not those things to be true, which God promiseth, thereby making God (who cannot lie) to be false and a liar, like our selves. If a grave, laudable, and honest Man, should promise us anything, staitway we should believe him, neither would we think our selves to be deceived by him, who we knew, would stand to his tackles, and perform his promises. Now God speaketh to us, and dare we (faithless wretches) with an infidel-like & unconstant mind doubt of the performance and truth of his promises? God forbid, yea, let God be true, all men a liar. So then God promiseth us (when we depart this life) immortality and eternity: and will we doubt of it? This is to be altogether ignorant of God, this is to offend Christ the Lord and Master of all believers, with the sin of incredulity, and this is, being in the church, and in the house of faith, to forsake the church, and to deny the Faith. Well was the Prophet affected, who saith: As the Hart braieth after the rivers of water, so panteth my soul after thee, O God: My soul thirsteth for God, even for the living God when shall I come and appear before the presence of God? Whom have I in heaven but thee, and I have desired none in the earth with thee? My flesh faileth, and mine heart also, but God is the strength of mine heart, and my portion forever. And therefore in a full assurance and persuasion of the love of God towards him, and of the truth of his promises, he breaketh out in admiration, saying: Thou wilt show me the path of life, in thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. I will behold thy face in righteousness, and when I awake I shall be satisfied with thine image. How far are we from this holy affection, from this Christian confidence, and godly joy? And all because we have neither Faith nor Hope. By Faith we are saved. By Faith we are justified. By faith we are regenerated. By faith we save our souls. By faith we have access unto this grace wherein we stand. By faith we call God our Father. By faith we receive those blessings which God bestoweth upon us in the Gospel. By faith we receive Christ. By faith we make the merits of Christ to become our own merits. By faith we receive the promise of the holyghost. By faith we rise agam with Christ. By faith every man is assured of his own election. By faith we are united unto Christ. By faith we are the members of Christ. By faith Christ dwelleth in our harts. By faith we eat the body of Christ, and drink his blood. By faith we resist the devil. By faith we are the sons of God. By faith the word of God is made profitable unto us. By faith God joineth us unto himself. By faith we stand. By faith we get our selves a good degree in professing the Gospel of Christ. By faith we have joy. By faith we see invisible things. By faith we overcome the world. By faith we obtain also corporal benefits. By faith are the gifts of God sanctified unto us. For their faith were our fathers the Patriarchs, &c, commended. Our faith profiteth the posterities, as did the faith of Abraham, the faith of them that pray for the sanctification of infants that are baptized, for the conversion of sinners, for help unto the sick and unto the afflicted with any misery, shall not want his effect. Finally, Faith obtaineth earthly blessings and benefits unto the wicked, as the faith of Elijah obtained rain for wicked Ahab and other infidels. How then can we want faith, without which we are neither regenerated, justified, nor saved? without Faith it is impossible to please God. Out of Faith issueth Hope, , which is a present feeling of the thing we long for; and this nourisheth and preserveth faith to withstand any resistance, & to reuince any oppositiō that shall be against us. Hope cannot be separated from Faith, yea, such as our Faith is, such is our Hope. If we have no Faith, we have no Hope, and a wavering faith, maketh a blind hope; if our faith be firm, so will our hope be. Faith is an assurance of the love of God in Christ: hope is a constant apprehension and feeling of the joy and glory, which by that love shall be given unto us. If we be assured that God loveth us, which proceedeth of faith, so are we also assured that god will save & glorify us, which cometh of hope. O then, let us hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of our hope unto the end. For he that wauereth is like a wave of the sea, tost of the wind and carried away. Neither let that man (saith James) think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Let us not, like hyrelings and prentises, score up our years looking for freedom, as being weary to serve the Lord, in suffering anything any longer. Let us be wise-hearted, & in the assurance of our hope trample death and damnation under our feet, let us still cry. Even so, come Lord Jesus. It is reported of the swannes, that they die singing: and we like swannes in the assurance and lively confidence of the favor and mercies of God, should prepare our selves to die, rejoicing and singing.

Remedies against the weakness of Faith. Sect. II

THe Lord like a most bountiful and magnificent King, will be angry if any man will ask a small thing at his hands: because (such is his magnificence) he had rather give things of great worth then of small value: his goodness is infinite, he loveth all the things that are, and hateth none of them what he hath made: he loveth the souls of men. Wherevpon it cometh to pass, that we can no sooner wish for eternal life and true felicity, but he is as ready, (yea, and much readier then a man can wish) to give and bestow the same upon us. Why then should we mistrust our salvation, or doubt of the sweet promises of God in Christ revealed in his holy word? That we might be happy, he created us of nothing, and being lost, he restored us to life by the death of his best Beloved, and only begotten Son: and being redeemed ( not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb undefiled and without spot: ) he made us heirs, reuel. 1.5 heirs, by the law of adoption of the kingdom of heaven; yea, fellow-heirs with Christ Jesus. And this so great a benefit, which now by our hope we possess, if we strive manfully and fight a good fight, we shall shortly possess indeed, and receive a crown of righteousness which the Lord will give us, for so he saith, Be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give theo the crown of life. Furthermore, if Christ Jesus our Savior hath sought for us with so great study and indeuor, while as yet we were his enemies and fled frō him; if he boght us for so great a price, to the end we should not loose eternal life, when we were quite lost; how much more will he now make us partakers of that felicity, which we desire for, and breathe after so much? Let us cal to mind his sweet and comfortable promises I am that good shepherd, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of mine hand.

That though a man presently feeleth not the peace of conscience, nor hath a lively apprehension, that he is the child of God, yet he may have true Faith. Sect. III

Objection.

Alas, I have no faith at all, I am not assured that I am the child of God; My conscience hath no rest, I feel no grace of the holy Ghost in me, nor any true tokens of faith, I have a lively sense of the rebellion of my heart, and of my lewd conversation. God cannot wink at sinners, except he should be unjust; and surely by this my incredulity, I wholly renounce and reject the grace of God. How then shall I stand before the face of God? how shall I stand before the tribunal seat of Christ Jesus? Oh unhappy death then, that leaveth me in this perplexity!

Answer.

GOD is not only a Lord, and a just Judge, but also a loving & most merciful Father. Your faith is only weak, you are not unfaithful. And great is the difference, between unfaithfulness, and weakness of faith. The unfaithful man careth not for his salvation; he rejecteth the grace of God; or else rejecting the salvation which is in Jesus Christ alone, seeketh salvation other where. But the faithful man, desireth and longeth for salvation; he acknowledgeth no other, but that which is in Christ Jesus only: he seeketh it in him, and would fain be assured thereof. What though you feel not that peace and joy, in the holy Ghost, so manifestly, as faith at last bringeth forth the same? Was not this the complaint of David? Yea, of Christ himself; My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Whereby it is manifest, that they were without the apprehension and feeling of favor and joy. Content yourself with this then; If you desire to have the feeling of the assurance, that you are the child of God; if you pray unto God, that you may attain the same; even this desire and prayer, are undoubted testimonies, that the spirit of God is in you, and that you have faith already, though it be but weak and feeble. For this desire is not a fruit of the flesh, but of the spirit, which dwelleth in you. And this prayer also is the work of the holy Ghost, who prayeth for us, and in us, with groans and sighs, which cannot be expressed. As a woman that feeleth the mouinges of a child in her womb, though they be but small and weak, is assured that she is with child: So if we have these good motions & desires, let us not doubt, but that we have the holy spirit of God, dwelling in us, (who is the author of them) and so consequently, that we have also faith. Furthermore, if you delight not in these infirmities, in your doubts, fears, mistrusts, to nourish them, but are sorrowful for them, and resist thē to your uttermost power: then is there a battle within your members, between the spirit and the flesh, between faith and mistrust. So that you may be assured, there is faith in you, but assailed with doubts, and that the spirit fighteth against mistrust, and laboreth to overcome it: And that these doubts, incredulities and mistrustings, are the fiery darts which Satan throweth against your faith; which warding off the blows as a buckler, will at last thrust them back, and quench them altogether.

That God doth oftentimes suffer his children to be in a manner desperate, and yet raiseth them up again. And how we may know if we have any Faith. Sect. IIII.

Objection.

Oh, but there was never none of the children of God, in this case, even quite destitute of the feeling of that sweet joy, the peace of conscience, passing all understanding, wherein I am; If God's purpose were not, to condemn me, I persuade myself, he would never lay this cross upon me. What is this want of feeling, this dullness of spirit, these terrors of the mind, but sure arguments and signs of unfaithfulness, and incredulity, and even the very beginnings, and certain flashings of hell fire?

Answer.

MAke not your state worse then it is, I pray God open your eyes, that you may see, that they that are with you, are moe, then they that be against you, as Elisha prayed for his servant. Was not David assaulted with great fears and doubts, with mistrust, and dullness of spirit? What else meaneth he, by the sore and grievous complaint that he maketh, where he saith; Will the Lord absent himself forever? and will he show no more favor? Is his mercy clean gone forever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be merciful? hath he shut up his tender mercy in displeasure? Whereupon, he (as a desperate man) said; This is my death. Now then, where was in David the apprehension & feeling of his faith? and yet for all this, he had not lost it; yea, there was no mirror of faith better then in him. So all these complaints, were but the representation of fear and despair assailing his faith, and fighting against it. Also, how weak and small was the faith of the Apostles, when they did not understand that Christ must die and rise again? And when they were offended at Christ, and forsoooke him, so that Peter himself also renounced and denied him? yet they were not altogether without faith, howbeit then, it were very small. For Christ had reprehended them before, for the weakness of their faith, when he called them, not infidels, but fearful, and men of little faith, showing, that they had some faith, though but a little. Wherefore, if you faith be as weak as a bruised reed; and if it doth but smoke only, yet have a recourse unto Christ, cast yourself upon him, and he will save you. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. as Isaiah saith: There are degrees in faith, for Paul saith; By the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith: that is, from the weaker faith, to the stronger faith. Many of God's children are like unto the blind man, whose eyes Christ opened, and asked him if he saw aught: and he looked up, and said, I see men, for I see them walking like trees. And when Christ made him look again; he was restored to his sight, and saw every man a far off clearly. To conclude, as true and natural fire is known by the flame and heat, which are the effects and operations of it, for where these are, there must needs be fire; And, if the flame become weak, yet the heat shall suffice to assure us, that it is natural, and not a painted or counterfeit fire. So, if this fruit of your faith be weak, to feel peace in your conscience, yet if you feel the other effect of faith, which is, a desire to the works of the spirit, to walk in the obedience of God; this fruit of your faith, is to you, a sure and certain testimony, that it is in you; though it be but weak and feeble.

That the least measure of Faith, that is, or can be, is effectual to salvation. Sect. V.

Objection.

But what assurance and comfort of salvation, ean such a faith, so weak, so feeble, and so small, give me? The temptations wherewith I am assaulted, are strong and manifold, but my faith is weak and little. Alas, how can a little and weak faith resist such great and strong temptations? how can it quench these fiery darts of Satan? wherewith I am pierced and sore wounded? What comfort may I look for by such a faith?

Answer.

EVen this comfort, the assurance of your adoption. For, so you have but one spark of true faith, and the least measure of grace, that is, or can be, even that is effectual to salvation. And you must consider, that to speak properly, it is not faith, but Jesus Christ, which saveth us, saving, in as much as faith is the instrument, whereby we apprehend, and, as it were, the hand, whereby we take hold on Christ. As by the apple of our eye, though it be but little, we see a great mountain; So by our faith, though little, we take and receive whole Christ. A man that is in a close room, if he see the light of the Sun shine through a little hole, yet he may assure himself that it shineth on the whole house: So, if we see but a little beam of the Sun of righteousness shine upon us, we may assure our selves, that the Son of life shineth upon us in his brightness, which manifestly declareth, that we are the children of God. Now then, as this ought greatly to comfort you, in the weakness of your faith; so ought it to be a sharp spurr, to enforce you to grow in faith, and daily and hourly to pray with the Apostles, Lord increase our faith: that so at length, you may feel so much the more clearly, and lively, the peace and joy of your conscience, by the assurance, that you are the child of God, you may the more strongly resist all temptations, and glorify God.

Testimonies out of the word of God, concerning life everlasting, unto the which the faithful do come by death. Sect. VI

DAuid, How great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! and done to them that trust in thee!

They shall be satisfied with the fatness of thine house, and thou shalt give them drink out of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the well of life, and in thy light shall we see light.

Blessed are they that dwell in thine house, they will ever praise thee.

The voice of joy and deliverance shall be in the tabernacles of the righteous, saying, the right hand of the Lord hath done valiantly.

Isaiah, The redeemed of the Lord shall return, & come to Zion with praise: and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall fly away.

They shall not be hungry, neither shall they be thirsty, neither shall the heat smite them, nor the sun; for he that hath compassion on them, shall lead them, even to the spring of waters shall he drive them.

Joy and gladness shall be found in Zion, praise, and the voice of singing.

Uiolence shall no more be heard in thy land, neither desolation, nor destruction within thy borders: but thou shalt call salvation thy walls, and praise thy gates. Read further unto the end of this Chapter.

Thus saith the Lord: I will create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people as a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping, shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. Read the Chapter throughout.

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb.

Ezekiel, Thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd searcheth out his flock when he hath been among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places, where they have been scattered in the cloudy & dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good Pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be, there shall they lie in a good fold, and in fat pastures shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

Jesus Christ, When the Son of man cometh in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd seperateth the sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on the left: Then shall the king say to them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, take the inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

In my fathers house are many dwelling places, if it were not so I would have told you: I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Verily verily I say you, that ye shall weep & lament, & the world shall rejoice; and ye shall sorrow, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she travaileth, hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remēbreth no more her anguish, for joy that a man is borne into the world. And ye now therefore are in sorrow; but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from you.

Paul, The things which eye hath not seen, neither ear hath heard, neither came into man's heart, are which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Peter, We look for a new heaven and a new earth, according to his promise, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

John, And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, neither crying, neither shall there be anymore pain, for the first things are passed: And he that sat upon the throne said; behold, I make all things new.

That God is ready to forgive our sins; and to receive a repentant Sinner into grace and favor. Sect. I

AGainst this, and the like temptation, there is no better remedy, nor more effectual, then an a upright, godly and religious life, which consisteth in the observing and doing of God's will. Not the hearers, but the doers of the law shall be justified. If any man keep my word (saith Christ) he shall not see death. But because there is no man that sinneth not; for who can say, I have made my heart clean; I am clean from sin: if we say, that we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and there is no truth in us. Therefore now it remaineth, that you repent, and be sorry for your sins, whereby you have transgressed the law of the Lord, offended his Majesty, and provoked his wrath; that now at last you forsake your old ways, and purpose to lead a godly life hereafter, if it shall please the Lord to raise you up again; and lastly, that you lift up your heart, and boldly approach unto the heavenly throne, humbly confessing your offenses, and with a sure and firm confidence, in the merits and passion of Jesus Christ, crave pardon for the same. For God is ready to receive again into grace and favor, any penitent sinner: Yea, with fair words he allureth us to come unto him, and with sweet promises he provoketh us to repentance. As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The beginning of salvation, is the acknowledging of our sins, and to require pardon of him, who freely forgiveth all sins, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and laden, and I will ease you. Christ being not requested, lodged at the house of Zacchaeus the publican, who desired only to see him, as he passed by; affirming, that that same day salvation was come into his house; To show that Christ is more willing and ready to receive us, then we are to ask it at his hands: For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. This then being true; And seeing in a thousand places of the holy Scriptures, it is witnessed, that to the penitent Christian, all his sins and debts are forgiven, by the mere mercy and grace of God; that they are covered and forgotten; that they are pardoned and remitted; that they are not imputed, but cast afar off and hidden: it followeth, there is no more the anger of God towards you, (if you be penitent.) Why then should you fear his judgments, and the torments of hell fire? There is no death, where there is no sin; for by sin death entered into the world; and the wages of sin is death. As righteousness is the seed of life, and the cause why God justifieth us; So sin is the seed of death, and the cause why God condemneth us. Now every seed bringeth forth fruit according to his own quality and kind, as wheat bringeth forth wheat, and so of all the rest. But where there is no seed sown, what fruit is there to be hoped for? So we, having no sin, ought not to fear and stand in dread of the fruit thereof, eternal damnation, and so consequently, why should we fear the anger and judgments of God?

That the faithful ought not to fear damnation, for so much as they be the children of God. Sect. II

AS it is vain and foolish, to fear sicknesses, when we are most healthful; and most ridiculous to fear poverty, when we have plenty and abundance of all things: Even so is it mere folly to fear the judgments of God, when we be not in danger to fall into them at all. There is no cause then why we should be afraid to die, persevering constantly in the faith of Jesus Christ: For the nature of faith, as soon as it is received into the heart, is properly to encourage, animate, and quicken the same. The just shall live by his faith, saith the Prophet Habakkuk. This faith caused the Prophet David to say; Albeit I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, yet will I not be afraid, for thou Lord art with me. Yea the Lord by the Prophet Hosea's declareth, that the faithful shall have God allied and joined to them. I will marry thee unto me forever, yea I will marry thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in compassion: I will marry thee unto me in faithfulness. He that loveth me (saith Christ) keepeth my word, and I and my Father will come and dwell with him: Herevpon we are called, the Temples of the Holighost. Now then seeing God is with us, who can be against us? Furthermore, God adopteth and reputeth us for his own children: You are the children of God by faith. Christ hath given power to all them which receive him, and believe in his name, to be the sons of God. So, being the children of God, we are also heirs and fellow-heirs with Jesus Christ; being children, we are set free from sin, death, condemnation, bondage, the rigor of the law, and all the forces of the devil: being children, we are Christ's brethren, and the household of God, and in God's house death dwelleth not, but in the house of Satan. And to conclude, being the children of God, God is our father: But can a father hate his own children? that were against nature. Wherefore God loveth us with a true and fatherly love. The Apostle saith God setteth out his love towards us, seeing that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us: Much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son: much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. What man is he then, that considering these reasons, assureth not himself of the favor of God, and removeth not all fear, which he hath of God's judgments, and consequently of death?

That the members of Christ ought not to fear death and damnation, because Christ their head, hath vanquished and overcome them already. Sect. III

WE are the members of Christ, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones, yea one with him. Christ overcame death, and should we fear the same? He overcame it not only for himself, but for us also: He which hath overcome death for us, shall overcome it also in us; why then should we fear his sting? Christ spoiled and vanquished Satan, that old serpent, the Prince and Lord of Death; and why should we fear his power? Christ accomplished and fulfilled the law; why then should we fear the judgments of God? Christ by his perfect obedience, fulfilled his fathers will, appeased his wrath, satisfied his iustce, and abolished the curse of the law, which is death, according as it is said, O death I will be thy death. He died, that we might live: he rose again, that we might be justified. So then he is our Pastor, we need not fear to be taken out of his hands. He is our Advocate, we need not dread damnation. He is our Mediator, we need not fear the wrath of God. He is our Light, we need not fear darkness. He is our Shadow, we need not fear the heat of hell fire. He is our Judge, we need not fear that sentence shall be denounced against us. Wherefore let us cast off all fear, and horror, of death, hell, and damnation, which not having any power over the head, cannot have any over the members.

That the Forgiuenesse of sins is not a common benefit, as the secure and careless Christian imagineth. Sect. IIII

Objection.

Me thinks it were needless for you to trouble yourself so much about this point, for I fear not the judgments of God, especially considering that my sins are forgiven me; For where there is no sin, there can be no condemnation (as you noted very well before:) And that my sins are pardoned, I know right well, considering it is but a common benefit, and therefore easily obtained.

Answer.

TRue it is indeed, if our sins be pardoned, we shall not come into judgment, for he is blessed, that is eased of that burden. But such is the security & presumption of men in these days (who never knew what sin meant) that they esteem little or nothing of the forgiveness of their sins, imagining it indeed, (as you say) a common benefit, and easily obtained: whereas, if they were pricked but a little, with the feeling of the smart of their sins, they would esteem of the pardon of them, as of the greatest treasure that can be; they would sell all they have to buy it, and choose it before ten thousand worlds. For without this blessing, man is more miserable, and more wretched, then the vilest creature that ever was, or can be. For when the brute beasts die, there is an end of their misery: but when men die, without the remission of their sins, there is the beginning of their woe, of their endless torments in that lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, with Satan and his Angels; first in the soul only, until the day of judgment, and then, both in body and soul, forever and ever. Oh (saith one) if a sinner damned in hell, did know, that he had to suffer those torments there, no more thousand of years, then there be sandes in the Sea, and grass-pilles on the ground: or no more thousand millions of ages, then there be creatures in heaven and in earth, he would greatly rejoice thereof; for he would comfort himself at the least, with this cogitation, that once yet the matter would have an end. But now, this word NEVER, breaks his heart, when he thinketh on it; and that after a hundred thousand millions of worlds there suffered, he hath as far to his end, as he had the first day of his entrance into those torments. Now then, if these things were well considered, & weighed in the balance of reason, then should the drouzie Christian find his state fearful, and then would he acknowledge what, and how great a blessing is the Remission of sins.

