but patiently waited upon God doing his will yea when God two severall times had put Saul into his hands once in the Cave where David and his men were hidden another time in Sauls owne Tent where with such courage hee had adventured hee was so farre off from taking away his life which easily hee might have donne that his heart checked him for cutting off the lap of the Kings garment at the one time he sharply rebuked Abner for guarding the Kings person so weakly at the other Thus did this holy man wisely carry himselfe in the perfect way of patience and loyalty to his cruell Prince and persecuting father in law till God himselfe by the way that he appointed had set him in the Kings seat The contrary is reported of Don Carlo Infant of Spaine if the relation bee true that hee through impatience and ambition practiced against his Father and for that cause suffered in the yeare of the Lord made up in the numerall letters of this old verse Filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos Once we are sure that our late neighbour King the sooner to get the quiet possession of that Crowne to which hee had unquestionable right if their Salique lawe be in force forsooke that religion in which hee was brought up and such as were disposed to play with his name found in it while he stood out Bonus Orbi but afterward Orbus boni but God dallied not with him suffering him to be dangerously stricken in the mouth upon the first abjuring of his religion and afterwards in or neer the heart in the midst of his Triumphes Nobility and imperiall Citie to the great astonishment of the Christian world Indeed it was a speech borrowed frow Euripides and often repeated by Caesar Si violandum est ius Violandum est propter imperium But rather befitting the mouth of a Heathen then a Christian yet are our owne Chronicles but too plentifull in Examples in this kinde of such as being heirs apparant to the Crowne rather snatcht it before their due time then received it when it fell Among others we read that Richard eldest sonne then living to King Henry the second approaching the corps of his Father as it was carrying to bee interred adorned according to the manner of Kings with all royall ornaments open faced the blood gushed out at the nostrils of the dead a signe usually noted of guiltiness as if nature yet after death retained some intelligence in the veines to give notice of wrong and check the malice of an unnaturall offender at which sight Richard surprised with horror is saide to have burst ouâ— into extreame lamentations Neither was Edward the fourth free from this imputation who when his father and himselfe had voluntarily and solemnly sworne to suffer Henry the sixt quietly to enioy the Crowne during his life yet did hee as thinking the time long till hee had it on his owne head set his brother of Glocester to dispatch King Henry teaching him by the same Art to kill his owne sonnes and successors Edward and Richard For those Kings that sell the blood of others at a lowe prize doe but make the market for their enemies to buy theirs at the same rate On the other side it is recorded in the French History to the eternal commendation of Robert eldest sonne to Hugh Capet the first King of their last race that being by his fathers consent and desire crowned King and proclaimed his LieutenaÌ„t General in the kingdome hee notwithstanding still continued a sonne without waywardness a companion without iealousie a King without ambition And wee may speake it without flattery that his Maiesty now living and long to live hath left to posterity a worthy paterne in this kinde by receiving this crown of England even from the hand of God having patiently waited the due time of putting it on howsoever hee were provoked to hasten it refusing the assistance of her enemies that wore it as long with as great glory as ever Princesse did not entring by a breach or by blood but by the ordinary gate which his owne right and divine providence set open Neither would hee for the settling of his right admit the toleration of any other religion then that which hee heer found and himselfe professed protesting openly that hee would chuse rather if hee were forced to it to spend the last drop of his blood than to enter upon such conditions But God would not suffer one drop of that sacred blood to be spilt which was so ready to be poured out for his sake Now those who thinke this Psalme was penned by David after his coming to the Crown conceive that at his entrance thereunto hee thus prayed for the speciall assistance of Gods Spirit aswell in the private carriage of his owne Affairs and Person as in governing the people committed to his charge well knowing that without it hee could not observe this Vow to which hee had bound himself nor administer Mercy and Iustice nor behave himselfe wisely in a perfect way nor performe any duty belonging to the office of a King or a good man as he ought Hee therefore desires of God that as hee had set him in the Kings Throne so hee would indue him with all maner of graces and royall vertues fit for so high a place and not onely so but to assist and direct him in the exercise of those graces and vertues The Heart of the King is in the hand of God hee turneth it as the rivers of waters Pro. 21. 1 hee turneth it to his good if hee flee to him for assistance but to his confusion if he stand upon his own strength It behooves all men to implore the aid of G O D but specially Kings and Princes as in all their actions so principally in negotiations and treaties of greatest Consequence That of King Salomon then chiefly concerns them Trust in the Lord with all thine hart and leane not to thine owne wisdom in all thy waies acknowledge him and hee shall direct thy waies Pro. 3. 5. 6. Princes have fewer then private men that dare freely tel them the truth which is indeed one of the great mischiefes of great places whereas on the other side their temptations are many and strong and their actions of weight importance drawing after them either much good or much evill It behooveth them then above all not to presume too much upon themselves upon their owne policy and forecast but rather upon the providence and assistance of him whose substitutes they are Thâ—ir Vice-Roys dare doo nothing of moment without consulting with them so neither ought they enterprise any thing of importance without consulting with the Oracle of God by religious invocation of him for the illuminating of their understaÌ„dings guiding of their wils following therein the example of the Wise man who treating of the excelleÌ„cy of true wisdom acknowledging it to be the special gift of God
