worthy consideration like the inhabitants of Nilus wee will draw water in running We say then that this word heart is diversly taken in the Scripture First is taken for faith as Rom. 10. For with the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation 2. It is taken for the thoughts and for the gift of regeneration as 1. Epist of Saint Peter Chap. 3. ver 4. The hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meeke and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price and estimation 3. For the understanding as Rom. 2. They shew the worke of the law written in their hearts 4. It is taken for the conscience as in the 1. of Sam. the 24. chap. 5. ver Davids heart smote him because he had cut off Sauls skirt And in the 1. to the Thessal chap. 3. To establish your hearts unblameable in holinesse before God Here is yet another very cleare passage in the 1. Epist of Saint Iohn chap. 3 ver 20. If our heart condemn us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things and if our heart condemne us not wee have confidence towards God And in this last signification it is taken in our Text to wit for the Conscience as if Christ had said Blessed are those that possesse a holy pure and just soule a good cleane and spotlesse conscience David desirous to raise himselfe from his fall and to restore the temple of his body polluted by wicked adultery desired of God a new Altar praying him to create in him a cleane heart and to renew a right spirit within him Psal 51.12 Iudas Maccabeus having seene the Temple of Ierusalem prophaned by Antiochus his sacrilegious hands he purifieth it destroyes all the Altars where that Pagan had sacrificed to his Idols and called that the renewing of the Temple Our bodies are the living temples of the holy Ghost our hearts the Altars on the which having wickedly sacrificed to the Idols of our passions we must breake them and destroy them by our true repentance and conversion to God who despiseth not a broken and a contrite heart And afterward we must build new ones pure and clean on the which wee must offer to God Hecatombes of Iustice and solemne burnt offerings and sacrifices wherein hee delighteth The Etymologists hold that this word Cor is derived of Cura that is care because that part communicateth sendeth and doth distribute blood and life to the rest of the body Even so all our study all our exercise and occupation should be to seeke the meanes fit for the conservation of our soules for what will it profit a man if hee gaine the whole world and loose his soule Math. 16.26 As soone as the Embrion is conceived the first part which is formed is the heart being as it were the center whence the severall lines are drawne to the circumference of our bodies it is also the first member living and when the paines of death have compassed a man the blood from all parts retires to the heart as to a citadell so that it is also the last part that dieth in us according to that common saying Cor est primum vivens ultimum moriens So when the faithfull of the Lord resolveth to live piously he must cast for a sure and unmoveable foundation the righteousnesse of a pure and cleane conscience which must be the Ocean where all the rivers of his affections must runne and tend the corner and fundamentall stone on the which must be edified this his Pilgrimage All the building of this mortall and transitorie life must begin with the just mans beginning and never end till his death when it shall bee augmented and perfected in heaven It was Gods commandement under the law that all Israelites all the seed of Abraham should offer and consecrate to him the first borne both of man and beast now if wee unvayle the letter and consider what it therein figured unto us we may note among other things that God desired by this Decree whose letter and figure is abrogated though the truth and sence of it be eternall that wee should offer and consecrate unto him our hearts which are the first borne of our selues The greatest part of Physitians hold that the soule being generally all over the body hath her principall seat in the heart as the King hath in his Court although his power reach thorow all his Kingdome so that the soule being that very man which God requireth it is then not without reason that God demandeth our heart which is her throne My sonne give me thy heart The heart is knowne to bee the originall of naturall heat now God being a burning fire of love and affection towards his children wee ought to consecrate that part to him for his Tabernacle The heart is red and bloody to shew us the fervencie and zeale that should be in us to Gods service and glory and that our thoughts should alwayes burne with love to him and with charity to our neighbours It is little whence wee may learne not to puffe or swell it with pride but to keepe it alwayes humble and modest Vertues that seeke not after large and spacious Pallaces but are contented in the narrowest and remotest places His beating and panting is upwards so all our desires and thoughts should tend towards the end of our supernaturall vocation according to the Apostles advice Seeke the things that are above The heart is agitated by a continuall motion by reason of his vitall spirits that animate and nourish it So our thoughts should beare and conduct us to the actions of Iustice innocencie and godlinesse and to follow the steps of the Scripture Charity alwayes worketh and is never idle by reason of the spirit of grace dwelling in our soules who inspires continually in us holy and religious thoughts There is but one heart in man and yet his shape and forme is triangular a figure bearing proportion to his object that is God one in Essence and three in persons So our soules should bee adorned with these three beautifull vertues Faith hope and Charity He is open at the top and that way he receiveth his nourishment Which teacheth us that our soules should alwayes be open to proclaime the praises of our Creator and Redeemer that nourisheth them with the holy and wholsome meat of his sacred word sent downe from heaven The least angle or corner is turned downewards to shew us that our least care should bee for earthly things It is againe not hayrie to teach us that our soule which is his hostesse must be voyd of the foolish and light imaginations of the weake and unconstant considerations of this world that so she may hope and ayme at nothing but heaven her blessed Countrey wherein it is impossible to enter before our heart after Moses his example have pulled off the Shooes of our corruption and worldly
THE SOVLES PILGRIMAGE TO CELESTIAL GLORIE OR THE PERFECT VVAY TO HEAVEN AND TO God Written by J. M. Master of Arts. LONDON Printed by Aug. Mathewes and are to be sold by William Sheares at the Signe of the Harrow in Britaines Burse 1634. discoursed and published the excellencie of your goodnesse and merits Shee seemes to be sparing of your prayses which are so justly due to you For Experience hath now made me know a thousand times more therof then heretofore I heard or understood because I find so much benignity and goodnesse among you and especially your Honours house that I should esteem my selfe to be guilty of a base ingratitude if I consecrated not the remaynder of my dayes to the honour of your service and commands For I confesse that this small Present which I now present and proffer you cannot countervaile or equalize those sublime favors whereby you have eternally made me your debter Those Philosophers which entreat and discourse of naturall causes doe affirme That the Sunne which makes the Raynebowe in the firmament by the darting and defusion of his rayes in a watry clowd disposed to receive it doth there forme and ingender this diversity of colours so pleasing to our sight Your Honour my good Lord is the Sunne of my happinesse and I am this clowd covered with the rayes of your favors which makes all the world admire in me the greatnesse