of all Seek ye first the Kingdom of God 1. The act injoyned is Seek ye 1. The act that is injoyned and if Christ had said no more but seek ye all men would have readily obeyed his command for all men seek And now they say we have a Sect of Professors that are called Seekers but as those silly women whereof the Apostle speaketh That they are ever learning 2 Tim. 3.7 and yet never come to the knowledge of the truth So our Saviour saith That many men will seek but they shall not find because they seek amiss and that is Either Why men find not what they seek for 1. What they ought not to seek Or 2. When they should not seek it Or 3. Where it is not to be found Or 4. Not so carefully as they ought to seek it 1. What we ought not to seek for 1. The worldlings seek indeed But what do they seek Quaerenda pecunia primum and for the wealth of this world Currit mercator ad Indos And so the Lawyer seeks the Physitian seeks the Divine seeks and every man seeks for something and too many seek for that which should not be sought for for revenge or for their neighbours goods and therefore they shall not find this Kingdom of God 2. When it is too late to seek 2. Others seek for what they should seek for i. e. the Kingdom of God and yet they find it not because that with those foolish Virgins whereof our Saviour speaketh they seek to enter when the door is shut Matth. 25.10 for as it is too late to shut the door when the steed is stollen so many times it is to no purpose to knock when the door is shut or to seek when it is too late for so Dives Qui negavit micas interris rogavit guttas in poenis which denied the crums to Lazarus on earth desires a drop in hell but he is denied and so shall all they be denied Qui quaerunt salutem in medio Gehennae quae operata est in medio terrae which seek for salvation and help in the midst of Hell or of Purgatory which was wrought in the midst of the earth and should be sought after while we live on earth And therefore the Prophet Esay biddeth us To seek the Lord while he may be found and that is now in the Church Esay 55.6 and not hereafter in Purgatory for now is the time acceptable now is the day of salvation 3. Others seek it and find it not 3. Where it is not to be found because they seek it in the place where it is not to be found for as they that seek for counsel among Fools and honesty among Knaves and truth among Hereticks may seek long enough and yet miss to find them so they that seek for the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of Christ in the Dominion of Antichrist or among unrighteous Rebels shall hardly find it And therefore we must seek it where it may be found and that is in the true Church of God and in his Holy Scripture and not in the Synagogue of Satan or in the Fanatique Conventicles of our upstart Sectaries or in any Popish and absolete Traditions of the Church of Rome 4. Others also seek the Kingdom of God and yet find it not 4. When they seek it so carelesly because they seek it so coldly and so carelesly as they do for great things cannot be had without great labour And therefore Solomon saith he that would find Wisedom must search for it as for Silver Prov. 2.4 and seek for it as we seek for hidden Treasure And you see the worldling cannot get a little wealth without labour the Lawyer cannot understand the Law without study and do you think with our foolish Enthusiasts that we shall understand the Holy Scripture without paines-taking Surely How no great nor good thing can be had without labour they that cannot understand Terence without a Comment shall never be able to expound the deep Mysteries of the Scripture and to reconcile the repugnant Texts thereof without Books and without Labour for as St. Aug. speaketh Quidquid est crede mihi in Scripturis illis altum divinum est Whatsoever is in those Scriptures believe me it is high and Divine and though in some places it is like a shallow Foord wherein a Lamb may wade and the meanest man may understand what he should do and the main points of his belief yet in many other places you shall find it like the deep Ocean wherein the greatest Elephant may swim and the best Wits fail to understand it And if the Câ—tizen cannot get his Wealth nor the Scholler his Learning without labour and pains do you think to find and to attain to the Kingdom of God by a â—old and careless seeking after it No no that cannot be Quia non dormientibus sed pugnantibus adveniet regnum Dei the Kingdom of God falleth not into the Sleepers lap but they that strive for it shall obtain it and therefore our Saviour bids us Luke 13.24 strive to enter in at the narrow gate and he saith that the Kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it away And so you see how we ought to seek for any thing that we would find when and where and how it may be found that is with such pains and care as it ought to be sought Now 2. The thing that we ought to seek for 2. Our Saviour thinking it not enough to bid us seek lest we should mistake the thing that we should seek and passing by all other things that are scarce worth the seeking or much looking after he setteth down that Vnum necessarium and that Pearl of invaluable price which we ought to seek that is the Kingdom of God And who would not seek a Kingdom Truly if Christ had said no more but seek a Kingdom I think enow would have been ready enough to seek it for it is strange saith Camerarius Camerar l. 5. c. 8. to consider of the inordinate desire that men have had to reign and to rule as Kings what Villainies they have committed to become Kings and what Execrable things they have don to continue Kings The ambitious and inordinate dâ—sire of men to reign as Kings for Amurath the Third caused five of his younger Brethren to be strangled in his presence and Ismael the second Son to Techmas King of Persia did put to death as many of his Bretheren as he could find and all the Princes that he suspected to have any desire to his Kingdom that so they might reign and rule without fear and Soliman mistrusting his own Son Mustapha when he returned Victorious from the Persian War and was received with such general applause caused him presently to be strangled and Proclamation to be made throughout all the Army that there must be but one God in Heaven and one Emprour
that is himself upon Earth and Camerarius saith that this is a perpetual custom in the race of the Ottomans and Turkish Souldans to put all that pretend to succession unto death Neither is it only a Turkish custom to do so but it is the practice of most of them that are bewitched with this inordinate desire to rule as Kings to do the like for Plutarch writeth that Deiotarus having many Sons and being desirous that only one of them should reign slew all the rest with his own hands and Justin saith that Phrahartes the Son of Horodes King of the Parthians killed his own Father and after that massacred all his Bretheren that he might reign and rule alone And the Sacred Storie sheweth that the very people of God the Sons of Israel were not free from this fault Judges 9. but were pestered with this disease for Abimelech the Son of Gedeon slew seventy of his Bretheren in one day and played many other Tragical parts that he might make himself a King and the furious ambition of Absolon did let him on to play the Parricide 2 Sam. 15 16. and to end his Fathers days that he might reign in his place And not to go from our own home did not Henry the Fourth put by Richard the Second his own King and Cozen German that himself might be the King And did not Richard the Third cause the true King and his own Nephews the Sons of his own Brother Edward the Fourth to be done to death that he himself might be King And did not that arch-Rebel and Traytor now of late amongst our selves play the like Tragical parts that he might gain the rule of these Kingdoms And so did many others in many other Kingdoms for there is not any thing so Sacred which the great men of this world that desire to be made greater will not violate and spare neither King Father Brother or Friend to bring themselves