I will sing mercy and iudgment c * KING DAVIDS VOW FOR REFORMATION of Himselfe his Family his Kingdome * Deliuered in twelue sermons before the Prince his Highnesse vpon Psalm 101 * By George Hakewill Dr. in Diuinity * London printed for Mathew Lownes 1621 * TO THE PRINCE his Highness my gracious Lord and Master WHat hath heeretofore been presented to your Highnesse eare I heere make bolde with some little change to present afresh to your eye that you may beholde at one view the entire body of those discourses which were delivered disiointly and by peece-meale as also that you may revise that at leasure if ought therein shall be thought worth revising which was sometimes of necessiâ—y shuffled up in haste though I must confesse to mine owne comfort and your honor never heard but with singular attention and lastly that I may serve your Highness in somwhat as well absent as present specially now that your frequent presence with his Majesty enforceth your often absence from your Familie I adventure then most noble Prince to unfolde and lay before your view the Vow of DAVID as seasonable I hope to the times as suitable to the person for the reformation and government of himselfe his housholde and State whether made before his comming to the Crowne or newly upon it it is not certaine to define nor very materiall to know once wee are sure it was DAVIDS Vow which one Motive me thinks were of weight sufficient to stirre-up all Christian Princes specially such as professe the defence of the Christian faith to a serious meditation thereon even in that it was DAVIDS Vow who so lived and so died as never Prince I thinke before him nor perhaps since him so joyned together Valour and Vertue Courage and Humility Policy and Piety Thrift and Bounty Solemnity and Devotion Greatness and Goodness Without flattering the present times I might safely and justly say unto you Et Pater Aeneas avunâ—ulus excitet Hector The former of which as the world well knoweth hath added to his practice singular precepts of this kinde by which hee as much surpasseth other Kings as Kings doe ordinary men or men the brute creatures Yet I thought it not amisse to adde therunto the practice and precepts of that King who received such a testimony from the mouth of God as never did any and farre surpassed that in reall acts which Xenophon of Cyrus conceived onely in imagination This King then if you please to propose to your selfe as a paterne and his Vow as a rule we may by Gods helpe one day promise to our selves another Charlemaine or rather the perfections of all the Edwards Henries Iameses your renowned progenitors united in one Charles and your proceeding and ending answering your gracious beginnings and vertuous disposition which wee all hope and pray for wee may rest assured thereof For the effecting of which you cannot doe better than performe in deed what you have chosen for your word Si vis omnia subijcere teipsum subijce rationi which is truely to be a King For in so doing you will valew Soveraignetie not by impunity of doing evill but power of doing good and in attayning it onely be enabled for the doing of that good which before you desired And if this poore Worke of mine or any my endeavours either have or shall any way conduce to the furtherance of that publike and important worke I shall therein reape a sufficient reward both of my service and travailes accounting it my greatest happinesse on earth to have been counted worthy to be Your Highnesses first-sworne Chaplain ever attending your Commands GEORGE HAKEWILL To the PRINCE his Family YOV it was mine Honourable and worthy Friends to whom next after our Gracious Master these ensuing Sermons were first and chiefly directed You may iustly then claime a part in them and I wish they may prove as fruitfull unto you as they were intended Sure I am they wil not prove unfruitfull if you compose your selves to the Glass they hold forth striving to present you such to your Master as they represent to you that is such as seek not to rise save to get the vantage-ground for the doing of more good such as preferre their Masters good before their owne gain their Masters safety before their owne ease their Masters credit before their owne advancement such as in preferring sutes aim not at their private ends thâ—rough the sides of the Publike nor use faire pretenses for the compassing of foule proiects or the smothering of honest motions nor lastly look so much to the purse and power of Petitioners as to their worths and necessities A Master you have born I hope in a happy houre for the good of the Christian world of whom it may bee truely said Antevenit sortem meritis virtutibus annos Ingenio formam relligione genus Who not onely rewards and cherishes vertue but traceth out the path therof before you with his own steps best deserving that place by his ingraven courtesie and many Princely endowments which hee houlds by lineall descent Why then should any seek that favouâ— in