of your Generosity and the excellencie of your goodnes But herein notwithstanding consists not my satisfaction but rather your honor and glory and as I desire to publish that so I likewise desire to finde this For I cannot live contented if I made not a publique acknowledgement of those many favours whereby you have perfectly purchased and made me yours and this Confession consisteth in the oath of fidelity and obedience which I have sworne to the honour of your service and to testifie the immortality of my vowes wherein with all possible humility I present you my selfe and this small Booke to your Honours feete A worke proportionable to my weakenesse but meerely disproportionable to your Greatnesse If I am any way guilty herein your goodnesse is the true cause thereof in regard it makes me beleeve that you will rather excuse my Zeale then accuse or condemne my presumption and I doe promise my selfe this hope and flatter my selfe with this confidence that your Honour will partly excuse this worke of mine if it be not accuratly or delicately polished and that the will remayning where the power wants is free and current payment with great and generous spirits Some perchance may affirme and say that I have discoursed and treated those Matters with too much simplicity which indeed is my only intent and designe Because my text and matter doe necessarily oblige and tye me thereunto as also in regard I ever find the easiest way to be the best for that the thornes of Studie and Schollership doe but ingage and ingulph our Wits in the labyrinth of insupportable length and lauguishment and the which most commonly when we have all done and ranne thorow wee in the end finde but a Minotaur of doubts and a pensive melancholy anxietie which devours them My Lord I have no other designe or ambition in this my Dedication but to pay this tribute to your Honour hoping that your charitie will cover my defects and your goodnesse over-vayle and pardon my weakenesse and imperfections And my Lord it is with all manner of right and reason that I consecrate and inscribe this small Worke of mine to your Honour and place your Honourable name in the Frontispice thereof as a bright Phare and relucent torch which shall communicate and lend its lustre and light to make it see and salute the world And so my good Lord I will seeke my delights in the honour of your service my inclinations shall have no other centre but the execution of your commands My vowes and prayers shall be incessantly powred forth for your prosperities and my Ambition shall never flye or soare higher then to conserue the honour of your favours and to be both to your Honor and to the young Noblemen your Sonnes Your most humble and truely devoted Servant I. M. THE SOVLES PILGRIMAGE TO Celestiall Glory OR THE PERFECT WAY TO HEAVEN and to God MATH 5.7 Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine Mercy THat which in men changeth Reason courtesie and humanitie into a wilde fierce and brutish nature and which makes them lesse pittifull then Lyons and more to be feared then Tygers is crueltie that terrible vice the mother of cowardize the spring of disasters and the death of innocencie For after a Coward hath once tasted of blood he delights in no other spectacle It is the cause of mischiefes and of so manie fatall and mournefull accidents for there being a naturall Antipathy betweene that vice and reason shee expells reason and therfore will not hearken unto her in her furious violent and suddaine counsels In a word it is the death of innocencie for to satisfie her bloody appetite shee spareth neither age nor sexe but upon the altar of her furious and brutish passion sacrificeth as well the just as the guilty and would not spare her selfe if shee feared not the selfe same paines and torments which she inflicts on others Now this vice is detested by noble spirits and generous soules is abhorred by Angels and in great abomination to God himselfe so by the law of contraries mercie must be the subject and royall field where we must abundantly reape the honour of men the love of Angels the graces and blessings of our heavenly Father then must mercy be practised by men admired by Angels and bee delightfull to God and therefore we see in our Text that the beloved Sonne of eternity it selfe Iesus Chist our Saviour to perfect his Apostles in the way of salvation saith to them in generall Blessed are the mercifull c. As if hee had said I doe much hate and abhorre cruelty that I desire also that you that are my Disciples should expell and banish it quite from your hearts and thoughts and in her roome to admit and entertaine mercy that heavenly vertue which I both esteeme deerely and love and respect perfectly You must therefore practise this eternally praise-worthy vertue if you will be blessed for it is impossible to get into my Fathers favour if you be not furnished and armed with mercie You cannot ascend to the top of felicity before you have left sinne this heavie and intolerable burthen I say before you have received pardon and absolution for your faults which you can never obtaine before you have forgiven your brethren their offences before you have shewed your selves favourable and willing to assist them In a word before you have extended and practised on them all sorts of mildnesse clemencie and meekenesse which they shall stand in neede of for I say vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessed are the
affection that so wee may come neare this burning bush this fearefull fire Gods divine justice The Oracle of Apollo being once enquired what was the most pleasingst thing of God after his ordinary manner hee answered ambiguously and obscurely Dimidium sphaerae sphaeram cum principe Româ— An answer most true though it came from the father of lies for a C is the halfe of a Sphere an O is a Sphere and the beginning of the word Rome is an R which letters put together make COR that is the heart and questionlesse it is the most pleasingst gift that can bee offered unto God and which no man can justly refuse him The poore may say I cannot give almes the sicke I cannot goe to Church I can neither watch nor pray but none can say I cannot love God for thy other defects may be excused by thy poverty or sicknesse but to refuse God with thy heart it cannot be excused but by malice as S. Augustine very learnedly saith Let us remember that how charitable so ever our actions be if our heart doe not goe before to enlighten them all of them will tumble downe together into the obscure darknesse of the deepe Our actions are of no value without the heart but the heart may bee good without the actions God had respect to Abel and afterwards to his offering the good Thiefe to obtaine mercy gave nothing but his heart Marie Magdalene but her teares and Saint Peter but sighes and lamentations proceeding from the depth of his soule Now that this heart may be pleasing and acceptable to God it must be cleare bright and shining to the end that as in a glasse God may see his owne image and likenesse after which he at the first created it and when it is once cleane and pure then right so and in that manner we must keepe it in the same glorious estate for Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri And to that end we must imitate the Bees which to hinder the drones and spiders from comming into their Hives to corrupt or devoure their honey stop the entries of them with bitter and stinging hearbs as good Husbandmen who enclose their grounds lest passengers or the wild beasts should spoile them Even so should wee alwayes keepe the passages of our senses of our hearts and of our thoughts fenced with the feare of God which is a bitter Rue and Wormwood that the devill cannot endure to tast or relish Marke and observe with me the care and diligence which is used to conserve Christall and China Dishes what paines are taken to keepe them cleane bright and shining because they are