King of Babylon and that will not put their Neck under the Yoke of the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the Sword and with Famine and with the Pestilence Wherefore serve the King of Babylon and live And St. Peter saith Servants all the Kings Subjects are his Servants be subject to your Masters the King is our Soveraign Lord and Master with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward For this is thanks worthy if a man for Conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully From which it is most evident that we ought and are commanded to be Subject to evill Kings who are degenerated into Tyrants If then the power of evil Kings commeth from God if God commandeth us to pray for them and to be subject to them and if they are Gods ordinance as most certainly they are it consequently followeth that he which with defensive or offensive I can make no distinction for ubi lex non distinguit non est distinguenda Arms resisteth an evil King resisteth Gods ordinance and shall receive damnation What then if the King command us to doe Evill must we doe it God forbid nay God hath forbidden it therefore we must obey God not the King yet must we not unjustly resist him but rather resign up our lives and estates into his hands For we must needs be subject to the King not only for wrath but also for conscience sake saith S. Paul But our objecter saith that if it be the meaning of the Apostle to inhibit the resistance of the Kings unlawful commands then to flye or to die rather than obey is likewise inhibited because the not performance of the command is a resistance To which I answer that I may confidently averre that it was never the meaning of St. Paul nor the Holy Ghost to inhibit this kind of resistance under the pain of eternal damnation it being the Doctrine and practise of our Saviour and all the Apostles when they were persecuted in one City to fly into another Matth. 10.23 and all of them willingly suffered death under wicked Kings but you shall never find that they resisted with defensive arms but both with their lives deaths and doctrine set forth the contrary But if this kind of resistance be inhibited by the Apostle you must understand that the penalty is temporal not eternal damnation The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth judicium and so it is used in several places in the New Testament as in Matth. 7.2 Luke 24.20 c. for temporal damnation and judgment So that we may conclude that the intention of the Apostle was that whosoever resisteth the lawful commands of the King shall receive damnation both from God and the King and he which doth not perform the unlawful commands of the King shall receive temporal judgment and damnation from the King but salvation and life everlasting from God but whosoever useth unlawful resistance against the Kings unlawful commands as defensive arms c. must expect temporal judgment and damnation from the King and eternal judgment and damnation from the Almighty But what doth God give power to Kings to take away mens lives and estates unjustly I answer that he doth the Devil himself hath no power but what God giveth him It is the wisdome of the Almighty oftentimes to scourge his people for their sins with the power which he giveth to wicked Kings The King is a minister of God saith St. Paul a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil and sometimes to try them that he may make them the more happy and glorious God gave power to the Devil to afflict Job who had not his like in the whole earth a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil Job 1.8 and what made Job so famous as his miseries Had not Job had sore boyles we should never have heard of Job's glory and good fortunes and was it not the Lord which authorized the Devil to afflict him It was for the Devil had not power to touch him until he had desired God to put forth his hand and touch his bone and his flesh which made holy Job to cry the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken not the Devil for he was but the instrument so God oftentimes by the power which he giveth to Kings afflicteth his dearest children both in their bodies and estates yet cannot unrighteousnesse be imputed unto God because he doth it for their good but the wicked wills of Kings which use the power which God giveth them so unjustly are unrighteous and shall by the Almighty be punished according to venerable Bede Injustum enim non est ut improbis accipientibus nocendi potestatem bonorum patientia probetur malorum iniquitas puniatur It is not unjust in God that the patience of the good be proved and the sins of the wicked punished by the power which is given the wicked to offend for by the power given to the Devil Job was tried and appeared to be just St. Peter was tempted that he should not presume too much upon himself and Judas was condemned that he hanged himself But it is unjust in the King to use it Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power saith the Apostle Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same A good man will have praise of the power let the King be good or evil If the King be good he will cherish the good and reward their piety and goodnesse with praise and dignity But if the King be evil yet shall the good receive praise from the power It is the Glory of a Chrstian to suffer wrongfully his unjust miseries are his best herauldry to ennoble him and every injury offered to him is as a Crown of gold set on his head he had rather be punished for a thousand faults wrongfully than for one justly For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently but if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God 1 Peter 2.20 Non dicit ab illa sed â—ex ea saith reverend Bede quia etsi potestas humana non laudat immo si etiam persequitur si occidit gladio ut Paulum si crucifigit ut Petrum habebis ex illa laudem dum ex eo quod illa malefacit in te justum et innoxium tuae virtutis patientia Coronam laudis meretur All the Apostles and Martyrs received a Crown of Glory by their sufferings under Tyrants and so will every good Man For they are the Ministers of God to them for good though they oppresse nay kill the Innocent and Righteous they do not hurt them but do them good as the best Gold is purified in the fire so the best Christians are discerned from the drosse by their afflictions That mettle
enemies caused four Kings taken prisoners to draw his triumphal Chariot wherein one of them looked back with smiles to the wheel of the Chariot and being demanded his reason for it answered That he smiled to see the spoak of the wheel now at the top to be presently at the bottome and again that which is now at the bottome to be by and by at the top Which when the King heard considering the mutability of all earthly things his haughty spirit was not a little mollfiied These relations I thought good here to insert that the mighty and dreadful men of the world who have got the power of the Sword into their own hands taking Cyrus for their example whose example will be no disgrace for them to follow though he was a King for he was likewise a valiant Souldier might not exercise Tyranny over their vanquished enemies especially over their own fellow subjects Cain purchased little honour by the murder of his brother Abel Though the Heathens appeared as glorious as the Sun at their triumphs after the conquest of a forraign enemy yet mourning was their habit instead of triumph after a victory obtained in a civil war when two Noble men were convicted for affecting and aspiring to the Empire of Titus Vespasianus he proceeded no farther against them than to admonish them to desist and give over saying that Soveraign Power was the gift of Destiny and Divine Providence If they were Petitioners for any thing else he promised to give it unto them For Melius est servare unum quam occidere mille It is better to save one then to kill a thousand is a saying worthy to be written in letters of gold but more worthy to be put in practise O blessed Conqueror that is thus qualifyed O blessed prisoner that hath such a victor Having pruned the fortunate let us now stoop to the miserable whom fortune hath cast to the lowest stair of affliction Nemo desperet meliora lapsus prohibet Clotho stare fortunam vicissitude o◠Fortune is sufficient argument to keep the unfortunate from despair for though the highest spoak of the wheel be turned lowest yet it doth not tarry there but presently returneth to its former heighth Non semper imbres nubibus hispidos manant in agros Though it rain one day the Sun may shine again the next No storm without a calm nor no Winter without a Summer Post tempestatem tranquillitas The North-wind which bloweth cold may quickly turn into a warmer corner Weeping may indure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psalm 30. vers 5. But if the brevity of time will not give ease unto thy malady declare thy grief a disease well known is half cured What art thou robbed of all that thou hast Consider what thou broughtest into the World and thou hast lost nothing this thou hast got the means to wean thee from things below and if thou wilt to set thy mind on things above Art opprest with sickness The sickness of thy body may prove the welfare of thy soul Thou learnest to pitty others and knowest that thy earthly cottage is not invincible Doth poverty knock at thy door Let her in shee will teach thee to be humble keep thee from envy and lock thee up secure It is better meekly to entertain her then proudly to oppose her Art born a bondman There is no bondage like that to sin cast of that and thou art free it is better to be born a bondman and dye free from sin than to be born a freeman and dye a bondslave to Satan Is thy fare thine Thou hast avoided two sins gluttony incontinency Thou hast wydened the way to virtue Though streightened the passage to thy belly Hunger nourisheth arts and a full belly is the ensign of an empty head Bonae mētis soror est paupertas Art thou poor and over-burdened with children Children are riches then how canst thou be poor amongst so many jewels acknowledge thy blessing and give thanks and He that feedeth the fishes of the Sea the fouls of the Air and apparelleth the flowers of the Field will both feed and cloath thy children It was harder to raise them to thee than to provide food for them Art thou rich and childness He that created thee can create thee children Sarah had a Son in her old age In the mean time make thy self the child of God and thou art better than if thou hadst many children Hast thou lost thy mony Thou hast exchanged fears and cares for quietness and carelesness liberty is better then golden chains Thou hast but paid fortune that which she lent thee For omnia tua tecum portas Thou canst not truly be called Master of that whereof fortune is mistress Art thou become a surety Thou art near a shrewd turn henceforth give away all that thou hast rather than thy liberty In the mean time let thy hand discharge that which thy mouth hath set on thy score It is no charity to pluck a thorn out of another mans foot to put it in thine own Hath nature made thee deformed Let the deformity of thy body put thee in minde of the deformity of thy soul Depart from sin and adorn thy soul with virtues as for thy body it is the work of Gods hands Beauty is at best but a fadeing vanity profitable to none hurtful to many and perhaps might have been thy destruction Pulchrius est pulchrum fieri quam nasci Si mihi difficilis formam natura negavit Jugenio formae damna rependo mea Hast thou lost thy time Thou hast lost an invaluable pearl which cannot be re-called nor superseded by riches or honor But it is never too late to repent lose time no more and thou hast made amends Hast thou lost thy betrothed mistress He that loseth his wife is delivered of many cares but he that loseth his spouse is preserved both of these are good but the last is the best Therefore grieve not too much lest thou lose thy self Hast thou buried thy wife Thou hast buried her on earth who first buried thee in the grave of sin in Paradise couldest thou be rid of sin as thou art rid of her Thou hadst cause to rejoyce and had shee not brought thee a Saviour thou hadst had cause to repent that ever thou sawest her Hath Infamy blasted thy name If it be deserved lament not the Infamy but the cause of the Infamy But if it be undeserved contemn the errours of men with a valiant courage and comfort thy self with the testimony of a good conscience It is better to be innocent and slandered than nocent and applauded Hast thou many enemies If they profess it openly thou art armed if they keep it secretly thou liest open to danger be thou a friend to justice and God will be so much a friend to thee as to deliver thee publickly from thy private enemy none are so pernitious enemies as flattering friends Hast thou lost an occasion to revenge
