be said But seeing the pressing of Obedience will avail little with the Rebellious if the fear of Gods judgements and the punishments of him that beareth not the Sword in vain doth not terrisie them from disobedience for such is the frowardness of mans nature that he would never fear God if he thought God consisted all of mercy and were not as just as He is merciful Therefore as you heard how necessary is obedience so I intend by Gods help to shew you the just judgement of God and the punishment of the Rebellious and disobedient upon the words that you shall find in 2 Kings 9.31 Had Zimri peace that slue his Master The last Sermon that I Preached in this City was on the Day of our Humiliation for the unnatural Rebellion and the monstrous Murder of our late most gracious King Charles the First And that work I then told mine Auditors I knew not how to do it in any better way than by paralleling the transcendent murder of Jesus Christ by those wicked Jews that crucified him which was their true and lawful King with that late unnatural murder that our English-Jews have committed upon their own just and lawful King Charles the First and that parallel I then prosecuted à capite ad calcem And this Text that I have now read unto you seems to be a Question demanding What became of one and what should become of all others wicked murderers that like him and like the other two sorts of Jews should kill both their King and their Master And the words are a Speech made at the entrance of a brave Conquerer into a famous City that is of Jehu into Jezreel A custom very often used amongst all Nations to make solemn Speeches at the Inauguration of their Soveraign Kings and Emperours or when any Noble Person cometh to any famous City as the University Orator doth it in the Academy and the Recorder in other Cities And so Jezabel makes this Speech unto Jehu assoon as ever he entred into the Gates of Jezreel Had Zimri peace that slew his Master And we do read of two special Zimries in the Book of God and both of them wicked men Numb 25. The first you may read of in the 25th of Numbers where you may see 1. How that Israel contrary to the Command of God joyned himself to Baal-Peor and that one Zimri a Prince of a chief House among the Simeonites brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman named Cozbi the daughter of Zur that was Head over a people and of a chief House in Midian 2. How that for this transgression of God's Command the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel so that he said unto Moses Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the Sun that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel And Moses said unto the Judges of Israel Slay ye every one his men that were joyned to Baal-Peor And so they did that there were slain 24. thousand men 3. How that Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the Priest according to the Commandment of the Lord and of Moses took a Javelin in his hand and killed both Zâ—mri and Cozbi and that the Lord was so well pleased therewith that he rewarded him with the covenant of an everlasting Priesthood and stayed the plague from the children of Israel And the Prophet David saith that when the plague was so great among them Psal 106.30 then stood up Phinehas and prayed and so the plague ceased And our Presbyterians that find such fault with our Liturgy do say That we corrupt the Text because in the Original it is said That Phinehas stood up and executed judgement and so the plague ceased But their carping at this without cause hath been fully and sufficiently answered and may be easily and briefly done because he both prayed and executed judgement for the Text tells you plainly That the people were weeping before the door of the Congregation Verse 6 and so praying to God to turn away his anger from them and Phinehas rose from amongst the Congregation and killed them and then the plague ceased To teach us that the only sure way to turn away God's anger and the plagues that we deserve is not only to weep and mourn and be sorry for the wickednesse of the people but we must also execute judgement upon the transgressors Deut. 13.8 and as the Lord often sets it down Thine eye shall not pity them neither shalt thou conceal them but thou shalt surely kill them So shall you put away evil from among you and turn away the judgements of God from you which otherwise must still lie upon you because sins and especially great sins such as are Idolatry Rebellions and Murders and their punishments are so indiss lubly linked together that God seldom or never remits the one without inflicting the other And therefore he would not take away the plague from Israel until judgement was executed upon Zimri and Cozbi And this was the first Zimri that we read of and is not meant here in my Text. 2. 1 Kings 16.9 For the other Zimri you may read of him in 1 Kings 16.9 where you may find 1. How this Zimri conspired against his King and his Master and killed him and slew all the House of Baasha and left not one that pisseth against the wall neither of his kinsfolks nor of his friends 2. How that after this murder of their King and Zimri's possessing the Royal Throne all Israel was divided and most miserably embroyled in Civil Wars when some of them were with Zimri in Tyrza others with Tibni and the rest with Omri 3. What became of this Zimri and his conspirators that have wrought all these Wonders and most tragical Acts to kill their King and all the Kings friends how he went into the Palace of the Kings house and burnt the Kings house over him and died burning himself therein A just judgement of Almighty God against such as would conspire to kill their King And of this Zimri Jezabel demands the Question Had Zimri peace As if she should have said Is it possible that either Zimri or any one of them that conspired with Zimri and had any hand with him in the murder of their King and their Master or that very Kingdom that fostereth any of those murderers should have any peace or settlement or any happiness in the world until justice and judgement be executed upon such transcendent Malefactors For she conceived that as the wrath of God and his plagues were not turned away from Israel until Phinehas stood up and executed judgement upon the other Zimri and Cozbi so this Zimri and the Associates of this Zimri and all the kingdom that abetted him should never have peace nor happiness so long as judgement was unexecuted upon them as the example of Achan and abundance more doth make it plain that the
beseech Your Majesty to give me leave to make that Remonstrance to the World which I hope no man can contradict as That I was Your Father's Chaplain and waited on His Majesty six or seven years at least in the Moneth of December and when the Wars began though my ever honoured Lord and Master the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery was mis-led contrary to his Childrens desire to adhere unto the Parliament which fault can no ways be excused though I could say very much to lessen it because I knew the Uprightness of that Noble Person that was hoodwinked by the Subtlety of his Adherents yet my self according to my duty stuck to his Majesty and perswaded some of his Children that were my Scholars to do the like and I wrote my first Book against the Parliament which is intituled The Grand Rebellion and being fetched by a Troop of Soldiers was carryed Prisoner to North-hampton where the Committee had The Grand Rebellion in their Hands and had not God most mercifully and very strangely turned away their eyes from looking on it to preserve me I looked for no other end then to be utterly ruined but the Lord preserved me and delivered me out of their hands and the next Winter being in Oxford I printed my Discovery of Mysteries or The Plots of the pretended Parliament to overthrow both Church and State and on that very day that I was preaching in Saint Marie's before the Parliament then sitting in Oxford the Soldiers from Northhampton came and plundred my house and all my Houshold-stuff and about eight milch Kine and all that I had in Abthorp where my Wife and Children resided and sequestred my Lands