What we must do for the obtaining of the remission of our sins. Sect. V

Objection.

Alas, now I know my state is fearful indeed, I feel the sting of sin wounding my conscience, and piercing my very soul. The law doth accuse and condemn me, the just and severe wrath of God is ready to take vengeance of me. Oh by what means, and how shall I procure pardon of my sins at God's hands?

Answer.

THe Lord dealeth not with us after our sins, neither doth he reward us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heaven is above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. c As far as the East is from the West, so far hath he removed our sins from us. The only means to procure the pardon of sins at the hands of God, is the death and passion of Christ: for Christ died for our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb undefiled and without spot. So then, as Benhadad the king of Syria, when he was discomfited and overcome by the king of Israel, by the counsel and persuasion of his servants; who told him, that the kings of Israel were merciful men; sent men clothed in sackcloth, with ropes about their necks, to entreat for peace and favor: and when the king of Israel saw their submission, he made covenant of peace with him. So, seeing we, by our sins do justly deserve death, hell, and condemnation, it standeth us upon to come into the presence of God, and to humble our selves before him, continually craving and entreating for the pardon of our sins, through the merits of Jesus Christ, and no doubt the Lord will grant our request, and be at peace with us; for the Lord our God is a most merciful father. Confess and acknowledge your sins unto the Lord, and he will forgive you. Yea though your sins were as crimson, they shall be made white as snow, though they were red like scarlet, they shall be as wool. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And that we should be sure of the pardon of our sins, whereof God giveth us a dislike and true abhorring, the Lord would have it an Article of our faith, so that we should not be sound Christians, if we believed it not. See li. 2. cha. 2. sect. 4. &. 5

Testimonies out of the word of God, concerning the forgiveness of sins, promised to all such as cleaving fast to the merits of Christ only, are truly penitent. Sect. VI

MOses, I am the Lord thy God, showing mercy unto thousands, to them that love me and keep my commandments.

The Lord, the Lord strong, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness, and truth. Reseruing mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin: Pardon our iniquity and sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

David, All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him.

I will sing the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I declare thy truth, from generation to generation. For I said, Mercy shall be set up forever, thy truth shalt thou stablish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn to David my servant. Thy seed will I stablish forever, and set up thy throne from generation to generation. But if his children forsake my law, & walk not in my judgments: if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments: Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with strokes. Yet my loving kindness will I not take from him, neither will I falsify my truth. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him.

With the Lord is mercy, and with him is great redemption.

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and his mercies are over all his works. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and lifteth up all that are ready to fall.

He healeth those that are broken in heart, and bindeth up their sores. The Lord delighteth in them that fear him, and attend upon his mercy.

Isaiah, Though your sins were as crimson, they shall be as white as snow: though they were as red as scarlet, they shall be as wool.

Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may have mercy on you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have compassion upon you; for the Lord is the God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait for him.

I, even I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine own seek, and will not remember thy sins.

Thou art my servant, ô Israel, forget me not: I have put away thy transgressions like a cloud, and thy sins as a mist, turn unto me, for I have redeemed thee.

There is none other God beside me, a just God, and a Savior, there is none beside me. Look unto me, and ye shall be saved: all the ends of the earth shall be saved.

Read the 53, Chap. of the sufferings of Christ, for your singular comfort.

This is unto me as the waters of Noah, for as I have sworn, that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn, that I will not be angry to thee, nor rebuke thee: For the mountains shall remove, and the hills shall fall down, but my mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace fall away, saith the Lord, that hath compassion on thee.

Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous his own imaginations and return unto the Lord: and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he is very ready to forgive. For my thoughts are not as your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher then the earth, so are my ways higher then your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.

Jeremiah, Turn thee again unto me, saith the Lord: And I will not let my wrath fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and will not always keep mine anger. O ye disobedient Children, return, and I will heal your rebellions.

If this Nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their wickedness, I will repent of the plague that I thought to bring upon them.

I know the thoughts that I have thought towards you, saith the Lord, even the thoughts of peace, and not of trouble, to give you an ende, and your hope: Then shall you cry unto me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hear you.

Behold, the day is come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. I will put my Law in their inward partes, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more, every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying Know the Lord: For they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: For I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sins no more.

Ezekiel, If the wicked return from his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live and not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him, but in his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Have I any desire that the wicked shall die, saith the Lord God? Or shall he not live if he return from his ways? When the wicked cometh away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live and shall not die. Return therefore, and cause others to turn away from all your transgression, so iniquity shall not be your destruction. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby you have transgressed, and make you a new heart, and a new spirit, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, cause therefore one another to return, and live ye.

You shall know that I am the Lord when I have respect unto you for my names sake, and not after your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt works: O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

As I live, saith the Lord God. I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live: Turn, turn, from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O ye house of Israel?

Hosea, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath; I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not Man.

Joel. Now the Lord saith, turn you to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. And rent your heart and not your clothes, and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Jonah, I know that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

Micah, Who is a God like unto thee that taketh away iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage! he retaineth not his wrath forever, because mercy pleaseth him. He will turn again and have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and cast off all their sins into the bottom of the sea.

Zechariah, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn unto me saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you saith the Lord of hosts.

As I thought to punish you when your fathers provoked me unto wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and repented not: So again I have determined in these days to do well unto Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah; fear ye not.

Malachi, From the days of your fathers, ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them: return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.

Hezekiah, The Lord your God is gracious, and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye convert unto him.

Jesus Christ, All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me: and him that cometh to me, I cast not away. For I came from heaven, not to do mine own will, but his will which hath sent me.

And this is the fathers will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should loose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Peter, To him give all the Prophets witness, that through his name all that believe in him, shall receive remission of sins.

The Lord is patient towards us, and would have no man to perish, but would all men to come to repentance.

Paul, There is no difference between the Jew and the Grecian: for he that is Lord over all, is rich unto all that call on him. For whosoever shall cal on the name of the Lord, shall be saved.

This is a true saying, and by all means worthy to be received, that Christ Jesus came into world to save sinners. Who will that all men shall be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth. Who gave him self a ransom for all men.

John, If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the just: And he is the reconciliation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

That there is a God. Sect. I

T O go about to prove, that there is a God, would be deemed a labor worthy of laughter, being a thing known of it self, and perceived of every man by common sense, as if a man should take upon him to enlighten the Sun with a candle; or to prove that the fire is hot: were it not that our miserable and thrice-wretched age hath hatched those Mockers who in denying a thing so certain, do show themselves unworthy of all conference, as contēders against their own knowledge and conscience. The sole representation of so hideous a blasphemy, might suffice to pierce our souls, & to cause us to sweat even water and blood, for anguish that the world could afford any so abominable monsters, as should deny that there is a God: or call in question the Great mystery of godliness, which is God manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world and received up in glory. This is a fearful and just judgment which God executeth upon those, whose harts and minds are so deeply plunged in fleshly pleasures, that they never think upon God, as if there were no God at all; upon those, who, to the intent they might practice all abominations, uncleanness, and wickedness, with less remorse, have maliciously strived to choke up these remainders of the image of God in them, That there is a God, that he is just, and that the soul is immortal: and upon those that contemn the treasure of the Gospel, that trample under foot the most precious blood of Jesus Christ, that scorn the simplicity and constancy of the faithful, in refraining from evil, upon their confidence and assured hope in God, and for fear of his name, whole judgment shall be more horrible then that of Sodom and Gomorrhah. To the end therefore to arm the Elect against such diuilish temptation, and to make those inexcusable that suffer them selves to be deluded by this pernicious Paradox, we will produce against them sundry witnesses out of the large volume of God's creatures, which manifestly testify that there is a God, against whom no exceptions can be taken. What man is he that comes into a wilderness or desert place, and there sees a house gallantly built, finding there no living creature, besides birds and beasts, will not presently conceive that there either are, or have been some men that built the same, imagining it to be impossible, that either birds or beasts should rear such a building: Even so when we behold the wonderful frame of the whole world, the heavens beautified with the Sun, the Moon and the stars; the earth garnished with herbs, plants, and other creatures; the sea with fish; Man endued with understanding and reason, brought into this world as into a palace, abounding with all goodness which may bring delight and contentment; and here enjoying so many creatures, in such numbers and diverse sortes: who will not presently confess that the creatures that be in it, could never make it, and that it could not make it self, and therefore that the Maker of it must needs be God? Thus then the universal world in every part thereof exclaimeth against the Atheists, that there is a God, the Maker & Governor of it. If this will not suffice to prove there is a God; we will further produce for witnesses, all people and nations of the world, even from the creation until this day, who with one assent acknowledge that there is a God; notwithstanding that they conceived it diversely, according to the diversity of their own imaginations; which diversity also manifestly evinceth, that it is not a doctrine only traditionally delivered from people to people, but also bred and brought up with every of them in their own selves. Within these two hundred years, there have been discovered many unknown nations, among whom some have been found to live without law, without King or Ruler, without house, going stark naked, yet none without some kind of religion, and an assured persuasion that there is a God; to show unto us, that it is not so natural unto a man, to be sociable, to clothe himself, and to live civilly, as to know that there is a God the author of his life. Wherevpon an heathen Philosopher said, It is a matter borne with man, and graven in his soul, to believe that there is a God. And be not these Atheists men, and therefore endued with this natural knowledge that there is a God? What shall we say more? The very devils believe that there is a God, and tremble, saith James. Hereof we have many testimonies, among the writings of the heathen; Apollo the great God, or rather devil of the Ethniques, being urged to tell what he was, and whether there is a God, being as it were, upon the Racke, maketh this answer ;

Therefore the Atheists, are more incredulous then the Devils; and lest they should tremble with the Devils, they labor to choke up all remembrance of God; howbeit when God doth extraordinarily manifest himself by the effects of his power, in thunders, lightnings, or earth-quakes, experience teacheth, that these monsters are the very first that with trembling and terror do cry out, confessing that there is a God. There be many other arguments to prove that there is a God, which for brevity sake I omit, adding only one more, to wit, the Authority of the word of God, which containeth infinite, most evident and clear testimonies of sundry sorts, to prove that there is a God; which are able to satisfy any man whatsoever, if he be not willfully blinded, as indeed all Atheists be. But here they take exception, for they deny that the scripture proceeded from. God, affirming, that there is no truth in it, which monstrous blasphemy, if they still avouch, must needs be maintained, even against their own consciences, if they will consider but these reasons following. First, In other Books, there are counsels, exhortations, & reasons to persuade; In the Scriptures we have absolute and express commandments; which prescribe a law, not only to the body, as other books do, but also unto the mind, to the cogitations and affections of the soul: they labor wholly to exalt God, and to humble man, showing him the multitude of his sins, and the punishments due unto the same, and yet teach an assured remedy how to escape the danger: so that man finding himself worthy of all misery, doth nevertheless find himself joyful in the midst of all his afflictions, expecting a crown of glory: such effects no other book can work: therefore the Scriptures must needs be of God, who being a Superior, hath authority to command; who only hath dominion over the Soul, and knoweth the affections & passions of the heart. Secondly, in the scriptures there are prophecies of things which man's understanding could never foresee, the fulfilling of which is many times noted, sometimes a hundred years, a thousand, yea three thousand before they came to pass: they entreat of the history from the beginning of the world, with the doctrine which ever continued in the church, yet there is no contradictiō, either in the history or doctrine; where other books beginning their history much later, contain infinite contradictions and other vanities: also the style of the holy scriptures is simple, without affectation, and yet it pierceth the heart and conscience, which no other writing, no not of the best Otors in the world can do; and therefore the Scriptures must of necessity be of God, who foreseeth and knoweth all things, who is ever constant, and who guideth the heart and conscience. Lastly, of all other books the devil hath most endeavored, to falsify, to corrupt, and to abolish the most holy Scriptures, yet have the same been most miraculously preserved in their integrity, by his providence, who is the Author of the same, for the confession and maintenance of the doctrine whereof infinite numbers of men, Princes, Magistrates, Artificers, Husbandmen, learned & unlearned have forsaken all; yea life it self and suffered such torments, as were intolerable to any that were not sustained by the divine Power: Behold, so many millions of Martires witnessing with one assent, that the holy Scriptures proceed from God. To conclude therefore, let us abhor such wicked cogitations, let us believe that there is a God, a Creator, a Redeemer, and a Sanctifier, who by his providence guideth the whole world, who will punish all Atheists, and other infidels with unspeakable and incomprehensible torments to continue forever, and who will give unto his elect and faithful children a crown of life.

That the soul of man is immortal. Sect. II.

HAuing confessed that there is a God: it followeth consequently, that we confess him to be just, a rewarder of every man according to his deserts. Now the Atheists have a second shift, to confirm themselves in their wickedness, and that is, to deny the immortality of the soul; affirming that it is all one with the body, and that it dieth with the same: which assertion, or rather blasphemy, is most false and absurd. For if the soul were the body, or any part thereof, it should grow with the same, as the other partes of it do; and the greater that the body were, the greater also should the soul be. But experience teacheth the contrary; for when the body is at a certain stay, and increaseth no more, then doth the soul most grow, and they that are strongest of mind, are commonly weakest of body; and the soul is seen to be very lively in a languishing body, and to grow the more in force, by the decaying of the body, that is, to increase the more in power & virtue. Therefore the soul groweth not with the body, and is not the same nor any part thereof. Again, if the soul were the body, then should she loose her soundness with the body, so as the maimed in body should feel a maim in his soul, the sick should be sick in his reason, the blind should have a blind soul, and the lame a lame soul. But experience teacheth the contrary, wherefore the soul and the body be not all one, neither is the soul a quality which hath his being in another thing; but a substance or life which causeth another thing to be, a forming substance, and a substantial form, which perfecteth the bodily substance, which outwardly seemeth to have so many perfections; yea a spiritual and not a bodily substance, which comprehendeth heaven and earth, time past, present, and to come, and is present in diverse places at once, which a body cannot do, because it hath certain dimensions; it cannot comprehend anything which is not proportioned according to the greatness and capacity thereof: and therefore it is manifest also, that the soul is not any material thing, because matter receiveth not any form or shape, but according to his own quantity, and but only one form at once, whereas the soul receiveth all forms without quantity, come there never so many at once, or so great, yea though they be contrary forms. These things considered, why should we think, that the thing which becometh the stronger by the weakness of the body, and which is advanced by the decay of the body, should return to dust and die with the body? yea what is it that can kill the soul? Not contrariety, for she allodgeth all contraries equally in her self, yea in whom contraries abandon their contrariety: Not want of food, for she feedeth on the whole world; yea take the world from her, and she feedeth at greatest ease most agreeable to her own nature: Not violence, for the soul cannot be pushed at neither inwardly nor outwardly: Nor Death itself, for she seeketh life by Death. There is nothing then, that hath power against the soul of Man; and therefore it is immortal. Moreover, who is that Man that desireth not immortality? How could he desire it if he understood not what it is? None of us coveteth to be beginning-less, for we cannot comprehend what it is, yea when we think upon eternity without beginning, we are at our wits end; because none of us is so, nor can be: Whence comes this, but that our souls having had a beginning, cannot conceive an eternity without beginning, can yet being created immortal, they do well conceive an everlastingness without end? If there be any that still persist in their Atheism, it cannot be but that they do it against their own conscience, for it is even against the law of nature, against the consent of all people and nations in the world, whoever believed the immortality of the soul, yea and against the voice of God himself, who in his holy word expressly testifieth, that his soul is immortal. Christ reasoning against the Sadducees, maketh this argument I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Ergo, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob do live; wherefore the soul must needs be immortal. The testimonies of holy scripture which confirm this point are infinite, which (for brevity sake) I omit; Besides which testimonies, the immortality of the soul is also proved most manifestly in many examples, namely in Enoch, in Abraham, in Isaac, in Jacob, in the apparition of God unto Moses, by which Christ proved the resurrection, and that the godly being dead, do live in God; in Korah and his complices, in Saul, for if he had thought that Samuel touching his soul had been dead, he would not have had him raised up; In David, in the Kings, who are said to have slept with their fathers, to wit, Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Jehu, Jeroboam, Manahem, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Abia, Uzziah. Also in them that were raised up from the dead, by Elijah, by Elisha, by Christ, by Peter, by Paul; And in Elijah, in Job, ing Nabuchadonozor, in Christ, in Lazarus and the rich glutton, in the unjust Steward, in the Thief hanging at Christ's right hand, and in Stephen. If as yet there be any doting heads which do doubt of, or deny the immortality of the soul, they are unworthy to bear the name of Men, being very beasts, and plagues of a Christian Common-wealth, worthy to loose their lives; For it cannot be but that they who deny this Truth, do lack all honesty and shame, and are ready to practice any mischief or villainy whatsoever.

The wrath of God against the Transgressors of his commandments. Sect. III.

THe Lord himself divided his laws into to two principal heads or tables; whereof the first teacheth us the love of God, containing all duties of piety and religion in the four first commandments, and the latter, the love of our neighbors, containing all duties of justice and honest dealing in the six last commandments. Now God is a consuming fire and a jealous God; A great God, mighty and terrible, a God of revenge, whose presence is so hot, that no man is able to abide it, whose lips are full of indignation & wrath; whose breath is a vehement flood, whose look drieth up the depths; whose wrath maketh the mountains to melt away. Before whom the host of the Angels stand with trembling. The pillars of heaven tremble and quake at his reproof. Such a mighty God is he, that with a whirling wind and outstretched arm, he will come in person and confound all the devises of the ungodly: Such a jealous God, that whosoever sinneth, he will strike him with terrible plagues: and such a just God, that he will not suffer the wicked to live. He is not a God that loveth wickedness, neither shall any evil dwell with him, and therefore there is nothing more odious unto him, and more contrary unto his nature then sin. It is a dangerous & dreadful darkness that no light can illuminate, and an extreme cold that no heat can abate; So must it needs be an odious thing that an infinite love hateth, a filthy thing that an infinite goodness detesteth, and a vile thing indeed, that Omnipotencie cannot do; Such a thing is sin. If there were any goodness in it, then should God in some respect, love it, approve it, and be the author of it, but this is it that God doth loath and abhor, as that which is most detestable and loathsome. Wherefore will we suffer this ugly deformity to fester in us? why do we delight so much in loathsomeness, even in that which maketh us loathsome and hateful unto God? The Devil in his nature, is more amiable then Man, being of a nobler substance, of higher excellency, and endued with greater perogatives then we; yet who knoweth not, that GOD hateth him, for no other cause, but only for sin? When we make a comparison of a thing that is evil in the highest degree, we can find nothing to liken it unto, worse then the devil, & having named him, we think to have reckoned the last and greatest evil that is or can be imagined: yet as bad, odious, and detestable as he is; more odious and detestable is sin, which is the only cause of his odiousness; of which if he were rid, he were a more excellent, glorious, and lovely creature than any mortal man. Moreover, so much doeth God detest sin, that to satisfy his infinite justice and vnplacable wrath, conceived against sinners, for the punishment of sin, he ordained, not only all miseries, calamities, hazards, incumbrances, and afflictions which are any way incident unto this life, being so many in number, so grievous in quality, and so common in experience, but also eternal torments and tortures in hell; in respect whereof, all the miseries of this life, are but small resemblances semblances and fore-running signs. Yea in this world for the trausgressions of one or a few, he oftentimes plagueth a great number. For the sin of Adam death conquered the whole world. For sin the old world was overflown, and all drowned, eight persons only excepted. And for sin Sodom and Gomorrhah, and the cities adioining were destroyed by fire and brimstone. For the rape of Dinah, the whole race of the Shechemites were utterly spoiled: and for the abusing of the Levites wife, the whole crew of the Bemamites, to the number of five and twenty thousand and a hundred men were destroled. The Egyptians for persecuting of the children of Israel, were ouerwhelined with the red sea. For the offense of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, their houses, wives, children, goods, and cattle; yea all that ever they had were swallowed up of the earth. For the sacrilege of Achan, his Sons, his Daughters, his Oxen, his Asses, his Sheep, his Tent, and all that he had, by the Israelites were burnt with fire, & himself stoned to death. For worshiping of the golden calf, there were slain of the children of Israel about three thousand men. All the Searchers of the land of Canaan, which caused the people to murmur (except Caleb and Joshua) were slain before their enemies. The Israelites were destroyed by fiery serpents, for murmuring against the Lord. And because Israel sacrificed unto Baal-peor, the Lord commanded Moses to take all the heads of the people, & to hang them up before the Lord against the Sun; for their Idolatry and whoredom committed with the daughters of Moab, there died of the Children of Israel four and twenty thousand of the plague: and for the pride of David in numbering of his men, there died in three days seventy thousand men.

