no Heir by Inheritance to the Crown and was rejected by Gods Spirit and David by Gods own appointment was to Succeed him in that Kingdom 1 Sam. 16.1 13. and was anointed by Samuel to be King in his stead which was very much Yet this Good Subject when Saul was put into his Hands and his servants perswaded him to take the Advantage of that good opportunity 1 Sam. 24 24. and to do justice upon that Wicked King he would by no meanes be advised by them nor suffer them to Rise against his King and when Abishai told him that God had delivered his enemy i.e. Saul into his hands and therefore desired that if David would not do it himself he would suffer Him to smite him David answered No by no means 1 Sam. 26.9 10 11. and he yeelds this reason Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless And he addeth The Lord shall smite him but God forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against him Nay more then this when David took the Speare and the cruse of water from Sauls boulster and then went a great way from them he cried unto Abner and said Vers 16. Wherefore hast thou not kept thy lord the King As the Lord liveth ye are worthy to die because you have not kept your Master the Lords anointed Where you see David sweareth a Great oath As the Lord liveth and therefore he jesteth not They are worthy to die not they Alone that Kill their King but they also that hazard not their own lives to Protect and preserve the life of their King be their King never so Wicked I am sure in Davids judgment this is True Divinity Yea more then all this when Saul had fallen upon his own sword because he would not fall into the hands of his uncircumcised enemies and being in extream anguish desired a young Amalekite that was passing by to rid him out of his pain and the young man in favour to him performing his request and out of his respect to David that was to succeed him he brought the Crown that was upon his head and the Bracelet that was upon his arm unto David that the enemies might not have them and to shew that he took no pleasure in the death of Saul he came in a very mournfull manner with his Clâ—athes rent and Earth upon his head and likewise to shew his Loyal respect unto David he fell to the Earth and did Obeysance unto him and though he was a stranger and Subject neither to Saul nor to David therefore owed no service unto either of them yet because he took away the Life of Davids King the anointed of God and his Vicegerent here on earth David caused one of his young men 2 Sam. 1. to fall upon the poor Amalekite and for his mistaken curtesie unto Saul and unwelcome service unto David to smite him that he died So dear was the life of this Wicked King unto this Godly man that was a man according to Gods own heart the best subject that ever we read of and therefore was honored by God to become the best King that ever Israel had So that in the Genealogie of Christ the King of Kings he is preferred before Abraham as S. Matth. 1.1 Matthew sets it down The book of the Generation of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham And is it not Strange that these Jews that were given so much to read the Scripture and had them more readily then our Puritans have them at their fingers end and could tell how many Affirmative and how many Negative precepts were in all the Bible and how many times every word was therein mentioned and yet that they would not now consider that Job saith Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked Job 34.18 Psal 105.15 Eccl. 8.4 Numb 16. Deut. 33.5 Hos 1.4 2 Reg 21.24 and that God himself saith Touch not mine anointed and the wisest amongst the sons of men saith Where the Word of a King is there is power and Who may say unto him What doest thou Or that they could not remember how fearfully God destroyed those Rebels that rose against Moses that was a King in Jesuron and destroyed the posterity of Jehu because he had destroyed his own King Ahab and stirred the people to slay all them that had slain Amon though he was a most wicked King But the truth is that the Old Serpent the Prince of darkness teacheth his Schollers to reject the Old light and now to stand altogether for New lights new Revelations and new Divinity therefore S. Augustine speaks most truely of these Scripturists that they had the Bible In manibus but not In cordibus and they had the truth in Codice but not in Capite for now Caiphas contrary to all the Old Scripture Joh 18.14 hath a New Revelation that it is expedient Pro salute populi that One man should dye for the people therefore Christ their King must needs be Killed and all the people cried out for justice and double their crie Crucify Him Crucify Him Salus Populi doth require it 2 From the Word of God 2. To prove it Lawfull to put any King to death Prosalute Populi he that hath all Scripture ad unguem can furnish you with a Text of S. Peter 1 Pet. 2.13 that affirmeth the Kingly office to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Humane Ordinance or creature therefore the people being the maker of the King Ob. they may destroy their Own creature if he failes in the End for which he was created To this our True Divines have oftentimes most truly answered 1. That the Jews held their Royal Government to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sol. Immediate from God and to be in force without the Election of Ordination from man and all other dominions and rule to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Humane Ordinance because God had determined and set down the Plat-form of their Government which he had not done to other Nations that as the Prophet saith had not the knowledge of his Laws and therefore S. Peter writing here to the Jews tels them that although the Kingly office should be but as they held an Humane Ordinance and not as theirs was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Rule yet his Precept was that they should Submit themselves thereunto for the Lords sake i.e. though the Governours were Heathens and their Government Heathenish yet Obedience and not Resistance is due unto them for the Lords sake by whom All Kings both Jews and Gentiles do bear rule 2. That although the Jurisdiction of Kings for Extent in some Part 2 Sol. and in some Degree might be said to be Humane from men yet the power of the Sword which hath Potestatem vitae necis is simply and absolutely Divine from God For who can give power over the Life of man but he that
that the same true God which giveth the Kingdom of Heaven to his children only giveth the Earthly Kingdoms both to the good and to the bad as he pleaseth yet alwaies justly And for Nimrod I say the words bear no more then he became mightier then other Kings or began to Tyrannize more then all the other Kings And for S. Peters words I say he means it only of Elective Kings Which in another place I shewed more fully than the time will now give me leave in what sense he calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore I say the calling of Kings is the proper Ordinance of God as it is fully and most learnedly shewed by a most Reverend Prelate of our Church lately published and intituled Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas Howsoever as I said we condemn not as unlawfull the right of all Elective Kings yet we ought to acknowledg how much more bound we are to God that himself in a rightfull line of succession hath appointed our Kings to raign over us so that we need not fear the error of our Election if there be no error in our submission 2. As we are to consider quem whom so we ought to remember qualem what manner of King we are commanded to honor for as the unjust Vsurper may govern the people justly as they do sometimes and in some places so they that have just Titles to their Crowns may prove unjust in their Governments as too too many both of the Kings in Israel and Judah and I fear many other Kings have been And yet if they be our lawfull Kings be they what they will Cruell Tyrannous or Idolatrous or if you will put all together I say we are bound to honor them and no waies to Rebell against them for if thy Brother the son of thy Mother or thy son or thy daughter Deut. 13.6 or the wife of thy bosome or thy friend which is as thine own soul shall intice thee to Idolatry and to serve strange gods thine eye shall not spare him neither shalt thou have any pity upon him but for the son to rise up against the Father the wife against her Husband the servant against his Lord or the subject against his King here is not a word and we are not to do what the Lord doth not command as Tostat well observeth upon this place Therefore though Jeroboam made Israel to sin by setting up his calves to be adored Nâ—buchadnezzar commanded all his people to worship his Golden Image Ahab Manasses Nero Julian and the rest of the persecuting Emperors did most impiously compell their Subjects to Idolatry and exercised all kinds of cruelty against Gods servants yet you shall never find that either the Jews under Jeroboam or Daniel in Babylon or Elias in the time of Ahab or any Christian under Julian or the rest of those bloody Tyrants did ever rebell against any of those wicked Kings for they all considered the law of God and I beseech you all to consider it likewise 1. Exod 22.28 Moses saith Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people yea though he should be evil yet must thou not speak evil of him for as thou art to honor thy Father not so much because he is good as because he is thy Father and therefore the son of Noah was accursed because he despised his Father when his father sinned so we are to honor our King and to speak no ill of him though he should be never so ill for Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked And to Princes Ye are ungodly Job 34.18 2. 2 Not to do the least indignity unto our King As we are to bridle our tongues so much more ought we to refrain our hands from offering the least violence unto our King When the Lord saith peremptorily Touch not mine annointed where he doth not say Non occides or ne perdas the worst that can be but ne tangas the least that may be neither doth he say Sanctos meos my holy ones but Christos meos my annointed ones whether they be holy or unboly good or bad therefore though Saul was a wicked King and a heavy persecutor of David without cause hunting him like a Partridge upon the Mountains and seeking no less then to take away his life yet when the men of David said unto him Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou maist do to him as it shall seem good unto thee what seemed good unto him Truely no waies to hurt him nor to do the least indignity unto him for his heart smote him because he had cut off the skirt of his robe and therefore he said unto his men 1 Sam. 24.4 5 6 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords annointed to stretch forth my hand against him And why so because he is the annointed of the Lord that is not because he is a good man but because he is my King Nay we are not only forbidden to offer violence That we are to protect our King with the hazard of our lives but we are also injoyned to give our best assistance to protect the persons of our most wicked Kings for David not only staid his servants with the former words and suffered them not to rise against Saul but when Saul lay sleeping within his trench and David and Abishai took away his speare and had the power to destroy him What saith David unto Abner Art not thou a Valiant man And who is like thee in Israel Wherefore then hast thou not kept thy Lord the King This thing is not good that thou hast done as the Lord liveth 1 Sam. 15.16 ye are worthy to dye because you have not kept your Master the Lords annointed And if this thing is not good and David jesteth not but sweareth As the Lord liveth they are worthy to dye that preserve not the life of their King be he never so wicked then certainly this thing is not good and they are more then worthy to die that not only refuse to assist but also rise in Arms to persecute and to take away the life of a most Pious and a Gracious King So you see the person whom we are to honor the King whatsoever he be good or bad 2. The Honor that we are to exhibite unto him is to be considered out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word so significant that it not only comprehendeth all the duty which we owe to our Father and Mother but it is also used to express most if not all the service of God when he saith If I am a father Malach. 1.5 where is my honor And therefore when Ahassuerus asked Haman What should be done unto the man Whom the King would honor he answered let the Royall apparell be brought which the King useth to weare and the Horse that the King rideth upon
that Christ speakes of had shewed him the way before but as after Ages grew more subtle so they became more wicked then the former times even so this unjust and unthankful Servant became more wicked then before for now he layeth up such hatred and malice against his King and sealeth it in the depth of his Heart wherein the same boyled like new Wine that wanted vent so that it was like meat and drink to an hungry Stomach for him to finde any Opportunity to broach the same against the King And the Long Parliament that consisted of very many discontented Persons and men both disaffected to his Majesty and distasting his present Government made him a fair way to lay open all his Malice and what he formerly vented in his private Discourse by retail he doth it publickly now in gross and he doth it to the full and having a tongue apt to speak and not unskilful in the art of Rhetorick he begins first to make his Oration against the Earl of Strafford as knowing that whatsoever evil was proved or conceived against him the same reflected most upon the King then after the taking of this great Earl and prudent Counsellour of the King out of the way making more bitter Invectives against his Majesty then ever Cicero's Philippicks were against Marcus Antoninius or his Actions against Verres he so still passed on till he had poysoned the greater part of that House and the seditious vulgar that understood his Proceedings with an evil conceit against the good King And now seeing himself back'd with the wilde part of the House and the strength of the rude multitude no mean revenge will serve his turn but with his Rhetorical Orations and Speeches filled with Gall against the King though as yet somewhat obliquely he labours to disrobe and rob the King of all his chief Friends under the Notion of evil Counsellours and withall secretly complies with the Scots to assist him and the rest of his seditious Compeers against his Majesty But the King having full intelligence both of his and his partners vile practice against his Majesty laboured to bring them to their Tryal in the usual legal way for their underhand Treachery and Confederacy with the Scots to bring a foreign Army to invade his Dominion and then to save himself and the rest they fly to the City of London and in a short space drew the Citizens and with them the whole Kingdom to engage themselves in a desperate civil War against their lawful Sovereign Then the King found himself too weak to bring this strong Rebel to any trial yet the hand of God was not to short to fetch him out of his guarded Palace for he is the Lord of Hosts and hath as well his great Army of little ones as the Rats and Mice that devoured Popiel the second King of Polonia in anno 830. for his treacherous poysoning of his Unckles the Moales that undermined a City in Thessaly and the Worms that destroyed Herod the King as also his strong Army of great ones as the earth to swallow up Corah Dathan and Abiram the Sea to overwhelm Pharaoh and all his Hoast the Stars in their Order too fight against Sisera and his Angels to be at his Command to overthrow his enemies And therefore he sent his Serjeant to arrest him and to fetch him out of his strong hold that he should do no further Mischief against his Anointed And how he died I leave to the Report of them that knew the manner of his death better then I can set it down I did intend further to shew unto you the just Judgment of God upon Colonel Hamden that for his disloyalty to his King was shot whereof he dyed on the same Plot of ground where he first mustered his Souldiers against his King even as the Lord threatened the like Judgment against Ahab And upon the Mayor of York that on that day twelve-Moneth that our King lost his life made a Bone-fire for joy that the King had so lost his life but on the same day twelve-Moneth after hanged himself And especially upon Colonel Axtel that hath been the ruine of so many Churches and the Suppressour of so many honest conformable Ministers and other good Protestants and plaid so many Tyrannical parts about Kilkenny and in my Diocess of Ossory as I am not able in a short time and with few words to express it and upon divers others but my Occasions at this time will not give me leave to perfect what I have begun And therefore I must now here make an End and commend us all to God through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be all glory and honour for evermore Amen Jehovae Liberatori The Authour's Prayer after he had finished the Reparation of the Chancel and Quire of the Cathedral Church of Kilkenny OEternal Almighty and most merciful Lord God that hast created all things by thy Power governest them by thy Wisdom and preservest them by thy Goodness and hast disposed all thy Creatures to be for the Service of man the Sun to give him light by day and the Moon by night the Earth to feed him and the Angels of Heaven to attend him that he dash not his foot against a Stone for all which great love and bounty of thine towards man thou requirest no more but that he should be thankful unto thee and praise thee for thy goodness and declare the wonders that thou doest for the Children of men and as Moses saith what doth the Lord our God require of us but to fear the Lord our God to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and to keep his Commandments and Statutes which he commanded us for our good for the discharging of which duties and the performance of our Service unto the Lord our God though as Saint Stephen saith the most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands when as the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him which is above the heavens and below the earth and filleth all places and beyond all places with his Presence yet our fore-Fathers most religiously according to the President that King Solomon left us and the good Examples that the Primitive Christians gave us have erected Oratories and built Temples and Churches where the Saints and Servants of God might meet to praise the Lord for his manifold mercies to beg his favour and graces to help and to supply their wants and necessities to understand his Will and to know his Commands and to do all other the best Service that they could do to the Lord their God and to that onely end they have set them apart and alienated them from all secular and prophane uses dedicated them wholly for God's Service and consecrated them by Prayers to be Sanctuaries for them and their Posterities to serve and to honour God in But O Lord our God we confess and
herein and that is that all and every one that had any hand or finger in that good King's Death or in the death of any of those His good Subjects that were unjustly and illegally sentenced to death I do not speak of them that were killed in the War because as the Poet Lucan saith Pharsal lib. 1. Victrix causa Diis placuit sed victa Catoni And as the Prophet David saith The Sword devoureth the one as well as the other but of those that in cold blood by usu ping Judges under the Colour of Law were contrary to the Laws both of God and of the Land most unjustly condemned unto death should for that their unjust Proceedings be justly questioned and legally tryed for their former Offence the same being of so high a Nature as I shewed to you before But you will say many of them as blinde Bartimaeus might easily see that acted very highly against the last King and as it is conceived had their hands deep in his death were as active as any others and most special Instruments to bring His now Sacred Majesty unto His Right whereby they have fully expiated their foul offence and deserve rather to be well rewarded and honoured as some say they are then any ways questioned as their Adversaries would have them to be I answer that His Majesty is wise as the Angel of God and knoweth best what he should best do and the Policy of State is far beyond the Sphere of mine Intelligence and their doings therein ought highly to be commended and deserve not meanly to be rewarded though as Will. Sommers told King Henry the Eight that such a Gentleman threatned to kill him and the King answered that if he killed him he would have him hanged for it Will. Sommers replied Nay good King let him be hanged before he kills me or else his death will not preserve my life and his hanging will do me no good so I heard some say that they would have had the Enemies of the last King first punished for their Rebellion and the Murder of Him and then rewarded for their good Service to His now gracious Majesty or else reward them well for their good Service done to our now gracious King and then question them and punish them answerable to their Deserts for their Disloyalty and Treachery to our late King as I read it in the Turkish History and in some other Historians of some very wise Kings that did so to the like Offenders because we may believe it for a truth that they which have proved false to their own true just and lawful Prince will scarce ever prove faithful to any Prince nor seem to be but either for hope still to reap the fruit of their Subtlety to turn when the Winde turns or for fear to be dash'd in Pieces if they turn not their Sayls to escape those Rocks which they cannot otherwise avoid and no thanks to such men for any good they do when they do it perforce and therefore should be trusted perchance And it may be many of the very Murderers both of the good King and of his loyal Subjects have robbed and spoyled not the Aegyptians of their Jewels but the Israelites their Brethren of their Goods Lands and Possessions which they have gotten into their own hands and thereby became exceeding rich and enabled themselves to match their Sons and their Daughters to great Families and to bestow large Gifts that do blind the eyes of the wise on others to make to themselves Friends of their unrig hteous Mammon to preserve them from ther just deserts and to pull down the Wrath and Vengeance of God on others for this their obstructing of the straight rule of Justice that teacheth us to do otherwise Or if it were not so many men do wonder how so many men as were conceived to have been active and most of them to have their hands embrued in the good King's Blood and were likewise guilty of the death of His innocent Subjects should escape uncensured and so few of them sentenced to expiate and appease the Wrath of God for such horrible unparallebd and transcendent Murthers for I knew eight persons executed at Dublin for the Murther of one ordinary Traveller and is it not strange that we see no more brought to their Trial for such a Sâ—aughter as was done upon our good King and His innocent Subjects so judicially and yet so illegally and altogether unjustly sentenced to death or shall we think that no more were guilty then were condemned or not rather that the guilty Murtherers by their Wealth Subtlety and Friends made many others guilty of God's anger and the pulling down of God's vengeance upon many more for their excusing covering and clearing such abominable Transgressours for I would have all men to consider duly how destructive Murther is to mankinde and how odious and hatefull it is to God above all other sins whatsoever especially when an innocent man is judicially and illegally Murthered as you may rightly finde the truth hereof fully proved in the fifth Chapter of the first Book of The Great Anti-Christ revealed and in these Sermons following And I would the Protectours of the King's Murtherers would rightly weigh what the people sayd to King David that His life was worth ten thousand of the lives of the common people and how the Lord punished the whole house and posterity of Saul and all the Kingdom of Israel until his wrath was satisfied for the innocent death of the Gibeonites that were but a poor contemptible people but killed without cause 2. Sam. xxi and especially that there be not any more but two sins that I can finde in the whole Book of God that the Lord saith cannot be pardoned and obliterated without their due punishment and they are 1. The high Abuse of God's Messengers and Publishers of his Will 2. The unjust shedding of innocent Blood For Of the First the Spirit of God saith that when the Lord God sent his Messengers unto the Children of Israel and they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets the wrath of the Lord arose against his People until there was no Remedy as if he had said For other sins of these Israelites some ways and remedies might have been found out as Moses and Aaron by their prayers and censers appeased the wrath of God to turn away the Punishment of them and David and Ezra did the like from the Jews but when they mocked his Messengers despised his Word and misused his Prophets which were the onely Sâ—â—ve or Medicine that could heal their sickned Souls when they refused and cast away these Remedies from them then there was no Remedy in the World for them to preserve them from their just deserved Punishment and therefore saith the Text The Lord brought upon them the King of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the Sword in thâ— House of their Sanctuary and had no Compassion
