The Looking Glass of the Holy War, Chapter 42
CHAP. XLII. Of acknowledging the defeat to be from God.
TO begin then (with leaue) the conquered in the firſt place, are to look by whom they are conquered, or defeated; not I mean onelyonly the ſecundary means; (for to that every one will look; every one will be ſenſible of that) but they muſt looke to God, as the firſt mover of it, the orderer of the means, and the accompliſher of it. As the Lord diſpoſe…h the victory to the one, ſo the foyle to the other. Amos 3.6There is no evill in the Cittie which the Lord hath not done. Actions (ſaith Hanna) are not directed without the Lord, 1 Sam. 2.3hee killeth, and he maketh aliue, hee maketh poore and rich, h…e bringeth low and lifteth up; Yea, many times hee giveth his own inheritance, and his holy places, with the bodies of his ſervan…s, to be abuſed at the pleaſure of their enemies. Pſal 98.6. & 99.12.Places are ſo plentifull for this, that I could be infinite. The Lord is ſaid to ſell his people into the hand of Iabin; Iudg 4.2.he delivered them into the hand of Midian; & he ſold them into the hand of the Philiſtims; when the Iſraelites were ſmitten, they acknowledged that the Lord had ſmi…ten them: 1 Sam. 4.3Wherefore hath the Lord ſmitten us to day before the Philiſtims? That place of Ieremy is very remarkeable to this purpoſe. I will ſ…atter them (ſaith the Lord of his people) with an Eaſt wind before the enemy; Chap. 18.17I will ſhew them the back and not the face in the day of calamity. The lamentations of Ieremy are a whole field of ſuch matter; The Lord hath troden under foot all the mighty men, Ch. 2.3.hee hath ſwallowed up the habitations of Iacob, hee hath cut off the horn of Iſrael. The Prophet Eſay to this purpoſe is moſt pregnant. Eſa. 42.24.Who gaue Iacob for a ſpoyle, and Iſrael to the robbers? Did not the Lord; hee againſt whom we hauehave ſinned? Again, Cha. 43.28.therefore I hauehave profaned the Princes of the Sanctuary, and hauehave given Iacob to the curſe, and Iſrael to repreches. I hauehave given the deerly beloved of my ſoule into the hand of her enemies.Ier. 12.7.
The Heathens, men without God in regard of power, or Scripturall knowledge, hauehave been forced, upon their foyles, to confeſſe ſo much. Mardonius the Perſian Generall, who ſtayed in Greece behind Xerxes, either to redeem his reputation, foreign.or to rid himſelfe of his life by ſome deſperate attempt, having loſt all; was demanded by a certain Greek, how it came to paſſe that ſuch a huge Army of Perſians were conſumed and brought to nothing by a handfull of Greeks; he anſwered very modeſtly and pertinently, That that which God would hauehave done, none was able to avert, although men will not beleeue thoſe that tell them ſuch things.
Fond (and confuſed indeed) are the opinions of the Heathens, of divers Sects, concerning the ruin of Kingdoms, and the overthrow of Princes. The Stoicks aſcribe it to Deſtiny; the Epicure to Fortune; Methodius and Cardanus to Planets; foreignAristotle to an aſymetrie, or diſproportion: but Pla… and Pithagoras, (to whom Bodin. aſſenteth) doe lay the blame on Numbers. And becauſe ſome may wonder what ſhould be the meaning of this laſt opinion, I will unfold it, ſo far as Plato, the chiefe maintayner of it, doth unfold himſelfe. As in numerall notes in the ſtrain of Muſicke, Lib. 8. de reip.there is a Diapaſon, which Art cannot tranſcend; ſo there is a diapoſon, or foreign, that is, the higheſt-period of Kingdoms and Dominions, aboue the which they cannot paſſe. The place of it ſelfe is ſo obſcure, that Aristotle in his fifth book of the Politicks, and 12 chapter, paſſeth it over: ſo doth Proclus, who illuſtrateth the other ſeven bookes with notes, but doth not touch that. That opinion is much like to another ſaying of his, Naturales ſunt rerum publicarum converſiones.That the converſions, or tranſlations of Common-wealths, run by the courſe of nature. It is true indeed, as Kingdoms hauehave their beginnings, increaſe and height; ſo they hauehave their declinings and their ruins. All that hath a beginning, hath an ending, and as Philo ſaith, the greater height of outward bappineſſe that a people attaineth to, the lower is their fall. As after an inundation the waters are dryed up, ſo States are emptied of their flouds of proſperity to the very channell. Experience maketh good that of the Poet.
— ſic omnia verti
cernimus, atque alias aſſumere pondere gentes,
concidere has —
Thus all things chang'd we ſee; ſome Kingdoms fall,
and ſome advanc't.