Transgressors of everyone of the ten Commandments, and their punishments. Sect. IIII

THE first Commandment is, Thou shalt have none other gods before me; the which, when the people of Israel transgressed, following other gods, serving Baal and Ashtaroth, the wrath of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of Spoilers that spoiled them. The second Commandment is, thou shalt make thee no graven image, &c. which when the wicked hypocrite Jeroboam had broken, in making two golden calves, the one in Bethel, and the other in Dan, and causing the people to worship them, it was said unto him, Behold I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, &c. And Baasha smote all the house of Jeroboam, he left none alive to Jeroboam, until he had destroide him according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Ab • iah the Shilonite. The third Commandment is, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death; wherefore they stoned the Blasphemer in Leviticus 24. Sanecherib King of the Assyrians, for his blasphemy, described in 2. King. 18.30. was killed by his own sons Adramelech and Sharezer: and the Angel of the Lord smote of his men, a hundred fourscore and five thousand. The fourth Commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: which when a man brake, in gathering sticks in the wilderness: All the congregation brought him without the host, and stoned him with stones, and he died, as the Lord had commanded Moses. The fifth Commandment is, Honor thy Father and thy Mother, which Absalom transgressing, in rising in arms against David the king his own father, was u hanged, slain, and cast into a pit. The sixth Commandment is, Thou shalt not kill; which when Cain had violated, in murdering his brother Abel, God said unto him, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto me from the earth; now therefore art thou accursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thine hand: and at last he was killed also by Lamech his nephew. The seventh Commādement is, Thou shalt not commit adultery: Four and twenty thousand of the children of Israel perished, because they committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab. The eight Commādement is, Thou shalt not steal: Achan when he had stolen a Babylonish garment, and two hundred sheckles of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty sheckles weight, he, and his sons, and his daughters, and all his substance were burnt and stoned. The ninth Commādement is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbor: Haman the Agagite when he had by false accusation, obtained a decree of king Ahasuerus, that all the Jews should be put to death, was hanged upon the same gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai. Also The rulers and governors which had accused Daniel, were brought and were cast into the den of the lions, they, their children, and their wives, and the lions had the maisterie of them, and brake all their bones in pieces ere ever they came at the ground of the den. The tenth Commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house: t Ahab transgressed this when he commanded Naboth the Izreelite to be put to death, and tyrannically u possessed his vineyard, which he refused to sell unto him, and himself was afterwards flaine in battle fighting against the king of Siria.

God his punishments upon sinners at the day of judgment: with an exhortation to Repentance. Sect. V

NOw, you see what it is, to break the Commandments of almighty God, the breach of the least whereof, is recompensed with death; and that not of the principal party only, but also oftentimes, of all his Children and family; with the utter subversion and destruction of all his goods and substance, that so his memory might be quite razed out. How is it then, that you are so secure in your greatest danger, that you take no thought for your own soul; making no conscience of these weighty matters, that so nearly concern your salvation? Did you know, what a monstrous thing sin is in it self, and how horrible unto the sinner, surely you would not, with so small remorse, solace and delight yourself therein. You shall understand then, that the Lord most just, to satisfy his infinite and vnplacable wrath conceived against sin, hath ordained for sinners, not only temporal death of the body, but eternal torments both of body and soul, in that unquenchable lake, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every man may receive the things which he hath done, whether it be good or evil. God is no accepter of persons, who if he spared not the Angels that sinned, but cast them down into hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be kept unto damnation: Neither hath spared the old world, but saved Noah the eight person, a preacher of righteousness, & brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly: And turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrhah into ashes, condemning them, and made them an example unto them that afterward should live ungodly. have not we just cause, if we persevere in our sins, being thus forewarned, that we shall not escape his severe judgments? Whatsoever things are written afore time, are written for our learning; persuade yourself therefore, that he is the same God still, and that he hateth sin as much as ever he did. The Soul that sinneth shall dies the lord saith so, who cannot lie, in whose lips there was never guile, Thinkest thou that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? (saith the Apostle) Or despisest thou the riches of his bountifulness, and patience, and long sufferance, not knowing that the bountifulness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But thou after thine hardness & heart that cannot repent, heapest unto thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and of the declaration of the just judgment of God; who will reward every man according to his works: that is, to them which seek eternal life, glory, honor, and immortality of well doing: but unto them that are contentious, and disobey the truth, and obey unrighteousness, shall be indignation and wrath: Tribulation and anguish shall be upon the soul of every man that doth evil. Thus you hear what reward your impenitence and willfulness shall purchase for you; even the wrath of God, anguish, and death it self; a fearful looking for of judgment and violent fire, which shall devour the adversaries, wherein sinners shall be in that perplexity (being swallowed up of torments on every side) that they shall never have any spark of hope of their releasement: for they shall suffer an end without end, a death without death, a decay without decay; because their end ever beginneth, their death always liveth, and their decay never ceaseth: But they are always healed to be new wounded, always repaired to be new devoured: they are a perpetual prey never consumed, eternally broiling and never burnt up, ever dying and never dead. Repent therefore in time, that you may escape these horrible torments, humble yourself in the presence of God's majesty, crave pardon for your sins, accept this time of repentance, which the Lord now vouchsafeth you, take the opportunity while it is offered, confess your fault, and no doubt, but the Lord will show you mercy, according to his promise. As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. u For I desire not the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God. In this life, God giveth mercy to them that ask it in faith. Who will that all men shall be saved, and come to the acknowledging of the truth. Step therefore boldly unto the throne of grace, that you may receive mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. In the world to come, there is no place of repentance, for there God appeareth in judgment, requiring an accompt of all men's doings, yea, of every idle word that they have spoken in this world. And they shall come forth that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation. Therefore seek the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous his own imaginations, and return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he is very ready to forgive.

That Judgment cometh from God. Sect. I

MIserie cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth affliction spring out of the earth. (saith Eliphaz) wherefore you must think that this deserved Cross now laid upon you, cometh from God: for Every man's judgment cometh from the Lord Behold, blessed is the man whom God correcteth; therefore refuse not thou the chastising of the Almighty. For he maketh the wound, and bindeth it up; he smiteth, and his hands make whole. The Love, wherewith God loveth us, is strong as Death, so that it appeareth unto the world, as though the Love of God were misery, death, and destruction, whereas unto us it seemeth mercy, life, and blessedness. For whē we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, because we should not be condemned with the world. So then, under punishment, you may behold mercy, under correction, peace, and under death, life; whereby it will come to pass, that you shall not judge hardly of your state, it shall not seem miserable and fearful unto you, but that you may be able to under-go your cross, and patiently to suffer it. Seeing man's days are determined, and the number of his months certain, and that he hath his bounds appointed him, which he cannot pass: Consider that your glass is run out, that your pilgrimage is at an end, & that your appointed time is now come, be not agrieued therefore to die, be content to render up your life again unto him that gave it you. As you were not borne at your own pleasure, so shall you not live at your own lust: Conforme your will therefore unto the will of God, and say Father, thy will be done, and not mine. For seeing it is the will of God that you should drink of his Cup, which he hath filled for you, pray that you may sup it up with patience, and continuance in the faith of Christ unto the end, that so you may pass through it to everlasting life: where your tears shall be turned into triumph, & your disgrace into glory; where your comfort shall be without cross, and your repose without trouble. Who would not rejoice therefore, quietly and patiently to die, seeing Death is the passage from this world to the next, from the earth to heaven, & from all the present aggreeuances, to all comfortable happiness? Well may the brute beast fear to die, whose end of life is their conclusion of being. Well may the Epicure tremble, who with his life looketh to loose his felicity. Yea, well may the faithless and unrepentant sinners quake, whose death is the beginning of their damnation. But seeing the Lord hath vouchsafed you a penitent and believing heart, go on boldly and receive your portion in the land of the living, where you shall live ever.

Particular directions for the distressed party. Sect. II.

SEeing it is the good pleasure and will of God to lay this cross upon you, that for a while you should bear the same, do not excuse yourself, nor make your fault light to the world, dissemble it not as though you were guiltless and innocent, as though you had not deserved this punishment laid upon you. Cast away these fig-leaves, they will not cover your shame. And give glory unto the Lord God of Israel, make confession unto him, and show us now what thou hast done, hide it not from the people. Say with Achan, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. He gave God the glory, and so departed (no doubt) in God's mercy: so also shall you do, if you will follow his godly steps: lay open your heart this day, search your thoughts, and give God the glory. Conceale not the truth, dissemble not with Malefactors, do not extenuate the heinousness of your crime, the Lord is a searcher of the heart & reins. Seeing God hath brought your Offence to light; Seeing he hath ordained the Magistrate, who is the Minister of God, to take vengeance on him that doeth evil, to punish you, give praise and thanks unto God; think it better to be shamed here, then hereafter before all the world, & before all the host of heaven; far better it is, to be punished here, with a temporary punishment, than in the world to come to be tormented in hell, with everlasting and endless tortures. Also, if you have at any time confessed anything to charge the innocent, for the clearing of yourself, thereby to escape and be at liberty, or for hatred and malice, burden not yourself therewith, give glory to God and confess the truth. If you have hindered any man, by taking away of his good name, restore it him again to your power. If you have hurt any man in his goods, restore it unto him again, as much as you are able, and be truly sorry in your heart, for that you are not able to make restitution of the whole. If you know any Malefactors, Thieves, Murderers, Traitors, &c. be not partaker of their sins, but certify the Magistrate of them. And so pray to God for mercy, that he will give you true and faithful repentance, that he will not suffer your heart to be bent to any ungodly way; committing yourself wholly unto his mercy.

How the place of Peter is to be understood, where he saith, Let none of you suffer as a Murderer, or as a Thief, &c. And that God sometimes doth call men by this means. Sect. III.

Objection.

The Apostle saith, Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busy-body in other men's matters: Thereby indeed, condemning all such as die so. Now, alas! I die as a murderer, Traitor, Theef, &c. an evil doer, I am in this number here condemned.

Answer.

THe Apostle condemneth not such; Only he giveth the Christians a Caveat, that none of them suffer as a Malefactor, for then could they not glory in their sufferings, For (as the same Apostle saith) This is thank-worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what praise is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults? because they should have deservedly incurred the punishment laid upon them; they should not suffer for the name of Christ, but for their own deserts; which yet is so far from condemning a man, if he take his punishment patiently, that it is a means of his reclaiming into the sheep-fold. You have for example the good Thief, who had lived very wickedly, and committed many heinous facts, for which he was judged to die by the magistrate. Yet this punishment unto him was the means to bring him to Christ, and to know. God, whereby he received spiritual comfort, that the innocent lamb which suffered with him Christ Jesus, would pity his misery, forgive him his sins, and bring him into Paradise his heavenly kingdom: whereas otherwise he should never have forsaken his wicked life, but continued his course and run on the high way to perdition. And so peradventure had it been with you; you would have run on the race of wickedness, & gone forward in your sins, and still continued in that ungodly course, without all repentance or godly knowledge, under the fearful wrath of God. But now, by this means, he recalled you again, he made you know yourself, he brought you to repentance, and to the knowledge of his Son Jesus Christ our Savior, wherein if you continue unto the end, you shall receive the crown of life. Consider therefore, how loving a Father the Lord is unto you, and what a mighty God is he that can bring light out of darkness, that can make bad things good, and that will to his, turn all worst things to the best. By this means God hath hindered Satan of his purpose, who now made full account to have kept you in his kingdom forever; for he hath made you of the bondslave of Satan, a lively member of Jesus Christ; of the child of darkness, the child of light and everlasting bliss.

That the multitude of our sins should not make us faint-hearted. Sect. IIII.

Objection.

Yet (me thinks) I am a rebellious wretch, abounding with a whole sea of iniquities. I feel myself laden with a huge company of horrible sins, whereof evē the very least, is sufficient in judgment, to throw me down to the ever burning lake. My own conscience doth bear witness against me, of my manifold and innumerable transgressions, of my security and senseless blindness, committing sin after sin, both notorious to the world, and horrible before God. The thoughts of my heart rise up in judgment against me: The vanity of my life condemneth me: The wickedness and heinousness of my horrible deeds rejecteth me from the Lord's eyes: All my wicked thoughts, words, and deeds, with the inward corruption of my nature, do lie heavy upon me, and with their intolerable weight, do even press my soul down to hell.

Answer.

FEare not for all this, for where sin aboundeth, there grace aboundeth much more. Where there is the knowledge and feeling of sins, there is the remission and pardon of • hem: The Lord is good unto them, that trust in him, and to the soul that seeketh him. This infinite goodness of God, is manifestly declared in the Scriptures, that we should ever think on the • ame, and have Hope, there is none good but one, • uen God, who is good to Israel, yea good and gracious: The Lord is good, and a strong hold in • he day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. So then, God being good in nature and essence, and that only good, he is ready to communicate his goodness with the humble and penitent soul, that groaneth and sigheth under the burden of iniquity, whose heart and hands be bathed in the bottom of repentance; • f in faith, with a sure confidence in Christ's merits he require the same. If we acknowledge our sin God is faithful to forgive us. Next his goodness followeth his Love, which is so great • owardes us, that King David being wrapped with admiration of the same, saith; What is man say I, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him. In the Prophecy of Isaiah, this love of God towards us is compared to the love of a mother, that most tenderly embraceth her own child, which love is the heartiest of all other. Can a woman (saith he) forget her child? and not have compassion on the son of her womb? (as who say, No;) though they should forget, yet will I not forget thee saith the Lord of Hosts: thereby declaring that God doth love us more tenderly then doth the natural mother love the fruit of her own womb. And this declareth the fervency of God's love towards us, in that he spared not his own son, but gave him for us all to death. For so God loved the world, that he hath given his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a reconciliation for our sins. So God which is rich in mercy, through his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead by sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, by whose grace ye are saved. Out of this goodness and love of God springeth his infinite and marvelous great mercy towards us. It is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Let Israel wait on the Lord, for with the Lord is mercy, & with him is great redemption; And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. How many, or how great our sins be (so they be not sins against the holy ghost) it maketh no matter, for sin cannot so abound, but that the goodness, love, and mercy of God, purchased for us by the obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ, doth much more abound. Christ is stronger then the devil, and his works are more effectual and forcible to save us, then are the works of his enemy the Devil to destroy and overthrow us: his holiness and righteousness hath more power to justify us, then hath Sin to condemn us; and his integrity to wash us, then the foul spirit to defile us. This is he that is the stronger man which bindeth and overcometh the strong man: he taketh his armor from him wherein he trusted, to wit, Sin, Death, and the Law: So that now the devil hath no more power to hurt us, neither by sin, for Christ hath u washed us in his blood, and cleansed us from all sin; not by death, for Christ when he was dying, hath swallowed it up into victory; nor by the law, for Christ hath fully satisfied it, in fulfilling the same, and in submitting him self unto that curse that was ordained for us.

That late Repentance is good if it be true Repentance: and how a man may judge whether his repentance be unfeigned or not Sect. V.

Objection.

Late Repentance, is seldom or never true Repentance: Alas, hitherto I wallowed in wickedness all the days of my life, and now I cannot sin as in former time, by reason that my liberty is restrained, or that I am not mine own man. I left not sin before sin left me: I fear lest when I die, this my late repentance dieth with me. For it is very just, that he that contemned God in his life, should be contemned of God in his death. It is the just judgment of God on the wicked, that dying, they should forget thenselves, who living, did forget God.

Answer.

INdeed your case is no less dangerous then common: For the men of this our iron age do offer the flower of their youth to the devil, and bring the lame and rotten sacrifice of their old age to God. In a word, whē they cannot serve the devil, they will be content to serve God. These frame a kind of repentance unto themselves which may justly be suspected. Yet notwithstanding enter you into your own heart, and see whether you be truly sorry that you have misspent your time, whether you hate those sins you have committed with a perfect hatred, for that thereby you have grieved the holy spirit of God, & provoked him to anger, and not so much for fear of his revenge and wrath to be poured upon you. Whether if you were your own man again, you would commit the like. Whether you are not willing to be reconciled to your adversaries, to make restitution and recompense of such goods as you have wrongfully gotten and detained. Or, if you be not able to restore, whether you do not acknowledge the fault; Whether it doth not grieve and vex your very soul, to see and to hear the horrible sins & outrageous blasphemies that men commonly commit and belch out against the Majesty of God, who hath been so loving and so good a Father unto them: and therefore, whether you will not use any lawful means to refrain and punish these notorious sinners and Malefactours (whether it be by confession, just accusation or detection, or any other good and godly means) for the glory of God, and the peace of the Church. If you find yourself thus affected, thē doubt not but that your repentance is unfeigned and true, howbeit it be late: Better late than never, the Prouerb is. Consider that the Promise of remission of sins in Christ, is made without any term of time: And therefore late repentance may be true repentance. If the wicked will return from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my Statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, and shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him, but in his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Have I any desire that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God: Or shall he not live, if he return from his ways? If Satan stand before you, and accuse you of your vanities, and lay before you, the days of your looseness, despair not. Have you spent thirty years in vanity? nay, have you spent forty or threescore, yea threescore and ten, or fourscore? despair not: Reserue the rest of your days, yea, if you have not days, reserve the rest of your hours, of your half hours, of moments, for Jesus Christ, and he will make much of them: they are the brand taken out of the fire, and the remnant which is left. Though there be no light in your candle, yet if it doeth but smoke, Jesus Christ will not put it out; he will not quench the sparckles that are left in your flax. Is your strong man become a reed, yet Christ will not break that, such is his mercy. Oh, have you a remnant left, even a little remnant: and is that ready to die? yet be awake, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, and Christ will save you. It came no sooner into the Prodigal childes heart, to go and see his father; he had no sooner directed his feet towards home, but his father ran to meet him, embraced him, and received him with great joy. Even so doeth Christ, we are no readier to leave and forsake our sins, and to sue unto Christ for mercy, but he is as ready to pardon and forgive us, and to grant mercy Come unto me all ye that are weary and laden, and I will ease you. Here you may cast anchor, in this port you may rest yourself: now let the waves beat, let the winds blow, let Satan assault you, yet are you harmless, your rock is unconquerable. Christ is on your side, what can prevail against you? not sands nor rocks, not storms nor tempests, not winds nor waves, not fire nor water, not all the powers of Satan, nor the gates of hell.

What a man must do to be eased of the painful apprehension of death. Sect. I.

AS God in this life doth punish the transgressions of his servants with temporal punishments, lest they should be condemned with the world: So now on your part, seeing you have broken his laws, and that the Magistrate hath found you out in your sins, the Lord will no longer forbear the punishment due unto your desert; which certainly is very necessary for the saluatiō of your soul, for so much as God turneth all things to the best for them that love him, although your corrupt judgment and frail flesh may peradventure judge otherwise. Now then learn to be wise, and take counsel what is best to be done. The worst that your sins can do unto you, is to lay upon you, the just reward of death. The remedy is, of necessity to make a virtue, and to bear that wisely which you must needs abide. If you will have the heart that shall contemn the force of death, prepare yourself, not in your own wisdom, which you have found to be foolishness already, for it hath deceived you, but in the wisdom of the Lord, that your hope may be sure. Above all things, strive to attain unto true repentance, the first part whereof must be an humble confession of whatsoever things your conscience can utter, more then is revealed. Wherefore speak openly the truth, conceal nothing, and so shall you shun the devil, whoever is an enemy unto truth. He that hides his sin (saith Solomon) shall not prosper, but he that confesseth & forsaketh them shall have mercy. If we will find forgiveness of our sins, let us cast off the cloaks of shame, and confess before heaven and earth, that we have sinned, and what we have done. God will once reveal the secrets of all hearts, but if we speak the truth now, and shrink not, then shall we rejoice that there is nothing of ours hid. Better ten thousand times to receive the reproach of flesh, and glory of the Lord, than to turn away for one hour, and afterward receive everlasting confusion. John the Baptist preached to such as confessed their sins. When the lost Son called heaven & earth to witness his great iniquity, then he found hope of pardon. When the good Thief that was hanged with Christ, had confessed in the hearing of all the Jews; We are rightly punished, and receive things worthy of that we have done; then entered he into Paradise. It was the practice of old Adam to hide his sin, but you are borne anew; this was the sin of Cain, but you are of a better stock. And therefore if you have been partaker of any counsel, disclose the conspiracies of the wicked, unburden your own conscience, make your heart glad, cast off the burden of your secret sins, purge the eyes of your mind, that you may see Christ; let true and unfeigned repentance break forth in holy confession, shame the Lord's enemies, and make the Church of God rejoice: and loe, your death will be comfortable unto you, the holy spirit of God will strengthen you and hold you up, you shall not be dismayed, your temptations shall be no greater then you shall be able to bear, and to overcome them: and then shall you be blessed, then shall the closing of your eyes, be the beginning of your light, and then shall death be your entrance into life.

How God ordinarily behaveth himself towards the Elect in this life. Sect. II.