malicious treacherous and murderous ill properties for great Courtiers that ought to be as well good as great else are they but a great shame among men and a great staine unto all their posterity 10. 10 The common people for the most part had a hand in his death by a three fold imployment As salus populi the good of the people and the liberty of the subjects was one main pretended cause why these murderers kild their King ne gens pereat lest if he lived the Nation should be destroyed so the people upon all occasion must be ready at hand to serve their turn and to do the services wherein these their grand Masters shall imploy them and this imployment we find to be three fold 1. Mar. 14.43 When their King is to be taken they must be sent armed with swords and staves to apprehend him 2. They must draw petitions for some base and unworthy thing as they did Math. 27.20 when they petitioned that Barabbas a thief and a murderer might be released and their King crucified 3. They must come to the Judgment-Hall or place of Judicature and for fear the King should find some favour from him that knew him innocent they must with loud voices cry for justice and double their desires for execution and all this saith the Evangelist was done by the multitude Math. 27.20 Hosi-anna as they were perswaded by the Priests and Presbyters Ah silly people that even now cry Hosanna serva quaeso Save Lord and now presently Crucifige that loved their King as his enemies confess and yet joyn with his enemies to kill their King and never ask What hath he done but this we will do to please them that set us on the work Who then but a mad man would repose trust in a multitude of men and relie upon a broken reed a reed that wavers with every winde And not only so but to shew the baseness of these base people for I know not how to say their envy or their malice that they should maligne their King who had done them good every way and no harm to any of them when Pilate a heathen Judge and a stranger to the Jews shall profess him to be a just person Math. 27.24 and therefore wash his hands from the blood of the innocent man this giddy multitude of rude people the generation of vipers that gnaw out the bowels of their own dams the brethren of Cain and the children of their father the Devil Joh. 8.44 that hath been a murderer from the beginning do cry out as vengeance doth require Math. 27.25 His blood be upon us and upon our children What Nefandum scelus a most fearfull thing when the blood of our own just King unjustly murdered by so many sorts of men that had their hands imbrued with his blood shall like Abels blood cry to God for vengeance against us and our children for ever O let us rather repent and desire of God that the blood of this lamb Jesus Christ may wash away these our bloody sins And thus I have shewed you the chiefest Actors in this bloody Tragedy all the whole Kingdom of Jury rebelling against their King and most Traiterously betraying him to an Ignominious death save only some few followers of Christ of whom this King foretold what should betide them some of them should be killed and some persecuted from City to City for Math. 23.34 as S. Basil said of Herod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his meat was the flesh and his drink was the blood of men so these Regicides will never leave a follower of this King untill like the Whore in the Revelations Revel 7.6 they be drunk with the blood of the Saints and thereby shew themselves as they are 1. Vnsatiable because they never leave till they be drunk 2. Vnmercifull because they will be drunk with blood and 3. Vnjust because no blood will serve them but the blood of the Saints and servants of this King the witnesses of Gods truth And therefore let all the lovers of this King look to themselves because the branches must needs wither when the root is plucked up And besides these followers of Christ that loved him we find some others that had no hand in killing him and those were the Samaritans a people as much hated by the Jews as Papists are by the Puritans and though this King confer'd upon the Jews beneficia nimis copiosa multa magna and did nothing at all for these Samaritans save only to pitty them and hinder the fiery Zâ—lots the two sons of Zebedee to destroy them by calling for fire out of Heaven to consume them as Elias did the two Captains and their fifties yet we do not read that either they hated the person or sought the life of this King no more do I find that any Papist joyned with the Parliament of England and the Conquerors of our King to put King Charles to death which I believe will be sufficient witnesses to rise in judgment to condemn them that have condemned the King at the last day Thus I have passed over all or most of the acts and scenes of this Tragedy and I might here end but that as the Prophet saith abyssus abyssum invocat and one Tragedy requires another and the destruction of this King and his followers cals for destruction upon the destroyers that like Damocles's sword hangs by a feeble thread ready to fall upon their necks for the Prophet David demands the question Shall they escape for their wickedness And he doth immediatly answer The Lord shall destroy both the blood-thirsty and deceitfull men and all these men that I have shewed being most deceitfull and very much thirsting after blood and that blood not of the basest people but of the best of men their Prophets their Preachers and their own most just and pious King it must needs pull destruction upon their heads Therefore Christ in the parable of the Vineyard saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 21.41 The Lord will miserably destroy them that is 1. Them that plotted to take away his inheritance 2. Them that consulted to take away his life 3. Them that so unjustly put him to death 4. Them that abused and wronged his servants that sought to defend his right And 5. I feare me them that might have helped to protect both their King and his servants and did not for if any where then surely here that axiome must hold good Qui non vetat peccare quum potest ipse peccat and that too-ill-applied Sentence so protect rebels assist murderers by our seducing brethren in the 5. of Judges where Debora saith Curse ye Meros curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty must needs be applied to them that had ability to defend their King and to relieve his oppressed servants and yet suffered them to be destroyed by
these murderers All these saith our Saviour shall be destroyed and so they were all of them that repented not did soon perish For 1. Judas the prime Traytor hanged himself and that without any regard of his grand Masters who when they saw his disconsolate soul and heard his confession of his foul Treason said no more but What is that to us as if they said Be hang'd or be damn'd we do not care thou shouldst have looked to that thy self 2. Pilate that unjust Judge not long after the execution of this King was disgracefully displaced and exiled his Countrey and therefore killed himself in a strange land 3. Herod died most miserably being eaten up with worms 4. Annas and Caiphas were violently killed as the Stories do report 5. The Priests and Presbyters Pharisees and Sadduces and many others that were Actors in the murdering of this King lived I believe most of them to see the famous City of Jerusalem besieged and many of them to see it destroyed and at least 1100000. of their Countrey-men slaughtered and all the rest even their Children that were unborn when they kil'd their King either Captivated by their enemies or scattered like Vagabonds over all the face of the earth And as the severall Factions and the different Sects conspired together and agreed as one man to kill their King So their divisions and differences made way for the Romans to destroy them all and which is strange by this their wicked act the very things that they feared came upon them for their great Prophet Caiphas tels them it was expedient that he should die lest the Nation perish and by the just Judgment of God their Nation must perish because they did so wickedly put their King to death And so they were resolved to kill him lest the Romans should invade their Land and change their laws and because they did kill him God sent the Romans to destroy their Country to change their laws and to make such havock of slaughtering them ut nec locus crucibus nec cruces corporibus sufficerent And ever since the murder of their King they have been hated of all Nations For Sisibut King of the Visigothes and Dagobert the 10th King of France commanded them on pain of death to depart out of their Dominions And Ferdinando and Isabella King and Queen of Castile within these seven-score years 1500. years after the murdering of their King handled them very shrewdly Camerar l. 5. c. 9. and put an infinite number of them to death And Emmanuel King of Portugal did the like So hateful are they for their regicide to all good men and so just is God in all his wayes and so exceedingly hating Rebellion against our Kings and much more the murdering of our own lawful just and pious King that the same never escapeth the severest punishment that can be imagined as I shall shew it in the next Treatise For if he who sheddeth mans blood though but a poor Beggar by man shall his blood be shed then surely he that sheds his Kings blood cannot escape the severe vengeance of God who peremptorily saith Vengeance is mine and I will revenge saith the Lord. And you know what the Apostle saith It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who is a consuming fire And therefore if any man hath persecuted Gods Servants the Preachers or conspired to take away the life of his King the Annointed of the Lord let him repent and that quickly lest God as He saith to the Church of Pergamos do quickly come unto him and fight against him with the sword of his mouth which is a two-edged sword that cuts on every side the soul with the worm of conscience and the body with most fearful plagues and punishments For if the blood of Abel which had no voice while it lived yet being dead cryed so loud here on earth that it was easily heard in heaven and it was as fearful as it was loud for it was for vengeance against his brother then questionless the innocent blood of a just King being dead yet speaketh and speaketh louder for vengeance against his Subjects than the other did against his brother which I fear without our speedy and deep repentance will be abundantly poured out upon this sinful generation for that we have so barbarously murdered our own King in such wicked manner that I never read the like in any History nor the Sun I believe did ever see the like since the devilish murder of the King of kings from which these murderers took their pattern to proceed in like manner in most particulars and herein therefore Licet parvis componere magna I thought good to parallel the practises of both sorts of murderers the Jewish and the English murderers The murdered I confess are far unlike and will admit of no comparison the difference and distance betwixt their Persons being so great as is betwixt Heaven and Earth the Creator and the creature King Charles being begotten by an earthly father as all other men are and subject to like passions as we are but Jesus Christ the King of the Jews was conceived by the Holy Ghost and free from all sin and mastering all affections And King Charles was King but of small Territories But Jesus Christ was Rex universae terrae and he was and is King of kings and Lord of lords King Charles did good but to many and hurt but few if he hurt any but the King of the Jews did good to all and wronged none and so in all other things I know how that the one is finite and the other infinite in justice wisdom Power and all other Attributes of excellencies But if we look how both these Kings were handled by their Subjects we shall find the later not much unlike the former and King Charles hated traduced mocked spightfully used and causelessely killed and murdered And all this in like manner though not in every particular in like measure by his own Subjects as Jesus Christ was by the wicked Jews As I hope I have fully and sufficiently and plainly declared unto you in this Treatise And therefore that we ought all of us to confess lament and bewail as in general all our sins so more especially this our great sin of murdering our own King and to pray to God night and day that for the merits of the death and passion of Jesus Christ the King of the Jews he would pardon and forgive us our sins committed in putting to death our own most just and gracious King Grant this O dear Father for thy dear Son Jesus Christ his sake to whom be glory c. THE SECOND TREATISE 2 Kings 9.31 Had Zimri peace that slew his Master THE Doctrine of Obedience both to God and to our lawful King and his Magistrates hath been so fully and so excellently handled by the Right reverend and most Worthy and Learned Bishop of Downes that more need not and better cannot
all think that which is evil and all speak that which they think and finally where all men do what they list in such and so unfortunate a Realme where the people are so wicked let every good man beware that he be no inhabitant for in a short time there must happen there either the ire of the gods or the fury of men to the depopulation of the good or the destruction of the bad when as nothing can betide the people in such a Kingdom but Oppressions and Taxes murmurings distractions and dissentions until the fire be kindled among them to consume and to destroy one another But if the personal shedding of the innocent blood be thus haynous and so severely punished what shall we say to National shedding of such Blood as was shed in these Kingdoms that was so infinitely more abominable than the other But as Doctor Turner when he was terrae filius in the University said to his Opponent Thinkest thou with terrible words to terrifie terrible Turner So these monsters of men that dare to kill both Kings and their Masters and then to suppresse the good and to advance the wicked to silence the wise and to magnifie fools will say these things are but shadows and bug-bears to frighten Babes and poor-spirited men that have neither the courage of Heroicks nor the knowledge of Scriptures for they can tell us well enough that although some King-killers have been punished like Zimri for slaying their Masters yet à particulari non est syllogizari we must not conclude a General Rule from particular examples for Baasha slew his King and his Master Nadab and yet he reigned 24. years and died peaceably in his bed And Jehu killed Joram his King and his Master and yet he reigned 28. years and prospered and died peaceably in his bed And Menahem slew Shallum his King and reigned 10. years and died peaceably in his bed and so did many more that are recorded in prophane Authors and the ambitious hunters after Kingdoms perswade themselves that they may speed with the best and not perish with the worst fortune And so likewise those Common-wealths and Kingdoms that have killed their Kings which they conceived to be wicked In the third speech at the Conference of Parliament pag. 15. Eutrop. l. 1. did not only escape free from punishment but were prosperous and had good successe and were the instruments of much good unto the people As it fared with the Senate of Rome which as Halicar l. 1. saith killed and cut in pieces their King Romulus and afterwards expelled Tarquin and judicially sentenced Nâ—ro to death as some do write and is the onely sentence for death that I have read in any history though for deprivation not so which sentence notwithstanding was never executed yet was it decreed and as those and the like Senators do alleadge the Common-wealth prospered after it I answer that una hirundo non facit ver and though Balaams asse once spake shall we think that all other asses shall be able to speak So one or two examples in particular are of no force in the generall but the truth is that Gâ—ds judgements are unsearchable his wayes are in the Seas his paths in the great waters and his footsteps are not known yet this we may know for certain that although a sinner do evill an hundred times and God prolong his dayes yet it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his dayes but be shall be like a shadow because he feareth not before God and so the Prophet David testifieth at large and Job did the like before him And we may know also that although Jehu and some others that had speciall Commissions from God to fulfill his will prospered and escaped the hand of judgement for their zeal to Gods service and their repentance for their transgression Psal 37.9.10 yet is it a most certam truth that murderers King-killers and all other like wicked malefactors shall never escape unpunished and yet God doth not alwayes punish them in like manner Either in respect 1. Of the time or Either in respect 2. Of the punishment or Either in respect 3. Of the persons for 1. In respect of the time he reserveth the punishment of some though they be never so wicked for the next life and suffereth them to prosper all their dayes in this world as he did the rich glutton what evill soever he did and this both holy Job and the good King David do sufficiently prove and examples enough might be produced of most wicked tyrants and murderers and the like malefactors that escaped the hand of God in this life but how they escaped the next I cannot tell themselves by this time know and this future punishment is the heaviest punishment in the world and the prosperity of such malefactors is the worst and the unhappiest prosperity that can be Others he punisheth in this life and yet those not all alike in respect of the time of their punishment but some presently as Achan Cosbi Corah Dathan and Abiram Nadah and Abihu Ananias and Saphira and the like others have some time given them to see if in that time they will confesse their sinnes repent them of their wickednesse amend their lives and make satisfaction to the parties wronged Zimri 7. dayes so Zimri had 7. days given him before he was punished Shallum that slew Zacharia had one month given him Otho that caused Galba to be slain had leave to reign four months before he suffered for his murder Otho 4. months Vitel. 8. mon. Phil. Arabs 5. years Decius 2. years Niceph. l. 18. c 58. Phocas 8. years 2 Kings 15. Peka 20. years and Vitellius that was the destruction of Otho had 8 months before Vespasian brought him to death Philip Arabs that slew young Gordian had 5. years given him before Decius revenged the death of Gordian and Decius that was the death of Philip raigned 2. yeares before he was punished for the death of Philip Phocas had 8. years after he killed his Master Mauricius before he had his punishment and Peka raigned 2. years after he killed Pekahiah before Hoshea revenged the death of Pekahiah so the Prophet tells the Nintvites they should have 40. days before they should be destroyed the children of Israel 40. years in the wilderness and Jerusalem was not destroyed in 40 years after they had crucified Christ the Son bearing with them just so long as his Father bore with them in the wilderness the old world had 120 yeares given them to repent before they were destroyed and the wickednesse of the Amorites remained well-nigh 400. years before it was revenged having continued from the wandring of the Israelites in the wildernesse even till the dayes of King Saul And therefore let no man wonder that we see not adulteries oppressions and murders presently punished neither should we think that because
rebellion and disobedience of the people as here because Zedechia was not suffered by these stubborn and disobedient people to follow the advice of this our Prophet therefore they were all delivered into seventy years Captivity And as the Lord is extream angry with those rebellious people that disobey and labour to displace the Kings and Governours that he sets over them So he sheweth abundance of his love and kindnesse to them that submit themselves to his ordinance and behave themselves dutifully and loyally towards those Kings whatsoever they be that God placeth over them as you may see it in the whole course and Story of King David and Saul for as he was the most dutiful and most faithful subject that ever we read of so God was pleased to raise him to be the best King that ever reigned over Israel for his King and his Governour was Saul the very first of that Order among the Jews and he was an hypocrite a persecutor a murderer a tyrant and a mad man yet when David whose life he thirsted after had him at his mercy and could as easily have taken off his head as to cut off the lap of his garment he said The Lord forbid 1 Sam. 24.6 that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords Annointed to stretch forth my hand against him and his heart smote him because he had cut off his skirt And when he had him again in the like trap he said unto Abner Art not thou a valiant man and who is like thee in Israel wherefore then hast thou not kept thy Lord the King this thing is not good that thou hast done As the Lord liveth you are worthy to die because you have not kept your Master the Lords Annointed and his oath As the Lord liveth sheweth 1 Sam. 26.16 that he spake it in good earnest and jested not And if they be worthy to die that defend not and protect not such a wicked King especially in going about so vile an action as the murdering of so good a man and so dutiful a subject as David was then what shall become of them and what are they worthy of that murmur and grudge and plot against the life of such a â—ood King as maintained peace and jâ—stice amongst his people and offered no special injury to any particular man of us all Surely if I had the wisdom of Solomon and the eloquence of Demosthenes I were not able to expresse the odiousnesse of their sin that conspired against the person and proceedings of such a King as is inoffensive before God and all good men But to go on to shew unto you how faithful this good subject was to this bad King when the young man that was an Amalekite and none of Saul or Davids subjects came of his own accord to bring tidings unto David of Sauls death and of the good service that he thought he had done unto Saul at his own request to put him out of his pain David presently caused him to be put to death 2 Sam. 1.15 because he durst presume to offer any violence though that violence seemed to be a favour unto the Ruler of the people whom we are straightly forbidden to revile Exod. 22.28 or to speak evil of him So dutiful and so loyal a subject was David to so evil a Governour and so wicked a King as Saul And this his loyalty and fidelity unto Saul was one of the chiefest vertues that we find commendable in him before God had according to his fidelity to his King raised him to the Rule and Government of his people And I wish that all and every one of us would strive and study to imitate this good man in our obedience fidelity and loyalty to our King and Governours that God hath placed over us But here it may be some troubled and discontented spirit will say I could willingly yield all due respect and obedience unto our Kings and Governours could I be satisfied that God appointed them to be the Kings and Governours of his people Jeremy 23.21 but as the Lord saith of the false Prophets They run and I sent them not So he saith They have set up Kings but not by me Hosea 8.4 and they have made Princes and I knew it not And should we be obedient and faithful to such Kings and Governours that ambitiously set up themselves and are not righteously set up by God To these men that stumble at this block I answer 1. That the Prophet speaketh there as I shewed to you before not of any Soveraign Monarch but of the Aristocratical government of many men that will all be as Kings and Princes ruling and domineering over the people for so you see the Prophet speakes in the plural number of many Kings that in all the whole Scripture you shall never find to be either appointed or approved by God to be the Governours of his people for indeed those many Kings and Governours of equal authâ—rity are none of Gods Governours neither are they set up by God nor as I find approved by God in any place of all the Scripture But as God is One and the only Monarch of all the World so he ever appoints one Monarch only to be his Deputy to govern the people or nation that he committeth under his charge 2. I say that this Monarch and Governour whom God raiseth to govern his people attaineth unto his Throne and right of Government even by the ordination of God divers wayes as 1. Sometimes by Birth which is the most usual best and surest way and most agreeable to Gods will 2. Sometimes by Choice and the election of the people as Herodotus saith the Medes chose Deioces to be their King and the Princes of Germany now chuse their Emperour and they commonly chuse him that is by Birth the eldest son of the deceased King 3. Sometimes by the power of the Sword as God gave the Monarchy of the Medes unto Cyrus and the Kingdom of Darius and of many others unto Alexander and the Empire of the Romans unto Augustus and many other Kingdoms unto others that had no other right unto their Dominions but what they purchased with the edge of their Sword Which right though it be nothing else but Vsurpation and Intrusion in these ambitious hunters after rule and dominion yet notwithstanding it must needs be a very good right as the same cometh from the just God who is the God of war and giveth the victory unto Kings when as the Poet saith Victrix causa diis placuit And he having the right and power Paramount to translate the rule and transferre the dominion of his people to whom he will he hath oftentimes for their sins thrown down the mighty from their seat and translated the government of his people unto others whom some waies he thought fitter to effect his Divine will as he did give the Kingdom of Saul unto David and of Belshazzers unto Cyrus and
sin autem tardaveris omnis gratia vana sit neque dicatur gratia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The swiftest graces or the favours soonest done are the sweetest and the slow grace loseth all grace and deserveth small thanks being like unto him saith Seneca that giveth not his bread to the poor untill it be mouldie and mustie scarce worth the taking up but he deserveth most thanks that doth good unto his neighbour with most speed Quia bis dat qui citò dat because he doubleth his favour that hasteneth to do it and therefore That the good we do we should speedily do it as our Saviour saith to Judas Quod facis fac citò What thou dost do quickly so say I to every man Either do good and help thy neighbour quickly or deny him quickly and keep him not in suspence which is far worse then the deniall because as Solomon saith spes quae defertur affligit animam the hope that is deferred afflicteth the soul and as the Poet saith Morsque minus poenae quà m mora mortis habet The expectation of a delayed death hath been worse to some then death it self so the lingring and long-looking after any good is more tedious to many men then the absolute denial of that good And so I read it in the French History that when a certain Petitioner besought the King of France for some Office that he desired in requital of some service that he had done unto the King and the King told him He should not have it A pretty story of one of the Kings of France he fell down upon his knees and said I do most humbly and heartily thank your Majesty for this favour the King replyed thou mistakest me for I tell thee Thou shalt not have it yes said the Petitioner I do so understand your Majesty and therefore I do thank you that you have so soon dispatched me and not done as one of your Lords did to delay me a whole twelve months in hope of a place and then put me off with a sleevelesse excuse then the King like a King seeing him so thankefull for his deniall did freely grant him his request And so if you intend to do any help to any one remember what the Poet saith Tolle moras semper nocuit differre paratis Lucan in Pharsal l. 1. Delay not your favour but speedily help him because your delayes destroyes your good and makes it not half so good and sometimes no good at all unto the receiver but is as the physick that is administred to the patient that is past recovery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if you would approve your selves to God then as the Apostle saith to do good Heb. 13.16 and to communicate or to distribute unto the poor as Tremelius Translates it forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased and if we do not this then as Lactantius saith Non meremur in periculo liberari si non succurrimus nec meremur auxilium si negamus auxilium we deserve not to have our selves freed from dangers if we do not our best to help and free them that are in dangers neither do we deserve to be relieved in our wants if we aide not and relieve those that are in want and in need to be relieved And if we had helped our King when men rose up against him we had freed both him and our selves from many miseries And therefore that God may be mercifull unto us when we are in dangers and help us when we are in want we ought to yeeld our best assistance to deliver them that are in dangers and to do good and to help all those men that are in want as holy Job professeth that he did saying I delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless and him that had none to to help him Job 29 12. 17. Chap. 31.17 20. and I brake the jaws of the wicked and pluckt the spoile out of his teeth and then he sheweth how he did not eat his morsels himself alone but the fatherless did eat with him and the loynes of the poor were covered with his cloathing and warmed with the fleeces of his sheep And so should we do hinder the oppressor to wrong the poor and stop the violent proceeding of the wicked and then according to our ability cloath the naked feed the hungry and visit those that are sick and in prison But Ob. if you say Such and such men are most wicked and did such and such villanies as to kill my children rob my friends and rebell against their King c. And therefore they deserve rather to be suffered to perish for their iniquities than to be relieved in their necessities To this we answer Sol. as Christ teacheth us that if God should so deal with us as we deserve we should all be soon undone because we have continually provoked him to wrath and our sins are more in number then the sands of the sea and heavier in weight than we are able to bear and yet God is so good and so gracious towards us Math. 5.45 that he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Even so if we will be the children of our Father which is in heaven we must not only love our friends honor the wealthy do good unto our brethren and relieve those that are godly but we must honor all men love our enemies bless them that curse us do good to them that hate us pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us and relieve them which perhaps have robbed us for herein we are not to consider their wickedness but their wants By relieving the poor we benefit our selves more then the poor and so do our best to relieve their misery and not to uphold their mischief and by such courteous and tender-hearted carriage towards these evil men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the godly men do gratify and do good unto themselves as we may interpret the words of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that indeed we pleasure not these-poor so much by our giving Eph. 4.32 as we do benefit our selves by their receiving of what we give them And therefore we are to do good unto all men and to the wicked though they be never so wicked that we deprive not our selves of that good which for relieving them we shall receive from God Quia manus pauperis est gazophylacium Christi Qui attendit ad attenuatum faith Tremelius the hand of the poor is the treasure-house of Christ and whatsoever we give unto the poor we lend unto the Lord and we shall receive it again in the time of need and the Prophet David saith Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy Qui prospioit oppresso saith the vulgar Translation blessed is he that looketh to the oppressed The second branch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
