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1 Epistle general of St. Peter, chap. 3. ver. 13.And who is he that will Harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
WEre all who make a fair and plausible shew of Religion, really such as they pretend to be; discourses of this nature would be no more needful than the Commendations
of a great beauty, to one who is already a pas∣sionate admirer of it. But on the contrary we see, how common it is for men, first to throw dirt in the face of Virtue and Religion, and then perswade themselves 'tis her natural com∣plexion; they represent it to themselves in a shape not pleasing to them, and then bring that as a plea, why they give it no better entertain∣ment: Men must know, that though Virtue and Goodness be so fair and complaisant as to draw our affections, yet she is so modest with∣all; as to expect to be courted by us; and it may be deny our first suit, to prompt us to a second address, and heighten our importunity: and nothing hath oftner forbid the Banns be∣tween men and Religion, than their Neglect and Contempt of her, and abusing her by false and slanderous reports; by saying, That Religi∣on is the Mother of Danger; and that the place of her abode, (like that of Archimedes grave) is septus Vepribus & dumetis, beset with Briars and Brambles. I have read of the Cannibal Anakims in the Confines of the Promised Land, that de∣vour all that Travel towards that Region; but let not our Melancholick and Aguish fancies transplant all these into Christendom, and make them Emblems of those Harms and Dangers, that attend those who are followers of Good∣ness;
don't let us fancy that there stands an Angel with a Flaming Sword, to keep us out of this Paradise of Virtue; nor report to the World, that if a Man hath no other guard but his own Innocence, he lies open to the assaults of all dangers and misfortunes, which is a mistake sufficiently confuted by St. Peter, who assures us, That Goodness and Innocence is our best Protecti∣on from the Arrests of all Harms, in these words of the Text. And who is he that will harm ye, if ye be followers of that which is(a) 1.1 good? Upon which words Vorstius makes this Paraphrase; Who either will or can harm you? as if the Apo∣stle had said, you that are followers of Good∣ness, may believe your selves secure, and above the Sphere of all Harms: For there are scarce any so impious that will, or if they are so ma∣liciously bent as to attempt it, they shall not have power to Harm you: which being pre∣mised, the Text will fall the more naturally into these two parts.
First on the first, or the Christians Protecti∣on from all Harms, in these words, Who is he that will Harm ye? a Christian is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, out of gun-shot, no real evil can annoy or molest him: He hath an Almighty protection to skreen and secure him from it; if he will put on God's Livery, the Robes of Righteousness and enter into Gods service; if he will get some dependance upon the Court of Heaven, wait upon God, and become his Servant in Goodness and Innocence, he shall have a Pro∣tection from the Arrests of all Harms; and this brings me to the second general part in the Text, where we have
Secondly, The Qualification that entitles a Christian to this Protection, namely, his be∣ing a Retainer to Goodness, or (as my Text calls him) A follower of that which is good: Rari quippe Boni, now because good men are scarce and Rare, so that by the great scarcity and dearth thereof, it is not easie to discover what
True Goodness is: it will be a worthy disqui∣sition to Examine,
First, I shall Examine, What Goodness is?