Physicians are wont to give bitter potions & sharp medicines to their curable patients; But unto him that is incurable, they give what potion the Patient himself affecteth and liketh best: Even so God doth chasten & correct his elect children, and doth judge them here, that they be not condemned with the world; whereas he letteth the reprobate run on in his own lust, whither his fancy will lead him, that his judgment and condemnation may be the greater. If his children (meaning David's) forsake my law and walk not in my judgments. If they break my statutes and keep my commandments. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with strokes▪ And again, as many as I love, I rebuke & chasten. And for the Reprobate he saith, I gave them up unto the hardness of their heart, and they have walked in their own counsels: Which is a certain and vnsallible token of their condemnation. Wherefore humble yourself under God's rod, and submit your neck under his yoke, knowing that he dealeth mercifully with you, as a kind and loving Father. Though the assault of death be strong, violent, and bitter, to the trial of your faith, yet call to mind that Christ hath overcome death and hell, he hath broken the strength of this battle, he hath confounded the captain of this host, and set up the songs of triumph unto all believers, that we may have the fullness of joy, and say with gladness; O death, where is thy sting?

That the continuance of torments should not make us afraid, or unwilling to die. Sect. III.

Objection.

Alas, the torments which I am enjoined to suffer, are intolerable, I shall die of a lingering death, how shall I be able to endure it? If I should die quickly, it would not grieve me so much.

Answer.

YOur lingering from Resolution doeth aggravate the greatness of your deferued punishment, whereas if you were prepared and resolute, your pains would not seem half so grievous unto you. Wherefore for your comfort, and that you may attain unto this resolution, I will insist upon one example, and apply the same unto you particularly, if you will give ear and mark it well. David the King sent Joab to number all the people of Israel and Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba; Joab would dissuade him from his purpose: Notwithstaending the Kings word prevailed against Joab and against the Captains of the host, so saith the Text. Well, the people were numbered, and God was therefore offended. Now to you: When you were first tempted to commit such an heinous offense and foul deed as you have done: Doubtless the spirit would have dissuaded you from your evil intent, and your conscience did prick you, and show you the grievousness of the fact, notwithstanding you gave no ear to Joab, to the spirit, and to your own conscience: but willfully, having no regard of your honesty, and credit, neither weighing the anger of God, committed yourself to the danger, and perpetrated the fact, wherefore God is justly offended with you. Then followeth the intent. What was David's intent when he caused the people to be numbered? Surely he meant no harm, but of Policy to number them, to know the number of the people, that he might know his power. But what was your intent? The betraying of your country; the destruction of your Prince; The murdering of your Brother; the robbing of your neighbor; or such like? You cannot deny it: So then, if God was justly angry with David, how much more might he justly condemn and utterly forsake you? your fact being far more horrible and wicked, then was the offense of David. Now to David again; When Joab delivered the number and sum of the people unto the king, all was well, thought David. But alas, good man, it was not long ere God had awakened out of his sleep, and began to bestir himself. How then fared it with David? then David's heart smote him, saith the text. Thus we see when sinners promise most ease and rest, most quietness and plenty of Peace unto themselves, even then beginneth the tragedy, when it is least looked for. His heart was smitten: Oh in what a case was he then! his heart aked, his spirit groaned, his soul bled, for sorrow that he had so grievously offended the Majesty of God; his conscience cried out against him, Who can declare what things he felt within? yet was not his sin so grievous as yours. But what did he in this agony? did he despair? No, he humbled himself before the face of god, & acknowledged his offense, saying, I have sinned exceedingly in that I have done, Therefore I beseech thee now Lord, take away the trespass of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. You hear how he stepped unto the heavenly throne, humbly confessing his trespass, and desiring forgiveness and mercy, and therefore obtained mercy. But I pray you, when you had committed the deed, did you not think that all was well, that it should never have been known? Ah, but sweet meat must have sower sauce. Well, when GOD had awakened, when you were taken, what remorse of conscience did you suffer? were you disquieted in spirit, and sorry you offended God, as David was? If you were not, you ought to be, the Lord give you grace to do so. It remaineth then, that you prostrate yourself before the face of almighie God, acknowledging your offenses, and crave mercy and pardon for the same by the merits of Christ, and doubtless you shall have mercy as David had. But how had David mercy? The Lord condemned him not (as he might justly have done) neither did he utterly forsake him, yet he punished him, & that most grievously, with temporal punishment, by an offer that was made. For The word of the Lord (saith the text) came unto the Prophet Gad David's seer, saying, Go and say unto David: thus saith the Lord, I will offer thee three things, choose thee which of them I shall do unto thee. so Gad came unto David and shown him, & said unto him, wilt thou that seven years famine shall come upon thee in thy land, or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, they following thee, or that there be three days pestilence in thy land? Now advise thee, and see, what answer shall I give to him that sent me? And David said unto Gad, I am in a wonderful strait. Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord (for his mercies are great) and let me not fall into the hand of man. Thus we see how David, when he heard the definitive sentence of punishment denounced against him, when he was in a hard straight, did not fret and fume, stamp, and stare, & cry out against the Lord's justice, neither did he show any token of impatiency, but wholly recommended himself unto the Lord, with a firm faith, and a lively hope, ( for his mercies are great, saith he) Blessed David therefore. Even so, it is not for you to bid the Lord battle (as it were) by your impaciencie, by your wailings and weepings, by your mutterings and murmurings, or by any other your discontentments, but after the example of David, commend yourself into the Lord's hands, and trust in his mercies, for his mercies are Great. Now to the punishment. So the Lord sent a pestilence in Israel, from the morning even to the time appointed, & there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba, seventy thousand men. A grievous certainly and bitter punishment, Yet your punishment is less, although your offense were greater. Wherefore you are to thank God, and greatly to praise his holy name, for that he hath shown you more and greater mercy, then he hath shown to his own servant David.

That God oftentimes dealeth more mercifully with us, then we do perceive he doth. Sect. IIII.

Objection

Yea, But David himself died not, the plague did not touch him, and therefore my punishment is greater, and far more grienous, then was his.

Answer.

CErteinly the punishment due unto your transgression and offense, is, or should be greater, then that which was due unto David's, if the Lord in his justice should deal with you; yet have not you so grievous a punishment enjoined you to suffer, as David had; the Lord therein dealing more mercifully with you. Touching that you say, David himself died not; true it is indeed, and yet was his punishment never the less, for so much as David was a King; and unto Kings the lives of their Subjects are as precious and dear, as their own lives, yea and more too; for the King often times, putteth himself & his Kingdom in danger, in the defense of his Subjects. Yea, the holy ghost saith, that David spake unto the Lord (when he saw the Angel, that smote the people,) and said; Behold, I have sinned, yea, I have donne wickedly: But these poor Sheep, what have they donne. Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, & against my fathers house. Therby declaring the care, that he had, for the preservation of his innocent Subjects, yielding himself to suffer the punishment due unto his offense. So then, by this example, you see how God punisheth the breakers of his ordinances and laws in this world, with temporary punishment, to the end he may find nothing in them worthy of blame or revenge, in the world to come. Wherefore you must not judge harder of your case, then you have cause: you are but one step from the heavenly Jerusalem, & that is, to die willingly & well: speak forth the secrets of your heart, & give God glory: commit yourself wholly unto his will whom you have offended, even God, and ask forgiveness and pardon, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior, & you shall find comfort in your sufferings, and afterward, everlasting happiness; for his mercies are great.

That because we have deserved Death by our manifold sins, we ought to die willingly, though otherwise we be innocently condemned. Sect. I

Whosoever shall consider what man is in himself, cannot judge otherwise, but that, if he endure all the miseries of this life, and eternal torments in the world to come; he suffereth no more then he hath deserved, being as it were the sworn enemy of God, at utter defiance with him, ever contradicting and repugning his holy will: for our senses are swords to fight against him, our words blows, and our works wounds; yea our body, that should be the temple of the holy Ghost, is a sink of all uncleanness; our soul a most riotous and rebellious enemy unto God; our understanding, quick to represent unto the Will, instruments of sin; our will a common Curtesan, coveting and lusting after every offer that she liketh; our memory, a register of wickedness, for our sinful thoughts and fantasies to feed upon: finally, what part of our body, what power of our soul, whereof God hath given us the use, but we daily abuse to his dishonor? warring against him, with his own weapons, and employing our life, motion, and being, to the continual provoking of him in whom we live, move, and have our being? howbeit indeed we do but throw dust at the sun, which lighteth in our own eyes, & kick against the prick. You must not therefore complain of your rough handling, no not though you were worse dealt with, for so much as you have deserved, not only temporal death of the body, but also eternal damnation, both of body and soul, by your grievous sins, whereby you have offended the Majesty of God, and provoked him to anger: let us not say I am innocent, I am righteous, I have not done anything worthy of death. O let us not play the Pharasies! The wages of sin is Death, if we die, then have we but our desert, for we cannot deny but that we have sinned. There is no righteousness in Man. This was the fools-paradise into which the Galatians were brought, who sought their perfection in the flesh. Take heed then, Paul counteth thee a fool that goest this way to work. This is a stolen feather, it belongeth to a better Bird: it is the arms royal of our grand Captain Jesus Christ, it is the ensign wherewith he triumphed over his enemies: Which of you can rebuke me of sin? Oh let us not rob Christ of his honor! let us not make gods of our selves; for who is good but God! let us not forget whose children we be! O earth, earth, that thou shouldest think so well of thyself! who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am clean from sin? The more we seek to cloke our sins, the more they do appear. Wherefore, so judge you of this your punishment, as of the rod of our heavenly Father chastising your sins, which you ought to bear patiently, magnifying the Lord's goodness and mercies towards you, for that he correcteth you but with a temporal punishment, if we would judge our selves (saith Paul) we should not be judged: But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, because we should not be condemned with the world. Yet notwithstanding concerning this fact which is falsely imputed unto you, for which also you are innocently adjudged to die; happy are you and blessed, and blessed shall be your portion, if you suffer this your judgment willingly and patiently; Blessed are they which suffer persecution for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: He hath spoken it that will never change. Take it patiently then, for this is acceptable unto the Lord: Murmure not, howbeit you be ignorant of the cause of your punishment; know that you are punished justly by this, in that you are judged by him, whose judgments can never be unjust.

That we must not revenge our wrongs. Sect. II.

THough others be guilty of this your judgment, suffering and death, as being the principal Actors, Procurers, or Fauorers of the same; yet you must willingly forgive them, and in any case beware that you do not breathe after Reuengement: Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. It is God's office, we must not intrude our selves, we may not usurp God's office. The Lord shall judge his people. We must not be our own carvers, we must not revenge, but leave it unto God and to his ministers, whom he hath appointed to execute judgment and justice; He that seeketh vengeance shall find vengeance of the Lord, and he will surely keep his sins. Forgive therefore thy Neighbor the hurt that he hath done to thee, so shall thy sins be forgiven thee also when thou prayest; saith Sirach, according to that of our Savior Christ, If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, no more will your father forgive you your trespasses. So far should we be from revenge, that we ought to pray for our enemies. Moses, when the Children of Israel had evil entreated him, & murmured against him; when they were plagued therefore, he prayed unto the Lord, saying, If thou wilt not pardon their sin, I pray thee rase me out of thy book which thou hast written. Christ also, when his enemies persecuted and crucified him, cried to his Father, saying, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. Thus did Christ, and thus he commanded us to do, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which hurt & persecute you. Stephen that holy Martyr, when he was stoned to death, he kneeled down & (as a faithful servant of Jesus Christ) cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sime to their charge. Thus you see that you must not hate them, that apprehended and accused you, albeit falsely, nor them that judged & condemned you, though wrongfully, neither yet your executioners; but you must love them, and pray for them: So God commanded, so Christ prescribed, so Christ himself did, so did Moses, so did Stephen, so did Paul and others. Wherefore should not you follow their precepts & examples? If you be a Disciple, you must follow your master; If you are a Seruaunt, you must obey your Lord: and if you be the Child of God, you must do like God's Children, you must follow their steppes: not forgetting how dangerous it is to avenge our selves, for with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again; as appeareth in the Prophecy of Ezekiel? Thus saith the Lord God, Because Edom hath done evil, by taking vengeance upon the house of Judah, and hath committed great offense, and revenged himself upon them: Therefore thus saith the Lord God, I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and destroy Man and Beast out of it, and I will make it desolate, &c. u and they shall know my vengeance, &c. Read out this Chapter.

Comforts taken from the examples of them that have been innocentlie adjudged to die. Sect. III.

Objection.

Alas, I have great wrong, and am very hardly dealt withal; I am falsely accused, violently apprehended, wrongfully imprisoned, and innocently condemned to die the death. Ah hard and heavy case!

Answer.

TRue it is: I grant your case is hard and heavy, but yet not so hard, nor so heavy as you take it: you say you have great wrong, and are very hardly dealt with; admit this, so were all the Prophets, and Apostles, and generally, all God's children before you: you are falsely accused, so were Naboth, Daniel and others: you are violently apprehended, so were they also, so was Joseph before them, and infinite others: you are wrongfully imprisoned, so were they likewise, so was John the Baptist: lastly, you are innocently adjudged to die, so were all these, Noah, Daniel, John the Baptist, and Stephen, yea all the Prophets and Apostles. Wherefore your case is not so lamentable as you take it, for it is a common thing in the scriptures, among the children of God, to see the just oppressed by the unjust, to see the wicked devour the man that is more righteous then he, & to see the innocent and holy man put to death by the enemies of God, and of the Cross of Christ. Now it remaineth that you do like one that hath his house a fire, burning all in a flame, so that it is impossible to be extinguished or quenched; who will throw out and fetch from thence all his treasure and iewells, that so he may with them build another house. So must you do, let your old ruinous house burn, let it perish, seeing it may not be otherwise, only think and bestir yourself how you may save your treasure and your iewells; I mean your soul, by a true and constant faith in Jesus Christ our Redeemer, that so at the resurrection of the just, you may come unto a new house, that cannot perish, but remaineth immortal forever; for then you shall have an incorruptible and a glorious body, which shall not be subject to grief, pain, sorrow, need, and trouble, but shall enjoy everlasting peace and blessedness.

Comforts taken from the example of our Savior Christ's innocent suffering: With a brief declaration of the same. Sect. IIII.

Objection.

Yet me thinks I can hardly brook these wrongs, for they are intolerable. Who can bear so many injuries? so many reproaches? yea the shame of the world and death itself, having committed nothing worthy these injurious dealings? if I were a Malefactor, it would not grieve me to be used thus.

Answer.

YEa then should it most of all grieve you, for you could not have so much comfort, & joy in your sufferings, having deserved the same: whereas now being innocently condemned, you may rejoice in your afflictions, in as much as you are partaker of Christ's sufferings. Look upon him and follow his steps: Who was more honorable or mighty then he? who was very God, even the Son of God, who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God. Who was more innocent then he? ( He did no sin, neither was there guile found in his mouth ) even by the confession of the Judge himself who condemned him, Pilate I mean, who took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood of this IVST MAN: look you to it. His whole life was nothing but a perpetual suffering, wherein he was wearied, hungered, and thirsted; he was banished, slandred, and persecuted; he was tempted, he fasted and watched; he labored, preached, and prayed; he sorowed, grieved, and sweat water & blood; yea, he that is holy, harmless, separate from sinners, & made higher then the heavens, was betraide by Judas, forsaken by his Apostles, apprehended by the Soldiers, without cause exclaimed against, wrongfully accused, and unjustly condemned to die; being hailed from seat to seat, as if he had been some notorious Malefactor, and from Judge to Judge, yet suffered he all things patiently. He suffered many taunts and checks, he was stripped, buffeted, and spit upon he was blindfolded, mocked, and disdainfully crowned with thorns: He was he became tormented, and wounded; he became accursed of God, sustained his wrath at last, being the innocent Lamb of God, being the Lord and giver of life, and being the Judge of the quick & the dead, he died a most shameful death, having sentence thereunto at the hands of a most false Judge, a painted wall, one that had more respect to the commō applause of the malignant, than unto justice. What Christian heart can think much to suffer, being moved by this example of him that suffered so much for his enemies? He hath given us such a president, in suffering for us, as it must needs seem little whatsoever we suffer for him. There is no greater enticement unto soue, then to prevent the lover; and too hard is that heart, that if it would not request love, is not content at the least to require it: where was ever any that either sought so much, or bough so dear, the love of any creature, as Christ did ours? What hath a man more then riches, honor, and life? All this did Christ spend in winning of us; as for his riches, he that created all things, was borne and died naked; concerning his honor, he that thought it no robbery to be equal with God, was sorted and executed with thieves; touching his life, he that is Lord of life, was bereaved thereof by a most vile, dispitefull, and shameful death. Shall the love of a mortal Friend, not only move us, but enforce us to love him again? shall his perils for us make us eager of perils for him? because thereby, both our love to him is best witnessed, and his love to us most confirmed? and shall not this love of an immortal Lover, who tendereth us more then our selves, and in all respects deserveth to have his love counteruailed; shall it not, I say, be able to enflame us, with desire to suffer with him, and for him; to testify our affection, with continuing the same in the midst of our afflictions whatsoever? Let not therefore the cross adventures that betide you, dismay you; let not the cruelty of your enemies, the sharpness of your miseries, the continuance of your afflictions, daunt your courage. Folow the example of your grand Captain, who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not, but committed it to him that judgeth righteously. Why should you complain of your bad usage, seeing your Lord and Master was thus cruelly handled? Is the Disciple above his Master? or the Servant greater then his Lord? If they have done thus to the green tree, what shall be done to the dry? If Christ having deserved nothing, did suffer so horrible, so bitter, and so grievous torments, why should we his servants, who have so often by our enormous sins, and wicked deeds, offended God, and provoked his wrath against us, and so often deserved hell; why should we, I say, repine, frown and grudge to suffer some small punishment, seeing it be the Lord's will we should do so? Yea, why do we not suffer any temporal affliction willingly, cheerfully, and patiently?

Whereof it cometh that the wicked do persecute the godly. Sect. I

AS the Ship, while it roueth upon the main sea, much like a castle, or a common-wealth standing by it self, having all the sails hoised up, swollen with the wind, and the banners displayed; with a very pompous and magnificent show, daunceth and skippeth upon the waves, alluring every passenger senger to behold, and admire her pride: but when she is come to the haven, the sails being gathered, the banners taken in, and the anchors cast, she lieth quietly in the rode, the searchers ransack her, and force her to pay custom; then is she little regarded or set by: Even so fareth it with the children of God, when they roued in riot, and sailed upon the swelling surges of worldly vanities, following the tide of a consciencelesse course, ranged at their pleasure without controllment, and had the favorable gale of authority to waft them forwards, and the seemly sails of Honors and Pomp to make them dance and skippe; then were they admired of the people, and esteemed as excellent personages, honest men, and good fellows; but now yielding at length unto the calling of God, having retired themselves into the port of a religious Profession, of a holy and innocent conversation in the fear of God, they are straightly searched and sacked, their sails gathered, their wind be come boisterous and tempestuous, their glory disgraced, and themselves exposed to infinite and innumerable calamities, and little or nothing esteemed. The blind-man, so long as he continued in his blindness, was never molested nor called in question: but so soon as his eyes were opened, then both he and his parents were presently convented. The lame cripple that was diseased eight and thirty years, had lain long at the Poole Bethesda, and all that while no man rebuked him; but so soon as Christ had cured him, as he did execute his commandment, the Jews reprehended and rebuked him for carrying his bed on the Sabbath day. So the devil seeks to blast our Religion and profession in the bud, before it grow either to flower or fruit, and therefore doth he continually persecute us, which notwithstanding is a very good sign, that we are delivered out of his power, otherwise he would never pursue us so hotly. So then, seeing we are in the right way, let us run on, and constantly continue our course unto the end: they that will take the start of profession, are like wild coltes that are frighted with shadows, seeing they fear tribulation in this world, which indeed is but a shadow, in respect of that in the world to come. It is not for him that will be a Christian, to regard the standers and scornings of men, or to abandon his holy profession for their sakes, seeing it is but a slender excuse, to allege the fear of words of a subject, as a just impediment, of not performing our duty to our sovereign. It were a great folie of the blind, to deride and scorn others, because they see; or for the criple, to contemn those that are sound of limbs, because they limp not: but much more sottishness were it for a man that seeth, to go blindfold, or to put out his eyes for the blind wretches scoffing; or for the sound man to halt or maim himself for criples sayings. He that leadeth an holy life, and walketh uprightly in the fear of God, is despised and scorned of him that followeth after vanity, and treadeth infamous paths: but he that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn, the Lord shall have them in derision. When we give our names unto Christ, and become his Disciples, then do we enter into a rough profession, (like a grape to the vine-press) that is bound to be at continual defiance and enmity, with the vanities, pleasures, and praises of this world; and therefore, what can we look for at the hands of the worlds friends, but hatred and persecution? The more the waves and billows beat against the rock, the more are they broken, and turn into a vain some or froath, and yet the rock never the weaker. So let the malice of our Adversaries rage against us, our rock is unconquerable, if we cleave unto it; hurt them selves they may, but cannot harm us; the Jews their hearts brast for anger, and they gnashed their teeth at Stephen, and yet was he nothing moved or terrified at their furious spite: we must make no more account of the obloquies and reproaches of our enemies, then this holy Martyr did of the malice and madness of the Jews.