unto advancement and to be the rulers of the People and to have the command and power over their Goods and Lives as the proof hereof is seen in Antoninus Caracalla who when he had murthered his own Brother Geta in his Mothers lap and betwixt her arms and being advised by some of his friends to Canonize him among the Heroes and to place him among the Gods to mitigate the thought of so execrable a fact answered like a wretch sit divus modo non sit vivus let him be a God among the dead so he be not alive among Men Camerar quo supra so great an enemy is the inordinate desire of bearing rule to all Piety and right saith mine Author Therefore our Saviour doth not stop when he had said seek a Kingdom which he knew most men would be ready enough and some too ready to do without bidding but he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of God and not the Kingdom of this world nor the Kingdom of the Antichrist nor of sin but the Kingdom of God And the Kingdom of God is taken many waies but especially The Kingdom of God three fold 1. For the Kingdom of Nature 2. For the Kingdom of Grace 3. For the Kingdom of Glory 1. The Kingdom of nature The first is all the world Heaven Hell Sea and Earth and all men good and bad are the subjects of this his Kingdom for he is Rex universae terrae super omnes nationes mundi whom he ruleth with his mighty power and by his wisedom disposeth all things sweetly even when he permitteth the wicked to flourish and chasteneth his own children every morning our King doing herein as the Husband-man doth with his Oxen mactandus liber ibit ad pascua servandus jugo premitur that which is appointed for the slaughter shall freely run to the best Pasture but that which is to be preserved shall be pressed under the Yoak 2. The Kingdom of Grace 2. The Kingdom of Grace comprehendeth not all creatures nor all men but the elect only that is the good and godly men in whose hearts this King writeth his holy Laws and ruleth them by his Spirit that guideth and directeth them to observe his Laws 3. The Kingdom of Glory 3. The Kingdom of Glory is that which the Apostle describeth whose joyes passeth all understanding whose subjects are the Saints and Angels and whose King is Jesus Christ the King of kings The first of these was established by power when the Almighty God created all things by his powerful Word or the Word of his power which is Jesus Christ but it shall be finished through its weakness when languishing Nature that still groweth weaker and weaker can hold out no longer The second was begun in weakness when Christ the Son of God began the same in the the infirmity of our flesh and to gather his Church by the preaching of a few Fisher-men but it shall end in power when after he hath put all his enemies under his feet he shall by the power of his Deity absolve the same and deliver it as the Apostle sheweth 1 Cor. 15. unto God his Father but The third shall begin in power and continue in power without ending when as the Poet saith Gloriosum Imperium siue fine dabit Cui nec metas rerum nec tempora ponit God shall give us a glorious Kingdom without ending and eternal happiness unto his Saints where there shall be no fight because they have no enemie no tears because they can recieve no hurt no fear because there is no danger and no grief because there is no evil but all peace all joy all felicity because God will be all in all And of these three Kingdoms we ought to submit our selves with all contentedness unto the first and with all care and diligence to seek the second that so to our everlasting comfort we may attain unto the third Which kingdom we shall never come unto unless we seek the second which is the kingdome of grace as we ought to do for as among the Romans none came to the Temple of Honour but by the Temple of Virtue so none shall come to the Kingom of glory but the Subjects of the Kingdom of grace and therefore we must seek for that as we ought to do and that is 1. Generally that the Church of Christ may be enlarged by the preaching of the Gospel and by all other ways that we can to convert men to the faith of Christ and not to pervert them by wicked errours or the evil examples of an ungodly conversation 2. Particularly that the Spirit of God and not the Spirit of Satan the grace of Christ and not our fleshly lusts or any other sin might reign in us and rule our hearts to do all things according to Gods Laws that so we our selves might be members of his Church and subjects of this kingdom And as I told you before our seeking for this kingdom must not be as children seek for their
now being more incensed with ire through this Frantique fear he put to death his own wise Mariamne his mother Alexandra and fourty of his chiefest noble men of the tribe of Juda and he slew all the great Sanhedâ—im that is the 72 Senators of the Jews and fourteen thousand infants in and about Bethlehem as some do think and among the rest he slew his own infant born of a Jewish woman as Philo writeth which made Augustus say Philo Judaeus in l. de tempore That he had rather be his pig then his son And all this he did in hope to root out and destroy all the royal bloud of Juda least this King and Lion of Juda should deprive him of his Kingdom And what insanable incurable madness is this and how vain is the thought For this King which is now born Iunaniter ergo invidendo timuisti successorem quem credendo debuisti quarere Sâ—lvatorem Fulgeni Serm. de Epiph. fol. 652. doth not come saith Fulgentius reges pugnando superare sed moriendo mirabiliter subjugare not to overcome them by fighting but wonderfully to subdue them by dying and therefore he is not born ut tibi succedat sed ut in eum mundus fideliter credat That he should succeed thee but that thou and all the World should believe in him and so be saved by him And therefore it was but a vain thing for Herod to fear where no fear was and to foster fear where he should have faith but this fire of anger and this fear of heart doth sufficiently shew that Herod knew the Messias should be a King though he understood not what manner of King he should be and so Saint Matthew setteth down this his fear and cruelty for the third argument to prove the kingrick office of Christ and Christ to be a King 4 Argument From Chists riding to Hierusalem upon the asse The fourth argument that Saint Matthew useth to prove Christ to be a King is from his riding to Hierusalem upon an asse and he tells us plainly that Christ did this to shew that he was the King of the Jews for he saith that all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet saying Tell yee the daughter of Sion behold thy King cometh unto thee meek and sitting upon an asse Matth. 21.4 5. Chrysost hom 67. in Matt. and ask the Jews saith Saint Chrysostom quis naâ— regum asina vectus Hierosolymam intravit which of all their Kings entred Hierusalem upon an asse and they shall never be able to name any other besides Christ For the other Kings rode in Chariots to shew their pompe and this King onely rode upon an asse to shew his humility Beda lib. 5. in Luc. and yet neque amittit divinitatem nec regiam dignitatem cum nos docet humilitatem by teaching us humility he neither looseth his divinity nor abateth any thing of his royal dignity when as clemency and humility in Majesty do shine like a precious diamond well set in the purest gold And Saint Ambrose saith that when Christ rode to Hierusalem upon an ass the people that followed him What the people did did three speciall things 1. They repeated the Prophecie to shew that they were not deceived 2. They acknowledged his Deity in saying Hosanna Salvum fac save Lord. 3. They called him their King because he was the Son of David And all was to shew that this meek and humble King was the promised Messias the glory of Israel and the expectation of the Gentiles The fifth Argument that Saint Matthew useth to prove Christ to be a King is from the marriage of the kings son 5 Argument Matth. 