the way of basenes and sycophancie which may more easily bee won in the plain and safe way of vertue and honesty Provocations to vice I knowe are not wanting in the place wherein â—on live yet seeing a religious Nehemiah may be found in Artaxerxes Court â— Daniel in Nebuchadnezzars a Ioseph in Pharaohs and some faithfull Christians even in Neroes house what may wee there expect where from the Chiefest are so many encouragements to piety in that Family whose Head I dare say rather glories in being a member of the true Church than the Second in the Kingdome rather in beeing baptized into the religion hee professeth than in beeing descended from the royall stock of so many famous Kings and where religion is built up be it spoken without disparagement of other mens labours or relation to mine owne by as sufficient Master-workmen in their kindes as the Land affords not thrusting themselves into the Place but all of them culled out and called thither not posting to Preferment by indirect means but like sacred Lamps spending themselves to give you light well testified by your singular respect towards them Of my self or this ensuing Worke I will say nothing By the grace of God I am that I am and I hope it will appear in this Worke and the effects therof in you that his grace in me was not altogether in vain Whatsoever it bee it is for your use and whatsoever I am I am for your service ready to bee imployed by the meanest of that Family for which I daâ—ly pray as for myself A poor member thereof GEORGE HAKEVVILâ— The 101. PSALMS according to our last and most approoved Translation which I chiefly follow in my ensuing Exposition I Will sing of Mercy and Iudgement unto thee O Lord will I sing 2 I will behave my selfe wisely in a perfect way O when
Thou fool this night shall they take thy soule from thee The Galathians thought themselves wiser than the other Gentiles for the observation of the legall Ceremonies but St. Paul in his Epistle to them calls them fooles for their labour And likewise the Pharises were held the wisest of all the Iewish Nation but our Saviour tels them to their faces they were but formal fools True Wisdome is then to bee found and only to be found in the perfect way There is a Divellish wisdome rather craft then wisdome maintained by dissimulation and lying and perjury such as was that of Boniface the eight Bishop of Rome who entred like a Fox raigned like a Lion and died like a Dog of Iezabell and Achttophel in practice and Machivell in precepts This wisdome runs a contrary biass to this perfect way it is directly opposite unto it and fights against it Again there is a Humane or rationall wisdome enlightned at the torch of right reason yet left amongst the remainders of Gods image in man and this though it be beside the perfect way yet may it bee reduced unto it good use no doubt may bee made of it And lastly there is a Divine holy and heavenly Wisdome whose beginning is the fear of God whose crowne is the favour of God whose guide is this perfect way the word of GOD which is therfore called a way because it leads us to our journeyes end and a perfect way because the Authour of it is the abstract of all perfection because it sufficiently containes in it all things requisite to bring us to perfection both of body and soule both of grace and glory and lastly because it makes those perfect that walk in it at least in regard of endeavour and the severall parts of perfection though not the degrees as a childe may bee said to bee a perfect man in that hee hath all the parts of a man though hee want the growth and strength of a man And if this way were thus perfect in Davids time what is it by the addition of so many parcels of Scripture since If it then gave wisdome to the simple Psal. 19. 7 if it made David beeing brought up but as a Shepheard wiser than his enemies than his ancients than his teachers Psal. 119 as an Angell of God in discerning right from wrong 2. Sa. 14. 17 able to guide the people by the skilfulnesse of his hands Psal. 78. 72 what kinde of wisdome is there which wee may not now gather from thence What depth of naturall Philosophy have we in Genesis and Iob what flowrs of Rhetorique in the Prophets what force of Logick in Saint Pauls Epistles what Art of Poëtrie in the Psalmes what excellēt morall Precepts not only for Private life but for the regiment of Families and Common-weales in the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes to which may be added in a second rank as very usefull though Apochryphall the book of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus what reasonable and iust lawes haue wee in Leviticus and Deuteronomy which moved the great Ptolomey to hire the Septuagints to translate them into Greek what unmatchable antiquitie variety and wonderfull events and certaintie of storie in the books of Moses Iosuah the Iudges Samuel the Kings and Chronicles together with Ruth and Ester Ezra and Nehemiah and since Christ in the sacred Gospels and Acts of the Apostles and lastly what profound mysteryes have we in the Prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel and the Revelation of Saint Iohn But in this it infinitely exceeds the Wisedome of all humane writings that it is alone able to make a man wise unto salvation 2. Tim. 3. 