That we must patiently suffer persecution and affliction for Religion or Justice sake, and why? Sect. II.

COunterfeit gold feareth the touchstone; If we fear trial, it is because we are counterfeits, full of incredulity & unbelief. If we had built upon the foundation Christ Jesus, gold silver & precious stones, we should not be afraid that our works should be made manifest in the day of the Lord: but being persuaded in our conscience, that we build with hay, straw and stubble, we cannot choose but be timorous and fearful to come near the fire, lest there should be any trial made of our works, or that our faith should melt away in temptation, as wax against the Sun, and thereby make it manifest, that it was a false and counterfeit belief. The house that is built on a Rock, will not fear the fall of rain and hail, or the blasts of wind, or the beating of the waves: The medowe or field which hath sufficient moisture, will not fear the drought and heat of summer; Neither will the tree that is planted by the water side, fear lest his leaf wither: nor we fear the brunt and heat of persecution, if our faith be strong and lively, especially considering how prositable & necessary they are unto us. Affliction is not only the livery and cognizance sance of Christ, but the very principal & royal garment which himself was clad with in this life: A soldier rejoiceth to put on his Captains harness; and a Disciple cannot mislike to be like his master: In vain doth he claim the name of a Christian, that will not imitate Christ. If we be Christians, Afflictions must be our coat, and Persecution our livery. He is an undutiful & ungracious child that is ashamed of his Father; he is a malapert servant, that refuseth to wear his Masters livery: and he of all others, a most ungrateful creature, that doth not willingly & joyfully accept the livery of God his master. Uriah the Hittite, when David bade him go into his house, and wash his feet, and so to take his ease, he like a true Israelite answered, The Ark, and Israel, and Judah dwell in tents: and my Lord Joab, and the servants of my Lord abide in the open fields: shall I then go into mine house to cate and drink, and lie with my wife? By thy life, and by the life of thy soul, I will not do this thing. He thought it an odious thing, to have better lodging than the Ark of the Lord, the Captain of the host, and his fellow-soldiers, and therefore he lay not on a soft bed, but on the ground, at the door of the kings palace: So our Ark, even our Captain Jesus Christ, and our fellowesouldiors the Martyrs, lay on the bare ground, and suffered great afflictions and persecution; and will we look to lie and to fare better than they did? Shall Christ lie in the manger, and we ruffle it out in our palaces? shall he mourn in sackcloth, and we bathe in pleasure? Shall he fighting in our defense, be wounded and crucified among thieves; and shall we disport and so lace ourselves with fond and vain delights? Shall he be pierced through with the sword of God's justice for our sins, and shall we be unwilling to suffer anything for our selves? Oh unnatural Children that we are! that having before our eyes the most bloody slaughter of our Savior, we being by his blood like Pelicans younglings, revived and raised to life from death, will not yet learn the greatness of God's love, nor consider how greatly we are bound unto him, & how much we ought to suffer for his sake, that regarded not his own life, to save us. See li. 2. ca. 4. Sect 4 Whatsoever we suffer for him, it is much less then he suffered for us, so that it is impossible for us ever to come out of his debt. We owe our selves wholly for our first making, and what can we add more for our redeeming, especially seeing we were not soreasily redeemed, as we were made? In our Creation Christ gave us our selves, in our Redemption he gave us himself, thereby restoring us to our selves: Therefore thus given at the first, and restored again when we had lost our selves, we owe our selves for our selves; and we owe our selves twice. But now what shall we repay unto our Lord for himself? though we could repay our selves ten thousand times, what are we in comparison of Christ the Son of God? So then, though we had as many lives to spend as drops of blood to shed, we could not recompense his love: & how willing then should we be to say with Peter, Though I should die with thee, I will in no case deny thee: and with Thomas, Let us also go, that we may die with him. The servant for forty shillings will hazard himself in his Masters perils, and fight his quarrels; and the dog, an unreasonable creature, by the instinct of nature, for a bone or a crust of bread, will run upon the sword in his Masters defense, though the danger be never so desperate. And shall we be more unthankfull than a hireling? and more unnatural than a brute beast? and that towards him that hath been so bountiful unto us?

That it is a blessed thing to suffer persecution for Religion or Justice sake. Sect. III.

THe long and continual experience of God's children subscribeth unto this truth of the holy scriptures, that we must through many afflictions enter into the kingdom of God. This is the Lot of the faithful. So the author and finisher of our faith, Christ Jesus himself was made perfect. Into his similitude we are likewise predestinate, that we should first die with him, and then reign with him, for all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Let us not refuse therefore that condition of life, in which we have the fellowship of all the Saints of God; but let us remember, that our Master Christ hath straightly charged us, if we will be his Disciples, there is no remedy, we must needs take up his Cross daily, and follow him. Blessed are they (saith our Savior Christ) which suffer persecution for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: Blessed shall ye be when menreuile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you for my sake falsely. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you. Blessed are ye when men hate you, and when they separate you and revile you, and put out your name as evil, for the son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and be glad, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. So saith Christ, who is the truth it self, and cannot lie. And so say the Apostles after him: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation (that is, affliction or persecution whereby the Lord trieth him) for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Behold we count them blessed which endure. Blessed are ye if ye suffer for righteousness sake. If ye be railed upon for the name of Christ, blessed are ye, for the Spirit of God resteth upon you. Wherefore, if it be a blessed thing to suffer persecution, for the name of Christ, and for righteosnesse sake, as no doubt it is, & that a great blessing, yea the greatest of all, to wit, everlasting unspeakable joy and felicity in the kingdom of heaven, where we shall see God even face to face in his glory: why then should you faint under the Cross which God hath laid on you? Why do ye not rather rejoice (as the Apostles did) for that you are counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. You are brought into the stage of Martyrdom, to fight for the crown of eternal life. Fight manfully for the crown of salvation, take courage and patience; it is better to die a thousand deaths, then to be separated from the Lord; if you confess Christ boldly before men in earth, Christ will confess you before his Father which is in heaven; where Christ shall say unto you, as the man said unto his good and faithful servant: Thou hast been good and faithful in little, I will make thee ruler over much: enter into thy Masters joy.

Of the benefits that the Cross or affliction bringeth unto us. Sect. IIII.

WHerefore should we be dismayed? and why should we fear the brunt of persecutiō, or the weight of the Cross; seeing we are so many ways comforted and eased by the same? There is no way, nor path unto life, but by the cross. Oh how glorious is that Cross, which bringeth the bearer of it to so glorious a ende! The Cross doeth make for the good and salvation of the Elect: it maketh us happy and blessed. And what greater happiness can there be, than to be at conformity with Christ, which the Cross doeth work in us. The Cross bringeth patience, it trieth our faith, it confirmeth our hope, it causeth us to acknowledge our sins, and to fly unto God for help and comfort. It maketh us to feel and to know our own imperfections, frailty, and misery, & thereby the necessity of God's help, protection, and succor, to supply our wants. The Cross to God's children is a most sure testimony of the love of God: and he that bears the Cross, shall have joy & comfort at the last; yea he that patiently endureth the cross, shall receive the crown which the Lord hath promised to them that love him, for upon him the spirit of God resteth. He that beareth the Cross, shall not be condemned with the world. By the Cross we learn what obedience we owe unto God. The Cross doth beget in us, hatred & contempt of the vanities of this present life: It inviteth and stirreth us up to the meditatiō of the life to come: It maketh us to know our enemies, and to perceive the pestilent venom of Satan's malice against our good and happy state: It causeth us to look better to our paths, and to amend our lives. The Cross is the furnace, in which God fineth and purifieth his gold: It is the mould into which God casteth his children, to frame them and to make them like the Image of his Son Jesus Christ. The Cross is the suite and livery that God's children are clothed withal, in this vale of woe and misery. And lastly, the Cross is the earnest and beginning of all consolation and glory. How is it then, that we fear and fly from the Cross, that is so many ways profitable unto us? Let us be constant and firm, and fear not the blasts of persecution, nor the storms of affliction; Let us be like unto that wise man, that built his house upon the rock, which the rain and wind could not beat down, because the foundation thereof was laid sure upon a rock. Let not the winds of trial blow down our building and faith in Christ Jesus, that firm foundation & sure corner-stone; neither shall it (be ye sure of that) if we have built well and rightly as we should.

That our afflictions are foreseen and appointed by God; and therefore to be taken in good part. Sect. V

IF you would consider three things, you would not marvel so much at your cross and persecution: first, what you be: not counterfeits, not hypocrites, not worldlings, not the children of Satan: but God's elect, a chosen generation, and the children of the most high. Secondly, where you be. Not in heaven but upon earth, not at home, but in a strange country Thirdly, amongst whom you are. Even in the midst among your enemies, as sheep among the wolves, being assaulted on every side, on the right hand, & on the left. And now, is it marvel, that God's children, being in a strange cuntrie, and amongst their enemies, shall be persecuted? No surely, it is not: neither doth this your affliction come by hap hazard (as they say) but by the good providence of God, as Christ, and his Apostles by the same spirit foretold, saying Beware of men (saith Christ) for they will deliver you up to the councils, and will scourge you in their sinagogues. And ye shall be brought to Governors and Kings for my sake, in witness to them, and to the Gentiles. And the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the Father the son, and the children shall rise against their parents, and shall cause them to die. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name, but he that endureth to the end, he shall be saved. If any man will follow me, let him forsake himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall loose it, and whosoever shall loose his life for my sake shall find it. Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, but your sorrow shall be turned unto joy. It were infinite to cite all places of holy Scripture which might be alleged for confirmation hereof. I will aleage one place more out of the Revelation, which is this. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer, behold, it shall come to pass, that the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee the crown of life. Here the author and finisher of our faith Christ Jesus, even he that is first and last, which was dead, and is alive, exhorteth and stirreth up his soldiers to be of good courage, and to prepare themselves unto the spiritual battle: For he saith, Fear not, not only by persuasions (as earthly captains do) but by giving strength, so that let all the devils in hell come, when he saith, Fear not, we are safe enough If God be on our side, who can be against us? What an excellent consolation is this, even to forewarn us of d • ungers to come, and to bid us shake off all fear? The devil shall cast some of you into prison, saith he, thereby showing who is the principal author and factor of persecution, the devil: to the end we may know, that we have not to deal with flesh and blood, but with the prince of Darkness, wherefore our weapons must be spiritual and not carnal; for although the Magistates do seem to do it, yet are they but the devils instruments: he sets them a work, he inflameth their hearts, he is the bellows to blow up their wrath against the poor members of Christ; and therefore, seeing we combat with such a captain, we must take the shield of Faith; and the sword of God's spirit, or else we cannot fight long without some grievous wound. But doth the Lord give us up altogether into the hands and power of the devil for our overthrow and destruction? No; that ye may be tried saith he. Oh sweet comfort! We must suffer affliction, not for any harm to us, but for our great good and singular commodity. My brethren, count it exceeding joy, when ye fall into diverse temptations, saith James. Why so, a man might say? Peter answereth, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious then g • lde that perisheth (though it be tried with fire) might be found unto your praise, and honor, and golrie, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So then we must be cast into the furnace of afflictions, to have the dross and mixture burnt out, to be fined, and to be made more pure, clear, and bright. Is not this a good comfort! Who will not rejoice in that which is for his great good? yet howbeit, we see, and feel by experience, that afflictions do us good, our frail nature will hardly endure them long, we wax soon weary, and are ready to faint, if we think them like to continue long. How long then shall we abide in the fiery furnace of afflictions? must we remain there a thousand or a hundred years? even this time, being compared with eternity, seemeth but a moment, and indeed is but very short. But must we continue there so long? No; we shall be afflicted for the space of ten, not years, nor months, nor weeks, but days, You shall have tribulation ten days (saith the Lord.) Sweeter and sweeter! For ten days (saith he) thereby denotating some short continuance of time. Oh good God! wilt thou that the wicked be punished in hell fire forever and ever, and that not for trial, but for torments; and that thy children suffer, not to torment them, but to try them; not in hell, but in this world; not the pains of hell, but a little affliction, for such a short time; no longer than ten days? Blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh, how much are we beholden unto thy gracious and merciful goodness therefore! The Lord make us thankful for these comforts. Now seeing the time of our trial is so short, what followeth? shall we be restored again to our former estate, liberty, and health of body? No, What then? The Lord saith, Be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee the crown of life. Sweetest of all! What is man (Lord) that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Shall we be crowned kings to reign with Christ forever after such trial? O Blessed shall that trial be, whose end is such a blessing! yet note, that this promise is not absolute, but dependeth upon a condition. If thou continue faithful unto the death. If we fight valiantly under Christ's banner for a while, & then faint, and be overcome, what shall it profit us? If we put our hand to the plough & look back, what shall it avail us? Such a one is not fit for the kingdom of heaven. But if we will be conquerors, we must persevere unto the death. We must continue still, He that continueth unto the end, he shall be saved, saith Christ. If we yield unto the enemy, if we stoop to sin, if we consent to the world, and give place to the devil, we are not worthy to be crowned with the crown of life.

That we ought not be dismayed at persecution, forsomuch as our cause is good. Sect. VI.

THe equity of the quarrel honoreth the combat, and the goodness of our cause assureth us of final victory. A circumspect and wise ship-master, when he goeth to the sea, and launcheth out from the shore, laying aside the remembrance of his wife and children, of his house and family, employeth his body and mind, strength and wit, only to the due performance of his office, in resisting the storms, in avoiding the dangers, and in directing his ship to the intended haven. When we are launched out of the port of earthly prosperity, we must set aside all wordly cares, and display the sails of our souls upon the maste of the cross and afflictions; we must betake us to the tackling of constant profession of the Gospel of Christ, and keep our hand upon the stern of godly and religious conversation; & being separated from the world, we must lift up our eyes to heaven, and direct our course by the motions of the stars and Planets, I mean by the examples of Christ, and other the childrē of God: so having Christ for our Pilot, and the inspirations of the holy Ghost for our gale, we may safely sail through the storms of persecution, pass the rocks of alluring occasions, avoid the shipwreck of a good conscience, overcome the surges of worldly pleasure; and finally, arrive at the haven of life, and port of perfect felicity. Our enemies are mighty, their force very great, their vantage not unknown, their malice experienced, their torments to flesh and blood intolerable; yet our Captain hath always conquered, our cause was ever advanced, and our predecessors with the loss of their lives confounded their adversaries. Wherefore should we have less hope of victory, than they had? We gather our flowers of thorns, and of briers we reap our fruit; If the staulke wound, the flower healeth; if the reaping be troublesome, the fruit will be the more delight some. We must not think that the sea is not deep, because the shores be shallow, nor deny heaven to be clear, because it is sometimes overcast with clouds, nor the earth to be fertile, because it is in some places unfruitful: so we must not think that the harvest of a good conscience is lost, though it be interrupted with some sorrowful showers. We are Christians, a chosen generation; we fight against the world and Prince of darkness, a strong adversary; our quarrel is the defense of Christ's Gospel, an honorable cause; our Captain is Christ Jesus, a victorious champion; our banner is the Cross, a heavy burden; our armor is patience, an unconquerable shield; our battle persecution, a sharp skirmish; our victory death, a bitter potation; and our triumph martyrdom, a comfortable affliction.

That their estate is very dangerous that never suffer affliction. Sect. VII.

AS it is a blessed thing to suffer persecution or affliction (as is before declared) and a sure token and sign of God's favor and love, according to that, Whome the Lord loveth, he chasteneth: So is it a most ruefull scourge of God, and a token of a reprobate soul, to be suffered to enjoy continually all sorts of delights, and to have no cross to traverse our comforts, according to that saying, No greater temptatiō than never to be tempted: I will lay my Vineyard waste, it shall not be cut nor digged, and so shall it wax wild, fruitless, and full of weeds. The Oxen that are designed to the slaughter, are suffered to run and range at their will in pleasant pastures; but those that are appointed to live, are sent to the plough, yoked, and daily tired: Even so are the wicked given up to their own hearts desires, and permitted to walk in their own counsels. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued with other men. Therefore Pride is as a chain unto them, and Crueltie covereth them as a garment: Their eyes stand out for fainesse: They have more than heart can wish. But the faithful are loaden with labor, wearied with watchings, being daily afflicted and persecuted. The Thieves live in delights, and of other men's spoil; they wallow in wealth & pleasure, till they be brought before the Judge: so do the wicked, till the time of their account come: but then shall they be thrown into floods of fire: for there shall come a judgment that shall make the wicked to wither, and the faithful to flourish. Better it is to be chasticed with God's children, than to be spared and pampered with the vassailes of Satan; better to be cut and pruned with the fruitful vines, than to be laid waste with that which is wild, and in the ende, to be quite cut down, to make fuel for the fire. Then are sinners most miserable, when they are left in their sins, without correction. The Oak is of a stately growth, full of fair leaves, casting a pleasant shadow; yet the fruit thereof serveth but for swine. The Temples of the Egyptians are very stately & sumptuous buildings, garnished with variety of marbles, pleasant portraitures, and curious works, and all the rooms adorned and decked with gorgeous furniture, and great majesty: But if a man go into their secret chapels, and view the god for whose honor all this is used, he shall find some ugly viper or crocodile, or some other venomous serpent: So is it with the men of this world, their houses are costly and glorious; their garments and attires, fair and precious; their bodies personable and comely: but enter into their inmost room, and consider what is harbored therein, and you shall find within all this pomp and bravery, a monstrous ugly creature, a sinful soul in the state of damnation, drowned in security, and in all vice and wickedness. The fish will merrily float, and turn to and fro, & leap at the bait, and rejoice if he catch it; when will the fisher pull his line, and the hook will fasten in the fishes guils, so that the poor fish is taken: So are the children of men snared in the evil time, when it falleth upon the sodaeinelie: then for liberty shall they reap restraint, and for their dainty bits, eternal torments. Wherefore God chasteneth his children in this life: and if they cannot be won with easier remedies; medies; when he seeth them run astray, he holdeth them back with the hard bit of adversity, and hedgeth them in with the thorns of tribulation. The vanities of this world cast us into such a delightsome frenzy, and lull us so dangerously asleep, that many in a frantic fit of licentiousness, run headlong to perdition, and while they rejoice, they rave; and many in a careless and secure kind of life, sleep themselves to death, like wounded wretches sleeping in their graves; and therefore God scourgeth his children with the rod of tribulation, to temper and stay the raging moodes of the frantic, & to rouse the dead sleepers out of their lethargy▪ See lib. 1. Chap. 5. Sect. 2.

That whosoever will be ashamed of Christ, Christ will be ashamed of him. Sect. VIII.

Such was the excessive love of Christ, thirsting for the salvation of mankind, that he hath shown us his feet nailed, to attend our coming; his side open, to give us entrance; his arms stretched out, ready to embrace us; his head inclined, to afford us the kiss of peace; his eyes shut, to all our offenses; his ears vnstopped, to hear our petitions; his hands open, to enrich us with gifts; and a multitude of bleeding wounds, to show us how entirely he loved, and how dearly he bought us. But many, like the stiff-necked Jews, nothing moved with this his excessive love, contemn all his muiting, being, not only dull and deaf at his calling, but with sauadge and barbarous cruelty with their spears of sin, they wound & crucify again to thenselves the son of God, as much as in them lieth. Many are ashamed to confess Christ and his Gospel in the presence of his enemies, and before them that have authority & bear the sway in this world; little regarding, or rather contemning the threatenings of Christ. Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whoseuer shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven: and that of the Apostles if we deny him, he will deny us. O let us consider this, and be not afraid to confess Christ boldly, though it be with the danger of our liberty, or life it self. For Christ will render vengeance to them that hated his Gospel, they shall know whose word and truth it was, which they have so dispitefully reproached & denied. Upon the wicked shall he rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and stormy tempest, this is the portion of • heir cup. But you that can find in your hearts to suffer persecution for the testifying of Christ and his truth; it is a sure token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for the which ye also suffer. For it is a righteous thing with God, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you: and to you which are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall show himself from heaven with his mighty Angel • : In flaming fire rendering vengeance to them that do not know God, and which obey not unto the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which shall be punished with everlasting perdition, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Heaven is like unto a city built and set upon a broad field, full of all good things. The entrance thereof is narrow, and in a dangerous place to fall, and there is fire at the right hand, and a deep water at the left. And there is but one path betwixt them, even betwixt the fire and the water, so that there could but one man go there. If this city were given unto a man for an inheritance, if he never went thorough the peril before it, how could he receive his inheritance? Wherefore, seeing the way is narrow and strait, that is, full of troubles and affliction, that leadeth into heaven, that most joyful and pleasant city of everlasting life: let us not stagger or look back, but go forwards through thick and thin, yea, even through death it self; for it is he that leadeth us to our journeys end, it is Death that brings us to the gate of everlasting life. Let us not be afraid then to die; blessed is that death that leadeth to so joyful a end.