Goodness is a glorious Constellation, made up of these bright Stars, these Heavenly Vir∣tues and Graces, Love, Compassion, Courte∣sie, Abstaining from Sin, doing works of Mer∣cy, Unity, Peaceableness; as you may see in the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh verses of the Chapter of my Text; where the Apostle exhorts the Jewish Converts to be of One Mind, having Compassion one of another, to Love as Bre∣thren, to be Pitiful, to be Courteous, not rendring evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrarywise Blessing: For he that will love Life, and see good Dayes, let him refrain his Tongue from evil, and his Lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil and do good, let him seek Peace and ensue it. After an enumeration of all which Christian Graces, having in the twelfth verse of this Chapter, de∣clared
red Gods favour and kindness to good Men that are possest of them, he gives them this Protection from all Harms, in these words of my Text, And who is he that will harm ye, if ye be followers of that which is good? Of all the Attri∣butes, by which a man may be styled, Good∣ness hath the chief place and soveraignty; and therefore God was called by the Heathens, first Optimus, then Maximus; first, Good, and then Great; there being no true Greatness without Goodness; and therefore that execrable and bloody Tyrant, who caused his Executioners to turn the Cradles of the Innocent Babes of Bethlehem into Graves, and rock them into a Dead sleep, was improperly styled Herod the Great, because he was far from being Herod the Good. A mere great Man without Goodness, is only so much Nobility by Patent, not by Merit; or so much Heraldry without Honour; he stayes perhaps a while in the World, but 'tis only to fill up a number, and when he's gone there wants One, and there's an End: But when greatness and Goodness meet in One Per∣son, he is highly to be valued and esteemed, like an Emrald or a Ruby set in Gold,
—aut ubi flavo Argentum, Pariusve Lapis cum cingitur auro;
Every man is to be esteemed and honoured as he is set down in Gods Herauldry, and there Goodness hath the pre-eminence, Proverbs chap∣ter 12. verse 26. The Righteous is better then his Neighbour, all good Men are of a Divine Ex∣traction; they may derive their Pedigree from God himself; and say with St. Paul, and the Heathen Poet whom he quotes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. We are his Off-spring, Acts 17.28. and may therefore boast of his Celestial Pedigree, with better reason than Glaucus did in Homer, in these words,
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I glory and boast of this Celestial descent and extraction: and St. Hierom would say of Paula a Noble Virgin, descended from Aeneas on the Fathers side, and from Agamemnon on the Mothers, that she was Genere Nobilis, Sanctitate Nobilior; Noble in Stock but more Noble in Goodness and Sanctity; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the pious and good man is the best Man in all regards, saith Clemens of Alexandria.
External Power and grandeur may render us dreadful and formidable; depth of Learn∣ing may raise us in the esteem of the World,
and make us the objects of all mens admirati∣on; our large Revenues and vast Estates may purchase us external Respect and Honour, make all men strike Sail to us, and pay us the constant tribute of outward Obeisance; but that which commands mens Hearts, charms their Affections, and chains their Souls to us, is Goodness; which is a great Friend to humane Conversation, the Foundress of all Societies; all other excellencies (how great soever) ap∣pear Melancholy and solitary; they only put on a glorious Aspect when in the possession of one, or few persons; and once made common grow cheap and contemptible; but Goodness is better natured, and of so publick a Spirit, that without being communicable, it may no more be called Goodness, than the Sun without its diffusive and expansive light, may be called the Sun: as the good mans Religion, so also is his goodness and compassion Catholick: He thinks it a kind of moral Judaism, to tye it either to persons or places; as knowing that he is commanded by St. Paul, Galatians 6.10. To do good to all men; and his language is what Tullie's was, in one of his Epistles to Lentulus, I(b) 1.2 endeavour only that I may not be wanting, either to Friends or Strangers, by my Pains, Counsels, or
Labours, and he really is, what St. Hierom ad∣vised Pammachius to be, caecorum oculi, manus de∣bilium, claudorum pes, eyes to the blind, a hand to the weak, and a foot to the lame, and con∣sequently must needs be very acceptable, and dear to them; and this brings me to the se∣cond particular, namely,
The Good Fruits and Effects of Goodness, which are these that follow.
1. 'Tis a Lure, to bring us the Love of men; The good man may have that Character, which was given of the Roman Emperor Ve∣spasian, Deliciae humani generis, the Delight of Mankind, the darling of the World; for by his Courtesie, Charity, Civility, and Peaceable∣ness, he obliges all men, makes all his Friends and thereby becomes also a Friend to himself; for as Seneca says, Qui sibi amicus omnibus amicus, he that is a Friend to himself, is a Friend to all the World: the good man will, if it be pos∣sible, quarrel with no man; he is no mans E∣nemy,
and therefore no man is an Enemy to him; and we may say the same of him, that Cornelius Nepos did of Pomponius Atticus,(c) 1.3 He was infested with no Enmity, because he hurt no man, and if he had received an injury, he was more willing to forget then to revenge it; so that goodness is the best Policy, even in a worldly account; 'tis the best Decoy to allure men to our Friendship. There is no such bait whereby to catch men as goodness is, and it may therefore borrow our Saviours words, which he spake to Peter and Andrew his Brother, Matthew 4.19. Follow me and I will make you Fishers of men: And then
2. Goodness draws and attracts the Love of of God; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, God delights as much in good men as in Heaven it self; and Hierocles, who recites that golden verse of Pythagoras, does himself affirm, That God hates no man; but as for the good man,(d) 1.4 he embraces him with an extraordinary Affecti∣on: and it was a saying much used by the Pythagoreans, That(e) 1.5 God hath not in the whole Earth, a more familiar place of Resi∣dence, than the pure, the good Soul. A good man is Gods Heaven upon Earth; and there∣fore
when the Philosopher Heraclitus came by accident into a house where a good man dwelt, he cryed out presently, Hic Dij habitant, the Gods dwell here; the Philosopher tells us that those things(f) 1.6 which are like and related to us, are for the most part pleasing; and how pleasing then must the good man be to God, who resembles him in Goodness?