deare and rare And what can wee finde in this world more precious and rare then our heart then let us with a diligent care and carefull sollicitude seeke the cleanenesse and purity thereof following the Apostles counsell Let every one possesse his vessell with sanctification and honour 1. Thess 4.4 When a vessell is cleft or crack it is unfit to containe any liquid thing Now the wicked heart is a crackt vessell saith Eccles. chap. 21. A broken heart threatneth death to a living creature as a Ship split and torne with the violence of the waves threatneth undoubted death ruine and shipwrack so that heart that is not well united to God that is broken and shattered by the force of worldly affections threatneth and fore-telleth an infallible ruine and destruction To fill a vessell in a Well or in a Fountaine we must needs bend it downwards so must we humble our heart to fill it with heavenly graces I have enclined my care and I have received wisedome saith the wise man Sap. 61. Againe we know that none can fill a vessell with any good and wholesome liquor wherein there is some corrupted before he first empty it and make it very cleane If we desire to fill our hearts with the love and other graces of God wee must first expell and exempt the love and delights of this world that have beene so long resident there and then when wee have done those things we shall be sure fully to enjoy the inestimable effects of this divine promise Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. In this second part wee have demonstrated unto us the reason why Christ calleth the pure in heart Blessed it is saith he because they shall see GOD. This conjunction for joyning those two sentences sheweth and marketh out unto us the reason of this felicity and happinesse that cannot receive a name enough emphaticall and significant to represent to our senses and to our understandings the least beame the least spark the least drop of that inexhaustible Ocean of that devouring fire of that Sunne of righteousnesse whose brightnesse if we should undertake to contemplate it would strike us blinde whose immense depth if wee should search it would swallow us up whose burning heat if wee approach it would convert us to ashes and would make us pay deere for our curiosity The Poets faine that the Giants attempting to clime up to heaven were thunder-stricken as they were heaping Olympus and Pelion upon Ossa one mountaine upon another A fable derived from that truth taught us in the Scripture touching the building of the Tower of Babell whose Builders were shamefully confounded the Allegorie of this truth the morality of this fable sets forth unto us the curiosity of them who thinking to pierce too farre into Gods secrets are cast downe into a deepe Abisse of confusion by their audacious presumption Empedocles desiring to know the cause why mount Aetna did cast forth such flames was swallowed and devoured by them God indeed depresseth and dejecteth the proud designes of those that are so rash as to discourse of that which is altogether ineffable and incomprehensible but yet is so gracious and favourable that he enlightneth and fortifieth those that with feare humility approach the greatnesse of his mysteries as David teacheth us Psalm 2.11 Serue the Lord in feare and reioyce with trembling And Solomon his sonne Those that trust in the Lord shall understand the truth and the faithfull shall know hit love Then with the spirit of feare and humility we are to seeke after this hidden glory and under the vayle of faith which teacheth us to beleeve the things which wee see not nor cannot be the object of our senses Hope will make us desire them Charity to love them and the gracious goodnesse of God will helpe us to attaine them O blessed them shall be the pure in heart for they shall see God St. Iohn Chap. 17. saith This is life eternall to know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent And in the 1. Epist of Saint Iohn chap. 3. Beloved now we are the sonnes of God and it doth not yet appeare what we shall be but we know that when he shall appeare wee shall be like him for wee shall see him as he is And every man
is accustomed every five hundred yeares to build an Artificiall nest whereunto the rayes of the Sunne reflecting and darting it at one time reduceth to ashes both the worke and the workman So if wee desire to revive to the love of immortall beatitude and celestiall felicity wee must set fire to our vices by the art and flame of a true and lively repentance and burne them all together in the feare of God All the world is a field richly strewed and diapred with the miracles and wonders of God whereof man is the principall Master-peece and the chiefest workmanship of his hands and the sacred Scriptures are as it were the Epitomie and Compendium thereof wherein I every way see nothing but Gods love of his side towards man and read nothing but subjects of honour and causes feare of man towards God But among divers other places I finde one exceedingly agreeable and concurring with our text which is Daniel Chap. 2.32 concerning the Statue which Nabuchadonozer saw in his dreame The head of this Image was of fine gold his brest and armes of silver his belly and thighes of brasse his legges of iron his feete part of iron and part of clay a stone was cut out without hands which smote the Image upon his feete that were of iron and brake them to peeces and having broken them the Statue fell backwards and was reduced to Summer dust This Statue doth lively represent unto us a sinner By his golden head I understand Pride Vanity and Ambition which fumes and swims in the head of a sinner who esteemes himselfe as pretious as gold and as rare as Pearles His brest and armes of silver markes unto us his affection to covetousnesse as having all his desires every way bent and levelled to rapine and extortion His belly and thighes of brasse represents unto us his voluptuousnesse and insatiety His legges of iron shew us his cruelty His feete of earth depaynts us his weakenesse and fragility and this stone cut without hand from the mountaine of Sion is the feare of God which God casts and rolles at our feete to beat us to dust and to make us consider the nothing from whence we came The world the flesh and the devill the professed mortall enemies of our soules who will never want subtilty or malice to make us stumble in the way to life seeing that this feare of God is a soveraigne Antidote against all the diseases of the soule not being able to diminish its vertue by their artifice and deceipts at least they will make us lose the rellish thereof by their insinuations and perswasions figuring us out this feare of God to be so hard sharpe and bitter that it is impossible for us to enjoy any rest or tranquillity of minde as long as wee are possessed of that passion That the wayes to heavenly Sion are not so craggie and difficult but that they are all paved with silke with delights and contentments But the faithfull man fearing God ought to be as wise as a Serpent Hee must stop his eares to this false Imposter and Inchanter who would surprise him to strangle him Hee must remember the words which Christ Iesus spake and dictated to him by Saint Luke Acts 14.22 We must thorow much tribulation enter into the Kingdome of God And againe by Saint Mathew 7.13 Enter yee in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction No no let us not flatter our selues there are no Roses without prickles we shall never obtaine and carie away the incorruptible Crowne of glory before wee have first fought the good fight wee shall never put our foote in celestiall Canaan before wee have first past the red sea of the afflictions of this life and departed forth of the wildernesse of our sinnes and in a word before we have fought with the infernall Gyants and Devils who strive and endevour to prevent and hinder our entry thereinto For it is absolutely impossible ever to