neere affinity or rather consanguinity they being sensible of the smart of his whip tooke it all upon themselves and so as Iudges in their owne cause passed their Episcopall censure upon him yea although he not only in his booke but openly before the whole Court professed and protested that hee medled not with those Prelates who received and acknowledged their Episcopall Iurisdiction from Kings and Princes and withall he alleadged and read in the audience of the Courts sundry Statutes as in King Henry the eight Edward thâ— sixt and Queene Elizabeth which doe annex all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction unto the Crowne of England So as no Prelate or other Person hath any power to visit Ecclesiasticall persons c. But he must have it immediately from the King and confirmed by Letters Patents under the great Seale of England This Iurisdiction annexed to the Crowne of England Doctor Bastwicke alledged in Court against that usurped Iurisdiction of the Hierarchy of Rome which they challenge from Christ. Notwithstanding they alledged for themselves that they had their Episcopall authority from Christ and if they could not proove it they would cast away their Rochets So they may cast their caps too for any such proofe they can bring for it But stopping the Doctors mouth that he might not plead his cause they proceeded to a most grievous censure of him in 1000. pound fine to the King for maintaining the Royalty of His Crowne against the Prelates usurpation who would plucke away that gemme from it Imprisonment Excommunication suspension from his practise in Prison and the many miseries depending thereupon and devolving upon his Wife and children So as it is plaine they usurpe professe and practise such a jurisdiction as is not annexed to the Imperiall Crowne of England but which with the Pope and Prelates of Italy they claime from Christ. And this is cleere by a threefold practise of theirs 1. Their censuring of Doctor Bastwick for this very cause that hee impugned all Episcopall Iurisdiction over Gods Ministers claimed from Christ or the Scripture So as they make it their owne cause with the Pope and his Prelates as all holding by that title and not from the authority of Kings and Princes And this is according to that in Dr. Pockâ—â—ngtons Sunday no Sabbath where hee saith pag. 48. Hereby wee may by Gods mercy make good the trueth of our Church For wee are able lineally to set downe the succession of our Bishops from St. Peter to St. Gregory and from him to our first Archbishops St. Austin our English Apostle downward to his Grace that now fits in his Chaire Primate of all England and Metropolitane So hee Thus wee see how our Prelates have no other claime for their Hierchie then the Popes of Rome have and doe make which all our Divines fince the Reformation till but yesterday have disclaimed and our Prelates cannot otherwise assume but by making themselues the very limbes of the Pope and so our Church a member of that Synagogue of Rome Secondly the constant practise of our Prelates proveth this for they neither have at any time nor have sought to have any the Kings Letters Parents under the great Seale of England for their keeping Courts and Visitations c. But doe all in their owne names and under their owne Seales contrary to the Law in that behalfe Thirdly in that they labour by all meanes possible to maintaine this their absolute and independed Iurisdiction as no way depending on the King and namely by stopping the ordinary course of Law that the Kings people may bee cut off from all benefit of the Kings good Lawes and of their native ancient Liberties so as it is become very geason and a rare matter to obtaine a Prohibition against their illegall practises invexing oppressing the Kings good Subjects nay they are growne so formidable of late as if they were some new generation of Giants that the very motion of a Prohibition against a Prelate or their Proceedings in the High Commission makes the Courts of Instice startle So as good causes are lost and Innocents condemned because none dare pleade and judge their cause according to the Kings Lawes whereby wee ought all to be governed For example the Ministers of Surry who are suspended from their Ministery and outed of their meanes and freeholds against all Law or Conscience yet are so disheartned and overawed that they dare not contend in Law against the Prelate for feare of further vexations and they are out of hope of any fayre hearing in an ordinary Legall way Nay when Doctor Bastwicke had procured a Habâ—as corpus to remove him out of the Bishope stincking prison in the Gate-house unto the Kings Bench. and thereupon was removed thither-yet notwithstanding they procured the reversing of this Legall Order and brought the Prisonner backe againe with avengeance and triumph to his old lodging Thus wee see they have gotten such a power into their hands as doth overtop and countermaund the Kings Lawes and the peoples Liberties Now