applyed that of the Canticles Without Iustice neither City Towne nor house can continue said another Nay very theeues cannot liue without Iustice without parting their booties equally it is confessed generally Nay Remota Iustitia quid sunt regna nisi magna Latrocinia said Augustine Take away Iustice and what are Kingdomes else but great theeueries great haunts or meetings of Theeues Therefore Iustice being so goodly so pleasant so profitable so by all meanes necessary is it any maruell if Iob were not content to say hee put it on but add eth that it clothed him that is he thought himselfe sufficiently well apparelled while he had Iustice on and without it he thought himselfe and all others naked Trauellers write Nâ—than Chytraeus by name that in Padway Iustice is described in a publicke place betweene a paire of Scales and a Sword according to the manner with these two verses proceeding from her mouth Reddo cuique suum sanctis legibus omne Concilio mortale genus ne crimine viuat The verses are but clouter-like vnworthy such an Vniuersity as Padway is renowned to be but the sense is good and for the shortnesse of them they may the better be remembred I giue saith Iustice to euery one his owne I procure and winne all men to be obedient vnto godly Lawes lest otherwise they should proue criminous that is grieuous transgressors It is so where there be not wholesoâ—e lawes which are the parents of Iustice the daughters of Prudence the Nurses of Vertue the Companions of Peace the Harbingers of Prosperity c. there all things goe out of order Seruanis on Horse backe as in the booke of the Preacher and masters euen Princes on foote Like Priest like people as in the Prophet Esay nay the people not so bad as the Priest as Bernard saith Like buyer like seller like borrower like lender as Esay againe saith Nay then no buyer or seller or borrower or lender but all vpon snatching and catching and rapine and wrong blood toucheth blood and He that refraineth himselfe maketh himselfe a prey Therefore blessed be God for Lawes and blessed are the people to whom the mouthes and expounders of the Lawe the Administers of Iustice I say are sent Their very feet vpon the mountaines as they are comming ought to seeme beautifull vnto vs and we are to receiue them as an Angel of God euen as God himselfe for his office they beare and he vouchsafeth them his owne name In plaine and distinct English they ought to be had of vs in speciall honour and regard for many causes First for the Lords sake who is the Author of their authority There is no power but of God Rom. 13. Secondly for the Kings sake who is the immediat sender of them Rulers are sent by the Prince for the punishment of those that doe ill and praise of them that doe well saith St. Peter Thirdly for their worke sake for they watch ouer vs take paines for our good that we may lead a quiet peaceable life in all godlinesse honesty that we mayeate euery man his owne bread drinke euery one of his owne Well cloath our selues euery one with his owne Wooll and sit euery man vnder his owne Vine vnder his owne Fig-tree from Dan to Beershebah euen from one end of the Land vnto the other These be the fruites and commodities of Magistracie and Iustice many and singular euery way But where those be wanting both or one of them Magistracy as in the dayes of the â—udges There was no King in Israel but euery one did that which was good in his owne eyes Iustice and execution as Acts the 18. The Grecians tooke Sosthenes and beat him before the Iudgement seate and yet Gallio the Gouernour cared nothing for these things there the earth is cleane emptied and vtterly spoyled the words in the Originall be sounding and like the voyce of Thunder Hibbok tibbok hibboz tibboz there things goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is against the streame or rather they are carryed head-long by a maine current of disorder into a bottomlesse swallow of confusion It hath beene questioned and argued whether it were better to liue vnder a tyrannous gouernment where euery suspition is made a crime euery crime capitall or vnder an Anarchie where euery one may doe what he list And it hath beene long since ouer-ruled That it is much better to liue vnder a state sub quo nihil liceat quà m sub quo omnia So then if euen the worst kind of gouernment be a kind of blessing in comparison then what is it to liue vnder a godly and Christian King that doth gouerne with Counsell and rule with wisedome and vnder such Iudges and Iustices that doe not take themselues to be absolute but confesse that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the Centurion in the Gospell and to giue an account not onely to