Luther Vnus homo nobis scribendo perdiderat rem As for the obiection that the edge of the Law seemes to be blunted towards such as imbrace not this yoke 't is light for many times a contrary winde driues a ship into a safer port then it sail'd vnto Relaxation may doe that good which rigour could not truce begets Tempus inane peto requiem spatiumque furori Dum mea me victam doceat fortuna dolere peace respite asswageth rage and calmes the stormes of vnquiet mindes Whensoeuer time discouers fauour to incourage the sons of Belial whether he bee Guelph or Gibiline Papist or Puritan he wil find the wheele turned vpon those that seeke to turne the wheele of our Church-prosperity By his last heauenly directions which followed well may place Religion where it is not and settle it where it is already entertain'd He who is not moued by his example nor instructed by his works nor wonne by his clemency nor obseruant and pliable to his direction I doe not say resists but argues and makes doubts fearing where no feare is is a plaine rebell to CHRIST in heauen to Dauid on earth Intonante Dei praecepto obediendum non disputandum Austin For when Gods precept thunders and that is when the voyce of his Deputie speakes we must submit and not dispute or els the yoke is cast off In the last gaspe of allotted time I proceed to the last part of the text Dauids comfort twofold Within he stands vpon his innocency that hee was no intruder nor sought the kingdome by any euill artes the right owner placed him in it he was Gods anointed I passe the word handled already by him cui doctior orbis submissis defert fascibus imperium Onely this word held vp Dauids head in trouble and may be a sure comfort not only to Dauid the supreme but to euery subordinate whom God rayseth vp they must meete with much difficulty and more enuie But as he neuer manageth a place happily who comes to it indirectly so when God giues authority hee giues ability to vndergoe the first and a cleere conscience will beare out the latter His outward comfort is from heauen Hee that dwelleth in the heauens That is a cheering word from thence all blessing descend from thence deliuery out of all danger There is the court of Audience for the Embassadours which are our Mittimus preces Lachrymas ad Deum Legatos Cypr. teares and prayers Saint Iohn sees twelue gates in heauen al open and all day open to entertaine suitors repayring thither Hee that dwelleth in heauen is a word of terrour also As out of a watch tower he beholds all secret and close practises no doores shut no curtaine drawne no parapet or wall to shelter no vaile betweene no vault to couer All thinges saith the Apostle are naked and bare before him the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word taken from Anatomie As when the skin is flead and the flesh pared away all the inner parts are laid to sight such are our actions to God Man sinnes as if he had a Dan. 2. 12. Qui ita nos aspicit vt à nobis aspici nequit eo magis timendus quo cuncta videns a nemine videtur Greg. sup Iob ca. 23. Giges ring to make him inuisible but when we are in darkenesse God is in light and by extramission of his owne raies makes opacitie visible As if some lay hidden to intrap vs but wee see him not our caution is raised and our feare doubled so should our care and circumspection increase who liue in the presence of All-seeing God Hee that dwelleth in the Heauens Is a word of instruction Earth is but a turfe for man to trample on heauen is our home heere we haue but boothes there are the mansions In my Fathers House are mansions No mortall Vitruuius can make an immortall habitation The silly Spider may teach vs who vpon the least touch of her copweb flits and remooues The world is a copweb-world to bee swept downe with the broome of fire therefore let vs so liue as that we may liue and dwell with him who dwelleth in the heauens What does hee there at this time Hee laughes That is a hard word at the first view Are the iniuries of his Saints the cruelties of their enemies the wicked enterprises against his anointed matter of laughter Laughter is a diminution of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sopater apud Stobaeum state as hee told Princes Seuere Cato thought it became not the grauitie of a Roman Consull and is it attributed to the Maiestie of heauen There is a threefold Theologie or way to discourse of God 1. Negatiue honouring him in silence not daring because not able to expresse him as when hee is saide to be inuisible incorporeall These Negatiues do secretly grant a more excellent knowledge then can be attained silence being the best eloquence 2. Affirmatiue speakes of Diserti multi Austin 1. confess cap. 4. God