this power they have not from the Imperiall Crowne according to the Lawes of the Land but it is a meere usurpation So as being a power not derived from the King as the immediate fountaine of it it proves to bee at least a branch of that forraigne power altogether excluded in the Statute of 1. Elis. cap. 1. And it is flatly against the Oath of Supremacy in the same Statute which all Prelates take wherein they professe and promise faith and true allegiance to the Queenes Highnesse her Heires and lawfull Successors and to their power to defend all Iurisdictions Priviledges c. granted or belonging to the Queenes Highnesse her Heires c. Now all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction which the Prelates have authority to exercise being annexed to the Crowne as is cleere by the foresayd statute either they must not claime it by another title or if they doe they are all in a Tramunire and under the guilt of perjury And whither they bee not also in a Praemunire for practising their Iurisdiction as keeping of Courts visitations c. in their owne names not having the Kings Letters Patents under the Great Seale of England I leave to the learned in the Law to judge But some will say that they defend and maintaine all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction to bee from the King For in the visitation Articles for Norwich by Mathew their Lord Bishop this is one Be there any in your Parish that have denyed or perswaded any other to deny withstand or impugne the Kings Majesties Authority and Supremacy in causes Ecclesiasticall within this Realme First I answer this is a faire colour and pretence as if it were against Papists Secondly it is against their ordinary practise as in the former examples And thirdly admit they doe sincerely professe that they have or hold no Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction but from the King yet the question is whither they will say that all those outrageous courses they how hold and
in this book of the Proverbs as ye may see throughout It is a voice beseeming a father to his child or an ancient to a young man or a Pastor and Preacher to his hearer or God Himselfe to his people by his Minister as in this place So Prov. 23. 26. My sonne giue mee thine heart c. which cannot be understood but as spoken by Solomon both from and for God as who may justly challenge our heart and none but hee So heere Secondly for feare here what kind of feare is here meant There are in Scripture sundry kinds of feare as 1. a naturall feare which was in Christ himselfe as man and is in every man 2. a filiall feare as in genuine children to their Parents 3. a Servill feare as in all wicked men and in the divels themselves who tremble at God 4. a civill feare as of Subjects to their Prince 5. a religious feare as in true Christians towards God Now this feare in this place is to be distinguished though not in name yet in nature and kinde according to the difference of the severall objects of it So as when it is ascribed to God as the object of it it is a religious feare but as it is applyed to man as its object as here it is a civill feare The feare of the Lord then Iehovah that is God the Father and Christ as the ordinary Glosse is a religious feare the feare of the King is a civill feare And though these two feares differ in their kind yet in resemblance and similitude they are not unlike As the feare of the Lord is a filiall feare so is the feare of the King the feare of God comprehends in it all duties required of his children the feare of the King all duties required in Subjects towards their Prince there is a feare of universall obedience due to God and there is a feare of universall obedience next under and after God due to the King there is a feare of adherence to God and a feare of adherence to the King So much in briefe for the opening of this word feare Feare thou the Lord and the King Now for the admonition Meddle not It is not meant here that wee may not meddle at all by way of reproofe detection conuiction impeding or impeaching their wicked courses and practises but not to meddle that is haue no fellowship side not countenance not approoue not applawd not such men in their euill wayes As Gen. 49. 5. Iacob said of Simeon and Leui instruments of cruelty O my soule come not thou into their secret vnto their assembly mine honour be thou not vnited Or as Psal. 1. 1. not to walke stand sit with them in their Counsels wayes chaire Or as Pro. 1. 10. 