That wordly pleasure, wealth, &c. should not withdraw us from the confession of the truth. Sect. IX.

Objection.

Alas! am I so foolish as to forgo so many goodly manors, such fair livings, such costly treasures, upon a conceit only, or an opinion touching Religion! How can I away with the loss of these pleasures which I may enjoy for a long time, even at my hearts ease? What? Shall I cast myself willfully away? I obtained of late an honorable Office, and enjoyed the same for a short time: hitherto I have got little or nothing by it; now the profit cometh in, and shall I leave that so soon which I have gotten so hardly? Oh precious iewells and rich pearls! have I enjoyed you but for such a short time, and now must I leave you, and know not who shall possess you! No, no, I cannot do it, I may not, I mean not.

Answer.

SAtan suggesteth these worldly toys into your mind, to the end you should consent unto him (who envieth your happy estate, and would fain have you wrapped in the same condemnation with himself) and fall down & worship not the Lord, but the dragon, the old serpent the devil, that great beast and his image, & so commit fornication with the whore of Babylon, together with the kings of the earth, with the Locusts and other false Prophets, that you should rejoice and be pleasant with her, and be drunken with the wine of her fornication. Shall worldly vanity cause you to forgo your everlasting habitation? What shall it profit a man though he should win the whole world, and loose his soul? Remember that this world passeth away, and the lust thereof: and that to take pleasure in pleasant things is vanity. In the Ocean sea, of four ships not one doth miscarry; and in the sea of this world, of many foures not one is saved. This world is the kingdom of Satan, what servant of god cā have any pleasure and delight to live in Satan's kingdom? It is a place of banishment; can any be so unnatural and so senseless, as not willingly to forsake banishment? Is it better to hang always in hazard, then once to fall for felicity? We are promised, that here we shall be persecuted and hated of the world; that we shall weep and live in sorrow, that we shall be despised, contemned, and scorned; that we shall be vexed in body & soul: But in the next life, we are assured that our reward is great, our joy without sorrow, & our comfort without Cross: But if we sow in sin, what can we look to reap but misery? If vanities will be our traffic, grief will be our gain; If we will have our life to be delectable, our decease will be damnable: whereas on the contrary side, the children of God sow in tears, and therefore shall they reap in joy; in earth they have pain, and in heaven payment; their life is miserable, and their death precious in the sight of the Lord. They look on the world, and see it like a sea, where many trusting to the waves, are drowned, some are beaten with the billows against the stony rocks; others laboring to attain to the shores, some by the help of a seely plank, some by some fragment of a broken ship, many forced to save themselves by their only hands; and many overcome with the surges, have yielded up the ghost; and a multitude of dead carcasses left to the waters rage: Amongst others, they see thenselves tired out, not with the smalest storms, and their hold to be very fickle: and therefore what greater comfort can there befall them, then to be quickly landed in a safe port, where beholding under them, the perils escaped, they may the more rejoice at their attained security! They look on the poor, and their life is lead in such agony, contempt, and needines, that it maketh everyone to loathe it. They behold the rich, their felicity is folly, and their joy vanity. They consider the Potentates of the world, and they are poor in their riches, abject in their honors, and discontented in their delights; and therefore they h • sten to their repose, and swiftly run over the cares of this life. Again, you must understand, that God bestowed your riches, dignity, and office (which you imagine to be such a precious thing) yea and your life also, upon you, as love-tokens; to give you a taste of his Love towards you, and to win your love towards him again. Now doth God try your love, whether you set more by his tokens, or by himself. If for your tokens, that is, your livings, dignities, and life's sake, you will forsake the Lord, and follow the world and Satan; then will God cast you off, and give you your inheritance with Satan, among the children of unbelief. For what is your love but a whorish love? whereas on the contrary side, if you go on manfully, and fear not to confess Christ, (which is not a vain conceit or opinion touching Religion; but a full and assured persuasion of the truth of Christ's Gospel, that he is the Son of God who came to save sinners) then for these earthly and corruptible dross, you shall receive heavenly and incorruptible treasures: for gold you shall have glory, for earthly mannors, heavenly mansions, for silver that perisheth, solace without end; for rusty riches royal robes, mirth without me sure: pleasure without pain, and endless joy which shall never be taken from you. See lib. 1 Cap 4. Sect. 3.4. & 5.

Conscience in religion must not be dissembled. Sect. X.

Objection.

I will keep my conscience, faith, and religion close unto myself; I will inwardly and privately worship God in spirit and truth: and outwardly I will be no open medler, nor transgressor of common order; so shall I be suffered to live peaceably: At least I will do so for awhile, until these storms of persecution cease & be overpast: Now the way is foul, I cannot travel. These storms shall have an end, weeping may abide at evening, but joy cometh in the morning; and then I will show myself, and be zealous and forward in my profession.

Answer.

O abhominable devise! O palpable blindness! you are called in question for your conscience, to render a reason of your faith, and to confess Christ; and how can you be a keeper and an observer of the common order? Peradventure you will say, I will deny Christ with my tongue, and confess him with my heart. But that will not serve the turn: If Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego had done so, and followed your wicked devise, Nabuchad-nezzar had not confessed the power of God. A man must not halt between God and Baal; for God abhorreth two men in one. Christ will not part the spoil with his mortal enemy the Devil, either he will have all, or loose all. He will not permit you to serve the Devil with your body, and he stand contented with your heart & soul: But he will be glorified both in your bodies and in your souls. Our bodies are for the Lord, and we must love him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. God created, not only the soul of man, but also the body, and requireth the service and obedience of both: he will not only look upon the soul, but will also behold the qualities and the actions of the body. He made all, he hath bought all, he hath dearly paid for all; and therefore good reason it is, that he require all. He will have both heart and hand, mind and tongue, body and soul: therefore stand to it stoutly, and fear not, the victory is yours already, if you faint not. And for that the storms are great, & the way foul, let not that move you. For all the Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs, had as stormy a weather and as foul a way as you have. Yea Christ himself had no better, but much more rough and fouler. I hope you will look for no better then they had. Wherefore go after your Master Christ, not sticking at the foul way and stormy weather. He that observeth the wind, shall not sow (saith Solomon) and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. Surely Satan suggesteth unto you, that you should stay till the storms be over-past, not for your good, not that you should not be wet to the skin, but that the time might overslip you, to your destruction; for then the night will approach, that you cannot travel, or the gates will be shut up and locked before you come, that so you might lodge without, in a wretched and loathsome lodging; take heed you yield not unto these devilish motions, beware of Satan's subtleties, & give no ear to his entisemēts. Hannibal whē he had obtained the victory at Cannas; If he had gone strait to Rome, by all men's judgments he had taken the city. But forsomuch as he did defer it until the next day, the Romans having recovered their force again, he was shut out and deserved to hear this opprobrie. * O Hannibal, thou knowest how to get the victory, but yet thou hast not learned how to use the same. If delays be thus dangerous in civil affairs, then how much more dangerous are they in matters that concern our salvation? We must not dally with repentance; we must not contemn the callings of God: We must not despise the voice of Wisdom, lest when we call upon her she shall not answer, and seek her early, we can not find her. Esau shall seek Repentance, yea, even with tears, but shall not find Repentance, no not though his heart break: Judas shall repent his treachery, but shall not find the comfortable face of Repentance, no not though he hang himself: and therefore it is not good to procrastinate and prolong the time, lest we grieve the holy spirit of Jesus, but let us boldly con • esse his name: To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.

Against the offense taken from the yielding of timeseruers, though they be better learned and wiser then we be. Sect. XI.

Objection.

You see many good and learned men, far better learned then I am: they recant and yield unto the time, and they know well enough what they do; if it were such a dangerous thing to turn, I persuade myself, they would never do it: what need I be more scrupulous then they? Especially seeing I am not comparable to them, either for knowledge, or experience.

Answer.

NOw indeed, while the wind of persecution is stirring, the Winower cometh with his fan in his hand, to see who is blown away like light chaff, and who resisteth the blast, like massy and good wheat. That which lieth hid in the green blade of corn, is displayed in the ripe ear; that which is concealed in the flower is uttered in the fruit. Many believers are deemed equal, whom persecution proveth of unequal faith, trial showeth what was hid in the blade, and what concealed in the flower: by their fruit you shall know them, saith our Savior. Many flowers promise abundance of fruit, but when they are put to their proof by storms of wind, very few persevere to their full growth; so many seem faithful in the calm of the Church, but when the blasts of trial do bluster against them, few are found to bring forth fruit.

The skill of the Pilot is not known until the tempest ariseth, neither the Captains corage till the war beginneth, nor the true profestors of the Gospel till the persecutor rageth. Persecution is the shovel which purgeth the Lord's floor, fanning the confused heap of Believes and Infidels, and severing the corn of the faithful professors, from the chaff of faithless deniers. This is the water, at which our heavenly Gideon trieth, who are fit soldiers to discomfit the host of Midian, and he seuereth those which shall bow down their knees, for greediness and thirst of worldly vanities, from such as reach with their hand, so much only as their necessity requireth; of whom the Lord said, By these three hundred men that lapped will I save you. Those learned men (whom you speak of) are these greedy guts, and those timorous soldiers, whose harts fainted, they are blinded by the malice of Satan, destitute of the spirit of God, and true knowledge. The knowledge they boast of, is ignorance, the learning they pretend themselves to have, is madness, and the Religion whereof they seemed to make so much profession, was but hypocrisy; and therefore their wisdom is like Uriah's letters which he carried against himself: for it leaves them without excuse, and witnesseth against rheir own souls, because they knew their Masters will, and did it not. Follow you not their steps, and tread not in their paths, lest you be overtaken and beaten with many stripes. You are one of them (though unlearned, if you will be constant) of whom Christ rejoiced, thanking his Father, saying, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise, and men of understanding, and hast revealed them to babes; even so Father, because it pleased thee. Look not what this man or that man doth, but look still, and behold the mark you shoot at, or else you loose your game. He which runneth at the gleue, looketh not on the standers by, he goeth not this way or that way, but keeping his straight course, beholdeth the gleue, and looketh on them that run after him, that they overtake him not, and hasteneth to ouerrake them which be before him. So must we do, we must leave looking on them that will not run with us, the race to heavenly bliss, by the path of persecution; but we must march on forwards, and hasten after our fellow-soldiers, still looking on the gieue, that is, Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the Cross and despised the shame, and is set at the right hand of the throne of God. Care not for the fury of the persecutors, despise the rage of the persecuting Priests, the Ministers of the Devil; and call to mind, that it is the part of Christians to be persecuted, but to persecute the Christians, it is the very office of Pilate and Caiaphas.

That though the world condemn us for fools and too nice, yet we must not take the start of profession. Sect. XII.

Objection.

The ignorant do condemn us, they think it folly to stand so much upon pointes and terms, and to make so great account of gall: many muse at our madness, that most willingly feed on Samsons honny-comb, when it is taken out of the Lions mouth; they wonder at our niceness, and precize scrupulousity, that we refuse to do like other men, whom they say to be as good as we.

Answer.

WE must not regard the Sardoicall laughters, or raving scoffs of the wicked; a sensual man understandeth not the things that be of God. One that knoweth not the virtue of herbs, when he walketh in the fields or valleys, without any regard, treadeth underfoot whatsoever groweth in his way, making no more accompt of one herb then of another. But if he come into a Physicians house, where he seeth many, not only wholesome herbs. but to his thinking, strong and unsavory weeds, he nevertheless conceiveth that there is some secret virtue in them, to cure diseases: and if he see the experience of their operatiō, much more accounteth he of them; so that whereas before he trampled with contempt upon them, now he would be as careful to gather them: So one that knoweth not the virtue, joy, and honor of the cross, of chains and prisons for the testimony of a good conscience, despiseth and abhorreth them as contemptible and dishonorable things, & laugheth at such as embrace them: But if he come once to the school of our heavenly Physician, and taste how sweet the Lord is, and there see and view the strange operation of these things, (which now so much he contemneth) not only in Christ himself, but in John the Baptist, in Paul, and others; then can he not choose but have them in great estimation, and be ready, if occasion serve, to try the force of them in his own self, if need require, howsoever the ignorant judge of them as unprofitable & unsavory weeds, and badges of disgrace. We know, or may know, that the flower of Jesse gave forth his most pleasant sent, and came to his full growth in this world upon the Cross. We know that the fruit of life was not gathered without thorns, and we know that gall was given in extremity to the most experienced and perfect taster, and that the honnycombe was not eaten till after his resurrection, when it was in a manner, fetched out of the Lions mouth, whom he had by his death victoriously foiled. If two keys were offered us, the one of gold set with Diamonds, rubies, and pearl, curiously wrought, and hanged by a chain of great price; the other of old rusty Iron, vnhandsome, and shapelesse to behold, tied in a rotten cord; & yet this the true keie to infinite treasure, and the other to a sink of despair; which of these two keys were in reason to be desired? This rusty keie is affliction and persecution: the golden key is wordly prosperity: by the key of trouble and affliction we enter into heaven: and this other key, is the key of the bottomeless pit: for many have gold and silver in abundance, and yet are reprobates and wicked cast-awaies. Christ allotted to his children, the cross, to the repentant thief, Paradise; to the sinner, heliwe are the children of God; let us embrace the cross; let us acknowledge our profession, and not be ashamed of our inheritance, which Christ hath allotted unto us. We must say with Paul, The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. See Sect. I.

That imprisonment for the testimony of a good conscience, is not thralldom or bondage, but rather liberty and freedom. Sect. XIII.

Objection

Oh, but the Prison is fulsome and loathsome, liberty is sweet & pleasant. Who can abide to be pestered with such close air? Who can endure to sit in the stocks both day and night in a dark dungeon all alone, without ease or rest? eating the bread of affliction, and drinking the cup of care and sorrow? to sit still moping all day long without either light or fire?

Answer.

THe birds being used and naturally delighted with the full scope of the air, though they be never so well fed in the cage, yet are they always poring at every creuise or crannie, to see whether they can get forth and escape; for they understand not, that in the cage, they are safer from the kite, hawk, and fowler, then abroad: neither mark they the benefit of their assured repair from hard weather and worse food. So many, bearing the livery of Christ's name, do affect dangerous liberty, making no account of the benefit of a prison in a good cause; they consider not how many perils of their souls are cut off by imprisonment; nor perceive how highly their spiritual well-fare is advanced. Let us not be like senseless birds, but let us rather imitate them in another property, which is, that in the cage, they not only sing their narural note, both sweetlier and oftener then abroad, but learn also diverse other far more pleasant and delightsome. So must we both keep & oftener practice our accustomed exercises of Religion, and besides, learn other more, both for our own comfort, and the example of others. When may we better give our selves to prayer and meditation, then when we are sequestered from the distractions of vain company; when the onions, garlike, and flesh-pots of Egypt, are farthest out of our sent and sight; When our eyes be not troubled with impious and wicked sights; when our ears are not annoyed with the bloody outcries & horrible blasphemies of profane men; when we are quit from many scandals, and severed from occasions of diverse temptations? If the Prison restrain us of temporal comforts, we shall obtain eternal: if our body be chastised, our soul is cherished; the pining of the one, (in this case) is the pampering of the other. If we compare the world with this prison, we shall find rather that we are delivered out, then committed into prison. The darkness of the world blindeth and inueagleth the very hearts of men; this doeth blind but our eyes only: The chains and shackles of the world do fetter and entangle our souls; these, our bodies only, they set our souls at liberty. Worldly stocks and snares do captivate the conscience; these our body only. The odour and stench that the world breatheth, is ribaldrie, carnality, blasphemy, and all kind of brutish behavior, which infecteth and poisoneth the mind: this our body only. The world hath infinite multitudes of prisoners and guilty persons, which shall be judged before the tribunal seat of Christ Jesus, and receive the sentence of condemnation: but we are translated from that prison into a place of preservation, which if it be cumbered with darkness, we have Christ the true light to enlighten us: and if here we be affrighted with expectation of Judges, our selves hereafter shall judge the Nations. Let them complain of the difficulties of the prison, that have fastened their affections upon worldly vanities: Let them complain of darkness, whose light is the world; & let them complain of bondage, whose death it is to be restrained from worldly pleasure. But the world is crucified unto us, and we unto the world; Our darkness is clearer than the light of the world, and brighter than the sun it self; and we are at liberty in the spirit, to serve our Redeemer in truth and righteousness. Kings courts must yield to the glory of a prison: For as the Princes presence honoreth the basest cottage, & maketh it more esteemed and resorted unto, than the most stately buildings: So the presence of God's prisoners in the most infamous dungeō, maketh it a stately Court, a resort of Angels, and a Paradise where God himself delighteth to walk (who taketh pleasure in the patience and constancy of his afflicted servants:) and they by those fetters & chains are more richly adorned, than they could be with any princely or imperial robes. It was a singular favor to be an Apostle, an Evangelist, it was a great prerogative to be wrapped into the third heaven, to hear such things as are unlawful for man to speak, and it was a rare privilege to speak with strange tongues, and to heal all manner of diseases: yet not like unto these: He was whipped with many stripes, cast into prison, and stoned for the testimony of Christ: Insomuch, that the apostle, for the former perogatives, had the Angel of Satan sent to buffet him, lest he should wax proud with the multitude of revelations: But for those excellent privileges he breaketh out in exceeding joy, saying God forbid that I should rejoice but in the Cross of Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world: as did the other Apostles, who rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer rebuke fought Christ's name. Great Princes and Noblemen, when from inserior dignities they are enhaunced to more honorable titles, they always in their letters, omitting the other, set down their principal style, proper to their new achieved preferment: Even so did the Apostle Paul, for he writing unto Philemon, omitteth his usual style of Paul the Apostle (or servant ) of Jesus Christ, and beginneth his Epistle with Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ, as being a more glorious title, & a more excellent style. Wherefore, let us not be dismayed, but comforted in our present estate. If we be despised by the bad, we are honored by the good; if men disgrace us, the Lord will praise us. Now let the wordly gallants flatter themselves with the vain conceit of liberty, let them triumph in their chains of gold, in their iewells of pearl and precious stones, in their stately robes and costly attires. Let them boast of their freedom, when every thread and ornament about them is a manifest sign of their captivity, when their tongues are thral to potentates ears, their actions and behavior framed to the liking of great personages eyes, and their sense, bodies, and minds, servile to their own sensuality. As for us, a thousand times hapie are we, whose prisons are proofs, whose chains are pledges of immortality. Let us remember the gole, and we shall comfortably run over the race. Let us not regard so much where we are, as where we shall be; nor think so much of the comforts we want, as of the comforts we shall have. Let us not grieve at the company from which we are barred, but rejoice in that whereunto we are prepared.

That increase of torments should not fear us, but rather comfort us the more. Sect. XIIII.

Objection.

Oh my affliction daily increaseth, I was roughly dealt withal heretofore, and hardly entreated: But now my sorrows increase, my adversaries rage the more, my Keepers do me all the spite and injury they can: food is kept from me, save only what I am permitted to have, to keep breath in me, for my greater torment: I am kept in a close dungeon, loaden with more iron then I can bear.

Answer.

