obtain that thing now of me which hereafter Time shall obtain of me If a Man be called an Adulterer Usurer Drunkard or by any other shameful Name let him consider earnestly whether he be so called truly or falsly if truly let him amend his fault that his Adversary may not after worthily charge him with such Offences If these things be laid against him falsly yet let him consider whether he hath given any occasion to be suspected of such things and so he may both cut off that suspicion whereof this slander did arise and in other things shall live more warily And thus using ourselves we may take no hurt but rather much good by the rebukes and slanders of our Enemy For the reproach of an Enemy may be to many men a quicker spur to the amendment of their life than the gentle monition of a Friend Philippus the King of Macedonia when he was evil spoken of by the chief Rulers of the City of Athens he did thank them heartily because by them he was made better both in his Words and Deeds For I study saith he both by my Sayings and Doings to prove them Lyars The Third Part of the Sermon against Contention YE heard in the last Lesson of the Sermon against Strife and Brawling how we may answer them which maintain their froward sayings in Contention and that will revenge with words such evil as other Men do them and finally how we may according to God's Will order ourselves and what to consider towards them when wâ— are provoked to Contention and Strife with railing Words Now to proceed in the same matter you shall know the right way how to disprove and overcome your Adversary and Enemy This is the best way to disprove a Man's Adversary so to live that all which shall know his Honesty may bear witness that he is slandered unworthily If the fault whereof he is slandered be such that for the defence of his Honesty he must needs make answer let him answer quietly and softly on this fashion That those faults be laid against him falsly For it is truth that the Wise Man saith A soft answer asswageth anger Prov. 15. and a hard and sharp answer dâ—th stir up rage and fury The sharp answer of Nabal provoked David to cruel Vengeance 1 King 25. but the gentle words of Abigail quenched the fire again that was all in a flame And a special remedy against malicious Tongues is to arm ourselves with patience meekness and silence lest with multiplying words with the Enemy we be made as evil as he But they An Objection Prov. 26. that cannot bear one evil word peradventure for their own excuse will alledge that which is written He that despiseth his gâ—od Name is cruel Also we read Answer a Fool according to his foolishness And our Lord Jesus Christ did hold his peace at certain evil sayings but to some he answered diligently He heard Men call him a Samaritan a Carpenters Son a Wine-Drinker and he held his peace But when he heard them say Thou hast the Devil within thee he answered to that earnestly Answer Truth it is indeed that there is a time when it is convenient to answer a Fool according to his foolishness lest he should seem in his own conceit to be wise And somtime it is not profitable to answer a Fool according to his foolishness lest the Wise Man be made like to the Fool. When our Infamy or the Reproach that is done unto us is joyned with the peril of many then it is necessary in answering to be quick and ready For we read that many holy Men of good Zeal have sharply and fiercely both spoken and answered Tyrants and evil Men which sharp words came not of Anger Rancor or Malice or desire of Vengeance but of a fervent desire to bring them to the true knowledge of God and from ungodly living by an earnest and sharp rebuke and chiding In this Zeal Saint John Baptist called the Pharisees Adders brood Matth. 3. Gal. 3. Titus 1. And Saint Paul called the Galatians Fools And the Men of Crete he called Lyars evil Beasts and sluggish Bellies And the false Apostles he called Dogs and crafty Workmen Phil. 3. And his Zeal is godly and to be allowed as it is plainly proved by the example of Christ who although he were the Fountain and Spring of all Meekness Gentleness and Softness Matth. 23. yet he called the obstinate Scribes and Pharisees Blind Guides Fools painted Graves Hypocrites Serpents Adders brood a corrupt and wicked Generation Also he rebuketh Peter eagerly saying Go behind me Satan Matth. 16. Likewise Saint Paul reproveth Elymas saying Acts 13. O thou full of all Craft and Guile Enemy to all Justice thou ceasest not to destroy the right ways of God And now lo the Hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt be blind and not see for a time And Saint Peter reprehendeth Ananias very sharply saying Ananias Acts 5. how is it that Satan hath filled thy Heart that thou shouldst lye unto the Holy Ghost This Zeal hath been so servent in many good Men that it hath stirred them not only to speak bitter and eager words but also to do things which might seem to some to be cruel but indeed they be very just charitable and godly because they were not done of Ire Malice or contentious Mind but of a fervent Mind to the Glory of God and the correction of Sin executed by Men called to that Office For in this Zeal our Lord Jesus Christ did drive with a Whip the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple John 2. In this Zeal Moses brake the two Tables which he had received at Gods Hand Exod. 32. when he saw the Israelites dancing about the Calf and caused to be killed twenty four thousand of his own People Numb 