and made a simple conversion of White to Black and of Good to Evil. For As I shall answer for what I say at the Dreadfull day of Judgment I do here profess that in all mine Observation of what I saw and what I heard of the Lords and Gentlemen of His Court in so many years as they know I lived therein which was ever since King James died till the Wars began I knew neither Lord nor Knight nor Gentleman nor any other man whatsoever neither have I read in any Historie Greek or Latine of any Emperour or King I will not except Constantine nor Theodosius nor St. Edward of Ingland that was a juster King a wiser Governour and a better man then King Charles that was so Pious in his Devotions so just and upright in all His Actions so sweet in His Disposition so loving to His Friends so mild to His Servants so ready to forgive His Enemies and so free from all revenge for His greatest wrongs that when His own Subjects and Servants so Undutifully and Maliciously Rebelled and Warred against Him and bespotted His Innocent Conversation and pure Life with most false and venomous Aspersions I heard him say I thank God I can freely forgive all my Enemies and I pray God that God would forgive them and I dare boldly affirm it and can justifie it that He was as good a Protestant if not the best Protestant in all the Christian World and I am sure the best Protestant King or Prince that ever England saw who when I came unto Him immediately after Edg-Hill-fight and said that whatsoever otherwise we wanted in our Abilities yet our Prayers should never be wanting to beseech the Almighty God night and day to bless Him and to protect Him from all His Adversaries He answered that He thanked us for our Prayers and desired us to continue our Prayers still as He hoped we would do for Him because He suffered all this War and whatsoever else should betide Him for our sake and for the defence of the true Protestant Religion as it was Established in the Church of England and for the preservation of the known Laws of these Kingdoms and all the while I lived in His Court I never saw the man Clergy or Laity that shewed himself so punctually professing the Protestant Religion and so zealously and regularly observing the true service of God as His gracious Majestie What other Character I should give to this most excellent Prince for a loving faithfull Husband to His Queen and for a dear indulgent Father to all His Children His goodness therein is very very far beyond my ability of Expression as it is indeed in all the other particulars so that the praise and Eulogie which Homer gave to Achilles and Ulysses Virgil to Aenaeas Xenophon to his Cyrus Eusebius to Constantine and Osorius to Emmanuel King of Portugal I may truly ascribe to Him or rather what the Prophet Jeremy and the Son of Sirach saith of the good King Josias or the Scripture of King David that he was a man according to God's own heart so I hope and believe that I may say with out mistake without offence that King Charles the First was a man according to God's own heart and though as Christ non dimidiavit dies suos so God did soon bring this good King to His death that He might be soon delivered from the contradictions of Sinners and soon brought to enjoy the glorious Crown of Eternal life yet was He most blessed both in His life and death as hereafter I shall more fully shew unto you And therefore I had rather say no more then to say too too little as I shall when I say my best of this most gracious and now most glorious King Charles the First And though he was so good so gracious and so pious a King yet this good gracious and incomparably pious Protestant King the gentlest meekest and of the sweetest disposition of all the men I ever saw was as you well know most rebelliously Warred against most Judas-like sold most treacherously betrayed and most maliciously Barbarously and for the spiteful mischeivous manner thereof most Jewishly and unexpressably Murthered and many more Noble-men and Gentle-men Clergy and Laity Murthered in like manner onely for His sake and for the truth of their Loyalty unto Him and their Fidelity unto God as I have Mystically and yet fully shewed in my Book of The great Anti-Christ revealed and in these Treatises following And can any thing so fowly defile the Land and so highly provoke the Wrath and Indignation of God against his people as the shedding of so much Innocent Blood or shall we think that the just God will rest satisfied and contented to have his Wrath appeased especially if we consider what he saith to the three sons of Noah Gen. ix 5 6. and of the Bloody sins of Manasses 2 King xxiv 4. and to Ahab for letting Benhadad to escape 1 King xx 42. when he seeth the pretious Blood of so Good so Gracious and so Pious a King His own Vicegerent and the Blood of so many faithfull Christians Noble-men Gentle-men and other loyal Subjects that have lost their lives for their constancie in professing the true service of God the right Faith of Christ and their duty and loyalty to their true and lawfull King left unexpiated and according to the Law of justice unrevenged and unpunished The truth of God saith Not so therefore His now gracious Majestie lest His filiall affection of so good and so loving a Father and His anger and indignation against such monstrous Murtherers might seem to transport Him with Passion to be over-partial too rigid and too severe in His censure against these Murderers did most wisely religiously and Christian-like transmit the Judgment and Punishment of these transcendent Malefactours to his Parliament who as he knew had infinitely suffered most unspeakable Detriment and Dammage as well though not near the like nor so much as himself in the loss of their so good a King And the late Parliament that was The Keepers of the Liberties of Ingland by the Authority of our Parliament and you may compute what Number of Arithmetical Letters this name contained and had very many of the King's Enemies in it and therefore likely not to do all things so well as they should do yet hath it most gallantly religiously and justly sentenced many of them to death and the just God without Question doth most propitiously accept and approve of all those their doings which are just according to his own Precepts But though herein they have done very well yet do you think that they have done sufficiently well I will not presume to teach them that in State Affairs are better able to be my Teachers then I to advise their Wisdoms what they ought to have done yet as I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I must humbly crave leave to set down what I conceive to be the just Will of God
right when they do the greatest wrongs and do commit such horrid murders as to murder their own King 3. For the Judge our Saviour seemeth tacitly to yield 3 The Judge was corrupt that by the permission of God not his Commission Pilate through the power of the sword and according to the Laws of the Conquerors had power and authority granted unto him to be the Judge both of life and death but according to the Laws of the Romans that had then subdued the Jews and committed this power unto Pilate none were to be condemned to death except he were proved guilty of the Crimes that should be laid to his charge And this Judge ingenuously and openly confesseth that although like a good Judge herein he had examined the matter throughly John 18.38 and sifted him and his cause ad amussim to the uttermost yet he could find no fault in him worthy of death and therefore being desirous to free him whom he found so innocent by a fair excuse and to quit himself from pronouncing so unjust a sentence against a just man he advised his adversaries to take their King and to judge him according to their Law that is if they had any Law to crucifie their King that was so just and had offended no Law because the Romans thought such proceedings of Subjects against their King very strange and therefore had no such Law neither in their 12. Tables nor in any of the Acts and Decrees of their Senate whereby he might justly condemn him and justly answer it if he were questioned for it And herein also this Judge by this fine device shewed himself witty and his counsel honest as it aimed at a good end that is to free the party accused but afterwards becoming the Judge of Christ not by the Roman Law which as himself confessed gave him no authority to condemn any innocent person but by the importunity of the rebellious Subjects and malicious enemies against their King that thirsted after his blood he forgets his duty and contrary to his own conscience So was King Charles condemned to death to satisfie the Parliament and the people that still cryed Justice Justice Mar. 15 15. Luke 23.24 and contrary to the Roman Law and to all other Laws he doth most unjustly condemn that Just King to death And both the Evangelists S. Mark and S. Luke tell us He did it to content the people and to satisfie the High Priests and the Elders that had over-perswaded him to become his Judge and over-ruled him to adjudge him unto death And therefore the Charge laid against this King being unjust the witnesses being both false and disagreeing and his Judge thus corrupted and compelled and so as it were newly made by the clamor of the people condemning him contrary to the Roman Law which was then the Law of their Land to please the people it is apparent to all the World as I conceive that both the Judge and Witnesses and all the Complotters and Contrivers of this Kings death and all the whole Parliament and Council of the Jews that approved and rejoyced at his death yea and all the people that cryed to have him put to death are justly meant by S. Stephen and by him here rightly termed murderers because as I take it the Law saith that in murder there can be no accessary but all and every one that hath any hand in it are deemed principalls And how far murderers are to be pardoned I leave it to him that pardoneth all sins to be determined But if God will pardon murderers I wish he would not prefer them to places of Trust and Authority lest the Woolf lett-go still continue a Woolf to vex the Lambs And as it is said of the Devil Daemon languebat monachus tunc esse volebat Daemon convaluit mansit ut ante fuit 2. 2 Of whom these Tâ—â—ytors were murderers Having spoken of the style and denomination of these Persecutors of the Prophets that they were traytors and murderers we are now to confider of whom they were the traytors and murderers and the Martyr tells us it was of that Just One and I told you that we find him to be 1. 