in few words and those of perfection as when he is stiled good wise iust The first like a Statuarie hewes hacks out matter the second as a painter illustrates and sets it foorth in colours The 3. way is Symbolicall attributing al things to him which may make way to our vnderstanding as here laughter Not to insist in the point how affections are said to be in God Nazianzen dispatches it in one word they are in him by Antistrophe or a conuersion Looke how man is affected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian in Iamb when hee beholdes some Dwarfe buckling to grapple with a Giant so our shallow capacitie not able to expresse him otherwise describes him as our selues would be in a merry disposition deriding vaine attempts Gods laughter importes these 4. particulars It expresses how easie and facile it is to the Almighty euen at pleasure with a smile to ouerthrow wicked designes Ludit in humanis diuina potentia rebus It shewes the patience of God in his quiet forbearance who could in a momēt destroy thē The Poets fiction hath a graue morall They faine lame Vulcan to be the Cutler of heauen and Armour-maker to their gods The true God is slow to wrath and vnwilling to punish proroguing his iudgements expecting repentance yet so as by delaying he brings his owne purpose to passe Some times hee suffers them to deuise plots as Pharaoh imagined that hee had found away by drowning the Israelites males to root out their name from the earth but did not God smile when at the same time his owne daughter in his owne court gaue princely education to Moses their deliuerer Iulian supposed by rearing vp the Iewish ceremonies to supplant the new Isoe Eccleshist religion by the old and therefore would be at the cost to build the Temple againe but did not God smile when from vnder the foundations as from Vesuuius hill flaming fire brake foorth and dissolued all his workes
Periphrasis of the place of his abode He dwels in heauen By a Prosopopeia attributing improperly but significantly a splen and laughter vnto God So the Catastrophe and conclusion of all conspiracie is the Sarcasmos and bitter scorne of God Neither is the ingemination of the word a needlesse tautologie but an amplifying Emphasis repetens iterum iterumque monebat doubling the admonition to beware how men fall by rebelling against God his Anointed into such a degree of miserie as to be contemned of God I begin with the Text as a Prophesie The old fiction of the Gyants warre is heere represented in a true action The petie Potentates of the earth are in armes against the graund Lord of heauen who if he thunders the greatest of them tremble and with Tiberius flie for defence to the poore refuge of a Laurell wreath If he makes the earth to shake What priuiledge haue their Palaces aboue the meanest cottages will the Angels come at their call or the Sunne shine at their commaund Nay come lower in the ayre beyond a Nimrods tower they cannot build which the birds will flie ouer In earth is their dominion and that limited circumscribed their bounds dooled out by him whom they oppose The Persian Monarchie did not passe the narrow Hellespont The Grecian neuer had one foot in Africa nor the Romane beyond Euphrates Ouer men they rule neither those which are past nor those which are to haue beeing not ouer one whole man the body they may destroy the soule is out of their reach they cannot compell the will nor alter the affection of the meanest What Forces then can you bring into the field weigh your strength Are you able to resist his power from whom your owne is deriued no surely this rebellion is not directly intended against God but his Anointed Iesus Christ 't is a mistake they cannot be seuered He that doth not honour the Sonne doeth not honour the Father who sent him 't is against both but especially against King Iesus a King indeed euen as a man by most iust title the Deitie being vnited to the humanitie gaue him right ouer all things hauing purchased the world by the effusion of his blood he is absolute Lord ouer it his humiliation promerited this exaltation and being the naturall Sonne of God he obtained it as his patrimonie Is he a King what are the Ensignes of his authoritie where is his crowne not like Dauids which he raught from Hadarezers head that was of pearle his of thornes which mille puncturis with a thousand stings pierced his royall head Yet S. Iohn sees not onely many crownes vpon that head but all crownes cast at his feete Is he a King where is his throne not like Solomons of Iuory his was of wood the Crosse Dominus regnauit a ligno The malitious Iewes rased the last words out of the Text * Iustin Mart. Triph. Tertull. aduer Mar. yet by the Title