22.1 2. From the marriage of the kings son for venerable Bede demandeth who is the Kings son but he of whom the Prophet speaketh homo est quis cognoscit eum And the marriage of this son is the union and joyning together of the God-head with our humane nature in uno supposito in one person The servants that he sent to invite the guests were the Prophets and Preachers of the Gospel Beda super Luc. l 4. those that were first invited were the Jews the three sorts of refusers are I. Rich Worldlings that say villam emi Who weâ—e the refusers to come to the Weddingâ— and do love the things of this World better then the things of God II. Sensual men that have 5 yoke of Oxen and doe follow the lusts of their 5 Senses the lusts of the eyes and pride of life III. Lascivious wanton men that cry uxorem duxi and are led away with carnal pleasures Or as Saint Ambrose saith we may understand I. The Gentiles by him that said villam emi I bought a farme II. The Jews by him that said I bought 5 yoke of Oxen because they were under the heavy yoke of the Law and the 5 books of Moses that were such a yoke as that neither they nor their fathers could bear it and therefore they cryed out Psal 2. dirumpamus vincula let us break these bonds asunder and cast away these cords from us And III. The Heretiques Schismaticks and the like Fanatique Sectaries that are wedded to their own obstinate and foolish opinions which like Eva tempteth them and as another Dalilah destroyeth them may be understood by him that had married a wife and therefore neither could nor would obey the truth and so come unto the marriage of this King which is h re shewed unto us by the Evangelist but tell us flatly they neither can nor will do it their wife which is their obstinate opinion will not suffer them The sixth Argument that Saint Matthew produceth to prove Christ to be a King 6 Argument is from the inscription of Pilate Jesus of Nazareth Beda in Lâ—c King of the Jews Whereupon Beda saith that because he was both King and Priest together when he offered up that invaluable sacrifice of his flesh upon the Altar of his cross unto God his Father he fitly challenged and it was rightly given unto him the title of his royalty which did belong and was so due unto him and that title was written in Hebrew Greek and Latine which were and are the three most special languages of the World that all the World might read it and believe it that Christ by his cross non perdiderat sed potius confirmavit corroboravit imperium hath not lost but rather strengthened his right unto his kingdome So that although God suffered them to take away his life yet they could not take away his kingdom from him but when he was dead upon the cross yet still the title remained that he was Jesus of Nazareth king of the Jews And it was written in Hebrew in respect of the Jews that gloryed in their Law and in Greek in respect of the Gentiles that boasted of their wisdom and in Latine in respect of the Romans which then ruled
and domineered over most and almost all the Nations of the World that the Jews will they nill they may see that omne mundi regnum omnis mundana sapientia omnia divinae legis sacramenta testantur quia Jesus est Rex every kingdom of the earth all the wisdom of the World and all the sacraments of the divine law do bear witness that Christ is King and this Lion here spoken of in this Text. And the difference betwixt this Lion and all other Lions is that as Franciscus Vallesius de sacra Philosophia c. 55. saith Mos Leonis est sibi tantum pradam capere non Leaenae but Christ took the prey for his Church and not for himself And we finde that his kingdome by three special prerogatives excelleth all other kingdomes of the world that is 1. Preheminence of Christs kingdome threefold 1. Eternity 2. Purity 3. Largity 1. The Prophet saith thy Throne O God Psal 110. is for ever and ever and thy Dominion shall endure throughout all Ages but transibit gloria mundi all other Kings within so many years shall not govern and after so many dayes they shall not be for death spareth none but sceptra ligonibus aequat And as Nazianzen saith Constantinus Imperator famulus meus ossa Agamemnonis Thyrsitis death makes no difference betwixt the bones of King Agamemnon and base Thyrsites the Emperour Constantine and my servant but when their race is run and their glass is out we may say of each of them as Horace saith of his Friend Torquatus Non Torquate genus non te facundia non te Horat. Restituet pietas But this King hath a prerogative above them all for he was Rex à seculo a King from everlasting and he shall be a King in secula seculorum world without end Luke 1.33 for so the Angel Gabriel testifieth that of his kingdome there shall be no end And this should batter down the pride of Tyrants that say with Nebuchadnezzar Is not this great Babel that I have built For mene mene tekel peres their glory is but as the grass of the field or otherwise if they were immortal they were intolerable And this should teach us to labour to become the Subjects of this King in whose kingdome there shall be Aug. l. 1 c. 10. de Trinitate as Saint Augustine saith requies sempiterna gaudium quod nunquam anferetur à nobis An everlasting rest and joy that shall never be taken from us 2. Preheminence The second preheminence of his kingdome is purity for of this King the Prophet speaketh thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity and the scepter of thy kingdome is a scepter of righteousness For this King is not like Ahab that would take away Naboths Vineyard nor like Rehoboam that would oppress his Subjects with over-grievous Taxes but he is a righteous King and a most just Judge far unlike some Judges of former dayes that for a word have made a man a transgressour and for a syllable or one letter have quite overthrown a mans cause and right and so have made the Laws a nose of wax to bend and turn as they pleased and to be rete Vulcanium like Vulcans iron net to catch the poor and friendless but tela aranea like the spiders web so easie for the rich and powerful to passe through it But blessed be God for it we have few such now and we hope we shall not provoke God so far as to send such amongst us for if you suffer oppression and wrongs when as the Poet saith Mensuraque juris vis erit Then surely peaceable men shall not be able to live in the Common-wealth But the equity and justice of this King should perswade all other Kings to follow his Example and as the wise man saith Sep. 1.1 to love righteousness all they that are Judges of the earth 3. Preheminence The third preheminence of his kingdome is that God anointed this King with the oyle of gladness in all things above his fellows for their time hath an end their dominion a limitation but his time is not limited and his rule hath no marches but exivit in omnem terram it hath gone forth into all Lands because he is the King of all the earth and when as all other Kings are but Reges Gentium Kings of some few Nations he is Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium the King of all other Kings and the Lord of all Lords And therefore Eusebius saith that the distinction or difference betwixt this true Christ and the other imaginary Christs that were anointed Kings before him may truely and very easily be discerned Euseb l. 1. c. 1. Eccl. Histor quia illi priores Christi nulli penè nisi genti propriae cogniti sunt those former Kings were scarce known to any but to their own proper people but not onely the name but also the rule power and kingdome of this true King is extended over all Nations per universum orbem terrae and through the compasse of the round world And though when the Jewes would have crowned him King Rex fieri noluit he refused the same yet to shew that this Dominus Angelorum was also Rex Judaeorum Beda l. 5. in c. 19. Luc. as Beda speaketh when he rid to Jerusalem upon the Asse he willingly permitted the people to cry Hosanna and to intitle him King of the Jewes and he confessed as much himself unto Pilat that he was a King And what meaneth this saith the Venerable Bede that he now willingly embraceth quod prius fugicudo declinavit that which before he declined and fled from it and the kingdome that while as yet he lived in the world he would not accept he now denieth not to take it when he is by and by ready to go out of the world He answereth that he formerly refused it Beda l. 3. in c. 11. S. Mar. because of the gross imagination of the Jewes that conceited him to be a temporal King like unto others but he doth now accept it to shew quod non temporalis terreni sed aeterni in coelis Rex esset imperii that his kingdome was not of this world as himself said unto Pilate but as the King of Heaven he ruled all the world Well then What we may learn from this Doctrine that Christ is our King seeing Saint Matthew doth by so many inanswerable arguments prove Christ to be a King and that he is a perpetual universal and principal King and here exprest by the Lion in this Text we may collect and draw matter both of comfort and fear both of joy and of grief For 1. Seeing Christ is King then as the Psalmist saith Psal 97.1 exultet terra let the earth rejoyce for if we will obey him and be ruled by him he will appoint over us such Viceroyes and under-rulers that will lead us sicut