1 Of a King proved 1. By his Birth A King and so proved to be divers wayes as 1. At his birth when the Wise men that came from the East worshipped him as King while he was in his swadling clouts and they are by the constant course and order of the Church annually on the twelfth day after the day of his birth commemorated and commended for it 2. 2 By the ministration of his Office In the ministration of his kingly office when he entred Jerusalem as Kings use to do in a Royall and a pompous manner and his disciples and a great multitude of his followers did him obeysance and gave him royall honour as to their King by cutting down the boughs and spreading their garments under his feet and crying Blâ—ssed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord Luke 19.38 Matth. 21.15 and the childrens crying Hosanna as we use to do God save the King and when the chief Priests and Scribes were displeased at this acceptation of him for their King and bad him to rebuke his disciples for this attempt Christ told them plainly that if these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out that is to proclaim him King and to do him all Royal homage 3. 3 At his arraignment At his arraignment when he was to lay down his soul to be a ransome for our sins he avouched himself to be a King for Pilate demands the question Art thou a King and Pilate understood not any kingdome in this question but of a temporal kingdome when as in his conception to speak of a Spiritual King or kingdome was but a vain fancie and a meer Chimaera and therefore ad mentem interrogantis to satisfie the demand of Pilate Christ answereth without dissimulation aequivocation or mental reservavation Mark 15.2 that he was a King Matth. 27.11 or if he did not so he made no answer unto Pilate which as the Evangelist saith he did 4. 4 At his death At his death he had it written upon his Crosse who he was Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews so that when they took away his life they could not deprive him of his right unto his kingdome 5. 5 At his burial At his burial he had his grave sealed as a King 2. 2 â—hey were the murderers of their own King We find this just one whereof this Martyr speaketh to be not only a King but also the King of these Jews that murdered him for he was not a King of Egypt that oppressed them nor the king of Syria that sought to subdue them but their own King the King of the Jews for so the wise men testifie Where is he that is born king of the Jews And so Pilate the
flor aliâ— faedera regni And yet when God and nature and Scripture and all the wise men in the world and our own reason and experience tells us it is better for us to honour the King then Kings to obey one then many when as the wisest of men tells us plainly that for the transgressions of a Land many are the Princes thereof Prov. 28.2 but by a man of understanding the State shall be prolonged Shall we be so mad as to rebell against our King whom God commandeth us to honour and chuse unto our selves 400. Kings which God never appointed over us and never advised us to obey them which if you do I say it is not vanitas vanitatum but it is the folly of follyes but and iniquity of all iniquities and therefore deserveth justly to be punished with the misery of all miseries Wherefore I beseech you my brethren to follow the counsell of the Apostle and to obey the Precept of God to honor the King the King which he hath placed over you and leave the other Kings the usurping and imaginary Kings to their own shame But 2. As we are to honor the King and not Kings so we are to consider among other things 1. Quem and 2. Qualem Regem Both what King and what manner of King we are bound to honor for we are to waigh in every King 1. Modum assumendi 2. Normam gubernandi 1. The manner or the waies how any King cometh to his Kingdom 2. The rules by which he governeth and guideth the people that shall be under his charge 1. Hos 8.4 God saith of many Kings They have raigned but not by me As many men do Preach whom he hath not sent these are Vsurpers and come to their government without right And therefore we are not to honor them because though they should govern justly yet they have unjustly attained unto their government and I know not where we are commanded to be voluntarily obedient to Usurpers Others there are that do attain unto their Dominions and yet not all the same way for 1. Some come by the Sword 2. Others by the peoples choice 3. Others by the right of their birth And though the last is best and most authentick yet we may not reject the other two so far forth as they are from God for when rightfull Kings become with Nimrod to be unjust Tyrants God many times disposeth their Crowns as pleaseth him as he did the Kingdom of Saul unto David and Belshazzars unto Cyrus and the like and this Right is good as it proceedeth from God Who giveth victory unto Kings when as the Poet saith victrix causa Deo placuit And as Daniel saith he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings Dan. 2.21 and Job 34.24 And when Kings neglected their duty so far that the people knew not that they had any King or who had any right to be their King or when the people were so miserably handled by such foes as invaded them that they could not tell how to withstand them then as Herodotus saith of the Medes that chose Deioces which is the first elective King that I read of to be their Protector the people made choice of the chiefest man amongst them to be their King Or as we read of Abimeleck when he that had no right unto the Crown would cloak his Vsurpation by the election of the people this popular choice was held for a good way to maintain that Vsurped Authority And though I deny not the right of some Elective Kings because God out of his infinite lenity to our Human frailty rather then his people should be without Government doth permit and it may be approve the same when it is orderly done as he did the Bill of Divorcement unto the Jews yet if we should justly waigh the case of Abimeleck and as some say of Jeroboam who of all the Kings of Israel and Judah were only made by the suffrage of the people how unjustly they entred how wickedly they raigned and how lamentably the first that was without question the creature of the people ended both his life and his raign it would shew unto us how unsuccessefull it is to admit any other makers of our King then He that is the King of kings And the time will not permit me to set down the great and many mischiefs that happened to the children of Israel by these Elective Kings no less then at all times to cast off the service of God and in the end utterly to destroy themselves when by Salmanazar they were carried Captives unto Assyria never to return again to this very day But against all this the brood of Anabaptists will object as they do now positively teach that to be a King is but an ambitious intrusion into Authority when as Nimrod rather by humane violence Gen. 10.8 then by any Divine Ordinance became to be the first King that ever was in this World and therefore S. 1 Pet. 2.13 Peter calleth the establishing of Kings to be the ordinance of man I answer that the Scripture shall determine this question for Solomon saith Hearken O ye Kings hear ye that Govern the Nations Sap. 6.1 2 3. for power is given unto you by the Lord and principality by the most high And S. Paul saith There is no power but from God and whosoever resisteth the power Rom. 13.5 resisteth the Ordinance of God And Daniel saith to Nebuchadnezzar O King thou art the King of kings for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom Dan. 2.37 Power Strength and Glory and the Wisdom of God saith Prov. 18.15 Esay 45.1 Per me reges regnant And the Lord saith as much unto Cyrus and no less to Nebuchadnezzar And to make the point more plain by Examples I would demand Jer. 27.5 6. whether Moses his government over Israel was by his own intrusion or by the Ordinance of God And what shall I say of Saul when he sought his father Asses and of David when he fed the flock of Jesse was it their desire or Gods design that made them Kings And you may see how little Jehu dreamed of a Kingdom when Elisaeus sent one of the children of the Prophets To annoint him from the Lord to be King over Israel 2 King 9. Therefore S. Augustine saith Aug. de Civit. Dei that the greatness of Empires cometh neither by chance nor by destiny by chance he understandeth as he saith the things that happen beyond our knowledg of their causes or without any premeditated order of reason assisting their conception and birth and by destiny he understandeth as the Pagans deemed what happeneth without the will either of God or men by the inevitable necessity of some particular order which opinion is most injurious to Gods providence but we must certainly believe that Kingdoms are constituted and established simply and absolutely by the Divine Providence of God and in another pâ—ace he saith