they set vp they acknowledged his souereigntie and their owne rebellion Quem Israel crucifixit vt maleficum * Clement Alex. coronauit vt regem VVhom they crucified as a malefactour they stiled a King Is he a King where is his court besides that in heauen in the hearts of his chosen there hee keepes residence Is he a King where lies his Exchequer and reuenewes not like Augustus who taxed all the world and did no more then hee might Tribute is Princes due as markes of their power sinewes of their maintenance recompences of their labours But this King exinaniuit seipsum did emptie himselfe to in rich his subiects and out of the treasurie of his mercie paid all their scores as Elias gaue the widow oyle enough to satisfie her creditors and to liue beside so this King bestowed vpon vs his sorrowes and obedience to cancell the hand writing against vs together with the rich talents of his grace which well imployed will make vs liue for euer The Tribute he requires is praise and honour of his holy Name the rent hee cals for is faith in his merits the homage he expects is obedience to his Lawes His Lawes what are they Mandata eius non sunt grauia His commandements are not grieuous whatsoeuer he teacheth is trueth what hee inioynes is righteousnesse what he promiseth is happines and yet against this King Dauid fore-sees this great tumult and opposition No sooner did this King display his banners so Esay cals it * Esay 11. 12. In signum populorum for a signe to the people to muster vp the world to an holy warre against the deuill and sinne but presently they band to ouerthrow his standard and to teare his colours Esay his Signum populorum becomes * Luke 2. Simeon his Signum contradictionis It is a Metaphor from Archers who set vp a marke to shoote at and striue to sticke their shafts in the very center of it Such a marke was King Iesus vpon whom both Iewes and Gentiles did emptie all their quiuers Herod the father began the leading shoote with a deadly arrow to entrap the life of Christ in his cradle hee caused fourteene thousand infants to be put to death but missed his aime Herod the sonne shot at him an arrow of scorne and mocked him The Priests and people shot at him an arrow of accusation Gens tua Pontifices tuj accusant te Pilate the Roman Iudge shot the vp-shot of condemnation but as elegantly Ambrose Absoluit iudicio condemnauit mysterio He absolued him in his iudgement and condemned him in a mysterie What mysterie this of the Text the heathen and the people Iewes and Gentiles the vulgar and ruler Herod and Pilate Annas and Caiaphas conspired against King Iesus Heere is the accomplishment of this Prophecie once fulfilled in Christ our Head euer to be fulfilled in the Church and his members As long as it continues vpon earth it shall euer bee haunted with one of these three Furies 1. Persecution 2. Varietie of opinions 3. The vnanswerable conuersation of Christians to the rule prescribed Sometime Tyrants seeke to deuoure the Church and to roote vp the seedes of truth not onely those without her pale but in her bosome * Del Rio Adag Sacru The Monke who ambitious of Martyrdome told the Souldan that hee was come into his Court to die for preaching the truth was answered I wish it had not beene true hee needed not haue trauelled so far for death For he might easily finde it among his Princes at home but force neuer got ground of truth all tempters of that kind were inforced to confesse with the cruell Queene Ego prosum sola nocendo Heresies indeed haue done more mischiefe by deflouring pure doctrine some so foolish as made Christianitie ridiculous to wise men some so wretched as made Christianitie reiected by honest men Oh Christian Religion the cleare fountaine of peace and vnion how doe thy distractions turne thee into a puddle of quarels and contentions How are thy
CONSPIRACIE AGAINST KINGS HEAVENS SCORNE A Sermon preached at Westminster-Abbey before the Iudges vpon the fifth of NOVEMB 1622. BY RO WILLAN Doctor in Diuinity Sitotus orbis aduersum me coniuraret vt quippiam moliar aduersus regiam Maiestatem ego tamen Deum timerem ordinatum ab eo Regem offendere temerè non auderem BERN. Epist 170. ad Ludouic Franc. Regem LONDON Printed by IOHN BILL 1622. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND REVEREND FATHER IN God IOHN Lord Bishop of Lincolne Keeper of the great Seale MY LORD A Great part of this Sermon is spent vpon a Quare perhaps a Quare will be put to the Sermon it selfe that in Iob Quare misero data est lux why doth this poore Labour behold the light I can answer nothing but the Reuerend Iudges before whom it was bound to appeare vpon tryall adiudged it to be pressed Appealing to the Chancery so great vnion and harmony is betweene the Courts no reuersing of the Doome was to be had there So Obedience Gratitude and Modestie striuing together the last could not alone make her party good against two Obedience pleaded that authority is dissolued when sullen silence possesses such as are commanded to speake or print all is one Gratitude aduised me by an Embolisme or intercalation to insert my priuate thankefulnesse among the publike gratulations of all men some for redresse of their wrongs some for the dispatch of their interminable suites some for faire denyall of their vniust petitions accounting your Lordship another Cato of whom they durst not aske any thing irregular the good reioycing to see as the Athenians sent out their Salaminian ship swift and sure in dangerous seasons so this acedious and corrupt Age incountred with your assiduous and actiue integritie the most curious interpreters of great actions euen those who wished not such honour to your profession deeming it an Egyptian spoyle and a mysterie disclosed that a Gouernour might be chosen out of Rome confessing where many were thought capable of high place vntill they attained it Imperio proditus inferior your Lordship by the assistance of His grace which will conduct you to the races end hath satisfied if not exceeded expectation Then Modestie tho blushing at Vnworthines yet hoping to shun the censure of ouer-forwardnesse neuer adventuring but Candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat consented to tender it vnto your protection Nil illum amplexa verebor Vouchsafe then from your first Chaplaine these first Fruites capitur minimo thuris honore Deus When God gaue his people an haruest of fruites hee reserued to himselfe a sheafe of thankes such a sheafe for the haruest of fauour and maintenance is this accompanied with prayers to that high God who giues salutem sublimium orationibus humilium still to multiply his graces vpon you and giue you the true happines of this and a better life Your Lordships humble and thankfull seruant RO. WILLIAN Gresham Coll. Decemb. 4. PSAL. 2. 1 Why did the Gentiles rage and the people meditate a vaine thing 2 The Kings of the earth stood vp and the Rulers tooke counsell together against the Lord and against his Anoynted 3 Let vs breake their bonds a sunder and cast their cords from vs. 4 He that dwelleth in the heauens shall laugh them to scorne the Lord shall haue them in derision THis Text like Ianus looks backward and forward Backe to reuiue the memory of this Day t' was a day of conspiracie and this is a Text of conspiracie Forward to represent the face of the times present tumultuarie times and this is a tumultuarie Text. Although blessed be God and the care of our Soueraigne we inioy Halcion dayes yet it is not so in other Christian parts of the world They haue found them pardon the word Dogge-dayes it is Tertullians Canicula persecutionis Such is the furie and rage of one against another that the fume and smoke thereof prognosticates the fire * of conslagration ready to breake 〈…〉 Naz. â—rat 3. de 〈◊〉 foorth to consume all When the Apostles were forbidden to preach in the sauing Name of Iesus they tooke their incouragement out of this Psalme Memorable Luther when all the world was in opposition against him found his best comfort in this Psalme Why should I sayes he be Heraclitus when God is Hilarius and Gelasius or vexe my selfe with discontent * 〈◊〉 ep ad 〈◊〉 when God vouchsafes to be merrie and laughes at their vaine attempts We our selues may make a double vse of this Psalme To raise vp our thankfulnesse for our owne happy deliuerance past and our peaceable estate present while others struggle against luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras and withall be affected to compassionate the contrition of Ioseph And so I come to vnfold the words wishing I had Saint Ambrose his facultie In Psalmis Dauidis explicandis eius lyram plectrum videtur mutuatus Posseuin Apparat * who in the exposition of Dauids Psalms is said to haue borrowed Dauids owne Harpe so properly hee exprest his meaning The Text may bee considered three wayes As a Prophesie as an Historie as an Embleme Dauid represents a threefold person his Sauiours his owne and ours Dauid was no sooner designed King ouer Israel but the bordering Nations and the ten Tribes made head and conspired What he saw acted against his owne person he foresaw in the eye of Prophesie should be accomplished vpon his Sauiour For so S. Peter vpon the fore-named place applies these words of the Psalme to the Passion of our Lord Iesus As an Embleme it fitteth this day wherein the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and vtter subuersion of this