15. Vpon these considerations Charles the fift of France surnamed the Wise not onely caused the Bible to be translated into French but was himselfe very studious in the holy Scriptures And Alphonsus King of Arragon is said to have read over the whole Bible fourteen severall times with Lyraes notes upon it though he were otherwise excellently well learned yet was the law of God his delight more desired of him than gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also than hony and the hony-combe I will end this point with the Commandement of God himselfe to the King Deuteronomie 17 When he shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom hee shall write him a copy of this Law in a booke out of that which is before the Priests the Levites and it shall bee with him and hee shall reade therein all the dayes of his life that hee may learne to feare the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to doe them that his heart be not lifted up aboue his brethren and that he turne not aside from the Commandement to the right hand or to the left to the end that hee may prolong his dayes in his kingdome hee and his children in the midst of Israell And looke what was there given in charge to the King in generall was afterward commanded Iosuah a worthy Leader in particular Iosuah 1. 8. This booke of the lawe shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayst obserue to do according to all that is written therein For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then shalt thou have good success It followeth O when wilt thou come unto me The comming of God unto his children is either by the performance of his promises or by the speciall assistance of his Spirit or by the receiving of them unto himselfe Such as thinke this Psalme was penned before Davids comming to the Crowne understand these words of the performance of Gods promise in setting it upon his head and settling him in the regall Throne and then this to be the meaning O Lord I will tarry thy leasure and keep my selfe within the bounds of my dutie till thou hast accomplished that which thou hast promised unto mee though thou delay the matter and put me off I will bee content to walke in the perfect way and not once presume to step aside out of it to compass that which thou hast sayd thou wilt give me And according to this promise of his we may see how hee carried himselfe for although there were a great space betwixt his anoynting whereby hee was by Gods owne mouth proclaimed heire apparant to the Crowne after the death of Saul and his comming to it notwithstanding he had the hearts of the Subiects insomuch as the women in their songs extolled him above the King though the soule of Ionathan the Kings eldest sonne were fast linked to him and so hee might haue conceived hope to have made a strong party against Saul who daily provoked him by most cruell and unjust persecution yet David kept himselfe in his uprightness hee hasted not by any indirect attempt as did his sonne Absolon afterwards against himselfe to seeke his owne revenge nor to displace the King and his seed which hee knew in time were to be remoued
sunk by some little insensible leak than by the violent dashingin of the waves unto it Look then as to the sincerity so to the integrity of thy heart in Gods service Hee forbiddes us not to love other things besides himselfe but wee may love nothing but for his sake and so dooing wee can love nothing in that degree wee love him Above all let us beware of the sinnes of our particular vocation and of our naturall constitution and of the times and places in which wee live for These most men make their Idols and are ready to say with Naaman The Lord be mercifull to me in this But this is not to walk with a perfect heart which strives against all knowne sinne because it is sin and endeavours the keeping of all the commandements because they are commanded and if wee so doo for sinnes of pure ignorance and meer infirmity God doth graciously vouchsafe us a daily pardon of Course Who can understand his errours Keep thy servant from presumptuous sinnes then shall I be upright Psal. 19. 12. To conclude how-ever the damnable Politicians of our Age would perswade their Prince that the practice of outward Piety and civill Honâ—sty is sufficient for him yet our Prophet and Prince promiseth to walke with a peâ—fect heart and performed what he promised so as hee dareth for that to appeal to Gods examination and censure Iudge mee O Lord for I have walked in mine integrity Psal. 26. 1. And againe Search mee O God and knowe my heart try mee and knowe my thoughts and see if there bee any wicked way in mee and lead mee in the way everlasting Psal. 139. â—3 And lest wee should think This presumption in him the holy Ghost doth him this honour that those Kings who truly feared God and raigned well are said to have walked in the waies of David their Father 2. Kings 22. 2 but those that raigned ill because they feared not God not to have walked in his waies 1. Kings 15. 3. So that hee is not onely commended for his sound and single heart but is therein proposed as a rule to succeeding Ages for the tryall either of the straightnes or crookednesse of his Successors Now in the last place followes the Place of his Walk which is within his house or as Arias Montanus hath it in interiori domus meae in the inmost part of my house Hee would make a tryall in the very managing of his Family and houshould-affaires of his ability and sufficiency for the government of the Kingdom as the Queen of the South made a ghess of Salomons Wisdome by the government of his house 1. Kin. 10. Every house-houlder is parvus Rex a little King in his owne Family and the greatest Monarch upon the matter is but magnus Pater-familias a great house-houlder or a common Father of the publique Family of the State As then a man may see the coasting of the whole world represented in a little map as well as a grâ—at the degrees of the Sunnes motion as well in a little Diall as a great the figure and colour of a visage as well in a little picture or looking-glass as a great and the convayance of a building as well in a little frame or modell as a great so may a mans desert and sufficiency for the governing of a Kingdome bee seen and made knowne in the wel-ordering and disposing of his private house And as it is a tryall so is it also a preparation to greater matters it beeing not safe committing a vessell of burden to his charge who never guided a bark or pinnace nor to make him Generall of an Army who never had experience of an under-Captains place But hee that first shewes himselfe faithfull in a little is both thereby counted the worthier is indeed the fitter to be made Ruler over much Luke 19. 