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<NAME>Megan Marion</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>Queen <HI>Esthers</HI> Re&s;olves: OR A Princely Pattern of Heaven-born <HI>RESOL&V;TION,</HI> For all the Lovers of God and their Country: OPENED IN A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE Honourable Hou&s;e of Commons, at the Monethly Fa&s;t, MAY 27. 1646.</P>
<P>By RICHARD HEYRICKE, Warden of Chri&s;ts Colledge in <HI>Manchester</HI> in <HI>Lanca&s;hire,</HI> and one of the A&s;&s;embly of DIVINES.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>EXOD. 32.32.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Yet now if thou wilt forgive their &s;in, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy Book which thou ha&s;t written.</P></Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ROM. 9.3.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For I could wi&s;h that my &s;elf were accur&s;ed from Christ, for my Brethren, my kin&s;men in the fle&s;h.</P></Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JER. 3.9.</HI></BIBL>
<P>They are not Valiant for the Truth upon the Earth.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. Macock,</HI> for LVKE FAVVNE, and are to be &s;old at his &s;hop, at the &s;ign of the <HI>Parrot</HI> in <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-yard. 1646.</P>
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<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Die Mercurii,</HI> 27 <HI>Maii</HI> 1646.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>ORdered by the Commons A&s;|&s;embled in <HI>Parliament,</HI> That Colonell <HI>Moore</HI> do from this Hou&s;e, give Thanks to M^r <HI>Heyricke</HI> for the great paines he took in the Sermon he Preached this Day, at the intreaty of this Hou&s;e at S^t <HI>Margarets We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> it being the day of publike Humiliation; And to de&s;ire him to Print his Sermon: And it is Ordered that none &s;hall pre&s;ume to Print his Sermon without leave under his hand writing.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>H. El&s;ynge Cler. Parl. D. Com.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="license">
<P>I doe appoint LUKE FAVVNE to Print this Sermon.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Richard Heyricke.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="3">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD>A Sermon Preached at a late Solemn <HI>Fa&s;t,</HI> before the Honourable Hou&s;e of COMMONS. <HI>May</HI> 27. 1646.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ESTHER 4.16.</HI></BIBL>
<P>&mdash;and if I peri&s;h I peri&s;h.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_RE&s;olution is the life of Action, a thing well re&s;olved is more then half done, <HI>Vita &s;ine propo&s;ito languida.</HI> Of all the Re&s;olutions that I have read of, I finde none parallel with, nor comparable to this of Queen <HI>E&s;ther.</HI> And this will ap|pear if you will con&s;ider the Re&s;oluti|on it &s;elfe, the acting or executing of this Re&s;olution, the &s;ucce&s;&s;e and i&s;&s;ue; The Re&s;olution had the royall &s;tamp of Virtue and Glory; the Execution, of Wi&s;dome and Courage; the Succe&s;&s;e, of Wonder and Honour: The Re&s;olution did breath an Heroick Virtue, the Execution a Religious Fortitude, the Succe&s;&s;e Honour and Glory.</P>
<P N="1">1.The Re&s;olution is commended from the beauty, the Maje&s;ty, of her that re&s;olved, a Woman, a Queen.</P>
<P N="2">2. From the preparation &s;he makes unto it, wherein we have.</P>
<LIST>
<PB N="2" REF="4">
<ITEM><LABEL>1.</LABEL>Her di&s;creet deliberation with her &s;elfe.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>2.</LABEL>Her wi&s;e Con&s;ultation with others.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>3.</LABEL>From the difficulties and dangers &s;he was to en|counter withall.
<LIST>
<ITEM><LABEL>1.</LABEL>She mu&s;t go uncal'd to the King, there &s;he expo&s;ed her &s;elf to the penalty, to the danger of the Law.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>2.</LABEL>She was to affront and confound the Minion of the Court, the Favorite of the King, &s;he was to hazzard the frowns the thunder of the Kings Creature.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>3.</LABEL>She mu&s;t attempt to rever&s;e a Law of the <HI>Medes</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> which were not to be changed, to be cancel'd.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>In the fir&s;t there was evident danger, in the &s;econd emi|nent difficulty, in the third apparent impo&s;&s;ibility; but not the one, nor the other, nor the third; not the danger, not the difficulty, not the Impo&s;&s;ibility, could weaken or &s;hake her Re&s;olution.</P>
<P N="4">4. This Re&s;olution receives commendation from the Motives that invites her, from the Object, the end that en|courageth and &s;trengthens her to it.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM><LABEL>1.</LABEL>The pre&s;ervation of her Country people, unju&s;tly and wickedly doom'd to ruin and de&s;truction.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>2.</LABEL> The continuation of her Jewi&s;h Religion, attempted to be corrupted, extirpated.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>3.</LABEL> The Vindication of the glory of her God, which would be ecclip&s;ed, bla&s;phemed.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The Execution of this Re&s;olution is commended: Fir&s;t, from the means by which &s;he accompli&s;heth it, they are all fair, direct, and Lawfull.</P>
<P>2^l^y, From the circum&s;tances which accompany it, they are Religious, Hone&s;t, and Sea&s;onable; the means proclaims her Piety to God, the circum&s;tances her policy to man.</P>
<P>The Succe&s;&s;e and i&s;&s;ue an&s;werable to both the&s;e; &s;he is crowned with glory, her enterprize with honour, God graciou&s;ly heard her prayer, the King &s;milingly received her
<PB N="3" REF="4">
Per&s;on, <HI>Mordecai</HI> her Uncle advanced, <HI>Haman</HI> the common Enemy hanged, the Jews her people re&s;cued, the confede|rate combined con&s;pirators executed, her Religion e&s;tabli|&s;hed, Gods glory mightily exalted. This is the re&s;olution of this Re&s;olution, of which briefly by way of Explication, then of Ob&s;ervation, and Confirmation, and in the clo&s;e by Application.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> The fir&s;t thing that adds lu&s;tre to this Re&s;olution, was the Beauty, the Maje&s;ty, the Sex, the quality of her that re&s;ol|ved; <HI>E&s;ter,</HI> a Woman, a Queen. <HI>Admirabilior in foemina quam in viro virtus.</HI> We u&s;e to admire, &s;aith <HI>Quintilian,</HI> the &s;ame virtue more in women then in men, whence his &s;en|tence is, If we de&s;ire to beget in any the love and emulati|on of courage, the in&s;tance of <HI>Horatius</HI> and <HI>Torquatus</HI> would not prove of &s;o great efficacy, as of that woman who with her own hand &s;lew <HI>Pyrrhus:</HI> In per&s;wading you to true Chri&s;tian re&s;olution, the in&s;tance of <HI>Cato,</HI> the example of <HI>Joab,</HI> cannot be &s;o powerfull as this of Queen <HI>E&s;ther.</HI> It was a blindne&s;&s;e to be pittied in <HI>Seneca,</HI> that he could not &s;ee a fairer Object for God, than <HI>Cato</HI> &s;tanding bolt upright in the mid&s;t of publike ruine; were it lawfull to &s;peak in his &s;welling language, <HI>Ecce &s;pectaculum,</HI> behold a &s;pectacle truely worthy of God, not an Heatheni&s;h man de&s;perately &s;trugling with a private misfortune, but a virtuous woman more then manfully wre&s;tling with publike danger and de|&s;truction; Behold &s;trength in weakne&s;&s;e, vertue in infirmi|ty, Re&s;olution in incon&s;tancy; &s;trength, virtue, re&s;olution in a woman, <HI>Graetior e&s;t virtus veniens e corpore pulchro.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Nor doth her Sex ca&s;t a brighter beam on her re&s;olution then her condition; Maje&s;ty makes high the commendation; Had Queen <HI>E&s;ther</HI> been yet among&s;t the Virgins of the com|mon rank, within the wals of her ob&s;cure family, a Captive, a Stranger, &s;he had then lo&s;t much of the glory of this Sacred Re&s;olution; when Poverty and Ob&s;curity expo&s;eth it &s;elf
<PB N="4" REF="5">
to a doubtfull danger for a publike &s;afety, few ob&s;erve them; many &s;tars may be Ecclip&s;ed and few take notice of it; mi&s;carriage it &s;elf to a de&s;perate condition is the cure of its mi&s;ery, what is it for hunger-&s;tarved Lepers to adventure on the Enemy? <HI>If they kill us we &s;hall but dye,</HI> this is not re&s;o|lution, but nece&s;&s;ity; But for one without the verge of dan|ger, to intere&s;t and hazzard her &s;elf in anothers re&s;cue, is a Character of true fortitude, for one preferred to the height of Maje&s;ty, incompa&s;&s;ed within the wals of &s;trength and &s;afety, incircled with Guards and Pen&s;ioners, for a Queen to expo&s;e her &s;elf in a voluntary compa&s;&s;ion to the danger of a fall of death, this blazons an Heroick &s;pirit and proclaims a Royall goodne&s;&s;e, this commands amazement and admi|ration; the &s;un Eclip&s;ed, all eyes are fixed upon it.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Nor doth her Sex and quality, her beauty and Maje&s;ty more eternize her Re&s;olution, then her wi&s;dome in the man|ner of re&s;olving; none are but what of nece&s;&s;ity they cannot avoyd, to commit their affairs to any contingency; <HI>E&s;ther</HI> wi&s;ely con&s;iders the nature of the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, not onely in the &s;uperficiall and outward appearance, but &s;he penetrates in|to the in&s;ide, &s;he weighes and con&s;iders the accidents and con&s;equences, &s;he balanceth the beauty, the excellency, the glory of the enterprize, together with the trouble, difficul|ty, and danger. True Re&s;olution is not an incon&s;iderate and ra&s;h temerity, not a &s;encele&s;&s;e and bruti&s;h &s;tupidity; this virtue cannot be without knowledge and apprehen&s;ion; &s;he &s;eriou&s;ly and &s;oberly pondreth and weigheth all things, &s;he ballanceth and poyzeth together the eminency, the worthi|ne&s;&s;e of her undertaking, with her &s;trength and ability; the weakne&s;&s;e of her Sex, nor the Maje&s;ty of her Per&s;on doth not more commend her Re&s;olution, then her wi&s;dome in de|liberating, her judgement and di&s;cretion in con&s;ulting a|bout it, another circum&s;tance that commends the Re&s;o|lution.</P>