flourishing Kingdome was intended The parts of the Text are two First Dauids hard plight and condition Secondly Dauids sweet comfort and consolation The first in two particulars 1. A conspiracie 2. the cause of it In the conspiracie obserue the actors and the managing The actors all sorts of men the basest and the choicest spirits the Ruler and the vulgar euery one hath a hand in it The managing is described in foure Verbes Raging Meditating Banding Plotting so it hath foure fearefull supporters Malice Industrie Power Policie The cause none on Dauids part for that is implyed in the Prophets Quare The motiue on his enemies part Let vs breake their bonds asunder and cast the yoke from vs I there it is The cause of sedition is the dislike of Gouernment they will not brooke either State or Church no Law no Religion The second part Dauids consolation and that two-fold within him without him First the testimonie of his owne conscience that no ambition of his owne made him aspire to a Crowne but God called him and the Prophet anointed him Without the protection of heauen God looked vpon him with an eye of fauour vpon his enemies with an eye of scorne Hee that dwelleth in the heauens shall laugh them to scorne A double description of God by a
Sometimes hee lets them make some progresse in their attempts The Philistins surprise his owne Arke and carrie it away but did not God smile when their idoll Dagon tumled downe to doe it reuerence and themselues so tormented with sickenes as they were enforced to restore their pilfer with shame enough When superstition and idolatry seeme to bee aduanced the restauration tendes to the greater ruine Is Dagon perked vp to his place againe short is the wickeds ioy Gods smile takes off his head and hands leaues him neither wisedome to guide nor power to subsist He permitted his Temple to be sacked rifled the holy vessels to be prophaned and caroused in but did not Gods smile make Balthasar to tremble at the hand-writing vpon the wall Oh what are his frownes if his smiles bee so terrible We may not iudge of Gods workes vntill the fift act the case deplorable and desperate in outward appearance may with one smile from heauen finde a blessed issue 3 This laughter argues not so much what God doth as what they suffer by discouering and frustrating their practises hee exposeth them to scorne and contempt Aboue hell there is not a greater punishment then to become a Sannio a subiect of scorne Sampson bare with more patience the boring out of his eyes thē the ludibrious scoffes of the Philistins Alcibiades did professe that neither the proscription of his goods nor his banishment nor the woundes receiued in his body were so grieuous vnto him as one scornefull word of his enemy Ctesiphon Good Queene Ester in her prayer to God for her people doth humbly deprecate this height of infelicity O let them not laugh at our ruines and Dauid holdes it for a singular token of Gods fauour By this I know thou hast a respect vnto mee that mine enemie doeth not triumph ouer mee 4 Lastly hee laughes that is hee despises their prayers and stops his eares when they call vpon him A Chirurgion neuer cures a wound while the iron or steele remaine in it nor doth God heare the suites of those whose will continues in sin whose thoughts are iron steele gun-powder They may conceiue prayers and take the Sacrament but God highly disdains that his dreadful name holy institutiō should be so prophaned Praier is our bil of exchange and is allowed in heauen and returnes with what sums of blessing we desire if agreeable to his wil. But when mischieuous intentions appeare God protests their bills and proclaimes them bankrupts of his grace to all the world So then Dauid hath found great opposition but withall a sure protection men sought his ouerthrow God wrought their confusion Rebellious doome is heauens scorne One word of this text as an Embleme to this day shall giue a period to your patience This day the fift of Nouember a fatall inauspicious day branded in historie with a blacke coale for mischiefe Among the Grecians it was kept with sad solemnitie for the losse of noble Aratus the often Plutarch in rita Arati Manlij Calendarium preseruer of his country Among the Iewes famous for the slaughter of Zacharias the Priest that day butchered in the temple betweene the porch and the altar our Sauiour vpbraiding the murder many yeeres after the fact Among our selues neuer to be forgotten a day for which we neede no Darius prompter Memento Atheniensium A day quem semper acerbum semper honoratum as he said of his fathers death day euer to be thought vpon with sadnesse and yet euer to bee remembred with ioy For as Lucullus said of a day ominous