Yet for all this, theſe Philoſophers, and Sects, are a ground, in giving the ground of this. But Daniel, a better Polititian then either Pla…o or Ariſtotle, Dan. 2.20.giveth the true ground indeed: Bleſſed (ſaith he) be the name of God for ever and ever: for he changeth times and ſeaſons, he remeveth Kings, and ſetteth up Kings. That which Heathen Writers, Military men, and others, doe attribute to fortune; namely, events of battles, victories, and foiles, Daniel doth attribute to God. Multum tum in omuibus rebus, tum in re militari poteſt fortuna. Lib. 6. belli Gallie. Applicati… ̄Caeſar that great man at Armes, and man of great ſucceſſe, was greatly deceived in the ground, when he gaue ſo much to fortune: Fortune (ſaith he) in many things, but eſpecially in military affaires may doe very much.
It is not onelyonly their fault (for they knew little better:) but it is more the fault of Profeſſors, who know indeed the true ground, but in their carriage they doe not acknowledge the ground: they confeſſe the ground, but in their profeſſion they follow not to the ground. Obſerue a courtly complement, with us in England, wherein great Ones bewray their faultineſſe; in this kind they denominate, the evill or good that befalls a man, or State, from fortune; He hath a good fortune, (ſay they) his fortune is undone: bee their meaning what it will, I would hauehave them, as Auſtine counſels them, to change their words; and (as the Apoſtle wills them) to uſe a ſound forme of phraſe, 2 Tim. 1.13beſeeming Chriſtian profeſſion. Mardonius ſaid well; It cannot be denyed, but all theſe foiles, and defeats, and outrages, and ſpoyles, and deſolations, are of Gods own doing; but men will not beleeue it applicatiuely, or runne the right way, though it be not onelyonly beaten in their eares, but they ſee it cleerly with their eyes. Men in this are like the uncircumciſed Philiſtims, who though they knew and confeſſed, that the hand of God was upon them for abuſing the Arke; yet they would try whether, or not, i… were by chance: Men thus called by affliction to ſee the hand of God in it, they are like unto Samuel, when God called him; they runne many other waies, before they run to God; they run to the bloudy cruelty of one; to the innaturallity of another; to the falſhood under fellowſhip of the third; to the puſillanimity of the fourth; and laſtly, to the conſpiracie or concurrence of all the Crue againſt them, who hauehave vowed their deſtruction without a cauſe. It is lawfull and expedient to hauehave an eye to all thoſe, and to view every one of them in their kind; but firſt of all we muſt look to the ſin-revenging eye of God, foreign.and to his all-diſpoſing hand of the very leaſt circumſtance of our troubles. Hence it is that they are called the waues of God, and the arrowes of God; yea, God doth afflict his own, that they ſhould ſee his hand in it, and ſeek to him for deliverance out of it. The Lord doth threaten, that he will be unto Ephraim as a Lyon, and to the houſe of Iuda as a yong Lyon; yea, he will teare and take away, and none ſhall reſcue him. The Lord here in effect doth threaten to ſend ſuch enemies againſt them, as like roaring, cruell and devouring Lyons, ſhould tear them all in peeces: but the Lord is ſaid to doe it, becauſe without him, neither foe, nor friend can doe any thing. But what is the end of this? Is it not that they might ſeek the Lord; Hoſ 5.14.15.I will goe and returne to my place (ſaith he) till they acknowledge their offence, and ſeek my face; in their affliction they wil ſeeke me early. If a man be wounded, will he rather look at the ſword, then at the man that gaue the blow? If a ſtone be caſt at a man, will he like a dog, run to the ſtone, not looking to the hand that caſt it? Or if it fall from a height, will he not look up to the place from whence it fell? When Rebecca felt that ſtrange unuſuall ſtruggling of the two twins in her wombe (which prefigured the ſtrife between the godleſſe and the godly) to know the cauſe of this, ſhe goeth unto the Lord; Gen. 25.22and ſhe went to enquire of the Lord (ſaith the Text.) To him indeed in our troubles we ſhould goe, ſince it is his doing. Heavie and dolefull was that meſſage that Samuel had to Eli, inſomuch that he feared to ſhew him the viſion; yet Eli would hauehave it out of him, that he might know the Lords mind, which when Samuel had delivered, hee runneth preſently to the ground from whence it was, and not to any by, or ſecundary, meanes by which it might be brought to paſſe; for the Lord wants no means to accompliſh that which once hee doth determine: 1 Sam. 3.1…It is the Lord (ſaith he) let him doe what ſeemeth him good. He acquieſceth in the good will of God, and embraceth the judgement, though it were againſt himſelfe and his: he, like a well nurtured child, kiſſeth the rod, though it were made for his own back. Then, in the name of the Lord, both King, and Queen, and ſubjects, take notice of this, that the hand of God is upon you, and upon us in you: it is the Lord that hath done it, and ſo let us all acknowledge. And thus much for the firſt particular.