<P><PB N="5" REF="5">In difficult and dangerous affairs, in bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of great con&s;equence and importance, the wi&s;e&s;t, they of mo&s;t under&s;tanding, are to u&s;e advice and councell of others; two are better then one,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 24.6.</NOTE> <HI>In the multitude of Councellors there is &s;afety: Non unius mens tantae molis e&s;t capax; E&s;ther</HI> con&s;ults with her Uncle, a wi&s;e, religious and faithfull friend, a grave and advi&s;ed Councellor, &s;he commends it to the whole City of <HI>Shu&s;an,</HI> they approve it, they ble&s;&s;e it, &s;he doth not pre|cipitately nor ra&s;hly, being wedded to her own judgement, conceive, re&s;olve, and execute: but &s;he debates the matter, &s;he canva&s;eth it <HI>pro</HI> and <HI>con,</HI> &s;he puts it to the Vote; thus be|ing prepared and fortified, &s;he will not be deterr'd; it is not a Lyon in the way, nor a Legion of Devils, though &s;he fore-&s;ees &s;he mu&s;t encounter with both, yet &s;he is arm'd, &s;he knows the wor&s;t, &s;he can but <HI>peri&s;h,</HI> and that &s;tanding in competi|tion with her peoples &s;afety &s;he regards it not, <HI>Go I will unto the King which is not according to the Law.</HI></P>
<P>The Court of Kings ought to be as the Court of Heaven, equally neer and di&s;tant to every one; it argues more Tyran|ny than Maje&s;ty to have &s;et and &s;tanding Guards to keep out Petitioners. Turkes, and Per&s;ians, that make it their glory to fear all, may keep &s;uch Guards and Enact &s;uch Laws, becau&s;e they are afraid of all; But Chri&s;tian Princes who are to rule by Law and not by will, they are to have their Courts open to all, the poore&s;t &s;ubject may have liber|ty to prefer his Petition, a priviledge that <HI>E&s;ther</HI> though a Queen could not have, but if &s;he would go uncal'd to the King, &s;he mu&s;t run the hazzard of the Law, <HI>for it was not ac|cording to the Law.</HI></P>
<P>How far &s;uch Laws do binde I cannot determine; <HI>He is no tran&s;gre&s;sor,</HI> &s;aith the Civill Law, <HI>that cro&s;&s;eth not the mind of the Law-giver,</HI> though he break the Letter of the Law; and a rea&s;onable cau&s;e, as the Ca&s;ui&s;ts and the Schoolmen agree, ever excu&s;eth the breaking of a humane Law; I heard
<PB N="6" REF="6">
it very lately from the Authority of the Honourable Hou&s;e of Commons, what Laws, Ordinances, or Orders &s;oever, that are again&s;t the Law of God, are by the Laws of this Land null'd; The ob&s;ervation of Laws is very commendable; but when exigences are &s;o violent, when confu&s;ion hath turned all up&s;ide down, when the State is di&s;turbed, when wicked men are combined, when all Order is perverted, then men are to look to the main chance, then to &s;ollicite the principal bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and &s;o much the more zealou&s;ly, as <HI>E&s;ther</HI> did, by how much there is le&s;&s;e po&s;&s;ibility of compa&s;sing it the or|dinary way. When nece&s;sity is &s;o urgent that it makes the ob&s;erving of the Laws impo&s;sible; Nature, Rea&s;on, Laws, Religion, all in&s;truct us to betake our &s;elves to that which is mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary; Prerogative, Priviledge, Liberty, all mu&s;t be laid a&s;ide: It was a reproach unto <HI>Cato,</HI> he would rather &s;uffer the Common-wealth to run into all extremity, when he might have &s;uccour'd it, would he have a little tran&s;gres'd the Laws: and contrary wi&s;e <HI>Epaminondas</HI> is commended, that in ca&s;e of nece&s;sity he continued his charge beyond his time, though the Law upon pain of life did prohibite it. The Parliament &s;hall ever be famous, they have not onely followed pre&s;idents but made them: Men may &s;werve from a &s;econd particular and municipall Obligation, denying obe|dience to the Laws and Cu&s;tomes of the Country, when they are again&s;t the fir&s;t and more ancient, again&s;t Univer&s;all Nature and Rea&s;on: the Queen did not contemn the Law, but nece&s;sity made her pa&s;&s;e it over; this way it might plea&s;e God to bring forth a glorious deliverance, and to make her a ble&s;&s;ed Agent in her peoples re&s;cue; if &s;he &s;hould mi&s;car|ry, &s;he might loo&s;e &s;ome of her hopes, none of her virtues; the Laws deterre her not, nor the greatne&s;&s;e of her adver&s;ary; Go &s;he will though <HI>Haman</HI> advanceth again&s;t her.</P>
<P>Sathan when he cannot ma&s;ter the truth by meaner Agents, he intere&s;&s;eth great ones; <HI>Haman</HI> his name di&s;covers his hu|mour,
<PB N="7" REF="6">
he was a troubler, and at this time a troubler of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> by birth an <HI>Agagite,</HI> of that Nation which God cur&s;ed, and with whom the <HI>Jews</HI> were to have perpetuall Ho&s;tility; this was one rea&s;on why <HI>Mordecai</HI> refu&s;ed to bow, he would not &s;toop to &s;o accur&s;ed an Enemy of God and his people; <HI>Haman</HI> was incorporated a <HI>Per&s;ian,</HI> who&s;e Princes exacted more then Civill ob&s;ervance; this was a &s;econd rea&s;on. He was advanced the &s;econd in the Kingdome, where he plots and contrives by a de&s;perate and bloody Stratagem, the utter ruin and de&s;truction of the Jewi&s;h people: Kings are but men, their favorites often the wor&s;t of men, they lye open to the envy of the people, which like the Sun-beams, beats al|wayes mo&s;t &s;corchingly upon ri&s;ing grounds. What that Prerogative is I know not, that Kings cannot offend; Kings &s;in, and Kingdomes are ruin'd: <HI>E&s;ther</HI> bows low to the King, but &s;tands upright again&s;t <HI>Haman;</HI> &s;he encounters his per&s;on, and is re&s;olved either to &s;tand by his fall, or to fall if he &s;tands; this difficulty though a great one, yet not the onely one, the la&s;t is wor&s;t, there is a &s;eeming impo&s;&s;ibility, &s;he mu&s;t rever&s;e the Law, the la&s;t di&s;couragement.</P>
<P><HI>Non conveniat</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Cae&s;ar) vel ullum verbum;</HI> di&s;con&s;onant it is that one word &s;hould pa&s;&s;e vainly out of a Princes mouth. But when laws are enacted, decreed and e&s;tabli&s;hed, when &s;igned and &s;ealed with the Kings &s;eal, and that according to the Laws of the <HI>Medes</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ians</HI> which alter not, what hope to rever&s;e or change it? &s;et a&s;ide Principles, Grounds, Articles of Religion, unque&s;tionable truths and undeniable Aphori&s;ms, the Morall and Eternall Law of God; Men are not to make, nor may any entertain the Laws with an Oath never to change them; none may vow a perpetuall marriage to their own Mandates, there may be a cau&s;e for a Bill of divorce, room for retractations. What made the&s;e <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Laws unalterable, but the Laws them&s;elves? that po|wer that makes, may change. This <HI>E&s;ther</HI> knew, this might
<PB N="8" REF="7">
be, though there was little hope this &s;hould be, but &s;he will venter it, it was for her people, her Religion, her God, which are the Motives that moved her, the la&s;t con&s;ideration that commends the Re&s;olution.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"> Had <HI>E&s;ther</HI> been of the ordinary temper, as jolly and proud of her Maje&s;ty and beauty as her predece&s;&s;or <HI>Va&s;thi,</HI> how ea&s;ie had it been for her to have over-looked the cala|mity of her people? &s;he that before neglected her Husband her Soveraign, how would &s;he have here under-valued her &s;ervants, her &s;ubjects? her wi&s;e Ladies would have per&s;wa|ded her; yea, &s;he would have &s;aid her &s;elf it had been an un|nece&s;&s;ary anxiety, to have interrupted her mirth with the thought of their mi&s;ery; a bu&s;ine&s;&s;e beneath the State of a Queen to undertake the re&s;cue of a few de&s;pi&s;ed Country|men, e&s;pecially with the hazzard of the forfeiture of her honour, the high di&s;plea&s;ure of the King, the danger of the Law, the hazzard of her life, the &s;mall hope of &s;ucce&s;&s;e. This certainly would have been her voyce, <HI>if</HI> they <HI>peri&s;h</HI> they <HI>pe|ri&s;h;</HI> but Religious <HI>E&s;ther</HI> &s;he more e&s;teemeth of her peo|ples &s;afety then her own, her life is bound up in theirs, if they peri&s;h &s;he could not live, &s;he would have been more mi&s;era|ble had &s;he &s;urviv'd their Mi&s;ery; who could de&s;ire to live when the Country is dead? all owe more to their Country then to them&s;elves; this <HI>Esther</HI> knew which thus &s;trengthned her re&s;olution, together with the pre&s;ervation of her Religi|on, a &s;econd con&s;ideration.</P>
