written in the Book that Hilkiah the Priest found in the House of the Lord. And like unto him was there no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose any like him 2 Kings 22 23. Chapters Now therefore my Lord the King arise and be doing and the Lord be with thee And command all your Children your Confederates and Allies your Nobles and your Commons and all the people of your Kingdoms to help you saying Is not the Lord your God with you And hath he not given you rest on every side for he hath given your enemies into your hands and the Land is subdued before the Lord and before his people Now set your heart and your soul to seeke the Lord your God arise therefore and build ye the Sanctuary of the Lord God establish Religion in its purity according to Gods Word settle the Church government compose the differences and heal the distempers that our sins have made repair ye the breaches and build up the waste places in the Church and State and doe you Judgement and Justice throughout all my Dominions And comand all the people to gather themselves together as one man and to make confession saying O Lord the great and dreadfull God keeping the Covenant and mercie to them that love him and to them that keepe his Comandements We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even hy departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements Neither have we harkned unto thy servants the Ministers and Preachers of thy Word and Ordinances which spake in thy name to our King our Princes and our Fathers and to all the people of the Land O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face because we have sinned against thee To the Lord our God belongeth mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him O Lord we have been disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behinde our backs have slain thy servants which testified against us to turn us unto thee and we have wrought great provocations therefore thou deliverest us into the hands of our enemies who vexed us in the time of our trouble when we cryed unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest us Saviours who saved us out of the hands of our enemies But after we had rest we did evill again before thee therefore leftest thou us in the hand of our enemies so that they had the dominion over us yet when we returned and cried unto thee thou heardst us from heaven and many times didst thou deliver us according to thy mercies Thou didst not utterly consume us nor forsake us for thou art a gracious and a mercifull God Now therefore our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keepest Covenant and mercie Let not all the trouble seeme little before thee that hath come upon us on our King on our Princes and Nobles and on our Ministers and Elders on our fathers on all thy people since the time of the Kings departing from his Parliaments and people unto this day Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but we have done wickedly Neither have our King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of thy Word nor our Fathers kept thy Law nor hearkned unto thy Commandements and thy Testimonies wherewith thou didst testifie against them For they have not served thee in their Kingdom in thy great goodness that thou gavest them and in the large and fatland which thou gavest before them neither turned they from their wicked works Behold we are servants this day and for the land which thou gavest unto our Fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are servants in it And it yieldeth much increase unto them whom thou hast set over us because of our sins also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattell at their pleasure and we are in great distress And because of all this let us make a sure Covenant and write it and let the King our Princes and Nobles our Elders and Ministers of Gods Word and Ordinances our Fathers and all the people of your Majesties Dominions seal unto it And finally may it please your Excellent Majesty to attend unto the doctrine and exhortations of the Apostle 1 Thes Chap. 5. and Hebrews 13.20 21. Quench not the spirit despise not prophesyings prove all things hold fast that which is good abstain from all appearance of evill And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soule and body be preserved blameless unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Faithfull is he that calleth you who also will do it Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory forever Amen I have not omitted for many yeares together my Sovereign Lord daily and constantly to pray for the temporall and eternall happiness of the King the Queen your Consort and Royall Progeny with that integrity of heart zeal and devout affection as I pray for the Church of God and the salvation of my own soul Thus rejoyceth evermore to pray without ceasing Royall Sir Your Majesties humbly devoted Oratour most dutifull loyall and faithfull Subject and Servant in the Lord Thomas de la More Cornet to his Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax Knight Generall of England c. From my Quarters at Spaldwick in Huntingdonshire Feb. 22. 