that the same true God which giveth the Kingdom of Heaven to his children only giveth the Earthly Kingdoms both to the good and to the bad as he pleaseth yet alwaies justly And for Nimrod I say the words bear no more then he became mightier then other Kings or began to Tyrannize more then all the other Kings And for S. Peters words I say he means it only of Elective Kings Which in another place I shewed more fully than the time will now give me leave in what sense he calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore I say the calling of Kings is the proper Ordinance of God as it is fully and most learnedly shewed by a most Reverend Prelate of our Church lately published and intituled Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas Howsoever as I said we condemn not as unlawfull the right of all Elective Kings yet we ought to acknowledg how much more bound we are to God that himself in a rightfull line of succession hath appointed our Kings to raign over us so that we need not fear the error of our Election if there be no error in our submission 2. As we are to consider quem whom so we ought to remember qualem what manner of King we are commanded to honor for as the unjust Vsurper may govern the people justly as they do sometimes and in some places so they that have just Titles to their Crowns may prove unjust in their Governments as too too many both of the Kings in Israel and Judah and I fear many other Kings have been And yet if they be our lawfull Kings be they what they will Cruell Tyrannous or Idolatrous or if you will put all together I say we are bound to honor them and no waies to Rebell against them for if thy Brother the son of thy Mother or thy son or thy daughter Deut. 13.6 or the wife of thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine own soul shall intice thee to Idolatry and to serve strange gods thine eye shall not spare him neither shalt thou have any pity upon him but for the son to rise up against the Father the wife against her Husband the servant against his Lord or the subject against his King here is not a word and we are not to do what the Lord doth not command as Tostat well observeth upon this place Therefore though Jeroboam made Israel to sin by setting up his calves to be adored Nâ—buchadnezzar commanded all his people to worship his Golden Image Ahab Manasses Nero Julian and the rest of the persecuting Emperors did most impiously compell their Subjects to Idolatry and exercised all kinds of cruelty against Gods servants yet you shall never find that either the Jews under Jeroboam or Daniel in Babylon or Elias in the time of Ahab or any Christian under Julian or the rest of those bloody Tyrants did ever rebell against any of those wicked Kings for they all considered the law of God and I beseech you all to consider it likewise 1. Exod 22.28 Moses saith Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people yea though he should be evil yet must thou not speak evil of him for as thou art to honor thy Father not so much because he is good as because he is thy Father and therefore the son of Noah was accursed because he despised his Father when his father sinned so we are to honor our King and to speak no ill of him though he should be never so ill for Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked And to Princes Ye are ungodly Job 34.18 2. 2 Not to do the least indignity unto our King As we are to bridle our tongues so much more ought we to refrain our hands from offering the least violence unto our King When the Lord saith peremptorily Touch not mine annointed where he doth not say Non occides or ne perdas the worst that can be but ne tangas the least that may be neither doth he say Sanctos meos my holy ones but Christos meos my annointed ones whether they be holy or unboly good or bad therefore though Saul was a wicked King and a heavy persecutor of David without cause hunting him like a Partridge upon the Mountains and seeking no less then to take away his life yet when the men of David said unto him Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou maist do to him as it shall seem good unto thee what seemed good unto him Truely no waies to hurt him nor to do the least indignity unto him for his heart smote him because he had cut off the skirt of his robe and therefore he said unto his men 1 Sam. 24.4 5 6 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords annointed to stretch forth my hand against him And why so because he is the annointed of the Lord that is not because he is a good man but because he is my King Nay we are not only forbidden to offer violence That we are to protect our King with the hazard of our lives but we are also injoyned to give our best assistance to protect the persons of our most wicked Kings for David not only staid his servants with the former words and suffered them not to rise against Saul but when Saul lay sleeping within his trench and David and Abishai took away his speare and had the power to destroy him What saith David unto Abner Art not thou a Valiant man And who is like thee in Israel Wherefore then hast thou not kept thy Lord the King This thing is not good that thou hast done as the Lord liveth 1 Sam. 15.16 ye are worthy to dye because you have not kept your Master the Lords annointed And if this thing is not good and David jesteth not but sweareth As the Lord liveth they are worthy to dye that preserve not the life of their King be he never so wicked then certainly this thing is not good and they are more then worthy to die that not only refuse to assist but also rise in Arms to persecute and to take away the life of a most Pious and a Gracious King So you see the person whom we are to honor the King whatsoever he be good or bad 2. The Honor that we are to exhibite unto him is to be considered out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word so significant that it not only comprehendeth all the duty which we owe to our Father and Mother but it is also used to express most if not all the service of God when he saith If I am a father Malach. 1.5 where is my honor And therefore when Ahassuerus asked Haman What should be done unto the man Whom the King would honor he answered let the Royall apparell be brought which the King useth to weare and the Horse that the King rideth upon
was spilt or any part of their goods spent they submitted themselves to the Parliament and left the Kings friends to sink or swim and the King himself to do as he could and I believe they were neither the first nor the last that did the like in many parts of this Kingdom neither do I conceive these men to be the worst of the King's Subjects because that indeed there was something now that might induce faint-hearted men and semi-Subjects to yield unto the Parliament though not to break their Oath which is indispensable and should be inviolably kept in any Case for that the King was worsted and the Parliament had very much prevailed against him though this also is no such great Inducement either with wise men or faithful Subjects to make them so suddenly to lay down their Bucklers because as the Poet saith Victores victique cadunt victique resurgunt The doubtful events of war And as another saith Communis Mars est interfectorem interficit Sam. xi 25. That is in King David's Phrase The Sword devoureth one as well as another as well the Conquerour as the conquered and therefore Menevensis saith of King Alfred Si modo victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat Si modo victus erat ad crastina bella parabat He feared his Enemies when he overcame them and he prepared against them when they overcame him and as Demosthenes answered when he was charged for running away from his Enemies Vir fugiens denuò pugnabit he that runs away to day may cause his enemies to fly away to morrow and so we finde it verefied many times as the Histories of the greatest Warriours testifie unto us But if fear of the Prevalency of the Parliament was now so powerful with them as to binde their hands and to shut their Purses from the King what was the reason they were so slow and did so little aid him either with men or mony when in all probability the King had the better or at lest stood at even terms with his enemies and then might with a little help and a small weight added turn the Scales and so subdue his Adversaries and prevent all the miseries and disasters that have happened ever since Surely here can be made none other answer nor any excuse alledged but the same reason that the Merozites had to shut their mouths stop their feet and hold their hands till they did see who should prevail and under whose wings they thought to shelter themselves when all the brunt was past The true cause of the neutrality of most men in this Kingdom without danger or at least to come off upon very reasonable termes And this was the cause of the neutrality of the most men especially the greatest men of this Kingdom And is it not therefore most just that this pannick fear and punick faith should suffer the punishment that such perfidiousness deserved that he which refuseth the sweet How justly these men were punished by suffering all that fell upon them just and easie Yoke of Christ should undergo the bitter hard and cruel Yoke of Satan or that they which undutifully neglected and refused to do a little help which their Conscience told them they should do for their King that exposed himself to the hazard of his life and loss of his Kingdom for to maintain the Service of God and to defend their Laws and Liberties should bear the full Measure and Weight of that punishment which they deserved Yes certainly me judice these of all others merited to be scourged with Scorpions and not lashed with twigs and I pray God their deserts do not light upon their heads when as neither plundering nor composition nor taxes can Paralel that greatness of their offence that destroyed both the King and his partie by their deserting of them Therefore whatsoever miseries taxes or service or any other Trouble of the like nature hath fallen on any person of this classes The greatness of their offence let him say and he shall say but the truth that God hath not onely most justly dealt with him that had so unjustly neglected his King but hath been more mercifull unto him then either his offence deserved or with any reason could be expected Secondly 2 The faith For those Subjects of the King that were like Gedeons faithfull Souldiers and spent their Wealth and Strength to the uttermost of their power to assist his Majestie and did according to their Consciences and as they conceived the Word of God Expounded by the true Prophets and servants of Christ directed them and yet felt the rod of God and the miseries of those times in full measure and far heavier then most others as though they had been the worst of men and the greatest of all Sinners such as divers of the Jews conceited those eihtteen Galilaeans upon whom the Tower of Siloah fell and those whose Blood â—ilate mingled with their Sacrifice were I say that if God should be extreme to marke what they had don amiss or should with the Eye of justice look upon the best of all his Saints were he as faithfull as Moses that was faithfull in all Gods house as religious as David that was a man according to Gods own heart as constant as Saint Peter that was contented to be Crucified for the Faith of Christ and as industrious as Saint Paul that laboured more then any of all the Apostles yet were he not able to answer God one of a thousand but he must lay his Hand upon his Mouth and opening the same he must say with Holy Job If I wash my self in Snow water and make my hands never so clean Job ix 30. yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine owne Cloaths shall abhorr me Dan. ix 7. and with the Prophet Daniel O Lord righteousness belongeth unto the When we do never so well God may justly punish us though not for that our well-doing but for some other evil-doings that we had done at some other time before or for some defect in our well-doing Why God punisheth the loyal Subject and his owne most faithfull servants but unto us shame and confusion of Faces And therefore how faithfull and how constant soever these seemed to be both in the service of God and discharging their duties unto the King yet must they confess they failed in many things of that degree of perfection which God requireth at their hands in both respects they neither serveing God as they ought nor being such Subjects unto thir King as the strictness of God's Law requireth And therefore I say First that in all our sufferings whatsoever calamities we have endured and what pressure soever lyeth upon us we must all confess that either for our delinquences and miscariages in these times or some other offences committed by us at some other times we are most justly and farr less then we deserve afflicted and punished by God whose judgments on us as upon all others are always most