15. My sonne if sinners intice thee consent thou not walke not thou in the way with them c. But who are these men we are admonished of Such as are giuen to change The best interpreters expound it of innouations either of Religion or of the Republick So Mercer and Lauater Pagnin renders gnim shonim cum iterantibus iniquitatis Vulg. cum detractoribus Tremellius Iunius cum varijs Such as change and breake the Commandement of God and of their Princes and fall away from the feare of God and the King in their rebellious life But we need goe no further then our owne translation which is very full meaning it of all such as are factious seditious giuen to change the Lawes of God and the King Lastly for the reason annexed one terme seemes somewhat difficult as being subject to different interpretations the ruine of them both wat's meant by them both Some as the Ordinary Glosse and Lyra referre it to detractors and those that intertaine and hearken vnto them to Arch-hereticks and those that are seduced by them to such as derogate from Christ and others that ioyne with them Others againe as Mercerus and Lauater vnderstand ruine of them both in an actiue sense referring the ruine of those that are giuen to change to God and the King who shall bring ruine vpon them as if it were expressed thus who knoweth the ruine that God and the King whose lawes they violated and innouated shall cause suddenly to arise and fall vpon them So as though these bee different interpretations yet they may well bee reconciled together and may serve for the mutuall amplification and illustration of each other For innouators are alwayes notorious detractors and sycophants derogating from those things which they goe about to innouate or abrogate that so they may establish their owne nouelties whither in Church or State or both And euer such ringleaders have their disciples and followers ready to be instruments of their wicked designes These ringleaders with their adherents and complices shall both fall and perish together and both God and the King that is the iustice of Gods Law and mans Law shall conspire together to root them out Lastly to shew the manner of their vnexpected ruine or calamity it is sayd It shall rise that is although they seeme to bee so high as to surmount all feare of dangers as trampling all vnder their feet yet calamity shall rise aboue them and bring them to ruine As the Lord saith Ier. 37. 10. Also Their calamity noteth that God hath layd up judgements in store proper and peculiar to the wicked This for the sense of the words wherein if I have beene a little the longer yet it is not fruitlesse both because we may take a view of the sense of the whole text together and also lay the better grounds for those sundry instructions which will naturally issue from the same Come wee then to points of instruction arising from this text The first is this from this compellation My sonne That every one ought so to addresse himselfe to the hearing of the Word of God as a Son of God Here we see God speakes unto us as unto sons My son feare c. My son heare the instruction of a Father as chap. 4. 1. 2. 1. c. So Heb. 12. 6. And yee have forgotten the Exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children My sonne despise not thou the chastning of the Lord c. This is that exhortation Prov. 3. 11. But how can poore men as we are be said to be the Sonnes of God In briefe not by nature for so Christ onely is the Son of God but by adoption and grace we are made the Sons of God through faith as Gal. 4. 5. Gal. 3. 26. Now this addressement as of sons to heare Gods Word is very effectuall and profitable in sundry respects As 1. It is a strong motive and sweet preparative to a reverend attention I will hearken saith David what the Lord God will speake for hee will speake peace unto his people and to his Saints And the Thessalonians are commended and Taul thanketh God that they received the Word not as the word of
of my body which is every day threatned by Pursuivants to bee haled to Prison if Your Majesties Iustice and good Lawes doe not all the better safeguard mee But prison or not prison I heartily thanke my Lord Iesus Christ who hath accounted mee faithfull and called me forth to stand for his cause and to witnesse it before all the World by publishing my said Sermons in Print that thereby also I might cleere both the cause and my credit which they haue publikely before hearing branded with sedition All which I humbly commit to Your Majesties Royall Patronage as Who next under God are most interessed in the Cause Now the Lord Iesus Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords so unite and combine your heart unto Himselfe that You being guided by His Spirit of Wisedome and Vnderstanding of Councell and strength and of the feare of the Lord You may doe Valiantly and prosper in stopping the course of all Innovators and Backe-sliders into Popery that so with and under Christs Kingdome Yours may be established in Righteousnesse to You and your Royall Posteritie untill time shall be no more Which is the daily Prayer of Your Majesties dutifull Servant and Subject HENRY BVRTON FOR GOD AND THE KING PROVERBES 24. 21. 