the fear of God and love of his children but the manner of putting them in execution is neither approoved in holie Scripture nor was in it selfe justifiable nor is to bee imitated of us it beeing no more lawfull to save a mans life by a lie than by theft both which without repentance in themselves deserve death eternall Et quomodo non perversissimè dicitur saith S. Augustine ut alter corporaliter vivat debere alterum spiritualiter mori How can it be but a perverse assertion to say That one should incur the death of the soule to free another from that of the body And not farre off in another place Quanto fortius quaÌ„to excellentius dices Nec prodam nec mentiar ut Firmus Episcopus Tagastensis How much more courage and constancy doth it shew for a man to say I will neither betray the truth nor my friend as did Firmus Bishoppe of Tagastum Firmus nomine firmior autem re Firm in name but more firm indeed The truth heerof will the better appear if we consider the greatnes of the offense the second thing which I proposed in as much as it is first directly against God himselfe secondly against the Scriptures the Oracles of GOD thirdly against nature the workmanship of God and fourthly against civill society the ordinance of God Against God it is both essentially and personally taken Against God the Father This is eternall life that they knowe thee to bee the onely true God Iohn 17. 3 Against God the Sonne I am the way the truth and the life Iohn 14. 6 Against God the holy Ghost When hee is comne who is the Spirit of truth he will lead you into all truth Iohn 16. 13. And as God is the Father of truth so is the Divell the father of Lies when hee speaketh a Lie then hee speaketh of his owne for hee is a lier and the father thereof Ioh. 8. 44. No marvell then that one of those seven things which the Lord hates and his soule abhorres is a lying tongue Pro. 6. 17. Secondly it is against the Scriptures the Oracles of God And therefore are they truely called Verbum veritatis the word of truth Eph. 1. 13 not onely because they were indited by the Author of all truth or because they contain so much supernaturall truth as is requisite for our salvation but withall because they excite us to the imbracing practising of truth Cast off lying and speake every man truth unto his neighbour Ephes. 4. 25. Ly not one to another Col. 3. 9. Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle saith our Prophet Even he that speaketh the truth from his heart Psal. 15. Thirdly it is against nature the workmanship of God It is the priviledge of Mankinde above all Creatures that hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a creature capable both of reason and speech and as reason was ordained to bee the guide and directer of our speech so was our speech to be the expounder and interpreter of reason And therefore the Grammarians make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth speech to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which gives light to the notions of the understanding If then wee speak one thing and think another if wee expresse one thing with our lips and conceive another thing in our hearts it is against the end for which God created speech Fourthly and lastly it is against Civill society the ordinance of God a maine part wherof consisting in Conference in Consultation in Contracts Fractavel leviter imminuta authoritate veritatis omnia dubia remanebunt saith Saint Augustine The credit and soverainty of truth being never so little crackt or the practice of lying never so little couÌ„tenanced a man can build upon nothing but all things will bee full of doubt and distrust Rightly then saith the same good Father Nunquam errare tutius existimo quam cum in amore nimio veritatis reiectione nimia falsitatis erratur A man cannot lightly erre more safely then in too much love of truth hatred of lies Truth is a salt which serveth for the seasoning of every action and maketh it favorie both to God and man and in the 6. to the Ephes. it is compared to a girdle or a Souldiers belt whereby they knit together and close vnto their middle the upper and lower peeces of their armour And these belts as they were strong so were they set with studs being faire large There is then a double use of them one to keepe the severall peeces of armour fast and close together to hold the loynes of a man firm steddy that hee may be able to stand the surer and holde out the longer the other to cover the ioynts of the armour that they might not be seene The first use was for strength the second for ornament and thus truth is both an ornament to a Christian souldier and also an excellent meanes for strength to uphold and assure him in the day of trial Therfore wisely doth Solomon advise us To buy the truth but in no case to sell it Pro. 23. 