possesse or enjoy the love of God here belowe in Earth or much lesse above in Heaven before we have first sworne to him a perfect feare honour and obedience Amoris Ianua timor est The feare of God is the entry and gate to his love as also Love is a feare entermix'd with care and anxiety Res est solliciti plena timoris amor In the 19. Chap. verse 4. of the 1. Booke of Kings the Prophet Elijah flying the persecution of Queene Iezahel being weary of his way hee sate downe slept under a Iuniper Tree where an Angell came and found him out and caried him a Cake baked upon coales which hee pleasingly eate and relished and so satisfied his heart and stomacke for forty dayes and forty nights after which they came to the mountaine of Oreb the place of his refuge arid security This Iezabel is the devill and this Prophet may lively represent unto us our soule which of all sides is persecuted by this cruell and implacable enemie who flying his assaults if shee come to repose her selfe under the sharpe Iuniper of a truly holy and filiall feare Then without doubt the Angell of Divine consolations will bring him the bread of Love favour and mercy baked upon the coales of his affection and the good will and clemency of God which will then refresh and replenish our hearts and soules during all the pilgrimage of this our mortall life un till wee are arrived to the mountaine of Sion which is the centre of our desires the residence of our delights and the impregnable Fort and Castle of our felicities I finde Saint Augustines comparison to be very excellent and pretty upon Feare and Love and that we must passe thorow that before wee can arrive to this Hee sayes that feare is as a Needle and Love as the silke which it drawes after it The Needle is sharpe hard and piercing but the silke is soft faire and pleasing Feare is indeede a sharpe and distastfull passion but that which doth sweeten lenifie and cure his prickings it is love which immediatly followes it being fraughted with courtesie goodnesse and favour Wee must not therefore apprehend the small stings of Bees because they afterwards promise to delight satiate us with their honey which distills and flowes from the rocke of our salvation And it is the Enigme of Sampson to the Philistims from the bitter came sweet from the rage and gall of the Lion issued sweet honey to delight and refresh Sampson If Iesus Chrivt the true Lyon of the tribe of Iuda had not endured for us the bitter and cruell death of the Crosse then wee had never tasted the excellent vertue of the honey of his resurrection Indeed to flesh and blood the Feare of God is as it were a kinde of gall and bitternesse because it daunts and out braves his passions and it still keepes him waking as we doe to wild birds thereby to tame him and to make him quiet
so at all times he may beare abundantly the gracious and delectable fruits of charity compassion and meekenesse This tree is divided into three branches which we see is set forth unto us Luke 6. whereof of the first sheweth us that wee must not rashly judge of our neighbour but that wee judge of him charitably The second teacheth us that wee must liberally distribute and dispose of our faculties in favour of the needy that thereby wee must partake of their miserie and sigh with them in their afflictions The third and last branch is to forgive our enemies and cast away from us all desire of revenge Saint Luke in the Chapter before cited after hee had exhorted us to bee mercifull as our heavenly Father is mercifull divideth this mercie into three kindes as we have already shewed saying first 1 Iudge not and ye shall not be judged 2 Give and it shall be given unto you 3 Love your enemies and ye shall be the children of the most high for he is kinde unto the unkinde and to the wieked Let us a while attentively consider the three offices and duties of the mercifull but rather let us practise them heartily that we may be recompensed with the felicity promised unto us Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie The corruption of this age is come to that height that it seemeth that the best discourse that men can finde is to speake ill of one to detract from another to judge so hardly of the best actions that one might think them voyd of reason and of the feare of God and to be partakers with the devill in vexing and slandering the life of those who are good examples to all and the subject of thanksgiving to all them that feare the Lord and therefore the holy Ghost admonisheth us in this first kinde of mercie not to be rash in our judgements least we suffer the paines and incurre the rigours of Talions law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iudge not that ye be not judged Math. 7.1 Wee must then observe these maximes in judging the actions of others that if they be manifestly good wee praise and imitate them that those that did them may be encouraged to continue and that the wicked leaving their wicked wayes may follow them for examples move more then rules or precepts If in all likelihood they may bee thought evill neverthelesse wee must practise and conferre on them the works of charity and construe them favourably seeing that it is God alone who searcheth the hearts and who trieth the reynes and thoughts and who is onely able to judge of our good or bad intentions for now Satan transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light and hypocrites his imitatours doe so perfectly counterfeit the just that it is altogether impossible to discerne truth from falshood Satan hath made them so deceiptfully crafty On the other side the just doe sometimes commit actions which seeme to be evill and notwithstanding are in themselues very good though they doe not appeare to bee such as when Christ was found alone speaking with the Samaritane but it was to teach her the way of Salvation When hee delighted in the kisses of Mary Magdalene who was so impudent in her life and manners in so much that the Pharisie that had invited him was offended at it yet the end and the answer which Christ gave them made them thinke otherwise when speaking to the Pharisie he said Ioh. 11.2.12.3 Simon seest thou this woman I entered into thine house and thou gavest mee no water to wash my feete but shee hath washed my feete with teares and wiped than with the haires of her head Thou gavest me no kisse but shee since the time I came in hath not ceased to kisse my feete Thou diddest not annoint my head with oyle but shee hath annointed my feete with pretious oyntment Wherefore I say unto thee many sinnes are forgiven her for shee loved much to whom a little is forgiven he doth love a little And he said unto her thy sinnes are forgiven thee Luke 7.44 c. Iesus Christ take this example more did often eat with Publicans and sinners but it was purposely to convert them and yet the Scribes and Pharisies that envied him did not interpret it so for they called him a glutton a wine bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners Math. 11.19 Behold how the best and wholesomest meates are converted into ill humors by ill disposed stomacks whence comes the proverb Ictericis omnia videntur esse flavia all things seeme yellow to them that have the Iaundize the wicked measure other by themselues and thinke that all imitate them in doing ill The second branch of this divine tree is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give and it shall be given unto you that is that Iesus Christ by these words exhorteth us to distribute freely and liberally of our meanes to the poore assuring us to hold it as done to himselfe and that he will repay it a thousand fold unto us by giving us eternall life Make you friends saith hee Luke 16.9 with the riches of iniquity that when ye shall want they may receive you into everlasting habitations Iesus Christ Math. 19.21 speakes thus to a young man that asked him what he should doe to inherite eternall life after he had bidden