1. Tamerlain being presented with a Pot of Gold, askt whether the Gold had his Fathers Stamp upon it, and being told that it had not his Fathers, but the Roman Stamp, he refused to receive it; Goodness is Gods stamp, and as holy Ignatius tells us, a good man(g) 1.7 is a piece of Mony of Gods own Coin and Stamp; now if God does not see his stamp of goodness upon us, he will never Own us for his. The very proper cha∣racter, and essential Tincture of God, is no∣thing else but goodness: nay I may be bold to add, that God is therefore God, because he is the highest and most perfect good: Whatsoever God doth in the World, he doth it, as 'tis suita∣ble to the highest goodness; The first Idea and Copy whereof is his own Essence; virtue and goodness in the Creatures, as Plato well discourses, are not therefore good because God loves them, and will have them to be accoun∣ted
such; but rather, God therefore loves them, because they are in themselves simply good.
3. A third good Fruit and Effect of good∣ness, is, That it Assimilates and makes us like God.
Goodness is that wherein God himself doth most delight; and therefore all the Actions of our Saviour, while he was conversant here were but so many testifications of his Mercy and Goodness, without the least tincture of se∣verity, two onely excepted, his driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple, and Cursing the Fig-tree; and yet in both these, his Mercy seemed to ride in Triumph, and make Judgment follow its triumphant Chari∣ot; the first of these actions, though it brought some small reproach and smart upon the ob∣jects of it, yet it did them no great Harm; and the second had as small a Tast of severity, as being exercised upon a barren-Tree, a dull senseless Creature, uncapable of smart or pu∣nishment, but was meerly exemplary to us; Christ being pleased to punish our unfruitful∣ness in the Fig-tree, as the Persians were ac∣customed to beat the garments in stead of the
bodies of their Grandees, when they had offended.
(g) 1.8'Tis the best and highest piece of Religion to imitate and resemble the Object of our Worship, says Lactantius.(h) 1.9 And a man cannot Worship him aright, whom he does not imitate, says Clemens of Alexandria; we must therefore endeavour to imitate and resemble God in goodness; good∣ness being that God-like Quality, which ex∣alts our humane Nature, sublimates and heigh∣tens it into Divinity, and makes us like God: and thus having shown you the good Fruits and Effects of goodness, I come now to shew you.
Thirdly, From what Harms and Mischiefs it Protects us; as namely,
First, That goodness will protect us from all those Harms and Mischiefs that Men can do us; Innocence is our most faithful guard; this is
our(i) 1.10 most inexpugnable and strong Fortress; to be so good, so innocent, as to need No Guard, No For∣tress, says Pliny in his Panegyrick to Trajan. It was Seneca's complaint, that he(k) 1.11 could rarely meet with any, that might venture to live with open doors, and 'tis the good man only that dares live so; his innocence will shield him from all Harms; from the worst that men can breathe or Act against him: all the Harm that men can do us, is either,
And the good, the Innocent man, is proof against both these
First, Men cannot hurt or harm him by Words. His innocency is a shelter, a Sanctuary from the poisoned Arrows of a slanderous and evil Tongue: The whole Earth is not big e∣nough to cast a shadow, totally to Eclipse a good Mans credit; the Teeth of his enemies malice many times do but file his innocence the brighter; and (like rough Diamonds) the more 'tis cut it shines with the greater lustre: They are not only the beauties of a Face, which draw new Graces from those black Spots and Patches, (which one would think) should dis∣figure
