An Alarm to War

Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

A Text so terrible, that at the first it made me fearful to meddle with it; especially, when I contemplated with myself, that it would compel me to speak of curses and woes in a land of grace: of blood and blows in a land of peace. But when I considered that there are Canaanites to be smitten at home, Christians to be succoured abroad, I took heart to venture this field; persuading myself, it would not prove unprofitable: albeit, I am caused to doubt of the acceptableness of it, by the consciousness of my weakness to wield my weapon as I should.

The words (being a commination or threatening) do cut themselves into two pieces; a Quid, and a Quis, a Subject, and an Object. A thing threatened, a party threatened.

The Subject or thing threatened, is malediction, [Cursed.] The Object or man threatened, is [he that keepeth back his sword from blood.] From the first (which must first be handled) we may collect this point, That it was the practice of God's Prophets in former ages, to denounce the Curse in their Sermons at sometimes. They did not always come with peace, peace, and words of blessing in their mouths. Their songs (like David's ) had a due mixture, and were composed of judgment, as well as mercy. The word Cursed (as here you see, and else-where may see) flows from the mouth, falls from the pen of old Jeremiah, for all he was so tender boweld, so merciful hearted a man. The writings of Moses are full of Curses. Twenty times at least in the book of Deuteronomy, hath he this phrase up, Cursed be he that doth this, and Cursed be be that doth that. Read a whole catalogue in the 27. chapter, from the 15. verse to the end; in the 28. chapter, from the 16 verse to the 21. The Prophet Isaiah is in the same strain. The CURSE hath devoured the earth . The sinner being an hundred years old, shall be ACCURSED . So is Malachi, Cursed be the deceiver . I will send a CURSE upon you, and will CURSE your blessings: yea, I have CURSED them already . Ye are CURSED with a CURSE . And so were the rest of the holy Prophets. Never a one amongst them all, did always abstain from thundering, from threatening, as is very manifest in their writings. Neither need we marvel any whit at it: For they had both cause to do it, and a call unto it.

First, they had cause to threaten. In their times the [Reason 1] Law of the Lord was transgressed; vice abounded, virtue decayed: commanded duties were either wholly omitted, or but coldly performed; forbidden courses were eagerly followed, delightfully walked in. Wh • mean else the many and manifold complaints of the Lord against Israel for her sins, against Jacob for her transgressions? Now the righteous God hath so ordered, that where the breach of the Law goes before, the curse of the Law must follow after . Which wise and just ordinance of the Lord, his holy Prophets having weighed, could not, did not, spare to spend the arrows of the Laws rigorous curses, when they saw most to have swerved, and all prone to swerve from the Laws righteous courses. Had not David (who was a Prophet as well as a King) just cause to declaim woes, when the men of his time did rebelliously decline God's ways? Cursed be the proud which do err, or because they err, from thy Commandments .

[Reason 2] Secondly, they had a call to this service. The same God that gave them a charge, and charter, to comfort some, sealed them a commission to curse others; as knowing wicked men to be sooner moved, better wrought upon by menaces, than promises. Jeremiah's commission we may read at large in the beginning of his Prophesy. See, I have set thee this day over the Nations, and over the Kingdoms, to root out, to pull down, to destroy. I will utter my judgments against them, touching all their wickedness: Thou therefore gird up thy loins, arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee . Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem. . Ezekiel's call and commission to this, we have in the second and third chapters of his Prophesy, where we may read that the Lord himself set him upon his feet , put courage into his heart , words into his mouth , spread before him, opened unto him the Legal Roll writ on both sides with lamentation, mourning, and woe, which he was to preach, and read in the deaf ears of rebellious Israel. Upon the like warrant did the other Prophets do the like work. It was their privilege to denounce the Curse, therefore it was their practice.

Which being so, [Use.] who sees not how worthy of blame all those be who take on, and cry out against us, that are God's Messengers, for speaking to them at sometimes in the terrible language of the Law. Speak we comfortably to all at all times, they can well bear it. Preach we curses against any at any time, they cannot endure it: So grievous to man's ear is God's Word, when it convinceth him of sin, or goes about (with an holy violence) to pluck him from the world, and save him from hell; as the threatenings of it are for all these purposes. Why may not we do as our Predecessors the Prophets did? Is our Charter less? nay, is not our Commission larger than theirs was? John the Baptist, who was greater than the rest of the Prophets (as well in respect of his office of preaching Christ after he was borne, as of his act of acknowledging Christ, by springing in the womb before he was borne) was less than the least in the kingdom of Heaven; that is, not only less than the blessed souls of glorified Saints, in actual happiness , or less in nature than the Celestial Angels, which ever stand in God's glorious presence; but also less than the least of Christ's holy Apostles: less than the Ministers of the Gospel, who are the last in time of the Ministerial function, of the least esteem in the worlds opinion. Now, that John thundered, may not we then threat? Did God bid Jeremiah utter his judgments, Moses curse, and Malachi condemn; and doth he forbid us to do the like? I confess we are Ministers of the Gospel, Interpreters of the new Covenant, and in that respect, do differ from the Prophets, the Keepers, the Interpreters of the old. Must we for that cause never preach nor press the Law? Ah frivolous and groundless conclusion. The Gospel it self is a law; the law of Grace, the law of Faith . It hath a commanding, a forbidding authority, as well as the Law. Doth the Law forbid the practice of sin, the Gospel forbids the principle of sin . The one forbids the end, the other the beginning: The one doth not more powerfully 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 strike at the branches & fruit, actual transgression, than the other doth at the root, original corruption. Not that the Law meddles not with concupiscence at all; but is not so universally, so eminently, so evidently against it as the Gospel is. Yea, this Gospel doth threaten punishment, as well as the Law: He that believeth not, is condemned already . If any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed . The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, to render vengeance on all those that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel . Are not these sentences in the New Testament? Now, hath the Gospel it self, it's sour, as well as it's sweet; it's bottles of venegar, as well as it's barrels of wine; And must we Ministers of the Gospel, in every passage of every Sermon, deliver forth sweet wine? never any tart vinegar, be it never so needful, never so useful? Our blessed Savior, the sweetest Angel of peace that ever came into the world; holy Paul, the most Evangelical Preacher since Christ, that ever the Church had, and the rest of the holy Apostles, were not so stinted, so straightened; but they had their Vae's, their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , their woes and maledictions, in their Sermons and sayings : Why then should we, the Apostles successors, have a tie from threatening put upon our tongues?

But will you compare with the blessed Apostles? I answer, we do not, we dare not. Personal comparisons we may not make betwixt them and us; yet every branch and limb of our Ministerial function we must maintain. As we are inferior to the Apostles, in respect of infallibility of judgment about fundamental truths, and eminency in other gifts and graces; so we differ from them in other things: First, our calling is not so immediate as theirs was; Means of Arts and Tongues, provided for the purpose, must fit us for the work of the Ministry. Fishermen, and Toll-gatherers, may not now run immediately, as Peter and Matthew might, and did, from their boates and nets, and seats of custom, (as the manner of some illiterate, merely unquallified Artificers is,) to become Doctors of the Law. Secondly, we have not such revelations as they had; nor thirdly, the gift of Prophesy; nor fourthly, of miraculous faith: All which the Apostles had in common with the Prophets : yet notwithstanding these differences, Christ's beloved Disciple, S. John, heard a great voice out of the Temple, saying to the SEAVEN ANGELS, Go your way, pour out the Vials of the wrath of God upon the earth . that is, he foresaw the Ministers of the Gospel in these times, to have commission given them from the God of heaven, to pour forth God's curses (comminatorily in their Sermons) upon the heads of earthly minded men. And indeed, then Paradise produces the Tree of knowledge, of good and evil, when the Preacher promiseth mercies to the good, threateneth judgment against the bad. Had we no cause to curse, it were another matter: but in these times iniquity doth so abound, and mortal men do so wallow in sins sordid filth, that we must of necessity at sometimes be the sons of thunder. Let none therefore be so merciless to themselves, so injurious to us, as to find fault when we threaten: Mercilesse they are to themselves, in that they would have us to let them have liberty to sin to death without control, having no stomach (as indeed they should have ) to eat of that Paradise fruit, of the knowledge of the evil of punishment, which may make them abhor the evil of sin. And injurious they are to us, in that they would have us bring the guilt of their blood upon our own heads, while (like Locusts (one of the plagues of Egypt ) which loves the spring time, and fat pastures ) hopping to their houses, feeding at their Tables, and fawning upon them for their favor & gifts, we should sooth them in their sins, and so spoil their souls. I would not willingly have passed this point, without a word of advise to my brethren in the Ministry, that they would not spare to direct legal curses against godless men for their lawless courses: but that I would without longer stay lead you on to the second part of the Text, the party threatened, or the object of the threatening. [He that keepeth back (or withholdeth) his sword from blood.]