23. The last thing which I promised is the punishment and that surely cannot but much aggravate the grievousnesse of the sinne It is both the punishment of other sinnes and other sinnes the punishment of it When God would punish Ahab for his wickedness presently the Divell offers himselfe for the execution of the service I will goe and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets 1. King 22. And those that would not beleeve and love the truth he punisheth with strong delusions that they should beleeue lies 2. Thess. 2. And as it is the punishment of other sinnes so did hee punish it with other sinnes in those Philosophers of the Gentiles who because they turned the truth of God into a lie therefore God gaue them up unto vile affections Rom. 1. 25. And the rule is general The mouth that lieth slayeth the soule Wis. 1. 11. Thou shalt destroy them that speake lies Psal. 5. 6. And Revel 22. 15 Without shall bee dogs and enchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth or maketh lies And if God thus shutte them out of his presence not without cause doth our Prophet promise They shall not tarry in his sight It is the prayer of Salomon Prov. 30. Remoue from mee vanity and lies and his position in the 29. of the same book veâ—s 12 Of a Prince that hearkeneth to lies all his servants are wicked And if wee are to shun the practice of lies much more the doctrine of lies Teaching lies through hypocrisie 1. Tim. 4. 2. One effect whereof is the confident relation of their lying miracles and that Golden Legend compiled by a leaden braine and published by a brazen forehead I will conclude with Saint Augustines conclusion of his two Treatises de mendacio ad Consentium Aut cavenda sunt mendacia recte agendo aut confitenda sunt poenitendo non
a man created according to the image of God Lord of all the visible workes of his hands to growe proud upon the furres of beasts upon silkes the excrements of worms upon gemmes or gold or silver somewhat better concocted and finer part of the earth or as the Prophet cals it thick clay Hab. 2. 6. Yea to growe proud of that which hee carrieth about him as a prisoner doth his manacles or fetters in token of his offence our raiment beeing both the effect and the badge of the fal of our first parents and of our fall in them Had they stood in their first integrity and wee in them we should no more have been ashamed of our nakednes in our age than in our infancy wheras now beeing disrobed of originall justice we are driven to seek these coverings partly for defence and partly for hiding our shame If the clothing of Salomon in his royalty who had the rarities of the known world at his command were inferiour to that of the Lilly why should wee think the better of our selves for a gay coat or a quaint fashion or a fringed rose or a fine feather All that we can get by it is this that in covering our bodies wee discover to the world the humour of our mindes by proud apparell wee disclose a proud heart but yet more by a proud looke and therefore sayes our Prophet Him that an high looke and proud heart As we finde a man in what Inne hee is lodged by the signe so wee knowe whether pride have taken up her lodging in the heart by the signe of the looke As a wanton looke is a signe of a lustfull heart and a sober looke of a chaste heart and a sad looke of a heauy heart and a cheerfull looke of a merry heart and a modest looke of an humble heart so is an high looke of a proud heart By this as one truely sayes a proud heart is traced unto as a Deere or Hare are traced to the place where they be by their footing A difference I finde in holy Scripture betwixt Oculus elevatus and elatus oculis the one implies a looke lifted up to God the other lifted up above our brethren The former our Prophet professes Psal. 121. I vvill lift up mine eyes unto the mountaines from vvhence mine helpe shall come and our Saviour practised it Iohn 11. 41. Iesus lift up his eyes said father I thank thee because thou hast heard mee and so did Stephen Acts 7. 55. Being full of the holy Ghost hee looked stedfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Iesus standing at the right hand of God Now this kinde of lifting up the looke in as much as it serves or helps to lift up the soule either in an holy confidence or heavenly contemplation or both is not onely lawfull but commendable and t is a token of a lowly minde But this high supercilious looke this lifting up of the eyes heer spoken of is when a man beholds those that are under him with a scorfull and disdaining countenance like one that lookes downe from an high Tower to whom men walking under seeme to be but crowes in comparison of himselfe and this elatus oculis is that doth manifest laâ—um corde and therefore doth our Prophet joyne them both together againe Psal. 131. 1. Lord I am not high minded But how doth that appeare I have no proud looks and so doth Salomon Pro. 21. 