him that is Iudge of quicke and dead but also to the Higher powers on earth if they should too farre forget themselues This then being their charge and Commission to administer Iustice indifferently to encourage the vpright to cut off the incorrigible their charge and terror terror I say in respect of the reckoning day sometimes in this world but certainely in the world to câ—me will any man enuy them their Robes the honor the place that they doe enioy Truly if they had no other comfort but the honour outwardly giuen vnto them that were but a cold comfort â—r reward Some lenitiue I grant it may be to flesh and blood to them that are Gloriae animalia as Tertullian first and aâ—ter him Hierome doe call Philosophers But to them that haue learned Christ aright to them that iudge not according to the eye but with righteous iudgement these things are but vaine and vile Praises they esteeme for bubbles and applauses for bablâ—s eminent places but for scaffolds to be gazed on and a great deale â—f attendance for a great deale of adoe trouble Titles of honour but for tittle-tattles Robes of scarlet or purple for depriments and detriments Indeed there was a great King that turning and winding his Diadem said to them that stood by That if a man knew what a deale of cares and troubles were lapped vp and lodged in it he would not thinke it worthy the taking vp And there was a Pope not the worst Pope that confessed to his friends that he liued an happier life when he was a poore Scholemaster in Louaine then since he was aduanced to that high See It is not therfore the high place nor the great state nor whatsoeuer is gainefull for the purse that maketh many Magistrates amends for their trauell toyle for their care and study for their sweating and hazarding their health for the hard censures and bitter exclamations and cursings that they incurre and indure for directing of Iustice and pronouncing
and anxiety and all to be brought to a combustion But what was the issue of all this The Emperour had successe in most battels and he fought 52. more than euer did any before or since and saw the end and confusion of all his foes saue of his sonne whom God suffered to suruiue to make him a subiect and spectacle of his wrath After the dayes of Henry the fourth the succeeding Emperours had much adoe with their disloyall subiects being set on by them of Rome who would be counted Fathers and yet incense their children one against the other that themselues might deuoure them being weakened with open mouth How did they deale with Fredericke the second to remember him onely They worke a conscience in him to make warre vpon the Infidels as though Christ would haue his Kingdome aduanced by the materiall sword But that was euen their houre and the power of darkenesse and while he is beyond the Seas they inueigle his subiects at home to rebell against him yea to shew that they hated the Christian Emperour more than the Mahometan they send vnto the Souldan the Emperours picture that he might the more easily destroy him But the Souldan dealt generously with him and acquaints him with the plot and aduiseth him to looke to himselfe To make the matter short he maketh peace in the East to the aduantage of the Christians there and hasteth home with all speed and by his valour and prudence soone recouereth what was lost in his absence Thus in Italy But was he suffered to be quiet in the Empire in Germany No there the Popes set vp against him Anti-Emperours two or three one after another presuming that if one did misse the other would hit But the deceitfull man rosteth not that that he taketh in hunting Prouerb 12. And this gift is giuen to such persons of the Lord that they lie downe in sorrow all of them that admitted of their election and tooke vpon them the name of Emperour the true Emperour being aliue did in a manner suddenly perish and come to a fearefull end one of them was slaine with an arrow another in the marishes of Frizeland the third otherwise all by a violent and vntimely death If I had not promised the contrary I might tell you of Henâ—y the seuenth poysoned by a Monke in the Sacrament Of Lodowicke of Bauaria vexed with all the stormes that perfidious malice could bring vpon a Prince both of these Emperours So of our King Iohn deuested of his Regalitie and bereaued of his life by vnpriestly practices So of Philip surnamed the Faire the French King brought in danger to haue suffered as much And truly by the hands or heads of such as Aeneas Syluius that was afterwards Pope speaketh of in his Story of Austrich Non fuit vllum insigniter grande malum in Ecclesia quod non exeat originem sumat à Presbyteris that is Whatsoeuer great