to the use of the Parliament yet this Breach could not break my Loyalty to my King or my Heart in my Body but by the next Winter after I had written my third Book intituled The Rights of Kings and the Wickednesses of the pretended Parliament c. And according to my poor Ability out of the Means I had from Wales I gave unto His Majesties own Hand every Winter for three years together the Testimony of my Loyalty and Affection to the uttermost of my Power and His gracious Majesty did like a most gracious King most favourably accept of that Mite which I offered Him as Sir Bryan O-Neal and others do very well know And when Major General Mytton came and subdued our Country of Wales though the Arch-Bishop of York was my singular good Friend and very earnestly perswaded me to submit unto the Parliament and to use his own words said that I should fare no worse then he did but should sail in the same Boat and so sink or swim and so be saved or destroyed together yet I answered that I would never trust them that they would be true to me that wrote so many Books against them when they were so false unto their King that had been so gracious unto them and therefore I went and gave ten pound to a Parliament Captain to let me pass into Ireland by a most desperate Attempt under the hands and through the Pikes of mine Enemies that would have destroyed me had they but known me and there how faithfully and freely I have often preached for Obedience to his Majesty and against both the Inglish Scottish and the Irish Rebels the most Honourable Duke of Ormond his Grace and all the rest of the Council at Dublin can sufficiently testifie And when the most noble Marquess could not possibly preserve Ireland any longer but was fain to yield it up unto the Parliament and I had the Benefit of the Articles of Ireland confirmed and allowed unto me under the Hands of all the Commissioners that signed them I was taken at Sea in my Passage into Wales and pillaged of all that I had my Books Goods Money and Cloaths to the full value of an Hundred Pounds and then coming to the Parliament for to have the performance of the said Articles one Scot since executed for a Traitour demanded if I wrote not The Grand Rebellion and the other Books that I had written against the Parliament and I confessing the truth he asked if I deserved not rather to have my head cut off then to have the benefit of any Articles so I was feign to make mine Addresse to Sir Thomas Fairfax who very honourably wrote two Letters which after I shewed them I got againe and do still keep them as a memorial of his just and great favour unto me one to the Committee of North-hampton who presently restored me to all the Lands I had in that County the other to the Committee of Anglesey who though they were my near Kinsmen and some of them descended from the House of Owen Tydder the Grand-Father of Henry the Seventh as well as my self yet very unjustly and unfriendly they denied to restore me to my Means in that County so that I was feign to make my second Address to his Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax who again as honourably as formerly wrote to Major General Mytton to put me into all my Possessions but before I could come to General Mytton Anglesey was revolted from the Parliament and besieged by Mytton and the Means of the Deanerie that belonged unto me was Alienated from the Church and taken quite away and so ever since I was forced to live upon less means then twenty pounds per annum though my ever honoured Lord the Earle of Pembrook and Mountgomery offered to procure me a Living in Lancashire worth 400. l. per annum so I would submit my self to the Parliament which with many thanks unto his Lordship for his favour I utterly refused and though other Bishops accepted and received each one 100. pounds a year from Mr. Henry Cromwell that offered the same very courteously unto me yet knowing how unjustly he had power to bestow it and how I should be fettered if I accepted it I refused to take it and resolved to accept of no Salarie Gratuity gift or Benevolence from any man to this very day but to be very well contented with the poor estate that God had left me and when as divers Royalists and other good Christians seeing my mean estate and considering my much Sufferings did offer me and sent unto me divers sums of Monies I refused them all and was faine before they left sending to me to desire them publikely in the Pulpit at Dublin to offer no more of their gifts and benevolence unto me for whose love and good will I did most heartily thank them because I Preached not in expectation of any reward but resolved to refuse the same in hope that they would the rather beleive the truth of my Doctrine as I thank God I saw many of them did though many others were much offended with me so that I was forced to leave Dublin and so fell to my Prayeres and Studies more and more to discover The Great Anti-Christ comforting my self herein that if I was not mightily mistaken in
youngest son as it hapned afterward unto Hiel the Bethelite So would the instruments of Satan deal with all Gods Prophets 1 Reg. 16.24 as Jehu did with the Prophets of Baal and as it hapned to Segub and Abiram the sons of Hiel after the re-edifying of Jericho And did not the Long-Parliament take the same course to root out all the Bishops all the Hierarchy and all Episcopall men all must down root and branch and not one of them must be left Alas alas were they all wicked or did some offend and must all be condemned for the offence of few or will they shew themselves like the implacable goddesse which as the Poet saith Exurere classem Argivûm atque ipsos voluit submergere ponto Unius ob noxam furias Ajacis Oilei destroyed all the Navie and drowned all the Argives for one mans fault This is to condemn the righteous with the wicked and the Lord saith the Judges should justifie the righteous Deut. 25.1 and condemn the wicked and not to condemn the righteous for the wicked nor with the wicked for the Poet speaking of some lewd women saith Parcite paucarum diffundere crimen in omnes Spectetur meritis quaeque puella suis Though some be loose and wanton yet must you not for this blame those that are honest so though some of the Bishops might perhaps be found unworthy of so high a calling Is that a sufficient argument to destroy them all Yet such hath been the Devils Logick to perswade his late Schollars to make their distruction as universal as Noahs deluge to take them all away And so much shall serve for the first point 2 The killing of the Preachers i.e. The progression of these persecutors in their wickednesse which is the persecution of the Prophets The next point is 2. Occidio praedicatorum And that is their progression and their going forward in their wickednesse more and more As the Sun goeth higher and higher unto the perfect day so do they go from one sin unto another still from the lesser unto the greater for they have not only persecuted the Prophets saith this holy Martyr but they have also slain them which shewed before of the coming of the just one that is the Preachers of Jesus Christ wherein you may behold as in a glasse the lively perfect picture of all wicked men and the innate inseparable condition of all malicious persecutors that is to proceed from bad to worse from one step to another from one degree of evill to a viler untill at last they fall into the bottomlesse gulph of all the most horrid wickednesse and as the Poet saith Flumina magna vides parvis de fontibus ortâ— Plurima collectis multiplicantur aquis From a small fountain thou maist see great flouds to arise and many waters to make great Seas so from the small seeds of these mâ—ns â—â—â—ice their sins ascend to the top of intolerable mischief or rather descend to the bottomiesse gulf of their own unavoidable destruction for so Cain at first was but angry with his brother because the Lord accepted him and liked better of his sincerity than of the others hypocrisie then Acrior ad pugnam redit vim suscitat ira he began to hate and to maligne him after that malitia excoecavit eum his malice moved him to persecute him and last of all most inhumanely to kill