fatall he would make it luckie and prosperous so blessed be the change God hath turned the funerall into a festiuall I wil not recount the well known story only I must put the Quare why against our gracious Soueraigne Could any complaine of his iustice That is such as it were not best for any greatnesse to aduenture vpon Or of his mercie that is such as his enemies neuer implored in vaine Or of his vnquiet disposition he is the Nestor of the times Componere lites inter Peliden festinat inter Atriden Hee was euer euer will be the Noah of the age borne to giue men rest from their toiles and labours the loadstar of his actions is peace he hath alwayes called to the raging Christians as the moderate Roman Parte ciuibus Pompey Spare your blood spend not that prodigally among your selues which thriftily imployed might ransome your friends and ruine your enemies What cause then can you alledge yes a colour one fault his Maiestie hath which sure he will neuer amend the same fault which was found in Daniel long agoe hee was so faithfull as no blame no occasion found but onely in the worship and seruice of his God That is the true Quare His Maiestie doeth not open his windowes to the Romane Saints but toward Ierusalem aboue and prayes to the God of Heauen No roaring of Bulles can make him set vp an Idolatrous calfe as Ieroboam did Hee will not erect Images as Nabuchadnezzar did nor to gratifie any forraigne Power set vp an Altar according to the patterne of Damascus as Achas did nor alter his Profession for Affinitie as Hemor and Sichem did This was the Quare of their malice and withall of Gods mercie towards him For as all Kings and Kingdomes are vnder the wings of Gods protection yet those principally where his Church is fostered and his sauing knowledge spread It is his custome those who promote his seruice and take care of his holy businesse hee vsually prouids for their safetie Doe the Israelites goe vp to his solemnities leaue their countrey vnpeopled to performe his command Tho Borderers bee prone to take occasion of inlarging their Territorie Quemque suae rapiunt scelerata ad proelia Luca. causae God will take away that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and itching appetite of incroching no man shall desire their land no man dare inuade them If the Quare bee asked for the Parliament Why raged they against it The Text shewes that the breaking of the Bands was their intention there the Lawes were made which held them in awe This Place where wee now are calleth for a Quare Why should this stately Pile haue been demolished and not one stone left vpon another This is Abrahams Mach-pelah the burying Caue of the Patriarks Hierou ad Marcel Dauids Mausolaeum so Hierom called his Sepulchre whereat hee was wont to pray This is Solomons royall Reconditorie wherein were one and twente receptacles or Celles as if in the spirit of Prophecie he had foreseene how many Kings should be interred there for iust so many in number if you account from Dauid to Zedechiah This is Iosephs Garden a dedicated Cemetery containing veterum decora alta parentum the sacred vrnes and deare reliques of our famous deceased Princes Why did the heathen rage For say the people were Christian yet the rage was heathenish and barbarous aboue all madnesse The Lunaticke in the Gospel who liued among the Graues did not roote them vp I end all He that dwelleth in the heauens looked downe vpon vs let vs looke vp to him since by his mercy we liue and breath let vs liue to breath Praise and Thankes-giuing vnto his Name He hath neither zeale to Religion nor loue to his Countrey nor loyaltie to his Soueraigne who this day binds not the Sacrifice with cordes to the hornes of the Altar who this day sends not vp to heauen some incense of thanks The Iewes once a yeere were wont to celebrate a Feast to sorrow wherein they went barefoot and with bitter imprecations they cursed Titus and Vespasian for the destruction of their Citie and Temple I speake confidently fidenter quia fideliter and I may say it without breach of any rule of charitie Priests Iesuits and all such Romanists as haue euill will at our Sion this day doe keepe a feast to sadnesse if not for griefe that this hopefull Plot miscaried yet for shame vnlesse they be past shame that it was attempted Let their sorrow increase our ioy let our ioy increase our Thankfulnes As Caesar said of Phraates he was prius victus quam visus so this Conspiracie against our Dauid was knetched before it was fully hatched vndertaken but ouertaken Hee that dwels in Heauen laught it to scorne To him therefore this day and euer be ascribed all Honour praise and glory Amen FINIS LONDON ¶ Printed by IOHN BILL M. DC XXII