1646. Note * Mistakes in the imprinting may be thus amended Page 1. line 7. read unrighteousness p. 4. line 23. blot out neither p. 5. l. 3. read weed p. 7. l. 11. blot out so p. 17. l. 13. read conveying p. 20. l. 10. read butt line 12. blot out the second but. p. 24. l. 8. read we are sold we were sold Imprimatur Iohn Downame A Protestation concerning the Church and Common-wealth of ENGLAND Composed 1641 By Thomas de la More of Graies-Inne Esq revised and published in the Yeer of Grace and Truth 1648. The first Part. SECT I. JOSVAH'S Resolution IEHOVAH our King who ruleth the Hoast of Heaven and scepters the hearts of Princes and great Potentates on earth with the powerfull Arme of his Justice mightily defendeth and with the sovereigne hand of his mercy graciously preserveth these our Kingdomes of great Britaine and Ireland from desolation and miserable confusion Satan rageth and his ministers fight against Christ they take the weapons of righteousnesse and smite their Reprovers like the mad Prophet with obloquie and murtherous intentions They maligne revile and
estate anent the Churches Cherish no man more then a good Pastor hate no man more then a proud Puritan thinking it one of your fairest Styles to be called a loving nourish father to the Church seeing all the Churches within your Dominions planted with good Pastors the Schooles the Seminaries of the Church maintained the Doctrine and Discipl ne preserved in purity according to Gods Word a sufficient provision for their sustentation a comely Order in their policy pride punished humility advanced and they so to reverence their supetiours and their flocks them as the flourishing of your Church in piety peace and learning may be one of the chiefe points of your earthly glory being ever alike waie with both the extremities as well as ye represse the vaine Puritan so not to suffer proud Papall Bishops but as some for their qualities will deserve to be preferred before others so chaine them with such bonds as may preserve that State from creeping to corruption And againe in his preface to that excellent booke He saith I charge you as ever you think to deserve my fatherly blessing to follow and put in practise as far as lieth in you the precept hereafter following and if you follow the contrary course I take the great God to record that this book shall one day be a witnesse betwixt me and you and shall procure to be ratified in heaven the curse that in that case I give unto you For I protest before that Great God I had rather not be a Father and childlesse than be a Father of wicked children This weighty charge of a most godly Prince and a carefull loving Father so faithfully diligent and very industrious to provide for the safety and welfare of his posterity and Kingdomes will assuredly take deepe impression and firme root in the heart of the King and the Kings Sonne The Lord said of Moses Numb 12.7 He is faithfull in all my house And of Abraham Gen. 18.19 I know him that he will command his chidren and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him Childrens children are the Crown of old men and the glory of children are their fathers Prov. 17.6 A wise son heareth his fathers instruction but a scorner heareth not rebuke Prov. 13.1 and Prov. 4. Heare ye children the instruction of a father and attend to know understanding For I give you good doctrine forsake you not my law For I was my fathers son tender and only beloved in the fight of my mother He taught me also and said unto me let thine heart reteine my words Keep my Comandements and live Take fast hold of instruction let her not go keep her for she is thy life Read the whole Chapter Prov. 4. My son keep my words and lay vp my commandements with thee Keep my commandements and live and my law as the apple of thine eye Bind them upon thy fingers write them upon the table of thine heart Prov. 7. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoyce and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him Thy father and thy mother shall be glad and she that bare him shall have ioy of him My son give me thine heart and let thine eye observe thy wayes Folly is to him that is destitute of wisdome but a man of understanding walketh uprightly Without counsell purposes are disappointed but in the multitude of Counsellors they are established Apply thine heart unto instruction and thine eares unto the words of knowledge Hear thou my son and be wise and guide thine heart in the way Hâ—arken unto thy father that begate thee and despise not thy mother when she is old Prov. 22.22 and Prov. 15 21 22. Now if we are bound by the Lawes of God and Nature to observe the godly precepts and to hearken unto the good instructions of our earthly fathers How diligently should we keep the Comandements of our Father which is in Heaven How ready should we be to do his Will to attend and obey his voice calling unto us in his Word and to say with Samuel Speak Lord for we thy servants do hear Again We have given the fathers of our flesh reverence shall we not much rather give honâ—ur and obedience unto the Father of Spirits and live Heb. 12.9 We read in Deut. 6. After that Moses had repeated the ten Comandements he taught the people that the end of the Law was obedience and he exhorted them thereto saying Heare O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might And these words which I comand thee this day shall be in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up And thou shalt binde them for a signe upon thine hands and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes and thou shalt write them upon the pâ—sts of thy house and on thy gates