him So Pharaoh first envied the prosperity of the children of Israel because he thought that Fertilior seges est alienis semper in agris God blessed them and all that they had better then he blessed him then vim injuriam intulit he began to oppresse them by laying hard taxes and most cruel labours upon them and then he killed their children and in all likelyhood would have killed them if God had not delivered them out of his hands And the reason of this their progression in wickednesse The reason why the wicked grow from bad to worse is truly rendred by Seneca Quia omne scelus majori scelere tuetur every hainous and most wicked deed can never subsist and be upheld but by a more wicked deed and therefore the Lyar will swear and forswear himself to justifie his lye the robber will kill the honest traveller for fear he should accuse him and the Rebell that riseth to resist and to warre against his King and the Traytor that betrayeth his King never thinks himself safe untill he can be the death of his King so the Hereticks maintain their heresies and errors with far greater heresies and the Presbyterians that oppose and refuse to be directed by their Diocesans think themselves never satisfied untill they see the Bishops wholly supprest and destroyed And so the Jewes walked in the same steps and dealt after the same manner with Gods Prophets And so likewise ever since the wicked worldlings deal with the true Preachers of Jesus Christ for the whole companie of Gods children knowes what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great gulph and a huge distance and difference not in nature originally figmentum unum when as all men are made from the same lump but in generality and condition there is and hath been ever seen betwixt the Lay Commonalty and the learned Clergy of any Land and how as Ismael that was born after the flesh persecuted his own brother Isaac that was born after the Spirit so the Lay-worldlings do ever maligne and persecute unto death all the right spiritual Clergy-men And this persecution we of the Clergy have felt now of late to the very height when very very many of the very best of them that did feed daintily even with the Kings dishes were as the Prophet saith left desolate in the street and glad to sustain their lives with a little Barley bread and Glass-door and they that were clad in Scarlet were driven to embrace the dung-hills Jerem. 4.5 and be clad in rags and with Joshua the high Priest to be clothed with filthie garments Zechary 3 3. and so were made the scorn and Table-talk of their neighbours and blamed that they did not live and go according to their degrees and calling when as the Proverb is ultra posse non est esse none is able to do beyond his ability and he onely that weares the shooe knoweth where it pincheth him And as the Jews not only persecuted the Prophets but also slew the Preachers so many of us were slain some with the sword of these mercilesse men and many more with hunger and want Zechar. 3 3.1 when their hearts were broken with the extremity of grief and the weight of those miseries that were laid upon these good men were far heavier then the pillars could support And so this persecution thus proceeding did far exceed all former persecutions beyond Nero's tyranny and Dioclesians cruelty and was of the same kind but of a higher strain than Julians stratagems which was not only to suppresse Presbyteros
to confesse their sins and to bewail his death Nay they were so far from returning or repenting them of their wickedness that their hearts being hardned harder than Pharaoh's heart they still proceed in malice and because any eulogy of him they thought obloquy unto themselves and his praise to be their shame they neither permitted him a Funeral Sermon nor provided a Tomb for his burial and therefore in all likelihood he had goue without one had not providence according to Prophesie provided him a Sepulcher from an honourable Counsellour which had lodged this King while he was alive in his heart and now being dead he layes him in his own Grave But it may be said That as S. Peter saith Ob. Pilate and the children of Israel did but what the hand and counsel of God bad determined before to be done and therefore this their proceeding against their King being but a lowly submission or a dutiful execution of Gods providence it cannot be so offensive unto God I answer Sol. 1 1. That Gods counsel was secret and unknown unto them and they had no revelation nor commandment from God to do it therefore they are inexcusable for doing it 2. Though S. Peter saith God had determined this to be done yet he doth not say that God determined to do it by them and in that manner and for that cause as they did it Therefore though the counsel of God for the doing of it had been revealed unto them yet this can be no excuse unthem unless God had commanded them to be the actors of it 3. Though they had known Gods mind and that his mind was that they should be the actors of this Tragedy yet Gods end being salus populi the salvation of all faithful people and their end being to satisfie their own malice and ambition to get the inheritance of the Church and the Kingdom to themselves the counsel of God to do it cannot justifie them in their wicked deeds And therefore all these things rightly weighed it will appear that Gods counsel was most just in it self and most gracious for us and their proceeding most unjust without warrant without authority and will be found at the last Day with all other like proceedings without excuse and themselves to be most malicious murderers of their King And now as Apelles or Timantes having drawn the sad and mournful countenance of the Mourners for Iphigenia to the uttermost height of his skill when he came to expresse the same in Agamemnon her father because his art could go no higher than he had gone and that it could not reach to express her fathers grief he was fain to draw a vail over Agamemnon's face and to leave it to the consideration of the beholders to conceive how infinite must be the sorrow of her dear father that so dearly loved her So I having painted out the horrible vileness of the murderers of their Just King to the uttermost of mine art and not able to shew half the damnability thereof I must put a Curtain before my Tablet and leave it to your thoughts to consider if you can imagine that it is possible for any Orator to expresse the unutterable and incomprehensible damnability of this Fact and the execrable villany of those Traytors that have murdered their own just King And now 3. 3 Part. Who were the murderers of this just King For the murderers that have killed their Just King I am to shew you who these Traytors and murderers were and we find in this Chapter and the precedent Chapter that they were the people and the Elders of the people the Scribes and the Priests and the whole multitude and the Evangelist adds the Pharisees the Sadduces the Lawyers and the Rulers of the people A strange and a wonderful thing that so many of several Sects of several Degrees and several dispositions should notwithstanding conspire together to put to death their own just and lawful King But you have heard of the Treason and Murder and the cruel handling of this King and you have seen and do know how our own King hath been likewise used and all this we can it may be patiently hear but when Nathan tells David Thou art the man and when I tell these Jews de quibus narratur fabula These and these were the men that did it and were the Actors in this wicked Tragedy or if I should name the Actors of the other Tragedy that our English Jews acted against their own King I know not how they would wring and bite and kick against me Yet howsoever I will as briefly as I can go over them all that the Scripture speaks of that when you find or see any of the Actors of the other later Tragedy and Regicides like these Murderers of their King you may dislike them and specially beware of them And 1. Because the Pharisees were most powerfull and most numerous 1 The Pharisees like our zealous seduced and hypocritical Saints I will begin with them that first began to quarrell with their King and you must know that they were but of yesterday a new-sprung Sect not so much as once mentioned in all the Old Testament but as soon as ever he peeps out of his shell he runs away like the Lapwing out of his nest and separates himself from the Church i.e. the Congregation of his neigbours Why the Pharisees separate themselves from all others for which cause he is termed Pharisaeus quasi segregatus and the reason of his separation is because he thinks all others prophane carnall and worldly and himself with the rest of his Sect to be the only holy Saints and servants of God And indeed we find that they exceeded all the common sort of men in five speciall things as 1. In Tything 2. In Fasting 3. In Praying and Preaching Their Religion 4. In a fair Language 5. In sanctifying the Sabbath For 1. For tythes they will not omit Mint and Cummin nor any of the least things untythed 2. For Fasting they must do it twice in every week 3. For Praying they used it often and made long prayers Matth. 