IF a thou be faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small, saith Solomon. As long as the lion hath his prey in his paws, he can dally and play with it, but if he see any offer of escaping from him, then forthwith he fixeth his claws in the flesh: So the devil little careth, to bite or bark at those, that be his household servants, until such time as they begin to wax strangers unto him, and the more he seeth them to rebel against him, the more endevoreth he to overthrow them; for such he little careth to molest, of whom he findeth himself in quiet possession. Pharaoh never persecuted the Israelites so fiercely, as when they were going out of Egypt. Laban never pursued Jacob, till he departed from him Holofornes said unto Judith, I never hurt any that would serve Nabuchodonozor the king of all the earth. The Pirates, while they know the ship to be empty, they let it quietly pass, but when it is furnished with rich merchandise, then they assault it with all violence: so, while men run by an irreligious and ungodly path the high-way to destruction, the devil letteth not their course; but when they are enriched with grace, and lead an holy & harmless life, he straight giveth the onset with tribulation. The Thief cometh not into sties and kennells to seek his prey, for he knoweth there is nothing to be found but mire and filth: but his haunt is to the rich chests and coffers of jewels and plate. They that have nothing in them but sin and wickedness, lie open always unto Satan, and he knoweth they have nothing in them worth the robbing: But those that cleanse their souls from sin, and fill their coffers with the iewells of godliness and virtue, are a prey that he longeth to get. He well knoweth that such as are out of God's favor, may be won without strokes, and that he is able with every push to lay them groveling in what sin himself listeth: But when he findeth one, endowed with grace, and armed with godliness against his encounters, upon him he cometh with sad blows, and by all sleights and violence endevoreth to overcome him. A paper-w • ll he breaketh with one knock, but when he findeth a strong rampier or bulwark, there he planteth his battery, and useth all possible engines to overthrow it: But alas his force is but feeble, his engines too weak, and his policy very shallow, to batter down the Adamant rock of Faith, and therefore he doth but spurn against a thorn. Only let us be faithful and of a good courage, for our Captain is faithful, (he will not suffer us to be tempted above that we be able to bear it) and courageous, he hath conquered death, hell, and Satan for us already: if we will not faint nor turn back, he will also conquer them in us. Let not the violence or multitude of torments affright us, we have but one life, and we can loose but one. Goliath was as much hurt by David's little stone, as Samson by the weight of a whole house: Eli had as much harm by falling backward, as Jezebel by being thrown out of a high window; and they that stoned Stephen to death, took no more from him, then an ordinary sickness did from Lazarus, and doth daily from us all. One death is no more death then another, and as well the easiest as the hardest taketh our life from us. And indeed our torments (how great and grievous soever) cannot be so great, nor so grievous as those which the Saints of God in former ages suffered. Of the fathers of the Old Testament the Apostle saith, that some were racked; and others tried by mockings and scornings, by bonds and imprisonm • nt: They were stoned, hewn a sunder, tempted, slain with the sword; they wandered up and down in sheep skins and goatskinnes, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. Whom the world was not worthy of: they wandered in Wildernesses and mountains, and dens, and e • ues of the earth. And in the time of the Primitive Church the godly were thrust out of their houses, spoiled of their patrimony, loaded with irons, and locked in prisons, devoured by wild beasts, slain with the sword, and burned with fire. There can hardly be invented any cruelty, or new torments, which these holy Martyrs have not endured. They were beheaded, burned, hanged, pressed to death, roasted on spits, broiled upon gridyrons, boiled in hot oil and in scalding lead, thrown down from high mountains upon sharp stakes, torn with wild horses, rent a sunder with the violence of bowed trees, thrown to the beasts, condemned to toil in the metal-mines, thrust through with spears, brained, racked, pricked with pen-knives, their eyes bored out, their tongues cut, their arms, hands, their legs and feet, and all their members disfigured with variety of punishments, their bowels dismembered, and themselves famished to death. Yet they feared no death, they were dismayed at no cruelty; the tormented stood stronger then the tormentors, and their beaten and torn members, overcame the beating and tearing hooks: and what is it that we suffer, if it be compared with their sufferings? Even nothing, or very little. And why should we fear man, that are feared of the Angels, for we shall judge the very Angels, that are feared of the devils; for over the devils we have received authority, yea that are feared of the whole world, for we shall judge the world? Let us therefore, with our whole might, arm us unto this cumbate: the Persecutors when they wound us most, are deepliest wounded; & when they think most of all to be conquerors, then are they most conquered; for we shall walk upon the Basilisk and adder, and stamp underfoot the lion and the dragon. See lib. 2. Chap. 3 Sect. 3.

That God loveth us never the less though he suffer us to taste of his cup; but rather that he doth the more love us. Sect. XV.

Objection.

The Lord permitteth others to live at ease in prosperity, they have the world at will, they want not the comforts of this life, and yet it is certain that God loveth them as his own children, (being so indeed) and that with no less affection, than he doth them whom he scourgeth with adversity: alas! I would, if it had pleased the Lord, so that he would spare me for this time; specially considering how unfit every way I am for the trial.

Answer.

WEe are ever prone to pry into the state and condition of other men, (such is the perverseness of our nature, and the weakness of our faith) that we wholly forget or neglect our own. We judge every man's case ever better than ours, and suppose that all others have the world at will (as they say) saving our selves: Whereas indeed, there is no child of God, that is always without his cross (either inward or outward) for how else could that saying of Christ be verified, In the world you shall have sorrow: howbeit the temptation of one is greater and heavier than of another? As it can of no reasonable man be construed but in good part, to bind and keep in awe, yea to whip and beat the mad-man, when he falleth into his rage, likewise to pinch, nip, & wring, yea with hot irons to burn the sick of the lethargy, when he entereth into his deep sleep: So it cannot be thought, but that God doeth the parte of a merciful father, when with the scourges and hot irons of affliction, he either correcteth our former, or preventeth our future infirmities. Not everyone that spareth, is our friend, nor everyone that striketh, is our foe. The wounds of a lover are faithful. He that bindeth the Franticke, or wakeneth the sick of the lethargy, though to both troublesome, yet to both is he very friendly. As a mother desirous to affectionate her child to her self above all other, maketh all of her household to use it currishly in show, that finding no good entreaty of any but of her, it may the willinger repair unto her: So God suffereth us of the world, the flesh, and the devil, to be molested, that we may only acknowledge him, and come unto him, as our chief refuge and succor. The devil kisseth where he meaneth to hurt, he tempereth poison in a golden bole, and in a sumptuous ship, wafteth his passengers upon the rocks of destruction. But God taketh a contrary course; for as the husbandman doth lop the vine, lest all the force should unprofitably be spent in leaves, and the root be thereby weakened, the fruit be, neither so much, nor so pleasant, as otherwise it would so God like a careful keeper of our souls, lest our whole mind should be employed in vain superfluous pleasures, he cutteth them from us, that our wits which should in them without profit be defused, being kept within compass by troubles, may be fitter to work and bring forth fruits of faith to the working of our eternal salvation. Where God purposeth to heal, he spareth not to launce, he ministereth bitter sittops to purge corrupt humors; and sends embassies of death and revenge where he meaneth to bestow eternal life and perfect felicity. Joseph accused his brothers as spies, when he meant them least harm, and restrained little Benjamin as guilty of theft, whom he knew full well to be a guiltless innocent. He that had seen Joseph in prison. Mordecai with his gibbet before his eyes, and Daniel in the lions den, would have lamented their case and feared their further misfortune: But had he known that Joseph's prison should end in a princedome, Mordecai his peril in royal preferment; and Daniel's danger in great credit, he would rather have thought them much beholding to God for their ensuing felicity, then greatly to be pitied for their present distress. The Lord oftentimes besetteth his sweet fruit with rugged leaves, with sharp and pricking thorns, that the hardness to attain them, may make them the more prized, and the remembrance of former adversity, may make the comforts following more delightsome. The benefit of a calm weather is most desired, and best welcome after a boisterous tempest; health is never so much esteemed as after a great sickness; and all pleasure is most pleasant to those that have been least acquainted with it, and most troubled with the contrary. Unto the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet, saith Solomon. Greeue not at your persecution then, and say not, I am unfit for the trial: for if the Potter tempereth his furnace agreeable to his vessel, that he mindeth to frame: If the Gold-smith useth great care, not to have his fire too great or too little, for the quantity of his metal. If the Carrier have a regard not to load his beast with more then it is able to bear: How much more wary is God, in not suffering us to be tempted above our strength? But if our temptations increase, he is faithful, and will not suffer us to be tempted above that we be able, but will even give the issue with the temptation, that we may be able to bear it.

That burning alive is not so extreme a torment as commonly it is thought to be. Sect. XVI.

Objection.

The bitterness of the punishments, that I am enjoined to suffer, doth so terrifyme, that I know not scarce what to do, I shall be burned quick. Oh, how sh •• l I be tormented, in that dolorous kind of death! Think you that I may patiently bear the rage of the fire? I am persuaded that my pains shall be so grievous, that I cannot either keep my mind quiet and patient, or remember and think on Christ, so that in that anguish and agome, I shall quite forget my Savior: And what shall become of me then? How can I resist the temptations of Satan? who then (no doubt) will be very busy about me.

Answer.

CIcero, an heathen Philosopher, saith, that in India, when any man was dead, and his carcass ready to be burned; his wines (for there they had many wives) contended among themselves, who should be burned with him. And she whom he loved best, having vanquished the rest, was cast quick into the fire with the body of her dead husband, and burnt; the other being full of sorrow, for that they were overcome, departed with great moan and lamentation, wishing rather to have been burnt, then to live. And shall we be afraid of burning, seeing we are certain of that which they hoped for? Die once you must, whether you will or no, (how soon, God knoweth) seeing then you must die, will you not die willingly for God's sake, especially considering that they are thrice happy, whom God vouchsafeth such an honorable death? Shall not we for God's sake suffer that which diverse Pagans suffered for their countries sake? Curtius feared not to die for the city of Rome, Mencotheus for Thebes, nor Codrus for Athens. These heathenish examples might make Christians ashamed, if they be so cowardly as to fear death. Burning is not such a grievous punishment as you imagine, for God is faithful, he will lay upon us no more than we can bear. Fear not (saith the Lord by Isaiah the Prophet) for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine: when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the floods, that they do not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the very fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee (for thy destruction) I am the Lord thy God. And for the better confirmation hereof, many examples both ancient and late might be alleged, only I will content myself with one or two, which happened in these latter years, in the time of king Henry the eight, and Queen Marie. M. James Bainham, holy Martyr, having sentence to be burned, for the constant confession of Christ Jesus and his Gospel, as he was at the stake (in the year of our Lord, 1532) in the midst of the flaming fire, his arms and legs being half consumed, spake these words: O ye Papists, behold, ye look for miracles, and here now ye may see a miracle, for in this fire I feel no more pain, than if I were in a bed of dowlne; but it is to me a bed of roses. In like manner, in the time of Queen Marie, M. Thomas Hawkes, a faithful servant of Christ and holy Martyr also, having judgment to be burned for the same cause: At what time he should be burnt, some of his familiar friends, being terrified and feared with the sharpness of the punishment that he was going to, privily desired, that in the midst of the flame, he would show them some token (if he could) whereby they might be more certain, whether the pain of such burning wer so great, that a man might not therein keep his mind quiet and patient: which thing he promised them to do, and so secretly it was agreed, that if the rage of the pain were tolerable, and might be suffered, then he should lift up his hands above his head towards heaven, before he gave up the ghost. Now then, when he was at the stake, and the fire set unto him; In which when he continued long, and when his speech was taken away by violence of the flame, his skin also drawn together, & his fingers consumed with the fire, so that now all men thought certainly he had been gone, suddenly, and contrary to all expectation, the blessed servant of God, being mindful of his promise before made, reached up his hands burning on a light fire (which was marvelous to behold) over his head to the living God, and with great rejoicing (as seemed) struck or clapped them three times together. At the sight whereof there followed such applause and outcry of the people, and especially of them which understood the matter, as the like hath not commonly been heard. And so the blessed Martyr of Christ straightway sinking into the fire, gave up his spirit, in the year 1555. June. 10 By these examples, among a thousand which might be alleged, you see that burning is not such extreme pain, as you took it, and so must we think of all other worldly torments whatsoever.

That the patience of the Saints in not Stoicall Indo • encie. Sect. XVII.

Objection.

Me thinks by your allowance of the former of these two examples you alleged, that you allow of stoical indolencie; for you seem unto me to require • uch cheerfulness of us, as should take away all sense and feeling of grief and bitterness: I do not think indeed, that any of the Stoics themselves, (no not the seuerest Censurer among them) were so deuoyde of affections, as they would have other men to be.

Answer.

WHat the Stoics held, or how they were affected, it skilleth not us to know. I alleged the example of M. James Bainham, to this end, to set forth the love, mercy, and faithfulness of God towards his children; for one while he delivereth them out of trouble, an otherwhile he letteth them taste of Christ's cup, yet he standeth at their elbow (as it were) to comfort them, and to rebuke Satan; who now especially, tooth and nail, seeketh by all means possible, to devour the poor innocent Members of Christ, who through many afflictions, do labor very earnestly, to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But whether they do suffer or not, the Lord is ever faithful towards them that love him, and turneth all things to the best unto them. I utterly dislike & condemn that blockish conceit, that would have men to be without all affection; howbeit of late it hath been newly furbished, by certain upstart Stoics. For Pleasure and Griefe do rule our actions, & there is no man, but either affecteth or eschueth things for the one or the other. In the sea, if the winds blow not, the ships are constrained to lie still, being not able to stir from the place where they are: So our nature, if all affections cease, cannot, nor shall not be able to turn either to the right hand, or to the left, no more than if we were in a palsy, which takes away the use of our whole body. Wherefore Plato called them the sinews and strings of the mind: giving us to understand, that as the body is moved and guided by the sense, so is the mind moved and ruled by affection: and Plutarch saith, they are the handles of Philosophy, for men would never love it, if they had not some sparks (as it were) of some shame, desire, reputation, ambition, pleasure, or sorrow, which stir them up thereunto. I know they object that these affections are the causes why we fall into diverse vices; If there were no love, there would be no lovers. But these men do as they did, who maintained, that we never ought to ride post, for that some have catched falls thereby; or that we must not sing, because sometime we fall into discord. Must we cut off the leg, because it halteth? so, must we take away all affections of nature, because they allure us unto vice? Nay, rather if we feel our affections over-strong and forcible, we must keep them under, that they trouble us not, tempering them with reason, and not clearly extinguishing the same. But to come nearer to the matter, and our purpose: To bear the cross patiently, is not to be altogether senseless, & utterly bereft of all kind of feeling; seeing our Savior himself, not in words only, but with his own example also, utterly condemned this Stoicall indolencie. For he groaned and wept, both at his own, and other men's calamities, and taught his Disciples to do the like, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that you shall weep and lament. And lest any man should blame them for weeping, he pronounceth them happy; Blessed are they that mourn, and weep. And no marvel, for if tears be misliked, what shall we think of the Lord himself, who oftentimes wept? If all fear proceedeth of unbelief, what shall we judge of that horror wherewith Christ himself was stricken? If we mislike all sorrow and sadness, how can we like of that, where the Lord confesseth that his soul is heavy to the death? Thus I speak, to the intent I might revoke godly minds from desperation, lest they cease to seek after patience, because they cannot utterly shake off the natural motions of heaviness and sorrow; which must needs happen to them, which of patience do make a kind of senselessenesse, and of a valiant and constant man, a senseless block, or stone, without passions. The scripture doeth praise the Saints for their patience, while they are so afflicted with the sharpness of persecution, as that thereby their courage is not utterly quailed, nor themselves faint & comfortless, but filled with spiritual joy. We must labor to tame & bring under, all the ill motions of our minds to the ordinance of the Lord's holy will, and not utterly to quench and shake them off.

That we must not be dismayed though friends forsake us: And how we must not yield to their ungodly suggestions. Sect. XVIII.

Objection.

My familiar acquaintance have quite forsaken me, and they who heretofore delighted in my company, have now conueighed themselves from me. My friends are very earnest with me, both day and night to relent, and to revoke my former confession: I am very loath to displease them in anything, rather I will indaunger myself, than anger thē. And surely if I should persist and hold out (no doubt) I should bring my Fathers hoary head with sorrow to the grave, and that before his time, he would take the matter so grievously.

Answer.

IT is the property of the devil and his instruments, to feed like storkes upon the venomous and evil affections of men: they only take pleasure to see us in sin; but if we amend and betake our selves to some better course, then they rejoice at our calamities. As ravens and vultures, straight smell out a dead carrion, when it is corrupted, and draw unto it, by the unsavory stench, wherein their delight is, but the sound bodies, they neither sent nor seek out: so the wicked are ready to flock about us, so long as we are in the stench of sin, and corrupted with vice, because they themselves delight therein. But if we be sound and whole, and have cast from us that carrion whereof they are so eager, they neither smell us, nor seek unto us, but rather avoid and hate us. The savor of godliness striketh them dead; and though in the winter when the vine is bare they could lie under it, yet in the spring when it beginneth to flower, they like serpents are stricken dead with the sent thereof, and therefore what marvel is it if they mortally hate it? As for your friends, who (you say) labor to have you revoke your former confession: answer them as Christ answered Peter in the like case. Get thee behind me Satan: Thou art an offense unto me, because thou understandest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men: for herein they are your foes. Now the Lord hath opened your eyes, and enlightened your heart, that you might know the truth: and will you against your own conscience deny the known truth? Ah, do it not, lest thereby you displease God, and fall into his hands, which is horrible to Hypocrites. Whosoever (saith Christ) shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, among this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the son of man be ashamed also, when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy Angels. Forget not these things, but consider of them. If your friends will be displeased and angry at your constancy in the truth, remember that Christ said, think not that I am come to send peace into the earth, I came not to send peace, but the sword; For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law: wherefore it is no marvel if you be at odds with your friends and kinsfolks. You say, you may not displease your father, you love him so well. But Christ saith, He that loveth father or mother better then me, is not worthy of me. If any man come unto me and hate not his own father and mother, &c. he cannot be my Disciple. We must not for the love of Parents or friends deny or dissemble the truth of Christ's Gospel: for it is impossible that they which were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the holy Ghost: and have tasted of the good word of God, and of the powers of the world to come: If they fall away should be renewed again by repentance, seeing they crucify Christ again to themselves, and make a mock of him. For if we fall willingly after that we have once received and acknowledged that truth, there remaineth no sacrifice for sins; But a fearful looking for judgment, and violent fire which shall devour the adversaries. It had been better for them (saith Peter) not to have acknowledged the way of righteousness, then after they have acknowldged it, to turn from the holy Commandment given unto them. Wherefore in any case think upon yourself, and stick not boldly to confess Christ, at all times, and in all places; for If we deny him, he will deny us.

That the pretence of nourishing wife and children, (though they have no other means to live) is no cause why we should deny or dissemble the known truth. Sect. XIX.

Objection.

Alas! I grant all these things to be true: yet it is commonly said, Necessity hath no law, my state and affairs are such, that I must either undo myself and mine, or else I must needs strain, yea and do quite against my knowledge and conscience. For you shall understand that I have many children at home, small God wot, suckling infants, a lame, impotent, aged and sickely wife beside. We are a great number, very poor and beggarly, having no manner of thing wherewith to preserve our lives, but only what I get and win by my daily labor. Now if I leave them they must needs starve for lack of food, they cannot go to beg (if that were lawful) nor stir from the house, such is their infirmute and weakness. Alas sir, what shall I do in this case? For God and Nature committed the charge and care of them into my hands.

Answer.

YOur estate is lamentable, and grievous I must needs confess, yet no other then very often happeneth to a godly man, the child of God. Of you and such like spake our Savior Christ in the Gospel, when he prophesied (among other things) of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the ende of the world, calling you great bellied and traveling women, and women that give suck to young infants, saying (lamenting and not cursing) We be to them that be with child, and to them that give suck in those days: thereby meaning all persons, (men and women) that (their necessary affairs so letting and hindering them) cannot confess Christ boldly if need require; nor fly from the infection, of the poisoned and pestiferous plague of Antichrists abominations. Yet step under the veil of God's word, there you shall find comfort, and be resolved what to do in this case. There you shall find, that if you look for the life to come, and the blessed resurrection, you must in any case freely and boldly confess Christ and his Gospel, whatsoever shall betide you. But what shall I do to my wife and children (say you?) These and all other your cares you must commit to God, and trust in him, Cast all your care upon him (saith the Apostle) for he careth for you. The good c shepherds, as soon as the Angels told them, that Christ was born at Bethlehem, strait being filled with spiritual joy, went to see and visit him. They demanded not, who shall keep the wolf from the sheep in the mean while? they reasoned not of it, but committed their sheep and all other things unto his gracious tuition, whose commandment and will they obeyd. Do you so likewise, take example of these good shepherds; ask not, what shall become of my wife & children? commit them, and all other things unto God's merciful protection, and he will care for them; and provide for them in the time of dearth. It is commonly seen, that when all human & worldly comfortfaileth, in the greatest extremity, when the danger is at the highest, then unto his children, after his accustomed mercy putteth he to his helping hand, and delivereth the party from danger. Innumerable examples hereof have we in the holy scriptures. In what extremities were the Patriarchs very often? and especially Joseph? and how often were they delivered? in what danger was Moses when he was fain to fly away for his life? and yet how he was restored again, in what straits were the people of Israel, being compassed on every side, on the one side with the main host of their enemies, and on the other side with the main sea, so that they had nothing to look for, but present death, either by drowning, or else by the sword of Pharaoh? and yet in this extremity, they were delivered. And afterwards, when they were in great misery, how wonderfully did God deliver them, by the hands of the Judges? Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson and others? What shall I speak of the delivery of David in his extreme persecutions? And of the Prophets, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Micaiah, Jonah, and others, whom the Lord mightily delivered from extreme miseries? O but (you will say) these were of the old Testament. What? is not God the same God still? is he a changeling? is not he as good unto the people of the New Testament also? Read the Acts of the Apostles, and you shall see that he is as good, and the same God still. Who delivered the Apostles out of prison, but he? Who delivered Peter the same night (miraculously by the ministry of an Angel) that Herod had appointed to slay him? Who turned the hearts of the Magistrates, when they came to Paul and Silas, requesting them to depart in peace, after they had scourged them, and laid them in the inner prison fast by the heels in the stocks? Who delivered Paul frō the hands of the Jews, when they had sworn that they would neither eat nor drink, until they had slain him? Verily God, and none else; It followeth then that you put your whole trust & confidence in his mercy, and he will deliver you.