great benefits that this good God had done unto them First Moses tells you They waxed fat and then they kicked as we lately did and forsook God that made them and lightly esteemed the rock of their salvation They provoked him to jealousie with strange Gods and moved him to anger with their abominations They sacrificed to Devils and not to God to Gods that they knew not that came newly up whom their fathers feared not which was and is the fruit of every new Religion as of late dayes we have fully seen amongst us And then as they forsook God that formed them so presently they rebelled against his servants they muttered and murmured and rejected all their Governours and as the Psalmist saith They angred Moses in their tents and Aaron the Saint of the Lord for these two to forsake God and to rebel against their Governours do always go together And if you look into the foresaid sixteenth Chapter of Ezekiel you shall see how the Prophet sheweth their wickedness and how they have multiplied their abominations above measure and as many of us over-wickedly and unjustly seeking to make our children great in this world do bring them unto the Devil in the world to come Ezech. 16.21 so did they slay their children and cause them to pass through the fire and as the Psalmist saith Ps 106.37 They offered their sons and their daughters unto Devils and the Lord himself assureth us that Sodom had not done so wickedly as they had done Ezek. 16.48.51 and Samaria had not committed half of their sins And what an intolerable ingratitude was this The most monstrous thing that ever was not possibly to be described quia dixeris maledicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem dixeris because thou sayest all the evils that can be said when thou namest an ungrateful man especially to God that hath done such great things for us For we read of many bruit beasts that for small benefits have been very thankful unto men as of the Dog that for a peice of bread will follow and be ready to die for his Master and the Lion that for pulling a thorn out of his foot preserved the slave that did it from all the beasts of the forrest and afterwards his life on the Theatre in Rome and Primauday tells us of an Arabian infidel that being taken prisoner and afterwards set at liberty by Baldwin King of Jerusalem in token of his thankfulness for that favour Pet. Prim. c. 40. p. 431. he went to him by night into a Town where he was retired after he had lost the field and declared to him the purpose of his companions and conducted him until he had brought him out of all danger And when bruit beasts and Pagans are thus thankful unto us shall man be unthankful unto God No no He should be truly thankful And Seneca saith there be four special conditions of true thankfulness 1. Grate accipere to receive it thankfully 2. Nunquam oblivisci Never to forget it for he can never be thankful that hath forgotten the benefit 3. Ingenue fateri per quem profecerimus Four conditions of true thankfulness ingeniously to acknowledge by whom we are profited 4. Pro virili retribuere to requite the benefit received in the best manner that we are able But this people scarce observed any one of them I am sure not the second and therefore not possibly the third and fourth for the Prophet David tells us plainly that after the Lord had shewed his tokens among them and his wonders in the land of Ham and had brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness and had given them the lands of the Heathen Is 105.42 43 so that they did as many have done amongst us to take the labours of the people in possession Ps 106.13 Yet within a while they did as we do forget his works and would not abide his counsel V. 21. yea they forgat God their Saviour which had done so great things in Egypt wondrous things in the land of Ham and fearful things by the Red-sea But to let this people pass that were destroyed for their unthankfulness let us look unto our selves and have our eyes behind us to behold and see First What God hath done for us And What God did for us the people of these dominions Amos 3.2 Secondly What we have done for the honour and service of God And First As the Lord said of the Jews You onely have I chosen of all the families of the earth so I believe the Lord may justly say of our Kings dominions that he shewed more love and favour unto them then he did to any other Kingdom of the World for whatsoever good he did to others he did the same to us And he shewed two more signal favours to us then he did to any other Kingdome of all Christendome As I. He raised the good Emperour Constantine the Son of Helen out of Britaine to close up the days of persecution and shut the doors of the Idol-Temples II. When the mysts of ignorance and errors and superstition had covered and overshadowed almost all the Church of Christ God sent successively no less then five such excellent Protestant Princes King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the I. and II. as no other Kingdom had the like to protest against all the Popish errours and superstition and to make such a perfect reformation of Religion that both for Doctrine and Discipline no Church in Christendom is so purely and so perfectly established as these Churches of our Kings dominions are such love and such mercies of God to us as exceeded all the blessings of the earth and shewed to no other Nation of the world in such a measure but to this And what reward I pray you What requital have we rendred unto God have we and our people rendred unâ—o God for those great unparalell'd benefits that he hath done unto us I do profess I have been a man ever faithful to my King and ever fearless of all the dangers of the world and therefore I must say the truth as Saint Steven told the Jews though I should fare as Saint Steven did that as they were a stiff-necked people that have always resisted the Holy Ghost and persecuted the Prophets and been the traytors and murderers of Christ so have the major part of us shewed themselves a rebellious Nation that confederated to assist the Devil to requite Gods extraordinary signal favour to us with extraordinary signal contempt of Gods service and signal malice to all his servants above any other nation of the World by raising out of us and bringing in amongst us the great Anti-Christ that is the great enemies of Christ you know whom * The Long Parliament to slay the two witnesses of Jesus Christ which were Cohors Magistratuum Chorus Prophetarum 1. the best and blessed King Charles the First that