with all Religions but be sure to lead the Van in the most prevalent it matters not whether it be true or false let them look to that who intend to obtain eternal advantages of it we look no further than to enjoy the temporal A Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush It is the greatest obstacle to generous actions not to personate that Religion which will serve ones purpose best be it Canonical or Apocrypha and doubtless that Religion which brings the greatest profit and largest incomes is the most sacred and most consonant to Scripture But why should I blur my paper with the Description of this deceitfull Parliament the Theory whereof is become practical almost in every City Let us therefore lament at the funeral of our Laws and Religion and throw one sprig of rosemary into the grave where all our Rights Libertyes are buried That Son giveth cause of suspition of his Legitimation who will not mourn at his Mothers death And surely he was never a true born Son of the Church or Law that will not shed a tear when they are both fell to ruin Some though very few good Eleazors amongst us have lost their heads and lives for our Laws and Religion And although I am not worthy to dye a Martyr for them Haud equidem tali me dignor honore Yet whilst I live it living tears shall fall from mine eyes for them For Qâ—is talia fan do Mrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Vlyssis Temperet a lacrymis Who what Puritan Independent Anabaptist Presbyterian Quaker c. Or Red-coat as bad though not worse than any of them can restrain his Adamantine heart from grief and his eyes from tears when he considers the deplorable conditions which they have brought upon our Kingdom Who as it now plainly appeareth had no other quarrel against King than because they were not Kings themselves nor no other reason against Episcopacy than because each of them was not a Bishop They could never yet produce any argument sufficient unless the sword to prove that King or Bishop was not Jure Divino And now behold what the sword hath brought them unto I remember Cadmus sowed the teeth of a Serpent which sprung up armed men who presently destroyed one the other I will not determine that the seed of these men came from a Serpent but sure I am they cannot deny themselves but that they destroy each the other like Cadmus his men They kick the Government of our Kingdom about from one to the other like a foot ball And it will be marvail if some of them do not break their shins a swell as their consciences before the game is ended They make the Government Proteus-like to turn into what shape they please a true Common-wealth indeed being common to so many Rivalls And as the unruly Quadrupedes whirried about the Chariot Phoebus their lawfull Soveraign being absent untill they had set the whole world on fire so it is to be doubted that these headstrong Bears having cast away the rains of true obedience will not leave to wurry us untill they have brought us to utter ruine O England England Hei mihi qualis erat quantum mutatus ab illo How is thy fame besmeared and thy honour laid in the dust Once the envy of the whole world for the glory of thy Laws and Religion now become a by-word and a laughing-stock to all Nations Venit summa dies ineluctabile tempus The Sentence is already past and the decree is gone forth and nothing can avert the wrath of an angry Deity Tantaene animis caelestibus irae Can the Almighty be so passionate We want a Moses and we want an Aaron to intercede and make an attonement for us We want a Jonah to preach repentance And we want the hearts of Nineveh to entertain it We have done worse than to touch the Lords annointed and have killed his Prophets all the day long We have not reverenced his Sanctuary But have made it a den of Theeves and Stable for Beasts not altogether so bad as our selves O God why hast thou cast us off for ever why doth thine anger smoak against the Sheep of thy pasture O deliver not the soul of thy Turtle Dove unto the multitude of the wicked Forget not the Congregation of thy poor for ever Fuimus Trâ—es fuit Ilium ingens Gloria Toucrorum Remember thy old mercy and remember our former estate For though now like People like Priest The Prophets lye and the People would have it so Yet like Bethlehem we have not heretofore been the least amongst the Princes of the World We have had those who have thought it Melius tondere qaam deglubere oves better to trimm us than to flea us and Melius servare unum quam occidere mille better to preserve one than kill a thousand Who have been Tardus ad vindictam ad benevolentiam velox slow to do evill and revenge but swift to do good and reconcile Loving Pax bello potior peace better than war and esteeming it Pro patria mori pulchrum honourable to dye for their Country Which they have done and all Law Religion Justice and Equity with them Cum uno paricidio junxerunt juris divini naturalis juris gentium omnium legum publicarum privatarumque eversionem reipublicae perturbationem libertatis populi oppressionem Senatus abolitionem nobilitatis exterminationem innocentium damnationem peculatum aerarii publici direptionem solennis conventionis infractionem perfidiam jurisjurandi violationem statuum omnium confusionem immo subversionem Tempora mutantur nos mutamur in illis Sal. Therefore let no man be offended if I attend the funeral and say something on the behalf of the deceased It is a Christian duty and none will account it superstition to give an Encomium at burialls where it is due unless those who account it superstition to deserve well themselves De mortuis nil nisi bonum We must say nothing but good of the dead Therefore behold the Monument in these insuing political Aphorisms The Monument of the Laws or Regal and Political Aphorisms whereby the Prerogative of the King and the just liberties of the People are set forth and authorized by the Law of God and the Law of the Land KIngs are Jure Divino by Divine right to be obeyed and not by violent force of subjects to be resisted although they act wickedly Prov. 8.15 By me Kings raign Dan. 2.21 He removeth Kings and setteth up Kings Prov. 16.10 A Divine Sentence is in the lips of the King Prov. 21.1 The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord. Job 34.18 Is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly Prov. 24.21 Fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change Eccl. 8.2 I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment Exod. 22.28 Thou shalt not speak evil of thy Prince
nor detract the Magistrate 1 Pet. 2.17 Fear God honour the King Prov. 30.31 A King against whom there is no rising up Eccles 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy thought 1 Sam. 24.6 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. From which premisses none unless those who deny the Scripture can deny these Consequences That the jura regalia of Kings are holden of Heaven and cannot for any cause escheat to their Subjects That active obedience is to be yielded to the King as Supreme in omnibus licitis in all things lawfull But if God for the punishment of a Nation should set up a Tyrannical King secundum voluntatem pravam non rationem rectam regentem governing by his depraved will against reason and commanding things contrary to the word of God we must not by force of arms rebel against him but rather than so if not prevailing by Petition unto him or escaping by flight from him patiently submit to the losse of our Lives and Estates and in that case Arma nostra sunt preces nostrae nec possimus nec debemus aliter resistere Our prayers and tears should fight and not our Swords For who can lift up his hands against the Lords anointed and be guiltless This in Scripture we find practised by Gods people to Pharaoh Exo. 5.1 and the same people to Nebuchadnezzar a Tyrant were commanded to perform obedience and to pray for him Though there was no wickednesse almost which he was not guilty of His Successor Darius Daniel obeyed and said O King live for ever Dan. 6.21 For now no private person hath with Ehud Judg. 3.21 extraordinary commandment from God to kill Princes nor no personal warrant from God as all such persons had who attempted any thing against the life even of Tyrants Nil sine prudenti fecit ratione vetustas 2. The King hath his Title to the Crown and to his Kingly office and power not by way of trust from the people but by inherent bigthright immediately from God Nature and the law 1 Reg. Ja. ca. 1. li. 7.12 Calvins caâ—e 3. The Law of Royal government is a Law Fundamental 1 pars Jnst fo 11. 4. The Kings Prerogative and the Subjects Liberty are determined and bounded by the Law Bracton fo 132. Plowden fo 236 237. 5. By Law no Subjects can call their King in question to answer for his actions be they good or bad Bracton fo 5 6. Si autem ab eo petatur cum Breve non Currat contra ipsum locus erit supplicationi quod factum suum corrigat emendet quod quidem si non fecerit satis sufficit ei ad poenam quòd Dominum expectet ultorem Nemo quidem de factis suis praesumat disputare multo fortius contra factum suum venire If any one hath cause of action against the King because there is no Writ runneth against him his only remedy is by supplication and petition to the King that he would vouchsafe to correct and amend that which he hath done which if he refuse to do Only God is to revenge and punish him which is punishment enough No man ought to presume to dispute the Kings actions much lesse to rebel against him 6. The King is the only Supreme Governour hath no Peer â— his Land and all other persons have their power from him 3 Ed. 3.19 Bracton li. 1. cap. 8. Sunt etiâ—m sub Rege liberi homines Servi ejus potestati subjecti Omnis quidem sub eo ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Parem autem non habit in Regno suo quia sic amitterit praeceptum cum par in parem non habeat imperium Item nec multo fortius superiorem nec potentiorem habere debet quia sic esset inferior sibi subjectis inferiores pares esse non possunt potentioribus Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine sed sub Deo sub lege quia Lex facit Regem The King hath no superior but the Almighty God All his people are inferior to him he inferior to none but God 7. The King is Caput Reipublicae the Head of the Commonwealth immediately under God 1 Jnst 73.1 h. 7.10 Finch 81. And therefore carrying Gods stamp and mark among men and being as one may say a God upon Earth as God is a King in Heaven hath a shadow of the Excellencies that are in God in a similitudinary sort given him Bracton fo 5. Cum sit Dei vicarius evidenter apparet ad similitudinem Jesu Christi cujus vices gerit in terris That is to say 1. Divine Perfection 2. Infinitenesse 3. Majesty 4. Soveraignty and Power 5. Perpetuity 6. Justice 7. Truth 8. Omniscience 1. Divine perfection In the King no imperfect thing can be thought No Laches Folly Negligence Infamy Stain or Corruption of blood can be adjudged in him 35. h. 6.26 So that Nullum tempus occurrit Regi 2. Infiniteness The King in a manner is every where and present in all Courts And therefore it is that he cannot be non-sute and that all Acts of Parliament that concern the King are general And the Court must take notice without pleading them for he is in all and all have their part in him Fitz. N. B. 21. H. 25. H. 8. Br tit Non-sute 68. 3. Majesty The King cannot take nor part from any thing but by matter of Record and that is in respect of his Majesty unless it be a Chattle or the like Because De minimis non curat Lex 5. Ed. 4.7 4 E. 6.31 2 H. 4.7 4. Soveraignty and Power All the Land is holden of the King No action lyeth against him For who can command the King He may compel his Subjects to go out of the Realm to war Hath absolute power over all For by a clause of Non-obstante he may dispense with a Statute Law and that if he recite the Statute Though the Statute say such dispensation shall be meerly void 7 E. 4.17.21 H. 7.2 H. 7.7 Calvins case Bracton Rex habet potestatem jurisdictionem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt ea quae sunt jurisdictionis pacis ad nullum pertinent nisi ad Regiam dignitatem habet etiam coercionem ut delinquentes puniat coerceat And therefore ought to have the Militia 5. Perpetuity The King hath a perpetual succession and never dyeth For in Law it is called the demise of the King and there is no Inter-regnum A gift to the King goeth to his Successors though not named For he is a Corporation of himself and hath two capacities to wit a natural body in which he may inherit to any of his Ancestors or purchase Lands to him and the heirs of his body which he shall retain although he be afterwards removed from his Royal estate and a body
neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Therefore he who getteth a kingdom by the breach of Gods Commandements hath no cause to bragg of his gettings For what will it profit a man to lose his own soul and to gain the whole world Let every one be subject unto the higher powers For there is no power but of God The powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive damnation saith St. Paul Rom. 13.1 Behold here the duty of a Subject and the reward of a Rebel There is no power hut of God saith the Text Therefore he that resisteth the King resisteth the Ordinance of God for which he shall receive damnation What then if an unjust King robb us of all we have ravish our wives before our eyes dash out our Childrens brains against the wall set up Idolls and command us to worship them May we not resist him Nonne oportet Deo magis obedire quam hominibus Ought we not to obey God rather than man I answer That ye ought to obey God rather than man Yet may you not with violence resist your King We must not do evil that good might come thereon God hath in many places commanded us to obey and pray even for the worst of Kings Yet you cannot finde so much as a spark of warranty for any subject either Magistrate or private man to rise against his Soveraign in the whole Bible or to call him to an account for any of his actions God hath reserved that to himself as his own peculiar prerogative Magistratus de privatis Principes de Magistratibus Deum de Principibus judicare saith M. Aurelius Magistrates are to judge private men Kings are to judge Magistrates but none are to judge Kings but God The only means which subjects have to reform Kingdoms is that which the Apostle prescribeth 1 Tim. 2.1 Let prayers saith he and supplications be made for Kings and all that are in authority that we may lead a Godly life Prayers must be the only weapons of Subjects against their Kings Let them look into their own breasts and reform their own hearts which many times are the only causes of a Judgement on the Nation Let them amend their own lives and with fervent supplications implore him who hath the Kings heart in his hand and turneth it whithersoever he will to reform the King according to his desire Christiani hominis esse patienter ferre potius quicquid injuriarum ac molestiarum infertur quam ut adigi se sinat ad peccandum contra Deum It is the part of a Christian rather to suffer patiently what injury or persecution soever is laid upon him than to offend God saith Stephanus Szegedinus Interea tamen non esse illicitum si quis vim injustam vel avertere vel fugere vel aliquousque mitigare possit modo id fiat rationibus haud illicitis Quod si id fieri non potest Cavebit Christianus ne illatam vim contrariâ violentiâ retundere conetur sed tolerabit potius omnia nec de vindicando se cogitanit sed vindictam jâ—sto Judici permittet saith the same Author Yet it is not unlawfull if a man can to avert an unlawfull violence to flie from it or otherwise mitigate it so he doth not doe it by unlawful means But if he cannot do it by lawful means a Christian will take heed and not endeavour to repell an unjust violence offered with an unjust force No he will rather suffer all things first neither will he so much as think of revenge but will leave that to God the just Judge to whom vengeance belongeth O vocem verè Christianam O speech most worthy of a Christian If Herod be wroth and send forth and slay all the Children that are in Bethlehem and in all the coasâ—s thereof so that there be lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children and will not be comforted because they are not yet will he flie into Egypt with our Saviour and stay there until Herod be dead rather than he will rebell against his Soveraign resist Gods Ordinance so damn his own soul If Saul send messengers to bring him up to him in the bed that he may slay him or pursue him with 3000. chosen men of Israel yet will not he put forth his hand against his Soveraign for he is the Lords anointed Nay if it be in his power and he is counseled to kill him yet with holy David he will cry out The Lord forbid that I should doe this thing unto my master the Lords anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. His heart will smite him if he cut off his skirts but he will suffer all things before he will cut off his Kings head for who can do that and be guiltless If the King persecute him in this City he will flie into another Hee hath learned of his Master to be subject to his Soveraign not only for wrath but also for conscience sake He is good and the rulers are not a terror to him The evil and wicked will murder their Soveraign for fear his justice should reward them with death according to their deserts But he will not like those filthy dreamers speak evil of dignities and despise Dominion his tears are his arms and patience his revenger Levius fit patientia Quicquid corrigi est nefas Though it be unlawfull for him to gather Soldiers with force arms to correct and take his Soveraign from his evil Counsellors yet patience shall both assist and give him the victory St. Ambrose and he are alwaies in one time saying I have not learned to resist but I can grieve and weep and sigh and against the weapons of the Soldiers and the Gothes my tears and my prayers are my weapons otherwise neither ought I neither can I resist If the King saith God do so and more also to me if the head of this follow shall stand on him this day and likewise send a Messenger to cut it off yet with Elisha he will only shut the door against him and offer no other violence though it lie in his power If a multitude come out with swords and staves against him lay hold on him and lead him away to the Rulers who condemn him and deliver him to the wicked soldiers to be crucified yet in imitation of his Lord and Master he will say nothing rather than revile them though they spit upon him he will meekly wipe it off If they crown him with thorns hee will patiently suffer it If they give him Vinegar mingled with gall to drink hee will tast it If they crucifie him he will voluntarily spread forth his humble hands to be nailed on the Crosse and will not resist the higher Powers for the Lords sake If they saw him in pieces he will
lesson he can learn by which he will see the error of the times and what changes the wicked have wrought amongst us Therefore since several Parliaments have made Statutes That the King can commit no Treason nor no Treason be committed but against the King Ex ore tuo te Judicabo we may conclude from their own mouths that by no Law but against all Laws they murthered their King the meekest and justest of all men For whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the Law for sin is the trangression of the Law 1 John 3.4 Then how could the King sin when there was no Law for him to transgress By the common Law as I have already shewed he could not be an offender neither could he by any Statutes For at that very time when the Parliament the peoples representatives charged the King with Treason they had made many Statutes That those things which they themselves acted against the King should be high Treason against the King But they had made no Law whereby the King might become a Traytor against them Therefore the King could not offend against that Law which was not Adam had not sinned in eating the forhidden fruit had he not been first forbidden Neither had St. Paul known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not sin Rom. 7.7 And for the King to commit Treason when there is no Law which maketh any offence in the King whatsoever Treason but all laws both Common and Statute both Divine and Humane resolve the contrary is such a Chimaera which passeth the understanding of every reasonable creature But forsooth our new upstart pragmatical Lawyers as they call them such as Cook was witness his King Charls his case fol. 22. A Cook but rather a Scullion I am sure of no affinity in judgement nor comparable in learning with our great Master and Oracle of the law Sir Edward Cook do say and profess that they have a Law written in their hearts whereby they are enabled and authorized to kill the King if he offend But I wonder holy David had not this Law written in his heart to kill wicked King Saul when it lay in his power so to do The question is easily answered for God said that David was a man after Gods own heart and therefore could not do so great a villany But I am sure if the Scripture be true Neither God nor man will say that these men are men either after Gods heart or any honest mans heart And divide the Kingdom and you will finde a thousand for one in whose hearts this law was never written Therefore if it be written in some few mens hearts yet since it is not written in the hearts of the Major part according to their own tenets that law is not binding You may read in 1 Sam. 24.6 and cap. 26.11 That it was in Davids power and he was admonished to kill his enemy wicked King Saul once in the Cave where he cut off the Kings skirt indeed but his heart smote him as if he had committed Crimen laesae Majestatis high Treason against the King And then in the Trench where Saul lay sleeping 1 Sam. 26.7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night and behold Saul lay sleeping within the Trench and his Spear stook in the ground at his Bolster But Abner and the people lay round about him Then said Abishai to David God hath delivered thine Enemy into thine hand this day Now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the Spear even to the earth at once and I will not smite him the second time And David said to Abishai Destroy him not For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless David said furthermore As the Lord liveth the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to dye or he shall descend into battel and perish The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lords anointed but I pray thee take thou now the Spear that is at his bolster and the Cruse of Water and let us go Here you may see how greivous a thing it is to lay hands upon the King though he be wicked and persecute you For by holy Davids own confession no man can do it without committing an high and wofull offence Therefore better it is for all men with King David to commit the punishment of their King to God who most assuredly will punish the King aswell as the Beggar for his offences and not violently oppose or stretch forth their hands against him for none can do that and be guiltless It is true the law of England in many particulars is lex non scripta and when our law books are silent we must repair to the law of Nature and Reason But when a law is established by the law of God declared by many Statutes and reported by multitudes of reverend Judges in their Reports as it is that the King can commit no offence so great as to be punished by the people Then sit liber Judex We must Judge according to the written Law though it do not agree with our own private reason If the King before the descent of the Crown be attainted of Treason felony or any other offence yet by the descent of the Crown The Attainder eo instante is void as it fell out in the case of Henry the seventh 1 H. 7.4 Jnst 1.16 Then if the Coronation of the King prohibiteth the punishment of those offences which he committed before he was King only because he is King and so not punishable by any earthly power how can he commit any offence after his Coronation for which the people may call him in question It being a Maxim in Law That the King can do no wrong that is no wrong for which the people may punish him And to say that the King is an Officer of trust placed by the people is a meer foppery and against the express letter of a principle in Law viz. That the King is not capable of an office to use but to grant Co. Jnst 1.3 But why should I speak of Law to those who God and all the World knows Act all things against law For is there any Law which maketh it high Treason in the King if he commit such or such an offence or is there any law to enable the people to call their King to an account I appeal to the whole World and even to the Consciences of our wicked Folarchical upstarts Whether they ever read any such Law in the old or new Testament in the Statutes or Reports of the laws of our Realm or whether they ever heard of any such law in any Kingdom or Nation under the Sun No they did not The Devil brought it if any there be out of the infernal pit whither it will bring them all unless God most high prevent not can a posteriour Law make that an offence which was lawful at the Commitment without doubt it cannot