That the Lord will not fail his children in these days, no more then he did in times past, in the old Testament, and in the time of the primitive Church. Sect. XX.

Objection.

Verily I believe these things, & acknowledge them to be true. Yet they are special miracles, which god wrought for the delivery of those ancient Fathers and Apostles in the beginning & infancy of the Church, whenas the Gentiles and Nations were to be converted unto the Christian Religion, which miracls are now ceased; So that my case remaineth the same it was before.

Answer.

SVrely this is not true that you say, for even since the Apostles time, God shown his power in the delivery of his servants from the hands of their enemies, as may be seen in the Tripartite and Ecclesiastical Histories of Eusebius, Zozomenus, Socrates, & others. And touching our times, there is no doubt but that God worketh and faileth not his servants at any time, when need requireth, forsomuch as the Prophet David saith, Thou (Lord) hast aforetime laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: even they all shall wax old as doeth a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. Wherefore, what the reason is, that we see not in these days so many miracles, I know not; whether it be, that our sight is not so clear, or that we have not such faith as they had, whom God delivered in times past: or that (as you said) after the time that God published his doctrine, so many miracles do not appear, or whether there be any other reason, god knoweth: yet you know that the Lord wanteth no power to deliver his people, no more at this present, then he did in times past: & you know also, that all things come to pass by the providence and fore-appointment of God; and that God turns all things to the best for his elect. Wherefore repose your whole trust in God, & cast all your cares upon him, as the Scripture biddeth you, & he will not fail, neither you nor yours in the time of need, only confess him boldly, serve him only, and love him heartily.

That we should not be afraid at the faces, behavior, and majesty of mortal men. Sect. XXI

Objection.

But alas sir, Our adversaries bear such a majesty in their manners, and such gravity in their words; they are so terrible and cruel in their dealings, with such stern countenances, and big looks: they use such reproachful, scornful, and slanderous words, that they face me down quite, as though my cause were not good, or I guilty of some heinous crime. And further, I am afraid I shall not be able to answer them in such points as they will examine me, not that I mistrust the goodness or truth of my quarrel, but because, I fear me, they shall dash me altogether out of countenance.

Answer:

THe red-hot iron being put into the water, maketh a great noise, and seemeth to do the water great harm, whereas in the end we find the fire thereof quenched, the force of burning lost, the heat abated, and the water little or nothing worse. Like this bubbling is our adversaries triumph over us; for though they face us down, though they insult against us, yea though they imbrue their bloody fists in our bleeding wounds, and make, to the eye, a great show of victory, yet when it cometh to the proof, God will show by a ruefull experience, that all the noise that they make, is but a sound of their own quenching, fall and ruin: and our estate not hurt, but bettered by their severity. Fear not them which kill the body (saith Christ) but are not able kill the soul, but rather fear him, which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. So then let Satan fume, let hell roar, let the world rage, and all worldlings fret never so much, yet, be ye sure, no man can take us out of our heavenly Fathers hands, for he is greater than all: In the world you shall have affliction (saith our Savior) be of good comfort, I have overcome the world. When the persecutors imprison our bodies, they serour souls at liberty with God; when they throw us down headlong, they lift us up; when they persecute us, we flourish; when they tread us down, we grow up; when they despise us, we profit; when they hurt us, we overcome; when they seem to conquer us, then are we most constant; and when they kill us, thē they bring us into everlasting life, from earth into heaven, from labor to rest, from temptations to quietness, from torments to delights, from worldly laughters to a crown of glory. Here may we behold the force and nature of the Christian religion, which beyond all natural course, and above all the reach of man's understanding, increaseth by that means, by which all other things are suppressed, we have no other way to root out sin & wickedness, and all kind of impiety, no means to abolish lewd behavior & disorder amongst men, but only violence of torments & cruel punishments: for the fear of severe chastisement maketh men to bridle their untamed affections, and if any be executed for great enormities, his sin dieth with him, and seldom leaveth he any posterity, that by his death is not rather dismayed nor encouraged to follow his evil example. But in this quarrel of our faith it happeneth quite contrary: for as a good slip being grafted in a sower tree, bringeth forth nevertheless sweet fruit agreeable to his own kind; and the sap of the same root, which in the crab is sower and bitter, in the apple of the slip is most pleasant and delightsome, and though it be loathsome in the one, it allureth in the other: So happeneth it to God's Saints, being put in the Persecutours hands. For their odious and intolerable cruelty, whē it is practiced upon malefactors, breedeth terror, and fear, and horror for the wicked fruits, for which they are punished: Yet in the faithful and Religious, the same bitter torments being practiced upon them, are the means working in them by a true faith in Christ, to work the pleasant and goodly fruits of their salvation; not only most acceptable unto God, but able to allure men's hearts to taste of the same. Concerning that you say, you are afraid you shall not be able to answer your adversaries: Fear not, only set God always before your eyes, and let your whole care and study be how to please him, for he shall give you such wisdom, that the enemies shall wonder at, and even be ashamed & confounded. Consider how Moses behaved himself before Pharaoh king of Egypt, in his glorious majesty and power; he, having the Lord always before the eyes of his faith, spake boldly through the might of God's spirit working in him, to the great terror and astonishment of the terrihle and cruel enemies. Wherefore study not what you shall answer, but speak boldly that that God shall put into your mind. Consider what Christ saith; ye shall be brought to the governors and kings for my sake, in witness to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how, or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what you shall say. For it is not ye which speak, but the spirit of your father which is in you. I will give you a mouth and wisdom, where-against all your adversaries shall not be able to speak or resist. Rest upon this promise of the son of God, he is faithful, and will not break promise.

Comforts against the dullness of spirit, and unfitness to suffer. Sect. XXII.

Objection.

Yet I would very fain that it might please God to deliver me, by some good means or other, out of my Persecutors hands: For me thinks, I am out of heart, and do not feel the comfort of the spirit as I was wont heretofore. I am even as it were a block, and if I were enforced at this instant to suffer trial, (as surely my time is very short) I think I should be very unwilling to endure it, as a bear to go to the stake. Alas! how shall I suffer the rage of the fiery flames, and the terrors of death, being thus lumpish, and heavy, and quite destitute of all spiritual comfort!

Answer.

CErtainely God loves you never the less, though you presently suffer for Christ's cause, than if he should deliver you. In all ages God useth his elect after the manner, which seemed best unto his secret & unsearchable wisdom: Some he delivered, others he suffered to taste of Christ's cup; who notwithstanding were as dear unto him, as they whom he delivered: Yea verily, it seemeth that he better loveth, and doth more for them that suffer, then for the rest; for he standeth by them being tormented, he strengtheneth them in faith, and maketh them perfect; when as he doth but give unto such as he delivereth some longer respite, and leaveth them in danger to fall in the like peril again. But you say, you feel not the comfort of the spirit as you did heretofore. Let not this terrify you, nor make you afraid, for commonly it happeneth thus unto God's children. Certainly David was in a grievous case, when he cried, My soul fainteth for thy salvation: Mine eyes fail for thy promise: when wilt thou comfort me? for I am like a bottle in the smoke; and when he cried so often, Quicken me according to thy word: Quicken me according to thy loving kindness: Quicken me according to thy judgment. And David (you know) was the child of God, and received comfort again. This also may be notably seen in the late example of M. Robert Glover Martyr, in the time of Queen Marie, who after he was condemned by the Bishop, and was now at a point to be delivered out of this world, it so happened that two or three days before, his heart being lumpish and desolate of all spiritual consolation, felt in himself no aptness nor willingness, but rather a heaviness and dullness of spirit, full of much discomfort, to bear the bitter cross of Martyrdom ready now to to be laid upon him. Wherevpon the fearing in himself lest the Lord had utterly withdrawn his wonted favor from him, made his mone to some friend of his, signifying unto him how earnestly he had prayed day and night unto the Lord, & yet could receive no motion or sense of any comfort from him. Then his said friend comforted him with God's promises, assuring him in the truth thereof that he should receive comfort, when the Lord saw his due time: and therefore desired him, whensoever any such feeling of God's heavenly mercies, should begin to touch his heart, that then he would show some signification thereof, whereby he might witness with him the same; and so departed from him. Now the next day, when the time came of his Martyrdom, as he was going to the place, and was now come to the sight of the stake, although all the night before praying for strength & corage, he could feel none, so dēlie he was so mightily replenished with gods holy comfort and heavenly joys, that he cried out clapping his hands to his said frind, & saying in these words; He is come, he is come, &c. and that with such joy and alacrity, as one seeming rather to be risen from some deadly danger, to liberty of life, then as one passing out of the world by any pains of death. So he died, being burnt for the testimony of Jesus Christ, in the year 1555. September. 20. And this example most excellently declareth, how shrewdly a child of God may be humbled and shaken, but never finally forsaken. For whom the Lord loveth, he loveth unto the end. Him that cometh unto me (saith Christ) I cast not away. Wherefore be patient, and comfort yourself, for the Lord will not absent himself forever. Hope in the Lord, be strong, and he shall comfort thine heart, and trust in the Lord; saith David. No doubt, David could tell what the children of God must do in this case, himself being so often plunged in this pit. The sun doth not always shine unto us, for it is often covered with misty and dark clouds, yea and every day it setteth, and doth (as it were) take his leave from us as though it came no more. Yet we see those clouds vanish away in time, and the cheerful rising of the sun followeth his heavy setting. The sap of the tree doeth not always ascend to make it green and flourishing; but sometimes it descendeth, yet it is not quite gone, but hideth it self in the root for a time, and afterwards it returneth again. So fareth it with us, we do not always feel the comfort of God's Spirit, which bringeth the sweet sap of spiritual joys unto our souls, but sometimes it withdraweth it self from us for a time; then do the blustering storms of temptation shake off our leaves; yet nevertheless, the foundation of our hope standeth fast, our salvation is rooted in Christ, the Spirit is not quite gone (though it leaveth us to our selves for a time) but will return again, and make us green and flourishing. The Mother after she hath felt her child once to move, doth always hope the best, though ever it move not, and when weakly it stirreth, she hopeth that it shall have greater strength in due time. So must we, if we have once felt and tasted of the sweet joys of the Spirit; let us ever hope the best, and if we earnestly desire the same again in more abundance; let us be sure the spirit stirreth in us, and that in due time it will show it self in his full strength, even to the salvation of our souls.

You shall understand also, that if the children of God did never fall, if we had a lively apprehension of spiritual comforts always, then would we not make such account, and esteem so much of the sweet power of the spirit, as now we do; yea peradventure we would imagine that it were naturally engrafted in us, which is poured by mere grace; neither would we be so much thankful for it unto God, as now we be. Wherefore the Lord for a while withdraweth his spirit from us, that it may be the better welcome, and sweeter when it cometh. Therefore stick to it constantly, for it cannot be but that the Lord will at the last satisfy your desire, with plenty of consolation, seeing your cause is so just and true. And I am persuaded of this same thing, that he that hath begun this good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. After winter cometh summer: after a foul day cometh a fair. Weping may abide at evening, but joy cometh in the morning.

What a great dignity Martyrdom is: and how we should not think our selves unworthy to suffer for Christ's sake. Sect. XXIII.

Objection.

The Lord's name be blessed for all his comforts; Now I am fully resolved willingly to suffer the extremity of such torments, as my persecutors shall impose upon me, be they never so cruel and bloody. Yet me thinks, I am not worthy to suffer for Christ, and the verity of his Gospel, to lay down my life in so good a quarrel; considering mine own wickedness, how I have been a great offender of God's Majesty, a wicked transgresser of his most holy and just laws. Yea there is never a branch of his commandments, but I have most willfully violated, and daily infringed. Alas! I tremble to think of my former life, which before man was unjust, and in the sight of God ungodly. This is it that now troubles my conscience. I can hardly be persuaded that the Lord will vouchsafe such notorious sinners as I am, so great dignity, as to suffer for his name; considering that the Apostles (which were holy and harmless men) greatly rejoiced for this honor, for that they were counted worthy to suffer anything for Christ. And shall I think myself worthy of the preeminence which was given unto them?

Answer.

SVrely there is no greater preeminence in God's Church, then to be a Martyr, nor more renowned dignity, than to die for the profession of true Religion. It is the noblest act of magnanimity, seeing death is the hardest thing that nature cā overcome; The principallest act of obedience, seeing it is so highly commended in Christ, who became obedient to the death, even the death of the Cross. And the profitablest act (of all that may be wrought by our means) unto the Church of God, whose glorious course is fitly expressed in the Silke-worm, which first eating it self out of a little seed, groweth to be a small worm, afterward when by feeding a certain time, upon fresh and green herbs, being waxed of a greater size, it eateth it self out of the other coat again into a case of silk: which when it hath once finished, in the end casting the seed, for many young to breed of, and leaving the silk for man's ornament, dieth all white and winged in shape of a flying thing. So the Martyrs first break out of the dead sleep of original sin, by repentance and faith in Christ; by feeding on the Sacraments & leaves of God's word, they grow to more ripeness, casting off the coat of worldly vanities & earthly cares, and are clothed with the silk of religion and sincerity of life, in which work, persevering to the ende, even then when persecution is greatest, they finally (if need require) shed their blood, as seed for new offspring to arise of, and leave the silk of their godly and virtuous examples, as an ornament and mirror for the Church, & so depart out of great tribulation, having made their long robes white in the blood of the lamb, being winged with the innocence of their hands, cleanness of their hearts; by a lively faith in Christ, they fly and ascend into the Lord's tabernacle, where they rest upon his holy mountain. Wherefore, though the ripe fruit of the Church be gathered, yet their blood engendereth new supply, for it increaseth the more, when the destruction and rooting out thereof is violently procured. It is like the bush that burned, and was not consumed. It is found by experience, that whosoever suffer (though he suffer for his offense) is pitied, and unnatural misery (though deserved) cannot but breed remorse and tenderness in the beholders. But now, when such mē as be innocent in their conversation, virtuous in their lives, learned and grave personages, (or sober and godly youthes, virtuous & honest Matrons) shall with comfort offer themselves to extremity, rejoice when they are tormented, go to death as they would go to a banquet, have compassion upon their persecutors and executioners, and sing Psalms in very flames; when such as neither want dignities to withdraw them, nor friends and family to pul them back; nor cruel enemies to afffright them; shall be ready to change their dignity with disgrace, to forsake their friends, and give themselves into the hands of their mortal enemies, only for the testimony of a good conscience in the defense of the truth; men must needs think: This is a thing worthy to be known, and some virtue that deserveth deep consideration, for which a man is content to suffer death. They want no means to search out the truth, having both read and heard what can be said on either side: They want not wit and judgment, to discern the good from the bad, being persons known to be of deep insight & discretion: They cleave to the word of God only, and embrace the same, making it the only touchstone of truth, and the rule of their conscience: They have no pleasure in pains, nor any temporal allurement to move them to undergo so great misery. Yea, they have many delights, honors, & promotions, to withdraw them from it. Surely, therefore it is that they find it necessary to do this, and that their salvation lieth upon it, or else flesh and blood could never digest these so heavy calamities; for otherwise for altering opinion, or speaking a word, they might easily avoid it. So then, this is the comfort of them that suffer; That their death is the means to raise many from death; and their patience maketh everyone inquisitive of their religion, and desirous to know what quarrel they maintain, and upon what grounds; then whē they know the truth, by and by they embrace it, though it be with the loss of their lands, liberty, and lives. Now to come nearer to your temptation; no doubt (being a grievous sinner) you are unworthy, yea far unworthy to yield your life in such an honorable cause. What then? you are required to yield a reason of your faith; will you play the Hypocrite and dissemble the same? or the Apostate and deny it? so should you add sin to sin: For what greater sin is it then to deny Christ Jesus and the truth of his Gospel? The Lord keep his children from such impiety. What were they (yea, even the Apostles themselves) whom God had chosen in the beginning to be the witnesses of his truth, and to carry his name before the world; but men subject to sin and imperfections as we likewise be? God chose them first, yea, when they were his enemies: & so likewise of his singular goodness and infinite love, he hath chosen you to be one of his witnesses also; For he that is Lord over all, is rich unto all that call on him: Rich unto all, he excepteth none, nor accepteth persons, but receiveth all, even all that with unfeigned repentance turn from their sins, and by a lively faith embrace his mercies in Christ. Wherefore meditate not so much on your sins, as you do on the salve of sin, Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Savior; magnify the mercies of God and praise his holy name, for that in the merits of his Son, he hath chosen you, and accounted you worthy, not only to believe, but also to suffer for Christ's sake.

What the enemies of the truth procure unto themselves, by persecuting and murdering of God's children. Sect. XXIIII.

Objection.

Now for my own part, being satisfied of all scruples and doubts, touching this point (be it spoken with due acknowledgement of praise unto God;) seeing we reap such excellent fruit and so many benefits by Martyrdom; and that our Persecutors are the means of our sufferings, might they not come upon us, and say unto us, in this, or such like speech? Why then complain you of your persecution, if it be so glorious and so beneficial unto you? you should love those by whom you are so much benefited. If we pleasure you, thank us, if we profit you, we cannot do but well in continuing our course. I pray you resolve me of this one point, and then an end. How may we answer such as will so object?

Answer.

WE may answer them briefly, in our Saviors own words, Surely the Son of Man goeth his way, as it is written of him: But we be to that man by whom the son of m • n is betraide; it had been good for that man, if he had never been borne. Being soldiers by profession, we are glad we have such occasion to fight in defense of the truth, and yet we are heartily sorry to see them bid us battle, by impugning and persecuting the same. Howsoever it goeth with us, we are sure of the victory: If we have the upper hand we have conquered Satan, and chased him out of his haunt, to the confusion of all superstition and idolatry; If we be oppressed and murdered for our faith, then do we also overcome by our true faith in Christ, who will receive us unto himself, and give us the crown of life; so also we confirm our religion to our posterity, and seal it with our blood. Wherefore, small is the hurt that they do us, yea, it is an unspeakable benefit, but unknown is the misery that they work unto themselves, though they see it not, or will not see it: For they pluck up the sweet flowers, and leave the stinking weeds; they cut off the fruitful branches, and let let those that be rotten and withered alone; they burn the corn, and spare the stubble; they put Noah into the ark, and drown them selves, whose being amongst them kept them from the deluge; they thrust Lot out of Sodom that kept the city from burning; they oppress Moses, who should wrestle with God's anger, and keep it from them: And therefore putting the true Christian Professors to death, they dignity their own graves, and cut off the shot of the anchors that should save them from shipwreck. It were great folly for a King that desired peace, to abuse, disgrace, and torment the ambassadors and servants of a Monarch mightier then himself, and then to send them home, thus cruelly entreated, to utter their wrongs. Yet this is the folly and sottishness of all Persecutors, who think it necessary for their peace, to impoverish, spoil, and torment, the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ and servants of God, and then by barbarous and sauadge martyring of thē, to send them to heaven, there to be continual solicitors with God for revenge against their murders; still crying, under the altar, with a loud voice, saying. How long Lord, which art holy and true: doest not thou judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

The Conclusion.

THus, (good Christian Reader) now at length, upon the earnest entreaty of such Friends, as have most interest in my Labors, have I published this small Treatise, being first penned for their private behoof only; whereunto I was the more willing to condescend, because I fear, or rather, foresee that the fiery Trial, whereof Peter speaketh, approacheth, which the faithful are very like shortly to endure, for Judgment beginneth at the house of God. Now then, as these Discourses are published for thy good, to teach thee with joy and comfort, to acquit thyself like a valiant Captain of Christ Jesus in the day of battle; So I hope that thou also wilt judge charitably of my Christian-care to profit the Church of God, unto whose service I have wholly addicted myself, (if thou vndertakest the person of a Censurer, and not rather of a Scholar) and take this my Mite, with as cheerful mind as it is meant thee: Which, if Curtesie cannot compel thee to do, yet will Christianity force thee; forsomuch as the Apostle saith, that the Members of Christ be wise and of a good Nature. Finally, this only I am to certify thee of, that when I penned the fifth Chapter of the second Book; there came unto my hands a paper-book, written (as it seemeth) many years agone, without either name or title unto it; which partly treated of the same argument I handled there: a few reasons whereof, being penned in defense of Superstition, I have (justly) challenged for true Religion. And so, (good Reader) if thou shalt reap any comfort by this Treatise (as no doubt thou shalt, if thou wilt read it, not with prejudicate affections, but with a meek and humble, that is, with a Christian Spirit; remembering, that God giveth grace unto the Humble) give glory to HIM alone, who is the Auctor and Fountain of all Goodness, even GOD, blessed forever. LONDON. Apr. 25. A.D. 1600.

Amen; Praise, and Glory, and Wisdom, and Thanks, and Honor, and Power, and Might, be unto our God forever-more, Amen. Revel. 7.12.