I will not here be curious in a subdivision, lest I prove ridiculous in observation, and by a Friar-like straggling into quaint descants, more pleasing to the flesh, than wholesome for the soul, I bring myself within the compass of the guilt of taking God's Name in vain. Let us hold ourselves to the approvedest, profitablest method of handling Scripture Texts; first, commenting, and searching out the meaning: next, concluding, and fetching out the matter.

The first may we dispatch in a word or two, the words are so plain. Cursed be [HE] what he? either the whole body of the Chaldean or Babylonian Army, or any particular member, especially the King and head of that body. [That withholdeth his sword.] Mark, he doth not say, that puts not out, as implying without a call: but, that keepeth back, or (as Arias Montanus ) that forbiddeth, or (as the Septuagint ) that exempteth, as though he would plead a privilege for his sword, to keep scabbard, when he is commanded to pluck it forth. [From blood] Whose blood? the blood of the Moabites, a proud, disobedient, envious, malicious people, noted enemies to God's Church, and branded for guilty of many heinous crimes; some of which I shall touch upon anon. You have the meaning.

The matter next (whose course comes now) multiplies upon us into many points; some indirect, some direct: all which to handle, twice as much time as I intend for this subject would not suffice us. We will name no more than we intend to handle, we will handle no more, than we may well dispatch within the compass of a reasonable time; and they shall be these three.

First, that God sometimes smiteth one wicked man by the •• nd of another.

Secondly, that the sword may not be stretched out to blood without a call.

Thirdly, that to bid the sword keep scabbard, when God calls it forth, exposeth to the Curse.

Of these in their order. And first of the first. God sometimes draws the sword of one wicked man against another. Here the Chaldeans, an impious, idolatrous people, are summoned to battle against the Moabites; and Jeremiah, God's Prophet, brings Israel, God's people, the certain news and tidings of it. In the first field that was ever fought, which did happen, as some reckon, in the fourscore and fourth year of Abraham's age, the 2092. of the world, we have ten wicked Kings hard at it, five against five in the Vale of Siddim . In the book of Judges, we shall find the unrighteous Midianites sheathing their swords in their own bowels, and every man drawing upon his neighbor . When the Tribes of Israel grew corrupted, the Lord threatened by his servant Isaiah, that everyone should eat the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and that they both should be against Judah . The same Prophet foretold the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians ; the overthrow of the Egyptians by the hands of the Assyrians . Saul, a graceless reprobate man, put Amalek (a cursed people) to the edge of the sword . Jehu an Idol-server, an imitator of Jeroboam, that made Israel to sin, draws his blade, makes it red in the blood of the followers of Baal . Adramalech and Sharezer, wicked birds of an evil egg, laid violent hands on their own father, proud Sennacherib . What truth more backed with multitude of testimonies, than this is? If any would know the reason of this, I answer, It is not because God delights in cruelty, or takes pleasure to see men imbrue their hands in one another's blood; for, as he is void of all sin himself, so he neither is, nor can be the author or approver of any iniquity, notwithstanding he be both the orderer and avenger of it. As no darkness can comprehend his light, no impurity communicate with his holiness; so his light can abide no darkness, his Majesty can away with no wickedness. The chiefest good cannot take pleasure in any evil, the sovereign and supreme Mercy cannot delight in any cruelty. He will indeed laugh at the wicked's destruction, and mock when their fear cometh : yet he laughs not, joys not to see men sinning, in destroying one another. And therefore no evil or cruel disposition in God, can be the ground of our assertion. What then? I answer, first his Will, secondly his Wisdom; both concurring to set forth the glory of his Justice. First, his Will is the ground of it. Sin (being the transgression of his Law , an horrible injury to his sacred Diety, a thing that beats his ears, and knocks at heaven gates) necessarily calls for punishment at the hand of his Justice. Of the infliction of which punishment (both for the matter, manner, and means of it) his will is his rule. If it be his will that Angels shall be the instruments of executing his judgments, then the destroying Angel is sent forth. If it be his will that Jehu shall destroy Ahab's family, Jehu is anointed, and appointed to the purpose. If it be his will that the Daughter of Zion shall thresh the Nations, HER horns shall be made as iron, her hooues as brass , to that work. If on the other side, it be his will to give the Land of Egypt to the king of Babel, that king of Babel shall surprise her multitude, spoil her spoil, take her prey, and it shall be the wages of his Army . It is his pleasure to smite one wicked person by the hand of another; and therefore it is, that one evil man is punished in God's Justice, by another as bad as himself.

His wisdom, as well as his will, is another reason: [Reason 2] his wisdom, I say, to bring to pass his own work. To punish the ungodly is his own work: Neede he ask of man or Angel what workman he shall employ? Shall the scholar prescribe the Master what rod to smite with? shall man teach God what sword to fight with? He, whose the Judgment is, knows what instrument to choose, to use, without the direction of any other. When therefore you see one wicked man stretching forth his hand, striking with his sword against another, Nation against Nation, as Chaldea against Moab; say as the Prophet doth, This cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working .

A point very useful, if we rightly improve it. First, [Use 1] it affordeth two conclusions for information of judgment. 1. That the wars betwixt the Pope and the Turk, are no argument that the Pope is better than the Turk. I know that Babylonian Prelate arrogates to himself, as a superiority above all Princes, so an excellency above all persons in the world; as though in place and grace he were superior to all, inferior to none: but, in my judgment, in baseness and badness, the Turk himself goes not beyond him. Their cursed Kingdoms began much at the same time. In the year 607. Boniface the third, or rather Maleface, challenged by disputes, and obtained by gifts, of that Traitor Phocas (who by murder usurped his Masters Empire) the blasphemous title of universal Bishop, just when Mahomet that Turkish Deceiver did arise, and assumed to himself the proud title of a great Prophet sent from God: So that when that Turkish Antichrist arose in the Eastern parts, this Popish Antichrist arose in the Western. Since which time, if either of the twain have exceeded the other in robberies, in murders, in whoredoms, in sorceries, in riots, in insolencies, in inhumanity, in maintaining their Religion by sword and cruelty ( which they could not possibly uphold by reason and honesty ) it may easily be proved, the Pope is the man. For, 1. did thievish Mahomet ever rob his own Churches, as did Boniface the seventh, who robbed Peters in Rome of all the Jewels & precious things he could find in it? Did murderous Mahomet ever slay so many of his Idolatrous Clergy, as did Gregory the seventh, who poisoned six Popes to make hi • self a way to the Papacy; as did Urbane the sixth, w •• put five of his Cardinals into sacks, and drowned them, because they favored Clement the seventh? which did breed the most pestilent schism (as their own Writers record) that ever was in the Roman Church before. We read of a Dove that Mahomet had, which he made the people believe was the holy Ghost, which came to reveal things unto him; and by that trick gate fame to himself amongst the vulgar: But we never heard of any devices he had, by compact with the Devil, to help himself to preferment; as did Silvester the second, who by sorcery and bribery, gate the Bishopric of Ravenna, the Archbishopric of Reims, and the Popedom of Rome.