them: those shadows which a slande∣rous Tongue casts upon Innocence, makes it but the more remarkable, in the same manner as an Eclipse is a cause of the Suns being more taken notice of: The testimony of a good Con∣science is more to be valued by us than all Re∣ports, though there were neither Friends, nor Enemies, to Praise or Reproach us; Beauty and Comeliness will always find satisfaction enough in the glass, Deformity vexation: now the Conscience does the same for Vertue or Vice, that a Mirrour or Glass does for faces: We should therefore seek our Consolation in our own Breasts and Consciences, and when we have done all we can, to deserve a good name, we may slight and contemn a bad one; and be no more troubled when we are said to be guilty of what we are not; than if we were said to be sick, when we find our selves well; and what wise man will be troubled at that, which should rather move his laughter? And as goodness gives us a protection from all harms by Words, so
Secondly, Does it shelter us from all the Harms that can arise from the Actions of Men; Men can but kill the body, the death thereof ter∣minates
and bounds their Malice; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 says Socrates; they may kill but they cannot hurt the good and Innocent; Death being no more to them than a dark En∣try to a glorious Palace, or a Shady Wilder∣ness to a promised Canaan; thus Herod's Tra∣gical and Barbarous Cruelty acted upon the Innocent Babes of Bethlehem, did but accelerate and hasten their eternal blisse; these tender Plants were but transplanted from Earth to Heaven, but removed from their Earthly mo∣thers breast, to their heavenly Fathers bosom; the first blossoms of their Infancy were by a compendious improvement ripen'd into hea∣venly Fruit; God lent them the Wings of a Dove to fly to their Eternal rest, before some of them were able to use their Feet. Now that goodness, that Innocence, will shelter us from all the harms that can arise from the Acti∣ons of Men, I shall further prove to you by these two Reasons and Arguments.
1. Because it procures us Almighty God for our Protector, and this is intimated to us in the verse foregoing my Text, for the Eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous, so that he may with confidence borrow those words of the Psalmist, Psalm 56.11. In God have I put my trust, I will not fear what man can do unto me; or say as Paris did in Homer, God(l) 1.12 is on our side, and if God be with him what need he care or value, who is against him? One in Livy said,(m) 1.13 That he had Forces and Strength enough, having Decius on his side, and that he could never have too many Enemies. This a good man may apply to himself, and say, that God alone is Forces and Strength enough, and having him his Friend and Assistant, he can never have Enemies e∣nough to deserve his fear, but may buoy up himself with those words of Holy Anselm(n) 1.14 That none can hurt him unless they can first conquer God; unless they can overcome Omnipotency it self, slay Immortality, and confound the whole Host of Heaven: As they say in Philosophy, That the Concupiscible faculty of the Soul sets the Ira∣scible on work; So Gods Love to the Good and Inno∣cent, quickens and incenses his Wrath against their E∣nemies. A sense whereof encouraged Tertullian to discourse at this rate to Scapula the President of
Africa,(o) 1.15 That no City should go unpunisht, where their innocent blood had been shed; and he gives him a Catalogue of several Presidents, who(p) 1.16 when at the point of death, were touch∣ed with some remorse for their Afflicting the In∣nocent Christians: and that in particular Vi∣gellius Saturninus, who first drew the Sword of Persecution against them was deprived of his eyes. And that Claudius Herminianus in Cappa∣docia, after he had handled them with great Cruelty, was, whilst alone in his Pretorian Palace, struck with a strange Plague, and over-run with noisom Worms; and then he makes a warm and close Address to Scapula himself; who having lately condemned inno∣cent Mavilus to the Beasts, was seized with a sharp Distemper; desiring him to forbear 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to fight against God.