4. An hauty looke and proud heart which is the light of the wicked is sinne When a man by facing and strouting and bearing his head aloft would have all men that see him take notice of his noble descent of his honourable place of his great estate of his comly personage or some singular quality or admirable excellency that is in him or hee thinks to be in himselfe his hauty looke is an evident signe an argument infallible of his proud heart and heerein is the looke more offensive than the heart in that though the pride of the heart bee more odious to God yet is the hautinesse of the looke more scandalous to men Nay in the 6. of Prov. It is one the first of those six seaven things which God hateth and his soule abhorreth therefore will he also with such severity punish it as he threatneth by his Prophet The high looke of man shal be humbled and the loftinesse of men shall be abased and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day Esa. 2. 11. Thus much of outward pride specially in the looke and the discovering of the pride of the heart by it we now come to the proud heart it selfe the true cause and fountaine of all outward pride and howsoever outward pride cannot be without this yet this may bee and sometimes is without it An high looke and proud heart will I not suffer By some it is rendred Latum corde a large heart Now the heart may be enlarged either by knowledge as Salomons was God gave him wisedom and understanding exceeding much latitudem cordis and a large heart even as the sand upon the Sea shore 1. King 4. 29. Or by sanctifying grace whereof our Prophet Psal. 119. 32. I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou shalt have enlarged my heart or by covetousnesse whence some render it Insatisbili corde or by joy for as sadnesse contracts and drawes it together so joy dilates and enlarges it or lastly by pride not containing it selfe within its owne bounds but swelling like the Sea and being puft up like the stomack that is filled with winde And as the swelling of the spleene is very dangerous for impairing the health streÌ„gth of the bodie and of the sailes for the overbearing of a little vessell so this swelling of the heart is of all spirituall diseases the most daÌ„gerous to the soule whether it arise from the gift of temporall blessings of riches of beauty of birth of power of eloquence of knowledge or from an opinion that we have those vertues in us which indeed wee have not or that we have them in a greater measure and perfection than indeed we have or that we have them from our selves and our owne industry not from God or that we have obtained them from God but by our owne merit or lastly that by reason of them wee over-value our selves and despise others And herein lies the great danger of this vice that it arises out of vertue it selfe though not of it selfe but by reason of our corruption and by that meanes the Divell both staines the worke and steales away the reward It is impossible to have good parts and not to know it a very difficult thing it is for a man to know so much touching himself not thereupon to be the better opinioned of himselfe with the very increase of sanctification if we take not good heed this creeps-in which is strange is noted to spring even out of humility A secret pride
but patiently waited upon God doing his will yea when God two severall times had put Saul into his hands once in the Cave where David and his men were hidden another time in Sauls owne Tent where with such courage hee had adventured hee was so farre off from taking away his life which easily hee might have donne that his heart checked him for cutting off the lap of the Kings garment at the one time he sharply rebuked Abner for guarding the Kings person so weakly at the other Thus did this holy man wisely carry himselfe in the perfect way of patience and loyalty to his cruell Prince and persecuting father in law till God himselfe by the way that he appointed had set him in the Kings seat The contrary is reported of Don Carlo Infant of Spaine if the relation bee true that hee through impatience and ambition practiced against his Father and for that cause suffered in the yeare of the Lord made up in the numerall letters of this old verse Filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos Once we are sure that our late neighbour King the sooner to get the quiet possession of that Crowne to which hee had unquestionable right if their Salique lawe be in force forsooke that religion in which hee was brought up and such as were disposed to play with his name found in it while he stood out Bonus Orbi but afterward Orbus boni but God dallied not with him suffering him to be dangerously stricken in the mouth upon the first abjuring of his religion and afterwards in or neer the heart in the midst of his Triumphes Nobility and imperiall Citie to the great astonishment of the Christian world Indeed it was a speech borrowed frow Euripides and often repeated by Caesar Si violandum est ius Violandum est propter