<P N="2">2. Religion is the very Nerves and &s;inews of the Com|mon-wealth, the very heart and prime fountain of life and livelihood, the Crown, the glory of a Nation, the beauty, the &s;trength, the perfection, the Spirit, the &s;oul of a King|dome; In Religion is Embarqued the publike &s;afety; when that is aimed at, the danger is dreadfull, the lo&s;&s;e beyond re|covery; <HI>Eli's</HI> heart trembled whil&s;t the Arke was in the field, in doubtfull di&s;putation; but when he heard the Arke
<PB N="9" REF="7">
was taken, he fell from his &s;eat, who&s;e heart was &s;ooner bro|ken then his neck; yet with that he dyed; Happy death that made him not out-live the lo&s;&s;e of the Arke! none but Athei&s;ts that know no life but the pre&s;ent, but they make Religion the fir&s;t thing. The Heathen is recorded to all ages, for the laying a&s;ide his Father, Wife, and Children, and ta|king the care of his Country gods; few make Religion their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, e&s;pecially they that &s;it at the top of the wheel, cloath'd in &s;oft rayment, dandled on the knee and lul'd in the bo&s;ome of &s;overaignty; there are that will &s;ell <HI>Paradi&s;e</HI> for <HI>Paris,</HI> and will launce no farther forth, then they may return &s;afe again; but <HI>E&s;ther</HI> is of a more divine temper, &s;he &s;tands up for the defence of her Religion; In her Religion, &s;he &s;aw the glory of God had founded it, and it could not be ruin'd without a manife&s;t hurt to the glory of that God which was dearer to her then her own life: the third and la&s;t encou|ragement.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> Nothing is more dear, yea &s;o dear to a Religious &s;oul, as the glory of God; the glory of its own &s;oul is valued at a cheap rate in re&s;pect of this; Gods glory is the &s;upream, the highe&s;t glory, the &s;un of glory; if that be darkned, though all the &s;tars &s;hine, it is &s;till night, whereas if that &s;hines in its glory, though no &s;tars &s;hine, yet it is day: <HI>Chry&s;ostome</HI> pro|fe&s;&s;ed he loved nor honoured <HI>Rome</HI> &s;o much for her Antiqui|ty, her multitude of inhabitants, her &s;umptuous fair buil|dings, the great priviledges and immunities of the Citizens, the beauty and glory of the City, as for that the Lord of Glory was held forth there in the preaching of <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Paul:</HI> Heaven it &s;elf is not &s;o glorious, as a poor Country Village, where the King of glory is preached: Queen <HI>E&s;ther</HI> rather then the glory of God &s;hould be ob&s;cured by a black cloud of his &s;ervants blood, rather then the mi&s;carriage and downfall of Religion &s;hould open the mouth of bla&s;phemy to &s;pit reproach in the face of Gods people, &s;he will &s;take
<PB N="10" REF="8">
her owne &s;oul, lay her life at pawn to redeem the glory of God from &s;uch an injury, <HI>Finis dat amabilitatem,</HI> the end beautifies the enterprize; if any end can adde glory to any, &s;urely this doth multiply on the head of <HI>Ester,</HI> &s;he is re&s;ol|ved, <HI>actum est,</HI> it is done already in her unbended re&s;olution, &s;he cloaths her &s;elf with Virtue, and puts on courage with her Jewels; Thus accompanied with Divine beauty, and heavenly Valour, &s;he &s;ets forward to her already bleeding Nati|on; her Weapons are faith and prayer, her Armour courage and re&s;olution, her Attendants beauty and virtue, her word <HI>Si pereo pereo,</HI> nor can danger, difficulty, or impo&s;&s;ibi|lity, <HI>Haman, Death,</HI> nor <HI>Devill</HI> turn her back again, <HI>Go I will.</HI></P>
<P>Thus you have heard with what cautions, with what cou|rage and wi&s;dome Queen <HI>E&s;ther,</HI> and by her Example, every good Chri&s;tian ought to enter into a Re&s;olution; here was an ab&s;olute integrity of all concurrencies, which made this re&s;olution good, acceptable to God, comfortable to her &s;elf, profitable to her people; The per&s;on that made it fitly qualified, the end moving &s;ufficiently warrantable, the cir|cum&s;tances hone&s;t and &s;ea&s;onable, the means direct and law|full: Here was no defect, iniquity and exorbitancy of any particular, but a generall combination of all requi&s;ites: The Re&s;olution was nece&s;&s;ary and religious, which will the better appear, if we compare what Queen <HI>E&s;ther</HI> did in <HI>Per|&s;ia,</HI> with what the Scriptures te&s;tifie the Saints and &s;ervants of God have done at other times, and ought to do at all times, which is my &s;econd thing, the Doctrine and the confirmation of it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Doct.</NOTE><HI>In the Cau&s;e of God, Religion, and our Countries, we are not to pa&s;&s;e for peri&s;hing.</HI> Gratious and Religious &s;pirits, neither are nor ought to be out-dared in the cau&s;e of God, Religion, and their Countries &s;afety, by the fear and danger of pe|ri&s;hing.</P>
<P><PB N="11" REF="8"><HI>They that are on Gods &s;ide</HI> as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> proclaimed <HI>in the gate,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.26.</NOTE>
they are to know neither father nor mother, but every one to <HI>&s;tay his brother, companion and neighbour;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 14.26.</NOTE> Chri&s;t teacheth us <HI>to hate father and mother and wife and children and Brethren and Sisters; yea, and our own lives al&s;o,</HI> when they &s;tand in competition with God; Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith, 1 Cor. 16.22.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 16.22.</NOTE>
<HI>If any man love not the Lord Je&s;us Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha;</HI> he &s;peaks not of the Jews and Heathens, but of Chri&s;tians; the Apo&s;tle ble&s;&s;eth tho&s;e and prayes for them that love Je&s;us Chri&s;t in &s;incerity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 6.24.</NOTE> <HI>Ephe&s;,</HI> 6.24. <HI>Grace be with all them that love our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t in &s;incerity;</HI> as the ble&s;&s;ing is &s;o is the cur&s;e, <HI>Anathema Maranatha to them that love not the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t in &s;incerity:</HI> None can love Je|&s;us Chri&s;t in &s;incerity, that love their lives before and above Chri&s;t. Saint <HI>Jerome</HI> prote&s;ted he would trample upon Fa|ther and Mother, if they hindred his way to Chri&s;t; <HI>Cur&s;ed be he,</HI> &s;aid that noble Marque&s;&s;e, <HI>that counts the whole world to one houres enjoyment of Je&s;us Christ.</HI> Saint <HI>Paul</HI> could not by the prayers and teares of his friends be kept back <HI>from go|ing to Hieru&s;alem</HI> (though the <HI>Spirit witne&s;&s;ed,</HI> Bonds and afflictions did attend him there) <HI>why do ye break my heart?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 21.13.</NOTE> <HI>for I am ready not to be bound onely, but al&s;o to dye at Hieru&s;alem, for the Name of the Lord Je&s;us;</HI> All their tears and intreaties could no more prevail with him, then <HI>Dido's</HI> did with <HI>Aeneas,</HI> when <HI>Jupiter</HI> commanded his departure;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9.3.</NOTE> <HI>For my bre|thren and kin&s;men according to the fle&s;h, I could wi&s;h that my &s;elf were accur&s;ed from Chri&s;t: Mo&s;es</HI> full of zeal and com|pa&s;&s;ion, when wrath was going forth again&s;t I&s;rael, when the de&s;troying Angel was waving his &s;word over them, <HI>his &s;word furbi&s;hed and garni&s;hed to make a &s;ore &s;laughter,</HI> He bows his knee to the father of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, he cryeth out;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.31, 32.</NOTE> <HI>O this peo|ple have &s;inned a great &s;in, and have made them gods of gold; yet now if thou wilt forgive their &s;in: and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy Book, which thou ha&s;t written.</HI> He &s;peaks after
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the manner of men, in whom compa&s;&s;ion and pa&s;&s;ion &s;tops pa&s;&s;age to further &s;peech; an abrupt kind of &s;peaking, an imperfect &s;entence, wherein much more is implyed then was expre&s;&s;ed: <HI>Luther</HI> would to <HI>Wormes,</HI> though there were as many devils as tiles; and <HI>Antonius Marinarius</HI> &s;aid, &s;tanding up in the Councell of <HI>Trent,</HI> Though heaven fall and the whole world run headlong, yet I will look up to the good|ne&s;&s;e of God, and though an Angel from heaven &s;hould per&s;wade me the contrary, yet I would &s;ay <HI>Anathema</HI> to him. A <HI>French Cavalier</HI> prote&s;ted for the recovery of <HI>Callis</HI> he would be content to lye two years in hell. A reverend Bi|&s;hop lying at the point of death, &s;pake zealou&s;ly and &s;oberly <HI>Me moriente</HI> let me dye &s;o the Church may flouri&s;h. <HI>Sejan</HI> with the hazzard of his own life did bear off the burthen that would have cru&s;ht <HI>Tiberius</HI> to death, and our <HI>Santleger</HI> recei|ved the Arrow into his own bre&s;t, that would have pierced the King to the heart. Tho&s;e <HI>Worthies</HI> did worthily, that pre|&s;ented the fir&s;t Petition at <HI>York;</HI> and this <HI>Parliament</HI> &s;hall live for ever, for the fir&s;t <HI>Remonstrance</HI> and <HI>Protestation.</HI> This is a duty that we all owe to <HI>God,</HI> to our <HI>Religion</HI> and <HI>Country,</HI> which all that are eminently godly, truely religious and zealous Patriots, have ever preferred before their par|ticular e&s;tates, honours, and Lives. I &s;hall but com|mend one Precept to you, with an example to illu|&s;trate and back it, you have them both in one ver&s;e of the &s;ame chapter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 3.16.</NOTE> 1 <HI>Iohn</HI> 3. v. 16. <HI>Hereby perceive we the love of God, becau&s;e he hath laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren,</HI> the example is the highe&s;t that can be given, and the Precept in every word emphati|call; we ought in point of duty, it is not arbitrary nor volun|tary, a nece&s;&s;ity lies upon us, and woe unto us <HI>if we lay not down our lives for the brethren,</HI> to lay down freely and of our own accord, not by con&s;traint and of nece&s;&s;ity, but of choy&s;e and de&s;ire; Our lives the highe&s;t thing in our power, higher