him keepe the commandements he saith moreover unto him If thou wilt be perfect goe sell all that thou hast and give it to the poore and then thou shalt have treasure in heaven One of the chiefest lawes which God commanded and recommended to his people Israel was to be mercifull to the poore and needy as we reade Deut. 15.7 If one of thy brethren with thee be poore within any of the gates of thy land thou shalt not harden thine heart against him nor shut thy hand from thy poore brother but thou shalt open thine hand unto him and shalt lend him sufficient to sustaine his needs and wants and let it not grieve thine heart to give it unto him for because of this the Lord thy God shall blesse thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand to And Prou. 28.27 Hee that giveth unto the poore shall not lacke but hee that hideth and shutteth his eyes from him shall have many curses It is a wonder to see and behold the admirable effects and workes of the Almighty that which commonly makes those to abound in wealth that bestowe largely upon the poore like a good spring or fountaine which the more it is emptied the more it overflowes in the excellencie of her waters so the more the faithfull gives to the poore the more God sendeth his graces and blessings upon his wealth so that the almes which hee gives are like seede fallen into good ground which yeeldeth a hundred for one It is like a little piece of leaven among a great deale of dowe which raiseth and maketh it to encrease and therefore the Wiseman exhorteth us to give
in heavenly and godly actions shall be perched and placed in the highest place of mount Syon from thence-forth ever to view the heavenly Sunne rising that beareth health in his rayes and wings to behold steddily and without winking the glistering and bright shining beames of the Sunne of righteousnesse without any feare of hurt being assured of his wonderfull favour manifested by his inviolable promises for he saith in our Text Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. By this purity of heart we may understand the simplicity of our lives and actions and so this sentence Blessed are the pure in heart may be this interpreted Blessed are those that walke simple in their actions whose heart is voyd of fraud and of any thoughts of iniquity whose tongue speakes nothing but the hearts meaning that shunnes vanity and the glory of this world that so they may be perfectly glorious in that which is to come St. Augustine lib. 1. de Serm. Dom. is of this opinion because that as St. Iohn saith 1. Epist chap. 5. ver 19. The whole worldlyeth in wickednesse and that the Apostles were to take men and to bring them to the way of salvation neither by craft nor by force but by meekenesse and simplicitie And therefore Christ sending through all the world to publish the Gospell of the Kingdome of heaven the redemption of captive sinners from the chaines and torments of hell and to preach openly the acceptable yeare of the Lord saith unto them Behold I send you forth as sheepe in the midst of Woolves be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmelesse and innocent as Doves as we read in the 10. Chap. of S. Math. ver 16. And in the same Gospell Chap. 6. ver 22. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light This so excellent vertue of meekenesse and simplicity hath alwayes beene hated of the world as being contrary to the vanity and folly of it and the high way to mount Sinai there to see God face to face as Moses who preferred the simplicity of a Shepheards crooke to the honours riches and preferments which hee might justly have expected in Pharaohs Court as being reputed his daughters sonne This vertue cannot but be very pleasing to God since he himselfe hath put it in practise in appearing to Moses in a bush which is a base and abject plant despising the lofty Pine trees and Cedars of Libanus which in height and beauty exceed all other trees of the earth The Angels also have practised it when having left the heavens to appeare unto men they have not taken the forme and majestie of Kings to be respected of all but rather the habit of Pilgrimes and men of base quality to teach us to shunne pride and vaine glory and to shew us by their cloathes that we are Strangers and Pilgrimes in this world that our houses are but Innes where we should stay onely as posts doe under a tree till the storme be past and so to continue our way as long as the day of our life shineth that the night envelloping and wrapping us up in her darke cloake wee may arrive at the heavenly Canaan which is our native Country from whence we first departed We read in the 18. Chap. of Genes That Abraham sitting at his tent doore saw three men passing that way whom hee called and desired to come and sit under a tree with him to eate a morsell of bread to comfort their hearts Now if it were God himselfe in the forme of three men to represent the three persons of the blessed Trinity or if they were Angels sent by him is a question out of the subject of our Text but because many Fathers of the Church are of the second opinion we also will hold it grounded on the 13. Chap. to the Heb. Be not forgetfull to entertaine Strangers for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares which is commonly referred to this action of the Father of the faithfull and of Lot his brothers sonne who also entertained in Sodome two Angels in the shape of Strangers and of men that were travelling further In the 5. Chap. of Tobit wee reade that the Angell Raphael appeared to the young Tobit and offered to bring him into Media which hee did afterwards performe But leaving many other examples which we could alledge of the humility and simplicity of Angels let us briefly runne over the lives of the Patriarks Prophets where the simplicity and innocent purity of their actions doe most lively appeare Abraham at Gods command without any further information goeth to the place appointed him to sacrifice on an Altar his onely sonne Isaack following the steps of his Fathers obedience to God runnes to his death never fearing the great torment that he was ready to endure layeth the wood on his shoulders and carrieth in his hand that fire that was appointed to burne him to ashes yea hee encourageth his poore old Father to execute Gods divine command restores unto him by his exhortation his strength already lost by reason of the extreame griefe which he endured to be the executioner of his owne sonne and to kill him to whom hee had lately given life But least we should be too tedious this example of simplicity shall serve us for all the Prophets as being the most remarkable that can be ever rehearsed by man and indeed was it not a great and lofty mysterie that God should give so resolute a courage so great a constancie to the Father of the faithfull and so admirable boldnesse to this obedient sonne for Abraham representeth unto us God the Father who to execute the irrevocable decree of his divine justice hath seised the sword of his terrible judgements to dip it in the blood of the spotlesse Lambe that bare the sinnes of the world on the Altar of the Crosse This sweet Iesus whose simplicity and meekenesse are both peerelesse inexplicable this good Saviour following the example of Isaack by whom during the shadowes of the law hee was figured goeth freely to his death bearing the wood which was to bereave him of life upon him and within him the burning fire of love that inflamed him with an infinite affection to save the Elect Hee was brought saith the Prophet Isaiah as a Lamb to the slaughter so opened he not his mouth to complain he is conducted as a dumbe Sheepe before her Shearer but in that we see nothing but part of his simplicity appearing in the catastrophe of his actions when he was neare his death but if we should curiously view the acts of his life beginning from his birth we should be ravished in admiration of these infinite wonders but let us consider only in generall that he is borne of a pure virgin espoused to a Carpenter was that befitting his excellent Majestie who was the King of the world Hee was borne in a Stable amongst beasts judge if that