Mahomet was unclean and incestuous, but there have been Popes which have been more filthy in this kind; as Alexander the sixth, who (for Muhammad's one) had six bastards at the least: and Pope Nicholas the third, who had a child by a Concubine, with hair and nails like a Bear, as their own histories report : And many others of them, who have no less than broke out into unnatural lusts, even such as the Apostle speaketh of, Rom. 1.27.

As touching insolency and cruelty to uphold their Kingdoms by, there is no comparison betwixt them : Mahomet acknowledged himself far inferior to Moses and Christ; the Pope exalteth himself above all that is called God: suffering himself to be called the Lord God; his Apostolical seat, the seat of God; and the sword which he gives some Prince or other, on Christmas day, the Sign of that power which he hath in heaven and earth, and to rule from sea to sea, to the ends of the world.

The one threatened but confiscation of goods, captivity of wife, bondage of children, or loss of temporal life, to them that would not believe his writings, nor confess him to be a Prophet sent from God: The other damneth with curses, to the pit of hell, the souls of all those, who do either oppose his power, which is a usurped power, or gain-say his Canons, which are (for the most of them) contrary to truth, full of blasphemy. I list not any longer to warble upon this string: you have heard the harmony betwixt them both, and that Turkish Deceiver to be inferior in villainy (if not for kind, yet for degree) to this Romish Impostor. Now then, if Mahomet himself, who is branded in story for a most vicious, profane, profligate fellow, for a traitor, for a man of blood, for an whoremonger, for an idolater, for a deceiver, for a blasphemer, (making God himself the author of his cruelty, a pandar for his impurity, the founder of his idolatry, and the authorizer of all his impiety) and for all kind of wickedness, what not? If he, even he, I say, came behind some Popes in some cursed practices, why should this man of sin now, (whose mystery of iniquity works every year more dangerously than other) challenge to himself, or have given him by his Parasites, a priority in goodness before those Turkish Emperors ( Muhammad's successors) who have been juster, chaster, milder, and every way better than ever Mahomet was? I go not about to extenuate the Turks wickedness in the least measure; for they are a profane seed, a viperous brood, utter enemies to the Cross of Christ, differing from Christians both in religion and manners: But I only inquire, upon what ground it can be proved, that the Turk is worse than the Pope; some of his own Popish faction having not known what to make of him, affirming him to be neither God, nor yet a man, a certain wonderful thing, & stupor mundi, monster of the world as I interpret it. If they say, that the Roman Popes have always been at open enmity with the Turks; have warred upon them, sometimes gotten the day of them : and therefore they are better; the doctrine in hand doth argue the insufficiency of that argument. For, were the Chaldeans ever a whit better than the Moabites, because they were God's instruments to destroy Moab? Evil men may quarrel, two parties may cut the throats of one another, and the best of them both be stark naught. This is the first Conclusion.

The second is this, That it is as lawful a thing to press the bad, for Military service in times of war, as to employ the good; yea, in the ordinary service of common soldiers, I doubt not it may stand as well with true piety, as State-policy, to spend the worst first, and spare the best to the last extremity: albeit, it is to be wished, that none might go forth but under good Governors, and religious Commanders. War in it self is a punishment for sin . As it comes from our lusts , so it comes for our lusts.

It is well observed by one (commenting upon the two first verses of the third chapter of Judges,) that so long as the Israelites kept covenant with God, they had no need of arms; but after they had once broken covenant with him, and sinned against him, they are fain to learn the art, and try the fortune of war. And some have supposed that Mars was feigned by the Poets, to be the God of war, because he did first invent weapons, set men in battle array, and execute other war-like exploites, just at such times as he was intended to punish the wicked. Now if war be a punishment for sin, who fitter to taste it, than the lewdest men, that most deserve it? Again, war may prove a means to make men better. I confess, we ordinarily see the con • rary true, that followers of the field, are no followers of the faith; and amongst common soldiers, you shall easily find the corruptest men, to whom it is a sport, to destroy houses, to rob Churches, to ravish virgins, to ruinate cities; yea whose principal glory is to do good to no man, to hurt all men, without all regard of God, the Judge of the whole world; who carry such blind souls in filthy bodies, as that they can neither fear the indignation of God, nor hear with patience the admonitions of men, bidding the Almighty to depart from them, saying, We desire not the knowledge of thy Ways, as though they were to be ordered by no rule, to be conformable to no right, but had license to carry all laws with their swords in their sheaths, and to do what ever their wicked hearts led them to. I confess, I say, all this to be true; yet notwithstanding, through God's blessing war may be, and indeed is a means to amend some, to make them just, sober, chaste, good, whereas peace makes them wanton, wicked, intemperate, grown over with the rust of idleness, and so slaves to all kind of naughtiness. And is it not pity, that one soul should be lost for lack of any means, which may do it good? If the daily fear and danger of death, which is stirred up in a wicked man (if he be not desperately secure) when he is amongst the Pikes, may stir him up, to lay about him for a better life, and so avail to save his soul; it were a thousand pities he should not see the Pikes, nor be sent to field. I speak this the rather, that I may incite such as have the office of pressing in these needful times, committed unto them, to be careful to cleanse the City, and rid the Country as much as may be of those straggling vagrants, loitering fellows, and lewd livers (so they be fit for service) which do so swarm amongst us. It is a great deal fitter for themselves, and better for our Kingdom, that they be watching in garrison, exercising arms, and fighting in field for our friends, against our enemies, than ranging our streets, haunting our tavernes, tippling in our tap-houses, fidling in fairs, jetting on stages, and lying like burdens upon the shoulders of our State; yea (which is worse) daring the Almighty to his very face, and pulling down with both hands as fast as they can, his heavy judgments upon the whole Nation. If it be demanded, how can a blessing be expected upon the service of such soldiers? how can we look that the work of the Lord should prosper in such sinful hands? You have an answer in the point we are upon, The Lord smiteth one wicked man by the hand of another. It cannot be denied that we have cause to be grieved, that some of them who are gone already, have carried along with them the guilt of such outrages as they committed in some countries of our own, which they passed through; and I know we have just reason to fear, that some of them (at least) shall soundly pay for that their wickedness: yet we have as good ground to hope, that their violence at home, shall be no hindrance to God's cause abroad, from prospering, from prevailing; especially, considering that we have Joshua's and Gideon's in our Armies, and a legion of prayers, like an armed band, daily striving with the Lord of Hosts, that he would be pleased not to remember their sins to our judgment, but rather to be mindful of his own covenant, and merciful to his own inheritance. Let this serve for the first use.