mischiefe hath befallen the Church the same was caused or occasioned by some Shauelings But as all misery hath its determined period and as the Psalmist saith The rod of the wicked shall not lie vpon the lot of the righteous for euer So when the fulnesse of time came that the mysterie of iniquity should be reuealed it pleased our good God that stirred vp the spirit of Cyrus to send them that were in captiuity vnder old Babylon vnto their owne Country Land of promise to stirre vp the spirits also of many Kings in our later times to slip out their neckes and the neckes of their subiects I say to quit themselues and their subiects from the yoke of new Babylon that is Rome These hauing the Booke of God layd open which had beene for a long time hid like as the Booke of the Law had beene vnder Iosiah more plainely and explicatly than for many hundred yeeres before did easily by the light thereof discerne vsurpation from right and superstition from true worship They dared also to examine the validity and authority of the Bulls that came from Rome and were ashamed that they were so long gulled and affrighted by Scarre-crowes Hereupon it came to passe that our King Henry the eighth a magnanimous Prince pluckt his necke out of the collar and feared not to put in the Letany from the Bishop of Rome and his detestable enormities Good Lord deliuer vs. By his example or not long before Gustauus King of Swethland a Prince likewise of great valour and wisedome he banished the Pope and his authority out of his Kingdomes So did also Christian King of Denmarke a Prince not much inferiour to either of the former in vertue that I speake nothing of the Princes and Free Estates of Germany which fell from the Pope by heapes yea and Henry the second King of France yea and Charles the fifth Emperour though both of them most superstitious protested against the Councell of Trent summoned by the Pope thereby not a little questioning and shaking his absolute authority neither had this declining and sinking stayed here but as it is written in the Reuelation Babylon is fallen it is fallen So surely it had beene vtterly ruined if it had not beene strengthened or vnderlayed by new props or Buttraces They fable of Innocent the third that he forsooth should haue a vision or dreame that Saint Peters Church in Rome tottered and had fallen if those worthy Fryers Dominicke and Francis had not offered their shoulders And surely it had gone hard with the Romish cause ere this if the Iesuits the last vomit of Satan and the last hope of Antichrist had not stayed it from ouerthrow These are they that comming out of the smoke of the bottomelesse pit Reuelation 9. haue power giuen them as the Scorpions of the earth haue power and though their faces be like the faces of men and their haire like the haire of women that is though they vse great Hypocrisie and Flattery and insinuation as great as Harlots doe to entertaine and retaine their Louers yet their teeth are as the teeth of Lions and will deuoure their soules that doe beleeue them and their bodies that doe oppose them nay that doe trust them too farre They write of Paris the Troian that what time his mother went with him she dreamed she was with childe of a fire-brand and so he proued to his Country being the authour of the vtter desolation thereof They write also of Dominicke the Fryer of whom I spake euen now that his mother being with child of him she dreamed she had a whelpe in her wombe that had a fire-brand in his mouth and so he proued barking against the truth reuealed in Gods word being the cause of the burning and butchering of those good and faithfull men the Albigenses by hundreds and by thousands Briefely it is written of Caligula that Tiberius presaged of him that he would proue a very poysonous Serpent to the people of Rome and a
made her the very dore by which we enter into Paradise shut by Eue opened by her the very window whereby God doth looke vpon vs with the eye of mercy the very Ladder of Iacob whereby our deuotion ought to ascend vnto God and his blessing descend vnto vs. Was this yet the worst Truâ—y no. But as it is said in Ezechiel so may we say Behold greater abominations then these For they were not content to make her a Mediator for intercession but also they make her the Mediaâ—resse of Reconcilement and Propitiâ—tion ioyning her in the Commission of Mercy and Merit with our Sauiour Christ yea making her many times more mercifull then he In the prayer of Anselmus held for currant this is read Hee that hath offended let him cast himselfe downe betweene them both Pie Domine parce seruo matris tuae pia Domina parce seruo filij tui c. O Pitifull Lord be fauourable to the