of Genua who promised to deliver Constantinople into the Emperours hands so he would make him King of such a place that he desired And Mahomet yielded and assured him that he would do it and so he did Pet. Primanday c. 39. pag. 423. for as soone as ever the said Justinian had betrayed the City into his hands he presently made him King for that good service which he had done unto him but for a reward of his treachery to his Lord and Master Augustulus he cut off his head within three dayes after And so all the wise men that I have read of do conceive that no good service done to succeeding Kings can merit the blotting out of the perjury and perfidiousness of Traytors to their former Kings and Masters but that after they be rewarded for their good turns done to the latter they should likewise receive the merit of their perfidiousness to the former Theodorus in Collect. l. 2. The reasons why perfidiousness should not be pardoned And the reason is rendred by the foresaid Sages 1. Because that as Theodoric the Arian said when he cut off the head of an Orthodox Deacon whom he loved because he revolted to please Theodoric as he thought to Arianism they that keep not their oaths and faith to God can never be faithful to any mortal man Flav. Vopisc in vita Aurelian 2. Because that as Aurelian said when he suffered Heraclemon which had done him so good service to be slain he could not believe that he which would betray his Countrey and prove faithless to his own Prince could ever continue faithful unto him but that upon the like discontent or hope of a greater gain such Traytors as will turn the leaf and saile with every winde will become as treacherous to their latter benefactors as they have been unto their former Masters And therefore though we should forgive them as Christians yet it is neither wisdome nor pollicy to believe them as friends because not onely the Fable of the Snake but the Son of Syrach also teacheth us what little credit is to be given to reconciled friends Eccles 10.12 And the wise heathen bids us semper diffidere to suspect such faithless men continually Object But what if the Kings and Princes have promised Pardons unto the Traytors for some special service done unto them Can they afterward punish them for their precedent offences unto others I answer that as Cicero saith Sol. every man is bound and much more it is for the honour of a Prince to keep his word and promises inviolable though upon some exigent necessity he may be constrained to make the same to his prejudice and against his will and it was well said that the bare word of a Prince should be of as great force as the oath of a private man But though Kings and Princes should inviolably observe their words in their Pardon 's granted unto Rebels and Traytors and other Malefactors Not to countenance and favour those that have been Traytors and why yet as Philip King of Macedon answered Lasthenes that betrayed the City of Olynthum and Augustus Caesar said to Rymetalces King of Thracia that had forsaken Antonius to joyn with him that he loved the treason that did him good but he could not endure the Traytor that betrayed his Master And Alexander Severus was of the same minde but that he joyned cruelty with his hatred unto the Traytors for when he had inticed many Captains of Piscennius Niger his Competitor of the Empire to disclose their Masters secrets and had served his turn of them and settled his affairs he made all those Traytors Herod l. 3 and their children also to be put to death as Herodian writeth So the wisest men conceived that they ought not to countenance and favour those that had been Traytors unto other Princes though they had done good service unto them and that for these three reasons 1. For that he which hath turned one leaf can turn another and he that hath betrayed my Father may upon the like hopes and surmises betray me likewise and he that hath been a Rebel knows the way to become a Rebel 2. For that this honouring and magnifying of Rebels and Traytors to former Princes for their good service done to latter Masters may prove to be an encouragement for others to become Rebels and Traytors in like manner against their Kings For when amongst many thousands of Rebels they see but few punished the rest pardoned and many of them favoured and preferred why may not the seditions think that they shall either prevail or if miss of their enterprise they may escape the fortune of those few that shall be punished and be magnified like those that they do see thus rewarded 3. For that this favouring and countenancing of those that have been Rebels and false is a great offence and discouragement to those that have ever continued faithful and loyal especially if they see themselves postponed and neglected And therefore the Kings and Princes that I told you of thought it neither wisdom nor policy to regard and favour those whom they pardoned for their treachery to their former Princes though they had done never so good service unto themselves and if all Kings did so I believe fewer Traytors would spring up among the people And this appeareth plainly by our new Plotters of Rebellions and Treasons now amongst us in this Kingdom of Ireland for who and what are they that doe thus murmur and mutter against both God and his Anointed the King and his Lieutenant the Church and Common-wealth But those that have been members of the Beast and limbs of the great Anti-Christ the Rebels and Traytors that rose and warr'd and some no doubt but had their hands or fingers dipped deep in the bloud of that blessed Saint and glorious Martyr our late most gracious King Charles the First and having escaped their just deserved shame and death and being so highly rewarded by their Grand Masters for their great wickedness with the lands of the Irish without distinction whether they were bloudy Murderers and Rebels against their King or innocent Papists that were both loyal unto their King and succourers of the Protestants and now seeing the touchstone of truth and justice rendring to every one his own according to his merit either of nocency or innocency they stamp and stare and being moved with madness like boyes at blinde manbuâ—â— they let fly their Arrows even bitter words nay false scandalous rebellious and treacherous words against the King against his Lieutenant and against the peace and happiness of this whole Kingdom they care not whom they traduce so they may stir up the coals of contention and move the discontented to a new Rebellion And what wayes do they take for this but the very same which they had learned and practised before in England under the Long-Parliament 1. To tax and to traduce the good King for doing that they know
special acts of Gods providence and such as any one that like these Beasts hath his eys behind him might see and say Digitus Dei erat hîc here Why God brought things thus to pass in all these things no humane art but the very hand of God brought them all to pass And God brought them thus to pass for these two special ends 1. For the deliverance of his servants and all faithfull people to incite them for ever to become thankful unto him for such unspeakable and extraordinary favours And truly if God commanded the Israelites to observe the feast of Passover in remembrance of their Deliverance from Pharaohs bondage and their passage through the red sea and doth so exceedingly blame them that they had so soon forgot his works and were not mindfull of his covenant but had forgot God their Saviour that had wrought such great things in Egypt wonderous things in the land of Ham and fearful things by the red-sea and if the Jews upon the command of Hester and Mordechai did throughout all their generations Hesâ—er â— 27.31 observe the feast of Purim the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the moneth Adar and Christ himself observed the same in remembrance of their deliverance from the treachery of Haman then certainly we have great reason to observe this twenty third day of October in remembrance of our great deliverance and to shew our thankefulness unto God throughout all generations for that deliverance from those bloody massacres that were intended against us and it should be a day of rejoycing and of feasting and of relieving the poor as were the days of Purim and especially seeing it cannot be imagined what miseries and calamities might have succeeded if they had prevailed 2. God discovered these secret Plots and Treacheries of the Rebels and effected