peace and tranquillity that hee liveth therein as in his owne element out of the which hee cannot subsist but when either by chance or misfortune he findes himselfe in the midst of noyse in the fire of disorder and among the flames of contentions riots then he crieth runneth and tormenteth himselfe untill by his agitation and diligence hee have quenched and repressed all holding this indubitable maxime that Candiaa pax homines trux decet ira feras In a word to end this discourse of politique peace we say that if warre be a thorne peace is a Rose if that be bitternesse this is sweet nesse if that be a storme this is a calme weather if that be full of mischiefes this is full of goodnesse if that causeth poverty that brings and gives riches In a word if that killeth this giveth life and to end with the Poet let us say Nulla salus bello pacem te poscimus omnes But let us after the example of the high Priest enter into the most holy place of the Temple of Salomon and there visite that sacred arke of our consciences within the which God will keepe his sessions let us contemplate that inestimable peace immediatly proceeding from the remission of our sinnes and most particular and perfect assistance of the holy Ghost dwelling in our soules for it is impossible that any other but the just should possesse that peace of conscience seeing that betweene sinne the devils child and the father of trouble and peace and quietnesse there is so great an antipathy that if sinne can set the least footing in any place hee driveth away presently from thence peace and rest and in their roome introduceth and breedeth therein quarrells and contentions which like tormentors doe miserably torture and cruelly handle the miserable hearts where they lodge and therefore the ancient Fathers of the Church openly pronounce that the greatest felicity wherein Adam the first modell of mankinde was created was peace of the heart that rest of conscience which hee possessed absolutely within Paradise having no other care or thought but to love his Creator to honour his Conseruator and to adore his God But after that hee was fallen from that state of innocencie by the greatnesse of his fault after that sinne by disobedience had driven away peace from his heart then you see him in trouble he flieth he hideth himselfe he is afraid of himselfe he covereth his nakednesse with figge leaves he trembleth and dareth not answere to that terrible and fearefull voyce which hee heard walking in the Garden behold the first effects which his sinne brought forth The Royall Prophet David Psalm 85.10 saith Righteousnesse and peace have kissed each other vpon which Saint Augustine discourseth thus Duae sunt amicae justitia pax tu forte unam vis alteram non facis nemo enim est quinon velit pacem sed non omnes volunt operari justitiam si amicam pacis non amaveris neque te amabit pax ipsa Righteousnesse and Peace bee two friends thou it may bee desirest the one and wilt not practise the other there bee none but wish for peace but all will not doe righteousnesse if thou love not the friend of peace peace also will not loue thee Iustice with reason is called the mother of peace because it goeth alwayes before and is immediatly followed by it Peace is the worke of justice saith the Prophet Isaiah chap. 32.17 And the Psalmist in the 72. Psalm ver 7. In those dayes righteousnesse shall flourish and abundance of peace And Psalm 119. ver 165. Great peace have they which love thy law From which propositions wee draw this conclusion that to have this peace of conscience it is needfull for us to be just to feare God and to walke exactly in the obseruation of his sacred commandements So contrarily the wicked can have no peace because of the worme of sinne that gnaweth continually their soules as we read Psalm 28.3 Ill lucke and unhappinesse is in their wayes and the way of peace have they not knowne There is no peace for the wicked saith the Lord they thinke neverthelesse that they have this peace when they enjoy their pleasures but this peace lasteth but a moment and like their pleasure is presently followed by an extreame griefe it is lethargick sleepe very dangerous it is a security but it is carnall it is a sleepe but that representeth unto them a thousand apparitions and a thousand strange visions The wicked mans peace is like those fires which by night appeare burning in hills and medowes the which if a man follow they will insensibly leade him into terrible downfalls but the true peace of a good conscience as saith an ancient Author is the title of Religion the Temple of Salomon the field of blessing the garden of delights the Angels joy the Arke of the covenant the treasure of the great King the Court of God the Tabernacle of his Sonne the tent of his Spirit the tower of Sion the booke with seaven seales which is to be opened upon that great and fearefull day of judgement Saint Augustine in his Citie of God speaketh thus of it Pax nostra propria hic est cum Deo per fidem in aeternum erit cum illo per speciem talis est paxut solatium miseriae sit potius quam beatitudinis gaudium Our owne peace that is the peace of our hearts is here with God by faith and in eternall life shall it be with him by vision that peace which now we enjoy is but a sparke in respect of that great fire here it subsisteth but by faith then it shall be effected In a word let us say that the peace of conscience is a particular feeling and knowledge that God is pacified with us that he hath blotted out our misdeedes that hee hath cast away our iniquities from before his face like a clowd that wee are no longer under the Kingdome of Satan nor of the flesh but are received in our heavenly Fathers favour like the prodigall child that wee shall dwell in his house all the dayes of our life and there receive those goods joyes and delights which he hath reserued for his children Hitherto wee have spoken of peace in generall and in particular of politique peace and of the care must bee used to bring it to passe of peace of conscience or with God of the worlds or wicked mans peace that troubleth all them that live not like him now let us speake of that peace which h in our selues and of the vertue of it Among all the perfections wherewith our first Father Adam was adorned during the state of his innocencie mildnesse was one at the sent whereof all living creatures ranne to him to doe him homape and yeeld him obedience Moses in the booke of Numbers is called the debonnaire or gracious for which quality God loved him dearely and for a testimoniall of his love called him to that