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then our honours, our e&s;tates, our liberties, our priviledges, our pre&s;ent comforts, for the brethren, the Saints, the &s;er|vants of God.</P>
<P>The Rea&s;ons that &s;trengthen this <HI>Doctrine</HI> are mighty convincing, and &s;trong to invite if not to inforce the obedi|ence to it.</P>
<P>This we ought to do in point of Equity, Honour,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Rea&s;on</HI> 1</NOTE> and Policy.</P>
<P N="1">1. In point of equity, what can we &s;take in Gods cau&s;e and our Countries, that we have not received from God and for Gods purpo&s;es? The Lord hath made all things for him|&s;elfe, the Lord found nothing made to his hand; what is there in heaven and earth, that can &s;tand out again&s;t God and &s;ay, <HI>I made my &s;elfe;</HI> it was a bla&s;pheming &s;in, no &s;in of igno|rance, which King <HI>Pharoah,</HI> belched forth, <HI>Who is the Lord that I &s;hould obey his voyce to let I&s;rael go? I know not the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 5.2.</NOTE>
<HI>neither will I let I&s;rael go:</HI> The great <HI>Turke</HI> bla&s;phemed God in heaven, when he cryed out; O God ha&s;t thou not enough to do with thine own bu&s;ine&s;&s;e in heaven, but thou intere&s;t|eth and interpo&s;eth thy &s;elf with mine on earth; it was &s;ordid &amp; ba&s;e flattery, <HI>Jupiter in coelis, God</HI> ruleth in heaven, <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> on earth; the <HI>Tyrant</HI> &s;et his mouth again&s;t heaven when he &s;aid, <HI>Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the hou&s;e of the King|dome, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my Maje&s;ty?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 4.30.</NOTE>
And as God made all him&s;elf, &s;o he made all for him&s;elf; whe~ he made them, he made no overture of his intere&s;t &amp; proprie|ty: All that man hath, &amp; all that man is, is from God, and ther|fore all that he hath and all that he is, mu&s;t be for God, <HI>Of him and to him,</HI> there is S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Alpha and Omega; when God en|dowed man with the greate&s;t tru&s;t, power, and prerogative; when he made him his Vice-Roy, his Vicegerent, his Lieute|nant Generall, when he gave the foul of the Ayre, the bea&s;t of the field, the fi&s;h in the &s;ea, the trees in the Garden to his command, yet then the Lord laid this re&s;traint, <HI>but of the tree
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in the mid&s;t of the Garden thou &s;halt not eate;</HI> That tree could then baffle <HI>Adam,</HI> when all the creatures be&s;ides would bow unto him, and give homage and obedience, then that would &s;tand upright and &s;ay, <HI>Adam</HI> touch me not, pa&s;&s;e by, lay no hand on me, <HI>le&s;t thou dye&s;t;</HI> what can we lay out for God, which we have not received from God, &amp; for Gods purpo&s;es? if we lay out much of our &s;ilver and gold for God, God ther|fore hath given us much becau&s;e we &s;hould u&s;e much; <HI>Of thine own &s;aith David we have given unto thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Chro. 29 14.</NOTE> when the Kings and Princes offered liberally towards the building of the Temple; If we have large parts, hearts and heads inlar|ged as the &s;and on the &s;ea &s;hore, &s;o that we had as many choi&s;e notions as &s;ands on the &s;ea &s;hore, God intended to make large u&s;e of them; <HI>Wi&s;edome and Under&s;tanding calls God Fa|ther,</HI> life it &s;elf was be&s;towed on man by God, that it might be be&s;towed on God by man; The Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t him|&s;elf received a body, not that he needed a body, but that with that body he might &s;erve the great de&s;ign of Gods <HI>Prede&s;ti|nation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.5.</NOTE>
and &s;o he under&s;tood and acknowledged it, <HI>A body ha&s;t thou prepared for me, I come to do thy will O God.</HI> The whole Church re&s;olves according to this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 2.16.</NOTE> <HI>My beloved is mine and I am his,</HI> He is mine in all he hath, he is mine in all he did, in all he &s;uffer'd; he for my &s;ake encountred with the malice of men, with the rage of devils, with the wrath of God, and therefore good rea&s;on I &s;hould be His, His in all I have, His in all I am, His in all I can do and &s;uffer: O &s;aith <HI>Spira, Were it with me as in times po&s;t, I would &s;corn the threats of the most cruell Tyrant with invincible Re&s;olution, and glory in the outward profe&s;sion of Chri&s;t, till I were choaked in the flame and my body con&s;umed to A&s;hes:</HI> Certainly they are to be beg'd as fools, and to be e&s;teem'd as mad, that ri&s;e again&s;t the Parliament that hath &s;tood for them; we have received all from God, Judge ye, owe we not all to God? is not this equall?</P>
<P><PB N="15" REF="10"><MILESTONE N="2"> In point of Honour; <HI>They that honour me, them will I honour,</HI> God honours them that are of publike Spirits,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 2.30.</NOTE> that will lay out them&s;elves and what they have for God; the greate&s;t title of honour among the <HI>Romans,</HI> was to be inti|tuled <HI>patres patriae,</HI> they had divine honours and were enrol'd among the Gods; the name of <HI>Quintus Curtius,</HI> of <HI>Attilius Regulus,</HI> of <HI>Papilius Decius</HI> the father and &s;on, others are fa|mous and renouned to this day; <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> had the name <HI>great,</HI> and <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> had the name <HI>good,</HI> not from the great|ne&s;&s;e of their Empire, but from the goodne&s;&s;e of their Religi|on. You have &s;tudyed to &s;et marks of honour upon them that have jeoparded their lives in the high places of the Earth. King <HI>Darius</HI> upon a time opening a great Pomegranate, and being asked of what he would wi&s;h to have as many as there were grains in that Pomegranate, he an&s;wered pre&s;ently, So many <HI>Zopiru&s;&s;es; Zopirus</HI> was a Valiant and Noble Com|mander, who &s;eeing the King his Ma&s;ter could hardly &s;ur|prize <HI>Babylon,</HI> where the trayterous <HI>A&s;&s;yrians</HI> were intren|ched, put in execution this wonderfull and &s;trange Strata|gem, he cau&s;ed his &s;ervants to rent his whole body all over with &s;courging, to &s;lit his no&s;e, to cut his lips and eares, then flying covertly to <HI>Babylon</HI> he made the <HI>A&s;syrians</HI> beleeve <HI>Darius</HI> had u&s;ed him &s;o, becau&s;e he had &s;poken in their be|half, councelling him to break up his &s;iege and to remove his Army from a&s;&s;aulting them; they beleeving the &s;tory, &s;ee|ing his Ma&s;&s;acred and di&s;-figured body, they gave him the fir&s;t command, by which means he delivered them and the City into <HI>Darius</HI> power. When the Lord Je&s;us heard of the faith of the <HI>Centurion,</HI> the Text &s;ayes, <HI>He wondred,</HI> 'tis read, <HI>he honoured it;</HI> this rai&s;eth a man above him&s;elf, and &s;heweth that he hath more then man, &s;omewhat of God in him; as there cannot be a greater reproach, ignominy and obloquy upon the name of any, then of them that have betray|ed their Country, their names &s;hall rot for ever, and their