Secondly, let terror to the wicked be another use: Had passionate Jeremiah uttered this Text in Moab's hearing, I do imagine it would have made her ears tingle, and her heart tremble, to consider that the Chaldeans are summoned by so terrible, so forcible an argument, to take sword against her. Why should not our present doctrine work the like effect of horror and trembling in all those amongst us, who are like to Moab, godless, graceless, and malicious men, when it doth so plainly tell them, that God can plague them by wicked men, as bad as, yea perhaps many degrees worse than themselves? Should the Lord arm the Elements against them, which are so needful, so useful to man? Should he bid the air infect them with a noisome pestilence, the water drown them by overflowing her banks, the fire burn them by transgressing its bounds, the heavens to deny them their influence, the earth her foyzen, it were a terrible thing. To command wild beasts to devour them, the Bear to tear them, the Lyon to rent them, the Loapard to prey upon them; were more terrible. Should he command his Angels, who (hating sin with an intenstine hatred) are ready to smite the hairy scalp of any one, that goes on with an impenitent heart in impious courses: Should the Lord (I say) command them to be as a Surgeons knife, or an Husbandmans tools, to cut them off, to root them out (like infectious members from the body of mankind, like superfluous branches from his Vine, like noisome weeds from the Garden of his Church) were more terrible, more unendurable; But to make wicked men the instruments of executing his wrath upon the children of wrath, I am not able to express how exceedingly more fearful this is. When the Prophet David did pray against his slanderous enemies under the person of Judas, he begins his imprecations thus; Set thou a WICKED man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand. It seems, he thought he could not wish a greater judgment against his adversaries (but one, viz. a delivery over into the Devils hands) than to have some wicked man their tormentor: and when there was no remedy, but that himself must be scourged for his sin of numbering the people, and the Lord in mercy offered him his choice of three rods, he chose rather to fall into the hands of that living God, who is a consuming fire, than into the hands of man. Which choice he would never have made, had he not known, that whereas the justice of God is a merciful justice, the mercies of the wicked are cruel. Moab had better a thousand times have had the people of God come armed against her, than a people so godless, so merciless as the Chaldeans were, to be called upon to take sword against her. So thou hadst better have any of the rest of the creatures against thee, than a wicked man, and more mercy mayest thou meet with at its hands. An infected air may be corrected, an unbounded fire may be quenched, overswelling waters may be asswaged, devouring beasts may be restrained, yea, by the prayer of a Moses, by the zeal of a Phineas the destroying Angel may be appeased; but the rage of the wicked is unreasonable, insatiable: What mercy canst thou look for from him, at whose hands Christ himself doth still suffer many injuries, much ignominy and reproach? yea, who is an adversary to himself, as every wicked man is? Thou mayest be sure that he, who is led about of so many lusts, will not cease to lay upon thee, what pride, malice, envy, hatred, covetousness, (such merciless masters and commanders) shall command him, if thou beest but once (in God's justice to avenge thy wickedness) left unto such an executioner. Tremble therefore, and sin no more with so high an hand, you proud presumptuous offenders: for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a wicked man, whose justice is iniquity, and whose very charity is cruelty it self.

Thirdly, this may comfort us, and strengthen our confidence, in the certainty of their overthrow, who are professed enemies to God's people. For rather than such shall escape ruin without repentance, the Lord will arm their own side against them, and make men, as wicked as themselves, instruments of executing his judgments upon them. It was for Israel's comfort (as Calvin observeth upon the Text) that Jeremiah foretold Moab's overthrow by the Chaldeans sword. In like manner propound to yourselves this point out of Jeremiah's words, to your comfort; and assure yourselves, that although the enemies of Zion be many and malignant, powerful and politick, yet deliverance shall come: and rather than that Romish Whore shall always continue to suck the blood of God's Saints, some Heathenish power, some Pagan Idolater shall soake his blade in her blood, and her soldiers and followers shall one day find, how like a Prophet one of their side once spake, when he said, Oh you Romanists, who love your liberty, and stand much upon your immunities, think with yourselves, how base, how poor, how dishonorable, how slavish a life you are like to lead under Paganish enemies, who will use you like beasts, rather than men: which hard condition shall be God's just vengeance upon you, for your cruelty against his Church, of which you do profess yourselves members. And so let us leave the first point of the the second part of our Text, and come to the second, which stands thus.

That the sword must not be stretched out to blood, without a just cause, and a good call. The sword may not drink blood without warrant. The holy Ghost doth not say here, Cursed be he that putteth not out his sword to blood before he be called, but, Cursed be he that holdeth back his sword from blood, when he is willed and warranted to dip it, to die it in the same. David had neither call, nor cause to besmeare his sword with Uriah's blood, and how great a sin he did commit, who knows not, that knows the story, or hath but heard how God chastized him according as he told him, that the sword should never depart from his house? how Nathan reproved him, Thou art the man, and himself cried peccavi for it? Doeg had no call from God to slay in one day fourscore and five of the Lord's Priests, and how heinous and unlawful a fact that was, both the refusal of Saul's servants to do it, though their master commanded them, and David's just complaint, and crying out against him, do declare. Had not Ahab ill success, when he went up to battle against Ramoth Gilead against God's will? Did it not cost that good king Josiah his life, when he would needs draw out his sword against Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, without God's warrant, yea contrary to God's word in Pharaohs mouth? When Peter pulled out his sword, and cut off the high Priests servants ear, our Savior bade him put up again, telling him plainly, that he that did smite with the sword, should perish by the sword. By which speech, he did not so much hinder Peter for the present, from a good action, which he might do (as one thinks) but he reproved him, and took him up roundly for what he had done. Now wherefore did he reprehend him? What? because it is never lawful for any man to defend God's cause with the sword, as some have thought? No. Why then? because Peters fleshly and unregenerate part did rashly rush upon this action, without any respect to his Masters will, without any warrant from his Masters call: which plainly argues, that the smiting with the sword without a call, was not permitted by Christ to Peter, nor any other. I hope you do not expect many arguments for this, when one or two may serve for all.

[Reason 1] 1. Actions of this nature, tend to the taking away of natural life. Now life is so precious to the brute creature, that it strives to preserve it how it can; how much more precious is the life of man, by which man himself enjoys many excellent benefits, and the God of heaven gets much honor? Therefore we had need be sure that we have special cause, before we venture upon a work that takes away the life of such a creature as man is, lest we rashly entrench so far upon God's honor, and so wrongfully cut off man from the possession of blessing enjoyed by life, as we will never be able to answer. For man's life is never to be extinguished, but when it is an hindrance to God's glory, and altogether hurtful to human society; and not then neither, but by such as are appointed by God to that work.

[Reason 2] 2. The stretching out the sword to blood, requires the putting on of a kind of cruelty; as we see in Samuel, who hewed Agag in pieces without any show of compassion; as we see in Joshua, who hanged up the five Heathenish kings without any commiseration. Now we know, that the Scripture doth everywhere almost call upon us for the contrary; to be merciful, to put upon ourselves the bowels of tender compassion, to clothe ourselves with goodness, with kindness, to do good to all, to love our enemies. And therefore we had need have a special care, that we have a special call to put this habit upon us, lest we exercise a lawless cruelty, when, and where we should show lawful mercy; and lest when we should compassionately spare the effusion of blood, we do unadvisedly spill it, and by that means bring upon our own heads the guilt of blood: which is a very fearful and heavy thing.

This is a doctrine I do desire may be remembered by our reverend Judges, [Use 1] when being set in their judgment seats, the lives of men are brought in question before them: Oh what good may it make them do, what evil may it keep them from! how may it make them rid the innocent out of the blood-hunters claws, and set them free from the hands of those wretches, whose false tongues (a blood-thirsty desire, arising from malicious covetousness) do set on work to give in evidence against them! Would they but consider at that time, that the sword of justice must not touch the blood of any man, without a just and important cause; oh what prayers would they make to God to guide them! what pains will they take in sifting of causes, in sounding of witnesses, in examining of evidences, in boulting out all appendant circumstances, that they will not pass sentence upon the party, except he be worthy of death indeed? or if they do, the fault shall be more in the Jurors, than in any negligence in themselves to search the truth, or want of conscience to pass sentence, as out of the seat, and in the sight of God himself. I touch but upon this string; I have more pertinent uses to apply myself unto. The first whereof I fear me will be harsh, because, (as that Orator told Philip, great Alexanders father) men love rather to be praised than reproved. But if I be harsh, I must crave pardon: a twofold evil, too common in our times. A gross error in some, a rash practice in others, do necessarily call for a just reproof.