seruant of thy Mother O pitifull Lady be fauorable to the seruant of thy Sonne Dic mundi Iâ—dex cui parces dic mundi Reconciliatrix quem reconciliabis Tell vs thou Iudge of the world whom thou wilt spare tell vs thou Reconciliatresse of the world whom thou wilt reconcile if thou Lord wilt condemne and thou Lady wilt reiect a poore man that confesseth your vertues louingly and his owne sinnes mournefully Thâ—s Anselmus most blasphemously And were they ashamed of this euâ—ll in Queene Maries dayes Nay they were not ashamed for aâ—â—â—he light of the Gospell that had shined before vnto them â—or euen in their Primer setforth then by authority they rely vpon the blessed Virgins merits as wee doe vpon our Sauiour and ascribe vnto her the power and honour of sauing and defending and deliuering c. Shall I recite vnto the yonger sort a place or two for they that are old may remember it themselues In the third houre thus they reade The dolorous Passion of Christs sweet Mother bring vs to the blisse of Almighty God the Father And in the sixth houre O blessed Lady O singular Virgin in perfect mâ—ekenesse all other excelling deliuervs from the bondage of sin and make vs meeke and chaste in liuing make vs euer pure life to ensue guide vs euer vpon â—ur iourney that we beholding the face of Iesu may ioy with him in heauen alway Thus in that place and as bad in diuers others I haue not shewed you as that how they make the blessed Virgin many times more mercifâ—â—l then our Sauiour and how when Christ was resolued to destroy the world for their sinnes she being moued with pity became suppliant vnto him and so turned away his wrath c. But because I haue other matters behind vntouched and the comparison being so odious and sacrilegious as it is Therefore I will forbeare by word of mouth to vtter it and referre them that care for such matters for Doctrine to Iacobus de Voragine and the booke called Sermones Discipuli and for examples to Vincentius Antoninus whereout they may haue enough to choake them You haue heard Wel-beloued that it was of Gods mercy and fauour and of his fauour onely that the blessed Virgin was called to that honour and dignity to be the Mother of her Lord and our Lord and therefore as she most frankly and deuoutly confessed so much so wee must beware lest vnder the colour of honouring the Mother with other honour then of praise and imitation which is due vnto her we doe not dishonor and so offend the Maiestie of the Sonne who is God blessed for euer This I haue touched the rather because many among vs bee not as yet purged from their former superstition and Idolatries but notwithstanding that they haue beene earnestly laboured and exhorted that they would returne from their vaine and thankelesse wil-worships to serue the true and liuing God the Creator of whom are all things and wee of him the Redeemer in whom are all things and we in him the holy Spirit through whom are all things and we through him yet without commandement without praise without example of any that were Godly for certaine hundreds of yeeres after Christ they will needs inuocate the blessed Virgin in their necessities troubles nay put their trust in her in deifying a creature which Epiphanius doth abhorre and forsaking God that bought them by a spirituall kinde of fornication which the Scripture doth euery where detest Well hauing spoken so much of the first part of Christs wonderfull Conception it is time wee now come to the second namely His wonderfull Birth And beare a Sonne Or rather bringeth forth a Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which words the Prophet signifieth that it should not goe so hard with the mother as it did with those women which Hezekiah spake of though allegorically The children are come to the birth and there is no strength to bring forth Nor yet that the child should be so vnhappy as Iob wished himselfe to bee in the 3. chapter of his booke Why dyed I not in the birth or why dyed I not whâ—n I came out of the wombe But rather that it should goe no worse with her then it did with the Church and her child Esay 66. Before shee trauelled she brought forth and before her paine came she was deliuered of a Man-child And againe Shall I cause to trauell and not bring forth Shall I cause to bring forth and shall I be barren saith thy God As if he said Forasmuch as it is I and none other that helpeth women in their ordinary trauels and giueth them quicke speed or slow speed as it pleaseth Me You may thinke with your selues whether it be an hard thing with Mee to cause the mother to bring forth without paine euen while you will say What 's this Indeed among the strange and wonderfull things that Bernard