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memorials &s;hall peri&s;h, it is their cur&s;e, and let their heires inherit it. The <HI>Jews</HI> to this day when they read this Hi&s;tory of <HI>E&s;ther,</HI> as often as mention is made of <HI>Haman,</HI> they &s;tamp with their feet, frown, knock with their hands, &s;hout and make an hydeous noy&s;e: the name of the gunpowder Tray|tors is abhord, and is in execration to this day, and after ages will abominate their ba&s;ene&s;&s;e and villanies, that have lifted up their hand again&s;t the <HI>Parliament;</HI> but the <HI>E&s;thers,</HI> the <HI>Mordicai's,</HI> the Religious Patriots, that have acted in the &s;phere, the brave &s;ouldiers who&s;e lives were not dear unto them, the faithfull Mini&s;ters, the Hor&s;emen, the Chariots of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> they &s;hall be had in everla&s;ting remembrance, their names &s;hall be perpetuated to all generations, and their me|mory &s;hall live for ever; <HI>Jael</HI> &s;hall be ble&s;&s;ed above women, and <HI>David</HI> for killing <HI>Goliah</HI> &s;hal marry the Kings daughter, and his hou&s;e &s;hall be free in <HI>I&s;rael;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.13.</NOTE> <HI>He is worthy, He loved our Nation and hath built us a Synagogue. Where ever</HI> (&s;aith Chri&s;t) <HI>this Go&s;pel &s;hall be preached in the whole world, there &s;hall al&s;o this, that this woman hath done, for a memoriall of her. Pilate</HI> is gibbited up in the Creed for condemning Chri&s;t, whil&s;t Chri&s;t for dying for his people, <HI>Is exalted above all principalities and powers.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> In point of Policy, were there nothing but &s;elf, &s;elf &s;ecu|rity and &s;afety, yet this would prompt us to it, Chri&s;t layeth it down as an irrefragable Axiom,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 17.33. Mat. 10.1. Mal. 1.10.</NOTE> <HI>Luke</HI> 17.33. <HI>He that lo&s;eth his life &s;hall pre&s;erve it; No man can give a cup of cold water, but &s;hall have his reward: Who</HI> &s;aith God <HI>hath &s;hut my door for nought? God is not nor cannot be a barren wilderne&s;&s;e. He that hath pitty on the poor,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 19.17.</NOTE> lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again:</HI> read what <HI>Mordecai</HI> told <HI>E&s;ther</HI> when her fear at fir&s;t prevailed with her, <HI>chap. 4. v. 13, 14.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;th. 4.13.14.</NOTE> Think not with thy &s;elf that thou &s;halt e&s;cape in the Kings hou&s;e more then all the Jews; for if thou altogether holde&s;t thy peace at this time, then &s;hall there inlargement and delive|rance
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ari&s;e to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy fa|thers hou&s;e &s;hall be de&s;troyed; and who knoweth whether thou be come to the Kingdome for &s;uch a time as this.</HI> A gratious &s;pirit cannot enjoy it &s;elf, while the publike is in danger; that Hi&s;tory is worthy your ob&s;erving though Apocryphall: A &s;park is &s;afer in the fire then &s;eparate alone;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 E&s;dr. 9. 40. to c. 16 27.</NOTE> how ea&s;ie may it be quenched? joyn'd to the re&s;t it pre&s;erves it &s;elf, and may burn them that &s;eek to extingui&s;h it: a drop taken from the re&s;t in&s;tantly dryes away, in the &s;ea it lives whiles the &s;ea lives: one &s;ouldier from the Army in continuall danger, in the Army &s;afe: certainly that policy is folly, that councel fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e, that leaves men to them&s;elves to di|vide from the whole. <HI>He that bottles all the Tears, that num|breth all the hayres, that pondreth all the &s;teps, that keepeth all the Bones,</HI> &s;o that not a tear &s;hall be lo&s;t, not a hair fall, not a foot da&s;h again&s;t a &s;tone, not a bone break: if God takes care of the tears, the hairs, the out-goings, the bones of his people, how much more for their Liberty, for their liveli|hood, for their blood, for their lives, for their bodies, for their &s;ouls? peru&s;e the &s;acred book of God, &s;earch all the An|nals, the Hi&s;tories, the Records of the Bible, and finde me one, one example, one man, one woman, that ever were of publike &s;pirits, that did but lay to heart the mi&s;eries of the Country, that did but weep and mourn for the Abomina|tions and De&s;olations, and &s;ee if God did not ever pre&s;erve them, if he was not a <HI>Sanctuary,</HI> a <HI>City of Refuge,</HI> a <HI>hiding place,</HI> a <HI>Royall Pavilion</HI> to them; I could give twenty in&s;tances, how God hath pre&s;erved them, <HI>Enoch, Noah, Lot, Jeremy, Barach, Ebedmelech.</HI> God gives in expre&s;&s;e charge, <HI>Ezek.</HI> 9.4.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezec. 9.4.</NOTE>
<HI>Go through the midst of the City, through the midst of Jeru&s;a|lem, and &s;et a mark upon the foreheads of them that &s;igh and that cry for all the Abominations that be done in the midst thereof:</HI> Certainly they that will not peri&s;h for their Country, &s;hall peri&s;h without it or with it; whereas they that care nor to
<PB N="18" REF="12">
peri&s;h, &s;o that their Country peri&s;h not, they may be &s;avi|ours to them&s;elves and to the Country; neither they nor the Country &s;hall peri&s;h, witne&s;&s;e the &s;ucce&s;&s;e and i&s;&s;ue of this Re&s;olution of <HI>E&s;thers peri&s;hing:</HI> and thus much for the Ob|&s;ervation and Confirmation; I come in the third and la&s;t place to the U&s;e and Application.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>&V;&s;e</HI> 1.</NOTE>Learn, God &s;ometimes brings his people into a peri&s;hing condition, he leaves them hopele&s;&s;e and helple&s;&s;e, as Orphans and Widdows; the Jews they were at this time in a low and &s;ad condition, the Decree was gone forth, the day was a&s;|&s;igned, the Executioners ready; the <HI>I&s;rael</HI> of God they have been <HI>as a valley of dead &amp; dry bones,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezec. 37.</NOTE> <HI>without skin, without fle&s;h, without life;</HI> the Church of God as <HI>I&s;aac, bound hand and foot, the knife at the throat, the fire burning;</HI> as <HI>Jonah</HI> in the <HI>belly of the Whale,</HI> in hell, as <HI>Chri&s;t in the Grave.</HI> How de&s;perate was the condition of the Jewi&s;h E&s;tate, in the Reign of King <HI>Ahaz,</HI> they were &s;o low, that they knew not by what po&s;&s;ibly they could ri&s;e again,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 7.11, 12.</NOTE> God &s;aid to him, <HI>Aske a &s;ign of the Lord thy God, aske it either in the depth or in the height above; But Ahaz &s;aid I will not aske;</HI> and why would not he? He thought nothing in heaven, nor in earth could do him good. <HI>I&s;rael</HI> was in <HI>Egypt</HI> as a burning Lamp in a &s;moaking furnace, as <HI>Abraham</HI> in a deep &s;leep, full of horror and of great dark|ne&s;&s;e; in <HI>Babylon</HI> as a Lyon dead, in <HI>Rome</HI> as men kild, who&s;e bodies lie unburied; the <HI>Church</HI> &s;ometimes pa&s;&s;eth through the waters, through the Rivers, through the fire, through the flame. Chri&s;t the head of the Church (therefore much more the Church) was as a <HI>Plant</HI> or <HI>Root,</HI> in a dry ground, without <HI>forme,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 53.</NOTE> without <HI>comeline&s;se,</HI> without <HI>beauty; de&s;pi&s;ed, rejected of men, a man of &s;orrows, one acquainted with griefes.</HI> Yea the <HI>Heroes,</HI> the worthies, they of the fir&s;t <HI>Three,</HI> they are &s;ome|times nece&s;&s;itated to pa&s;&s;e through the Pikes, to break through an Ho&s;t, an Army, to gain a little water. You your &s;elves the Worthies of the Kingdome, have you not &s;everall
<PB N="19" REF="12">
times received the &s;entence of death within your &s;elves? have you not been at your &s;tands, at your lo&s;&s;e, God will rai&s;e up Mountains of oppo&s;ition that you may be nothing in your &s;elves, that you may be all in him.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Let them peri&s;h that bring the people of God into the hazard of peri&s;hing. <HI>Haman</HI> the common enemy that plot|ted and contrived the utter ruin of the people of God, was him&s;elf hanged upon the &s;ame gallows that he prepared for <HI>Mordecai. &mdash;nec lex e&s;t ju&s;tior</HI>&mdash; Nor did <HI>Haman</HI> dye alone, as the head of the Malignant partee, but <HI>Hamans ten &s;ons</HI> drank of the &s;ame cup; yea, they that would have acted in &s;o helli&s;h a de&s;ign, the <HI>Jews</HI> put to the &s;word 76000 men; it is worthy of your ob&s;ervation, the <HI>Jews</HI> that &s;tood up for their Liberties, for their Religion, yet the Text twice expre&s;ly Records, <HI>That they layd not their hands on the Prey.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;th. 9. c. 10. v. 16.</NOTE> See what the <HI>Gibeonites</HI> asked of <HI>David,</HI> 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 21.3, 4, 5, 6. <HI>What &s;hall I do for you, and wherewith &s;hall I make the Atonement,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 21.3, 4, 5, 6.</NOTE> <HI>that ye may ble&s;&s;e the inheritance of the Lord? And the Gibeonites &s;aid unto him, We will have no &s;ilver nor gold of Saul, nor of his hou&s;e, neither for us &s;halt thou kill any man in I&s;rael. And he &s;aid, What ye &s;hall &s;ay that will I do for you: And they an&s;wered the King, The man that con&s;umed us, and that devi&s;ed again&s;t us, that we &s;hould be de&s;troyed for remaining in any of the coasts of I&s;rael, Let &s;even men of his &s;ons be delivered unto us&punc; and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did chu&s;e: And the King &s;aid, I will give them.</HI> I do not deny but the Law of God, doth it &s;elf allow compo&s;iti|on for mens lives,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 21.30.</NOTE> men may in &s;ome ca&s;es redeem their lives with their E&s;tates. <HI>I&s;mael</HI> did not &s;lay them that &s;aid, <HI>They had trea&s;ure in the field:</HI> But if there be any whom God hath marked out for de&s;truction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 41.8.</NOTE> they that give their lives to them, their lives may go for their lives, <HI>Cur&s;ed be he that doth the worke of the Lord negligently.</HI> All are not involved in the &s;ame guilt, that are in the &s;ame Action; 200 joyned them|&s;elves
<PB N="20" REF="13">