17. whereas on the other side If a man knowe not how to rule his owne house how shall he take care of the Church of God saith the Apostle 1. Tim. 3. 5. Hee speaks indeed of a Bishop but so as his words are appliable to the civill Magistrate who is charged with the government both of Church and temporall State Quid authoritatis poterit habere in populo quem propria domus reddit contemptibilem How shall the people reverence him whom his owne family respects not and his owne behaviour therein makes him respectless Again In that he promiseth to walk uprightly within his house iâ—â—ra privatos parietes as Iunius doth paraphrase it within his private walls his meaning is that hee would bee no changeling that amongst his houshould-people where few beheld him he would be the same that hee was abroad where many eyes saw him hee would bee as godly in his Chamber as in the Temple in his Closet or Grove or Gallery as in the great Congregation it beeing indeed the truest signe of an ingenuous spirit to practise the same alone which he professeth in company and of a false hart to be devout abroad and profane at home an Angell in the Church and a Divell in the house such as they who in open place where they may have praise of men will doo som good but after they are more private they discover themselves in their kinde and runne freely to their owne race as the horse rusheth into the battell ler. 8. 6. I knowe there is a time even for private men much more for Princes whose buâ— then is greater to unbinde the boaw of their serious thoughts and to give the minde some relaxation and refreshment from publike imploimeÌ„ts that so they may bee the fitter to return to them again but no time or place is there in which they may loose the reins to their unbridled appetite or securely sinne because they are private No Hee that is present with them sitting in their Thrones is likewise present with them lying in their Beds as he is with them in their Chappels so is he in their most secret Cabinets and withdrawing roomes Like a well-drawne picture that eyeth each in the room hee eyeth in that manner each one in the world and all the waies of each one as if his eye were upon him alone Hee seeth all things himself unseen of any beeing so without all things as that hee is not excluded from any and so within all things as that hee is not included in any It is hee of whom our Prophet speaks in another Psalm Thou knowest my down-sitting and my â—p-â—ising thou understandest my thought a-far-off thâ—u compassest my path and my lying downe and art acquainted with all my waies unto whom the day and the darknes the light and the night are both alike 139. In whose sight the very intentions of the heart are naked and open Heb. 4. 13. The Greek word signifieth so opened as the entralls of a man that is anatomized or of a beast that is cut up and quartered Quare sit peccarâ— vis quaâ—re ubi te non videat
the wicked are set up and beare rule as it followes in the same place Thus when Mordecai came out from the King in royall apparell of blew white and with a great Crowne of golde and with a garment of fine linnen purple the whole citie of Susan rejoiced and was glad Ester 8. 15. The counsell therfore of Iethro Exo. 18. 21. was very good and not without just cause approoved of Moses when hee gave advice that not onely his higher Officers Rulers over thousands and hundreds but the inferiours too over fifties and tennes should bee men of courage fearing God dealing truely and hating covâ—tâ—usnesse Their fearing of God was a meanes for them in good causes to put on courage and their hating of couetousness to deale truely which in case they did not the CoÌ„mon-wealth should not onely suffer but Moses should be sure to hear of it For though to private men it bee sufficient if them-selves doe no wrong yet a Prince must provide that none doe it about him or under him the neglect hereof being the chief imputation that was layde to Galbaes charge and tumbled him out of the Empire as being unworthy of government Omnium consensu dignus imperio nisi imperasset Hitherto of the Conditions which our Prophet râ—quires in those whom hee proposed to admit and entertaine as Servants about him as Counsellers to him as Officers under him Now for himselfe he purposes his eyes should bee upon them and that as I take it first for Choyce and secondly for Vse There is an eye of Search and an eye of Favour the one is for the seeking and finding them out that they may serve the other for the countenancing of their persons and rewarding of their service First then for the eye of search and choyce He would not take them up at haphazard nor upon the bare report and commendation of others hee would not presently entertaine them who most importunately sued or made the greatest friends or largest offers these being for the most part sure signes of little desert and lesse conscience in the parties themselves in discharging the duties of those places they sue for Hee that buyeth is thereby shrewdly provoked nay is after a sort openly dispensed withall to sell againe If hee have to doo with the treasure hee will rob and spoyle if with justice he will take bribes if with Church affaires with matter of warre or Civill government it may be hee will goe farther Such will make small account to sell a State or to deliver up a Kingdome Now the King our Prophet speaketh of will for avoyding these mischiefes rather become a suter himselfe to sufficient and able men for the accepting and undergoing of such charges as he knew them fit for neither would hee advance any to the highest roomes of dignity but such as himselfe by experience had found to bee conscionable and faithfull in lower places and if he could not finde such neare him hee would seeke them farther off his eyes should runne through the Land from the one end to the other for the finding of them out Oculi mei ad â—ideles terrae Mine eyes shall bee to the faithfull of the Land Now as his eyes were to them for choyce and entertainement so were they upon them for encouragement reward Lord saith hee who shall dwell in thy tabernacle or who shall rest upon thy holy hill Among other properties this is one Hee that maketh much of them that feare the Lord Psal. 15. 