sed hoc solo contentus quia praecipitur he that is truly obedient to him whom God commanded us to obey never regardeth what it is that is commanded so it be not simply and apertly evill but he considereth and is therewith satisfied that it is commanded and therefore doth it because as S Aug. saith The command of the Superiour is a sufficient excuse for the inferiour Mandatum imperantis tollit peccatum obedientis i.e. in all things not apparantly forbidden And therefore as Julians Christian-Souldiers would not sacrifice unto the Idols which was an apparent evil at his command Sed timendo potestatem contemnebant potestatem but in fearing the power of God regarded not the wrath of man yet when he led them against his enemies they never questioned who they were that they went against nor examined the cause of his war but they went freely with him Et subditi erant propter Dominum aeternum etiam Domino temporali and in all such civill commands they obeyed this wicked King for his sake that was the King of kings and it may be fought against their own brethren So did the Jews that followed Saul against David and yet we never read that ever they were blamed for it And so should we do the like if we would do what God commandeth us For it is not in the subject's choice against whom he will fight but he must be obedient to his King if he will be obedient unto God for so the Lord saith I have made the earth the man and the beast Jerem. 27.5 6. that are upon the ground by my great power therefore certainly none should deny his Right to dispose of it and now I have given all these Lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my servant and yet he was both a Heathen and Idolater and a mighty Tyrant and all nations shall serve him and his son and his sons son and it shall come to passe that the nation and Kingdom which will not serve the same Nâ—buchadnezzar the King of Babylon and that will not put their necks under the oke of the King of Babylon that nation will I punish saith the Lord with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence until I have consumed them by his hands Therefore hearken not ye unto your Prophets nor to your Divines which speak unto you saying Ye shall not serve the King of Babylon for they prophesie a lye unto you which he repeateth again and again they prophesie a lye unto you that you should perish Which very words I may take up against the Rebels of England Ireland and Scotland God gave these Kingdoms unto King Charles and they cannot deny this nor deny him to be a good man and a most religious King and He hath commanded us to obey him and they that will not serve him he will destroy them by his hand Therefore believe not your false Teachers whether they be the Priests and Jesuits of Ireland or the Brownists and Anabaptists of England for God hath not sent them though they multiply their lyes in his name because God hath so straightly commanded us to obey our King in all civil causes and in all things wherein he giveth not a special charge to do the contrary And therefore that which is most worthy to be observed though God himself for the sin of Solomon declared by his Prophet that he had decreed to cut off ten parts of the Kingdom from Rehoboam yet because the people revolted not to satisfie Gods justiâ—e for the sins of Solomon but out of their own discontents that he would not ease them of their burdens for this revolt from a foolish and an oppressing Prince they are termed Rebels 1 Kings 12.19 and as the Thief to prevent his discovery will commit murder scelus scelere regitur and one great mischief will shelter it self under a greater so their Rebellion corrupted their Religion and made them fall away from God to worship Idols as they had done from their King to serve a Traytor which soon brought them to confusion Because this revolt as it proceeded from them was most abominable unto God And therefore though they were not reduced to Rehoboam because that may pretend some cause as oppression yet this after a plenary disquisition can admit of none excuse and therefore being abominable above measure it cannot expect the least favour from God but they were most severely punished by God because they transgressed his will by thus rebelling against their King contrary to his Commandment 2. The other Caution is That if the King commandeth what the Lord forbiddeth or the contrary then I may disobey but I must not resist for this is the will of God that where my active obedience cannot take place my passive obedience must supply it And though our Kings were as Idolatrous as Manasses as Tyrannical as Nero as wicked as Ahab and as prophane as Julian yet we may not resist we must not Rebel which would overthrow the very order of nature Arnis de autâ—rit princ c. 3. pag. 68. as Arnisaeus proveth by many examples and takes away the glory of martyrdom and makes all the Precepts of the Gospel of none effect And therefore when the Christians in Tertullians time were more in number and of greater strength than their enemies yet being compelled to Idolatry they rather suffered any persecution than admitted of any Rebellion against the most wicked of their persecutors And Juâ—tinian faith Q is est tantae authoritatis ut nolentem principem possit coarctare Who hath so much power as to restrain an unwilling Prince And yet it is very strange to consider what new Divinity hath been taught ex cathedra pestilentiae out of the chair of our new Assembly to raise Rebellion against our King and that which is worse than Rebellion to refuse the grace of Remission The Scribes and Pharisees were most wicked hypocrites and they sate in Moses chair but they never durst teach such tenets as now are published and practised in these Kingdoms And therefore our Saviour saith Math. 23.3 All that they bid you observe that observe and do Indeed there were some Hereticks among them that in the dayes of Theudas and Judas Galilaeus taught That the Jews were not to pray for the life of the Emperour because he was but extraneous an Vsurper and none of their lawful Kings for which errour Pilate mingled their blood with their sacrifice but these never durst avouch they should not pray for their own lawful King much lesse that they might rebel and take up arms against him Joseph Antiq. though he were never so wicked For they knew that the holiest men that ever were among the Hebrews called Essaei or Esseni that is the true Practisers of the Law of God maintained that Soveraign Princes whatsoever they were ought to be inviolable to their subjects as they were in most places among the most
her will No force can prevail against the will and actual sins have so much dependency upon the hearts approbation as that the same alone can either vitiate or excuse the action and no outward force hath any power over mine inward mind unless my self do give it him as all the power of the Kingdome cannot force my heart to hate my King or to love his enemies they may tear this poor body all to pieces but they can never force the mind to do but what it will And yet such is the deceit of our own flesh that if the devil should be absent from us our own frailties would be his tempting deputies and when we have none other foe we will become the greatest foes unto our selves as Apollodorus the Tyrant dreamd that he was flead by the Scythians and that his heart thrown into a boyling caldron should say unto him That it was the cause of all his miseries and so every man that is undone hath indeed undone himself for Perditio tua exte thy destruction is from thy self saith the Prophet yea the very best men Hos 13.9 by whomsoever wronged yet wrong themselves as now it is with our gracious King for as Valentine the Emperour when he cut off his best Commander and demanding of his best Counselour what he thought of it had this answer given him That he had cut off his own right arm with his left hand so when the good King seduced and over-perswaded gave way though against his will to make an Everlasting Parliament he then gave away the Sword out his own hand So I could tell you of a very good man that is brought to very great exigency by parting with his owne strength and giving his sword out of his own hand and when he excluded the Bishops out of the House of Peers he parted with so much of his own strength and brought himself thereby to be weaker then he was before and so it will be with every one of us and it may be in a higher misprision then with our King if we look not well unto our selves and take heed lest in seeking to preserve our bodies we destroy our own souls or to save our estates we make shipwrack of our faith or especially to uphold an earthly Rule or Kingdome we expose to ruine the spiritual Kingdome of Christ which is the Church of God as you know how the Parliament do it at this day And therefore the Spaniards prayer is very good Dios mi guarda mi de mi O my God defend me from my self that I do not destroy my self and Saint Augustine upon the words of the Psalmist Deliver me from the wicked man demanding who was that wicked man Answ it was a seipso and so the wisest Philosophers have given us many Precepts to beware of our selves And he that can do so Latius regnat avidum domando Spiritum Horatius quam si lybiam remotis Gadibus jungat uterque paenus Serviat uni doth more and ruleth better then he that reigneth from the Southern Lybia to the Northern Pole so hard it is for man under all the cope of Heaven to find any one that truly loves him But God is Verax veritas true and the truth it self and as Hugo saith Veritas est sine fallacia faelicitas sine miseria he is Truth without Deceit that neither can deceive not be deceived and as this our Apostle saith God is love and the Fountain of all true love and he is sweet he is wise and he is strong 1 John 4.8 How God loveth us and how sweet and gracious his love is therefore S. Bern. saith that he loveth sweetly wisely and strongly Dulciter quia carnem induit sapienter quia culpam cavit fortiter quia mortem sustinuit sweetly because he was made man to have a fellow-feeling of our miseries wisely because he did avoid sin that he might be able to help us and strongly because his love was as strong as death when rather then he would lessen his love unto us he would lose his life for us And therefore of all that pretend to love us God alone is the onely pure and truly perfect lover 2. For the affection it is love for God loved us and love 2 The affection Love comprehendeth three things as it is in the creatures is a passion better perceived by the lover then it can be expressed by any other and it comprehendeth three things 1. A liking to the thing beloved 2. A desire to enjoy it And 3. A contentment in it as when the Father saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as others think of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to be fully and perfectly satisfied in the thing loved as Phavorinus testifieth And so though the affection of love is not the same in God as it is in us because he is a Spirit most simple without passion and we are often-times transported and swallowed up of this affection yet in the love of God we finde these three things most perfectly contained 3 Things contained in the love of God 1. An Eternal benevolence or purpose to do good unto his creatures 2. An Actual beneficence and performance of that good unto them 3. A Delightful complacency or contented delight in the things beloved as the Lord loveth him that followeth after righteousness that is he taketh delight and pleasure in all righteous livers and as he hateth the ungodly so he loveth the righteous and taketh delight in them and in their just and righteous dealing But because love is an inward affection that can hardly be discerned without some outward demonstration of the same and that as S. Gregory saith Probatio dilectionis exhibitio est operis the trial of our love is seen by our actions which testifie our love far better then our words How God imanifesteth his love many wayes when we see too too many that profess to love us when they labour to destroy us as the rebels pray for the King when they fight against him so finely can the Devil deceive us therefore God manifested his love by many manifold arguments As 1. Way 1 By screating things of nothing and making them so perfectly good that when himself had considered them all he saw that they were all exceeding good 2. Way 2 By preserving all things that they return not to nothing Quia fundavit Deus mundum supranihilum ut mundus fundaret se supra Deum because God laid the foundations of the world upon nothing that the world might wholly rely upon God who is the basis that beareth up all things with his mighty word and more particularly in preserving not onely the righteous but even the wicked also from many evils both of Sin and Punishment for did not God withhold and restrain the very reprobates even
and other places round about and that only for Religion and not for worldly Dominion which is the suffering of the Christians under the Turk that permitteth any profession so they yield themselves to his subjection He must ingenuously confess this truth of Isidorus that the greatest of all Persecutions is that which is prosecuted by the Ministry of Antichrist that now raigneth in the world But if you would desire to know who is this Antichrist that now reigneth and thus rageth in the world I answer VVho is the Great Antichrist divers opinions That although many good Arguments are produced to prove the Great Turk to be that Great Antichrist and Constantinople to be that Babylon which is the Throne of that bloudy beast and as many good Arguments are alleadged by Powel Whitaker Downham Thompson and others of our Protestant Writers to prove that series paparum from Boniface in Phocas time to this present Pope is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoken of by St. Paul 2 Thes 3. and that Rome is his proper seat and so called Babylm by St. Peter Yet divers others of no small Learning do avouch That as Ecclesia credentium corpus cum capite the whole Catholick Church of Christ head and members is said to be and is so termed unus Christus one Christ as in Joh. 3.13 And Christ saith unto Saul Why persecutest thou me when he persecuted his Church So Ecclesia malignantium the Congregation of the wicked or especially Senatus consultus the great Sanedrim of the people the supream Counsel A pack of wicked men is termed the Antichrist and the highest Court of any Nation which is the representative mystical body of that dispersed and nefarious Synagogue is oftentimes for their unanimous consent in all wickedness spoken of quasi unus homo as if they were but one man because they all have but one head one will and one end to destroy the truth and the true Church of Christ And this supream stool of wickedness that establisheth mischief by a Law 2 Thes 3.8 doth now appear to many men to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That man of sin and the child of perdition whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming because they say First There is neither Note Argument Saying nor Testimony of holy Scripture that doth competere antichristo and is sutable unto Antichrist but it is most properly found to agree with that Cumulus Senatorum the representative Council of all wickedness As 1. They have seated themselves in a mystical Babylon the Amsterdam of all confusion where you may easily find almost all Heresies maintained that have been invented and any Religion used but the true Religion that dares not be professed 2. They do sit in the Temple of God as God that is they do possess the truest Church of God that we know to be on earth and as God they establish Worship and Religion and ordain Laws for the Government of that Church and root out that Worship and Government which God himself hath ordained 3. They exalt themselves above all that is called God i.e. Above Kings This point of the Great Antichrist is fully and at large handled in my Book of The Great Antichrist revealed of whom the Scripture most properly saith Dixi Dii estis I said you are Gods because they are in Gods stead and do exercise Gods Power here on Earth and yet this grand Council of the Great Synagogue would not only be worshipped themselves as Kings but will suppress Kings deny any service to be done to them and suffer none to do them Worship which is properly to exalt themselves above Kings when they keep Kings so low 4. When by their false assembled Prophets they deny the Notions whereby we understand the Father and the Son to be the true God as they plainly do by the cashiering of the words Essence Person Trinity and the like words which the Church of God penes quam norma loquendi hath ever used to bring her Children thereby to some sure knowledge of that great mystery of godliness and to inable them to confute those wicked Hereticks that denied the same they do manifest themselves to be that Antichrist who as St. John saith denieth the Father and the Son 1 Joh. 2.22 which neither Turk nor Pope as yet ever did 5. The unfolding of that great mystery of the Beast Aug de Civitat Dei l. 20. c. 9. 14. which Beast St. Augustine understandeth of the Society of wicked Christians and the City of Satan that is signified by that Beast and the mystery which the Holy Ghost setteth down to be observed as the most proper Note of the Beast is that it containeth 666. touching which if you omit one thousand which is a full and perfect number and which is not an unusual thing in the Scripture to do to make the other the more mystery and consider that in 646. this great Sanedrim or superlative Council demanded the Militia or soveraign rule over the King for twenty years which being added to 646 do make up the just number of 666. This they say is a strong Argument to prove the grand Council to be that Great Beast 6. And lastly The unspeakable unparalelled persecution of this Antichrist above all the persecutions that preceded it either of Pope Turke or heathen Tyrants do plainly prove them to the judgment of some men to be the greatest Antichrist that as yet is revealed unto the world though some think that a greater may yet come before Christ does come to judgment which I do not believe But though I say as St. Augustine doth in the like case Alii atque alii aliud atque aliud opinati sunt Divers men have divers opinions about the time place and person of Antichrist which neither my Text nor my time will give me leave either to discuss or to disprove any of the same now Yet thus much I dare boldly say that letting pass the persecutions of the Preachers not to be paralelled in any History if you consider first the number of them all the Reverend Bishops all the Deans all Prebends and all the best Divines in the whole Kingdom And 2. the misery that is imposed upon them worse than death Quia dulce mori miseris To be spoyled of all their means banished from all their friends wife children and Parents and exposed to all wants and contempts so that neither Nero Domitian Dioclesian nor Julian brought such a storm upon the Church of Christ as is now brought upon the body of the whole Clergy within these five years and omitting the many thousands of good Christians No Historian can shew me any king that hath suffered more indignities at any â—nchristian hand than King Charls hath suffered from the Long Parliament that for their Religion and good conscience have lost their lives livings and liberties I say letting
of death for the King then to be perswaded for what pretense of good soever and by whomsoever were it an Angel out of Heaven to consent unto his death is to become guilty of a great fault and to say that he was perswaded thereunto by the Bishops whose fault was therefore greater then his Majestie 's can no more excuse him then for the man of God to say that he was seduced by the old Prophet And therefore this might be a just cause with God to suffer him that to satisfie sinful men would offend his good God by giving way to them to take away the life of an innocent man to have his own life taken from him even by those men to whom he had yielded to take away the life of another man which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conformity of our punishment to our offence and is nothing else but lex talionis an eye for an eye a tooth for tooth and death for death which was the first Law that God published after the Deluge saying Whosoever sheddeth man's blood that is either per se as Cain did Abel or per alium as David did Vriah's and Ahab Naboth by Act or it may be by consent by man shall his blood be shed Secondly touching the Bishops my self knoweth that he loved them all and honoured their Calling very much being fully satisfied of the truth of their Divine and Apostolical Institution as appeareth by that learned and exquisite defence that himself most graciously made against the Presbyterians of the Episcopal Order and he was indeed a right Constantine to all the Bishops rather hiding their infirmities if he spyed any fault in them with the Lap of his Garment then any ways multiplying or publishing the same unto the People And this was a most Christian course in him for I may justly say Victima sacra Deo res est succurrere Cleris And as our Saviour saith of them He that receiveth you receiveth me And the Bishops of all other his Subjects were his most loyal Servants and most faithful Oratours never thwarting their King nor crossing any of his just Designs but ever cleaving unto his Cause and voting on his side so far as truth and right and a good Conscience would give them leave contrary to which his Majesty never desired any thing And therefore when the King saw the malice of most wicked men qui oderunt eos gratis and did bear an intestine hatred against these true Servants of God and did strive manibus pedibúsque with all their might against all justice to thrust them out of their undoubted Right by the favour we confess of our most pious Princes for him as we conceive against his own mind and to his own prejudice to please and satisfie the implacable hatred of his and their enemies to pass an Act to exclude the Bishops out of his Great Council the Parliament when above thirty Acts of Parliament had confirmed their right Interest therein since the confirmation of Magna Charta was an errour as I conceive not salvable and a fault that cannot be justly excused by his best Friends and therefore God might justly suffer all his Counsels to fail and his Counsellours to become perfidi familiares his familiar Traytours such as the Poet speaks of Saepe sub agnina latet hirtus pelle Lycaon Subque Catone pio perfidus ille Nero. And though I do not nor dare not say it was so yet I may say that for this God might so give way to his Enemies to prevail against him and to thrust him out of his Kingdom when he gave way to thrust his Embassadours out of his house which is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and even as Solomon divided God's Service betwixt God and the Idols of Zidon Moab and Ammon 1 Reg. 11. c. 12. so God divided his Kingdom betwixt his Son Rehoboam and his Servant Jeroboam so might he deal with King Charles when he yielded to expel the Bishops that were his true Friends and God's Servants out of his Council to suffer his Enemies to exclude him out of his Kingdom and not unjustly or without cause neither as the same proceeds from God whose ways are always just for who could better declare the right and truth of things unto the King then the Expounders of the Book of Truth Who could advise and direct him to make better and juster Laws then the Teachers of the Law of God and who fitter to judge of right and to require Justice to be enjoyned and practised by all People then they whose Calling is continually to call upon all men to live godly and soberly and justly in this present World Why then should they be excluded from the Seat of Justice either in the making of Laws or to see those Laws executed unless it were that the Lay-Justices might do what they would without shame and what they pleased without controul when as heretofore the reverend Presence of the Bishops and grave Divines and their sage Counsel did oftentimes stop the Current of Injustice and made some ashamed of some gross dealings that in their absence they were not ashamed to have effected and therefore I suppose I may justly say that as it was said of the Emperour Justinian when he caused Aetius his brave General to be cut off he had cut off his right Arm with his left Hand so did King Charles when he pâ—ssed that Act that prejudiced himself more then the Bishops Thirdly touching the Parliament we must understand that Parliaments were first instiâ—uted by the Kings of this Nation to inform them of the Abuses Dangers and Defects which the Lords and Peers and the wiser sort of their Subjects which each Countrey had elected and the chief Cities had chosen for that purpose had observed and to advise and consult with their King de arduis rebus Regni of these and all other difficult and great Affairs of the Kingdom as the Writs that call them together do declare and then to consider by what good means the Dangers of the Kingdom might be prevented by what Laws ' the abuses might be redressed and which ways the peace of the People might be preserved and the happiness of all his Subjects continued and enlarged and if they understood of any sorreign dangers invasions or injuries to consult how the same might be prevented and rectified And when the King understood what his Lords and Commons conceived fitting to be done He with the Advice of His Council ratified what he approved and rejected what he disliked with the usual phrase in that kind But in process of time the Parliament-men as I heard wise men say began to incroach more and more upon the Rights of Majesty upon the Power and Authority of the King especially of those Kings that either had no Right or at the best but doubtful Titles unto the Crown or those that were of less Abilities or of an easie and facile disposition and would soon be perswaded