to <HI>Ab&s;olon</HI> in his trea&s;onable practi&s;e, yet they went in the &s;implicity of their hearts: Yet there are a partee that are leaders to the blind, that <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> may not &s;hut her eye again&s;t them; in <HI>Babylon</HI> there are &s;ome that have not the mark of the Bea&s;t upon them, they are to be invited, to be called out, to be received in&punc; but they that have the name, the number, the marke of the bea&s;t, they mu&s;t dye without mercy, and like mil&s;tones <HI>be thrown into the mid&s;t of the Lake that burneth with fire and brim&s;tone:</HI> the commands of God are not onely peremptory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 18.6.</NOTE> <HI>Reward her even as &s;he hath rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup that &s;he hath filled fill to her double:</HI> but a ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is promi&s;ed to them that execute this command:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 137.8.9.</NOTE> <HI>O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed, happy &s;hall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast &s;erved us, Happy &s;hall he be that taketh and da&s;heth thy little ones against the &s;tones:</HI> peru&s;e that of the <HI>Lamenta|tions</HI> and you &s;hall &s;ee who they are that are to be de&s;troyed, and how to be de&s;troyed;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 3.64.65, 66.</NOTE> <HI>Render unto them a recompence O Lord according unto the work of their hands, give them &s;orrow of heart, thy cur&s;e unto them, per&s;ecute and de&s;troy them in anger, from under the Heavens of the Lord: [Give them &s;orrow of heart]</HI> there is their character, there is their marke by which they are &s;et out for de&s;truction, there is that black beane, that fa|tall robe which de&s;igns them for death; the margent of your Bible reads it, <HI>give them ob&s;tinacy of heart;</HI> an hard heart is a great evill; but an heart hardned, an ob&s;tinate heart, ob&s;ti|nacy of heart, &s;uch a heart that will not, that cannot be &s;oft|ned: one reads it give them a veil upon their heart, they up|on who&s;e heart there is a vail,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 26.11.</NOTE> <HI>that when Gods hand is lifted up they will not &s;ee:</HI> give them a &s;hield upon their heart, a &s;hield not to defend them from the fiery darts of Sathan, but as the <HI>Interlineary</HI> glo&s;&s;e reads it, <HI>ne penetrentur jaculo praedicationis.</HI> The &s;in again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t is unpardonable, and could we di&s;tinctly know that &s;in, men &s;hould not pardon it more
<PB N="21" REF="13">
then God; bla&s;phemy was to be puni&s;hed by death, this &s;in the highe&s;t bla&s;phemy; I beleeve there are many at this day that are guilty of this &s;in; to &s;in again&s;t mighty convince|ment (&s;o Chri&s;t argueth again&s;t the Phari&s;ees) is to &s;in this &s;in; they that fight again&s;t God as the Jews did that oppo&s;ed <HI>Stephen,</HI> who were not able to re&s;i&s;t the &s;pirit by which he &s;pake, yet they were cut to their heart, they gna&s;hed on him with their teeth, they &s;topped their eares, they &s;toned him to death; if &s;ome are not guilty of this &s;in again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t, yet there are many that are guilty of that &s;in which is unto death, of that &s;in which leads unto death, which &s;hall never return again, that have &s;tood out again&s;t the Word of God, the Providences of God, the mercies of God, that have grieved the Holy Spirit, re&s;i&s;ted the Holy Gho&s;t, quenched the Spirit and done de&s;pight unto the Spirit of grace: Chri&s;t would not &s;pare the figtree above three years; they that &s;tand out this year, after the ma&s;ter of the Vineyard hath been at &s;o great co&s;t, and hath taken &s;o great pains, after he hath done &s;o great things, that heaven and earth are a&s;to|ni&s;hed, I fear not to &s;ay, they have &s;in'd this &s;in which is to death, which God will not, which men &s;hould not pardon: but if your charity be yet above my faith, That you beleeve there are that have not &s;in'd, neither the one nor the other, yet your &s;ence cryes loud unto you, they have &s;hed innocent blood, pretious blood, the blood of the &s;ons of God, which God will not, nor you may not pardon; they have not onely fil'd <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> &s;hed the blood of many of your Citi|zens, but they have fil'd <HI>England, Scotland, Ireland,</HI> with blood; <HI>Recompence them according to their worke,</HI> they who&s;e &s;word hath made many childle&s;&s;e, let your &s;word make their mothers childle&s;&s;e, <HI>Recompence them according to their work,</HI> yea, give them double not onely according to the work of their hands, but according to the mi&s;chiefe of their heart, which far exceeds the work of their hands, yea it is double
<PB N="22" REF="14">
unto it; and therefore God which &s;ees their bloody minds, bids his people recompence them according to what they have done, double unto them according to what they would have done: It was a bloody &s;peech of one, once your pri&s;o|ner, now Governour of a &s;trong hold, that yet &s;tands out a|gain&s;t you: If the King commanded him, he would not care but glory in it, to burn all the Cities of the Kingdome, to lay the Land as <HI>Sodome</HI> and <HI>Gomorrah,</HI> to &s;ow this <HI>Garden of Eden</HI> with &s;alt. O let not the&s;e &s;ons of <HI>Zerviah</HI> that have &s;hed the blood of war in peace, and have put the blood of war upon their girdle, and in their &s;hooes that were on their feet, let not their hoary head go down to the grave in peace, they have been the troublers of <HI>I&s;rael;</HI> God and you trouble them; enter into your chamber and &s;hut the doors upon you, and then revolve again and again all the &s;ad &s;tories of the&s;e mens cruelty, &s;um up whatever lo&s;&s;e or dammage the three Kingdomes have &s;uffered by them; yea, exact not the prin|cipall but the utmo&s;t farthing of U&s;e and Intere&s;t: Our Sa|viour Chri&s;t tels the Phari&s;ees, <HI>That they have fil'd the mea|&s;ure of their &s;ins,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.35.</NOTE> <HI>and that they had brought upon them all the righteous blood &s;hed upon the earth, from the blood of Righteous Abell, unto the blood of Zacharias, &s;on of Barachias, whom they &s;lew between the Temple and the Altar:</HI> the&s;e men are guilty of all the blood that hath been &s;hed in this Kingdome, in the cau&s;e of <HI>Liberty,</HI> of <HI>Priviledge,</HI> of <HI>Religion;</HI> God will lay all the blood to their charge, he will not loo&s;e one drop of the blood of his Saints. <HI>Abels</HI> blood yet cryes for vengeance: God when he comes to make Inqui&s;ition for blood, <HI>he will ac|count for every drop of blood;</HI> he that pardons all other &s;ins, will not pardon innocent blood. Teares &s;hall not wipe away the guilt of blood, Reformation cannot hinder when God in|quires for blood; God may defer his Vi&s;itation, yet come he will, and he will enquire whether there be any of the hou&s;e of <HI>Babylon</HI> alive, to make re&s;titution for blood. The &s;ame
<PB N="23" REF="14">
Spirit that actuated <HI>Cain</HI> to kill his brother <HI>Abell,</HI> actuated the Phari&s;ees to kill the &s;ervants the &s;ons of God: the &s;ame have actuated the&s;e men to kill the Saints. <HI>The devill was a Murtherer from the beginning; the whole world lies in the wic|ked one,</HI> they all walk by the &s;ame bloody principles, they have the &s;ame inraged &s;pirit, with the &s;ame helli&s;h rage which reacheth up to heaven, by which they have &s;hed any of the blood of the Saints, they would have &s;hed all; if all the blood that were &s;hed from <HI>Abell</HI> to this time, did run in the veines of any one child of God, they would open that vein, and let out that blood, and &s;pill it as water upon the ground: <HI>Caligula's</HI> bloody wi&s;h is in all their hearts, O that all the Saints and &s;ervants of God had but one head, that with one blow I might &s;trike it off.</P>
<P>Neither let your eyes &s;pare, though there are great ones that are guilty; Queen <HI>Va&s;thi</HI> too curiou&s;ly wedded to the ob&s;ervation of the <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Law which inhibits women to be &s;een of &s;trangers, and too much doting upon her own beauty and Maje&s;ty, refu&s;eth to come, though the King &s;ends a fir&s;t and &s;econd time, and therefore &s;he &s;hall never come more,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;th. 1.16 17, 18.</NOTE>