4. And therefore in the very next Psalme vers 3 hee protests that all his delight was upon the Saints that are on the earth and upon such as excell in vertue And againe in the 119. 36 I am a companion of all them that feare thee and keep thy precepts And in speciall of servants of Kings and Princes sayes Salomon in the 14. of Proverbs at the last verse The pleasure of a King is in a wise servant but his wrath shall be toward him that is lewd Neither is it sufficient to make much of them by lookes and countenance and to feed with good words and faire promises but to speake and doe really for them as occasion shall serve they deserve Let thy soule loue a good seruant and defraud him not of his liberty neither leave him a poore man Ecclus. 7. 21. And the reason is given in the 33. of the same booke vers 29. If thou have a faithfull servant intreate him as thy brother for thou hast need of him as of thy selfe Such a Master it seemes Naaman was to his servants which made them call him father Father if the Prophet had commanded thee a great thing wouldest thou not have done it Such was that Centurion in the Gospell who when his servant was sick intreated our Savior to come to him and heale him calling him by the same name which signifies a sonne thereby shewing that good seruants should be as sonnes to their Masters in dutifull obedience and good Masters againe as kinde fathers in loving affection to their servants as remembring that themselues have a father in heaven to whom they must one day render an account of all their actions and with him there is no respect of persons Verse 7. Hee that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight OVr Prophet in the fift verse had promised to banish Slander and Pride heer hee promiseth to take the like order with Deceit and Lying two vices contrary to those two vertues which before hee had vowed to entertain Deceit beeing opposite to Faithfulness and Lying to Godliness These two vices are so common and generall and yet withall so close and subtile that he could not promise utterly to abolish and extinguish them but to deale with them as Physicians doo with pestilent diseases to expell them from the vitall parts upon discovery they should not lodge in the Court nor remaine in the Presence Hee could not alwaies prevent their entrance and abode there for a while deceitfull men beeing as cunning to cover as to work their deceit yet would hee as narrowly as he could seek them out and when he had found them cast them out too Indeed the saying is Turpius eijcitur quà m non admittitur It is more shamefull to cast out a servant than not to admit him But it is as true Tutius eijcitur like a raw morsell that sitteth ill in the stomach he is more safely cast out than retained or if hee be a Retainer non habitabit hee shall not bee in ordinary or if hee bee hee shall not bee of such as ly under my roof or if hee doo non habitabit in interiori domus meae saith Arias Montanus hee shall have no place in my privy-chamber or bed-chamber And for the Lier hee may chance to come into my sight but non prosperabitur saith Musculus hee shall not build his neast there non firmabitur saith Arias Montanus
a sharpe greeting sent him 1. King 20. Because thou hast let goe out of thine hand a man whom I appointed to die thy life shall goe for his life and thy people for his people And many times wee see by experience that a desperate wicked man reserved from due punishment proves a continuall vexation vnto him that hath spared him As the nations that inhabited the Land of Canaan being not cast out and destroyed by the Israelites as God had commanded them became by his just judgement a snare destruction unto them a whip on their sides and a thorn in their eyes Ios. 23. 13. Iudges 2. 3. Verse 8. I will earely destroy all the wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the Citie of the Lord. HItherto of the three kindes of lawfull destroying by some phantasticall and Anabaptisticall spirits held unlawfull Now it remaines that I speake of three other unlawfull kindes of destroying by some irreligious and profane spirits held lawfull whereof the first is selfe homicide the destroying of a mans selfe the cutting off the threed of his owne life with his owne hands The second is destroying of another by Duel in single combate whether hee send or accept the chalenge it matters not The third is the destroying of a subject by the sword and at the command of a civill Magistrate onely for reason of State or politique respects without due order of law or course of justice First then of the first of the unlawfulness of a mans destroying himselfe whether it bee for the shunning of shame or griefe or misery or sinne Our Prophet himself was often broght into great distress marvailous streights plunges both bodily and ghostly as may appear by his dolefull complaints through-out this booke of Psalmes Yet would hee not destroy himselfe thereby to bee ridde of them Saul who would not destroy Agag destroyed himselfe but David voweth to destroy the wicked himselfe hee would not destroy Paul though he had fightings without and terrors within and desires to bee dissolved yet dissolve himselfe or hasten his dissolution hee would not Iob though scourged with unmatchable chastisements yet he would not moove from his station without his Generalls command he would not change himselfe but patiently wait all the dayes of his appointed time untill his changing came 14. 