these wonderful things not onely for our sakes or onely to get thanks and praise for the deliverance of us his servants but also to get honour and glory unto himself as he faith of Pharaoh by the punishment and destruction of his Adversaries And that the punishment and rooting-out of Rebels and Traytors might be a preservative to deterr all others from plotting rebellions and treason against their King or any other mischief against their Neighbours And therefore if men will needs be seditious and rebellions I would they were like these beasts full of eyes behind them that they might see and seriously consider how the just God doth reward and punish and plague these perfidious and perjured Villains and how most wise men deem and deal with them no otherwise but as Neclas did with Duringus and the other wise Kings and Princes did with those perfidious and perjured Rebels that I told you of before And the reason why they did so was because they found it unanswerably true that the best way to secure their peace and to establish them in their dominions is to destroy and to root out rebels and traytors out of their territories 1 Sam. 6.5 19.23 1 Reg. 1.19 For you may read how Shimei became a rebel against King David and how King David pardoned him Yet he bids King Solomon to bring his hoary-head to the grave with blood and saith For thou art a wise man and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him and was not David so Yes and it was wisdom and mercy in David at that time to spare him but now he tells Solomon That when time serveth it should be neither wisdom nor policy in him to spare him but his wisdom should teach him to destroy him because it is an old Axiom that Qui malus est in eodem genere mali semper praesumitur esse malus and experience hath very often found it to be very true that an oppressor drunkard or rebel can as hardly leave his drunkenness or rebellion as an Ethiopian can change his black skin or a leopard his spots that are upon his back as saith the Prophet Jeremy Therefore Solomon tells him that whensoever he goeth out of Jerusalem he shall die And at the end of three years two of his servants ran away to Gath and he like an asse sadleth his asse and followeth after them then Solomon tells him of his wickedness against King David V. 44. and commands Benaiah the son of Jchoiada which fell upon him that he died V. 46. And then it is added in the text And the Kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon And was it not established before yes three full years at least but never so absolutely and so surely as now this old rebel is taken away For though he was the first that submitted himself to King David yet it was very likely or at least suspicious that his malice and rebellistill lurked in his heart as fire under the ashes till they found opportunity to break out and so it may be with all others the like rebels whatsoever And therefore if men will be rebellious it is wisdom and policy 1 Reg. 2.12 for the establishment of Kingdoms to keep Soldiers and Garrisons to keep them under in ore gladii till all the old rebels be quite destroyed and extinguished And if men complain of burthens and taxes and impositions let them blame themselves and those rebels that caused them and the rebellions dispositions of them that may be justly suspected to be the obstacles of peace and tranquillity But if they will needs charge our good King and the Duke's Grace for any fault let them do it for their being too mercyfull and milde in suffering them and others that are like them to live that had so justly deserved to dye and especially if they would suffer them to enjoy the Lands of the Church and the Possessions of them that are innocent 3. The next reigning sin that spreads it self amongst men 3 Injustice is injustice and I wish we would cast our eyes behinde us to see how God hateth and hath plagued this monstrous vice which bringeth forth so many pernicious effects and destroyeth all the duties of honesty The wise Solomon saith That oppression maketh a wise man mad Prov. 7.7 and oppression is but one branch of injustice and therefore injustice is far worse then any oppression For if justice be such a general virtue as Aristotle saith that he which hath it hath all other virtues then certainly he that is unjust must be filled with an huge heap of vices when as this is such a cardinal sin as never walks alone And therefore as Justice exalteth a Nation so Injustice translateth a Kingdom from one Nation to another people as it did the Monarchy of the Assyrians unto the Medes and that of the Medes and Persians unto the Grecians And it pulleth down the wrath and vengeance of God not onely upon the person that is unjust and doth injustice but also upon the heads many times of all his posterity as for the Injustice done to Naboth God destroyed Ahab Ahab
knew not Christ saith Sacrilegi dant poenas quamvis nemo usque ad Deos manus porrigat the robbers of God's right shall never escape unpunished though no man crie to God against them as it appeareth not only by what Justine writeth l. 4. of Philomenes and what Lactantius saith of Fulvius for robbing the Temple of Juno Lacinia but especially by what Aul. Gellius writeth how that after Quintus Caepio robbed the houses of God in the City of Tolouse as many as touched any part of that spoil misero cruciabilique exitu periit And we need look no further then what succeeded the spoyle that King Henry the Eighth made of the goods of the Church for though he had more Wives then many others of our Kings yet his Issue reached not to the second Generation and though he gave those spoiles to his Nobility yet it is well observed by Sir Henry Spelman and others that in a short time most of their Posterity came welneer to beggerie But I will conclude this Point with the words of Charles the Great The most excellent Speech of Charles the Grear that was as great a Souldier as any of you and as good as great Novimus multa regna reges eorum propterea cecidisse quia Ecclesias spoliaverunt resque earum militibus dederunt quapropter nec fortes in bello nec in fide stabiles fuerunt nec victores extiterunt sed multi vulnerati plures interfecti terga dederunt regnaque â—egiones quod pejus est regna Coelorum perdiderunt atque propriis haereditatibus caruerunt hactenus carent And I will adde the Charge that the wise and strenuous Earle of Strafford gave to his Son William Wentworth when he was dying which is that As he would answer it to him in heaven he should never meddle with any of the Patrimony of the Church for it will be the canker that will eat up the rest of his estate and therefore chargeth him again as he will answer him in heaven never to meddle with it And the reason of all this is that Religion is the very ground of all our happiness and the chiefest of all our comfort and the tythes and donations of Religious men are the main outward props of our Religion and if with Sampson you take away the pillars you overthrow the house so take away the means that maintains Religion and your Religion like a tottering wal wil soon fall unto the ground and then you have dissolved all the ties and associations betwixt God and man and left us all as aliens and enemies unto God and therefore when other mischiefs have their limits and so hurt but one or other and there is an end yet this robbing of God of his right turbabit foedera mundi will set the world beside its hinges and sweep away all our happiness And I hope this which I have here spoken will deterr all from Sacriledge and teach them to be just and righteous to render unto God what is Gods The second branch of our righteousness 2. The next branch of our justice and righteousness is to render unto Caesar what is Caesars And what doth belong to Caesar that we ought to render unto him I find six special things due unto him answerable to the six special ensigns and emblems of Royal Majesty For 1. The Sword axacteth Fear 2. The Crown importeth Honour 3. The Scepter requireth Obedience 4. His Person meriteth Defence 5. His Charge calleth for our