The error is, that to give the stab for a cross word, or to challenge the field upon every slender occasion, is a sign of true fortitude: and that he is a base gull, no rightly valorous, nor magnanimous Gentleman, that will pocket up the least injury, and not prosecute it to the very drawing of blood from him that offers it. Of these erroneous spirits and furious sparks, I would gladly know, what proofs they can give, that true valor consisteth in such exploits, what call men have to express their fortitude by such private quarrels. Is the thwarting of their humor, the stirring of their choler a call sufficient, cause warrantable enough? they want grace or wit if once they think it. Now Duells without a call to them, are lawless things; and did ever any man, Divine or Pagan, teach and avouch that lawless things are truly praise-worthy? There are some enemies I confess, whose blood to shed is a very laudable action; but in heat of blood to shed Christian blood, is a condemnable vice in the eyes of God, yea, what is further from true fortitude, than this is? The magnitude of the mind is proved by this, that it is capable of eternity (as a Father speaketh); not by this, that it scorneth to put up the pettiest injury. True valor consists in patience and humility, not in anger or unbridled fury. For men to dog one another to the field, that they may wreak their wrath the one upon the other, and take away life the one from the other, is a manifest badge of a base mind, an evident token of a villanous spirit; and dare any applaud it for a mark and sign of a brave courage and valiant spirit? Oh applause (as one said once on occasion of Cain's churlish answer to God, Am I my brothers keeper? ) Oh voice more execrable than the murder it self! oh impious and irreligious sentence! This is to justify wickedness it self, this is to applaud the manifest breach of the sixth Commandment in a heinous kind. To stretch out the sword before God commands, to strike with the sword when God forbids, call you this true Valour? Valour! it is (as Augustine says of confidence in man's own merits) a mad valor then, a reproveable, a damnable valor.

What? A damnable valor, [Object.] when men irritate and provoke one another by reproaches, by disgraces, by other kind of wrongs?

Yes, even then, a damnable valor, [Answ.] or rather Cowardize: For he is conquered by his angry passions, like a coward, that falls to fighting for a few reproaches; and it is a foolish thing to account a person a man of courage, who like a vanquished slave, lies prostrate at the feet of the lust of anger. Tell me I pray, did not David do a more noble exploit by bearing with patience the cursings of Shimei, than he should have done if he had drawn his sword and slain him with it? To lay snares for blood, for a few cross words, is a greater injury, than those cross words can be: & a thousand times better it is, injuriam ferre, quàm infer, to suffer wrong, than offer it, to bear the lesser, than do the greater: At this bearance, thine anger shall break and split in pieces, thy courage, thy strength shall hold its own. For, he is a man of metal indeed, who can generously bear all adverse accidents. Had but such challenges a good end, were such single combats, which are more grounded on malice, than on the law of Arms, useful or gainful in their issue, there were some reason to commend them. But their fruit and issue being for the most part so fearful, so woeful, that the slayer committeth a deadly sin, the party slain (without God's greater mercy) is sent to hell, thou art to be condemned, if thou doest not condemn them.

It may be objected, the victor gets glory by his conquest, and gains a name to be the better champion. [Object.]

[Answ.] A sory glory, God wot, that being true which Erasmus writeth, That to be praised for sinful things of sinful men, is false glory, and true ignominy. Reforme thine error therefore here worthily taxed, whoever thou beest, that thinkest those men the bravest sparks, whose wounding swords a petty injury can call forth to take revenge, without a call from God; lest, if this error sticks to thee still, thou fallest like Cain, upon the least provocation, to imbrue thy hands in thy brothers blood: and when thou hast done it, be so far from repenting, as to contest with God as Cain did, and out of thine envious, malicious, and hateful heart, rather to grieve that thy murdered brother hath not another life for thee to take away also. Which pass shouldest thou ever come unto, a remarkable horror might take hold upon thee, a guilty conscience ever vex thee, the gnawing whereof, death it self (though thou shouldest desire it) would rather increase by infinite degrees, than ease in the least measure.

Secondly, there is a generation amongst us, who in such troublesome times as these be, steal from their Parents, run from their Masters, tendering their service, to take sword in hand, when they have neither wit to wield it, nor strength to fight with it: the shop or the school, being fitter for them, than the field. Their rashness also doth this doctrine reach at (for they are old enough to hear a reproof.) Silly yonguelings, they do inconsiderately venture on they know not what. Where is their warrant to run to war? The sword must not kill, till it hath a call. Dulce bellum inexpertis, War is sweet until they have tasted of it. When they hear the Cannons roar, the Armor clatter, the Air thunder, the Launces shiver, the Heavens resound with hideous out-cries of parties slain; when they see the Swords glittering, the Pikes piercing; one with a leg off, another without an arm; one lie scrambling on the earth on this side, another lie tumbling in blood on that side the enemies looking fiercely, striking furiously, doubling blows upon them, threatening death unto them, were there no more men in the world than themselves; then peradventure (wanting the fortitude which the field requireth) they will repent their rashness, wishing they had waited for a better call, & not so theevishly stole away. I tax not Voluntaries who are fit for service; I blame not them that have a call: but I find fault with such as in a discontented, or new fangled humor, will venture upon the pikes, being altogether unable, unfit to bear arms; whose stay at home would be a great deal more acceptable to God, more profitable to man. He that fightes without asound, is no soldier; wrath carries him to valor; his adventure is perilous, not virtuous; he seeks rather to perish than to vanquish, as one speaks. Did an heathen man once most justly complain against the Nicomedians, because for Pestilence and Earthquakes they did accuse their gods; but for stirring up to war, they did applaud their men: accounting the persuaders to battle the best Orators, when to use such persuasions too there was neither need nor cause? with better warrant may I blame such yongulings as account those men most worthy to be hearkened to who egg and entice them into the field when (as having neither skill nor strength to use their weapons for lack of years) they are like to be more burthenous, than helpful to the army. If they perish by the sword, they do but reap the fruit of their own rashness. And now enough of reproof.

Thirdly & lastly, [Use 3] must not the sword be commanded to blood without a call? then use the meditation of this truth for thy defense, when at any time thou art either provoked by gain or malice, to lay violent hands upon thy brother, or tempted in discontent, Saul -like to run thyself upon thine own sword. To neither of these hast thou a call; to do either of these is a grievous sin. For the first of these, what says the Scripture? Who so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. The murderer hath not eternal life abiding in him. He that takes away his brothers life, may hear God tell him, The voice of thy brothers blood crieth from off the earth against thee. Vitam sustulisti, sed non vocem abstulisti. Thou hast spilled his life, but thou canst not stop his mouth; thou hast armed his blood as an accuser against thee, thou hast provoked the immortal God to be an adversary unto thee. Some such noise as this may sound in his ears, which is most hideous, horrid, and fearful to hear. To the latter very aptly speaks an Ancient, By how much the nearer to a man the murdered is, by so much the crueller is the murderer. He therefore that murdereth himself, is the worst murderer, because none is nearer to a man than himself. Job resolved to wait all the days of his appointed time, until his changing came. He made not post-haste away before his time; albeit one would think he had as great cause to have done it (had it been lawful) as ever any had, whether we consider the tortures of his body, or the terrors of his soul. The Heathen could tell us, that a good man must not fly out of this life, but depart out of it. He must stay in this world till God bid him go; he must not, like a discontented Tenant, warn himself out of this earthly tabernacle against his Landlords revealed will, lest like the foolish fish, he leap out of the pan into the fire, and so find by woeful experience the truth of our present point, That the sword must not be dipt in any blood without a call.

And now I am descended to the last and largest point of all, being the very upshot of the Text, That to withhold the sword from blood when there is just cause and a lawful call, is a dangerous thing, displeasing to God, exposing to the Curse.