22. My sonne feare thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruine of them both THis time is a time of sorrow and humiliation but this day a day of joy and festivity to bee celebrated in this our anniversary thankfull remembrance of a great and memorable deliverance as on this day 31. yeeres agoe So as this day falling in so sad a season is like a starie peeping and shining forth through the cloudes of a dolesome duskie night and by and by ready to be overclouded againe Such is our joy such is our sorrow this long that short this a summer and a winter plague that a widowes joy a blaze and away Yet sith God is pleased in the midst of judgement to remember Mercy there is no reason that this calamitous time should so farre dampe us as to deprive both us of our comfort and God of his glory this day Therefore wee may say with David Why art thou cast downe o my soule I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Or as Psal. 101. I will sing of Mercy and Iudgement And surely that joy is soundest which is seasoned with some sorrow As saith the Psalmist Serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce with trembling It 's good to be merry and wise as saith the Proverbe Sadnesse is as salt that seasoneth our mirth and preserues it from corruption Well blessed be God who in the midst of many sad dayes hath sent us this joyfull day to sing praise unto him for that mercy which hath made it a day of joy unto all good Christians and all good Subjects in this land Sutable therefore to the occasion of this day and season I have made choice of this Text It comprehends one of those wise Sentences Counsells or Proverbs which King Solomon a Preacher also inspired with the spirit of Wisedome from God hath left recorded for instruction of the Church of God in all ages If wee seeke to find the coherence or dependance of these words wee may quickly loose our selues and our labour For this Booke of the Proverbs is fitly compared to a bagg full of sweete and fragrant spices which shuff led and shaken together or taken single doe yeeld forth a most pleasant and comfortable odour Or to the Starres in the firmament each in itselfe glorious and independent of another yet all receive their light from the Sunne Like as Eccles. 12. 11. The words of the wise are as goads and as nayles fastened by the Masters of assemblies which are given from one Shepheard This one Shepheard is Christ the Sunne of Righteousnesse who inlightens all the Prophets Or heere are studds of silver in borders of gold Cant. 1. 11. Or apples of gold in pictures of silver Prov. 25. 11. And these things belong to the wise v. 23. The words recited containe three things in generall 1. an Exhortation 2. an Admonition 3. a reason of the admonition The Exhortation in these words My son feare thou the Lord and the King The admonition in these words And meddle not with them that are giuen to change the reason of the admonition in these words For their calamity shall arise suddenly and who knoweth the ruine of them both In the Exhortation these particulars are considerable 1. The Person Exhorting and that is King Solomon instructing the people as from Gods owne mouth 2. The persons exhorted to wit all Gods people represented heere in the singular number under the name of one sonne and this by a neere bond of relation by a strong cord of affection distinguishing him from others and appropriating him as Gods owne peculiar My Sonne The duty exhorted unto is feare the object of this feare is twofold 1. The Lord. 2. The King In all which we are to observe three things 1. The order of this feare first the Lord and secondly the King 2. the connexion of these two as things inseparable in this duty of Feare Feare the LORD and the KING 3. The speciall property of this duty as peculiar to the child of God above all other Mysonne feare THOV the Lord and the King as if Solomon should have said My sonne how ever the sons of Belial the men of the world cast off all feare both of God and man yet feare THOV the Lord and the King This is the resolution of the Exhortation 2. In the Admonition wee are to note three things 1. The admonition it selfe meddle not 2. Who they be of whom Gods children are admonished namely such as are said here to be giuen to change 3. The antithesis or opposition betweene these changlings and them that truely feare God and the King 3. In the reason of the admonition annexed which is taken from the dangerous condition that these who are given to change are obnoxious unto wee observe 1. The matter of their danger in these words Calamity and ruine then the manner of their calamity and ruine set downe 1. In it's suddennesse and 2. in its certainty It shall rise suddenly and lastly the unexpected meanes of their ruine contrary to all outward appearance And who knoweth the ruine of them both That is though there be no outward appearance of ruine to these men but that all things prosper with them and seeme to be on their side yet their ruine shall be from both these as wee shall further open by and by Now having distributed the words into their severall parts and that without curiosity taking them as they lie naturally in the text come wee briefely to give you the sence of the words First My sonne a compellation frequent and familiar