6.23 and openly not caring who did see them but rather defirous that all men should take notice how devout they were in their prayers and so they were for the preaching the word of God and they were most diligent to hear Sermons insomuch that rather then they would be without the word preached Matth. 3 they will go to hear John the Baptist 4. For their fair language Christ himself tells us that they being evill yet speak good things and so when they came to intrap him Matth. 12.24 Their diffimuâ— lation they began with fair words and say Master and so in all their carriages when they meant to play the devill they spake like Saints as when they laboured what they could to be the death of Christ yet they come unto him as if they were his greatest friend and tell him
malicious treacherous and murderous ill properties for great Courtiers that ought to be as well good as great else are they but a great shame among men and a great staine unto all their posterity 10. 10 The common people for the most part had a hand in his death by a three fold imployment As salus populi the good of the people and the liberty of the subjects was one main pretended cause why these murderers kild their King ne gens pereat lest if he lived the Nation should be destroyed so the people upon all occasion must be ready at hand to serve their turn and to do the services wherein these their grand Masters shall imploy them and this imployment we find to be three fold 1. Mar. 14.43 When their King is to be taken they must be sent armed with swords and staves to apprehend him 2. They must draw petitions for some base and unworthy thing as they did Math. 27.20 when they petitioned that Barabbas a thief and a murderer might be released and their King crucified 3. They must come to the Judgment-Hall or place of Judicature and for fear the King should find some favour from him that knew him innocent they must with loud voices cry for justice and double their desires for execution and all this saith the Evangelist was done by the multitude Math. 27.20 Hosi-anna as they were perswaded by the Priests and Presbyters Ah silly people that even now cry Hosanna serva quaeso Save Lord and now presently Crucifige that loved their King as his enemies confess and yet joyn with his enemies to kill their King and never ask What hath he done but this we will do to please them that set us on the work Who then but a mad man would repose trust in a multitude of men and relie upon a broken reed a reed that wavers with every winde And not only so but to shew the baseness of these base people for I know not how to say their envy or their malice that they should maligne their King who had done them good every way and no harm to any of them when Pilate a heathen Judge and a stranger to the Jews shall profess him to be a just person Math. 27.24 and therefore wash his hands from the blood of the innocent man this giddy multitude of rude people the generation of vipers that gnaw out the bowels of their own dams the brethren of Cain and the children of their father the Devil Joh. 8.44 that hath been a murderer from the beginning do cry out as vengeance doth require Math. 27.25 His blood be upon us and upon our children What Nefandum scelus a most fearfull thing when the blood of our own just King unjustly murdered by so many sorts of men that had their hands imbrued with his blood shall like Abels blood cry to God for vengeance against us and our children for ever O let us rather repent and desire of God that the blood of this lamb Jesus Christ may wash away these our bloody sins And thus I have shewed you the chiefest Actors in this bloody Tragedy all the whole Kingdom of Jury rebelling against their King and most Traiterously betraying him to an Ignominious death save only some few followers of Christ of whom this King foretold what should betide them some of them should be killed and some persecuted from City to City for Math. 23.34 as S. Basil said of Herod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his meat was the flesh and his drink was the blood of men so these Regicides will never leave a follower of this King untill like the Whore in the Revelations Revel 7.6 they be drunk with the blood of the Saints and thereby shew themselves as they are 1. Vnsatiable because they never leave till they be drunk 2. Vnmercifull because they will be drunk with blood and 3. Vnjust because no blood will serve them but the blood of the Saints and servants of this King the witnesses of Gods truth And therefore let all the lovers of this King look to themselves because the branches must needs wither when the root is plucked up And besides these followers of Christ that loved him we find some others that had no hand in killing him and those were the Samaritans a people as much hated by the Jews as Papists are by the Puritans and though this King confer'd upon the Jews beneficia nimis copiosa multa magna and did nothing at all for these Samaritans save only to pitty them and hinder the fiery Zâ—lots the two sons of Zebedee to destroy them by calling for fire out of Heaven to consume them as Elias did the two Captains and their fifties yet we do not read that either they hated the person or sought the life of this King no more do I find that any Papist joyned with the Parliament of England and the Conquerors of our King to put King Charles to death which I believe will be sufficient witnesses to rise in judgment to condemn them that have condemned the King at the last day Thus I have passed over all or most of the acts and scenes of this Tragedy and I might here end but that as the Prophet saith abyssus abyssum invocat and one Tragedy requires another and the destruction of this King and his followers cals for destruction upon the destroyers that like Damocles's sword hangs by a feeble thread ready to fall upon their necks for the Prophet David demands the question Shall they escape for their wickedness And he doth immediatly answer The Lord shall destroy both the blood-thirsty and deceitfull men and all these men that I have shewed being most deceitfull and very much thirsting after blood and that blood not of the basest people but of the best of men their Prophets their Preachers and their own most just and pious King it must needs pull destruction upon their heads Therefore Christ in the parable of the Vineyard saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 21.41 The Lord will miserably destroy them that is 1. Them that plotted to take away his inheritance 2. Them that consulted to take away his life 3. Them that so unjustly put him to death 4. Them that abused and wronged his servants that sought to defend his right And 5. I feare me them that might have helped to protect both their King and his servants and did not for if any where then surely here that axiome must hold good Qui non vetat peccare quum potest ipse peccat and that too-ill-applied Sentence so protect rebels assist murderers by our seducing brethren in the 5. of Judges where Debora saith Curse ye Meros curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty must needs be applied to them that had ability to defend their King and to relieve his oppressed servants and yet suffered them to be destroyed by