the King and his Councell Decree it, and give a Morall Rea&s;on for it; greatne&s;&s;e and wickedne&s;&s;e may not twin to|gether, Princes have not any licence to offend, Queens them|&s;elves have not an <HI>Ob&s;tante</HI> for &s;in: 'Tis the mi&s;ery of great|ne&s;&s;e, the offence is as great as the offender, the &s;in as &s;ove|raign as the Per&s;on; great Per&s;ons do not &s;o much commit &s;in as teach it; their di&s;obedience is ever Ma&s;culine, and it begets followers of it, as of their Per&s;ons; they are of a diffu|&s;ive and &s;preading nature. <HI>The highe&s;t Court may reach the highe&s;t Per&s;ons; Cau&s;es</HI> and not <HI>Per&s;ons</HI> are to be heard in Your <HI>Parliament:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezra 7.26.</NOTE> Ile conclude this with that of <HI>Ezra</HI> chap. 7. ver. 26. <HI>Who&s;oever will not do the Law of thy God, nor the law of the King, let judgement be executed &s;peedily upon him, whether it be unto death or to bani&s;hment, or to confi&s;cation of goods or to Impri&s;onment.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="24" REF="15"><MILESTONE N="3"> Let not them <HI>Peri&s;h,</HI> that have adventured the peri&s;hing, that you &amp; the Kingdome might not peri&s;h; <HI>E&s;ther</HI> found fa|vor in the eies of the <HI>king</HI> &amp; the <HI>king</HI> gave her <HI>Hamans</HI> hou&s;e: It was the Piety of <HI>David</HI> that he inquired <HI>Whether there was any of the hou&s;e of Saul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 9.3</NOTE> <HI>that he might &s;hew the kindne&s;&s;e of God unto him:</HI> and it was a commendable cu&s;tome in the Courts of <HI>Per&s;ia,</HI> to have the good Acts of the Subjects Chronicled;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;th. 6.1.3.</NOTE> <HI>Mordecai was found in the History, and the King highly advanced him for it.</HI> Would you be plea&s;ed to peru&s;e your own Records, you may finde &s;ome places, that now like <HI>Mordecai</HI> lyes &s;ad and de&s;olate in the gate, that did you admirable &s;ervice, whereof you did rejoyce and glory: pardon my zeal if I name the Town and Pari&s;h of <HI>Man|chester</HI> unto you, a Town famous for <HI>Religion</HI> ever &s;ince the Reformation; beleeve it, it hath been a <HI>Go&s;hen,</HI> a place of light, when mo&s;t places of the Land have been places of darkne&s;&s;e, it hath been an hiding-place, a place of refuge and &s;anctuary again&s;t the Tyranny of Prelacy, the &s;tormes and tempe&s;t of per&s;ecution; They were with the fir&s;t that jeoparded them&s;elves in the high places of the Earth, that ventured the <HI>peri&s;hing</HI> in the cau&s;e of God &amp; the Kingdome; They offered them&s;elves willingly among&s;t the people, and they laid out them&s;elves in what they had for the publike &s;ervice; yea, I know there were that like the Widdow threw in all their trea&s;ure into the publike Trea&s;ury; God did great things by them and for them; I fear not to &s;ay they pre&s;erved the North; <HI>Manchester</HI> was the pub|like Magazine, the Sanctuary to poor Exiles, the Pri&s;on to proud Enemies, the Bulwark to the County; but now &s;he &s;its like a Widdow de&s;olate, the hand of God hath lately gone out again&s;t them, the onely Town untouch'd by the Enemy, and the onely town in all the County &s;troke of God: The Prie&s;ts the Mini&s;ters of the Lord, that did bear the Ark of God upon their &s;houlders, there were &s;ixteen of
<PB N="25" REF="15">
them in that Pari&s;h, and now I know but one, one alone as <HI>Eliah</HI> left to do the &s;ervice of the Lord, and he is upon tiptoe, ready to take his flight, &s;carce having bread (through the wickedne&s;&s;e of the times the great revenues of the Church being unju&s;tly withheld from him) to put into his childrens mouth: the Wals of the Garri&s;on they moulder away, and what the Enemy could never do, time hath made wide breaches in their Works, and there is not at this time that I know of, five &s;ouldiers to keep the Garri&s;on; the&s;e things in a Petition, they have lately laid at your feet: Give me leave in theirs and others behalf to &s;ay, Let not &s;o great labour of Love be forgotten, Let the ble&s;&s;ing of them that are ready to peri&s;h be upon you, <HI>Comfort them, yea comfort them according to the time wherein they have been afflicted; yea, give them double for what they have done.</HI></P>
<P>There are many U&s;es that I could make of this Doctrine, but time and &s;trength would both fail me. I will conclude all with a &s;hort meditation; peru&s;e 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 22.19, 20.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 22 19, 20.</NOTE>
<HI>And he &s;aid hear thou therefore the Word of the Lord, I &s;aw the Lord &s;itting upon his Throne, and all the Ho&s;t of heaven &s;tanding by him, on his right hand and on his left: And the Lord &s;aid, Who &s;hall per&s;wade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? and one &s;aid on this manner and another &s;aid on that.</HI> Be plea&s;ed to conceive a Parliament at this time conveen'd in Heaven, and God on his Throne asking this Que&s;tion, Shall I de&s;troy <HI>England?</HI> And &s;o &s;ome An|&s;wers after this manner and &s;ome after that.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> One &s;tands up and &s;ayes, <HI>England</HI> mu&s;t be de&s;troyed, <HI>Eli|jah</HI> a bold and daring man, he makes interce&s;&s;ion to God a|gain&s;t <HI>I&s;rael, Lord they have killed thy Prophets, and digged down thine Altars, thou hast con&s;umed with the Spirit of thy mouth, and ha&s;t con&s;umed with the brightne&s;&s;e of thy comming, the great Antichrist, the Grand Impo&s;ter, the man of &s;in, the
<PB N="26" REF="16">
&s;on of Perdition, the wicked one;</HI> and behold there are many Antichri&s;ts, many wicked ones that are ri&s;en up in the room of him, there are little Foxes that &s;poyl the Vines, tho&s;e Vines that have tender Grapes, and they are not taken away.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> A Second &s;econds the former, and &s;aith, <HI>England</HI> mu&s;t be de&s;troyed, there is a great cry of inju&s;tice, of oppre&s;&s;ion, of wrong, of injury, blood toucheth blood, Courts of Ju|&s;tice, Committees, are Courts of Robbery and &s;poyl; the poor &s;heep flyes to the bu&s;h for &s;helter and lo&s;eth his fleece: Papi&s;ts, Malignants compound, and they oppre&s;&s;e their poor Tenants, that have engaged them&s;elves in the publike for the Lord again&s;t their lords.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> A third a&s;&s;ents to what the two former hath &s;aid, <HI>Eng|land</HI> mu&s;t be de&s;troyed, wrath is begun among&s;t them, they begin to imbrue their hands in each others blood, and be|cau&s;e others cannot murther them, they will kill one ano|ther: Lord what fears, what &s;u&s;picions, what jealou&s;ies, what &s;ad divi&s;ions among&s;t thine own people! they that Affliction made friends, pro&s;perity makes enemies; they whom one heaven will contain, one Church cannot.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"> A fourth confirmes and concludes with the three for|mer, <HI>England</HI> mu&s;t be de&s;troyed, they have broke the Cove|nant, they have fal&s;ified the Oath of God; Oaths and Cove|nants are like <HI>Samp&s;ons</HI> coards, every one makes u&s;e of them to their own Intere&s;ts. To the&s;e agreed many more, there was a great cry heard in the hou&s;e, <HI>Down with it, down with it, even to the ground:</HI> God looked from his throne and wondred there was not one found, not one to &s;tand in the Gap, to make an Atonement, to &s;peak in the behalf of <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> After a &s;hort &s;ilence, one aro&s;e from his &s;eat and &s;aid, Lord wilt thou de&s;troy <HI>England, England</HI> for whom thou
<PB N="27" REF="16">
ha&s;t done &s;o great things, among&s;t whom thou ha&s;t magni|fied thy Name, ha&s;t done Wonders, <HI>What Nation is there &s;o great, who hath God &s;o nigh unto them, as the Lord their God is, in all things they have called upon him for?</HI> and what Nation is there &s;o great, that have Statutes and judgements &s;o righteous? <HI>Aske now of the dayes that are past which were be|fore thee, &s;ince the day that God created man upon Earth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deu. 4.32, 33, 34.</NOTE> <HI>and aske from the one &s;ide of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any &s;uch thing, as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the Voyce of God &s;peaking out of the mid&s;t of the fire, as thou hast heard and live? or hath God a&s;&s;ayed to go &amp; take him a Nation from the mid&s;t of another Nation, by temptation, by &s;ignes, and by wonders, and by War, and by a mighty hand, and by a &s;tretched out Arme, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?</HI> God never did more by <HI>Jo&s;uah,</HI> by <HI>Macchabeus,</HI> by <HI>Alexander,</HI> by the King of <HI>Sweden,</HI> then by the <HI>Parliaments Army</HI> this year; wilt thou de&s;troy what thine hand hath done? what will the Athei&s;ts, the Papi&s;ts, the Malignants &s;ay, Surely God was not able to &s;ave them? <HI>&s;ave them for thy great Names &s;ake.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> A &s;econd ari&s;eth and &s;aith, <HI>England</HI> mu&s;t not be de&s;troyed, <HI>Lord wilt thou de&s;troy a righteous Nation,</HI> if there be fifty, for|ty, thirty, twenty, ten, righteous there? <HI>&s;hall not the Judge of all the Earth do that that is right?</HI> there are &s;even thou&s;and at lea&s;t that have not bowed their knees to <HI>Baal,</HI> there are &s;ixty thou&s;and and more, yea then &s;ixty hundred thou&s;and, that cannot di&s;cern betwixt the right hand and the left; thou ne|ver did&s;t de&s;troy a praying, a reforming people, wilt thou now do what was never in thy thoughts before?</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> A third ari&s;eth after the &s;econd and pleads the &s;ame cau&s;e, <HI>England</HI> mu&s;t not be de&s;troyed, there is a Parliament in the mid&s;t of them, Phy&s;itians of great value, God hath
<PB N="28" REF="17">
been among&s;t them and in the mid&s;t of them, and they are &s;till acting for God and the Kingdomes &s;afety, did ever <HI>Parliament</HI> peri&s;h before?</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4"> After all the&s;e the fourth ari&s;eth, that there might not appear fewer to &s;peak for, then there was to &s;peak again&s;t <HI>England, England</HI> mu&s;t not be de&s;troyed, they cannot dye alone, the three Kingdomes mu&s;t dye with them, yea the Prote&s;tant Churches throughout the world; ha&s;t thou not &s;aid, <HI>That hell gates &s;hall not prevail again&s;t thy people?</HI></P>