own again which these most unjustly keep from him We cannot serve God and Mammon both at one time Good and evil cannot stand both together If the King come in and rule these men must fall If we serve the King as we ought we cannot serve these at all If God re-establisheth his Anointed Lucifer must call down his Children wickednesse must be abolished when righteousnesse takes place therefore the Gaolers of the Liberty of England must down when Charles the Second our only lawfull Soveraign is restored to his Crown and Kingdome Which they very well know therefore they would fain keep as long as they can their Empire which cost them their Souls and Reputation But let us return to our King When the Conquerour came in He got by right of Conquest all the Land of the Realm into his own hands the whole Kingdom was his direct and proper inheritance in demeasn so that no man can at this day make any greater title than from the Conquest to any Lands in England for the King being owner and sole Lord of the whole Land and the People therein did as he lawfully might dispose of the Land and people according to his will and pleasure he gave out of his hands what Lands he pleased to what persons he pleased and reserved what tenures and services he pleased So that in the Law of England we have not properly Allodium that is any Subjects Land that is not holden We all hold our Lands mediately or immediately of the Crown neither have we any right to our Lands any longer than we are faithfull and loyal to the King who first gave us them upon that condition for by the Laws of the Realm if we take up arms against the King imagine his death or commit any other offence which is high Treason we forfeit our estates to the King so that they return from whence they were first derived the greatest and highest title or property which a Subject hath to his Lands is Quod talisseisitus fuit in dominico suo ut de feodo Now though this word Feodum doth as Littleton teacheth legally signify inheritance and so Feodum Simplex signifieth a lawfull or pure inheritance yet it is apparently manifest that Feodum is a derived right and doth import with it a trust to be performed which trust broken forfeiteth the Estate to the King who only hath as Camden observeth Directum imperium cujus nullus est Author nisi Deus For all the Lands within this Realm were originally derived from the Crown and therefore the King is Soveraign Lord or Lord Paramount either mediate or immediate of all and every parcel of Land within the Realm 18 E. 3.35.44 E. 3.5 48 E 3.9.8 H. 7.12 Therefore though in other places he which findeth a piece of Land that no other possesseth or hath title unto entreth into it gaineth a property by his entry yet in England property to Land cannot be gained any such way for the Subject can have no property but what was first by the Kings grant therefore those Lands are still appropriated to the Crown which the King did not give away to his Subjects as if Land be left by the Sea this Land belongeth to the King and not to him that hath the Lands next adjoyning or to any other but the King Caelum Caeli Domino terram autem dedit filiis hominum All the whole Heavens are the Lords the Earth hath he given to the Children of men for which he only reserved their service as an acknowledgement of his bounteous liberality so the whole Kingdom is the Kings but the Land therein he hath given to his Children the people for which he only reserved their allegiance and service as a remembrance and recognition of his Royal bounty in which reservation the King as my Lord Bacon writeth had four institutions exceeding politick and suitable to the State of a Conquerour First Seeing his people to be part Normans and part Saxons the Normans he brought with him the Saxons he found here he bent himself to conjoyn them by Mariages in Amity and for that purpose ordains that if those of his Nobles Knights and Gentlemen to whom he gave great rewards of lands should dye leaving their Heir within Age a Male within 21 and a Female within 14 years and unmaryed then the King should have the bestowing of such Heirs in Mariage in such a Family and to such persons as he should think meet which interest of Mariage went still imployed and doth at this day in every Tenure called Knights service The Second was to the end that his people should be still conserved in Warlik exercises and able for his defence when therefore he gave any good portion of Lands that might make the party of Abilities or strength he withall reserved this service That that party and his Heirs having such lands should keep a Horse of service continually and serve upon him himself when the King went to Warrs or else having impediment to excuse his own person should find another to serve in his place which service of Horse and Man is a part of that Tenure called Knights service at this day But if the Tenant himself be an Infant the King is to hold this land himself untill he come to full Age finding him Meat Drink Apparel and other necessaries and finding a Horse and a Man with the overplus to serve in the Warrs as the Tenant himself should do if he were at full Age. But if this Inheritance descend upon a Woman that cannot serve by her Sex then the King is not to have the Lands she being 14. years of Age because she is then able to have an Husband that may do the service in person The Third institution that upon every gift of Land the King reserved a Vow and an Oath to bind the party to his Faith and Loyalty that Vow was called Homage the Oath of Fealty Homage is to be done kneeling holding his hands between the knees of the Lord saying in the French tongue I become your Man of Life and Limb and of earthly honour Fealty is to take an Oath upon a Book that he will be a faithful Tenant to the King and do his service and pay his Rents according to his Tenure The Fourth institution was that for Recognizance of the Kings bounty by every Heir succeeding his Ancestor in those Knight service lands the King should have Prâ—mer seisin of the lands which is one years profit of the lands and untill this be paid the King is to have possession of the land and then to restore it to the Heir which continueth at this day in use and is the very cause of suing livery and that as well where the Heir hath been in ward as otherwise Many other Tenures with services did the Conquerour institute as Grand Serjeanty Petit Serjeanty Tenure in Burgage Soccage Escuage c. which being holden of the King are called Tenures in capite which
appoinâ— him Captains over thousands and Captains oveâ— fifties So 11 Sam. 12.29 David gathered aâ— the people together and went to Rabbath and foughâ— against it and took it But why do I cite David Had not all the Kings in the Scripture nay havâ— not all the Kings in the world the chief poweâ— over their Militia Surely nothing is more certain otherwise what difference would there be between the King and Subject Militarem autem prudentiam ante omnia necessariam Ego Principi assero adeo ut sine ea vix Princeps Quomodo enim aliter se tueatuâ— sua ac suos saith Justus Lipsius No Militia no King For how can he defend himself and Kingdome without it The Puppy dogs would master the Lyon were it not for his pawes the cowardly Owles would conquer the Eagle if he had no talons and the King would be a laughing stock both at home and abroad were it not for the sword which God not the people hath girded to his side The King beareth not the sword in vain saith St. Paul Rom. 13.4 But surely he would bear it in vain had he not power of himself to draw it or sheath it but when the people pleased he would be but a poor revenger to execute Gods wrath had the people as our Novists feign not he the sole disposing of the Militia Unges eum ducem 1 Sam. 9.16 Thou shalt annoint him to be captain over my people Which shewes the Kings right to the Militia being Captain over his people Unum est Regi inexpugnabile munimentum amor civium I must confesse the Citizens and Peoples love is the best fortresse and bulwork for Kings but Charity growes cold Loyal love and Citizens are not alwayes companions whole Cities nay whole Countries may prove perfidious to their King and whilst the King dischargeth the office of a loving father his people may turn Traytors and rebell against his goodnesse Therefore it is good walking with a horse in ones hand and ever safest for Princes even in the greatest peace to have a well-disciplin'd Militia in a readinesse for the affection of the people like the wind is never constant In Rege qui recte regit necessaria sunt duo haec arma videlicet leges quibus utrumque tempus bellorum pacis recte possit gubernari utrumque enim istorum alterius indiget auxilio quo tam res militaris possit esse in tuto quà m ipsae leges usu armorum praesidio possint esse servatae Si autem arma defecerinâ— contra hostes rebelles indomitos sic erit regnum indefensum si autem leges sic exterminabitur justitia nec erit qui justum faciat judicium The Law and Arms are so necessary and requisite in a King that without both he can have neither for how could he execute and maintain his lawes withouâ— arms and how could he levy war without lawes to direct and guide his Arms He could neither proclaim war nor make leagues or peace without them The King is Custos totius Regni and by law ought to defend and save hiâ— Realm But surely he would bâ— but a poor keeper if the peoplâ— had power to keep his weapon from him at their pleasure Custodes libertatis Angliae The Keepers of our liberty could not keep it from us without the force of the Militia and how should the King maintain his Realm in peace and defend our lives liberties and estates from the forein and domestick Tyranny of Traytors and Rebels had he not the sole power and strength of Arms The Subjects of England are bound by their liegeance to go with the King c. in his wars as well within his Realms as without as appeareth by the Statute of 2 Ed. 6. cap. 11. and by a Statute made 11 H. 7. c. 1. The Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament declare it to be the duty and allegiance of the Subjects of England not only to serve their Prince and Soveraign Lord for the time being in warres but to enter and abide in service in battel and that both in defence of the King and land against every rebellion power and might reared against him But wherefore should I make my self ridiculous in attempting to prove that which no age hath denied It hath been the Custome of all Kingdoms the practice of all times and the Common Law of the Realm of England ever since it was a Realm that the power of the Militia did alwayes belong unto the King nay it is proper to him quarto modo he hath an inherent and inalienable right to it Which right hath been declared and affirmed by many Acts of Parliament in all succession of ages which in a case so clear need not to be recited It belongs to the King only to make leagues with forein Princes 2 H. 5. ca. And as it is resolved in our Law Books if all the people of England should break the league made with a foâ—eâ—n Prince without the Kings consent yet the league holds and is not broken Nay so farr are the People or House of Lords or Commons from having the power of the Militia that as you may read the expresse words 3 Inst pa. 9. If any levy Warr to expulse strangers to deliver men out of Prisons to remove Counsellors or against any Statute or to any other end pretending Reformation of their own heads without Warrant it is high Treason For no Subject can levy Warr within the Realm without Authority from the King for to him it only belongeth O then admire at the impiousnesse and impudence of the long called Parliament who murthered their King for committing Treason against them whereas by the Laws of the Land they were the only Traytors against him So may the offender punish the offended for the offence which he himself committed and so may the Prisoner condemn and execute the Judge for the Crime whereof himself is only guilty The only reason why they demanded the Militia of the King and said that it only belonged to them was not because the King ought not to have it for they well knew that by the Law of all Ages it did only belong to him and not to them But how then could they carry on and accomplish their wicked design of Murthering him if they still let his Sword hang by his side Therefore they first laid hold on that and wrested the Militia out of his hands arguing that it did not belong to the King but to them So Murtherers may say that the Sword of him whom they intend to murther doth not belong to the owner but to them to the end they may with the more ease and safeguard perpetrate their wickedness And that they might have a shadow to hide all their filthynesse They first got several Counties to Petition for the Militia which they afterwards took by violence nay they themselves did first Petition the King for it So sturdy Beggars first beg