14. It was a worthy speech which Iosephus the Iew made to his Souldiers being in a cave where they lay hid after they lost the City Iotapata taken by Vespasian they rather than they would bear the disgrace of being taken by the enemy would needs make an end of themselves like Fannius of whom the Poet Hîcrogâ— Non furor est ne mâ—riare mâ—ri Yet some might perhaps commend this resolution but what saith the good Iosephus to perswade them to the contrary The Almighty hath given unto us our life as a most precious iewell hee hath shut it and sealed it up in this earthen vessel and given it us to bee kept till hee himself 〈◊〉 ask for it againe wee are neither to deny it when hee shall require it nor to cast it forth till hee command it Among other reasons for which the Books of the Maccabees are held Apocryphall this is not the least that they commend 〈◊〉 his destroying of himself as a manfull and noble act whereas indeed it is the truest signe of a minde truely 〈◊〉 like a Cube to stand upright in all fortunes Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest The second kinde of unlawfull destroying by too many held lawfull is the killing of another in Duel not such as our Prophet himself undertook with Goliah the Philistine by publike authority from the State and for the publike good of the State but when men for private revenge righting their conceived or pretended wrongs either send or accept a chalenge for single combate all the Sope and Niter in the world cannot wash away the guilt of blood from this practice whatsoever men pretend heerin either for the triall of man-hood or the putting-by the imputation of cowardise or for the maintenance of reputation it cannot excuse in this case And howsoever the world applaud it many times with tearms of worth of gallantry of brave spiritednes and the like yet is it doubtless no better than murder in Gods account and disloyalty to the civill Magistrate by wresting the sword out of his hand and taking his office from him Sin then against God is more to bee feared than shame amongst men and true Christianity to bee preferred before the opinion of such fool-hardy courage Think not I read a Lecture of basenesse since true valour consists not in quarrelling brabbling for private injuries or in stabbing for a word of disgrace but in maintenance of Gods honour in preserving thy alleageance to thy Prince in safe-garding thy Countrey Hee may well bee reckoned among Martyrs who upon conscience and knowledge engageth himself upon these occasions Was Augustus Caesar a coward in the repute of the Heathen when receiving a chalenge from Anthony he returned him this answer that if Anthony had a disposition to dy or were weary of his life there were waies enow else to death besides that The chalenge was rejected and yet his honour untainted I will shut up this point with an excellent speech of Bernards concerning unjust fightings and in that number I esteem these If in thy fighting thou hast a minde to kill another man and then art slain fighting thou diest a murtherer if thou prevail and kill the other thou livest a murtherer Whether then thou live or dy beest conquered or Conquerer it is not good to bee a murtherer So that the conclusion is that which way soever it fall out murther it is before God Miserable for a man to bee slaine and so to goe to his reckoning while hee is malitiously labouring to take away anothers life as miserable if hee kill to bee continually haunted with the guilt of blood All the fame and commendation of doing it upon fair tearms cannot countervail that vexation I have the rather touched this point for that it is one of the evils of our times many scarce accounting themselves men till they have made a braul and like the Youngsters of Helkethhazzurim sheathed their swords in their fellowes bowels whereby the Land is becomne a very Acheldama a Field of blood The more are wee to blesse God who hath put it in the mind of our David not any way to countenance these Cutters but to range them among those wicked ones whom hee hath vowed to destroy and cut off The third kinde of unlawful destroying by some held lawfull is the cutting off of a Subject by the sword or at the command of the civill Magistrate for politick or private respects without just cause and due desert Almightie God who out of the earth moulded man and breathed into him the spirit of life might as an absolute Lord of life and
be true that the better sort be directed by love yet the greater sort are corrected by feare A man that stands by and sees one that is wounded seared or launced is therby made more carefull of his owne health and in like manner the beholding a malefactor to be brought to deserved punishment makes men more wary how they runne into the like courses It was a true saying in the generall of the Proconsull to Cyprian at his martyrdome though ill applyed to him in particular In sanguine tuo caeteri discent disciplinam In thy blood the rest will learne discipline Secondly the cutting off of the wicked causeth the good to leade a more quiet and peaceable life in godliness and honesty who if they should be permitted to live and enjoy their liberty wee should neither meet quietly in our assemblies nor dwell quietly in our houses nor walke quietly in our streets nor travaile quietly in our wayes