See Deut. 4.9 and Chap. 10.12 and Chap. 11.18 19. and Chap. 30.15 16. and Chap. 32.46 47. The Lord our God who is a God full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth spake of the people of Israel saying O that were such a heart in them that they would feare me and keep my Commandements alwayes that it might be well with them and with their children for ever Deut. 5.29 If the wicked will return from all his sinnes that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and do that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live and shall not dye All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him but in his righteousnesse that he hath done he shall live Cast away all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel Ezek. 18. vers 21 22 31. Wash ye make you cleane put away the evill of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evill Learn to do well seek judgement c. Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool Isai 1.16 17 18. This is a true saying and by all means worthy to be received that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Mat. 11.28 They that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick Goe ye and learne what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice for I am not come to call the
righteous but sinners to repentance Mat 9.12 13. And in the 13th Chap. of Isai Almighty God himselfe speaketh most graciously and particularly to his distressed people with most sweet and comfortable words saying But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the flouds that they do not overflow thee thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee for I am the the Lord thy God the holy One of Israel thy Saviour c. Can a woman forget her child and not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands thy walls are continually before me Isai 49.15 16. Like as a father tieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but dust Psalme 103.13 14. Me thinks these and the like places of holy Scripture should worke a saving compunction in our soules and cause our hearts not onely to burne but even to melt within us Let us therefore hold fast the things which we have learned and are assured of and let us search the Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope 2 Tim. 3.14 15. Rom. 15.4 and John 5.29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever that we may do all the words of the Law Deut. 29.29 What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse His soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the earth The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him and he will shew them his covenant Psal 25. The froward is abomination to the Lord but his secret is with the righteous Prov. 3.32 Teach me thy way O Lord I will walke in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name Psal 86.11 Mans goings are of the Lord how can a man then understand his own way Prov. 20.24 It is the glory of God to conceale a thing but the honour of Kings is to search out a matter The heaven for height and the earth for depth and the heart of Kings is unsearchable Prov. 25.2 3. If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange God shall not God search this out For he knoweth the secrets of the heart Psal 44.20 21. Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever for wisdome and might are his and he changeth the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings he giveth wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding He revealeth the deep and secret things he knoweth what is in the darknesse and the light dwelleth with him Dan. 2.20 21 22. and Amos 3.6 7. Shall there be evill in a City and the Lord hath not done it Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the Prophets O how great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that feare thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men Ye that love the Lord hate evill he preserveth the souls of his Saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked Psal 32.10 and Psal 97.10 The Lord is a buckler to them that walke uprightly and he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him This is the Lord still and still that preserveth the godly and evermore standeth in the behalfe of his so that there is nothing so wickedly and craftily imagined and so secretly plotted and contrived to their harme which some way or other cometh not out Thus hath thy power O Lord appeared mightily and thy Name in this Kingdom and thy protection of thy faithfull Servant our deare and gracious Sovereigne King Charles O Lord how hast thou opened the darknes of sin conceived against his Royall Person his beloved Consort our Queen and their Princely Issue against this Land and the life of those that feare thy Name For we are sold we are sold O Lord by many bloudy mindes the King thy sacred Servant first as our Head and Stay under thy Maj sty and then the Queene and the Royall Progeny and likewise we his Majesties poore people and subjects living and breathing under his shadow not to be for servants and hand-maids as complained that Queen Hester to Ahâ—suerus for then they had not been so cruell but to be destroyed after many miserable and monstruous torments with bloudy Sword of murthering mindes that should have licked us up and drunk our bloud till they had vomited again for fulnesse