A doctrine set down so plainly by our Prophet here, that he that runs may read it, [Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood]: and backed so firmly by testimony, by example, and by the contrary, that none but the incredulous can once doubt of it. The testimony is Deborah's in her song. Curse ye Merosh (said the Angel of the Lord) Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty: that is to say, because they kept their swords in their sheaths, when they should have fought in his cause, for his Church. The example is Saul's, who was accurst in his affairs, and had his kingdom rent from him, for sparing the life of the King of Amalek, when God had given him a charge to cut him off. The contrary is set down by the Prophet Ezekiel, who tells us that Nebuchadnezzar (though a wicked King) had the land of Egypt given him as his pay for his pains, in punishing the people of Egypt with his sword, according to the command which God gave him to do it. The rewarding of such a work, when it was done, with a temporal blessing, doth intimate, that to leave such a work undone, when the Lord calls to it, procureth the Curse temporal at least.

Is not the stretching out the sword to blood sometimes God's work? Is it not a work as from him, [Reason.] so for him? Is not his command the ground of it? Is not the bringing of his own counsels to pass (in the destroying of some to the glory of his justice, in the relieving of others to the praise of his mercy) the end of it? But to omit the work of the Lord, is a cursed thing, (For if remissness in such a work (as appears in the former part of the verse) then much more the total omission of it, exposeth to the Curse. ) therefore to withhold the sword from blood when God requires it, must needs be an accursed thing. It proves impiety to show pity at such a time. Mercy then is a foolish mercy, and he that shows it, verifies that saying of an heathen man, It is an hard thing to be merciful and wise at the same instant. To be merciful to him whom God would have destroyed by the sword, and to be wise enough to provide for himself an escape from the curse, is very difficult.

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I would now apply myself to apply the point, but that I must first explain it by the object and the motive cause; I mean, by answering two questions: first, against whom? secondly, for what? the sword is commanded forth by God, that so we may know when we have a good call to the battle. Both which I intend to dispatch with as much brevity as I can.

For the first: Our Text tells us, that it was Moabitish blood which the Chaldeans swords were to be sheathed in; the Moabites, their enemies, were they to wage battle with, not with their own countrymen, allies and friends. The Lord gave charge to Reheboam King of Judah, not to make war with Jeroboam King of Israel; and why? because Israel and Judah were sisters and friends. The Lord was angry with the Ephraimites, so that he slew two and forty thousand of them for quarrelling and contending with Iephtah their brother. Those valiant Kings and Captains which we read of in Scripture, have still fought with their own, and God's enemies; as David with the Philistines, Joshua with the Canaanites, Jehoshaphat with the Moabites, Nehemiah with the Ammonites, &c. The Lord never taught their hands to war, nor their fingers to fight, with any but such as they were.

But how stands this, with that counsel of our Savior, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that persecute you? Is to war with them, to love them? Is to join battle with them, to bless them?

[Answ. 1] I answer: First of all what hindereth but that a man may love his enemies while he combats with them, when his fighting with them proceeds rather from hatred to their sin, than from want of love to their person?

[Answ. 2] Secondly, I give no just occasion to move this objection: For I do not say, that God doth always call a man to wage war with his enemies; but when the sword is called forth, it must know our foes, not our friends, for the object of its strokes. Bernard said well, Our very enemies are not to be killed, if they can by any means else be curbed from infesting, from oppressing the Church; but when that cannot be, it is a great deal better, that the rod be cut with the sword, than still rest upon the back of the Righteous, and cause them to put forth their hands to iniquity. Our Lord's counsel to love our enemies, doth no whit prejudice the just causes of war. If the cause be good, neither the effect, nor issue can be naught, though the blood of thousands be spilled by it. Our next task therefore, must be to give in our answer to the second demand, viz. For what causes the Lord gives warrant to wage war with our foes? What? is it to give satisfaction to the unreasonable motion of rash anger? to compass that honor, that applause amongst men, which we ambitiously aspire to? to get our enemies possessions, which we unlawfully covet? merely to be made Lord's of Sea and of Land? or to rule by ourselves without Competitor? I know carnal men (both amongst Infidels and Christians) have in former times made war for these causes. And at this day these vices are to such persons, the chiefest bellows to blow this fire. For what but these, makes Rome, Spain, and Austria stir up such combustions, as have of late been kindled, and do yearly flame more and more in the Christian world?

But are these just causes?

No, no, there is neither equity nor safety in them. They are rather Robbers than Soldiers, who are led to field only by these motives.

What then are just causes? Such as for which Moab was to be wasted by the Chaldean sword. What were they?

These five sins, as you may see, if you consult but with some verses in this present chapter.

• 1. Monstrous pride.
• 2. Insolence against God.
• 3. Insulting over the Church.
• 4. Tumultuousnesse and rebellion.
• 5. False-heartedness.

Which vices in other enemies as well as Moab, have been God's warrant to his own Worthies, to fight his battles in the Old Testament.

First (I say) monstrous Pride. We have heard of the pride of Moab [He is exceeding proud] even of his haughtiness and his pride, his loftiness and arrogancy: Therefore the spoiler is fallen upon thy Summer fruits, and joy and gladness is taken away from the land of Moab.

Secondly, Insolence against God. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord. Make ye him drunken, for he magnified himself against the Lord. Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he magnified himself against the Lord.

Thirdly, Insulting over the Church, is another cause of just destruction by the sword. Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he shall also be in derision: For was not Israel a derision unto thee, since thou spakest of him? thou skippedst for joy. Goliath's vaunts against the host of Israel, put the stone into David's sling, which pierced his temples; put the sword into David's hand, which parted his head from his body, and so discomfited his insolent Army of uncircumcised Philistines.

Fourthly, for Tumultuousnesse and Rebellion, evident is that which we find towards the end of this chapter. I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. A fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Zion, which shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the TVMVLTVOVS ones. And what was it else, but the suppressing of Rebellion, that moved the Israelites to make war upon the Benjamites?

Fifthly, for False-heartedness; pretences of unity, and yet practices of enmity: you may collect it out of the 30. verse, where Moab's wrath and lies are joined together, and noted as a cause of the Chaldeans coming, by God's appointment, against her to destroy her.

While I thought with myself how I might improve this point, many particulars offered themselves: amongst those many, I made choice of three.

First, [Use 1] to meet with that fantastical conceit of the Anabaptistical Sect, That it is not lawful for true Christians to make war. Are Christians prohibited to do that same thing, which if the Chaldeans did not, they were threatened to be cursed? What work is there, which may lawfully be done for the Lord, by any that are his enemies, which may not in some cases, for some causes, with some cautions, be done by his friends? In this same question (Whether a Christian Magistrate may lawfully make war?) the state of it lies not in unnecessary war: When Kings and Princes, through an ambitious and covetous desire to enlarge their own territories, and to encroach upon other men's rights, without God's warrant, do take sword in hand, and bid battle with it; we detest it, we abhor it, and persuade ourselves, that the authors of such wars, have an heavy account to give to God, for the abundance of innocent blood that is ordinarily shed, for the rapines, burnings, whoredoms, devastations, &c. which do usually attend them. But we speak of a necessary defensive war: When a Christian Prince, partly to preserve the lives, liberties, and religion of his own subjects; partly to relieve his Allies abroad, which are near unto him, both in the flesh and in the Lord, when they are oppressed by the common adversary, shall make war, it is not only lawful, but also so needful, that did he not do it, he should highly displease God, as being an unnatural father to his country, & an unkind friend to them, whom he doth owe, and should show most kindness unto. In these cases he doth not, he ought not to bear the sword in vain, what ever the Anabaptists say to the contrary. If we should tell that generation, that Abraham made war with the Sodomites, Moses with the Amalekites, Joshua with the Canaanites, Gideon with the Midianites, Sampson with the uncircumcised Philistines; and God's encouraging and prospering them in this work, is a notable argument of the lawfulness of it: I know they will yield to us in that, holding it lawful in the time of the Old Testament to make war. But where (say they) is it warranted in the New? Where warrented! Why where is it condemned? Doth John the Baptist condemn it? Soldiers, military men, came to him, asked him what they should do; and what's his answer to them? not leave your station, forsake your garrison, give over your military kind of life; but, be content with your wages, do no man wrong. Neither did Christ, nor any of his Apostles, disallow it. The Capernaite Centurion remained a soldier after he became a Christian. Christ did not bid him cease the field, after he had truly embraced the faith. He commended his believing: Verily, I have not found such faith in Israel; he condemned not his calling, his being a Centurion. The like may be said of Cornelius, the Captain of the Italian band, whose Captaineship continued after his conversion: neither was it condemned by Peter, when he preached unto him, and bestowed Baptism upon him.