imperium But rather befitting the mouth of a Heathen then a Christian yet are our owne Chronicles but too plentifull in Examples in this kinde of such as being heirs apparant to the Crowne rather snatcht it before their due time then received it when it fell Among others we read that Richard eldest sonne then living to King Henry the second approaching the corps of his Father as it was carrying to bee interred adorned according to the manner of Kings with all royall ornaments open faced the blood gushed out at the nostrils of the dead a signe usually noted of guiltiness as if nature yet after death retained some intelligence in the veines to give notice of wrong and check the malice of an unnaturall offender at which sight Richard surprised with horror is saide to have burst ouâ— into extreame lamentations Neither was Edward the fourth free from this imputation who when his father and himselfe had voluntarily and solemnly sworne to suffer Henry the sixt quietly to enioy the Crowne during his life yet did hee as thinking the time long till hee had it on his owne head set his brother of Glocester to dispatch King Henry teaching him by the same Art to kill his owne sonnes and successors Edward and Richard For those Kings that sell the blood of others at a lowe prize doe but make the market for their enemies to buy theirs at the same rate On the other side it is recorded in the French History to the eternal commendation of Robert eldest sonne to Hugh Capet the first King of their last race that being by his fathers consent and desire crowned King and proclaimed his LieutenaÌ„t General in the kingdome hee notwithstanding still continued a sonne without waywardness a companion without iealousie a King without ambition And wee may speake it without flattery that his Maiesty now living and long to live hath left to posterity a worthy paterne in this kinde by receiving this crown of England even from the hand of God having patiently waited the due time of putting it on howsoever hee were provoked to hasten it refusing the assistance of her enemies that wore it as long with as great glory as ever Princesse did not entring by a breach or by blood but by the ordinary gate which his owne right and divine providence set open Neither would hee for the settling of his right admit the toleration of any other religion then that which hee heer found and himselfe professed protesting openly that hee would chuse rather if hee were forced to it to spend the last drop of his blood than to enter upon such conditions But God would not suffer one drop of that sacred blood to be spilt which was so ready to be poured out for his sake Now those who thinke this Psalme was penned by David after his coming to the Crown conceive that at his entrance thereunto hee thus prayed for the speciall assistance of Gods Spirit aswell in the private carriage of his owne Affairs and Person as in governing the people committed to his charge well knowing that without it hee could not observe this Vow to which hee had bound himself nor administer Mercy and Iustice nor behave himselfe wisely in a perfect way nor performe any duty belonging to the office of a King or a good man as he ought Hee therefore desires of God that as hee had set him in the Kings Throne so hee would indue him with all maner of graces and royall vertues fit for so high a place and not onely so but to assist and direct him in the exercise of those graces and vertues The Heart of the King is in the hand of God hee turneth it as the rivers of waters Pro. 21. 1 hee turneth it to his good if hee flee to him for assistance but to his confusion if he stand upon his own strength It behooves all men to implore the aid of G O D but specially Kings and Princes as in all their actions so principally in negotiations and treaties of greatest Consequence That of King Salomon then chiefly concerns them Trust in the Lord with all thine hart and leane not to thine owne wisdom in all thy waies acknowledge him and hee shall direct thy waies Pro. 3. 5. 6. Princes have fewer then private men that dare freely tel them the truth which is indeed one of the great mischiefes of great places whereas on the other side their temptations are many and strong and their actions of weight importance drawing after them either much good or much evill It behooveth them then above all not to presume too much upon themselves upon their owne policy and forecast but rather upon the providence and assistance of him whose substitutes they are Thâ—ir Vice-Roys dare doo nothing of moment without consulting with them so neither ought they enterprise any thing of importance without consulting with the Oracle of God by religious invocation of him for the illuminating of their understaÌ„dings guiding of their wils following therein the example of the Wise man who treating of the excelleÌ„cy of true wisdom acknowledging it to be the special gift of God