good fruit and to cast it into the fire And it is the duty of every faithfull Steward to give to every one his own portion in due season that is mercy to whom mercy belongeth and judgment to whom judgment appertaineth and not to give that which is holy unto dogs or to proclaime peace and pardon to them to whom the Lord professeth there is no peace but saith peremptorily He will not pardon them And therefore I hope your honorable patience will bear with me that as the Prophet David saith My song shall not be of mercy alone nor of judgment alone but of mercy and judgment together especially upon Zimri and all such that like Zimri will slay both their King and their Master which is the first thing mentioned in this Text that is Zimri's Murder And For murder you may observe that the same may be committed three manner of waies 1. With the heart 2. With the tongue 3. With the hand 1. The heart killeth a man four speciall waies 1. By desire 2. By anger 3. By envy 4. By hatred For 1. The Prophet saith Psal 5.6 The Lord abborreth the blood-thirsty and the deceitfull man i. e. him which desireth and longeth for my death as he that is thirsty desireth drink 2. Our Saviour saith Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause Math. 5.22 he shall be in danger of judgment 3. The Apostle speaking of the wickedness of the Gentiles saith Rom. 1.29 They were full of envy murder debate And the wise man saith Alius alium per invidiam occidit One man slayeth another through envy Sap. 14.4 as Cain through envy slew his brother Abel and the Jews our Saviour Christ Qui igitur periêre quia maluerunt invidere quà m credere who therefore perished because they had rather to envy him then to believe in him Cypr. in Ser. de livore saith Saint Cyprian 4. Saint John saith that Whosoever hateth his brother is a man slayer 1 Joh 3.15 Lev. 19.17 and therefore the Lord saith Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart for as he that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery in his heart so he that hateth his brother hath killed him in his heart 2. The tongue killeth many men yea Plures linguâ quà m gladio periêre Jam. 3 6 7. The tongue hath slain more then the sword for the tongue is a fire and a world of wickedness it is an unruly evill full of deadly poyson And the son of Syrach saith It hath destroyed many that were at peace Eccl. 28.13 And the tongue killeth two waies 1. By flattery 2. By detraction 1. Saint Augustine saith that Plus nocet lingua adulatoris quà m gladius persecutoris And Antisthenes was wont to say It was better for a man to fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among ravens then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among flatterers 2. The Prophet saith Ezech. 22.8 Viri detractores fuerunt in te ad effundendum sanguinem In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood and Job saying unto his friends that slandered his integrity Why do you persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh doth intimate thereby that detractors are like cruell Canibals that eat mens flesh and drink their blood Nam qui aliena detractione pascitur proculdubiò alienis carnibus saturatur for without doubt whosoever feeds himself with detraction doth satisfy himself with mans flesh saith S. Gregory And I doubt not but this Zimri and all other the like Zimries that killed their Masters had killed Elah in all these waies before he slew him with his hands because all these murders of the heart and of the tongue are but steps stairs and progesses to the murder of the hand For first we begin to distast and to dislike a man then we grow angry with him for some things that displease us and if he hath any virtue in him or any honorable place or preferment or any love or good opinion from the people we will presently envy him and then hate him and so hate him more and more and then the tongue will begin to play his part and though in presence it will flatter him whom the heart detesteth yet in his absence it will lay loads of scandalous imputations upon his person and upon his actions Camerar l. 6. c. 2. even as Absolon did upon the government of King David and the forecited example of Maion against William King of Sicily and abundance of such Varlets that I could relate unto you And when they have proceeded thus far to envy his happiness and to hate his person as Cain hated his brother Abel and the way is thus made by scandalous aspersions there wants nothing but the stroke of the hand to effect the tragicall murder of the man whom they desire to destroy So Zimri did when he found his opportunity slay his Master Elah so the servants of King Amon slew their Master So Phocas did slay his Emperor and his Master Mauritius So Artabanus Captain of the guard killed his own King and his Master Xerxes Diodorus l. 11. after he had retired out of Greece So Brutus and Cassius with their associates murdered Julius Caesar And so you know who murdered their Master and King Charles the First And this is the greatest mischief that one man can do unto another to take away his life with bloody hands for though he take away my goods yet I may get more as Job did after all was taken from him if he cast me into prison yet at last with Joseph I may be set at liberty and if I be banished my Country yet with the Israelits I may live to return out of Captivity as Henry Bullingbrook Duke of Lancaster did but when he hath taken away my life and killed me there is an end of all hope and that is an evill that can expect no remedy and a wound that cannot be cured nor any waies paralleled by any other mischief And therefore Num 35.33 seeing as the Lord saith that blood defileth the Land and the land can not be cleansed of the blood that is thus shed but by the blood of him or them that have shed it I will here to perswade the blood-thirsty men to quench that thirst and the Magistrates by no means to neglect to punish that sin and especially to induce those Magistrates and all those that transcend the power of the Magistrates that have like Zimri slain their King and their Master or defiled themselves with the blood of their brethren to a sad and serious repentance set down eight speciall things that do shew unto us the horrible odiousness and haynousness of this sinne of murder and you may find them all set down in lib. 3. cap. 2. of the true Church p. 385. and in the Great Antichrist revealed l. 1. p. 81. 1. It is a sin against nature because every creature loves
take this office upon him but he that is as well outwardly approved by such as are lawfully authorized to approve him Exod. 4.16 as inwardly called by the restifying spirit of his own conscience so also Christ saith the Apostle glorified not himself to be made an high Priest and to become the great Shepherd of Gods flock Heb. 5.5 c. 17.21 but he that said unto him Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and hath sworn Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech And therefore if no man no not Christ himself taketh this holy office upon him but he that is lawfully called by such as have lawful authority to call him I wonder how any man dares to intrude himself into the Ministry without any mission from Christ or commission from such as are lawfully authorized by Christ to admit them You know what our Saviour saith As my father sent me so send I you and they that were his Apostles never went until he sent them for there must be an Ite go ye Mat. 28.19 Mar. 16.15 John 10.1 before Praedicate preach ye and you see what our Saviour saith here Verily verily I say unto you he that entreth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a thief and a robber that is he that is not lawfully called and comes not the right way into the Ministry to be the shepherd of Gods flock the same is none of Gods Ministers Jer. 23.21 14.14 but is a thief and a robber stealing to himself what of right belongs to another And yet I fear we have now too many of whom the Lord may say as he doth by the Prophet Jeremy I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran I have not spoken unto them yet they prophesied for we are not onely to consider whether they be called and approved to be the Ministers of Christ but we must likewise consider by whom they are called and approved for as idem est non esse non apparere so it is all one to be not called and not approved as to be called and approved by such as have no right nor authority to call and approve them as when a company of thieves and robbers gives power and authority to a man to be Justice of the Peace or a Judge of Assize we say his power and authority is null and of no validity so they that give orders and approve of Priests and have no right no power nor authority to give orders and to allow them do just nothing in the just way and their orders is worth nothing But you will say this may be true of the Lay-preachers but those that are ordained by the Presbyterians and approved by an assembly of Presbyters cannot be denied to be lawfully called and to enter in by the door into the sheepfold I answer that I will not at this time discuss who gave them this power and authority to ordain Priests but I say that I dare not I cannot approve and justifie their authority let them answer for it that presume to do it I have shewed you their error in my discovery of the great Antichrist So you see how this grand Shepherd did lawfully enter into his office and how all his under-Shepherds should imitate him in their lawfull entrance and not intrude themselves nor be unlawfully admitted into the Ministry 2. 