executing of justice and judgement upon Idolaters and Murderers and the like haynous offenders and not suffering them to live still in pride and prosperity amongst us is the only thing to procure peace and to turn away God's anger from any Nation And therefore Jezabel doth peremptorily demand of Jehu Had Zimri peace that slew his Master Touching which words I shall humbly desire you to consider these two special things 1. The Speaker And 2. The Speech And And 1. The Speaker is said to be Jezabel the Wife of Ahab King of Israel and the Daughter of Eth-baal King of the Zidonians touching whom you may consider these three particulars 1. That she was a Noble woman Three things observable in Jezabel 2. She was a Witty woman 3. She was a Very-very wicked woman For 1. She was as I told you doubly innobled by Birth and by Marriage and so she was to be respected as Jehu that caused her to be killed hath himself confessed that she ought to be honoured and regarded as she was a Kings Daughter And the very Heathens testifie as much That à principibus nasci praeclarum est It is an excellent thing to be born of Noble Princes When with the Poet we can say Maecoenas aetavis edite regibus And therefore Solomon saith though not altogether Grammatically to be understood yet literally very true Blessed art thou O Land Eccles 10.17 when thy King is the Son of Nobles And on the other side Most wretched is that Land as our Land hath lately been when a rustick Marius or a Valerius Armentarius or a Potter's son like Dionysius or any other of such like mean abstract shall either by policy flattery or subtilty come to obliterate the Nobility and to sit in the Throne of Soveraignty as the very Histories both of the Greeks and Latines do afford us store of examples to confirm this truth As when Maximinus from a Shepherd in Thracia became an Emperour in Rome and Dioclesian that had been a Bondman and was made free by Aemilianus a Senator became in like manner to be the Emperour he proved to be one of the worst and the most bloody persecutor of all the Emperours And the Reason hereof is because as the Poet truly faith Asperius nihil est humili cùm surgit in altum Nothing is more cruel than a mean man raised high and none is prouder than the Beggar when he is mounted on his palfrey he will then ride you knew where the Proverb saith ut fluvialibus undis Extumuit terrens fluit acriùs amne Perenni As the Land-flood swelling high is ever more violent than the continual running stream So no kingdom can be more miserable than that where as Jotham said the Bramble shall reign over the Vines and the Olives or Abimelech Judges 9. the son of a Maid-servant and a Subject shall suppresse and destroy all the Royal children of Jerub-baal that had deserved so well at the hands of Israel And the examples of Maion Cleander and Sejanus confirm this truth unto us For this Maion was of mean parentage whose father was a Shop-keeper selâ—ing Oil but from that mean degree William King of Sicily raised him to be Chancellor and chief Admiral of Sicily and then enriched him beyond measure and favoured him above all his Nobles and he abusing his wealth and his power The notable treachery of Maion was insatiable in his lust spared no cruelty to surther his own designs and fell at length into a conceit of a kingdom and being expert to fain and to dissemble what he pleased he began to perswade his friends to depose King William and to defend his ambition by the deposition of King Chilperick and the choosing of King Pipin the son of Charles Martel in his stead which proved so fortunate to all the Kingdom of France And Herodian sets down the very like proceedings of Cleander The ambition of Cleander that was a Phrygian born and of that rank of men that are used to be sold publickly by the Cryer yet coming to the Emperour's Court young Commodus takes him for his servant and raised him to that honour to be both Captain of the Guard chief Chamberlain and General of all his Forces and then pride and ambition prickt him forward to aspire unto the Empire Herod l. 2. and he had dispatched his Master had not Faxilla the Sister of Commodus revealed his plots unto her Brother The unparalleld pride and ambition of Sejanus And Valerius Maximus inveighs most bitterly against Sejanus as Camerarius explains the passage of Valerius for his aspiring thoughts against Tiberius which if it had prevailed would have paralleld yea and out-gone the surprising of Rome by the Gauls the slaughter of those 300. of one Noble Stock the Allian day the Scipio's opprest in Spain the Trasimene lake the Cannae and AEmathian fields swimming in civil blood And therefore Sextus Aurelius Victor saith That so far as his wit goes he finds it most certain that the basest men when they have climbed to any height are of all others the most proud and ambitious And Camerarius saith that experience witnesseth That commonly those who from the stock of Tradesmen or sordid Paisants rise to places of worth either by their Wit or Fortune Who most pernicious to the Common-wealth are far prouder and more pernitious to the Common-wealth than those of a Noble and Antient Race So that it was well said of old Porters bear rule and the bad are set over the good I fear lest the floods will sink the Ship when these base and ignobly-born sons of the earth do envy the Nobles and sit at the stern to rule the roste For as Claudian observeth Nothing is more cruel than a mean man raised high He strikes at all while all be fears le ts fury flie So far as power can no beasts such fiercenesse have Or rage as hath o're freeman a domineering slave But as the Italian proverb is Apes the higher they go An Italian Proverb the more they lay open their shame so it fareth with these insolent fellowes that at last they will be hated of all and then come to a miserable end as it happened to this zimri Sejanus Maion Cleander Perennius and infinite others of later times and in our own time Yet I deny not but some of them though very seldome may prove vertuous as we find many of them that were the sons of Nobles to degenerate and like this Jezabel to become very wicked 2. This woman Jezabel was a very witty woman for here her speech is 3 Jezabel was a witty and a well educated woman sententia brevis very short but materia uberrima the matter is so full and so excellent that no Sage no Philosopher no Oratour nor scarce Prophet could comprehend more truth and a more observable Lesson more briefly and more plainly than she doth in these few words Had Zimri peace that slew his
that end the Lord gave unto his people the same Law the same Sacraments and the same Gospell that the same God might have the same worship in all places and that his people might believe the same faith use the same prayer receive the same Sacraments and do the same publick service unto God in every City and in every place that so they might attain unto the same end which is the kingdom of heaven And therefore the Reverend Bishops and Governours of Gods Church were so careful herein to preserve the unity of the Church and the uniformity of Gods service that they prescribed the same prayers the same Psalms The set form of prayers and service of God justified 1. By the people of God the same Chapters and the same Service to be used in all Churches that all the world might know we worship the same God And to justifie this their practice of a set form of Prayers and Service of God they have 1. The Precept of God himself saying unto Moses Speak unto Aaron and to his sons saying On this wise ye shall blesse the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord blesse thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee Numb 6.22 and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and so likewise he prescribeth unto them the very prayer that they should make and the very words that they should use both as they went forth and as they returned home from Battle for when the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up O Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when the Ark rested Numb 10.35 he said Return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel and the Prophet David useth the very same prayer and the same words saying Let God arise Psal 68.1 and let his enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him 2. 