time hunted the distressed King and his Royal party pretending to be set on only by their Master Rebels the Commons but it seems they had a game to play of their own which on the sixth of December 1648. they begun to shew And therefore when the Trayterous Commons had obtained what they could ask or desire of their Soveraign then their Prisoner at the Isle of Wight being such Concessions which never any King before him granted nor Subjects ever demanded So that shame compelled them to vote them satisfactory Then the bloody Souldiers thinking themselves lost if the King and Parliament should find a peace went up to the House of Commons and by force kept out and imprisoned those who voted the Kings Concessions satisfactory which the militant Saints pleased to call purging of the House so that body is purged which hath poyson left in it and nutriment taken out of it by the purge yet this purge would not do the Lords must be turned out too and only 40. or fifty packt Members of the House of Commons who had sworn to be as very if not worse Knaves than the wicked Souldiers would have them to be were only left in the House who presently took upon them what power their own lusts could desire or the over-ruling Sword help them to Murthered the King and the chiefest of the Royal Party and yet to colour their Tyranny caâ—led themselves a Parliament by which name blowing up King Lords Spiritual and Temporal and all our Lawes and Religion with them they still Domineer and Rule over us yet not so but that the Army Rule them as the Wind doth a weather-cock turning them which way and how they please sometimes up and sometimes down and no doubt but that shortly they will be cast down for altogether for the wicked shall not last but vanish as a shadow Blessed art thou O Lord when thy King is the Son of Nobles Eccles 10.17 But alas Servants have ruled over us and there is none that doth deliver us out of their hands Lamen 5.8 The Crown is fallen from our head Wo unto us that we have sinned Verse 16. For now they shall say we have no King because we feared not the Lord What then should a King do unto us Hosea 10.3 ENGLANDS CONFUSION OR A True Relation of the topsy turvy Governments in mutable England since the Reign of Charls the Martyr The Tyranny of the Rump further manifested And that we shall never have any setled State untill Charls the second whose right it is injoy the Crown Though frantick Fortune in a merriment hath set the Heels above the Head and gave the Scepter unto the Shrubs who being proud of their new got honour have jarred one against the other during the Interregnum Yet Charls the second shall put a period to this Tragedy and settle our vexed Government which hath changed oftner in twelve years than all the Governments in the whole world besides Oh the heavy Judgment when Subjects take upon them to correct their King AS a distracted Ship whose Pilate the rageâ—ng violence of a tempestuous storm hath cast down headlong from the stern staggereth too and fro amongst the unquiet waves of the rough Ocean somtimes clashing against the proud surly Rocks and somtimes reeling up and down the smoother waters now threatening present Shipwrack and Destruction by â—nd by promising â— seeming safety and secure arrival yet never setled fast nor absolutely tending to the quiet and desired Haven So the vexed Government of frantick England ever since the furious madnesse of a few turbulent Spirits beheaded our King and Kingdom threw down Charls the Martyr our only lawfull Governour from the stern of Government and took it into their unskilfull and unlawfull hands it hath been tossed up and down somtimes falling amongst the lawless Souldiers as a Lamb amongst Wolves or as a glass upon stones and somtimes happening amongst Tyrants calling themselves a Parliament who are so much worse than the Souldiers by how much wickednesse covered with a colour of Justice is worse and more dangerous than naked villanies Yet in all our Revolutions although many gaps have been laid open that way hath not the Government steered its course directly to Charls the second it s only proper right and quiet Haven to which until it come we must never expect to have the Ship of our Common-wealth so secure but that Tempests and Storms will still molest and trouble if not totally ruine it Though it stand so fast one day that it seemeth impossible for humane strength to remove it yet the next day it moultereth away to nothing I vouch every mans experience to warrant this truth And were not our blind Sodomites intoxicated with Senselesse as well as Lawlesse Counsels They would never gape after preferment nor hope for continuance in their imaginary Commonwealth where the greatest one hour is made least the next and they themselves swallow up each the other never having rest or peace no not in their own House And can this divided Monster which is the cause of all our divisions cloze up our divisions and settle our Nation in peace and happinesse 'T is madnesse to think it So fire may quench fire and the Devil who was the first Author of wickedness put an end to all wickedness Examine the condition of the times since the Reign of Charls the first and you may see what times we shall have until the Reign of Charls the second Tyranny and Usurpation Beggery and Slavery Warrs and Murthers Subversion of our Laws and Religions changing the Riders but we must alwayes be the Asses Hunger and Famine Guns and Swords Drums and Trumpets Robberies and Thieveries Fornication and Adultery Brick without Straw Taxes although no bread These must be the voices which will alwayes sound in our Ears untill we cast off this old man of Sin viz. The Long called Parliament and submit as we ought to Charls the second our only lawfull King VVe may read of many Kings who have been suddainly killed by the rash violence of an indiscreet multitude who in the heat of Blood do that which they repent of all their life after mad Fury being the only cause of their unjust Actings But to commit sin with reason and piety to kill their King with discretion formally and solemnly is such a premeditated Murther that the Sun never saw until these Sons of perdition brought it to light For a long time before the fact they machinated and plotted the Kings death and contrived how they might with the best colour and shew of Justice effect it At length as if their Votes were more authentique than all Srcipture they passed amongst others this Vote Die Jovis Jan. 4. 1648. viz. That the People under God were the original of all just power This was the foundation upon which the superstructure of all their murthers and villanies which they call just Judgments were built which granted it consequently followeth that all
in stead of proving a Keeper to the Trayterous Keepers he hath approved himself a glorious Dâ—â—ender of our Liberties for which Trophies of honour shall be erected to his eternal renown neither will our King spare heaping of rewards upon his so memorable merits at his return to his own house which the General hath swept for him and turned out them who made it aden of thieves On Tuesday the 21. day of February 1659. a day which deserveth more solemnization than Gunpowder Treason day for then we were delivered from those who only intended to destroy King and Parliament but now we are delivered from those who actually did destroy both King and Parliament and so consequently the whole Kingdome General Monk our famous Patron conducted the secluded Members to the House of Commons where according to their former agreement with the General they voted themselves in a short time to be dissolved and a free Parliament to be elected Now I hope no man will presume to conceive the General so insipid as to think there can be a free Parliament without the King and House of Lords No it is ridiculous to think so for a free Parliament without the King would be but like salt which hath lost his favour thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be troden under foot of men Mat. 5.13 It would be but a Rump fatned and grow bigger For we are all sick of the Kings Evil therefore nothing but the touch of his Sacred Majesties hands can cure us And I may with confidence and truth affirm that every one of that infinite number of people which so much rejoyced at the destruction of the Rump and at the voice of a free Parliament would mourn and cry at their sitting if they do not bring with them the good tidings of restoring their King the hopes whereof only made them rejoyce And indeed they would have more cause to bewail a free Parliaments sitting without the King than the sitting of the Rump for this we may be sure of that the King will come in either by fair means or by soul if by soul that is by war then the war will be greater with a free Parliament and so consequently more grievous to the people than with the Rump because a free Parliament will have greater force and power to levy a war than the Rump and so the combustible matter being more the flame will be the higher But it is Atheism to think that a free Parliament will withstand the King therefore I will not taint my Paper with such detestable words I let fall a blot of ink upon Mr. Prynne's Soverain Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes a Book which I am sure deserves a greater blurre But Mr. Prynne hath since repaired his credit and got the applause of the people by writing for the King and against the Rump and other sectaries Therefore to give him his deserts there is no man in the Nation hath so much merited as himself in pulling down the many Tyrannies over us since the murther of Charles the Martyr He hath been our Champion whose pen hath fought against the scriblings and actings of the Traytors and Rebels for which I shall ever love and honour him and without doubt our Gracious King will sufficiently reward him if he continueth constant in his loyalty which God grant he may And although the Presbyterian held the head of Charles the Martyr to the block by his hair whilst the Independent cut it off yet now I hope the many evils which we have sustained by that royal fall for which he shewed the first play will teach the rigid Presbyter moderation and make him confesse notwithstanding his violent Covenant against that Apostolical constitution of Bishops that Episcopacy is the best form of Church Government and the only way to extirpate and keep down those infinite number of s31y'sects and factions which have taken root and budded since Episcopacy was rooted up and blasted No Bishop No King was the Symbole of our Solomon King James who I think was as wise and as much a Christian as any of our Lay-Elders therefore in vain do the Presbytery think of enjoying Monarchy unlesse they first resolve to lay aside all their schismatical Tenets and stick to Episcopacy For as the same King sayes A Scottish Presbitery and Monarchy agree as God and the Devil Our Soveraign Charls the Martyr in his sacred writings hath so clearly approved and vindicated Episcopacy from the false aspersions of the Presbiterian faction and also laid open the absurdities of Presbitery so fully that it would be arrogance in me to say any thing after him and not only ignorance but impudence in any man to look upon his writings and still remain a Presbiterian Therefore O Heavenly Father asswage the pride and open the Eyes of these rigid Zelots that in seeing they may see and in hearing they may hear and understand and not professe themselves wiser than our Saviour that great Bishop and his Apostles which were Bishops and appointed successive Bishops as you may read in the Epistles of St Paul to Timothy and Titus c. And the Government of Bishops hath been the universal and constant practice of the Church so that as Charls the Martyr writeth ever since the first age for 1500 years not one example can be produced of any setled Church wherein were many Ministers and Congregations which had not some Bishop above them under whose Jurisdiction and Government they were Therefore let not the aspiring currish Presbiterian who would pull down a Bishop in every Diocesse but set up a Pope in every Parish no longer spet venom against the Reverend Bishops And truly I think their grounds are so slender against Episcopacy that if the King would but make them Bishops they would then be as violent for Episcopacy as they are now against it Therefore rest content Presbiter for though not thy deserts yet State Policy may in time make thee a Bishop The Antipodes indeed viz. the Long called Parliament who acted all things contrary to all Law and Religion voted that Bishops should never more vote as Peers in Parliament But why was it not because the Religious Bishops should not withstand their Irreligious and Blasphemous proceedings in Murthering the King Destroying the Church and all our Laws and Religion with them Surely no man can deny but that was the only reason Que enim est respublica ubi Ecclesiastici primum non habeant locum in Comitiis publicis de salute Reipub Deliberationibus For which is that Commonwealth where the Ecclesiastical persons had not the first place in all meetings and publique consultations about the Welfare of the Commonwealth Surely none but the Utopian Commonwealth of these Rebels For it is the practice of all Nations nay the Rebels themselves who voted it unlawful for Bishops and other grave Prelates of the Church to meddle the least in Civil Affairs could approve it in their new
