Fonseca - Houston-Packer Collection. BX1756.F66 D5713 1629

586 Gal.s. fay 67. tob 41. Thewicked hauea league, noloue. The world confilteth of nothingbut oppofition, No peace to the wicked. Vpon the Fryday after They calleda Cosncitl. Peace ilithe fruitof Grace. Thefruits ofthe spirit, are Loue,Ioy, andPeace. And for thatfinners liue aloofeoff from Loue and Ioy,they muff likewife of force line farce from Peace . Howcan a troubled feaenioy a Calmea Bat the wickedarea troubledSea. Ina word , There is nopeace to she vn- godly. But how comes it now to paffe, That they areat thatpeace andvnirie, that they ioyne together andgather aCouncell again(}our Sauiour Chrift, with fo vnaninaousa confent, that there isNot avoyce wanting,but runall ioyntly for his death e Firft ofall I anfwer thereunto,That thewicked vfually enioyakindof league and alliance, and confederar with a ioynt confent for their owne privat profit, and anothers hurt. But they neuer inioy any peace, Sofaith Saint e.1ugufline, Eos copular non amorefedmaletia,it it notloue,but malicethat thus linkes them together. They confederat themfelues, not thatthey loue, but that they hate thatwhich they ought toloue ;wantingnot fomuch vnderflanding,aswill.Philon compares them toReapers, who fall a finging but haue noother agreement in their mu- ficke,but that they difagreealike.He compares them likewife to thecolds and heats ofaquartaneAgue, which beinga perpetuall diftemper, yet both iumpe andmeeteat fuchan inftant,and fuch an houre. Viampailsnoncognouerunt (faith Dauid,) Theyhaue not known the way of'Peace; But to flied innocent blood, their feet are very fwift. lob thus painteth forththe myfticall bodyofthediuell, The Maieftieofhis Scales,is likeftrong fhields, and arc fure fealed; one is fo fey to another that no windcancome betweentheir : one is fo ioyned toanother that theyRieke together andcannot be fundred. The wicked (faithLyra) are the fiefhofthis body,andare like fhields, and as armes made in themanner of fcales, Sepr.ementibrw, onepreßrng vpon another: A fhield vpon a fhield,and a fcalevpon a fcale, fo clofe knitand ioyned together, that the ayre cannot get in between them, Confidering on theone fide their illneighbourhood and on theother, their ftrid league and amitie. Dauidaskes the queflion,Why doe the Heathen rage, the Kings oftheearth band themflues , andthe Princes amble together again(} the Lard,andagainflhisChrifi ?Ist ere anyman that knowes the caufeofthis difcor- ding concord, ofthis accurfedcombination? That Efate fhould rife vp againft Jacob, ifmaelagainfl Iliac, Cainagainft Abel, thebrethrenagainft z%ph, zezabel againft Naboth, the two old Leachers ofBabylon again(} Sufanna; it is not much tofuller oneenimie thatperfecutes me, hauingmany friends toproteft mee. But that the Gentile,the Iew, the King, the Vaffall, the Clergie, and the Laytie, fhould all cryout againft our SauiourChrift, this requires aware? Why they fhould doe it e Thereafonis, becaufe euery one oftheSaints in particular, and all ingenerall,were perfecuted for hisfake, and Chrift for leis owne, Priam contra vnum, is the worlds Motto. God (faith Salomon) created all things inanoppofi- tion, Omnia fecundum litem font (faith Heraclyte s.) And that great Orator and Poet Laureat,Petrarke,telleth vs, Sinelite, atque offenftone, nilgenuit naturaparent, That Nateere,wha es the motherafall things,and commonparentofthis great vniuerfe, broughtforthnothing intothe worldwithoutflrfeandcontention.This is it that makes theholyman tofethimfelfe againft the prophane ; and theprophane againftthe holy. And fo in the refl. And becaufe euery oneof Gods Saints, though they were feafonedwithall the other venues, yet were they more particularly poin- tedat for fome one efpeciall vertue. And to this purpofe is that vfuall fong in the Church ; Wone/I inuentuafimilis illi, There is nonelike visehim. But our Saui- our Chrift was that vniuerfall glaffe,wherein all theverrues were to be feeneio their moft perfeöl and fupremeft degree. Forthiscaufe,theenuieofCainwageth ware

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