Yea but Isaiah prophesied of the times of the Gospel in the New Testament, when he said, They shall beat their swords into plow-sheares, and their spears into pruninghookes: Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation, neither shall they learn war anymore: Therefore Christians may not make war now under the Gospel.

I answer, [Answ.] the scope of the Prophet there, is not to forbid Magistrates a necessary war against the enemies of their lives, and God's cause: but to show what peace should be betwixt the Jews and the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospel; which was accomplished when our Peace-maker, Christ Jesus, brake down the partition wall betwixt them and us; and when, in a time of dearth, the Church of the Gentiles in Greece did send relief, even above their power, to the Church of the Jews in Syria. They have many other cavils, scarce worth the spending of our ink and paper, which of purpose I pass over, lest in such an argument as this, I prove tedious to the Reader.

Secondly, I may here take just occasion to preach terror unto all those, whom God hath endued with strength of body, so that they might be fit in time of need, to stand their country in good stead, by bearing the sword against her enemies; and they waste this strength and ability of theirs, some on wine, some on women, some by one kind of riotous living, some by another, and so indispose themselves for all good offices at home in peace, for all good service in the wars abroad. The natural gift which God hath given them, they should perfect by art, by commendable exercises either in military matters, or some lawful calling; and they, either by a sottish idleness, or a bestial licentiousness, disable themselves to make such use of their bodies, as they are given them for. The time may come, when God may summon these voluptuous ones to stretch out the sword to blood, yea and threaten against them the terrible Curse if they do not do it. This Curse, how can they then escape, when their bodies, weakened by sin, shall make them refuse to follow this call, and cause them to be readier with the Kitchen-Curr that Plutarch speaks of, to run to the pot, than with the generous Grey-hound to the field?

Thirdly, is it so, that to withhold the sword from blood when the Lord calls it forth, procureth the Curse? then go thou Text of ours, thou short sentence of old Jeremiah, that authentic Prophet: go (I say) into all Brittanne; be as a trumpet to her inhabitants, to sound an alarm unto war. Thou standest upon their shelves, liest upon their deskes, art in their houses, as the other sentences of the Bible be: Oh round them in their ear, present thyself to their eyes, that the sight of thee may make them stir in the Lord's quarrel, who have been backward all this while, and make them constant that have begun, until they have done the work of the Lord. Thou mayest be the bolder in thine importunity, now the royal head of great Brittanne, our dread Sovereign, hath taken the course to exempt his kingdoms from this Curse, by beginning to draw his weapon for the help of the Lord against the mighty: and the Lord grant, that like the sword of Jonathan, it may never return empty. Now, now (I say) never lin crying, never lin sounding in his subjects ears, until Jehovah repairs the ruins of Zion, and settle more peace in the Christian world. And inasmuch, as I have gone thus far in discourse upon thee, give me leave to give thy Press-money to this work. And now, O England, where shall I begin? whom shall I first call upon? Might I be suffered (and do no wrong to the Text) to speak in an allegory, I would begin with mine own calling, & wish them (as many Champions amongst them have already done) to dag their pens, dipt in the Fount of holy Writ, as far into the body of Heretical Divinity, as Ehud did his dagger into Eglon's bowels, that Errors servants, may like Eglons, be ashamed. Next, I could entreat the temporal Magistrate, to stretch forth the sword of his authority, to the spilling of the blood of those dangerous enemies, gross impieties, who have got such strength in these evil times. Finally, I could advise every Christian, to use a Metaphoricall weapon, not hypocrisy (which woundeth religion under a color of devotion) but the sacrificing knife, that sharp weapon, the sword of Repentance, which may lay ableeding their mightiest corruptions, that they may never prevail, nor bear rule again. But the stream of my exhortation must not run in this improper channel. The Text doth not enjoine it, though the times do well require it. I must go more literally to work, and say to this Kingdom, as Moses to Joshua, Choose out men, and go out to fight. Blessed be he that keepeth not back his sword from blood. Go out and fight? why? what is there a Moab in the world? and doth Moab provoke us, or provoke God to call us, to draw sword against her? Yes, both.

First, there is a Romish Antichrist, a Popish Faction: and therefore a Moab in the world. For the Romish beast which now rageth, in many particulars may be compared with that wicked Moab, so oft mentioned in the Old Testament.

First, Moab was a child of Incest, begat by Lot in his drunken fit, of one of his daughters. So Antichrist is an incestuous brat, bred of Religion the Mother, and of Riches the Child. The Christian Emperors in the first age after Christ, endowed the Church with great revennues, bestowed upon Relgion much substance. Religious Bishops grew drunk with riches; intoxicated with honors: in this their drunken fit committed filthiness with worldly wealth, and begat that monster, the Romish Whore.

Secondly, was Moab an Idolater? had he his Idol, and abomination, Chemosh? Who grosser Idolaters than Papists be, who have a multitude of Idols, and abominations?

Thirdly, the Moabites were not only Idolaters themselves, but also enticers of others to Idolatry, calling the Israelites to the sacrifices of their gods, and drawing Solomon himself, notwithstanding his wisdom, to build an high place for their Idol Chemosh. Doth not the Romish Moab draw the whole world to wonder after him; poisoning the Princes of the earth with his Idolatries, and perverting them, notwithstanding their wisdom? Who knows not how bold his Factors have been to entice our Gospellers to their Masses & superstitious services? How many Gentlemen have their filthy Cages, their Popish houses beyond the Seas, robbed of their sons, deprived of their daughters?

Fourthly, Moab got abundance by wrong. Antichrist hath raised himself to his rule and riches, which is uncountable, by secret villainy and open violence.

Fifthly, Moab would not let Israel pass thorough his land to their place: no more will Antichrist permit Protestants, by a free use of their conscience, to pass thorough his countries quietly, to the kingdom of heaven. They of our side that have to do there, unless they be very wary, are in daily danger of the bloody Inquisition. They that die there, when they lie on their death-beds, are molested by the Priests with proffers of fopperies and fooleries unto them.

Sixthly, did the King of Moab send Balaam on his Ass to curse Israel? so the Romish King of the Romish Moab sends abroad his Bulls, Balaam's and Asses to curse and condemn God's people.

Lastly, (for I omit many things) it was prophesied in the Old Testament, that Moab should be smitten with the star of Jacob. It is likewise prophesied in the new Testament, that the man of sin shall be consumed by the breath of the Lord's mouth, and with the brightness of his coming.

There is a Moab then in the world, O England, a fit object for thy sword, a meet foe to fight withal.

Yea, but what cause hath England to take sword against Moab? what injury, what wrong have the Romanists done her?

What causes? No less than the Chaldeans had to make their sword red with Moab's blood.

First, have we not heard of the pride of Rome? how that man of sin sitteth in the Temple of God, exalting himself above all that is called God? Have not we heard of a Sun and a Moon? of a Universal Vicar of Christ, and a Catholic King? of pompous Cardinals, haughty Bishops, and proud Prelates?