2 A perfect performance of all the duties of a good Shepherd Philo Jud. in l. de opificio mundi The other point here spoken of this great Shepherd is a perfect and most absolute performance of all the duties of a good Shepherd Where first of all you must observe that Theocritus Virgil and others writing of this office of Shepherds do make three kindes of Pastors or Shepherds and so doth Philo Judaeus where he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Shepherd Goatesman and Herdsman drive the flocks of sheep goats and bullocks and it is observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dici de pastore omnium animalium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum relatione tantum ad oves that the Greeks do call him onely that keepeth sheep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shepherd and our Saviour saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the good goatsman or the good herdsman John 10.14 but he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the good Shepherd that taketh care for his sheep but not for goats because the Lord careth for the righteous but as the Prophet saith he scattereth abroad all the ungodly And seeing that he is a Shepherd you know what the Poet saith Pastorem Tytere pingues Pascere oportet oves Vagil Eglog 6. The Shepherd ought to feed his sheep for as the old proverb goeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spartam nactus es hanc orna every one should look to his own office as the learned Divine to preach the Word of God the Cobler to mend his shoes the Countrey-man to plough his ground curabit prelia Conon and the King or whosoever is the chief Magistrate to provide for war and to conclude peace which is the onely way to keep all things in the right way because that mittere falcem in alienam messem for the Coachman with his whip to lash the pulpit the Taylor with his shears to divide the Word of God the shepherd with his hook to rule the people and the unruly people to reign as Kings is that which as the Poet saith Turbabit fadera mundi Lucan phars l. 1. and is the readiest way to pull all things asunder to tear in pieces the whole course of nature and to subvert all the order of Gods creatures and indeed to reduce the total frame of the creation to a speedy dissolution whereas that man is worthy of all praise as Aelian saith which meddleth with nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that pertaineth nothing unto him but looketh onely and carefully to his own duty and he is worthy to be reproved as our Saviour checkt Saint Peter for his curiosity to know what John must do that is a stranger in his own affairs and busieth himself onely with what onely belongs unto others And therefore not to do my self what I blame in others or to extend my discourse beyond my line to treat of the art of war with Phormio before Hannibal or to tell you the office of a King or a Judge when my text tels me I am to treat of a Shepherd but to keep my self contrary to the common practise ad idem to my own proper task I shall desire you to remember that the duty of a good Shepherd consisteth chiefly in these two points 1. Negatively what he should not do to his sheep 2. Affirmatively what he should do for them 1. The heathen man could tell us that boni pastoris est pecus tondere non deglubere it is the part of a good Shepherd to fleece
his sheep and not to flea them that is The duty of a good Shepherd two-fold 1. Negative what he should not do to his sheep 1. Not flea the sheep to clip and shear the wooll and not to cut and teare the skin with the wooll and therefore Christ bids S. Peter feed my sheep and not feed thy self upon my sheep which is the property of too too many Shepherds both spiritual and temporal to seek rather the wealth of their people unto themselves and not to provide for the health of their souls but this covetousness is a vice so palpable which hypocrisie is not that the people may soon discern it in their Pastor and being truly discerned they may fear the same to be rather an hireling then the true Shepherd but let them take heed how they judge John 10. Then the good Shepherd is not to be harsh and rough but gentle and meek unto his sheep for the sheep are gentle creatures and therefore they must be gently used 2 Not prove too harsh unto them and gently led and not forced for so the Psalmist saith Duxisti populum sicut oves non traxisti God led his people like sheep and drove them not like horses And therefore when Esan would have Jacob to drive his flock so as to keep him company in his hunting pace Jacob that was a skilful sheep-master answereth him not so Sir for it is a tender cattle that is under my hands and must be softly driven Gen. 33. so as they may endure or if one should over-drive them but one day they would all die or be laid up for many dayes after Indeed Rehoboam left ten parts of his flock behind him only for his rough driving of them and his harsh carriage towards them for when in a barbarous manner he chased his sheep before him and told them what yokes he would make for them a far unmeet occupation for a Prince to be a yoak-maker they all shrunk from him and ran away presently and so clean falsified his Prophesie for whereas he told them seriously that his little finger should be as big as his Fathers body it fell out clean contrary for his whole body proved not so big as his Fathers little finger But the good Shepherd whether you mean Prince or Priest will come down amongst his sheep as the Prophet David sheweth not like haâ—l-stones on the house top but like the dew into a fleece of wooll that is gently and mildly without any noise or violence at all for otherwise the wrangling Shepherd the contentious Priest that still falls out with one or other of his parishioners and turns them onely to satisfie his own humour as unworthy from his communion can never do much good unto his people but tires them rather then feeds them 2. For the affirmative or positive duties of a good Shepherd 2 Affirmative what he should do to his sheep they are especially these four 1. To provide for his sheep sweet and fresh pasture 2. To foresee and to take care how they should feed in that pasture that is when and how much they should eat thereof for if the sheep be not warily looked unto in a fresh pasture instead of being fatted they may very easily be spoiled when the eating of too much sweet grass stayeth not in them but scoureth away all their fatness and soundness from them 3. To protect and defend them from the fury of their Foes Wolves Dogs Foxes and the like ravenous Beasts that do continually seek to disturb and destroy them 4. To watch over them lest by their wandring they should miscarry and be lost or otherwise perish out of the way And in all these respects besides many others our Saviour Christ hath approved himself to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that good Shepherd which excelled all the best Shepherds of the world For 1. 1 How Christ performed the negative part of a good Shepherd Touching the negative duties of a Shepherd Christ came not to gather wealth with Craesus nor to enlarge his dominions with Alexander but to save our souls and so Saint Paul saith I seek not yours but you and so every faithful Minister of Christ should not so much hunt after the wealth of their flocks as the health of their souls though this denieth not but as the Sheep should yield her fleece unto her Shepherd so should the people pay all dues and duties unto their Minister for as S. 1 Cor. 9.7 Paul saith Who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock And as he came not to enrich himself by his people so he was no wayes harsh and severe unto his people Num. 12.3 but as Moses was the meekest man upon earth and carried the children of Israel in his bosom as a nursing Father beareth a sucking Child to use Moses his own words Num. 11.12 so was Christ meek and lowly in heart and never denied any that sought unto him nor failed any man that trusted in him And so he willeth all his Ministers to be gentle and courteous unto the people for as the very heathen saith Peragit tranquilla potestas Quod violenta nequit We may sooner win men by perswasion then by compulsion rather by fair meanes and a sweet language then by foul means and rough terms as it appeareth by that parable which Damascen setteth down of the contestation betwixt the Sun and the Wind which of them was most powerfull to make the traveller cast off his cloak who the faster the wind blew the faster he held his cloak about him but the Sun with the influence of his first sweet and then piercing beams made him quickly to cast off both his cloak and his coat And therefore such a Shepherd of Christ his flock as the Poet speaks of Non pater est Aeacus that is not the gentle Child of this meek Father but Te saxum te genuere ferae such as the churlish and rough hewn Nabal was to David is fitter to drive wild Horses then to lead the harmless sheep and they do rather chase men like Nimrod from the Lord then win them with S. Paul by all fair means to our Saviour Christ as you may see how he seeks to lead the Romans unto Christ saying I beseech you brethren Rom. 12.1 by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God Which makes me wonder at those rough collectors of Churches out of the Church of Christ by receiving some and rejecting others into their flock as if the day of judgement were now come Mat. 11.28 to separate the sheep from the goats and to cast off the tares from the wheat when as our chief Shepherd and this good Shepherd saith Come unto me all ye that are weary and â—eavy laden and I will ease you 2. 2 How Christ performed the affirmatâ—ve part of a good Shepherd 1. Christ provideth food