said were in the Mother of Christ these were not the least that she was Sine grauamine grauida sine dolore puerpera her burden was not burdenous vnto her her trauell was not painefull Whereto agreeth that saying of Hieronym against Heluidius Nulla ibi obstetrix nulla multerum sedulitas intercessit ipsa mulier obstetrix fuit She had no Mid-wife to helpe her no Side-woman to assist her shee was both Mother and Mid-wife too and well she might be bearing and bringing forth such a Child as was free from originall sinne which you knowe is in part the cause of womens trauell nay which sanctifieth whatsoeuer is sanctified and of whose fulnesse all doe receiue euen grace for grace This is He which is prophesied of by our Prophet Esay chapter 9. Vnto vs a Childe is borne and vnto vs a Sonne is giuen and the Gouernment is vpon his shoulders and He shall call him Wonderfull Counsellour The mighty God The euerlasting Father The Prince of Peace This is he that was prophesied of by Ieremy The dayes come that I will raise
saith Saint Paul In nothing doe I feare mine enemies neither am I ashamed or weary of the Gospell it will haue the preeminence it will preuaile in the end maugre all aduerse power and policy We see therefore that the first part or major of Saint Pauls reason is firme namely that wee are not to bee ashamed of that which is powerfull Now for the Minor or second part of the Argument namely that the Gospell is the power of God That that I say is no lesse cleere it will many wayes appeare First à pronunciatis Saint Paul that could not lie hauing the seale of his Apostleship and of infallible truth from the holy Ghost sayes it is so in my Text therefore it is so euen a Diuine power and powerfull Instrument able to conuert soules to God Secondly à genere The whole Scripture is giuen by inspiration from God and is profitable to teach to improue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be absolute c. Which cannot be done without the power and Word of the Lord which without exception is liuely and sharper then a two-edged sword Then the Gospell which is a part of the Word of God that must be powerfull Thirdly à fortiori The Law that was giuen by Moses and written in tables of stone that was powerfull it gaue light to the blind wisedome to the simple conuerted the soule c. Psal. 19. Therefore the Gospell which was deliuered by our Sauiour Christ and had more precious promises and a greater largesse of the holy Spirit that must needs be powerfull Fourthly ab exemplo Did not all wonder at the gracious words that proceeded out of our Sauiours mouth when he interpreted to them the Gospell of the Prophet Esay for euen before the Apostle were borne the Gospell was it was from the beginning Was there any of the Synagogue that could resist the Spirit whereby Saint Stephen spake for he was full and so was his Doctrine of the holy Ghost and of power Doth not Saint Pâ—ul say that if all prophesie that is preach and expound the Gospell and there come in one that beleeueth not or is vnlearned he is rebuked of all men and is iudged of all and so the secrets of his heart are made manifest and so he will fall downe on his face and worship God and say plainely that God is in you indeed 1. Cor. 14 Lastly Ab effectis more plainely As the lightning commeth out of theEast shineth to the West Math. 24. And as the Sunnes going forth is from the end of heauen and his compasse vnto the end of the same and none hid from the heate thereof Psal. 19. So the efficacy and working of the Gospell was so sudden and so wonderfull that Saint Paul could say for his part only that from Ierusalem round about vnto Illyricum he caused to abound the Gospell of Christ Rom. 15. And for his time that the Gospell was come vnto all the world and was fruitfull euen as it was among them These wonderfull effects it wrought euen while the Apostles were aliue what maruell then if shortly after thâ— faith was so generally spred that Arnobius could say Nationibus sumus in cunctis We Christians are in all Nations And an hundred yeeres before him Iustin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That which the soule is in the body that wee Christians are in the world the soule is scattered through all parts of the body so are Christians in all Cities of the world c. And betweene them both Tertullian in his book against the Iewes that I speake of no more saith Euen the Getulians Moores Spaniards Galles Britannorum inaccessa Romanis lâ—ca And the Britans Land which the Romanes could not haue any footing in the Sarmatians also Germans and Scythians doe beleeue in Christ before whom the Gates of all Cities are throwne open and none are shut against him