<P>To the&s;e many more joyn'd in heart and Vote; there was a con&s;iderable partee of both &s;ides, nor could it be determin'd whether had more voyces, they that &s;pake for the de&s;tructi|on, or they that &s;pake for the &s;alvation of <HI>England:</HI> and ha|ving &s;aid they were &s;ilent; <HI>And behold</HI> as we read in the Reve|lation <HI>there was in heaven great &s;ilence for half an houre,</HI> both &s;ides waiting for Gods determination; at la&s;t God in his glorious Maje&s;ty, ray&s;ed him&s;elf from his Throne, and effe|ctually cryed out, <HI>How &s;hall I give thee up England, how &s;hall I give thee up?</HI> and &s;o without Conclu&s;ion and finall deter|mination, di&s;&s;olved the Se&s;&s;ion, to the admiration and a&s;to|ni&s;hment of both parties.</P>
<P>Beloved, the truth is we are yet in an uncertain and doubt|full condition, none knows what the &s;entence &s;hall be at la&s;t, what God will do with us; God hath already done as much above our hopes as our de&s;erts, God hath lengthned out our tranquillity, he hath given us a breathing time, great Salvation he hath wrought for us, he hath given us. Liberty and opportunity <HI>to work our &s;alvation with fear and trembling;</HI> beleeve it the Lord waits for &s;omething from us; O yee that are the Lords remembrancers, ye <HI>Senators,</HI> ye <HI>Mini|sters,</HI> ye <HI>people,</HI> &s;peak often in his ears, give the Lord no re&s;t, ye <HI>I&s;rael</HI> of God, ye mighty <HI>Princes</HI> of the Lord, ye men and women of Prayer, O all ye that are before the
<PB N="29" REF="17">
Lord this day, this Fa&s;ting day, open your mouthes wide unto the Lord, ask great things of God, ye <HI>Noahs,</HI> ye <HI>Da|niels,</HI> ye <HI>Iobs,</HI> ye <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> ye <HI>Aarons,</HI> ye <HI>Jeremiahs,</HI> ye <HI>Ba|<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">u<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">hs,</HI> plead <HI>Englands</HI> cau&s;e with God, and let not God go till he hath left the ble&s;&s;ing behind him; O pray, pray, pray with &s;trong cryes and groans, pray away what ever it is, whether per&s;on or things, that keeps God from us; <HI>E&s;t|her, Mordecai,</HI> they of <HI>Shu&s;an,</HI> they prayed <HI>Haman</HI> and all the Con&s;pirators dead together; <HI>Haman</HI> and his wi&s;e Coun|&s;ellors, they for twelve Moneths together u&s;ed Divi|nation and Inchantment: <HI>E&s;ther</HI> in three dayes praying, o|verthrew what they were contriving twelve Moneths; no|thing can &s;tand again&s;t Prayer, Prayer is omnipotent, it is a Commander of the Heavens, a Controuler of the Ele|ments, it commands God him&s;elfe; one prayerfull Chri|&s;tian may do more then ten thou&s;and be&s;ide; let not then God go, lay hands upon him, pray the &s;entence on your &s;ide. You that are the <HI>Parliament</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> act &s;trong|ly for God, act like your &s;elves according to the tru&s;t re|po&s;ed in you. Did <HI>Publius Scipio</HI> a private man kill <HI>Tybe|rius Gracohus</HI> that did but lightly weaken the Common|wealth? and &s;hall we that are Con&s;uls, &s;aith the Con&s;ul of <HI>Rome,</HI> let <HI>Cataline</HI> alone to work a common-de&s;truction? let not <HI>Malignants</HI> re&s;t quiet among&s;t you, there can be no &s;afety to our Country, to our Religion whiles &s;uch mi&s;ere|ants lurk in our dwelling; little know we what Gun-pow|der Plots are now in hatching, and how neer they are to the Birth, whil&s;t the <HI>Pope</HI> remains at <HI>Rome</HI> and the <HI>Devill</HI> in <HI>Hell,</HI> and their <HI>Agents</HI> in <HI>England,</HI> the &s;ons of darkne&s;&s;e will be &s;till working in the vault of Darkne&s;&s;e; to ruine the children of light; &s;hew not the lea&s;t countenance to the dete&s;table Neutrality that is practi&s;ed by many: God writes in his books, write you in yours, all Neuters Ene|mies,
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all that are not for you again&s;t you. The <HI>Hedgehog</HI> the <HI>Hierogliphick</HI> of the Newter, hath two holes the one to|wards the South, the other toward the North; when the South wind blows, &s;he &s;tops that hole that is toward the North; when the North wind blows, &s;he &s;tops that towards the South; &s;uch urchins are all Temporizers that halt betwixt two opinions: And as for Apo&s;tates that are fal&s; to their Co|venant and to your State, let not your eye pitty them, let not your hand &s;pare them, execute ju&s;tice to the enemies of the Common-wealth, &s;hew mercy with favour to your friends. You my Beloved in the Mini&s;tery, be zealous for God; if God bids us prophecy, <HI>nullus con&s;ultandi locus,</HI> no choi&s;e is then be&s;t; that Roman Magnanimity mu&s;t then take place <HI>nece&s;&s;e ut eas non ut vivas. Silvanus</HI> and <HI>Timotheus</HI> peremp|torily told the Emperor, Power thou ha&s;t O Emperor to puni&s;h us, but never to drive us from the Tenets of our fore|fathers: <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> refu&s;ed to deliver <HI>Constantius</HI> the Empe|ror the Decree made by the Councell again&s;t the <HI>Arians,</HI> though he threatned to cut off his hand, yet he refu&s;ed it: <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> reports that the King of <HI>Scythia</HI> &s;lew <HI>Anachar&s;is</HI> the Philo&s;opher for wor&s;hiping the mother of the gods, after the <HI>Athenian</HI> manner; and the <HI>Evangeli&s;t</HI> records, that twice our Saviour purged the <HI>Temple,</HI> he that was the mirrour of Patience &s;ee how he loo&s;eth the Reines in an holy Indig|nation in <HI>Sacrilegious</HI> abu&s;es, in <HI>Religious</HI> quarrels: The Multitude of the Offenders, the might and malice of the Ob&s;ervers, the danger of the Action, nor the perill of the con&s;equence &s;tayes his hands, but he &s;courgeth out the buy|ers and &s;ellers out of the <HI>Temple:</HI> Truly <HI>Phineas</HI> Zeal, <HI>Ie|hu's</HI> March, <HI>Io&s;iahs</HI> Re&s;olution, <HI>Luthers</HI> Heroicall Spirit are nece&s;&s;ary for the&s;e times: It is all one to deny the faith and not to maintain it; &s;ilence &s;trengthneth Error, and they that through fear or negligence hold their peace like &s;leepy
<PB N="31" REF="18">
watchmen they betray the City when a truth in Religion is que&s;tioned, when error is preferred; he that to his pow|er doth not re&s;i&s;t, <HI>de &s;uo damnabitur &s;ilentio</HI> &s;hall be condem|ned for his &s;ilence. Courage, the Lord is with you: And ye people of the land come forth and helpe the Lord again&s;t the mighty.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 5.23</NOTE> <HI>Cur&s;e ye Meroz</HI> (&s;aith the Angel of the Lord) <HI>Cur&s;e ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof, becau&s;e they came not to the helpe of the Lord, to the helpe of the Lord again&s;t the mighty.</HI> The&s;e are not the words of an angry pa&s;&s;ionate <HI>Prophet,</HI> but of the <HI>Angell</HI> of the Lord, not ra&s;hly thun|dered out from the Pulpit, but zealou&s;ly from Heaven, not with meekne&s;&s;e and calmne&s;&s;e of Spirit, but in bitterne&s;&s;e and fervency of Spirit; Here is not a &s;ingle Cur&s;e, but a double, a multiplyed Cur&s;e, not again&s;t the profe&s;&s;ed open Enemies, but again&s;t the lukewarm, the feigned friends, not again&s;t the Cities of the <HI>Cananites,</HI> but again&s;t <HI>Meroz</HI> a City now in the Confines of <HI>I&s;rael:</HI> All <HI>I&s;rael</HI> was again&s;t <HI>Achan,</HI> and all <HI>I&s;rael</HI> mu&s;t be for the publike &s;afety. If a|ny man draw back, Gods Soul &s;hall have no plea&s;ure in that man; they are no <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> indeed that will &s;it &s;till on this &s;ide <HI>Iordan,</HI> whil&s;t their brethren are in the field. Be all active in your way: for encouragement I will onely &s;ay this, you &s;hall &s;ee your de&s;ire of your Enemy, your &s;oul &s;hall be filled with the goodne&s;&s;e of the Lord; for the fir&s;t &s;ee <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 60.14. <HI>The &s;ons of them that afflicted thee &s;hall come bending Unto thee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 60.14.</NOTE> and all they that de&s;pi&s;ed thee &s;hall bow down them&s;elves at the &s;oales of thy feet, and they &s;hall call thee the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of I&s;rael:</HI> God will make the &s;ons of <HI>Princes</HI> bow down unto you, the greate&s;t that have afflicted you and de&s;pi&s;ed you, &s;hall lie at your feet. For the &s;econd, &s;ee the &s;ucce&s;&s;e of this Re&s;olution, <HI>E&s;ther</HI> 9.29, 30, 31, 32. Your Fa&s;ts &s;hall be turned into Fea&s;ts, your dayes of mourning into dayes of rejoycing,
<PB N="32" REF="19">
your good ones &s;hall be made great, the <HI>Esthers,</HI> the <HI>Mor|dicais</HI> &s;hall be advanced; the <HI>Hamans</HI> the common Enemies &s;hall be de&s;troyed; Religion &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;hed, the Peace and &s;afety of the Country &s;hall be &s;ecured, Gods glory &s;hal be exalted, and you your &s;elves highly Honoured; God &s;hall have the glory, you the happine&s;&s;e, po&s;terity the ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e of this de&s;ired Work.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