Secondly, doth not Romish Moab magnify himself against the Lord; adding to his Word, and taking from it what he pleaseth? How saucily doth he make himself the Lord's Competitor in title, in supremacy, in authority, to devise Laws, and coin Articles of Faith, to make a Purgatory, Limbus Patrum, and Limbus Infantum, to God's Heaven and Hell? giving his Priests power (as he presumeth) to make a man, a god-man, flesh blood, and bones of a piece of bread; trampling God's statutes under his feet, to set up his own blasphemous inventions? and is not England wronged egregiously, while the God of England is thus dishonored?

Thirdly, who have ever more injuriously opposed, more imperiously insulted over the Church, than Papists have? Do not they laugh in their sleeves that they have gulled us with sugared words, and fair pretences? Do they not rejoice in the ruins of the Palatinate of Rhine? and are glad to see the Sun of another Elizabeth's glory in the eclipse? How hath the Romish Emperor insulted over the person of noble Palatine, calling him in base and contumelious terms, a slave or vassaile, and that to the face of the English Embassador? They that have read the book of Martyrs, have often seen how those Romish wolves did crow over the lambes of Christ, when once they had gotten them in their paws. In deriding Israel, and reproaching Zion, ancient Moab came never near them.

Fourthly, these Romish Moabites are a tumultuous brood, confederate in Faction against the Church and Religion. The croaking Frogs of this Fen, the Priests and Jesuits, call the Princes of the earth to battle against the Saints. Moab once gathered Ammon and Amalek to fight against Israel, so doth the Pope his Princes and Vassailes at this day. What a tumultuous compact was there betwixt them, in buying and selling the Palsgraves possessions? Cardinal Lodowick is the cardinal man in that business: he sets down this position, That it is more just and profitable, that some Catholic Prince possess the Palatinate, than that Count Frederick (a Calvinist, an emulous Prince of the Imperial dignity, and a perpetual enemy to the house of Austria) be restored. Upon this position, Bishop Caraffa, the Popes Legate at Vienna concludes upon Bavaria to be the fittest man. The Emperor next, resolves upon it, he shall be the man: and this resolution forsooth, he cannot alter, without the offense of Almighty God. Having set down this resolution with himself, he dispatcheth a Capuchine Frier, called Hyacinthus, to negotiate the business with the King of Spain, because the determination of that translation depended upon Spain. To work therefore the Spanish King the better to his will, the Popes Legate with the Emperor, by letter after letter, solicits the Capuchine to slack no diligence in the business. In the mean time, the Emperor writes to Don Balthazar Zuniga, Counselor of State in the Spanish Court. Cardinal Lodowick importuneth the Popes Legate at Bruxells, to work the Infanta to this Faction also. Now lest the King of great Brittanne by his Legate, (the Earl of Bristow, mediating with Spain about the restitution of the Palatinate to his son again) should hinder the proceedings, the Pope forsooth, must devise a way to satisfy him, after the Palatinate should be settled upon Bavaria. Well, the conclusion is, Spain conjoines in this cursed confederacy, and concludes the business in four Articles.

First, That Bavaria shall restore the upper Austria.

Secondly, That Bavaria shall content himself with the Electoral voice, and upper Palatinate only.

Thirdly, That Spain should have the lower Palatinate, and Bavaria disclaim all title thereto.

Fourthly, That the Emperor and Spanish King shall make a league together, to make an offensive and defensive war against whomsoever should resist their proceedings.

Were not here Moab's tumultuous ones? Was not here Geball, and Ammon, and Amalak, Philistia and those of Tyre, joined together against God's Israel?

In which confederacy, how falsely they dealt under fair pretences, appears by this, that while Spain spoiled the daughter of her dominions, he glozed with the father, and pretended a marriage with the brother. And while the Emperor promised our King to stay the execution of the proscription against the Palatinate, Bavaria proceeded in the same, and the Emperor thanked him for it, encouraged him in it. The doctrine of equivocation is so well studied of these Romish Moabites, that in most of their weightiest affairs with Protestant Princes, lies and falsehoods strike the greatest stroke: pretences of unity, and practices of enmity, are found nowhere more than amongst them.

These things considered, never had Chaldea greater cause to fight with Moab, than we with Rome: and if ever with her, then now, while the blood of the Saints shed by her, do call for vengeance; and while the snares which she layeth for the blood royal of the British race, besides other manifest wrongs, do call us Britain's to go forth against her. Now, a necessity to this work lieth upon us. Fit purses for contribution must now stand open, fit persons for execution are now called upon: neither (as I conceive) can any good reason be given, why either of both should now be spared. Gird your swords therefore upon your thighs, O you valiant ones, and ride on with courage and renown. Our Jehoshaphat summons against this Moab: what rank, what degree amongst the Gentry, amongst the Commonalty of his dominions, may not account it their glory, to have an hand in this enterprise?

For the Gentry, the golden bubble upon the breast, little moons upon the shoes, gold rings upon the hands, golden chains about the neck, garments of purple given by Princes (the ancient Ensigns of nobility) were but joys to grace nobility with, in comparison to heroic exploites in God's cause, for the Church her right. Oh that Gentlemen, fit for this service, would delight more to wear their arms in field, than to paint them in their houses, grave them in their seals, place them in their portalls, and weave them in their Sumpter-clothes. Then, to be sure, their holding of Arms would not be so much for worldlings to behold them, as for the Church to be beholding to them for the same.

For the Commonalty. If the generous sort must take sword against Moab, and it be their glory so to do; then let not the meaner and vulgar sort think it any disparagement to go forth under them. When Presses come, if their places and charge will permit it, (as Officers that press, ought to have a special regard to that, and to do nothing for sinister respects) let not them frame worthless pretences to shift their Princes call. If they hide their heads, when they should encourage their own hearts in God's cause that calls on them; if they choose rather (as the manner of some is) to starve in woods, than to stir to wars, or coin lies and falsehoodes to delude the Officers: I do not see how they can escape the Curse which the Text • oth speak of, and bring a blessing upon their heads. Be bold therefore in the Lord, and be strong in the power of his might: you could never stir in a more needful time; your sword now may do more acceptable service for the Lord, than it could have done for many years. When Moab is curbed, Israel shall have rest; when Moab's glory is abated, and trodden down as straw for the dunghill, then distressed Zion shall have glory, and her scattered stones in our neighbor-nations shall be gathered together again. If you say, we could be content to be forward, were we sure of success: I answer, doubt not of that, if Chemesh, if Achan, if the divisions of Reuben, if secret well-wishers to the Romish cause, and slightnes in seeking to the God of all Armies, do not cross us. Let the abomination of Moab be kept under amongst us at home, and the mighty of Moab shall not conquer us abroad. Let such men as hide the Babylonish garment in the rotten tents of their Popish hearts, who (having a face for the Prince, and an heart for the Pope) would be glad of an opportunity to betray their country for a wedge of gold, have nothing to do in our Campes. Let not the Nobles of Judah send letters to Tobiah, nor reveal the matters of Nehemiah to him. Let Popish Ladies have no acquaintance with State-secrets, (for then Balaam and Balak shall be sure to know them:) Let the loyal subjects with an unanimous consent, add sinews to the war, and let not corrupt Officers make those sinews to shrink. In a word, let the Lord be sought carefully in all our proceedings, and then the God of Jacob will be with us, the Lord of Hosts will fight for us, and prosper our handy-work. Securi igitur procedite milites, & intrepido animo inimicos crucis Christi propellite. In the bowels of Christ Jesus put forth your hands to the work of the Lord: let not your spirits fail in your bodies, let not your swords rust in their sheaths, let not your coin fret in your chests. And you that can do nothing this way, with your purses or with your persons, fight with your prayers to the God of heaven; be morning and evening in his presence Chamber with your suites: tell him, that for Zion's sake you cannot be silent, nor yet will be, until he hath made bare his arm in his own cause, clothed his foes with the robes of shame, and compassed his Saints with songs of deliverance.