nor labour quietly in our fields In better tearmes stands that State where nothing then where all things are lawful and it is no lesse cruelty to spare all than to spare none For he that spares one bad thereby injuries many good which gave occasion to the Proverbe Foolish pitie marres the Citie and to the saying of Domitius that hee had rather seeme cruell in punishing than dissolute in sparing Many saith Saint Augustine call that cruelty when for love of disciplin the fault committed is revenged by the punishment of the offender whereas the Sentence of him that punisheth satisfieth the lawe and redoundeth to the good not onely of them that are present but even of them that are yet unborne So that severity used in this case Vtilitate publica rependitur is payed home and recompensed with publike benefit Yea but though hee be a malefactor say some yet is hee a personable man of an excellent wit and good parentage and is it not pitie to cast away such a man To which may justy be replyed Is it not more pitie that a proper man should undoe a profitable man that a witty man should hurt an honest man that hee who hath good parentage should spoile him that hath good vertues to serve the Common-wealth To cut off such a wicked person then by the stroake of justice is not to castaway a man but to preserve mankinde and better it is Vt unus pereat quam ut unitas that one single person should suffer than a whol Society Truncatur artus Vt liceat reliquis securum viuere mâ—bris Thirdly as by sparing wicked and wilfull transgressors the wrath of God is provoked and his judgements pulled downe vpon a Nation So by cutting them off as by an acceptable sacrifice his wrath is appeased and his favour procured If blood were shed in the Land and the murtherer not put to death the whol Land was thereby defiled and made lyable to Gods displeasure Num. 35. 33. When Achan had stoln the consecrated thing the wrath of the Lord was so kindled against all the Hoast of Israel that they could not stand but were discomfited before their enemies but as soone as Achan with those that belonged unto him were stoned to death the Lord turned from his fierce wrath against Israel so that wheras before their enemies chased and smote them now they atchieved many great and famous victories Ios. 7. So long as the murther committed by Saul upon the Gibeonites was unpunished there was sent a grievous famine upon the Land of Israell three yeares together but as soon as Sauls seaven sonnes were hanged at the motion of the Gibeonites God was appeased with the Land Two notable examples to this purpose we have recorded by Plutarch the one in the life of Romulus the other of Camillus When Romulus K. of Rome Tatius K. of the Sabines after cruell war had made their coÌ„position to governe the Romans Sabines joyntly there fell a strange kinde of plague and famine in the Cities of Rome and Laurentum for two murthers committed by the Romans and Laurentines the one by the kinsmen of Tatius upon certaine Embassadours of Laurentum which murder Tatius neglected to punish and the other by the friends of the saide Embassadours upon Tatius in revenge of the injustice done by his kinsmen and suffered by him Whereupon it being noted that the plague and famine increased strongly in both Cities and a common opinion conceived that it was a punishment of God upon them for those murthers committed and not punished they resolved to doe justice upon the offenders which being once done the plague ceased presently in both places The same Author likewise ascribeth the Sack of Rome by the Gaules to the just judgement of God upon the Romans for two injustices done by them the first was the unjust banishment of Camillus the second the refusall to punish certain Ambassadors of their own who beeing sent to treate peaceably with the Gaules on the behalfe of the Clusians committed acts of hostility against them contrary to the lawe of armes And when the Gaules sent to Rome to demand reparation of the injury the Romans not onely refused to give them satisfaction but also made made their Ambassadours who had done the injurie Generals of an Army to assist the Clusians against them notwithstanding that the Foeciales officers ordained by Numa Pompilius to determine of the lawfull causes of Peace and Warre made great instance to the Senate that the Ambassadours might be punished lest the penalty of their fault might otherwise fall upon the Common-wealth as indeede it did For the Gaules giving battel to the Ambassadors overthrew them and prosecuting their victory spoyled and sacked Rome it selfe under the conduct command of Brennus their chief Leader and as some write a Brittain Wherein I wish to bee noted how grievous a sinne it is in the opinion of the very Paynims themselves and how dangerous to the Common-wealth to neglect and omit the punishment of notorious malefactors whereby the offences of particular men are made the sinnes of the whole State and draw the wrath and punishment of God upon the same And as upon the whole State so chiefly upon his person and posterity to whose place and office it belongs to see justice done It is a true saying Iudex damnatur cum nocens absâ—luitur the Iudge is condemned when the guilty is absolved and Qui non vetat peccare cum potest iubet He that doth not restrain a man when it is his duty and it lies in his power doth command him to sinne He that saith to the wicked thou art righteous him shall the people curse Prov. 24. 24. And in another place Hee that justifieth the wicked is an abomination to the Lord 17. 15. So that whereas they thinke by this meanes to winne estimation with men they make themselves odious both to God and men Saul was punished with the losse of his kingdome for not punishing Agag with death 1. Sam. 15. And Ahab for sparing Benhadab had