more then thirty three years olde by his malitious enemies so the like enimies have shortened the life of this good King and cut him off at the eight and fourtieth year of his age yet as Esay saith of Christ Generationem ejus quis enarrabit who shall be able to declare his Generation for he shall see his seed and shall prolong his days and as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me saith the Lord so shall his seed and his name remain that is for ever and ever so I doubt not to say of King Charles that howsoever and for what cause soever the wisdom of God hath been pleased to permit his enemies to shorten that life which at the best and to the best is accompanied with abundance of infelicities yet instead of that Crown which was replenished with cares and circumvironed with thorns and which his persecutors have snatched from him God hath now crowned him with eternal felicity and hath set a crown of pure gold upon his head that is as himself said the crown of Martyrdom which is the crown of the greatest glory because none can go higher or do more for Christ then to dy for Christ for the defence of the service and servants of God and the laws of this Kingdom as he testified upon the Scaffold And so the Lord hath dealt with him just as he saith of his chosen people for a small moment have I forsaken thee that is while I suffered thine enemies so furiously to rage against thee and so maliciously to behead thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment when in justice I punished thee for thine errors those small things wherein thou hast failed but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee when as now I make thee to be numbred with my Saints in glory everlasting Therefore as Balaam wished that he might dy the death of the righteous and that his last end might be like his Numb 23 10. so from my soul I wish that my soul may rest as I hope it shall when it leaves my body with this righteous King that doth now rest in Abraham's bosome CHAP. II. SEcondly For of his other subjects that were against him I shall speak in an other place touching the King's subjects that honoured loved and served him and were of his party and have been and still were persecuted banished killed and afflicted so long as the Tyrants ruled they are either 1. Clergy or And 2. Laity or And First as for the Clergy that are the other second witness of Jesus Christ they are either 1. the Bishops 2. the Priests And whatsoever hath befallen to these or to either of these I may truly and justly say with Ezra Ezra ix 13. and God hath punished us less then our iniquities deserved First Touching the Bishops that are the prime part of the spiritual Witness of Christ I do cordially love all their persons and honour their calling being all of them very learned and most reverend men and therefore not to discover the nakedness of such worthy Fathers whose imperfections and imbecillities like neves in a fair face I had rather with the good King like the most Christian Constantine cover with the lap of my garment then expose them to the view of the Vulgar but yet to justify the doings of our just God whose Judgments alwaies are according to truth I must say as Christ saith to the Angel that is the Bishop of the Church of Ephesus and to the Angel of the Church of Pergamus that God had somewhat against them and I fear more then he had against those Angels for which he might most justly remove their candlesticks and remove them Two things considerable in all Clergy-men as he did out of their places For there be two things considerable in the calling of all God's Ministers as well those of the highest as the other of the lowest order 1. Their introduction or coming into their places 2. The Execution of their office after they are entred into it For first Their entrance into that holy calling So the Articles of our Church and of our religion testify Whosoever shall not be called by the spirit of God to the great office as Aaron was or shall not enter through the gate that is Christ or the Ordinance of Christ set down by his holy Apostles is a thief and a robber and not the Vicar of Christ but of Judas Iscariot and of Simon the Samaritan but whether all our Bishops came rightly in I cannot judg we cannot search into the testimony of any man's conscience yet for the investigation of the truth and the outward election and approbation of them which Dionysius calleth the Sacrament of Order I am sure the King was so careful that none should be admitted to that high and holy office but such as should be thought worthy both for uprightness of life and soundness of learning of those places whereof most of them The execution of their office if not all of them he knew to be such himself 2. For the execution of their office they were to do it 1. by the example of a good life 2. by the discharging of their Episcopal duties First By a good example of a just and holy conversation because By a good example as the Poët saith Exemplar vitae populis est vita regentis The common people look rather after our example then after our Precept Christs slock to be sed three ways therefore the Expositours do apply the thrice repetition of the same thing to Saint Peter Feed my Sheep to a threefold manner of feeding that is 1. Pasce verbo 2. Pasce cibo 3. Pasce exemplo First Feed them with the word of God and with good instruction With the word of God how they ought to behave themselves as becometh Saints and what to believe like good Christians 2 With Alms-deeds Secondly Feed the poorer sort with food and alms-deeds so far as thy means and ability will give thee leave Thirdly Feed all of them with the good examples of humility meekness With good examples gentleness patience piety contentedness and contempt of these worldly vanities And here I must confess that instead of giving good Example unto the People many of the Bishops that were our Predecessours gave the worst example that could be both to their succeeding Bishops and to all other people whatsoever The evil Example of our Predecessors if the example of covetousness injustice and neglect of God's Service be evil examples for what pious men and good Christians had formerly bestowed upon the Church and Church-men for the honour of God and the promoting of the Christian Faith they either through covetousness for some Fine or affection to their Children Friends or Servants have alienated the same from their Successours in Fee-Farmes or long Leases some for a 1000. some for an 100. years Whereby we
that Christ speakes of had shewed him the way before but as after Ages grew more subtle so they became more wicked then the former times even so this unjust and unthankful Servant became more wicked then before for now he layeth up such hatred and malice against his King and sealeth it in the depth of his Heart wherein the same boyled like new Wine that wanted vent so that it was like meat and drink to an hungry Stomach for him to finde any Opportunity to broach the same against the King And the Long Parliament that consisted of very many discontented Persons and men both disaffected to his Majesty and distasting his present Government made him a fair way to lay open all his Malice and what he formerly vented in his private Discourse by retail he doth it publickly now in gross and he doth it to the full and having a tongue apt to speak and not unskilful in the art of Rhetorick he begins first to make his Oration against the Earl of Strafford as knowing that whatsoever evil was proved or conceived against him the same reflected most upon the King then after the taking of this great Earl and prudent Counsellour of the King out of the way making more bitter Invectives against his Majesty then ever Cicero's Philippicks were against Marcus Antoninius or his Actions against Verres he so still passed on till he had poysoned the greater part of that House and the seditious vulgar that understood his Proceedings with an evil conceit against the good King And now seeing himself back'd with the wilde part of the House and the strength of the rude multitude no mean revenge will serve his turn but with his Rhetorical Orations and Speeches filled with Gall against the King though as yet somewhat obliquely he labours to disrobe and rob the King of all his chief Friends under the Notion of evil Counsellours and withall secretly complies with the Scots to assist him and the rest of his seditious Compeers against his Majesty But the King having full intelligence both of his and his partners vile practice against his Majesty laboured to bring them to their Tryal in the usual legal way for their underhand Treachery and Confederacy with the Scots to bring a foreign Army to invade his Dominion and then to save himself and the rest they fly to the City of London and in a short space drew the Citizens and with them the whole Kingdom to engage themselves in a desperate civil War against their lawful Sovereign Then the King found himself too weak to bring this strong Rebel to any trial yet the hand of God was not to short to fetch him out of his guarded Palace for he is the Lord of Hosts and hath as well his great Army of little ones as the Rats and Mice that devoured Popiel the second King of Polonia in anno 830. for his treacherous poysoning of his Unckles the Moales that undermined a City in Thessaly and the Worms that destroyed Herod the King as also his strong Army of great ones as the earth to swallow up Corah Dathan and Abiram the Sea to overwhelm Pharaoh and all his Hoast the Stars in their Order too fight against Sisera and his Angels to be at his Command to overthrow his enemies And therefore he sent his Serjeant to arrest him and to fetch him out of his strong hold that he should do no further Mischief against his Anointed And how he died I leave to the Report of them that knew the manner of his death better then I can set it down I did intend further to shew unto you the just Judgment of God upon Colonel Hamden that for his disloyalty to his King was shot whereof he dyed on the same Plot of ground where he first mustered his Souldiers against his King even as the Lord threatened the like Judgment against Ahab And upon the Mayor of York that on that day twelve-Moneth that our King lost his life made a Bone-fire for joy that the King had so lost his life but on the same day twelve-Moneth after hanged himself And especially upon Colonel Axtel that hath been the ruine of so many Churches and the Suppressour of so many honest conformable Ministers and other good Protestants and plaid so many Tyrannical parts about Kilkenny and in my Diocess of Ossory as I am not able in a short time and with few words to express it and upon divers others but my Occasions at this time will not give me leave to perfect what I have begun And therefore I must now here make an End and commend us all to God through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be all glory and honour for evermore Amen Jehovae Liberatori The Authour's Prayer after he had finished the Reparation of the Chancel and Quire of the Cathedral Church of Kilkenny OEternal Almighty and most merciful Lord God that hast created all things by thy Power governest them by thy Wisdom and preservest them by thy Goodness and