of his hands and take it into their own But this was not all the Sea was dryed up and the fields were scorcht the Harvests were burnt and the Mountains perished with heat the Moon was amazed and the Clouds shone like Comets Parva tamen queror magnae pereunt cum maenibâ— urbes Cumque suis totas populis incendia gentes In cinerem vertunt But this was nothing Cities with their Towrs Realms with their people funeral fire Devours All the Kingdoms in the world did shake And all the Kings doubted of their regal title They feared that themselves should be destroyed and their Crowns with their lives pulled to the ground And doubtless had not Divine providence stopped this wild-fire more Kingdoms than were had been demolished For this fire did intend to make Kings and the common people all in one condition neither was the King to have any praerogative above his subjects but all had like to have been consumed in one and the same sire Great Cities with their walls and whole Nations with their people were turned into Ashes Circumspice utrinque Fumat uterque polus quos si violaverit ignis Atria vestra ruent Behold the Poles above At either end do fume And should they burn Thy habitation would to ruine turn O Almighty this usurpation would have taken away thy power For the Kings which thou did'st set to rule over the people had well nigh been all consumed And thy anointed which thou hast prohibited any thing to touch were by this unwieldy and unlawfull Government almost destroyed The flames begun to lick the Heavens and both Poles did take fire so that all things were hastening into their antient Chaos Alma tamen tellus ut erat circundata ponto Inter aquas pelagi contractosque undique fontes Qui se condiderant in opacae viscera matris Sustulit omniferos collo tenus arida vultus Opposuitque manum fronti magnoque tremore Omnia concutiens paulum subsedit infra Quam solet esse fuit sacraque ita voce profatur Si plaoet hoc meruique quid O tua fulmina cessant Summe Deum liceat periturae viribus ignis Igne perire tuo clademque autore levare Yet foodfull Tellus with the Ocean bound Amidst the Seas and Fountains now unfound Self hid within the womb where they were bred Neck-high advanceth her all-bearing head Her parched fore-head shadow'd with her hand And shaking shook what ever on her stand Wherewith a little shrunk into her brest Her sacred tongue her sorrows thus exprest If such thy will and I deserve the same Thou chief of Gods Why sleeps thy vengefull flame Be 't by thy fire If I in fire must fry The Author lessens the Calamity At length Our Mother Earth being a fellow sufferer in this hot persecution lifteth up her parched head out of the waters gathered together for her defence and holding her hands as a Fan before her face Thus powreth forth her dolefull grief O God of Gods If this be thy pleasure and my deserts Why sleep thy thunderbolts If I must perish by fire Let thy fire be my Executioner And so credit my death Thee O Jove being the Author Dixerat haec tellus neque enim tolerare vaporem Vlterius potuit nec dicere plura suumque Retulit os in se This said her voyce her parched tongue forsooke No longer could she smothering vapours brooke But down into herself with drew her head Near to th' infernal Caverns of the dead When shee had done prayers she shrunk in her venerable head for heat would not permit her to use Complements Which Oration no sooner came to Great Jupiters ear but he presently sends relief At Pater omnipotens superos testatus ipsum Qui dederat Currus Consiliumque vocat tenuit mora nulla vocatos The Almighty calleth a Parliament Summons â—n both Lords and Commons to the Counsel For â—lthough none can deny but that the Omnipotent hath an absolute power without the consent of â—he Inferiour Gods his subjects both to abrogate â—ld and institute new Laws yet such is his Royal indulgence that he will do neither without their consent Yet search the Catalogue of Antiquity and you will never finde a President that his Lords or Commons did ever dispute his authority much less assume his power and pluck the Regal Diadem from off their Soveraigns head It is his goodness which makes them capable of a Consent his Statutes are binding without it But to return Jupiter determins the death of Phaeton and dasheth him out of the Chariot with a violent thunderbolt and re-establisheth Royal Phoebus in his Throne Intonat dextra libratum fulmen ab aure Misit in aurigam pariterque animaque rotisque Exuit saevis compescuit ignibus ignes Et Phaeton rutilos flamma populante capillos Volvitur in praeceps He thunders and with hands that cannot erre Hurls lightning at the audatious Charioter Him strook he from his seat breath from his brest Both at one blow and flames with flames supprest And soul-less Phaeton with blazing hair Shot headlong through a long descent of air Now have you seen both the ascention of Phaetoâ— into the Chariot and his descention out of it Mâ— prayers shall be that I may never rise so high tâ— fall so low But the greatest Tyants in the world have oftentimes the greatest pompe of the world at their funeral to compleat their earthly happiness Therefore Reader take his Epitaph and consider whether it is not better to live a faithfull subject then dye a bold adventurous Traytor Hic situs est Phaeton Currus auriga paterni Quem si non tenuit magnis tamen excidit ausis Here lies Phaeton who though he could not guide His Fathers steeds in high attempts he dyed The Entrance of the AUTHOR who complaining of the times wherein the good are ejected and the wicked kill and take possession sheweth that those who unjustly against law are driven out of their own Country are not banished But that those who are unjust acting against right and deserve banishment by law are banisht though they continue upon their native soil With an Antidote out of venerable Petrack for all aswell Kings as other men who are illegally expelled from their Country THus ended Phaeton and consequently the History with him from whose ruins I will take my Exordium And Exemplo monstrante viam imitating my Mother Earth in her persecution shalâ— first lift up my head and hands to the God oâ— Gods and begin with a short Ejaculation though in King Davids words yet the same in effect with hers Summe Deum liceat periturae viribus ignis Igne perire tuc clademque autore levare Be 't by thy fire if I in fire must fry The Author lessens the calamity Let me fall into the hands of the Lord for very great are his mercies but let me not fall into the hands of man O happy David O happy Prayer O happy Success
ab eventu facta notanda putat The Authors Resolution and Reason to write The wickedness of the times Wherein men will have no King unless they may be Kings themselves nor no Bishops only because they are not Bishops Tyrants and Traytors reign by force Kings by the love of the people The definition of a Commonwealths-man with all his properties and the deceitfulness of a Parliament be it long or short Englands degeneration and the death of the Laws and Religion with an Incitation to solemnize the funeral NOw it is time to resolve the Quaere couchant in the Prologue Eloquar an sileam timor hoc pudor impedit illud Whether I should speak or be silent When I consider the perills of the times wherein no man can speak his own conscience without offending those who will give him blows for words Then Timor hoc But Jam tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet when I see my neighbour his house on fire and my own next to it when all men are asleep in sin and none to awake them Then pudor impedit illud For Non mihi si centum linguae sint oraque Centum Omnia culparum percurrere nomina possum If I had a thousand tongues and so many mouths I could not vilify our iron age according to its deserts Me thinks as if souls according to Phythagoras his opinion descented from one man to another I see those ancient Tyrants or their black souls in worser images acting their bloudy parts upon the stage of the world and sounding out their hellish edicts Here is Caius Caesar Caligula with his detestable motto in his mouth Oderint dum metuant Let them hate me so they fear me He forced parents to be present at the execution of their own children and after he had well drunk and eaten took pleasure to cast his friends into the Sea from on high from a bridge which he built He wished that his people had but one neck that he might chop them off at a blow vox Carnifice quam Imperatore dignior A Speech fitter for an Hangman than an Emperour When a prisoner being fearfull of the cruel Torments with which the Emperour would murder him had taken poyson to prevent him What sayes he Antidotum adversus Caesarem Is there any Antidote against Caesar How many poor innocents being condemned to dreadful deaths by the Tyrants of our age have poysened themselves to prevent their undesetved punishments And when his Grand-mother Antonia seemed to give him some admonition Memento ait omnia mihi in omnes licere I would have you to know saith he That I can do any thing a true Character of a Tyrant for what will not hee do But doubtless the love of the people is the best guard for a King Magnum Satellitium Amor. And that which ones natural lawfull Soveraign would most look after For â—num est regi inexpugnabile munimentum amor Civium It is not fear and force nor Troops of Dragoons and Red-coats that are the surest holds for Governours but the benevolence hearts and love of their subjects Caesar dando sublevando ignoscendo gloriam adeptus est Rulers have no greater enemy than the fear and envy of the people For Quem metuunt oderunt Quem quisque odit periisse expedit Whom we fear we hate and whom we hate we study and desire his death But behold Aulus Vitellius Bonus odor hostis melior civis occisi An enemy slain hath a very good smell but a Cittizen far better O black abominable Tragical and Tyrannical speech And did not our age swarm with such horse-leaches we should never suck the blood one of another so as we do But that you may hate the very name of Tyrants and abhor their actions Hearken a little to Flavius Vespasianus and his Councel how impiously they consulted and first Vespasian Lucri bonus odor ex re qualibet It is gain which makes the smell so good for a slain Citizen or enemy No actions so hellish if it produce profit but that it is a virtue to attempt it and the reason is Omnis in ferro salus because all our hope and health is in the sword for whilest we have that in our hands what law or Religion dares oppose us no disputant like the sword Exeat aula qui volet esse pius virtus summa potestas non coeunt semper metuunt quem save pudebunt Let him depart from our Courts and Counsel who is so simple that he must neeâ— be pious Godliness is a great hinderance to oâ— profession and he is a Coward who is ashamed to act wickedly Sibi bonus aliis malus saith an other He is a fool who thinks that any one can lose so he gets Let us be good to our selves and all is well There be some simple innocents who cry Melius mori quam sibi vivere It is better to dye than to live only for our selves But if such be their Doctrine let them get for others for us if they please and starve themselves Let us carve for ourselves Proximus ipse mihi Charity begins at home and he is an Ass that carrieth a burden for another Others there be of the same stamp and both alike simple who say Dulce est pro patria mori It is sweet to dye for ones Country let such good natured fools tast of that sweetness and dye for their Country our lives are sweet and not so to be fooled away It is sweet for our Country to dye for us But Pestis reipublicae literae saith another of the Counsel we shall never carry on our affairs handsomely so long as we have so many Lawyers and Gospel men amongst us the highest step to our promotion will be to lay them on their backs and I think the nearest way to dispel the cloud of black Coats will be to throw down their Universites and take their tithes and lands away from then As for the Lawyers perhaps we may bribe them but if not I am sure they will rather turn than burn To what we cannot perswade them with our tongues we will compel them to with our swords For Law Learning and Religion are as so many plagues and poysons tâ— Commonwealth And Qui nescit dissimulare nescit imperare He that cannot dissemble shall be no Commonwealths-man for to tell you the truth Dissimulation cogging and lying is the foundation of our government and if the foundation be taken away every one knows the superstructure cannot stand Therefore to deal plainly with the world let us cover our worst actions with the best pretences and ravish the people with the pleasing and specious names of Liberty and Religion when we intend the extirpation of both Let us imitate Tereus who so neatly dissembled piety that when he acted most against it the people did Saint him Ipso sceleris molimine Tereus Creditur esse pius And doubtless he was no mean Cowmonwealths-man Let us hold a fair correspondence