Prayers 6. The Throne deserveth Tribute without which his Royalty can never be maintained And yet we mutter and murmur and are more averse to render this duty unto our king then any of all the rest for here you see when the Jews came to Christ they question not any other duties but they demand of him Is it lawfull to pay tribute unto Caesar and they were often ready to rebel rather then to part with their money and what do Rebels do but as our late Rebels have done to undo themselves and their posterity and bring many miseries upon many others for Qui non vult duci debet trahi he that will not be obedient to the Government must be forced with punishment But they might have considered as eloquent Osorius saith Osor de rebut Eman. l. 12. p. 386. that Rex infinita negotia sustinet aequabile jus omnibus administrat The King undergoes infinite affairs he administreth equal right to all his people he keepeth away all dangers from the Common-wealth he rewardeth the faithfull and restraineth the froward and he preserveth his Kingdom both from foraign foes and intestine frauds and an hundred things else which private men cannot conceive And these things cannot be done without great means and much mony and therefore Deioces when he was elected King of the Medes Herodotus l. 1. caused them to build him a most stately Palace and the famous City of Ecbatana and to give him a goodly band of men for the safeguard of his person and to provide all other things fitting for the Majesty of a King and so all the other kings of the Gentiles did the like And Solomon also and all the rest of the kings of Israel required no small aid and tribute from their Subjects for though Tertullian out of Deut. 23.17 reads it Deut. 23.17 There shall not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a payer of tribute of the Sons of Israel yet Pamelius well observes it that these words are not in the original but are taken out of the Septuagint which also saith not Of the Sons but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the daughters of Israel that is ex impudicitia lupanaribus for their dishonesty as it is said in the next Verse that the hire of a Whore and the price of a Dog are an abomination to the Lord and so S. Augustine useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for those unchaste sacrifices wherewith such women did oblige themselves and so doth Theodoret likewise But that the Jews payd tribute it is manifest out of 1 Sam. 17.24 2 Sam. 17.24 where this reward is promised to him that killed Goliah that his fathers house should be absque tributo free from all tribute and to make it yet more plain it is said that Solomon appointed Jeroboam super tributa universae domus Josephi 2 Reg. 2.28 saith the Vulg. Lat. that is of the Tribe of Ephraim and Manasses as our Translation reads it Yea though the Jews were the people of God and thought themselves free and no ways obliged to be taxed by foraign Princes yet after Pompey took their City they paid tribute to the Romans Luc. 15. c. 18. saith Josephus and our Saviour bids them to render unto Caesar thâ— tribute that was due to Caesar saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he useth the same word that S. Paul useth when he biddeth us to pay our debts and to owe nothing to any man saying
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13. Pay to every man that which you owe. And rather then himself would omit this duty though he never wrought any other miracle about money yet herein when he had never a peny he would create money in the mouth of a Fish as both S. Hierom and the Interlin gloss do think to pay for himself and his Apostle And therefore seeing the Kings occasions are so great and the Subsidies Imposts Customes Aids and Excises and the like Taxes are so due unto them by the Laws of God and man they can be neither just nor honest men nor be in the way to the kingdom of God that deny or defraud the king of these duties What shall we say then of those men that will rather wink at malefactours and transgressours of the Laws then justly bring their Fines into the King's Exchequer I will say nothing at this time but that I cannot conceive how they are either just or righteous men herein or in the way to the kingdom of God â—or whosoever doth any ways defraud the King of any right that is any ways due unto him is in the next degree to him that committeth sacriledge and robbeth God himself and I believe that if it were not for the tricks and quirks of some men to quit the offenders there would be more monies brought unto the King and fewer faults committed in the Common-wealth 3. The next branch of Justice The third branch of righteousness is to deal honestly with all our neighbours to deceive no man to oppress no man to wrong no man And as our Saviour saith all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets this is all that the Law requireth Math. 7.12 this is all that the Prophets harped upon and this is all that we need most especially to insist upon to perswade men to deal justly and honestly one with another and where men will not do so to have justice and judgment done unto them which is the onely way to continue peace amongst us and to bring a blessing upon the whole kingdom they will bring a plague upon it And because as I conceive there was never more need of Justice to be executed then now when of late we were all involved in such confusion that as yet could not be reduced to any just and perfect position I must humbly crave your patience to stay a while upon this point And whereas there are four sorts of men concerned to have justice done unto them 1. The Church-men 2. The Adventurers 3. The Souldiers 4. The Innocent Irish Papists 1. I have often shewed how ominous it is to weaken the hands of the Clergie by keeping away their means to disinable them to do the service of God 2. For Adventurers that bestowed their moneys to suppress the Rebels and reduce them to their due obedience to his Majesty 3. For the Souldiers that fought for the same ends they ought justly to be rewarded according to their merit but for those that for covetousness And of such I am sure there are too many to get the Lands either of the Church or of the Irish they cared not how nor how much nor from whom they got it I wish that their judgment may be according to their desert and the merit of their desire 4. For the innocent either Irish Papists or ejected Protestants I fear it may be with many of them as it was with the Gibilines who being at variance with the Guelphs in the City of Papia promised to Facinus Caius all the houses and goods of the Guelphes if he assisted them to get the Victory which he did and after he had subdued the Guelphs he seized upon the goods both of the Guel hs and Gibilines and when the Gibilines complained that he brake his covenant in taking their houses and pillaging their goods that were Gibilines the said Caius answered It was true indeed that they were Gibilines but their goods were the goods of Guelphes and so belonged unto them and so to him So perhaps the covetous Adventurers and the greedy Souldiers may say of them as they do of us of the Church that they are innocent and we faithfull to our king but ours and their lands and fair houses are the lands of Rebels and therefore as they do hold ours from us so they will keep theirs from them But this is no justice nor to do as you would be done unto for as Abraham said to God Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked Gen. 18.23 And as Abimelech said Lord wilt thou stay a righteous nation So I say God forbid that any innocent man be he of what Religion he will should lose either house or lands But you will say The Irish Papists are not so innocent for though their hands did act nothing for fear they could not prevail yet it may be their hearts did earnestly wish that all the Protestants should be rooted out and perhaps their Fathers or Grandfathers were as deep in rebellion as any other and therefore they may be as justly deprived of their estates as they would have deprived us I confess