25. But these Examples are not to be followed of every body but as Men be called to Office and set in Authority Prov. 20. In this Zeal Phineas the Son of Eleazer did thrust through with his Sword Zimri and Cosby whom he found together joyned in the act of Uncleanness Wherefore now to return again to contentious Words and specially in Matters of Religion and Gods Word which would be used with all Modesty Soberness and Chastity the words of Saint James ought to be well marked and born in memory where he saith That of Contention riseth all Evil. And the wise King Solomon saith Honour is due to a Man that keepeth himself from Contention and all that mingle themselves therewith be Fools And because this Vice is so much hurtful to the Society of a Commonwealth in all well-ordered Cities these common Brawlers and Scolders be punished with a notable kind of pain as to be set on the Cucking-stool Pillory or such like And they be unworthy to live in a Commonwealth the which do as much as lieth in them with Brawling and Scolding to disturb
Lies Deceits Uncleanness Filthiness Dung Mischief and Abomination before the Lord. Wherefore Gods horrible wrath and our most dreadful danger cannot be avoided without the destruction and utter abolishing of all Images and Idols our of the Church and Temple of God which to accomplish God put in the minds of all Christian Princes And in the mean time let us take heed and be wise O ye beloved of the Lord and let us have no strange gods but one only God who made us when we were nothing the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ John 17. who redeemed us when we were lost and with his Holy Spirit doth sanctifie us For this is life everlasting to know him to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Let us honour and worship for Religions sake none but him and him let us worship and honour as he will himself and hath declared by his Word that he will be honoured and worshipped not in nor by Images or Idols which he hath most strictly forbidden neither in kneeling lighting of Candles burning of Incense offering up of Gifts unto Images and Idols to believe that we shall please him for all these be abomination before God But let us honour and worship God in Spirit and in Truth John 4. fearing and loving him above all things trusting in him only calling upon him and praying to him only praising and lauding of him only and all other in him and for him For such worshippers doth our Heavenly Father love who is a most pure Spirit and therefore will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And such worshippers were Abraham Moses David Elias Peter Paul John and all other the Holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all true Saints of God who all as the true Friends of God were enemies and destroyers of Images and Idols as the Enemies of God and his true Religion Wherefore take heed and be wise O ye beloved of the Lord and that which others contrary to Gods Word bestow wickedly and to their damnation upon dead stocks and stones no Images but Enemies of God and his Saints that bestow ye as the faithful Servants of God according to Gods Word mercifully upon poor Men and Women Fatherless Children Widows sick Persons Strangers Prisoners and such others that be in any necessity that ye may at that great day of the Lord hear that most blessed and comfortable saying of our Saviour Christ Come ye blessed into the Kingdom of my Father prepared for you before the beginning of the World For I was hungry and ye gave me meat thirsty and ye gave me drink naked and ye clothed me harbourless and ye lodged me in Prison and ye visited me sick and ye comforted me For whatsoever ye have done for the poor and needy in my name and for my sake that have ye done for me To the which his Heavenly Kingdom God the Father of Mercies bring us for Jesus Christs sake our only Saviour Mediator and Advocate to whom with the Holy Ghost one immortal invisible and most glorious God be all Honour and Thanksgiving and Glory World without end Amen AN HOMILY FOR Repairing and keeping clean and comely adorning of Churches IT is a common custom used of all men when they intend to have their Friends or Neighbours to come to their Houses to eat or drink with them or to have any Solemn Assembly to treat and talk of any matter they will have their Houses which they keep in continual reparations to be clean and fine lest they should be counted sluttish or little to regard their Friends and Neighbours How much more then ought the House of God which we commonly call the Church to be sufficiently repaired in all places and to be honourably adorned and garnished and to be kept clean and sweet to the comfort of the People that shall resort thereunto It appeareth in the Holy Scripture how Gods House which was called his Holy Temple and was the Mother Church of all Jewry fell sometimes into decay and was oftentimes profaned and defiled through the negligence and ungodliness of such as had the charge thereof But when godly Kings and Governors were in place then Commandment was given forthwith that the Church and Temple of God should be repaired and the Devotion of the People to be gathered for the reparation of the same We read in the fourth Book of the Kings 4 Kings 12. how that King Joas being a godly Prince gave commandment to the Priests to convert certain Offerings of the People towards the reparation and amendment of Gods Temple Like commandment gave that most godly King Josias 4 Kings 