2 By the Precept of Christ Luke 12.2 They have the Precept of Christ himself that biddeth us to use that prayer which he taught us saying When ye pray say Our Father which art in heaven c. 3. 3 By the practice of the godly people in the Old Testament They have the practice of the godly people of the Old Testament as you may see the very words that they were to use in Gods service when they offered their first fruits and the very prayer that they were to make in Deut. 26. from the third verse to the tenth and verse 13. And so the very words that the Priests were to use unto the people when they came nigh unto the battle as you may see in Deut. 20.3 And the godly King Hezechias made certain Psalms after his recovery from his sicknesse and saith We will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord Esay 38.20 and when he reformed the service of God that the people had neglected and the wicked Kings had corrupted he prescribed a set form of Gods worship and commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord not as every simple Priest 2 Chro. 29 30. or silly Levite pleased but with the words of David and Asaph the Seer And Mr. Selden in his Notes upon Eutychius sheweth Selden in Eutych pag. 41. dist ad pagin 25. that since Ezra's time when after their return from Babylon the true Service of God was restored the Jews constantly used a set form of Gods worship in all their Synagogues every Synagogue using the same Service 4. They have the practice of all the Saints under the New Testament 4 By the practice of all the Saints under the New Testament Luke 11.1 Matth 26.44 Psal 22.1 as 1. Of John Baptist that taught his disciples a Set form of serving God and a set form of Prayer 2 Of Christ himself that used the same form of prayer and repeated the same words three times together and commanded us to do the like and when he was upon the Crosse he used the very words of the Psalmist changeing onely the Hebrew phrase into the Syriack Dialect 3. Of the Primitive Church as the Lyturgy of Saint James Saint Basil S. Chrysostom and the short Form of serving God which Saint Peter left at Rome and the other which Saint Mark left at Alexandria do sufficiently testifie 4 Of the whole Catholick Church as it appeareth out of Cassander and other Writers of the Lyturgica And Therefore the religious Emperour Constantine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb de vità Const l. 4 c 17. rendered Set Formes of prayers unto the Christians saith Eusebius and his Nobles used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prayers that the Emperour liked and they were all brought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pray the same prayer yea he prescribed a Set Form of Service for his souldiers Idem l. 4. c. 20. as the same Eusebius testifieth And Saint August saith that Sursum corda lift up your hearts are words ab ipsis Apostolorum temporibus petita used in the Church of Christ even from the very times of the Apostles and are agreeable to the Constitutions of the Apostles L. 8. c. 16. 5. They have the practice of the Heathens that were so wise herein 5 By the practice of the heathens Plato de legibus l. 7. Alexand ab◠Alexand. l. 4. c. 17. Why the Gentiles used the same set prayers in their service as to use the same Service to every false god as both Plato and Alexander ab Alexandro do bear witnesse and they caused their prayers to be read out of a Book 1. That so the people might learn to repeat the same Prayers with the Priest when the same Prayers are constantly used in Gods service which they shall never be able to do when they shall have a new Prayer and a new Service upon every new day 2. Their Prayers were prescribed and read lest the simple and ignorant Priest should ask of God any evill thing that should not be asked and 3. Ne quid preposterè dicatur their Petitions were set down in verbis conceptis as we use to send messages to great persons in these and these very words lest we should offend either in the matter or in the manner in the thing requested or in the words wherein we have requested it Out of all which you may perceive how necessary it was for the Governours of Gods Church to see that the same God should have the same Service and that very Service which himself prescribeth and not what new Prayers and new worship in what Form and under what words soever every ignorant Priest should extemporarily pour forth to the Almighty God For if we ought to be very carefull to keep our feet when we go to the house of God Eccles 5.1 then how much more carefull ought we to be to keep our mouths and look to
the onely good Shepherd and in all other respects whatsoever is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good Shepherd and indeed the onely Shepherd that is simply and absolutely good For Though Abel was a good Shepherd and Jacob was another good Shepherd Gen. 31.40 so carefully watching over his flock that in the day the drought consumed him and the frost by night and his sleep departed from his eyes and Moses was such another Psal 77.20 of whom the Prophet saith that God led his people like sheep by the hands of Meses and Aaron and so David was an excellent Shepherd that ventured his life to save his sheep and to pull it out of the Lions teeth and when God took him away from the sheep-folds that he might feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance the Spirit of God tells us that he fed them with a faithful and true heart Psal 78.73 Esay 44.28 and ruled them prudently with all his power And of Cyrus the Lord said He is my Shepherd and Homer calleth Agamemnon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Shepherd of the people and so not onely the Apostles and Bishops but also Constantine Theodosius King James and King Charls and all other religious Kings and pious Princes as Nehemiah the good Lieutenant of Jury under Artaxerxes King of Persia to whom if it were not for suspicion of flattery which is one of the basest of all vices and the worst kind of Scotization you may see what Minshaw meaneth by that word I might truly parallel his Excellency our Lord Lieutenant The now Duke of Ormond and many more have been very good Shepherds of Gods sheep Yet they were all and put them all together very very far short of this Shepherd in my Text which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that good Shepherd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transcendently and which in all the foresaid respects and in all other respects whatsoever excelleth all the most excellent Shepherds in the world And so much shall serve to be spoken at this time of the good properties of this good Shepherd 2. As the children of God are termed Sheep in respect of Christ 2 Gods people are termed Sheep in respect of themselves Geminianus de exemplis l. 5. c. 46. 1. In respect of their innocency 2 Sam. 24.17 which is their chief Shepherd so they are likewise stiled Sheep in respect of the Analogie and resemblances betwixt them and Sheep which as Geminianus saith are in these six speciall points 1. Innocency of life for as nature gave the sheep neither horns to hurt nor claws to scratch nor teeth to bite so the children of God do nothing to the hurt of any other they neither hate their neighbour in their hearts nor strike him with their hands nor traduce him with their tongues nor think any evil or wish any hurt to him in their thoughts and therefore when David saw the Angel that smote the people in Hierusalem he said Lo I have sinned but these sheep what have they done as if he should have said these poor men that are like sheep so harmless and so innocent what hurt could they do either in themselves or to any others Et haec vera innocentia est quae nec sibi nec aliis nocet and that is the true innocency saith S. Aug. which hurteth neither himself nor his neighbours 2. 