as Justin saith it did in Semiramis Cicero pro Cor. or if not yet as Cicero saith Cùm mors extinxit invidiamres gestae sempiterna nominis gloria nituntur when death slayeth envy the virtuous Acts of good men will shine to the eternal praise and glory of their good name for as the Rain or Dew will not stick upon a Sea-gulls back so the reproaches and imputations of the malicious cannot prejudice the honour and good name of the godly quia ut malam conscientiam laudantis praeconium non sanat ita bonam non vulnerat convitium because that as no praise nor flattery can heal a bad Conscience nor make a wicked man good so no slander nor dispraise can wound a good Conscience or make a good man wicked nor diminish any of his deserved honour but as Christ Laudatur ab his ut culpatur ab illis though he be blasphemed of the Jews yet is he truly honoured of all Christians and all Saints in all Nations that do him service and sing with St. Ambrose Thou art the King of glory O Christ thou art the everlasting Son of the Father that sitteth on the right hand of God in the glory of the Father so our late good King Charles notwithstanding that false In the Royal Exchange and infamous Inscription set up where his Picture and Statue stood and notwithstanding all that the venomous mouths of malice can vomit out against him which shall vanish like the Summer's Snow or the grass upon the House-top that withereth before it be plucked up shall have his virtues his goodness and his godliness Chronicled fama perennis erit and so long as we shall be able to speak or write we shall leave it recorded as in Marble to the eternal honour of this good King and the everlasting shame of his malicious enemies both which Nec ira nec ignis Nec poterit abolere vetustas Thirdly In his Posterity For his Posterity God said not of him as he did of Coniah Write this man childless but he gave him a numerous and a glorious off-spring and as Moses saith of the first Fathers and replenishers of the World He begat Sons and Daughters and he needed not to say of them as Clytemnestra said of her Children Ista Clytemnestra digna quevela foret For when my Nuts are ripe and brown My leaves boughs are beaten down Certè ego si nunquam peperissem tutior essem Nor with the Nut-tree In felix fructus in mea damna fero But the world seeth he was most happy in them all in whom he still liveth and shall live though his enemies studied their death manibus pedibusqúe laborârunt and have used all machinations and all plots and devices that either subtlety or cruelty could invent to cut them off but God preserved them and his Providence watched over them and especially his eldest Son after a strange and almost miraculous manner from the last Fight at Worcester where through the cowardize of some the over-sight of others and as they say the treachery of some chief Commanders in his own Army and by the prudent Carriage of a brave and valiant General to give the Devil his right as the Proverb goeth such as this Age will scarce equal he had been taken or swallowed had not he that dwelleth in the Heavens most graciously preserved him in a manner as he preserved Daniel from the Lions mouths and sent his Angel as he did to Tobias to direct him in his Journey and to carry him safe through Sea and Land which is wonderful in our eyes and doth sufficiently presage that God hath kept him for some great work that in his divine wisdom he intendeth to effect by him as now we see the same begun to his great honour and our unspeakable comfort And as God hath thus mercifully preserved his Eldest Son so he hath made his second and his third Son the Duke of York and the Duke of Gloucester famous for their excellent parts and Heroical Exploits like their Brother and Ascanius-like followers of their Father's Vertues passibus aequis Neither may I here omit that Virtuous and Heroick Lady the Princess of Orange that with her Brothers and as her Brothers will perpetuate the blessed memory of that blessed King for ever who is herein not like King Henry the 8th that notwithstanding his six Wives besides all his Concubines hath not a branch of his Body that we know of remaining under the Cope of Heaven nor like Ahab and other Tyrants and wicked men whose seed for their sins God rooteth out but as God hath promised and since performed unto Abraham that his Seed should be as the Stars of Heaven for number that is innumerable and hath likewise promised to all the faithful Children of Abraham that their Generation should be blessed so he hath done it and no doubt but he will perform it to this good King to muliply his seed and to bless them for ever even as the Prophet Esay saith of all God's people Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the People all that see them shall acknowledg them that they are the seed Esay lxi 9. So shall the seed of King Charles be which the Lord hath blessed Fourthly The Prophet saith the age of man is but seventy years and Pindarus saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 umbrae somnium homo man is but the shadow of a man a thing of nothing Sicque in non hominem vertitur omnis homo In his eternal selicity Man's life is but a shadow that soon vanisheth and Job saith he hath but a short time to live and that short time is full of misery interminabilis labor even an endless toyl like the tumbling of a Sysiphus stone or the filling of the fatal Tunn by King Danaus daughters where the water run out as fast as they poured it in or as the Poet saith most truly Passibus ambiguis fortuna volubilis errat Et manet in nullo certa tenáxque loco Sed modò laeta manet vultus modò sumit acerbos Et tantum constans in levitate sua est And when the affairs of this world are best and our happiness at the highest then as the very Heathens have observed they presently decline and begin to turn like the Cart wheel Res humanae in summo declinant Which warneth all on Fortune's wheel that clime To bear in minde that they have but a time And such was the time of King Charles of whom I cannot say with him that wrote A short view of the long life and reign of Henry the third A dainty piece of story presented to King James Es liii 8. but I must say the short life and reign and long troubles of Charles the First for as the Prophet saith of Christ non dimidiavit dies suos he hath not lived out half his daies being cut off è terra viventium from the land of the living at a few moneths
Punishment which should be a warning to all Transgressors to fear the Vengeance of Allmighty God Thirdly The Lord Brooks The next Member of the Long Parliament that I shall set down in my Catalogue of disloyal Subjects is the Lord Brooks a man whose former life and Conversation which I knew by his own penitent Epistles and Letters that from beyond the Seas he wrote to his Unckle Sir Fulk Grevil afterwards Lord Brooks who shewed them unto me was very loose and dissolute and how in a short time by some strange Conversion far unlike Saint Paul's he passed from one extream to another Four remarkable things concerning the Lord Brooks from a very dissolute Youth to a most resolute Saint I know not but out of many remarkable things written of him immediately after his death I shall onely set down here these few particulars First That as in his former looseness he wholly neglected the Commands and grave Counsels of his Unckle Sir Fulke Grevil that was his Governour loco Parentis his Maintainer and upon my Knowledge a very bountiful Maintainer of him too so afterwards in his too much preciseness he did in like manner wholly reject his Duty and Obedience to his King that was Pater Patriae and a very gracious King to him too yea he became a very obstinate violent and a most virulent Opposer of his King as if he could not be a Saint in the Service of God except the became as a rebel to oppose his King but so it is most commonly seen that they which are undutyful to their Parents and Governors will seldom prove faithful to their Kings or Princes Secondly I observed that our of his superabundant zeal which he pretended to God's Honour he extremely hated and persecuted the Governours of God's Church and the chief Upholders of God's Service the reverend Bishops and and all the grave and learned Doctours of God's word and he was no less a Profaner of God's House which is the material Temple and the place where God's Honour dwelleth while the Saints are Pilgrims in the Wilderness of this World Thirdly It is not unknown to most that knew him that he could not endure to have this Epithete and Title of Saint to be given either to Evangelist or Apostle and especially to any other departed Saint or Servant of God as Saint Augustine Saint Ambrose and the like though he could not deny them to be with God in Heaven as if the Saints in Heaven for fear of Idolatry or Superstition were not to be acknowledged for Saints now on earth but that this Sanctity must be appropriated onely to themselves that are such furious Zelots against the reverend esteem we bear to the Saints in Heaven though we neither invocate them for help nor adore the best of them with the Church of Rome no more then they but knowing that not one is in Heaven but he is a Saint we give this Title of Saint to them of whom we doubt not of their being blessed with God Fourthly He had another property no less injurious to himself and the Servants of God on earth then the former was to the Saints in Heaven for that excellent Prayer in our Letany and the holy desire of God's Servants that it would please God to deliver them from sudden Death which all good Divines and faithfull Servants of God did ever acknowledge for a temporary Judgement of God and therefore prayed that whensoever it pleased him to call for their Souls out of this earthly Tabernacle he would be pleased to grant them some time and space to call upon him for the forgiveness of their Sins and to commend their Souls into his Hands and so forth Yet this Lord could not away with the Prayer nor abide to hear of this Petition but would have every man at all times to be so prepared for death that he needed not at any time to pray against sudden death and we say likewise that every man ought to expect death in every place and to do his best endeavour to be prepared for death at all times yet that neither this Lord nor the best Saint on earth can be so well prepared at any time but that he ought as he hath need to pray for pardon of the Defects and Imperfection of his Preparation and therefore to pray for time to make that Prayer and then as for time to dispose and fit himself for God and to make his peace with him through Christ so to set his House in order as the â—rophet saith to Ezechias and to settle his Estate among those that depend upon him which hath been ever held to be as it is indeed a Blessing and a great favour granted from God to preserve love and to continue peace and amity amongst a man's Children and the rest of his Friends and Posterity But here in this Lord we may behold and adore the Judgment of the just God how that as Goliah's Head was cut off with his own Sword so Judicium suum super caput suum this man's Judgment and his practice fell upon his own head and the Stone that he threw at another lighted upon his own Pate for in the Prosecution of his hate against his King as a just reward of that Service his Lordship being in Litchfield on Saint Chad's day the Founder of that Church while he viewed the College or Close as they tearm it and Church of Saint Chad to batter them down with his Canons for the Fideliy and Allegiance of that Fraternity unto their King being all harnessed Cap-a-pâ— from top to toe as he lifted up his Helmet to see the same more clearly behold you and see the just hand of God directing the hand of a youth that was a Prebend's Son with a Fowling-Piece to hit him just in the eye that as formerly he could not see the truth so now he could see nothing but fell suddenly dead and never spake word no not so much as Lord have mercy upon me so the Lord God shewed himself just and righteous in his Judgments and holy in all his ways and let all the Sons of men acknowledge the same and all wicked men fear his Justice Fourthly The next man Fourth Man that I shall bring upon the Stage to answer at the Bar of Justice is Master John Pym a man that was in an Office of great trust and of much profit and gain under the King and because as the Proverb goeth Much would have more his Covetousness egged forward by his Ambition to be great snatching at more then was just laid him open to lose what was due and to be deprived of his place that was so good Then he like the unjust Steward spoken of in the Gospel took unjuster Courses against his Master for he not onely advised with himself to detain more of his Master's goods in his hands and to deceive him of so much as might well enable him to live well and in good sort as his false fellow-Steward
upon young Man or Maiden old Man or him that stooped for Age he gave them all into his Hand for that there was no Remedy 2 Chron. xxxvi 15 16 17. And of the Second the Spirit of God saith that the Lord sent against Jehoiakim bands of the Chaldees and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Children of Ammon and he sent them against Juda to destroy it and to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasses and for the innocent blood that he shed for he filled Hierusalem with innocent blood as the Judges of the Rump-Parliament did fill Ingland which the Lord would not pardon 2 Reg. xxiv 4. as if he had said though the Lord God might have been perswaded by Prayers and Tears and Sacrifices to pardon all other Sins yet this sin of shedding innocent Blood especially when it is judicially shed the Lord will no ways nor by any means pardon it and though men would fain pardon it yet God will not pardon it because God which is the God of truth and Truth it self hath said it and that we should not doubt of it he hath said Surely your blood of your Lives will I require at the hand of every Beast will I require it and at the hand of man at the hand of every man's Brother will I require the life of man And Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the Image of God made he man Gen. ix 5 6. and see how fully and how energetically the Lord hath said and the Scripture hath set down all these things against the pardoning of them that shed innocent blood And then these things being duly weighed as Saint Ambrose said to Theodosius Quod inconsulto fecisti consultius revocetur so I believe that if any man hath inconsideratly either through ignorance corruption or partiality caused or consented to let any Agag to escape whom the Justice of God hath designed to death he would assuredly consultius errorem corrigere amend His former errour and not let the death of such a King as was worth ten thousand of us and the Blood of so many of His loyal Subjects as were judicially and unjustly condemned to death pass away unpunished and unquestioned whensoever any of the Authours or Contrivers of their death should be found out or at least wise he would be satisfied and not blame others for doing if they do what he should have done It is no matter when better late then never for Nunquam sera est ad Justitiam via The way to do Justice is never too far nor the time too late and God deserreth his Judgments for many years together when we finde Murderers flourishing in all Pomp and Power a long time as I have shewed it at large in the Tragedy of Zimri and yet at last to come to tast of their just deserved Punishment as Pilate and Herod and the rest of the Murderers of Jesus Christ were not apprehended by God's Justice some of them in fourty years after they had condemned their just and lawful King and many more such Murderers you may finde in Dr. Beard 's Theatre of God's Judgments and in other Authours to have lain secure and to have slept in their sins for a long Season before the hand of Vengeance hath rouzed them up and yet after many Ages to pay Death for Death And therefore though the Parliament and Parliaments have passed over and perhaps pardoned those whom God saith he will not pardon yet I conceive that whensoever any of them that had their hands imbrued or the least finger stayned in our King's Blood or in the Blood those His loyal Subjects that were judicially unjustly condemned shall be found out and made known to be such they should be brought unto their Trial especially when we consider that Justice donâ— upon such transcendent Malefactours that do now as yet as it is conceived wallow in those innocent Bloods that they have spilt and do jet up and down most proudly in the spoils of their Slaughtered and Beggered Brethren would as the Scripture testifieth purge the Land from the stain of that innocent Blood which they have so plentifully lost and doth still crie like Abel's Blood for Vengeance against them appease the Wrath of God for our former neglect of doing Justice increase the King's Revenues by the Forfeited estates of these Transgressours satisfie the Friends of those Murthered innocents terrifie all other Rebellious hearts from such horrible attempts and all other Judges from abusing the Laws and perverting Justice and be an excellent Example of a just and unpartial proceeding against Traitours for the Foreign Kings to applaud it and for their Subjects to fear it if ever the like thoughts should enter into their hearts of doing such things as were done by these Murtherers And truely it hath often grieved me to hear the vulgar people so generally complaining that they see divers of the late King's Enemies and Rebels that they suspect guilty some way of the Kings death so much favoured in the World and so domineering over others jetting up and down in Pride so gloriously trimmed with the spoils of the loyal Subjects and some of the King's Friends and faithfull Servants sneaking up and down wholly dejected so as if there were an Act of Oblivion past of the King's Friends and an Act of Indempnity for His Adversaries To whom I have often answered that our King is wise as the Angel of God and He knoweth best what He hath to do far better then the best of us all and they should rather remember what the Psalmist saith Fret not thy self because of the ungodly neither be thou Envious because of the wicked doers for they shall soon be cut down like the Grass and be withered like unto the green Herb especially when their Iniquitie their Treasons and Treacheries that as yet are hidden from the Eyes of men shall be found out and be made apparent unto the World And therefore though I say all this that I said before as from the straight unpartial rule of severe Justice yet as I am a Bishop of Jesus Christ and a Messenger of the God of mercy that takes no delight in the blood of his Brethren nor desireth the death of any one I am obliged most humbly and earnestly to pray and beseech Your gracious Majesty to be still gracious as You have demonstratively shewed Your Self to be hitherto unto these ungracious Offenders and when the Law of Justice hath decreed their Desert to stretch forth unto them the right Hand of Mercy and to do with them as the Wisdom of the most merciful God shall direct Your Majesty Secondly The next thing that I am bound to declare and to remonstrate unto Your Majesty and to all others is lest Your Majesty should be misinformed concerning me as I understood by Mr. Secretary Nicholas I have been misrepresented in Your Majestie 's Court most humbly to
beseech Your Majesty to give me leave to make that Remonstrance to the World which I hope no man can contradict as That I was Your Father's Chaplain and waited on His Majesty six or seven years at least in the Moneth of December and when the Wars began though my ever honoured Lord and Master the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery was mis-led contrary to his Childrens desire to adhere unto the Parliament which fault can no ways be excused though I could say very much to lessen it because I knew the Uprightness of that Noble Person that was hoodwinked by the Subtlety of his Adherents yet my self according to my duty stuck to his Majesty and perswaded some of his Children that were my Scholars to do the like and I wrote my first Book against the Parliament which is intituled The Grand Rebellion and being fetched by a Troop of Soldiers was carryed Prisoner to North-hampton where the Committee had The Grand Rebellion in their Hands and had not God most mercifully and very strangely turned away their eyes from looking on it to preserve me I looked for no other end then to be utterly ruined but the Lord preserved me and delivered me out of their hands and the next Winter being in Oxford I printed my Discovery of Mysteries or The Plots of the pretended Parliament to overthrow both Church and State and on that very day that I was preaching in Saint Marie's before the Parliament then sitting in Oxford the Soldiers from Northhampton came and plundred my house and all my Houshold-stuff and about eight milch Kine and all that I had in Abthorp where my Wife and Children resided and sequestred my Lands to the use of the Parliament yet this Breach could not break my Loyalty to my King or my Heart in my Body but by the next Winter after I had written my third Book intituled The Rights of Kings and the Wickednesses of the pretended Parliament c. And according to my poor Ability out of the Means I had from Wales I gave unto His Majesties own Hand every Winter for three years together the Testimony of my Loyalty and Affection to the uttermost of my Power and His gracious Majesty did like a most gracious King most favourably accept of that Mite which I offered Him as Sir Bryan O-Neal and others do very well know And when Major General Mytton came and subdued our Country of Wales though the Arch-Bishop of York was my singular good Friend and very earnestly perswaded me to submit unto the Parliament and to use his own words said that I should fare no worse then he did but should sail in the same Boat and so sink or swim and so be saved or destroyed together yet I answered that I would never trust them that they would be true to me that wrote so many Books against them when they were so false unto their King that had been so gracious unto them and therefore I went and gave ten pound to a Parliament Captain to let me pass into Ireland by a most desperate Attempt under the hands and through the Pikes of mine Enemies that would have destroyed me had they but known me and there how faithfully and freely I have often preached for Obedience to his Majesty and against both the Inglish Scottish and the Irish Rebels the most Honourable Duke of Ormond his Grace and all the rest of the Council at Dublin can sufficiently testifie And when the most noble Marquess could not possibly preserve Ireland any longer but was fain to yield it up unto the Parliament and I had the Benefit of the Articles of Ireland confirmed and allowed unto me under the Hands of all the Commissioners that signed them I was taken at Sea in my Passage into Wales and pillaged of all that I had my Books Goods Money and Cloaths to the full value of an Hundred Pounds and then coming to the Parliament for to have the performance of the said Articles one Scot since executed for a Traitour demanded if I wrote not The Grand Rebellion and the other Books that I had written against the Parliament and I confessing the truth he asked if I deserved not rather to have my head cut off then to have the benefit of any Articles so I was feign to make mine Addresse to Sir Thomas Fairfax who very honourably wrote two Letters which after I shewed them I got againe and do still keep them as a memorial of his just and great favour unto me one to the Committee of North-hampton who presently restored me to all the Lands I had in that County the other to the Committee of Anglesey who though they were my near Kinsmen and some of them descended from the House of Owen Tydder the Grand-Father of Henry the Seventh as well as my self yet very unjustly and unfriendly they denied to restore me to my Means in that County so that I was feign to make my second Address to his Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax who again as honourably as formerly wrote to Major General Mytton to put me into all my Possessions but before I could come to General Mytton Anglesey was revolted from the Parliament and besieged by Mytton and the Means of the Deanerie that belonged unto me was Alienated from the Church and taken quite away and so ever since I was forced to live upon less means then twenty pounds per annum though my ever honoured Lord the Earle of Pembrook and Mountgomery offered to procure me a Living in Lancashire worth 400. l. per annum so I would submit my self to the Parliament which with many thanks unto his Lordship for his favour I utterly refused and though other Bishops accepted and received each one 100. pounds a year from Mr. Henry Cromwell that offered the same very courteously unto me yet knowing how unjustly he had power to bestow it and how I should be fettered if I accepted it I refused to take it and resolved to accept of no Salarie Gratuity gift or Benevolence from any man to this very day but to be very well contented with the poor estate that God had left me and when as divers Royalists and other good Christians seeing my mean estate and considering my much Sufferings did offer me and sent unto me divers sums of Monies I refused them all and was faine before they left sending to me to desire them publikely in the Pulpit at Dublin to offer no more of their gifts and benevolence unto me for whose love and good will I did most heartily thank them because I Preached not in expectation of any reward but resolved to refuse the same in hope that they would the rather beleive the truth of my Doctrine as I thank God I saw many of them did though many others were much offended with me so that I was forced to leave Dublin and so fell to my Prayeres and Studies more and more to discover The Great Anti-Christ comforting my self herein that if I was not mightily mistaken in