before whom also the Iron lockes are broken and the brazen Gates are opened that is the hearts of very many that were holden fast locked by the Deuill are now vnlocked by the faith of Christ. Thus Tertullian You see therefore how the Gospell did shew it selfe plainely to bee the power of God by the hasty generall spreading of it The same may appeare also by the strength of the forces that it did ouercome and throw downe If it had had to doe with Infants lately weaned from the brest that had receiued no former impression that were not seasoned with this or that liquor it had beene no mastery to haue brought them to the faith of Christ who were not rooted or grounded in any other nor could make resistance to any perswasion Argilla quiduis inuitaberis vda saith he And no hard matter for Turkes to make our Christian children Mahumedists when they snatch them from their parents in their tender yeeres before they can discerne betweene good and euill as it was no matter for the Spaniards to conquer the naked Indians Benzo an Italian traueller that had beene long in those Countries reporting that he durst be one of the twenty fiue that would fight with ten thousand nay twenty thousand of them Salmacida spolia sine sanguine sudore But now to encounter not ignorance onely but error not easily taken out of a deepe die strong illusions of Satan long-continued-will-worship generally-receiued superstition Oracles enchantments Idolatries and the same flourished ouer by wit and eloquence counteâ—anced by authority strengthened by miracle vpholden by Tyranny What could this be lesse then the wisedome of God and the power of God who was mighty in his Gospell and through his Gospell specially since it had to wrestle not with flesh and blood onely but with Principalities and Powers euen with the whole Host of hell When the Centurion saw the earthquake and the things that hapned at our Sauiours Passion hee confesseth saying Truely this was the Sonne of God Nay the Sorcerers Exod. 8. when they saw the dust turned into Lice vpon Aarons smiting the ground they readily acknowledged that it was the finger of God Nay Protogenes in Plinie vpon the sight of one small line drawne in his painting Table sâ—pposed presently that Apelles was in Towne Therefore we cannot escape iust reprehension to speak the least if being compassed with such a cloud of witnesses and hearing such a volly of reasons prouing and demonstrating the power of the Gospell wee shall not iustifie the assertion of Saint Paul and euen as the people cryed out vpon proofe that Helias made The Lord he is God The Lord he is God So we may exclaime The Gospell is the power of God It is so it is so What are we to learne hereby that the Gospell is the power of God Truly we of the ministry thus much that howsoeuer many times when we looke vpon the froward opposition that the world vseth to make and vpon our owne wants we begin
Rome his spouse all the while he is not our true father but a father in Law or rather against all Law nor she the true mother but a step-mother a putatiue mother like her in the 1 Kings that would haue had the child to be deuided For all the world he hath shewed himselfe such a kind of father as Saturne was who deuoured all his children that he could come at and whom Rhea hid not from him and she such a mother as Medea in the Tragedy who murthered all her sonnes that she had by her husband Iason and were sorry she had no more to murther that she might vexe him and grieue him more But as Moses said Our God is not as their god our enemies being witnesses so we may say Our father and King is not as theirs heauen and earth bearing record for their King is King of the Locusts Reu. 9. and himselfe the great Locust but our King is a King of peace and of bounty to speake the least and facilis placidusque pater veniaeque paratus as the Poet said So much of the person of the King I come now to the function and to the effect and to the instrument and I will but touch them slightly lest I should be tedious A King sitting on the Throne of Iudgement c. The Iewes write themselues and others write of them that while their Common-weale stood they had three kinds of Courts or places of Iudicature Batteidin the one in euery City where three chosen for the purpose sate and examined petite or light matters matters of trespasse and of debt this was the least Court but there were many of them The second was a greater Court and authorized to try matters of life and death the same consisted of the number of twenty three and was scattered thorowout the Tribes there were more than one for a Tribe The third and greatest and most solemne consisted of seuenty or as some would haue it of seuenty two those receiued Appeales from the other Courts and besides debated of matters of the State and of the Church This Court was holden at Hierusalem and in respect thereof it is thought the Psalmist speaketh so as he doth Psal. 122. For there Thrones are set euen the Thrones of the house of Dauid He doth not say Throne as of one but Thrones as of many by reason of the multitude of Iudges which made vp Sanhedrin as the Talmudists corruptly call it of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Howbeit as Genes 37. Iosephs sheafe stood vp-right and all the other sheaues did compasse it about and did reuerence vnto it and as Ezech. 