22. concerning the reparation and re-edification of Gods Temple which in his time he found in sore decay It hath pleased Almighty God that these Histories touching the re-edifying and repairing of his Holy Temple should be written at large to the end we should be taught thereby First that God is well pleased that his People should have a convenient place to resort unto and to come together to praise and magnifie Gods Holy Name And secoâ—dâ—â— he is highly pleased with all those which diligenâ—ly and zealously go about to amend and restore such places as are appointed for the Congregation of Gods People to resort unto and wherein they humbly and joyntly render thanks to God for his benefits and with one heart and voice praise his Holy Name Thirdly God was sore displeased with his People because they builded decked and trimmed up their own Houses and suffered Gods House to be in ruine and decay to lye uncomely and fulsomly Wherefore God was sore grieved with them and plagued them as appeareth in the Prophet Aggeus Thus saith the Lord Agge 1. Is it time for you to dwell in your cieled Houses and the Lords House not regarded Ye have sowed much and gathered in but little your meat and your clothes have neither filled you nor made you warm and he that had his wages put it in a bottomless purse By these Plagues which God laid upon his People for neglecting of his Temple it may evidently appear that God will have his Temple his Church the place where his Congregation shall resort to magnifie him well edified well repaired and well maintained Some neither regarding godliness nor the place of godly exercise will say The Temple in the Old Law was commanded to be built and repaired by God himself because it had great Promises annexed unto it and because it was a figure a Sacrament or a signification of Christ and also of his Church To this may be easily answered First that our Churches are not destitute of Promises forasmuch as our Saviour Christ saith Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst among them A great number therefore coming to Church together in the name of Christ have there that is to say in the Church their God and Saviour Jesus Christ present among the
be so answered at the King's hand but still urging him more and more said It becometh a King to perform the least word he hath spoken yea if he should only beck with his Head No more saith the King than it behoveth one that cometh to a King to speak and ask those things which are rightful and honest Thus the King cast off this unreasonable and importunate suiter Now if so great consideration be to be had when we kneel before an Earthly King how much more ought to be had when we kneel before the Heavenly King who is only delighted with Justice and Equity neither will admit any vain foolish or unjust Petition Therefore it shall be good and profitable throughly to consider and determine with our selves what things we may lawfully ask of God without fear of repulse and also what kind of Persons we are bound to commend unto God in our daily Prayers Two things are chiefly to be respected in every good and godly mans Prayer His own necessity and the glory of Almighty God Necessity belongeth either outwardly to the Body or else inwardly to the Soul Which part of man because it is much more precious and excellent than the other therefore we ought first of all to crave such things as properly belong to the salvation thereof as the gift of Repentance the gift of Faith the gift of Charity and Good Works Remission and Forgiveness of Sins Patience in Adversity Lowliness in Prosperity Gal. 5. and such other like fruits of the Spirit as Hope Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Meekness and Temperance which things God requireth of all them that profess themselves to be his Children saying unto them in this wise Matt. 5. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And in another place also he saith Matt. 6. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then all other things shall be given unto you Wherein he putteth us in mind that our chief and greatest care ought to be for those things which pertain to the health and safeguard of the Soul Hebr. 13. because we have here as the Apostle saith no continuing City but we seek after another in the World to come Now when we have sufficiently prayed for things belonging to the Soul then may we lawfully and with safe Conscience Pray also for our bodily Necessities as Meat Drink Clothing Health of Body deliverance out of Prison good luck in our daily Affairs and so forth according as we shall have need Whereof Matt. 6. Luke 11. what better Example can we desire to have than of Christ himself who taught his Disciples and all other Christian men first to pray for Heavenly things and afterward for Earthly things as is to be seen in that Prayer which he left unto his Church commonly called the Lords Prayer In the third Book of Kings and third Chapter it is written That God appeared by night in a dream unto Solomon the King saying Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt and I will give it thee Solomon made his Humble Prayer and asked a wise and prudent Heart that might judge and understand what were good and what were ill what were godly and what were ungodly what were righteous and what were unrighteous in the sight of the Lord. It pleased God wondrously that he had asked this thing And God said unto him Because thou hast requested this word and hast not desired many