with the same And from all this thine owne selfe hath saved us and set us free giving them their portions either by Sea or Land by one means or other as they did deserve Thou broughtest out the conspiracies the mischievous plots and intentions of the bloudy Spaniards and the massacring French and of the Hellish Gunpowder English Traitors towards this our Island of Great Britaine all times to this day and thou savedst our Religious Queen Elizabeth our late renowned and blessed King James and thine anointed Servant our now Sovereigne whom thou hast set up amongst us and over us to our unspeakable comfort ten thousand wayes Some or other heard of those spirituall wickednesses and infernall machinations of those Jesuiticall murtherous wicked plots and devices and were instruments of wisedome counsell and service to prevent them Blessed Lord we thanke thee with the very souls of our souls we thank thee craving mercy that we cannot â—o it as we should O Lord continue thy mercy for thy mercies sake and let the soule of our Sovereigne be still deare unto thee write him dear Father in the palmes of thy hands and regard him ever as the apple of thine eye Continue thy Gospell to his Kingdomes and the light of thy countenance still in oâ—r dayes blessed for ever and ever for what is past There are many devices in a mans heart neverthelesse the counsell of the Lord that shal stand Prov. 19.21 O love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithfull and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord Psalm 31.23 24. The Kings heart is in the hands of the Lord as the Rivers of water He turneth it whether soever he will every way of a man is right in his own eyes but the Lord pondereth the hearts
blindnesse of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousnesse to worke all uncleannesse with greedinesse But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of your minde and that ye put on that new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse And the same Apostle saith 1 Cor. 6. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind c. shall inherit the Kingdome of God And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Now if these and such like places of Scripture will not worke upon prophane worldlings and excite them to repentance and amendment of life I mean such riotous persons as have beene lately posted in our Streets being styled the Sucklington Faction or Sucklings Roating boyes I leave them to that dreadful doom pronounced by the Preacher Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heartche are thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee unto judgement Eccles 11. Because sentence against an evill works is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sonnes of men is fully set in them to do evill Though a sinner â—o evill an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that feare God which feare before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his dayes which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God There is a vanity which is done upon the earth that there be just men to whom it happeneth according to the worke of the wicked againe there be wicked men to whom is happeneth according to the work of the righteous I said that this also is vanity Eccles 8. But yet for the comfort of the godly which suffer for the Name of Christ and for righteousnesse sake we read in the 2 Pet. 2. When the Cities of Sodome and Gomorrah were destroyed being made an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly that God delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished But chiefly them that walke after the flesh in the lust of uncleannesse and despise Government Presumptuous are they self-willed they are not affraid to speak evill of dignities whereas Angels which are greater in power and might bring not railing accusations against them before the Lord. I am perswaded that if godly understanding Preachers were sent abroad into the severall parts and corners of his Majesties Realms to tell the people of their sinnes and if good laws were put in execution for the punishing of offenders wickednesse and prophanesse would not be so much in fashion as it is I have often wondered that albeit the Parliaments of England which like learned and wise Physicians have alwayes been very diligent to provide choise Antidotes against the distempers of the Common-wealth by making good Laws and Statutes yet they never truly tooke into consideration and seriously weighed the miserable and deplored state of the Church so as to apply apt remedies for the redresse of those grievances before mentioned Surely I am even ashamed to thinke what horrible contempt and disgrace is cast upon the meaner sort of the Clergy those Reverend Pastors that have the charge of our souls and whose Callings are sacred How vilely are they accounted of in the Countrey by ignorant scoffing irreligious vaine persons who can afford them no better titles then these viz. poore journey-men schollers ragged priests sillyratts and the like But I am so far from casting the least blemish or aspersion of infamy upon the noble Professors of the liberall Arts and Sciences and especially I am so far from dishonouring of the Tribe of Levi the lot of Gods own inheritance that the Elders which rule well I account worthy of double honour especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine For the labourer is worthy of his reward 1 Tim. 5.17 18. I could wish that the large possessions and the superabundant extravegant revenues of Bishops Deanes and Chapters or at least that part of them were bestowed towards the erecting of Churches and Chappels of ease in the severall parts and places of our Kingdomes where they are wanting And towards the maintaining of learned and godly Preachers for the better growth and increase of Religion And I could wish that those lay Parsons that hold Impropriations that the Lords and Tenants of Abbey Lands who pay no tythes and that That Ignavum pecui the Fraternity of sluggish Drones in our Universities I mean those Masters and Fellows of Colledges who mis-imploy their wealth which their Founders endowed them with all for the advancement of Learning and Religion And they themselves are no better than Sots whose filthy and ungodly lives I compare and paralell with the wickedness of the Monks and Epicures of old And I hold them fitter subjects to serve such a Master as that beast and monster of men Heliogabolus was than to lead such Frier-like and Monastick lives as they do making a vain profession of piety and learning under the most religious Christian Prince in Europe To say no more These men are guilty of one very soule fault which I will not mention for shame But they may guesse at my meaning in these old Verses as I finde them in Chaucer in the Monks Prologue which each of them may apply to himself as the case stands with him in particular And it is thus Thou wouldst be a trede foule a right Hadst thou as great leave as thou hast might To perform all thy lust in ingendrure Thou hadst begotten many a creature In truth I could wish that all those above-mentioned especially and that every one of us besides according to our severall abilities c. would contribute cheerfully and freely to this pious work of providing things honest for our spirituall Pastors and give them due honour and necessary allowance who do labour in the word doctrine And last of all I could wish that the honourable Court of Parliament by the direction of almighty God would consult about the promoting establishing and maintaining a faithful learned painful preaching Ministry
them to their own hurt and the Common-wealths This learned and pithy application c. I finde in Babingtons notes upon Exodus 23. If any do so saith he God make his Word profitable to them and so I leave them to him Now if there should be any faults or blemishes rarely found in some of the Iudges or other Ministers and Professors of the Law let not this cast any sinister imputation or black note upon the Law it self or the Profession For the Common Law is defined to be Sanctio sancta jubens honesta prohibens contraria Again the Law is nothing else but a rule or lesson of justice that is made to measure the actions of men And how needfull is the service of upright sage and learned men in the Law without which justice it self cannot possibly stand Therefore though Jupiter as Protagoras in Plato telleth us did first invent and give the Law yet was Mercury sent with that heavenly gift to deliver it ever unto mankinde So as it is manifest that without the Ministry of these Mercuries of these Interpreters of the Law namely the learned Professors thereof there can be no use or application of the Law and consequently the Law or Iustice it self cannot consist without them What a meritorious work is it to resolve those many troublesome questions which arise in the civill life of man either by laying open the truth of the fact or by cleering the doubtfull point in Law that speedy and equall justice may be done unto all and every one may have and enjoy his own in peace How often would the truth be concealed and suppressed How oft would fraud lie hid and undiscovered How many times would wrong escape and passe unpunished but for the wisdom and diligence of the Professors of the Law Doth not this Profession every day comfort such as are grieved prevent the ruine of the improvident save the innocent support the impotent take the prey out of the mouth of the oppressor protect the Orphan the Widow and the Stranger Is she not Oculus coeco pes claudo as Job speaketh Doth shee not with all many times stretch forth Brachium Seculare in defence of the Church and true Religion All which are workes of mercy and singular merit Againe doth shee not Register and keepe in memories the best Antiquities of our Nation Doth she not preserve our ancient customes and formes of Government wherein the wisedom of our Ancestors doth shine far above the policy of other Kingdomes Why may we not then affirme confidently and conclude that the profession of the Law is to be preferred before all other humane professions and Sciences as being most necessary for the Common and continuall use thereof For doe not all persons at all times and in all places stand in need of justice When without her rule The Prince himselfe knows not how to rule nor his people how to obey When we can neither travel safely by day nor sleep securely by night without her protection For we cannot without peril make a Voyage by sea unlesse she waft us nor a journey by land unlesse she convoy us We should be opprest by force in the Countrey if she did not defend us And undone by fraud in the City if she did not relieve us She incloseth every mans garden and field and makes every mans Cotage