remember that Esaias suffered the same punishment If they cast him into a Dungeon so was Jeremiah the Prophet Solamen miseris socios habuisse Doloris There is nothing so comfortable as to have companions in misery If he be cast in to Lions so was Daniel If he be thrown into a fiery Furnace so were the three Children If he be thrust through the Temples so was Amos. If he be slain in the porch of the Temple so was Zacharias If he be cast into the Sea so was Jonas If he be killed with the Sword so was Vrias the Prophet If his head be cut off so was John Baptists If he be fastned to the Crosse with his head downwards so was St. Peter If he be crucified so was St. Andrew If he be murdered with the Sword so was St. James the son of Zebedaeus If he be thrown into a tun of boiling oil so was St. John the Evangelist If he be beaten to death with clubs so was St. Bartholomew If he be slain with a Dart or Javelin so was St. Thomas If he be beheaded so was St. Matthew If he be crucified so was St. Simon If he be slain so was St. Jude If he be put upon a pinacle of the Temple thrown down and after his fall having breath be knockt on the head with fullers clubs and brained so was St. James the son of Alphaeus If he be first stoned and then beheaded so was St. Mathias If his head be cut off so was St. Pauls If he be burned to ashes by furious Idolaters so was St. Mark There is no punishment so dreadfull to his body that shall cause his soul to break Gods ordinance to lift up his hand against his King and so bring damnation to his own soul Occidi licet occidere non licet It is honourable to be martyred an innocent Subject But it is infamy to live a victorious Rebel Preces Lacrimae sunt arma Ecclesiae Church-men must use no other weapons against their Soveraign than prayers and teares He that useth the Sword shall perish by the Sword and he that fighteth against his King sighteth against God For they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me saith God that I should not reign over them 1 Sam. 8.7 And if God doth not rule over them then the Devil who goeth to and fro in the earth and walketh up and down in it will puff up the heart of every sectarie with the Pride of ruling and ever the prevailing faction will set up an Idol to worship untill Satan doth make another faction stronger than that and then down goeth the former Idol and the Idolaters with it and up starteth another altogether as wicked and uncertain as the other Christ never taught it neither did ever any of the Prophets or Apostles by their doctrin or example give the least liberty that could be to any Subjects to levy war against their Soveraign But have forbid it as a most detestable wickednesse both by their Doctrine Precepts Perswasions Arguments Commands and Examples most of them suffering themselves to be most cruelly tortured and ignominiously murthered before they would resist the higher powers Nay they have forbiden all evil words or thoughts against them commanding and instructing the people to pray even for the worst of Tyrants What Tyrant more savage and cruel than Nebuchadnezzar Yet with what earnest expressions did the Prophet Jeremiah exhort the people to obey him threatning them with utter destruction for their Rebellion What Tyrant more bloudy than Nero that Monster to the world and Idolatrous Persecutor Yet St. Paul bids the Romans obey and serve him for Conscience sake Saul commanded the Amalekite to kill him who when he had performed the Kings command brought word thereof to David which when David heard although Saul was a wicked King He said to the Amalekite Wast not thou afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lords anointed and commanded him to be slain for his pains and said thy blood be upon thy head for thy mouth hath testified against thee saying I have slain the Lords anointed 2 Sam. 1 16. Innumerous are the precepts of loyal obedience to which fot brevity sake I refer you to the Bible which is an Iliad of such examples Could not our Saviour have had more than twelve Legions of Angles to have repelled the fury of his persecutors But he was so far from resisting that he bid Peter who had drawn his Sword put it into his place and moreover told him that they that use the Sword shall perish with the Sword Could not David have cut off Sâ—uls head when he cut off the lap of his Garment Yet his heart did smite him and he was not able to perpetrate so great a sin How many glorious Martyrs both antient and modern as those in Queen Maries daies have been burnt alive racked and torn in pieces yet never would resist any of their persecutors How dare the men then of our age blaspheme God even in their pulpits teaching the people to rebell and making God the Author of all their villanies telling the multitude It is Gods cause even when they are acting the most damnable works of the Devil How justly may they expect the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah the plagues of Egypt and all the Curses in Hell to fall upon them and their posteritie for ever If they have any special command from God or be immediately inspired of him to kill their King then may they be justified as in the cases of Eglon Zimri Jehu c. who did nothing but what was just when they killed the Lords anointed because they had Gods will to be their Commander and no man can sin in performing Gods will For sin is nothing but an obliquitie from Gods will But when they know that it is Gods will to honour and obey their Soveraign yet notwithstanding trample him in the dirt What Judgement can they expect but that of their Master Lucifer to be chained in everlasting Hell fire Qui disputat de potestate Principis utrum bene fecerit est infamis saith Marginista He which disputeth of the Kings power or whether he doth well or no deserveth the most infamous punishment For Tibi soli peccavi against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil O Lord saith holy David when he committed adultery and Psal 51.4 Murther as if he should have said I am a King and therefore cannot be brought to the bar of Justice by men They can give me no Laws to bind me therefore I cannot offend them 2 Sam. 12.7 But against thee thee only O Lord have I sinned and done his evil against thee who didst raise me out of the dust and liftedst me needy out of the dung-hill and didst â—noint me King over Israel and deliveredst me out of the â—and of Saul and gavest me my Masters house and my Masters wives into my bosome and gavest me the house of Israel Judah if
He Prayed that if he must perish by the Sword that he might perish by the Sword of the Lord viz. the Pestilence and doubtless the Pestilence is a harmless dove if compared to the raging violence of lawless man For who can without horror think what cruel torments and hideous tortures bloudy Tyrants have invented for the punishment of poor Innocents I will not stain my paper with their names being so well known and so ill practised Audax omnia perpeti gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas Nothing comes amiss to them Take a view of the preceding ages and you shall finde some Caines some bad in the best of times no garden without some weeds no roses without some thorns and no field without some tares But take a glimpse of our age and without the help of Spectacles you may see our scarlet sins swiming upon the red Sea of Martyrs blood in every street The whole field is grown over with briers and thistles and all are become abominable there is none that doth good no not one Vir bonus sapiens qualem vix reperit unum Millibus e cunctis hominum consultus Apollo If Diogenes had the Sun to be his Candle and the eyes of the whole world to be his Lanthern he could not finde amongst us the man he lookt for so many ages since All such are become Exuls though not exleges And since we meet with an Exul in the way Let us salute him by his proper name and first describe what he is not and then what and who he is Ovidius Omne solum forti patria est ut piscibus aequor Et volucri vacuo quicquid in orbe patet Though many good and prudent men by the fierce Tyranny of others are forced from their native soil and hunted from place to place like the panting Hart by the multitude of raging hounds yet will they not own the name of Exuls but Travellers esteeming it the part of a pusillanimous Spirit not to make every part of the world their Country and account the whole world as one city Such was Camillus and Marcellus and many other antients whom time and paper would fail me here to Catalogue But I need not rip up antiquity for such examples enough and one too many doth our iron age afford But as little birds though hatched in as little nests make all the earth their habitations so wise and valiant men account the whole world as their private dwelling Fools are banisht in their own Country wise men are in their own Country though banisht and by their travels obtain such learning as if their banishment had been their Vniversity so much for what an Exul is not Let Cicero who best could tell you what and who he is and least you should mistrust that I belye him For Fugiere pudor verumque fidesque In quorum suliere locum fraudesque dolique Insidiaeque vis amor sceleratus habendi Shame truth and faith depart Fraud enters ignorant in no bad art Force treason and the love of wicked gain Is the motto of our times The Father cannot believe his Son nor the Son his Father he is wisest that can forge the most beneficial lies and lies are become the ammunition of our age Therefore hear him in his own Dialect Omnes scelerati impii quos leges exilio affici volunt exules sunt etiamsi solum non mutant All wicked and impious persons which deserve banishment by law are exuls Though they continue upon their native Country Sure I am they are exleges But since there are many in the world that are driven from their own native soil whose virtue will not suffer them to esteem it a banishment but rather a tryal to exercize their fortitude Yet confident I am as an unfaigned lover whose Mistress hath abandoned him from her presence whereby he contemneth her because shee contemneth him yet if once shee open her pleasant arms to receive him forgetting all her former injuries he presently imbraceth her and is capable of no greater joy so they who are so exiled would willingly return if their hard-hearted Country would once receive them For Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit immemores non sinit esse sui Home is home though it be never so homely Therefore let all those who labour with this disease of banishment apply themselves to reverend Petrack de exilio where they may finde an Antidote let their malady be of what nature soever And since the Physitian is so learned his Physick so good and the disease so obvious behold the Physitian and his patient arguing together assuming the names of Dolor and Ratio and first the Physitian Ratio Terra patris domus est nostri communis inqua Sedibus a patriis exulat omnis homo Dolor Exilio pellor injusto R. Quid tu igitur justo pelli malles exilio Nempe quod ad injuriae cumulum ais in diversum trahitur habes enim injusti exilii solatium comitem Justitiam quae injustos cives destituens te sequuta tecum exulat D. Injusto exilio pulsus sum R. An te rex expulit an Tyrannus an populus an hostis an tu ipse Nam si rex aut injustum exilium non erit aut ipse non justus at que ita nec rex quidem Si Tyrannus ab illo te pulsum gaude sub quo boni existant fures imperant Si populus moribus ille suis utitur bonos odit hic quoque multiceps Tyrannus nunquam sui similem pepulisset Non te igitur patria sed malorum caetibus arceri neque in exilium sed in partem bonorum civium cogi putes At si hostis agnosce injuriae levitatem non hostiliter saeviit qui omnia cum possit patriam abstulit spem reliquit Sui tu ipse mores populi peresus aut Tyranni abitum elegisti non modo te doleas sed etiam gloriare virtutem patriae praetulisse non tu flebilem sed honestam prorsus invidiosam bonis atque optabilem non jam exilii sed absentiae causam habes sponte Pythagoras Samon liquit Athaenas Solon Romam Scipio D. Depellor patria R. Pulsum te pessimiâ— optimis insere neque te patria sed patriam te indignam rebus proba Sentiat illa quid perdidit Tu nihil perdidisse sentias mali cives tui odio simulque praesentis odio ac suspitione careant boni autem amore absentis ac desiderio teneantur sequanturque oculis atque animis abeuntem illi se solos linqui doleant D. Mittor in exilium R. Immo in experimentum tui videris quem te in exilio praebeas si succumbis exul verus si consistis exilio clarus ut multi olim qui invicti fulgidi per asperitates incesserunt ut sequentibus rectum iter ostenderent Sine Tyrannos saevire sine populum furere sine hostes ac