Majestie most faithfully and freely to dispose of it all for the reparation of the body of the Cathedral Church of Saint Keney that Your Majestie may see Your Petitioner doth not so earnestly prosecute the recovery and restoring of those Lands and Lordship of Upper-Court unto the See of Ossorie for the enriching of himself that blessed be God for it hath enough both for himself and his but for the benefit of the House and Church of God Or if Your Majestie think not well to continue Your former gracious Grant thereof unto the Church Your Petitioner humbly prayeth You would be pleased to further Your Petitioner to recover from Robert Shee the former Possessor to whom it is now restored the twenty years Rent that is unpaid and is due to your Petitioner ever since the Rebellion began and before and which amounteth to two hundred Pound beside the forbearance of them the which Your Petitioner conceiveth to be most just and agreeable to all Law Equity and Conscience And for the rest of the Minister's Livings through what fate or by what means I know not but through the just Judgment of God that disposeth all things wisely so it is that very many of the poor Protestants which were robbed and plundered by the Irish Rebels are not one jot the better by the subduing of the Rebels and Displantation of the Romane Catholicks but with the Irish and like the Irish do live most poorly and have as hard a Task to get their own former Estates out of the Soldier 's hands as to pull the Club out of Hercules his hands as it appeareth by their dealing with my self when upon my Petition unto the House of Peers to be restored unto the Bishop's Lands that my Predecessor dyed seised of I had an order of the Lords unto the Sheriffs to put me into the Possession of it which was so totally detained from me that I had not so much Lands left me about Kilkenny as would feed a Goose and when the Sheriffs according to mine Order came to deliver me Possession of it a Captain of the Long Parliament that had it given him as he said for his Arrears stood before the Sheriffs and told them they should not tread upon his Lands until he had his Reprisal for it and because I knew him to be a Member of the House of Commons I advised the Sheriff to let him alone and by no means to intrench upon their Privilege conceiving that hereby he hath more affronted the whole House of Lords in withstanding their Order then he hath done me and if they pass by such an Affront I may far better do it and if the Soldiers deal thus with me that am their Bishop and a Member of the Higher House of Parliament how hardly think you shall the other poor Protestants and the rest of the Country Gentlemen that have been these many years kept out of their Estates get their Lands and Possessions out of their hands let Blackwel's Case be for instance Yet truly I must needs confess that the Temporal Lords both of the Roman Religion and the Protestants at all times have and do shew themselves most faithful and loyal to Your Majesty and both favourable unto our Church and without any superciliousness very friendly with us that are their Bishops and most willing to further us to all our Rights and to grant us any lawful favour and especially to assist us to root out those weeds that disturb us in the Government of God's Church and the restoring and setting forward the true Service of God amongst our People But the Colonels and Captains and the rest of the Soldiery that subdued the Rebels have the most part of the Kingdom in their Possession and are very tenacious of what is in their Hands and do live gallantly and very fairly and yet in many places the Country is left un-inhabited and the best parts but thinly peopled and the ground lying well nigh waste for the most part untilled and ill-stocked so that the Livings which formerly were worth an hundred pound a piece per annum are now set for little more then twenty pounds a piece as mine own Rectory of Rath-Saran and Rath-downy that before the Rebellion were reputed to be worth above an hundred pounds per an were set the last year for twenty six pounds and the Lands of Bishop's-Logh that my Predecessour did set to his own Son for eighty pounds per annum was this last year and before set to Mr. Feak for twenty pound and the like by reason of which slender means and tenuity of the Livings I found that the Commissioners for setting the Tythes and setling Ministers to preach unto the people granted to one Mr. Kearny that had three Parishes before 7 or 8. Parishes more and yet all those scarce able to make him a reasonable Maintenance of an hundred pound per annum so they granted six to one Mr. Brooks though he was no lawful ordained Minister and Mr. Blake had six Parishes given unto him by the Mayor and Burgesses of Waterford and all not worth above twenty pounds per annum as appeareth by his Presentation and this subsequent Letter unto my self HONOVRED SIR WE the Mayor Sheriffs and Citizens of the City of WATERFORD having in our Power by Charter from King CHARLES the First of ever blessed Memory and before by his Ancestors the Presentation of a Minister to the Vicarages of KILL CULLEHENE RATH-PATRICK BALLY GOREN KILL MAKEVOY MACKOLLY and WHITCHURCH with the Donation thereof all which amounts to twenty and one Pounds or thereabouts per annum and having by consent in Council presented RICHARD BLAKE Clerk to the same VVE earnestly pray that if your Lordship have any in your Dispose that lyeth contiguous thereto that your Lordship would please to favour him therein and it will thankfully be acknowledged by us and what you please to command that is in our Powers you may freely command Waterford the 20. th November 1660. Your LORDSHIPS affectionate Friends and Servants DAVIES Mayor Sam. Brinsmead Sheriffs Sam. Brown Sheriffs The Cause of which Sterility of Fruit and Scarcity of Means and the thinness or fewness both of Houses and Inhabitants I conceive to be that the Adventurers and Soldiers have got the most part of the Lands of the Bishops and Protestants that the Irish drave away and all the Lands of the Rebels and Roman Catholicks into their own Hands and are neither willing to part with it nor able to till it manure it and replenish it with Tenants and Husbandry as it ought to be Indeed I do confess and it is most true that if the Irish Rebels Popish Priests and Romane Catholicks had had their Wids neither Protestant Bishop nor any other Protestant should ever have had any foot of Land in all the Kingdom of Ireland And you know what Lex talionis saith to them but that we ought to be more merciful and to write our wrongs in the Dust and not in
gave life to man Joh. 19.10 Therefore when Pilate said to Christ that he had power to Crucify him and power to Release him our Saviour answereth directly Vers 11. that he could not have This power against him Except it were given him from above And so S. Paul plainly saith that This power of the Sword which is in the King Rom. 13.1 as Supream as S. Peter saith is from God and so this is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether you place it in the Jew or in the Gentile in the hand of a Godly Constantine or a Bloody Dioclesian but it is the Immediate Ordinance of God and can not issue or flow from man but from the Living God that is the Author and hath the Soveraign power both of Life and Death And therefore in the Restauration of the World after the flood God Almighty 1. Re-iterates the Blessing and favour which formerly he had bestowed upon Adam and Eve Gen. 9.1 in bidding them to Increase and Multiply and so to produce and continue the Life of man 2. He confirmeth that Former Soveraignty which he had granted unto Adam Vers 2. 3. over all the inferior creatures 3. He establisheth the Civil Government that was to be Observed amongst all the future Generations of Noah and therein as if he now called to mind the Murder of Innocent Abel to prevent the like he doth Explicitely and plainly challenge to himself the Power of punishing the shedding of mans blood to death Vers 5. saying Surely the blood of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast will I require it and at the hand of man and at the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man Where you see the Lord three times repeats I will require it and prefixeth the word Surely that you should not doubt it And lest any man should think that God meant to punish that sin Immediatly by his Own hand and not rather by his Substitute and Vice-roy the Lord addeth Vers 6. Who so sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed again which is the right reading of the words fuller then the Vulgar Translation that saith no more but Quicunque effuderit sanguinem hominis fundetur sanguis illius and plainer then the Septuagint that saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dr. Maxw pag. 50. as the Learned Arch-Bishop of Tuam sufficiently proveth And the words being Thus as our English Translation rightly hath them you see the Soveraignty of the punishing the Slayer of man is immediatly invested in Gods Deputy by God himself that is in Him whom God Appointeth to do it and in none other For I hope no man will conceive it so that Any man whatsoever is invested with This power to shed the blood of him that sheddeth mans blood because this would be such a Disorder and produce such confusion as that nothing could be more destructive and pernitious to humane kind and more repugnant to Gods Nature that is the God of Order as well as of justice And therefore as this Soveraign Power of Life and Death doth Principally and Properly belong to God so God Gives this power not to the Community to all nor to Every one that will or would have it but to some Particular Deputy whom he doth Immediately invest therewith to punish death with Death And as this Soveraign power over life which is the Head and chiefest part of Civil Government is Immediatly given by God unto his Deputy to be executed So all the Parts of Governments when as all are Homogenous that is In indivisibili posita things Indivisible in their nature such as can no more be distracted and severed then a Crown can be a Crown when any part thereof is taken away they must be in like manner granted to be Immediatly from God and not from Man 3. Were the Kingly office an Humane creature that is Sol. 3 of mans Ordinance yet the Person of the King is Gods creature and therefore were their false Exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 True yet could they not infer any more from thence then the dethroning of Him whom they had exalted and not the killing of Him whom God had created But Quo jure quâque injuriâ let others look and let him be whose Creature he will and his Kingly Office be from Whom you will of God or of men they are resolved to Kill him And yet they will as the Evangelist saith do it most Subtilly and seem to give him a Fair Triall that the Vulgar people which know no more then what is put into their heads and as the Centaures embraced a cloud for Juno so do they take Shadows for the Substance might believe he was Justly and legally condemned and not as he was indeed Maliciously murdered But Why will they Murder Him and draw his Innocent blood upon their wicked heads For they had Him in their Own hands He was their Prisoner and they could have Him and hurry Him where they would from Pilate to Herod and from Herod to Pilate again Why might they not have sent Him and detained Him with S. John the Evangelist in the Isle of Patmos or secure his Person still in Prison with S. John Baptist It may be answered Nefandum scelus majori scelere adimpletur Quae scelero pacta est scelere rumpatur fides Senec. in Medea every haynous offence secures it self by a More haynous crime as Seneca well observeth as the Thiefe that Robs for love of money will often Murder the poor Traveller for fear to be Discovered and the Lewd woman that fears to be Shamed for her lewdness will not fear to Murder her own Child so the Cevetous desire of having what we have no right unto Why the wicked never leave persecuting their King till they kill him as it worketh a Great care and sedulity how to get it so it begets a Great fear and jealousy to lose it therefore seeing there may be an Escape or reprisall from prison and a Return from exile as it was in Henry Bullingbrook afterwards King Henry the fourth they that fear to lose their Vsurped Possessions or to feel the Revenge of their Treason and Rebellion never think themselves Secured or their usurpation Setled untill their unjust titles be sealed in the blood of the right Owner and their own Wicked lives secured in the Vnmerited death of their Innocent adversaries And this is the Reason that these Wicked murderers of their Own King never left to persecute Him till they had Killed Him I should now proceed to the Last point to discover the Murderers of this Just One their own Pious and Religious King but that before I proceed to that point I hold it requisite First Six Speciall circumstances to be observed to shew unto you these six Speciall Circumstances about the Murder of this King which Are most Exactly delivered unto us by the Evangelists and which very-very
be said But seeing the pressing of Obedience will avail little with the Rebellious if the fear of Gods judgements and the punishments of him that beareth not the Sword in vain doth not terrisie them from disobedience for such is the frowardness of mans nature that he would never fear God if he thought God consisted all of mercy and were not as just as He is merciful Therefore as you heard how necessary is obedience so I intend by Gods help to shew you the just judgement of God and the punishment of the Rebellious and disobedient upon the words that you shall find in 2 Kings 9.31 Had Zimri peace that slue his Master The last Sermon that I Preached in this City was on the Day of our Humiliation for the unnatural Rebellion and the monstrous Murder of our late most gracious King Charles the First And that work I then told mine Auditors I knew not how to do it in any better way than by paralleling the transcendent murder of Jesus Christ by those wicked Jews that crucified him which was their true and lawful King with that late unnatural murder that our English-Jews have committed upon their own just and lawful King Charles the First and that parallel I then prosecuted à capite ad calcem And this Text that I have now read unto you seems to be a Question demanding What became of one and what should become of all others wicked murderers that like him and like the other two sorts of Jews should kill both their King and their Master And the words are a Speech made at the entrance of a brave Conquerer into a famous City that is of Jehu into Jezreel A custom very often used amongst all Nations to make solemn Speeches at the Inauguration of their Soveraign Kings and Emperours or when any Noble Person cometh to any famous City as the University Orator doth it in the Academy and the Recorder in other Cities And so Jezabel makes this Speech unto Jehu assoon as ever he entred into the Gates of Jezreel Had Zimri peace that slew his Master And we do read of two special Zimries in the Book of God and both of them wicked men Numb 25. The first you may read of in the 25th of Numbers where you may see 1. How that Israel contrary to the Command of God joyned himself to Baal-Peor and that one Zimri a Prince of a chief House among the Simeonites brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman named Cozbi the daughter of Zur that was Head over a people and of a chief House in Midian 2. How that for this transgression of God's Command the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel so that he said unto Moses Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the Sun that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel And Moses said unto the Judges of Israel Slay ye every one his men that were joyned to Baal-Peor And so they did that there were slain 24. thousand men 3. How that Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the Priest according to the Commandment of the Lord and of Moses took a Javelin in his hand and killed both Zâ—mri and Cozbi and that the Lord was so well pleased therewith that he rewarded him with the covenant of an everlasting Priesthood and stayed the plague from the children of Israel And the Prophet David saith that when the plague was so great among them Psal 106.30 then stood up Phinehas and prayed and so the plague ceased And our Presbyterians that find such fault with our Liturgy do say That we corrupt the Text because in the Original it is said That Phinehas stood up and executed judgement and so the plague ceased But their carping at this without cause hath been fully and sufficiently answered and may be easily and briefly done because he both prayed and executed judgement for the Text tells you plainly That the people were weeping before the door of the Congregation Verse 6 and so praying to God to turn away his anger from them and Phinehas rose from amongst the Congregation and killed them and then the plague ceased To teach us that the only sure way to turn away God's anger and the plagues that we deserve is not only to weep and mourn and be sorry for the wickednesse of the people but we must also execute judgement upon the transgressors Deut. 13.8 and as the Lord often sets it down Thine eye shall not pity them neither shalt thou conceal them but thou shalt surely kill them So shall you put away evil from among you and turn away the judgements of God from you which otherwise must still lie upon you because sins and especially great sins such as are Idolatry Rebellions and Murders and their punishments are so indiss lubly linked together that God seldom or never remits the one without inflicting the other And therefore he would not take away the plague from Israel until judgement was executed upon Zimri and Cozbi And this was the first Zimri that we read of and is not meant here in my Text. 2. 1 Kings 16.9 For the other Zimri you may read of him in 1 Kings 16.9 where you may find 1. How this Zimri conspired against his King and his Master and killed him and slew all the House of Baasha and left not one that pisseth against the wall neither of his kinsfolks nor of his friends 2. How that after this murder of their King and Zimri's possessing the Royal Throne all Israel was divided and most miserably embroyled in Civil Wars when some of them were with Zimri in Tyrza others with Tibni and the rest with Omri 3. What became of this Zimri and his conspirators that have wrought all these Wonders and most tragical Acts to kill their King and all the Kings friends how he went into the Palace of the Kings house and burnt the Kings house over him and died burning himself therein A just judgement of Almighty God against such as would conspire to kill their King And of this Zimri Jezabel demands the Question Had Zimri peace As if she should have said Is it possible that either Zimri or any one of them that conspired with Zimri and had any hand with him in the murder of their King and their Master or that very Kingdom that fostereth any of those murderers should have any peace or settlement or any happiness in the world until justice and judgement be executed upon such transcendent Malefactors For she conceived that as the wrath of God and his plagues were not turned away from Israel until Phinehas stood up and executed judgement upon the other Zimri and Cozbi so this Zimri and the Associates of this Zimri and all the kingdom that abetted him should never have peace nor happiness so long as judgement was unexecuted upon them as the example of Achan and abundance more doth make it plain that the
good fruit and to cast it into the fire And it is the duty of every faithfull Steward to give to every one his own portion in due season that is mercy to whom mercy belongeth and judgment to whom judgment appertaineth and not to give that which is holy unto dogs or to proclaime peace and pardon to them to whom the Lord professeth there is no peace but saith peremptorily He will not pardon them And therefore I hope your honorable patience will bear with me that as the Prophet David saith My song shall not be of mercy alone nor of judgment alone but of mercy and judgment together especially upon Zimri and all such that like Zimri will slay both their King and their Master which is the first thing mentioned in this Text that is Zimri's Murder And For murder you may observe that the same may be committed three manner of waies 1. With the heart 2. With the tongue 3. With the hand 1. The heart killeth a man four speciall waies 1. By desire 2. By anger 3. By envy 4. By hatred For 1. The Prophet saith Psal 5.6 The Lord abborreth the blood-thirsty and the deceitfull man i. e. him which desireth and longeth for my death as he that is thirsty desireth drink 2. Our Saviour saith Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause Math. 5.22 he shall be in danger of judgment 3. The Apostle speaking of the wickedness of the Gentiles saith Rom. 1.29 They were full of envy murder debate And the wise man saith Alius alium per invidiam occidit One man slayeth another through envy Sap. 14.4 as Cain through envy slew his brother Abel and the Jews our Saviour Christ Qui igitur periêre quia maluerunt invidere quà m credere who therefore perished because they had rather to envy him then to believe in him Cypr. in Ser. de livore saith Saint Cyprian 4. Saint John saith that Whosoever hateth his brother is a man slayer 1 Joh 3.15 Lev. 19.17 and therefore the Lord saith Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart for as he that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery in his heart so he that hateth his brother hath killed him in his heart 2. The tongue killeth many men yea Plures linguâ quà m gladio periêre Jam. 3 6 7. The tongue hath slain more then the sword for the tongue is a fire and a world of wickedness it is an unruly evill full of deadly poyson And the son of Syrach saith It hath destroyed many that were at peace Eccl. 28.13 And the tongue killeth two waies 1. By flattery 2. By detraction 1. Saint Augustine saith that Plus nocet lingua adulatoris quà m gladius persecutoris And Antisthenes was wont to say It was better for a man to fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among ravens then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among flatterers 2. The Prophet saith Ezech. 22.8 Viri detractores fuerunt in te ad effundendum sanguinem In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood and Job saying unto his friends that slandered his integrity Why do you persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh doth intimate thereby that detractors are like cruell Canibals that eat mens flesh and drink their blood Nam qui aliena detractione pascitur proculdubiò alienis carnibus saturatur for without doubt whosoever feeds himself with detraction doth satisfy himself with mans flesh saith S. Gregory And I doubt not but this Zimri and all other the like Zimries that killed their Masters had killed Elah in all these waies before he slew him with his hands because all these murders of the heart and of the tongue are but steps stairs and progesses to the murder of the hand For first we begin to distast and to dislike a man then we grow angry with him for some things that displease us and if he hath any virtue in him or any honorable place or preferment or any love or good opinion from the people we will presently envy him and then hate him and so hate him more and more and then the tongue will begin to play his part and though in presence it will flatter him whom the heart detesteth yet in his absence it will lay loads of scandalous imputations upon his person and upon his actions Camerar l. 6. c. 2. even as Absolon did upon the government of King David and the forecited example of Maion against William King of Sicily and abundance of such Varlets that I could relate unto you And when they have proceeded thus far to envy his happiness and to hate his person as Cain hated his brother Abel and the way is thus made by scandalous aspersions there wants nothing but the stroke of the hand to effect the tragicall murder of the man whom they desire to destroy So Zimri did when he found his opportunity slay his Master Elah so the servants of King Amon slew their Master So Phocas did slay his Emperor and his Master Mauritius So Artabanus Captain of the guard killed his own King and his Master Xerxes Diodorus l. 11. after he had retired out of Greece So Brutus and Cassius with their associates murdered Julius Caesar And so you know who murdered their Master and King Charles the First And this is the greatest mischief that one man can do unto another to take away his life with bloody hands for though he take away my goods yet I may get more as Job did after all was taken from him if he cast me into prison yet at last with Joseph I may be set at liberty and if I be banished my Country yet with the Israelits I may live to return out of Captivity as Henry Bullingbrook Duke of Lancaster did but when he hath taken away my life and killed me there is an end of all hope and that is an evill that can expect no remedy and a wound that cannot be cured nor any waies paralleled by any other mischief And therefore Num 35.33 seeing as the Lord saith that blood defileth the Land and the land can not be cleansed of the blood that is thus shed but by the blood of him or them that have shed it I will here to perswade the blood-thirsty men to quench that thirst and the Magistrates by no means to neglect to punish that sin and especially to induce those Magistrates and all those that transcend the power of the Magistrates that have like Zimri slain their King and their Master or defiled themselves with the blood of their brethren to a sad and serious repentance set down eight speciall things that do shew unto us the horrible odiousness and haynousness of this sinne of murder and you may find them all set down in lib. 3. cap. 2. of the true Church p. 385. and in the Great Antichrist revealed l. 1. p. 81. 1. It is a sin against nature because every creature loves
Bernard tells his friend that Ideò dolet charitas mea quòd cum sis dolendus non doleas inde magis miseretur quod cum miser sis miserabilis tamen non es And S. Hierom saith in like manner to Sabinian Hoc ego plango quod te non plangis This do I bewail in thee that thou dost not bewail thy self For as our Saviour saith when a strong man armed keeps his house the things that he possesseth are in peace So are these wicked men in peace and quiet while the strong man Satan keeps their hearts as his house to reside in but this secret peace with Satan is but an open war with God Hierom ad He liodorum de vita eromit and as S. Hierom saith Tranquillitas ista tempestas est This calm is a cruel storm And nothing can be more miserable than these senseless sinners that perceive not their miserable condition But as Josephus saith The wickedest men in Jerâ—sâ—lem that were the destruction of the City profest themselves to be the only Zelots So these wicked men think themselves the only Saints of God walking towards Heaven when as their wicked deeds do shew they ride poste to Hell And as the Lord tells Cain If thou doest ill sin lieth at the door So will their sins lie at the door and like wild beasts dog them wheresoever they go and perhaps awaken them at the last to let them see their miserable condition And then 2. 2 The bad tormenting conscience Their tormenting consciences will be a hell upon earth here unto them for as the godly have the joy of a good conscience as the earnest of the heavenly happiness So the wicked have this vermis conscientiae the vexation of a tormenting conscience as the earnest of hell-torments wheresoever they are Isidor l. 2. soliloq And as Isidorus saith Nulla poena gravior quam poena conscientiae quiae nunquam securus est reus animus for as Solomon saith The spirit of a man can bear his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear And Lucan saith Lucan pharsal l. 7. that a wicked man doth Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem And that Hunc omnes gladii quos aut Pharsalia vid it Aut ultrix visura dies stringente Senatu Illa nocte premunt bunc infera monstra flagellant And as Ovid saith Ovid. de ponto lib. 1. Impia perpetuos curarum pectora morsus Fine quibus nullo conficiantur habent Nec prius himentem stimuli quam vita relinquet Quique dolet citius quam dolor ipse cadet And Pictorius in his Epigrams saith Istud habet damni vitium inter caetera quod mens Palpitat assiduo flagitiosa metu Semper enim velsi non deprendatur in ipso Sese deprendi pâ—sse putat scelere Deque suo alterius quoties de crimine sermo est Cogitat credit se magis esse reum Inque dies timor hinc crescit And S. Augustine renders to us the reason of all this saying Jussisti Domine ita est ut animus inordinatus sit sibi ipsi poena And as the Poet saith Heu quantum misero poenae mens conscia donat For we do read how Theodoricus being troubled in his conscience imagined that he saw as he sate at Supper the visage of Symmachus Procopius lanquet Chron. fol. 146. whom he had unjustly slain in a fishes-head and after that he could never rest quiet nor be comforted by any means but pined away most miserably And Sleidan writes how Crescentius Sleidan com l. 23. in fine the Pope's Vice-gerent in the Council of Trent being conscious of many ill carriages in that Council saw the Devil in the likeness of a black dog And Polydore Virgil writes of Richard the Third that after he had caused his two Nephews the sons of Edward the Fourth to be secretly murdered he could never have any rest or quiet mind whiâ—e ne lived but would be still starting and clapping his hand on his Dagger And to be brief so it is with all wicked men that either they have a seared conscience void of all sense or if it awakes a tormenting conscience that vexeth and plagueth them continually For my Text is most true that there is no peace to the wicked neither with men nor with God nor with themselves And therefore howsoever they deem us for their enemies yet in very deed they are the greatest enemies that can be found on earth unto themselves 2. As there is no peace to the wicked so they have no peace in no place 2 The wicked have no peace in no place but as S. Augustine saith Fugiet ab agro in civitatem à publico in domum à domo in cubiculum à cubiculo in lectum ecce hostem suum invenit à quo confugerat seipsum scilicet à quo fugiturus est 3. They have no peace ullo tempore at any time but 3 The wicked have no peace at no time as I said before out of Lucan the wicked do Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem both night and day early and late bear in their bosome a relator that doth accuse them and a witnesse that doth testifie against them the great and horrible wick edness that they have done and a Judge that doth continually condemn them And therefore the Text saith not non erat pax nor non erit pax but non est pax and in the Original the Text is set down indefinitely without a verbe as naming no time that assoon as ever we have sinned we might fear Gods judgements presently and expect our punishment instantly and at all times thereafter Because as Lipsius saith Cognatum imme innatum Lipsius do constantial 2. c. 13. omni sceleri est sceleris supplicium And S. Paul saith The wages of sin is death to shew that as the work is present so the payment must be present nec aufertur nec defertur it shall neither be remitted nor deferred But as the Lord commandeth not to detain the labourers wages until the morning but presently to pay him assoon as ever he hath done his work before the Sun goeth down So when the sinner hath done the sin the punishment lieth at the door waiting for him So you see here is no peace in no place at no time after the wickednesse is done and the sin is oncè committed And 4. 4 There is no peaâ—e to no wicked man To make the generality of the sentence full there is no peace to no wicked man that is not to any man that is wicked for with God there is no respect of persons but if Coniah the Prince do sin though he were as the signet upon my right hand I will cut him off saith the Lord. The Jews were Gods own peculiar people of whom the Prophet saith You only have I chosen of all the Nations of the earth yet when they became