his Castle of defence So as we have not such an universall and continuall use neither of the light of the Sun nor of fire and water as we have of the light and heat and comfort of justice For a man may remaine alive some houres without the use of those common benefits but a Common-wealth wherein each private mans weal consisteth cannot stand and continue one minute of an houre if justice which is her soule be departed from her And again is not the Profession of the Law most meritorious for the good effects it doth produce in the Common-wealth For doth not all out peace plenty civility and morall honesty depend upon the Law Quid sunt regna nisi latrocinia sine justitia Saint Augustine faith Without justice the Land would be full of Thieves the Sea full of Pirats And I may adde The Commons would rise against the Nobility the Nobility against the Crown we should not know what were our own what another mans what we should have from our Ancestors what we should leave to our children Major haereditas venit uni cuique nostrum à jure legibus quà m à parentibus saith Cicero In a word there would be nothing certaine nothing sure no contracts no commerce no conversation among men but all Kingdomes and States would be brought to confusion and all humane society would be dissolved And lastly is not the profession of the law most noble for the matter and subject thereof For what is the matter and subject of our Profession but Justice the Lady and Queen of all morall vertues And what are our Professors of the Law but her Counsellours her Secretaries her Interpreters her Servants Againe What is the King himself but the cleare Fountain of Justice and what are the professors of the law but conduit pipes deriving and covering the streames of his Justice unto all the Subj cts of his severall Kingdomes So as if Justice be rightly resembled to the Sun in the Firmament in that she spreadeth her light and vertue unto all creatures How can she but communicate part of her goodnesse and glory unto that Science that is her handmaid and waits upon her And for as much as Kings be Gods Schollers as Homer writeth and that the rules of justice be their principall lesson and we read in the Psalmes of that Kingly Prophet David that God doth honour Kings and Magistrates with his own Name Dixi quod düestis Psal 82. Specially for that they sit upon Gods own Seat when they minister justice unto the people And Psal 95.3 The Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods that is above Angels Princes or false Gods Psalm 8.6 and 82.6 and 96.4 5. And whereas we read that Kings shall be the nursing fathers and Queens shall be the nursing mothers of the Church Isai 40. And we be taught by the holy Scriptures that the hearts of Kings are in the rule and governance of Almighty God Let us pray pray therefore for Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty 1 Tim. 22. And let all loyal Subjects and faithful servants of our Sovereigne Lord King Charles joyne with me in the words of David praying for Solomon Psal 72. Give the King thy judgements O God and thy righteousnesse unto the Kings son He shall judge thy people with righteousnesse and the poore with judgement We know by the Maximes and Rules of the Common Law that Rex est caput salus reipublicae à capite bona valetudo transit in omnes The King
is the head the life and health of the Common-wealth and from the head this spirit and vivacity of health is transmitted and conveyed into the several parts and members of the body And againe we say that the King can doe no wrong Rex enim verè dici potuit vbique transferre perpetuò secum portare Scaccarium Justitiae in scrinio pectoris sui Atque veram intelligentiam perfectamque legis notitiam in animo suo semper habere For the King may truely be said every where to transfer and alwayes to carry about with him the Exchequer or Treasury of Iustice in the casket of his breast And ever to have the true understanding perfect Theorie or knowledge of the Law in his minde And the Kings Prerogative we know is bounded with the Rules of Gods Word and impaled within the limits of the Laws of the Realme For it is the honour and wisedom of a Prince to judge his people with righteous judgement and order his steps actions and whole course of life by the justice and equity of law and conscience For this is an old and true rule Neminem oportet esse sapientiorem legibus No man out of his Own private reason ought to be wiser than the Law which is the perfection of reason And albeit the King be as it hath been said the Fountain of Justice Yet this spring head may either be overgrown and shadowed by the weeds of naturall corruption and inbred infirmities always aspiring and advancing themselves against the perfect law of liberty erected in the heart by the holy Spirit Rom. 7.23 James 1.25 or it may be stopped by the rubbish of cares and troubles or at least the water of this Fountain may run thick somtimes by mixture of the gravell of a pre-conceited high opinion of the affections and hearts of the people or lastly this well or spring-head of Justice in the Sovereign may be so deep as that squint and blear'd-eye of the monstrous-sighted multitude I mean the grosse ignorance of the Common people cannot always discern and discover where it lyes onely those who believing Gods Word and confidently relying upon the truth of his promises do in humility of heart come unto