Thou hast let fall a Snake out of thy hands take heed thou take it not up again O happy loss whereby thou hast saved thy soul vengeance belongeth unto God Forgiveness unto thee if thou intendest to be forgiven From this lost occasion take occasion never to have such an occasion of revenge to lose Hath thy friend forsaken thee Better he forsake thee than thee him for then thou hadst been guilty of his fault The loss of his friendship perhaps may make thee seek after Gods friendship which if thou finde thou hast made a good exchange Do thy people hate thee their Soveraign This beast is prompt to injury and slow to duty The Commons love is light and their hatred heavy There is nothing more forcible than the multitude of fools whereas publique fury pricketh forth the rage of every private person and the rage of every private person kindleth the publique frantickness and one of them enforceth another Beware there is nothing more dangerous than to fall into their hands whose will standeth for law and headlong outrage for discretion Art thou contemned Inferiours contemn their superiours thinking by casting dirt upon them they beautify themselves and some men have no other way to patch up their own credits than by picking holes in the credit of others If it be justly thou hast cause I confess to be sorry notwithstanding thou must endure it but if unjustly thou mayst laugh at it For there is nothing more ridiculous nor that hapneth more commonly than for a wise man to be contemned of mad men Dost thou complain that promisses made unto thee are late in performance words are cheaper than deeds Hence learn punctually to perform thy promisses to others nothing more debaseth a gift than an hard graunt and a slow performance bis dat qui cito dat Art thou subject to a Tyrant Thou fearest one he fears many God suffereth him like Pharaoh to scourge thee for thy instruction but for his perdition when he hath done he will burn the rod. Iniqua nunquam regna perpetuo manent Hast thou an unruly proud scholar Pride is an enemy to learning Whip out his arrogance o◠else for wit there will be no entrance If thou art not able to remove his pride from him remove him from thee Hale in thy sayles and go to shore Thou nourishest up a Serpent and tillest a venemous plant yea thy utter enemy Dost thou suffer an hard Father A hard Father maketh a soft and gentle Son correction is thy profit and chiding is thy gain remember that he is thy Father and thou art his Son It is his duty to chastise thee and thy duty to obey him he that spareth the rod spilleth the child Hast thou a rebellious Son If thou wast the cause thank thy self If thou wast his pattern consider what thy Father suffered by thee Amend him if thou canst if not love him because he is thy Son If not for that cause then for that he is a man if thou canst not love him pitty him as severity belongeth to a Father even so doth compassion Hast thou a malapert wife thou hast an evil thing Chastise her if chastisement will avail but if it be in vain arm thy self with patience and endeavour to love her There is nothing more comfortable than to do that willingly to which one is constrained levius fit patientia Quicquid corrigi est nefas Hath thy dying Mother forsaken thee She hath not forsaken thee but is gone before thee Thou hast yet another Mother who will not forsake thee if thou wouldest from the first thou canst and unto the second shalt thou return The first gave thee house roomth the space of a few months the other shall give thee lodging the space of many years the one of these gave thee thy body the other shall take it away but as from the first so from the second shalt thou arise Dost thou weep for the death of thy son If thou wouldest have wept at his death thou shoulst also have wept at his birth for then he began to dye but now he hath done Thou knewest thou shouldest get a mortal Son and dost thou now repent it he stept before thee happy wert thou if thou hadst stept before him Is thy friend dead bury him in thy remembrance and so shall he live with thee for ever O happy friendship which continued untill the end Hadst thou lost him by any other means than by death then hadst thou not lost a friend but a false opinion of friendship Dost thou mourn because thou didst narrowly escape shipwrack Rejoyce rather that thou didst escape and hereafter since thou art an earthly creature learn to keep the earth and rather to affect Heaven than the Sea though thou dost suffer shipwrack both of thy body and goods in thy voyage to Heaven yet if thy sould do safely arrive thou shalt have no cause to mourn Did thy harvest miss and thy land lye barren one year Let the barrenness of thy land put thee in minde of the barrenness of thy soul if thou sowest but one seed and reapest not ten fold for it thou mournest God soweth much and reapeth nothing what shall he do It is the plenty of thy fins which causeth the barrenness of thy land Dost thou dwell in a narrow little house great Princes have been born in small cottages thy heavenly Soul dwelleth in a little house of clay think upon the narrowness of thy grave and thy house will seem very large Art thou shut up in an unworthy prison death will set thee free and we are all Prisoners till then· Better is an unworthy prison than unworthy liberty and happier is the innocent prisoner than the corrupt Judge who put him there Dost thou fear thou shalt lose the victory thou art half conquered already fear is always an evil guest of the minde but a much more worse companion in warr There is no greater incouragement to an army than a fearful enemy Hast thou lost a Tyranny O happy loss O happy people where Tyrants are dismounted and Thrones lawfully established Prosperity enters when Tyranny hath it's Exit It is a burden to the Commonwealth most grievous to the Tyrants dangerous to no good man profitable hurtful to many odious unto all men and comfortable only in it's brevity for violenta nemo imperia continuit diu Have thy subjects betrayd thee Not subjects but Rebels They have undone themselves by doing thee out of thy Kingdom They have betrayed thee but cast away themselves pricked thee but they are wounded and in spoiling thee have slain themselves For perchance thou hast lost thy Kingdome or thy wealth but they have lost their souls their fame the quietness of Conscience and the company of all good men The Sun shineth not upon a more wicked thing than is a Traytor whose filthyness is such that they which need his craft abhorre the craftesman and others which would be notorious in other sins shunne
the shame of this impiety Providence bestoweth her blessings with blinde hands Prosperity doth not alwayes joyn hands with goodness neither is Adversity a true sign of illegality Good Kings may perish whilest wicked Rebels flourish David was forced by ungodly Traytors to flee from his Country Therefore our King may be a man after Gods own heart yet wrongfully driven from his own HAving given the unfortunate an Antidote Let us apply this Cordial That goodness is not an unseparable incident to prosperity success is no invincible argument that the cause is good Goodness and greatness are not alwayes companions Though Foxes have holes and Birds of the air have nests yet our Saviour the King of Kings had not where to lay his head King David though a man after Gods own heart was not without his troubles but had many infoelicities Though the subtile Foxes with their deceitful wiles banish our King from his Sacra Patrimonia his sacred Patrimony for so the possessions of Kings are called and make him wander up and down like a Pelican in the wilderness yet this is but like Jobs afflictions to make him the more glorious The top which is most scourged spinneth the better and the blustering windes make the Tree take the deeper root The Camomile the more it is trodden on the better it groweth and the Palm depressed riseth the higher so the afflictions of our Soveraign shall extol his renown the higher and like a ball thrown against the ground shall rebound and fly with more lofty Majesty For why his goodness doth increase by his misery and his Royal virtue like grass after a shower shall florish more gloriously God let Daniel be thrown into the Den to encrease his honour and chasteneth the Children which he loveth onely for their good What though cross gales drive us from our intended Haven And our hearts fail of all our desired injoyments so that blinde Fortune only striveth to make us miserable in prohibiting us from all our pleasing wishes Yet is this no argument that we are sinfull or that our desires are prophane What though a man be born blinde and so continue from his birth to his death Yet neither may this man have sinned nor his parents But that the John 29 works of God might be made manifest Can any one have the impudence to say that the King is wicked and that his cause is naught because the multitude of reprobates prevail and through the mightiness of their villanies subdue all that is good So may they argue that the Jews were Saints when they murthered our Saviour and that the Devil was an Holy Angel when he spoiled Job No God correcteth the pious that he may preserve them and permitteth the designs of the wicked to coach them to their own destructions He letteth Rebels dethrone their Soveraign and pull the earthly Crown from off his head that he may crown him in Heaven with everlasting glory The meanness of the case doth not diminish the lustre of the Jewel and Christ was a King though in the manger Seneca in Hyppolito Res humanas ordine nullo Fortuna regit spargitque manu Numera caeca pejora fovens Fortune doth not alwayes signally attest the design of such a party or the justnes of such an action to be righteous by permitting it to prosper and taper up into the world the Sun shines upon the bad aswell as the good and the rain makes their corn to grow oftentimes more plentiful than the righteous mens which makes the wicked glory in their actions and scorn all those as Atheists who will not Canonize them for Saints Honesta quaedam scelera successus facit If success doth but attend their enterprises let them be never so impiously wicked all the Logick and Rhetorick in the world cannot perswade them but that they are most sacred and righteous such is their profound ignorance and blind zeal That if the Devil put it into their hearts to murder their lawful King and Soveraign and likewise assist them to effect it they think they do God good service and punish all those with an Egyptian slavery who will not be of their opinion although expresly against God his Commandments viz. Fear God honour the King 1 Pet. 2.17 They make God to be even altogether such a one as they are in crying that it is Gods cause even when they commit the greatest Sacriledge Persperum ac faelix scelus virtus vocatur a mischief neatly effected is one of their chiefest virtues This indeed made King David to stagger nay his steps had wellnigh slipt when he saw the prosperity of the wicked when he considered that they were not in trouble as other men nor plagued like other men Their Eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish This made him cry out Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence But when he went into the Sanctuary of God Then understood he their end For Surely thou didst set them in slipery places Thou castedst them down in destruction How are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors as a dream when one awaketh So O Lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image was his next vote Prov. 1.30 They would none of my Counsell they despised all my reproof Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of Fools shall destroy them Thus you see that prosperity is sometimes a curse and no blessing To those beasts we intend to kill we commonly allow the best pasture And surely those men are better acquainted with Mahomets Alchoran than our Saviours Gospel who will not be convinced but that temporal happiness is the true index of Divine favour God scattereth his outward blessings upon the wicked aswell as on the good because if Virtue and Religion should only appropriate riches more men would become virtuous and religious for the love of mony and wealth than out of any love they did bear either to Virtue or Religion Maro O fortuna potens quam variabilis Tantum juris atrox quae tibi vindicas Evertisque bonos erigis improbos Nec servare potes muneribus fidem Fortua immeritos auget honoribus Fortuna innocuos cladibus afficit Justos illa viros pauperie gravat Indignos eadem divitiis beat Haec aufert juvenes retinet senes Injusto arbitrio tempora dividens Quod dignis adimit transit ad impios Nec discrimen habet rectaque judicat Inconstans fragilis perfida lubrica Nec quos deseruit perpetuo premit Therefore let not those despair whom blind Fortune hath kicked into any mishap nor measure the justness of their actions by the quantity of success Though the voyce of the world censure it For it is not the event which makes it good or bad Careat successibus opto Quisquis