because they sought to preserve them from ruine so were this people mad against Jeromy and cast him into the dungeâ—n and adjudged him to be put to death because he sought to stop them in their Pegâ—sine race unto their own destruction And therefore seeing they were so impatient to be reproved and so violent against them that sought their preservation there was no means used to prevent and hinder their evil deeds and the progress of their transgressions for as our Prophet sheweth 1 Their Prophets and Preachers flattered them 1 Their Preachers were flatterers and reproved not their wicked waies but they sowed pillows under their elbows so strengthened them in their wickedness And those other Prophets that did not flatter them yet were they silent for fear of them following the counsell of the Poet Dum furor in cursu est currenti cede furori Difficiles aditus impetus omnis habet To give place unto their fury to prevent their own calamity Which notwithstanding was but to escape the smoak and fall into the fire but to avoid mans anger by not reproving them and to be liable to Gods wrath for not reproving them 2. 2 Their judges were corrupt The Judges and Magistrates did not execute the laws against them for though the Lord commandeth them to execute true judgment and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother Zech. 7.9 and oppress not the widow nor the fatherless nor the stranger nor the poor yet as our Prophet testisieth Jer. 5 28. they judged not the cause of the fatherless and the right of the needy did they not judg and the Prophet Esay saith Their Princes were rebellious and companions of theeves every one loved gifts and followed after rewards and judged not the fatherless neither did the cause of the widow come unto them Ezay 1.23 but they suffered oppressions robberies and murders to go unpunished and so the Laws lay as dead because the execution of the law is the life of the law and I fear not I care not to be condemned by the Law so I be freed by the Judg and saved from the Execution of the Law And this twofold remisseness and double error of the Magistrates and Minislers did exceedingly multiply the sins of the people and as highly provoke the wrath of God The sin of one man doth often bring a plague upon many not only against the offendors but also against the whole Nation and especially against those that were so slack in the punishing of these offences and performance of their duties For if you search the Scriptures you shall find that the sin of one man which is left unpunished brings a plague upon many and the execution of justice upon a transgressor doth avert Gods judgment from a multitude As when Achan sinned Josh 7.21 1 Chr. 2.7 Numb 25.8 all Israel was troubled and he was called the troubler of Israel who transgressed in the thing accursed And when Zimri and Cozbi offended the whole people suffered so that twenty four thousand of them died but when that Phineas executed judgment then the plague ceased Psal 106.11 saith the Text and when Achan suffered the wrath of God was pacified And therefore Moses very often Numb 35.31 and in many places exhorteth the children of Israel that whensoever any man committed Idolatry or Murder or Sodomy or any other haynous crime Deut. 17.12 they should take no satisfaction for his offence but the transgressor should be put to death The not punishing of transgressors incourageth others to transgreâ—s their eye should not spare him neither should they have pity upon him so should they turn away evil from Israel For it is most certain as the wise man saith that because sentence or judgment against an evil work is not speedily executed but deferred though not pardoned yet the heart of the children of men is altogether or fully set in them to do evill and it is the greatest incouragement that can be for wicked men to proceed on in their wickedness Eccl. 8.12 to see other wicked persons pardoned and not punished And I pray God the judgments of God as sicknesses death wars and the like may not proceed on us for our not proceeding to the execution of justice against Prophane oppressors the Kings murderers and other like wicked offendors the murderers of the Kings Loyall subjects For we know how Saul spared Agag that was destined by God for his wickedness to be put to death and how for sparing him he lost both his life and his Kingdom and had all his posterity rooted out and we know how the Israelits spared the Canaanits whom God commanded to be slain and how for sparing them they became thorns in their eyes and briars unto their sides And I beseech you to consider what the Prophet saith unto Ahab Thus saith the Lord because thou hast let go out of thy hand and so pardoned a man whom I appointed to utter destruction that is to death therefore thy life shall go for his life and thy people for his people 1 King 20.42 So hatefull it is to God that we should pardon such transgressors as he will not pardon And it is no wonder that God should thus deal with them that thus spare the transgressors for as he Qui non prohibet peccare cum possit jubet which doth not hinder a man to sin when he can hinder him spurres him on to sin saith Seneca so Qui justificat impium he that justifieth the wicked and spareth a transgressor whom he ought and can punish is partaker of his transgression and is as abominable before God as he is Prov. 17.15 that condemneth the innocent saith Solomon And these are the two chiefest sorts of evil The two things that God chiefly hateth in the doings of men towards other men that the Lord hateth in the doings of men towards men that is 1. To oppress condemn and wrong the good and godly men 2. To promote justify and free the wicked men and suffer them to flourish notwithstanding all their bloody sins and transgressions And against these evils we the Preachers of Gods Word are injoyned still to denounce the judgments of God and if we tell not the people of their faults and reprove them not for these doings they shall die in their sins and their blood shall be required at our hands as the Lord saith unto his Prophet And therefore as S. Clement saith Nos quod vobis expedire novimus Clement recognit l. 1. tacere non possumus We cannot but we must tell the people of their doings and the more abominable we see their doings the more bound are we to cry aloud and spare not to cry against their wickedness And so much for the doings of this people 2. In the doome and due desert of this people for their doings 2 The doome and judgment of this people for their wickedness you may
this world better than Peace for as the Poet saith Omnia pace vigent pacis tempore florent All things do prosper in the time of peace And as the Prophet saith Our garners are full and plenteous with all manner of store our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets our oxen are strong to labour and there is no decay no lâ—ading into captivity and no complaining in our streets Psal 144.14 but our houses are repaired our Cities inlarged our Fields tilled and the poor are relieved which the Souldiers cause to starve and to die at their doors which have nothing to help them And therefore the very heathen man could say Cicero Iniquissimam pacem justisfimo bello antefero that he preferred the worst peace before the best and justest war and the onely outward blessing that comprehended all the other blessings which the Israelites desired was peace their onely salutation was Peace be unto you John 20.19 when Christ arose from the dead the first word that he spake to his disciples was Peace be unto you and when he was to leave the world the chiefest Legacie that he left to his Apostles was My Peace I give unto you and so the Apostolical wish to all Saints in all their Epistles is Grace and Peace be unto you and the most frequent Counsel most principall Precept that is given 2 Cor. 13.11 Colos 3.15 Phil. 4.7 Luc. 10.3 To love one another to honour all men to live in peace with all men the same thing in effect Which was Cromwels that Arch-souldier's Motto and is to be earnestly urged to be observed in all the New Testament by all the Ministers of Christ is to love one another to honour all men and to live in peace with all men which are the very same things in effect though exprest in divers forms and where this bond of peace is broken our Saviour saith Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be termed and called the children of God which is the God of Peace And what think you then of the souldiers that fight and war and break the bands of peace and the golden chain of unity and concord all to pieces whose children be they and may they not fear to be accursed Yes certainly and therefore they pretend that Pax quaeritur bello they make war to purchase peace To whom I may justly answer as Cyneas did to King Pyrrhus when the wise Oratour demanded of him what he would do when he had conquered Italy and Sicilie and Africk and Macedon c. Pyrrhus answered we will then be quiet and make peace and eat drink and be merry to whom Cyneas replyd And what letteth us my good Lord but that we may do so now before the shedding of so much blood as must be spilt in these enterprises So I say if you make War to procure peace why will you disturb the peace and not rather now when men do live in peace embrace it and suffer it to continue before you purchase it with the slaughter of so many men as must be killed in war But would you know the reason All the graces of Christ without the this grace will availe us nothing why they are so blessed that do procure peace and do embrace it and why we are so earnestly so often and in so various terms sollicited by Christ and his Apostles to observe this duty Saint Augustine telleth us it is because all the graces of Christ without this grace of loving all men and living in peace with all men will avail us nothing at all Namsicut spiritus humanus nunquam vivificat membra nisi fuerint unita ita Spiritus sanctus nunquam nos vivificat nisi sumus in pace conjuncti For as the Soul and humane spirit doth not quicken and give life unto our members unlesse they be joyned together so the Spirit of God will never quicken us to become members of Christ unlesse we be united together with love and in the bond of peace as the same Father speaketh and Saint Paul plentifully proveth the invalidity of all graces 1 Cor. 13. per totum without this grace of love and charity towards all men and what love can be in them that kill their neighbours And therefore not onely of our peace and reconciliation with God or the peace and tranquillity of our consciences but even of this peace among men Esay 52.7 the Prophet saith How beautifull are the feet of the Embâ—ssadours of peace and our Saviour doth so earnestly perswade us to embrace this peace without which we can never attain unto any peace with God or to any quiet mind for as Saint John saith he that loveth not his brother and I may adde 1 John 4.20 and is not at peace with his neighbour whom he hath seen how can he love God and be at peace with God whom he hath not seen And therefore The piety of our Liturgy and Letany howsoever they that think themselves to be the holy brethren and yet are the incentives of war do exclaim against our Liturgy and cannot endure the Letany yet our Church doth most piously pray Give peace in our time O Lord and again That it may please thee to give unto all 〈…〉 peace and concord 〈…〉 the first part of that honour which we owe to all men that is to do 〈◊〉 wrâ—ng to shed no blood to hate no man in our heart to traduce no man with our tongues and to smite no man with our hands but to love and to live in peace with all men 2. As we are no wayes to hurt or to wrong any man so we ought 2 Every way to assist and help them that need our help to the uttermost of our power to be always ready to relieve help and succour every one that is oppressed and that standeth in need of our help nihil est tam egregium tam liberale tamque munificum quà m opem ferre supplicibus excitare asfâ—ictos dare salutem homines à periculis liberare and there is nothing more royall more liberal and more munificent then to help the poor supplicants and distressed Petitioners to raise up the afsticted and to free the oppressed out of the hands of their oppressours saith the Oratour Câ—cero Orat. 1. and in his Oration for Ligarius he saith Homines ad Deos nulla re propiùs accedunt quà m salutem hominibus dandâ— men can by no way be made more like unto God than by doing good and by yielding health and deliverance unto men Therefore Solomon saith with-hold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it and say not unto thy neighbour Prov. 3.27 28. Go and come again and to morrow I will give it thee when as thou hast it by thee because as Lucian saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Celeres Gratiae dulciores sunt
〈◊〉 the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble much more blessed shall he be that helpeth and relieveth the oppressed and especially those that have formerly wronged and oppressed him he shall be doubly blessed 1. Because he relieveth his wants And 2. Because he remitteth his faults and revengeth not his own wrongs And so you see how we are to honor to esteem and to love all men 2. As we are to honor all men in generall 2 What love we owe to the Brother-hood so more especially we are to love the Brother-hood in particular where observe 1. The Act. 2. The Extent 1. The Act is love and love saith the Schoolman is Bene velle amato but that is no more then Amor affectivus and the Apostle speaks not here de amore affectivo tantum sed de amore effectivo simul of the inward affection only but also of that love which is declared by the effects in outward actions and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Aethic l. 9. c. 5. To love is to will that which we esteem good to any one and to the uttermost of our power to procure that good unto him as Aristotle saith So that this our love to the brother-hood comprehendeth 1. An hearty affection without dissimulation 1 Joh. 3.18 not only in tongue and in word but in deed and verity i. e. from the heart 2. An actuall performance of all the good that we can do unto them as praying for them comforting them and administring to their necessities not only with our purses but also with our words with our labours Crysost in Ro. 12. ho. 21. and with any thing that lieth in our power to stand them in any stead This is the act that we are to do And 2. For the Extent of it we are to do it most especially saith the Apostle to the Brother-hood Touching which point of Fraternity or Brother-hood you must observe that there is a two fold Brother-hood whereof you must hate the one and love the other That there is a two fold fraeternity As The 1. Is in Evil and from the Devil The 2. Is in Good and from God For 1. Simeon and Levi were brethren but it was in the evil 1 The evill Brother-hood saith the Scripture when the instruments of cruelty were in their habitations and therefore cursed was their brother-hood Gâ—n 49.5 7.7 and their unity was to be divided in Jacob and to be scattered in Israel And so the wicked at all times Faciunt unitatem coutra unitatem do as S. Augustine saith unite themselves together against verity and against the unity that should be among Cristians Psal 2.1 2. which is the unity of faith and religion and as the Prophet David saith the Heathen do furiously rage together How the wicked like the Scots and the Parliament do combine and covenant together and the people do imagine a vain thing and all take counsell together and plot against the Lord and against his annointed so Pilate and Herod though at ods among themselves for other things yet they can be reconciled and agree together to crucify Christ And so Solomon tels us how the Congregation of the ungodly do confederate and Covenant as now they do together to strengthen themselves in their wickedness saying one to anothe Come let us cast our lots together let us have but one purse that is one common treasure amongst us all Prov. 1.11 14. and let us undergo the same fortune be the same good or bad And therefore it is no new thing for Traytors Rebels and Robbers and other the like wicked men though of different sects and severall opinions yet to unite themselves together and to take oathes and make covenants confederacies and conspiracies against the professors of the true Religion and against those that they are bound Salust Conjurat Caâ—el X â—â—â—phâ—n de ascend Cyri. by former oaths to obey as it was in the conspiracy of Cateline which Salust relateth and in the confederacy of the Grecians when they went up with Cyrus the younger against Artaxerxes which Zenophon setteth down at large and the covenant of the holy leaguers of France against their King and the like But you must remember to do what God commandeth you to do in such confederacies saying My son walk not thou in the way with them resrain thy fâ—ot from their path Prov. 1.15 for their feet run to evil and make hast to shed blood as you may read in the foresaid Authors what abundance of innocent blood those wicked covenants and confederacies have caused to be spilt And therefore this being not the Brother-hood that you should love if you love God and your own souls you must hate the same as you do the gates of hell because that as the Psalmist saith in covenanting against right and against the truth they are confederates against thee O God and against thy servants And what created power under Heaven How hard it is to escaâ—e the mischief of subtile confederates is able to unty that knot and to escape that malice which villany subtilty and cruelty have combined to bring to pass Or what man is able to withstand a multitude of united enemies that have strength and wealth enough and have covenanted and sworne to fight against him untill they have destroyed him Surely when their plots are so subtile their power so great their wealth of Gold and Silver so much and the confederates of sworne brethren so many it is impossible to prevent their mischief and to escape out of their hands if the Lord himself doth not stand to help his servants and as the Prophet saith if he that dwelleth in heaven laugheth not these covenanters to scorne if the Lord have them not in derision yea if he speaks not to them in his wrath and vexeth them in his sore displeasure 2. 2 The good Brother-hood The other brother-hood is good among the good and in good in faith to God in obedience to our King and in love towards all men and this brother-hood is many fold as specially 1. Is four fold Naturall 2. Nationall 3. Politicall 4. Spirituall 1. 1 The naturall Brother-hood Naturall brethren begotten of the same parents bred in the same house and after the same manner should not be like the off-spring of Cain that killed his own and his only brother Abel and as Romulus killed his own brother Remus and Antoninus murdered his brother Geta in his mother's lap 2 Chr. 21.4 and King Joram slew six of his own naturall brethren the sons of Jehosaphat Jâ—seph de Ant. l. 14. c. 2. deinceps with the sword when as such miscreants are unworthy to live on earth neither should they jar hate or envy one another as Jacob and Esau did and Jacobs children did their brother Joseph and as the dissention of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus made way for
judge de actionibus mediis quaevel in malo vel in bono animo fieri possunt of such actions as may proceed and come either from an evil mind or from a good heart or else de futur is contingentibus of future things what may happen to any one because that in all these things we may easily be deceived as we see some man like unto S. Paul de quo desperamus subitò convertitur fit optimus of whom we despaired is suddenly converted and as he was from a persecuting wolfe became a holy Saint so is this other man from a deboist drunkard become a devout Christian and we see other men like King Saul and Judas and Simon Magus de quibus multum praesumpseramus defecerunt facts sunt pessimi of whom we conceived much good have suddenly relapsed and became most wicked so that nec timor noster certus est nec amor neither our fear of the one nor our hope of the other can have any certainty at all And on the other side he would have us to strive and study to the uttermost of our power by the ways and means that are left unto us to know the truth of outward things and to search for the understandiug of those things that God hath revealed unto us Of what thing â—ve may judge and so to judge righteous judgement in those things wherein we are allowed to judge and that is de praesentibus externis apertis of things present or past and the things that are manifest and externall as to discern white from black light from darknesse good from evill and a sober man from him that is drunk or a true subject from a false Traytor and the like so far as their outward actions do appear Which may be done without entring into the hearts and thoughts of men or diving to deep into the secrets of God for our Saviour tells us that as the tree is known by his fruit that is cujus generis sit of what kind it is an apple or a crab The words and works of every man do testifie whâ—t he is Judg. 12.6 John 10.25 a fig tree or a thistle so we may know men by their words and by their works whether they be therein good or bad the blessers of God or the blasphemers of God for as the damsell said to Saint Peter Thy speech bewrayeth thee and the pronouncing of Shiboleth discovered who was an Israelite and who not who a Gileadite and who an Euphraimite And our Saviour saith The works that I do do bear witnesse of me so the words and works of every man else do sufficiently testifie what he is for the present good or bad But though I do know by the fruits of what kind the tree is yet I know not thereby whether the tree be rotten at the root or not so though I know by the words and works of men whether they be therein vertuous or vitious Saints or sinners yet I cannot judge thereby what kind of hearts they have good or bad or what will become of them for the time to come For you know what the Prophet saith Many give good words with their mouths but curse with their hearts and the Israelites drew near unto God with their mouthes and honoured him with their lips but their hearts were farre from him and therefore seeing that virtus consistit in actione vertue consisteth in action in our works rather then in our words our Saviour tells us Matth 7.21 Not he that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in heaven and Saint Paul saith directly Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the Law though you should hear a Sermon every day in the week but the doers of the Law shall be justified because our works do more fully and more certainly shew what we are rather then our words for quid audiam verba cum videam contraria facta to what purpose shall I hear good words Our words like the leaves and our works like the fruit while the tongue like Joab saith Iâ— it peace my brother and the hand stabs us to the heart they will avail us nothing being like the Spiders web that will make no garment for us because our words are like the green leaves that make a fair shew upon any tree and our works are like the solid fruits whereby we discern the sweetnesse and the goodnesse of the tree And yet I told you how far we may judge of the fruits and works of men so far as 〈◊〉 see and no further because we may as easily be deceived by the specious works of the hypocrite as by the scandalous deeds of the transgressors which perhaps for ought we know may have better hearts towards God then the others that have far more glorious works in the sight of men And therefore I say that we ought not to make a distinction among Christians and gather Churches unto our selves to be a congregation of Saints separated from the rest of the wicked as the Apostles gathered Churches from the unbelieving Jewes and the Idolatrous Gentiles Because all those that are baptized and are received as the children of the Church and do professe the Faith of Christ are comprehended in this Brotherhood and is not to be rent in pieces like Jeroboams garment but ought to be kept intire like the Coat of Christ and to be loved and and cherished as this our Apostle adviseth us But then seeing this brotherhood which we are thus chiefly to love is not the brotherhood of society which reason perswadeth nor of consanguinity which nature teacheth nor of our Election and Adoption to be the Sonnes of God which we know not but of the profession of the faith of Christ and receiving of the signes and badges of Christianity which are visible to our eyes of flesh and credible to the judgement of charity Quest it is much questioned and of too many men very unjustly resolved whether all that are baptized and do thus professe the Christian Religion and are not cut off from the Communion of the Church for some detected and apparant iniquity are comprehended in this brotherhood and are thus specially to be loved To which our rigid Saints do absolutely deny it because we see so many Sects and so many kinds of men that do thus professe Christianitie and say They do all believe in Christ and do wear his badge and do him service as Papasts Puritans Brownists Anabaptists and the like And therefore if this be true that all these are contained and united within this bond of fraternity and with a Christian love to be imbraced you will make the way to heaven very broad and this bond of brotherhood of a very large extent But I answer that I must not shut the gate of heaven against those Sol. to whom Christ hath opened it nor make the way thither narrower then God hath made it