the true Well of life and head indeed of the Church Jesus Christ our onely Mediator and Redeemer they onely I say by the bucket of grace shall be able to sound the depths of Gods mercy towards his Elect and continually do they cry God be mercifull unto us and blesse us and cause his face to shine upon us Selah That thy way maybe known upon earth thy saving health among all Nations Let the people praise thee ô God let all the people praise thee O let the Nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge the folk righteously and govern the Nations upon earth Selah Albeit in the scorching heat of Seditions Divisions Tumults Rebellions and Distractions of a Kingdom those streams of grace and favour that issue from that subordinate and inferiour fountain of justice a pious Prince provident and carefull of the welfare of his people are not so visibly and plainly perceived for in truth they doe not run so cleer then as at other times by the vulgar sort of men yet the best Christians his Majesties most faithfull and obedient Subjects under the protection of whose powerfull Arme they live and are governed do acknowledge Gods watchfull providence over them and these do joyntly confesse and say with the Psalmist God standeth in the congregation of the mighty he judgeth among the Gods For if the Angels are all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of salvation Heb. 1.14 Much more are the Potentates and Princes of the earth the servants of God to minister justice unto his people Shall not the Judge of all the world do right Thy throne ô God is for ever and ever and the scepter of thy Kingdom is a right scepter Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of thy seat and thy mercy and truth shall be our shield and buckler Verily there is a reward for the righteous Doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth The Lord saith Counsell is mine and sound wisdom I am understanding I have strength By me Kings reigne and Princes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth I love them that Love Me and those that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8. Mercy and Truth preserve the King and his Throne is upholden by mercy Prov. 20.28 When the Prophet Jeremiah by a false suggestion was put into the Dungeon of Malchiah For Zedekiah the King said unto his Princes behold he is in your hand for the King is not he that can do any thing against you And when Ebedmelech afterwards by suite had gotten him some enlargment Then Zedekiah the King sent and took Jeremiah the Prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord and the King said to Jeremiah I will ask thee a thing hide nothing from me Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah if I declare is unto thee wilt thou not surely put me to death if I give thee counsell wilt thou not harken unto me So the King sware secretly to Jeremiah saying As the Lord liveth that made this soule I will not put thee to death neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life Hereupon Ieremiah counselleth the King by yielding to save his life as you may read at large in Jer. 38. This worthy pattern of humility gentleness and meekness in King Zedekiah who so courteously and friendly intreated the Prophet that sorewarn'd him of the evill impending over Judah and Jerusalem and his own person if he went not forth to the King of Babylons Princes according to the Prophets counsell and who likewise was so gracious and indulgent unto his Princes notwithstanding they were wicked Counsellors and none of his best friends as it did afterwards appeare by the event of their false suggestions This I say may be an example for all godly Christian Kings to imitate and follow him in these and the like vertues Read 2 Sam 18. 19. Chap. Ezra 1.6 7. Chap. Nehem. 1. 2. Chap. Ester 5.6.7 8. Chapters That famous and renowned Prince of ever blessed memory James King of Great Britain France and Ireland in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gave this in charge to Prince Henry I require you my sonne as ever ye think to deserve my fathers blessing to keep continually before the eyes of your mind the greatnesse of your charge making the faithfull and due discharge thereof the principall but ye shoot at it in all your actions counting it even the principall and all your actions but as accessories to be imployed but as middesses for the furthering of that principall And in another place of his golden precepts and instructions He saith thus And to the end my
persecute the beloved Spouse of Christ the Church But the Lord hath reserved a peculiar people to himselfe that hâ—ve not bowed the knee unto Baal God hath selected a faithfull and obedient flock that follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth These the Lord our God the God of Israel who keepeth covenant for ever hath blessed and they are blessed and no adversary power is able to curse them When Jesus Christ was upon earth he prayed thus for his Elect Holy Father keepe through thine owne name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are John 17. But he is entred into Heaven it selfe now to appear in the presence of God for us And this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Moses verily was faithfull in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Sonne over his owne house whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firme