that as when Croesus sent to the Oracle to expostulate why he should be so hardly dealt withall that was so bountiful unto the Gods and so faithful a server of them The Oracle answered That for his bounty the Gods preserved his life but his Kingdom was translated and his other affliction happened for the iniquity of Gyges that was the death of Candaules So God may justly punish the present Innocents for the precedent faults of their fore-fathers as he did cut off ten Tribes from Rehoboam for the sins of Solomon and he that knows our hearts may justly whip us for our evil thoughts But we are not to judge of any man for his thoughts nor to punish him for his wishes until they do break forth either into words or acts because the other must be left alone for God And therefore seeing that he which condemneth the Innocent is as abominable to God as he that absolveth the wicked that justice should be observed that no innocent man should suffer yet I would not have those deemed Innocents that are more then apparently known to be very nocent There is another degree of justice which should be performed to the oppressed Protestants that have been ejected out of their estates and to our poor neighbours that are ready to starve in the streets For as Saint Ambrose saith Esurientium paenis est quem tu detines nudorum indumentum quod tu recludis miserorum pecunia quam tu in arca abscondis And therefore though we term it alms yet it is justice in us to do it and they that are able are unjust if they do it not 4. The last branch of justice concerns our selves The fourth branch of our righteousness for a man may be
corrigere est nefas and as our Saviour saith If any man sue thee for thy Coat let him have thy Cloak also So I say if any great man that hath a great Place or great Friends take away thy Lands let him take away thy House also rather then spend thy Money and lose that with thy Lands for as Christ saith If these things be done to the green tree what shall be done to the dry So if these Proceedings pass against me that can both speak and follow my businesse to the uttermost and I thank God have ability to go through with it what shall become of thee and thy Cause that art a poor man when thou swimmest against the stream and kickest against the pricks Therefore I advise thee rather in such a case to cry to God than complain to any Judge lest that as the Poet saith Excessit medicina modum thy remedy will prove worse than thy disease For thou seest how I am served put our of my House and spend above 60 li. and have no redress 2. If this proceeding and dealing with me be as I conceive it not so fair and so just as it should be both for the King and my self that am ejected out of my House and Lands then I conceive His Majesty and the Parliament should to prevent the like Oppression and wrongs to poor men provide an easier and plainer way to relieve the oppressed and to set down an usual Form of Indictment or to cause that the Indictments should not be so easily and so frequently upon every Lawyers motion quasht as they are reported to be Especially when the matter of Force is plain and evidently proved And this redress of Injuries I petition and move for for these four special reasons 1. Because the difficulty of framing the Indictments so that a cunning Lawyer cannot easily find a fault and a flaw in it and then the frequent quashing of such Indictments as are found faulty is a great wrong to his Majesty in depriving him of those Fines that otherwise are due and should be rendered unto him 2. It is a great Abuse and injury unto the poor Subject that shall be driven out of his Possession and for want of a sufficient Clerke or Counsellour to draw the right form of his Indictment which as I see few can do he shall both spend his Money and lose his labour and perhaps he is not able to do as I did three or four times to draw Indictments till he finds one that may stand good 3. This frequent quashing of Indictments is a great encouragement for Oppressors and wicked men to wrong their neighbours more and more for say they I will enter upon him and thrust him out and if he doth indite me I will remove it to the Kings Bench and I shall find a Lawyer that will quash his Indictment by and by 4. This very practise and proceeding may be feared to prove the very bane and destruction of whole Nations and Kingdoms For if Righteousness exalteth a Nation and a Kingdom is translated from one Nation to another People because of unrighteousness as Solomon saith and as we may read it in all Histories Then you may see how requisite it is for Kings and Princes to look to those things and not to suffer unrighteous Judges either for favour to one or hatred to another to do what they list and to make their Laws like a Nose of Wax to bend which way they please or like a Spiders Web that catcheth the small Flies but is broken by the great humble Bees all to pieces but to be like the Chancellour Steel that although he hated my person yet he said though I deserved it not I should have Justice and so he did me Justice presently and I love to do right to my Adversary and to say the truth of mine enemy But for my self I thank God for it as I lived many years very quietly and contentedly with far less means then 20 li. a year and with far less pains and troubles then I have now so I doubt not but I could live so still and I resolved and vowed as I have attested in my Epistle to his Majesty that if I should recover this Bishops Court unto the Church I would wholly and fully bestow the same for the repairing of the Cathedral Church of Kilkenny So that recovering it I should not be one Penny the richer or not recovering it not a Penny the poorer and so the wrong done by this Proceeding whosoever did it is as I conceive more against the King and the Church than against my self And if the Proviso for Sir George Ayskue carrieth this Bishops Court to him from the Church which in my understanding is clean contrary to the very words of the Act pag. 72. Let him pray that he hath it not with that Sauce which God prescribeth in Psal 83. And so I end and so be it as God pleaseth Amen And after I had delivered this same Relation unto his Majesty and shewed the Effect and sum thereof by the next day I gave him this Petition To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of Gruffith Lord Bishop of Ossory Sheweth THat your Petitioner hath caused five of the Tenants of Sir George Ayskew to be twice Indited for a forcible Entry upon the House and Lands of the Bishop of Ossory and yet your Petitioner with the Expence of above 60 l. could not prevail to have them punished as the Law requireth whereby your Majesty is wronged in not receiving the Fines that should be imposed upon them for that offence and your Petitioner is abused in being still kept out of his Possession to about 300 l. Damages May it therefore please your Majesty to write to the Duke of Ormond or to the Parliament to see that the former Proceedings may be reviewed and that your Petitioner may be relieved according to Justice And your Petitioner shall ever pray c. And my Lords Grace of Canterbury very graciously and like a most Religious Father and Countenancer of the Fathers of the Church going with me to deliver it to his Majesty and to let him understand the substance of it said here is the good Bishop of Ossory so his Grace was pleased beyond my Desarts to stile me that hath a very reasonable Petition to your Majesty and telling him the sum of it his Majesty like a most Pious King most graciously answered I will do it with all my heart and my Lords Grace sent for Secretary Benet and he drew me this his Majesties Answer the next day Whitehal July 16th 1663. HIs Majesty is graciously pleased effectually to recommend the Consideration of this Petition to his Grace the Duke of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to the end his Grace may forthwith take care to settle and establish the Petitioner in his Right and that such who disturb him may be punished according to Law I know not what more I could have desired his