for his flock For the affirmative or positive duties of a good Shepherd what he should do for his sheep never any came neer the goodnesse of this good Shepherd For 1. He provideth for his flock not onely the outward food of their bodies which he doth for all other living creatures when as the Prophet saith He openeth his hands and filleth all things living with plenteousness and as the same Prophet saith He feedeth the young ravens that call upon him and the best of us hath not a crum of bread but what he hath from him but he hath provided also the spiritual food of their souls which is the Word of God and the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper for as our Saviour alledged against Satan Mat. 4.4 Man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and the blessed Sacraments are Verba visibilia Evangelii the visible and palpable words of the Gospel and are as the celestiall manna the heavenly food that perisheth not but feedeth us to eternall life The errour of the Messalian Hereticks if we strive to receive the same worthily as we ought to do though now we have too too many that are poysoned with the conceit of the Messalian Hereticks that said Baptism and the Lords Supper did neither profit us nor hurt us but that they which were inspired by Gods Spirit were guided by the revelation of that Spirit how to behave themselves in all their wayes which is the readiest way to lead them to the infernal spirits because we are not to be led by the inspiration of any spirit but by those holy directions which the Spirit of God hath left us in the holy Scriptures What is meant to be inspired with Gods spirit and when we pray to be inspired with Gods Spirit we mean no otherwise then that the Spirit of God would guide us to lead our lives and to do all things as we are commanded by the same spirit to do in the word of God that is left unto us by the Prophets and Apostles of Jesus Christ to be the onely Rule of all our actions 2. As he provideth thus both our temporal and our spiritual food 2 Christ ordereth how the food of his should be disposed so he ordereth and disposeth this food unto his sheep not according to their sensual appetite but for the natural good of their bodies and the spiritual health of their souls that it may be unto them the savour of life unto life and not the savour of death unto death As 1. For their natural food 1 Their natural food he would have us with the son of Jakeh to desire neither poverty nor riches neither too much nor too little but to be fed with food convenient lest if we be too full we forget the Lord grow too proud as the great rich men commonly be or if we be too poor we be driven to steal and to lie Prov. 30.8 9. and to take the name of God in vain And What should be convenient for every man because most men are loath to understand what is the mean betwixt too much and too little and what measure is that that is convenient S. Paul tells us That having food and rayment we should therewith be contented for the greatest Monarch in the world can have no more and our Saviour that best knew what is convenient for every man bids us prey to God that he would give us this day our daily bread that is so much as will serve us for our present necessity Luke 12.19 and not with that fool in the Gospel to lay up much goods for many years when he knew not that his soul in that night should be taken from him and then he could not tell who should enjoy those things or how those things should be spent that he had provided And 2. For our spiritual food 2 Their spiritual food this good Shepherd hath commanded us that are his under-Shepherds to give unto his sheep their owne portion in due season 1. Their own portion and that both in quality and quantity 1 Their own portion 1. In quality 1. In Quality what is most proper for every one as all meats serve not for every stomack and every potion serves not for all diseases so it is with our spiritual food and the divine physick of our soules and therefore we are advised to give milk unto the babes and stronger meat to them that are stronger men in Christ that is plain and easie doctrines to the plain and more ignorant people and deeper and more polite discourses to the judicious and those of deeper knowledge because as S. Paul saith we are debtors both to the Greeks and to the Barbaâ—ians to the wise and to the unwise and therefore as Christ biddeth his Apostles so must we sometimes launch forth into the deep both of Divinity and Humanity and as well of Arts as of Languages And so we are to give praises to the good reproofes to the bad but flatteries unto none when we ought no more to flatter the sweet and clement then to fear the cruel tyrant and in like manner we are commanded to apply comfors and consolations to the dejected spirits to pronounce pardon to the penitent sinners and to thunder out the terrors of Gods judgements to none but such as are impenitent and obstinate transgressors 2. In Quantity we are to give our sheep neither too much of this spiritual food 2 In quantity nor yet too little for where prophesie faileth the people perish and the worst famine is the famine not of corn wine and oyl but of the famine of Gods Word and therofere the Apostle saith Wo is me if I preach not the Gospel and wo is them that hinder us to preach it as they have done these many years And yet as we are not to give our sheep too little of this spiritual pasture lest they should want so they should not have too much lest they should loath it for a man may eat too much of the Honey-comb saith Solomon Prov. 25.16 Num. 11.20 and the children of Israel had so much Manna that they loathed it and Quails so plentifully that the flesh came out at their nostrils and so men may have the Word of God so fully that they will despise it or at least neglect it because as Solomon saith Prov. 27.7 the full soul loatheth or treadeth under foot the honey-comb but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet so is the Word of God precious when it is not so plentiful and despised when we are full of it And truly I do believe Knowledge how more plentiful now then ever it was the Gospel of Christ and the rest of the holy Scriptures were never since Christ his time so fully and so generally and so truly published as of late they were in the reigne of our late King
them You will perchance say yes they may be read by the Preacher but not quoted and cited to the hearers but as Virgil saith Hot ego versiculos feei tulit alter honores So I say this is to rob the Bees of their Honey and to eat that our selves which we our selves never gathered and so to take the Honour which is due to other men unto our selves which is a kind of Thest and an Injury done unto our deceased brethren and not so beneficial to the hearers who ought rather to respect them more then us But to prove both the lawfulness and the necessity of using the help of as many Authors as we can conveniently read you know that the holy Scriptures are like a deep well from whence we cannot draw out the water without the help of some things to reach it as the Samaritan woman said to Christ John 4.11 2 Pet. 3.16 The difficulty of the Scripture is more fully shewed in my book of the Great Antichrist it is full of Figures and Mysteries so difficult that in S. Pauls Epistles S. Peter saith there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some things hard to be understood and in other places much more and perhaps more difficult when as the Scriptures do comprehend a Literal or Historical sense and a Spiritual or a Mystical sense and the Literal sense is either simple which consisteth in the propriety of the words or figurative whereby the words are transferred from their natuaral signification to another signification as when Christ saith I have other sheep that are not of this fold the meaning is that besides the people of the Jews he had other people that were to be brought to the Church of God Et hujus sensus tot sunt genera quot sunt genera figurarum saith Bellarm. l. 3. c. 3. very truly And the spiritual sense is distinguished to be three-fold allegoricall tropological and anagogical and the not understanding in what sense the Scripture is to be interpreted hath caused many great scholars to erre most foully as Origen doth so allegorize the terrestial Paradise that he taketh away the truth of the History when for the trees he understands the Angels for the rivers the heavenly vertues and the coats of skin their humane bodies and others have as foully erred in taking that litterally which ought to be figuratively understood as Papias and those that follow him Just Martyr Iren. Tertul. Lactant. and some others do expound the new Hierusalem and the thousand years that the Saints are said they should reign with Christ altogether litterally which are figuratively to be understood as both S. Hierom and S. Ang. testifie And therefore S. Aug. demandeth how he that cannot understand Terence without a comment dares presume to understand the Scripture without a Teacher when as Quicquid est in scripturis illis altum divinum est all every thing that is in these holy Scriptures is very deep and divine And S. Paul saith that the letter killeth that is the words of the Scriptures litterally interpreted when they ought to be figuratively understood do bring men into many errours and indeed as S. Augustine saith Hinc omnes haereses dum scripturae bonae intelliguntur non bene from hence all Heresies and Errours do arise when the good Scriptures are misconstrued and not rightly understood For it is not enough for us to have the Bible in our hands and the words of it in our mouths unless we have also the sense and meaning of it in our heads Acts 8.21 therefore our Saviour Christ knowing that as the Eunuch who had perfectly read the prophesie of Isaiah yet understood it not without a guide and as the Jews Mal. 2.7 that had the Laws of God written upon their doors and the posts of their houses yet were they to seek the meaning thereof from the mouth of the Priests so our having the words of the Scripture at our fingers end would avail us nothing unless we understood it and understand it we could not unless with the Jews and the Eunuch we were instructed in the true sense and meaning thereof he sends his Embassadors the Bishops and Ministers as I said before to instruct his people to understand the sense and meaning of the holy Ghost and the voice of Christ in such and such words and places of the holy Scripture as are difficult and obscure and saith Luke 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me And of all those that Christ sendeth to explain his Will and to interpret his Voice and to give the true sense of his words unto the people who I pray you do ye think can best do it the preachers that are now living or those that are dead Surely the wise men were wont to say Who are the best Counsellors Dead Preachers rather to be believed then the living Preachers so saith Christ they have Moses and the Prophets that were all dead that the best Counsellors are the dead that is the counsels and instructions that the dead men have left in their books because they are no time-servers that fear the Tyrant or flatter for reward And truly I am of the same mind for our Preachers and instructors in the Word of God when I see many men for the love of preferment and many others for fear of loosing their livings doing that service to God and teaching those documents unto men which otherwise I know they would not do And therefore if you believe me or any other living man that Christ sendeth to instruct you why should you not rather or at least as soon believe S. Aug. S. Chrysost or any other of the holy Fathers that are dead when we are assured they were sent from God to declare his will unto his people and who we know were most learned zealous and most faithful Ministers of Christ And so you see what the sheep of Christ must do to hear his voice from those messengers that Christ sendeth and hath sent to inform them of it 2. 2 The negative part what they must not do What the must not do is here likewise set down by Christ and that is they must not hear the voice of a stranger which Christ hath not sent to declare his will and to explain his meanings for a strangers voice saith Christ my sheep will not hear but will fly from him for that they know not the voice of strangers Where you must observe Who is meant by a stranger that by stranger is not meant a stranger that cometh unto the people but a stranger unto Christ and to the truth of Christ and true service of God and because he speaketh here first in the singular number of a stranger whose voice Christs sheep will not hear but will fly from him and then in the plural number of strangers whose voice his sheep know not for though Tremel translates it out of the Syriack Non norunt vocem alieni yet the Greek
Copy hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza translates Non norunt vocem alienorum they know not the voice of strangers as our English translation hath it very right Therefore I conceive that by the stranger Whom doth Christ mean by the stranger and who by the strangers he meaneth that foolish Idol Shepherd whereof the Prophet Zachary speaketh that should come in the time of Christ to be the type of the great Anti-christ that should be manifested in our time and by the other strangers he meaneth those many Anticks that S. John speaks of the Hereticks and false Prophets that from time to time and now more then at any other time Ier. 14.14 c. 23.21 do intrude themselves into the Sacred Function of the Ministry and as the Prophet Jeremy saith do run when Christ hath not sent them and do speak what he hath not commanded them but do preach the lying inventions of their own heads to seduce the sheep of Christ to follow the Anti-christ and to relinquish the true received worship of the living God But the true and right sheep of Christ will hear none of these nor follow after any of them for they know that as they which are not lawfully called or allowed to be the lawful Ministers of Gods Word should not preach and cannot do it without great offence to God that may justly say to them as he doth to the Jews by his Prophet Quis avobis requisivit hac Who hath required these things at your hands So they cannot hear them without the like offence to God yea though they should preach the truth and nothing but the truth unto them for as Christ reproved Satan and bad him hold his peace when he spake the very truth that he was the Son of God because he had no Commission to be the Embassador of Christ to publish that truth unto his people so shall they be sharply censured by God though they preach the very truth when they are not lawfully called and have no Commission from God to do the same 2 Chro. 26.21 I think the fearful Judgement of God upon King Uzzia for invading the Priests office and upon Uzza for doing that which appertained to the Levites to do 1 Chron. 13.10 and upon King Saul for offering Sacrifice to the Lord should be a sufficient warning for them to take heed how they thrust themselves into the Ministry for King Uzzia presuming to burn Incense unto the Lord which appertained to the Priests the sons of Aaron to do the Lord suddenly smote him with Leprosie and so he continued a Leper to his dying day And Uzza putting forth his hand to hold up the Ark when the Oxen shook it which belonged only unto the Levites to carry it the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza that he smote him dead in the very place and Saul lost his Kingdome for his intrusion into the Priests Office and how date these men to intrude themselves into this Sacred Office to be the Embassadors of Christ to declare his will and to expound his meaning without Commission And if they should dare to preach how dare the sheep of Christ hear their voice when as Christ tells us plainly his sheep will not hear the voice of strangers and the Lord commands them by his Prophet not to hearken to those whom he hath not sent And Solomon saith Ier. 27.14 c. 29.8 Cease my son to hear the instruction that causeth to erre from the words of knowledge Prov. 19.27 Surely none would do it but that we love to shew our selves to be the children of Adam and to stretch forth our hands to the forbidden fruit and as the Poet saith Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata We long to do what we are forbidden and will the rather do it because it is forbidden like the man that for some just impediment never went out of his house but being for some offence injoyned to keep his house he was so moved for the debarring of his liberty that to cross the command of his Superiours and to become liable to his censure he would needs presently walk abroad and so with Shimei 1 Reg. 2.46 Our wilfulness to do what we are forbidden bring himself to death And so it is with us we will not hear when we are commanded to hear and we long to hear those that we are forbidden to hear as if God envied our good when he forbad us when as he forbids nothing but for our good as when we forbid a man to drink poyson that it might not kill him 2. Having heard how the sheep of Christ are called Secunda pars I know them it followeth that I should shew how they are justified in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I know them that is I do acknowledge them for my sheep and do own them for my people for my servants and for my children for there be very many that go under the shape and shew of Gods sheep and are indeed the Foxes Wolves and Lyons of Satan of whom Christ never saith I know them but rather Depart from me I know you not you workers of iniquity Yet these subtil Foxes and these Wolves in sheeps cloathing The wicked and the hypocrite not acknowledged by God to be his sheep Gen. 34.23 The Sichemites how served for their deceitful hypocrisie V. 26. that profess themselves to be the only Saints and are indeed the destroyers of Gods servants may easily blind the eyes of men but they cannot beguile the all-seeing God for as the Sichemites whereof Moses testifieth that they came with dissembling hearts to deceive Jacob and his children were contented to be circumcised and take upon them the habit of Gods children in hope that all theirs should be their own if they were circumcised as themselves confess yet the Lord that knew the◠to be hypocrites doth not acknowledge them for his children and therefore their dissembling of Religion brought on their destruction and their Circumcision which they thought would be the means to inrich them became the means to destroy them for while they were weak and sore by reason of their Circumcision the sons of Jacob fell upon them and slew all that were male which was a just judgment of God for the dissembling of their Religion And as the Gibeonites with false hearts and a dissembling shew of a religious desire of communion with Gods children came to the children of Israel and through their lies and dissimulation made a league with them and so freed themselves from the Sword of Joshua and deceived the Israelites Josh 9.15 yet they could not deceive the Lord who knew their hypocrisie and knew them not for any of his people and therefore made them slaves and drudges to draw water carry wood V. 27. The Gibeonites how served for their dissimulation and do all manner of servile work for the sons of Israel So amongst us in
all places and at all times we have such Sichemites and Gibeonites as deceive the world and do blind the eyes of men by making them to believe they are the only Saints of God and do all for the honour of God but the Lord knoweth them not for any such Saints and Christ doth not acknowledge them for any of his sheep but though they shall say to Christ Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out devils and in thy Name done wonderful works that is preached and fasted and prayed and fought for thy service and the like evidences of our faithfulness unto thee yet Christ that knoweth very well they did all these things for their own ends Mat. 7.22 23. will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity And S. Luke is more ample in setting out the discourse and Dialogue betwixt Christ and these men at the last day saying When once the Master of the house is risen up How S. Luke describes the hypocrites and hath shut the door and they standing without shall knock at the door saying Lord Lord open to us and he shall answer and say unto them I know you not whence you are then shall they begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy presence that is when they received the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood at his own Table and thou hast taught in our streets and we were daily hearers of those Sermons that were preached though but in Chambers or in Barns or in the streets but he shall say I tell you as being angry for their presumption and hypocrisie I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of iniquity there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when they shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets and the rest of Gods faithful servants whom they persecuted in the Kingdome of God Luke 13.25 26 27 28. and themselves thrust out of doors But can they perswade themselves that our Saviour Christ will not know them when as they seem to be so zealous of his worship How hardly it is to perswade hypocrites to acknowledge themselves to be hypocrites and profess themselves so earnestly and so strictly to observe his will and to do nothing without a warrant from his written Word Surely no they cannot be perswaded hereunto but it is easier to convert the drunkards adulterers and harlots then to perswade these hypocritical Saints that they are sinners save in that general notion that we are all sinners for as decipimur specie recti we are deceived in them and the world is blinded through that shew of piety and profession of Religion which they make so they deceive themselves hereby Fallit enim vitium specie virtutis umbra For it is most certain that vice deceives the owner under the shew and shadow of virtue when as our Saviour saith to his Apostles they shall persecute you and imprison you Lament 4.5 Was there ever any time wherein this was more truly fulfilled then now in our daies and scourge you silence you and rob you of your means and maintenance and as the Prophet Jeremy saith cause those that did feed delicately to lie desolate in the streets and those that were brought up in Scarlet to imbrace dunghills and yet they that do these things shall not be Infidels and Pagans but such as shall think themselves very good Christians and to do God herein very good service to persecute his servan s. And what a cruel deceit is this to beguile their own hearts and to deceive their own souls to think they have God Almighty by the hand when the devil holds them fast by the toes and to perswade themselves they are the sheep of Christ when Christ professeth he knows them not to be his sheep but knoweth them to be the Wolves of Satan But can any thing be unknown to God or be hid from him which knoweth the secrets of our hearts and understandeth our thoughts long before he knoweth what is in the deep Sea and how far the world extendeth he knoweth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their names and he knoweth the height of heaven the depth of the Sea and the length of all the Spheres and doth he not know these men Indeed we know them not they are such Camelions that can change themselves into all colours saving white that is put on all manner of shews and shapes but that which is virtuous and honest but God knoweth them very well intus in cute both within and without for so the Lord professeth I know their works and their thoughts Esay 66.18 And therefore you must understand there is a twofold knowledge in God 1. The one general or universal 2. The other special or particular The first is over all the things in the world as they are his creatures The twofold knowledge of God and the works of his hands and so he knoweth all men good and bad and all creatures both in heaven and in earth The other is only over his Church that is his children whom he hath chosen and loveth and which therefore do love honour and obey him in doing his will and keeping his Commandments And thus he knoweth not the wicked hypocrites How God knoweth both the godly and the wicked oppressors extortioners and the like sinful generation and brood of Vipers as John Baptist calls them to be his children but knoweth that they are none of his children but rather the children of their Father the Devil for as a Father knoweth his Son and as he is his Son provideth for him an inheritance and knoweth his servant but knoweth him not for his Son and therefore provideth no inheritance for him but appointeth him to do some drudgery and keepeth him for his service So Christ knoweth his sheep and as they are his sheep he provideth for them eternal life and he knoweth the Goats the Wolves and the Foxes and knoweth them not to be his sheep and therefore provideth no inheritance for them but wil severely punish them because they neither follow him nor hear his voice but as the Lord saith Refused his counsel and despised his reproof Prov. 1.30 And this should be an exceeding grief and terrour unto the wicked when God shall say unto them as a Father doth to his disobedient Son I will not know him that is I will not acknowledge him for my son so God will not own nor acknowledge these men for his children though he knoweth them and knoweth their works well enough And on the other side this is an exceeding comfort and joy unto the godly when as a friend shall say of his friend I will know him wheresoever I see him before friend and foe and I will acknowledge him my friend and my self his friend in what state or condition soever he be rich or poor
scientiam zelati sunt sacriligi extiterunt in filium Dei they perswaded themselves that they had the love and zeal of the honour of God but because their zeal was not according to knowledge they became sacrilegious against the Son of God and their fiery zeal to Gods Worship became as Saint Ambrose saith A bloody Zeal unto Death and like unto a Ship under faile without a Pilate that will dash it self against the Rocks all to pieces so it is when we rob and spoyl and persecute the true Servants of Christ for being as we suppose the limbs of the Antichrist But such and so great is the malice and subtilty of Satan towards mankind that he cares not which wayes he brings man to destruction so he may bring him any way either in being too zealous without knowledge and so persecute the good for bad or too careless with all our knowledge and so bless the bad for the good either by hating the superstitious Papist The continual practice of the Devil beyond all reason or loving the malicious Sectary contrary to all reason either by falling into the fire on the right hand or into the water on the left hand either by making the whole Service of God to consist onely of preaching and hearing Sermons and neglect the Prayers and all other Christian duties or using the Prayers onely with the Service of the Church and omit the preaching of Gods Word for this hath been alwayes the Devils practise To separate those whom God would have joyned together and to joyn those together whom God would have kept asunder And therefore we should be very careful to joyn Knowledge and Discretion with our Zeal and desire to do God service if we desire to follow Christ 2. 2 The matter wherein we are to follow Christ For the Matter Points or wayes wherein the Sheep of Christ are to follow him they are very many but the chiefest of them are reducible into these three principal Heads 1. The works of Piety Joh. 2.17 2. The works of Equity 3. The works of Charity Jam. 2.16 Eph. 5.1 2. In all which we are to do our best endeavour to imitate and to follow Christ Actu ciffectu Bern. in Cant. S. 50. and therein we shall do the things that are most acceptable unto God and most profitable for our selves For the first none doubts of it but that these things are most acceptable in the sight of God And for the second we may be sure of it that it is better for us to build Churches to maintain Preachers and to erect Hospitals then to raise our Families and we shall receive more comfort to do Justice and to protect the Innocent and to relieve the Poor then by gaining Naboths Vineyard or heâ—ping Dives his Treasures unto our selves The time will not give me leave to prosecute these particulars any further but I pray God give us grace to prosecute the performance and doing of them throughout all our lives to the glory of God the discharging of our Duties and the eternall comfort of our own souls through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour To whom with the Father and the holy Spirit be all Glory and Honour for ever and ever Amen Amen Jehovae Liberatori THE SEVENTH TREATISE 1 John 4.19 We love him because he first loved us THis text you see is a text of love a Theam that filleth Sea and Land Heaven and Earth and as the Poets feign Hell it self Claudian de raptu Proserpinae when as the King thereof Tumidas exarsit in iras did swell with rage because he might not enjoy his love in hell as Jupiter did in heaven And yet the scarcity and want of true love causeth such plenty of great evils in every place for we love not God we love not our neighbours we love not our own selves for if we loved God we would keep his Commandments if we loved our neighbours we would neither wrong them nor oppress them and if we loved our selves then we would love God if not for his own sake which is the right love yet for our own good and our neighbours for Gods sake But for Gods Commandements I may truly say it with Nehemiah Nehem. 9.34 Neither have our Kings our Princes our Priests nor our Fathers kept his Laws nor hearkned unto his Commandments but as Ezra saith Ezra 9.7 We have all been in a great trespass unto this day and for our iniquities have we our King our Priests our Bishops our Judges and all of us been delivered to the sword to the spoil to confusion of face and to all these miseries as it is this day And for wronging one another if we consider all the oppressions that are done under the Sun nay that were done in these Kingdomes and the tears of such as were oppressed and had no Comforter when the oppressors had such power that none durst speak against them then as Solomon saith we may most justly praise the dead which are already dead more then the living which are yet alive Eccles 4.1 2 3 and him better then both which hath not yet been to see the great evils that are done amongst us And for our own selves we do just as the wise man saith seek our own death in the errour of our life and Sampson-like pull down the house upon our own heads as you may remember that when we had plenty of peace and prosperity then as the children of Israel murmured against Moses that delivered them out of the Aegyptian bondage and loathed Manna that came down from heaven so were we discontented at every trifle and so weary of peace and such murmurers against our happiness When the Articles of peace were published we were so discontented and murmured so much thereat that the ear of jealousie which heareth all things heard the same and was pleased to satisfie our discontents and to send us our own desires such plenty of wars and fulness of all miseries plagues famines and oppressions as our Fathers never knew the like and are like to continue amongst us until God seeth us more in love with his goodness towards us and our repentings move him to repent him of the evils that he intendeth against us that have so justly deserved them from him Therefore to ingender and beget love where it is not to encrease it where it is but little and to rectifie it where it is amiss either towards God or our neighbours or our selves I will by Gods help and your patience with as much brevity as I can How the created Trinity fell and may be reunited to the uncreated Trinity express the plenty of these few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mellifluous S. Bern. whose laborious work is like a pleasant garden that is replenished with all sorts of the most odoriferous flowers saith that in the Unity of Gods Essence there is a Trinity of persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost
curse God to his face and therefore God may justly say to them as S. Augustine saith of the like you have shewed me love indeed and in some things kept my commandments but it was for your own profits sake non quia me pure diligebatis Aug. despeculo humanae miseriae sed quia a me lucrari volebatis not because you did Sincerely love me but because you desired to be inriched and exalted by me like those Jews that followed Christ not because they saw his miracles and were edified by his heavenly doctrine but because they did eat of the loaves and were filled i. e. for his temporal blessings John 6.26 and not for the love of his spiritual graces or like S. Peter that would build tabernacles unto Christ upon Mount Tabor where he was transfigured in glory but did forsake him on Mount Calvary when he was oppressed with calamities and overladed with injuries just like too many of the servants of our now gracious King that could serve and extoll him in White-hall while he sate on his throne of Majestie and yet now serve and magnifie his oppressors and opponents when he is compassed with afflictions which is to love in Summer and not in the cold of Winter yet I say the true lovers of God will as truely love him in the Winter of adversity and persecution Job 2.10 as in the Summer of prosperity and exaltation and will say with holy Job shall we receive good at the hands of God and shall we not receive evill or shall we rejoyce at our advancement and shall we not be contented at our abasement 7. And lastly by the wound that she had opened in her side is shewed that true love revealeth the very secrets of the heart to his beloved so will they that love God confesse all their sins with Daniel and lay open all their wants with David unto God and they need not be ashamed to confesse them when as before their confession they are all patent to his eyes as the Apostle sheweth But because all these are signes of any true love to any object therefore I will shew you some more proper signs of our love to God and The 1. Acts 7.48 is to love Gods house for though as S. Steven saith God dwelleth not in houses made wiah hands but as the Poet saith Enter praesenter The chiefest Signs of our Love to God 1. To love Gods House Deus est ubique potenter That is in the Prophets phrase he filleth all places yet as he chooseth a Seventh day for his service when as all dayes are his and challengeth a tenth part of our goods for his servants when as all we have is at his disposing so he requireth a Church and a material house to be served in when as all the houses and all the places in the World Psal 27.4 Psal 84.2 cannot comprehend his Majesty therefore the Prophet David saith one thing have I required of God which I will desire that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life and again my Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord Hag. 1.4 and the Prophet doth extreamly tax them that dwell themselves in seiled houses and suffer the house of God to be wast fit for nothing but as I see it now in many places to lodge beasts and birds and they may be as much and more blamed that neglecting his consecrated house do think their polluted barns to be good enough to serve our God Secondly 2 To love Gods Word Psal 119.79 47. 72. VVhat we understand by Gods word To love Gods Word is another sign of our love to God therefore the Prophet David saith O how do I love thy Law my delight is in thy Commandements and again thy testimonies are better unto me than thousands of gold and silver But here you must observe that because every one pretendeth to love Gods Word as they do professe to love God by Gods Word we understand not the bare Written letter but the truth of the holy Scripture for as the Hereticks in Tertull. time credebant Scripturis ut crederent adversus Scripturas believed not the Scripture but what themselves pleased out of the Scriptures so now and oftentimes alwayes the Word of God is perverted and mis-interpreted especially by two sorts of men as S. Peter noteth 1. 2 Pet. 3.16 Two sorts of men pervert Gods word Those that are unlearned and have not knowledge enough to undestand the truth of these high Mysteries 2. Those that are unstable and unconstant and therefore change the sense of Scriptures as they see the times and occasions change As for example 1. Mat. 20.26 27 The words of Christ whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Servant the Presbyterians allegde them to prove a parity of orders and an equality amongst all the Ministers of Gods Church and yet the very same words are produced by all the Fathers and all the most learned Divines to shew the diversity of our callings and the superiority of some of them above the others which is indeed the very truth because otherwise he would never have said whosoever will be chief but he would have told them plainly and briefly they were all equal and none was chief or none was greater than the rest but in saying whosoever will be chief let him be your Servant he sheweth the duty and humility that should be in him which was to have the priority and doth sufficiently confirm the superiority of some above the rest 2. Mat. 26.26 The words of the consecration of the Eucharist take eate this is my body are interpretd by Bellarm. and all the Church of Rome that quote the Authors of all ages to prove the Transubstantiation of that holy bread into the very body of Christ and yet the very same words are expounded by the Lutherans to prove their consubstantiation and by the Fathers rightly understood as they are amply quoted by Pet. Martyr and by the most learned of our Church do prove not the oral or corporal eating but the spiritual and sacramental eating of the body of Christ by Faith which is indeed there really but ineffably eaten and should be so believed to be without any further searching into these Divine Mysteries lest with the men of Bethshemesh we be justly smitten for peeping too narrowly into the Ark of the Lord. 3. The very same Scriptures to the number of forty places were alleged by the Arians to prove their Damnable Heresie that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the like nature with his Father as were produced by the Orthodox to prove him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same essence with God 4. That Scripture which commandeth us Matth. 22.21 to render unto Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is Gods is truly
was spilt or any part of their goods spent they submitted themselves to the Parliament and left the Kings friends to sink or swim and the King himself to do as he could and I believe they were neither the first nor the last that did the like in many parts of this Kingdom neither do I conceive these men to be the worst of the King's Subjects because that indeed there was something now that might induce faint-hearted men and semi-Subjects to yield unto the Parliament though not to break their Oath which is indispensable and should be inviolably kept in any Case for that the King was worsted and the Parliament had very much prevailed against him though this also is no such great Inducement either with wise men or faithful Subjects to make them so suddenly to lay down their Bucklers because as the Poet saith Victores victique cadunt victique resurgunt The doubtful events of war And as another saith Communis Mars est interfectorem interficit Sam. xi 25. That is in King David's Phrase The Sword devoureth one as well as another as well the Conquerour as the conquered and therefore Menevensis saith of King Alfred Si modo victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat Si modo victus erat ad crastina bella parabat He feared his Enemies when he overcame them and he prepared against them when they overcame him and as Demosthenes answered when he was charged for running away from his Enemies Vir fugiens denuò pugnabit he that runs away to day may cause his enemies to fly away to morrow and so we finde it verefied many times as the Histories of the greatest Warriours testifie unto us But if fear of the Prevalency of the Parliament was now so powerful with them as to binde their hands and to shut their Purses from the King what was the reason they were so slow and did so little aid him either with men or mony when in all probability the King had the better or at lest stood at even terms with his enemies and then might with a little help and a small weight added turn the Scales and so subdue his Adversaries and prevent all the miseries and disasters that have happened ever since Surely here can be made none other answer nor any excuse alledged but the same reason that the Merozites had to shut their mouths stop their feet and hold their hands till they did see who should prevail and under whose wings they thought to shelter themselves when all the brunt was past The true cause of the neutrality of most men in this Kingdom without danger or at least to come off upon very reasonable termes And this was the cause of the neutrality of the most men especially the greatest men of this Kingdom And is it not therefore most just that this pannick fear and punick faith should suffer the punishment that such perfidiousness deserved that he which refuseth the sweet How justly these men were punished by suffering all that fell upon them just and easie Yoke of Christ should undergo the bitter hard and cruel Yoke of Satan or that they which undutifully neglected and refused to do a little help which their Conscience told them they should do for their King that exposed himself to the hazard of his life and loss of his Kingdom for to maintain the Service of God and to defend their Laws and Liberties should bear the full Measure and Weight of that punishment which they deserved Yes certainly me judice these of all others merited to be scourged with Scorpions and not lashed with twigs and I pray God their deserts do not light upon their heads when as neither plundering nor composition nor taxes can Paralel that greatness of their offence that destroyed both the King and his partie by their deserting of them Therefore whatsoever miseries taxes or service or any other Trouble of the like nature hath fallen on any person of this classes The greatness of their offence let him say and he shall say but the truth that God hath not onely most justly dealt with him that had so unjustly neglected his King but hath been more mercifull unto him then either his offence deserved or with any reason could be expected Secondly 2 The faith For those Subjects of the King that were like Gedeons faithfull Souldiers and spent their Wealth and Strength to the uttermost of their power to assist his Majestie and did according to their Consciences and as they conceived the Word of God Expounded by the true Prophets and servants of Christ directed them and yet felt the rod of God and the miseries of those times in full measure and far heavier then most others as though they had been the worst of men and the greatest of all Sinners such as divers of the Jews conceited those eihtteen Galilaeans upon whom the Tower of Siloah fell and those whose Blood â—ilate mingled with their Sacrifice were I say that if God should be extreme to marke what they had don amiss or should with the Eye of justice look upon the best of all his Saints were he as faithfull as Moses that was faithfull in all Gods house as religious as David that was a man according to Gods own heart as constant as Saint Peter that was contented to be Crucified for the Faith of Christ and as industrious as Saint Paul that laboured more then any of all the Apostles yet were he not able to answer God one of a thousand but he must lay his Hand upon his Mouth and opening the same he must say with Holy Job If I wash my self in Snow water and make my hands never so clean Job ix 30. yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine owne Cloaths shall abhorr me Dan. ix 7. and with the Prophet Daniel O Lord righteousness belongeth unto the When we do never so well God may justly punish us though not for that our well-doing but for some other evil-doings that we had done at some other time before or for some defect in our well-doing Why God punisheth the loyal Subject and his owne most faithfull servants but unto us shame and confusion of Faces And therefore how faithfull and how constant soever these seemed to be both in the service of God and discharging their duties unto the King yet must they confess they failed in many things of that degree of perfection which God requireth at their hands in both respects they neither serveing God as they ought nor being such Subjects unto thir King as the strictness of God's Law requireth And therefore I say First that in all our sufferings whatsoever calamities we have endured and what pressure soever lyeth upon us we must all confess that either for our delinquences and miscariages in these times or some other offences committed by us at some other times we are most justly and farr less then we deserve afflicted and punished by God whose judgments on us as upon all others are always most
himself alone for he like a wise man judged that man which doth all things out of his own head superbum magÃs quà m sapientem esse rather a proud man then a wise man as Titus Livius saith Charles Stuart our now most gracious King therefore I make no question had his Counsellours then and as we finde it by the Transactions of business in Jersy and Breda he was in his greatest affairs guided by them the more fault theirs if they misguided him though the more dammage his neither yet can he be excused from all fault if he was misguided by them the great God that governs all things and crowns events according to their deserts hath made it manifest to the world Laertius in Solon that his Counsellours have not fully followed the old rule in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consule non quae suavissima sed quae optima Counsel not those things that seem most sweet and pleasant but those things which are best and most honest for these Ductores Principis Counsellours of this young Prince consulting with flesh and blood and considering what was likest to advance his design and not considering what was most agreeable to God's Will have in the Judgment of some not so well advised their good Master and had he not been as it seemeth another Jedidia beloved of God by following their Counsel in the Course that he took he might have been taken in a snare to his utter ruine That is in Worcester Fight But what was the Counsel that they gave him it appeareth by the tryal of Master Love and by the event of those treatises betwixt the Scots Commissioners and the Presbyterian Agents out of England Captain Titus Drake and the rest and the Prince that they perswaded him to comply with the Scots for that by this means he should peaceably gain the Crown of Scotland and with the Strength of Scotland joined with the Presbyterian Party of England which were very considerable he might easily gain the Kingdom of England and then Ireland must needs yield An unquestionable uncontroulable way in the judgement of man but it seemed not so with God as the event did make it clear and therefore as when the Counsellours of Rheoboam differed in their advice the one sort saying Si loquaris verba lenia speak to this people fair and they will be thy Servants and the other sort bidding him to tell them that His Father whipped them with rods but he would scourge them with Scorpions Rheâ—boam should have had the Discretion to know which was the best to follow for herein consisteth the greatest wisdom of any Prince in the Election of his Counsel because it is most likely that among many wise men both the best and the worst Counsel will be propounded And it is a point of great wisdom to be able to follow the best to choose the good and to refuse the evil and the wisest man in the world may easily fail herein especially in great matters whose future and contingent events are so doubtful And therefore it is no wonder nor any fault-unexcuseable for the best traveller to mistake his way in the dark or in a wilderness among the thickets But could any wise man that remembered the former passages betwixt the Scots and the late pious King think or any good Christian believe that God whose ways are always right as the Prophet speaketh and the just shall walk in them but the transgressors shall fall therein would prosper the counsel that leadeth to any erroneous course no no this cannot be And therefore as I conceive the Counsellors of this good Prince failed though not in their love and faithfulness to their Master but in their advice in directing him the best way and he not knowing which way was best Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charibdim By seeking to escape the Lions it may be the Irish Catholicks he fell among Bears if I may so call the Scottish Presbytery whose feet Rev. xiii 2. the holy Scripture tells us are as the feet of a Bear But his Counsellors may answer as a very learned Scotchman discoursing hereof answered me that their purpose was right and their intention exceeding good aiming at the same end as is now blessed be God for it come to pass But I say the just God will not approve of our intentions to do good if we go about to effect that good by an evil way for as the Scholes tell us si bonum feceris malâ intentione non imputabitur tibi pro bono if thou doest good with an ill intent it shall not be imputed to thee for good so in like manner si malum feceris boná intentione non imputabitur tibi pro bono if thou doest evil though thou meanest never so well and thine intention be never so good yet shall it not be imputed to thee for good because the God that is most perfect in all his ways and in every thing doth require that the good which we do should be perfectly good ex omni parte on all sides and in every respect for as the Prophet speaketh He requireth truth in the inward parts and will have heart and hand minde and tongue to go together and therefore we may not do evil that good may come thereof or to enable us to do good Job xiii 7. neither may we speak wickedly for God nor talk deceitfully for him as Job speaketh much less may we do the same for the greatest preferment in the World And therefore if this good Prince had been well informed and throughly given to understand all the former passages and proceedings of those Scots that so undutifully so unkindly and so treacherously dealt with his good Father and for what ends they did it I believe he would have never wandred those ways that he travelled unto them but he having thus mistaken his way he missed of his end and the Presbyterians that had made a Covenant with death as the Prophet speaks of the Jews and an agreement with Hell it self did not stand any ways to further his design but when the overflowing Scourge did pass through then were they troden down by it and he had been likewise troden down himself or taken which had been worst had not the eye of Heaven which saw the innocency of his heart not wittingly offending in any way watched over him and as he did when he led Jacob to Padan-Aram that he might escape his Brother's wrath so it guided him most miraculously in man's judgment to the haven where he would be that so he might escape the treachery of some professed friends and be delivered from the malice of his cruel enemies for I fear we may say with Obadiah All the men of thy confedracy have brought thee even to the border Obadiah v. 7. the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and they that eat thy bread have layd a wound under thee that is his own counsellours by perswading him to take
Discovery of Mysteries and the Revelation of the great Anti-Christ And for which doings the Lord God hath if not sufficiently yet apparently shewed his just Wrath and Indignation against them many ways First In the discovery of their secret Hypocritical and hidden under-ground Mysteries of their Iniquitie which could not otherwise be sifted out and manifested but by the omniscient Spirit of the all-seeing-God Secondly In raysing so many godly men though to many with the hazard and to some with the loss of their lives and fortunes to oppose them and with a courage raysed by the divine Spirit to withstand their wicked ways and to uphold the true service of the living God Thirdly In the reducing of their chiefest Plots and Devices to nothing though out of his patience and long-sufferings he suffered them for a while to prosper and to walk on still and to proceed in their wickedness for they intended like those Gyants that built the Tower of Babel to erect such a frame of Government in these Kingdomes that they only and their Posterity and Successours should sit at the Stern to turn and guide the same as the thirty Tyrants did for a while in Athens so long as the Sun and Moon endureth and to that end they destroyed their King they suppressed the Bishops they excluded the Lords and then framed such an Engagement as might infringebly oblige and tie all the inhabitants of these dominions to adore them for their good Masters and Governours for ever But lo he that dwelleth in Heaven laughed them to scorne Psal ii 4. and the Lord had them in derision for as the Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel and upon Barak and Gedeon to destroy the Aramites Canaanites and Midianites and as the Lord stired up Sampson and David to destroy the Philistines so the same Spirit stirred up one even the Lord General Cromwel a Philistine from among these Philistines and a grand Rebel out of these Rebel's that did first so wisely disannul their brazen Engin the Engagement and then seeing his opportunity and finding how acceptable it would be to God and beneficial to all good men he did with an Heroical courage dissolve that knot and scatter those Parliament-men as the Lord scattered the Jews that were the murderers of his Son and their own King over all the parts of this Kingdom And thus by the just Judgment of God the whol Mass of that long Parliament that thought to remaine as Kings for ever became like the chaff which the winde scattereth away from the face of the earth And therefore Secondly The just Judgment of God upon the dismembred members of the long Paâ—liament I must now proceed to shew you the just Judgments of God upon the dismembred parts of this great body as I finde them driven by the winde of God's wrath here and there throughout all the parts of these Dominions But I must confess that for the particular persons of that Parliament and their adherrents that have in a great measure already felt the heavy hand of God's wrath for their Transgressions in that confederacie it is a work beyond mans reach either to set them down or to shew their punishments and therefore I will confine my self and as the Lord shewed unto Moses the land of Canaan from the top of Mount Nebo afar of which sight must needs be therefore but very partial and imperfect so will I give you a tast and a glimmering light of some judgments of God and the justness thereof upon some particular men and the more noted Members of that Parliament and I will begin with him that was the beginning of our trouble the first disturber of our peace and the General of the late unhappy War the Earl of Essex First It was said as I remember of Dionysius King of Sicily Of the Earl of Essex that he was a Tyrant begot of Tyrants then which a worser Character could not be given and a baser description could not be made of him saith Plutarch But I will not say of this noble Lord who in deed had a great deal of Honour in him and carried himself for ought that ever I heard like a man of Honour and pius inimicus a noble Adversary unto the King that he was a Traytor begot a of Traytor yet I must say that his Father was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth and was arraigned and beheaded for Treason à ainst the Queen whether justly for his deserts or unjustly by the malice of his enemies I will not determine and though her Royal Majesty did Royally and most Graciously restore this man both to his Fathers Lands and Honours and King James confirmed the same and King Charles more then that made him one of his Privy Council and Lord Chamberlain of his House-hold which was for Honour one of the best Offices as I take it in the Court and for profit a place worth viis modis near about 2000. pounds per annum as I heard and conferred many other favours upon him and for all this this Lord as is conceived out of no other cause then ambition of popular praise which greedy desire of popularity hath undone many a noble minde or as others think out of a secret grudg which he bare to this good King and to King James his linage for giving way to his Lady and Wife to be divorced from him onely propter frigiditatem naturae which all Divines and Canonists do not consent to be a sufficient cause of divorce presently and willingly accepted the motion of the House of Commons Plinius lâ—b 8. cap. 23. and commission of the Parliament to become the General of all their Forces against the King wherein as Pliny writeth of the Aspick saying Conjunga ferè vagantur nec nisi cum compare vita est itaque alterutra intercepta incredibilis alteri ultionis curá persequitur interfectorem unúmque eum in quantolibet populi agmine notitia quadam infestat perrupit omnes difficultates ut perdat eum qui comparem perdiderat that he pursueth him which hath hurt or killed his Mate and knows him among a multitude of men and therefore hunteth him still and layeth for him breaking throughout all difficulties to come at him so it may be this Lord was such as Seneca speaks of qui tantùm ut noceat cupit esse potens that accepted of his office that he might be revenged for his disgrace when notwithstanding King Charles was not the Author of his dishonour nor did any wayes further that divorce and therefore should not have been maligned for anothers fault Or if it was not for this cause as I heard some confidently say it was yet for what cause soever this or any other and with what minde soever this Lord accepted that office as being loth to stain his Honour and Ambitious to retain the Fame of an honourable Soldier I never heard the King nor any other of the Nobility accusing him for any base ignoble and perfidious act