unto the end Let us not be slothfull but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises For God is not unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love which his servants have shewed towards his Name The earth which drinketh in the raine that cometh oft upon it and bringeth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth thornes and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose and is to be burned Let us labour therefore faithfully in Gods Vineyard the Church Militant least we fall in unbeliefe for an ensample of a rebellious and stiff-necked people My hearty desire and continuall prayer to Almighty God is that every one of us in our severall places and callings do shew all diligence in the Worke of our great Lord and Master the God of our Fathers whom we serve and that we labour to advance the truth and purity of doctrine taught and delivered by our Saviour Jesus Christ and his Apostles and to resist convince and silence the gain-sayers and enemies of the Gospell Let us be strong and very couragious that we may observe to do according to all the Law that God hath commanded us let us not turn from 〈◊〉 to the right hand or to the left for then the Lord shall make our wayes our indeavours and works prosperous and then we shall have good successe Let us take good heed therefore unto our selves that we love the Lord our God Else if we do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of Idolatry that remaineth among us Know for a certainty that the Lord our God will no more be mercifull unto us will no more be among us and deliver us But those Idol-worshippers false bloudy-hearted Papists shall be snares and traps unto us and scourges in our sides and thornes in our eyes untill we are restrained from all the good things which the Lord our God hath given us Would God that we had the courage and resolution of Joshua and that this charge of his from the Lord unto the people of Israel were written in our hearts Now therefore feare the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Floud and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord. And if it seeme evill unto you to serve the Lord choose ye this day whom ye will serve whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the Floud or the Gods of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. See the 24th of Joshua and the 2d of Judges both remarkable Chapters for this purpose O Eternall and most Gracious God inflame thy Messengers the Ministers of thy Word with a holy Zeal and arme thy servants the Civill Magistrates with a godly courage that they may demolish beat down and root out Popery Superstition Heresie and Prophanesse out of these Isles and Dominions of our Sovereigne Lord King Charles The toleration of Massing Religion is against the grounds of true Christian Religion against reason and against the policy of the Common-wealth as I finde at large in an Answer to the Masse-Priests presumptuous Supplication directed to our late King James of renowned memory and published 1604. Our Adversaries themselves declare that indifferency of Religion or toleration of two contrary Religions in one Kingdome is intolerable Possevin Biblioth Select lib. 1. c. 26. saith 1 It is a divelish invention 2 that it is contrary to Gods Ordinance 3 that it repugneth against the Lawes of Moses of nature and the Gospell it selfe 4 That it is contrary to the substance and proprieties of Christian faith 5 That it taketh away the truth and certainty of Christian faith 6 That it taketh away the certainty of Gods divine Worship and of the Church 7 That it taketh away Christian Discipline 8 That it cutteth asunder the unity of the Church 9 That it is contrary to the Word of God 10 That it is repugnant to the practise of the Primitive Church the authority of Fathers and Decrees of Emperours And finally that it provokrth the wrath of God against the Authours of it If then the Adversaries themselves see Liberty of divers Religions to be so pernicious where they have winde in pupp I hope they will pardon others that will not admit their lewd pernicious and phantasticall opinions We read in our Histories when Ladislaus son of Albert King of Bohemia about the year 1440. went to Bohemia there to be crowned where Pogtebracius had the Governance that during all the time of his being there though being much requested yet would the young King neither enter into the Churches nor hear the service of them which did draw after the Doctrine of Hus. Also before he departed thence he thought first to visit the noble City of Uratislavia in Schlesia In the which City the aforesaid King Ladislaus being there in the high Church at Service many great Princes were about him among whom was also George Pogiebracius who then stood neerest to the King unto whom one Chilianus playing the Parasite about the King as the fashion is of such as feign themselves fooles to make other men as very fooles as they spake in this wise as followeth With what countenance you do behold this our Service I see right well but your heart I do not see Say then doth not the Order of this our Religion seem unto you decent and comely Do you not see how many and how great Princes yea the King himself do follow one Order and Uniformity And why do you rather follow your Preacher Rochezana than these Do you think a few Bohemians to be more wise then all the Church of Christ besides