Thus also was Herod Ascalonita smitten with a signal Vengeance from Heaven, after the bloody Massacre of those poor Innocents, which he Sacrificed to his Pride and Cruelty: his punishment being a complicated Judgment, made up of Tortures both of Soul and Body; his Bowels, which were strangers to all Com∣passion, were tortured with an intimate and
ward heat,(q) 1.17 a slow fire, which to the out∣ward Sense seemed not so vehement; but did inwardly afflict and torment him, as Josephus tells us; and his body was the subject of as many Tortures and Convulsi∣ons, as his Mind was of Terrors and(r) 1.18 Di∣stractions; every blow he received seem∣ed to come from Heaven, and inflicted by the strong hand of an enraged Deity: Eve∣ry Creature (when God calls) is a Souldi∣er to fight for the Good and Innocent; the whole Militia of Heaven, even thousands of Angels are Auxiliary Forces to them; and this brings me to the second reason, why Goodness will shelter us from all harms, that can arise from the Actions of Men; and that is,
2. Because it procures the good An∣gels for our Guard, Psalm 34.7. The Angel of the Lord encamps about them that fear him, and delivers them; Infinite Legions of An∣gels attend God in Heaven, and every sin∣gle Angel is as strong as a whole Army of Men; one Angel in the Book of Kings, is sent out against an Army of the Assyrians;
and in one Night a Hundred Fourscore and Five Thousand persons dye by his hand; now all the Angels and Host of Heaven are the good man's Lifeguard, and what humane Power is able to withstand them? The presence and assistance of Angels to good men is no new thing, though their apparition is now very rare; they had pe∣culiar care over good Men in antient times. Lot was led out of Sodom by Angels: And Matthew chapter 2. verse 13. An Angel ap∣peared to Joseph to warn him to fly into Ae∣gypt, with the young Child, The Holy Jesus; whose Life was chiefly sought by Herod, when he dy'd and discoloured all the Coasts of Bethlehem with the blood of so poor In∣nocents. An Angel delivers St. Peter out of Prison, Acts, chapter 5. verse 19. An Angel Comforts St. Paul in the Tempest, Acts chapter 27. verse 23. And Socrates (in His Ecclesiastical History) tells us that when the Citizens of Constantinople were de∣jected, for Fear least the Persians should overcome the Romans, to whose protection many Christians had committed themselves, a Company of Angels appeared to some,
who were Travelling to Constantinople, and bid them chear up the Spirits of the Inha∣bitants with this joyful News, that the Romans should defeat the Persians, and come off Victorious. And our own Historians make mention of a Celestial Herald, an Angel from Heaven, who appearing to JAMES the Fourth King of Scotland, advised him not to Fight his intended Bat∣tel with the English; which Counsel he neglecting, Himself with most of his No∣bles and Army fell in that fatal Battel.
And though the appearance of Angels is not now to be expected by us, because never promised; and converse with them is a Blessing which our state of infirmity cannot bear; yet is not their Ministry wholly ceased, they still (though invisibly) suc∣cour and help us, Hebrews chapter 1. verse 14. are they not all Ministring Spirits, sent forth to Minister for them, who shall be Heirs of Salvation? And this shall suffice for the proof, that goodness will protect us from all those harms that men can do us either by Words or Actions. I now proceed to shew you.
Secondly, That Goodness will shield us from all the Harms and Mischiefs that arise from Sin. There is incomparably more trouble in the ways of Sin, than in those of Goodness and Virtue: Every no∣torious Sin is naturally attended with some inconvenience, of Harm, Danger or Dis∣grace, which the sinner seldom considers till the sin be committed, and then he is in a Labyrinth; and in seeking the way out of a present inconvenience, he intangles himself in more.
There is a Divine Nemesis that attends wicked men; and Sin and the Fear of the Divine Vengeance are chained together, as the Romans did their Malefactors to the Souldiers who were to be their Keepers and Executioners: The sinner is almost always haunted with inward gripes and twinges of guilt, though sometimes he is not punisht here visibly, nor scourged with a market Lash.
And who would not rather dye a thou∣sand times than live under such a Consci∣ence,
whose every Accusation is no less than a summons to Death?(s) 1.19
It is not for nothing (saith the Historian Taci∣tus) that the wisest men have told us, that were the hearts of wicked men laid open, we should see their Swellings and Ul∣cers, Stripes and Torments; Here a bruise by Impatience, here a swelling of Pride, here a deep wound which malice hath made.
It is the good man only that leads a Comfortable and Happy Life, whereas wicked mens Lives are Toilsome and Mi∣serable, Jeremiah, chapter 9. verse 5. They weary themselves to commit Iniquity. They take as much or more pains to go to Hell, than good Men do to go to Heaven.(t) 1.20
Even the things of the Devil are not at∣tained without Labour and Pains, saith St. Chrysostom.How Laborious is our Revenge? How busie our Cruelty? How Watchful and Studious our Lust? What Penance does our Covetousness put us to? How strangely does our Envy possesse us, like an Evil and Malignant Spirit? Which one in Stobaeus calls, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the
Basest Spirit, and yet most Just, because it punishes the Delinquent in the very Act; doing as Aelian speaks of the Polypus,(u) 1.21 who,
when he wants his prey devours his own Arms, the secret pangs of his Envy gnaw and feed upon himself:Thus Men become (as I may so speak) Martyrs of the Devil and damnation, and the subjects of all those Harms and Mischiefs, that are of sins retinue, from which they might be freed; if they would once become Prose∣lytes to Virtue and Goodness.