days and long years upon the Earth neither abundance of Riches and Goods nor yet the life of thine Enemies which hate thee but hast desired Wisdom to sit in Judgment behold I have done unto thee according to thy words I have given thee a wise heart full of knowledge and understanding so that there was never any like thee before time neither shall be in time to come Moreover I have besides this given thee that which thou hast not required namely worldly wealth and riches Princely honour and glory so that thou shalt therein also pass all Kings that ever were Note this Example how Solomon being put to his choice to ask of God whatsoever he would requested not vain and transitory things but the high and Heavenly Treasures of Wisdom and that in so doing he obtaineth as it were in recompence both Riches and Honour Wherein is given us to understand that in our daily Prayers we should chiefly and principally ask those things which concern the Kingdom of God and the Salvation of our own Souls nothing doubting but all other things shall according to the promise of Christ be given unto us But here we must take heed that we forget not that other end whereof mention was made before namely the Glory of God Which unless we mind and set before our Eyes in making our Prayers we may not look to be heard or to receive any thing of the Lord. In the xx Chapter of Matthew the Mother of the two Sons of Zebedee came unto Jesus worshipping him and saying Grant that my two Sons may sit in thy Kingdom the one on thy right hand and the other at thy left hand In this Petition she did not respect the Glory of God but plainly declared the ambition and vain-glory of her own mind for which cause she was also most worthily repelled and rebuked at the Lords hand In like manner we read in the Acts of one Simon Magus Acts 8. a Sorcerer how that he perceiving that through laying on of the Apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given offered them money saying Give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay my hands he may receive the Holy Ghost In making this Request he sought not the Honour and Glory of God but his own private Gain and Lucre thinking to get great store of Money by this feat and therefore it was justly said unto him Thy money perish with thee because thou thinkest that the gift of God may be obtained with money By these and such other Examples we are taught whensoever we make our Prayers unto God chiefly to respect the Honour and Glory of his Name Whereof we have this general Precept in the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 10. Coloss 3. Mat. 26. Luke 22. Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do look that ye do it to the glory of God Which thing we shall best of all do if we follow the example of our Saviour Christ who praying that the bitter Cup of Death might pass from him would not therein have his own will fulfilled but referred the whole matter to the good will and pleasure of his Father And hitherto concerning those things that we may lawfully and boldly ask of God Now it followeth that we declare what kind of Persons we are bound in Conscience to pray for St. Paul writing to Timothy 1 Tim. â— exhorteth him to make Prayers and Supplications for all men exempting none of what
poor Pilgrim and meek soul riding upon an Ass but like a valiant and mighty King in great Royalty and Honour Not as Christ did with a few Fishermen and men of small estimation in the World but with a great Army of strong men with a great train of Wise and Noble men as Knights Lords Earls Dukes Princes and so forth Neither do they think that their Messias shall slanderously suffer death as Christ did but that he shall stoutly conquer and manfully subdue all his Enemies and finally obtain such a Kingdom on Earth as never was seen from the beginning While they feign unto themselves after this sort a Messias of their own brain they deceive themselves and account Christ as an abject and scorn of the World Therefore Christ crucified as St. Paul saith is unto the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Gentiles foolishness because they think it an absurd thing and contrary to all reason that a Redeemer and Saviour of the whole World should be handled after such a sort as he was namely scorned reviled scourged condemned and last of all cruelly hanged This I say seemed in their eyes strange and most absurd and therefore neither they would at that time neither will they as yet acknowledge Christ to be their Messiâ—s and Saviour But we dearly beloved that hope and look to be saved must both stedfastly believe and also boldly confess that the same Jesus which was born of the Virgin Mary was the true Messias and Mediator between God and Man promised and prophesied of so long before For as the Apostle writeth With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10. and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Again in the same place Whosoever believeth in him shall never be ashamed nor confounded Whereto also agreeth the testimony of St. John written in the fourth Chapter of his first general Epistle on this wise Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God he dwelleth in God and God in him There is no doubt but in this point all Christian men are fully and perfectly perswaded Yet shall it not be a lost labour to instruct and furnish you with a few places concerning this matter that ye may be able to stop the blasphemous mouths of all them that most