2 In respect of their patience They are resembled unto Sheep for their patience in suffering all kinds of injuries and indignities for as the Prophet sheweth and Gods people findeth it For thy sake are we killed all the day long Psal 44.22 and are counted as sheep appointed to be slain Where you may see 1. Where observe 1. The Cause The cause of their sufferings is expressed not for theft murder adultery or the like wicked acts but Propter te for Gods cause for obeying his will and being loyal to our Superiours and not treacherous unto our lawful Governours and so for being faithful in Gods service by publishing the truth and not carried away with every new form of service and every wind of false doctrine this is cause enough to suffer and this is propter te for thy sake O God which is our onely comfort 2. 2 The Sufferings Here is the sufferings of Gods sheep and servants specified we are mortified or killed And that is 1. By our selves in our repentance and contrition for our sins every day or all the day long that is throughout our whole life according as the Apostle saith we die daily that is to sin and for our sin And then 2. We are killed by others when with the rest of the Martyrs we are as we have been not long since throughout all this Kingdome robbed of our good names filled with reproach plundered of our estates banished from our dwellings clapt up in prisons and then led as sheep unto the slaughter In all which and in all other sufferings I know no better remedy then what our Saviour prescribeth to us in our patience to possess our souls which may be lost for want of patience but will be supported and eased if we will be like sheep patient and silent in our sufferings Quia levius fit patientia Horatius quicquid corrigere est nefas because the more we struggle when we are in the briars the more we shall be scratched and intangled and the less able we shall be to bear our indignities and the less we murmure the less will be our sufferings and the more favours we shall finde at the hands of God and therefore the Poet could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We ought to suffer patiently whatsoever God layeth upon us and so the Saints of God do suffer whatsoever is laid upon them as you may see in the said 44 Psalm from the 10. v. to the 22. 3. 3 In respect of their obedience C. 10. v. 4. Damase l. 3. c. 4 They are resembled to Sheep in respect of their obedience to do the commands of God for as the Sheep do follow the Shepheards whistle and do know his voice so do the servants of God obey the voice of Christ listening to his words with their ears Unde veteres dicebant obaudio pro obedio imbracing it in their souls Quia obedientia est voluntatis propriae subjectio preceptis Dei which they are most ready to peform to say with him in Plautus Plaut trin Adsum impera quidvis neque tibi ero in mora neque latebrosè me abs tuo conspectu occultabo For Aug. in Gen. l. 9. habetur 33. q. 5. c. est ordo as S. Aug. truly saith Est ordo naturalis in hominibus ut serviat foeminae viris filii parentibus quia in illis haec est justitia ut majori serviat minor it is the order of nature among men that the women should serve the men children their parents servants their masters and subjects
Copy hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza translates Non norunt vocem alienorum they know not the voice of strangers as our English translation hath it very right Therefore I conceive that by the stranger Whom doth Christ mean by the stranger and who by the strangers he meaneth that foolish Idol Shepherd whereof the Prophet Zachary speaketh that should come in the time of Christ to be the type of the great Anti-christ that should be manifested in our time and by the other strangers he meaneth those many Anticks that S. John speaks of the Hereticks and false Prophets that from time to time and now more then at any other time Ier. 14.14 c. 23.21 do intrude themselves into the Sacred Function of the Ministry and as the Prophet Jeremy saith do run when Christ hath not sent them and do speak what he hath not commanded them but do preach the lying inventions of their own heads to seduce the sheep of Christ to follow the Anti-christ and to relinquish the true received worship of the living God But the true and right sheep of Christ will hear none of these nor follow after any of them for they know that as they which are not lawfully called or allowed to be the lawful Ministers of Gods Word should not preach and cannot do it without great offence to God that may justly say to them as he doth to the Jews by his Prophet Quis avobis requisivit hac Who hath required these things at your hands So they cannot hear them without the like offence to God yea though they should preach the truth and nothing but the truth unto them for as Christ reproved Satan and bad him hold his peace when he spake the very truth that he was the Son of God because he had no Commission to be the Embassador of Christ to publish that truth unto his people so shall they be sharply censured by God though they preach the very truth when they are not lawfully called and have no Commission from God to do the same 2 Chro. 26.21 I think the fearful Judgement of God upon King Uzzia for invading the Priests office and upon Uzza for doing that which appertained to the Levites to do 1 Chron. 13.10 and upon King Saul for offering Sacrifice to the Lord should be a sufficient warning for them to take heed how they thrust themselves into the Ministry for King Uzzia presuming to burn Incense unto the Lord which appertained to the Priests the sons of Aaron to do the Lord suddenly smote him with Leprosie and so he continued a Leper to his dying day And Uzza putting forth his hand to hold up the Ark when the Oxen shook it which belonged only unto the Levites to carry it the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza that he smote him dead in the very place and Saul lost his Kingdome for his intrusion into the Priests Office and how date these men to intrude themselves into this Sacred Office to be the Embassadors of Christ to declare his will and to expound his meaning without Commission And if they should dare to preach how dare the sheep of Christ hear their voice when as Christ tells us plainly his sheep will not hear the voice of strangers and the Lord commands them by his Prophet not to hearken to those whom he hath not sent And Solomon saith Ier. 27.14 c. 29.8 Cease my son to hear the instruction that causeth to erre from the words of knowledge Prov. 19.27 Surely none would do it but that we love to shew our selves to be the children of Adam and to stretch forth our hands to the forbidden fruit and as the Poet saith Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata We long to do what we are forbidden and will the rather do it because it is forbidden like the man that for some just impediment never went out of his house but being for some offence injoyned to keep his house he was so moved for the debarring of his liberty that to cross the command of his Superiours and to become liable to his censure he would needs presently walk abroad and so with Shimei 1 Reg. 2.46 Our wilfulness to do what we are forbidden bring himself to death And so it is with us we will not hear when we are commanded to hear and we long to hear those that we are forbidden to hear as if God envied our good when he forbad us when as he forbids nothing but for our good as when we forbid a man to drink poyson that it might not kill him 2. Having heard how the sheep of Christ are called Secunda pars I know them it followeth that I should shew how they are justified in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I know them that is I do acknowledge them for my sheep and do own them for my people for my servants and for my children for there be very many that go under the shape and shew of Gods sheep and are indeed the Foxes Wolves and Lyons of Satan of whom Christ never saith I know them but rather Depart from me I know you not you workers of iniquity Yet these subtil Foxes and these Wolves in sheeps cloathing The wicked and the hypocrite not acknowledged by God to be his sheep Gen. 34.23 The Sichemites how served for their deceitful hypocrisie V. 26. that profess themselves