man whom the King would honour Haman thinking the King spake so for him invented all the wayes and meanes hee could to enjoy and encrease this honour therefore he answered the King thus As for the man whom the King will honour let them bring for him royall apparell which the King useth to weare and the horse that the King rideth upon and that the crowne royall may be set upon his head and that one of the greatest Princes should goe before him and proclaime Thus shall it he done unto the man whom the King will honour In this ample description of Honour we note the definition of it to wit to give glory to doe homage to any one to seeke all the meanes that may be to advance his credit and encrease his reputation through all the world and thus that cursed Haman thought to be honoured But this word to Honour the King in that sense that our Apostle takes it is like to that honour mentioned in the first Commandement of the second table Honour thy Father and thy mother which signifieth in generall to serve reverence obey assist those whom wee honour and of that reverence obedience and assistance Saint Paul speaketh expresly 1. Tim. 5.17 The Elders that rule well are worthy of a double honour where observe and note that by the first honour hee understandeth a civill and common honour like that which is due to other honourable men but by the second honour hee understandeth a subvention and reward of his labours as it appeareth by the following words Thou shalt not musle the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the come and the labourer is worthy of his wages Luk. 10.7 And of all these foure duties which wee are to practise to honour the King is spoken at large 1. Sam. Chap. 8. When the Israelites did so earnestly desire him to give them a King hee doth lively set forth unto them how perfectly they must be subject to him how they must reverence him how they must obey him But because commonly among good corne there be tares or some other bad seed we will shew by expresse words of Scripture and by invincible reasons That hee that obeyeth not to the higher powers offendeth directly God himselfe who will destroy him Saint Paul Tit. 3.1 Put them in remembrance that they be subject to principalities and powers and that they be obedient and ready to every good worke And Rom. 13.4 The Prince is the Minister of of God for thy good but if thou doe evill the feare for he beareth not the sword for nought for he is the Minister of God to execute justice on him that doth evill therefore ye must bee subject not for feare onely but also for conscience sake wherefore those that resist the power resist the ordinance of God and those that resist this ordinance drawes on themselues condemnation But if these rules bee not strong enough to convert those preverse men at least let them be frighted by the fearefull judgements which fell on so many wicked men which aunciently rebelled against Moses their Prince Soveraigne who by Gods commaund had deliuered them from the hands of Pharao the cruellest of men and had led and conducted them with a wonderfull wisedome into the wildernesse let them set before their eyes the example of Core Dathan and Abiram who with two hundred and fifty Princes of the Israelites Numb 16.2 rebelled against their Prince but God avenger of their folly caused the earth to open her mouth and to swallow them up alive with their families Nadab and Abihu his owne Nephewes because they had not obeyed him were consumed with their fellowes by fire that went out from the Altar Levit. 10.2 and his owne sister Marie for speaking undiscreetly of him was by the Lord infected with leprosie what shall wee say of Abishai and Absalom against King David the History of whose destruction and confusion is so well knowne that wee neede not insist upon it But here are yet very expresse words Exod. 22.28 Thou shalt not rayle upon the Iudges neither speake evill of the ruler of thy people And Acts 23. Thou shalt not speake ill of thy Prince of him that governeth thee But because these lawes and examples like waves of the Sea follow one another wee will insist on the consideration of the horror of this crime which cannot take place in a soule never so little endued with heavenly graces for that heart must be desperately wicked and that soule possessed with a thousand furies that suffereth the least thought of it to harbour in his will that soule I say must not onely be voyd of reason but worse then bruit beasts who without contradiction follow and obey their Kings The birds yeeld to the Eagle the fishes follow the Dolphin and the beasts are pliant and humble before the Lyon and should man that is made after Gods image be worse then all other living creatures This is to be neither man nor beast but the off-spring of those abominable spirits which rebelled in heaven against God and therefore received the punishment due to their foolish ambition in hell but wee will no longer stay out contemplation about these detestable men hoping that our age is not so unhappy as to be corrupted by them But we will now speake of the reward profit and recompence which those shall certainely receive that obey this commandement of God in honouring the King All the Interpreters of the law of God with one consent agree that the first commandement of the second table to wit Honour thy Father and thy Mother is to be understood of all them that have any power or dominion over us and chiefely of Kings and Princes to whom wee are subject and to whom wee owe both our lives and goods and besides that all the Fathers are of that opinion yet we also see it proved in the 13. Chap. to the Romanes where the Apostle teaching the faithfull all the lawes which they must observe hee runnes over all the Commandements of God and yet speakes not of this word Father because hee comprehendeth it sufficiently under that of King because the Father is King in his Family and the King is the Father of his people As for that objection that there is no mention made of a King in the Decalogue the reason is cleare and manifest first the Israelites had no neede of it because God did every day appeare visibly unto them spake to them at all times and wrought continually so many miracles among them that they could not be doubtfull of his presence secondly there is no mention made neither of Governour nor of Prince and yet it is unlikely that God had forgotten Moses who had delivered them before God wrote the Law with his owne finger on the mountaine of Sinai but the reason is that by the word Father God understandeth as well Kings and Princes as those that have begotten us all the curses made against the rebellious and disobedient
of the King of Babel the same nation will I visite saith the Lord with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence therefore heare not your Prophets nor your Southsayers nor your dreamers nor your inchanters nor your Sorcerers which say unto you thus Ye shall not serue the King of Babel for they prophesie a lye unto you to cause you to goe farre from your land and that I should cast you out and you should perish but the nation that put their necks under the yoake of the King of Babel an serue him those will I let remaine still in their owne land saith the Lord and they shall occupie it and dwell therein Words worthy of a great and profound consideration and which totally desides and cuts off that question which we now have in hand for it is God himselfe that speaketh to his people that strictly chargeth them to obey the King of Babylon into whose hands he had delivered them and although hee was an Idolatrous and unfaithfull King yet they will obey him on paine of his curse and malediction what judgements what punishments should we much more cause to fall upon us if the least thought of rebellion or disobedience to the Lords anointed should enter into our mindes if we were not perfectly obedient to Kings who are good faithfull and zealous to further the glory of God if our hearts and our mouthes be not alwayes filled with prayers and vowes dedicated to their service But to the end that imitating Hercules wee may clense sweepe cleane this Augean stable wee will answere to that objection propounded touching Nimrod who hath been the first King of the earth who say they hath attained to the crowne by force and by violence words which we finde not in the Scripture but contrarily we read Genes 10.8 that Cush begat Nimrod who began to be mighty in the earth hee was a mighty Hunter before the Lord. These words will never oblige us to conclude that hee hath raised himselfe violently but wee may more truely expound the wordes Hee was mighty before the Lord that is he was lifted up to greatnesse by the most High hee walked in his wayes and followed his ordinances and when Moses saith that he began to be mighty in the earth he meaneth that hee was more feared then his predecessours who were also Kings Priests and soveraigne Princes of their families For after the generall deluge which overflowed the whole earth men lived commonly five or sixe hundred yeares and so