Jewishly or rather devilishly shall at any time go about to teach or maintain the contrary First ye have the witness and testimony of the Angel Gabriel declared as well to Zachary the High-Priest as also to the blessed Virgin Secondly ye have the witness and testimony of John the Baptist pointing unto Christ and saying Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World Thirdly ye have the witness and testimony of God the Father who thundred from Heaven and said This is my dearly beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him Fourthly ye have the witness and testimony of the Holy Ghost which came down from Heaven in manner of a Dove and lighted upon him in time of his Baptism To these might be added a great number more namely the witness and testimony of the Wise Men that came to Herod the witness and testimony of Simeon and Anna the witness and testimony of Andrew and Philip Nathaniel and Peter Nicodemus and Martha with divers other But it were too long to repeat all and a few places are sufficient in so plain a matter specially among them that are already perswaded Therefore if the privy Imps of Antichrist and crafty Instruments of the Devil shall attempt or go about to withdraw you from this true Messias and perswade you to look for another that is not yet come let them not in any case seduce you but confirm your selves with these and such other testimonies of Holy Scripture which are so sure and certain that all the Devils in Hell shall never be able to withstand them For as truly as God liveth so truly was Jesus Christ the true Messias and Saviour of the World even the same Jesus which as this day was born of the Virgin Mary without all help of man only by the power and operation of the Holy Ghost Concerning whose nature and substance because divers and sundry Heresies are risen in these our days through the motion and suggestion of Satan therefore it shall be needful and profitable for your instruction to speak a word or two also of this part We are evidently taught in the Scripture that our Lord and Saviour Christ consisteth of two several natures of his manhood being thereby perfect man and of his Godhead being thereby perfect God John 1. Rom. 8. It is written The Word that is to say the second Person in Trinity became flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful flesh fulfilled those things which the Law could not Phil. 2. Christ being in form of God took on him the form of a servant and was made like unto man being found in shape as a man 1 Tim. 3. God was shewed in Flesh justified in Spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the World and received up in glory Also in another place There is one God and one Mediator between God and man even the Man Jesus Christ These be plain places for the proof and declaration of both Natures united and knit together in one Christ Let us diligently consider and weigh the works that he did whiles he lived on Earth and we shall thereby also perceive the self-same thing to be most true In that he did hunger and thirst eat and drink sleep and wake in that he preached his Gospel to the People in that he wept and sorrowed for Jerusalem in that he paid Tribute for himself and Peter in that he died and suffered death what other things did he else declare but only this that he was perfect man as we are For which cause he is called in Holy Scripture sometime the Son of David sometime the Son of Man sometime the Son of Mary sometime the Son of Joseph and so forth Now in that he forgave Sins in that he wrought Miracles in that he did cast out Devils in that he healed men with his only Word in that he knew the thoughts of mens Hearts in that he had the Seas at his Commandment in that he walked on the Water in that he rose from Death to Life in that he ascended into Heaven and so forth What other thing did he shew therein but only that he was perfect God coequal with the Father as touching his Deity Therefore he saith The Father and I are all one which is to be understood of his Godhead For as touching his Manhood he saith The Father is greater than I am Where are now those Marcionites that deny Christ to have been born in the flesh or to have been perfect man Where are now those Arians which deny Christ to have been perfect God of equal substance with the Father If there be any such we may easily
that are out of Gods favor and so hurtful or like to be hurtful to the Common-wealth What Answer think you would he make to those that demand An unnatural and wicked Question whether they being naughty and unkind Subjects may not to the great hazard of the life of many thousands and the utter danger of the State of the Common-wealth and the whole Realm assemble a sort of Rebels either to depose to put in fear or to destroy their natural and loving Princes enemy to none good to all even to them the worst of all other the maintainer of perpetual Peace Quietness and Security most beneficial to the Common-Wealth most necessary for the safeguard of the whole Realm What answer would David make to their Demand whether they may not attempt cruelly and unnaturally to destroy so peaceable and merciful a Prince What I say would David so reverently speaking of Saul and so patiently suffering so evil a King what would he answer and say to such Demands What would he say nay what would he do to such high Attempters who so said and did as you before have heard unto him that slew the King his Master though a most wicked Prince If he punished