hast disposed all thy Creatures to be for the Service of man the Sun to give him light by day and the Moon by night the Earth to feed him and the Angels of Heaven to attend him that he dash not his foot against a Stone for all which great love and bounty of thine towards man thou requirest no more but that he should be thankful unto thee and praise thee for thy goodness and declare the wonders that thou doest for the Children of men and as Moses saith what doth the Lord our God require of us but to fear the Lord our God to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and to keep his Commandments and Statutes which he commanded us for our good for the discharging of which duties and the performance of our Service unto the Lord our God though as Saint Stephen saith the most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands when as the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him which is above the heavens and below the earth and filleth all places and beyond all places with his Presence yet our fore-Fathers most religiously according to the President that King Solomon left us and the good Examples that the Primitive Christians gave us have erected Oratories and built Temples and Churches where the Saints and Servants of God might meet to praise the Lord for his manifold mercies to beg his favour and graces to help and to supply their wants and necessities to understand his Will and to know his Commands and to do all other the best Service that they could do to the Lord their God and to that onely end they have set them apart and alienated them from all secular and prophane uses dedicated them wholly for God's Service and consecrated them by Prayers to be Sanctuaries for them and their Posterities to serve and to honour God in But O Lord our God we confess and
for his flock For the affirmative or positive duties of a good Shepherd what he should do for his sheep never any came neer the goodnesse of this good Shepherd For 1. He provideth for his flock not onely the outward food of their bodies which he doth for all other living creatures when as the Prophet saith He openeth his hands and filleth all things living with plenteousness and as the same Prophet saith He feedeth the young ravens that call upon him and the best of us hath not a crum of bread but what he hath from him but he hath provided also the spiritual food of their souls which is the Word of God and the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper for as our Saviour alledged against Satan Mat. 4.4 Man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and the blessed Sacraments are Verba visibilia Evangelii the visible and palpable words of the Gospel and are as the celestiall manna the heavenly food that perisheth not but feedeth us to eternall life The errour of the Messalian Hereticks if we strive to receive the same worthily as we ought to do though now we have too too many that are poysoned with the conceit of the Messalian Hereticks that said Baptism and the Lords Supper did neither profit us nor hurt us but that they which were inspired by Gods Spirit were guided by the revelation of that Spirit how to behave themselves in all their wayes which is the readiest way to lead them to the infernal spirits because we are not to be led by the inspiration of any spirit but by those holy directions which the Spirit of God hath left us in the holy Scriptures What is meant to be inspired with Gods spirit and when we pray to be inspired with Gods Spirit we mean no otherwise then that the Spirit of God would guide us to lead our lives and to do all things as we are commanded by the same spirit to do in the word of God that is left unto us by the Prophets and Apostles of Jesus Christ to be the onely Rule of all our actions 2. As he provideth thus both our temporal and our spiritual food 2 Christ ordereth how the food of his should be disposed so he ordereth and disposeth this food unto his sheep not according to their sensual appetite but for the natural good of their bodies and the spiritual health of their souls that it may be unto them the savour of life unto life and not the savour of death unto death As 1. For their natural food 1 Their natural food he would have us with the son of Jakeh to desire neither poverty nor riches neither too much nor too little but to be fed with food convenient lest if we be too full we forget the Lord grow too proud as the great rich men commonly be or if we be too poor we be driven to steal and to lie Prov. 30.8 9. and to take the name of God in vain And What should be convenient for every man because most men are loath to understand what is the mean betwixt too much and too little and what measure is that that is convenient S. Paul tells us That having food and rayment we should therewith be contented for the greatest Monarch in the world can have no more and our Saviour that best knew what is convenient for every man bids us prey to God that he would give us this day our daily bread that is so much as will serve us for our present necessity Luke 12.19 and not with that fool in the Gospel to lay up much goods for many years when he knew not that his soul in that night should be taken from him and then he could not tell who should enjoy those things or how those things should be spent that he had provided And 2. For our spiritual food 2 Their spiritual food this good Shepherd hath commanded us that are his under-Shepherds to give unto his sheep their owne portion in due season 1. Their own portion and that both in quality and quantity 1 Their own portion 1. In quality 1. In Quality what is most proper for every one as all meats serve not for every stomack and every potion serves not for all diseases so it is with our spiritual food and the divine physick of our soules and therefore we are advised to give milk unto the babes and stronger meat to them that are stronger men in Christ that is plain and easie doctrines to the plain and more ignorant people and deeper and more polite discourses to the judicious and those of deeper knowledge because as S. Paul saith we are debtors both to the Greeks and to the Barbaâ—ians to the wise and to the unwise and therefore as Christ biddeth his Apostles so must we sometimes launch forth into the deep both of Divinity and Humanity and as well of Arts as of Languages And so we are to give praises to the good reproofes to the bad but flatteries unto none when we ought no more to flatter the sweet and clement then to fear the cruel tyrant and in like manner we are commanded to apply comfors and consolations to the dejected spirits to pronounce pardon to the penitent sinners and to thunder out the terrors of Gods judgements to none but such as are impenitent and obstinate transgressors 2. In Quantity we are to give our sheep neither too much of this spiritual food 2 In quantity nor yet too little for where prophesie faileth the people perish and the worst famine is the famine not of corn wine and oyl but of the famine of Gods Word and therofere the Apostle saith Wo is me if I preach not the Gospel and wo is them that hinder us to preach it as they have done these many years And yet as we are not to give our sheep too little of this spiritual pasture lest they should want so they should not have too much lest they should loath it for a man may eat too much of the Honey-comb saith Solomon Prov. 25.16 Num. 11.20 and the children of Israel had so much Manna that they loathed it and Quails so plentifully that the flesh came out at their nostrils and so men may have the Word of God so fully that they will despise it or at least neglect it because as Solomon saith Prov. 27.7 the full soul loatheth or treadeth under foot the honey-comb but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet so is the Word of God precious when it is not so plentiful and despised when we are full of it And truly I do believe Knowledge how more plentiful now then ever it was the Gospel of Christ and the rest of the holy Scriptures were never since Christ his time so fully and so generally and so truly published as of late they were in the reigne of our late King
their Prince because it is the rule of justice among them that the lesser and inferiour should serve the greater and superiour Idom de operibus Monach. and as the same Father saith Quid iniquius quam velle sibi obtemperari à minoribus nolle obtemperare majoribus What can be more unjust and more unreasonable then to require obedience of our inferiours and not to yield it to our superiours how then can we expect our children and our servants to hear our voice and to obey us if we obey not God that is our Master and our Father and obey not our King that God hath placed over us And therefore the sheep of Christ How acceptable obedienae is to God like tractable sheep are alwayes ready to obey his commands and to do his will as well in the greatest as in the least things and this their obedience is more acceptable and more pleasing to God then any sacrifice because Greg. in 1. reg 15. lib. 35. as S. Gregory saith Per victimas aliena caro per obedientiam vere propria voluntas mactatur by sacrifice they killed other beasts but by our obedience we slay our own proper wills and submit our selves to do the will of Christ 4. They are resembled unto Sheep 4 In respect of plenty of fruits in respect of their secundity and plenty of all good fruits for as sheep are the most profitable of all cattel and do as the Prophet saith bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets and do abound in milk wool and fleeces of divers colours so the Saints and servants of God are most fruitful in begetting children unto God and regenerating them to Christ and they are most plentiful of milk even the sincere milk of Gods Word as Saint Peter calleth it 1 Pet. 2.2 and they do abound with the variety of all vertuous acts and the examples of all good deeds when as Job saith Velleribus ovium mearum calefactus est pauper Job 38. the poor is warmed with the fleeces of my sheep And as drink is a great cause of the fecundity and fittening of sheep Aristot de gen animal as Aristotle saith for which purpose some give them salt to eat that they might thirst the more and drink the better so the drinking of the Water of life which is the Word of God doth make the children of God to abound in all good works even as the Apostle sheweth that the Colossians were fruitfull in every good work Col. 1.10 when they increased in the knowledge of God 5. They are resembled unto Sheep