1. it is said of the wheeles that when the liuing creatures went they went and when those stood they stood c. for the spirit of the liuing creatures was in the wheeles so we may say that all the fore-named Courts both greater and smaller were subiect vnto the Kings-bench as it were as receiuing their authority and commission from it and so to be commanded by it and not to exercise any iurisdiction ouer it Baronius in his Annals a booke more painefull than faithfull speaking of the Sanhedrin that great Court holden at Hierusalem saith that it had power not onely to determine spirituall matters but also to question and conuent euen Kings he instanceth it Horum namque iudicio Herodes Rex postulatus est and for this and Herods cruelty especially he citeth Iosephus in the Margin I cannot say of this allegation as Saint Paul saith of Epimenides his testimony This Testimony is true for indeed his allegation is not true Herod was no King then when he was conuented nor sonne of a King but subiect to King Hyrcanuâ— who caused him to be sent for vpon complaint and was content that he should make an escape because a kinsman of Caesars had written for him but that Herod was King when he was conuented or that that Court had power ouer Kings to conuent them this we finde in Baronius onely but it is not to be found in Iosephus The truth is Qui Rex est Regem Maxime non habeat that is He that is a King must not haue one aboue him for such a one is a King onely in name but in truth a subiect for vnto Kingly authority or Soueraignety it is essentiall to be supreme and absolute absolute I say from the prescript of all persons but not from the obseruing of his owne Lawes vnto the which he graciously submitteth himselfe For this cause King Salomon erected a Royall Throne as of Iuory and gold to signifie the sincerity of his proceeding and how farre it should be from corruption and with Stayes and Lions to signifie that he would maintaine Iustice euen by force and power if it were impugned So with six steps or greeces and no fewer to shew the eminency of his Court aboue all other whatsoeuer Courts and Consistories and that the statelinesse of the making might procure awe and reuerence to it from all degrees and callings his meaning was not by erecting that Throne to suppresse all other Courts by no meanes for that had beene to pull downe the whole burthen vpon his owne backe which Moses the man of God disclaimed as being too heauy for him but to teach vs that all other Courts were subordinate to it as to the Court of the Lord Paramount 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I meane that all other should receiue orders and iniunctions from it but not presume to giue orders and rules to it So then as wheresoeuer the King maketh his abode there the Court is said to be the Court Royall so wheresoeuer any Court of Iudicature is holden by the Kings authority there the King himselfe may be said to sit interpretatiuè It is not therefore meant in my Text that the Kings personall presence is alwayes necessary for the scattering away of euill but that his authority should be there and that worthy and sufficient men be appointed by him for the mannaging of the affaires of Iustice. Where the King sitteth himselfe if he so please or prouideth that wise and incorrupt Magistrates doe fit there all enormities and abuses are easily chased away and scattered The Kings wrath is as the râ—aring of a Lion The Magistrate vnder him beareth not the sword in vaine What if the wicked be mighty in power in wealth in kindred in friends in alliance yet he thaâ— sitteth vpon the Throne is mightier than they What if they be as thornes that will not be taken vp with the bare hand Yet the Magistrate being fenced with Iron or with the shaft of a Speare 2 Sam. 23. will be too hard for them and they shall be destroyed in the same place It is hard kicking against the pricke saith our Sauiour and it may be well said If a man fall vpon authority it will bruise him but if authority fall vpon a man it will