to be the only Saints and are indeed the destroyers of Gods servants may easily blind the eyes of men but they cannot beguile the all-seeing God for as the Sichemites whereof Moses testifieth that they came with dissembling hearts to deceive Jacob and his children were contented to be circumcised and take upon them the habit of Gods children in hope that all theirs should be their own if they were circumcised as themselves confess yet the Lord that knew the◠to be hypocrites doth not acknowledge them for his children and therefore their dissembling of Religion brought on their destruction and their Circumcision which they thought would be the means to inrich them became the means to destroy them for while they were weak and sore by reason of their Circumcision the sons of Jacob fell upon them and slew all that were male which was a just judgment of God for the dissembling of their Religion And as the Gibeonites with false hearts and a dissembling shew of a religious desire of communion with Gods children came to the children of Israel and through their lies and dissimulation made a league with them and so freed themselves from the Sword of Joshua and deceived the Israelites Josh 9.15 yet they could not deceive the Lord who knew their hypocrisie and knew them not for any of his people and therefore made them slaves and drudges to draw water carry wood V. 27. The Gibeonites how served for their dissimulation and do all manner of servile work for the sons of Israel So amongst us in
that he did against his Majesty other then a fair enemy and a pious Adversary useth to do this I must need say of him that I never heard any man speak otherwise of him But how did the just God like of these his doings how fairly soever carried you may conceive by the success so far as man can judg of things for he was worsted at Edg-Hill the first Field that he fought where he was fain to hide his head in the day of Battel and the next day to retire not without some Dishonour to Warwick-Castle and afterwards in Cornwal he was forced to abandon and leave his whole army and glad to take the Sea to carry him back to the rebellious City for which and for such other the like disasters that the Parliament conceived they that so solemny swore a little before that they would live and dy with him do now Vote a dispensation of that Oath and discard this unfortunate though not unhonourable head and choose another in his room and his Lordship not without some disgrace is disrobed of his Excellency and least this potion might in time through discontent work some bitter effect against them that gave it him as the like hath done to many other rejected and degraded Officers that are most sensible of disgraces their jealousy produced a double passion of Fear and Hate and these cause the Patient to think that all remedies are too weak for the Danger and do force them to apply more violent Phyfick then either the quallity of the Disease or the Constitution of the diseased can sustain and therefore it is generally reported and of most of the King's Friends believed they gave him a Spanish-fig The Earl of Essex suspected to have been poysoned some Aconites that wrought too strongly upon his Body that it soon brought his head into the Grave And thus was he rewarded for his good service unto the Parliament and the ill offices he did against his King God in justice suffering the People Sir John Hotham and his Son that magnified him to destroy him which is the Common fruit of Popularity Secondly The next persons that I shall instance are Sir John Hotham and his Son with him whom I shall put both together because both were in the same fault of disloyalty to the King and both tasted of the same sauce and suffered the like punishment This man was the first that so unjustly and so insolently durst presume to enter into Hull the King 's own proper Town and there to seize upon the King's Magazine and his own peculiar goods and when the King came in his own person to require admission into the same he very undutifully and uncivilly to say no worse refused to receive him in but kept him out with unseemly terms of denial and as they say with a great deal of Scorn and Contempt And how did the just God approve of these unjust doings You may guess by the subsequent punishment which both the Father and his Son have undergone And truly I cannot think of their punishment but I must remember the Story that you may finde in Herodotus touching Hermotimus and Pamicetius Herodot lib. 8. for Hermotimus taken Prisoner in War was sold unto Pamonus that was a base Merchant and which made a Trade of very dishonest gain for The Story of Hemotimus and Pamonius seeing that gelded Youths were much more set by for all manner of services among the Barbarians then those that were ungelded as Xenophon alledgeth Cyrus to have therefore committed the keeping of his body rather to Eunuchs then to others this base Merchant bought all the fair Boys that he could get for money in all Ports and Faires where he went to buy them and then gelding them The great price of Eunuchs he went to Sardis or Ephesus and sold them again almost for their weight in gold therefore he used Hermotimus after the same manner and they sold him to one that among other gifts presented him to King Xerxes with whom in success of time he grew into greater credit then all the other Eunuchs and Xerxes making War upon the Graecians took Hermotimus with him who was sent upon some business to the Isle of Chios where finding his old friend Pamonius he took acquaintance with him and recounted unto him the great happiness and the great benefits he enjoyed by his adventure and the good that Pamonius had done him and therefore promised that if he and all his Family would remove to Sardis he would enrich him with much wealth and advance him to great honour which offer the Covetous and Ambitious Merchant willingly accepted and soon transported himself with his Wife and Children and all his whole family thither to whom Hermotimus when he had him within his power said O thou the most Wicked of all men that usest the vilest and most detestable Traffick that can possibly be devised what hurt or displeasure didst thou ever receive at my hands or through my means that of a man am now made of thee to be neither Man nor Woman Didst thou think that the Gods were Ignorant of thy Practise and doest thou not now see how that they doing right The just Judgment of God upon Pamonius and justice unto all have most justly delivered thee as a most wicked Wretch into mine hacds that thou mayest finde the just punishment which thy wickedness hath deserved so he caused his four Sons to be presently brought into his presence and compelled the miserable Father to geld them all with his own hands and then he forced the distressed Children to geld their own Father So when Sir Hotham and his Son had most disloyally played their part in the House of Commons against the King and then more egregiously by seizing upon Hull and with very undecent usage and reviling terms denying the King entrance into his own Town as I said before had shewed themselves to be as they were arrant rebels and stiff Traytors the Parliament within awhile after finding that these false fellowes had played foul with them likewise and repenting them of their former Wickedness or rather as I conceive corrupted with the greedy desire of some great reward promised by some of the King's Friends that knew how to catch ambitious Worldings had resolved to comply with his Majesty and to deliver his Town and Magazine unto him they like Hermotimus having most cunningly gotten them into their hands wrought the Son in hope to get pardon for himself to accuse and to betray his Father and then with the like Subtlety and for the like hope they brought the Father to accuse his Son and so being both found guilty and condemned they chopped of both their Heads as the just reward of their former Wickedness God now rendring unto them what they had before so well deserved and suffering them willingly and wickedly to do that to each other which Pamonius and his Sons did most unwillingly to be the Authors and instruments of each others