in respect of their plain dealing 5 In respect of their plaine dealing and simplicity and the simplicity of their carriage in all affairs for as the Sheep is the silliest and simplest of all beasts and knowes neither how to help her self in distress nor to return to the right way when she wandereth and therefore we say that We have erred and strayed like a lost sheep that being once gone from her fellows can never come home again unless she be sought for by the care and diligence of her Shepherd even so the servants of God are the simplest of all men in all worldly affairs so simple that the world laughs at the simplicity of their carriage either in their suits at law or trades of life or any other worldly business and our Saviour tells us that the children of this world are farre wiser in their generation then the children of light But here you must observe that there is a two-fold simplicity That there is a two-fold simplicity 1. Simplicity Mat. 10.16 Job 1.1 ch 8.20 Wisd 1.1 Prov. 20.7 1. The one contrary to deceit and this is good commanded to be imbraced by Christ himself Estote sinaplices sicut columbae and commended in all those that use it for so the Lord saith Job was Vir simplex rectus a simple and an upright man and Bildad saith Deus non projiciet simplicem God will not cast away the simple and the wise man bids us Seek the Lord in simplicity of heart And Solomon saith that the just man which walketh in his integrity in his simplicity saith the Text shall leave his childen blessed 2. The other simplicity is contrary to discretion 2 Simplicity and this is reproved to be avoided and therefore our Saviour bids us not only to be simple as Doves but also to be as wise as discreet and as subtil as the Serpent that as our simplicity and uprightness hindereth us to wrong and deceive others so our discretion and wisdome may preserve us from being wronged and deceived by any other Hiero. sup Hos Quia non multum distat à vitio aut decipere aut decipi posse nam sicut prudentia absque simplicitate malitia est ita simplicitas absque ratione stultitia est for as wisdome and understanding without simplicity and uprightness is malice and wickedness so uprightness and simplicity without wisdome and discretion is folly and weakness saith S. Hierom. And therefore we should follow our Saviours counsel to joyn the wisdome of the Serpent to the simplicity of the Dove But Satan is so spightful and so prevalent that he maketh the wicked worldlings to be onely carefull to get subtilty and to cast away all uprightness and simplicity and the children of God being onely careful to retain their uprightness and simplicity The godly men are careless to prevent the snares and dangers of the world are most commonly careless and negligent of that prudence and discretion which is most requisite for them while they live amongst the wicked◠and in that respect they are for their simplicity herein resembled unto sheep and well they may be so resembled for though our enemies are so subtil and so crafty to attain unto their ends that neither Achitophel nor Machiavel could go beyond them yet we see how dull the servants of Christ are and the servants of our Kingwere either to preserve themselves or to prevent the stratagems of their adversaries or to devise any wayes to prevail against their enemies otherwise our late good Shepherd had not been so smitten and his sheep had not been so scattered as they are at this present 6. 6 In respect of the profit and good that is had from them And lastly they are resembled unto Sheep in respect of the utility and great benefit that is made of them and so received from them for as there is no part nor parcel of the sheep but it is good for something as their flesh to feedus their wool to cloath us their dung to fatten our ground to inrich us their intrails to make musical strings to delight us and their horns and hoofs as some say to make perfumes for many uses so all the thoughts words and works of Gods children are good for something either the glory of God or the edifying of their neighbours or
the discharging of their own duties and so Omnia co-operantur in bonum all that they do is some ways good or else will turn to good as their very sins when they are confest and repented of do make for Gods glory in pardoning them and do make them the more humble and the more careful to prevent the like fins whereas the Prophet tells us that with the ungodly it is clean contrary when not onely the words of their mouth are unrighteous and full of deceit Psal 37.3 Gen. 6.5 and the thoughts of their hearts are wicked and onely evil continually but also their very prayers and the best of all their actions shall be turned into sin The wicked to whom they are like And therefore the wicked that fear not God and love not men are no wayes like unto sheep but in respect of their subtilty to circumvent and to deceive their poor neighbours they are like Foxes for malice and anger they are like Dogs for their implacable and bloody minds they are as cruel as the Tygers for their greedy and covetous affections they are as ravenous as Wolves for their high minds and haughty hearts they are as proud as Peacocks and for their hypocrisie and dissimulation they are as deceitful as the Syrens And so forth Forma non omnibus una Nec diversa tamen Though all of them are not like to each one of these yet every one of them is like to some one of these and none of them like unto sheep But my time is too short and my skill is too scant to shew unto you the subtilty cruelty and other evil qualities of these beasts and they are without the limits of my Text and I pray God to keep me and every poor simple sheep without the limits of their reach and into their counsel let not my soul come we have felt too much of their weight already yet by this that I have spoken you may perceive who belongs unto my Text and who are the sheep of Christ not those Foxes that beguile their brethren nor those Wolves that devour their neighbours nor yet those that go under the shew of Sheep and destroy their Shepherds as you see who have now done it for you perceive our Saviour tells you That his sheep will hear the voice of their shepherd and will follow him What then shall I say of those cruel beasts with whom S. Paul fought at Ephesus and whose brood have ever since fought against and robbed and killed their Shepherds so that their sheep which are the faithfull Christians were miserably scattered and shattered and much troubled for the calamities that befell unto their Shepherds that have been often times so sorely smitten that some of them knew not where to find holes to hide their heads And I speak this by sad experience nor bread to put into their mouths Truly I will say nothing of them but if any be such persecutors of their Shepherds I say that as yet they are not the sheep of Christ what they may be hereafter I cannot tell and for the true sheep of Christ and his under-shepherds the Prelates and Preachers of Gods Word and the rest of them I can give you none other counsel then what S. Phil. 3.2 Mat. 7.15 The authors counsel to his brethren the Bishops and Preachers Paul gives to his Philippians beware of dogs and what our Saviour saith to his Disciples Take heed of them that come unto you in sheeps cloathing but inwardly are ravening wolves and if you be persecuted in one city then flie into another and when the enemies have way-laid all cities then flie to another Kingdome and know that the same sun shineth and the same God reigneth in all the Kingdomes of the world But let us that are Gods Shepherds especially Bishops take heed that we be not found like the Bishop of Spalato wavering with every wind or like Ecebolius that forsook his faith to preserve his living and lest the service of God to serve the ruling hereticks or like his imitator of Cambridge Dr. Perne that in King Henry the Eighth's time was a Catholick and in Edward the Sixth's time a good Protestant but in Queen Mary's a rigid Papist and in Queen Elizabeths time if I be not mistaken a kind of another Protestant changing still just as the Camelion and as the children of Ephraim that being harnessed and carrying bows and so able to do God service yet turned themselves back in the day of battel for this our good and chief Shepherd doth profess that whosoever dealeth so and denieth him before men that is sticketh not unto him to serve him and to defend his Service him will he deny before his father which is in heaven And that is a greater loss then the loss of a Living and a worser doom then all the persecution that can be imposed upon us But so much shall serve for the denomination of Gods servants that they are stiled Sheep both in respect of Christ that iâ— their Shepherd and in respect of their resemblances unto sheep 2. The next point that is here to be observed is their appropriation 2 Their Appropriation expressed in the word My sheep for though they be sheep and but sheep and like sheep yet they are my sheep and I do own them for my sheep which is the onely comfort of all Christians For otherwise it were but a small joy and a sad case for us to be Sheep for the Dogs to tear us and the Wolves to eat us and every one to take our Fleeces from us unless we had a good Shepherd that is both willing to help us and able to defend us from all evil but in these words My sheep both our Protection and our Consolation is fully included and if you observe it well you may herein find intimated these two special things 1. The honour and dignity of all good Christians Two things observable in the words My sheep 1. The honour and dignity of good Christistians 2. The security and safety of all good Christians 1. The worldly men stand much upon their Nobility and indeed Eprincipibus nasci preclarum est it is an excellent grace to be born of Nobles to have Abraham for our Father and Sarah to be our Mother and therefore not only the Romans made great account of them that were sprung of the Julian Family and the like Noble Ancestors but also the Grecians did the like Pausan in Baeoicis as Pausanias writes of Epaminondas the most illustrious Captain of the Thebans and the Jews in like manner boasted much of their Ancestors Theatr. Zuing. in vita Joseph as Josephus is very carefull in describing the Nobility of his Ancestors that of his Fathers side he was sprung from the Priests and his Mother from the Asmonaean Princes and Jehu gives this honour unto Jezabel that she was a Kings daughter 2 Reg. 9.34 But if we do not imitate our