one of his posterity might see aboue a hundred thousand persons over whom he was Prince and soveraigne Monarch because there was then no other forme of government in the earth so we reade Genes 23. Chap. that the Hittites of whom Abraham asked a Sepulchre to bury Sara these I say called him a Prince of God or a most excellent Prince which hee clearely manifested at the overthrow of the five Kings which had beaten the King of Sodome had pillaged the Towne and carried away his Nephew Lot prisoner for at the rumour of these sorrowfull newes hearmed three hundred and eighteene of his servants borne in his house and yet had no children Gen. 14. It is then in vaine to alledge that violence craft and hereditary succession are the onely meanes to attaine to Crowes for although some attaine to it by humane meanes and sometimes by dangerous wayes as Absalom who caused himselfe to be anointed King by expelling his Father as Abimelech by the death of 70 of his brethren upon the same stone yet for all these wayes to come to raigne are never brought to passe without a manifest fore-sight and providence of God permitting it sometimes to punish those peoples and sometimes for a punishment to the Kings that raigne over them yet whatsoever they be God commandeth us to obey and perfectly to honour them now cursed cursed be he that shall resist the will of God and that shall not obey his commaundements After we haue heard both Scripture and reason manifestly evincing the truth Let us now heare Saint Augustines opinion in this matter in his booke De civit Dei The cause saith he of the greatnesse of Empires is neither casuall nor fatall it commeth neither by chance nor by destinie By chance I understand saith he the things that happen we not being able to know the causes of them or that happen without any premeditated order of reason assisting their conception and birth By fatall things I understand as Pagans esteeme what happeneth without the will of God and men by the necessity of some particular order which opinion is greatly injurious to Gods divine providence but rather wee must certainely beleeve that Kingdomes are constituted and established simply and absolutely by the divine providence of God And in another place Let us not attribute the power of giving or disposing of an Empire but onely to the true God that giveth eternall happinesse in heaven to his children onely but for earthly Kingdomes he giveth them to good and bad as it seemeth good to him as it pleaseth him who is delighted in no unjust thing therefore this true and onely God that alwayes provideth mankinde both with ayde and counsell when he would and as long as he pleased hath given the governement and Empire to the people of Rome hee is the giver of all felicity that giveth earthly Kingdomes to whom hee pleaseth and yet alwayes with justice and reason though the meanes seeme to us oftentimes manifestly contrary to both I thinke we have employed too much time and too many good weapons to fight against this horrible monster and monstrous Hydra and therefore the shortest and surest way is to follow the example of that valiant Hercules and so to cut off this monster for hee that will not heare the Scripture so manifestly shewing unto us our duty to our Kings that so expresly commandeth us to yeeld unto them all obedience hee that stoppeth his eares to those sweet and most gracious invitations of reason and naturall inclination to honour and serue him whom the bounty and will of GOD hath established over us He who watcheth in labour to make us sleepe in rest Hee who sits on the throne to doe us right that to ease us beareth the burthen of all our affaires and in a word Hee whose minde is alwayes in trouble and anxiety to preserve the quietnesse of his people and to keepe off the invasion and tyrannie of Strangers those Subjects I say are worthy of all the misfortunes disasters and calamities which can happen through the privation of so good things But wee who by the grace of GOD are brought up in his Schoole that together with our mothers milke have sucked the honour service and obedience which wee owe to our Kings and Princes Let us not suffer those wicked and dangerous plagues to infect the purity of our hearts and let not the whitenesse of our soules be spotted and defiled by so blacke and
venomous a crime assuring our selves that the least thought of disobedience and rebellion which possesseth the minde besides that it is an evident token of an ungodly minde is worthy of the most severe punishments that can be imagined But let us shew that we are begotten among the children of GOD and regenerated by the Spirit of his grace let our ambition never flye higher then to the execution of his sacred commandements wherein lyeth the fulnesse and centre of all delights and of all felicity both spirituall and temporall and since particularly he desireth that we should feare him and honour the King which he hath established over us seeing that in the accomplished and fulfilling of these two commandements we have as it were the summe of all his law let us be carefull to honour serve him and to yeeld unto him all sorts of duties for he is the Lords anointed assuring our selves that whilest we shall studie to yeeld unto him due obedience whilest we pray fervently for his long life and prosperity as we are in duty bound God for his part will make good unto us his promises to wit to make us enjoy a delightfull rest and an admirable contentment to blesse the land wherein we dwell to multiply our dayes upon it in joy and felicity and after we shall have served obeyed and and honoured the King hee will call us unto eternall felicity to crowne us with the incorruptible Crowne of glory that seated with the 24 Elders in the Revelation we may with them cast downe our crownes before him who is set on the Throne to sing before him altogether O Lord thou art worthy to receive honour blessing and glory to thee therefore O eternall immortall admirable to thee onely wise God Creator of all things be ascribed all honour glory and magnificence now and forevermore Amen Amen O Almighty God and soveraigne Monarch of the whole world who hast by thy incomprehensible vertue created all things both in heaven and earth that by thy fore-sight and wonderfull providence doest conduct and governe with so great wisedome and with so beautifull good and just order all thy creatures that the contemplation thereof ravisheth us in admiration and forceth the wicked and Atheists to confesse that the disposition so admirable of the starres the swift motions of the heavens the constant diversity of the seasons happen not by chance nor hazard but that there must be some first and Soveraigne mover to turne those great Spheres some great Captaine to set in order the whole hoast of heaven and to make the seasons march in their order this order I say so exactly observed openeth thy childrens mouthes and maketh them say with the Royall Prophet David The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke O God of peace that hatest confusion and disorder graunt us if such be thy good pleasure the grace to obey thy lawes and to follow in all things thy holy and divine ordinances and since thou shewest here unto us one of the wayes leading to the mountaine of thy holinesse to the spirituall Ierusalem to wit this commandement which thou makest here unto us to Honour our King give us the grace O loving and gracious Father that we may perfectly performe it that our eyes may be alwayes turned towards the Lords anointed that our eares may be alwayes open to receive and obey his commandements that our mouthes may be alwayes filled with his praises that our hearts may be alwayes enflamed with zeale to his service to testifie unto him on all occasions our most humble obedience that after we have here belowe beene faithfull subjects wee may bee crowned above in heaven with the incorruptible crowne of glorie Amen FINIS