Their very Enemies could say of the Athenians,
That there was nothing that they could count a Feast, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the having done what they ought;and if a Christian cannot outvye those Hea∣thens, if he doth not highly esteem of the Feast of a good Conscience within him, and the Satisfactions that are to be reaped from a good Life, which are present Happiness in themselves, and pledges of future Glo∣ry; his palate is vitiated, he is no compe∣tent judge of Dainties, And as goodness will shield its followers from all those harms
and Mischiefs that arise from Sin, so,
Thirdly and Lastly, Will it free them from the Eternal Harms and Torments, which those who are strangers to Goodness shall suffer in Hell. Lactantius was so hard in believing the roundness of the Earth, that he thought that those Homines Pensiles (as they call them) those men that hang on the other Cheek of the Face of the Earth, those Antipodes (whose feet are di∣rectly against Ours) must needs fall from the Earth; but whither then should they fall? If they fall, they must fall upwards, to∣wards Heaven: So good Men, the Spiri∣tual Antipodes to Sin, may in some sense be said to fall, when they fall to Repentance, to Mortification, and other good Duties, and when they fall off from their Sins; but their fall is upwards, they fall towards Heaven; Hell hath no Power over them; for God hath set his mark, stampt the Im∣press of his Goodness upon them; and that is their Protection from all the Arrests of Satan; That will keep them out of his dark infernal Prison: Hell is only a place
for Wicked men; 'tis their proper Center, and the Gravity and Heaviness of their sins make them tend thither, Psalm 9.17. The Wicked shall be turned into Hell, and as the strong Magic of Nature pulls and draws every thing continually to that place, which is suitable to it, and to which it belongs; so Hell, wheresoever it is, will by a strong sympathy pull in all sin, and Magnetically draw it to it self; as on the contrary true Goodness is always breathing upwards, and fluttering towards Heaven, striving to Im∣bosom it self with God.
We may flatter our selves with what conceits we please, but so long as we are void of Goodness, we do but Dream of Heaven, and I know not what fond Para∣dise; we do but Court a painted Heaven, and woe happiness in a Picture; the glory of Heaven being nothing else but innocence enthron'd, and attir'd her in white Robes, and Goodness Triumphant; Goodness with a Palm of Victory in her hand, and a Crown upon her Head: And how happy will the Good, the Innocent Man be, when he
shall receive that Crown, with this deserv∣ed Encomium and Commendation? Euge bone Serve! Well done Good and Faithful Servant! What a Ravishment and Trans∣port will it be to him? What an Oleo of High Tasts compounded together? O then let us all be Followers of Goodness! This, This, is our best 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; the best Charm against all Evils; The best Amulet and Preservative against all harms; Our safest Port, our best Haven; here we can never suffer Shipwrack, hereno storms can come at us to hurt us; here we are above the Sphere of mens Power to harm us; in this blessed Station the Torments of Hell cannot reach or fasten upon us. Goodness then is our best Asylum, our best Sanctuary, our saf∣est Refuge, from the harms both of Men and Devils; for saith St. Peter, Who is that will Harm ye, if ye be followers of that which is Good? Which God grant we may all be, for his Dear Son Jesus Christ his sake, to whom with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all Honour, Glory, and Adora∣tion, both now and Ever, AMEN.
Quis est q••i nocere aut velit aut possit?
T••ntùm eni∣tor ut neque ami∣cis, neque etiam alienioribus, ope∣râ, consilio, labo∣re, desim.
Nullas ini∣micitias g••ssit, quòà nec laedebat quenquam, neque si quam injuriam acceperat, male∣óat ulcisci quàm Oblivisci.
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Summa 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Religio im••t•••••• quem colis.
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Fidelissima est Custodia ipsa innocentia. Haec Arx inaccessa, hoc inexpugnabi∣le munimentum, munimento non egere.
Vix quen∣quam inveni qui aper to ostio vive∣re possit.
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Satis sibi Copiarum cum Publio Decio, & nunquam nimi∣um hostium fore.
Nemo te laedat nisi qui deum vincat.
Nulla Civi∣tas impunè latu∣ra est sanguinis nostri Effusionem.
Qui in fine vitae suae recor∣dati sunt deli∣quisse quòd vex∣âssent Christi∣anos.
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Neque fru∣stra sapientes af∣firmare soliti sunt, si recludan∣tur Tyrannorum mentes, ictus posse aspici & laniatus.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