with death as a wicked doer such a Man with what reproaches of words would he revile such yea with what torments of most shameful deaths would he destroy such Hell-hounds rather than evil Men such Rebels I mean as I last spoke of For if they who do disobey an evil and unkind Prince be most unlike unto David that good Subject What be they who do rebel against a most natural and loving Prince And if David being so good a Subject that he obeyed so evil a King was worthy of a Subject to be made a King himself What be they which are so evil Subjects that they will rebel against their gracious Prince worthy of Surely no mortal Man can express with words nor conceive in mind the horrible and most dreadful damnation that such be worthy of who disdaining to be the quiet and happy Subjects of their good Prince are most worthy to be the miserable Captives and vile Slaves of that infernal Tyrant Satan and with him to suffer eternal slavery and torments This one Example of the good Subject David out of the Old Testament may suffice and for the notableness of it serve for all Luk. 2. a. 1 In the New Testament the excellent Example of the blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of our Saviour Christ doth at the first offer it self When Proclamation or Commandment was sent into Jury from Augustus the Emperor of Rome that the People there should repair unto their own Cities and Dwelling places there to be taxed neither did the blessed Virgin though both highly in Gods favor and also being of the Royal Blood of the ancient natural Kings of Jury disdain to obey the Commandment of an Heathen and Foreign Prince when God had placed such an one over them Neither did she alledge for any excuse that she was great with Child and most near her time of Deliverance neither grudged she at the length and tedious Journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem from whence and whither she must go to be taxed neither repined she at the sharpness of the dead time of Winter being the latter end of December an unfit time to travel in specially a long Journey for a Woman being in her case but all excuses set apart she obeyed Luk. 2. a. 7. and came to the appointed place where at her coming she found such great resort and throng of People that finding no place in any Inn she was fain after her long painful and tedious Journey to take up her Lodging in a Stable where also she was delivered of her blessed Child and this also declareth how near her time she took that Journey This Obedience of this most noble and most vertuous Lady to a Foreign Pagan Prince doth well teach us who in comparison of her are most base and vile what ready obedience we do owe to our natural and gracious Sovereign Howbeit in this case the obedience of the whole Jewish Nation being otherwise a stubborn People Luk. a. 2.3 â—at 17. d. 25 c. Mark 12. b. 17. Luke 20. d. 15. Mat. 27. a. Luke 23.1 John 19.20 Mat. 17. c. 26. Luke 23. d. 24. unto the commandment of the same Foreign Heathen Prince doth prove that such Christians as do not most readily obey their natural and gracious Sovereign are far worse than the stubborn Jews whom we yet account as the worst of all People But no Example ought to be of more force with us Christians than the example of Christ our Master and Saviour who though he were the Son of God yet did always behave himself most reverently to such Men as were in Authority in the World in his time and he not rebelliously behaved himself but openly did teach the Jews to pay tribute unto the Roman Emperor though a Foreign and a Pagan Prince yea himself with his Apostles paid tribute unto him And finally being brought before Pontius Pilate a stranger born and an Heathen Man being Lord President of Jury he acknowledged his Authority and Power to be given him from God and obeyed patiently the sentence of most painful and shameful Death which the said Judge pronounced and gave most unjustly against him without any grudge murmuring or evil word once giving There be many and divers other examples of the obedience to Princes even such as be evil in the New Testament to the utter confusion of disobedient and rebellious People but this one may be an eternal Example which the Son of God and so the Lord of all Jesus Christ hath given to us his Christians and Servants and such as may serve for all to teach us to obey Princes though strangers wicked and wrongful when God for our sins shall place such over us Whereby it followeth unavoidably that such as do disobey or rebel against their own natural gracious Sovereigns howsoever they call themselves or be named of others yet are they indeed no true Christians but worse than Jews worse than Heathens and such as shall never enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven which Christ by his obedience purchased for true Christians being obedient to him the King of all Kings and to their Prince whom he hath placed over them The which Kingdom the peculiar place of all such obedient Subjects I beseech God our heavenly Father for the same our Saviour Jesus Christs sake to grant unto us To whom with the Holy Ghost be all laud honor and glory now and for ever Amen Thus have you heard the Second Part of this Homily Now good People Let us pray The PRAYER as in that time it was Published O Most mighty God the Lord of Hosts the Governor of all Creatures the only giver of all Victories who alone art able to strengthen the Weak against the Mighty and to vanquish infinite multitudes of thine